Worship: Learning from the Puritans Joel R

Worship: Learning from the Puritans Joel R. Beeke

John Calvin (1509–1564), the great Reformer of Geneva, believed that worship is the soul of a righteous life; it is one of the twin pillars of Christianity, the other being the gospel of Jesus

1 2 Christ. Puritan worship, at its core, is Reformed, Calvinistic worship. William Perkins (1558–1602), one of the fathers of the Puritan movement, gave this definition of worship: “The worship or service of God is, when upon the right knowledge of God, we freely give him the honor that is proper to him, in our hearts according to his own will.”3 In tracing out the beautiful, biblical principles of Puritan worship, I will present its foundation, its rule, its mechanics, and its spirit.

The Foundation of Puritan Worship: Knowing God in Christ Stephen Charnock (1620–1680), a gifted Puritan pastor and theologian, said that we cannot worship God unless we consider Him worthy of worship, and we cannot consider Him worthy of

4 worship unless we know Him in Christ. That involves three important things: First, we must know the gospel of Jesus Christ. The foundation of Puritan worship is grounded in the gospel. Jeremiah Burroughs (c. 1600–1646), a Puritan minister known for his peaceable spirit, wrote a book aptly titled Gospel Worship. He said that in worship we draw near to God (Ps. 95:2, 6; 100:2), and no man can come unto Him but through Christ (John 14:6).5 All men owe God their worship, for nature itself reveals God as the Creator that obligates

6 us to glorify Him (Rom. 1:21). Worship is God’s right by creation (Ps. 100:2–3). In worship we 7 give God the honor a creature owes his Creator. But since the fall of Adam, no man can give

1 Calvin, Institutes, 2.8.11; The Necessity of Reforming the Church, trans. Henry Beveridge (London: W. H. Dalton, 1843), 7. See Carlos M. N. Eire, War against the Idols: The Reformation of Worship from Erasmus to Calvin (Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 1986), 198–200. 2 Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology: Doctrine for Life (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012), 663–66. 3 William Perkins, A Warning against the Idolatry of the Last Times. And an Instruction Touching Religious, or Diuine Worship (London: Iohn Legat, 1601), 176. Since I am citing the latter portion of Perkins’s work, henceforth it will be cited as Diuine Worship. 4 Stephen Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, in The Complete Works of Stephen Charnock (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1864), 1:285. I quote his “Discourse upon Spiritual Worship.” 5 Jeremiah Burroughs, Gospel-Worship: or, The Right Manner of Sanctifying the Name of God (London: for Peter Cole and R. W., 1648), 26. 6 Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:288, 321. 1

8 God true worship apart from Jesus Christ. Romans 10:14 says, “How then shall they call on him in whom they have not believed? And how shall they believe in him of whom they have not heard? And how shall they hear without a preacher?” We must know God both in His nature and in His covenant of grace as our God through Christ Jesus. Thomas Watson quipped, “In every

9 part of our worship we must present Christ to God in the arms of faith.” Without the gospel our worship falls into idolatry. Perkins said that when we do not know God rightly, we do not

10 worship Him rightly, but worship the idols of our minds or devils. Galatians 4:8 says, “Howbeit then, when ye knew not God, ye did service unto them which by nature are no gods.” Second, we must know ourselves as graciously redeemed and adopted children of God. We must know God, and we must know ourselves as the gospel portrays us—sinners worthy of

11 damnation, but in Christ, adopted sons of God according to His great mercies. Guilty consciences have little inclination to draw near to God in worship, for guilt makes God’s

12 presence frightening to us. By faith in the gospel, we worship as forgiven children of the Father. Christ taught that our worship is especially directed to God as Father (John 4:23). Arthur Hildersham (1563–1632), a great Puritan preacher, said that “the better a man is persuaded and assured of God’s fatherly love to him in Christ, the better service he shall do unto him,” for only then can we know that our worship is acceptable to God and so serves Him with childlike love and reverence.13 Third, we must know God, ourselves, and the glorious gospel experientially. Our knowledge must be not just in the head, Perkins said, but a spiritual “sense” or experiential knowledge of the grace and love of God, occasioned by a “sight” of our sins and “feeling” of our

14 spiritual misery, for that alone “breeds in us the true worship of God.” In other words, the foundation of worship is an experiential knowledge of the gospel of Jesus Christ. When the gospel comes home to the heart, then we are prepared to worship. The Puritan view of worship was rooted in the Reformation’s insight that Christ is our only Mediator with God. Calvin wrote, “Since no man is worthy to present himself to God and

7 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 27. 8 Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:299. 9 Cited in John Blanchard, comp., The Complete Gathered Gold (Darlington, Eng.: Evangelical Press, 2006), 686. 10 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 179. 11 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 176–77. 12 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 31–32. 13 Arthur Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn (London: by G. M. for Edward Brewster, 1629), 176–77. 14 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 176–77. 2 come into his sight, the Heavenly Father himself, to free us at once from shame and fear, which might well have thrown our hearts into despair, has given us his Son, Jesus Christ our Lord, to be

15 our advocate and mediator with him.” Thus Christ is our worship leader. Calvin said that it will “lead us most fervently to praise God, when we hear that Christ leads our songs, and is the chief

16 composer of our hymns.” Let us therefore depend upon Christ that our worship may be pleasing to God. Calvin wrote, “Let us learn to wash our prayers with the blood of our Lord Jesus Christ.”17 This then is the foundation of Puritan worship: knowing a reconciled God through the gospel of Jesus Christ. How precious it is to worship God through the Mediator! Burroughs said that “Christ takes us by the hand” and brings us into the presence of God so we can offer up our

18 worship. Hildersham exulted, “Such is the wonderful goodness of God to them whom he loves in Christ, such is the delight that he takes in his own graces, in the fruits of his own Spirit” that “he takes marvelous delight in our poor services we do unto him.”19

The Rule of Puritan Worship: Scriptures’ Regulative Principle When we build on the foundation of the gospel, what rule should govern what we build upon it? By rule I mean what controls, regulates, and fills what we say and do in worship. For the Puritans, the answer to this question was easy: since they strove to order all of life by Scripture, it was natural for them to be convicted that all of worship must be ordered by Scripture. Since worship is service given to the King of kings for His pleasure and honor, and that King is Christ who supremely honors His Word, all our worship, the Puritans said, must be in obedience to His Word. Calvin taught that the church has one King, our Savior Jesus Christ, and He is “the sole

20 lawgiver of his own worship.” For the Puritans, too, cleaving to Christ as our Lord means submitting to the rule of His Word in our worship, and opposing humanly-devised worship.21

15 Calvin, Institutes, 3.20.17. 16 John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Hebrews, trans. John Owen (Edinburgh: Calvin Translation Society, 1853), 67 [Heb. 2:12]. 17 John Calvin, Sermons on Election and Reprobation (Audubon, N.J.: Old Paths, 1996), 210. See David B. Calhoun, “Prayer: ‘The Chief Exercise of Faith,’” in A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes, 358. 18 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 27. 19 Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 186. 20 Calvin, Institutes, 4.10.23; cf. 4.10.1. 21 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 179; Horton Davies, The Worship of the American Puritans, 1629–1730 (New York: Peter Lang, 1990), 29. 3

This idea today is called the regulative principle. Robert Godfrey writes, “In its simplest terms the regulative principle holds that the Word of God alone regulates, directs, and warrants all elements of worship…. We may worship God only as he has commanded us to do in the

22 Bible.” As the Puritans saw it, the basic form of biblical worship was three-fold: Word, sacraments, and prayer. Each of the three elements can be divided into two parts: the Word (read and preached), the sacraments (baptism and the Lord’s Supper), and prayer (spoken and sung).23 The Puritans found the regulative principle taught throughout Scripture. Christ said to the Samaritans in John 4:22, “Ye worship ye know not what.” God repeatedly told Moses that he must build the tabernacle according to the pattern revealed to him (Ex. 25:9; etc.). Hildersham concluded that no one can know or serve God rightly “without the direction of his Word.”24 Burroughs similarly noted how in Exodus 39 the text repeatedly says that they built the

25 tabernacle exactly as God commanded. Hildersham concluded, “See how precise God would have us to be in sticking close to the direction of his Word, in the matter of his worship. Yea it is certain, when we do him any service that he hath not appointed us in his Word, we serve not him,

26 but we serve an idol.” Perkins quoted Deuteronomy 12:32, “What thing soever I command you, observe to do it: thou shalt not add thereto, nor diminish from it.” To add or subtract from God’s instructions for worship, Perkins said, is to deny that the Holy Scriptures are “all sufficient” for

27 doctrine and obedience. Numbers 15:39 and Ezekiel 20:18 warn us that in our worship we must not follow our own hearts or the ways of our fathers. Our Lord Jesus, in Matthew 15:9, quoted the words of Isaiah 29:13, to admonish us, “But in vain they do worship me, teaching for doctrines the commandments of men.” Paul taught us in Romans 12:12 that reasonable worship requires knowing God’s will.28 At the bottom of the regulative principle is a profound sense of the holiness of God. The Lord killed two of Aaron’s sons for offering Him incense in a way He had not authorized. God’s word of explanation for their surprising death appears in Leviticus 10:3, “Among those who are

22 W. Robert Godfrey, “Calvin, Worship, and the Sacraments,” in A Theological Guide to Calvin’s Institutes, ed. David W. Hall and Peter A. Lillback (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P & R Publishing, 2008), 371. 23 William Perkins, A Golden Chaine, or The Description of Theologie, Containing the Order of the Causes of Saluation and Damnation, according to Gods Word (London: Iohn Legate, 1597), 66–67; Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 161; Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety, 93. 24 Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 154. 25 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 86. 26 Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 155. 27 Perkins, A Golden Chaine, 62. 28 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 180. 4 near me I will be sanctified, and before all the people I will be glorified.” The Lord was saying that those who worship Him must do so in a manner that lets people know He is the holy God, 29 indeed a consuming fire. God’s holiness implies that we cannot approach Him in any way that 30 we please. We must offer up to God only what He commanded. As John Owen (1618–1683), one of the greatest Puritan theologians, said, only God is the Judge of what pleases God.31 So we might summarize the rule of Puritan worship in these words adapted from Owen’s writings: What does God require of us so that by faith we glorify Him and He accepts us? He requires that we worship Him in the ways that He appointed.

How does God make known to us these ways and means of worship? He makes them known by the written Word of God alone, which is the full and perfect revelation of the will of God for His whole worship.

May the church add religious activities or images that help people worship? No, because all acceptable worship is by faith, and faith always looks to the promises and laws God has given us through Jesus Christ.32 Someone might object that if “there be an intention to honor God, it is the worship of God” even if our worship consists of something God has not commanded. Perkins replied, “It is false.” Worship must be done with good intentions, but it must also be done in obedience to God’s commands. He said, “Love keeps itself to the Word, and will of God: and things done without a Word from God, are not of love, for ‘love is the fulfilling of the law’” (Rom. 13:10).33 The Reformers and Puritans said we must not add to nor subtract from God’s Word, but simply and joyfully obey it. Their regulative principle produced reverence and simplicity in Puritan worship. It also enabled them to focus on Christ instead of ceremonies and physical objects. Charnock said, “There is no need of a candle when the sun spreads its beams in the air; no need of those ceremonies when the Sun of righteousness appeared.”34 For the Puritans, worship is not only governed by the Word, but it is also saturated with the Word. Thus the Scriptures were central not only in regulating worship but also in forming its

29 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 5–6, 18. 30 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 8. 31 John Owen, “The Nature and Beauty of Gospel Worship,” in Works, 9:72. 32 Paraphrased from John Owen, A Brief Instruction in the Worship of God, Q. 1, 3, 14, in The Works of John Owen (repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), 14:447–50, 467. 33 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 181. Perkins cited Gal. 5:14. 34 Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:283. 5 very substance. In worship, the Puritans prayed the Word, sang the Word, read the Word, preached the Word, and saw the Word in the sacraments. And so, regarding the mechanics of Puritan worship, we will limit ourselves to considering the Word sung, the Word preached, and the Word spoken about in conversation.

The Mechanics of Puritan Worship: Singing, Preaching, and Conversing

The Puritans were great champions of personal worship, family worship, and public worship. However, in our limited time, there is much I must pass over, including the Puritan doctrine of the Christian Sabbath, how they applied the Fourth Commandment to set apart the Lord’s day (Rev. 1:10) for the spiritual delight and refreshment of God’s people. Nor will I be able to discuss the Puritan practices of family worship, private meditation, and personal prayer, though I have written on these matters elsewhere.35 Yet even with respect to public worship, I cannot in short compass deal with the whole of Puritan teaching. I recommend that you read the Westminster Directory for the Public Worship

36 37 of God. Here, I must pass by the centrality of united prayer. I will not be able to explore the Puritan teaching on sharing our wealth with the poor as an act of mercy, which Perkins called

38 “an excellent part of the worship of God” (Heb. 13:16), nor will I be able to address the Puritan view of the sacraments, which they employed as means of grace to increase the assurance and holiness of God’s children. In this section, I will limit myself to speaking about how the Puritans built upon the foundation of Christ according to the rule of Scripture with the forms of singing, preaching, and conversing with each other.

The Songs of Puritan Worship

35 See Beeke and Jones, A Puritan Theology, ch. 53–55; Joel R. Beeke and Brian G. Najapfour, eds., Take Hold of God: Reformed and Puritan Perspectives on Prayer (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2011). 36 The Directory for the Publick Worship of God, in Westminster Confession of Faith (Glasgow: Free Presbyterian Publications, 1994), 369–94. See Stanley R. Hall, “The Westminster Directory and Reform of Worship,” in Calvin Studies VIII, ed. John H. Leith (Davidson, N.C.: Davidson College, 1996), 91–105. 37 See Roy W. Williams, “The Puritan Concept and Practice of Prayer: Private, Family and Public” (PhD dissertation, University of London, 1982), 285–317. 38 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 247. 6

In obedience to Colossians 3:16, the Puritans employed an ancient form of worship largely forgotten in the modern church: singing the Book of the Psalms found in the Bible. Though some Reformed Christians continued to object against corporate singing in the

39 church, the Puritans generally loved to sing the psalms. William Ames (1576–1633), a very influential student of Perkins, wrote that singing the psalms has the following advantages over merely reading them: “it brings a kind of sweet delight to godly minds,” it enables “a more distinct and fixed meditation,” and it results in more “mutual edification.”40 John Cotton (1585–1652), an English Puritan who later immigrated to the American colonies, also believed that God willed for the church to sing the psalms or other songs found in Scripture such as the Song of Mary (Luke 1:46–55). He too argued that psalms should be sung

41 without instrumental music. Privately composed hymns could also be sung and accompanied by musical instruments, but only in private worship, not public worship.42 The crux of the Reformed and Puritan argument for singing the psalms of the Bible was Colossians 3:16, and the parallel statement in Ephesians 5:19, “Speaking to yourselves [or one another] in psalms and hymns and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in your heart to the Lord.” Cotton noted that these same words “psalms,” “hymns,” and “songs,” are “the very titles of the songs of David, as they are delivered to us by the Holy Ghost himself.”43 Some objected that the Holy Spirit leads men to compose “spiritual songs” in the contemporary church. Cotton replied that ordinary men led by the Spirit may err, but the

44 prophets “carried by the Spirit” as they wrote the Scriptures “cannot err.” The Puritans believed that songs of mere human origin have their place, but “our devotion is best secured” when our songs come from “divine inspiration,” that is, the inspired Scriptures.45 Since Paul linked singing the psalms to the filling of the Spirit (Eph. 5:18), Paul Baynes (c. 1573–1617), another mighty Puritan preacher, said that the exercise of singing the psalms is a

39 On the struggles over corporate singing, see Horton Davies, The Worship of the English Puritans (repr., Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1997), 168–74. 40 William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof (London: by E. G. for I. Rothwell, T. Slater, L. Blacklock, 1643), 2:43. 41 John Cotton, Singing of Psalmes a Gospel-Ordinance (London: by M. S. for Hannah Allen, 1647), 2, 12, 15. 42 Cotton, Singing of Psalmes, 15. He also affirmed the singing of a portion of a Psalm (2 Chron. 5:13; 20:21), or, on special occasions, to compose a spiritual song made of “words of praise dispersed in several Psalms” (29). 43 Cotton, Singing of Psalmes, 16. 44 Cotton, Singing of Psalmes, 19. Note that Cotton affirmed the inerrancy of Scripture. 45 John Owen, Thomas Manton, et al., preface to The Psalms of David in Meeter (1673), cited in Beeke and Jones, A Puritan Theology, 669. 7

46 means of increasing in ourselves the work of the Holy Spirit. However, Baynes said we should not object against singing with instruments such as the organ if it is done in a helpful way, for “we are expressly charged by God’s Spirit to praise him both on stringed instruments and organs

47 (Ps. 150:4).” Evidently some Puritans felt very strongly about not using instruments, for Baynes complained that one pipe in the organ could blow out their zeal, and blow them out of the church! So we see that there was at least some diversity among Puritans about musical instruments. But they were united in maintaining that the ordinary worship of the church should be the singing of the psalms and that musical instruments should not be used at all or kept to a minimum, since they are nowhere commanded in the New Testament.

The Preaching of Puritan Worship The Puritan movement from the mid-sixteenth century to the late seventeenth century has been

48 called the golden age of preaching. Whereas medieval worship centered upon the visible and tangible, Puritan worship rejected the use of images in worship and instead focused adoration through the lens of the preached Word. Perkins wrote, “If any man be yet desirous of images, he may have at hand the preaching of the gospel, a lively image of Christ crucified (Gal. 3:1)….

49 The like may be said of the two sacraments.” He said, “The preaching and hearing of the Word of God is a common and usual means of God to begin and to confirm faith and all graces of God that depend on faith, and consequently to work our salvation” (Rom. 1:16, 10:14; 1 Cor. 1:21). Hearing the preaching of the Scriptures is “the means of this new birth” (1 Cor. 4:15; Gal.

50 4:19). This is why the Puritan worship service centralized around the preaching of the Word. One hour was the standard length of a sermon, though you could preach longer on fast days and special occasions, or if you had something especially important that you had to finish saying. But it was thought that an hour was the appropriate length, and normally a Puritan sermon did not last longer. Some were known for stretching this, however. It is reported that John Howe, Puritan

46 Paul Bayne, An Entire Commentary vpon the VVhole Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Ephesians (London: by M. F. for R. Milbourne and I. Bartlet, 1643), 633. 47 Bayne, Ephesians, 634. 48 Tae-Hyeun Park, The Sacred Rhetoric of the Holy Spirit: A Study of Puritan Preaching in a Pneumatological Perspective (Apeldoorn: Theologische Unversiteit, 2005), 4. This chapter is a condensed version of “Puritan Preaching I, II,” chapters 41 and 42 in Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2012). 49 Perkins, A Golden Chaine, 59. 50 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 232–33. 8 pastor down in Devon in the 1650s, on one fast day preached a single discourse that lasted for three hours without stopping. Matthew Henry, too, would have an hour sermon, taking a text and opening and applying it, but then he would have an additional hour of exposition of a whole chapter of Scripture. He would read a chapter and go through just about what is the exposition of the chapter in his commentary. Unlike today, when preaching is shortened and minimized to satisfy the layperson, in the days of the Puritans, the common people gladly heard Puritan preaching. Henry Smith (1560–1591), sometimes called the golden-tongued Chrysostom of the Puritans, was so popular as a preacher that, as Thomas Fuller writes, “persons of good quality brought their own pews

51 with them, I mean their legs, to stand upon in the aisles.” No wonder the Puritan minister was called “the hero of sixteenth-century Puritanism.”52 Perhaps this is in part because the Puritans taught people how to listen to sermons with spiritual profit, according to Luke 8:18, “Take heed therefore how ye hear.” Before the sermon begins the hearer must prepare himself by getting rid of presumptuous pride, sinful anger, hardness of heart, love of the world, and itching ears that only want to hear what suits his sins (James 1:19). He must pray sincerely for a heart to listen and obey the Word. When seated in the congregation he must consciously “set himself in the presence of God,” for He is always present

53 with the Word is preached (Acts 10:33). William Ames said that we must give the kind of “attention” to the Word that comes from “the consideration of the majesty of God,” has a sense of “divine obligation” to do God’s will, and is activated by “the reference and fear of God.”54 Once the sermon begins, he must listen with discernment, measuring what he hears by the standard of the Holy Spirit in Scripture. He must work to get the Word rooted in his heart by mingling it with faith (Heb. 4:1), moving the affections of our hearts (2 Chron. 34:27; Luke 24:32), and allowing it to dwell in us richly and rule where corruption once had dominion.55 After the sermon is over, he must treasure the Word in his heart (Ps. 119:11), meditating on what he heard so that he may “experience” the Word of God in himself (Ps. 34:9). This

51 Quoted in Winthrop S. Hudson, “The Ministry in the Puritan Age,” in The Ministry in Historical Perspectives, ed. H. Richard Niebuhr and Daniel D. Williams (New York: Harper and Brothers, 1956), 185. 52 Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1965), 119. 53 William Perkins, The Whole Treatise of the Cases of Conscience, in The Works of That Famovs and Worthy Minister of Christ in the Vniversitie of Cambridge, M. William Perkins (London: Iohn Legatt, 1631), 2:70. 54 Ames, Conscience, 2:25. 55 Perkins, Cases of Conscience, 2:70–71. 9 requires him to examine himself and his ways by God’s standards (Ps. 119:59) and obeying them

56 so that he is a doer of the Word and not just a hearer (James 1:22). This is not to say that human effort can save or sanctify us, but “when we hear and meditate on the Word, God withal gives his Spirit to work that in us which the Word signifeth and testifieth”; there is a “conjunction between the Word and the Spirit.”57 Ames said that then people listen to men speak, they generally listen in one of four ways. They may be like sponges that soak up both the good and the bad, or like hour-glasses that let out one ear what they take in the other, or like wine bags that keep the dregs but let go of the good wine, or like sieves that let go of what is worthless but retain what is good. The last is the best way to listen to mere men. But when it comes to “the pure Word of God” we should be like the earth that drinks up the rain that falls upon it.58 For the Puritans, the substance of preaching was declaring God’s Word to men. John Preston (1587–1628) provided us with a simple, yet typically Puritan, working definition of preaching: “a public interpretation or dividing the Word, performed by an ambassador or minister who speaks to the people instead of God, in the name of Christ.”59 In terms of style, the Puritans believed in a plain style of preaching. This plainness did not mean anti-intellectualism. Rather, plainness referred to a simple and clear communication from the Bible to the mind, then into the heart, and then outward to direct the conduct. Henry Smith said, “To preach simply, is not to preach unlearnedly, nor confusedly, but plainly and perspicuously [clearly], that the simplest which doth hear, may understand what is taught, as if

60 he did hear his name.” Cotton Mather wrote in his eulogy for John Eliot (1604–1690), a great Puritan missionary to the Indians, that his “way of preaching was very plain; so that the very lambs might wade into his discourses on those texts and themes, wherein elephants might 61 swim.” Increase Mather (1639–1723) wrote of the preaching of his father, Richard: “His way of

56 Perkins, Cases of Conscience, 2:71. 57 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 236. 58 Ames, Conscience, 2:26. 59 Quoted in Everett H. Emerson, English Puritanism from John Hooper to John Milton (Durham, N.C.: Duke University Press, 1968), 45. 60 Henry Smith, Works of Henry Smith, 2 vols. (Stoke-on-Trent, U. K.: Tentmaker Publications, 2002), 1:337. 61 John Eliot, The Great Works of Christ in America: Magnalia Christi Americana, Book 3 (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1979), 1:547–48. For a bibliography of Eliot’s sermons and writings, see Frederick Harling, “A Biography of John Eliot” (PhD diss., Boston University, 1965), 259–61. 10 preaching was plain, aiming to shoot his arrows not over his people’s heads, but into their hearts and consciences.”62 The first part of a Puritan sermon was exegetical and expositional; the second, doctrinal

63 and didactic; and the third, applicatory. First, Puritan preaching was biblical, that is, an exposition of the text of the Bible. “The faithful Minister, like unto Christ, [is] one that preacheth 64 nothing but the word of God,” said Puritan Edward Dering (c. 1540–1576). John Owen (1616–1683) agreed: “The first and principal duty of a pastor is to feed the flock by diligent

65 preaching of the word.” Millar Maclure noted that “for the Puritans, the sermon is not just hinged to Scripture; it quite literally exists inside the Word of God; the text is not in the sermon, but the sermon is in the text.... Put summarily, listening to a sermon is being in the Bible.”66 Second, the exposition of Scripture led the Puritans to develop clear and well-defined

67 doctrines. William Perkins called doctrine “the science of living blessedly for ever”; William 68 Ames referred to “the doctrine or teaching of living to God.” Ferguson writes of the Puritans: “To them, systematic theology was to the pastor what a knowledge of anatomy is to the physician. Only in the light of the whole body of divinity (as they liked to call it) could a minister provide a diagnosis of, prescribe for, and ultimately cure spiritual disease in those who were plagued by the body of sin and death.”69 Packer describes their convictions: “To the question, ‘Should one preach doctrine?,’ the Puritan answer would have been, ‘Why, what else is there to preach?’ Doctrinal preaching certainly bores the hypocrites; but it is only doctrinal preaching that will save Christ’s sheep. The preacher’s job is to proclaim the faith, not to provide entertainment for unbelievers.”70 This is because Puritan preaching recognized that all biblical doctrine centers on Christ.71

62 Increase Mather, The Life and Death of that Reverend Man of God, Mr. Richard Mather (Cambridge, Mass.: S. G. and M. J., 1670), 31–32. 63 Miller, The New England Mind: The Seventeenth Century, 332–33. 64 Edward Dering, M. Derings Workes (New York: Da Capo Press, 1972), 456. 65 John Owen, The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold (London: Banner of Truth Trust, 1965), 16:74. 66 Millar Maclure, The Paul's Cross Sermons, 1534–1642 (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1958), 165. On how the Puritans interpreted Scripture, see Thomas Lea, “The Hermeneutics of the Puritans,” Journal of Evangelical Theological Society 39, no. 2 (June 1996): 271–84. 67 Perkins, Works 1:10. 68 Ames, The Marrow of Theology, 77. 69 Sinclair B. Ferguson, “Evangelical Ministry: The Puritan Contribution,” in The Compromised Church: The Present Evangelical Crisis, ed. John H. Armstrong (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 1998), 266. 70 Packer, Quest for Godliness, 284–85. 71 Thomas Taylor, Christ Revealed: or The Old Testament Explained; A Treatise of the Types and Shadowes of our Saviour (London: M. F. for R. Dawlman and L. Fawne, 1635) is the best Puritan work on Christ in the Old 11

According to Thomas Adams (1583–1652), “Christ is the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the

72 Scriptures being but as it were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus.” Preaching the doctrines of Christ naturally led them also to preach other doctrines in connection to Christ, such as the doctrines of the triune God, of sin, and of sanctification and self-denial.73 Third, the teaching of doctrine led to the application, often called the “uses” of the text, which could become lengthy as the minister applied Scripture to various listeners. The goal always was to drive the Word of God home or, as Baxter put it, “to screw the truth into their minds, and work Christ into their affections.”74 Puritan preaching was experimental and practical. Experimental preaching stresses the need to know by experience the truths of the Word of God. Experimental preaching seeks to explain in terms of biblical truth how matters ought to go and how they do go in the Christian life. It aims to apply divine truth to all of the believer’s experience in his walk with God as well as his relationship with family, the church, and the world around him. We can learn much from the Puritans about this type of preaching.

Conversing the Word of Christ While the Puritans emphasized the high priority of the preaching of the Scriptures by the pastors, they also encouraged believers to teach and admonish each other in private gatherings that today we would call small groups. Small groups is a very old idea. Luther encouraged believers to meet

Testament. Thomas Goodwin, “Christ Our Mediator,” vol. 5 of The Works of Thomas Goodwin (Eureka, Calif.: Tanski, 1996) ably expounds primary New Testament texts on the mediatorship of Christ. Alexander Grosse, The Happiness of Enjoying and Making a True And Speedy Use of Christ (London: Tho: Brudenell, for John Bartlet, 1647) and Isaac Ambrose, Looking Unto Jesus (Harrisonburg, Va.: Sprinkle, 1988) are experiential Christology at its best. Ralph Robinson, Christ All and In All: or Several Significant Similitudes by which the Lord Jesus Christ is Described in the Holy Scriptures (1660; repr., Ligonier, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1992), Philip Henry, Christ All in All, or What Christ is Made to Believers (1676; repr., Swengel, Pa.: Reiner, 1976), and John Brown, Christ: the Way, the Truth, and the Life (1677; repr., Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1995) contain precious sermons extolling Christ in all His relations to believers. John Owen, A Declaration of the Glorious Mystery of the Person of Christ (reprinted in vol. 1 of Works of Owen) is superb on the relation of Christ’s natures to His person. James Durham, Christ Crucified; or The Marrow of the Gospel in 72 Sermons on Isaiah 53, 2 vols. (Glasgow: Alex Adam, 1792) remains unrivaled as a scriptural exposition of Christ’s passion. 72 Thomas Adams, The Works of Thomas Adams (1862; repr., Eureka, Calif.: Tanski, 1998), 3:224. 73 For choice samples of Puritan preaching on God, sin, sanctification, and self-denial, see, respectively, Stephen Charnock, Discourses on the Existence and Attributes of God, 2 vols. (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1996); Jeremiah Burroughs, The Evil of Evils (Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1995); Walter Marshall, The Gospel Mystery of Sanctification (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1954); Thomas Watson, The Duty of Self-Denial (Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1995), 1–37. 74 Baxter, Works, 4:370. 12

75 in small groups in addition to public worship for mutual spiritual care. The early Puritan movement arose in the context of a spiritual brotherhood of ministers who met for “prophesyings,” not new divine revelations but small groups of pastors who gathered to sharpen

76 their doctrine and practice their preaching. Prophesyings were the seeds of small groups. For the Puritans, the primary small group was the family, and they strenuously called Christian heads of household to lead family worship regularly. However, they also developed what they called “conference,” by which they usually meant a small meeting where believers could “confer” together for mutual encouragement (Rom. 15:30). There are great benefits to talking with other believers about the Word of God. Richard Greenham quoted Proverbs 27:17, “Iron sharpeneth iron; so a man sharpeneth the countenance of his friend.” He wrote, “And as two eyes see more, two ears hear more, and two hands can do more than one, so this is a special communion of saints, and God hath promised, that when two

77 or three are gathered together in his name, that he will be present with them by his Spirit.” As one Puritan quipped, a sleeping man cannot wake himself up, but someone else can, even if he just woke up himself.78 Richard Sibbes (1577–1635), known among the Puritans for the sweetness of his love and teaching, said, “Here is the benefit of holy conference and good speeches. One thing draws on another, and that draws another, till at last the soul be warmed and kindled with the consideration and meditation of heavenly things. . . . This may put us in mind to spend our time fruitfully in good conference, when in discretion it is seasonable.”79 He wrote, “Next to heaven itself, our meeting together here, it is a kind of paradise.” Spiritual conversations with brothers and sisters are the practical realization of our creedal belief in the communion of the saints. By talking about the Scripture together, “The Spirit works more effectually and imprints it deeper, so that it shall be a more rooted knowledge than before.” Sibbes especially recommended asking and discussing questions, questions on practical topics such as “the ways of righteousness” and “the excellency of Christ.”80

75 Martin Luther, The German Mass, in Luther’s Works, 53:63–64, 68; Helmar Junghans, “Luther on the Reform of Worship,” in Harvesting Martin Luther’s Reflections on Theology, Ethics, and the Church, ed. Timothy J. Wengert (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 220–21. 76 Collinson, The Elizabethan Puritan Movement, 168–76. 77 Greenham, A Profitable Treatise, 175. 78 Thomas Hooker, quoted in Hambrick-Stowe, The Practice of Piety, 138. 79 Richard Sibbes, Bowels Opened, in The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander Grosart (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1862), 2:133. 13

The Puritans saw conference not merely as a helpful option but as a Christian duty. Colossians 3:16 calls Christians to be “teaching and admonishing one another.” Malachi 3:16 says that while the wicked questioned God’s truthfulness, “Then those who feared the LORD spoke with one another.” Ephesians 4:29 commands us to speak to each other “to the use of edifying, that it may minister grace unto the hearers.”81 Isaac Ambrose (1604–1664), a warmly Christ-centered Puritan minister, believed that if Christians would meet regularly to converse together about the Lord, they would build each

82 other up in the heat of their love and in the strength of their courage. He proposed some rules for these meetings: ● They would meet every Wednesday to discuss matters of the soul. ● They would keep each other accountable if they found each other in sin ● They would keep matters shared confidential. ● They would allow new people to join their group if they were sincerely seeking knowledge and love. ● They would have a moderator and follow an order agreed upon by majority vote. ● The moderator would raise the question to be discussed next week, and open each

83 meeting with prayer and close it with thanksgiving. The moderator would raise a question like, “What are the signs of true evangelical repentance?” or “How can a believer strengthen himself against the criticisms of wicked men?” and then the people would open their Bibles and start to discuss it.84 The Puritans used small groups, but they also sought to protect small groups from the various dangers that face them. Greenham warned that conference among believers “must be of those things which we heard of our ministers,” for Christians cannot run before they walk, and

85 they cannot walk without a leader. They should not pry into the secret things of God but aim to be “grounded in the principal points of religion.” Thus conference must be done with humility, love, without “anger, envy, or desire of victory,” not with too large of a group, and not in secrecy

80 Sibbes, Bowels Opened, 2:134. 81 See Jung, Godly Conversation, 101–105. 82 Isaac Ambrose, Prima, Media, and Ultima: The First, Middle, and Last Things (London: by T. R. and E. M. for Nathan. Webb and Will. Grantham, 1654), 296. 83 Ambrose, Prima, Media, and Ultima, 297–98. 84 The questions Ambrose’s group discussed are listed in Jung, Godly Conversation, 118–20. The questions and answers (in outline) are found in Ambrose, Prima, Media, and Ultima, 298–329. 85 Greenham, A Profitable Treatise, 175. 14

86 like the heretics. In other words, small groups should aim to understand and apply the truths taught by their pastors. They must not become a platform for some unauthorized leader to gather sheep to himself (Acts 20:30). This perhaps is why the Puritans, at least the Presbyterians among them, stressed the importance of elders who assist the main preacher. Unless the small group is a family, then it may be wisest for an elder of the church to lead it. Then, proper spiritual authority is exercised and the unity of the church substantially protected.87 While the Puritans cherished private worship in families and small groups, such private meetings could not compare in their estimation to the glory of the assembled church. Their hearts resonated with the truth of Psalm 87:2, “the LORD loveth the gates of Zion more than all the dwellings of Jacob.” God receives worship in private dwellings, but he has a special love for the

88 public worship of His assembled people. The Puritans did not favor public worship because of any holiness in the church building.

89 Perkins wrote, “The house or the field is as holy as the church.” But when they considered the church not as a building but as a people assembled for worship, they saw it as the threshold of heaven itself. Perkins said, “The church of God upon earth is as it were the suburbs of the city of

90 God, and the gate of heaven.” For in the public worship of the church, Clarkson said, God is: ● glorified more openly by more people (Ps. 22:22–25; 96:1–3) ● present more fully through preaching and the sacraments (Matt. 28:18–20) ● revealed more clearly in His beauty (Ps. 27:4; 63:1–2; Rev. 1:13) ● acting more powerfully by His pastors and ordinances (Ps. 73:17; Eph. 4:11–13) ● protecting more effectively against heresy and apostasy (Eph. 4:14) ● lifting up His people more closely to heaven (Heb. 12:22–24) ● sharing the victory of Christ more richly (Eph. 4:10–11).91 The streams of God’s grace that flow to each believer are joined together when they assemble for public worship, “so that the presence of God, which, enjoyed in private, is but a stream, in public becomes a river that makes glad the city of God.”92

86 Greenham, A Profitable Treatise, 176. 87 D. Clair Davis, History of Small Groups in Reformed Churches, audio message (Philadelphia: Westminster Media, 1977). 88 David Clarkson, “Public Worship to Be Preferred before Private,” in The Practical Works of David Clarkson (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1865), 3:187–209. 89 Perkins, Cases of Conscience, 2:67. 90 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 229. 91 Clarkson, “Public Worship to Be Preferred before Private,” 3:189–96. 15

The Spirit of Puritan Worship In John 4:24, the Lord Jesus declares, “God is a Spirit: and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth.” New Covenant worship is not about holy places such as the temple in Jerusalem but about holy hearts worshiping the Triune God. The multitude of Old Covenant

93 ceremonies are replaced with the simplicity of spirit and truth (Heb. 9:9–10). The Puritans 94 recognized that the essence of worship is inward and spiritual. Burroughs said that if we would please God in worship we must bring God His own, both in the matter and the manner of our worship. The matter must be dictated by the Word, but that is not enough; the manner must be full of God’s Spirit.95 The principal worship we offer to God comes from the work of the Holy Spirit in us to

96 make us holy. We worship God with our spirits when our affections are kindled by fire from 97 heaven so that our worship sparkles with holiness. This is only possible when we look to Christ to make us holy by His Word and Spirit.98 Owen reminds us that people may participate in religious worship not only with diligence but also delight, and yet worship for the wrong reasons. They do not have “delight in God through Christ” but instead may delight in the outward pleasure of worship such as an eloquent speaker, engaging stories and sermon illustrations, pleasant music, and impressive ceremonies; or perhaps they enjoy worship because it quiets their guilty consciences and gives them a sense of self-righteousness; or they might worship with joy because it improves their reputation in the eyes of men.99 John Preston (1587–1628), Puritan preacher to the royal court, warned that God has reason to complain, “This people draw near me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour

100 me, but have removed their heart far from me” (Isa. 29:13). Worship performed by

92 Clarkson, “Public Worship to Be Preferred before Private,” 3:190. 93 Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 178. 94 Perkins, Cases of Conscience, 2:62; Diuine Worship, 189. Perkins recognized that spiritual worship “must be free and voluntary, without all constraint and compulsion,” which distinguishes the “service of the kingdom of God” from the honor given to “earthly princes” (Diuine Worship, 199). Here is the seed of liberty of conscience. 95 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 86–87. 96 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 202. 97 Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:299, 312. 98 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 67–68. 99 John Owen, Phronema tou Pneumatos, or, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, in Works, 7:423–30. 16 unrepentant sinners, people not regenerated by the Holy Spirit, is an abomination to the Lord

101 (Prov. 15:8; Isa. 1:13–15; 66:9). Even if the outward acts are done in conformity to God’s command, they are not done in the manner He requires; that is, with faith and repentance (Heb. 11:6). How tragic it is when people think they do God a great service by coming to church and

102 participating in the worship service without repenting of their sins! As Owen said, without the exercise of faith, love, and reverence, the “outward duties of worship” are “utterly useless.”103 This does not imply that we can ignore or neglect the external means of worship that God has ordained in the New Covenant. Hildersham said that God requires “the service of our whole

104 body in presenting ourselves before him in the public assemblies.” But worship with the body is nothing without worship from the Spirit. Spiritual worship is not a passive experience; it requires concentration, exertion, diligence, and “striving” with all your might (Rom. 15:30) to serve God with a single-minded

105 focus upon His glory (Col. 3:22). David prayed in Psalm 86:11, “Unite my heart to fear thy name.” In worship God must be the center of our attention and affection. Charnock said that “all our thoughts ought to be ravished with God” as our “treasure,” not easily distracted by “every

106 feather” and “bubble” of this world. So Burroughs said, “When we come to worship God, if we would sanctify God’s name, we must have high thoughts of God; we must look upon God as he is upon his throne, in majesty, and in glory.”107 But how can the worshiper focus his mind on an invisible Spirit? We must not imagine some visible shape to God. Rather, Preston said, “fix thy mind chiefly on his attributes”: God’s

108 power, grace, patience, mercy, faithfulness and purity. Baynes said that we must “tune our hearts” to the attributes of God: “If I sing of his goodness, I must find my heart inflamed with

100 John Preston, Life Eternall, or, A Treatise of the Knowledge of the Divine Essence and Attributes (London: by R. B., 1631), 2:33. 101 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 186. 102 Perkins, Diuine Worship, 186–88. 103 Owen, Being Spiritually Minded, 7:434. 104 Hildersam, Lectvres upon the Fovrth of Iohn, 182. 105 Preston, Life Eternall, 2:35, 37. 106 Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:301. See Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 81. For Puritan counsel on overcoming distractions in worship, see Richard Steele, An Antidote against Distractions, or, An Indeavor to Serve the Church, in the Daily Case of Wandrings in the Worship of God (London: for Elizabeth Calvert, 1667), reprinted as A Remedy for Wandering Thoughts in the Worship of God. 107 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 71. 108 Preston, Life Eternall, 2:46. 17 love to him; if of his wisdom, or power, I must have a holy admiration of them; if of his works of mercy to the saints, I must [rejoice with them] in it; if of his judgments, I must fear.”109 At the heart of worship is faith in Christ. Love for God can only live and thrive in the context of approaching God by faith in the Mediator. Like Luther, Perkins said, “Saving faith is the very root and beginning of all true worship. For love which is the fulfilling of the law, must

110 come from it (1 Tim. 1:5).” Burroughs said that relying upon Christ as Mediator “is the greatest ingredient of all” in our worship. Christ is the altar that sanctifies our gift—by Him

111 alone we have access to God. Owen said that “believers enjoy the privileges of the excellent, 112 glorious, spiritual worship of God” by “the blood of Christ.” Thus Puritan worship is centered on drawing near to the triune God by faith in Christ the Mediator.113 I might also add that the spirit of Puritan worship was a spirit of patience towards the church. Love for God overflows in love for imperfect people. It is one thing to pray and work towards the reformation of worship according to the Scriptures. It is another thing to be divisive, judgmental, and destructive to the body of Christ. Such a striving and contention about worship reveals that we worship for the sake of self, not God.114

Conclusion You and I may not agree with every detail in the way that the Puritans worshiped, but one thing is sure: the Puritans were zealous for pure worship, because God is zealous for the glory of His name. It may surprise people to hear it in this man-centered world, but the Puritans taught that God loves His glory even more than He loves our very lives. Burroughs said that the glory of God’s name is a million times more precious to God than the lives of a million people.115 Yet God’s zeal for His glory has expressed itself in the sending of His Son to die for sinners. Dear believer, Christ died to bring you near to God. Since He bought this privilege for you at such a high price, will you not make full use of it? A child of God loves nothing better

109 Bayne, Ephesians, 635. “Rejoice with them” is a modernization of the original, obsolete use of “congratulate.” On shaping our worship by the attributes of God, see Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 93–102. 110 Perkins, Cases of Conscience, 2:63. 111 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 91–92. 112 Owen, “The Nature and Beauty of Gospel Worship,” 9:55. 113 Beeke and Jones, A Puritan Theology, 678. 114 Ames, Conscience, 2:63; Charnock, The Existence and Attributes of God, 1:313. On worshiping God for self, see Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 72–78. 115 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 22. 18 than to be in presence of his Father. What delights the Father more than to have His children gathered close to Him? The more you give yourself to worship, the more “there will grow a sweet and blessed familiarity between God and thy soul,” as Burroughs said.116 Come to worship with a sense of holy expectation. Owen said that to pretend to come to God but not with an expectation of receiving great blessings from Him is to despise God. We must always come to God as the fountain of goodness and grace, the source of everything we need, and the giver of all we can desire, even for happiness that lasts forever.117 True worship gives God His rightful place in creation, in the church, and in our lives. True worship is occupied with God Himself and with His glory; it glorifies God when we are satisfied with Him, delight in Him, and love and obey Him. True worship falls hopelessly in love with God; ten minutes of true worship contains more joy than the world can provide in ten years. True worship prepares us for eternity. When John Preston was dying, he said, “I shall but change

118 my place, I shall not change my company.” What about you, dear friend? Have you kept company with the living God and His saints now while you are on earth? Are you enjoying His presence in the worship of His church—worship that coincides with what He commands in His Word? Are you enjoying worship as a foretaste of heaven, where Christ, and through Him, the Triune God, is all in all?

116 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 35–37. 117 Owen, Being Spiritually Minded, 7:437. 118 Burroughs, Gospel-Worship, 38. 19