Ready To Receive: Humbling And Softening In William Perkins’s Preparation Of The Heart

By J. Stephen Yuille

William Perkins (1558-1602) was born in the village of Marston Jabbett in Bulkington parish, Warwickshire. [1] Very little is recorded of him until 1577, when he enrolled at Christ’s College, Cambridge. As a student he quickly made a name for himself, but not for the reasons we might expect. By his own admission, he was given to recklessness and drunkenness. Compounded by his interest in witchcraft, [2] his spiritual state was desperate. But God soon began to work in his heart, producing conviction for sin. Before long, Perkins turned to Christ, the Savior of sinners. After his conversion, he devoted himself to his studies, receiving his B.A. in 1581 and M.A. in 1584. After graduation, he was appointed lecturer at St. Andrew’s Church—a position he held until his death. Around the time of this appointment, he was also elected to a fellowship at Christ’s College. During the next decade, his reputation as a teacher was unrivalled. When Thomas Goodwin enrolled at Cambridge in 1613—a full ten years after Perkins’s death—he could write, “The town was then filled with the discourse of the power of Mr. Perkins’s ministry, still fresh in most men’s memories.” [3]

In the words of Ian Breward, what makes Perkins “so important is that by the end of the sixteenth century his writings had begun to displace those of Calvin, Beza, and Bullinger.” [4] The popularity of his writings makes him pivotal to the development of Puritanism on both sides of the Atlantic—a movement that has profoundly shaped Christianity in the West. [5] The focus of this essay is Perkins’s view of how God works faith in the heart. Perkins sees God’s involvement as consisting in two key steps. First, God “prepareth the heart that it may be acceptable of faith.” Second, God “causeth faith by little and little to spring and to breed in the heart.” [6]

Preparation For Faith

According to Perkins, God prepares the heart for faith by “humbling and softening” it. [7] That is to say, God convinces us of our ailment (sin) so that we are prepared to embrace His remedy (Christ). For Perkins, God employs four chief means by which He brings the heart into this state of readiness. [8]

Hearing

The first “is the knowledge of the word of God.” [9] For Perkins, such knowledge comes by way of preaching. [10] He explains, “The only ordinary means to attain faith by, is the word preached: which must be heard, remembered, practiced: and continually hid in the heart.” [11] This view of preaching as the most effective means of grace stems from John Calvin’s concept of the “sacramental word.” [12] Commenting on Romans 10:17, [13] Calvin writes, “This is a remarkable passage with regard to the efficacy of preaching; for he testifies that by it faith is produced…when it pleases the Lord to work, it becomes the instrument of his power.” [14] Perkins adopts Calvin’s view, stressing the efficacy of God’s Word preached in the power of the Holy Spirit. [15]

In the process of “humbling and softening,” Perkins places particular emphasis on the preaching of the law and the gospel. This is evident, for example, in his exposition of Matthew 5:3-16. Having declared the Beatitudes, Christ proceeds to speak of salt and light. Perkins interprets Christ’s metaphors of salt and light as primarily referring to ministers [16] because he believes their preaching is the means by which we become like those described in the Beatitudes—poor in spirit, sorrowful, meek, desperate for righteousness, etc. [17] To be specific, Christ describes ministers as “salt,” in order to teach them how to “dispense” God’s Word. In short, they must seek to express the properties of salt. Perkins explains, “The properties of salt applied to raw flesh, or fresh wounds are principally three: first, it will bite and fret, being of nature hot and dry; secondly, it makes meats savoury unto our taste; thirdly, it preserveth meats from putrification, by drawing out of them superfluous moistness.” [18] The minister’s application of God’s Word to people’s hearts must have the same three-fold effect. First, it must bite: “The law must be applied to rip up men’s hearts, to make them see their sins; it must fret and bite them by the curse thereof to cause them to renounce themselves.” Second, it must season: “The gospel must be preached, that men feeling their corruption, like rottenness in their souls; may by the blessing of the Spirit be thereby seasoned with grace, and so reconciled unto God, and made savoury in his sight.” Third, it must preserve: “Both the law and the gospel must be continually dispensed, that thereby sin and corruption may be daily mortified and consumed both in heart and life; even as superfluous humours are dried up by salt.” [19]

In Perkins’s estimation, preaching is not merely the transmission of information about God. Rather, it is the means by which faith in Christ is nurtured and union with Christ is realized. For this reason, hearing the Word is an indispensable component to God’s preparation of the heart.

Seeing

The second means is “the sight of sin arising of the knowledge of the law.” [20] In the process of “humbling and softening,” it is crucial that we hear and apply the law. [21] For Perkins, it is particularly important that we examine ourselves “by the commandments of the Law, but especially by the tenth, which ransacketh the heart to the very quick: and was the means of Paul’s conversion.” [22] In Romans 7:7, Paul writes, “What shall we say then? Is the law sin? God forbid. Nay, I had not known sin, but by the law: for I had not known lust, except the law had said, Thou shalt not covet.” Through this commandment (the tenth), Paul realized that sin is not primarily concerned with deeds, but desires. In addition, he realized that his desires are as damnable as his deeds. Up until that moment, he knew the law theoretically, but he did not know it experientially. By the Holy Spirit’s work through the law, he came to know his sin.

Moreover, Paul realized that the law provoked his sin: “But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence. For without the law sin was dead” (Rom. 7:8). When Paul says, “Without the law sin was dead,” he is speaking by way of comparison. Apart from the law, we sin. With the law, we sin even more. Why? First, the law arouses hostility: “Because the carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be” (Rom. 8:7). Second, the law arouses obstinacy: “Who knowing the judgment of God, that they which commit such things are worthy of death, not only do the same, but have pleasure in them that do them” (Rom. 1:32). The law, therefore, is a catalyst for sin. As Perkins explains, it “effects” and “augments” sin “by reason of the flesh, the which causeth man to decline from that which is commanded, and ever to incline to that which is prohibited.” [23]

The pivotal role of the law in cultivating sorrow for sin is evident in Christ’s conversation with the rich ruler in Mark 10. This young man approaches Christ, asking, “What shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?” (v. 17). Christ responds by quoting six commandments from the Law. The man claims, “Master, all these have I observed from my youth.” Christ replies, “One thing thou lackest: go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor, and thou shalt have treasure in heaven” (v. 21). Christ is not suggesting that the rich ruler can do something in order to inherit eternal life; rather, He is correcting the man’s misunderstanding of the law. The man thinks he is able to be justified by the law. Christ challenges his misunderstanding by sending him to the tenth commandment: “Go thy way, sell whatsoever thou hast, and give to the poor.” The rich ruler loves his wealth; he is covetous. The implications are obvious. If he is covetous, then he is an idolater. If he is an idolater, then he is also guilty of breaking the first and foremost commandment: “Thou shalt have no other gods before me” (Ex. 20:3). Christ is showing the rich ruler that he has not and cannot keep the law; he is an idolater in that he loves his money more than God and neighbor. Simply put, the law does not exist to tell us what we can do, but what we cannot do. It is designed to show us our sin.

Sorrowing

The third step in “humbling and softening” is “a sorrow for sin, which is a pain and pricking in the heart arising of the feeling of the displeasure of God, and of the just damnation which followeth after sin.” [24] Perkins equates this “pain and pricking in the heart” with the “spirit of bondage” in Romans 8:14. He explains, “This sorrow is called the spirit of bondage to fear; because when the spirit hath made a man see his sins, he seeth further the curse of the Law, and so he finds himself to be in bondage under Satan, hell, death, and damnation: at which most terrible sight his heart is smitten with fear and trembling….” [25]

For Perkins, such “sorrow for sin” is encapsulated in the first Beatitude: poverty of spirit (Matt. 5:3). He defines this spiritual poverty on the basis of Isaiah 66:2, where God declares, “But to this man will I look, even to him who is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” For Perkins, poverty of spirit is an attitude before God that arises from a proper self-perception. We perceive our sin in light of God’s law. We recognize that we are without moral virtues adequate to commend ourselves to God, and, as a result, we are aware of our utter dependence upon God’s grace. Perkins expresses it like this: “Finding no goodness in their hearts, [the poor in spirit] despair in themselves, and fly wholly to the mercy of God in Christ, for grace and comfort.” [26]

This awareness of our utter nothingness is exemplified in Paul’s experience: “For I was alive without the law once: but when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died” (Rom. 7:9). Thus Paul describes life and death in relative terms. There was a time when he was “alive without the law,” meaning he lacked any experiential knowledge of it. Without that knowledge, he thought all was well with his soul: “Touching the righteousness which is in the law, blameless” (Phil. 3:6). However, the time came when Paul died. Why? The law arrived home and sin became alive. In other words, the law revealed and provoked his sin. He saw God’s righteousness and the depths of his own depravity. According to Perkins, “It killed him, that is, it humbled him.” [27]

Despairing

The fourth step in “humbling and softening” is “a holy desperation: which is, when a man is wholly out of all hope ever to attain salvation by any strength or goodness of his own: speaking and thinking more vily of himself than any other can do; and heartily acknowledging himself to have deserved not one only, but even ten thousand damnations in hell fire with the devil and his angels.” [28] As Perkins makes clear, this is not a despair that arises from any doubt concerning God’s mercy, but our own inability. In other words, we despair of saving ourselves. When we are deeply affected in this manner, we become—in the words of Richard Sibbes—“bruised reeds.” [29] We become conscious of our sin, mindful of our need, and aware of our need for a Savior. [30] We echo Paul’s cry, “This is a faithful saying, and worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners; of whom I am chief” (1 Tim. 3:15).

Cultivation Of Faith

Having thus prepared the heart by “humbling and softening,” God “causeth faith by little and little to spring and to breed in the heart.” How? Perkins delineates four steps. To begin with, God stirs us up “to consider and to ponder most diligently the great mercy of God offered…in Christ.” [31] This comes by way of the proclamation of the gospel. As a result of this stirring, we feel and acknowledge our “need of Christ.” [32] We realize there is no other remedy for sin. As a result of this conviction, we begin to desire Christ and His merits. [33] We hunger and thirst after a righteousness that is not our own—“the righteousness of God without the law” (Rom. 3:21). In the final step, we pray, “crying with the poor Publican, ‘O God be merciful to me a sinner.’” [34] “After all these,” says Perkins, “ariseth in the heart a lively assurance of the forgiveness of sin.” [35] He describes this entire process as repentance, “a work of grace, arising of a godly sorrow; whereby a man turns from all his sins unto God, and brings forth fruits worthy of amendment of life.” [36]

In all this, Perkins’s contention is that God must make us ready to receive Christ. That is to say, we must perceive our need for Christ in order to rest in Christ. For support, Perkins appeals to the fact “that a sinner is compared to a sick man oft in the Scriptures.” [37] The Scriptures make it clear that the curing of sin resembles the curing of disease. [38] Before we can be cured of a disease, we must first be convinced that it threatens our health and well-being. Once we are convinced of our condition, we recognize that we need a doctor to prescribe a remedy. When we visit the doctor, we desire to hear from him alone; moreover, we yield ourselves into his hands, taking the prescribed remedy. As a result, we are cured. Perkins believes the same process applies in the realm of the spiritual. We must recognize that we are sick (in danger from sin), before we will seek Christ, the Physician of the soul. We must be “thirsty” before we will drink of Christ (John 7:37) and “hungry” before we will feed on Christ (John 6:35). We must be “weary and heavy laden” before we will rest in Him (Matt. 11:28-30). We must be like a “battered reed” (i.e., easy to break off) and a “smoldering wick” (i.e., easy to put out) before we will turn to Christ (Matt. 12:20). There must be humiliation for sin before there will ever be faith in Christ. Why? The language of faith is meaningless to those who remain unconvinced of their need for a Savior.

According to Perkins, those who close with Christ alone for salvation are like the wise man “which built an house, and digged deep, and laid the foundation on a rock” (Luke 6:48). This wisdom consists of “three parts,” says Perkins. First, it consists of digging deep. “He that would make sure his own salvation,” he writes, “must come to a deep search and examination of his own corrupt heart, that he may know the iniquity thereof.” [39] In a word, we must see the true nature of our sin. Why? Without a “ransacking of the heart,” it is impossible to lay a good foundation. In other words, it is impossible to trust in Christ alone for salvation until we are convinced of our need for Christ alone. This is the “digging” (i.e., preparation) that must occur before the foundation is set.

Second, true wisdom consists of choosing a rock. Expectedly, the rock is Christ. [40] Perkins makes it clear that our works of righteousness cannot provide any protection against God’s judgment. In short, they have “no part of this foundation.” [41] Self-deception is an ever-present danger because our natural tendency is to look to self for the grounds of salvation. Aware of this, the wise man looks away from himself to Christ. Perkins affirms that “a sorrow and grief of heart in regards of a man’s own sins, and unrighteousness” leads to “an earnest and constant desire of the righteousness of God.” [42]

Third, true wisdom consists of laying a foundation. Perkins explains, “Our souls and our salvation must be builded on Christ. This is done by our faith in Christ: for as mutual love joins one man unto another, so true faith makes us one with Christ (Eph. 3:17).” [43] That means we become one with Christ through faith. This mystical union is the direct result of Christ’s taking hold of us by His Spirit and our taking hold of Christ by our faith. As a result of this union, Christ becomes to us “righteousness” (1 Cor. 1:30)—the foundation upon which we build.

Concerning the wise man’s fruit, Christ declares, “And the rain descended, and floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and it fell not: for it was founded upon a rock” (Matt. 7:25). In other words, the wise man’s profession of faith withstands God’s scrutiny, because it is founded upon a saving knowledge of Christ. “He which once hath true faith in Christ rooted in the heart,” says Perkins, “shall never lose the same either wholly or finally, but shall continue therein unto the end, and shall enjoy the fruit thereof forever.” [44]

Conclusion

Having analyzed Perkins’s view of how God works faith in the heart, it is important to address three questions often raised in conjunction with this popular Puritan motif.

1. Is Perkins Guilty Of Needlessly Discouraging People?

Due to his vivid portrayal of sin, Perkins (along with other Puritans) is often viewed as a dark and dour kill-joy. That is an unfortunate characterization. His description of the depths of our sin is not only entirely biblical but also absolutely necessary as it arises from his firm conviction that we only rest in Christ when we are weary of our sin. A clear view of sin’s repugnancy is the only thing that drives us to Christ. Many today (including many evangelicals) are uncomfortable with Perkins’s view of “humbling and softening.” That tendency, however, says far more about the state of contemporary Christianity than it does of Perkins. Sadly, much of today’s church is in the grips of what is known as “moralistic therapeutic deism.” [45] Adherents believe that God demands very little from them—in fact, He does not require them to do anything that might compromise what they believe is His chief concern—namely, their personal peace, affluence, and happiness. God’s greatest desire is for them to feel good, happy, and secure. Against such a backdrop, Perkins seems sorely out of touch, and his view of “humbling and softening” seems needlessly depressing. [46]

2. Is Perkins Guilty Of Shifting The Focus Of The Gospel Away From Christ To Us?

Because he places so much emphasis on “humbling and softening,” Perkins (along with like-minded Puritans) is often charged with flirting (wittingly or not) with three dangers. The first is introspection. While useful to the hypocrite, Perkins’s stress on self-examination is potentially detrimental to those who are overly sensitive; it could lead them into an unhealthy state of gloomy introspection. The second danger is despair. While affirming the need for “humbling and softening,” Perkins acknowledges that many people suffer from cold affections. How is this remedied? Does dissatisfaction with one’s lack of “humbling and softening” become a sign of affection? If so, does such reasoning lead to a vicious cycle whereby anxiety becomes a mark of piety? The third danger is moralism. For many, Perkins’s emphasis upon marks of “humbling and softening” is but a small step away from a works-oriented concept of salvation. When detailed descriptions of normative experience become central, grace is usually threatened.

By way of response, it is important to note that Perkins is aware of these dangers and carefully guards against them. To defend against introspection and despair, he acknowledges that “humbling and softening” varies in degree and expression from person to person. He makes it clear that the main issue is not the external expression of sorrow, but the inner conviction that our righteousness is as “filthy rags” in God’s sight (Isa. 64:6). This conviction manifests itself differently in different people. “All men which are humbled have not like measure of sorrow,” says Perkins, “but some more, some less.” [47] He does not establish norms for the extent of our grief, the duration of our sorrow, or the severity of our conviction. On the contrary, he believes God works through the steps of “humbling and softening” according to an individual’s condition and constitution. “It is often seen in a festered sore,” says Perkins, “that the corruption is let out as well with the pricking of a small pin, as with the wide lance of a razor.” [48]

To defend against moralism, Perkins maintains a robust doctrine of justification. He defines justification as the act of God “whereby such as believe, are accounted just before God, through the obedience of Christ.” [49] This act involves a “translation” of our sin to Christ and Christ’s righteousness to us by way of “mutual imputation.” [50] For Perkins, God’s preparation of the heart brings us to this place. The law shows us our sin, thereby convincing us of our twofold need: we need someone to obey the law’s demand and to pay the law’s penalty on our behalf. Thus the law drives us to Christ, who fulfilled its demand (by His obedience) and penalty (by His death). Perkins has a firm grasp on the role of Christ’s active and passive obedience in our salvation. Rather than driving us away from Christ, Perkins’s view of “humbling and softening” accomplishes the exact opposite. It causes us to rest in Christ alone for salvation.

3. Is Perkins Guilty Of Majoring On A Relatively Minor Issue?

Some people puzzle over why Perkins (along with other Puritans) devotes so much ink to this subject. The reason is fourfold.

First, Perkins is driven by a personal desire to mirror the Augustinian tradition. He describes salvation according to the pattern of Romans 8:29-30. “God’s decree,” declares Perkins, “in as much as it concerneth man, is called Predestination: which is the decree of God, by which he hath ordained all men to a certain and everlasting estate: that is, either to salvation or condemnation, for his own glory.” [51]He believes God’s execution of His decree involves four “degrees.” [52] The first is effectual calling, whereby “a sinner, being severed from the world, is entertained into God’s family.” [53] The second is justification, whereby “such as believe, are accounted just before God, through the obedience of Christ Jesus.” [54] The third is sanctification, whereby “such as believe, being delivered from the tyranny of sin, are by little and little renewed in holiness and righteousness.” [55] The fourth is glorification, whereby the saints are perfectly transformed “into the image of the Son of God.” [56] This “golden chain,” according to Perkins, is the definitive word on God’s grace. He is convinced that we must experience an affective appropriation of this sovereign grace, moving beyond intellectual assent to heartfelt dedication to Christ. That is why he focuses on the unfolding of the order of salvation in our experience of conviction and forgiveness.

Second, Perkins is driven by a Puritan desire to know the power of Christ’s death and resurrection. He repeatedly emphasizes the difference between knowing with the head (theoretical, notional, speculative knowledge) and knowing with the heart (practical, inclinational, sensible knowledge). With this distinction in view, Perkins exhorts: “We must labor for the power of this knowledge in ourselves, that we may know Christ to be our Savior, and may feel the power of his death to mortify sin in us, and the virtue of his resurrection to raise and build us up to newness of life, for knowledge in the brain will not save the soul: saving knowledge in religion is experimental: and he that is truly founded upon Christ, feels the power and efficacy of his death, and resurrection, effectually causing the death of sin, and the life of grace which both appear by new obedience.” [57] Perkins is adamant that we are saved by virtue of union with Christ. However, he is equally adamant that the faith that unites us to Christ impart life, bear fruit, and produce good works (James 2:14-26). It is a faith that grips the heart. Christ declares in John 15:4, “Abide in me, and I in you. As the branch cannot bear fruit of itself, except it abide in the vine; no more can ye, except ye abide in me.” A branch does not possess life in itself but is completely dependent upon its relationship to the vine. Without that relationship, it dies. Similarly, Christ is the vine, and we are the branches. There is a vital, organic union between us. We must, therefore, abide in Him, meaning we must cultivate close and constant communion with Him. We must continually look “unto Jesus the author and finisher of our faith” (Heb. 12:2). For Perkins, “humbling and softening” (a sense of our misery) is the only thing that will keep our eyes fixed on Christ. When we are poor in spirit, there is nothing more soul-satisfying than contemplating Christ and our interest in Him.

Third, Perkins is driven by a polemical desire to combat the error of Roman Catholicism. In a very real sense, Perkins is a reformer. He preaches and lectures in the midst of a pitched battle with the Roman Catholic Church. Expectedly, many of his writings reflect this conflict. In one of his most well-known, A Reformed Catholic, [58] he makes it clear that “union of the two religions” (Protestantism and Catholicism) “can never be made, more than the union of light and darkness.” By way of explanation, he adds, “For though in words they [i.e., the Catholics] honor Christ, yet indeed they turn him to a pseudo-Christ and an idol of their own brain.” [59] They have wandered so far from the teaching of Scripture that they have lost the true knowledge of Christ. In Perkins’s estimation, therefore, Roman Catholicism is not merely one of several acceptable Christian traditions; on the contrary, it is the “great whore” (Rev. 17:1-5). [60] Perkins is so scornful in his attacks upon the Roman Catholic Church because he believes it affirms a false gospel. It is synergistic in its understanding of the gospel because it minimizes the full extent of our sin. In so doing, it minimizes the full extent of God’s grace. This is one of the reasons Perkins places so much emphasis on “humbling and softening” and why it is fundamental to his defense of the gospel.

Fourth, Perkins is driven by a pastoral desire to challenge those who trust in the external forms of religion. According to R. C. Lovelace, “The problem that confronts the Puritans as they look out on their decaying society and their lukewarm church is not simply to dislodge the faithful from the slough of mortal or venial sin, but radically to awaken those who are professing but not actual Christians, who are caught in a trap of carnal security.” [61] In a day (not unlike our own) in which mere assent was accepted as faith, empty profession was accepted as conversion, and dead formality was accepted as godliness, Perkins was particularly concerned with the prevalence of civility within the professing church. “If we look into the general state of our people,” says he, “we shall see that religion is professed, but not obeyed: nay, obedience is counted as preciseness, and so reproached.” [62] Aware of this tendency, he desires to awaken a sleepy generation of churchgoers from their false sense of security. He believes the necessary corrective is found in a proper understanding of how God works faith in the heart.

Notes

1. For an account of Perkins’s life, see The Dictionary of National Biography, ed. S. Lee (London, U.K.: Smith, Elder & Co., 1909). Also see Joel Beeke and Randall Pederson, Meet the Puritans (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2006), 469-80; and Benjamin Brook, The Lives of the Puritans (1813; repr., Morgan, Pa.: Soli Deo Gloria, 1996), 2:129-36.
2. During his early years at Cambridge, Perkins appears to have dabbled in astrology. This struggle may account in part for his treatise, A Discourse of the Damned Art of Witchcraft in The Works of William Perkins: Volume 3 (London, 1631).
3. Thomas Goodwin as quoted by Ian Breward, ed., The Works of William Perkins in The Courtenay Library of Reformation Classics: Volume 3 (Appleford, U.K.: Sutton Courtenay Press, 1970), 9.
4. Ian Breward, “The Significance of William Perkins,” Journal of Religious History 4 (1966): 116. Breward gives two reasons for this interest in Perkins: (1) “an ability to clarify and expound complex theological issues which aroused the respect of fellow scholars”; and (2) “a gift for relating seemingly abstruse theological teaching to the spiritual aspirations of ordinary Christians” (113).
5. Strictly speaking, Perkins was not a Puritan in terms of his ecclesiology, for he refused to align himself with the more militant figures of his era. Nor was he a Puritan in terms of his theology, for it is anachronistic to speak of Puritanism as a theological movement prior to the Arminian renewal in theology, which occurred within the Church of England during the reign of the Stuart kings. But Perkins was a Puritan in terms of his piety, meaning he was convinced that we must experience an affective appropriation of God’s sovereign grace, moving beyond intellectual assent to heartfelt dedication to Christ.
6. William Perkins, A Treatise Tending Unto 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 may discern it, and preserve in the same to the end in The Works of William Perkins: Volume 1 (London, 1608), 363. This treatise consists of eight sections. The second—“The estate of a true Christian in this life”—provides the structure for this article.
7. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:363.
8. Commenting on Perkins, Mark Shaw writes, “His covenant theology enabled him to follow a consistent line of co-action which gave strong emphasis to God’s sovereign grace in Christ as the ultimate cause of salvation while at the same time emphasizing the necessity of human response…. The human psyche as created by God needed the sovereignty of grace to deliver it from the condemnation it was helpless to alter while at the same time it needed to apply and respond to his grace” (“Drama in the Meeting House: The Concept of Conversion in the Theology of William Perkins,” Westminster Theological Journal 45 [1983]: 71). In other words, Perkins does not believe that sinners are simply forced into a state of salvation. If this were the case, then they would have no awareness of their own experience. Instead, he affirms that God proceeds with individuals by steps so that they are involved in the process. Shaw identifies Perkins’s four-stage model in conversion as “humiliation—faith—repentance—obedience” (“Drama in the Meeting House,” 56).
9. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:363.
10. For a description of the role of the preacher, see Paul Cook, “The Life and Work of a Minister According to the Puritans,” in Puritan Papers: Volume 1, ed. Martyn Lloyd-Jones (Phillipsburg, Pa.: P&R Publishing, 2000), 177-89.
11. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:363.
12. John Calvin, Institutes of the Christian Religion in The Library of Christian Classics: Volume 20-21, ed. J. T. McNeill, trans. Ford Lewis Battles (Philadelphia: Westminster Press, 1960), 4.14.4
13. “So then faith cometh by hearing, and hearing by the word of God.”
14. John Calvin, Commentaries on the Epistle of the Apostle Paul to the Romans in Calvin’s Commentaries (Grand Rapids: Baker Books, 2003), 19:401.
15. J. I. Packer maintains that four axioms underlay all Puritan thought about preaching. The first is the primacy of the intellect. The Puritans believed that all grace enters through the understanding. The second is the importance of preaching. In Packer’s words, the sermon was “the liturgical climax of public worship.” The third is the life-giving power of the Scripture. In other words, the Bible does not merely contain the Word of God, but it is the Word of God. The fourth is the sovereignty of the Holy Spirit. The Puritans insisted that the ultimate effectiveness of preaching is out of man’s hands. See A Quest for Godliness: The Puritan Vision of the Christian Life (Wheaton, Ill.: Crossway Books, 1990), 281-84. For Perkins’s thoughts on preaching, see Art of Prophesying; or, A treatise concerning the sacred and only true manner and method of preaching in The Works of William Perkins (London, 1631), 2:341.
16. While applying these verses primarily to ministers, Perkins does not deny their broader application to all Christians, writing, “As these similitudes concern the ministers, so they may well be enlarged to every Christian in this place: for in this regard the minister is a pattern to his people” (Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:27-28).
17. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:23.
18. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:23.
19. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:23.
20. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:363.
21. J. I. Packer explains the modern-day significance of preaching the law: “Some will assure us that it is a waste of time preaching to modern hearers about the law and sin, for (it is said) such things mean nothing to them. Instead (it is suggested) we should just appeal to the needs which they feel already, and present Christ to them simply as One who gives peace, power and purpose to the neurotic and frustrated—a super-psychiatrist, in fact…. Such preaching may soothe some, but it will help nobody; for a Christ who is not seen and sought as a Savior from sin will not be found to save from self or anything else” (Quest for Godliness, 164-65).
22. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:364.
23. Perkins, A Golden Chain: or, the Description of Theology: Containing the order of the causes of salvation and damnation, according to God’s Word in The Works of William Perkins (London, 1608), 1:70.
24. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:364.
25. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:364. There are two major schools of thought concerning the phrase “spirit of bondage.” (1) It is a reference to bondage to sin. If that is true, then Paul is saying that we are no longer unregenerate but regenerate. (2) It is a reference to conviction for sin. Both instances of the word “spirit” in this verse refer to the Spirit. Therefore, the Spirit of bondage (or slavery) is an activity performed by the Spirit, whereby He convicts us of sin. Having produced conviction and humiliation for sin, the Spirit leads us to Christ, whereby we believe in Him and are adopted into God’s family. The Spirit of bondage produces terror as the soul sees itself as God sees it. The Spirit of adoption eases that terror by leading the soul to Christ.
26. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:4.
27. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:364.
28. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365.
29. Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed (1630; repr., Edinburgh: Banner of Truth, 1998), 3. See also Matthew 12:20.
30. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365.
31. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365.
32. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365.
33. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365. Perkins’s understanding of the doctrine of justification must be set in the context of his covenant theology. He speaks of two covenants. The first is the covenant of works. In the Garden, Adam stood in the place of his descendants. God gave him a specific commandment, and when he sinned, God counted his sin as his posterity’s sin, his guilt as his posterity’s guilt, and his punishment as his posterity’s punishment. For this reason, there was a need for another covenant—the covenant of grace, “whereby God freely promising Christ, and his benefits, exacteth again of man, that he would by faith receive Christ, and repent of his sins” (Golden Chain, 1:70). This means that Adam has a counterpart: the last Adam (or Christ). Paul contrasts the result of their work: Adam’s “offence” resulted in death and condemnation, whereas Christ’s “gift by grace” resulted in life and justification (Rom. 5:15-17). He also contrasts the quality of their work: Adam’s work was an act of “offence” (or transgression), whereas Christ’s work was an act of “righteousness” (Rom. 5:18). Finally, he contrasts the nature of their work: Adam disobeyed (“by one man’s disobedience many were made sinners”), whereas Christ obeyed (“by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous”) (Rom. 5:19). Christians are no longer under the covenant of works in Adam because they have been united with Christ, who has fulfilled the covenant of works on their behalf.
34. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365. The subject of the “Publican and Pharisee” is popular among the Puritans. For example, see John Bunyan, A Discourse upon the Pharisee and the Publican in The Miscellaneous Works of John Bunyan: Volume 10, ed. Owen Watkins (Oxford, U.K.: Clarendon Press, 1988); this treatise is an exposition of Luke 18:10-13. Bunyan describes the Publican and Pharisee as “two men in whose condition the whole world is comprehended” (Works, 10:111). He describes Christ’s goal in this discourse as “the conviction of the proud and self-conceited Pharisee” and “the raising up and healing of the cast-down and dejected Publican” (Works, 10:114).
35. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365.
36. William Perkins, Two Treatises. I. Of the nature and practice of repentance. II. Of the combat of the flesh and spirit in The Works of William Perkins (London, 1608), 1:453. For Perkins, God produces repentance by “steps and degrees.” There must be: (1) the knowledge of the law of God, the nature of sin, the guilt of sin, and the judgment of God; (2) the application of this knowledge to the heart by the Spirit of bondage; (3) the consequent fear and sorrow; (4) the knowledge of the gospel; (5) the application of this knowledge to the heart by the Spirit of adoption; (6) the consequent joy and sorrow; and (7) the “turning of the mind, whereby a man determines and resolves with himself to sin no more as he hath done, but to live in newness of life.”
37. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365. See also Matthew 9:11-12 and Luke 4:18.
38. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365-66.
39. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:256.
40. See Acts 4:12; 1 Corinthians 3:11; Ephesians 2:20-21; and 1 Peter 2:5.
41. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:256.
42. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:10.
43. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:256.
44. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:257.
45. For an analysis of this trend, see Jonathan Lunde, Following Jesus, the Servant King: A Biblical Theology of Covenantal Discipleship (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 2010).
46. Perkins does recognize the danger of confusing melancholy with “humbling and softening.” He is careful to make four key distinctions (Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365). First, melancholy arises when the body is unsound, the reason is dulled, and the memory is troubled; but “humbling and softening” occurs even when body and soul are sound. Second, melancholy may be cured by diet, music, etc., but “humbling and softening” can only be cured by the sprinkling of the blood of Christ. Third, melancholy is the result of mere imaginations strongly conceived in the brain, but “humbling and softening” arises from a wounded conscience. Fourth, melancholy appears little by little, but “humbling and softening” usually occurs suddenly like a flash of lightning.
47. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:364.
48. Perkins, Tending Unto a Declaration, 1:365. He gives the example of Lydia (Acts 16).
49. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:82.
50. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:82.
51. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:16.
52. The WCF identifies these four “degrees” as “means” (X:II, XI:I, XIII:I, XXXII:I).
53. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:78.
54. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:82.
55. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:84.
56. Perkins, Golden Chain, 1:93.
57. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:259-60.
58. William Perkins, A Reformed Catholic; or, A declaration showing how near we may come to the present Church of Rome in sundry points of religion, and wherein we must forever depart from them in The Works of William Perkins: Vol. 1 (London, 1608).
59. Perkins, Reformed Catholic, 1:549. In this treatise, Perkins addresses 22 issues. He identifies four as particularly worthy of “separation”: the meaning of (1) justification, (2) Christ’s satisfaction, (3) Christ’s presence in the Eucharist, and (4) prayers to saints.
60. Perkins, Reformed Catholic, 1:549-50.
61. R. C. Lovelace, “The Anatomy of Puritan Piety: English Puritan Devotional Literature, 1600-1640” in Christian Spirituality III, ed. L. Dupré and D. E. Saliers (New York, N.Y.: Crossroad Publishing, 1989), 303.
62. Perkins, Christ’s Sermon in the Mount, 3:261.