PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 11
John Owen · 384,374 words · 378 reading sections
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nil. in I) -I si: f ®ltroloi)ii-iil Jfiiunjivti, PRTxri-rrox. x. j. The Strphon Collins Donation.^ BX 9315 .08 mS' v.ll ^^ Owen, John, 1616-1683. The works of John Owen THE WORKS JOHN tWEN, D.D. EDITED BY THE REV. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, EDINBURGH. VOL. XL NEW YOEK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 285 BROADWAY. ILD…
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The immutability of the pui-poses of God proposed for a second demonstration of the truth in Land — Somewhat of the nature and properties of the purposes of God: the object of them— Purposes, how acts of God's understanding aud will— The only foundation of the futurition of all things— The purposes of God absolute— Con…
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CHAPTER IV. ARGUMENT 1 KOM THK COVENANT OF GRACE. An entrance into the consideiation of the covenant of grace, and oiir argument from thence for the unchangeableness of the love of God unto believers — The intendment of the ensuing discourse— Gen. xvii. 7 opened and explained, with the confirmation of the argument in…
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CHAPTER VI. PAUTICULAK PROMISES ILLUSTRATED. The former argument confirmed by an induction of pirticular instances— Jo.shua i. 5 opened— The concernment of all believers in that promise proved by tjie apostle, licb xili. 5— The general interest of all believers in all the promises of God cleared — Objections answered…
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Dan, ix. 24 opened — Rom. viii. 34, deliverance from all sin, how by the death of Christ— The law innovated in respect of the elect — The vindictive justice of God satisfied by the deatli of Christ — How that is done — Wherein satisfaction doth consist ; absolute, not conditional — The law, how fulfilled in the death o…
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VIII CONTENTS. Wliat light men may attain without the iiarticnlar j,aiidance of the Spirit— Saving embracements of particular truths from tlie Spirit, 1 John ii. 20, 27— The way ■whereby the Spirit leads believ(;rs into ti-utli — Coiiscrpicnces of the want of this guiiluiice of tlio Spirit— 3. 'J'lie third thing recei…
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CONTENTS, TX of mortifj'iBg the flesh, namely, the Spirit of Christ, Rom. viii. 13 ; applying the cross and death of Christ, chap. vi. 5, 6—3. This doctrine is useful to promote gospel obe- dience, in that it tends dii-ectly to increase and strengthen faith and love both to- wards God and towards our Loi'd Jesus Chris…
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XII CONTENTS. of that proposition consiJerccl— Every one tliat is born of Goi], vrliat is affiraied of tlicni — What meant by "coinniittiii!? of sin" — Mr (x 's opposition to tlic sense of tliat expression ffivcii — Roasnns for the continuation of it — Mr (j.'s reasons against it pro- posed and considered — How lie tl…
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THE DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS PERSEVERANCE Explained and Conjirmed, OK, f 1. Acceptation with GOD, The certain Permanency of their < & ( 2. Sanctification from GOD. MANIFESTED ^ PROVED f 1. ETERNALL PRINCIPLES i The-] 2. EFFKCTUALL CAUSES [-Thereof. (3. EXTERNALL MEANES ) IN, (I. Nature 2. Decrees 1. THE IMMUTABI…
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PREFATORY NOTE. 3 racy of the statement as well as the spirit from which it emanated. His enemies,. such as Prynne and Edwards, never in all they wrote against him urged such an accusation. In his own writings he affirms tlie lawfulness of civil magistracy, and of monarchy in particular ; and in some of his tracts con…
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4 PREFATORY NOTE. head-lines we liavc given to each cliapter will enable the reader, it is hoped, to follow with greater case the course of discussion. An exact copy of the original title-page has been prefixed , — the only one in our author's Avorks worth preserving, as curious in itself, and containing his own analy…
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6 THE DEDICATION. ratified in the deatli of his Son, is unchangeable, that the fruits of the pm-chase of Christ shall be certainly bestowed on all tlieni for whom he died, and that every one who is really interested in these things shall be kept unto salvation, is the aim of my present plea and contest. That I have ta…
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8 THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. heavens, and laid the foundations of the earth, and said unto Zion, Thou art my people." Though some outward provisions and furnitures of literature, — now> through the good hand of God, made serviceable to _\ou in your attendance upon the great work and employment committed to you, — were fi…
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What other oppositions you do meet, or in your progress may meet withal, I shall not mention; but wait with patience on Him who gives men repentance and change of heart to the acknowledgment of the things that are of Him. This iu the midst of all hath hitherto been a cause of great rejoicing, that God hath gra- ciously…
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THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY. 11 it, and zeal dispended for its suppoi'tment and propagation, than about all olhei* most necessary points of Christian religion. Have we not a deplorable cloud of examples of men contending about some circumstance or other in the adminis- ti'ation of an ordinance, biting and devouring all tha…
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propagate their own conceptions, under a pretence of doing the work of God ; if the envious man watcheth all night and waits all advantages to sow his tares, — how will you be able to lift up your heads with joy, and behold your Master's face with boldness at his coming, if, having received such eminent abilities, endo…
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ing of it giving more advantage unto an inquiry after the mind of God, as de- livered in innumerable places of Scripture, than any of the rest opposed) as that a removal of his exceptions to oiu' arguments, and an answer to his objections, were judged necessary by all. Other reasons manifesting this endeavour to be in …
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"Monte (lecurrens velut amnis, imbres Quern super notas aluere iip;is, I'crvet, immensusque luit jirofundo Pindarus ore."' And he is hereby plainly possessed of not a few advantages. It is true that when the proof of his opinion by argument, and the orderly pursuit of it, is incum- bent on him (a course of all others…
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Jllor. Od., lil>. V. 6. 2 Ibid. 1 G THE EPISTLE DEDICATORY, readers thereby), in discourses of this nature, do ofFend against their professed intendments, hy perpetual diversions, in long personal harangues, delighting some for a moment, instructing none in the matter inquired into. Some parts of this treatise you ma…
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John Owen. VOL. XI. A PREFACE TO THE EEADER. Header, If thy inquiry be only after the substance of the truth in the ensuino- treatise contended for, I desire thee not to stay at all upon this prelimi- nary discourse, but to proceed thither where it is expressly handled from the Scriptures, without the intermixture o…
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Evanr/elical perseverance is from the Scripture at large explained in the book itself. As it relates to our acceptation with God, and the innnuta- bility of justification (which is the chief and most eminent part of the doctrine contended for), as it hath no conformity in any thing with the moral perseverance before de…
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verandum in bono usque in finem auxiliuni speciale, supernaturale scilicet donuni pcrseverantije." And of this ])ropoHition he says, " In hac omnes catholici eonveniunt." Of the same judgment was his master, Thomas, lib. iii. Con. Gen. cap, civ. ; where, also, he gives this reason of his opi- nion: " Illud quod natura …
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That, as was formerly said, which at present I aim at in reference to this truth is, to declare its rise and progress, its course and opposition, which it hath found in several ages of the church, with its state and con- dition at this day, in respect of acceptance with the people of God. Its rise, with all other divi…
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1. The first [consideration will be found] in that luiown passage of Hege- A PREFACE TO THE READER. 25 sippus, in Euseb. Hist. Eccles., lib. iii. cap. xxxii. : 'ilg a^a i-Lsy^^i rojv rin y^6- vcf}v, Toc^Ohog xaSa^a ■a.cx.i adidpCo^og s/ubiivsv ri IxxX'/jc/a' — eig d' 6 hfog rojv d'roff- roXcov yooog did(pnoov s7Xrj(p…
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That we may proceed in some order, not leaving those we have nothing to say to, nor are willing to examine, whilst they are but tliin and come not in troops, unsahited, the first writings that are imposed on us after the canonical Scriptures are the eight books of Clemens, commonly called the Apostles' Constitutions, b…
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He who upon the roll of antiquity presents himself in the next place to our consideration is the renowned Ignatius, concerning whom I desire to beg so much favour of the learned reader as to allow me a diversion unto some thoughts and observations that belong to another subject than that which I have now peculiarly in …
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' " Unicum D. BlondcUum aut alterum fortasse inter omnes mortales Walonem Mes- salinum, cap. xxv. sect. 3." 30 A PREFACE TO THE READER. " Nuper quidom etiam nebulo in Anglia, Capellanus ut audio rej^is, Ham- mondus nomine, libro qucm edidit de potestate clavium Salmasio iratus quod aliam quam ipse sententiam ]>robet …
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Upon their first appearing in the world, what is the entertainment they receive? One who was dead before either the doctor or either of his antagonists was born, and whose renown among the people of God will live when they are all dead, gives them this welcome into the world: " Ignatium quod obtendunt, si velint quicqu…
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A PREFACE TO THE EEADER. S3 very garbage of that beast. Into what hands also these epistles have fallen by the way, in their journeying down towards these ends of the world, is evident from those citations made out of them by them of old, which now appear not in them. Theodoret, Dial. 3, adv. Hsere., gives us this sen…
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It is not a little burdensome to the thoughts of sober and learned men to consider how frequently, causelessly, absurdly, in the midst of dis- courses quite of another nature and tendency, the author of these epistles, or somebody for him, breaks in upon the commendation of church officers, bishops and presbyters, exal…
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S6 A PKEFACE TO THE READER. all pomp and glory, ho adds, Tcvs ivKSyJvovg aoyjjVTac, v[jlujv -/.al [SagiXeas riyuG&ai voi^iZirs, -/.a) duff/j^oi/i w; (SaeiXiZsi 'rr^os^phcTs. The paying of tri- bute to them as kings is the issue of these descriptions, that tliey may have •wherewithal to maintain their pomp and greatnes…
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That in the judgment of Clemens no more were instituted in the church is no less evident. And this carries the conviction of its truth so clearly with it that Lombard himself confesseth, " Hos solos ministrorum duos ordines ecclesiam prim.itivam habuisse, et de his solis prseceptum apostoli nos habere," lib. iv. Sen. D…
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A PREFACE TO THE READER. 39 tried those who were to be appointed bishops, so obtaining and receiving a perfect foreknowledge, or knowledge of them before their admission into office. This also expresses revelation ('^^oyvc^joiv uKripoTig), upon trial it Avas revealed unto them ! and so must any thing else be allowed t…
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But, sect. 6, the doctor comes closer, and gives his reason why this tes- timony of Clemens is not of any efficacy to the purpose in hand. Saith he, " At quis (sodes) a fidelibus de episeopatu (ut vis) contra ipsos ab apostolis constitutes episcopos contendentibus ; quis a poi>ulo contra prin- cipem suum tumultus cicnt…
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First, then, for the mention that is made of many presbyters in the church of Corinth, to whom Clemens, in the name of the church of Rome, exhorts to give all due respect, honour, obedience : He tells you that by " The 42 A PREFACE TO THE READER. cliurch of Corinth," all the churches of Achaia are meant and intended.…
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" Si Pergama dextra Defend! possent, etiam hac defensa fuissent.'"— ^En. ii. 291, 292. And this is the cause of naming many elders or presbyters in one church! For my part, I suppose the doctor might more probably have adhered to a former conjecture of his. Dissert, iv. cap. x. sect. 9. Concerning two sundry differen…
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A PREFACE TO THE READER. 45 SO shall we of any presbyters not instituted and appointed by the authority of Jesus Christ in the church, " Let them go to the place from whence they came." 2. I desire the doctor to inform me in what sense he would have me to understand him, Dissert, ii. cap. xxix. sect. 21, 22, where he…
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A PEEFACE TO THE READER. 47 politan church having neither presbyter nor bishop properly related unto it as such, but an archbishop, — we are worse than infidels ! Truly I cannot but wonder whether it doth not sometimes enter into these men's thoughts to apprehend how contemptible they are in their proofs for the fathe…
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4. I say that there is not in any of the doctor's excerpta from these epistles, nor in any passage in them, any mention or the least intimation of any church whereunto any bishop was related, but such an one as whose members met all together in one place, and with their bishop disposed and ordered the affairs of the ch…
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VOL. XL 4 50 A PREFACE TO THE READER. the New Testament no " church" of one denomination beyond a single con- gregation ; and where tliere are more, they are always called " churches." How evidently this is destructive to any diocesan or metropolitieal officer, who hath no churcli left liim thereby of Christ's instit…
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Sect. 5, " Illud ex Judccorum exemplari transeripsisse apostoli viden- tur; cum Mosaica id lege cautum esset, ut judices et ministri in qualibet civitate ordinarentur, Deut. xvi. 18. Illi vero in rebus dubiis ad judicem (Mosis successorem) synedrio Hierosolymitano cinctum recurrere teneren- tur," cap. svii. 9. And in s…
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Secondly, then, he tells you that tlic question about Mosaical rites and neces- sity of their ohsci'vation icas referred to Jerusalem hi/ the sinrjJe church of Ati- tioch. But how does the doctor make good this first stop'/ which yet if he could, would do him no good at all. It is true that Paul was now come to Antioch…
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"Audacia — Crcditur a multis fiducia." — [Juven., xiii. 109, 110.] But if this will not do, yet Ignatius hits the nail on the head, and is ready at hand to make good whatsoever the doctor will have him say, and his testimony takes up the sense of the two next following sections, whereof the first is as follows: — "Hi…
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The truth is, when I first named Ignatius for a witness in tlie cause I am pleading for, I little thought of tliat excursion which I have occasion- ally been drawn out unto. When first I cast an eye, some few months since, upon the dissertations of the learned doctor in defence of episcopacy, and saw it so chequered wi…
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Cypuian is express to our purpose. Saith he, "Nemo existimet bones de ecclesia posse discedere. Triticum non rapit ventus, nee arborem solida radicefundatam procella subvertit; Inanes paleai tempestate jactantur, in- validfe arbores turbinis incursione evertuntur. llos execratur et percutit Johannes apostolus, dicens, …
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The design and aim of our establishment by the Spirit is, he tells us, that we be not shaken or moved from the faith of Christ ; [he] so establisheth us that he sufters us not to depart and fall away from the faith. And that the argument which he insists on, — from what we have presently received to an assurance of abo…
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Now, the controversy that was between Austin and the Pelagians and semi- Pelagians about perseverance, Hilary thus expresseth in his e])istle to him : " Deinde moleste ferunt," speaking of the semi-Pelagians, " ita dividi gratiam, qufe vel tunc primo homini data est, vel nunc omnibus datui-, ut ille acceperit persevera…
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This the doctors of that council, anno 420, condemned as a Pelagian fiction, as Pros])er also presents it at large, cap. xxv. against Cassiaruis the semi-Pelagian, and farther clears and confirms it. So Austin again, De Bono Persov., cap. ii., "Cur perseverantia ista petitur a Deo, si non datur a Deo? an ct ista irriso…
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In that earnest and long contest which that learned doctor insists upon, to pro\e perseverance to be the gift of God (for which he hath sufficient ground from that of the apostle, 1 Cor. i. 7, 8, " That ye come behind in no gift, waiting for the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ," etc.), two things he especially aimed at…
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66 A PREFACE TO THE READER. constantly affirmed might fall away into everlasting destruction; but yet what tlicir judgment was concerning their present state indeed, even then when they so termed them regenerate and believers, in respect to the sacraments of those graces, Austin in sundry places clearly delivers his t…
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After these was Gregory I., who, lib, i. Epist. xcix., speaks to the same purpose with them in these words: " Redemptor noster, Dei hominumque mediator, conditionis humante non immemor, sic imis summa conjungit, ut ipse in unitate permanens ita temporalia, occulto instinctu, pia consulens moderatione disponat, quatenus…
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To bring them in, I desire that one who (though none of them) was eminent in his undertakings for a mixture of divinity and law, in those days wherein they had their eminent rise and original, may 1)0 heard ; and that is Ghatian, who after his manner hath collected many thirigs to the purpose in hand. P. 2, c. 33, q. 3…
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With this earnestness, above three hundred years ago, did this profoundly learned man press the popes to a determination of these controversies against the Pelagians and their successors in his schools. The same suit hath ever since been continued by very many learned men (in ever\'^ age) of the communion of the church…
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Having laid down this principle, Thomas proceeds to manifest that 72 A PREFACE TO THE READER. there is a special grace of perseverance bestowed by God on some, and that on Avhomsoever it is bestowed, they certainly and infallibly perse- vere to the end, pp. quest. 109, a. 10, c. ; and Contra Gent. lib. iii., he prove…
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To this Dominican I shall only add the testimony of two famous Jesuits, upon whose understandings the light of this glorious truth prevailed, for an acknowledgment of it. The first of these is Bellarmine, whose disputes to this purpose being full and large, and the author in all men's hands, I shall not transcribe his …
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NOTE BY THE EDITOR. See page 27. To remove from the preceding preface the appearance of confusion which it presents, it is enough to remark, that in the course of citing testimonies in proof that his views on the subject of the perseverance of the saints had the sanction of antiquitj', Owen, after a passing blow at t…
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It is the (.pinion of Mr Curcton and Chevalier Bunsen that these three Syriac epistles are the only genuine writings of Ignatius ; — because the Syriac manuscript, transcribed most probably before a d. 560, is of greater antiquity than any existing Jji-eek manu- scripts;—the epistles in Syriac are shorter than the same…
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The truth which I have proposed to handle, and whose defence I have undertaken in the ensuing discourse, is commonly called THE 78 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS* PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. PERSEVERANCE OF SAINTS; a doctrine whereof nothing ordinary, low, or common, is spoken by any that have engaged into the considera- tion of it…
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' Rev. xii. 4; Jude 12; Matt. vii. 26, 27; 2 Thess. ii. 3; 2 Pet. ii. 20-22; 2 Tim. iv. 10; 1 John ii. 19; Heb. vi. 4-6. 80 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS* PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. minations, 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18, lest any disconsolation should surprise believers in reference to their own condition, as though that should be lubrico…
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Secondly, It is denied that the fall of the most glorious hypocrites is indeed an efiicacious engine in the hands of the adversary to in- generate any other fears and jealousies, or to expose them to any other shakings, than what are common to them in other temptations of daily incursion, from which God doth constantly…
924 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1850–1870); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
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Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.