Preaching: Learning from the Joel R. Beeke

The Puritan movement from the mid-sixteenth century to the early eighteenth century has been

1 called the golden age of preaching. ​ Through preaching and the publication of sermons, the ​ 2 Puritans sought to reform the church and the everyday lives of the people. ​ Though they failed to ​ reform the church, they succeeded in reforming everyday lives, ushering in, as Alexander F. Mitchell says, “a season of spiritual revival as deep and extensive as any that has since occurred in the history of the British Churches.”3 ​ With few exceptions, Puritan ministers were great preachers who lovingly and passionately proclaimed the whole counsel of God set forth in Holy Scripture. No group of preachers in church history has matched their biblical, doctrinal, experiential, and practical preaching.4 ​

1 Tae-Hyeun Park, The Sacred Rhetoric of the Holy Spirit: A Study of Puritan Preaching in a Pneumatological ​ Perspective (Apeldoorn: Theologische Unversiteit, 2005), 4. Several thoughts in this address are adapted from my ​ chapters 41 and 42 in Joel R. Beeke and Mark Jones, A Puritan Theology (Grand Rapids: Heritage ​ ​ Books, 2012). 2 J. I. Packer, foreword to Introduction to Puritan Theology: A Reader, ed. Edward Hindson (Grand Rapids: Baker, ​ ​ 1976). 3 Alexander F. Mitchell, introduction to Minutes of the Sessions of the Westminster Assembly of Divines, ed. ​ ​ Alexander F. Mitchell and John Struthers (Edmonton: Still Waters Revival Books, 1991), xv. ​ ​ 4 For additional books and articles on Puritan preaching, see R. Bruce Bickel, Light and Heat: The Puritan View of ​ the Pulpit (Morgan: Soli Deo Gloria, 1999); J. W. Blench, Preaching in England in the Late Fifteenth and Sixteenth ​ ​ Centuries (Oxford: Basil Blackwell, 1964); John Brown, Puritan Preaching in England (London: Hodder and ​ ​ ​ Stoughton, 1900); J. A. Caiger, “Preaching—Puritan and Reformed,” in Puritan Papers, Volume 2 (1960–1962), ed. ​ ​ J. I. Packer (Phillipsburg, N.J.: P&R, 2001), 161–85; Murray A. Capill, Preaching with Spiritual Vigour (Fearn, ​ ​ Scotland: Mentor, 2003); Horton Davies, The Worship of the English Puritans (Morgan: Soli Deo Gloria, 1997), ​ ​ 182–203; Eric Josef Carlson, “The Boring of the Ear: Shaping the Pastoral Vision of Preaching in England, 1540–1640,” in Preachers and People in the and Early Modern Period, ed. Larissa Taylor (Leiden: ​ ​ Brill, 2003), 249–96; Mariano Di Gangi, Great Themes in Puritan Preaching (Guelph, Ontario: Joshua Press, 2007); ​ ​ Alan F. Herr, The Elizabethan Sermon: A Survey and a Bibliography (New York: Octagon Books, 1969); Babette ​ ​ May Levy, Preaching in the First Half Century of New England History (New York: Russell & Russell, 1967); ​ ​ Peter Lewis, The Genius of Puritanism (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2008); D. M. Lloyd-Jones, The ​ ​ ​ Puritans: Their Origins and Successors (: Banner of Truth Trust, 1987), 372–89; Irvonwy Morgan, The ​ ​ Godly Preachers of the Elizabethan Church (London: Epworth Press, 1965); Hughes Oliphant Old, The Reading ​ ​ and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the Christian Church, Volume 4: The Age of the Reformation (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2002), 251–79, and The Reading and Preaching of the Scriptures in the Worship of the ​ Christian Church, Volume 5: Moderatism, Pietism, and Awakening (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 2004), 170–217; J. I. ​ Packer, A Quest for Godliness (Wheaton: Crossway, 1990), 163–76, 277–308; Park, The Sacred Rhetoric of the ​ ​ ​ Holy Spirit; Joseph A. Pipa Jr., “Puritan Preaching,” in The Practical Calvinist, ed. Peter A. Lillback (Fearn, ​ ​ ​ Scotland: Mentor, 2002), 163–82; John Piper, The Supremacy of God in Preaching (Grand Rapids: Baker, 1990); ​ ​ Caroline F. Richardson, English Preachers and Preaching 1640–1670 (New York: Macmillan, 1928); Michael F. ​ ​ Ross, Preaching for Revitalization (Fearn, U.K.: Mentor, 2006); Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints (Grand Rapids: ​ ​ ​ ​ 1

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 with them, I

5 mean their legs, to stand upon in the aisles.” ​ No wonder the Puritan minister was called “the ​ hero of sixteenth-century Puritanism.”6 ​ Puritan preaching is transforming. Brian Hedges says that Puritan preachers “lift our gaze to the greatness and gladness of God. They open our eyes to the beauty and loveliness of Christ. They prick our consciences with the subtlety and sinfulness of sin. They ravish and delight the soul with the power and glory of grace. They plumb the depths of the soul with profound biblical, practical, and psychological insight. They sustain and strengthen the soul through suffering by expounding the doctrine of the sovereignty of God. They set our sights and focus our affections on eternal realities.”7 ​ The Puritans set high standards for themselves as preachers. They believed they should preach the Bible from their own heart experience of it and apply what they preached to the particular needs of their hearers. (1616–1683) wrote that two principles regulated his ministry: “To impart those truths of whose power I hope I have had in some measure a real experience, and to press those duties which present occasions, temptations, and other circumstances, do render necessary to be attended unto in a peculiar manner.” Owen explained

Zondervan, 1986), 91–107; Harry S. Stout, The New England Soul: Preaching and Religious Culture in Colonial ​ New England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1986). ​ Dissertations that deal with Puritan preaching include Ruth Beatrice Bozell, “English Preachers of the 17th Century on the Art of Preaching” (PhD diss., Cornwell University, 1939); Ian Breward, “The Life and Theology of William Perkins 1558–1602” (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 1963); Diane Marilyn Darrow, “Thomas Hooker and the Puritan Art of Preaching” (PhD diss., University of California, San Diego, 1968); Andrew Thomas Denholm, “Thomas Hooker: Puritan Preacher, 1568–1647” (PhD diss., Hartford Seminary, 1972); M. F. Evans, “Study in the development of a Theory of Homiletics in England from 1537–1692” (PhD diss., University of Iowa, 1932); Frank E. Farrell, “Richard Sibbes: A Study in Early Seventeenth Century English Puritanism” (PhD diss., University of Edinburgh, 1955); Anders Robert Lunt, “The Reinvention of Preaching: A Study of Sixteenth and Seventeenth Century English Preaching Theories” (PhD diss., University of Maryland College Park, 1998); Kenneth Clifton Parks, “The Progress of Preaching in England during the Elizabethan Period” (PhD diss., Southern Baptist Theological Seminary, 1954); Joseph Pipa Jr., “William Perkins and the Development of Puritan Preaching” (PhD diss., Westminster Theological Seminary, 1985); Harold Patton Shelly, “Richard Sibbes: Early Stuart Preacher of Piety” (PhD diss., Temple University, 1972); David Mark Stevens, “John Cotton and Thomas Hooker: The Rhetoric of the Holy Spirit” (PhD diss., University of California, Berkeley, 1972); Lynn Baird Tipson Jr., “The Development of Puritan Understanding of Conversion” (PhD diss., Yale University, 1972); Cary Nelson Weisiger III, “The Doctrine of the Holy Spirit in the Preaching of Richard Sibbes” (PhD diss., Fuller Theological Seminary, 1984). 5 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. 6 Michael Walzer, The Revolution of the Saints: A Study in the Origins of Radical Politics (Cambridge, Mass.: ​ ​ Harvard University Press, 1965), 119. 7 Brian G. Hedges, “Puritan Writers Enrich the Modern Church,” Banner of Truth), no. 529 (October, 2007): 5–10. ​ ​ 2 that, when preaching, one should keep in mind the big picture of God’s revealed truth: “the whole counsel of God concerning the salvation of the church by Jesus Christ is to be declared.” Yet, he said, preachers are to aim specifically at practical applications appropriate to their churches: “We are not to fight uncertainly, as men beating the air, nor shoot our arrows at random, without a certain scope and design. Knowledge of the flock whereof we are overseers, with a due consideration of their wants, their graces, their temptations, their light, their strength and weakness, are required herein.” This is a high calling, Owen said, which demands that the Word must be preached in the fear of , “with a deep sense of that great account which both they that preach and they that hear the word preached must shortly give before the judgment-seat of Christ,” and yet it is a gracious calling, which we may perform in “a comfortable expectation” of God’s blessing and success if we are faithful.8 ​ That is what we want: “a comfortable expectation” that our preaching, or the preaching of our pastors if we are not preachers ourselves, will be blessed by God and rewarded on judgment day. Paul expressed the aim of every true Christian preacher in 2 Corinthians 5:9 and 10, in which he said, “Wherefore we labour, that, whether present or absent, we may be accepted of him. For we must all appear before the judgment seat of Christ; that every one may receive the things done in his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be good or bad.” What can we learn from the Puritans about the preaching that God blesses? My topic is a question: “How Should We Preach Like the Puritans Today?” Implicit in this question is also a resulting question: “How Should We Not Preach Like the Puritans Today?” As much as we admire the Puritans, we should not slavishly imitate them, but critically examine their approach to preaching in order to gather up the gold and leave the dross behind. Negatively speaking, the Puritans had a tendency to overload their sermons so that an avalanche of details buried the main thrust of the specific Scripture text. Positively speaking, the Puritans maintained principles of preaching and applying God’s Word to the mind, heart, and life, and every Christian preacher should adopt these principles as his own. Let me begin our consideration of Puritan preaching with several positives and then conclude with a few negatives.

Do Preach Like the Puritans in These Ways

8 John Owen, The Grace and Duty of Being Spiritually Minded, in The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold ​ ​ ​ ​ (1850–1853; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1965), 7:263. 3

There are many ways in which we can and should imitate their preaching, for they were models of what it means to obey 2 Timothy 4:1–2, “I charge thee therefore before God, and the Lord Jesus Christ, who shall judge the quick and the dead at his appearing and his kingdom; preach the word; be instant in season, out of season; reprove, rebuke, exhort with all long suffering and doctrine.” Here are seven lessons we can learn from them.

1. Preach Well-Rounded Sermons that Are Biblical, Doctrinal, Experiential, and Practical These four dimensions of preaching reflect the fullness of a good sermon. It must be biblical, ​ ​ offering an explanation of the meaning of the text in its biblical and historical context; doctrinal, ​ ​ deriving and defining truths from the text about God and man; experiential, addressing the truths ​ ​ to the hearts of the listeners with idealism, realism, and optimism; and practical, giving specific ​ ​ directions for how hearers should respond to God’s Word. We may view these four words as the golden chain of preaching, with each link clasping the one before it. First, the substance of preaching is 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.”9 ​ All the doctrine we preach must be rooted in the Bible, not in human traditions, experiences, or speculations. Paul wrote in Colossians 2:7–8 that we must be “rooted and built up in [Christ], and established in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving. Beware lest any man spoil you through philosophy and vain deceit, after the tradition of men, after the rudiments of the world, and not after Christ.” Christian experience, in turn, must be informed by and conformed to the doctrines of Scripture, and must allow itself to be judged and measured by God’s Word lest we drift into mysticism and emotionalism. Our practical activity as Christians and churches must always flow from the faith and love of our hearts, and must spring out of spiritual experience based in the truth of the written Word of God. The Puritans excelled in being experiential and practical in their sermons. Experiential ​ ​ preaching stresses the need to know by experience the truths of the Word of God. It seeks to

9 Quoted in Everett H. Emerson, English Puritanism from John Hooper to John Milton (Durham, N.C.: Duke ​ ​ University Press, 1968), 45. 4 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. These applications must target the right people, the Puritans taught, or they might do more spiritual harm than good. Puritan preaching was marked by a discriminating application of ​ ​ truth to the non-Christian and the Christian. Puritan preachers took great pains to identify the marks of grace that distinguish the church from the world, true believers from merely professing

10 believers, and saving faith from temporary faith. ​ Thomas Shepard in The Ten Virgins, Matthew ​ ​ ​ ​ ​ Mead in The Almost Christian Discovered, Jonathan Edwards in Religious Affections, and other ​ ​ ​ ​ Puritans wrote dozens of works to differentiate imposters from true believers.11 ​ The Puritans show us a biblical pattern to follow in moving from biblical exposition to doctrinal definition and defense, and then to addressing spiritual experience and calling for practical action. Application without exposition is like a plant without roots, a spiritual tumbleweed that is driven about by the agendas of men. Exposition without application is a tree that cumbers the ground but bears no fruit and is in danger of being cut down and burned. Taken together, doctrine and experience form the vital links between the Bible and our lives, for we are people with minds that need to be instructed and hearts that need to be moved. We should preach in a way that brings the whole Bible to bear on the whole person, head, heart, and hands.

2. Preach the Main Doctrine of Your Text Thoroughly Though there is a danger for some preachers to allow to overwhelm their exposition of the Scripture text, we must follow the Puritans in drawing doctrine out of our texts so that our sermons are permeated with truth. For the Puritans, the question is one of focus: Do you explore all the relevant doctrines that touch your text, or do you focus on the central doctrine taught by that text? Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758) was a master at doing the latter, applying his massive intellect and brilliant spiritual insight to probe the depths of the particular doctrine of the text on which he preached.

10 Thomas Watson, The Godly Man’s Picture (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 1992), 20–188, sets forth ​ ​ twenty-four marks of grace for self-examination. 11 Thomas Shepard, The Parable of the Ten Virgins (Ligonier, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1990); Matthew Mead, The ​ ​ ​ Almost Christian Discovered; Or the False Professor Tried and Cast (Ligonier, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1988); ​ Jonathan Edwards, Religious Affections (New Haven: Yale University Press, 1959). ​ ​ 5

For example, consider Edwards’s sermon on 2 Corinthians 4:7: “But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us.”12 ​ After a brief exposition of the text, Edwards deduced this doctrine: “God is pleased to make his own power appear by carrying on the work of his grace by such instruments as men, that in

13 themselves are utterly insufficient for it.” ​ First, he showed that preachers are unable to do ​ God’s work in the souls of fallen men, for men are “forsaken by God” for their sins, “spiritually

14 dead,” and “in a state of captivity unto .” ​ Second, the preachers are mere creatures, and ​ conversion is a work that even angels cannot affect; yes, even though preachers are “not only

15 creatures, but very weak and infirm, partakers of the same infirmities as their hearers.” ​ Third, ​ because God calls such weak men to be preachers and causes them to overcome the world, it is evident “that the foolishness of God is wiser than men and the weakness of God is stronger than

16 men” (1 Cor. 1:25). ​ Edwards went on to make applications, but let us pause here to consider ​ how thoroughly he developed his doctrine. I fear that some preachers today are contemptuous of doctrine. Perhaps they think that biblical exposition is somehow superior to doctrine and they sneer at systematic theology. However, they are cutting off their own feet, for until exposition passes into doctrine it does not inform and reform the beliefs that control our minds. Other preachers may ignore doctrine because they are so focused on offering practical application. However, application without doctrine usually produces legalism. Preaching without instruction is only ungrounded exhortation. Only doctrine grounds our faith in Jesus Christ and builds our obedience to God’s law upon our reliance on God’s promises. While we must not turn our congregations into supercomputers without a soul, we must not shirk our responsibility to teach them doctrine. The responsible way to do that starts with preaching the specific doctrine taught by our sermon text.

3. Preach the Whole Counsel of God over Time We should feel the weight of Paul’s statement in Acts 20:26–27, “Wherefore I take you to record this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men. For I have not shunned to declare unto you all

12 Jonathan Edwards, The Salvation of Souls: Nine Previously Unpublished Sermons on the Call of Ministry and the ​ Gospel by Jonathan Edwards, ed. Richard A. Bailey and Gregory A. Wills (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway, 2002), 43–55. ​ 13 Edwards, Salvation of Souls, 45. ​ ​ 14 Edwards, Salvation of Souls, 45–47. ​ ​ 15 Edwards, Salvation of Souls, 47–48. ​ ​ 16 Edwards, Salvation of Souls, 48–49. ​ ​ 6 the counsel of God.” Over the years of our ministries, we must preach through the whole body of truth revealed in the Scriptures so that God’s people are moved to trust in Him at all times and be fully equipped to worship and serve Him. Here again the Puritans set an example for us to follow. Consider the sermons of Thomas Manton. Manton’s Works contain hundreds of sermons that demonstrate a ministry committed to ​ ​ the whole counsel of God. This appears in the variety of texts on which he preached. A look at the “Index of Principal Texts” reveals that he preached individual sermons from every part of Scripture, as well as sermon series on Psalm 119 (the Word of God), Isaiah 53 (Christ’s substitute death), Matthew 4:1–11 (Christ’s temptation), Matthew 6:6–13 (the Lord’s Prayer), Matthew 17:1–8 (Christ’s transfiguration), Matthew 25 (judgment day), Mark 10:17–26 (the rich young ruler and conversion), John 17 (Christ’s intercession and our salvation), Romans 6 (union with Christ and holiness), Romans 8 (the Holy Spirit and our hope), 2 Corinthians 5 (reconciliation with God), Ephesians 5 (godliness, marriage, and the work of Christ), Philippians 3 (love for Christ), Colossians 1:14–20 (Christ’s person and work), 2 Thessalonians 1:4–12 (conversion), 2 Thessalonians 2 (end times and salvation), Titus 2:11–14 (holiness by grace), Hebrews 11 (faith), the Epistle of James (practical ), and the Epistle of Jude (false

17 teachers). ​ Manton’s preaching exposed his hearers to the full range of Bible doctrines over the ​ three and a half decades of his ministry. A commitment to the whole counsel of God also appears in Manton’s balanced approach to doctrine. J. C. Ryle (1816–1900) wrote, “In Manton’s there was a curiously happy attention to the proportion of truth. He never exalts one doctrine at the expense of another. He

18 gives to each doctrine that place and rank given to it in Scripture, neither more nor less.” ​ Thus, ​ Ryle noted, Manton preached both particular divine election and general divine mercy over all creation, both effectual calling and the universal call to repentance and faith, both justification and sanctification, both the certainty of perseverance and necessity of holiness in the believer. Preachers should strive to feed the family of God with a balanced diet. Ministers of the gospel, take some time periodically to recollect and reflect on what you have preached heretofore, and compare it to the breadth of Bible doctrine and ethics. Will someone who sits under your preaching for a decade or two be schooled and trained in the whole counsel of God?

17 Manton, “Index of Principal Texts,” in The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, D.D., ed. T. Smith, 22 vols. ​ ​ (London: J. Nisbet, 1870–75), 22:455–60. 18 J. C. Ryle, “An Estimate of Manton,” in Manton, Works, 2:xvii. ​ ​ 7

4. Preach in a Plain Style that Ordinary People Can Understand In the Puritan age, prominent preachers in the Church of England adorned their sermons with long citations in Latin, Greek, and other languages in order to impress people with their erudition, even though many people would not understand what they were talking about. They attempted to show how clever they were in the pulpit by the way they put words and phrases together, entertaining listeners with rhetorical skill while leaving their hearts unmoved by the glory of Christ. This approach was often coupled with an emphasis upon majestic buildings, visual art, and solemn rituals invented by man—outward forms of worship that impressed the senses. The intellectual Enlightenment also began to rise in the seventeenth century through figures like John Locke (1632–1704) with an emphasis on rationality and human reason as the judge of all things. The Puritans responded to these trends of the day by insisting upon the biblical simplicity of worship, as regulated by the Word of God alone. They taught that the only images that God authorizes and that people need are “the right administration of the ” and “the lively

19 preaching of the word,” as Perkins said. ​ They heeded the words of Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:1–2, ​ “And I, brethren, when I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God. For I determined not to know any thing among you, save Jesus Christ, and him crucified.” Following Paul, they refused to make human reason “a judge and dictator in all divine matters,” but rather “a tool and instrument,” as Traill said.20 ​ The apostle Paul wrote in Galatians 3:1 that his preaching of the gospel had set forth Christ so plainly before them that it was as if they had personally seen Christ being crucified.21 ​ Perkins said that “the properties of the ministry of the word… must be plain, perspicuous [clear], and evident, as if the doctrine were pictured and painted before the eyes of men.” Rather than using words that may impress the listener but leave their minds uncomprehending, Perkins said that with regard to preaching, “the plainer, the better.”22 ​

19 Perkins, Commentary on Galatians, in The Works of William Perkins, ed. Paul M. Smalley (Grand Rapids: ​ ​ ​ ​ Reformation Heritage Books, 2015), 2:149 (on Gal. 3:1). 20 Robert Traill, “By What Means May Ministers Best Win Souls,” in Puritan Sermons, 1659–1689: Being the ​ Morning Exercises at Cripplegate, ed. James Nichols (Wheaton, Ill.: Richard Owen Roberts, 1981), 3:208. ​ 21 “Before whose eyes Jesus Christ hath been evidently set forth, crucified among you; when as Christ hath been ​ ​ plainly preached before you, and his death, with the blessed end and effects of it, hath been so made known amongst you, as if you had seen him crucified.” Matthew Poole, Annotations upon the Holy Bible (New York: Robert Carter ​ ​ and Brothers, 1853), 3:647. 8

Today we face similar temptations, for the pride and glory of man ever seeks to intrude into the holy office of preaching the word. Many ministers today function as entertainers to draw a crowd with their rhetorical skill, or design worship services to move the senses with live performances or audio and video experiences. Others make the pulpit into an academic throne to display their scholarship, or flatter their listeners by trying to convince them that the Bible will satisfy the demands of human reason as it sits in judgment over God’s Word. Against all this, we must imitate the Puritans as they imitated Paul, preaching the gospel of Christ with plainness, clarity, and passion. If we would preach a crucified Christ, then we must enter the pulpit with our pride and glory crucified. See yourself not as a great man towering over the congregation, but as the servant of the little children and a messenger sent to the lowliest, least educated man.

5. Preach to Your People by Addressing Their Mind, Their Conscience, and Their Heart Puritan preaching addressed the mind with clarity. Their preaching was directed to people as ​ ​ rational beings. The Puritans viewed the mind as the palace of faith. They refused to set mind and heart against each other, teaching that knowledge was the soil in which the Spirit planted the seed of regeneration. John Preston stressed that reason is elevated in conversion, and Cotton Mather (1663–1728) added that ignorance is the mother of heresy rather than of devotion. Thus they informed the mind with biblical knowledge and reasoned with the mind through biblical

23 logic. ​ They understood that a mindless Christianity fosters a spineless Christianity. ​ Puritan preaching confronted the conscience pointedly. The Puritans regarded the ​ ​ consciences of sinners as the “light of nature.” Plain preaching named specific sins, then asked questions to press home the guilt of those sins upon the consciences of men, women, and children. As one Puritan wrote, “We must go with the stick of divine truth and beat every bush behind which a sinner hides, until like Adam who hid, he stands before God in his nakedness.” Only then he will cry to be clothed in the righteousness of Christ. So the Puritans preached urgently, directly, and specifically to the conscience, taking seriously Christ’s command “that ​ repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name” (Luke 24:47). Puritan preaching wooed the heart passionately. Their preaching was affectionate, ​ ​ zealous, and optimistic. Walter Cradock (c. 1606–1659) said to his flock, “We are not sent to get

22 Perkins, Commentary on Galatians, in Works, 2:148 (on Gal. 3:1). ​ ​ ​ ​ 23 For an example of Puritan reasoning with sinners, see Joseph Alleine, A Sure Guide to Heaven (Edinburgh: ​ ​ Banner of Truth Trust, 1995), 30. 9 galley-slaves to the oars, or a bear to the stake: but He sends us to woo you as spouses, to marry

24 you to Christ.” ​ The Puritans used compelling preaching, personal pleading, earnest praying, ​ biblical reasoning, solemn warning, joyful living—any means they could—to turn sinners from the road of destruction and to God via the mind, the conscience, and the heart—in that order. The Puritans believed that God would use such preaching as a weapon to conquer and convert sinners.

6. Preach as Though People’s Very Lives Depend on the Truth You Bring, Because They Do The Puritans viewed preaching as the minister’s “principal work” and the hearers’ “principal

25 benefit.” ​ Preaching is God’s great “converting ordinance,” they said. Seldom would anyone be ​ converted apart from it. William Ames (1576–1633) wrote, “Preaching is the ordinance of God, sanctified for the begetting of faith, for the opening of the understanding, for the drawing of the

26 will and affections to Christ.” ​ Thomas Cartwright (1535–1603) said preaching is vitally ​ necessary above merely reading the Bible. He wrote, “As the fire stirred giveth more heat, so the Word, as it were blown by preaching, flameth more in the hearers, than when it is read.”27 ​ The Puritans were in awe that a mere man could be the mouthpiece and ambassador of the almighty, triune God. Richard Baxter (1615–1691) wrote, “It is no small matter to stand up in the face of a congregation, and deliver a message of salvation or damnation, as from the living God, in the name of our .”28 ​ Other than the Holy Spirit, the ascended Christ bestows no higher gift on earth than the call to preach to His New Testament church, said Richard Sibbes (1577–1635). “This is a gift of all gifts, the ordinance of preaching. God esteems it so, Christ esteems it so, and so should we

29 esteem it.” ​ Therefore the Puritans put the pulpit rather than the altar at the center of their ​

24 Quoted in I. D. E. Thomas, comp., The Golden Treasury of Puritan Quotations (Chicago: Moody, 1975), 222. ​ ​ Bears were tied to a stake and then forced to fight dogs in the cruel sport of bear-baiting, which the Puritans often opposed. What a contrast to a wedding! 25 Robert Traill, Select Practical Writings of Robert Traill (Edinburgh: Printed for the Assembly’s Committee, ​ ​ 1845), 120; Arthur Hildersham, CLII Lectures Upon Psalm LI (London: J. Raworth, for Edward Brewster, 1642), ​ ​ 732. 26 William Ames, The Marrow of Theology, ed. John D. Eusden (Boston: Pilgrim Press, 1968), 194. ​ ​ 27 Quoted in Horton Davies, The Worship of the English Puritans (Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1997), 186. See ​ ​ also John Owen, An Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ed. William H. Goold, 7 vols. (Edinburgh: Banner of ​ ​ Truth Trust, 1991), 7:312–13; Nehemiah Rogers, The True Convert (London: George Miller for Edward Brewster, ​ ​ 1632), 71. 28 Richard Baxter, The Practical Works of Richard Baxter, 4 vols. (Ligonier: Soli Deo Gloria, 1990–1991), 4:383. ​ ​ 10 churches, put preaching rather than the sacraments at the center of their worship, and regarded a personal call to the ministry as essential.30 ​ Such a perspective made each sermon a momentous occasion. “There is not a sermon

31 which is heard, but it sets us nearer heaven or hell,” wrote John Preston. ​ One of John Cotton’s ​ (1584–1652) listeners wrote in response to a sermon, “Mr. Cotton preaches with such authority, demonstration, and life that, methinks, when he preaches out of any Prophet or Apostle I hear not him; I hear that very Prophet and Apostle; yea, I hear the Lord Jesus Christ speaking in my heart.”32 ​ Puritans were earnest preachers who made it their aim to please God rather than people. God was their witness. All masks were stripped away; all flattery was abhorred. Listen to Richard Baxter: “In the name of God, brethren, labor to awaken your hearts before you come, and when you are in the work, that you may be fit to awaken the hearts of sinners. Remember, they must be awakened or damned. And a sleepy preacher will hardly awaken them…. Speak to your people as to men that must be awakened either here or in hell.”33 ​

7. Preach with Your Life What You Preach from the Pulpit There is no substitute for godliness of life in the preacher. His life must not contradict his message, because his actions speak louder than his words. Nothing puts fire into the sermon so much as holiness in the preacher. This was a hallmark of Puritanism. Sinclair Ferguson writes, “The marriage of true learning and personal godliness lay at the heart of the Puritan vision. A recurring note in their thinking was the apostolic injunction, ‘pay careful attention to yourselves’ (Acts 20:28); ‘guard your life…’ (1 Tim. 4:16). Personal godliness was the great essential.”34 ​ Will you preach to others but not preach to yourself? Beware of becoming a mere ministry professional. If the only reason you read the Bible is to find texts for sermons, then how

29 Richard Sibbes, The Complete Works of Richard Sibbes, ed. Alexander B. Grosart (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth ​ ​ Trust, 1977), 5:509. 30 For the Puritan view of the calling to the ministry, see Owen C. Watkins, The Puritan Experience (London: ​ ​ Routledge & Kegan Paul, 1972), 61–63. 31 John Preston, A Pattern of Wholesome Words, quoted in Christopher Hill, Society and Puritanism in ​ ​ ​ Pre-Revolutionary England (New York: Schocken Books, 1964), 46. ​ 32 Roger Clap, Memoirs of Captain Roger Clap, quoted in Alden T. Vaughan and Francis J. Bremer, eds., Puritan ​ ​ ​ New England: Essays on Religion, Society, and Culture (New York: St. Martin’s, 1977), 70. ​ 33 Baxter, Works, 4:412, 426. ​ ​ 34 Sinclair B. Ferguson, “Puritans—Ministers of the Word,” in The Westminster Directory of Public Worship, intro. ​ ​ Mark Dever and Sinclair Ferguson (Ross-shire, Scotland: Christian Focus Publications, 2008), 9. 11 will you feed your own soul? Make every time you open the Word a time of meditation and prayer, and impress upon your soul the danger of being a hearer only, and not a doer of the Word (James 1:22). Traill wrote, Take heed unto thyself, that thou be a lively, thriving Christian. See that all thy religion ​ ​ run not in the channel of thy employment. It is found by experience, that as it fares with a minister in the frame of his heart and thriving of the work of God in his soul, so doth it fare with his ministry both in its vigour and effects. A carnal frame, a dead heart, and a loose walk, make cold and unprofitable preaching.35 ​ Richard Baxter put it this way: “Preach to yourselves first, before you preach to the people, and with greater zeal. O Lord, save thy church from worldly pastors, that study and learn the art of Christianity, and ministry; but never had the Christian, divine nature, nor the vital principle which must difference them and their services from the dead.”36 ​

Do Not Preach Like the Puritans in These Ways There are other ways in which we should not preach like the Puritans today. The Puritans followed an educational method called Ramism after French philosopher Petrus Ramus (1515–1572) who attempted to modify the Aristotelian philosophy popular in the schools and orient it toward practical godliness instead of intellectual speculation. In many ways, the Ramist approach helped them to analyze a topic theologically and practically. However, Ramism also introduced a methodological complexity to Puritan preaching that few modern hearers can receive well from the pulpit. Let me offer some specifics.

1. Do Not Structure Most Sermons by Theology, but Rather by The typical Puritan sermon began with an exegetical introduction, looking at a particular Scripture text in its context, and “raising” or deriving a specific doctrinal proposition from that text. The doctrinal proposition is broken down into its parts, and each part is expounded in turn. Finally, various applications are made from what has been expounded. This is not the best way to preach for the modern hearer today. I am not against topical preaching or teaching systematic theology; in our Dutch Reformed tradition, we regularly preach

35 Traill, “By What Means May Ministers Best Win Souls,” in Puritan Sermons, 3:203. ​ ​ 36 Richard Baxter, “A Sermon Preached at the Funeral of Mr. Henry Stubbs” (1678), in The Practical Works of ​ Richard Baxter (Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 2000), 4:974; Cf. Murray A. Capill, Preaching with Spiritual Vigour: ​ ​ ​ Including Lessons from the Life and Practice of Richard Baxter (Fearn, Scotland: Christian Focus, 2003), 39–50. ​ 12 topical messages based on the Heidelberg Catechism. However, the standard Puritan method places systematic theology in the foreground and the particular words of the Scripture text in the background. We would do better to reverse this order and devote the whole sermon to expounding and applying the message of this particular text in its context. Systematic theology is only a servant of the Word. As a servant, it should help us understand, believe, rejoice in, and obey the Word.

2. Do Not Multiply Points and Sub-points, but Rather Strive for Simplicity The Ramist method analyzed a topic by dividing it into categories, and those categories into sub-categories, and so on, with each level becoming more specific. The aim was to avoid abstract generalities and to discuss a topic with a level of detail and concreteness that facilitated practical application. Put down on paper, the result was an outline that looked like a tree lying on its side, with its branches stretching out to the right with points, sub-points, sub-sub-sub points, and sometimes, even sub-sub-sub-sub points.37 ​ Granted, the Puritan hearer, being trained in the Ramist method, could follow such sermons, but the modern hearer, no matter how well-intentioned, gets lost usually already at the sub-sub point level. So, don’t try this at your church! In all fairness, we should also remember that a Puritan sermon as it appears in print may not reflect exactly how it was preached, especially if the author later revised his notes for publication. Nevertheless, the Puritan style of preaching involved a complexity of structure that most modern hearers cannot sustain well in their minds. A typical sermon today should have two to four main points, each supported by a few sub-points. Taking your points and sub-points together, if you have more than fifteen headings in your entire outline, then you probably have more than one sermon to preach!

3. Do Not Overwhelm Your Hearers with Applications, but Rather Focus Your Sermon The Puritans called applications “uses,” that is uses to make of the text or doctrine of the sermon. They developed multiple uses for different spiritual conditions of people, as well as different kinds of applying Scripture. Their preaching was so rich in application that it functioned as a kind of biblical counseling from the pulpit, and no doubt it reduced the number of individual counseling cases their pastors needed to address in private. It should be noted that Puritan

37 For example, see Peter Vinke, “Of Original Sin Inhering,” in Puritan Sermons, 5:115–34. ​ ​ 13 preachers were advised “wisely to make choice of such uses, as, by his residence and conversing with his flock, he findeth most needful and seasonable” (Directory for Public Worship, “Of the Preaching of the Word”). The effect of such elaborate schemes of application today, however, would be too much for people to take in. While the Puritans teach us the importance of applications, we must be careful to choose our applications judiciously—applications that flow out of the text and enable our hearers to leave worship with two to four important applications penetrating our mind and heart rather than half a dozen to a dozen. Today, with the modern hearer’s attention span being severely limited, a dozen applications might well blunt the effect of the whole sermon. If someone asked what the preacher said, the response might well be, “Well, what didn’t he say?” ​ ​

4. Do Not Preach Too Many Sermons on One Topic or Verse, but Rather Keep Moving The Puritans’ thorough approach to every subject they addressed often resulted in extended sermon series. You can see this in their books, many of which consist of published sermons. Robert Traill (1642–1716) preached sixteen sermons on John 17:24 containing a wealth of

38 teaching and application on the doctrines of heaven, election, and the work of Christ. ​ His ​ Works consist of three hundred pages of beautiful, heart-warming truth. And yet we think, ​ Sixteen sermons on only one verse? This method makes for excellent reading but will not work ​ well as a series of messages today. To balance our preaching, we should move through the Scriptures at a steady pace, neither rushing forward nor getting stuck in a rut. God has so designed the Bible that it weaves together both doctrine and application with beautiful wisdom. While it is helpful to look deeply into a single subject and form the worldview of our hearers with systematic theology, we must not lose the wise balance of Holy Scripture. Don’t preach thirty-five sermons on the sinfulness of sin, and then thirty-five on the efficacy of Christ’s intercession. Let the Holy Spirit lead you to consider various subjects as you preach through books of the Bible.

5. Do Not Preach with Too Many Cross-References, but Rather Use Them Judiciously

38 Robert Traill, Sixteen Sermons on the Lord’s Prayer, in The Works of Robert Traill (1810; repr., Edinburgh: ​ ​ ​ ​ Banner of Truth, 1975), 2:1–298. 14

It is amazing to see the Puritans’ grasp of the whole Bible, especially knowing that they lived long before the days of Bible software and internet search engines. They drew proof texts from all over the Old and New Testaments as they sought to ground their doctrine in God’s Word. For example, Owen preached two sermons in May 1670 on Romans 1:16: “For I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ: for it is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth; to the

39 Jew first, and also to the Greek.” ​ Over the course of twenty pages, these sermons cite fifty texts ​ in addition to his main text, citing from Deuteronomy, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Matthew, Mark, Luke, John, Acts, Romans, 1 Corinthians, Galatians, Philippians, 1 Thessalonians, 2 Timothy, Hebrews, James, and 2 Peter. The Puritan delight in multiplying Scripture proof texts displays both a strength and a weakness. The great strength of the Puritan approach to cross-referencing Scripture is that it roots their systematic theology of particular doctrines in the whole Bible. The wide-ranging and detailed knowledge of God’s Word that these hard-working pastors and preachers had at the tip of their tongues should humble us. However, today it is best to focus on an exposition of one text, and cite only one or two cross-references for each point. In critiquing Puritan preaching, we do not dishonor the Puritans as faithful servants of God, but only acknowledge that they were fallible men of a particular time and place. Even as we view a few of their methods as unsuitable for the hearer of our own day, let us admire their zeal and effectiveness under the blessing of God’s Spirit. They were bold beacons of truth, like John Bunyan (1628–1688), who suffered in prison for years because of his commitment to preach the gospel. After Bunyan was released in 1677 from his second imprisonment, rather than hiding himself to avoid more trouble, he found a door wide open for more preaching of the gospel. He preached at his hometown of Bedford, in the villages around it, and in London. It is estimated that he preached to three thousand people on one Lord’s Day in London. On a weekday in the winter, twelve hundred people gathered at seven o’clock in the morning to hear

40 him preach. ​ Such was the power blessing of God upon the preaching of the Puritans. While we ​ do not follow the Puritans in everything, we would say of them what Owen said of the poor tinker, Bunyan, in a conversation with King Charles II, “that he would willingly exchange his learning for the tinker’s power of touching men’s hearts.”41 ​ 39 John Owen, “The Divine Power of the Gospel,” in Works, 9:217–37. ​ ​ 40 Charles Doe, “The Struggler,” in The Works of that Eminent Servant of Christ, Mr. John Bunyan, the First Volume ​ (London: William Marshall, 1692), Ttttt2r–2v. 15

Conclusion: Pray for the Power of the Spirit in Puritan-like Preaching The Westminster Larger Catechism summarizes the positive lessons we can learn from the Puritans in its statement of the Puritan norms for preaching: Q159. How is the Word of God to be preached by those that are called thereunto? A. They that are called to labour in the ministry of the Word, are to preach sound ​ doctrine, diligently, in season, and out of season; plainly, not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit, and power; faithfully, making known the whole counsel of God; wisely, applying themselves to the necessities and capacities of the hearers; zealously, with fervent love to God, and the souls of his people; sincerely, aiming at his glory, and their conversion, edification, and salvation.42 ​ A key phrase in that statement is, “in demonstration of the Spirit, and power,” alluding to the words of the apostle Paul in 1 Corinthians 2:4, or “the demonstration of which the Spirit is the author, and which is characterized by power; so that the sense is, the powerful demonstration ​ 43 of the Spirit.” ​ It is not an accident that the next question and answer in the catechism say that ​ those who hear the Word must “attend upon it with diligence, preparation, and prayer.” We cannot expect to approximate the Puritans in preaching if we do not pray for the power of the Spirit that accompanied their preaching of the Word. There is a great reason why the methodological flaws of the Puritan did not impair the power of their preaching, and that reason is summed up by the phrase of the Apostles’ Creed, “I believe in the Holy Ghost”—a phrase that Spurgeon recited as he ascended the steps to his pulpit. We may find fault with some aspects of John Flavel’s preaching, but we must recognize that it was anointed with the Holy Spirit and with power. Flavel preached in times of persecution, yet he preached with great boldness and plainness. Sometimes he had to gather his congregation out in the woods to avoid detection. Once he had to ride his horse into the sea to escape arrest by the authorities. His sermons blazed with light and heat. One of the members of his church said that a “person must have a very soft head, or a very hard heart, or both, that could sit under his ministry unaffected.” One young man, Luke Short, evidently heard Flavel with a hard heart, for he went away unchanged after a message on the horror of dying under God’s curse. Short emigrated to New England, where he became a farmer who lived to be over a hundred years old.

41 John Brown, John Bunyan: His, Life, Times, and Work (London: Hulbert, 1928), 366. ​ ​ 42 John R. Bower, The Larger Catechism: A Critical Text and Introduction, Principal Documents of the Westminster ​ ​ Assembly (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2010), 103. 43 Charles Hodge, Commentary on First Corinthians (repr., London: Banner of Truth, 1958), 32. ​ ​ 16

One day the old man looked over his fields and remembered the sermon he had heard in England. The Spirit of God pressed Flavel’s message upon the man’s heart, and there,

44 eighty-five years after the fact, Luke Short was converted and saved. ​ His gravestone read, ​ “Here lies a babe in grace, aged three years, who died according to nature, aged 106.” Only the Holy Spirit can imbue our preaching with such lasting, converting power. If you want to preach like the Puritans (or want your pastor to preach like the Puritans), then pray for this grace often and lean heavily upon the Holy Spirit both in preparing your sermons and in delivering them.

44 Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson, Meet the Puritans: With a Guide to Modern Reprints (Grand Rapids: ​ ​ Reformation Heritage Books, 2006), 245–49. 17