As Christians we all believe in the same God and in the same principles of His teachings, but everyone interprets Him differently. We may glorify and praise the same God, but we may also perceive Him in a vast variety of ways. In the days of the Puritans, everyone's view differs, as does today. Jonathan Edwards frightens us with a God that has little mercy in his sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, Anne Bradstreet demonstrates to us a God with kindness in her poems "To my Dear Children" and "Upon the Burning of the House", and William Bradford allows us to see almost a mix between the two views of Bradstreet and Edwards in "Of Plymouth Plantation." .
Jonathan Edward's concentration of God is more towards the dark, angry God. He focuses on the individual as a horrible sinner, and tells us of what occurs when one does not repent. He views religion and God as angry and powerful, and shows us a God who appears to have no compassion and sympathy whatsoever. In Edward's sermon "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God" he states, " he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire-(103). Edwards says, "I think it is a reasonable thing to frighten a person from hell Is it not a reasonable thing to fright a person out of a house on fire." He uses dark and gloomy elements to show why a person should not be a sinner. His purpose is to scare us, and to show us just how God is out to get us. Edwards says in his sermon, "it is nothing but His mere pleasure that keeps you from being this moment swallowed up in everlasting destruction." His sermons are meant to implant a sense of terror in the souls of his audience, and as he spoke of Hell and a ruthless God, the congregation could probably imagine the dark clouds of culpability and guilt above their heads. Edwards shows us a clear example to one of the views of the Puritan God. .
Anne Bradstreet believes if she lives her life the way that God intended for her to go about it, things will run smoothly for her always.
