“Let us look on Him by faith, as one that hath had thoughts of kindness towards us from everlasting. It is misapprehension of God that makes any run from him, who have the least breathing wrought in them after him.”
- John Owen, Communion with God, (Carlisle, PA: Banner of Truth Trust, 2004), 32.
C.S. Lewis, born this day in 1898, comments on the Puritans:
“Relief and buoyancy are the characteristic notes . . . It follows that nearly every association which now clings to the word puritan has to be eliminated when we are thinking of the early Protestants. Whatever they were, they were not sour, gloomy, or severe; nor did their enemies bring any such charge against them . . . Fore More, a Protestant was one ‘dronke of the new must of lewd lightnes of minde and vayne gladness of harte’ . . . Protestantism was not too grim, but too glad, to be true . . . Protestants are not ascetics but sensualists.”
- C.S. Lewis, English Literature in the 16th Century, Pg. 34
“If a branch be so separated from the root and body of the vine, as that it receives not continual supplies of nourishment from them, if their influence into it, be by any means intercepted, it proceeds not in its growth, it brings forth no fruit, but is immediately under decay : it is so, saith our Saviour, with believers in respect unto him. Unless they have continual uninterrupted influences of grace, and spiritually vital nourishment from him, they can do nothing.”
- John Owen, Works of John Owen (Volume 3), Pg. 79
“We cannot prize Christ at too high a rate. We may prize other things above their value. That is our sin. We commonly overrate the creature; we think there is more in it than there is; therefore God makes our gourd wither, because we overprize it. But we cannot raise our esteem of Christ high enough; he is beyond all value. There is no ruby or diamond but the jeweler can set a fair price on it. He can say it is worth so much and no more. But Christ’s worth can never be fully known.”
- Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture
“If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: ‘God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.’ When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.”
- John Owen, Triumph Over Temptation, (Portland, OR: Multnomah Press, 2005), 165.
“Walk thankfully. The whole life of a Christian should be a life of thankfulness, 1 Pet. ii. 9. Eternal life is won by Christ’s fulfilling the condition of the covenant; it is received in the firstfruits of it, and possessed in Christ the head, by faith. What then remains but to express our thankfulness in a well-ordered life, for the unspeakable free gift?”
- Thomas Boston, Of the Covenant of Grace (Volume 1), Pg. 373
“That initial deliverance which believers have from their original pollution of sin is a matter and cause of everlasting thankfulness. When our Lord Jesus Christ cleansed the ten lepers, he manifests how much it was their duty to return unto him with their thankful acknowledgement, though nine of them failed therein, Luke xvii. 17. And when of old any one was cleansed from a carnal defilement, there was an offering enjoined him, to testify his gratitude.”
- John Owen, Pneumatologia, Chapter V.
CCEF’s David Powlison talks about how the Puritans can help us understand biblical counseling. Listen to the 20-minute audio.
Tony Reinke, a researcher and writer, blogs at Miscellanies, and is the author of Lit! A Christian Guide to Reading Books (Crossway: 2011). Tony is also an appreciator of the Puritans and helps us here with encouragement and direction.
What Puritan work have you most benefited from and why?
That’s an excellent question. Early in my Christian life I read the 2-volume works of Jonathan Edwards (Banner of Truth) which was life-transforming for me. His God-centered worldview has done more to shape my thinking than any other single theologian. So I would start there and say that his works were of the greatest benefit to me personally. I remember very clearly where I was sitting when I first discovered the biblical theme of the “splendor of God’s holiness” (see 1 Chr. 16:29, Pss 29:2, 96:9). Edwards pointed that out to me in his book Religious Affections. By God’s act of sovereign grace in our lives, the holiness and purity of God attracts us to Him. Now of course it’s not terribly uncommon for sinners to sense the power of God, or even to sense God’s holy anger toward sin. But to see God’s moral beauty and then to be attracted to it, to have a heart kindled in desire for Him in his glorious holiness — that can only be explained by the presence of saving grace in the heart. The attractiveness of God’s moral beauty reshapes everything about the Christian life, the goal of missions, what we look for in a spouse, our understanding of Heaven, all of our duties on earth, and why we pursue personal holiness in the first place. We begin to see and treasure the holiness of God reflected in the saints that we worship with on Sunday. It all comes back to this: God is holy, and his holiness is the pinnacle of beauty. The implications are life-changing and all-embracing.
J.I. Packer once wrote that the Reformers were classic theologians; the Puritans were classic pastors and spiritual guides. That seems to be a good way of locating the Puritans in the sweep of Church history. The Puritans are also theologically minded, but they sought to work out reformed theology in the practices and priorities of daily life. They were theologically driven men and women who pursued holiness with seriousness, but also with joy. In fact they rightly believed joy and holiness were inseparable. Puritan John Flavel once wrote, “Holy joy is the oil that makes the chariot-wheels of the soul free to follow the Lord.” In fact I think the work of sanctification is mostly the pursuit of finding delight in what reflects God’s holy character (Ps 40:8). Or to put this more technically, as does Thomas Goodwin, “Holiness is a disposition to be for God, even as God is for himself.” Or as Edwards asks, “Is corruption so far killed in us that we can obey the commands of God with pleasure?” Sin keeps us from true delight. In the pages of these ancient books, the Puritans continue to hold out to us eternal delight in God.
Caution is wise here. I would not recommend a first time reader jump headlong in a multi-volume series of collected works, especially any modern reader who appreciates a section break here or there. Edwards and Goodwin would also be rough. I would suggest four initial options: (1) Consider reading a book about the Puritans. Packer, The Quest for Godliness and Ryken, Worldly Saints are two great places to begin. (2) Consider reading a compilation of the best Puritan prayers: The Valley of Vision. (3) Consider picking up a very, very short “Pocket Puritan” booklet, especially the ones on faith, heaven, heart, speech, and anger. (4) Finally, consider reading a title from the “Puritan Paperback” series. These books run about 150 pages in length and are modernized and often abridged. My favorites include: Goodwin, The Heart of Christ; Owen, The Glory of Christ; Owen, Communion with God; Owen, The Mortification of Sin; and Sibbes, The Bruised Reed.
“Every man is most concerned in that which is his great end; the bringing about of that is of most importance to him; the great exercise of his thoughts is, whether he shall succeed as to this or not. The chief end of believers is, the glory of God. This, I say, is so, or ought to be so. For this purpose they were made, redeemed to this purpose, and purchased to be a peculiar people. Now, the Scripture everywhere teaches, that the great means of our glorifying God, is by our humble walking with him, according as it was before described. John xv. 8, ‘Herein is my Father glorified, that ye bear much fruit.’ You may have many thoughts that God is glorified by works of miracles, and the like, amazing and dazzling the eyes of the world. Be it so; but in the most eminent manner, it is by your bearing fruit.”
- John Owen, Works of John Owen (Volume 16), Pg. 210
