John Owen (44)
Do you mortify; do you make it your daily work; be always at it whilst you live; cease not a day from this work; be killing sin or it will be killing you.Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers Chapter 2
Without absolutes revealed from God Himself, we are left rudderless in a sea of conflicting ideas.
Holiness is nothing but the implanting, writing and living out the gospel in our souls
It is better that our affections exceed our light from the defect of our understandings, than that our light exceed our affections from the corruption of our wills.Works, Vol 1. 401
A minister may fill his pews, his communion roll, the mouths of the public, but what that minister is on his knees in secret before God Almighty, that he is and no more.
It is not the distance of the earth from the sun, nor the sun's withdrawing itself, that makes a dark and gloomy day; but the interposition of clouds and vaporous exhalations. Neither is thy soul beyond the reach of the promise, nor does God withdraw Himself; but the vapours of thy carnal, unbelieving heart do cloud thee.
[Sin] cannot be killed without a sense of pain and trouble. Hence it is compared to the cutting off of right hands, and the plucking out of right eyes.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.viii.viii.html
We do not have the ability in ourselves to accomplish the least of God's tasks. This is the law of grace.
He that hath slight thoughts of sin never had great thoughts of God.
no man preacheth that sermon well that doth not first preach it to his own heart-If the word do not dwell with power in us, it will not pass with power from us
In general, let us all endeavour to carry a constant regard unto the authority of God in his commands into all those seasons, places, societies, occasions, wherein we are apt to be surprised in any sin or a neglect of duty. And I may reduce this instruction or point it unto three heads or occasions, — namely, secrecy, businesses, and societies.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.ix.iii.html
Be of good courage, all ye that trust in the Lord; you may, you ought, without fear or dauntedness of spirit, to engage into the pursuit of universal holiness. He who hath commanded it, who hath required it of you, will bear you out in it. Nothing that is truly evil or finally disadvantageous shall befall you on that account: for let the world rage whilst it pleaseth, and threaten to fill all things with blood and confusion, "to God the Lord belong the issues from death;" he alone can "kill" and "make alive." There is, therefore, no small enforcement unto holiness from the consideration of the command, with respect unto the power of the commander, relating unto things in this world.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.ix.iii.html
And, moreover, there is no less fatal mistake where we make the object of this duty to be only some particular lusts, or the fruits of them in actual sins, as was before observed. This is the way with many. They will make head against some sins, which on one account or other they find themselves most concerned in; but if they will observe their course, they shall find with how little success they do it. For the most part, sin gets ground upon them, and they continually groan under the power of its victories; and the reason is, because they mistake their business. Contests against particular sins are only to comply with light and convictions. Mortification, with a design for holiness, respects the body of sin, the root and all its branches. The first will miscarry, and the latter will be successful.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.viii.viii.html
Lusts that pretend to be useful to the state and condition of men, that are pleasant and satisfactory to the flesh, will not be mortified without such a violence as the whole soul shall be deeply sensible of. https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.viii.viii.html
Two men cannot be one, because they have two souls, no more could we be one with Christ were it not the same Spirit in him and us.
I no way doubt but that many men do receive more grace from God than they understand or will own, and have a greater efficacy of it in them than they will believe. Men may be really saved by that grace which doctrinally they do deny; and they may be justified by the imputation of that righteousness, which, in opinion, they deny to be imputed: for the faith of it is included in that general assent which they give unto the truth of the gospel, and such an adherence unto Christ may ensue thereon, as that their mistake of the way whereby they are saved by him shall not defaud them of a real interest therein.Justification by Faith, 164
Temptations and occasions put nothing into man, but only draw out what was in him before.
We are prone to think that we are very willing to have forgiveness, but that God is unwilling to bestow it… but indeed things are quite otherwise.
There is no need of traditions, no need of miracles, no need of the authority of any churches, to convince a rational creature that the works of God are his, and his only; and that he is eternal and infinite in power that made them. They carry about with them their own authority. By being what they are, they declare whose they are.Of the Divine Original
Do not seek to empty your cup as a way to avoid sin, but rather seek to fill it up with the Spirit of life, so there is no longer room for sin.
There is no way of deliverance from the state and condition of being in the flesh, but by the Spirit of Christ.
New Quotes
The gospel is most wickedly eclipsed while multitudes of petty "scholars" fret themselves how they might best teach the faith within a rigidly structured, accurate, methodical-philosophical form! A great multitude of errors have swarmed into the church through the reception of philosophy, like Greeks out of the belly of the Trojan horse...The clear fact is that the common, Aristotelian philosophy supplied sufficient materials for an infinity of quarrels and useless disputes. The facts shout out to heaven that our little, witty, chattering sophists, in their endless wrangling over the "articles of faith," are simply raking over the embers of Aristotle's philosophy, and in so doing they irritate the throne of Almighty God with legal quarrels and cheap tricks...It is a result of this that our theological libraries are packed full of weighty tomes, and our disputes are without end, and the most about matters, assertions and terms the Christian world would have done far better never to have heard of -and would not have heard of if they had not happened to enter the fertile brain of Aristotle so long ago! But the full catalog, the great Iliad of evils so produced, this is not the place to try to expound in detail.Biblical Theology: The History of Theology from Adam to Christ
The command of God that we should be holy is not to be considered only as an effect of power and authority, which we must submit unto, but as a fruit of infinite wisdom and goodness also, which it is our highest advantage and interest to comply with.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.ix.iii.html
This, therefore, evidenceth unto the consciences of men that the obligation unto holiness is indispensable. And it would be well if we always carried this formal consideration of the commandment in our minds. Nothing is more prevalent with us unto watchfulness in holiness, as nothing doth more effectually render what we do to be obedience, properly so called. Forgetfulness hereof, or not heeding it as we ought, is the great reason of our loose and careless walking, of our defect in making a progress in grace and holiness. No man is safe a moment whose mind by any means is dispossessed of a sense of the sovereign authority of God in his commands, nor can any thing secure such a soul from being pierced and entered into by various temptations.https://ccel.org/ccel/owen/pneum/pneum.i.ix.iii.html
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience
The greatest sorrow and burden you can lay on the Father, the greatest unkindness you can do to him is not to believe that he loves you.
He can make the dry parched ground of my soul to become a pool and my thirsty barren heart as springs of water. Yes he can make this habitation of dragons this heart which is so full of abominable lusts and fiery temptations to be a place of bounty and fruitfulness unto Himself
On Christ's glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.
There is no broader way to apostasy than to reject God's sovereignty in all things concerning the revelation of himself and our obedience
On Christ's glory I would fix all my thoughts and desires, and the more I see of the glory of Christ, the more the painted beauties of this world will wither in my eyes and I will be more and more crucified to this world. It will become to me like something dead and putrid, impossible for me to enjoy.
He returns to his vomit who the second time introduces and recalls the scholastic theology of the academics, mingling the bread which proceeds from the mouth of God alone with the leaven of the ancient philosophers.
sanctification is a qualification indispensably necessary unto those who will be under the conduct of the Lord Jesus Christ unto salvation. He leads none to heaven but whom he sanctifies on the earth.
In your thoughts of Christ, be very careful that they are conceived and directed according to the rule of the word, lest you deceive your own souls, and give up the conduct of your affections unto vain imaginations... [But] we are not to forego our duty [to contemplate Christ] because other men have been mistaken in theirs, nor part with practical, fundamental principles of religion because they have been abused by superstition... Yet I must say that I had rather be among them who, in the actings of their love and affection unto Christ, do fall into some irregularities and excesses int eh manner of expressing it... than among those who, professing themselves to be Christians, do almost disavow their having any thoughts of or affection unto the person of Christ.Works Vol 7, 345-46
Where light leaves the affections behind, it ends in formality and or atheism; where affections outrun light they sink into the bog of superstition, doting on images and picture or the like.Works, Vol 1. 401
The spiritual intense fixation of the mind, by contemplation on God in Christ, until the soul be as it were swallowed up in admiration and delight, and being brought unto an utter loss, through the infiniteness of those excellencies which it doth admire and adore... are things to be aimed at in prayer, and which, through the riches of divine condescension, are frequently enjoyed.Works, Vol 4. 329-30
The darkness of sin clouds man's view of the nature of the gospel and the necessity of faith... [it] produces a real aversion to God, filling it with enmity against him and with desires that are antagonistic to him, as well as with prejudice against spiritual realities.Owen, Vol 2, pp 257ff
If we do not abide in prayer, we will abide in temptation. Let this be one aspect of our daily intercession: 'God, preserve my soul, and keep my heart and all its ways so that I will not be entangled.' When this is true in our lives, a passing temptation will not overcome us. We will remain free while others lie in bondage.
Though our persons fall, our cause shall be as truly, certainly, and infallibly victorious, as that Christ sits at the right hand of God. The gospel shall be victorious. This greatly comforts and refreshes me.
a sense of the love of Christ in the cross, lies at the bottom of all true spiritual mortificationMortification of sin in believers (Chap 8, 87)
Those who are Christ's, and are acted in their obedience upon gospel principles, have the death of Christ, the love of God, the detestable nature of sin, the preciousness of communion with God, a deep-grounded abhorrency of sin as sin, to oppose to any seduction of sin, to all the workings, strivings, rightings of lust in their hearts.Mortification of sin in believers (Chap 9, 93)
A new sin may be permitted, as well as a new affliction sent, to bring an old sin to remembrance.Mortification of sin in believers (Chap 9)
And this is the first thing that the Spirit does in order to the mortification of any lust whatsoever-it convinces the soul of all the evil of it, cuts off all its pleas, discovers all its deceits, stops all its evasions, answers its pretenses, makes the soul own its abomination and lie down under the sense of it. Unless this be done all that follows is in vain. Of the Mortification of sin in believers (138)
How shall he, then, mortify sin that has not the Spirit? A man may easier see without eyes, speak without a tongue, than truly mortify one sin without the Spirit. Of the Mortification of Sin in Believers (Chap 7, 80)
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