Puirtan Influence

(Student 's Name - ex : Julie Andrews (Professor 's Name - ex . Professor Mills (Subject /course (Date Submitted

Puritan Principles

The Puritans were a group of very religious people who were the foundations of many of America 's traditions and political life . Their very rigid way of perceiving things based on their faith brought about many benefits for society today such as democracy and education However , their ideology was too high and hard to follow for people to retain and thus , they suffer the negative reputation of being quite narrow in their views of

basic human needs that most people nowadays tend to view as wrong

The Puritans fundamentally had four convictions exposed in William Bradford 's book entitled , Of the Plymouth Plantation ' Edward Taylor 's poems and Cotton Mather 's book , Magnalia Christi Americana Puritans believed that deliverance was completely God 's grace , that the Bible was the only source of rules for salvation , that the Church should follow every rule in the Bible and that society was one unified whole ( Puritanism , Puritans ' par . 13

These people faithfully observed a stern way of perceiving every little action because they believed that man is purely sinful and that God 's grace of salvation was solely for those who pay strict adherence to doing sacrifices to uphold God 's kingdom . An example of how Puritans believe that men are nothing but sinful is present in Taylor 's Meditation 42 wherein the author described his soul as sinful like a door with a rusty lock that only God 's love can open (p . 156 ) Further in the poem , the author offers the concept that only God 's grace can truly save a soul by the line , In Glory He prepares for His a place Whom He doth all be glory here with Grace (p . 157 ) Cotton Mather 's depiction of the trials undergone by Bradford 's community when the sea almost engulfed their boat also strengthens this belief in God 's sole hand in saving lives . According to Mather 's narration , the faithless crew were already shouting about how they were going to sink but the Puritans held on by shouting Yet , Lord thou canst save ' and thus God took pleasure in these people 's conviction and preserved them (p 164

This perception that salvation is merely a grace from God also made Puritans very shrewd interpreters of everything that happened in their lives to the point of making double standards . This shows in how Bradford deduced that the survival of a diver named John Howland was merely God 's providence . Instead of interpreting it as a sign of Howland 's will to live , Bradford explained it as God 's pleasure because he became a profitable member both in church and commonwealth (p 77 ) However , the mishap and death of another diver who cursed and swore excessively while arrogantly ejecting discouraging remarks on their community , was also seen as God 's justice and pleasure for improper decorum . In Mather 's book , Bradford also commented...