Anne Marbury Hutchinson (The Elder) Part ll

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Biography (cont.)
Anne Hutchinson would eventually come to realize that the hardships of colonial life and the rigid union of Church and State were more stifling than liberating, and there wasn't really any real "religious freedom" to speak of in the Massachusetts Bay Colony, especially for an educated English woman such as herself. Anne had already formed her personal doctrine based on her interpretations of  John Cotton's teachings;  her belief in her own personal closeness with the Almighty could have been misconstrued as vanity rather than sanctity, but she had known better than to speak publicly of such matters, at least pending her family's voyage to America.  She also believed that all one needed to be admitted in Heaven was faith, but such a pure and simplified view of the path to salvation did not leave a lot of room for the Church to govern its God-fearing flock, and was therefore not acceptable.  When Anne and her family were still living in England, she had hoped that once in America, she could discuss her faith, and would not need to hide her personal beliefs from other Puritans; but telling others that God had given her the power of clairvoyance, and that she had known in advance of the exact day of their arrival to the colony was a mistake, and this caused John Cotton to question the inclusion of Anne's family into his congregation.   In order to gain acceptance within Cotton's flock, Anne had to confess to being "guilty of wrong thinking", even though she did not really believe it.  Anne and her family were allowed into the congregation, but these troubles over her freely expressing her faith made her realize that the oppressed had now become the oppressors, having already forgotten how they had once been treated in their native England by both the Catholics and the Protestant Church. The Puritans interpretation of freedom of religion meant only that they would tolerate the neighboring colonies and their freedom to worship in any way they saw fit, but John Winthrop and the rest of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's founders dreamt of a utopia, a holy settlement, where freedom to worship meant you did not think or do unless you were acting in accordance to the strictest interpretation of the Bible.  The freedom to worship, yes,  but not the the freedom to think.