Quakers and Puritans
Woolman spends time in his journal writing about his relationship with God and his perspective on God. He discusses that as early as the age of 7 he "began to be acquainted with the operations of divine love".[2] His perspective on God and God's love is important, as it offers clear contrasts from the opinions that Puritans had. Puritans believed in a less tolerable God and, as Jonathan Edwards in Sinners in the Hands of An Angry God suggests, a God who does not care for those on Earth, nearly as much as Woolman suggests. Woolman's journal speaks of a God who gives revelation and creates a feeling of sweetness as well as strong feelings of mercy.
Tolerance
The opinion on God's love and his strong mercy is what makes Woolman and other Quakers more tolerant to others. Woolman writes: "I found no narrowness respecting sects and opinions, but believed that sincere, upright-hearted people in every Society who truly loved God were accepted of him."[2] This is a very different belief from those of other major religions in American at the time. The Puritans were very intolerant, even within their own ranks--intolerance is one of the causes of the Salem Witch Trials. Quakers' differing opinion on God is also what brings about a major dislike of Quakers by Puritans. They could not stand the opinions of Quakers and considered it a type of religious heresy.[3] Woolman does not discuss this in his Journal, instead focusing on what he knows and believes. In fact, Woolman believes that tolerance and mercy towards others were given from God: "he whose tender mercies are over all his works hath placed a principle in the human mind which incites to exercise goodness towards every living creature."[2]
These kinds of connections involving tolerance and mercy towards other people are what makes Woolman's writings easier to connect with. He appears more real and sincere because of his tolerance towards others. Christians now connect with his opinions on mercy, and this is part of the reason he has remained in print since the first publication of his journal.
