CONTEMPLATIONS
ON THE GOD OF ISRAEL,
IN A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND
by William Huntington
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LETTER I. Cricklewood. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX.
Dear son in the faith of our Lord Jesus Christ, grace and peace be multiplied.
I have for some time had it upon my mind to send thee some account of my late goings on, having for some few weeks back been much indulged and helped by the Holy Spirit of promise, of whose influence, help, and energetic intercession at the throne of grace, I have been very watchful and observant; and, on the other hand, could not but wonder at the backwardness, deadness, dryness, and barrenness, both in power and in expression, when his sensible influence was withheld from me. His divine person, and his most benign influences and operations, were for many days my meditation, both by night and by day: and during this time, these things were the principal subjects of my ministry; and, had I wrote them then, I have no doubt but thou wouldest have felt the blessed effects; but now it is not so with me; my harp is upon the willows - and, with respect to sensible enjoyments, the Comforter that should relieve my soul seems to be far from me. Oh, what is all religion without the operation of the Holy Spirit! An empty shew, and a weariness to the flesh.I thought not a little of his divine personality; and wondered much how any man living, who reads the scriptures, could ever have the effrontery to deny his being, a divine person. But the world knows him not. "I will send you a comforter whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for be dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." He is therefore to be known by all believers: and those who do know him will glorify him and Honour him; reverence him and adore him; and we know that all who are destitute of him, and strangers to his operations, are sensual men, and know nothing but what they know naturally. Hence some have called the Holy Spirit no more than a quality, or an attribute of God; others an influence only; others no more than a name; avowing that there is but one person in the Godhead, but a plurality of names: - as Simon Magus gave it out, that be himself was God the Father in Samaria, the Word in Judea, and the Spirit in the other parts of the world. Surely that monster of a man must be the father or ringleader of all heretics. But we know that no curious diving, no speculative prying, no presumptuous intruding, will meet with the divine approbation. "God resisteth the proud." But O how safe, how sweet, how salutary, how satisfactory, how humbling and softening, are the sweet influences, operations, discoveries, and communications, of the Holy Spirit upon the souls of the children of God!
Various things are meant by the word Spirit in the holy scriptures: - as wind, the spirit of beasts, and the souls of men, and angels, both good and bad. But the Holy Ghost is distinguished from all these, being, emphatically called God, not in a figurative or metaphoric, but in an absolute sense; "to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ," Col. ii. 2. In which passage the Holy Ghost stands first in the Holy Trinity, and he is distinct from the Father and from Christ: and surely, if he were not essentially God, to all intents and purposes, he never would have inspired the apostle to name and place him as God before the Father. The church also is called "the temple of the Holy Ghost; as God hath said, I will dwell in them and walk in them." No spirit whatever that is mentioned in all the book of God, is ever numbered with the persons in the Holy Trinity, or ranked with the Father and the Son, except the Holy Ghost. Nor is the church the property, the temple, or the habitation, of any but of God alone: and, as the church is called the temple of the Holy Ghost, the Holy Ghost must be God.
A ghost is a spirit The Holy Ghost and the Holy Spirit is one and the same in the original, as say the learned. Now what I have upon my mind, to write to my dear brother, is upon this important subject: and, however weakly, or however imperfectly I may express myself, I am fully persuaded, by my own experience, that it is most safe, and ever will be satisfactory and establishing to the elect of God, who are regenerated and renewed by the Holy Spirit, to believe as I do: while the contrary is most dangerous, if not perilous: - I mean, that the Holy Ghost must be acknowledged to be a divine person by all those who are sanctified, and who hope to be saved. They must acknowledge the mystery of God, of the Father, and of Christ; for we are baptized in the name of all the three, and therefore, in our holy profession, we must acknowledge this greatest mystery of all mysteries.
A person, according to the account of learned men, is an individual being, an intelligent agent, who is singular, and subsists, lives, speaks, understands, acts, and works-and such is the Holy Ghost. Nor is there a distinct personal character but what the holy scriptures apply to him; such as I, me, him, he, his, thou. As for instance, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when he is come he shall guide you into all truth:" Again, "I will send you a comforter, whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him not, neither knoweth him; but ye know him, for he dwelleth with you, and shall be in you." Again, "Is the Spirit of the Lord straitened? Are these his doings?" Again, "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit, or whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I go up into heaven, thou art there." Sure I am that these personal characters cannot be applied to a name, or to a quality in God, or to an influence from him, or to an accident, or to a transient impression; much less to a nonentity. It is true, that personal characters, and personal actions, are sometimes ascribed to things inanimate; as, "The trees went forth to choose themselves a king, and invited the vine and the olive to reign over them, who refused; and the bramble bid them put themselves under his shadow." The red sea is also represented as seeing and fleeing. "The floods lift up their hands on high, and the little hills skip like lambs." Yet we have no voice from any of these, only dumb signs at best; these all wanted persons to speak for them. Jotham speaks for the trees and the bramble; Habakkuk speaks the motions of the sea, and David the actions of the little hills. But the Holy Spirit wants none to speak for him; he can speak of himself, and for himself. He spoke in Adam, giving names to all creatures. He spoke to Philip - "Go near, and join thyself to this chariot." He spoke to Peter - "The Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee; arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, nothing doubting." The Spirit said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul. Blessed are the dead which die in the Lord: Yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them." The Holy Spirit not only speaks; but all that have ever spoken to any good purpose have been taught to speak by him; he brings the things to their minds, puts words in their mouths, and teaches them how to pronounce them. "Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth," I Cor. ii. 13. The Spirit put a word in Balaam's mouth, and bade him speak thus and thus; and "the apostles spake as the Spirit gave them utterance." He not only speaks to the saints, and in them, but be teaches us in some measure to discern between those whom be teaches to speak, and those who follow their own spirit, and speak a vision out of their own heart, and not out of the mouth of the Lord. And how evident this is in all who write or speak of divine things without the Spirit's teaching! What flagrant errors, self contradictions, inconsistencies, confusion, and darkening of counsel, doth appear! Instead of making rough places plain, and crooked things straight, they make the plainest places rough, and the straightest things crooked; and, instead or going through the gates, and removing the stumbling blocks, and casting up the high-way, they grope like the blind for the wall, cause many to stumble at the law, and destroy the way of our paths. And, if at any time any of them appear to be tolerably sound in the letter, yet the deep things of the text, the unctuous matter of it, or the choice experience of the holy penmen that lies hid in it, is never dived into, nor brought up; the glorious beauty of it is obscured, the surface of it is skimmed over; a few parallel texts are brought in, and dark constructions put upon the words, and the passage left more obscure than when the workman began. There is nothing, in your ears but swelling words and empty sound; and nothing in your soul but leanness and beggary. Instead of watering the trees of righteousness, or refreshing the bowel of the saints, these clouds without rain rather exhale or dry up all the dew of heaven that is on the soul, however refreshed before. Such workmen obscure and becloud the Spirit's work, cast a dimness on the brightest evidences, contract the most enlarged heart, and imprison those whom the Lord has made free indeed. This I know by woeful experience. And it must be so; for "the natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God, nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned."
Personal properties also, or those properties and things which are ascribed to persons, are also ascribed to the Holy Spirit such as will, power, mind, judgment, wisdom, understanding, knowledge, love, joy, grief, vexation, &c. for instance - "All these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will. Mighty signs and wonders by the power of the Holy Ghost." And "God that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the spirit." And "The Lord of hosts shall be for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment: upon him shall rest the spirit of wisdom and understanding, the spirit of counsel and might, the spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord." Again, "Now I beseech you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit." Again, "YOU received the word with joy of the Holy Ghost." "Grieve not the Spirit of God, by which ye are sealed." "But they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit, till he turned to be their enemy, and fought against them." I cannot see how all the above mentioned things can with propriety be ascribed to anything but a person. To apply them to a quality, an accident, a name, or a nonentity, must be absurd to the last decree. And I have often thought that, if men were allowed to take the same liberties with the evidences of a purchase, a man's will and testament, title deeds, and writings of estates, &c. that some take with the word of God, there are lawyers and counselors wise enough to dispute every landholder in the nation out of all that he hath, and even out of his own personality and existence too. For it is but to prove that there is no such man, no such person that it is only a name; and all the relative or personal characters are to be understood in a figurative or an allegorical sense; and that it means no more than a quality in man, or a power put forth by man on certain occasions; or that it signifies only the breath of a man's mouth, an accident, or a transient emanation, flowing out with his words when he speaks. Allow a wise lawyer or counselor to go this way to work, and we should soon see the greatest landholders in the nation begging in the streets.
Now, my dear brother, I must leave this subject for the present, submitting this my scribble to your perusal. And, should your thoughts meet with any rubs in the way, as they rove; should any thing grate upon your ears; should any thing sound harsh, should any of the things appear to clash, or seem unintelligible; or appear low, mean, unworthy, or unbecoming the glorious subject; signify the same, and offer your thoughts freely-it will be kindly received by him who subscribe himself, in undissembled love,
Yours in Christ Jesus, W. Huntington
LETTER II TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWIS, SUSSEX Dearly beloved in the Lord,
Having, now a little time on my hands, I will reassume my former subject. When I began the last my mind was dark and my heart cold. Much work and many engagements at the time of Christmas had banished my former sweet meditations far from me; so that, when I came to sit down to put them to paper, I had them far to fetch, and all to collect afresh; but before I had been long at the work they came about me again, and I found myself rather happy in the return of my pleasing visitors. I left off after I had offered a few thoughts on the personal characters which the scriptures of truth ascribe to the Holy Ghost; and I shall now mention some few works and actions which the scriptures ascribe to the Spirit, and which are personal works and actions, such as none but real persons can do.None but persons can bear record to the truth of any contract, covenant, or agreement; nor be admitted as a witness in such cases, or to any deed, or upon any trial whatever. But "there are three that bear record in heaven; the Father, the Word, the Holy Ghost: and there are three that bear witness on earth: the Spirit, the Water, and the Blood. And we are witnesses of these things," says the apostle; "and so is also the Holy Ghost whom God hath given to them that obey him," Acts v. 32. The Spirit bears witness to the truth of the word; he gives testimony to the word of his grace, and to the truth of their commission whom he sends to preach it. He brings the righteousness of Christ to the soul; we "are justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and by the Spirit of our God!" And he bears witness to our justification, and to our adoption. "He that believeth hath the witness in himself." And even in the court of a believers conscience his witness is so powerful and effectual, that neither law, devil, nor sin, which is represented as crying to heaven, no nor even conscience itself, is suffered to speak. And this witness is true, and is no lie; and we are to abide in him. I know that Jacob set up a pillar at Bethal; and that Laban and Jacob gathered a heap of stones together at mount Gilead, and called them witness: but these were only to help the treacherous memory of persons, who are apt to forget, as Jacob did, when God bid him arise, and go up to Bethel, where he anointed the Pillar.
Power and authority; qualifying, equipping and investing men with offices, must be personal works. "You shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you. To one is given the word of wisdom, to another faith, to another divers kinds of tongues, to another the interpretation of tongues; and all these worketh that one and the self-same spirit." "Take heed to yourselves, and to the flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers," Acts, xx. 28. And, "as they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed," Acts, xiii. 2, 4., And they were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia. And they assayed to go into Bithynia, but the Spirit suffered them not." Now, upon the whole, if speaking teaching, leading; qualifying of men with grace, gifts, and abilities for the ministerial work; furnishing them with wisdom and knowledge, and giving, them divers kinds of tongues; appointing them to the office of overseers, and telling, them what to say giving readiness of mind, aptitude and utterance in speaking, telling, them where to go, and forbidding them to go here and there, where he had no work for them to do, at least not at that season if these are not personal works and actions, what are? There are some, I believe, in the world, who deny the very being of a God: The fool hath said in his heart, There is no God." These must be left to be convinced by the torments of the damned. But I believe there are very few, who profess to believe the Bible, but will allow that there is one divine person in the Godhead, which is in general allowed to be God the Father; though many will not allow the Saviour to be a person, although he is his only begotten Son, the Son of the Father in truth and love: and still less will they allow divine personality to the Holy Ghost; though the scriptures ascribe the same personal characters, properties, works, and actions, to the Son, and to the Spirit, as they do to God the Father. Therefore, if the Father be a person, the Son and Spirit must. The work of creation is ascribed to the Holy Ghost, as well as to the Son and to the Father: "The Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters." He operated upon the confused chaos, and brought it into beautiful order. "By his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens, his hand hath formed the crooked serpent," Job, xxvi. 18. "By the Word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the hosts of them by the breath of his mouth," Psalm xxxiii. 6. Here the creation of the heavens are ascribed to the essential Word and to the holy Spirit. "Thou sendest forth thy Spirit, they are created, and thou renewest the face of the earth," Psalm xxxiv. 30. Here is the work of creation ascribed to the Spirit, and it is he that renews the face of the earth every springs. The creation of man is ascribed to the Holy Spirit also. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life," Job, xxxiii. 4.
Nor was the Holy Spirit a spectator when Christ appeared for our salvation. It was the Holy Ghost that came upon the Virgin Mary at her conception, and that formed the human nature which Christ assumed, and preserved it from every stain or spot of original sin, and then rested upon him with his fulness of gifts and grace. He applied the word which the Saviour spoke, and displayed his power in the miracles that be wrought; and those that blasphemed either his words or his power, blasphemed against the Holy Ghost. It was thought the eternal Spirit that he offered himself in sacrifice to God, and it was the same Spirit that quickened our Lord's body in the tomb. "He was put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit." And under his great power the apostles gave witness of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus; and hence it is said that he is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the [testimony of] the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 4.
Making the saints meet for heaven lies much upon the Holy Ghost. It is he that applies the word, and makes it effectual: the word comes in power, and in the Holy Ghost; he convinces of sin; and it is the Spirit that quickens the dead sinner; and, as a Spirit of illumination and understanding, he enlightens him, testifies of Christ to him, works faith in him to believe, regenerates and renews him; takes the Lord's righteousness and peace, and shews them to the sinner; works the life and power of; reigning grace in him, and sets up the kingdom of God in the heart, which stands in power, in righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The law of faith by the Saviour, which the isles were to wait for, is applied and made effectual by the Holy Ghost, who is our last law-giver. "The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death." He bears witness to our adoption, and empowers us to Claim it; produces the first-fruits of the Spirit; and is the pledge and earnest of the future inheritance. He seals us up to the day of redemption; renews us, or restores the lost image of God to us, and sanctifies us, and carries on his sanctifying, renewing, and transforming work in us, and makes us meet for the inheritance with the saints in light: "that the offering up of the Gentiles may be accepted, being, sanctified by the Holy Ghost."
Sins against the Holy Spirit, in his work and operations, are taken notice of in a very particular manner, and are highly resented, even in the saints, and punished with peculiar severity in the daring, and presumptuous. The Israelites in the wilderness vexed his Holy Spirit, till he turned to be their enemy, and fought against them. Some of the Young Gentile converts grieved him, and many were sickly and weak among them, and many slept, for their unbecoming behaviour at the Lord's table. The Holy Spirit (says Christ) shall glorify me. And the Spirit is grieved when the Lord is dishonoured. Ananias and Sapphira, agreeing together in sin, tempted the Spirit of the Lord, and Satan filled their hearts to lie to the Holy Ghost. "Thou hast not lied unto men, but unto God," says Peter, Acts v. Therefore the Holy Ghost is God. And they were both struck dead upon the spot for it. Great and innumerable sins against God in his law, as in Manasseh and others, have been forgiven; and many awful things done and spoken against the Son of man have been pardoned, as may be seen in Paul. But those that do despite to the Spirit of Grace; who willing, and wilfully counteract his operations and designs in the souls of God's people; and who see his power, and yet oppose, hate, and fight against it; and who ridicule and blaspheme both the author and his operations; never have been, nor ever will be forgiven; for "the sin against the Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men," Matt. xii. 31. And can any man in his senses believe, or attempt to affirm, that the all-wise God, the Judge of all the earth, who is rich in mercy and abundant in goodness and in truth, would exclude men from all possibility of pardon, and doom them to eternal damnation, for sinning against a name, an accident, or only a quality, attribute, perfection, or a power in God, which may be transiently put forth, and displayed as an operation on man? Surely sinning, against God the Father himself, which is sinning against all the revealed perfections and attributes of his nature, must be a more heinous crime than sinning against a single quality in him. And yet all manner of sins and blasphemies, committed against him in the law, have been forgiven unto men, Matt. xii. 31; but the blasphemy against the Holy Ghost never was, nor ever will be. And why this sin unto death should be emphatically called "the great transgression," I cannot conceive, if the Holy Ghost, against whom it is committed, be not the great and terrible God.
The dispensation of the gospel, in the administration of it, is peculiarly his: hence it is called "the ministration of the Spirit," that exceeds the former ministration in glory, 2 Cor. iii. 8. He is the operator and worker of all good from God, through Christ, in men; and of all the glory and praise that rebounds to God by men; and will be greatly concerned in the first resurrection, the resurrection of the just. "The dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God and the Spirit will attend it, and quicken them all, as it is written - "But, if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead, dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies, by his Spirit that dwelleth in you," Rom. viii. II.
I must beg my dear brother's pardon for the length of this epistle. My pen ran on; and, being deeply engaged in the subject, I had quite forgotten myself. Ponder these matters over attentively, and send me your thoughts upon the subject. I have written them as I see and believe them; and so to see and believe, in my judgment, is to walk in the ways of God safely.
Ever yours, W. HUNTINGTON.
LETTER III TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX. Dearly beloved in the Lord Jesus-Perfect peace, and at such a time.
If I have not wearied my beloved brother with my epistles on the pleasing subject, I will resume it and proceed. That the Holy Spirit is properly a person, I have endeavoured to prove from scripture; and that he is a divine person appears as plain, because he personally subsists and has life in himself "As the Father hath life in himself, so hath he given to the Son to have life in himself," John, v. 26. And so hath the Spirit life in himself. This appears in his creation-work. "The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life," Job, xxxiii. 4. He quickened, animated, and inspired Adam, and furnished him with a life of love. What power but a divine person, who has life in himself, could form a living soul in Adam, and give him life, righteousness, and true holiness? He is the author of natural and spiritual life. "It is the Spirit that quickeneth," John, vi. 23. And, as he giveth spiritual life, so he maintains it; hence he is called "a well of living-water, springing up into everlasting life," John, iv. 14. And all the elect of God, who are by nature dead in trespasses and sins, and children of wrath, even as others-these doth the Holy Spirit quicken. "I will put my Spirit in you, and ye shall live,"Ezek. xxxvii. 14. Hence our Saviour says, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink. He that believeth on me, as the scripture Hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified" John, vii. 38, 39. It was the Spirit that quickened the Saviour's body in the tomb. He was "put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit," 1 Peter, iii. 18. Hence the Spirit is expressly called life; and he will, at the last day, quicken all that ever died in the Lord. "And, if Christ be in you, the body is dead because of sin; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness. I have sowed and you have reaped; and he that reaped receiveth wages, and gathereth fruit unto eternal life; when he that sows and them that reap shall rejoice together." The Spirit, as a well of living, water, shall spring up into everlasting life. This is the glorious harvest promised, as the present is the seed-time, in which the blessed crop (that we have already got in hope) is sown for he that soweth to the Spirit, shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting," Gal. vi. 8. If, therefore, the Spirit be not a person, and a divine person too, who has eternal life in himself, we never could reap everlasting life from him by yielding spiritual obedience to him. I say spiritual obedience, because we are said to serve "in newness of Spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter," which is only bodily exercise. And we are said, likewise, to worship God in the Spirit, and to walk in newness of life. Furthermore, the names which, in the strictest sense, are peculiar to God, are by the scriptures given to the Holy Ghost. As Jehovah; which is an incommunicable name of God. "Thou, whose name alone is Jehovah, art the most high God over all the earth," Psalm lxxxiii. 18. He, whom the children of Israel tempted and proved, vexed and rebelled against, was Jehovah. And Isaiah ascribes it to the Holy Ghost, "But they rebelled, and vexed his Holy Spirit; therefore he was turned to be their enemy, and fought against them," Isaiah, Lxiii. 10. The apostle ascribes the same to him. Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, to-day, if ye will hear his voice, harden not your hearts, as in the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness; when your fathers tempted me, proved me, and saw my works forty years. Wherefore I was grieved with that generation, and said, they always err in their heart; and they have not known my ways. So I sware in my wrath, they shall not enter into my rest," Heb. vii. 11. Isaiah, and the author of the Epistle to the Hebrews, ascribe his tempting and rebelling of the Israelites to be done against the Holy Ghost; therefore the Holy Ghost must be Jehovah, and so it is written, "And he called the name of the place Massab, and Meribah, because of the chiding of the children of Israel, and because they tempted Jehovah, saying, Is Jehovah among us or not?" Exod. xvii. 7. It is therefore plain that the Holy Ghost is Jehovah, which incommunicable name is peculiar to the most high God.The Holy Ghost is called God, not in a figurative, but in a proper sense. "Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?" I Cor. iii. 16. What is not essentially God cannot be the Spirit of God; therefore the Holy Ghost is God. The Spirit of Jehovah is Jehovah the Spirit; the Spirit of God is God the Spirit. And this rule may be seen in the Epistle to the Corinthians. " Nevertheless, when it shall turn to the Lord, the veil shall be taken away. Now the Lord is that Spirit; and where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty," 2 Cor. iii. 16, 17. The Spirit of the Lord is the Lord the Spirit. Hence we may safely conclude that the Holy Ghost is Jehovah, God, and Lord.
And, to shew the divine equality of the adorable persons in the Godhead each person at times is named or placed first. Sometimes Christ is named first: "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen." 2 Cor. xiii. 14. Sometimes the Holy Spirit stands first: "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding; to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ," Col. ii. 2. Sometimes God the Father stands first: "For there are three that bear record in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost: and these three are one. I John, v. 7. Now, as this last order is not always attended to, it shews that one is not before or after another; and that one is not greater or less than the other. Again - "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit; and there are differences of administrations, but the same Lord; and there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God, which worketh all in all," I Cor. xii. 4, 5, 6. Here the Holy Ghost rates the name of Spirit, Lord, and God, to himself; and therefore he must be the Spirit, Lord, and God. Sometimes the Holy Ghost is prayed to as God. "But the Lord is faithful, who shall establish you, and keep you from evil. And we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do and will do the things which we command you. And the Lord direct your hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ," 2 Thess. iii. 3, 4, 5. The Lord, who is faithful, and who establishes the churches, and keeps them from evil, and in whom Paul places his confidence, is the Holy Ghost; and he is prayed to, that he may direct the saints hearts into the love of God, and into the patient waiting for Christ. The Holy Spirit is prayed to as a divine person, to direct souls into the love of God, who is another person, and into the patient waiting for Christ, which is another, and a distinct person from the former two.
That the Holy Ghost is truly and essentially God, appears from the scriptures, which ascribe divine attributes and perfections to him; such as eternity: "Through the eternal Spirit he offered himself to God," Heb. ix. 14. Omniscience also -, "The Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God; for what man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God," I Cor. ii. 10, 11. Omnipotence is ascribed to him." The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the power of the Highest shall overshadow thee," Luke, i. 35. He is called " the Spirit of counsel and might," Isaiah, xv. 2. And "the Spirit of power and of a sound mind," 2 Tim. i. 7. How can he be called the Spirit of power, the Spirit of might, and the power of the Highest, if he be not the Almighty God? Nothing can be the power of the Highest, but Omnipotence itself; and whatever is omnipotent is God.
Omnipresence. - "Whither shall I go from thy Spirit? or Whither shall I flee from thy presence? If I ascend up into heaven, thou art there; if I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there. If I take the wings of the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the sea; even there shall thy hand lead me, and thy right hand shall hold me," Psalm cxxxix. 7-10. Here is the Holy Spirit, and his presence, and his hand, in all places; therefore be must be omnipresent, and immensity itself, seeing there is no going, from him, either in heaven or in earth, in the sea, or in hell.
Holiness also. - He is "declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of Holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 4. If he be the Spirit of Holiness, he must have holiness in himself, as he has; and he is the author of holiness in all the saints, for they are sanctified by the Holy Ghost, Who dwells in them. "Know ye not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost? Ye are the temple of the living God; as God hath said, I will dwell in them, and walk in them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," 2 Cor. vi. 16. He is called the "Spirit of truth," and "truth itself," who leads the saints into all truth. The "Spirit of wisdom" also and, if he be the Spirit of truth, and truth itself, then he must be divine verity and divine wisdom, or he cannot be the Spirit of truth and wisdom. All these things, properly considered, are sufficient to prove that the Holy Ghost is a person, a divine person, and therefore truly and properly God. I must conclude, wishing my dear brother much of the presence of God in this new year. And when it is well with thee remember.
W. HUNTINGTON.
Beloved,
Since I sent off the last, my head and my heart have been conceiving
and bringing forth again, insomuch that I think I have more oil in my cruse
now than when I began. "My horn is exalted like the horns of an unicorn,
and I am anointed with fresh oil." Therefore I will proceed to shew that
the Holy Ghost is a distinct person. He is said to proceed from the Father"
- When the comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father, he shall testify
of me," John, xv. 26. If he proceed from the Father, he must be distinct
from him from whom he proceeds. Again - "It is expedient for you that I
go away; for, if I go not away, the Comforter will not come unto on; but,
if I depart, I will send him." Here the Spirit proceeds from the Son also,
as well as from the Father. And, as he is distinct from the Father, so
he is also from the Son - "I will send him." The Spirit, which is sent,
is a distinct person from him that sends him. He is likewise called another.
"I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter." God
is called the Father of mercies, and the God of all comfort: the Saviour
is called the Consolation of Israel, which good old Simeon waited to see;
and Christ, being, about to leave his flock, promises to send them another
comforter, that should abide with them for ever; and, if he be another
comforter, he must be distinct both from the Father and the Son, or else
he cannot be another, but must be the same.
I believe that God the Father never did any works from which the Son or the Spirit were excluded. "Verily, verily, I say unto you, the Son can do nothing of himself, but what be seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doth the Son likewise," John, v. 19. Nor did he ever work any work from which the Spirit was excluded. Their distinct personality appears in all their divine operations; and in every work they seem to be jointly concerned. In the secret councils of old, and in the decree of election, and in the covenant of grace which was made from everlasting, they were jointly concerned: there was the Father choosing, the Son in whom the choice was made undertaking to save, and the Spirit to sanctify and make obedient the objects chosen. "Elect according to the foreknowledge of God the Father, through sanctification of the Spirit unto obedience, and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ," 1 Pet. i. 2. This will appear more plain in the following passage, where you have an account of the covenant, and of the persons in the Holy Trinity altogher. "As for me, this is my covenant with them, saith the Lord, My Spirit that is upon thee, and my words which I have put in thy mouth, shall not depart out of thy mouth, nor out of the mouth of thy seed, nor out of the mouth of thy seed's seed, saith the Lord, from henceforth and for ever," Isa. lix. 21. Here is the Father and the Son agreeing, about a covenant; "I have made a covenant with my chosen." The Son is undertaking to become man: it is to be a covenant by sacrifice. He undertakes in our behalf, and for us: the promise of eternal life and the Holy Spirit are to come upon him: this the Holy Ghost undertakes to do; and these are to abide upon him, the head of influence, till salvation is finished. And, when Christ was glorified, then the Word and Spirit were to be sent forth by the Covenant Head to the chosen seed. The Spirit is to apply the benefits of the cross, and proclaim liberty to the elect "By the blood of thy covenant I have sent thy prisoners out of the pit wherein is no water." They are called Christ's prisoners, because they are given unto him to redeem, sanctify, and save.
In the work of creation the distinct personality and operations of the Holy Trinity plainly appear. There is God the Father creating all things by Jesus Christ, Eph. iii. 9; and there is the Holy Spirit moving, upon the face of the waters, Gen. i. 2, bringing, the confused chaos into its present beautiful form and order. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth," Psalm xxxiii. 6. Here is the Lord, and the essential Word which was with God, and was God, creating the world; and the breath of his mouth, which is the Holy Ghost, equally concerned in the work; for by his Spirit he hath garnished the heavens," Job, xxvi. 13.
Nor need it be thought strange that the Holy Ghost is compared to breath and to the wind; seeing, as a learned man observes, that "generation expresses the Son's distinct mode of subsisting in the divine Essence, so spiration may also express the Spirit's distinct mode of subsisting therein; and, perhaps, is the true reason of his bearing, this name." And, as he is called the Breath of the Almighty, and as Christ breathed on the apostles and said unto them, " Receive ye the Holy Ghost;" the procession of the Holy Spirit is beautifully set forth thereby.
There was a council held among the divine persons about the creation of man. "Let us," says the Father to the Son, "make man in our image, after our likeness;" and the Holy Ghost was breathed into him, who formed his soul and quickened him. "So God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him." In those words, "Let us make man in our image, after our likeness," a plurality of persons appear; but in the last text, "So God made man in his own image," the unity of the Divine Essence is preserved; the first account being in the plural number, and the last in the singular.
In the government of the world the Trinity appears to be equally concerned. This may be seen in the king of Babylon's visions: "I saw in the visions of my head, upon my bed; and, behold, a watcher and an holy one came down from heaven," Dan. iv. 13. This is in the singular number. "This matter (says Daniel) is by the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the word of the Holy Ones; to the intent that the living may know that the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and giveth it to whomsoever he will," Dan. iv. 17. I know that many are of opinion that these watchers are angels; but that cannot be; for the decree is called the decree of the watchers, and the demand by the words of the Holy Ones; but angels are not of God's council, nor have they any hand in making God's decrees. "Who hath directed the Spirit of the Lord; or, being his counsellor, hath taught him? With whom took he counsel, and who instructed him?" Isa. xl. 13, 14. What is called the decree of the Watchers and of the Holy Ones, is explained by the prophet. "This is the decree of the Most High, which is come upon my lord the king," Dan. iv. 24. Besides, though the angels are holy creatures, yet three of them cannot be emphatically called the Holy Ones," for there are twenty thousand of holy angels, and there are holy souls in heaven and holy saints on earth. But God in three persons is the fountain of holiness. Nor need we wonder at the Trinity being called Watchers, seeing God the Father, Son, and Spirit, watch over all the saints. He that keepeth thee will not slumber - "Behold, he that keepeth Israel shall neither slumber nor sleep Psa. cxxi. 3. And, unless the Lord keep the city of Zion, all other watchmen wake but in vain. Thus do the Holy Trinity work jointly together, and their distinct personality is seen in all their glorious works; and so it will further appear in every branch of the work of salvation.
As in the mission and commission of Christ - " From the time that it was, there am I: and now the Lord God and his Spirit hath sent me," Isa. xlviii. 16. Here is Christ who is the ME that is sent, and the Lord God and his Spirit which sent him. If a trinity of names is meant, and not persons, as a wise man observes, it should have been worded thus: "And now I myself, and myself, have sent myself," This prophecy had its accomplishment just before Christ entered on his ministry, at his baptism. Christ was upon the earth, the Holy Ghost descending in a bodily shape like a dove upon him, and a voice came from heaven, saying, "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased." These are the Lord God and his Spirit sending, Christ forth, and bearing their testimony both to his sonship and to his appointment.
Salvation also is ascribed to all the three persons, who are equally concerned in it. The Father speaks thus: "But I will have mercy on the house of Judah, and will save them by the Lord their God; and will not save them by bow, nor by sword, nor by battle, nor by horses, nor by horsemen," Hosea, i. 7. Thus the Father bears testimony to his only-begotten Son, and tells us that he is the Lord God by whom he saves us; and we believe him, not doubting, but God is a faithful and true witness, and must be a better judge of his own Son, and what he is, than all the Arians and Socinians in the world. God the Father saves us by the Lord our God, who is the Son; hence he is called "Jesus, because he shall save his people from their sins," Matt. i. 21. Nor is the Holy Ghost excluded from the work of salvation; for the Father, who tells us that he will have mercy upon the house of Judah, tells us also how this mercy shall come to us, even by the Holy Spirit - "But according to his mercy he saved us, by the washing of regeneration and renewing of the Holy Ghost," Tit. iii. 5. Thus are all the three divine persons engaged in our salvation. Hence we read of wells, more wells than one, in which salvation is to be had - "Therefore with joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation," Isa. xii. 3.
Again, an empty name cannot write nor bear record. How does a fictitious name appear in a court of law, when there is no person to be found that bears that name, or is called by it? But there are three that bear record in heaven; the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one," I John, v. 7, 8. And this is not a trinity of names accommodated to the making, of a covenant, as some suppose; for a name cannot be a father nor a son. So, likewise, if there be but one person in the Trinity, there cannot be either a Son or a Father; he that denies either, denies both. - "He is antichrist that denieth the Father and the Son: whosoever denieth the Son, the same hath not the Father," I John, ii. 22, 23. None, therefore, but persons can bear record: but the persons in the Holy Trinity do bear record; and the record that they bear is to the sonship of Christ; and their distinct record stands in the holy scriptures. The Father's record, twice written, is this - "Thou art my beloved Son, in thee I am well pleased," Luke, iii. 22. Again, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased, hear ye him," Matt. xvii. 5. The Lord's testimony of himself stands upon record thus - "say ye of him, whom the Father hath sanctified and sent into the world, Thou blasphemest; because I said, I am the Son of God. If I do not the things of the Father, believe me not," John, x. 36, 37. For this blasphemy, as the wicked Jews called it, was Christ condemned; and this he never denied, but sealed it with his blood. The record of the Holy Ghost is to the same truth. "Paul, a servant, separated unto the gospel of God, which he promised afore by his prophets in the holy scriptures, concerning his Son Jesus Christ our Lord, which was made of the seed of David according to the flesh; and declared to be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead," Rom. i. 1-4. This is the witness which is recorded by the Spirit that Christ is the Son of God; not in name, for there is no power in an empty name; but he is the Son of God with power, the Omnipotent, "the First and the Last, the Almighty," Rev. xi. 8. And this is declared, or manifested, by his own resurrection from the dead - " Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up: this is the testimony borne and recorded "by the Spirit of Holiness." Now, that the threefold record, borne by the Father, Son, and Spirit, is to the sonship of Christ, appears plain from the apostle John's conclusions, - "There are three that bear record in heaven, and three that bear witness on earth. If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God is greater: for this is the witness of God which he hath testified of his Son. He that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself; he that believeth not God hath made himself a liar, because he believeth not the record that God gave of his Son," I John, v. 7-10. Thus God's witness, that he hath testified, and which stands upon record, is called the testification and record that God gave of his Son. The natural inferences are these: 1. That none but those who believe in the only begotten Son of God have the witness of the Spirit in themselves. 2. That all those who tell us that Christ is only a name, or a mere creature, are infidels; they believe not the record that God gave of his Son. And, 3. The infamy charged upon such is, that they make God a liar, than which nothing can be worse; and such liars are all our Arians and Socinians, and therefore their witness is nothing worth.
Thus the holy Three bear record, which a trinity of names cannot do; for, as I before observed, if a fictitious name appear in a court of law they can do nothing, with it, being, but an empty name: and it must be some person or other that must have written that; but the Holy Trinity want none to write for them (unless it be in condescension to our weakness), for they can all write for themselves. Thus saith God the Father. "But this shall be the covenant that I will make with the house of Israel after those days, saith the Lord: I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people," Jer. xxxi. 33. And God the Son promises to write the following inscription upon all conquerors: "Him that overcometh will I make a pillar in the temple of my God, and he shall go no more out: and I will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which cometh down out of heaven from my God: and I will write upon him my new name," Rev. iii. 12. And the Holy Ghost's hand-writing is recorded thus: "Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart," 2 Cor. iii. 3. The law that God puts into the hidden parts is shedding, abroad his everlasting love in our hearts (love being the fulfilling of the law) by the Holy Ghost given unto us. Writing his law in the mind, is persuading us by his Spirit, and working in us the law of faith; "The Lord shall persuade Japheth, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem." What Habakkuk was ordered to write plain upon tables, that he who runs might read, God writes on the fleshly tables of our hearts, by justifying us and giving us faith and life; and in this the vision speaks in our conscience - "The just man shall live by his faith."
Christ writes upon us the name of his God; that is, he gives us an experience of that glorious covenant-name which God proclaimed before Moses - "The Lord, the Lord God, gracious and merciful, slow to anger abundant in goodness and truth; pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin." Pardon comes by the blood of Christ; grace, goodness, and mercy, all come together when God reveals his dear Son in us. To write upon us the name of the city of God, is to give us the happy enjoyment of peace, which is the fruit and effect of imputed righteousness; and to bless us with the presence of God. The city is to be called Jehovah Shammah, the Lord is there; or the city of God's presence; God promising to dwell in Zion for ever, it being his resting-place, and be having desired it. The Lord's new name seems to be that worn upon his vesture and on his thigh, and is, King of kings, and Lord of lords;" which name he will achieve by the destruction of antichrist, and taking, to himself his great power and reigning, when the kingdoms of this world will become his; and he then will make his children princes in all the earth. This greatest of all kingdoms, bigger than the Babylonian, Grecian, or Roman, will be given to the saints of the Most High, who shall take it and possess it for ever and ever; then the saints will be kings, and rule over their oppressors. Making, them pillars, is polishing them by grace, making them upright and ornamental in their profession; and where these things are found written by the Holy Spirit on the fleshly tables of the heart, the sum and substance of the New Testament, whether in the gospels or in the epistles of the apostles, are experienced in the souls of God's elect, which makes them the pillar and ground of the truth, known and read of all men, being, made manifest in the consciences both of saints and sinners, hypocrites and heretics; and such living epistles have a seal upon them, as all epistles should have, having the broad seal of heaven on their souls, by which they become God's secret treasure, being sealed up to the day of redemption, which is redemption from the grave. These things are recorded by the Holy Trinity, and these things are written in the minds and hearts of all believers; and these inscriptions are as puzzling to the wise and prudent among us, as the hand-writing, upon the walls of Belshazzar's palace was to the wise men of Babylon. But messengers who bear such tidings, and interpreters to explain them, are scarce. "If there be a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to shew unto man his uprightness, then he is gracious unto him," Job, xxxiii. 23. And I think that, if every congreated thousand in a profession in this nation had a real messenger to bring forth such good tidings, and endowed with divine skill to interpret them to sinners in whose hearts they are written, old England would be one of the happiest countries in all the world.
Dearly beloved, pardon me for the amazing length of this epistle; it was written, some late at night, and the rest early in the morning. When the waters are moved, and I can step in, I am (like Peter on the mount) apt to forget myself, but hope ever to remember thee at the throne; and he that hath such a friend must shew himself friendly.
Fellow Servant and Fellow Soldier,
Grace and peace be with thee, both in the armoury and in the field.
"Counsel in the heart," saith the wise man (or rather Wisdom itself), "is
as deep waters, and the words of wisdom a flowing brook" This witness is
true; for before I had gotten the last out of hand I had two more in my
heart; and therefore I must speak, or write, that I may be eased. I shewed,
in my last, how each person in the glorious Trinity were jointly concerned
in the salvation of God's elect; and treated a little of their co-operations
in every branch of it. And this will further appear, even in the application
of the promise. "The words of the wise are as goads, and as nails fastened
by the masters of assemblies, which are given from one shepherd," (Eccl.
xii. 11. In the masters of assemblies a plurality of persons appear; but
in the one shepherd the unity of God is seen. If it be replied, that by
the masters of assemblies the Jewish doctors are meant; I answers they
were not preachers of God's word; they made that of none effect by their
own traditions. Nor can it mean the apostles or ordinary gospel-ministers,
for they dare not take the title of master: "Be not ye called Rabbi, for
one is your master, even Christ," Matt. xxiik 8. Nor is it in the power
of any man to apply the word of God. To fasten the word of God, as a nail
driven up to the head, requires power; and "the excellency of the power
is of God, and not of us." If the most eloquent orator in the world, by
the dint of elocution, was to attempt this work and move the passions of
men to the uttermost, all that can be said of it is, that they received
it in word only: but, when the word comes "with power, in the Holy Ghost,
and in much assurance," the nail is fastened; nor is it possible for either
men or devils to draw it out. God the Father calls himself a master. "If
I am a master, where is my fear?" Mal. i. 6. "Call no man master, for one
is your master, even Christ." And so be that is taught of the Spirit sows
to the Spirit, and is led by the Spirit; he learns, obeys, and follows
his master. Now these words of the wise, called goads, that prick; and
nails, that hold fast, are given from one shepherd, even God: "The Lord
is my shepherd, therefore I shall not want: for we are the people of his
pasture, and the sheep of his hand."
Again - We are baptized in the name of all the three divine persons. "Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost," Matt. xxviii. 19. And, when we are baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, the love of God is shed abroad in the heart; the sun of righteousness arises with healing in his beams, and shines like the sun in his full strength; when the Holy Ghost brings the live coal from off the altar, or puts both life and love in the word, and says it upon our tongue, telling us that our iniquity is taken away, and our sin purge, and that we must now confess it, and proclaim it. This baptism makes a minister a flaming fire, a burning and shining light; and unites poor souls to Father, Son, and Holy Ghost; and interests them in the love of all three. But, besides the baptism of the Holy Ghost, there is another that follows, and that is the fiery trial. We read of the spirit of judgment, and of the spirit of burning: for God keeps his fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem, that his real churches may not be overrun with tares and chaff, straw and stubble. The vessels of gold and of silver will stand the furnace, but the vessels of wood and of earth will consume: the former, by losing their dross, appear the brighter and better for the fire; the latter, like a fool brayed in a mortar, ten times worse.
This blessed mystery ever was, and ever will be, with the chosen of God; for thus it is written: "According to the word that I covenanted with you when ye came out of Egypt, so my Spirit remaineth among you: fear ye not. For thus saith the Lord of Hosts, it is a little while, and I will shake the heavens and the earth, the sea and the dry land. And I will shake all nations, and the desire of all nations shall come," Haggai, ii. 5,6. Here is God the Father speaking and covenanting; and the essential Word, who in the covenant-head, and the covenant itself; because the covenant is with him, made with him, confirmed by him, and all the blessings of it are in him. The glorious proclamation of the name of the Lord is nothing else but the mercy and blessings of God in Christ Jesus, held forth in the covenant of grace: and this "my name," says God, "is in him" - in the angel that went before them. Hence they are charmed to obey him, and not to provoke him, "for he will not pardon your transgressions." When Moses calls Christ the Rock, whose work is perfect; and sets him before them as their refuse, their life, and the length of their days; and tells them not to say in their heart, "Who shall ascend into heaven, or who shall descend into the deep?" to fetch the Word to them these are all applied in the New Testament to Christ, and are the things of the new covenant, which the Spirit applies to the elect of God. Here is the Lord of Hosts speaking, and the Word (Christ) spoken of, and called "the desire of all nations;" and the covenant with him; and the Spirit remaining still among them; for, although national mercies were often taken away from Israel, and national calamities brought on, yet the elect were never deserted of their God.
Moreover, the Holy Trinity are to be considered in all our addresses or approaches to God: "For through him we both have access by one Spirit unto the Father." Here is the Father, to whom we find nearness and access, the surety having removed our sins and a broken law out of the way, and appearing as our peace-maker and mediator, through whom we are indulged with this access; and here is one Spirit, under whose influence, as a spirit of grace and supplication, we draw nigh. This is the new and living way which Christ hath consecrated: and he tells us that no man can come to the Father but by him; and he that enters not by this new way and straight gate, but climbs up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber; and such thieves and robbers are the Arians, Socinians, and Papists; the former of which allow of no mediator, and the latter have brought in a hundred.
This mystery, my dearly beloved, we must keep, hold fast, and abide in; which is so clearly revealed in the word of God. For, "if that which ye have heard from the beginning shall remain in you, ye also shall continue in the Son and in the Father; but the anointing teacheth you of all things, and is truth, and is no lie; and even as it hath taught you, ye shall abide in him," I John, 1. 24-27. Hence we may conclude that whosoever hath not the doctrine of Christ hath not God; but he that hath the doctrine of Christ, who receives the love of the truth, or the love of God, which is promised to us in the word of truth; and he that receives the truth in the love of it, believes in it, and holds it fast, confesseth it, and abides in it, even he shall continue in the Son, and in the Father; and likewise he shall continue in the anointing which is truth, and is no lie. But I must break off, and go to our gates, where there are things new and old, which are laid up for the king's beloved, that a portion of meat in due season may be given to the household.
Beloved in the Lord,
Yours came to hand; and I am glad that the subject meets with your
approbation, as my mind is still employed in this glorious mystery. I concluded
my last with our abiding in the Son and in the Father; and likewise in
the anointing, which is true, and is no lie. And shall proceed, and begin
this with the apostolic benediction: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with us,"
is of the same import. Now from all these plain passages of scripture,
which I have quoted, three divine persons appear in the one God, and no
more: not one can be left out, nor can one be added.
But the adversaries to the Trinity object, because the express word Trinity is not mentioned in the Bible: but it is not the word that they hate and fight against, but the doctrine. We know that two is a couple, or a pair; three is a trinity, and four a quaternity: and "there are three that bear record in heaven," and no more, "and these three are one:" not three names and one person, but three distinct persons in one undivided essence. So likewise they object to the word satisfaction by the sacrifice of Christ; because the express word is not mentioned. But the thing, is to be found in the Bible. God is called a creditor, Luke vii. 41, and poor sinners are debtors, to fulfil the whole law, on pain of eternal death; "and he that offends in one point is guilty of all;" and should he die in this state, into the prison of hell he must go; for, if we die in our sins, where Christ is we cannot come; and therefore cannot come out of prison till the very last mite is paid; and, as lying, in jail cannot pay debts, there can be no hope of a jail-delivery. Exposed to this, and threatened with it, are all men while in their sins. In this state Christ found us when "he took our nature, and was made of a woman, and made under the law;" which law he obeyed, and his obedience is placed to our account for righteousness our sins he took, and bore them in his own body on the tree, and was made a curse for us, and died in our room; the just for the unjust, and so redeemed us from the curse," and thus fulfilled all righteousness, with which our creditor is well pleased; and by the blood of his covenant he sends forth his elect prisoners out of the pit, declaring himself faithful and just in forgiving our sins, and in cleansing us from all unrighteousuess. And this is real satisfaction made for sin, for the creditor is well pleased with it; and to be well pleased with the payment is to be satisfied with it. And, as these things are found, we hold the words which well express them; and it pleases God, by the foolishness of preaching these things, to save all those who believe in them. And, on the other hand, we find many things advanced by those who are opposite to us, which sound as bad in our, ears as the words person, trinity, and satisfaction, do in theirs. Some tell us that Christ was only an instrument in the creation, or a creating, instrument. "Nothing can sound worse in the ears of a true lover of Christ than this; it is not common sense. We know that instruments are used by mechanics and builders, to fit and prepare materials for the purpose the artist or builder intends them; but to tell a man that such a mechanic has finished such a curious machine, and such a building is erected, to be the property of the tools that were used in the work, and for the praise and glory of them, would appear madness. So to talk of a creating instrument, or an instrument possessing creating power to make all things out of nothing, are such things as no man in his senses can believe. "For by him were all things created that are in heaven, and that are in earth, visible and invisible, whether they be thrones, or dominions, or principalities or powers: all things were created by him, and for him: and he is before all things, and by him all things consist," Col. i. 16, 17. He is here declared to be before all things; and of course long, before this creating, instrument could be invented, or brought forth. "All things were created by him, and for him, created by his own power, and for his own glory and use: and by him all things consist," or are preserved in their existence. Now this glorious Creator cannot be an instrument, but he must be God: and to this the Father bears witness - "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom: thou hast loved righteousness, and hated iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows. And, thou Lord in the beginning hast laid the foundation of the earth; and the heavens are the works of thy hands. They shall perish but thou remainest; and they shall all wax old as doth a garment; and as a vesture shalt thou fold them up, and they shall be changed: but thou art the same, and thy years shall not fail," Heb. i. 8, 9. In the above words God the Father calls the divine Creator of heaven and earth, God and Lord; and tells us, that the heavens are the work of his hands: and he must be the best judge of his own Son. The tell us that Christ had a human soul pre-existing from eternity, and that it was with this that God took counsel, and by this he made the world. But "Christ is before all things," which this thing cannot be; much less can it be called the fellow of the Lord of Hosts," and surely it must be robbery with a witness, for such a thing as this to make itself "equal with God," as Christ did, even when "he made himself of no reputation, but took on him the form of a servant," Philip. ii. 6. Some talk of Christ being a delegated power, and a subordinate God, and a God by office; but this is making more gods than one: for, if one be supreme, and the other subordinate, there must be two; different in essence, glory, power, and majesty. And to worship with divine adoration any thing below infinite divinity, is rank idolatry. However, this vain-imagined distinction between the Father and the Son hath no place in the Bible. The Lord of Hosts calls Christ his fellow, Zech. xiii. 7. And Christ thought it no robbery to be equal with God the Father, Phil. ii. 6. Christ says, "I and my Father are one." And "all men must honour the Son, even as they honor the Father." And, if he is truly and properly God, equal to the Father, and one with him, and always in him, then there can be no idolatry in worshipping him; for all the angels of God are commanded to worship the first-born, even in his state of incarnation; as they all did at his birth, Heb. i. 6. And Zion is commanded to do the same; and the true reason given for this command is, because he is God: "He is thy Jehovah, and worship thou him," Psalm xlv. 11. And we know that " the Lord our God is one Lord," Deut. vi. 4. And we must have no other gods but him: " Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve," Matt. iv. 10. And he that obeys this first and great commandment must banish far from his mind all the spurious deities of the Arians and Socinians, for these are no better than the image which Nebuchadnezzar the king had set up.
Many such strange notions as these does Satan beget in the vain imaginations of men; and such are inventors of evil things, and set up the stumbling-block of their iniquity in their heart; and God takes them in their own craftiness, by suffering, them to pay adoration to that which is not God; which is idolatry, and an image of jealousy: which the pure gospel, if ever it had been attended with power to their hearts, would have pulled down. "For the weapons of our warfare are mighty, through God, to the pulling down of strong holds; casting, down imaginations, and every high things that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ," 2 Cor. x. 4, 5. And sure I am that those who deny the eternity of Christ, and talk of a human soul pre-existing, talk nonsense. No human soul can be God's fellow, nor God's equal, nor one with him, nor one in him; much less can such a creature, which is inferior to an angel, be the only-begotten Son of God, or the Son of the Father in truth and love: But, as for Christ, "all things were made by him, and he is before all thing," Col. i. 16, 17. And, if he is before all things then he must be before this human soul was made; and, if all things were made him, then he must make this soul also, and of course make himself. But this phantom is not the Christ of God; this is not God's mystery among the Gentiles, which he is pleased to reveal in us, the hope of glory. We are not to hope in a creature, but to set our hope in God. Christ is the faithful and true witness, and the record that he bears of himself is true; and this is the record that he bears of himself: "I am Alpha and Omega, the beginning and the ending, saith the Lord, which is, and which was, and which is to come, the Almighty," Rev. i. 8.
The enemies to the glorious mystery of the Trinity hold a trinity as well as we; they allow that there are three in God; so that if we err in this matter, so do they; only they allow of three names, and but one person; nor are they agreed which is the person: some Sabellians hold Christ to be the person, and the Father and the Spirit to be only names; some, that are called Arians and Socinians, say the Father is the person, and the Son and Spirit are only names: thus one denies the Father, and the other denies the Son; and between these two they have no God.
This, however, must be true, that whatsoever the Father is, the Son must be the same; and so the Jews understood the Saviour's confession of his own sonship, and laid this thing to his charge, namely, that he made himself equal with God. "Therefore the Jews sought the more to kill him, because be not only had broken the Sabbath, but said also that God was his Father, making himself equal with God:" which the Saviour never denied, but confirmed. The Son can do nothing of himself, (and how can he, when the Father and he are one?) but what he seeth the Father do: for what things soever he doeth, these also doeth the Son likewise," John, v. 19. Hence it is plain, that the Son is equal with the Father; and, if so, then he must be of the same nature with him. So that, if the Son be a son only in name, the Father must be the same; if Christ be only a son in office, or in a figurative sense, the Father must be so too; and, if Christ be no more than a human soul, which is but a mere creature, the Father must be such also. For Christ is declared to be "the only begotten Son of God," John, iii. 16. Begotten and not created. Nor is he a son by office, as magistrates are; nor by creation, as angels and men are: but "the Son of the Father in truth and love," 2 John 3. Therefore, whatever the Son is, such is the Father; for Christ is the Son of the Father in truth and love: and, as the Father is God, such is Christ; "the brightness of his glory, and the express image of his person," Heb. i. 3. "The true God, and eternal life," I John. iii. 20. "And without controversy, great is the mystery of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in the Spirit, seen of angels, preached unto the Gentiles, believed on in the world, and received up into glory, 1 Tim. iii. 16. And, were all the Arians and Socinians in the world to combine together, they never could apply the above, nor the following ascriptions, to a human soul, or to any mere creature, however exalted or glorified. "Keep this commandment without spot, unrebukable, until the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ: which in his times he shall shew, who is the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords; who only hath immortality, dwelling, in the light which no man can approach unto; whom no man hath seen, nor can see: to whom be honour and power everlasting. Amen," 1 Tim. vi. 14, 15, 16. Let all the enemies of the Son of God prove that an empty name, or a pre-existing, human soul, or a demi-god, or a god by office, or a creating, instrument, or a subordinate god; let them, I say, choose out of this list of imaginary deities which they please, and let them prove that the apostle's ascriptions are applicable to their feigned gods, namely, that their pre-existing human soul is " the blessed and only Potentate;" that this creature is "the King of kings, and Lord of lords that this human soul hath only immortality; that it "dwells in the light which no man can approach unto, whom no man hath seen nor can see;" and that "Honour and power everlasting, Amen," is to be ascribed to that. "He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" Isaiah, xliv.
Nor did the incarnation of Christ bring a fourth person into the Trinity. The human nature of Christ is not a person; it is called "a new thing," Jer. xxxi. 22, and "a holy thing," Luke, i. 35, Christ never had personal subsistence, or it never did personally exist alone or of itself, but it subsisted in union with the divine person of the Son of God; and this union took place before the human nature was prepared or formed - "the Word was made flesh."
Some tell us that Christ took on him a "human form" from everlasting; but how be could assume a human form when there were no human beings, is what I cannot conceive; there can be no form of a thing that never existed, any more than the sun could have a shadow from everlasting when the sun had no being. I read that "Christ was found in the form of God, and that he thought it no robbery to be equal with God." And this form does not mean any outward shape; for "who hath heard God's voice, or seen his shape?" But it means that he possessed, in the highest degree, all divine perfections which are peculiar to the divine being; "being the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person." What has led some poor, blind, presumptuous souls into this mistake is, the Saviour's being seen by Abraham and by Joshua in a human appearance: and by the same rule they might prove that he assumed the nature and form of angels from everlasting; for he appeared to Moses, to Jacob, and to Manoah, as an angel of God. But the truth is, Christ is neither an angel nor a man; not an angel, because he is the creator of angels - "He maketh his angels spirits, and his ministers a flaming fire;" nor a man, for as such he never had personal subsistence or existence.
But they tell us that the human soul of Christ, and the form of a human body which Christ took from everlasting, and which they call "the glory man," and in which he appeared to the ancient patriarchs, was part of our nature; so that, when he became incarnate, he took only a human body, not a reasonable soul; which they prove from these words - "For verily he took not on him the nature of angels." "Human souls," they say, "are angelic; but he took not on him the nature of angels." But, if this can be any proof, we shall not know what the scriptures mean by things; there is a distinction between "an innumerable company of angels," and "the spirits of just men made perfect." Nor are the souls of men ever called angels, though ministers of the gospel are; but even this respects their office, not their nature; for both angels and preachers are ministers to the heirs of salvation: but preachers are only angels by office, not by nature. Nor can it be proved from the words of Christ, when be says; "They neither marry, nor are given in marriage; but are as the angels of God in heaven;" for this only respects their glorified state: and the words were intended to confound the Sadducees, who asked, "Whose wife of the seven the woman should be in the resurrection?" The Saviour informs them that marriage is peculiar to this life, and for the procreation of children; but in the world to come there would be no more of this than there is among the angels. Otherwise there will be a great deal of difference between angels and saints; the former being the Lord's servants, the latter the Lord's wife - "Thy Maker is thy husband, the Lord of hosts is his name;" but this never was said of angels.
One would wonder (were it not for the power and dominion that the devil has over mankind) how any man dare to assert such things in plain contradiction to the word of God. For, if this human bodily form and the human soul of Christ were from eternity, and nothing, taken at his incarnation but the body, how can this scripture be true - "Wherefore, in all things it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren," Heb. ii. 17, when there was none of his brethren ever made like unto him? And if this behoved him, if it was meet and fit it should be so, it ill becomes men to make such a difference. Nor could Adam be "a figure of him that was to come;" for Adam came not into being this way. Adam, Christ's figure, was made body and soul at once, and all Christ's brethren come into the world with a body and a soul; and they are all born under the law and under the curse of it, being by this natural birth children of wrath even as others and the heaviest sentence of the law is levelled at the soul - "the soul that sins shall die." Now Christ, as our surety, must be made like unto his brethren; and so he was; he was "made of a woman," and "made under the law, to redeem them that were under the law," by making, his soul an offering, for sin; and then he was to see of the travail of his soul and be satisfied. But, if his human soul existed from eternity, it was not made under the law, and therefore could not be subjected, by virtue of his suretyship egagements, to endure the wrath and curse of God for us. They that suffer the law, whether they suffer as surety or as debtors, must be made under the law, and be subject to the law. Men have bodies and souls, and both are under the law, and both have sinned. And he that redeems them must be of the same nature with them, and near of kin to them, or the former institution of God will not admit of it. He that redeems must be a "brother," or one "near of kin," Lev. xxv. 48, 49. Christ is both brother and goal; but a human body is neither a brother nor a kinsman, it is only half a brother, and the worst half; yea, a dead brother, "for the body without the spirit is dead," James, ii. 26. The truth is, Christ took not on him the nature of angels to redeem fallen angels; but he took on him the seed of Abraham, the whole human nature, body and soul; and this is plain by the growth of both; for "Jesus increased in wisdom and stature, and in favour with God and man," Luke, ii. 52. His soul crew in wisdom, and his body grew in stature; but, if his soul had existed from all eternity, his wisdom and understanding must have been mature and fully ripe before the world began, and therefore incapable of such a growth.
O, my brother, my pen has run on at a strange rate; double letters, I fear, will bring, thee to poverty, unless thy faith increaseth more than it has hitherto done. I received yours, and thank you for it; and shall still entreat thee to find fault where you see cause, and you will much oblige your affectionate friend and brother in Christ Jesus,
The damnable heresy of denying, the divinity of our Lord and Saviour seems to me to render him of no use in any one of his office characters; it renders, also, his great undertaking and his finished work neither meritorious nor efficacious; for no mere creature can merit for himself, much less for another. His divine nature stamps infinite dignity on all his office characters, and so it does on all his mighty works.
His kingly office stands on this - "But unto the Son he saith, Thy throne, O God, is for ever and ever; a sceptre of righteousness is the sceptre of thy kingdom." Which kingdom stands in power, and is always called the kingdom of God. "His name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace; of the increase of his Government and peace there shall be no end, upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order it, and to establish it with judgment and with justice, from henceforth even for ever: the zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this," Isa. ix. 6, 7. Hence he is called King of Zion, and King of glory.
The merit and dignity of his priestly office proceeds on the same footing. How could any mere man's dying atone for all the transgressions that were committed under the first testament, and all the sins of God's elect under the second? Insomuch as those that are called do "receive the promise of eternal inheritance," Heb. ix. 15. Hence it is asserted that "by his one offering, he hath perfected for ever all them that are sanctified." The dignity of his office and the merits of his oblation spring, from his divine sonship. "For the law maketh men high-priests which have infirmities; but the word of the oath, which was since the law, maketh the Son, who is consecrated for evermore Heb. vii. 28.
His prophetic office, and the perfection of it, proceeds on the foundation of his proper deity. "The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people: all his saints are in thy hand, and they shall sit down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words," Deut, xxxiii. 2, 3. At this divine prophet's feet did Mary sit, and receive of his word, when Martha was cumbered with much serving. And in allusion to this text is Mary commended, and is said to choose the good part, which shall not be taken from her. She was a disciple that was brought up at the Lord's feet; and, as all God's children are taught of the Lord, Mary was one of this family, who could never be deprived either of the word of life which she received, nor yet of her adoption into God's family; she was an heir of promise, and a child of God. And who but the only-begotten Son could reveal and make known God's counsel and covenant, his goodwill of purpose and of promise; his tender mercy, loving-kindness, pity, and compassion, which were but dimly known under the former dispensation? And that "God is love," I John iv 8, was notknown, at least not recorded, under the first testament. "All things are delivered unto me of my Father; and no man knoweth the Son but the Father; neither knoweth any man the Father save the Son, and he to whomsoever the Son will reveal him," Matt. xi. 27.
His office of mediator could stand us in no stead if he were not Immanuel, God with us." The breach opened by sin between God and man was infinite, as the Scriptures witness - "Is not thy wickedness great, and thine iniquities infinite?" Job xxii.5. Our sin had separated between us and our God. Moses, indeed, was at times allowed to stand in the gap; but it was by virtue of his office, in which he personated the Saviour, that be was suffered to mediate there; and, though at times he prevailed to lengthen out Israel's tranquillity, yet judgment always overtook them at last. "I have pardoned according to thy word. But "they have tempted me now these ten times, surely they shall not see the land," Numb. xiv. 20, 22. No prayer of Moses, Noab, Daniel, or Job, will purge our sins, magnify the law, or satisfy divine justice. He that stands in this breach, and lays his hand upon both, must be God's equal, Phil. ii. 6, and man's fellow, Psalm xlv. 7; or else mercy and truth will never meet together, nor will righteousness and peace kiss each other. But Christ was the mighty God when a child born, and the Prince of life when crucified, Acts, iii. 15; the Holy One, who saw no corruption, when in the tomb, Psalm xvi. 10. It was "truth that sprung out of the earth" at his resurrection, "when righteousness looked down from heaven" well-pleased, Psalm lxxxv. He was "God manifest in the flesh when he was received up into glory," I Tim. iii. 16. And "the Lord of hosts and King of glory when he entered there," Psalm xxiv. 9, 10. And we can have no better proof of all this than by seems, poor prisoners come forth out of the pit in which is no water, by the blood of his covenant, Zech. ix. 11.
And sure I am that his being our Advocate with the Father, if he be no more than a creature, would never be sufficient to silence law and justice, Satan and conscience; but, as he is "the wonderful Counsellor, and the mighty God," he can do it; and, blessed be his precious name, we know that be has done it, and will do it.
His endearing character of a Husband is founded on the same divine basis - "Thy maker is thy husband; the Lord of hosts is his name, the God of the whole earth shall he be called."
His character of a Father stands on the same bottom - "The second Adam, the quickening Spirit, the Lord from heaven;" hence called the mighty God, the everlasting Father, the Prince of peace.
And that of a Saviour must needs stand on the same footing - "God has laid help upon one that is mighty." For how can a creature save? "Vain is the help of man," Psal. cviii. 12. "In that day it shall be said to Jerusalem, Fear thou not; and to Zion, Let not thine hands be slack. The Lord thy God, in the midst of thee, is mighty; he will save, be will rejoice over thee with joy; be will rest in his love, be will joy over thee with singing, Zeph. iii. 16, 17.
The efficacy of his blood springs from the same divine source; for, though he was put to death only in the flesh, yet his human nature suffered in union with his divine person. "Take heed, therefore, unto yourselves, and to all the flock over the which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood," Acts, xx. 28
The efficacy and excellency of his everlasting righteousness takes its divinity and dignity from hence - "Who, being in the form of God, thought it not robbery to be equal with God: but made himself of no reputation, and took upon him the form of a servant, and was made in the likeness of man: and, being found in fashion as a man, he humbled himself, and became obedient unto death, even the death of the cross," Phil. ii. 6-8. From hence springs the glory and efficacy of his obedience; and by the obedience of [this] one shall many be made righteous;" yea. "in the Lord shall all the seed of Israel be justified and shall glory:" for he has brought in an everlasting righteousness, which takes its name from the Saviour's divine nature. "I am not ashamed of the gospel of Christ, for therein is the righteousness of God revealed, from faith to faith. And this is the name whereby he shall be called, the Lord our Righteousness."
As Head over all things to the church, what comfort could flow to it from the consideration of Christ's being a mere man? She is exposed to thousands of inveterate adversaries, ghostly and bodily; and continually floating upon the waves and billows of trouble and distress, and deemed as the filth and off-scouring of things, and treated accordingly: while Christ, the Head, is ascended far above all heavens, and of course at an infinite distance from his well-beloved, if he be no more than man. No comfort can flow to her but from his immensity and omnipresence - "Behold, I am with you always to the world's end;" which, as man, abstractedly considered, he cannot be.
As a Physician, who is God's way upon earth, and his "saving health among all nations," Psal. lxvii. 2. Who bore our sins and took our infirmities, and who binds up the brokenhearted and restores health to us; which cannot be done but by purging us from all our guilt and filth, idols and dead works, false notions of God and a dead form of godliness: the comfort of all which springs from his being God. "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes; I will put none of these diseases upon thee which I have brought upon the Egyptians: for I am the Lord that healeth thee," Exodus, iv. 26.
As the Covenant Head. - "Thou speaks in vision to thy holy one, and aids, I have laid help upon one that is mighty; I have exalted one chosen out of the people. Also, I will make him my first-born higher than the kings of the earth. My mercy will I keep for him for evermore, and my covenant shall stand fast with him. His seed, also, will I make to endure for ever, and his throne as the days of heaven," Psalm lxxxix. Which covenant is a covenant of royalty; the Lord is king, and the elect are subjects. A covenant of wedlock, in which the Lord of hosts is the husband, and the elect the wife; and he betroths them unto him for ever - "Yea, I will betroth thee unto me in righteousness, and in judgment, and in loving-kindness, and in mercies. I will even betroth thee unto me in faithfulness, and thou shalt know the Lord," Hosea, ii. 19, 20. It is a covenant of an everlasting priesthood, in which the Son of God is high-priest, and God the Holy Ghost is his anointing and consecration; and he is ordained by God the Father to this office for his elect, to make an atonement for them, to perfect them, and to intercede for them, till they are all brought, in a state of holiness and happiness, "into the holy of holies, eternal in the heavens," where our high-priest is for us entered. The comfort of all which springs from his being, not as Moses, who was a faithful servant; but from Christ being "a son over his own house, whose house are we;" and the son over this his own house is God. "For every house is builded by some man; but be that built all things is God," Heb. iii. iv.
As an object of trust and confidence-no consolation can arise to us from his being no more than a creature; so far from it, that it is dangerous to the last degree to trust in him as such. "For thus saith the Lord, Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord: for he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall not see when good cometh; but shall inhabit the parched places in the wilderness, in a salt land not inhabited," Jer. xvii. 5, 6. This is the woeful case and state of all those who deny the godhead of Christ, and yet trust in him as no more than man. But there is no curse upon them that trust in the only-begotten Son of God. I have set my king, upon my holy hill of Zion. I will declare the decree: the Lord hath said unto me, Thou art my Son, this day have I begotten thee. Be wise now, therefore, O ye kings; be instructed, ye judges of the earth. Serve the Lord with fear, and rejoice with trembling. Kiss the Son lest he be angry, and ye perish from the way, when his wrath is kindled but a little. Blessed are all they that put their trust in him," Psal. ii. Here is no curse to them that trust in the Son of God and King of Zion, but an eternal blessing; and no blessing; can be upon those that trust in Christ if he be not God; but he is truly and properly God, and therefore those that trust in him are doubly blessed. "Blessed is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is: for he shall be as a tree Planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots by the river, and shall not see when heat cometh; but her leaf shall be green, and shall not be careful in the year of drought, neither shall cease from yielding fruit," Jer. xvii. 7, 8.
As the object of the saints love. - "He that loveth father or mother, wife or children, more than me, is not worthy of me." And adds, "If any man come unto me, and hateth not his father and mother, and even his own life also, he cannot be my disciple." Surely, if Christ be not God, he hath zealously affected us, but not well; for we are commanded to love the Lord our God with all our heart; and with all our soul, mind, and strength. And, as Christ demands this love of all the saints, he must be God; and so he is; and therefore we can never love him enough. And those who dearly love the Son of God, God the Father is well pleased with - "He that loveth me shall be loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will manifest myself to him," John, xi v. 21. And he adds, "The Father himself loveth you, because ye have loved me, and have believed that I came out from God, John, xvi. 27.
As an object of prayer, - Almost every recipient of a bodily cure and of special grace, in the days of his flesh, prayed to him before they obtained either; and prayer is a branch of divine worship: yea, they worshiped him with divine adoration, as the tenth leper that was healed, who returned to give glory to God; the woman with her bloody issue also, and the Syrophenician woman; yea, and all the apostles, also, on the mount of Olivet, when he was taken from them up into heaven, worshiped him as he went up. And all the heavenly host worshiped the Firstborn when he was brought into the world; and Stephen, that evangelical deacon, breathed out the following, petition to him with his expiring, breath - "And they stoned Stephen, calling upon God, and saying, Lord Jesus, receive my spirit. And he kneeled down, and cried with a loud voice, Lord, lay not this sin to their charge. And when he had said this be fell asleep," Acts, vii. 59, 60. But we need not wonder at Stephen putting, up his last prayer to Christ; Stephen knew him, and had the spirit of supplication in him; and the Spirit always testifies of Christ, and glorifies him also - "He shall glorify me." And, besides, Stephen had a view of the Saviour; be saw "the heavens open, and Jesus standing, at the right hand of God." And we know that, if Christ be not God, he could not be admitted to "the right hand of the Majesty on high," Heb. i. 3. Hence it is plain that all who debase the Saviour to the level of a mere creature are ignorant of him; they have never known him nor seen him. But all believers do see him, though not in that miraculous manner Stephen did. "Yet a little while and the world seeth me no more; but ye see me: and because I live ye shall live also," John xiv. 19.
As a foundation. - What security could a perishing sinner expect by venturing his eternal all upon any thing, less than God? A human arm, and all human works, are but a sandy foundation, which must give way when the fiery trial, the dying hour, and the day of judgment come to try it. But Christ is an elect, precious, tried stone, and a sure foundation; but not as a mere man - "For who is God, save the Lord? And who is a rock, save our God?" 2 Sam, xxii. 32. He that ventures here is safe, for the gates of hell shall never prevail, either against the foundation or the superstructure. "Whosoever heareth these sayings of mine, and doth them, is like unto a wise man, which built his house upon a rock; and when the rains descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat upon that house, it fell not, for it was founded upon a rock," Matt. vii. 24, 25. In all this, my dearly beloved brother, I have endeavoured, as far as God hath enabled me, to cast up the high way, in opposition to them who obscure and destroy the way of our paths. But we have the promise that some shall be raised up and be enlightened, and shall be called healers of the breach, and restorers of paths to dwell in; and these are the good old paths which the just are to inquire after, and to walk in, and in which they are to find rest for their souls, Jer. vi. 16. For never surely was there more opposition made to the divinity of the Son of God, and to the power of the Holy Ghost, than in the present day. "But, if the foundations be destroyed, what shall the righteous do?" The wicked can rejoice in Zion's calamity - "Rase it, rase it, even to the foundation thereof." But what shall the righteous do? Christ is the Lord our righteousness; and "he is the rock, his work is perfect; for all his ways are judgment; a God of truth, and without iniquity, just and right is he," Deut. xxxii. 4. To remove these foundations is to strip Zion both of her ornaments and bulwarks, and to leave her "as a cottage in a vineyard," or "as a lodge in a garden of cucumbers, as a besieged city !" Isa. i. 8.
A most daring, bold, presumptuous man, not long since, had the effrontery to declare in public, "that Christ was no more God than he was; so far (said he) from his being God, he did not know the time of Jerusalem's destruction." Alluding to the following passage, which he thought was a full proof it - "But of that day and that hour knoweth no man, no not the angels which are in heaven, neither the Son, but the Father," Mark, xiii. 32. We know that the human nature of Christ is not omniscient: as man he "grew in wisdom and in stature. I wonder this poor child of Satan did not go a little further, and prove him to be blind also; the scriptures would have borne him out according to the light which is in him, for his light is darkness. "Who is blind but my servant? or deaf, as my messenger that I sent? Who is blind as he that is perfect, and blind as the Lord's servant? Seeing, many things, but thou observest not: opening, the ears, but he beareth not. The Lord is well pleased for his righteousness sake; he will magnify the law and make it honourable," Isaiah, xlii. 19-21. Though men might call him blind, yet he was perfect, and seeing many things. Who is deaf as my messenger? Opening the ears, but thou hearest not. Though he was blind yet he saw many things; and, though he was deaf, yet he opened the ears of others. And one of the many things, which the Lord's perfect messenger saw, was the day of Jerusalem's destruction; and this be declared eight or nine hundred years before it came to pass. "I have trodden the wine-press alone, and of the people there was none with me. For I will tread them in mine anger, and trample them in my fury, and their blood shall be sprinkled upon my garments, and I will stain all my raiment. For the day of vengeance is in mine heart, and the year of my redeemed is come," Isa. lxiii. 3, 4. The day of vengeance, that was in his heart, was the day of Jerusalem's destruction - "Let not them that are in the countries enter into the city. for these be the days of vengeance," Luke, xxi. 22. The year of his redeemed was not the year in which Christ died, when he redeemed his elect from death and hell; but the time of the saints' redemption from Jewish persecutions, And, when ye see these things come to pass, then look up, and lift tip your heads, for your redemption draweth nigh," Luke, xxi. 28. Christ redeems his people from the deceit and violence of men, as well as from the wrath of God; and precious shall their blood be in his sight," Psal. lxxii. 14. And so the Jews found it when all the righteous blood shed, from the blood of Abel to Zacharias, was required of that generation.
The going forth of the commandment to build Jerusalem, and from that time to the coming of Messiah the Prince, and to the cutting off the Messiah; and the people of the Roman prince that was to come to Jerusalem to destroy the city and the sanctuary; together with the seven years' peace with many nations, which the Romans were to make during the time of their war with the Jews, till God's decreed indignation was poured out upon the desolate; were all foretold by the angel Gabriel to Daniel, Dan. ix. 25-28. And the whole of this matter was made known to Gabriel by a man clothed in linen, which was no other than the High-priest of our profession. "And I heard a man's voice between the banks of Ulai, which called and said, Gabriel, make this man to understand the vision," Dan. viii. 16. Hence it appears that, though he knew not that woeful day as man, yet he knew it as God, and highly resented their cruel treatment of him, and their blasphemy against his Holy Spirit; for it was Christ that executed that fearful judgement upon them, God having committed all judgment to the Son, and all power in heaven and on earth. And he displayed it with a witness, as he foretold them he would - "Yea mine own familiar friend in whom I trusted, which did eat of my bread, hath lift up his heel against me. But thou, O Lord, be merciful unto me, and raise me up, that I may requite then," Psalm xli. 9, 10. And he did requite them: for it was he that mustered the Roman army, and brought it against them: and the appearance of that was "the sign of the Son of man in heaven, when all the tribes of the earth were to mourn, Matt. xxiv. 30. The Jews had long required of him a sign, from heaven, and he gave them one. The destruction and desolation of the Jews was not to come till Messiah was cut off; and their ruin and destruction was a sure sign that Jesus was the Messiah; and, though, the blind Jews could not see it, the children of light did.
These my dearly-beloved brother, are the men that labour at Zion's foundation, which to them is a stumbling-stone and a rock of offence; and too often do they prevail, till the foundations are almost hid, and then God raises up others to bring, them forth again. "And they that shall be of thee shall build the old waste places: thou shalt raise up the foundations of many Generations; and thou shalt be called, the Repairer of the breach, the Restorer of paths to dwell in," Isa. lviii. 12. Thus some bring to light and some bury; some pull down, and some build up. "He that is not with me is against me, and he that gathereth not with me, scattereth."
True yoke-fellow, adieu. Grace and peace be multiplied. So prays,
I WISH above all things that thou mayest prosper in thy labours, and be in health for the work, knowing that hard labour and a frail tabernacle make us move heavily: but our God has promised that, as our day so shall our strength be. I shall now resume my former subject, as I find you are by no means weary of it. And what I purpose to send to my dear brother is something of the unctuous experience which believers have of the glorious mystery that I have been writing about. I shewed you in a former epistle that if ever our hearts were comforted, if they were ever knit together in love, and if ever we come to the full assurance of understanding, it must be by an humble "acknowledgment of the mystery of God, and of the Father, and of Christ, in whom are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge," Col. ii. 2, 3. This mystery is not only to be acknowledged or assented to as a revealed truth, but it is to be embraced by faith, and to be held, and held fast; as many violent and unwearied attacks, both by devils and heretics, will be made against it; and, if we are unsound or unsettled in the ground-work or foundation, all the rest will be out of order. The building, cannot be fitly framed, according to the account of a wise master builder, unless the glorious proprietor of the building be savingly known; for it is a mystical building, founded in faith, and cemented together in love, and grows up in wisdom, knowledge, and powers not by my spirit, human might, nor by the power of free-will, "but by my spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." Take the apostle's account - "Now, therefore, ye are no more strangers and foreigners, but fellow citizens with the saints and of the household of God; and are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, Jesus Christ himself being the chief corner-stone; in whom all the building, fitly framed together, groweth unto an holy temple in the Lord; in whom you are also builded together for an habitation of God through the Spirit," Eph. ii. 19-22. The apostle tells us that the living, stones, the choice materials of this building, are God's household, freeborn citizens; and that Jesus Christ is the chief corner-stone that unites all saints, Jews and Gentiles, antediluvian and postdiluvian saints together; and that the building grows up into an holy temple in the Lord, an habitation of God through the Spirit. If God the Son be left out of our faith, there is no foundation; and if God the Father, or the Holy Spirit, be left out, where is the inhabitant? It is "an habitation of God through the Spirit." Christ is the nearest object to faith, as our Mediator. "Ye believe in God, believe also in me;" for through Christ we believe in God, who "raised him from the dead," 1 Peter, i. 21. And we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. Here is the mystery; faith lays hold of Jesus Christ, and through him we believe in God the Father, and upon our believing we receive the Spirit through faith, and are sealed by him. This is the ground-work, the basis, and power, on which faith stands or rests; all building is in vain without this. "Building yourselves up on your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life," Jude, 20, 21. The most Holy Trinity is the mystery on which faith rests; and we stand by faith, or rest on the powerful confidence which the arm of God reveals in us. Hence the exhortation, "Hold the mystery of faith in a pure conscience," I Tim. iii. 9. This is called building up ourselves on our most holy faith. Faith is the Father's gift to us through Christ, and from his fulness it comes, and by the operation of the Spirit it is wrought in us, and therefore called a fruit of the Spirit; this is the basis, namely, the Holy Trinity. Love is the bond of union, or the grand cement that compacts and builds up; charity edifieth, or raises the edifice. Hence we read of the love of God to us, in giving the Son; and the love of the Son, in laying, down his life for us; and the love of the Holy Ghost also. "Now I beseech you, for the Lord Jesus Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit," Rom. xv. 30. The love of the Trinity to us is the bond of union, which, when perceived by faith, and enjoyed, leads to a most blessed freedom and familiarity with the Father, Son, and Spirit; as you read, "And to make all men see what is the fellowship of the mystery," Eph. iii. 9. We can have fellowship with nothing but persons; there is no fellowship with names. "These things have I written unto you, that you may have fellowship with us; and truly our fellowship is with the Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ," 1 John, i. 3. And you read of the "comfort of love," and of the "fellowship of the Spirit," PhiL ii. 1. Hence the foundation of vital godliness is God-Father, Son, and Spirit. Faith apprehends this, and by a fall persuasion stays the mind thereon; love is the cementing bond that unites the soul to God. "He that loveth dwelleth in God, and God in him; that is, he abideth in the Trinity; he abideth in the Son, and in the Father. And it is added, "As that anointing hath taught you, you shall abide in him." Read I John, ii. 27. Here is our inbeing and abiding in the Father, Son, and Spirit; and fellowship is the effect of this union.
True fellowship among men is a company of real friends meeting together in love. "God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself. When we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son." And the Holy Ghost applies the word of reconciliation. "Henceforth I call you not servants; for the servant knoweth not what his lord doeth; but I have called you friends: for all things that I have heard of my Father I have made known unto you," John, xv. 15.
Persons in fellowship often meet and associate together. Believers, with their confessions, prayers, praises, and thank offerings, pay their constant visits to their God: and in their conclusive doxologies address all the three divine persons distinctly and by these we ascend, in faith and affection, to the Almighty. And, with respect to the sensible enjoyment of God's presence, the Holy Trinity often condescends to visit us. "If a man love me he will keep my words; and my Father will love him, and we will come unto him, and make our abode with him," John, xiv. 23. And the Holy Ghost comes also - "I will send you a Comforter, who shall abide with you for ever." Thus does the holy and blessed Trinity visit and take up their abode with believing souls.
Persons in real union and fellowship are a comfort to each other, and partake of each other's joys. "And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another comforter, that he may abide with you for ever," John, xiv. 16. Christ does not say, "I myself will pray to myself, that I may send myself," which would have been the right way of expressing the matter, if there were but one person in the Trinity: but "I will pray the Father." Here is Christ upon earth praying; the Father in heaven prayed unto; and another Comforter, distinct from them both, prayed for, The Father comforts us by revealing his dear Son in us, and by accepting us in the beloved, and appearing well pleased with us in his righteousness. "And in that day thou shalt say, O Lord, I will praise thee: though thou wast angry with me, thine anger is turned away, and thou comfortest me," Isai. xii. 1. The Saviour comforts us by speaking the word of eternal life to our hearts. "My word is spirit, and my word is life. My sheep hear in voice, and follow me, and I give unto them eternal life, and they shall never perish, neither shall any pluck them out of my hand," John, x. 27, 28. "This is my comfort in my affliction; for thy word hath quickened me," Psalm cxix. 50. The Holy Spirit comforts us, by applying the promises to us, and attending them with power; the word comes with power in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; which power brings peace, joy, and gladness of heart; which is called the sincere milk of the word; and so it is written, "Rejoice with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; rejoice for joy with her, all ye that morn for her; that ye may suck, and be satisfied with the breasts of her consolations; that ye may milk out, and be delighted with the abundance of her glory. For thus saith the Lord, Behold, I will extend peace to her like a river, and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream; then shall ye suck, ye shall be borne upon her sides, and be dandled upon her kness. As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you; and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem," Isai. lxvi. 10-i2. This joy, consolation, love, and peace, are in the New Testament called the fruits of the Spirit," Gal. v. 22.
Persons in true fellowship have great confidence in each other, and know much of each other's minds; and so it is with God and his saints. In the saints' worst hours they believe without doubting the truth of God, and the truth of the whole of his word; whether they can take the comfort of it or not, they know it is true, and that God the author of it, is true: and, as God is true so he makes his children sound in the truth, lovers of it, and earnest contenders for it, and sworn enemies to all false doctrines. "For he said, Surely they are my people, children that will not lie; so be was their Saviour," Isa. lxiii. 8. They know much of each others minds; and so it is with God and his elect: they are made acquainted with God the Fathers secret purposes of grace, of his counsels and his covenant, of his good will of purpose, and of promise in Christ Jesus before the world began. Christ chooses us out of the world, and discovers himself to us, with all his finished work and saving benefits; while the Holy Spirit takes of the things that are his, and shews them to us, and makes them manifest in our hearts, and secretly seals up to the day of redemption.
Persons in fellowship often feast and banquet together. The Father makes us "a feast of fat things, of marrow and fatness, and of wines on the lees well refined," Isa. xxv. 6. Which glorious feast is the offering up of Christ (in sacrifice) once for us all. This is bringing forth the fatted calf to entertain the returning prodigals. Wisdom says, "She hath killed her beasts, she hath mingled her wine, she hath furnished her table. Come, eat of my bread, and drink of the wine which I have mingled," Prov. ix. 2, 5. And no sooner does the poor perishing sinner's mind and conscience feast upon his sin-atoning blood and life-giving flesh, but the fire of inbred lusts, the fiery wrath of a broken law, and the fiery darts of Satan, are all quenched and disposed, while the Holy Spirit and his grace flow-in, and overshadow the soul with the discovery of Christ, as the end of the law for righteousness. "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste," Song ii. 3. And as the Almighty banquets us, so does he feast and feed upon the satisfaction Christ made for sin, and upon the fruits of his own implanted grace. "But the father said to his servants, Bring forth the best robe, and put it on him; and put a ring on his hand, and shoes on his feet; and bring hither the fatted calf and kill it, and let us eat and be merry," Luke, xv. 22, 23. And the Saviour says, "I am come into my garden, my sister, my spouse; I have gathered my myrrh with my spice; I have eaten my honeycomb with my honey; I have drank my wine with my milk: eat, O friends; drink, yea, drink abundantly. O beloved," Song, v. 1. Nor is the Holy Spirit less entertained, when we are lively under his influence, observant of his instructions, and obedient to his dictates; as appears by the approbation that he gives, the witness that he bears to our hearts, and by filling us with more of his grace, while we are blessing him for what we have got. When the apostles were apprehended and taken before the council of the Jews, and threatened and charged to teach no more in the name of Jesus, the Spirit of God enabled them to speak with such fortitude that the council marvelled; and, when they joined their own company, and put up their united prayers, the Holy Spirit shook the very house, and filled them all again. "And when they had prayed the place was shaken where they were assembled together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and spake the word of God with boldness," Acts, iv. 31. For, as the Spirit is said to be grieved by the sins of some men, and to be vexed and rebelled against by others; so he rejoices in some, approves of others, and fortifies them to the astonishment of their most inveterate persecutors. Philip, when be obeyed the Spirits voice, and joined himself to the Ethiopian's chariot, and preached Jesus to him, "was caught away by the Spirit of the Lord, and was found at Azotus," Acts, viii. 39, 40. He fortified, furnished, and emboldened Paul before the Roman governor, that Felix trembled when Paul stood undaunted. He made Stephen's face shine like the face of an angel, when his persecutors gnashed their teeth with anguish and desperation; and made Paul and Silas sing the high praises of God in the prison at midnight; and sent an earthquake and shook the prison to the foundation thereof, and opened the doors of it, and made the chains fall from off the criminals, to let them know that he proclaims liberty to captives - "For where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty;" and this the poor jailor found soon after, to his astonishment. In all these things it is easy to see how the Holy Spirit is entertained, pleased, and delighted, when men obey his dictates, and give themselves up to be led by him.
Persons in fellowship are jointly engaged: so God and his people are engaged in one cause, and jointly concerned in one interest. God is the portion of his people, and Jacob is the lot of God's inheritance. He that toucheth the saints toucheth the apple of God's eye; and the saints hate them that hate God, and count them their enemies: they love them that love the Lord; and, when any professors turn their backs and forsake God, as Judas did, the real saints always forsake them. God's own glory, in all his works, is what he aimes at; and in the defence of God's glory and honour are his people engaged. God seeks a quarrel with the Philistines, and Sampson will fight it out if he die in the field. God will avenge his people on the Egyptians, and Moses engages the whole nation. The wicked Jews judged and condemned the Son of God, and the apostles got upon twelve thrones to judge and condemn them; and, when they had passed the sentence upon them, the Lord executed it. "But, when they persecute you in this city, flee ye to another: for verily I say unto you, Ye shall not have gone over the cities of Israel till the Son of man be come," Matt. x. 23. The world, the flesh, and the devil, are God's enemies; and against these do the saints cry, pray, and fight, all their days; and, if they are foiled or overcome, it is called violence, captivity, or a rape, which God will highly resent; and, if they are pressed beyond measure, and despair even of life, and are thrown seven times, and complain, I die daily," or "for thy sake we are killed all the day long;" yet they up and at it again, and never give over, nor give up, till they die; for "as he is, so are we in this world," 1 John, iv. 17. "God so loved the world that he gave his only-begotten Son, that we might live through him:" and "Christ loved the church, and gave himself for it." And the Spirit's love appears in his convincing us of sin, righteousness, and judgment; and in taking up his eternal abode with us, when we were the most vile, filthy, and abominable creatures, and to every good work reprobate.
The saints have suffered all sorts of torments, and every kind of death that men or devils could invent, rather than dishonour their God, or lose their exceeding great reward: hence they labour after conformity to him, and disallow of every lust and corruption that resists his sovereign will.
If God arraign, they will not excuse; if be punish they accept. If he search, they submit; if he condemn, they will not acquit; if he rebuke with fire, they approach the light; if he is wrath, they fear and quake; if he invite, they come up; if he chasten, they submit; if he attract they follow on; if he frown, then they fear; if he command, they commend; if he forbid, they forbear; if he withdraw, they despond; if he threaten, they contract; if he allure, they enlarge; if he is absent, they are jealous; if he indulge, they make free; if his anger burn, they are mute; if he resist, they withdraw; he hides himself, they go in search: his bowels move, their bowels yearn; if he contend, they attend; if kindness flow, their spirits melt; if he forgive, they cannot forget; if he commune, their heart will burn; if he embrace, they swoon in love; if he bind, they will not be free; if he pull down, they will not build up; if he should wound, none else shall heal; if he lay on, they will not throw off; if he detain, none shall release; if he afflict, they will not be soothed; if he shut up, they will not come out; if he desert, they will not be wooed; if he cause grief, they will not hear peace; and, if he chide, they will not flee; he bends his bow, they yield their breast; if he delay, they still persist; if he deny, they will not give up; he will not relieve, they till entreat; he says "Begone," they importune; he shuts the door, they knock the more.
The divine and essential Word has taken our nature into God: and there is a divine nature lodged in all the saints, and no separation can be made, either by life or by death. 0 my brother, my mouth is opened to thee, my heart is enlarged; thou art not straitened in me, but in thy own bowels. Now for a recompense in the same (I speak as to my beloved son), be ye also enlarged. Adieu. Be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus, and endure hardness as a good soldier. The Captain has overcome the world, and the victory is yours.
I AM glad that you approve, and that any thing clear, harmonious, consistent, informing, or establishing, appears to you. I shall, therefore, propose to bring forth what little yet remains on my mind, or may yet occur on the sublime subject. Reason, or the dim light of nature, is a poor guide in this mystery. Light in the head, without love and reverence in the heart, has a tendency to exalt. "Knowledge puffeth up, but, charity edifieth." A high look, a stiff neck, and a proud heart, God will not suffer; but he will dwell with the humble and the contrite, and will own and acknowledge those that reverence, love, and fear him. In his light we see light; and, if teachable and tractable, he will guide us with his eye, and lead us by his Spirit; while the inward anointing, which is the illuminating, renewing, softening, and humbling influences of his grace and Holy Spirit, which the saints experience, will teach them all things necessary to be known, or essential to salvation. Our sufficiency is of God, who can make us able ministers of the New Testament; and, if he does not make us so able as some are, yet we must "minister as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ," 1 Pet iv. 11. The indwelling of the Holy Spirit, and our unctuous experience of his divine impressions and influence, must regulate all our views, opinions, and conclusions, upon divine subjects. Whatever the understanding discovers, and the mind conceives, is always handed down to the soul's experience of divine power; the Spirit's work on the soul being, an exact and an infallible copy of the revealed mind and will of God in the scriptures of truth; on which account the church is called "the pillar and ground of the truth," I Tim. iii. 15. The Spirit is the author of the scriptures, both of the Old Testament and the New. The gospel is the ministry of the Spirit, 2 Cor. ii. 8. And the Spirit of Christ, in the prophets of the Old Testament, "testified beforehand of the sufferings of Christ, and of the glory that should follow," 1 Pet. i 11. And we are told that "the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of propbecy," Rev. xix. 10. Therefore, whatever the enlightened understanding discovers, and the mind perceives or conceives, it is immediately handed down to the experience of the Spirit's teaching within, to see if it be consistent with the anointing which teacheth all things; and, if it agree with the anointing, and has the sanction of the Holy Spirit, immediately the mind is led to the written word for support and confirmation, and the Spirit brings some word home to the mind which proves and establishes it; and this witness of God is greater than the witness of all the men in the world: but, if it agree not with the anointing, and in it receive not the Spirits sanction, nor any word come in to confirm it, it is rejected and cast out, as being contrary to the anointing. "And ye need not that any should teach you, but as the same anointing teacheth you," I John, ii. 27. Whatsoever, therefore, contradicts the Spirit's work and his teaching, is to be rejected. If my dear brother will attentively observe this inward teaching, he will perceive something of it all the day long; and, without this divine compass, it is in vain to launch out into the profound depths of divine mysteries, and especially that of the Holy Trinity. "Canst thou by searching find out God? Canst thou find out the Almighty unto perfection? The measure thereof is longer than the earth, and broader than the sea," Job, xi. 8, 9. "Secret things belong unto the Lord our God: but things which are revealed belong unto us, and to our children for ever," Deut. xxix. 29. And God has promised that he will give us a heart to know him, for he will pardon them whom he reserves, Jer. 1. 10. And again. "For all shall know me, from the least to the greatest. For I will be merciful to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniquities will I remember no more," Heb. viii. 11, 12. I was led into the glorious mystery of the Holy Trinity by the teaching of God in my own soul. It is written in the prophets, "All thy children shall be taught of God," Isa. liv. 13. This passage our Lord quotes, "It is written in the prophets, and they shall be all taught of God. Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me," John, vi. 45. And it is added, "No man can come to me, except the Father, which hath sent me, draw him," John, vi. 44. Now, from this divine teaching there is none of God's elect exempted; they shall be all taught of God. And the Saviour informs us, that, by God here, God the Father is meant; and he adds, "Every man, therefore, that hath heard, and hath learned of the Father, cometh unto me." He must both hear and learn of the Father before he comes to Christ; nor can any man come to Christ except the Father draw him; and all such, says Christ, "I will raise up at the last day," John, vi. 44. From hence we learn that all the elect are taught of the Father; and that every one of the Father's pupils come to Christ; and, without being drawn by the Father, they cannot come; and those that do come shall be infallibly saved and raised up at the last day.
But then where is the Fathers teaching described? How does he teach us? And what do we hear and learn of him? This is what I will endeavour to make plain. "The Lord knoweth the thoughts of man, that they are vanity, Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, O Lord, and teachest him out of thy law; that thou mayest give law rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked," Psalm xciv. 11-13. Now the schoolmaster, by which God teaches us, is the moral law; as for the ceremonial law, that was never enjoined to the Gentiles. Out of this law are we taught of God the Father; and our lessons are prefaced with his chastening rod. "Blessed is the man whom thou chastenest, and teachest;" and Christ says, we both bear and learn of the Father. Two things we hear; first, the chastening rod. "The Lord's voice crieth into the city, and the man of wisdom shall see thy name: hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it," Micah, vi. 9. Here is the voice of the Lord crying, to the chosen, calling the city of Zion, and here is a rod that speaks, "Hear ye the rod." Now this is what our Lord says-we hear and we learn of the Father; and he teacheth us out of the law. The second sound that we hear is called the Lord's voice, that cries to the city; and that voice is, by Paul, called a voice of words; it is "blackness, and darkness, and tempest; the sound of a trumpet, and the voice of words," Heb. xii. 18, 19. A voice of words, not a life-giving power. And this voice of words is called a killing letter, or the letter that killeth, which, when it came to Paul, sin revived, and he died. And what can kill us, but the curse, or sentence, of the ministration of death, engraven on tables of stone? The voice we hear, therefore, is the curse of the broken law condemning us; the rod that we hear is the wrath and anger of God smiting, reproving, and rebuking us. This is what we hear; and the lessons we learn are, the guilt and filth of sin, the wrath of God, and the enmity of our own hearts. The next lessons we learn are, the holiness, justice, and terrible majesty of God. These are the things that we bear and learn of the Father; and "Every one that hath heard and learned of the Father (says Christ), cometh unto me." Now what is that which is promised to this blessed man, thus chastened and taught out of the law? Why, God will "give him rest from the days of adversity, until the pit be digged for the wicked." The thing promised is rest; but who wants rest? None but those who labour, and are heavy laden. The labourer is he who is toiling under the curse and wrath of God, to recommend himself to God's favour, and to get life by the works of the law: and hard labour this is. The load that he carries is the guilt he has contracted, and the corruptions of his heart which the law discovers; and this is a sore burden, too heavy for any to bear. Now there is a voice in the word to such souls pointing to Christ, "To whom he said, This is the rest wherewith ye may cause the weary to rest; and this is the refreshing," Isai. xxviii. 12. The Saviour calls to such souls also - "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." But no invitations will do for a poor soul that finds himself condemned already. And, therefore, "No man can come to me (says Christ) except my father draw him." However, to Christ all that are taught of God must come; for the Spirit of God and the promise of life are both in him; and into his hands are all the elect put, and to his foot they must be brought, and be made to hear his voice and receive the word from his mouth, that they may live. The fiery law comes first to condemn us to death, and the voice and word of the Son of God afterward to raise the dead. "The Lord came from Sinai and rose up from Seir unto them; he shined forth from mount Paran, and he came with ten thousands of saints: from his right hand went a fiery law for them. Yea, he loved the people: all his saints are in thy hand: and they sat down at thy feet; every one shall receive of thy words," Deut. xxxiii. 2, 3. This passage shews that all whom the Father teaches out of the fiery law must come to Christ the great prophet, and sit down at his feet to receive of his word. This was the good part which Mary chose, that could not be taken from her. Here Mary Magdalen sat, and got her pardon and her much love; and here God draws us all. But how does he draw us?
First, by causing the storms of Sinai now and then to abate, and the arrows of his quiver to lose their keenness.
2dly, By guiding our eyes to the promises, encouragements, invitations, and kind pathetic words spoken by the Lord Jesus.
3dly, By causing now and then a ray of light, a beam of hope, and some budding expectations, to spring up in our hearts while we attend to the voice of Christ in the gospel.
4thly, The dreadful passages of scripture that pierced us through get out of sight, and nothing but Christ and his kind dealings with sinners appear; and while our face is turning to the Lord the vail is gradually taken away. The more we see of Jesus, the softer our souls get, and the more our hearts melt; and the more Christ shines in the word, the more we wonder, till his very name appears as a healing ointment poured forth; and, as the bowels yearn over him, so faith in him springs up; the Holy Spirit then testifies of him, and presents him to view, till the, understanding becomes susceptible of the light of his countenance, and then confidence goes out and embraces him; then God accepts us "in the beloved," and gives us "the light of the knowledge of the glory of himself in the face of Jesus Christ," while the Spirit fills us with joy and peace. And here the soul finds "rest from the days of adversity, till the pit be digged up for the wicked;" that is, they shall rest safe and secure in Christ Jesus, while the wicked fill up their own measure; for the wicked are said to dig their own pit, and to fall into their own destruction. This, my dear brother, is what the apostle calls coming "to God the judge of all;" and then "to Jesus the Mediator of the New Testament, and to the blood of sprinkling that speaks better things than that of Abel," Heb. xii. 23, 24. This is a saving and an experimental knowledge of the holy and blessed Trinity. We come first to God in a fiery law; when he chastens and judges us, "that we should not be condemned with the world," 1 Cor. xi. 32; and then draws us to Christ, and accepts us in him. And in Jesus Christ we find rest from both our labour and our load, and, at the same time, we come into the glorious liberty of the children of God. The Holy Ghost sheds abroad the love of God in our heart, and this casts out wrath, which is a spirit of bondage to fear, and all torment with it; and operates in us as a spirit of love, of power, and of a sound mind." This is an experimental knowledge of the Holy Trinity, and such as none ever experience but the elect of God; and in this way they are all taught of God: and the experience of this good work is such as Satan and all his emissaries can never destroy. No man, made thus wise to salvation, ever dared to set his mouth against the Holy Trinity; and a fool cannot, for this wisdom is too high for him.
This is coming to God, "the fountain of living waters," Jer. ii. 13; and to Christ, "the well of salvation," Isaiah, xii. 3; and to the "river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God," Psal. xlvi. 4.
Thus, also, saith God: "I will put my law in their inward parts, and write it in their hearts; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people," Jer. xxxi. 33. "And I," saith the Saviour, "will write upon him the name of my God, and the name of the city of my God, which is New Jerusalem, which commeth down out of heaven from my God; and I will write upon him my new name," Rev. iii. 12. And the Spirit makes us living epistles - "Ye are manifestly declared to be the epistle of Christ, ministered by us; written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in the fleshly tables of the heart," 2 Cor. iii. 3.
The voice of God the Father's love in the heart is - "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with loving - kindness have I drawn thee," Jer. xxxi. 3.
The voice of the atonement of Christ, in the believer's conscienence, is, pardon, peace, and reconciliation with God. And these are better things than those spoken by the blood of Abel, Heb. xii. 24.
And the distinct voice of the Holy Ghost in the hearts of all believers is, "Abba, Father," Gal. iv. 6. This divine teaching, my dear brother, is attended with a holy claim upon God as our own God; and God will own and acknowledge such. To such God speaks, "Thou shalt call me thy Father, and thou shalt not turn away from me," Jer. iii. 19; which is what no man can do, in truth, without the witness and voice of the Spirit of adoption; for it is he that cries, "Abba Father." Such souls, also, claim Jesus for their own, with an infallible witness in their own souls of the truth of it; which no man can do, in truth, without the Spirit of God; for no man can say that Jesus is the Lord" (with application) but by the Holy Ghost," I Cor. xii. 3. Hence it is plain that the Spirit of God makes us, as he did the prodigal, arise and go to our Father; which, when spoken by the Spirit, is what God will ever own and honour, as he did in that parable - "This is my son." And, though at times unbelief prevails, yet the Spirit subdues it again and again, as he did in Thomas, "My Lord and my God!" These plain truths, my dear brother, clearly reveal this most sublime mystery; and these things the children of God have in their own experience; and it is such experience as this that worketh hope. This is submitting to divine revelation, and not being wise above what is written. And whatever appears dark to us in the word of God we must pray the Lord to shine upon it, that we may know the mind of the Spirit in it; for it is in his light that we see light. And, "if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth liberally and upbraided not;" and he will guide us by his counsel. But let us for ever shun the bold intrusions of unhumbled and unsanctified men, who are so daring and presumptuous; for God will resist such, and make their feet stumble upon the dark mountains; while "the meek he will guide in judgment, the meek will he teach his way." Strange notions are daily circulated in town against these things; and such men "shall wax worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived;" for, if the force of truth beat them out of one refuse of lies, the devil drives them into another; and, being hardened to the last degree, they can adopt words which one dare not recite, and use arguments which it is scandalous to imitate: but the time will come when God will cause the arrogancy of the proud to cease, and will lay low the haughtiness of the terrible," Isa. xiii. 11.
I shall conclude this long, epistle with the triune benediction of heaven - "The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you," 2 Cor. xiii. 14, and with all that love our Lord Jesus Christ, now and for evermore. So prays, dear brother,