Rhetorical Analysis Of Sinners In The Hand Of An Angry God
In the sermon, “Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards persuades to his audience that all the sinners deserve to be dropped into hell. He does this by using literary devices to emphasize that God is disappointed at the sinners but he still has mercy for the sinners. Edwards uses alliteration, imagery, and a combination of repetition and parallelism.
In the beginning of the sermon, Edward uses alliteration to describe the dangers of Gods Floods. “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,” Edward’s use of alliteration is significant because it describes God’s floods, it describes, his …show more content…
He repeats the word, “wrath” numerous times, especially in the last section of the sermon. “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of the God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell.” In this last paragraph Edwards foreshadows the sinner’s punishment. He convinces them by saying, they are going to plunge into the fire. The repeated word, “wrath” adds a strong negative connotation, when he describes their punishment. Parallelism is another literary device that Edward uses in his sermon. For example, when he said, “nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment,” The use of this parallelism helps Edward clarify to the sinners that in their last final moments of death, there is nothing they can do to save themselves. God’s mind is made up and there is nothing on earth that can stop him.
Jonathan Edwards sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ uses many literary devices that persuades his audience that all sinners deserve to be dropped into hell and it is all under God’s control. He uses similes and metaphors to make a comparison of God’s anger to the sinner’s punishments. Repetition is another method he uses in his sermon.
In the beginning of the sermon, Edward uses alliteration to describe the dangers of Gods Floods. “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,” Edward’s use of alliteration is significant because it describes God’s floods, it describes, his …show more content…
He repeats the word, “wrath” numerous times, especially in the last section of the sermon. “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of the God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you as against many of the damned in hell.” In this last paragraph Edwards foreshadows the sinner’s punishment. He convinces them by saying, they are going to plunge into the fire. The repeated word, “wrath” adds a strong negative connotation, when he describes their punishment. Parallelism is another literary device that Edward uses in his sermon. For example, when he said, “nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment,” The use of this parallelism helps Edward clarify to the sinners that in their last final moments of death, there is nothing they can do to save themselves. God’s mind is made up and there is nothing on earth that can stop him.
Jonathan Edwards sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God’ uses many literary devices that persuades his audience that all sinners deserve to be dropped into hell and it is all under God’s control. He uses similes and metaphors to make a comparison of God’s anger to the sinner’s punishments. Repetition is another method he uses in his sermon.