The Radical Puritan Parents of Plymouth Colony

We’re all familiar with the story of the first Thanksgiving, and the Pilgrims who settled the Plymouth colony in Massachusetts. We know that the Mayflower Compact they signed on board their ship was the precursor to the American Revolution. We know that these men and women were Puritans, intent on worshiping God in a simple, Protestant fashion.

But did you know? They were also radical Christian parents.

Who Were the Puritans?

In the years after the Protestant Reformation came to England, Protestants began to see that the new Church of England was still very much like the Roman Catholic Church in practice. Queen Elizabeth was a Protestant Queen, but she passed two acts that spurred the Puritan movement:

“The first was the Act of Supremacy, which established the monarch as the head of the Church of England, and vested in her the power to rule and reform the church. The second was the Act of Uniformity, which required that all Englishmen should give religious obedience to the established Church of England. This obedience involved accepting the ‘episcopal’ form of government (bishops, priests and deacons) and also the set liturgical forms of worship.” (Read a more complete history here.)

In this atmosphere, English Christians did not have freedom of worship or freedom of speech. They sought a “purer” form of Christianity, without the outward trappings of the Roman-influenced church. For this, they became known as Puritans. Because of their resistance to the Church of England, many of these Puritans suffered harassment and arrest. It became so severe that a group of them sought exile in Holland. It is these Puritans that we fondly refer to as the Pilgrims.

In the years 1609-1620, the Pilgrims tried to make their home in Leyden, Holland. But it was not what they had hoped. It was from Leyden that they embarked on their next adventure: America.

The Radical Puritan Parents of Plymouth Colony

In his book, Of Plymouth Plantation, William Bradford, Governor of the Plymouth colony, describes several reasons for this removal. One of those reasons might surprise you:

“But still more lamentable, and of all sorrows most heavy to be borne, was that many of the children, influenced by these [difficult physical] conditions, and the great licentiousness of the young people of the country, and the many temptations of the city, were led by evil example into dangerous courses, getting the reins off their necks and leaving their parents. Some became soldiers, others embarked upon voyages by sea and others upon worse courses tending to dissoluteness and the danger of their souls, to the great grief of the parents and the dishonor of God. So they saw their posterity would be in danger to degenerate and become corrupt.”

In their desire to raise their children away from such dangers, they picked up everything and embarked on a six week ocean voyage to an unknown land of wilderness and Indians. They had very little knowledge of this new world, its weather, terrain, people, vegetation, or possibilities. They arrived on these shores with no clear direction, in winter, with no friends or shelter to welcome them.

But it was worth it to them to protect their children and save their souls. For the Puritans, “child-rearing was rooted in the conviction that children belong to God and are entrusted to parents as stewards of God’s precious gift. ‘Behold, children are a heritage from the Lord, the fruit of the womb is a reward,’” (Psa. 127:3). (Children in the Puritan Home, Reformation Zambia)

What a humbling example! They suffered many hardships and losses, but their steadfastness to God’s word and its principles also produced some of the greatest men and women in history. Throughout the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, Puritan descendants dominated American culture.

Increase Mather, born in Massachusetts and a member of the first generation of Pilgrim children, wrote:

“Look to your families. Families are the nurseries for church and commonwealth; ruin families, and ruin all. Order them well and the public state will fare the better; the great wound and misery of New-England is that families are out of order. As to the generality of householders, family government is lost and gone; . . . Children do not honor their parents, in that respect the English are become like unto the Indians. . . . they that have families, should learn to be diligent in instructing of them, whilst they have an opportunity so to do; and this is the way to prevent apostasy, for ignorance is the mother (not of devotion but) of heresy.” (A Call from Heaven to the Present and Succeeding Generations, 1679)

Imagine what he would say to us today!

The Puritan Example in 21st Century America

Among Christian families, there is a refreshing and growing movement to separate our children from worldly influence. For more than two decades, homeschooling has continued to grow in popularity. Some families have chosen to forsake youth groups and children’s church, knowing that even in a church setting the influences can be undesirable. Careful monitoring of internet use and smart phones are both seen as extreme.

Your family might be one in which decisions regarding your children shock and offend even the most well-meaning friends and relatives. God gave you these children, entrusting them to your care. It’s such a huge responsibility, as our Puritan ancestors knew. Because our children are from God, we only answer to God.

As a parent in the twenty-first century, it can seem that every decision you make forces you to explain your actions, and you may feel as though you are swimming upstream in a raging river. Dear parent, keep swimming. You are not the first, and you are not alone. We are in a desperate battle for the hearts and minds of our children right now.

Next time you question the sanity of your decisions or are accused of “sheltering” your children from society, hold your head up, smile, and remember the Pilgrims.