5 Puritan Women: Portraits of Faith and Love

Diverse yet faithful women, articulate in their own ways, give hope to me that God still speaks to humans through his Word, his Chuurch, and people like you and me.

I really loved this book.The lives of these 5 women were remarkable. Their faith is such an inspiration.

We are not victims of circumstance. We need to really believe this. How can I say this with sickness and sin so near? Because we have a good and faithful, sovereign and merciful Savior and King who holds firmly all that he has made. I think that is why I love reading about the saints who have gone before me, most notably the Puritans. This book highlights five Puritan women that whole-heartedly believed in the goodness of God and trusted his perfect hand wherever it fell. By learning about these five women, you will be encouraged to look to the supremacy of Christ in the trials of your day and to abide in Christ through the reading of and mediating on His word. “Sometimes, it is only when we take a step back from our lives and enter the life of another person—messy and complex as it always is—that we are able to gain the perspective needed” to really believe “that God is in control and we will be okay” (22). I will even be so bold to say that spending time with past voices renders out present anxieties powerless.Jenny Lyn-de Klerk gives us a peek into the lives of five Puritan women who all hold different roles as women in the home, in their families, and in their societal roles. The author shows the reader how the devotion each woman had to the Lord spurred not only their own faith on, but effected every other facet of and relationship in their life. We see how poetry and prayer, scripture memory, meditation, and the love of the local church ended up being the effective ministry of these women to the people they loved because “it was all given in the context of their life together” (135).I found myself almost becoming friends with these women as I turned the pages: feeling the aches they must have held, recognizing the beauty they created, and understanding the disappointments they had over their sin. I was moved by their deep-seeded contentment in Christ, their commitment to spending time with the Lord, and their willingness to obey the Lord in the challenges of their day. And reading this book will stir your affections for Christ, invite you to empathize better, and grow your trust in the faithfulness of Christ.

I truly enjoyed reading this book. It was very eye-opening and informative. I learned a lot of new information about Puritan women that I have not heard before. It gives you a great glimpse into the lives of those five faithful women and their daily walk with the Lord. Their struggles and victories and makes them very much relatable.

This lovely little book shows us that though the world today is very different than 400 years ago and we may have different problems now, the human heart has not changed. The five women in this book are strong women who love their families above all. They can be an example for so many young women struggling to raise children today though they never had a Godly example of mother or father themselves. The relationship between Brilliana Harley and her son Ned is so sweet. The love for and nurturing of her son is an example to us all. All the problems these women faced—death of children and husbands, unhappy marriages, financial devastation, injustices—and the way they faced them should also be an example for us today. After all, isn’t every old new again? The fact that this book was written by a millennial gives me hope. I would like to read about more women of this era. I hope Jenny-Lyn de Klerk or someone else will write about more Puritan women.

I bought this book for my wife as an encouragement in her faith. Like Hebrews 11 posits, we derive great comfort and encouragement from "those who have gone before us." She is excited to read it. The table of contents and the life of these 5 women profiled in it look promising to her.

The media could not be loaded.  It’s so interesting to read about these Puritan women. I think most of us have preconceived ideas about the Puritans, but I learned a lot from this collection of five mini-biographies.Story 1: Agnes Beaumont. Bap. 1652-died 1720. She lived in England. In her 20’s she came to Christ through John Bunyan’s preaching. Her father was against her faith, but came to Christ praying with her on his death bed. After his death, she was accused of murder by their family lawyer and of immoral behavior by the community (because she rode to church with John Bunyan one Sunday!). She had to stand trial for the murder and to daily face the community. She was found innocent at the trial and learned to hold her head high and live out her faith in her community. She married at 45, but had no children.Story 2: Lucy Hutchinson. 1620-1681. A mother of 8 in England. She was highly educated which was rare for a woman in that time. Her husband was imprisoned for his work for religious freedom and he died in prison. She had to sell properties and make many changes to take care of her children on her own. She wrote a theological treatise and stayed strong in her faith.Story 3: Mary Rich. No birth or death date, but gives her marriage as from 1624-1678. Mary loved the finer things more than people or God until her conversion after her marriage. Her father had wanted her to marry a different man, but she married that man’s brother instead. The men’s parents were Christians who lived out their faith. Shortly after her conversion, many trials in her marriage began and continued until her husband died. Her baby daughter died and her son later died. She spent time alone with God in nature and received God’s help and guidance. She set up charities, and was of great help to those in her life. They noticed how transformed she was through that time.Story 4: Anne Bradstreet. 1612-1672. She came to America at age 18 with her husband and parents to begin a new life free from religious persecution in England. Overwhelming obstacles faced her: food shortages, death of fellow Puritans from scurvy and starvation, sickness, and the weather. Through all this, she wrote poems (included in this book). Her poems are very touching.Story 5: Lady Brilliana Harley. Bap. 1598. Died 1643. She was named after her birthplace, Brill, Netherlands. She grew up in England. She was educated well and married a man who shared her values. They moved to his castle nearby. She helped defend it twice against siege from the Royalists. Their 7 children were raised there. When her eldest son went away to college, she wrote him letters and those are included here to reveal her devotion to God, family, church, and community.This book is well worth reading: these women went through so much and yet kept their faith in God and love for others.

This book opens the door to the past and helps the reader understand what women experienced in the 17th century as wives, mothers, and grandmothers. The five women tell their stories of how they influenced many in areas such as education, medicine, business, and politics. The book helps us understand how women relied on God through prayer Who gave them strength, courage, and faith to live out their lives through holy living on a daily basis, something we can learn and apply to our lives today. I highly recommend this book.

The author believes that Puritan women are a group of people neglected by academic historical study. I agree. This book looks at five such women and asks about the contributions they made. While the stories were interesting, the book limits its scope to the impact that these women made to their families and immediate context. The author has made a good start in a neglected field.Hopefully more academic studies will follow. This biographical study serves as a good basic introduction, similar to The American Puritans by Benge. I would like to have seen more effort given to writing about these women in their broader historical context, more women’s lives analyzed, and an answer to the question: what was the broader impact of all Puritan-minded women at that time. Benge’s book, while not specifically about women, does a better job at this.When I reached the end of the book, I found the author’s conclusions to be general rather than specific. I also didn’t find any recommendations for future studies of the puritans or of other women in their time period.For those just beginning to study the Puritans and looking for an introduction to women of that time, this is a good starting point.