The Puritan's Dealings with Troubled Souls: 5

This is the fifth part of an essay written by G. A. Hemming, taken from the collection of essays called "The Puritan Papers". This essay is from volume 1 in that series. Enjoy.  :  )

C. It's Causes

The Puritans realised that this withdrawing of the realised presence of God could arise from a number of different causes which may, for our convenience, be grouped under three subheadings.

(a) Sin unrealised or unconfessed.

It is at this point that the Puritans show two things, first their own view of the seriousness and extent of sin and second their understanding of the strange and tortuous workings of the human mind. The Puritan pastor was not merely content that his people should reject sin in a general sense, he was always ready to particularise, and he found, as men have always found, that there is vast difference between a general acceptance of a principle and an acceptance of the detailed application of that principle. The Puritan pastors therefore made a point of detailing the ways in which their people might be falling into sin and did not hesitate to approach them and point out their failings. Not that they found this an easy task, nor did they find a ready acceptance of their reproofs or probings. Baxter comments ruefully that however gently and graciously a pastor admonishes or reproves an individual member of his flock, yet frequently his reproof is met with resentment rather than with amendment of life. Furthermore, the Puritan approach to this matter was never negative only; they recognised the seriousness of sins of omission as well as sins of commisssion, and they were quick to point out that failure to perform duty and failure to obey, in detail, the commandments of God was just as much sin as the more obvious forms. Here then was one of the most common causes of the loss of God's favour and gracious presence---unrealised sin.

The Puritans recognised further that sin mights be realised yet not confessed. Says Guernall, "Thou mayest, though a child of God, be under fresh guilt and defilement as yet unrepented of. Now in this case---God can shut His door upon His own child. As a saint, thou hast a right to all the promises of the covenant: but as a saint under guilt or the defilement of any sin that thou hast not yet repented of, thou art not fit to enjoy what thou hast a right to as a saint. God doth not disinherit thee indeed, but He sequesters the promise from thee, and the rents of it shall not be paid to thee till thou renewest thy repentance and faith on the Lord Jesus for the pardon of it. Thy God will choose a fitter time than this to signify His love to thee."

For this reason they laid much stress on the keeping of short accounts with God; let a man, they said, make his peace with God at the close of each day. Let him search his heart and conscience in the light of God's word, and let him be quick not only to recognise, but to confess and mourn for his sin. They saw, as few of us today have seen, all that was implied both antecently and subsequently by the prayer "Restore unto me the joy of my salvation."