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1. What is the lesson that Whitefield is trying to convey in his sermon, Abraham’s Offering Up His Son Isaac? How does this message differ from that of Edwards?
Whitefield was renowned for his original views on traditional biblical and Christian concepts but, in general, he was inclined to quite a conservative interpretation of Biblical texts and messages. In this regard, he was different from Edwards, who attempted to re-evaluate biblical texts and concepts consistently, offering new, contemporary ideas and concepts instead. In his “Abraham’s Offering Up His Son Isaac”, Whitefield develops the idea of obedience and following the lead of God. In fact, throughout his sermon, it is possible to trace determinism and obedience as key concepts of a truly Christian life. Whitefield believes that Abraham is led by God and he justifies Abraham in his decision to offer up his son, Isaac. In such a way, Whitefield attempts to persuade his audience that people should be ready to sacrifice and obey to the will of God without expecting anything in response. In other words, Whitefield promotes the idea of obedience not for the sake of some reward but for the sake of faith in the almighty and wise God.
2. How does Whitefield appeal to specific emotions?
Basically, Whitefield attempts to appeal to emotions of the audience to make his message more persuading and heart touching. For instance, Whitefield refers to the father-son relationships and the traditional family values to evoke strong emotions in his audience. He puts his audience as if they had to take the decision Abraham had to take. Naturally, in such a situation, the audience gets emotionally involved in the message conveyed by Whitefield and people start to feel as if they are not listeners but rather participants of the narration delivered by Whitefield to his audience.
In fact, Whitefield appeals to such emotions as parental love. This is one of the strongest emotional appeals of Whitefield’s speech because he makes his audience feeling compassionate to Abraham. In such a way, Whitefield refers to paternal and maternal feelings in his audience. Thus, people can understand the full extent to which the decision taken by Abraham was difficult and almost unbearable to take. In such a context, the act of Abraham is heroic and unimaginable to his audience. Hence, they understand the power of God and the extent to which people can be obedient to the will of God as Abraham does.
Furthermore, Whitefield appeals to the worshipping and sacred feelings of his audience. In fact, the sacred admiration and obedience to God are the strongest feelings and emotions raised in the course of the speech of Whitefield. He stresses that worshippers should be obedient to the will of God and to take the will of God for granted. The latter implies that people should oppress their pride. In this regard, Whitefield appeals to the pride of his audience which he presents as a sin. In such a way, Whitefield does not simply catches the attention of his audience but also urges people to take right actions and commit good deeds in their regular life as good Christians should do.
3. How does Whitefield’s narration of the Scripture add or detract from his message?
In his narration of the scripture, Whitefield appeals to the authority, the great Apostle Paul. In the narration, Whitefield reminds words attributed to Apostle Paul: “whatsoever was written aforetime was written for our learning, that we through patience and comfort of the holy scripture might have hope” (Whitefield, 3). In such a way, Whitefield uses the narration to attract the audience and keep the attention of the audience on his message. Through the appeal to the authority, Whitefield gains the attention and respect of the audience because people perceive his words not as a mere message created by Whitefield but as a message grounded on the authority of Apostle Paul.
The author uses similes and metaphors to convey his message and show the audience his position clearly. He uses the image of Apostle Paul as the highest authority and, simultaneously, he uses his image to show the permanent presence of God among people. Apostle Paul is presented as if he is a tool with the help of which God supervises and guides people throughout their life. In this regard, the narration of Whitefield conveys logically and clearly his ideas, which are presented in the logical order following each other rationally. At the same time, he backs up his message with supporting sentences and ideas which strengthen the opening sentence in each paragraph, where Whitefield stresses key points of his speech.
Furthermore, the narration runs smoothly with natural transitions. Each paragraph summons up certain idea conveyed by the narrator and the next paragraph starts with the opening sentence. In such a way, the author makes his speech clear and eloquent simultaneously because, in addition to logic and reasons, which he appeals to, Whitefield also appeals to the emotions of his audience, which he raises steadily in the course of his speech. Thus, Whitefield uses different stylistic devices along with the organization of his speech to add emotional coloring to his speech and detract the audience from ideas, which he believes to be harmful for their perception. For instance, he detracts the audience from the negative experience conveyed in his narration. Moreover, Whitefield uses metaphors and similes to make his speech more colorful and emotionally involving the audience.