Preaching— Puritan And Reformed
9
PREACHING—PURITAN
AND REFORMED
J. A. Caiger
It is common among us to think and to speak of C. H. Spurgeon as a Puritan born out of due time. I think this overstates the matter. Spurgeon was not entirely a Puritan. Dare I say that in certain respects he lacked the precise discipline of the Puritans, and, on the other hand, there was about him an expansiveness, a wide-embracing humanitarianism, which was distinctively Spurgeonic rather than Puritan. He was great enough to create his own forms and patterns of influence, and in any case it is easy enough to see that each were reacting in powerful ways upon the times in which they lived and worked—the Puritans upon the seventeenth century and Spurgeon upon the nineteenth. The Puritans were still fighting the battle of the Reformation. Spurgeon preached in an age of humanitarian reform.
But for all the differences which may be discernible Spurgeon had a great heart for the Puritans. His theological roots were thrust deep into the truths which they held dear, and which they expounded so powerfully, and he was always most ready to acknowledge his great debt to their rich and prolific writings. I want now to follow his eminent example, and, after this brief introduction, to lay before you the ground-plan of this paper, in order that you may have some idea as to what we hope to do and where we hope to go.
First, I want to take a general view of the Westminster Directory for Public Worship in order to give you some idea of the place which the Puritans gave to preaching in their services. Then we shall look in more detail at the section in this Directory which is concerned with the preaching of the Word in order to see what they intended by this exercise. And third and last I hope to give you some examples of the preaching of Reformers, Puritans, and Evangelicals, so that we may be able to see what they had in common, and wherein lay their essential points of difference.
The Place of Preaching in Reformed Worship
As a matter of history the title page of the Directory makes interesting reading. It runs as follows: “The Directory for the Public Worship of God; agreed upon by the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, with the Assistance of Commissioners from the Church of Scotland, as a part of the Covenanted Uniformity in Religion betwixt the Churches of Christ in the Kingdoms of Scotland, England, and Ireland. Established and put in execution by Act of the General Assembly February 3, 1645; and approved and established by Act of Parliament February 6, 1645.”
The Directory opens with a preface which in characteristically dignified language expresses serious dissatisfaction with the liturgy of the Church of England, and sets out the reasons which lay behind the production of this new form of worship. “We have, after earnest and frequent calling upon the name of God, and after much consultation, not with flesh and blood, but with his holy word, resolved to lay aside the former liturgy, with the many rites and ceremonies formerly used in the worship of God; and have agreed upon this following Directory for all the parts of public worship, at ordinary and extraordinary times.”
We are not concerned here with the relative merits of the Anglican and Presbyterian forms of worship, but with the place given to preaching in this Presbyterian order. Worship begins with the assembling of the congregation, and the Directory has a section dealing with the grave and reverent behavior of the people, and their entire concentration upon the greatness and majesty of the Lord. There is to be no whispering, no gazing or sleeping, and no reverence paid to any person present. The people are wholly to attend upon the worship of God. To this end a brief prayer is to be uttered by the minister seeking for them God’s pardon, assistance, acceptance, and His blessing upon the portion of His Word to be read.
Then follows the reading of the Scriptures—ordinarily one chapter of each Testament at every meeting, and all the canonical books (and only the canonical books) being read over in order “that the people may be better acquainted with the whole body of the Scriptures.” Expository comment is permissible in conjunction with the reading (Spurgeon used regularly to give this), but with this significant qualification: “regard is always to be had unto the time, that neither preaching, nor other ordinances be straitened, or rendered tedious.” Even exposition must not be allowed to prejudice preaching!
After this a psalm is sung, and then the minister leads his people in the great public prayer before the sermon. This is offered with a view to the worshippers being rightly affected with their sins, “mourning in sense thereof before the Lord,” and hungering and thirsting after the grace of God in Jesus Christ. This is the purpose of the prayer, and there follows in four and a half pages of close print in small type the material points which should find mention in it.
First, mention is made of our great sinfulness, by reason of original sin, the seed of all other sins; by reason of actual sins—our own and those of rulers and of the whole nation; by reason of sinful dispositions of the soul, and of particular sins in the congregation; and by reason of our sense of guilt and of our deserving of God’s fiercest wrath and heaviest judgments.
This is followed by a supplication of God for His grace “in the free and full remission of all our sins, and that only for the bitter sufferings and precious merits of that our only Saviour Jesus Christ”; for the work of the Holy Spirit in shedding abroad the love of God in our hearts, in sealing to us the full assurance of pardon and reconciliation, in comforting, healing, and convicting men according to their state and need, and in mortifying, quickening, and sanctifying His people in order to make them strong, obedient, and holy.
The horizon then widens as prayer is offered for the spread of the Gospel and Kingdom of Christ to all nations. The detailed mention of so many centers and circles of life and influence is bewildering to our less disciplined minds. Jews and Gentiles, persecuted Christian brethren, the Reformed churches, their missionary outposts, the King’s majesty, the Queen’s conversion, the religious education of the Prince, the High Court of Parliament, nobility, judges, magistrates, gentry “and all the commonalty,” the ministry, universities and other institutions of learning, the local congregation in its varied relationships and trials, including mention of the local government, the weather, and any natural or civil calamities which might be oppressing the locality—all these are given full and specific intercession.
The prayer moves on to embrace petitions for “God’s grace and effectual assistance to the sanctification of His holy sabbath, in all the duties thereof, public and private,” for the outpouring of the Spirit of grace that the people may taste “the first-fruits of the glory that is to be revealed” and “may long for a more full and perfect communion” with Christ, and, finally, “that God would in a special manner furnish His servant (now called to dispense the bread of life unto His household) with wisdom, fidelity, zeal, and utterance, that he may divide the word of God aright, to every one his portion, in evidence and demonstration of the Spirit and power; and that the Lord would circumcise the ears and hearts of the hearers, to hear, love, and receive with meekness the ingrafted word, which is able to save their souls . . . that so Christ may be so formed in them, and live in them, that all their thoughts may be brought into captivity to the obedience of Christ, and their hearts established in every good word and work for ever.”
All this, then, is by way of preparation of the congregation for the preaching of the Word which immediately follows, and which we shall examine more closely in a few moments.
The sermon finished, the minister again leads the congregation in prayer, giving thanks for the blessings of the Gospel in its many glorious aspects “as, namely, election, vocation, adoption, justification, sanctification, and hope of glory,” praying for the continuance of the Gospel and its ordinances, “turning the chief and most useful heads of the sermon into some few petitions; and praying that it may abide in the heart, and bring forth fruit.” He further prays for preparation for death and judgment, “a watching for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ,” and God’s acceptance of the spiritual sacrifice offered, having entreated His forgiveness “of the iniquities of our holy things.”
“The prayer which Christ taught his disciples” is recommended for use at this point, after which, a psalm is sung, the chief care of which must be to sing with understanding, and with grace in the heart, making melody unto the Lord. The minister then dismisses the congregation “with solemn blessing.”
Thus the sermon is viewed as being the central act in the public worship of God. It is not an addendum to a period of corporate prayer and praise. Nor is it viewed as a preparation for some culminating act of corporate intercession or communion. The foundation is laid in the opening prayer and in the public reading of the Holy Scriptures. Then set within the framework of the singing of the psalms come the two prayers, the first of which prepares the people for the preaching of the Word and leads up to it; the second follows the preaching and seeks the blessing of God upon its matter and its message. The preaching of the Word was therefore, to the Puritans, central to the whole structure of praise and prayer in the public worship of God.
The Preaching of the Word in Reformed Worship
The introductory paragraph to this section is infused to an impressive degree with words and phrases from the New Testament. “Preaching of the word, being the power of God unto salvation, and one of the greatest and most excellent works belonging to the ministry of the gospel, should be so performed, that the workman need not be ashamed, but may save himself, and those that hear him.”
Here is laid the foundation of the biblical doctrine of preaching, and it is laid, as the foundations of all biblical doctrine must be laid, with stones quarried from the Scripture itself. The Puritan approach to preaching was squarely based on the emphatic declarations of the Word of God. What is the power of God unto salvation to every one that believeth? It is the gospel of Christ (Rom. 1:16). How is the power of God in the gospel communicated to those that believe? By the foolishness of preaching (1 Cor. 1:21). What therefore is the responsibility of the minister of the gospel? It is to study to show himself approved unto God, “a workman that needeth not to be ashamed, rightly dividing the word of truth” (2 Tim. 2:15). And if the preacher diligently takes heed to himself and to the doctrine of the gospel, what effects will follow? He will save both himself and those that hear him (1 Tim. 4:16).
And the preaching is so to be performed that these effects do follow. Is there an echo here, intentional or otherwise, of Acts 14:1? “Paul and Barnabas went both together into the synagogue of the Jews, and so spake, that a great multitude both of the Jews and also of the Greeks believed.”
Are we ashamed of our preaching? Probably we do well to be: but we should not need to be. Is our preaching saving those that hear us? We wish it so: it should be so.
If the preaching of the gospel is the instrument of the Spirit in the saving of men, certain things must be presupposed in the preacher. There is material for study here both with respect to ministerial training and to subsequent ministerial discipline. The minister of Christ, we are told, must be gifted in some good measure for so weighty a service by his skill in the original languages, and in such arts and sciences as are handmaid unto divinity. The reference here evidently is to those basic skills which make pos-sible the study and exposition of the Scriptures. Clearly the intention behind this qualifying phrase is to ensure that such preliminary studies as are desirable and necessary should be cultivated in order to increase the youthful minister’s ability to understand and to believe the Gospel.
It is further presupposed that he will be gifted with knowledge in the whole body of theology. Notice this characteristically Puritan view of the counsel of God as a body of divinity, with all its parts properly fashioned, proportioned, and related. The minister of the Gospel must be able to see it whole. But “most of all” (this is the phrase used in the Directory) he must be distinguished by his knowledge in the holy Scriptures, “having his senses and heart exercised in them above the common sort of believers.” In this sense the minister is to be no ordinary Christian. He is to be “primus inter pares,” first among equals, but yet in a real sense first, by reason both of his Divine calling, and of his excelling in those spiritual exercises to which every Christian is called.
It is here that the idea of ministerial training passes over into that of perpetual and increasing discipline. The minister must be gifted “by the illumination of God’s Spirit, and other gifts of edification, which (together with reading and studying of the Word) he ought still to seek by prayer, and an humble heart, resolving to admit and receive any truth not yet attained, whenever God shall make it known unto him.” You will observe the clear recognition that truth is revealed from heaven when God chooses to reveal it, and it is attained, when He does so, by reading and studying of the Word—but not only by these, but also by the continual discipline of prayer, of humility of heart, and of willingness to submit the intellect to whatever God may make known.
And all these gifts the preacher is “to make use of, and improve, in his private preparations, before he deliver in public what he hath provided.”
The section then moves into a detailed statement concerning the methods to be used in preaching. The subject of a sermon is to be a text of Scripture—either “holding forth some principle or head of religion, or suitable to some special occasion emergent.” It is noteworthy that preaching for some special occasion still calls for an exposition of Scripture. And, for the encouragement of those of us who find delight and edification in extended series of sermons, we are told, “he may go on in some chapter, psalm or book of the holy scripture, as he shall see fit.” It is he who determines what he will preach—not his congregation, and since the Directory does not say how long he is to go on with his chapter, psalm, or book, presumably he is free to go on as long as he likes!
The introduction is to be brief and perspicuous, “drawn from the text itself, or context, or some parallel place, or general sentence of scripture.” If the text is long, as will be the case with a history or a parable, a brief summary should be given. If it is short, a paraphrase may help. But in either case the aim must be to show the scope of the text and to point at the chief heads and grounds of doctrine which are to be raised from it. Was it this that influenced Spurgeon in his method of introducing his sermons?
“In analysing and dividing his text, he is to regard more the order of matter than of words.” His concern must be theological rather than philological, with the food itself, rather than with the manner in which it is served. And he must not “burden the memory of the hearers in the beginning with too many members of division, nor trouble their minds with obscure terms of art.” Presumably this means that he must not weary his congregation with technicalities. The sermon must have its skeleton, but it is the living body which is to be presented to the people. A skeleton may be an edifying sight for students of anatomy, but it has little to offer the world as a whole.
The preacher’s primary concern must be to raise doctrines from the text. In this he must exercise a three-fold care. First, he must ensure that the matter he expounds be the truth of God. Second, it must be a truth “contained in or grounded on that text, that the hearers may discern how God teacheth it from thence.” Third, he must “chiefly insist upon those doctrines which are principally intended, and make most for the edification of the hearers.” His concern then is to be with truth—but not only with truth. He is not merely to display it, and perhaps to dazzle his hearers with the brilliance of the display. He is to communicate it. He must do everything he can to help them to see whence it is derived, and to grasp it and to receive it for themselves.
For this reason “the doctrine is to be expressed in plain terms.” Parallel passages may be adduced to confirm the doctrine, but these also must be plain and pertinent, and not too many. They must be added to support the doctrine—not to suffocate it. Arguments and reasons must be solid and convincing. Illustrations must be full of light, “and such as may convey the truth into the hearer’s heart with spiritual delight.” Notice again the emphasis on conveying, or communicating, the truth. The illustration must never be a thing in itself, or an end in itself.
Doubts and differences arising from Scripture, reason, or prejudice should be dealt with, if indeed they are matters of serious concern. “Otherwise it is not fit to detain the hearers with propounding or answering vain or wicked cavils, which as they are endless, so the propounding and answering of them doth more hinder than promote edification.” Here the same essential principle is set as a limit to controversy—the aim at all times must be the edification of the people.
The exposition and vindication of the doctrine, essential and demanding as it is, is only preliminary to an application of the truth to the hearts of the hearers. This may prove to be a work of great difficulty to the preacher, and it will be very unpleasant to natural and corrupt hearts in his auditory, but it must be done. “He is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner, that his auditors may feel the Word of God to be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God.”
Great care must be taken in dealing with erroneous teachings. Undue extravagance in this matter may only serve to create in the minds of the people an interest in the very ideas the preacher wishes them to avoid. “In confutation of false doctrines, he is neither to raise an old heresy from the grave, nor to mention a blasphemous opinion unnecessarily: but, if the people be in danger of an error, he is to confute it soundly, and endeavour to satisfy their judgments and consciences against all objections.” There must be no trifling with threatening error. It must be clearly exposed, and systematically destroyed.
The approach to the duties of the Christian life must be a practical one. It is not enough to deduce ethical principles. The preacher must declare specific obligations (“duties” is the word properly used), and he must “teach also the means that help to the performance of them.” The pastor is there to care for, and to help, the sheep.
A paragraph follows which stresses the special wisdom required in “dehortation, reprehension and public admonition,” where the preacher has to deal faithfully with some sin in his congregation. He must disclose its nature, emphasize its seriousness, describe the misery which attends it, and indicate the remedies which may be applied to it.
The Puritans had a great feeling for troubled hearts. Not only was comfort to be found and applied to such, but also care was to be taken “to answer such objections as a troubled heart and afflicted spirit may suggest to the contrary.” And where possible able and experienced ministers were to help their congregations in the work of self-examination by giving what are called “notes of trial,” that is, tests based on the teaching of Scripture, by means of which the people could try themselves, and judge their spiritual state and Christian progress.
The preacher is under no obligation to expound every doctrine implied in his text, and similarly he must make a wise choice of those “uses” or applications which “by his residence and conversing with his flock, he findeth most needful and seasonable; and, amongst these, such as may most draw their souls to Christ, the fountain of light, holiness, and comfort.”
Finally, seven points are enumerated dealing with the spirit and manner of the ministry. These are best quoted as they stand since every phrase is important, and to summarize them would be to lose their effect:
The servant of Christ, whatever his method may be, is to perform his whole ministry:
1. Painfully, not doing the work of the Lord negligently.
2. Plainly, that the meanest may understand; delivering the truth not in the enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, lest the cross of Christ should be made of none effect; abstaining also from an unprofitable use of unknown tongues, strange phrases, and cadences of sounds and words; sparingly citing sentences of ecclesiastical or other human writers, ancient or modern, be they never so elegant.
3. Faithfully, looking at the honour of Christ, the conversation, edification, and salvation of the people, not at his own gain or glory; keeping nothing back which may promote those holy ends, giving to every one his own portion, and bearing indifferent respect unto all, without neglecting the meanest, or sparing the greatest, in their sins.
4. Wisely, framing all his doctrines, exhortations, and especially his reproofs, in such a manner as may be most likely to prevail; showing all due respect to each man’s person and place, and not mixing his own passion or bitterness.
5. Gravely, as becometh the Word of God; shunning all such gesture, voice and expressions, as may occasion the corruptions of men to despise him and his ministry.
6. With loving affection, that the people may see all coming from his godly zeal, and hearty desire to do them good.
7. As taught of God, and persuaded in his own heart, that all that he teacheth is the truth of Christ; and walking before his flock, as an example to them in it; earnestly, both in private and publick, recommending his labours to the blessing of God, and watchfully looking to himself, and the flock whereof the Lord hath made him overseer.
So shall the doctrine of truth be preserved uncorrupt, many souls converted and built up, and himself receive manifold comforts of his labours even in this life, and afterward the crown of glory laid up for him in the world to come.
All this the Directory prescribes with respect to the preaching of the Word of God.
English Preaching in the Reformed Tradition
The preaching with which we are concerned is that of sixteenth, seventeenth, and eighteenth centuries—that of the Reformers, the Puritans, and the Evangelicals. It was marked by certain characteristics which are common to them all. There are particular differences in style and approach which may be best appreciated from the examples we hope to quote, but these general characteristics are to be noticed in them all, and it is probably from these that we should chiefly learn.
If we may work from the periphery of the matter into the center, so that the points appear in inverse order to their importance, I suggest that one of the most powerful impressions registered upon the mind is that this preaching was intellectual in character. By this I do not mean that it was academic in a merely theoretical sense. It was the work of minds that were utterly submitted to the mighty influences and the rich nourishment of revealed truth—but there we have said it, it was the work of minds. This preaching was the product of arduous mental exercise, and it was designed to provoke an exercise of mind in those to whom it was addressed. These men were concerned with truth. Their view of the Gospel was that it is the truth “as it is in Jesus,” and it is therefore as truth that it must be declared. Truth demands understanding in the preacher, and is addressed to the understanding of the hearer.
The style, as we have indicated already, varied. The preaching of the Reformers and the Puritans is reminiscent of the altars which the Israelites were permitted to make for their sacrifices. They were to be made either of earth, or of unhewn stone. They were rough; they were rugged; but they robbed God of none of his glory, and He came and blessed them there. The Evangelicals of the eighteenth century had more polish in their preaching. But if the preaching of men like Jonathan Edwards was polished, as indeed it was to a remarkable degree, it was polished granite—not plastic!
But whether we are impressed at one point by the earthiness of the Reformers, or at another by the greater precision and polish of the Evangelicals, we cannot fail to be impressed by the powerful intellectual quality of their preaching.
In the second place their preaching was essentially biblical. They all believed what Luther expressed in No. 62 of the Theses which he posted so boldly on the Cathedral door in Wittenburg: “The true and precious treasure of the Church is the Holy Gospel of the glory and grace of God.” They were not interested in preaching anything else. If we may make Luther the spokesman again: “A man’s word is a little sound that flies into the air and soon vanishes; but the Word of God is greater than heaven and earth, yea, greater than death and hell, for it forms part of the power of God, and endures everlastingly.” This they believed, and therefore they looked for inspiration and authority, for matter and example, only to the Bible.
Third, their preaching was theological. This we might expect, but it is right that it should be stressed. There are preachers who claim a great respect for the Bible, and who base their preaching upon it—yet their ministry is anything but theological. The approach to the Bible may be psychological, or philosophical, or merely sentimental, in which case what is preached will bear no recognizable relation to the message of the men whose ministry we are considering. Their view of Scripture compelled them into preaching which was expository. It was inevitable that this should happen, once their minds were submitted to the Bible as the Word of God. God had spoken. He had caused His Word to be placed in their hands. Now they had but one duty—it was to expound to the people that Word, and only that Word, in terms which people could understand and receive.
This leads us to our fourth point, which is that their preaching was pre-eminently pastoral. I submit that this is true of all those we have mentioned. They were not all “pastors” in the more limited sense of being settled ministers of churches—although, of course, many of them were. But all of them preached to their hearers, each as “a dying man to dying men,” and they revealed in their whole manner, as well as in the content of their message, their profound concern for the souls of those who listened to them. They had no interest in building for themselves reputations as scholars, as social reformers—or even as preachers. They burned with zeal for the salvation of souls, and they gave themselves to a ministry which promised healing for the brokenhearted, and which could set at liberty those who were bruised. Let me quote Whitefield here in 1737 at the age of 22:
The tide of popularity (in London) now began to run very high. In a short time, I could no longer walk on foot as usual, but was constrained to go in a coach, from place to place, to avoid the hosannas of the multitude. They grew quite extravagant in their applauses; and, had it not been for my compassionate High Priest, popularity would have destroyed me. I used to plead with Him, to take me by the hand and lead me unhurt through this fiery furnace. He heard my request, and gave me to see the vanity of all commendations but His own.
That surely is the spirit of New Testament preaching, which seeks not the aggrandizement of the preacher, but the glory of God in the salvation of those for whom Christ died.
Fifth, and last under this head, let me say that their preaching was beyond all else spiritual. By this I mean that in their preaching they consciously depended upon the Holy Spirit. They did not trust for effect to their oratorical power, their wit, or their charm. With Paul they denied themselves the luxury of exploiting the magnetism of their personalities, in order that their hearers might be impressed, not by the natural gifts of the preacher, but by the spiritual gifts and graces of God. Their speech and their preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power, that the faith of their hearers should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.
Let me give you two quotations on this point from the sermons of Dr. Richard Sibbes, Master of Catherine Hall, Cambridge, and Preacher of Gray’s Inn, London.
And to this end beg of God His Spirit, which is above all impediments. The more Spirit, the more strength and courage against impediments. The more we attend upon holy means, the more spiritual and heavenly light and life is set up in the soul. The more spiritual we are, the more we shall tread under foot all those things that stand between us and heaven. Let us therefore labour more and more for the Spirit, and then we shall offer an holy violence unto good things. . . . Therefore, go on boldly and resolutely in good things, always remembering to beg the Spirit of God, that may arm our spirits with invincible courage.1
(Reproof) must be done with a sweet temper, keeping our distance, and reserving the due respect unto those in whom we shew our dislike. As we see Nathan, when he came to tell David of his fault, how he doth it, what art he useth! It must be so done as that it may appear to be done out of pure zeal, that it is no wild-fire nor no heat of nature; but that it cometh merely from the Spirit, and in much love, with mildness and pity, in which case it carrieth a wondrous authority.2
And here is the opening paragraph from a sermon by C. H. Spurgeon on Romans 9:30–33:
For several Sabbath mornings I have sought the comfort and edification of God’s people, although I trust I have not, even in such discourses, overlooked the unconverted. How can we forget them, while they are in such peril? At the same time, the main drift of the service has been for the people of God, and it will not be wise to continue long in that line. We must not forget the lost sheep: it were better that we left the ninety and nine than that we neglected the rambler. We must, therefore, this morning seek to go after that which is gone astray until we find it. Oh, that God the Holy Spirit would make every word to be full of His power! He can fill each sentence with a celestial dynamite, an irresistible energy, which will blast the rocks of self-righteousness, and make a way for the gospel of the grace of God through the impenetrable barriers of sin. For that end I am anxious that, while I speak on God’s behalf, the prayers of the faithful may bring down God’s power, and make the feeble voice of man to be the vehicle for the omnipotence of God.
This brings us finally to some random examples from the preachers themselves, that we may gain some impression of the way in which these principles were exemplified and expressed in their preaching. To draw so small a selection from a field so rich and so wide seems almost to be impious, but the discipline of choice must perforce be exercised, in the hope that the passages chosen may be adequately representative of some aspects of this great preaching tradition.
Let us begin with Luther—vulgar, no doubt, but then Germany was vulgar in his day. The Italian scholars may have prided themselves on their elegant and refined Latinity, but north of the Alps learning was happy to parade itself in much homely and earth-stained garb. Vulgar then, and volcanic, pouring out great masses of material with enormous force and at great heat; but he spoke to the heads and to the hearts of the common people, and they heard him gladly. Here are two unusual extracts, both characteristic of the humanity, the pastoral warmth, and the doctrinal power of his ministry.
The first is from a sermon on the Nativity.
Think, there was no one there to bath the Baby. No warm water, nor even cold. No fire, no light. The mother was herself midwife and the maid. The cold manger was the bed and the bathtub. Who showed the poor girl what to do? She had never had a baby before. I am amazed that the little one did not freeze. Do not make Mary a stone. For the higher people are in the favour of God, the more tender are they.
Let us, then, meditate upon the Nativity just as we see it happening in our own babies. Behold Christ lying in the lap of His young mother. What can be sweeter than the Babe, what more lovely than the mother! What fairer than her youth! What more gracious than her virginity! Look at the Child, knowing nothing. Yet all that is belongs to Him, that your conscience should not fear but take comfort in Him. Doubt nothing. To me there is no greater consolation given to mankind than this, that Christ became man, a child, a babe, playing in the lap and at the breasts of His most gracious mother. Who is there whom this sight would not comfort? Now is overcome the power of sin, death, hell, conscience, and guilt, if you come to this gurgling Babe and believe that he is come, not to judge you, but to save.
The second is concerned with the fruits of saving faith.
O it is a living, busy, active, mighty thing, this faith! It is impossible for it not to do good perpetually. It never asks whether good works are to be done, but before the question can be put it has done them, and is always doing them. . . . Hence without constraint the man is joyously willing to do good to everyone, to serve everyone, to suffer all things, for the love and praise of God Who has shown him such grace. So that it is impossible to separate work from faith, yes, just as impossible as to separate heat and light from fire.
These are not the words of an arid theoretician, but of a man whose earthly humanity was blazing with the light and fire of a truly spiritual divinity, who discerned the profoundest doctrine in the most homely records of the Gospel, and who had the power to clothe this doctrine with words which ordinary men and women received hungrily for the warmth and shelter and security which they brought.
Now a few extracts from the Puritans themselves. Thomas Brooks was the saintly rector of St. Margaret’s, Fish-Street Hill. His Heaven on Earth is a treatise, rather than a book of sermons, but the style and content are more characteristic of preaching than of ordinary writing. I quote him that we may see and feel something of the pastoral heart of the man, and his shepherd-feeling for those to whom he ministered.
I would fain have as free, as large, and as sweet a heart towards saints, as Christ hath. For a wolf to worry a lamb is usual, but for a lamb to worry a lamb is unnatural; for Christ’s lilies to be among thorns, is ordinary, but for these lilies to become thorns, to tear and fetch blood of one another, is monstrous and strange. Ah, Christians! can Turks and Pagans agree? Can Herod and Pilate agree? can Moab and Ammon agree? can bears and lions, can wolves and tigers agree? yea, which is more, can a legion of devils agree in one body? and shall not the saints, whom heaven must hold at last, agree? . . . All saints are fellow-members, fellow-soldiers, fellow-travellers, fellow-heirs, fellow-sufferers, and fellow-citizens; and therefore I cannot, dare not, but love them all, and prize them all.
Now a typical word on the exercise of faith.
Faith is an appropriating grace; it looks upon God, and saith with David, “This God is my God for ever and ever, and He shall be my Guide unto the death.” It looks upon Christ, and saith with the spouse, “I am my Beloved’s, and His desire is toward me.” It looks upon an immortal crown, and saith with Paul, “Henceforth is laid up for me a crown of glory.” It looks upon the righteousness of Christ, and saith, “This righteousness is mine to cover me.” It looks upon the mercy of Christ, and saith, “This mercy is mine to pardon me.” It looks upon the power of Christ, and saith, “This power is mine to support me.” It looks upon the wisdom of Christ, and saith, “This wisdom is mine to direct me.” It looks upon the blood of Christ, and says, “This blood is mine to save me.”
And here is an exhortation to deeper Christian experience in an essentially Puritan vein:
Now is it not as easy a thing as it is pleasant, for a man that hath several sweet springs in his garden, to sit down, draw water, and drink? O believing souls! there are springs, there are wells of living water, not only near you, but in you; why, then, do you, with Hagar, sit down sorrowing and weeping, when you should be a-tasting or a-drinking not only of the springs above you, but also of the springs within you? A man that hath fruit in his garden may both delight his eye and refresh his spirit with tasting of it. Certainly we may both eye and taste the fruits of the Spirit in us, they being the first-fruits of eternal life. I think none but mad souls will say that grace is the forbidden fruit that God would have us neither see nor taste. We ought not so to mind a Christ in heaven, as not to find “Christ in us the hope of glory.” Christ would not have His spouse so to mind her own blackness, as to forget that she is all fair and glorious within.
William Gurnall, of Lavennham in Suffolk, was another Puritan with a great pastoral compassion. Two brief extracts from his The Christian in Complete Armour must suffice. First, an encouragement to the Christian beset by satanic temptation.
Take God into thy counsel. Heaven overlooks hell. God at any time can tell thee what plots are hatching there against thee. Consider Satan as he is God’s creature; so God cannot but know him. He that makes the watch, knows every pin in it. He formed this crooked serpent, though not the crookedness of this serpent; and though Satan’s way in tempting is as wonderful as the way of a serpent on a rock, yet God traceth him, yea, knows all his thoughts together. Hell itself is naked before Him; and this destroyer hath no covering. Again, consider him as God’s prisoner, who hath him fast in chains, and so the Lord, Who is his keeper, must needs know whither His prisoner goes, who cannot stir without His leave.
Second, a word on the Christian’s vision of the power of God.
The Christian’s comfort increaseth or wanes, as the aspect of his faith is to the power of God. Let the soul question that, or his interest in it, and his joy gushes out, even as blood out of a broken vein. It is true, a soul may scramble to heaven with much ado, by a faith of recumbency, relying on God as able to save, without this persuasion of its interest in God; but such a soul goes with a scant side-wind, or like a ship whose masts are laid by the board, exposed to wind and weather, if others better appointed did not tow it along with them. Many fears like waves ever and anon so cover such a soul, that it is more under water than above; whereas one that sees itself enfolded in the arms of almighty power, O how such a soul goes mounting afore the wind, with her sails filled with joy and peace!
Before we leave Gurnall here is a word of his wisdom concerning the work of the ministry: “It is not the least of a minister’s care and skill in dividing the word, so to press the Christian’s duty, as not to oppress his spirit with the weight of it, by laying it on the creature’s shoulders, and not on the Lord’s strength.” By this I take him to mean that the duties of the Christian life rest upon, as they are rooted in, the power of Christ, and the minister must point to them there.
It would be remiss of us to fail to mention the allegorical method of interpretation so beloved of the Puritans. Here is Sibbes preaching on Canticles 4:16: “Awake, O north wind; and come, thou south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out.” He is dealing with the question as to why the Spirit of God, in the use of means, is compared to wind. Here are his points:
1. The wind bloweth where it listeth, as it is in John 3:8. So the Spirit of God blows freely, and openeth the heart of some, and poureth grace plentifully in them.
2. The wind, especially the north wind, hath a cleansing force. So the Spirit of God purgeth our hearts from dead works to serve the living God, making us partakers of the divine nature.
3. The wind disperseth and scattereth clouds, and makes a serenity in the air. So doth the Spirit disperse such clouds as corruption and Satan raise up in the soul, that we may clearly see the face of God in Jesus Christ.
4. The wind hath a cooling and tempering quality, and tempers the distemper of nature. As in some hot countries there be yearly anniversary winds, which blow at certain times in summer, tempering the heat; so the Spirit of God allayeth the unnatural heats of the soul in fiery temptations, and bringeth it into a good temper.
5. The wind being subtle, searcheth into every corner and cranny. So the Spirit likewise is of a searching nature, and discerneth betwixt the joints and the marrow, betwixt the flesh and the Spirit, searching those hidden corruptions, that nature could never have found out.
6. The wind hath a cherishing and a fructifying force. So the Spirit is a quickening and cherishing Spirit, and maketh the heart, which is as a barren wilderness, to be fruitful.
7. The wind hath a power of conveying sweet smells in the air, to carry them from one to another. So the Spirit in the word conveyeth the seeds of grace and comfort from one to another. It draws out what sweetness is in the spirits of men, and makes them fragrant and delightful to others.
8. The wind, again, bears down all before it, beats down houses, and trees, like the cedars in Lebanon, turns them up by the roots, and lays all flat. So the Spirit is mighty in operation. There is no standing before it. It brings down mountains, and every high thing that exalts itself, and lays them level: nay, the Roman and those other mighty empires could not stand before it.
For these respects and the like, the “blowing of the Spirit” is compared to wind. For which end Christ here commands the wind to “blow upon His garden.”
The danger of this method is that it may tend to sentimentality, but the Puritans were safeguarded by their concern to interpret everything in terms of doctrine. Spurgeon could use this method with great effect, but no man is safe in employing it unless his mind is steeped in scriptural truth, and his character poised in balance upon the whole counsel of God.
Lastly, we must turn to the eighteenth century Evangelicals, in order to hear preaching at its greatest. We shall notice certain differences as we do so. The sermon form changed considerably in the hundred years between 1650 and 1750. The sermons of the Evangelicals were not nearly so much extended in their analytical detail as those of the Puritans, but were, as I think, more powerfully concentrated within a much simpler outline. But there is a difference discernible which is of far greater importance than this matter of the form in which the message was presented.
The preaching of the Evangelicals impresses me as being generally more powerful in its evangelistic thrust. It appears to have a much more direct approach to the soul of the hearer. There is a sharper point and a keener edge about it all, and a greater urgency. Bishop Ryle makes this point in his description of the preaching of George Whitefield:
Whitefield was a singularly bold and direct preacher. He never used that indefinite expression “we,” which seems so peculiar to English pulpit oratory, and which only leaves a hearer’s mind in a state of misty confusion. He met men face to face, like one who had a message from God to them, “I have come here to speak to you about your soul.” The result was that many of his hearers used often to think that his sermons were specially meant for themselves. He was not content, as many, with sticking on a meagre tail-piece of application at the end of a long discourse. On the contrary, a constant vein of application ran through all his sermons. “This is for you, and this is for you.” His hearers were never let alone.
If we enquire into the reason for this difference between the Puritans and the Evangelicals, we may find it in the preoccupation of the Puritans with covenant theology, and in their view of the Church and the ministry. It may be true in some cases, though certainly not in all, that their view of the covenant of grace tended to militate against a forthright and dogmatic approach to the individual: and these words from The Form of Presbyterial Church-Government approved by the General Assembly in 1645, shed an interesting light on their view of the ministry:
The officers which Christ hath appointed for the edification of His Church, and the perfecting of the saints, are, some extraordinary, as apostles, evangelists, and prophets, which are ceased. Others ordinary and perpetual as pastors, teachers, and other Church governors, and deacons.
The failure to recognize the evangelist as belonging to the present order of the ministry of the Church is certainly significant, and this was not true of the preachers of the Revival in the century which followed.
Here then is the mighty Jonathan Edwards, preaching in the midst of revival:
Are there not many here who have lived long in the world, and are not to this day born again? and so are aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and have done nothing ever since they have lived, but treasure up wrath against the day of wrath? Oh, Sirs, your case, in an especial manner, is extremely dangerous. Your guilt and hardness of heart is extremely great. Do not you see how generally persons of your years are passed over and left, in the present remarkable and wonderful dispensations of God’s mercy? You had need to consider yourselves, and awake thoroughly out of sleep. You cannot bear the fierceness and wrath of the infinite God. And you, young men and young women, will you neglect this precious season which you now enjoy, when so many others of your age are renouncing all youthful vanities, and flocking to Christ? You especially have now an extraordinary opportunity; but if you neglect it, it will soon be with you as with those persons who spent all the precious days of youth in sin, and are now come to such a dreadful pass in blindness and hardness.
Therefore, let every one that is out of Christ, now awake and fly from the wrath to come. The wrath of Almighty God is now undoubtedly hanging over a great part of this congregation. Let every one fly out of Sodom: “Haste and escape for your lives, look not behind you, escape to the mountain, lest you be consumed.”
And now to conclude our paper let Whitefield speak:
Awake, then, you that are sleeping in a false peace, awake, ye carnal professors, ye hypocrites that go to church, receive the sacrament, read your Bibles, and never felt the power of God upon your hearts; you that are formal professors, you that are baptized heathens: awake, awake, and do not rest on a false bottom. Blame me not for addressing myself to you; indeed, it is out of love to your souls. I see you are lingering in your Sodom, and wanting to stay there; but I come to you as the angel did to Lot, to take you by the hand. Come away, my dear brethren—fly, fly, fly, for your lives to Jesus Christ, fly to a bleeding God, fly to a throne of grace; and beg of God to break your hearts, beg of God to convince you of your actual sins, beg of God to convince you of your original sin, beg of God to convince you of your self-righteousness—beg of God to give you faith, and to enable you to close with Jesus Christ. O you that are secure, I must be a son of thunder to you, and O that God may awaken you, though it be with thunder; it is out of love, indeed, that I speak to you.
My design is to bring poor sinners to Jesus Christ. O that God may bring some of you to Himself! May the Lord Jesus now dismiss you with His blessing, and may the dear Redeemer convince you that you are unawakened, and turn the wicked from the evil of their way! And may the love of God, that passeth all understanding, fill your hearts. Grant this, O Father, for Christ’s sake; to Whom, with Thee and the blessed Spirit, be all honour and glory, now and for evermore. Amen.