In the late 1600s and early 1700s, people were already widely influenced by religion, specifically Christianity. Most people believed heaven and hell, and had an idea of what got a person to either of these places. Growing up with such religious beliefs made all the more simple for preachers and writers to make convincing arguments regarding religion. In documents showing puritan religion arguments, Michael Wigglesworth, Cotton Mather, and Jonathan Edwards influenced people by relating to their personal guilt or fear.
In the document, "The Diary of Michael Wigglesworth," Wigglesworth makes a convincing argument for people in the late 1600s by using his own personal experience to relate to people. He shows that he has a guilty conscience like most mortals and shares how conflicted he is. By speaking to God in his diary he says, "I find my heart prone to take secret pleasure in thinking how much I do for others good: but lord how little of it is done for thee." This passage shows the puritan mindset that it is a sin to be vain or proud of yourself in any way because it takes away feelings f or God which then allows for sin to become a habit. Pride, being one of the seven deadly sins of man in Christian belief, is a natural and common feeling of being understood, which makes his argument more compelling. Wigglesworth also brings up the sin of lust in the passage, "how unfit am I to sanctify a Sabbath, with such a carnal heart, such dead and dull affections, such distracting thoughts as possess and fill my sacrament?". Considering that most if not all people are sexual beings, this passage relates to almost anyone. Sympathizing and relating to the readers with their problem is like having a really good friend or a counselor. A person feels understood and as a result a feeling of trust is built. With trust a counselor, in this case Wigglesworth, can then share his own beliefs and have a more likely chance that people will believe him.