Anne Bradstreet's Sinners In The Hands Of An Angry God

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Constant Change The most rewarding characteristic as a human being is possessing a sense of wonder. A sense of wonder urges the act of questioning what is already known. In the Age of Reason, Enlightenment thinkers used their sense of wonder to question essential beliefs about everything. The Age of Enlightenment was a mid-18th century response to the extreme dogma of the Puritan Era that preceded it because the Age of Reason beliefs entirely contradict the previous age of Puritanism regarding multiple aspects of life, including mankind and salvation. Puritan writers including Jonathan Edwards, Anne Bradstreet, and Edward Taylor believed writing should be used as a service of the Bible and guidance for daily living. Writers of the Enlightenment…show more content…
The strive to reach God’s grace was a tremendous endeavor for the average Puritan. Regardless, Puritans presumed the thought of predestination; the idea that God has predetermined individual souls able to receive His divine gifts. If valued enough to have been selected hard work was mandatory to prevent the loss of His kindness. Jonathan Edwards in “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” purposes the worry of how much longer will God be willing to hold sinners safe above the pits of hell. “You hand by a slender thread, with the flames of divine wrath flashing about it, and ready every moment to singe it, and burn it asunder: and you have no interest in any Mediator” (Edwards 69-71). Jonathan Edwards uses the emotion of fear to let the Puritans know that God has a predestination that can change at any given moment. Rationalists begin to question all previously held values including the importance of an active relationship with God and in complete contrast to the Puritans, believed that truth came through reason, rather than God. As results of the Enlightenment revolutionary authors emphasized their drive on Government and how to achieve moral perfection. Benjamin Franklin questioned the newly…show more content…
Anne Bradstreet describes what it like to watch her house go up in flames as a Puritan in “Upon the Burning of Our House”. Bradstreet reflected it to be sinful to put too much importance on possessions. Ideas of Puritans were based on living a simple life; wearing elaborate clothing or having self-centered thoughts offended Puritans. “It was his own: it was not mine; / Far be it that I should repine” (Bradstreet 17-18). Anne Bradstreet recognizes her materials in her house are not hers but God’s. For Puritans, the Bible and Church were the direct laws and institution where God was able to communicate with humans daily. With complete sovereignty to God, all things said in the Bible were all things to be done. The life of Puritans, always listening to the Church and divine law did every single thing in moderation, which was showed in Anne Bradstreet’s poetry when she was not devastated about her materials being burned to ash as they were not her’s but God’s. The Age of Reason values of rational structure and deductive reason brought about writings that soon launched a nation. Thomas Jefferson contributed his hopes for an American Government full of freedom through democracy in the “Declaration of Independence”. Jefferson’s intention included a logical argument for independence. “We hold these truths
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