These early Puritans followed the writings of a French Protestant reformer named John Calvin (1509-1564), whose teachings saw the world as a grim conflict between God and Satan. Calvinists were a very introspective lot who constantly searched their souls for evidence that they were God’s Elect. The Elect were people chosen by God for salvation. According to Puritans, a merciful God had sent His son, Jesus Christ, to earth to die for the sins of man, but only a few would be saved. The rest, known as the “unregenerate,” would be damned eternally.
The Puritans who settled Massachusetts Bay Colony believed that all mankind was depraved and sinful because of Adam and Eve’s fall in the Garden of Eden. Because Adam and Eve were willful and disobedient to God, they brought upon mankind the curse of depravity, sometimes called Original Sin. For this reason, The New England Primer (1683), which was used to teach reading in Puritan schools, began with “A: In Adam’s Fall / We sinned all.” Most Puritans could be sure of eternal punishment in hell; the few that were “elect” would go to heaven.
