Lives Of The Puritans, Volume 3

by Benjamin Brook

In 1813, Benjamin Brook, a church historian and Congregational minister, published his compilation of biographical sketches and bibliographies of many of the English Puritans.

556 pages, Hardcover

First published December 1, 2002

Reviews

[Dave Carrig · Rating 5 out of 5]

This review is actually for all three volumes in this series. This series is an extensive overview of just about every puritan the author could come up with from the late 1500s up until about the end of 1600. Although the focus is on the lesser known puritans - the more well known puritans such as Baxter, Owen and Bunyan are absent though they are mentioned often in discussing others. The author leaves nothing to chance otherwise and lumps everyone who essentially had any disagreement with the Church of England during that period into the category of “puritan” - though most are made up of the classic type - Calvinistic and reformed, who couldn’t handle the many similarities of Anglicanism to Roman Catholicism. It’s hard to believe that there were ministers willing to lose everything over the fact that they would not cross their heart, wear the surplus, etc. Brooks gives a fair assessment of what was going on at the time and does not gloss over any imperfections he comes across in any of his subjects - particularly in the area of intolerance. Volume III was my favorite because in it a lot of the puritans who came over to the colonies are written about - though John Robinson and his flock are written about in Volume II. Also - the baptists are not left out in volume III and many who could not abide Presbyterianism or Anglicanism because of their credo baptist convictions are discussed. A great read for anyone interested in the time and the puritans.

[Alastair Manderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

It says currently reading, but it is basically dipped in and out of for an individual account. Rather than read cover to cover.