not accustomed to the use of such a graduated scale of doctrine, who did not attach to what are termed _Evangelical_ truths, so much relative importance. Certainly, the themes which the Puritans most devoutly cherished, were not those to which either Anglicans or Latitudinarians chiefly turned. Puritan theology, because it is more experimental than Anglican theology,--because it deals more with the spiritual consciousness of Divine relations, with the position and acts of the human soul towards the Divine Lord and Redeemer,--is thought by some to be less dogmatic than Anglican theology; by which is meant, that it deals less with those Divine fundamental facts, which are distinctly recognized in the Creeds, and which, whether men believe them or not, are absolute and unchangeable realities. But this apprehension is a mistake. Puritanism, indeed, does insist much upon what is experimental and practical in theology; it looks at Divine persons, at their attributes and dispensations in reference to man’s wants, and character, and conduct; it treats revelation rather as a light to walk by, than as a light to look at,--which is wise--but it does not throw into a distance, it does not place on the remote horizon of its view the doctrines respecting Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, taught in the Scriptures, and upheld by the early Church. [Sidenote: PURITAN THEOLOGY.] The Puritans broke with the Anglicans--not upon the doctrines of the Creeds, but upon other points. They broke with them as Reformers had broken with Romanists on the question--What are the true means of grace? Clerical orders and sacraments, said the Church of Rome. Apostolical succession and sacraments, said the Anglican Church of England; but the Anglican Church of England controverted the doctrine of the Church of Rome as to the number, the nature, the form and the efficacy of the sacraments. The Puritans went much further than the Anglicans in this direction, and denied the Anglican views of the ministry and the sacraments. The Anglican watchwords were,--_orders_, _sacraments_, _faith_, _grace_. The Puritan watchwords were--_the Bible_, _grace_, _truth_, _faith_. Both parties believed that men are saved by grace through faith; but the one connected the salvation chiefly with sacraments, the other with truth. In considering the theology of the Puritans, we ought carefully to notice differences amongst them, and I shall therefore subdivide them into three classes--the _Calvinistic_, the _Arminian_, and the _Intermediate_. I begin with the Calvinists, and shall select Thomas Goodwin and John Owen.