Mather's text and Winthrop's journal represent very different approaches to writing history. Mather, as a clergyman, was writing a kind of "spiritual" history of the church in Massachusetts. As such, he was less concerned with the actual events that occurred than in spiritual qualities of the main figures in the Puritan movement, including Winthrop. These men Mather saw as "types," or present-day manifestations, of Biblical figures. Winthrop, the first governor of the colony, figures in Mather's history as a "type" of Moses.

Winthrop, on the other hand, as a layman, was more interested recording actual events. His journal is a very different document than Mather's; Winthrop's account of getting the patent from Parliament that permitted free trade is a matter-of-fact record that September 2, 1641 was "a day of thanksgiving," while Mather sees Winthrop's success as a leader as an indication of both his good character and his being singled out by God as their leader.