The Puritans were extremely religious people, strict, yet simple in their ways. Their beliefs were well expressed in their writings, which ranged from sermons and hymns, to poetry and diaries. Two authors who promptly portrayed the Puritan values in their works of literature are Reverend Jonathan Edwards and Anne Bradstreet.

At the height of the Great Awakening, Reverend Jonathan Edwards composed a series of sermons which used fearsome descriptions of Hell, and threats of the wrath of God to scare people into converting to Christianity. His most widely known sermon, Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God, shares many of the Puritan beliefs of Sin and God's wrath towards sinners.

The Puritans believed that any man, no matter how moral, would spend an eternity in Hell if he had not given himself over to God. "Unconverted men walk over the pit of Hell." Those who had not...