The Voice of Faith in the Valley of Achor: Vol. 2 [of 2] / being a series of letters to several friends on religious subjects

by J. Church

LETTER X.

Valley of Achor, May 16, 1819.

My dear Friend, Mrs. Harris,

I am sorry to hear of your indisposition, but hope also to hear soon of your recovery. I take this opportunity of acknowledging how much I feel indebted to you for your long concern for my best interest, and your grief for my trials; but I think God has given you many tokens of my future good, by many gracious impressions on your mind in your sleeping hours, and I trust we shall not be mistaken in them, although we are apt to construe such impressions to mere temporal advantages, just as the Apostles did of our dear Lord’s kingdom and government; they all thought he was come to set up a temporal kingdom, but when they were filled with the Holy Spirit they understood the subject better. This world is not our rest, we are not born merely to pass our lives in this, but to be looking out for a better and more enduring home: yet, alas, how prone are we to fix our tents here, in this world of uncertainty and trouble. I trust my dear friend has a little hope of a better world. You have often heard of an eternal glory, and I am sure it will be a heaven worth dying for. Many of the people of the world rush into wars and bloodshed, the ruins of countries and the distress of nations, merely to get a great name, and that it might be said they died honorably in the field of battle. Poor deluded creatures, this was not worth dying for; honour and fame is but a noise, a vapour, a puff, and a breath. But we want to die to obtain a glorious eternity, to see the dear Saviour, to be with him, and to be like him; to see him with our enlightened understandings, till the last trumpet shall sound, and our bodies be raised from the dead, strong, beautiful, and glorious, and the soul and body meet again with rapture, to be filled with the joy of the Lord, to hear the welcome sentence of the dear Redeemer, and see him smile on us, creating our heaven, and delighting us with his love; opening our minds to receive the knowledge of God in his glorious persons, the greatness of his grace, the displays of his wisdom and power—his truth, condescension, faithfulness, and mercy in our eternal salvation.

I trust my dear kind Friend can say she humbly desires only Christ and an interest in him, to know that her sins are pardoned by him, and that she lives in the tenderest affections of his heart. The scriptures declare that you do live there, but you want to feel it for yourself; yet, I hope you can say, from what little you do know, you depend upon Christ as God-Man and Mediator, upon his most blessed work, as your acceptance with the Father, only you want the gracious Holy Spirit to shew you so much of Christ as to cause you to love him above all things, and to give you the clearest assurance of his love to you. Do take notice. This little knowledge you have of him, and this desire after him, this humble dependence upon him, and renouncing all others, is really believing in him.

May the Lord bless thee and keep thee, be your leader, guide, and comfort. Kind love to your Niece, and all enquiring friends and acquaintance.—I must conclude this letter, with some Remarks I have met with on the very great difference between an Acquaintance and a Friend.

Your’s truly,
Ruhamah.

ACQUAINTANCE and FRIENDS
DISTINCT CHARACTERS.

Fallen man an erring creature is,
And, bent on erring, errs in this:
He forms connections without end,
And calls each intimate a Friend.

But ’twixt the two a difference lies,
And, oh! how great is our surprize—
To view the characters more near,
How vast me difference does appear.

Acquaintance cries, to ease my woe,
Be warm’d, be fill’d—and off they go.
My Friend presents the thing I need,
The one’s in word, the other deed.

While pleasing plenty crowns my cup,
Acquaintance springs like mushrooms up;
But woeful want creeps forth to light,
And each betakes himself to flight.

Yet sometimes one of human kind.
In this dull day remains behind;
And ’tis my Friend, for only he
Cares for the child of misery.

Acquaintance see me go astray:
But he must look to that they say.
My Friend seeks out my devious track,
O’ertakes me, and conducts me back.

If sick, or into prison thrown,
My Friend still makes my case his own,
And in my chamber or my cell
Esteems it his delight to dwell.

The utmost my Acquaintance do,
While these great deeps I’m passing through,
Is, squeeze this prayer out now and then—
Heav’n send him safely out again.

Acquaintance are but sons of earth;
They relish well the house of mirth,
But in the mourner’s dwelling place
’Tis real pain to shew his face.

Here mark my Friend, he in the hour
Of keen temptation’s darkness power,
Stands by me all the season long,
With a sweet promise on his tongue.

He bears my company till death,
Whilst on my very latest breath;
And in his last kind act of love,
Points to my Father’s house above.

Then while I sojourn here below,
Let Friend include all names I know;
And be it fellow-creature’s pride
To know no other name beside.—Amen.

LETTER XI.

Valley of Achor, Feb. 25, 1819.

My dear Friend, I. R. Esq.

I am ashamed I have been so dilatory in answering your kind letter of the 10th instant. I read it with most exquisite delight. I intended a very long epistle for you, but I must still remain that in your debt, which I will faithfully pay the earliest opportunity. Yesterday I was just sitting down to drop you a line, but was suddenly surprized to hear of your indisposition. I fear your daily vexations have hurt your nervous system, and distressed your mind; nor have you much power to bear them—we all want strength to endure tribulation. We want power to stand in the evil day, that we may not fall before it. I have often been pleased, edified, and comforted with that very precious Promise, xliii. Isa. “When thou passest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; when thou passest through the waters, they shall not overflow thee, for I am with thee.” I trust this promise will be fulfilled in our experience till death, and in death. I feel anxious about your health of body. I judge your feelings. I know your state of mind. We need Divine keeping in every thing we do, and in every step we take. Hence, David prayed: Preserve me, O God, for in thee do I put my trust. Leave me not destitute. Does not this prayer suit you well? it does me. Yet I feel happy the Lord is leading you to see the vanity of all things below the stars; the emptiness of the creature, the sin of your nature, in hewing out cisterns, yea, broken cisterns, that can hold, retain, no water. No sooner are creature comforts in, but they run out again. Yet, alas, how awful for mankind to forsake the living fountain which never will be exhausted, or run dry! The adorable Trinity in unity, is that fountain, each glorious person is so represented, because they are equal in power, majesty, glory, and goodness. God is love, and this glorious God-head includes the three Holy Ones. What a mercy for us, they divinely condescended to enter into covenant about us, such hell-deserving sinners as we are, and in the prospect of our miseries, made ample provision for us, that we might be infinite gainers by the fall, and God for ever glorified in that great business of redemption and grace.—In this glorious covenant our sins were made over to Christ, and his righteousness made over to us. This was secured by the promise, and the oath of God; confirmed by the blood of the dear Saviour; made known in the Gospel, and brought to the faith of an humble believer. After the sense and assurance of this blessing, we being first convinced of sin, and fearing God’s wrath, the day of death, the last judgment and eternity, we doubt, fear, pray, hope, aspire, desire, long, and then grow careless, lukewarm, indifferent, dead, till guilt is felt again, or trouble arises, or affliction comes on; then we get alarmed, quickened, and anxious again to read our title clear, to see the interest Christ has in us, and the interest we have in him; to know that our sins are forgiven us, that God is at peace with us, that the law is magnified, sin put away, a door open in heaven that no sin in future can shut; death left stingless, judgment not at all dreaded, because we shall see him whom we adore, admire, and love; we shall be made like him, we shall get rid of sin.

Sin, our worst enemy before,
Shall vex our eyes and souls no more;
But every power find sweet employ
In Christ’s eternal world of joy.

I beg the Lord, the Holy Spirit, to give you supernatural ideas of Christ, so as to endear him to your heart, and make you long to tell of his name and fame; to make you wise; to be as wise as Paul, and as eloquent as Apollos; that you might point forth the Divine excellencies of Jesus to poor sinners. I trust your life will be spared for this purpose, it is the only thing worth living for. Christ is the darling of the Father, and the grand object of the Spirit’s glorification: angels adore him, saints admire him, and in our poor feeble way, oh that we could love him with every power and passion, with every member and faculty of body, soul and spirit. May this instrument of ten strings sweetly sound his dear fame. The most painful lesson we have to learn, is the evil of our hearts, the malice of the devil, the weakness of our own arm, and our utter impossibility to do any one good thing without Christ: separated from him, we can do nothing, no more than a dead branch can grow, that is cut off and thrown aside. The nature, extent, and spirituality of the law, and our condemnation by it, the person, the glory, and work of Christ, as the head of the church, and the Saviour of the body. This is the main subject, and the various displays of the offices of God, the Holy Spirit, as the glorifier of Christ. This subject is the Gospel itself, and the longer I live, the more blessed I see this truth. The Son of man is come to save that which was lost. This is an encouragement to my soul, and the very basis of my hope. Here alone is the way of access to God, to the Throne, and to Heaven. May the Spirit sanctify, and bless you; bear testimony with your spirit, that you are a child of God. This will be spiritual health in bodily sickness; this will light life in death, and gild the gloomy horrors of the tomb, as the celebrated Dr. Young says, and with which I conclude my epistle.

Religion! thou the soul of happiness,
And, groaning Calvary, of thee: there shine
The noblest truths: there strongest motives sting:
There sacred violence assaults the soul;
There nothing but compulsion is forborne.
Can love allure us? or can terror awe?
He weeps!—the falling drop puts out the sun.
He sigh!—the sigh earth’s deep foundation shakes.
If in his love so terrible, what then
His wrath inflam’d? His tenderness on fire?
Like soft, smooth oil, out-blazing other fires?

Pray do let me know how you are in health as soon as you can.—Kind love to Mrs. R. wishing you a healthy body and a prosperous soul.

I remain,

Dear friend,
Your’s truly,
Ruhamah.