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  • 2,151 works
  • 107 authors
  • 135.7M words
  • 1526–1797
  • 812,035 Scripture references
  • Index built 2026-11-10

Read what the Reformers and Puritans actually wrote.

Ask a question and get an answer drawn from their own books, in the original printings, with every quotation checked against the page.

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Free. 3 questions without an account, and as many as you like with a free one.

  • 2,151 works
  • 107 authors
  • 136M words
  • 1526–1797
Recorded 9 Nov 2026
Q1

Is this a genuine quotation from John Owen? “Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will excuse you from this work.”

Calls
2
Works
1
Checks
2
Time
8.4 s

  1. I’ll check that wording against Owen’s works in the library.

  2. 01A53715:393.7 s
  3. 021.1 s
  4. Post-check1 quotation in the answer, checked against the printed page1 verified
  5. q1A53715:39
Quotation checkClose match97.9A53715:39
−Quoted

Your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will excuse you from this work.

+Printed

your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work

1 word differs from the printed text.

A difference involves a negation (not/no/never…), which can reverse the meaning.

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (1668), Chapter 2, p. 11

No — it is a misquotation that reverses Owen’s point. The original says these things will not excuse you from the work of mortification.

your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work

Close97.9againstA53715:39

Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers, ch. 2, p. 11A53715:39

The quotation you were given drops the word “not,” which turns a summons to daily killing of sin into a release from it. In context Owen is urging believers to be at this work continually, “be killing Sin, or it will be killing you,” and he grounds the duty precisely in union with Christ, not freedom from it.

You can read the whole treatise as Owen, Of the Mortification of SinA53715; checking the surrounding pages would show how Owen develops the argument from Romans 8:13.

Every quotation, checked

1 in the answer1 verified

The quotation in this answer matches the printed text. Each check is in the research log.

Sources

1 passage in 1 book
  1. Of the Mortification of Sin in BelieversJohn Owen · 1668
    1. A53715The whole book
    2. 1A53715:39Chapter 2, p. 11Close
Mode
Quick
Answered in
8.4 s
0:10.4 / 0:10.4
1/2

Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers

John Owen

  1. Chapter 2
  2. p. 11
A53715:39Close97.9Open in reader
:39p. 11

…was, and who should appear with him in Glory, vers. 4. Do you mortifie; do you make it your daily work, be alwayes at it whilest you live, cease not a day from this work; be killing Sin, or it will be killing you; your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work. And our Saviour tells us, how his Father deals with every branch in him that beareth fruit, every true and living Branch; He purgeth it, that it may bring forth more fruit, Joh. 15.2. He prunes it, and that not for a…

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.

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (London, 1668), ch. 2, p. 11. EEBO-TCP A53715.

What AskReformation is

A free library of Reformation and Puritan writings that you can question in plain English. An AI assistant searches the full texts, reads the relevant passages and answers with quotations checked against the printed page. The same library is available to your own AI assistant as a connector.

The library at a glance
Works2,151Printed 1526–1797, each kept in the spelling of its edition.
Authors107Reformers, Puritans and their heirs, from Luther and Calvin to Owen, Bunyan, Baxter and Edwards.
Words136 millionSearchable in modern spelling: love finds loue, sin finds sinne.
Scripture812,035References indexed, in the text and in the margins of the printings.
SourceCC0Texts transcribed from the original printings by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP and Evans-TCP) and dedicated to the public domain (CC0).
Index2026-11-10When the search index was last built.

In the library

Made for careful readers

Pastors
Find what the Puritans said on your text, and quote them accurately in the pulpit.
Students and scholars
Search early printings in their original spelling, with citations you can check.
Teachers and parents
Read the catechisms and confessions as they were first printed, page by page.
Curious readers
Ask the questions you've always had, and read the answers in the authors' own words.

How an answer is made

  1. 01

    Ask

    Ask in plain English. Modern spelling finds old spelling: love finds loue, sin finds sinne.

    ↵

  2. 02

    Search and read

    The assistant searches the full texts, then reads the passages in context before it answers.

    searchscripture_referencesreadget_worklist_workslist_authors

  3. 03

    Check every quotation

    Each quotation is compared word for word with the printed page. Anything that doesn't match is flagged.

    verify_quote

  4. 04

    Cite the page

    Every claim links to the passage it came from, with the work, edition and page number.

    A53715:39

Every step is shown as it happens, in the answer’s research log: the tool, what it asked, what came back, where, and how long it took. Open any row to see its results; select any coordinate to read the passage in the inspector.

Quotations you can stand behind

AI assistants are fluent in the Puritans' style, which makes their mistakes hard to spot. AskReformation checks every quotation against the printed text and tells you plainly when it can't.

What each result means
VerifiedThe words are in the printed text, allowing for modern spelling and punctuation.
Close matchNearly the printed words; each difference is listed, and a changed negation is flagged.
Partly foundA loose match: a paraphrase, another translation or edition, or passages run together.
Not foundNo passage in the library matches. Not proof it’s fake, but not a verified quotation from these texts.

Real checks, as the library returned them

Quotation checkClose match97.9A53715:39
−Quoted

your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will excuse you from this work

+Printed

your being dead with Christ virtually, your being quickened with him, will not excuse you from this work

1 word differs from the printed text.

A difference involves a negation (not/no/never…), which can reverse the meaning.

John Owen, Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (1668), p. 11

Quotation checkVerified100A12171:52
=Printed

there is more mercy in CHRIST, than sin in us

~Quoted

There is more mercy in Christ than sin in us

~Printed

there is more mercy in CHRIST, than sinne in us

Word for word, as printed (in modern spelling).

The same words; the printing spells some of them differently.

Both sides in modern spelling, so differences of spelling alone aren’t marked. The verdict is the library’s check of the printed words.

Richard Sibbes, The Bruised Reed and Smoking Flax (1630), pp. 37–38

Quotation checkPartly found89.7A65285:45
−Quoted

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever

+Printed

chief End is to glorify God, and enjoy him for ever

−Quoted

The chief end of man is to glorify God and enjoy him forever

+Printed

chief End is to glorifie God, and enjoy him for ever

3 words differ from the printed text.

3 words differ from the printed text.

Both sides in modern spelling, so differences of spelling alone aren’t marked. The verdict is the library’s check of the printed words.

Thomas Watson, A Body of Practical Divinity (1692), p. 1

Quotation checkNot found
−Quoted

Sin will take you farther than you want to go, keep you longer than you want to stay, and cost you more than you want to pay

No passage in the library matches this wording.

No match in the library. Not proof it's fake, but not a verified quotation from these texts.

Quotations verified in the library

Quotations, each verified in the passage given
QuotationSourceCoordinate
be killing Sin, or it will be killing you
Owen, 1668, p. 11A53715:39
Mans chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy him for ever.Mans chief end is to glorifie God, and to enjoy him for ever.
Shorter Catechism, 1671, p. 167A34242:622
there is more mercy in CHRIST, than sin in usthere is more mercy in CHRIST, than sinne in us
Sibbes, 1630, pp. 37–38A12171:52
A contented spirit is like a Watch; though you carry it up and down with you, yet the spring of it is not shaken, nor the wheels out of order, but the watch keeps its perfect motionA contented spirit is like a Watch; though you carry it up and down with you, yet the spring of it is not shaken, nor the wheeles out of order, but the watch keeps its perfect motion
Watson, 1654, p. 30A65276:65
The whole sum in a manner of all our wisdom, which only ought to be accounted true & perfect wisdom, consisteth in two parts, that is to say, the knowledge of God, and our selves.THe whole summe in a manner of all our wisedom, which only ought to be acompted true & perfecte wisedom, consisteth in two partes, that is to saye, the knowledge of God, and our selues.
Calvin, tr. Norton, 1561, p. 1A17662:40
A Christian man is a most free Lord of all, subject to none.A Christian man is a most free Lord of all, subiect to none.
Luther, 1579, p. 2A06524:29

Bring the library into your own AI

AskReformation is also a free MCP connector. Add it to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor and other assistants, and they can search these books, read them in order and check quotations before they quote.

Connector addresshttps://askreformation.com/mcp

For Claude Code, Anthropic's coding assistant for the terminal and code editors.

.mcp.json in a project (shared with everyone on it)
1{2  "mcpServers": {3    "askreformation": {4      "type": "http",5      "url": "https://askreformation.com/mcp"6    }7  }8}
  1. 1In a terminal, run this command to add AskReformation for all your projects:claude mcp add --transport http --scope user askreformation https://askreformation.com/mcp
  2. 2Start Claude Code and type /mcp to check that askreformation is connected.
Full steps for Claude CodeClaude Code documentation

Then tryUse the askreformation MCP server to verify this quotation and cite the page: 'be killing sin or it will be killing you'.

See how to connect for all 9 assistants, with each step and a prompt to test it.

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Occasional articles on what the Reformers and Puritans actually wrote, with every quotation checked. No more than twice a month.

Questions

What is AskReformation?
A free library of Reformation and Puritan writings that you can question in plain English. An AI assistant searches the full texts, reads the relevant passages and answers with quotations checked against the printed page. The same library is available to your own AI assistant as a connector.
Where do the texts come from?
From the Text Creation Partnership, which transcribed early printed books from Early English Books Online and Evans Early American Imprints. The transcriptions are public domain (CC0), and the works themselves are centuries out of copyright.
Why are the quotations in old spelling?
Because that is how they were printed. The library keeps the spelling of each edition (“vnto”, “loue”, “sinne”) so quotations match the page. Searches understand modern spelling, and the assistant can add a modernized rendering, clearly labelled.
Is it free?
Yes. You can ask a few questions without an account, and as many as you like with a free account, within a fair-use limit that keeps the service available for everyone. Search, reading and quotation checking are free without an account.
Can I use it in ChatGPT or Claude?
Yes. AskReformation is an MCP connector: add one web address to Claude, ChatGPT, Cursor or another assistant that supports connectors, and it can search and quote these books directly.
How accurate are the answers?
The quotations are checked word for word against the source, and every claim links to its passage so you can read it yourself. The assistant's summaries can still misjudge a passage's meaning, so treat them as a guide to the texts rather than a substitute for them.
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AskReformation

The Reformers and Puritans in their own words, with every quotation checked against the page.

Texts transcribed from the original printings by the Text Creation Partnership (EEBO-TCP and Evans-TCP) and dedicated to the public domain (CC0).

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