They called it the Victorious Spirit-filled life. You got into it, they said, by total surrender to Jesus Christ (they assumed no one does this at conversion), and then looking to him whenever you felt sinful impulses stirring. ...
Though the Puritans have gained an unaesthetic reputation for banishing paintings and musical instruments from churches, closing theaters, etc., they were not—contrary to popular opinion—hostile to the arts themselves. Puritans associated art in churches with Catholicism, but they bought art for their homes. Oliver Cromwell owned an organ, and he hired an orchestra and held dancing at his daughter's wedding.
You can learn more about the English Puritans by visiting our archives.
Rescuing the Holy Pleasure of Music John Tyson lets the "other Wesley," Methodist hymn writer Charles, take center stage. Review by Jennifer Woodruff Tait
September 8, 1157: Richard I (Lion-Heart) of England, leader of the Third Crusade, is born (see issue 40: The Crusades).
September 8, 1565: Settlers form the first Roman Catholic Parish in America is formed in St.Augustine, Florida.
September 8, 1636: Massachusetts Puritans found Harvard College, America's first higher education institution, a mere six years after arriving from England. They founded the college to train future ministers (see issue 41: American Puritans).
September 8, 1845: English clergyman John Henry Newman converts to Roman Catholicism. Newman had been a leading member of the Oxford Movement, which aimed to reform the Church of England, but he became convinced that the Anglicans had lost their episcopal moorings and had wrongly severed themselves from apostolic succession.
