A God-Like Decision: Anne Hutchinson Case

Anne Hutchinson is not guilty of the accusations placed upon her. As the teacher of the Boston Church, John Cotton, I believe a few compromises could be made in the colony to please both the Winthropians and the Hutchinsons. The church members need to think of what will benefit the colony the most. The decision to be made is whether throwing Anne out or keeping her in the colony is most beneficial. I believe we should not turn to ourselves at this time but look at what God would see as the best fit for this situation. When members of the colony look at the things from how God would want us to respond, I believe they will have a change of heart. Although I do not believe a woman should preach in a public setting, I do agree with her teachings, as she follows in my footsteps. I cannot deny that a covenant of grace is what leads you to salvation, and it pleases the Lord and good works should come naturally after you are saved. I believe that you can obtain a personal relationship with God and that women are just as capable as men to interpret the bible the correct way.

The ministers are preaching a covenant of works which is not how we get into heaven, it is only something causes us to be better people. Romans 10:9-10 says, “That if you confess with your mouth, ‘Jesus is Lord,’ and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. For it is with your heart that you believe and are justified, and it is with your mouth that you confess you are saved.” This verse shows that good works are not a way into salvation but believing and confessing that you believe is the only way to truly know you have been saved for you will receive a message from the Lord proclaiming that you have been saved. If Anne leaves, then we are no different from the Church of England. We will follow in their footsteps by persecuting people and making it illegal to try to form their own beliefs. People have come here to escape that kind of cruel and unfair treatment. Anne is still a puritan she just believes the way to salvation occurs through faith and not through works unlike Governor Winthrop.

The Bible states in Proverbs 18:2, “A fool finds no pleasure in understanding but delights in airing his own opinions.” This verse shows how people are only willing to share their opinion and we are not willing to understand something from another person’s point of view. In this colony, it appears as if we cannot agree that we disagree and allow Anne to continue preaching. Perhaps we could come to a compromise that Anne can only preach when a minister or I, myself am present, this way everyone can see that she is not trying to offend anyone. If Anne is kicked out, her followers will most likely leave as well, this will cause the colony to lose skills that could be vital to the survival of our colony. The colony needs to be diverse, if diversity did not exist we could run into problems. Without diversity, if we all built shelter and none of us were farmers, who would pick our food? No one would because we would not possess the skills needed to do this job. God created diversity, if it is taken away are we not thinking foolish thoughts by judging Anne based on her beliefs.

Malachi 2:10 states, “Have we not all one Father? Did not one God create us? Why do we profane the covenant of our fathers by breaking faith with one another?”, which means we have become scornful of one another. This means we think we are more important than someone else because of how they interpret the bible. God would not want us to believe, or do these things; God wants peace, love, and acceptance. Are we showing this to Anne by potentially throwing her out of the colony? No we are not, 1 Peter 3:8 says, “Finally, all of you, live in harmony with one another; be sympathetic, love as brothers, be compassionate and humble,” if we all follow the bible like we say we do, we should be showing sympathy and compassion even if we disagree. One of the ten commandments backs up this verse saying “love thy neighbor as thy self.” Just because Anne believes the ministers teach a covenant of works, does not mean she is trying to offend anybody, this just means they share different beliefs. If Anne is kicked out, how will this help the colony? There could be another person to rise up, or there could be so many people who follow her out of the colony that our colony will shrink. After this occurs, the word will get out about how we are treating people who hold different opinions that they will no longer flee over here and our colony will not grow like we want.

Anne Hutchinson should be allowed to spread the word as she pleases, under the appropriate supervision. We are commanded to spread the word and Anne is doing this in the privacy of her home. She is not pushing her beliefs onto anybody else, the attenders of the meeting can choose to leave whenever they please. I hope after hearing this you will understand why the best decision for the colony is to allow Anne to stay here. A few accommodations and compromises will have to be made concerning Anne and her followers and the church and it’s followers, but perhaps we could all remain civil Christians and try our best to please the Lord no matter how we feel this is best achieved. Although members of the colony may find it hard to agree or believe the same things Anne does I do believe that we can coexist in the colony and continue onward in achieving the growth we expect out of our colony. Ultimately we are all striving for the same goal and there should be no reason we cannot do this in the same colony among each other.