Introduction. Puritan background ; Language of religious symbolism -- Puritan religion. Function of symbolism in normative Puritan theology ; Puritan symbolism in religion until 1800 ; Puritan theology, symbolism and imagery ; Symbolic mediacy and immediacy in New England: religion and art ; Symbolic stonecarving: a study in realized eschatology ; English burial rituals ; burial rituals in New England -- Iconography. New England funerary art ; Repertory of symbols