A53721:843
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.
1. A due sense of our Relation unto God, and an answerable comportment of our spirits and hearts towards him. He that is born again, is born of God. He is begotten of God by the immortal seed of the Word. Without a persuasion hereof how can a man on grounds of faith carry himself towards God as his Father? and how great a part of our Obedience towards ⟨p. 341⟩him and communion with him depends hereon, we all know. If men fluctuate all their days in this matter, if they come to no settlement in it, no comfortable persuasion of it, they scarce ever act any genuine childlike acts of Love or Delight towards God, which exceedingly impeacheth their whole Obedience.
1. A due sense of our Relation unto God, and an answerable comportment of our spirits and hearts towards him. He that is born again, is born of God. He is begotten of God by the immortal seed of the Word. Without a perswasion hereof how can a man on grounds of faith carry himself towards God as his Father? and how great a part of our Obedience towards ⟨p. 341⟩him and communion with him depends hereon, we all know. If men fluctuate all their dayes in this matter, if they come to no settlement in it, no comfortable perswasion of it, they scarce ever act any genuine childlike acts of Love or Delight towards God, which exceedingly impeacheth their whole Obedience.
2. Thankfulness for Grace received is one of the principal duties that is incumbent on Believers in this World. Now how can a man in faith bless God for that which he is utterly uncertain whether he have received it from him or no. I know some men run on in a Road in this matter. They will bless God in a formal way, for their Regeneration, Sanctification, Justification, and the like: But if you ask them whether themselves are regenerate or no, they will be ready to scoff at it, or at least to profess that they know no such thing. What is this but to mock God, and in a presumptuous manner to take his name in vain: But if we will praise God, as we ought for his Grace, as we are guided and directed in the Scripture, as the nature of the matter requires, with such a frame of heart as may influence our whole Obedience, surely it cannot but be our duty to know the Grace that we have received.