Puritan Galaxy

Samuel Dunn, Memoirs of the Seventy-Five Divines: Whose Discourses Form the Morning Exercises at Cripplegate, St. Giles in the Fields, and in Southwark: With An Outline of a Sermon From each Author, p. vi:

Among such a number of writers, there will be perceived a rich variety of talent, and a great diversity of style. [John] Howe is distinguished for his original thinking and splendid imagery; [Richard] Baxter, for his fertility of genius, copiousness, and persuasiveness; [Stephen] Charnock, for energy and richness of thought; [David] Clarkson and [Thomas] Doolittle, for manly sense; [Thomas] Manton, for perspicuity; [William] Bates, for ease and elegance; [John] Owen, [Matthew] Poole, [Joseph] Hill, and [Theophilus] Gale, for deep erudition; [Thomas] Case and [Thomas] Watson, for spirituality and quaintness; [Vincent] Alsop and [Daniel] Burgess, for wit and smartness; [Thomas] Gouge, [Samuel] Annesley, and [Daniel] Williams, for pure and expansive benevolence: -- lights of various magnitudes and splendour; for in the mental and moral, as well as in the celestial hemisphere, one star differeth from another star in glory.

Perfection of Holiness

William Bates, "The Great Duty of Resignation," in Works, Vol. 2, p. 147:

It is the perfection of holiness to do what God loves, and to love what God does.

Four Last Things

The Puritans were noted for pressing upon sinners and saints thoughts of the "four last things": Death, Judgment, Heaven and Hell. Eternal life and death, a question that modern society would gloss over or avoid confronting altogether, was an important theme of Puritan preaching and teaching, because human nature has not changed too much since their day. Robert Bolton's treatise on these matters was published two years after his death, having been completed as he himself prepared to face his Maker. Richard Baxter warned sinners against carnal security: "O sirs, believe it, death and judgment, and heaven and hell, are other matters when you come near them, than they seem to carnal eyes afar off. Then you will hear such a message as I bring you, with more awakened, regardful hearts" (A Call ot the Unconverted). William Bates' discourses on this subject were prefaced by an epistle dedicatory to the "right honourable Rachel Lady Russel," to whom he addressed this plea:

Of all affairs for the compassing whereof men are so diligent and solicitous, there is none of that absolute necessity, and high importance, as the preparation for death and judgment, and the immediate consequence of them, heaven and hell, to obtain the one, and escape the other. This requires the whole man in his best vigour, and should be the work of the day, but it is usually delayed till the melancholy evening of the age, or the twilight of death. The trifles of this world divert them from that main business, to which all other things should be subordinate.

While John Bunyan was in prison in 1664 he published a series of poems, "to be sold by his wife or children, to aid in their humble maintenance," later collected and published together as One Thing Is Needful; or, Serious Meditations Upon the Four Last Things: Death, Judgment, Heaven, and Hell. The reader would be blessed to prayerfully consider the full corpus of these poems, but here I have space to present only his "Introduction to the Ensuing Discourse":

1. These lines I at this time present
To all that will them heed,
Wherein I show to what intent
God saith, Convert with speed.

2. For these four things come on apace,
Which we should know full well,
Both death and judgment, and, in place
Next to them, heaven and hell.

3. For doubtless man was never born
For this life and no more:
No, in the resurrection morn
They must have weal or woe.

4. Can any think that God should take
That pains, to form a man
So like himself, only to make
Him here a moment stand?

5. Or that he should make such ado,
By justice, and by grace;
By prophets and apostles too,
That men might see his face?

6. Or that the promise he hath made,
Also the threatenings great,
Should in a moment end and fade?
O! no, this is a cheat.

7. Besides, who is so mad, or worse,
To think that Christ should come
From glory, to be made a curse,
And that in sinners’ room,

8. If nothing should by us be had
When we are gone from hence,
But vanities, while here? O mad
And foolish confidence.

9. Again, shall God, who is the truth,
Say there is heaven and hell
And shall men play that trick of youth
To say, But who can tell?

10. Shall he that keeps his promise sure
In things both low and small,
Yet break it like a man impure,
In matters great’st of all?

11. O, let all tremble at that thought,
That puts on God the lie,
That saith men shall turn unto nought
When they be sick and die.

12. Alas, death is but as the door
Through which all men do pass,
To that which they for evermore
Shall have by wrath or grace.

13. Let all therefore that read my lines,
Apply them to the heart:
Yea, let them read, and turn betimes,
And get the better part.

14. Mind therefore what I treat on here,
Yea, mind and weigh it well;
‘Tis death and judgment, and a clear
Discourse of heaven and hell.

Gathering Honey

William Bates, "On Divine Meditation," in Works, Vol. 3, p. 116:

Consider the end of meditation. It is in order to practice. There are many persons that fly over a garden of flowers, (I mean over many spiritual objects) their thoughts run and they gather no honey, they bring no fruit to their souls; but this is not the way of a christian; and therefore spiritual meditation is thus described by God himself. "This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but thou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to do all according to all that is written therein." Josh. 1.8. The end of it is to observe for practice and use. So in the Book of Job we have an expression applicable to this purpose; "lo this, we have searched it; so it is, hear it, and know thou it for thy good." Job 5.27. Some know things that they may know them, and some know things that they may be known, and taken notice of; but spiritual meditation draws forth the strength of an object for a man's own good.

A Pen In God's Hand

An evil report was circulated, as has happened to other great saints, that Richard Baxter on his deathbed suffered great pains of conscience. In fact, the author of The Saints' Everlasting Rest, one of the greatest works ever written on the subject of heavenly meditation and preparations for death, along with his Dying Thoughts Upon Philippians 1.23, written shortly before his passing, gave a godly testimony on his deathbed.

William Orme, The Life and Times of the Rev. Richard Baxter, Vol. 1, pp. 355-356:

"As to himself, even to the last, I never could perceive his peace and heavenly hopes assaulted or disturbed. I have often heard him greatly lament, that he felt no greater liveliness in what appeared so great and clear to him, and so very much desired by him. As to the influence thereof upon his spirit, in order to the sensible refreshments of it, he clearly saw what ground he had to rejoice in God; he doubted not of his right to heaven. He told me, he knew it should be well with him when he was gone. He wondered to hear others speak of their sensible, and passionately strong desires to die, and of their transports of spirit, when sensible of their approaching death; when, though he thought he knew as much as they, and had as rational satisfaction as they could have that his soul was safe, he could never feel their sensible consolations. I asked him, whether much of this was not to be resolved into bodily constitution, he told me that he thought it might be so.
...
A wicked and groundless report appears to have been circulated shortly after his death, that his mind had been greatly troubled with skeptical doubts before he died. It was brought to [Matthew] Sylvester on such authority that he found it necessary to give it a formal refutation. After quoting a letter from Worcestershire, referring to it, he thus replies to it:

"Audax facinus!" says Sylvester; "What will degenerate man stick at! We know nothing there that could, in the least, minister to such a report as this. I that was with him all along, have ever heard him triumphing in his heavenly expectation, and ever speaking like one that could never have thought it worth a man's while to be, were it not for the great interest and ends of godliness. He told me that he doubted not, but that it would be best for him when he had left this life and was translated to the heavenly regions.

"He owned what he had written, with reference to the things of God, to the very last. He advised those that came near him carefully to mind their souls' concerns. The shortness of time, the instancy of eternity, the worth of souls, the greatness of God, the riches of the grace of Christ, the excellency and import of an heavenly mind and life, and the great usefulness of the word and means of grace pursuant to eternal purposes, ever lay pressingly upon his heart, and extorted from him very useful directions and encouragements to all that came near him, even to the last; insomuch that if a polemical or casuistical point, or any speculation in philosophy or divinity, had been but offered to him for his resolution, after the clearest and briefest representation of his mind, which the proposer's satisfaction called for, he presently and most delightfully fell into conversation about what related to our Christian hope and work."

Those present at Baxter's side while he laying dying included William Bates, who preached his funeral sermon, and Increase Mather, Baxter's New England friend, who both visited him the day before he died.

Baxter, author of around 170 publications including an estimated 60 million published words (I.D.E. Thomas; other estimates range from 10 million to 24 million; his Christian Directory alone comprises around 1.25 million words), among which is included a regrettable work titled Aphorisms on Justification, told Increase Mather before his death, "Sir, if you know of any errors in any of my writings, I pray you to confute them after I am dead." Bates reports that Mather spoke words of comfort to him, to which Baxter replied, "I have pain, there is no arguing against sense, but I have peace, I have peace....I believe, I believe...[to Mather...] I bless God that you accomplished your business, the Lord prolong your life."

More extracts from William Bates, "Mr. Baxter's Funeral Sermon," in Works, Vol. 4, pp. 337-338:

Not long after his last sermon, he felt the approaches of death, and was confined to his sick bed. Death reveals the secrets of the heart, then words are spoken with most feeling and least affectation. This excellent saint was the same in his life and death: his last hours were spent in preparing others and himself to appear before God. He said to his friends that visited him, 'You come hither to learn to die, I am not the only person that must go this way, I can assure you, that your whole life be it never so long it little enough to prepare for death. Have a care of this vain deceitful world, and the lusts of the flesh: be sure you choose God for your portion, heaven for your home, God's glory for your end, his word for your rule, and then you need never fear but we shall meet with comfort.'

Never was penitent sinner more humble and debasing himself, never was a sincere believer more calm and comfortable. He acknowledged himself to be the vilest dunghilworm (it was his usual expression) that ever went to heaven. He admired the divine condescension to us, often saying, 'Lord what is man, what am I vile worm to the great God?' Many times he prayed, "God be merciful to me a sinner," and blessed God, that that was left upon record in the gospel as an effectual prayer. He said, 'God may justly condemn me for the best duty I ever did, and all my hopes are from the free mercy of God in Christ,' which he often prayed for.

After a slumber he waked and said, 'I shall rest from my labour:' a minister then present said, 'And your works follow you:' to whom he replied, 'No works, I will leave out works, if God will grant me the other.' When a friend was comforting him with the remembrance of the good many had received by his preaching and writings, he said, 'I was but a pen in God's hand, and what praise is due to a pen.'

His resigned submission to the will of God in his sharp sickness, was eminent. When extremity of pain constrained him earnestly to pray to God for his release by death, he would check himself: 'It is not fit for me to prescribe, and said, when thou wilt, what thou wilt, how thou wilt.'

Being in great anguish, he said, 'O how unsearchable are his ways and his paths past finding out! the reaches of his providence we cannot fathom:' and to his friends, 'Do not think the worse of religion for what you see me suffer.'

Being often asked by friends, how it was with his inward man, he replied, 'I bless God I have a well-grounded assurance of my eternal happiness, and great peace and comfort within; but it was his trouble that he could not triumphantly express it, by reason of his extreme pains.' He said, 'Flesh must perish, and we must feel the perishing of it: and that though his judgment submitted, yet sense would still make him groan.'

Near the end, he was asked again how he did. Baxter replied: "Almost well." His final words to his friend Matthew Sylvester were: "The Lord teach you how to die."

John Hamilton Davies, The Life of Richard Baxter, of Kidderminster: Preacher and Prisoner, p. 445:

So they who were permitted to visit his chamber have recorded his last words, which the Church cannot willingly let die.

To add smiles to tears, Joseph Addison, some years later, wrote in The Spectator, No. 445, July 31, 1712:

I remember, upon Mr. Baxter's death, there was published a sheet of very good sayings, inscribed 'The Last Words of Mr. Baxter.' The title sold so great a number of these papers, that about a week after there came out a second [spurious] sheet, inscribed 'More Last Words of Mr. Baxter.'

This proverbial story, the veracity of which I am unable to confirm, was morphed over the years to refer to his wife rather than himself and appears in the 1879 edition of E. Cobham Brewer, Dictionary of Phrase and Fable, p. 593:

When Richard Baxter lost his wife, he published a broadsheet, headed Last Words of Mrs. Baxter, which had an immense sale. The printer, for his own profit, brought out a spurious broadsheet, headed More Last Words; but Baxter issued a small handbill with this concise sentence: “Mrs. Baxter did not say anything else.”

What's In A Nickname?

The Puritans had a thing or two to say about nicknames, Robert Bolton in particular. He spoke of 'Puritan' as "the honourable nickname of the best and holiest men" (Mr. Bolton's Last and Learned Worke of the Foure Last Things (1635), p. 12).

Robert Bolton, A Discourse About the True State of Happinesse (1631), p. 163:

I am persuaded there was never poor persecuted word, since malice against God first seized on the damned angels, and the graces of heaven dwelt in the heart of man, that passed through the mouths of all sorts of unregenerate men, with more distastefulness and gnashing of teeth, than the name of puritan doth at this day; which notwithstanding as it is now commonly meant, and ordinarily proceeds from the spleen and spirit of profaneness and good fellowship, as an honourable nickname, that I may so speak, of christianity and grace.

Elsewhere he is reported to have said:

All those nick-names of Puritan, Precisian, Hypocrite, &c. with which lewd tongues are wont to load the saints of God, are so many honourable badges of their worthy deportment in the holy path, and resolute standing on the Lord's side.

Samuel Rutherford, Letters (1894 ed.), p. 512:

I assure you, howbeit we be nicknamed Puritans, that all the powers of the world shall not prevail against us.

George Gillespie, English Popish Ceremonies (1846 ed.), Vol. 1., p. 39:

...they make godly and zealous Christians to be mocked and nicknamed Puritans, except they can swallow the camel of conformity....We know the old Waldenses before us were also named by their adversaries, Cathares or Puritans; and that, without cause, hath this name been given both to them and us.

In the tradition of David, the "sweet Psalmist of Israel," many individual Reformers, Puritans and Reformed have been known to contemporaries and to posterity by nicknames dubbed and bequeathed by both admirers and opponents. Here are a handful to consider.

Thomas Adams, English Puritan (1583-1652) -- "prose Shakespeare of the Puritan theologians"
William Ames, English Puritan (1576-1633) -- "Learned Doctor Ames"
William Bates, English Puritan (1625-1699) -- "Silver-Tongued"
Richard Baxter, English Puritan (1615-1691) -- "Chief of English Protestant Schoolmen"
Wilhelmus à Brakel, Dutch Puritan (1635-1711) -- "Father Brakel"
John Bunyan, English Puritan (1628-1688) -- "Immortal Tinker" and "Immortal Dreamer"
Jeremiah Burroughs, English Puritan (1600-1646) -- "Prince of Preachers"
Richard Cameron, Scottish Covenanter (1648-1680) -- "Lion of the Covenant"
Thomas Cartwright, English Puritan (1535-1603) -- "Father of English Presbyterianism"
John Cotton, English-American Puritan (1585-1652) -- "Patriarch of New England"
Samuel Davies, American Presbyterian (1723-1761) -- "Apostle of Virginia"
David Dickson, Scottish Covenanter (1583-1662) -- "Apostle of the Covenant"
John Duncan, Scottish Presbyterian (1796-1870) -- "Rabbi Duncan"
Jonathan Edwards, American Puritan (1703-1758) -- "America's Greatest Theologian" and "Last Puritan"
Hans Egede, Danish-Norwegian Lutheran (1686-1758) -- "Apostle of Greenland"
John Eliot, English-American Puritan (1604-1690) -- "Apostle to the Indians"
Bernard Gilpin, English Reformer (1517-1583) -- "Apostle of the North" and "Northern Apostle"
William Gouge, English Puritan (1575-1653) -- "Father of the London Divines" and "Arch-Puritan"
John Howe, English Puritan (1630-1705) -- "Platonic Puritan" and "Puritan Plato"
John Kennedy of Dingwall, Scottish Presbyterian (1819-1884) -- "Prince of Highland Preachers"
John MacDonald, Scottish Presbyterian (1779-1849) -- "Apostle of the North"
Thomas Manton, English Puritan (1620-1677) -- "King of Preachers"
Stephen Marshall, English Puritan (1594-1655) -- "Geneva Bull"
Joshua Moody, English-American Puritan (1633-1697) -- "Angelical Doctor"
James Nalton, English Puritan (1600-1662) -- "Weeping Prophet"
John Owen, English Puritan (1616-1683) -- "Prince of the Puritans"
William Perkins, English Puritan (1558-1602) -- "The Calvin of England"
John Robinson, English Separatist (1575-1625) -- "Pastor of the Pilgrim Fathers"
Richard Rogers, English Puritan (1550-1618) -- "Enoch in His Age"
Thomas Shepard, English-American Puritan (1605-1649) -- "Soul-Melting Preacher"
Richard Sibbes, English Puritan (1577-1635) -- "Heavenly Doctor Sibbes"
Henry Smith, English Puritan (1560-1591) -- "Silver-Tongued Smith"
Charles Spurgeon, English Baptist (1834-1892) -- "Prince of Preachers"
Solomon Stoddard, American Puritan (1643-1729) -- "Northampton Pope" and "Pope of Connecticut Valley"
Willem Teellinck, Dutch Puritan (1579-1629) -- "Father of the Dutch Further Reformation"
Pierre Viret, Swiss Reformer (1511-1571) -- "Angel of the Reformation" and "Smile of the Reformation"
John White, English Puritan (1575-1648) -- "Patriarch of Dorchester" and "Founder of Massachusetts"
John Wycliffe, English Reformer (1385-1384) -- "Morning Star of the Reformation"

The Sabbath a Season for Meditation

William Bates, "On Divine Meditation," in The Works of William Bates, Vol. 3, pp. 127-128:

The sabbath day, is a season for meditation. This should be the temper of every christian to be in the Spirit on the Lord's day. On that day when our Saviour did arise from the earth, our souls should ascend to heaven.

Consider with yourselves, the Lord's day is a type of heaven, and contemplation is the work of heaven. The rest of the sabbath is but an abridgment of that long eternity which the saints shall enjoy with God; and the employment of heaven is contemplation. The glorified spirits above are always exercised in a steady view and consideration of God's infinite glory. Now the sabbath being a type of heaven, and meditation being the work of heaven, certainly this day is the most fit season for meditation. As for you who disrelish this duty, and are unacquainted with it, do you expect heaven? Your indisposition to this duty will be a bar to keep you from blessedness, and hinder you from entering into that rest. A gracious soul upon the Lord's day by his meditation may converse with God; he may discourse with the inhabitants of another world, he may enjoy as much of God as this interposing veil of flesh and blood may admit; the only difference between a saint in heaven, and a saint upon earth who meditates upon God, is in respect of the degrees and the manner of their fruition. For otherwise a saints upon earth enjoys heaven especially on the Lord's day, when every duty receives a special blessing, and therefore the duty of meditation.