The Puritans - Creating the Perfect God Fearing Society
The Puritans dream was to create a model society for the rest of Christendom. Their goal was to make a society in every way connected to god. Every aspect of their lives, from political status and employment to even recreation and dress, was taken into account in order to live a more pious life.
But to really understand what the aspirations of the puritans were, we must first understand their beliefs. “Their goal was absolute purity; to live with out sin in a sinful world was to them the supreme challenge in life. They were derisively called Puritans because they sought to purify the Church of England of the popish and antichristian stuff with which they believed the
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Second they believed in working hard, and if one acquired wealth by working hard, saving, and staying sober, than that was evidence of God favoring that person. “Eating well, drinking well, sexual indulgence within the bounds of matrimony, and enjoying the comforts of life were not proscribed by the Puritans. In actuality, the Puritans were waging war upon certain human propensities that they regarded as evils: covetousness, materialism, the love of ostentation, and concern with the externals of religion rather than with the things of the spirit.”
When a puritan felt that he had failed to meet the requirements set for him by God, he “flagellated himself remorselessly with introspective cross-examinations that usually took the form of thoughts of eternal reprobation and torment.” The puritan was in constant internal conflict, whether it was restraining his human desires, or if he failed in that, than scolding himself for faltering in his efforts. The Puritans believed that they were God’s select few that could carry out his original orders the way he had intended.
Now that we have made clear the beliefs that the Puritans held so dear, we can better observe their aspirations when they arrived in Massachusetts. They came to the New World to erect a “City Upon a Hill” that would serve as a model for the rest of the Christian world. “Thus, in the eyes of the Puritan leaders, the settlement of New England appeared to be the most significant act in human history
Far from being the poisonous religion that it is remembered as, Puritans wanted to better lives in the hope of living in
In New England, the Puritans had a strong belief in frugality, believing money spent on entertainment or anything unprofitable was wasted. This directly affected the economy because of the large population of Puritans in New England; they were constantly working and rarely rested. Their work ethic influenced other groups in the area because they had to keep up with the business that the Puritans were doing. In Document I, Robert Keayne writes “…many spare hours to spend unprofitably away or to refreshe myself with recreations…but have rather stuyded and endeavored to redeeme my time as a thing most deare and precious to me…” This excerpt shows how a Puritan would do business. The Puritans made very humble livings in the early days of America. They typically made livings by being farmers and ministers. Others were merchants and sold goods. The merchants were the wealthier of the puritan people. Many of the women in Puritan society helped to make a living in society by creating clothing and food to sell to other villagers.
The Puritans peregrination to the New World was to fabricate a society based on their religious beliefs. They wanted to build colonies that were going to worship and practice their religion as they did. A community that was more morally sound and based off of their view of Christianity. They settled in the New England colonies and established Massachusetts Bay as well as Boston. While establishing their “city upon a hill” they impacted the New England region with their political structure and religious emphasis. Their influence lasted throughout the 1600s and affected the society politically, socially, and economically through their spread of Christianity and morals.
Puritans live in a life with a life of rules. They live by religious beliefs and literature purposes. The puritans believed in God being all powerful, Bible is God’s true law, success is a sign of improvement, and how education was written to glorify God and for education only not for entertainment.
The puritans were a religious group made up of people who wanted to "purify," the Church of England. The puritans were activist that wanted to get rid of the catholic system within the church. However, people in England sought out to remove these groups of people from the area because they saw them as a threat to their religion. This is how the puritans ended up in Massachusetts Bay Colony. The puritans moved to this colony in hopes of recreating and ideal community, a "utopian" society that others could look up to. The puritans ideal community consisted of peace and partnership; they wanted to remove all evil and improve the quality of life. The puritans then became strict to ensure that every person was equivalent in the eyes of God. I think the religion puritans created casted a fear in other people especially in England because they are so used to being ruled under one king. The
The Puritans believed that America was the promise land given to them by God and no one could take it away. They also believed that every person is born sinful, concept of predestination, Jesus died for the chosen only, God's grace is freely given, and perseverance of the saints. The Puritans’ main reason for starting a society was for religious freedom. There religious love shaped the society in more than on way. They used a lot of money that had to make churches, and church-related programs, the surrounding communities would sometimes practice the Puritan religion, and the church and the state were originally inseparable. There whole entire civilization was church centered. Their religion was also family based and they showed extreme piety. Religion was the core thing that shaped societies everywhere especially in the United States, because people were generally traveling there for free land and religious freedom.
Seventeenth century Puritans had a few specific goals when it came to the creation of their model society. Most importantly, they wanted every member of the community to be one of the elect. The elect were those who had received salvation and would in turn make it to heaven. They also
The Puritans were a group of people with strong beliefs, ideas and values in the 1630’s to the 1660’s. Their ideas influenced society in multiple ways during this time including politically, economically, and socially. Politically, they believed in having a theocratic government , economically, they used the value of hard work to run the economy and stimulate prosperity and also, socially the influence of the religion and the need for a tight knit communtiy influenced New England in many more ways than one. All of these influences were part of the ideological belief of the Puritans to attain a “City Upon a Hill” society where they would have the perfect community and established ethos for other communities to later follow in their footsteps.
In Puritan belief, life was planned according to God, and a society worked to live out that plan. The Massachusetts Bay Colony was a closely integrated group that worked together to fulfill the wishes of a larger community. Puritans religious beliefs produced ideas that God’s will was to lead a community based on peace. God had set high expectations for a happy and trustworthy community. However, if a community did not live up to the expectations, God would destroy the community. Therefore, Puritan leaders felt the need to enforce strict rules so Puritans could not disobey the ideals. If anyone did not conform, they were called an “impostor” who did not belong in the community. If Puritans allowed freedom of worship, dissenters would not be banished from the community because all ideologies could potentially exist peacefully. The only time dissenters existed were in communities that limited freedom of rights.
The Puritans were classified as a group of people who had become unhappy with the church of England. The three reasons were because of their religion, moral and social reforms. John Calvin gave rise to Protestantism, the church of England had political struggles. Puritans believed that the Bible was Gods true law. They basically wanted to “purify” themselves and the church. Puritans believed in a second life, that is why they want to constantly do good. Every evil had to do with the devil.
Work to the Puritan society was a way of serving god and helped avoid sin. Along with hard work, Puritans believed
The significance of themselves was to realize the value of themselves and hardworking. They knew that their mission was to save the whole world. Also, God gave them the lands. So that Puritans should work hard to reply to and reward God. They would like to thank God for their lands and glorify God. They proved their salvation by the industrious work. In the seventeenth century, the economy was depressed and society in turmoil, but the doctrine of Puritans led people to get rescue. That’s because the personal discipline of Puritans and the molarity Puritans ask for, helped and encouraged ordinary people to persevere in studying and work harder in the early seventeenth century. (Alan Taylor, Colonization in New England, 162) As a consequence, the doctrine of Puritans led people to get rescue. The religious value of Puritans also helped the colonists with developing the demanding land, and even making
The Puritans believed that the Almighty had chosen them to create a New Jerusalem in Eden, the Promised Land and took this as a calling that they shouldn’t have failed in. these people were received well with enthusiasm and were discovered to believe in ways that were parallel to those of the Europeans. They also held that the supreme God both tested and favored them. In their teachings, the devil’s description was that of a tormentor and a tempter, who tirelessly worked in attempt to disorient them. However, they were encouraged to always be ready for him and defeat him so as to receive God’s promise, eternal salvation.
You could almost say that they were obsessed with God. They constantly talked about and thanked god for nearly everything. The Puritans came to America for one thing: religious freedom. And it helped a lot with pursuing the American dream because it showed that they actually do have the power to have their own dream.
Over the years, people broadcast the Puritans as a group of people who were extremely legalistic and against anything that would be considered fun in the modern world. This incorrect broadcast of the Puritans has led to many misconceptions about how they lived when they came to the New World and settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. The Puritans were not legalistic, but rather sought to please God by creating a society that focused on fulfilling their calling through the institutions of family, work, education, and government in a positive environment. This led to a fruitful society when it followed in its original intentions.