Gloria Filiorum Patres

I can not recall if I had posted this prior, but I will post it again. We should not tire to read this and reread this . My plan is to post the most recent “Meeting” I have with a brief shorter synopsis than what is given in the book in order to wet your appetite but more importantly in order to assist me to remember my “Meetings”.
How to Profit from Reading the Puritans; ‘Meet the Puritans‘, Beeke and Pederson

1. They shape life by Scripture: “The Scriptures teach us the best way of living, the noblest way of suffering, and the most comfortable way of dying”, John Flavel
2. They marry doctrine and practice
   • Addressing the mind: An anti-intellectual gospel quickly becomes an empty, formless gospel that doesn’t get beyond “felt needs”
   • Confronting the conscience: “We must go with the stick of divine truth and beat every bush behind which a sinner hides, until like Adam who hid, he stands before God in his nakedness.” since we are prone to run for the bushes, we need daily help to be brought before the living God “naked and opened unto the eyes of him with whom we have to do” (Heb. 4:13).
   • Engaging the heart: They set forth Christ in His loveliness, moving us to yearn to know Him better and live wholly for Him.
3. They focus on Christ: “Think of Christ as the very substance, marrow, soul, and scope of the whole Scriptures.” (Isaac Ambrose)
4. They show how to handle trials: The Puritans show us how God’s rod of affliction is His means to write Christ’s image more fully upon us, so that we may be partakers of His righteousness and holiness (Heb. 12:10-11).
5. They show how to live in two worlds: Living in the light of eternity necessitated radical self-denial.
6. They show us true spirituality: Pray to emulate their spirituality by asking questions like these daily,
   • Am I, like the Puritans, thirsting to glorify the triune God?
   • Am I motivated by Biblical truth and Biblical fire?
   • Do I share the Puritan view of the vital necessity of conversion and being clothed with the righteousness of Christ?
   • Do I follow them, as they followed Christ?

An excellent resource to catapult you into further reading and study of those whose shoulders we are to stand on. Throughout, there are notations of books to further your study of a particular subject which were written by men who lived it.

Thomas Adams (1583 - 1652) ordained in 1604; seen as one who “behaved himself soberly in his conversation, painfully in his calling, lovingly amongst his neighbors, conformable to the orders of the Church, and in all respects befittingly to his vocation.”; held lectureship of St. Gregory’s, in London, a parish of 3000; more of a Calvinist Episcopalian than a Puritan, he did not oppose kneeling to receive communion, though he did embrace Puritan Theology; “Like Puritans, he craved careful observation of the Sabbath and was deeply hostile to Rome, the Jesuits, and the papacy, as well as to idleness, over indulgence in wordly pleasures, and conspicuous comsumption in all its forms” (J. Sears McGee);

Henry Ainsworth (1569 - 1622) though associated with Puritan party, became a Separatist (a Congregationalist who would not wait for reform to work from within); as a London Separatist refuging in the Netherlands many soon congregated in Amsterdam under his leadership as “doctor” or teacher of the church; he was either “wholly or in part” author of the church’s confession issued in 1596 (one of the earliest creeds); had a reputation for true godliness and graciousness; of his many contributions was “Ainsworth’s Psalter”, his metrical version of the Psalms which were carried across the sea to Plymouth Plantation in 1620;

Henry Airay (1560 - 1616) born near Lake Windermere; ordained in 1586; during his eulogy it was said, “noted and esteemed for his holiness, his integrity, his learning and gravity, his indefatigable pains in the discharge of his ministerial function, his singular wisdom and dexterity in the government of our college, which, by God’s blessing upon his care, hath sent forth many learned ministers into the church”;

Jospeh Alleine (1634 - 166 loved and served the Lord from childhood; it is said by a contemporary witness identified 1645 as the year of Alleine’s “setting forth in the Christian race”; From eleven years of age onward, “the whole course of his youth was an even-spun thread of godly conversation”; began Oxford at age 16 and sat at the feet of such great divines as John Owen and Thomas Goodwin; married an “active woman who feared God deeply” (also happened to be his cousin); he was an early riser, devoting the time between 4:00 and 8:00 o’clock to the exercises of private worship; His wife often said that he “would be much troubled if he heard smiths or other craftsman at work at their trades, before he was at communion with God: saying often to his wife, ‘How this noise shames me! Doth no my Master deserve more than t theirs’”; When ejected for nonconformity in 1662, he took this opportunity to increase his public labors, believing his time was short. He preached on average one or two sermons every day for nine months until he was arrested. The night before his arrest, he preached and prayed with his people for three hours and had declared, “Glory be to God that hath accounted me worthy to suffer for His gospel!”; after being released and arrested several more times at age 34, weary from hard work and suffering, he died in full assurance of faith, praising God and saying, “Christ is mine, and I am His - His by covenant” ; Doctor Iain Murray writes, “Never did an evangel of Jesus Christ burn more fervently in any English heart!”;

Richard Alleine (1611 - 1681) uncle and father-in-law to Joseph Alleinee; ; ordained in 1634; declared himself a Puritan by subscribing both to the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643, and then to a local confession, “The Testimony of the Ministers in Somersetshire to the Truths of Jesus Christ”; ejected in 1662 for nonconformity; known for his piety and soul searching ministry as well as his writings, all of which are spiritual and practical in nature;

Vincent Alsop (1630 - 1703) it was through his marriage to a local minister who influenced him to embrace Purianism vigorously; ejected in 1662 for nonconformity; known in his day as an avid polemist and “emancipator of Restoration dissent”; wrote several works attacking the errors of his day; his efforts for reform set the stage for 18th century nonconformists;

Isaac Ambrose (1604 - 1664) ordained in 1624; appointed as one of the king’s four itinerant preachers for Lancashire; the king’s preachers were commissioned to preach the Reformation doctrines in an area that was srongly entrenched in Roman Catholicism; he declared himself a Puritan and a Presbyterian when he subscribed to the Solemn League and Covenant of 1643; due to illness and continued arrests he moved north where in 1662 he was ejected due to nonconformity; he retired and lived amongst his friends before dying suddenly; it was said of him, “He was holy in life, happy in his death, honored of God, and held in high estimation by all good men” ; though his life diary has been lost, he included two lengthy journals in a writing of his, Media. These reveal his deep passion for seeking and experiencing the “joy unspeakable and full of glory” of Jesus Christ, our divine bridegroom;