A Puritan

The religious reform movement that began in the first half of the 16th century swept across Europe. Martin Luther in Germany and Calvin in France became the leaders of the Reformation. Leaders of post-Christian Protestantism. In England at that time, due to the tyranny of the Anglican Church, the religious reform came belatedly, but the English believers were still influenced by Calvin's teachings. In 1524, the Englishman William Tyndale translated the New Testament into English. He can be said to be the first Puritan in England. The early Puritans wanted to live completely according to biblical principles, and obedience to the teachings of the Bible was their first priority. For example, Tyndale's goal was for every literate person in Britain to have a Bible. Historically, the Protestants in England, those who believed in Calvin's teachings and were dissatisfied with the teachings of the Church of England, were called Puritans. Due to the religious persecution in Britain, most of the Puritans fled to the United States, so when people talk about the Puritans, they generally refer to the Puritans in the United States.

The Puritans are not a sect, but an attitude, a tendency, and a value. It is a collective term for a group of believers. The Puritans are the most pious and holy Protestants. They believe that "everyone is a priest and everyone has a calling." It is believed that every individual can communicate directly with God and opposes the tyranny, corruption, red tape and formalism of the priest group. They advocate a simple, realistic life of believers in which everyone is equal before God.

The concept of profession truly appeared in human history during the Puritan era. The word for profession at that time was calling. Call means calling, calling. Calling means "calling, divine calling", which means that God calls you from heaven and commands you what kind of behavior you should do. The meaning of this word undoubtedly contains religious meaning: occupation is a vocation and a task arranged by God. This is the original definition of occupation.

In the understanding of the Puritans, a career is a task that is called, used, ordered, and arranged by the god in the dark, and completing this task is the responsibility of each individual's talent. and obligations, but also an act of thanking God for His calling. For example, God once called Abraham to be a pious and wealthy king. By faith, he finally fulfilled the call and became a wealthy and multiplied king of all nations. Now, God has also called the Puritans to open up the territory of North America and regard entrepreneurship in the United States as their vocation.

They also affirm real life, contrary to the world-weary concept, they believe: "The world is our monastery" (Calvin's language). The work in this world is our way of cultivating Taoism, it is a task arranged by God, and it is a sacred vocation. Everyone should enter the world to practice and do their work and life well in the world. This is to practice and worship, and to perform one's duty.

They also affirmed profit-making activities and believed that people are the custodians of God’s wealth. As custodians, they have the vocation to increase the value of wealth. As a Puritan leader named John Preston wrote in his book: "If anyone asks how he can know God's will for him, my answer is simple: just look at what God has given him. Give him an inheritance and it will be done.”

The Puritans are the spokespersons of entrepreneurship. They believe that people must be ascetic and frugal to start an industry. They restrict all indulgence, enjoyment and even consumption behavior, and use all consumer input and expenditure on productive investment and expanded reproduction, which will inevitably lead to the accumulation of capital and the development of industry. It is not indulgence and greed that accumulate wealth, but restraint and abstinence that increase social wealth.

The Puritans advocated commercial and industrial activities, were honest and trustworthy in business, valued credibility, and never deceived or cheated. Puritan entrepreneurs not only pursued profit maximization, but also had a sense of giving back to society, shouldering social responsibilities and supporting Social justice, made great contributions to social welfare undertakings, and assumed huge public welfare obligations.

The Puritans were full of confidence in everything. Whether they were engaged in commerce, trade or production and farming, they had the courage and confidence to overcome all difficulties and achieve extraordinary success. They were good at creation and innovation, and constantly explored and conquered. There is a lot of valuable spirit in them that is worth learning from.