The Works of John Owen

The links below are PDF copies of the William H. Goold edition of The Works of John Owen originally published in 1850-1853 by Johnstone & Hunter. These volumes, are the same volumes that are being published and sold today by The Banner of Truth Trust. I encourage you to buy these books in the form of a hard copy. Nothing can substitute reading a real book. But, since this edition is public domain and the downloads are free, this is the next best thing.

To download, right click and then select “save link as…” Then start reading! Enjoy!

The Works of John Owen, Volume 1
The Glory of Christ
In Volume 1, Andrew Thomson’s excellent biography sympathetically traces his life and experience from his birth at Stadhampton, though his pastoral ministries in Fordham and Coggeshall, his years of public service as chaplain at Cromwell and vice-chancellor of Oxford University, until his last days as a preacher and pastor in London. Also included in this volume are some of his early works, including two pieces that show his intense pastoral concern: Meditations and Discourses on the Person of Christ and Meditations and Discourses on the Glory of Christ. Also included are Two Short Catechisms.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 2 
Communion with God
One of John Owen’s greatest experimental works forms the bulk of Volume 2 of his works. On Communion with God is rich with sound Bible expositions and also includes a fresh translation of The Song of Solomon. It is a heartwarming treatise which drives one to seek the face of “God in three Persons” and to enjoy the rich fare of His “banqueting house.” For those seeking assurance of their salvation it is a particularly valuable cordial.
Also includes Owen’s Vindication of the Doctrine of the Trinity.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 3 
 The Holy Spirit 
Owen on the Holy Spirit, as the work contained in this volume has generally been called, is perhaps one of the best known and most highly esteemed of Owen’s treatises — his masterpiece. The book is divided into five sections. The first deals with the name, nature, personality, and the mission of the Holy Spirit; the second, with the operations of the holy spirit under the Old Testament; the third, with the Spirit’s work under the New Testament; the fourth, with the work of the spirit in sanctification; and the fifth, with the necessity of holiness and obedience.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 4 
The Reason of Faith
This volume contains the second part of Owen’s extensive and valuable work on the Holy Spirit. His Discourse on the Holy Spirit, which makes up the whole of volume 3, was published in 1674. Uncertain that he would be able to finish all he planned to do on the subject, Owen was led to publish his work in seperate treatises. The treatises which make up this volume cover in the author’s words ‘the work of the Holy Spirit as the Spirit of illumination, of supplicaiton, of consolation and as the immediate author of all spiritual offices and gifts, extraordinary and ordinary’.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 5 
 Faith and Its Evidences
Owen’s masterly account of justification by faith, first printed in 1677, is distinguished from the other two classical 17th-century English treatises on this subject (those of Downame and Davenant) by its non-speculative, non-scholastic character and its dominating pastoral concern. The resurgent Roman challenge, and current Protestant confusion, obliged Owen to write controversially at certain points, but the core of his discourse is straight forward biblical exposition, massive, fresh, compelling and practical.
Also includes Evidences of the Faith of God’s Elect.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 6 
Temptation and Sin 
John Owen was essentially a pastoral theologian, and in his best writings his pastoral concern and acute doctrinal instinct are inseparable. Even at his most polemical his motivation is always the defense of the flock of God from the onslaught of false doctrine. In the four works contained in this volume we have Owen at his very best: On the Mortification of Sin, Temptation, Indwelling Sin, and Exposition of Psalm 130

The Works of John Owen, Volume 7 
Sin & Grace
Owen shines in this second volume dedicated to more “practical” subjects. (Volumes 6 through 9 are dedicated thus.) Includes The Nature and Causes of Apostasy, Spiritual-Mindedness, and The Dominion of Sin and Grace.
Owen’s classic work On Spiritual Mindedness should be read often…one of the greatest works of devotional literature ever penned. It is also a great place to start if you are new to reading Owen.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 8 
Sermons to the Nations
This volume contains 16 sermons, all published during Owen’s lifetime. While they are eminently biblical in character and bristling with scriptural reference, they are at the same time of historical importance.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 9 
Sermons to the Church
This volume contains 83 sermons, including 14 which resolve “Practical Cases of Conscience” and 25 intended as preparation for the Lord’s Table. The remainder are on such subjects as “Gospel Charity”, “Christ’s Pastoral Care”, “The Duty of a Pastor”, and “The Excellancy of Christ.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 10 
The Death of Christ
In March 1642 John Owen’s first literary production was published; it dealt with the Atonement, a subject to which he was to return in several of his later works. This first treatise, entitled A Display of Arminianism is a simple comparison of the tenets of that system with the teaching of scripture. He later went on to pen what is arguably the definitive work on the extent of the atonement, The Death of Death in the Death of Christ. Both are included here, along with two other related works: The Death of Christ (a reply to Richard Baxter) and A Dissertation on Divine Justice.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 11 
Continuing in the Faith
The Doctrine of the Saints’ Perseverance Explained and Confirmed
Written to answer “Redemption Redeemed” by the Arminian, John Goodwin, the main treatise of this book contains a minute refutation of Goodwin’s views but nevertheless would, in the words of Andrew Thompson “be almost as complete were very part of it that refers Goodwin expunged, and undeniafroms the most masterly vindication of the perseverance of the saints in the English tongue.”

The Works of John Owen, Volume 12 
The Gospel Defended
In the 1650s historic Christianity in England was challenged by Socinianism. Owen was commissioned to write a refutation of this heretical system. He begins by tracing the history of Socinianism and goes on to deal with all the points of controversy. The Socinians’ views on Scripture, the divine nature and character, the person and the work of Christ, the Holy Spirit, the past and present condition of man, election and justification are all thoroughly examined.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 13 
Ministry and Fellowship
A perennial concern of John Owen throught his literary career was the subject of the Church. Thus it is not surprising that four of the sixteen volumes of his works are devoted to this field. This volume contains several of such works, and principally deals with the subject of the schism. The charge of schism was repeatedly brought against those who sought to reform the Church according Scripture — the heart of Puritanism.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 14 
True and False Religion
The year following the Restoration of Charles II, a Franciscan Friar, by the name of John Vincent Cane, published Fiat Lux, a plausible attempt to recommend Roman Catholicism as the remedy for the ills of religious and civil discord in Britain. As Owen himself observes, Cane and his co-religionists knew well the importance of striking while the iron was hot, for the times seemed ripe for the re-establishment of Roman Catholicism. This volume contains Owen’s response…

The Works of John Owen, Volume 15
Church Purity & Unity
Contains a number of Owen’s treatise’s on eccesiology:
Discourse Concerning Liturgies
Discourse concerning Evangelical Love, Church Peace, and Unity
Inquiry concerning Evangelical Churches
Instruction in the Worship of God.

The Works of John Owen, Volume 16 
The Church & The Bible
Contains Tracts on Excommunication, Chruch Censures, Baptism, On the Divine Original of the Scriptures, Posthumous Sermons, Indices