Franklin vs Edwards
Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin are two very respected authors in our time, but never had the pleasure of knowing one another in their own time. Edwards and Franklin possessed common views regarding their pride and desire to improve themselves; however they differed in their views of perfection and their reaching of understanding about it. Benjamin dealt with his pride on many occasions, and even called pride the "true evil sin." Benjamin, once conceived of being morally perfect, and believed a person could achieve moral perfection. Benjamin's downfall was found to be his pride. On page 585 he states, "For even if I could conceive that I had completely overcome it, I should probably be proud of my Humility." Franklin is almost ironic in how he says that, for if he were to become morally perfect he would be proud of himself.Edwards dealt with his pride even though he was a very humble man. Edwards even felt pride when praying, like when he was praying in the swamp as a child he felt self-righteous. On page 451 Edwards says, "to think how ignorant I was, when I was a young Christian, of the bottomless, infinite depths of wickedness, pride, hypocrisy, and deceit left in my h
Franklin and Edwards took different views on going about achieving self improvement, but Franklin and Edwards still had much in common dealing with their pride and learning that it may be the "true evil sin" that is unconquerable. Franklin admitted he had made a mistake leaving America and Miss Read. On page 441 the introductory author depicts the extent of perfection Edwards puts onto his congregation, "When he named backsliders from his pulpit- including the children and parents of the best families in town- and tried to return to the old order of communion. "Franklin always corrected himself no matter how difficult it was. Edwards, however, realized the importance of correcting himself and tried to instill these beliefs on his congregation, even though it eventually caused him to lose his job. Edwards and Franklin possessed common views regarding their pride and desire to improve themselves. While Franklin stopped his attempts to improve himself due to social acceptance, Edwards continued with his drive to correct himself and others to the point of losing the social acceptance of others. Edwards knew no individual could make themselves morally perfect and wasn't afraid to use his mind's arguments to explain worldly things. Edwards even goes as far as having violent inward struggles on page 442 "But yet, it was not long after my recovery before I fell again into my old ways of sin. " Edwards is talking about himself as a young man and how sinful he was. He was trying to improve himself to the likings of God. Franklin strived on self-improvement by using a metaphor on page 581 by telling how he always has to correct himself, "I marked my faults with a black Lead Pencil, which Marks I could easily wipe out with a wet sponge. Edwards, like Franklin, was also very concerned with self-improvement. "Franklin came to the understanding that he should not attempt to become morally perfect because it would not be good for him socially.
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