People remember the puritans because they became the target of witty comments. Macaulay, for example, said: ‘The Puritans hated bear-baiting, not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.’
Of course, there were puritans and puritans. They varied. Cromwell was a puritan, in fact a leader of them. Then there were the puritan theologians – Baxter. Owen, Manton, Charnock and others.
If Christians have sometimes been accused of narrow-mindedness and a failure to respond to the unending stimulus of colour, harmony, might and minuscule that make up our environment, we have only ourselves to blame. We simply have not read Paul’s letters. When he wrote to the Colossians, Paul referred to Jesus as the key ‘that opens all the hidden treasures of God’s wisdom and knowledge.’ (Colossians 2.2,3 CEV). A lifetime’s exploration is implicit in those words. We are born with a curiosity to match the case and we can enjoy walking in the footsteps of those who made the most of their finds.
Puritans also get blamed. It is true that they had their shortcomings – little respect for the imagination, overmuch respect for exhaustive treatment of any subject they felt to be important. It also happened that they shared in the general shift that took place as a result of the Enlightenment. Subjects of inquiry – theology, for example – gained autonomy and this threatened the respect in which they were held. Aspects of that shift may be deplored; they cannot be ignored.
The puritan emphasis is sometimes seen as an opposition to the humanist side of an issue setting puritans against the rest. Bunyan’s ‘Pilgrim’s Progress’ is a good way to approach this divide. Pilgrim seeks spiritual fulfilment and the people who are least helpful to him are the worldly men and women who live in a welter of greed and ruthless bargaining that goes by the name of Vanity Fair. But Pilgrim is undeterred; what Newton called ‘Solid joys and lasting treasure’ are not found in the world of Bunyan’s fair-goers. They are more likely to be found in Bunyan’s world of the imagination.
Personal responsibility is the inheritance left for us by the puritans. That includes a willingness to go to jail for one’s beliefs. It’s a difficult act to follow. We owe much to the puritans.
BUNYAN’S MASTERPIECE
‘The Pilgrim’s Progress’ was published in 1679. Much of it was written in prison.
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