Meet The Puritans

C. H. Spurgeon’s Attitude Towards Thomas Manton

Posted on 14. Jul, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

“While commenting upon the One Hundred and Nineteenth Psalm, I was brought into most intimate communion with Thomas Manton, who has discoursed upon that marvellous portion of Scripture with great fulness and power. I have come to know him so well that I could choose him out from among a thousand divines if he were again to put on his portly form, and display among modern men that countenance wherein was a ‘great mixture of majesty and meekness.’ His works occupy twenty-two volumes in the modern reprint: a mighty mountain of sound theology. They mostly consist of sermons; but what sermons! They are not so sparkling as those of Henry Smith, nor so profound as those of Owen, nor so rhetorical as those of Howe, nor so pithy as those of Watson, nor so fascinating as those of Brooks ; and yet they are second to none of these. For solid, sensible instruction forcibly delivered, they cannot be surpassed. Manton is not brilliant, but he is always clear; he is not oratorical, but he is powerful; he is not striking, but he is deep. There is not a poor discourse in the whole collection: he is evenly good, constantly excellent. Ministers who do not know Manton need not wonder if they are themselves unknown.

Inasmuch as Manton used but a few figures and illustrations, it came into my head to mark them all, for I felt sure that they would be very natural and forcible: I will give you the reasoning of which this volume is the result. I thought that here we should find a set of workable illustrations. It never occurred to this good man to introduce a metaphor by way of ornament; he was too intent upon telling his message to think about how his sentences might be adorned, and hence it fell out that if he did use a simile, it was because one was absolutely needful, or, at least, because it was the preferable mode of making himself understood. Here, then, is a man whose figures will be sure to be usable by the earnest preacher who has forsworn the baubles of rhetoric, and aims at nothing but the benefit of his hearers. I thought it worth while to go through volume after volume, and mark the metaphors; and then I resolved to complete the task by culling all the best figures out of the whole of Manton’s works. Thus my communing with the great Puritan ends in my clearing his house of all his pictures, and hanging them up in new frames of my own. As I leave his right to them unquestioned and unconcealed, I do not rob him, but I bless him by giving him another opportunity of speaking.

One kind of work leads on to another, and labor is lightened by being diversified: had it not been for ‘The Treasury of David’ I had not been found among the metaphors of Manton.

I see it is thirteen years ago since I issued a volume of illustrations; I may surely take the liberty to put forth another. The former was entitled, ‘Feathers for Arrows; it has met with a large sale, and it may be presumed to be useful, seeing it has been appropriated, almost every scrap of it, by the compilers of Cyclopaedias of Illustrations.

To make this little book more generally acceptable, I have thrown it into a somewhat devotional form, using Manton’s figures as texts for brief meditations: this I humbly hope may be found profitable for reading in the chamber of private worship. The latter half of the work was composed in the gardens and olive-groves of Mentone, where I found it a pleasure to muse, and compose. How I wish that I could have flooded my sentences with the sunlight of that charming region! As it is, I have done my best to avoid dulness, and to aim at edification. If a single practical truth is the more clearly seen through my endeavors, I shall be grateful; and doubly so if others are helped to make their teaching more striking.”

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, “Preface,” in Illustrations and Meditations, or, Flowers From a Puritan’s Garden, Distilled and Dispensed (London: Passmore and Alabaster, 1883).

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Praying “in the Spirit”: Puritan Style

Posted on 08. Jul, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

Many young evangelicals today are on the “Geneva” or “Westminster Trail.” Going out from the comforts of such evangelical churches is difficult and a great unknown. One unknown area is what churches in the Reformed tradition believe about the relationship between the Holy Spirit and prayer. At the 2010 Ligonier West Coast Conference I had the privilege of discussing my journey. This led to some wonderful conversations with some Assemblies of God brothers in attendance about the work of the Holy Spirit. In the end, I pointed them in the direction of the Puritans such as John Owen as a magnificent example of the depth of teaching in our tradition on the Holy Spirit. In a word, we are not afraid of him, but we have close communion with him.

One perennial passage Pentecostals (myself being one formerly) turn to as evidence of their belief and practice is Jude 20. In the King Jimmy it says, “But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost.” Although John Owen did not exposit this passage as far as I can tell, one of his contemporaries did. In his A Practical Commentary; or An Exposition with Notes on the Epistle of Jude, Thomas Manton gave a clear exposition (Manton, Works 5, 334–341). According to Manton, the importance of praying “in the Holy Ghost” was that “God will own nothing in prayer but what cometh from his Spirit; any other voice is strange and barbarous to him” (Manton, Works 5, 336). This was a common Puritan theme, which John Owen also expressed in these words: “It is the language of faith and love alone, and the like graces of his Spirit, that God hears in his worship. Other voices, cries, and noises he regards not; yea, at least, if not some of them in themselves, yet all of them when these are wanting, are an abomination unto him” (Owen, Works 9, 74). In sum, since prayer in the Spirit is the only kind of prayer God receives, believers need to offer it. Yet Manton went on to say that it is “a work too hard for us.” This is why believers need the Holy Spirit: “we can babble of ourselves, but we cannot pray without the Holy Ghost; we can put words into prayer, but it is the Spirit puts affections, without which it is but a little cold prattle and spiritless talk” (Manton, Works 5, 337).

Manton went on to explain this Spirit-filled prayer in some detail in terms of what the Christian was given by the Spirit in Christ in contrast with what mankind lost in Adam. Adam “maimed” humanity in terms of God’s gifts and graces. Because of this, and in order that believers’ prayers “may be answerable, the Spirit bestoweth upon us the gift of prayer” (Manton, Works 5, 337–338). These gifts were both extraordinary in the days of the apostles as well as ordinary now in the lives of all believers. Of these ordinary gifts in relation to prayer, Manton described them as “special dexterity whereby men are able to put their meaning into apt words.” As ordinary gifts, the Holy Spirit uses the ordinary means of the lives of Christians to bring them about: hearing, reading, and meditating upon the Word, as well as conference with believers and other ordinary habits (Manton, Works 5, 338).

Finally, Manton detailed how the gracious work of the Holy Spirit in prayer was either habitual or actual. The habitual assistance of the Spirit was his work whereby he implanted a new habitus into his new creatures that they might pray to him as they ought; a duty they could not perform previously. He “createth and preserveth these gracious habits in the soul, and doth excite the soul to act, and doth assist it in acting according to them” (Manton, Works 5, 233; cf. 12, 235). This habitus he described elsewhere as “the renewed soul” that was “the proper inward and vital principle” of all the new actions of believers (Manton, Works 5, 232). Manton’s concern, though, was with the actual assistance of the Spirit, saying that although believers are regenerated and have a new habitus of prayer, they still needed to be “moved and assisted by the Holy Ghost” (Manton, Works 5, 339). His movement of the believer was in terms of the time of prayer, the matter of prayer, as well as the manner of prayer in affection, confidence, and reverence (Manton, Works 5, 339–340).

In a word, praying “in the Spirit” for Puritans such as Manton, meant that the child of God prayed because the Spirit of God gave him the ability to pray and to do so in complete reliance upon the Spirit himself.

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Mondays with Manton (4)

Posted on 08. Mar, 2010 by Danny Hyde.

I recently preached a sermon on the prophetic office of Jesus Christ and found one of Thomas Manton’s sermons on Matthew 17:5 to be of immense help and blessing.The sermon is sixth of seven in his collection, Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons (Works 1, 258–411).

The sermon picks up Matthew 17:5, “This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well-pleased; hear ye him.” He begins this sermon by setting out the scopus of the text as being “to set forth the Lord Jesus as the great mediator” (Works 1, 392) and further narrowing that down to the prophetical office. Manton then stated the doctrinal theme of the text: “That Christ is appointed by God the Father to be the great prophet and teacher, whose voice alone must be heard in the Church” (Works 1, 393).

What I found so helpful was his discussion of what it means to “hear” Christ. He distinguished three types of hearing: first, the receiving of sounds, which animals can do; second, the understanding of the sense and meaning of these sounds, which all humanity (ordinarily) can do; and third, assenting and consenting with the mind, which disciples alone can do (Works 1, 395). And this hearing that disciples engage in was to lead to obedience.

He then asked the great pastoral question his hearers must have been thinking: “How can we now hear Christ, since he is removed into the heaven of heavens, and doth not speak to us in person?” (Works 1, 396) Manton’s answer? He cited passages such as Hebrews 2:3–4 and 2 Corinthians 5:20 to show that Christians are to hear Christ through the writings of the apostles—the Scriptures.

It so so wonderful to know that the Scriptures are the viva vox Christi and that we are enabled to hear his voice in the reading and especially preaching of the Word by the power of the Holy Spirit. Hear him!

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Mondays with Manton (3)

Posted on 28. Sep, 2009 by Danny Hyde.

This week we want to continue through Thomas Manton’s (1620–1677) “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons” (Works 1, 258–336; available through Reformation Heritage Books). Sermon 3 treats Matthew 4:5–6.

This is a particularly insightful and practical sermon on the role of Satan and angels in Christ’s temptations and ours.

In dealing with Satan’s use of Psalm 91:11–12, Manton described “the devil’s cunning in citing Scripture” (Works 1, 278). Just as Satan disguises himself as an angel of light and just as he “took the habit [clothing] and guise of a prophet,” in this account he “cometh like a divine [theologian], with a Bible in his hand, and turneth to the place; here the enemy of God cometh with the word of God, and disguiseth the worst of actions with the best of words, opposeth God to God, and turneth his truth to countenance it” (Works 1, 278). Manton applied this with a general principle: “Christians, you have not to do with a foolish devil, who will appear in his own colours and ugly shape but with a devout devil, who, for his own turn, can pretend to be godly” (Works 1, 278).

In the second half of the sermon Manton offered several observations. The first was that although Christ rejected Satan’s first temptation he continued “like a troublesome fly that is often beaten off” since “Satan is incessant in his attempts against the saints, and is ready to assault afresh upon every occasion” (Works 1, 280). Because of this Christian must incessantly watch for him.

The third observation is an allegorical one. Since Satan took Christ up to the pinnacle of the temple and tempted him to cast himself down, Manton observed: “If Satan lead us up, it is to throw us down” (Works 1, 282). This observation has spoken most to me as I pray I do not allow my head to be lifted up so high in pride by Satan that I come crashing down to the destruction of myself and everyone around me.

Observation six is the longest and deals in two parts with the ministry of angels. Manton speaks of them not as ministers of conversion and sanctification but of preservation (Works 1, 284). He then digresses into the age-old question of whether each believer has a guardian angel. Manton’s answer? “It is enough for us to believe that all the angels are our guardians” (Works 1, 285). He went on to say that their ministry was not cura animarum, the care of souls, but ministerium externi auxilii, the service of outward help, which he further describes as custodia corporis, custodians/guardians of the body (Works 1, 285). Why did the Lord choose to work through angels? For four reasons: 1. to manifest the great love and care which God hath over his people, 2. we understand the operation of finite agents better tan infinite, 3. to counterwork the devil, and 4. to begin our acquaintance, which in heaven shall be perfected (Works 1, 285).

What use is this ministry of the angels towards us in our temptations? This shows us our happy state as God’s people, since “no heirs fo a crown have such guards as they have” (Works 1, 285). This breeds confidence and comfort in difficulities when all visible help seems at an end (Works 1, 286). This should cause us to live holily because they are among us (Works 1, 286).

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Mondays with Manton (2)

Posted on 14. Sep, 2009 by Danny Hyde.

This week we want to continue through Thomas Manton’s (1620–1677) “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons” (Works 1, 258–336; available through Reformation Heritage Books).

Sermon 2 treats Matthew 4:2–4. As with sermon 1, Manton follows the classic Puritan plain style of preaching, opening with the basic scope of the text, structuring his sermon along the lines of the text itself, deriving doctrines, and offering uses of those doctrines for his hearers’ souls’ sake.

Under the heading, “The Occasion,” Manton delves into the depths of catholic Christology in dealing with Christ’s forty days and nights of fasting. This reveals his true humanity, since Christ “submitted to all our sinless infirmities,” and his divinity, since it “enabled him to continue . . . without eating or drinking anything” (Works 1, 267). Here Manton shows us how we can preach the intricacies of Chalcedonian Christology all the while doing so in a way that is understandable and experiential. Not only this, Manton shows us that it is necessary to know our theology and to preach that theology when it arises from the text.

Under the heading, The Temptation Itself,” Manton exposits the devious ways of Satan so well, but all the while doing so to highlight the true sufferings of our Savior as well as our need to be on guard for his wiles. For example, Manton gives a general proverbial statement concerning the Devil’s work in tempting Christ when he was hungry: “Satan fits his temptations to men’s present case and condition” (Works 1, 268). One of the wonderful things Manton points out is that this temptation of Satan was intended “to weaken his [Christ's] confidence in the care and love of God’s fatherly providence” (Works 1, 270). We don’t think enough of the fact that as our truly human elder brother, Jesus needed to trust in the Lord. In doing so, he lays a foundation for our doing so as well!

Under the heading, “Christ’s Answer,” Manton may sound moralistic to our overly-sensitive biblical-theological/redemptive-historical ears, when he speaks of Christ’s answering Satan with Scripture: “This answer is not given for the tempter’s sake, but ours, that we may know how to answer in like cases, and repel such kind of temptations” (Works 1, 272). But is it not the point of the biblical-theological movement that because of our union with Christ we live out of Christ? If Christ answered the Devil with Scripture, we who are in union with him need to do as he did: “It is no longer I who live, but Christ who lives in me” (Gal. 2:20).

In conclusion, Manton offers five “observations” from the text that are theological and practical in nature. Again, here is where Manton is so good. He exposits the text and he applies the text.

1. “God may leave his children and servants to great straits” (Works 1, 273).
2. “The devil maketh an advantage of our necessities” in order to tempt us “to unlawful means to satisfy our hunger . . . to question our adoption . . . to draw us to a diffidence and distrust of God’s providence” (Works 1, 273–274).
3. “In tempting, Satan pretendeth to help the tempted party to a better condition” (Works 1, 274–275).
4. “Satan’s first temptations are more plausible,” meaning, he tempts us with little things that don’t sound so bad at first (Works 1, 275).
5. “There is no way to defeat Satan’s temptations but by a sound belief of God’s all-sufficiency, and the nothingness of the creature” (Works 1, 275).

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Puritan Moralism?

Posted on 13. Sep, 2009 by Mark Jones.

Antinomianism has always been an enemy of the true Christian faith.   As Rabbi Duncan said: “All sin is antinomianism” because all sin is against God’s law.  The recent work of Chad van Dixhoorn has demonstrated that the major enemies of the Westminster divines were not the Roman Catholics or even the crypto-Popish Laudians, but instead Antinomian theologians whose influence in the 1640s was rapidly gaining ground. Other examples, besides the 17thC, would be the Majoristic controversy in 16thC or the Marrow debate in 18thC.  But, in this post, I want to focus on the Puritans and their views on the necessity of holiness for all Christians. [...]

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Mondays with Manton (1)

Posted on 07. Sep, 2009 by Danny Hyde.

Thomas Manton (1620–1677) was called “the king of preachers” at his funeral. Anyone that has ever used his expositions of James or Jude for their sermon preparation knows this to be true. All told, his Works comprise twenty-two volumes and over 10,500 pages, most of which are sermons. Reformation Heritage Books sells the reprinted twenty-two volume set for an amazing price of only $250. Google Books has the complete set. Here is volume 1.

Among his expositions of Scripture are “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons” (Works 1, 258–336). In Sermon 1 on Matthew 4:1, Manton followed the classic Puritan plain style of preaching, opening with the scope of the text, structuring his sermon along the lines of the text itself, deriving doctrines, and offering uses of those doctrines for his hearers’ souls’ sake. This sermon is full of biblical imagery, doctrine and comfort. Listen to this line as Manton expounded the lesson that temptations come not by chance but from God himself: “If tempted, when we are in Satan’s hand, remember Satan is in God’s hand” (Works 1, 259). Beautiful! Sounds like Luther’s famous line, “The devil is God’s devil.”

In expositing the point that Christ’s temptation occurred immediately before he entered his prophetical office, Manton offers the following lesson: “Experience of temptations fits for the ministry” (Works 1, 261). Manton did not merely moralilze this principle out of thin air to perk up his congregations’ attention, but he derived it from the Christology of the text itself. His point was that we as ministers are prepared for the ministry just as Christ was prepared for his prophetic office by means of temptation. Why? What was the purpose of Christ’s being tempted first, and congruously, what is our purpose in undergoing temptations? God’s purpose for Christ as for us was “for the recovery of poor souls out of their bondage into the liberty of the children of God” (Works 1, 261). In a word, Christ was tempted that he might help those who are tempted. And the same is true of us as ministers of the gospel. We cannot help those in bondage to sin unless we ourselves know what it is to be filthy, depraved sinners who constantly feel the Devil’s breath upon the back of our necks. Manton went on to say that God gave his Son to temptation by the Devil that “he should experimentally feel the power of the tempter” that assaults and endangers our souls (Works 1, 261).

Have we as ministers come to grips with just how depraved our sinful nature is? Are we in a constant and conscious war with Satan? We must for we minister best what we know and need ourselves. As Manton concluded:

Ministers should not only be men of science, but of experience.

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Blogging through Thomas Manton’s Sermons on The Temptation of Christ

Posted on 01. Sep, 2009 by Danny Hyde.

Just a note that I will begin blogging through the first part of Thomas Manton’s “Christ’s Temptation and Transfiguration Practically Explained and Improved in Several Sermons.”

You can find these sermons in Manton’s Works, volume 1.

Reformation Heritage Books sells the reprinted twenty-two volume set for an amazing price of only $250.

Google Books has the complete set. For volume 1 click here.

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