Our presbytery youth camp director this summer assigned Puritan team names for the campers: Watson, Owen, Bunyan, and Perkins. No surprise at an Orthodox Presbyterian Church camp, until the staff and counselors picked a name for their “team.” We chose…
Ever since I studied the Antinomian-Neonomian controversy that took place among the English Dissenters in London during the final decade of the seventeenth century, I have wanted to write on the debate itself. Part of the impetus for this was…
Every born again child of God who places true faith in Jesus Christ will struggle with assurance in various degrees over the course of their lives. It’s in this context that what we call “the signs of grace” are so helpful…
If someone looks at [God’s commands] in the wrong way and says that they are heavy to bear, he is merely revealing his own weakness. —Andreas Presbyter, Catena on 1 John 5:3 When I was in college I was…
I have been calling attention to the Puritans’ high view of good works in a number of past posts. If I could read my readers’ minds, quite a tale could be told. Undoubtedly, reactions would range from disbelief to delight…
In my last article I discussed that the puritans believed that good works are more than the fruit of faith, justification and salvation in that they are the way to eternal life and an antecedent condition of glorification. The minority…
In my last article I referenced the evangelical understanding of the Scriptural phrase “do this and live” among some puritans. Such an understanding implies that good works are more than the fruit of salvation. We don’t engage in good works…
Continuing through the neglected Puritan Thomas Manton’s (1620–1677) Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons (Works, 1:258–336), we come to sermon 5, which deals Matthew 4:8-9 (click here for sermon 1, 2, 3, 4). One of the…
This week we want to continue through the neglected Puritan Thomas Manton’s (1620–1677) “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons” (Works 1, 258–336). Sermon 3 treats Matthew 4:5–6 (click here for sermon 1 and sermon 2).…
In concluding our series on the Puritan vision for Christian zeal (part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4), we now take up come practical ways in which we can put it into practice. We must pray for grace to put Christian zeal…
