Who are the Puritans?

"Unless men see a beauty and delight in the worship of God, they will not do it willingly." - John Owen  

     For many the name “Puritan” brings up thoughts of someone who is overly concerned with being strict about religious matters or prudish and maybe even conceited. The opposite seems to be the truth and the Puritan’s reputation was one propagated on them by those who wished to disparage the Puritans and minimize their teachings and way of life. In fact, their opponents gave the name “Puritan” to them as a means of smearing them. Regardless, the name has stuck and I will call them Puritans, as does the author, (J. I. Packer) of the book I have been studying (A Quest for Godliness). By the way, the author has written this book, not only to tell us about the Puritans, but also to make a clear statement to the readers, that we need the Puritans today, to which I say, Amen!

      So who were the Puritans? Puritanism was a movement in 16^th and 17^th century England, which sought further reformation, and renewal in the Church of England. While, Luther, Calvin and others had brought reformation to the Church theologically, the Puritan movement was focused on taking the great truths of the Reformation and putting them into practice in the local church and everyday life. They did this with such precision, that a second nickname (also meant to be derogatory) was given to them, “Precisians”, for the preciseness with which they applied the Word of God in everyday life. In other word, they really believed that they should live exactly as the word of God commanded them. Imagine that! Some Puritan names that you may recognize are John Owen, Richard Baxter, John Bunyan, Matthew Henry, Richard Sibbes, Thomas Watson, and in America, Jonathan Edwards. While Packer acknowledges that the Puritans were not perfect, he refers to them, as the Redwoods of the Christians faith, referring to the California Redwood trees that grow to heights of 360 ft., are 60 feet around and thousands of years old. Their maturity in the Christian faith makes them tower above the rest of us, and that is why we have much to learn from them and their God-centered centered worship as opposed to today’s, (in many places in American) man-centered worship.

     What lessons can we learn from the Puritans? Packer lists 6 of them in his book. (These are brief summaries) First, there are lessons for us in the integration of their daily lives. There was no difference for them of church life and secular life. All life was to be for the glory of God.

     Secondly, there are lessons for us in the quality of their spiritual experience. They were conscientiously methodical about their relationship to God. They meditated on God’s word. They examined their life in the light of scripture.

     Third, they had a passion for effective action. No one could rightly accuse the Puritans of being dreamy or lazy. They were people of action. They were hardworking physically and spiritually. Prayer warriors in the extreme and they were relentless in pursuing a holy and godly life in a non-legalistic manner. They knew fully they were saved by grace, but did not accept sin in their life, but through the power of the spirit were devoted to ridding their life of sin.

     Fourth, there are lessons for us in their program for family stability. The Puritans got it right here, from selection of a mate to how to raise children in a way that is God honoring.

     Fifth, there are lessons to be gained from their sense of human worth. “Through believing in a great God (the God of Scripture, undiminished and undomesticated), they gained a vivid awareness of the greatness of moral issues, of eternity and of the human soul”(Packer).

      Sixth, there are lessons for us to be learned from the Puritan’s ideal of church renewal. Puritan preachers would preach for “reformation of the church”. What most people may not know is that by “reformation” they meant “revival” or “renewal”. The essence of this kind of reformation was “enrichment of understanding of God’s truth, arousal of affections for God, increase of ardour in one’s devotions, and more love, joy and firmness of Christians purpose in one’s calling and personal life.”

      The rest of Packer's book is fleshing out the above topics and it really is amazing. Some think of the Puritan's as "deep" in their theology and practice, but the word that comes to my mind is "rich". Rich like a banquet set out for us to come and eat and be filled, not by the Puritan's of course, but of the banquet of God's Word.

      There is so much more and I hope to share some of that in the future. I think there is much we can learn from the Puritans and they left us a lot of their work through their writings. (They never seem to have a lack of words, that's for sure)