Smoldering Faith - Anne Bradstreet

1612–72

History has not treated the Puritans kindly. These early American colonists were courageous and devout in their efforts to create a Christian society in the New World. Yet they’ll be forever known for their intolerance toward freethinkers like Roger Williams, Anne Hutchinson, and the Quakers. It’s not easy to build the perfect society.

One bright light shining from that culture was the poet Anne Bradstreet. Amid the rigid order imposed by the leaders of Massachusetts (including her husband and father), Anne’s writings consistently expressed the heart of Puritan faith. Dealing with everyday struggles, spiritual and practical, Bradstreet’s poetry reflects a growing maturity—not just “us good, them bad,” but, “How can we get to know our amazing God better?”

We see this in a poem she wrote to come to grips with a particular tragedy, “Upon the Burning of Our House—July 10th, 1666.” After describing the terror of waking up to the sound and sight of flames, she begins to think about it.

And when I could no longer look

I blest his name that gave and took,

That laid my goods now in the dust;

Yea, so it was, and so ’twas just—

It was his own; it was not mine.

Far be it that I should repine.

A key feature of Puritan theology is the sovereignty of God. The Lord gives and takes away: we might not understand why, but we are called to accept it. This becomes more than just musing for Anne Bradstreet. She’s picking through the ashes with “sorrowing eyes,” seeing the places where she used to conduct her life.

Here stood that trunk, and there that chest;

There lay that store I counted best;

My pleasant things in ashes lie,

And them behold no more shall I.

We feel her sadness palpably; we think of the empty spaces in our own lives, and we appreciate her faith-filled vision of a heavenly house awaiting us, “framed by that mighty Architect.” Bidding farewell to all the stuff she has loved and lost, she concludes, “My hope and treasure lies above.”

The LORD gave, and the LORD hath taken away; blessed be the name of the LORD.

Job 1:21, KJV