UNCTION OF GRACE.
Friday morning, the 15th, I suffered very much, on account of the individual, whom you know. It seemed to me, that God wished that the all of self in him should be destroyed. I perceived, that although the troths be uttered, proceeded from the inward work of the spirit upon his heart, his reasoning faculty operated so powerfully, without his perceiving it, that the effect of these truths was in some degree lost. Souls are won more by the unction of grace—by the weapons of love—than by the power of argument.
Are not the truths you utter, my friend, too much elaborated by the intellect, and polished by the imagination? Their effect seems to be lost, for want of simplicity and directness. They fall pleasantly on the ear, as a lovely song, but do not reach and move the heart. There is a lack of unction. Are you not always laboring for something new and original, thus exhibiting your own powers of mind, rather than the simple truth?
Receive this suggestion, and light will be given you upon it. Do I speak too plainly? To speak the truth, and the truth only, is all I desire. I have this morning prayed, rather to be taken out of the world, than to disguise the truth. I have proclaimed it, in its purity, in the great Congregation, and it will be seen that Thou, O Lord, hast distilled it in my heart; or rather, O Sovereign Truth, that Thou art there thyself, to manifest thyself plainly, and that Thou dost make use of weak things to confound the strong. God is truth and love. In Him yours.