PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 2
John Owen · 248,045 words · 245 reading sections
Section 181
THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. S33 relieve himself by the calumny of assigning a distinction unto me between the graces of Christ's person as mediator, and the graces of his person as God and man (that is, one person) ; which is a mere figment of his own misunderstanding. Upon the whole, he comes to that accurate thesis of …
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up of , is the gr<.'atost, mo.st glorious, and admirable effect that ever infinite wisdom, goodness, |)ower, and love wrought and produced, or will dv so unto eternit}'. And those on whom he reflects design nothing, do nothing in this matter, but only endeavour, according to the measure of the gift of Christ which the…
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" To make this appear, I shall consider that account which Dr Owen gives us of the personal graces and excellencies of Christ, which THE PRECEDING DISCOUHSE. 337 in general consist in three things: — First, His fitness to save, from the grace of union, and the proper and necessary effects thereof Secondly, His fidnes…
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THE PRECEDING DISCOURSE. 339 timony. For there is none of thena of any note but have attempted by various artifices to shield their opinion, in denying the assumption of our human nature into personal union with the Son of God, and therewithal his pre- existence unto his nativity of the blessed Virgin, from the divine…
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Let the reader take notice, that I propose no gi'ace in Christ unto or for such sinners, but only that which may invite all sorts of them, though under the most discouraging qualifications, to come unto him for grace and mercy by faith and repentance. And on supposition that this was my sense, as he cannot deny it to b…
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A discourse much of the same nature follows, concerning the love of Chiist, after he hath treated his person and grace at his pleasure. And this he takes occasion for from some passages in my book (as formerly), scraped together from several places, so as he thought fit and convenient unto his purpose. P. 209, " Thus t…
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He yet proceeds, first to evert this love which I asserted, and then to declare his own apprehensions concerning the love of Christ. The first in the ensuing words, p. 210, " But, methinks this is a very odd way of arguing from the divine nature ; for if the love of Christ as God be so infinite, eternal, unchangeable, …
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346 A VINDICATION OF longer; for should he love a wicked man, the reason and nature of his love would change. And the fruitfulness of God's love, Avith respect to the methods of his grace and providence, doth not consist in pro- curing what he loves by an omnipotent and iiTesistible power; for then sin and death could…
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I shall not absolutely accept of the tenns of this controversy as to the state of it on our part, proposed by hhn; and yet I shall not much vary from them. We say, therefore, that "Jesus Christ bebff full of all grace, excellencies, and perfections, he communicates them unto 348 A VINDICATION OF US in that degree as …
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1 Jonas Schlichtingius was a Socinian author. He wrote " A Confession of Christian Faith, published in the name of the Churches which in Poland acknow- ledge one God, and his only begotten Son Jesus Christ, and the Holy Spirit." It appeared in the year 1642. — Ed. 350 A VINDICATION OF of itself; for the words of the …
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It might, perhaps, not unbecome this author to be a httle more spaiing of his correction, unless his authority were more than it is, and his skill, also, in the management of it; for at present those whom he attempts upon are altogether insensible of any effects of his severity. But whereas he seems much at a loss how …
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P. 296, he returns again to my discourse, and fiercely pursues it tor sundry leaves, in such a manner as becomes bim, and is usual with him. That part of my book which he deals withal, is from p 1 /b uuto p. 187; and if any person of ingenuity and judgment will be pleased but to peruse it, and to compare it with this m…
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In his ensuing pages he wonderfully perplexeth himself in gather- ing up sayings, backward and forward in my discourse, to make some advantage to his purpose, and hopes that he is arrived at no less success than a discovery of I know not what contradictions in what I have asserted. As I said before, so I say again, tha…
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it is strange to apprehend how he came to imagine that I said he did it not as our mediator, but as a private man. That which, possibly, might cast his thoughts into this disorder was, that he knew not that Christ was made a private man as mediator ; which yet the Scripture is sufficiently express in. [As] for the foll…
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In like manner he proceeds to put in his exceptions unto what I discoursed about the laws that an innocent man is liable luito. For I said, that God never gave any other law to an innocent person, but only the law of his creation, with such symbolical precepts as might be instances of his obedience thereunto. Something…
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From p. 185^ of my book he retires, upon his new triumph, unto IX 176,^ as hoping to hook something from thence that might contri- bute unto the furtherance of his ingenious design, although my dis- course in that place have no concernment in what he treaiteth about. But let him be heard to what purjDose he pleaseth. T…
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Secondly. The reader may take notice, that in some other dis- courses of mine now^ published, which were all of them finished be- fore I had the advantage to peruse the fiiendly and judicious anim- adversions of this author, he will find most of the matters which ' 111 the coiiiso of the same year in wliicli this repl…
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Notes have been supplied, in the course of the treatise, explanatory of some allusions to various writers, whose names are now almost unknown, and in one or two instances, we hava briefly indicated to what extent passages quoted by Owen have been affected by the results and discoveries of modern criticism. For the spec…
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" Neque eiiiiu hie levia aut luUicra petuutur Praeiiiia, Icctotid Ce vita iiiiitusecjue salute Certatur."' They are things which immediately and directly in themselves concern the eternal salvation of the souls of men ; and their consideration ought always to be attended with a due sense of their weight and importanc…
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The same truth was confirmed also by Zarnovitius, who first wrote against Socinus' book ; as also by Otto Casmannus, who engaged in the same work ; and by Abraham Salinarius. Upon the same foundation do proceed Para>us, Piscator, Lubbertus, Lucius, Camero, Voetius, Amyraldus, Placseus, Rivetus, Walaeus, Thysius, Alting…
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It was always supposed, and known to some, that there are sundry persons in this nation, who, having been themselves seduced into Socinianism, did make it their business, under various pretences, to draw others into a compliance with them in the same Avay and persuasion. Neither hath this, for sundry years, been so sec…
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The Jews, in the time of our Saviour's converse on the earth, being fallen greatly from the fixith and worship of their forefathers, and ready to sink into their last and utmost apostasy from God, seem, amongst many other truths, to have much lost that of the doctrine of the holy Trinity, and of the person of the Messi…
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In especial, there was one Cerinthus, who w'as more active than others in his opposition to the doctrine of the person of Christ, and therein of the holy Trinity. To put a stop unto his abominations, all authors agree that John, writing his Gospel, prefixed unto it that plain declaration of the eternal Deity of Christ …
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o7C) THE PREFACE. ters, who were some of them men learned, dilii^cnt. ami subtle, than from them- selves, that they are judged to be of any great consideration. For I can truly say, that, upon the sedate examination of all that I could ever yet hear or get a sight of, either spoken or written by them, — that is, any a…
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In the declaration, then, of this doctrine unto the edification of the church, there is contained a farther explanation of the things before asserted, as proposed directly and in themselves as the olijcct of our faith, — namely, lioiu God is one, in respect of his nature, substance, essence, Godhead, or divine being; h…
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This, therefore, is the way, the onl}^ way that we rationally can, and that which in duty we ought to proceed in and by, for the assert- ing and confirming of the doctrine of the holy Trinity under consider- ation,— namely, that we produce divine revelations or testimonies, wherein faith may safely rest and acquiesce, …
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But that I may not in this brief discourse digress unto other con- troversies than what lies directly before us, and seeing the adversaries of the truth we contend for do, in words at least, grant that the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ is the true God, or the only true God, I shall not farther show the inconsistency …
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Isa. vi. 1-3, ' I saw also the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple. Above it stood the seraphims : each one had six wings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is…
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Heb. i. throughout. Chap. iii. 4, " For eveiy house is builded by some man ; but he that built all things is God." 1 Pet. i. 11, " Searching what, or what manner of time, the Spirit of Christ Avhich was in them did signify." VOL. II. 25 386 THE DOCTRINE OF THE Chap, iil 18-20, " For Christ also hath once suffered …
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But there cannot be any thing more empty and vain than these pretences ; and, besides, they accumulate in them their former errors, with the addition of new ones. For, — First. The name of the most high God is first ascribed unto God in Gen. xiv. 18, 19, 22, denoting his sovereignty and dominion. Now, as other attribu…
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From the cloud of witnesses before produced, every one whereof is singly sufficient to evert the Socinian infidelity, I shall in one of them give an instance, both of the clearness of the evidence and the weakness of the exceptions which are wont to be put in against them, as was promised; and this is John i. 1-3, " In…
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was with God. And this is the same which our Lord Jesus asserts concerning himself, John iii. 13, " And no man," saith he, " hath ascended up to heaven but he that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven." And so in other places he affirms his being in heaven,— that is, with God,— at the same tim…
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TRINITY VIXDICATED. 393 ■which these men love to deny. Let not the infidelity of men, excited by the craft and malice of Satan, seek for blind occasions, and this matter is determined ; if the word and testimony of God be able to umpire a difference amongst the children of men. Here is the sum of our creed in this mat…
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But say the Socinians, " These things are quite otherwise, and the words have another sense in them than you imagine." What is it, I pray? We bring none to them, we impose no sense upon them, we strain not any word in them, from, beside, or beyond its native, genuine signification, its constant niDplication in the Scri…
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Thus far, then, Ave have their sense: — " In the beginning," that is, about sixteen or seventeen hundred years ago, " the Word," that is, the human nature of Christ before it was made flesh, which it AA'as in its being, "was with God," that is, knoAvn to God alone; and "in the beginning," that is afterAvards, not in th…
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But before we proceed, we may, in our way, observe a great con- gruency of success in those who have denied the Deity of the Son and those who have denied that of the Holy Spuit. For as to. the Son, after some men began once to disbelieve the revelation concern- ing him, and would not acknowledge him to be God and man …
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400 THE DOCTRINE OF THE object of divine and religious worship ; that is, " Over all, God blessed for ever," as the ensuing testimonies evince : — Gen. i. 2, " The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters " Ps. xxxiii. 6, " By the Avord of the Lord were the heavens made ; and all the host of them by the Spii…
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First. He is placed in the same 7'ank and order, without any note of difference or distinction as to a distinct interest in the divine nature (tlmt is, as we shall see, personality) with the other divine persons. Matt, xxviii. 19, " Baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 1 Joh…
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I say, therefore, imto this part of cm* cause, as unto the other, that unless we will cast off all reverence of God, and, in a kind of atheism which, as I suppose, the prevailing wickedness of this age hath not yet anived unto, say that the Scriptures were written on purpose to deceive us, and to lead us into mistakes …
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Once more : it is revealed, also, that these three are distinct among themselves, by certain peculiar relative properties, if I may yet use these temis. So that they are distinct, living, divine, intelligent, voluntary principles of operation or working, and that in and by in- ternal acts one towards another, and in ac…
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Secondly. The distinction which the Scripture reveals between Father, Son, and Spirit, is that whereby they are three hypostases or persons, distinctly subsisting in the same divine essence or being. Now, a divine person is nothing but the divine essence, upon the ac- cou7it of an especial property, subsisting in an es…
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The sum of what they say in general is, — 1. " How can these things he ? how can three he one, and one he three ? Every person hath its oivn substance; and, therefore, if there he three persons, there tnust he three suhstances, and so three Gods." Answer. Every person hath distinctly its own suhstance, for the one sub…
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TRINITY VINDICATED. 411 solutely, as it respects the divine nature, which is absolutely singular and one, and cannot be multiplied, yet in respect of communication it is otherwise ; it is communicated unto more, — namely, to the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. And, therefore, if any thing be intended to be concluded from…
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4. The very foundation of all their objections and cavils against this truth, is destructive of as fundamental i:)rinci23les of reason as are in the world. They are all, at best, reduced to this: It cannot be thus in things finite; the same being cannot in one respect be one, in another three, and the like : and theref…
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That there is a second person, the Son of God, in the holy trin- unity of the Godhead, we have proved before. That this i^erson did, of his infinite love and grace, take upon him our nature, — human nature, — so as that the divine and human nature should become one person, one Christ, God and man in one, so that whatev…
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Gal. iv. 4, " God sent forth his Son made .of a woman." He Avas his Son, and was made of a Avoman, according as he expresses it, Heb. X. 5, " A body hast thou prepared me ;" as also, Rom. viii. 3. Phil. ii. 5—7, " Let this mind be in you, which Avas also in Christ Jesus : Avho, being in the form of God, thought it not…
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1. That the person of the Son of God did not, in his assuming human nature to be his own, take an individual person of any one into a near conjunction with himself, but preventing the personal subsist- ence of human nature in that flesh which he assumed, he gave it its subsistence in his own person; whence it hath its …
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420 OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. deceive, and the clamours of others wlio oj^enly drive the same de- sign. Wliat, therefore, the Scripture plainly and clearly reveals in this matter, is the subject of our present inquiry. And either in so doing, as occasion shall be offered, we shall obviate, or, in the close of it …
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Seventhly. That this love tuas the same in Father and Son, acted distinctly in the manner that shall be afterward declared ; so, vain are the pretences of men, who, from the love of the Father in this mat- ter, would argue against the love of the Son, or on the contrary. Eighthly. That the way, in general, whereby the…
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5. That he died for sin, and sinners, to expiate the one, and in the stead of the other:— Rom. iv. 25, "He was delivered for our offences." Chap. v. 10, " When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." 1 Cor. xv. 3, " Christ died for our sins according to the Scriptures." 2 Cor. v. 14, '_' Fo…
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OF THE SATISFACTION OF CHEIST. 425 wherein sinners may be interested in this satisfaction made Ly Christ, are determined by the will of God, and declared in the Scripture. These, and the like things, are usually insisted on in the explica- tion or declaration of this head of our confession ; and there is not any of t…
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o. The grace and love of God, that in this matter the Scripture re- veals to be exercised in order unto the forgiveness of sinners, con- sists principally in two things: — (1.) In his holy eternal purpose of providing a relief for lost sinners. He hath done it, " to the praise of the glory of his gi-ace," Eph. i. 6. (2…
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But they yet say, " If God can freely j)ctrdon sin, u>hy doth he not do it without satisfaction? If he cannot, he is iveaker and more imperfect than man, who can do so." Ans. 1. God cannot do many things that men can do; — not that he is more imperfect than they, but he cannot do them on the ac- count of his perfectio…
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2. What should hinder the death of Christ to be a sacrifice, a proper sacrifice, and, according to the nature, end, and use of sacri- fices, to have made atonement and satisfaction for sin? (1.) It is expressly called so in the Scripture; wherein he is said to "offer himself, to make his soul an offering, to offer hims…
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Secondly, "Hence it follows, that the finite and impotent creature is more capable of extending mercy and forgiveness tlianthe infinite and omnipotent Creator." Ans. 1. God being essentially holy and lighteous, having engaged his faithfulness in the sanction of the law, and being naturally and necessarily the governor…
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VOL. II. 23 43-1 or THE SATISFACTION OF CHRIST. grace and mercy towards sinners, to order all things so, as that it might be done Avithout the impeachment of his hohness, righteous- ness, and truth. It is said, again, — Secondly, " That God luas inevitably compelled to this way of saving nnen; — the highest affront …
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Fifthly, "That it represents the Son as more kind and compassion- ate than the Father; tvhereas if both be the same God, then either the Father is as loving as the Son, or the Son as angry as the Father." Ans. 1. The Scripture referreth the love of the Father unto two heads: — (1.) The sending of his Son to die for us…
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Ans. This is but a bold repetition of what, in other words, was mentioned before over and over. Wherein the love of God in this matter consisted, and what is the obhgation on us unto thankfulness and obedience, hath been before also declared ; and we are not to be moved in fundamental truths by vain exclamations of wea…
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AN APPENDIX. The preceding discourse, as hath been declared, was written for the use of ordinary Christians, or such as might be in danger to be seduced, or any way entangled in their minds, by the late attempts against the truths pleaded for: for those to whom the dispensation of the gospel is committed, are " debtor…
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AN APPENDIX. 443 we have seen. It is so far from it, that it is necessary to make way for it, in case of a righteous law transgressed, and the pubhc order of the universal Governor and government of all disturbed. And this God directs unto. Lev. iv. 31, " The priest shall make an atonement for him, and it shall be for…
1,063 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.