FREE ESSAY ON THE PURITANS' COVENANT WITH GOD, AS REVEALED IN NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY & RESTORATION OF

THE PURITANS' COVENANT WITH GOD, AS REVEALED IN NARRATIVE OF THE CAPTIVITY & RESTORATION OF

The Puritans' Covenant With God, As Revealed in Narrative of the Captivity & Restoration
of
Mrs. Mary Rowlandson
When one thinks of the Puritans, images are conjured of Pilgrims sharing a Thanksgiving
feast with their Indian neighbors. The Puritans settled in New England to exercise their
religious
freedom to worship God in their own devout (and some believed) overly zealous way. They
were
going to tame the savage Indian beasts, and all would live happily ever after. At least,
that's what
the myth would have us believe. However, real life bears little resemblance to its
mythical
depictions, and the actual relationship between the English colonists and the Indian
settlers was
always uneasy at best. When cultures eventually collided in the late seventeenth century,
there
was inevitable bloodshed. The cornerstone of the Puritan religion is that believers were
the
chosen people of God, and it is this unique relationship and its resulting covenant which
is at the
heart of Mary Rowlandson's harrowing 1682 memoir, Narrative of the Captivity and
Restoration
of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson. 
A 'divine providence' special covenant had been articulated in Governor John Winthrop's
"A Model of Christian Charity" (Gleason hhr4-2.htm). The special relationship between
Puritans
and God was described as, "We are entered into Covenant with Him. ... we shall be as a
city upon
a hill. The eyes of all people are upon us" (Gleason hhr4-2.htm). In order to satisfy
this covenant,
Winthrop believed that Puritans had an obligation to serve as the ideal Christians,
exercising
unwavering faith, regardless of the traumatic situations which confronted them. God
would
provide guidance and protection in return, which would allow these 'chosen' souls triumph
over
adversity (Gleason hhr4-2.htm). Mary Rowlandson's narrative personifies this devotion to
God,
and while not always understanding God's plan, the believer is always unquestioning. 
Mrs. Rowlandson's narrative begins in February of 1675, when a group of Indians, led by
King Philip, descended upon Lancaster, Massachusetts, and attacked the English settlers
living
there, including Pastor Joseph Rowlandson, his wife Mary, and their children. Mary
recalled that
when her sister was dead and that Mary was wounded, "She said, 'And Lord, let me die
with
them,' which was no sooner said, but she was struck with a bullet, and fell down dead
over the
threshold. I hope she is reaping the fruit of her good labors, being faithful to the
service of God
in her place" (299). Mary reasoned that her sister's covenant with God had been
satisfactorily
fulfilled, so she was now free to join her Creator.
Mary didn't blame the Indians for being taken captive. Instead, she regarded it as God's
test of her loyalty. The Puritans may have considered themselves God's chosen people, but
this
meant that much was expected of them. When assessing the mass destruction of her home in
the
aftermath of the Indian attack, she reasoned, "Come, behold the works of the Lord, what
desolations he has made in the earth" (299-300). As Mary, whose foot had been injured by
a
bullet, carried her critically wounded child in her lap, she mused, "But the Lord renewed
my
strength still, and carried me along, that I might see more of His power... Oh, I may see
the
wonderful power of God, that my Spirit did not utterly sink under my affliction: still
the Lord
upheld me with His gracious and merciful spirit, and we were both alive to see the light
of the
next morning" (301). As long as Mary had her faith, she truly believed that she could
overcome
any adversity, including the death of her beloved child. After all, it was the
preservation of her
relationship with God, which was of paramount importance, and took precedence over any
and all
earthly ties, no matter how intimate.
Her Indian captors constantly moved Mary from place to place, and despite her injury and
subservient status, she was occasionally given special consideration. Mary attributed
this
compassion to God, not to the benevolence of the Indians. According to Mary, "By the
advantage of some brush which they had laid upon the raft to sit upon, I did not wet my
foot
(which many of themselves at the other end were mid-leg deep) which cannot but be
acknowledged as a favor of God to my weakened body" (306). A special relationship with
"the
man upstairs" inevitably results in special treatment, which seems to defy conventional
explanation. Mary believed God was keeping His ever-watchful eye firmly affixed to her,
and
would never give her a greater hardship than she could bear.
This exclusive relationship the Puritans maintained with God is also evident in Mary
Rowlandson's observations about the Indians, and their success in their battles with the
English. 
She wrote, "I cannot but take notice of the strange providence of God in preserving the
heathen...
On that very day came the English army after them to this river, and saw the smoke of
their
wigwams, and yet this river put a stop to them. God did not give them courage or activity
to go
over after us. We were not ready for so great a mercy as victory and deliverance" (306).

Incredibly, despite being separated from her family, and witnessing the deaths of her
sister, child
and neighbors, Mary did not believe that she had suffered enough for her sins against
God. In her
fleeting moments alone, when she could read the Bible one of her charitable captors
secured for
her, Mary realized that her comfortable old life made her lose sight of her Puritan role
as a
'chosen' person to follow in God's footsteps. She became more influenced by
superficiality than
by spirituality. The Indian attack and her subsequent capture was the 'jolt' into reality
both Mary
and her fellow Puritans needed, as they retraced the journey of the historical
Israelites.
While nonbelievers may well have perished under similarly harrowing circumstances, Mary
Rowlandson, miraculously, persevered. Whenever her situation looked particularly bleak,
something would happen which would enable her to overcome. Mary's covenant with God
became her sustenance. She would find charity in the most unlikely places. As she
recalled in her
memoir, "As I was eating, another Indian said to me, he seems to be your good friend,
but
he killed two Englishmen at Sudbury, and there lie their clothes behind you: I looked
behind me,
and there I saw bloody clothes, with bullet-holes in them. Yet the Lord suffered not
this
wretch to do me any hurt" (321). Mary's message is clear: Her Indian attackers were not
evil in
and of themselves. They were merely messengers of God. When one does not live up to his
or
her contractual obligations, sooner or later, there is "pay-back time."
Mary Rowlandson was spiritually 'content' to bide her time until her God was satisfied
that she had paid sufficient penance for her waywardness. Amazingly, although she
frequently
demonstrated her unflappable allegiance, the God Mary depicted in her narrative was not
always
the traditional "loving father" figure. He would inflict hardship on his people if He
contended
they had significant strayed from His teachings. It was God and His "over-ruling hand"
(324)
which was halting the English from defeating the Indians. As Mary observed, "It was
thought, if
their corn were cut down, they would starve and die with hunger, and all their corn that
could be
found, was destroyed, and they driven from that little they had in store, into the woods
in the
midst of winter; and yet how to admiration did the Lord preserve them for His holy ends,
and the
destruction of many still amongst the English! strangely did the Lord provide for them;
that I did
not see (all the time I was among them) one man, woman, or child, die with hunger.. yet
by that
God strengthened them to be a scourge to His people" (324-325).
Mary Rowlandson's faith was eventually rewarded by her release and reunion with her
family. The Indians had served their purpose as the devices of punishment for the
sinning
Puritans. Now, it was time to bring the nightmare to its end. Upon her release, a
'redeemed'
Mary had written, "Blessed be the Lord... for great is His power, and He can do
whatsoever
seemeth Him good... Now I have seen that scripture also fulfilled....If any of thine be
driven out to
the outmost parts of heaven, from thence will the Lord thy God gather thee... And thine
God will
put all these curses upon thine enemies, and on them that hate thee, which persecuted
thee (328).
Although this story had a happy ending, at least for Mary Rowlandson and her surviving
family members, one must wonder what kind of God the Puritans worshipped, almost
fearfully,
rather than freely. The emphasis was clearly more on rigid conformity to morality than it
was on
compassion to humankind. All that was important was that the sinning Puritans were shown
the
error of their ways; everything else was insignificant. The Indians mattered not; they
were a
means to an end, not the end itself. The 'end,' was a happy one, at least for the English
who had
survived the massacre, for they were spiritually held accountable for their covenant with
God. 
But is being one of God's "chosen people" worth the price the Puritans were expected to
pay?
Bibliography
Gleason, Caroline. "The Chosen People of God: Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative."
(25
Aug. 1997). http://history.hanover.edu/hhr/hhr4-2.htm (1 Aug. 1999).
Rowlandson, Mary. "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson."
In
Baym, Nina (General Editor). The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Fifth
Edition, Volume 1). New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998, pp. 298-330..
Bibliography
Gleason, Caroline. "The Chosen People of God: Mary Rowlandson's Captivity Narrative."
(25
Aug. 1997). http://history.hanover.edu/hhr/hhr4-2.htm (1 Aug. 1999).
Rowlandson, Mary. "Narrative of the Captivity and Restoration of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson."
In
Baym, Nina (General Editor). The Norton Anthology of American Literature (Fifth
Edition, Volume 1). New York: W.W. Norton and Company, 1998, pp. 298-330..