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  Anne Dutton's Letters on Spiritual Subjects  

By Anne Dutton   (1692-1765)

"Here is a feast for souls who desire to feed on Christ; to have His glories opened out before them, and the riches of divine grace in all their fullness and freeness set forth. Here, too, is food for the 'lambs of the flock,' comfort for the sorrowing, and encouragement for the weak and trembling ones. There is in these letters a union of doctrinal, experimental, and practical teaching, rarely found in combination."

Dreams

Dear Sir, As to the person you wrote me of, by the hints you give, I think he is erroneous. It is possible that God may give us notice of some things by dreams, but no article of faith, nor rule of practice, ought to be founded on nor drawn from dreams; for since the canon of the Holy Scriptures is complete, and God in these last days has spoken unto us by His Son, we are to have recourse thereto in all things which relate to faith and practice. And we ought to receive no intimation given us in dreams as if it was the will of God concerning us, until we have first tried it by the sacred oracles; and if it speaks not according to this word, there is no light in it, or no light of the divine Spirit given thereby, but we must conclude that it is from the evil and delusive spirit.

And if any hint should be given as in a dream that agrees with the word of God, and excites our faith in Him, and obedience to Him, yet is it not to be received as a rule of our faith and practice because it was hinted to us in a dream, but as it stands in the perfect rule of the word, which alone is sufficient, and appointed of God for our direction both as to what we are to believe and what to do. And if by any dream our minds are brought to the word of God, we ought to be thankful unto Him for it. If this man thinks "that our Lord told him in a dream he should live to see His coming," it seems to me a mere delusion, for he can form no such conclusion from the Holy Scriptures. It has no support there, and therefore ought to fall to the ground and be utterly rejected. So far as he adheres to the dream as his rule what to believe and do, so far he rejects the word of God, is drawn off from the rule which God has fixed, and has cause to suspect his dream to be from a delusive spirit.

That the Lord may establish your heart in faith and holiness, preserve you blameless, and present you faultless before the presence of His glory, with exceeding joy, is my earnest desire.

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His sovereign love!

Dear Sir, I rejoice that the Lord has often refreshed your soul with that great word (Jer. 31:3), "Yes! I have loved you with an everlasting love! therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you."

These words were spoken by the Lord to His Church and people of old, are spoken by Him unto His people now, and unto all who shall be called by grace unto the end of time. And concerning them all, even all His chosen who have been, are, or shall be gathered in to Christ from the beginning of the world to the end of it, as a collective body, and unto every one of them individually, the Lord says, "Yes! I have loved you with an everlasting love! therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn you." When the Lord (verse 2) had put His people in mind of the grace which they found in the wilderness, when, though chastised they were not utterly destroyed, as their sins had deserved-the Church, taken with that wonderful grace which was displayed in the wilderness in sparing and preserving such a God-provoking people, who deserved to have been cut off utterly, and not to have had the promise fulfilled gloriously in the land of Canaan, she begins, and says (verse 3), "The Lord has appeared of old unto me," that is, in the wilderness. "Oh," as if she should say, "what miracles of grace did the Lord work for me in the wilderness!"

Upon which the Lord speaks, and leads her to the origin, source, and fountain of grace in His own heart, from whence that glorious flow sprang through His hand which so greatly took her mind-"Yes," says the Lord, "you say truly, I did appear unto you of old gloriously-but behold, my love to you was older than that date! I have loved you with an everlasting love-with a love of eternity, that had its being in my heart towards you before time commenced-and therefore it was that I drew you thus with loving-kindness in the wilderness, and have drawn you likewise into the land of rest."

"Yes," says the Lord, "look forward also unto all that future bliss which I will cause you to possess-not for a day or a time only, but through all time-and unto all eternity. And behold it all secured for you, to flow down upon you in my heart-love to you-for I have loved you with an everlasting love-with a love that will last towards you through all the successive ages of time, and to a never-ending eternity. I have loved you, and therefore with loving-kindness I have drawn you-I do love you, and I will love you, and with loving-kindness will I draw you. The infinite fountain, the immense ocean of My love, shall still flow down upon you in copious streams of loving-kindness, by which I will still allure you and draw you, until I have drawn you up to and into Myself, for a full enjoyment of infinite love unto bliss unknown and ages without end-unto the heights of glory-in and to a vast eternity!"

If God's love to His people was an everlasting love as it respects eternity past, it must needs be a free love, in that it was fixed upon His chosen in Christ before they had done good or evil-yes, even before in God's eternal mind they were beheld as having any goodness in them, for there could be no goodness in any creature but what God resolved to give it from Himself-the infinite ocean of goodness. And His resolving to bestow goodness, special goodness, or special grace, upon one creature and not another, was from His sovereign love to one creature-when He passed by, or did not so love another, according to the good pleasure of His will; not because God's people were better than others, did the Lord set His love upon them and choose them, but because the Lord loved them. He loved them because He would love them, because He would be gracious unto whom He would be gracious, and show mercy on whom He would show mercy.

Oh, how silent would all flesh be before infinite Sovereignty, and how should they adore sovereign free love that are the happy objects of it! And as God's love to His people was free, so it was also distinguishing-I have loved you, says the Lord-and not others-"Jacob have I loved, but Esau have I hated," though Esau was Jacob's brother. Oh, the distinguishing nature of God's everlasting love when He chose a remnant in His dear Son unto eternal life and glory with Him-and left the rest in a state of fallen creatureship-to enjoy a perfection of natural life for a short time only in Eden's bliss, in their first father Adam; when He appointed His chosen to obtain salvation by Jesus Christ as fore-viewed sinners, and appointed the rest unto wrath righteously for their sins.

Oh, who shall reply against the sovereign Lord of all? "Shall not the Judge of all the earth do right?" And what manner of love is this, that resolved to display the riches of its glory upon thousands of people-an innumerable company though a determinate number-in raising them to eternal glory, when all were equally sunk in the fall of Adam, and by their own sins into the desert of death, in eternal misery? Sovereign love, indeed! And as great as it was sovereign-it was great love that God loved His chosen with, even when dead in sins. And how is its greatness displayed in the great gift of His Son to death for their life, and the gift of the Spirit to them for their quickening!

Again, as God's love is an everlasting love with respect to eternity to come-it appears in this to be an unchangeable love. What is eternal must, with respect to that infinite duration, be unchangeable. And through the whole unbounded space, from eternity through time and to eternity-God's love to His people is immutable according to its own infinity and undiminishable glory-from the immutability of His nature whose name is, I AM THAT I AM!-who is the Lord that changes not.

Oh, dear Sir, God's everlasting love is a free, sovereign, distinguishing, great, and unchangeable love!

It is an inseparable love. The happy objects of it can never, never be separated from it! Neither death nor life, heights nor depths, things present nor things to come, shall ever be able to separate those it fixed upon from the love of God! The love of God to His people is a bottomless, boundless, endless ocean, that swallows up their innumerable and mountainous sins in its infinite depths-that overflows all their great provocations, their vilest ingratitude, their utmost unworthiness-and that ever flows in its triumphant strength, and according to its infinite riches, to the full supply of all their necessities, until it has loved its beloved objects into its own image according to their creature-measure; until it has loved all sin out of them, and all grace into them; until it has freed from all death and misery, and raised them into itself as the element of their life; and then it will be to them, as vessels of mercy, an infinite ocean of joy and glory, where they shall live, and bathe, and dive to the praise of the glory of infinite love to the endless ages of a blessed eternity!

But oh, neither the tongues of men nor angels can express, much less the lispings of a babe set forth, the half-the thousandth part-of the infinite glories of God's everlasting love! Happy, thrice happy, for time and for eternity, are those blessed souls who are savingly interested in this everlasting love of God; who do and shall enjoy it to their ineffable and endless bliss, although a thousandth part of the glories of infinite love can never be expressed.

But who, O! who are those who are the OBJECTS of God's love-the darlings of God's heart, whom He has loved and will delight to love, and to love as God from henceforth and forever? They are all those who are enabled to believe in Jesus- who look, who come, who bow to Christ as the anointed Savior for their own salvation; who desire Christ above all things for their portion, and to give up themselves to the Lord, to be saved in Him with an everlasting salvation, to the praise of the glory of His grace forever. For this everlasting love of God, this free, distinguishing, great, unchangeable and inseparable love of God is in Christ Jesus our Lord. In Him it was fixed upon the happy objects of it, and in Him it is and shall be enjoyed by them. Not a single one, who is in Christ by faith, who runs in Him, the city of refuge, for its deliverance from the wrath to come-but is an object of God's love, but has an entire and eternal saving interest in God's everlasting love, and shall have the present and everlasting enjoyment thereof, to his present spiritual life in grace, and to his eternal life in glory.

And are you, brother, one of them that believe in Jesus? Are you one of those who desire Him above all things for your portion? Do you run into Christ for refuge from the wrath to come? And do you desire to be saved in the Lord to His present and eternal praise? It is you, you individually, who is an object of God's love. It is you as really as if He had loved none but you! It is you who has an entire and eternal interest in God's everlasting love! Would you give a thousand worlds if you had them, to be assured of your interest in God's unchangeable love? Are you thus athirst for that river, that fountain, that ocean of the water of life? Though you have not a thousand worlds, no, nor one mite of worthiness to give for the manifestation of God's love-Christ Jesus the Lord will give you of this fountain of the water of life freely. Oh, freely! though you may see yourself to be the most unworthy-though your sins and fears are innumerable-though you have done as evil things as you could against the Lord-and though you have dealt treacherously, and are bent to backsliding from Him daily-the Lord, your infinite Lover, will give you His love freely! He will satisfy your soul abundantly in this life with joy-and then-eternal glory! You who are athirst for the love of God, you shall not die for lack of it. No, brother, your soul is formed for love, and made thirsty in order to be filled, and with all the fullness of God, in love, shall you be delighted and eternally satisfied!

In love, then, to the God of love, doubt His love no more. Believe His love, and give up yourself to Him in love, and the God of love and peace shall be with you.

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The furnace of affliction

My Dear Sister in Christ, As it is the pleasure of your heavenly Father still to continue you in the furnace of affliction, do not think the time long; this momentary affliction is to prepare you for glory of an endless duration. Therefore, "let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing," in the exercise of your graces to the completion of your filial obedience, which will be to God's eternal praise and your eternal bliss. Suffering is the last work of a Christian. Our dear Lord, after a life of complete active obedience, was to drink the deep cup of His sufferings and to be obedient even unto death, and this was His direct way to His all-transcendent glory. And the members must be conformed to their Head in sufferings as well as glory, and in sufferings for the advance of their glory. And "if we suffer with Him (in a meek, patient, Christ-like spirit), we shall also be glorified together."

Remember your afflictions as dreams which pass away-that are here one moment and gone the next; and while they last, oh, the sweet, the strong supports of the everlasting arms! What can we not do and endure through Christ, who strengthens us! Your Beloved with you in everything, you need fear nothing. Glory in Him, and in His promised grace-"I will never leave you, nor forsake you"-for it is made in infinite faithfulness, and will be productive of earthly-supplies in your greatest necessities, of full joys, of eternal glories. Your afflictions are all measured out-in kind, degree, and duration-by infinite grace-and not one more shall you taste than what shall be for God's praise and your bliss! Therefore, give up yourself with the sweetest resignation to your all-wise, all-gracious Father's dealings-for all shall work to your salvation. Endure the cross-and look to the crown! The former is light and short, the latter an ineffable, eternal weight. Who would not die to see the Lord in His eternal glory? Who would not die to be free from sin's misery? Who would not die that mortality might put on immortality?

And oh, my dear sister, when death dissolves the union between soul and body, your union to Christ in both your constituent parts shall remain unbroken to a blessed eternity. Your body shall sweetly sleep in Jesus until He shall swallow up death in victory, and fashion it like unto His glorious body. And your spirit, as soon as ever separate, being made perfect, shall be admitted instantly into glory, into a perfect love-union and communion with your infinite Lover-to unknown felicity forever! "The Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed you-and lead you unto living fountains of waters-and God shall wipe away all tears from your eyes." No more sorrow, pain, nor death then-these, as former things, will be all passed away, when once you are blessed with that fullness of joy, that perfect ease, that immortal life which awaits you in eternal glory. And then a reflection on all your grieving thorny way through the wilderness will make your pleasures rise in endless praise on the flowery plain of Immanuel's land-the Canaan of full and eternal bliss!

Meantime, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ be with your spirit." I commit you to His heart and arms!

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Your Father's love-tokens!

Dear Madam, Though the Lord has tried you for many months of afflictions, think it not strange, since you are put among God's children, that you have had and must have your own part of afflictions-they are, they shall be, your Father's love-tokens! Satan and unbelief often misrepresent God to His tried children. "If God was your Friend, your Father," say they, "if He loved you, He would not allow such grievous things to befall you-He takes no notice of you-He turns a deaf ear to your prayers-and who among God's children are so greatly afflicted as you are? Do not these things show that you have been deceived-that you are not among the number of God's children-that you have no saving interest in His special favor-but He lays these heavy strokes upon you in wrathful displeasure." And especially do they urge these things upon God's tried children from that sin which they sadly find to work in them under trying dispensations. And if they can but get God's children to hearken to them, these enemies gain their end upon them-to weaken their faith, to dampen their love, to slay their meekness and patience, and to cause them to murmur and fret at afflicting providence.

It is wisdom, then, in God's children, instantly to cry unto Him for wisdom and strength to discern and resist these enemies in their lying voice, upon the first hearing of it; for this we may be very certain of, "that whatever comes from God leads to Him-and whatever excites us to depart from Him as the God of all grace-is from unbelief and Satan." Nothing like faith in God's love to us, as His dear children in Christ-strengthens our spirits to endure afflictions patiently to His glory and our joy.

And therefore, says the apostle Paul, "whom the Lord loves, He chastens." He proposes the 'love of God in chastening' as the ground of a believer's faith, for his strength in patient suffering. And says James, "The trying of your faith works patience." If faith has got a thwart in the fight, God will come in with His auxiliary aid for the help of His child, and give his faith renewed strength; and then, instantly, his tried faith being made to stand upright in God and for Him, after its thwarting and in its trial, the child of faith is patience. Says faith-"God's love is in the sharpest stroke!" Then says patience-"I will endure it until love shall bring joyous fruit out of present grief." And lest patience should faint when trials are great and of long continuance, the apostle adds, "Let patience have its perfect work, that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing."

It is as if he should say-You are to be made perfect in very grace, and every perfected grace to redound to your eternal glory-therefore patiently endure the greatest, the longest trial here, that is to fit you for your immortal crown hereafter-that you may be perfect and entire, lacking nothing-nothing lacking in the exercise of grace-and lacking nothing in your crown of glory!

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Weeping may endure for a night

Dear Madam, It is with much pleasure that I read your last, and I was engage to give thanks and praise to the God of all grace for His making my poor letters of any use to your dear soul. Yes, Madam, your benighted soul shall be favored with the light of God's countenance, only wait for it in faith and patience. Your sins are forgiven you; wait awhile, and the Lord will tell you so. He who now in wise love hides His face, will shortly, to your unspeakable joy, break out upon you afresh with superior rays of His infinite and eternal kindness. "Weeping may endure for a night-but joy will comes in the morning. His anger endures for a moment-but in His favor is light."

An immensity-an eternity of light remains for you in God's infinite favor-that all-comprehending source of all the various flows of your felicity for time's and eternity's forever! And give your Father leave to choose what channels He please to convey to your beloved soul His inexhaustible, immutable, and eternal kindness-for if for a while His love runs under-ground, out of your sight, it is but in order to its breaking up again, to your more joyful surprise, in a richer exuberance. And beware of thinking, when you do not see love in its flows; that love is not upon the flow towards you; for when love is most hid from your view, that hiding is one of love's flows. That is one of the appointed channels in which love swiftly and gloriously moves; indeed, it is 'veiled love'-but love in a veil is the same love still. And "what you know not now-you shall know hereafter." When the veil is taken off from love's face, you shall see as great a glory in 'hiding love' as in its most smiling countenance-and that both alternately were ordered most wisely for God's highest glory and your greatest felicity.

Oh, could you now believe this and say thus, "Well, the Lord hides His face, but this, even this, is in boundless, endless love to me," how full would be your joy, how abundant your praise, if faith was thus in exercise! Whereas sense, when love veils, loses sight of love in all; it sees no love in the veil, and inclines the heart to fear that love's past shinings were not real, and thereby shuts the mouth of praise awfully, and sinks the soul into grief exceedingly. And were not faith upheld by an omnipotent arm to look and wait for God the Savior, when as such He hides His face from the house of Jacob, through depressions from sense it would fail quite. But, glory to omnipotent grace! faith is and shall be maintained in its principles, and in some degree of exercise, amid ten thousand contraries.

"Blessed (says our Lord) are those who have believed-and have not seen." Thomas saw, and believed; but believing without sight upon the promise-word of the faithful God has an eminency, a transcendency of blessedness in it. "His arm is not shortened, that it cannot save, nor His ear heavy that it cannot hear." "My soul, hope in God, for I shall yet praise Him, for the light of His countenance," according to His promised grace. This exercise of 'faith in the dark' has a blessedness in it of transcendency. Little do you think how much glory this gives to God. Little do you think how much pleasure He takes when He thus hears your voice. And can you think, dear Madam, that this your faith is God shall be in vain? No! the Lord will say shortly, "You have ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse, with one of your eyes, with one chain of your neck." "O woman, great is your faith; be it unto you even as you will." And then you shall praise Him with joy. Meantime, though in sorrow, praise the God of promise by trusting in Him who will be the God of performance, and you will give Him double glory, which will be to your eternal joy.

I am glad, dear Madam, that the Lord made the burning bush a fit emblem of your case, and that you desire greenness and fruitfulness. Your desire after greenness and fruitfulness is from your having these, and it is a greater measure that you desire. And be not dismayed at your apparent lack of greenness and growth in grace. It is one thing to be green and fruitful-and another to discern that we are so. God, and other of His children, may see our greenness and fruitfulness, when for wise and gracious ends these may be hidden much from ourselves. Only let this be your chief care, to "glorify God in the fires," and fear not greenness and fruitfulness-to His praise and your bliss, amid fiery trials.

I am grieved, dear Madam, that your outward affairs are so much declined and perplexed-but if it was not best, it would not be thus. May you be enabled most humbly and earnestly to make a fresh solemn surrender of yourself, and all that you have, unto God, and say, "Lord, here I am-I give myself up to You-to be Yours entirely-I give up everything that You have given me into Your all-wise, all-gracious, and almighty hands. O Lord, the difficulties I am encompassed with are too great for my wisdom and strength to rid myself of-but You know no difficulty. I cast them all upon You. I am oppressed, O Lord, undertake for me. And, were everything else gone, give me grace to glorify You, and to count myself happy-fully, ineffably happy-in Your great Self as my earthly-portion and eternal all. I call nothing my own but You, my great God-do with me, and all things that concern me, just as You desire."

After this manner, dear Madam, resign all unto God, and there leave all, without anxious care for anything. Let a 'prudent care' for everything, as your duty in the use of all means, be your concern. But take no 'anxious care' for any events-for most surely, in this respect, "every man disquiets himself in vain." And if you thus resign all unto God, and put and leave everything in His hands, I do assure you that God will undertake for you. I, did I say? A poor assurance this. He, Himself therefore excites you to duty, and gives you His own assurance thus-"Call upon Me in the day of trouble-I will deliver you, and you shall glorify Me."

As you had that promise, Madam, when you entered into that change of life, "My presence shall go with you-and I will give you rest," and yet you had not those measures of His comforting presence which your soul wished-learn hence to distinguish between God's gracious, supporting, and sanctifying presence-and His soul-filling, heart-rejoicing presence. The former you had, have, and shall have always; and the latter, when He sees it best. And remember, rest is in the promise-all that earthly-rest which your God of love sees best-and eternal rest, unto full and endless delight! And let this bear up your spirit while your troubles last-"Unto you who are troubled, rest with us." When the Lord Jesus shall make His glorious appearance, then we shall all rest together and forever!

I bear you on my heart before the God of all grace in your every case. To His love, power, and care-I commit you.

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Indwelling Sin

Dear Madam, It is indeed a very great privilege to be favored with a religious parentage and education, but if this were our greatest felicity, we would sink, nevertheless, into eternal misery! But the vessels of mercy- of God's free, rich, sovereign mercy- in order to their time-preparation for eternal glory, are blessed by Him, with His Holy Spirit sent down into their hearts, as the spirit of regeneration, conviction, and conversion.

And this blessed spirit, in His saving work on the heart, when He first begins it, finds the sinner dead in sin, and under total darkness, as to spiritual things, in his understanding- in an entire alienation from them, and aversion to them, in his will and affections; and so, afar off from God in Christ, without any apparent right to the covenant of promise, and without any good hope through grace. And at such a time as this, He is pleased, by His almighty and all-gracious energy, to produce a new and holy principle of spiritual life in that soul which lay under the power of spiritual death entirely.

This principle, which is instantaneously given, and as to the exact moment of it to us unknown, contains in it all graces, which are afterwards drawn out into their various exercises, under the Spirit's influence, unto the regenerate soul's various privileges. And this gracious work of the Holy Spirit of the heart discovers itself to the soul that is the subject of it, and to others, so far as it is related, by a supernatural light set up in the understanding, whence the soul sees itself to be utterly lost and undone by sin, by heart and life-sin, under the curse of God's law, and in danger of the wrath which is to come- that it neither has, nor can, by self-power, attain a perfect righteousness of its own for justification.

And also, in the soul's discerning, upon the Spirit's revealing, the infinite glory and transcendent excellency of Christ as the great Savior, in His Person and offices, blood and righteousness, and in all the fullness of His grace- as God's great provision for the salvation of the chief of sinners- and as in the gospel held forth to be received of them by faith.

And further, the Spirit's saving work, on the will and affections, discovers itself by that soul's approbation of the Savior beheld, its desires after Him, its approaches to Him, its laying hold of Him, and casting itself, under the Spirit's sweet and strong attraction, with the whole weight of its everlasting salvation upon Christ alone for all holiness and all happiness, to the present and eternal praise of the God of all grace, and to the soul's present and eternal bliss; upon which, that soul becomes declaratively and apparently a child and heir of God, through Christ, as the God of grace and glory- and is more or less sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.

And now, dear Madam, if you are blessed with a precious experience of this happy work on your heart, you are most certainly a new creature in Christ, and a true believer in Him, and "shall be saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation," notwithstanding the greatest inward or outward opposition. You are forever safe in the hands of Jesus, and none of the powers of darkness, with all their subtlety and force, shall ever be able to pluck you thence. "Your refuge is the eternal God, and underneath, for your support, are the everlasting arms!" And as an inhabitant of the Rock- the Rock of Ages, who is your strong defense- you may sing and shout salvation from the top of the mountains!

But you complain, dear Madam, "that notwithstanding your approach by faith unto Christ, to touch the hem of His garment, and to lay hold of His royal robe of righteousness, the root of sin is not dried up within you- the plague of your heart is not healed- but that your heart is like a painted sepulcher, full of rottenness and putrefaction; yes, that your heart grows worse and worse." To these things I answer:

The root of sin in your heart may be considered in a twofold respect, as
(1), In its principle; and
(2), In its act; or, your misery may be distinguished into 'heart' and 'life-defiling' iniquity; and this, again, into the guilt and filth of both. With respect to the guilt of both, your root of sin was fully dried up and gone, upon your first act of faith on Christ's blood and righteousness, for your justification. As God, then, by the gracious declarations of His unchanging word, did not impute unto you your sin, but the perfect righteousness of His own Son, whose nature, being without a spot of sin, His heart, lip, and life-obedience, even unto death, was without blemish, so from thenceforth, you were, are, and ever shall be, in God's sight, as you appear before Him in His son- perfectly clean from the guilt of all sin, and righteous before Him as to your state of justification.

And as to the filth of your heart and life-sin, that also is dried up and gone as you appear before God for His acceptance and complacency, in His Holy Son, who has for you who stand in Christ, as perfectly holy heart, to remove out of the Father's sight all your unholiness. You are now presented before God, by Christ, "holy and unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight," though you still have the running outcome of sin- so much unholiness- in yourself. And in this respect, you are called to wash daily, by faith, in that fountain set open for sin, both in its guilt and filth.

"The plague of your heart," you say, Madam, "is not healed." but you ought to distinguish between your heart and your heart, or between your heart, as renewed by grace, in which dwells a principle of holiness, and from whence proceeds internal and external acts of holiness; and your heart as unrenewed, or the unrenewed part of your heart, in which dwells a whole body of sin and death, with all its members, and from whence flows internal and external acts of wickedness. For though the Holy Spirit's work on the heart is perfect, as to kind, and in respect of parts, as it extends to all the parts, powers, and faculties of the soul, so that there is no power or faculty in it but what is sanctified; yet this- His sanctifying work, is still imperfect in degree, and is to be increased by His almighty influence, unto a perfection of holiness; and having experienced the Spirit's sanctifying work on your heart as a begun-work in it, the plague of your heart, so far as it is renewed, is healed.

And if the plague of your heart were not, in this respect, healed, you would not, you could not, desire so earnestly a clean heart universally, for like loves its like. It is from holiness in your heart begun, that you long after perfection, and until that time comes, there remains in your corrupt heart all sin, which is as contrary to holiness as darkness is to light. And this is your great grief and burden and matter of your complaint, "that the plague of your heart is not healed." And indeed it is not, in the unregenerate part of it, but it is in the regenerate part of it.

When I speak of the heart, understand it as of all the powers of your soul, each of which is in part renewed and in part unrenewed; but that same almighty power which begun in you this holy work, in conformity to Christ, the Father's first-born Son, will carry it on unto absolute perfection, and then you will feel no more of heart, lip and life-abominations; but shall shout the triumphs of that mighty grace, to its endless praise, which has wrought your deliverance from all misery, and brought you up unto perfect purity, fullness of joy, and eternal glory.

But you tell me, Madam, "that your heart grows worse and worse." To this I reply: The unrenewed part of your heart, in which resides the principle of sin, has in it such a fullness of evil, such heights and depths of wickedness, such putrefaction and rottenness, that it cannot admit of greater degree. "It is deceitful above all things, and so desperately wicked" that none but the Lord Himself can find it out, or search the amazing depths of this bottomless gulf! But though sin as a principle, in the unregenerate part of your heart, cannot grow worse- the ebullitions, or boilings up of corruptions, may be more or less, as they have more or less advantage to show their rage against the God of grace and holiness, and against us as bearing His image. The workings of corruptions have less advantage when we are under present divine influence; but when this is in measure withdrawn from us, they instantly boil over with rage against the principle of grace, and by their subtlety and force, under Satan's influence- entice or hurry us away with rapidity into sinful acts, to God's dishonor and our soul's distress.

But all the rage of hell and sin within and without us, with all those hellish waters which they cast forth as a flood to swallow us up, shall never quench that spark of heavenly fire, that little grace which is wrought in our hearts by the hand of Omnipotence! No! this, by the same almighty power which enkindled it, shall be maintained and increased amid and by the greatest opposition, until it is raised into a full and eternal flame! The triumphant Captain of our salvation has vanquished all the powers of hell and sin. He has led captivity captive, and dragged all the legions of devils at His chariot wheels, when He went up to glory with a shout- with the sound of a trumpet, amid thousands and tens of thousands of His holy angels, who saw His triumphs and sung His victories.

And as for sin, our worst enemy- the old man- the whole body of sin- it was crucified with Him, and thence, by omnipotent grace- by sin-pardoning and sin-subduing grace- it shall be shortly, totally, and finally destroyed in us! And therefore, by faith in Jehovah's almighty and covenant-engaged power, let us stand to our arms as good soldiers of Jesus Christ, and wax valiant in fight against all His and our enemies; for out of weakness we shall be made strong, and brought from the field victorious through His love and blood as more than conquerors. And meanwhile, as our begun holiness increases, we shall see corruptions in their horrid ebullitions, under advancing displays of reigning grace, which gives them greater aggravations- to be worse and worse- and our new hearts shall be to all sin more and more averse- until a complete victory is won, and we are blessed with an immortal crown.

You well say, dear Madam, that "unbelief in the promises and faithfulness of God is the productive root of numerous evils," and therefore we should not indulge it, but fight against it in Jehovah's might, while we stand fast by faith in that full, glorious, and eternal liberty with which Christ, by and irreversible promise-grant, upon our first act of faith, has made us free. By standing fast by faith in that glorious liberty in which upon our first believing we were instated, I intend those after-acts of faith which respect persuasion of that saving interest in Christ and all His benefits which was then given us by promise, and so to hold fast our confidence, or persuasion of salvation, in the face of all inward or outward opposition made against it; for this is not only for God's praise, in His infinite grace and faithfulness to His promise, but will be also of great advantage for the mortification of sin in us.

As our faith in our saving interest rises, our love and gratitude to God increases; but faith of our saving interest is depressed, love and gratitude sink with it; we depart from God, the Fountain of all good, the whole of our life, as if for us in Him there were no help, and are carried away by deceitful evil- by numerous evils- as by a mighty torrent, into comfort's death. Let us beware, therefore, of an evil heart of unbelief, for faith in God, as the God of love unto us in Christ, will yield us a sweet relief, under Satan's temptations and the strong workings of inward corruptions, and edge our spirits keenly against all the Lord's and our enemies.

As to our heart-idolatry, it is a very great iniquity of which the Lord's own people are deeply guilty. But since this is the promise of His rich, free grace, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do any more with idols?" let us plead it before His throne, and bring our every idol unto Him to be entirely slain, so shall our hearts be disjointed from them, and our admiration of, and sinful affection to, all 'glittering glow-worm glories' sink and die before the rising attracting display of His all-transcendent and infinite excellences.

And permit me, Madam, to give you a caution- Not to keep company, familiarly, with any but those whom you judge to be truly godly; for the ungodly, by their carnality, will bring you into great danger, and impair in your own spirituality. And if your intimate acquaintances are truly gracious and richly blessed with an inward experience, continue your intimacy, and labor to improve it to a mutual increase of your soul's joint-felicity, your growth in grace and furtherance in the knowledge of God in Christ.

All company has in it either the nature of fire or of air- it either heats or cools- it either excites our love of God, or upon that holy fervor casts the benumbing cold of a dreadful winter. Therefore it is a piece of spiritual wisdom, in spiritual people, to choose such alone for their intimate companions. And if your intimates, dear Madam, excel in spiritual gifts, admire not them- but admire God in them, so shall you be conducted by the brightness of a 'beam' to the all-comprehending and all-reflecting glories of Him who is the infinite and eternal Sun.

Be assured, dear Madam, that that work of God upon the heart which brings the soul to an entire dependence on Christ- a whole Christ, is no illusion, but shall end in a full and eternal salvation. And as to the 'hope of the hypocrite', which shall perish, that is always founded upon self-worthiness; but that hope which has for its foundation God's free grace, in and through what Christ has done and suffered for us, and is made of God unto us, is good hope that shall not make ashamed, but shall be, in its glorious fruits, to the righteous, gladness unto endless ages.

As to those precious promises (Ezekiel 36:25), etc., which you so earnestly desire to experience, they are fulfilled in you already, partially and initially, and shall be, shortly, completely and eternally!

I wish you a rich increase of all grace unto all joy, peace, and holiness, and a massive crown of immortal bliss!

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Worth infinitely more than millions of worlds

My Dear Sister in Christ, Your Beloved is yours and you are His, and what can you want or desire more? Your one Lord Jesus is worth infinitely more than millions of worlds, were there so many! Oh, what little, uncertain, dying things, are all creature-enjoyments! Not a drop of refreshment can we find in them, unless the Creator fills them, and communicates of His own fullness through those pipes of conveyance; and yet, how prone are we to seek after creatures as if our happiness were in them! Ah, foolish we, to "forsake the fountain of living waters, and hew out to ourselves cisterns-broken cisterns-that can hold no water!" Were every pipe broken and every cistern dry, the Lord-the full fountain, the overflowing ocean of our life and bliss-would never fail. There is a river of love, life, and glory in God, the streams whereof, through Christ, by the Holy Spirit, the Comforter, shall make glad the hearts of the citizens of Zion.

My dear sister, God, our kind Father, takes away the creatures from us that we may learn to live upon Himself as our present and eternal All; and not a soul that has Him for a well, while passing through the valley of Baca, of tears, shall ever lack supply of life and joy. A believer can never lack anything, languish and die in his spirit for lack of any good thing, unless he goes out of the bosom of Christ, where he has all things-to hunt for supplies among the creatures where there is nothing. Blessed is that soul that seeks God in the creatures it desires, that lives upon God in the creatures it enjoys, and that makes life a peaceful, joyous, glorious life out of God-or rather, that lives peacefully, joyfully, gloriously in Him when the creatures fail-for surpassingly excellent, sweet and soul-satisfying is God in all-is God in Himself.

O for more faith to live upon Him, and to Him, in all things that He gives us, and in what He withholds or takes from us; for our God will supply all our needs, according to His riches in glory, by Christ Jesus.

Don't you see, then, my dear sister, how well you are provided for? Oh, live joyfully, as a child of God-and heir of God-for no good thing will He allow you to lack-and soon He will bring you to His great, His glorious, His eternal Self! Your God, your all-supplying God, will be with you in every strait, to the last moment of your stay on earth, and then He will bring you home, to be forever with Him in heaven, where, in His immediate presence, and seated at His right hand, He will bless you with fullness of joy, and make you drink of the river of His pleasures for evermore!

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Then farewell forever!

My very Dear Sister in our precious Lord, I rejoice to hear of your soul's prosperity under those afflictions which have attended your body. I have again been visited with illness, and am weak. The hand-the heart of our own God-our God of love-is in everything to us. In all, let us love, bless, and adore His name, for honorable and glorious are all His works, and most worthy is He of praise from us in all. Under the sweet, enlarging influence of God's free love, we love Him and as much when He frowns as when He smiles.

A believing, loving, adoring spirit, under divine chastisement, is an excellent spirit-a God-glorifying frame of soul. Our afflictions, light as they are, as being laid upon us and we supported under them by the Lord's all-gracious and almighty hand, are made blessings to us. They may well be borne by us, not only as they are designed for, and shall end in, our soul's present and eternal advantage, but also, and chiefly, in that our God is and will be glorified thereby His displaying the glory of His infinite love, grace, mercy, wisdom, power, faithfulness, and fatherly goodness towards us in them-and by our ascribing all honor in filial duty unto Him.

Our God is infinitely concerned for our good in every affliction. So let us be earnestly, yes only, concerned about His glory as to our duty therein, casting all our care upon Him who cares for us.

We shall bless God, when we come to heaven, for every kind and degree of affliction that we passed through on earth-for every trial, and for every circumstance attending it, wherein we are enabled to glorify God.

After this heavenly temper, and an increase therein, let us labor while pilgrims on this earth. A submissive, patient, cheerful, thankful frame of spirit, under the afflicting hand of God, is that honor, that reverence which we owe to Him as a Father-and ineffably sweet, and exceedingly profitable is this unto us as His children. In a little, little while, sin and sorrow shall be no more. A fullness, an eternity of joy and glory in the immediate presence of God and the Lamb awaits us.

Our afflictions are given to us as a fruit of the Father's grace, of the Son's purchase and intercession, and as a season of the Spirit's preparing us below for that glory which is prepared for us above. Oh, my dear sister, all things are ours, whether life, or death, or things present, or things to come. Time with all its changes, its comforts and crosses, and eternity with all its great and unchangeable glories, are ours! Christ is ours, and all things in and with Him, and we are His, and shall shortly be with Him where He is, to behold His glory! We shall be like Him, perfectly so-for we shall see Him as He is! We shall not be long absent from, but shall shortly be forever with the Lord-to see, to love, to praise Him perfectly and eternally. Oh, blessed day! It hastens upon us. A day without clouds, without decline, without end! A magnificent, bright day, that will spread its glories over all, when the Lord will be our everlasting light, and our God our glory!

Then farewell forever! Farewell trials! Farewell sin! Farewell sorrow! Farewell death! Farewell darkness! Farewell pain! Farewell weakness! Mortality shall be swallowed in life! And in the meantime, my dear sister, let us go on in faith and hope of that eternal life which God, who cannot lie, has promised; and loving and adoring the Lord in all things, let us follow the Lamb, even wherever He goes, until we reach immortal glory with Him. And now, my dear child, unto the tender care of your everlasting Father I commit you. May His presence be with you, and His blessing be upon you continually.

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Our light and momentary troubles

Dear Sister, Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God and of Jesus our Lord.

It is the pleasure of our dear Father to exercise you in a very particular manner, and to continue it long upon you. But be not cast down thereat, as if some strange thing had happened, for as many as the Lord loves He rebukes and chastens. But it may be you will say, "My affliction is very uncommon, has lasted a great while, and it is likely to endure so long as I am in this world."

Well, be it so. Yet remember that God's special love to you ordained this particular trial, and His everlasting kindness keeps it still upon you. This was the means Infinite Wisdom pitched on for the display of boundless love to you. By this you are to be made conformable to Christ in sufferings and fitted for a conformity to Him in glory. Since free grace has saved you-give it leave to carry on your salvation in its own way. What though you pass through much tribulation, the Kingdom is at the end. I doubt not but the Lord at times has opened much of His love to your soul in the present afflictions, but the brightest discoveries are ahead. The great opening of God's heart, in the gift of every trial, is reserved for us until we get over Jordan, on the other side of death, into the land of promise. Then we shall remember all the way the Lord led us through the wilderness, and see it was the right way to the city of God.

Then the mysteries of Divine Providence shall be unfolded, the cloud taken off every dark dispensation, and the veil from our understandings. There the secret springs of boundless love, infinite wisdom, and Almighty power which ordained, managed, and overruled every scene of providence, for the glory of God and our advantage, shall be laid open, for we shall see as we are seen. We shall bless God when we come to heaven for every trial, even the bitterest, sharpest, longest affliction that attended our mortal life; because we shall see how the Lord uninterruptedly carried on the designs of His own glory and our salvation by every change that passed over us.

Meanwhile, we must live by faith, and labor after an increasing submission to the Divine Will under the sorest rebukes; and bless God for every stroke, until grace is swallowed up in glory, when our wills, with the highest complacency, shall everlastingly flow into the will of God. And even now we have reason not only to be patient, but also to rejoice and glory in tribulation. And were the eye of our faith, strong enough to pierce the cloud of afflictive providences, and discern the love of our Father's heart, which, as an infinite deep, couches beneath, and is the spring of every dispensation, we would sing in sorrow, take pleasure in distresses, and glorify God in the fires!

"For our light and momentary troubles are achieving for us an eternal glory that far outweighs them all." (2 Cor. 4:17) There are three things comprised in these words, which I desire you may be enabled frequently to meditate upon.

First, the lightness of the saints' affliction.
Secondly, the shortness of it.
Thirdly, the advantage of all their present trials.

    First, the lightness of the saints' affliction. "Our light affliction." It is not said the afflictions of the world are light; but OUR affliction is light. And it is so, if compared with what we have deserved, and the damned in hell endure. Light, if compared with what Christ once bore, when for us he was the Man of sorrows, and acquainted with grief. Light, because by virtue of Christ's suffering for us in our room and stead, the curse is taken out of all our afflictions. Again, they are light, because Omnipotent strength is engaged to support us under them; underneath are the everlasting arms.

We have not, are not, shall not be left to go through any trial alone. The God of Jacob is our refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble. The Lord Jesus is our sweet companion in tribulation. He is with us, to sympathize with us in our sorrows, to sustain us under our burdens, to pardon all our unbelief and impatience when in the furnace, and at last completely and gloriously to deliver us and bring us forth as gold seven times refined.

No affliction, indeed, for the present is joyous, but grievous to our frail flesh. It is so in itself, but much more so to us; because we live so much by sense, and so little by faith. Every trial that passes over us has a light as well as a dark side. And we should look upon every affliction with a double view; as it is oppressing and grieving to weak nature, it is, in itself, evil; and calls for submission to the Divine will. But then, as the same affliction is viewed as flowing from God's love, and effectually managed for His glory and our advantage, so it is good, and ought to be a matter of our joy and thanksgiving.

Let us leave it then to those who have no interest in the God of all Grace to think afflictions heavy; for woe to them that are alone. But as for us, that are savingly interested in God (in all His Persons and in all His perfections as engaged in covenant for our good), let us go on rejoicing in tribulation, esteeming all our afflictions, as indeed they are, light.

    Secondly, the shortness of the saints' affliction is matter of great consolation; it is but for a moment. A moment is but a short space-the smallest division of time; and unto this of a moment are our longest afflictions compared. Suppose they should last as long as we are in this world; yet, even our whole life if compared with a vast eternity is but like a moment; and as Mr. Dod well says, "What can be great to him that counts the world nothing? or long, to him that counts his life but a span?"

Oh! were we more frequent in our converse with eternity, it would make the afflictions of this present time appear short. Did we live more in the views of approaching glory, we would remember our afflictions as waters that pass away; that are here one moment and gone the next. But alas! such is our folly, that we are taking thought for a great while to come, and so make our 'imagined future trials' present distresses; whereas, were we under the most pressing weights, and did take thought for no more than the day (and sufficient to it is the evil thereof), living by faith on the borders of glory, as just entering into the mansions of rest, it would alleviate our sorrows, and make the longest trial appear short.

Could we thus reason with ourselves every day, "Well, I have got one day nearer home; the afflictions of the past day I shall never go through any more, and perhaps before I see another day in this world I may see glory's day-a morning that will have no clouds nor evening to succeed it, no sorrows, sin, nor death to darken its luster!" Oh, what a means would this be to increase our patience, and make us of an enduring spirit! And what matter of comfort is it that while our short-lived afflictions last, Christ will be with us in them! He is with us when we pass through the waters, that the rivers do not overflow us, that the swelling waves of affliction do not overwhelm us; and when we walk through the fires, that the flames kindle not upon us, that fiery trials do not consume us. The priest's feet were to stand in Jordan until all Israel were fully passed over. So our dear Lord Jesus will stand among the distresses, dividing the waters before us, until all His children are fully passed through them. His presence with us in affliction will make it light; and His delivering-kindness out of it will make it short.

    Thirdly, the advantage of the saints' affliction is also an encouragement to faith and patience-it works for us. But what does it work? Why, no less than glory! And it works glory for us as it prepares us for it. Glory was prepared for us, and settled upon us, in God's everlasting covenant with His Son, before the world was. And affliction is a means Infinite Wisdom, Power, and Grace makes use of to prepare us for glory; that glory which was prepared for us before time, and will last to an eternal space beyond it. And who would think it much to endure affliction, who sees it is but for the trial and perfecting of his graces, and that the exercise of each might be found unto praise, honor, and glory at Christ's appearing.

Now then, let us bring things to the balance of the Sanctuary, and learn to judge of them aright. Let us amass together all the afflictions of a believer's life, and put them in one scale, and glory in the other, and see if that does not infinitely outweigh them, especially, if we cast in the additional weights that are on glory's side! Here is affliction on the one side, but glory on the other; light affliction, for a moment, but a weight of glory, yes, an exceeding, a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory! Well might the Apostle say, "For I reckon that the sufferings of this present time are not worthy to be compared with the glory which shall be revealed in us" (Romans 8:18).

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When we are in the Furnace

Dear Sister, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied, from God our Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, by the blessed Comforter.

I understand that you are exercised both with affliction of body and darkness of soul, and I sympathize with you herein. But think it not strange, my dear sister, concerning the fiery trials you meet with, as if some strange thing had happened unto you. Remember the Lord has His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa. 31:9), to refine, not to destroy His people. God sends afflictions upon His children for their good. Sin and Satan indeed aim at our destruction herein, but God bounds their rage and overrules their malice to issue in His own glory and our salvation.

The design of Sin and Satan is the destruction of our graces as well as of our persons, and therefore they blow up the fire of affliction to the utmost, and would continue it until we are consumed. But "Hold," says the Lord, "My children are my gold, precious in my esteem, and they must pass through the fire to be refined, but not lie there until they suffer loss."

And therefore, when we are in the furnace our God sits by to see that the fire be not too hot, nor continued too long upon us, as the refiner watches his gold, manages it while in the furnace, and takes it out thence when it is fully purified. "He will sit as a refiner and purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and silver." Malachi 3:3

Well, then, my dear sister, since you are one of those who are precious in the sight of the Lord you must pass through the fire of affliction, but since it is the Lord's fire, which He has appointed, which He manages, and which he will restrain at His pleasure, trust yourself in the hands of your infinitely wise and gracious Refiner and you shall come out of it both with present and eternal advantage. This affliction, as an instrument in the hand of God the Almighty agent, is at work upon you, and for you, to exercise and increase your graces here, and to prepare you for your future crown. Therefore, endure the trial, for, "Blessed is the man who perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12

But it may be you will say, "Aye, if I was sure I was one that loved God, I would patiently wait for and expect a happy outcome, but I am afraid lest I should deceive myself, deceive others, and at last come short of that rest which remains for the people of God."

As for these your fears, and ten thousand more of a like nature which may arise in your heart in a time of darkness, they are altogether groundless, and though they may rob you of your comfort they cannot rob you of your safety in Christ, nor of that inheritance which is reserved for you in Heaven. No, blessed be God, you are still just where free grace set you; God has fixed you in His Son, and laid you, by faith, upon Him, the Rock of Ages; and now your salvation stands as immovable as the rock on which it is founded. The rain may descend, the floods come, and the winds blow, all kinds of afflictions and temptations together may beat vehemently against your faith of safety in Christ, but your security in Him shall never fall, because founded upon a rock which is able to bear the greatest weights which are laid upon it, and to secure the building from all danger in the greatest stress of weather which can possibly befall it.

The rock of immutability is still beneath you, and unless Christ could sink, the salvation of your soul-that leans upon Him can never fall. You may fall as to your frames, but you can never sustain one shake as to your state. No, "The foundation God has laid in Zion is a stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, and he who believes on Him shall not be confounded" (Isa. 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6). And now, let all the objections be brought out that all the legions of devils and armies of corruptions combined can raise against the salvation of that sinner that looks unto Christ for life, and down they must fall before the grace of this promise-God's word shall stand, to the eternal salvation of that soul and the confusion of all its enemies!

Into His arms I commit you, earnestly desiring that happy morning of Divine favor which shall arise upon your soul when the short night of your present weeping is over; Christ will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and "your joy shall no man take from you." And meanwhile, though clouds and darkness cover you, commotions and tempests shake your mind, yet all is clear as to your state in the upper region of Christ's love!

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The Lord can work by whom He will

Dear Sir, I am glad that you see your own exceeding vileness. The exceeding riches of God's free grace in using you will be thereby the more abundantly displayed in your sight. We are indeed, Sir, in what the Lord does by us, "like the tools that the workman takes into his hand, by which he does his work as pleases him;" only there is this difference-the workman chooses tools that are fit for his work, and not such as will be troublesome and offensive to him therein. But the Lord chooses the worst, the basest, the vilest things to work with, that the excellency of the power might be of God and not of us, and the exceeding riches of His grace displayed-while our unworthiness and vileness serve as a foil to commend and reflect His infinite glory!

I an sure of this-that the Lord takes the worst, else He had never taken vile, provoking me, to do the least service by. But so it is, because grace reigns, and forever shall free grace have all the glory, while I, humbled before the majesty thereof and happy under its glorious shine, do loath myself in my own sight for all my abominations.

The Lord can work by whom He will. And to show His power and grace, He takes the most unworthy and unfit, and makes them fit for His work. He puts a value upon worthless worms as if they were well deserving, and upon their work as if it was well done, whereas, all the good that was done was from Himself, and all the evil that attended us in doing of it He casts into the depths of the sea-into the infinite depths of His pardoning grace and the merit of the Redeemer's blood. This is the Lord! This is our God!

Truly, we are like knotty, cross-grained wood, which requires much skill, labor, and patience in the workman that works it, and a variety of instruments to be used upon it to bring it to that order, beauty and usefulness which other wood is easily wrought unto. But the Lord, our glorious worker, will not give over working upon such knotty, cross-grained pieces as we, nor will He ever become weary of His work, because, in His infinite, free, unchangeable love, He has taken us into His own hand to work us for Himself, and is firmly resolved that He will off with all our knots and ruggedness, whatever it cost Him, whatever ways and means to effect it, and put such a beauty, usefulness, and glory upon us, even upon us, the worst pieces that could be found, as therein and thereby to show His art, power, and patience as God, and the exceeding riches of His grace, upon us the vessels of mercy, whom in His eternal counsels and designs, He had afore prepared unto endless glory.

He is resolved to bring us up to that pattern of glory which He had in His eye; to make us perfectly conformed to the image of His Son in holiness and glory; and for this great good, all things, as so many instruments in His hand, the great, the Almighty Agent does jointly, harmoniously and continually work together.

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Oh, infinite love!-bottomless, boundless, endless love!

My Dear Sister in our precious Lord, What was there in us that God should set His heart upon us? Were we better than those that perish under His wrath? No, in no way! For myself, I must say that I am the most vile and ungrateful of all, and not worthy to be put among the children. And yet, how goodly has been my portion-how pleasant my heritage-because grace reigns, and Jehovah's love is free! Help me, my dear sister, to praise the Lord for His free grace, which has been so exceeding abundant towards me, and also to mourn before Him for all my poor returns to my kind Father, my dear Lord Jesus, and the blessed Comforter.

No man, no angel, no finite being could bear with my provocations, but they would have cast me from off all favor as an object of their just hatred. But oh, behold, though I am a lump of sin, a mass of uncleanness, a hell of iniquity-though my neck is an iron sinew and my brow brass-though I am bent to backsliding from God and have done evil things, yet Jehovah has not, will not cast me off, no, not for all that I have done! Yes, so far is He from casting me out of His favor as an object of His wrath, which I have justly deserved, that He still rest in His love towards me, rejoicing over me with singing; and all this, through a crucified Jesus, consistent with His strict justice and flaming holiness. Oh, infinite love!-bottomless, boundless, endless love!

Oh, love passing knowledge, the knowledge of men and angels in both worlds, through all time and unto all eternity! It has the heights, depths, lengths and breadths of the Godhead in it; and into this vast sea of glory shall all the vessels of mercy be cast when unclothed of mortal, sinful flesh, and there we shall take our fill of new delights unto ages without end, but shall never be able to comprehend incomprehensible love!

The gift of the Holy Spirit as a Comforter, to shed abroad the love of God in our hearts, is a pledge of that eternal love-communion we shall have with Him when sin, sorrow and time shall flee away. And all those sweet emanations of divine love which are poured out through Christ upon our souls here, unto joy unspeakable and full of glory, are so many sweet foretastes of that fullness of joy-those rivers of pleasure-we shall have in His presence at His right hand for evermore!

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Oh, the heights, depths, lengths, and breadths of grace!

My Dear Brother in Christ, Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. May the God of all grace reward you with the more abundant displays of His love-His free, undeserved, rich and endless love!

Oh, my brother, I am surely the most unworthy of love from God, of any that ever found grace in His sight. Hell, the hottest hell, is my desert! Oh, what a sinner am I! The sin of my nature, that deluge of filth and guilt which overspread all my parts and powers as soon as quickened in the womb, and in which I was born-together with my actual sins, my going astray from the womb, when I did nothing else but sin-until mighty grace laid hold of me! These sins of mine I saw, when the Lord opened my eyes, did deserve the damnation of hell-and I wondered at the infinite forbearance of God in allowing me to live so long out of hell, when I was such fit fuel for everlasting burnings! And I could have justified Him if He had sent me down to the pit the next moment.

But oh, behold, I was a vessel of mercy; and therefore the Lord made known unto me the riches of His glory, not only in sparing, but in pardoning mercy also. He not only spared me from hell, but forever delivered me from going down to the pit by the ransom which He had found-by His own Son, to bear my sin, to be made a curse, and to die for me! By this mighty ransom-this infinite price of the life of the Son of God laid down for my redemption, did the God of all grace let me go free. And oh, the riches, the exceeding riches of His grace, which He then displayed, in the forgiveness of all my sins through the Lamb's blood! Where sin had abounded grace did much more abound!

Oh, how freely did my heavenly Father receive me, a poor prodigal, when under His own drawings I came to Him by Jesus Christ! He did not upbraid me with my vile transgressions, nor deal with me in wrath according to my sins-but graciously opened His arms and let me into His bosom-His heart's love-no more to be separated from His love, nor to fall out of love's arms forever! No! having loved me with an everlasting love, and thus manifested His love through the slain Lamb, He resolved to love me forever-that He would never cast me off, nor cast me out of His free love for all that I had done.

Oh, astonishing! That abundant pardon which my heavenly Father then granted, and I received, carried in the bosom of it not only the forgiveness of my past and present sins, but of my future sins also-of all my transgressions, even to my life's end. He forgave me all trespasses-resolved to be merciful to my unrighteousness and to remember my sins no more. He took away my filthy garments and clothed me with change of clothing-put a ring on my hand and shoes on my feet-set me with Him at His table-made a feast for me of the flesh and blood of His own Son-and rejoiced over me with singing! Oh, the heights, depths, lengths, and breadths of grace!

And with this wondrous love of God He melted my hard heart, revived my dying soul, put a new song of joy and praise into my mouth, and drew me to give up myself unto Him, to be entirely His forever. Oh, then I said I would not transgress, when He had thus broken my yoke and burst my bonds, and brought me into liberty-the glorious liberty of the sons of God!

But ah! I have not rendered to the Lord according to all the great things which He has done for me, but have ill-requited Him for all His kindness. I am indeed bent to backsliding from God, and have dealt very treacherously with my gracious Father. I see, to my shame and grief, the seeds of all sin in my vile heart-a hell of iniquity there! I feel that my carnal mind is enmity, entire and irreconcilable enmity, against God-and such are the ebullitions of this unsearchable deep, this horrid fountain, that I am frequently struck with amazement that I am not sent down to hell-that my life is not among the unclean-that so vile a sinner has not a portion among the damned, in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone!

Ah, not because I do not deserve a place there am I spared-but because Jehovah will be gracious unto whom He will be gracious, and show mercy on whom He will show mercy. Oh, if the love of God was not free, sovereign, and independent of my goodness-which as the morning cloud and the early dew quickly passes away-I would perish still, and sink into the pit with the additional weight of 'abused kindness'.

Oh, my sins, since the Lord manifested His love to me, I see to be of a greater guilt, a deeper dye, than all that I was guilty of before I knew the Lord, or rather was known of Him. And these, in a special manner, break my heart and humble me before the Lord, when He breaks in upon my soul with the displays of His infinite favor.

For lo! the love of God and the blood of Christ are depths that infinitely surpass and swallow up all my sin! Oh, what are my vast, numberless, aggravated transgressions, to the boundless depth of Jehovah's love-to the infinite merit of the blood of the Son of God? Here, through the blood and righteousness of Jesus, grace reigns and triumphs gloriously over all my abounding sin. It not only began to reign thus in the first glorious displays thereof made to my poor soul when just ready to perish, but it reigns still-and will reign on in its infinite, majestic state, until all my sins, which are now pardoned, shall be fully subdued and utterly destroyed out of my nature-until all sin and death are swallowed up in the victory of eternal life to the praise of its own glory. Oh, glorious grace!

Thus, my dear brother, according to this grace has my God hitherto dealt with me. He has followed me with His kindness, His rich, free, everlasting kindness. And thus He will deal with you. According to His own heart has He done, will He do, great things for you; and not according to 'your worthiness'. Your God did not wait for your goodness before He fixed His love on you, nor seek it as a motive thereof-but from His own free heart took all His motives from within Himself to love you. And therefore they must needs be strong and invariable like Himself, who is the Lord that changes not.

And this great, free, and invariable love of God was fixed upon you in the Beloved of His Soul, who is Jesus Christ, the same yesterday, today, and forever. So that, as long as God's love abides, which is as permanent as His being; as long as Christ endures, who is the same, and whose years fail not; and as long as Christ stands in the love of God for you, and you stand in the love of God in Him-so long will Jehovah love you!

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A spiritual appetite

My Dear Brother in the Lord, A spiritual appetite, to relish spiritual things, is a distinguishing favor bestowed upon none but those who are Christ's own. "The natural man receives not the things of the Spirit of God-for they are foolishness unto him; neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." And spiritual men, who have an appetite, a capacity to relish spiritual things, can have no actual relish thereof, without the immediate influences of the Holy Spirit. It is He who takes of the things of Christ, and of the Father, and shows them unto us.

It is the spirit of truth, in His special operations as the Comforter, who guides His people into all truth. It is He who, enlightening our minds, guides us into the doctrinal knowledge of every truth, and enkindling our souls with the truths known, that gives us heart fellowship therewith. Without the actual presence of the Holy Spirit giving us insight, not the least spiritual truth can we know, nor the least degree of spiritual knowledge thereof can we attain. Oh, it is the actual presence of the Holy Spirit as our Comforter that, by His light and heat, irradiates our mind, and inflames our souls with the knowledge of divine truth. Let the truth shine ever so brightly or warmly round about us, unless the Holy Spirit shines into our minds, unto the knowledge of the truth in its glory and efficacy, we neither see its light, nor feel its heat.

How much are we debtors to Him, as our Guide into all truth, for every degree of our spiritual knowledge. Oh, the infinite grace of the Holy Spirit! It is a great thing to be thoroughly sensible of the nothingness of the creature, both with respect to ourselves and others; that the creature is nothing, less than nothing, and vanity, and the Lord all, and in all; that all the excellency, comfort, and usefulness of the creature, is wholly derived from, and dependent upon, its Creator.

I shall be glad to know the frame of your soul, to hear from you when you have leisure, and to have an interest in your prayers.

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The most weak and unfit instruments

Dear Sir, I am glad you can say, concerning the work of the ministry, "My God would have me go, and go I must." And though you think yourself to be the weakest and vilest of all the Lord's people, and the least and most unworthy of all His ministers, and that you are not fit to preach the gospel, yet, since the Lord spoke by His blessed word to your heart, and persuaded you that it was His mind you should engage in this great work, fear not, for out of weakness you shall be made strong. Your iniquity your great High Priest has caused to pass from you, and He has clothed you with change of clothing-with the glorious robe of His righteousness-having taken off your own filthy garments; and a fair mitre will be set upon your head, or put a fresh beauty and glory upon you in your work, as you are therein made a priest unto God by the Lamb's blood.

And, remember, that the Lord is a Sovereign, and that He may take the least and last, the most unfit and unworthy of all, to send about this great work, the more to exalt the infinite freedom of His boundless grace, to display its exceeding riches, to His endless praise, by men and angels, and to exclude all creature-boasting-that no flesh should glory in His presence. Say, therefore, with your once-rejoicing Lord, "I thank You, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, that You have hidden these things from the wise and prudent, and have revealed them unto babes; even so, Father, for so it seemed good in Your sight."

And when God sends the most weak and unfit instruments to do great work, He does not leave them to their own weakness and unfitness, but abundantly supplies all their needs, according to His riches in glory by Jesus Christ-Himself the great, all-wise, and almighty agent, takes them into His own hand, and effectually works by them to answer His great designs. The servants of Christ in the ministry do not "go to war at their own expense;" they do not, should not, go to that great work in 'their own little strength', but abide in Christ by faith for the continual supplies of His Holy Spirit, to fit them for, and carry them through, all their appointed service, to the glory of God, the good of souls, and their own present and eternal bliss. Fear not, therefore, for the Lord who sent you will certainly be with you, and you shall save Israel and smite her enemies, clad with Jehovah's might.

All supplies of sin-pardoning, sin-subduing, all-assisting, and all-persevering grace are from Him, and unto His glory. That you may be thus endued with power from on high, is my hearty desire.

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