PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 11
John Owen · 384,374 words · 378 reading sections
Section 241
The supposition here made l)y Mr Goodwin, and imposed on his adversaries, is, as hath been showed, wretchedly false, not once spoken or owned by them with whom he hath to do, not having the least colour given unto it by the doctrine they maintain ; yea, it is diametri- cally opposite thereunto. The main of what they te…
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Ans. 1. The grounds asserted by Mr Goodwin on which believers may build the assurance pretended, of the perpetuity of their stand- ing in the grace and favour of God, notwithstanding the possibility of their defection (the assertion whereof costs no less than the deny- ing of all or any influence from the purpose, prom…
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XI.] AEGUMENTS AGAINST THE DOCTRINE CONSIDERED. 419 the use of those means it may be avoided or no ! This looketh like begging the thing in question. Paul, labouring and endeavouring in the ways expressed, evidently manifesteth such a labour and endea- vour, in such a way, to be the appointed means of avoiding the con…
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1. " That the weakness of the flesh, or aptness of miscarrying through this, is no reasonable ground of fear to any true believer of his perishing, considering that no man loseth or forfeiteth the grace and favour of God through sins of weakness or infirmity. It is only the strength of sin and corruption in men that ex…
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(3.) Neither is the sum of all this answer any other but this : " If we are willing, and will prevent all miscarriages from the weakness of the flesh, we may." But how we become willing so to do, and what assur- ance we have that we shall be so willing, seeing all in us by nature as to any spiritual duty is flesh, is n…
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424 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTs' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. quence, that saints have strong inclinations to righteousness, there- fore they have not so to sin, for my part I will forbear for ever dis- puting with him. If he can beat us, not only from Scripture, but from all our spiritual sense and experience, doubtless it is to …
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426 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CUAP. suasions to be irresistible — The dealings of God and men ill compared — Paul's exhortation to the use of means, when the end was certain, Acts xxvii. 21-36, considered — God deals with men as men, exhorting them ; and as corrupted men, assisting them — Of promises of t…
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42S DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. nature of Christ doth no way impeach the omnipresence of the Deity: therefore it is true and according to Scripture! I might supersede all farther considerations of this argument, having rendered it altogether useless and unserviceable in this war- fare by breaking its…
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2. That the sentence of the law is the same towards all, curs- ing every one that continueth not in all things written in the book thereof to do them, Deut. xxvii. 26. 8. That in and under the gospel, wherein a remedy is provided in reference to the rigour and severity of both the former apprehensions, yet the Judge o…
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The stress of the whole, as far as we are concerned in it, lieth on the minor, which is thus farther attempted to be made good. The minor proposition is demonstrated thus : " The doctrine which ren- dereth the labour and faithfulness of a minister, in pressing such ex- hortations, threatenings, and promises, which tend…
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Ans. Truly this is such an enormous and an abominable calumny that I cannot but admire how any sober and rational man durst venture upon the owning of it. The question now is, what faith the doctrine insisted on ingenerates in particular persons, that should enervate and make void the exhortations, etc., of the ministr…
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Ans. That this is not the doctrine which Mr Goodwin hath un- dertaken to oppose hath been more than once already declared. That he is not able with any colour of reason to oppose it, unless he first impose his own false and vain inferences upon it, and them upon his reader, for the doctrine itself, from his constant co…
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" First, That the exhortations whereby the saints are exhorted to perseverance are no means by which the promises of perseverance made, as our adversaries suppose, to them are accomplished or effected, is thus clearly evinced : Whatsoever is a means for the bring- ing of any thing to pass ought not to contain any thing…
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5. The greatest inconsistency that can be imagined between ex- hortations and promises, as by us explained, is no more than this, that in one place God pi^omiseth that unto us as his grace, which in another he requires of us as our duty ; between which two who- ever feigns an opposition, he doth his endeavour to set th…
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XII.] OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE REFUTED. 441 or exhorted uiito by God or no. 2. If the will of a saint be imme- diately so affected by God that it stands inclined and bent to do the things which are proper to cause him to persevere, then is this bent and inclination wrought in the will of such a person after his bein…
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2. Whence ariseth the disjunctive force of this argument, " Either by immediate actings upon their wills, or he maketh use of those exhortations?" as though the one way were exclusive of the other, and that the Scripture did not abundantly and plentifully ascribe both these unto God ; both that he exhorts us to know hi…
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What his fourth argument also is but a repetition of the same things before crudely asserted in other terms, let them apprehend that can: " If God work faith and love in the hearts of his saints, and support them in them to the end, what place is left for exhorta- tions?" I say. Their own proper place, the place of mea…
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That which is now undertaken to be proved is, that God doth not make use of exhortations as means for the establishing of the saints in believing and for confirming their perseverance. This is that which by us is assigned unto them, and this is all that the nature of them doth require that they should be used unto, the…
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418 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP. But he adds, " It must needs be physical, because it is produced by the physical working of the Spirit of God, which, being a physical action, cannot produce a moral effect." Ans. By physical operation of God on and with the will, we un- derstand only that which is rea…
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Saith he, "So far as exhortations are means to produce these acts, they must be moral; for moral causes are not capable of producing natural or physical effects." But if Mr Goodwin think that, in this controversy, ''physical" and "necessary," as applied to effects, are laohvmiiovvra, he is heavenly wide. " Physical" d…
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3. How comes the same act or operation in respect of its man- ner of proceeding from its agent to be physical, and in respect of its substance to be moral? or, is any act moral in respect of its sub- stance, or is its morality an adjunct of it, in respect of the regard it hath to some rule and farther end ? It is an ea…
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4. There is in men a different power as to persuasion, some hav- ing a faculty that way far more eminent and effectual than others, according to their skill and proficiency in oratory and persuasive axts. This only is ascribed to God, that he so excels us as one man excels another; but how that excellency of his is exe…
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In the second division of the section, he gives you his judgment of the manner of the work of God upon the soul unto the doing of that which is good, and the effect produced thereby: whereof the one, as was said before, consists in persuasions, which he sa3'S " are thus far irresistible, that they who are to be persuad…
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His sections 8 and 9 contain an endeavour for the taking off an instance usually given of pressing to the use of means, when the end is infallibly promised to be accomplished and brought about in and by the use of those means; and this is in the passage of Paul, Acts xxvii. 21-86, whereof something formerly hath been s…
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But he adds, " Those words of Paul to the centurion and soldiers lately mentioned (' Except these abide in the ship, ye cannot be safe') undeniably prove the said promise to have been not absolute, but conditional ; for in case God should have promised absolutely and without all exception that they should have been saf…
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4 GO DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS* PERSEVEllANCE. [CHAP. Paul and his company should be cast on an island for their preser- vation, provided the wind served for that end or purpose ! But who, I pray, commands the winds and seas? Doth the wind so " blow where it listeth" as not to be at the command of its Maker? Is it not en…
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462 DOCTRINE OF THE SAINTS' PERSEVERANCE. [CHAP, kind be sucli a thing which they may possibly omit, evident it is that there is a possibility of their non-persevering." A71S. This last division of the 10th section labours to evince that in the first of the places above mentioned, namely, 1 Cor. x. 12, 13, there is n…
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8. This being established, that here is a firm promise of perseverance, against which Mr Goodwin opposeth scarce any thing at all, and no- thing at all to the purpose, his whole ensuing discourse falls of itself: for from the caveat used at the entrance of this promise and the ex- hortation at the close, both tending t…
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Thirdly, The verses pointed to out of Heb. vi. 4-6, 9, do not so directly express the conjunction insisted on as those places already considered do ; only, the discourse there used by the apostle is per- emptory, that men may, without any disparagement to their wisdom or reason, earnestly deal with others and exhort th…
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Ans. 1. Be it granted that one end of God in his threatenings is to prevent apostasy in the saints, by stirring them up to take care- ful heed to the ways and means whereby they may persevere, and that they no otherwise work, or cause perseverance, but as they so stir up and provoke men to the things wherein they are t…
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First, then. It may be observed (as it was, by the way, in the foregoing discourse), that notwithstanding the promises of persever- ance which are given to the saints, yet many there are who are not enabled all their days to mix them with faith, although their interest and portion lie in them no less than theirs who th…
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XII.] OBJECTIONS TO THE DOCTRINE REFUTED. 47l minations under consideration may principally belong to some kind of professors, who, notwithstanding all the gifts and common graces which they have received, yet in a large sense may be termed hypo- crites, as they are opposed to them who have received the Spirit with tr…
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2. It is no fruit or product of the Spirit of life and love; which, as hath been shown, is the principle of all our obedience and walk- ing with God. 8. It holds out a frame of spirit directly contrary to what we are called and admitted unto under the gospel ; for " God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of pow…
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Of this last division of the 14th section there are two parts; — the first confirmative of what was spoken before concerning the use- fulness of the fear of hell and punishment for the furthering of the saints' obedience; the other responsatory to what is urged to the contrary from 1 John iv. 18, "Perfect love casteth …
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■which the Holy Ghost in this place intendeth, is expressly to make the Holy Ghost a liar, and to contradict hira to his face. 3. What love in us is that that the flesh can or may "entice to folly?" Are the fruits of the Spirit of God, the graces of his own work- ing and creating in us, of such a temper and constituti…
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2. The worst part of this story lies in the middle of it, in the exclusion of any such spiritual principle in believers as should carry them out unto obedience, at least to any such as is not begotten in their minds by " rational considerations.'' Whatever may be granted of acquired habits of grace (which that the firs…
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1. Neither fear nor love, as they are mere natural affections, is any principle of spiritual obedience as such. 2. That we are so far from denying the usefulness of the fear of the Lord to the obedience of the saints, that the continuance thereof in them to the end is the great promise, for the certain accom- plishmen…
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And thus I doubt not but that it is manifest, by these considera- tions of Mr Goodwin's objections to the contrary, that the doctrine of the perseverance of the saints, as by us taught and delivered, doth not only fall in a sweet compliance with all the means of grace, especially those appointed by God to establish the…
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XIII.] ASSERTORS AND ADVERSARIES COMPARED. 483 generation for their labour in the Lord, and of name among the saints for their work in the service of the gospel. For the one half of that small space of time which is passed since the breaking forth of the light of the gospel in this nation, we are disenabled from purs…
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XIII.] ASSERTORS AND ADVERSARIES COMPARED. 485 In the meantime, this seems strange, that God should magnify and make famous the ministry of so many throughout the world, and give in that visible blessing to their labours therein which hath filled this island with such an increase of children to Zion as that she hath n…
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XIII.] ASSERTORS AND ADVERSARIES COMPARED. 487 space of three hundred years and more, held a possibility of a total and final defection, even in true and sound believers, is so clear from the records yet extant of those times that it cannot be denied." Ajis. To let pass Mr Goodwin's proverb with its application (it b…
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S. What was the judgment of the primitive Christians, as in others, so in and about this head of Christian religion, is best known from that rule of doctrine which it is confessed they attended unto, being delivered unto them, and in the defence whereof, and to give testi- mony whereto, so many thousands of them " love…
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Thirdly, He farther informs us how this doctrine of the perse- verance of the saints came to be so generally entertained by the godly, zealous, and able ministers of this nation, that when we see how they fell into it, their testimony given thereto may be of less validity with us. " This," he telleth you, " was the pe…
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Nextly, sect. 26, Mr Goodwin entereth upon his defensative to the charge against his doctrine whose foundation is laid in the unworthi- ness of its authors in this nation, before it fell upon his hand. These he confessoth to be the worst of our late bishops, with such as Roman- ized and tyrannized among them, with thei…
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I shall not now enter upon any long inquiry what influence the ungodly and profane lives of any ought to have upon the judgment of men in discovering and discerning of the doctrines that they bring, especially if such as consent in any doctrine do also concur in a dis- soluteness of conversation. That it will be of no …
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XIII.] ASSERTORS AND ADVERSARIES COMPARED. 497 Another reason^ of the same evidence with the former, is tendered in these words: "It is generally known that the cathedral genera- tion of men throughout Christendom were generally great admirers of the old learning (as some call it), I mean the writings and tenets of th…
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This is the whole of Avhat Mr Goodwin thought good to tender for the protection of his doctrine from the charge laid down at the entrance of this digression; on the consideration whereof, I doubt not but it is evident how unable he is to shield it from the wound ^IV-] THE EXHORTATIONS OF THE GOSPEL. 499 intended unto…
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Ans. The incongruity of this fiction with the doctrine it is framed against is so easily manifested, that it will not much concern us to consider the incongruity that the several parts of it have one with another; for, — First, The whole foundation of th\s fanatic fabric is ridiculous in itself, and ridiculously impos…
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Thirdly, All that is indeed argumentative in this discourse is built on this foundation, that a spiritual assurance of attaining the end by the use of means is discouraging and dissuasive to the use of those means; — a proposition so uncouth in itself, sa contradictory to the experience of all the saints of God, so der…
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Secondly, The proposition must be cast into another mould before it will be of any determinate signification in opposition to the doc- trine it opposeth, and tuned to another mood before it will give a certain sound to any battle against it ; and this is, That no act of the creature, that is wrought in order to the obt…
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A71S. What there is more in this than what went before, unless sophistry and falsity, I see not; for, — First, Though I conceive that eternal life is proposed in the Scripture as our reward rather upon the account of supporting and cheering our spirits in the deficiencies, temptations, and entanglements attending our o…
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CHAPTER XV. ARGUMENT AGAINST THE DOCTRINE FROM THE SINS OF BELIEVERS. Mr G.'s fifth argument for the apostasy of true behevers — The weight of this ar- gument taken from the sins of believers — The difference between the sins of behevers and unregenerate persons proposed to consideration, James i. 14, 15 — The rise a…
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Mr Goodwin's fifth argument for the saints' apostasy is taken from the consideration of the sins which they have fallen into, or possibly may so do, and it is thus proposed : sect. 20, — " They who are in a capacity or possibility of perpetrating the works of the flesh are in a possibility of perishing, and consequent…
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This being the progress of sin from the first rise, which is " lust," to the last end, which is " death," the way and path that the best and most refined unregenerate men in the world do never thoroughly forsake, though they may sometimes step out of it or be stopped in it, a way wherein whoever walks to the end may be…
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3. It being the state of every man's proper lust which is the fountain of all sin, two things will follow: — (1.) That in whomsoever it is, in its compass and power, as above described, as it is in every unregenerate man, however convinced of sin, he sins with his full and whole consent. All that is within him consent…
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4. Observe that the grace, neiu creature, principle, or spiritual life, that is given to, bestowed on, and wrought in, all and only believers, be it in the lowest and most remiss degree that can be imagined, is yet no less universally spread over the whole soul than the contrary habit and principle of lust and sin wher…
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(3.) That regenerate ^iersons sin not with their ivhole and full consent. Consent may be taken two ways: — First, Morally, for the approbation of the thing done. So the apostle says, tliat in the inward man he did " consent to the law that it was good," Rom. vii. 16; that is, he did approve it as such, like it, delight…
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1. If you intend acts in a moral consideration, unless you add, " About the same object," which you do not, this assertion is so far from any evidence of truth, that it is ridiculously false. May not the same person love God and hate the devil at the same time? But, — 2. How pass you so suddenly from a plurality of wi…
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4. The sum is. If the Spirit and the flesh, lust and grace, may be looked on as habitual qualities and principles in the wills of the same persons, so that though a man hath but one will, yet, by reason of these contrary qualities, he is to be esteemed as having two diverse principles of operation, it is evident that, …
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Thirdly, That the Spirit is grieved with the sins of believers, and their walking unworthily of, or not answerably to, the grace they have received, is clear, Eph. iv. 30 : the apostle admonisheth believers to abstain from the sins he there enumerates, and consequently [from] others of the like import, [and] having put…
1,308 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.