A53721:938
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. › Verses 5, 6: Verse 5, 6.
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. It is necessary. They that watch for the morning, to whose frame and actings, the waiting of the soul for God is compared, give not over until the Light doth appear, or if they do, if they are wearied and faint, and so cease watching, all their former pains will be lost, and they will lye down in disappointments. So will it be with the soul that deserts its watch, and faints in its waiting. If upon the eruption of new lusts or corruptions; if upon the return of old temptations, or the Assaults of new ones; if upon a revived perplexing sense of guilt, or on the tediousness of working and labouring so much and so long in the dark, the soul begins to say in it self, I have looked for light, and behold darkness; for peace, and yet trouble cometh; the Summer is past, the Harvest is ended, and I am not relieved; such and such blessed means have been enjoyed, and yet I have not attained rest, and so gives over its waiting in the way and course before prescribed, it will at length utterly fail and come short of the Grace aimed at. Thou hast laboured, and hast not fainted, brings in the reward, Rev. 2. 3.
2. Perseverance in waiting is assuredly prevalent; and this renders it a necessary part of the duty it self. If we continue to wait for the vision of peace, it will come, it will not tarry but answer our expectation of it. Never soul miscarried that abode in this duty unto the end. The Joys of Heaven may sometimes prevent consolations in this life; God sometimes gives in the full Harvest without sending of the first fruits aforehand; But Spiritual or Eternal peace and Rest is the infallible End of permanent waiting for God.
2. Perseverance in waiting is assuredly prevalent; and this renders it a necessary part of the duty it self. If we continue to wait for the vision of peace, it will come, it will not tarry but answer our expectation of it. Never soul miscarried that abode in this duty unto the end. The Joyes of Heaven may sometimes prevent consolations in this life; God sometimes gives in the full Harvest without sending of the first fruits aforehand; But Spiritual or Eternal peace and Rest is the infallible End of permanent waiting for God.