The Puritan Library Was Built on the Bible

Every library tells a story. The titles on our shelves reflect what we treasure most what stirs our hearts, shapes our minds, and anchors our souls. And when we turn the dusty pages of the past to examine the libraries of the English Puritans, we discover something striking: their bookshelves were not built merely for information, but for transformation. Their libraries bore witness to a people utterly captivated by the glory of God and grounded in the authority of His Word.

If we long for deeper joy in Christ and more faithful living in this age, then we would do well to learn not only what the Puritans taught, but also what they read.

Who Were the Puritans?

The Puritans were English believers both pastors and laypeople from the mid-1500s to the early 1700s. They sought to “purify” the Church of England from Roman Catholic influences and advance the Protestant Reformation through biblically faithful worship, preaching, and piety. The Puritans took the principles of the Reformation and pressed them into the heart and soul of everyday life.

They were, in essence, Calvinists with an English accent deeply Reformed in doctrine and radically committed to living coram Deo (before the face of God), soli Deo gloria (for the glory of God alone), and sola Scriptura (according to the authority of Scripture alone).

But they were also readers insatiable readers. They drank deeply from the Scriptures, but also from early church fathers, medieval thinkers, Protestant Reformers, and their fellow Puritans. Their reading wasn’t casual or occasional it was intentional, fervent, and theological.

Scripture: The Soul of the Puritan Library

While the Puritans read widely, no book rivaled the Bible. It was their daily bread and their spiritual oxygen. John Rogers, a Puritan preacher, once exclaimed, “Lord, whatsoever thou dost to us, take not thy Bible from us... only spare us thy Bible.”

For the Puritans, Scripture was the centerpiece of life and learning. They did not just read it they memorized, meditated on, and preached it. Joseph Alleine spent four hours each morning in prayer and Bible study. William Gouge read fifteen chapters of Scripture daily. Their writings overflowed with Scripture: John Owen’s The Glory of Christ contains over 400 Scripture references in just 130 pages, and Thomas Case once cited 150 passages in a single sermon.

The Puritans viewed every word of Scripture as God speaking directly to them. Their piety wasn’t abstract; it was rooted in daily, devotional communion with Christ through the Word. Their spiritual strength flowed not from scholarly detachment, but from deep, personal fellowship with the living God.

The Early Church Fathers

The Puritans did not view their Reformed faith as novel, but as deeply rooted in the rich tradition of the early church. They drew from thinkers like Augustine, Chrysostom, Tertullian, and Irenaeus testing all by the Scriptures, but learning much along the way.

Augustine (354–430) especially shaped their understanding of sin, grace, divine sovereignty, and salvation. He was quoted more than any other early church father. John Owen referenced him nearly 200 times. William Perkins, over 300. Richard Sibbes called Augustine’s insights “sweet” and leaned heavily on his views of human depravity and God’s irresistible grace.

To the Puritans, Augustine was not merely a historical figure but a theological mentor a guide whose teachings resonated with their own deepest convictions about the human heart and the majesty of God’s saving work.

Scholastics and Medieval Devotion

Though the Puritans rejected many medieval Catholic doctrines, they were not afraid to mine the best of medieval theology. They engaged with thinkers like Thomas Aquinas and Bernard of Clairvaux using scholastic tools to clarify doctrine, and drawing on medieval piety to deepen communion with Christ.

John Owen used Aquinas’s idea of God as actus purus (pure actuality) to defend God’s sovereignty and the certainty of salvation. Meanwhile, Bernard’s writings especially his sermons on the Song of Solomon fed the Puritans’ devotional fires. Isaac Ambrose quoted Bernard frequently and found his thoughts on spiritual solitude and union with Christ especially rich.

To the Puritans, theological precision and heartfelt devotion were not enemies but companions. The mind and the heart were meant to burn together.

The Protestant Reformers

Of course, the Puritans stood squarely on the shoulders of the Protestant Reformers. William Perkins, known as the “father of Puritanism,” drew deeply from Theodore Beza, Peter Martyr, and especially John Calvin. Calvin’s Institutes was, for many, the defining theological work of their formation. John Cotton even said, “I love to sweeten my mouth with a piece of Calvin before I go to sleep.”

By the 1580s, Calvin’s works outsold all other Reformers in England. His teachings on justification, providence, election, and the covenant of grace permeated Puritan theology, shaping generations of pastors, theologians, and everyday believers.

Fellow Puritans

The Puritans also read each other. John Bunyan found spiritual awakening through The Practice of Piety by Lewis Bayly and The Plain Man’s Pathway to Heaven by Arthur Dent. Isaac Ambrose recommended devotional classics from Richard Baxter, Thomas Goodwin, and Robert Bolton. At the Westminster Assembly, divines often cited Puritan leaders like William Ames, William Perkins, and Thomas Cartwright.

Jonathan Edwards, perhaps the last great Puritan, filled his library with works by Thomas Manton, John Owen, Stephen Charnock, and Matthew Henry. He cited Henry and Poole hundreds of times in his “Blank Bible,” a notebook he used for deep reflection on Scripture.

The Puritans weren’t merely theologians; they were spiritual guides writing not only to inform, but to edify, exhort, and awaken the soul to Christ.

What the Puritan Library Tells Us

If the Puritan worldview was a river, its headwaters were the Scriptures, and its tributaries flowed from the fathers, the scholastics, the Reformers, and fellow travelers on the path of faith. But Scripture always stood above its voice unmistakable and supreme.

They did not read to impress, but to transform. They did not fill their shelves to gather dust, but to light fires. Their libraries pointed not merely to what they knew, but to whom they loved Jesus Christ, the Word made flesh.

And this begs a question for us today:

If your library could speak, what would it say about your soul?

The Puritans remind us that a well-read Bible and a carefully chosen library can change your life. Read widely, read wisely, but most of all read your Bible. Read it with hunger, humility, and hope. Read it the way the Puritans did not to master it, but to be mastered by it.

If this stirred your heart to build your own library around God’s Word, share this article or subscribe to our newsletter for more reflections on living a Word-centered life.