During the 1630’s, there was a group known as, the Puritans. The Puritans immigrated from England to America, for the sole purpose of religious freedom and their belief that the church of England needed reform. Puritan author’s, Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, conveyed their messages and beliefs in their writing . For these two authors, they were working around the same foundation, Puritanism, for the intended messages. Admittedly, there is a disconnection in belief between the two. Edward’s writings take Puritanism to the extreme whilst Bradstreet’s works show a more traditional view in the religion while staying true to it. In Jonathan Edwards, “Sinners in the Hands of an An Angry God,” shows an extreme viewpoint of God. According to Edwards, humanity is naturally infected with sin despite our efforts to overcome it. Throughout his sermon, Edwards goes on about how God shows such mercy in not throwing all humanity in the deepest depths of hell. As said by Edwards in his sermon, “ You hang by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about …show more content…
According to Bradstreet, humanity is on a intimate and personal relationship with a loving God. During our lifetime, God can help us attain the things needed. God can also take those things away, as a test of our faith in him. Bradstreet shows her view when she can believe in the highest faith in God, even while her house is burning down. Anne goes on to say, “Thou hast a house on high erect, Frameed by that mighty Architect, WIth glory richly furnished, Stands permanent though this be fled. It’s purchased and paid for too. By him who hath enough to do. A price so vast as is unknown , Yet by his gift is made thine own; There’s wealth enough, I need no more.” (lines 44-51). This is significant, because though she has last everything in the fire , she is grateful that God allowed her to have such
Jonathan Edwards views mankind as doomed and lost. In his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God,” Edwards claims that individuals are predetermined by predestination. He published this sermon in hopes of exposing the dangers of sin and the need for salvation. He claimed that sinners will go through a day of judgement by God and that sinners deserve to burn, but it is God’s hand who holds them over the fire, preventing them from falling
Puritans and reformers of seventeenth century England have been given a bad name for their part in history. This is primarily because they were working against the grain and trying to create change in world that saw change as a threat. The time period was turbulent and there was bound to be resistance in a world that was dominated by Catholics and those that had reformed to abide by their King’s law. The puritans of the time were considered extreme and rubbed people the wrong way because they wanted a world that abided by their morals and ethical codes. For this, they took the blame for the misery that many suffered during this age, but as we see in Fire from Heaven, this is not a fair assessment. The Puritans of this time wanted to improve the lives of the people and society as a whole through morality and purity.
I think that the love by Anne Bradstreet is different from the love showed by John Proctor and Elizabeth Proctor.The first major reason I believe this is because Anne would do anything to be with her husband, while Elizabeth and John were fairly unfaithful to each other. For example Anne said that she wouldn't trade her husband for anything not even a mountain of gold, while Elizabeth and John both confessed as being unfaithful. This detail easily supports my thought that their love is different cause it shows how much more Anne Bradstreet cares. Another big reason is that Anne says they won't live forever but they will live ever, which is her saying they will always be together. A detail is that Anne says the heavens reward the manifold which
Jonathan Edwards, a negative and realistic man, focused on how God is a judgemental god and sinners will be put to a painful death, they should be fearful. He says in the first few lines of his speech, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, “So that, thus it is that natural men are held in the hand of God, over the pit of hell; they have deserved the fiery pit.” (Edwards, Pg. 23) Edwards implies that everyone deserves to be in hell and he goes on to say that God is an angry God and that no one had done anything to try to ease His anger. Edwards also played a large role in the Great Awakening. He wanted people to experience Christianity in an intense and emotional way. In his speech, he said, “O sinner! Consider the fearful danger you are in: It is a great furnace of wrath, a wide and bottomless pit, full of the fire of wrath, that you are held over in the hand of that God, whose wrath is provoked and incensed as much against you, as against many of the damned in hell.” (Edwards, Pg. 26) Edward’s speech was opportunity knocking at everyone’s doors. He influenced people to want to be saved in a way that made many fearful of what could happen to them if they weren’t saved or a child of God. Edwards believed that God set the world in motion, but was not active in everyone’s life. Edwards believed that God created the world and
After a great and terrible loss, Anne Bradstreet is comforted by her faith. The event of her house burning means that she must accept God’s decision as just, as he has the right and ability to take things from humans when he wants. Its purpose is to display her faith and remind her that her belongings were never hers, they always belonged to God, “Yea so it was, and so ‘twas just / It was His own not mine” (16-17). Losing her home meant losing everything she was as a woman in the time. Her sole dedication was to her home and her family. She lost her writings, her books, and the things she loved. She lost the place where she raised her children. The purpose of this is for her to realize she must value her life above all, and that she shouldn’t worry as God has built her a
Anne Bradstreet wrote poems that refers and symbolizes god in her life. In her poem “Here Follows Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House,” Bradstreet writes a poem about the devastation of the burning of her house. She reflects upon how everything is destroyed and how sad it is that all of her possessions are gone and that she lost everything completely. Later in the poem, Bradstreet rationalizes the destruction by saying, “Thou hast an house on high erect, framed by that mighty Architect, with glory richly furnished, stands permanent through this be fled.” Bradstreet is referring to the fact that she will eventually have a place in heaven, which means it won’t matter that she has lost everything now. This goes to show the extent in which the emphasis on faith and god is at the time. It also shows the humbleness and selflessness that people of the time had when they had strong faith. Bradstreet writes, “There’s wealth enough, I need n more, farewell, pelf, farewell my store” which shows that people like Bradstreet didn’t need a lot
Anne Bradstreet and Edward Taylor are two of the most distinguished and fervent Puritan poets. Yet this similarity has proven to be one of the few, if not only between these two. One cannot help but find it intriguing that poets who belong to the same religious group and style would write so differently. Many of these differences are not even subtle or hidden beneath the text itself. The differences themselves hold implications and ideas that differ between each poet.
Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards were two Puritans with the same religious obligations, however, as shown in their writing, they have completely different views on how they go about respecting these obligations. Bradstreet is about being thankful for what God gave her, and to be happy with her life despite hardships which is displayed very well in her poem, “Upon the Burning of Our House” where she explains her feelings while her house was burnt to a crisp right in front of her. Meanwhile, Edwards was writing his sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” and this sermon shows that he was tense almost a polar opposite when considering Bradstreet’s views on life and religion. In Bradstreet’s
Throughout "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God", Jonathan Edwards illustrates his harsh tone through the use of repetition and imagery. In his sermon, the word "wrath" is repeated constantly to allude to how unsympathetic God is with sinners. Edwards emphasizes that sinners will go to hell and believes that they deserve to burn in hell. By emphasizing on the word "wrath" he also believes that sinners do not need sympathy, for they are the ones who wronged god and will burn in hell for their mistakes. Edward conveys a harsh and direct tone through the use of imagery in his sermon. He states, "The God the holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider or some loathsome insect over the fire abhors
Perhaps the first thing noticeable in Edwards’ sermon is his horrifying imagery of Hell and what happens when one doesn’t accept God into his or her life. On page eighty-eight it is stated “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead… and if God should let you go, you would immediately sink… and plunge into the bottomless gulf… and all your righteousness, would have no more influence to uphold you and keep you out of Hell, than a
Jonathan Edwards’s excerpt from the sermon, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” preaches to sinners saying they need to awaken and understand that they are sinning, leading God to be angry with their sins. Edwards supports this claim by repeating images of God’s “sovereign pleasure”, reminding the audience that God did not create the sun so it would shine on sinners. God’s hand is what is keeping them out of hell and without his hand, they would sink straight to hell. To show the consequentiality of God’s forgiveness, as well as showing how easy it would be to let go of it, Edwards says “The God the holds you over the pit of Hell, much as one holds a spider,”. The audience Edwards addresses are Puritans who continue to follow God’s path
Jonathan Edwards emphasized the importance and power of immediate, personal religious experience. His techniques weren’t that impressive. He read his sermons in a nice and even voice, but with great conviction. He rejected shouting and theatrical antics. Attracting us with the power of truth and his desperate need for God seemed to be his goal. The way he preached in a manner that didn’t make up what he was saying, but as if he was giving you a deep explanation of events in his life where god help and in inspired him. Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God is the sermon Edwards preached that day in Enfield, Connecticut. It combined deep imagery of Hell and its connection of the world and citations of the scripture. When he began I had a smile on face because I was so happy. “All that wicked men may do to save themselves from Hell's pains shall afford them nothing if they continue to reject Christ.” Is one of the quotes from the sermon. It was so powerful and meaningful. Edwards spoke a little afterwards and said “His aim was to teach us about the horrors of hell, the dangers of sin and the terrors of being lost.” He described the position of those who do not follow path of Christ to receive forgiveness. The imagery and language of his sermon awakened audience to the horrific reality that he believed awaited them should they continue life without a commitment to Christ. Many people didn’t like the way he did his sermon so peaceful and heartfelt. People weren’t use to the way he preached, they we’re use to the “show” more than the
Although Bradstreet and Edwards both expressed their religious views in the Puritan community, they both spoke of religion in different ways.. Bradstreet used
For the entirety of the 17th Century, the Puritan Age was strong within America. Colonists from England had brought their Puritan beliefs to the New World, and created a Colony in Jamestown, Virginia. They had brought the ways of God to the impure Native Americans, who, as history tells us, were forced to accept their ways or die. But instead of forcing religion onto Native Americans, there were some puritans who persuaded other colonists, or simply enjoyed writing about the Lord. Two of these important names were Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards, and while they may have shared the same religious views, their practices upon them are wildly different.
Puritans Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards expressed their beliefs through many of their works. Although in some ways they are the same, they also contrasted with each other. One thing they can agree on is that God is the way of life for the