Meet the Puritansqq

With a Guide to Modern Reprints

Joel R. Beekeand

Randall J. Pederson

Reformation Heritage BooksGrand Rapids, Michigan

With heartfelt appreciation to my faithful United Kingdomfriends for your spiritual fellowship, your open pulpits andopen homes, and your invitations to speak at conferences inthe homeland of the Puritans

David and Elisabeth GeorgeErroll and Lynn HulsePeter and Jill Masters

David and Shona MurrayIain and Jean Murray

Robert and Rachel OliverMaurice and Sandra RobertsKen and Rosemary Stockley

John and Margaret ThackwayGeoff and Iola ThomasMalcolm and Jill Watts

Andrew and Joan Woolsey—JRB

qq

To my dear Sarah, for all her love and support,and to my parents, Gary and Rosamary Pederson,

for their encouragement through the years —RJP

Contentsqq

Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .viiIllustrations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xxAbbreviations and Addresses of Publishers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .xxiiPuritan Biographies and Book Reviews . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .1

A Brief History of English PuritanismThomas AdamsHenry AinsworthHenry AirayJoseph AlleineRichard AlleineVincent AlsopIsaac AmbroseWilliam AmesRobert AstySir Richard BakerWilliam BatesRichard BaxterLewis BaylyPaul BaynesRobert BoltonSamuel BoltonJohn BoysAnne BradstreetWilliam BridgeThomas BrooksJohn BunyanAnthony BurgessJeremiah BurroughsNicholas Byfield

Thomas CartwrightJoseph CarylThomas CaseStephen CharnockDavid ClarksonThomas CobbetElisha ColesJohn CottonTobias CrispJohn DavenantArthur DentEdward DeringThomas DoolittleGeorge DownameJohn DownameDaniel DykeJonathan EdwardsJohn EliotEdward FisherJohn FlavelThomas FordWilliam GearingRichard GilpinThomas GoodwinThomas GougeWilliam GougeRichard GreenhamWilliam GreenhillObadiah GrewWilliam GurnallJoseph HallGeorge HammondNathanael HardyRobert HarrisMatthew HenryPhilip HenryOliver Heywood

viii MEET THE PURITANS

Arthur HildershamRobert HillThomas HookerEzekiel HopkinsJohn HoweThomas JacombJames JanewayWilliam Jenkyn Edward JohnsonBenjamin KeachEdward LawrenceJohn LightfootChristopher LoveWilliam LyfordThomas MantonEdward MarburyWalter MarshallCotton MatherIncrease MatherRichard MatherSamuel MatherMatthew MeadChristopher NessJohn NortonJohn OwenEdward PearseWilliam PembleWilliam PerkinsEdward PolhillMatthew PooleJohn PrestonNathanael RanewEdward ReynoldsThomas RidgleyRalph RobinsonRichard RogersTimothy Rogers

CONTENTS ix

Henry ScudderObadiah SedgwickSamuel SewallThomas ShepardJohn ShowerRichard SibbesHenry SmithWilliam SpurstoweRichard SteeleSolomon StoddardLewis StuckleyGeorge SwinnockJoseph SymondsEdward TaylorThomas TaylorRobert TraillJohn TrappGeorge TrosseEbenezer TurellRalph VenningNathaniel VincentThomas VincentThomas WatsonWilliam WhitakerMichael WigglesworthJohn Winthrop

Appendix 1: Collections of Puritan Writings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5??Appendix 2: Scottish Divines . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5??Introduction: England’s Puritans and the Presbyterians of Scotland

Hugh BinningThomas BostonDavid DicksonJames DurhamEbenezer and Ralph ErskineGeorge GillespieAndrew Gray

x MEET THE PURITANS

William GuthrieThomas HalyburtonSamuel RutherfordHenry Scougal

Appendix 3: Dutch Second Reformation Divines . . . . . . . . . . 600Introduction to the Dutch Second Reformation

Wilhelmus à BrakelAlexander ComrieTheodorus Jacobus FrelinghuysenAbraham HellenbroekJohannes HoornbeekJacobus KoelmanJean TaffinWillem TeellinckTheodorus van der GroeJohannes VanderKempGisbertus VoetiusHerman Witsius

Appendix 4: Secondary Sources on the Puritans . . . . . . . . . . . 800Glossary of Terms and Events Used in this Guide . . . . . . . . . 8??Bibliography of Secondary Sources on the Puritans . . . . . . . . . 8??Indices . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8??

CONTENTS xi

Prefaceqq

The Puritans [were] burning and shining lights. Whencast out by the black Bartholomew Act, and driven fromtheir respective charges to preach in barns and fields, inthe highways and hedges, they in a special manner wroteand preached as men having authority. Though dead, bytheir writings they yet speak: a peculiar unction attendsthem to this very hour; and for these thirty years past Ihave remarked, that the more true and vital religion hathrevived either at home or abroad, the more the good oldpuritanical writings, or the authors of a like stamp wholived and died in communion of the Church of England,have been called for.... Their works still praise them inthe gates; and without pretending to a spirit of prophecy,we may venture to affirm that they will live and flourish,when more modern performances of a contrary cast,notwithstanding their gaudy and tinseled trappings, willlanguish and die in the esteem of those whose under-standings are opened to discern what comes nearest tothe scripture standard.

— George Whitefield, Works, 4:306-307

Why produce a guide to the literature left to us by the EnglishPuritans and their counterparts in Scotland and the Nether-lands? To answer that question we must begin by recallinghow little interest there was in the Puritans for much of thetwentieth century.

As Whitefield predicted, demand for “the good old puritan-ical writings” continued strong in the generations that followed

him, until well into the nineteenth century. This interest in thePuritans culminated in the efforts of Alexander Grosart andothers to produce standard editions of their works.

In the last years of the nineteenth century, however, avery different mindset came to prevail among Christians onboth sides of the Atlantic. The Calvinism of the Puritans wasdiscarded as an outmoded system of Christian thought, andthe high view of Scripture that was the very heartbeat of Pu-ritanism was displaced by a much different view, proclaimedto be more scholarly or more scientific, to disguise its realcharacter as sheer unbelief and apostasy.

The call for “the good old puritanical writings” was si-lenced, and the works of the Puritans ceased to issue from thepresses of Great Britain and North America. If not throwninto the discard or sold for scrap, the works of the Puritanslanguished unread on library shelves or went unsold, even atbargain rates, in used bookshops and stalls.

The situation changed dramatically beginning in the lat-ter half of the 1950s, spearheaded by the Banner of TruthTrust. A new generation of Christians was beginning to lookmore deeply into the truths of Scripture and the teaching ofthe Reformed Confessions. They began to unearth the writtenlegacy of the Puritans in their quest for guidance and under-standing. Demand began to grow for new editions of “thegood old puritanical writings.”

Since that time Puritan literature has so multiplied thatfew book-lovers can afford to purchase all that is being repub-lished. What books should one buy? Where can one find abrief summary of each Puritan work and a brief description ofthe author?

This guide answers these questions by providing a briefbiography of each Puritan author whose works have beenreprinted since 1956 and a short review of those books. Wehope this will help purchasers of Puritan books, interest other

PREFACE xiii

readers in the Puritans, and guide those already immersed inPuritan literature to further depths of study.

Definition of PuritanismJust what is meant by the term Puritan? Many people todayuse the term to describe a morose and legalistic brand ofChristianity that borders on fanaticism. Much of this stereo-type was the product of nineteenth-century anti-Puritansentiments, such as those expressed in Nathaniel’s Haw-thorne’s The Scarlet Letter (1850). While subsequent cultureshave expressed various opinions of the Puritans, it is helpfulto chronicle a brief history of the origin of the term and to as-sess the movement as objectively as possible.

The term Puritan was first used in the 1560s of those EnglishProtestants who considered the reforms under Queen Eliza-beth as incomplete and called for further “purification” (fromthe Greek word katharos, “pure”). Its negative connotation de-rived from its being a translation of the Latin term catharus(Puritan) or cathari (Puritans; from the Greek katharos, or pure),a title given to medieval heretics (Gordon S. Wakefield, “ThePuritans,” in The Study of Spirituality, ed. Cheslyn Jones, GeoffreyWainwright, and Edward Yarnold, p. 438). For WilliamPerkins (1558-1602), often called “the father of Puritanism,” Pu-ritan was a “vile term” that described people with perfectionisttendencies (The Works of Mr. William Perkins, 1:342, 3:15). LeonardJ. Trinterud concludes, “Throughout the sixteenth century itwas used more often as a scornful adjective than as a substan-tive noun, and was rejected as slanderous in whatever quarterit was applied” (Elizabethan Puritanism , pp. 3ff.).

The terms Puritan and Puritanism stuck, though what theymean has changed over the years. Twentieth-century scholarsoffer various opinions on what the terms actually intend todescribe. William Haller sees the “central dogma of Puritan-ism [as] an all-embracing determinism, theologically

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formulated doctrine of predestination” (The Rise of Puritanism,p. 83). Perry Miller finds the “marrow of Puritan divinity” inthe idea of the covenant (Errand into the Wilderness, pp. 48–49);and Alan Simpson, in the concept of conversion (Puritanism inOld and New England, p. 2). Christopher Hill emphasized the so-cial and political ideas in Puritanism (Society and Puritanism).John Coolidge linked the Puritan emphasis to a rejection ofthe Anglican doctrine of adiaphora, or things indifferent (ThePauline Renaissance in England: Puritanism and the Bible).

Richard M. Hawkes offers this summary: “Was [EnglishPuritanism] essentially a theological movement, emphasizingcovenant theology, predestination, and a reformed churchservice? Or was the heart of the matter political, asserting theinalienable rights of conscience before God, the rule of naturallaw over arbitrary prerogative courts, the dependency of theking in parliament, the foundation of state authority in thepeople? Some modern research has pointed to a third possibil-ity, that the essence of Puritanism was its piety, a stress onconversion, on existential, heartfelt religion” (“The Logic ofAssurance in English Puritan Theology,” Westminster Theologi-cal Journal 52 [1990]:247).

All of these concerns, and more, are involved in Puri-tanism. Today many scholars and avid readers of Puritanliterature have been guilty of reading the Puritans selectively,that is, focusing their attention on some particular aspect orphase of Puritanism, or one’s favorite emphasis or theme inPuritan literature.

More simply put, we would assert that the Puritans em-braced five major concerns and addressed each of themsubstantially in their writings:

• Puritanism was at its core a concern to search theScriptures, collate their findings, and apply them to allareas of life. In so doing, the Puritans also aimed to beconfessional and theological, and drew heavily on thelabors of dedicated Christian scholarship.

PREFACE xv

• The Puritans were passionately committed to focus-ing on the Trinitarian character of theology. Theynever tired of proclaiming the electing grace of God,the dying love of Jesus Christ, and the applicatorywork of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners. Theirfascination with Christian experience was not somuch motivated by an interest in their experience perse as it was in their desire to trace out the divine workwithin them so that they could render all glory totheir Triune Lord.

• In common with the Reformers, the Puritans believedin the significance of the church in the purposes ofChrist. They believed therefore that the worship ofthe church should be the careful outworking andfaithful embodiment of her biblical faith, and so Puri-tanism was a movement that focused on plain andearnest preaching, liturgical reform, and spiritualbrotherhood. Likewise, the Puritans believed thatthere was an order or polity for the government of thechurch revealed in Scripture, and the well-being of thechurch depended on bringing her into conformity tothat order.

• In the great questions of national life presented by thecrises of their day, the Puritans looked to Scripture forlight on the duties, power, and rights of king, Parlia-ment, and citizen-subjects.

• In regard to the individual, the Puritans focused onpersonal, comprehensive conversion. They believedwith Christ that “except a man be born again, he can-not see the kingdom of heaven” ( John 3:3). So theyexcelled at preaching the gospel, probing the con-science, awakening the sinner, calling him torepentance and faith, leading him to Christ, andschooling him in the way of Christ. Likewise, the Pu-ritans believed with James that “faith, if it hath notworks, is dead being alone” (James 2:17). So they de-veloped from Scripture a careful description of what aChristian ought to be in his inward life before God,

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and in all his actions and relationships in this life, athome, in the church, at work, and in society.

In this book, the term Puritan is used as a combination ofall the concerns presented above. Thus, we have included notonly those Puritans who were ejected from the Church ofEngland by the Act of Uniformity in 1662, but also those inEngland and North America who, from the reign of ElizabethI until 1689 (and in a few cases, on into the eighteenth cen-tury), worked to reform and purify the church and to leadpeople toward godly living consistent with the Reformeddoctrines of grace.

Peter Lewis rightly says that Puritanism grew out of threeneeds: (1) the need for biblical preaching and the teaching ofsound Reformed doctrine; (2) the need for biblical, personalpiety that stresses the work of the Holy Spirit in the faith andlife of the believer; and (3) the need to restore biblical simplic-ity in liturgy, vestments, and church government, so that awell-ordered church life would promote the worship of thetriune God as prescribed in His Word (The Genius of Puritanism,pp. 11ff.). Doctrinally, Puritanism was a kind of vigorousCalvinism; experientially, it was warm and contagious; evan-gelistically, it was aggressive, yet tender; ecclesiastically, itwas theocentric and worshipful; politically, it aimed to bescriptural, balanced, and bound by conscience before God inthe relations of king, Parliament, and subjects.

The Puritans were by no means a monolithic movementany more than were the Reformers, or, for that matter, anymajor group of theologians in church history. They too hadtheir differences, especially ecclesiastically and politically, buteven theologically. There were men among them who imbibederror, such as Richard Baxter on justification and John Pre-ston on the atonement. Yet, for the most part, there was aremarkably unity of thought, conviction, and experienceamong the Puritans.

PREFACE xvii

How to Profit from Reading the PuritansWith the Spirit’s blessing, Puritan writings can enrich your lifeas a Christian in many ways, as they open the Scriptures andapply them practically, probing your conscience, indictingyours sins, leading you to repentance, shaping your faith, guid-ing your conduct, comforting you in Christ and conformingyou to Him, and bringing you into full assurance of salvationand a lifestyle of gratitude to the triune God for His great sal-vation. Here are six characteristics that permeate Puritanliterature and account for its continuing relevance and power:

1. They shape life by Scripture. The Puritans loved, lived, andbreathed Scripture, relishing the power of the Spirit that ac-companied the Word. They regarded the sixty-six books ofScripture as the library of the Holy Spirit graciously be-queathed to Christians. They viewed Scripture as Godspeaking to them as their Father, giving them the truth theycould trust for all eternity. They saw it as Spirit-empoweredto renew their minds and transform their lives.

The Puritans searched, heard, and sang the Word withdelight and encouraged others to do the same. PuritanRichard Greenham suggested eight ways to read Scripture:with diligence, wisdom, preparation, meditation, conference,faith, practice, and prayer. Thomas Watson provided numer-ous guidelines on how to listen to the Word: come to theWord with a holy appetite and a teachable heart. Sit underthe Word attentively, receive it with meekness, and mingle itwith faith. Then retain the Word, pray over it, practice it, andspeak to others about it.

The Puritans called believers to be Word-centered infaith and practice. Richard Baxter’s Christian Directory showedhow the Puritans regarded the Bible as a trustworthy guidefor all of life. Every case of conscience was subjected to Scrip-ture’s directives. Henry Smith said, “We should set the Word

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of God always before us like a rule, and believe nothing butthat which it teacheth, love nothing but that which it prescri-beth, hate nothing but that which it forbiddeth, do nothingbut that which it commandeth.”

If you read the Puritans regularly, their Bible-centered-ness becomes contagious. Though their commentaries onScripture are not the last word in exegesis, the Puritans showhow to yield wholehearted allegiance to the Bible’s message.Like them, you will become a believer of the living Book, con-curring with John Flavel, who said, “The Scriptures teach usthe best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and themost comfortable way of dying.”

2. They marry doctrine and practice. The Puritans did this by ad-dressing the mind, confronting the conscience, and wooingthe heart.

• Addressing the mind. The Puritans refused to set mind andheart against each other but taught that knowledge was thesoil in which the Spirit planted the seed of regeneration. Theyviewed the mind as the palace of faith. “In conversion, reasonis elevated,” John Preston wrote. Cotton Mather said, “Igno-rance is the mother not of devotion but of heresy.”

The Puritans understood that a mindless Christianity fos-ters a spineless Christianity. An anti-intellectual gospelquickly becomes an empty, formless gospel that doesn’t getbeyond “felt needs.” That’s what is happening in manychurches today. Tragically, few understand that if there is lit-tle difference between what Christian and unbelievers believewith their minds, there will soon be little difference in howwe live. Puritan literature is a great solution to this problem.

• Confronting the conscience. The Puritans were masters atnaming specific sins, then asking questions to press homeconviction of those sins. As one Puritan wrote, “We must gowith the stick of divine truth and beat every bush behind

PREFACE xix

which a sinner hides, until like Adam who hid, he stands be-fore God in his nakedness.”

Devotional reading should be confrontational as well ascomforting. We grow little if our consciences are not prickeddaily and directed to Christ. Since we are prone to run for thebushes, we need daily help to be brought before the livingGod “naked and opened unto the eyes of with whom we haveto do” (Heb. 4:12). In this, no writers can help us as much asthe Puritans.

• Engaging the heart. It is unusual today to find books thatfeed the mind with solid biblical substance and move theheart with affectionate warmth, but the Puritans do both.They reason with the mind, confront the conscience, and ap-peal to the heart. They write out of love for God’s Word, lovefor the glory of God, and love for the soul of readers. They setforth Christ in His loveliness, moving us to yearn to knowHim better and live wholly for Him.

3. They focus on Christ. According to Thomas Adams, “Christ isthe sum of the whole Bible, prophesied, typified, prefigured,exhibited, demonstrated, to be found in every leaf, almost inevery line, the Scriptures being but as it were the swaddlingbands of the child Jesus.” Likewise, Isaac Ambrose wrote,“Think of Christ as the very substance, marrow, soul, andscope of the whole Scriptures.”

The Puritans loved Christ and wrote much about Hisbeauty. Samuel Rutherford wrote: “Put the beauty of tenthousand thousand worlds of paradises, like the Garden ofEden in one; put all trees, all flowers, all smells, all colors, alltastes, all joys, all loveliness, all sweetness in one. O what afair and excellent thing would that be? And yet it would beless to that fair and dearest well-beloved Christ than one dropof rain to the whole seas, rivers, lakes, and foundations of ten

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thousand earths.” Thomas Goodwin echoed this thought, say-ing, “Heaven would be hell to me without Christ.”

Would you know Christ better and love Him more fully?Immerse yourself in Puritan literature, asking the Spirit tosanctify it to you in a Christ-centered way.

4. They show how to handle trials. We learn from the Puritans thatwe need affliction to humble us (Deut. 8:2), to teach us whatsin is (Zeph. 1:12), and to bring us to God (Hos. 5:15). AsRobert Leighton wrote, “Affliction is the diamond dust thatheaven polishes its jewels with.” The Puritans show us howGod’s rod of affliction is His means to write Christ’s imagemore fully upon us, so that we may be partakers of His right-eousness and holiness (Heb. 12:10–11).

If you are presently undergoing trials, read WilliamBridge’s A Lifting Up for the Downcast, Thomas Brooks’s A MuteChristian Under the Rod, and Richard Sibbes’s A Bruised Reed.They will show you how every trial can bring you to Christ,to walk by faith and to be weaned from this world. AsThomas Watson wrote, “God would have the world hang asa loose tooth which, being easily twitched away, doth notmuch trouble us.” Also, read The Rare Jewel of Christian Content-ment by Jeremiah Burroughs. It will teach you how to learncontentment through trial. Then, the next time you are buf-feted by others, Satan, or your own conscience, you will carrythose trials to Christ and ask Him, by His Spirit, to sanctifythem so that you may model spiritual contentment for others.

5. They show how to live in two worlds. Richard Baxter’s The Saint’sEverlasting Rest shows the power that the hope of heaven has todirect, control, and energize our life here on earth. Despite itslength (800-plus pages), this classic became household read-ing in Puritan homes. It was surpassed only by John Bunyan’sPilgrim’s Progress, which is an allegorical outworking of this

PREFACE xxi

same truth. Bunyan’s pilgrim is heading for the Celestial City,which he never has out of his mind except when he is be-trayed by some form of spiritual malaise.

The Puritans believed that we should have heaven “in oureye” throughout our earthly pilgrimage. They took seriouslythe two-worldly, now/not-yet dynamics of the New Testa-ment, stressing that keeping the “hope of glory” before ourminds should guide and shape our lives here on earth. Livingin the light of eternity necessitated radical self-denial. The Pu-ritans taught us to live, knowing that the joy of heaven makesamends for any losses and crosses that we must endure onearth if we follow Christ. They taught us that preparation fordeath is the first step in learning to live.

6. They show us true spirituality. The Puritans promoted the au-thority of Scripture, biblical evangelism, church reform, thespirituality of the law, spiritual warfare against indwellingsin, the filial fear of God, the art of meditation, the dreadful-ness of hell and the glories of heaven. So read the Puritansdevotionally, and then pray to emulate their spirituality. Askquestions like these: Are we, like the Puritans, thirsting toglorify the triune God? Are we motivated by biblical truth andbiblical fire? Do we share the Puritan view of the vital neces-sity of conversion and of being clothed with the righteousnessof Christ? Do we follow them, as they followed Christ?

Where to BeginIf you are just starting to read the Puritans, begin withThomas Watson’s Heaven Taken by Storm, John Bunyan’s TheFear of God, John Flavel’s Keeping the Heart, Thomas Brooks’sPrecious Remedies Against Satan’s Devices, and Richard Sibbes’sGlorious Freedom, then move on to the works of John Owen,Thomas Goodwin, and Jonathan Edwards.

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For sources that introduce you to the Puritan lifestyle andtheology, begin with Leland Ryken’s Worldly Saints: The PuritansAs They Really Were (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990), PeterLewis’s The Genius of Puritanism (Morgan, Penn.: Soli Deo Gloria,1997), and Erroll Hulse’s Who are the Puritans? and what do theyteach? (Darlington, England: Evangelical Press, 2000). Thenmove on to James I. Packer’s A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vi-sion of the Christian Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1990).

We have striven to make our guide useful both for thosewho are just beginning to read the Puritans and for those whoare more advanced in Puritan theology and studies. Conse-quently, there will be some material that the beginner willfind a bit difficult to grasp and other material that the moreadvanced will find rather elementary. In the main, however,we trust that this book will be an informative and stimulatingguide to all seeking to know more about the Puritan divinesand the recently reprinted books that they have written.

Criteria and Sources UsedThis book began in the 1980s with a series of articles written forthe Banner of Truth (U.S.) entitled, “Meet the Puritans . . . inPrint!” Those articles covered Puritans printed from the 1950sthrough 1985. Ten years later, “Reading the Best in Puritan Lit-erature: A Modern Bibliography,” Reformation and Revival 5, 2(1996):117–158, covered Puritan titles from 1986 to 1996. Meet thePuritans expands this material and covers books printed for halfa century, from 1956 through 2005. In all, it contains commentson close to 700 volumes from more than 75 publishers, andnearly 150 brief biographies. Some biographies are substantiallylonger than others because of the importance of the individualin Christian history and literature, or because of the amount ofbiographical material available. Also, some of these longer biog-raphies are adapted from articles or book introductions that wehave written, and are printed here with permission.

PREFACE xxiii

We have not usually attempted to include all the paper-back editions of a particular author when his complete workshave been reprinted. Nor have we included more than one edi-tion of a book that has been reissued two or more times. Inmost cases, we noted the reprint of highest quality. In a fewinstances, when the quality was nearly equal, we gave prefer-ence to the edition that is still in print. In every case, wesupplied the publisher, number of pages, and date of publica-tion behind the title. We regret that we are not able toindicate whether or not a title is currently in print as manybooks in this guide come into print or go out of print everysingle year. Since we would like to update this book periodi-cally, we welcome suggestions from readers on Puritan titlesthat were printed in the last half century (1956-2005) that wemay have missed. Please forward them to Joel R. Beeke, 2965Leonard NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525, USA.

Several appendices are included. The first covers multi-authored Puritan titles; the second, Scottish writers who fitour definition of Puritan; the third, Dutch Second Reforma-tion writers, sometimes called “Dutch Puritans,” translatedinto English; and fourth, an annotated bibliography of a sam-pling of secondary sources on the Puritans printed in the lasttwenty years. This last appendix could easily be augmented tobecome a full monograph by itself. Instead, in addition to theshort annotated bibliography of the fourth appendix, we in-clude a non-annotated bibliography of several hundredsecondary sources at the end of this book.

For time parameters, men and women are included whosewritings reflect Puritan convictions in the period fromWilliam Perkins (1558–1602) to Jonathan Edwards (1703–1758), sometimes called “the last Puritan.” Forerunners of thePuritans, such as John Bradford and John Hooper, have notbeen included. In some cases, it was difficult to determinewhether or not to include a particular writer, particularly

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those who opposed Puritan ecclesiology, such as ThomasAdams, Richard Baker, Joseph Hall, Nathaniel Hardy, andEzekiel Hopkins. In these cases, since their writings bear thePuritan stamp of spirituality that Whitefield refers to in theopening quotation of this preface, we have included them.

Regarding sources used, we freely consulted the major en-cyclopedias and standard reference works on the Puritans.The most useful have been H.C.G. Matthew and Brian Harri-son’s Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (60 vols.), LeslieStephen and Sidney Lee’s Dictionary of National Biography (22vols.), The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of Religious Knowledge(15 vols.), M‘Clintock and Strong’s Cyclopedia of Biblical, Theo-logical, and Ecclesiastical Literature (12 vols.), Allen Johnson andDumas Malone’s Dictionary of American Biography (10 vols.), JohnStrype’s Ecclesiastical Memorials (7 vols.), Appletons’ Cyclopaedia ofAmerican Biography (6 vols.), Erasmus Middleton’s EvangelicalBiography (4 vols.), Edmund Calamy’s The Nonconformist’s Memo-rial (4 vols.; also, Samuel Palmer’s 3 vol. edition), A.G.Matthews’s Calamy Revised, Jay Green’s Encyclopedia of Christian-ity (4 vols.), Anthony à Wood’s Athenae Oxonienses (4 vols.), S.Allibone’s A Critical Dictionary of English Literature and British andAmerican Authors (4 vols.), James Darling’s Cyclopaedia Biblio-graphica (3 vols.), Benjamin Brooks’s Lives of the Puritans (3vols.), and Thomas Fuller’s Abel Redevivus; or, The Dead Yet Speak-ing: The Lives and Deaths of Modern Divines (2 vols.) as well as hisWorthies of England (2 vols.). Due to the paucity of material oncertain Puritans, we have relied heavily at times on thesesources. For information on the Puritans who served at theWestminster Assembly, James Reid’s Memoirs of the WestminsterDivines and William Barker’s Puritan Profiles have been mosthelpful. We have also consulted studies on individual Puri-tans. In cases where sources have contradicted each other, wehave used the Matthew-Harrison Oxford Dictionary of NationalBiography (2004) as our final source of authority.

PREFACE xxv

For appendix 2, we have used the Dictionary of ScottishChurch History & Theology, edited by Nigel Cameron; for appen-dix 3, we have consulted F.W. Grosheide and G.P. VanItterzon’s Christelijke Encyclopedie (6 vols.), J.P. DeBie and J. Loos-jes’s Biographisch Woordenboek van Protestantsche Godgeleerden inNederland (5 vols.), D. Nauta’s Biografisch Lexicon voor de Geschiede-nis van het Nederlandse Protestantisme (4 vols.), and B. Glasius’sBiografisch Woordenboek van Nederlandsche Godgeleerden (3 vols.).

As for book descriptions, we have summarized each vol-ume, frequently offering a savory quotation from the bookunder review to whet the potential reader’s appetite. Whenmaterial from the publisher has factually described a book’scontent, we have on occasion woven some of that materialinto our summary, such as with Yale’s edition of Jonathan Ed-wards’s Works.

For a topical and textual index to the writings of the Pu-ritans, see Robert P. Martin’s A Guide to the Puritans, whichincludes most of the books reviewed in this volume. Martin’sbook is a necessary complement to this volume for those whoare serious about knowing and studying the themes and textshandled in the Puritan tradition.

To keep this book a reasonable length, we have not usedfootnotes. In most cases, quotations of some length includethe author and title reference in the text. For complete biblio-graphical data, check the bibliography in the back of thisbook. Spelling has been modernized in the titles of, and quo-tations from, antiquarian books. Capitalization has followedthe Chicago Manual of Style: hence, “King Charles,” but “theking”; “Bachelor of Arts degree” or “Doctor of Divinity degree,”as titles, but “bachelor’s degree” or “doctorate in divinity” asgeneral terms.

Finally, for those interested in information on antiquarianPuritan titles that have not yet been reprinted, contact the Pu-ritan Resource Center (2965 Leonard Street N.E., Grand

xxvi MEET THE PURITANS

Rapids, Michigan 49525, USA), which houses a collection ofmore than 3,000 titles by and about the Puritans.

AcknowledgementsWe thank Rev. Ray B. Lanning for editorial assistance and es-pecially for supplying a glossary of seventeenth-centurywords and events from Presbyterian Scotland as well as Puri-tan England and New England that may be unfamiliar tomodern readers. We trust that you will find this glossaryhelpful, particularly when reading the biographical material.Thanks, too, to Phyllis TenElshof for editing, to Kate DeVriesand Kelly Ziegler for proofreading, to Alastair Roberts for as-sistance during an internship, and to Jay Collier for help inwrapping up details down the final stretch. A heartfelt thanksto Dr. Jan VanVliet for contributing to the entry on WilliamAmes, to Rev. Cornelius Pronk for coauthoring the entry onTheodorus Frelinghuysen, and to Dr. Tom Schwanda for as-sisting with the entry on Isaac Ambrose.

We thank Iain Murray for his detailed suggestions in re-sponse to our first two drafts, and for instilling a love forPuritan literature in us through the Puritan reprints of Bannerof Truth Trust books, his own books, and his valued friend-ship. We are also grateful to Kelly Kapic and Randall Gleasonfor allowing us to reprint their “A Brief History of English Pu-ritanism.” Our heartfelt thanks is extended to Don Kistler forproviding most of the illustrations of the English Puritanscontained in this book and for sharing our vision and love forPuritan reprints. Thanks, too, to DenHertog Publications forallowing us to borrow illustrations of the Dutch Second Re-formation divines. And thanks to Caffy Whitney for herbeautiful artwork in providing illustrations for WilliamPerkins and William Ames.

The theological students at Puritan Reformed TheologicalSeminary were a major impetus for persevering with this

PREFACE xxvii

book. We are grateful to several students who provided mate-rial that assisted us with an entry. We pray that thesestudents may be as godly and able ministers of the gospel forour generation as the Puritans were for theirs.

We wholeheartedly thank our dear wives, Mary Beekeand Sarah Pederson, for their patience, support, and enthusi-asm throughout this project. We are humbled to be blessedwith wives whose lives manifest, by God’s grace, the kind ofbiblical piety that Puritan literature powerfully promotes.

Finally, we acknowledge our God and Savior, who, by Hisgrace, has fed us so richly through our Puritan-minded English,Scottish, and Dutch forebears. We trust that as you read oftheir lives and peruse their books, you will concur with JamesI. Packer’s assessment: “In a time of failing vision and decayingvalues, [the Puritans are] a beacon of hope calling us to radicalcommitment and action when both are desperately needed.”

— JRB/RJP

xxviii MEET THE PURITANS

Illustrationsqq

English and American PuritansThomas AdamsHenry AirayJoseph AlleineIsaac AmbroseWilliam AmesWilliam BatesRichard BaxterRobert BoltonSamuel BoltonJeremiah BurroughsNicholas ByfieldJoseph CarylThomas CaseStephen CharnockDavid ClarksonJohn CottonEdward DeringThomas DoolittleJonathan EdwardsJohn FlavelThomas GoodwinThomas GougeWilliam GougeJoseph HallMatthew HenryOliver HeywoodArthur HildershamEzekiel HopkinsJohn Howe

Thomas JacombWilliam Jenkyn Benjamin KeachRobert LeightonJohn LightfootChristopher LoveThomas MantonCotton MatherIncrease MatherRichard MatherMatthew MeadChristopher NessJohn OwenEdward PearseWilliam PerkinsMatthew PooleJohn PrestonEdward ReynoldsHenry ScudderObadiah SedgwickRichard SibbesHenry SmithRichard SteeleThomas TaylorJohn TrappRalph VenningNathaniel VincentThomas Watson

Scottish DivinesThomas BostonSamuel RutherfordHenry Scougal

Dutch Second Reformation DivinesWilhelmus à BrakelAlexander Comrie

xxx MEET THE PURITANS

Theodorus Jacobus FrelinghuysenAbraham HellenbroekJohannes HoornbeekJacobus KoelmanJean TaffinWillem TeellinckTheodorus van der GroeJohannes VanderKempGisbertus VoetiusHerman Witsius

ILLUSTRATIONS xxxi

Abbreviations andAddresses of Publishers

qq

AAS: American Antiquarian Society, 185 Salisbury Street, Worcester, Massachusetts 01609

AMS: AMS Press, Inc., Brooklyn Navy Yard, Building 292, Suite 417, 63 Flushing Avenue, Brooklyn, New York 11205

AP: Aldine Press

Arno: Arno Press—now an imprint of Ayer Company Publishers, 400 Bedford St., Suite 322, Manchester, New Hampshire 03101

Ashgate: Ashgate Publishing Co., Old Post Road, Brookfield, Vermont 05036

Baker: Baker Book House, 6030 E. Fulton, Ada, Michigan 49301

BB: Blue Banner Publications, P.O. Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214

Bedford: Bedford Publishers, 33 Irving Place, New York, New York 10003

Berith: Berith Publications (a division of Tentmaker Publications, see address below)

B&H: Broadman & Holman, 127 Ninth Avenue North, MSN 114,Nashville, Tennessee 37234

BP: The Bunyan Press, 23 Haslingden Close, Harpenden, Herts AL5 3EW, England

BTT: Banner of Truth Trust, The Grey House, 3 Murrayfield Road, Edinburgh EH12 6EL, Scotland; American office: P.O. Box 621, 63 E. Louther St., Carlisle, Pennsylvania 17013

CFP: Christian Focus Publications, Geanies House, Fearn, Tain, Ross-shire IV20 1TW, Scotland

CMP: Cornmarket Press, 42/43 Conduit Street, London W1R 0NL,England

Crossway: Crossway Books, 1300 Crescent St., Wheaton, Illinois 60187

CVHM: Connecticut Valley Historical Museum, 220 State Street, Corner of State and Chestnut Streets, Springfield, Massachusetts 01103

DA: Dust and Ashes, 170 Washington Ave., Muskegon, Michigan 49441

Da Capo: Da Capo Press Inc.

Degraaf: DeGraaf, Zuideinde 40, Postbus 6, 2420 AA, Nieuwkoop,Netherlands

Dover: Dover Publications, Inc., 31 East 2nd Street, Mineola, New York 11501

Ebenezer: Ebenezer Publications

Eerdmans: Wm. B. Eerdmans Publishing, 255 Jefferson S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49503

EP: Evangelical Press, 12 Wooler St., Darlington, County Durham DL1 1RX, England

FCM: Focus Christian Ministries Trust, 6 Orchard Road, Lewes, East Sussex BN7 2HB, England

FPP: Free Presbyterian Publications, 133 Woodland Rd., Glasgow G3 6LE, Scotland

FUP: Frederick Ungar Publishing Co., 250 Park Avenue South, New York, New York 10003

GM: Gospel Mission, P.O. Box 318, Choteau, Montana 59422

Harvard: Harvard University Press, 79 Garden St., Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138

HP: Hendrickson Publishers, P.O. Box 3473, Peabody, Massachusetts 01961

IO: International Outreach, P.O. Box 1286, Ames, Iowa 50010

IVP: InterVarsity Press, P.O. Box 1400, Downers Grove, Illinois 60515

JB: James Begg Society, 20 Abbotswell Crescent, Kincorth, Aberdeen AB12 5AR, Scotland

JC: James Clarke Press, P.O. Box 60, Cambridge CB1 2NT, England

JFCP: James Family Christian Publishers

Johnson: Johnson Reprint Corporation

K&K: Klock & Klock

Kregel: Kregel Publishers, P.O. Box 2607, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49501

LSUP: Louisiana State University Press, P.O. Box 25053, Baton Rouge,Louisiana 70894

LUP: Lehigh University Press, 2002 Lehigh University, 27 MemorialDrive West, Bethlehem, Pennsylvania 18015

MP: Maranatha Publishers, P.O. Box 466, Litchfield, Michigan 49252

MQ: McGill-Queen’s University Press, 3430 McTavish Street, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1X9 Canada

NP: Naphtali Press, P.O. Box 141084, Dallas, Texas 75214

xxxiv MEET THE PURITANS

NR: Netherlands Reformed Book and Publishing, 123 Leffingwell N.E.,Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525

NUP: Nebraska University Press, 233 North 8th Street, Lincoln, Nebraska 68588

OP: Old Paths Publications, 1 Bittersweet Path, Willowstreet, Pennsylvania 17584

PA: Presbyterian’s Armoury Publications, P.O. Box 662, Burnie TAS 7320, Australia

Pilgrim: Pilgrim Press

PL: Peter Lang, 275 Seventh Avenue, 28th floor, New York, New York 10001

PP: Pietan Publication, 26 Green Farm Road, New Ipswich, New Hampshire 03071

P&R: Presbyterian and Reformed Publishing, P.O. Box 817, Philipsburg, New Jersey 08865

PUP: Princeton University Press, 41 William St., Princeton, New Jersey 08540

RAP: Reformed Academic Press, P.O. Box 8599, Greenville, South Carolina 29604

RE: Maranatha Publications, P.O. Box 66212, Mobile, Alabama 36606

Reiner: Reiner Publications

RHB: Reformation Heritage Books, 2965 Leonard St. N.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525

Rhwym: Rhwym Books, P.O. Box 1706, Cambridge, Massachusetts02238

ROR: Richard Owen Roberts, P.O. Box 21, Wheaton, Illinois 60189

RP: Reformation Press, 11 Churchhill Dr., Stornoway, Isle of LewisPA87 2NP, Scotland

SDG: Soli Deo Gloria, a division of Ligonier Ministries, P.O. Box 547500, Orlando, Florida 32854

SF Scholars’ Facsimiles and Reprints

SG: Solid Ground Christian Books, P.O. Box 660132, Vestavia Hills,

Alabama 35266

SGP: Sovereign Grace Publishers, P.O. Box 4998, Lafayette, Indiana 47903

SGT: Sovereign Grace Trust Fund

Smith: Peter Smith Publishers, 5 Lexington Ave., Gloucester, Massachusetts 01930

ABBREVIATIONS AND ADDRESSES xxxv

SPR: Sprinkle Publications, P.O. Box 1094, Harrisonburg, Virginia 22801

SWRB: Still Waters Revival Books, 4710-37A Ave., Edmonton, Alberta T6L 3T5, Canada

TENT: Tentmaker Publications, 121 Hartshill Rd., Stoke-on-Trent,Staffs ST4 7LU, England

TP: Tanski Publications

UC: University of Chicago Press, 1427 East 60th Street, Chicago, Illinois 60637

UGP: University of Georgia Press, 330 Research Drive, Athens, Georgia 30602

UIP: University of Illinois Press, 1325 South Oak Street, Champaign,Illinois 61820

UMP: University of Massachusetts Press, P.O. Box 429, Amherst,Massachusetts 01004

UNC: University of North Carolina Press, 116 South Boundary Street,Chapel Hill, North Carolina 27514

UPA: United Press of America, Boston Way, Lanham, Maryland 20706

UPP: University of Pennsylvania Press, 4200 Pine Street, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania 19104

VH: Vision Harvest, P.O. Box 680, Haymarket, Virginia 20168

WJ: Walter J. Johnson, Inc.

Yale: Yale University Press, P.O. Box 209040, New Haven, Connecticut 06520

Zoar: Zoar Publications, Christian Bookshop, 21 Queen St., Ossett, West Yorkshire WF5 8AS, England

Zondervan: Zondervan Publications, 5300 Patterson S.E., Grand Rapids, Michigan 49512

Publishers without addresses are no longer in existence. Many of the books reviewedin this book can be found in your local Christian bookstore or can be obtained di-rectly from the publisher. If you cannot locate certain titles, contact ReformationHeritage Books, 2965 Leonard St. NE, Grand Rapids, Michigan 49525 (phone: 616-977-0599; e-mail: orders@heritagebooks.org; website: www.heritagebooks.org

xxxvi MEET THE PURITANS