During the 1740s and afterward, a time which had also been dubbed as the "Great Awakening," Puritan society and the people living in it were greatly influenced by religion, many powerful figures making use of the Bible in order to frighten the people into being swayed to become more like how they wanted them. People during this time were naïve and because they had a very strong belief in God and the Bible, they were easily swayed by people whom they believed had more knowledge than them when it came to the Lord. Therefore, it was easy, as a priest or other religious figure, to persuade the Puritan peoples through the use of sermons. Jonathan Edwards, the author of the sermon titled, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," used other devices, aside from just simply relying on being trusted, in order to persuade the early American settlers. These devices included heavy use of figurative language, the most prominent being very strong and detailed imagery.
In order to decipher the reasons why Jonathan Edwards' sermon was able to so easily persuade early American settlers, the primary message of this sermon must first be analyzed. Originally, the intent of Jonathan Edwards in writing this sermon was to give a message to his own congregation--a group of people who come together for religious worship--but this sermon had eventually become a message to the rest of early America as well. Being a highly religious nation, the people were afraid of God and his Wrath. Edwards exploited this fear in his sermon through his main message; this message was to tell the people that if they did not repent and stray away from their sinful ways, then they would surely be substantially punished by God's Wrath, doomed to Hell for the rest of eternity. This main message would certainly be enough to frighten the listeners of this sermon, as the people were terribly afraid of facing the fury of their God and being punished.
The precise word choice, as utilized by Jonathan Edwards in his sermon, was also made intentionally to persuade the listeners of the sermon. One instance in which this word choice was carefully picked to have a greater effect on the listeners was Edwards' decision not to use the word "angered," but rather replaced it with "provoked" when speaking of God's fury towards the sinners of the Earth. This word choice was intentionally chosen in order to suggest that rather than giving God no reason to be angry with the people, his anger was a direct result of the sins that the people had committed, placing the blame on the people for their actions that were viewed as sinful in the eyes of God. Therefore, this simple change in the word choice would make the people believe that it will be their responsibility for being sent to Hell if they did not repent and turn to God before they died.
Likely the most effective way in which Jonathan Edwards was able to persuade the early American settlers with his sermon, he made heavy and clever use of vivid, detailed imagery as well as figurative language in the sermon. This decision would ultimately be the right call on the part of Jonathan Edwards because it was incredibly effective when it came to persuading the audience. Rather than simply stating that the sinners would go to Hell for not repenting, he described Hell in terrifyingly acute detail, making it much easier to have a strong emotional effect on his listeners. By using vivid imagery to stir emotion in his audience, he was able to sway the thoughts and feelings of the audience as well. He created a powerful fear of Hell within the audience, which would then cause each individual hearing his sermon to want to repent in fear of facing the judgment and wrath of their Lord God.
Overall, the figurative language utilized throughout Jonathan Edwards' sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God," was immensely effective in persuading the early American settlers. However, combined with the main message of the sermon, which was for the sinners to repent before they died or else they would provoke God and face his Wrath, as well as the precise, vetted word choice to convince his audience that they would be the ones at fault for being sent to Hell, Edwards was cleverly able to sway and convince the listeners of his sermon because of their prior belief and fear of God as well as the fear he situated within the American settlers.
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