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Who were the Puritans?
The Evangelical Times ^ | July 06 | Phil Arthur

Posted on 01/19/2007 8:10:33 PM PST by Alex Murphy

The Puritans were a particular kind of Evangelical Christian who arose in England and later in North America in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries. We meet them first of all in England in the early 1560s, where the name 'Puritan' was first given to them.

The Puritans were so called because, while appreciating all that had been gained in the Reformation, they wanted to ensure that without losing these gains the work of reforming the church according to the Word of God was taken further.

When Queen Elizabeth I came to the throne in 1559, opinion in England was divided as to whether the Reformation had gone far enough or whether further reform was necessary. Certain major things had already been achieved.

The biblical gospel of justification by faith alone had been recovered. Church services were now held in the English tongue rather than in Latin. And a series of prayer books had been printed which modified the doctrine of the old Catholic liturgy in a Protestant direction. A succession of scholars had built on the pioneering work of William Tyndale, to ensure that any literate person could now read the Scriptures in English.

Church government

Some Protestants felt that these clear advances on the situation that existed fifty years before were enough and that little more remained to be done. They were essentially satisfied with the ‘Anglican’ (from a Latin word meaning ‘English’) Church as Queen Elizabeth had established it.

Others, however, felt that more should be done to complete the process of reformation. They had several concerns. One of these related to the structure and organisation of the Church of England. Although the doctrine of the church had been purged, its form of government was still Episcopalian — that is, it was ruled by bishops and archbishops just as it had been under Roman Catholicism.

The only difference was that the supreme governor of the church was now the English monarch rather than the pope. At this stage, most of those who longed for further reform believed that Presbyterianism was a more biblical form of church government and campaigned to persuade the Queen and Parliament to replace the bishops with the Presbyterian system.

Catholic customs

Another thing that troubled many Protestants was the fact that certain Catholic customs were still often used in worship. These included, for example, the wearing of gaudy vestments by clergy; bowing at the name of Jesus; calling the communion table an ‘altar’; and placing this altar on a raised platform at the east end of church buildings.

Those who wanted to purify the church of such things acquired the nickname ‘Puritans’. Their concern was chiefly pastoral. They ­understood that if these things remained it might be possible in time to re-catholicise the Church of England.

Before Elizabeth I became Queen, her older sister Mary Tudor (Mary I, 1553-1558) had favoured the unreformed Catholic Church and had sponsored a period of terrible persecution. This onslaught saw almost 400 Protestants burned at the stake and earned her the nickname ‘Bloody Mary’.

Some of the Reformers who fled from this persecution went to Europe, to places like Calvin’s Geneva. They saw examples of more thoroughly reformed churches and this moved them to campaign for something similar in England when they returned.

Furthermore, it is only fair to point out that these men were zealous and active supporters of the idea that every town and village should have a preaching minister of its own. There is a sense in which ‘Puritan’ was the sixteenth-century equivalent of ­‘Evangelical’.

Some labelled the Puritans ‘the hotter sort of Protestant’ — meaning that they were not satisfied with nominal religion but longed for something vital and ­thoroughgoing.

A movement that failed

The Puritans never did secure the ongoing Reformation of the national church that they hoped, prayed and worked for. In the sovereign purposes of God, the forces that opposed them proved too strong to overcome.

A succession of monarchs made it clear that in spite of strong support for the Puritans’ proposals in the country at large, they were not willing to yield any ground to such demands. In England therefore, Puritanism was always a movement that faced official disapproval and sometimes marked ­persecution.

This is why Puritans were among the first English settlers to cross the Atlantic — seeking to escape persecution and make a life for themselves in the newly emerging colonies of North America. These colonies, of course, eventually gained their independence and became the United States of America.

Back in England, most Puritans sided with Parliament in the terrible civil war (actually a series of conflicts) during the 1640s and 50s, which affected not only England but Scotland and Ireland as well. One result was ‘the Commonwealth’ — a brief period from 1649-1660 during which England was a republic.

Once the monarchy was restored in 1660, however, the Anglican Church was reinstated and the monarchy took its revenge with a period of persecution that effectively drove Puritanism out of the State Church and underground — leading to the rise of the Nonconformist churches (i.e. churches that are Protestant but do not ‘conform’ to the national church).

A movement that succeeded

The Puritans did not succeed in securing the thorough Reformation they longed for, and to this day the Anglican Church remains reformed only in part. Nevertheless, they did succeed in another sense and still deserve the respect and gratitude of modern Christians.

Puritanism was a movement that sought to bring the Word of God to bear on every area of life. It produced great evangelists such as Richard Baxter, author of that most searching book The reformed pastor.

One of the later Puritans was John ­Bunyan, a preacher with a remarkable gift for reaching the common people. Relentlessly persecuted, he spent a third of his life in prison — but this led to his writing enduring Christian classics such as The pilgrim’s progress and The holy war.

The Puritan movement also produced many fine theologians such as John Owen, and that remarkable soldier and statesman, Oliver Cromwell. It was also a movement which has left us many helpful books, produced by men with a strong pastoral sensitivity, such as Thomas Brooks’ Precious remedies against Satan’s devices and The rare jewel of Christian contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs.

The Puritan tradition has never completely died out, for in later generations other fine Christian leaders arose who were deeply conscious of the debt they owed to a Puritan heritage which shaped and moulded them.

These include the eighteenth century American, Jonathan Edwards; the nineteenth century English Baptist, Charles Spurgeon; and the twentieth century Welshman, Martyn Lloyd-Jones. These, and many others like them, are heirs of the Puritans.

Why study the Puritans?

There is always something to be learned form any era of church history. There are always examples to follow — we should always imitate those who succeed in imitating Christ. In the same way, there are always mistakes to avoid. In a fallen world, even great Christians are guilty of sad lapses.

The Puritans stand before us as a generation of Christians who knew what it was to suffer for the cause of Christ and, despite their sufferings, to set an example of consistent piety and ­devotion.

They were, in their own time, teachers of God’s Word who had an extraordinary commitment to Christ and an unequalled consistency and thoroughness in the exposition and application of Scripture.


TOPICS: History; Mainline Protestant; Religion & Culture; Religion & Politics
KEYWORDS: protestant; puritan; puritans; witchcraft

1 posted on 01/19/2007 8:10:35 PM PST by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy

bump for later reading


2 posted on 01/19/2007 8:11:23 PM PST by HoosierHawk
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To: HoosierHawk

"The biblical gospel of justification by faith alone had been recovered."

>>That would have been news to the apostles and early Christians because "Faith alone" was a 16th century innovation. Not to mention, the early Christians were synergists, not monergists.


3 posted on 01/20/2007 6:30:13 AM PST by Joseph DeMaistre (There's no such thing as relativism, only dogmatism of a different color)
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To: Alex Murphy
Some labelled the Puritans ‘the hotter sort of Protestant’ — meaning that they were not satisfied with nominal religion but longed for something vital and ­thoroughgoing.

I guess these "7 day a week Christians" didn't mix too well with those "Sunday go to meeting Christians".

4 posted on 01/20/2007 6:40:16 AM PST by wmfights (LUKE 9:49-50 , MARK 9:38-41)
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To: Alex Murphy
They were, in their own time, teachers of God’s Word who had an extraordinary commitment to Christ and an unequalled consistency and thoroughness in the exposition and application of Scripture.

Some of their "exposition and application of Scripture" was to die for.


5 posted on 01/20/2007 6:53:05 AM PST by Polybius
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To: Polybius

They also persecuted the Anglicans (as well as the Catholics, of course) mercilessly in Ireland. The Puritans were not pleasant people and, like Calvin, were probably the most "theocratically" inclined of any of the Protestant sects spun off after Luther's time.


6 posted on 01/20/2007 6:56:59 AM PST by livius
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To: Polybius
Some of their "exposition and application of Scripture" was to die for.

The Catholic methods were much more... creative:


7 posted on 01/20/2007 7:35:20 AM PST by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: P-Marlowe
Some of their "exposition and application of Scripture" was to die for.

The Catholic methods were much more... creative:

Which, as an agnostic who is seeking God, makes me pretty certain that religious doctrine formulated by zealots in the 16th and 17th Centuries is probably not the road to reach God.

8 posted on 01/20/2007 7:43:22 AM PST by Polybius
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To: Joseph DeMaistre
That would have been news to the apostles and early Christians because "Faith alone" was a 16th century innovation.

Huh, are you saying they did not understand the Gospels and scripture that they helped write?
9 posted on 01/20/2007 7:52:15 AM PST by smug (Tanstaafl)
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To: Polybius
Some of their "exposition and application of Scripture" was to die for.

Always interesting to hear from the "pro witchcraft" element on FR.

10 posted on 01/20/2007 8:10:16 AM PST by Alex Murphy
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To: Alex Murphy
Always interesting to hear from the "pro witchcraft" element on FR.

The human beings listed below died at Puritan hands in 1692 and a total of between between 175 and 200 people were imprisoned for "Witchcraft".

Questions, Alex Murphy:

1. How many of those human beings do you believe were actually "witches"?

2. How many of those human beings do you believe deserved to die?

3. What do you think that Christ would say about the interpretation of Scripture used by the Puritans as an excuse to execute those human beings?

" *******************

Hanged on June 10

Bridget Bishop, Salem

Hanged on July 19

Sarah Good, Salem Village

Rebecca Nurse, Salem Village

Susannah Martin, Amesbury

Elizabeth How, Ipswich

Sarah Wilds, Topsfield

Hanged on August 19

George Burroughs, Wells, Maine

John Proctor, Salem Village

John Willard, Salem Village

George Jacobs, Sr., Salem Town

Martha Carrier, Andover

September 19

Giles Corey, Salem Farms, pressed to death

Hanged on September 22

Martha Corey, Salem Farms

Mary Eastey, Topsfield

Alice Parker, Salem Town

Ann Pudeater, Salem Town

Margaret Scott, Rowley

Wilmott Reed, Marblehead

Samuel Wardwell, Andover

Mary Parker, Andover

Other accused witches that were not hanged, but died in prison:

Sarah Osborne, Salem Village

Roger Toothaker, Billerica

Lyndia Dustin, Reading

Ann Foster, Andover

Thirteen others may have also died in prison, but sources conflict on the exact number.

11 posted on 01/20/2007 9:05:23 AM PST by Polybius
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To: wmfights

Weren't the puritans the group working with Oliver Cromwell that outlawed Christmas in England for 10 years? And if you were found to having a christmas dinner you were imprisoned?


12 posted on 01/20/2007 11:34:54 AM PST by x_plus_one (Allah has no son.)
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To: P-Marlowe

But the Protestants loved drawing and quartering every Catholic they could find. The Prayerbook rising in Cornwall comes to mind.

Catholics were treated every bit as cruelly, if not more, under English Protestant rule. Being a Catholic carried the death penalty until the early 19th century.


13 posted on 01/20/2007 11:39:41 AM PST by Joseph DeMaistre (There's no such thing as relativism, only dogmatism of a different color)
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To: smug

Absolutely, I am saying the so-called "Reformers" started a new religion that would have been completely alien to the earliest Christians.

The idea that Protestantism somehow restored the First Century Church is complete bunk and a fairy tale, which is why I had the sense to leave Lutheranism.

Martin Luther was a liar and a scoundrel.


14 posted on 01/20/2007 11:41:50 AM PST by Joseph DeMaistre (There's no such thing as relativism, only dogmatism of a different color)
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To: Joseph DeMaistre
Martin Luther was a liar and a scoundrel.

Have you ever told a lie?

15 posted on 01/20/2007 12:08:52 PM PST by P-Marlowe (LPFOKETT GAHCOEEP-w/o*)
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To: Polybius
Some of the people listed by you are among my Puritan ancestors. The whole business of purging the impure had a tradition much older than Protestantism...
16 posted on 01/20/2007 12:42:10 PM PST by GoLightly
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To: Polybius

"She turned me into a newt!"


17 posted on 01/20/2007 12:52:10 PM PST by kaehurowing
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To: GoLightly
Some of the people listed by you are among my Puritan ancestors.

And, I am certain, none of them were "witches" in league with the devil and none of them deserved to die.

The whole business of purging the impure had a tradition much older than Protestantism...

Unfortunately, the admonition to “Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s” is a part of Scripture that nobody paid much attention to.

18 posted on 01/20/2007 1:37:48 PM PST by Polybius
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To: Joseph DeMaistre
Martin Luther was a liar and a scoundrel.

Well we all are sinners that's true, but the paper he nailed to the church's door was true. I also am not a Lutheran. I am just a believer.
19 posted on 01/20/2007 1:41:04 PM PST by smug (Tanstaafl)
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To: Polybius
And, I am certain, none of them were "witches" in league with the devil and none of them deserved to die.

I'm also related to most of the accusers. There were quite secular causes behind the trials & executions. The church put a stop to it & it didn't take centuries for reason to eventually prevail...

Unfortunately, the admonition to “Render onto Caesar the things that are Caesar’s and unto God the things that are God’s” is a part of Scripture that nobody paid much attention to.

Too often, we have to learn these things the hard way. As long as there are those splinters in "other guy's" eye to point our fingers at, we can allow that log in our own eye to be ignored.

20 posted on 01/20/2007 2:16:25 PM PST by GoLightly
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