Sin : A Necessity Of Puritan Society

When King Henry VIII broke ties with the Roman Catholic Church in the 1530’s, he proclaimed himself head of the Church of England. This occurred only a few years after Martin Luther nailed his 91 theses on the Church of Wittenberg and another religious reformer, John Calvin, brought new ideas to the forefront. Calvin proclaimed that one was pre-destined to be eternally blessed or damned from birth. One had no control over this, and works could not put you in to heaven. The unknowing is what drove the Puritans to such great lengths. In the excerpt from Document A from John Winthrop’s A Model of Christian Society, predestination and the basic ideals of the Puritans are laid out. The Protestant Reformation was thus in full swing as the Church

Respected Puritan minister, Jonathan Edwards in his Sermon, “Sinners In The Hands of An Angry God (1781), Elaborates on the negatives of being a repentant sinner. Edward’s goal is to inform people that sinning can be dangerous. He adopts a serious tone in order to establish a constant fear within Sinners and Non Sinners reading. Using the heavy caution within his readers let him establish a successful Sermon with the help of examples.

1. "Describe the Puritans and their beliefs, and explain why they left England for the New World." What the Puritans desired was the purification of the English church. Puritans wished to simplify worship and control the regularity of its occurrence. The protestant reformation which seemed everlasting caused conflict with the Puritans. Some Individuals believed only “visible saints” would be allowed a house in the Church. King James threatened the persecution of the separatists so the fled in search of religious freedom inside of the new found colonies.

The New England colonies quickly expanded and developed, largely due to the vast emigration of Puritans who had come seeking religious freedom. Puritan values and ideas greatly shaped New England's economic, social, and political development throughout the 1600’s. Their belief in a driven and productive lifestyle gave New England surprising economical success that was the envy of the English empire. Additionally, Puritan values on religion and the importance of education affected their social interactions with the Native Americans and intelligence of the New England community. Finally, Puritan values shaped the political structure in New England that simultaneously restricted the liberties of the people while taking a step towards democracy.

Throughout the story, “The Puritan Dilemma,” The author, Edmund Morgan focuses directly towards his view on the Puritan Dilemma and how it affected John Winthrop in both his personal life along with his professional life. Morgan also talks about how the government is treated by the puritans in the Massachusetts Bay Colony. According to Morgan, the Puritan Dilemma meant finding balance between personal life along with spiritual. Morgan explains how John copes with this and how his views on Puritanism affected his life entirely. Morgan believes that the Puritan Dilemma should be praised. He shows this praise through the main figurine of the story, John Winthrop. Puritanism is viewed with strict religious laws where life should only be lived through the bible.

When there are two different groups of people that believe you should live your life in two obviously different ways, makes for an eye opening colonial period. A group called the Puritans believed that God is the main focus and that every choice you make in life is in God’s will. As another group called the Rationalists believed that people would manage themselves and society without having to rely on others.

In a Puritan Community, sin can be viewed as a crime in today's world. It is what controlled the law system of previous Christian Communities. But were the people of this godly community in fear of sin or its consequences? In both, “Witchcraft in Salem” and “The Scarlet Letter” by Nathaniel Hawthorne, that merely the consequences of sin are feared more than the sin itself. Although everyone sins, when they are committed people are quick to judge another's wrongful doing rather than focus on their own sins.

The Puritan people migrated to what is now present-day America due to their persecution in Europe. Their religion observed many beliefs that did not agree with other European Christians. These ideals stayed with the Puritans as they settled in America to build their idealistic, utopian society. Even though Puritan society was largely unsuccessful in meeting their expectations, several of their fundamental values are still exemplified by Americans today. These beliefs included the dislike of anything dull, an intense hatred of tyranny, and the idea that America is a shining example for the rest of the world to follow.

I defend the statement “Puritanism is a repressive and intolerant moral and religious code,” because the entirety of Puritan belief was based on the devolution of women and women’s rights, being more biased towards male power. Puritans believe in a dominant sex, and majorly favor male supremacy over women, and focus their entire economy on religion. This quote by Milton shows how intolerant and repressive they were to females back in the 1800’s… “God's universal law gave to man despotic power, Over his female in due awe (Milton).” They repressed women and their individualness so much that women had come to believe that this role was meant for them, to be born into a life much like slavery and forced to follow the rules made by the ignorant

While the current child considers their life to be stressful and busy, the children of the Puritan religion had much more to be worried about, on top of all of their daily activities. The adults in the community looked down upon the children that represented the devil and his works. Children were born with the burden of Adam’s sin, and they must be broken from sinning. By the time that the children were five, they were put to work, to contribute to the family. Most children were small, and able to help with the weeding of plants and house work. After an early morning work session, most children would attend school. Schooling was very important to the Puritans because they believed that the devil would influence anyone you was easy

The Puritans were a religious group of people who came from England to America in the 1600’s. As Protestants, they relied heavily on the Bible as the guide for every part of their lives. They used these biblical principles as the basis for their laws and marriage. The Puritans had very strict rules about how men and women should act in a marriage and had very harsh penalties for those who broke these rules. According to Matthew Glass and Edward Queen, “During the Colonial Period, Protestant Americans viewed sex as a fundamental feature of married life, enabling reproduction as well as providing an outlet for feelings.” Because they felt this was an important part of marriage, the Puritan laws were meant to be followed. As society gained more people, sex became more widespread which made the officials of the church look for more ways to stop the desire to do anything. Overall, the Puritans had meticulous standards for individuals, immoderate laws and punishments, habits and daily life which were strictly formed by decisive ways.

The Puritans arrived in the New World in the hopes of “purifying” the Church of England. They practiced certain principles that they believed in and that centered around the idea of God. The main purpose of their journey to New England was to set an example to others how the Church should be, and so their motive for settlement was solely related to religion. The Puritans positively influenced the political, economic, and social development of the New England colonies from 1630 through the 1660s because they were a “city upon a hill” that served as an example to other parts of the world as a result of their strong belief in God.

Seventeenth century Puritans had several aspirations, successes, and failures when it came to creating a model society. They had many successes in their society, some examples are their education system, their advancements in equality for women, and the way they created a tight knit close society. Although they had many achievements, the Puritans also did fall short in many aspects of their society. They ultimately did fail at their perfect society, and that is a very important aspect since that was their main goal. They also were very strict about their policies regarding the church. Once the generations progressed, they had to create new rules to allow people basic religious rights such as baptism. They also fused church and state, which was necessary in a society such as this, but it ultimately hindered progression such as allowing non church members to vote. As the years progressed more and more non Puritans entered the Puritan society, this hindered society because eventually the small majority was making the most riveting decisions. Ultimately the Puritans had both failures and successes when attempting a model society, but the weight of the failures simply outweighed the successes.

Will society ever come together under one belief? Understanding the past changes of certain parts within society will bring you one step closer to opening your own eyes of what you believe in. Throughout the major literary philosophies in the United States, one can see how social requirements to attend church diminished throughout history. Philosophers have done their best to spread their beliefs to see their own change in the world.

[H]e which would have suer peace and joye in Christianitye, must not ayme at a condition retyred from the world and free from temptations, but to knowe that the life which is most exercised with tryalls and temptations is the sweetest, and will prove the safeste. For such tryalls as fall within compasse of our callinges, it is better to arme and withstande them than to avoide and shunne them. -John Winthrop