What images and figures of speech might have helped Edwards' listeners to feel the peril of their sinful condition?

A fire and brimstone preacher, the Reverend Jonathan Edwards employs fear to motivate his congregation. He creates images to make his listeners feel the horror of the sinful condition in which their souls dwell. Here are some of the imagery and figures of speech that the minister employs:

Edwards tells his listeners that they have provoked God with their sins and they are done nothing to appease the Lord.

• Hell is gaping with "the dreadful...
  

A fire and brimstone preacher, the Reverend Jonathan Edwards employs fear to motivate his congregation. He creates images to make his listeners feel the horror of the sinful condition in which their souls dwell. Here are some of the imagery and figures of speech that the minister employs:

Edwards tells his listeners that they have provoked God with their sins and they are done nothing to appease the Lord.

• Hell is gaping with "the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of God's wrath." There is nothing to stand on or hold onto; it is only the "power and mere pleasure of God" that keeps them from falling into the pit.


• The sinners are weighted down by their "wickedness" which makes them "as heavy as lead" and it is only "the hand of God" that keeps them from falling.


• The "wrath of God" is further compared to "great waters" that are dammed'; these waters increase and gain strength and set water speed.


• God's wrath is then compared to a bow in which an arrow is poised; it is only the hand of God that holds the arrow back from striking people.


• These sinners are "ten times more abominable in God's eyes than the "most hateful venomous serpent." 


• Hell is described as a "great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit." This pit is filled with fire, with the flames of divine wrath flashing all around.


• The sinners hang over this fiery pit, held only by "a gossamer thread."
  

Edwards also uses repetition effectively. For instance, he repeats the word nothing to impress upon people that they cannot be saved by their actions, but only through acceptance of grace.