In his speech, Edwards uses the image of a spider dangling on a thread over fire to describea person's ability to avoid dam.nation. Edwards' speech focuses on how people forget that they are in the hand of an angry God. They believe that they can sin and that they will somehow still avoid punishment in Hell. Edwards argues that this is not the case, and that people are in the same situation as the spider. They can die and be dam.ned at any moment. This is why they should repent and lead moral lives.
