The Divine and the Sentiment Extending the Boundaries of Language
The spiritual light is not actually a light. It is, as Jonathan Edwards describes, a form of knowledge that is directly received from God instead of natural means (Puckett 76). Unfortunately, that is the closest definition that Edwards can arrive upon—and the closest his readers can comprehend—because one must first experience this spiritual light before he can actualize its definition. As Edwards claims, “there is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness” (Puckett 76). In other words, there is a difference between believing and sensing. This notion proposed the idea that language has its limits; there is a finite …show more content…
Through this metaphor, he is able to clarify the functions of the divine knowledge by tracing its pathway and describing its effects on the individual. First, Edwards parallels himself with a blooming flower exposing its petals as the sunlight arrives: “[I] appeared like such a little flower…opening its bosom, to receive the pleasant of the sun’s glory; rejoicing as it were, in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy” (Puckett 66). In this metaphor of the divine light as the “sun’s glory,” Edwards communicates that the light is a force that is given and acquired, and one merely has to be open religiously to God in order to receive it (Puckett 66). Then, by describing the travels and effects of the sunlight, Edwards diagrams the path that the divine light follows; the metaphor explains that the sunbeams travel from the sun to the flower and to the outside world as the flower diffuses “sweet fragrancy” (Puckett 66). When paralleled to the acquisition of the immediate knowledge, the sunlight’s travel communicates the path to which the divine light follows: from God, to the individual, and then it is “diffused” as the perceptions of that individual is enhanced. Thus, as Edwards uses this trail to map out the movement of the divine light, he also dispels any notion that this experience can be achieved through the senses; the straight pathway from God to man that the metaphor reveals conveys that it travels directly from God; the diffusion of the sweet fragrance illustrates that it cannot be acquired through the senses, and instead, it works inversely; one must first receive the immediate knowledge from God, and then, he will able to stimulate the senses. Finally, the function of the divine knowledge is rendered distinctive when the sunshine produces a “calm rapture” (Puckett 66). Edwards compares this feeling
The spiritual light is not actually a light. It is, as Jonathan Edwards describes, a form of knowledge that is directly received from God instead of natural means (Puckett 76). Unfortunately, that is the closest definition that Edwards can arrive upon—and the closest his readers can comprehend—because one must first experience this spiritual light before he can actualize its definition. As Edwards claims, “there is a difference between having a rational judgment that honey is sweet, and having a sense of its sweetness” (Puckett 76). In other words, there is a difference between believing and sensing. This notion proposed the idea that language has its limits; there is a finite …show more content…
Through this metaphor, he is able to clarify the functions of the divine knowledge by tracing its pathway and describing its effects on the individual. First, Edwards parallels himself with a blooming flower exposing its petals as the sunlight arrives: “[I] appeared like such a little flower…opening its bosom, to receive the pleasant of the sun’s glory; rejoicing as it were, in a calm rapture; diffusing around a sweet fragrancy” (Puckett 66). In this metaphor of the divine light as the “sun’s glory,” Edwards communicates that the light is a force that is given and acquired, and one merely has to be open religiously to God in order to receive it (Puckett 66). Then, by describing the travels and effects of the sunlight, Edwards diagrams the path that the divine light follows; the metaphor explains that the sunbeams travel from the sun to the flower and to the outside world as the flower diffuses “sweet fragrancy” (Puckett 66). When paralleled to the acquisition of the immediate knowledge, the sunlight’s travel communicates the path to which the divine light follows: from God, to the individual, and then it is “diffused” as the perceptions of that individual is enhanced. Thus, as Edwards uses this trail to map out the movement of the divine light, he also dispels any notion that this experience can be achieved through the senses; the straight pathway from God to man that the metaphor reveals conveys that it travels directly from God; the diffusion of the sweet fragrance illustrates that it cannot be acquired through the senses, and instead, it works inversely; one must first receive the immediate knowledge from God, and then, he will able to stimulate the senses. Finally, the function of the divine knowledge is rendered distinctive when the sunshine produces a “calm rapture” (Puckett 66). Edwards compares this feeling