In Sarah Goodhue’s farewell letter to her family and friends, there is a lot of evidence that proves she was an authentic Puritan. She does not seem to have a positive look on herself, however, so I presumed she focused more on the belief that she was inevitably a sinner rather than the belief that she was a member of God’s elect. Goodhue tells her husband in the second paragraph to give her children away to her cousins to raise them- this is just strange compared to most every culture because the mother and father are usually always meant to be a child’s primary caretakers. She doesn’t seem to feel good enough to deserve anything in her life; just a few lines past this paragraph, Sarah refers to herself as “an unworthy daughter” (182). Her Puritan authenticity is evident in her written devotion to God. Similar to most of the other Puritan writers, Goodhue reflects on either the grace, blessings, or even fear of God. On the second page of this chapter, Goodhue’s writing transgresses towards the negative when she tells her children to live in fear of God: “O my children be sure to set the fear of God before your eyes; consider what you are by nature, miserable sinners, utterly lost and undone”(183). Woah, Mrs. Goodhue, that’s pretty harsh. Sarah Goodhue basically tells her children to live a Puritan lifestyle in the same way that she did- in full comprehension of the disgusting, bodily flesh, and in everlasting service to God.
The only distinction from Puritan faith that is slightly noticeable in Goodhue’s letter occurs in the parts where she focuses on bidding farewell to her husband. She gives vivid details on how loving and compassionate her husband is, and claims he was there with her throughout her own spiritual journey (bottom of pg. 185-186). Examining this section to be a dissonance from God may or not be far-stretched though, because every other line in Goodhue’s letter is dedicated to God either through a verse or through recollecting a parable from scripture.
Finally, I think it’d be justifiable to end this blog with a note on Goodhue’s poetic lines of which she places in the end of her letter. The lines read:”O dear heart, if I must leave thee and thine here behind, / Of my natural affection here is my heart and hand” (186). The diction in these lines is far more emotional than I would expect from the average Puritan, and the reference to her “natural affection” doesn’t seem to correlate to a divine value; this could be the only moment in Goodhue’s writing that reveals a sense of unique authenticity. Regardless, Goodhue reminds us that expression of the inner-self was rare during the Puritan era, and that in order to witness a sense of escape from orthodox Puritanism, one must thoroughly analyze the literature that historical Puritans have given us.
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