âThe Puritans, as a body, have done more to elevate the national character than any class of Englishmen that ever lived. Ardent lovers of civil liberty, and ready to die in its defenseâmighty at the council board, and no less mighty in the battlefieldâfeared abroad throughout Europe, and invincible at home while unitedâgreat with their pens, and no less great with their swordsâfearing God very much, and fearing men very littleâthey were a generation of men who have never received from their country the honor that they deserve.â
âJ.C. Ryle (introduction to Thomas Mantonâs Works, 2:xi)