EDITED BY WILLIAM H. GOOLD VOLUME This Edition of THE WORKS OF JOHN OWEN first published by Johnstone & Hunter, 1850-53 PUBLISHERS’ NOTE TO 1968 REPRINT OF VOLUME SIXTEEN The Goold edition of John Owen’s works originally comprised seventeen volumes, with an additional seven volumes containing Owen’s Exposition on the Epistle to the Hebrews. The latter exposition is not being reprinted at present and the seventeen volumes have been reduced to sixteen by the omission of the author’s Latin writings — these will be found listed on page 548 of this volume. Should his Latin works be subsequently translated and reprinted they would form an additional volume of approximately 600 pages. Posthumous Sermons and Three Discourses Suitable to the Lord’s Supper, which appeared as the only material in English in volume seventeen of Goold’s edition, have been transferred to volume sixteen of this re-issue of John Owen’s works.

CONTENTS THE TRUE NATURE OF A GOSPEL CHURCH.

Prefatory Note By The Editor, The Preface to the Reader, 1. — The subject-matter of the church,2. — Of the formal cause of a particular church,3. — Of the polity, rule, or discipline, of the church in general, 4. — The officers of the church,5. — The especial duty of pastors of churches,6. — Of the office of teachers in the church, or an inquiry into the state, condition, and work, of those called teachers in the Scripture, 7. — Of the rule of the church, or of ruling elders,8. — The nature of church polity or rule, with the duty of elders,9. — Of deacons,10. — Of excommunication, 11. — Of the communion of churches, A LETTER CONCERNING EXCOMMUNICATION.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, A Letter concerning the matter of the present Excommunications, OF THE ADMINISTRATION OF CHURCH CENSURES.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, A Discourse concerning the Administration of Church Censures AN ANSWER UNTO TWO QUESTIONS.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, Question First, Question Second, Twelve Arguments, etc.

OF MARRYING AFTER DIVORCE.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, Of Marrying after Divorce in case of Adultery, OF INFANT BAPTISM AND DIPPING.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, Of Infant Baptism, A Vindication of two passages in Irenaeus against the exceptions of Mr. Tombs, Of Dipping, REFLECTIONS ON A SLANDEROUS LIBEL.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, Reflections on a Slanderous Libel TREATISES CONCERNING THE SCRIPTURES.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, The Epistle Dedicatory, OF THE DIVINE ORIGINAL OF THE SCRIPTURES.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, 1. — The divine original of the Scripture the sole foundation of its authority — The original of the Old Testament — The peculiar manner of the revelation of the word — The written word, as written, preserved by the providence of God — Cappellus’ opinion about various lections considered — The Scripture not ijdi>av ejpilu>sewv — The true meaning of that expression — Entirely from God, to the least tittle — Of the Scriptures of the New Testament, and their peculiar prerogative, 2. — The main question proposed to consideration — How we may know assuredly the Scripture to be the word of God — The Scripture to be received by divine faith — The authority of God the foundation — The way whereby that authority is evidenced or made known — The various ways of God’s revealing himself and his mind — 1. By his works; 2. By the light of nature; 3. By his word — All of these evince themselves to be from him, his word especially, 3. — Arguments of two sorts — Inartificial arguments, by way of testimony to the truth — To whom these arguments are valid — Of zeopneusti>a — The rejection of a plea of zeopneusti>a , wherein it consists — Of miracles, their efficacy to beget faith compared with the word, 4. — Innate arguments in the Scripture of its divine original and authority — Its self-evidencing efficacy — All light manifests itself — The Scripture light — Spiritual light evidential — Consectaries from the premises laid down — What the self-evidencing light of the Scripture peculiarly is — Power self-evidencing — The Scripture the power of God, and powerful — How this power exerts itself — The whole question resolved,5. — Of the testimony of the Spirit — Traditions — Miracles,6. — Consequential considerations, for the confirmation of the divine authority of the Scripture, INTEGRITY AND PURITY OF THE HEBREW AND GREEK TEXT.

Prefatory Note by the Editor, 1. — The occasion of this discourse — The danger of supposing corruptions in the originals of the Scripture — The great usefulness of the Biblia Polyglotta — The grounds of the ensuing animadversions — The assertions proposed to be vindicated laid down — Their weight and importance — Sundry principles in the Prolegomena, prejudicial to the truth contended for, laid down — Those principles formerly asserted by others — Reasons of the opposition made to them, 2. — Of the putty of the originals — The aujto>grafa of the Scripture lost — That of Moses, how and how long preserved — Of the book found by Hilkiah — Of the aujto>grafa of the New Testament — Of the first copies of the originals — The scribes of those copies not zeopneustoi — What is ascribed to them — The great and incomparable care of the scribes of it — The whole word of God, in every tittle of it, preserved entire in the copies of the original extant — Heads of arguments to that purpose — What various lections are granted in the original of the Old and New Testaments — Sundry considerations concerning them, manifesting them to be of no importance — That the Jews have not corrupted the text — The most probable instants considered, 3. — Of various lections in the Greek copies of the New Testament, 4. — General premises — Opinions prejudicial to the authority of the originals in the Prolegomena enumerate — The just consequences of these premises — Others ended in these opinion — Of Cappellus — Of Origen, Ximenes, Arias Montanus’ editions of the Bible,5. — The original of the points proposed to consideration in particular — The importance of the points to the right understanding of the Scriptural — The testimony of Morinus, Junius, Johannes Isaac, Cevallerius, and others — The use made by the Papists of the opinion of the novelty of the points — The importance of the points further manifested — The extreme danger of making the Hebrew punctuation arbitrary — That danger evinced by instance — No relief against that danger on the grounds of the opinion considered — The authors of the Hebrew punctuation according to the Prolegomena; who and what — Morinus’ folly — The improbability of this pretense — The state of the Jews, the supposed inventors of the points, after the destruction of the temple — Two attempts made by them to restore their religion: the flint under Barchochab, with its issue; the second under R. Judah with its issue — The rise and foundation of the Talmuds — The state of the Jews upon and after the writing of the Talmuds — Their rancor against Christ — Who the Tiberian Masoretes were, that are the supped authors of the Hebrew punctuation; their description — That figment rejected — The late testimony of Dr Lightfoot to this purpose — The rise of the opinion of the novelty of the points — Of Elias Levita — The value of his testimony in this case — Of the validity of the testimony of the Jewish Rabbins — Some considerations about the antiquity of the points: the first, from the nature of the punctuation itself, in reference unto grammatical rules; [the second,] from the Chaldee paraphrase. and integrity of the Scripture as now pointed, 6. — Arguments for the novelty of the Hebrew points proposed to consideration — The argument from the Samaritan letters considered and answered — Of the copy of the law preserved in the synagogues without points — The testimony of Elias Levita and Aben Ezra considered — Of the silence of the Mishna, Talmud and Gemaru, about the points — Of the Keri and Ketib — Of the number of the points — Of the ancient translations, Greek, Chaldee, Syriac — Of Jerome — The new argument of Morinus in this cause — The concision, about the necessity of the points, 7. — Of the bytik]W yriq] , their nature and original — The differences is in the consonants — Morinus’ vain charge on Arias Montaus — The senses of both consistent — Of the great congregation — The spring and rise of these various readings — The judgment of the Prolegomena about them — Their order given twice over in the Appendix — The rise assigned to them considered — Of Cappellus, his opinion, and the danger of it. 8. — Of gathering various lections by the help of translations — The proper use and benefit of translations — Their new pretended use — The state of the originals on this new pretense — Of the remedy tendered to the relief of that state — No copies of old differing in the learnt from those we now enjoy, inferred from the testimony of our Savior — No testimony, new or old, to that purpose — Requisites unto good translations — Of the translations in the Biblia Polyglotta — Of the Arabic — Of the Syriac — Of the Samaritan Pentateuch — Of the Chaldee Paraphrase — Of the Vulgar Latin — Of the Septuagint — Of the translations of the New Testament — Of the Persian — Of the Ethiopian — The value of these translations as to the work in hand — Of the supposition of gross corruption in the originals — Of various lections out of Grotius — Of the Appendix in general, POSTHUMOUS SERMONS.