Jonathan Edwards Beliefs Essay

Jonathan Edward’s and the Puritans have unequally different spiritual beliefs. Jonathan Edwards’s beliefs focused on seeking salvation to avoid hell. Jonathan Edward’s spiritual attitude differs greatly from those of Puritan works, such as from writers Anne Bradstreet and Mary Rowlandson, who believe one must be elected by God to go to Heaven. Their different beliefs are what lead them to have different spiritual attitudes. Puritan works are all didactic; they are all meant to teach a lesson. In Anne Bradstreet’s poem, “Here Follows Some Verses upon the Burning of our House,” she expresses the idea of weaned affections. Bradstreet wrote, “I blest his name that gave and took” (122). Bradstreet was upset about her house burning and losing everything, but she also believed that everything she had was because of God, and it all belonged to him anyways. Bradstreet ends her poem with, “My hope and treasure lies above” (123) meaning that her faith is in God, and she believes that she has a home in heaven. The lesson in Bradstreet’s poem is the idea of weaned affections; she realizes she should not become too attached to physical things. Puritans believed that only chosen people went to heaven; these people were known as the elect. They believed that God picked who would go to heaven
Edwards is saying in this sermon that all sinners are going to hell and he expresses multiple times about how angry God is at sinners and people who do not believe. Edwards uses the example of an insect being held over a fire. He says how God hold sinners over hell and just decides when to drop these sinners. “He looks upon you as worthy of nothing else but to be cast into the fire” (215), says Edwards in his sermon. Edwards is trying to express to the congregation their imminent danger, but he is telling people this because he wants them to look for