Meet the Puritans

We are at the second of our reading the Puritan Paperback, Sermons of the Great Ejection . This title is a collection of nine sermons recalls one of the great turning points in English Christianity—when two thousand ministers were deposed from the established Church in what was called “ The Great...

We began last time looking at James Durham’s essay, "Concerning Ministerial Qualifications." The post ended with the thought that “it is not great talents God blesses so much as great likeness to Jesus.” Nevertheless gifts are necessary, and Durham in his essay outlined three things that are...

Do you know God? How easy it is for us to profess that we do merely with our lips. The visible church of Christ is full of people who profess to know God, but do we really? To know God is to have knowledge of him, to actually know something about him. But to know God is also to have a deep,...

John Flavel, Triumphing Over Sinful Fear (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011). 124pp. This is easily one of the most important Puritan books that I have read. It is deeply convicting, full of Christ, and loaded with sound pastoral wisdom on a vital, yet neglected topic. Flavel...

In relation to this week's "Meet a Purtian," you can download a 5-part mid-week teaching series I did through William Bates' treatise, The Divinity of the Christian Religion . You can download the audio and .pdf outlines here .

William Bates (1625–1699) Life William Bates was one of the most popular and esteemed preachers among the Nonconformists. A master of the Puritan "plain style" of preaching, his stress on piety earned him the name “silver-tongued.” He graduated from Queen’s College with a B.A. in 1645 and a M.A. in...

Thanks to our friends at Crossway , we have one (1) copy of J.I. Packer's, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life . The deadline for entering is three weeks from today, Friday, March 25. The winner will be announced Monday, March 28. Entry Form

In our continuing series on the Puritan vision for Christian zeal ( part 1 , part 2 ), we now take up how they described its characteristics. False Zeal First, they described authentic zeal over against false zeal. Oliver Bowles (d. 1674) exhorted to be diligent that zeal has the right stamp since...

Understanding the relationship between believers and the promises of salvation is not too difficult. The same cannot be said, however, with respect to the many warnings found throughout the Old Testament and New Testament. Do the curses, threatenings, and warnings apply to Christians or not? If so...

If I asked you the name of Noah’s wife, would you answer, "Joan of Ark?" Sadly, many would today. The level of biblical illiteracy today among the professing Christian church is sad. Recently arch-atheist Richard Dawkins commissioned his foundation to survey those who claimed to be Christian in the...