10 - Afterword: A Candle in the Dark

Summary

This book has told the story of godly violence and military providentialism in the Puritan Atlantic world by looking at case studies that span the rise and fall of godly hegemony. The godly first gained power in colonial New England. In the mid-1630s, they temporarily warmed up to killing American Indians and believed God was with them every step of the way. At the time of the Pequot War, Puritan hegemony in England was largely unthinkable. In a little over a decade, the godly in England defeated and executed their king. They went on to subjugate Ireland and Scotland before turning their forces on enemies outside the British Isles. However, they lost power after the regime crumbled. By the time of King Philip's War, hegemony in the British Isles was a memory. Even though the godly won the war against Philip, the pyrrhic victory contributed to the fragmentation of providence and the loss of political autonomy. Many godly people welcomed the Glorious Revolution of 1688, but by that time Puritan theology had fragmented and the nation hardly had the stomach for the political puritanism of an earlier generation.

The story of Puritan hegemony differs from that of Puritan theology – the latter enjoying a much larger and longer influence. Michael J. McClymond and Gerald R. McDermott summarise Jonathan Edwards’ view of history:

We dwellers in the midst of history, however, suffer from our limited perspective. We cannot declare definitively whether the present darkness is a prelude to deeper darkness or the presage of a new dawn, whether the present light will shine ever brighter or be extinguished all over again.

Even in the loss of hegemony and the waning of religious affections, there were grounds for hope. ‘For biblically inspired thinkers such as Edwards’, according to McClymond and McDermott, ‘the paradigm case of darkness changed into light lay in the story of Good Friday and Easter’.

These five case studies were framed around dawn, day and dusk. Military providentialism was influenced by the perception that the godly were entering the light (Mystic, Naseby), passing into unparalleled brightness (Drogheda, Dunbar) or grasping at former glory (Great Swamp Fight).