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Language of the Puritans and Enlightenment Thinkers

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Puritans and Enlightenment thinkers both write to help shape a new nation through truth. As seen in Puritan writer's figurative language, Puritans seek God's truth from his laws, whereas Enlightenment writers seek scientific truth through reason. Benjamin Franklin was a man of God and a man of science. As demonstrated in "The Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin , he thought spirituality had a place in governing life, but that discovery was where real truth lie. In contrast, John Winthrop's beliefs in "A Model of Christian Charity  show that all truth is from God and His rules govern His people. Man and spirit, according to Anne Bradstreet, will reveal the truth together, as illustrated by her poem "The Flesh and the Spirit . The literary works of both Puritan and Enlightenment thinkers, aided to form a nation of democracy and religious freedom. Although Benjamin Franklin was very religious, he was an important figure in the enlightenment movement, and helped pave the way for democracy, the form of government the United States would eventually take. In the Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin, Franklin writes to his son. He writes about how he, a man that came from poverty could accomplish so much. "Having emerged from the poverty and obscurity in which I was born and bred, to a state of affluence and some degree of reputation in the world, and having gone so far through life with a considerable share of felicity, the conducing means I made use of, which with the blessing of God so well succeeded, my posterity may like to know, as they may find some of them suitable to their own situations, and therefore fit to be imitated.  In this quote, Franklin tell his son that he should imitate him, and help the nation in which they lived. Although Franklin says that emerging from poverty was all thanks to God, he believes that to help your nation you must never waste a second and work for discovery,

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