Antinomianism v. Legalism

Dublin Core

Title

Antinomianism v. Legalism

Subject

Different Religious Ideologies

Description

The Separatists came to America because they believed that the Church of England had become too secular and wanted to become more like Christ. “It is by mutual consent, through a special overhauling providence and more than an ordinary approbation of the Churches of Christ, to seek out a place of cohabitation and consortship under a due form of government both civil and ecclesiastical”.[1] These are the words of John Winthrop who would serve as governor of the Plymouth colony. His conservative Calvistist belief would dominate every aspect of life across New England during the early colonial days. John Winthrop was part of a group known as the Legalists, and believed that God had preordained those that would get into Heaven. Since no one knew who was chosen, those all must follow a strict moral code and were bound by the Law of Moses. But there were opposition to this belief, and the loudest advocates of the “free grace” belief also known as Antinomianism were Roger Williams and Henry Vane. These conflicting beliefs on the salvation of the people of the Massachutees colony and would affect social and political arenas during the 1630s and 1640s.

            From the beginning of the Plymouth colony there were conflicts concerning God’s salvation for the citizens of New England. In 1624, the Separatists and their leader William Bradford were at odds with Thomas Morton of Merry Mount. Thomas Morton was a rebel and a believer in Antinomianism and did not buy into the Puritan ideology. The men of Merry Mount constructed a Maypole, which the residents would dance around, beating drums and singing.  “They termed it an idol; yea, they called it the Calf of Horeb and stood in defiance with the place naming it Mount Dragon, threating to make it a woeful mount and not a merry mount.”[2] The New Plymouth colonist may not have liked the secular nature of the Merry Mount group, but the Morton’s village was also engaging in sexual activity and trading guns with the native people off the region. This went against the cornerstone of the Separatists beliefs. Morton was open to religious tolerance, equality, and open trade with other countries and Native people of the region. Morton outrageous behavior and beliefs was a distraction and placed the souls of the residents at Merry Mount in peril according to Bradford. William Bradford said in Of Plymouth Plantation “Morton, thinking himself lawless and hearing what gain the French and fisherman made by trading pieces, powder, and shot to the Indians.”[3] This was too much for the Separatist group to handle so they sent Captain Standish to arrest Thomas Morton and he was sent back to England for trial.  Thomas Morton was free of the constraints of England and felt wanted to live as he pleased. But it was ‘godly law: that prevailed, he was arrested because he was involved with illegal trading, but the truth is told it was his group’s self-indulgence of the flesh that drove William Bradford and the Plymouth colony to act. Religion would play a major role in the region for the next fifty years. But what would cause the biggest rife in the Massachusetts colony would be ideologies of Legalism and Antinomianism.

            John Winthrop, a Calvinist, believed in the “God’s grace”, which was the belief that there is already a group that has been chosen by God to enter into Heaven, and his strongest supporter was Thomas Shepard. Michael P. Winship noted in his book Making Heretics, “Shepard felt impelled to act as God’s fist during the free grace controversy”.[4]

Even though Shepard later in his life would have doubts about his own personal salvation he remained a strong advocate for the ideology of Legalism and the notion of preordained salvation.

            On the other side of the coin were John Cotton and his disciple Anne Hutchinson. John Cotton in the early 1637 was still a strong proponent of what Michael P. Winship called, “Hutchinsonian” reasoning. John Cotton’s “covenant of grace” theology was a direct contradiction to the “covenant of works” theology of Winthrop and Shepard.  These two people would start throughout the Massachusetts colony which the leaders would be chased out and they would start a new colony that believed in Antinomianism or the “free grace” philosophy which seemed radical to most Puritans during the 1630s This radical belief was based that an individual can seek God’s grace and receives salvation just by asking for it. Anne Hutchinson was placed on trial and banished from Plymouth colony and was banished alone with John Wheelwright to the Providence of New Hampshire. In John Winthrop’s journal it said this about the banishment of Anne Hutchinson, “so that after much time and many arguments had been spent to bring her to see her sin, but all in vain, the church with one consent cast her out.”[5]  Roger Williams would go on to found the colony of Rhode Island which became a more tolerant colony when it came to religious freedom. John Winthrop wrote in his journal about the warrant that was issued for Roger Williams, “a pinnace was sent with commission to Captain Underhill, etc., to apprehend him and carry him aboard the ship (which then rode at Nantasket), but when they had came at his house they found he had been gone 3 days before, but whither they could not learn.”[6] The church was the most powerful authority in the area, and what happened to Roger Williams and Anne Hutchinson was the result of their different beliefs about salvation. This all stemmed from the Antinomianism controversy that occurred between the years 1636 to 1638. According to Winship, “Shepard militantly made it clear that his opponents were pied pipers headed to hell, as had Cotton albeit with considerably more tact”[7]. This battle for the souls, and the control of the people the Plymouth colony was a very ugly fight. But it would be Winthrop and Shephard that would win the battle but not the war.

            As the colony grew the ability to read became more prevalent so the generations that came after the first settlers also became more inclined to form their own ideas and thoughts about religion. For example, Benjamin Franklin who was born in 1706 in Boston was a Deist as was several of the founding fathers. Deists believe that there was a God, a Creator which created everything. But that God was like a clockmaker, in the fact that He winds a clock and then stands back and allows free will to take over. He allows things to happen and we are left to our own choices, fate, and circumstance. Nothing is preordained, but everything is happens by chance. These Puritans believed that the hand of God was on them at all times. John Winthrop and Thomas Shepard in their writing battled with their own theology and salvation. With their version of belief they felt that then needed to be in the spirit and somehow salvation could be felt. But to achieve this salvation they must adhere to the Mosaic Law and live a good life and do good works.  John Cotton and Anne Hutchinson believed that salvation could be achieved through faith and the saving grace of Jesus Christ. An example of this would be as Jesus hung on the cross, the thief rebuked the other criminal for tempting Christ, and it was this profession of faith and belief that Christ was the savior that saved that criminal as they slowly suffocated to death. This was a huge threat to the social and political arena of the Plymouth colony. If salivation could be gained only moment s before death what would keep people from living a sinner’s life? Not only would this be blasphemed but it could cause social disobedience and discord through the colony. This is why John Winthrop and Thomas Shepard fought so hard, and banished the radical free thinkers of the day. Religious fanaticism would sprout up again in the 1690s with the Salem Witch Trials. Once again the narrow minded theology of the day allowed for people to be murdered in the name of God.

            The Puritan way of belief was a way to control the people and an attempt to discredit and disallow free thought. Ministers also served as governors and judges so God’s law normally translated into man’s law. They attempted to control all aspects of social and political arenas through religion, and John Cotton’s message as a direct threat to the whole system.


 

Hall, David D. A ReformingPeople: Puritanism and theTransformation of Public Life in New England. New York: Knopf, 2011.

Hall, David D. Worlds of Wonder, Days of Judgemnt:Popular religious Belief in Early New England. New York: Knoft, 1989.

Michael P, Winship. Making Heretics:Militant Protestantism and Free Grace in Massachusetts 1636-1641. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Mather, Cotton. The diary of Cotton Mather,D.D.,F.R.S. for the year 1712. Charottesville: University of Virgina Press, 1964.

 

A. Shepard, Thomas. The work of Thomas Shepard, first pastor of the First Church, Cambridge, Mass., with a memoir and charater. Boston: Doctrinal Tract and Book Society, 1853.

Wintrop, John. "A Model Of Christian Charity." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 166-185. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012   Morton, Thomas. "The Incident at Merry Mount." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 157-165. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation ." In The Norton Anthology American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 122-144. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

 

 

 



[1] Winthrop, John. "A Model of Christian Charity." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 166-185. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

[2] Morton, Thomas. "The Incident at Merry Mount." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 157-165. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

[3] Bradford, William. "Of Plymouth Plantation ." In The Norton Anthology American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 122-144. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

[4] Michael P. Winship. Making Heretics: Militant Protestantism and Free Grace in Massachusetts 1636-1641. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

[5] Winthrop, John. "The Journal of John Winthrop." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 166-185. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

[6] Winthrop, John. "The Journal of John Winthrop." In The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, by Nina Baym, 166-185. New York: W.W. Norton, 2012.

[7] Michael P, Winship. Making Heretics:Militant Protestantism and Free Grace in Massachusetts 1636-1641. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2002.

Creator

[no text]

Source

Title Of Plymouth Plantation
Subject this is William Bradford’s memoirs that he had wrote over the course of several years which gives a glimpse into life in the early colonial New England.

Description Passages used showed records of trials and religious conflict through out the New England area

Creator William Bradford

Contributor The Norton Anthology American Literature Beginnings to 1820

Publisher Nina Baym, 122-144. New York: W.W. Norton

Date 2012

Source Print
Title The diary of Cotton Mather,D.D.,F.R.S. for the year 1712

Subject Gives a look into the mind and thoughts of a religious leader during colonial New England

Description Diary of Cotton Mather gives insight to how the conflict of Atonalism verses Predestined

Creator Cotton Mather

Contributor

Publisher Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press

Date 1964

Source Print
Title "A Model Of Christian Charity." The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820
Subject This gives the ideology of religion in the colonial New England area

Description Was sermon given to the people of the Massachusetts colony on how to live their lives as good Christian

Creator John Wintrop

Contributor Nina Baym

Publisher The Norton Anthology: American Literature Beginnings to 1820, 166-185.

Date 2012

Source Print

Publisher

University of Memphis. Archives

Date

Early Colonial America 1630 to 1700

Contributor

Jere Norville

Rights

[no text]

Collection Items

Antinomianism v. Legalism
Pictures and Writing and the major people of in the discussion of religious salvation
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