The Image Of God In Of Plymouth Plantation: The Voyage Of The Mayflower, Huswifery And Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

In William Bradfords, “Of Plymouth Plantation:The voyage of the Mayflower,” he references God’s providence. This made me believe that he thought of God as his higher power. After reading the excerpt many times I had come to the conclusion that his view on good was both good and bad. He referenced him many times throughout the reading, and from what I understood he seemed to think of him as someone who was always there, and as someone to end suffering. I think Bradford chose to express his thoughts on God in this excerpt to show that he was in fact helpful and that he would always be there no matter what. Although I think he shined the light on some bad parts of God as well. Bradford mentioned God and had said that he had given the young man a diseased and killed him. But farther in said that light was shined on his head and that was just the hands of god taking care of him.

Now, onto Edward Taylor’s poem, “ Huswifery.” This poem was written to reflect on humanity’s relationship with god. The entire poem was extremely religious to begin with. Taylor was known for very religious writings so his faith in god was obviously there. Taylor wrote the poem to ask god a few things. In the first line of the poem he says, “ make me thy spinning wheel,” asking God to make him his “instrument.” Later in the second stanza Edwards then asks,” make me thy loom then. Knit therein this twine.” Meaning to ask god to make him useful in doing something and to watch over him and to support him. This writer expresses his thoughts on God in a very positive way.

Lastly, in Jonathan Edwards, “ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” he also expresses his feelings towards God in a neutral way. He introduces him as loving but also angry. He also expresses him as almighty throughout the sermon. I think the whole idea of the sermon is to inform people to turn to God before it’s too late. To ask him for forgiveness for sinning. In hopes of saving them from going to hell. He’s trying to convince everyone to believe and accept their fate in god. Edwards also describes God as someone whos targeting the sinners, because he’s angry with them, hence the reason he’s trying to turn them towards God.

Imagery, Figurative Language And Repetition In The Sermon Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Several centuries ago, an important revival swept through New England called the Great Awakening. During this time period, Jonathan Edwards, a Puritan priest was greatly impacted from this religion so he wrote and presented a sermon known as “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. He wrote this Sermon, aiming to frighten his followers by reminding them that there is more than being just a church member to escape from the unforgiving fiery pits of hell. Edwards utilized several rhetorical effects and appeals to drive fear into the hearts of those listening to his speech such as imagery, figurative language and repetition.

Edwards’s imagery helped paint terrifying pictures in the minds of his followers of the consequences they will face in the future if they didn’t show remorse of their sinful ways and turn to God for forgiveness. Jonathan Edwards said, “ The wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber; the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them; he furnaces is now hot” (Paragraph 3, Edwards 153). This statement was used to describe hell, where Edwards followers would be taken to if they didn’t show remorse for their sinful acts immediately. When he says “a pit is prepared, the fire is ready”, it helped those listening to the speech to imagine themselves falling through the pit, experiencing a dark, burning, never-ending torture. Edwards also uses several other examples of imagery. He states, “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:” (paragraph 8, Edwards 154). This line told the audience that,, they were just like spiders, which are small, insignificant, and gross creatures. Edwards wanted his followers to know that God thought of them as unimportant creatures, just like a spider.

Edwards used repetition for certain parts of the speech that he wanted to make sure his followers would remember. Several times throughout the speech, he says the words “God’s wrath” (paragraph 2, Pg 153) and “God’s wrath” (paragraph 6 ,Pg 154). He wanted to make sure that his audience understood the fact that God had ways to torture them that they had never thought of before. Edwards was warning the people that “God’s wrath” would be coming for them in no time, unless they showed remorse immediately. There were also several other times when Edwards used repetition during his speech. One word that he rephrased several times was “fire” Fire is so powerful and tempting , yet so threatening and dangerous. Edwards wanted to warn his followers that God had his fire on his side and the next person who embodies sinful act would have to face it.

Jonathan Edwards also used figurative language to warn his followers that they must apologize to god First, Edwards used similes to get his point across. He stated, “His wrath toward you burns like fire;” (Paragraph 7, Edwards 154). He uses this descriptive and persuasive language to frighten and motivate his audience by making them recognize the repulsive state they created for themselves. Edwards also used personification in the speech, He announced to the people, “it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.” (paragraph 6, pg 154). Arrows don’t have the capability like humans to become drunk, but Edwards used the phrase to describe the fact that everyone in the audience would be killed, if they didn’t change there way of living immediately. This use of figurative language alone would frighten the people listening to the speech because of the thought of one small, “being made drunk with” gallons of blood, coming from all of the people in the room who were being immoral and sinful.

Convincing Methods Of The Sermon Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

‘Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering'(Edwards,2). It is this kind of language that Jonathan Edwards used to persuade many early American settlers. This line comes from the famous sermon, ‘Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’, which was delivered July 8,1741 in the state of Connecticut. Many people believe that Edwards was able to allure his listeners into believing his preaching and was even able to influence the listener’s very way of life because of how convincing he was. Yet there are also those who believe that the provocative techniques Edwards used within his sermons were too overbearing and actually didn’t convince or move the audience at all. After examining both of these positions on the matter, it is clear that Jonathan Edwards was indeed able to persuade his listeners dramatically by using both scare tactics and persuasive techniques within his sermon.

The first reason that Edwards was able to convince his beholders so much was due to his use of scare tactics. Throughout the entire sermon you can see that the use of scare tactics are the most commonly used compared to the other means of persuasion that have been demonstrated in it. One example of these scare tactics can be seen on page six of the sermon, when Edwards wrote, ‘The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the mere pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood'(Edwards, 6). In this instance of the use of scare tactics, Edwards aimed to inform the listeners that God is not a merciful or pitiful being, but an all-powerful force that has the ability and the right to strike you down at any moment but doesn’t due to his decision to spare the powerless person. When the listener hears this, especially including the somewhat naive audience of the 1700’s, they gain a sense of unease at the fact that they are seemingly powerless against the force of God and they reach Edwards intended effect of persuasion through fear. Another instance of Edwards’s use of scare tactics is how he describes the punishments of the certain unfortunate individuals who were not spared of God’s horrible wrath. Edwards stated on page nine that, ‘It would be dreadful to suffer this fierceness and wrath of Almighty God one moment; but you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery. When you look forward, you shall see a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having any deliverance, any end, any mitigation, any rest at all.’ (Edwards, 9). By explaining this idea of a never ending torment to the audience, he achieves the feeling of fear he wishes to instill within the listener as he did before but this time slightly reassured the listener by nodding to the fact that if they stay devoted to God that this will not happen to them. Edwards was very clever in doing this as it directly makes the listeners devote themselves more and more to the church and puritan life without the sermon actually stating to do so in it. A third example of how Edwards preaching used fear tactics to convince his congregation can be seen with his use of imagery. The use of imagery has actually been used to great extent in most of the preacher’s descriptions of God’s wrath and eternal punishment throughout the sermon, but the previous examples of fear used in the sermon are fantastic examples of how he used it. To be exact, in the previous quote when describing punishment by stating, ‘you must suffer it to all eternity. There will be no end to this exquisite horrible misery…a long for ever, a boundless duration before you, which will swallow up your thoughts, and amaze your soul; and you will absolutely despair of ever having…any rest at all’ (Edwards, 9). The imagery here is used in a very effective manner since it is describes these things in a very frightening, graphic tone and managed to give the reader some reliability to the suffering when Edwards says that the mere thought of rest you had access to so easily in regular life would become an unimaginably swell pleasure if you were to endure eternal punishment. The use of this imagery, along with the other methods of scare tactics, included strong language which of course frightened the reader on a physiological level but Edwards also used a more literary approach to allure his listeners.

Another reason Edwards was able to strongly convince his readers was because of the persuasive writing techniques he used in the sermon’s text. A prime example of one of the many writing techniques used in the sermon is repetition, which can be used to stir emotions and emphasize ideas. A sample of this repetition can be seen on page five of the sermon when it reads, ‘This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. — That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up'(Edwards, 5). Here you can see how both the previously mentioned fear tactics and Edwards use of repetition are being used since the restating of the word ‘you’ induces fear in listeners by emphasizing the fact that the punishments mentioned in the sermon are directed towards them and the repeating of the word also emphasizes to the listeners that it is them that has to take action and embrace Edwards message. A second example of Edwards’s literary methods of persuasion is the metaphors scattered through the sermon. On page five of the sermons text it reads, ‘If God should only withdraw his hand from the flood-gate, it would immediately fly open, and the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God, would rush forth with inconceivable fury, and would come upon you with omnipotent power; and if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea…it would be nothing to withstand or endure it'(Edwards, 5). This statement from Edwards is filled with different metaphors representing the overall idea of God’s mercy on all humans sinful ways and what would happen if he didn’t show such mercy. The individual metaphors in this excerpt are the floodgate which refers to God’s mercy on humans and the water inside of the gate which represents the horrible wrath and punishment that hell is, the excerpt also mentions that the punishment is so horrible that even a man with ten thousand times his current strength wouldn’t even have the power to resist it. These metaphors work to influence the reader since it helps them grasp the importance and consequence of what is being said as it becomes easier to imagine what a seemingly inconceivable punishment is like. People of course don’t know how eternal punishment feels, so instead it is represented as conceivable incident, such as the incident of a person being violently submerged in water, to represent the message more accurately. A third example of Edwards’s persuasive writing techniques is his use of similes in the sermon. Much like the metaphors used in the text, the similes are used to help visualize certain ideas, except unlike the metaphors, Edwards primarily uses the similes in the preaching for the purpose of representing some of the sermons provided situations from God’s point of view. You can see this when Edwards stated in his sermon, ‘ 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'(Edwards,6). In this specific scenario, Edwards compares humans to repulsive insects being dangled over some kind of flame, or at least that’s how he manages to make it seem like God sees humans. Edwards addition of how God is ‘provoked’ to throw the insect into the fire adds to the perspective of God’s toleration towards humans and how he has such great power that damning a person is tempting yet takes very little effort. As evidently shown, these persuasive writing techniques used by Edwards excelled in using perspective and emphasizing of certain propositions to help the listeners grasp ideas and help achieve Edwards’s overall goal of persuading people to heed his sermon’s message.

While there has been plenty of supporting evidence as to why Jonathan Edwards was successful at creating a convincing, persuasive sermon, there are those who oppose this statement and claim that the sermon did not persuade its listeners. The reason for this is because, although the graphic detail used in the text has been shown to be convincing, people believe that the straightforward and harsh detail of the sermon was enough to actually frighten people to the point of rebuke towards the sermon. This is an understandable statement as Edwards did indeed use details that were extremely violent for the time in order to help people embrace the Great Awakening. What really drives this argument is that the language can be considered even more vile when taking into consideration that this is affiliated with the innocence of a church and its puritan occupants. However, what these people may not have taken into consideration is that Puritan beliefs at the time acknowledged the fact that their God wasn’t a merciful guardian with infinite powers used to defend humans. The Puritans actually knew that their God was more of a powerful being who watches over humans, but shows more mercy than he is showing embrace towards them, as they are all sinners in his eyes and nobody is perfect. So, the statements used in Edwards sermon may have been graphic and may have been explicit, but they did have an effect on listeners to help reach the overall goal of embracing God and actually helping the people live a more peaceful, Puritan life by doing so.

Thus, it is clear that by cleverly using multiple scare tactics and persuasive techniques, that Jonathan Edwards was able to create a sermon that effectively convinced and influenced the lives of countless people who witnessed the spoken or written words inside it. Yes, Edwards spread his message in a revolutionary way that many saw as bold and vivid, but by doing what he did in a way that only Edwards could, he managed to change the thoughts and even the lives of the people living in America in 1741.

Writing Styles And Figurative Language In Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God And The Minister’s Black Veil

Sin was apart of puritan’s everyday lives. In Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil”, both have similarities and address the same concepts. In Edwards’s sermon, he uses many scare tactics, while Hawthorne left people to ponder his main purpose.

While some would characterize Jonathan Edwards as dark and deep, the character of Parson Hooper challenges the readers u derstanding of Puritan ideals of religion by wearing a black veil over his face to show that everyone has secret sin.Both “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and “The Minister’s Black Veil” use imagery but Hawthorne ends the story leading readers with questions. In Hawthorne’s story, he wrote, “The grass of many years has sprung up and withered on that grave, the burial stone is moss-grown, and good Mr. Hooper’s fave is dust; but awful is still the thought that it mouldered beneath the Black Veil” (p.14)! What Hawthorne means by this is that Mr. Hooper has committed such a bad sin, that Hooper wore a black veil over his face for eternity. Rather than using imagery, Edwards is more straight up when he says “God has laid himself under no o ligation, by any promise to keep any natural out of hell one moment”(3). Edwards use of imagery points out that he does not hesitate on what to say.Edwards uses specific diction to show God’s wrath to those who sinned.

Hawthorne uses powerful diction to show the effects on Hooper and the people. “But the bride’s cold fingers quivered in the tremulous hand of the bridegroom, and her death-like paleness caused a whiser that the maiden who had been buried a few hours before was come from her grave to be married.” This quote portrays the reactis of the Puritan people referring the veil itself. It displays how the veil creates an image of displeasure throughout the crowd because the veil is normally worn at funerals, and it is being worn at a wedding. Hawthorne writes this to show how much of a small change can affect people.This in many ways, pushes people away from Hooper ; even his fiancé refuses to marry him because he doesn’t want to reveal his face. The way Hawthorne uses third person limited made this black veil a kind of mystery. We knew what everyone else was thinking and how they felt about the veil, ut we never found out why Mr. Hooper was wearing it or how he felt when people left him lonely. In my opinion Hawthorne wanted you to feel and look at things in a different way after reading his story and this is what made his story so effective.

Although Edwards and Hawthorne share similarities in writing styles such as their use of figurative language, I prefer Hawthorne’s writing because it made me look at people in a different way, realizing that everyone has sins and secrets. The way Hawthorne used a black veil in his story to get his point across drew me in closer; it made me want to figure out its purpose. The power held by a piece of clothe and the effect it can have to the surrounding people in this story really surprised me. The way he made such a simple object a big deal is why I prefer Nathaniel Hawthorne to Jonathan Edwards.

The Meaning Of Puritan Religion In The Minister’s Black Veil And Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

In Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” and Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” each author uses different styles in which they convey their meaning to the Puritan religion to the readers. A more persuasive way to get the meaning across, correlating with Edwards, is that nothing dealing with God’s powers will restrain you from Hell. While I would characterize Hawthorne’s style as passive and desperate, Jonathan Edwards adjusts the readers understanding of the Puritan ideals of religion, by conducting fear into everyone about believing God is angry at them.

The tone in which Edwards is presenting his knowledge of the Puritan ideals is effective enough to help others believe they can go to heaven. Further explanation is presented in the following quotation “Almost every natural Man that hears of Hell, flatters himself that he shall scape it; he depends upon himself for his own Security” (paragraph 18). Edwards’s people don’t have any knowledge of God and yet they think they won’t descend to Hell. God has made no promises, he owes no man nothing so the option of restraining from Hell is up to you. While Edwards tone is more suspenseful and fearful, Hawthorne’s tone is more forceful and aggressive. As in the story notice his style in the following “At the close of the services, the people hurried out with indecorous confusion, eager to communicate their pent-up amazement, and conscious of lighter spirits the moment they lost sight of the black veil” (paragraph 11) the people didn’t catch on to his method of trying not to hold back on his secret sins. Hawthorne seems desperate to compel the people in feeling comfortable releasing their secret sins just as he does. The people were confused to see their pastor wearing this veil which made them befuddled around him. While both texts describe tone, Edwards indicates that God has no promise to regulate anyone from Hell.

Author Jonathan Edwards also uses sensory/imagery details to further terrify his congregation into being better Christians because of foods anger and how Hell is terrible. From his text “The Bow of God’s Wrath is bent, and the Arrow made ready on the String, and Justice bends the Arrow at your Heart, and strains the Bow, and it is nothing but the mere Pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the Arrow one Moment from being made drunk with your Blood” (paragraph 27) his intended way of effecting the way his congregation thinks. People think that Gods hands keep them from descending into Hell, but it is by being good Christians. Only if they change their ways as Christian folk they wouldn’t have to fear Hell. While author Edwards usage of Sensory/Imagery details is effective, Hawthorne’s way isn’t so successful. In his text “Mr. Hooper had the reputation of a good preacher, but not an energetic one: he strove to win his people heavenward by mild, persuasive influences, rather than to drive them thither by the thunders of the Word” (paragraph 10) is to tell how the veil is causing him to lose his audience. The veil is ruining Parson’s reputation as a good preacher. He is losing his wife, friends, and respect because of the veil. While both texts indicate Sensory/Imagery details, Edwards better demonstrates that children of God aren’t promised from Hell but should be good Christians so they won’t go to Hell.

Both authors tried to put out their knowledge of the Puritan ideal in similar styles, but only one fulfilled their purpose. Jonathan Edwards uses good depiction to explain reasoning to why his congregation needs to be better Christians so they don’t go to Hell because God won’t use his powers to protect any man from Hell.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God

“So that whatever some have imagined and pretended about promises made to natural men’s earnest seeking and knocking, ’tis plain and manifest that whatever pains a natural man takes in religion, whatever prayers he makes, till he believes in Christ, God is under no manner of obligation to keep him a moment from eternal destruction.” (Edwards, 1)

Introduction

When examining the quote seen above it becomes immediately obvious that it can be considered offensive to nearly every other major religion on the planet. The reason behind this is that it contextually implies that so long as one does not believe in Christ the end result is eternal destruction since God is under no obligation to save them.

Since belief in the divinity of Christ is primarily isolated to Christianity and its various iterations this selection of text in effect declares that individuals who are part of other religions are doomed to eternal destruction. This is despite any good they do on Earth as indicated by the phrase “whatever pains a natural man takes in religion” (Edwards, 1).

Concept of Faith and Religion

It is based on this that it can be stated that the concept of faith and religion espoused by Jonathan Edwards is “absolute” in nature which prevents possible alternative methods of thought from taking root.

One way of looking at this is to think that Edwards views Christianity as the only means by which salvation can be attained. The general theme of the work of Edwards is primarily based on the concept of sufficiently creating fear through the concept of damnation which in effect helps to persuade people towards a particular way of thinking.

When reading through his entire sermon one cannot help but notice that he employs the carrot and stick approach wherein he combines the potential for eternal suffering and damnation with the promise for eternal salvation under Jesus. This is so long as people obey the rules of the Church and follow the teachings of Christ.

Contextual Basis

It must be noted though that the contextual basis of this particular quote is important when comparing it to the rest of the work of Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. This is due to the fact that it shows how black and white Edwards is making the concept of either salvation or destruction out to be.

For him there are no alternatives whether in the form of other religions, good behavior, or simply by living a good life. Under his thought process which permeates throughout the entirety of the sermon, the only one true way in which someone can attain eternal salvation is through belief in the Christian God and his teachings.

Accuracy of the Sermon of Edwards as Compared to Modern day Views on the Concept of Salvation

A comparison between the views of Edwards and that of modern day society shows a highly contrasting situation wherein it is generally believed that salvation is not isolated primarily through an absolute belief in doctrine. Instead it is believed that salvation can be attained through any number of possible ways and through a variety of religions (Cordry, 61).

This contrast in the way of thinking regarding the concept of salvation is indicative of the social changes that have occurred since the times of Edwards. This is related to people becoming more open in terms of developing and understanding what it truly means to obtain eternal salvation whether through word or deed.

Works Cited

Cordry, Benjamin S. “A More Dangerous Enemy? Philo’s ‘Confession’ And Hume’s Soft

Atheism.” International Journal For Philosophy Of Religion 70.1 (2011): 61-83. Academic Search Premier. Web.

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God.” Jonathan Edwards Section. Yale University, 2012. Web.

Defense of Jonathan Edwards and “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Being the leading spokesman for New England’s Puritan Church, Jonathan Edwards was an excellent example of a balance between intellectual and religious tradition. This made him at once one of the most powerful and persuasive preachers of his time and the object of radical criticism from famous authors and renowned theologians.

All of them do not doubt the effectiveness of Edwards’ sermons, but they hesitate about his overall theological theory about God and the tactics by which he brought people closer to God. The following words of Oliver Wendel Holmes seem to express the common view of the critics of Edwards’ works: “Edwards’s system seems in light of today, to the last degree barbaric, mechanical, materialistic, pessimistic. If he had lived a hundred years later, and breathed the air of freedom, he could not have written with such old-world barbarism. The truth is that [his] whole system of beliefs is gently fading out of enlightened human intelligence, and we are hardly a condition to realize what a tyranny it once exerted over many of the strongest needs” (Noll 345).

This conclusion was made nearly a century and a half after the proclamation of Edward’s ideas and it still remains a rather controversial one. Though Holmes believes that Edward’s theory was barbaric, mechanical, materialistic, and pessimistic, we consider his approach to be the one corresponding to the time and the place where he lived and to the needs of the society that required God’s direction and guidance.

The main work Holmes’s critic is directed to is Jonathan Edwards’ famous 1741 sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The latter serves as an embodiment of the author’s ideas and, therefore, is often chosen as an object of the critics’ attacks.

Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was not a mere example of Puritan preaching, but a sort of revival program, therefore, this work cannot be called a barbaric sample: any new ideas arouse the society’s movement from barbarism to a new stage of its development.

The adjective mechanical also cannot be applied to Edwards’ sermon. The sermon was delivered in Edwards’ typical quiet voice, thus the audience became more convinced in what the preacher was saying; the intimate atmosphere of the sermon did not allow the author to turn it into a violent harangue. Edward sincerely believed in what he was rendering to the audience, that is why the sermon a priori could not sound mechanical.

The main thesis that Edwards makes in his work is that God is now enduring the people’s conduct and deeds, but one day there will come a judgment. This statement seems rather pessimistic; especially it is true when the author analyzes the problem from such angels as the mercy of God, the coldness of the human heart, the seeming security. The sermon seems rather pessimistic when Edwards describes the utter pain, obscure cry, and feeling of regret of those who are in Hell and who warn their fellows of the dangers they may encounter there. But the feeling of pessimism is a rather superficial one, the reader is, on the contrary, expected to get the feeling of anticipation of some revival to happen. This anticipation oppresses the seeming pessimism of the sermon.

We should also admit that the pessimism was chosen by the author as a means to shock the audience before its revival. By saying that God is less angry with people who are screaming in Hell than with some of the audience, Edwards shocks the hearers as he wants to revive them.

Holmes’ suggestion about Edwards’ living a hundred years later and the new assumption of theology that Edwards might have acquired then does no seem persuasive. First of all, the author of the Sinners did not live a hundred years later and did not breathe “the air of freedom” (Edwards 2). Second, it would have been ridiculous to consider the ideas of Edwards’ theology in terms of later American ideas.

When creating his preach Edwards was ruled by two things only: the knowledge of the Bible and the knowledge of his society. Adapted a bit for present days, the sermon under consideration can play a significant role in understanding God’s will.

This is the best proof of Holmes’s critic being inadequate. Only the profound knowledge of the setting in which Edwards preached and the well-roundness of Edwards’ ministry empowers a critic to argue Edwards’ righteousness. None of these terms was typical for Holmes.

Works Cited

Borgmann, Andy. “The True Jonathan Edwards.” 2Timothy42.org. 2002. Web.

“Edwards, Jonathan, 1703–58, American Theologian and Metaphysician.” The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed. 2004.

Edwards, Jonathan. “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. Enfield, Conn., 1741. Speech online. Web.

Edwards, Rem B. “The Works of Jonathan Edwards, Volume 14: Sermons and Discourses, 1723-1729.” The Review of Metaphysics 52.205 (1998): 140.

Guelzo, Allen C. “America’s Theologian: Piety and Intellect.” The Christian Century. 2003: 30+.

Meaney, Thomas. “The Great Awakener.” Policy Review (2005): 92+.

Noll, Mark. God at the Center: Jonathan Edwards on True Virtue. Christian Century, 1993.

Engagement of Jonathan Edwards’ Sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God With the Christian Ideology

The American preacher Jonathan Edwards actively calls on the restitution of the Puritan way of life. Like many preachers before him, Edwards finds his inspiration in the Bible. His sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is an emotional appeal to turn back to the traditional for the pioneer’s strict postulates of the religion.

As one of the most important theologians of the Great Awakening, Edwards directs his sermon to the audience which forgets about God and worships the other gods. Edwards tries to persuade people to turn back to the Puritan way of life. The sermon reflects the spite of the preacher. Using rhetorical techniques and imagery, Edwards makes his tone sharper.

The picture of God’s anger makes Edwards’ sermon quite convincing. He says that any time God can lose patience and wipe all the people off the face of the earth. This vivid and detailed example should set people’s thinking. One of the major arguments of the sermon is an image of hell as a punishment for those who live in sin. According to Christianity, sinners will be in agony in hell. Edwards emphasizes the realness of hell and Satan. People have to understand that hell is a terrible place and to save this impression for the rest of their lives. However, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God reminds us about the mercy of God and the value of repentance.

Two different tones of Edwards’ sermon show his apprehension of the decline of morality and, at the same time, a hope that people can turn back. Preacher’s confidence in a providential punishment is a typically Christian point of view. However, Edwards goes deeper. As an advocate of the Puritan way of life, he rejects all the relaxation of restrictions. He blames people and says about their guilt. According to Edwards, people deserve to burn in hell. Those who don’t follow Christ will not receive forgiveness. Nevertheless, Edwards hopes that the audience understands his appeal. They have an extraordinary opportunity to repent and feel God’s mercy.

The fear of God’s punishment is an important postulate of Christianity. Edwards uses this image to persuade wickers of the contrition’s significance. This practice is widely used by the Puritans who emphasize an obligatoriness of the Bible’s laws. Edwards reminds of the pioneers who had a peaceful and full of divine grace life. With the final appeal, Edwards gives hope for the people out of Christ.

Religion was a big part of the Puritan’s life. The Bible was a source of inspiration for Edwards. Trying to warn the sinners against God’s punishment, the preacher uses the Bible image of hell and at the same time reminds people about God’s mercy. Such fear-love relationships are a perfect argument to convince people and to convert to Christianity. Edwards’ technique of vivid images and metaphors makes the work bright and persuasive. His dogma that only God can save everyone from the hell is typical for all Christian preachers. Based on the traditional Christian postulates, Edwards’ sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is an example of the good preacher’s work that can persuade people to turn back to the sinless life within Christianity.