Thomas Paine

Question 1

Select the words that Edwards uses in his sermon to make hell seem like a living thing.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

swallow; lay hold; gaping

Question 2

Select the images of hell created by the use of these words.

Revolt · Accepted Answer

It is alive and beastly.; It is hungry for sinners’ souls.; It is reaching out to grab sinners.

Question 3

Based on what you know about America in the 1700s, how would colonists react to Edwards’s sermon? Would they find it frightening, hopeful, or both?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

They would find it both frightening and hopeful.

Question 4

Why does Edwards use the word provoked instead of the word angered in this passage?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

The word provoked suggests that sinners bear responsibility for God’s anger.

Question 5

What does Edwards mean when he says that sinners “hang by a slender thread”?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

There is little that protects sinners from God’s fury.

Question 6

What is the denotation of everlasting in this passage?

Revolt · Accepted Answer

eternal

Thomas Paine Answers