Samuel Danforth’s sermon concerns the abatement of the Jews’ original fervor to hear John the Baptist in the wilderness. When John began to preach, the people flocked to “see that burning and flaming light, which God had raised up.” Their zeal, however, soon expired. This is a recurring scriptural pattern: (1) The people go into the wilderness to worship God; (2) they forget “their Errand into the Wilderness” and become corrupt.
Danforth formulates this idea into a concise “Doctrine,” separated into two “Branches”:
Branch 1. Such as have sometime left their pleasant Cities and Habitations to enjoy the pure Worship of God in a Wilderness, are apt in time to abate and cool in their affection thereunto:
The New Englanders left civilized Britain with a weighty sense of their mission, but since have fallen into “lukewarmness,” that is, their love for serving God has lessened.
Branch 2. But then the Lord calls upon them seriously and throughly to examine themselves, what it was that drew them into the Wilderness, and to consider that it was not the expectation of ludicrous levity, not of Courtly pomp and delicacy, but of the free and clear dispensation of the Gospel and Kingdome of God.
What is the remedy to lukewarmness? Self-examination. This contemplative act is central to the Puritan experience. However, let’s clear up some misconceptions. Self-examination does not occur in a vacuum—it’s not self-generated meditation on oneself. Rather, it involves meditation on substantive realities:
-God’s mercies
“the serious consideration of the inestimable grace and mercy of God”
-Why you came here
“Of solemn and serious Enquiry to us all in this general Assembly, Whether we have not in a great measure forgotten our Errand into the Wilderness.”
-Former joy and spiritual diligence
“Let us call to remembrance the former days, and consider whether it was not then better with us, then it is now.”
-Your current situation (compared to the past)
“Doth not a careless, remiss, flat, dry, cold, dead frame of Spirit, grow in upon us secretly, strongly, prodigiously?”
Simply put, the cure for forgetfulness is remembrance. Self-examination was not a punishment for the Puritans. Rather, Danforth’s call to rigid examination was a kindness. How can I say that? Because Danforth’s type of self-examination is a liberation from complacent mediocrity, from an automatic, even-keel, do-what-you-want existence.
A life lived fully in God’s service, such as Danforth and his congregation desired, is not achieved by default. Self-examination and remembrance—leading to renewed vision—was the key to the Puritans’ perseverance through horrible circumstances.
Great post. Your word "kindness" resonates -- how easy it is to forget that, for Puritans, duty was liberation, work was opportunity.... Reflection was a retreat into the self that opened onto the divinity of God's grace.
ReplyDeleteWhat thing that always strikes me when I read Danforth is his direct address of his congregation -- a common trait of the Puritan sermon. Isn't this what all sermons do, you might ask. Not necessarily; sometimes a generic individual is addressed (I'm thinking of the last sermon I heard at a Presbyterian church) -- who could be anyone, anywhere, anytime. Danforth emphasizes the exceptionality of his congregation's situation. "How sadly hath the Lord testified against us.... Temple-work in our Hearts, Families, Churches is shamefully neglected" (20-21). Danforth addresses a chosen people, who are being punished as a group for their waywardness. The immediacy and materiality that lies behind Danforth's call to abstract self-examination defines the Puritans as a group as it reconfirms their divine convenant.