Spiritual-Mindedness - Puritan Paperbacks (Owen)
Description
Thomas Chalmers wrote that Owen’s book on Spiritual-Mindedness holds a distinguished rank among the voluminous writings of this celebrated author’. For him three features made it very special:
- The force with which it applies truth to the conscience.
- The way Owen plumbs the depths of Christian experience as a skillful physician of the soul.
- The uncovering of the secrets of the mind and heart so that the true spiritual state of the reader is discovered.
This book began life as a collection of meditations on Romans 8:6, which were written for the author’s own benefit during a time of illness. Alarmed by the subtle power the world exercises over the mind, Owen shows us how to really live by raising our thoughts above all earthly objects and setting them on ‘things above, where Christ is’ (Col. 3:1)
A favorite book of William Wilberforce, it contains some passages which are not surpassed in all of Owen’s writings. It comes from the pen of a tender-hearted pastor whose only purpose is to encourage the believer in the ongoing battle against sin. So if you feel overwhelmed by the power of worldliness then this is definitely the book for you!
Contents
- ‘To be spiritually minded is life and peace’
- What spiritual-mindedness is and how it shows itself
- Insufficient evidence of spiritual-mindedness
- Evidence of spiritual-mindedness
- The objects of spiritual thoughts
- How to meditate on heavenly things
- What heavenly things we ought especially to meditate on
- Spiritual thoughts of God
- What we must think of when we meditate on God
- Helps for meditating on God
- How God calls our hearts from the world
- The natural depravity of the heart and its desires
- The spiritual renewal and sanctification of the heart
- Why the unregenerate delight in religious worship
- Why believers delight in religious worship
- The renewed soul transformed into the image of the heavenly
- The evils of lukewarmness
- ‘Let this mind be in you’
- The value and beauty of spiritual things
- The soul united to Christ and to spiritual things
- The fruit of spiritual-mindedness
About the Author
John Owen (1616–1683), amongst the best known of the Puritans, was an English Puritan who served as vice-chancellor of Oxford University and pastor of congregations in Coggeshall and London. His writings continue to be widely read and greatly appreciated to this day.