Quest for Godliness # 5

The Puritan Conscience

The supreme concern of the Puritans was a concern about God and how to know him and serve him in order to bring him glory. Because of this ultimate concern for God and the glory of Christ they sought to bring their conscious captive under the Word of God. In Packer’s own words, “Conscience, to them, signified a man’s knowledge of himself as standing in God’s presence, subject to God’s word and exposed to the judgment of God’s law and yet – if a believer – justified and accepted nonetheless through divine grace” (108). The Puritans therefore sought to be in constant communion with their conscience for there their affections were pricked and shaped by the Word of the Lord.

Conscious is largely autonomous in nature and character. It often times runs contrary to our own wills in-spite of our efforts to suppress it and quite its voice. It stands over us as an authority distinct from our own personhood. Often it condemns us reminding us of where we broke God’s holy law and where we now deserve to face his eternal judgment. But as Christians our conscious also excuses us from the pending judgment of God as we are reminded and meditate upon the mercy and grace of God displayed for us in the person and work of Christ. Conscious can stand as God’s word of condemnation or God’s echo of peace which resonates sweetly in the ears of a justified sinner.

First, our conscience is to be subject to the Word of God. Our consciences are to be controlled and at all times under the authority of God’s Word. Our consciences when they are governed by the Word will serve as true and faithful guides in directing us in the ways of the Lord’s will for our lives. It is through the careful and dedicated study of Scripture whereby we are able to have our minds and consciences transformed by the Bible so that we may know the good and pleasing will of the Lord.

Second, the Puritans argued that Christianity was a personal religion. Godliness then was a matter of conscience. As Richard Sibbes noted, a “conscience is either the greatest friend of the greatest enemy in the world” (quoted by Packer, 115). For those who stand as unbelievers before the court of God they are continually judged and condemned by their conscience. However, those who are freely justified by the act of the Spirit, on account of Christ’s death they have a conscience which encourages them in the faith granting perseverance and hope. Therefore, a healthy Christian is one who has an intimate awareness of God’s working on their soul. They have knowledge of the Spirit enlightening the conscience.

Third, the Puritans view on conscience was mirrored in their preaching and teaching. The Puritan goal of preaching was application. Such application is nothing else than the working of the Spirit on the conscience to bring about obedience to the law of God and delight in carrying out the Lord’s commands. “The Puritans ripped up consciences in the pulpit and urged self-trial in the closet only in order to drive sinners to Christ and to teach them to live by faith in him” (117). The purpose of preaching toward the conscience was to herald Christ to those who are perishing and to those who need afresh the grace of Christ.

The Puritans not only taught about the conscience but proved their words by living them out during the trials of their time and remaining true to their consciences as captive to the Word of God. In 1662 many Puritans were ejected from church and country for failing to accord with the Acts of Uniformity. Their consciences bound them to the truth of God’s word and because of being so bound in conscience they suffered various levels of hardship and persecution.