Similarities Between Taylor And Jonathan Edwards

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During the early 17th century tensions among the religious groups of England resulted in one of the largest exiles ever to occur at that time. A religious group known as the Puritans were denied the right to worship God the way they wanted to by the Church of England (Anglican) and were often forced to leave the country. Many decided to emigrate to the American Colonies where new opportunity and higher education and literacy rates allowed for various individual interpretations of the Bible and God’s behavior towards his people (Rosner and Ortiz). Two authors who exemplify some of the major discrepancy developed during this era between Puritans of the same God are Edward Taylor and Jonathan Edwards. During the latter half of the 17th century …show more content…
Although the power of temptation is strong, Taylor urges his audience to establish a line of communication or a relationship with God before it is too late to save themselves from the damnation of hell. Ultimately, Taylor’s God does not want to lose any of the Puritans to Hell; he wants to save them and bring them to heaven or as Taylor describes it as “Glorys gate and state.” In a similar way, Jonathan Edwards also emphasizes the theme of maintaining a relationship with God, but Edwards focuses more so on repentance and love. In fact, according to Harry S. Stout, a Jonathan Edwards Professor of History at Yale University explains how, "Heaven" and "love" were the two most important words in Jonathan Edwards’ sermons. He goes on to say that Edwards often struggled weekly to bring those realities into the consciousness of his assembly. Stout also suggests that Edwards found it more important that his congregation come to a saving knowledge of God and be aware of the beauty of God’s great and powerful redemptive love for them (Stout). One example of this can be seen through a small sample from Edwards’ sermon titled “The Manner in Which the Salvation of the Soul is to be Sought.” Jonathan Edwards announces, “For although men do not obtain heaven of themselves; they do not go thither accidentally, or without any intention or endeavors of their own. God, in his word, hath directed men to seek their salvation as they would hope to obtain it” (qtd in Puritan Publications). Edwards is trying to say that although humans cannot choose if they are going to heaven or to hell directly, it is surely no accident to where they conclusively end up. It is because of God’s intervening with the process and through a person’s own actions that his or her final destination lies in either hell or heaven. Jonathan Edwards, in a similar way to
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