“The God … abhors you!” Imagine a preacher who would openly insult the congregation, tell them they were all damned, and that they could and should go to hell. Jonathan Edwards was one of these preachers. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards uses strong imagery to “excite” his audience into stronger religious devotion and sometimes even move them to hysteria. These powerful sermons sparked the religious revival in which people lived more devoted, spiritual lives. This “Great Awakening” spread throughout New England during the eighteenth century.
For sinning he gives consequences which are most likely being sent to hell, but god gives forgiveness. Jonathan Edward’s use of the imagery helps the reader understand the motives in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”. The title itself explains its self ,”Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” , god is holding the people who sin in his hands and is angry which means he would like to drop us into hell. Edwards hoped that the imagery and message of his sermon would awaken his audience to the horrific reality that awaited them should they continue without Christ. The imagery puts an picture or image inside the readers mind so they could get a better understanding in what’s actually going on in the story which is sinning.
The sermon, “from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” by Jonathan Edwards explains how sinners are going to go to hell because they have sin. Edwards is persuading his audience by trying to convert people, he explains to sinners what is going to happen to them and give examples describing how sinner were going to hell. Edward is trying to convert people. The reason is that he wants to build a better society, trying to make people have a relationship with God and he look down to people because they are sinners. For example, states in his sermon that, “The devil is waiting for them, hell is going for them, the flames gather and flash about them,” (pg.46), which is basically explaining how sinners are going to burn in hell and they deserve it.
Jonathan Edwards v. Anne Bradstreet In a number of his writings, specifically “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards preaches literal fear of an arbitrary, unpredictable and vengeful God. Anne Bradstreet, on the other hand, believed (with human error) in a loving, trustworthy God. It seems almost impossible that these two views trace their origins to a common source. I will seek in this piece to uncover the fundamental discrepancy in the works of Bradstreet and Edwards. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards brings into question the salvation of anyone who has not been “born again.” He never directly questions his own salvation, but declares that many in the congregation to which he is speaking will soon find themselves burning in hell.
This statement was not on an attention grabber, but evoked fear in the congregation, fear of hell and their own safety from Gods wrath, as well as fear and pity for those sitting around them. Another instance, are the strong emotional appeals used to influence his congregation, "So that, thus it is that natural men (unsaved) are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit, and are already sentenced to it; and God is dreadfully provoked," potentially evoking fear, pity and even guilt in the Colonists. Lastly Edwards uses common comparisons to appeal to the audience's fear, with a multitude
Edwards applies pathos by using imagery that appeals to his audience's fear. Fear is a very potent emotion which can easily drive people to act. Edwards uses this to his advantage and creates a stern tone; his tone is grim and harsh throughout the sermon. One of Edwards's metaphors that best uses fear is his image of God's bow: “The bow of God's wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string...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” (47-48). The idea Edwards tries to convey is that God is ready to kill you, and your death could occur at any given moment.
In bewilderment, they see the minister’s face covered with the black veil which creates commotion among them. There are speculations about the origin of the veil, nevertheless nobody dares to ask. Mr Hooper’s sermon is on secret sin, as the Puritans were obsessed with this theme. The veil induces in minister such emotions that the sermon is the greatest ever and causes in parishioners anxiety and at the same time disgust as it reminds and makes them aware of their own sins. The scene might be compared with that in the novel Scarlet Letter, where reverend Dimmesdale, suffering guilty conscience delivers the speech which makes all the people astonished.
Captivating someone’s emotions is most effective to catch and keep their attention. In the accomplished sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards applies extensive use of rhetorical strategies, but the most persuasive are metaphors utilized through pathos in an attempt to sway the acts of sinners, the natural men to be morally correct. While discussing the natural men’s wickedness, Edwards states “All your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold [the natural men], and keep [the natural men] out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a fallen rock” (Edwards 8), giving his unconverted audience the idea that God is the single force who is the deciding factor of whether they are saved, or dropped to eternal damnation. Edwards compares sinners to spiders, creatures despised by humans just as sinners are detested by God, displaying to Edwards unconverted congregation how poorly God thinks of them. Righteousness is showcased as the natural men’s sin and weakness.
They also believe that every man is evil and is only judge by God on where he decides whether or not you go to heaven or hell. So dealing with the devil would automatically make you evil as we see in “The Crucible” on where if something seems out of the ordinary in their time such as a person who might not be attending church would look suspicious to the people and would quickly judge for working with the devil since going to church is mandatory to all the people in Salem we see this kind of work in the first act on where the minister of Salem Parris have caught his niece Abigail Williams and his daughter Betty Parris with their friends there too dancing around a pot with one of his slaves Tituba where they were trying to call the spirits when Parris came and Betty had fainted and Parris has blamed that this was the work of witchcraft. Arthur Miller has seen this also with McCarthyism where we would take actions right there and automatically think that communism was too blamed for
Although Job is described by Satan as “You will find no one like him on earth, a man of blameless and upright life, who fears God and sets his face against wrongdoing.” (p.511), he is still reluctant to believe that Job will remain sinless “in the face of disaster”, and suggests they eradicate his material possessions, including his children, to test his faith. Through a great amount of self control and confidence in God, Job remains calm and sin-free. Satan then manipulates God into allowing another set of tests in which Job himself is physically harmed by ragingly painful sores, but once again Job maintained strong and faithful, without cursing once. The book then centers on Job’s interpretation of God’s actions. He curses the day of his birth as well as the night of his conception, stating “Why is life given to those who find it so bitter?” (p.512).