Everyone has someone in their life that they know to be very strict and rule oriented, or Puritanical. Many of the legalistic aspects of our American culture have their genesis in the Puritans. In the sermon of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, written by Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher for this sermon, and the “Speech to the General Court in 1645,” by John Winthrop, a Massachusetts Bay governor for 20 years, it is highly illustrated that Puritan society had wanted order. Their society had revolved around being very strict and legalistic about religion. This is based on giving God one’s free will, trusting that he will bring them salvation and ultimately converting to the Puritan protestant belief system.
By submitting to God one’s free will, one shall have a chance to go to heaven. Jonathan Edwards opens his sermon with “Their Foot shall slide in due Time” (Edwards) This is Jonathan Edwards’ way of saying that unconverted people are bound to sin. These people would not be caught by the hands of God. Their own downfall is represented by the "Foot" sliding. Winthrop replies back: “It is a liberty to do evil… this liberty is maintained and exercised in a way of subjection to authority.” (Winthrop) He also means that without choosing to be under God, and then one will also sin, eventually casting oneself to
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hell. These quotes both illustrate, that people are bound to do evil. Doing evil can be altered by following God through giving him your free will. Trusting in God that your limited actions will bring you closer to him.
Mr. WInthrop brings up why this is.“[It is] the woman’s own choice makes such a man her husband; yet, being so chooses, he is her lord, and she is to be subject to him… she is free in her subjection to her husband’s authority.” (Winthrop) Winthrop argues that people are free, which makes them evil. However, they can choose to be under God to be good, but they would not be entirely free willed. This goodness will ultimately bring them to heaven. This is formed by one having the trust in God to give God that one’s free will in exchange for limited will but an afterlife in
salvation. The unconverted person is very likely to go to hell. God chooses not to save them because they are not praising him for his awesomeness. John Winthrop purports that “The first [liberty] is common to man with beasts and other creatures.” (Winthrop) Winthrop describes that men, who are unconverted, comparing them to animals, are bound to do evil. Due to not being saved from God or Christ, they too, shall fall. To correct this, he proposes that people must convert and be very strict in their way of following Christ’s footsteps to salvation. Edwards similarly suggests that “God has laid himself under no obligation, by any promise to keep any natural man out of hell one moment. “(Edwards) Without God, the “natural man” is unable to not sin. Also, he is going to hell without the mercy of God. Like Winthrop, the most viable option to fix this is to convert. Clearly, both Edwards and Winthrop were of like mind: Both of these quotes are fundamentally saying that when an unconverted person dies, they will go to hell. If they do convert in their lifetime, then the person may go to heaven. With Puritanism, if one gives God their will to do evil, trusting that He will not let one fall, and converting to following his way than one would become a very strong Puritan. These aspects of being a Puritan are core in being an idea of a Puritan who is strict and legalistic about their belief. This is shown throughout the texts of Jonathan Edwards and John Winthrop. They reflected the preceding beliefs regarding free will onto the entire soon-to-be American population.
In the 1700’s the Puritans left England for the fear of being persecuted. They moved to America for religious freedom. The Puritans lived from God’s laws. They did not depend as much on material things, and they had a simpler and conservative life. More than a hundred years later, the Puritan’s belief toward their church started to fade away. Some Puritans were not able to recognize their religion any longer, they felt that their congregations had grown too self-satisfied. They left their congregations, and their devotion to God gradually faded away. To rekindle the fervor that the early Puritans had, Jonathan Edwards and other Puritan ministers led a religious revival through New England. Edwards preached intense sermons that awakened his congregation to an awareness of their sins. With Edwards’ sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he persuades the Puritans to convert back to Puritanism, by utilizing rhetorical strategies such as, imagery, loaded diction, and a threatening and fearful tone.
In the passages “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by Jonathan Edwards and “Minister’s Black Veil” by Nathaniel Hawthorne are both powerful text. Edwards used more of an effective style to get his point through. He used a harsh and blunt tone to prove the God is a powerful man and can strike at any time but does not. This is why his text is better that Hawthornes.
In these text, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the preachers are teaching their congregations a lesson.
Religion was a huge part of law, the court, and the state in Puritan New England. The Puritan church was mixed with the state and often they seemed to almost combine. Laws were a combination of the state and religion (Yale 9). Referring to church and state, David Yale wrote, “The distinction is far from clear” (Yale 9). This was in contrast to the Puritan founders who origionally wanted church and state to be separate, but able to work together (Yale 9). The Church had so much power in the state, it ultimately organized the civil government (Yale 9). If a person would rebel against the government and criticize or defy the Puritan rule, it would be considered a sin against God. Religion also had a association with questioning in the courts and religion was part of the prosecution. An example of this is during the examination of Sarah Good by John Hathorne. The examination starts off with this text. “(Hathorne) Sarah Good what evil spirit have you fimiliarity with. (Sarah Good) None. (H) Have you made no contact with the devil. (S G) Good answered no. (H) WHy doe you hurt these children. (S G) I doe not hurt them. I scorn it. (H) Who doe you imploy then to doe it. (S G) No creature but I am falsely accused” (Linder umck.edu). This shows a trait in Hawthorne's prosecution style where he...
He speaks with some allusions and phrases that show the audience that he is well educated in the subject that he is speaking on. He says that, "Who knows the power of God 's anger" (Edwards 43)? This is an allusion from Psalm 90:11 in the bible and he just assumes that his readers are aware of what he is referring to when he says this. Since Edwards was a respected preacher of that time the sermon meant more to the people because of his qualifications and his experience ("Using" 14). Also throughout his sermon he refers to a happening of that time which was known as the great awakening. When speaking of this Edwards stated "Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south; many that were lately in the same condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them" (Edwards 44). He told them about the others who have already came and been converted to Christianity and hopes that showing them the others that have came they would also change their ways and be converted. Also, this being the time of the great awakening he wants the unconverted of his congregation to become a part of it and referencing to this event helps contribute to their
The Great Awakening was a crucial movement to the decline of religious piety. In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, he presents the danger of sin and the intense urgency for change. Similar to many speakers and writers, Edwards has a purpose in mind when delivering his sermon to his congregation. In Edwards's sermon, he appeals to emotion through the use of variation in tone and figurative language/diction with the purpose to instigate a religious fervor that rekindles the faith of the Puritan community.
The Bible was a large part of the lives of these people. With that, as many religious leaders before and after him, Edwards's source of inspiration and guidance was the Bible. He often used parts or sections of biblical verse rather than complete text because too much information might diminish the importance of his primary intent. An example of how he preached to the people can be seen in Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God." In this sermon he addressed the issues of man as a sinner, God's hate of sinners - wrath of God. Throughout the sermon he addressed the damnation of man, the process of salvation and redemption. He hammered at his congregation using guilt and fear for their souls. It is a moving and powerful sermon that would have put fear in my head if I was in attedance during this time. This sermon, delivered in 1741, persuaded his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs. In the sermon he portrays God as an all powerful and all knowing being. He depicts Him with the ability to both crush and save a soul.
...able to cast enemies into hell: "so it is easy for us to cut or singe a slender thread that any thing hangs by: thus easy is it for God, when he pleases, to cast His enemies down to hell." Edwards relates our abilities with God's in a way that all may comprehend; consequently, when he returns to this analogy in his application, the same understanding rules: "your righteousness would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of hell, than a spider's web would have to stop a falling rock." This time, however, the spider and sinner are depicted as equals.
In the first chapter of God Behaving Badly, David Lamb argues that God is unfairly given a bad reputation. He claims these negative perceptions are fueled by pop culture and lead many to believe the lie that the God of the Old Testament is angry, sexist, racist, violent, legalistic, rigid, and distant. These negative perceptions, in turn, affect our faith. Ultimately, Lamb seeks to demonstrate that historical context disproves the presumptuous aforementioned. In addition, he defends his position by citing patterns of descriptions that characterize God throughout the Old Testament. “Our image of God will directly affect how we either pursue or avoid God. If we believe that the God of the Old Testament is really harsh, unfair and cruel, we won’t want anything to do with him” (Lamb 22). Clearly, they way Christians choose to see God will shape their relationship with Him.
The Puritans didn't have all the luxuries we have today. They were told many things by preachers such as Jonathon Edwards, who lit a candle of fear in their minds. If I was alive to hear Edwards preach, I'd certainly have to question myself. He preached that God holds us in his hands and he can make or break us. If God decides it so, he will let us go and we will fall from his hands to nothing but Hell. Certainly no one wants to go to Hell. So, the Puritans tried to better their lives, and go by rules or "resolutions." They believed if they followed these resolutions, even though their fate was predetermined by God, they could live a life of good and maybe prove they are meant to go to Heaven.
Puritans believed in strict religious dedications, by trying to follow the holy commandment. “The discipline of the family, in those days, was of a far more rigid kind than now.”(Hawthorne 9). They wanted to be considered the holiest of all people because they try to reflect a world of perfection in the sight of God. While they where trying to portray a holy life; however, they where also living a sinful life because they have been judgmental, slandering, uncompassionate, resentment, and forbearing, which are all sinful acts of the bible.
In 1534, King Henry VIII formally instigated the English Reformation. He therefore passed the Act of Supremacy, which outlawed the Catholic Church and made him “the only supreme head on earth of the Church of England” (Roark, 68). Puritans were looking for a more Protestant church and received what they wanted. Along with it, came the King’s total control over the Church. This is what the Puritans didn’t want. Puritans believed that ordinary Christians, not a church hierarchy, should control religious life. They wanted a distinct line between government and the Church of England. Puritans also wanted to eliminate the customs of Catholic worship and instead focus on an individual’s relationship with God developed through Bible study, prayer, and introspection (Roark, 68).
My experience before reading this excerpt? I come from a religious background and I already have had this fear instilled into me. My uncle, who recently just became a pastor after his late father, told me that I should have more fear in God than having fear in the Devil. He told that God is in control of what happens to those who sin and this relates to an excerpt from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God that I pulled out of the Volume 1 Edition of The Bedford Anthology of American Literature.
After researching the American Colonial period, primarily focusing on Puritan society and reading the novels, “The Crucible” and “The Scarlet Letter,” I have come to the conclusion that Puritan society was strict. The Puritans migrated from England and established colonies along the northern east coast of America. These colonies were led by rigid Puritan leaders who abided by the Bible and sought to do God’s work. They punished as they deemed fit and if you did not agree with how they ruled, they would banish you. Religion, family, and society were all closely tied together. It was expected that the father be the head of the household, work and provide for the family, and to make
Peter King. On the Free Choice of the Will, On Grace and Free Choice, and Other Writings. Cambridge: Cambridge UP, 2010. Print.