Jonathan Edwards once said: “Resolution One: I will live for God. Resolution Two: If no one else does, I still will.” Since birth (October 5th, 1703), Jonathan has always been a devoted Puritan which explains why he began the Great Awakening, along with George Whitefield. Edwards started preaching and wanted people to reconvert to Puritanism. His work, “Sinners at the Angry Hands of God,” was written on July 8, 1741. Many of his works were directed to his movement, the Great Awakening. Unfortunately, Edwards died on March 22, 1758, due to smallpox, shortly after being nominated as president of Princeton University (Fickas). Born to a farming family, Edward Taylor was born in 1642 in Leicestershire, England (“Edward Taylor”). Taylor began preaching in 1671. He wrote one of the most popular works in Puritan literature, Huswifery. Regrettably, Edward died on June 24th 1729 (Schafer sec. 1). Despite Edward Taylor’s and Jonathan Edwards’ devotion for Puritanism, they differ in their perception of God, figurative language, and their incentive for writing.
Taylor portrays God as an understanding and forgiving worship spirit, while Edwards’ God is tyrannical and ruthless. Based on Taylor’s
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He continues this metaphor by showing how God makes them into dedicated Puritans. Taylor used metaphors and personification in these writings. Taylor’s use of figurative language consisted more of personification and similes. In “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God”, Edwards used personification: “there is Hell’s wide gaping mouth open” (87). Edwards uses personification to show God scary and unmerciful. Edwards states, “Your wickedness makes you as it were heavy as lead, and to tend downwards with great weight and pressure towards Hell” (88). Edward shows that the people’s sins can be costly and will lead them to Hell. Edwards and Taylor give more details in their writing through the use of figurative