PART THREE – The Doubting Believer by Obadiah Sedgwick
Jeremiah Burroughs was one of the great preachers of the middle part of the Puritan period. He died in 1646 in his late forties, having written many helpful books, among which are some classics. I’m thinking, for example, of The Rare Jewel of Christian Contentment. I would also throw in his book Gospel Worship, which is an extended reflection on Leviticus 10. Burroughs also became well known for a commentary on Hosea, which Spurgeon highly recommended. If the reader is yet unfamiliar with the writings of the Puritans, he can do far worse than choosing Burroughs to begin his journey into them. He is one of the easiest Puritans to read, and he is one of the most practical too.
The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit is Burroughs’ first book, and to me he has not quite gotten into his stride here. By “gracious spirit” the writer does not intend to indicate the spirit or temperament of a gracious person; that is, what it is to be gracious. Rather, he means a spirit that has the mark of God upon it; a man who is truly godly and who follows God faithfully. The second part of the book is given over to how to follow God fully. This second part is the best in my opinion. Somewhat confusingly, the chapters in Part Two go back to chs. one, two, three, etc.
The book begins with a rather wordy and illustration packed introduction (“To the Christian Reader”) by William Greenhill, famous for a commentary on Ezekiel. As the book proper starts the author launches into a description of what kind of spirit distinguishes a godly man. Burroughs doesn’t really define what he means by “spirit,” but he appears to mean something like mindset or cast of mind; a spirit not entangled with the world and its inducements. This chapter is overlong, but it is good. One may get tired of the constant use of the word “spirit,” and I think Burroughs’ style improved as time went on.
The chapters which follow examine the usefulness of the man who possesses this “gracious” or “grace-filled” spirit. Such a person is fit for any service of God, for he is tempered by God’s word and Spirit. This is followed by brief chapters aimed at the unregenerate or worldly spirits of the ungodly who are of “a different spirit.” This is why the two can hardly get along. I think these short chapters are most helpful. The Church needs to understand that one cannot lure the ungodly to the truth by appealing to their wants and felt needs. They must be transformed by the truth so that they become of another spirit – the spirt of the godly.
For some of the book it seems the author is missing the nail, but in doing so is still saying useful things. But when he begins extolling and commending the “gracious spirit” in chapter seven (on how a godly man “sticks out”) the writing becomes more terse and the exhortations more focused. Like in Part One, the lead-off chapter for Part Two, entitled “What It Is for a Man to Follow God Fully” is longer than those that come after. It is a great chapter, which the shorter chapters that follow build upon. All these chapters are valuable.
To give you a sampling of Burroughs’ in The Excellency of a Gracious Spirit I have chosen a snippet from the closing chapter of Part One where he is encouraging his reader to follow God:
“You, therefore, whom God has honored with excellent parts, that you may not be thus confounded another day before the Lord and His blessed angels and saints, be restless in your spirits till you find God has added a further beauty to them, even the beauty of holiness, the sanctifying graces of His Holy Spirit, that may make you lovely in His eyes, truly honorable before Him, and forever blessed of Him.” (118).
Jeremiah Burroughs’ first book is a strong entry. While to me it could have done with some editing here and there, particularly in the opening chapter and in the constant repetition of the word “spirit.” It is a helpful work. It also could have done with a section defining the main terms better, such as one finds in his later short book A Treatise on Earthly-Mindedness where he covers the ground far more briskly. Perhaps (I say it humbly) if Burroughs had utilized a text like Proverbs 16:32 or 20:27 rather than Numbers 14:24 to base his reflections on we may have gotten a more searching treatment of the term “gracious spirit”? Be that as it may, I commend the work. If one only reads the second half of the book it will more than repay the outlay.
In the Introduction to this series I said that I did not want to write panegyrics of the Puritans. Some of their work is brilliant all the way through. Some of it could do with editing down. Some of it is not all that it is hyped up to be. My purpose here is to evaluate Puritan books for those who, like me, want to know what they are likely to come across as they consider studying these men of God and their written legacies.
