The Origins of Puritanism

Although most people today view Puritanism as a dour way of life, this movement held considerable attraction for 16th and 17th century Englishmen. Although they considered themselves good Anglicans--members of the Church of England--Puritans had the zeal common to all reformers. Deeply influenced by the teaching of John Calvin, they sought to bring reformation to the English Church, to restore the true church of Christ which they believed had grown corrupt over the ages.

Puritanism was rooted in the persecution of Protestants by Mary Tudor. The daughter of Catherine of Aragon, Mary identified the Reformation with the dishonor of her youth when Henry's divorce of her mother had suddenly transformed Mary from the heiress to the throne to an illegitimate offspring. In the wake of her disgrace, she had taken solace from a Spanish Chaplain, and refuge in her religion. Once in power, Mary set out to right the wrong done her and her mother. Motivated by conviction (she was a true believer) and political necessity (to make herself legitimate once again), Mary set out to restore Catholicism in England.

The first months of her reign were spent consolidating her position. She married her cousin, Philip of Spain during this time, and popular support for restoring Catholicism, as well as support for her personally was strong. This support was squandered, however, when she moved to take regressive measures against the Protestants. Any clergy that had married under the reforms instituted by her father were ordered to leave their wives, and approximately 300 Protestants were burned at the stake. The burnings at the stake not only led to Mary being known as "Bloody Mary," they forced thousands of Protestants to flee for their lives to the continent of Europe where they came to be know as the Marian exiles. These Marian exiles would soon form the core of what would come to be known as the Puritan movement.

When Mary died in 1558, she was succeeded by her half-sister Elizabeth daughter of Henry's second wife Anne Bolyen. With Elizabeth on the throne, many of the Marian exiles felt safe to return. Elizabeth, however, looked askance at these Puritans. Her prime motivation was doctrine, but political necessity. If the head of the church of England was the Pope, then the marriage of Henry VIII to Catherine of Aragon was valid, and Elizabeth was the illegitimate child of Anne Bolyen. Therefore she took the position that her father had been right to proclaim himself head of the church of England. Elizabeth, however, was not a Protestant extremist. She had no grand strategy to purify the church. Her goal was to make religious worship uniform so as to unite the Kingdom in a common worship. In Elizabeth's England, there was no place for either an extreme Protestantism or Roman Catholicism.

Almost immediately, Elizabeth and the Puritans found themselves at odds. One source of difficulty was Elizabeth's unwillingness to pursue reform of the church. Worship in the Church of England under Elizabeth did not differ greatly from that found in the Catholic church apart from the use of English. The Marian exiles-- influenced by the Reformation in Europe--demanded a purification of the ceremonies and doctrines of the church, and insisted on the need to restore the pure doctrines of the New Testament. Cranmer's Book of Common Prayer-- with it's carefully crafted via media would no longer do. It was these demands for the purification of the church and its practices that led to these individuals being nicknamed the Puritans.

This is not to suggest that Puritanism was a monolithic movement. Far from it. On the right wing were the Presbyterians. They did not reject the idea of a state church as did some of their peers, but they argued that the Church of England was in need of reform on this score. They believed the New Testament Church had been ruled by elders or presbyters (hence their name), and they practiced infant baptism. The Pilgrims formed the left wing of the movement. They saw the Church of England as an impure church, and believed that it was the duty of the Christian to withdraw from it. Having separated themselves from the established church, they also believed it was their task as God's redeemed to unite in the true worship of God. This coming together of the truly redeemed was the true church. As such, they were isolationists rejecting any contact with the non-redeemed. Each church was thought to be independent, hence they were congregationalists. Some insisted on administering baptism only to believers, and these came to be known as Baptists. The center of the movement was populated by the Puritans who ultimately settled in Virginia and Massachusetts Bay. Like the Pilgrims, they believed that only the truly elect should be admitted to church membership, and the congregation of such persons represents the true church. This grouping, however, practiced infant baptism. They also held that the true church could enter into sisterly relations with other churches, even if they followed other polities, because God's elect could be scattered among them. They too held that the Church of England was impure, but insisted that it could be purified from within.

The Manifest Destiny of the Puritans

Despite what we might think, Puritans were not people who were deeply disturbed at the thought of someone else having a good time. Puritans believed all things should be ordered unto God. This led them to a frantic sense of immediacy. Cards, for instance, were not evil in themselves. But playing them was a waste of time. Instead of being engaged in frivolity, one could be reading scripture, praying, or something with an ultimate reward. Indeed, Puritans were constantly pulling out their souls to see if there was any new spiritual growth.

Because Puritans also believed nothing happens apart from or without reference to the divine imperative, they held a firm belief in their own Manifest Destiny. They saw the Reformation as a sign the millennium was at hand. They believed God was purifying the church in anticipation of the end of time, and they saw themselves as agents of God's eternal purpose. To that end, they often gave their children prophetic names. They became convinced that--like the Old Testament prophets--their efforts to purify the church and shape a new society would serve to hasten the day of the Lord's appearance. This hope of purifying the English Church, however, would ultimately be stymied. As we shall soon see, the Puritans ultimately came to see that their manifest destiny might lie in a different direction. Perhaps England was too corrupt to be purified. Perhaps they needed to start afresh in a new land.

The Appeal of Puritanism:

The fifteenth century was a time when England was undergoing the transformation from a feudal to a modern society. It was a time of tremendous instability and flux. The confiscation of monasteries and church lands by Henry VIII had the unexpected consequence of tripling the landed class. This redistribution of wealth helped nurture a growing middle class, and the rise in prosperity helped contribute to increasing numbers of university graduates. The change also produced some unintended consequences. With the changes in ownership, many peasant farmers were forced off the land, and became rootless and mobile. Many of the university graduates were unable to find appropriate positions. In a culture being swept by change, Puritanism had a strong appeal providing psychological certitude in uncertain times.

This contrasted sharply with the popular perception of the Church of England. For it's part, Anglicanism seemed a faith without character, a compromise church based on the principle that most ecclesiastical matters were to be viewed with indifference. Support for the Church of England was also undermined by what seemed to be a constant switching from allegiance to the Roman Catholic Church to Henry's Church of England, to Edward's Church of England (which was much more Protestant), to Mary Tudor's Catholicism, to Elizabeth' Church of England. In contrast, the Puritans seemed to know what they believed, and were willing to suffer persecution and even be martyred for it.

In addition, the failure of the Church of England to purify itself left numerous persons of piety with nowhere to go except the ranks of Puritan reformers. Parish clergy of the time were generally of poor quality. Many livings were meager, and unlikely to attract worthwhile candidates. One cleric in Warwickshire was described in records as "an old priest and unsound in religion, he can neither preach nor read well, his chiefest trade is to cure hawks that are hurt or diseased." A number were wanted for crimes. Once these individuals were invested (tenured) in a living (as parishes were sometimes called) the congregation was unable to remove them. Most parish clergy weren't bad, but the bad ones shaped the perception of the public.

Many priests were in debt and were forced to hold several livings to make enough to survive. But the Princes of Church lived in a style resembling royalty. Archbishop Whitgift had 1000 servants, many adorned in gold. Again this contrasted unfavorably with the Puritans who lived a somewhat spartan and austere life-style, one more in keeping with the common man.

But perhaps the greatest factor driving people into the Puritan ranks was the contrast that existed between Anglican "dumb-dog" pastors and Puritans in the preaching of the Word. The sermon was an extraordinarily important institution in Elizabethan times. In lieu of newspapers, the pulpit served as the principle communicator of news. It was a major means of adult education, as well as a tool of moral and socioeconomic guidance. In an age with little public entertainment, the sermon served to bring excitement to the illiterate masses. Puritan preaching cultivated a plain style. It applied lessons of Scripture to the lives of individuals in a logical direct form of presentation, and in a language appropriate to the audience. And it met with a strong response. More than 1,000 persons gathered each week to hear preaching at St. Paul's Cross.

For her part, Elizabeth was suspicious of the potential for sedition in such gatherings. There was potential--she believed--for sedition in these sermons. Indeed, James I and Charles I limited and banned such preaching for precisely this reason.

The Clash With Authority

Although Elizabeth had been broadly suspicious of the Puritans, she was able to maintain an uneasy truce with them. Her successors were less successful in dealing with the Puritans. James I decided to disregard them and Charles I tried to suppress them. Their policies would produce two events of major significance--the Great Migration of the 1630's and the Puritan Revolution of 1640's. The first led to creation of a New England on shores of America, the second to a new England in the Old World. For the purposes of this course, we will focus on this first event: the Great Migration.

When Elizabeth died in 1603, she left no direct heir, but ordered that her legitimate successor was James, son of Mary Stuart, who was already King of Scotland. (James IV of Scotland, James I of England, The James of the King James Version)

James was considered by the English to be a foreigner. And his plans for a union of the two Kingdoms made him enemies on both sides of the border. In particular, he clashed with the rising merchant class who resented the nobility. These were men who worked and produced wealth and who opposed those they perceived to be merely the consumers of wealth. It was to borrow a phrase, an battle of old money versus new. But James' greatest conflicts were with the Puritans who felt that not enough had been done to purge the Church of England of the theology and worship of Roman Catholicism. They felt that Henry VIII had cut off the head of the Roman Catholic Church--the Pope--but had left the body unreformed and largely intact. But perhaps more than anything, the Puritans reacted strongly to what they perceived as the indifference of the established church to the truth. The Church of England-- with its focus on finding a via media and the attendant emphasis on compromise--repelled the Puritans.

As Marian exiles, these Puritans had been heavily influenced by Calvinism while on the continent. They pushed for a reformed Church of England that would look like the Reformed churches of Europe. Among other things, they were opposed to many of the traditional elements of worship in the church--the use of the cross, priestly vestments (symbols of priesthood), celebration of sacraments on an altar (they used a table so that communion could never be considered a sacrifice)--and insisted on the need for a sober life guided by the commandments of scripture, lacking in luxury and ostentation, the keeping of the Lord's Day as a day devoted exclusively to religious exercises, and the practice of charity. They were critical of drunkenness particularly among the ministers of the Church of England, attacked licentiousness, and included the theater in their assaults because of the immorality that was often depicted, but also because of the duplicity or lying implicit in acting.

Although today, many refer to James I as Saint James because of his role in the preparation of the King James Bible, the Puritans had a decidedly different view of the man. Like many of their fellow citizens, the Puritans did not trust the new King. He was Son of Mary Stuart, and many felt he was Romanizing the church instead of purifying it. He--for instance sought to enhance the position of bishops within the church. He did so to further his own authority because the Bishops of the church were powerful supporters who joined him in affirming divine right of Kings. But the Puritans saw his moves to bolster the power of Bishops as an attempt to silence their efforts are reform. Nor were James' relations with the Puritans helped by the fact that James was very open about his homosexuality, giving perks and powers to those who gave into him. James and the Puritan controlled House of Commons were also at odds over the Thirty Years War. Many Puritans saw this struggle between Protestants and Catholics as the final struggle of good and evil, and believed England was sitting out the Battle of Armageddon.

The Great Migration

Moving is the second most traumatic thing you can do. It is not something people do lightly even in our day. Just consider for a moment the disruption and stress of just going away to college. At least you know that you will be able to return home at fall break, or on week-ends. But the Puritans who left England to immigrate to America did so knowing--in words of Tom Wolfe--that they could never go home again. So the question presents itself: what forces motivated the Puritans to uproot themselves in this fashion.

Why did these Puritans leave their ancestral homes, separate themselves from relatives and friends, forsake occupations, and take up new homes in the wilderness? Invariably, these Puritans justified their decision by talking about their apprehension of England's future, and their place in God's providential design. Most Englishmen in the 17th century accepted without question that their country was an "elect nation" chosen by God to play a great role in human destiny. They believed the Reformation had ushered in a time when the forces of Christ and the Anti-Christ would do battle, with the final outcome being the triumph of the true church.

"England was the first nation to which the Lord gave the light of the gospel after the darkness of Popery" William Bradford of Plymouth declared. It was England's task to redeem Christendom, and Puritans believed in their God-aided sufficiency to usher in the millennium--the 1000 year reign of the saints foretold in Revelation. The failure of James I and Charles I to advance reform, and to champion Protestantism abroad was a sign that England was flirting with being on the wrong side of the coming cosmic struggle.

And so it was that the Great Migration began under James I. Although they would name their first settlement Jamestown, they did so out of political expediency. For the Puritans, James' failure to pursue reformation of the church, and the immorality at court, was motive enough to seek out a New England where a pure Christian society might be instituted.

The Jamestown Settlement

In 1607, the first permanent colonization of Virginia occurred at JamestownPlymouth Rock. Although nominally Anglican (the Puritan wing of the Church of England had not yet separated from the mother church), those involved in the settlement of Jamestown were "noticeably influenced" by Puritanism. Most of the original colonists at Jamestown were Puritans who hoped to create another England. The major difference between the new settlement and the old homeland was to be religious. This new England was to have a Church of England, but it would be the purified Church for which Puritans had long dreamed. The Virginia Company, the joint stock venture formed to settle the new world, was controlled by men who belonged to the Puritan part of the Church of England. Sir Edwin Sandys--treasurer of the company--was a Puritan leader in the House of Commons, and son of Edwin Sandys, the "Puritan" archbishop of York. The earliest clergy in the colony-- Robert Hunt and Alexander Whitaker--were both strongly identified with the Puritan movement.

Although the first settlers were a mixed company of fortune seekers and Puritans, the hope was that they would find new promised land in which the streams would be filled with fish, the woods with game, and the ground with gold. In this new promised land, these early Puritans wanted to establish a purified society far from the corrupting influence of England that would be in accord with divine will. The initial settlement had 35 gentlemen and a few artisans and craftsmen. The plan for organization was communitarian, that is to say, there was no private property. It was also Biblical, based on the early Christian Church as described in the Book of Acts. The colony also had a strict code of legislation--Dale's Laws--that regulated life and insured that everyone kept a strict Christian life-style.

From 6 a.m. to 10 a.m. everyone was required to work in the common gardens as they were called. At 10 each day, one was summoned to worship by the church bell. Rations were issued following the service (no church, no eat?) At 4:00, one was summoned for evening prayer. Strict observance of the Sabbath was enjoined, and ministers were required to preach each Sunday morning, and to catechize in the afternoon. Attendance at thirteen religious services during the course of a week was compulsory.

Religious fervor, however, will only carry people so far. The new promised land proved to be anything but, and Jamestown was nearly abandoned. Starvation, illness, poor planning and site location, trouble with the Powhatan indians all served to create real hardship for the new colonists. Many died, and those who survived were ready to give up. They boarded ships to attempt the voyage home only to be to meet their relief ship at Hampton Roads.

It was not until the advent of Tobacco cultivation that the success of the colony was assured. The popularity of Tobacco was such that it became a form of currency. But there was an irony to Tobacco. Not only did it permit the colony to survive, it also created so much wealth that it led to the undermining of the colony's Puritan character. By 1624, the colony's wealth was such that it was taken over by the crown. Once Jamestown became a royal colony, the royal authorities began to slowly eradicate all traces of the Puritan movement, and in its place introduce an Anglican establishment.

There is one final irony. The Puritans efforts to establish a Christian Commonwealth free of corruption was also undermined by Tobacco. Tobacco demanded lots of land, leading to friction with the Indians. It also demand lots of labor, which led in turn to the importation of black indentured servants in 1619. All had worked their way free by 1630, and became free- holders. This form of service was replaced by slavery by 1640's.

This suggests that, early on, the South made a commitment to slavery. The first suggestion of slavery occurs in records from Virginia concerning some white and black servants who absconded, and were finally apprehended. All were brought before a magistrate, and punished, but they were punished differently. The whites had their term extended a year, while the black had his extended for the rest of his life.

Since tradition forbade Christians from owning fellow believers in slavery, most owners refused to baptize slaves. In 1667, a law was passed by the Virginia legislature that declared that baptism did not affect a person's freedom. In part, this was to satisfy consciences, but it also served a more pragmatic reason. Alexander Whitaker wrote that evangelization was the key to "profitable returns." That is to say, Blacks were taught God willed them to be slaves and they must accept their lot.

Why did these settlers opt for the slavery of Africans instead of indentured servants or the enslavement of Indians? There were several reasons: (1) There was not enough of a supply of labor in the form of indentured servants. Those who were willing to sell themselves in this fashion were ambitious, and would not accept a long indenture. (2) Indentured servants had rights. They could not be made to work as hard as a slave. Nor could one renew a lease on an indentured servant. This was a temporary form of labor that did little to solve long term problems of supply. (3) Indentured servants tended to run away, and as the colony grew, white servants could melt into the background. Indians could resist, and had a place to run that was their own turf. But Africans were different. They could not melt into the background, and an ocean separated them from their turf. (4) Most importantly, the settlers early contacts with blacks led to a feeling that they had a character akin to their skin color, and that it was their divine destiny to work for others.

Like Adam and Eve in the Garden, these new settlers in the American Eden were tempted. And like their first parents, they succumbed. From that point on, their paradise would be forever different.