Title: Puritan Profiles

Author: William Barker

Publisher: Mentor, 1996

Pages: 320

Started: September 1

Completed: September 14

This was a monumental blessing to me these past two weeks and was a means of God's grace to humble me and keep me honest about myself and my ineptitude for ministry.

The profiles are of 54 Puritans who were influential in the composing of the Westminster Confession. Actually, 51 of them were part of the famous Westminster Divines and the three others (Richard Baxter, John Owen, and John Bunyan) were included as influential Puritans of the time. There were 120 Divines (theologians), but these 54 stand out as some of the more notable.

William Barker divided his stand-alone profiles into categories: Preachers, Scholars, London Pastors, Scots, etc. Since each profile is a stand-alone report there is some repetition of quotes and facts, but I don't think it distracts from the overall work. I found the overview of these men and their contribution to the great work of the Westminster Confession to be very moving.

Years ago I read B.B. Warfield's account of the Westminster Confession and determined to buy a copy for for my own edification. Our roots being in Baptist anti-intellectualistic populism it was at first hard for me to believe that anyone with more than one degree could actually be a devout servant of God! But these men for the most part were devout and all of them were incredibly intellectual; and many of them paid a heavy price for their convictions.

It was very convicting to me. It inspired me to be more diligent with my time and to give myself wholeheartedly to learning.