Mrs. E.
MY DEAR FRIEND,
I trust you are better in health than you was; I feel very anxious about you both; I pray God to spare you, to see his good hand of grace toward me; and that he has heard many prayers on my behalf, although he has not heard them in the way I requested; but though the Lord often changes his promise, yet, he never breaks his promise. He often changes the promise of a temporal blessing into a spiritual good; but he never changes his mind nor falsifies his word—he is the only faithful Friend on whom we can rely; all others are like glasses, they are to be used, but no weight to be put upon them. Hence the command, Trust ye not in a friend; lean not too heavy, nor build upon glass. This blessing is the gift of God, it is grace given to the friend; and it is worthy of observation, that a disposition to act friendly, is from God, and the befriended should look to Jesus through the friend, as Christ shines through them. And this is evidenced by the effects produced, because it draws up the mind to the Saviour in a way of gratitude and wonder, love and praise. I will magnify the Lord with a song. The shall please the Lord better than a bullock that hath horns and hoofs. This is the way the Lord deals, at times, with me; when particularly sensible of sin, I confess, supplicate, plead, and submit; if grief overflow, I pray, read much, and think; and when I am favored with the least glimpse of his face, or a sensation of his love, or a little life in my spirit, then I praise, love, adore, and offer up the sacrifice of thanksgiving—this is called the calves of the lips.
I have not written my thoughts on the subject we last discoursed on, but shall by and by, God willing. I have been much grieved lately that Mr. — has made use of such warm expressions in the pulpit, concerning the decrees of God. What he has asserted are undoubted truths, but I object to the manner in which they are stated. I have no objection to the preaching these awful and sublime subjects, but it requires a man of some wisdom to state them properly, or else the subject may be rendered disgustful, even to believers themselves. God has chosen his people in Christ before the world began: this is a truth worthy of our deepest regard; that the Lord should cause millions and millions of beings, angels and men, to rise in his infinite mind, and out of them to select a people for himself, to the glory of his own name, and, as a Sovereign, to display upon them the riches of his grace—this was the favour shewed them, and this favour is called grace, electing sovereign grace, because he passed the rest by, he did not confer on them this favour. No reason can be assigned for this, but his own sovereign good-will. The rest he passed by; he did not choose them to damn them, nor predestinate them to be damned, nor make them on purpose to damn them; that was not the business; he passed them by in reference to his act, but he chose the rest, both angels and men, in the dear Covenant Head, and fixed them, standing most secure in Christ, before they fell. Those whom the Lord passed by, stood in Adam only; here they sinned, fell, and became guilty: as they grow up, they evidence God has passed them by, as they live and die regardless of God, ignorant of the Saviour, and heart enemies to him; but as God did not choose the elect for any foreseen good in them, or done by them, so neither did he pass by the rest because they would be so vile, but he chose the one in the riches of his grace, and passed by the other in his divine sovereignty. Mark—he does not damn them because he is a Sovereign, and has a right to do it; No, he only passed by them as a Sovereign, and he punishes them because they hate him, and have so awfully signed against him, so that our God is holy, gracious, sovereign, and just.
I thought it acceptable to you, to drop you this line, to state the simple truth as it is in scripture; a subject that puzzled me for many years, and which has still a mystery in it that we cannot comprehend; yet there is enough revealed to faith to receive, admire, and adore. And as to the damnation of infants, which Mr. — advanced last Sunday, the scriptures are silent about it; nor do I think it forms any part of the gospel which Jesus and Paul preached. We have nothing to do with it. Where the bible has no mouth, we ought to have no ears. I am of opinion that children are saved, but I have no positive scripture for it—as the glories of heaven are rather described by negatives, what they are not, so the salvation of children is by a negative also, where they are not; for in the account of those that are lost, and in hell now, and will be punished there, we read nothing of children. Our dear friend Mr. Fosset, wishes me to write on these subjects, at the next church meeting, to set this matter at rest a little, by explaining the subject in my simple, humble manner. What a mercy the Lord has not passed us by, as he might have done; and as an evidence he loves us, he has given us some taste of that love, and created his fear in our hearts.
Your’s
Ruhamah.
LETTER VIII.
Valley of Achor, Sept. 15, 1818.
My dear Friend, Mr. C.
I thank you kindly for the loan of books. I return you the Pamphlet written by Mr. Gadsby. I quite agree with him in his views of the Moral Law, which is commonly termed so, but which the Apostle stiles spiritual. I consider the Gospel of the grace of God, the Father’s will to us, in Christ Jesus, containing Promises, Declarations of Mercy, Imitations, Precepts, and Exhortations, to be the only, and all-sufficient Rule of a Christian. These are not in opposition to the holy Law of God, but they far excel it in glory, and as many as walk according to this Rule, peace be on them. Christ is our King and our Law-giver, he has fulfilled the Law for his Church, brought in an everlasting righteousness for our justification; he has put away sin by the sacrifice of himself, and he lives a life of mediation for all who come to God through him. The Holy Spirit illuminates the mind; reveals pardon to the conscience; and sheds abroad the love of God in the heart, plants his fear in the soul, and enables us to take the will of God for our Rule, as it is expressed in the Gospel.—This is our rule of walk, conduct, and conversation—the Lord help us to walk in this light, as God is in the light. But I think it is cruel for any Preacher or Author, who professes to be a leader of God’s people, to send them to the Law, in any sense whatever. Every worldling and proud Pharisee should be sent there, till they are taught their need of Christ. But an humble, regenerate person, should always be directed to the Lord Jesus, to the throne of grace, and to the glorious Gospel of grace. None but worldly Wisemen will ever direct either a burthened Pilgrim, or a consistent believer, to the Law. John Bunyan met with such a director, but what his feelings were he tells you: First, he forsook the advice: of the Gospel Minister, Evangelist, who gave him this direction, Look unto Jesus. Secondly, He tried to raise a prejudice in his mind against the Ministers who preach free grace. Thirdly, He directed him to go by the high hill that he pointed to. This is the way that seemeth right to a man, but it is falling from grace: the spirit of bondage began to work on his mind; his fears of the curse of this broken Covenant increased; his guilt was deeper felt, because he was out of the way. A sense of God’s anger flashed on his spirit, and the dread of damnation overcame him. He quaked for fear. This is coming to Mount Sinai indeed, and this is all the Law can do, viz. Convince and condemn—and these feelings, more or less, attend those who are seeking to the Law for life, hope, peace, and salvation; or that cleave to it in any sense whatever: for what things soever the law saith, it saith to them that are under it, whether they are in a profession or out of it; and as many as are of the works of the law, are under the curse of it—but we are redeemed from that broken covenant, that we should serve the Lord Jesus in the newness of the spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter. But do read what Evangelist says of such Law Preachers, and Directors, in his conversation with the Pilgrim, when he met him near Mr. Legality’s House.