referring to an assortment of Protestant activists who sought to purify the Church of England from within. Generally speaking, the English Puritans lobbied for three main types of reform. First, they argued that pastors should root their preaching in God’s Word—not perfunctorily but profoundly. They taught that a sermon is not an occasion for the display of human learning, nor should preachers major in moral platitudes or seek to shore up the status quo. Rather, preaching is serious business. As