“The Lord hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil; and they shall call them the border of wickedness, the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.—But Esau have I hated; the abhorred of the Lord shall fall into it; their souls abhorred me and my soul also abhorred them.—Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.—I will profess unto you I never knew you.—A stone of stumbling, a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and a snare, and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and snared and taken.—Behold this child is set for the fall of many in Israel.—I thank thee, oh Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.—Not many rich are called.—But the wicked shall do wickedly, and shall not understand.—To the one we are a savour of death unto death.—Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have.—But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep.—To them it is not given, the world cannot receive, the natural man cannot discern.—No man can come to me to me except the Father draw him.—For when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected.—For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.—I also will choose their delusions—And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many.—For it is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.—They which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God.—But because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish. I will work a work in which you shall in no wise believe.—You shall not believe, ye shall seek me and shall not find me.—And if the prophet be deceived, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will destroy him.—So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth.—For judgment I am come into this world that those which see might be made blind.—Make the heart of this people gross, and make their ears heavy lest they see, hear, understand, convert and be healed.—And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all may be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.—Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.—It shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.—They perish for ever, without any regarding it.—Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.—Many are called, but few chosen.—He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still.—But the miry places shall be given to salt.—But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, and shall utterly perish in their own corruptions.—This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.—He shall divide the sheep from the goats—Whom he will he hardeneth.—The Lord bid Shimei to curse David, moved David to number the people, stirred up Joseph’s brethren to sell him into Egypt, hardened the heart of Pharaoh, sent a lying spirit to deceive Ahab, mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of Egypt.—I make peace and create evil.—If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whose names are not written in the book of life; therefore will he give them up.—And Eli’s sons hearkened not unto the Lord, because he would destroy them.—It had been better for that man if he had never been born.—One shall be taken and another left.”
These are a few of those Scriptures which are so highly offensive to the Arminian pride of the human heart: I find them very offensive to my proud heart. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let the earth keep silence before him, and do you give all diligence to make your calling and election, sure.—Get some solid evidence of your predestination to eternal life, so as to render it unquestionable, and your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. I cannot conclude this letter without sending you part of a remarkable speech, delivered in parliament, Jan. 26, 1628, by Francis Rouse, esq. a member of the House of Commons.
“We have of late entered into consideration of the petition of right, and the violation of it, and upon good reasons; for it concerns our goods, liberties and lives. But there is a right of an higher nature—a right of religion, derived to us from the King of Kings, confirmed to us by the kings of this kingdom, and enacted by laws in this place: streaming down to us in the blood of the martyrs, and witnessed from Heaven by miracles, even miraculous deliverances.—And this right, in the name of this nation, I this day claim; and desire that there may be a deep and serious consideration of the violations of it.
“I desire, first, it may be considered what new paintings are laid on the old face of the whore of Babylon, to make her more lovely, and to draw more suiters to her.
“I desire that it may be considered, how the See of Rome doth eat into our religion, and fret into the banks and walls of it; by which banks and walls I mean the laws and statutes of this realm.
“I desire that we may consider the increase of Arminianism: an error that maketh the grace of God lacquey it after the will of man; that maketh the sheep to keep the shepherd; and makes mortal seed of the immortal God. I desire that we may look into the very belly and bowels of the Trojan horse, to see if there be not in it men ready to open the gates to Romish tyranny and Spanish monarchy. For an Arminian is the spawn of a Papist; and if there come the warmth of court favour upon him, you shall see him turned into one of those frogs that arise out of the bottomless pit.
“If ye mark it well, you shall see an Arminian reaching out his hand to a Papist; a Papist to a Jesuit; a Jesuit gives one hand to the Pope, and the other hand to the king of Spain. And these men (that is the Arminians, then newly sprung up) having kindled fire in our neighbour’s country, (that is in the Dutch provinces) have now brought over some of it hither, to set on flame this kingdom also.”
Heu, pietes! Heu, prisca fides!
Alas, Religion! Alas antient faith!
I must also recommend to your diligent attention “Dr. Owen, on Arminianism,”—“Dr. Gill’s cause of God and Truth,”—“Huntington’s Arminian Skeleton, and Funeral of Arminianism,” with Mr. Toplady’s “More Work for John Wesley.” Praying for a spirit of judgment (Isaiah iv.) and burning, that the filth, (the Arminianism) of the daughters of Zion may be purged, according to his very precious promise. Many shall be purified and made white, and tried: not forgetting the exhortation that speaketh to you as to children. “Let thy garments be always white, and thine head lack no ointment: let thy fountain be always blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth (the truth as it is in Christ); let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe; let her breasts (of consolation) satisfy thee at all times, and be thou always ravished with her love; and why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange woman, (error) and embrace the bosom of a stranger, for the ways of man are before the Lord, and he pondereth his goings.”—Proverbs v. But the Lord is faithful, which will establish you and keep you from evil.
Yours, truly, J. C.
LETTER XXIII.
“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.”
To —
We have a just right to record the deliverances which the Most High God has wrought out for us. I have, in my humble degree, done so; and although it may incur the displeasure of many, I could not avoid it. I consider such acknowledgments a part of the glory due to God. Hence the promise “I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” And I must also acquaint you with a few more of these great deliverances which I have experienced by his grace, in leading me from the paths of death to the fountain of life. I can never be sufficiently thankful that he has opened to me the law of the wise, that I might escape from the snares of death, which I consider consist in opposition to God’s revealed truths. In my last I informed you of deliverance from the shackles of Arminianism; and in a former letter, from the dreadful heresy of denying the godhead and personality both of the dear Redeemer and the Holy Spirit. But though delivered, I was, and am frequently beset by the enemies of the doctrine of the adorable Trinity in Unity. This has often grieved me sorely, especially in seasons of weakness, when satan, unbelief and carnal reason seemed to triumph in my mind. The glorious, holy and sublime doctrine of the Trinity, in the essential Unity, is clearly revealed in the word of God, and without attempting to comprehend, it is enough for us to believe. After I had been much perplexed in my mind, I bless God that he ever condescended to open the subject satisfactorily, and as he was pleased to use means for this purpose: the best I have ever seen, and the most conclusive, is the book I have already mentioned, the excellent “Jones, on the Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity,” and by his masterly comparisons of one Scripture with another, he has clearly proved that point, by shewing that the Unity of the Sacred Three is maintained in the sacred names, attributes and acts of the Sacred Three.