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"

A Heart Content Under The Reign of Christ

The 17th century Puritan Jeremiah Burroughs wrote the following in his book "The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment",

"A well tempered spirit may enquire after things outside in the world, and suffer some ordinary cares and fears to break into the suburbs of the soul, so as to touch lightly upon the thoughts.  Yet it will not on any account allow an intrusion into the private room, which should be wholly reserved for Jesus Christ as his inward temple."

What a great and peace-giving reality this sentiment would give to a troubled soul if one would just learn to relinquish the most inner "room" of their heart, and let Jesus fully reign their unencumbered by your worries, your doubts, your limitations or the world's endless barrage of attacks and temptations.  It is often quite difficult to keep our heart separate and unaffected by the day-to-day goings-on in our lives.  Whether it be things happening to us outside of our control (other people affecting us by their behaviors) or simply by our own actions and thoughts that cause our hearts to be greatly unsettled and burdened; our hearts often fall victim to a peaceless and discomforting existence.

But in spite of the disturbing realities that go on both around us and within us, we are still called to have a portion of our being set aside which is not ruled by the the world or by our faults and weaknesses, but rather to be ruled by the King of Peace, Jesus Christ.  It is interesting to note not only how often Jesus called for his hearers to have peace in their hearts, but just as important is "when" he spoke for that peace to exist within them.  For myself, the most important time in which Jesus called for peace to exist within someone was when he first appeared to his disciples in the Upper Room after his resurrection.  When Jesus suddenly appeared in their midst, the very first words he spoke to the disciples were "Peace be with you" - John 20:19.  What is important to note here is the context of what was going on surrounding Jesus' appearance and uttering peace into their lives.

Firstly, the disciples were without Jesus, their Lord and Savior.  He had been crucified three days earlier, and so the disciples were a "scattered flock" without a shepherd.  Secondly, it was dangerous for the disciples to be out in public because of the governing view that to be a follower of Christ made you just as guilty of God-dishonoring blasphemy as Jesus was; the world was their constant enemy.  Thirdly, the specific place where Jesus appeared to them - in the Upper Room as they were alone with doors and windows shut keeping them completely separated from the world.

Regarding the first point, Jesus is the one who will bring us the peace and contentment we so desperately need.  Jesus does not command us to have peace, and then leave us alone to find that peace ourselves from some alternative source.  But rather he is himself the very peace he speaks of, and it is in him and being with him that we will find that peace and contentment of heart.  We are not to seek that contentment out in the world or by some other means, but solely in Christ alone.

Regarding the second point, Jesus did not appear to the disciples and say, "I'm here now, so I will take away all your troubles and give you an easy life without difficulties or persecution from the world."  No, instead he granted them peace "amidst" the outside threats of harassment, and even possible death from those who hated them.  In other words, the peace that Jesus offered the disciples was to co-exist with persecution, not to eliminate that persecution.  Contentment in Christ while being persecuted was Jesus' gift, not the taking away of that persecution.

Regarding the third point, it is important to know that Jesus granted them peace and contentment as they were alone in secret with him.  The Upper Room was not just a secret room that existed 2,000 years ago for only the disciples only, but rather we are also to have an "Inner Room" in our hearts today where Jesus will meet with us in secret and grant us peace there that will govern our souls amidst the outside storms that go on close by outside our hearts.
 

So as we continue our journeys through this world encountering constant self-styled rulers who wish to conquer our hearts, let not an unsatisfying world reign tyrannically over your soul, robbing you of much-needed peace, but rather give the throne of your heart to Jesus, the King of Peace, and let him have sole sovereign rule over you to bring to you soul-satisfying peace and to find perpetual contentment in him.

"The reason why you have not got contentment in the things of the world is not because you have not got enough of them - that is not the reason - but the reason is, because they are not proportionable to the immortal soul of yours that is capable of God himself."

- Jeremiah Burroughs, The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment, Chapter 5, pg 91

Mirroring Jesus

"It's one thing to profess God, it's another thing to resemble Him."

- Thomas Watson, The Godly Man's Picture, pg 32

There are many glorious truths within the Gospel, but one in particular that is literally life-changing and soul-transforming is it's power to radically alter the very nature of a defiled sinner into the exquisite beauty and spiritual likeness of Jesus Christ.  This is where sanctification is of utmost importance in the life of a Christian.  Sanctification is often thought of as simply turning a bad person good; but what is the definition or standard of good that a Christian is sanctified into?  This standard is not a set of rules or laws that Christians are to resemble, but rather it is the very image of Jesus Christ as found in the Gospel.   The Gospel does not transform a Christian into some abstract moral goodness, but specifically into the likeness of the one whom the Gospel glories in.  It is the face of Jesus that we are to look to for sanctification as well as salvation.  Jesus not only saves us, but He replicates Himself in us.  At the beginning of Creation, Adam and Eve were created perfectly in the image of God, but then sin entered their hearts and not only separated Man from God, but also marred the image of God in Man.  Jesus Christ came as God manifested in the flesh not solely to reunite Man with God, but also to restore that perfect image of God in Man - and that image is Jesus Himself.

As we look at ourselves in the mirror each day, may we see less and less of our old sinful reflections, and in their place see more and more of Jesus' lovely holiness and beautiful countenance looking back at us.  Through the Gospel, let us take on the appearance of the very one who saves us.  In his book "The Godly Man's Picture" the 17th century Puritan Thomas Watson concludes this way, "As a painter looking at a face draws a face like it in the picture, so looking at Christ in the mirror of the Gospel, we are changed into his similitude. We may look at other objects that are glorious yet not be made glorious by them.  A deformed face may look at beauty, and yet not be made beautiful.  A wounded man may look at a surgeon, and yet not be healed.   But this is the excellence of divine knowledge, that it gives us such a sight of Christ as to make us partake of his nature."

"We all, who with unveiled faces contemplate the Lord's glory, are being transformed into his image with ever-increasing glory." - 2 Corinthians 3:18

A Serious Call

Back in December, I wrote a review here of the book "A Serious Call To A Devout And Holy Life" written by the 18th century Puritan William Law.  That particular book is one of the most meaningful books I have read.  Because of Law's profound and expressive look into the type of devotional life that disciples of Jesus Christ are expected to strive for, I put together the video below which is made up of quotes I've taken from Law's book.  I hope this video can give an additional taste of how helpful it could be to submit us to live a holy and devout life unto God.

Praying With The Puritans

The Precious Blood

Blessed Lord Jesus,

Before thy Cross I kneel and see

the heinousness of my sin,

my iniquity that caused thee to be made a curse,

the evil that excites the severity of divine wrath.

Show me the enormity of my guilt by

the crown of thorns,

the pierced hands and feet,

the bruised body,

the dying cries.

Thy blood is the blood of incarnate God,

its worth infinite, its value beyond all thought.

Infinite must be the evil and guilt

that demands such a price.

Sin is my malady, my monster, my foe, my viper,

born in my birth,

alive in my life,

strong in my character,

dominating my faculties,

following me as a shadow,

intermingling with my every thought,

my chain that holds me captive in the empire of my soul.

Sinner that I am, why should the sun give me light,

the air supply breath,

the earth bear my tread,

the fruits nourish me,

its creature subserve my ends?

Yet thy compassions yearn over me,

thy heart hastens to my rescue,

thy love endured my curse,

thy mercy bore my deserved stripes.

Let me walk humbly in the lower depths of humiliation,

bathed in thy blood,

tender of conscience,

triumphing gloriously as an heir of salvation.

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

The Nature of Sin

In chapter 3 of his book "The Christian Directory" the 17th century Puritan Richard Baxter devotes a section to the evil nature of sin, as well as it adverse effects in the life of a person.  Baxter wrote out two lists detailing both aspects of sin, and what I would like to do here is restate his first list detailing what sin actually is in comparison to our holy and righteous God.

It is my hope that reading through this list will help Christians to fully understand sin's abhorrent and ugly nature as truly an enemy to the perfect and glorious nature of God, and that by understanding it in such a way will convict Christians regarding sins in their own spiritual lives.  Richard Baxter put it this way, "If you see not the evil of sin in itself, as well as in the effect, it will but tempt you to think God unjust in over-punishing it; and it will keep you from the principal part of true repentance and mortification; which lieth in hating sin, as sin.  I shall therefore show you, wherein the intrinsical malignity of sin consisteth."

1. Sin is (formally) the violation of the perfect, holy, righteous law of God.

2. It is a denial or contempt of the authority, or governing power, of God; as if we said, Thou shalt not be our Governor in this.

3. It is a usurping the sovereign power to ourselves of governing ourselves, in that act; for when we refuse God's government, we set up ourselves in his stead; and so make gods of ourselves as to ourselves, as if we were self-sufficient, independent, and had right hereto.

4. It is a denying or contempt of the wisdom of God, as if he had unwisely made us a law which is unmeet to rule us.

5. It is a setting up of our folly in the place of God's wisdom, and preferring it before him; as if we were wiser to know how to govern ourselves, and to know what is fittest and best for us now to do, than God is.

6. It is a contempt of the goodness of God, as he is the maker of the law; as if he had not done that which is best, but that which may be corrected or contradicted, and there were some evil in it to be avoided.

7. It is a preferring of our naughtiness before his goodness, as if we would do it better, or choose better what to do.

8. It is a contempt or denial of the holiness and purity of God, which sets him against sin, as light is against darkness.

9. It is a violation of God's propriety or dominion, robbing him of the use and service of that which is absolutely and totally his own.

10. It is a claiming of propriety in ourselves, as if we were our own, and might do with ourselves as we list.

11. It is a contempt of the gracious promises of God, by which he allured and bound us to obedience.

12. It is a contempt of the dreadful threatenings of God, by which he would have restrained us from evil.

13. It is a contempt or denial of the dreadful day of judgment, in which an account must be given of that sin.

14. It is a denying of God's veracity, and giving him the lie; as if he were not to be believed in all his predictions, promises, and threats.

15. It is a contempt of all the present mercies (which are innumerable and great) by which God obligeth and encourageth us to obey.

16. It is a contempt of our own afflictions, and his chastisements of us, by which he would drive us from our sins.

17. It is a contempt of all the examples of his mercies on the obedient, and his terrible judgments on the disobedient (men and devils) by which he warned us not to sin.

18. It is a contempt of the person, office, sufferings, and grace of Jesus Christ, who came to save us from our sins, and to destroy the works of the devil; being contrary to his bloodshed, authority, and healing work.

19. It is a contradiction, fight against, and in that act prevailing against the sanctifying office and work of the the Holy Ghost, that moveth us against sin, and to obedience.

20. It is a contempt of holiness, and a defacing, in that measure, the image of God upon the soul, or a rejecting it; a vilifying of all those graces which are contrary to the sin.

21. It is a pleasing of the devil, the enemy of God and us, and an obeying him before God.

22. It is the fault of a rational creature, that had reason given him to do better.

23. It is all willingly done and chosen by a free agent, that could not be constrained to it.

24. It is a robbing God of the honour and pleasure which he should have had in our obedience; and the glory which we should bring him before the world.

25. It is a contempt of the omnipresence and omniscience of God, when we will sin against him before his face, when he stands over us, and seeth all that we do.

26. It is a contempt of the greatness and almightiness of God, that we dare sin against him who is so great, and able to be avenged on us.

27. It is a wrong to the mercifulness of God, when we go out of the way of mercy, and put him to use the way of justice and severity, who delighteth not in the death of sinners, but rather that they obey, repent, and live.

28. It is a contempt of the attractive love of God, who should be the end, and felicity, and pleasure of the soul.  As if all that love and goodness of God were not enough to draw or keep the heart to him, and to satisfy us and make us happy; or, he were not fit to be our delight.  And it showeth the want of love to God; for if we loved him rightly we should willingly obey him.

29. It is a setting up the sordid creature before the Creator, and dung before heaven, as if it were more worthy of our love and choice, and fitter to be our delight; and the pleasure of sin were better for us than the glory of heaven.

30. In all which it appeareth, that it is a practical atheism, in its degree; a taking down God, or denying him to be God; and a practical idolatry, setting up ourselves and other creatures in his stead.

31. It is a contempt of all the means of grace, which are all to bring us to obedience, and keep us or call us from our sins; prayer, sacraments, etc.

32. It is a contempt of the love and labours of the minsters of Christ; a disobeying them, grieving them, and frustrating their hopes and the labours of their lives.

33. It is a debasing of reason, the superior faculty of the soul, and a setting up of the flesh or inferior faculties, like setting dogs to govern men, or the horse to rule the rider.

34. It is a blinding of reason, and a misusing the noblest faculties of the soul, and frustrating them of the use and ends which they were made for; and so it is the disorder, monstrosity, sickness, or death of the soul.

35. It is, in its measure, the image of the devil upon the soul, who is the father of sin; and therefore the most odious deformity of the soul; and this where the Holy Ghost should dwell, and the image and delight of God should be.

36. It is the moral destruction not only of the soul, but of the whole creation, so far as the creatures are appointed as the means to bring or keep us unto God; for the means, as a means, is destroyed when it is not used to its end.  A ship is useless if no one be carried in it.  A watch, as such, is useless, when not used to show the hour of the day.  All the world, as it is the book that should teach us the will of God, is cast by, when that use is cast by.  Nay, sin useth the creature against God which should have been used for him.

37. It is a contradicting of our own confessions and professions; a wronging of our consciences; a violation of our covenants and self-obligations to God.

38. It is a preferring of time before eternity, and regarding things of a transitory nature, and a moments pleasure, before that which never shall have end.

39. It is a making of a breach in the harmony and order of the world; as the dislocation or deformity of a particular member is the trouble and deformity of all the body, because the comeliness and welfare of the whole, containeth the comeliness, proportion, and welfare of all the parts.  And as the dislocation or breaking of one part in a watch or clock, is against the use of all the engine; so every man being a part of the kingdom of God, doth sin make a breach in order of the whole; and also giveth an ill example to other parts, and makes himself unserviceable to the body; and dishonoureth the whole body with the blot of rebellion; and lets in the judgment on the world; and kindleth a consuming fire in the place where he liveth; and is cruel and injurious to others.

40. Sin is not only a preferring the body before the soul, but it is also an unmercifulness or cruelty against ourselves, both soul and body, and so is contrary to the true use of the indelible principle of self-love; for it is a wounding and abusing the soul and defiling the body in this life, and casting both on the wrath of God, and into the flames of hell hereafter, or a dangerous venturing them into the way of endless damnation and despair, and a contempt of those insufferable torments.  All these parts of malignity and poison are intrinsical to sin, and found in the very nature of it.