Do you think the puritans believed they had full control over their own lives?

The Puritans believed in personal, as well as collective, self-government within each community or settlement. Their belief in self-government gave them local control over both religious and political matters. The well-known New England town meeting was proof of their idea of self-government.

Explanation:

First, the Puritans believed that all people were corrupt and inherently evil while God embodied perfection.He thought that God was peripheral and not directly involved in man's life, and this led him to believe that men were responsible for improving the state of their existence.

Explanation:

You are looking at something that is NOT medical, although if you are studying with someone who looks at everything as a symbol, efface also has a medical meaning that a teacher might tell you is a symbol.

The simple and best meaning for efface is to erase. That is what is happening in this passage. The gravestones are erased and the lies told about the person buried by their relatives, is removed. In its place are the true facts of at least part of their lives.