Puritan Perfection
Why did Puritanism decline in the seventeenth century, after the migration to America? According to Alden T. Vaughan, who wrote The Puritan Tradition in America 1620-1730, "There is little doubt that after about 1660 a gap began to grow between the well-ordered, godly, communitarian Bible commonwealth envisioned by John Winthrop, Richard Mather, and John Cotton and the more materialistic, cosmopolitan, heterodox New England of the post-Restoration (Vaughan, 297)." The puritans were non-materialist people who followed the Bible, and wanted to set an example for the rest of Europe that only there religious ways would receive God's grace. They were not like the separatists who wanted to worship and live among themselves, but they wanted to strive to change others. They stressed the need to purify the world (Reuben 2). The puritans at this time believe very strongly about God. Everything they do they wanted to do for God, and to be God's followers. The puritans believe tha!t to achieve God's grace, which is the overall goal of the puritans, is to abide by a very strict policy. The puritan's strict way of life creates an opening for mistakes and failures. America is being influenced by modern Europe, and Puritanism collaps
go to a trail in front of these saints or elders. The elders and the rest of the congregation must be in witness to the person giving their testimony. They have to confess all that God has provided them, from his holy spirit to his teachings. The person has to be able to show that he believes in the lord, and will always serve him. Then, the elders can ask any question they see fit to prove to themselves and the congregation that this person can now receive the grace of God (Vaughan 76). Going through this confession and questioning is called the conversion experience, which everyone has to take part in if they are to become church members (Vaughan 92). The saints and elders were very important because they were "those elected by God to have full power to interpret the will of God, and to live uprightly," and "if anyone rejects grace after feeling its power in his life, he will be going against the will of god (Reuben 3)." The puritans were strict in their ways of allow! The puritan ideology of God, Family, and community was destroyed because the endeavor and obsession for perfection of these three things to seek God's approval. The puritans are however only human beings, and no human is perfect. Only the Lord himself can truly achieve perfection in everything He does. The puritans had to learn this through very rough times when the world was being envisioned as a materialistic society. This was putting so much strain and pressure on the puritan's belief in God, their community, and families. As the fate of America, Puritanism was twisted it into new dimensions, other religions, and a prosperous money making culture. However, David Leverenz asked the question, "Does one failure of faith mean the end, or can the community carry a lapse?" In answer to his question "As long as any continue the vision of the whole is possible, though not secure (Leverenz 264)." The puritans were bound to fail sometime if they kept their strict practices of! he guidance and well order of the parents and family so that together they can achieve stability in the whole society (Vaughan 184). This role is to better, and purify the colony to receive God's grace. Kaufmann, Michael W. Institutional Individualism: The puritan's community and way of life lead to the decline in Puritanism because of so much pressure to become a perfect society. As a society, puritans were great role models because they had "Group motivation, not individual achievement, that guided their success (leverenz 135)." They stuck toge
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Approximate Word count = 1709
Approximate Pages = 7 (250 words per page double spaced)
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