Bundy Fowler-Bowers

October 16^th, 2008

Their Foot Shall Slide in Due Time

       Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, Jonathan Edwards’ Pre-Romantic sermon in 1741, significantly influenced literature by possibly igniting the Romantic Period altogether with a simple metaphor: “Their foot shall slide in due time” (Deuteronomy 32:35, 194). With this chosen verse that begins his sermon, Edwards initially suggests that this literally means “...in the manner of their destruction coming upon them, being represented by their foot sliding” (194). Moreover, he expands and amalgamates on this idea broadening his definition as “to imply...punishment and destruction...he that walks in slippery places is every moment liable to fall...are liable to the fall themselves...and when that due time [comes] their foot shall slide” (194). The “they” Edwards refers in the actual sermon represents the “wicked unbelieving Israelites;” however, for the sake of this argument, an assumption can be made that this also applies to any of the “wicked unbelieving” (194) or the “souls of wicked men” (196).

     The effect of this symbol resonated from Early Romantic writings to New England Gothic Romanticism.  More specifically the metaphor can be traced from Edwards’ Sinners In the Hands of an Angry God, Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil” in 1836, and ultimately Sylvia Plath’s “Blackberrying” in the 20^th century. The reader literally can trace the slip of the foot and its eventual plummet transforming Edwards’ absolute language lacking subtlety (a non-Romantic characteristic) to the more abstract Romantic form of both Hawthorne and Plath. [Objective 1b. predictive elements in pre-Romantic writings]

     With the emergence of Romanticism generally classified as during the late 18^th century, Jonathan Edwards’ sermon, in 1741, fits the categorization of Pre-Romanticism. His extreme, and absolute language of the hellfire and damnation faced by sinners, in conjunction with his ideology regarding the foot sliding “in due time” demonstrates a clear predictive element with his intense lecture. His idea, “The manifold and continual experience of the world in all ages, shows this is no evidence that a man is not on the very brink of eternity and that the next step will not be into another world” effectively demonstrates a very primitive form of Romanticism, fundamentally underpinning the pre-Romantic ideology in conjunction with thoughts of the transcendental (196).

     Edwards’ beliefs center on many pre-Romantic notions; using many ideas from the 17^th century Puritan Era, including the didactic intensification of God’s absolute authority and the infallible reliance upon the church. [Objective 1b. predictive elements from 17^th century] He quotes a plethora of scriptures to effectively reinforce his insistence upon the severity of God’s wrath and vengeance while suggesting his rant served as a warning for one who may be a “wicked unbeliever” present at his sermon (in his congregation) be awakened and saved from the dreadful pit of God’s wrath (198). The sermon also parallels the 17^th century conviction that God determines individual fate and man is basically corrupt in nature and only Christ can save his soul from damnation.

    Consequently, in the same sermon, he illustrates a tendency towards Romanticism using elements of the spirit and ideology generally associated with the Romantic Period, including manifestations of both the gothic and the sublime in his harangue. [Objective 1a ideas of the gothic and sublime] Numerous gothic elements in Edwards’ work emerge in both style and text. The stylistic elements in Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God arise in his descriptions through imagery and symbolic omen. When Edwards declares, “Unconverted men walk over the pit of hell on a rotten covering, and there are innumerable places in this covering...and these places are not seen” (197). The reader visualizes hideously dark creatures (unconverted men) walking together in droves over a rotten covering; these clearly exemplify gothic images while simultaneously using words considered as gothic during the Romantic Period (i.e. pit of hell and rotten). Further, Edward embodies the gothic style and the sublime with his powerful statement, “There are black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm and big with thunder...” (199). “Black clouds” and “the dreadful storm” focus on the gothic with an infusion of the sublime in his statement “big with thunder” (199). Moreover, his unremitting allusions throughout the sermon resonate the sublime in the reverent worship of the “infinite God.”

    As Edwards predicted in his sermon, "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction” (Psalm 73:18, 194), the 17^th century Puritan ideas indeed begin to slide (in terms of literature). Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “The Minister’s Black Veil,” eloquently captures a symbolic representation of this “slide” of the nature of humanity. Hawthorne’s focus spotlights a particular gothic symbol: a black veil.  The Reverend Mr. Hooper, a reputable preacher, stubbornly decides to eternally wear a black veil that covers his face to the horror of the townspeople and his love. He provides little explanation for his behavior except a very vague justification to his love, Elizabeth, “so far as my vow may suffer me...this veil is a type and a symbol, and I am bound to wear it ever, both in light and darkness...no mortal eye shall see it withdrawn. This dismal shade must separate me from the world...” (627). He furthers his thoughts briefly, “If I hide my face for sorrow, there is cause enough...and if I cover it for secret sin, what mortal might not do the same?” (628). This gives the impression that the black veil symbolizes the undisclosed sin that masks man’s true face from God and humanity. Perhaps by wearing the veil it was his desire to remind the townspeople of their own secret sins, ultimately causing them to face them, a gentle persuasive gesture summoning them to pray for absolution. Sadly, Mr. Hooper remains “lonely...and frightened...behind [his] black veil.... in miserable obscurity forever” (628).

     Children shriek, adults turn away in shame and gloom follows him like a dark cloud. He seemed to have a connection with the darker side of humanity as “Dying sinners cried aloud for Mr. Hooper, and would not yield their breath till he appeared...and they shuddered at the veiled face so near their own” (629).  Sadly, a good man “spent a long life, irreproachable in outward act, yet shrouded in dismal suspicions; kind and loving, though unloved, and dimly feared:  a man apart from men, shunned in their health and joy, but ever summoned to their aid in mortal anguish” (629).

    The gothic symbol of the veil also correlates to Edwards’ suggestion that “black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads” and humanity continues to slip away towards destruction (199, Objective 1b, predictive elements). Because the townspeople fail to understand the religious idea of the veil, they neglect to accept truths about themselves. Instead of repenting and being released from sin, as predicted by Edwards, by the 1800’s, the “wicked unbelievers” seem headed for destruction and the wrath of God. In Edwards’ eyes, their feet continue to slide, and the story’s macabre tone and decay of any moral foundation demonstrate the abundance of secret sin and human nature’s way of finding their own path to destruction. In a 2002 midterm, Alvaro Rodriguez, suggests “Hawthorne continues the Gothic thread with “The Minister’s Black Veil,” (1836) a startlingly effective tale in which a simple piece of dark fabric acts as both blinder and mirror, a duality that expresses the mystery of the heart that is a central Gothic theme. Where “Maypole” and “Young Goodman Brown” deal expressly in the occult in the sense of the word that indicates the supernatural, in “Minister” Hawthorne explores the word’s other meaning, the hidden, the “secret sin” (AR, 2002).

    Edwards might truly be convinced that the downfall of humanity was near if he had lived to read the beautiful poetry of Sylvia Plath. His reaction might be: "Surely thou didst set them in slippery places; thou castedst them down into destruction: How are they brought into desolation as in a moment!" (Psalm 73:18, 194) In particular, the poem “Blackberrying” describes a woman’s journey through life with little regard for any idea of God, although there are elements of the sublime. Her poem represents what begins as a leisurely, albeit lonely, stroll in a blackberry lane, “Nobody in the lane, and nothing, nothing but blackberries, Blackberries on either side” (2658). Her intensely gothic style romantic narrative of a woman, who in the beginning sees the fertility of life, describing the blackberries as “big as the ball of her thumb,” eventually loses that vision in a sad and lonely manner (2658).

     The next stanza exemplifies the gothic elements with suggestions of decay, “a bush of flies...The honey feast has stunned them; they believe in heaven” (2658). Plath’s suggestion in this stanza seems that in spite of the fact that the flies believe in heaven, she does not. Clearly, this statement would offend Edwards and he would believe that this, indeed, describes the “desolation” he foreshadowed. At this point in the poem, Plath (or the speaker) is still searching for something to complete her life.

     In the poem’s final stanza, the speaker foresees, “The only thing to come now is the sea” (2658). She follows the “sheep path” and life’s final “hook,” or turn, shows her “the hills’ northern face...that looks out on nothing, nothing, but a great space” (2658). It appears the end of her journey has revealed emptiness and nothingness rather than the transcendental sea of tranquility she had so richly hoped for. To her, no heaven, or no hell awaited her, just lonely, empty shadows along “white and pewter lights” and the impenetrable sounds of “Beating and beating an intractable metal” (2659). Sadly, the end of this speaker’s journey (or perhaps life) failed to even provide her with a peaceful quiet. Edwards would likely feel the speaker of this poem was a “wicked unbeliever” that found no solace at the end of her life (like those who both believed and feared the wrath of God). However, it seems he would be perplexed at how she avoided the hellfire and damnation, the wrath of God in all its fury, hence his interpretation of the poem may be much different than the general consensus of today’s analysis. 

     Edwards’ Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God clearly substantiates the idea in Objective 1b. concerning the Romantic Period through the observation of predictive elements in “pre-Romantic” writings from earlier periods, especially the 17^th century’s Puritan/Colonial period. In 1741, the period was transitioning to Romanticism and Edwards’ sermon easily leaves many issues open for interpretation. Further, he clearly used gothic and sublime style and textual elements that fit the Romantic Spirit as defined by Objective 1a. When applying his sermon to both the texts of Hawthorne and Plath, the choice of using the biblical metaphor, “Their foot shall slide in due time” (Deuteronomy 32:35, 194) created a powerful result. These three texts effectively exemplify a change in the manner in which individuals viewed the world. Although Edwards may believe this is humanity’s final descent into the oblivion of desolation, perhaps the descent is simply a new journey, a variant path, with free will and personal choice rather than hellfire and damnation.