Similarities Between John Winthrop And Jonathan Edwards

John Winthrop, Jonathan Edwards, and Thomas Paine were all writers who called for their audiences to denounce their previous actions and live according to certain ideals in order to reach their desired destination: in the case of Winthrop and Edwards, that destination was reunion and harmony with God; in Paine’s case, he needed to persuade his audience to continue to fight through their God-given advantages so that America would defeat England. All three writers attempted to persuade their audiences through the usage of religion; religion is what would allow the Puritans to prosper, rebellion to religion is what would cause the Puritans eternal suffering, and religion is what would prevail so that the American soldiers would win the war. However, each author used three very distinct approaches to religion; Winthrop positively proclaimed that the Puritans were God’s chosen people, while Edwards used pain and suffering to demonstrate to the …show more content…
Written one hundred years after Winthrop’s arrival to America, Edwards depicts how the Puritans have strayed for too long from the intended ideals set forth and shall face the wrath of God. Edwards uses very descriptive imagery in order for the Puritans to truly comprehend their circumstances; he writes on the fate of the disobedient Puritans, “[t]here is the dreadful pit of the glowing flames of the wrath of God…you have nothing to stand upon, nor anything to take hold of: there is nothing between you and hell but the air…” (Edwards, 258). Unlike the language of Winthrop and Paine, Edwards is attempting to strike fear into the hearts of his readers rather than depict the predisposed graces of God that would be granted, through cooperation, onto the Puritans and the