Fear in the Words of a Puritan Preacher All speeches are given with the intent of making a group of people think a certain way about the topic the speaker has presented. Of course, the influence the speaker has on the listeners is not always the one the speaker intended the audience to have. For example, preachers give homilies with the intention of the people at mass, to walk away with a lesson or an idea to think about, after they leave. Even though two people had heard the same speech, one may walk away with one idea and an other person walks away with a completely different view. Jonathan Edwards was someone who, during his time, had spoken about many things when he preached, but the people listening left with very different ideas then what he intended. Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," summaries the Puritan view of a fearful God through his imagery and his views as a Puritan preacher. …show more content…
The Puritans followed the divine law by adhering to the Old Testament teachings. Puritans believe in the idea of predestination, the view that people's destiny were already predetermined by a higher power. This meant that someone who only did good deeds could still be condemned to go to hell while a murderer was chosen to go to heaven. Since they believed in this concept, they felt only a handful of them would be saved, or "God's elect". Since the Puritans weren't sure who was chosen as one of "God's elect", they all acted as if they were one of the ones who would be saved. ("The Puritan