SOUL-DEPTHS AND SOUL-HEIGHTS
Sermons in Psalm 130
By Octavius Winslow. Banner of Truth. 136 pages. £6.50
ISBN 0 85151 935 0
The idea of reproducing an old classic in an ‘easier to read’ and more contemporary style is not a new idea: Octavius Winslow (1808-878) was on to it. He knew of John Owen’s (1616-683) commentary on Psalm 130, but Octavius tells us that Owen had a ‘peculiar style’, which, in his opinion, left room for a ‘more simple and popular exposition’. And that is what we have here from 1874. No disrespect to old John, but bravo Octavius!
The book has nine chapters, travelling through the psalm verse by verse in ascending steps, as does the psalm itself, from ‘soul-depths’ to soul-heights’. Puritan writers and their descendants had a masterly way of analysing the spiritual psychology of the Christian’s soul; these chapters give us an excellent example of just that. ‘Very sweet sermons upon the various verses of the psalm’, said C.H. Spurgeon (a contemporary
