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Archive for the ‘New England Puritanism’ Category

Shepard on civil magistrates & the true religion

Posted in Establishments, New England Puritanism, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, The Godly Prince on December 20, 2023| Leave a Comment »

Thomas Shepard (1605-1649), on civil magistrates promoting the true religion. “Thesis 20. And if superiors in families are to see their gates preserved unspotted from such provoking evils, can any think but that the same bond lies upon superiors in commonwealths, who are the fathers of those great families, whose subjects also are within their gates, and the power of their jurisdictions? The civil magistrate, though he hath no power to impose new laws upon the consciences of his subjects, yet he is bound to see that the laws of God be kept by all his subjects; provided always, that herein he walk according to the law and rule of God, viz., that, 1, ignorant consciences in clear and momentous matters be first instructed; 2, doubting consciences have sufficient means of being resolved; 3, bold and audacious consciences be first forewarned. Hence it is, that though he hath no power to make holy days, and to impose the observation of them upon the consciences of his subjects, (because these are his own laws,) yet he may and should see that the Sabbath day, (the Lord’s holy day,) that this be observed, because he doth but see to the execution of God’s commandment herein.”

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“Of the Removal of Church-Members”

Posted in Catholicity, Christian Conduct, Church Order & Discipline, Communion of the Saints, Ecclesiology, New England Puritanism on June 19, 2023| 2 Comments »

Though I am Presbyterian, I have for years deeply appreciated the great majority of what the New England fathers set forth here in their Cambridge Platform (1649) concerning why, how, and when church members may lawfully leave their local congregation to join another. Would to God we “eat this scroll,” internalizing its biblical principles. And so may we more and more in this individualistic and non-committal age live out the articles of our ancient creed, “I believe an holy catholic church” and “the communion of saints!”

* * * * * * * * *

CHAPTER XIII.

Of church members, their removal from one church to another, and of recommendation and dismission.

1. CHURCH members may not remove or depart from the church, and so one from another as they please, nor without just and weighty cause, but ought to live and dwell together; forasmuch as they are commanded, not to forsake the assembling of themselves together. Such departure tends to the dissolution and ruin of the body, as the pulling of stones and pieces of timber from the building, and of members from the natural body, tend to the destruction of the whole.

Heb. x. 25.

2. It is therefore the duty of church members, in such times and places where counsel may be had, to consult with the church whereof they are members about their removal, that accordingly they having their approbation, may be encouraged, or otherwise desist. They who are joined with consent, should not depart without consent, except forced thereunto.

Prov.xi. 16.

3. If a member’s departure be manifestly unsafe and sinful, the church may not consent thereunto; for in so doing, they should not act in faith, and should partake with him in his sin. If the case be doubtful, and the person not to be persuaded, it seemeth best to leave the matter unto God, and not forcibly to detain him.

Rom. xiv. 23. 1 Tim. v. 22. Acts, xxi. 14.

(more…)

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A little physick for Williams?

Posted in Mental Health, Mysticism & Fanaticism, New England Puritanism on February 9, 2023| Leave a Comment »

So I was reading Cotton Mather’s narrative of troubled Roger Williams, whom the Boston magistrates exiled because he had made such a nuisance of himself up that way. I found the following humorous—and enlightening! I’m sure Mather hardly meant to suggest that all of Roger William’s problems were mental. But it sure seems like he thinks something was amiss and needed treatment.

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Mather to ministers: barter not the Lord’s day for men’s!

Posted in New England Puritanism, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Worship, True & False on December 22, 2022| Leave a Comment »

“Since in Religion you are not Servants of Men, in true fidelity to Christ you must in your Places peaceably oppose and refuse whatever Innovations, Injunctions, or Traditions of Men. 48 4.1919. Would any change the Lord’s Day for another Day, or command other Feasts to be equally regarded; or forbid you to sanctifie the Lord’s Holy Day, or suppress the Use of his Holy Word; or set up another Rule of Faith and Judge of Controversies? do they devise new Modes of Worship, or mingle their own Fancies with his Institutions? For Conscience sake, receive them not, but obey Christ above all Men, Mic. 6.16 But still preserving the Honour due to the Persons of Superiors, and to their Authority in all all other matters, Rom, 13. 1. Faithful Magistrates will ask no more, and humble Bishops dare no more equal their Canons to His, than Apocryphal Stories to Divine Scripture. When Corruptions grow general, its time for them that are on the Lord’s side, to shew themselves for him, Exod. 32. 26.”

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“Pure, Primitive Devotion” (video)

Posted in New England Puritanism, Psalmody, Psalmody in Culture, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, The Church in America, Worship, True & False, WPE Audio on December 12, 2022| Leave a Comment »

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“God’s Promise to His Plantations” (1630)

Posted in New England Puritanism, Puritans & Puritanism, Theology of Place, WPE Audio on November 24, 2022| Leave a Comment »

Here is a truly momentous and historic sermon by John Cotton. Richly theological, eminently practical, and tenderly pastoral. On the occasion of the embarking of John Winthrop and company to the Massachusetts Bay in 1630.

The sermon is especially valuable for its contribution to a “theology of place” and the Christian ethics of travel, relocation, and lawful acquiring of land. Have a listen!

One precious gem: “Ruth dwelt well for outward respects while shee dwelt in Moab, but when shee cometh to dwell in Israel, shee is said to come under the wings of God: Ruth 2. 12 . When God wrappes us in with his Ordinances, and warmes us with the life and power of them as with wings, there is a land of promise.”

And check out my growing audio library, including the Puritan fathers of New England.

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“Pure, Primitive Devotion”

Posted in New England Puritanism, Psalmody, Psalmody in Culture, Puritans & Puritanism, Sabbatarianism & the Church Calendar, Worship, True & False, WPE Audio on November 18, 2022| Leave a Comment »

[video now posted here]

Watch by FacebookLive, or tune in at linktr.ee/prcofri

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Retaining children & aggressive missions

Posted in Audio Resources, Authored by Site Admin, Contemporary Parochialism, Covenant Theology, Experimental Religion & the Cure of Souls, Family Religion, Fatherhood, Gospel Proclamation, Gospel Tactics, John Murray, New England Puritanism, Parish in American Context, Parochial Strategy, Pastoral Theology, The Kingdom of God, Visitation Evangelism on April 26, 2022| Leave a Comment »

I try to avoid promoting my own sermons very often. But after giving a short series on the doctrine of hell, I continued with a second short series on the subject of biblical, Reformed church growth, something very near my heart. Specifically, I spoke from Matthew 16:18 about building up the church from within by training up, winning over, and thus retaining our baptized, covenant children. We must promote and encourage Christian child-bearing and so helping populate the (visible) Kingdom through these “federally holy” sinners, a mission field in its own right. Then, I laid out in the final messages a call and battleplan for aggressive, local and regional missions. As Prof. Murray said when personally engaging in church-planting in New England, we must “go where the people are, not where you hope they will come.”

As we are planted in southern New England and are involved in a church plant in New Jersey, I call us to pray earnestly and labor believingly for the extension of confessional Presbyterianism here in our northeastern “Samaria.” It may be spiritually ‘rocky soil,’ but God can create sons of Abraham from these stones. He did it before! If things go from bad to worse, a strategic retreat is possible. But let us not give up the Messiah’s ground without a fight! And who knows? Perhaps the Lord will make this “desert to blossom as the rose” again, and restore the pure worship of our godly Puritan forbears.

Do you live in the northeast — in New England, New York, or New Jersey? Are you committed to the old paths of the Puritans and Presbyterians? Do you long for a Third Great Awakening today? Would you be interested in hosting special meeting in your area? Please get in touch with me at 515-783-5637 or mjives dot refparish at gmail dot com.

And if you don’t live in the northeast, would you pray for us? And maybe even consider joining us, if Providence opens a door?

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The 1676 Project?

Posted in Authored by Site Admin, Contemporary Issues, Historiography, Missiology, New England Puritanism, WPE Audio on November 24, 2021| Leave a Comment »

In light of the ‘National Day of Mourning’ tomorrow, I find New England Puritan Increase Mather’s sermon here such an illuminating and worthy rejoinder. As the King Philip’s War (1675-1678) raged, natives attacking English settlements, he leads his contemporaries to probe the source. And it’s no hateful rant against the Indians! (Listen here; read here.)

Mather indicts the English settler’s provocations of the natives, including land-greed, which may well have contributed to the war. For these and other offenses, Mather takes off the gloves and summons his peers to repentance. But more, he rebukes them for growing cold and even in some cases becoming hostile to the explicit missionary intentions of the New England Fathers. How many had become prejudicial to these poor souls!

Definitely a cause for mourning, as the bodies piled up and the houses burned in 1676. But a far cry from the mourning of the modern “1619 Project” types who have swung from the one extreme of myopic idealization and historical whitewashing, to the other extreme of tarring and feathering everything that is European. The truth, as they say, is often in the middle.

I mourn today for all the wrongs my ancestors have done to those who lived before us — though hardly all of them, or even the majority. I further mourn for our national apostasy and covenant-breaking with God and His Son, Jesus Christ, and grieve for the judgments we are even now experiencing, one of which is a generation that has been taught to reject and abhor all things past, including the Pearl of Great Price that our ancestors brought with them to the New World.

But tomorrow I’m going to give thanks and remember the Pilgrim Fathers, and Squanto, and Massasoit, the fair treaties that were honored, and John Eliot’s work among the Massachusetts, and their Praying Villages, the myriad of other blessings we now enjoy in civil society where the rule of law prevails, and above all, the freedom to worship God according to His Word. God knows the New World was no native paradise before 1619.

For more audio resources from our Reformed heritage, visit WPE Audio.

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