Captivity Mary Rowlandson Analysis

Within three Puritan works, Rowlandson and Edwards displayed their religious beliefs through their thoughts on God and mankind. One of the many Puritan beliefs was that the bible is the basis of all teaching. Such examples of this are evident in Mary Rowlandson’s work “Captivity”. Even though she was a captive, she still took note of “the wonderful mercy of God” for the simple fact that He “[sent her] a bible” (Rowlandson 67). Feeling lost, the bible brought her back to her faith in a time of need, and enlightened her on the hope that “there was mercy promised again”(67). From then on she looked to the Bible for guidance in times of despair. Throughout her imprisonment, she often pondered about “the wonderful goodness of God” when she felt anguish (66).

Reading and absorbing the bible saved her sanity. The next belief the Puritans trusted was that God is both wrathful and all-powerful. Jonathon Edwards professed a sermon that embodies this belief, often using frightening imagery to scare Puritans into confessing their inferiority to the world above. The menacing storm approached as the “black clouds of God’s wrath” hung directly above their heads while the “dreadful storm” neared (Edwards 41). Thoughts on storms frightened the Puritans of God’s anger for all of the sinners who denied their need for reconciliation. The fearsome “wrath of God [was] like great waters” that built up their intensity and waited to be unleashed at the command of God (41).

As an impending threat, His hand lay on the floodgate as their guilt built until they got overwhelmed with feelings of remorse. With the Indians terrorizing the Puritans, the image of God standing in Heaven with His bow bent and “the arrow made ready on the string” waiting to deliver “justice … at [their hearts]” terrified them into repenting for the sins they have committed (41). The warning of a “great furnace of wrath”, “full of fire” and darkness scared the Puritans into confession, self-discipline, and compliance with God. Finally, Puritans believed is that mankind is innately bad and has the natural born tendency to sin. The intimidating thought that nothing lay between humans and hell “but the air” frightened the Puritans into believing in their wickedness as human beings (Edwards 41). The iniquity of human nature made them feel “heavy as lead” because their sins weighed them down and taxed their strength and faith (41). The wrath that rest before them petrified all Puritans into believing that if they ceased prayer they got tossed into a “bottomless pit” of darkness

(42). Puritans quaked as they contemplated the “misery to all eternity” they would have for their sins (42). Only repentance could save them from an eternity of misery and pain. To save themselves from the desolation that sin entailed, they “[made] haste and [escaped]” to not look at God’s wrath “lest they be consumed” (43). If they happened to not escape their sins by confession, the Devil devoured them for the evil of their human nature. In summation, their extreme beliefs shaped them into strict, dull people who were devoid of all pleasure in order to preserve their supposed holiness and purity as God’s favored people.