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Irony
Definition of Metaphor
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor can be stated explicitly, as... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other. The comparison in a metaphor... read full definition
A metaphor is a figure of speech that compares two different things by saying that one thing is the other... read full definition
Part 1
Explanation and Analysis—No Fortress:
Edwards uses the metaphor of a prince who cannot get rid of rebels because they have a fortress or some other strong position from which to fight:
Sometimes an earthly prince meets with a great deal of difficulty in subduing a rebel, who has found means to fortify himself, and has made himself strong by the numbers of his followers. But it is not so with God. There is no fortress that is any defence from the power of God.
This negative metaphor establishes what does not exist: any way to disobey, resist, fight, or hide from God's wrath. Unlike the prince, God is omnipotent and can't be defeated. The metaphor serves to make this lesson more memorable and understandable to the audience; a visual connected to an idea is often easier to remember than a concept alone.
Sinners were not building literal fortresses to stay safe from hell, of course, but as Edwards goes on to establish, sinners might believe they can prolong their lives to avoid hell, or feel certain that because others act the same way as them, the punishments in the Bible are nothing to worry about. Or they might believe that something besides being saved will protect them, such as good deeds without faith. These delusions are, however, no protection—no fortress—against God's wrath. According to Edwards, only a legitimate conversion experience and a lively faith in Jesus Christ can save someone from hell.
Related Themes:
Part 2. Application
Explanation and Analysis—Over the Flames:
Although dramatic irony is most often employed in a narrative, it also operates in this sermon, within the metaphor about the sinner suspended over the fire.
You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder; and you have no interest in any Mediator, and nothing to lay hold of to save yourself, nothing to keep off the flames of wrath, nothing of your own, nothing that you ever have done, nothing that you can do, to induce God to spare you one moment.
The horror of Edwards’s sermon stems not only from his descriptions of hell and God’s anger, but also from the ignorance and stubbornness of the sinners that Edwards describes. By this point in the sermon, Edwards directly refers to the audience themselves as sinners: "you have no interest in any Mediator." The individuals in the audience are not only in horrible danger, but also do not seek out any rescue from that danger, even though God’s mercy and forgiveness is available to sinners while they are alive on Earth. The repeated inaction Edwards describes in the face of eternal torment is highly ironic; shouldn't the audience try everything in their power to avoid the ultimate punishment? The problem is that the audience does not realize how near hell they are, and so they fail to turn to Christ, which is the one action (Edwards is quite emphatic about this) which would save them. This irony would have made the audience feel foolish and near-sighted for not relying on Jesus sooner. And in fact, after this sermon, people in the area converted in droves!
Related Themes:
Explanation and Analysis—Bow and Arrow:
Edwards not only emphasizes that hell is horrible, but also that it is imminent. In other words, sinners must turn to Jesus with haste, because any day they could die unsaved and go to hell. His choice of metaphor, a bow and arrow, is vividly expounded in the following passage:
The bow of God’s wrath is bent, and the arrow made ready on the string, and justice bends the arrow at your heart, and strains the bow, and it is nothing but the meer pleasure of God, and that of an angry God, without any promise or obligation at all, that keeps the arrow one moment from being made drunk with your blood.
It is worth noting that, like fire, audience members were familiar with bows and arrows. While by this time period most warfare would have been conducted with firearms, Edwards's audience might have hunted with a bow or seen it used in a competition or game.
As a result of that familiarity, and because of the imagery Edwards builds here, the audience would have taken this metaphor as an example of the special effort God exercises in not sending sinners to hell immediately. They also would have understood, once again, that hell was not a far-off problem to be dealt with later, but a potentially immediate consequence. It takes effort to hold an arrow once it is drawn back; the arm and bow alike are tensed. In fact, Edwards mentions this effort explicitly: "justice [...] strains the bow." Once released, arrows are quick and violent. This metaphor emphasizes with accessible visual imagery both the restraint God exercises and the immediacy of punishment once he decides to send someone to hell.
Related Themes:
