Puritan's Voyage To The New World

Religion was very important to the Puritans in the 1600s. John Winthrop a member of the Puritans gentry, wrote to his wife the ‘I am verily persuaded God will bring some heavy affliction upon this land.” A year later he went and lead a group of a group of puritans to New England. By the 1630s another twenty thousand Puritans would come to America. When John became governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, he told immigrants that will have to guide people toward this holy ideal or they were not welcomed.

Through all the hardships optimism and hope were two of the most important characteristics a passenger would have to retain through both journeys; both slave and pilgrims had to believe that wherever the end up will be better than the ship they were on. A simple slip in these would quickly lead to the downfall of the traveler. Faith was another important quality and the Puritans had it strong and proud. Even in the hardest of times these people believed their lives were in the hands of God and if he wanted them to live then they would live; however, this idea of faith in God was much harder for the slaves to hold. How could a God who supposedly loves each person allow for such a cruel fate to fall upon someone?

Historical Puritans The puritans created the Puritans religion were created to cleanse the corrupt and sinful practices in England and enforce public morality. The puritans believed that churches specifically Roman Catholic were full of hierarchies and so the Puritans escaped England and to gain religious freedom “They [puritans] contended that The Church of England had become a product of political struggles and man-made doctrines. The Puritans were one branch of dissenters who decided that the Church of England was beyond reform”(Kiser). The Puritans headed for america and created a “pure” religion and lifestyle. They strictly followed the bible and were calvinist.

Puritanism was a religious reform movement that wished to purify the Church of England of the remnants of the Roman Catholic faith. The Puritans were persecuted by many denominations across Europe and around 1620, King James I, a member of the Church of England, began oppressing the Puritan community as well. This led the Puritans to flee England and come to the New World where in the words of John Winthrop they were to build a “city upon a hill”. The Puritans settled in the Massachusetts Bay Colonies, more specifically just north of Boston. The most prominent members of this time were John Winthrop.

Puritans are a people with a very strong belief in both God and the power of God. When people see power, they interpret it in different ways. Some know of power through anger and impulse, while others see power through the goodness the powerful one shows. Although Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards are both puritan poets, their writings convey mainly different, though sometimes similar, views on God because they have different perceptions of His will and the use of His power. Anne Bradstreet listens to and accepts anything that God wishes, and that is shown through her poem Upon the Burning of my House.

More than 80% of Americans have Puritan ancestors who emigrated to Colonial America on the Mayflower, and other ships, in the 1630’s (“Puritanism”). Puritanism had an early start due to strong main beliefs that, when challenged, caused major conflict like the Salem Witch Trials. Puritanism had an extremely rocky beginning, starting with a separation from the Roman Catholic Church. Starting in 1606, a group of villagers in Scrooby, England left the church of England and formed a congregation called the Separatist Church, and the members were called The puritans (“Pilgrims”).

The Puritan’s goal of coming to the New World was not to create a new life, but to create the ideal model of living for the “corrupt” inhabitants of England. This was coined “The Errand”, the Puritans desire to establish a City Upon a Hill that others could look up to and imitate in order to receive God’s grace. The Puritans failed at building their City Upon a Hill (creating a perfect religious, economic, and political community), however the long-term effects of their efforts have influenced American moral politics throughout its history. The Puritans forever had the attitude of a community that had successfully established a City Upon a Hill. The Puritan lifestyle was heavily influenced not only by religion, but also inside of that, morality.

The Puritans believed that the Law of God reiterated within the bible, provided the plan for living a virtuous life. God worked daily in the lives of those practicing the Godly views bringing prosperity upon their families and the needy surrounding them. Puritans emphasized wealth was acquired through hard work and devout spirituality to receive God’s blessings. Though God carried no want of power to condemn the wicked man, He chose those worthy of salvation and the non-believers were predestined to Hell. Jonathan Edward’s intimidating descriptions of Hell would lead Puritans to find spiritual meaning in incidences that happened and correlate it with signs and/or symbols of God’s workings.

The puritans were a faithful and religious type of people. They always believed that things that happen to them happen for a reason by God. Studying several author’s works from a single time period enables readers to have a better understanding of their way of life. Even though Anne Bradstreet and Jonathan Edwards (sermon) were both puritans, their distinctive writings and persuasive tactics differ greatly.

The Puritans do not take full credit for the people they have helped and saved and instead giving it all to God. The Puritans land at Cape Cod but are not pleased so they continue southward. After some rough waters, Bradford writes, “Being this arrived in a good harbor, and brought safe to land, they fell upon their knees and blessed the God of Heaven who had brought them over the vast and furious ocean, and delivered them from all the perils and miseries thereof, again to set their feet on the firm and stable earth, their proper element” (Bradford 80).The Puritans are constantly looking out for others, but it is not for personal gain. Bradford says that they survived and helped others for God and that he is the one who should be thanked. The Puritans show heroism by not asking for a reward and not boasting their accomplishments.

They wanted to create pure, moral Christian society based on moral living. By hard working, integration of religion in politics, and social development of certain lifestyle practices, Puritans had a large influence on the development of the New England colonies from 1630s through the 1660s. Puritans believed in hard work as the pathway of success since they thought they were favored by God to succeed (Doc I). They tried to shun idleness and believed that being lazy is not profitable (Doc C).

Puritanism, a version of Calvinism, addresses the sinfulness of man and claims that God has predetermined those who will be saved and those who won’t; despite their sins. In the poem “Here Follow Some Verses Upon the Burning of Our House, July 10, 1666,” Anne Bradstreet recounts a tragic accident that occurred and how she used it to glorify God. Jonathan Edwards conducted sermon titled, “Sinners in the Hands of an Angry God” in Connecticut, 1741. In this text he goes in depth into the sinful nature of man, and a just and angry God who doesn’t hesitate. Both passages address the life Puritans should live.

When King Charles I nullified the Puritans further by the dissolution of Parliament, all the tentative notions they had thought up regarding escaping to the Americas were validated. Earlier, the Puritans “were drawn into uneasy complicity in a regime they considered no more than half right” (page 17). In other words, as discussed previously, the Puritans felt as though the beliefs of the government they lived under did not align with their own. Naturally, as God’s servants the Puritans were unable to escape England until they were positive that it was what God himself would want. The Puritans tried to rationalize this theory by deciding whether they could be the salvation of the Anglican Church, “If, as all Protestants maintained, the Roman Church was incurable in the sixteenth century, perhaps the Anglican Church would prove so in the seventeenth.

The arrival of the first Europeans in the Americas is dramatically captured through the many writers who attempted to communicate what they saw, experienced and felt. What is more, the very purposes of their treacherous travel and colonization are clearly seen in their writings; whether it is poetry, history or sermons. Of the many literary pieces available today, William Bradford and John Winthrop’s writings, even though vary because the first is a historical account and the second is a sermon, stand out as presenting a clear trust in God, the rules that would govern them and the reason they have arrived in the Americas. First of all, William Bradford provides an in-depth look into the first moment when the Puritans arrived in the Americas. In fact, he chronicles the hardships they face on their way to Plymouth, yet he includes God’s provision every step of the way.

​In William Bradford’s Of Plymouth Plantation, the pilgrims undergo a couple of setbacks on their journey across the ocean. Their journey began with the Mayflower setting sail from Plymouth hoping to get to the other side of the Atlantic. Hopes of reaching land safely were set short; but the crew decided to plead to god for help with their voyage. In looking at Of Plymouth Plantation’s, we will consider the sailing crew and their continual pleading to god to find how god’s providence is always amongst them throughout their voyages around the sea. ​In the beginning of the pilgrims’ voyage their old ship begins to break down, so they start to call god for help.