“Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”—English textbook pages 87-91
Example of text (quote)
What does the example means and how does it help with
Edwards’ purpose?
Pg. 87:

“…you find you are kept out of Hell, but do
not see the hand of God in it;…If God
should withdrawal his hand, they would
avail no more to keep you from falling than
the thin air to hold up a person that is
suspended in it.”

Pg. 88:

“The wrath of God is like great waters that
are dammed for the present; they increase
more and more, and rise higher and higher
till an outlet is given…the waters are
constantly rising , and waxing more and
more mighty…”

Pg. 89:
“…and nothing to lay hold of to save
yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of
wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that
you ever have done, nothing that you can
do, to induce God to spare you one
moment…”

Pg. 89:

“God stands ready to pity you; this is a day
of mercy; you may cry now with some
encouragement of obtaining mercy.”


God is the only thing keeping the people from falling into
Hell and nothing else is stopping the descent
Edwards’ purpose is to convince the listeners that they
cannot do anything themselves to stop from going to Hell,
only God can; this example provides a visual for the
people to see that only God has the power to save them
from Hell
God is VERY angry and as time goes on he is getting more
and more angry
This helps with Edwards’ purpose because it provides a
simile for the listeners to picture the vastness of God’s
anger
The listeners can do nothing on their own to save
themselves from Hell or God’s anger
This helps with Edwards’ purpose because this quote uses
the parallel structure to illustrate that all the actions that
the listeners attempt will be equal in their results—
nothing will happen to save them from Hell or God’s wrath
God is ready to give the listeners a chance, so there is
hope that they can be saved from Hell because God feels
sorry for them.
This helps in Edwards’ purpose because it provides a shift
in the “persona” of God; he is not just an angry God but
one that can be merciful as well, therefore making it
easier for the listeners to follow God’s way and be saved
from Hell.
Persuasive Appeal:
Emotional, Logic,
Ethics, none
Rhetorical Device:
Restatement, Repetition,
Parallelism, Antithesis,
Rhetorical Question, none
Logic
Restatement
Logic
Restatement
Emotional
Parallelism
Emotional
Antithesis—tone only
Pg. 90:
“How dreadful is the state of those that are
daily and hourly in the danger of this great
wrath and infinite misery! But this is the
dismal case of every soul in this
congregation that has not been born again,
however moral and strict, sober and
religious, they may otherwise be.”


Pg. 91:

“Haste and escape for your lives, look not
behind you, escape to the mountain, lest
you be consumed.”

If, as a listener, you are not “born again” or Christian, then
at any minute you could receive God’s anger—no matter
how “good” of a life you lead
This helps in Edwards’ purpose because it provides a
practical cause and effect situation for the listeners to
understand what must be done in order to not go to Hell.
The listeners need to run to God and not look back to their
past sinful ways as a way to live, otherwise they will
receive all of God’s anger and land in Hell.
This helps in Edwards’ purpose because it provides a clear
and concise action for the listeners to follow in order to
save themselves from God’s anger and Hell.
Logical and/or Ethical
none
Logical
none