At this point in his sermon Edwards is provoking his congregation into apparent self reflection. By stating that some of the members in the audience might be the very ones to be sentenced to damnation he is instilling fear amongst the audience. At this point in history fear tactics seemed to be the only strategy used to get inferiors to behave the way they were "supposed to". It's interesting how Edwards points out that many members of the congregation may be damned to Hell but he is sure to not include himself in this. Potentially he viewed himself in a Godly way where he could do no wrong? I see similarities between Edwards and the conquistadors of the previous/same era, they are the one to be exalted and they are the end-all-say-all, the only difference is that Edwards wasn't using deadly force as a fear tactic he was using his words. Just a thought.

This part of Edwards speech is especially deep in meaning because it shows exactly how close we would be to be damned to hell because we are so prone to constant sinning, many of those who had claimed to be believers are far from that, they continue to provoke God. According to Edwards every second that we are awake we are held in Gods hand, threatened by his wrath. This sermon was especially powerful at the time it was given because colonists were highly religious, but many of the things they did were considered sinful. Do you believe this metaphor to be a reflection on of the colonial times as far as behavior of the colonists?