# Owen's vindication against the charge of mysticism



## Me Died Blue (Mar 26, 2006)

I'm currently going through Owen's _Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers_, and on the front page I was just now skimming over brief historical summaries of other works of his, and it is said that "Twenty years after its publication, _Of Communion with God_ provoked the scoffing remarks of a Rational ecclesiastic. In his reply, Owen vindicates himself from the various mystical sentiments that were ascribed to him." What is the work in which he does so? Since I'm probably going to read that book next, I'd like to know where to read his vindication as well.


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## crhoades (Mar 26, 2006)

So rational ecclesiastics were charging experiential Calvinits back in the day with mysticism...there's nothing new under the sun after all!


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## VirginiaHuguenot (Mar 26, 2006)

Here is Owen's A Vindication of some Passages in a Discourse concerning Communion with God.


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## Me Died Blue (Mar 27, 2006)

Thanks, Andrew!



> _Originally posted by joshua_
> Oh! Good ole http://www.zhurnal.ru. I can't believe you couldn't find it sooner, Chris!



If only it had been buried somewhere deep in the PB archives of the past...


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## Scott (Mar 27, 2006)

How is Owen's Mortitifcation book? I am thinking about picking that up.


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## Me Died Blue (Mar 28, 2006)

> _Originally posted by Scott_
> How is Owen's Mortitifcation book? I am thinking about picking that up.



It is excellent. I'm only yet in Chapter 3, but there is so much for the Christian's life packed into every part. Chapter 1 is essentially a brief exegesis (and _some_ application) of Romans 8:13, and in considering just that verse, it addresses the _certainty_ of the promised link between mortification and life, the means-end nature of that promise as opposed to a cause-effect link, it being promised only to those in Christ and the danger to the Gospel of trying to apply it otherwise, the Spirit's necessary work in the process, the essence of the flesh, how that relates to, is rooted in, and applies to the "deeds" of the flesh, and what it really means to mortify it. And that's just Chapter 1! 

In addition to Owen's pastoral wisdom and application, his wit and his deep grasp of sound theology, and his extensiveness and directness of logical explanation, what really gives the book so much life-giving meat is the vast amount of Scripture that constantly permeates every page, and fully governs, guides, tempers and elaborates on his entire discourse and all of his particular points.

Owen said in the prefaratory note to the reader that the work was the result of his promise to some people to make a treatise on _communion with God_, and since he had not yet written that work, he figured he would at least give the people a work on _variance with themselves_. And for taking up anew and always continuing that essential and rewarding part of our lives in Christ, I could hardly recommend the work more highly from what I have read so far.

Have you read any of Owen's other works yet? For me, this is the first one.


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## Scott (Mar 28, 2006)

I read most of his Biblical Theology. I will pick up Mortification.


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## Me Died Blue (Mar 28, 2006)

Make sure you don't get the Puritan Paperbacks version. I only say that since I personally had to figure out not to do that with other Puritan works the hard way! There is an edition of the unabridged version here.


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## turmeric (Mar 28, 2006)

What about _Sin and Temptation_?


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## Laura (Mar 28, 2006)

Mmm, I'm going through _Mortification_ with a friend right now, and it's my first Owen reading, too. He doesn't get practical enough for my tastes until chapter six, though I appreciated the precise defining of terms and introductory explanations that he attended to for the first five chapters.


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