William Perkins

Upon his conversion to Christianity, William Perkins devoted his life to the preaching of God’s Word. On this episode of 5 Minutes in Church History, Dr. Stephen Nichols shares several of Perkins’ influential writings, which later impacted many Puritan preachers.

Welcome back to another episode of 5 Minutes in Church History. On this episode, we are talking about the theologian William Perkins. Perkins was born in 1558, and he died in 1602. He was one of the most influential theologians during the reign of Elizabeth. And if you know anything about Elizabeth's reign, you'll notice those dates of Perkins. Elizabeth came to the throne in 1558, the very year that Perkins was born, and she reigned all the way until 1603, one year after his death; so, Perkins' life almost perfectly coincides with the reign of Queen Elizabeth I.

Back to Perkins. In 1577, he arrived at Christ's College, Cambridge, and very quickly he threw himself into the study there. He would live and study and work in Cambridge his entire life. He received his bachelor's degree in 1581, and he received his M.A. in 1584, and somewhere around that time, he had his conversion. It was rather dramatic and rather sudden, and immediately, he started preaching. One of the first places that Perkins started preaching was in the town jail to the prisoners, and then he started preaching at Great St. Andrew's Church in Cambridge. In 1584, that year that he received his M.A. degree, he was appointed lecturer, or pastor, at Great St. Andrew’s, and he held that post right up until his death in 1602. Also in 1584, he was made a fellow of Christ's College, where he had been a student, and he held that post until 1595; and so here is Perkins behind the pulpit, and behind the lectern, and being a theologian. Perkins defined theology as, "The science of living blessedly forever." Let me tell you that again. He defined theology as, "The science of living blessedly forever."

Well, let's consider some of his accomplishments. First, his writings. We have his book, The Golden Chain, from 1590. It's a book that included a very elaborate chart showing the Christian life played out in relationship to the divine decree of election and predestination. He contributed to what we call casuistry, or cases of conscience. This is applying theology and biblical principles directly to ethical matters and to ethical quandaries and dilemmas. Perkins has accumulated much material on the subject throughout his lifetime, and posthumously, in 1606, we have published his Whole Treatise on the Cases of Conscience, very influential throughout the 1600s and throughout Puritanism, in this issue of casuistry, or of ethics.

We also have his book, The Art of Prophesying. This would come to be a manual for pastors. It would be the manual that, even into the 1700s, people like Jonathan Edwards would read and would use to base their preaching on. Let me just read a few lines to you from his book, The Art of Prophesying. And by the way, he didn't mean prophesying as “giving some new revelation,” but he understood the word prophesying, meaning “to preach.” And that is to preach the word of God that he is already revealed in his holy Word in the Bible. Well, early on in his book, Perkins writes this, "The word of God alone is to be preached, in its perfection and inner consistency. Scripture is the exclusive subject of preaching, the only field in which the preacher is to labour." He goes on to say, "The word of God is God's wisdom revealing from heaven the truth which is according to godliness." And he says, "The exceptional qualities of the word, both in its nature and its effects, evoke our admiration."

Those are just some of Perkins’ books. We also have his influence on his students. His students included William Ames, the great Puritan theologian; Thomas Goodwin, a significant figure at the Westminster Assembly; James Ussher; Richard Sibbes; and he was the professor of John Cotton, Thomas Hooker, and Thomas Shepard, all three of them stalwart colonial American Puritans. Well, we can see that Perkins, this most influential theologian during the reign of Elizabeth, had quite an influence.

That's the life of William Perkins, and I'm Steve Nichols, and thanks for joining us for 5 Minutes in Church History.