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Puritan Asceticism and the Type of Sacrifice
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 21 March 2016
Extract
The sacrificial rites of the Old Testament are ‘neither dark nor dumb, but mystical and significant, and fit to stir up the dull mind of man to the remembrance of his duty before God.’ So preached a nonconformist, Samuel Mather, in the 1660s, recalling with a deliberate or unconscious twist a phrase used in the Book of Common Prayer to defend contemporary rites of which he disapproved. The Reformation that set aside the ascetic ideal of monasticism also saw a revaluation of the place of sacrifice in the life of the Church. While its role in Protestant activity was diminished by the rejection of the Mass as a propitiatory act, teaching about the priesthood of all believers prepared for a new emphasis on the devotion and duty of Christians as ‘spiritual sacrifice’; an emphasis informed in puritanism by lessons from the types of the Old Testament. Much is known about puritan religious practice; and of puritan interest in typology, stimulated by Calvin’s conviction of the unity of the Old and New Testaments – the same covenant present in each, accommodated to the capacity of a ‘Church under age’ in Israel. But familiar themes combined can give fresh perspectives: here their combination illustrates one of the ways in which the ascetic ideal was being reformulated among protestants of the third and fourth generation in seventeenth-century England. Sacrifice was not often a dominant theme in their description of the Christian life, and yet, despite an untidiness of evidence, it is clear that certain allusions to Israelite sacrifice were conventional, part of a common rhetoric, a common and powerful imagery. Some representative examples of the conventions follow, organised around simple questions. What were ‘spiritual sacrifices’ and what practical exercises of devotion and discipline were associated with them? By what means and in what manner should they be offered?
- Type
- Research Article
- Information
- Studies in Church History , Volume 22: Monks, Hermits and the Ascetic Tradition , 1985 , pp. 285 - 297
- Copyright
- Copyright © Ecclesiastical History Society 1985
References
1 [S.] Mather [The] Figures [or Types of the Old Testament (first published Dublin 1683, 1705 edition repr. New York 1969)]; ‘On Ceremonies’, Book of Common Prayer. (Punctuation and spelling have been modernised except in book titles; capitalisation modernised throughout.)
2 See, for example, [P.] Collinson [The] Religion of Protestants[: the Church in English Society Í559-/625] (Oxford 1982); [G.S.] Wakefield Puritan Devotion (London 1957).
3 Among recent studies are S. Bercovitch ed Typology and Early American Literature (Amherst, Massachusetts 1972) which includes an extensive bibliography of typological literature in all periods; B.K. Lewalski Protestant Poetics and the Seventeenth Century Religious Lyric (Princeton 1979); CM. Polizzotto ‘Types and Typology. A Study in Puritan Hermeneutics’ (University of London Ph.D. thesis 1975).
4 P. Lake Moderate Puritans and the Elizabethan Church (Cambridge 1982) p. 282.
5 [W.] Gouge [A Learned and Very Useful Commentary on the Whole Epistle to the] Hebrews (London 1655) preface; Mather Figures.
6 [R.] Baxter [A] Christian Directory (2 ed London 1678) p. 194 (Book 3 question 174).
7 Biographical sketches of all those mentioned appear in DNB or in R.L. Greaves and R. Zaller edd A Biographical Dictionary of British Radicals in the Seventeenth Century 3 vols (Brighton 1981–4).
8 [W.] Gouge [The] Saints Sacrifice (London 1632) p. 243. Similar references are legion.
9 Numbers 9:9-10.
10 P. Baynes The Spirituali Armour (London 1620) p. 293; also, for example, [W.] Hinde [A Faithful Remonstrance of the Holy Life and Happy Death of John] Bruen (London 1641) pp. 73–4; [R.] Rogers Seven Treatises (London 1603) p. 321; [T.] Taylor Christ Revealed[: Or the Old Testament Explained (London 1635)] p. 149. See Exodus 29:38-42, 30:7-8; Numbers 28:1-8.
11 Letter of 19 May 1636, BL MS Loan 29/172 fol 105, cited by kind permission of Lady Anne Bentinck; also S. Clarke A Collection of the Lives of Ten Eminent Divines (London 1662) pp. 7, 450; [S.] Marshall [A] Peace Offering [to God] (London 1641) pp. 4.9-50; [T.] Worden [The] Types Unvailed [or the Gospel pick’t out of the Legal Ceremonies] (London 1664) p. 310.
12 W. Gouge The Whole Armour of God (London 1619) p. 437; also Rogers Seven Treatises p. 397.
13 Numbers 28–9, Judges 20:26, 2 Samuel 24:25, 2 Chronicles 15:11, Leviticus 3, 7:11-18, Psalm 116:17, Mather Figures pp. 191, 194–5. For sacrifices of thanksgiving as antitypes of Israelite peace offerings and their prominence in New Testament teaching on spiritual sacrifice, see J. Burroughes Sions Joy (London 1641) p. 1; Marshall Peace Offering p. 24; [J.] Owen [Exercitations on the Epistle to the] Hebrews 4 vols (London 1668–84) 4, on Hebrews 13:15.
14 E. Calamy Cods Free Mercy to England (London 1642) p. 140; H. Scudder The Christians Daily Walke in Holy Securitie and Peace (6 ed London 1635) pp. 37–8; Taylor Christ Revealed pp. 149–50.
15 [S.] Ward] A Collection of suck] Sermons [and Treatises as have been written and published by Mr. Samuel Ward] (London 1627), ‘[A] Peace Offering [to Cod]’ pp. 48–33; Hinde Bruen pp. 145–8; J. Beadle The Journal or Diary of a Thankful Christian (London 1656); also Baxter Christian Directory p. 141 and N. Keeble Richard Baxter: Man of Letters (Oxford 1982) pp. 139–43.
16 Marshall Peace Offering pp. 32–3.
17 “Leviticus 7: 16, 22: 21, 27:2, 9–13; Numbers 15:3, Psalms 56: 12, 66: 13–15, 116: 17–18; J. Caryl The Saints Thankfull Acclamation (London 1644) p. 12; see Gouge Saints Sacrifice pp. 247–50.
18 Hebrews 13:16 (AV), which appeared in the Book of Common Prayer as part of the exhortation to give to the poor (see also Philippians 4:18, Ecclesiastes 35:3);[T.] Adams [The] Workes [of Thomas Adams] (London 1620) pp. 91, 988. A common reference.
19 J. Owen The Duty of Pastors and People Distinguished (London 1644) p. 24. Owen incorporated both emphases in comments on Hebrews 13:15, Hebrews.
20 Ward Sermons ‘Christ is all in all’ p. 35.
21 [J] Dyke [A] Worthy Communicant (London 1636) p. 542; also [C] Burges [The] First Sermon (London 1641) p. 27. This is reminiscent of the Prayer of Oblation after Communion introduced in the Book of Common Prayer, 1552. Examples outside the context of the Lord’s Supper: W. Carter Israels Peace with God (London 1642) pp. 4–5, 36; Taylor Christ Revealed pp. 37–8.
22 [J.] Burroughes Gospel Worship (2 ed London 1653) pp. 67–8, 246–9; [F.] Cornwell [A Description of the] Spirituali Temple (London 1646) pp. 9–10; F. Roberts A Broken Spirit Gods Sacrifices (London 1647) passim. Devotion to the passion and ‘sacred heart’ of Christ should perhaps be noted here: see discussion of its relation to Catholic piety in Wakefield Puritan Devotion pp. 94–101, with particular reference to T. Goodwin The Heart of Christ in Heaven toward Sinners on Earth (London 1643).
23 Adams Workes p. 90.
24 [H.] Wilkinson [The] Gainefull Cost (London 1644) p. 31.
25 BL MS Loan 29/172 fol 105; also W. Guild The New Sacrifice of Christian Incense (London 1608) p. 11; Mather Figures p. 403.
26 John Preston The Saints Daily Exercise (London 1629) p. 124 (a common sentiment).
27 [L.] Bayly [The] Practice of Pietie (London 1613); Baxter Christian Directory; Ward Sermons ‘Peace Offering’. Ward sometimes designed his own title pages: Sermons‘Christ is all in all’ has a complex illustration of types of Christ.
28 [C] Harvey Schola Cordis (London 1647) pp. 76–9; R. Freeman English Emblem Books (London 1948) pp. 134–9, 178–9.
29 J. Cosin A Collection of Private Devotions ed P.G. Stanwood (Oxford 1967) plate 2, p. xxxvi; [H.] Burton A Tryall [of Private Devotions, Or a Diali for the Houres of Prayer] (London 1628) sig. C. iv; W. Prynne A Briefe Survay and Censure of Mr. Cozens His Couzening Devotions (London 1628) p. 4.
30 Mather Figures pp. 197, 61.
31 [H.] Ainsworth [Annotations upon] Leviticus (Amsterdam 1618) on Leviticus 1:3 and [Annotations upon] Exodus (Amsterdam 1617) on Exodus 12:5; J. Murcot The Several Works of Mr John Murcot (London 1657) p. 47.
32 Exodus 27:4. Burroughes Gospel Worship pp. 110–11; [W.] Guild Moses Unvailed (London 1620) p. 113.
33 E. Calamy The Art of Divine Meditation (London 1680) p. 199.
34 Adams Workes pp. 89, 93–5; Guild Moses Unvailed p. 112; [W.] Perkins [The] Works [of… W. Perkins] 3 vols (London 1612–13), 3 p. 112; Worden Types Unvailed pp. 181–7.
35 Mather Figures pp. 104–5.
36 Perkins Works 1 p. 221, (see Ephesians 6:17); Taylor Christ Revealed p. 147, alluding to Romans 15:16). For more general comment on sacrificial instruments as a type of ministry see Ainsworth Exodus on Exodus 27:3.
37 Gouge Hebrews on Hebrews 8:5, section 17; also Wilkinson Gainefull Cost p. 31; Mather Figures p. 193.
38 J. Downame Annotations Upon all the Books of the Old and New Testament (London 1645) on Leviticus 1:3 (published by order of the Westminster Assembly, compiled by a committee which included Gouge). See also Wilkinson Gainefull Cost p. 9; Worden Types Unuailed p. 185.
39 Mather Figures p. 197; also Gouge Saints Sacrifice p. 245.
40 Rogers Seven Treatises pp. 282–3; Adams Workes p. 91 (Malachi 1:14).
41 Adams Workes p. 92; Baxter Christian Directory p. 105. Ward Sermons ‘Peace Offering’ p. 7 (Ecclesiastes 5:1-2, Proverbs 15:8). Gouge Hebrews on Hebrews 8:5 (section 17); [W.] Whately Prototypes, or, the Primarie Precedent Presidents out of the Booke of Genesis (London 1640) pp. 24, 31–2.
42 Gouge Hebrews on Hebrews 8:5; Adams Workes p. 947.
43 Burroughes Gospel Worship pp. 8–9 (Leviticus 10:1-3); also Ainsworth Leviticus on Leviticus 10:2.
44 J. Preston Remaines (London 1634) p. 271; Cornwell Spirituali Temple p. 50.
45 Ward Sermons ‘A Coale [from the Altar to Kindle the Holy Fire of Zeal]’ pp. 14, 23, extended discussion pp. 10–26; also Adams Workes pp. 91–2; Bayly Practice of Pietie pp. 316–17.
46 As in Genesis 8:21; Leviticus 1:9.
47 Guild Moses Vnvailed p. 130; [C.] Burges [The] Fire of the Sanctuarie [Newly Uncovered, or a Compleat Tract of Zeal] (London 1625) pp. 10, 1–2.
48 Burton A Tryall sig. C. (i Kings 18:38); also Harvey Schola Cordis p. 79; Ward Sermons ‘A Coale’ p. 6 (Leviticus 9:24).
49 Dyke Worthy Communicant p. 133; Gouge Saints Sacrifice p. 234; also Burges Fire of the Sanctuarie pp. 23–4; Ward Sermons ‘A Coale’ pp. 9–10.
50 Whately Prototypes p. 246; also ibid p. 97, 2nd pag. 54; T. Cooper The Christians Daily Sacrifice (3 ed London 1615) p. 131.
51 Early examples can be found in J. Stennett Hymns in Commemmoration of the Sufferings of …Jesus Christ (London 1697). It is not uncommon in the hymns of Watts and Wesley.
52 Collinson Religion of Protestants pp. 250–2.
53 Mather Figures p. 277; Burges First Sermon p. 75.
54 H. Smith Jacobs Ladder, Or the High Way to Heaven (London 1595) sig. C. 3.
55 I am grateful to Professor P. Collinson and Dr G. F. Nuttall for their comments on an earlier version of this paper.