Influence
Although relatively unknown, Perkins has had an influence that is felt by Christians all around the world. Perkins' views on double predestination made him a major target of Jacobus Arminius, 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's. When he died, his writings were selling more copies than those of many of the most famous of the Reformers combined.
From his position at Cambridge, Perkins was able to influence a whole generation of English churchmen. His pupils include:
- William Ames, Puritan who eventually left England to become professor of theology at Franeker
- John Robinson, the founder of congregationalism in Leiden and pastor of the group which went on to found the Plymouth Colony
- Thomas Goodwin
- Paul Baynes
- Samuel Ward, master of Sidney Sussex College, Cambridge
- Phineas Fletcher, a poet
- Thomas Draxe
- Thomas Taylor
- James Ussher, Archbishop of Armagh
- James Montagu, master of Sidney Sussex and later bishop of Winchester
- Richard Sibbes
Read more about this topic: William Perkins (puritan)
Famous quotes containing the word influence:
“A bestial and violent man will go so far as to kill because he is under the influence of drink, exasperated, or driven by rage and alcohol. He is paltry. He does not know the pleasure of killing, the charity of bestowing death like a caress, of linking it with the play of the noble wild beasts: every cat, every tiger, embraces its prey and licks it even while it destroys it.”
—Colette [Sidonie Gabrielle Colette] (1873–1954)
“Cultural expectations shade and color the images that parents- to-be form. The baby product ads, showing a woman serenely holding her child, looking blissfully and mysteriously contented, or the television parents, wisely and humorously solving problems, influence parents-to-be.”
—Ellen Galinsky (20th century)
“Who shall set a limit to the influence of a human being? There are men, who, by their sympathetic attractions, carry nations with them, and lead the activity of the human race. And if there be such a tie, that, wherever the mind of man goes, nature will accompany him, perhaps there are men whose magnetisms are of that force to draw material and elemental powers, and, where they appear, immense instrumentalities organize around them.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)