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Edwards Puritan Audience

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Often in the sermons pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or more fashion. Such is the case in Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” where he sends sinners to hell, who do not repent. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to their fears, pity and vanity. Edwards had a powerful impact on his puritan audience because of his use of a cautionary tone, clear imagery and complex figurative language. Foremost, Edwards has a powerful impact on his puritan audience because of his use of a cautionary tone. For example, “A day where in Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners”. This reveals that God can only give sinners second chances …show more content…

For Instance, “The bow of God’s wrath is bent and the arrow made ready on the string”. This shows that Gods anger is the bow and the arrow using the instrument of Gods anger. Also he states “All you that was never born again and made new creatures will be punish”. If you don’t accept God, he won’t accept you in. This means that the sinners have to be born again to be in the kingdom. Moreover, Edwards had a powerful impact on his puritan audience of his puritan audience because of his use of a complex figurative language in the passage. In paragraph 2, it states that “They are now the objects of that very same anger and wrath of God, which is expressed in the torments of hell”. It also states that “Is not at present very angry with them as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell”. Theses quotes reveal that God power is fear so that it can shut the sinners down and destroy sinners who made him angry. In essence, Edwards had a powerful impact on his puritan audience of his puritan audience by his use of a cautionary tone, a clear imagery and complex figurative language. Edwards wanted to impact his audience by appealing to their fears, pity and vanity. Edward describes the tone, imagery, and figurative language in the passage to use an awesome metaphor to get his point across the audience. Edward view was also to get sinners to hell, who does not

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It is 1741. The Enlightenment is spreading worldwide. The puritan people are leaving God. Johnathan Edwards gives a sermon on July 8th , 1741, trying to convince his fellow Puritan people to come back to God. He is going to try and accomplish this by giving his famous sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God '.

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146 Words | 1 Pages

At this point Edwards has grasped the attention of his listeners by using pathos to pertain to their emotions and feelings. Towards the end of the sermon his tone switches to one of reason in terms of not neglecting his words. He asks a series of rhetorical questions such as those who are unconverted and do not teach their children of Christ that they too will have to witness the wrath of God. As for literary devices such as metaphors, similes, and allegories, Edwards does not disappoint for his use of them most likely whipped a lot of Puritans back into their faith.

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682 Words | 3 Pages

This sermon, delivered by Jonathon Edwards, is one of the most renowned throughout the time of the Great Awakening. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was effective and persuasive in nature, so much that it convinced several individuals to convert and repent for their sins. Although Edwards was a theologian and preached among several of his faith, it was not the main factor of the sermon’s appeal; however, the literary contents were and it contributed to the sermon’s credibility as well as its beauty. The main factors of this appeal are the styles in which he writes, the tone in which it was written in, and the content of the sermon.

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234 Words | 1 Pages

Jonathan Edwards achieves the tone of his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” by using imagery. Edwards explains to his audience that unless they find salvation, God is the only one keeping them out of “the pit.” He succeeds in making his audience want to find salvation by planting images in their heads such as, “the bow of God’s wrath is bent, and injustice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow.” By saying this to the audience, he has strengthened the fear of God that is already prevalent in the Puritan religion. God’s disappointment in humans is expressed when he says, “you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours.”

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1000 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards’s sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Anne Bradstreet’s “Upon the Burning of Our House” seem at first glance quite similar to one another regarding context, however, after taking a closer look, it becomes apparent that there are some substantial differences. These differences cannot be understood without the knowledge of cultural context concerning the Puritan belief system and their lifestyle. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” was written with the sole purpose of scaring and intimidating the people that purtinans believed to be sinners. Edwards’s work contributed to a movement called “The Great Awakening”. It’s objective was to make the so-called ‘sinners’ aware of their wrongdoings and compel them to repent.

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1763 Words | 8 Pages

One of his well-known sermon is “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” preached at the meeting house in the village of Enfield, Connecticut, on Sunday, July 8, 1741, at the height of the great awakening. In this sermon, Edwards focused on the consequences of leading a sinful life, the power of God and repenting of ones sins, in order to be saved from hell. The purpose behind this piece of writing was not to terrorize or dismay the hearers, but to make them repent and believe in God again. This piece was aimed at those who lacked belief in God as well as churches.

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611 Words | 3 Pages

In his Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God sermon, Jonathan Edwards wanted to awaken Puritans to the reality of what would happen if they continued to go against God. He said that God has given humanity a chance to earn redemption for their sins, as everyone was like a “spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire” (Edwards, 12) who deserve hell. Only God’s will keeps humanity from falling into the fire and into the depths of hell, and his will is an opportunity to return to Him and be forgiven. Overall, in his sermon Edwards wanted to teach others about the dangers of sin while trying to persuade the unconverted Pilgrims to convert to his beliefs. The Pilgrims’ attitude toward God and their way of life in the eighteenth century was extreme.

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726 Words | 3 Pages

God Gives Us Free Will Jonathan Edwards preaches that if people follow God and obey him they will experience his great mercy. “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God,” he explains this concept in his sermon. Most people back in 1741 and to this day would be persuaded by his sermon about the Lord because of how passionately and strongly he spoke about his beliefs’. In this sermon Edwards refers to Gods everlasting wrath. He describes Gods anger towards those who do not follow and believe in Him.

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873 Words | 4 Pages

In crafting his highly effective sermon, Edwards utilizes his authority as a man of God and as an interpreter of the scriptures, a logical and direct organization of arguments, and violent imagery to convince his audience of the vengeance of God against man. Jonathan Edwards begins his sermon by quoting

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582 Words | 3 Pages

On July 8, 1741 Jonathan Edwards delivered the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” During this time many people were moving away from their Puritan beliefs and did not make God a priority. In the message he talked about how everyone was a sinner and how everyone belongs in hell. He also talked about how if God wanted to He would throw everyone in Hell, but since He gave us His Son we should take Him and repent. While delivering this message many people began to repent and ask for forgiveness.

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883 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards once said: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” Since birth (October 5th, 1703), Jonathan has always been a devoted Puritan which explains why he began the Great Awakening, along with George Whitefield. Edwards started preaching and wanted people to reconvert to Puritanism. His work, “Sinners at the Angry Hands of God,” was written on July 8, 1741.

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817 Words | 4 Pages

Jonathan Edwards, a preacher, wrote the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God". In the sermon, Edwards argues that everyone was out of God's favor and they needed to return to a righteous path. The tone of the sermon is indignant and authoritative. Jonathan Edwards uses imagery, logos, and pathos to encourage the unconverted audience to turn to God in order to escape his wrath. Elemental imagery is used in the sermon to inspire fear in the audience.

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864 Words | 4 Pages

This pathos appeal helps Edwards persuade the unconverted because they would not want to be left behind. He also illuminates that “God has so many different unsearchable ways of taking wicked men out of the world and sending them to hell” (Edwards 41). Edwards discusses the interminably amount of diverse means that God could damn the unconverted to try getting the argument across that they will not comprehend death approaching and it could be at any moment. Another use of pathos in “Sinners” is when Edwards describes to the unconverted that “the wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber” (Edwards 41).

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404 Words | 2 Pages

Rhetorical Analysis of Jonathan edwards’s Sinners in the hand of an angry god: jeremiad Jonathan edwards, is known as one of the most important religious figures of the great awakening, edwards became known for his zealous sermon “sinners at the hand of an angry god”. During his sermon he implies that if his congregation does not repent to christ they are in “danger of great wrath and infinite misery”. Throughout this sermon edwards uses literary devices such as strong diction, powerful syntax and juxtaposition to save his congregation from eternal damnation. Throughout Edwards’s sermon the use of turgid diction is exceedingly prevalent.

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928 Words | 4 Pages

Figurative language can be a compelling factor in literary works ranging from romantic poetry to political speeches. It forces the reader, or listener, to visualize and understand what the author is trying to say. Jonathan Edwards utilized this writing technique in his powerful sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Edwards used imagery, metaphors, and personification to express his differentiating attitudes towards both sinners and God which consisted of complete disgust in regards to the former and unwavering respect for the latter. Jonathan Edwards relied more on the composition of his writing rather than the execution of it which is why figurative language is found so often in this sermon.

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