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THOMAS MANTON a Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan

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Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 6 9/29/11 3:46 PM Thomas Manton Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 1 9/29/11 3:46 PM The Guided Tour Series Anne Bradstreet: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Poet, by Heidi L. Nichols J. Gresham Machen: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought, by Stephen J. Nichols Jonathan Edwards: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought, by Stephen J. Nichols Katherine Parr: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Reformation Queen, by Brandon G. Withrow Martin Luther: A Guided Tour of His Life and Thought, by Stephen J. Nichols Pages from Church History: A Guided Tour of Christian Classics, by Stephen J. Nichols Thomas Manton: A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Pastor, by Derek Cooper Stephen J. Nichols, series editor Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 2 9/29/11 3:46 PM Thom as Manton A Guided Tour of the Life and Thought of a Puritan Pastor DEREK COOPER R Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 3 9/29/11 3:46 PM © 2011 by Derek Cooper All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means—electronic, mechanical, photocopy, recording, or otherwise—except for brief quotations for the purpose of review or comment, without the prior permission of the publisher, P&R Pub- lishing Company, P.O. Box 817, Phillipsburg, New Jersey 08865–0817. Unless otherwise indicated, all Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version, copyright © 2001 by Crossway, a publishing ministry of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved. Italics within Scripture quotations indicate emphasis added. Page design by Lakeside Design Plus Printed in the United States of America Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Cooper, Derek, 1978- Thomas Manton : a guided tour of the life and thought of a Puritan pastor / Derek Cooper. p. cm. -- (The guided tour series) Includes bibliographical references (p. ) and indexes. ISBN 978-1-59638-213-8 (pbk.) 1. Manton, Thomas, 1620-1677. 2. Puritans--England--Clergy--Biography. I. Title. BX9339.M36C66 2011 285'.9092--dc23 [B] 2011031327 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 4 9/29/11 3:46 PM Dedicated to Steve Nichols Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 5 9/29/11 3:46 PM Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 6 9/29/11 3:46 PM CONTENTS Illustrations 9 Foreword by Carl Trueman 11 Acknowledgments 13 Part One. Manton in Context: A Seventeenth- Century English Preacher 1. The Servitor from Somerset, 1620–40 19 2. The London Presbyterian, 1640–56 39 3. The King of Preachers, 1656–77 59 Part Two. Manton as Biblical Interpreter: His Commentary on James 4. Manton and the Reformers on James 1:1: Jostling James into the Canon 83 5. Manton and the Puritans on James 2:14–26: Saving the Strawy Epistle 101 6. Manton and the Anglicans on James 5:14–16: Settling the Sacraments 121 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 7 9/29/11 3:46 PM C ONTENTS Part Three. Manton as Public Preacher: Selected Sermons 7. Manton as Minister: Learning How to Meditate 145 8. Manton as Public Figure: Living as a Christian Citizen 167 9. Manton as Preacher: Learning about Jesus and His Call to Denial 191 Appendices. Continuing the Journey: Manton’s Legacy and Works Appendix A. Manton’s Legacy: Puritan, Preacher, Public Theologian 209 Appendix B. Manton’s Works: A Guide for Future Reading 217 Bibliography 223 About the Illustrations 229 Index of Subjects and Names 233 Index of Scripture 240 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 8 9/29/11 3:46 PM ILLUSTR ATIONS 1.1 Portrait of Thomas Manton by Robert White 1.2 Picture of Wadham College, Oxford, where Manton attended college during the late 1630s 1.3 Portrait of King Charles I in 1648, who was taken prisoner during the English Civil War and beheaded for treason in 1649 by Parliament 2.1 Picture of Pride’s Purge, when Gen. Pride “purged” many members of Parliament from their seats 2.2 Portrait of Edmund Calamy, one of the authors of Smectymnuus, as well as a very active member of the Westminster Assembly and personal friend to Manton 2.3 Picture inside Westminster Hall, where Charles I was tried and sentenced to death 3.1 Portrait of John Owen, a contemporary of Manton’s who was a congregationalist 3.2 Picture of Charles II, whom Manton (and others) invited to return to become King of England in 1660 3.3 Portrait of William III, who became the King of England with his wife, Mary, in 1689 9 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 9 9/29/11 3:46 PM I LLUSTRAT I ONS 4.1 Portrait of Martin Luther by his friend Lucas Cranach 4.2 Portrait of John Calvin, the famous Protestant theo- logian of Geneva 5.1 Title page of Manton’s Commentary 6.1 Map of Virginia in the seventeenth century, where the Teackles lived 6.2 Title page for Luther’s The Babylonian Captivity of the Church, where he attacks the seven sacraments 6.3 Title page of the Authorized Version (KJV), which was used by countless theologians like Hammond 7.1 Portrait of Richard Baxter, a friend and colleague of Manton’s 8.1 Portrait of Oliver Cromwell, who ruled England during the 1650s 9.1 Medal of Ulrich Zwingli, the first Reformer to preach verse-by-verse on Sundays, rather than following the liturgy 10 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 10 9/29/11 3:46 PM FOREWORD or many Christians, the Puritans have become a staple of their everyday lives. It is perhaps strange Fthat men who lived so many hundreds of years ago still speak with such power to a generation raised on video games, computers, cell phones, and, more recently, texting, iPods, and iPads. Their popularity, therefore, is clearly not rooted in their compatibility with the tools of modern life; rather, it lies in the seriousness of their devotion and the greatness of the themes they engage. Human sinfulness, God’s grace, the glory of Christ, and the certainty of the life to come: these are all staples of Puritan literature, and they are of perennial interest to God’s people in all places and at all times. For all the renewed interest in the Puritans, many of them remain little known. The names of John Owen, Richard Baxter, and Thomas Watson are familiar to many, but a host of other figures of equal theological and pastoral acumen feature less frequently on reading lists. In part this is because of the complexity of their language. In an era of sound bites and tweets, the rolling, periodic sentences of the Puritans can make them difficult to read. It is also the result of the differences between their world and ours: for all the com- mon themes noted above, there is still something alien about seventeenth-century England. It is not the world of the twenty-first century. 11 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 11 9/29/11 3:46 PM F OREWORD Thus, it is a great pleasure to introduce this book by Derek Cooper. Dr. Cooper has done the church a great service by writing a clear and helpful introduction to the works of a Puritan who is perhaps less well known today than some of his contemporaries and yet who modeled the ideal of a Puri- tan pastor in so many ways. Thomas Manton was the com- plete package: a careful exegete, a passionate preacher, a churchman, a pastor, a theologian, a shepherd of souls. As with many other seventeenth-century figures, his writings are voluminous, and aspiring readers need a good map and guidebook to help them make their way through the some- times dense material. This is precisely what Dr. Cooper has provided. This book, excellent as it is, should not be the end of the story; it is rather aimed at whetting the reader’s appetite for Manton in particular and the Puritans in general. I have no doubt that it will do precisely that. Carl R. Trueman Westminster Theological Seminary, Pennsylvania March 2011 12 Cooper_Thomas Manton.indd 12 9/29/11 3:46 PM ACKNOWLEDGMENTS his book is the result of several years of research into the life and thought of Puritanism in general Tand Thomas Manton in particular. So when it comes to acknowledging those who have played an important role in the formation and completion of the book, it only makes sense to me to give thanks to Thomas Manton him- self! Although he has been dead for more than 300 years, I am thankful that he lived, and I certainly hope that this book faithfully represents his life and legacy. One of the greatest acts of love we show for others is to remember them; so the task of writing this book is actually an exercise in obeying Jesus’ command to love others. Besides Manton himself, I would additionally like to thank Marvin Padgett and the staff at P&R. I appreciate Marvin’s enthusiasm for the Puritans, his oversight of this project, and the friendliness of the P&R staff. Everyone in the process has been helpful and pleasant, and I am appreciative of their support. My gratitude also belongs to Brandon Withrow, who has been helpful in answering a host of questions on a variety of topics. My wife Barb always merits praise, and I am forever appreciative of her support of me and the work I do. In particular, I would like to thank Carl for writing the foreword to this book; I have learned a great deal about Puritanism from him.
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