Puritans have had some bad press throughout the years. Often they have been ridiculed by Christians and seculars alike for their seeming legalism and hypocritical attitude, but they also had some of the most interesting beliefs of the early religious groups. "They sought an intellectual, moral, and spiritual "clean-up" of institutionalized Christianity. Their standard of purity was the Bible. The most comprehensive, but a concise articulation of their ideology is the Westminster Confession of Faith" (Gatis 1). They had goals to achieve. They wanted to frame their whole lifestyle on the word of God. They also wanted to assert every bit of their ideology by the Bible. Puritans were very reverent to the Bible as inspired by God. Their attitude was in complete submission, to them what the Bible said, God said (Brow 4). They believed that by adherence to this basis would remove them from the chance of heresy. The Holy Scripture was their foundation. Upon this, they built their whole theology, society, and government. Puritan ideology consisted of a staunch belief in Calvin's Institutes, covenant relationships, and a theocracy.
             Theology is extremely essential to every religion's dogma. The Puritans happened to base a large portion of theirs on John Calvin's teachings (much of which is in the Westminster Confession of Faith). Puritans adhered to the basic sinfulness (or depravity) of man, and the fact that some will be chosen through the righteousness of Christ despite their transgressions. No man can be sure in this life what his destiny will be (Puritanism 1). That statement summed up the basic elements of Calvin. Within the basic points there are specialized points of Calvin, which were strictly held by the Puritans. These are also reiterated in the Westminster Confession of Faith. For convenince, the quotations shall be stated from there as opposed to the lengthy and difficult Institutes.
             The first point of ...