Puritan Credos’ Influence upon the New England Colonies in the Middle 17th Century

During the time from 1630s through 1660s， puritan tenets of divine authority、covenants with God to practise his wills、social order and hard work had influenced the development of the New England colonies in a way that was radical or adaptive to the capitalist trend rising from the 14th century.

With respect to the political development， the “Principle of Divine Authority” nurtured theocracy.

Puritans adopt the Congregational modes to organize their own churches. According to the modes， ministers are elected representatives， who serve others rather than dominate them. Under no circumstances could a single minister resolve to receive or excommunicate a brethren and rebuke or excuse anyone else， which must be arbitrated by all church members. Divine authority means God is all-powerful and all-knowing so every church member see to it that they conduct the social management proceeding from Gods wills but not any individual. John Cotton， a clergyman with high reputation in Massachusetts also conveyed his idea that God had endued power to the Government as well as defined the boundaries at the same time. Apparently decentralization had realized at political institutions under the principle.

For applying Gods wills， some puritans argue the separation of church and state. Roger Williams who set up the Rhode Island were the early proponent of the value and thats the reason why he was banished from Massachusetts. Compared with contemporary Europe， its big progress of religious development， for the church have more freedom and flexibility to permeate over all levels of society and make a big difference. To a large extent， it guarantee democratic politics move forwards.But just as the puritans in Massachusetts supported the close combination of church and state， the theocracy still hung over the New England most colonies.

Despite stating above， its accepted that ministers take charge of civil rights among new immigrants. In New England ， the adults aged over 17， if not registered member at church， have no protection by laws and no rights to undertake privileged occupations. Let me put it in another way， people who are eligible for church membership are freemen， and only freemen could annually elect the governor and his assistants as well as a representative assembly called “ the General Court”.

Theocracy brought certain democratic improvements on politics in the New England colonies but limitations were obvious too.

As for economic development， the “Principle of Hard Work” promoted profitability.

The Enlarged Salem Covenant said “We resolve to approve approve ourselves to the Lord in our particular callings; shunning idleness as the bane of any state; nor will we deal hardly with any， wherein we are the Lords stewards.” The common meaning of “callings” is “jobs”. Puritans strongly believe Predestination， the theory of which asserts God distributes different tasks towards different people so as to amass great fortunes. For that reason， they encourage hard work following the wills of God. Only in this way could they have a chance to succeed. Another example is a testament written by Robert K in 1653， he stated he hadnt lived an idle、lazy life and owed his success to hard work. The trade in the New England colonies had been booming under this principle.

In addition to occupational issues， Puritans have some other understandings： The purpose of labor division by God should be recognized via the fruits of labor division. An individual opts a career not only to follow the God but to control his desire making contributions for the collective.

Thus， religion acts as a tool to associate the individual with the collective. John Winthrop， the man who set up the Massachusetts Bay Colony advocated “We must be willing to abridge ourselves of our super fruits for the supply of others necessities.” Social reproduction therefore continues to create more profitability.

Besides， Puritans make free competition sanctified. Calvinists regard people succeeding at business as “the visible saints” and material success as evidence of Gods favor. People unveiled their hypocritical masks and feel free to perform their abilities to the best just in order to become rich.

Generally speaking， under the domination of puritan commercial values， the New England colonies obtained early accumulation of wealth and laid great foundations for capitalist development in the future. However， sanctified free competition also led to huge gap between the wealthy and the poor as well as disasters of black people.

On the part of social development， the “Principle of Practising Gods Wills” nurtured a model society.

Owing to the fact that Puritans hew out a land unsettled， everything seems to be alive with uncertainty. Lake of uniformity and cohesive force impel Puritans to establish a model society. In every Puritan town， everything is close-knit together which enables Puritans to look after one another easily. The model society of course has its social hierarchy apart from an united community. Puritans think since the first moment of creation， some souls—the elect—have been destined for eternal bliss while others for eternal torment. They live in a patriarchal society： The poor subject to the wealthy while the women subject to the men. Maybe at the previous period， the value helped to ensure the social order and security. Still， it could easily bring about class contradiction.

Similarly，to build unified ideological standard based on the wills of God， many of Puritans are opposed to religious liberty insanely and feel obliged to expand advanced learning. Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for he was the proponent of religious liberty but Puritans couldnt tolerate dissenters. Public Education emerges from the New England colonies. Puritans always remind themselves of practising Gods wills， so they put forward the importance of reading and interpreting the Bible. Its known to all that Education is the best way to succeed and renew the current dominated ideology at any time.

On the one hand， practising Puritanism strengthened the social order in some areas of the New England colonies and drove the development of education， On the other hand， it retained negative、stubborn and rotten doctrines which pushed the internal immigration like the settlement of Roger from Massachusetts to the Rhode Island. The latter contributed to new exploration in the New England and enriched the credos of puritans.

In a word， From the historic perspective， Puritans elaborate their own theological credos to initiate a distinctive system in the New England colonies.

【作者簡介】曾毅，华中农业大学。