After almost half a millenium, the Puritans are now “hip”.  It’s incredible how the New Calvinists have embraced Puritanism in recent years.  Who were the Puritans?  What did they believe?  And how did the Puritans worship God?  We will attempt to answer these questions in today’s post.  It’s important to note that this article is not intended to be a treatise on Puritanism.  We’re just skimming the surface of a topic about which volumes and volumes have been written.  Please feel free to chime in with your personal knowledge of the Puritans. 

Who were the Puritans?

The Puritans were a group of Christians which formed after the Reformation.  According to the Wikipedia article on “Puritan” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Puritan), “Puritans did not originally use the term for themselves. It was a term of abuse that first surfaced in the 1560s. “Precisemen” and “Precisians” were other early antagonistic terms for Puritans who preferred to call themselves “the godly.”

The Puritans were greatly inspired by John Calvin and wanted to establish their own “city on a hill” (from Matthew 5:14) just as Calvin (who died in 1564) had attempted to do in Geneva, Switzerland.

The first Puritans lived predominantly in England; however, some fled to other parts of Europe when faced with religious persecution.  Some of the Puritans abandoned their old life and bravely traveled to a new land where they tried to establish their own “city on a hill”. 

What did the Puritans believe?

The Puritans criticized the Church of England for being too close to Catholicism. They believed it needed further reformation.  According to the Wikipedia article on “Puritan”: 

“Puritans still opposed much of the Catholic summations in the Church of England, notably the Book of Common Prayer, but also the use of non-secular vestments (cap and gown) during services, the use of the Holy Cross during baptism, and kneeling during the sacrament. Puritans rejected anything they thought was reminiscent of the Pope, and many of the non-secular rituals preserved by the Church of England were not only considered to be objectionable, but were believed to put one’s immortal soul in peril.”

The Puritans embraced Calvinism, and they believed that only the truly elect should be admitted to church membership.  They further believed that their congregations represented the true church.

According to the Wikipedia article on “Puritan”,

“The central tenet of Calvinism was God’s supreme authority over human affairs, particularly in the church, and especially as expressed in the Bible. Puritans therefore sought both individual and corporate conformity to the teaching of the Bible, with moral purity pursued both down to the smallest detail as well as ecclesiastical purity to the highest level. They believed that man existed for the glory of God; that his first concern in life was to do God’s will and so to receive future happiness. On the individual level, Calvinists emphasized that each person should be continually reformed by the grace of God to fight against indwelling sin and do what is right before God. A humble and obedient life would arise for every Christian.”  

How did the Puritans worship God?

Puritans rejected the ritual, décor, and worship practices prevalent in Catholic churches durng the 16^th century.  The Wiki article on “Puritan” states:

“At the level of the church body, Calvinists believed that the worship in the church ought to be strictly regulated by what is commanded in the Bible (the regulative principle of worship). Calvinists condemned as idolatry many worship practices, regardless of antiquity or widespread adoption among Christians, against opponents who defended tradition. Like some of Reformed churches on the European continent, Puritan reforms were typified by a minimum of ritual and decoration and by an unambiguous emphasis on preaching. Simplicity in worship led to the exclusion of vestments, images, candles, etc. They did not celebrate traditional holidays which they believed to be in violation of the regulative principle…

Puritans opposed the supremacy of the monarch in the church (Erastianism), and argued that the only head of the Church in heaven or earth is Christ. They believed that secular governors are accountable to God (not through the church, but alongside it) to protect and reward virtue, including “true religion”, and to punish wrongdoers — a policy that is better described as non-interference rather than separation of church and state. The separating Congregationalists, a radical segment of the Puritan movement, believed the Divine Right of Kings was heresy.

Other notable beliefs of Calvinists included the priesthood of all believers, and that the observance of the Sabbath was still obligatory for Christians, although they generally believed the Sabbath had been changed to Sunday.”

There is much more information to share about the Puritans, and we will pick it up tomorrow…