examples of puritans rules ?

The Puritans are a much maligned and misunderstood lot! Very few of their critics seem to know that in England, the Puritan movement produced such men as Henry Briggs, Henry Gellibrand and John Wilkins, who devoted themselves to discovery and learning. Briggs and Gellibrand were professors at Gresham College, London, which was strongly Puritan. There, in 1645, Theodore Haak, inspired by the Moravian educator J. A. Comenius, commenced informal gatherings which became the Royal Society of London in 1661. Seven of the ten scientists who formed the nucleus of those meetings were Puritans. In 1663 62% of the Royal Society were clearly Puritan by origin, at a time when Puritans were only a small minority in England.

Well, the Puritans believed in the Bible as being the inspired word of God, and they would endeavour to abide by the rules set down in the Ten Commandments. You could list all ten of those as rules (as in Exodus 20 verses 1-17) as ones they strove to follow.

The Puritans of England and the New England colonies were followers of Zwingli's and Calvin's Reformed theology. The New England Puritans, unhindered by the church and state laws of England, began requiring candidates for membership to go beyond merely making a confession of orthodox Calvinist belief to giveing detailed accounts of their conversions and displaying the signs of grace in their lives. They did not emphasize feelings; they distrusted psychological states. They looked for evidence of contrition for sin, repentance, belief, trust and assurance of forgiveness. They did not seek perfection of life but wanted to observe earnest dedication to the church, orderly participation in society, solid family life and genuine interest in hearing and studying Scripture.

Because they were so keen on purity in the church, this led to a severity of standards that put them in danger of the ancient heresy of the Donatists (4th & 5th centuries, North Africa). Even the Scottish Presbyterians and moderate English Puritans looked askance at their brethren in New England and considered them sectarian for their separatistic and seeming perfectionistic beliefs and practices. "Trust [God] and obey" was a sort of unwritten law for them, which all Christians should agree with, but a high degree of obedience to rules and regulations stated by church leaders can easily tip people into a legalistic stance. However, the Puritans struck this balance:

They maintained that God's covenant of grace was His to initiate and maintain. In order to be "in the covenant", they had to be visibly converted and growing in signs of sanctification - in other words, co-operating with the requirements of that covenant of grace. This leads us to their ideal of a Christianized society.

This was known as theonomy, or "kingdom now theology." That is, God had promised in the covenant not only to bless individuals, families and the church but also human society if it will strive for godliness in its order. They viewed the church as the "new Israel" with the kingdom of God promised to it if it permeates all of human society and brings social structures into conformity with God's law. Although there was a dark side to this Puritan effort to create God's kingdom on North American soil, what is seldom taught is how the Puritan ideal entered into the mainstream of American life in both religious and secular forms. Jonathan Edwards (1740s) brought them back on to the right lines. He called them to treat the inhabitants there with justice and love and to pay the Indians for lands taken from them, going to live amongst them. Personal piety could be said to be one of the great hallmarks of Puritans.

On Sundays you must: go to church, pray to God, give to the poor, eat simple food, devote yourself to God

You are banned from: gambling, drunkenness and swearing, parties without permission, basically fun.

Other Rules: Hard work is the key to gaining a place in heaven....

You must live a simple life as Jesus did

Hope I helped, Lacey xxx