The Art of Prophesying

A Look at William Perkins’ Classic on Unfolding the Scriptures

The Art of Prophesying was written by William Perkins, the Latin in 1592 and English translation in 1606. In it he argues that theology is “a sacred science,” and preaching is the “common place of divinity,” and is “weighty and difficult.” He studied and taught at Cambridge, and was moderate as a Puritan could be in many respects. He commended the plain style, namely, a text explained in its context, its doctrine explained, and then followed by application. In this way, he simplified the classical model from five parts to three; and this was retained down through Jonathan Edwards and others in the later Reformed tradition. 

The word “prophesying” strikes readers today as odd, but Perkins is very clear on its more general use: “Preaching the Word is prophesying in the name and on behalf of Christ.”1  Needless to say, there were more than a few wanderers into the past, through the New Calvinism, who were disappointed to find out that, No, this was not an instance of Continuationism with regard to the miraculous gifts among the Puritans!

In this book, there are eleven chapters in all. Interestingly, the first half of the book looks much more like a treatment of the doctrine of Scripture than it does a manual for approaching sermons.  

Why so much of the book on proper interpretation? Preaching was at a low point at Perkins’ time. There was a grand style in high church, that minored on exegesis. In order to make the plain style profitable, it must be accurate to the text. So the first task in an era of lean sermons is to reclaim the art of thinking, and reading texts in a reasonable way.

In all of these things one can see the link between the work of preaching and the work of reformation. We might think of where Paul told Titus that the doctrinal task of an elder is twofold: “that he may be able to give instruction in sound doctrine and also to rebuke those who contradict it” (1:9).

So for Perkins, “preaching has a twofold value: (1) It is instrumental in gathering the church and bringing together all of the elect; (2) It drives away the wolves from the folds of the Lord.”2

My summary of Perkins’ work here will include sections on approaching the Scriptures and preaching the Scriptures; or, in other words, proper interpretation and then the actual elements of the sermon. In between we will even explore some interesting hints of classical thought that run through his method.

Proper Approach to the Scriptures

Why the focus on hermeneutics in such a brief work on homiletics? It is simple: “Scripture is the exclusive subject of preaching, the only field in which the preacher is to labor.”3 Elements of the standard Reformed view of Scripture are partly assumed throughout and partly explained. In his commitment to sola Scriptura, Perkins was no biblicist. For the pastor to mine the text for meaning in his study, it would be a contemplative, systematic exercise. Nor was the Puritan view represented here a “wooden literalism” when it came to the question of authorial intent, so that Song of Solomon was an allegory of Christ and the Church,4 and Revelation was “a prophetic history”5 (Historicism) of the first century until the end of time.

As to that approach to a particular text, the analogy of faith would be crucial in this effort. Although there are no interpretations that are not natural, yet there are “analogical places” and “cryptic or hidden passages.” In these the natural meaning ought to still be sought, unless it “disagrees with either the analogy of faith or very clear parts of Scripture.”6 Clearly he believed that some truths loomed larger than others and so interpreted the lesser and more obscure. 

One might ask how Perkins conceived of Rome's fourfold interpretation: literal, analogical, anagogical, and tropological. The answer is somewhat layered: that is, while he did not find these concepts illegitimate in the exposition of Scripture, yet they are not all properly interpretation. This makes a bit more sense when we grasp his division of the whole art according to three levels: 1. sense, 2. expression, and 3. application.

Thus there is only one sense to Scripture, that is, the plain or “natural” sense. Where an allegorical reading is appropriate, that is still not its sense, but rather “a different way of expressing the same meaning. The anagogy and tropology are ways of applying the sense of the passage.”7 

Whereas we might settle for the bare word “context,” Perkins speaks of getting at the text by means of its “circumstance,” which answers questions such as: “Who is speaking? To whom? On what occasion? At what time? In what place? For what end? What goes before? What follows?”8 What emerges are concentric circles of context, in which all areas of theology form a symphony of meaning. He must not only know it behind the scenes, but show it to the flock.

Perkins spoke of “The sum and substance of the message of the Bible,”9 as being likened to a syllogism. To put it concisely, the “major premise” amounts to all that the Old Testament foreshadows of Christ; the “minor premise” comes in the form of the New Testament’s fulfillment of it. Thus Christ is the conclusion. Christian teaching can use expressions like “Christ in all the Scriptures.” We can even point to texts like John 5:39 or Luke 24:44 which say so; but Perkins’ “syllogism” here is a tidy way of training the teacher to make the glories of that truth intelligible in the actual hearing of the word. 

Perkins’ Reformed Classicalism

Chapter 3 explores the canon of Scripture, first so as to divide the Old and New into their respective genres and sections; but then secondly, so as to set the authority of Scripture itself over that of the church. This is one of many issues that is handled differently by today’s presuppositionalist from the way that a classical model would have. Unsurprisingly the two views will read historical language (whether in the Confession or in a book like this) through their own lenses. The specific rationale he gives to the self-attestation of Scripture seems like a miniature version of the argument that Michael Kruger makes in our own day; but here is how Perkins said it:

“The church can bear witness to the Scripture, but it cannot inwardly persuade us of its authority. If that were so the voice of the church would have greater force than the voice of God, and the whole state of salvation would be dependent on men.”10

What “canonical model” someone like Perkins would adopt today is a difficult question, since the era of doing apologetics against a more entrenched modernism had not yet dawned.

Notwithstanding Perkins priority of self-attestation over the church’s authority, he gives ten marks of divine inspiration of the Word, which I will summarize here in my own words:

1. The perpetual consent of the church.
2. The partial consent of the pagan thinkers [to the same truths].
3. The antiquity of the Word.
4. The fulfillment of prophecies.
5. The substance of its teaching.
6. The harmony of its parts.
7. Its remarkable preservation.
8. Its effect to convert and change lives.
9. The conjunction of human simplicity with divine majesty.
10. The brutal honesty of its authors about the character of themselves and their most admirable contemporaries.

It is when Perkins gets down to interpretation that we arrive at more distinctly classical gems. With many texts, its “resolution” must be by way of logical implication, as the truth is not expressly set forth in the text itself. Not in discrete ink patterns. He gives Scripture examples in John 10:34, 1 Corinthians 9:9, Galatians 3:10, 11, Hebrews 8:8, Romans 9:7 and 4:18, each of which are conclusions adjacent to their premises.

Now 1 Corinthians 10:11 is of particular note, as there Perkins seized upon the word “examples” (typoi). He says this: “It is a principle in logic that the genus is present in all the species, just as it is a rule in visual perception that the general species of things are perceived before the particulars.”11

What then are always present “in” and always come “before” the particulars being discussed in each passage of Scripture? Although he doesn’t use the word here, it is nothing other than what adherents to the classical metaphysical outlook would now call universals, but which different ancient and medieval authors would call by other names: whether “forms” or “ideas” or “archetypes” or “essences.”

“It is also legitimate to develop analogies or allegories … But they are to be employed with the following caveats: 1. They should be used sparingly and soberly. 2. They must not be far-fetched, but appropriate to the manner in hand. 3. They must be mentioned briefly. 4. They should be used for practical instruction not to prove a point of doctrine.”12

Perkins says there are “three subordinate means to help us interpret a passage of Scripture: the analogy of faith, the circumstance of the particular passage, and comparison with other passages.”13 The first and third seem redundant, however Perkins divides the analogy of faith into two things: 1. the fides regula, or the sum of Christian truth, obviously in the most concise form, such as in the Apostles Creed; 2. the rule of love. That second head (within this first means) may not strike us at first as an interpretive principle.

Augustine unpacks this in his own manual On Christian Doctrine, and it would seem that Perkins is his heir on this way of thinking. Whatever view does not conform to the Greatest Commandment or that which is good, cannot be the right meaning. Now the third means—comparison—may involve either “comparing a statement within one context with the other places where it appears in Scripture,” or else “comparing one context with another.”14 All in all, we may view The Art of Prophesy in the same vein as Augustine’s classic in another sense. Both join the teaching art at the hip with right understanding of the Scriptures. Both works put the greater emphasis on the knowing than on the showing. This is a great strength in my judgment, as both works ought to be required reading in seminary courses on Prolegomena (especially Augustine’s) and on Pastoral Theology (especially Perkins’).

The Parts of a Sermon

In Chapter 5, Perkins finally comes to the shape of the sermon. He divides this into two parts: 1. Resolution and 2. Application. The first he also calls “partition” after his opening explanation of that “rightly dividing” in Paul’s words to Timothy. Notably deemphasized is the elenctic part of the sermon. Perkins pressed home the point that where there is no controversy in the minds of the congregation, it makes little sense to place it there.

 It is from Perkins that so much of the rationale for “uses” comes to us through the Puritan tradition. This is true both about its overall role in driving home the doctrinal truth of the passage, as well as an intelligible division of uses. Such makes the application familiar to the hearers. In Chapter 8, he distinguished between mental or practical. The 1. mental is doctrinal implication, whereas the 2. practical regards 1a. instruction and 1b. correction: the first showing the doctrine lived out in various spheres (1ai. consolation and 1aii. exhortation); and of the second, 2a. admonition or reproof. 

As one who is both shepherd and fellow-sinner, the preacher must also apply difficult words with proper ethos. Perkins gives two elements to a rebuke that will be warmly received:

“But our expressions of hatred for sin must always be accompanied by an obvious love for the person who has sinned. Whenever possible the minister should include himself in his reproofs.”15

It is one thing to have general frameworks for application, but one does not know how to apply without mastering the receiving end. To whom are we speaking? Perkins makes a division of seven categories of hearers. If we ignore them, then we have ignored a crucial part of our subject matter. There are 1. unbelievers, both ignorant and unteachable; 2. the teachable, but ignorant; 3. the knowledgeable, but not humbled; 4. the already humbled; 5. those who have already believed; 6. backsliders; and 7. churches with both believers and unbelievers.16 Obviously there is some overlap between these categories, of which we would assume Perkins was well aware.

There are also sections on how to memorize one’s structure. A very short ninth chapter, Perkins advises against any “artificial memory aids” for two reasons: 1. the stimulation of the mind with extraneous images excites what is basest in us; and 2. dulls the mind and memory. Instead, use an “axiomatical, syllogistical, of methodical way of thinking,” not worrying about all exact words, much less trying to memorize the whole word for word. As Horace put it, words “will not unwillingly follow the matter that is premeditated.”17

Such portions are incredibly practical especially for the beginner. For example, Perkins writes about “preparation,” namely five principles for preparation for one’s teaching ministry as a whole, which can be summarized as: (1) memorize the sum [headings and their brief definitions] of biblical doctrine; (2) Start with and use Romans, John, Genesis, the Psalms and Isaiah, as lenses through which to understand the rest of the Bible; (3) Ground yourself in the orthodox writers throughout history; (4) Catalogue insights into notebooks in an organized manner to recall; (5) above all, pray for spiritual enlightenment into the Word.18

Then there is the oratory itself. In the tenth chapter, Perkins gives one of the great, concise expositions of Paul's real meaning about eloquence to the Corinthians. This is in the context of the first essential thing in the actual preaching.

“Human wisdom must be concealed, both in the content of the sermon and in the language we use. The preaching of the Word is the testimony of God and the profession of the knowledge of Christ, not of human skill. Furthermore, the hearers ought not to ascribe their faith to the gifts of men, but to the power of God's word (1 Cor. 2:1, 2, 5). But this does not mean that pulpits will be marked by a lack of knowledge and education. The minister may, and in fact must, privately make free use of the general arts and of philosophy as well as employ a wide variety of reading while he is preparing his sermon. But in the public exposition these should be hidden from the congregation, not ostentatiously paraded before them. As the Latin proverb says, Artis etiam celare artem — it is also a point of art to conceal art.”19

But what about that second essential: the demonstration of the Spirit? Perkins cites from a few texts that this is when men recognize that it is not merely man speaking but the Holy Spirit through the Word. In addition to matters of personal holiness to be found later in Baxter and Spurgeon, he ends with proper inflection and gestures. Then the final chapter discusses the pastor’s role as a leader of the congregation in prayer.

For a brief work, we can see the enduring value of his reflections, as they paint a giant picture of the pastor as a true scribe of the kingdom.

____________________

1. William Perkins, The Art of Prophesying (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, 2002), 7

2. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 3.

3. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 9.

4. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 14.

5. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 16.

6. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 30.

7. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 26, italics mine.

8. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 27.

9. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 11.

10. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 18.

11. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 50.

12. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 52.

13. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 26.

14. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 27, 29.

15. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 65.

16. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 56-63.

17. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 70

18. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 23-25

19. Perkins, The Art of Prophesying, 71.