The Art of Prophesying ~ William Perkins

Has anyone read this and what did you think of it?

So, this book is really the "Art of Preaching", and I've heard from many that it's a golden keeper. I'd also be interested to hear from someone in the forum who has read it. It's my understanding that Perkins was one of the earliest Puritan authors (he was born in the 16th century), and many of the later 17th century Puritans we have come to reverence - such as Watson and Owen - were doubtless familiar with Perkins' treatise, and their ministries were influenced by the instruction found within it.

Am certainly intrigued! When this subject was really under some serious scrutnity here awhile back was searching all around trying to find something just like this. I did finally get a copy of Adam Clarkes short treatise on the matter ...

When Perkins says "Prophesying", he means "Preaching" as we understand it today. Not fortune telling and prognosticating (like we see the term "prophesy" exclusively meaning today).

Yes, the crux of the whole argument.

Excellent book, very convicting and a gut check for any who would venture into the pulpit.

I recommend it highly!

What is true biblical prophesying? And what do we see in nowadays meetings? Could someone answer these questions and explain them clearly?

Anyone?

[url=http://www.cfcindia.com/web/mainpages/topical_bible_study.php#Prophets_And_Prophesying]Prophets and Prophesying[/url] by Zac Poonen

Brother Zac covers a LOT of ground in these 10 messages on this topic. You will have a lot to consider, i suggest you go through them with a bible and a pen and a notebook.

God bless you

EDIT: you may need to click on the link to make the messages appear, its the tenth one from the top

[image][img]http://www.monergism.com/wperk.jpg[/img]

I just received this book today in the mail, William Perkin's "The Art of Prophesying" and thumbing through it I can already see what a great blessing it is going to be. It turns out that Perkins (1558-1602) was like an ancient John Newton; instead of slave trading he was into black magic, drunkeness and was a terrible brute. But God saved him and filled him with the Holy Ghost and his preaching ministry set Cambridge on fire and went on to inspire an entire future generation of powerful Puritans like Thomas Goodwin and John Cotton and William Ames who considered Perkins their mentor and spiritual father.

The book is basically his reflections on apostolic preaching and how it ought to be conducted, the proper way to expound scripture and rightly handle the Word of God, how to study the Bible, public prayer, the use of memory, etc. It looks like a very wonderful read.

Here it is online and free:

[url=http://www.lgmarshall.org/Reformed/perkins_prophesying.html]The Art of Prophesying[/url]

Here are a few tidbits from a bio I found on Perkins:

[i]"...Perkins had exceptional gifts for preaching and an uncanny ability to reach common people with plain preaching and theology. He pioneered the art of dealing with “cases of conscience” by self-examination and scriptural diagnosis. Many people were convicted of sin and delivered from bondage under his preaching. The prisoners of the Cambridge jail were among the first to benefit from his powerful preaching. Perkins “would pronounce the word [b]damn[/b] with such an emphasis as left a doleful echo in his auditors’ ears a good while after,” wrote Thomas Fuller.

Samuel Clarke offers a striking example of Perkins’s pastoral care. He says a condemned prisoner was climbing the gallows, looking half-dead, when Perkins said to him, “What man! What is the matter with thee? Art thou afraid of death?”

The prisoner confessed that he was less afraid of death than of what would follow it. “Sayest thou so,” said Perkins. “Come down again man and thou shalt see what God’s grace will do to strengthen thee.”

When the prisoner came down, they knelt together, hand in hand, and Perkins offered “such an effectual prayer in confession of sins…as made the poor prisoner burst out into abundance of tears.” Convinced the prisoner was brought “low enough, even to Hell gates,” Perkins showed him the gospel in prayer. Clarke writes that the prisoner’s eyes were opened “to see how the black lines of all his sins were crossed, and cancelled with the red lines of his crucified Savior’s precious blood; so graciously applying it to his wounded conscience, as made him break out into new showers of tears for joy of the inward consolation which he found.” The prisoner rose from his knees, went cheerfully up the ladder, testified of salvation in Christ’s blood, and bore his death with patience, “as if he actually saw himself delivered from the Hell which he feared before, and heaven opened for the receiving of his soul, to the great rejoicing of the beholders”

Perkins’s sermons were of many “colours,” writes Fuller. They seemed to be “all Law and all gospel, all cordials and all corrosives, as the different necessities of people apprehended.” He was able to reach many types of people in various classes, being “systematic, scholarly, solid and simple at the same time.” Most importantly, he lived his sermons: “As his preaching was a comment on his text, so his practice was a comment on his preaching,”

Perkins aimed to wed predestinarian preaching with practical, experiential living. He refused to see the relationship between God’s sovereignty and man’s responsibility as antagonistic but treated them as “friends” who need no reconciliation..."[/i]

Amen! Maybe we can discuss some parts of the book on this thread. It looks like a great source of instruction, and coming from the pen of a man God mightily used. In this day and age of deception and overboard charismania we can use a real good, healthy and honest discourse on the preaching of the full counsel of God and the "art of prophesying" (which, by the way, is [i]not[/i] the art of divination, as some would think).

Amen thanks for the info on this book I want to make it my next buy. I have also listened to poonens take on the subject and found it to be rich with truth as well. However I am a big fan of the puritan writings so I will pick this book up this week. Thanks brother paul. And may you give more insight towards the book as you continue to read it.

Oh that all the preaching we hear today is so passionately filled and led by the Holy Spirit!!

As one who has preached, I know well how even my greatest efforts, without the Spirit, are mere blusterings, lost in the wind, but having spent such time walking with our Saviour who speaks and LIVES, coming from the Throneroom to the pulpit, there is something else, and what every congregation is in need of.