The pastoral theology taught by proto puritan Richard Greenham in his parish seminary (also maintained by Nicholas Bownd his stepson, the author of the first large systematic argument for the Lord's Day as the Christian Sabbath) revolved around the means of grace.[1] The primary means which are mentioned throughout Greenham’s Works are preaching, the administration of the sacraments and prayer, to which are added in his catechism, discipline and affliction (which bring together “exercises for coping with adversity: self-examination, prayer, fasting, repentance, reading of the Word, and meditation on the future life”).[2] Another means for Greenham is meditation, which Bownd champions at length and to which he added conferencing (Christians conferring with one another to discuss the faith).[3] And the main thing—the “great means of the means”—whereby all these means of grace are made available to the people of God is the weekly gatherings on the Christian Sabbath or Lord’s Day.[4] Considering the focus of both Greenham and Bownd on this practical divinity, it is not surprising both wrote books on the fourth commandment.
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[1] John H. Primus, Richard Greenham, the Portrait of an Elizabethan Pastor (1998), 127, 129.
[2] Ibid., 147.
[3] Ibid., 147–149. Bownd, True Doctrine of the Sabbath (1606), 383–418; critical text (Naphtali Press, 2015), 370–396.
[4] Richard Greenham, 150–177.
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[1] John H. Primus, Richard Greenham, the Portrait of an Elizabethan Pastor (1998), 127, 129.
[2] Ibid., 147.
[3] Ibid., 147–149. Bownd, True Doctrine of the Sabbath (1606), 383–418; critical text (Naphtali Press, 2015), 370–396.
[4] Richard Greenham, 150–177.