The millennial theory of Lucy Hutchinson and Mary Cary

• Published in: The Seventeenth century Vol. 38; no. 3; pp. 425 - 436
• Main Author: McQuade, Paula
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Durham Routledge 04.05.2023; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: 17th century; Cary, Mary (ca 1621-1653); Civil War; English Civil War; Eschatology; Fifth Monarchist; Hutchinson, Lucy (1620-1681); Interpreters; Literary criticism; Millennial theory; sectarian; women writers; Writers
• DOI: 10.1080/0268117X.2023.2197378
• ISSN: 0268-117X

This essay compares Lucy Hutchinson's observations concerning millennial theory to those of another seventeenth-century woman writer: the Fifth Monarchist Mary Cary. Near contemporaries, both Hutchinson (b.1620) and Cary (b.1621) were skilled scriptural interpreters who held different views concerning certain aspects of millennial theory, including the number of times Christ would judge the living and the dead. But the views that they share are perhaps more significant: both Hutchinson and Cary eagerly looked forward to the arrival of a millennium they believed was imminent. They were convinced that it would be characterized by a transformation of human beings' relation both to the natural world and the social and political order. For Hutchinson, who composed her reflections after the Restoration, millennial theory offered a way of thinking about God's benevolent and continual concern for the godly, despite the setbacks she had experienced, while for Cary, who published her most substantial works between 1648 and 1653, when the godly were politically ascendant, it promised a new societal and spiritual order in which the faithful would be rewarded and vindicated, the material conditions of the poor would be improved, Christian ecclesiology would be reformed, and women would teach the gospel.