New England's Perfection: The Image of Adam and the Image of Christ in the Antinomian Crisis, 1634 to 1638

Abstract

T t HE Puritans who sailed from Plymouth, England, in April i630 were confident that with them into wilderness went God's promises of redemption of world. In his farewell sermon, Gods Promise to His Plantation, John Cotton had assured them that whatever hazards and tribulations were in store for them, they could rest confident that society they would plant after their exodus would serve as a great example to a continent engaged in bloody Thirty Years Wars, and to an England where Antichrist daily seemed to gain power. In first years, New England Puritans' expectations for their plantations seemed to be justified. Cotton, who came across to Massachusetts in early fall of i633, wrote to his good friend, John Davenport, then in Holland but soon to come to Boston, that the Order of Churches and of Commonwealth was so settled, by common Consent, that it brought to his mind, New Heaven and New Earth, wherein dwells Righteousness.1 The initial harmony did not last long. By i634 differences had appeared that within two years would divide Massachusetts into two major factions. On one side of house divided stood Cotton, teacher of First Church; Sir Henry Vane, new governor; John Wheelwright, minister at Mount Wollaston; and most of Boston congregation, among them Anne Hutchinson and her family. Cotton's and Vane's party also had scattered support in Salem, Newbury, Roxbury, Ipswich, and Charlestown.2 On other side were Cotton's colleague, John Wilson, pastor of First Church; John Winthrop,