1564-1660: The Era of Puritanism

1564 The word "Puritan" appears for the first time. The Puritans are Calvinists, legalists, and name-
callers. They are very serious, and oppose most things that are fun for themselves or others.
They want:

 a skilled, educated preaching ministry, based on the Bible

 as few ceremonies in church as Biblically possible (no surplice, no signing of the
cross)
 abolition of the traditional role of bishop, and replacement of the episcopate by a
presbyterian system
 one legal government church, controlled by Puritans. (Contrast the Separatists.)

1569 Thomas Cartwright of Cambridge outlines the Puritan program.

1575 The "Geneva Bible", an inexpensive edition with Calvinist notes, is published. (Shakespeare
quotes this version.)
1581 Robert Browne's "Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying for Any". This will be the
manifesto of the Puritans who found the Massachusetts Bay colony.
1581 Richard Hooker ordained priest; his anti-Puritan book "Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity" reflects
natural-law and rationalist ideas then popular.
1590 William Shakespeare ridicules Puritans in his characterizations of Falstaff, Malvolio, Flavius,
and others.
1593 Puritan assemblies and activities outlawed. A few Separatists are hanged.
1603 Elizabeth I succeeded by James I.
1604 Book of Common Prayer revised. The only change is an expanded catechism. The sacraments
are "an outward and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace". At the eucharist, "the Body
and Blood of Christ are verily and indeed taken and received by the faithful".
1605 "Gunpowder plot" by Roman Catholic fanatics seeking to blow up Parliament.
1611 King James Version of the Bible. Most of the language is Tyndale's.
1618 James I's "Declaration of Sports" is read in all churches to encourage healthy fun and games
on Sundays. This outrages the Puritans.
1622 John Donne, priest and metaphysical poet, becomes Dean of St. Paul's cathedral, London.
1625 James I is succeeded by Charles I; his colorful court fills with refugees, including Roman
Catholic counter-reformation types.
1625 Christopher Wren begins rebuilding St. Paul's Cathedral.
1626 Nicholas Ferrar founds religious community of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire, England.
1628 The narrow-minded William Laud is made archbishop of London. He oversees the
persecution of Puritans.
1633 George Herbert's poems published posthumously as "The Temple".
1637 Scottish Prayer Book published. (This is unpopular in Scotland, though it does call priests
"presbyters". It will be the basis for the future American Prayer Book.)
1638 The Scots, crying "Popery", excommunicate their bishops. This results in war.
1640 Charles I calls Parliament to approve funds for the war with Scotland; Parliament instead
raises an army against the king. In the civil wars that follow, Oliver Cromwell leads the "New
Model Army" rebels and becomes Lord Protector; John Milton is his Latin Secretary. Puritan
morality becomes the law. (Today, Cromwell might be considered a Baptist; he says,
sincerely, "I had rather that Mahometanism were permitted among us that that one of God's
 children should be persecuted.")
1643 Westminster Assembly drafts its "Confession", the major Presbyterian statement of belief.
1645 William Laud is beheaded by the Puritans.
1649 Cromwell and his government behead ("martyr") King Charles I.
1649 "Diggers" (communists), "Levellers" (egalitarians) and "Ranters" (atheists, hedonists) cause
problems for the Puritan regime. (The latter are targets of the new "Blasphemy Act".)

Puritanism was a religious reform movement that arose within the Church of England in the late
sixteenth century. Under siege from church and crown, it sent an offshoot in the third and fourth decades
of the seventeenth century to the northern English colonies in the New World–a migration that laid the
foundation for the religious, intellectual, and social order of New England. Puritanism, however, was not
only a historically specific phenomenon coincident with the founding of New England; it was also a way
of being in the world–a style of response to lived experience–that has reverberated through American
life ever since.

The roots of Puritanism are to be found in the beginnings of the English Reformation. The name
“Puritans” (they were sometimes called “precisionists”) was a term of contempt assigned to the
movement by its enemies. Although the epithet first emerged in the 1560s, the process through which
Puritanism developed had been initiated in the 1530s, when King Henry VIII repudiated papal authority
and transformed the Church of Rome into a state Church of England. But the Church of England
retained much of the liturgy and ritual of Roman Catholicism and seemed, to many dissenters, to be
insufficiently reformed .
The Puritan Age

The period between 1625 and 1675 is known as the "Puritan Age (or John Milton's Age)", because during
the period, Puritan standards prevailed in England, and also because the greatest literary figure John
Milton (1608-1674) was a Puritan. The Puritans struggled for righteousness and liberty.

Puritanism became a great national movement which included English Churchman as well as extreme
Separatists. While the Catholic Church had always held true to the ideal of the united church, the
possibility of the ideal of a purely national Protestantism grew.

The political upheaval of the period is summed up in the struggle between the King and the Parliament,
the blasphemy of a man's divine right to rule his fellowmen was ended. Thus the age marked the
beginning of the reformation.

In literature also, the age created a sort of confusion due to breaking up of old ideas. Some of the
literary men had the tendencies to look backward for the old golden age, and some wanted to look
forward for a better world with the throbs of hope and fresh vitality and youth. And in John Milton, the
indomitable Puritan spirit finds its noblest expression. There was Samuel Daniel, John Donne, George
Herbert, Thomas Carew, Robert Herick, Sir John Suckling, Sir Richard Lovelace, John Bunyan, Robert
Burton, Sir Thomas Browne, Thomas Fuller, Jeremy Taylor, Richard Baxter, Izaak Walton among other
important writers of the age.

Milton's "Paradise Lost" and "Paradise Regained" , his sonnets and other works; Bunyan's "The Pilgrim's
Progress", and "Faerie Queene", Burton's "Anatomy of Melancholy", Browne's "Religio Medici", Taylor's
"Holy Living and Dying", and Walton's "Complete Angler" are known as remarkable works of the age.

The Puritan AgeBack

The Restoration Period

During 1660-1700, there were tremendous social reactions from the restraint of parliament. A wild
delight in the pleasures and varieties of the world like performances of dramas and theaters, the revival
of bull and bear baiting, sports, music, dancing etc. replaced the absorption in other "other-
worldliness",. The writers turned from Italian influence of imagination to French objective repression of
emotions.

The greatest literary figure of the Restoration period is John Dryden (1631-1700) whose book provides
an excellent reflection of both good and evil tendencies of age. He is best known for his narrative poem
"Annus Mirabilis", "All for love", "Religio Laici", "A'eneid", "Fables" etc.

Samuel Butler, Thomas Hobbes, and John Locke were among others prominent writers of the age.
Butler's "Hudibras", Hobbe's "Leviathan", Locke's "Essay Concerning Human Understanding" etc. add
glory to the literature of the age.

Characteristics of Puritan Writing

Genres
Early literature written by Puritans in America often appeared as first person narratives in the
form of journals and diaries. Early American colonists wrote their accounts of immigration,
settling in America, and day-to-day life in journals to pass their stories down. Many Puritans
also wrote letters to send back to Europe to family and friends they left behind. Very little
fiction appeared during this period; Puritans valued realistic writing with an emphasis on
religious themes.
Three important Puritan genres included:

 Sermons
 Historical narrative
 Poetry

Influence
Puritans held deep religious beliefs based on their own perspective of Christianity. The Bible
played an important role in the daily lives of the Puritans. Families attended church regularly
and read the Bible in their homes. Due to this influence, most Puritan writing is based on the
styles of the Bible. Puritans compared their own lives to biblical narratives and events and
compared themselves to biblical characters to illustrate points.

Plain Style
Puritans lived a simple life based on the concepts of humility and simplicity. This influence
comes from their religious beliefs and the Bible. Wearing elaborate clothing or having
conceited thoughts offended Puritans. Puritan writing mimics these cultural values in its plain
writing style. Puritans wrote directly to the point, and avoided much of the eleborate writing
style that became popular in Europe. Simple sentences with common language allowed Puritans
to communicate information without feeling like they were drawing attention to themselves.

Purpose
Puritans wrote with specific purposes in mind. Even the letters they wrote to friends and family
in Europe performed more of a purpose than simply communicating about their lives and
keeping in touch. Puritans' religious beliefs affected their lives on all levels, and their writing
illustrated their religion's values, such as the importance of the church and the influence of God
in their lives. Writing often became instructive, teaching Christian values. The Puritans did not
believe that literature was for entertainment; therefore, they frowned upon "entertainment"
genres such as drama (plays) and fiction novels.

What is a Puritan?

First we must define what we mean by "puritan." You must quickly lose the idea that Puritan means morose, sour,
legalists who were always trying to prevent people from doing things. This view comes from later American history
and people such as Nathaniel Hawthorne, who were glad to be living under liberal Unitarianism in New England and
regarded the old Puritanism of their forefathers as a repressive, false religion. So, Puritanism is usually a term of
contempt. Even today we hear people speaking of, for instance, anti-smoking advocates as the "new Puritans." This
is totally inaccurate and unfair to the original Puritans.

Furthermore, the term was a term of abuse even when it was invented in England. The term was invented to describe
those who, generally speaking, believed that the Reformation in England had not gone far enough, and needed to be
continued until a new, biblically-based church could be achieved. So, in very broad terms, Puritans were the English
equivalent of the continental Reformers such as Calvin. We shall see that the history of this is very complicated, and
that the term is useful up to a point and then in the 1600's becomes less and less useful to describe any particular
group of people.
C. S. Lewis said, "We must picture these Puritans as the very opposite of those who bear that name today: as young,
fierce, progressive intellectuals, very fashionable and up-to-date. They were not teetotallers; bishops, not beer, were
their special aversion. . . ." For many generations, these Puritans were the "young bucks" who wanted to go all the
way with God and the Bible. They were excited about Biblical truth and couldn't imagine why anybody would want
to hide it under Romish superstition and human traditions.

Types of Puritans

First, we may note the Separatists. These are usually not lumped in so much with the Puritans, although their
doctrine was often similar, but this group had no truck with state churches and believed that believers should
covenant together apart from the unholy mess known as the Church of England. The first Separatist congregation
was formed around 1567 by Richard Fitz, according to Cairns. Since this group was not really calling for the reform
of the Church of England, but rather its dissolution, they are not usually mentioned in the company of the next three
groups of Puritans. The next three groups believed in a State Church, but only disagreed over what form it should
take.

Anglican Puritans, in the beginning, were the first Puritans. They were content to work within the system, and leave
bishops in place, but purge the church of "Popery" which had been left over by the political compromises of
Elizabeth.

Presbyterian Puritans wanted to get rid of the bishops and institute a Presbyterian system as known in Scotland
already. Their first forceful representative was Thomas Cartwright, who in 1570 lectured at Cambridge on the Book
of Acts from a Presbyterian standpoint. He was driven from his position.

Independent Puritans, later called Congregationalists, wanted each church to govern itself and be independent.
Although there was communication between them and the Separatists, they were essentially separate groups until
the end of the 17th century. One of the first Independent churches was established by Henry Jacob in 1616.

Puritans and Separatists[edit]

For more details on this topic, see English Dissenters.

Some Puritans are known as "non-separating Puritans," those who were not satisfied with
the Reformation of the Church of England but who remained within it, advocating further reforms. This

group disagreed among themselves about how much further reformation was possible or even necessary.
Others thought that the Church of England was so corrupt that true Christians should separate from it

altogether; they are known as "separating Puritans" or simply "Separatists". The term "Puritan" in the
wider sense includes both groups.[8][9] Separatists had no particular Church title.

The Mayflower Pilgrims[10] were referred to only as Separatists.[11] Plymouth Colony leaders John

Robinson and William Brewster were separatists.[12][13] In contrast, John Winthrop and the other main
leaders of Puritan emigration to New England in 1629 were non-separating Puritans.[14] There is no

current consensus among modern historians whether Separatists can properly be counted as
Puritans,[15] but separatists and non-separatists alike have traditionally been viewed as two branches of
the Puritan view.
Separating Puritans were called "Dissenters," especially after the English Restoration of 1660. The 1662
Uniformity Actcaused almost all Puritan clergy to leave the Church of England, the so-called Great
Ejection or Black Bartholomew's Day (see below). Some of these 2,000 "ejected" clergymen
became nonconformist ministers (later Congregationalists, Baptists, Unitarians, Presbyterians, etc.). The
movement in England changed radically at this time, though this change was not as immediate across the

Atlantic (see History of the Puritans in North America).

The basis for the Puritan’s beliefs was an emphasis on the righteousness and sovereignty of God. God,

they said directed all things by exercise of his will and directed all things to an intelligent end. This differed from

the Catholic point of view that priests were holier than the rest of the congregation. The Puritans also were more

partial to the teachings of the Old Testament.

Puritan Religious Life

The Puritans believed that God had formed a unique covenant, or agreement, with them. They believed
that God expected them to live according to the Scriptures, to reform the Anglican Church, and to set a
good example that would cause those who had remained in England to change their sinful ways. Most
early migrants to the Massachusetts Bay Colony were full-fledged members of the Puritan faith.

Church attendance in Puritan communities was mandatory. However, not all church attendees were
considered to be full members of the church. In order to become a full member of the church, Puritans
had to prove they had a conversion experience and that they were part of thepredestined elect, a group
who was guaranteed admission to Heaven. For the Puritans, religious and political life were completely
intertwined. Each Puritan town had town meetings to determine how the town would be run, and only
male church members were allowed to vote on issues affecting the town.

http://www.history.com/topics/puritanism

http://study.com/academy/lesson/puritans-in-america-beliefs-religion-history.html

Attitudes and Way of Life

Puritanism as a body of theological doctrine and church polity is distinct from “Puritanism” as a set of
attitudes and a way of life deriving from that theology. They held the following assumptions. (1) The imperfection
of human nature and all its creations resulted in a flawed society. (2) The world was blemished, but man could make
it better. (3) To be Puritan demanded self-discipline, self-trial, and self-denial. (4) Puritanism was individualistic.
Salvation depended on the individual’s relationship to God, not that of the church or that of his family. (5) The
experience of conversion and salvation gave special privileges but demanded special obligations. (6) Puritanism
gave an ethical bias that rigid obedience to moral standards was important, because the individual was personally
accountable for the consequences of his actions.
Contributions of Puritanism to America

Many worthy American values are an inherence from Puritan tenets: values such as strong family ties, free
public education, and hard work. An inflexibility in interpreting beliefs, however, led to bigotry and intolerance,
the characteristics most often associated with Puritanism by those who have not studied their work as a whole and
focus instead on the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692, one of the darkest events in our history. Nathaniel Hawthorne,
great-grandson of Judge Hathorne, one of the judges ruling in the Salem trials, wrote in his short story “The Snow
Image,” “Such a life was sinister to the intellect and sinister to the heart; especially when one generation had
bequeathed its religious gloom and the counterfeit of its religious ardor, to the next; for these characteristics, by
being inherited from the example and precept of other human beings, and not from an original and spiritual source,
assumed the form both of hypocrisy and exaggeration.”

Strengths of the Faith

1. Right to govern itself

2. Open meetings of stockholders and free men.

3. Democratic organization of the church (Congregationalism); Mayflower Compact set in place rule by the
governed for the "civic body politic."

Theocracy --state and church governed hand in hand

4. Purifying became rigid way of life

5. Valued education (allotted land for school; emphasized literacy to read the Scriptures, for example the "Old
Deluder Satan Act")

6. Worked "unto the Lord" valuing all professions and calling for working hard and purposeful "for His glory"
(Puritan Work Ethic)

7. Created the concept of the American dream