Use the context clues to define the word "abhor" in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.

The sermon
spoken on July 8, 1741 byexplains in the "Application" part that
the purpose of the sermon is, basically, to scare the puritans back to their original system of
belief.

The use of this awful subject may be for
awakening unconverted persons in this congregation. This that you have heard is the case of
every one of you that are out of Christ.

The
once devoted Puritans seemed to be running astray, thus going against the very cause for which
they had left England in the first place: their right to worship, among other things. Seeing
that the flock is going awry, Edwards wrote this sermon using the most scary representations of
evil possible in order to instill in his flock the purpose of their religion.

This is the context in which Edwards would use the word "abhor". To
"abhor" something is to regard something with horror, with anger, contempt, and
detestation. The word is used in two different contexts in the sermon.

• The Puritans must work themselves to abhor any sinful practice in the
  knowledge that

if God should
withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold
up a person that is suspended in it.

• God abhors sin and sinful practices and thus nobody will be missing out on
  their wrath. However, Edwards goes further by stating that God ALREADY hates all of us for being
  sinful and that God cannot wait for the day that he comes back to give us our
  punishment.

The God that holds you
over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the
fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you
burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the
fire.

The hating then moves toward what will
happen when the day of the final judgement, when every sinner is already punished and done for

And they shall go forth and look upon the
carcasses of the men that have transgressed against me; for their worm shall not die, neither
shall their fire be quenched, and they shall be an abhorring unto all
flesh."

Basically it says
that, regardless of being dead and punished, bad is always bad. Therefore, whoever is lucky
enough to survive that day will find the spectacle of seeing the fire that consumed these
sinners still burning, as sin never dies. And they will look at all of the dead bodies in horror
(abhorring unto all flesh), praying and hoping they never EVER make God mad again because it is
clear that he does not take sin lightly,

Therefore, the context cues, as
well as the historical context of the sermon, show us that the word abhor refers to the disgust
that sin causes in the eyes of God, and how we too should feel the same way about sin.