Puritanism. superficially thought to be a belief in which the Church of England should be removed from Catholicism and its hierarchy. demands more of the person than the church. It demanded the religion. strength. and finding to delight God. The Puritan Dilemma. by Edmund S. Morgan. is the life of John Winthrop. a Puritan who departs from England in order to make a oasis and an illustration of a community where the Torahs of God were followed diligently. As a adult male with power and as a Puritan. Winthrop must confront hard determinations and at the same clip make certain they are justified by God. The quandary. specifically paradoxes. which Puritans encountered in mundane life. were anything but simple ; however. Puritans made their best attempt to seek and decide them.

One paradox in Puritanism involved the relationship between adult male and wickedness. “Puritanism required that a adult male give his life to seeking redemption but told him he was incapacitated to make anything but immorality. Puritanism required that he rest his whole hope in Christ but taught him that Christ would absolutely reject him unless before he was born God had foreordained his redemption. Puritanism required that adult male refrain from wickedness but told him. “he would transgress anyhow” ( 5 ) . This states that people were predestined to travel to heaven or be damned in snake pit for infinity. God chooses the hereafter. whether they live a life of good or that of immorality.

The thought of predestination made its trusters have assorted reactions. Some did their best to be good. while others lived a more unworried life. Winthrop accepted human nature. He recognized that “all work forces were brothers in sin” ( 27 ) . yet he “must make what he could to forestall and penalize evil” ( 27 ) . As governor and as a individual. he dissuaded from wickedness and at the same clip he accepted that he was portion of it. “No Puritan could be a Puritan and stay untasted by it. for it arose out of the cardinal Puritan quandary. the job of making right in a universe that does wrong” ( 182 ) . Nevertheless. Winthrop is an illustration of what religion and finding can make to one’s position.

Puritans have been thought of being severely rigorous and reserved. Contrary to popular belief. they did hold gratifying lives- at least to moderateness. To immature Winthrop. Puritanism meant. “the job of life in this universe without taking his head off God” ( 6 ) . He wanted to come in the ministry. but decided that he wanted another life. “He liked his wife…He liked to smoke a pipe. He liked to putter with appliances. He liked all the things that God had given to him. and he knew it was right to wish them. because they were God-given. But how has one to maintain from wishing them excessively much? How love the universe with moderateness and God without? ” ( 6 ) .

This states that Puritans were careful about going excessively attached to the pleasances of the universe. Winthrop. “tried one manner after another to maintain his ebullient worldly spirit within bounds and bit by bit denied himself many of the things that he liked most” ( 6 ) . Even in his matrimonies. he made certain that his love for his married womans did non impact his love for God because ” the Puritan loved his God with all the animal wantonness he denied himself in covering with the world” ( 9 ) Winthrop. through the old ages. ne’er let material things get in the manner of God.

Winthrop faced several challenges when he was the governor of Massachusetts. Leaving England itself was a challenge since Winthrop had uncertainties about the migration to America hence. “the move to New England would be incorrect unless there was a good opportunity that the settlement would be an economic success” ( 35 ) . Yet. he longed to utilize his endowments in the cause of God because a “man’s responsibility to God was to work at his naming and better his endowments like a good and faithful retainer. If he could make it better in New England than in old. that was a good ground for traveling. God was the overpowering world. so the lone world.

Success and failure were relevant merely as indicants and non ever dependable ones…” ( 35 ) . Winthrop had more jobs with Separatism. Separatists sought to divide wholly from the Anglican Church and ” looked for flawlessness in this universe and had come to New England to be right while the remainder of the universe went wrong” ( 65 ) . Their point of view contradicted the Puritan belief that immorality was everyplace and that seeking to get away was ineffectual. Separatists besides threatened dealingss with England. which would hold cause jobs with the male monarch and overall trade. For these grounds. Winthrop was against it. Winthrop truly wanted what was best for the settlement.

In drumhead. Puritanism is a faith that requires strong devotedness from its trusters. Puritans had to alter their behaviour. manner of thought. and overall manner of life in order to suit God’s Torahs. Winthrop was a strong truster of God and ne’er allow his love for him halt. He successfully combined his leading accomplishments with faith to make a community like no other. one that to the full abides God. Winthrop did his best to seek and decide jobs in the best manner possible. He lived a life of devotedness and when he died he “reached what in life he had ne’er sought. a separation from his iniquitous fellow men” ( 184 ) .