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Examples Of Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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In his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Jonathan Edwards attempted to convince his congregation that they must repent of their sins and return to religion. Around the time this sermon was made was the period of the “Great Awakening” where people in Western Europe, England, and America were going back to their religious ways. The people were getting too caught up in worldly matters like working on their farms and they needed a reminder to get back on the path of worshipping God. This is where itinerant preachers, like Jonathan Edwards, came in and traveled around to try and persuade people to focus more on god than on their own personal interests. A few of the persuasive techniques that Edwards used were hyperboles, repetition, similes, and emotional appeal. One of the persuasive techniques that Edwards had used were hyperboles. A hyperbole is an overstatement for the purpose of emphasis. It is used to heighten the effect. Jonathan Edwards showed use of hyperbole when he claimed, “...you are thus in the hands of any angry God; it is nothing but His …show more content…

Repetition is the repeating of a word or group of words for effect. Edwards shows the use of repetition when he proclaimed, “...the creature is made subject to the bondage of your corruption, not willingly; the sun does not willingly shine upon you to give you light to serve sin and Satan; the earth does not willingly yield her increase to satisfy your lusts; nor is it willingly a stage for your wickedness to be acted upon; the air does not willingly serve you for breath to maintain the flame of life in your vitals, while you spend your life in the service of God’s enemies” (Edwards 1). What Edwards was saying over and over again here was that all the things that God has made are not meant to be used to commit sin. Edwards was successful in making sure a topic sticks to the mind of a person when using this

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