Puritan Conferences

In this profound address, delivered at one of the Puritan Conferences held at Westminster Chapel 1950-1970, Dr. J.I. Packer explores the heart of Puritan theology through their understanding of communion with God. Drawing primarily from John Owen's classic treatise, Packer demonstrates how the Puritans viewed communion with God as the central purpose toward which all creation and redemption point. He contrasts modern evangelical attitudes—which treat communion with God as something taken for granted—with the Puritan approach, where it was a source of constant wonder and awe. The sermon unfolds Owen's sophisticated analysis of communion as a relationship of mutual interchange with the Triune God, emphasizing friendship with the Almighty and the necessity of disciplined worship and meditation for deepening our walk with Him.

Is it possible to know the truth yet remain unchanged by it? In this message titled "Summing-up: Knowing and Doing," Dr. Martyn Lloyd-Jones addresses the Westminster Ministers' Conference with a sobering challenge about the relationship between knowing and doing. Based on John 13:17, "If ye know these things, happy are ye if ye do them"—Dr. Lloyd-Jones warns against the subtle danger of being content with mere intellectual knowledge while neglecting practical application. He challenges believers to move beyond reaction against error to positive pursuit of God, beyond discussion of doctrine to demonstration of power. Addressing concerns about missionary zeal, communion with God, and genuine spiritual joy, Dr. Lloyd-Jones calls the conference to examine whether their understanding of Reformed doctrine translates into intimate knowledge of God. This is not a traditional sermon but a pastoral exhortation before corporate prayer—a plea to stop limiting God to the boundaries of personal experience and to seek the pneumatic reality promised in Scripture.

The year 1662 marked a decisive turning point in English church history—the final defeat of Puritan hopes for a truly Reformed Church of England. In this penetrating historical address, Dr. Lloyd-Jones examines why the Commonwealth period's promise collapsed into the Restoration Settlement, when two thousand faithful ministers were ejected from their pulpits for refusing to compromise their convictions. What caused this catastrophic failure? The answer reveals uncomfortable truths: the fatal mixture of religion and politics, devastating divisions among those who agreed on doctrine, and the persistent allure of establishment thinking that preferred state sanction to spiritual purity. <br><br>Yet Dr. Lloyd-Jones does not merely recount history—he applies it with surgical precision to the contemporary church. Standing at a moment when everything seemed "in the melting pot" once more, with denominational barriers weakening and new ecclesiastical arrangements emerging, he warns that the same dangers threaten again. The lesson of 1662 is primarily one of warning: against allowing secondary matters to divide those united on gospel essentials, against seeking worldly methods to advance spiritual ends, against the compromises that flow from desiring state recognition over faithfulness to Scripture. Here is a clarion call to prioritize the purity of the gospel, the freedom of the church, and the authority of conscience above institutional unity or political expedience.

Does Calvinism stifle missionary zeal, or does it fuel it? This charge against Calvinism has persisted for generations, yet a careful examination of church history reveals a very different story. In this Westminster Puritan Conference address, B.R. Easter presents a comprehensive historical survey demonstrating that the great pioneers of Protestant missions—from John Calvin's sending of pastors to Brazil, to John Eliot among the American Indians, to David Brainerd's sacrificial ministry, to William Carey's launch of the modern missionary movement—were men firmly rooted in the doctrines of grace. Far from paralyzing evangelistic effort, the Reformed faith provided the very theological foundation that sustained these missionaries through overwhelming obstacles.</br></br> Easter traces the development of missionary thought and practice from the sixteenth century through the modern era, showing how each new advance in missions sprang not from a weakening but from a revival of Reformed doctrine. The address distinguishes carefully between hyper-Calvinism, which did indeed hinder the free offer of the gospel, and classical Calvinism, which held together both God's sovereign election and the universal call to repent and believe. The discussion that follows, chaired by Dr. Lloyd-Jones, probes the practical implications for contemporary believers: What produces genuine missionary passion? How does one's view of Christ as the only Saviour drive evangelistic urgency? This conference paper stands as a powerful corrective to the notion that Reformed theology chokes missionary concern, demonstrating instead that when rightly understood, the doctrines of grace possess within themselves the dynamic and impetus for worldwide gospel proclamation.

It may come as a surprise that the Puritan pastors were among the greatest advocates of Christian joy. In this address from the 1961 Puritan Conference at Westminster Chapel, Thomas J. Gwyn unfolds the rich Puritan teaching on the nature, duty, and practice of rejoicing in God—drawing extensively from Richard Sibbes, Richard Baxter, and John Howe. Far from the popular caricature of sour-faced moralists, these godly men insisted that joy is the reasonable and commanded state of every believer, grounded not in temperament or circumstance but in the gracious nature and being of God Himself. Gwyn traces the Puritan distinction between carnal mirth and holy joy, the directions they gave for cultivating delight in God, and the intimate connection between joy, faith, conscience, and the ministry of the Word.<br/><br/>The address is followed by a lively discussion chaired by Dr. Lloyd-Jones, in which the conference wrestles with pressing pastoral questions: Can a Christian be both unhappy and joyful at the same time? What is the relationship between the duty of joy and the experience of spiritual desertion? Must we define our doctrine by our experience, or ought our experience to conform to what Scripture commands? Dr. Lloyd-Jones insists that joy is indeed a doctrine and a duty, rooted in the command to "rejoice evermore," and that our whole danger is to approach the matter subjectively rather than heeding the command of God. The discussion brings the Puritan teaching to bear on the realities of the Christian life with both theological precision and warm pastoral concern.