The Westminster divine John Greene wrote a delightful and ravishing extended poem, that is now for the first time republished from nearly 400 years ago. As with all good poetry, be sure to read it out loud.
A Brief Unveiling of God and Man’s Glory: A Poem 1641, 31 pages, with a 7 page introduction by Travis Fentiman
The Biblical and puritan answer to this question is: Yes. Let us not only ask the question, but be willing to practice the answer as well.
Here is a delightful poem (46 stanzas) on meditation and spiritual conferencing by the puritan Richard Rogers (1603):
The elders of the Church of Scotland during the mid-1600’s (the time of the Westminster Assembly) regularly met together for spiritual edification. Samuel Rutherford derived this practice from 1 Cor. 14:29-32. Alexander Henderson tells us what it looked like:
The Church of Scotland on the Spiritual Conferencing of Elders
All worship is regulated by God’s will as revealed in scripture. If we are committed to having Biblical worship, then everything in our worship must be derived from scripture’s teaching, either by command, example, or necessary inference. Are uninspired creeds found in worship in the Bible? This article will help you to search the scriptures and the mind of God on this question.
William Gouge, one of the Westminster divines, has the lengthiest treatment on saying Amen after public prayers that I have found. It is very helpful and well worth your consideration, so that you may say Amen with more conviction and belief than heretofore.
Do you verbally affirm public prayers by saying ‘Amen’ at the end as the Bible teaches?
Andrew Fuller (1754-1815 ) grew up in hyper-calvinist circles where it was denied that man has any ability to do what God says, in any sense of the word. The practical effects of such error is extremely detrimental. But by God’s grace, Fuller saw the error, came to grips with it, and since has spoken more to the issue than just about anyone else in church history.
Richard Rogers’ (1551-1618) famed reply to the scoffer, ‘I serve a precise God’, gave the occasion for the puritans to be called ‘precisionists’. These two very experientially rich sermons on conversion lay the entrance to God’s kingdom sweetly low: to any that thirst for it. Rogers, with a discerning and soft hand, reproves worldly minded persons who do not desire the best things (even their own salvation), shows that the way to be saved is to thirst for it (for those that desire what God offers), and assures those that do thirst that God will surely make good his end of the deal. It is in thirsting that the Christian continues in this life to receive the best spiritual graces from God for everything that he or she needs.
Two Sermons on Conversion from Isa. 55:1-2, 1612, 29 pages, including a Publisher’s Introduction and a Preface by Rogers
Louis Berkhof and William Shedd, both reformed theologians, distinguish the difference very clearly.
The Difference Between Reformed Common Grace and Arminian Common Grace
Some of the modifications to the original Westminster Confession continue to fly under the radar for many reformed Christians in America. R.A. Finlayson points out one of them. He was a professor of the Free Church of Scotland in the mid-1900’s. This is from his Reformed Theological Writings of R.A. Finlayson, 1996, Christian Focus Publications, p. 268
“Similar action [of modifying the Westminster Confession] was resorted to among the Presbyterian Churches of America, by which, among other changes, ‘wholly inclined to all evil’ was changed to ‘wholly inclined to evil’ on the presumption that no individual transgressor can be committed to ‘all evil’. It is forgotten, however, that the Confession puts the emphasis on the ‘inclination’, and its statement is merely an affirmation that the roots of every kind of sin are in the heart of fallen mankind.”
The quote has been added to this page:
The Interpretation and Defense of the Original Westminster Confession
In this day and age of internet hyper-calvinism, sometimes the obvious must be stated:
You Must Choose Christ to be Saved
While man is passive in being born again, he, receiving a new nature that inclines to that which is spiritually good, is 100% active in turning from sin to Christ. Thomas Manton, the puritan exhorts us to choose Christ, and William Cunningham the 1800’s Free Church of Scotland professor lays out the theology behind it.
Herman Bavinck and William Cunningham are quoted on the origin and history of the term ‘Irresistible Grace’, that it was never meant to deny resistible grace.
Nettleton (1783-1844) was a Calvinist pastor from Connecticut who was influential in America’s Second Great Awakening. His writings are very rich, fervent and are highly recommended. Quotes from him on striving with the Spirit, the Fatherhood of God, and Natural vs. Moral Inability have been added to their respective pages. Enjoy:
Historic Reformed Quotes on the Fatherhood of God
Gardiner Spring (d. 1873), also a Calvinist pastor from New England involved in the Second Great Awakening, has been added on Fatherhood as well.
The Common Operations of the Spirit
Nettleton on Natural vs. Moral Inability