"We shall be as a City upon a Hill, the eyes of all people are upon us," the Puritan John Winthrop wrote. The Puritans departed for the New World due to their beliefs that the Church of England was hopelessly corrupt and no longer stood for their way of life. They felt that they could create an ideal Christian society in a New World, which would be a model for others to follow. Some even compared themselves to the Hebrews and held the notion that they were founding the New Israel. (Brow) As religious laws had governed the people of Israel, so did the church regulate New England society. The Puritans had some of the most interesting beliefs of the early religious groups. Founded by the beliefs of John Calvin, the Puritans adopted a religion called Calvinism. Consistent with his scripture-based reasoning, Calvin eloquently described how civil and papal governments were different, yet uniquely related. In his classic reformation style, Calvin symbolically compared Catholic to Protestant theology by framing his theocracy not on the church as the government, but rather he separated civil government from spiritual government into a divinely ordained, segregated Protestant theocracy. Intricately expressed and executed, Calvins doctrine is dripping with figurative language, suggesting that Calvin went to great lengths to insure that his dislike for the Catholic papacy would not go unnoticed. Calvins writings, teachings and beliefs were the platform for the Puritans (Polishook). "[The Puritans] sought an intellectual, moral, and spiritual "clean-up" of institutionalized Christianity. Their standard of purity was the Bible. The most comprehensive, but concise speaking of their ideology is the Westminster Confession of Faith" (Gatis). They had goals to achieve. They wanted to frame their lifestyle on the word of God. They also wanted to maintain every bit of their philosophies and beliefs by the Bible. Puritans were reverent to the Bible as i...
