The Puritans & Judgment Day

Judgment Day is not something many people think about, much less look forward to.  Even among Christians themselves, Judgment Day is often a topic that is glanced over in the Bible and ignored in many pulpits, conferences and seminars.  There are even some Christians who don't think that as Christians, they will even be required to take part in Judgment Day.  However, the Bible repeatedly declares a coming Day of Judgment in which every single person who has ever lived will stand before Jesus Christ (who will take up His rightful office as "Judge of the living and the dead" - 2 Timothy 4:1) and give account for their lives.  This multitude that is to be judged includes every single Christian as well.  The only difference between the Christian and the non-Christian on that day will be "what" they are judged for.

Non-Christians will be judged for their sins as they lived their own lives without a Savior to cleanse them from their sins, as the Apostle Paul wrote "because of your stubbornness and unrepentant heart, you are storing up wrath against yourself for the day of God's wrath, when his righteous judgment will be revealed" - Romans 2:5.  Each Christian will have to stand before God on Judgment Day as well, however they will not be judged regarding if they have salvation or not, because Jesus has been their Mediator throughout their lives and their Advocate on Judgment Day.  But Christians will indeed be judged for the works that they did while living as followers of Christ during their earthly lives, as the Apostle Paul also wrote "Fire will test the quality of each person's work.  If what has been built survives, the builder will receive a reward.  If it is burned up, the builder will suffer loss but yet will be saved - even though only as one escaping through the flames" - 1 Corinthians 3:13-15.

Judgment Day will be a day attended by all, regardless of whether they are in Christ or outside of Christ.  And because of its universal inclusion, I put together a video of quotes from various writers regarding the reality of the coming Day of Judgment.  All the writers I quoted from are Puritans (with the once exception of A.W. Pink, who lived after the age of Puritanism, although he was himself a great admirer of their writings).  I will link that video below, which I hope will be a wake up call to those who are currently living without Jesus as their future Advocate for that terrible day of wrath, and I hope it will make Christians themselves more sober and sensitive to the fact that they will not themselves be exempt from that day, but will give account for both their words (Matthew 12:36) and their deeds (1 Corinthians 3:13-15).

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Of The Holy Scriptures - Chapter 1 Section 7

"All things in Scripture are not alike plain in themselves, nor alike clear unto all: yet those things which are necessary to be known, believed, and observed for salvation, are so clearly propounded, and opened in some place of Scripture or other, that not only the learned, but the unlearned, in a due use of the ordinary means, may attain unto a sufficient understanding of them."

Puritan Library

"A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life"

Written by the 18th century Puritan William Law, the book "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" has proved to be a staple manual in helping to guide Christians to a much deeper and more real devotional life towards God.  This book has been used and promoted by great Christian leaders throughout the past three centuries, such as Charles Wesley and George Whitfield (two leaders of the 18th century Great Awakening Revival), William Wilberforce (who was instrumental in ending slavery in 19th century Britain) and C.S. Lewis (the 20th century philosopher and author of "Mere Christianity" and "The Chronicles of Narnia").   A book that could so greatly influence such men of important social impact must be a book that should be read by all Christians.  Having now read the book myself, I can wholeheartedly attest to its deep biblical wisdom and the God-honoring spirit in which Law wrote.

William Law's central thesis in the book is that for a Christian to truly honor God with his life, he must purposefully seek after God's holiness, which entails emulation of that same holiness in the believer's life and to ultimately reflect praise back to God through it.  As Law stated, "If you would be a good Christian, there is but one way you must live wholly unto God; and if you would live wholly unto God, you must live according to the wisdom that comes from God: you must act according to right judgments of the nature and value of things; you must live in the exercise of holy and heavenly affections, and use all the gifts of God to His praise and glory."  Without such a desire for God's holiness, a person then deceives themselves in thinking they actually want God Himself.  For if one does not give themselves over completely to devotion to God's nature, which is holy, then how can one be conformed to that holiness in order to co-exist with God both now and throughout eternity?  Law writes it this way, "Christianity supposes, intends, desires, and aims at nothing else but the raising of fallen man to a Divine life, to such habits of holiness, such degrees of devotion, as may fit him to enter among the holy inhabitants of the kingdom of Heaven."

The specific categories of devotion to God that Law goes into detail are; continual acts of prayer and reliance on God; daily and heart-felt repentance for one's sins against God; living with a spirit of humility before a holy God; as well as living a life that continually interceds for the welfare of others, which Law declares to be one of the greatest acts of conformity to the life and character of Jesus Christ, as Law writes, "As it was the sins of the world that made the Son of God become a compassionate, suffering Advocate for all mankind, so no one is of the Spirit of Christ, but he that has the utmost compassion for sinners."

For those Christians who wish to live out a life that is both pleasing and honorable to the God who so graciously and mercifully forgave them of their sins, and yet still remains a perfectly righteous and holy God Himself, the book "A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life" will both encourage and convict the reader to hunger after a holy life in order to be properly identified with the holy God they serve.

"As sure as Jesus Christ was wisdom and holiness, as sure as He came to make us like Himself, and to be baptized into His Spirit, so sure is it, that none can be said to keep their Christian profession, but they who to the utmost of their power, live a wise and hole and heavenly life.  This, and this alone, is Christianity - a universal holiness in every part of life, a heavenly wisdom in all our actions, not conforming to the spirit and temper of the world, but turning wordly enjoyments into means of piety and devotion to God."
- William Law, A Serious Call to a Devout and Holy Life, Chapter 10, pg 106

The Life of God in the Soul of Man

In an earlier post, I wrote a review for the book "The Life of God in the Soul of Man" written by the 17th century Puritan Henry Scougal.  I recently put together a video made up of quotes I've taken from Scougal's book, so I'd like to provide that video here to further promote that wonderfully written and time-enduring treatise about sacrificing one's life entirely to God so He may live fully through you.

Quoting The Puritans

The Church

"If Jesus so loved the church as to give himself for her, much more what he has is settled on her."

- John Flavel, The Fountain of Life Opened Up, pg 530

 "Thou art not saved for being a member of the church of Rome, or Corinth, or Ephesus, or Philippi, or Thessalonica, or of any other such; but for being a member of the universal church or body of Christ, that is, a Christian."

- Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory, pg 52-53

"There is no entering in God's church but by coming into Christ's church; nor are any looked upon as members of the kingdom of God among men but those that are willing to submit to the grace and government of the Redeemer."

- Matthew Henry, Commentary on the Whole Bible, pg 1583

"As Christ was, so His church is to be in this world.  Christ came into this world not to be ministered unto, but to minister, not to be honored, but to save others.  His church, when she understands her work, will perceive that she is not here to gather to herself wealth or honor, or to seek any temporal aggrandizement and position; she is here unselfishly to live, and if need be, unselfishly to die for the deliverance of the lost sheep, the salvation of lost men."

- Charles Spurgeon, from his sermon "The First Cry From The Cross"

The Life and Thought of John Owen

"I owe more, I think, to John Owen than to any other theologian, ancient or modern."

- J.I. Packer, Introduction to John Owen's The Mortification of Sin, pg 5

The 17th century Puritan John Owen is considered to be one of the most brilliant and in-depth Christians in church history.  Even among other fiercely intelligent and strongly devoted Puritans, Owen was referred to as the "Prince of the Puritans."  My own exposure to Owen's writings is by way of his book "The Mortification of Sin" which is a collection of sermons Owen preached in the year 1656 concerning the killing or "mortifying" of personal sins, as well as my current reading of his two monumental works called "Pneumatologia" (which is completely devoted to the person and work of the Holy Spirit), as well as Owen's large theological volume entitled "Biblical Theology - The History of Theology from Adam to Christ."  I have myself only scratched the surface of the wealth of biblical wisdom that Owen was gifted with, and yet I've already been greatly blessed by his mind which was wholly devoted to bringing glory to God.

What I would like to do in this post is to link a video here that I have uploaded to my YouTube channel, which is John Piper giving a biographical sketch of the "Life and Thought of John Owen."  Piper wrote a book entitled "Contending For Our All" in which he wrote three mini-biographies on three men who fought hard to maintain doctrinal integrity both within their lives as well as in the church; one of the those theological warriors is John Owen.  It is my hope that this sermon/biography by Piper on Owen will birth a strong interest in the writings of John Owen which I have no doubt God will use to anoint the hearts and minds of modern-day Christians to seek more hungrily after personal holiness and the glory of God.

"No teaching may truly be called theology which does not rely on, and trust in, a revelation from God by which the theologian may be pleasing to God and at last enjoy Him forever."

- John Owen, Biblical Theology, Book 1, Chapter 3, pg 16

"There is, if I may say, a secret instinct of faith, whereby it knows the voice of Christ when he speaks indeed; as the baby leaped in the womb when the blessed virgin came to Elisabeth, faith leaps in the heart when Christ indeed draws nigh to it."

- John Owen, The Mortification of Sin, Chapter 13, pg 158

Puritan Poetry

The Law and Gospel Distinguished

The Law commands, and makes us know
What duties to our God we owe
But 'tis the Gospel must reveal
Where lies our strength to do His will

The Law discovers guilt and sin
And shows how vile our hearts have been
Only the Gospel can express
Forgiving love and cleansing grace

What curses does the Law denounce
Against the man that fails but once
But in the Gospel Christ appears
Pardoning the guilt of numerous years

My soul, no more attempt to draw
Thy life and comfort from the Law
Fly to the hope the Gospel gives
The man that trusts the promise lives

Isaac Watts
1674-1748

Puritan Library

"Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners"

 In 1666, the Puritan John Bunyan penned his autobiography "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" which has been read by Christians throughout the centuries, and has brought spiritual comfort to many a great sinner who have come to know God's overwhelming grace in their lives through the example of Bunyan's honest retelling of his life.  Although Bunyan would go on to write one of the greatest and the most widely read book in the English language ("The Pilgrim's Progress"), he actually started out his life as a sin-filled and God-hating man, which makes his grace-filled conversion all the more meaningful.  Bunyan stated his youthful rebellion this way, "From childhood I had few equals, especially considering my tender years, in the areas of cursing, swearing, lying, and blaspheming the holy name of God."  One of the first instances of John Bunyan's life being turned around by God was when he would talk with an elderly poor man who spoke highly of the Bible, as Bunyan stated, "I fell into company with one poor man that made a profession of religion, who, as I then thought, did talk pleasantly of the Scriptures and of the matter of religion.  Falling into some love and liking with what he said, I took my Bible and began to take pleasure in reading."

But even though Bunyan began to enjoy the Scriptures, it wasn't until he understood that becoming a Christian meant having a new life that he would sincerely seek out a life under God's grace.  Bunyan recounts his first hearing of the newness of Christian life with the following encounter, "I came where there were two or three poor women sitting at a door in the sun talking about things of God... Their talk was about a new birth, the work of God in their hearts, and also how they were convinced of their miserable state by nature.  They talked about how God had visited their souls with His love in the Lord Jesus, and with what words and promises they had been refreshed, comforted, and supported against temptations of the devil... I was convinced by them that I wanted the true tokens of a truly godly man, and also because I was convinced by them of the happy and blessed condition of him was was such a one."  John Bunyan would be converted to the Christian faith soon after.

However this newness of life that God had given Bunyan did not end the struggles with sin that had so enveloped his life up until that point.  Bunyan would constantly fight with the guilt from his past life which held such a tight grip on him since becoming a Christian.  But he would describe his remedy for those times of intense guilt as follows, "Sometimes I would lie under the great guilt of sin, even crushed to the ground with the weight of it, and then the Lord would show me the death of Christ.  Yes, He so sprinkled my conscience with His blood that I would find, even before I was aware, that in this conscience, where but just now did reign and rage the law, even there would rest and abide the peace and love of God through Christ."  Bunyan would also come across a book written by a man who seemed to have had precisely the same type of guilt-ridden struggles before conversion and yet just as much a glorious and grace-filled conversion, that Bunyan held that book dearly for the rest of his life.  Bunyan describes it this way, "The God in whose hands are all our days and ways, did cast into my hands one day a book of Martin Luther's.  It was his Commentary on the Galatians... When I had perused but a little of it, I found my condition in his experience so largely and profoundly handled, as if his book had been written from my heart... I prefer this book of Martin Luther on the Galatians, with the exception of the Holy Bible, to all the books that I have ever seen, as most fit for a wounded conscience."

Although Bunyan's autobiography focuses solely on his conversion story (with very little telling of details concerning the rest of his Christian life), that is precisely what makes "Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners" so helpful and insightful to readers who struggle with their own sins both before and after their conversion.  Let John Bunyan, as the Chief of Sinners, take you through his spiritual journey of sin and redemption, so that you too may come to find the ultimate deliverance, peace, and joy which he discovered through the mercy, grace and love of Jesus Christ.

"Where guilt is most terrible and fierce, there the mercy of God in Christ, when shown to the soul, appears most high and mighty."
- John Bunyan, Grace Abounding to the Chief of Sinners, Chapter 9, pg 122

Why You Should Read The Puritans

Joel Beeke is one of the world's leading authorities on the history, lives and writings of the Puritans.  He has written a very helpful article in which he gives 9 reasons why Christians today should take hold of the devotional and theological books penned by the Puritans during the past 4 centuries.  I would like to quote those 9 reasons here in their entirety for the purpose of shining light on the vast treasury of wisdom and knowledge that the Puritans were endowed with by God, and for that same wisdom, knowledge and devotion to be passed onto our generation.

Why You Should Read The Puritans - by Joel Beeke

1. Puritan Writings Help Shape Life by Scripture

The Puritans loved, lived, and breathed Holy Scripture.  They relished the power of the Spirit that accompanied the Word.  Their books are all Word-centered; more than 90 percent of their writings are repackaged sermons that are rich with scriptural exposition.  The Puritan writers truly believed in the sufficiency of Scripture for life and godliness.  If you read the Puritans regularly, their Bible-centeredness will become contagious.  These writings will show you how to yield wholehearted allegiance to the Bible's message.  Like the Puritans, you will become a believer living by the Book, echoing the truth of John Flavel, who said "The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying."  Do you want to read books that put you into the Scriptures and keep you there, shaping your life by sola Scriptura?  Read the Puritans.

2. Puritan Writings Show How To Integrate Biblical Doctrine Into Daily Life

 The Puritan writings do this in three ways: first, they address your mind.  In keeping with the Reformed tradition, the Puritans refused to set mind and heart against each other, but viewed the mind as the palace of faith.  "In conversion, reason is elevated", John Preston wrote.  The Puritans understood that a mindless Christianity fosters a spineless Christianity.  An anti-intellectual gospel quickly becomes an empty, formless gospel that never gets beyond "felt needs" which is something that is happening in many churches today.  Puritan literature is a great help for understanding the vital connection between what we believe with our minds and how that affects the way we live.  Jonathan Edwards' "Justification By Faith Alone" and William Lyford's "The Instructed Christian" are particularly helpful for this.

Second, Puritan writings confront your conscience.  The Puritans are masters at convicting us about the heinous nature of our sin against an infinite God.  They excel at exposing sins, then asking questions to press home conviction of those sins.  As one Puritan wrote, "We must go with the stick of divine truth and beat every bush behind which a sinner hides, unlike Adam who hid, he stands before God in his nakedness."

Devotional reading should be confrontational as well as comforting.  We grow little if our consciences are not pricked daily and directed to Christ.  Since we are prone to run for the bushes when we feel threatened, we need daily help to be brought before the living God "naked and opened unto the eyes of with whom we have to do" (Hebrews 4:12).  In this, the Puritans excel.  If you truly want to learn what sin is and experience how sin is worse than suffering, read Jeremiah's Burroughs' "The Evil of Evils" and Thomas Shepard's "The Sincere Convert and the Sound Believer."

Third, the Puritan writers engage your heart.  They excel in feeding the mind with solid biblical substance and they move the heart with affectionate warmth.  They write out of love for God's Word, love for the glory of God, and love for the soul of readers.  For books that beautifully balance objective truth and subjective experience in Christianity; books that combine, as J.I. Packer puts it, "clear-headed passion and warm-hearted compassion" (Ryken, Worldly Saints, x); books that inform your mind, confront your conscience, and engage your heart, read the Puritans.  Read Vincent Alsop's "Practical Godliness."

3. Puritan Writings Show How To Exalt Christ And See His Beauty

The Puritan Thomas Adams wrote, "Christ is the sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured, exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost in every line, the Scriptures being but as it were the swaddling bands of the child Jesus."  Likewise, the Puritan Issac Ambrose wrote, "Think of Christ as the very substance, marrow, soul, and scope of the whole Scriptures."  The Puritans loved Christ and exalted in His beauty.  Samuel Rutherford wrote, "Put the beauty of ten thousand worlds of paradise, like the Garden of Eden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colors, all tastes, all joys, all loveliness, all sweetness in one.  O what a fair and excellent thing would that be?  And yet it would be less to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ than one drop of rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and foundation of ten thousand earths."  If you would know Christ better and love Him more fully, immerse yourself in Puritan literature.  Read Robert Asty's "Rejoicing in the Lord Jesus."

4. Puritan Writings Reveal The Trinitarian Character of Theology

The Puritans were driven by a deep sense of the infinite glory of a triune God.  When they answered the first question of the Shorter Catechism that man's chief end was to glorify God, they meant the Triune God: Father, Son, and Holy Spirit. They took John Calvin's glorious understanding of the unity of the Trinity in the Godhead, and showed how that worked itself out in electing, redeeming, and sanctifying love and grace in the lives of the believers.  John Owen wrote an entire book on the Christian believer's communion with God as Father, Jesus as Savior, and the Holy Spirit as Comforter.  The Puritans teach us how to remain God-centered while being vitally concerned about Christian experience, so that we don't fall into the trap of glorifying experience for its own sake.

If you want to appreciate each Person of the Trinity, so that you can say with Samuel Rutherford, "I don't know which Person of the Trinity I love the most, but this I know, I love each of them, and I need them all", read John Owen's "Communion with God" and Jonathan Edwards on the Trinity.

5. Puritan Writings Show You How To Handle Trials

Puritanism grew out of great struggle between the truth of God's Word and its enemies.  Reformed Christianity was under attack in Great Britain, much like Reformed Christianity is under attack today.  The Puritans were good soldiers in the conflict, enduring great hardships and suffering much.  Their lives and their writings stand ready to arm us for our battles, and to encourage us in our suffering.  The Puritans teach us how we need affliction to humble us (Deuteronomy 8:2), to teach us what sin is (Zephaniah 1:12), and how that brings us to God (Hosea 5:15).  As Robert Leighton wrote, "Affliction is the diamond dust that heaven polishes its jewels with."  The Puritans show us how God's rod of affliction is His means to write Christ's image more fully upon us, so that we may be partakers of His righteousness and holiness (Hebrews 12:10-11).

If you would learn how to handle you trials in a truly Christ-exalting way, read Thomas Boston's "The Crook in the Lot: The Sovereignty and Wisdom of God Displayed in the Afflictions of Men."

6. Puritan Writings Explain True Spirituality

 The Puritans stress the spirituality of the law, spiritual warfare against indwelling sin, the childlike fear of God, the wonder of grace, the art of meditation, the dreadfulness of hell, and the glories of heaven.  If you want to live deep as a Christian, read Oliver Heywood's "Heart Treasure."  Read the Puritans devotionally, and then pray to be like them.  Ask questions such as: Am I, like the Puritans, thirsting to glorify the Triune God?  Am I motivated by biblical truth and biblical fire?  Do I share their view of the vital necessity of conversion and of being clothed with the righteousness of Christ?  Do I follow them as far as they followed Christ?

7. Puritan Writings Show How To Live By Wholistic Faith

 The Puritans apply every subject they write about to practical "uses" - as they term it.  These "uses" will propel you into passionate effective action for Christ's kingdom.  Their own daily lives integrated Christian truth with covenant vision; they knew no dichotomy between the sacred and the secular.  Their writings can assist you immeasurably in living a life that centers on God in every area, appreciating His gifts, and declaring everything "holiness to the Lord."  The Puritans were excellent covenant theologians.  They lived covenant theology, covenanting themselves, their families, their churches, and their nations to God.  Yet they did not fall into the error of hyper-covenantalism, in which the covenant of grace becomes a substitute for personal conversion.  They promoted a comprehensive worldview, a total Christian philosophy, a holistic approach to bringing the whole gospel to bear on all of life, striving to bring every action in conformity with Christ, so that believers would mature and grow in faith.  The Puritans wrote on subjects such as how to pray, how to develop genuine piety, how to conduct family worship, and how to raise children for Christ.  In short, they taught how to develop a "rational, resolute, passionate piety [that is] conscientious without becoming obsessive, law oriented without lapsing into legalism, and expressive of Christian liberty without any shameful lurches into license" (ibid., xii).

If you would grow in practical Christianity and vital piety, read the compilation of "The Puritans on Prayer", Richard Steele's "The Character of an Upright Man", George Hamond's "Case for Family Worship", Cotton Mather's "Help for Distressed Parents", and Arthur Hildersham's "Dealing with Sin in our Children."

8. Puritan Writings Teach The Importance And Primacy of Preaching

To the Puritans, preaching was the high point of public worship.  Preaching must be expository and didactic, they said; evangelistic and convicting, experiential and applicatory, powerful and "plain" in its presentation, ever respecting the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit.  If you would help evangelicals recover the pulpit and a high view of the ministry in our day, read Puritan sermons.  Read William Perkins' "The Art of Prophesying" and Richard Baxter's "The Reformed Pastor."

9. Puritan Writings Show How To Live In Two Worlds

The Puritans said we should have heaven "in our eye" through our earthly pilgrimage.  They took seriously the New Testament passages that say we must keep the "hope of glory" before our minds to guide and shape our lives here on earth.  They viewed this life as "the gymnasium and dressing room where we are prepared for heaven", teaching us that preparation for death is the first step in learning to truly live (Packer, A Quest For Holiness, 13).  If you would live in this world in light of the better world to come, read the Puritans.  Read Richard Baxter's "The Saint's Everlasting Rest" and Richard Alleine's "Heaven Opened."

I sometimes wonder what would happen if Christians spent only fifteen minutes a day reading Puritan writings.  Over a year that would add up to reading about twenty average-size books a year and, over a lifetime, 1500 books.  Who knows how the Holy Spirit might use such a spiritual diet of reading!  Would it usher in a worldwide revival?  Would it fill the earth again with the knowledge of the Lord from sea to sea?  That is my prayer, my vision, my dream.  Tolle Lege - take up and read!  You will be glad you did.

The Westminster Confession of Faith

Of Justification - Chapter 11 Section 3

"Christ, by his obedience and death, did fully discharge the debt of all those that are thus justified, and did make a proper, real, and full satisfaction to his Father's justice in their behalf.  Yet, in as much as he was given by the Father for them, and his obedience and satisfaction accepted in their stead, and both freely, not for anything in them, their justification is only of free grace; that both the exact justice and rich grace of God might be glorified in the justification of sinners."