Propaganda or marks of grace? the impact of the reported ordeals of sarah wight in revolutionary london, 1647–52

Scott-Luckens, Carola

doi:10.1080/09699080200200223

Cited by 2 publications

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W ight, S arah

Baker¹

2017

The Encyclopedia of English Renaissance Literature

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Sarah Wight (b. 1631) was an adolescent visionary whose experiences were transcribed and published by her Independent Baptist minister, Henry Jessey, in The exceeding riches of grace advanced by the spirit of grace, in an empty nothing creature, viz. Mris Sarah Wight (1647). The account describes the mental and spiritual anguish suffered by Wight from the age of 12, when she was stricken with guilt after lying to her mother about the whereabouts of her hood and after obeying an order against her conscience. In despair, she contemplated drowning herself, throwing herself from the roof of a building, and letting herself be eaten alive in the dog‐house in Moorfield. In March 1647, at the age of 15, Wight stopped eating. On the brink of death, blind and deaf, she began to have overwhelming experiences of grace which she described ecstatically to the radical sectarians and political notables who soon started to flock to her bedside. Jessey initially believed himself to be describing Wight's exemplary death, but his transcription of her experiences turned into even more sensational reading when she was later physically as well as spiritually restored. After over 75 days without food and with very little to drink, he informs us, on 11 June 1647 she was abruptly able to eat, get out of bed, and walk.

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