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Julian Guzman

Daniel Choi

English 11/ period 3

12 September 2017

From a City Upon a Hill to Sinners going to Hell

John Winthrop delivered his speech aboard the Arabella in front of the Puritans while

Jonathan Edwards delivered his sermon in front of non-religious English settlers. Winthrop

delivered his speech in 1630, during this time this speech was delivered to separatists who were

trying to escape England for religious freedom. Edwards delivered his sermon in 1741 to a

crowd of non-religious English settlers. Edwards delivered his speech during the Great

Awakening. The Great Awakening is when colonists were slowly getting back into the idea of

religion. They originally strayed away from that idea because they only came to the Americas to

get rich not to continue in religion.Winthrop's speech was a motivational speech while Edwards

sermon struck fear, about Gods wrath, into anyone who heard it. Both speeches had a strong

belief in God but, both speeches are very different in tone and what each speech represented.

Both titles of both speeches have a lot to say about the whole speech with out reading it yet.

The titles of both speeches are very different. Edwards title for his sermon, Sinners in

the Hands of an Angry God, has a negative tone because it couldve made colonists think who

were the sinners and fill them with fear. The sinners refer to the audience that Edward is

preaching to. The title itself could strike fear to anyone who just hears it. The rhetorical devices
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that Edwards speech uses are ethos and pathos. In the title, of Edward's speech, he has the word

God. God is a credible source because he is in the Bible and talked about as the creator of the

world. The title involves pathos because it it has words like Sinners and Angry God in it.

These are hateful phrases towards the audience because the title is talking about them. In

Winthrop's speech his title, City Upon a Hill, sounds like an uplifting tone. The imagery

behind the title is a City thats being watched by everyone else from Upon a Hill. Everyone

thats watching this city is waiting for the city to fail. The speech itself talks about how they have

to prove everyone watching them wrong by succeeding. The rhetorical devices that Winthrops

title uses is pathos. The title uses pathos because it made people on the Arabella think about how

their future is going to be successful. These two titles are polar to each other because they have

nothing in common except for the rhetorical devices that the speakers used in them. Most of the

content is both speeches are different except for the last couple lines.

Both speeches end with the same type of message. Winthrop wants the people on the

Arabella to lay the ground for their future generations when he ends speech by saying,

Therefore let us choose life, that we and our seede, may live; ...prosperity. His imagery for

their later childrens is for them to live in harmony and to live under the belief of God. The

rhetorical devices that Winthrop uses in his final lines are ethos and pathos. Winthrop uses ethos

because he says that everyone in the Arabella should live under his voyce, which is referring to

God. Winthrop also uses pathos in the ending of his speech with talking about everyone's

seede which means everyone's future children and family. When Edward ends his speech by

saying, Therefore let everyone that is out of Christ, now awake and fly, from the wrath to
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come, he wanted for people to walk out of the church and feel the fear of God if they werent

religious. When Edward ends his speech he wanted his audience to leave the sermon and think

about what Christ can do to them if they dont believe in him. Both quotes are similar because

the rhetoric device that they both use are ethos and pathos. The endings of both speeches have

the same imagery which is to live under the influence of God. They both talk about how they

want their seedes to live later in the future.

Both speeches have quotes that are very polar in meaning. Winthrop thinks that everyone

should live by three ways to doe justly, to love mercy, to walke humbly with our God.

Winthrop uses the rhetorical device of ethos. Winthrop uses ethos in this part because he lists

three ways of how to live under their God. Winthrop also words this phrase in parallel

structure because each phrase in between the commas start with the word to and the words that

end each little phrase also rhyme. Edward tells his audience how hell is waiting for every sinner

when he says, the devil is waiting for them, hell is gaping for them the flames gather and flash

about them, and would fain lay hold on them, and swallow them up. The imagery that

Edward tries to imply in this part of the sermon is how hell and the devil is waiting for

them, the audience that are sinners. Edwards words this part of his sermon in epistrophe, which

is the opposite of parallel structure. Edwards ends each phrase between the commas with the

word them, which refers to the sinners. This part of Edwards sermon uses ethos and pathos. It

uses ethos because it describes how hell is waiting for them. Hell is a reference from the

Bible which is where the devil waits for the sinners. This part of the sermon also uses pathos
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because the imagery that is created here can scare the audience for when they die. Both speeches

dont seem to be shown in modern days.

Both Edwards and Winthrop wanted their speeches to carry on for as long as they could

but, neither are represented in modern days. Edwards wanted all colonists and their seedes,

their seedes being us, to still believe in God and to not stray away from him but, these days a

lot of people dont believe in God and arent religious period. Most people have strayed away

from religion and focussed on getting rich again. For Winthrop's speech the United States didnt

become the City Upon a Hill he dreamed about. Our country is nowhere near perfect because

not everyone helps each other these days and thats what Winthrop's wanted people to do. Both

speakers may have changed to minds of people back then in a positive way but, now a days

people have forgotten what they have tried to teach us.