Puritans¶
The Puritans, embodying ultra-conservative Christianity through rigorous Calvinism and a Biblically centered ethos, set sail for the New World in the early seventeenth century to purify faith from perceived corruptions. They established the Massachusetts Bay Colony in 1630, forging prosperous, tight-knit communities sustained by disciplined labor, communal accountability, and an unyielding emphasis on education.
Ascendancy¶
John Winthrop's proclamation of a "city upon a hill" articulated their divine mission to model righteousness, laying foundational stones for American governance, culture, and social structures, particularly in New England. This providential vision not only secured their survival in a formidable wilderness but also birthed esteemed institutions like Harvard in 1636 and Yale in 1701, designed to train orthodox clergy and uphold covenants with God, initially appearing as a triumphant realization of their aspirations akin to the goals of many contemporary conservative Christian nationalists.
Institutional Inversion¶
In an unparalleled historical irony, the Puritan-founded institutions and churches, once bastions of conservative reformed theology, have devolved into promoters of ideologies that starkly contradict Christianity.
Harvard University, created to educate Puritan ministers, fell to Unitarianism by 1805, rejecting the Trinity and embracing theological liberalism, Universalism, and secular humanism.
Yale University, established to resist the liberalism of Harvard, fell on this same path, elevating empirical and humanistic inquiry above divine revelation.
Descendant denominations, including the United Church of Christ, now advocate for LGBTQ+ inclusion, atheism, and abortion rights framed as essential healthcare -- all manifestations profoundly antithetical to the founders' Biblical conservatism.
These entities, festooned with rainbow flags and disseminating woke propaganda, embody a demonic mockery of Christianity, where the rotten fruits of secularism and moral relativism flourish, horrifying any Puritan progenitor who might witness this legacy. By their own stringent standards, the gates of hell have prevailed against these mainline Protestant denominations, spawning a ceaseless cycle of schisms and leaving multitudes of spiritually homeless Christians in perpetual search for a truly Biblical church.
Matthew 7:16-20
Ye shall know them by their fruits. Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? Even so every good tree bringeth forth good fruit; but a corrupt tree bringeth forth evil fruit. A good tree cannot bring forth evil fruit, neither can a corrupt tree bring forth good fruit. Every tree that bringeth not forth good fruit is hewn down, and cast into the fire. Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them.
Iconoclastic Fervor¶
The Puritans' resolute iconoclasm, a vehement eradication of images, rituals, and elaborate worship deemed idolatrous vestiges of Catholicism, defined their spiritual practice.
In England and the colonies alike, they razed statues, altars, and stained glass, insisting on barren sanctuaries that directed focus exclusively to scripture and unadorned preaching. This purification zeal, though propelled by devout intent to magnify God's sovereignty, engendered a wary posture toward ecclesiastical traditions, favoring personal reason and strict literalism in Biblical interpretation. While safeguarding against perceived idolatry, it inadvertently cultivated fertile soil for expansive skepticism, harmonizing with incipient rationalist philosophies that would later unravel their entire doctrinal foundation.
Despite their Godly intentions, to be the "city upon a hill", the Puritans very clearly built on sand.
Matthew 7:24-27
Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.
Rationalist Descent¶
The Puritans' ardent pursuit of rational Biblical exposition and intellectual discipline unwittingly facilitated a descent into Enlightenment deism, which corroded the very foundations of their theology. Merging scientific exploration with faith, as demonstrated by figures like Cotton Mather, they linked reformed principles with empiricism and individual autonomy. This amalgamation, amplified amid Enlightenment currents, exalted human reason over divine enigma, propagating deistic conceptions of an aloof creator, a "god of the gaps", and hastening the secular metamorphosis of their institutions. Their iconoclastic disdain for symbolic rites accelerated this erosion, as rationalism not only demolished physical icons but also faith's transcendent mysteries, engendering an anti-Christian animus that now saturates these formerly sanctified domains.
Proverbs 14:12
There is a way which seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof are the ways of death.
Admonition¶
The fall of the Puritans is a stark cautionary narrative for modern Christians, underscoring that even the most Biblically anchored and conservative frameworks can fall.
Today's believers, frequently less austere than the Puritans, teeter on replicating this downfall through endemic denominational divisions, pervasive Biblical illiteracy exemplified by doctrines like dispensationalism, and an insidious adoption of rationalist excesses.
The hubris of assuming true Christianity vanished and requires human reclamation belies Christ's omnipotent stewardship of His Church, palpably affirmed in the unyielding continuity of Catholic and Eastern Orthodox traditions despite onslaughts from communists, atheists, the Enlightenment, and from us Christians.
Such presumption -- that God relies on sinners to salvage or "reform" His bride -- verges on ludicrous pride, unworthy of the Almighty we adore. Christ permits these schisms and their grievous repercussions not for His detriment but for our edification, imparting excruciating lessons in humility amid the spiritual desolation they wrought.
The Puritan legacy of rotten fruits compel recognition that mere conservative principles and Biblical literalism prove woefully insufficient; deeper communal bonds, repentance, and divine reliance are imperative.
As we confront a plight arguably graver than Nineveh's pre-repentance era, the imperative resounds: it is high time for sackcloth and ashes, lest we forfeit grace before His imminent return.
Jonah 3:6
For word came unto the king of Nineveh, and he arose from his throne, and he laid his robe from him, and covered him with sackcloth, and sat in ashes.