Indwelling Sin

 

Dear Madam,

It is indeed a very great privilege to be favored with a religious parentage and education, but if this were our greatest felicity, we would sink, nevertheless, into eternal misery! But the vessels of mercy– of God's free, rich, sovereign mercy– in order to their time-preparation for eternal glory, are blessed by Him, with His Holy Spirit sent down into their hearts, as the spirit of regeneration, conviction, and conversion.

And this blessed spirit, in His saving work on the heart, when He first begins it, finds the sinner dead in sin, and under total darkness, as to spiritual things, in his understanding– in an entire alienation from them, and aversion to them, in his will and affections; and so, afar off from God in Christ, without any apparent right to the covenant of promise, and without any good hope through grace. And at such a time as this, He is pleased, by His almighty and all-gracious energy, to produce a new and holy principle of spiritual life in that soul which lay under the power of spiritual death entirely.

This principle, which is instantaneously given, and as to the exact moment of it to us unknown, contains in it all graces, which are afterwards drawn out into their various exercises, under the Spirit's influence, unto the regenerate soul's various privileges. And this gracious work of the Holy Spirit of the heart discovers itself to the soul that is the subject of it, and to others, so far as it is related, by a supernatural light set up in the understanding, whence the soul sees itself to be utterly lost and undone by sin, by heart and life-sin, under the curse of God's law, and in danger of the wrath which is to come– that it neither has, nor can, by self-power, attain a perfect righteousness of its own for justification.

And also, in the soul's discerning, upon the Spirit's revealing, the infinite glory and transcendent excellency of Christ as the great Savior, in His Person and offices, blood and righteousness, and in all the fullness of His grace– as God's great provision for the salvation of the chief of sinners– and as in the gospel held forth to be received of them by faith.

And further, the Spirit's saving work, on the will and affections, discovers itself by that soul's approbation of the Savior beheld, its desires after Him, its approaches to Him, its laying hold of Him, and casting itself, under the Spirit's sweet and strong attraction, with the whole weight of its everlasting salvation upon Christ alone for all holiness and all happiness, to the present and eternal praise of the God of all grace, and to the soul's present and eternal bliss; upon which, that soul becomes declaratively and apparently a child and heir of God, through Christ, as the God of grace and glory– and is more or less sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And now, dear Madam, if you are blessed with a precious experience of this happy work on your heart, you are most certainly a new creature in Christ, and a true believer in Him, and "shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation," notwithstanding the greatest inward or outward opposition. You are forever safe in the hands of Jesus, and none of the powers of darkness, with all their subtlety and force, shall ever be able to pluck you thence. "Your refuge is the eternal God, and underneath, for your support, are the everlasting arms!" And as an inhabitant of the Rock– the Rock of Ages, who is your strong defense– you may sing and shout salvation from the top of the mountains!

But you complain, dear Madam, "that notwithstanding your approach by faith unto Christ, to touch the hem of His garment, and to lay hold of His royal robe of righteousness, the root of sin is not dried up within you– the plague of your heart is not healed– but that your heart is like a painted sepulcher, full of rottenness and putrefaction; yes, that your heart grows worse and worse." To these things I answer:

The root of sin in your heart may be considered in a twofold respect, as (1), In its principle; and (2), In its act; or, your misery may be distinguished into 'heart' and 'life-defiling' iniquity; and this, again, into the guilt and filth of both. With respect to the guilt of both, your root of sin was fully dried up and gone, upon your first act of faith on Christ's blood and righteousness, for your justification. As God, then, by the gracious declarations of His unchanging word, did not impute unto you your sin, but the perfect righteousness of His own Son, whose nature, being without a spot of sin, His heart, lip, and life-obedience, even unto death, was without blemish, so from thenceforth, you were, are, and ever shall be, in God's sight, as you appear before Him in His son– perfectly clean from the guilt of all sin, and righteous before Him as to your state of justification.

And as to the filth of your heart and life-sin, that also is dried up and gone as you appear before God for His acceptance and complacency, in His Holy Son, who has for you who stand in Christ, as perfectly holy heart, to remove out of the Father's sight all your unholiness. You are now presented before God, by Christ, "holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight," though you still have the running outcome of sin– so much unholiness– in yourself. And in this respect, you are called to wash daily, by faith, in that fountain set open for sin, both in its guilt and filth.

"The plague of your heart," you say, Madam, "is not healed." but you ought to distinguish between your heart and your heart, or between your heart, as renewed by grace, in which dwells a principle of holiness, and from whence proceeds internal and external acts of holiness; and your heart as unrenewed, or the unrenewed part of your heart, in which dwells a whole body of sin and death, with all its members, and from whence flows internal and external acts of wickedness. For though the Holy Spirit's work on the heart is perfect, as to kind, and in respect of parts, as it extends to all the parts, powers, and faculties of the soul, so that there is no power or faculty in it but what is sanctified; yet this– His sanctifying work, is still imperfect in degree, and is to be increased by His almighty influence, unto a perfection of holiness; and having experienced the Spirit's sanctifying work on your heart as a begun-work in it, the plague of your heart, so far as it is renewed, is healed.

And if the plague of your heart were not, in this respect, healed, you would not, you could not, desire so earnestly a clean heart universally, for like loves its like. It is from holiness in your heart begun, that you long after perfection, and until that time comes, there remains in your corrupt heart all sin, which is as contrary to holiness as darkness is to light. And this is your great grief and burden and matter of your complaint, "that the plague of your heart is not healed." And indeed it is not, in the unregenerate part of it, but it is in the regenerate part of it.

When I speak of the heart, understand it as of all the powers of your soul, each of which is in part renewed and in part unrenewed; but that same almighty power which begun in you this holy work, in conformity to Christ, the Father's first-born Son, will carry it on unto absolute perfection, and then you will feel no more of heart, lip and life-abominations; but shall shout the triumphs of that mighty grace, to its endless praise, which has wrought your deliverance from all misery, and brought you up unto perfect purity, fullness of joy, and eternal glory.

But you tell me, Madam, "that your heart grows worse and worse." To this I reply: The unrenewed part of your heart, in which resides the principle of sin, has in it such a fullness of evil, such heights and depths of wickedness, such putrefaction and rottenness, that it cannot admit of greater degree. "It is deceitful above all things, and so desperately wicked" that none but the Lord Himself can find it out, or search the amazing depths of this bottomless gulf! But though sin as a principle, in the unregenerate part of your heart, cannot grow worse– the ebullitions, or boilings up of corruptions, may be more or less, as they have more or less advantage to show their rage against the God of grace and holiness, and against us as bearing His image. The workings of corruptions have less advantage when we are under present divine influence; but when this is in measure withdrawn from us, they instantly boil over with rage against the principle of grace, and by their subtlety and force, under Satan's influence– entice or hurry us away with rapidity into sinful acts, to God's dishonor and our soul's distress.

But all the rage of hell and sin within and without us, with all those hellish waters which they cast forth as a flood to swallow us up, shall never quench that spark of heavenly fire, that little grace which is wrought in our hearts by the hand of Omnipotence! No! this, by the same almighty power which enkindled it, shall be maintained and increased amid and by the greatest opposition, until it is raised into a full and eternal flame! The triumphant Captain of our salvation has vanquished all the powers of hell and sin. He has led captivity captive, and dragged all the legions of devils at His chariot wheels, when He went up to glory with a shout– with the sound of a trumpet, amid thousands and tens of thousands of His holy angels, who saw His triumphs and sung His victories.

And as for sin, our worst enemy– the old man– the whole body of sin– it was crucified with Him, and thence, by omnipotent grace– by sin-pardoning and sin-subduing grace– it shall be shortly, totally, and finally destroyed in us! And therefore, by faith in Jehovah's almighty and covenant-engaged power, let us stand to our arms as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and wax valiant in fight against all His and our enemies; for out of weakness we shall be made strong, and brought from the field victorious through His love and blood as more than conquerors. And meanwhile, as our begun holiness increases, we shall see corruptions in their horrid ebullitions, under advancing displays of reigning grace, which gives them greater aggravations– to be worse and worse– and our new hearts shall be to all sin more and more averse– until a complete victory is won, and we are blessed with an immortal crown.

You well say, dear Madam, that "unbelief in the promises and faithfulness of God is the productive root of numerous evils," and therefore we should not indulge it, but fight against it in Jehovah's might, while we stand fast by faith in that full, glorious, and eternal liberty with which Christ, by and irreversible promise-grant, upon our first act of faith, has made us free. By standing fast by faith in that glorious liberty in which upon our first believing we were instated, I intend those after-acts of faith which respect persuasion of that saving interest in Christ and all His benefits which was then given us by promise, and so to hold fast our confidence, or persuasion of salvation, in the face of all inward or outward opposition made against it; for this is not only for God's praise, in His infinite grace and faithfulness to His promise, but will be also of great advantage for the mortification of sin in us.

As our faith in our saving interest rises, our love and gratitude to God increases; but faith of our saving interest is depressed, love and gratitude sink with it; we depart from God, the Fountain of all good, the whole of our life, as if for us in Him there were no help, and are carried away by deceitful evil– by numerous evils– as by a mighty torrent, into comfort's death. Let us beware, therefore, of an evil heart of unbelief, for faith in God, as the God of love unto us in Christ, will yield us a sweet relief, under Satan's temptations and the strong workings of inward corruptions, and edge our spirits keenly against all the Lord's and our enemies.

As to our heart-idolatry, it is a very great iniquity of which the Lord's own people are deeply guilty. But since this is the promise of His rich, free grace, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" let us plead it before His throne, and bring our every idol unto Him to be entirely slain, so shall our hearts be disjointed from them, and our admiration of, and sinful affection to, all 'glittering glow-worm glories' sink and die before the rising attracting display of His all-transcendent and infinite excellences.

And permit me, Madam, to give you a caution– Not to keep company, familiarly, with any but those whom you judge to be truly godly; for the ungodly, by their carnality, will bring you into great danger, and impair in your own spirituality. And if your intimate acquaintances are truly gracious and richly blessed with an inward experience, continue your intimacy, and labor to improve it to a mutual increase of your soul's joint-felicity, your growth in grace and furtherance in the knowledge of God in Christ.

All company has in it either the nature of fire or of air– it either heats or cools– it either excites our love of God, or upon that holy fervor casts the benumbing cold of a dreadful winter. Therefore it is a piece of spiritual wisdom, in spiritual people, to choose such alone for their intimate companions. And if your intimates, dear Madam, excel in spiritual gifts, admire not them– but admire God in them, so shall you be conducted by the brightness of a 'beam' to the all-comprehending and all-reflecting glories of Him who is the infinite and eternal Sun.

Be assured, dear Madam, that that work of God upon the heart which brings the soul to an entire dependence on Christ– a whole Christ, is no illusion, but shall end in a full and eternal salvation. And as to the 'hope of the hypocrite', which shall perish, that is always founded upon self-worthiness; but that hope which has for its foundation God's free grace, in and through what Christ has done and suffered for us, and is made of God unto us, is good hope that shall not make ashamed, but shall be, in its glorious fruits, to the righteous, gladness unto endless ages.

As to those precious promises (Ezekiel 36:25), etc., which you so earnestly desire to experience, they are fulfilled in you already, partially and initially, and shall be, shortly, completely and eternally!

I wish you a rich increase of all grace unto all joy, peace, and holiness, and a massive crown of immortal bliss!

Our Captain-Leader, the Lord our Lover

 

 

Dear Sir,

There may be obstacles and hindrances in the building and beauty of the spiritual temple, in the edification and glory of the gospel church. But the work is of God, and it shall prosper in the hands of our Zerubbabel. His hands, which have laid the foundation—even His hands shall finish it—and He shall bring forth the top-stone thereof with shouting, crying, "Grace, grace unto it." Nor shall any impediments ever stand in the way of the Savior's rising interest, but what shall serve as a foil to illustrate the brightness of that omnipotent power, infinite grace, truth, and faithfulness, which soon, very soon, will redound to His and the Church's glory, in spite of all opposition from the powers of darkness.

Not the least breathing of your enlarged heart, not a desire of your capacious soul, nor the least attempt you ever made for the advancement of the Redeemer's interest, but is recorded by Him in the book of His remembrance, and shall be rewarded of Him at His appearance. And, lo, this Lord and King of Glory will Himself will be your exceeding great reward! And can you fathom the measure of your glory in your immeasurable Lord? No! heaven's bliss, is immense.

But think, O think with pleasure, on those sweet foretastes of God with which your happy soul has been favored in times past! What peace and rest, what refreshing joy, has been given to your spirit when Jesus drew near! Was not your bliss in those happy moments ineffable—your joy full of glory unspeakable—and your reward abundantly great and full? And yet think, O think with rising joy, that the whole of your heart-ravishing bliss, of your soul-satisfying reward hitherto, if compared with that which is to come in the immediate presence, and full eternal enjoyment of God and of the Lamb, is no more than a drop in an immense ocean! Joy enters into you now; but then, you shall enter into joy, even the joy of your Lord. God puts a glory upon you now; but then, your God will be your glory! Rejoice, therefore, as an heir of God and a joint-heir with Christ!

And until you come to your eternal inheritance, give your Father leave to choose your time-portion of trials, which are to prepare you for your eternal lot of glory. And think it not strange, if so dear a favorite of heaven should meet with a variety and perpetuity of griefs on the earth, nor yet if your greatest trials should be reserved for the last. Shall we receive good at the hand of the Lord, and shall we not receive evil? Shall we walk joyfully in the light, and not patiently in darkness? Especially since we have so sweet a companion in tribulation as our Lord Jesus, who loves us immensely, and will speak to us comfortably. God our Father has given Christ to be our Leader—to be the Captain of our Salvation—and, as such, he is continually with us, and goes before us. Through all the wilderness-way, even to the last step of it, he will never leave nor forsake us. He will tread down the briars and thorns before us, to make the way passable for us, and easy for our tender feet.

And no grief will He ever allow to touch us but what He sees to be absolutely necessary for us, and what He Himself, by an infinite sympathy, will bear together with us. The most tender pity of the nearest and dearest relative is not worth a thought, if compared with the infinite affection of Christ, our Immanuel, our Husband, Brother, Friend, in whom all the fullness of the Godhead dwells. In our Jehovah-Jesus there is a fullness of tender mercy, whence He can be, and is, inwardly touched with the feeling of our misery. And in Him also there is a fullness of power to relieve and deliver, which from an infinity of love, grace, and faithfulness, He does and will exert to save us to the uttermost. Our Captain-Leader, the Lord our Lover, goes before us as a mighty conqueror, to vanquish all our enemies, to make our distress subserve our bliss, to swallow up death in victory, and to raise us up with Him to reign in life and immortal glory.

Let us, then, in faith, and without having fear, commit ourselves entirely to our Lord's all-wise and all-gracious conduct, and cheerfully come up from the wilderness leaning upon our Beloved. For lo, we shall be fully persuaded "that neither life, nor death, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord." Hallelujah! And again let us say, "Hallelujah! For the Lord God omnipotent reigns!"

That His rich, reigning grace may be with your spirit, and upon you in your work, until you rest from your labors and are received up to glory, in my hearty desire.

That eternal feast!

 

Dear Madam,

Your most acceptable favor with your most kind present I received, and return my most humble and utmost thanks. My soul prays most heartily for your rich reward in and from the God of grace and glory, in time and to eternity. But who, or what am I, that the God of my mercy should raise up such dear friends to care for me so greatly, at such a vast distance, who never saw my face in the flesh? It is amazing kindness, and a pregnant proof of His covenant-engaged and infinite all-sufficiency. Oh, for a heart, lip, and life, to render Him adequate praise! I bewail my impotence, nothingness and vileness. I rejoice to live under the shine of infinite grace, which forgives all my sins, accepts my desires, and will call that praise, in God-like condescension, which with respect to Him is not worthy the name. I esteem it an exceeding great privilege that my low, imperfect praises, ascend for acceptance before God Most High in the perfect praises of the great Mediator, who is with His Father co-equal in glory and majesty. There the God of all grace to us finds, to His heart's complacence, His full and adequate praise; and there He accepts with infinite delight our every little mite, without debasing His infinite majesty to the brightest display of His infinite glory.

And as you, dear Madam, not only supply me freely, but esteem yourself also favored and honored of God highly in your being made an instrument in His hand of relieving the least of His people in necessity, and of sending them again with high praises to His throne; this is an evidence that you love the Lord supremely and ardently, which love to God in Christ, thus blazing in your heart and life, with your earnest desires after the total destruction of all sin, and the absolute perfection of all grace, and that in the midst of much worldly business and affluence, are such eminent instances of the Lord's special distinguishing favor towards you as are very seldom cast upon others of His own dear children in affluent circumstances. See that for these you give Him due praise. A soul kept alive in God, and for Him, amid sin's, Satan's, and the world's heart-killing influence—is a miracle of omnipotent grace; and such a soul can say, when grace is in exercise,

"Nothing but glory can suffice

The appetite of grace;

I long for Christ, with restless eyes,

I languish for His face."

Since you long, dear Madam, that the whole of what you are and have may be holiness unto the Lord, this is an evidence that Christ, your great High Priest, presents you before His Father's face continually, with all your services, unto the highest acceptance, in His own all-perfect and flaming purity. And, here likewise, upon your desires after perfect holiness, He engraves holiness unto Jehovah. If you were not to God perfect holiness, in Christ, and your services presented to Him and by Him as such, you would not have felt that inherent holy impress on your heart. And because you are now holiness unto God in Christ, representatively and perfectly—this secures your perfect, personal holiness, in yourself shortly; for, "As we have borne the image of the earthly we shall also bear the image of the heavenly," which should excite us eagerly to press forward after increasing holiness daily until that which is in part—or the imperfection of our present personal holiness—shall be done away by the coming of that which is perfect.

It delights me much, dear Madam, to see that, under the Lord's most kind, enriching providence, He gives you to see your duty, to use your God-given abundance unto His praise and the poor saints' bliss, and that therewith he gives you a hearty compliance. It is doubtless the duty of rich brethren to serve the Lord's interest, and to minister to the necessity of their poor brethren with their riches, and to count that money best employed which is given to Christ and His people; and, therefore, the apostle exhorts thus—"Charge those who are rich in this world, that they be not high-minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who gives us all things richly to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to share." And how wondrous are the motives which he presents before them to excite them to, and enforce upon them, these duties—"laying up in store for themselves a good foundation (of reward) against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life!" Strange, that rich saints when they cast away their treasures upon Christ's needy interest and His poor children, should be herein but laying up in store for themselves, but laying a good foundation upon which, of infinite grace, the promised reward shall be raised, and that so great that while they thus, according to the promise, lay hold on or possess it, they shall inherit eternal life!

None but the infinite and eternal God could or would confer such a great and eternal reward upon His favorite servants, according to their works, their little, their very little and imperfect earthly-services. We may well warble out His praise with "Who is a God like unto You?" This I write not, dear Madam, to excite you to do more for my unworthy self. I am full, having received what you freely sent, which to the Lord and to myself is most acceptable; but my desire herein is to promote your fruitfulness to His praise and other brethrens' bliss, and that you yourself at the great rewarding day may find a rich account of your earthly-services to your ineffable joy and eternal glory.

The information you gave me, dear Madam, of the Lord's blessing my last poor letters, refreshes my heart greatly, and excites my praises to the God of all mercy, for as I seek His glory and His children's joy, when I find these, oh, how great is my soul's solace!

I am, dear Madam, a partaker of your joy in your victory over bosom idols. It is the direct way for the destruction of our sins to bring these, our Lord's foes, unto Him, to be slain before Him. Nothing separates between God and us like sin; nothing provokes the eyes of His glory like heart-idolatry—"Therefore," says He, "have I forsaken my people, because they are replenished from the East." And how pathetically does the Lord argue the case with His idolatrous people Israel, in order to their conviction and return to Him—"Has a nation changed their Gods—which yet are not Gods? But my people have changed their glory for that which does not profit." And again, "Can a maid forget her ornaments, or a bride her attire? Yet my people have forgotten Me days without number." And as soon as ever, under His almighty agency, His backsliding Ephraim is brought to repentance for his sin, and to bemoan himself for it thus before Him, "You have chastised me, and I was chastised, as a bullock unaccustomed to the yoke; turn me, and I shall be turned, for You are the Lord my God"—His heart yearns towards Him, and thus breaks out upon Him, "Is Ephraim my dear son? Is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him, I do earnestly remember him still—therefore my heart is troubled for him; I will surely have mercy upon him, says the Lord."

And of this great grace, dear Madam, you are made a partaker of your increasing bliss, and this your felicity enhances my joy. So great is, and ought to be, our sympathy as members of Christ's body, as to interest ourselves mutually and entirely in each others' griefs and joys. How else can we love one another as our dear Lord has loved and does love us; yes, how else could we love Him in each other? And is your Lord returned, dear Madam? Now see in this, His unchanging grace, His infinite faithfulness; now learn to say, as He, that His forsakings are but for a moment; and now learn to trust in Him for time to come, for lo! His kindness towards you has upon it the date of everlasting, past and to come. And time, with all its changes, nor could, nor can, nor ever shall, make the least variation in His love—whose name is I AM!—in the love of His heart, I mean, which is one infinite, eternal flame! The manifestations of it vary; but His invariable love, according to the infinity of His wisdom, makes its displays, or eclipses its glories, just as is most for His highest praise and for our greatest happiness.

And though, dear Madam, you cannot say that you now have the enjoyment of your Beloved so fully as you could wish, remember that the present state is to be a life of faith; that eternal state to come, will be of sight—of immediate, full, and endless sight! And then we shall have as much of Christ as our souls can wish—or capacities contain, without the least fear of His withdrawing again. Meanwhile, ‘transient glances’ and ‘short foretastes’ shall whet our appetites for that eternal feast!

Great grace be with you!

Live and bathe and dive to a blessed eternity!

 

Sir,

My work on earth is almost done, glory be to God! A nobler work in heaven will soon come on. Now I would serve the Lord—but then I shall serve Him perfectly, incessantly, and eternally; serve Him without sin, interruption, weakness, and weariness—which attend our present services; serve Him under the full and immediate vision of His glorious face—to His perfect and endless praise—and to my ineffable and eternal bliss.

Oh, dear Sir, what grace is this, that the Lord has formed and shaped our hearts for His service, else for the perfect and eternal service of God in Christ in future bliss we would have no taste; whereas to a soul that loves the Lord fervently, the perfect, endless service of God in Christ is esteemed by him an essential part of heaven's bliss; nor shall any one soul that is thus prepared by grace for divine service here, lack the ineffable bliss of perfect, endless service hereafter. Alas! what would an unholy soul do in heaven? Heaven would be no heaven to him—he has nothing in him suited to heaven's enjoyment and employment. A soul that cannot make a life out of God, or rather that cannot live joyfully in God as His life, and find his unspeakable bliss in an entire dedication to Jehovah's praise, is quite unfit for the glories of the heavenly state; as there is not the least agreeableness between the object and the subject, so there can be no enjoyment. What thanks then shall we give "unto the Father, who has made us (initially, and will make us perfectly) fit for the great inheritance of the saints in light"—in light without darkness; in the light of His immediate Presence, without the least darkness of distance; and in the light of perfect holiness, without the least spot of sin to darken our perfect, endless praises!

Oh, how great and vast is our Jehovah's infinite essence—who with the simple vision of His glorious face can satisfy and solace myriads of glorious angels, and an innumerable multitude of saved men, when most capacious—and excite in all thereby perfect, ceaseless, endless praises to His eternal glory and their eternal joy! Well may it be said, "Eye has not seen, nor has ear heard, O God, besides You, what You have prepared for him who waits for You!" For no line short of an infinite understanding can search the immense glories of an infinite Being. None but the Lord Jehovah has seen, or can see, those immense glories which He has prepared in His infinite self as the boundless ocean of our soul-filling and eternal enjoyment!

We shall be cast, when all-enlarged, into the God of glory for an eternal fill of all felicity, and there live, and bathe, and dive, to a blessed eternity! And though the communications of divine glory will not be infinite, because of our incapacity, as we shall ever be but finite recipients, yet it is an infinite sea of glory we shall live, and swim, and play in—to a blessed eternity just as the God of nature has prepared an immense ocean of water for the fish of the sea to live, and dive, and sport in—although they can never comprehend that which comprehends them.

Thus, Sir, I humbly think, as the apostle says, "Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him;" and then adds, "but God has revealed them unto us by His Spirit;" and elsewhere says, "we know in part" that we are to understand the revelation of them which is now made unto spiritual men, to be that which is partial and suited to our present condition; and though to the knowledge had in the present state he opposes that knowledge we shall have in the future state, and says, "but then shall I know, even as also I am known;" yet we are to understand the difference to lie only in this—our present imperfect and our future perfect knowledge of God, according to our creature-measure; because, as creatures, we can never have an adequate knowledge of an infinite essence. And as that revelation of God and His things which is here made to spiritual men, is denied by the apostle to natural man, "But the natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God, neither can he know them," and as, in the text which he refers to, it is said, "Eye has not seen, besides You, O God," I think, Sir, we may justly form these distinctions:

First, That no natural man has seen, nor can see, the things which God has prepared for those who love Him, because he lacks a spiritual capacity to discern the spiritual nature and kind of eternal glory.

Secondly, that spiritual men, in the revelation now made of spiritual things unto them, have seen them but partially, and will hereafter see them but finitely.

Thirdly, That none but God Himself has seen, nor can see them, infinitely; as the glories prepared for our enjoyment in His immense Being can be searched by no line short of His own infinite understanding.

Thus, Sir, all the texts will harmonize; and how vast, in Jehovah's infinite essence, is our prepared bliss!

That the Spirit of the Lord, in His sevenfold gifts and graces, may rest upon you, dear Sir, unto all assistance and success in divine service, and that you may at last be blessed with a massive crown of righteousness, is my earnest desire.

Weeping may endure for a night

 

Dear Madam,

It is with much pleasure that I read your last, and I was engage to give thanks and praise to the God of all grace for His making my poor letters of any use to your dear soul. Yes, Madam, your benighted soul shall be favored with the light of God's countenance, only wait for it in faith and patience. Your sins are forgiven you; wait awhile, and the Lord will tell you so. He who now in wise love hides His face, will shortly, to your unspeakable joy, break out upon you afresh with superior rays of His infinite and eternal kindness. "Weeping may endure for a night—but joy will comes in the morning. His anger endures for a moment—but in His favor is light." An immensity—an eternity of light remains for you in God's infinite favor—that all-comprehending source of all the various flows of your felicity for time's and eternity's forever! And give your Father leave to choose what channels He please to convey to your beloved soul His inexhaustible, immutable, and eternal kindness—for if for a while His love runs under-ground, out of your sight, it is but in order to its breaking up again, to your more joyful surprise, in a richer exuberance. And beware of thinking, when you do not see love in its flows; that love is not upon the flow towards you; for when love is most hid from your view, that hiding is one of love's flows. That is one of the appointed channels in which love swiftly and gloriously moves; indeed, it is ‘veiled love’—but love in a veil is the same love still. And "what you know not now—you shall know hereafter." When the veil is taken off from love's face, you shall see as great a glory in ‘hiding love’ as in its most smiling countenance—and that both alternately were ordered most wisely for God's highest glory and your greatest felicity.

Oh, could you now believe this and say thus, "Well, the Lord hides His face, but this, even this, is in boundless, endless love to me," how full would be your joy, how abundant your praise, if faith was thus in exercise! Whereas sense, when love veils, loses sight of love in all; it sees no love in the veil, and inclines the heart to fear that love's past shinings were not real, and thereby shuts the mouth of praise awfully, and sinks the soul into grief exceedingly. And were not faith upheld by an omnipotent arm to look and wait for God the Savior, when as such He hides His face from the house of Jacob, through depressions from sense it would fail quite. But, glory to omnipotent grace! faith is and shall be maintained in its principles, and in some degree of exercise, amid ten thousand contraries.

"Blessed (says our Lord) are those who have believed—and have not seen." Thomas saw, and believed; but believing without sight upon the promise-word of the faithful God has an eminency, a transcendency of blessedness in it. "His arm is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear." "My soul, hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the light of His countenance," according to His promised grace. This exercise of ‘faith in the dark’ has a blessedness in it of transcendency. Little do you think how much glory this gives to God. Little do you think how much pleasure He takes when He thus hears your voice. And can you think, dear Madam, that this your faith is God shall be in vain? No! the Lord will say shortly, "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck." "O woman, great is your faith; be it unto you even as you will." And then you shall praise Him with joy. Meantime, though in sorrow, praise the God of promise by trusting in Him who will be the God of performance, and you will give Him double glory, which will be to your eternal joy.

I am glad, dear Madam, that the Lord made the burning bush a fit emblem of your case, and that you desire greenness and fruitfulness. Your desire after greenness and fruitfulness is from your having these, and it is a greater measure that you desire. And be not dismayed at your apparent lack of greenness and growth in grace. It is one thing to be green and fruitful—and another to discern that we are so. God, and other of His children, may see our greenness and fruitfulness, when for wise and gracious ends these may be hidden much from ourselves. Only let this be your chief care, to "glorify God in the fires," and fear not greenness and fruitfulness—to His praise and your bliss, amid fiery trials.

I am grieved, dear Madam, that your outward affairs are so much declined and perplexed—but if it was not best, it would not be thus. May you be enabled most humbly and earnestly to make a fresh solemn surrender of yourself, and all that you have, unto God, and say, "Lord, here I am—I give myself up to You—to be Yours entirely—I give up everything that You have given me into Your all-wise, all-gracious, and almighty hands. O Lord, the difficulties I am encompassed with are too great for my wisdom and strength to rid myself of—but You know no difficulty. I cast them all upon You. I am oppressed, O Lord, undertake for me. And, were everything else gone, give me grace to glorify You, and to count myself happy—fully, ineffably happy—in Your great Self as my earthly-portion and eternal all. I call nothing my own but You, my great God—do with me, and all things that concern me, just as You desire."

After this manner, dear Madam, resign all unto God, and there leave all, without anxious care for anything. Let a ‘prudent care’ for everything, as your duty in the use of all means, be your concern. But take no ‘anxious care’ for any events—for most surely, in this respect, "every man disquiets himself in vain." And if you thus resign all unto God, and put and leave everything in His hands, I do assure you that God will undertake for you. I, did I say? A poor assurance this. He, Himself therefore excites you to duty, and gives you His own assurance thus—"Call upon Me in the day of trouble—I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

As you had that promise, Madam, when you entered into that change of life, "My presence shall go with you—and I will give you rest," and yet you had not those measures of His comforting presence which your soul wished—learn hence to distinguish between God's gracious, supporting, and sanctifying presence—and His soul-filling, heart-rejoicing presence. The former you had, have, and shall have always; and the latter, when He sees it best. And remember, rest is in the promise—all that earthly-rest which your God of love sees best—and eternal rest, unto full and endless delight! And let this bear up your spirit while your troubles last—"Unto you who are troubled, rest with us." When the Lord Jesus shall make His glorious appearance, then we shall all rest together and forever!

I bear you on my heart before the God of all grace in your every case. To His love, power, and care—I commit you.

A love-stroke

 

Dear Madam,

You thought right that I should pity you, when I knew the cause of the lameness of your hands. For who that loves can forbear the greatest pity to a worthy friend who was used most cruelly? Cruel treatment was this from the creature—but a love-stroke of God your Father! You have hereby seen the wonders of His infinite goodness which He has wrought for you in that support under and deliverance from those many and great distresses which at present are to your wonder, joy and praise, and shall be to the advance of your felicity in eternal glory and to God's honor, unto endless ages!

I think my afflictions are nothing if compared with those which you have passed through. Afflicted in body, from head to foot severely—terrified in soul so exceedingly—brought to the very brink of death and the grave in the former, and, as it were, into the belly of hell in the latter; and yet, everlasting arms underneath you in all this, the consolations of God given to your heart, and great deliverance to your body from its sore distress as an answer to social prayer—how great, how wondrous was the grace! And when a little raised up yourself, to be so soon plunged into distress by the awful affliction of your dear sister, and ever since to be exercised with such various scenes of distresses through which you have been called to pass, and yet maintained in life—in the life of nature and in the life of grace, and favored with the use of your natural and spiritual senses, how bright towards you have been the displays of the Lord's excellent loving-kindness! You may well say, "in deaths often; troubled on every side."

But when you shall have come up at last out of all great tribulations—having washed your robes and made them white in the blood of the Lamb, and are presented faultless before the throne of God—how sweet, how ineffably sweet, will be your eternal glory-rest! Then you will reflect with the highest pleasure upon all your past sorrows, and in unknown transports of joy and praise forever adore that wise grace which conducted you safely and advantageously through all the terrors and dangers of the wilderness. Most surely, your joy and glory, and God's joy and glory in yours, is to be exceeding great, or you would not have met with such great miseries and griefs in the present state.

I am glad that you long, dear Madam, to devote yourself and your all unto God, and to be of special service to His praise, who has shown towards you such wonders of grace. And let the Lord's past appearances for you, in your great and sore troubles, encourage you to trust in Him for delivering grace, even to the last of your distresses. For He who said unto you, "Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God"—is still the same. And so He will be through all your earthly-necessities, and to an endless eternity. It is His covenant with you to "work marvels."

And think, O woman of sorrows, think, and think again—Christ, the tree of life, is cast into all your deaths, and will not He well sweeten these bitter waters. Oh, what is Christ, your Christ? "In Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead bodily!" He is God in your nature, a Father, a Brother, a Husband, a Friend, that ever lives, and ever loves! For love, in all relations, His is immense and endless; for life, He is the Lord of it—an immensity, an eternity of life dwells in Him for you, to perpetuate and perfect your life of grace, and to ripen it into the life of glory! Yes, to maintain your unknown felicity to a boundless eternity. And having Him, who is love, who is life, your love and life with you in all your deaths—will not He make every bitter sweet, and swallow up all your deaths in the infinity of His love and life? Yes, verily, He will for you, both in soul and body, swallow up death in victory, instate and maintain you in a glorious immortality to a blessed eternity. And so wondrously will He work for you, that He will bring life, and an increase of it, out of every death that passes over you.

Is it not better, infinitely better to have Christ with you as your own Lord Jesus, amid ten thousand deaths, for this small moment of time, who will swallow them all up in perfect victory and eternal glory in the world to come—than to be surrounded with all the outward felicity of the present state, with all the splendors of a worldling's honors and pleasures—those ‘glow-worm glories’ which will suddenly be no more—and sent away from Christ at last, with a "Depart from Me, you cursed, into everlasting fire?" May you be enabled to rejoice then in your portion, your soul-sustaining, your soul-satisfying, your life-giving portion, and walk worthy of your portion, by a constant dependence on Him, and a joyful expectance from Him, until you are fully blessed with the complete possession of Him who fills all in all, and will fill you brimful of light and life, of joy and glory, endless and unknown!

Oh, dear Madam, you are straitened in me, a little babe, a little child, who cannot speak; but you are not straitened for immense and eternal bliss in your Jesus. The tongues of angels and archangels, in all their innumerable armies, can never, never tell a thousandth part of His infinite fullness, beauties, and glories! What then can an earth-worm, the least, think or speak of that infinitely glorious Lord? When all is said that can be uttered by the greatest of men, it may be fitly said of their most comprehensive speeches concerning Him, "There was the hiding of His glory!" Yes, when the Lord Himself is set forth in the bright display of His power, it is said, "And there was the hiding of His glory!" What, in the display of it? Yes, with regard to the infinity of it in His own immense and unsearchable essence!

But it is enough, Madam, to make you inconceivably blessed, that in Him, this infinite Him, you have an entire and eternal interest. God grant you the joy of this ineffable felicity. I mourn that I can say no more of this vast and endless storehouse of blessings. Confusion covers me that I have thus veiled Him, when I would gladly have given you a glimpse of His glory. God grant you "the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of Him" to your unspeakable joy!

Your Father's love-tokens!

 

Dear Madam,

Though the Lord has tried you for many months of afflictions, think it not strange, since you are put among God's children, that you have had and must have your own part of afflictions—they are, they shall be, your Father's love-tokens! Satan and unbelief often misrepresent God to His tried children. "If God was your Friend, your Father," say they, "if He loved you, He would not allow such grievous things to befall you—He takes no notice of you—He turns a deaf ear to your prayers—and who among God's children are so greatly afflicted as you are? Do not these things show that you have been deceived—that you are not among the number of God's children—that you have no saving interest in His special favor—but He lays these heavy strokes upon you in wrathful displeasure." And especially do they urge these things upon God's tried children from that sin which they sadly find to work in them under trying dispensations. And if they can but get God's children to hearken to them, these enemies gain their end upon them—to weaken their faith, to dampen their love, to slay their meekness and patience, and to cause them to murmur and fret at afflicting providence.

It is wisdom, then, in God's children, instantly to cry unto Him for wisdom and strength to discern and resist these enemies in their lying voice, upon the first hearing of it; for this we may be very certain of, "that whatever comes from God leads to Him—and whatever excites us to depart from Him as the God of all grace—is from unbelief and Satan." Nothing like faith in God's love to us, as His dear children in Christ—strengthens our spirits to endure afflictions patiently to His glory and our joy.

And therefore, says the apostle Paul, "whom the Lord loves, He chastens." He proposes the ‘love of God in chastening’ as the ground of a believer's faith, for his strength in patient suffering. And says James, "The trying of your faith works patience." If faith has got a thwart in the fight, God will come in with His auxiliary aid for the help of His child, and give his faith renewed strength; and then, instantly, his tried faith being made to stand upright in God and for Him, after its thwarting and in its trial, the child of faith is patience. Says faith—"God's love is in the sharpest stroke!" Then says patience—"I will endure it until love shall bring joyous fruit out of present grief." And lest patience should faint when trials are great and of long continuance, the apostle adds, "Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing." It is as if he should say—You are to be made perfect in very grace, and every perfected grace to redound to your eternal glory—therefore patiently endure the greatest, the longest trial here, that is to fit you for your immortal crown hereafter—that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing—nothing lacking in the exercise of grace—and lacking nothing in your crown of glory!

A sweet soft bosom to rest our weary heads

 

Dear Sir,

It gave me pleasure to hear from you, but I am sensibly touched with grief for your ill state of health. May the Lord support you under the trial, increase your graces in the furnace, and bring you thence with advantage.

It is our unspeakable privilege—that in all our afflictions our dear Lord Jesus is afflicted. Our best Friend, our sympathizing Friend at God's right hand—has an inexpressible fellow-feeling with us in all our miseries of soul and body. When His members on earth are sick, the Head in heaven accounts the sickness His own—"I was sick." What wondrous grace is this! It is a bright display—of the Savior's goodness—of His tender mercy—of His love which passes knowledge. We have in the love of Christ a sweet soft bosom to rest our weary heads—an open ear to all our requests—a flowing heart to relieve us in straits—and an almighty hand to supply all our needs. No indulgent father—no compassionate mother—nor countless numbers of them, were all their affections united in one person, has or could have a thousandth part of that sympathy with a beloved child, when sick—which Jesus has with us, His sick children. Yes, with us—though rebellious children. For we are unto Him dear, ineffably dear children—from an infinity of tender mercy—from an all-endearing love—that has in it neither bottom, bound, nor end!

And what a joy in grief may it be to us, that all our afflictions—for kind and degree—are measured out to us and continued upon us, by our infinite Lover's hand! Wise is our compassionate Father's love—and His medicine, to promote our health, when He sees it best for us Himself will give unto us. Not an ingredient in our bitterest potion, but is put into it by wise love—to make it just fit to work for our salvation.

Our Father, as our physician, not only prepares and gives our medicine—but His own hand also has the whole direction of its operation, to answer effectually all His wise and gracious ends designed thereby.

And as He who afflicts us is afflicted with us—measures our afflictions to us—and over-rules them for us—so His love-sympathy with us in the best time and way will bring all salvation to us. He will say of us, "Is Ephraim my dear son, is he a pleasant child? For since I spoke against him I do earnestly remember him still, therefore my affections are troubled of him; I will surely have mercy upon him."

Be free then, dear Sir, with the bosom of your heavenly Father; you shall be no more bold than welcome. The grace of your sympathizing Lord is boundless! You can never come too often to His bosom, which is always open—yes, the oftener you there flee the more welcome shall you be! Jesus loves you as His own, and will embrace you in love unknown! His sympathy with you in sorrow shall give you joy—His supports under pressures make heaviest burdens light—His management of your crosses bring greatest advantages—and His gracious designs gloriously ends in your salvation—by a light and momentary affliction, unto a weight of glory of eternal duration.

Great grace be with you.

The furnace of affliction

 

My Dear Sister in Christ,

As it is the pleasure of your heavenly Father still to continue you in the furnace of affliction, do not think the time long; this momentary affliction is to prepare you for glory of an endless duration. Therefore, "let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing," in the exercise of your graces to the completion of your filial obedience, which will be to God's eternal praise and your eternal bliss. Suffering is the last work of a Christian. Our dear Lord, after a life of complete active obedience, was to drink the deep cup of His sufferings and to be obedient even unto death, and this was His direct way to His all-transcendent glory. And the members must be conformed to their Head in sufferings as well as glory, and in sufferings for the advance of their glory. And "if we suffer with Him (in a meek, patient, Christ-like spirit), we shall also be glorified together."

Remember your afflictions as dreams which pass away—that are here one moment and gone the next; and while they last, oh, the sweet, the strong supports of the everlasting arms! What can we not do and endure through Christ, who strengthens us! Your Beloved with you in everything, you need fear nothing. Glory in Him, and in His promised grace—"I will never leave you, nor forsake you"—for it is made in infinite faithfulness, and will be productive of earthly-supplies in your greatest necessities, of full joys, of eternal glories. Your afflictions are all measured out—in kind, degree, and duration—by infinite grace—and not one more shall you taste than what shall be for God's praise and your bliss! Therefore, give up yourself with the sweetest resignation to your all-wise, all-gracious Father's dealings—for all shall work to your salvation. Endure the cross—and look to the crown! The former is light and short, the latter an ineffable, eternal weight. Who would not die to see the Lord in His eternal glory? Who would not die to be free from sin's misery? Who would not die that mortality might put on immortality?

And oh, my dear sister, when death dissolves the union between soul and body, your union to Christ in both your constituent parts shall remain unbroken to a blessed eternity. Your body shall sweetly sleep in Jesus until He shall swallow up death in victory, and fashion it like unto His glorious body. And your spirit, as soon as ever separate, being made perfect, shall be admitted instantly into glory, into a perfect love-union and communion with your infinite Lover—to unknown felicity forever! "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed you—and lead you unto living fountains of waters—and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes." No more sorrow, pain, nor death then—these, as former things, will be all passed away, when once you are blessed with that fullness of joy, that perfect ease, that immortal life which awaits you in eternal glory. And then a reflection on all your grieving thorny way through the wilderness will make your pleasures rise in endless praise on the flowery plain of Immanuel's land—the Canaan of full and eternal bliss!

Meantime, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." I commit you to His heart and arms!

No step of your thorny path

 

Dear Sir,

I rejoice to see your faith in the unchangeable love of our three-one God, and your humility under its bright display. But why, my dear Sir, should you say, "I am discouraged because of the difficulty of the way?" You know the Lord led Israel of old "by a right way" through the wilderness, in all their forward and backward traces—"to a city of habitation." And thus He leads you through this world's wilderness, by a right way, to your eternal rest—by that very way which infinite wisdom devised, which infinite goodness ordained to be the path in which you were to walk, as your direct way to eternal glory—as that which should be most for God's praise and your salvation-bliss.

And when once you reach the land of promise, and have the advantage of that higher ground, you shall remember all the way by which the Lord led you through the wilderness, and see it to have been a right way, and that no step of your thorny path could have been better than it was. You shall then see, to your endless joy, what wonders of infinite grace have been wrought for you—in preserving and increasing your spiritual life amid innumerable deaths—and forever adore the conduct of wise grace that brought you safe to the heights of glory—through such a dark and intricate maze—from the depths of earthly encumbrance. And until you are blessed with sight, you must live by faith. No reason is there for discouragement, since through the wilderness you have such a glorious Guide! Your dear Lord Jesus is given to be your companion through the world's tribulation—you have His arm to lean on—and His bosom to rest in, under all your weakness, and in all your disconsolation. If your way be rough—your shoes should be iron or brass; if you are surrounded with dangers—the eternal God is your refuge; if you are ready to faint under pressing weights—underneath are the everlasting arms for your support.

And He who has been the God of your youth will not forsake you in old age. You know what He says, "And unto your old age, I am He; and unto grey hairs will I carry you—I have made, and I will bear; even I will carry, and will deliver you." Then, Sir, you shall never quite tire, because you travel in omnipotent strength. So long as the everlasting God, the Lord, the Creator of the ends of the earth, faints not, neither is weary—who gives power to the faint, and increases strength unto those who have no might—so long shall you renew your strength, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint—until He has brought you unto Himself! You may set up your Ebenezer, and say, "hitherto has the Lord helped." And you know His faithful promise, "I will never, never, never leave you, nor forsake you!" When all creatures and things fail you, yes, when your own strength and heart fail you—"God is the strength of your heart, and your portion forever." And what can you desire more? 

Therefore, yield not to discouragement, but lean on a God all-sufficient. For He says, "the mountains shall depart, and the hills be removed, but My kindness shall not depart from you; neither shall the covenant of My peace be removed, says the Lord who has mercy on you." And in His kindness, in the covenant of His peace, you have all that your soul can want or wish. Behave, then, in faith as an heir of God, and leave it to them to be discouraged, who have no interest in His infinitely free, rich, and super-abounding grace—in immutable, eternal grace! For this grace is and will be the source of all your earthly-felicity and immortal glory.

I wish you the rich consolations of the Holy Spirit while you abide in any distress, until you are called to "enter into the joy of your Lord," where sin and sorrow shall have no place!