The Genius of Puritan Preaching
By
Dr. Kevin Hartley
Chapter I
INTRODUCTION
The place and importance of preaching in the rise and decline of English Puritan piety is one of notable significance. Its place was one of centrality to the movement, while its importance was defined as vital throughout the life of the movement. As to its centrality, preaching was viewed as the means given by God for the rise of true godliness among a people. Neglect of such means would result in the consequence of the decline of holiness among a people. William Perkins, the man at the nucleus of the development of Puritan preaching, writes:
…the want of the preaching and hearing of the word is one of the great curses of God on earth (Prov. 29. 18; Amos 8. 11; Hos. 9.7)…the preaching of the word is a means to beat down the kingdom of the devil and it is the key of the kingdom of heaven (Luke 10.18; Matt. 16. 19)…it is the old ancient practice of the people of God to hear and frequent sermons (2 Kings 4.23).
The Puritans championing of the pulpit ministry was seen as prescribed by God himself. God sovereignly had provided the means for the effectual end of gospel communication in his word and was said to utilize men for the purpose of preaching to the end of the application of said means. Rising above other means of prescription the Puritan pulpit was held as the chief means to the design of piety. Thus its centrality is established.
The vitality of preaching among English Puritanism was of equal significance. The pulpit was synonymous with the physician’s office, where the able practitioner would raise the scalpel of God’s word and by supernatural assistance seek to operate upon the whole of man. He was a surgeon of the heart, of the mind, and a mender of the will. Thus writes Ames:
Men are to be pricked to the quick so that they feel individually what the Apostle said, namely, that the word of the Lord is a two-edged sword, piercing to the inward thoughts and affections and going through to the joining of bones and marrow. Preaching, therefore, ought not to be dead, but alive and effective…
The very vitality of Puritanism and its piety lay in its attention to the life of the man. They were practical, personal, and honest in their preaching. They saw their purpose as one of effectiveness, over and above eloquence. They saw their labors as above the natural inclinations of man, seeking to infect a man with a love for God and successive obedience. The design behind their method was one of care for the soul. Thus Joe Pipa says this of their labors:
…there is homiletical benefit in reading Perkins and the Puritans. In their sermons, we find a good model for preaching doctrine practically. The Puritans knew how to cause theological truth to live that it might be worked out in the lives of their people. Thus they were both profound and practical.
The vitality of Puritan preaching lay in its applicable design. The effectual application of the word of God in living was their primary goal in ascending the steps to the pulpit.
Several questions capture the modern reader of the annals of Puritanism; first, was there method peculiar and if so, what was its origin. Second, was their method truly biblical, and if so, is its effective duration peculiar to their age. Third, was their chosen method contributory to the remarkable pervasiveness of Puritan piety for approximately two centuries, spanning several continents, and regimes, and if so what evidence supports such a claim? These are but a few of the questions that arise from the consideration of Puritanism. At the heart of these inquiries is this singular question; can a quantifiable correlation be drawn between the emphasis, manner, and duration of care for Puritan preaching and the successive evidences of English Puritan piety among their congregations?
The answer to the question is an unqualified ‘yes.’ There is an undeniable impact of the manner and emphasis of preaching in English Puritanism upon pietistic pervasiveness. Jonathan Long asserts, "A decline in preaching has always run hand in hand with a decline of spiritual life and activity in the Church." The centrality and vitality of English Puritan preaching had a direct and substantial effect upon the pervasiveness of English Puritan piety. Its effectiveness is attributed to its centrality in the movement from its early roots until its decline of the 18th century. Its vitality is a combination of method, design, diligence, and the intangible factor of the grace and imposition of God and his Spirit upon the efforts of impotent men. Thus the proposition to be proven is that the design of Puritan preaching, as both practical and useful, had a notable effect upon the pervasiveness of English Puritan Piety. In order to prove and illustrate this fact, the following areas shall be examined, 1) the development of the Puritan method of preaching and its application, 2) the methodology of Puritan preaching, 3) the designed intent of the Puritan method, 4) the sought after effects of the Puritan method, 5) supposed factors in the apparent decline and use of this method, 6) a conclusion and summation of the proposition.
CHAPTER II
A PURITAN HISTORY OF PREACHING
Before Perkins
The rise of the Puritan emphasis on preaching has a direct correlation to the Reformation principle of sola scriptura. The Reformed confessions betray an emphasis upon the care and primacy of the word of God among the church and its worship. Purtanism, the English branch of the Reformation surely finds its impetus for the centrality of the word of God in the roots of the Reformation. As is often the case for the English Reformation, it expanded, elongated, and fleshed out the principle doctrines and teachings of the reformation. The logical conclusion to the Reformation principle of sola fide was the emphasis upon doctrine in the first division in Puritan preaching. The logical conclusion to the Reformed principle of sola scriptura is the centrality of the text of scripture in English Puritan preaching. The logical conclusion to the soteriological emphasis of Calvin and Bullinger upon assurance and practical divinity is the emphasis on use in the final division of the Puritan sermon. It should therefore come as no surprise to find English Puritanism in its early beginnings exalting the care of homiletics in their formulation of practice, as it conjoins sola scriptura in the primacy of the Word, sola fide in doctrine, and soteriology in application and use.
Prior to the instrumental work of William Perkins in establishing the centrality of preaching in the English Reformation, there were already currents of his methodology flowing through England. William Tyndale for one was precursory in the development of the Puritan model of preaching. The English Reformation’s emphasis on plain style preaching was already a strong current among early reformers. Jonathan Long notes, "The influence of Laurence Chaderton and Richard Greenham upon Perkin’s early life at Cambridge cannot be overlooked as a possible explanation for his conversion." He then states, "Chaderton, noted for his plain preaching style and Greenham for his practical doctrine, seem to have molded Perkins into a typical member of the group of moderate Puritans at Cambridge." Evidently Perkins is not a man without roots; he clearly had a foundation laid for him at Cambridge.
It may then be said that William Perkins is the repository of reformation currents flowing in early English Puritanism. He consolidates the magisterial reformers foundation, the logic of Ramism, the efforts of Tyndale, Chaderton, and Greenham, as well as countless other early English reformers, and develops the model and design of the Puritan method of preaching that would pervade two centuries of English reform. Again, Long notes, "Since the Reformation, Perkins became the first Englishman to give any real treatment to the subject of homiletics. He saw a desperate need for ministerial renewal through a plain preaching style." He writes, "Perkins claimed no originality in…The Art of Prophesying, he informs the readers:
I perused the writings of divines; and having gathered some rules out of them, I have couched them in that method which I have deemed most commodious, that they might be better for use and fitter for the memory.
This was the humble note of Perkins found in his preface to The Art of Prophesying, 12 December 1592. He was no leading light rather he was a beacon of reformation radiance. When we approach then the subject of English Puritan preaching we must not view it as isolated from the Reformation, its movers, and its strides. Joe Pipa writes, "Perkins, in fact, was not so much an innovator as a systematizer, motivator and communicator. Neither the new Reformed method nor the plain style were original with him." Clearly the development of the model Perkins sets forth is but a natural progression of the Reformation in England.
Perkins
William Perkins, 1558 – 1602, sets the precedence for all subsequent English reformers in the design and application of preaching. Perry Miller said of him that he was:
The teacher from whom, above all others, Puritans learned the lesson for sermon form was William Perkins…Whether all the maxims originated with him is difficult to say, for Puritans characteristically did not recognize that any of their precepts were derived from other men…
Jonathan Long says of him:
Perkins was largely responsible for re-igniting a belief in the centrality and importance of preaching in the ministry. This central emphasis upon plain, biblical and relevant preaching needs to be recaptured today.
Long goes so far as to say of Perkins, "Four hundred years ago, William Perkins’s immeasurable influence revolutionized preaching in England." Clearly William Perkins is notable for the great impact he had for the development of Puritan preaching. His great theological treatise, A Golden Chain, cannot stand side by side with his monumental homiletical text, The Art of Prophesying. Visibly Perkins is best remembered for the singular importance of raising the place of preaching in the English reformation.
As noted earlier, Perkins was not unique. He was a compiler of the teaching and conclusions of other men. His impact is directly correlative to the design and method of his compilation. He successfully brought simplicity, practicality, and brevity to the labor of biblical preaching that was lacking in his day. He took the foundation of sola scriptura, he built upon this with the walls of doctrine and its application, he laid them fast with the pedagogical design of Ramus as a trowel, and he placed upon the structure the roof of practical divinity. This was the genus of William Perkins’s notoriety and the formal beginnings of a methodology of preaching that would span time and geography, significantly aiding in the resulting rise and duration of piety among English Puritanism.
William Perkins’s groundbreaking text on The Art of Prophesying prepared the way then for the pervasive influence of Puritan preaching. The methodological design of Perkins is a logical and simplistic one. A text of scripture is first to be identified and understood. This was followed by an extraction of specific doctrines from the text. Yet the purpose driving the exposition and exculpation of doctrines was the goal of applicable preaching. Application was not to be made at the expense of doctrine and neither was doctrine to be taught and not applied. Thus balance and clarity are central to Perkins’s method. Just as a man that starts to build a house must finish it for it to be habitable, so a house unfinished is no sure shelter. For what good are walls without a roof; how shall it shield one from storms? And what good is a roof without walls to hold up the roof; surely a roof unsupported will but fall and crumble. Perkins’s method was both doctrinal and practical.
Yet the real genius behind Perkins’ method was his soteriological intent. It was his constant attention to the person hearing the sermon. Piety is intricately related to practical religion. Doctrine without application has no lasting effect upon hearers. It is then the use and application of Puritan preaching introduced by Perkins that sets it apart. Perkins goes to great length to teach the method of proper use and application of preaching. There was always among the Puritans an emphasis on the proper use of a text and its right hearing. It was the use of preaching that set it apart in its day.
The use of scripture and doctrine guided the whole of Perkins’s homiletical efforts. He sought to diagnose and medicate the soul. Perkins wrote, "There are basically seven ways in which application should be made, in keeping with seven different spiritual conditions." Perkins’s method had in its sight the human hearer of the sermon. Thus writes Perkins:
Application is the skill by which the doctrine which has been properly drawn from Scripture is handled in ways which are appropriate to the circumstances of the place and time and to the people in the congregation.
Of the seven employments of application, Perkins bound them all up underneath two heads. He writes in his second chapter on application, "Application is of two kinds, mental and practical." He says of these two branches, "Mental application is concerned with the mind and involves either doctrine or reproof…Practical application has to do with life-style and behaviour and involves instruction and correction." Thus the methodology of Perkins is soul centered, in that the whole being of the man is to be the object of preaching. It is to address both his mind and his heart. As Perkins writes:
When it involves doctrine, biblical teaching is used to inform the mind to enable it to come to a right judgement about what is to be believed. Reproof is using biblical teaching in order to recover the mind from error.
The goal then in preaching for the student of Perkins was effectual application and subsequent change of life, heart, mind, will, and behavior. Perkins says it thus wise, "Instruction is the application of doctrine to enable us to live well in the context of the family, the state and the church. It involves both encouragement and exhortation…" And, "Correction is the application of doctrine in a way that transforms lives marked by ungodliness and unrighteousness. This involves admonition."
What set Perkins’s method apart were not so much his emphasis upon doctrine, but his care for its application. Or it may be said that Perkins’s methods were seta apart by his peculiar emphasis on piety. Jonathan Long wrote:
Above all, Perkins was an apostle of practical divinity. From the outset his ministry was a success, his contribution to Reformed casuistry and practical theology guaranteed it. His aim in preaching and writing was to cultivate a godliness and devotion in the hearts of his hearers.
Clearly it was the intention of Perkins in his putting forth of his accumulation of Reformation efforts to inculcate through God’s grace and the use of means, piety among the people of God. Perkins served as the next step in the development of the English Reformation, in that he established the precedence of the pursuit of piety and its emphasis in preaching.
Ames
The groundbreaking efforts of William Perkins found their resonance in the amalgamation of TheMarrow of Theology by William Ames. Ames, a student of Cambridge, followed Perkins and the tradition he had henceforth established. John Eusden notes:
Cambridge was dominated during Elizabethan and Jacobean times by the teaching and preaching of such giants as Thomas Cartwright (1535-1603), William Perkins (1558-1602), and John Preston (1587-1628)…Ames entered Christ’s College where he encountered the teaching and the spirit of William Perkins who was doubtless the college’s most distinguished fellow. Perkins became Ames’s tutor and close friend. In a sense, Ames remained all his life under the spell of the ‘architect of Elizabethan Puritanism,’ although the Amesian theology reworked much of the old and explored areas not entered by his respected teacher.
In Ames’ Marrow is seen a streamlined version of Perkins’s own Art of Prophesying. There is the emphasis upon application and on piety and practical divinity, as seen in this statement by Ames:
To apply a doctrine to its use is to sharpen and make specially relevant some general truth with such effect that it may pierce the minds of those present with the stirring up of godly affections.
In the Marrow the divisions of text, doctrine, and use are found under the heading, Ordinary Ministers and their Office in Preaching. Ames defines application in this statement, "A use is a theological principle deduced from a doctrine which shows the use, goodness, or end of it." Ames established the principle of doctrine followed by use with the text of 2 Timothy 3:16, as Perkins had done. He begins his discussion of use with this statement:
Use lies in the area either of judgment or of practice, 2 Tim. 3: 16…In judgment it provides information and reformation of the mind…Direction, needed in the practice of life, consists of instruction and correction.
A Ramist influence is found in the structure of this statement noted, as two branches are then subdivided into logical succession, "This application is either for an oppressed mind, in consolation, or one that is failing to follow up the good, or to avoid evil, in exhortation or admonition." This division is then subdivided and defined further:
Consolation is the application of some point that either takes away or mitigates grief and oppressive fear…Exhortation is the application of a point which begets, quickens, and excites some inward virtue or furthers the exercise of it.
In Ames is thus seen congruity and the solidification of the pietistic emphasis of William Perkins. More so, the emphasis on preaching to the end design of practice and piety does not end with either Ames or Perkins, it continues.
Successors
A perusal of Puritan sermons from the days of Perkins to Richard Baxter demonstrates the pervasive effect of Perkins’s methodology. Perry Miller writes:
…following chronologically after Perkins, a succession of Puritan manuals reaffirmed and developed his teaching; it was set forth by Abraham Scultetus in Germany, in his Axiomata Concionandi Practica, 1619, and in England most batably by Richard Bernard in The Faithful Shepherd, 1621, by Oliver Bowles in De Pastore Evangelico Tractatus, 1649, by William Chappell, known to fame as having been for a short and not too happy interval the tutor of John Milton, in the Use of Holy Scripture Gravely and Methodically Discources, 1653, and in The Preacher, or the Art and Method of Preaching, 1656, and BY William Price, and English Puritan stationed at Amsterdam, in Ars Concionandi, 1657. Furthermore, Richardson and Ames wrote always upon the unquestioned assumption that this way was the only legitimate order of the sermon, and for three or four decades before the settlement of New England all the divines who influenced the thought of the colonies, most of the great Puritans of the early seventeenth century, John Preston, Richard Sibbes, and John Ball in particular, followed the plan unswervingly."
There are numerable examples of the pervasiveness and influence of William Perkins’s practical methodology in Puritan sources throughout the sixteenth century and beyond. We see such influence in the writing of William Gouge. There is the emphasis on piety:
Preaching the word of God is "mighty through God to bring every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. 10:4,5. For "the word of God is quick and powerful," etc., Heb. 4:12.
Also in this statement,
That which we know to be grounded upon the Scriptures we must receive, "not as the word of men, but, as it is in truth, the word of God," 1 Thess. 2:13. We must with reverence attend to it; we must in our hearts believe, and we must in our lives obey it.
And,
It is God's word that does convert, quicken, comfort, and build up, or, on the other side, wound and beat down. What is the reason that there was so great an alteration made by the ministry of Christ and his disciples, by the apostles and others after them, indeed, by Luther, and other ministers of reformed churches? They did not preach traditions of elders like the scribes; nor men's inventions like the Roman Catholics do. They preached the pure word of God. The more purely God's word is preached, the more deeply it pierces and the more kindly it works.
We such emphasis from Stephen Charnock,
It is the word of truth, the gospel, that must be the main matter of our preaching; and those things in the gospel that have the greatest tendency to the new begetting men, and working this great change in them, and driving it on to greater maturity. The instrument of conversion is not barely the letter of the word, but the sense and meaning of it, rationally impressed upon the understanding, and closely applied to the conscience.
And from John Flavel,
…all the preaching in the world can never effect this union with Christ in itself, and in its oven virtue, except a supernatural and mighty power go forth with it for that end and purpose.
And,
A sword that has an hilt of gold, set thick with diamonds, is no good sword, if it has no edge to cut, or want a good back to follow home the stroke. O that the ministers of Christ would chase rather sound, than great words, such as are apt to pierce the heart, rather than such as tickle the fancy; and let people beware of furthering the design of Satan against their own souls, in putting a temptation upon their ministers, by despising plain preaching. The more popular, plain, and intelligible our discourses are, so much the more probable they are to be successful; that is the most excellent oratory, that persuades men to Christ.
There is an undeniable congruity among Puritan writers and preachers emphasizing Perkins’s pietistic design.
We can see the pervasiveness of Perkins’s influence even unto the close of the sixteenth century in Richard Baxter. He writes:
But the true pastor is armed with a special measure of life, light, and love, that he may be a meet instrument for the regenerating of souls, who by holy life, and light, and love, must be renewed to their Father's image.
In Baxter’s words here there is an emphasis upon the relationship of the use of preaching and piety. He further states:
I never knew much good done to souls by any pastors, but such as preached and lived in the power of love, working by clear convincing light, and both managed by a holy, lively seriousness. You must bring fire, if you would kindle fire. Trust not here to the Cartesian philosophy, that mere motion will turn another element into fire. Speak as loud as you will, and make as great a stir as you will, it will be all in vain to win men's love to God and goodness, till their hearts be touched with his love and amiableness, which usually must be done by the instrumentality of the preacher's love.
Of Baxter and his heritage, N.H. Keeble notes:
Drawing upon his experience as a catechist and casuist, his sermons have a realistic awareness of the deceitfulness of the human heart…the searching pointedness admired in such puritan predecessors as John Dod, who was said to have come ‘so close’ to his hearers it seemed he had ‘Informers and Spies’.
Thus there is a demonstrable progression of the methodology and emphasis on piety begun by Perkins that continued throughout English Puritanism, seen from its onset to its decline at the close of the seventeenth century. The duration of this emphasis gives credence to the supposition that there was a demonstrable correlation between English Puritan preaching and its emphasis on use and the prevalence of piety in English Puritanism.
CHAPTER III
The meCHANICS of Puritan Preaching
If a notable correlation between preaching and piety among English Puritanism is to be successfully proven, a thorough analysis of the actual mechanics of the Puritan method necessarily follows a review of its historical development. The actual design of preaching for Puritanism substantiates its attention to piety. Perry Miller notes:
…in Puritan sermons intensity of piety was balanced by the precision and restraint of a highly methodical form, a rigid dialectical structure, and the ecstasy was severely confined within the framework of doctrine, reasons, and uses.
Puritan preaching was identifiable in its day due to its plainness, logic, structure, and casuistry. This was attributable to its intended design to be both practical and useful. The chosen method was simply a component of purpose for Perkins and his followers.
Plain
The emphasis upon application demanded that preaching be accessible to hearers and understandable for all listeners. Thus there was a conscious abandonment by Perkins of the ornate and flowery method of the modernists and even the classical method of the Reformers. Joe Pipa notes:
There were positive reasons as well for the adoption of the plain style, not one of the least being that it was designed for effective communication. If people were to be changed by the sermon, they had to understand and remember it…The intent was not to dazzle, but to teach.
As the purpose of preaching was its effect upon the listener to the end of piety, its design then had to betray simplicity. Pipa further notes:
Perkins, indeed, is a prime example of a practitioner of plain style. In his sermons there is an absence of foreign phrases, patristic and other quotations, exempla, schemata, and the excessive use of rhetorical devices as seen in the Anglo-Catholic preachers.
Perkins introduced in his day a much-needed reform in the pulpit in England. The deadness and impracticality of ornate preaching gave way to the plain style of Perkins. The nonconformists welcomed it with open arms. William Houser notes:
Anglican preachers sought a ‘metaphysical’ style which was characterized by both its verbal voluptuousness and its abstruseness. The Puritan plain style sermon was a reaction to this homiletical model, for the pastor made certain ‘that the may be understood by the lowest capacities’ by avoiding the abstract and presenting the biblical content in simplicity and relevance.
The chief characteristic of Puritan methodology in preaching was its plain style. It was intended for the listener and not the edification of either the preacher or the bare intellect. William Ames lay this out in his Marrow, writing, "The purity, perfection, and majesty of the word of God is violated when it is said to need the admixture of human words." Human invention and intervention were seen as impediments to sermonic usefulness, as Ames notes, "The power of the Holy Spirit more clearly appears in the naked simplicity of words than in elegance and luster." In a summary statement of the necessitated plainness of preaching, Ames wrote:
The sum of the matter is that nothing is to be allowed which does not contribute to the spiritual edification of the people, and nothing omitted by which we may surely reach that end.
Plainness best fit the Puritan design. It restored the pulpit as the place for clear and concise application of theology and religion to the languishing soul. It made way for the greater infusion of pietistic sense in the hearts of listeners by the Spirit of God. It was the designed means to true religion. Thus writes Miller, "Persuasion of men’s intellects and awakening of their hearts could not be wrought through the cadences of a sermon in the ‘mode of the University,’ bout only through the plain and profitable way."
Ramist
Great emphasis and attention has been given to the study of the relationship between William Perkins and Pierre De La Ramée (1515-72), French philosopher and mathematician. It has been well documented that Perkins relied heavily upon Ramus’ logic. Ramus’ methodology was inherently conducive to Perkins’s desire and homiletical design. It served the desires of pedagogy and plainness for the goal of use and application of preaching. Donald McKin writes:
Perkins has been described as a ‘Semi-Ramist,’ ‘at least half a Ramist,’ and ‘strongly influenced’ by Ramus. But recent study has shown that Perkins used the methods of Ramus to order nearly all his published works.
The development of the Ramist method served the interests of English Puritan preaching. It served the purpose of downgrading Aristolean influence and provided a tool for the simple, plain, exposition and division of scripture for the listener. Ramus’ influence demonstrates that Puritan preaching was not devoid of logic, method, and influence. In fact, it was due to such influence that such method developed. Of Perkins and the Ramus influence upon his method, Joe Pipa wrote:
From him we can learn the importance of having a philosophy of preaching that includes an understanding of how a person receives truth and responds to it…this was one of the areas in which Perkins applied Ramism to his preaching. It gave him a system by which to organize his material in a way that was plain and reasonable. By arranging his material according to his theory of the psychology of man, Perkins was able to preach in a way that would instruct and change.
It is this note ‘according to his theory of the psychology of man’ that best exemplifies Puritan preaching. Puritan preaching was not simple scholasticism, rhetoric, or logic it was personal, experimental religion. It sought knowledge applied to the heart. Thus writes McKin:
The Ramist philosophy…sought a simplification of logic from the strictures of Aristotelianism to the more practical emphases of the studia humanitatis centering on the human ‘lifeworld.’
Herein then is the true definition of piety. It is the ‘studia humanitatis,’ the practical application of divinity to body, mind, and soul. As McKin further delineates, "A significant function of Ramism for Perkins and other Puritans was to maintain a dynamic unity between theology and ethics." While such emphasis was not new in the Reformation, as clearly Calvin and the other reformers sought such a dynamic, still it was new in the sense of its infiltration of the pulpit. One might say that the genius of Reformation in the early 16th century was in the realm of politics and writing, while the genius of the English Reformation was in the realm of preaching and piety. Ramism served Perkins and the Puritans well in their quantitative advancements of the Reformation. McKin notes, "Ramus said theology was the ‘art of living well’ (bene vivendi). Perkins wrote that ‘theologie, is the science of liuing blessedly for euer.’" A clear correlation is seen between the method developed by Ramus and that introduced by Perkins. McKin writes, "Theology was divided into two parts: ‘doctrine’ and ‘discipline.’ For Ramus there was a wedding of doctrine and life, theory and practice, and this two-part division has been called the ‘Ramist gift to theology.’" This is clearly the design of the durative Puritan model of ‘doctrines’ and ‘uses.’ McKin goes on to note:
The use of Ramist method buttressed by Ramist teaching about the nature and goal of an ‘art’ helped Perkins emphasize both ‘right teaching’ and ‘right living’ so that the essential unity of theology and ethics could be stressed."
And:
"In Ramist fashion Perkins dichotomized ‘application’ into ‘mentall’ and ‘practical’…’Practicall’ was bifurcated into ‘instruction’ and ‘correction.’"
The Puritan tripartite methodology is clearly a denominator of Ramus and his logic. In Ramism, Perkins met with and employed a system of logic that served his desires of piety.
Text, Doctrine, Use
While Ramus and his logic were instrumental in Perkins’s methodology, still Ramus was only the spark behind the inferno of Puritan zeal. Perkins was not exclusive in his design. He borrowed from multiple sources and did not out of hand reject any particular method. He saw fit to employ any means necessary to achieve the design of simplicity, plainness, and effectiveness. Thus Pipa notes:
Perkins does allow the use of rhetoric, "He then gives a number of rules to govern the proper use of rhetoric and eloquence…The more natural and less affected, the more profitable…It should be grave, sober and modest…It should be a help, not a hindrance, to the understanding of the truth of God’s word.
The true goal of Puritan preaching was not to champion a logician or his method rather, the true goal was to utilize necessary means to the accomplishment of personal use. Thus Ramism was only a tool employed of Perkins and his successors, as much as metaphor and illustration were useful in their preaching.
Any examination of the Puritan method must include a discussion of the various component divisions uniformly adhered to in the pulpit. Sermons were divided into three distinct groupings, an explanation of the text, a presentation of doctrine, and its use. Each component accomplished a specific purpose and addressed a particular design goal. Speaking of explanation, doctrine, and use, Bruce Bickel writes, "The first two divisions were to convince the reason, while the last division was aimed at warming the heart’s affections into accepting the doctrine of the first division." The text was divided and explained by the preacher to make its various parts clearly understood. The mind was then engaged in the consideration of clear doctrinal suppositions drawn forth from the text. And last the heart was addressed with various conclusions and admonitions. Horton Davies says:
Thus Doctrine, Reason and Use…The first two sections sought to convince the reason, whilst the last section aimed at warming the affections into acceptance of the doctrine.
From Perkins to Baxter and beyond, from preacher to preacher, the tripartite division couched the words of the Puritan preachers, as they sought to employ the means necessary for the reform of heart, mind, and body of their listeners. William Houser said, "…text, doctrine, reasons, and uses. It was slavishly respected as infallible by all Puritan pulpiteers, and it became the homiletical badge of their orthodoxy." This is an undeniable truth and it betrays both the emphasis and intent of Perkins’ and his successors. Their every effort in the pulpit was to engage the whole man and seek by the imposition of grace to effectuate their listeners unto piety. Even if a case could be made that they failed in their endeavor, it could never be denied that they saw the pulpit as the vehicle to piety.
Casuistry
Inherent to Puritan preaching was the issue of casuistry. If the heart was the target of the application of doctrine, then surely the conscience is a component of that organism. The conscience was addressed in Puritan preaching. Perkins excelled in the realm of casuistry in the English Reformation. Undoubtedly the intent of Perkins to employ preaching as a means to the end of personal reformation and piety included his introduction of the Puritan model of casuistry and cases of conscience. It is said, "Sixteenth-century Cambridge Puritan preacher William Perkins, in The Whole Treatise of the Cases of Conscience,presented the first sustained treatment of casuistry in English." His introduction of moral theology from a free and gratuitous impetus would provide the religious with a replacement for the vestiges of Romanism. With the confessional removed and priesthood brought to the common man, the sermon became a chief means to the address of the conscience. Jonathan Long wrote:
Perkins worked under the assumption that a biblical casuistry would replace the spent authority of an improperly reformed Church. It would also ensure the maintenance of discipline so crucial to the welfare of the believer and provide an effective weapon against the moral theology of Rome.
Further he notes:
It was in pursuit of informing the consciences of the godly that a reformed casuistry developed. It filled the role once taken by the confession box and was to exercise a pedagogical role for the benefit of these new to the freedom of the doctrines of grace – a liberty which could easily be misunderstood.
The conscience was not ignored in the pulpit of the Puritans in fact it was chiefly addressed. Doctrine lived is the conscience eased by the doctrine of God’s grace and the life reformed in both heart and action. English Puritan piety was tended to by the Puritan pulpits of two centuries.
CHAPTER IV
THE DESIGNED INTENT OF THE PURITAN METHOD
Scriptural
Neither logic nor polemic can be identified as the chief cause behind the methodology employed by Perkins and his successors. If they were to be inquired of they would be the first to declare that their methods were entirely scriptural. Their reasoning is difficult to refute. William Ames makes such a case in his Marrow, writing:
In setting forth the truth in the text the minister should first explain it and then indicate the good which follows from it. The first part is concerned with doctrines and proofs; the latter with application or derivation of profit from the doctrines. 2 Tim. 3: 16, All the scripture…is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, and instruction in righteousness.
It would appear that the Puritan method precedes Ramus and the church, in that it appears to be a singular application of Paul’s words to Timothy. Both Perkins and Ames set forth this passage of Timothy as visible proof for the validity of their method. They do not look to a logistician for their liberty rather they find their leave in the word of God itself.
Then consider that the actual mechanics of their method was a further proof of their adherence to the foundational principle of sola scriptura. William Gurnall writes, admonishing preachers:
Draw thou therefore this sword out of thine own fine scabbard, and strike with its naked edge. This you will find the only way to pierce your people’s consciences, and fetch blood of their sins.
It was not their method that they would claim made their preaching effectual. Instead the would speak to the singular use of the word of God and their dependence upon its application by the Spirit. William Perkins writes:
…therefore we must lift up our hands to the word of God and make it our stay or foundation…It is a foundation two ways. First, of our actions…of our comfort both in life and death…
Before polemic or logic in Puritan preaching came the word of God. Any attempt therefore to lay singular importance to Ramus’ influence on Perkins fails. Clearly Perkins and his predecessors were first biblicists before logicians and scholars. The intent behind Puritan preaching was to present the word of God.
Practical
Next, the intended design behind the Puritan homily was its emphasis on practice. Preaching was to be practical above all things. This speaks directly to the issue of piety as a goal of preaching. Joe Pipa wrote:
…if the sermon were to change people, it had to be practical as well as rational and memorable. The holy practicality of truth was one of the trademarks of Puritan piety. In a sermon on James 1: 22, Thomas Manton discourses on the need to put sermons to practice:
That doers of the word are the best hearers. That is good when we hear things that are to be done, and do things that are to be heard. That knowledge is best which is most practical, and that hearing is best which ended in practice…That is wisdom, to come to the word so as we may go away the better.
The sermons, therefore, contained ‘uses’ or applications."
Manton demonstrates in his words above that the intent behind preaching was practical living. A Puritan preacher would fail his task if he taught doctrine without use, or sought application without doctrine. Doctrine was useful for practical living. Doctrine was the foundation for Puritan piety, inculcated into the listener from the pulpit by the Spirit of God. John Owen wrote, "…the best of men…ought to have, their thoughts of spiritual things excited, multiplied, and confirmed by the preaching of the word." It is interesting to note that even into New England the method persisted in American Puritanism and even expanded its use. Of Thomas Hooker, Sargent Bush writes:
Perkins and Ames had already categorized various types of Uses, but Hooker did not limit himself to their preestablished categories. They had listed in their textbooks Uses of information, confutation, instruction, reproof, consolation, exhortation, and direction: but he added Uses of humiliation, comfort, encouragement, thanksgiving, caution and advice, consolation, complaint, compassion, assurance, reprehension, trial and examination, wonderment, admiration, and terror, as well as occasional selective Uses, such as exhortation to believers, or advice to ministers.
The designed intent of the Puritan method was clearly addressed to piety, as it was practical and useful. It followed the design of God’s word in the epistles and every utterance of the Almighty; doctrine was to be followed by practice. What God teaches of himself is to be employed in the lives of his people.
CHAPTER V
THE SOUGHT AFTER EFFECT OF PURITAN PREACHING
The first use of Puritan preaching was evangelical. It was from the Pulpit that the great need of hearing God’s word and its application to the saving of a soul that the Puritan preacher set his attention. True piety was not to come about through mere suasion or argument. True piety would be felicitous if it simply manifested itself in morality. For the Puritan, true piety would only flow from the river of living water. The word of God, the chief means employed by God in the calling of his elect to salvation, thus held the primary place in the pulpit. The heart was the target for the fiery arrows of grace and law that would fly from the bows of godly ministers. There was to follow a mortification of the body and the old man and a vivification of the soul and the new man with a new principle of life. Thus Puritan preaching sought its effect in the listener, to the end of true piety, through the infection of the soul with the grace and word of God.
An emphasis upon the heart
The first application of preaching for the godly minister was the heart. Its primacy in application is undeniable. Joe Pipa writes quoting Richard Sibbes:
…but the heart (which vain and obnoxious men love not to be touched), that is the mark a faithful teacher aims to his. But because the way to come to the heart is often through the fancy, therefore this godly man studied lively representations to help men’s faith by the fancy…
And,
…Only the godly can understand the inward sense of the Scripture as he experiences the word in his heart…
Bruce Bickel quotes Thomas Goodwin, saying, "And so it is the spiritual meaning of the Word let into the heart which converts it and turns it unto God." The heart was the first address of the Puritan, as from the heart all things flow forth from the man. Piety to be true must be heart piety and thus preaching, as a vehicle to piety, addressed the heart. Richard Sibbes wrote, "The Word of God preached…is not altogether to teach us, but that the Spirit going with it might work grace necessary to strengthen us in the inward man." Horton Davies summarizes this point well:
The importance of preaching consisted in the fact that it was the declaration by the preacher of the revelation of God, confirmed in the hearts of the believers by the interior testimony of the Holy Spirit.
Puritan preaching was heart directed preaching. Its intended target was the heart of the listener that was to be affected and changed through the use of means and the imposition of divine grace.
An emphasis upon understanding
Puritan preaching did not aim at simple emotion or affection, but it also sought to address the mind. William Houser notes:
Regarding the passions, the Puritans, like Aristotle, placed the affections in a secondary position as a means to support reasoning: ‘The power of emotions to influence should be released only after the listener has been persuaded through rational means.
Puritan preaching was not simply seeking passionate response or heat raised in the heart. Puritan preaching sought its effect on both the mind and the heart. Richard Baxter said it in this fashion:
…the preacher’s aim should be first to convince the understanding and then to engage the heart. Light first, then heat…lastly to a fervent appeal for acceptance by conscience and heart.
Again the balance in the Puritan emphasis in preaching can be seen in its mechanistic design. Equal attention was placed upon the unraveling of the text and the extracting of truth in the form of doctrine engaging the mind, followed by the application of such doctrine to the heart. Puritan preaching was neither plain scholasticism or banal emotion, it was poised.
An emphasis on the will
The manifest effects of preaching that effectively accomplished its application to both mind and heart would result in volition. The will was the logical conjoining of reason and affection in choice. This is the heart of true piety, where the will is not impugned by threat or influenced by sheer logic or reason, but rather there is a reasonable change of heart to the end of manifest volition. Bruce Bickel states, "Puritan preaching was aimed, therefore, not only at informing the understanding, but also at influencing the will and reforming the life." Mckin further notes, "…the Ramist framework became for Perkins a springboard for exhortation and action. Perkins the preacher could appeal to the minds, wills, and emotions of a congregation." The will is streambed through which true affections of godly piety flow. There is a bonding of the heart and mind that has been effected by a new sense of holiness that manifests itself in willfulness. Piety is but the natural end of true affection for God. Puritan preaching sought after such ends.
An emphasis on memory
Yet the more, there was then the goal of preaching found in permanent, effectual, and lasting change. One reason for Perkins’s choice of the Ramist method of logic was its pedagogical use and affinity towards memorization. It was the common practice of the Puritan preacher to encourage his listeners to write down the head points of doctrine and use and meditate upon them in their closets, their homes, and their journeys. The pulpit was not simply a place of rhetoric with no lasting application to life, it was to be the place where kernels were gathered and chewed upon in daily living. Again, this betrays an emphasis on piety. Johnston notes:
..the ever-practical Baxter devotes a chapter to ‘Directions for profitable hearing the word preaching’ in his great Christian Directory. There are four main directions: (1) Hear with the understanding. (2) Remember what you hear. (3) Be duly affected with it. (4) Sincerely practise it.
This was also the main subject of two sermons by Christopher Love that spoke to right hearing. The Puritan sermon was like the dividing up of a harvest, where people would gather and glean stores for the weak. They would take them home and feed richly upon them through the week, gaining strength and nourishment for living from them.
An emphasis on obedience
The ultimate or final goal then of all Puritan preaching was to effect change in behavior. If the heart and mind are duly effected and the will changed, and this inscribed upon the memory, then the life of the listener would manifest such effect and change. William Ames says this:
The receiving of the word consists of two parts: attention of mind and intention of will…Intention is the application of our will to the devout observance of the will of God now known. Ps. 119: 106, I have sworn…and will perform it, that I will keep thy righteous judgment.
As worthless as doctrine is without application, so is preaching without a change of life. Thus obedience was the ultimate goal of the preacher. This obedience was to be gospel obedience and not mere moralism or suasion. It was the care of the preacher to see wellness and health in the hearts, minds, and lives of their listeners. Surely there is no denying that the Puritans sought to utilize preaching as the foremost means to facilitate godly piety.
CHAPTER VI
THE SUPPOSED FACTORS IN THE APPARENT DECLINE OF PIETY
By the mid-eighteenth century the Puritan model of preaching had fallen by the wayside. Vestiges of such influence can be found in Baxter, Owen, on into Edwards and even Hodge, but overall the Puritan method of preaching fell into obscurity by the turn of the 18th century. Simultaneously, there was an equal decline of true piety among the descendants of Puritanism. Is the simultaneous abandonment of the remarkable piety of the Puritans correlative to the decline of Puritan preaching? The question is not easily answered. Political, social, and religious change coincides with the decline of Puritanism. Where though is the blame to be placed for the falling away of a great time of remarkable piety? William Houser places the blame upon Puritan preachers for their own demise, citing their regimented form as a cause for the decline of piety and Puritanism. He writes:
Several factors were blamed for the decline of the Sunday sermon. Chief among them were the protracted length of the sermon, the reading of the manuscripts, and the emotionless mechanical delivery. Each contributed heavily to the collapse of the Puritan pulpit but, if there was a causa causans, it had to be the monotonous method of sermon outlining which was not to be challenged or changed.
Where William Houser stumbles is in his faulty understanding of the true nature of Puritan preaching. If anything, the Puritan preachers were anything but lifeless. Richard Baxter at one point defends his sermons as alive to a Quaker, citing that his method is not at fault. Mr. Houser can be disproved by time itself. Considering that for two centuries the method developed by Perkins at Cambridge was anything but lifeless and emotionless, it is a misnomer to place the blame for the decline of preaching on the method that for so long had been blessed of God and proven a useful means to the furthering of true piety.
If any causa causans can be identified in the demise of Puritan preaching it is not to be found in the method, but rather in men or even more, in the divine will. A sword is only useful in a skilled hand that knows how to wield it and cut with the most effective thrust. The method in and of itself was but as useful as David’s stone that slew Goliath. It was only effective when it was wielded in faith, fervency, zeal, skill, and most important, God’s good grace and effectual application to the heart of listeners. Providence did set the mark of the stone that flew and slew the hearts of men. The factors behind the demise of piety and Puritan preaching are too numerous to recount and are to some degree intangible. If anything, the decline in Puritan preaching was nothing more than evidence of the true decline of piety in England.
In American Puritanism perhaps there is similar evidence to discount the Puritan method as the causa causans behind Puritanism’s failure. If anything, there is evidence to argue for a correlation between the end of Puritan preaching and the demise of a season of remarkable piety. In American Puritanism the Puritan model gave way to the jeremiad and the jeremiad gave way to the departure of the glory of God from his people. Yet before the eclipse of Puritan preaching in America, a final resurgence of remarkable piety was seen in the last great New England Puritan preacher. Jonathan Edwards had learned the craft of Puritan preaching from the schoolbooks of Perkins and as well from his mentors. Edwards would be the last great voice of prophesying in New England. As in England, Puritanism in New England saw an end to great preaching at the same time that the exercise of true piety vanished from the land.
The loss of this method of preaching among the Puritans can be likened to another day. When Perkins rose from the halls of Cambridge with his Art of Prophesying, it was nigh unto the day that Josiah brought forth and read the Book of the Law. Followed by a time of great revival in Israel it coincides with a time of great reformation in England, as in Israel it was the conscience in repentance, the heart to God, and the mind and body set upon the things of the Lord. Such did piety persist in England from the hearing of the word of the Lord. Like in Israel neglect and forgetfulness in attending to the word and things of the Lord gave way to the Babylonian Captivity. Following Cromwell and Puritanism’s demise in England politically, an eclipse fell upon England and the great light of the pulpit was dimmed. Darkness fell as God’s glory departed, much as it did in Jerusalem in Nebuchadnezzar’s day. The fault lies not in the preaching, but rather in the lack there of, for Puritan preaching was a direct factor in the rise of piety in Puritan England.
CONCLUSION
Was the success of the Puritan method due to its composition or was the composition of the Puritan sermon conducive to success? Is the Puritan model put forth by William Perkins peculiar to their day? Jonathan Long states, "If there is to be a renewal of true spiritual life within the Church today there must be a radical reassessment of what takes place in the pulpit." Long’s point is well stated. Puritanism demonstrated that there is a significant link between preaching and the rise of true piety. But the true genius of Puritan preaching was in their attention to the use and application of doctrine. It is not so much the mechanics as it is the method of scripture explained, expounded, and applied that fueled the fire of the Reformation for Puritanism. McKin states, "For Perkins and like-minded Puritan clergy with their passion for the spiritual reformation of the Church of England, this type of practical application was crucial. Theology was bound up with ethics, and the sermon was the primary vehicle through which people became aware of how the Word of God in Scripture was to be applied in their everyday lives." This is where Puritanism excelled all other ages of the church in the art of prophesying. Joe Pipa has written, "From the Puritans, we can learn how to move from exposition to application in a way that is consistent with our text." Herein then is the conclusion to this matter. True piety’s greatest flagon is the model of preaching found in the application and use of true doctrine and the word of God. From the flagon of such preaching flow the waters of piety from out of the heart, minds, and souls of listeners. A recovery of the art of prophesying could be in our day as revolutionary as Luther’s 95 theses were in his day.