The Great Awakening (1730-1750), an important
epoch in American history, called for the mass revitalization of Christianity
and God among the English colonists. The movement continued long after its
culmination to help influence many of America’s roots and values tied to God.
Jonathan Edwards was an American preacher, who lived during this time, gave a
profound sermon entitled Sinners in the
Hands of an Angry God. He gave the enthusiastic sermon on July Eighth, 1741
in Enfield, Connecticut. His sermon
showcases itself as an adequate example of the intensity and seriousness many
preachers had towards restoring faith back into the souls and homes of
colonists. In Sinners in the Hands of an
Angry God, Edwards utilizes humanity’s fear of Hell and vivid imagery of
God’s wrath as devices to persuade Christian doubters and non-believers to
submit to the will of God as their only savior.
Edwards uses fear and humanity’s
inferiority to God as scare tactics to warn sinners, who are failing to seek
salvation and repent, of their fate. For instance, Edwards zealously reiterates
his beliefs that God holds dominion over every person’s fate after death. He
embodies his belief by saying, “there is nothing between you and hell but the
air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up” (426). Edwards’
awareness of people having a natural fear about the fiery perceptions of Hell
and the unknown afterlife allow him to feed into the essence of human fear. He also
asserts God as the only symbolic figure of salvation and omnipotence. Edwards
explains how sinners are trapped in God’s hand and has the ability to, at any
moment, cast them into the fiery depths of Hell. Edwards wants to reinforce
into the minds of sinners that God is the people’s only hope from their condemnation
to Hell. However, he suggests that God has some patience to allow sinners to
change their ways, although their string of pleasure—God’s mercy—is wearing thin.
Edwards’ vivid imagery describes God’s
wrath and the experience of Hell with vicious words to instill greater fear
into the souls of sinners. In the “Application” section of his sermon, Edwards
recounts God’s anger claiming, “His wrath towards you burns like fire; He looks
upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into fire; He is of purer eyes
than to bear to have you in His sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable
in His eyes than the most hateful venomous serpent in ours” (431). Edwards is painting the picture of God’s mercilessness
to those who partake in a life filled with damnable activities. Edwards
compares sinners to humanity’s most hated foe and states that God has more
unfathomable hate for sinners than humans possibly could. He mentions fire a
couple times as a sensory device to give sinners a perspective of how painful
and mighty God’s wrath is, while also referencing to Hell as a place of eternal
fire. He believes God has no use for sinners and sees them as worthless beings
who should be thrown into the fiery pits of Hell, where they will burn and
experience non-stop torture.
Jonathan Edwards’ sermon was given with
great passion and intensity. His agenda was to convert sinners into believers
by instilling them with the fear of God and Hell. Although his sermon might
have coerced many into following the Christian religion, I believe majority of
those people joined because they were afraid of the unknown and the idea of
Hell. Their actions were not genuine and, in the act of doing so, prove to be a
testament of the relentless will of Christianity upon citizens of the world.
Work Cited
Edwards, Jonathan. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. The Norton Anthology: American Literature
7th Edition. Ed. Nina Baym. New York: WW Norton and Company,
2007. 426-431. Print
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