Agreeable to your request I have not read your letter to any one, but without your permission, I shall take the liberty to let many read it themselves. I know you will not thank me for it, but I hope others will, for the truths you have given me an opportunity of stating, in opposition to those awful heresies, which so awfully abound in the present day of general profession. I am well pleased that the Lord has been so far gracious to you, as to give you an attentive ear, a degree of light, an humble desire after the favour of God, and a sense of your interest in the dear Redeemer. These things, accompanied with a tender conscience, are most blessed signs—they are the buds, which I hope will blossom and bear fruit to the glory of God. But here you must not rest, the command is, “Go forward, and you shall know, as you follow on to know the Lord.” Seek him earnestly, diligently, fervently—never rest till you find him—eternal life is in him, and all that hate him love sin and death. Do not rest on any good desires, but on the object desired; this desire accomplished you will find sweet to the soul; follow hard after Jesus, and you will find him your God, your portion, your heaven, your all. And what a consolation to me will it be, that the Lord remembered you, or any of my dear children. I would endure many years privation as I now do, if I could obtain that blessing for you all, or for only one. A good woman in Scotland once said she had borne nine children, with great pain of body, and she would bear them all again for their eternal salvation. Although it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth, but of God that sheweth mercy, yet every means must be used, as much as if salvation depended on them.
’Twill save you from a thousand snares,
To feel religion young;
Grace will preserve your growing years,
And glory crown the song.
Remember, my dear girl, while seeking the Lord—Father, Son, and Spirit—angels, saints, and good men—all the perfections and all the promises of God, are on your side.
But with respect to your account of Mr. E. I am not at all satisfied with it; his humility may be admired in a few external self denials, but his putting down his carriage as an act of humility is nothing, if he at the same time disdains the golden bottom of Solomon’s chariot, of the wood of Lebanon, ( 3rd chapter Solomon’s Song) the essential and eternal divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ—as Jehovah—as one in the divine essence—the self-existent and independent God. This is the glorious and alone foundation of the Church; and if Christ is not this adorable person, the angels in heaven must be guilty of rank idolatry, the Church will be lost, and I must sink under the curse of God. For all the angelic hosts adore him, the Church is built upon him, and I am trusting in him. For thus saith the Lord, “Cursed is man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm.” And if Christ is not God in the highest sense of the word, woe be to all who trust in him. But the scriptures are plain and positive upon this subject, for blessed are all they that put their trust in him. The gentleman whom you heard preach so many precious truths, I can say nothing about without hearing him myself; he may possess much humility, but if his heart has never been humbled by the grace of God, to bow to the testimony which God, Father, Son, and Spirit has given of Christ, his humility is not a grace, of the holy Spirit’s working, and all the good he may do to the bodies of the poor, yet if he is circulating poison to the soul, what will it avail them. No doubt some good men have reasoned with him, and I hope prayed for him, that God would bring into the way of truth, all such as have erred and are deceived. I have been informed that he is nothing but an Arian in his sentiments or views of Christ, and however clearly he may declare some of the grand calvinistic truths of the gospel, it is but building a castle in the air, as the great doctrines have no other basis, than the self-existence of the adorable Redeemer, and if this foundation be removed, what can the righteous do? The Atheist and the Sadducee are trying to remove this foundation, by denying an hereafter, or a world to come. The Deist is employed in the same work, by ridiculing the Scriptures. The Arminian hates the doctrine of justification by the righteousness of Christ, imputed to faith. The Socinian declares Christ is but a mere man. The Libertine sins that grace may abound. The Sabellians, and the new Jerusalem folks, as they, themselves—these deny the Personality, and, of course, the Divinity of the Father and the holy Spirit; and the deluded Arian denies the essential Divinity of the Son of God. Thus the Devil has employed these labourers to remove God’s foundation—to leave us without God, and like Satan himself, without hope.
But blessed be God for that faith which embraces the grand truth of the sacred pages; that there are three which bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one. The glorious record that each adorable person bears, is to the Divinity of Christ, as God over all, blessed for ever. Hear what the Father says of Christ, “Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever.” Hear what the Saviour says, “Look unto me, and be ye saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else.” Hear also the testimony of the holy Spirit, “And his name shall be called wonderful counsellor—the mighty God.” The Arian does indeed admit, that Christ is God, but then it is only in a subordinate sense—only a God, by delegation and office. But then, this is making two Gods—one supreme, and the other subordinate, and to worship any thing below infinite divinity, is awful idolatry, for all men must honour the Son, as they honour the Father—“Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Angels and saints are commanded to adore and worship him, “Let all the angels of God worship him, for he is thy Jehovah, and worship thou him.”—It is certainly curious to see the Arian strutting about with this text, in 17th John, “This is life eternal to know the only true God, and Jesus Christ, whom thou hast sent.” But when you remind him of 1st John, 5th chapter, 20th verse, he shrinks back, crying out, it is doubtful whether that part is inspired, And we know that the Son of God is come—this is the true God, and our eternal life; for if the Father is the true God, so also is Christ. Nothing proves this point so clearly as the glorious and incommunicable name of Jehovah, given him, as at once expressive of his underived independent self-existent Deity, as one in the adorable Godhead. But this subject would fill a volume of immense size. Let me bring to your view, a few out of the many glorious testimonies given in the Bible, and by comparing scripture with scripture, you will through grace see their beauty, Isaiah viii, 13, 14, Sanctify the Lord of Hosts himself, and let him be your fear and your dread, and he shall be for a sanctuary; but for a stone of stumbling, and a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel. See how the apostle Peter explains this text, and applies it to his Lord. 1st Peter, ii, 7, 8. Isaiah vi, 5, Mine eyes have seen the king, the Lord of Hosts. See how this belongs to Christ, John xii, 41. Isaiah xliv, 6, Thus saith the Lord, the king of Israel and his Redeemer, the Lord of Hosts—I am the first, and I am the last, and besides me there is no God. See Revelations xxii, 13. Isaiah iv, 3, 11, I, even I am the Lord, and besides me there is no Saviour; and Peter stiles him our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ. Psalm lxxviii, 56, They tempted and provoked the most high God. 1st Corinthians, x, 9, Neither let us tempt Christ, as some of them also tempted him. John iii, 29, He that hath the bride, is the bridegroom. Isaiah, liv, 5, For thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of Hosts is his name. Psalm 23, Jehovah is my shepherd. John x, 16, There shall be one fold and one shepherd. John xx, 28, And Thomas said my Lord and my God. Romans ix, 5, Of whom, as concerning the flesh, Christ came, who is over all, God, blessed for ever. Psalm 100, Know ye that the Lord he is God, and we are the people of his pasture. John x, He, Christ, calleth his own sheep by name. Feed my sheep, saith Christ to Peter. Feed the flock of God said Peter. Collosians ii, 8, For in him dwelleth all the fulness of the Godhead, bodily. And this is his name whereby he shall be called—Jehovah our righteousness. Why callest thou me good, there is none good but one, that is God.—And his name shall be called The mighty God. Revel, i, 8. I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, which is, which was, and which is to come—the Almighty.
I could quote a vast number more grand passages, to shew you that Christ is equal with the Father, one in the undivided essence, the object of worship, possessed of every divine perfection, the way to God, the suitable Saviour of his church, and the glory of God, angels, and saints; but these are enough one would think, to convince any reasonable being, but such, alas, is human depravity, that nothing short of almighty power can give faith to believe the record which God has given of his Son. In these few texts, our adorable Jesus is called the Lord of Hosts, the mighty God, Jehovah, God over all; my God, the most high God, and the Almighty; and if the testimony of a worm might be added—
That Christ is God I can avouch,
And for his people cares,
For I have pray’d to him as such,
And he has heard my prayers.
The Lord give you an experimental knowledge of himself as your Saviour.
I remain, your affectionate Father,
Ruhamah.
P.S. Have you seen that truly excellent tract, called the Young Cottager, written by that blessed man of God, Rev. Leigh Richmond? I beg you will often read it, as it, I think, excels all the tracts I ever read, except Dr. Hawker’s; it possesses the elegance of Hervey and the fervour of Hawker, sweetly combined.