Part III: Two Puritan Paragons
PART 3:
TWO PURITAN PARAGONS:
William Perkins
Richard Baxter
TWO PURITAN PARAGONS
I round off this set of Puritan profiles with two close-ups – portraits of a pair who, to my mind, are the outstanding figures of early and mid-period Puritanism respectively. Years ago I wrote a book on Puritanism which I titled Among God’s Giants. In America it was re-titled A Quest for Godliness, which shifted its emphasis a little. My title reflected my sense of the stature of Puritanism’s leaders as a company of wise and devoted pastoral pioneers. William Perkins and Richard Baxter, along with John Owen and John Bunyan, seem to me to stand out as giants among the giants, Perkins as an early Puritan, Baxter as a mid-period Puritan, and Owen and Bunyan as later Puritans. I hope that what I offer now on the first two of these will lead my readers to appreciate their outstanding qualities and join me in thanking God for them and drawing wisdom from them.