The truly excellent Dr. Hawker reads this passage in reference to the heavenly extraction of the Lord’s people, to shew, That sovereign grace will give to Christ an abundance of souls, like the dew drops; so numerous as to be perfectly incalculable: “And they shall come of heavenly extraction, as the dew from God, being born not of the will of the flesh, but of God; and unperceived, unnoticed, and unknown, as the silent drops of the morn; for the kingdom of God cometh not by observation: and as they are begotten like the dew, without the aid of man, so also shall they be preserved by the same predisposing cause, without man’s descent.—Not by might or by power, but by my spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts.” Thus the youth to whom Solomon writes are the spiritual seed of God, and not to mere carnal worldly youth, who are destitute of the knowledge of God. Dear Amicus, adieu—Grace and peace be with you.
I remain, your’s in the Sinner’s friend,
LETTER II.
TO AMICUS.
Lambeth, 1814.
BELOVED FRIEND,
Amidst a vast multitude of thoughts which occurred to my mind this morning, one more than all the rest, seemed longest to abide, namely, that as the Lord’s people are called Servants as well as Sons, it appears to me that the services of none are accepted of God, but only the services of those who are Sons by adoption and graces and by the testimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart. Such Sons are also called his Servants, who shall serve him: they were by nature the servants of the Devil, wore his livery, and did his will; but Almighty grace having wrought a glorious change in the heart, there is a change of the service; and this service is not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness of the spirit; then it must be with a new heart, a new spirit; with new views, aims, pursuits and ends. Into this service we are first pressed—then we become volunteers, and though we meet with many discouragements by the way, yet we are not tired of our Master, nor he of us; nor do we serve in heart, in affection, in word and deed, as we wish we could, yet he kindly accepts the will for the deed, and says, If there be a willing mind, it is accepted according to what a man hath, and not according to what he hath not. In the service of so divine a Lord, our chariot wheels would fain run swift along. My dear Brother can recollect when his feet run cheerfully in the way—ye did run well, who did hinder you? and you had a divine command for it—Rejoice, O young man, in thy youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy youth. Walk in the way of thy new heart, and in the light of truth that you are favored with; but it is added, that all this work must be tried, judged, and proved, that it may appear to be genuine, that what belongs to God may go to God, and what belongs to nature you may discover, and lament; for this is the design of the furnace, the design of the fire of tribulation—therefore do not be alarmed, as though some unaccountable thing had happened. In the days of prosperity you did right to be joyful; in those days of adversity you must now consider, the Lord approved of the days of your youth, and even promises a renewal of them; and David declared he experienced it: this you may see in the following texts—I remember thee, and the kindness of thy youth, and the love of thy espousals, when thou wentest after me in a land that was not sown.—He shall return to the days of his youth. Thy youth is renewed as the Eagle’s. This is experienced after a season of backsliding and darkness, deadness, and misery. In these youthful days it is necessary to be diligent, as dark days may come. Hence the exhortation, Remember thy Creator in the days of thy youth. These youthful days do not so much regard the time of life as the time of the light, love, and liberty of the children of God; these are our first, best, and sweetest days.
Hence it is said, it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his youth: whatever may be the sense of this text, it is a point beyond all controversy, that it is a mercy to be taught out of the Law, in our first setting out, to bear the yoke of our transgressions, and receive deliverance from them by the precious blood and righteousness of Christ. It is likewise a mercy to be in the service of Christ, in health and strength of body and mind; the service of Christ is easy and his burden light; so he told his disciples, Take my yoke upon you. The word youth, does not always signify the term of years; this is evident from Job’s pathetic moan—O that it was with me as in the days of my youth, when I was blest with health of body, peace of mind, cheerful days, plenty of ordinances, and means to get the knowledge Jesus; and an inclination thereto, while the Spirit taught me to say, My Father, thou art the guide of my youth. And hence the apostate and backslider is said, to forsake the guide of her youth. Thus it appears the time to remember our creators is the days when first imprest with the good things of God; when powerfully drawn on by the cords of love; when we feel strong, lively, warm, and affectionate; when peace, comfort, and joy, are felt; when the mind is free from care, vexation, temptation, and misery; when God blesses us with health and strength, with ministers and books, with ordinances, and the company of saints. These are our most happy but not most god-glorifying times; yet, while they last, Solomon advises a careful attention to great truths, as we may meet with many crafty, cruel, malicious enemies to God, enemies to the doctrines of the Trinity in Unity; enemies to the Covenant of Redemption; enemies to free Grace, to the Work of the Holy Ghost; to the Divinity and work of the adorable Immanuel; and in fact, to every revealed truth. So Paul advises, Put on the whole armour of God, that ye may stand in the evil day. Every part of this armour will be needed, for it is provided for poor believers, who have to wrestle hard with sins, and doubts, and fears, nothing short of an experimental knowledge of the truth will abide the furnace, will stand in the days of evil, which are coming on, and which all the Lord’s children, either in a greater or less degree, must endure for it is plain those who fall away had only the form of godliness, without the power: there may be a form of sound words, a form of knowledge; a form of faith, of hope of love, of humility—this is but superficial; my dear Brother, I hope, has been convinced of the danger of this, and that nothing short of the gracious teachings of the Holy Ghost can satisfy his mind. This leads me to consider the second particular I promised to attend to in my first letter—The glorious object—Thy Creators.
I need not tell you I am no scholar, I wish I was; but the passage must be read in the plural, according to the testimony of most Hebrew scholars—Remember now thy CREATORS. There are other texts which must be read in the same way: Where is God thy MAKERS, who giveth songs in the night? Let Israel rejoice in THEM that made him. Thy MAKERS is thy husband; the Lord of Hosts is his name. We live in an awful day, wherein the most crying sin of our nation is the dreadful opposition to the doctrine of the most adorable Trinity in Unity, though it is a truth so clearly revealed—the foundation of the Church and the christian’s highest glory. Alas! how awfully opposed! Many great and learned, experimental christians have employed their pens in proving from sacred scripture, this most glorious point of Doctrine, the foundation of all the rest. The adversaries of this truth pretend to hold the Unity of the Godhead—so do we. They say there is but one God—so do we; but can they prove that the Godhead does not, cannot admit of three distinct Persons in that Essence?—No! We, then, who are Trinitarians, can prove that there is but one simple, undivided Essence; and, that, if there is any truth in the Bible, there are distinct subsistences in that one Godhead—that these three are equal in power, majesty, dignity, and glory; co-equal, co-essential, and co-eternal. There are not three Gods, but three Persons in the Godhead. That there are three distinct Subsistences, which, for want of better words, we call Persons, is evident from a vast many passages of scripture—distinct from each other, in Person, Name, and Office; for, to what beside the term Person, can we with any propriety apply the distinct acts of speaking, working, and commanding? And the Persons in the Trinity are clearly set forth by their personal characters, such as I, me, him, thou, his, he. The scriptures plainly declare that there are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost—and these three are one—one in the divine Essence, undivided, which Essence is peculiar to the three; yet these have different modes of subsisting in this Essence, which we must call Persons—and they must be Persons, to be Testifiers—testifying is a personal act; if the Father is one testifier, the Son another, and the Holy Ghost a third, they must be three Persons, not three Gods; only one in the divine Essence, but three distinct in Personality, Name, and Office. The Unity of the Godhead is exprest in this text, Hear O Israel, the Lord our God is one Lord. But the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead is exprest as before—There are three which bear record, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost. There is one God; this is not said to the exclusion of the Son and the Spirit, for the Word is applied to both as well as to the Father, and in the same senses.