Ethos In Sinners

Sinners Analysis Essay In his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Preacher Jonathan Edwards proclaims that if the churchgoers do not recognize their sins they will be sentenced to internal damnation by God himself. He uses pathos to strike fear in people's hearts to make them change their actions. Jonathan's purpose is to put fear in the people to stop them from sinning in order to get them to keep with the good Christian faith. Jonathan delivers his sermon to those who are lacking in their faith; he wants them to repent and live a more Christian life, so he scares them into living that way. Edwards uses many different types of rhetorical devise to successfully capture the attention of the congregation and to instill panic in them. To have people listen to what he proclaims he makes them fear his words, “There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God… there is nothing between you and hell but the air; ‘tis only the power of God that holds you up” (Edwards 2). Jonathan is saying that the only thing keeping all humans from going to hell is God. To get this to stick in people’s minds he is appealing to their already growing concern. This appeal to pathos, and maybe even ethos, makes his arguments stronger because he gets his audience to listen to the words
Edwards tells the people of his congregation, “Your wickedness…and to tend downwards… and pressure... and if… and swiftly descend and plunge” he keeps giving examples on how if they keep this way in themselves they will fall into Hell and God will let them (3). Edwards uses a lot of ‘ands’ to describe the troubles the people will face, this device helps keep the audience’s attention and builds anxiety. He uses this to keep the people hanging on very word of his. He doesn’t end his thoughts but expands on it to get his full point