Journal #11

Nika Bogoslovsky
10/12/07
Edwards

"But when once the day of mercy is past, your most lamentable and dolorous cries and shrieks will be in vain; you will be wholly lost and thrown away of God as to any regard to your welfare. God will have no other use to put you to, but to suffer misery."

Summary:

This is a sermon Jonathan Edwards wrote and delivered to his congregation. In this sermon he basically dooms his people to hell and calls them sinners. Yet, in the end, he manages to add that God still cares about them and they'll be saved if they change their sinful ways instantly, but this is said hopelessly and not in a reassuring way.

Response:

As mean as this sermon is, it's really well written. I couldn't get over that the whole time reading it. He says such awful things but in such a beautiful way. His metaphors and descriptions are so incredible that through all the hate, it makes this reading somewhat fun. I'm surprised that some of the things he said were even allowed to be said, but it's really great how blunt and honest he was like when he tells them that they will suffer and burn in hell. I wonder if he got the message across or permanently scared them away. It was tough having to read constant threats of the burning fires of hell but if it's true that what was said in class about the sermon being a vent for his personal guilt then I can't even begin to imagine his suffering. Clearly this is not light hearted work and if any of the power of this sermon was part of his daily struggles then it's surprising he lived as long as he did. Had it not been pointed out, I wouldn't have caught that towards the end he was saying that God still loves them and that they have the chance to be saved. I just hope that he believed this in himself and that he didn't completely feel that he was doomed too, that God still cared about him.