Comparing the Puritan Faith of Mary Rowlandson & Mary Martin
             After her detainment and rescue, Mary Rowlandson published what many historians call "America's first best seller," entitled The Foundational Narrative of Mary Rowlandson. Mary Rowlandson relied on her faith in the providence of God to keep going with herself during her period of imprisonment. Indians ruined the town of Lancaster in February of 1675. Rowlandson, the wife of a minister, was one of the townspeople taken captive. Separated from her husband and all but one of her children, during her captivity she depended upon a Bible acquired from an Indian. Her ultimate rescue and reunion with her surviving children and husband declared her faith in her God. She quotes the story of Joseph, Rowlaridson shows her belief that the Puritans were the chosen people of God. When thinking of the attack of the Indians on Lancaster, she wrote that God "orders all things for his holy ends":
             #Shall there be evil in the city find the Lord hath not done it? They are not grieved for the affliction of Joseph; there fore they shall go captive with the first that go captive. It is Lord's doing and it should be marvelous in our eyes. (169)
             God punished Joseph's brothers by making them the hostage of Joseph years after they had committed their sin. By reflecting this biblical story, Rowlandson compared the evil brothers of Joseph to the corrupt Puritan colonists of New England. She stated
             #"Me (as he said) have ye bereaved of any children; Joseph is not; Simeon is not; and ye will take Benjamin also." (143) Rowlandson believed that God was punishing his people for breaking their special agreement as his chosen people. When she saw her home after the attack bv the Indians, she attributed the damage not to the Indians, but to God. She reinforced her principle that God punished her people through the Indians by quoting the voice of God saying "Oh, that my people had h...