Read the sermon. Respond to the following questions. 1. How does Edwards sway his audience? Why is it effective?
Jonathan Edwards sways his audience with his powerful words about God. it seemed very effective because he scared them by saying that there was a high chance of going to hell and that no one was secure a life to heaven.
2. How might his tone reflect the mood of Americans in the colonial era? Why would he emphasize man’s insecurity and God’s fickleness?
His tone shows that Americans in the colonial era were going through hardships and needed someone to tell them what could happen. By Jonathan Edwards showing them their insecurities and dangers of disobeying God's ways they would take the speech more seriously and act upon it.
Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God”, 1741
...This that you have heard is the case of every one of you that are out of Christ. That world of misery, that lake of burning brimstone, is extended abroad under you. There is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell's wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of; there is nothing between you and hell but the air; 'tis only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up. You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but don't see the hand of God in it, but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw 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. Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and, if God should let you go, you would immediately sink, and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf; and your healthy constitution, and your own care and prudence, and best contrivance,
