Langer Puritan Blog

As a new society, eager to not only expand, but also to justify their actions as a community, the Puritans relied on two major doctrines: the Covenant of Grace and the Covenant of Works. The Covenant of Works implies an absolute obedience to God’s laws, a starch following of what it means to be a Christian through the works of the bible and what the leaders interpreted those works to mean. The Covenant of Grace means through God’s mercy, some are saved. The Covenant of Grace believed in a salvation through God’s grace, a life after flesh. Winthrop acknowledges the Covenant of Grace in his exultation of the Law of Grace: “This as a brother in Christ also, and in the communion of the same Spirit, and so teacheth to put a difference between Christians and others. Do good to all, especially to the household of faith. Upon this ground the Israelites were to put a difference between the brethren of such as were strangers, though not of the Canaanites.” – Winthrop Winthrop makes specific acknowledgments to the Covenant of Grace admiring the relationship and strength between fellow Christians as opposed to other religions. They are chosen above others to found a new society in America, and must stick together as Christians to justify this endeavor. The Covenant of Grace has given them the tools to give and forgive one another. From the Covenant of Works, Winthrop insists that “he perform this out of the same affection which makes him careful of by Abraham and Lot in entertaining the angels and the old man of Gibeahis own goods, according to the words of our Savior (from Matthew 7:12), whatsoever ye would that men should do to you.” One must follow the Golden Rule of the Covenant of Works: treat others as you would like to be treated. If they follow this Covenant of Works, all of their actions are seemingly justified as Puritans.

Bradstreet’s poem The Flesh and the Spirit emphasizes what following the Covenant of Works and the Covenant of Grace will do to the everyday Christian. Bradstreet takes us through a conversation between twins, the Flesh and the Spirit. The Flesh is obsessed with worldly things. Flesh offers “true substance in variety” and “trophies to thy name erect” assuming the greatness of material assets over speculation and contemplation. Yet, the Spirit does not believe in these wants calling Flesh an “unregenerate part.” Flesh is from Adam whereas Spirit’s “arise is from above.” The Spirit relies on a Covenant of Grace, where it will be saved and brought to heaven past the material world on Earth. Spirit relies on the Covenant of works, “the word of life, it is my meat.” Through her poem Bradstreet emphasizes the necessity of following God’s laws in everyday actions to attain the salvation that all Puritans desire. The Puritan will attain a pure city, that is not available to the flesh, “for things unclean there shall not be.” The Covenants of Grace and Works are tools by which to attain all that God has created for the Puritans.