While John Winthrop expressed his Puritan principles in very formal descriptions of Anne Hutchinson's trial and excommunication, Jonathan Edwards took a different approach. Edwards wasn't interested in recording history—his purpose was to persuade listeners to shift their viewpoints about God and salvation. Instead of appealing to his listeners' powers of reason, Edwards appealed to their strongest emotions and, more specifically, to their fears. Edwards used figurative language consisting of vivid images, and he selected words that would frighten audience members and convince them he was speaking directly to them. Edwards hoped to make his audience feel as though they truly were sinners in the hands of an angry God.
Use the tabs below to learn how Edwards was able to move and inspire his audience using very carefully chosen words.
Figurative Language
Point of View
Edwards was a master of figurative language—his sermons were full of metaphors, similes, and personification.
"There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth..."
"Your wickedness makes you, as it were, heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell..."
"...you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."
Question
What comparisons does Edwards make in these lines? What do they all have in common?
He compares hell to an open mouth ready to devour; he compares humans' wicked souls to heavy lead; he compares the disgust God has for humans to the disgust humans have for serpents. All three comparisons portray humans and human fate negatively and add to the sermon's dark mood.
Edwards' purpose was to convert everyone in New England to Christianity and to convince them that they had no control over their own destiny; only God could save them from hell. Edwards' revivals drew people of all ages and backgrounds, and he knew many individuals in the audience were craving direction and guidance. With his purpose and audience in mind, Edwards chose details that would reach into the consciousness of many kinds of listeners, and he described those needing salvation in ways that would cause his listeners to recognize themselves. He also addressed his listeners directly as "you."
"It is to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell last night; that you were suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep. And there is no other reason to be given, why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God's hand has held you up. There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship. Yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you do not this very moment drop down into hell..."
Question
What specific details does Edwards include that might frighten or shock listeners?
He says that each of them, personally, might have died and gone to hell last night if not for God choosing to allow them to live another day. He also suggests that they could drop down into hell at any moment.
