Why Puritan?

What does the title of my blog mean? The Carleton County signifies the place where I currently live and work in ministry, Jacksonville, New Brunswick. Historically this area has been known as NB’s Bible Belt, due to the influence of evangelical Baptist, Pentecostal and Wesleyan churches.  I currently serve two small churches, one in Jacksonville, the other in the nearby town of Hartland.

But why puritan? The word conjures up thoughts about self-righteous, legalistic moralists. As Mencken wrote, “Puritanism: The haunting fear that someone, somewhere, may be happy.” Much of my reading and study has been in the lives and writings of the Puritans, and the caricature is far from the reality. My love for their writing goes very deep, but I will give three main reasons why I follow in their footsteps.

1)     Their love and knowledge of Scripture. The depth of Biblical reference in their writings and sermons is astounding. They did not possess the exegetical tools that we have today, but they had an awe-inspiring respect for the Bible as the Word of God.

2)      Their spiritual lives. For the Puritans, life was a life of prayer. Adoration, confession, thanksgiving: all played a huge role in their daily lives. Devotional books from their era have impacted generations of English Protestants.

3)      The Puritans fought the good fight, but lost most of the battles they fought within the Church in England. They became outcasts, non-conformists. Driven from their churches in 1662, they continued to write and preach out of their faith in the working of God, knowing that God could do, what they could not. As an evangelical toiling in the United Church of Canada, their example shows that battles may be lost, but the message always remains. SDG