- God saves theses he wishes,and a person must examine themselves to see if they show signs.

- Jesus died only for those who were to go to heaven

- You cannot work your way into heaven

- Saints or elected can interpret god will and will live uprightly.

- simple and logical, made it easy to explain

- always had purpose

- strongly tied to religion, making comparisons from their lives to those in the bible.

Already, In the first few passages from Of The Plymouth Plantation the idea of predestination, god saving those he wishes, or really, likes, is shown in the young man John Howland being tossed overboard by the see saved only by the fact that "it pleased God that he caught hold of the topsail halyards" in other words, was pleased by his will. He not only helps this young man, but John goes on to live successfully and uprightly, in a manner suggesting he is one of the Elected. Similarily, in Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God the preacher continually asserts that everyone is damned and only being held up by Gods good graces, and pushes the idea with imagery involving fire and brimstone, that of strings and frail spiderwebs, continually nailing in the idea of helplessness in the face of God.Of The Plymouth Plantation once more asserts this ideal of surviving only by gods graces by speaking of the survivors of a plague, remaining in good health only because their hard work and diligence pleases Him. Sinners in the Hand of an Angry God insuates that there is no way to keep yourself out of hell, and that if you think you are saved, you are more damned then ever, once more bringing the imagery of of gods hand holding you by a tread, and an easily breakable one at that. Overall, the beliefs are so ingrained that they are perpetuated throughout all of the writing, and the repetition and stark images that these beliefs create serve to harden the hold of these beliefs in the people.