Examples Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Jonathon Edwards maintains his audience’s attention by creating intense and meaningful similes. Edwards uses these similes as a way for his audience to understand the points he is making and adds dramatic imagery and piercing words to get the audience to consider what he is saying. The first simile he uses says this, “…they were always exposed to destruction; as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to fall” (Edwards 1). Edwards includes this quote in his sermon to provoke the readers thought. The point he is trying to make is that God’s people are exposed to destruction which is a hard to imagine so he breaks it down for his audience by saying that just as they are exposed to destruction if you walk in a slippery place you will also fall. The next memorable simile Edwards uses says this, “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked. His wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire…” (6). Here Edwards compares his congregation to a “loathsome insect”. Edwards does this to try and describe how God views them. He continues his claim by comparing God’s wrath on them burning like fire, which would probably spark fear in the hearts of the people that they may repent. This simile helped further Edward’s main point, that hell is inevitable. One last simile Edwards uses is this, “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards

Jonathan Edwards, a famous preacher in pre-colonial times, composed a sermon that was driven to alert and inject neo Puritanical fear into an eighteenth century congregation. This Bible based and serious audience sought after religious instruction and enlightenment. Through the sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards offers a very harsh interpretation to humankind. Edwards utilizes various rhetorical techniques to evoke an emotional response in his audience and to persuade the members of his congregation that their wicked actions will awaken a very ruthless and merciless God.

Imagery is used by Edwards to induce terror onto the congregation by illustrating the power of God on “wicked men” (para. 10). In the beginning of the excerpt, Edwards paints a picture of sinners ready to fall into the pit of hell, with only God’s will keeping them up. He describes it as such,

Figurative language is another important factor for the story. In the story, he talked about wickedness in a person’s body. “Your wickedness makes you as it were as heavy as lead.” This will make you think that the amount of wickedness in one’s body is equivalent to the weight of lead. This might persuade people to go be “reborn” since they would want to get rid of most of that wickedness. Another example is the comparison of a person to a spider. “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider.” Edwards use this to say that we’re no different than spiders in God’s eyes. We could be squished or dropped to our doom in a mater of seconds. Edwards also compared God’s wrath to the great waters. “The wrath of God is like great waters that are damned for the present, they increase more and more, and rise higher and higher, till an outlet is given, and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and

Edwards use of metaphors allows his tone to be straightforward with their negative connotations. He compares God’s wrath to the great waters that are damned to the present. By incorporating that the waters are for them and the longer it is held the faster and mighty it is, he makes readers feel guilty for being sinful. Depite managing to comfort them by reminding them they have not yet been judged he changes his tone to criticize it is their

Within the eighteenth century, Christians were going through the Great Awakening, a wave of religious enthusiasm that swept through the colonies in an effort to make an impact on the religion within the areas. In the sermon written by Jonathon Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he is trying to persuade nonbelievers into joining his religion in a way unused by many. To show nonbelievers the two altering sides of God based on what people believe and “they may imagine him to be so” (3), Jonathon Edwards’ sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” utilizes threatening tone, conveying repetition, and augmenting similes to express the fury and hopefulness of God.

1.” For example, in Edwards’ introduction, the phrase “their foot shall slide” located in Deuteronomy 32:35 of the Christian Bible is applied to help persuade Edwards’ congregation. He uses this verse to prove that anyone can slide and fall into damnation without any notification or help from God. Therefore, this phrase convinces his audience to change their sinful ways so that they will not perish in hell. Furthermore, Edwards uses the verse Isaiah 66:15, “For, behold, the Lord will come with fire, and with chariots like a whirlwind, to render his anger with fury, and his rebukes with flames of fire,” to validate his comments that God is livid and is furious at his congregation. This utilization of logos persuades his audience to be “born again” and change their actions because God is exceptionally disgusted at them as proven through this Old Testament book. Overall, both Paine and Edwards demonstrate tremendously the appeal of logos through these

Edwards' creative choice of words that he uses describes the power of God and the terrible Hell awaiting sinners. These words easily infiltrate into the minds of his congregation and frighten them beyond belief. These choices of words and his use of such vivid images are mostly successful in their intent, to scare and put fear into his audience. Edwards held his audience locked up with his promises of eternal damnation if proper steps were not taken. The congregation felt the intense impact of his rhetorical strategies and lived on the fear of the power of God. In this way, he was able to keep his followers from sin and away from the fiery pits of Hell.

Jonathan Edwards uses simile, Allusion, and rhetorical questions to express the wrath of God to the audience throughout his speech. In the forth paragraph, Edwards states that "your destruction would come like a whirlwind" which is an example of how strong God is. The statement is what the disbelief of God would lead up to, a strong storm to punish a person and his disbelief of God. They would be sent to Hell and the comparison to the downfall into Hell and the whirlwind is the proof of God's strength and why Edwards creates a connection to the rapid destruction.

To make his audience feel fearful, Jonathan Edwards uses strong diction, metaphors, and imagery to get unsaved puritans and sinners to accept God and ask for forgiveness so as not to spend an eternity in hell. In the phrase “cut them off”, Jonathan uses diction to ultimately make his point sound harsh and cold. Rather than him saying that God won’t have mercy on the sinners, he states that God will cut them off as if though they meant nothing. His purpose is to say that God knows that they are sinning and being wicked and in a moments notice, he could just end their life.

Perhaps the first thing noticeable in Edwards’ sermon is his horrifying imagery of Hell and what happens when one doesn’t accept God into his or her life. On page eighty-eight it is stated “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead… and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink… and plunge into the bottomless gulf… and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell, than a

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is one of the most potent and impactful orations of the 18th century. In his sermon, Jonathan Edwards, a major driving force behind the Great Awakening, sought to turn his congregation away from their wicked ways brought on by the world around them. To do this, he instructed them in how to more closely follow the plan for eternal life laid out for them by God (Edwards 394). Edwards used many literary devices to make this point; however, in this paper, I will attempt to prove that his use of metaphors had the greatest impact on his audience. I believe metaphors are one of the best ways to teach religion, because it is such a difficult topic to discuss. Moreover, most of Edward’s audiences were not classically trained theologians and a good portion was not even literate. Because of this lack of knowledge, many pastors at the time had to use terms that would be familiar to even the layman listening. By using metaphors, such as comparing our ability to save ourselves from damnation to a spider’s web stopping a falling rock, even an illiterate religious neophyte could understand the point Edwards is trying to make (Edwards 395).

In the sermon, "Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God", by Jonothan Edwards, he uses imagery, similes, and personification to put forward his claim that those who have angered the Creator with several sins will be hell-bound. He wants to show the consequences of angering God and what will be their fate.

In "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Jonathan Edwards uses rhetorical devices such as imagery, personafication, and similes to persuade his audience. Imagery enhances the audience's minds with pictures of how hell would be like. Personafication exaggerates the words so the congregation understands. Similes aid Edwards by comparing God's wrath to waters. Imagery enhances the congregation's minds with images of how angry God is.

Edwards uses a mixture of personification and metaphors to portray an image. For example, god compares his anger to the bow which is a sign of a metaphor. Personification comes into play when Edwards makes the statement “the arrow will be drunk with your blood” meaning the arrow will drench blood from the body of sinners. Also, he states he will devour sinners forever by stating “swallowed up in everlasting destruction”. I can picture the arrow being drawn back and aiming at sinner’s heart, ready to be fired. This scares us to see gods pre-existing urgency in play. God will have mercy and give eternal life to those who repent, and give hell to those who