The following is a slightly refined/edited transcript of a section of Dr. Michael Reeves’ message “The Distinctive Marks of Puritanism” at the Puritan Conference at Grace Community Church earlier in October:
The Puritans were deeply and thoroughly scriptural, which is why they were often misunderstood in their own day. They passionately loved Scripture, Bible study, and the hearing of sermons, gladly traveling for hours to listen to a good long message. Seven-hour sermons were not unheard of.
Many pulpits had an hourglass set in them, some remnants of which can still be seen. One old Puritan joked that he “gave the glass two or three good turns.”
Lawrence Chaderton, the long-lived master of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, once preached for two hours, then apologized.
The congregation cried, “For God’s sake, sir, go on. Go on.”
To those who have never found the Bible thrilling, such behavior sounds boring at best or deranged at worst. Yet Europe had been largely without a Bible that ordinary people could read for many centuries. To hear God’s voice, to read his words in their own language, and to discover the good news that God saves sinners not on the basis of their performance but entirely by his grace felt like sunshine breaking into a gray world of religious guilt. Without grasping that, one cannot understand the Puritans.
Consider a typically Puritan event, a sermon by the wonderfully named “Roaring” John Rogers in the village of Dedham in the east of England. In that sermon, Rogers rebuked the people for neglecting the Bible.
He first impersonated God, saying, “I have trusted you for so long with my Bible, and you have slighted it. It lies in your houses covered with dust and cobwebs, and you do not care to look into it. Since you misuse my Bible, you shall have it no longer.”
He lifted the Bible from its cushion as if to take it away.
Then he took the part of the people, fell to his knees, and pleaded, “Lord, whatsoever thou dost take from us, take not thy Bible from us. Kill our children, burn our houses, destroy our goods, only spare us thy Bible.”
He then returned to the part of God, saying, “Say you so? I will try you a little longer. Here is my Bible for you. I will see how you will use it, whether you will value it more, observe it more, and practice it more.”
By these actions the congregation was moved into such a condition that the place became a Bochim, a valley of tears. The people were drenched in their own weeping.
Thomas Goodwin, who reports the event, said that when he went to mount his horse to leave, he hung for a quarter of an hour on the animal’s neck, weeping before he had the strength to climb up, so powerful was the impression on him and on the people after such a rebuke for neglecting the Bible.
That story is incomprehensible unless we appreciate how the Puritans viewed Scripture as the most valuable thing this world affords. Puritanism sought to reform all of life under the supreme authority of God’s Word in Scripture.
Dr. Reeves’ full message found here: