Jonathan Edwards Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

Have you ever been deathly afraid of something or someone? If so, then you have experienced some of the emotions that the audience endured during the sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. This is written by the great theologian Jonathan Edwards. It is recorded that many screamed in terror when Edwards was giving this approximately six hour long sermon. This sermon given in a level voice manor was delivered in 1741 as a piece of oratory. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God has been labeled as one of the most famous sermons in all of history. Jonathan Edwards Edwards is widely acknowledged to be America's most important and original philosophical theologian. Edwards uses literary terms such as metaphor, repetition, and imagery to express

Metaphor appears in this story throughout the entirety. A metaphor is defined as a figure of speech using implied comparison of seemingly unlike things suggesting that there is some similarity between the two. An example of metaphor in this sermon is, “the bow of God’s wrath is bent; and the arrow made ready on the string” (109.) This metaphor creates an image of the bent bow that is an example of God’s wrath. This demonstrates how close God is to releasing his wrath toward the people. This leads us to the main theme of the sermon, which is to warn the congregation that they must repent in order to be rebirthed. Another example of metaphor is “That world of misery, that lake of burning Brimstone, is extended abroad under you” (108.) This is forming the concrete image of the lake that is burning. The lake portrays “the world of misery” as hell itself. This gives a direct comparison of the burning lake and hell. The metaphor leads the reader to observing the harshness and definite details of the wording that portrays to the powerfulness of this sermon. Metaphor helps the audience

Imagery is the sensory details that are used to describe, intrigue emotion, or represent abstractions between things. Imager uses terms related to the five senses which we refer to them as visual, auditory, tactile, gustatory, or olfactory imagery. Examples of visual imagery are “Hell’s wide gaping mouth” and “glowing flames” (108.) This makes the reader visualize what this may look like and causes a sense of fear. Another form of imagery is “You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it” (110.) This causes a sense of authority. The image that pops into minds is that of power and authority in a setting. An example of tactile imagery is “Burns you like fire” (110.) The feeling that you would feel would be the burning of your flesh from the fire. This gives off an impression of pain. Edwards is trying to get the people to repent and in order for them to listen to him he has to scare them and cause pain to their soul. Metaphor is one of the rhetorical devices that Jonathan Edwards uses to capture the audience's