In the mid-seventeenth century, persons on both sides of the Atlantic wishing to join a Puritan church had to appear before all of its members and tell the story of their religious conversion - in effect, to give convincing verbal evidence that their souls were saved. New England's Puritans widely adopted this practice. (Puritan Spiritual Testimonies ; Puritan Conversion Narratives)
God's Plot; the Paradoxes of Puritan Piety; Being the Autobiography & Journal of Thomas Shepard by 
Religions of the United States in Practice by 
Puritans: A Sourcebook of Their Writings by 
God's Caress : the Psychology of Puritan Religious Experience by 
Puritan Evangelism by 
The Practice of Piety : Puritan Devotional Disciplines in Seventeenth-Century New England by 
