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Change In Patrick Henry's Speech

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Truth Inspires Change In Patrick Henry’s speech, “Speech to the Virginia Convention”, and Jonathan Edwards’s sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, they address different audiences with the same goal: to inspire change within their respective societies. Henry, the politician, and Edwards, the preacher, have different views and backgrounds, but both address the audiences with the ultimate hope of them accepting the reality of his or her situation. In the speech by Patrick Henry and the sermon by Jonathan Edwards, both Henry and Edwards use various rhetorical devices to expose truth that exhorts a shift of mind and heart. Though Henry and Edwards use …show more content…
Henry’s main assertion can be observed when he says, “It is only in this way that we can hope to arrive at truth, and fulfill the great responsibility which we hold to God and our country” (Henry, 203). Henry wants the reader to believe it is imperative to know the truth. Henry’s purpose is further observed when he says, “For my part, whatever anguish of spirit it may cost, I am willing to know the whole truth--to know the worst and to provide for it” (Henry, 204). Through stating that he will suffer for the truth and use it to make necessary progress, Henry encourages the reader to want to do the same. Comparatively, Edwards’s main assertion can be observed when he says, “Thus all you that never passed under a great change of heart…are in the hands of an angry God” (Edwards, 103-104). Remaining stagnant is held in disdain, but for most individuals, change can be uncomfortable and hard to accept. Edwards wants the reader to trust what he is saying and attempts many times throughout his sermon to persuade the audience to discern their true character and purify it. This is further observed when Edwards says, “However unconvinced you may now be of the truth of what you hear, by and by you will be fully convinced of it” (Edwards, 104). Both Henry and Edwards cause the reader to feel obligated in their spiritual and …show more content…
Both Henry and Edwards want readers to accept and continue to seek the truth, regardless of the cost. Through the diverse literary devices used by both Henry and Edwards, they evoke feelings that reveal truth and urge change. Different literary devices are used, but ultimately, they spark the same changes in the reader. Both Henry and Edwards hope to open the minds and hearts of the reader and evoke new thoughts and feelings from the

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