Edwards's use of the word "you" throughout his sermon is the main way he personalizes hell for his audience—but even more so are the ways in which he describes it using vague, yet somehow descriptive, terms.
Take, for example, this section:
Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards hell; and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink and swiftly descend and plunge into the bottomless gulf.
His description of God and of hell as a "bottomless gulf" both captivate and strike a sense of doom into his audience. Because of Edwards's language, the listeners can easily see themselves in this scenario; however, that isn't the only reason. Edwards doesn't describe a specific "wickedness." By saying "your wickedness," he's allowing each member of the audience to imagine their own wrongdoings, their own wicked abilities, which lets them put themselves into this situation.
His vague yet descriptive language allows them to vividly see themselves plunging into hell. The same can be said for this section:
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 have not 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.
Every person in his audience woke up this morning and can relate, whether they expected to go to hell or not, to the fact that they did not descend into hell overnight. Edwards again does not specify the members' "sinful wicked manner," only lets them imagine and recall what has gone through their heads or what they have done that may provoke the pure eyes of God.
A lot of this personalization does stem from Edwards's use of the word "you," but it's largely because of the "you" combined with his lack of specificity that makes the each member of the audience feel as if this sermon is written for them.
Edwards personalized hell for his listeners by using imagery, which is a technique used to help the audience better imagine the situation. In other words, Edwards made the topic very real and relevant to the people. He used this technique to engage his audience with all five senses. He used visual, auditory, tactile, olfactory, and gustatory imagery. Edwards used visual imagery as his main focus. For example, he referred to “fiery floods,” and “a wide and bottomless pit.” This helped give hell a color and dimensions. Edwards helps the listener feel hell through tactile imagery, by using the phrase, “heavy as lead”, making the sinner feel they are being pulled down to hell due to their sins. Auditory imagery was used to help the listener imagine the sounds of torture being endured. Edwards also talked of fire and the flames, helping the listener to not only see and feel, but to smell and hear the flames as well. The sense of taste was used when he said, “swallow them up.” This technique was powerful in helping the listeners to experience hell in their own minds. However, Edwards didn’t stop here, he used figurative language as well, such as personification, similes, and metaphors. He used a variety of techniques to relate his subject to as many individuals as possible. He wanted the people to seize the opportunity of salvation and fear the torment of hell. Jonathan Edwards was a powerful author/speaker. He knew how to repeat his message in numerous ways, to reach each individual in his audience. He was very talented and differentiated his sermon for every listener through the use of these techniques, and he helped them cognitively to think about what he was saying. His technique put depth and personalization in the sermon. He used a variety of literature techniques to reach the varied learning styles of his listeners.
The bulk of Edwards's 1741 sermon proclaims that God is entirely disgusted with sinners and stands ready to damn them to hell. He uses the personal pronoun "you" copiously to speak directly to those hearing him preach, as when he warns,
there is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God; there is hell’s wide gaping mouth open; and you have nothing to stand upon, nor any thing to take hold of, there is nothing between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that holds you up.
Hell is personified with a mouth waiting to gobble up the souls of the unrepentant. Edwards intends to strike enough terror in the minds of his listeners to bring lapsed Christians back to their faith and convert the unconverted. His sermon is an epic, mass accusation that seeks to speak directly to sinners; he counsels each of them to "consider the fearful danger you are in."
http://www.jonathan-edwards.org/Sinners.pdf
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