Several figures of speech are used with great effort to
compare mankind's situation to objects of nature as analyzed through the eyes of
God.
Here is one
simile:
The wrath of God is like great waters that are
damned 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
course, when once it is let
loose.
This compares the
building of God's anger to the pressure of water. The purpose of this comparison is to
get the congregation to think about how when God actually releases his anger, it is
going to be done with great force.
This next sentence
contains both a metaphor and
personification:
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 mere 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.
This
metaphor compares God's anger to the string of a bow being pulled and ready to let go,
but not yet let go. This comparison proves that God's wrath could once again come with
great power and severely destroy mankind if he so chose. Later, he gives an arrow the
human ability to experience being drunk. Being drunk means a great amount of alcohol
would be consumed. Here, he suggests that an arrow would consume a great amount of
blood.
Edwards is very famous for creating this
image of a human being held by God's hand over a fiery pit.
This visual image he uses to compare to the actual relationship between God and
man:
The God
that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome
insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully
provoked...
This quote also
contains a simile...
Good luck using these figures of
speech!
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