Faith and Devotion in Puritan Life
... Reading the Bible was necessary to living a pious life. The education of the next generation was important to further “purify” the church and perfect social living. Puritan life was hard and had many rules and regulations. They avoided anything luxurious or flashy. Also, they did not allow such entertainment of any sort in their lives such as dancing or attending parties. However, they had their own entertainment at funerals which they enjoyed food and drink. Even public punishment on the village screen was considered entertainment. (Smith, start 11) The most important day of the week was Sunday, the Sabbath. On Sabbath meetings were the center of religious life anyone who did not attend them was fined (Smith, par. 11). Though, Puritans had come to the New World for religious freedom, they did not allow religious freedom. Puritans seemed stern and joyless. However, without such self-sacrifice, they would have failed in such a wilderness. Next, is the directness of life they lead. They had strict prayer, and physical and social submission to the duty of the Lord. They valued themselves above others because they felt that they were representatives of God. (Kizer, start 8) Most often they saw themselves as compassionate, forgiving people, who believed that no matter what the crime; a man could do right in the eyes of God as long as he or she admitted their wrong to God (Kizer, par. 8). Any deviations from the normal way of Puritan life met with strict disapproval and discipline lead to an after life in hell chosen by God. Following the Puritan way of life is the daily routine and how God was worshipped in the eyes of William Byrd. Each day for Byrd was continuously filled with regiment. He was a man of dark secret, and revealed little about his private intimate thoughts which resulted in his secret diary. Being such a high ranking official Byrd’s secret thoughts could not be revealed. Each entry began with his awakening in the early hours of the morning in which he carried out many of the same practices. Whether it was reading, Hebrew, Greek, Latin, saying his prayers, going to court, or eating breakfast he habitually accomplished a task that was for his own contentment and pleasure. “I said my prayers, and ate milk for breakfast.” (Byrd 265) Byrd almost always states this in the beginning of each entry suggesting that he had some habit he followed each morning. Even though he says his prayers, it doesn’t infer that his life revolved around God, but that he was thankful for each day and went about his duties in a manner that pleased him. His way of life and daily events did not depend on what God wanted him to do or be, but rather on what he wanted for soul satisfaction. Byrd was not a loyal man to his wife. He frequently made his women slaves kiss and fondle him when he asked them to. His wife knew of these regular happenings with these women slaves. In return his wife would punish the women slaves for fondling her husband. She would either burn them with a hot iron or whip them. Punishing the women made herself feel better, and this was a way for her to vent the anger built up inside for her husband not being faithful to her. Furthermore, Byrd was a very hypocritical man. He would ravish house servants on a repeated basis, but when another man would be tried in court for the same wrong action he had taken part in, he considered himself lucky that he never go caught. Never getting caught, made himself think that it was because he was loyal and worshipped the word of God, but realistically he was just lucky. His nonchalant attitude was unappealing, and showed that his arrogance was a major turnoff. At the end of each evening Byrd would eat his broiled beef and say, “I said my prayers and had good health, good thoug...