Similes In Sinners

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“If God should withdraw his hand, by which they are restrained, they would in one moment fly upon their poor souls. The old serpent is gaping for them; hell opens its mouth wide to receive them; and if God should permit it, they would be hastily swallowed up and lost.” (Edwards 3) People tend to forget consequences after a long period of time, like a child would forget to wash his hands before dinner. Using words that are impactful and descriptive, will make the consequences more clear, and instil a picture in the listeners mind. In the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” He uses three specific writing tools that get his point across. Though imagery, similes, and metaphors, the qualities of his sermon are shown. “That world…show more content…
A simile is when the author makes an example and says that one thing is like another, like how he compares the reader to a spider or an insect. This is also an impactful tool when writing, because it relates the subject to something that is easy to understand, or can relate to the reader because of past experiences. Another example is in page 7 When he says "A king's wrath is like the roar of a lion; he who angers him forfeits his life." (Edwards 7) and also in page 3 “…they stand waiting for them, like greedy hungry lions that see their prey.” (Edwards 3) Now one may think “Why would this be so impactful? All he is doing is comparing?” but actually they can be extremely effective, just ask the crowd he was preaching to. A Simile is such a powerful writing tool, that in spite of Johnathan’s monotone voice throughout the sermon, people were awestruck and amazed as kellhighschool.com stated in an article, they said "The part of the sermon that is in our textbook is just an excerpt. Historians say that the actual sermon lasted about two hours and was so effective people were crying and even fainting when it was over. Very interestingly, Mr. Edwards is said to have delivered the sermon in a very sedate, monotonous tone-no screaming or yelling at his congregation-and still they fainted!" This is a clear example of how powerful using literary elements can be (even without insane amounts of enthusiasm.) The last example of a simile is in page 6 "The wrath of God is like great waters that are dammed 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 mighty is its course, when once it is let loose." (Edwards

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