While the main focus here is Puritanism, Miller does occasionally do a bit of wandering some of the latter essays explore Emerson and the formation of American nationalist ideology. And what a fascinating world he uncovers. Miller’s fascinating book opens up Puritan history for those interested in intellectual history – a history of ideas, theology, and polity. The history we know of the Puritans is a history of events – things they did, their names, their travels. We think of their biggest accomplishment as managing to survive disease and pestilence for so long, despite their backward ways. The word conjures up images of earnest, hard-working folk bedecked in golden buckles and ruffles eager to spread their moral superiority to anyone within earshot. Mary had finally fulfilled her errand into the wilderness.Perry Miller’s “Errand Into the Wilderness” more than any other book I’ve read in a long time makes you realize sometimes how little education our educational institutions actually provide. Coming out of that experience, she felt strengthened in her relationship with the Lord. She had described the differences in how she was treated among the Indians, whom she termed as barbaric heathens, to that of the treatment she was given when she was restored by compassionate Christians. Believing this negligence gave God the right to cast her away, He didn’t do this. Later in her captivity, she was forced to miss the Sabbath days which led her to recall those which she could have and should have spent in further pursuit of spiritual awareness. the Indians as well as in her own experiences. She completely acknowledged the sovereignty and providence of God in how it related to the English vs. However, during this time, she gave God credit for everything that had happened to her. ![]() There were very many moves, almost every single day she was captive and this took her farther away from her culture and hope of rescue. In a low, bitter spirit, she was forced to turn her back to the town (civilization) and go into the vast, desolate wilderness. Her home and family were attacked and mostly destroyed. Somehow, she remembered enough details and wrote a book called Captivity and Restoration about her experiences. Mary Rowlandson spent 11 months in captivity among the Native Americans during King Philips War in the years 1675-78 in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. They would be faithful workers in this new garden in the wilderness. Only they Puritan work ethic kept them afloat. An example of how Christians can work together to build a social order. That was the meaning of the “city on the hill”. This meant that they would build a Christian society that was a first step in building a worldwide Christian society. With their errand into the wilderness, the people put forth their post-millennial vision. Once they began to prosper, the society wasn’t as closely knit together as it was. The only hope they had was cooperation under the hard conditions, but that would only go so far. On their own, they had to set up a completely new social and economic theory of voluntarism. They would need to conquer the weather, Native Americans, and other conditions including starvation and disease. With little that he could do to prepare them for what was to come aside from telling them to treat each other with all the Christian charity, they possessed the country really was a wilderness. There hadn’t been any legal or historical Puritan precedents. Winthrop had no idea what the colonists would be facing in this new, vast wilderness. Being very diligent to remain faithful to the Lord in their lives these people had left the battles at home but were preparing to fight new ones in their errand into the Wilderness. As a representation of Christian people, they had a job to spread this faith throughout the wild tribes of Native Americans. Mainly it would consist of Puritan culture and they would be blessed by God in this endeavor, as people who would be planting a tree or a garden. ![]() Their errand into the wilderness would be one of planting their own civilization. Although Cotton hadn’t felt that he was needed in the colonies just yet, he had given the other colonists an offering of Godspeed on their journey into the wilderness.
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