PREFATORY NOTE,

THE reader may be referred to the Life of Dr Owen (vol. i. p. lxxii.) for a general criticism on the merits of the following treatise. It was published in 1657, shortly after he had ceased to be Vice-Chancellor in the University of Oxford. From the brief preface affixed to it, it appears that, for a period of more than six years, he had been under some engagement to publish the substance of the work. It has been inferred, accordingly, that it is the substance of some discourses which he had preached in Oxford; but, as he became Vice-Chancellor only in September 1652, there is more probability in the supposition that they are the discourses which refreshed and cheered his attached congregation at Coggeshall.

There are two peculiarities which deserve attention in the treatise. The oversight of one of them has created some misconception of the author's design, and led some to fancy that he was wandering from it, in various passages which are in strict harmony with his main and original purpose in the work. The term "Communion," as used by Owen, is used in a wider sense than is consistent with that which is now generally attached to it in religious phraseology. It denotes not merely the interchange of feeling between God in his gracious character and a soul in a gracious state, but the gracious relationship upon which this holy interchange is based. On the part of Christ, for example, all his work and its results are described, from the atonement till it takes effect in the actual justification of the sinner.

The grand peculiarity distinguishing the treatise is the fulness of illustration with which he dilates on the communion enjoyed by believers with each person of the Godhead respectively. Fully to comprehend his views on this point, it is needful to bear in mind the meaning under which the word Communion is employed by Owen.

ANALYSIS.

PART I.-The fact of communion with God is asserted, CHAP. I. Passages in Scripture are quoted to show that special mention is made of communion with all the persons of the Trinity, II. Communion with the FATHER is described, III.; and practical inferences deduced from it, IV.

PART II.—The reality of communion with CHRIST is proved, CHAP. I.; and the nature of it is subsequently considered, II. It is shown to consist in grace; and then the grace of Christ is exhibited under three divisions:-his personal grace, III.-VI.; and under this branch are two long digressions, designed to unfold the glory and loveliness of Christ;-purchased grace, VII.-X.; in which the mediatorial work of Christ is fully considered, in reference to our acceptance with God, VII., VIII.; sanctification, IX.; and the privileges of the covenant, x.;-and grace as communicated by the Spirit, and conspicuous in the fruits of personal holiness. This last division is illustrated under sanctification, as contained under the head of purchased grace.

PART III.-Communion with the HOLY GHOST is expounded in the eight following chapters;—the foundation of it, CHAP. I.; his gracious and effectual influence in believers, 11.; the elements in which it consists, III.; the effects in the hearts of believers, Iv.; and general inferences and particular directions for communion with the Spirit, v.-VIII.

The arrangement of the treatise may seem involved and complicated, and the endless divisions and subdivisions may distract rather than assist the attention of the reader. The warm glow of sanctified emotion, however, and occasionally thoughts of singular power and originality, which are found throughout the treatise, sustain the interest, and more than reward perusal. Few passages in any theological writer are more thrilling than the reference to the spotless humanity of Christ, in terms full of sanctified genius, on page 64.

An account of the strange controversy to which this treatise gave rise, many years after its publication, will be found on page 276.—E».

PREFACE.

CHRISTIAN READER,

Ir is now six years past since I was brought under an engagement of promise for the publishing of some meditations on the subject which thou wilt find handled in the ensuing treatise. The reasons of this delay, being not of public concernment, I shall not need to mention. Those who have been in expectation of this duty from me, have, for the most part, been so far acquainted with my condition and employments, as to be able to satisfy themselves as to the deferring of their desires. That which I have to add at present is only this:-having had many opportunities, since the time I first delivered any thing in public on this subject (which was the means of bringing me under the engagements mentioned), to re-assume the consideration of what I had first fixed on, I have been enabled to give it that improvement, and to make those additions to the main of the design and matter treated on, that my first debt is come at length to be only the occasion of what is now tendered to the saints of God. I shall speak nothing of the subject here handled; it may, I hope, speak for itself, in that spiritual savour and relish which it will yield to them whose hearts are not so filled with other things as to render the sweet things of the gospel bitter to them. The design of the whole treatise thou wilt find, Christian reader, in the first chapters of the first part; and I shall not detain thee here with the perusal of any thing which in its proper place will offer itself unto thee: know only, that the whole of it hath been recommended to the grace of God in many supplications, for its usefulness unto them that are interested in the good things mentioned therein.

OXON. CH. CH. COLL.,

July 10, 1657.

J. O.

TO THE READER.

ALPHONSUS, king of Spain, is said to have found food and physic in reading Livy; and Ferdinand, king of Sicily, in reading Quintus Curtius: but thou hast here nobler entertainments, vastly richer dainties, incomparably more sovereign medicines;—I had almost said, the very highest of angel's food is here set before thee; and, as Pliny speaks, "permista deliciis auxilia,”—things that minister unto grace and comfort, to holy life and liveliness.

Such is this treatise,—this, which is the only one extant upon its great and necessary subject,-this, whose praise hath been long in the churches, and hath gone enamelled with the honourable reproaches of more than one English Bolsec, -this, whose great author, like the sun, is well known to the world, by eminence of heavenly light and labours,—this, which, as his many other works, can be no other than manna unto sound Christians, though no better than stone and serpent to Socinians and their fellow-commoners.

Importunity hath drawn me to say thus much more than I could think needful to be said concerning any work of Dr Owen's;—needful in our day itself, a day wherein "pauci sacras Scripturas, plures nomina rerum, plurimi nomina magistrorum sequuntur; "few do cleave to the holy Scriptures; many do rest in scholastic, senseless sounds; and most men do hang their faith upon their rabbi's sleeves."

This only I add:-of the swarms every day rising, there are few books but do want their readers; yet, if I understand aright, there are not many readers but do want this book.

In which censure I think I am no tyrant, which the philosopher names the worst of wild beasts; and I am sure I am no flatterer, which he calls, as justly, the worst of tame beasts,Καὶ ταῦτα μὲν δὴ ταῦτα.

Let the simple souls (the "paucissimæ lectionis mancipia") who take the doctrine of distinct communion with the Divine Persons to be a new-fangled one and uncouth, observe the words of the Rev. Mr Samuel Clarke (the annotator on the Bible), in his sermon on 1 John i. 7: "It is to be noted, that there is a distinct fellowship with each of the persons of the blessed Trinity." Let them attend what is said by Mr Lewis Stuckley, in his preface to Mr Polwheil's book of Quenching the Spirit: "It is a most glorious truth, though considered but by few, that believers have, or may have, distinct communion with the three persons, Father, Son, and Spirit. This is attested by the finger of God, and solemnly owned by the first and best age of Christianity." To name no more, let them read heedfully but the second chapter of this treatise, and it is hoped that then they shall no longer " contra antidotum insanire, ❞—no longer rage against God's holy medicinal truth, as St Austin saith he did while he was a Manichee; testifying, in so many words, [that] his error was his very god.

OF COMMUNION WITH GOD.

PART I.

CHAPTER I.

That the saints have communion with God-1 John i. 3 considered to that purpose-Somewhat of the nature of communion in general.

IN the First Epistle of John, chap. i., verse 3, the apostle assures them to whom he wrote that the fellowship of believers "is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ:"1 and this he doth with such an unusual kind of expression as bears the force of an asseveration; whence we have rendered it, "Truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.'

The outward appearance and condition of the saints in those days being very mean and contemptible, their leaders being accounted as the filth of this world, and as the offscouring of all things,2-the inviting others unto fellowship with them, and a participation of the precious things which they did enjoy, seems to be exposed to many contrary reasonings and objections: "What benefit is there in communion with them? Is it any thing else but to be sharers in troubles, reproaches, scorns, and all manner of evils?" To prevent or remove these and the like exceptions, the apostle gives them to whom he wrote to know (and that with some earnestness of expression), that notwithstanding all the disadvantages their fellowship lay under, unto a carnal view, yet in truth it was, and would be found to be (in reference to some with whom they held it), very honourable, glorious, and desirable. For "truly," saith he, "our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ.'

This being so earnestly and directly asserted by the apostle, we may boldly follow him with our affirmation,-namely, "That the saints of God have communion with him." And a holy and spiritual communion it is, as shall be declared. How this is spoken

1 Καὶ ἡ κοινωνία δὲ ἡ ἡμετέρα, etc.

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2 'De reginatάguaтα тоũ xóσμov.-1 Cor. iv. 8-13; Rom. viii. 35, 36; Heb. x. 32-34. "Christianos ad leones. Et puto, nos Deus apostolos novissimos elegit veluti bestiarios.”—Tert. de Pud., Acts xvii. 18; Gal. vi. 12. Semper casuris similes, nunquamque cadentes."

distinctly in reference to the Father and the Son, must afterward be fully opened and carried on.

2

By nature, since the entrance of sin, no man hath any communion with God. He is light,' we darkness; and what communion hath light with darkness? He is life, we are dead, he is love, and we are enmity; and what agreement can there be between us? Men in such a condition have neither Christ, nor hope, nor God in the world, Eph. ii. 12; "being alienated from the life of God through the ignorance that is in them," chap. iv. 18. Now, two cannot walk together, unless they be agreed, Amos iii. 3. Whilst there is this distance between God and man, there is no walking together for them in any fellowship or communion. Our first interest in God was so lost by sin,3 as that there was left unto us (in ourselves) no possibility of a recovery. As we had deprived ourselves of all power for a returnal, so God had not revealed any way of access unto himself; or that he could, under any consideration, be approached unto by sinners in peace. Not any work that God had made, not any attribute that he had revealed, could give the least light into such a dispensation.

The manifestation of grace and pardoning mercy, which is the only door of entrance into any such communion, is not committed unto any but unto him alone in whom it is, by whom that grace and mercy was purchased, through whom it is dispensed, who reveals it from the bosom of the Father. Hence this communion and fellowship with God is not in express terms mentioned in the Old Testament. The thing itself is found there; but the clear light of it, and the boldness of faith in it, is discovered in the gospel, and by the Spirit administered therein. By that Spirit we have this liberty, 2 Cor. iii. 17, 18. Abraham was the friend of God, Isa. xli. 8; David, a man after his own heart; Enoch walked with him, Gen. v. 22;-all enjoying this communion and fellowship for the substance of it. But the way into the holiest was not yet made manifest whilst the first tabernacle was standing, Heb. ix. 8. Though they had communion with God, yet they had not #apinoíav,—a boldness and confidence in that communion. This follows the entrance of our High Priest into the most holy place, Heb. iv. 16, x. 19. The vail also was upon them, that they had not λɛubɛpíav, freedom and liberty in their access

1

1 1 John i. 5; 2 Cor. vi. 14; Eph. v. 8; John v. 21; Matt. xxii. 32; Eph. ii. 1; 1 John iv. 8; Rom. viii. 7.

2" Magna hominis miseria est cum illo non esse, sine quo non potest esse.". August.

Eccles. vii. 29; Jer. xiii. 23; Acts iv. 12; Isa. xxxiii. 14.

John i. 18; Heb. x. 19-21. "Unus verusque Mediator per sacrificium pacis reconcilians nos Deo; unum cum illo manebat cui offerebat; unum in se fecit, pro quibus offerebat; unus ipse fuit, qui offerebat, et quod offerebat."-[Slightly changed from] August. de Trinit., iv. c. 14.