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Who Are The Puritans And What Do They Teach?

WHO ARE THE PURITANS? and what do they teach?
By Errol Hulse
Evangelical Press. £7.95

Errol Hulse has written just the kind of book we need to introduce a new generation of Christians to our evangelical ancestors, the Puritans.

Part one traces their history in 30 fast-moving and readable pages. Part two give us brief biographical notes on the most prominent, in 50 pages more. Part three spends over 50 pages more giving a deeper look into the doctrines and practices which most notably characterised the movement (e.g. Justification by faith only, the sovereignty of God, the use of the Lord's Day, marriage and family, the reality and power of sin, the place of preaching, etc.).

Six short appendixes reply to some common questions - e.g. Were the Puritans narrow-minded bigots, what Puritan works are available today?

To miss the treasures of devotional, evangelistic and theological literature which have come down to us from these men is to lose one of the most valuable legacies of church history. They were the greatest generation of evangelicals of all.

This is not to say that they were right in everything (they frequently and furiously disagreed with one another), and perhaps Errol does try to iron out the creases a bit (as I myself have done). For instance their stress on sin did get excessive, creating many of the anxieties they set out to allay (often with incomparable tenderness and gospel-application). Moreover, it was not only the 'young' Spurgeon who took them to task for over-doing the 'law-work'. He repeated his charge often over the next 30 years. Richard Baxter was so afraid of the antinomian abuse of the doctrine of justification by faith that from his first publication on, he developed a theology which has been labelled 'neonomian'. Others took him to task for this, notably the great John Owen. They all feared antinomianism like the devil but they may well have feared legalism just as much.

However, there have been few who have demonstrated to us the power of godly living like these puritan men and women. In them, Word and Spirit, total reliance on God and iron self-discipline, world-abandonment and world-involvement all met in a demonstration of the kingdom of God which inspires and challenges still. And those preachers! Brooks, Watson, Caryl, Manton, Burroughs . . . the list goes on and on. If they do invent a time machine, Commonwealth London and its famous Puritan churches will be first on my itinerary (well, after Spurgeon at the Met. Tab. anyway). Come to think of it I'll probably be sharing it with Errol - which will be a pleasure.

Peter Lewis