A53721:210
A practical exposition on the 130th Psalm
A practical exposition on the 130th Psalm wherein the nature of the forgiveness of sin is declared, the truth and reality of it asserted, and the case of a soul distressed with the guilt of sin and relieved by a discovery of forgiveness with God is at large discoursed / by John Owen.
London: printed by Robert White for Nathaniel Ponder, 1669
AN EXPOSITION UPON PSALM CXXX. › General Scope of the whole Psalm. › Verse 3 › Section
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Secondly, This frame, if it abides, by its self, will insensibly give countenance unto hard thoughts of God, and so to repining, and weariness in waiting on him. At first the soul ⟨p. 67⟩neither apprehends nor fears any such issue. It supposeth that it shall condemn and abhor it self, and justify God, and that for ever. But when relief comes not in, this resolution begins to weaken. Secret thoughts arise in the heart, that God is austere, inexorable, and not to be dealt withal. This sometimes casts forth such complaints, as will bring the soul unto new complaints, before it comes to have an issue of its trials. Here, in humiliations antecedaneous to conversion, many a convinced person perisheth. They cannot wait Gods season, and perish under their impatience. And what the Saints of God themselves have been overtaken withal in their depths and trials, we have many examples and instances. Delight and Expectation are the grounds of our abiding with God. Both these are weakened by a conquering prevailing sense of sin, without some relief from the discovery of forgiveness, though at a distance. And therefore our perplexed soul stays not here, but presseth on towards that discovery.
Secondly, This frame, if it abides, by its self, will insensibly give countenance unto hard thoughts of God, and so to repining, and weariness in waiting on him. At first the soul ⟨p. 67⟩neither apprehends nor fears any such issue. It supposeth that it shall condemn and abhorr it self, and justifie God, and that for ever. But when relief comes not in, this resolution begins to weaken. Secret thoughts arise in the heart, that God is austere, inexorable, and not to be dealt withall. This sometimes casts forth such complaints, as will bring the soul unto new complaints, before it comes to have an issue of its tryals. Here, in humiliations antecedaneous to conversion, many a convinced person perisheth. They cannot wait Gods season, and perish under their impatience. And what the Saints of God themselves have been overtaken withal in their depths and tryals, we have many examples and instances. Delight and Expectation are the grounds of our abiding with God. Both these are weakned by a conquering prevailing sense of sin, without some relief from the discovery of forgiveness, though at a distance. And therefore our perplexed soul stayes not here, but presseth on towards that discovery.