The Works of William Perkins, Volume 10

by William Perkins

Overview

This tenth volume brings together seven treatises that demonstrate Perkins's core conviction that the gospel touches all of life by bringing it under the rule of Scripture.

Treatise on How to Live Well in All Estates opens the volume with a description of the reign of faith in Christians' hearts so that they avoid sin and pursue the will of God in all they do.

Treatise on Vocations explains how God calls Christians to live out their faith in whatever responsibilities they hold within society.

Right Manner of Erecting and Ordering a Family applies the concept of vocation to life in the home.

Calling of the Ministry applies vocation to the church, describing the duties and dignities of the ministers of Christ.

Art of Prophesying equips those called to the ministry with the proper manner and method of preaching God's Word.

Christian Equity exhorts Christians to maintain justice and preserve peace, whether in families, church, or the greater commonwealth.

Having finished with principles of living by faith, the volume ends with Treatise on Dying Well, which discusses the importance of faith at the end of life.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940162970460
Publisher:	Reformation Heritage Books
Publication date:	01/07/2021
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
File size:	852 KB

About the Author

William Perkins (1558–1602) earned a bachelor’s degree in 1581 and a master’s degree in 1584 from Christ’s College in Cambridge. During those student years he joined up with Laurence Chaderton, who became his personal tutor and lifelong friend. Perkins and Chaderton met with Richard Greenham, Richard Rogers, and others in a spiritual brotherhood at Cambridge that espoused Puritan convictions.

From 1584 until his death, Perkins served as lecturer, or preacher, at Great St. Andrew’s Church, Cambridge, a most influential pulpit across the street from Christ’s College. He also served as a teaching fellow at Christ’s College, catechized students at Corpus Christi College on Thursday afternoons, and worked as a spiritual counselor on Sunday afternoons. In these roles Perkins influenced a generation of young students, including Richard Sibbes, John Cotton, John Preston, and William Ames. Thomas Goodwin wrote that when he entered Cambridge, six of his instructors who had sat under Perkins were still passing on his teaching. Ten years after Perkins’s death, Cambridge was still “filled with the discourse of the power of Mr. William Perkins’ ministry,” Goodwin said.

Perkins’s influence as a theologian continued unabated after his death. This was due in large part to the widespread popularity of his writings. His writings were translated into several European languages and greatly influenced British and American Reformed theology, the Dutch Further Reformation, and European Pietism.