THE AGE OF FAITH

1. THE AGE OF FAITH THE PURITANS

2. Jamestown, Plymouth, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony

3. -from a sermon preached on the way to the New World, spring 1630, by John Winthrop “For we must consider that we shall be as a city upon a hill, the eyes of all people are upon us. So that if we shall deal falsely with our God in this work we have undertaken, and so cause Him to withdraw His present help from us, we shall be made a story and a by-word through the world: we shall open the mouths of enemies to speak evil of the ways of God and all professors for God’s sake; we shall shame the faces of many of God’s worthy servants, and cause their prayers to be turned into curses upon us, till we be consumed out of the good land whither we are going.”

4. Nonconformists & Dissenters-A wish to return to the simple forms of worship and church organization

5. Puritan Beliefs-A Mixture of Certainty and Doubt Certainty: Absolute sovereignty of God • Human beings exist for the glory of God. • The Bible is the sole expression of God’s will. • Original Sin: “In Adam’s fall, we sinned all.” • Predestination of the elect –John Calvin’s doctrine Doubt: How did you know if you were saved or damned? • God pours His grace into your heart and you can feel this grace arriving in an intensely emotional fashion. • The inner arrival of God’s grace was demonstrated by your outward behavior of godliness and righteousness.

6. Byproducts of Puritan Beliefs • Close examination of inner lives (self-reflection) • A desire to behave in as exemplary a manner as possible • Puritans came to value virtues of industriousness, temperance, sobriety, simplicity • A belief that the sinful state of humanity made governments necessary • The foundation of all governmental laws was the inflexible law of God. • Since a covenant or contract existed between God and humanity, this should be used as a model for social organization as well—people should enter freely into agreements concerning their form of political organization. • Reading the Bible was a necessity, as was the ability to understand closely reasoned theological debates. • Great emphasis on education in order to combat the influence of “ye ould deluder, Satan.”

7. The Puritans’ Model: The Pilgrim “A Christian is sailing through this world unto his heavenly country. We must, therefore, be here as strangers and Pilgrims, that we may plainly declare that we seek a city above.” Anne Bradstreet • Puritans read their lives the way a literary critic reads a book, examining the significance of each event.

8. Puritan Writings-A Means to Provide Spiritual Enlightenment, Instruction and Self-Examination • Plain style • Theological studies, hymnals, histories, biographies, autobiographies • They recorded forms of revelation. The Puritans believed that God revealed His purpose to humanity in three principal ways: through the Bible, through the natural world, and through Divine Providence, or God’s direct intervention in human affairs.

9. Parting Thoughts The Puritans were not machines programmed for worship and nothing else. Although they cannot be separated from their religion, neither can they be fully contained by it. They were complex and complete human beings who took great joy in their lives and relationships, while facing hardships difficult to imagine today. At its best, Puritan literature records not merely the moments when the physical and the spiritual worlds cross but rather the moments when they seem to diverge—when love of things of this world threatens to push out love of eternity.

10. Anderson, Robert, et al. Elements of Literature. Fifth Course. Literature of the United States. Austin: Holt, Rinhart and Winston, Inc., 1989.