LETTER XXXVII.
Achor’s tale, September 29, 1818.
Mr. G. Gray.
MY DEAR BROTHER,
What can I say to you, and how can I sufficiently thank you for your kindness and benevolence of heart and conduct; well might the apostle exhort, “Let us not love in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth;” and this has been your conduct to me since my abode at the sign of the unstrung harp, near the weeping willows, by the rivers of Babylon. Here I at present live, but what the Lord promised the Israelites in captivity, he is most graciously fulfilling in my case. I need not remind you that Achor was a valley in Jericho, where Achor the son of Carmi was stoned; perhaps the valley borrowed its name from the circumstance itself. Achor means trouble, and you know what is written in your favorite chapter, 2nd of Hosea. What an affecting picture the Lord has given us of Israel’s ingratitude and rebellion; but having determined from all eternity, that where sin hath abounded, there grace also should much more abound, and triumph over all the sin of his people, which has brought them into so much trouble, as Achan did the Israelites, that in the very midst of that valley of Achor, he would open a door of hope, and give them strong consolations; that there he would manifest his pardoning love, display his eternal power, sanctify the cross to them, reveal his love to the heart, and though in the very midst of trouble, yet his people should sing of his mercy, truth, faithfulness, kindness, and righteousness, all which are displayed in their marriage union to Christ, the date of which is as ancient as eternal election. The grand displays of it was in the great act of the Redeemer’s incarnation. The means to bring about this union, was the removal of all the awful impediments which were in the way, by the obedience, the sufferings, death, burial, resurrection and ascension, intercession and life of Christ, as Mediator in heaven for us. Nor can this blessed union be felt or enjoyed by us, till God the Holy Ghost has subdued our enmity, quickened our souls, reconciled us to God’s mind, shewed us the person, love, and work of Christ; made us willing by his power, created holy desires in the soul, and enabled us to say, Thou, Oh my God, in Christ art the thing that I long for. Here is union felt; and as the soul is led on in the knowledge of the great things of God, it is enabled to trace the origin of this union to the counsels of eternity. I trust you will, my dear brother, be enabled when you are called forth to stand up as a spokesman for your dear Lord, declare what you know of the counsel of God, not that you, or any other preacher, either know or can declare the whole counsel of God. Nothing is more common than this expression, and nothing can be more erroneous. I do not believe any one ever declared the whole counsel of God, since our Lord and his apostles on earth—they declared the whole, perfectly and infallibly; but other ministers, however faithful they are, must not say so, it is an error; but what the Lord has taught you, that you can declare, even the truth as contained in the grand doctrines of the Gospel; the perfections and glories of the divide Jesus, the original ruin and present corruption and misery of man, the spirituality of the holy law of God, the perfect satisfaction of Christ, complete justification by his imputed righteousness, regeneration by the operations of the eternal spirit, spiritual faith and evangelical repentance towards God; love to, arising from the knowledge of the adorable Trinity in Unity, the warfare between the flesh and the spirit, the trials of the way, the temptations of the adversary, the strength, light, and comfort afforded us; the stability of the eternal covenant, the depths of divine mercy, the perpetuity of eternal love, with all the happy consequences of these truths in the life, conduct, and the whole conversation. You and I, my brother, are not afraid these great truths will make their possessors careless of their conduct; No, every sin felt and discovered, or the least outbreakings of it, is as a dagger to the heart, a load upon the mind, nor can there be any rest till a fresh manifestation of pardon is felt. We consider the work of the ministry to be the greatest work and the highest honour ever conferred on a poor fallen creature here. To make use of the language of good old Mr. Ryland, here is full scope for fear, hope, gratitude, justice, compassion, zeal, interest, ambition, glory, pleasure, and unbounded fire; rise ambition, rise glory into intense fire, and joy without bounds or end. Reflect, O my soul, what astonishing glory for me to be decreed and ordained by the great Head of the Church, to copy God’s eternal thoughts, to receive the infusions of ideas from all the holy inspired penmen; to be called out of nothing, out of meanness, obscurity, baseness, sin, and misery, to stand in the place and room of the eternal Son of God, to paint his perfections, to blaze abroad his glories about the world, to display the virtue of his blood, and tell of his astonishing death, the grandest action in the empire of God—to express this action in a thousand points of light, to have the most intimate treaties with immortal souls, to do nothing but transact with souls—blood-bought souls; to be an ambassador, an angel, a representative of the Son of God; to be put into his place (in a certain sense) as a preacher, to have commerce with deathless souls, to be inrolled by Christ in this time state amongst the faithful and zealous preachers, and for Christ to value us as dear and important to himself, and to the church. This subject is so great, I scarcely know how to write it, but so interesting, I must send you a line or two more. What a glory to revive gospel doctrines, to display Christ’s glory, and to raise the credit of the work of the Spirit; to die with the highest dignity, angels and good men around my bed, and God himself within my soul. O what a glory is this, to rise up amidst throngs of admiring smiling angels, before the throne of the Son of God; to see all the great and good preachers in heaven look at me as I rise, to hear them say, Here, see, here he comes from his study, from his pulpit, and from the bed of death to our shining worlds, and to his Master’s throne. See how Jesus looks at him, see how he crowns him. Hark what he says to him, Well done good and faithful servant, enter thou into the joy of thy Lord. See him bring forth the crown of glory, and put it on my head, for Christ will not trust the noblest angel in heaven to crown his saints: he will do it himself, and will say, Here, ye labourers, take your reward; ye shepherds, take your honour; ye soldiers take your military glory; ye ambassadors, ye stewards, ye angels of the churches, take your immortal crowns, live for ever surrounded with sun beams, and crowned with stars.
May this felicity be yours and mine—’tis well, perhaps, the dignity, importance, responsibility, and trials of the ministry, are hid from our eyes at the entrance on the work, or I think none would go into it at all. What I have since seen, had I seen it before, I do not think I should so willingly have run, but would rather have been dragged. There is but one thing would ever make me very willing to enter on the sacred work, and it is that—and that love which makes me willing to go forward again. Do you ask me what that is? Why the same which made Isaiah willing to go, after he had seen the glory of Christ God-Man, having finished salvation’s work, exalted, glorified, and adored, revealing the word of pardon with power to his soul, and assuring him he was pardoned; then he said, Here am I, send me —. See 6th chapter of Isaiah. I know the passage will bear a higher comment, but I humbly conceive it represents Isaiah’s commission, and I can assure you, it is only such feelings, views, and enjoyments, that make me willing now, whatever were my motives before. I can appeal to the Lord, as the searcher of all hearts, I want nothing now to do with the ministry, but to proclaim all that I am led to understand by the terms God-Man Mediator.
Farewell. Let this epistle be read to all those who expound in the vestry on Friday nights.
Ruhamah.