Saturday, 16 June 2007

A quote from John Owen

I reading this book from John Owen at the moment, and I came across this quote (below). John Owen was a puritan preacher in England in the 1700's .

It was something that really hit home to me. And upon reflecting on it more, I longed for heaven all the more. I longed for the time when I can using the lanuage of John Owen, behold the glory of Christ by sight, and not just by faith. In other words, I long for the day when I get to see Jesus, my great God and Saviour, him who poured out his blood, dying and taking the punishment for me, that I may have life eternal!

"This vision is not in the least liable unto any weakening from internal
defects, nor any assaults from temptations, as is the sight of faith in this
life. No doubts or fears, no disturbing darts or injections, shall there have
any place. There shall no habit, no quality, no inclination or disposition
remain in our souls, but what shall eternally lead us unto the contemplation
of the glory of Christ with delight and complacency. Nor will there be any
defect in the gracious powers of our souls, as unto a perpetual exercise of
them; and as to all other opposing enemies, we shall be in a perpetual
triumph over them, 1 Corinthians 15:55-57. The mouth of iniquity shall
be stopped for ever, and the voice of the self-avenger shall be heard no
more.
Wherefore, the vision which we shall have in heaven of the glory of Christ
is serene, — always the same, always new and indeficient, wherein nothing
can disturb the mind in the most perfect operations of a blessed life. And
when all the faculties of the soul can, without any internal weakness or
external hindrances, exercise their most perfect operations on the most
perfect object, — therein lies all the blessedness which our nature is
capable of.
Wherefore, whenever in this life we attain any comfortable, refreshing view
of the glory of Christ by the exercise of faith on the revelation of it, with a
sense of our interest therein, we cannot but long after, and desire to come
unto, this more perfect, abiding, invariable aspect of it."
Works of John Owen, Volume 1 - Meditations and Discourses: Concerning the Glory of Christ page 164

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