# Puritan Question



## cupotea (May 28, 2004)

I was having a conversation with a fellow Reformed friend about the Puritans and their arrival in America. Without launching into the specifics of the conversation, could you informed Reformed folks explain why the Puritans came to America?


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## Christopher (May 28, 2004)

To say it in one senence: Many were ejected from England and others were fleeing persecution. 

There you go. :bs2:


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## cupotea (May 28, 2004)

Okay, that's what I thought, but she said that they had already found sanctuary in Holland.


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## C. Matthew McMahon (May 28, 2004)

You want to make a distinction between Puritans and Seperatists who held to some of the Puritan's theology.

Puritans are those who stayed in England in order to &quot;purify&quot; the church of England.

Seperatists (or Pilgrims) are those who left the Church of England in search of religious liberty. They beleived the beast was too difficult to tame. They still held to much of the Puritan's theology, though their ecclesiology waivered a bit, and their convictions differed.


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## dswatts (May 28, 2004)

Good distinction, Matt. I have never been quite clear on that myself. Thanks for the clarification. 

Grace,
Dwayne


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## Puritan Sailor (May 28, 2004)

[quote:0ea4a81ae7][i:0ea4a81ae7]Originally posted by Newly Reformed[/i:0ea4a81ae7]
Okay, that's what I thought, but she said that they had already found sanctuary in Holland. [/quote:0ea4a81ae7]
They did find some sanctuary in Holland, and in fact there was much interaction between the Puritans and the Dutch Nader Reformatie (sp?) in theology and practice. But I think the reason Holland wouldn't do was simply because of teh cultural differences like the language barrier. It was probably easier for them to start their own nation of likeminded people than to sit amidst the swarm of strangers who tolerated a great deal of religious diversity.


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## Christopher (May 28, 2004)

I knew you would chime in Matt and glad of it.


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## C. Matthew McMahon (May 28, 2004)

Patrick is correct in that, many of the Puritans (not seperatists) who fled from persecution in England did go to Holland and have very good pastoral ministry situations there (of which are men like Bridge and Ames). Ames had the heart of a seperatist, but never actually left for the New World. many of the Puritans returned after various times of persecutions ended.


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## Ianterrell (May 29, 2004)

There was an excellent radio series on The Puritans by the White Horse Inn guys. It can be accessed here: 

http://www.oneplace.com/Ministries/The_White_Horse_Inn/Archives.asp

Just scroll down I think there are 4-5 shows in their Puritan series.


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## pelos (Jun 3, 2004)

I sat in on a lecture by a man named Peter Marshall. He's the son of Dr. Peter Marshall if you're familiar with him.

He was saying something about the pilgrims coming to America because they wanted to spread the gospel to the indians. 

Does anyone know anything about Peter Marshall ministries and how accurate or uninformed his information is?


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Jun 30, 2004)

A major reason why the Pilgrims left the safety of Holland when they did was because a 12-year truce between Protestant Holland and Catholic Spain was set to expire in 1621. With that danger looming over them, they naturally looked across the pond for a place of refuge. America -- despite all the unknowns -- beckoned to the Pilgrims because they had an urgent need to relocate to a place of freedom and safety and places like that in Europe were becoming rare if not impossible to find.


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