Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
(An Analysis of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards) Jonathan Edwards once said, “Resolution one: I will live for God. Resolution two: if no one else does, I still will.” Jonathan Edwards also wrote the six hour long sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The ultimate purpose of this sermon was to persuade people of the 18th century to confess their sins and repent in order to be spared God’s wrath. Never taking a break or changing his monotone voice, he succeeded in striking fear into the hearts of hundreds of listeners, thus completing the purpose. There are three reasons why Jonathan Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was such a successful persuasive oration. The first example that implies that Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was a good persuasive sermon was the fact that Edwards pointed out the pleasure of God’s mercy multiple times. Throughout the essay he states that God is willing to forgive, but only if you do your part. On page 89, Jonathan Edwards states, “God stands ready to pity you; this is a day of mercy; you may cry now with
On page 87 he exclaims, “That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone is extended abroad under you.” This creates a word picture in the reader’s head, and fear in the reader’s heart. There are accounts of people crying out in fear and fainting while listening to Edwards’ imagery. These pictures make the readers or listeners contemplate their fate if they don’t change their ways. Garrison puts it simply, “We know for example, from accounts of the actual sermon that some people were so shaken by Edwards’ sermon that they either fainted or they had to leave the church. That alone tells us how seriously they took the threat articulated by Edwards.” Obviously, his fear tactic served its purpose
Edwards does however lighten the tone at the conclusion of the sermon by explaining how the people c...
Edwards immediately begins with a harsh, almost cruel, tone with the use of abrasive diction. His first moments of preaching the sermon had the use of words such as, “over the pit of hell;..deserved the fiery pit… wrath in hell… devil is waiting for them,” (1). Edwards
...God”, by Jonathan Edwards successfully persuaded the Puritans to be converted back to Puritanism. Through Edwards’ sermon the Puritans were compelled to renew their faith back to God. Edwards gave the Puritans a sense of realization, which caused them to go back to their congregation. Edwards horrified the Puritans, with his use of vivid and descriptive imagery, which effectively persuaded them to return to the congregation. Through his utilization of numerous loaded and highly emotional diction, he petrified and convinced the Puritans to go back to the church of God. He also gloriously enhances his sermon with his utilization of threatening and fearful tone tormented the Puritans and convinces them to be pious once again. Jonathan Edwards’s utilization of numerous rhetorical strategies effectively persuaded the Puritans to convert back to their congregations.
And while describing the fiery wrath of the “Angry God,” Edwards states, “The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation.” By focusing on this group of people, Edwards instills a sense of fear within the audience of “sinners.” 3) Edwards purpose in delivering this sermon was to inform “sinners” of the inevitable doom that He thus creates a sense of helplessness in his audience, and encourages them to submit to God and renew their faith in Christianity. His use of parallelism allows Edwards to exponentially build a sense of fear, and it is maintained throughout this sermon.
With a self-confident tone, he refers to the American natives as “savage, devils” and compares their home to a devil’s home and their tactics to soldiers in Europe, all just to bring attention to the readers. Mary, on the other hand, represents natives as “ravenous beast” showing the typical symptoms from a survivor; anxiety and distress. She uses a prose with the absence of rhetorical ornamentation rejecting literary artifice, sending a clear message though with her own interpretation of things. With a clear binary opposition, good and evil can be found in the same human; she forgets that the Indian may have a reason for the attacks. Edward; however, writes his sermons in a crescendo tone presenting them from a negative point of view provoking a reaction using biblical allusions. Words such as “Hell” and “Torture” are used to awaken the congregation and to provoke a reaction. His sermons are full of imagery, similes, comparisons and metaphors which can be interpreted in different
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.
Figurative language is used in a lot of writings to pull you more into the words. Figurative language uses the five senses to place a deep picture in your mind of what is actually happening. Metaphors, similes, personification, hyperbole, etc. are all figurative devices used in writing. Without using any of these things writing would be straight forward and not so complicated to understand. When figurative language is used it makes the reader really think about what is being said by the author and what point the author is trying to make. Both "The Iroquois Constitution” and "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” use figurative language but for different reasons.
In the story “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the author Jonathan Edwards uses
Plans are revealed to, “hold a separate service on Sundays for [the slaves’] benefit,” in which pointed sermons were to be delivered to the slaves (Jacobs 57-58). One such sermon is inherently accusatory and meant to instill fear in its slave audience. Statements such as “God is angry with you,” “You tell lies”. God hears you,” and “God sees you and will punish you” serve to foster a sense of guilt and fear within the slaves, casting disobedience in any form as an affront against God, one that merits divine punishment (Jacobs 58). The sermon creates an emotional tie to profitable slave behavior – obedience stemming from fear – which it goes on to enforce as the will of God: “If you disobey your earthly Master,” the preacher claims, “you offend your heavenly Master” (Jacobs 58).
One of the most prominent themes is the idea that the devil is responsible for sin. The imagery and symbols found throughout the essay build upon this theme. When Edwards says: “You are ten thousand times more abominable in His eyes than the most hateful serpent is in ours” (26), he wants the audience to understand that by sinning, you are doing the devils work. Another theme that is present in the sermon is God’s power and grace, which Edward uses to give the audience one glimpse of hope at the end of the sermon. By stating that “you have an extraordinary opportunity…Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open” (33), he gives the audience more reason to convert back to God.
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
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.
In order to understand Edwards use of language however, one must look at his early life and formative influences. His family undoubtedly shaped his religious career because “[H]e was the only son among the eleven children of Rev. Timothy Edwards and Esther Edwards, the daughter of influential puritan clergymen Solomon Stoddard” (Wachal 1). Growing up in a religious family must have influenced his career path. Then “Edwards attended Yale School of theology at 13 years of age” (Paposian 1). This is important because at Yale, Edwards would create his own “unique style of preaching” (“Jonathan Edwards” Dictionary 1). Here “his theology which soon came to be known as Edwardseanism had developed in hi...
One instance that Winthrop uses brotherly love is: “[t]here is likewise a double lay by which we are regulated in out conversation one towards another in both the former respects: the Law of nature and the law of grace, or the moral law or the law of the Gospel, to omit the rule of justice as not properly belonging to this purpose otherwise than it may fall into consideration in some particular cases” (Winthrop 104). From this, Winthrop is saying that every man of God should treat another man of God the way they want to be treated. Edwards, on the other hand, says, “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” (Edwards 285). The comparison of “Pit of fire” and “Pit of hell,” are common themes in Edwards’s sermon. Some would argue that this is unnecessary and will only push people away from God and scare them, but Edwards has a different view on this. At the end of Edwards sermon he says, “[a]nd now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners; a day wherein many are flocking to him, and
Technology has improved our way of living. Due to many advances of technology most Americans will not be able to live without it. The most impactful revolution that has occurred to the social life of a regular American is the Digital Revolution. The revolution brought new ways to communicate. With Social Media Americans can now connect to friends and family members across the world with ease. Many mediums of communication have been born out of the Digital Revolution.