“In every leaf, lectures of Providence”: Lucy Hutchinson, Natural Theology, and the Emblem-Book Tradition Available to Purchase

Early modern Protestants frequently appear dismissive of both natural theology and allegorical readings of scripture. However, the works of Lucy Hutchinson (1620 – 1681) exemplify a Puritan version of natural theology and allegorical hermeneutics, applied to both scripture and the natural world. Hutchinson's theological prose engages with the writings of John Calvin and John Owen to frame scripture and nature as compatible but nonidentical revelations of divine glory. Likewise, Hutchinson's verse paraphrase of Genesis, Order and Disorder, suggests that both scripture and nature have hidden spiritual meanings. However, her poem also deploys language associated with the early modern multimodal genre of emblem books to describe the natural world, presenting natural objects and phenomena as if they are visual images charged with multiple senses of allegorical significance. Hutchinson's distinctively Reformed approach to natural theology and devotional emblems thus reveals hidden continuities between medieval allegory and early modern Protestant hermeneutics.