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Anne Bradstreet
Anne Bradstreet, born 1612, died 1672, was not a preacher in the traditional sense but an English Puritan poet whose deeply religious writings reflected a preaching-like devotion to faith, making her a significant spiritual voice in early colonial America. Born Anne Dudley in Northampton, England, to Thomas Dudley, a steward for the Earl of Lincoln, and Dorothy Yorke, she was educated unusually well for a woman of her time, studying history, languages, and theology under her father’s tutelage. At 16, she married Simon Bradstreet in 1628, and in 1630, the couple sailed with her family on the Arbella to Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the Puritan migration, seeking religious freedom. Settling in Ipswich and later Andover, she raised eight children while grappling with the harsh realities of colonial life. Though not ordained or preaching from a pulpit—roles reserved for men in Puritan society—Bradstreet’s poetry served as a form of spiritual exhortation, weaving biblical themes and personal faith into works like The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650), published without her consent by her brother-in-law in London. Poems such as “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” reveal a preacherly meditation on God’s providence, submission, and eternal hope, resonating with Puritan sermons of her day. Her health declined after a bout with smallpox in 1656, and she died on September 16, 1672, in Andover, likely from tuberculosis or childbirth complications.
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Anne Bradstreet shares a personal testimony of experiencing a severe fainting episode while her husband was away, but finding comfort and strength in God's presence and love. She expresses her unwavering trust in God's faithfulness and His promise of salvation, urging others to also put their trust in Him. Bradstreet's poem reflects her gratitude for God's goodness and power, contrasting it with the emptiness of worldly pursuits and false gods, emphasizing the eternal life found in Jesus Christ.
Meditation July 8th., 1656
I had a sore fit of fainting, which lasted 2 or 3 days, but not in that extremity which at first it took me, and so much the sorer it was to me because my dear husband was from home (who is my chiefest comforter on earth) but my God, who never failed me, was not absent but helped me and graciously manifested His love to me, which I dare not pass by without remembrance, that it may be a support to me when I shall have occasion to read this hereafter and to others that shall read it when I shall possess that I now hope for, that so they may be encouraged to trust in Him who is the only portion of His servants. O Lord, let me never forget Thy goodness, nor question Thy faithfulness to me, for Thou art my God, Thou hast said, and shall not I believe it? Thou hast given me a pledge of that inheritance Thou hast promised to bestow upon me. O never let Satan prevail against me, but strengthen my faith in Thee till I shall attain the end of my hopes, even the salvation of my soul. Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly. What God is like to Him I serve? What Saviour like to mine? O never let me from Thee swerve, For truly I am Thine. My thankful mouth shall speak Thy praise, My tongue shall talk of Thee; On high my heart O do Thou raise For what Thou'st done for me. Go worldlings to your vanities, And heathen to your gods; Let them help in adversities And sanctify their rods; My God He is not like to yours Yourselves shall judges be; I find His love, I know His power— A succorer of me He is not man that He should lie, Nor son of man to unsay; His word He plighted hath on high, And I shall live for aye. And for His sake that faithful is, That died but now doth live, The first and last that lives for aye, Me lasting life shall give.
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Anne Bradstreet, born 1612, died 1672, was not a preacher in the traditional sense but an English Puritan poet whose deeply religious writings reflected a preaching-like devotion to faith, making her a significant spiritual voice in early colonial America. Born Anne Dudley in Northampton, England, to Thomas Dudley, a steward for the Earl of Lincoln, and Dorothy Yorke, she was educated unusually well for a woman of her time, studying history, languages, and theology under her father’s tutelage. At 16, she married Simon Bradstreet in 1628, and in 1630, the couple sailed with her family on the Arbella to Massachusetts Bay Colony as part of the Puritan migration, seeking religious freedom. Settling in Ipswich and later Andover, she raised eight children while grappling with the harsh realities of colonial life. Though not ordained or preaching from a pulpit—roles reserved for men in Puritan society—Bradstreet’s poetry served as a form of spiritual exhortation, weaving biblical themes and personal faith into works like The Tenth Muse Lately Sprung Up in America (1650), published without her consent by her brother-in-law in London. Poems such as “Upon the Burning of Our House” and “To My Dear and Loving Husband” reveal a preacherly meditation on God’s providence, submission, and eternal hope, resonating with Puritan sermons of her day. Her health declined after a bout with smallpox in 1656, and she died on September 16, 1672, in Andover, likely from tuberculosis or childbirth complications.