Through connecting psychological principles with accentuated rhetoric, Jonathan Edward’s delivers “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” initially stirring the First Great Awakening. The basis of his sermon relies on a mix of imagery and rhetoric with an impassive delivery to condemn those currently who do not have the spirit of God striving within them. He further sentences those who resist and sin, by speaking of God’s sovereignty with severity, using graphic metaphoric language, thus hyperboles descriptions of God and the fate of the congregation.
On his pulpit, Edwards portrays a God himself, who harshly opposes all human order for holding a sense of security, for these efforts inspire rebellion and self-reliance, which leads to blind
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This principle can be shown in the brick kiln figure, which achieves the nakedness of the idea. In the last five paragraphs he states his bare notion stating, “That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you” (106). This passage serves to illustrate his immediacy of physical detail, which preceded with gradual building metaphors. The bare experience would allow those in the pulpit to sense the eventual suffering, thus becoming a victim of Edward’s style of relied syntax to finally reach his overall point. The communication of his ideas enter the mind of the auditors through such bare sensory experiences, thwarting their “rebel” hearts (p.102). Recalling the key images of: wickedness heavy as lead, earth ready to spew out the sinner, the black clouds of God wrath, the dammed waters of God’s wrath, the bent bow of God’s wrath, and the sinner-as-spider held by God over the fire (p.107). All six of these separate metaphors have coherence and become explicated tied to the congregation with the following and applied physical principle. Overall the passage of fire and brimstone alludes to God’s wrath and to persuade those into repentance. The achievement of this passage, commands to visualize the world and lake of sulfur, leading into images of suffering. In his blunt manner, this concept of hell and suffering recalls of Edwards’ style of writing, illustrating Lockean use of language. To those in the pews, this original use of metaphor of hell would resonate as the truth, their sensory experiences pervaded by Edwards’ typical blunt