In his song “Amazing Grace”, John Newton uses parallelism, metaphor, simile, and imagery to compose a sensational song of appreciation for the undeserved kindness that he receives from God; he refers to the grace as “amazing”. In 1779, Newton, a slave trader now minister, had just survived a horrific storm at sea, and by virtue of his occupation, sees himself as someone in whom there is no good(trades in the suffering of other people) and who should have been consumed by that raging storm. In a state of hopelessness and trepidation, God shows up, rescues and restores him. Newton wonders why a holy God decides to rescue a sinner like himself. No wonder he says, “….that saved a wretch like me”. Newton cannot fathom why such an amazing grace
On July 8th 1741, Jonathan Edwards preached the sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Enfield, Connecticut. Edwards states to his listeners that God does not lack in power, and that people have yet not fallen to destruction because his mercy. God is so forgiving that he gives his people an opportunity to repent and change their ways before it was too late. Edwards urges that the possibility of damnation is immanent. Also that it urgently requires the considerations of the sinner before time runs out. He does not only preach about the ways that make God so omnipotent, but the ways that he is more superior to us. In his sermon, Edwards uses strong, powerful, and influential words to clearly point out his message that we must amend our ways or else destruction invincible. Edwards appeals to the spectators though the various usages of rhetorical devices. This includes diction, imagery, language/tone and syntax. Through the use of these rhetoric devices, Edwards‘s purpose is to remind the speculators that life is given by God and so they must live according to him. This include...
Yet the Reverend also uses the word 'beautiful' and appreciates the wonders of the natural world. Certainly, a sense of something beyond the pragmatic permeates Maclean?s story. This ?something? is incarnated in Paul, who obviously does not conform to a narrowly-defined description of a ?good Christian.? He is a rabblerouser adrift in the world, a sophisticated ladies? man and gambler who squanders what is seemingly ample journalistic talent. Paul, however, is also effortlessly artistic, able to break free of his father?s strict fishing instructions to create his own poetry with a rod. Surely, something holy must reside in the sheer, effortless beaut...
Hughes writing in this story is very visual and enriched with figurative language. “And the whole building rocked with prayer and song”(Hughes 229). Hughes personifies the building and depicts an overwhelming amount of prayer and song. Another example of figurative language is found when he pretends he has seen Jesus. “Suddenly the whole room broke into a sea of shouting as they saw me rise” (Hughes 232). This metaphor sheds light on the intensity of the church at that moment. Comparing the room to a sea, an immense untameable body, exaggerates the situation he was in and portrays him as almost drowning in his
Jonathan Kozol's Amazing Grace is a book about the trials and tribulations of everyday life for a group of children who live in the poorest congressional district of the United States, the South Bronx. Their lives may seem extraordinary to us, but to them, they are just as normal as everyone else. What is normal? For the children of the South Bronx, living with the pollution, the sickness, the drugs, and the violence is the only way of life many of them have ever known.
For a moment, imagine being in young Hughes’ place, and hearing, “Langston, why don’t you come? Why don’t you come and be saved? Oh, lamb of God! Why don’t you come?” (Hughes, 112), being whispered into your ear by your aunt as tears rush down her face. Would you not take the easy way out? How could someone at the age of twelve understand the torment that follows such an event? Hughes learned that night just what he had done, and what it meant, as he mentions in his essay when he says, “That night, for the last time but one- for I was a big boy twelve years old- I cried. I cried, in bed alone, and couldn’t stop. I buried my head under the quilts, but my aunt heard me….I was really crying because I couldn’t bear to tell her that I had lied, that I had deceived everybody in the church, and that I hadn’t seen Jesus, and that now I didn’t believe there was a Jesus anymore, since he didn’t come to help me” (Hughes, 112). At the first moment he was alone in silence, he understood what he had learned, and what it meant. That not only did he lie to his aunt, and to the church, but in his time of need, no one was there to help. There was no God by his side as he knelt on the church
Grace is freely given favor or pardon, unmerited, unconditional god-like love. This grace has been shown in the many instances of unmerited love and forgiveness freely given in the book, The Grace That Keeps This World. In the beginning of the story, Kevin and his Dad, Gary Hazen, were at odds with one another. After the tragic accident where Gary Hazen accidentally shot his son, and Officer Roy’s fiancé, Gary David, Kevin, and his father, Gary Hazen, and Officer Roy, all extended grace toward one another. Then Gary extended grace toward himself. This grace helped to emotionally and physically sustain them, hence the title The Grace That Keeps This World.
Jonathan Edwards's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" is moving and powerful. His effectiveness as an eighteenth century New England religious leader is rooted in his expansive knowledge of the Bible and human nature, as well as a genuine desire to "awaken" and save as many souls as possible. This sermon, delivered in 1741, exhibits Edwards's skillful use of these tools to persuade his congregation to join him in his Christian beliefs.
In Edward Taylor's "Meditation 42," the speaker employs a tone of both desire and anxiousness in order to convey the overall idea that man's sinful nature and spiritual unworthiness require God's grace and forgiveness to gain entrance to the kingdom of heaven.
As eighteenth century poet and artist William Blake once wrote: "Where mercy, love, and pity dwell, there God is dwelling too." The three sensations commented on by Blake are prevalent with the 2008 graphic novel Kingdom Come and 2006 book The Road, but arguably the most interesting is the Christian concept of mercy within the story. The term 'mercy' comes from the Latin word 'merces' or 'merced' which translates as 'reward,' according to an online dictionary the contemporary meaning of the term: "compassionate or kindly forbearance shown toward an offender, an enemy, or other person in one's power; compassion, pity, or benevolence." It is my belief that through the expression of mercy, humanity cannot only better understand God, but their fellow humans as well and help achieve ulimate redemption with the divine.
God and the suffering He seems to allow is the paradoxical question posed since the start of religion. Philosophy and literature alike have long struggled with the issue, and poet Countee Cullen takes yet another crack at it in the poem “Yet Do I Marvel”. Cullen uses rhyme, classical allusion, and Shakespearean sonnet form in “Yet Do I Marvel” to exhibit God’s paradoxical nature and purpose the true marvel is in the miracles of life.
Followers of Jesus know that he conveys light, truth, and grace. Jesus transports light for the ability to salvation and life. Altogether there are a total of six verses of Amazing Grace composed by Newton and they all maintain a Christian worldview. The style of John Newton’s message carries a rich, lyrical beauty. Amazing Grace has a sense of humor and is empathetic to everyone, or plausibility.
Responses to Amazing Grace Amazing Grace is a legendary song” published in 1779”(www.princeton.edu/-achaney/tmve/wiki100/docs/Amazing-Grace.html) that is also a poem where there are verses in this poem that suggest that the composer John Newton (1725-1807) was going through a pivotal point in his life and he felt that by writing these harmonic verses in rhythmic metaphors could captivate and inspire not only those that read “Amazing Grace” but especially everyone that listened to its meaning. Conviction can come at a time when it seems you are most likely going to die from an act of God, and all the wrong that someone has done becomes a consciously enormous burden when they start to consider what the after life may have as punishment or reward. There are many different responses to this poem. Most of the responses are positive, but when you look at the author John Newton’s life you will start begin to understand the gist of what he is saying and the meaning behind them.
Once the day was over, Grace was about to go through a night that she would never forget. She began to beg God, unlike in the beginning of the story, “Help me through the night” (655). The pain from Grace’s surgery was so severe, that she called
... is playing favorites in whom he wants to grant salvation to while they are alive on Earth, there is no incentive for anyone to care. If God is so merciful, then these Calvinistic Puritan doctrines should not exist and everyone should be granted spiritual salvation and grace while they are alive on earth at all times. Edward Taylor’s arguments and symbolic imagery of the beauty of God and how gracious he is are highly questionable and shoddy – similar to God and Puritan theology.
Edward Taylor’s poem “The Preface” consist of questions as to how the world was created. The purpose of this poem is to reveal God's sovereign authority over creation and life itself. No sooner do you understand one paradox that he changes to a different set that gets a little confusing. The need to understand the next set of metaphors and picture it and then to put all together to get the message that Taylor was trying to give.