A53721:950
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 › 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.
The Absence of God from the soul, by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally ⟨p. 375⟩casts the soul into its depths. Woe unto them, saith the Lord, when I depart from them, Hos. 9. 12. And this woe, this sorrow doth not attend only an universal, a total departure of God from any; but that also which is gradual, or partial, in some things, in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightening, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any ways or means whereby he hath formerly communicated himself unto the souls of any; then woe unto them, sorrows will befall them, and they will fall into depths and entanglements. Now this condition calls for waiting. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return. So saith the Prophet, Isa. 8. 17. I will wait upon the Lord that hideth his face from the house of Jacob, and I will look for him. If God hide himself, this is the natural and proper duty of the soul to wait and to look for him. Other course of relief it cannot apply it self unto. What that waiting is, and wherein it doth consist hath been declared. Patient seeking of God in the ways of his Appointment is comprised in it; this the Prophet expresseth in that word, I will look for him; indeed the same in the Original with that in the Psalm, [Greek or Hebrew]; and I will earnestly look out after him with expectation of his return unto me.
The Absence of God from the soul, by his departure, withdrawing, or hiding himself from it, is that which principally ⟨p. 375⟩casts the soul into its depths. Woe unto them, saith the Lord, when I depart from them, Hos. 9. 12. And this woe, this sorrow doth not attend only an universal, a total departure of God from any; but that also which is gradual, or partial, in some things, in some seasons. When God withdraws his enlightning, his refreshing, his comforting presence, as to any wayes or means whereby he hath formerly communicated himself unto the souls of any; then woe unto them, sorrows will befall them, and they will fall into depths and entanglements. Now this condition calls for waiting. If God be withdrawn, if he hides himself, what hath the soul to do but to wait for his return. So saith the Prophet,