Puritan selection of sermon texts?

[clawrence9008]

In my limited reading of Puritan sermons so far, it seems like their strategy was to select one verse or two and then preach several sermons on that passage, taking a doctrine from it and expounding/applying that doctrine from a bunch of different angles. Did they not have the same emphasis on preaching lectio continua through books of the Bible as Reformed preachers do now? Why did they decide to preach on such small passages, and how they did select their texts? (I could also be wrong about this, as my reading hasn’t been super wide yet.)

 

[CasualWestminsterEnjoyer]

In my limited reading of Puritan sermons so far, it seems like their strategy was to select one verse or two and then preach several sermons on that passage, taking a doctrine from it and expounding/applying that doctrine from a bunch of different angles. Did they not have the same emphasis on preaching lectio continua through books of the Bible as Reformed preachers do now? Why did they decide to preach on such small passages, and how they did select their texts? (I could also be wrong about this, as my reading hasn’t been super wide yet.)

The Puritans and Puritan-era Scots sometimes distinguished sermons from lectures.

What they called "lectures" is what we would call "lectio continua expository preaching." What they called "sermons" is what we would call "topical sermons." At least for the Scots, sermons were preached in the morning service, and lectures in the evening service. That custom prevailed until at least the mid 19th century.

A large number of books from the era record or re-work their lectures. Durham's lectures on the Song of Solomon and Revelation; Dickson on the Epistles; Hutcheson on the minor prophets; Thomas Goodwin on Revelation and a few others; Sibbes on 2 Corinthians; John Owen on Hebrews; Gouge on Hebrews; Cartwright on the gospels; Perkins on Galatians; Ames on the Psalms and the Catholic Epistles are a few examples.

 

[py3ak]

James Durham on Job can give you a good example of dealing with more extensive passages of Scripture (ploughing). James Durham on Isaiah 53 can give you one of the most staggering instances of dealing extensively with a short passage of Scripture (mining).

 

[NaphtaliPress]

On Lord's Days, James Durham lectured through books such as Job before the morning sermon, where he preached on passages such as on Isaiah 53, so Glaswegians attending the inner kirk at Glasgow cathedral in the 1650s got his ploughing and mining in one, long, sitting. I've never gotten it clear, but I think it was just a sermon in the afternoon service.