George Whitefield: Sermons Literary Elements

The narrator presents the sermons from the perspective of a first person subjective point of view with the narrator often including himself in the group ‘’we’’ and by using the pronoun ‘’I’’ in rare occasions.

Because these are sermons, the traditional fixed form and meter found in poems is absent.

In the sermon entitled ‘’The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent’’ the narrator discusses at one point the heathens who had no excuse in not believing in Satan as the source of all evil on this earth. To show why for him those people had no excuse, he compares the Serpent with a fountain-head from which water comes out. The water can be easily traced back to the fountain-head and everyone, even those who do not know how a fountain may work, can see how the water comes from only one place. This comparison has the purpose of transmitting the idea that no one is exempt from understanding the true origin of evil, no matter what religious beliefs one may have.

We find alliteration in the lines ‘’Behold, the Lord cometh with ten thousand of his saints’’ in the sermon entitled ‘’Walking with God’’.

We find an ironic idea in the sermon ‘’The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent’’ where the narrator mentions how the Devil tried to convince Eve she will become as a God if she eats from the forbidden fruit. Ironically, the opposite happened as she was thrown out of the Garden of Eden and then died after getting old.

Sermons

The action describes in the sermon ‘’The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent’’ takes place in the Garden of Eden before the primordial couple sinned by eating from the forbidden fruit.

The tone used in the sermons is in general a positive one, the narrator choosing to focus on the idea of salvation and the possibility of redemption possible for everyone on this earth.

In every sermon, the protagonist is God and Jesus while the antagonist is the serpent or the Devil.

The major conflict in the sermon "Walking with God’’ is between a person’s desire to listen to God and his commands and the incapability to do so because of the innate sinful nature every person has.

The sermon ‘’The Seed of the Woman, and the Seed of the Serpent’’ reaches its climax when Eve eats from the forbidden fruit and disobeys God and his orders.

The title of the sermon ‘’Walking with God’’ foreshadows the mentioning of those people from the Bible who were considered as being Holy Men.

When the Devil tries to convince humans they will have to suffer no repercussion for their actions is an understatement as it is proven time and time again that those who did not listen and did not obey God had to suffer dire consequences for their actions.

In most of the sermons presented here, the narrator alludes to the idea that women are the ones responsible for everything bad that happened in the world. The narrator criticizes Eve for being alone in the garden and for not asking her husband what she should do and though this Eve is presented as being the one responsible for plunging the whole humanity into sin. Through this allusion, the men distance themselves for having to take the responsibility of falling into sin.

In every sermon the narrator uses the pronoun ‘’we’’ over and over again. This pronoun is used in a general sense to make reference to those people who are faithful and will be saved because of their faith in God and Jesus.

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We found a hyperbole in the sermon "Walking with God’’ in the line "the Holy Spirit, foreshadowing this, created examples out of old men’’.

We find an onomatopoeia in the line "various are the pleas’’ in the sermon ‘’Walking with God’’.