Edwards utilizes vivid hell imagery and depicts God as presented in
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.
Throughout the sermon, Edwards uses imagery to emphasize his message. He states, “The God that holds you over the pit of
Jonathan Edwards, in the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" presents his beliefs through the usage of repetition and imagery. He expresses his thoughts to persuade readers of the wrath of God. Edwards usage of words and his repetition allows the reader to undestand what he wants the congregation to grasp from the text. In the sermon Edward repeats the phrase " the wrath of God" he emphasizes on the wrath of Almighty God to make it known that no one has the power to resist God, a persons actions can dertermine their destiny which can either be hell or heaven. the purpose of his repetion was to terrify the potestants into obeying his demands and prevent them into commiting a sin and burning into the firey pot of
Jonathan Edwards’ “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Benjamin Franklin’s “The Way to Wealth” while having a drastically different topic had similar subtopic and rhetoric language. While Jonathan Edwards warned his congregation of the eternal damnation that will be faced if they did not change their ways, Benjamin Franklin warned and gave advice on financial arrangements. Edwards communicates to his audience how their behavior has consequences, in this case, eternal damnation. Throughout his sermon, his use of pathos is overwhelming. Edwards uses confrontational language, descriptive images, strong fierce language to ingrain his warning into the hearts of his congregation.
In Jonathan Edwards's Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Edwards, through his heavy use of similes and metaphors, thoroughly conveys to the audience that humanity's faith ultimately lies in the hands of an omnipotent, all-encompassing being. Written in this sermon is, "Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead...", and Edwards's intentions towards writing such a substantial line is most likely to emanate human wickedness, distinctly clarifying that the weight of our innate evilness is as heavy as lead is, thus concluding that it is outside of our nature to be able to support this great weight. This is why our wickedness must be carried by a being outside of us that is capable of bearing all of humanity's wickedness. Building onto
Johnathan Edwards wants sinners to truly visualize what is to come in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God". There is a great deal of imagery that is included, which is carried out through the use of similes comparing God's omnipotent wrath to many things, a call to action emphasizing the little time sinners have for salvation, as well as rhetorical questioning to highlight key points in his sermon. Edward points out distinct characteristics of his wrath, asserting that they are like "great waters [dammed] for the present, [increasing] more and more." He utilizes this technique in attempt to provide the audience with enough details to get a sense of God's anger towards the sinners. Stating that it is comparable to a flood gives reader a feeling of what is to come for them if they refuse to change the way they live their lives, which of course seems like an 'inconceivable' fate that no one should undergo.
“...You shall be tormented in the presence of the holy angels…,” Jonathan Edwards wrote in his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” This quote shows pathos, a tool he used to stir up emotion to show that if you’re a sinner God will come for. Edward also shows many other tools as he tries to convince others to exit the sinner life into the Puritan Life. Edward uses ethos when he says, “The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed for the present.”
In “sinners in the hands of an angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses different types of literary techniques, such as, imagery, metaphor, similes, repetition, and rhetorical questions to emphasize his point. His point is to scare the people and make them want to repent, which is the theme of the sermon. In the sermon “Sinners in the hands of an angry god,” Edwards uses different types of
On antor note, Edwards development in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has a frightful and archaic language usage which help his sermon develop. To explain, Edwards usage of imagery/symbolism help develop the mode. “... hell is gaping for them… ”(Edwards)
Edwards uses the web because it exemplifies how easily it can be destroyed by a rock. The rock also resembles a sin because of the magnitude and power it possesses. A sin is much greater in Edwards eyes than righteousness because sin is more important than righteousness in terms of the inability to forgive. The web can also be considered righteousness because of how fragile and uncommon the web is. Righteousness is also much harder to find; likewise, it is difficult to find a spider’s web perfectly intact.
In “Sinners in The Hands of an Angry God”, Johnathan Edwards uses fear to create images that help his audience experience the consequences of sinful behavior. He uses imagery and figurative language to persuade his readers. He wants us to get a mental picture of Hell in your head and he wants us to fear the wrath of God. One such image was when Edward wrote, “When men are on god’s hands and they could fall to Hell, natural men are held in the hands of God, over the pit of Hell.” God could let us fall into the eternity of burning flames anytime He wants to.
Edward’s is telling the people not to sin so they will not have to burn in hell for eternity. “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it.” God has everyone “hanging by a slender thread” over the pit to hell while the flames wait for Him to drop you lower so they can singe the thread to make you fall into the flames of hells wrath. Everyone is hanging on a thread at God’s hand, and everytime you sin you get dropped lower and lower into the fires of hell.
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
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).