Owen, James. Remarks on a Sermon, about Corrupting the Word of God. Preach'd by Tho. Gipps, Rector of Bury, On a Publick Occasion, July 11. 1696. Wherein the Dissenters are Fully Vindicated Against his Unjust Accusations; By J. O. Minister of the Gospel at Oswestry. London: Printed for Zachary Whitworth, Bookseller in Manchester, 1697. First Edition. [5978]
Removed, 6 x 7 3/8 inches, (vii.), 24 pp., lacks the half-title page. Bottom margin trimmed too close, clipping the bottom line of text on a few pages. Good.
ESTC R6175; Wing O709. ESTC lists one location in North America.
James Owen (1654-1706), Presbyterian minister, pastor of a nonconformist congregation at Oswestry, tutor of a school for ministers, and a monthly lecturer at a North Wales mission. In 1700 he became pastor at High Street Chapel, Shewsbury, moved the academy to that place, and continued his lectures in Wales. His funeral sermon was preached by Matthew Henry.
"The Rector of Bury hath Publish'd a horrid Charge against a great Body of People, the Dissenting Protestants, of Corrupting the Word of God, by Printing the Word Ye instead of We i nActs 6.3. and presumes to shelter himself under your Great and Honourable Name, by which he hopes to render it uncontestable, and go give it a more general Acceptation in the World." - first page of the Dedication.
This is Owen's spirited defense against the charges by Thomas Gipps that the Presbyterians were guilty of altering the word of God, and lying about it.
It is said of Gipps that "he charged the Presbyterians during the civil wars with altering Acts vi. 3, 'whom we might appoint' into 'whom ye might appoint,' to favour the notion of the people's right to elect their own ministers. This led to a sharp controversy with James Owen of Oswestry, in which Gipps was shown to be in error." - DNB.