A53721:811
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.
From these and the like Reasons, I say, it is, that whereas Afflictions in general are so testified unto, to be such pledges and tokens of Gods Love and Care to be designed unto blessed ends; as conformity unto Christ, and a participation of the Holiness of God; yet by reason of these Circumstances, they often prove means of casting the soul into depths, and of hindering it from a refreshing interest in the forgiveness that is with God. That this may prove no real or abiding ground of inward spiritual trouble unto the soul, the following Rules and Directions may be observed.
11. Not only Afflictions in general, but great and manifold Afflictions, and those attended with all sorts of aggravating circumstances, are always consistent with the pardon of sin, after signal tokens and pledges of it, and of the Love of God therein, Job 7. 17, 18. What is man that thou shouldst magnify him, and that thou shouldst set thine heart upon him, and that thou shouldst visit him every morning, and try him every moment! What were the considerations that cast him into this admiration of the Care and Love of God, is expressed, v. 12, 13, 14, 15, 16. There are no words of a more dismal import in the whole book than those here expressed; yet when he recollected himself from his overwhelming distress, he acknowledgeth that all this proceeded from the Love and Care of God; yea his fixing his heart upon a man to magnify him, to set him up, and do him good; For this end doth he chasten a man every morning, and try him every moment; and that with such afflictions as are for the present so far from being joyous, as that they give no Rest, but even weary the soul of life, as he expresseth their Effects on himself, v. 15, 16. And hence it is observed of this Job, that when none in the Earth was like to him in trouble, God gave him three Testimonies from Heaven, that there was none in the Earth like unto him in Grace. And although it may not be laid down as a General Rule, yet for the most part in the providence of God, from the foundation of the world, those who have had most of Afflictions, have had most of Grace, and the most eminent Testimonies of Acceptance with God. Christ Jesus the Son of God, the Head of the Church, had all Afflictions gathered into an head in him; and yet the Father always loved him, and was always well pleased with him.