PUBLIC-DOMAIN CHRISTIAN BOOK
The Works of John Owen — Volume 9
John Owen · 335,461 words · 337 reading sections
Section 301
556 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. no understanding : whose mouth must be held in with bit and bridle." God loves a pliable spirit, that upon every look of his eye will be guided to a duty. But those who are like horses and mules, that must be held with a strong rein, that will not be turned till God puts great strength to i…
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These rules I have offered you concerning the time of this great duty of preparation which I am speaking unto ; and I shall add one more, without which you will easily grant that all the rest will fall to the ground, and with which God will teach you all the rest; and that is, be sure you set apart some time. I am grea…
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(2.) The purity, the holiness, and the severity of God, that would not pass by sin, when it was charged upon his Son. " He set him forth," Rom. iii. 25, M to declare his righteousness." As there was a representation of the guilt of sin, so there was an everlasting repre- sentation of the holiness and righteousness of G…
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I have one rule more in these meditations : — Doth any thing fall in that doth peculiarly affect your spirits, as to that regard which you have to God? — set it down. Most Christians are poor in experi- ence,— they have no stock; they have not laid up any thing for a dear year or a hard time, — though they may have had…
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This is the substance of what might be of use to some in reference unto this duty of preparation for this great and solemn ordinance, which God hath graciously given unto any of you the privilege to be made partakers of. SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. 563 Have we failed in these things, or in things of a like nature? — let …
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There is this special exhibition of Jesus Christ; and it is given directly for this special exercise of faith, that we may know how to receive him in this ordinance. 1. We receive him as one that hath actually accomplished the great work (so he tenders himself) of making peace with God for 1 The reference is to Heb. …
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Now, there are sundry things that we are to call to remembrance. I have done my endeavour to help you to call the love of Christ to remembrance. The Lord, I trust, hath guided my thoughts now to direct you to call the sufferings of Christ unto remembrance. I know it may be a suitable meditation to take up your minds an…
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2. The sufferings of Christ did answer the law of God. That makes the next demand of us. The law is that which requires our poor guilty souls to punishment, in the name of the justice of God. Why, saith the apostle, " He hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," Gal. iii. 13. By undergoing…
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Something of these several frames may be in us all; yet it may be one is predominant, one is chief, — one in one, another in another: and therefore I will speak a few words distinctly to them all : — 1. There are sinners who are believers, who cannot get their hearts and spirits affected with sin so as they ought, and…
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There are three things whereby Christ makes good this promise, and is with his church to the end of the world : — First. By his Spirit. " Where," saith he, " two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them," Matt, xviii. 20; — by his quickening, guiding, directing Spirit, as a Spirit of …
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574 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. is made unto us, as here, by way of food. To what end do we receive it? Truly, we receive it for these two ends: — for incorporation ; for nourishment : — 1. We receive our food that it may incorporate and turn into blood and spirits, — that it may become one with us ; and when we have so …
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576 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. DISCOUESE XI. I SHALL now produce some few places of Scripture, one especially, that may administer occasion unto you for the exercise of faith, the great duty required of us at this time. You may do well to think of these words of the prophet concerning Jesus Christ, concerning his suffer…
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In one word, both these things — the travail of the soul of Christ, and the satisfaction he took in the fruit of his travail — are represented unto us in this ordinanca There is the travail of the soul of Christ to us, in the manner of the participation of this ordinance, — in the breaking of the bread, and in the pou…
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I shall speak a word or two (upon this occasion of remembering the death of Christ) unto the latter clause, — of our "being made conformable unto his death," — wherein a very great part of our due preparation unto this ordinance doth consist ; and for the furtherance whereof we do in an especial manner wait upon God in…
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3. It is required that we suffer in imitation of Christ, as making him our example. We are not to take up the cross but with design to follow Christ. "Take up the cross," is but half the command; " Take up the cross, and follow me," is the whole command: and we are to suffer willingly and cheerfully, or we are the most…
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All these things are clearly comprised, in reference unto this ordi- nance of the Lord's supper, in those words of the apostle : — " For I have received of the Lord that which also I delivered unto you, That the Lord Jesus, the same night in which he was hetrayed, took bread : and, when he had given thanks, he brake i…
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(1.) What is the object of this remembrance. The object of this remembrance principally is Christ; but it is not Christ absolutely considered, it is Christ in those circumstances wherein he then was. " Do it in remembrance of me/' saith he; " as I am sent of God, de- signed to be a sacrifice for the sins of the elect, …
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[4.] Remember the sufferings of Christ; this is a main thing. Now the sufferings of Christ may be considered three ways : — 1st. The sufferings in his soul; 2dly. The sufferings in his body; 3dly. The sufferings of his person in the dissolution of his human nature, soul and body, by death itself. SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSE…
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(2.) One word for the act of remembrance, and I have done. How shall we remember? Remembrance in itself is a solemn calling over of what is true and past : and there are two things required in our remembrance; the first is faith, and the second is thankfulness. [1.] Faith; so to call it over as to believe it. But who …
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But then, what is it that Christ does exhibit, that we may exer- cise our faith upon ? I say, it is himself as immediately discharging his great office of a priest, being sacrificed for us. It is himself, as accompanied with all the benefits of that great part of his mediation, in dying for us. May the Lord stir up our…
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592 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. municated in this ordinance, through faith, may be turned and changed in our hearts into spiritual, vital principles, and unto growth and satisfaction. These are the three things we receive by nourishment, and wherein incorporation does consist: — there is an increase and quickening of vita…
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vol. ix. 38 594 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. DISCOURSE XVI.1 To whet our minds, and lead us to a particular exercise of faith and love in this duty, I shall add a few words from that Scripture which I have already spoken something to upon this occasion, namely, — John xii. 32, — " And I, if I be lifted up from the earth…
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2. The sufferings of Christ in soul and body axe attractive of, and do draw the souls of believers to him. " They shall look on me whom they have pierced, and mourn." It is a look to Christ as pierced for sin, under his sufferings, that is attractive to the souls of believers in this ordinance; because these sufferings…
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" And Aaron shall lay both his hands upon the head of the live goat, and confess over him all the iniquities of the children of Israel, and all their transgressions in all their sins, putting them upon the head of the goat," etc. — Lev. xvi. 21. Aaron was not only to confess all the sins and iniquities of the people o…
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Then the other act of God is, the imputation of the righteousness of Christ to us. It is not enough to us that our sins are all carried away into a land not inhabited; we stand in need of a righteousness whereby we may be accepted before God. He makes us to be the righteousness of God; we do not make ourselves so, but …
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But what will he do with such deformed, polluted creatures as we are? Why, " he loved the church, and gave himself for it, that he might wash and purify it, and present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot or wrinkle, or any such thing." Though we are altogether deformed and defiled, — though no example, no…
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1. Because Christ in his death, as the ordinance of Cod for the salvation of believing sinners, is the proper and peculiar object of faith as it justifies and saves. Now, when faith is in its exercise upon its direct, immediate, proper object, it is like a person that is feeding on his proper food, which gives refreshm…
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The reason, therefore, why the life of faith does consist in its exer- cise on the death of Christ, is, because the death of Chiist is the immediate, proper object of faith, as the ordinance of God for the salvation of sinners ; and because the glorious properties of the nature of God, which are manifested in the death…
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How shall we know whether our hearts are under the powerful influence of the love of Christ in dying for us ? Why, the love of Christ in dying for us has three properties with it, which will have an influence on our souls, if we are affected with it : — 1. It has a transforming power, property, and efficacy with it. T…
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SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. 609 a sense of the constraining power of Christ, it comprehends all others, 1 John v. 3, " His commandments are not grievous." When a soul works out of love, what it doth is " not grievous." And the inward and outward commands of Christ will be grievous to all that are not under the constrainin…
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To give but two instances: — (1.) His condescension to assume our human nature passes all our comprehension. No man can fully un- derstand the mystery of the assumption of our nature into the per- sonal subsistence of the Son of God. Some dispute whether we shall understand the mystery of the incarnation in heaven; her…
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DISCOURSE XXII.1 " And lo a voice from heaven, saying, This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased." — Matt. iii. 17. We are met here to remember the death of Christ, in the way and by the means that he himself hath appointed ; and in remembering the death of Christ we are principally to remember the love of Ch…
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2. The person of Christ, as vested ivith our nature, and undertaking the work of mediation, is the first object of the Father's love wherein there is any mixture of any thing without himself. The first love of God the Father to the Son is that which we call ad intra, where the divine persons are objects of one another…
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What shall I do that I may please God now, please Jesus Christ, and benefit my own soul, in the administration of this ordinance ? Why, — 1. Consider the institution of it, wherein we have the au- thority of Jesus Christ put forth and acting towards our souls : " This do in remembrance of me." Labour, therefore, to br…
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We come to receive a crucified Christ, come to be made partakers of the body and blood of the Lord, — to have the Lord Jesus really united to our hearts more and more. • The Lord open our hearts to 618 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. embrace the tender, receive the exhibition, take in Jesus Christ as food ; that he may be in…
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I will not make particular application of these things to all the concerns of our walk, but leave it with you with this word; begging 620 SACRAMENTAL DISCOURSES. of you and my own heart, and of God for us all, that, having these blessed representations of the death of Christ to us, we may have no rest in our spirits …
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4. The fourth thing is, the mysteriousness ; which I leave to your experience, for it is beyond expression, — the mysterious reception of Christ in this peculiar way of exhibition. There is a reception of Christ as tendered in the promise of the gospel; but here is a pecu- liar way of his exhibition under outward signs…
361 wordsSource & rights
Public-domain historical edition (1850–1870); OCR text from Internet Archive. OCR may contain scanning/transcription errors. Verify quotations against page images when precision matters.
Project Gutenberg source record →
Historical Christian writing; not Scripture.