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Gospel grounds and
evidences of the faith of God's elect
by John Owen
Prefatory note
This treatise, entitled Gospel Grounds and Evidences of the Faith of
God's Elect," was given to the world in 1695. The remainder of the title
is scarcely applicable as a correct designation of the leading divisions
of the work. and may, perhaps, have been added by those who had the
charge of publishing it. In the preface by Isaac Chauncey, the reader is
assured that the treatise is the production of Dr Owen. It bears internal
evidence of the fact, and that he wrote it, with a view to publication.
When he waives the formal discussion of some topics connected with his
subject, on the ground that he had attempted the discussion of them "in
other writings," it seems a just inference that it had been his intention
to publish the treatise, though no explanation has transpired why it was
withheld from the press for a period of twelve years after his death. The
circumstance is of some moment, as showing that the work, though
posthumous, may be held to contain the deliberate and matured judgement
of the author on the question of which it treats.
His object is not to illustrate the common evidences of genuine
religion, or the grounds on which we may conclude a man to be sincere in
his religious profession. It is an inquiry rather into the evidences on
which the elect of God, in any process of self-scrutiny, may ascertain
the reality of their own faith. Ascribing to faith all the importance
which is due to it as the instrumental cause of justification, the author
suspends the entire question of the genuineness of conversion upon the
existence of a fourfold development or operation of that gracious
principle in the hearts of all who may be anxious to discover whether
they have been really quickened and born of God.
After stating the nature of saving faith, and after a brief exhibition
of the gospel as the divine method for the salvation of sinners through
the merits of Christ, he proceeds to "the trial of faith," as the main
object of the treatise. In the first place, he shows that faith, if
genuine, includes or denotes implicit approbation of "God's way of saving
sinners," in opposition to all schemes of merely human invention for our
spiritual deliverance. This approbation of the divine plan for our
redemption, in which he holds that the very essence and life of faith
consist, is founded on the conviction; first, That the salvation revealed
in the gospel is in harmony with the perfections and majesty of the
divine character; secondly, That it is suited to tho views, desires, and
aspirations of a soul enlightened by grace; and, thirdly, That it as
effectually honours the moral law as if it had been completely fulfilled
in the personal obedience of the saints.
Secondly, Faith is shown to imply an approbation of the will of God in
requiring of us holiness and obedience, to the full measure of the
perfection and spirituality demanded of us in the moral law. He appeals,
in illustration of the obedience required, to the light of nature, and to
the knowledge of good and evil which men enjoy through the law; but
proves that without the light of saving faith there can be no adequate
conception of the holiness required by the divine will, urging an acute
distinction, which might rank as a separate contribution to the doctrine
of conscience, and according to which its authority in determining the
moral character of an action by no means implies the love of what is
good, and the hatred of what is evil. The function of conscience he views
is exclusively judicial, and shows that the motive which prompts to
action must spring from other considerations. Two grounds are assigned on
which faith approves of the holiness required of us:--the consistency of
such a demand with the perfection of the divine nature; and its fitness,
when full compliance is yielded with it, to advance us to the utmost
perfection of which our own nature is capable.
Thirdly, Evidence of genuine faith is also afforded when the mind
endeavours to keep itself in the due exercise of the grace of faith, inn
the public and private ordinances of divine worship. If faith is not
cultivated in the worship of God, all devotion is corrupted into the
empty forms of superstition, as in the ritual of Popery; or becomes the
mere wildfire of fanaticism, or degenerates into the rationalism which
ignores all worship instituted by the authority of revelation. Judicious
directions follow as to the best method of preserving faith in vivid
exercise while we are engaged in the various acts of devotion.
Fourthly, The last evidence specified of true faith is the evangelical
repentance which it produces. Weanedness from the world, the lively
remembrance of sin, a becoming intensity of godly sorrow on account of
it, nd other spiritual duties, are described as essential elements in the
penitential feelings and exercises of those who really believe unto
salvation.
The treatise indicates an acquaintance with the true philosophy of
human nature, thorough knowledge of the world, and of man individually,
as he takes the hue of his character from surrounding objects and social
influences, and that depth of Christian experience in which our author
has perhaps been rarely excelled. He shines in the anatomy of human
motives; and while he goes deeply into the subjective workings of faith,
he is always keenly alive to the objective realities of evangelical
truth. The Christian reader will find this treatise an admirable manual
for self-examination.--Ed.
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