Edwards
vivid descriptions of Hell shock and terrify his audience. He does the in order to not only
gain their attention, but to convince them to turn away from their wicked ways and to accept
God. Edwards believed that the people were becoming complaisant and almost lazy with their
religion, so his sermon, a part of the Great Awakening, was intended to awaken them from this
laziness and terrify them into joining his church.
By describing Hell, he is
playing on their greatest fears. No one knows when they may die, so he postulates that it is
God's decision when their time is up.
There is nothing
that keeps wicked men, at any one moment, out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.
Using this fear that at any moment their time may be up, Edwards
describes Hell as the worst possible place to live so that the congregation will be willing to
do anything to avoid spending their eternity there.
So
that every unconverted man properly belongs to hell; that is his place; from thence he is. John
8:23,"Ye are from beneath." And thither he is bound; 'tis the place thatjustice, and
God's Word, and the sentence of his unchangeable lawassigns to him.
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