J I Packer on Puritan Writing

"Puritan analytical method accounts for the length of Puritan expositions - Joseph Caryl's 6000 pages on Job; 2000 plus in folio on Hebrews from John Owen, Hildersham's 152 sermons on Psalm 51:7, over 800 pages of small print in William Gurnall's treatment of Ephesians 6:10-20 ... What led the Puritans into such long-windedness was their passion for throughness in extracting all doctrines and developing all applications.

Clearly once they started drawing out implications and applications they found it hard to stop. Yet their variety of matter is great, repetition is minimal, the sense that they begin in the middle rather than at the beginning is soon overcome and interest once gained does not fade".

J I Packer - "Among God's Giants" - Kingsway (1993) - (p95).