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'Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God'

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Though both stories illustrate the fundamental principles of Christianity, there are several variations in which the concepts are exhibited. Jonathan Edwards, the author of the short story, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, employs a direct manner of confronting his audience. Nathaniel Hawthorne, the author of the short story, “Young Goodman Brown”, on the other hand,implements an enigmatic and dark manner of exerting a moral influence on his readers. Edwards straightforwardly points out to his congregation in a “fire and brimstone” fashion the punishment in Hell that awaits the unconverted. He repeatedly insists the precarious nature of falling into Hell, which he compares to the risk of one falling as a result of standing or walking in slippery places as he expresses in Psalm 73:18, “Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction.” …show more content…

The story that has its main character as Goodman Brown, a rather pious and young naïve man, entwines both religion and the fear of evil. Edward considers a direct approach the best method of achieving an adequate portrayal of God’s anger with proliferating sin as opposed to the rather gentle protestation about sinful behavior that Hawthorne applies. Edward is of the notion that his sermon as a clergy would change the behavior of his congregation by reminding them that their unforeseen ultimate fate of falling into Hell for their unbelief is in the hands of God. He insists that wicked men can do nothing to prevent God from casting them to Hell as is in the statement, “Men’s hands cannot be strong when God rises. The strongest have no power to resist him, nor can any deliver out of his

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