The Works of William Perkins, Volume 2

By William Perkins

This second volume contains Perkins’s Commentary on Galatians . Perkins preached on Galatians each Lord’s Day for over three years. Ralph Cudworth obtained Perkins’s handwritten notes and edited them for publication. Because Perkins did not complete the commentary, Cudworth supplemented the manuscript with his own comments on chapter 6.

This commentary of Perkins and Cudworth on Galatians first appeared in print in 1604, two years after Perkins’s death. Perkins’s other writings had already begun to be gathered and published. When the three-volume edition of his collected works first appeared, Galatians occupied over 320 large folio pages in the second volume (1609). It continued to appear as a part of several editions of the Works through their final 1635 reprint. Evidently, interest in the commentary warranted its publication again as a separate volume in 1617.

Following the model taught in his treatise The Art of Prophesying , Perkins’s pattern in commenting on Galatians is to explain the text, deduce a few points of doctrine from it, answer objections raised against the doctrine, and then give practical uses of what the passage teaches.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Reformation Heritage Books
• Release date: Oct 12, 2015
• ISBN: 9781601784247

William Perkins

Bill Perkins's wit, insight, and penetrating stories make him a sought-after speaker for corporate and Christian groups. He has conducted business and leadership seminars across the country for companies such as Alaska Airlines and McDonald's. Bill has appeared on nationally broadcast radio and television shows, including The O'Reilly Factor. He addresses men's groups around the world and has conducted chapels for major league baseball teams. Bill served as a senior pastor for 24 years and is the founder and CEO of Million Mighty Men. He is a graduate of the University of Texas and Dallas Theological Seminary. Bill has authored or collaborated on 20 books, including When Good Men are Tempted, When Young Men are Tempted, The Journey, Six Battles Every Man Must Win, 6 Rules Every Man Must Break, When Good Men Get Angry, and The Jesus Experiment(forthcoming in fall 2011). He and his wife, Cindy, live in West Linn, Oregon. They have three sons and two grandchildren.

Book preview

On the broad shoulders of William Perkins, epoch-making pioneer, stood the entire school of seventeenth-century Puritan pastors and divines, yet the Puritan reprint industry has steadily bypassed him. Now, however, he begins to reappear, admirably edited, and at last this yawning gap is being filled. Profound thanks to the publisher and heartfelt praise to God have become due.

—J. I. Packer, Board of Governors’ Professor of Theology, Regent College, Vancouver, British Columbia

Without a doubt, the Puritans were theological titans. The Puritan theological tradition did not emerge out of a vacuum. It was shaped by leaders and theologians who set the trajectory of the movement and shaped its commitments. William Perkins was one of those men. Perkins’s contribution to Puritan theology is inestimable, and this new reprint of his collected works is a much-awaited addition to all who are still shaped and influenced by the Puritans and their commitment to the centrality of the grace of God found only in Jesus Christ. Even now, every true gospel minister stands in debt to Perkins, and in his shadow.

—R. Albert Mohler Jr., president, The Southern Baptist Theological Seminary

The list of those influenced by the ministry of William Perkins reads like a veritable Who’s Who of the Puritan Brotherhood and far beyond. This reprinting of his works, so long unobtainable except by a few, is therefore a publishing event of the first magnitude.

—Sinclair B. Ferguson, professor of systematic theology, Redeemer Theological Seminary, Dallas

The father of Elizabethan Puritanism, Perkins presided over a dynasty of faith. The scope of his work is wide, yet on every topic he treats one discovers erudition and deep reflection. He was the first in an amazing line of ministers at Cambridge University’s main church. A pastor to pastors, he wrote a bestseller on counseling, was a formative figure in the development of Reformed orthodoxy, and a judicious reformer within the Church of England. I am delighted to see Perkins’s works made available again for a wide audience.

—Michael Horton, J. Gresham Machen Professor of Theology and Apologetics, Westminster Seminary California

William Perkins was a most remarkable Christian. In his relatively short life he was a great preacher, pastor, and theologian. His prolific writings were foundational to the whole English Puritan enterprise and a profound influence beyond his own time and borders. His works have become rare, and their republication must be a source of real joy and blessing to all serious Christians. Perkins is the first Puritan we should read.

—W. Robert Godfrey, president, Westminster Seminary California

"This is a welcome collection of the gospel-saturated writings of William Perkins. A faithful pastor, Puritan leader, prolific author, and lecturer, Perkins defended the doctrines of the Protestant Reformation throughout his life. Giving particular emphasis to solus Christus and sola Scriptura, these Reformed doctrines drove him as a pastor to preach the unsearchable riches of God’s truth with confidence and assurance. Sadly, Perkins is unknown to the modern Christian. However, throughout the centuries, the writings, meditations, and treatises of this Puritan luminary have influenced Christians around the world. It is my hope that many will be introduced and reintroduced to the writings of this Reformed stalwart. May his zeal for gospel advance awaken a new generation of biblical preachers and teachers to herald the glory of our sovereign God in this present day."

—Steven J. Lawson, president, OnePassion Ministries, and professor of preaching at The Master’s Seminary

"Relatively few in the church’s history have left a written legacy of enduring value beyond their own time. Perkins is surely among that select group. Reformation Heritage Books is to be commended for its commitment to making his Works available in this projected series, beginning with this volume."

—Richard B. Gaffin Jr., professor of biblical and systematic theology emeritus, Westminster Theological Seminary

Christians have heard about William Perkins, especially that he was an extraordinary preacher whose sermons made a deep impression on Cambridge and that they were still impacting the town in the decades that followed Perkins’s death at a mere forty-four years of age in 1602. He was at the heart of the revival of truth and holy living that made the Reformation a glorious work of God. He was the outstanding Puritan theologian of his time, but most of us have not had the opportunity to study his works because of their rarity. After more than three hundred years, this ignorance is going to be ended with the remarkable appearance during the next decade of the complete works of this man of God. We are looking forward to their appearance very much. There will be sufficient gaps between their publication to ensure a sincere attempt at imbibing the truths of each volume, and then we face the challenge of translating Perkins’s teaching into flesh-and-blood living.

—Geoff Thomas, pastor, Alfred Place Baptist Church, Aberystwyth, Wales

The Works of

WILLIAM PERKINS

VOLUME 2

Commentary on Galatians

Edited by PAUL M. SMALLEY

General editors:

Joel R. Beeke and Derek W. H. Thomas

REFORMATION HERITAGE BOOKS

Grand Rapids, Michigan

The Works of William Perkins, Volume 2

© 2015 by Reformation Heritage Books

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be used or reproduced in any manner whatsoever without written permission except in the case of brief quotations embodied in critical articles and reviews. Direct your requests to the publisher at the following address:

Reformation Heritage Books

2965 Leonard St. NE

Grand Rapids, MI 49525

616-977-0889 / Fax [phone]

[e-mail]

www.heritagebooks.org

Printed in the United States of America

15 16 17 18 19 20/10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1

ISBN 978-1-60178–423-0 (vol. 2)

ISBN 978-1-60178-424-7 (epub)

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Perkins, William, 1558-1602.

[Works]

The works of William Perkins / edited by J. Stephen Yuille ; general editors: Joel R. Beeke and Derek W. H. Thomas.

pages cm

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 978-1-60178-360-8 (v. 1 : alk. paper) 1. Puritans. 2. Theology—Early works to 1800. I. Yuille, J. Stephen, 1968- editor. II. Beeke, Joel R., 1952- editor. III. Thomas, Derek, 1953- editor. IV. Title.

BX9315.P47 2014

230—dc23

2014037122

For additional Reformed literature, request a free book list from Reformation Heritage Books at the above regular or e-mail address.

Contents

General Preface

Preface to Volume 2

Exposition of Galatians 1–5 by William Perkins

To the Right Honorable

To the Courteous Reader

Chapter 1

Verses 1–5

Verses 6–9

Verses 10–17

Verses 18–23

Chapter 2

Verses 1–5

Verses 6–10

Verses 11–14

Verses 15–16

Verses 17–21

Chapter 3

Verses 1–5

Verses 6–14

Verses 15–20

Verses 21–27a

Excursus: The Whole Nature of Baptism

Verses 27b–29

Chapter 4

Verses 1–7

Verses 8–11

Verses 12–15

Verses 16–20

Verses 21–31

Chapter 5

Verses 1–6

Verses 7–12

Verses 13–18

Verses 19–26

The Supplement on Galatians 6 by Ralph Cudworth

To the Right Worshipful

Chapter 6

Verse 1

Excursus: Brotherly Correction and Christian Reproof

Verses 2–5

Verses 6–10

Verses 11–16

Verses 17–18

The Conclusion: Appendix on Subscriptions and Titles to the Epistles

Scripture Index

Subject Index

General Preface

William Perkins (1558–1602), often called the father of Puritanism, was a master preacher and teacher of Reformed, experiential theology. He left an indelible mark upon the English Puritan movement, and his writings were translated into Dutch, German, French, Hungarian, and other European languages. Today he is best known for his writings on predestination, but he also wrote prolifically on many doctrinal and practical subjects, including extended expositions of Scripture. The 1631 edition of his English Works filled over two thousand large pages of small print in three folio volumes.

It is puzzling why his full Works have not been in print since the early seventeenth century, especially given the flood of Puritan works reprinted in the mid-nineteenth and late twentieth centuries. Ian Breward did much to promote the study of Perkins, but Breward’s now rare, single-volume compilation of the Work of William Perkins (1970) could only present samplings of Perkins’s writings. We are extremely pleased that this lacuna is being filled, as it has been a dream of many years to see the writings of this Reformed theologian made accessible again to the public, including laymen, pastors, and scholars.

Reformation Heritage Books is publishing Perkins’s Works in a newly typeset format with spelling and capitalization conformed to modern American standards. The old forms (thou dost) are changed to the modern equivalent (you do), except in Scripture quotations and references to deity. Punctuation has also been modernized. However, the original words are left intact, not changed into modern synonyms, and the original word order retained even when it differs from modern syntax. Pronouns are capitalized when referring to God. Some archaic terms and obscure references are explained in the editor’s footnotes.

As was common in his day, Perkins did not use quotation marks to distinguish a direct quotation from an indirect quotation, summary, or paraphrase, but simply put all citations in italics (as he also did with proper names). We have removed such italics and followed the general principle of placing citations in quotation marks even if they may not be direct and exact quotations. Perkins generally quoted the Geneva Bible, but rather than conforming his quotations to any particular translation of Scripture, we have left them in his words. Scripture references in the margins are brought into the text and enclosed in square brackets. Parenthetical Scripture references in general are abbreviated and punctuated according to the modern custom (as in Rom. 8:1), sometimes corrected, and sometimes moved to the end of the clause instead of its beginning. Other notes from the margins are placed in footnotes and labeled, In the margin. Where multiple sets of parentheses were nested within each other, the inward parentheses have been changed to square brackets. Otherwise, square brackets indicate words added by the editor. An introduction to each volume by its editor orients the reader to its contents.

The projected Works of William Perkins will include ten volumes, including four volumes of biblical exposition, three volumes of doctrinal and polemical treatises, and three volumes of ethical and practical writings. A breakdown of each volume’s contents may be found inside the cover of this book.

If it be asked what the center of Perkins’s theology was, then we hesitate to answer, for students of historical theology know that this is a perilous question to ask regarding any person. However, we may do well to end this preface by repeating what Perkins said at the conclusion of his influential manual on preaching, The sum of the sum: preach one Christ by Christ to the praise of Christ.

—Joel R. Beeke and Derek W. H. Thomas

Preface to Volume 2 of William Perkins’s Works

Paul’s epistle to the Galatians sparkles as one of the crown jewels of the kingdom. The apostle sets forth two principal benefits of the gospel: namely, justification by faith in Christ alone and sanctification by the Spirit of Christ. Paul presents both of these truths under the banner of God’s adoption of sinners through the Son of God. We may perhaps summarize its message in Paul’s own words, I live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

Galatians establishes the gospel on solid ground. It declares the divine authority of the gospel as a message revealed by God to His servants. The epistle also demonstrates the deep historical roots of the gospel by showing that it was no first-century novelty, but the fulfillment of ancient promises given to Abraham for the blessing of all nations.

Therefore, the gospel of Jesus Christ is good news for both Jews and Gentiles. It is a message for sinners who need a Savior and a warning against those who would rest their hope in anything but Christ alone. The epistle defends this message of hope against the intrusions of man-made legalism that would add to the work of Christ. It thus serves as a wall of evangelical defense for the church in all ages.

In the Protestant Reformation of the sixteenth century, Martin Luther took up the epistle to the Galatians as a powerful instrument to distinguish the righteousness of the law from the righteousness of the gospel.¹ When John Calvin preached on Galatians, he said that the book was a mirror by which the faithful can see clearly when Satan comes to confuse the gospel.² In the two centuries following the Reformation, Reformed writers labored to teach the doctrines of the gospel with even greater clarity and to apply them to all of life. It was in this period, known today as Reformed orthodoxy, that the commentary you hold in your hands was written.

To set this commentary in its context, both a theological introduction and historical introduction are in order. The first will explore the foundation of this biblical commentary, that is, Perkins’s view of Holy Scripture.

Theological Introduction: Perkins’s View of Holy Scripture

The massive investment of time and energy that produced this commentary on Paul’s epistle to the Galatians arose out of deep convictions regarding the nature of the Bible. Perkins had a high view of the Word of God as the only basis of the Christian faith. He believed that our faith must be bound by what God has revealed and not wander into speculation. He said, Where God has not a mouth to speak, there we must not have an ear to hear.³

Perkins viewed the Bible as the written Word of God. Therefore, he received the Scriptures as words of divine authority, without error in all they taught. This motivated and shaped his exposition of Galatians as the humble reception of truth from God.

The Bible as the Written Word of God

Some scholars have challenged this understanding of Perkins’s view of Scripture as the written words of God. According to John Augustine, Perkins notes that the Scripture must be enlivened by the faith of the reader in order to become the Word of God.⁴ When Perkins called the Scriptures the very Word of God, John Augustine qualifies this as referring not merely to the text alone but to the work of the Spirit through the Word.⁵ He says, As the Spirit enlivens the text, it becomes the ‘living’ Word of God.⁶

This is a neoorthodox distortion of Perkins. It confuses Perkins’s teaching on the nature of Scripture with his view of the authentication of Scripture in the mind of the hearer or reader. While the Spirit’s additional work upon the reader is necessary to convince him that the Bible is God’s Word,⁷ nevertheless, in Perkins’s view, the Bible remains God’s Word in an objective sense, regardless of how people perceive it.

Perkins taught that Scripture is the Word of God; it does not become the Word when the Spirit works in us. Perkins said, The writings of the apostles are the immediate and mere Word of God.⁸ Mere Word means the absolute Word of God. He wrote, For the written Word is the first, and perfect pattern of the mind and will of God: and the inward consent of the hearts of men, is but a rude and imperfect extract, and draught of it.⁹ Perkins said,

Paul in preaching and writing, did represent the authority of God, and God puts his own authority into the Word which he uttered: and he was assisted by the extraordinary, immediate and infallible assistance of God’s Spirit. From this supposition, sundry things may be learned. The first, that the Word preached and written by Paul is as certain, as if it had been written by God himself, immediately.¹⁰

He wrote, The doctrine of the gospel, and the Scripture, is not of man, but of God…. Scripture is the Word of God.¹¹ The prophets and apostles were the pen men of the Holy Ghost, so set down the true and proper Word of God. They were guided by the infallible assistance of the Spirit, both in preaching and writing.¹² The books of Scripture…are the very Word of God.¹³

The Bible as the Inerrant Word of God

Since the Bible is the Word of God, Perkins believed that it is inerrant in all that it teaches. However, here again we encounter controversy among scholars regarding the history of the doctrine of inerrancy. Jack Rogers and Donald McKim write that the Reformers did not hold to a view of the Scriptures as consisting of scientifically inerrant words, but instead a confidence that the Bible gave us an authoritative message of salvation.¹⁴ In another book Rogers argues that it is a mistake to think that the Westminster Confession teaches a bare and literalistic infallibility. Rather, it is infallible with respect to its own central message of salvation in Jesus Christ.¹⁵ Rogers writes that Perkins laid a foundation for this approach to Scripture among English thinkers that endured for decades after his death.¹⁶ Therefore, Perkins is a significant figure in Rogers’s thesis against inerrancy.

However, the writings of Perkins teach the inerrancy of the Bible. He said that the apostles had this authority given to them, that in the teaching and preaching of the gospel they could not err. Therefore, the church must submit to Scripture: for the testimony of men that are subject to error cannot be greater and of more force with us than the testimony of God who cannot err.¹⁷ Perkins identified the Scriptures with the voice of the inerrant God.

In particular, the Bible is the voice of the inerrant Christ. Perkins said,

The apostles were called of God immediately, taught and inspired immediately, and immediately governed by the Spirit, both in preaching and writing, so as they could not err in the things which they delivered to the church: and therefore they were to be heard even as Christ himself…. Here Paul notably expresses the authority, and honor of an apostle, which is to be heard as Christ himself: because in preaching he is the mouth, and in writing the hand of God.¹⁸

Though the apostles were fallible human beings as we are, Perkins wrote that we can still trust their writings: While they were delivering anything to the church, whether it were by sermon, or writing, they were guided by the infallible assistance of the Spirit, and could not err.¹⁹ This quote shows that for Perkins, infallibility meant inerrancy.

Perkins was not shy about affirming the inerrancy of the Holy Scriptures. The apostle could not err in things which he delivered to the church.²⁰ Paul could not err.²¹ His authority was divine, and infallible, because he was led into all truth by the Spirit of God, so as he could not err in delivering doctrine to the church.²² Perkins said, The apostles in writing and preaching, had the divine and infallible assistance of the Spirit, so as they could not err. This must be held as a principle in religion: and being denied, there is no certainty of the Bible.²³

Perkins did not write as one ignorant of questions about textual criticism, but as a biblical scholar. He recognized that the manuscripts of the Bible have sundry varieties of readings, and marginal notes sometimes have crept into the text.²⁴ He commented on how certain words are wanting in sundry translations, and editions of the Bible. He said that such errors are not errors in the Bible but in the copyists, for the Bible was not spread by the printing press but by handwritten copies. He also said that the providence of God has so watched over the Bible, that the sense thereof remains entire, sound, and incorrupt, especially in the grounds of religion. Nevertheless, the gospel is an absolute truth without error. Perkins extended this to all the Scriptures when he said, It is a principle not to be called in question, that the apostles and prophets, in writing and preaching, could not err. Their apprehension of revealed truths was framed in them, by the inspiration, and instinct of the Holy Ghost. And therefore, they never erred, either in preaching or writing.²⁵

Perkins’s faith that every word of Scripture is the word of God explains why he made such a detailed commentary on the specific phrases of the Bible. He found a model of this in Paul’s own handling of the Old Testament Scriptures. Perkins wrote, In Paul’s example, we see what it is to search the Scriptures, not only to consider the scope of whole books, and the parts thereof; but to ponder and weigh, every sentence, and every part of every sentence, and every circumstance of time, place, and person. This is the right form of the study of divinity to be used of the sons of the prophets.²⁶

The trustworthiness of Scripture includes what it teaches about history and science. Perkins referred in the last quote to an argument Paul made about the history of Israel and a specific period of 430 years. Perkins saw even the details of biblical history as worthy of study, and thus true and reliable. He wrote similarly about creation, that though the chronologers are not all of one mind in the details, they agree that creation was about four thousand years before Christ came. Moses and the prophets set down the chronology exactly. Perkins said, God would have the very time of the beginning of the world to be revealed. One reason He did so was that we might learn not to set our hearts on the world and on the things therein which have beginning and end, but seek for things eternal in heaven.²⁷ Biblical history and cosmology have spiritual implications, and so cannot be separated from the message of God.

In summary, Perkins taught that we cannot limit Scripture by reason, but must trust God like blind men. What Scripture said, the Holy Ghost saith. Scripture was written as if without man by the finger of God. It contains no human error.²⁸

Therefore, Perkins taught that the Bible was inerrant and trustworthy in all that the original manuscripts affirm. Against the Rogers-McKim thesis that inerrancy was not taught in early Reformed orthodox writers, John Woodbridge concludes, Once again, Rogers, who cites exclusively secondary sources about Perkins, evidently did not become acquainted with the actual writings of the theologian he discusses.²⁹ A review of Perkins’s writings reveals that he wrote with the firm conviction that every word of Scripture is divine truth.

Perkins’s view of Scripture most likely motivated him as he labored in his lectures on Galatians to draw from each phrase of Paul’s epistle its doctrines and uses, or application. He believed that the Bible gives us more than general ideas revealed by God, but specific words that speak with God’s authority to our beliefs, affections, and behaviors. Thus, as a minister of the Word, he devoted his life to explaining and applying the Word to all of life. This exposition of Galatians was composed in that firm conviction.

Historical Introduction: Perkins and Cudworth as Expositors

In order to appreciate this commentary in its original context, we must have some knowledge of its authors, its bibliographic history as a published book, its precedents in other commentaries on Galatians, its reception by the reading public, and its particular character as a commentary.

The Authors of This Commentary

Though this volume is part of The Works of William Perkins, it originates from two authors, the second of whom also edited the contribution of the first. The exposition of chapters 1 through 5 comes from William Perkins, and chapter 6 from Ralph Cudworth. William Perkins (1558–1602) was a patriarch of the English Reformed and Puritan movement.³⁰ J. I. Packer notes, No Puritan author save Richard Baxter ever sold better than Perkins, and no Puritan thinker ever did more to shape and solidify historic Puritanism itself.³¹ Indeed, his influence spread abroad. Ian Breward writes, By the end of his life he had become a best-selling author, not only in Britain, but also throughout protestant Europe.³²

Perkins, a profound theologian, dug deep into the revealed mysteries of the Trinity, predestination, Christ’s mediatorial work, the conversion of sinners into saints, and various cases of conscience (assurance of salvation and ethics). For all his theological insight, Perkins remained a pastor at heart. He wrote in the flyleaf of his books, Thou art a minister of the Word; mind thy business.³³ As this exposition demonstrates, Perkins preached and wrote out of a great burden to apply the Scriptures to the lives of men and women for their salvation.

He directly influenced a generation of ministerial students. His writings continued to speak after his death, reaching across the seas to influence theologians and pastors in Europe and New England. William Ames (1576–1633), one of his most prominent students, reminisced,

I gladly call to mind the time, when being young, I heard, worthy Master Perkins, so preach in a great assembly of students, that he instructed them soundly in the truth, stirred them up effectually to seek after godliness, made them fit for the kingdom of God; and by his own example showing them, what things they should chiefly intend, that they might promote true religion, in the power of it, unto God’s glory, and others’ salvation.³⁴

Later Reformed experiential writers in England referred affectionately to our judicious and learned Perkins and regularly quoted his writings.³⁵ In the Netherlands, Gisbertus Voetius commended William Perkins as a resource for those with doubts about their conversion: In orderliness of method and vivid description, William Perkins takes the crown.³⁶ It was reported that the Arminian divine John Goodwin complained that English ministers believed in the perseverance of the saints merely upon the authority and countenance of Mr. Perkins—a charge that John Owen strenuously denied, though it testifies to Perkins’s influence.³⁷ Over a century after Perkins’s death, we find Jonathan Edwards lending Perkins’s Works to a friend.³⁸ Therefore, it seems safe to say that the writings of Perkins were highly esteemed and broadly influential across the international Reformed orthodox community.

We owe the original published form of Perkins’s exposition of Galatians 1–5, together with the authorship of the exposition of chapter 6, to Dr. Ralph Cudworth (d. 1624).³⁹ One source notes that he was said to have been born at Werneth Hall, near Oldham.⁴⁰ He is not to be confused with his more famous son, also named Ralph Cudworth (1617–1688), one of the Cambridge Platonists. The elder Cudworth matriculated at Emmanuel College in 1589 and progressed to BA in 1593, MA in 1596, and BD in 1603. Emmanuel College was a nursery of Puritan preachers, overseen until 1622 by its founding master, Laurence Chaderton, a now generally forgotten patriarch of the Puritan movement who mentored Perkins himself.⁴¹

Cudworth served as a fellow or instructor at the college until 1609, while also serving briefly at a few parishes, including the post of lecturer at St. Andrew’s, Cambridge. He then settled down as the rector of Aller—described by him as a barren place where the air is very bad.⁴² He ministered at Aller from 1609 until his death in 1624. He also served as chaplain to King James I. His wife, Mary Machell, was the nurse of Henry, Prince of Wales. It appears that his exposition of Galatians 6 was his only publication.

The Bibliographic History of This Commentary

As Cudworth says in his epistle To the Courteous Reader, Perkins preached on Galatians on the Lord’s Day over the span of three years. Cudworth obtained Perkins’s handwritten notes, edited them for publication, and supplemented them with his own comments on chapter 6. The commentary of Perkins and Cudworth on Galatians first appeared in print in 1604, two years after Perkins’s death.⁴³ Perkins’s other writings had already begun to be gathered and published. When the three-volume edition of his collected works first appeared, Galatians occupied over 320 large folio pages in the second volume (1609).⁴⁴ It continued to appear as a part of several editions of the Works through their final 1635 reprint. Evidently interest in the commentary warranted its publication again as a separate volume in 1617.⁴⁵ Gerald Sheppard writes that the 1617 edition contains modest grammatical changes and some standardization of spellings from the initial publication of the commentary in 1604.⁴⁶ The three-volume Works were also published in the seventeenth century in Latin (Opera Omni Theologica, printed in Geneva by Peter and Jacob Choet) and Dutch (Alle de werken, printed in Amsterdam by Johannes van Zomeren). Thus Galatians became part of Perkins’s international legacy.

After 1635 neither Perkins’s Works nor the separate Galatians appears to have been published in English. Other individual books by Perkins continued to be published through the seventeenth and early eighteenth centuries, especially his Cases of Conscience, A Grain of Mustard Seed, and Foundation of Christian Religion Gathered into Six Principles. After 1750 his writings seem to largely disappear from the presses. Historians rediscovered Perkins in the twentieth century through the work of scholars such as William Haller, Perry Miller, Ian Breward, and Thomas Merrill. Renewed interest in Perkins prompted the Pilgrim Classic Commentaries Series to reproduce the 1617 edition of Galatians in 1989, edited by Gerald Sheppard and with introductory essays by Sheppard, Brevard Childs, and John Augustine.⁴⁷ This present volume by Reformation Heritage Books is the first newly typeset edition published since the first half of the seventeenth century.

The Precedents of This Commentary

Of course, Perkins was not the first person to write a commentary on Galatians. We have extant commentaries from Ambrosiaster, Cassiodorus, John Chrysostom (both homilies and a commentary), John Damascene, and Pseudo-Oecumenius. Oecumenius wrote commentaries on Romans through 2 Timothy, Severian of Gabala on all epistles except Philemon, and Theodore of Mopsuestia on Galatians through Philemon. We also have commentaries on Galatians by Augustine, Jerome, Marius Victorinus, and Origen (fragments).⁴⁸

Within Perkins’s own century a number of Reformed expositions had already appeared, including those by Benedictus Aretius, John Calvin, Rudolf Gwalther, Wolfgang Musculus, and Caspar Olevianus.⁴⁹ An English theologian, John Prime, had published his own commentary in 1586,⁵⁰ with another edition appearing the next year. A year after Perkins died, the Scotsman Robert Rollock’s commentary would also appear.⁵¹

Most significantly, Martin Luther had published his own masterpiece on Galatians, in Latin first in 1519 and in a new edition in 1535.⁵² This was published in English translation in 1575⁵³ and reprinted in 1577, 1588, and 1602—and after Perkins’s death again in 1615 and 1644. Ralph Cudworth refers to Luther’s book at the end of his epistle dedicatory to Galatians (To the Right Honorable), observing that Luther has received good entertainment in England, but writing optimistically that his work was just a forerunner to the commentary by Perkins. Therefore readers in England already possessed a wealth of exposition on Galatians when Perkins’s volume came from the press.

The Reception of This Commentary

Whatever one makes of Cudworth’s comparison of Perkins and Luther, Perkins did have a reputation as a good commentator. Breward writes, A bibliography for ministers produced forty-odd years later listed Perkins as one of the leading English commentators, classing him with men like Baynes and Willet.⁵⁴ Furthermore, Gerald Sheppard notes that unlike biblical commentaries in the modern world, seventeenth-century English commentaries pervasively influenced every level of intellectual, artistic, social, and political life.⁵⁵ Thus, Perkins on Galatians influenced not only pastors and theologians but also society as a whole.

Perkins’s exposition on Galatians was well used by later Puritans. We find Nicholas Bownd citing Perkins’s commentary on Galatians in the former’s groundbreaking book on the Sabbath, William Ames citing Perkins on Galatians when arguing for simplicity of worship, John Norton citing it when teaching about evangelism and conversion, and Samuel Rutherford citing it in his defense of presbyterian church government.⁵⁶

Another illustration of the influence of this commentary appears in the sermons of Thomas Adams (1583–1653), known as the Shakespeare of the Puritans. Adams appears to make extensive use of a portion of it, though without expressly citing it. Compare the following excerpts of Cudworth’s commentary on Galatians 6:2 with Adams’s sermon on 2 Corinthians 13:11: Finally, brethren, farewell. Be perfect, be of good comfort, be of one mind, live in peace; and the God of love and peace shall be with you (the order of Adams’s comments has been changed to correspond to Cudworth’s order):⁵⁷

Since Adams received his BA in 1601 from Cambridge and was ordained in 1604, the year this exposition of Galatians was first published, it seems unlikely that Cudworth derived his material from Adams. Unless both men drew from a common source, this parallel illustrates how commentaries directly contributed to the preaching of the day. (It should also be noted that in the early modern era, writers freely borrowed from each other without attribution or citation, an unacceptable practice in today’s academic and publishing world.)

The influence of this exposition did not end with the seventeenth century. When the Marrow Controversy erupted in Scotland in the 1720s, the Marrow Men, such as Thomas Boston, were quoting Perkins’s comments on Galatians 3:11–12 to establish the orthodoxy of their beliefs.⁵⁸ Two centuries after Perkins died, Edward Williams commended his commentary for the preacher’s library as equally sound as Luther but more methodical and comprehensive.⁵⁹ Another Scottish theologian, John Brown of Edinburgh, repeatedly referred to this exposition in his own 1853 commentary on Galatians.⁶⁰ This continued use of and appreciation for Perkins’s Galatians into the nineteenth century is all the more remarkable given that the commentary had not been reprinted in English since 1635.

The Character of This Commentary

We may describe this commentary with four words that characterized Puritanism in general: plain, pedagogical, polemical, and practical. Puritan books of theology were a kind of written preaching of the Word, and their preaching was an exercise in systematic theology.

First, Perkins’s exposition is plain in that he approached Scripture with confidence in its fundamental perspicuity (its clarity of communication in basic teachings), and he aimed to communicate with similar simplicity. Perkins taught his view of interpreting and preaching of the Bible in his treatise The Art of Prophesying, in which he concluded that the preacher must explain the text, deduce a few points of doctrine from it, and then apply those doctrines to the life and manners of men, in a simple and plain speech.⁶¹

Plainness required the self-discipline of using exegetical and theological scholarship in the study, but bringing only its summaries and conclusions into the pulpit. Though Perkins referred to the Greek text when he deemed its details significant, the vast majority of his exposition does not consist of technical exegesis of Greek vocabulary and grammar. Perkins generally followed the English text of the Geneva Bible.⁶² The overuse of Greek and Latin terminology hindered, he believed, the display of Christ to the people.⁶³ Instead, he examined the text in order to draw doctrines or specific teachings from it, which he then connected to the system of Christian belief. The reader will note that Cudworth devotes a great deal more space to discussions of Greek exegesis and citations of ancient authors in his supplement than Perkins, who largely concealed his learning.

As an aspect of its plainness, Perkins’s commentary approached Scripture with the Reformation hermeneutic that the words had only one sense. He rejected the fourfold sense of Scripture taught by medieval theologians. He explained,

Here the papists make a double sense of Scripture, one literal, the other spiritual. Literal is twofold. Proper, when the words are taken in their proper signification. Figurative, when the Holy Ghost signifies His meaning in borrowed terms. Spiritual senses they make three. One allegorical, when things in the Old Testament are applied to signify things in the New Testament. The second is tropological; when Scripture signifies something touching manners. The third is anagogical, when things are in Scripture applied to signify the estate of everlasting life. Thus Jerusalem properly is a city: by allegory, the church of the New Testament: in a tropological sense, a state well ordered: in an anagogical sense, the estate of eternal life. These senses they use to apply to most places of the Scripture, specially to the history. But I say to the contrary that there is but one full and entire sense of every place of Scripture, and that is also the literal sense, sometimes expressed in proper and sometimes in borrowed or figurative speeches. To make many senses of Scripture is to overturn all sense and to make nothing certain. As for the three spiritual senses (so called) they are not senses, but applications or uses of Scripture. It may be said that the history of Abraham’s family here propounded has beside his proper and literal sense, a spiritual or mystical sense. I answer, they are not two senses, but two parts of one full and entire sense. For not only the bare history, but also that which is thereby signified, is the full sense of the Holy Ghost.⁶⁴

This insistence on a single sense for Scripture, albeit with many applications, contributed to the simplicity of Perkins’s exposition of the Bible. He said that interpretations and doctrines must be derived from the genuine and proper meaning of the Scripture, for otherwise, we shall draw any doctrine from any place.⁶⁵

Just as the Lord communicated with man using plain words, so Perkins aimed to communicate with simplicity and clarity as he explained and applied the Lord’s words. Perkins believed that the ministry of the Word must be plain, perspicuous [clear], and evident, as if the doctrine were pictured and painted out before the eyes of men. He took it as a compliment, It was a very plain sermon, and remarked, The plainer, the better.⁶⁶

Second, Perkin’s exposition is pedagogical in that he aimed to teach ordinary people the truths of the Bible. His approach to Bible study was decidedly doctrinal. He advised ministers to use grammatical, rhetorical, and logical analysis to open up the sense of the text. Preachers must be well grounded in systematic theology by studying the epistle to the Romans and the Gospel of John and reading the books of orthodox theologians both recent and ancient.⁶⁷ This equipped men to preach the Word. A significant portion of the preacher’s task was the right dividing of the Word (2 Tim. 2:15) by resolving the text into specific doctrines.⁶⁸

Two tools that Perkins employed for deriving doctrines from the Scripture were Ramist analysis and syllogistic reasoning.⁶⁹ Ramism was a method of moving from general principles to specific teachings by the use of a series of distinctions. For example, Perkins wrote,

Life is twofold: created or uncreated. Uncreated life is the life of God. Created is that which pertains to the creature. And this is either natural or spiritual. Natural life is led by natural causes and means, as by meat, drink, clothing, breathing, etc. Spiritual life is by and from the Spirit. Of this there be two degrees…. The first of these degrees is in this life, the second after this life, in and after the last judgment, when body and soul shall be reunited.⁷⁰

The syllogism is a three-step approach to reasoning, stating a major premise, a minor premise, and a conclusion. Often his syllogisms follow the form of a statement, but another statement, and therefore the conclusion. For example, Perkins explained Paul’s argument to the Galatians as follows: If I be immediately called of God to teach, and my doctrine be true, you ought not to have revolted from my doctrine. But I was called immediately of God to teach, and my doctrine is true. Therefore you should not have revolted from my doctrine.⁷¹

The exposition of Galatians is a model of this logical and didactic approach, for it regularly follows the pattern of explaining the words and phrases of each verse of Scripture (the sense of the words), and then deducing doctrines from it by direct statement or logical inference. The result is expository preaching that informs the minds of the people with a remarkably expansive Christian worldview.

Third, Perkins’s exposition is polemical in that he combats what he sees as doctrinal errors, especially those of Rome. He often answers objections to Reformed doctrine, temporarily transforming his sermons into the lively back-and-forth of a debate. This was no merely academic exercise for schools, but a fight to the death between two opposing claims on men’s minds and hearts. The fierceness of this commentary’s criticisms of the papists may surprise readers more removed from the sixteenth-century Reformation and perhaps influenced by modern ecumenism. For Perkins and other Reformed orthodox writers, the dispute with Roman Catholicism was nothing less than the battle for the gospel, and thus a battle for the future of the true church, the eternal destinies of mankind, and the glory of God in true worship.

Perkins’s polemics should not be construed as a narrow-minded sectarianism. Like other Reformed and Puritan writers, he drew upon the ancient writings of the church to seek a more biblical, Reformed catholicism. For Perkins, the catholic church is the company of the predestinate, chosen to be a particular people to God and linked together by the bond of one Spirit.⁷² He also strongly criticized evangelical Protestants (he called them gospellers) who lived hypocritical lives that contradicted their doctrines.

Fourth, Perkins’s exposition is practical in that he devoted significant space to drawing out the applications of the text. The phrases the use and use open applicatory thoughts more than ninety times in the commentary. Furthermore, Perkins deduces application not only from the explicit statements of the Scripture but also from its logical implications, greatly expanding the field of its moral instruction. It is not much of an exaggeration to say that one could build an entire ethical system out of his commentary on Galatians.

However, the practical nature of this exposition is not merely in the wealth of ethical principles that it enunciates, but in its warm and urgent calls for personal response. Perkins believed that the ministry of the Word must be powerful and lively in operation, so that the hearers not only understand Christ’s person, work, and will, but feel the virtue of them.⁷³ Thus his exposition not only has eyes to help its readers to see, but feet to pursue them and hands to grasp hold of them and turn them back to God.

Brevard Childs, himself the author of several modern biblical commentaries and works of theology, notes that modern scholarship has often neglected biblical commentaries of early Reformed and Puritan writers, even though those writers invested enormous amounts of labor into expositions of Scripture. This is much to the loss of modern exegesis, for Childs observes the following marks of excellence in Perkins’s commentary on Galatians:

• He makes a sober attempt to deal with the text in its literal sense.

• He seeks to penetrate specific texts to the larger theological issues at stake.

• He has an immanently practical goal…practical application.⁷⁴

To these we may add John Augustine’s observation that Perkins peppered his mentally demanding commentary with vivid imagery, frequent similes, and interrogative exchanges that keep the reader’s attention and assist preachers and teachers.⁷⁵

What made Perkins’s exposition most practical was his focus on Jesus Christ, the Son of God and only Mediator between God and mankind. Following in the footsteps of the inspired author of Galatians, Perkins infused his commentary with the trinitarian, Christ-centered faith. For Perkins, the doctrine of the Trinity was not an abstract speculation, but the shape of the gospel. Perkins wrote that Christ was set apart in the eternal counsel of the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, to be our redeemer, and in time consecrated to be our Mediator.⁷⁶ Perkins said, ‘In him we are complete’ (Col. 2). Election, justification, salvation, and all is done in, and by Christ (2 Tim. 1:9).⁷⁷ The persons of the Trinity are distinct, yet one in their operation. As Augustine of Hippo said, The works of the Trinity are not separable.⁷⁸ This is certainly true for the work of redemption: For the Father sends the Son to be our Redeemer: the Son works in his own person, the work of redemption: and the Holy Ghost applies the same by his efficacy.⁷⁹

Christ is the center of true religion. Perkins wrote, Christ is the substance or subject matter of the whole Bible.⁸⁰ Christ is the heartbeat of happiness: True happiness stands in our reconciliation with God in Christ.⁸¹ Perkins said, Our first and principal joy must be that we are in God’s favor, reconciled to God by Christ (Luke 10:20)…. And all other petty joys must flow from this, and be suitable to it.⁸² There are no limits to appropriate rejoicing in Christ: In spiritual joys the measure is to rejoice without measure, even to be ravished with joy in Christ.⁸³ Nothing is more practical than learning how to live by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me (Gal. 2:20).

By the use of this plain, pedagogical, polemical, and practical method, Perkins constructed a book that is one part biblical commentary, one part systematic theology, and one part experiential and practical exhortation—thoroughly blended for the glory of Christ.

Conclusion

The production of this volume has been a labor of love involving a team of people. I would like to express my gratitude to Linda Rudolph, Ann Dykema, and Joyce Griffith for typing up the text of Perkins, transforming early modern orthography into digital text, to Annette Gysen and Ryan Hurd for reviewing it, and to Linda den Hollander for typesetting it. I am grateful to Dr. Joel Beeke and Dr. Derek Thomas for their editorial oversight of the whole project. If it were not for their enduring desire for the wealth of Perkins to be scattered abroad for modern readers, this series would never have appeared. I would also like to thank Dr. Jay Collier of Reformation Heritage Books for entertaining my request several years ago that I might somehow help with The Works of William Perkins. I would be remiss if I failed to mention my thanks to my wife, Dawn, and children Levi, Elizabeth, and Michael, for their love and patience during all the times Daddy was in the study with Mr. Perkins.

Most of all, I thank the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ for the privilege of working on this four-hundred-year-old book. The editing of Perkins’s commentary on Galatians has been a blessed exercise in obeying Hebrews 13:7–8: Remember them which have the rule over you, who have spoken unto you the word of God: whose faith follow, considering the end of their conversation. Jesus Christ the same yesterday, and to day, and for ever.

—Paul M. Smalley

---

1. Martin Luther, The Argument, in A Commentary on Saint Paul’s Epistle to the Galatians (New York: Robert Carter, 1844), xxiv–xxviii.

2. Sermons of M. John Calvine upon the Epistle of Saincte Paule to the Galathians, trans. Arthur Golding (London: Lucas Harison and George Bishop, 1574), sig. A1v.

3. William Perkins, An Exposition of the Symbole or Creed of the Apostles (London: John Legatt, 1595), 378.

4. John H. Augustine, Authority and Interpretation in Perkins’ Commentary on Galatians, in A Commentary on Galatians, by William Perkins, ed. Gerald T. Sheppard (1617; facsimile repr., New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989), xxxi.

5. Augustine, Authority and Interpretation, in Perkins, Galatians (1989), xxxviii.

6. Augustine, Authority and Interpretation, in Perkins, Galatians (1989), xl.

7. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 145 (Gal. 3:2–3).

8. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 4 (Gal. 1:1).

9. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 6 (Gal. 1:2).

10. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 23 (Gal. 1:8–9).

11. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 27 (Gal. 1:11).

12. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 28 (Gal. 1:11).

13. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 35 (Gal. 1:13–14).

14. Jack B. Rogers and Donald K. McKim, The Authority and Interpretation of the Bible: An Historical Approach (San Francisco: Harper & Row, 1979), 457, 459.

15. Jack B. Rogers, Scripture in the Westminster Confession (Grand Rapids: Eerdmans, 1967), 416.

16. Rogers, Scripture in the Westminster Confession, 87–91.

17. Perkins, Symbole or Creed, 490.

18. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 286 (Gal. 4:13–14).

19. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 91 (Gal. 2:11).

20. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 288 (Gal. 4:15).

21. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 335 (Gal. 5:5–6).

22. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 314 (Gal. 4:27).

23. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 330 (Gal. 5:2).

24. Perkins, Symbole or Creed, 297.

25. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 138–39 (Gal. 3:1).

26. Perkins, Galatians (1989), 187 (Gal. 3:17).

27. Perkins, Symbole or Creed, 60–61.

28. Ian Breward, The Life and Theology of William Perkins, 1558–1602 (PhD diss., University of Manchester, 1963), 37, 39, 40, 42.

29. John Woodbridge, Biblical Authority: A Critique of the Rogers/McKim Thesis (Grand Rapids: Zondervan, 1982), 106. Woodbridge’s book is a thorough and convincing rebuttal to their thesis.

30. For a brief biography of William Perkins, see the Joel R. Beeke and J. Stephen Yuille, biographical preface in The Works of William Perkins, Volume 1, ed. J. Stephen Yuille (Grand Rapids: Reformation Heritage Books, 2014), ix–xxxii. For a larger, popular biography, see Joel R. Beeke and J. Stephen Yuille, William Perkins (Darlington, Eng.: Evangelical Press, 2015). For a recent, more scholarly monograph, see W. B. Patterson, William Perkins and the Making of Protestant England (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2014).

31. J. I. Packer, An Anglican to Remember—William Perkins: Puritan Popularizer, in Pilgrims, Warriors, and Servants: Puritan Wisdom for Today’s Church, St. Antholin’s Lectures, Volume 1: 1991–2000, ed. Lee Gatiss (London: The Latimer Trust, 2010), 143.

32. Breward, Life and Theology of William Perkins, 1.

33. Breward, Life and Theology of William Perkins, 35.

34. William Ames, To the Reader, in Conscience with the Power and Cases Thereof (1639; facsimile repr., Amsterdam: Walter J. Johnson, 1975).

35. [Samuel Annesley, comp.], The Morning-Exercise at Cripple-Gate, or, Several Cases of Conscience Practically Resolved, 3rd ed. (London: by T. Milbourn for Joshua Johnston, 1671), 542 (see also pp. 3, 379, 544). For a sampling of references to Perkins, see John Ball, A Treatise of Faith (London: for Edward Brewster, 1657), 32, 55; Thomas Brooks, London’s Lamentations (London: for John Hancock and Nathaniel Ponder, 1670), 11; William Crompton, A Remedy against Superstition (n.p., 1666), 20; The Works of John Flavel (London: W. Baynes, 1820), 3:406, 529, 533; 4:550, 584; The Complete Works of Thomas Manton (London: James Nisbet, 1871), 5:7, 394; 14:75; The Works of John Owen, ed. William H. Goold (New York: Robert Carter, 1852), 11:487; Francis Roberts, Clavis Bibliorum (n.p., 1675), 66, 132, 574; Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity (London: Thomas Parkhurst, 1692), 332.

36. Gisbertus Voetius and Johannes Hoornbeeck, Spiritual Desertion, trans. John Vriend and Harry Boonstra, ed. M. Eugene Osterhaven (Grand Rapids: Baker Academic, 2003), 48.

37. Owen, The Doctrine of the Saints’ Perseverance Explained and Confirmed, in Works, 11:491.

38. The Works of Jonathan Edwards, vol. 26, Catalogues of Books, ed. Peter J. Thuesen (New Haven: Yale University Press, 2008), 46.

39. For brief notices of Cudworth’s life, see biographical articles on his son of the same name, such as Thomas Birch, An Account of the Life and Writings of R. Cudworth, D.D., in The Works of Ralph Cudworth (Oxford: D. A. Talboys, 1829), 1:7; David A. Pailin, Cudworth, Ralph (1617–1688), in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, ed. H. C. G. Matthew and Brian Harrison (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004), 14:562.

40. Remains, Historical and Literary, Connected with the Palatine Counties of Lancaster and Chester, vol. 38, Bibliographical Notices of the Church Libraries at Turton and Gorton (Manchester, Eng.: The Chetham Society, 1855), 20.

41. Joel R. Beeke, Laurence Chaderton: An Early Puritan Vision for Church and School, in Church and School in Early Modern Protestantism: Studies in Honor of Richard A. Muller on the Maturation of a Theological Tradition, ed. Jordan J. Ballor, David S. Sytsma, and Jason Zuidema (Leiden: Brill, 2013), 321–37.

42. A. P. Baggs, R. J. E. Bush, and Margaret Tomlinson, Parishes: Aller, in A History of the County of Somerset: Volume 3, ed. R. W. Dunning (London: Victoria County History, 1974), 61–71, accessed January 16, 2014, http://www.british-history.ac.uk/vch/som/vol3/pp61-71.

43. William Perkins, A Commentarie or Exposition, upon the five first Chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians ([London]: John Legat, 1604).

44. William Perkins, A Commentarie or Exposition Upon the Five First Chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians, in The Workes of that Famous and Worthy Minister of Christ, in the Universitie of Cambridge, M. William Perkins ([London]: John Legat, 1609), 177–501.

45. William Perkins, A Commentarie, or Exposition, upon the Five First Chapters of the Epistle to the Galatians (London: John Legatt, 1617).

46. Gerald T. Sheppard, William Perkins’ Exposition among Seventeenth-Century Commentaries, 1600–1645, in Perkins, Galatians (1989), vii.

47. William Perkins, A Commentary on Galatians, ed. Gerald T. Sheppard (1617; facsimile repr., New York: Pilgrim Press, 1989).

48. Charles Kannengiesser, Handbook of Patristic Exegesis: The Bible in Ancient Christianity (Leiden: Brill, 2006), 358–60. See also Richard N. Longenecker, Galatians, Word Biblical Commentary (Nashville: Thomas Nelson, 1990), xlii–lv, for a review of the history of commentaries on Galatians.

49. Benedictus Aretius, Commentarii in epistolam D. Pauli ad Galatas (Morgiis: excudebat Ioannes le Preux Illustriss. D. Bernensium Typographus, 1583); Sermons of M. John Calvine upon the Epistle of Saincte Paule to the Galathians (1574); A Commentarie of M. I. Caluine vpon the Epistle to the Galathians, trans. R. V. (London: Thomas Purfoote, 1581); Rudolf Gwalther, In D. Pauli Apostoli epistolam ad Galatas homiliae LXI (Tiguri: excudebat Christophorus Froschoverus, 1576); Wolfgang Musculus, In epistolas Apostoli Pauli, ad Galatas et Ephesios, Commentarij (Basileae: ex officinal Hervagiana, 1561); Caspar Olevian, In epistolam d. Pauli apost. ad Galatas notae (Genevae: Apud Eustathium Vignon, 1578).

50. John Prime, An Exposition, and Observations upon Saint Paul to the Galathians (Oxford: Ioseph Barnes, 1586).

51. Robert Rollock, Analysis logica in Epistolam Pauli Apostoli ad Galatas (Geneva: Excudebat Iacobus Stoer, 1603).

52. In epistolam Pavli ad Galatas, F. Martini Lutheri Augustiniani, commentarius (Leipzig: Melchior Lotter, 1519); In Epistolam S. Pauli ad Galatas (Vitebergae: Joannem Luft, 1535).

53. A Commentarie of M. Doctor Martin Luther upon the Epistle of S. Paul to the Galathians (London: Thomas Vautroullier, 1575).

54. Breward, Life and Theology of William Perkins, 68. He refers to John Wilkins, Ecclesiastes (1646), 43.

55. Sheppard, William Perkins’ Exposition, in Perkins, Galatians (1989), x.

56. Nicholas Bownd, Sabbathum Veteris et Novi Testamenti: Or, The True Doctrine of the Sabbath, 2nd ed., enlarged (London: by Felix Kyngston, for Thomas Man and John Porter, 1606), 369 (Gal. 4:10); William Ames, A Fresh Suit Against Human Ceremonies in God’s Worship (n.p., 1633), 14, also citing Perkins on pp. 18, 140, 143, 285–86, 368, 371, 400; John Norton, The Orthodox Evangelist (London: by John Macock, for Henry Cripps and Lodowick Lloyd, 1654), 169 (Gal. 6:3), also citing Perkins on pp. 38–39, 272; Samuel Rutherford, The Due Right of Presbyteries (London: for Richard Whittaker and Andrew Crook, 1644), 200, 204 (both on Gal. 1), also citing Perkins on p. 358.

57. Thomas Adams, The City of Peace, in The Works of Thomas Adams (Edinburgh: James Nichol, 1862), 2:316–17.

58. John Brown, ed. Gospel Truth Accurately Stated and Illustrated (Canonsburgh: Andrew Munro, 1827), 155. Also in The Whole Works of the Late Rev. Thomas Boston, ed. Samuel M‘Millan (Aberdeen: George and Robert King, 1801), 7:471.

59. Edward Williams, The Christian Preacher, Or, Discourses on Preaching by Several Eminent Divines, English and Foreign, Revised and Abridged; With an Appendix on the Choice of Books (Philadelphia: William W. Woodward, 1810), 297. This book was originally published in 1800.

60. John Brown, An Exposition of the Epistle of Paul the Apostle to the Galatians (New York: Robert Carter, 1853), xvi, 13, 14, 62, 68, 69n3.

61. William Perkins, The Arte of Prophecying, trans. Thomas Tuke, in The Workes of that Famous and Worthy Minister of Christ, in the Universitie of Cambridge, M. William Perkins (London: John Legat, 1609), 2:762.

62. The Bible and Holy Scriptures Conteyned in the Olde and Newe Testament. Translated according to the Ebrue and Greke, and Conferred