Preach to Pierce the Heart: Applying Scripture with the Puritans – Jeremy Walker

ABSTRACT: Puritan sermons are rife with application because Puritan preachers believed the word of God needs to be brought home to the mind, heart, and will of its hearers. Building on biblical precepts and following biblical patterns, the Puritans applied Scripture to their hearers with simplicity, thoroughness, and force as they trusted the Holy Spirit to strengthen the saints and lead sinners to repentance.

For our ongoing series of feature articles for pastors and Christian leaders, we asked Jeremy Walker, pastor of Maidenbower Baptist Church in Crawley, England, to explain how the Puritans applied Scripture in their preaching.

I hope that you appreciate a discriminating ministry. I do not mean a discriminatory ministry, marked by unfair bias or cruel prejudice, but discriminating, marked by discernment and insight, with careful distinctions between truth and error, between genuine and spurious conversion, between true and false experience, between truth in principle and in practice, and between different spiritual categories and classes of people. In preaching, such a ministry distinguishes itself by the depth and power of its application.

Application is bringing truth to bear upon the souls of your hearers. You would not introduce a can of paint into a room and claim that the work of painting is done. The paint needs to get out of the can and onto the wall — you need paintbrushes and rollers to work the product over every surface and into every crevice. You would not rest a nail against a plank of wood and suggest that the labor of construction is complete. The nail needs to be driven home at the right point by a well-directed hammer. Likewise, faithful preachers do not introduce truth — even biblical truth — into a room full of people and declare that a sermon has been preached. God’s word needs to be brought home.

The Puritans were masters of application. It was not merely an element of their preaching but the essence of their preaching. A typical Puritan would not have known whether to laugh or cry if told to leave truth dangling and hope that the Spirit applies it, as some might suggest today. They would have thought that practice both a denial of their pastoral duty and an insult to the Spirit of God. Their approach turns us from the tepid performance of toothless homilies, teaching us to bring God’s truth to bear upon men’s souls, in dependence on the Holy Spirit.

Biblical Precepts

The Puritans were not merely creatures of their context. They followed principles and practices from the Bible. The very nature of the “living and active” word of God is to cut and to pierce. It is inherently sharp and pointed, penetrating deeply and accurately, even “to the division of soul and of spirit,” bringing the hidden to light (Hebrews 4:12–13). The word “comes upon the conscience with such piercing dilemmas, and tilts the sword of conviction so deep into their souls, that there is no stanching the blood, no healing this wound, till Christ himself come, and undertake the cure.”1

Those qualities in Scripture are not to be relied upon passively but employed actively. Paul encouraged Timothy to be faithful to the gospel, reminding him that “all Scripture is breathed out by God and profitable for teaching, for reproof, for correction, and for training in righteousness, that the man of God may be complete, equipped for every good work” (2 Timothy 3:16–17). The word of God, in the hands of the gospel minister, must be brought to bear in various ways for the good of souls. Scripture tells us the right way, shows when we are out of that way, calls us back into the right way, and leads us in that way, so that Christ is comprehensively formed in us. Thus Paul exhorts Timothy, “I charge you in the presence of God and of Christ Jesus, who is to judge the living and the dead, and by his appearing and his kingdom: preach the word; be ready in season and out of season; reprove, rebuke, and exhort, with complete patience and teaching” (2 Timothy 4:1–2). The language of preaching in the New Testament indicates more than merely speaking truth: preachers herald; they evangelize, teach, exhort, comfort, and persuade.

The Puritans knew their Bibles. They were persuaded of a scriptural requirement to apply the word of God to men’s consciences. They knew that real preaching — under God — is meant to move men.

Biblical Patterns

The Puritans found instruction and example throughout their Bibles. In the Old Testament, they found men like Ezra and his companions, who “read from the book, from the Law of God, clearly, and . . . gave the sense, so that the people understood the reading” (Nehemiah 8:8).

Their preeminent model was the Lord Jesus, whether in pressing home the truth to individuals like Nicodemus (John 3:1–15) and the woman at the well (John 4:1–42), publicly denouncing woes upon the Pharisees with unerring accuracy (Matthew 23:1–36), or bringing commandments and comforts to his disciples in anticipation of his departure (John 14–16).

They also delighted in the earnest ministry of John the Baptist, who recognized and responded to the different characters and behaviors of those who heard him preach (Luke 3:10–14). They had the examples of apostolic sermons in Acts: Peter at Pentecost and Paul at Antioch or before Felix, Festus, and Agrippa. They considered what the apostles said to congregations and individuals in letters. They studied the Pastoral Epistles and labored to heed Paul’s charge to Timothy: “Keep a close watch on yourself and on the teaching. Persist in this, for by so doing you will save both yourself and your hearers” (1 Timothy 4:16).

The Puritans were not novel in their practice of application. They self-consciously stood in a scriptural tradition and were simply the latest to take up the baton.

Puritan Practice

With such precepts and patterns pressing upon their souls, the Puritans applied the word of God to the souls of men. A Puritan might speak of “improving” a text or doctrine. His meaning was not to make the text better but to make the best use of the text. They expected their hearers to profit from what they heard, and they labored to help them. Hearers were to think about the sermon, to meditate and reflect upon it, to work out and act upon its various implications, to make the most of what they heard. If the sermon was God’s gold, the congregation should invest it so as to get the best return. Richard Sibbes (1577–1635) advised his hearers,

We should be stirred up to beg the spirit of application, to maintain our communion and intercourse with God, that we may apply every thing duly and truly to ourselves and our own souls. All is to no purpose else, if we do not apply it, if it be not brought home to our souls and digested throughly [sic]2 in our hearts. We must say, This is from God, and this belongs to me; when we hear truths unfolded, to say of ourselves, This concerns me, and say not, This is a good portion and a good truth for such a one and such a one, but, Every one take out his own portion, this is for me. God saith, “Seek my face; thy face, Lord, will I seek,” with a spirit of application.3

Likewise, Vincent Alsop (1630–1703) closed a sermon about Christians not dressing like worldlings with this exhortation:

The use and application must be your own. This sermon will never be complete, till you have preached it over to your souls by meditation, and to the world by a thorough reformation. And if you slight this advice and counsel, yet remember the text, however: — that God “in the day of his sacrifice will punish all such as are clothed with strange apparel.”4

Puritan pastors did not believe that the work of application took place only on the preacher’s side of the pulpit. Faithful hearers were just as much engaged. However, it was the duty of the preacher to pursue and enable such application to oneself in dependence on the Holy Spirit. To that end, they aimed to apply God’s word with simplicity, thoroughness, specificity, selectivity, and force — all of which will improve our preaching today.

SIMPLE

Puritan preachers intentionally adopted a plain style. They wanted not to impress their hearers but to see the truth impressed upon their hearers. They had no interest in being applauded; they sought to be useful. Theirs was the eloquence of simple, clear, direct speech.

Sermon structure also lent itself to such clarity. I am not suggesting that our sermons today should precisely mirror a typical Puritan sermon (if there is such a thing), but it is worth considering their approach. Many Puritan sermons began with exegesis, in which the depth of the preacher’s learning was largely hidden behind a fairly brief explanation of the text. Next came the doctrine, drawing out a particular principle and stating it in straightforward language. Then came the “uses” — the explanation and application of the doctrine drawn from the text. The bulk of many a Puritan sermon was pure application.

THOROUGH, SPECIFIC, SELECTIVE

Puritan application was thorough and specific. William Perkins (1558–1602), one of the fathers of the Puritan movement, provided an application grid in his book The Art of Prophesying.5 He identified seven categories of people to whom you might be speaking: unbelievers who are both ignorant and unteachable; those who are teachable but yet ignorant; those who have knowledge but are not as yet humbled; those who are humbled; those who do believe; those who are fallen (retreating or backslidden); and the mingled people who would have composed a typical assembly where Perkins and his fellows preached.

For each group, Perkins has specific counsels and suggestions. He goes on to suggest that for each group there are both mental and practical applications to bring. Here he depends on 2 Timothy 3:16 again. Mental application can be doctrinal or “redargutive” (reproving); practical application can be instructive or corrective. With seven categories of people and four lanes of application, you have twenty-eight potential angles of approach. Thus Perkins wisely says, “Any place of Scripture ought to be handled, yet so as that all the doctrines are not propounded to the people, but those only which may be fitly applied to our times and to the present condition of the church. And they must not only be choice ones, but also few, lest the hearers are overcharged with their multitude.”

In other words, though thorough and specific, preachers must be selective. We need to know our congregation and to apply appropriately. Jeremiah Burroughs (1600–1646) holds himself back, saying, “I will enlarge my self no further in the opening of this point, but come presently to apply it, for this point is applicatory rather then [sic] doctrinal, and I shall content my self with three or foure branches of application and so conclude.”6 What wonderful restraint! Or you see the precision of Thomas Lye (1621–1684), preaching on the true believer’s union with Christ, in bringing his applications under four clear headings: “information, examination, consolation, exhortation.”7 He tells his congregation what to expect and delivers what he has promised.

Notice the breadth and strength of Puritan application. When God’s truth is brought to bear, it is meant to change us and so is applied with that intent across the whole of our humanity. Every faculty of the heart is involved — reason, affection, volition — and every aspect of life is affected. The way we think must be conformed to the Scriptures (Romans 6:11; 12:1–2). The way we feel must be directed by the word of God (John 13:34; 15:12; Romans 13:8; 1 John 2:15; 3:23; 4:7). What we long for must be governed by what our Lord says (1 Peter 2:2). Our thoughts, words, and deeds are all directly addressed without embarrassment or restraint (Romans 12:9; cf. Isaiah 1:16–17).

These applications were not mere legalistic demands, nor were they unrealistic expectations. The Puritans knew how to move from the divine indicative to the divine imperative, to ground the holy demands of God in the gracious acts of God. In this they were, again, thoroughly scriptural, thoroughly apostolic. The power of God in salvation brings us into willing submission to him and makes his law our delight (Psalm 119:174; Romans 7:22). If we believe in the promises, precepts, and provisions of the word of God, we have every right as preachers to desire, seek, direct, encourage, and expect comprehensive holiness in the lives of those who hear us. Whether offering an appeal to come to Christ for salvation or pressing home the Father’s will upon his adopted child — bringing instruction, exhortation, admonition, or consolation — the Puritans expected evangelical obedience from those in whom the Holy Spirit was powerfully at work (1 John 2:3–6; Galatians 5:25). It was not a case of “Do this, and live” but “Live, and do this.”

FORCEFUL

Furthermore, the delivery of such truth was forceful and pointed, without compromising a spirit of gentleness and evident concern for the good of souls. We have seen the language of the sword employed from Hebrews 4:12. The Puritans had no difficulty with that manly and martial picture, being content with imagery which many today might find vigorous or even aggressive. They illustrated the labor of application with other metaphors too. Thomas Brooks (1608–1680) affirmed, “Doctrine is but the drawing of the bow; application is the hitting of the mark. How many are wise in generals, but vain . . . in their practical inferences. A general doctrine not applied, is as a sword without an edge, not in itself, but to others; or as a whole loaf set before children, that will do them no good.”8

But remember, too, that this edge in application is for healing as well. In the context of a sermon on the divine presence with distressed Christians, he asks, “Is it so, that when the people of the Lord are in great troubles, deep distresses, and most deadly dangers, that then the Lord will be favourably, signally, and eminently present with them?” With that in mind, he offers ten inferences to bring encouragement to troubled saints. For Brooks, pastoral application involved drawing the bow at different “targets,” thoroughly applying comforts, exhortations, and warnings to various hearers.

Sibbes used similar imagery:

If food be not taken, what good doth it do without application? The word of God is a sword: what will a sword do if it hangs up in a man’s chamber? or if it be not used when the enemy approacheth? The application of the sword of the Spirit gives the virtue to it. It is to no purpose else. Divine truths are physic. If it be not applied, what use is there of physic?9

Take also the counsel of William Bates, reminding ministers that public faithfulness is to be matched by private care:

The useful diligence I have been urging upon ministers, is not only necessary in public solemn preaching the word, but in seasonable applying it to particular persons within their compass and care. Of this we have an excellent pattern in St. Paul, who gives this account of his spiritual work: “We preach Christ, warning every man, and teaching every man in all wisdom; that we may present every man perfect in Christ Jesus.” A minister should with watchful diligence take all opportunities for the saving of precious souls; and sometimes one short lesson seriously applied to a person in private, more powerfully affects the conscience, and moves the affections, than a long and well studied sermon.10

The Westminster Standards include a Directory for the Publick Worship of God exhorting preachers

not to rest in general doctrine, although never so much cleared and confirmed, but to bring it home to special use, by application to his hearers: which albeit it prove a work of great difficulty to himself, requiring much prudence, zeal, and meditation, and to the natural and corrupt man will be very unpleasant; yet he is to endeavour to perform it in such a manner, that his auditors may feel the word of God to be quick and powerful, and a discerner of the thoughts and intents of the heart; and that, if any unbeliever or ignorant person be present, he may have the secrets of his heart made manifest, and give glory to God.11

Such is the Puritan practice of application.

The Preacher’s Pursuit

If preachers today would walk in the footsteps of the Puritans as physicians of souls, we need to apply the word of God to our hearers. This practice does not work apart from or against the Holy Spirit but rather in dependence on and expectation of him. Truth must not merely be known but be lived, which means truth must be applied. Brooks asserts,

We shall now come to the use and application of this point to our own souls, remembering that close application is the very life and soul of teaching. And as a man doth not attain to health by reading of Galen, or knowing Hippocrates his aphorisms, but by the practical application of them to remove the disease; so no man will attain to true happiness by hearing, reading, or commending what I have spoke or writ, but by a close application and bringing home of all to his own soul. The opening of a point is the drawing of the bow; but the application of the point is the hitting of the mark.12

Elsewhere, Brooks hurries along (by Puritan standards!) in a sermon, “because I would not unwillingly keep you longer from the use and application of the point — application being the life of all teaching.”13

Application is the life of all teaching. The sermon must have a point, and that point is to change the way hearers are thinking, feeling, and acting. We preach to the conscience. We preach to the mind, heart, and will, bringing the word of God to bear with the prayer that it will hit home, pierce the soul, and bring true salvation to sinners and increasing holiness to saints. James Durham (1622–1658) agrees: “Application is the life of Preaching; and there is no lesse studie, skill, wisdom, authority and plainnesse necessary in the applying of a point to the Consciences of Hearers, and in the pressing of it home, than there is required in the opening of some profound truth: and therefore Ministers would study the one as well as the other.”14

As preachers work diligently to apply the text, they must not forget their first target: themselves. With his typical insight and force, John Owen (1616–1683) writes,

A man preacheth that sermon only well unto others which preacheth itself in his own soul. And he that doth not feed on and thrive in the digestion of the food which he provides for others will scarce make it savoury unto them; yea, he knows not but the food he hath provided may be poison, unless he have really tasted of it himself. If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us. And no man lives in a more woful [sic] condition than those who really believe not themselves what they persuade others to believe continually.15

We preach to ourselves. Unless we first nourish ourselves on the food we serve to others, we are in a truly desperate state. When the word dwells with power in us, then — with the blessing of God — it will pass with power from us.

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