Puritans
The Puritans were trailblazers – pioneers in promoting the doctrines of grace covenant theology, the regulative principle of worship, Reformed church government, and experiential piety. J.I. Packer called the Puritan movement “the most complete, profound and magnificent realization of biblical religion that the world has yet known.”
So, who were the Puritans? Narrowly defined, the Puritans were a group of ministers and laypeople within the Church of England who sought to promote Reformed and experiential piety while striving to purify the national church from Roman Catholic influences in doctrine and worship, beginning during the Elizabethan era and continuing as a powerful force until the early eighteenth century.
First, they embraced the theme of Scripture. The Puritans searched the Scriptures, collated their findings, and applied them to all areas of life.
Second, the Puritans embraced the theme of trinitarian soteriology. They never tired of
proclaiming the electing grace of the Father, the dying love of Jesus Christ, and the applicatory work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of sinners.
Third, the Puritans embraced the theme of ecclesiology. In common with the Reformers, the Puritans believed in the significance of the church in the purposes of Christ. They believed that the worship of the church should be the careful outworking and faithful embodiment of their biblical faith, and so Puritanism was a movement that focused on plain and earnest preaching.
Fourth, the Puritans embraced the theme of politics. The Puritans looked to Scripture
for light on the duties, powers, and rights of kings, subjects, and Parliament.
Fifth, the Puritans embraced the theme of conversion. Regarding individual salvation, the Puritans focused on personal, comprehensive conversion. They believed Christ’s statement that “except a man be born again, he cannot see the kingdom of heaven” (John 3:3). They excelled at preaching the gospel, probing the conscience, awakening the sinner, calling him to repentance and faith, leading him to Christ, and schooling him in the way Christ. Likewise, the Puritans believed that “faith, if it hath not works, is dead, being alone” (James 2:17). They developed from Scripture a careful description of what a Christian ought to be in his inward life and in all his actions and relationships.