Owen: the best of the ungodly

Sunday, September 30, 2012
Meditation:
Wealth is worthless in the day of wrath,
    but righteousness delivers from death.
    —Proverbs 11:4 (NIV)
Quotation:
    There is, indeed, or at least there hath been, much good, useful good, done by others, on various convictions and for various ends; but there is one flaw or other in all they do. Either superstition, or vain-glory, or selfishness, or merit, or one thing or other, gets into all the good that is done by unholy persons, and brings death into the pot; so that although it may be of some use in particulars, unto individual persons, in some seasons, it is of none unto the general good of the whole. He that bears the likeness of God, and in all that he doth acts from that principle, he alone is truly useful, represents God in what he doth, and spoils it not by false ends of his own.
    ... John Owen (1616-1683), V.1 in A Discourse Concerning Holy Spirit, bk. I-V [1674], in Works of John Owen, v. III, London: Johnson & Hunter, 1852, p. 583-584 (see the book)
Quiet time reflection:
    Lord, implant a true heart of charity within me. CQOD    Blog    email    RSS
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