Jonathan Edwards “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”
For Edwards, science, reason, and observation of the universe confirmed for him the existence of God. A brilliant thinker and speaker, Edwards entered Yale at 13 and became a minister 12 years later. His passionate, yet frightening, sermons helped to bring about The Great Awakening, a time when many who attended church were not “saved” or could testify to an emotional encounter with God and His grace. “Unregenerate” Christians were those who attended church and accepted church teachings but had not been “born again” by God’s grace.
He was dismissed as pastor in 1750 because his sermons were too extreme; he “called out” those in the congregation who were leading lives “relapsing into sin.” Ironically, Edwards died of a smallpox vaccination, a modern medical procedure many Puritans considered sinful.
On the one hand, Edwards believed “in reason and learning, the value of independent intellect, and the power of the human will.” VS. “On the other hand, he believed in the lowliness of human beings in relation to God’s majesty and the ultimate futility of merely human efforts to achieve salvation.” “Edwards, as ‘the last Puritan,’ stood between Puritan America and modern America. Tragically, he fit into neither world.”
Figurative Language in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” By Jonathan Edwards
“…if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into a bottomless gulf…” (80). Imagery
“The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them…” (79). Imagery
“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…” (79). Personification
“Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead” (80). Simile
“…if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater that the strength of the stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it” (80). Simile
“…it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath…” (81). metaphor
“…your own care and prudence, …would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a fallen rock” (80). Simile
Your assignment while reading… You need to identify each of the following rhetorical devices while we read: Simile Metaphor Imagery You cannot use one of the examples already given and you must find at least 3 examples of each—writing down the quote, page number, and the rhetorical device used.