William Perkins
Encyclopedia
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
theologian who was one of the foremost leaders of the Puritan
Puritan
The Puritans were a significant grouping of English Protestants in the 16th and 17th centuries. Puritanism in this sense was founded by some Marian exiles from the clergy shortly after the accession of Elizabeth I of England in 1558, as an activist movement within the Church of England...
movement in the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
.
Early life
Perkins was born to Thomas and Anna Perkins at Marston Jabbett in the parish of BulkingtonBulkington
Bulkington is a large village and former parish in the Nuneaton and Bedworth district of Warwickshire, UK. In the 2001 census it had a population of 6,303. It is located around north-east of Coventry, just east of the towns of Nuneaton and Bedworth and south-west of Hinckley...
, Warwickshire
Warwickshire
Warwickshire is a landlocked non-metropolitan county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, although the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
in 1558, the year in which the Protestant Elizabeth I succeeded her Catholic
Roman Catholic Church
The Catholic Church, also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the world's largest Christian church, with over a billion members. Led by the Pope, it defines its mission as spreading the gospel of Jesus Christ, administering the sacraments and exercising charity...
sister Mary
Mary I of England
Mary I was queen regnant of England and Ireland from July 1553 until her death.She was the only surviving child born of the ill-fated marriage of Henry VIII and his first wife Catherine of Aragon. Her younger half-brother, Edward VI, succeeded Henry in 1547...
as Queen of England
Queen regnant
A queen regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right, in contrast to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigning king. An empress regnant is a female monarch who reigns in her own right over an empire....
. Perkins lived his entire life under Elizabeth I, dying one year before the Virgin Queen's own death in 1603. Perkins' relationship with Elizabeth was ambiguous: on the one hand, she was Good Queen Bess, the monarch under whom England finally and firmly became a Protestant nation; on the other hand, Perkins and the other members of the Puritan movement were frustrated that the Elizabethan settlement had not gone far enough and pushed for further Reformation.
Little is known of Perkins' childhood and upbringing. His family was evidently of some means, since in June 1577, at age 19, Perkins was enrolled as a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College, Cambridge
Christ's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge.With a reputation for high academic standards, Christ's College averaged top place in the Tompkins Table from 1980-2000 . In 2011, Christ's was placed sixth.-College history:...
. He would receive his BA
Bachelor of Arts
A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...
in 1581 and his MA
Master of Arts (Oxbridge)
In the Universities of Oxford, Cambridge and Dublin, Bachelors of Arts of these universities are admitted to the degree of Master of Arts or Master in Arts on application after six or seven years' seniority as members of the university .There is no examination or study required for the degree...
in 1584. Perkins' early adulthood is often portrayed as being one of rampant immorality, although it is unclear how much of this portrait is influenced by the later slander of his enemies, on the one hand, and the general Puritan tendency to exaggerate their youthful depravity in order to make their subsequent conversion more dramatic, on the other hand. At any rate, there is the possibility that Perkins fathered a child out of wedlock during this period, and also some suggestions that he dabbled in astrology
Astrology
Astrology consists of a number of belief systems which hold that there is a relationship between astronomical phenomena and events in the human world...
at this time.
According to an unverifiable story, Perkins was convicted of the error of his ways after he heard a Cambridge
Cambridge
The city of Cambridge is a university town and the administrative centre of the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It lies in East Anglia about north of London. Cambridge is at the heart of the high-technology centre known as Silicon Fen – a play on Silicon Valley and the fens surrounding the...
mother say to her child, "Hold your tongue, or I will give you to drunken Perkins yonder." Whether or not the story is true, it is clear that Perkins had a religious awakening
Religious conversion
Religious conversion is the adoption of a new religion that differs from the convert's previous religion. Changing from one denomination to another within the same religion is usually described as reaffiliation rather than conversion.People convert to a different religion for various reasons,...
sometime between 1581 and 1584.
Perkins thus began a lifelong association with the "moderate-puritan" wing of the Church of England, which, according to historian Peter Lake, held views similar to those of the continental Calvinist theologians Theodore Beza
Theodore Beza
Theodore Beza was a French Protestant Christian theologian and scholar who played an important role in the Reformation...
, Girolamo Zanchi, and Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus
Zacharias Ursinus was a sixteenth century German Reformed theologian, born Zacharias Baer in Breslau . He became the leading theologian of the Reformed Protestant movement of the Palatinate, serving both at the University of Heidelberg and the College of Wisdom...
. Perkins' circle at Cambridge included Laurence Chaderton
Laurence Chaderton
Laurence Chaderton was an English Puritan divine, and one of the translators of the King James Version of the Bible.-Life:...
and Richard Greenham
Richard Greenham
Richard Greenham was an English clergyman of Puritan views, known as a Sabbatarian writer.-Life:He was probably born about 1535, and went at a late age to the University of Cambridge where he matriculated as a sizar of Pembroke Hall on 27 May 1559. He graduated B.A. early in 1564, and was...
.
Perkins as clergyman and Cambridge fellow
Following his ordination, Perkins preached his first sermons to the prisoners of the Cambridge jail. On one celebrated occasion, Perkins encountered a young man who was going to be executed for his crimes and who feared he was shortly going to be in hellHell
In many religious traditions, a hell is a place of suffering and punishment in the afterlife. Religions with a linear divine history often depict hells as endless. Religions with a cyclic history often depict a hell as an intermediary period between incarnations...
: Perkins convinced the man that, through Christ
Christ
Christ is the English term for the Greek meaning "the anointed one". It is a translation of the Hebrew , usually transliterated into English as Messiah or Mashiach...
, God
God
God is the English name given to a singular being in theistic and deistic religions who is either the sole deity in monotheism, or a single deity in polytheism....
could forgive his sins, and the formerly distraught youth faced his execution with manly composure as a result.
In 1584, after receiving his MA, Perkins was elected as a fellow
Fellow
A fellow in the broadest sense is someone who is an equal or a comrade. The term fellow is also used to describe a person, particularly by those in the upper social classes. It is most often used in an academic context: a fellow is often part of an elite group of learned people who are awarded...
of Christ's College, a post which he would hold until 1594. In 1585, he became rector
Rector
The word rector has a number of different meanings; it is widely used to refer to an academic, religious or political administrator...
of St. Andrew's Church in Cambridge, a post he would hold until his death.
Perkins's churchmanship
As a "moderate Puritan", Perkins was firmly opposed to non-conformists and other separatists who refused to conform to the Church of England. On the other hand, he also opposed the Elizabethan regime's program of imposing uniformity on the church. For example, when Archbishop of CanterburyArchbishop of Canterbury
The Archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and principal leader of the Church of England, the symbolic head of the worldwide Anglican Communion, and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Canterbury. In his role as head of the Anglican Communion, the archbishop leads the third largest group...
John Whitgift
John Whitgift
John Whitgift was the Archbishop of Canterbury from 1583 to his death. Noted for his hospitality, he was somewhat ostentatious in his habits, sometimes visiting Canterbury and other towns attended by a retinue of 800 horsemen...
imprisoned Francis Johnson
Francis Johnson (Brownist)
Francis Johnson was an English presbyterian separatist minister, pastor to an English exile congregation in the Netherlands.-Early life:...
for Johnson's support of a presbyterian form of church polity, Perkins loudly defended Johnson.
On January 13, 1587, Perkins preached a sermon denouncing the practice of kneeling to receive Communion
Eucharist
The Eucharist , also called Holy Communion, the Sacrament of the Altar, the Blessed Sacrament, the Lord's Supper, and other names, is a Christian sacrament or ordinance...
, and was ultimately called before the Vice-Chancellor as a result. During the final set of trials against Puritan ministers in 1590-91, Perkins confirmed that he had discussed the Book of Discipline
Book of Discipline
A Book of Discipline or Book of Order is a book detailing the beliefs, practices, doctrines, laws, organisational structure and government of many Christian denominations...
with Puritan ministers, but claimed that he could not remember whom he had talked to. Perkins married Timothye Cradocke of Grantchester on 2 July 1595. (He had previously resigned his fellowship at Christ's College, since only unmarried men could be fellows.) Eventually, the couple would have seven children, three stillborn.
Theological opinions
Perkins was a proponent of "double predestinationPredestination (Calvinism)
The Calvinistic doctrine of predestination is a doctrine of Calvinism which deals with the question of the control God exercises over the world...
" and was a major player in introducing the thought of Theodore Beza to England. He was responsible for the publication in English of Beza's famous chart about double predestination.
Influence
Perkins first gained international renown as a polemicist with the publication of A Reformed Catholike in 1597, in which he argued that Protestants were the real catholic Christians.Perkins' views on double predestination made him a major target of Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius
Jacobus Arminius , the Latinized name of the Dutch theologian Jakob Hermanszoon from the Protestant Reformation period, served from 1603 as professor in theology at the University of Leiden...
, the Dutch Reformed clergyman who opposed the doctrine of predestination.
In his lifetime, Perkins attained enormous popularity, with sales of his works eventually surpassing even Calvin
John Calvin
John Calvin was an influential French theologian and pastor during the Protestant Reformation. He was a principal figure in the development of the system of Christian theology later called Calvinism. Originally trained as a humanist lawyer, he broke from the Roman Catholic Church around 1530...
's. His works were translated into Dutch
Dutch language
Dutch is a West Germanic language and the native language of the majority of the population of the Netherlands, Belgium, and Suriname, the three member states of the Dutch Language Union. Most speakers live in the European Union, where it is a first language for about 23 million and a second...
by Everard Boot, German
German language
German is a West Germanic language, related to and classified alongside English and Dutch. With an estimated 90 – 98 million native speakers, German is one of the world's major languages and is the most widely-spoken first language in the European Union....
, and Latin
Latin
Latin is an Italic language originally spoken in Latium and Ancient Rome. It, along with most European languages, is a descendant of the ancient Proto-Indo-European language. Although it is considered a dead language, a number of scholars and members of the Christian clergy speak it fluently, and...
, and to a lesser extent into French
French language
French is a Romance language spoken as a first language in France, the Romandy region in Switzerland, Wallonia and Brussels in Belgium, Monaco, the regions of Quebec and Acadia in Canada, and by various communities elsewhere. Second-language speakers of French are distributed throughout many parts...
, Czech
Czech language
Czech is a West Slavic language with about 12 million native speakers; it is the majority language in the Czech Republic and spoken by Czechs worldwide. The language was known as Bohemian in English until the late 19th century...
, and Welsh
Welsh language
Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...
.
From his position at Cambridge, Perkins was able to influence a whole generation of English churchmen. His pupils include:
- William AmesWilliam AmesWilliam Ames was an English Protestant divine, philosopher, and controversialist...
, Puritan who eventually left England to become professor of theology at FranekerFranekerFraneker is one of the eleven historical cities of Friesland and capital of the municipality of Franekeradeel. It is located about 20 km west of Leeuwarden on the Van Harinxma Canal. As of 1 January 2006, it had 12,996 inhabitants. The city is famous for the Eisinga Planetarium from around... - John RobinsonJohn Robinson (pastor)John Robinson was the pastor of the "Pilgrim Fathers" before they left on the Mayflower. He became one of the early leaders of the English Separatists, minister of the Pilgrims, and is regarded as one of the founders of the Congregational Church.-Early life:Robinson was born in Sturton le Steeple...
, the founder of congregationalismCongregational churchCongregational churches are Protestant Christian churches practicing Congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its own affairs....
in Leiden and pastorPastorThe word pastor usually refers to an ordained leader of a Christian congregation. When used as an ecclesiastical styling or title, this role may be abbreviated to "Pr." or often "Ps"....
of the group which went on to found the Plymouth ColonyPlymouth ColonyPlymouth Colony was an English colonial venture in North America from 1620 to 1691. The first settlement of the Plymouth Colony was at New Plymouth, a location previously surveyed and named by Captain John Smith. The settlement, which served as the capital of the colony, is today the modern town... - Thomas GoodwinThomas GoodwinThomas Goodwin , known as 'the Elder', was an English Puritan theologian and preacher, and an important leader of religious Independents. He served as chaplain to Oliver Cromwell, and was imposed by Parliament as President of Magdalen College, Oxford in 1650...
- Paul BaynesPaul BaynesPaul Baynes was an English clergyman. Described as a “radical Puritan”, he was unpublished in his lifetime, but more than a dozen works were put out in the five years after he died...
- Samuel WardSamuel Ward (scholar)Samuel Ward was an English academic and a master at the University of Cambridge.-Life:He was born at Bishop Middleham, county Durham. He was a scholar of Christ's College, Cambridge, where in 1592 he was admitted B.A. In 1595 he was elected to a fellowship at Emmanuel, and in the following year...
, master of Sidney Sussex College, CambridgeSidney Sussex College, CambridgeSidney Sussex College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge in England.The college was founded in 1596 and named after its foundress, Frances Sidney, Countess of Sussex. It was from its inception an avowedly Puritan foundation: some good and godlie moniment for the mainteynance... - Phineas FletcherPhineas FletcherPhineas Fletcher was an English poet, elder son of Dr Giles Fletcher, and brother of Giles the younger. He was born at Cranbrook, Kent, and was baptized on 8 April 1582.-Life:...
, a poetPoetA poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary... - Thomas DraxeThomas DraxeThomas Draxe was an English divine, a theological and classical author.-Life:Draxe was born at Stoneleigh, near Coventry, Warwickshire...
- Thomas TaylorThomas Taylor (clergyman)Thomas Taylor was an English clergyman.-Life:He was born in 1576 at Richmond, Yorkshire, where his father,was known as a friend to puritans and silenced ministers in the north. He distinguished himself at Cambridge, became fellow and reader in Hebrew at Christ's College, proceeded B.D. 1628, and...
- James UssherJames UssherJames Ussher was Church of Ireland Archbishop of Armagh and Primate of All Ireland between 1625–56...
, Archbishop of ArmaghArchbishop of Armagh (Church of Ireland)The Anglican Archbishop of Armagh is the ecclesiastical head of the Church of Ireland, the metropolitan of the Province of Armagh and the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of Armagh.... - James MontaguJames Montague (bishop)James Montague was an English bishop.-Life:He was the son of Sir Edward Montague of Boughton, and grandson of Edward Montagu....
, master of Sidney Sussex and later bishop of WinchesterBishop of WinchesterThe Bishop of Winchester is the head of the Church of England diocese of Winchester, with his cathedra at Winchester Cathedral in Hampshire.The bishop is one of five Church of England bishops to be among the Lords Spiritual regardless of their length of service. His diocese is one of the oldest and...
Death
In 1602, Perkins suffered from the stoneCalculus (medicine)
A calculus is a stone that forms in an organ or duct of the body. Formation of calculi is known as lithiasis...
. After several weeks of suffering, he died on October 22, 1602, at age 44.
James Montagu
James Montague (bishop)
James Montague was an English bishop.-Life:He was the son of Sir Edward Montague of Boughton, and grandson of Edward Montagu....
preached his funeral sermon, taking as his text Joshua
Book of Joshua
The Book of Joshua is the sixth book in the Hebrew Bible and of the Old Testament. Its 24 chapters tell of the entry of the Israelites into Canaan, their conquest and division of the land under the leadership of Joshua, and of serving God in the land....
1.2, ‘Moses
Moses
Moses was, according to the Hebrew Bible and Qur'an, a religious leader, lawgiver and prophet, to whom the authorship of the Torah is traditionally attributed...
my servant is dead’. He was buried in St. Andrew's, the church which he had pastored for eighteen years.
Publications by Perkins
- Libellus de Memoria, Verissimaque Bene Recordandi Scientia (1584)
- Antidicsonus Cuiusdam Cantabrigiensis (1584)
- Foure Great Lyers, Striuing Who Shall Win the Siluer Whetstone: Also, A Resolution to the Count (1585)
- A Treatise Tending Vnto a Declaration Whether a Man be in the Estate of Damnation or in the Estate of Grace: And If he be in the First, How he may in Time Come out of it: if in the second, how he maie discerne it, and perseuere in the same to the end. The points that are handled are set downe in the page following (1590)
- Armilla aurea, id est, Miranda series causarum et salutis & damnationis iuxta verbum Dei: Eius synopsin continet annexa tabula (1590)
- A golden chaine, or the description of theologie: containing the order of the causes of saluation and damnation, according to Gods woord. A view of the order wherof, is to be seene in the table annexed (1591)
- The foundation of Christian religion : gathered into sixe principles. And it is to bee learned of ignorant people, that they may be fit to hear sermons with profit, and to receiue the Lords Supper with comfort (1591)
- Prophetica, sive, De sacra et vnica ratione concionandi tractatus (1592)
- A case of conscience : the greatest that euer was; how a man may know whether he be the child of God or no. Resolued by the word of God. Whereunto is added a briefe discourse, taken out of Hier. Zanchius (1592)
- An exposition of the Lords prayer : in the way of catechising seruing for ignorant people (1592)
- Tvvo treatises·: I. Of the nature and practise of repentance. II. Of the combat of the flesh and spirit (1593)
- An exposition of the Lords praier : in the way of catechisme (1593)
- A direction for the government of the tongue according to Gods word (1593)
- An exposition of the Symbole or Creed of the Apostles : according to the tenour of the Scriptures, and the consent of orthodoxe Fathers of the Church (1595)
- A salve for a sicke man, or, A treatise containing the nature, differences, and kindes of death : as also the right manner of dying well. And it may serue for spirituall instruction to 1. Mariners when they goe to sea. 2. Souldiers when they goe to battell. 3. Women when they trauell of child (1595)
- A declaration of the true manner of knowing Christ crucified (1596)
- A reformed Catholike, or, A declaration shewing how neere we may come to the present Church of Rome in sundrie points of religion, and wherein we must for euer depart from them : with an advertisement to all fauourers of the Romane religion, shewing that the said religion is against the Catholike principles and grounds of the catechisme (1597)
- De praedestinationis modo et ordine : et de amplitudine gratiae diuinae Christiana & perspicua disceptatio (1598)
- Specimen digesti, sive Harmoniæ bibliorum Veteris et Novi Testamneti (1598)
- A warning against the idolatrie of the last times : And an instruction touching religious, or diuine worship (1601)
- The true gaine : more in worth then all the goods in the world (1601)
- How to liue, and that well: in all estates and times, specially when helps and comforts faile (1601)
Posthumously:
- The works of that famous and worthie minister of Christ, in the Universitie of Cambridge, M.W. Perkins : gathered into one volume, and newly corrected according to his owne copies. With distinct chapters, and contents of euery book, and a generall table of the whole (1603)
- The reformation of couetousnesse: Written vpon the 6. chapter of Mathew, from the 19. verse to the ende of the said chapter (1603)
- A commentarie or exposition, vpon the fiue first chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians: penned by the godly, learned, and iudiciall diuine (1604)
- Lectures vpon the three first chapters of the Reuelation: preached in Cambridge anno Dom. 1595 (1604)
- Gvilielmi Perkinsi Problema de Romanæ fidei ementito Catholicismo. : Estq´; Antidotum contra Thesaurum Catholicum Iodoci Coccij. Et [propaidoia] iuventutis in lectione omnium patrum (1604)
- The first part of The cases of conscience : Wherein specially, three maine questions concerning man, simply considered in himselfe, are propounded and resolued, according to the word of God (1604)
- Satans sophistrie ansuuered by our Sauiour Christ: and in diuers sermons further manifested (1604)
- Hepieíkeia: or, a treatise of Christian equitie and moderation (1604)
- M. Perkins, his Exhortation to repentance, out of Zephaniah: preached in 2. sermons in Sturbridge Faire. Together with two treatises of the duties and dignitie of the ministrie: deliuered publiquely in the Vniuersitie of Cambridge. With a preface præfixed touching the publishing of all such workes of his as are to be expected: with a catalogue of all the perticulers [sic] of them, diligently perused and published, by a preacher of the word (1605)
- Works newly corrected according to his owne copies (1605)
- Of the calling of the ministerie two treatises, describing the duties and dignities of that calling (1605)
- The combat betweene Christ and the diuell displayed, or A commentarie upon the temptations of Christ (1606)
- A godlie and learned exposition vpon the whole epistle of Ivde... (1606)
- A C[hristian] and [plain]e treatise of the manner and order of predestination : and of the largenes of Gods grace (1606)
- The arte of prophecying, or, A treatise concerning the sacred and onely true manner and methode of preaching (1607)
- A cloud of faithfull witnesses, leading to the heauenly Canaan, or, A commentarie vpon the 11 chapter to the Hebrewes (1607)
- A treatise of mans imaginations : Shewing his naturall euill thoughts: His want of good thoughts: The way to reforme them (1607)
- A discourse of the damned art of witchcraft: so farre forth as it is revealed in the Scriptures and manifest by true experience ... (1608)
- The vvhole treatise of the cases of conscience : distinguished into three bookes (1608)
- Christian oeconomie: or, A short survey of the right manner of erecting and ordering a familie : according to the scriptures (1609)
- A graine of musterd-seede: or, the least measure of grace that is or can be effectuall to saluation (1611)
- A resolution to the countryman prooving it utterly unlawfull to buy or use our yeerely prognostications (1618)
- Deaths knell: or, The sicke mans passing-bell : summoning all sicke consciences to pr[e]pare themselues for the coming of the grea[t] day of doome, lest mercies gate be shut against them: fit for all those that desire to arriue at the heauenly Ierusalem. Whereunto are added prayers fit for housholders. The ninth edition. (1628)
- The works of William Perkins, ed. Ian Breward (1970)
Further reading
- Christy Desmet, "William Perkins," The Dictionary of Literary Biography, Volume 281: British Rhetoricians and Logicians, 1500–1660, Second Series, Detroit: Gale, 2003, pp. 215–28.
- Donald McKim, Ramism in William Perkins' Theology, New York: Peter Lang, 1987.
- Ceri Sullivan, The Rhetoric of the Conscience in Donne, Herbert, and Vaughan, Oxford University Press, 2008, ISBN 9780199547845.