PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 19
John Owen · 284,889 words · 276 reading sections
Section 181
SECT. 38, 39.] OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. 361 doubted, by a reassumption of it through the authority of the church, after God had taken off his own from it, is a most vain imagination. 39. I dispute not of what the church may appoint, for good order’s sake, to be observed in religious assemblies; but this I dare sa…
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41. It is, indeed, by many pretended that the eommand firstly and directly respecteth the seventh day precisely, and one day in seven no otherwise than as it necessarily follows thereon; for where the seventh day is required, one in seven is so consequentially, And they who thus pretend have a double design, the one ab…
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44, Here, therefore, we must have respect unto what hath been ow : SECT. 43-45. | OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. 365 discoursed concerning the subject-matter of the precept itself; for if that be not only congruous to the law of nature, but that also which, by the creation of ourselves and all other things, we are ta…
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SECT, 45.] OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. 367 time unto one day in seven; for this it requires, or nothing at all which should be peculiar unto a distinct precept is required in it, as we have before manifested. And this one consideration alone is sufficient to evince its morality. (2.) This command, as all the rest o…
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(4.) God himself separates this command from them which were ceremonial in their principal intention and whole subject-matter, when he calls the whole system of precepts in the two tables by the name of the ten words or commandments: Deut. x. 4, NYY Ns npn Da vNI Jind Wa DovoN min aPs TWN DIT} ; ;—“ Those ten words, w…
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47. I cannot but judge yet further, that in the caution given by » our Saviour unto his disciples, about praying that their flight should not be on the Sabbath day, Matt. xxiv. 20, he doth declare the con- tinued obligation of the law of the Sabbath, as a moral precept, upon all. It is answered by some, that it is the …
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49. It is known that many things are usually objected against the truth we have been pleading for, namely, the morality of a sacred rest to God on one day in seven, from its relation to the law of crea- tion, and the command for it in the decalogue; and it is known, - also, that what is so objected hath been by others …
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(1.) Instances may be given, and have been given by all writers concerning the Hebrew tongue, wherein the prefixed letters, some- times answering the Greek prepositive articles, are redundant; and if at all emphatical, yet they do not at all limit, specify, or deter- mine. See Ps.i. 4; Eccles. ii, 14; Lev. xviii. 5. Th…
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Ans. (1.) These objections are framed against a distinction used by another learned person, about the Sabbath as absolutely com- manded inthe decalogue, and as enjoined to practice under the old testament. But neither he nor any other sober person ever fancied that there were two Sabbaths of old, one enjoined unto the …
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55. Ans. It is hard to discover how any of these things have the least respect to the fourth commandment, much more how the mo- rality of it should consist in them; for all the instances mentioned are indeed required in the first precept of the decalogue, that only excepted of taking care to promote the edification of …
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(2.) Rest in itself, absolutely considered, is no part of divine wor- ship, antecedently unto a divine positive command. Buta rest from our own works, which might be of use and advantage unto us, which by the law of our creation we are to attend unto in this world, that we may attend and apply ourselves to the worship …
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Ans. This place must be afterwards considered; I shall here only briefly speak unto it. And, (1.) It is known and confessed, that at that time all Judaical observations of days, or the days which they religiously observed, whether feasts or fasts, weekly, monthly, or annual, were by themselves and all others called the…
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384 OF THE CAUSES OF THE SABBATH. EXERC. II. taken off that command, and abolished that institution, it is not in the power of all the churches in the world to take up the religious observance of that day to the same ends and purposes. Itis certain that God did appoint that a Sabbath of rest should be observed unto hi…
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VOL. XIX. 25 386 ‘OF THE JUDAICAL SABBATH. [ EXERC. IV. served in the state of innocency, wherein the law of it was given and declared; for it was no less necessary unto that state and con- dition than unto any other wherein God requireth covenant obedi- ence of men; nor, considering the nature and ends of a holy res…
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_ brought into such disorder and confusion by the entrance of sin, as that the law of nature was utterly insufficient to enable us unto, or 388 OF THE JUDAICAL SABBATH. [EXERC. Iv. to guide us in, our living unto God according to the tenor of the first covenant. There were and are, indeed, general notions of good a…
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(3.) This law was yet proposed to that church and people in the manner and form of a covenant, and not only materially as a law or rule. This it had from the promises and threatenings which it was attended withal. There was adjoined unto it, “Do this, and 390 OF THE JUDAICAL SABBATH. [EXERC. IV. live;” and, “The man …
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_ given unto it, it follows that the day of the sabbatical rest could not be changed. And therefore was the observation of the seventh day precisely continued, because it was a moral pledge of the rest of God in the first covenant; for this the instructive part of the law of our creation, from God’s making the world in…
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1 394 OF THE JUDAICAL SABBATH. [ EXERC: IV. what was done amongst them, verse 22. Hereon Moses replieth unto them, verse 23, “This is that which the Lorp hath said, To- morrow is the rest of the holy Sabbath unto the Lorp: bake that which ye will bake,” ete. This is the first express mention of the Sabbath unto and …
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11. This in an especial manner was the condition of the fourth commandment. Three things are distinctly proposed in it:—(1.) The command foran observance of a Sabbath day: Exod. xx. 8, “Re- member the Sabbath day, to keep it holy.” This contains the whole substance of the command; the formal reason whereof is contained…
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12. God having disposed and settled the Sabbath, as to the seventh day, and the manner of its observation, as a part of the covenant then made with that people, he hereon makes use of it in the same manner and unto the same ends with the residue of the institutions and ordinances which he had then prescribed unto them.…
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And a present sign between God and them it was upon a double account:—[1.] On the part of the people. Their assembling on that day for the celebration of the worship of God, and the avowing him alone therein to be their God, was a sign, or an evident express acknowledgment that they were the people of the Lord. And thi…
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17. Lastly, The whole matter is stated, Deut. v. 15; where, after the repetition of the commandment, it is added, “ And remember that thou wast a servant in the land of Egypt, and that the Lorp 1 In the Kentish dialect, “ A kiln for malt or oats.’’—Halliwell’s Dictionary of Archaic and Provincial Words.—Ep. VOL. XIX.…
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’ on the church-worship on the first day. 32. Of the seventh-day Sabbath— Judaism restored in it—Of the Ebionites. 33. Schisms perpetuated by the opinion of the seventh-day Sabbath. 34. Penalty of the law re-enforced with it. 35. The whole legal. 1. How the creation of all things was finished, and how the rest of God …
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406 OF THE LORD’S DAY. [EXERC. V. the old, and in the law thereof, and in the continuation of it by writing under the old testament, unto one head in Christ. Where- fore he brings over into this state the use of the first law, as renewed and represented in tables of stone, for a directive rule of obedience unto the ne…
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6. We must here suppose what hath been before proved and con- - firmed,—that there was a day of holy rest unto God necessary to be observed, by the law, and by the covenant of nature or works; neither was nor could either of them be complete without it, looking on them as the rule and means of man’s living unto God, an…
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9. First, on this day he rested from his works, in and by his resur- rection; for then had he laid the foundation of the new heavens and new earth, and finished the works of the new creation, “when the morning stars sang together, and all the sons of God shouted for joy.” On this day he rested from his works, and was r…
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13. The design of the apostle in this discourse, is to confirm what he had laid down and positively asserted in the beginning of the chapter. Now this is, that there is yet, under the gospel, a promise of entering into the rest of God left or remaining unto believers; and that they do enter into that rest by mixing the…
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(3.) The apostle proposeth the threefold state of the church unto consideration:—[1.] The state of it under the law of nature or creation; [2.] The state of it under the law of institutions and carnal ordinances; [3.] That then introducing under the gospel. Accordingly have we distinguished our discourses concerning a …
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ee OL a ee SECT. 17.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 415 these words are but a metaphorical expression of the political and church state of that people, yet there is an evident allusion in them unto the original creation of all things. This was the work of God, upon the finishing whereof he entered into his rest, in the satisfac…
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SECT, 18-21.] OF THE LORD'S DAY. 417 20. The foundation of the whole is laid down, verse 10, “ For he that hath entered into his rest, is ceased from his works, as God from his own.” Expositors generally apply these words unto believers, and their entering into the rest of God; whether satisfactorily to themselves and…
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(4.) There is a direct parallel in the words between the works of the old creation and those of the new, which are compared by the apostle; for,— [1.] There are the authors of them; which on the one side is said to be God, “ As God did from his own,’—that is, God the Creator, or God as Creator; on the other, “ He,” ai…
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24, Thus did the author of the new creation, the Son of God, the builder of the church, having finished his works, enter into his rest. And this was, as all know, on the morning of the first day of the week. And hereby did he limit and determine the day for a sacred sabbatical rest under the new testament; for now was …
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26. Here we have fixed the foundation of the observation of the Lord’s day, on the supposition of what hath been proved concerning our duty in the holy observance of one day in seven from the law of our creation, as renewed in the decalogue. The remaining argu- ments, evincing the change of the day from the seventh unt…
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SECT. 28, 29. OF THE LORD’S DAY. 425 ? weakens not the divine original of it; for an obligation lying on all believers to observe a Sabbath unto the Lord, and the day observed under the law of Moses being removed, it is not to be imagined that the apostles fixed on another day without immediate direction from the Lord…
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SECT. 80, 31.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 427 nature of the thing itself, the religious observation of such a day is the great preservative of all solemn profession of religion in the world. This the law of nature, this the written word directs unto, and this experience makes manifest unto all. Take away from amongst men a co…
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. : SECT. 32.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 429 families, and churches or parishes, the most strict observers of this day, will be precious with them that fear the Lord whilst the sun and moon endure. Their doctrine also in this matter, with the blessing that attended it, was that which multitudes now at rest do bless God for…
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After the destruction of Jerusalem, city and temple, these pro- SECT. 82.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 43] fessing Jews fell into several distinct ways. Some of them, who, as is probable, had despised the heavenly warning of leaving the place, took up their lot amongst their unbelieving brethren, relin- quishing the professio…
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And yet so it is that some begin now to plead that these Ebion- ites were the only true and genuine believers of the Circumcision in those days. These, they say, and these alone, retained the doctrine preached by the apostles to the Jews, for they were the same and no other with those which were also called Nazarenes. …
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34. We have seen the least part of the inconveniences that attend this persuasion and its practice, nor do I intend to mention all of them, which readily offer themselves to consideration. One or two more may yet be touched on. For those by whom it is owned do not only affirm that the law of the seventh-day Sabbath is …
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SECT. 1, 2.] PRACTICAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY. 437 EXERCITATION VI. THE PRACTICAL OBSERVANCE OF THE LORD’S DAY. 1. Practice the end of instruction and learning. 2. Practical observation of the Sabbath handled by many. 3. Complaints concerning too much rigour and strictness in directions for the observation of t…
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4, And in things of this nature those who are called to the in- struction of others are carefully to avoid extremes; for “he that justifieth the wicked, and he that condemneth the just, even they both are abomination to the Lorp.” And several instances there are of the miscarriages of men on the one hand and the other.…
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SECT. 6, 7.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 441 them relief. Weare therefore, in this matter, to have no considera- tion of the present course of the world, nor of the weariness of pro- fessors in the ways of strict obedience. The sacred truth and will of God in all his commands is singly and sincerely to be inquired after. 6. A…
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SECT. 8.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 443 ously expressed by the evangelists. This, with me, determines this whole matter. (4.) Mere cessation from labour in the night seems to have no place in the spiritual rest of the gospel to be expressed on this day, nor to be by any thing distinguished from the nights of other days of th…
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(3.) The sanction of the law by death increased their bondage; for as this in itself was a terror unto them in their services, so it was expressive and a representation of the original curse of the whole law, Gal. iii. 18. And hereby were they greatly awed and terrified, although some of them, by especial grace, were e…
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' SECT. 10.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 447 or divert our affections from them. And those whose minds are fixed in a spirit of liberty to glorify God in and by this day of rest, seeking after communion with him in the ways of his worship, will be unto themselves a better rule for their words and actions than those who may ai…
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(4.) That the rest in God and with God, which we now seek after, enter into, and celebrate the pledge of, using the means for the further enjoyment of it in the observation of this day, ts a rest by a recovery, by a reparation in Jesus Christ. There is now a new rest of God, and a new rest for us in God. God now rests …
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(6.) We are then to remember, that this day is a pledge of our eternal rest with God. This is that whereunto these things do tend; for therein will God glorify himself in the full accomplishment of his great design in all his works of power and grace. And this is _ that which ultimately we aim at. We do at best in this…
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[3.] The rest of the day is also a pledge of our rest with God. But then this rest is not to be taken for a mere bodily cessation from labour, but in that extent wherein it hath before been at large described. These are some of the rules which we are to have a respect unto in our observation of this day. .A due applic…
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13. For these preparatory duties themselves, I should refer them to three heads, if the reader will take along with him these adyer- tisements:— (1.) That I am not binding burdens on men or their consciences, nor tying them up unto strict observances, under the consideration of sin if not precisely attended unto. Only…
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16. (3.) Instruction. This in such cases was peculiarly incumbent on the people of old,—namely, that they should instruct their chil- dren and their families in the nature of the ordinances whereby they worshipped God. This is that which God so commended in Abra- ham, Gen. xviii. 19, “I know Abraham,” saith he, “that h…
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SECT, 19.] OF THE LORD’S DAY. 459 [2.] Refreshments helpful to nature, so far as to refresh it, that it may have a supply of spirits to go on cheerfully in the duties of holy worship, are lawful and useful. To macerate the body with abstinences on this day is required of none, and to turn it into a fast, or to fast up…
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» Among the preliminary Exercitations which Dr Owen affixed to his Exposition of the Epistle to the Hebrews, there is nothing corresponding to what we usually find in such matter,—a full analysis of the scope and contents of the Epistle. The only thing approaching to it is this Summary, which receives various titles in…
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464 > SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. I. 13. the disposal of Jesus Christ. 6. Whatever our changes may be, in- ward or outward, yet, Christ changing not, our eternal condition is secured, and relief provided against all present troubles and miseries. 7. Such is the frailty of the nature of man, and such the perishing …
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Ver. 10.—1. That the whole work of saving the sons of God, from first to last, their guidance and conduct through sins and sufferings VOL. XIX, 30 4.66 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. II. 11. unto glory, is committed unto the Lord Jesus. 2 That the Lord Jesus Christ being priest, sacrifice, and altar himself, the of…
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468 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. III. 3. him that hath called them. 7. The spiritual mysteries of the gospel, especially those which concern the person and offices of Christ, re- quire deep, diligent, and attentive consideration. 8. The business of God with sinners could be no way transacted but by the nego- tiatio…
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470 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. III. 12. by these, it is required that we consider and be well acquainted with our own condition. (2.) That we consider what peculiar impressions of his will God puts upon any of his works. 21. The greater evi- dence that God gives of his power and goodness in any of his works, the …
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Ver. 15.—1. That every circumstance of the Scripture is instruc- tive. 2. God hath filled the Scripture with truth. 472 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. Ili. 16, Ver. 16.—1. Many hear the word or voice of God to no advan- tage, but only to aggravate their sin. 2.In the most general and visible apostasies of the church…
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474 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND -[ CHAP. IV. 7. charged, though they be not fulfilled. 5. There are many promises whose signal accomplishment God hath not limited to any especial season, but keeps it in his own will to act according to them towards his church as is best suited to his wisdom and love. 6. Some con- cerns o…
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476 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. Iv. 14. of Christ is a great encouragement unto the meanest and weakest believers, who are upright and sincere in their faith and obedience. CHAPTERS IV. 14-16, V.-VIII. SUPERIORITY OF CHRIST AS PRIEST TO THE LEVITICAL PRIESTHOOD, FROM THE ANALOGY OF HIS OFFICE WITH THAT OF MELCHI…
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Ver. 4.—1. It is an act of sovereignty in God to call whom he pleaseth unto his work and especial service, and eminently so when it is unto any place of honour and dignity in his house. 2. The 478 SUMMARY OF DOCTRINAL AND [CHAP. V. 5. highest excellency and utmost necessity of any work to be done for God in this worl…
903 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.