Puritan Persuasion Essay
Puritans are often portrayed as stiff and rigorous in their religious pursuits and are often described as fanatics, punishing those showing any bit of jubilation that would detract from their worship of the Almighty. Observing Puritanical behavior and ethics more closely, however, would suggest that they were not in fact always overbearing and grim zealots living in constant fear of an omnipresent monolithic God-figure, but instead had a complex and sometimes inconsistent relationship with sin and religion. Puritans thought of themselves as a chosen people, akin to the ancient Israelites of the Old Testament, and as such strove to make themselves a “city on a hill,” as John Winthrop put it. However, this did not mean that they were without
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These individuals were those whom had been felt persecuted in England or found the direction that the Anglican Church was heading in to be irksome. They saw an opportunity to start anew in New England and remedy the issues they saw in the Church of England in a new and glorious state, governed by their own specific ideals. This pilgrimage was considered by Puritans to be similar in nature to that of the ancient Israelites, whom started a new and glorious land in the name of God after their exodus from Egypt as described in many books of the Old Testament. They mention themselves in context with Biblical figures who settled new lands such “ISAAC ABRAHAM AND JACOB QUOTE”. A prime example of the idealism that Puritans thought of themselves as “God’s chosen people” can be derived from their philosophising of whether the Native Americans whose land they settled on were actually entitled to the land, stating “QUOTE.” By taking this land from the unproductive Native Americans (whom they rationalized did not deserve it due because they “made no use of it, but for Hunting”) the Puritans believed that they were conquering the savagery of nature and creating a Utopia for like minded Christians. This was their God given mission, to end their pilgrimage in the settlement of a wholesome, Christian
These individuals were those whom had been felt persecuted in England or found the direction that the Anglican Church was heading in to be irksome. They saw an opportunity to start anew in New England and remedy the issues they saw in the Church of England in a new and glorious state, governed by their own specific ideals. This pilgrimage was considered by Puritans to be similar in nature to that of the ancient Israelites, whom started a new and glorious land in the name of God after their exodus from Egypt as described in many books of the Old Testament. They mention themselves in context with Biblical figures who settled new lands such “ISAAC ABRAHAM AND JACOB QUOTE”. A prime example of the idealism that Puritans thought of themselves as “God’s chosen people” can be derived from their philosophising of whether the Native Americans whose land they settled on were actually entitled to the land, stating “QUOTE.” By taking this land from the unproductive Native Americans (whom they rationalized did not deserve it due because they “made no use of it, but for Hunting”) the Puritans believed that they were conquering the savagery of nature and creating a Utopia for like minded Christians. This was their God given mission, to end their pilgrimage in the settlement of a wholesome, Christian