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This test consists of 5 short answer questions, 10 short essay questions, and 1 (of 3) essay topics.

Short Answer Questions

1. Edwards' claim, the the Doctrine section of his sermon, that "Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering" (408), is what type of argument?

2. What is Edwards' fifth argument for the truth of his statement of doctrine?

3. In the Doctrine section of his sermon, Edwards makes reference to "providence" several times. To what is he referring?

4. In the Doctrine section of his sermon, when Edwards says "as the heart is now a sink of sin, so, if sin was not restrained," (408), this is an example of which literary technique?

5. What is Edwards' eighth argument for the truth of his statement of doctrine?

Short Essay Questions

1. According to the Doctrine section of Edwards' sermon, what different promises has God made to the converted and the unconverted?

2. Why does Edwards say, in the Doctrine section of the sermon, that those who think that they are protecting themselves from hell are fooling themselves?

3. What reasons does Edwards give, in the Doctrine section of his sermon, for divine justice not stopping God from casting sinners into hell?

4. According to the Doctrine section of Edwards' sermon, what is God's attitude toward the sinners who are not yet in hell?

5. In the Doctrine section of his sermon, what does Edwards mean when he says that the "mere pleasure of God" (406) is all that keeps sinners out of hell?

6. In the Doctrine section of his sermon, Edwards compares God's power to the power of a human to crush a worm. Explain the meaning and significance of this analogy.

7. When, in the Doctrine section of his speech, Edwards says that "The Scripture represents them as his 'goods'" (407), to whom does he refer when he says "them" and "his," and what point is he making about these people?

8. When, in the Doctrine section of his sermon, Edwards says of sinners that "The glittering sword is whet, and held over them, and the pit hath opened her mouth under them," (407), what does he mean, and what analogy found elsewhere in the sermon is he making reference to?

9. Explain why, in the Doctrine section of his sermon, Edwards says that God is not like an earthly prince.

10. In the end of the Doctrine section of his sermon, what criticism does Edwards make of religious authorities who do not believe what he believes?

Essay Topics

Write an essay for ONE of the following topics:

Essay Topic 1

Analyze the effect of repetition in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God."

Essay Topic 2

Choose a passage from "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" that makes use of parallel structure. Explain what makes the structure parallel and defend a claim about the rhetorical purpose of this parallelism.

Essay Topic 3

Choose a hymn by Isaac Watts (his work is available on Project Gutenberg, online). Write an essay that explains how this hymn represents the ideas of the Great Awakening.

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