History of the Reformation and Reformed Churches — Unit 7: The Puritans and the Westminster Assembly

Key Verse

"All Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, thoroughly equipped for every good work." (2 Timothy 3:16-17, NKJV)

Learning Objectives

When you finish this unit, you should be able to:

1. Explain who the Puritans were and what they wanted to reform in the Church of England.

2. Describe the Westminster Assembly: why it was called, when it met, and what documents it produced.

3. Name important Puritan pastors and writers and say what kind of ministry they practiced.

4. Explain what happened to the Puritans after 1660 and why the Westminster Standards spread beyond England.

5. State the main historians' debates and popular objections about the Puritans and answer them from the Reformed side.

The Voice of This Course

This course is written from inside the Reformed tradition for students who belong to it. It is conservative and confessional. When it says "we," it means the Reformed and Presbyterian churches that hold the Bible to be God's inspired and inerrant Word and that confess the doctrines of grace. Where historians disagree, or other Christians see things differently, we state their views fairly and then give our answer. The Bereans are our pattern. They "received the word with all readiness, and searched the Scriptures daily to find out whether these things were so" (Acts 17:11).

Who Were the Puritans?

The word "Puritan" began as a nickname, and it was not kind. In England in the 1560s it was used for Protestants who wanted the Church of England to be purified further. The English Reformation had broken with Rome under Henry VIII, and under Queen Elizabeth I the settlement of 1559 gave England a Protestant church. But many believed the work was unfinished. They saw ministers who could not preach, worship that kept ceremonies they thought had no warrant in Scripture, and a church life that did not call people to holiness.

The Puritans were not one organized party. Some wished to see the church governed by elders in presbyteries, as in Geneva and Scotland. Others, called Independents or Congregationalists, held that each local church should govern itself. Others stayed within the church and worked for reform from inside. Some left England and sought freedom in the Netherlands or in New England. What they shared was a desire that the church should be brought fully under the Word of God, and that the people should be changed by it.

Four convictions marked them.

First, the authority and sufficiency of Scripture. The Puritans wished to bring doctrine, worship and church order to the test of the Bible. This is the regulative principle, which Course 4 will study.

Second, preaching. They gave the sermon a central place. A good preacher explained the text plainly, showed what it meant, and applied it to the hearer's conscience. William Perkins of Cambridge (1558-1602) taught many young ministers how to do this. His The Art of Prophesying was written in Latin in 1592 and later translated into English. Our bridge to Course 5 begins here.

Third, the Christian life. They urged believers to examine themselves, to pray, to keep the Lord's Day, to worship with the family, and to live holy lives in ordinary callings. The gospel, they said, is for the whole of life. Scripture says, "Whether you eat or drink, or whatever you do, do all to the glory of God" (1 Corinthians 10:31).

Fourth, the doctrines of grace. Most Puritan ministers taught the teachings of Dort and the Reformed fathers. John Owen's The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (1647) is a well-known defense of particular redemption.

Troubled Years: From Elizabeth to the Civil War

The Puritans' hopes rose and fell. A conference at Hampton Court in 1604, called by King James, did not bring the changes they wanted, but it did lead to the new English translation of the Bible published in 1611, the Authorized or King James Version. Under Charles I, Archbishop William Laud pressed for uniformity in ceremony and removed many Puritan ministers from their posts. Many Puritans left England in the 1630s, and the Massachusetts Bay Colony was founded in 1630. At home, conflict between the king and Parliament grew into civil war in 1642.

The Westminster Assembly

In 1643 the Long Parliament called an assembly of ministers and laymen to advise it on the reform of the church. It met in Westminster, in London, beginning in July 1643. Its first task was to revise the Thirty-Nine Articles of the Church of England. But Parliament needed help from the Scots in the war, and in 1643 England and Scotland joined in the Solemn League and Covenant. Parliament then asked the Assembly to prepare a common confession, catechisms, a form of church government and a directory for worship, so that the churches of the British Isles might be brought into closer agreement.

The members were mostly English Puritan ministers, with some laymen from Parliament. Scottish commissioners also attended, among them Alexander Henderson, Robert Baillie, George Gillespie and Samuel Rutherford. They could speak but not vote. William Twisse presided at first. The Assembly held that Scripture is the only final rule, and its members were learned in the original languages and in the church fathers.

The Assembly produced these documents:

• The Directory for the Public Worship of God (1645), to replace the Book of Common Prayer.

• The Form of Presbyterian Church Government (1645).

• The Westminster Confession of Faith (completed 1646).

• The Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism (1647).

The Church of Scotland adopted the Confession and the Catechisms in 1647. In England the political situation changed, and the Presbyterian settlement was never fully established there. The Assembly's work continued until about 1649.

Together these are called the Westminster Standards. They are often called the fullest summary of Reformed teaching, and they are the confessional standards of most Presbyterian churches in the world. Course 3 will study them in detail. Their very first lines give the foundation. The Confession begins with Holy Scripture, which it calls necessary because the light of nature does not give the knowledge of God and His will needed for salvation. The Shorter Catechism begins with the question, "What is the chief end of man?" and answers, "Man's chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever." Notice the two verbs. We glorify God and we enjoy Him. A Puritan faith that knew only duty would not be the faith of the Catechism.

The Standards were not perfect in every point of detail, and the Assembly's members did not agree on everything. Presbyterians and Independents debated church government. Yet they agreed on Scripture, the Trinity, the person and work of Christ, justification by faith alone and the doctrines of grace.

The Puritan Pastors

The Puritans left some of the finest pastoral writing in the history of the church. A short list will show their range.

Richard Baxter (1615-1691) served the town of Kidderminster. His The Reformed Pastor (1656) calls ministers to teach people personally, house by house, and to take heed to themselves as well as to their flock. Course 5 will use it.

John Owen (1616-1683) was a great theologian, who wrote on the Holy Spirit, on the person of Christ, and on the battle against indwelling sin.

John Bunyan (1628-1688) was a Baptist preacher and tinker by trade. He was imprisoned for preaching without permission, and he wrote The Pilgrim's Progress, first published in 1678, which has been loved by believers in many nations. We note the point: not all Puritans were Presbyterian. Some were Baptists, and their view of baptism will be answered in Course 4.

William Perkins, mentioned above, trained preachers. Others, such as Richard Sibbes and Thomas Goodwin, wrote richly about Christ's tenderness toward weak believers. Goodwin was an Independent member of the Assembly.

These men also valued family life. They taught that marriage, as one man and one woman joined for life, is a gift of God, and that the home should be a place of daily prayer and Bible reading. In this the Puritans stand with Scripture (Genesis 2:24; Ephesians 5:22-33).

After 1660: Suffering and Spread

The monarchy returned in 1660 with Charles II. In 1662 the Act of Uniformity required every minister to use the Book of Common Prayer and to accept ordination by bishops. On St. Bartholomew's Day in August 1662, about two thousand ministers who could not agree gave up their pulpits. This is called the Great Ejection. Many were fined or imprisoned, and their families lost their livelihood. From then on, those who would not conform were called Nonconformists or Dissenters. In 1689 the Act of Toleration gave them freedom to worship under certain conditions.

Other Puritans had written their own confessions. The Congregationalists issued the Savoy Declaration in 1658 and the Particular Baptists published the Second London Confession in 1689. Both followed the Westminster Confession closely in doctrine. The Westminster Standards also passed to Scotland, Ireland and North America, and then, through missions, to Latin America, Africa and Asia. Units 8 and 9 trace that road.

Historians' Debates and Objections

Objection 1: The Puritans were joyless killjoys. The popular picture is of grim people who hated pleasure. Our answer. Their enemies sometimes drew this picture. The Puritans did oppose drunkenness, idleness and disorder, but they also taught that creation is God's gift to be received with thanks. The Shorter Catechism says that our chief end includes enjoying God. They loved marriage, music in worship, and good work.

Objection 2: The Puritans departed from Calvin. Some historians, such as R. T. Kendall, have argued that later English Calvinists changed Calvin's teaching on the atonement and on assurance. Other historians, such as Richard Muller and Paul Helm, replied that the sixteenth-century and seventeenth-century Reformed writers were more continuous with Calvin than that argument allows. Our answer. The two periods differ in style, since the later writers worked in a time of formal confessions and debate. But we hold that they taught the same gospel from the same Scripture, and the Reformed tradition has never counted itself bound to the exact wording of one man. Calvin himself taught that only Scripture binds the conscience.

Objection 3: The Puritans were intolerant. This must be admitted in part. In the 1630s Roger Williams was banished from Massachusetts for his views, and later Quakers were put to death there. Our answer. We do not defend these acts. The Reformed churches of today hold that the civil government should not compel conscience in matters of faith, and that the church's weapons are spiritual. The Puritans' faults were real, but they do not prove that the doctrine they taught from Scripture is false.

Objection 4: The Standards are only the product of a political crisis. Historians note that the Assembly was called by Parliament in a civil war and that its work was shaped by political need. Our answer. Parliament called the Assembly, but the content came from many years of Reformed theology, and each statement cites Scripture. The Standards were also received by churches in very different times and nations, which would be odd if they were only a political paper.

Objection 5: Confessions replace the Bible. Some Christians, including many sincere evangelicals, say, "No creed but the Bible." Our answer. We agree that Scripture alone is the final authority, and the Standards say the same in their first chapter. A confession is a servant, not a master. It states what a church believes the Bible teaches, so that members and elders know what they hold together. Course 3 will treat this at length.

Pastoral Application

A pastor in a small Presbyterian church in Cuba is starting a catechism class for the children of the congregation. One parent says, "We need only the Bible. Why do the children have to learn questions and answers from a document made four hundred years ago?"

First, the pastor receives the question kindly. The parent loves the Bible and wants the children to know it.

Second, he opens the Scripture. He shows 2 Timothy 3:16-17 and the command to teach children, as in Deuteronomy 6:6-7, and explains that the catechism is a short way of teaching what Scripture says.

Third, he reads aloud the first question of the Shorter Catechism with the parent and asks whether it agrees with 1 Corinthians 10:31. It does.

Fourth, he invites the parent to sit in the class and to test each answer by the Bible, as the Bereans did. The pastor shows that the catechism is meant to lead children to the Word and not to replace it.

Summary

The Puritans were English Protestants who wanted the Church of England further reformed by Scripture. They stressed the authority of the Bible, preaching, a holy life, and the doctrines of grace, and they produced fine pastors such as Perkins, Baxter, Owen and Bunyan. In 1643 Parliament called the Westminster Assembly, which met in London and produced the Directory for Public Worship, the Form of Church Government, the Confession of Faith (1646) and the Larger and Shorter Catechisms (1647), with the help of Scottish commissioners. After 1660 about two thousand ministers were ejected in 1662, but their writings and the Standards spread to Scotland, America and the mission fields. Historians debate whether the Puritans followed Calvin, and critics call them joyless or intolerant. We admit their real faults, and we hold that their central teaching is the gospel of Scripture.

Further Reading

• The Westminster Confession of Faith, the Larger Catechism and the Shorter Catechism (1646-47).

• Richard Baxter, The Reformed Pastor (1656).

• William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (1592).

• John Owen, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ (1647).

• John Bunyan, The Pilgrim's Progress (1678).

• John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion, trans. Henry Beveridge (1845).

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