When you hear the word "Puritan," what comes to mind? For most people, who may not be as familiar with church history as we generally are, the word Puritan has associations of prudishness and uptight morality. We even have a word for it - "puritanical." It is true that they, as a rule, took matters of Christian ethics very seriously. But sometimes the general, secular reputation is undeserved. And sometimes their devotion to biblical morality plays out in surprising ways. I was reminded of one example of this while thinking about the business of church discipline and excommunication. Somewhat famously and surprisingly, there is record of a Puritan church excommunicating one of its members for his sexual activity - or lack thereof. One particular married church member came to the idea that it was sinful for him to sleep with his wife. When the church caught wind of it, they actually held trial and brought him under discipline for refusing his wife her conjugal rights.

Mark Dever writes of the infamous case; “On the other hand, one of the most famous facts about the Puritans is that they worked to encourage, and even enforce, sexual relations between spouses. So, “If a husband deserted his wife and remained within the jurisdiction of a Puritan government, he was promptly sent back to her” (Morgan, “Puritans and Sex,” 604). Over sixty years ago, Edmund Morgan’s research unearthed a case in the First Church of Boston where James Mattock was excommunicated because “he denied conjugal fellowship unto his wife for the space of 2 years together upon pretense of taking Revenge upon himself for his abusing of her before marriage” (Cited by Morgan, “Puritans and Sex,” 593). Either for engaging in sex with the wrong person, or for engaging too little with the right person, sex was regarded as a matter easily beset by sin.”

You can recall this the next time you hear someone being accused of being "puritanical."