“Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God”

A Famous Sermon from 1741 written by Puritan Minister, Jonathan Edwards

A word about Edwards….

He entered entered Yale at 13! And by the age of 17, he had written a number of remarkable essays, one even on the
habits of the "flying spider." He graduated as valedictorian of his class, and even though he would go on to study
theology for two years after his graduation, Edwards continued to be interested in science. From his investigation and
observation of spiders, he saw the natural world as evidence of God's masterful design. His contemporaries (other
Puritan ministers and other people from academics) seemed too concerned with materialism. They seemed to place
their faith in Man’s ability to reason alone. Instead, Edwards saw the laws of nature as derived from God and
demonstrating his wisdom and care. 

Examining Literary Techniques of Persuasive Writers______________________________________

1. Arguments are often built on three bases; we get the words for these from Greek.

Logos: the logical argument: you should do this because it makes sense.
Pathos: the emotional argument: you should do this because of how it will make you feel.
Ethos: the speaker is the expert on the subject (and he’s a good person) so you should listen.

Find an example of each in Edward’s sermon:

Logos (this one is hard):”They should be left to fall, and they are inclined by their own weight. God will not hold
them up in these slippery places any longer, but will let them go….”

Ethos:”So that thus it is, that natural men are held in the hand of God over the pit of hell.”

Pathos:” the wrath of God burns against them, their damnation does not slumber”

3. Edwards compares God’s wrath to several things. Find three.

a. bow and arrow

b.a terrible storm

c.a great flood

4. One of Edward’s most effective techniques is to imply Ethos: “You should listen to me because I know more about
this than you do.” Find a place where he does this.
- “…if your strength were ten thousand times greater than it is, yea, ten thousand times greater that the strength of the
stoutest, sturdiest devil in hell, it would be nothing to withstand or endure it”

5. Edwards uses images of danger and destruction as part of his ethos. Find two examples.

● “His wrath towards you like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the 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 is in ours”
 ● “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: it is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full
of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as
much against you, as many of the damned in Hell.”

6. Your turn! Write a persuasive speech (only a paragraph) on a topic about which you feel passionately. Choose
one of the bases of argument (pathos, logos, or ethos) and stick to that technique. Look at this one. What technique
is used here?

Parents, your attention I require for a moment. Listen to me exclaim the reasons for which you should consider
lending me your automobile tonight. I have completed the necessary processes and have been granted a driving
license, so the State of Maryland deems it worthy to operate such a complex and dangerous piece of equipment.
Further, upon the straightening of my room, I believe you made a promise of reward, of which I would gently remind
you. You need not take greater pains to honor my cleanliness than to give me the car. Furthermore, your plans for
this evening include the doing of laundry and the washing of the canine, so your auto will not be used. It follows, then,
that I should borrow said car as I will return within two hours.

Why homework should not be given:

I would like to gain attention from the educational system because I would like to give some reasons for why students
should not be given homework. Since what I have noticed is that no one actually does their homework without the
assistance of the internet or getting it from their friends. And being in school for 8 hours and doing a lot of work
continuously with just a 30 min break shouldn't have students getting homework. Furthermore, students have lives out
of school and study. Personally, I have a 2 year old brother to babysit after school and my grandma to take care of. For
alot of other students, they have work after school, some have after school classes and a lot of other factors which can
make homework difficult to handle.