John Brown's Puritan Preaching in England is a compilation of nine lectures on the subject that were delivered at the Yale Divinity School in October, 1899. Therefore, it’s of limited use in some respects, and yet presents a lively and edifying account of the subject.
Brown defines "Puritan" in a broad sense as those who have given more emphasis to the Scriptures in their life and preaching than to their various ecclesiastical traditions. Defined as such, he was compelled to begin his series of lectures with a consideration of the pre-protestant preachers Charles the Great, the “Preaching Friars,” and John Wycliffe, each of whom, to some extent, made Protestantism and Puritanism possible. He then considers the ministries of such leading lights as John Colet and the reformation preachers, the Cambridge Puritans, Thomas Goodwin, John Bunyan, and Richard Baxter, concluding with a treatment of the then contemporary ministries of Thomas Binney, Charles Spurgeon, R. W. Dale, and Alexander Maclaren.
The common thread that weaves through this array of preachers and ministries is that they possessed a fervor of devotion to God and a closeness of fellowship with him that was centered on the reading, study, memorization, and meditation upon Scripture. This lively attachment to God and his Word produced preaching ministries that were faithful to the Scriptures, instructive for the people of God, and full of the zeal that makes the Scriptures come alive. Indeed, the heart of Puritan preaching is the Word of God come alive in the midst of the people of God. Brown concludes that this heart, rather than any particular manner of preparation and delivery, should characterize the modern pulpit as well.
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