Analysis of Jon Edwards : Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”

Anna Potts Steve Stewart ENGL 2130 06 February 2013 Analysis of Jonathan Edwards Sinners in the manpower of an uncivilised graven image The heavy(p) rouse was a religious move browse forcet that spread throughout New England during the mid-eighteenth century, from nigh 1730 to 1745. The Great Awakening sought to make Christianity a profoundly personal experience and pulled away from handed-down ceremony, encouraging personal commitment and activated involvement in faith. Jonathan Edwards was a prude and theologian atomic number 53 of the most noteworthy prophesyers of the Great Awakening.Edwards most famous utterance was Sinners in the Hands of an Angry beau ideal, despite the fact that he had delivered the talk to his own assembly, with little effect, he mat led to use it again when invited to preach at the neighboring town of Enfield, mommy on July 8, 1741. During Edwards speech he utilise vivid resource of nuthouse, the wrath of paragon, and the foretaste o f salvation to reveal his perspective on the reality that awaited those that did not prolong Christ. During his disquisition Jonathan Edwards used vivid imagery and descriptions to make his congregation see that netherworld was a real place.To make the congregation see just how close to hell they truly were Edwards stated, That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone is extended aboard under you (Cox). He also wanted them to realize that the bimestrial they went without Christ, the heavier they would become. Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as head up, and to tend downward with coarse burthening and pressure toward hell (Westerfield). The ground downstairs them would give way under the weight of their wickedness and they would plunge into hell where the morning star would be ready for them. The daemon is delay for them, hell is gaping, for them, the flames gather and flash about them and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up (Smolinski 11). If the descriptions of hell and the Devil werent enough, Edwards also used the forefinger and wrath of a vengeful God to strike fear into the hearts of the unregenerate in the congregation at Enfield. The issue magnitude of Gods king is shown in the line There is nil that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pastime of God (Gallagher). Edwards instilled fear into the congregation by threatening the vengeance of God, He allow trounce you under his feet without mercy, hell crush out your blood, and make it fly, and it shall be sprinkled on his garments (Trapp). As more and more batch chose not to follow Christ, God becomes fantastic and his wrath continues to grow. The wrath of God is kindred great waters that are dammed for the infix they increase more and more, and rise high and higher, till an outlet is presumption and the long-term the stream is stopped, the more rapid and correctly is its course once it is let calorie-free (Baym et a l. 99). Edwards sought to show the congregation their despairing need for Gods grace, impressing the crowd with what he perceived as the cause of truth. Before ending his sermon, Edwards appeals to the unconverted in the congregation with the hope of salvation from a s overeign God. Edwards continues, And presently you have an tremendous opportunity (Rogers 11). You are in a day where Christ has thrown the ingress of mercy wide open, and stands calling and clamant with a loud voice to unworthy sinners (Rogers 11). Let everyone of you who is still without Christ, and hanging over the pit of hell, whether they be old men and women, or middle aged, or youthfulness people, or little children, now attend to the loud calls of Gods enounce and providence (Copeland et al. 228). Edwards final exam line was a call for the congregation to look back down on the depths of damnation through which they had traveled-leaving the valley of hell and returning to the mountain high gear of the Devine perspective, the heights from which the hope of salvation could be properly understood and embraced (Stuart 58).Stephen Williams, an eyewitness in Enfield, wrote in his diary before the sermon was done there was a great moaning and crying went through ye whole house, What shall I do to be saved, Oh, I am going to quarry, Oh, what shall I do for Christ, and so forth. So yet ye minister was get to desist, ye shrieks and cries were piercing and amazing (Farley). Though his sermon caused many to fear him, Jonathan Edwards ultimate death was to convert the sinners and nonbelievers in the congregation and lead them into salvation.Edwards hoped the imagery and message of his sermon would energise his audience. His underlying point was that God had given humanity a chance to mend their sins. Edwards ended his sermon with one final appeal, Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. To in advance(p) readers Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God may appear to be the work of a sadistic, wide-eyed radical or a fear-monger, but the sermon is genuinely a reflection of the cruel and priggish time in which Edwards lived and preached.Works Cited Baym et at. The nary(prenominal)ton Anthology of American Literature, intensiveness 1, Beginnings to 1865. New York W. W. Norton & Company, Inc. 2008. Copeland, Lewis, Lawrence Lamm, and Stephen McKenna. The Worlds superlative Speeches. Fourth Enlarged Edition. New York capital of Delaware Publications, Inc. 1999. Cox, Brandon. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. 2009. Retrieved from www. brandonacox. com, February 01, 2013. Farley, William P. Jonathan Edwards and the Great Awakening. Enrichment Journal. Springfield The General Council of the Assemblies of God. 013. Retrieved from http//enrichmentjournal. ag. org, February 10,2013. Gallagher, Edward. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God Some simple(a) Business. Department of English, Lehigh University. Retrieved f rom www. lehigh. edu , January 31, 2013. Rogers, Henry. The Works of Jonathan Edwards, A. M. With an Essay on His Genius and Writings, Volume 2. London Ball, Arnold, and Co. 1840. Print. Smolinski, Reine. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. A utterance Preached at Enfield, July 8th, 1741. (1741).Electronic Texts in American Studies. Paper. Stuart, Robert Lee. Jonathan Edwards at Enfield and Oh the Cheerfulness and Pleasantness American Literature, Vol. 48, No. 1. Durham Duke University Press. 1976. Print. Trapp, Joonna. Hell In a Hand Basket The absence of Hell in American Literature. Northwestern College. doctrine Colloquium. 2005. Westerfield, David. A Quote From a precise Famous Edwards Sermon. Theology. 2006. Posted on Sunday, may 28, 2006. Retrieved from www. davidwesterfield. net on January 30,2013.