Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
Written by John Heikoop
Many present day historians have tried to understand the reasoning and motives behind the
mass migration of English Puritans to North America, but have failed to realize the important
role played by these Puritan's faith in God. To the Puritan "man's chief end (or purpose in life)
was to glorify God and enjoy Him forever", and his "only comfort in life and death was that he
did not belong unto himself, but unto his faithful Saviour, Jesus Christ." Without understanding
this aspect of the Puritan mind-set, we cannot begin to understand why these English speaking
white man began settling our North American continent. Sincere godliness was at the
foundation of the 'push' and 'pull' factors whereby the Puritans were convinced that God
wanted them to leave their homeland for a new land which He had prepared. These Puritans did
not want to leave their native shores but rather were driven from them by the conviction that
ungodly England held little future for their families and the truth and were propelled by their
sense of Divine calling and mission.
The Puritans were not unaware of the many costs and hazards that they would face in carrying
out this mission and thus, for the most part, had no romantic dream that impelled them to leave
their homeland. They were not ignorant of the fact that large numbers of the early settlers
would probably meet with death within the first years of the colony. They were well aware of the
fact that Sir Walter Raleigh's colony of a few years earlier had resulted in complete failure, with
only a few people surviving. They were aware of how big a gamble that this new enterprise
was, and of the work that would be involved in setting up political and legal systems.
The leader of the migration was a justice of the peace by the name of John Winthrop. Upon
departure, Winthrop and company assured their friends remaining in England that they fully
realized the kind and the magnitude of afflictions they would face. In an address called their
"Humble Request" they looked into the near future when they would be in their "poor cottages in
the wilderness, over shadowed with the spirit of supplication, through the manifold necessities
and tribulations which may not altogether unexpectedly... befall us." Also in this same address
those aboard the Arbella including Winthrop made it clear that they could not part from their
native country where the church of England "specially resideth, without much sadness of heart,
and many tears in [their] eyes."
One author notes in Vexed and Troubled Englishmen that in 1642 when "hopes were renewed
for a brighter religious and political future in Old England... the Puritans suddenly stopped
crossing the ocean." Thus we can see that the driving force motivating the migration was the
Puritan conviction that ungodly England held little future for their families and their religion.
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Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
Written by John Heikoop
The Puritans began increasingly to fear that England would return to the Roman Catholic
Church as the Counter Reformation grew in strength under the first two Tudor kings. Their fear
was not totally ungrounded. From the year 1601 when James I of England ascended the
throne, things gradually became bleak for the Puritans as a more ceremonial religion returned to
many aspects of church life. The monarchy no longer promoted Puritan ideas and, therefore,
the only voice that Puritans had to promote a more complete reformation of the Church of
England was Parliament.
With the crowning of James' son Charles I, Puritan fears were by no means reduced. His
marriage to a Spanish Roman Catholic princess was his first indication to the Puritans of his
unwillingness to please them. Puritan fear grew as Charles began to act more arbitrarily and to
listen less to the largely Puritan Parliament. Many of the Puritans not only began to lose hope
of England ever becoming the 'Reformed' country they had dreamed of, but they also saw that
religious conformity to a more ceremonial brand of Protestantism was drawing near. The
Puritans felt they could never accept this blend of Roman Catholicism and Protestantism.
The effect that these political conditions had on the Puritan migration, was increased with the
dissolving of Parliament in March of 1629 by king Charles I, one month before the first ship
sailed to Massachusetts Bay. From the dismissal of Parliament in 1629 till the calling of
parliament in 1642 about 30,000 thousand Puritans crossed the Atlantic. Yet we see a sudden
stop to Puritans crossing the ocean with the calling of the long Parliament in 1642.5
However Puritan discontent reached a climax when Archbishop Laud, with the consent of
Charles, began to persecute the Puritans by forcing conformity to all forms of church ceremony
and The Common Prayer Book. Not till then did the Counter Reformation fears actually become
real threats to the Puritan's personal religious worship. Numerous Puritan ministers had to
stand trial before the Star Chamber for refusing to conform to the highly defined laws of the
church and some received physical abuse and jail terms.
The moral degeneration of the English people was also an important 'push' factor. The
half-century after 1590 was a time of profound, unprecedented, and often frightening social
ferment for the people of England. Puritans like John Winthrop were disturbed by the 'common
corruption's' of "this land of sin," and the judgements that would be brought about because of
them. They complained about the prevalence of such sins as blasphemy, fraud, drunkenness,
prostitution, sexual promiscuity and idleness in the streets. So desperate were many
Englishmen, that they were ready to listen to suggestions that they leave the country and sail
westward where the land seemed bright. It is understandable that the Puritans felt despairing
and were distracted by the morally degenerated society, especially if one considers the
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Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
Written by John Heikoop
personal piety they strove for within themselves. After all, had not Christ their Saviour said to his
disciples while on earth "when they persecute you in this city, flee ye into another?"
As the first seven hundred immigrants of the English Puritan exodus made their way across the
Atlantic to New England, John Winthrop, their newly elected Governor, reminded his followers
that the primary reason for leaving their native soil was a desire to fulfil the Lord's will and
improve their religious environment by founding a new godly society. This desire to improve
their godliness was always in the heart of Puritans, yet it is only when opposition was at its peak
that they left for New England in significant numbers. Therefore the 'push' and 'pull' factors were
not merely based on a dream by Winthrop of a Puritan 'Utopia' or a perfect society as some
maintain, but rather, that Winthrop and his followers left England in order "to improve their
lives" by fleeing persecution and "to serve the Lord better" by leaving behind them the sinful
environment of the socially fermenting England.
Feeling that God was departing from England, Puritans were also 'pulled' by a faith that God
was leading them from England to a promised land. They increasingly saw themselves to be
like unto the Children of Israel in the Old Testament who had been oppressed by the Egyptians.
And when Winthrop was chosen as leader of the exodus they immediately took him to be a
Moses to lead his people into the promised land.
The Puritan historian Cotton Mather writes that this refuge seeking company would have never
given up so much material wealth and faced so many hazards had not their hearts been inclined
by "a strange and strong impression from Heaven". These settlers of New England would never
have had the courage and the desire to risk so much without the unquestioning faith they had in
their calling and mission from God. Many Puritans left "merely on Account of Pure and
Undefiled Religion, not knowing how they should have their Daily Bread, but trusting in God for
that." The following exhortation to this faith, taken from Winthrop's discourse written on board
the Arbella under the title A Model of Christian Charity, gives us a real sense of their
unquestioning confidence.
The Lord will be our God, and delight to dwell among us as His own people, and will command
a blessing upon us in all our ways, so that we shall see much more of His wisdom, and power,
goodness and truth, than formerly we have been acquainted with. We shall find that the God of
Israel is among us, when ten of us shall be able to resist a thousand of our enemies; when He
shall make us a praise and glory that men shall say of succeeding plantations, "the Lord make it
like NEW ENGLAND."
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Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
Written by John Heikoop
It is the assured confidence that we see here expressed that filled them with the great zeal to go
forward not knowing whither they went. This faith in God gave these pilgrims a hope when the
way before them appeared hopeless. Thus it is clear that the Puritan faith was the vital force
responsible for both 'pushing' and 'pulling these Englishmen to the New England colonies. Had
the Puritans not possessed an assured trust in God they would not have responded to the
gloomy conditions in England with the under taking of such a zealous mission. And so filled
were these Pilgrims with the longing after the heavenly country of their God that they were
willing to surrender every comfort of England in order to secure their entrance.
John Heikoop is the principal of Rehoboth Christian School in Norwich, Ontario. He attends the
Netherlands Reformed Church in Norwich, ON, Canada.
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ENDNOTE REFERENCES:
1 Palfrey, John., History of New England Vol.1 (Boston, 1858) page 312.
2 Ibid., p. 312.
3 Bridenbaugh, Carl., Vexed and Troubled Englishmen, 1590-1642 (New York, 1968), p.
472-473.
4 Notestein, Wallace., The English People on the Eve of Colonization (New York, 1954) p.
264.
5 Bridenbaugh, Carl., Vexed and Troubled Englishmen, 1590-1642, I, p. 472-473.
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Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
Written by John Heikoop
6 Ibid., p. 355.
7 Ibid., chapter 10.
8 Rutman, Parrett. Winthrop's Boston (Raleigh, N.C., 1965) p. 5.
9 Bridenbaugh, Carl., Vexed and Troubled Englishmen, 1590-1642, I, p. 273.
10 Matthew 10: 24a (KJV.)
11 Winthrop, John., A Model of Christian Charity in The Norton Anthology of American
Literature Vol.1 (New York, 1985) p. 48.
12 Ecclesiastes 12: 13 (KJV.)
13 Rutman, Parrett. Winthrop's Boston, I, p. 21.
14 Bridenbaugh, Carl., Vexed and Troubled Englishmen, 1590-1642, I, p. 450.
15 Ibid., p. 439.
16 Ibid., p. 472.
17 Ibid., p. 460.
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Godly Zeal: The Main Factor in the Puritan Migration
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18 Winthrop, John., A Model of Christian Charity, I, p. 49.
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