The Puritans sought to bring every area of life consciously under Christ’s lordship and the direction of God’s Word. They believed that all of life is under God’s fatherly providence and that his infinite goodness is the source of every good thing we enjoy. They also believed that we constantly live in God’s presence, and, therefore, should constantly live in the fear of God. Knowing that all human history was headed for judgment day, they pursued their mission in society through the evangelization of unbelievers, the sanctification of vocations and economics, and the reformation of politics and civil government.
The Evangelization of Unbelievers in Society
Feeling the weight of their responsibility to bring the gospel to all people, the Puritans launched a three-pronged strategy for evangelizing their nation.
1. Evangelizing through preaching. Richard Sibbes said, “Preaching is the chariot that carries Christ up and down the world.” However, in the sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, many churches in England lacked solid biblical and experiential preaching of Christ. Therefore, the Puritans sought to raise up faithful preachers and obtain placements for them throughout the land. “The faithfull Minister, like unto Christ, [is] one that preacheth nothing but the word of God,” said Edward Dering. Schools were started to train and send out more preachers, such as Emmanuel College at Cambridge or, in Puritan New England, Harvard College.
The Puritans also began many lectureships throughout the land, where the “lecture” was not an academic class but a sermon. Lectures were given at times other than normal church services, and either supplemented the regular preaching or offered an alternative where the local pastor was not sympathetic to the biblical, Puritan cause. Through these means the Word of God penetrated areas of England previously covered with spiritual darkness.
2. Evangelizing through catechizing. The Puritans believed that pulpit messages should be reinforced by personalized ministry through teaching people a catechism. The question-and-answer format of catechisms grounded children and adults in the basic truths of Christianity, laying a foundation for them to understand the preaching of the gospel. Puritan pastors such as Joseph Alleine and Richard Baxter regularly visited the people in their community to instruct them in the catechism and encourage them to learn it with their families. Personal catechism also allowed the minister to speak directly to individuals about their souls, a powerful means of stirring men to thought, conviction, and, by grace, conversion.
3. Evangelizing through writing. The publishing of books teaching sound doctrine was a further means of bringing the Word of God to their society. In a sense, writing books was an extension of the ministry of preaching, for the vast majority of Puritan books were preached as sermons before they were printed on paper. Books, both small and large, reached segments of the population where the preacher could not go. Many English Puritan volumes were also translated into other languages, such as Dutch, influencing other nations with the gospel as well.
The Puritans, operating in their own culture and time, sought every legitimate opportunity to spread the gospel throughout society, trusting that the gospel is God’s power for salvation to everyone whom He draws to His Son, Jesus Christ.
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The Sanctification of Vocations and Economics
A second aspect of the church’s mission in society was to function as salt and light in the world through the godliness of believers. The Puritans inherited the Reformation truth of the priesthood of all believers—life was not divided between the secular and the sacred, but every vocation was to be done unto the Lord. Leland Ryken says, “For the Puritans, all of life was God’s. Their goal was to integrate their daily work with their religious devotion to God.” This implied the following principles for holiness in vocational and economic life.
1. Justice in trade. George Swinnock said, “True godliness payeth its dues to men, as well as its duty to God.… True holiness will provide things honest [honorable], not only in the sight of God, but also in the sight of men.” Swinnock said that we must be careful that our conduct towards men be consistently “righteous, meek, and courteous.” Righteous conduct shows a heart to “deal with men as one that in all hath to do with God.” In our buying, selling, and trading, we must have an eye to what is fair and honest. Swinnock wrote, “In all thy contracts, purchases, and sales, cast an eye upon that golden rule, mentioned by our Saviour, ‘Therefore all things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even so to them: for this is the law and the prophets’ (Matt. 7:12).”
2. Faithfulness in vocation. The Puritans called people to glorify God not just at church but in the workplace, for they truly serve the Lord there. William Perkins said that, just as a general assigns each soldier a particular station and duty in his army, so God assigns each person a calling and function in society—a vocatio. Perkins said, “Every one, rich or poor, man or woman, is bound to have a personal calling, in which they must perform some duties for the common good, according to the measure of the gifts that God hath bestowed on them.” Richard Steele gave detailed advice about choosing a calling, entering into a field of work, and pursuing one’s trade with wisdom, diligence, fairness, truthfulness, contentment, and devotion to God. Faithfulness in one’s calling brings many benefits in this world and heavenly treasure in the life to come.
3. Stewardship of resources. The Puritans neither idealized poverty nor idolized wealth—they viewed money as good but not as their God. Therefore, they commended diligence in one’s calling to create wealth, selfcontrol in one’s spending to avoid wasting wealth, generosity in one’s giving to please God with wealth, and contentment with one’s status to avoid idolizing wealth. Another area of stewardship is the use of one’s time, which the Puritans said was not to be wasted, but redeemed. Thomas Hooker said, “The life of a Christian is not an idle but a laborious life, that will cost a man much pains and travail…that so whatsoever he doth may tend to God’s glory, and to the good of his church and people.” The Puritans also believed that a wise stewardship of our bodies and minds required regular rest and recreation, such as athletic competitions of archery, running, wrestling, board games, and making music.
The Puritans recognized that godly vocations and economics reflect the goodness of the Creator whose image we bear (1 Tim. 4:4–5). They sought to order all their society relations so as to hear the Lord say, “Well done, thou good and faithful servant” (Matt. 25:21).
The Reformation of Politics and Civil Government
The Puritans not only trained preachers at their colleges but also lawyers, civil officials, and military commanders, for they believed that the political realm must also follow God’s Word. As heirs of a Christian political tradition going back to Augustine, they asserted both the goodness of legitimate civil authority and its limitations under God and His law. In particular, they taught the following principles:
1. Benevolent authority. William Ames wrote, “Ruling is a use of power to further the good of others,” citing Roman 13:4, “He is the minister of God to thee for good.” The office of a magistrate, Ames said, is to give “protection” to good citizens and to execute just laws and judgments. Ames said that the magistrate has “the greatest of all human powers,” but “not absolute” or “unbounded power.” A civil ruler must not treat his people like slaves, but he must “show himself as a brother to the rest, and in his function as a father.” Samuel Rutherford said that the purpose of government and law is salus populi, the safety or well-being of the people, that is, their “quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty” (1 Tim. 2:2).
2. Civil obedience. As to the duties of subjects to the magistrate, Ames taught that they owe him their prayers, honor, obedience, and taxes. They must not be quick to censure their ruler’s policies (for they may be ignorant of all the factors involved) and should “tolerate light infirmities and offenses” from their leaders. However, human magistrates are not God, and “nothing but the law of God doth properly, directly, immediately, and by itself bind the conscience.” Thus “contempt of authority” is “a sin against the law of God,” but merely human laws have no right to compel us to endanger our souls by sinning against God, nor should they force us to suffer great earthly injury or shame merely to please the whim of a tyrant.
3. Righteous legislation. Man’s laws must be founded on the laws of God. The Puritans believed that the moral law expounded in the Ten Commandments forever binds all men and directs civil justice. The Puritans drew wisdom from the civil law of Moses but did not treat ancient Israel’s laws as a binding political system for today. They understood that true “social justice” cannot be based on man’s ideologies, but only on the principles of justice revealed by the Judge of all the earth—biblical justice. The Puritans also believed that a nation’s laws and policies should honor the God-given rights of every human being. They rejected the divine-right kingship theory that said that the civil ruler (for them, the king) is accountable to no one but God. Instead, they developed a covenantal approach to politics that emphasized mutual accountability and the subjection of everyone to God’s law.
Conclusion
Whether addressing the Christian’s duties in the family, the church, or society, the Puritans lived by the basic convictions that there is only one true God, He is completely sovereign and infinitely good, and He has revealed His will in His Word. Sola Scriptura was their guide in all things, and soli Deo gloria was their ultimate aspiration. They keenly felt, however, their own corruption and inability to fulfill this mission apart from the grace of God—sola gratia. The Puritans were not naïve about the family, the church, and society, but knew well that apart from the saving grace found in Jesus Christ alone (solus Christus), none of their holy ambitions would bear fruit.
It is certainly possible for us to disagree with some of the Puritans’ ideas and to criticize how they lived out their principles. They were by no means perfect. However, there is much that we can learn from their example of sincere, Bible-believing, God-honoring, people-loving Christianity. Today, people are much more likely to divide their lives into compartments and put God in the box labeled “church.” The Puritans would never do that, for they knew that their God reigned over heaven and earth. May God raise up a generation like them that will seek to live all of life wholly and solely for the Lord.
PURITAN REFORMED JOURNAL
Volume 15, Number 2 • July 2023
Joel Beeke and Paul Smalley
