God’s Sovereignty and Man’s Responsibility

When opportunity and necessity meet, these two forces often clash with a crash of loud cymbals and with sparks flying. This results in bold and forward movement to most fully redeem the opportunity and at the same time, meet the existing needs. So it was with the departure of the Separatist pilgrims from the oppressive Anglican Church in England who had been subject to the supreme rule of Britain’s king. It was the seventeenth century when the ill-treated pilgrims made way for the New World. For them, it was a new world. This pioneering movement was the result of the pilgrims’ need for religious freedom from the oppressive Anglican stronghold that was put upon them. Necessity flung open the door of opportunity to freedom in the Americas and many quickly fled through. Within the next few years, colonies, settlements, and most significantly – life, was primitively established upon the North American continent.

The historic and well-known story of American Revolution and the soon coming birth of a nation, established the platform for two writers of New England, Samuel Sewall and Jonathan Edwards. Samuel Sewall lived in the same epoch as Jonathan Edwards, though he w

Samuel Sewall and Jonathan Edwards, deemed American Puritans, had an underlying system of religious thought that surfaced from time to time in their writings. Though Sewall offers The Diary and Edwards offers “Sinners in the Hands…” and his “Personal Narrative,” these different styles and altogether different works, share some points of theology and yet differ in other areas. The two writers weave within their writings a firm confidence in the sovereign dominion of God in all things, but almost ironically, demonstrate a practical love and involvement toward the people within their lives.

Samuel Sewall shares similar feelings for those he held close and for others he did not. There is present in his Diary a great concern for people. In the second entry in his Diary, Sewall comes home and encounters his daughter, Betty Sewall, in a state of great distress. When asked what the matter was, she replied that she had a great concern over where she would spend eternity, whether in Heaven or Hell. Trepidation and anxiety filled Betty’s soul. Sewall responds in his diary with a prayer, “The Lord bring Light and Comfort out of this dark and dreadful Cloud, and Grant that Christ’s being formed in my dear child, may be the issue of these painful pangs” (Sewall 60). Sewall prayed that the Lord would help her, relieve the pain, and ultimately form Christ within her to save her. In the year 1717, when Sewall’s wife was on her deathbed, again he is found praying for her. He says, “My wife grows worse and exceedingly Restless. Pray’d God to look upon her” (Sewall 62). Sewall had great love for his suffering wife and with sincere compassion, watched over her and pleaded with God for help.

Jonathan Edwards name carries a reputation that precedes him as a preacher of wrath and punishment from the Almighty God. A closer look into his life quickly reveals the genius behind the fire-breathing preacher. Edwards was an intellect of intellects during his day. He entered Yale University during his early teenage years and graduated at the top of his class in college. Jonathan Edwards left an indelible imprint upon American history in the areas of philosophy, theology, and revivalism. He has been numbered with those who have advanced the thought and progress of the western world.

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