LETTER XXVIII.
Achor’s Vale, January 26th, 1819.
Mr. Farmer.
MY MUCH ESTEEMED FRIEND,
You must think me very unkind, and seemingly negligent in writing to you, but I can assure you I have never forgotten you, from the first day of our acquaintance. I often anticipate the period when, I hope, we shall often yet meet on praying ground—in the church militant, and finally, in the church triumphant. At present the church is in a militant state; the term is military, and implies a warfare, contending powers, within and without. The worst lays within—every evil done in this world, and every sin in devils; we have the root of them in our hearts; this we must feel, groan under, and lament; we derived this nature from our first parent, his sin became our’s, as we stood in him, we sinned in him, and fell with him, we are guilty of his sin, and it is imputed to us. So we also took a most corrupt nature, and this is seen as soon as we can shew it. We go astray from the womb, and should stray into hell, if it was not for the grace of God; and being depraved, how could we do any thing that is good. Alas! if our salvation depended on a good thought, we must have been lost for ever. Almighty mercy has shewn you those things; and when you hear any talk, or see them hoping upon their own goodness, does it not raise disgust in your mind at the sentiment. Bless God for causing you to differ; you might have been left to the blindness of your mind, the perversity of your will, and the hatred of the heart to God! You find these things still working, but they do not reign. They, and every other evil in the heart, are like rebellious prisoners, are often contriving schemes to get out, and to regain the old liberty you used to give them; but although they rebel, and may prevail against you, yet, they never can take the castle of the heart. There may be a bias, a propensity to evil, but you can never be a carnal man again—you may look like one, feel like one, and suffer like one; but though this may grieve you, it shall never be accomplished in the way Satan desires. Hence Solomon says, There is vanity I have seen on the earth; that there be just men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the wicked, and that there be wicked men, to whom it happeneth according to the work of the righteous. I said, This also is vanity. I trust your convictions are genuine, and this is the first work of the Spirit, to prepare the way for the revelation of Christ to the soul. Christ has no room in an unhumbled, hard, careless, unconvinced, unbroken spirit. He has declared he will dwell with none but those who contrite and humbled—These characters are particularly described in his commission, as set forth in Isaiah xli, 1, 2, 3. This was the first text our dear Lord took when he preached in the Synagogue; and although we have no account of the sermon, yet the substance of it was given by our Lord to his disciples, on the Mount, in the 5th of Matthew, where we have an eight-fold description of the persons interested in him, as the eternal life of his saints. God’s blessing on mount Zion, is life for evermore; and when the Priest, under the old Law, declared the blessing to the people, he always said, The Lord bless thee; so Christ, our great High Priest, began his sermon with blessing—it was no part of his work to pronounce the curse of the Law. Hence he said to the Jews, Think not that I will accuse you to the Father, there is one that accuseth you already, Moses, in whom you trust. There is nothing in the heart of Christ to his people, but love, mercy, pity, goodwill, and kindness; he knows all our sins and God-provoking crimes, in thought, word, and deed, but these he does not so much as mention, only by pleading his precious blood for their forgiveness, and by setting his work against our sins. Hence these two precious texts, “I, even I, am he that blotteth I out thy transgressions.” “The blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from all sin.” It is in the present tense, it is above, yea, infinitely above all our sins. The precious work of Christ is compared to a sea, for its abundance; and our guilt is compared to a mountain, which may be cast into the sea, but it would be soon lost there. This arises from the dignity of the person who died for us, it was Jehovah Jesus—possessing every divine perfection in his nature, God over all blessed for ever, who condescended to take up our nature, and obey the law, as man—which himself has given, as God. This was surprising love indeed, love to his own law, and love to us, as sinners. May we love him with every power and passion on earth and in heaven. Christ God-Man is our Saviour—he is the Head of the Church, as the elect, and the only Saviour of her, as fallen. He is Prophet, Priest, and King to us; and these grand offices he has gloriously delayed in obtaining our salvation, and by the holy influences of the Spirit making them known to us. As blind and ignorant, we need God-Man for our Instructor. As rebels against God, and slaves to Satan, we need him for our King, to subdue and conquer us. As bound over to judgment, and exposed to misery, we need him as our Priest, to intercede for us. And this will give you sweet light into that glorious, but well known text, 9th Isaiah, “Unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace.” Here is the whole of Christ made manifest, in his two natures, divine and human. Here are his blessed offices, Counsellor in his prophetic office, the everlasting Father, in his priestly office, the mighty God and Prince of Peace, in his kingly office. May this subject be precious to your soul, and may God the holy Ghost give you supernatural ideas of Christ, and of the Father’s love to him, and in him. Most hearers are satisfied with their own natural knowledge of Christ; may you and I be blest with supernatural views—if the Lord favours me with much of this blessing, I shall not murmur at two years captivity. The liberty of the soul is of the greatest importance; and very often those who have the greatest bondage of body and circumstances, are favored with the sweetest access to God. When the streams of creature comfort run dry, the fountain is most divinely prized. Seek his favour, and labour in spirit for the fullest assurance of faith, hope, and spiritual understanding.
My kindest love to your better half, and her dear mother. Something strikes my mind I shall meet you all three in heaven. I know not what will befal me in future; the Lord is able to make it light at midnight, and I think I know what it means—’tis darkness all round me, strange it should be light within, yet so I sometimes find it. The Egyptian enemies are in total darkness, but the spiritual Israelites have light in their dwellings. I cannot send your dear wife and mother but these three verses.
Great God I would not ask to see,
What in futurity shall be;
If light and bliss attend my days,
Then let my future hours be praise.Is darkness and distress my share,
Then let me trust thy guardian care.
Enough for me, if love divine,
At length through every cloud shall shine.Yet this my soul desires to know,
Be this my only wish below,
That Christ is mine—this great request
Grant blessed Lord, and I am blest.
My heart is so sweetly opened in writing to you all, that you must pardon every error. I hope you do me the favor of taking in my scrawl every fort’night. Give my kind love to dear Mrs. Wise, and to Mrs. Barns—God bless you all.
Your’s, truly,
Ruhamah.