Ralph Waldo Emerson, a famous poet once quoted the following, “For every minute you remain angry, you give up sixty seconds of peace of mind.” Anger as we all know can be a very powerful emotion that can have many different effects, firstly on the person that is experiencing the emotion, secondly the person or persons who is around the said anger filled individual. However, the intention of this paper is not to focus on anger, but to focus on the persuasion that people can use when giving speeches or in this case, preaching. John Edwards, a preacher in the new world takes the time to diligently preach his congregation, this is now the writing we know as, Sinners in the hand of an Angry God. While exploring this piece of writing, it is important to note that John Edwards uses many ways to persuade his congregation to believe that God is angry. The keys to his persuasion are as following, the people are out of God’s grace, they are wicked, and everyone has committed a sin. Firstly, in Sinners Edwards persuades that the people in his congregation are out of God’s grace, which in short means that they are no longer in God’s favor. Just for imagination sakes, every one of these people in Edward’s congregation are good church going people, however; being told that you are no longer in God’s favor would no doubt make you question your faith. This isn’t the main key factor of his persuasion it is in fact he provides a vivid description of Hell, which strikes the fear right into the
Respected Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards in his Sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God (1781), Elaborates on the negatives of being a repentant sinner. Edward’s goal is to inform people that sinning can be dangerous. He adopts a serious tone in order to establish a constant fear within Sinners and Non Sinners reading. Using the heavy caution within his readers let him establish a successful Sermon with the help of examples.
He had his own feelings about topics and many people respected him, although, some did not. Edwards comprehended that words are very authoritative, and if used properly could sway hundreds of individuals. He used unpretentious literary devices, but he most certainly used them to the completest degree. He proved he had a message to get across and he made his principles crystal clear. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, was most positively a sermon that changed lives of millions. Edwards once said, “You contribute nothing to your salvation, but the sin that made it necessary.”
Jonathan Edwards author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God uses literary elements such as pathos, ethos, or logos to create fear in his audience to help them understand the situation he is trying to explain to them. For example, “ The Arrow is made ready”, this is aimed towards all of those who have sinned, or have not yet accepted christ, telling them the will punish them if they do not accept him and repent soon. This is meant to scare the Audience into accepting christ because no one wants an arrow unexpectedly piercing into their chests at any time of the day or night.
Imagine a man standing up before you and preaching to you that no matter how good of a person you are, no matter how hard you work, no matter what you do, you're going to Hell. Jonathan Edwards did exactly this to a group of Puritans in his most famous speeches, Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God. Edwards started preaching when he was just five-years-old and was very devoted to it and to his religion. In his speech, Edwards uses pathos to persuade his audience to listen to him.
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God It is said that during Jonathan Edwards sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, people from the audience screamed in terror because of the blunt and intense technique Jonathan used. In this six hour long sermon, he proposed the idea that if sinners did not repent and were not in God’s grace, then they would be damned to Hell. He also explained there was nothing a person could do to refrain from Hell other than through the power of God. In order for Edwards to get his point across to his audience, he had to use effective persuasive techniques. Jonathan Edwards influenced his audience’s relationship with God by using extreme repetition, references to the elements, and compelling imagery.
Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is moving and powerful. His effectiveness as an eighteenth century New England religious leader is rooted in his expansive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, as well as a genuine desire to "awaken" and save as many souls as possible. This sermon, delivered in 1741, exhibits Edwards's skillful use of these tools to persuade his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs.
In his sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of the Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards, uses figurative language and dictation to bring about an emotional reaction from his Puritan audience. He successfully manipulated his audience by the use of imagery.
“Confession of sin shuts the mouth of Hell and Opens the gates of paradise.” These Wise words from Thomas watson embody the aims and beliefs of the puritans. The puritans expressed their beliefs and thoughts of the bible through their writing; be it poems, sermons, or stories. In the short story A Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson by Mary Rowlandson, The sermon From Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God by Jonathan Edwards, and the poem by Anne Bradstreet [Deliverance] From Another Sore Fit, there is a common theme of religion and the hardships these writers go through to produce such powerful works of literature. The puritan’s possessed a very unique style of writing which introduce many literary elements into all different types of
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.
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards displays controversial viewpoints and ideas concerning heaven and hell. As Edwards speaks to the congregation he warns them of the misery and suffering they will face if they do not repent of certain sins. He also describes God as angry which probably struck fear into the hearts on many. To illustrate his own point that hell is unenviable without repentance Jonathan Edwards creates the idea of an angry God using intense similes, a harsh tone, and strong emotional appeal in “Sinners in the hand of an Angry God”.
In "Sinner's in the Hand of an Angry God" by Johnathan Edwards, to remind his audience that God is very powerful and in any moment he can drop you into the pit of hell he incorporates alliteration, imagery, and simile. Edwards used more than one alliteration to empesize the idea that God is omnipitant. In varies paragraph, such as in 3,5, and 6 he repeats the words " God's wrath" through him repeating the same words the audience receive the message that God has the most powerful wrath. God's wrath can do all things so one should be careful for their actions. This alliteration also reminds the audience on what God's wrath can do.
Jonathan Edwards and Nathaniel Hawthorne are similar because of the fact that they both talk about religion. Therefore they both get their points across but in different ways. Edwards, the writer of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” is the actual preacher of that sermon. He wants people to repent and turn to god, he does this through the way he preaches the sermon or through his tone. His demeanor is not like a normal sermon, Edward is shouting. At the end of many sentences there are many exclamation marks which tells you he is not just talking in a regular voice. On the other hand, Nathaniel Hawthorne uses symbolism throughout the story. The story is of a preacher that wears a black veil for years which is symbolising his sins. Hawthorne’s
A wise woman once said “The best way to persuade someone is through guilt shame and the fear of God”(Lea Ide 2015). While this statement is agreeable enough, there is only one flaw, there was no mention of hope. While fear, guilt, and shame are very persuasive on their own, hope helps drive the argument. Jonathan Edwards, author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, understood that for him to persuade the his church he needed to attack from all angles. Not only did he, quite literally, put the fear of God into his congregation he also gave them hope in order to help them be good puritans. In “Sinners…” Jonathan Edwards helps persuade his fellow puritans with three techniques; guilt, hope, and the fear of God.
Instilling fear into a person is a way to persuade someone to do something they might not want to do. In his story he describes how God is angry at everyone who is unconverted and there for will punish them by sending them to hell when they die or when they reach their after lives. “…as angry as he is with many miserable creatures now tormented in hell, who their feel and bear the fierceness of his wrath.” (Lines 6-7 page 124). ” Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering so weak that they will not bear their weight, and these places are not seen.” (Lines 19-20 Pages 126). Edward’s tone was harsh, cold, bitter, etc. throughout most of
During the past weeks of school we've talked about the techniques that Jonathan Edward used in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", in which Edward's uses dramatic comparisons to portray the wrath of god, in a way that people of the time could grasp. Edward's would use methods that illustrated what would happen if they continued to sin and disobey god.