Edwards and Franklin both had different writing styles in their works and some similar ones. They both wanted what was best for them and their fellow man. The one difference was that Edward related all of his writings to the Bible and it seemed like you were reading it. He lived his life by the Puritan way of living and had good morals, where Franklin wrote about people who had neither the Puritan way of life and no morals, "Remarks Concerning the Savages of North America."
In Franklin's Autobiography (Part two), he states, "I determined to give a Week's strict Attention to each of the Virtues successively" ( Franklin 286). Usually by virtues it means that he is going to live his life carefully with good morals. Living with good upstanding morals is like living your life by the way of God just like Edwards was trying to tell us.
An illustration from Franklin's paper on "Water-sp...
Benjamin Franklin 1767
Portrait of Benjamin FranklinHe thought that this would help him in life later on. Franklin also used to use a prayer in his motto book. Prayer is another similarity of the Puritan life that Edwards preached. Edwards stated in his work, A Divine and Supernatural Light, "All may hence be exhorted earnestly to seek this spiritual light" (Edwards 206). He was saying that he was looking for a sign from God to tell him what to do and how to live a good prosperous life just like the Puritan belief. Franklin and Edwards both took spiritual metaphors and used them to express how they wanted to better themselves.
The one difference between Edwards and Franklin was that Edwards, in all of his writings, he always wrote about God and different passages that meant something about living life in a spiritual way. Franklin was the complete opposite; in one of his writings,