Praying With The Puritans

The Great God

Destroy in me every lofty thought

Break pride to pieces and scatter it to the winds

Annihilate each clinging shred of self-righteousness

Implant in me true lowliness of spirit

Abase me to self-loathing and self-abhorrence

Open in me a fount of penitential tears

Break me, then bind me up

Thus will my heart be a prepared dwelling for my God

Then can the Father take up his abode in me

Then can the blessed Jesus come with healing in his touch

The can the Holy Spirit descend in sanctifying grace

O holy Trinity, three Persons and one God

Inhabit me, a temple consecrated to thy glory

When thou art present, evil cannot abide

In thy fellowship is fullness of joy

Beneath thy smile is peace of conscience

By thy side no fears disturb

No apprehensions banish rest of mind

With thee my heart shall bloom with fragrance

Make me meet, through repentance, for thine dwelling

Nothing exceeds thy power

Nothing is too great for thee to do

Nothing too good for thee to give

Infinite is thy might, boundless thy love

Limitless thy grace, glorious thy saving name

Let angels sing for sinners repenting, prodigals restored

Backsliders reclaimed, Satan's captives released

Blind eyes opened, broken hearts bound up

The despondent cheered, the self-righteous stripped

The formalist driven from a refuge of lies

The ignorant enlightened, and saints built up in their holy faith

I ask great things of a great God

- Taken from "The Valley of Vision" A Collection of Puritan Prayers

Day By Day With The English Puritans

I took this quote from my morning devotional "Day By Day With The English Puritans"

“Christ is the most amiable person and the most suitable object for your love... if you seek from one side of heaven to the other; if you make inquiry into all the parts of the earth, you will never find that there ever was or is to be found any person so lovely, so beautiful and so in every way deserving of your love, as the Lord Jesus Christ.”

- Thomas Vincent, Day By Day With The English Puritans, pg 33

"Gaze upon the beauty of the Lord."

- Psalm 27:4

Quoting the Puritans

I took this quote from the book I am currently reading called "Attending Upon God Without Distraction", written by Nathanael Vincent in the year 1695.  In this quote Nathanael stresses the importance of not only attending (serving) God, but also to continually rely on God for the very ability and strength in which to do the serving, and to use His Word as our rightful guide.

"Man must plainly discern his ignorance and impotence to give a right attendance upon God, without the direction and aid of His Word and Spirit.  Nay, as man lacks both skill and strength to serve the Lord, so he has no will to do it; there is an indisposition and even an ill disposition in him, which plainly shows that the light and grace of the Word and Spirit are of absolute necessity for an attendance upon God that is acceptable to Him.  When man goes off from God and takes himself to himself in matters of religion, he ranges infinitely, like a seafaring man who has lost his compass in a mist, moving swiftly, but to no purpose.  Then there shall be more words than what is written, more articles than what God has put into our creed, more commands that the Lawgiver ever gave; nay, more gods and more mediators than one.  Man's invention will be fruitlessly fruitful, and himself restless and endless in his own ways.  We should see our need of instruction and help from the Spirit of the Lord.  Both light and liberty, strength and liveliness in all holy duties are from Him."

- Nathanael Vincent, Attending Upon God Without Distraction, Chapter 1, pg 12

Video Devotional

"A Benediction of Peace" - I took this devotional from the book "Strengthen My Spirit" which is made up of the works of 19th century preacher Charles Spurgeon.

Video Devotionals

This week I started making devotional videos on YouTube, where I read a daily devotion from one of the many devotionals I have.  When I make a video on a devotional specifically from a Puritan, I will post that video here on my blog.  The first one I've done is from Jonathan Edwards, who was considered an American Puritan in the 18th century.  I will post that devotional video below - "Gracious Notices"

I did this excerpt reading of a sermon called "Mysterious Visits" preached by Charles Spurgeon in the year 1886.  It is one of my favorite sermons from him thus far.  The sermon is based on Psalm 17:3 - "Thou hast visited me in the night"

Puritan Library

"Repentance"

"Repentance is the doctrine of the Gospel."

- Thomas Boston, Repentance, pg 42

The book "Repentance", which is a collection of sermons preached by the 18th century Puritan Thomas Boston, is the second book I have read recently concerning the biblical topic on repentance (the first being by Thomas Watson - see book review before this one).  As Thomas Watson gave what I believe is a very emotional look at repentance (having the heart being central in one's own repentance), I believe that Thomas Boston gave a technical view of repentance.  I believe both views must be adopted by an individual in order to have a full and biblically balanced view and experience of repentance.

In his book, what Boston did very well was to give warnings distinguishing between a true repentance and a false repentance, as he wrote, “Without a sense of sin there is no humiliation; without humiliation there can be no repentance; and without repentance there can be no escape from the wrath of God... Insensibleness of sin, and the evil of it, locks up the heart in obduration and impenitency; and that will shut up the soul under wrath.”  True repentance cannot take place until the true nature of your own evil is self-understood.  A false and limited view of your own sin will result in producing a false and limited act of repentance.  And speaking of limiting repentance, Boston also points out the importance of exercising repentance as a daily part of your walk with God, as opposed to repenting only once at your conversion.  Boston states it as such, “Whoever endeavours not to carry on their repentance, I doubt if they ever at all repented yet... The heart first smitten with repentance for sin at the soul’s first conversion to God, the wound still bleeds, and is never bound up to bleed no more, till the band of glory be put about it in heaven.”  Daily repentance of our sins is to exist side-by-side with our daily faith in God, who delivers us from those sins.

For a detailed look into the nature of true repentance, and how it is to affect our daily walk with God, I would suggest Thomas Boston's book "Repentance" as a helpful manual to gain a robust and thorough grasp of such an important life-saving experience that genuine repentance gives.

“Though you have sinned with the world, if you repent with God’s elect, you will not perish with the world.”

- Thomas Boston, Repentance, pg 124

Puritan Library

"The Doctrine of Repentance"

“Martyrs shed blood for Christ, and penitents shed tears for sins.”
- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, pg 19

This book, written in 1668 by the Puritan Thomas Watson, is one of two books I have recently read on the subject of repentance (the second book is titled "Repentance" by the Puritan Thomas Boston, which I will write a review for shortly).  In Watson's book, one aspect of repentance that seemed to be a theme throughout is the necessary connection of sorrow to repentance.  Watson strongly emphasizes that true repentance will always be accompanied by a deep and heart-wrenching sorrow for sins against a holy and majestic God. Watson wrote, “Godly sorrow goes deep, like the vein which bleeds inwardly.  The heart bleeds for sin... As the heart bears a chief part in sinning, so it must in sorrowing.”  Repentance is not merely repeating the words "I'm sorry" to God after we have sinned, but rather it is to be a felt disturbance in our souls: a disturbance that makes our hearts wish to no longer offend our glorious Savior.  That is where sorrow comes in and makes our repentance an acceptable fragrance to God, for without sorrow in our repentance it will not be received but will be rejected because of its superficiality and unchanging nature.  Repentance that does not hurt us cannot change us, as Watson solemnly warned, “He that can repent without sorrowing, suspect his repentance.”

The most meaningful way to make your repentance meaningful itself is to focus on Jesus Christ on the Cross dying for the very sins you are to repent of.  When you think of your sin simply as a bad and unfortunate thing - without contemplating what your sin did to Jesus - you might feel somewhat regretful for it, but that will be the totality of your repentance.  However when you meditate on your sins being the cause of Jesus' terrible sufferings and eventual death on the Cross, than you would find it impossible to repent without sorrow.  You cannot genuinely repent without your soul shedding painful tears for what they have caused on so beautiful a person as the Son of God.  Watson concludes, “Can we look upon a suffering Saviour with dry eyes? Shall we not be sorry for those sins which made Christ a man of sorrow?  Shall not our infirmities, which drew blood from Christ, draw tears from us?”

I recommend Thomas Watson's book "The Doctrine of Repentance" for those who seek a deepening of their repentance that will affect their hearts with godly sorrow, making a true change in your lives away from sin, thereby being a repentance that will be received by God.

“Moist tears dry up sin and quench the wrath of God.  Repentance is the cherisher of piety, the procurer of mercy.”
- Thomas Watson, The Doctrine of Repentance, pg 7

Why Read The Puritans Today?

"In the Puritans, people are finding men who were passionate and obsessed with the knowledge of God." - Don Kistler

Puritan expert Don Kistler wrote a short book entitled "Why Read The Puritans Today?", in which he gives ten reasons why the books and written sermons of the 17th and 18th century Puritans are still highly relevant for Christians in the modern era.  The reasons Kistler gives were practical and everyday realities for the Puritans, which ensured for them an in depth and encompassing relationship with God and His Word.

I would like to write out excerpts from all ten of those reasons here to encourage Christians to become acquainted with the writings of the Puritans for the sole purpose of growing closer to God and for gaining a much more intimate and comprehensive hold on God's Word.

"Why Read Puritans Today" - by Don Kistler

1. Reading the Puritans will elevate your concept of God to a degree you probably never thought possible, and show you a God who is truly worthy of your worship and adoration... When you begin to have Isaiah's vision of God from Isaiah 6, and you realize that the reality of God is infinitely beyond anything your mind can fully comprehend, you'll realize that the average man doesn't think much about God at all... The Puritans were, above all, great thinkers.

2. The Puritans had a "love affair", if you will, with Christ; they wrote much about the beauty of Christ... The true Christian wants Christ and nothing but Christ.

3. The Puritans will help us understand the sufficiency of Christ.  This comes under great attack in our modern church.  You may have Christ to save you, but you need psychology to help you get through life, we are told... It is our deficiency of Christ that is the issue.  If Christ is all in all, how can we look to anyone else or anything else for answers?

4. The Puritans help us to see the sufficiency of Scripture for life and godliness... The Puritans understood that spiritual problems needed spiritual solutions... God, who created the soul, and who died to redeem the soul, best knows how to treat the soul.  And those men who are most acquainted with God are best able to provide cures for the soul.  In fact, the Puritans were called "physicians of the soul."

5. The Puritans can teach us about the heinous nature of sin... There is no doctrine on which it is more important to be orthodox than this one, because if you are off on the doctrine of sin, you are going to be off on every other doctrine.

6. The Puritans will help us with practical living... Before this century, most counseling was done from the pulpit or during a pastoral visit to the home to catechize the family... There was no area of life that the Puritans believed was not to be regulated by Scripture... The Puritans were very pastoral in addition to being very theological.  There is a great deal for comfort in their writings.

7. The Puritans will help us with evangelism that is biblical.  Most evangelism today is man-centered.  Puritan evangelism was God-centered.

8. Reading the Puritans will help establish right priorities... One Puritan said it this way, "God's smile is my greatest reward, and His frown is my greatest fear."  If it is true that we become like the people with whom we spend our time, then it is an investment in eternity to spend your time with the Puritans.

9. The Puritans can help us clarify the issue of how a man is made right with God.  A title that I highly recommend is Solomon Stoddard's work on the difference between imputed and infused righteousness, "The Safety of Appearing on the Day of Judgment in the Righteousness of Christ."  I cannot overemphasize the importance of being sound on this matter of imputed righteousness in this day when so many are not sound on the eternal difference between imputed and infused righteousness.  The difference between these two positions is not simply the distance between Rome and Geneva; it is the distance between heaven and hell.

10. Finally, let's examine the Puritans and the authority of the Word... The Puritan divines who wrote the Westminster Confession of Faith wrote, "The authority of the Holy Scripture, for which it ought to be believed, and obeyed, dependeth not upon the testimony of any man, or Church; but wholly upon God (who is truth itself) the Author thereof; and therefore it is to be received because it is the Word of God."... That is how the Puritans viewed Scripture.  Their high view of God came from their high view of Scripture.  And if we would know God the way they did, we must love His Word the way they did.

"Reading the Puritans, then, would be the best possible use of time.  Oh, that we might become like them in the ways that they set Christ forth for all to adore and worship."
- Don Kistler, Why Read The Puritans Today, pg 17

Quoting The Puritans

Salvation

"It is a new and a holy heart and life, and not a new creed, or a new church or sect, that is necessary to your salvation.  It will never save you to be in the soundest church on earth, if you be unsound in it yourselves, and are but the dust in the temple that must be swept out."

- Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, Chapter 1, pg 32

"Promoting God's glory in the conversion of others is a signal evidence of our salvation.  As the rainbow is not a cause why God will not drown the world, but is a sign that he will not drown it... so our building up others in the faith is not a cause why we are saved, but it is a symbol of our piety and a presage of our felicity."

- Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture, pg 188

"Christ has finished salvation's work, altogether finished it.  Hold not up your rags in competition with His fair white linen: Christ has borne the curse; bring not your pitiful penances, and your tears all full of filth to mingle with the precious fountain flowing with His blood.  Lay down what is your own, and come and take what is Christ's.  Put away now everything that you have thought of being or doing, by way of winning acceptance with God; humble yourselves, and take Jesus Christ to be the Alpha and Omega, the first and the last, the beginning and the end of your salvation."

- Charles Spurgeon, from the sermon "Christ Made A Curse For Us"