Sometimes the Puritans are sort of seen as overly zealous in their piety.
You know, we have this understanding that there is always introspection, this is the
word that is sometimes associated with the Puritans.
We have these really urban legends of the Puritans, with four-hour sermons, and why
can't you sit there for thirty minutes, or the Puritans would pray for hours on end,
and I can't even pray for five minutes in the morning.
So what did J.I. Packer call them, the redwoods of the forest, right.
So, we have this image of the Puritans as almost super Christians.
And so one of things I think we've got to be aware of is how, understanding how they
understood piety, because I think it can help us not see them as some example we're unable
to follow, but actually see them as helpful to us.
And so, I'll come back to Edwards.
Edwards was a very pious person, but he also recognized that he could worship God as he
went on horseback rides through the Connecticut River Valley.
And I got to tell you this, the 1700s, the Connecticut River Valley was, I mean, today
it's one of the most beautiful places.
In Edward's day, the pristine nature of the Connecticut River Valley, it had to be beautiful.
And so, there was an earthliness to Edwards' piety and there was an earthliness to the
Puritans' piety, and we miss that sometimes.
And the other thing we want to say is, this isn't a development from Calvin; this is Calvin.
So Calvin's piety, and here too we think of Calvin as this rational figure.
You know, all you got to do is read the Institutes.
I mean, there are portions, there are portions in the Institutes that are just so, what we
would put in books today on the Christian life.
One of my favorite portions in the Institutes is the sections on prayer towards the end
of Book Four.
Calvin has this beautiful discussion.
He says, it's like, you know, imagine you've got a treasure chest in your yard and you
never bother to dig it up, you just leave it there.
You know it's there, you don't even bother to get a shovel and dig it up.
He says that's what prayer is like.
And, you know, as you neglect prayer, it's like leaving the treasure unearthed right
at your feet.
Why did you do that?
Alright, this is in the Institutes of the Christian Religion, right?
So let's think through that, the Reformers and piety and then the Puritans and piety.
But what can we learn.
I think we need to recognize that piety is ultimately godly living.
That's all it is.
It's a, it's recognizing that the call to being a Christian is a holistic call.
It's a holistic call to all walks of our life and to all areas of our life.
And there's no area of our life that is outside the view of worshiping God.
And it's either going to be done to advance our self-interests, or to advance our own
well-being, or it's going to be done to advance God and done in worship of Him.
And the Puritans grasped that.
It wasn't that, "Okay I'm going to have all, I'm going to spend four hours in prayer, I'm
going to spend four hours in Bible study, I'm going neglect life."
It was, "Yeah, I'm going to pray and study my Bible, I'm going to dig into this Bible
like anything.
But in all of life, I'm going to worship God."
And they had a capacious view of what serving God meant.
And sometimes, I think we just, we bifurcate these things.
We say, "Well, here this is spirituality, that's the church stuff, and then there's
my job, and then there's, you know, my family, and then there are my hobbies, and I don't
know how they fit.
So, they don't."
The Puritans would not get that.
And so, I think they help us.
Let's have that capacious view.
Let's recognize what worshiping God and serving God in all of life really means.
BINGHAM: Not just Sunday, Monday to Saturday.
NICHOLS: That's right, absolutely.