Sinner In The Hands Of An Angry God Analysis

Decent Essays
In "Sinner in the Hands of an Angry God (July 8,1741)" by Jonathan Edwards, Edwards delivers a sermon. In Edwards famous sermon he utilizes literary devices such as Metaphors, Repitition, and Imagery. Edwards uses these devices to give emphasis on his speech.

Edwards famous sermon consists of metaphors throughout it. In paragraph 10, line 17 Edwards claims "That shall keep out of hell longest will be there in a little time." Ergo, even through you may be safe now at this moment there's always tomorrow, there's no escape and it will come soon and when you least expect it.

Edwards gruesome sermon consists of a surplus amount of repetition. In Edwards sermon he keeps repeating "Flames " as seen in Paragraph 1,2,8 and 8, line 6,4,4, and 6. Edwards

Related Documents

  • Improved Essays

    In paragraph three of the story“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” Edwards says,…

    • 587 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    As stated, Edwards wants his audience to understand that by being unconverted and turning away from God, they are making God angry. Using horribly vivid images such as “that Lake of burning Brimstone is extended abroad under you,” and “there is a dreadful Pit of the glowing Flames of the Wrath of God; there is Hell’s wide gaping Mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, not any Thing to take hold of: there is nothing between you and Hell but the Air…” (Edwards 12). In the previous quote, Edwards uses imagery as his rhetorical device and it was one quote that stuck out. Edwards is making sure his congregation knows if they do not repent or convert to the ways of God, the “Pit of glowing Flames” awaits everyone.…

    • 1423 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Often in sermans ministers pastors persuade their audience to behave in a spiritual or moral fashion. Such is the case in “sinner in the hands of an angry god” by Jonathon Edwards where he illustrated that the moral of the story is “if sinners repent, they won’t face the wrath of god” Edward using an convincing tone and wanted to have an impact on his audience by appealing to their fears, pity and Varity. Edward had an impact on his puritan’s audience because of convincing tone, clear imagery and clear figurative language. Foremost Edward is trying to show his audience to be cautionary of after life and that god can easily destroy his sinners who have done wrong and did not repent. For example in the text the author stated “so that thus it is that natural me held in …..…

    • 555 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edwards Essay Outline I. In “Sinners in the Hands of a Angry God”, Jonathan Edwards uses creative metaphors and methods of persuasion, as well as syntax in order to persuade his audience to constantly pray and repent their sins towards God. II. Edwards uses creative metaphors and methods of persuasion to lure his audience to constantly pray to God. A. For instance, in the fourth paragraph, Edwards states “The wrath of God is like the great waters that are dammed for the present” (Edwards).…

    • 347 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Edward’s complex sentence structure emphasizes hell during their “everlasting destruction.” He describes this “bottomless pit” with many details separated by semicolons. The flames are “ready to receive them; the flames? Do now rage and glow.” Nothing they can do will…

    • 567 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In 1741, Jonathan Edwards delivered his sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, to the public, proclaiming that “sinners” will face the wrath of God if they don’t accept his grace. In paragraph 9 of the speech, Edwards employs rhetorical devices such as metaphors and diction in order to ingrain the fear of God and his burning anger into the audience and make them contemplate whether they are sinners or not. A metaphor is a common rhetorical device used to compare. Metaphors can emphasize a topic and make it more understandable for the reader. In lines 71-72, Edwards declares that “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect… abhors you…” Most people in the presence of a spider tend…

    • 317 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    World War II and the Enigma machine Ben Karpinski Independent Studies The Enigma Machine was a very large turning point in technology for the war. Not only was it a way of communication, but it was a way of coded information. This would end up being a way to transfer top secret information long distance.…

    • 1715 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Superior Essays

    The last theme he expresses is that the only thing keeping sinners out of hell is God's will. God is giving them an opportunity to show mercy. Theses themes are utilized by the use of vivid imagery along with other rhetorical devices to make his point. Edwards does not hold back when criticizing people for their sinful ways. Sin, as explained in his sermon, is controlled by the devil.…

    • 998 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Superior Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Sewall Vs Edwards

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages

    Edward’s depiction of an unforgiving wrath of God towards sinners is unequivocally portrayed in this quote. Since Edwards believed each person each person was a sinner, he attempted to scare them by…

    • 1024 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    In the 1700s, during the Great Awakening hundreds of people were accepting Jesus Christ and becoming born again. During this time, pastors were working to increase this number and convert more and more people. One of these pastors was Jonathan Edwards, who gave intensely persuasive sermons. In one of Edwards’s most famous sermons "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” he utilizes rhetorical appeals: pathos, to appeal to the congregation’s fear; logos, to appeal to congregation’s common sense and logic; and ethos to gain the congregation’s trust throughout his sermon to assist him in persuading the congregation to become born again. Through his fire and brimstone teachings, Edwards evokes an immense amount of fear in his listeners.…

    • 1015 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    “The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you….” This image would evoke the sense of urgency Edwards intended as the picture of God holding the sinner dangling over the pit of hell. This would certainly frighten those who know they have not accepted God’s grace. Edwards changes his tone to one of hope and appeals to the emotions of the congregation when he says, “And now you have an extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has flung the door of mercy wide open, and stands in the door calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners.” Jonathan Edwards now gives the puritans hope that God loves them and is welcoming them with open arms.…

    • 603 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    American citizens do not realize how everyday actions contribute and continually influence both the American and puritan societies. In Jonathan Edward’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards asserts that with continuous sin, puritans will be released to hell by God and by also not following the puritan way of life. Throughout the sermon, Jonathan Edwards uses similes, repetition and scare tactics to emphasize the fact that with sin, any Puritan will be sent to hell. Faith and fear have extensive contributions to the overall influence of the American society which Edwards addresses in his sermon. Faith plays a role in the society due to the fact the puritans know they are not supposed to sin, however they do so anyways which…

    • 1088 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Improved Essays

    Each of these topics is made more effective with the use of rhetorical devices, which are the heart and soul of Edwards’s emotional appeal to his listeners. Edwards uses rhetorical devices to scare his audience from the path of eternal damnation and onto the path of boundless righteousness. He used imagery when he said, “It is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell” and “the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up” (Edwards 198). He says this to paint a picture to the congregation of how close they are to eternal damnation, and that it is only because of God’s grace that they are alive…

    • 711 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays
  • Great Essays

    Edwards also reveals his emotion through his sermon as he conveys an angry tone, “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 God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” (pg. 156) In this quotation, he utilizes an angry tone with the words “furnace”, “wrath” and “damned” and gave fear to the Puritans and made them to convert back to Puritanism.…

    • 1364 Words
    • 6 Pages
    Great Essays
  • Improved Essays

    For example, he uses metaphor about the bow of God’s wrath being drawn and held in the hearts of sinners. This metaphor shows that God could show his anger, but his kindness saves the sinners. Edwards also compare the sinners to spiders and serpents to make them feel that they are just a little thing on the earth. The audiences were caught by Edwards promises of eternal damnation if they won 't take the right steps. The audiences lived on the fear of the power of the god, so he was able to keep his audiences to be…

    • 733 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Improved Essays