Oh, what a heap of empty vanities and cruel vexations

 

My Dear Sister,

How good is the Lord to us! He tries us for a while, and then He comforts us. Light and darkness—joy and sorrow—bitter and sweet—are wisely mixed and graciously overruled for the glory of God in our salvation. Oh, the infinite wisdom of our Leader, the glory of His conduct, the happiness of those under His care, and the blissful end to which He brings them! Happy is their way, and happy is their end. Happy are they in the midst of griefs—because the God of joy, God their joy, their exceeding joy, is with them there. Happy are they when delivered from grieving things—because God their deliverer is their deliverance. Jesus our Redeemer, the Captain of our salvation, marches on before His redeemed, treads down the briars and thorns of the wilderness, and gives us a comfortable passage through them to the land of rest. What need we fear, since the Lord is with us—with us when we pass through the waters and walk through the fire—that the one does not consume us, nor the other overflow us?

Our happiness lies in having a saving interest in the all-sufficient God, in the enjoyment of Him as such, and in our entire dedication to His glory, in every changing providence. To have God in everything—to see God in everything—and to love, bless, and adore God in everything—will make everything sweet to us. And without this, nothing will be substantial, nothing joyous, nothing profitable, nothing savory to a new-born soul, as such.

Oh, what a heap of empty vanities and cruel vexations are all things which this world affords without God enjoyed, without God revered in everything! It may well be said, "to glorify God, and to enjoy Him, is the chief end of man," and ineffably happy is that man who eagerly pursues this great end as his chief good. That man is prepared for the enjoyment, for the employment of heaven. And the more he answers that character, the greater is his preparation for the heavenly state; yes, the more of heaven comes down into his soul while his abode is on this earth.

I wish you daily fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit the Comforter.

Glory is grace made perfect

 

Dear Friend,

I am glad the Lord enables you to believe that all your afflictions are given in God's mercy, faithfulness and love—herein is the strength of a believer's spirit for patient suffering. It is my joy likewise, that you have the blessed experience that when nature is ready to cry out and faint under affliction's pressing weight, grace is enabled to sing and triumph. And believe this, that by all the dispensations of Providence, the Lord, your own God, as the God of love to you in Christ, is bringing you up to glory in that very way which infinite wisdom and grace devised and foreordained, that is and shall be most for God's highest praise and your highest bliss.

As you long to know and love Jesus more, your longing soul shall be satisfied with an increasing knowledge of Him and love unto Him here, until that which is perfect, with respect to both, shall come hereafter. And as Christ now is altogether lovely in your view, though you get but now and then a glimpse of His glory by faith in this distant state, oh, what rapturous joy will fill your heart when blessed with sight, when in His immediate presence you shall see Him as He is!

Believers who are perfectly justified before God have but an imperfect knowledge and conscience-persuasion of that their complete justification; and their personal standing in this grace is not fully known to others, much less are the resplendent glories of Christ's righteousness—that Godlike dress with which believers are richly arrayed—comprehended by themselves, or by others with whom they converse, is our present state of shortness and darkness.

The state of grace, as to sanctification, consists in a begun fitness, by inherent holiness produced in our hearts and lives by the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Spirit of grace, for the enjoyment of Christ and of God in Him; in some glances of His glory cast upon us through the gospel-glass, in a growing conformity to His image, and in an answerable employment in His praise. Now, as glory is grace made perfect, we may hence form some true notions what glory is, in that it differs not from grace in kind but in degree. But as our present conceptions about it are very imperfect, we must needs be very far from thinking or speaking of it perfectly.

The souls of the saints at the death of their bodies, by the Almighty energy of the Holy Spirit, are at once made perfect in holiness. All sin, in its being and working, which remained in them before, is then destroyed utterly, removed out of them totally and forever, and their begun holiness completed, never more to be defaced. The sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit in their hearts at first, which was perfect as to kind and as to parts, as it extended as a principle of grace unto all the powers of their souls, each of which was in part sanctified, shall then be completed in degree, and all the powers of their souls sanctified perfectly as entire faculties. The 'infant principle of grace begun' shall then arrive to its full perfection, to the measure of the stature of the perfect new man. And this perfect holiness is, and will be, their perfect, inherent fitness for the state of glory, in the immediate vision of Christ and of God in Him to a blissful eternity.

They see God's infinite perfections and glories, and in all their various displays in nature, grace, and providence, and all in subservience to God's highest praise, and their highest bliss. They live in God, and dive continually into that boundless, bottomless, endless sea of immense felicity, to the ages of eternity! But the glory of separate spirits, at home with Christ, is, in this regard, much too great to be conceived or expressed by a mortal's thought or word. "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard!" Dr. Goodwin well says, "When we are taken to heaven, we shall see God at once, with respect to the simplicity of His Being, as all that is in God, is God; but with respect to the immensity of His Being, it will be like sailing over an eternal sea, where every moment's sail we have a new horizon." The fresh displays of Jehovah's infinite glories will fill our finite capacities with rising joys, and present new wonders to our raptured eyes, through the circling ages of a blessed eternity; for when we see Christ, and God in Him, it will not be a bare speculation, an unaffecting sight, but a soul-attracting display, that sweetly, strongly, perpetually, will draw us into Him, that broad, deep, and endless ocean of glory, for a soul-filling enjoyment. "And they will see His face, and his name will be written on their foreheads." Rev. 22:4

And this beatific, facial vision of God and the Lamb, will be transforming. "When we see Christ, Christ as He is, we shall be like Him." And this transformation into His image by the vision of His face, as I humbly think, respects all those internal, innumerable, various and endless acts of our perfected graces, which shall be excited hereby to a vast eternity.

And consequent hereupon, we shall be externally employed in Jehovah's praise—in ascriptions of glory and blessing, salvation and honor, wisdom and power, unto Him that sits upon the throne, and to the worthy Lamb forever and ever! And a specimen of this worship of heaven we have thus given, "And every creature which is in heaven heard I saying, Blessing and honor, and glory, and power be unto Him who sits upon the throne, and unto the Lamb forever and ever! "

All the innumerable multitude shall continually and eternally join in the worship of God and the Lamb, with the triumphant shout of, Hallelujah! to which all the glorious angels round the throne join a loud, Amen! All the glorified members of Christ's mystical body, from Him the Head, shall be filled brimful of joy and glory, ineffably and eternally, and all the streams of bliss, from Him the Fountain, shall flow down upon all, and by all, into and through each other, and waft them all, in love's endearment and joint-praises, into God, that vast ocean from whence they came, that ocean of joy and glory—to a happy eternity. For all the displays of the glory of God, which shall then be cast upon us through Christ, will be made in the bright form of love, which will attract our spirits as so many tongues of fire in continual ascension to join with His infinite and eternal flame!

Our communion with God, as the God of love, will be full and immediate, uninterrupted and eternal. Yes, we shall then love God for Himself, first and principally in all His essential perfections and infinite glories, and in all their bright displays, chiefly in that God is glorified thereby. We shall love His glory in our salvation, above our own happiness therein, and rejoice in our felicity, as it redounds to Jehovah's glory—His manifestative glory. We shall interest ourselves in God's glory, and rejoice forever in His essential, immense, and eternal bliss.

And passing out of our little selves into the great God, we shall live in Him, and bathe in His immense pleasures, that vast and endless ocean of felicity unknown. And full it must needs be, to fill all the vessels of mercy to the utmost of their finite capacities, with ineffable and endless joy and glory, since it is full for God Himself to a boundless eternity. We shall then, by glory-union, be "in the Son and in the Father," encompassed round with a vast ocean of bliss, immense and endless, and that not simply as single persons, but as a body collectively, unto eternal praise, in which the innumerable company of holy angels will join with their eternal adorations and loud acclamations!

But, what the joys and glories of Christ's righteousness upon us, clearly and constantly beheld by us—of perfect holiness in principle within us; of immediate vision and full fruition of God the Lamb; of a full conformity to His image in the internal acts of perfected graces; of an eternal dedication to His eternal praise, together with a full and eternal communion with saints and angels—will be in their own vast greatness, nothing less than the state of glory itself can inform us.

This, my dear friend, is a weak essay to lisp out the ineffable felicity of happy spirits IN a separate state. But oh, how small a part of it can be told! It is a subject fit for our admiration, but far surpasses all expression. And until we also are blessed with sight, we are called to live by faith.

That "your fellowship with the Father, and with His Son Jesus Christ, by the Holy Spirit," may more and more increase unto a growing conformity to the divine image, and a more constant employ in Jehovah's praise, until you are called to inherit eternal bliss, is my hearty desire.

The wonder and joy of heaven and earth

 

Mr. James Hervey,

I bless our dear Lord for the great things which He has done for you, and that He has enabled you to write your Meditations. They came out of His fullness, they shine with His beauties, and are truly excellent, as under His influence they sweetly and simply lead unto Him, the Most Excellent One—the wonder and joy of heaven and earth—through all time—and to all eternity. I congratulate your happiness, dear Sir, in that the Lord the Savior has given you a capacious soul to behold—and a learned tongue to express, His ineffable beauties and glories, which are cast upon, and shine through, every creature and thing in the upper and lower world. It was He who gave you the mental eye, that new-created your sin-darkened mind, and gave it a superior capacity, by faith, for converse with brighter glories than the first Adam was capable of, by the utmost stretch of his perfect reason. It was He who presented every beauty to your spiritual eye, that darted every ray of glory upon your illuminated mind, in your converse with seen and unseen things, in the visible and invisible worlds; it was the Lord your Savior, who loved every instruction and every delight into your mind, who gave the matter and form of every idea impressive and expressive of whatever your eyes beheld; yes, who loved Himself to you, and you unto, into, Him. In love to Him, then, we will join to give Him glory.

In Christ there is enough to instruct, delight and fill you unto endless ages. Here, in the knowledge of Christ and Him crucified, you may expatiate, stretch your utmost capacities, swim and dive and live forever; for while you know the love of Christ, which passes knowledge, you shall be filled with all the fullness of God. It is most delightful to me to see Christ the Alpha and Omega of all your thoughts, that you begin and end with Him in everything. Alas, how empty, dear Sir, would all your fine language be if Christ was not in it! It is He who fills your volumes and makes then truly valuable. I rejoice that the Lord has given this, your labor of love, such a large circuit and acceptance; I trust its usefulness will be as extensive as its progress, and that many will be blessed with the knowledge of Christ, and their hearts fired with love to Him thereby, to His glory and their endless joy.

For myself, Sir, I can say, to the praise of our good God, and, I hope, unto your joy, that what you have written has been blessed to bring Christ to me, and me to Him, in further sweet communion, to endear every mercy to me, as the price of His blood, and to endear my heart to Him thereby, and engage me to give Him glory. It gladdens my heart, Sir, to see the love of Christ shed abroad in yours, and the gratitude of your soul awakened thereby, and upon the flow, as a hasty stream, by which you yourself are wafted into Him and His love's ocean. Favorite of heaven! Lover of the altogether lovely Jesus! Seek the Lord and His strength, that you may ever stand fast in His glorious gospel, and never be ashamed of any of its precious truths. Lay out your love to Him, who ineffably and infinitely loved you, in spreading the precious savor of His name as the Lord our righteousness and strength—our righteousness for justification, unto acceptance with God; our strength for sanctification, unto conformity to His image—and tell the world your joys, the triumphs of your faith, in your Savior's blood, when your interest therein is sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which casts out bondage-fear and gives you filial freedom in the service of that glorious God unto whose praise and honor your happy soul is devoted. These things, Sir, which brightly shine in the volumes you most kindly were pleased to present me with, delight me much, and most heartily I pray the Lord to increase you and your usefulness more and more.

Not a trouble could touch you!

 

Dear Madam,

At your request I attempt, as the Lord may afford light and assistance, to give you my thoughts on those words of Psalm 71:20, 21—"Though You have showed me great and sore troubles, You shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side."

These words of the royal psalmist express his present mournful experience, and his strong faith in God for deliverance, to Jehovah's praise and his own bliss (as verses 22, 23); and in them, we may observe

1. That great and sore troubles are the lot of God's dearest children.

2. That it is the Lord that brings their greatest troubles upon them.

3. That these troubles may be so great as to make them seem, in their own apprehension, like dead men, yes, as men buried deep in the earth.

4. That from the greatest death the Lord will raise His people unto a renewed life.

5. That it is God's design in the deepest dejection and humiliation of His children to raise them unto a higher exaltation and a more abundant consolation.

6. That the faith of the psalmist and of all the saints was and is founded upon God's faithful promise.

7. That the faith of approaching deliverance, as beheld in the promise, is a mighty support to their sinking spirits and a reviving cordial to their fainting fits. To each of these, if the Lord pleases, a few brief hints, and we may note:

1. Great and sore troubles are the lot of God's dearest children. The royal psalmist, who spoke these words, was a man after God's own heart, an eminent saint, one of the Lord's special favorites, and yet he was a man of very great afflictions. If we read the history of his life in the afflictive part of it, what was it but a scene of very great sufferings! How was he despised and falsely accused by Eliab, his elder brother, when the Lord had spirited him up, and fired his zeal to go forth against Goliath, that proud Philistine who defiled the armies of the living God! How was he envied of Saul when the people praised him, and the Lord was with him! How did Saul hunt for his precious life continually and persecute him severely, so that poor David began to faint, even long after the Lord had promised him the kingdom and Samuel the prophet anointed him to it, when he said, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul!" How sorrowful was his sad case, when his son—his beloved son Absalom—rose up against him, to destroy him and take his throne!

And if this psalm was composed, as it seems to have been, at the time of Absalom's rebellion, what deaths, what depths of trouble was poor David under then! How was he obliged to flee for his life from Jerusalem; driven out from the place of God's public worship, separated from the ark, and caused by grief to go up Mount Olivet, weeping as he went, with his head covered, and bare-footed, while all the people who were with him went up in like manner! And when come to Bahurim, how bitterly did Shimei curse him; how cruelly did he cast stones at him! How did Ahithophel, his wise counselor, with a multitude of his subjects, forsake him and join with Absalom; and cruelly and jointly did they plot his destruction! From his anointing to the kingdom unto his possession of it, and from that to his exit, how many were his adversaries, how great his adversities!

And if we look to CHRIST, of whom David was a type, as God's king, set upon His holy hill of Zion, in His wars against his enemies He, though the Father's first and most beloved Son, was yet in His humiliation state, "A man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief"—a man of sorrows by way of eminence from His cradle—the manger—to His painful death, the accursed cross, from the beginning of His life unto His dolorous death! His sorrows, who was the first-born Son of the Most High God, exceeded inexpressibly—inconceivably exceeded—all the sorrows of all the junior brethren, amassed together into one great heap of sorrow. Their sorrows were His, "He bore their sorrows, and carried their griefs." His sorrows had the ponderous weight of the curse in them, but from their sorrows the curse is taken out and gone. It has been well said that "God had one Son without sin, but He has no son without sorrow."

"Whom the Lord loves He chastens." And Christ, the eldest glory Son, standing first in the Father's love, must have the greatest bulk of sufferings, the most ponderous weight of sorrows—be a man of sorrows that dwelt, as it were, in sorrows; who was acquainted with grief; that was familiar with grief, as a man with his intimate.

And the APOSTLES, who were set first in the gospel church, had the most ponderous weight of afflictions. "We are fools for Christ's sake," says Paul, "we are weak, we are despised; even to this present hour we both hunger and thirst, and are naked and are buffeted, and have no certain dwelling place; and labor, working with our own hands; being reviled we bless, being persecuted we suffer it, being defamed we entreat; we are made the filth of the world, and are the offscouring off all things unto this day, always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, for we are always delivered unto death for Jesus' sake."

And when James and John, who were our Lord's special favorites, requested to sit, the one at His right hand and the other at His left in His kingdom, He asked them, "Can you drink of the cup that I drink of, and be baptized with the baptism with which I am baptized?"—thereby signifying that suffering must precede reigning; and from the greatest even to the least of the saints, I think Dr. Goodwin's assertion will hold true, that "where free grace sets itself most to love, there it bestows the most afflictions."

Every child of God has his own part of sufferings that was allotted for him, and those who are blessed with the largest share of God's manifestative favor have had, have and shall have, the greatest troubles here. And these troubles in their every kind and degree are all appointed and brought to pass upon the children of God's infinite favor. Christ was foreordained to suffer, whence he said, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory?" And, says Paul, "God has set us forth as it were appointed unto death." And as the sufferings of all God's children are appointed for them, therefore, says Peter, "Let them which suffer according to the will of God (that is, His appointed will), commit the keeping of their souls unto Him in well doing."

2. It is the Lord who brings their greatest troubles upon them. As He appoints them for His children, so He brings them upon them, whether they be troubles in soul, in body, in family or in circumstance, in the world or in the Church, they are all brought upon them by the Lord's hand, either by His operation or permission; and thus the psalmist saw God's hand—"Though YOU have made me see troubles, many and bitter, you will restore my life again; from the depths of the earth you will again bring me up." Psalm 71:20.

And thus said our spiritual David, the Lord Christ, "YOU have brought me into the dust of death," for of Him and His sufferings at His crucifixion, that assertion is to be taken; and even before it, He said unto Pilate, who vaunted of His power to condemn him to it, "You could have no power at all against me, except it were given you from above."

And Paul says, "God has set forth us the apostles last, as it were appointed unto death; for we are made a spectacle to the world, to angels, and to men," in allusion to that cruel custom of the Romans, who, when they had condemned any person to be torn to death by wild beasts, after having led him about as a spectacle, brought him upon the stage for that purpose. And thus it is with all God's children, "Not a hair of their heads falls to the ground without their Father;" not an affliction lights on them, but is brought on by His hand; and this, in their troubled minds, may cause a calm in the roughest storm, as no evil can touch them but what passes through God's hands, and especially if their faith is in exercise concerning the infinite love of His heart in the sharpest strokes of His hand; but if they speak of their present case, so far as they judge by sense, we may note:

3. That these troubles may be so great as to make them seem, in their own apprehension, like dead men, yes, as men buried deep in the earth. This is implied in what the psalmist speaks, "You shall quicken me again." It is as if he should say, "I am a dead man, as unable to help and deliver myself as a dead corpse is to raise itself again to life." Yes, further, it is as if he should say, "I am a buried man." This also is implied in what he speaks of being "brought up again from the depths of the earth." If he had not been dead in his own apprehension, he would not have needed quickening; if he had not been buried deep, in his own estimation of his present state, he could not have been "brought up from the depths of the earth."

Troubles, in the sacred Word, are styled deaths—"In deaths often." Great troubles, great deaths—"Who delivered us from so great a death." They are metaphorical deaths, for as natural death deprives the body of life and its comforts, so trouble, which is metaphorical death, deprives the soul, so far as it prevails and is indulged, of that life of joy which it had formerly in the light of God's countenance and in the bounties of providence. And when troubles are great and sore, God's dear children, judging by sense of their troubled condition, esteem themselves to be like dead and buried men. Thus Heman—"They have abandoned me to death, and I am as good as dead. I am forgotten, cut off from your care. You have thrust me down to the lowest pit, into the darkest depths." Psalm 88:5-6

And thus the Jewish Church, in the great and sore troubles of the Babylonish captivity—"Our bones are dried, our hope is lost, we are cut off for our parts." Here, they seem to apprehend themselves to be, not only in such a helpless, desolate condition as dead and buried men, but even that their case was as desperate, and they as far from hope of life as is a dead corpse when its flesh is consumed in the grave, its bones cast up, dried and scattered about the grave's mouth. And with respect to their own apprehension of their desolate condition, and their utter inability to help themselves, and that of all the creatures to help them, the Lord himself thus represents them to the prophet. "He brought him in vision into the valley, which was full of bones, and caused him to pass by them round about, and behold there were very many in the open valley, and lo, they were very dry!" And then He said unto him, "Son of man, can these bones live?" But, nevertheless, we may note:

4. That from the greatest death the Lord will raise His people unto a renewed life. Thus, says the psalmist, "You shall quicken me again, you shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth." Here is life spoken of in quickening, and renewed life in quickening again and bringing up again. David, before this, had been blessed with past experience, in former deaths of trouble, of God's quickening influence—and thus the Lord blessed him again with life after death in the restoration of all the privileges of His kingdom after he had been driven from thence by force, which he foresaw, and, doubtless, all his future deliverances which were comprised in the promise when he spoke these words.

And thus the Lord Jesus after death was raised again to life—brought again from the dead. And thus the Lord spoke by His prophet to His people of old under their dead state and hope as above, and in them speaks to all His people under their greatest deaths, whether metaphorical, or natural, unto the world's end, "Thus says the Lord God, behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel. And you shall know that I am the Lord (the unchanging, the covenant-keeping, and promise-performing Jehovah) when I have opened your graves (and then, though He had said 'O my people' before, He repeats the appellation to show the infinite love and abounding affections of his heart, that source of life for them in death, and breaks out upon them again with an O), O my people, I will bring you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you, and you shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall you know that I the Lord have spoken it and performed it, says the Lord." Again, we may note—

5. That it is God's design, in the deepest dejection and humiliation of His children, to raise them thence to a higher exaltation and a more abundant consolation. Thus, says the psalmist, "You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side." When the Lord restored David again to his kingdom, he enjoyed it with all its privileges in an increased greatness, and with a more abundant sweetness, proportionable to the Lord's great and gracious appearance for him, as His servant, in his so great and sore distress. The Lord's design in bringing death upon His children is, not only their restoration to that life and joy which were taken from them, but also to raise them thence, from their deepest dejection and humiliation, unto a higher exaltation and a more abundant consolation. Thus the Lord speaks, when His people of old were to return out of captivity, "I will do better for you than at your beginnings." "I will cause you to possess the double." "In their land they shall possess the double." The double of life and joy, of honor and glory, is God's design to confer upon His people, when He restores them from death and sorrow, from reproach and ignominy.

And thus the Lord's Christ, after His deepest dejection and humiliation, was raised by His Father to the highest exaltation, and made full of joy with His countenance, or had given Him a more abundant and eternal consolation. And thus the apostles, after their deepest deaths, were raised by God unto higher honor and glory in the Church militant, and reserved for them, to their higher honor, glory, and joy, was a richer crown in the Church triumphant. And as it is the Lord's design to advance all His favorites highly, to prepare them for the enjoyment of that advancement more safely, to show His grace more gloriously in its bestowment, and the more abundantly to sweeten their enjoyment of it, He allows them, in His infinite wisdom, to sink into the deepest misery, that from thence, in His boundless grace, He might take occasion to exalt them more highly by His all-triumphant mercy and eternal truth and veracity.

Thus it was, in sin's permitted first entrance, and now is, in all its permitted after-prevalence. Thus it is in all temptations from the world, and Satan, and in trying dispensations of providence, with which the Lord Himself is pleased to exercise His dear children. Darkness and death must be first, to set off the more that light and life with which they are to be blessed; yes, so wondrous is the Lord in His working, that He brings an increase of light and life out of the thickest darkness and deepest death; the greatest joy out of the utmost grief; the highest honor out of the deepest disgrace; the most plenteous fullness out of the most penurious circumstances; and eternal glory out of earthly misery.

Who, then, can withhold from saying, "Blessed is the people whose God is the Lord?" Who, then, of His children, would not give up himself entirely, most humbly and cheerfully, into His all-wise, all-gracious hands, in the most trying seasons? God sees a need, "that His children be in heaviness through manifold temptations, that their faith may be tried and thereby increased, and that it may be found unto praise and honor and glory at the appearing of Jesus Christ," that so, now and then, "He may increase their greatness and comfort them on every side." This He does and will do, in all our deliverances from distress, in time partially; but oh, to what a rich increase shall our tried graces rise, when time-trials are done, and a most enriched crown, in eternal glory, comes on! Then, then we shall be comforted on every side indeed. No side left open for sin and death, for sorrow and grief, for shame and reproach, for necessity of fear of poverty, but all-exalted in fullness of joy, of richest plenty, of greatest variety, and endless perpetuity, in the perfection of holiness and praise, and in the all-sufficiency of glory, we shall reign in life—in the second Adam's life—which is, "life more abundantly" than that which the first Adam lost by iniquity; and in this life we shall reign to a blessed eternity! And as thus the Lord will raise his children from the deepest dejection and humiliation unto an higher exaltation and a more abundant consolation, we may note—

6. That the faith of the psalmist, and of all the saints, for all deliverances, for their earthy happiness and eternal bliss, was and is founded upon God's faithful promise. "You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side." How came David to say, 'You shall'? Was it not because God had said, 'I will'? Yes, verily. "God had made with him and everlasting covenant, ordered in all things and sure, in which was all his salvation and all his desire!" And all the saints are savingly interested in that same everlasting covenant of free, absolute, and eternal grace, as David was, in which all their earthly deliverances and eternal joys and glories are comprised, while thus the Lord engages, for all the heirs of promise—"I will be unto them a God (an all-delivering, an all-exalting, an all-satisfying, and all-solacing, an all-justifying, an all-sanctifying, an all-glorifying, and an eternal God), and they shall be unto Me a people"—an all-delivered, an all-exalted, a fully-satisfied, a joy-filled, an all-justified, a perfectly-sanctified, and an eternally-glorified people.

This covenant of promise, which was originally made with our spiritual David, is confirmed and ratified forever by the precious blood of Christ, and by the solemn oath of Jehovah, and contains in it, as in one sum total, all the promises of God, which are all yes and amen in Christ, that lie, as in distinct parcels, scattered abroad throughout the sacred pages, to suit the various necessities and wishes of all the heirs of promise. And whether David or any other saint, in confidence of deliverance, by this delivering God, said, or says, You shall—whether herein he, or they, respected, or respect, the general, all-comprehending promise of the covenant, or any promise of it in particular—this is their faith; their faith of deliverance is founded upon God's faithful promise, and "heaven and earth shall pass away, but not a jot or tittle of Jehovah's promise-word shall ever fail." And therefore, with respect to all heirs of promise, we may note—

7. That the faith of approaching deliverance, as beheld in the promise, is a mighty support to their sinking spirits, and a reviving cordial in their fainting fits. "I would have fainted," said David, "unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living." And the faith of assistance and deliverance, as beheld in His Father's faithful promise, was a mighty support to our great Lord himself in His arduous redemption work. "For the Lord God will help me, therefore I shall not be confounded; therefore have I set my face like a flint, and I know that I shall not be ashamed." And what a reviving cordial to Him was faith in His Father's faithful promise under His most depressing sufferings, when "He endured the cross for the joy that was set before Him," the joy of His Father's highest glory—by His deepest ignominy; of His own greatest exaltation—after His lowest humiliation; and of His people's salvation from all misery—and unto all joy and glory in eternal life, by His pouring out His soul for them even unto death.

Again, what a mighty support, what a reviving cordial, was the faith of deliverance as beheld in God's faithful promise to the apostles and primitive Christians under their great sufferings. They ran their race, not at uncertainties, but in faith's assurance, from the faithful promise, for an incorruptible crown. They were patient and joyful in all their tribulations, while they "looked not at the things which are seen—which are temporal, but at the things which are not seen—which are eternal." They "reckoned that the sufferings of this present time were not worthy to be compared with that eternal glory which would be revealed in them." And the faith of deliverance, as beheld in God's faithful promise, has been, is, and will be, a mighty support and a reviving cordial to all the saints through all the ages of time, past, present, and to come.

We commonly say, in lesser things, "If it were not for hope, the heart would break." And I am sure, I may say, "If it were not for hope—that good sure hope which springs from faith in God's faithful promise, the hearts of all His people would certainly break, when pressed, as they think, above strength, under great troubles and sore distress." How sadly did David faint, when he said in unbelief, "I shall one day perish by the hand of Saul," upon which he fled from the coasts of Israel unto Achish, king of Gath. But though poor David met with troubles from the Philistines, and was severely distressed when Ziklag was burnt with fire—and his wives and those of his men carried captive—and his own people, his soldiers, spoke of stoning him, yet then, turning the eye and laying the ear of his faith to God's faithful promise, faith had a mouth to speak comfort, by which "David encouraged himself in the Lord his God." His faith in God's faithful promise was a mighty support to him at this time of his distress, and such a reviving cordial it was that kept him from fainting under sense-apparent ruin, until he saw the promise in performance, in that part of it which respected his being brought to the kingdom, which time was then near to come, although to David it was unknown.

And thus the Church, when carried into captivity, in her doleful lamentations of her sad case and sore distress, while she remembered her affliction and misery, the wormwood and gall, her heart would have broken had it not been for faith and hope in God. But she called the Lord's mercies to mind, His compassions, which fail not, and His faithfulness, which is great, and says in faith, "The Lord is my portion (whence hope began to spring), therefore will I hope in Him;" that is, for delivering mercy from the depths of her misery, unto renewed joy and rising glory. And again, this was the voice of her faith in God's faithful promise, which secured her deliverance from greatest distress—"Come, and let us return unto the Lord; for He has torn, and He will heal us; He has smitten, and He will bind us up. After two days, He will revive us; in the third day, He will raise us up, and we shall live in His sight. His going forth (for our deliverance) is prepared as the morning (which will most certainly come in its season); and He shall come unto us as the rain, and as showers that water the earth," to newly-robe it with greenness and fruitfulness, joy, and glory.

And oh, what a mighty support was this faith of the Church in her approaching deliverance, as beheld in God's faithful promise, under the pressing weights of her present distress; what a reviving cordial was this in her fainting fits; and what saint is there who has not had, more or less, some blessed experience of this? Well, then, may we say with the Church, even in greatest adversity, "Rejoice not against me, O my enemy, when I fall I shall arise, when I sit in darkness the Lord will be a light unto me; He will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold His righteousness." And with David, "You which have showed me great and sore troubles shall quicken me again and bring me up again from the depths of the earth; You shall increase my greatness and comfort me on every side." With a few words I shall close.

And hence, my dear, worthy Madam, are you under great and sore troubles? Remember that these are the lot of God's dearest children. And yield not to doubt of your being such because you have this mournful experience; and though the inward workings of sin at times under trying dispensations of providence is the greatest trouble of all, and puts your soul to grievous pain, this is a trouble that is peculiar to God's own, and by this grief you may know certainly that you are one of the blessed family, to your heart's joy.

Again, consider that it is the Lord that brings your greatest troubles upon you; not a trouble could touch you but by His operation or permission for the bringing it on. Say, then, "It is the Lord, let Him do what seems Him good;" and, "Shall I receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall I not receive evil?" And if the rod is in your all-wise, your all-gracious Father's most kind hand, it will profit your soul in the end.

And are your troubles so great at times as to make you seem in your own apprehension like a dead person, yes, as one that is buried deep in the earth? Think, in faith, that when all help fails within and without, on every creature-side, then for you in your "Jehovah everlasting strength abides."

Further, consider that from the greatest death the Lord will raise you unto a renewed life. You are not always to abide under the power of death. Christ is risen, you must rise; "because He lives, you shall live also." And let your blessed experiences of past deliverances encourage your trust in God for future deliverances. Say, "God, who has delivered and does deliver, in Him I trust that He will yet deliver,"—that He will quicken me again, and bring me up again from the depth of the earth.

Yes, behold, it is God's design in the deepest of your dejection and humiliation to raise you up to a higher exaltation and a more abundant consolation. The greater your death, the more abundant shall be your life; the lower your humiliation, the higher your exaltation; the deeper your dejection, the more abundant your consolation. You shall pass on by every waste to a richer increase of grace, from greatness to greatness; from joy before grief, unto a higher joy after it; from lesser gracious experience before suspended influence, unto a greater, richer, gracious experience under renewed influence. You shall thus pass from blessing to blessing here.

But, hereafter, oh, how highly will the Lord exalt you! At death, in your separate spirit, you shall enter into peace and be surrounded in and by those rivers of pleasure which flow continually at God's right hand for evermore; and at the resurrection-morn you shall enter into your Master's joy; and for grief, there will be no entrance; from the deepest of your soul-misery, from the lowest humiliation of your body, you shall be raised up to the highest joy, to eternal glory. "The Lamb who is in the midst of the throne shall feed you, and shall lead you to the living fountain of waters, and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes."

Again, is your faith for all deliverance, for your earthly happiness and eternal bliss, founded upon God's faithful promise? behold, this is a sure basis, for the God of promise is the God of performance. "He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent; has He said it, and shall He not do it; or has He spoken, and shall He not make it good?" And "Those who trust in the Lord shall be as Mount Zion, which cannot be removed, but abides forever." "They shall not be ashamed nor confounded, world without end."

Once more, as you have had blessed experience that the faith of approaching deliverance, as beheld in God's faithful promise, has been a mighty support to your sinking spirit, and a reviving cordial in your fainting fits, let this put you upon crying to the Lord for wisdom and strength to watch against and oppose the voice of unbelief, which casts the highest dishonor upon the God of promise, and doubles the weight of your every distress. And when the Lord favors you with pleading for prospects of deliverance, by turning the eye of your faith to the great, comprehensive, general promise of His new covenant, or to any particular promise, as a branch of it, by the Holy Spirit applied to your heart, endeavor to hold fast your confidence in the face of all gainsayers, for the honor of the God of promise, and for your troubled soul's bliss; and be bold, also, to tell the enemies to their face that they are liars, and that you, in the strength of Jesus, shall tread upon their high places; for in the deepest distress, "the eternal God is your refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms." And therefore, you may say with David, "You who have showed me great and sore troubles, shall quicken me again, and shall bring me up again from the depths of the earth. You shall increase my greatness, and comfort me on every side."

That "the peace of God, which passes all understanding, may keep your heart and mind, through Christ Jesus," is the fervent prayer of your tender friend, who loves you in the affections of Jesus Christ.

Jesus your Friend

 

Very Dear Sir,

I am glad that you still rejoice in your sweet Jesus, though you have no other that you can call a friend. It is enough, beloved of the Lord, that Christ is your Friend, though all others should fail you, and no man care for your soul. There is such an infinite fullness, such an unsearchable depth of love and grace, of wisdom and knowledge, of tender care and loving faithfulness in your own Lord Jesus, that you need not go to the creature for compassion in misery, for ease in trouble, or for solace in sorrow. The Lord, your Friend, knows all your griefs, and by love-sympathy makes them His own. Lay your weary head in Christ's bosom, and pour out your troubled heart before Him. His kind hand will wipe away all your tears, and His precious lips will drop sweet-smelling myrrh for your soul's refreshment. And as Jesus your Friend will be with you in trouble, so, well will He bring you out of it. The wisdom and kindness, the power and faithfulness of the Lord your Friend, will overrule the lack of friendship in creatures, and all unkindnesses and disappointments you meet with from them.

For myself, I must say, the Lord is still infinitely kind, merciful, and gracious to vile, sinful, unworthy me. It has been His dear pleasure to try me greatly by permitting the ship in which my dear husband sailed for England to founder at sea, to the loss of his life. But most surely the Son of God has been with me in this burning fiery furnace, and His sweet presence, at times, loosed my bands, and caused me to walk at liberty. Heavy was the stroke to my weak nature, but glorious has been the display of divine power in supporting me under it. I long to love, honor, and adore my chiding, smiting, loving God. I believe He does all things well, and what I know not now, I shall know hereafter. I wait for the light of glory to open the mysteries of this dark providence, and rejoice in hope of it. Oh, how fast does our dear Lord gather His lilies! We had need work while it is day—the night comes, in which we can do no more for Christ in this world.

Into the arms of Jesus—our love, our life, our all, I commit you. His grace be with your spirit.

This frowning, emptying providence

 

Dear Madam,

I am at this time sorrowful, on account of a letter I have received, "That the ship in which my dear husband sailed for England has, in all probability, foundered at sea." This stroke, Madam, is so great that it was almost ready to overcome my weak nature. But, glory to my dear Lord, His strength has been, and is, made perfect in my weakness. Precious cordials have been given me when ready to faint, and mighty supports when ready to sink. My weak, willing spirit longs to glorify God my Father, and the Lord my Redeemer, under this sharp trial, by humble submission, patient endurance, and joyful, thankful acquiescence. Most surely the Lord, my own God, has done all things (and this) well—well for His own glory, and for my advantage—so well that it could not have been better than it is. And shall I not receive evil at the hand of the Lord, as well as good? Yes, by His grace assisting, I do and I will receive the evil of this affliction meekly and thankfully. Evil, indeed it is, as it is very grieving and trying in itself and its circumstances; but good it is for me to be thus grieved and tried, as this affliction flows from, is managed by, and shall end in the display of infinite goodness to me. 

This very providence, the Lord tells me, is towards me goodness; and what I know not now, I shall know hereafter. I shall shortly see, with the veil cast off, all the mysteries of providence, opened in all its windings and turnings and cross-appearances, in a consistent light and glory with the exceeding great and precious promises, as having been all subservient to their fulfillment in my salvation and bliss, even when they seemed to thwart their accomplishment, and crossed my expectation and desire. And until sight comes, it is good to live by faith. I dread casting such a dishonor upon the Son of God, by over-much heaviness for the loss of a creature, as if He, the Creator, who is God, blessed forever, and mine in the nearest relation and in an indissoluble union, was not in Himself an object sufficient to satisfy and solace me through all times, and unto all eternity. Emptied I am, indeed, of a creature-comfort, of a near relative that was dear, and a blessing to me, but God has given me Christ, in whom all fullness dwells, never to take Him from me. I am in widowhood, yet, glory unto God in the highest, I am not a widow. 

My Maker is my Husband and my Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts is His name. Creatures die, but Jesus lives—lives as my Husband, in all the kindness and care, the tenderness and faithfulness, of that near and dear relation, and will show the same in a superlative and transcendent manner, far above the utmost that can be expected or found in the best of creatures. Yes, Jesus lives, as my life, in soul, in body, in grace, in glory, through time and to eternity. I have lost the shadow, but I have the substance—the stream, but I have the fountain, the immense ocean of all my bliss. And oh! for grace to behave under this frowning, emptying providence, as a soul thus satisfied with favor, and full with the blessing of the Lord.

You see, Madam, how precarious and uncertain all things here are! Live beside the creatures while you have them—let Christ be the all of your enjoyment in them—and then, when they fail, and your own heart and flesh too, Christ will be your all in Himself—the strength of your heart, and your portion forever—an all of bliss and glory, ineffable and eternal. Value your own Lord Jesus. Let His price (His worth in your esteem) be far above rubies, and all creatures and things, desirable and desired. The all-beauteous Godhead is in Him. He is the mighty God, as well as the Man Jesus, for you. Emanuel is His wonderful, glorious name. His personal and relative glories are, and shall be, the wonder and praise of men and angels unto ages without end. Look upon His lovely face—there is not another such a beauty in both worlds! See, Madam, this is your Beloved, and this is your Friend. 

This is He who has loved you, and given Himself for you; that laid aside His glory and joy, who was the adoration of angels, and the darling of the Father's bosom, to clothe Himself, His matchless Self, with your sin, shame, and sorrow, that He might raise you from the ash-heap of sinful nature to inherit with Him the joys and glories of the upper world; yes, to set you with Him upon His own throne! Oh, dear Madam, you are the Lamb's bride, even you, who come unto God, as the God of peace, only by and through the sacrificed Lamb. Admire the Lamb's love—the Lamb who was slain for you, that has wooed and won and betrothed you to Himself forever. Live upon Him, live to Him, and long to live with Him.

That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him, is my hearty desire.

The valley of the shadow of death

 

Dear Brother and Sister,

As to my health, blessed be God, I am no worse. I dwell in a fragile body, which I think sometimes is near its dissolution. But I rejoice in that house, that building of God, eternal in the heavens, which I know, through grace, is prepared for me. I in this tabernacle groan, being burdened by reason of that sinfulness and weakness which attends and renders me incapable either to know or serve the Lord as I would, and as perfect spirits do; and this makes me long for the time when mortality shall be swallowed up of life. We have no reason to be afraid of a separate state, for "Blessed are the dead who die in the Lord." Nor yet should the saints be afraid to die, as if they should be forsaken and left to go through the last trial alone. No, our God will be with us when we come to the river Death; He will divide the water before us, and so marvelously appear in carrying us through it that we shall take thence a memorial of His infinite grace and faithfulness, as the children of Israel did when they passed through the literal Jordan (Josh. 4:7).

We should come up from the wilderness, even to the last step of it, leaning upon our Beloved, who has said, "I will never leave you nor forsake you" (Heb. 13:5). These words, "never leave you," reach through our whole lives, even unto death, yes, into death, through death, above and beyond death, even to an endless eternity. And unless everlasting arms could become weary, unchangeable love alter, and infinite faithfulness fail, we have no reason to be afraid. No, not in "the valley of the shadow of death". Our God will be "our refuge and strength, a very present help in that time of trouble". And as He will be the strength of our heart when heart and flesh fail us, so our portion forever, or our eternal lot.

And oh! who can count up a thousandth part of those vast treasures of glory we have in His immense Being, as He has made over His great Self to us in Christ! Why should we, then, who are the King's sons, be lean from day to day? The Lord grant us true greatness of mind, that with a princely spirit we may behave as heirs of glory under all our present trials!

Wishing all prosperity, and begging a share in your prayers, I commit you to Israel's Keeper.

The Palm Tree (afflictions)

 

Dear Madam,

I bless the Lord I am better. Before the affliction came on, the Lord gave me that word, "Do not be afraid, for I have ransomed you. I have called you by name; you are mine. When you go through deep waters and great trouble, I will be with you. When you go through rivers of difficulty, you will not drown! When you walk through the fire of oppression, you will not be burned up; the flames will not consume you. For I am the Lord, your God, the Holy One of Israel, your Savior," which made me think an affliction was at hand; and indeed the Lord has been with me greatly in this affliction; has given me many precious words for my support and comfort; has exercised my various graces thereby, and given me sweet resignation to, and acquiescence with, His good pleasure; and caused me to have no will but His.

And as I was particularly drawn out in faith and confidence in God that He would help and deliver me in His own time and way, that word was brought, "O woman, great is your faith, be it unto you even as you will." Upon which my heart replied, "Lord, Your will be mine. Save and deliver me as to manner and time which shall be most for Your glory; and give me grace to endure affliction, while that is Your pleasure, unto Your honor."

Though I had not been without temptations from the enemy to think, when in extremity, my Lord took no notice of me; but blessed be God they did not get hold on me. I was enabled to resist Satan, steadfast in the faith of God's love in the stroke, and that He would do me good by it; and in His wisdom as to the time of deliverance from it, and meanwhile was helped to bless His name for it; so that the flame did not kindle upon me in walking through the fires, which made me think of the burning bush, unscorched. You will help me to praise the Lord, and to pray that henceforth I may be holiness to Himself more than ever.

Remember, dear Madam, that the promise is, "The righteous shall flourish as the palm-tree"; and naturalists observe that the palm-tree flourishes most when most oppressed. And this is certainly the case with the righteous. For what are trying providences but given opportunities for the exercise of our graces? Without them many of our graces would have little room for exercise. "They are not at present joyous (but grievous to our weak flesh); but to those who are exercised thereby they afterwards yield the peaceable fruit of righteousness." We are like heirs under age, put to the 'school of affliction' to be trained up and fitted there for the honor of a high throne.

The sweet clusters of Canaan's grapes

 

My very Dear Sister in Christ,

The sweet clusters of Canaan's grapes brought to us in this wilderness, whet our appetite after the heavenly country, that exceeding good land where we, at home with Christ, shall feast upon Him, the Tree of Life, in the variety and perpetuity of His ever-new and abundant fruits, unto growing joys and endless days. Then, oh, then, "God shall wipe away all tears from our eyes; and there shall be no more death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain (inward or outward); for the former things shall be passed away." No wonder that such a soul desires to depart and to be with Christ, which is far better!

Let us, then, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ, rejoice now in hope of approaching glory which awaits us. Our Lord's joy will not be full, until He sees all His children brought in, converted by grace and raised unto glory. When He thus sees us, the whole election of grace and all our ineffable bliss, as the fruit of the travail of His soul, He shall be satisfied, His heart contented, and delighted forever!

Such is the boundless grace of our altogether lovely and infinitely loving Lord! And as for us, the beloved of the Lord, appointed to salvation by Jesus Christ, when we are presented faultless before the presence of His glory, it will be with exceeding joy—a joy far exceeding all our present conception and expression. So great is the hope laid up for us in heaven! And how great, then, should be our present joy in hope of future glory!

But let us wait with patience our appointed time here on earth. Shall not we, so highly favored to know that for us there remains an eternal rest, be free to endure all the troubles appointed for us in this present time, since the glory of God and our good are jointly concerned under these light and momentary afflictions? Not a trouble passes over us but we are called thereby to glorify God, in doing and suffering His will.

Shall we desire to shun any cross which is to prepare us for and to advance our crown? No! rather let us ask wisdom of God wisely to improve our every day's affliction, for His glory. Thus, rejoicing in, waiting for, and hastening unto, the coming of the day of God, let us spend the little time that remains unto us, and soon our race will be run, the prize won, and we shall enter into the joy of our Lord, to live with Him, and reign in life by Him, to a never-ending eternity!

Head or heart?

 

For God, who said, "Let light shine out of darkness," made His light shine in our hearts to give us the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Christ. 2 Cor. 4:6

There is a vast difference between a conviction of the doctrines of grace in the head, and an adoring the grace of those doctrines in the heart.

A speculative knowledge of gospel truth, that goes no further than a mere outward notion of it, may be found in a natural man. This knowledge of truth is a cold, unaffecting, and unattracting knowledge, that leaves the will and affections just where it found them. A natural man, indeed, may have some natural pleasure in getting some new notions of truth, but he experiences no soul-attraction to the things known.

A spiritual discernment of gospel truths is very different from a bare speculative knowledge of them; in that the glory of truth shines into the mind, which produces a sweet and strict adherence thereto, by all the inward powers of the soul. The understanding discerns the truth in its beauty, glory, and excellency; the judgment approves it; and the will and affections embrace and clasp about it. In a word, the whole soul unites with the truth, and is changed into the image of it.

Oh! when the least beam of Gospel truth shines in upon the mind with such a ravishing beauty and majestic glory as draws the heart to love it, and makes the soul bow down before it, this is a saving illumination, set up in the soul of a vessel of mercy, which is the very beginning of its future glory. It is God's shining into our hearts by a new creating efficacy to give the light, not only of the knowledge of God, but of the glory of God, in the face of Jesus Christ; which word imports the ravishing beauty and all-attracting efficacy of gospel grace darting in upon the mind as a supernatural revelation, which unites the soul to the things beheld, to the objects revealed.

From this saving illumination the soul feels a sweet and strong attraction, by which, being drawn with cords of love, it comes unto Christ in its desires after Him, as beheld, altogether lovely.

Wherever the truths of the gospel are known, and so known in their beauty and excellency as to knit and unite the heart to them, or to draw out the soul into desires after and adoration of the glories beheld—that man is a regenerate man.

My Dear Brother in our Precious Lord,

 

My Dear Brother in our Precious Lord,

Oh, I am confounded at my own vileness while He thus displays the riches of His abundant goodness; and my heart breaks within me that God should love me so much and I love Him so little! Wonder at His grace! Praise Him for His infinite, free, distinguishing grace to such an unworthy, ungrateful, hell-deserving sinner. And you, my lethargic soul, afresh touched with divine kindness, join the praise with your feeble hallelujahs until sin and time are gone; and then with louder voice, in higher notes, you shall shout the praises of Jehovah's grace in His kindness towards you through Christ Jesus unto ages without end!

Oh, infinite condescension! That the Lord of all should speak thus to such a vile, worthless, nothing worm! Oh, free love! oh, behold, wonder and praise, the Prince of Love has said unto me, even to me, the least and last of all, 'How fair is your love, my sister, my spouse!' And this astonishing language of His grace at once humbles and exalts me, fills me with heart-melting wonder and joy in Christ, and with the deepest, sweetest mourning and self-loathing; makes me forget the things which are behind, and press forward with an eager desire. Oh, for a soul, all-enkindled and inflamed with love, to my lovely loving Jesus!

It is a great thing to know ourselves in our nothingness and vileness; and to know Christ as ours in His all-sufficient fullness!

Really a work of grace or not?

 

My Dear Brother in the Lord,

The account you gave me of the Lord's work upon your soul refreshes my spirit, and that He was pleased to make my printed account of His gracious dealings with me a comfort unto you, as you found so great a part of it to answer to your own experience, for which I rejoice, and bless the Lord. And in answer to your request, "to give you my thoughts if the work of God upon your soul be really a work of grace or not?" I can with gladness assure you that I am fully satisfied that it is, and it appears clear to me from the following particulars, in that—

1. The Lord has hedged up your way with thorns, and weaned you from all sinful delights.

2. In that you have been convinced of your lost and perishing condition as a sinner, both by nature and practice.

3. Of the spirituality of the law as in force against you, and that flaming justice barred up mercy from you that way.

4. In that you have been brought off from dependence upon the perishing sands of your own duties.

5. In that God has revealed His Son in you, as your only and all-sufficient help—in the glory of His perfect righteousness and all-atoning blood, and in the glory of His infinite fullness—to save you to the uttermost, and to satisfy all your desires through time and to eternity.

6. In that hence, seeing Jesus to be such a suitable Savior to your case as a lost sinner, you have embraced Him as your Savior, and fled unto Him for refuge as the only, the glorious hope set before you in the gospel. Wherever these things are experienced, my brother, the work of God on that soul is saving—a special work of supernatural grace—by which the man is brought out of darkness into God's marvelous light, or made a new creature in Christ Jesus. As a believer in the Son of God, that soul is passed from death unto life, and shall not come into condemnation.

As to what you further mention, of your being drawn of late closer unto blessed Jesus than ever; that He is now become your spiritual rock, whence all your consolation flows; that as you said (which was sweet to me), "Take away Christ, and you take away all the comfort of my soul"; that if you had all the treasures that this world can afford, you would count all but loss and rubbish for the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, your Lord; that you desire so to be with Christ, which is far better, that if you had heaven for your portion, and all the joy and happiness it could afford, yet, if you had not the presence of precious Jesus there the desires of your soul would never be satisfied; that your desire not to be saved, not just barely for happiness' sake, but that God and the Lamb might be thereby glorified; and that now, all the delight you have on earth is in the delightful service of blessed Jesus, so that it would be a hell to you to go back to your natural state, and your desire is to praise free grace, victorious grace, in life and death, and to reign in its triumphant praises to all eternity. These things, my brother, are further evidences that the work of God upon your soul is saving. But I take these to belong rather to some good degree of growth in grace than to the truth, or first being of it in your heart.

I would next attempt a short answer to those objections which arise in your mind and make you fear that the Lord's work on your soul is not saving, or whether it be any more than the fruit of a religious education.

But before I consider your objections in particular, let me say, a religious education is a great privilege, as a means to restrain from vice and immorality, and to train up youth in a doctrinal knowledge of the truths of the gospel; and is often blessed for conviction, and may be for conversion. But the most religious education that ever any person was favored with, as in and of itself, never did nor can give such a spiritual conviction of sin, of heart-sin, as to make the soul cry out in the views of the uncleanness of its nature, in the light of the law's spirituality, and of its own inability to help or save itself, Woe is me, for I am undone! Nor yet did the most religious education, as in and of itself, ever make Christ precious as the only and all-sufficient Savior unto any one soul.

No! these are, as I may say, the two main hinges upon which the soul turns from a state of nature to a state of grace. They are the two great characters whereby a new creature, a man that is in Christ, may be known, and the undeniable evidences of a real spiritual gracious change upon the heart, or of the soul's being brought out of nature's darkness into God's marvelous light. Such a man is new-made, has true, precious faith, the faith of God's elect, wrought in his heart, unto which the everlasting salvation of the soul is annexed. And the power that produced it was not the natural force of a religious education, but the supernatural power and almighty energy of the Holy Spirit in regeneration.

The most religious education is a tree of too low a nature to bear such high and precious fruits as a sight of a sin-ruined, law-pursuing, and perishing state, and a flight unto Christ for refuge, as beheld Mighty to save and altogether lovely. It is impossible it should be found on any soul before it is engrafted into Christ and partakes of the spirit of grace from Him, or of His fullness as the root of grace and fatness, as the glorious olive-tree to His Church.

But I must come to your objections. And you fear the work of God upon your soul is not saving, and say:

Objection 1. Because I have not felt those terrors of conscience for sin that others have.

Answer. The same degree of terror is not necessary to be felt by every soul that is truly convinced of sin; nor is it usual for those who have had a pious education, and been restrained from outward immoralities, to feel the same degree of terror as those who have run great lengths in wicked courses. If a moralized person, who has been religiously educated, has had so much terror for sin, for his heart and life-sin, that he dare not trust in himself or in his own doings for life, but being warned of God by His holy law of the wrath which is to come, and by His gospel of fleeing unto Christ as the only hiding place from it, and being moved with fear (of being found out of Christ) runs unto Him for safety—it is sufficient to prove a saving conviction of sin. And as great a display of the power of the Holy Spirit in His work of convincing of sin is this, where the soul has less terror, as where the same work in other souls, that have been openly immoral, is attended with great terrors. I humbly think that the display of power in the former is the greatest. But, however, the glories of Omnipotence in various rays shine in both. The soul that has passed under the greatest terrors, which have been over-ruled to bring him to Christ, has cause to bless God forever for His kind dealings with him, in that, though He led him by a rough way, He brought him to such a glorious place of rest and safety. And the soul that has had less terror, that is not left to rest short of Christ, is equally safe with the other, and has reason in a particular manner to bless God that He gave him such an easy passage from his soul-pursuers into Christ, the city of refuge, and brought him through the straits of the new-birth without those pangs and throes which some souls feel. Which way however the Lord deals with us in conviction of sin, He leads us by a right way, that is and shall be most for His glory and our joy if we are brought thereby unto Christ, that city of habitation. But again, you fear the reality of the work, and say,

Objection 2. Because I have not experienced those overflowing joys in believing which other saints have.

Answer. The Holy Spirit, as the Comforter of believers, is a Sovereign, and divides unto every new-born soul individually as He will. The least comfort, the least beam of infinite favor, upon fleeing unto Christ for refuge, is an unspeakable blessing, a ray of light that is the dawn of eternal day. What though as to some souls who have been covered with the thick darkness of amazing terror, the light of God's salvation unto ravishing joy has arisen upon their spirits, and presently made day, yes, high noon, as it were, at once with them; perhaps they may be called hereafter to walk by faith in darkness, and as seeing no light, to trust in the name of the Lord, and to stay themselves upon their God.

And you, whose night has not been so dark, and upon whom the light has gradually arisen, may shortly have the clear shine of the Sun of righteousness, and walk in the light of God's countenance all the day long. Those earnest desires which are wrought in your soul, after the clear witness of the Spirit and the full sealing of the Holy Spirit, foretell a morning of joy unspeakable and full of glory at hand. Wait awhile, and you shall have joy enough to fill every corner of your soul to the brimful. The joy of faith, the joy of spiritual sense, the joy of the Holy Spirit in His witness to your interest in the three-one God, your exceeding joy, shall enter into you here; and hereafter you shall enter into joy, into your Master's joy, and be immersed in pleasures for evermore, while as a vessel of mercy you are cast into Him, the ocean of joy and glory, to take your fill of God in Christ unto bliss unknown, to the days of eternity. But further, you fear the work of God upon your soul is not saving, and say,

Objection 3. Because I have not those inward troubles and temptations from Satan which other Christians have.

Answer. You may have much of these hereafter; and let your present freedom be esteemed by you as your great privilege, and be the matter of your thanksgiving. It was well you said that you "have not been wholly free from inward temptations," for among the rest, I must tell you that this is an inward temptation, in that you are put upon questioning the work of grace on your soul because you have no more inward troubles. Oh, my brother, do not covet temptations, but go on to pray that you may not be led into temptation, but delivered from evil. Once more, you fear, and say,

Objection 4. Because the work of God has been so gradual upon my soul.

Answer. The gradation of the work is no argument against the truth of it, but is rather an evidence of the same. The kingdom of God, or the work of grace in the souls of His people, is progressive. The word of the gospel, as a living seed, being cast into the heart, and received by faith of the operation of God in its blessed effects upon the soul, springs up, first in a small, tender blade, then advances to the ear, and last of all, to the full ripe corn in the ear, as grace ripens for and hastens apace unto glory. This is true concerning the good work of God, begun in the souls of all the saints. But yet it must be confessed that in some the first work, as well as its after-progress, is much more speedy than in others. The Lord acts herein, as I hinted under another head, as a Sovereign; and in His various dealings with all His children abounds towards them according to the exceeding riches of His grace and the infinity of His wisdom. And as far greater display of the glory of divine grace is it to that there is such a vast variety in the particular experiences of particular souls, while the same blessed work in the general is carried on in all, than if every one in particular did particularly experience the same thing at the same time and in the same degree.

Our God is a great Being! Great in His love, grace, and mercy, great in His wisdom and power, and in all His immense perfections; and He delights to act like Himself, to cast abroad His infinite glory in a thousand various rays, in a thousand various ways of working, upon the vessels of mercy, in His time—preparing them for glory, for that glory He ordained them to and prepared for them before time began, which shall be to His exalted praise in a thousand various notes among the saved of the Lord, while they all join the song, "Salvation unto God and to the Lamb!" unto ages without end.

As to these objections, my brother, which arise in your mind, and many more of a like nature which at times perplex the hearts of God's people, there is no just ground for them, inasmuch as the things objected as lacking in some particular souls, which are to be found in others truly gracious, belong not to the essentials of a state of grace, but to the 'circumstantials' which with much difference in different persons attend gracious souls. If we would judge of our state of grace by comparing our experience with that of others whom we look upon to be truly gracious, let us do it in those generals wherein all agree, and not in particulars, in which there is so much difference. See the two I mentioned before I came particularly to answer your objections.

It appears to me, my brother, that you were a regenerate soul when what the world calls innocent diversions became so disagreeable to you, that what was your former chief delight became your greatest burden. The cause, as I conceive, was this, the new nature was wrought in your soul, a holy, spiritual appetite, that could find no delight in natural sinful pleasures, but still sought pleasures of a higher kind, of a heavenly extraction, agreeable to itself and its heavenly descent and taste, with which alone it could be satisfied. This is evidenced to me by that pleasure which you then found in heart-mourning for sin; by that fear which you then had lest convictions should wear off without any saving effect; by your desire after deeper convictions of sin; and by your earnest prayer for grace to live a holy life here, even if you might never enjoy happiness hereafter. These things, together with what you have experienced since, make the work of God upon your soul appear to me very clear and full, that it is, indeed, a real supernatural work of divine grace, which is wrought in none but those who are prepared for glory, or "made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light."

But oh, rest not in present experiences. You are to see greater things than these. Follow hard after the sealing of the Spirit. He can open such clear, satisfying, soul-ravishing views of your interest in Christ to you in a moment as will far transcend all that the creatures by discourse or argument can give you in an age. Oh, when the Holy Spirit comes in; the great power of God to seal upon your heart your eternal interest in Jesus, unbelieving fears and carnal reasonings shall fly before Him as the shades of night or glooms of day before the rising morn, the out-breaking sun, in his clear meridian-shine. And immediately, in full assurance of faith and raptures of joyful spiritual sense, you will cry out with Thomas, "My Lord, and my God."

Oh, my brother, is this the joy you long for? This is the joy that is reserved for you. This is the joy with which you shall be satisfied. Your Beloved is yours, and you are His, and you shall know it. Enfolded in His arms, and leaning on His bosom, your love-sick soul with love shall be solaced, feasted, filled. Your Beloved shall bring you into His banqueting house, and His banner over you shall be love. He will bid you eat, as His friend, that heavenly bread, that bread of life. His body broken for you, for you in particular; and call you to drink, give you to drink as His beloved of the wine of His love that flowed in His blood, shed for you, for you as distinctly as if it was poured out for never another in the world. "Drink," He will say, "O! beloved, O infinitely beloved soul! Come, open your thirsty mouth, open it wide, I will fill it—take your fill, you can never drink my love dry. Drink, yes, drink abundantly, be inebriated with my love, with all my immense glories as yours in love! View Me, handle Me, possess Me as your own, for I Myself, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells, and yours in love—to satisfy and solace you with bliss ineffable, with pleasures new to surround you, to ravish you through time and to eternity's abounded space."

Thus familiar, my dear brother, will your lovely, loving a Lord be with you; thus gracious will He be to you in whom His soul delights. Your Maker is your husband, and as a bridegroom rejoices over his bride, so will your God rejoice over you in renewed displays of His old, everlasting love, that knows neither bound, change, nor end! Oh happy, thrice happy are you! Jesus is yours forever! Drawn then by His love-cords, do you likewise be His, and give up yourself to His service in love, to glorify Him both now and for evermore.

The times look dark, the heavens are black with clouds, the Church, like a ship in a tremendous sea, may be tossed with the waves; but, since our Lord is with us in the ship, we shall not sink, we shall have blessed company in trouble, safely out-ride the storm, and be brought at last to our desired haven. Jesus being at the helm, the Church need not fear; well He will steer her through danger, and bring her soon into her promised rest and glory.

Grace be with you. In the arms of Christ I leave you.