DEAR BROTHER,
I OWE you a long epistle, for the many kind letters I have received from you. This acknowledgment of my debt is a part of payment. Being a little confined through indisposition of body, I thought I would pen a few thoughts to my dear friend, trusting they will be acceptable at this time.
I am more than ever delighted with the pleasing theme the Gospel exhibits of our most adorable Lord, of whom it is written, that in all our afflictions he was afflicted; that he was the subject of all sinless infirmities; that he was a man like ourselves, sin only excepted. This is a sweet thought to me, under every pressure; and surely it proves our union with him, and a participation of his Spirit, of course of the same covenant privileges. What a Christ have we got! God with God, Man with Man, very God and very Man; a kind brother, to feel with and for me, under all my trials, and a God able to supply my every need; and what adds a glory to this point is, that as God-Man he is the glorious Mediator, commissioned to give all I need; for this purpose he hath ascended upon high and received gifts for the rebellions! This is a most charming consideration, it is the joy of my heart; I feel it so—and such an High Priest became us: O! for an heart to bless him, to praise him as I ought, as I wish to do! I long to be disembodied for this purpose. O could my soul leap out of her dull clay, scarce should a harp above aim at a sweeter, nobler song, Unto him that hath loved me. My dear brother, I feel mortality, I am at times very glad of it: I have had much sickness of late, it is a signal, it is a knock, it is a servant sent with a message. Mark the command, Look, as when the messenger cometh, and shut to the door: is not the sound of his master’s feet behind him? I keep the messenger; I retire; I read the note, Thus saith my Master, Behold I come quickly; I can send no answer back but thus—Even so come, Lord Jesus. May I therefore esteem every pain, every felt weakness, and every beating pulse, but as so many messengers sent in covenant love, to remind me of my mortality—that this is not my rest, that my whole bodily frame is but as a Shepherd’s tent, as Hezekiah calls it, soon unpinned, easily taken down, and removed, as the Arabian Shepherd’s tents were.—Hence the scriptures in a variety of places shew that the body is but earth, dust and ashes, formed of it, lives on it, and must soon return to it. The apostle calls the body an outward man, which must decay, while the inward man, the hidden man of the heart, is renewed day by day, by the secret influences of the Spirit. This work is carried on by a continual application of Gospel promises, and tokens of love: this inward man gets renewed day by day, till we arrive to perfect day. This is going from strength to strength, and being changed from glory to glory. This body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the object of God’s Love, and the purchase of the precious blood of Jesus. This frame is called by Solomon, an house, built up in infinite wisdom, supported by Almighty power, and is the noblest workmanship of Jehovah. Compared to an house, the understanding faculty is the windows, the receptive capacity is the door; and as the soul is converted to God, the will and the affections is the throne, the principal seat of Jesus; the graces of the Spirit is the furniture, and Father, Son, and Spirit, are the glorious and ever blessed inhabitants thereof, where they will dwell for ever. The Body, only, I am about to notice.
I acknowledge I am not much skilled in Anatomy, it is a science I never learned, though I believe the best Anatomist is a person who can dissect the human heart. Yet the body being the great work of God, I would view it with wonder, with admiration, and praise. I dare say you are sometimes amazed at this wonderful, curious-wrought frame; this wonderful display of divine skill. Permit me just to notice only a very few things, though you are so well acquainted with anatomy. I trust you will correct me where I err, in considering this earthly house of our tabernacle. I must refer you to the excellent Hervey’s description of the human frame, in his 12th Dialogue of Theron and Aspasio, which I beg you to read: that excellent author observes, first, the Bones, cast into a variety of moulds, enlarged or contracted into a variety of sizes, all strong, that they may bear up the fleshy machine, yet light, that they may not depress the animal with an encumbering load. Insensible themselves, they are covered with a membrane of exquisite sensibility. The Feet compose the firmest and neatest pedestal, capable of altering its form and extending its size, containing a set of the nicest springs, which help to place the body in a variety of graceful attitudes; the Legs and Thighs are like substantial and stately columns, forced in such a manner as is quite commodious to the acts of either walking or sitting. The Ribs turned into a regular arch, are gently moveable for the act of respiration; they form a secure lodgment for the lungs and the heart, and fortify them. The back bone is intended, not only to strengthen the body, and sustain its most capacious store rooms, but also to bring down that communication of the Brain, which is usually termed the Spinal Marrow, and guards the silver cord. The Arms are exactly proportioned to each other; these being the guards which defend, and the ministers which serve the whole body, are fitted for the most extensive operations, firm with bone, yet not weighty with flesh; they bend inwards or turn outwards, they rise upwards or stoop downwards, and they throw themselves into whatever direction we please. To these are annexed the Hands, and all terminated by the Fingers, which give a most graceful appearance, yet destined to almost incessant employ; though the extremities or the fingers are an assemblage of the finest fibres, most acutely sensible; for this reason our Almighty Maker has overlaid them with an horny substance called Nails, to preserve the tender part from dangerous impressions. Above all, is the Head, a majestic dome, designed for the residence of the Brain; ample to receive it, strong to uphold it, and firm to defend it. This stately Capital, is screened from heat, defended from cold, and at the same time much beautified by a copious growth of Hair, which no ways encumbers the wearer. This is the outward Man, the noble work of the great God our Saviour, who became man for our sakes.
It is equally as wonderful to notice the Inside of this house; with the amazing arrangement of Fibres that unite the several Limbs of the Body, tough and strong. The small Membranes appointed, enwrap the fleshy parts, to part some, and form a connection with the others. Arteries, some of which ascend to the Head, others spread themselves over the shoulders; some extend to the Arms, and others descend to the Feet. Veins, these are appointed to receive the blood from the arteries, and reconvey it to the heart. Glands, whose office it is to filtrate the passing fluid; an assemblage of vessels, complicated and intervolved with seeming confusion, but with perfect regularity. Muscles, wove in natures finest loom, seem composed of the slenderest fibres, yet indeed with incredible strength; these, with their tendons, constitute the instruments of motion; not like a sluggish beast, but quick as lightning. Nerves, surprisingly minute tubes, derived from the Brain, which gliding into the Muscles, set them on work, depress the power of sensation through the body, or returning upon any impression from without, give all needful intelligence to the soul. The Skin, like a curious surtout, exactly fitted, is superadded over the whole, formed of the most delicate net work. The Pores are minute, and nervous fibres are multiplied even to a progeny.—The Veins beautifying the human structure, especially the most conspicuous parts of it; the pliant wrist and the taper arm, are adorned with them, they spread vermillion over the lips, and plant roses on the cheeks; while the eye, tinged with glossy jet, or sparkling with the blue of Heaven, is fixed in an orb of polished chrystal.
The grand means of keeping up this wonderful frame, is a point worthy our attention; for this purpose it is furnished with the powers of nutrition. Teeth, the foremost thin and sharp, fit to bite asunder, or cut off such a portion as the mouth can conveniently manage: those which are broad and strong are qualified to grind in pieces whatever is transmitted to their operation. The Throat, the Stomach, with its various operations and appendages, which are so admirably constructed, I leave you to muse upon. There are but two things more I have time to notice. High in the Head, and conspicuous, as a star in the evening, is placed the Eye. This is one of the greatest works of our blessed Creator, consisting only of simple fluids, inclosed in thin tunicles: it conveys to our apprehension all the graces of blooming nature, and all the glories of the visible heavens. The Eye so particularly tender, that a slight accident, scarce perceivable by any other part of the body, would be very injurious to its delicate frame. It is intrenched deep in the Head, and barricadoed on every side with a strong fortification of bones, defended by two substantial curtains, hung on a slender rod, which secures it from every troublesome annoyance. The Ear. The structure of this organ is so wonderful that God claims it as his own work, He that planted the Ear. Amazing nice and exact must be the formation and the tension of the auditory nerve, since they correspond with the smallest tremors of the atmosphere: these living chords, tuned by an Almighty hand, receive the impressions of sound, and propagate them to the Brain. These give existence to the charms of music, and the entertainment of discourse. I must not enlarge—read the whole of that Chapter, and no doubt you will be well entertained.
But while I would admire this noble work of God, I rejoice that Jesus has taken my nature, and lives in it for ever; and that he will raise my frame from the disgrace of corruption, earth, and worms, to glory, happiness, and God. I am at the same time deeply affected with the miseries of my fallen nature, in consequence of sin; this has injured all its fine powers, damaged every room in this wonderful house, so that in consequence of the bad tenants which occupy it, the Almighty landlord has ordered us to quit it. We have received by many a pain, a writ of ejectment, but being unwilling to leave this clay frame, though in such a damaged state, the owner and builder of this house takes it down by degrees, which, Solomon mentions in the following four verses. Ah! my brother, what has sin done! the pains, miseries, strife, and agonies introduced into our poor bodies, and distress into our souls. Permit me here to mention that affecting description which the Angel gave to Adam, soon after his fall, as represented by Milton.—
—Immediately a place
Before his eyes appear’d, sad, noisome, and dark;
A lazar house it seem’d, wherein were laid
Numbers of all diseas’d; all maladies,
Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms
Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,
Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,
Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,
Demoniac phrensy, moping melancholy,
And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,
Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,
Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.
Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despair
Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch;
And over them triumphant death his dart
Shook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’d
With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.
Sight so deform’d what heart of rock could long
Dry-ey’d behold? Adam could not, but wept,
Though not of woman born; compassion-quell’d
His best of man, and gave him up to tears.
From this sight let us turn, likewise, and consider the infinite love and condescension of God our dear Saviour, who took all our infirmities, bore our sickness, and knows how to sympathize with our poor natures in all their sorrows; and such an High Priest became us; such a Saviour is exactly adapted for all our miseries; and hence he is called a Physician of value, he healeth all our diseases, and surely the mind is awfully diseased with sin, nothing but his skill can penetrate into the depth of the diseases of the mind; whatever may be the ailments of the body, they are but emblems of the diseases of the soul; the blindness of ignorance, the deafness of spiritual unconcern, the fever of concupiscence, the jaundice of malice, the swelling tympany of pride, the vertigo of inconstancy, the quinsey of cursing and blasphemy, the dropsy of covetousness, the palsey of stupidity, the pleurisy of envy, the rheumatism of discontent, the delirium of constant levity, the moon-struck madness of passion and rage, with unbelief, hardness of heart, temptations of Satan, and the stings of conscience, of whatever disease we may feel we have got; these the adorable Physician heals. Let us carry all our hard cases to him—See Brown’s Tropology. We are always welcome to him, and though he may not seem to notice our case for a season, yet he will in his own appointed time. This text has often been very precious to my soul, Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious to you—and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you.
Finally, The earthly house of our tabernacle shall soon be dissolved, it has got the plague in it, the plague of leprosy, and the house is condemned to come down. Leviticus xiv. He shall break down the house, the stones of it, and the timber of it, and all the mortar of the house, and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place, even to the grave, till the last trumpet shall sound, and the tabernacle be raised again, beautiful and glorious, like the human nature of our most glorious Covenant Head; and this will be thy lot, O Theophilus, as sure as the trumpet of the Gospel ever quickened your soul.