LETTER XXI.
Achor’s Vale, Dec. 6, 1818.
Mrs. Darby,
MY DEAR SISTER IN THE LORD,
I have read your letter, with sacred pleasure, containing an account of the Lord’s gracious dealings with your soul. I wish every member of the Church would write me something of their experience, that I might judge of their state, for, as experience worketh hope, when we know a person’s experience we can judge of their hope. It is the custom of some Churches, when persons are admitted, to give in a written experience; this is a good custom, as many people are too timid to appear and speak of the dealings of God with them, in the whole face of an assembly, not that they are ashamed of the work of God upon them, but they may be naturally timid. I have always endeavoured to be as familiar to those who come to me about spiritual things as I could, with any propriety, and even that has been attended with a disadvantage, as the enemy has turned that against one. I wish I could never speak to any but the Lord’s own children. I never found them any snare to my soul, but I have found mere empty gay professors to be a snare. David personated Christ when he expressed the feelings of his soul, in the 16th Psalm, “The saints, the excellent of the earth, are my delight.” The Lord made David sick of every body else, yet no man was ever so plagued with a parcel of hypocrites as he was. His prime minister, Achithophel, was a snare to him. His chief captain, Joab, was always a trouble, and his darling son, Absalom, was always a most profound, ungrateful, cruel hypocrite. Yet the Lord’s people were dear to David’s soul, and why? because they were dear to Christ; bore his image, trusted in him, looked for him, and walked as it became their profession. And I must remind Mrs. D. that the Apostle has pointed out a most decided evidence of a real believer, “We know we are passed from death to life, because we love the brethren. And he that loves him that begets, loves him, also, that is begotten of him.” You could not love a believer as a child of God; if you was not a child of God yourself. Sinners love sinners, but they cannot saints, as saints. But while I would have you bless God for this grace given you, and while I would bless God on your behalf, yet, I trust, you will not rest on present attainments, but go on to know Christ, that you may be found in him. I always find it the safest way to thank God for what he has done for me, but when I reflect upon the attainments of hypocrites I am alarmed, and go to the Saviour, daily, just as I did when I first set out, a poor needy, guilty sinner in myself, condemned by law and conscience, with a nature as depraved as the worst creature breathing, and standing in as much need of teaching and keepings of drawing and renewing, as I ever did. To this Paul alludes, nay exhorts, “As ye have received Christ Jesus, the Lord, so walk ye in him.” You can well remember the bondage of spirit you felt under the Law, and how precious the person of Christ, as a complete Saviour, was to you—how precious he appeared in his mediatorial capacity, as an atoning sacrifice, putting away sin, as the end of the law, fulfilling all its demands, and, as an intercessor, pleading your cause. You need this same Jesus every day, and will want him as much in the article of death, as you did when the Lord first gave you to feel your need of him—and I am sure you will bless the Lord for ever leading you to feel that need so deeply. We are great sinners, and need a great Saviour, every day, and all the day. In reading your letter of the Lord’s dealings with you, I cannot help exclaiming, And will God in very deed dwell with sinners on the earth? Yes, for he has said “I will dwell in them, and walk in them.” Male and female are all one in Christ Jesus. He has condescended to choose a portion of our nature, and unite it to the dear Son of his love—the Son of God—God the Son: and in the choice of our nature, and the person of his Son, he chose all the millions that shall be saved, united them to Christ, and then viewed them complete in him. Thus the head and the members rose together in the mind, the purpose, and decree of Jehovah. To these he designed to manifest himself as the God of all grace, in the covenant of redemption and mercy—in the mysterious incarnation of Christ—in the meritorious holiness of his life—in the putting away sin by his awful sorrows, and in rising from the dead to justify his own work, and as the first fruits of them that sleep in him. And is it not wonderful that God the Holy Spirit should ever visit you? Can you not often ask, with your sister Ruth, “Why have I found grace in thy sight, that thou shouldst take knowledge of me, seeing I am but a stranger.” It becomes you to be thankful. This will bring more blessings to you, in a way of enjoyment; and as the Lord has taught you, humbled your spirit, and melted you with his love—brought you to receive the truth in the love of it, so I trust you will be more devoted to him. He is worthy of your highest affection, your daily addresses, and warmest gratitude. The Lord help you to adorn that gospel you love, to sympathize with the afflicted in the household of faith, to warn the unruly, and encourage the weak ones of the flock. Let thy garments be always white, and let thy head lack no ointment. Strive to become a mother in Israel, by an increase of spiritual knowledge; then your faith will grow, and your hope abound.
Kind respects to Mr. D. I am much pleased the Lord has not forgotten him, he has seen the meaning of God’s promise; “I will take you one of city, and two of a family, and I will bring you to Zion.” And the Saviour, will, I trust, present you all faultless, before the throne of his glory, to himself in himself in the millennium; and at last he will present you to his Father and your Father, his God and your God, when God, Father, Son, and Spirit will be all in all.
Grace and peace be multiplied to you all, as a family. Pray for me, that I may be kept and sanctified.
Your’s, in him,
Ruhamah.