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others were, with the result that the former did not want to be distracted by people who fumbled their way through the words while the latter were often too embarrassed to speak up. In churches where the prayers had traditionally been chanted, it was almost inevitable that they would be left to the choir, since few ordinary worshippers had either the ability or the inclination to sing along. Most difficult of all was the inescapable fact that the prayers were much the same every week, or even every day. Could praying them really be called a heartfelt work of the Holy Spirit? Inevitably there were large numbers of clergy who merely rattled
the service off as best they could, and any sense that they were standing in the presence of God was easily forgotten. Finally, the official prayers had a political tone that did not always sit well with the hearers. The king, the royal family, and the parliament were mentioned on every possible occasion, while prayers for things like rain, which in a society that was still mostly rural is an important consideration, were optional and most unlikely to be known by heart. Whatever the original intention may have been, by the early years of the seventeenth century it seemed to many people that the official worship of the church was closer to the vain repetition of the Pharisees than it was to vibrant, Spirit-filled adoration of God.
IN BISHOP JEWEL’S DAY THE MASS OF THE POPULATION WAS STILL IGNORANT AND IT WAS POSSIBLE TO BELIEVE THAT IF THEY WERE RIGHTLY INSTRUCTED THEY WOULD TURN AND EMBRACE THE TRUTH. BY BUNYAN’S TIME IT HAD BECOME CLEAR THAT THIS WAS NOT GOING TO HAPPEN. THOSE WHO WERE TRULY FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT OF GOD WERE A SMALL MINORITY; THE REST WERE NOT SO MUCH IGNORANT AS DOWNRIGHT MALIGNANT, TO USE THE WORD IN VOGUE AT THE TIME, AND HOSTILE TO THE GOSPEL.
36 | CREDO MAGAZINE | NOVEMBER 2014
PURITANISM: HEARTFELT PIETY IN THE FACE OF WOODEN LITURGY This reality did not go unnoticed, and it was tackled by a number of ministers, most of whom would be what we now call Puritans. Puritanism is difficult to define precisely, but it is safe to say that it was a movement of heartfelt piety in the face of a wooden liturgy learned by rote and repeated without thinking. It is important to note that the Puritans seldom objected to what the set prayers said, but doubted whether those who repeated them could possibly be filled with the Spirit. The prayer of the heart had to be ex tempore or it was not genuine, and it was taken for granted that anyone filled with the Spirit