Jefferson Vs. Edwards Essay, Research Paper

The introduction of the Declaration of Independence:

When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature s God entitle them, a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation.

The passage from Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God selected to compare and contrast with the introduction of the Declaration of Independence:

The observation from the words that I would now insist upon is this. “There is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.” By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment. The truth of this observation may appear by the following considerations.

When the two passages are compared, many similarities can be discovered. Each passage is an introduction into a greater piece that is trying to persuade the reader into thinking something different than they had before. Each passage uses parallel structure to force the reader to accept argument on top of argument so quickly that the reader cannot disprove the arguments and must be forced to accept them without even thinking about it. By the mere pleasure of God, I mean his sovereign pleasure, his arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, hindered by no manner of difficulty, any more than if nothing else but God’s mere will had in the least degree, or in any respect whatsoever, any hand in the preservation of wicked men one moment is a good example of parallel structure Edwards s used when he spoke. On that same structure, Jefferson did the same with the Declaration, as seen by the passage When, in the course of human events, it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands which have connected them with another, and to assume, among the powers of the earth, the separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature s God entitle them. This technique is very helpful when someone is trying to convince someone; both clearly state that the reader should think this way because of these reasons. Another similarity is the way they both argue so quickly in the piece that the reader or listener cannot help but agree. This enables the writer to have power over the reader; the Declaration wants to have a decent respect to the opinions of mankind requires that they should declare the causes which impel them to the separation. The sermon wants the reader know that “there is nothing that keeps wicked men at any one moment out of hell, but the mere pleasure of God.” This makes it hard for the reader to rebut the call for action that the reasons offered by both passages.

The differences of these passages are much easier to see than the similarities. The overall tone of both passages is entirely different; the sermon uses words like arbitrary will, restrained by no obligation, wicked men , and at any one moment out of hell to convey a sense of fear to the reader; the Declaration on the other hand, uses respectful words like When it becomes necessary for one people to dissolve the political bands , and separate and equal station to which the laws of nature and nature s God entitle them to convey a respectful tone to the reader. The reasons why each has a tone like that should be obvious. The Declaration was to be widely read by people both in Britain and in the Americas, so Jefferson had to write it so that t would inform without offending. The sermon meanwhile was not read at all, but spoken aloud by a preacher, Edwards who wanted to revive the Calvinist religion. In order to do that effectively and quickly, fear was needed to show the people Edwards was speaking to that he was serious.

Each passage uses its tone wisely; the sermon wants to instill fear into its readers so that the readers will change their life so they will not go to hell. If the sermon had been more respectful, like the Declaration, the readers would not have a good reason, fear, to change their ways and would thus go to hell. The Declaration uses a tone that is respectful to indicate that We don t want to be a part of Britain anymore, please respect that. If the Declaration had used a fearful tone like the sermon, no one would have taken the Declaration seriously because the writers did not respect the readers and thus they did not want independence enough to have it granted to them.

Each passage uses its tone wisely; the sermon wants to instill fear into its readers so that the readers will change their life so they will not go to hell. If the sermon had been more respectful, like the Declaration, the readers would not have a good reason, fear, to quickly change their ways and would thus go to hell. The Declaration uses a tone that is respectful to indicate that we don t want to be a part of Britain anymore, please respect that. If the Declaration had used a fearful tone like the sermon, no one would have taken the Declaration seriously because the writers did not respect the readers and the readers would not have respected the writers or their cause.

Another difference, obviously, is the aims and effects that both pieces want to occur. The Declaration was written so that the 13 American colonies could break off from Britain and create a sovereign nation. The sermon on the other hand wanted people to change their sinful ways before God gets angry with them and removes His hand from under them. This difference, however, is really not that significant, as it is very hard to find two related pieces that use completely different tones, word choice, and rhetoric to get the same end for the mean.

Both of these passages are strong, but in very different ways. The tone, the diction is completely different from the other, and yet they are so powerful the way that both were written, the documents almost forced the reader to agree with the side the writer had taken. The sermon did this by scaring the reader so badly he changes his ways. The Declaration did this by respectfully indicating that they want their independence. Although the methods are completely different, the product is the same: the writers made it so that the reader agreed with them.

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