Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Essay
Powerful Puritan Persuasion
“Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” was an influential sermon that described the “torments of Hell to be endured by sinners”(85). Jonathan Edwards used an appeal to fear to persuade the 18th century Puritans to repent their sins. This emotional sermon had powerful analogies and vivid imagery that made it effective.
In the beginning of the sermon, Edwards takes away all the audience’s confidence in themselves. He breaks them down and makes them feel vulnerable. He uses phases such as “your wickedness”(88) and “the earth would not bear you one moment”(88) to make them feel inferior. He tells them that they don’t know it but that they are going to Hell (87). Edwards used effective imagery in this first part to establish a mental representation of the audience’s approaching fate. He says things such as: “Hell’s wide gaping mouth open”(87) and “dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God”(87). Edwards also uses strong analogies in the first section. The most powerful in this section, and quite possibly the whole sermon, is comparing the audience righteousness to a spider web and them to a falling rock (88). Edwards says that the audience’s decency, wariness, wellbeing, and best life plan would have “no more influence to hold you up than a spider web would have to hold up a falling rock”(88). This first section succeeds in making to audience feel vulnerable, therefore making his ladder points stick stronger.
Edwards uses the vulnerability he caused in the first section to appeal to the audience’s fears in the next section. He uses all of the same methods he used in the first section to make them feel vulnerable just in different ways. He uses analogies and imagery to scare the audience. Edwards uses imagery and even some alliteration to intensify his description of the Puritans sinners impending punishment by saying, “the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable
“Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” was an influential sermon that described the “torments of Hell to be endured by sinners”(85). Jonathan Edwards used an appeal to fear to persuade the 18th century Puritans to repent their sins. This emotional sermon had powerful analogies and vivid imagery that made it effective.
In the beginning of the sermon, Edwards takes away all the audience’s confidence in themselves. He breaks them down and makes them feel vulnerable. He uses phases such as “your wickedness”(88) and “the earth would not bear you one moment”(88) to make them feel inferior. He tells them that they don’t know it but that they are going to Hell (87). Edwards used effective imagery in this first part to establish a mental representation of the audience’s approaching fate. He says things such as: “Hell’s wide gaping mouth open”(87) and “dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God”(87). Edwards also uses strong analogies in the first section. The most powerful in this section, and quite possibly the whole sermon, is comparing the audience righteousness to a spider web and them to a falling rock (88). Edwards says that the audience’s decency, wariness, wellbeing, and best life plan would have “no more influence to hold you up than a spider web would have to hold up a falling rock”(88). This first section succeeds in making to audience feel vulnerable, therefore making his ladder points stick stronger.
Edwards uses the vulnerability he caused in the first section to appeal to the audience’s fears in the next section. He uses all of the same methods he used in the first section to make them feel vulnerable just in different ways. He uses analogies and imagery to scare the audience. Edwards uses imagery and even some alliteration to intensify his description of the Puritans sinners impending punishment by saying, “the fiery floods of the fierceness and wrath of God would rush forth with inconceivable