We are almost home!

 

My very Dear Sister in the Lord,

We are almost home! A few more trials, and then farewell, trials, forever! The bosom of Christ, the glory of the heavenly state is ready for us. In a little while, we shall be fully made fit to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light. Do not grieve that you are left alone, and have few friends that you can open your heart to, for your dear Lord Jesus will never leave nor forsake you; and He is a friend that sticks closer than a brother. You have had sweet experience of Christ's friendship ever since you were first acquainted with Him; and His love towards you, His care for you, and His power to save you are still as great as ever.

Time has not altered Christ's heart; no, nor all the weaknesses and provocations He has seen in you, but having loved you anciently, freely, and fully, He will love you eternally. Your Jesus, your best Friend, who has cared for you all along, will never cast you off. He has engraved you upon the palms of His hands, and your walls are continually before Him. Creatures may forget—the tenderest mother may forget her nursing child—but your Jesus, in His boundless compassions, will not, cannot forget you. He will know your soul in adversity, when all other refuges fail you, and no man cares for your soul.

As birds flying to support and defend their young, so will the Lord make haste to help you, for His care for you is infinite, and He will keep you as the apple of His eye. You are one of Christ's jewels, and His heart is the cabinet in which He will keep you; and from His heart-care of you, His providential care for you shall be shown. And as to the power of Christ, He is the Lord Almighty, and His everlasting arms will never grow weary of bearing you and all your burdens. The Lord well knew that His people would need to be dandled by Him and carried by Him for a long while—that they would at times be subject to fears, from their own weakness and unworthiness, and from the occurrence of new difficulties; and from hence that they would be anxious how they would get the rest of their way through the wilderness. And therefore he says, ""Listen to me, all you who are left in Israel. I created you and have cared for you since before you were born. I will be your God throughout your lifetime—until your hair is white with age. I made you, and I will care for you. I will carry you along and save you." (Isaiah 46:3, 4).

Oh, my dear sister, there is grace enough in this promise to carry you safely and comfortably through all your remaining trials, even down to death and up to glory. Therefore, trust in the Lord forever, for in the Lord Jehovah is everlasting strength. He is your ever-living and ever-loving Friend. Live upon Him for all in all, and as your all, and in all things labor to live to Him; so shall the name of our Lord Jesus be glorified in you, and you in Him, according to the Will of God and our Father.

Our dear Lord is exceedingly kind to unworthy me. He heaps favors upon me, and surrounds me with mercies, because He will be gracious—even to me, a poor, vile, hell-deserving sinner. Oh, it is well for us that grace reigns through the righteousness of Jesus, and that we, receiving abundance of grace, shall reign with Him. Oh, bless the Lord with me, and let us exalt His name together for all His great goodness, and His wonderful works for poor, sinful me. And pray for me, that I may be made holiness unto the Lord, very fruitful to the glory of His name, and very useful to His dear and tender lambs. All glory to my dear Lord! Oh, how great and many have been the precious thoughts of God's kindness towards me of old, which daily open in new wonders to my view!

I wish you a rich increase of all grace and peace, through the once slain, now reigning Lamb!

When we are in the furnace

 

Dear Sister,

Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, by the blessed Comforter.

I understand that you are exercised both with affliction of body and darkness of soul, and I sympathize with you herein. But think it not strange, my dear sister, concerning the fiery trials you meet with, as if some strange thing had happened unto you. Remember the Lord has His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. 31:9), to refine, not to destroy His people. God sends afflictions upon His children for their good. Sin and Satan indeed aim at our destruction herein, but God bounds their rage and overrules their malice to issue in His own glory and our salvation.

The design of Sin and Satan is the destruction of our graces as well as of our persons, and therefore they blow up the fire of affliction to the utmost, and would continue it until we are consumed. But "Hold," says the Lord, "My children are my gold, precious in my esteem, and they must pass through the fire to be refined, but not lie there until they suffer loss."

And therefore, when we are in the furnace our God sits by to see that the fire be not too hot, nor continued too long upon us, as the refiner watches his gold, manages it while in the furnace, and takes it out thence when it is fully purified. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." Malachi 3:3

Well, then, my dear sister, since you are one of those who are precious in the sight of the Lord you must pass through the fire of affliction, but since it is the Lord's fire, which He has appointed, which He manages, and which he will restrain at His pleasure, trust yourself in the hands of your infinitely wise and gracious Refiner and you shall come out of it both with present and eternal advantage. This affliction, as an instrument in the hand of God the Almighty agent, is at work upon you, and for you, to exercise and increase your graces here, and to prepare you for your future crown. Therefore, endure the trial, for, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12

But it may be you will say, "Aye, if I was sure I was one that loved God, I would patiently wait for and expect a happy outcome, but I am afraid lest I should deceive myself, deceive others, and at last come short of that rest which remains for the people of God."

As for these your fears, and ten thousand more of a like nature which may arise in your heart in a time of darkness, they are altogether groundless, and though they may rob you of your comfort they cannot rob you of your safety in Christ, nor of that inheritance which is reserved for you in Heaven. No, blessed be God, you are still just where free grace set you; God has fixed you in His Son, and laid you, by faith, upon Him, the Rock of Ages; and now your salvation stands as immovable as the rock on which it is founded. The rain may descend, the floods come, and the winds blow, all kinds of afflictions and temptations together may beat vehemently against your faith of safety in Christ, but your security in Him shall never fall, because founded upon a rock which is able to bear the greatest weights which are laid upon it, and to secure the building from all danger in the greatest stress of weather which can possibly befall it. The rock of immutability is still beneath you, and unless Christ could sink, the salvation of your soul—that leans upon Him can never fall. You may fall as to your frames, but you can never sustain one shake as to your state. No, "The foundation God has laid in Zion is a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, and he who believes on Him shall not be confounded" (Isa. 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6). And now, let all the objections be brought out that all the legions of devils and armies of corruptions combined can raise against the salvation of that sinner that looks unto Christ for life, and down they must fall before the grace of this promise—God's word shall stand, to the eternal salvation of that soul and the confusion of all its enemies!

Into His arms I commit you, earnestly desiring that happy morning of Divine favor which shall arise upon your soul when the short night of your present weeping is over; Christ will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and "your joy shall no man take from you." And meanwhile, though clouds and darkness cover you, commotions and tempests shake your mind, yet all is clear as to your state in the upper region of Christ's love!

My ingratitude unkindness and unfruitfulness

My Dear Brother,

Oh, the sweet whispers of God's free distinguishing kindness which I hear at times melt my soul down. Sometimes the Lord draws near to my spirit and talks with me about His love, and of the great things He has done and will do for me. And then I fall down in the dust before Him, acknowledge my iniquity, bewail my subtlety, and loath myself in my own sight for all my abominations, when I see that He is pacified towards me for all that I have done. Oh, it is well for me that not only the salvation of my soul, but all the work the Lord has designed me to do for Him in this world, stands alone upon His free sovereign grace! Oh, not an inch of service would ever have been laid out for me, if rich, free grace had not cast the lot! I wonder that the Lord should do anything for me, above all His children, because I am so vile, so unfit and unworthy! But the grace of God is His own; like Himself, infinite; and a sovereign right He has to bestow it where he pleases; He may do what He will with His own!

But oh, my ingratitude, unkindness, and unfruitfulness breaks my heart; and often I groan under an insensibility of divine kindness. And glad am I that, when rid of a body of sin and death, I shall give free grace all the glory, and never sin against it to the days of eternity! Meantime, pray for me, my brother, that I may love God greatly, increasingly, and serve Him much in the little I have aimed to do for him, and in that very little which yet may remain to be done before I enter into everlasting rest.

That the grace of Christ may be with your spirit, and His hand with you in your work, to the glory of His name, the good of His people, and your own present joy and future crown, is my hearty desire.

The bosom of His eternal Love!

 

My Dear Sister in Christ,

Oh, what heart can conceive or tongue express a thousandth part of that joy and glory which He has reserved for His people in the world to come, when He will bid them enter into His own joy, and Himself will be their everlasting light, and as their God, their glory! Oh, then we shall have the light of life, of glory-life, in such manner and measure as far surpasses all our present thought!

Come, lie down by faith, in the bosom of His eternal Love! It is a sweet, soft bed, that will delight and refresh you exceedingly. Here is a basin of heavenly wine, or rather a sea of boundless bliss! Drink your fill, bathe your soul in pleasures, and shout the glories, the fullness, the praises of the strong Jehovah amid all your felt emptiness, weakness, and imperfections! So shall you be exceeding joyful and fruitful, and your obedience highly pleasing to your God and Father in the Son of His love.

The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit.

Our light and momentary troubles

 

Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects

Dear Sister,

Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

It is the pleasure of our dear Father to exercise you in a very particular manner, and to continue it long upon you. But be not cast down thereat, as if some strange thing had happened, for as many as the Lord loves He rebukes and chastens. But it may be you will say, "My affliction is very uncommon, has lasted a great while, and it is likely to endure so long as I am in this world."

Well, be it so. Yet remember that God's special love to you ordained this particular trial, and His everlasting kindness keeps it still upon you. This was the means Infinite Wisdom pitched on for the display of boundless love to you. By this you are to be made conformable to Christ in sufferings and fitted for a conformity to Him in glory. Since free grace has saved you—give it leave to carry on your salvation in its own way. What though you pass through much tribulation, the Kingdom is at the end. I doubt not but the Lord at times has opened much of His love to your soul in the present afflictions, but the brightest discoveries are ahead. The great opening of God's heart, in the gift of every trial, is reserved for us until we get over Jordan, on the other side of death, into the land of promise. Then we shall remember all the way the Lord led us through the wilderness, and see it was the right way to the city of God.

Then the mysteries of Divine Providence shall be unfolded, the cloud taken off every dark dispensation, and the veil from our understandings. There the secret springs of boundless love, infinite wisdom, and Almighty power which ordained, managed, and overruled every scene of providence, for the glory of God and our advantage, shall be laid open, for we shall see as we are seen. We shall bless God when we come to heaven for every trial, even the bitterest, sharpest, longest affliction that attended our mortal life; because we shall see how the Lord uninterruptedly carried on the designs of His own glory and our salvation by every change that passed over us.

Meanwhile, we must live by faith, and labor after an increasing submission to the Divine Will under the sorest rebukes; and bless God for every stroke, until grace is swallowed up in glory, when our wills, with the highest complacency, shall everlastingly flow into the will of God. And even now we have reason not only to be patient, but also to rejoice and glory in tribulation. And were the eye of our faith, strong enough to pierce the cloud of afflictive providences, and discern the love of our Father's heart, which, as an infinite deep, couches beneath, and is the spring of every dispensation, we would sing in sorrow, take pleasure in distresses, and glorify God in the fires!

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Cor. 4:17) There are three things comprised in these words, which I desire you may be enabled frequently to meditate upon.

First, the lightness of the saints' affliction.

Secondly, the shortness of it.

Thirdly, the advantage of all their present trials.

First, the lightness of the saints' affliction. "Our light affliction." It is not said the afflictions of the world are light; but OUR affliction is light. And it is so, if compared with what we have deserved, and the damned in hell endure. Light, if compared with what Christ once bore, when for us he was the Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Light, because by virtue of Christ's suffering for us in our room and stead, the curse is taken out of all our afflictions. Again, they are light, because Omnipotent strength is engaged to support us under them; underneath are the everlasting arms.

We have not, are not, shall not be left to go through any trial alone. The God of Jacob is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The Lord Jesus is our sweet companion in tribulation. He is with us, to sympathize with us in our sorrows, to sustain us under our burdens, to pardon all our unbelief and impatience when in the furnace, and at last completely and gloriously to deliver us and bring us forth as gold seven times refined.

No affliction, indeed, for the present is joyous, but grievous to our frail flesh. It is so in itself, but much more so to us; because we live so much by sense, and so little by faith. Every trial that passes over us has a light as well as a dark side. And we should look upon every affliction with a double view; as it is oppressing and grieving to weak nature, it is, in itself, evil; and calls for submission to the Divine will. But then, as the same affliction is viewed as flowing from God's love, and effectually managed for His glory and our advantage, so it is good, and ought to be a matter of our joy and thanksgiving.

Let us leave it then to those who have no interest in the God of all Grace to think afflictions heavy; for woe to them that are alone. But as for us, that are savingly interested in God (in all His Persons and in all His perfections as engaged in covenant for our good), let us go on rejoicing in tribulation, esteeming all our afflictions, as indeed they are, light.

Secondly, the shortness of the saints' affliction is matter of great consolation; it is but for a moment. A moment is but a short space—the smallest division of time; and unto this of a moment are our longest afflictions compared. Suppose they should last as long as we are in this world; yet, even our whole life if compared with a vast eternity is but like a moment; and as Mr. Dod well says, "What can be great to him that counts the world nothing? or long, to him that counts his life but a span?"

Oh! were we more frequent in our converse with eternity, it would make the afflictions of this present time appear short. Did we live more in the views of approaching glory, we would remember our afflictions as waters that pass away; that are here one moment and gone the next. But alas! such is our folly, that we are taking thought for a great while to come, and so make our 'imagined future trials' present distresses; whereas, were we under the most pressing weights, and did take thought for no more than the day (and sufficient to it is the evil thereof), living by faith on the borders of glory, as just entering into the mansions of rest, it would alleviate our sorrows, and make the longest trial appear short.

Could we thus reason with ourselves every day, "Well, I have got one day nearer home; the afflictions of the past day I shall never go through any more, and perhaps before I see another day in this world I may see glory's day—a morning that will have no clouds nor evening to succeed it, no sorrows, sin, nor death to darken its luster!" Oh, what a means would this be to increase our patience, and make us of an enduring spirit! And what matter of comfort is it that while our short-lived afflictions last, Christ will be with us in them! He is with us when we pass through the waters, that the rivers do not overflow us, that the swelling waves of affliction do not overwhelm us; and when we walk through the fires, that the flames kindle not upon us, that fiery trials do not consume us. The priest's feet were to stand in Jordan until all Israel were fully passed over. So our dear Lord Jesus will stand among the distresses, dividing the waters before us, until all His children are fully passed through them. His presence with us in affliction will make it light; and His delivering-kindness out of it will make it short.

Thirdly, the advantage of the saints' affliction is also an encouragement to faith and patience—it works for us. But what does it work? Why, no less than glory! And it works glory for us as it prepares us for it. Glory was prepared for us, and settled upon us, in God's everlasting covenant with His Son, before the world was. And affliction is a means Infinite Wisdom, Power, and Grace makes use of to prepare us for glory; that glory which was prepared for us before time, and will last to an eternal space beyond it. And who would think it much to endure affliction, who sees it is but for the trial and perfecting of his graces, and that the exercise of each might be found unto praise, honor, and glory at Christ's appearing.

Now then, let us bring things to the balance of the Sanctuary, and learn to judge of them aright. Let us amass together all the afflictions of a believer's life, and put them in one scale, and glory in the other, and see if that does not infinitely outweigh them, especially, if we cast in the additional weights that are on glory's side! Here is affliction on the one side, but glory on the other; light affliction, for a moment, but a weight of glory, yes, an exceeding, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory! Well might the Apostle say, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

Lie down in the bosom of Christ

 

Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects

My Dear Brother in Christ—our Life, our Love, our All,

You desire a line from me. What shall I write? Methinks you want to hear of your Beloved; and if His Spirit, sent from the Father and the Son, will please to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto you by so weak, so unworthy a worm, it will be to our mutual joy, and the Lord shall have all the glory. It is grace unknown, my dear brother—free, rich, superabounding grace, that gave you a saving acquaintance with Christ in love—in that infinite love which is in His heart toward poor lost sinners who are enabled to look unto Him for all salvation.

Christ is a fountain of all supplies. You cannot need more than Christ has to give, is willing to bestow, and will enrich you with in your every time of need. It has pleased the Father that in Him should all fullness dwell. All fullness dwells in Christ, to supply us in all our emptiness. Do you see your nakedness? Christ's name is, "The Lord our Righteousness." Do you groan under your unholiness of heart and life? Christ is made of God unto us sanctification, to present such defiled worms as us, perfectly holy before God in His own personal purity now, and to maintain, increase, and perfect that purity of heart which is begun in us by His Holy Spirit, until we are perfectly conformed to the image of Christ, our holy Head. Does your folly, your inability to know the things of God in their greatness and glory, grieve you? Christ of God is made unto us wisdom. It is His office, as our prophet, to teach the most ignorant souls who come to Him. He will teach the meek his way. It is His joy to teach us, and His teachings are efficacious to those who humbly wait upon Him for the same.

Does your spiritual poverty distress, and your spiritual enemies afflict you? Christ is made of God unto us redemption. Our Redeemer is great and strong. His redemption by price and power is and shall be perfect. Your Redeemer has paid all your debts; He has bought you and your inheritance.

Your whole person, made perfect, shall be taken by Him into His own embrace to enjoy the most intimate communion with Him and His Father—in love, life, and glory—to a blessed eternity! And can your heart conceive, my dear brother, the one-half, the thousandth part of that bliss, that vast inheritance of God, of which, by Christ, as a believer in Him, you are now made an heir, and of which, by Him, you shall shortly be a possessor? I tell you no! Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it entered into the heart of man, in a mortal state, to conceive of those great things, according to their greatness, which God has prepared for those who love Him, to be enjoyed by them in immortal glory!

Come then, my dear brother, come by faith, and lie down in the bosom of Christ, in His Person and fullness, as made yours by infinite love. For, this, this Jesus, is the rest, and this the refreshing with which the weary soul may rest. The love of Christ to you, and your salvation in Him, are unchangeable amid all the changes of your frames. The good work of God, begun in your soul, shall be performed until the day of Christ. Abide in Him by faith, and cleave unto him by love. In every path of duty follow on to know the Lord, and you shall know Him to your full and endless joy and glory!

remaining enmity, sin, and ungodliness

Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects

Dear Sir,

It is well for us that Jesus, our elder Brother, now appears in the presence of God for us—of God our Father, who loves us—that God's first-born Son—His holy, His beloved Son, exalted at the right-hand of the Majesty in heaven—is not ashamed to call us brethren, who are so much unlike Him on the earth! How great is the wonder that He, who is surrounded with myriads of angels and archangels—those 'bright flames of love to Him' who incessantly warble out His praises—should ever cast one kind thought upon such dull, cold, lifeless pieces of earth as we sometimes feel ourselves to be!

But our Lord loves us—loves us freely. Loves us infinitely— notwithstanding all our unloveliness, and ingratitude, and evil requitings of Him, for all His manifest kindness! And love binds His heart to us, and fixes His kind thoughts upon us. Loved by Him—freely, greatly, unchangeably, and eternally—we shall be remembered by Him perpetually in an infinity of flowing compassions, under all our sicknesses, our griefs, our miseries—from which by an infinite, an all-producing resolve, He will save us unto full and endless glory with Him hereafter!

That love of Christ, which was strong enough to engage Him to die for us when enemies, as sinners, as ungodly—will never fail towards us, because of that remaining enmity, sin, and ungodliness, which abides and works to our grief—in the corrupt, unregenerate part of our souls, and sadly at times produces backslidings in our lives. The love of Christ will go on with its great design—to save us from all sin and misery—unto all grace and glory—with Him, unto ages without end!

His love to us is infinitely great for the accomplishment of His great design—to bring us all up to be with Him where He is, to behold His glory, to be one in Him and in the Father, as He and the Father are one, by love-union and glory-communion—unto our full joy and ineffable and endless bliss!

Let us lift up our heads in faith—and with stretched-out necks in hope, let us look and long for the glory of that day. I wish you rich times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, who, having loved His own who are in the world, loves them unto the end!

 

It is a sweet thing to suffer with Christ

 

Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects

 

My Dear Brother,

The present state is a state of trial to all God's people. Troubles of various kinds, from within and without, like rolling waves, come thick, one as it were upon the neck of another. But yet, though in the world we have, we shall have trouble, as our Lord has said—how great is the peace we have in Him!—A quiet harbor amid distress! And now and then, blessed be His name, the 'Lord of winds and waves' is pleased to give a pleasant calm, by His commanding word, "Peace, be still!" Oh that, by the wisdom of faith and prayer, we might prepare in the calm times, for a storm!

"Get up, go away! For this is not your resting place, because it is polluted—it is ruined beyond all remedy." Micah 2:10. Sin has entered, and sorrows must be expected from indwelling corruptions, Satan's temptations, the world's snares, dark dispensations, the hidings of God's face, the seeming denial of our prayers, and the delay of promised mercies; various afflictions in soul, in body, in name, in circumstances, in relations and friends, in employments for God—in the Church and in the world. These things must be expected from God, from men, from friends, from enemies, throughout our mortal life, with death itself at last—in our passage through this world to Immanuel's land

And yet, all things wisely mixed and graciously overruled, do and shall work together for our good, and turn unto our salvation; yes, are so many preparations by grace for our eternal glory—"for our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory;" and, "if we suffer with Christ, we shall also be glorified together."

As the sufferings of Christ were penal, the desert of our sin and the fruit of the law's curse for the satisfaction of divine justice, and for our redemption and salvation, so, Christians, do not suffer with Christ. No! our Jesus trod the wine-press of the wrath of God, when He was trodden in it, alone, and of the people there was none with Him. We poor sinners, no, nor angels—those sinless creatures—had all their innumerable hosts interposed, would have been able to endure and conquer those sufferings which were requisite to make reparation to the injured honor of God, and satisfaction to the avenging justice of God, for the sins of men, which were objectively infinite and required an infinite atonement. And therefore, such was the boundless grace of God to us that He laid the iniquity of us all upon His own Son—upon the Son of His own nature—clad with ours, thundered out all the curses of His holy law upon Christ, as standing in our room, and required of Him our substitute—who was an infinite Person—an infinite satisfaction for our guilt—that we might go free from those unutterable torments which our sins deserved, which would have sunk us beneath divine wrath, and made us inconceivably miserable forever.

And such was the boundless grace of the Son of God, that rather than we should suffer—He would endure. I give Myself to suffer freely and fully for all My people—take Me, the surety, and let them, the debtors, go free. God the Father called the sword of justice to awake against the Man that was His fellow, with an "Awake, O sword, against my Shepherd; smite the Shepherd!" The hand of God's avenging justice was upon Christ, that we might escape the killing blow—and be saved eternally from all misery—unto all glory—by the hand of His infinite grace.

And the Lord our Savior, in his knowledge-passing love, "endured the cross, and despised the shame, for the joy (of His and His Father's glory in our salvation) that was set before Him." Thus, "Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us," and we, the saved ones, have no share in those penal sufferings of the Savior which He endured according to covenant-contract, and which, from His being an infinite Person, made an infinite Atonement for our guilt, and had in them an infinite merit for our salvation. No! "His arm alone brought salvation, and of all the people there was none with Him." And unto Him alone be the glory, by men and angels, forever and ever! Amen.

But, though Christians do not suffer with Christ in those sufferings of His, as they were penal, yet they do, they must suffer with Christ, as His sufferings were filial; for "though he were a Son, yet (in His assumed human nature), He learned obedience by the things which He suffered," which "He suffered for us, leaving us an example (of meekness and patience, of zeal and courage, of all filial duty, to the Father's glory), that we should follow in His steps." And if we suffer with Him, as His sufferings were filial, we shall also be glorified together.

And in this filial respect Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, or to have a community with Him in sufferings—

1. In that the fountain cause of sufferings, both to Christ and Christians, was and is the love of God the Father, "the cup," said our Lord, "which my Father, from the love of a Father to me, gives me to drink in those sufferings which he now calls me to endure as the surety of sinners, from Him, as a judge, shall I not drink it?" and, "Whom the Lord loves He chastens," says the apostle, "and what son is he whom the Father chastens not?"

2. In that sufferings, both to Christ the first-born Son and to Christians, the junior brethren, were and are the means appointed of God for the exercise of all graces, and to go before and prepare for all glory. Christ first suffered and then entered into His glory—and so must Christians. Sufferings by Christ, the Head, were first endured, and then glory followed, and thus it fares with all the members—Christians must first suffer with Christ, and then with Him be glorified together. There was a necessity by divine appointment that the sufferings of Christ should precede His glory and prepare Him for it, as He said, "Ought not Christ to have suffered these things, and then enter into His glory?" And, says the apostle, "If so be that we suffer with Him that we may be also glorified together"—which words, though they give us the fullest assurance that we shall also be glorified together, do likewise denote that close connection which there is between sufferings and glory, and that the former are to precede and prepare for the latter, as it is clear from the manner of expression, "if so be that we suffer with Him, that we may be also glorified together."

3. Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, in that sufferings, both by Christ and Christians, were and are endured under the influence of the same spirit. The Spirit of the Lord in an immeasurable fullness rested upon Christ the Head, and made Him of quick understanding in the fear of the Lord, to discern His Father's hand, and to submit to His will in love to Him in all His sufferings, with all holy confidence in Him, and earnest supplication to Him for deliverance, and with meekness and patience until the full time of it. And thus upon Christians, in their measure as the members of Christ's body, to enable them to endure their sufferings in like manner, after the example which their Lord has given them, the Spirit of God and of glory rests.

4. Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, in that their sufferings are said to be the afflictions of Christ, that is, of the Head, in the members, which He interests Himself in, and is inwardly and inexpressibly touched with. "I rejoice in my sufferings for you," says the apostle, "and fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ in my flesh," which is also true of every believer, the sufferings which they endure in their flesh are the afflictions of Christ.

5. Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, in that both He and they had, and have, the same chief end in view, that is, the glory of God in all their sufferings. "Father, glorify your name!" says our Lord, when He resigned up Himself into His hands to endure His greatest sufferings. And "none of us," says the apostle, "lives to himself, and no man dies to himself; for whether we live, we live unto the Lord, and whether we die we die unto the Lord (that is, in all our sufferings, which are metaphorical deaths, as well as in our last suffering of natural death, we aim at the Lord's glory); whether we live, therefore, or die, we are the Lord's" dedicated to His honor.

6. Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, in that both He and they had and have an eye, in all their sufferings, to the glory that shall follow. "Christ endured the cross, for the joy (of the crown) that was set before Him," and Christians, as Moses, "endure affliction (the afflictions of God's people), as having respect unto the recompense of the reward."

7. Christians may be said to suffer with Christ, in that both His sufferings and theirs had, and shall have, the same event, in a full deliverance from the deepest misery, and advancement to the highest glory. Sufferings, both to Christ and Christians, neither were, are, nor shall be, eternal. It was impossible that the suffering Head, by reason of the dignity of His Person and the merit of His obedience, should be held always by the bands of death; and impossible it is that the suffering members, who are the fullness of the Head, and who, as being savingly interested in His merits, are to share with Him in glory, should be held always by the cords of affliction, for "because Christ lives ,Christians shall live also." "His dead men (under metaphorical as well as natural death) shall live, together with His dead body (as being mystically in Him, and by influence from Him), they shall arise (from under the deepest depression to the highest exaltation); for His dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead; awake, and sing together with Him, shall those who dwell in dust;" for, if we suffer with Him, from the same fountain cause, the love of God, for the exercise of the same graces, and to precede and prepare for the same glory according to the distinct proportion of Head and members; if we suffer under the influence of the same Spirit; if our sufferings are the afflictions of Christ; if Christ and His people have the same chief end in view—the glory of God—in all their afflictions; if both Christ and Christians have an eye in all their sufferings to the glory that shall follow; and if the sufferings of Christ and Christians have the same outcome in a full deliverance from all misery and advancement unto all glory—we may be well assured, with the apostle, that we shall also with Christ be glorified together, "For we are now partakers of the sufferings of Christ, that when His glory shall be revealed we may be glad also with exceeding joy;" and, "Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, works for us (as we by grace are wrought upon by it, and prepared for) a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory!"

Hence, then, my dear brother, let us expect trouble while in this world. Let us bless God that we do not suffer with Christ as His sufferings were penal—and that we do suffer with Him as His sufferings were filial. Let us earnestly pray for an eminent measure of the Spirit of Christ, that we, in like manner, may endure sufferings to the glory of God. Let us labor under the direction of the word and Spirit of Christ to tread in His steps, to take Him, our great Pattern, for an example of suffering affliction and of patience, and to be the "followers of them who, through faith and patience, inherit the promises." Let us beware that we do not lose the precious opportunities given us by affliction for the exercise of all our graces. Let us rejoice in that our sufferings are the afflictions of Christ in our flesh, in that we have a dear, sympathizing Head, who inwardly and inexpressibly feels the sorrows of every member, accounts them His own, and is well able to support us in them, and save us from them.

Let us remember, "In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in all kinds of trials. These have come so that your faith—of greater worth than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may be proved genuine and may result in praise, glory and honor when Jesus Christ is revealed." 1 Peter 1:6-7. And let us expect, with all holy confidence, a like happy outcome of our troubles as Christ had of his, for we that now suffer with Him, shall hereafter be glorified together; and what the greatness of that glory will be—eye has not seen nor heart conceived—it is ineffable, and will be eternal!

O, my dear brother, it is a sweet thing to suffer with Christ—to have such a sweet companion in tribulation! Surely a believing thought of it must sweeten our bitterest potions. If Christ, the Tree of Life, is cast into the bitter waters of affliction, will He not sweeten them so well that our hearts shall freely drink them? To suffer with Christ, methinks it should make our hearts leap for joy! for if He is with us we shall not sink in sorrow; everlasting arms underneath us, will raise us from deepest sinkings. The Lord is risen, saints must rise, sorrows shall hold us not a moment beyond the appointed time, nor exceed their appointed degree. Soon our momentary light cross shall be turned into a weighty eternal crown. If we suffer with Christ we shall reign with Him, we shall be glorified together.

O this sweet word, together! Methinks it puts a glory upon glory itself—a sweetness into those rivers of pleasure which are at God's right hand. Our glory would not be so ineffably glorious if it were not to be enjoyed with Christ, nor the joys of heaven so ineffably sweet, if we were not to rejoice together with Christ. The once-suffering Head and the once-suffering members glorified together! O how will it enhance each other's joy in glory! The sorrows both of Christ and Christians will then be turned into perfect joy, and their eternal joy and glory so much the greater for all the time-sorrows which they endured and the deaths which they survived, to reign in life together unto ages without end.

Sorrows will not hurt us, brother, if we are enabled to live unto God under them. Nothing but sin will be bitter upon reflection; and the sorrows that we meet with, even from sin itself, through God's forgiving and subduing grace, shall be turned into the joy of victory, to His eternal praise.

But oh, this killing thing, sin! It dishonors God our Father, wounds our Lord-Redeemer, and grieves the Lord our Comforter; it puts death into our comforts and a sting into our crosses. Let us beware of yielding to sin, and then we need not, with a slavish fear, dread sufferings; let us be humbled before God for all our unbelief and impatience under afflictions, and press forward most earnestly after a greater measure of faith and love—of humility, meekness, and patience—of an enduring, Christ-like spirit, under all the trials we are exercised with, for "if we (thus) suffer with Christ, we shall also be glorified together."

Great grace be with you. Farewell, in the Lord.

Why was not our lot with devils and damned spirits?

 

Dear Sir,

I am glad that the Lord has made my poor letters and books acceptable, and of any use to your precious soul. May the God of all grace have all the glory. Oh, my dear friend, if the Lord will please to make anything I have written a means of helping your faith in Christ, and of drawing out your love to Him, it will be grace unknown to me, the chief of sinners, and the matter of my joy both now and in the day of Christ. Whoever be the instrument, it is the Lord's own hand that does the work, whenever any growth is added to our spiritual stature; and unto Him alone the whole glory is therefore due.

But oh, that ever the God of all grace, through Jesus Christ, by His Holy Spirit, should work upon such hell-deserving sinners as we to prepare us for glory, for the glory which He has prepared for us in heaven, and also use us as instruments in His hand for spiritual and eternal advantage unto each other on earth! Oh, what are we, or what is our Father's house, that the Lord should save us? Why was not our lot with devils and damned spirits, unto whom is reserved the blackness of darkness forever? Ah! not because we have not deserved it, but because the Lord, the Lord God, merciful and gracious, is gracious to whom He will be gracious, and shows mercy on whom He will show mercy. Nothing less than free, infinite, sovereign grace and mercy can save a sinner from the depths of endless misery--to the heights of eternal glory. And blessed be God forever, His grace alone is infinitely sufficient to save the chief of sinners to the utmost; for "where sin has abounded (as the Lord knows it has woefully done in our hearts and lives), grace has much more abounded. That as sin has reigned unto death, even so grace might reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord."

Oh blessed be God for Jesus! the Savior, who was born, and lived, and died to save sinners—for Him as Christ, the anointed of the Father, to this great work; and for Christ, as our Lord, who is and who will be our King, to subdue us to Himself, and all His and our enemies under His and our feet. The boundless, inexhaustible grace of the Godhead—that vast, that endless ocean—flows gloriously to us sinners in streams of pardon and life spiritual unto life eternal, through the channel of Christ's obedience; through the active obedience of His life, and the passive obedience of His death. Oh, here it is that grace reigns! It is through righteousness. Through the righteousness of the life and death of Jesus. And here, to save sinners, grace reigns righteously, in such a way as is perfectly agreeable to the righteousness of Jehovah's nature, and to the righteousness of His holy law, both in its demands and threatenings.

Oh, here, through God's obedient Son, through His spotless slain Lamb, God can be just in justifying disobedient, polluted, all-over guilty, filthy, hell-deserving sinners—even every one that believes in Jesus! And not a soul shall die that casts up an eye of faith unto the God of all grace in Christ—that looks for life through the once dying Savior. No, Jesus died to save that soul on the cross, to save him meritoriously by His death, and now sits on the throne to save him influentially by His life. And well able is He to save to the uttermost, even all those that come unto God by Him, seeing He ever lives to make intercession for them.

It was hence that the Holy Spirit was sent down into our hearts to quicken us when dead in sin, to work faith and every grace in our souls, to show us our misery, and to reveal Christ the glorious remedy, the great Savior which God has provided for lost sinners; and to enable us to look unto Jesus for our salvation, and to receive the glad tidings thereof through the free promise unto all joy and peace in believing, and all gracious influence unto all holy obedience. It is because Christ lives for us in heaven that we live a begun spiritual life on earth. And hence it is that the life of grace in us shall be maintained and increased, until it is perfected in the life of glory, or ripened into the fullness of spiritual and the glory of eternal life. Grace is a preparation for glory, and the very beginning of it in our souls; and the more the work of grace does flourish in our hearts while on the earth, the greater is our preparation for, and the nearer our approach to, the perfection and glory of the heavenly state.

And whereas the Lord is pleased to give us more grace, to increase our graces in the use of means, how diligent should we be in every duty to wait upon the God of mercy, that He thereby will increase us with all the increases of God?

Oh, my dear friend, the way to glory in all the appointed paths of duty is up hill. To be religious in truth and sincerity, and unto any growth and maturity, we are called to striving, running, fighting, wrestling, to strive against sin, to run with patience the race that is set before us, to fight the good fight of faith, and to wrestle, not only against flesh and blood (against wicked men and all their wicked ways to draw us off from God), but also against principalities and powers, against the powers of darkness, the armies of hell, who with all their might will oppose us in every step we take heavenward, in all our approaches to God and appearances for Him. And therefore, we had need take unto us the whole armor of God, and especially the shield of faith (to hold up Christ by faith), with which we shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the wicked one—of Satan, that wicked one, on whatever side he casts them at us. And a very necessary piece of a Christian's armor is that of all-prayer.

Thus, dear Sir, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and labor to walk by faith in Him and love to Him, every day, as if it was your last duty. You have no time given you to mis-spend. The Lord's redeemed are to glorify the Redeemer in the whole of their time, until they are glorified with Him in blessed eternity. Those happy souls who are the Lord's ought not to live unto themselves, but unto Him. And whatever we do in things natural, civil, or religious, in the common affairs of natural life, or in things that concern our spiritual life, we are to do all to the glory of God, as under His eye, His forgiving love and abundant goodness, to show forth the praises of Him who has called us out of darkness into His marvelous light; and in the views of that blessed day when our Lord of the freest grace will give rewards unto His servants according to their works. For unto those who, under the enkindling influence of His infinite love, have loved Him much and been abundant in labors for His glory in the present time, will He give and abundant entrance into His everlasting kingdom—that desirable state, where, as you said, "we shall serve the Lord without interruption, weariness, or distraction, and when we shall never again grieve Him with the least sinful thought, word, or action," but blessed with the vision of His face, and crowned with immortal glory with Christ, His saints and angels, in joy and praise unknown, we shall live to a blessed eternity!

I may lose all created sweets

 

Dear Sister,

Blessed be God, He has done me much good by my last year's trial. The Lord has humbled me under His mighty hand, melted down my will into His, purified my desires, exercised my faith, hope, and patience, and brought me in some good measure to live upon Himself as my present and eternal all. I have been more concerned about my duty to 'glorify God in the fires', than merely to be delivered from the trial. And blessed be my tender Father, He set bounds to my trial in His own dear time, which is every way the best. He who enabled me to 'trust Him in the dark', and to stay myself upon my God, has again brought me forth to the light, and I have beheld His righteousness. Oh how blessed is that man who has the God of Jacob for his help!—for his help in trouble and deliverance out of it!

Most miserable is that soul who has no special saving interest in God. A time will come when all the creatures will fail him; when every spring of comfort will be dry, and nothing remain to him but an ocean of endless misery to surround him on every side; but, "say to the righteous, It shall be well with him." O how well is it with a righteous man in all changes, in the greatest evils which pass over him! The face of providence may change, friends may fail, and his own heart and flesh too; but God, the unchangeable God, who is the strength of his heart, and his portion forever, will never fail him, nor forsake him.

O this is my strong consolation—that Christ is mine, and I have enough. I may lose all created sweets; but, since I cannot lose my God in Him I have an ocean of delights, of ever-springing pleasures, which will be new and full unto ages without end!

The times look very dark. Our Lord has His fan in His hand, and He will thoroughly purge His floor. A mercy of mercies will it be for those who shall be found inward court-worshipers when the outward court shall be trodden down, when the Lord will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men who are settled upon their lees. We have reason to fear the Lord's judgments, which hang over us for the sins of His people, and the sins of the nation. O that there was a spirit of prayer poured out upon praying men; then might we hope that the Lord would turn and repent, and leave a blessing behind him. But, alas! we are asleep; and the day of the Lord may come upon us as a thief in the night. Happy are those who are kept watching; who foresee the danger of carnal security, and flee for refuge to the shadow of Jehovah's wings. For surely in the Lord, at the worst of times, his children shall have a place of refuge.