Spiritual Marriage in the Writings of the Puritans 112
The Puritans followed the theological foundation of Calvin and understood
union with Christ began at a person’s conversion. In fact, many Puritans referred to
their conversion as their wedding or marriage day. Flavel declares, “[t]hat when
Christ comes into the soul he will not come empty-handed. It is Christ’s marriage-
day, and he will make it a good day, a festival day.”^113 While numerous images were
used to describe this new relationship with Christ they all conveyed the sense of unity
with Christ.^114 Thomas Hooker used both the older language of Calvin’s ingrafting as
well as his own style of being “knit” together.^115 Other Puritan divines used the
imagery of a “marriage knot” or “love-knot.”^116 Depending upon the specific writer,
spiritual marriage was either between Jesus Christ and the church or the individual
believer. John Preston declared, “[t]here is a match between Christ and the church:
and consequently, betweene Christ and every particularman that is a member of the
true body of Christ.”^117 Benjamin King described this union as, “that neere and
intimate conjunction, that is betwixt Christ and every beleeving soule, which is so
great and intimate, that Christ and a beleever are sayd to bee one: Ephes. 5.32.”^118
Some authors tended to oscillate between both of these uses while others focused
more on one than the other.^ To summarize, the Puritan understanding of union with
(^112) All of the sources used for this chapter were written by men. See Longfellow,
Women and Religious Writings 113 , esp. 3-17 for female sources.
114 Flavel, England’s Duty, 214.^
Flavel is representative of the Puritans when he speaks of the “four elegant and
lively metaphors” that describes the union between Christ and the believer, “two pieces united by glue”, “graff and stock”, “conjugal union”, and the “head and
members.” 115 Method of Grace, 34-5.
Hooker, Soules Exaltation, 1-2, 4. Within Hooker’s larger work of Soules
Implantation he had a smaller work entitled, Soules Ingrafting. For knitting imagery
see Hooker, 116 Soules Exaltation, 16, 18, 20, 24-5, 40.
See Shepard, Parable of Ten Virgins, 325; Flavel, England’s Duty, 207; Vincent,
Christ the Best Husband 117 , 3; Pearse, Best Match, 41, 60, 61, 163, 227, 240, 275.
118 Preston, King, Marriage of the LambeChurches Marriage, 1., 7.^