Fear was the tool used to assimilate the laws or rules of the Bible into the minds of eighteenth century society. Fear being defined as an emotion induced by a threat of a living entity which causes a change in brain and organ functions which ultimately changes behavior. Edward’s purpose was to promote God as a great power by using the only power he had: words. The power to ingrain images of the fiery depths of hell, the fact your only savior is God and if you do not sin you are saved, was a convincing point to the religious people of that time. Within Edwards’ writing he uses his figurative language and imagery to convey pathos, or emotional appeal.
Multiple times we listen to the scary stories around a campfire as we listen intently to someone’s horror story, often having to do with the environment around us. “There is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds us” (47).
In this case, Edwards describes it as the ground we walk on, and the only one who keeps us from falling to the depths is the Hand of God and that it is his pleasure to do so. “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downward with great weight and pressure toward hell; an if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf… and keep you out of hell, than a spider’s web would have to stop a rock” (47).
Our lack of sins is what has kept us out of Hell, that God’s punishment is something to fear, because Hell is right below us. His words may have been the driving force for better behavior during that period of time and the Church would not condone such immoral behavior.
The Essay on Of Power and Time
Time The article by Mary Oliver is very deep and passionate in a way you can’t help but relate to, in a way you almost understand where the writer is coming from. Through out this article the writer explains through out a poem of how it is to be a writer. The article fails to revolve around any specific thing but does so with descriptive elegance. Oliver is talking through her poetry and saying ...
By using certain imagery he was able to portray a horrible fate for the wrong-doers of saying, “The devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them, the flames gather and flash about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up” (46).
He describes a scene of hell that is for sinners in which the devil and the flames of hell are anticipating the sinners arrivals. He also describes a perspective of the sinners, “the fire pent up in their own hearts is struggling to break out: and they have no interest in any Mediator, there are no means within reach that can be any
security to them” (47).
He reveals that sinners know they have done the unforgivable, believes they have no thought of mind and that there is no hope for them. God will hold such animosity towards them.
Jonathan Edwards multiple sentences to instill the image of a burning hell that awaits the sinners of Earth. He uses the only weapon he has against people and strangely throughout time, as people began to think for themselves we fell away from the thought of the devil, hell, sins, the do’s and don’t’s of the Holy Bible. Things such as adultery that were feared so much back and that you were condemned to hell for that are not so taboo today. He shows altruistic traits through the article and admonishes the sinners of the time. His emotional appeals grasp the readers, he wants them to adhere to his warnings, and envelop them with fear to merely guide them in to the right path.
