reflection - 9

I believe that Paine wrote this piece to all of the people in the newly found America. He wrote it to inspire a revolution in them. To inspire a revolution against Great Britain. People from England had already inhabited America for some time now, and Paine wanted them to join together and rise up against Great Britain. Paine wanted independence from Great Britain and wrote this to help others see that we should have independence even if it means war. Paine felt very strongly on the topic, and gave a strong argument as to why it should be that way.

Paine's writing was most definitely not written in Puritan writing style, and clearly reflects writing of the Rationalism Period. In one instance, Paine states "Throw not the burden of the day upon Providence, but show your faith by your works, that God may bless you. It matters not where you live, or what rank of life you hold, the evil or the blessing will reach you all. The far and the near, the home ties and the back, the rich and the poor, will suffer or rejoice alike." (.....) The values that Paine implies in the above quote are not values of Puritans. He says to not rely on the providence of God, but to show your faith by your works. (...) This is a passage from the Bible in the book of James. However, this is not a belief that Puritans held true to. The Puritans solely believed in the providence of God and that is everything that they hoped in, counted on and believed to be true. They entrusted their whole lives to the providence of God, and in one sentence, Paine rids of that belief all together and opens the doors to the belief that the people should show their faith in God by the works that they do. (...) Also, when Paine says that it does not matter what rank you hold, you still will receive evil or blessings all the same, this was strongly against the Puritan ways. (....) Puritans believed that only certain people were going to be saved and go to Heaven. Puritans believed that a select group of people were more righteous than the others. (...) This way of thinking is not as Paine thinks. Therefore, Paine is clearly not of the Puritan era.

When Paine tells the eople to show their faith by their works, so that God may bless them, (...)it may elude the reader to think that Paine is a Puritan. However, this is incorrect. Just because he mentions God, does not mean that he is a Puritan. He is a part of the Rationalism era. It may also seem to the reader that all people that partook in the ways of the Rationalism period were not Chrisitians, however this is not the case either. The people in the Rationalism period were exploring their world and trying to see what things were like on their own. Although many people did drop God or make assumptions on their own not according to God, I believe that many of the people in the Rationalism period were Christians.