Scraping the mud off the Puritans

Recently I ordered Leland Ryken's Worldly Saints via interlibrary loan from the public library. The adjectives in the introduction by J.I. Packer alone are worth the price of the book. (I have since ordered it.) Splattered as "wild men, fierce and freaky, religious fanatics and social extremists", "superserious, overscrupulous, majoring in minors, and unable or unwilling to relax", the Puritans have not been honored as they should be. In fact, Packer maintains that we desparately need the Puritans today. Calling them "sober, conscientious, and cultured citizens, persons of principle, determined and disciplined, excelling in domestic virtues," Packer says we could learn from their maturity. He goes on with specifics which I suggest you discover by reading the book. Or read the Puritans themselves. Dr. Joel Beeke has a fabulous book called Meet the Puritans which gives excerpts and an overview. Go feast.