Jonathon Edwards is another great writer with similar influences as William Bradford and John Winthrop. Bradford and Winthrop writings were influenced through the old beliefs under the Puritan religion such as God is supreme, and nature is evil. However, Edward’s beliefs stem from the Puritan religion, the beliefs and writings are of new beliefs under the Enlightened thought. Edwards, though born in the new world, was well known for his fire and brimstone preaching. He became known as the nature of God preacher because he believed God is revealed in nature and is knowable through reason and natural laws. In the quote of Edwards’ Personal Narrative, “The appearance of everything was altered: there seemed to be, as it were, a calm, sweet cast, or appearance of divine glory, in almost everything. God’s excellency, his wisdom, his purity and love, seemed to appear in everything; in the sun, moon and stars; in the clouds, and blue sky; in the grass, flowers, trees; in the water, and all nature; which used greatly to fix my mind” (Edwards 401), shows the author’s strong connection between God and nature. Edwards keeps the traditional theology of Puritan beliefs in his writings but at the same time he adopts new methods of explaining and …show more content…
He saw God as nature thus he embraced nature as part of God’s divine work. In the quote, “And scarce anything, among all the works of nature, was so sweet to me as thunder and lightning” (401), Edwards believed God’s creation of the world and universe should be seen as perfect and man should respect the creation of nature. Edward’s believed God created mankind within reason, thus man has the obligation to worship God. With this obligation to worship God, only the redeemed are able to understand God’s purpose as expressed in the quote, “God’s creatures are good, and were made for men to serve God with, and do not willingly subserve to any other purpose [sic]”