John Owen, attributed to John Greenhill, c. 1668. Public domain. National Portrait Gallery, London, via Wikimedia Commons.

Exercise IV: On the Inner Light

John Owen
The Works of John Owen, Volume 16

Editorial Preface

In Exercise IV, he distinguishes the uncreated light of God, the remaining natural light of reason and conscience, and the saving illumination bestowed by Christ through the Holy Spirit. His controlling concern is not to oppose the Spirit’s inward work, but to deny that any inward impression possesses authority apart from, or equal to, the written Word. True illumination enables the believer to understand and obey Scripture; it never renders Scripture unnecessary.

Editorial Note: This Text Has Been Translated From Owen’s Latin. The Section Divisions And Theological Argument Have Been Retained. Greek Terms Are Accompanied By Transliteration. Obvious Typographical Errors Have Been Corrected Where The Intended Sense Was Clear.

Section 1

Concerning the acting lights, one must pray to that “Father” of lights from whom every good and perfect gift descends, so that it may shine in our hearts to provide the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, that being freed from the power of darkness, we may be rightly directed into the knowledge and worship of Him.

Section 2

There is a light uncreated and a created light. The uncreated light is God: “God is light,” 1 John 1:5; and light dwells inaccessible, 1 Timothy 6:16; also the Word, or the eternal Son of God, is called life, John 1:4, 5. This divine uncreated light, which is in God and which is absolutely said to be God, is the essential divine wisdom, holiness, intelligence, simplicity, goodness, and the native radiance or splendor by which God, supremely perfect, is gloriously self-sufficient, far removed from all ignorance, change, and injustice.

Section 3

Moreover, light is said to be God with respect to creatures, insofar as He alone is the source and author of all light to them and has always existed. “The LORD is my light,” Psalm 27:1; “The Word was the light of men,” John 1:4; “Light of the world,” John 8:12, that is, the source and origin of all true light. Just as He inhabits light with respect to His glorious essence, so with respect to us, light dwells with Him, Daniel 2:22, and from there it emanates according to the good pleasure of His will. Also, in Scripture, light is attributed to God in another sense; namely, not as an essential property of the divine nature and its infinitely shining majesty, nor as illuminating creatures, but as the effulgence and brightness of divine perfections which fall into rational knowledge and conception. “He covers Himself with light as with a garment,” Psalm 104:2; “And His brightness is like the light,” Habakkuk 3:4. Thus He once appeared in visions to Ezekiel, 1:27, 28; Daniel, 7:9–11, and others; and this differs not from the glory of God or the magnificent estimation of God’s excellences.

Section 4

Created light is either natural, sensible, and proper, or metaphorical. Concerning natural light, by which visible things are brought into sensory knowledge, nothing need be said here.

Section 5

Metaphorical light is twofold—of condition and of person. Light of condition is the celebrated state of any status with fame and glory. Thus the glory of the church and its prosperous affairs are called the light of the church, Isaiah 60:1, 3; the heavenly glory is “the inheritance of the saints in light,” Colossians 1:12; and the wicked will never enjoy light, Psalm 49:19.

Section 6

Real and personal light is either internal and subjective, or external and objective. This light, called so from the object as it regards the subject capable of internal light, is nothing else than truth itself, of whatever kind. The prophetic word is “a lamp shining in a dark place,” 2 Peter 1:19; God sends light and truth, Psalm 43:3, 4; or His shining and illuminating truth, for “the commandment is a lamp, and the teaching is light,” Proverbs 6:23.

Section 7

The internal light of the subject regards either the mind and intellect, or the will and affections. In the latter sense, “Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart,” Psalm 97:11; that is, the joy by which their pains are relieved. “Who has no light?” Isaiah 1:10; that is, one who lacks peace, joy, and consolation. When the Jews prevailed against Haman, Scripture says they obtained light and gladness (joy and glory), Esther 8:16. Grief and sorrows love darkness.

Section 8

But the light which properly regards the mind, considered generally, is the reasoning power or that faculty of understanding with which every rational creature is endowed. “If then the light that is in you is darkness, how great is the darkness!” says the Savior, Matthew 6:23. This light is the “vision of the mind,” as some ancients liked to call it, or “the eye of the soul,” as others, and “the eye of the mind.” The apostle writes that the minds of some are darkened, Ephesians 4:18; that is, their minds or faculties of understanding suffer blindness and ignorance—namely, with respect to those of whom he speaks. This light is common to all, but not equal in all. One surpasses another in wisdom: one is gifted with genius, another is dull and foolish; one is endowed with the most subtle acuteness of mind, another is destitute of all use and exercise of reason.

Section 9

This light or faculty of understanding—with respect to the object or things to be known and understood—is divided into that which is merely natural, by which natural things are perceived absolutely in their own nature with relation to their proximate end; that which concerns civil matters pertaining to this life lived among others in the world; and that which discerns spiritual things and all others in order to the supernatural, spiritual, and ultimate end. Only the latter is to be treated here. This internal spiritual light, or faculty of understanding spiritual things spiritually, in order to the ultimate end of the creature, has been and still is various according to its state.

Section 10

Since God created man whole or perfect (that state in which he was made, both as to the end for which he was created and in His own image), it is evident that he was endowed, by the gracious dispensation of the Creator, with that light, that knowledge, or the faculty of knowing and understanding, whereby he was able, in a salutary manner, to apprehend and rightly understand all those things which were in any way necessary for him to know or understand, so that he might be obedient to God according to His will, and thus ultimately attain to His enjoyment. There is no need here to discuss the fall of the first parents, the entrance of sin into the world, the loss of the state of innocence and the covenantal acceptance with God, the enmities established between God and man, or how man was punished by the loss of this primordial light.

Section 11

In that state, which they call the state of sin and loss of grace, blindness has overshadowed the light of the mind for all men, and moreover they are shrouded in darkness, so that both inwardly and outwardly, with respect to their ultimate end and the glory of God, they are mere darkness. For they themselves are not capable of understanding what God has revealed, so as to comprehend it in a salutary or spiritual manner; nor was the revelation of the divine will, which they had in the state of innocence, sufficient for those now established in sin to rightly know and worship God.

In the first respect, these are called darkness, as in John 1:5 and Ephesians 5:8. Their mind and understanding are said to be darkened (Ephesians 4:18), and it is affirmed that they cannot perceive spiritual things (1 Corinthians 2:14); indeed, they are described as dead, blind, deaf, and foolish, so that they cannot know or understand divine matters in the manner that is fitting, so that God’s glory or their own salvation may prevail, as the Holy Spirit everywhere declares.

In the second respect, it is asserted that they walk, sit, and exist in darkness, not knowing where they go. In both respects, Christ is the light of men; for since no one has ever seen the Father—that is, has had a clear understanding of His counsel or will concerning the salvation of sinners—the only begotten Son, who is in the bosom of the Father, has revealed Him to us (John 1:18).

Moreover, it is established that He did this in many ways and by many methods, bringing forth the truth previously hidden in the bosom of the Father into the light of men in various stages, up to the perfect day. First, through His Spirit in the prophets (1 Peter 1:11), who preceded His coming in the flesh, each in his own order and time from the ages (Luke 1:70), He [the Holy Spirit/Spirit of Christ speaking through the Prophets] revealed the Father with a doubtful sort of light, as a dawning day with the rising sun. Then, in His own person, He announced the gospel, preaching peace to those who were near and to those who were far off. Finally, with the rising sun of righteousness and healing under His wings, He poured out His Holy Spirit upon His apostles and other disciples, so that they might be made fit heralds of the new covenant and reveal the whole counsel of God, to provide the light of His knowledge for the salvation of all who would obey Him.

Thus, “the people who sat in darkness have seen a great light; those who sat in the region and shadow of death, upon them a light has dawned” (Matthew 4:16). “Life and immortality have been brought to light through the gospel” (2 Timothy 1:10).

Therefore, with respect to this exposition of the Father, or the revelation of His will concerning obedience and the salvation of sinners, we confess that Christ is the light of the world and of all men; not only because without Him no divine truth was ever revealed, but because that light shining in the Holy Scripture is sufficient to illuminate all men with saving light, to whom it has come by the providence of God. But more on this light has been discussed above.

Section 12

But since this is the blindness of the human mind, and thus the understanding is enveloped in darkness so that, although the divine word’s light shines around them on all sides, they are utterly unable to perceive anything spiritually or salutarily (John 1:5), Jesus Christ, the true light and life of men, by the power and mercy of His almighty Spirit, awakens those dead in sins, opens the eyes of the blind, grants the mind to know that true light, transfers them from the power of darkness into His marvelous light, and floods them with a new divine spiritual light by which they may know and perceive spiritual things in a spiritual manner, all to the glory of God and their own salvation.

Section 13

However, it is certain from countless testimonies of Scripture and the experience of all ages that Christ does not enlighten and beneficially illuminate all and every individual, but only certain ones, that is, the elect, with this divine light. Therefore, anyone who has ever dreamed otherwise must be blind and utterly devoid of all spiritual understanding.

Section 14

We acknowledge that certain sparks of that light which the first man obtained in the state of innocence from the law of his creation still shine in his descendants. For not only do many common notions and principles of truth remain fixed in the intellect, by whose power men can perceive some divine matters and morally discern between good and evil, but also, through the aid of conscience, they can foresee many duties with regard to the judgment of God, to whom they know themselves to be subject. Furthermore, this light is said to be increased and strengthened in all adults by the consideration of God’s works, both of creation and providence, which manifest His eternal power and divinity, and for some, through the preaching of the word. However, it is unnecessary here to engage in a more subtle discussion about how this light directs, stimulates, and impels the minds of men to render obedience to God, so that through it they become without excuse.

Section 15

But this light, flickering and not emerging from the most pernicious darkness, is that which our fanatical countrymen so greatly proclaim, and they set it up as some unknown god, or the horn of Amalthea, better than God; for—

1. They deny that this light is natural or ought to be called such; rather, they assert that it is from Christ and the Spirit of Christ, indeed that it is Christ himself, who is thus present to all men universally.
   
2. They say it is saving, of such a kind and efficacy that everyone who wishes to please God or obey Him according to His will must pay attention to it.
   
3. Sufficient for salvation, and possessing the same authority as the written Word of God, so that whoever duly attends to it and renders themselves obedient and submissive to its teaching (which is done by anyone who fulfills their duty, and all are bound under the penalty of eternal damnation to do so), needs no other light, neither an internal illuminating and guiding one, nor an external one revealing the divine will; that is, neither the Spirit illuminating within, nor Scripture teaching from without.
   
4. Finally, this light is Christ, who once was present in the prophets, apostles, and other writers of the divine word; so that by His power they can explain the will of God to us no less infallibly than the once θεόπνευστοι (theopneustoi) (God-breathed) writers.
   

Section 16

This, indeed, is the sum of the monstrous ravings of the fanatics concerning the inner light; they boast magnificently of it in the darkness, and in the light of men, loudly and vigorously proclaiming it, and solemnly cursing all those whom they perceive not to share with them in this same madness. But before we undertake to refute the sophistries by which they strive to establish their opinion, it is necessary that we briefly add and defend our own thesis, opposed to this most vain invention; this, however, is contained in the following propositions.

Section 17

1. The internal light, common to all, consisting in some knowledge of the principles of truth and the power of conscience, is natural, and must be so called; that is, it was bestowed upon human nature from the first creation and still flows from the very principles of nature itself: therefore, we affirm that this light is not mediated by Christ, who is the mediator of the new covenant, much less is it Christ himself.
   
2. However this light is considered, it is in no respect salutary, but in all divine matters, with regard to the ultimate end, it is mere darkness and blindness.
   
3. Therefore, it is not sufficient for salvation, neither subjectively, so that by its power one might spiritually perceive from elsewhere those things necessary for salvation; nor objectively, that is, it cannot reveal all those things necessary for salvation.
   
4. Christ has granted no salutary light to all and every individual under any consideration.
   
5. The use or purpose of no internal light, whatever it may be, even if it is saving, is that we should regard it as the guide of our way and rule; rather, it is granted graciously by God for this sole purpose, that by its power we may be able to perceive in a saving manner this rule and the mind of the Lord revealed in it.
   

We will indeed prove these propositions individually with one or another argument.

Section 18

As regards our first proposition, the arguments stand as follows:—

(1.) That to rational nature, and its participants, created for the manifestation of the glory of God through the performance of moral obedience, the power of the law of creation was due and was actually bestowed, and it has never been lost, this is natural to them: for by their very nature, assuming that God required obedience from them, they possessed it. I think no one will deny that this is the condition of this light. That it was originally bestowed upon man, the state of the first man, about which much has been said by many, proves this. Experience teaches that it has not actually been lost with respect to the event, whatever may be said about merit.

(2.) That which flows necessarily and infallibly from the principles of nature, unless in its operation it is hindered by some accident, is natural to all participants of that nature; for that which comes from the principles of nature is called natural. Now, this light is the native, proper, and inseparable power and efficacy of the mind and conscience; the eye is the sharpness of the mind. The Greeks call it Συντήρησιν; it is a natural habit by which the human intellect is born apt to give assent to the principles of moral operations; συνείδησις is the necessary judgment of a man about himself conforming to that habit. Therefore, if this light is not natural, neither the intellect, nor the mind, nor the conscience is natural to man.

Section 19

2. It is too evident that what is natural is not saving; for what are we by nature? “Children of wrath,” Ephesians 2:3; “Darkness,” chapter 5:8, John 1:5; “Dead in trespasses,” [Ephesians 2:1.] What is our mind? “Enmity against God,” Romans 8:7; “Flesh,” Galatians 5:16; “Darkened in understanding,” Ephesians 4:18. So that by its power we cannot perceive saving things, because they are spiritually discerned, 1 Corinthians 2:14. We are nothing else but flesh, John 3:6. And in that flesh dwells no good thing, Romans 7:18; nor can it do or act anything else but to desire against the Spirit, Galatians 5:17. Therefore, despite this light, it appears that all men are dead, blind, deaf, having a darkened mind and understanding, being themselves darkness, mere blindness, so that they need a new spirit, a new life, mind, understanding, and finally a new spiritual light which will illuminate their minds and hearts, so that they may rightly understand, know, and perceive the things of God (τὰ τοῦ Θεοῦ (ta tou Theou)), and duly render obedience to the will of God. It is clear that this light is not saving.
   

Section 20

3. By the same argument, it is proven that this light is not sufficient for salvation, namely because it is not saving; indeed, it has sufficiency for ἀναπολογησία (anapologēsia) (apology or defense), but not for salvation, because no one can know spiritual things spiritually by its power. Furthermore, God does nothing in vain, especially in the greatest matters of the new covenant, acquired through the blood of His Son. Now, if this light were subjectively sufficient for salvation, then what need would there be for the illumination of the Holy Spirit, for the renewal of the mind, for the gift of a new understanding, for the almighty and effective irradiation of hearts with the knowledge of God in the face of Jesus Christ? What need would there be for the removal of vanity, for the healing of darkness and blindness, for the opening of the eyes? And finally, what need would there be for the gospel? Since this one internal light is common to all and can easily supply the place of all.
   

Furthermore: since there is such a guiding principle shining within, let us see whether it behaves better and more rightly with respect to the revelation of those things which ought to be known; for in this regard also the fanatics boast of its sufficiency, and on account of it they consider the written word of God as nothing: they prove the contrary,—

(1.) The universal experience of all throughout all ages from the creation of the world until this very day: for who has ever, under the guidance of this light, come to the true knowledge of God? Those who were born after men, who made the best use of it, and moreover were adorned with extraordinary gifts above the common people, all together “became vain in their reasonings, and their foolish heart was darkened,” Romans 1:21.

(2.) All this economy of grace, goodness, and divine wisdom, by which God spoke in many ways and in many forms, through the prophets and His Son, revealing His will to men; he who does not hold this in the place of the greatest and truly invaluable benefit, he is both ungrateful and accursed, Psalm 147:19, 20.

(3.) All these testimonies by which, in the preceding discussion, we proved the necessity and perfection of the Holy Scripture; it is not necessary to repeat them here.

Section 21

4. That this light is not Christ himself in us, who is the way, the life, and the truth, the light and salvation, since it is neither saving nor sufficient for salvation, I would think no one doubts willingly: indeed, fanatics babble nonsense and assert no prodigy more confidently than that this light itself is Christ. Therefore, whether it be the person of Christ the God-man, or the Spirit of Christ, or something else that can mystically and relatively be called Christ. They will acknowledge that it is not the person of Christ if it only has a person and they themselves are men, I suppose. Nor can it be the Spirit of Christ, since it is something common to all; yet some at least are without the Spirit, as Jude 19 teaches. Moreover, “where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty,” (2 Corinthians 3:17). But the human race, for the most part, is still found to serve sin. Then some are in the flesh, some in the Spirit (Romans 8:9). Indeed, the Spirit dwells only in those who are in the Spirit. However, there is no promise of the Spirit, no fruit, no privilege, of which we have been made partakers through the Spirit, no mention of regeneration, sanctification, adoption through the Spirit, which does not strongly contradict this fiction. The Church indeed is mystically called Christ (1 Corinthians 12:12), since it is his body, insofar as it has union with the head; but we will see in its place that this light of the fanatics is not the Church. But the Christ of the fanatics is imaginary and fictitious, not the incarnate Son of God, the God-man, but some quality, I know not what, divine, or the soul of the world, mixed in all, which is the all (τὸ πᾶν (to pan)), and truly nothing. This, however, is their first falsehood, which will be utterly destroyed when the discussion about the person of Christ is reached.
   

Section 22

5. Leaving aside those things which we have disputed elsewhere against the Arminians, Socinians, and other advocates of universal grace, lest we engage in too many matters at once, by a single argument we prove that Christ does not pour out saving light on all and each; indeed, it is so. Christ enlightens no one with saving light except through his Spirit and his word. That he acts thus and not otherwise is the greatest promise of the new covenant, Isaiah 59:21, and of Christ himself, John 14:15,16. Whatever is the word of God, or the revelation of the mind of the Lord, bears witness to this proposition. “For if anyone does not have the Spirit of Christ, he does not belong to him” (Romans 8:9). But it has been previously proven that Christ does not bestow his Holy Spirit, the promised Spirit of the covenant, on all and each. Experience testifies the same concerning the word.
   

Section 23

6. We have sufficiently demonstrated the truth of our last proposition, concerning the use and purpose of whatever divine light is graciously granted to us through Christ, in the disputation on the perfection of Scripture. We add strictly:
   

(1.) If each one’s private light were a rule for rendering obedience to God, then we would have as many rules as there are men; but there is one divine canon (Galatians 6:16; Philippians 3:16; Isaiah 8:20). Otherwise, all things in divine matters would be uncertain, except that the prince of darkness would make use of this uncertainty for his own advantage.

(2.) The end of our internal light or illumination, for which God promised it to us and for whose sake holy men daily seek to increase it from God, is that we rightly, salutarily, and spiritually understand the will and mind of the Lord revealed in the Scriptures; this could be easily proven with countless testimonies.

(3.) It has been abundantly demonstrated that Holy Scripture is this rule.

Section 24

Let us now see what the fanatics babble against this, and how they exert themselves, as if they seem to rave with some reason: but they bring nothing new here; they bring old things, Arminian things, worn out and defeated a thousand times.

1. Nothing is more frequent on their lips than those words about Christ: John 1:9, “He is the true light that enlightens every man coming into the world.” There is no more horrid outcry than when they come to this passage. Here they imagine marvelous triumphs for themselves and make all sorts of insults against their adversaries. They say, Scripture speaks of Christ, “He therefore is the light,” “Christ is the light:” then not this or that man, but every man coming into the world, he enlightens; that is, all and each; nothing could be more clearly affirmed.
   

Section 25

Response. We extort that the sacred Scripture must be interpreted, from our adversaries. The sense of this passage, or rather of this single word in this place, is now disputed. I will briefly settle what is to be determined about the whole sentence:

1. Christ is light; in the very same sense in which we have demonstrated that God is light. He is light with respect to his essential majesty, holiness, and glory; insofar as he is also the source, author, and cause of all light, he is light—that is, both essentially and efficiently.
   
2. Christ is called the light of men, not that light which is in men. He is the cause of all light, not every light; not that accidental and corruptible light of which we speak. Thus the sun is the light of the world; indeed, He affirms His disciples to be the light of the world, or of men living in the world, Matt. 5:14. Can some men be the inner light of all others? They are lights because they give and show light in their own way. Christ is said to be light in this way, and to enlighten men, not as if He were nothing else but that inner light in which all mankind shares, or as if He were that light in His own person, other than efficiently, but because He bestows light upon all who attain it. Thus the sun, in its place and order, is the light of the world, and so were the disciples of Christ.
   
3. It is not said that Christ enlightens “every man coming into the world,” but that He Himself “coming into the world enlightens every man.” This is indeed the meaning of those words, Ἦν τὸ φῶς τὸ ἀληθινὸν, ὃ φωτίζει πάντα ἄνθρωπον, ἐρχόμενον εἰς τὸν κόσμον (Ēn to phōs to alēthinon, ho phōtizei panta anthrōpon, erchomenon eis ton kosmon): this is what the light coming into the world does. Therefore, this assertion does not pertain to the greatest part of the human race, namely those who, before the coming of Christ into the world, had passed away by fate.
   
4. The meaning of these words is therefore this: Since all men were mere darkness, and void of heavenly things, the Son of God, the eternal λόγος (logos), the eternal φῶς (phōs), coming into the world, through incarnation brought life and immortality, and led out from the foundations of the world those shadows previously covering them, or those deeply hidden in darkness, into the light, and made them known through the gospel; and moreover sent the Holy Spirit, armed with divine power, to any men among those who were by nature darkness to be enlightened, and thus to become their light. It appears therefore that—
   

(1.) The light and illumination mentioned here are spiritual, and pertain to the renewal of grace; not natural, and thus not pertaining to creation: for in the sense in which men are called darkness, in that same sense they are illuminated; otherwise the apostle’s speech would be ambiguous. But that men were spiritually darkness, not captured by natural eyes, of which the Holy Spirit speaks, is beyond dispute.

(2.) Notwithstanding this illumination, some remain in darkness: “The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness did not comprehend it,” John 1:5. This illumination therefore is neither natural, nor common to all, nor something else that men can have while they are in darkness: it posits a different state and the removal of darkness.

(3.) Christ does not bestow His grace or this spiritual light upon any man except through His word and Spirit; no one can be a partaker of this light unless he is born of the Spirit and is a salutary partaker of the word or gospel.

We therefore respond that by “every man” it should not be understood all and every individual who ever was, is, or will be, but only any or all those whom Christ graciously wishes to bestow His saving grace and spiritual light through His word and Spirit; that is, this syncategorematic term “every” is not said absolutely, but relatively to the elect; as it is used in many other places, Col. 1:6, etc.

Section 26

Furthermore, an urgent testimony given by the apostle to the Gentiles, Romans 2:14-15: “For when Gentiles, who do not have the law, by nature do the things of the law, these, although they do not have the law, are a law to themselves, who show the work of the law written in their hearts, their conscience also bearing witness, and their thoughts alternately accusing or even defending them.” They are “a law to themselves,” and therefore do not need the written law; they have the work of the law inscribed in their hearts, together with the conscience as an indicator of good and evil: and what more is needed? Let them attend to these things, so that they may be saved.

Response 1. We deny that those who are their own law have no need of the written law; for this is not said absolutely, but only with respect to certain works and actions.

2. We have previously conceded that some remnants of the original light still remain in all survivors, but that these are salutary, spiritual, and sufficient for salvation, we utterly deny; thus—
   
3. Nothing that is not natural, nothing spiritual, nothing emanating specially from Christ the mediator, or communicated by him, indeed nothing except what, without Christ, apart from him, is entirely deprived of all saving knowledge, is mentioned here by the apostle. Indeed, the apostle recalls these things for no other purpose than to show that those who were instructed only by this light and attended to it were altogether deprived of the glory of God, and never attained to a saving knowledge of him; a notion that utterly overturns the fabrications of fanatics, and pronounces those very ones, whom the apostle seems to adorn with this praise, everywhere dead, blind, captive under the power of darkness.
   
4. Since there is no mention here of light, nor of Christ, but rather of men utterly alienated from Christ, it will be very difficult for fanatics to wrest from this passage their thesis; namely, that Christ is a certain light common to all.
   
5. We indeed admit that all men have some sense that serves as a law to themselves, namely an intellectual habit by which they can assent and do assent to the principles of moral actions, and a practical judgment by which they either condemn or excuse themselves concerning what they have done; but we utterly deny that this habit is spiritual, sufficiently guiding them in the knowledge of God and in obedience to Him, to be rendered by their own will.
   

Section 27

Since God is not “far from each one of us,” so that “all should seek the Lord,” in case they might find Him by feeling after Him, the apostle affirms, Acts 17:27, I have often heard, with some sort of amazement, disputes arising from this statement, but it was not easy to understand what they intended by it. Certainly, all things are full of God; His works, both of creation and providence, so clearly demonstrate His immense divinity, eternal power, and care for creatures that all people everywhere ought to seek Him further: but what does this have to do with the madness of fanatics, which has already been discussed?