How Then Shall We Live, According to a Puritan

Richard Rogers, "Seven Treatises":

Sundry necessary observations for a Christian, fit also to meditate upon. 

1. That we keep a narrow watch over our hearts, words, and deeds continually. 

2. That with all care the time be redeemed, which hath been idly, carelessly, and unprofitably spent. 

3. That once in the day at the least private prayer and meditation be used.

4. That care be had to do, and receive good in company.

5. That our family be with diligence and regard instructed, watched over and governed.

6. That no more time or care be bestowed in matters of the world, then must needs.

7. That we stir up ourselves to liberality to God's Saints.

8. That we give not the least bridle to wandering lusts and affections.

9. That we prepare ourselves to bear the cross, by what means it shall please God to exercise us.

10. That we bestow some time not only in mourning for our own sins, but also for the sins of the time and age wherein we live.

11. That we look daily for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ, for our full deliverance out of this life.

12. That we use (as we shall have opportunity, at least as we shall have neccessity) to acquaint our selves with some godly and faithful person, with whom we may confer of our Christian estate, and open our doubts, to the quickening up of Gods graces in us.

13. That we observe the departure of men our of this life, their mortality, the vanity and alteration of things below, the more to condemn the world, and to continue our longing after the life to come. And that we meditate and muse often of our own death, and going out of this life, how we must lie in the grave, all our glory put off; which will serve to beat down the pride of life that is in us.

14. That we read somewhat daily of the holy Scriptures, for the further increase of our knowledge, if it may be.

15. That we enter into covenant with the Lord to strive against all sin, and especially against the special sins and corruptions of our hearts and lives, wherein we have most dishonored the Lord, and have raised up most guiltiness to our own consciences, and that we carefully see our covenant be kept and continued.

16. That we mark how sin dieth and is weakened in us, and that we turn not to our old sins again, but wisely avoid all occasions to sin.

17. That we fall not from our first love, but continue still our affections to the liking of Gods word, and all the holy exercises of religion diligently hearing it, and faithfully practicing the same in our lives and conversations: that we prepare our selves before we come, and meditate and confer of that we hear, either by our selves, or with other: and so mark our daily profiting in religion.

18. That we be often occupied in meditating on Gods benefits and works, and sound forth his praises for the same.

19. That we exercise our faith by taking comfort and delight in the great benefit of our redemption by Christ, and the fruition of Gods presence, in his glorious and blessed kingdom.

20. Lastly, that we make not these holy practices of repentance common in time, nor use them for course.

What is Freer Than Gift?

There is a wonderful chapter in Daniel Rogers' “Practical Catechism” on the free offer of the gospel. Below are some extracts from it designed to whet the appetite, stir the appreciation of God’s free offer of grace in the gospel, and in his words, “teach thee to mend thy slow pace, and run, yea, fly to this offer and free gift.” Read the full chapter in the link below from pages 88 to 108. Daniel Rogers (1573–1652) was an English Puritan minister and scholar, son of Richard Rogers, and a student of William Perkins.

Daniel Rogers, “A Practicall Catechisme” in “Two Treatises, First, The Practicall Catechisme, Wherein, Those Principall Truthes, which most directly, tend to life and godlinesse; are handled. Secondly, A Treatise of the Two Sacraments of the Gospell, Baptisme and the Lords Supper.” (1640), pp. 88-101 (slightly edited for spelling):

Article IV.

The gospel and the offer of grace in it, is the revealer of this deliverance.

 “That is his gracious offer, made to the soul therein: which is nothing else, but the expression of the covenant of grace, that he is willing a poor soul may come to him without doubting and fear, because he holds out the Golden Scepter unto it, and bids it, Be reconciled. Hither refer all those texts wherein this offer is made, both in the covenant and in the seal of Baptism, Isa. 55.1, Ho, every one that thirsteth come. And, Let him that thirsteth, drink freely, Rev. 22.17, and John 7.37, In the great days of the feast, Jesus cried, If any man thirst, let him come.

And surely whoso will profit by this Article, must get this lesson by heart: That the Lord who freely purposed, and faithfully sent his Son into the world, still continues his freedom, and doth offer the Lord Jesus with his excellency most freely. A bottom of most unspeakable comfort to all poor, bruised reeds and broken souls. For if he be freely offered, what poor soul should doubt to accept him? What is freer than gift? He that gave him freely, cannot withdraw him again, nor keep back his satisfaction from a needing soul, as if he repented. And having given him once, he cannot recall him, for why then gave he him? And if he be wholly given, even with all his excellency, what particular thing can be denied with him? It behooves us then much to understand the truth of this freedom: which in a few particulars I will name.

 First, God offers Christ of his own accord, therefore freely. It never came into the heart of Angel or man to dream of it, or desire it. Romans 5, When we were yet enemies. The sun doth not arise more freely over the head of a drunkard snoring in his bed, or wallowing in his vomit, than the Lord Jesus came and is offered to a sinner in his blood and woeful misery. Preventing kindness is free, ere we desired it. See Isa. 65.1.

…

He offers it to whom he pleaseth, passing by millions of people in the world, and offering it to such and such nations, as he did of old to Israel, neglecting the world; so that it is merely unconditional and free, as when Paul came to Athens or Ephesus, who had never heard of gospel before.
…

Q. What are you so large in opening of this?

 A. Because it’s the main hinge whereupon the door of hope and faith turneth: the offer of God satisfied, being the immediate object to which the soul is to resolve and empty itself. The offer I say assisted with a promise. For an offer is no otherwise differing from a promise, than as a general out of which a particular issueth; the promise is included in an offer, but yet in special expressing the Covenant of God to all that receive the offer, that he will receive them, be their God, both in pardon and in all-sufficiency. Into these the soul doth wholly pour forth herself: which that we may understand, consider this, that we have to do with the Father immediately, but with our Lord Jesus only mediately, as a means to lead us with confidence unto him. The Father properly looks at the Son as our surety, and us, for his sake: but we look at him directly, and to our Lord Jesus, as our Mediator. So that look what we can show for our reconciliation, must come from the Father, and that is his offer and promise, oath and covenant of mercy. Into that therefore the poor soul is to resolve itself, all her doubts, fears, temptations and distempers whatsoever, and so to remain settled. So that it mainly concerns the soul to understand the nature, ground, and properties of the offer and promise.

…

Fifthly, this should sear us from all infidelity and contempt of God’s offer: Oh! It’s free and from mere good will, the Lord is tied to none; He hath rejected millions of Jews and Turks and baptized ones, and chosen to offer grace to thee. And, shall the contempt of the free offer of that which thousands would have been glad of (upon the price of going from sea to sea for it) be pardonable? Do but consider what woeful punishment will lie upon thee, who refuseth such an offer laid in thy lap, when as many poor souls would rejoice if the spending of days and nights might procure them a tender and believing heart to receive it; and yet complain, that they cannot come by it. Oh, tremble at the freedom of this offer! Be humble and base thyself to consider but this; I am a poor wretch, standing to the mercy of a free God, who hath it to give where he will, and to deny it at his pleasure. If he gave it to a prodigal son, and deny it to a moral civilian: if he give it to one that came into the vineyard at the eleventh hour, and deny it to him that came in at the seventh: if he deny it to the willer and runner, and be found of such as sought him not, who shall allege against freedom? May he not do with his own as he pleases? Oh, despise none! Lest the Lord make the despisers to seek the despised (as the Gileadites sought to Jeptha) and be glad of their portion. Oh! Turn all emulation and scorn into humility; and deep adoring of this freedom.

…

Fourthly, let it teach thee to mend thy slow pace, and run, yea, fly to this offer and free gift. 

EEBO Editions in Print

Since late last year, EEBO (Early English Books Online) has partnered with BiblioLife to produce hardcopy (paperback) print editions of its material. At present, at least 3,000 different works are now available through Amazon under the brand name Proquest EEBO Print Editions. Researchers and lovers of 17th-century Puritan works have long known that EEBO was a goldmine for great literature published in England from 1475-1700. Now, in facsimile paperback form, EEBO Editions are becoming widely available at Amazon. Back in December 2010, I published a reading list for Christians. Many of those works were available -- either exclusively, or primarily -- through EEBO in PDF form, but now, in such a short time, so many of them are available in paperback. Some notable examples from my reading list, with a few others included, are:

• Richard Rogers, Seven Treatises;
• Richard Rogers, et al., A Garden of Spiritual Flowers;
  
• Anthony Burgess, Vindiciae Legis: or, A Vindication of the Moral Law and the Covenants, from the Errors of Papists, Arminians, Socinians, and more especially, Antinomians;
• David Dickson, Therapeutica Sacra;
  
• William Gouge, A Guide to Go to God: or, An Explanation of the Perfect Pattern of Prayer;
• Samuel Smith, Davids repentance, or, A plaine and familiar exposition of the 51. Psalme first preached, and now published for the benefit of Gods church;
• William Ames, Conscience With the Power and Cases Thereof;
• Nicholas Byfield, The Rules of a Holy Life;
• William Attersoll, A Commentary on the Epistle of St. Paul to Philemon;
• Westminster Assembly, The Grand Debate;
• William Perkins, An exposition of the Lords prayer in the vvay of catechising seruing for ignorant people. Hereunto are adioined the praiers of Paule, taken out of his epistles and An exposition of the symbole or creede of the apostles according to the tenour of the scriptures, and the consent of the orthodoxe fathers of the church and Christian oeconomie, or, A short survey of the right manner of erecting and ordering a familie according to the Scriptures;
• Samuel Clarke, Annotations on the New Testament;
• John Dod & Robert Cleaver, A Plain and Familiar Exposition of the Ten Commandments;
• Thomas Doolittle, A Plain Method of Catechizing;
• Thomas Lye, A plain and familiar method of instructing the younger sort According to the lesser catechism of the late reverend Assembly of Divines;
• Thomas Gataker, The Spiritual Watch and Marriage Duties;
• Arthur Jackson, Annotations on Isaiah;
• Theodore Beza, Commentary on Job and Sermons on Song of Songs 1-3;
  
• Thomas Cobbet, A Practical Discourse of Prayer and A just vindication of the covenant and church-estate of children of church-members as also of their right unto bastisme;
• Smectymnuus (Stephen Marshall, Edmund Calamy, Thomas Young, Matthew Newcomen, and William Spurstowe), Smectymnuus redivivus Being an answer to a book, intituled An humble remonstrance in which the original of liturgy Episcopacy is discussed and queries propounded concerning both; and more.
  

It is also worth noting that some interesting works are presently available at Amazon's Canadian site, but not on the U.S. site, such as:

• Edward Leigh, Annotations on Five Poetical Books of the Old Testament (Viz.) Job, Psalmes, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, and Canticles.

I encourage interested readers to explore the goldmine that has recently become accessible in print. The works listed here are only the tip of the iceberg. Tolle lege!

Puritan Classic on Marriage Reprinted After 350 Years

Ruling Elder John Uselding of Liberty and Grace Reformed Church in Warrenton, Virginia, has done the church a valuable service by republishing a Puritan classic on marriage that has long been out of print and difficult to find. Matrimonial Honor by Daniel Rogers was completed in 1634, but first published in 1642. Along with William Gouge's Of Domestical Duties (1622); Matthew Griffith's Bethel (1633); and William Whateley's A Bride Bush (1616); it is considered to be one of the most highly regarded of the English Puritan domestic conduct books.

Chilton Latham Powell, English Domestic Relations, 1487-1653: A Study of Matrimony and Family Life in Theory and Practice as Revealed by the Literature, law, and History of the Period, p. 138, writes:

Daniel Rogers' Matrimonnial Honovr is interesting for several reasons. It was written by a minister of the Church of England; like Gouge's book, it is an exposition of life rather than the Scriptures; it is extremely human in its attitude, kindly towards the much abused weaknesses of mankind, and respectful towards people whose beliefs differed from the author's own. Were it not for the fact that it covers but a small part of the field, although 389 pages in length, it would surely outrank all others of the type. Rogers discusses only two main subjects, the honor of matrimony and the duties of husband and wife, but digresses at times to speak of parental consent to child marriages, of contracts of marriage, and, in an appendix, of chastity and the lack of it.

Daniel Rogers (1573–1652), the son of Richard Rogers (1550?-1618), was married twice, first to Margaret Bishop, and later to Sarah Evered. His first marriage, from which he had one son, Daniel, who became a minister himself, seems to have been a difficult one. From the second marriage, he had four more children: Hannah, Samuel, Mary and (named for his first wife) Margaret. Margaret married Renatus Jordain, a French Huguenot refugee, and was the mother of John Jortin, the English church historian. Mary became the wife of Puritan William Jenkyn.

In an age when marriage is lightly esteemed, and greatly trampled upon, Rogers' defense of the honor of matrimony is needed more than ever. He wrote:

Marriage is the Preservative of chastity, the Seminary of the Common-wealth, seed-plot of the Church, pillar (under God) of the world, right-hand of providence, supporter of laws, states, orders, offices, gifts and services: the glory of peace, the sinewes of war, the maintenance of policy, the life of the dead, the solace of the living, the ambition of virginity, the foundation of Countries, Cities, Universities, succession of Families, Crownes and Kingdoms.

Edification Press has made Matrimonial Honor available at both Amazon and Barnes & Noble. This is a book which I am very pleased to see in print once again, and that I highly recommend. Elder Uselding notes that Barnes & Noble has the best price:

Currently Barnes & Noble is offering the book at a much lower price than Amazon. Receive an additional 15% off at barnesandnoble.com using coupon code U3D8B4J. The coupon code is valid until October 28, 2010 at 2:59 a.m. Eastern Time.

Elder Uselding also plans to republish future Puritan works, Lord willing, including Robert Bolton's A Three-Fold Treatise.

We Serve a Precise God

J.I. Packer, A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life, p. 114:

Richard Rogers, the Puritan pastor of Wethersfield, Essex, at the turn of the sixteenth century, was riding one day with the local lord of the manor, who, after twitting him for some time about his 'precisian' way, asked him what it was that made him so precise. 'O sir,' replied Rogers, 'I serve a precise God.' If there were such a thing as a Puritan crest, this would be its proper motto. A precise God -- a God, that is, who has made a precise disclosure of his mind and will in Scripture, and who expects from his servants a corresponding preciseness of belief and behaviour -- it was this view of God that created and controlled the historic Puritan outlook. The Bible itself led them to it. And we who share the Puritan estimate of Holy Scripture cannot excuse ourselves if we fail to show a diligence and conscientiousness equal to theirs in ordering our lives according to God's written word.

Puritan Begats

Who then is Paul, and who is Apollos, but ministers by whom ye believed, even as the Lord gave to every man? I have planted, Apollos watered; but God gave the increase. So then neither is he that planteth any thing, neither he that watereth; but God that giveth the increase. Now he that planteth and he that watereth are one: and every man shall receive his own reward according to his own labour. For we are labourers together with God: ye are God's husbandry, ye are God's building. (1 Cor. 3.5-9)

The faithful preaching of the Word of God in the Age of the Puritans resulted, by the powerful and effectual working of the Holy Spirit, in a remarkable "apostolic" succession of conversions, a genealogy of Puritan "who's who's," as it were. It is a striking illustration of how the faithfulness of one man's ministry in God's providence plays a role in the lives of so many others. Or, as Clarence the Angel said in It's a Wonderful Life:

Strange, isn't it? Each man's life touches so many other lives. When he isn't around he leaves an awful hole, doesn't he?

Darrett Rutman, American Puritanism, p. 7:

The generation of ministers of this sort approaches something of the quality of the opening chapter of Chronicles: "Richard Rogers begat (in a spiritual sense) Paul Baynes, who begat Richard Sibbes, who begat John Cotton, who begat John Preston, who begat Thomas Shepard.

To expand on this, Paul Baynes (1560-1617) was converted under the ministry of William Perkins (1558-1602), himself convicted of his sin after a woman in the street spoke of him as "drunken Perkins," and Richard Rogers (1550?-1618). William Ames (1576-1633) and Richard Blackerby (1574-1648) were likewise converted under the preaching of William Perkins. Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) was converted under the preaching of Paul Baynes. John Cotton (1595-1652) was converted under the preaching of Richard Sibbes. John Preston (1587-1628) was converted under the preaching of John Cotton. The preaching of Richard Sibbes and John Preston was influential in the spiritual awakening of Thomas Goodwin (1600-1680). Thomas Shepard (1605-1649) was converted under the preaching of John Preston. Shepard himself was known as "Pastor Evangelicus," who was "as great a converter of souls as has ordinarily been known in our days" (Cotton Mather, Magnalia Christi Americana, Vol. 1, p. 380), and Jonathan Mitchell (1624-1668) traced his spiritual awakening to the ministry of Thomas Shepard.

We see how souls were converted on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean by means of such a golden chain. The ministries of these men have led to many conversions and influenced many millions more through their literature, even to the present day. Thank the Lord for these men who have planted and watered; to God be the glory for giving the increase.

Six Degrees of Richard Rogers

If you, dear Reader, have heard of the parlor game, Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon, then this will make sense. It seems like Richard Rogers is at the center of the Puritan universe, although similar levels of interconnectivity can be achieved with other Puritans, methinks. If not, consider this a Puritan family tree with honorary branches. The following is only a snapshot, because many other names of interest and connections have not been included, but it shows just how much influence one godly man has had through his family and ministry.

Puritan minister Richard Rogers (1551-1618, author of the first major Puritan devotional manual on the Christian life, Seven Treatises, and a notable commentary on the Book of Judges, who by the way is NOT kin to the "protomartyr" John Rogers, c. 1500-1555, or, so far as I know, the American composer Richard Rogers, 1902-1979) was the father of Puritan minister Daniel Rogers (1573-1652, student of William Perkins and author of the classic Puritan marriage treatise Matrimoniall Honour) and Ezekiel Rogers (1590-1660, one of the founders of Rowley, Massachusetts); the stepfather of Puritan minister Samuel Ward of Ipswich (1577-1639/1640, who was also cousin [I think] to Puritan scholar Samuel Ward, 1577-1643, one of the translators of the King James Bible and a delegate to the Synod of Dort and an invited, but non-attending, delegate to the Westminster Assembly) and Puritan minister Nathaniel Ward (1578-1652, author of the Massachusetts Body of Liberties), whose son-in-law was Puritan minister Giles Firmin (1614-1697, author of The Real Christian); the grandfather of Puritan minister William Jenkyn (1613-1685, author of a notable commentary on the Book of Jude); the uncle of Puritan minister John Rogers of Dedham (c. 1570-1636, known as 'Roaring Rogers' for his preaching style and author of Sixty Memorials), who was the father of Puritan minister Nathaniel Rogers (1598-1655), who was the father of Harvard University President John Rogers (1630-1684); and the teacher of pupil-turned-Puritan minister Paul Baynes (d. 1617) by whose ministry Puritan minister Richard Sibbes (1577-1635) was converted.

Window to the Soul

If eyes are windows of the soul, the diary of Richard Rogers is a window into a Puritan heart.

John W. Cowart, ed., Seeking a Settled Heart: The 16th Century Diary of Puritan Richard Rogers, pp. 61-62, 66, 114, 117:

August 18, 1587. I have long been troubled by my want of knowledge, but I see that I have not cause of grief from thence only. But I and my friend[63], falling yesternight into a special conference about our estate, I found that much decay of care, zeal, and watchfulness is grown uppon me. For times have been when I was no sooner risen from bed and board but I was immediately with the Lord in meditation about my self, or seeking the good of some others, or in company profitable.

As for dealings in the world about commodities or further licentiousness in things unlawful, I weaned my self from them, and had no liking of many things which I see many people to go after and godliness to be meanly followed. This I have seen, though hardly I could yield or consent to it, and that any good means were neglected by me. Now I see that these have been the cause, and that very justly, why I have seen my study go so ill forward, and so small blessing to have been granted me therein. I see also that for these causes my God hath taken from me much comfort, and my gift in conference is much abated.

We complain that many things are amiss in our lives, but we can see no cause for it. But this is a very common thing with good men that when they come to have dealings, occupyings (jobs), and families, much of their delight is employed uppon them which was wont to be given to the Lord, and yet all was thought to be too little. And the Apostle, in I Corinthians 7, hath taught us that as single men bestow all their care on how they may please the Lord, so the married men have commonly their care, without especial grace, on how they may grow on togither and prosper. By means whereof coldness and negligence grows upon them before they be aware.

Besides, we may observe by experience that even the most zealous people do somewhat, in time, decline and wax remiss in caring for the matters of God. So that no prayer may be more meet and right for a good Christian than this -- that God would keep us in our age from the corruptions of the times and of the world.

For full soon a man falls to be like others, and there is great force and strength in the times and persons with whom we live.

When we enjoy our peace, liberty, and other commodities uppon such conditions as the times do often offer unto us, it is to be feared that we yield to some things that we should not.

For mine own part I see cause to fear this in my self, and I hope I will look more diligently to my self than I have done and wean my self from some lawful profiles and pleasures, so as to be much more conscious of such things as be unlawful, yea even of my thoughts which delight in things that ought not to be.

[63] Probably [Ezekiel] Culverwell.

Oct. 30, 1587. Among other meditations, this was one in the this month. That I behold how graciously the Lord hath hedged me in on every side with that sweet knowledge of His will, in comparison to that which I was likely to have attained to otherwise. He hath given me other blessings, good will, and a good name with the godlier sort of people, and communion with them. And He hath given such manifold comfort in my life, and with His people, and with liberty in my ministry.

May 26, 1590...My mind hath very heavenly been exercised in considering both by meditation, by sing Psalm. 119:14, 15, 16, and by, conference, of God's goodness in cheering our hearts with the bottomless and unexpressable treasure of His word, and feeling of His favor, and enjoying of His benefits.

He will condescend to such as we are. He will have us not to taste barely, but plentifully to digest, many comfortable pleasures, and that daily.

And he maketh godliness the pleasantest delight to His people, which to the world is most irksome and bitter.

July 25, 1590...This evening, walking and considering how I had been wont, many years agone, to muse, with relenting, on God's love and kindness, which with much comfort I have long enjoyed, it grieved me not a little to think how new times offering new occasions have won out, in great part my meltings of heart.

These feelings, with sighs and complaints, were more sweet to me than honey.

With tears I desired that I might sometimes before bed recover that sweet recourse to God.

For though many good duties are performed by occasion of keeping a family, more than were, in house and out, before marriage, yet I would that I might continue sometimes that seasoning of my mind on evens as then.[122]

[122] At a later date there were added the words some times I did...Think I on them oft at Bed, winter.

Sing David's Psalms With David's Spirit

Isaac Watts complained that it was needful for himself to "teach my Author [David] to speak like a Christian," and therefore in his hymnbook aimed to

have rather exprest myself as I may suppose David would have done, had he lived in the Days of Christianity. And by this means perhaps I have sometimes hit upon the true Intent of the Spirit of God in those Verses, farther and clearer than David himself could ever discover, as St. Peter encourages me to hope. I Pet.i.11,12.

Puritans, however, often spoke of the need to, as Richard Rogers put it, "sing David's psalms with David's spirit; sing with spirit and sing with understanding; regard that more than the tune."

Lewis Bayly's "Rules to be observed in Singing of Psalms" from The Practice of Piety, p. 154, include:

2. Remember to sing David’s psalms with David’s spirit (Matt. xxii.43.)

3. Practise St. Paul’s rule—“I will sing with the spirit, but I will sing with the understanding also.” (1 Cor. xiv.15.)

George Swinnock wrote in The Christian Man's Calling (Works, Vol. 1, p. 342):

Only, reader, be careful to sing David's psalms with David's spirit, and not like a nightingale to sing by rote: 'I will sing with my spirit, and I will sing with the understanding also.' Making melody with grace in the heart, is the best tune to set all David's psalms with.

Thomas Ford, Singing of Psalms the Duty of Christians Under the New Testament, pp. 38-39:

Only God's own people have an inward experimental knowledge of the glorious excellencies and attributes of God, (viz.) his power, wisdom, goodness, &c. They only have tasted how sweet the Lord is in his promises and providences. They know, and none but they, what the offices of Christ are, in the power, fruit, and benefit of them. They know what it is to be redeemed from the earth, and from death, and from the nethermost hell. They only have experience of the mercy and loving kindness of the Lord, supporting, supplying them, and ordering all for good to them. And they alone have a lively feeling of their infirmities, sigh and groan under the burden of their corruptions, are troubled for the indisposition and untowardness of their hearts. These and such as these, who are so inspired and affected, can sing David's psalms with David's spirit. Others may sing more pleasingly to the ear, but these alone make melody in the ears of the Lord, who looks at the heart.

Question. That is it we desire to be satisfied in: how we may sing David's Psalms with David's spirit.

Answer 1. It is commonly, truly, and piously said, we must sing David's Psalms with David's spirit, though there is no text in the Bible, to my remembrance that hath those very words; but some speak somewhat to this effect, as Col. 3:16, we must sing with grace in our hearts, that is as much as if he should have said, sing David's Psalms with David's spirit.

2. We grant it is impossible for any to sing psalms so, but one that is a new creature, renewed in the spirit of his mind, as David was.

3. We say in the general, to sing David's Psalms with David's spirit, or to sing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord, there must be not only an habitual, but an actual disposedness; as when a man sets upon any duty, he must stir up the grace that is in him; so it is not enough in singing psalms to have an habit of grace, but we must stir up, and act the gifts and graces of God within us.

Here then this will be the great question: how our spirits ought to be disposed when we are to sing, that we may so do it as to give God the glory, and gain benefit to our own souls? Or, (which is all one) how we may sing David's Psalms with David's spirit? Or how we may sing with grace in our hearts unto the Lord? which is the doctrine in the text.

John Wells resolves the matter for us in his Cripplegate morning exercise ("How We May Make Melody in Our Hearts to God in Singing of Psalms," in Puritan Sermons, 1659-1689, Vol. 2, p. 74):

Singing of psalms must only be the joyous breathing of a raised soul; and here the cleanness of the heart is more considerable than the clearness of the voice. In this service we must study more to act the Christian than the musician. Many in singing of psalms are like the organs, whose pipes are filled only with wind. The apostle tells us, we must "sing with our hearts." (Col. iii. 16.) We must sing David's psalms with David's spirit. One tells us, "God is a spirit; and he will be worshipped in spirit even in this duty."

How to Write a Spiritual Diary

In 1656, Puritan John Beadle wrote A Journall or Diary of a Thankfull Christian, which is a guide to how one may write a spiritual diary or record of the providences of God. He, like many other Puritans, considered it a duty to record experiences, providences, lessons learned, prayers offered and answered, mercies received, judgments felt, remembrances and reflections to the glory of God.

He argued that:

We have our State Diurnals, relating the Nationall affaires. Tradesmen keep their shop books. Merchants their Accompt books. Lawyers have their books of presidents. Physitians their Experiments. Some wary husbands have kept a Diary of dayly disbursements. Travellers a Journall of all they have seen, and hath befallen them in their way. A Christian that would be exact hath more need, and may reap much more good by such a Journall as this. We are all but Stewards, Factors here, and must give a strict account in that great day to the high Lord of all our wayes, and of all his wayes towards us.

This Journall is now (in our generation so ungrateful, and unmindfull of Gods judgments and mercies) a word in season running on its wheels. We must be holy Antipodes to sinfull times. (pp. 13-14)

The exercise of writing a spiritual diary facilitates the exercise of meditation. To keep of reckoning of events and experiences upon them, is a prelude or postscript to the prayer closet. Recording meditations and prayers helps the reflection process and extends their memory beyond the immediate event and thus deepens their impression upon the heart. Rather than being insensible to God's dealings with us, and letting blessings and judgments fall to the ground and down the memory hole without profit, the spiritual diarist has a record of his counting blessings, marking progress or lack thereof in sanctification, and the thoughts of the soul towards God and man.

D. Bruce Hindmarsh, The Evangelical Conversion Narrative, pp. 92-93:

The spiritual diary of the seventeenth century is the first and most important precedent for the evangelical diaries. As observed in Ch. 1, self-examination and related forms of introspection emerged as significant devotional practices among English Protestants about the middle of the reign of Elizabeth in the context of new forms of personal discipline associated with experimental Calvinism.[13] Devotional manuals such as Richard Rogers's, Seven Treatises (1603) devoted a great deal of attention to the examen of conscience as 'a reckoning to the Lord at the end of the day', and he himself kept a detailed spiritual diary.[14] In the middle of the seventeenth century, Isaac Ambrose, a leading Puritan divine, likewise advocated self-examination in Media: the Middle Things (1649) as one of the 'means, duties, ordinances, both secret, private and publike, for continuance and increase of a godly life', and he explicitly added directions for the practice of keeping a diary or day-book or register (he uses all three terms) as a useful way to do this. In the diary the Christian was able to observe 'something of God to his soul, and of his soul to God'. Ambrose began keeping such a diary in 1641 and provided several excerpts for the reader from January 1641 to May 1649.[15] A few years later John Beadle introduced his Journal or Diary of a Thankful Christian (1656) by explaining that his practice of diary-keeping was something more like a treasury of praise. Just as Israel recorded the mighty acts of God, so might a Christian keep 'a rich treasury of experience'. And for this, one must needs 'keep a constant Diary...of all Gods gracious dealings with them'. There were in fact three leaves that one ought to read daily to make up this diary: 'the black leaf of thy own and other sins...the white leaf of Gods goodnesse..the red leaf of Gods judgments felt'.[16]

[13] See further, Tom Webster, 'Writing to Redundancy: Approaches to Spiritual Journals and Early Modern Spirituality', The Historical Journal 39 (1996), 33-56.
[14] Richard Rogers, Seven Treatises (1603), 399-404; M.M. Knappen (ed.), Two Elizabethan Diaries (Gloucester, Mass., 1966).
[15] Isaac Ambrose, Media: the Middle Things (1649), 69-85.
[16] John Beadle, The Journal or Diary of a Thankful Christian (1656), from the unpaginated Epistle Dedicatory by Beadle and the essay 'To the Reader' by John Fuller.

This exercise is of profit to oneself as well as to others. As the duty of meditation was stressed by Puritans, so was the duty of "godly conferences" (Scottish Directory of Family Worship) or "holy conferences" (Westminster Directory of Public Worship). This interaction of believers to encourage and build each other is not limited to verbal communication, but includes reading spiritual biographies and autobiographies. Wilhelmus à Brakel commends the exercise of writing about one's experiences for the spiritual edification of others in The Christian's Reasonable Service, Vol. 4, Chap. 81, "Concerning Experiences":

Experience is a godly exercise, consisting in a gathering of numerous noteworthy incidents for the purpose of using them to our benefit and that of others. (p. 45).

Nathaniel Whiting, Old Jacob's Altar (quoted by Peter Lewis, The Genius of Puritanism, pp. 85-86) stated that "it is the duty of God's people to record and relate their experiences of 'dangers, deliverances and duties' to each other's comfort and edification". Whiting says:

I am much persuaded that if an experienced Christian would make a humble and faithful narrative of his own condition to a deserted saint, and tell him, 'Such has been my case: time was when the Lord hid his face from me, when the loving kindnesses of God were shut up in displeasure against me, when I had lost all communion with God, all sense of pardoning and accepting grace with God, when I could not pour forth my soul in prayer unto God, and when I had no incomes by way of comfort of God...but by the goodness of the Lord, the mist is broke up, the clouds are scattered, the face of God appears again, and I find joy and peace and comfort in my soul; yea, the beams of God's favour shine brighter, and the streams of consolation run on more fresh and freely than ever they did...' Is. 54:7-9. Oh sure these experiments as to desertion and as to consolation...would marvellously revive a drooping saint, and make his stooping heart glad. My reasons are these:

1. Because the methods of God in correcting and comforting his people are the same, their trials and their triumphs are alike; as 'face answers face in a glass', so the condition of one saint answers another...

2. Because these experiments gain much authority with us...1 John 1:3.

3. Because God will hereby set a greater mark of honour upon the saints, and make them with more affectionateness love one another when they find that eye hath need of hand, and the head of the foot, 1 Cor. 12:21, that they are mutually dependent upon and mutually serviceable one to another.

Samuel Pepys, Richard Rogers, Samuel Ward, Willem Teellinck, Oliver Heywood, Richard Baxter, Edmund Staunton, Michael Wigglesworth and John Janeway are but a few among those known for leaving behind notable spiritual diaries. Others wrote autobiographical works which were shared with their families and sometimes later published. Some wrote meditations in poetic form. Many diaries never saw the light of day, but the exercise of writing ones thoughts and meditations upon experiences and providences is a distinctly Puritan legacy that reflects their interest being sensible to and profiting from God's dealings with his people. Daniel Defoe's Robinson Crusoe had his diary, Laura Ingalls Wilder had her "remembrance book," and even Oprah Winfrey has her "gratitude journal." Blogs, private or public, can also serve this function today. As is often the case, the Puritan method is counter to our own culture; while diaries today are often associated with scandal and gossip, the Puritan approach to diaries had in view the spiritual profit of writer and reader.

Dear Reader, the art of keeping a spiritual diary is not easy; it is a discipline, and like New Year's Resolutions, one that is sometimes undertaken but not continued. Perseverance is needed to make this exercise fruitful, but there is much profit in writing and recording prayers and providences as described by John Beadle in his guide on how to write a spiritual diary. There is a sweet savor in the words of Richard Rogers as found in his diary entry for May 26, 1590, for example, and an encouragement to us today not only to tolle lege, take up and read, but to take up, and write.

Seeking a Settled Heart: The 16th Century Diary of Puritan Richard Rogers, p. 114:

May 26, 1590...My mind hath very heavenly been exercised in considering both by meditation, by sing Psalm. 119:14, 15, 16, and by, conference, of God's goodness in cheering our hearts with the bottomless and unexpressable treasure of His word, and feeling of His favor, and enjoying of His benefits.

He will condescend to such as we are. He will have us not to taste barely, but plentifully to digest, many comfortable pleasures, and that daily.

And he maketh godliness the pleasantest delight to His people, which to the world is most irksome and bitter.

The Virtue of Humility

Richard Rogers, A Garden of Spiritual Flowers (London, 1625) fol. F:

Humility is a virtue whereby one man thinks better of another than of himself: for this makes a man think basely of himself, in regard of his own sins and corruptions, whereupon he is contented to give place unto other, and to y[i]eld of his own right, for the maintenance of peace: when as on the othe[r] side, pride causes men to seek for more than their due, & so causes contention.