Jonathan Edwards lived through two definitive eras in American history: the uncompromising beliefs of the Puritans he grew up with in the Connecticut Valley and the free thinking and logical reasonableness of the Age of Enlightenment (Norton Anthology 396) . These ideas come together fascinatingly in Edwards' Personal Narrative, a seemingly quotidian account of his ideas about the Bible and God, thought through as logically as he could conceive given the information at hand, and of his upbringing as a son and grandson . of famous reverends. His life was in great contrast to that of his even more famous nephew Aaron Burr, born in the midst of the Enlightenment. Although Edwards only lived into the second year of his offspring's life (Chernow 277), both his successes and his mistakes appear to have had an enormous effect on how Burr viewed religion, politics, and even writing itself. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Edwards' mind was filled with religious thoughts that he meticulously documented. In his personal narrative, he begins to talk about his childhood views on religion, the awakening of the spirituality of his father's congregation, and his dutiful religious practices. His worldview is purely puritanical. There were some expectations on the Puritans to serve God as best they could, working tirelessly to do so, while opposing anything that might distract them from their reverential mission. Edwards' beliefs in the sovereignty of God, one of the fundamental Puritan principles, testify to his old-fashioned way of thinking that his parishioners engaged in. He said that his "mind used to be full of objections against the doctrine of the sovereignty of God," on page 399, but then goes on to explain, "The absolute sovereignty of God and damnation are what my mind seems to be certain of ". , as much as anything I see with my eyes. Edwards continually quelled any doubts about his beliefs with the feeling that adoration gave him. Burr would have detested the reflections on God that seemed to flow from his ancestor's pen as if they came from his heart. Aaron Burr didn't actually write much, because his "habit was never to trust paper if he could help it, and when he wrote, it was with great caution" (Chernow 278). While his grandfather remained wedded to the style of Puritan life, Burr was working to become famous in an entirely different field. Although he lived with another reverend growing up, the religious fervor of the rest of his family did not Burr truly embody an even more recent phase of the Age of. Enlightenment, for he was not a statesman creating documents that would come to define the United States to this day, but a politician intent on seeking power (Chernow 279. Their differences cannot be summed up more effectively than a comparison between Edward's sermon entitled A Divine and Supernatural Light and Burr's commencement speech when he graduated from Princeton, a school briefly presided over by his grandfather, entitled Building Castles in the Air (Chernow 277). In his sermon, Edwards quotes the Scriptures: "you know what only God can teach you." (Edwards 417). Burr's speech directly disdains the thinking his grandfather loved and demonstrated in his Personal Narrative, to Build Castles in the Air, which "declaimed against wasting energy on futile dreams." (Chernow 277). As a man who valued his distinguished place in society and dreamed of the highest office in the land, Burr would surely have found Edwards' musings a waste of time and energy. The simplistic belief in God as a feeling is.