Jonathan Edwards God Holds You Over The Pit Of Hell Analysis

In the aftermath of the enlightenment, which led to a revolutionary use of human reasoning over God’s will, the colonial religious society was in desperation for a revival to restore dependence towards God. Among the revivalists came Jonathan Edwards, a puritan reverend, speaking a sermon to a Christian congregation in Connecticut with the purpose of turning people back to God and persuading them to repent, through fear of what would occur if they chose the otherwise. Edwards effectively persuades his audience by his use of analogy, imagery, and accusatory tone.

To begin with, Edwards had strong use of analogy throughout his sermon in order to effectively show the audience’s helplessness relative to the omnipotence of God. The first metaphor …show more content…
“God holds you over the pit of hell…” evokes a sense of urgency to …show more content…
Edwards says, “if God should withdraw his hand they would avail no more to keep [them] from falling, than the thin air to hold up a person suspended in it.”(paragraph 2) His replacement of thin air instead of air, exaggerates the inability of air to keep you from falling. This adequately captures the dependence of the congregation on God because it is his hand -- not human reasoning -- that is stopping the audience from falling. Evoking fear that a slight hand movement could send them to hell. Later, Edwards uses imagery again when he explains, “There are the black clouds of God’s wrath now hanging directly over your heads, full of the dreadful storm, and big with thunder.” (paragraph 4) The use of black clouds is effective imagery because the audience can not only replicate clouds “hanging directly over their heads”, but also because it describes the darkness in the lives of those with a lack of God. These uses of imagery give the audience unfathomable examples of what will occur if they continue living a life without dependence towards