How does Edwards's tone in "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" influence his congregation?

In
this sermon, Edwards combines a condemning tone with some pretty vivid figurative language to
deliver a message that would shock his audience into turning from sin and accepting God's
grace.

Edwards begins with a verse from Deuteronomy that sets the tone
immediately: "Their foot shall slide in due time." This verse reflects God's anger
with the Israelites who failed to follow God's laws, but Edwards quickly aligns the wickedness
of his congregation with the Israelites. He uses the image of a slipping foot to show the
precarious position of those living in sin; God will not tolerate it for long before he delivers
a final judgement, casting those who choose sin into Hell.

Consider thethat
Edwards uses in explaining how the members of his audience are on a path toward eternal
devastation:

That world of misery, that lake of burning
brimstone, is extended abroad under you. 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
anything between you and hell but the air; it is only the power and mere pleasure of God that
holds you up.

This is a pretty terrifying image, painting
a mental picture of being suspended on a thin layer of earth above a lake of brimstonea
"wide, gaping mouth" ready to capture and eternally torment each congregational member
who has not chosen to truly follow God. Edwards also allows for another ending here: God
currently saves each one of them from Hell and allows them time to choose a different path to a
different eternity.

Edwards's tone achieved its intended effect. Reportedly,
before he even finished his sermon, members of the congregation begged for salvation and fell
into the floor, crying and screaming in terror. This was especially significant because this
sermon was delivered in a town where there seemed to be a little pocket of "thoughtless and
vain" holdouts in the Great Awakening revival which was sweeping the area. Yet the tone
achieved quite an impact at the church where Edwards delivered it in Enfield and is still
studied and remembered nearly 300 years later.