John Owen · 80 of 157

Sermon XIV. Luke xvi. 29. · Part 4

To conclude this answer to their first argument:— let us see if it may not be retorted upon themselves. If the church’s testimony give authority to the Scripture, as Papists say, then if a man deny the authority of the church, how will they prove it? For neither one part of the church can give credit to the other, when the whole is questioned; nor can the whole church give credit to itself; for then the whole church will be more known than itself. Or if we ask, How comes the church to believe the Scripture? is it by its own testimony? But surely it must believe it ere it can give testimony to it Or is it by the testimony of the Spirit? If so, is it by the public testimony of the Spirit? That cannot be; for, according to them, that is no other than the testimony of the church itself, the absurdity of which hath been already shown. Or if it be the private testimony of the Spirit; then they, by their own arguing, will run into enthusiasm, as well as we. And, indeed, they do plainly run into a circle, in their proving the Scripture by the authority of the church, and the authority of the church again by the Scripture; for with them the authority of the church is the motive or argument, whereby they prove the divine authority of the Scripture, and that again is the motive or argument, by which they prove the authority of the church. And so both the church and the Scripture are more known than each other, and yet less, too: more known, because they prove each other; and less known, because they are proved by each other. Here they are themselves in a noose. But it is no matter; the pope’s omnipotency can easily break it, or the church’s authority make her logic canonical, though all the Aristotles in the world should make it apocryphal!

Object. II. “It is necessary for us, in religion, to have the canon of Scripture certain: but this we cannot have, otherwise than by the church; because its authority is most certain, and the only one which is sufficient, to remove all doubts concerning the divineness of the Scripture out of our minds; both because God speaks by the church, and because the church best knows the Scripture. She is Christ’s bride, and therefore best knows the voice of the Bridegroom; she hath the Spirit of Christ, and therefore can best judge of his word and the style of it.”

Ans. We deny that the canon of the Scripture cannot be known but by the church, and the contrary hath been already proved: the Scripture hath been owned and received where no such judgment of the church hath been. And it is as false, that the authority of the church is the greatest and most certain; for that of the Scripture, upon which the church and her authority depend, is above it. God speaks in the Scripture, and by it teacheth the church herself; and therefore his authority in the Scripture is greater, — the authority of him that teacheth, than of those by whom he teacheth: as the authority of a king in his laws, is greater than that of an officer that proclaims them. A king may, by his council or judges, acquaint his subjects with his laws; but will it therefore follow, because he speaks his mind, which is in those laws, by such officers, that their authority is greater than that of those laws themselves? God speaks by the church (the true church, we mean); but he speaks nothing by her but what he speaks in the Scripture, which she doth only ministerially declare to us: and therefore the authority of God and his law is above hers, who, though she publish, yet did not make it, but is herself subject to it, and by that law only stands obliged to publish it to others. And for what they say of the church’s ability to judge of the Scripture, we answer, that she cannot judge of the style of the Scripture otherwise than by the help of the Spirit, and by the same private Christians may judge too; and there be no means whereby the church can know the Scripture to be the word of God, but particular believers may know it by the same. And if the church’s authority be so great, in our adversaries’ opinion, because she can so well judge of the style of the Scripture, how much greater is that of the Scripture, which is able, by its style, to manifest itself to the church!

Except. “But,” say they, “we do not know the voice of Christ in the Scripture but by the church; therefore her authority is greater.”

Ans. This is both false and inconsequent: false, for it hath been sufficiently evinced that the voice of Christ may be otherwise known, and hath been, too; inconsequent, in that it follows not that the authority of the church is therefore greater than that of the Scripture. John Baptist directed many to Christ: and suppose, without his direction of them and witnessing to Christ, they had never come to him, will it thence follow that John’s authority was greater than Christ’s? The church, we grant, may be a mean whereby many are brought to the belief of the Scripture, who yet, afterward, do believe upon better grounds, as being persuaded by the word itself.

Object. III. “We can no otherwise know the Scripture to be the word of God, than as we know what books are canonical, and what not — what were written by inspired men, and what were not; but this we can know only by the authority of the church. This is proved, because some books which at first were not received as canonical, the church did afterwards receive, as Ecclesiasticus, Tobit, Susanna, the books of Maccabees, etc.; the Epistle to the Hebrews, the second of Peter, second and third of John, and the Revelation. And books which are not canonical, are therefore not canonical because the church would not allow them as such; namely, the Revelation of Paul, the Gospel of Peter, Thomas, Matthias, etc. And, lastly, some books written by prophets and apostles are not canonical, because the church hath not determined that they are so.”

Ans. To let pass what a learned Protestant largely proves, — namely, that it is possible to know the Scripture to be the word of God, and yet not know which books are particularly canonical and written by inspired penmen, — that it may be known that the doctrine contained in those books is of God, though it be not known whether it were written by such as were immediately inspired themselves, or had it from those that were, — in the primitive times, some not only good men, but churches too, did deny some of those books to be canonical which we now generally receive; and yet they did receive the word of God, and the doctrine contained in those books, though they questioned whether those books themselves were written by such as were immediately inspired or not. And do not the Papists themselves tell us, that the canon of the Scripture was not established for a long time after the apostles’ days, till it might be done by general councils? And yet, surely the church did in the meantime own the word of God, and know the voice of Christ.

We say, then, that it may be known which books are canonical, and which are not, otherwise than by the church; for the church herself knows them otherwise than by herself, or her own authority. When she declares them to be canonical, she believes them to be canonical; and her believing them to be canonical is antecedent to her declaring them to be so. She must learn herself, before she can teach others: she believes them, therefore, to be canonical, because she sees the stamp of God upon them, and that they are such as can be of none but God. The same way, likewise, private believers may know them. And when the church sees this stamp of God upon a book, she thence concludes it to be divine, and then declares it to be so.

Except. “But how, then, comes it to pass, that some books of canonical Scripture were not so soon received as others, if all have such an impress of divinity upon them?”

Ans. I answer, that these notes of divinity, which are sufficient in all the several books of Scripture to demonstrate them to be of God, yet may be more clear and illustrious in some than in others; as God’s power and wisdom may be more apparent and conspicuous in some of his works than in others of them. Or else it may be from the different degrees of illumination afforded to different persons, and in different ages. When some doubted of some books of Scripture, all did not; and they that did not, had a greater measure of the Spirit, as to that at least, than others had.

Now, to their particular proofs of the minor proposition in their arguments, we answer particularly, —

1. That those books annexed by the Papists to the Old Testament, and called by them “deutero-canonical,” and by us no better still than “apocryphal,” such as the books of Maccabees, Esdras, Tobit, etc., never were received into the canon by the ancient church, nor can they produce the decree of any one ancient council wherein they were owned; as for modern councils, we matter them not. They say that these books were doubted of at first, and afterward received. Belike, then, the church at first did not know them to be the word of God; and if she be the bride of Christ, who best of all knows the Bridegroom’s voice, how came she for so long time not to know it? Here, certainly, in spite of infallibility, the church must be in an error; for if she doubted of the divinity of these books, when yet they were really divine, she erred in so doubting; and if she did know them to be of God, and yet did not receive them, she was more than erroneous; that is, she was plainly rebellious. As for the Epistle to the Hebrews, the second of Peter, and those others which we all own as canonical, though some particular persons or churches might doubt of their authenticness, yet it doth not appear that all ever did. Some of the Papists themselves confess that the Epistle to the Hebrews was generally acknowledged, unless by two or three of the Latin fathers; and Jerome reckons both that and the Revelation as generally acknowledged for canonical. However, when these books were owned as canonical, it was not on the bare authority of the church. For how came the church herself to acknowledge them? How came she to know that they were written by inspiration? Did she believe it on her own credit? or did she not rather receive them as canonical because she found them canonical, perceiving the stamp of God upon them? And surely the same reason might make us receive them, though the church had not testified concerning them.

2. To the second thing they allege concerning the Revelation of Paul, the Gospel of Peter, etc., or any book written by philosophers or by heretics, I answer, that if the church did reject them, she did do but her duty; and it will not follow from her rejecting them, that there was no other way of knowing them not to be canonical, beside the church’s disowning them. For upon what grounds did the church disown them? upon her own authority? Then she rejected them, because she rejected them! — judged them not to be canonical, because she judged them not to be canonical! If she did disown them, because she saw not that dignity and excellency in them which she saw in the books of the Old and New Testament, and which might persuade that they were of God; surely, then, it was not merely the church’s authority which made them not to be canonical; — and on the same grounds that the church rejected those books we likewise may do it. Sure I am, Eusebius reckons those books not only “as forged,” but as something worse, — that is, “absurd and impious.”

3. When they say that “some writings of the prophets and apostles themselves are not canonical, — and therefore not so, because not acknowledged by the church to be so, — I answer, that some things the prophets and apostles might write as private men, and not by the inspiration and special direction of the Holy Ghost; and such never were to be received into the canon of the Scripture, nor were written with any intent that they should. But those things which they wrote as prophets and as apostles, by the immediate inspiration and special direction of the Spirit, and for this end, that they might be the rule of the saints’ faith, were all received into the canon. If they deny this, let them produce any such writing of prophets or apostles not yet received as canonical For what they say, out of 1 Chron. xxix. 29, of the writings of Samuel, Nathan, and Gad, how will they ever make it evident that they were other than the books of Samuel, written partly by himself while he lived, and partly by Gad and Nathan after his death? And so, likewise, 2 Chron. ix. 29, the writing of Nathan, Ahijah, and Iddo; and 2 Chron. xiii. 22, Iddo again; 2 Chron. xx. 34, Jehu: how will they ever prove them to be other than what we have in the books of Kings? It is true, too, that mention is made of some writings of Solomon which are not in the canon; but how will it appear that they ever ought to be there, or were ever written for that purpose? As for any writings of the apostles which are not in the Scripture, the chief insisted on is the Epistle (as they would have it) of Paul to the Laodiceans, mentioned Col. iv. 16; which we deny to have been written by Paul, nor will the words enforce any such thing: “the epistle from Laodicea” is one thing, and “to Laodicea” another. It is most likely to have been some letter written by the Laodiceans to Paul, in which there being some things that concerned the Colossians, the apostle adviseth them to read that epistle. Jerome saith of this epistle, that “some do read it as one of Paul’s; but it is generally rejected. And for other books which they mention, they have been, as generally, disowned by the church as fictitious, and not written by the authors whose names they bear. The same father cashiers several of them together that went under the name of Peter, “as being all apocryphal.”

Object. IV. “We cannot confute heretics who deny the Scripture, or part of it, but by the authority of the Catholic Church, which receives it.”

Ans. Those heretics that will acknowledge the church, may be confuted by its authority, but not have faith wrought in them: they may have their mouths stopped, but not their minds enlightened, by it. And though we may make use of the authority of the church with such, yet not as the chief, and much less only, argument to persuade them of the divinity of the Scripture. But even by the same way whereby believers are persuaded of it, may heretics be persuaded too. And if we meet with such heretics as pay no more reverence to the church than to the Scripture, we are in a fine case if we have no other way of dealing with them but by urging the authority of the church: surely they that deny the divinity of the one will not stick to deride the testimony of the other.

Object. V. To pass by other testimonies [which] they cite out of the ancients, one they mainly triumph in, — that saying of Austin, that he had not believed the gospel had not the authority of the church moved him to it.

Ans. Austin speaks, when converted and orthodox, of himself as formerly a Manichee; and shows that he had then been moved by the authority of the church to receive the gospel. When he was a Manichee he was a heretic, not a heathen, and so might have some esteem for the church; or if he had no respect for the church as the church, yet he might — even by the confession of Papists themselves, so far as he saw the consent of so many nations, and the prescription of so long time, and other like arguments in the church, to induce him reverence it.

V. Application:—

Use I. From what hath been spoken, we may conclude, —

1. The mischief and danger of Popery as to this particular doctrine. How dishonourable and injurious to God is this doctrine of the Papists, and how destructive to religion!

(1.) How dishonourable to God, for the credit of his word to depend upon the testimony of men, and not to be able of itself to discover its author!

1st. A dishonour it is to his wisdom, if he could not otherwise assure men of the divine original of the Scripture, than by having men bear witness to it; if he knew no other way of certifying us of his will, and making known his laws to us, but by the help of our fellow-creatures, who, as well as we, are subject to those laws. Can God make “the heavens declare his glory,” and cannot he make the Scripture do it? Ps. xix. 1. Can he make himself “known by the judgments which he executes,” and not by the statutes he establisheth? Ps. ix. 16. Can he show forth his wisdom, power, and goodness by the things he doeth, and not by the things he speaks; and so make his works praise him, but not his word? Ps. cxlv. 10. Nay, can en so write, so speak, as thereby to discover themselves, and what wisdom, or knowledge, or skill they have; and cannot God do as much? Is God less wise and able than they are; or is he wise in some things, and not in others? How came “the Spirit of the Lord” to be thus “straitened,” Mic. ii. 7, as to have but this one way of making known the word to us; and that such an one as he must be beholden to his creatures for it? It is certain that formerly he had other ways; and why hath he not now? How comes he to be less wise than he was? Surely, if there be “no variableness” in God, “nor shadow of turning,” James i. 17, he must be as unchangeable in his wisdom as in any other attribute, and there can be no diminution of it.

2d. If God can otherwise make known the divineness of his word, than by the testimony of the church, and yet will not, it looks (to say no worse) very like a reflection upon his goodness, to leave men a more uncertain way of coming to the knowledge of his will and their duty, when he could give them a more sure one, — to leave his people no better helps against their weakness and doubtings, than the uncertain authority of a man, or a company of men, who may as easily be deceived in the testimony they give, as others may in the faith they yield to it. And if God did, formerly, give his people a better and more sure foundation for their faith than the authority of mere men, weak men, fallible men (as hath been proved), how comes his goodness to fail now, and to be less to saints under the gospel, than to those under the law, or the patriarchs before it?

3d. This doctrine of the Romanists greatly derogates from God’s sovereignty. It degrades his authority, and lifts up the church into his place; it doth worse than make princes go on foot, and servants ride on horses, Eccles. x. 7. If what the Papists teach in this point be true, the Holy Ghost is in a worse condition than his apostle was, who needed not “letters of commendation” to or from the churches, 2 Cor. iii. 1; he must be fain to canvass for the votes of men, or seek their testimonials; God himself cannot establish his laws without the church’s leave; Jesus Christ shall not be King of saints, — not sway his sceptre nor rule his house, without the good-liking of the pope and council. What is this but what was said of old? — “Nisi homini Deus placuerit, Deus non erit;” — “God must be concerned to please men,” at least the Papists: “for if he doth not, they know how to be quit with him; for then he shall not exercise his authority over them,” — not bind their consciences, not command their faith, not prescribe them their duty, not govern their lives: the church will not give their approbation to his laws, and so he shall not be their Sovereign, he shall not be their God. What can be more injurious to God’s supremacy than this doctrine, which subjects the authority of God in his word to the pleasure of his creatures? What sovereign prince upon earth will endure to be so dealt with, — to have the authority of his laws suspended upon the testimony of those that publish them, of those that are themselves subject to them? I dare say, the pope scorns to have it said, that his decretals have their force from him that divulgeth them, or his bulls from him that posts them up. He would not endure, if he sent out his orders to a church or council, that they should sit upon them, and subject them to their judgment, and approve or disallow of them as they saw fit; he would expect, that they should be received and submitted to, upon the account of his stamp upon them, and seal annexed to them. Why may not the Scripture be allowed as much, which hath God’s stamp so fairly impressed on it, and had the seal of so many miracles to confirm it?

(2.) This doctrine of the Papists is prejudicial, indeed destructive, to Christian religion. It leaves us only the name of Christianity, and no more. What is all religion, if God be not the author of it and, if the Papists say true, we can never be sure, that God is the author of that which we call Christian. This one doctrine of the Romish synagogue puts us into a worse condition than the Jewish one is in; which hath some foundation for its faith and worship, whereas this leaves none at all for ours. It is, in a word, most perniciously contrary to, and destructive of, a Christian faith, and comfort, and obedience, all at once:—

1st. It is destructive to our faith. It leaves us no firm footing for it, when it must be first founded upon, and lastly resolved into, the authority of men; and we can never know the Scripture to be the word of God, without either the concurring votes of all the Christian world to assure us of it, or at least the definitive sentence of a pope or council, and have no better assurance of its being divine than their say-so. What can ruin our faith, if the undermining of it do not? and what is it to undermine it, if this be not? It takes away the very foundation of it; and, instead of the infallible veracity of the God of truth, puts us off with the uncertain testimony of, at least, a company of fallible men, who may every one of them be deceived; and therefore so may we too, for company, if we rely on their authority. Indeed, it leaves us little (if any at all) more certainty for our religion than the Turks have for theirs; for why may not they as well require us to believe, that God speaks to us in the Alkoran, because they say he doth, as the Papists require us to believe he speaks to us in the Scripture, merely because the pope or council says so? nay, how little difference doth this cursed doctrine make between the great mysteries of the gospel, the articles of our faith, and the ridiculous fables of the rabbins, or abominations of Mohammed! For if some writings are not canonical Scripture, merely because the church (that is, pope or council) hath not canonized them, and some are, because it hath, — the Acts of Peter and the Revelation of Paul are not the word of God, because the church would not so far dignify them; and the Epistles of Peter and Paul are therefore of divine authority, because it so seemed good to the church to determine, — why might not the same church, if she had been so pleased, have added the Talmud to the Scripture, ay, and the Alkoran too? And they cannot say, it is because these books contain not only innumerable fopperies, but notorious lies, unless they will eat their own words, and recede from one of their chiefest arguments; namely, that the apocryphal books they themselves do not receive are therefore only not canonical, because the church hath not received them, when the rest are, because she hath.

2d. It is as destructive to our comfort. When our great comfort proceeds from our faith, such as the one is, so will the other be too; an ill-grounded faith can never produce a well-grounded comfort: the foundation being shaken, the building must needs totter. What will become of that “comfort of the Scripture” the apostle speaks of, Rom. xv. 4, — that “joy and peace in believing,” verse 13, — that hope in God’s word David mentions, Ps. cxix. 81, cxxx. 5, — if we can no otherwise be sure that it is God’s word, but only because men tell us it is so? How will our hope and comfort fail us, and our hearts fail us, when we come to consider, that that testimony of man, which is the ground of our faith, and therefore of our comfort, for aught we know, will (sure enough may) fail us! How should we stand, if our foundation sink under us? If the rain should descend, and the floods come, and the winds blow, and beat upon us, what shelter, what fence should we have? How great would our fall be! Matt. vii. 27. If temptations should arise, and assault and shake our faith, how should we maintain our comforts? Would it not be sad for us, or any of us, to say within ourselves, “I have ventured my soul and its eternal welfare upon the Scripture, and the promises I there find; but how do I know that this Scripture is the word of God? How do I know I am not mistaken? Am I as sure I am not deceived as I am certain of being miserable if I be? Here is, indeed, a company of men that call themselves “the church;” but that is a hard word; I never meet it anywhere but in their mouths, and in this book which they have put into my hands; and yet these are the only men that tell me it is the word of God. But what reason have I to believe them? They say, indeed, they are infallible, and cannot be deceived; but how shall I know that? They say the Scripture says so. Suppose it doth, what know I but they make it say so, and the Scripture and they are agreed together to gratify one another, and speak for one another? I see not that they are the church unless the Scripture makes them so; and yet they tell me, that the Scripture is not the word of God to me unless they make it so. I know no authority they have to bind me to believe them, but what this book gives them; and they know none it hath to bind me to believe it, but what they give it. And thus I am quite at a loss, if either this thing called “the church” be not honest, but will cheat me; or be not infallible, but may deceive me. How vain, then, and flattering have all my hopes been hitherto! how uncertain my faith, how deceitful my joys and comforts! Farewell “glory, and honour, and peace!” Farewell “life and immortality!” Farewell “the inheritance of the saints,” and the “crown of righteousness!” Fine things, if I knew where to have them! Rom. v. 10; 2 Tim. i. 10; Col. i. 12; 2 Tim. iv. 8. How would you like this, Christians? Do ye not even tremble at the thoughts of such dismal temptations? What think you, then, of the religion of the Papists, which exposeth all that embrace it to such uncertainties? It is no wonder they allow no certainty of salvation to believers, when they leave them at so great uncertainties for the very foundation of their faith.

3d. It is as destructive to our obedience as to either of the other. Gospel obedience is the fruit of faith; and therefore such as is the faith we have, such will be the obedience we yield. If our faith be not right, our obedience can be no better. A human faith is not sufficient to found our duty to God upon; and that obedience which proceeds only from such a faith, will neither be acceptable to God nor available to us. And yet such is the faith, and no higher, which causeth our obedience, if it be grounded only, or firstly, in the testimony of man, and resolved into it. “Without faith it is impossible to please God,” Heb. xi. 6; and that faith, surely, is a divine faith, such as rests on God’s own authority. But if we believe the Scripture to be of God only because men say it is, that faith cannot be divine; nor, therefore, the obedience which flows from it acceptable. In this case, the same testimony of the church, which would be the foundation of our faith, would likewise be the cause of our obedience. We should believe duty to be duty with the same kind of faith with which we believed the command of it to be of God, and that would be no other than men’s telling us that it is; and so the result of all would be, that we must obey God, because they tell us he commands us to obey him; and so we first show a respect to men in believing, before we show any to God in obeying him. And then, not only we must be beholden to the church for the knowledge we have of our duty, but God must be beholden to her too for our performing of it.