Edwards God's Wrath

Life is fleeting, and the afterlife is eternal, prompting many people tolook for answers of what awaits them beyond this life. Religion answered that question for many people, predetermining salvation and damnation with no ability to change the fate that awaited after this life. Enlightenment during the 17th and 18th century caused people to question predetermination and to question how much control they had over the fate of their own eternal souls. For many the answer was revealed like a emotional lightning bolt from the heavens above, striking through the words of impassioned evangelicals and awakening them through scorching sermons. The truth revealed through a picture of hell itself painted with words and the terrifying fate awaiting all
unrepented sinners, driving some parishioners to their knees wailing and moaning through their tears. In one of the most famous sermons Sinners in the hands of an angry God, Jonathan Edwards uses metaphors that are believable and appropriate for the unrepented sinners in 1774 by using clear and effective imagery that would still create the same feelings for unrepented sinners today.
In his sermon Edwards used metaphors to enhance the audience’s ability to understand the message he was relaying to them and for that to work his metaphors had to be believable and appropriate to his audience of 1774.
A clear illustration of this is “God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string” a concept not unknown to Colonial America where native Americans used bows and arrows commonly making this an easily relatable and understandable tool to use in the metaphor for the audience. Thus, God’s wrath is bent means the energy of God’s rage has been gathered and he has prepared to release his rage, as someone would bend a bow prior to shooting it release god has prepare his rage for release. Therefore, understood by the audience as the mechanism to deliver Gods is ready. Furthermore, “the arrow made ready on the string” just as the arrow must be placed on the string to absorb the energy of the bent bow when released and send that energy with the arrow to a target it implies the instrument to absorb Gods rage and deliver it to the target is in place. Colonial Americans understood someone with bow bent and arrow on the string had a target and were preparing to shoot that target with the arrow causing a fatal injury, making this metaphor both understood and
believable.
In addition to utilizing metaphors that were appropriate and believable Edwards also used imagery that was clear and effective when communicating his message to the parishioners.
Creating a clear imagery would involve something that is familiar to the audience so when used a mental image will come to mind in the context you used the image for. As an example, “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” used by Edwards in his sermon is a part of the natural world around the audience. The image is clear and familiar, when water is dammed it grows into a larger body of water, larger and bigger until the water is released.by extension what Edwards was saying that Gods anger is building and building growing larger, stored up until it is released. It is effective use because it happens in the natural world around them and is an undeniable truth. Therefore, by extension the idea paired with this metaphor would be an undeniable truth as well that Gods anger build greater and greater. Using the word present in his metaphor as a clear and effective warning because his audience would be familiar with what happens when a damn busts or
overflows. By using of the natural world to base his metaphors on they would be effective in communicating the same message to an audience today and the imagery created would still invoke the same feelings today as they did in 1774. The natural world doesn’t change over time therefore it would still be believable and appropriate today. Additionally, the images are clear and effective today as they were in 1774. As an example, “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell” is is still true today that all the bad things we have done stay with us and weights are heavy and pull us down under their burdens. There the message resonates today, we carry them with us for the rest or lives the weight of the bad things or wickedness weighs on us like lead and pull us down to hell. While the same feelings would be felt today in the understanding the truth hidden within Edwards metaphors those feelings may not necessarily invoke the same reaction as the di in 1774.
In conclusion, Edwards sermon Sinners in the hands of an angry God used metaphors that were clear and effective in presenting images that were understandable and appropriate to his audience in 1774 and would still be today. Using the natural world surrounding his audience and universal truths Edwards crafted timeless metaphors.