But to really understand what the aspirations of the puritans were, we must first understand their beliefs. "Their goal was absolute purity; to live with out sin in a sinful world was to them the supreme challenge in life. They were derisively called Puritans because they sought to purify the Church of England of the popish and antichristian stuff with which they believed the simplicity of the primitive Christian church had been encrusted." The Puritans believed that man's only purpose in life was "to glorify God on earth and, if he were especially fortunate, to continue the good work in Heaven."

For the puritans, to glorify god meant keeping him in mind at all times, working to the best of their ability at whatever job god had fated them to do, and following a strict moral code based on the bible. "Every act and thought was either a glorification of god or its opposite." Thus, leading a pious life in the form of working hard, prayin

This does not mean, however, (as many people have believed) that the Puritans did not allow themselves to be comfortable and happy. First of all, the Puritans took happiness in the knowledge that they were living a pure life the way God had intended it to be. Second they believed in working hard, and if one acquired wealth by working hard, saving, and staying sober, than that was evidence of God favoring that person. "Eating well, drinking well, sexual indulgence within the bounds of matrimony, and enjoying the comforts of life were not proscribed by the Puritans. In actuality, the Puritans were waging war upon certain human propensities that they regarded as evils: covetousness, materialism, the love of ostentation, and concern with the externals of religion rather than with the things of the spirit."

They dreamed of a society where everybody followed the laws and lived a peaceful, god-fearing existence. To make this dream realizable, the Puritans created severe penalties for breaking the laws. These ranged from whipping and being thrown in the stocks for minor offenses, to banishment and death by hanging for serious ones. To be a good Puritan one had to work hard all the time and never be idle. Idleness was also a grave infraction that carried with it the penalty of torturous physical punishment. The Puritans arranged a comprehensive list of "good and wholesome laws" that prohibited "carnal delights," such as attending plays, dancing around a maypole, bowling on the green, playing shuffleboard, quoits, dice, and cards. Even the "wearing by men of long hair" was enough to bring them under suspicion of being subversive to the church. There seemed no end to the ways a Puritan could sin: drinking in taverns, sexual indulgence, swearing, falling asleep in church, Sabbath-breaking, overdressing, etc; and in New England sinning was the same as breaking the law. The next question is to what extent were the aspirations of the Puritans fulfilled during the seventeenth century. The answer is that they succeeded, and then failed. At first, the Puritans came very close to realizing the dream of a perfect god fearing society. But as time progressed, more and more non-Puritans moved to New England and it became less and less of a model for the rest of Christendom. Finally in sixteen ninety-one the Massachusetts Bay colony and the Plymouth colony were combined into Massachusetts and put under royal control.

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Approximate Word count = 1630
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)