Bebe Oguntade
Ap English III
9/2/09
Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God
According to the article, Jonathan Edwards conveys his opinion about impiousness. He thinks most people are not realistic, and the sooner they realize that Hell is real, the better it is for them. Edward’s main purpose of writing this article is to awake his audience that it is time to purify their religion, renew their personal faith in God, as well as instill a pious character in them. To him, people seem to be sinful and impious, and the only way he believed he could change them, was to make them cognizant of the outcome of impiousness. Most of Edwards’s comments, about the hereafter, are very negative, and this creates a fearful mood for the audience.
Through the use of tone, Edward displays a grievous tone, in order to win his audience. “That they were always exposed to destruction, as one that stands or walks in slippery places is always exposed to falling”. In this quote, it can be said that Edwards believes that people are their own worst enemies, and once you fall into this trap, it will be very difficult to get back on track. People are not completely dedicated to their religion, and they forget that there is someone who is actually superior to them. All this facts are not always put into consideration, until people find themselves in a compromising state, or they encounter a force that is above their humanly power.
Edwards also construes his opinion with certain metaphors. One of the metaphors is about the bow of God’s wrath being drawn and held over the hearts of sinners. The metaphor shows that God can start punishing the sinners at any point in time, but He has just decided to shower his mercies on them. Edwards also compares the sinners to spiders and serpents, creatures hated by human, just as sinners are hated by God. This shows his unconverted congregation how poorly God thinks of them. When audience see this, it will make them reconsider their deeds, and determine what to do with their lives, before it’s too late.
Edwards describes Hell with the use of imagery, in the sense that he produces a horrifying picture of the people who will never be safe from Hell. “The wrath of God burn against them, their damnation does not slumber, the pit is prepared, the fire is made ready, the furnace is now hot, ready to receive them and the flames do now rage and glow. The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit as opened its mouth under them”. Edward’s use of imagery describing the horrors and torments awaiting sinners has a remarkable effect on his audience. Even if they do not believe in hell, Edwards way of explaining it, is so deep that it will make the audience frightened and terrified that they would have to believe in his method of piousness.
In conclusion, Jonathan Edwards’s ways of explaining the outcome of impiousness will be able to frighten audience, and maybe encourage them to get back on the right track and start living with morality as well as piousness.
