This may be a mute question, The reason I am asking this is that I bumped into a guy who sold his house and started to evanglise round the uk.
how would you define a puritan ?
To me it is someone who wants the pure faith, because that is where the puritans originally came from, from the fight between the catholics and the protestants.
Do we have any puritans in this century?
Someone i know called the puritan preachers "Forrest-cutters", when they preached sinners fell like trees.
But when reading many of the puritans, you don't have to read many pages to realize they possessed a depth of spirituality that is far from the shallow Christianity we have today in most parts of the western world.
I sometimes think of what would happened if you transported for instance Richard Baxter to our time, or Thomas Brooks? or any of those men and let them watch our Christianity for a wile?
wonder what they would say?
Puritans were Christians, seeking to live by the Bible and come apart from the world. A beautiful people!
I don't know what would happen if I tried to go to a puritan church of then as I am now. I'm not sure if they would let me in (but I would change everything I needed to!) Right now, I think I'm a neopuritan.
The world uses the word "puritan" to be mean, and I even heard someone say that they were glad there were no more puritans because they would hate them. I love puritans though, I think they are awesome.
This may be a mute question, The reason I am asking this is that I bumped into a guy who sold his house and started to evanglise round the uk.
deltadom,
Are you still in contact with this man? I'd love to talk with him.
pm me if he's willing to share his contact information.
Thx. Corey.
This may sound odd, but I think the owners of Sermon Index have the spirit of the Puritans.Do we have any puritans in this century?
...seeking to live by the Bible and come apart from the world...
For some of us moderns, having grown up in 20th century secular society, as well as churches in electronic media friendly worship environments, we have to go through a lenghty period of rediscovery to even begin to imagine what Christian life was like in previous centuries.
This morning at breakfast I read to my wife and son a 17th century account of Prostestant Christian life. Although I was reading from a book printed in 1868 that attempted to trace the roots of the United Brethren churches, this description could very well have suited many primitive persecuted prostestant movements at that time such as the Moravians, the Waldenses, the Minnonites, and the Bohemians. From these many pressed grapes flowed the wine of doctrines, disciplines, and peculiarities that not only help form the puritans but also the Wesley's.
When I read it, I am fascinated by the tantalizing glimpse of our ancestors, and my eyes mist over what has been lost.
"The head of every family was required to send his children diligently to church, to instruct them at home in the truths of Gospel, and to meet them in family devotion three times a day,---in the morning, at noon, and in the evening.
The frequenting of theaters, and worldy amusements, of public houses, (Without absolute necessity) and all places of idle resort, was strictly forbidden. Not only open vices, but vanity and immodesty in dress, licentious discourse, all "improper intimacy between the sexes, and clandestine courtships were severely censured. All dishonest traffic and usury were prohibited. None were allowed to engage in a lawsuit without first endeavoring to settle their differences by brotherly arbitration.
The ministers derived their income from the voluntary contributions of their respective congegations, consisting either in money or provisions. In Poland, small farms, besides a garden, were generally attached to their dwellings. Nor were they ashamed to earn something by the labor of their hands, when their congregations were poor, and they could spare the time from their pastoral duties; care was taken, however, that such employments did not trench on the hours which ought to be devoted to study. Whenver a minister's yearly income amounted to more than $200, he was exhorted to spend the overplus in charity. They were enjoined not to assume pompous titles, but to set the greatest value on the name of brother.
They attached the greatest sanctity to the Sunday, considering the sanctification of one day in seven not as a Mosaic enactment, but as forming a part of moral law, and, consequently, of perpetual obligation, the first day of the week, emphatically designated the Lord's day, being substituted in place of the Jewish Sabbath.
Their churches were unadorned, fitted up with plain seats, or forms, the men and women sitting apart. They do not appear to have used any prescribed form of prayer, or instrumental music in their worship. But they delighted in voval music; the whole congregation joined in the singing led by a precentor."
MC
wow Compton that was quite the read. By today's standards that lifestyle would be classified as legalism.
wow Compton that was quite the read. By today's standards that lifestyle would be classified as legalism.
Sad, but true...I see at it as obedience to their hearts. What a wonderful post Compton.
Thanks for the post Compton.
A nice contrast to the multi-millionaire pastors and rock-band worshipers of megachurches today. Sad really.
One of the things that really fueled the fire of the Puritans was that they believed wholeheartedly in the sovereignty of God, and the wickedness of man. It was these things that led them to reject the Pope and even the Anglican Church at that time.
May I reccomend this study
This message is from this series found here[url=http://www.monergism.com/thethreshold/articles/onsite/histtheocalvin.html]The History And Theology Of Calvinism by Dr Curt Daniel
Very challenging and very good :-D
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