Edward Taylor Research Paper

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Pages: 8

Dr. LeLand Ryken a Ph.D professor and Puritan researcher at Wheaton College, Illinois comments on the Puritan lifestyle by saying, “The Puritans' sense of priorities in life was one of their greatest strengths. Putting God first and valuing everything else in relation to God was a recurrent Puritan theme” (qtd in Trujillo 32). During the early seventeenth century, the Puritans’ values caused many tensions to arise with the reigning Church of England. Rather than face ridicule and subjugation by Anglican Church, many decided to emigrate to the American Colonies seeking religious freedom. Once in the Americas, however, new experiences, accessible education, and higher literacy rates allowed for various individual interpretations of the traditional …show more content…
Eventually, by the time he was in his mid-twenties, Taylor had become a school teacher, but soon lost his job due to his nonconformist views and his refusal to sign the Act of Uniformity of 1662. Departing from England and the Anglican Church in 1668, Taylor made his journey towards the New England and Massachusetts Bay Colonies. Shortly after arrival, Taylor accepted his vocation as a Puritan minister in the small village of Westfield, Massachusetts, where he wrote most of his brilliant poetry until his death on June 4, 1729 (“Edward Taylor”, Poetry Foundation). Another Puritan minister who proved essential to the development of the early American religion is Jonathan Edwards. Edwards was born sixty-one years after Taylor, on October 5, 1703 in present day Connecticut. In 1727, he was appointed to serve in the Congregational Church in Northampton. This period, known as the Great Awakening, marked a worldwide resurgence of the Puritan religion and the development of many sermons stressing the importance of worshipping God. As a result, Jonathan Edwards helped transform the religious atmosphere of America until his death on March 22, 1758 (Lovelace and Dodds; …show more content…
By incorporating a hopeful and forgiving God that invites them all to participate in His glory, Taylor shows the cordial joy that all humans should have with each other and God himself. Essentially, Taylor’s ability to put God into relatable everyday visuals and use his imagery to connect them through a deeper meaning makes God seem more like an irreplaceable friend than a traditional authority figure. In complete contrast, however, Edwards depicts a stringent, vengeful, and egotistical God. In one of his sermons, titled “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners” Edwards tells his congregation, “If there be any evil or faultiness in sin against God, there is certainly infinite evil: for if it be any fault at all, it has an infinite aggravation… ” (qtd in “Sermons”). Edwards exaggerates the importance of remaining as far away as possible from sin because he describes sin as an infinite evil despite there clearly existing varying degrees of wrongfulness. Intentionally depicting a God who does not see the caliber of right and wrong and judges based only on a black or white scale instills fear in the listeners rather than comfort. Just as “The Justice of God in the Damnation of Sinners” produces fear in its’ listeners, Edwards’ most famous sermon “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” also speaks of a frightening God who would gladly hold measly, insignificant