Our Puritan Roots, by Lane Rogers

Part one

(Needs to be proof read)

Discovering our Puritan Roots

I. What was the Puritan movement in the late 16th century? Puritans had moral rigor, focus on preaching, anti-Catholic- and a work ethic. The sign of election became evident in sanctification. God blesses those who work hard! Prosperity therefore became a sign of election!

There are four developments that explain Puritanism. We must cover each.
         1) humanism—a restoration impulse. 2) Erasmus, John Colet, ----this brought about a conviction              that  we must return to the Bible!
 Tyndale,(here) studied the writings of Martin Luther. Produced a new English translation in 1524. This really stoked the fires of the Protestant movement. In 1534 he added notes to his version and introduced what is known as covenant theology. Covenant is a legal term. England was in a covenant relationship with God. Since that was the case, the nation of England must keep God's laws are be in violation of God's covenant. This produced a chosen nation theme for the island nation of England. Tyndale was burned at the stake in 1536. Henry VIII broke with Rome and declared himself the head of the church. After a while, the King accepted a licensed version of the Tyndale Bible. In 1547-1553 under Edward VI, the Catholics were pushed out. The Mass was abolished, all musical instruments and images removed. The new paradigm was that 'all' congregations must have an English Bible. The Book of Common Prayer was also instituted.
II.  There was also influence from the Swiss Protestant movement!
Many Swiss came to England to escape persecution. Bucer, Bullinger (here)and others were in England. Covenant theology linked with the Swiss emphasis on a simple church moved things along. England began to see their place in God's plan. God's covenant depended on how faithful England was in the restoration of the primitive church.

Bloody Mary reintroduces Catholicism. Between 1553-58, she burned 300 Protestant leaders. People now fled to the continent to escape Mary. When Liz came to the throne, those in foreign lands placed their hopes on her. Many began to see the reign of Mary as divine punishment for the failure under Edward the VI. When the exiles came home, they urged Liz to move fast but she resisted them. She sought a middle ground between the Catholics and Protestants (Puritans, by now).. She succeeded in what is now called the Elizabethan settlement. The Act of Supremacy was passed by Parliament and new Bishops were appointed. The Puritans protested. They thought that the “true church” must be purged! “Puritans are Precessions.”(here) All of England was now at stake and in risk of breaking the covenant with God.

There was a lose network of men who wanted more reform. An Admonition to Parliament (here) was written in 1572 by the Puritans. They defined the Church. The church is: 1)where the gospel is preached 2) Where the Sacraments are distributed 3) where there is discipline. 4) nothing is done without the express consent of the Bible. This created Tension!!!!

A) Thomas Cartwright. Puritan. (here)The Biblical church must follow the apostles. A partial recovery is not enough. What ever is first is what is true (go back to the 1st century). What ever comes later (2nd century on) is false. Scripture has a true and perfect pattern. B) Thomas Hooker, (spoke for the Church of England) wrote Laws of Ecclesiastical Polity. a) scripture claims are not comprehensive and the commoners of many things are not found in God. Hookers party was that of Elizabeth. Puritans under Cartwright claimed that England had already broken her covenant with God. In 1580-82, Robert Browne wanted a complete break with England. He wrote Treatise of Reformation without Tarrying any longer. England knew that Puritan separation was dangerous. The Presbyterians were already split and the separatist (Congregational) folks were already refusing to come to mass.

Thomas Cartwright said that church and state go hand in hand. Since England has broken her covenant with God, the Puritans must leave England. Will show the English what the true church (and state) look like. 1



Puritan Theology, Restoration features. Read Dwight Boozeman. To Live ancient lives, the primitive dimensions of Puritanism –Primitive Focus with a Central Thought. (here)

Boozeman has three centers for Puritanism.

  1. Primitivism – to restore

  2. Moralism – purity of individuals and their communities.

  3. Pietism. - marked with the appreciation of the self. Warfare with the flesh. Had a Psychology of conversion. Puritans did not invent something new, according to Boozeman. They just returned to the ancient way.

John Cotton -(here) Boston Minister – want allow church to go the way of the church of England.

  1. Congregational, must be church covenant. Members form a covenant with each other and examine each other. He had an experience of saving grace.

   2.    These members must enter into a covenant to uphold the laws of  God and remain pure.
   3.     The Congregation selects its officers. Ruling Elders and Deacons.  New Members must be examined, profess the faith in public and  sing the covenant. Cotton admitted he could not find a final  covenant in the Bible. But said that the Bible is full of God's  patterns. a) Cotton at Cambridge. Lord's day is from evening to  evening. This is the first pattern. b. 1630-40. He asked for a new                translation of the Psalms. You only find the worship service in the  Psalms. The Reformed Church still uses the Psalms. John Cotton – absolutely no musical instruments! They do not edify. This was                standard in the New England Puritan Church.

Puritan Theology – Covenant Theology

The Doctrine of the Covenants is sometimes called Federal Theology.

A. Puritans saw two covenants. Not the O.T. and the N.T. covenant but a covenant of works with Adam and Eve.

B. A covenant of Grace with Abraham. The two covenants were continuous. A paradigm of God's saving actuality.

The Puritans distinguished between absolute power and ordinate power. EFFICIENT POWER is the means to carry out. Means are appropriate to the human covenant. God ordains the means to exercise power. Absolute Power carried out by efficient means.

Covenant of Grace

efficient means---- the incarnation ------------Christ

Covenant of works ----------------------------------Goal of Creation

Adam Abraham

works Grace

God set the terms for man and man violated the covenant of works. Christ paid for the covenant of works. This covenant bound moral laws on humans forever. There is a continuity of the moral covenant. Adams laws are to live by and are the same as the laws of Moses. After Christ, laws of works are back. The law defines holiness. To satisfy the covenant of works equals salvation. Christ fulfills the covenant of works but does not remove law and law remains as a guide. Christ had to suffer since God was bound to Covenant laws. 1) Christ kept the law 2.) He suffered punishment two fold. Obedience corresponds to mans shortcomings. Covenant of grace takes from the covenant of works.

4.

The covenant of grace has conditions. Pre-destined the elect by absolute power. God respects the integrity of the human rationality. “If thou believe, thou shall be saved.” Adam lost the ability to obey law when he fell. Covenant has conditions. An act of faith is an act of consent. 1) The consenting mature human. 2) divine sovereignty. 3) human will. There is a distinction between absolute power and ordinate power. The Puritans made a distinction between merit and grace. What is the role of human activity? They were not excluding merit by obeying. For Puritan theology, other acts could never merit justification. One Must attend to God's Ordinance and Means.

The Opposite was true for the Catholics.

Human will can not merit justification.

Divine grace -----------------------------------Nature

God ____________________________________Human responsibility.

Antinomian s “work, no part” Armenians, human will is the cause of justification.

John Cotton. The Spirit seals. The Spirit will bring joy. Work of the Holy Spirit is to produce fruit. Fruit Inspection is an important point. The problem of assurance becomes an impediment. Is my life bearing fruit? Am I one of the elect? Luther rejected all of this.

Wesley and the Holiness Movement

Calvinism stressed sanctification. Methodism is a large and dominate movement. It stresses a sense of holiness. Has a unique doctrine of sanctification.

The Religion of reason, and the marks of THE early enlightenment.

The Age of Reason --- 1648----1819. Europe and later America. In 1648, Charles the 1st was beheaded. The 30 years war came to an end. The French Revolution was under way. In this age things become mechanized. Descartes, Galio, said the universe was a machine. A watch that worked with precision. God became the most perfect mechanic. (Isaac Newton). You can predict how things will work. Science explores. The impact on Christianity was tremendous. The rise of Utopian ideas.

Newton's view of nature extracted a stiff price. Subtle but relentless. The traditional view of God went by the wayside. God is no longer personally involved in human affairs. A new focus on secondary causality. Machine is perfect. God does not need to be tinkering with it. God no longer has a function. No room left for divine providence God the Great Machine---Newton. 1) Once it is started it does not collapse. 2) Keeps the world machine in good repair. System is perfect nd God does not need to mess with it. The providential world gave way to the observable world. General providence now replaced with special providence. God is the first cause. God works from natural causes. This was a challenge to Christianity. The question then becomes how can we maintain our faith. How we accommodate faith with nature?

ATTEMPS TO ACCOMODATE NATURE AND FAITH.

THE RISE OF DEISM!

Herbert of Cherbury. In 1648 the 30 years war was just ending. Herbert was disturbed about the wars between the Catholics and Protestants. Cherbury turned to nature. God has authorized the Bible and nature. The Book of Revelation is a book of war. Nature is a book of clear and simple truths. People must get back to simple truths. Natural religion is true. He wrote “ON TRUTH. That is, all religions have some truth in them. 1) God exist. 2) all worship God 3) all teach virtue 4) all have repentance 5) all offer rewards and punishments following death. No one reads the Bible to discover these truths. Yet they are clear as nature. ON TRUTH becomes the first deist tract. The Deist controversy opens in 1590. Samual Jhonson, 1755, Deism is the opinion of those who acknowledge one God without a revealed religion. In the late 17th century the stage was set. The abolishing of the licensing act served as a censor but after it was abolished a new era of free speech began.

Two major works came forward. John Toland, Christianity is not a Mystery. Jesus advocates a simple religion. With Toland's work deism had a significant position. A controversy started over the Biblical idea of Revelation. Everyone was influenced by John Locke. Locke's assumptions were:

  1. primacy of reason

  2. subordinate role of revelation

  3. the curtailing of the supernatural

  4. the uncertain role of scripture

  5. Priest-witchcraft- all hated the Catholics

    John Locke wrote the Reasonableness of Christianity

Matthew Tindal, 1730. Christianity is as Old as Creation

The Gospel and nature. The Bible is nature.

  1. Reason must be the judge and guide.

  2. Nature provides revelation of God's truth. The original revelation is nature.

  3. Bible is a publication of the perfect truths of nature.

A. Certain doctrines must be done away with

  1. The Fall, 2. The atonement

True religion must be in harmony with nature. Deist said that natures religion was sufficient . Matthew Tindals book received over 150 replies. Barclay, Laww 1771. Joshep Butler, 1736. The Analogy of Religion.

THE CLASSIC BUTLER RESPONSE, 1776.

1) Deist drew a distinction between the Bible and nature. All deist arguments against the Bible are applicable to nature worshipers. Wars and plagues, do they look like a clear road to God? Nature is filled with unexplained mystery. Why is nature so clear (ha) when the Bible isn't? Because----human conclusions are limited by our intelligence. However, belief is important since the Bible informs us ideas that nature can never tell us. In modern America, the most lasting affect of the Deist is the supernatural natural cannot be taken into account. The Founding Fathers of our nation were deist. The rejected traditional religion and found God in what they thought was best about humans.

Pietism----Johann Ardnt.---Precursor

True Christianity is a staple reading. True Christianity made true repentance and true love a forgotten thing. The deliberate effects caused a controversy.

Pious Desideria (Pious desires). Philip Jacob Spener, born in 1635. Educated at Strasbourg. Wrote Christianity in Practice and Piety.. In 1666, published pious desires or desires for piety. Was written as an introduction .

Part 1. Clergy misuses Civil Authority.

Part 2. Need Better Church Conditions.

Part 3. Need to Correct the defects in the Church.

Here is what Pietism is all about. The inner man---soul and faith. Works are to reflect the inner man. Work is an outward fruit.

Some basic tenets of Pietism are:

  1. The New Man

  2. A faith and its fruits

  3. External works are rooted in the internal heart .The Concept of the New Birth) and the  Kindling of Faith 2) justification and adoption 3) completion of the new

  1. person (the human being is passive) (outside authority) Spener stressed the role of Christ in sanctification. Justification and sanctification are the complete doctrines of redemption. A large place is given to experience.

Francke, Augustus(here)

Organizer of Pietism. (The quicking and re-newing).

He was aware of the divine illumination

  1. must be aware of our sinfulness and hit the bottom

  2. experience the illumination of the mind.

  3. assurance of salvation means must be free from guilt.

  4. there is the week ( a new style of life and a new person)

  5. made a distinction between risk taking and rational faith

  6. Wesley was in the Pietistic tradition by Zinzidnoz. Comes to American and has a bad experience.

Wesley listened to John Edwards and became upset at the Emotionalism.

Wrote 1739-36 Years in America

John Wesley (here)had the Theology of the heart. He was an Anglican Priest. He witnessed these groups in America and returned to England and organized the Pietist movement. Wesley drew up the Rules of the Band Societies. These were rules for the praying groups. 1) Leader must examine himself, then question the others about their condition. Do you desire to be told of all your faults? At each meeting, all members were asked five questions.

  1. What sin have you committed.

  2. What temptations do you have

  3. How were you delivered

  4. What have you thought, said, or done that troubles you.

  5. Do you desire to keep anything secret.

This was important to the early Methodist but did not yet establish a pattern. Preaching was at the heart of the Wesley movement. How can we re-new the church. The new converts were rough. (field Preaching). The strengthening process of the new converts lead to Methodism. The groups called themselves Clan Meetings and they spread all over America.

Wesley Thought. A view of conversion and the means of grace. Conversion had 3 phases.

    8.

  1. Conviction

  2. A deeping period of ones relationship

  3. The experience of divine forgiveness, blessedness joy and forgiveness.

    These became the Patterns of conversion in England. (1st and 2nd Great Awaking).

The Means of Grace

Outward ordinances are a means of grace. The Lord's supper and baptism. Even if you have not had your saving experience you better attend to means of grace. Wesley, there are degrees of faith. Arabian Pietist said you had to wait on God before grace. You need to----go to church—fast---private prayer---scripture----these were the means of grace. You don't just sit and wait for God to bestow grace on you. Wesley found classes in society. The was a desire to flea from the wrath of sin, and to save oneself. No institutional channels will save you. The Bands function as means of Grace. Wesley contrived entire doctrine of sanctification to be free from willful sin. God's Spirit will provide help.

Methodist ----a methodical attention to the means of grace. What it means to seek holiness.

Institutional means!

  1. Prayer, (different kinds)

  2. search the scriptures (read a Bible with notes)

  3. Lord's Supper

  4. Fasting on Friday

  5. Christian Conference, when you meet with people.

The Providential Means---

Common Christians are Methodist bands Methodist, preachers, assistants. These attend to the means of holy living. (Called the Boston movement of the day).

Charles Wesley and his hymns. Methodism was born in a song. He wrote a collection of hymns for people called the Methodist. 1780.



John Edwards, 1703-1758. Considered Americans Greatest theologian.(here)





So much for the modern idea of separation of church and state. The Puritans (founders of Harvard University and much of early America,) believed that church and state were the same.



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