Meet the Puritans

What are the important milestones for the Reformation? Traditionally, we date the beginning of the Reformation from Oct. 31, 1517, the day Martin Luther set out his ninety-five theses. That day was indeed a watershed. But we can also point to the importance of several other milestones. The pope...

Preaching the Word of God is one of the most blessed tasks a man may be called to perform. However, just as James warns that not all should desire to teach—for their judgment will be all the harsher before Christ (James 3:1)—many others prove to be ineffective communicators of gospel truth because...

Thomas Manton (1620-1677) was born in Somerset England in 1620 and was baptized on March 31 of that same year. J.C. Ryle, writing a brief memoir of Manton (found in volume 2 of Manton’s Works ) noted that Manton was “a man who could neither say, nor do, nor write anything without being observed.”...

“There is a great deal of comfort in skepticism,” writes Gordon H. Clark. “If truth is impossible of attainment, then one need not suffer the pains of searching for it… Skepticism dispenses with all effort… Skepticism is the position that nothing can be demonstrated.” [1] Sadly, rather than...

Note: Read more on John Bunyan's pastoral heart here. The life of John Bunyan proves, perhaps more than any other, that God indeed does not call the equipped, but rather equips the called. Bunyan understood the great grace he had been gifted in Christ, and he was eager to use every moment and every...

In 1616, Henry Jacob, a puritan minister of the Church of England forced into exile in the 1590s, returned to London to gather an independent congregation of believers. This church is often referred to as semi-separatist since Jacob maintained positive relations with many ministers serving within...

It has often been the case that the most ignoble of characters and chief of sinners become the best of Christians after Christ converts them. Seemingly, the greater the past life of sins and the deeper the misery before Christ, the more that soul will labor all the more abundantly and diligently...

Christians are commanded to redeem the time (Eph. 5:16), be instant to always preach the Gospel (2 Tim. 4:2), continually work to take every thought captive to Christ (2 Cor. 10:5) and pursue peace and holiness (Heb. 12:4). Far from being a calling to laziness, the Christian is called by Christ to...

Thomas Watson (ca. 1620-1686) was a great Presbyterian Puritan preacher who wrote much and whose books are still read today. Watson’s most famous work, A Body of Practical Divinity , published posthumously in 1692, consisted of 176 sermons on the Westminster Shorter Catechism. Watson was a clear...

The following letter comes from The Works of the Rev. John Newton (London, 1808) pp. 346–353. Reader beware: Newton's portraits are both humorous and piercing. Whatsoever Things are lovely, whatsoever Things are of good Report, — think on these Things. – Phil. 4:8. Dear Sir, The precept which I...