This first group of people had been living in self-exile in Leyden, Holland. They were known by 3 different names, their leader William Bradford called them Pilgrims, those who held them in contempt called them Brownists, and to King James and his court they were known as Separatists (Williams, 48). They were forced to leave England, because their complete and unchanging belief that religion should be completely free from government. They became tired of Holland, because of their poor worship of the Sabbath, and were ready to find a new place to live, but only 35 were brave enough to go to the America, they were joined by 66 people from London.

Their desired destination is not known, but they ended up landing at Cape Cod. After some exploring surrounding land the Pilgrims chose Plymouth Rock as their permanent settlement (Williams, 52). Although the first year almost half of the population died, by 1632, 11 years after the beginning thei

The man who settled Massachusetts Bay belonged to a group of Puritans who believed like the Separatists in the way they organized the people in their church, but differed in that they believed the churches of England, while corrupt, to still be true churches. They did not separate from the Church of England and condemned the Separatists for doing so (Morgan, 65). The majority of Puritans believed like this, that the churches of England were true churches, just required reform (Morgan, 65).

The history of the Puritans in England plays a big part in the differences between the Separatists Puritans and the Conformists Puritans. By the time Massachusetts was founded two generations of Puritan writers had devoted themselves to describing the process through which God’s free grace operates in the salvation of men (Morgan, 66) These writers had not given attention to this question to having tests for church membership. These writers on the subject were concerned with the individual rather than the church as a whole. They wished to trace to natural history of a person’s conversion in order to help men discover their own prospects of salvation. The desired result of their studies was to create a morphology of conversion, in which each stage could be separately identified from the next, so that a man could check his own eternal condition by a set of temporary and comprehensible signs.

The verbal duels in which the non-Separatists engaged the Separatists about the importance of faith in the church affected their own thinking (Morgan, 75). While the leaders of the non-Separatists were grouping toward a conception of the church as a company of those who possessed saving faith, non-Separatists theologians were at the same time coming to the conclusion that saving faith no only could, but should be tested (Morgan, 75). They did not develop the idea in connection with church membership, as the Separatists were using the tests, for in the Anglican church they were saddled with an indiscriminate membership about which they could do nothing. The theologians developed their idea in connection with communion, which even in the Anglican church could, in theory at least, be restricted.

Boston became the center of the Puritan settlements, as well as the biggest. It was on a bay and ships could get in and out with ease. Although many settlements popped up for the same reason as the puritans setting up settlements, religious freedom, many of the people who set up these new settlements were Puritans themselves. They just did not agree with certain things the Puritan leaders did and were either banished or ran away for fear of life.

The Separatists in England did not contribute very much to this development, partly because there were very few, and partly because their writers were busy in explaining and defending their separation. The other Puritans, remaining within the Church of England, who charted the route from sin to holiness and explained the way God carried a saint along it. Only through these writings and beliefs could there be an explanation of the Practices of the New England churches.

Some topics in this essay:
Church England, Holland Plymouth, Puritans Massachusetts, England England, Congregationalism Salem, Puritans Protestants, John Winthrop, Plymouth Rock, Robert Child, Practices England, church england, morgan 65, puritans massachusetts, church membership, saving faith, separatists puritans, morgan 67, saving grace, anglican church, puritans england, believed churches england,