PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 14
John Owen · 294,695 words · 278 reading sections
Section 61
116 ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TIlExVTISE knowledge of God, revealing unto them the whole counsel of his will ! And is it possible that any man who hath ever read over the New Testament, or any one of Paul's epistles, should be so blinded by prejudices, and made so confident in his assertions, as to dare, in the face of the …
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118 ANIMADVEllSIONS ON A TRExVTISE they say tliey are any. It is true, which our author pleads in justi- fication of the sacrifice of his church, that there were sacrifices among the Jews, yea, from the beginning of the world, after the entrance of sin and promise of Christ to come made to sinners; for in the state of…
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In the close of our author's discourse he complains of the per- secutions of Catholics; which, whatever they are or have been, for my part I neither approve nor justify; and do heartily wish they liad never shov/ed the world those ways of dealing with them who dissented from them in things concerning religion whereof t…
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1 22 ANDIADVERSIOXS ON A TREATISE their sense and meaning. I shall therefore only desire the reader that thinks himself concerned in this report to consult the place in Calvin pointed unto; and if he finds any such taunts as our author mentions, or any thing delivered concerning our Lord Christ but what may be confirm…
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124 ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE ing of them. As far as I can perceive, by his good incHnatiou to this excellency of religion (the imagery of it), had he lived in those days, he would have as easily bid adieu to Christianity as he did in these to Protestantism. But the excellent thoughts, he tells lis, that such pict…
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12G ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE he ever appointed them to be adored, or to be the immediate objects of any veneration, or to be so much as historical means of instruction, being always shut up from the view of the people, and representing nothino- that ever had a real subsistence " in rerum natura." Be- sides, who ap…
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12S AKlMADVEll.SIOiNS 01>r A TIlEATiSB CHAPTER XVII. Latin service. Sect. XXV. p. 280. The next thing he gilds over in the Roman practice is that which he calls their " Latin service;" that is, their keeping of the word of God and whole worship of the church (in which two all the general concernments ol Christians d…
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loO ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE wrest words and examples there recorded unto their own ruin, as we see now by experience men are apt to do?" What CathoHcs have or have not, is not our present dispute. Whether what they have of story and dogma in their own language be that which Paul calls " the whole counsel of God,"…
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1 32 ANIMADVERSIONS ON A TREATISE to be spoken unto them to whom that dialect was vulgar. And when, after the captivity, the people had learned the Chaldee language, some parts of some books then written are therein expressed ; to show that it is not this or that language which, on its own account, is to confine the c…
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What means he by " the Bible's own sacred phrase," opposed to '' a profane and common one ? " Would not any man think that he in- tended the originals wherein it was written ? But I dare say, if any one will ask him privately, he will give them another account, and let them know that it is a translation which he adorns…
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These flourishes, then, of our orator, being not likely to have the least effect upon any who mind the apostolical advice of taking heed lest they be beguiled with enticing words, we shall not need much to insist upon them. This custom of performing the worship of God in the congregation in a tongue unknown to the asse…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 137 have not the language of other places, as far as I know, may stay at home, where they may be understood, rather than undertake a pil- grimage to cant before strangers, who know not what they mean. After an annumeration of these conveniences, he mentions that only inconvenience which, as he says…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 139 — part of that Avorsliip wherein all things are to be done to edification ; which they are in this and the Quakers' silent meetings much alike. Strange! that there is no need that men should know or understand that which is their duty to perform ; and which, if they do it not, is not that which …
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ENTIT^jED FIAT LUX. 141 expected, I shall only mind them of some few things there deter- mined by the apostle ; which, if it do but occasion him to consider the text itself, I shall obtain my purpose. The gift of speaking with strange tongues being bestowed on the church of Corinth, that they might be a sign, unto the…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 143 lie intends, the only Father of the family, all men know he never, to any of the sons of men immediately, nor by any prophet by him inspired, communicated his mind in Latin. If it be the pope of Rome whom he ascribeth that title unto, I am sorry for the man, not knowing how well he could make hi…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 145 and effusion of their Lord's blood prefigured and set before them for faith to feed upon; this Protestants have not." I tliink the man is mistaken, and that he intended to say the CathoUcs have not, and to place Protestants in the beginning of the sentence; for it is cer- tain that this is the v…
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1 In the original edition it is printed "rain," thoiigli in reprints of the work the ■word " reign" lias been substituted, as seemingly more intelligible. Dr Owen, however, is adopting in part an expression which seems to be a favourite witli him, as it occurs more than once in his writings: — " One lie must bo thatche…
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But if this will not do, he would fain have us gi'ant " that the whole manner of giving the communion unto the laity, Avh ether under one or both kinds, is left to the disposition of the ehurch." I tell you truly, I should have thought so too, had not Christ and his apostles beforehand determined it; but as the case st…
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2. Our author farther adds, "That sometimes the whole sacred syn- axis^ is called breaking of bread, without any mention of the chalice." And what then? I pray, is not the body of Christ sometimes men- tioned without speaking of the blood, and the blood oftener without speaking of the body? Is not the whole supper call…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 153 rious gTace !) do instantl}^ serve God in all good conscience day and night, and holding the Head, grow up into him who is the fulness of him that filleth all in all. To close this discourse, and to come to that which he seems to love as a bear doth the stake, — the practice of the Romish churc…
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Had he intended plain dealing, and to persuade men by reason and arguments, he should nakedly and openly have laid do\\Ti the doctrine and practice of his church in this matter, and have attempted to justify the one and the other. This had been done like a man who liked and approved what his interest forced him to defe…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 157 ing down three principles of the saints' invocation, whereof the first itself is true, but nothing to his pui-pose ; the second is true in the substance of it, but false, in an addition of merit to the good works of the saints, and not one jot more to his purpose than the other; the third is, th…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 159 nor of any of the ancient rabbins. Indeed, here and there one of them seemed to have dreamed with Origen about an end of the pains of gehenna ; and some of the latter masters, the cabahsts espe- cially, have espoused the Pythagorean metempsychosis: but for the purgatory of the Pagans and Papists…
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EXTITLED FIAT LUX. IGl naked out of doors, throughout the whole Scripture, as injurious to the grace of God, the mediation of Christ, the tenor of the covenant of grace, and contrary to express testimonies, — in those words of our Saviour, Matt. v. ; who, speaking of sinners dying ia an unreconciled condition, having …
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 163 of in this section, I must acknowledge he hath had much wrong done him in the world. He is one, it seems, that we " are beholding unto for all we have that is worth any thing," particularly for the " gospel, which was originally from him ; for kingly authority, and his crown- land, with all the …
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' ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 165 many of them, present themselves to the thoughts of men, and a tre- mor comes over their hearts to hear men open their mouths with such blasphemies as to affirm that the Lord Christ did as much manifest his divinity and power in such beasts as in his own person. Yea, that he is " more miraculo…
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1 Pers. ii. 75. The import of the quotation in the original is, that with an un- blemished character, a man may approach the temples, and make peace with no more costly ofTeiiMg than a handful of flour. Owen intimates that if all the statcniciits were time, which he has supiwsod the Papist to make, small reason for qua…
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 169 whether the council should be the pope's council, or the pope should be the council's pope ; and how the pope carried it at last, by having more archbishoprics and bishoprics in his disposal than the coun- cils had. And so much for the pope's councils. Our author adds, that " he hath been more …
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ENTITLED FIAT LUX. 1 71 Do Protestants teach, " There are no such things as good Avorks pleasing to God?" or, that " those that beheve are not obliged to good works?" In which of their confessions do they so say? in what public writing of any of their churches? What one individual Pro- testant was ever guilty of think…
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Our admiration of the ability and learning in these works is increased when we remember he was all the time suffering much from a professedly Protestant government, in spite of all these services to the Protestant cause. On the Restoration, he had retired to his estate at Stadham, and lived very quietly and privately. …
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But no sooner was that sacred society, — o hpo; a-xotrTOKoii x'>p^^} — with their im- mediate successors, as Egesippus speaks in Eusebius, departed unto their rest with God, but that the church itself, which until then was preserved a pure and uncor- rupted virgin, began to be vexed with abiding contention, and otherwi…
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To this end hath the Lord Jesus given us his holy word, a perfect and sure revelation of all that he would have us to believe or do in the worship of God. This he commands us diligently to attend unto, to study, search, and inquire after, that we may know his mind and do it. It is true, in their inquiry into it, variou…
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TO THE READER. 1 79 viork by others in their more private capacity, — amongst which I hope the ensuing brief discourse may, with impartial readers, find admittance. It is designed in general for the defence and vindication of the truth, and that truth which is pub- licly professed in this nation, against the solicitat…
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paths that they have chosen to walk in, and to attempt the drawing of others into them by such ways and means as the light of nature, right reason, with the Scrip- ture, direct to be used in and about the things of religion which relate to the minds and souls of men ; but also, they have pursued an imposition of their …
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A VINDICATION THE ANIMADVERSIONS ON "FIAT LUX." CHAPTEE I. Sir, I HAVE received your epistle, and therein your excuse for your long silence; which I willingly admit of, and could have been contented it had been longer, so that you had been advantaged thereby to have spoken any thing more to the purpose than I find y…
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" Prima est litec viltio, quod se Judice, nemo nocens absolvitur." Juv. xiii. 2. And I the rather mind you of your failure at this entrance of our discourse, that I may only remit your thoughts unto this stricture when the like occasion offers itself; which I fear it will do not unfre- quently. But, su-, it will be n…
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You proceed to the same purpose, p. 15, and, to manifest my mis- take of your design, give an account of it, and tell us that " one thing you suppose, namely, that we are at difference." So did I also, and am not, therefore, yet fallen upon the discovery of my mistake. PREFACE TO THE REPLY CONSIDERED. 187 Secondly, Y…
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PREFACE TO THE REPLY CONSIDERED. 189 the world is of, nor will be, do what you can. But the insufficiency of your principles and arguments to accomplish your design hath been in part already evinced, and shall, God willing, in our progress bo farther made manifest. This is the sum of what appears in tlie first part of…
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PREFACE TO THE REPLY CONSIDERED. 191 utter so much of sobriety." This is your first reason; which you have exactly squared to the old rule, " Calumniare fortiter, aliquid adhserebit;" — " Calumny will leave a scar." Would you were your- self only concerned in these things! But among the many woful miscarriages of men …
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said wise Homer of old; and another to the same purpose, " He that speaks what lie will, must hear what he would not." Is it actionable with you against a Protestant, that he will not take your whole sword into his bowels without complaining? Sir, the author of the " Ani- pheface to the reply considered. 193 madversi…
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Neither haye you any better success in that which, in the next place, you insist upon ; which yet, were it not, like the most of the rest, destitute of truth, would give more countenance unto your re- flection than them all. It is, that I " give you sharp and frequent menaces, that if you write or speak again, you shal…
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PREFACE TO THE REPLY CONSIDERED. 197 see apostolic; others love not to talk at this haughty rate: neither do I know what is your judgment in this matter. This, as I said before, I am sure of, you cannot be of all these various contradictory judgments at once. Not to ti-ouble you with instances that might 1)0 multiplie…
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MERIT OF GOOD WORKS. 199 they are, yet neither we nor they could be contented to liave our ministers ignorant, so that they might be in veneration for that office's sake which they are no way able to discharge. And as to what you affirm concerning England, and our usage here, in the close -of your discourse, it is so …
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MERIT OF GOOD WORKS. 201 tian, but rather, as by you explained, the anti-ehristian, doctrhie of good works, as bemg perfectly anti-evangelical. What merit you will esteem this good work of yours to have I know not, and have in part intimated what truly it doth deserve. But you add, that, " making a distinction of the …
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MERIT OF GOOD WORKS. 203 merito, — altero contentum esse, alterum sibi donare, ex ciijus dono illud sibi merito vindicet, hacque fidncia fretus minime confundatur; neque enim oleum misericordise, nisi in vase fiducia3 poni. Hanc bominis tiduciam esse a se deficientis et innitentis Domino suo, — alioqui propriis meriti…
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DID THE GOSPEL COME TO BRITAIN FROM ROME? 205 evenly unto it; and to take you off from that vain confidence which this proud opinion of the merit of works is apt to ingenerate in you : whose first inventors, I fear, did not sufficiently consider with whom they had to do ; before whom sinners appearing m their OAvn str…
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DID THE GOSPEL CO:\rK TO ERTTAIN FROM EOME? 207 more than once before, marching out of it against Bellsarius, left as desolate as a wilderness, without one living soul to inhabit it. " Ipse (Totilas) cum suarum copiarum parte progreditur, Romanes qui sena- torii erant ordinis secum traliens; alia omni urbanorum multit…
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" llippolytc, sic est; Thcsei \'\iltus amo, lUos priorcs quos tulit quondam puor, Quuni jirima piira.s barba signarct <j;onas, Et ora iiavus tciicra tiugcbat rubor." We love the church of Rome as it was in its purity and integrity, in the days of her youth and chastity, before she was deflowered by false worship; but …
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' Sec note, page 95. DID THE GOSPEL COME TO BRITAIN FROM ROME? 211 ■ — that is, " extremo," about the end of the reign of Tiberius Csesar, who died in the thirty-ninth year of Christ, five or six years at least before the foundations of the Roman church were laid ; xa/ raZra, (ih hn raZra. Tliese things we must speak…
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APOSTASY or THE ROMISH CHURCH. 213 one" principles ascribed unto you: and this you say hath been " de- monstratively proved a hundred times over," and ask me why I do not disprove it, giving a ridiculous answer, as from me, unto your in- quiry. But pray, sir, talk not of demonstrations in this matter: pal- pable sophi…
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Again: I told you she might fall by idolatry, and so neither by apostasy, heresy, or schism. To which you reply, " Good sir, idola- try is a mixed misdemeanour both in faith and manners. I speak of the single one of faith; and he that falls by idolatry, if he keep still some parts of Christianity entire, he falls by he…
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APOSTASY OF THE KOMISH CHURCH. 217 she complained of was a good sign, cried out, 07//-o/ ut' ayaQuv dToXXu/M, — " Good signs liave undone me," — your lawful idolatry, if you take not better heed, will undo you. In the meantime, as to the coincid- ence you imagine between idolatry and heresy, I wish you would advise "w…
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" Phoebe, sylvarumque potens Diana Lucidum coeli decus, o colendi Semper et culti, date quae precamur Tempore sacro. APOSTASY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 219 " Alme Sol, curru uitido diem qm Pi'omis et celas, aliusque et idem Nasceris; possis nihil urbe Eoraa Visere majus. " Rite matures aperire partus Lenis Ilithyia, tu…
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APOSTASY OF THE ROMISH CHURCH. 221 the common use of the word in Thucydides, Pkitarch, Luciau, and the rest of their companions in the propriety of that language. " Apostasia," by ecclesiastical writers, is restrained unto either a backsliding in faith subjective and manners, or a causeless relinquish- ment of any tru…
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It believed that " we have one only mediator and intercessor with God," 1 Tim. ii. 5, 1 John ii. 1 ; — wherein also you have renounced their persuasion ; as likewise you have done in what it professed, that we may " invocate only him in whom we do believe," Rom. x. 14. It believed that the " command to abstain from me…
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And thus I have once more given you an answer to your inquiry how your church /eZ^, — namely, that she hath done so by all the ways and means by which it is possible for a church to fall. She failed, under the just hand of God, when the persons of that urbic church were extirpated, partly by others, but totally by Toti…
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2. Your doctrine and practice of forcing men by carnal iveapons, corporal penalties, tortures, and terrors of death, unto the em- bracement of your profession, and actually destroying and taking away the lives of them that persist in their dissent from you, is condemned by fathers and councils, as well as by the Script…
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"Ante clicm clauso componet vesper olympo," Virg. iEn. i. 378, than I could make an end of them. I have added this instance to the former, as knowing them to be the two great pillars on which APOSTASY OF THE llOMISH CHURCH. 229 the tottering fabric of your churcli is raised, and which, if they were removed, the whole…
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APOSTASY OB^ THE ROMISH CHURCH. 231 bishops; and I wish they bad been liberal only of what was their own. And what was the reason of their so doing? Because the city was "imperial:" in which one sentence, both their supremacy and the grounds of it are discarded and virtually condemned ; for their pre- tensions are utt…
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" Hie alicmis oves custos bis mulget in hora," Virg. Eel. iii. 5, all this is but the shearing, milking, and slaying of a stranger, the ' An abbreviation for Unde De Piano JjCgi Possint, — " From which they can be plainly read." Siglariura Romanum. — Ed. APOSTASY OF THE ROMISH CHUrvCII. 233 shepherds being driven mt…
1,138 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.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.