Meeting with the Puritans

Last Wednesday to Friday, I was at the Puritan Conference. To think that I was this close to not going. I would have missed out on what was one of the most refreshing conference experiences I’ve been a part of.

I do love the Puritans and that era of church history (ca. 16th-17th cent. Great Britain). When I was learning about the doctrines of grace and going through seminary (about 20 years ago), I was introduced to the Puritans. And the first works I read were in the Banner of Truth series called “Puritan Paperbacks.” There was The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs, Mortification of Sin by John Owen, Prayer by John Bunyan, and others.

Reading the Puritans then led to others in their spirit – John Newton (read his letters), Jonathan Edwards (read Religious Affections), J.C. Ryle (read Holiness), Charles Spurgeon (read his sermons here), all the way down to D. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (my personal favorite speaker/author of the 20th century; read Spiritual Depression and Studies on the Sermon on the Mount).

So, there I was at the conference, in some ways, being reacquainted with the Puritans (I read them throughout the year but haven’t read one in a bit), and being reminded of why I love them.

There are many reasons why I do. But one of the biggest reasons why I keep going back to the Puritans is this: their emphasis on the heart and its affections in loving God.

To put it simply, the Puritans delighted in God. They enjoyed Him. They savored Him. They treasured Him. And that affectionate love (which is just biblical love) for Christ is very attractive because it makes our relationship with God real and experiential. 

This emphasis on our affections in relating to Christ gets to the core of what it means to live for Him. It’s not about just dutifully obeying Him (which we must), but it’s about dutifully obeying Him out of delight in Him — a delight or love sparked by His prior and ever-constant love for us (see 2 Cor 5:14-15…this is the Pauline theology of true obedience to God). John Piper’s message on Thursday particularly communicated this truth abundantly and spiritedly. 

But to quicken the affections and move our affections toward God, the mind has to be affected first. That’s why the Puritans centered their ministries on preaching the Scriptures carefully and thoroughly. That’s why they meditated, not just read or studied, the Scriptures. They knew that it was through internalizing the Scriptures that we behold the glory of Christ (2 Cor 3:18), taste His goodness (1 Pet 2:3), and grow in faith to continue abiding in Christ (Rom 10:17). 

Puritan George Swinnock (1627-1673) defined meditation as “a serious applying the mind to some sacred subject, till the affections be warmed and quickened, and the resolution heightened and strengthened thereby, against what is evil, and for that which is good.” 

The Puritans practiced a kind of meditation in front of their hearers – meditation on the majesties of God, on the severity of sin and judgment, and on the beauties of Christ. 

When you read them, you can feel their minds chewing on the “excellencies” of a sinner-calling God “who alone dwells in unapproachable Light” (1 Pet 2:9; 1 Tim 6:16), and you can feel the pulse of their hearts igniting in passionate longing for Him.

I love the Puritans because their relationship with God was not cold and static. It was full of praise, love, and wonder. It was deeply rooted in the Scriptures. And it exalted Christ above all else. 

I was reminded of these things at the conference. I was stirred not only to dive into the Puritans (and those like them) but to dive into God’s word and find in there my loving Father, sovereign, wise, and so, so good.

If you want your faith and worship helped, pick up a Puritan book. Let God use it to work on your heart’s affections…to drive you deeper into His Word and deeper into Christ.

Here are some recommendations (click on the titles):

The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment by Jeremiah Burroughs

The Heart of Christ by Thomas Goodwin

Prayer by John Bunyan

Mortification of Sin by John Owen

The Glory of Christ by John Owen

The Doctrine of Repentance by Thomas Watson