Art by Sariah

Things to Remember from Mistress Bradstreet

Just finished reading Mistress Bradstreet: The Untold Life of America's First Poet, by Charlotte Gordon.  It's somewhat laughable, since I don't usually get very much into poetry.  But when I saw the book at the library, I was interested.

It's not a bad book, especially as far as biographies go.  I tend to get bored easily by them, but this one kept me interested and hanging on for what was coming next.

I dog-eared quite a few pages, simply because Bradstreet's or Gordon's words really spoke to me on some level.

"God-fearing and devout, during these late nights Anne had to stare down her own belief in her weakness, as well as her fears of being attacked, to begin to commit her thoughts to parchment.  Though she had never heard of any other woman attempting such a feat, perhaps the memory of her father's voice, all those years ago in the paneled rooms of Sempringham, gave her courage.  As it was, she prayed that each line she formed would be in the service of the Lord" (Gordon, p. 179).

Anne Bradstreet's reasons for fear were different than mine, but maybe it's time for me to face my own demons, and start chasing a long-ago dream that's never quite left me.

"This five-page document [Bradstreet's spiritual autobiography] is remarkable as a celebration of her faith as well as an admission of her doubts.  Anne urged her children to know that questioning was an essential component of Puritan belief....  By voicing her own uncertainties, she gave her children permission to make their own journeys of faith.  Not that they should stray from Puritanism but that they should not allow their delusions and questions to take them away from God" (Gordon, pp. 258-259).

A little lesson for motherhood here in this statement of truth.  My experiences have also led me to understand that, like babies must put everything in their mouths to test things out, we need to know our faith, inside and outside, and why we believe it...and to remember that it is faith--the substance of things hoped for but not seen.

"For many, though Anne was luckily not one of them, their children were a large part of the struggle.  Some younger Puritans simply refused to examine their consciences or attend services in the meetinghouses.  Each congregation faced the possibility of extinction as the old members died off and new ones failed to join" (Gordon, p. 263).

The struggle to maintain congregations struck me, as recently I have been directed to several articles addressing how Christianity is losing active followers.  It is intriguing to me that this is an "age-old" problem, going back the 400 years to colonial America, and if you really think about it, it started with the dying out of the Christian church after Christ and many of the early apostles and disciples were martyred.

In my own church, though I don't believe we see quite the numbers falling off as in other Christian denominations, we do see those years of youth and early adulthood as crucial to developing commitment to religious beliefs and practices.

A few pages later, Gordon wrote, "With prosperity came too much attachment to the world and too much laxness with regard to religion.  The plenty that now graced families in America could prevent them from ever reaching the kingdom to come."  She then quoted Anne Bradstreet directly:

"...the gifts that God bestows on the sons of men are not only abused but most commonly employed for a clean contrary end than that which they were give for, as health, wealth, and honour, which might be so many steps to draw men to God in consideration of His bounty toward them, but have driven them the further from Him that they are ready to say: we are lords, we will come no more at Thee.  If outward blessings be not as wings to help us mount upwards, they will certainly prove clogs and weights that will pull us lower downward" (p. 270).

Again, it's still so relevant...and has been for centuries.  The dangers of prosperity, which is also laden with blessings, have been evident in both testaments of the Bible as well as the Book of Mormon.

And then a few pages later, Gordon records some of Anne's parental advice, a somewhat less religious topic, but akin to the completely modern debate of nature versus nurture:

"'Diverse children have their different natures,' [Bradstreet] wrote, sounding as though she were speaking directly to Mercy [her daughter-in-law].  'Some are like flesh which nothing but salt will keep from putrefaction, some again like tender fruits that are best preserved with sugar.  Those parents are wise that can fit their nurture according to their nature" (p. 273).

And an incredibly astute observation of child-rearing...each child is different.  Different strokes for different folks.  It's the heart of parenting a large family.  And I'm so glad to hear someone important and knowledgeable acknowledge it.  :)

I guess what I really walked away with was this: a different time period, a different culture and religion (and religious culture) ... and yet the problems we face are still the same, and the victories we seek are still the same.