O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in
This quote reminds me of the story of Jeremiah when he preaches God's words to the people to not move to Egypt so they will not go back to the wrong doings of idolizing and worshiping others. "consider the fearful danger you are in" are words Jeremiah would have said.
The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect, over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked; his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times so abominable in his eyes as the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours. You have offended him infinitely more than ever a stubborn rebel did his prince: and yet ’tis nothing but his hand that holds you from falling into the fire every moment; ’tis to be ascribed to nothing else, that you did not go to hell the last night; that you was suffered to awake again in this world, after you closed your eyes to sleep: and there is no other reason to be given why you have not dropped into hell since you arose in the morning, but that God’s hand has held you up; there is no other reason to be given why you han’t gone to hell since you have sat here in the house of God, provoking his pure eyes by your sinful wicked manner of attending his solemn worship: yea, there is nothing else that is to be given as a reason why you don’t this very moment drop down into hell.
This whole paragraph was pretty menacing to read. It makes you question about your own life. If this were true, what is the reason that he hasn't dropped sinners into hell?
You probably are not sensible of this; you find you are kept out of hell, but don’t see the hand of God in it, but look at other things, as the good state of your bodily constitution, your care of your own life, and the means you use for your own preservation. But indeed these things are nothing; if God should withdraw his hand, they would avail no more to keep you from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person that is suspended in it….
This paragraph shows the power God has over life and in deciding on if you go to hell. He makes the judgement
burning brimstone is extended abroad under you
Here he is depicting the underworld in a dark and descriptive way instead of writing the word outright. It creates a sense of imagery where the reader paints a picture in their head of a dark place full of flames
The first thing that I noticed when reading this piece of literature was that amount of imagery that Jonathan Edwards had used. He uses phrases such as "hell's wide gaping mouth," "burns like fire," and "escape to mountain," to portray to the audience in a deeper vivid aspect. A lot of these phrases were pretty dark i would say, i believe that that author had done this purposely so that he can portray peoples negative actions into sending them to hell where "God will execute the fierceness of his "anger" and in a " bottomless pit."