Puritans believed that a church consisted of men and women who had entered a solemn covenant with one another and with God. Winthrop and others who signed the covenant of the first Boston church in 1630 agreed to “Promisse, and bind our selves, to walke in all our wayes according to the Rule of the Gospell, and in all sincere Conformity to His holy Ordinaunces.” Each new member of the covenant had to persuade existing members that she or he had fully experienced conversion.

Puritans embraced a distinctive version of Protestantism derived from Calvinism, the doctrines of John Calvin, who insisted that Christians strictly discipline their behavior to conform to God’s commandments announced in the Bible. Like Calvin, Puritans believed in predestination—the idea that the all-powerful God, before the creation of the world, decided which few human souls would receive eternal life. Only God knows the identity of these fortunate predestined individuals—the “elect” or “saints.” Nothing a person did in his or her lifetime could alter God’s choice or provide assurance that the person was predestined for salvation with the elect or damned to hell with the doomed multitude.

Despite the looming uncertainty about God’s choice of the elect, Puritans believed that if a person lived a rigorously godly life—constantly winning the daily battle against sin—his or her behavior was likely to be a hint, a visible sign, that he or she was one of God’s chosen few. Puritans thought that “sainthood” would become visible in individuals’ behavior, especially if they were privileged to know God’s Word as revealed in the Bible.

The connection between sainthood and saintly behavior, however, was far from certain. Some members of the elect, Puritans believed, had not heard God’s Word. One reason Puritans required all town residents to attend church services was to enlighten anyone who was ignorant of God’s Truth. The slippery relationship between saintly behavior and God’s predestined election caused Puritans to worry constantly that individuals who acted like saints were fooling themselves and others. Nevertheless, Puritans thought that visible saints—persons who passed their demanding tests of conversion and church membership—probably were among God’s elect.

Members of Puritan churches ardently hoped that God had chosen them to receive eternal life and tried to demonstrate saintly behavior. Their covenant bound them to help one another attain salvation and to discipline the entire community by saintly standards. Church members kept an eye on the behavior of everybody in town. By overseeing every aspect of life, the visible saints enforced a remarkable degree of righteous conformity in Puritan communities. Total conformity, however, was never achieved. Ardent Puritans differed among themselves, and non-Puritans shirked orthodox rules, such as the Roxbury servant who declared that “if hell were ten times hotter, [I] would rather be there than [I] would serve [my] master.”

Despite the central importance of religion, churches played no direct role in the civil government of New England communities. Puritans did not want to mimic the Church of England, which they considered a puppet of the king rather than an independent body that served the Lord. They were determined to insulate New England churches from the contaminating influence of the civil state and its merely human laws. Ministers were prohibited from holding government office.

Puritans had no qualms, however, about their religious beliefs influencing New England governments. As much as possible, the Puritans tried to bring public life into conformity with their view of God’s law. For example, fines were issued for Sabbath-breaking activities such as working, traveling, playing a flute, smoking a pipe, and visiting neighbors.

Puritans mandated other purifications of what they considered corrupt English practices. (See “Visualizing History.”) They refused to celebrate Christmas or Easter because the Bible did not mention either one. They outlawed religious wedding ceremonies; couples were married by a magistrate in a civil ceremony. They banned cards, dice, shuffleboard, and other games of chance, as well as music and dancing. “Mixt or Promiscuous Dancing . . . of Men and Women” could not be tolerated since “the unchaste Touches and Gesticulations used by Dancers have a palpable tendency to that which is evil.”