The specific format I would like this blog to take is that of a personal devotional/Puritan promotion blog. What I mean is, explicitly I hope to share some of my own thoughts and experiences that God may grant in my day-to-day life; and implicitly I wish to use this blog to promote the books and writings of the Christians during the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries known as the Puritans. Since I read the works of the Puritans on a regular basis, it would be nearly impossible to share my daily spiritual experiences without mentioning their important expositions of Scripture and their exhortations of living lives wholly devoted to Jesus Christ. The uncommon ability the Puritans had to wade heavily through great depths of biblical truths has led one of today's leading theologians, J.I. Packer, to refer to the Puritans as "Physicians of the Soul."
I will be promoting the Puritans on this blog by way of intermittently posting some of their poems, prayers, and quotes, as well as recommending books of theirs that I've read personally. Such Puritans that I have read and currently reading are: Thomas Watson, Matthew Henry, John Bunyan, Richard Baxter, John Owen, and Charles Spurgeon (Spurgeon is considered by some to be the last of the Puritan age). Puritan's whose writings I hope to read in the future are: Thomas Manton, Thomas Shepard, William Whitaker, Henry Scougal, John Flavel, and Jeremiah Burroughs.
For those who wish to learn "about" the Puritans before learning "from" the Puritans, I would highly recommend the book "Meet The Puritans" by Joel R. Beeke and Randall J. Pederson. In this book Beeke and Pederson present mini-biographies of over 100 of the most influential Puritans in church history. I would also recommend the 16 lecture series by J.I. Packer called "History and Theology of the Puritans" which can be downloaded for free on iTunes. This lecture series is what first introduced me to the Puritan movement.
For those who have not yet had the privilege of reading through the works of our Christian brothers from the Puritan era, I pray that this blog will help give a slight taste of the high degree of spirituality they existed on, as theologian Leland Ryken stated, "By valuing all of life in relation to God, Puritans gave sacred significance to every activity." And may their unmatched levels of biblical knowledge and godly devotion lift us all up to new heights of love and loyalty to Jesus Christ.
