Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God Analysis

Contrasting, Not Conflicting At the time of the Great Awakening, Jonathan Edwards delivered very influential religious sermons and essays. In these works, Edwards sought to correct certain religious lifestyles or simply discuss certain religious values. One such work is his sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in which he urges people not to sin because of God’s almighty power and the strength of his wrath against sinners. Another such work is his essay “Beauty of the World” in which Edwards speaks of the beauty of everything in the world created by God, specifically God’s creation of light. Although these two different views created by Edwards’ are contrasting views because his sermon is pessimistic and his essay optimistic, they

“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” expresses that “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God” (215). This is a recurring theme explaining that sinners will suffer the wrath of God. “The Beauty of the World” expresses that “mankind has agreed in it; they all represent glory and extraordinary beauty by brightness”(2). This is a central theme remarking on the abundant beauty on earth that is found in all things, even mankind. These themes are not contradictory because sinners can remain in the world, and it will still be beautiful because God created all beauty, especially the beauty of mankind as previously stated. “The Beauty of the World” does not suggest a claim that sinners reduce the beauty in the world or even that they add something grotesque to the world. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God urges people not to sin, perhaps to increase beauty in the

One of the Puritan practices was the Halfway Covenant which stated that full church membership was a privilege to those who had a conversion, even if they were not devout following of their religion. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards rebukes those who live by the halfway covenant. “And now you have the extraordinary opportunity, a day wherein Christ has thrown the door of mercy wide open, and stands in calling and crying with a loud voice to poor sinners” (219). By stating that sinners can ask for mercy, he implies sinners cannot be saved from the wrath of God under any circumstances except begging for God’s mercy. He therefore is disproving the halfway covenant, for even a conversion would not hold the capability of saving a sinner from Hell. In “The Beauty of the World,” Edwards speaks of the pleasure of beauty when he says, “There are beauties that are more palpable and explicable, and there are hidden and secret beauties. The former pleases…The latter sort are those beauties that delight us and we cannot tell why” (2). Another Puritan value is weaned affections which argued that an individual must learn to keep away from “sensual beauty” of the world and pleasure in order to focus on a relationship with God. Edwards contradicts this value of Puritan life however when he speaks of Beauty of the World as pleasing and