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ID	Title	Author	Corrected Date of Publication (TCP Date of Publication)	STC	Words	Pages
A90280	Of the divine originall, authority, self-evidencing light, and povver of the Scriptures. With an answer to that enquiry, how we know the Scriptures to be the Word of God. Also a vindication of the purity and integrity of the Hebrew and Greek texts of the Old and New Testament; in some considerations on the prolegomena, & appendix to the late Biblia polyglotta. Whereunto are subjoyned some exercitations about the nature and perfection of the Scripture, the right of interpretation, internall Light, revelation, &c. / By Iohn Owen: D.D.	Owen, John, 1616-1683.	1659 (1659)	Wing O784; Thomason E1866_1; Thomason E1866_1*; ESTC R203092	144,024	386

alone that it passes in the world or is believed we have added to it many bookes upon our owne judgement and yet thinke it not sufficient for the guidance of men in the worship of God and their obedience they owe unto him yet do they blush are they ashamed as a thiefe when he is taken nay do they not boast themselves in their iniquity and say they are sold to worke all these abominations The time is coming yea it is at hand wherein it shall repent them for ever that they have lifted up themselves against this sacred grant of the wisdome care love and goodnesse of God Sundry other branches there are of the Abominations of these men besides those enumerated all which may be reduced to these three corrupt and bloody fountaines 1. That the Scripture at best as given out from God and as it is to us continued was and is but a partiall revelation of the will of God the other part of it which how vast and extensive it is no man knowes for the Jewes have given us their 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in their Mishna and Gemara These kept them lockt up in the breast or chaire of their holy Father beeing reserved in their magazine of Traditions 2. That the Scripture is not able to evince or manifest its selfe to be the Word of God so as to enjoy and exercise any Authority in his name over the soules and consciences of men without an accession of Testimony from that combination of politicke worldly minded men that call themselves the Church of Rome 3. That the Originall copies of the Old and New Testament are so corrupted ex ore tuo serve nequam that they are not a certaine standard and measure of all doctrines or the touch-stone of all Translations Now concerning these things you will find somewhat offered unto your considerations in the ensuing discourses wherein I hope without any great alter●ation or disputes to lay downe such principles of truth as that their Idoll imaginations will be found cast to the ground before the sacred Arke of the word of God and to lye naked without wisdome or power It is concerning the last of these only that at present I shall deliver my thoughts unto you and that because we begin to have a new concernment therein wherewith I shall afterward acquaint you Of all the Inventions of Sathan to draw off the minds of men from the word of God this of decrying the authority of the Originalls seems to me the most pernicious At the beginning of the reformation before the Councill of Trent the Papists did but faintly and not without some blushing defend their vulgar Latine Translation Some openly preferred the Originall before it as 1 Cajetan Erasmus 2 Vives and others Yea and after the Councell also the same was done by Andradius 3 ●erarius 4 Arias Montanus 5 Masius 6 and others For those who understood nothing but Latine amongst them and scarcely that whose ignorance was provided for in the Councill I suppose it will not be thought meet that in this case we should make any account of them But the State of things is now altered in the world and the iniquity which first wrought in a mystery being now discovered casts off its vizard and grows bold nihil est audacius istis deprensis At first the designe was mannaged in private writings Melchior Canus 7 Gulielmus Lindanus 8 Bellarminus 9 Gregorius de Valentia 10 Leo Castrius 11 Huntlaeus 12 Hanstelius 13 with innumerable others some on one account some on another have pleaded that the Originalls were corrupted some of them with more impudence than others Leo Castrius as Pineda observes raves almost where ever he falls on the mention of the Hebrew text Sed is est Author saith he dum in hujusmodi Ebraizationes incidit vix sui compos bono licet zelo tamen vel ignoratione rerum quarundam vel vehementiori aliquâ affectione extra fines veritatis modestiae rapitur si ex hujusmodi tantum unguibus Leonem illum estimaremus non etiam ex aliis praeclaris conatibus aut murem aut vulpem censeremus aut canem aut quiddam aliud ignobilius Yea Morinus who seems to be ashamed of nothing yet shrinks a little at this mans impudence and folly Apologetici libros saith he sex bene longos scripsit quibus nihil quam Judaeorum voluntarias malignas depravationes demonstrate nititur zelo sanè pio scripsit Castrius sed libris Hebraicis ad tantum opus quod moliebatur parum erat instructus In the steps of this Castrius walkes Huntley a subtie Jesuite who in the treatise above cited ascribes the corruption of the Hebrew Bible to the good providence of God for the honour of the vulgar Latine But these with their companions have had their mouths stopt by Reinolds Whitaker Junius Lubbertus Rivetus Chamierus Gerardus Amesius Glassius Alstedius A mama and others So that a man would have thought this fire put to the house of God had been sufficiently quenched But after all the endeavours hitherto used in the daies wherein we live it breaks out in a greater flame they now print the Originall it selfe and defame it gathering up translations of all sorts and setting them up in competition with it When Ximenius put forth the Complutencian Bibles Vatablus his Arias Montanus those of the King of Spaine this Cockatrice was not hatcht whose fruit is now growing to a flying fiery Serpent It is now but saying the ancient Hebrew letters are changed from the Samaritane to the Chaldean the points or vowels and accents are but lately invented of no Authority without their guidance and direction nothing is certaine in the knowledge of that tongue all that we know of it comes from the translation of the 70 the Jews have corrupted the old Testament there are innumerable various lections both of the old and new there are other copies differing from those we now enjoy that are utterly lost So that upon the matter there is nothing left unto men but to choose whether they will be Papists or Atheists Here that most stupendious fabrick that was ever raised by inke and paper termed well by a learned man magnificentissimum illud quod post homines natos in lucem prodiit unquam opus biblicum I mean the Parisian Bibles is prefaced by a discourse of its Erector Michael de Jay wherein he denies the Hebrew text prefers the vulgar Latine before it and resolves that we are not left to the word for our rule but to the Spirit that rules in their Church pro certo igitur atque indubitato apud nos esse debet vulgatam editionem quae communi catholicae Ecclesiae lingu● circumfertur verum esse genuinum sacrae Scripturae fontem hanc consulendam ubique inde fidei dogmata repetenda ex quo insuper consentaneum est vera ac certissima fidei Christianae autographa in

its Truth It s Authority in its selfe is its Authority in respect of us nor hath it any whit more in its selfe then de jure it hath towards and over all them to whom it comes That de facto some do not submit themselves unto it is their sin rebellion This Truth and consequently this Authority is evidenced and made known to us by the publick Testimony which is given unto it by the Holy Ghost speaking in it with divine Light and Power to the minds soules and consciences of men being therein by its selfe proposed unto us We being enlightned by the Holy Ghost which in the Condition wherein we are is necessary for the Apprehension of any spirituall thing or truth in a spirituall manner we receive it and religiously subject our soules unto it as the VVord and VVill of the everliving soveraigne God and judge of all And if this be not a bottome and foundation of faith I here publickly Professe that for ought I know I have no faith at all Sect. 14. Having laid this stable foundation I shall with all possible brevity consider some pretences and Allegations for the confirmation of the Authority of the Scripture invented and made use of by some to divert us from that foundation the closing wherewith will in this matter alone bring peace unto our soules and so this Chapter shall as it were lay in the ballance and compare together the Testimony of the Spirit before mentioned and explained and the other pretences and pleas that shall now be examined Sect. 15. 1. Some say when on other accounts they are concerned so to say that we have received the Scripture from the Church of Rome who received it by Tradition and this gives a credibility unto it Of Tradition in generall without this limitation which destroies it of the Church of Rome I shall speak afterwards Credibility either keeps within the bounds of probability as that may be heightned to a manifest uncontr●leablenesse whilst yet its principles exceed not that sphere in which sense it belongs not at all to our present discourse or it includes a firme suitable foundation for faith supernaturall and divine Have we in this sense received the Scripture from that Church as it is called is that Church able to give such a credibility to any thing or doth the Scripture stand in need of such a credibility to be given to it from that Church are not the first most false and is not the last blasphemous To receive a thing from a Church as a Church is to receive it upon the Authority of that Church If we receive any thing from the Authority of a Church we do it not because the thing its selfe is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 worthy of Acceptation but because of the Authority alleadged If then we thus receive the Scriptures from the Church of Rome why in particular do we not receive the Apocryphall Books also which she receives How did the Church of Rome re●eive the Scriptures shall we say that she is authorized to give out what seemes Good to her as the Word of God not but she hath received them by Tradition so she pleads that she hath received the Apocryphall books also we then recive the Scriptures from Rome Rome by Tradition We make our selves Judges of that Tradition and yet Rome saith this is one thing that she hath by the same Tradition namely that she alone is judge of what she hath by Tradition But the common fate of lyars is befallen that Harlot she hath so long so constantly so desperately lyed in many the most things that she professeth pretending Tradition for them that indeed she deserves not to be believed when she telleth the Truth Besides She pleads that she received the Scriptures from the Beginning when it is granted that the copies of the Hebrew of the old and Greek of the new Testament were only authentick These she pleads now under her keeping to be woefully corrupted and yet is angry that we believe not her Tradition Sect. 16. Some adde that we receive the Scripture to be the Word of God upon the account of the miracles that were wrought at the giving of the Law and of the new Testament which miracles we have received by universall Tradition But first I desire to know whence it comes to passe that seeing our saviour Jesus Christ wrought many other miracles besides those that are written Joh. 20. 30. ch 21. 25. and the Apostles likewise they cannot by all their Traditions help us to so much as an obscure report of any one that is not written I speak not of Legends which yet at their performance were no lesse known then those that are nor were lesse usefull for the end of miracles then they Of Tradition in Generall afterwards But is it not evident that the miracles whereof they speak are preserved in the Scripture and no otherwise And if so can these miracles operate upon the understanding or judgment of any man unlesse they first grant the Scripture to be the Word of God I meane to the begetting of a divine faith of them even that there were ever any such miracles Suppose these miracles alleadged as the Ground of our believing of the word had not been written but like the Sybills leaves had been driven up and downe by the Worst and fiercest wind that blowes in this world the breath of man Those who should keepe them by tradition that is men are by nature so vaine foolish malicious such lyars adders detracters have spirits and minds so unsuited to spirituall things so liable to alteration in themselves and to contradiction one to another are so given to impostures and are so apt to be imposed upon have been so shuffled and driven up and downe the world in every Generation have for the most part so utterly lost the Remembrance of what themselves are whence they come or whether they are to goe that I can give very little credit to what I have nothing but their Authority to rely upon for without any Evidence from the nature of the thing it 's selfe Sect. 17. Abstracting then from the Testimony given in the Scriptures to the miracles wrought by the prime Revealers of the mind and will of God in the Word and no tolerable assurance as to the businesse in hand where a foundation for faith is enquired after can be given that ever any such miracles were wrought If numbers of men may be allowed to speake we may have a Traditionall Testimony given to the blasphemous figments of the Alcoran under the name of True miracles But the constant Tradition of more than a 1000 yeares carried on by innumerable multitudes of men great wise and sober from one Generation to another doth but set open the gates of hell for the Mahumetans Yet setting aside the Authority of God in his Word and what is resolved thereinto I know not why they may not vye Traditions with the rest of the world The world

standard the touchstone of all speakings whatever Now that must speak alone for its selfe which must try the speaking of all but its selfe yea it s own also Sect. 8. But what doth this Law and Testimony that is this written Word plead on the account whereof it should be thus attended unto What doth it urge for its Acceptation Tradition Authority of the Church Miracles consent of men or doth it speak 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and stand only upon its owne Soveraignty The Apostle gives us his Answer to this Enquiry 2 Tim. 3. 16. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It s Plea for Reception in Comparison with and Opposition unto all other waies of coming to the knowledge of God his Mind and Will founded whereon it calls for attendance and submission with supreame uncontroleable Authority is its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or divine inspiration It remaines then only to be enquired whether when 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is pleaded there be any middle way but either that it be received with divine faith or rejected as false Sect. 9. Suppose a man were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinely inspired and should so professe himselfe in the name of the Lord as did the Prophets of old Amos 7. supposing I say he were so indeed it will not be denied but that his message were to be received and submitted unto on that account The deniall of it would justify them who rejected and slew those that spake unto them in the name of the Lord. And it is to say in plaine termes we may reject them whom God sends Though miracles were given only with respect to Persons not things yet most of the Prophets who wrought no miracles insisted on this that being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 divinely inspired their doctrine was to be received as from God In their so doing it was sin even Unbeliefe and Rebellion against God not to submit to what they spake in his name And it alwaies so fell out to fix our faith on the right bottome that scarce any Prophet that spake in the name of God had any Approbation from the Church in whose daies He spake Math. 5. 12. chap. 23. 29. Luk. 17. 47 48. Acts 7. 52. Math. 21. 33 34 35 36 37 38. It is true 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Pet. 2. 1. there were false Prophets that spake in the name of the Lord when he sent them not Jerem. 23. 22. Yet were those whom he did send to be received on paine of damnation on the same penalty were the others to be refused Jerem. 23. 28 29. The foundation of this duty lies in the 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 that accompanied the Word that was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 of which afterwards And without a supposall hereof it could not consist with the Goodnesse and Righteousnesse of God to require of men under the penalty of his eternall displeasure to make such a discrimination where he had not given them 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 infallible tokens to enable them so to doe Sect. 10. But that he had and hath done so he declares Jerem. 23. How long shall this be in the heart of the Prophets that Prophesy lies that are Prophets of the deceit of their own heart which thinke to cause my people to forget my name by their dreames which they tell every man to his neighbour as their fathers have forgotten my name for Baal The Prophet that hath a dreame let him tell a dreame and he that hath my word let him speak my word faithfully what is the chaffe to the wheate saith the Lord is not my word like a fire saith the Lord and like a hammer that breaketh the mountaines in Peices In the latter daies of that Church when the People were most eminently perplexed with false Prophets both as to their number and subtilty yet God laies their Eternall and Temporall safety or Ruine on their discerning aright between his VVord and that which was only pretended so to be And that they might not complaine of this imposition he tenders them security of its easinesse of Performance Speaking of his owne VVord comparatively as to every thing that is not so he saies it is as Wheate to Chaffe which may infallibly by being what it is be discerned from it and then absolutely that it hath such Properties as that it will discover its selfe even Light and heat and Power A Person then who was truly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 was to be attended unto because he was so Sect. 11 As then was said before the Scriptures being 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is not the case the same as with a man that was so is there any thing in the VVriting of it by Gods Command that should impaire its Authority nay is it not freed from innumerable prejudices that attended it in its first giving out by men arising from the personall infirmities and supposed interests of them that delivered it Jerem. 43. 3. Joh. 9. 29. Acts. 24. 5. Sect. 12. This being pleaded by it and insisted on its Testimony is received or it is not If it be received on this account there is in it we say the proper basis and foundation of faith whe●eon it hath its 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or subsistence If it be rejected it must be not only with a refusall of its witnesse but also with a high detestation of its pretence to be from God What ground or plea for such a refusall and detestation any one hath or can have shall be afterwards considered If it be a sin to refuse it it had been a duty to receive it if a duty to receive it as the Word of God then was it sufficiently manifested so to be Of the objection arising from them who pretend to this inspiration falsly we have spoken before and we are as yet dealing with them that owne the Book whereof we spake to be the Word of God and only call in Question the Grounds on which they doe so or on which others ought so to doe As to these it may suffice that in the strength of all the Authority and truth they professe to owne and acknowledge in it it declares the foundarion of its Acceptance to be no other but it s owne divine inspiration hence it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Sect. 13. Againe in that dispute that was between Abraham and the Rich man Luk. 16. 31. about the best and most effectuall meanes of bringing men to Repentance The Rich man in Hell speaking his owne conception fixes upon Miracles if one rise from the dead and preach the worke will be done Abraham is otherwise minded that is Christ was so the Author of that parable He bids them attend to Moses and the Prophets the Written VVord as that which all faith and Repentance was immediately to be grounded on The enquiry being how men might be best assured that any message is from God did not the Word manifest its selfe to be from him this direction had not been equall Sect. 14.

3. There are then two things that are accompanied with a selfe evidencing Excellency and every other thing doth so so far as it is pertaker of their nature and no otherwise now These are 1 Light 2. Power for or in Operation Sect. 4. 1 Light manifests its selfe Whatever is Light doth so that is it doth whatever is necessary on its own part for its manifestation and discovery Of the defects that are or may be in them to whom this discovery is made we do not as yet speak And whatever manifests its selfe is Light 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ephes 5. 13. Light requires neither proofe nor Testimony for its Evidence Let the Sun arise in the firmament and there is no need of VVitnesses to prove and confirme unto a seeing man that it is day A small candle will so do Let the least child bring a candle into a roome that before was darke and it would be a madnesse to go about to prove by substantiall VVitnesses men of Gravity and Authority that Light is brought in Doth it not evince its selfe with an Assurance above all that can be obteined by any Testimony whatever Whatever is Light either naturally or morally so is revealed by its being so That which evidenceth not its selfe is not Light Sect. 5. That the Scripture is a Light we shall see immediately That it is so or can be called so unlesse it hath this nature and Property of Light to evidence its selfe as well as to give light unto others cannot in any tolerable correspondency of speech be allowed Whether Light spirituall and intellectuall regarding the mind or naturall with respect to bodily sight be firstly and properly Light from whence the other is by Allusion denominated I need not now enquire Both have the same properties in their severall kinds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 true light shineth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Joh. 1. 5. God himselfe is light and he inhabiteth 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Tim. 6. 16. not a shining glistering brightnesse as some grosly imagine but the Glorious unsearchable Majesty of his owne Being which is inaccessible to our understandings So Isa 57. 15. inhabiteth eternity So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith the Psalmist thou cloathest thy selfe with Light and Dan. 2. 22. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Light remaineth with him God He is light essentially and is therefore known by the beaming of his Eternall Properties in all that outwardly is of him And light abides with him as the fountaine of it he communicating Light to all others This being the fountaine of all Light the more it participates of the nature of the fountaine the more it is Light and the more properly as the Properties and Qualities of it are considered It is then spirituall morall intellectuall Light with all its mediums that hath the preheminence as to a participation of the nature and properties of light Sect. 6. Now the Scripture the word of God is light those that reject it are called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 lights rebels men resisting the Authority which they cannot but be convinced of Psal 19. 9. 43. 3. 119. 105 130. Prov. 6. 23. Isa 9. 2. Hos 6. 5. Math. 4. 16. and 5. 14. Joh. 3. 20. 21 It is a Light so shining with the majesty of its Author as that it manifests its selfe to be his 2 Pet. 1. 19. A Light shining in a darke place with an eminent advantage for its own discovery as well as unto the benefit of others Sect. 7. Let a light be never so meane and contemptible yet if it shines casts out beames and raies in a dark place it will evidence its selfe If other things be wanting in the faculty the Light as to its innate Glory and beauty is not to suffer prejudice But the Word is a glorious shining Light as hath been shewed an illuminating Light compared to and preferred above the light of the Sun Psal 19. 5 6 7. Rom. 10. 18. Let not then a reproach be cast upon the most glorious Light in the world the most eminent reflexion of uncreated light and Excellencies that will not be fastened on any thing that on any account is so called Math. 5. 19. Sect. 8. Now as the Scripture is thus a Light we grant it to be the duty of the Church of any Church of every Church to hold it up whereby it may become the more conspicuous It is a ground and pillar to set this light upon 1 Tim. 3. 15. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 may referre to the mistery of Godlinesse in the next words following in good coherence of speech as well as to the Church but granting the usuall reading no more is affirmed but that the Light and Truth of the Scripture is held up and held out by the Church It is the duty of every Church so to doe almost the whole of its duty And this duty it performes ministerially not Authoritatively A Church may beare up the light it is not the light It beares witnesse to it but kindles not one divine beame to further its discovery All the Preaching that is in any Church its Administration of Ordinances all its walking in the Truth hold up this light Sect. 9. Nor doth it in the least impaire this selfe evidencing Efficacy of the Scripture that it is a morall and spirituall not a naturall light The Proposition is Universall to all kinds of light yea more fully applicable to the former than the latter Light I confesse of it's selfe will not remove the defect of the visive faculty It is not given for that end Light is not Eyes It suffices that there is nothing wanting on it's owne part for it's discovery and Revelation To argue that the Sun cannot be knowne to be the Sun or the great meanes of communicating externall light unto the World because blind men cannot see it nor doe know any more of it then they are told will scarce be admitted nor doth it in the least impeach the Efficacy of the light pleaded for that men stupidly blind cannot comprehend it Joh. 1. 5. Sect. 10. I doe not assert from hence that wherever the Scripture is brought by what meanes soever which indeed is all one All that read it or to whom it is read must instantly of necessity assent unto it's Divine Originall Many men who are not starke blind may have yet so abused their Eyes that when a Light is brought into a darke place they may not be able to discerne it Men may be so preposessed with innumerable prejudices Principles received by stronge Traditions corrupt Affections making them hate the light that they may not behold the Glory of the word when it is brought to them But it is nothing to our present discourse whether any man living be able by and of himselfe to discerne this Light whilst the defect may be justly cast on their owne blindnesse 2 Cor. 4. 2 3 4. By the manifestation of the truth we commend our selves