Enlightenment thinkers wanted people to think with reason.
Great Awakening thinkers wanted people to use their heart.
Turning on The Light!
During the 18th century, a lot of changes occurred in society and the government all because of a widely known movement called the Enlightenment. Philosophers planned to basically throw out old traditions and ideas. Since this movement originated in Europe, many British North American colonists didn’t know anything about this new way of thinking. Many colonists around the ports of the cities got word of John Locke’s ideas and theories. John Locke was a philosopher in Europe who helped bring the Enlightenment to the surface. Science basically started this movement. Some of the works of Nicolaus Copernicus and Sir Isaac Newton set the infrastructure for a new way, a scientific way, of viewing the world.
John Locke
http://freethoughtalmanac.com/?p=3038
In 1689, Locke published Two Treatises of Government. Locke said, in the First Treatises, that no king had a "divine right" to rule. In lieu of, he said, that a king only holds power because he was born to a certain father. In his Second Treatise Locke is talking about the "consent of the governed." This was so much more important to the colonies than the first. He explains that:
- Church and state can't decide how people should live and determine what's right and wrong. The laws of nature should be the guide of the people's decisions.
- Governments are there and created for the purpose to guard our lives, property, and freedom.
- Governments only exist because of the people. If the people don't agree on a certain type of government, the idea should be thrown away.
- Different powers the government holds should be laid in the hands of separate authorities, to make sure that not one specific authority becomes too powerful.
Benjamin Franklin
Ben represented the ideas of the Enlightenment in both his living style and ideas. Human condition could be refined through science and reasoning is what he believed. Franklin was a successful writer who worked as a printer and he published books, also. After he retired from his work, he founded the first scientific organization in the colonies called the Philadelphia Philosophical Society. He also founded a school that was the first of its time to have no religious ties that became the University of Pennsylvania. Ben Franklin created so many inventive items that improved the quality of every day life. He made the Franklin Stove (which heated houses) and lighting rod (which was a long metal stick that you'd put on the roof of your house so that lighting could safely travel down to the ground. One of Franklin's writings, Poor Richard's Almanack, spread the ideas of the Enlightenment. This would, over time, lead to the American Revolution. Many of our documents such as the Declaration of Independence, the Constitution, and the Bill of Rights have remained important to this day because of the values of reason.
Image: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/BenjaminFranklin?from=Main.BenjaminFranklin
Image: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Creator/BenjaminFranklin?from=Main.BenjaminFranklin
The Great Awakening
The whole idea of the Enlightenment was basically challenging and questioning authority. Well, people began to spread this idea to their religion. This event was as long as 12-18 years of extraordinary revival in both the colonies and England throughout the 1730's and 1740's.
George Whitefield
This man was one of the most famous preachers during this time, he believed the reason that people weren't going to church was because of the fact that the preachers weren't interesting enough! From 1730-1755, the revivals brought in as many as 6,000 people at a time to listen to these evangelists. The sermons were exciting and the Americans loved it!
"And now, what shall I, or, indeed, what can I well say more to excite you, even you that are yet strangers to Christ, to come and walk with God? If you love honor, pleasure, and a crown of glory, come, seek it where alone it can be found. Come, put ye on the Lord Jesus. Come, haste ye away and walk with God, and make no longer provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof. Stop, stop, O sinner! Turn ye, turn ye, O ye unconverted men . . ."
Image: http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/George-Whitefield-Sermon.html
"And now, what shall I, or, indeed, what can I well say more to excite you, even you that are yet strangers to Christ, to come and walk with God? If you love honor, pleasure, and a crown of glory, come, seek it where alone it can be found. Come, put ye on the Lord Jesus. Come, haste ye away and walk with God, and make no longer provision for the flesh, to fulfill the lust thereof. Stop, stop, O sinner! Turn ye, turn ye, O ye unconverted men . . ."
Image: http://www.scrollpublishing.com/store/George-Whitefield-Sermon.html
Jonathan Edwards
http://www.jonathan-edwards.org/
Jonathan Edwards was one of the most influential evangelists of his time. His famous sermon has become an important part of American Literature, and by far the only sermon to be in this category. Jonathan Edward's and George Whitefield challenged the Puritan's beliefs by emphasizing feelings over behavior.
This is an excerpt from Edward's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God":
"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."
This is an excerpt from Edward's sermon, "Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God":
"The God that holds you over the pit of hell, much as one holds a spider, or some loathsome insect over the fire, abhors you, and is dreadfully provoked: his wrath towards you burns like fire; he looks upon you as worthy of nothing else, but to be cast into the fire; he is of purer eyes than to bear to have you in his sight; you are ten thousand times more abominable in his eyes, than the most hateful venomous serpent is in ours."
Most historians believe that without the changes in which the way people viewed religion, the American Revolution would have never been achievable.
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