Church & Society in Asia Today • Vol 15 No 3 • December 2012
Puritan Demonology in the Culture of “the Godly”
Edwin E. M. Tay
Introduction
Puritan” is a term of opprobrium that was
first coined in England in the early 1560s.
As a smear word, it carried the notions of censoriousness, conceit, and hypocrisy. Until today,
its negative use remains. One dictionary defines the “puritan” as a person who is “extremely strict in morals and who regards pleasure as
sinful.”1 The editors saw it necessary to qualify
this definition with indication of its derogatory
connotation in parenthesis: “(usu derog).”
When applied, however, to the group
of pastor-theologians from the Church of
England who laboured for more extensive
reformation of their national church in the
late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries, such
derogatory connotations should be set aside.
The Puritans, as these pastor-theologians
are commonly called, were no self-righteous
hypocrites who lacked a sense of humour. “The
“
Puritans as they really were,” to use the title
of Ryken’s helpful book, were “worldly saints”
who enjoyed all of life as God’s good gift (thus,
worldly).2 They saw every sphere of this Godgiven life as the context for doxology and the
pursuit of godliness (thus, saints).
Puritan conception of the Christian life
is rooted in the doctrine of God as sovereign
Creator and Redeemer, and hence essentially
positive in outlook. However, it was by no
means naïve. Being deeply committed to the
Scriptural account of the world, the Puritans
were well aware that until Christ returns, the
church is caught up in warfare against diabolic
forces that seek to destroy the works of God. In
Puritan literature such as sermons, theological
treatises, pastoral tracts, personal diaries, and
annotations of Scripture (what is today called
Bible commentaries), Satan’s place in this
warfare was amply accounted for.
Edwin E. M. Tay is currently Lecturer in Systematic and Historical Theology at the
Biblical Graduate School of Theology and a Local Preacher with the Chinese Annual
Conference of the Methodist Church in Singapore. He holds degrees from the
Universities of Singapore and London, the Biblical Graduate School of Theology, and
the University of Edinburgh where he undertook doctoral studies on the atonement
theology of the leading Puritan theologian, John Owen. Edwin is a contributor to a
recently published study guide by an international group of leading scholars on Owen,
The Ashgate Research Companion to John Owen’s Theology.
145
C & S December 2012.indd 145
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Puritan Demonology in the Culture of “the Godly”
According to Johnstone, a leading historian of early modern England, it is in “sources
of contemporary literary culture,” specifically
“printed material intended for public consumption…that the fullest descriptions and
narratives of demonic agency were recorded
and transmitted to the wider audience.”3 The
wide range of Puritan publications constitutes
a major part of English culture on the devil.
What follows is an account of some major
themes in Puritan demonology, drawn from
the literary culture of “the godly” as some Puritans preferred to be called.4 The account offered will be drawn from two genres of Puritan
literature: allegorical narrative and pastoral
treatises on demonology.
Satan in “Pilgrim’s Progress”
Nowhere is the reality of spiritual warfare for
the believer presented in more vivid and gripping a manner than in John Bunyan’s allegory
of the Christian life, Pilgrim’s Progress. It has
been acknowledged that next to the Bible, no
other English work has been as widely read
since publication.5 Not only has it left its mark
on English literary culture as possibly the forerunner of the English novel, evangelical spirituality cannot be fully appreciated without it.
Originally published in two separate parts
(1678 and 1684), it tells the story of the journey
of Christian and Christiana from the City of
Destruction to the Celestial City, or as the title
makes clear, “from this world to that which
is to come.”6 There is no attempt by Bunyan
to romanticize the believer’s pilgrimage to
heaven. Fully acknowledging that it is a
dangerous journey, Bunyan constructs a steady
flow of obstructions and oppositions that
come against the pilgrims in the course of his
allegorical narrative.
Thus, Christian fights Apollyon, a hideous
monster with dragon-like wings and from
whose belly come fire and smoke.7 GreatHeart fights giants Grim, Despair, Maul, and
Slay-Good, on behalf of the women under his
care. In every battle, divine strength is the key
to victory. These conflicts represent warfare
with the devil, a very real personage for Bunyan.
Besides the devil and his forces, other obstacles are carefully woven into the narrative. Christian and Faithful face the pressures of Vanity Fair
where hostility reaches breaking point with the
martyrdom of Faithful.8 Mr Stand-Fast has to resist Madam Bubble who tries to entice him with
her body, purse, and bed. Summing up everything
for which she stands, Madam Bubble unashamedly declares, “I am the Mistress of the World,
and men are made happy by me.”9 These obstacles
represent the world and the spirit of worldliness
that tempts the believer from the path of Christian discipleship.
In addition to the devil and the world,
Bunyan adds a third obstacle to the increasing
conflict: the flesh. This is depicted in the
account of Christian and Hopeful leaving
the rough road for the soft green of By-Path
Meadow only to find that they are unable to
resist Giant Despair or keep themselves out of
Doubting Castle.10 The reason for the pilgrims’
sorry plight is explained in terms of a twofold
cause: self-indulgence and failure to fight the
flesh. Capturing this spiritual diagnosis in
versified form, Bunyan comments:
The Pilgrims now, to gratify the Flesh,
Will seek its ease; but Oh! How they
afresh
Do thereby plunge themselves new
griefs into:
Who seek to please the Flesh,
146
C & S December 2012.indd 146
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Church & Society in Asia Today • Vol 15 No 3 • December 2012
themselves undo.11
The triumvirate of the devil, world, and
flesh as enemies of the pilgrims is typical of
Puritan teaching on the objects of Christian
warfare.The Puritans were simply drawing upon
what is common to the Christian tradition.
In the context of Puritan writings, this triad
is usually introduced in relation to the issue
of temptation. Referring to the sixth petition
of the Lord’s Prayer (“And lead us not into
temptation, but deliver us from evil” [Matthew
6:13]), for instance, the Westminster Larger
Catechism (1646) identifies Satan, the world,
and the flesh as the sources of temptation
against which believers are to pray.12
The above account of spiritual warfare
highlights two significant issues in Puritan
demonology. First, the devil’s influence is
conceived as intimately connected with
the world and the flesh. Puritan belief that
the devil is as real a creature as a man does
The triumvirate of the devil, world,
and flesh as enemies of the pilgrims
is typical of Puritan teaching on
the objects of Christian warfare.
not result in a demonology that is entirely
dominated by the personage of the devil. The
Puritans understood that the devil’s influence
is to be coordinated with the world and the
flesh as taught by Scripture and the tradition
of the church.
Second, the nature of the triadic
relationship is explicitly worked out with the
devil as the archenemy of Christ who seeks the
destruction of Christ’s followers by persistent
appeals to their fleshly desires via the things
of this world. Richard Baxter captures this
dynamic in his usual, pithy construction when
he asserts: “The flesh is the end of temptation…
the world is the matter of temptation; and the
devil is the first mover, or efficient of it: and
this is the trinity of enemies to Christ and
us, which we renounce in baptism, and must
constantly resist.”13
Similarly, for Bunyan, the owner of Vanity
Fair is Beelzebub, “the chief Lord of this fair”
who entices Christian and Faithful with what
is sold there.14 When beckoned to purchase
the tempting merchandise, they block their
ears with their fingers, look to heaven and call
out in the words of Psalm 119:37, “Turn away
mine eyes from beholding vanity.” Clearly,
the pilgrims were wary of their fleshly desires
and took measures not to arouse them. Just
as Vanity Fair is Beelzebub’s instrument of
allurement, so is the world Satan’s instrument
of temptation for believers.
Satan in Pastoral Treatises
Puritan concern with satanic roots of the
temptations that confront believers is a highly
significant development in the literary culture
of early modern England. Johnstone has
amply demonstrated that the sixteenth and
seventeenth centuries saw the emergence of
a distinctive Protestant demonology whose
emphasis lay in internal temptations conceived
as arising directly from satanic agency.15
According to Johnstone, it was
not in storm-raising or physical
appearances that this agency was
most keenly felt, but in the apparent
intrusion into the conscience of
147
C & S December 2012.indd 147
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Puritan Demonology in the Culture of “the Godly”
thoughts which contradicted the
will to godliness. Hence temptation,
which had long been enshrined as
the Devil’s remit, was elevated by
Protestant theologians to the single
most important aspect of his agency.16
This observation should not be taken
to mean that other aspects of satanic agency
that involved physical manifestations of
diabolic control were rejected, such as demon
possession or witchcraft. The significant point
to note in Johnstone’s comment is the apparent
shift from a preoccupation with that which is
external and visible, to the internal faculties of
the human subject as the battlefront.
Emphasis on the internal setting of
warfare against the devil meant that in practice,
conscience-related issues featured prominently
and Protestant ministers saw themselves as
“mediators of resistance to Satan.”17 This holds
true in Puritan demonology. Puritan ministers
sought to fulfil their vocation through various
genres of public communication in their
attempt to expose the devil’s schemes and
provide spiritual counsel to parishioners on the
manner in which satanic temptations are to be
fought.
One such genre is pastoral treatises
dedicated solely to demonology. They are
... the devil’s influence is conceived
as intimately connected with the
world and the flesh.
usually composed of a series of expository
sermons first preached to the congregation,
then strung together and revised into the
form of a tract or treatise. Of the numerous
works in this genre, three of the most well
known are Richard Gilpin, A Treatise of
Satan’s Temptations (1677), William Gurnall,
The Christian in Complete Armour (16651662), and Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies
Against Satan’s Devices (1652).18 Of the many
significant themes on the devil which are
evident in these writings, space allows for the
elucidation of only three.
First, the person of the devil is a real
creature whose influence over the world is to
be seriously reckoned with in the light of God’s
sovereign rule. Composing his massive work
on the basis of the war motif in Paul’s letter to
the Ephesians, Gurnall makes clear in the title
of his work that it is a treatise “of the saints’ war
against the devil…that grand enemy of God
and of his people, in his policies, power, seat
of his empire, wickedness, and chief designs
he has against the saints.”19 In other words,
Gurnall conceives of the devil not simply as a
metaphor for evil, but as an entity that is able
to plan policies and govern his empire as only
a living creature with personality can. On the
basis of 1 Peter 5:8, Gilpin sums up, in four
heads, the traits of the devil that “render an
adversary dreadful”: malice and enmity, power,
cruelty, and diligence.20 Although fearsome,
the devil’s rule over this world is illegitimate
since he obtained it unlawfully by deception.
The Puritans taught that Satan is “the ruler of
this world” ( John 12:31) not by divine grace
but by divine permission. Ultimately, God is
the world’s true owner and ruler: “Satan cannot
say of the meanest creature, ‘It is my own.’”21
Second, the power of the devil, while
formidable, is no longer fatal to believers in
Christ. Puritan demonology recognizes that
although fallen into sin and cast out of heaven,
148
C & S December 2012.indd 148
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Church & Society in Asia Today • Vol 15 No 3 • December 2012
the devil as an angelic being still retains the
power given to him by God at his creation.
Instances in relation to Job’s life such as the
fire from heaven and the great wind ( Job 1:16,
19), both of which brought terrible destruction
and grief to Job are cited by Gilpin as examples
of what still remains of the devil’s power.22
Other instances mentioned include witchcraft,
the appearance of miracles, apparitions, demon
possession, and superior knowledge to men.23
Most significantly, the Puritans were deeply
aware that the devil has “the power of death” as
Scripture testifies (Heb. 2:14). It is this power,
made effective through sin that lends weight
to other items of his power mentioned above.
John Owen, one of the greatest of the Puritans
puts it this way:
All the power of Satan in the world
over any of the sons of men is
founded in sin and the guilt of death
attending it. Death entered by sin; the
guilt of sin brought it in. Herewith
comes in Satan’s interest, without
which he could have no more to do
in the earth than he hath in heaven.
And according as sin abounds or is
subdued, so his power is enlarged or
straightened.24
... the devil is a real creature whose
influence over the world is to be
seriously reckoned with in the light
of God’s sovereign rule.
While acknowledging the potency of the
devil’s power, Puritan demonology consistently
qualifies it with the sovereign power of God
and with its dissolution through the cross of
Christ. Thus, Gilpin insists that the devil
cannot do what he pleases, and
therefore we do find him begging
leave of God for the exerting of his
power in particular cases, as when he
was ‘a lying spirit’ in the mouth of
Ahab’s prophets, and in every assault
he made on Job; nay, he could not
enter into the swine of the Gadarenes
till he had Christ’s commission for
it.25
Owen declares that God has so ordained
the life of Christ “that, like Samson, he should
in his death pull down the palace of Satan about
his ears, and that in dying he should conquer
and subdue all things unto himself.”26 Granted,
Satan can still wound with his arrows, but for
those who are in Christ, he is unable to kill.
Such is the high ground upon which believers
stand in their war against the devil.
Third, as those who have bowed to the
authority of Christ the King, believers have
a duty to engage in a vigilant and valiant war
against the advances of the devil, the King’s
archenemy. In Puritan demonology, warring is
not an option but a necessity in the Christian
life. Since it is sin into which the devil aims
to lure believers and that, via the flesh and the
world, this war is one that is waged against
all three assailants. The basic stance urged
upon believers is dogged resistance without
negotiation or dispute with the enemy. Brooks
exhorts:
If you would not be taken with any
of Satan’s devices, then make present
resistance against Satan’s first motions.
149
C & S December 2012.indd 149
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Puritan Demonology in the Culture of “the Godly”
It is safe to resist, it is dangerous to
dispute. Eve disputes, and falls in
paradise (Gen. 3); Job resists, and
conquers upon the dunghill. He that
will play with Satan’s bait, will quickly
be taken with Satan’s hook. The
promise of conquest is made over to
resisting, not to disputing: ‘Resist the
devil and he will fly from you’ ( James
4.7). Ah, souls! Were you better at
resisting than at disputing…your
temptations would be fewer, and your
strength to stand would be greater
than now it is.27
Conclusion
One of the most sobering, yet courageous
scenes in Pilgrim’s Progress is found in the
account of Christian at the Interpreter’s
House.28 There Christian saw a magnificent
palace (heaven) whose doorway was blocked
by armoured men (enemies of the pilgrim)
who resolved to do harm to those who tried
to enter. Terrified of the opposition, all the
men who desired to enter retreated except one.
This man put on his helmet, drew his sword
and fought the armoured men, “cutting and
hacking most fiercely” as he pushed forward
into the palace while sustaining many wounds
... believers have a duty to engage
in a vigilant and valiant war
against the advances of the devil
in his advance.29 As he fought, those at the top
of the palace who were clothed in gold cried
out to him: “Come in, Come in, Eternal glory
thou shalt win.” The man entered and was
clothed in garments of gold like those who
had gone in before him. Seeing this, Christian
smiled and said, “I think verily I know the
meaning of this.”30
Bunyan did not reveal what Christian
understood. Nevertheless, Bunyan’s point is
clear: like the journey to the Celestial City,
the Christian life is a demanding fight from
beginning to end. There will undoubtedly be
obstacles and enemies, but believers are not
to be seized by fear or crumble in the face of
their attacks. Instead, they are to fight with
courage on the grounds that have already
been won for them (the helmet), with the
resources entrusted to them (the sword), and
be encouraged by the fact that others have
fought their way to victory before them (those
in the palace). Inherent in Puritan demonology
is the picture of the believer who battles while
journeying towards “the city that is to come”
(Heb. 13:14). Written large in the culture of
“the godly” is the identity of the Christian as
God’s pilgrim and warrior.
· · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · · ·
Endnotes
Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1989), 1015.
2
Leland Ryken, Worldly Saints: the Puritans As
They Really Were (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1990).
3
Nathan Johnstone, The Devil and Demonism
in Early Modern England (Cambridge: Cambridge
University Press, 2006), 24. Early modern England
refers to the period of British history that spans the
sixteenth to the eighteenth centuries.
4
Other preferred terms include “the faithful”
and “the elect.” See Patrick Collinson, The Eliza1
150
C & S December 2012.indd 150
6/6/16 3:54 pm
Church & Society in Asia Today • Vol 15 No 3 • December 2012
bethan Puritan Movement (Oxford: Clarendon,
1967), 21-28.
5
This is the judgment of W. R. Owens, Professor Emeritus at the Open University in London.
John Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, edited with an introduction and notes by W. R. Owens (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2003), xiii. Subsequent references are from this edition.
6
Words cited are from the 1678 title page reproduced in Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress.
7
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.9.
8
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.6.
9
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, II.10.
10
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.7.
11
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.7.
12
Westminster Confession of Faith (Glasgow:
Free Presbyterian Publications, 1976; reprint, 1994),
280-282.
13
Richard Baxter, A Christian Directory (Morgan: Soli Deo Publications, 1996), 91.
14
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.6.
15
Johnstone, The Devil and Demonism, 60-106.
16
Johnstone, The Devil and Demonism, 106.
17
Johnstone, The Devil and Demonism, 106.
18
Richard Gilpin, A Treatise of Satan’s Temptations in Three Parts (London, 1677; reprint, Morgan:
Soli Deo Publications, 2000); William Gurnall,
The Christian in Complete Armour (London, 16651662; reprint, Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1964);
Thomas Brooks, Precious Remedies Against Satan’s
Devices (London, 1652; reprint, Edinburgh: Banner
of Truth, 1984).
19
Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour,
iii.
20
Gilpin, Satan’s Temptations, 8-10.
21
Gurnall, The Christian in Complete Armour,
1:132.
22
Gilpin, Satan’s Temptations, 16.
23
Gilpin, Satan’s Temptations, 21-35.
24
William H. Goold, ed., The Works of John
Owen, 24 vols. (London: Johnstone and Hunter,
1850-53), 20:449. Henceforth cited as Works.
25
Gilpin, Satan’s Temptations, 17.
26
Owen, Works, 20:452.
27
Brooks, Precious Remedies, 245.
28
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.2.
29
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.2.
30
Bunyan, Pilgrim’s Progress, I.2.
151
C & S December 2012.indd 151
6/6/16 3:54 pm