The Bible was the guide book for Puritans in many ways, and Christ was at the heart of that. Just as Calvin did, so also Puritans stressed the doctrine of union with Christ in all functions of their Sacraments, worships and sermons. Simply put, union with Christ was, to Puritans, not the end but the beginning of their spiritual lives. John Owen, a well-known Puritan scholar, explained well how could Puritans apply the union with Christ for their spiritual development (John Owen, Works, 3:563).
Something exists in us that is of a spiritual nature and spiritual efficacy. It is something abiding in us, acting in continual opposition against the flesh or sin. It is also called a new creature - something that has the nature of a living creature; and a divine nature. Now nature is the principle of all operations; and this is that habit of grace or principle of holiness that we plead for. Hereby we have union with Jesus Christ, the head of the Church. (John Owen, The Holy Spirit: His Gifts and Power, 307).
In addition to that, the Puritan view of human conscience was in the process of special development at that time, and the reason was that they thought the conscience was the intellectual function by which men could perceive the direction of God. They always thought that the most important thing in human life was purifying the soul by the illumination and instruction of conscience. Accordingly, they believed that they could not reach true spiritual realizations and perfect pieties unless they opened widely to the Word of God and submitted themselves to the Lord.
In that sense, Puritans were the real expositors on conscience. William Ames, a Puritan scholar, said that conscience was "a man's judgement of himself, according to the judgement of God of him" (William Ames, Conscience with the Power and Cases thereof, 2). The conscience usually speaks to us without any relation with the will, and moreover, sometimes contrary to the will. Conscience always speaks to us with its absolute authority. Therefore, to personify conscience as the sentry and agent of God is not the simple jump of illusion but the necessity of human experiment.
The doctrine of justification is the practical guide for human conscience. With the work of Holy Spirit, conscience instructs us of the way to obey God. We either reject both Holy Spirit and the conscience, or submit to them, just as "the Spirit himself testifies with our spirit that we are God's children" (Rom. 8:16). This verse says that two witnesses testify our childrenship of God. Namely, the Holy Spirit confirms the witness of our conscience. Holy Spirit witnesses to us the everlasting love of God not indirectly, but directly and intuitionally.
The doctrine of conviction is also the Puritan heritage which has much influence on afterages. Puritans believed that the truly regenerated person had some kind of sign in their souls. Going toward grace, they realized their spiritual state by these convictions. Then, while justification brings forth sanctification, sanctification is the witness of justification. So Puritans often identified this conviction with the fruit of faith or characteristics of faith. And they believed that the simplest answer to the real conviction of salvation was replying positively to the question, "Have you received Christ?"
Puritans differentiated true belief from rational belief. They said that rational belief regarded Bible only in a historical manner generally, that it was merely a belief of the mind, not of the soul. Therefore, rational belief is not saving faith. Like heathen morality, it is a thoroughly natural product. Natural reason cannot be expected to reach so high as grace because by definition it had been corrupted. Faith demands the acceptance of things above reason; grace fills men with the power to believe the impossible.
Men can be instructed in the meaning of Scriptural words and be made proficient in its logic. But for them to see the spiritual nature of the work that is manifested and communicated, they must be instructed by the Spirit. Faith originates from spiritual illumination. The Holy Spirit illuminates the soul, by which men can receive the spiritual things and are deeply impressed.
Thomas Goodwin said, when the Lord was working in us, the Holy Spirit was also doing two things. First, the Spirit gives us new sight that can recognize Christ (I John 5:20). Second, additionally, coming as the light, the Spirit gives spiritual knowledge on that sight. This spiritual knowledge which the Spirit gives is more certain than any other witness. Therefore, the doctrine of conscience, the explanation of the witness of Spirit, and the doctrine of assurance were the core values of Puritan spirituality, and they have become the solid foundations of the eighteenth century Wesleyan Pneumatology and other evangelical spiritualities afterward.
Rev. Dr. Bonjour Bay (BonChul Bae) has been a professor of Historical Theology at SungKyul University, Korea since 1989. He also serves as Researcher on Spiritual Movement and as English Ministry Director. He studied at Canadian Thelogical Seminary (M. Div.) and Seoul Theological University (Th. M., Ph. D.). He wrote more than 20 books on Church History and on Pneumatology including History of Pneumatological Perspective.
