Analysis Of The Sovereignty And Goodness Of God Mary Rowlandson

The Sovereignty and Goodness of God Mary Rowlandson was a puritan woman from Massachusetts in the colonial times of America, which were known as the British colonies. During her time, a war occurred which was called Metacom’s War or King Philip’s War. Rowlandson was captured by the Wampanoag Indians that attacked her town of Lancaster. She wrote a story about what happened to her during her time being imprisoned, the book she wrote is called The Sovereignty and Goodness of God. In the story she reveals how she felt about the Indian tribe and she explains that being a saint and following God is what is keeping her alive. She uses many Scriptures that go along with what she is dealing with to help her get by day to day. The colonists were
Puritans believe that God created a plan for each person before they were born that decided if that person were destined to go to heaven or if they were destined to go to hell. This meant that God decided who would enter heaven. Those people were called the “Elect” or “Saints”. The way people noticed if one was part of the “elect” was how they carried themselves through their day to day actions. Also, If a person were married to a minister or something of the sort, that person could also be considered to be one of the “elect”. Puritans thought that only those who were destined for hell would die from diseases and terrible causes because they were not worthy. They believed that doing “good works” would not get you into heaven and that your own faith would not grant you rites into the “Pearly Gates” (The Sovereignty and Goodness of God, 9). Today, most people find that absurd. The Puritan belief was very cut throat and straight forward. Colonists who did not believe in god were punished severely. Men were also the only ones who were allowed power in the Puritan belief. This was different for Rowlandson because she did a lot of preaching to her town’s people, which was considered crazy for those