eye
DIRECTIONS TO AVOID APOSTASY. 259
be justly charged on you. Love unto the saints without dissimula-
_ tion; readiness to bear in meekness with different apprehensions and
palpable misapprehensions, not intrenching on the foundation; free- dom from imposing your sentiments on those who cannot receive them, and from judging rashly on supposed failures; readiness for universal communion in all religious duties with all that “love the Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity,’—as they are our duties, as they are some of the principal ways whereby we may truly represent the Lord Christ and the doctrine of the gospel unto others, so they will disarm Satan and the world of a great engine whereby they work no small mischief unto the whole interest of religion.
Again: were all professors meek, quiet, peaceable, in their societies and among their neighbours; sober, temperate, humble in their per- sonal conversation in the world; useful, kind, benign, condescending towards all; cheerful in trials and afflictions, always “rejoicing in the Lord,”—men not given up to a reprobate sense ([men] who are [so, are] not to be regarded) would at length be so far from taking offence at them as to judge that they should not know what to do without them, and be won to endeavour a conformity unto them. In like manner, were those rules more diligently attended unto which are prescribed unto all believers as unto their conversation in this world, it would be of no small advantage unto religion. See Phil. iv. 8; epee ai 12> 2 Cor. xii. 7; Rom. xiii. 12, 13;-1-Thess. iv. 11, 12;-
- Heb. xiii. 18. Did honesty, sincerity, uprightness in all the occa-
sions of life, in the whole converse of professors in the world, shine more brightly and give more evidences of themselves than at present among many they seem to do, it would undoubtedly turn unto the unspeakable advantage of religion.
And, lastly, for that judging or condemning of others wherewith they are so provoked, there is but one way whereby it may be done so as to give no just offence, and this is in our lives. The practice of holiness judgeth all unholy persons in their own breasts; and if they are provoked thereby, there is nothing in it but a new aggrava- tion of their own sin and impiety.
Poa
®PONHMA TOY IINEYMATOS
—
om OR, THE
CE AND DUTY OF BEING SPIRITUALLY MINDED
DECLARED AND PRACTICALLY IMPROVED.
on“
om
4. F ~ os a oe. pet = FS en To be spiritually minded is life and peace.—Rom. viii. 6. ar Set your affection on things above.—Oot. iii. 2,
LONDON: 1681.
PREFATORY NOTE.
Owen is an instance that attention to the outward order of the sanctuary, and zeal for the general rights of those who worship in it, are not incompatible with the cultiva- tion of personal holiness and spirituality. In the year 1681, when he had published a tract in defence of the Nonconformists, and his laborious “Inquiry into Evangelical Churches,” the following treatise, so rich in the spiritual experience of a renewed heart, was given to the world. During a season of indisposition so great that he had been led to anticipate the close of his earthly labours, be had composed some meditations for his own use; on his recovery he preached the substance of them to his congregation ; and they were afterwards published in the shape of this treatise. There is scarcely one of the more important works of Owen, but some authority might be quoted as signify- ing a preference for it as the best of his productions; this treatise, however, would per- haps command the greatest number of suffrages in its favour. It evinces the same sharp discrimination of human motives and character, but to elevate believers above earthly objects and console them amid present trials seem to be its prevailing design ; and it con- tains some passages which, in solemn tenderness and beauty, are not surpassed in all the writings of our author, who is here not so much a Boanerges set for the defence of the gospel, as a Barnabas intent on the consolation of the saints. ae
“Mhe following treatise of Dr Owen,” says Dr Chalmers, “ holds a distinguished rank among the voluminous writings of this celebrated author; and it is characterized by a forcible application of truth to the conscience, by a depth of experimental feeling, an accuracy of spiritual discernment into the intricacies and operations of the human mind, and a skill in exploring the secrecies of the heart, and the varieties of affection, and the ever-shifting phases of character, which render this admirable treatise not less a test than a valuable guide to the honest inquirer, in his scrutiny into the real state of his heart and affections.”
ANALYSIS.
After an explanation of Rom. viii. 6, the duty of being spiritually minded is described as including,—1. The exercise of the mind in its thoughts concerning spiritual things; 2. The inclination of the mind in its affections towards them; and, 3. The complacency of the mind in them, chap.1. The treatise is divided into two parts :—I. The former re- lating to the first of these heads,—the nature of spiritual thoughts ; II. The latter to the two other heads,—the exercise of spiritual affections.
Part I. Asto the character of those thoughts which are the evidence of spiritual mind- edness,—l. 'They are natural, in the sense of arising from ourselves, and as distinguished from thoughts suggested to the mind by (1.) impressions constraining it to acts opposed to its habitual procedure, and (2.) outward occasions ; such as [1.] the preaching of the Word, [2.] prayer, and [3.] the discourses and remarks of other men. 2. They abound in us, filling and engrossing our minds, I1.-Iv.