Answer Key for Students

The Story of the Puritans: Course SOP

Mount Zion Bible Institute

Note: the answers given herein are often quoted directly from the text, but your answers in all cases should
be in your own words.

Lesson 1 The Relevance of the Puritans

1. a. Teaching which engenders holy living.
b. Personal answer.
2. a. The belief that man can solve all his problems through rational though and the scientific method.
b. Where there is no absolute right or wrong, truth is considered a matter for each person to decide, the overriding
value is tolerance.
c. The concept of sin, Gods unchangeable holy moral law, morality.
3. a. Belief that man can decide for himself which parts of the Bible are valid and which parts should be considered
invalid.
b. Using the mind to think and analyze
c. The Puritans always upheld the Scriptures as a sure foundation, the valid and inerrant truth of God.
4. a. Where basic truths were proclaimed as essential, combating their denial by the Liberals.
b. It added to the basic truths 1) a pre-millennial view of prophecy and sometimes Dispensationalism, 2) other
minor issues not in the Bible as dos and donts, producing a deadly spirit of self-righteousness.
c. It defended and promoted the essential doctrines, without majoring on minor issues. It allowed for several
eschatological positions without creating division. It concentrates on the state of a persons soul. I afforded
Christian liberty and holiness.
5. a. It is more broad, friendly, and accepting.
b. It compromised on the central issue of the authority, inspiration, and inerrancy of Scripture.
c. A solid foundation was laid for the authority of Scripture.
6. a. 1) The reality of spiritual experience, 2) the demonstration of spiritual power, and 3) joy in public worship.
b. 1) The Puritan focus is on the believers union with Christ and the ongoing application of this union in practical
experience, not on seeking emotional experiences. 2) They acknowledged the need for spiritual power in
preaching and service, but that this was given to all believers who walk in obedience, and is not a separate
demonstration of signs and wonders. 3) They followed the regulative principle that public worship is
regulated according to the specifics of the New Testament. Joy comes from faithful preaching, reading of
Scripture, prayer, and singingthere is no need to imitate the world.
7. a. The easy-believism which uses an altar call and pronounces people converted simply because a decision for
Christ is made.
b. Extreme Arminianism focuses on human responsibility to the exclusion of Gods sovereignty. It emphasizes
that a person can choose himself of his own free will whether to trust Christ or not, and has only to pray a
prayer and be pronounced forever saved from hell. It allows that a saved person can continue to live a life
of selfishness and sin, because only his decision is needed for salvation.
c. Hyper-Calvinism focuses on Gods sovereignty in saving men from the just punishment for their sin to the
exclusion of human responsibility, which causes a lack of obedience to the Great Commission for
witnessing to the lost.
8. a. It stresses the importance of the moral law, and holds to a post-millennial positionwhich foresees that
Christianity will prevail to the point where civil governments around the world will become Christian.
Reconstructionism stresses the application of biblical teaching to every facet of life.
b. They also upheld a high regard for the Old Testament moral law as a guide for conduct, and for instructing
legislators.
c. They would not emphasize theonomy (the application of OT Law to public life). Their focus was on the
transforming power of the gospel, not on reforming society through legislation.
9. a. It does not deal with the evils of the world, the devil, or sin, because it is busy with all sorts of family and
social programs.
b. They helped people too, but by spiritual power of the preaching of the Word to bring down the opposition of
darkness.
10. a. Total depravity, Unconditional election, Limited atonement, Irresistible grace, Perseverance of the saints.

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 b. A focus on truth without practical application can lead to cold formality, spiritual pride, and even distort the
gospel by adding conditions to salvation by grace alone.
c. It focuses on these truths, but in the context of the believers union with Christ which brings with it the
beautiful combination of salvation by grace alone and holiness (and humility) in life.
11. a. It denies the common grace of God in love toward all men, and implies that God hates the non-elect
b. 1) The biblical manner in which they held to the different facets of the love of God, and 2) the way in which
they held in harmony the doctrines of divine sovereignty and human responsibility.
12. Personal answer.

Lesson 2 The Beginnings of the Puritans

1. The Puritans transformed the nation from a people of spiritual apathy, to those who actively were learning from
the Bible and applying it to their lives.
2. There was a lack of true spirituality, following a haphazard collection of practices rather than clear coherent
doctrine. It was Roman Catholic.
3. Originally, from the Anabaptists in London. During late 1500s as a fellowship of committed pastors who
emphasized the great centralities of Christianity. Later, it was those who were holy in way of life. Then,
after the Armenian/Calvinist controversy, it was those who followed the doctrines of grace.
4. He translated the Bible into English, and had it printed and distributed widely.
5. She burned at the stake those leaders who would not be Roman Catholics.
6. The powerful testimony of the sufferings of martyrs cause people to think about the injustice of it, and seek after
the faith of the martyrs that allowed them to face death with peace and confident victory.
7. To completely reform the Church of England in its government and form of worship.
8. He taught from the Scriptures about the need to reform church government, faithfully taught others who wrote
effectively, and published a statement with issues for reform.
9. a. He excommunicated her form the Roman Catholic Church.
b. It strengthened opposition to the Pope and, with the invasion by Catholic Spain, caused people to see Roman
Catholicism as an enemy of England.
10. Many refused to conform to these arbitrary and external imposed acts intrusions of man into spiritual life.
11. He served humbly in a small village, faithfully taught younger men, and refused to engage in bitter quarrels over
minor things.
12. He was focused on the essence of godliness amidst a busy life of service in multiple arenas.
13. He taught at Cambridge, faithfully preached and wrote effectively, and served in the prisons and other practical
ways..
14. He was master of Emmanuel College at Cambridge and a faithful preacher/teacher for fifty years.
15. a. Magistrates engaged their own preachers in market towns to deliver weekday sermons. Free from conformity to
the Church of England they were able to teach the Word clearly.
b. These were popular meetings for preaching the Word expositorily (verse by verse with explanation) and for
discussion afterwards.

Lesson 3 The Full Flowering of the Puritans

1. Very little, as he saw reform as a threat. But he agreed to a new translation of the Bible (the Authorized Version)
which we now also call the King James Version.
2. a. Personal answer, taken from: by nature rash, irritable, quick to feel for his own dignity, slow to sympathize
with the sufferings of others, and prone to the error, common in superstitious men, of mistaking his own
peevish and malignant moods for emotions of pious zeal.
b. Personal answer.
3. Bitter persecution; there was no parliament, only the king and the landed noblemen.
4. William Laud attempted to enforce the Church of England Prayer Book on the Scots, who were Presbyterian.
England attacked Scotland, but was defeated. Parliament became very impatient with royal authority and
popery. Finally, the King attempted to arrest members of Parliament.
5. A gifted military strategist and a gifted leader of men. He led his own men into battle, and never suffered a defeat.
He insisted his men practice the highest fear of God, personal discipline, and moral behavior. He
surrounded himself with men of prayer.
6. The practice of religious liberty; the Westminster Assembly and the wonderful, timeless Westminster Confession
of Faith; the depth and quality of leadership of Puritan pastors.
7. It has concise statements of biblical insight, setting out the major doctrines of the Christian faith so that all could
understand.

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8. Fierce revenge from Anglicans upon the Puritans; a reversal of all religious freedoms requiring strict conformity to
the Church of England; suffering and persecution of the non-conformists.
9. The influence of their preaching was greatly diminished under the antagonistic king. The Clarendon Code required
conformity, and many were arrested or forced out of their positions and livelihood. Non-conformists were
barred from the universities, reducing the education level and quality of teaching. There was also disunity
between the Presbyterians, the Congregationalists, and the Independents. There were very few quality
leaders to replace those who passed on.
10. a. It is similar today: people desire to silence those who uphold awareness of sin, holiness and the sovereignty of
God.
b. Personal answer.

Lesson 4 Conclusion
1. here we have a race of preacher-pastors who believed in expounding and applying the whole counsel of Gods
Word with all the hard work that requires. This was a labor in which they sought the closest conjunction of
the Holy Spirit with the Word.
2. a. For profundity and reliability in theological formulation.
b. For evangelistic and pastoral zeal.
c. For compelling, powerful preaching.
3. J.C. Ryle (1816-1900), C.H. Spurgeon (1834-1892), Horatius Bonar (1808-1889), Martyn Lloyd-Jones (1899-
1981). You may want to also consider some modern Puritans: John Piper, R.C. Sproul, Joel Beeke, John
MacArthur, Alistair Begg, D. James Kennedy.]
4. - the Christian family and the Lords Day;
- a stable doctrine of divine sovereignty and human responsibility;
- the biblical doctrine of sin;
- a view of the moral law as a principle of conduct for the regenerated heart to glorify God in the obedience of
faith;
- a robust prayer and devotional life;
- the importance of keeping the heart with all diligence, and of the reality of spiritual warfare and the need to be
watchful;
- it is eminently biblical and balanced in its proportion of doctrine, experience, and practical application.
5. The Puritan hope for the future growth of the Church is God-centered and founded on promises that cannot fail.
The Puritan doctrine of the last things inspired prayer, motivated effort, inculcated endurance, and
strengthened patience.
6.. Personal answer.

Thank you for your work in studying the Story of the Puritans through this course.
Please write for your next course now.

Mount Zion Bible Institute

2603 W. Wright Street
Pensacola, FL 32505 USA
e-mail: school@mountzion.org web: www.mountzion.org
a ministry of Mount Zion Bible Church

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