Holier than God, more Puritan than Puritans
We’ve pointed out in the past that it seems like the watch doggies out there try to be holier than God, now it looks like they’re more Puritan than the Puritans were.
Our beloved Puritan ancestors may have been merrier than we might suspect. In 1620, the Mayflower had intended to land in Virginia or New York. But after two months at sea, the provisions were running out. Plymouth was a second, but necessary choice. As William Bradford wrote in his “History of Plimouth Plantation”: “We could not take much time for further search, our victuals being much spent, especially beere.” Once they landed, building a brewery became a top priority. The Pilgrims had a miserable few months with no beer. Soon enough they were making beer from barley, hops, birch bark, spruce and corn (the latter a contribution from the Natives). Hard liquor of all kinds was consumed by the men. Women and children drank hard cider and “small beer”. Drinking to drunkeness was discouraged. But they thought it superior than drinking the risky water from wells and streams. The Puritans used the Geneva Bible which had fallen out of favor with the royalty because of its anti-aristocratic marginalia. The King James version corrected the errors, but the Puritans refused to use it. The Pilgrims have a reputation for being miserly. In fact, their insistence that everyone work and no one should live off the labor of another had brought disfavor in England. Their economic views were “too Catholick” for English of the day. The Pilgrims had adopted the medieval Catholic principles of “fair price” and “just wages”. New ministers were saluted with “ordination beer” to celebrate the event.
When John Harvard established his College in 1636, he insisted that an adequate brewhouse be built: one that could satisfy the needs of both the students and the faculty. In the 1700s, the courthouse of choice was the local tavern. Judge, jury, lawyers and accused would all partake liberally. (There is a rumor that US Courthouses close down business at 4:30 PM because the taverns open at 5 PM. I can’t confirm that this is true, though.) So, Sir Peter, enjoy our Puritan customs: go out on the beach and have a beer or two. (Just don’t drink so much you can’t find your way home.)
Oh my! Beer, hard liquor, Catholicism and capitalism. If the Puritans were around to speak for themselves today, do you think they’d make the watch doggies’ blogroll? I suspect not. In fact I think after reading all that the watch doggies would put together some sort of post about the Emergent, Neo-Liberal, Pelagian, Roman Anti-Christ, Cult of the Puritans. But since they can re-invent the past in their own image they quote our lovely, beer imbibing, fun loving Puritan brothers:
“Whatever religion or doctrine condones or makes allowances for sin is not of Christ. The Doctrine of Christ everywhere teaches self-denial and mortification of worldliness and sin. The whole stream of the gospel runs against those things. Scripture emphasizes the ‘holy’ and the ‘heavenly’ (not the sinful and the worldly). The true gospel has not even the slightest tendency to extol corrupt nature, or feed it’s pride by magnifying it’s freedom and power. And it rejects everything that undermines or obscures the merit of Christ, or tries to give any credit to man, in any way. And it certainly never makes the death of Christ a cloak to cover sin, but rather it always speaks of it as an instrument that destroys it!â€
Here, we see, yet again an example of the complete and total inability of the watch doggies to understand anything outside of their own context. They see a quote from a Puritan like the one above and assume that he would be on board with the watch doggies peculiar brand of “holiness”. There is absolutely no awareness that its possible to agree with the above quote and to disagree with the watch doggies, either in doctrine, the way that doctrine is expressed, or in lifestyle.
Whatever it is that compels the watch doggies to lash out at everyone who is not exactly like them also compels them to re-define their heroes of the past.
August 6th, 2007 at 11:32 am
…and of course, nothing in the second quote regarding the need for holiness prohibits one from enjoying a brewed beverage whilst being holy…
August 6th, 2007 at 12:34 pm
Tim,
Can you site an original source regarding the Putitans?
August 6th, 2007 at 12:37 pm
As a New Englander, it is well known that one of the first things the Pilgrims built when they got to MA was a brewery.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:41 pm
This may help explain Ted Kennedy?
August 6th, 2007 at 12:48 pm
Tim,
Can you site an original source regarding the Puritans?
Not sure what a Putitan is.
August 6th, 2007 at 12:53 pm
http://wch.uhs.wisc.edu/01-Prevention/01-Prev-Historical.html
Alcoholic beverages have been a part of the Nation’s past since the landing of the Pilgrims. According to the Alcohol and Public Policy: Beyond the Shadow of Prohibition, a publication commissioned by the National Institute on Alcohol Abuse and Alcoholism (NIAA) and prepared by the National Academy of Sciences, the colonists brought with them from Europe a high regard for alcohol beverages, which were considered an important part of their diet. Drinking was pervasive because alcohol was regarded primarily as a healthy substance with preventative and curative powers, not as in intoxicant. It played an essential role in rituals of conviviality and collective activity, such as barn raisings. While drunkenness was condemned and punished, it was viewed only an abuse.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:17 pm
You mean like William Bradford in “History of Plimouth Plantation�
August 6th, 2007 at 1:21 pm
William Bradford -
“We could not take much time for further search, our victuals being much spent, especially beere.”
Of course we all know that was nonalcoholic beer.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:34 pm
Matt B.,
exactly… just like that non-alcoholic wine that Jesus made…
Neil S.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:35 pm
I personally believe it is best to abstain in this western, alcohol abusing culture. However, with so much undiscovered about the glorious cross of our Lord and Savior Jesus, how can we make beer the line of demarcation of the Christian walk?
And which is worse, drinking a beer or being self righteous about not drinking? Some conversations hold up the diminutive aspects of our walk as the essence of following Christ. Jesus said that picking up our cross was the crucial element, and many avoid unfurling that truth since it only brings PERSONAL conviction and challenge.
August 6th, 2007 at 1:42 pm
I could not find the quote on the History of Plimouth Plantation page I found. Just curious where it came from, i.e. William Bradford book.
“We could not take much time for further search, our victuals being much spent, especially beere.â€
August 6th, 2007 at 1:54 pm
William Bradford was the leader and governor of the Plantation. You will have to go to your local library and get the book out.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:00 pm
http://www.mayflowerhistory.com/History/plymoth6.php
The primary beverage for everyone, including children, was beer. Wine may also have been drunk, as was aqua-vitae–a more potent alcohol. The occasional juice from a lemon was also taken, to prevent scurvy. The Pilgrims believed (and rightly so) that water was often contaminated and made people sick. The brewing and fermenting processes killed most of the parasites that caused these diseases.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:21 pm
Thanks Matt
August 6th, 2007 at 2:34 pm
Rick says, “And which is worse, drinking a beer or being self righteous about not drinking?”
What about, “And which is worse, not drinking a beer or being self righteous about drinking?”
August 6th, 2007 at 2:41 pm
Has anyone found an online version of the article that deals with Mr. Silva? I’d hate to have to buy a whole magazine just to read something about him. Matt, can you summarize it for us? You said, there was some errors? Email me, if you want to?
August 6th, 2007 at 2:44 pm
Was the water contaminated with Indian poop or what? Being that the industrial age still had a couple hundred years to come, I always read/heard the romanitisized notion that this time in America the water was pristine and free from contamination. I guess they hadn’t heard the song, “Hide The Beer, The Pastor’s Here!” from the Swirling Eddies.
August 6th, 2007 at 2:51 pm
Hi Joe:
They haven’t posted it yet. Perhaps you can go to the local library. Or ask a friend.
The author is David Aikman.
August 6th, 2007 at 3:53 pm
Amy - good point also.
August 6th, 2007 at 4:01 pm
Dude, me in the library is a fine waiting to happen.
August 6th, 2007 at 5:52 pm
The article with the blurb on Silva is a very fair assessment of websites like his, Slice, etc. Ken calls it a “hit piece” as opposed to what he writes but the bigger issue is one statement by the author of what unbelievers must think when they see that kind of stuff. I will admit that I don’t want unbelievers to see certain Christian sites at either extreme, but the point of the article as I see it is that Silva and Ingrid’s work is not ministry.
FYI, the author is David Aikman, professor at Patrick Henry College. http://www.davidaikman.com/Biography.asp
August 6th, 2007 at 7:19 pm
“but the point of the article as I see it is that Silva and Ingrid’s work is not ministry”
Amen and amen…
August 6th, 2007 at 9:22 pm
*ROTFL*
O Bob, stop…you’re killing me here!
August 6th, 2007 at 10:14 pm
There is a way that seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.
August 7th, 2007 at 8:01 am
Exactly why Puritan philosophy rarely works — separatism is where it’s at:)
August 10th, 2007 at 7:03 am
Amy
Perhaps the question ought to be:
Which is worse being self-rightous or not being self-righteous?