William Perkins
William Perkins (1558-1602) was a sovereign grace preacher, theologian and writer. While serving as a cleric for the Church of England, he was sympathetic towards the non-conformists, becoming one of the leading voices for the Puritan movement during the Elizabethan era. He wrote more than forty books, among which is “A Golden Chain: Or, The Description Of Theology”. It explains the order of the causes of salvation and damnation, helpfully illustrated by a diagram which prefaces the work. He subscribed to a Supralapsarian view of God’s decree.
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The Life And Ministry Of William Perkins
William Perkins (1558–1602), theological writer, son of Thomas Perkins and Hannah his wife, both of whom survived him, was born at Marston Jabbett in the parish of Bulkington in Warwickshire in 1558. In June 1577 he matriculated as a pensioner of Christ's College, Cambridge, where he appears to have studied under Laurence Chaderton [q. v.], from whom he probably first received his puritan bias. His early career gave no promise of future eminence; he was noted for recklessness and profanity, and addicted to drunkenness. From these courses he was, however, suddenly converted by the trivial incident of overhearing a woman in the street allude to him as ‘drunken Perkins,’ holding him up as a terror to a fretful child.
