A53696:118
Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews
Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews also concerning the Messiah wherein the promises concerning him to be a spiritual redeemer of mankind are explained and vindicated, his coming and accomplishment of his work according to the promises is proved and confirmed, the person, or who he is, is declared, the whole economy of the mosaical law, rites, worship, and sacrifice is explained : and in all the doctrine of the person, office, and work of the Messiah is opened, the nature and demerit of the first sin is unfolded, the opinions and traditions of the ancient and modern Jews are examined, their objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered, the time of the coming of the Messiah is stated, and the great fundamental truths of the Gospel vindicated : with an exposition and discourses on the two first chapters of the said epistle to the Hebrews / by J. Owen ...Exercitations on the Epistle to the Hebrews also concerning the Messiah wherein the promises concerning him to be a spiritual redeemer of mankind are explained and vindicated, his coming and accomplishment of his work according to the promises is proved and confirmed, the person, or who he is, is declared, the whole oeconomy of the mosaical law, rites, worship, and sacrifice is explained : and in all the doctrine of the person, office, and work of the Messiah is opened, the nature and demerit of the first sin is unfolded, the opinions and traditions of the antient and modern Jews are examined, their objections against the Lord Christ and the Gospel are answered, the time of the coming of the Messiah is stated, and the great fundamental truths of the Gospel vindicated : with an exposition and discourses on the two first chapters of the said epistle to the Hebrews / by J. Owen ...
London: printed by Robert White for Nathaniel Ponder, 1668
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
St. Paul it is by whom we affirm this Epistle to be written. It is acknowledged that § 2 this was so highly questioned of Old, that Origen after the examination of it concludes,1 [Greek or Hebrew]; What is the very Truth in this matter God only knows. However he acknowledgeth that [Greek or Hebrew], the Ancients, owned it to be written by Paul, and that he says not without good Reason, whereas the ascription of it unto any other, he assigns unto a bare report. It may not then be expected, that now after so long a season, the Truth of our Assertion should be so manifestly evinced, as to give absolute satisfaction unto all; (which is a vain thing for any man to aim at in a Subject wherein men suppose that they have a liberty of thinking what they please) yet I doubt not but that it will appear not only highly probable, but so full of Evidence in comparison of any other Opinion that is, or hath been promoted in competition with it, as that some kind of blameable pertinaciousness may be made to appear in its refusal. Now the whole of what I shall offer in the proof of it may be reduced unto these six Heads. (1.) The manifest failure of all them who have endeavoured to assign it unto any other Penman. (2.) The insufficiency of the Arguments insisted on to disprove our Assertion. (3.) Testimony given unto it in other Scriptures. (4.) Considerations taken from the Writing it self, compared with other acknowledged Writings of the same Author. (5.) The general suffrage of Antiquity, or Ecclesiastical Tradition. (6.) Reasons taken from sundry Circumstances relating unto the Epistle its self. Now as all these Evidences are not of the same nature, nor of equal force, so some of them will be found very cogent, and all of them together very sufficient to free our Assertion from just Question or Exception.
St. Paul it is by whom we affirm this Epistle to be written. It is acknowledged that § 2 this was so highly questioned of Old, that Origen after the examination of it concludes,1 〈non-Latin alphabet〉; What is the very Truth in this matter God only knows. However he acknowledgeth that 〈non-Latin alphabet〉, the Antients, owned it to be written by Paul, and that he sayes not without good Reason, whereas the ascription of it unto any other, he assigns unto a bare report. It may not then be expected, that now after so long a season, the Truth of our Assertion should be so manifestly evinced, as to give absolute satisfaction unto all; (which is a vain thing for any man to aim at in a Subject wherein men suppose that they have a liberty of thinking what they please) yet I doubt not but that it will appear not only highly probable, but so full of Evidence in comparison of any other Opinion that is, or hath been promoted in competition with it, as that some kind of blameable pertinaciousness may be made to appear in its refusal. Now the whole of what I shall offer in the proof of it may be reduced unto these six Heads. (1.) The manifest failure of all them who have endeavoured to assign it unto any other Penman. (2.) The insufficiency of the Arguments insisted on to disprove our Assertion. (3.) Testimony given unto it in other Scriptures. (4.) Considerations taken from the Writing it self, compared with other acknowledged Writings of the same Author. (5.) The general suffrage of Antiquity, or Ecclesiastical Tradition. (6.) Reasons taken from sundry Circumstances relating unto the Epistle its self. Now as all these Evidences are not of the same nature, nor of equal force, so some of them will be found very cogent, and all of them together very sufficient to free our Assertion from just Question or Exception.