PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 9
John Owen · 335,461 words · 337 reading sections
Section 1
1L. I IB IR, J± iEL^T PRINCETON. N. J. The Stephen Collins Donation. V BX 9315 .08 1850 v. 9 Owen, John, 1616-1683. The works of John Owen THE WORKS /OF JOHN OWEN, D.D BY THE REV. WILLIAM H. GOOLD, EDINBURGH. VOL. IX. ^EW YORK: ROBERT CARTER & BROTHERS, 285 BROADWAY. M.DCCC.U. CONTENTS OF VOL. IX. PART I…
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DISCOURSE II. Question — Seeing the act of closing with Christ is secret and hidden, and the spe- cial times and seasons of our conversion unto God are unknown unto most, what are the most certain evidences and pledges that we have cordially and sincerely received Christ, and returned unto God ? . ■ . . . 362 VI CON…
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DISCOURSES II., III. Discourses. — " The cup of blessing which we bless, is it not the communion of the blood of Christ ?t The bread which we break, is it not the communion of the body of Christ ?"—l Cor. x. 16 . . . . . . .52:3 DISCOURSE IV. Discourse. — " As often as ye eat this bread, and drink this cup, ye do sh…
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" There appear unto me in it those two things, which do above all others com- mend any sermon, or any other book, — namely, most weighty and seasonable argument, with very judicious and methodical management. " If I am able to judge, the management speaks anna virumque, the man and his furniture; and it is, like its g…
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Thirdly. They were, so far as appears upon record, the first state in the world that ever 'persecuted for religion, that oppressed the true worshippers of God, as such ; as being " mad upon their idols," as the prophet saith they were, — they were inflamed upon them. They were the first that oppressed the church becaus…
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2. The other title of God is, " The Holy One of Israel." This is applied peculiarly unto their sin: " The land is filled with sin against the Holy One of Israel." It is the greatest, it is the highest aggra- vation of sin, that it is against the holiness of God, " who is a God of purer eyes than to behold iniquity." So…
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8 SEASONABLE WORDS not utterly destroy it ; but let all mankind do what they will, he will not pass it by without some severe, desolating judgment. Such was their case even at this time; — you may see in 2 Chron. xxxvi. 16, " But they mocked the messengers of God, and despised his words, and misused his prophets, unti…
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(1.) A land is so filled with sin, when all sorts of provoking sins do abound in it; — when there is no exception to be put into the indict- ment;— when there is no provoking sin that can be thought on that is not in the nation. For if there be but one provoking sin absolutely excluded, there is room for mercy to dwell…
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(4.) When, in the secret workings of God's providence, there is an inclination in a sinful people unto a compliance with them [those] from whom their destruction is like to proceed, it is a sign that God is withdrawn from them, and that the land is so filled with sin. When Israel was to be destroyed by the Assyrian, wh…
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FOR ENGLISH PROTESTANTS. 13 with sin. So that there is ground of encouragement yet remaining to apply ourselves to God. And, in truth, I will tell you the best I can think of: — 1. The large and wonderful discovery of the horrible plot, of the horrible Popish plot? laid for the ruin, destruction, and desolation of th…
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5. My last is this, — That after God hath, by so many ways and so many means, declared unto us his displeasure against our sin, having declared the sentence in his word, yet he hath visibly granted an arrest of judgment. " The sentence shall not be put in txecution," saith God, " while I give this people a time, and sp…
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4. To speak very plain in a plain case ; — the state of this nation is such, let our expectation and our hopes be what they will, and prog- nostics be multiplied, God can multiply upon another hand ; — the case of this nation is such, that without repentance evidenced, and uni- versal reformation sincerely endeavoured,…
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Among the many excellencies which are given in, in the descrip- tion of this faith of his, arising from its cause, object, matter, and manner, not now to be insisted on, this is none of the least which is mentioned in my text, " He staggered not." There is a /as/wok in the words, wherein, by a negation, the con- trary…
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But you will say, " The devil believes only the threats of God, — that which makes him tremble; and so his belief is not a general assent, but partial; — and is thereby distinguished from our assent; which is to all that God hath revealed, and especially the promises." I answer, The devil believes the promises no less…
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THE STKENGTH OF FAITH. 23 do you not think they like the taste, and are affected with it? There are, indeed, innumerable deceits in this business. I might show on how many false and corrupt accounts, on what sandy foundations, many men's affections may be exceedingly taken with the word of promise, preached or conside…
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[2.] Over and above this, faith, in the Scripture, is expressed (and we find it by experience) to be the will's consent unto, and acceptance of, the Lord Jesus Christ as mediator, — he that accomplished his work as the only way of going to the Father, as the sole and sufficient cause of our acceptation with him, as our…
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[8.] Add hereunto that which I cannot say is absolutely of the nature of faith, but in some degree or other (secret or more known to the soul) a necessary concomitant of it; and that is, the soul's resting and quieting itself, and satisfying its affections, in its interest in and enjoyment of a sweet, desirable Saviour…
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There is a twofold evil and miscarriage among us, in the great foundation business of closing with Christ in the promise. Some spend all their days in much darkness and disconsolateness, — disput- ing it to and fro in their own thoughts, whether their portion and inte- rest lie therein or not. They are off and on, livi…
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(1.) Of the end. Men question what will become of them in the close; they fluctuate about what will be their latter end. Did not SO THE STRENGTH OF FAITH. Balaam do so when he cried, " Let me die the death of the righteous, and let my latter end be like his"? That wretched man was tossed up and clown between hopes an…
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This God declares to be his glory, Exod. xxxiii. 19. Moses desires to see the "glory" of God. This God calls his "face ;" that is, the glory of God in itself. "This," saith God, " thou canst not see : ' Thou canst not see my face,' — or, the brightness of my essential glory, the splen- dour of my excellencies and perfe…
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It is said, Heb. x, 38, " If any man draw back, my soul [the Lord's] shall have no pleasure in him." What is it to draw back? It is to decline from his steadfastness of believing. So the apostle interprets it, verse 39, " We are not of them who draw back unto perdition; but of them that believe." Drawing back is oppose…
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3G THE STRENGTH OF FAITH. by the mercy -seat lie hides that which is the strength and power of sin, as to its guilt and tendency unto punishment. The apostle calls this " mercy-seat/' rb iXagr^piov, Heb. ix. 5. That word is used but once more in the New Testament, and then Christ is called so, Rom. iii. 25, or ov rrpo…
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38 THE STRENGTH OF FAITH. any thing in the world rather than to be treating and conversing with him. What delight can any one take in him whom he conceives to be always furious, wrathful, ready to destroy? or, what comfort- able expectation can any one have from such a one ? Consider, then, in some particulars, what G…
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There is a general compassion in God, by which he proceeds in the dispensation of his providence, that is too hard for the apprehensions of men when they come to be concerned in it. Poor Jonah was angry that he was so merciful, chap. iv. 2, " I knew that thou wast not one for me to deal with : thou art so gracious and …
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[2.] His condescension to entreat us that it may be so, — that he may exercise pity, pardon, goodness, kindness, mercy towards us. He is so fall, that he is, as it were, pained until he can get us to himself, that he may communicate of his love unto us. " We pray you," says the apostle, " in Christ's stead, as if God b…
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THE STRENGTH OF FAITH. 43 get.her as he made them, and in the order by him assigned to them ; — there is nothing in his nature towards you but kindness, benignity, goodness, power (exerted to continue to you the goodness first im- parted), grace, and bounty, in daily, continual additions of more. But, alas! they are …
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3dly. Where there is mention in the Scripture made of the good- ness of God, by which he reveals himself to be love, to be gracious and tender, it is not upon the general account of his perfections con- sidered in himself, but on the new and special account of the free engagement of his attributes in Christ with regard…
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But see, now, what God says in this case, and what an unexpected condescension there is in the word of promise. Is it, Be gone? Take a bill of divorce ? Take thine own course, and I will take mine against thee? No ; says God, " This is an estate and condition whereof I am weary, and thou art weary; — I am weary of thy …
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Yea, but at least a man's sense of his state and condition, with his acknowledgment of it, is needful to precede his closing with the promise. It is so as to his receiving of it, — this oftentimes being the fruit and work of the promise as given itself. But as to the tender of the promise, and Christ in the promise, un…
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[2.] There is a tempest; — in reference whereunto Christ is here said to be " a covert." A tempest, in the Scripture, represents the wrath of God for sin. " He breaketh me," saith Job, " with a tem- pest," chap. ix. 1 7, when he lay under a sense of the displeasure and indignation of God. He threatens to rain upon the …
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Thus, I say, is Christ in the promises peculiarly suited to all the several distresses that we may at any time fall into. I might multiply instances to this purpose ; but this one may suffice to make good the consideration proposed, for the encouraging of us to believe, from the suiting of the grace in the promises to …
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And the following words, to the end of the chapter, do make it yet more plain and evident. Sundry things doth the apostle, upon the account of this their access unto God, speak of the Gentiles. First, Negatively, — that they are no more " strangers and foreign- ers," verse 1 9 ; that is, that they are not so in respec…
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And the FIRST I shall do from the text. It is a principle deeply fixed in the minds of men, yea, ingrafted into them by nature, that the worship of God ought to be orderly, comely, beautiful, and glorious. Hence men in all ages, who have thought it incumbent on them to imagine, find out, and frame the worship of God, …
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(2.) It is a tpoeaywyri that we have in this worship ; — a manuduction unto God, in order, and with much glory. It is such an access as men have to the presence of a king, when they are handed in by some favourite or great person. This, in this worship, is done by Christ. He takes the worshippers by the hand, and leads…
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60 THE NATURE AND BEAUTY Father, is all one consideration ; for, as a Father, he is all love, grace, and mercy to his children in Christ. When God came of old to institute his worship in giving of the law, he did it with the dreadful and terrible representation of his majesty, that the people chose not to come near, b…
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62 THE NATURE AND BEAUTY With "silver and gold," and "corruptible things;" it is the "thick clay:" and he that hath most money may render that kind of worship most beauteous and glorious. But now the gospel worship of believers is the price of the " blood of the Son of God." Access to God for sinners could no other wa…
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(3.) We have this access through Christ, in that he is entered be- fore us into the presence of God, to make way for our access unto him, and our acceptance with him. So the apostle, Heb. iv. 1 4, " We have a great high priest, that is passed into the heavens, Jesus the Son of God." He is gone already into the presence…
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Go to, now, you by whom the spiritual worship of the gospel is de- spised; [you] that — unless it be adorned, as you say (or rather defiled), with the rites and ceremonies of your own invention — think there is no order, comeliness, or beauty in it ! set yourselves to find out what- ever pleaseth your imaginations; bor…
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OF GOSPEL WORSHIP. 67 of all outward accommodations. Are their assemblies in the moun- tains, in the caves and dens of the earth? — Christ, according to his pro- mise, is in the midst of them as their high priest, and they have in their worship all the order, glory, and beauty (I mean, observing gos- pel rules) that i…
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Now, as this tends exceedingly to the consolation of believers, so it stains the glory of all the outward pompous worship that some are so delighted in. For believers, what can more tend to their comfort and encouragement, than that the Lord Christ takes their poor weak prayers, which themselves are oftentimes ashamed …
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1st. It is he who enables them to discover the mind of God, and his will concerning his worship, that they may embrace what he hath appointed, and refuse the thing whereof he will say at the last day, "Who hath required this at your hand?" He is promised to "lead them into all truth," as the Spirit of truth, John xvi. …
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It were a long work, to show what the Holy Ghost, as a Spirit of grace in the hearts of believers, doth to this end, that they may have, in their access unto God, a saving, spiritual communion with him in Christ ; wherein, indeed, consists the chiefest head of all the glory and beauty that is in the worship of God. Sho…
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3dly. As always from the foundation of the world, so in the New Testament, the solemn worship of God is to be performed in the assemblies of his saints and people. Now, where the same worship is to be performed by many, the very law of nature and reason re- quireth that some one or more, according as there is necessity…
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76 THE NATURE AND BEAUTY to all the ends of the good word of God, whose dispensation is com- mitted unto them;— he enables men to administer the seals of the covenant so, that the faith of the saints may be excited and stirred up to act and exert itself in a way suitable to the nature of each ordi- nance. And all thos…
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1. It is performed in heaven. Though they who perform it are on earth, yet they do it, by faith, in heaven. The apostle saith that believers, in their worship, do " enter into the holiest;" which he ex- horts them to draw nigh unto, Heb. x. 19, 22. What is the "holiest," whereinto they enter with their worship ? It is …
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1. As the whole worship of the old church, so the whole manner of it, with all its rites, ceremonies, and ornaments, both in the taber- nacle and temple, were of God's own appointment. There was not the least part of the fabric wherein his worship was celebrated, nor any ornament of it, — not one rite or ceremony that …
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These things being premised, we say now, that, notwithstanding this whole worship, and all the concernments of it, was appointed by God himself; notwithstanding it was designed by him to be beautiful and glorious, and that indeed it was the very top of what external beauty and splendour could reach unto ; — yet that it…
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2. The second spring of the beauty of the old worship — wdrich was, indeed, the hinge upon which the whole turned — was the priest- hood of Aaron, with all the administrations committed to his charge. The pomp, state, and ceremonies, that the Papists have invented in their outward worship, or that heap which they have,…
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Sacrifices were a part of the worship of God appointed by himself, and acceptable to him when offered in faith, according to his mind ; yet we find God frequently rejecting them in the Old Testament, whilst yet their institution was in force, and themselves good in their kind. Now, this rejection of them was not absolu…
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Now, this moral obedience he refers to three heads: — Doing justly ; loving mercy ; and walking humbly with God. How the two first are comprehensive of our whole duty in respect of men, containing in them the sum and substance of the second table, I shall not stay to declare. It is the third head that I have fixed on…
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This, I say, is the first thing required to our walking with God, — that we be at peace and agreement with him in the blood of Christ. And, as the psalmist says, " Consider this, ye that know not God," who have not made a covenant with him, in and by the sacrifice' of his Son. You meet him in the field, — you put yours…
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OF WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD. 91 zeal for it, no care for his name ; but rest in the discharge of the duty itself? (S.) That a man may walk with another, it is required that he have a living principle in him, to enable him thereunto. Dead men cannot walk ; or if they do, acted by any thing but their own vital principle…
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The vanity of the highest profession, without this humble walking, which is another deceit, shall be afterward spoken unto. For the present, let me speak to them of whom I have spoken somewhat already. If many shall cry, " Lord, Lord," and not be heard; if " many shall strive to enter/' and shall not; what will be the…
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Now, there are sundry things required to our walking with God in obedience, so that it may answer the tenor of the covenant wherein we are agreed. [1.] That it proceed from faith in God, by Christ the mediator. Faith in God, in general, is, and must be, the principle of all obe- dience, in what covenant soever, Heb. x…
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The words used in the New Testament are chiefly rsXaog and aprtog, neither of which in their use is restrained to this perfection. Hence James saith, he is riXziog, who bridles his tongue, chap. iii. 2. The word is but once used positively of any man in an indefinite sense ; and that is, 1 Cor. ii. 6, where it evidentl…
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[2.] There is a performance of obedience under the eye of God, as one that is peculiarly concerned in that obedience. God says to David, Ps. xxxii. 8, "'I will guide thee with mine eye/ The consideration of mine eye being upon thee, shall instruct thee, or teach thee in the way which thou shalt go. Mine eye is on thee,…
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100 OF WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD. seen in me, that you are gone away?" And our Saviour, the husband of the church, carries this to the greatest height imaginable, Cant. iv. 9-16. He speaks as one transported by a delight not to be borne, which he receives from the love and obedience of his spouse, — com- paring it with …
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I might here go over all the particulars that have been insisted on, and try our obedience by them. But, — 102 OF WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD. Use 2. For others, I shall only ask over the heads of what have been delivered. Would you be thought to walk with God?— (1.) What evidence have you that you are in covenant with …
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104 OF WALKING HUMBLY WITH GOD. to establish their own righteousness, and did not submit themselves to the righteousness of God. What righteousness is that 1 Why, " the righteousness of faith," according to the law of grace, Rom. i. 1 7. " They sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law," chap. ix.…
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[2.] The second thing that we are to humble ourselves unto in the law of grace is, a firm persuasion, exerting itself effectually in all our obedience, that there is not a righteousness to be obtained before God by the performance of any duties or obedience of ours whatever. That this lies in the law of the grace of Go…
1,354 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.