Buy used: $32.00

Get Fast, Free Shipping with Amazon Prime

FREE delivery Tuesday, January 9 on orders shipped by Amazon over $35

Select delivery location

Used: Good | Details

Sold by Slcshop520

Fulfilled by Amazon

Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items.

Image Unavailable

Image not available for
Color:

To view this video download Flash Player

Follow the author

Horton Davies

Follow

The Worship of the English Puritans Paperback – January 1, 1997

by Horton Davies (Author)

4.8 7 ratings

See all formats and editions

This book, written by Princeton professor Horton Davies as a doctoral thesis in the 1940s explains the crux of Reformed worship, focusing on the Christ-centered, Scripture-based, reverential worship of the 17th century Puritans.

Print length

304 pages
Language

English
Publisher

Soli Deo Gloria Pubns
Publication date

January 1, 1997
Dimensions

5.75 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches
ISBN-10

1573580430
ISBN-13

978-1573580434
See all details

Joseph Bayly
65
Paperback
20 offers from $6.33
David Martyn Lloyd-Jones
42
Paperback
13 offers from $7.21
Gary Smith
70
Paperback
14 offers from $18.99
Aaron Chalmers
55
Paperback
17 offers from $11.99
John M. Frame
92
Hardcover
47 offers from $34.44
Jerry Wragg
43
Paperback
14 offers from $2.09

Product details

Publisher ‏ : ‎ Soli Deo Gloria Pubns; 2nd ed. edition (January 1, 1997)
Language ‏ : ‎ English
Paperback ‏ : ‎ 304 pages
ISBN-10 ‏ : ‎ 1573580430
ISBN-13 ‏ : ‎ 978-1573580434
Item Weight ‏ : ‎ 12.8 ounces
Dimensions ‏ : ‎ 5.75 x 0.75 x 8.75 inches

Best Sellers Rank: #2,067,096 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
- #439,183 in Religion & Spirituality (Books)

Customer Reviews:
4.8 7 ratings

Important information

To report an issue with this product or seller, click here.

About the author

Follow authors to get new release updates, plus improved recommendations.

Horton Davies

Brief content visible, double tap to read full content.

Full content visible, double tap to read brief content.

Discover more of the author’s books, see similar authors, read author blogs and more

Customer reviews

4.8 out of 5

7 global ratings

3 star

0%

2 star

0%

1 star

0%

How customer reviews and ratings work

Sort reviews by

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.

Byoung

Five Stars

Reviewed in the United States on September 18, 2017

100% satisfied

Academic but very thorough and thought-provoking

Reviewed in the United States on January 31, 2009

Summary: A largely academic approach in examining the history of Puritan worship, but very thorough and informative on several critical issues surrounding worship and the Word of God. This is a much needed work in our day.

On the back cover of this book is written:

"There has, arguably, been no more pure worship since the days of the Apostles than that of the English Puritans of the 17th century. It was Christ-centered, Scripture-based, and reverential. God was the focus of all the elements of worship. He was the focus of the preaching, the praying, and the praises. This book explains the crux of Reformed worship."

Indeed, in The Worship of the English Puritans, the foundational elements of Puritan worship -included how it was first formed and then defended- are explained in great detail, and Horton Davies gives a detailed, historical analysis of the disagreements and debates between the Puritans and the Church of England.

The first thing that struck me about this work was how academic it was. On the surface, the author doesn't seem to have much of an agenda. And throughout the work, it is more of a recounting of history -plentiful in quotes and sources- than it is an examining of the Puritan's claims in light of scripture. Nevertheless, it was a book that I simply couldn't put down.

Regulative Principle of Worship
The importance of the book clearly lies in how the Puritans go back and forth with the Church of England, the Episcopalians, the Roman Catholic Church, and the separatists on the issues of public worship. Here we see the very beginnings of the Regulative Principle of Worship, where God's word is our sole guide in determining what is and is not necessary and acceptable in the public worship of the church.

On Page 64 the author candidly says:

"...the authentic puritan note: If God does not ordain these things in His worship, how can they either please Him, or be edifying to His people?"

Ultimately, this sola scriptura logic is used by the Puritans from beginning to end. For this book discusses in detail the debates in the church over Liturgy, specifically the orders and sets of worship, such as the Book of Common Prayer, set forms of prayer versus extemporary prayer, song and praise in worship, the preaching, the sacraments, as well as ordinations, services of marriage, funerals, and church discipline.

Furthermore, I found it refreshing that the author recognized how the issue of the total depravity of man's will played such a significant role in these debates. Clearly, he understood that the Puritans, working off of Calvin's doctrine of sin and its effect on man, stood against the Anglicans at this very foundational level. Given this, it almost seemed impossible that they would agree on anything. Thus, it was clear that the inability of man to scheme, to invent forms of worship himself, and indeed, to decide what was appropriate for worship, that played a pivotal role in the debate just below the surface.

Regarding the Puritan's stance:

"If they stood for the pure word of God, they stood out against all impurities which, by hypothesis, were the admixture of human traditions in doctrine and discipline. Their platform was based upon two tenets inherited from John Calvin...his doctrine of scripture...his reaffirmation of the doctrine of original sin in its most sombre colours." (P49)

Elaborate Show in Worship/Reverence
Just a quick note here, for this subject is barely dealt with in this work, but the Puritans "objected only to elaborate church music which did not edify the congregations..." (P271).

Furthermore, regarding elaborate shows in worship, art, elaborate choirs and musical arrangements, I found this quote fitting in light of the casual, indifferent attitude that is prevalent today:

"To call on the name of God, to claim the presence of the Son of God, if men truly know and mean what they are doing, is in itself an act so tremendous and so full of comfort that any sensuous or artistic heightening of the effect is not so much painting of the lily as varnishing of sunlight." (P270), B.L. Manning

Needed in our day
Without a doubt, we live in an age where the public worship of God is largely seen as an indifferent thing, an entertainment, or a means primarily aimed at healing our own emotional wounds. Not only have we lost the order, reverence, and devotion that the Puritans found fought so hard for, but we've lost the grasp on scripture that teaches us that Christ is the Head of the Church, and that God's word is the sole guide to how we worship Him.

Consider,

"...that God's worship hath no accidentals, that all that is in it and belonging to it, and the manner of it, is false worship, and if it have not a divine institution in particular; that all liturgies, as such, are such false worship...used to defeat Christ's promise of gifts and God's spirit." (John Owen, quoted on P113)

And,

"The end wherefore God granted his word unto the church was, that thereby it might be instructed in his mind and will as to what concerns the worship and obedience that he requireth of us, and which is accepted with Him. This is the whole scripture itself everywhere declares and speaks out until all that do receive it; as 2 Tim 3:15-17;...it supposeth, it declareth, that of ourselves we are ignorant how God is, how he might be worshiped, Isa 8:20. Moreover, it manifests him to be a `jealous God', exercising that holy property of his nature in an especical manner about his worship, rejecting and despising every thing that is not according to his will, that is not of his institution, Exod 20:4-6." (John Owen, quoted on P257)

Are not reminders like these sorely needed in our churches today? Don't we likewise need a resurgence, by God's grace, of the firm old doctrines of Sola Scriptura, Total Depravity, and the Regulative Principle of Worship?

Conclusion:
I must also say, however, that with all that I agreed with in reading this book, I found myself challenged at times by the presentations of the Anglicans/Church of England in opposition to the Puritan's Regulative Principle. This book certainly made me stop and think on just why it is that I believe what I believe about the instructions God has given us in the area of public worship. But what an edifying look back that this turned out to be. How refreshing it is to see God's truth shine as pure gold through all the disagreements and debates that sometimes cloud our understanding.

This book was not exactly what I expected. It isn't devotional or warm; rather, I found it very academic and didactic. But given the importance of the issues at stake, then as much as now, I mark this work down as a vital contribution to the reformation of today's churches. We MUST know where Protestantism came from, and how we got to where we are today. We not only need a recovery of the precious truths the Puritans fought for, but we need bold men like them as well. Men confident in the scriptures, bold to declare what God's word says, and not swayed by public opinion or political pressure when it comes to the truth of God's word.

Follow the author

The Worship of the English Puritans Paperback – January 1, 1997

Customers who bought this item also bought

Product details

Important information

About the author

Horton Davies

Customer reviews

Top reviews from the United States

There was a problem filtering reviews right now. Please try again later.