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Examples Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

680 Words3 Pages

Sam Redinger
Mr. Bertelsen
English III
9 November 2016
Essays on the Computer of a Slightly-Miffed Teenager Fire, brimstone, and destruction, and no, I’m not talking about the election. While sermons are usually known for their happier nature, Jonathan Edwards’s “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” will give you none of that. This sermon contains much figurative language, and that drives home the differences even more. Due to the nature of the sermon, it was most likely directed towards Puritans who lost their way. Edwards used many types of figurative language, including imagery and similes, to drive his point home.
In the poem, the audience seems to be directed to a group of Puritans who Edwards believed had lost their way. He seemed to be almost threatening to the congregation. This is evidenced by when he states, “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” (Edwards). This is an obvious threat towards his congregation, and has an overtones of malice. This shows how he currently feels towards his congregation, for whom the sermon was written. He obviously feels that they …show more content…

For instance, Edwards wrote about God and the bow of justice in the line stating “The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it nothing more than the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood” (Edwards). This line is used to give his congregation a vivid image of how close to death they are. It is full of rich details that serve to bring congregation back in line with his version of Christianity. It would certainly scare any Puritan at the time, and make them reevaluate their

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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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