A53721:808
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 4 › 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.
3. In some; Affections are very strong and Importunate as fixed on lawful things; whereby their Nature is made sensible and tender, and apt to receive very deep impressions from urgent Afflictions; Now although this in its self be a good natural frame, and helps to preserve the soul from that stout hardness which God abhors, yet if it be not watched over, it is apt to perplex the soul with many entangling Temptations. The Apostle intimates a double evil that we are obnoxious unto under trials and Afflictions, Heb. 12. 5. My Son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Men may either through a natural stoutness despise and contemn their sufferings, and be obstinate under them, or faint and despond, and so come short of the end which God aims at for them, to be attained in a way of duty. Now though the frame spoken of, be not obnoxious unto the first extreme, yet it is greatly to the latter, which if not watched against, is no less pernicious than the former. Affections in such persons being greatly moved they cloud and darken the mind, and fill it with strange Apprehensions concerning God and themselves. Every thing is presented unto them through a Glass composed of Fear, Dread, Terror, Sorrow, and all sorts of disconsolations. This makes them faint and despond, unto very sad apprehensions of themselves and their Conditions.
3. In some; Affections are very strong and Importunate as fixed on lawful things; whereby their Nature is made sensible and tender, and apt to receive very deep impressions from urgent Afflictions; Now although this in its self be a good natural frame, and helps to preserve the soul from that stout hardness which God abhors, yet if it be not watched over, it is apt to perplex the soul with many intangling Temptations. The Apostle intimates a double evil that we are obnoxious unto under tryals and Afflictions, Heb. 12. 5. My Son, despise not thou the chastening of the Lord, nor faint when thou art rebuked of him. Men may either through a natural stoutness despise and contemn their sufferings, and be obstinate under them, or faint and despond, and so come short of the end which God aimes at for them, to be attained in a way of duty. Now though the frame spoken of, be not obnoxious unto the first extream, yet it is greatly to the latter, which if not watched against, is no less pernitious than the former. Affections in such persons being greatly moved they cloud and darken the mind, and fill it with strange Apprehensions concerning God and themselves. Every thing is presented unto them through a Glass composed of Fear, Dread, Terrour, Sorrow, and all sorts of disconsolations. This makes them faint and despond, unto very sad apprehensions of themselves and their Conditions.