Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God: Fear, Pity, Guilt

In this essay I am going to briefly analyse my personal feelings and emotions while I was reading the Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God. Also I will make an acent on reader's feelings and question myself why the author used such literary appeals as a way of communication with readers; what are the main feelings that the author wants to rise in his readers. 

Fear

It makes me feel a sense of fright if I were in that particular moment. The readers are affected by the sense of imminence of their life and how easy God can let go of the people. Edwards used to provide feat among the people so they don’t go astray from God. “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; and the longer the stream is stopped, the more rapid and mighty is its, when once it is let loose”.

As previously noted, it gives this terrifying feel to how vulnerable the human life is. The reader might be appealed to these texts more since it gives a sense of alarm. I think Edwards used this to fear the people to think that if they abandon their religion, it is very easy to fall into damnation. “The bow of God is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it it's nothing.... That keeps the bow from being made drunk with your blood'.

“Many are daily coming… that… are in a happy state, with their hearts filled… and rejoicing in hope of a glorious God. How awful is it to be left behind”. This resembles how God is ready to let go of the string at any moment, letting the arrow fly on pierce through the unfaithful. This gives the reader panic. I think Edwards used it to portray how simple it is for God to strike the people that have fallen away from him. 

“There is no other reason to be given why you have not gone to hell, since you have sat in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship”. This portrays how fear is exemplified with God holding people over a pit of hell as is more than willing to drop them in. Edwards used this to put fear unto the people and how God sees them as worthy of nothing.

Pity

“God holds you over a pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect… looks upon you worthy of nothing…” The quote has an emotion of pity due to how the faithful are still rejoicing with their hearts full of joy while the unfaithful are decisive about what path to take. Edwards used to this to bring pity in how he feels bad for the non religious people and how they missed out on this glory and joy.

Guilt

Guilt is also depicted in this sermon. It shows guilt that the unfaithful still attend meetings even though they aren’t believing in his name. Edwards used this to show that they should be guilty of still attending the meeting with their spiritual condition.

Conclusion

Using different literary appeals Edwards, the author of Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, talks about three emotions: fear, pity and guilt. Here I have briefly reviewed via quotations how Edwards tries to speak to his readers, what emotions and why he want to rise in readers hearts.