Metaphors In Sinners

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.

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.

Jonathan Edward’s “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God” was a strong and intense sermon, that was well known in the first Great Awakening. This sermon had a huge impact on many sinner , but was targeted mainly to Edward’s puritans in his congregation. He evoked fear in the sinners, while describing the harsh punishments of not repenting the sins to the mighty God. Edwards emphasize his purpose and beliefs of this forgiveness by using rhetorical strategies such as logos, pathos, ethos, imagery, and syntax. His tone and diction also helped to support this purpose which allowed them to understand the seriousness of the situation.

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

Jonathan Edward’s use of imagery, metaphors, and symbolism in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in order to instill fear in his congregation and reveal the message that, aside from faith and

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.

Edwards tone and use of vivid imagery and similes targets his audience's fears. Edwards knows that emotion is a substantial component of religion, so instead of bombarding his audience with tedious information, destined to be ignored and overlooked, he overwhelms them by targeting their fears and anxieties. He creates this trepidation with his negative, urgent tone and descriptions of “God [holding] you over the pit of hell”. His vivid similes of God’s wrath being “like great waters that are dammed”, also help to support his impactful use of pathos. Throughout his sermon, Edwards targets his audience's fears, making them revere God’s wrath and in turn achieve his

If his sermon had lacked an emotional connection with the congregation, his sermon would be all for not. Thus, the audience would have no emotional reaction and would not feel the need to change their way of life for the better. The whole of Edwards’ sermon was made to create an emotional reaction within the lives of the crowd. His words pulled at the hearts of the congregation and simulated a strong fear from within. In his sermon Edwards says to the crowd, “The arrows of death fly unseen at noonday; the sharpest sight can’t discern them” (4).

Preacher Jonathan Edwards, in his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, chides the people of the church and of the world, stating that they are not worthy of God’s mercy, that they will soon face his wrath if they do not change their ways. Edwards’ intent is to show the people of the congregation that they are not living the Christian life the way that God intends it. He includes metaphors and parallel structure, along with personification in order to get his audience to see that in the eyes’ of God, their ways are evil and they need to change. The title of the Sermon itself is enough to create fear among people who believe that everyone is sinful and that their God is full of wrath.

Jonathan Edwards was an intelligent preacher from the great awakening, a religious revival in the 17th century. He preached to the puritans who lived an extremely strict and devout lifestyle. His famous six-hour sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, was given in 1741 in Enfield, Connecticut. In this sermon he used imagery, repetition, and figurative language to intimidate and terrify the people into seeking God’s grace. Edwards used imagery throughout his long sermon to visually show the listeners what Hell would look and feel like if they did not change their ways.

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Response Paper In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Jonathan Edward attempts to give sinners a chance to recognize that they will be looked down upon by God. The sermon carries a negative connotation throughout the piece, stating that those who sin will be destructed by fearful judgement. The purpose of this piece is to frighten sinners that they will not be forgiven and will end up nowhere but in hell. Edward’s tone throughout the sermon is cautionary and unsympathetic. The cautionary tone is shown in multiple parts of the sermon, warning people on the possible outcomes of acting on a sin.

During the 1700s people were really religious, it was their way of life, so Edwards used imagery throughout his homily. For example, in the first page paragraph four, he says "There are the black clouds of God's wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm". He says this to frighten his audience, it puts an image in their head of what can happen to them in the afterlife. They obviously do not want to go to hell, so it captures their attention.

In Johnathan Edward's, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," Edwards has a particular style of writing that conveys an underlying purpose when delivering the sermon. Throughout the sermon, he uses multiple writing techniques and tools to engage the listener more, and to assure the listeners believe and trust him. Edwards purpose of writing and delivering the sermon, is to warn his people and to whomever else wants to agree, that they all must show their remorse of their sins to God before it is too late. Every sentence in the sermon, is based around scarring the people even more and more. Edwards accomplishes this by using certain diction and structure, a certain tone, and persuasive figurative language.

Edwards is very good at using images in the Sinners in the hands of an angry

The burdens come upon them with a wave of fear that cannot be avoided. If one does not repent for his sins, he shall feel the anger God has for them, “They are now objects of that very same anger and wrath of God that is expressed in the torments of hell” (pp.431). Edwards portrays it to the readers as the people deserve what is coming to them because they have caused these problems by sinning which now means they must pay the price. Although many people already fear this monster, he brings more fear to their sinful souls. “The devil stands ready to fall upon them, and seize them as his own, at what moment God shall permit” (pp. 432). Being told this would be frightening because with a single word of “yes” the devil would then have the right and go-ahead to take these wicked people down to him where he will own them. For these