Wigglesworth's thinking of himself as a Bride of Christ as did other evangelicals, male and female sometimes led him to speak of kissing and embracing his "husband," a metaphor with distinctly erotic overtones. Such ideas, together with his entries on marriage, make Wigglesworth's diary quite a complete and amazing account of early Puritan sexual and affectional life.
Throughout his diary, Wigglesworth often referred to an earthly "creature" who kept stealing his affection away from God. That "creature" was usually earthly comfort in general. But in the early entries especially, that seductive "creature" often turns out to be Wigglesworth's male students. It seems that one of the sins that made the Day of Judgment a "Day of Doom" for Wigglesworth was his "too much doting affection" for young Harvard males.
The most explicit sexual passages in the diary were written in a special shorthand code decoded and printed in italics as in Morgan's edition. While Wigglesworth reported his sins quite frankly to God, his code suggests he wanted to keep them hidden from his fellow humans. On February 26, he noted: "Some filthiness escaped me in a filthy dream. The Lord notwithstanding. On March 5, , Wigglesworth recorded: much distracted thoughts I find arising from too much doting affection to some of my pupils one of whom went to Boston with me today.
He felt no power to love God, he said, "my spirit is so leavened with love to the creature. This frame I am afraid of. On April 1, Wigglesworth asked the Lord, his "father," to "witness my daily sensual glutting my heart with creature comforts. One morning in April, Wigglesworth wondered "will the Lord now again return and embrace me in the arms of his dearest love?
Will he fall upon my neck and kiss me? At the end of April, Wigglesworth begged God to "give me some sweet soul ravishing communion with thy self. I fear my pupils formerly, and now my ease and sloth and pleasure are getting oft between christ and me.
On April 27, Wigglesworth told the Lord: "I seek at the hands of a father pardon and power over my still prevailing lusts, principally pride and sensuality, want of love to thee and fervent desires after communion with thee. On June 24, Wigglesworth warned a rebellious Harvard student of "the dangers of pleasure"; the minister was later distraught to find that same student "at play" and making music "with ill company. On July 7, Wigglesworth complained that he was so involved in his own business, and in "my pupils' good," that he had lost his love for God, and feared his "own spirit of whoredoms.
On October 14, Wigglesworth thought of "my want of love and dutifulness to my parents," and "the very next morning news is brought me of my father's death. On October 18, he prayed for grace, wondering whether "I might not be secretly glad that my father was gone.
On November 30, Wigglesworth told the Lord that he knew he deserved "to be kicked out of this world because I have not had natural affections to my natural father," because he had thought evil of all his "governors," and because he had "rebell'd against On December 4, Wigglesworth wondered if he should get married, and hoped the Lord would guide him "in the weighty business that troubles me.
In what ways does the poem link the private framework of personal salvation with the communal mission of the Puritans in New England? How does Wigglesworth connect eschatology the redemptive future with psychology the reader's current response? Bosco, Ronald A. Bosco, ix-xliii. University Press of America, Crowder, Richard. Daly, Robert.
University of California Press, Hammond, Jeffrey A. University of Georgia Press, Pope, Alan H. Pennsylvania State University Press, Major Themes, Historical Perspectives, and Personal Issues Students might be asked to consider the poem in light of the Puritan sense of historical mission, Puritan views of the self in relation to redemptive frameworks, the sense of community fostered by the poem, and the relation of Wigglesworth's themes to the Restoration in England.
Significant Form, Style, or Artistic Conventions Like all Puritan popular artists, Wigglesworth designed his poem to provide much the same aesthetic "pleasure" as a sermon. These early works reached the level of literature, as in the robust and perhaps truthful account of his adventures. Michael Wigglesworth, the poet, wrote this poem in such a way that the reader in the end should ask themselves this question, what must I do to be saved? The words of each stanza are crafted in ordinance with scriptures of the Bible.
Puritans …show more content… Puritan believers are taught to live a strict lifestyle and to adhere to the word of God. This is why the ramifications of sinful behavior are punished by God. Wigglesworth not only described the unfavorable side of sin, but he also included in his poem the reward of sustaining from it. This is why Wigglesworth voice about salvation in his poem spoke loud in reference to the precious reward of salvation.
He not only wanted his readers to picture what it would be like to enter the Kingdom of Heaven but to realize that it is far better than entering the Kingdom of Hell. In stanza he use words such as glorious, divine and bright to persuade us that Heaven is definitely where you want to end up after ascending from earth.
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