Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin Jonathan Edwards and Benjamin Franklin both wrote simply, directly and without aristocratic pretense. They felt writing was not an end in itself, but a work done in the service of something greater whether it be God or mankind. In his "Personal Narrative," Edwards focuses on the ecclesiastical whereas Franklin, in "The Way to Wealth" appeals to the individual. Edwards wrote to understand what was happening around him and admits, "I …showed first 75 words of 345 total…

…showed last 75 words of 345 total…failure: " but yet with too great a dependence on my own strength; which afterwards proved a great damage to me." To undue the damage, Edward later viewed "that God should govern the world, and order all things according to his own pleasure; and I rejoiced in it, that God reigned, and that his will was done". Bibliography The Norton Anthology of American Literature. 5th ed. Vol. 1. Eds Bayme, et al. New York: W.W. Norton. 1998