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What rhetorical strategies are used by Jonathan Edwards to convince his audience to join the Great Awakening movement? Please use quotes.

Edwards uses many rhetorical devices in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" to convince his listeners to repent and join the Great Awakening. For example, he uses several figures of speech, including metaphors. In one example, he compares God's enemies to "Heaps of light Chaff before the Whirlwind; or large Quantities of dry Stubble before devouring Flames." In other words, God's enemies are as weak and helpless as pieces of wheat before a large wind or dry tinder before a fire. Metaphors create visual images in his audience's mind and help emphasize his message. 


Edwards also makes use of the repetition of words and phrases to drive home his ideas. For example, he writes, "As he that walks in slippery Places is every Moment liable to fall; he can’t foresee one Moment whether he shall stand or fall the next; and when he does fall, he falls at once, without Warning." These lines repeat the word "fall" to emphasize that one who is not saved by God is liable to fall into damnation at any moment, and the repetition of this word serves to emphasize the precarious nature of the unredeemed.



He also uses repeated sounds, or alliteration (starting words that are close together with the same sounds). An example is "Fire is made ready, the Furnace is now hot, ready to receive them, the Flames do now rage and glow." The repeated use of the "f" sound at the beginning of words drives home the vision of a fire-filled furnace with flames that awaits the sinner. 


Finally, Edwards uses an appeal to the audience's emotions through techniques such as cataplexis, which is predicting doom for sinners. For example, Edwards says, "And you Children that are unconverted, don’t you know that you are going down to Hell, to bear the dreadful Wrath of that God that is now angry with you every Day, and every Night." He prophecies damnation for those who do not join his movement. 


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