1) Jonathan Edwards delivered this sermon during the first Great Awakening, a time of religious revival in Europe and America. During the Great Awakening, christianity shifted its focus from ceremonies and rituals, and began to realign itself with introspection to encourage fostering a deep sense of morality and redemption. Edwards was a key preacher and minister that delivered many sermons preaching about revival and reformed theology. 2) Edwards sermon was directed towards non believers and those have turned away from the light of god, and in his words “sinners.” And while describing the fiery wrath of the “Angry God,” Edwards states, “The use of this awful subject may be for awakening unconverted persons in this congregation.” By focusing Edwards use of parallelism in the quote “The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them” serves two purposes: to instill a sense of fear in the audience and he also gives the audience their first taste of the the pain they will feel throughout this piece. His uses of parallelism allows Edwards to exponentially build a sense of fear and it is maintained throughout this sermon. The audience also begins to feel a sense of fear and helplessness in Edward 's first paragraph, which he will also maintain throughout this piece. Additionally, Edward engages repetition in his speech in order to continuously build fear and suspense in his audience. Edward begins to use the noun “you” after the second paragraph in order to make his argument more personal and more emotional. By saying the words “you” and “your” Edwards is speaking directly to his audience, in doing so he makes the audience envision themselves in the positions that Edwards describes and will make them subconsciously feel the need to convert to christianity because they are now fearful of god, and the only way to abate this fear is to repent and
With a self-confident tone, he refers to the American natives as “savage, devils” and compares their home to a devil’s home and their tactics to soldiers in Europe, all just to bring attention to the readers. Mary, on the other hand, represents natives as “ravenous beast” showing the typical symptoms from a survivor; anxiety and distress. She uses a prose with the absence of rhetorical ornamentation rejecting literary artifice, sending a clear message though with her own interpretation of things. With a clear binary opposition, good and evil can be found in the same human; she forgets that the Indian may have a reason for the attacks. Edward; however, writes his sermons in a crescendo tone presenting them from a negative point of view provoking a reaction using biblical allusions. Words such as “Hell” and “Torture” are used to awaken the congregation and to provoke a reaction. His sermons are full of imagery, similes, comparisons and metaphors which can be interpreted in different
Jonathan Edwards creates a more effective argument for the intended audience in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” than “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” written by Patrick Henry, by utilizing various techniques. Patrick Henry makes a strong argument however in the end, Edwards’ sermon grows to be more effective. Edwards creates the argument by strengthening the writing through tone, structure, fallacies and knowledge of the congregation that became his audience. Henry’s piece uses methods of oratory persuasion but the actual topic of “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” has an advantage from the start by appealing to fear, a fallacy of logic. Even with the strong basis “The Speech in the Virginia Convention” by Patrick Henry, Edwards’ “Sinners in the hands of an Angry God” proves the more effective piece in the end.
Edwards immediately begins with a harsh, almost cruel, tone with the use of abrasive diction. His first moments of preaching the sermon had the use of words such as, “over the pit of hell;..deserved the fiery pit… wrath in hell… devil is waiting for them,” (1). Edwards
Jonathan Edward's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," was an example of a persuasive speech in which Edwards used scare tactics to persuade his audience. Jonathan Edwards' purpose was simply to convey a message to the people of the church with intentions of changing their moral and religious views. Edwards often appealed to reason and logic and highly emotional "fire and brimstone" techniques to convey his point.
Edwards died roughly 20 years before the American Revolution, which means he was a British subject at birth and death. Edwards believed that religion is tied to nations and empires, and that revivals were necessary in history. Edwards’ belief in revivals began what is known as The Great Awakening. Edwards’ purpose in ministry was the preaching that God is sovereign, but also loving towards his creation. Since God is sovereign, Edwards claimed that God worked through revolutions and wars to bring the message of the gospel (Marsden, Jonathon Edwards, 4, 9, 197). Edwards’ most known sermon Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God was preached to revive the demoralized congregations. The congregations of New England had low memberships within different churches, and competition from denominational pluralism was stagnant (Lukasik, 231). Getting the colonists to return back to God was the mission and purpose of The Great Awakening. Through this, Edwards hoped that this movement will foster a great increase in learning about God (Marsden, Jonathon Edwards,
In these text, “The Minister’s Black Veil” and “The Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” the preachers are teaching their congregations a lesson.
All of this is what opened the doors into the Great Awakening. The actual Great Awakening movement itself was set off in the 1730s by Jonathan Edwards and his firm beliefs. He believed strongly in good works being the way to eternal happiness. He also believed that unbaptized children were sent to hell. This belief of his went so far that he claimed that hell was “paved with the skulls of unbaptized children.” Edwards had the sympathies of many people who attended his parish, as well as other people.
Plans are revealed to, “hold a separate service on Sundays for [the slaves’] benefit,” in which pointed sermons were to be delivered to the slaves (Jacobs 57-58). One such sermon is inherently accusatory and meant to instill fear in its slave audience. Statements such as “God is angry with you,” “You tell lies”. God hears you,” and “God sees you and will punish you” serve to foster a sense of guilt and fear within the slaves, casting disobedience in any form as an affront against God, one that merits divine punishment (Jacobs 58). The sermon creates an emotional tie to profitable slave behavior – obedience stemming from fear – which it goes on to enforce as the will of God: “If you disobey your earthly Master,” the preacher claims, “you offend your heavenly Master” (Jacobs 58).
The Great Awakening was a revival/ evangelical movement that swept through both England and the American Colonies within the early 18th century. During this revival Englishmen and American Colonists alike found themselves being swayed by the talk of such preachers as “ Jonathan Edwards” or “George Whitefield”, who were both noteworthy evangelists at the time. After hearing a sermon, audience members would be scared that if they died that day, they 100 percent would be going to the fiery depths of hell. In an essence, the Great Awakening was a point in time when people started getting serious about God/ being a christian.
Edwards, who also had Puritan beliefs, was a philosopher and theologian and his way of thinking was more in-depth and complex. He used repetition to drive his sermons home and convinced his congregations of the evils and wickedness of hell through the use of intense analogies. His “fire and brimstone” way of preaching frightened people and made them feel a deep need for salvation. Edwards believed that all humans were natural sinners and God was eagerly awaiting to judge them. He wrote "their foot shall slide in due time" meaning that mankind was full of inevitable sinners.
Jonathan Edwards said, “True liberty consists only in the power of doing what we ought to will, and in not being constrained to do what we ought not to will.” Edwards played a critical role in shaping the First Great Awakening and administered some of the first enthusiasms of revivals in 1730. The First Great Awakening occurred around 1730 to 1760 and its significance has had a great impact on the course of the United States. It was a major influence on what caused and led up to the American Revolution. The First Great Awakening was a movement that was engrained in spiritual growth and also ended up bringing a national identity to Colonial America and preparing colonists for what was to come about forty years later. The awakening had a dramatic
People of all groups, social status, and gender realized that they all had voice and they can speak out through their emotional feels of religion. Johnathan Edwards was the first one to initiate this new level of religion tolerance and he states that, “Our people do not so much need to have their heads filled than, as much as have their hearts touched.” Johnathan Edwards first preach led to more individuals to come together and listen. Than after that individual got a sense that you do not need to be a preacher to preach nor you do not need to preach in a church, you can preach wherever you want to. For the first time, you have different people coming together to preach the gospel. You had African American preaching on the roads, Indian preachers preaching and you had women who began to preach. The Great Awakening challenged individuals to find what church meets their needs spiritually and it also let them know about optional choices instead of one. The Great Awakening helped the American colonies come together in growth of a democratic
He speaks with some allusions and phrases that show the audience that he is well educated in the subject that he is speaking on. He says that, "Who knows the power of God 's anger" (Edwards 43)? This is an allusion from Psalm 90:11 in the bible and he just assumes that his readers are aware of what he is referring to when he says this. Since Edwards was a respected preacher of that time the sermon meant more to the people because of his qualifications and his experience ("Using" 14). Also throughout his sermon he refers to a happening of that time which was known as the great awakening. When speaking of this Edwards stated "Many are daily coming from the east, west, north, and south; many that were lately in the same condition that you are in, are now in a happy state, with their hearts filled with love to him who has loved them" (Edwards 44). He told them about the others who have already came and been converted to Christianity and hopes that showing them the others that have came they would also change their ways and be converted. Also, this being the time of the great awakening he wants the unconverted of his congregation to become a part of it and referencing to this event helps contribute to their
Edwards was not known for delivering his speeches with passion, but rather let the words sink deeply within the audience for their own interpretation. He paints a picture of Hell that is so frightening to the audience that their attention is captured. Edwards depicts the wrath of God against sinners by announcing: “The pit is prepared, the fire is ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them…the glittering sword is whet, and held over them” (11). The image of being burned alive as a result of sin left an emotional impact on the audience. The pit symbolizes Hell and the devil while the glittering sword symbolizes the divine justice of God to punish or reward people for their actions on earth.
I totally understand from reading and my research that these die-hard supporters of the First Great Awakening were trying to draw people out of the depressing tenets of Puritan religion. These preachers realized that people throughout the American colonies were in utter darkness believing that their good deeds and works would provide them an eternal life in Heaven. However; these great ministers wanted people throughout the colonies to understand and realize that the only way to have eternity in Heaven was through salvation in Jesus Christ. “The Great Awakening was said to be so effective because it sparked spiritual renewal by suggesting that redemption was available to everyone who would accept it, not just those that were the privileged ones in society.” It is good to see that these men totally understood the heartbeat of God; that the gospel is meant for all people. I also believe that the unity and shaping that came from the Great Awakening is what helped bring the American colonies together to fight and gain its freedom from England. These believers came to the New World seeking and desiring freedom from England and they gained it; while at the same time coming into a deeper relationship with Jesus