What was the "errand"?

“You have solemnly professed before God, Angels and Men, that the Cause of your leaving your Country, Kindred and Fathers houses, and transporting your selves with your Wives, Little Ones and Substance over the vast Ocean into this waste and howling Wilderness, was your Liberty to walk in the Faith of the Gospel with all good Conscience according to the Order of the Gospel, and your enjoyment of the pure Worship of God according to his Institution, without humane Mixtures and Impositions.”

According to Danforth, the Puritans’ purpose was twofold: liberty of conscience and purity of religion.

I’d like to focus on the second purpose. After all, they’re called “Puritans” for a reason!

Purity of religion is not primarily a negative goal—one focused on exclusion. Rather, it is primarily a positive goal, focused on attainment of an ideal…an ideal that simply does not coexist with certain opposing elements—most notoriously, heretics.

First and foremost, religious purity is concerned with the soul. Danforth reminds his congregation of spiritual disciplines for the health of church and soul.

In his lengthy list of actions taken against inner enemies of purity, Danforth addresses just two sentences to protecting from outer enemies: “What fervent zeal was there then against Sectaries and Hereticks?” and “What holy Endeavours were there…zealously opposing those that denied [the Lord and his holy Covenant]?”
When I encounter heretics in future posts, I’d like to keep in mind that “pure Worship of God” is a substantial reality this community worked to enjoy.

(By the way, italics are Danforth’s—he and his contemporaries were much more generous with italics and capitalization than our stingy modern grammar-books allow.)