In this next chapter of A Reformed Catholic Perkins comes to the matter of Justification. It was termed by Luther as "the test of a standing or of a falling Church", and by Calvin as "the principal ground on which religion must be supported". Indeed if there were no other points of difference between us and Rome, this one alone is sufficient to keep us from the uniting of our religions. In his exposition of the matter Perkins solemnly reminds us that this is a point of differ

In this next section from A Reformed Catholic, Perkins deals with the issues between the Reformed Church and the Church of Rome regarding the certainty of salvation. The Reformed doctrine of Assurance was later set out by the Westminster Assembly at Chapter XVIII of its Confession: "...such as truly believe in the Lord Jesus, and love Him in sincerity, endeavouring to walk in all good conscience before Him, may, in this life, be certainly assured that they are in the state of

The next point handled by Perkins in A Reformed Catholic, is concerning Original Sin after baptism. In particular how far it remains after baptism. Perkins highlight the importance of this consideration "... because hereupon depend many points of popery". So we now come to this our third instalment. I. Our consent. They say, natural corruption after baptism is abolished, and so say we: but let us see how far it is abolished. In original sin are three things: I. The Punishment

Perhaps no doctrine is more hotly debated amongst and by Evangelicals than that of ‘Free Will’, and perhaps no doctrine is more misunderstood. Some err on one side by precluding from man all freedom, which would “…in effect make him a very beast” (Ussher, Answer to a Jesuit, page 445), for this freedom is the very difference between reasonable and unreasonable creatures. But that man is endued with reason may not be disputed. The errors of others come in giving man too large

William Perkins (1558-1602), was an apostle of practical divinity and through his Reformed theology and Puritan piety shaped Puritanism to establish "a movement majoring on evangelism and spiritual life" (J. I. Packer). Indeed at the height of his ministry his works outsold even those of Beza and Calvin and his writings did more than any to influence the Westminster Assembly and its Confession. It was during Perkins lifetime that Rome, principally through the Jesuits, respon