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LETTER X. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX. To the man of God, greeting.
BELOVED, when I finished my last, I thought I had nearly exhausted the treasure that was to be brought forth upon this subject I went last night to my bed weary, having sat hard at it for fifteen hours; and I thought the spring in my heart, as well as my bodily strength were both spent. But before I could get to sleep another branch of this subject sprung up, and soon my cup overflowed again, which kept me awake for some time: nor could all my weariness and heaviness counterbalance it, so as to convey me into the regions of forgetfulness. The subject of my contemplation was communion; and here another field opened; and, on entering into the small avenue, it soon became a vast expanse. The first thing that struck me was the words of God to moses - "Thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold; and thou shalt make two cherubims of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercyseat," Exod. xxv. I knew the mercy-seat to be a throne of grace A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary," Jer. xvii. 12. The great condescension of God the Father, which appeared in the above passage, forcibly struck me, the mercy-seat I considered to be a type of Christ, who is our throne of grace. He is "a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem," and "a glorious throne to his Father's house," Isa. xxii. 23. The two tables of the testimony were to be put into the ark, so they were not to terrify nor arrest them who fled for mercy: this led me to the words of Christ, which says, "Yea, thy law is within my heart; I delight to do thy will, O my God. I then considered the words of the Psalmist, which says, that "though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect to the lowly; he humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth, Psal. exiii. 6. But how much more to meet and commune with men!To Christ Jesus, who received the sure mercies of David for us, and in whom all the fulness of grace dwells, and who is full of grace and truth, must we poor sinners go, that we may find grace and strength to help in every time of need. And here God promises to meet with us; for Christ is the way to the Father - "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways," Isa. Ix iv. 5. I then considered what were to be the blessed effects of this communion, or what was to be communicated to the children of Israel when God met them in their representative above the mercy-seat, and what they were to communicate to him. They were to communicate their troubles, cares, burdens, wants, fears, requests, c., to the Lord by prayer; and likewise their recitals of his favor with thanks, praises, blessings, and grateful acknowledgments of them; these were some of the things that they were to communicate to God. And God promises to communicate the following blessings to them by the priests - "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them," Numb. vi. 24-27. This whole cluster of blessings is now to be found in Christ; the blessing of eternal life is in him; we are in his hand, and kept by his power through faith; the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ; from his foulness all grace is received; he is the Sun of Righteousness that rises and shines upon us; and he is our peace, who hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. These, my beloved brother, were my thoughts of God our heavenly Father communing with us upon the mercy-seat.
My mind then roved to the free and friendly communion which our Lord Jesus Christ held with Abraham, when he communicated to him his mind and will with respect to the cities of the plain, and how freely Abraham communicated the desires of his soul to the Saviour; all which was granted as long as Abraham could find a heart to ask; and when Abraham stopped in asking, the Lord stopped granting. "And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place," Gen. xviii. 33.
Then my mind roved to the two disciples going to Emmaus - And while they communed together, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them, and asked them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? They answering him said, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning, Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And, besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre: and, when they found not his body, they came, saying, That they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive," Luke, xxiv. 21-23. Here they communicated to the Lord Jesus their bitter grief and trouble, and that the crucifixion of their dear Lord was the sole cause of all their calamities, and that the women's account from the angels that he was yet alive was good news. But they could receive no comfort from these things, "for him they saw not." And now he began and opened up the scriptures concerning his sufferings; and, as they had been eye-witnesses of them, they could compare spiritual things with spiritual while he opened the prophecies of the things concerning himself. And, after making himself known to them, he vanished out of their sight. However, all that they desired in this world was now granted them: they saw and knew that he was alive; "And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Luke, xxiv. 32.
I then thought of what the apostle says of our having the same communion with the Holy Spirit also: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen," 2 Cor. xiii. 14.
And upon the subject of communion with the Holy Ghost, is my mind now led.
Real communion is the blessed effect of vital union. God communicates no spiritual blessings to them who are in fellowship with devils, with the unfruitful works of darkness, with unrighteousness, or with infidels or heretics, "But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," with him. And from this union springs communion; and communion is nothing else but giving and receiving, and is both active and passive: active, in giving or bestowing good things upon others; passive, in receiving good things from others. Now all real believers are united to and ingrafted into Christ, as the branch is to the vine: and without continual supplies of life, from the vine to the branch, the branch cannot live, much less be fruitful; it must wither and die away. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and [wicked] men gather them [into their company] and they are burned." No creature can stand alone; angels could not; Adam could not; Judas could not; no, nor could even Peter. "Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for there is not another to help him up. But he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing." No stock in hand will do, however large a portion of the Spirit, as Elijah had; however strong the mountain of prosperity, as David's was; however emboldened and fortified, as Peter thought he was when he promised to face either prison or death all will soon wither without continual supplies. Elijah fled for his life from the face of Jezebel; God hid his face, and David was troubled; and Peter fell before the face of a servant girl. Christ is the root both of David and of all believers. They are wild olive branches grafted into the good olive tree, and partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; and we bear not the root, but the root bears us, Rom. xi. 17. The life of all trees lies in the root; Christ is our life; and we must live in the root, and the root in us, or there will be no fruit. There are continual communications from the root to the tree, and to every branch of it: let this communication be obstructed, or the union cut off, or the intercourse be stopped up, and the tree will shew it as soon as the sun shines upon it. Nothing less than vital union with the living root, and momentary communications therefrom, can keep us either alive or fruitful. "In that day sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day," Isa. xxvii. 2, 3. Momentary support and supplies, and nothing, else, can keep the strongest believer standing; without this all joys, yea, the strongest joys, will wither away from the sons of men, Joel, i. 10. Hence the apostle endeavours to bring his beloved son Timothy off from trusting in his own comfortable frames, however strong they might be, knowing that they are very short-lived, transient, and continually changing; "My son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," 2. Tim. ii. 1. Here grace is, in all its fulness, always the same, and inexhaustible; and it is in the fountain, and not in the streams, that we must trust; for even for temporal supplies it will not do to trust in the grist that is in the house, nor in the barn that fills the grist, nor yet in the harvest that fills the barn; but in the living God, who promises seed-time, and harvest, and "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy," I Tim. vi. 17.
But then how are these momentary supplies of life and strength, grace, and help, to be communicated to us? I answer, By the Holy Spirit of God. As it is written, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 19. Again, "Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall be speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you," John xvi. 13, 14. All spiritual and temporal blessing, truths, promises, grace, and glory, are secured to us in an ever lasting covenant; which covenant was ratified and confirmed by the death of Christ, and therefore he is called the Covenant - "I will keep him and give him for a covenant to the people," Isa. xlii. 6. In him all covenant mercies and blessings are, and he is appointed the "heir of all things," Heb. i. 2; and we are "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," Rom. viii. 17.
The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin. "If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but, if I depart, I will send him unto you. And, when he is come, he will reprove [or convince] the world of sin," John, xvi. 7, 8. Sometimes the Holy Spirit sends the word with such force and terrible majesty, as to arm the conscience of a sinner with a troop of terrors against him; which stops the mouth even of a gainsayer, and makes the preacher manifest in the conscience even of a persecutor; and yet does not convert him, nor bring him any more to the light; but he so silences him as that such an enemy has been brought to live in peace with a man whose ways have pleased God, Prov. xvi. 7.
But, when the Holy Spirit comes to convince a chosen vessel of sin, he applies the truth with such a piercing power as to penetrate into the deepest recesses of the heart, which alarms and awakens the conscience; and this is followed up with continual reproofs and rebukes; and he attends all his reproofs and rebukes with divine light, which makes the sinner's crimes manifest, and lays them all open to his view, even his secret sins and all his works of darkness - "For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light," Eph. v. 12, 13. No candle ever discovered the foulness of a room, nor the sun in his full strength the dust and atoms that fly in it, as the Holy Spirit discovers the guilt and filth, the corruptions and deceptions, of the human heart; as it is written, "And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees," Zeph. i. 12. Hence our Lord told the disciples that, "men do not light a candle to put it under a bushel," Matt. v. 15. And when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles he searched Jerusalem with a witness; he mightily convinced the Jews of their unbelief, of their persecution, rejection, and crucifixion of Christ; and brought it home to their souls with such infallible proofs and facts as cut them to the heart, and made them cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And here I can but take notice of a passage in Solom's Proverbs, which is as real a prophecy, and was as punctually fulfilled in the apostles' days, as any prediction in the Bible; and sure I am that the words were spoken by the Spirit of Christ indeed - "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you," Prov. i. 23. This Peter promised them - "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost as well as we," Acts, ii. 38. And, as Solomon foretold, desolation came upon the rest - "But ye have set at nought all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs. I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; then shall they call, but I will not answer," Prov. i. 25-27.
The Spirit not only convinces of sin, and gives cutting reproofs and rebukes for it, but he applies the word with power, and fixes it upon the mind; otherwise the elect would be robbed, as the reprobate is. "Then cometh the wicked one," and steals the word sown out of his heart, "and he becometh unfruitful." But the Spirit makes a powerful application of the word-by this God gives "testimony to the word of his grace."
3. The Holy Spirit attends the convictions and reproof that he gives with life, and the quickening influences of the Spirit makes his reproofs sink deep, and this makes the poor sinner's sensations so keen that he cannot rest day nor night: otherwise they would act like Cain, amuse themselves with other things, as he did when he built a city; or like Saul, who sought to the witch of Endor; or like the young man in the gospel, who went away sorrowful, and yet hugged his worldly possessions. But it is not so with a soul convinced by the Holy Spirit; he does not want to shake his convictions off by going from Christ, as the convicted accusers of the adulterous women did; all his fears are, that his convictions will wear off, and that he shall be given up to his own heart's lust. For
4. The Holy Spirit makes his heart honest. He receives the word in an honest and good heart; and therefore "comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." His language is, Search me and try me. He accepts the punishment of his iniquity, and would put his mouth in the dust, if so be that there might be hope; he kisses the rod, and dreads the thoughts of carnal ease. He is an enemy to them that would bolster him, or cry, "Peace, Peace," to him, or heal his wounds slightly - "To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." He would sooner labour under the guilt of sin, and the wrath of God, than fail of his grace, or be set down short of the promised rest. He sees the deceitfulness of sin, the treachery of his heart, and the cunning of the devil; and trembles at the sentence of the law, and the severity of the Most High - "He that rebukes him finds more favour in his eyes than he that flatters with his lips." Sweet to him "are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Thus does the Holy Spirit communicate power, life, honesty and sincerity, with the convictions and reproofs which he applies to the elect of God.
5. He supports them under the burden of sin which they feel, and under the sight of it which he presents to their view, and sustains them under the wrath and curse of a broken law. They are "holpen with a little help." Through the fire he is with them", and through the water; or else the former would dry up their spirits, and the latter drown them in desperation. And in all these things the convinced sinner obeys his divine operator, though he does not know who it is that leads him. The evils which the Holy Spirit discovers to him he confesses; the reproofs he gives he falleth under; to the word the Spirit leads him, and he searches the scriptures daily. Where he hears the word with power, and where he finds his case pointed out, there the preacher is made manifest in his conscience; there he desires to abide, however searching and trying the ministry may be; for where he gets his wounding there he expects his healing: "He that is of God heareth God's word. We are of God (says John), and he that is of God heareth us; and he that is not of God heareth not us."
6. The same Spirit that gives him light and quickening grace sets him to crying to God - "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications," Zech. xii. 10. The life and feeling, the holy longings, the desires, thirstings, cravings, and bitter cries, which are found in the convinced sinner, all spring from the energy and operations of the Holy Spirit of God: hence the many precious promises that are held forth in the word of God to such poor souls - "Shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night? When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Wait upon God, and he shall give thee the desire of thine heart; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. They shall come that are read to perish. Because of the deep sighing of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will satiate the weary, I will replenish the sorrowful soul, I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Blessed are the poor in spirit." Again, "Thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it he will answer thee," Isa. xxx. 19. All these intense longings and holy breathings are produced under the quickening energy of the Holy Spirit, even before he proclaims liberty to us, or creates "the fruit of the lip," Isa. lvii. 19; or gives us a door of "utterance," Acts, ii. 4. "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," Rom. iii. 26. And this may be seen in the apostles themselves, before that miraculous outpouring of the Spirit upon them, on the day of Pentecost. The apostles had felt the power of the Spirit attending the word - "He speaks like one having authority, and not as the scribes; for his word is with power." He had convinced them of sin, as may be seen in their different cases, described by our Lord's first sermon on the mount, and by the confession of Peter - 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." They owned that Christ had the "word of eternal life;" yea, and they believed in him - "Father, the word which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received it, and have believed that I came forth from thee, and that thou didst send me." And they loved him too, and abode with him: and both faith and love are fruits of the Holy Spirit. But, as a spirit of revelation and understanding, as a distinct comforter, as a spirit of power and of a sound mind, and with all his miraculous gifts and graces, they were to be baptized with him in this wonderful way not many days hence. Hence it is said that "the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Power, also, in a wonderful manner, they were to receive when the Holy Ghost came upon them, to embolden them, and enable them to preach the gospel in all languages, and to work miracles in confirmation of it.
I must once more beg the pardon of my beloved brother for thus exceeding the limits of an epistle; but hope to have an opportunity of conveying this, as I did the other, by some stroller or straggler wandering from his nest. Begetting, quickening, travailing, and bringing forth, still go on among us - "our bed is green," Song. i. 16.
Yours in Christ Jesus, W. HUNTINGTON. LETTER XI. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX. WHAT, my son! and what, the son of my faith! and what, the son of my vows! Children are not to lay up for the fathers, but the fathers for the children; and I would willing give thee one portion above thy brethren; yea, a double portion; because thou art poor and needy, near-sighted, subject to the rickets, to incredulity, and many other infirmities which have gone from father to son; but, as poring over these things, with fretting and grieving at them, does no good, we will amuse and comfort ourselves with a better subject.
7. The Holy Spirit testifies of Christ - " But 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. And this the Holy Spirit does by giving testimony to the word of his grace; by proving the truth and reality of the word to the sensible sinner's conscience; by attending it with faith, light, evidence, and full demonstration; so that Christ is evidently set forth as crucified before them, Gal. iii. 1. Christ's voice is heard and felt, and his all-subduing power is displayed in the soul. The Spirit testifies of him as the almighty and eternal God, by the glorious majesty of Christ which the Spirit discovers, and which shines into the soul. "Arise, shine, for thy light is come, and the glory of God is risen upon thee; and the Lord shall be thine everlasting light, and thy God thy glory." Under this manifestation the soul falls prostrate before him; owns, honours, adores, and worships him. The Spirit testifies of him as our high priest, and applies the atonement, with pardon and peace, as the blessed effects of it. He testifies of him as our physician; and the proof of it is, our iniquities are all forgiven, and all our infirmities are healed. He testifies of him as the end of the law for righteousness, by applying his righteousness to the heart, and by passing the sentence of justification upon the conscience; at which time Christ, as our Advocate, silences all our accusers; and, as our Mediator, he gives us access to God, a claim upon him, and boldness with him. The Holy Spirit testifies of him as our King, and reveals him as such, and erects his empire in the soul upon our reception of Christ; which stands in power, in righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. When sin is dethroned, the devil, his armour, and artillery, are cast out, death is abolished, life and immortality is brought to light, and the fear of death and the dread of damnation are dispersed; and all our perplexing doubts, cares, and gloomy thoughts about it scattered into all winds. Thus, my dear brother, does the Holy Spirit testify of Christ, and gives evident proofs of his ability to save to the uttermost; he realizes his saving benefits, applies his merits, proclaims his omnipotence, his mild and blessed government, the powerful sway of his righteous sceptre, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom.
8. The application of all the promises is the work of the Holy Spirit. The promise of life and the spirit of life always go together, for it is the powerful application of the word by the Spirit that makes the promise - "The incorruptible seed, the word of God, that liveth and abideth for ever." All the promises of divine consolation have their sincere milk from Christ, by the Holy Spirit: one promise brings peace, another joy, another love, another comfort, another rest; just as the Holy Spirit sends them in, so they discharge their rich contents: the hungry soul, by exercising faith upon them, sucks the sweetness of them, till he is filled with joy unspeakable and fall of glory. "Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her: rejoice for joy with her, all ye that mourn 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," Isa. lxvi. 10, 11. There is no converting, refreshing, encouraging power attends the word without the Spirit's operation. When he makes application of it, faith, life, and love attend it; for "our gospel came not unto you in word only, but in power, in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurances," 1 Thess. i. 5. And various are the sensations of the soul under the Spirit's influence when he applies he word: sometimes it is a word of support that fortifies and strengthens; sometimes a word of encouragement to keep us watching, waiting, and to bear us up under trials and crosses; sometimes a word of correction that leads us to self-examination, which awes us, and excites watchfulness and amendment; at other times a soft word that breaketh the bone, and melts us under a sense of undeserved love and self-abhorrence; and often a word of instruction to correct the mind, disperse some wrong notion, to inform the judgment, and to bring more harmonious and consistent views of things to the soul. Innumerable are the ways by which the Holy Spirit works by the word, and in his application of it; but it is always a seasonable application; "And a word spoken in due season, how good is it? A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver," Prov. xv. 23; and xxv. 11.
9. The secret things of God, such as his counsel and covenants, are made known to us by the Holy Spirit. "What man knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God," 1 Cor.ii.11. The Holy Spirit, when he has testified of Christ to us, leads us back to his great undertaking and appointment from everlasting; he leads us up to the everlasting love of God, and to his absolute choice of us in Christ Jesus; to his secret decrees of election and predestination; to his good will of purpose in Christ, and to the secret counsel of his will; and to his covenant made with Christ before the world began - "For the froward is abomination to the Lord; but his secret is with the righteous," Prov. iii. 32. "The secret of the Lord is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenants 'Psalm xxv. 14. The secret of predestinating us to the adoption of children by Christ Jesus, and of his giving us life in him, and of his ordaining us to it before the world began, is revealed and made known to the elect of God by the Spirit; and our knowledge of these things, and of our interest in them, is our highest wisdom; "But we speak the wisdom of God in a mystery, even the hidden wisdom which God ordained before the world unto our glory; which none of the princes of this world knew; for, had they known it, they would not have crucified the Lord of glory. But as it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love him. But God hath revealed them to us by his Spirit; for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God," I Cor. ii.7-10. Our faith is called "the faith of God's elect," not only because it is a grace peculiar to them, but because God's election of us is a truth revealed to faith, and a truth which faith apprehends and holds fast; for there can be no such thing as making our calling and election sure, without being assured that there is such a doctrine as election. From God's secret counsel and covenant springs no small part of our unspeakable joy. God fills us with joy and peace in believing, and especially in believing our election of God: "Notwithstanding, in this rejoice not, that the spirits are subject unto you; but rather rejoice because your names are written in heaven," Luke, x. 20. If these things are lacking in our faith, our faith is deficient in one of the most sublime and establishing articles. He that believeth the love that God hath to him, is led to believe that this love took its rise from eternity (for there are no new acts in God); and from those ancient settlements are the goings forth of Christ dated. "But thou, Bethlehem Ephratah, though thou be little among the thousands of Judah, yet out of thee shall he come forth unto me that is to be ruler in Israel; whose goings forth have been from of old, from everlasting Micah, v. 2. Into these deep things does the Holy Spirit lead us, and into a humble acquiescence with them, and fills us with wonder and astonishment at them. And he likewise leads us into the distinct personal works of the holy and blessed Trinity. As a spirit of adoption he gives us power and boldness to claim our interest in God as our Covenant-God and Father; "To as many as received him to them gave he power to become the sons of God, even to them which believe on his name; which were born, not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man, but of God." This birth makes our sonship clear: love gives us a dwelling in God - "He that loveth dwelleth in God, and God in him." Faith gives us a dwelling in Christ - "That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith." And the Spirit's witness proves our adoption-the Spirit cries, "Abba, Father." Receiving power to become the sons of God, is receiving the Spirit; and by the Spirit the grace of faith, to enable us, as I before observed, with a holy boldness to claim our sonship before God. "But I said, How shall I put thee among, the children, and give thee a pleasant land, a goodly heritage of the hosts of nations? And I said, Thou shalt call me, My father; and shalt not turn away from me," Jer. iii. 19. This promise the Spirit makes good; he makes us say, "My Father." And this may be seen in the prodigal son - "I will arise, and go to my father." These words were spoken under the emboldening, and encouraging influence of the spirit of adoption; and whatever the Holy Spirit says or does is always owned and honoured by God the Father, and confirmed in heaven; as may be seen in that parable - "This is my son," says God; "he was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found." The Jews spake the same language the prodigal did, even to Christ - "We have one father, even God." But this is neither owned nor honoured; for, "If God were your Father," (says Christ) "you would love me: for I proceeded forth and came from God; neither came I of myself, but he sent me. Ye are of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth in him," John, viii. 42, 44. Thus we see that no claim upon birth-privileges, no, not upon national adoption; no unwarrantable, no presumptuous claims upon God, are either approved or confirmed.
10. The Holy Spirit is given for a witness to us. "If we receive the witness of men," (as many do, and rest in it,) "the witness of God is greater. He that believes hath the witness in himself." And sure I am that without the infallible testimony of the Holy Ghost, no poor, convinced, self-condemned, the self-despairing sinner could ever lay any claim upon the Almighty. A sensible sinner, who feels the enmity of his mind and the rebellion of his heart, who is loathsome in his own sight, and conscious to himself that, he is a child of wrath, and a willing drudge to Satan; for such an one to call God his father (even while God's wrath and jealousy seems to smoke against him) he would think it the vilest presumption in such a wretch as he, and the greatest affront and insult, the greatest dishonour and indignity, that could be offered to the majesty of heaven. He may say "to corruption, Thou art my father; and to the worm, Thou art my mother," Job, xvii. 14. But to think that God would, or could, ever acknowledge or accept such an one as a child of his, is what would never have entered his mind world without end, if the Holy Ghost did not put it there. And he does it in the following manner: - First, he silences all the sinner's accusers and all accusations, and brings the confused and confounded soul into a state of the most profound calm, quietude, peace, and tranquillity. Here our sins, which appeared like the sins of Sodom, crying to heaven; Conscience, also, with his cutting accusations; the law, with all its curses and unlimited demands; Justice, with his calls for vengeance; Satan, with all his blasphemies, fiery (darts, accusations, and terrible suggestions; together with all our heart-misgivings and heart-risings, and those terrible passages of scripture which describe the fruitless cries of Esau, the horrors of Judas, the misery of Cain, the distraction of Saul, and the fearful end of Corah, Abiram, and Dathan; are all stilled and bushed into the profoundest silence, the violent storm of wrath abates, and the troubled sea ceases from her raging. The poor sinner stands astonished to know what are become of all his accusers; he looks about him, and finds that all his sins which were set in order against him, all his secret sins which stood in the light of God's countenance, are blotted out as a cloud, and his transgressions as a thick cloud; and, as far as the east is from the west, so far does God separate our transgressions from us. The guilt and filth of sin within is all purged away, and every inbred corruption is subdued and out of sight; so that not one unclean bird remains upon the living sacrifice. The Holy Spirit sets Christ crucified before the eve of faith; while the Spirit, in the application of the blood of sprinkling, speaks pardon, peace, reconciliation, and perfect friendship. Sin being pureed, nothing separates or stands between God and the soul. The Holy Ghost sheds abroad God's love in the heart, which casts out fear and torment, doubts and all misgivings of the heart about it; while love dissolves the stony heart, melts the stubborn mind, and makes the rebellious will submit and become pliant. Joy unutterable flows in, while floods of pious and godly sorrow flow out. The benign Father of all mercies, and God of all comfort, indulges the soul with the greatest freedom and familiarity, and with nearness of access to him. God shines well-pleased in the face of Jesus, accepts and embraces the soul in him; while Faith, attended with the fullest assurance, springs up and goes forth in the fullest exercise upon the everlasting love of God, and on the finished salvation of Jesus Christ, and is fully persuaded of her eternal interest in both; while the Holy Spirit cries " Abba, Father:" to which cry both law and gospel, the love of God and the blood of Christ, retributive justice, and honest conscience, all put their hearty amen.
Yours in him, W. HUNTINGTON.
LETTER XII. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE VICARAGE, NEAR THE DEANERY, LEWES, SUSSEX. To his Excellency the Welch Ambassador his friend sendeth greeting. AMBASSADORS personate their sovereigns, and are as their month in foreign courts; and are, or should be, respected according to their wisdom and faithfulness, and according to the greatness, dignity, and formidability of their royal masters. But, O, my beloved, what an honour is it to be an ambassador of the King of kinds! Called and commissioned, owned and honoured, by him; and to be in a pardoned and justified state; in union, in Fellowship, and in peace with him: and therefore ambassadors or peace, bearers of good tidings, publishers of salvation, and that say unto Zion, "Thy God reigneth!" Such are the chariots of the Lord of host, in which he rides, and by which he bears his name among the Gentiles; out of which he shines, and from whom he sends out his line into all the earth, and his words to the end of the world. Infinite condescension is this. And when we consider what we were; how mean! how low! how poor! how despicable! But he hath chosen the poor, the weak, the foolish, and the base, that he may stain the pride of human glory, and bring into contempt the honourable of the earth. "Now he which establisheth us in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: who hath also sealed us, and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts," 2 Cor. i. 21, 22. Upon this delightful subject I shall yet proceed.
11. The Holy Spirit is to aid and assist the true worshippers of God in every branch of religious worship; and the saints must "serve in newness of spirit, and not in the oldness of the letter." God requires worship suitable to his nature - "God is a spirit, and they that worship him must worship him in spirit and in truth; for God seeketh such to worship him." Worship in the spirit is opposed to all carnal worship with a dead form, in which the body only is engaged; and therefore called bodily excerise, which profiteth little. Worshipping God in truth is opposed to all false, deceitful, and hypocritical worship, when the heart and soul are altogether disengaged: "They draw near to me with their mouth, and with their lips do honour me, but their heart is far from me; therefore in vain they worship me." In order to this true worship we must be purged and purified, justified and sanctified, and influenced with the Holy Spirit of God. God requires a pure offering, and an offering, in righteousness, or offerings offered up by persons in a justified state. "And he shall sit as a refiner and purifier of silver: and he shall purify the sons of Levi, and purge them as gold and silver, that they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteousness. Then shall the offering of Judah and Jerusalem be pleasant unto the Lord, as in the days of old, and as in former years," Mal. iii. 3, 4. The days of old, and the ancient times spoken of, are the days of Abel, Seth, Enoch, Noab, Abraham, Melchizedek, Isaac, and Jacob, &c. of whom, and of whose worship, we have no fault; but they obtained a good report through faith." Now God promises that, under the gospel the same acceptable worship shall be performed; and therefore he promises to influence and guide us in every branch of it - "For I the Lord love judgment, I hate robbery for burnt offering; and I will direct their work in truth, and I will make an everlasting covenant with them," Isaiah, Ixi. 8. And the Lord directs us in all our works by his Holy Spirit, and especially in prayer; "Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God," Rom. viii. 26, 27. The apostle here tells us that we know not what we should pray for as we ought, unless the Spirit help us. And there are prayers that have been put up by good men that have not been answered; "Elijah requested for himself that he might die, and said, It is enough: now, O Lord, take away my life; for I am not better than my fathers," 1 Kings, xix. 4. Zebedee's wife's request for her two sons to sit, one at the right hand of Christ, and the other at the left, meets with no better answer than, "Ye know not what ye ask," Matt. xx. 22. Which shews us the need of a Spirit of grace and supplication. The Holy Spirit enlightens us to see our wants, and quickens us to feel them, and creates a hunger and a thirst after the provision of God's house; and then leads our minds into the word, and shews us what is held forth, promised, and freely given to us - "Now we have received, not the spirit of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God," I Cor. ii. 12. The Holy Spirit, which searches the deep things of God, knows what is in reserve for us, and the time appointed for us to receive that which God hath laid up for us; and he sets us to praying for them when that time arrives. Thus, when the time of Israel's deliverance from Egyptian bondage drew near, the spirit of supplication was poured out, and the cries of the children of Israel went up. "And God heard their groanings; and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob. And God looked upon the children of Israel, and God had respect unto them," Exod. ii- 24, 25. So, in Daniel, just as the time was approaching for them to return to their own land, Daniel understands, by the prophecies of Jeremiah, that God would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of Jerusalem; then Daniel sets his "face to the Lord God, to seek by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes" Dan. ix. 3. So, also, there is a set time to favour Zion, and every one that is ordained to be of her community; a set time for every purpose; and, when that time is up, which the Holy Spirit is perfectly acquainted with, then he makes intercession with such energy, that the kingdom of heaven, which suffereth violence, is taken by force. The Holy Spirit furnishes the soul with suitable promises to Plead, with invitations and encouraging passages of scripture: these he brings to the mind and puts into the mouth, enabling the soul to use all sorts of arguments, pleadings, intercessions, supplications, confessions, and reasonings; and, at the same time, helps the poor creature against his unbelief, misgivings of heart, desponding thoughts, shame, fear, and confusion of face. He draws forth faith into lively exercise, and raises up hopes and expectations of being heard and answered. He emboldens the poor sinner, and fortifies his mind; he strengthens his heart, silences his accusers, and clothes his words with power; enabling him to pour out his very soul before God with earnest cries and tears, till his cares and concerns, his burdens, his griefs, his distresses and sorrows, his doubts and fears, all flow out with his words; and he goes from Shiloh with his countenance no more sad. How did he help Manasseh, who was an idolater and a wizard, who made Judah and Jerusalem do worse than the heathen, and who was deaf to all warning and admonition, till God brought an host against him, who took him and bound him with fetters, and carried him to Babylon? "And when he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God, and humbled himself greatly before the God of his fathers, and prayed unto him; and he was entreated of him, and heard his supplication, and brought him again to Jerusalem into his kingdom. Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God," 2 Chron. xxxiii. 12, 13. How did the Holy Spirit furnish the poor Syrophenician woman with her great faith and treble plea, till she got all her heart's desire? He made the poor prodigal claim his sonship in a far country, even when stung with the guilt of sinning against heaven and before God, as his own father in covenant; and Hezekiah, also, when both heaven and earth seemed to combine against him. Some of the children of God, who have foully fallen, and brought on themselves, and on God's cause and family, open reproach and scandal; as Noah, David, Peter, &C. and those who have awfully backslidden, and got into sin and into the world, till their hearts have been almost hardened from fear, and who would have gone from bad to worse, till they had become quite callous; and return no more, if the Holy Spirit, either by his own immediate operations, or by the instrumentality of some Nathan, did not alarm and awaken them to a sense of their state; and, when they are awakened and brought to a sense of their sins, their crimes are aggravated with such a complication of circumstances, and attended with such bitter reflections, as would sink them for ever, if the power of the Spirit was not put forth in them. Sins against light and love; against comfort, joy, and peace; against a merciful and compassionate Father; against all the blessings of the better testament; against a God formerly known and enjoyed, and against a Saviour revealed, and after union, communion, and fellowship with him; and against the consolations, witnessing and sealing of the Holy Spirit of promise. Looking back to the glorious times that are past; to the blessed days of the Son o man; and to the joy, peace, rest, quietude, and happiness then enjoyed. But now all is gone. "Fool that I am," says the poor creature; "for a little self, a little imagined pleasure, and by the deceitfulness of sin, am I shorn of all my strength, and divested of all true happiness. I have stumbled the weak, and have opened the mouths of the enemies of my God: they that have watched for my halting, and who would rejoice when I am moved, and who eat up the sin of God's people as they eat bread, will now say, This is the day that we have looked for. My smiling God is gone, and all sweet intercourse appears to be cut off. The Holy Spirit is grieved; no access to a throne of grace, no liberty in the Spirit, no liberty of speech. A dismal gloom appears in the Bible; nothing but reproofs and rebukes from the pulpit, barrenness in the pew, a fallen countenance before the world; and nothing but secret rage, envy, and jealousy in my heart, when I am among them that love God, which casts a damp upon all their holy fire. O my base ingratitude! "Fools, because of their iniquites, are afflicted.' I may go halting to my grave under fatherly severity, and perhaps it will be worse than that. Who knows but I have committed the unpardonable sin, and have crucified Christ afresh, and done despite to the Spirit of grace, and therefore am a castaway.
A sheep thus strayed would never return, a soul thus fallen would never rise more, without the assistance of the Holy Spirit. David knew this when be prayed - "Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy Holy Spirit from me," Psalm li. 11. A soul under such circumstances watches, observes, and attends all the day long, to the Holy Spirit, to see if he can find any enlargement of heart, any risings of hope and expectation, any goings forth in faith or affection, any freedom of soul or of speech in prayer, any flowings out of godly sorrow, any sounding of the bowels after God, any real compunction, contrition, or pious mournings after the Lord; if there be any goings forth of love to him; if any filial or childlike fear of him springing up, which has the goodness of God for its object; if he can find any fortitude, help, or inward support, or assistance in prayer; if any word come to assuage his grief, to soften the heart, to support, encourage, or to produce submission to the will of God: if there be any dispersion of his fears and terrors; if any self-abhorrence or self-loathing; if Satan's accusations and fiery darts lose their force, or abate in their violence; if the reproaches of conscience get less severe. Thus does the poor distressed soul wait upon the Holy Spirit, and watch and observe every influence, operation, or change, that is made in the heart; and greedily catches every hint, dictate, sensation, motion, affection, allurement, or encouragement, which is produced in the soul; and weighs it, considers it, embraces it, and interprets it in his own favour as far as circumstances, truth, and conscience will permit him.
Sometimes souls under such relapses find that the law is armed with fresh wrath and terrors against them, and that bitter things in that hand-writing appear against them; that it lays a fresh hold of them, and binds them fast - "The strength of sin is the law," I Cor. xv. 56. The spirit of bondage seizes them and shuts them up; which is nothing else but the anger of God working wrath, slavish fear, terror, and torment, in them; under which they are contracted, bound, and hemned in; shut up in unbelief, in hardness of heart, and under the rebukes of God, and in fear of worse to come; and while thus imprisoned neither faith nor love dare to venture out. Hence David complains in his fall - "Save me, O God, for the waters are come in unto my soul, I sink in deep mire, where there is no standing: I am come into deep waters, where the floods overflow me. I am weary of my crying: My throat is dried: mine eyes fail while I wait for my God," Ps. ixix. "Wash me thoroughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin: for I acknowledge my transgressions, and my sin is ever before me. Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow. Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation, and uphold me with thy free spirit," Psalm li. And agrain - "0, my God, my soul is cast down within me: therefore will I remember thee from the land of Jordan, and of the Hermonites from the hill Mizar. Deep calleth unto deep at the noise of thy water-spouts: all thy waves and thy billows are gone over me," Psalm xlii. In the above the psalmist feels the spirit of bondage, which is wrath and fear; and he prays for the joy of God's salvation, and to be upheld by God's free spirit; which is the Holy Spirit, the spirit of love and power. He complains of "deep calling unto deep." A soul in the horrible pit hears little else but the calls of law and justice for vengeance which are always answered again by the accusations of Satan and conscience. The storms of Sinai, like a water-spout at sea, threaten the earthen vessel with a deluge of wrath, which would soon drown it in destruction and perdition. These waves of real, and some imaginary displeasure (no less terrible than real) rolling over the poor creature, are ready to send the bark to the bottom. This is the terrible way in which some fallen and backsliding souls are purged and reclaimed; and especially such as have brought public scandal upon the gospel and church of Christ, as the incestuous Corinthian, &c. Others are revived and restored by more gentle means - "A soft tongue shall break their bones," Prov. xxv. 15. Divine kindness shall melt them, humble and soften them. But even this unexpected kindness, which is coyly received, and in much self-abhorrence often put from them, as they are utterly unworthy of the least notice of God, and is mixed with some resentment, which keeps the soul at a distance, mixing his fear with trembling; and when any child of God is raised up and restored in this way, as the poor prodigal was, when the kiss, the robe, and the ring, quite killed him; and as a propitious look from the Lord Jesus Christ killed Peter to sin, self, and the world, when he went out, and, with a flood of the tears of penitence and love, discharged the guilt with which he had been drenched while in the sieve of Satan. Such are forgiven; but it is long before they can forgive themselves. They are acquitted by God; but they will not suffer conscience to acquit them. "What carefulness it works in them! yea, what clearing of themselves! yea, what indignation! yea, what fear! yea, what vehement desire; yea, what zeal! yea, what revenge! 2 Cor. vii. 11.
Thus, my dearly-beloved brother, does the Holy Spirit help the infirmities of the saints of God, through the mediation of Jesus Christ; and continually communicates grace from his fulness to help us in every time of need: whose inexhaustible fulness of grace is sufficient to change the heart of the stoutest rebel, to raise up the fearfully fallen, and to restore the most awful backslider. "Howbeit, for this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting. Now unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only wise God, be honour and glory, for ever and ever. Amen" I Tim. i. 16, 17. And so says,
Your affectionate servant, friend, and brother, W. HUNTINGTON.
LETTER XIII. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. The Coalheaver to the Welsh Ambassador sendeth greeting, with words of peace and love. BELOVED, the perishing soul, parched with the heat of a fiery law, who is led to the fountain of living water to drink, is to have a well of living water in his heart, which is to spring up into everlasting life. I know that Christ has rent the heavens and come down; that there is a new and living way opened into the holy of holies; and that he has admitted our hearts and hopes, our faith and our affections, already to the right hand of God, where he sitteth: and where our heart is, there is our treasure. And there is nothing that men delight in more than in their treasure: of this they boast, and on this they set their mind, and this generally employs their thoughts; and therefore you must not wonder if I come again and again, for we have heavenly treasure even in a earthen vessels. The next thing, that I shall treat of is,
12. The assistance of the Spirit against Satan. "So shall they fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun; when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him. And the Redeemer shall come to Zion," Isa. lix. 19. 20. Every time that a new-born soul gets under the hiding of God's countenance, or into the furnace of affliction, or is exercised with legal bondage or spiritual desertions, the adversary is sure to be upon him, to raise doubts and fears in him, by calling the whole work of God upon his soul into question; and, by raising scruples in his mind, he rouses up the unbelief of his heart; and when he deals with the poor soul just as a highwayman does with the unwary traveler; he comes upon him unexpectedly, and flurries him, and fills him with confusion, so that he is robbed before he can recollect himself. So the believer, when his comforts are gone, is suddenly surprised by the various assaults of Satan; - "As a bird that is caught in a snare, so are the sons of men snared in an evil time, when it cometh suddenly upon them," Ecel. ix. 12. The devil labours to dispute him out of the truth of the work of God in his heart, by setting before him such as the foolish virgins, and how far they went on; the gifts and abilities of Judas, and what became of him; and of many in the present day, who made a great shew and deceived many. Moreover, Satan suggests to the young believer that the real children of God receive a Comforter that abides with them for ever, and therefore they are always comfortable; and that no such temptations befall the real saints of God, for "he that is born of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not," 1 John, v. 18. The blood of Christ cleanseth them from all sin, and "he that is born of God sinneth not," 1 John, iii. 9. "Whereas (saith Satan) you are full of sin and hardness of heart, full of rebellion and unbelief, and of all manner of concupiscence. No, no; do not deceive yourself (saith he): the saints of God are pureed, and therefore clean; they are washed, and they are whiter than snow: whereas you are as black as the tents of Kedar, and are filled with secret rage and envy at those that do really love and fear God; and this is an infallible mark of an hypocrite; - For they that hate Zion shall be desolate. This (says Satan) was the case and state of Saul, king of Israel; he hated David because the Lord was with him. And this upon him was an evident token of perdition; for he that hateth his brother is as Cain, who was of that wicked one, and slew his brother: yea, he that hateh his brother is a murderer; and ye know that no murderer hath eternal life abiding in him.
"Besides, you really hate them because they are happy, and because you see and know that the Lord is with them this is hating the Holy Comforter also; and, if this be not doing 'despite to the Spirit of grace,' what is? Moreover, real believers are kept by the mighty power of God through faith unto salvation; but where is your keeping? Have I not access to you when I please? Are you not at this time in my hands? You have often, and (as you thought) with the deepest self-abhorrence, confessed your own vileness, and told God that had he destroyed you he would have been strictly righteous, for you have been an awful sinner against him. God only softened your heart, and gave you a little joy, like that of the way-side hearers, on purpose to draw those confessions out of your mouth, that he may take advantage of it, and condemn you out of your own mouth, as a wicked servant. And not only this, but you have called God himself your Father, as the Jews of old did, when the devil himself was their Father; and you have called Jesus Christ your dear Lord and Master, when you know at this very time that I have full power over you. Never, no never, was there such a headstrong, daring, presumptuous, God-dishonouring wretch as you. You a saint! You look like one; don't you? No, no; do not deceive yourself; all your joys and hopes, and all your comfort, that you ran from house to house and chartered about, it all came from me. I can transform myself into the likeness of an angel of light; I can counterfeit all the joys and comforts of the Holy Spirit on purpose to deceive. The whole work in you was all my own, and I did it on purpose to entrap you. Back to my work you must come, for you are still my captive, and I will make you fetch up all your lost time; and this the scripture declares when it says, I and the last state of that man is worse than the first.'
'Deceiving and being deceived.' I have deceived you, and you have deceived others. You have been to your minister and told him a thousand lies, and have deceived him; for he thinks it is a work of grace. And you have been to old Honesty and told him your experience; you have been to Dame Simplicity and filled her head; and to Miss Lovetruth, and she thinks you are a wonder. Go, go, and undeceive them all; tell them what you really are; that you always was a forward, daring, bold, arrogant rebel; and that you have added this, your deceitful and hypocritical profession, to all the rest of your innumerable and complicated crimes. Never, never more open your mouth, nor drop one word to any soul living about religion-yea, if your heart be hot within you keep silence, even from good words; for you will be a reproach, a public scandal, a by-word, and an offence; and "woe be to that man through whom the offence cometh.' You will stumble these poor weaklings that you have tried to encourage, by telling them your experience; these will faint and give all up: and you know what Christ says to them who offend one of these little ones that believe in him; - Good had it been that thou hadst never been born: yea, "better that a millstone were handed about thy neck, and that thou wert drowned in the depths of the sea, than that thou shouldest offend one of these little ones."
" No soul that ever appeared upon the stage of time, no character that is drawn in the annals of God, ever appeared so desperate as yours. Cain was banished from his Father's house; Esau's cries and tears, and his hatred to Jacob, sprung chiefly for a blessing in temporal things; and Saul's hatred to David was mostly because he viewed him as the rival of his family in a temporal kingdom: but your crimes are worse than theirs, put them all together. For you hate the people of God because the love of God is shed abroad in their hearts, and the comforts of the Holy Spirit is in their souls; and to be jealous, envious, and hateful, not only to the children of God, but even to the comforts of the Holy Spirit, is an evident token of perdition. Go, tell them all what you really are, and undeceive them; and tell them never to lift up either cry or prayer for you; - "There is a sin unto death; I do not say he shall pray for it." Tell them that all your faith was nothing but presumption, and that all your claims upon God were unwarrantable and daring intrusions; - "And the soul that doeth aught presumptuously, that soul shall be destroyed from among his people.' You will now be held up to contempt, and be made a public example to deter others; yea, "a fugitive and a vagabond shalt thou be in the earth.' And, as for me, I will harass, worry, and drive you, as I did the mad Gadarene into the wilderness. I never sweat nor tire. I will pursue you with unremitted violence, till I drive you mad and desperate.
"Law sinners, that know nothing of the will of God in the gospel, will be beaten with few stripes; the heathen, who are a law to themselves, will be beaten with fewer still. But you are an impostor, a hypocrite in Zion, and a sinner against the Holy Ghost; the hottest place in hell is your portion, and I will punish you (for I am the tormentor) worse than all the slaves I have, unless you will 'fall down and worship me.' It is in vain to cry to God, for there is no God; nor is it of any use to plead the promises, for the Bible is not true, I dictated it; it was compiled by cunning and designing men which I employed on purpose to deceive the simple. Hence many noblemen, and some of the most learned in all the nation, burlesque it and ridicule it as a mere fable and as an idle tale."
Thus with violence doth the devil break in upon the young believer and harass him, when it pleases God to leave him for the trial of his faith, and that he may know what is in his heart; and thus he used to serve me. Well may the prophet say, "The enemy comes in like a flood;" for all seems to be swept and carried away before him. Nothing appears to be left but the bare remembrance of things past, and sometimes hardly that. But, when the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him." This standard is Christ Jesus. "Behold, I will lift up my hand to the Gentiles, and set up my standard to the people," Isa. xlix. 22. This standard is intended to gather together God's elect to Christ, as will appear in the following passage. "Go through, go through the gates; prepare you the way of the people; cast up, cast up the highway; gather out the stones; lift up a standard for the people. Behold, the Lord hath proclaimed unto the end of the world, say ye to the laughter of Zion, Behold, thy salvation cometh; behold, his reward is with him, and his work before him," Isa. Ixii. 10, 11. Christ is the rod from out of the stem of Jesse; he is the standard and the ensign staff; his everlasting love is the banner; a daily cross and a crown of glory is the motto upon the banner; ministers of Christ are standard-bearers; these are commanded to go through the gates, to cast up the way, to gather out the stones, and to lift up the standard to the people. But then we can only lift up the standard to the people, not in them: whereas the enemy is said to get into them; - "When the enemy shall come in like a flood," &c. All in-door work belongs to the Holy Spirit. We can only preach to the outward ear, and set forth the Lord Jesus Christ before them; which is called lifting up a standard to them. But it is the Holy Spirit that testifies of Christ to the heart, and that lifts up the standard against Satan in the soul. And this he does by dispersing all the darkness and confusion which the devil has spread over the mind; and by subduing our inbred corruptions which the devil has stirred up, and by enlightening the understanding afresh, and presenting the Saviour as shining into the soul, and by drawing forth faith, hope, love, repentance, and godly sorrow, to go forth and flow out to him; and, at the same time, raising up and bringing forth to the believer's view the whole work of grace in his soul; by passing afresh the sentence of justification in the court of conscience, by brightening every evidence, bearing his own witness afresh, shedding abroad again God's love in the heart, and filling the soul with joy and peace in believing. Now, says the soul, let my enemy come! No, no; Satan knows better; he will not face thee with all that armour about thee. He lays at the catch; he hates the believing voice of triumph. When he hears thee mourning alone and sitting solitary, then he will visit thee again with a, "Where is now thy God?" These are Satan's times, and he will let us know it. But still the Spirit lifts up the standard against him, and unfolds the banner of God's love, again and again, in the behalf of them that fear God, that his beloved may be delivered from the power of sin and Satan. "Thou hast given a banner to them that feared thee, that it may be displayed because of the truth, Selah. That thy beloved may be delivered; save with thy right hand, and hear me," Psal. lx. 4, 5. As sure as ever Satan obscures the blessed work, and raises doubts in the poor sinner's mind about the reality of it, so sure does the Spirit lift up the standard against him, and revives the work, and brings it forth again to the light, that we may behold the righteousness of God in it. He does it over and over again, till he has strengthened, stablished, and settled us.
13. Our fruitfulness, also, is owing to the in-dwelling and operation of the Holy Spirit. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law," Gal. V. 22, 23. Again, "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth," Eph. v. 9. Christ is our living root, the indwelling of the Holy Spirit makes us one with Christ: while the everlasting love of God the Father to us in him unites us to him. From his fulness does the Holy Spirit continually us supply us. We receive from his fulness, and grace for grace. Present grace to assure us of future grace; or sanctifying grace in this life as a pledge of glorifying grace in heaven. The Spirit takes of the things that are Christ's, and shews them unto us; - his undertaking, his finished work; his truths, doctrines, and promises; his righteousness, peace, and satisfaction; his mysteries, his kingdom, and the power and majesty of it; his exaltation, meditation, intercession, and glorification in heaven above. This is the work of the blessed Spirit; and this union with Christ Jesus does the Holy Spirit keep up: and we having life in Christ the root, the Holy Spirit communicates life every moment from the root to the branch; for our life is hid with Christ in God. And Christ says, "Because I live, you shall live also." Hence the promise, "Their leaf shall be green, neither shall they cease from yielding fruit." And no small part of the saint's fruit is put forth in God's house of prayer, and by diligent attendance there. "The Lord loveth the gates of Zior more than all the dwellings of Jacob. The righteous shall flourish like the palm-tree: he shall grow like a cedar in Lebanon. Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God. They shall still bring forth fruit in old age; They shall be fat and flourishing; to shew that the Lord is upright: He is my rock and there is no unrighteousness in him," Psalm xcii. 12, 13, 14, 15. In God's house of prayer the united fruits of the lips are offered up; such as, honest confessions of sins, and humble acknowledgments of mercies received. Prayers, supplications, and intercessions, are offered up in the unity of faith and love. God is extolled by the high praises of Zion, by thank offerings, and by blessings, and the celebration of the perfections and attributes of his nature ; such as his mercy, goodness, truth, and Holiness, love) Pity, and compassion, towards poor sinners in Christ Jesus. "Let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I the Lord exercise righteousness, judgment, loving-kindness, and tender mercy in the earth; for in these things I delight, saith the Lord." Here the saints often have bowels of mercy drawn forth, and their hearts enlarged towards the poor of the flock, to relieve their wants. Those that are enriched by Christ Jesus come not behind in this grace also. Besides all these, there are internal fruits brought forth under the word of God, which word is said to bring forth fruit. "We give thanks to God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you, since we heard of your faith in Christ Jesus, and of the love which ye have to all the saints; for the hope which is laid up for you in heaven, whereof ye heard before in the word of the truth of the gospel: which is come unto you, as it is in all the world, and bringeth forth fruit, as it doth also in you since the day ye heard of it, and knew the grace of God in truth," Col. i. 3-6. A word of reproof often produces self-loathing and self-abasement. A word of severity mixed with love produces humility and meekness. A word descriptive of the tried soul's case, attended with an increase of strength and encouragement, draws forth faith into lively act and exercise. A word of comfort draws forth love to God, and joy in him. A word that restores a backslider is attended with contrition and godly sorrow. A word that seals pardon to a fallen saint, fires his zeal, and arms him with indignation against both sin and self. A word of instruction that settles a doubting mind, or fixes a soul halting between two opinions, and which informs his judgment and discovers heresy and heretics, produces blessings and thanksgivings to the glory of God. A word that encourages and succours the tempted, excites love to Christ and hatred to Satan. A word that strengthens and refreshes the sincere seeker, produces patience, submission, and resignation to the will of God. And though these are sometimes short and transient, yet they are genuine fruits, and such fruits as are produced under the influence of the Holy Ghost, who applies the word, and works with it, and by it.
All these, and many more such fruits, do the hearts of God's children conceive by the word, and under the operation of the Holy Spirit of God; which often fills their souls with pious grief, godly sorrow, or love to God, or self-loathing; so that they would be glad, could the discourse be stopped while they might retire into some lonely apartment to acknowledge his goodness, express their joys, or to pour out their souls before God; and are often grieved, when they go home, to find the blessed unction and the divine power abated, and the heavenly dew dried up.
There is a continual flowing of grace from the fountain to the holy city of Zion. The river of pleasure, that flows from the Fountain of life, sends forth its streams, which "make glad the city of God;" and Zion continually plays all her springs back again in devotion, worship, and adoration: hence the church is called "a spring shut up, a fountain sealed." Shut up and sealed under sore trials: opened and unsealed in times of deliverance: shut up and sealed to all rivals and strangers; opened and unsealed to the Lord and to his friends.
At times, when the believer is under sore conflicts, and the Spirit begins to sanctify the trial, the divine flowings are wonderful, especially in prayer; matter and manner, words and power, are so abundant, that the soul is "as wine which hath no vent;" he "is ready to burst, like new bottles," Job, xxxii. 19. He has no sooner sent up the whole weight and sensations of his soul, but the heart conceives again, and he is constrained to "speak that he may be refreshed," Job, xxxii. 20. But still the spring rises, till he can attend to nothing else. "For my love they are mine adversaries; but I give myself unto prayer," Ps. cix. 4. At such times the Spirit of grace and supplication operates in a wonderful manner; the believer, under the Spirit's influence, is more formidable than an army with banners; there is nothing in heaven, earth, or hell, that can stand against him, as may be seen in Hezekiah (Isaiah, chap. xxxviii.), and in Daniel (Dan. ix. 21); the former of whom drove back the sun in his firmament, and the latter fetched down an angel from heaven.
So, on the other hand, when the Holy Spirit furnishes the soul for praises and thank-offerings at the time of conspicuous deliverances from sore trials, temptation, or spiritual desertions, the soul is so banquetted, and the unction is so abundant, that the heart must pour it out: "Thou preparest a table before me in the presence of mine enemies: thou anointest my head with oil my cup runneth," over," Psal. xxiii. 5, While we are blessing God he keeps blessing us. "In blessing I will bless thee." His love flows in, and we pour it out; the sacred flame burns, and the continual burnt-offering goes up, But the former and latter of these are upon our solemn feast days, and at the commencement of the years of jubilee; for, in the general, things are not so.
My son, think on these things, and follow after charity, righteousness, peace, faith, meekness, patience, with all them that call upon God out of a pure heart; while I remain, in the best of bonds,
Devotedly yours, W. Huntington
LETTER XIV. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. To my joy, and the crown of my rejoicing.
BELOVED, when I finished my last I concluded that the cruse was nearly exhausted - but this morning early it sprung up again, and seemed to flow in various directions; it anointed my eyes, and I perceived it with this observation, "The yoke shall be destroyed because of the anointing" I found it was so, and therefore I pursued it with pleasure, finding the service to be perfect freedom. "My horn" is exalted "like the horn of an unicorn," and I am "anointed with fresh oil." O, that this was a little more observed and attended to! But the believer is too much like the worldly miser, he never knows what he is worth. I must now "speak of the things which I have made touching the King," and his anointing; and I hope it will turn out to thee that my heart hath been inditing a good matter. The matter is,14. Concerning the judgment of the Holy Spirit. In the justification of our souls the Holy Spirit brings the righteousness of Christ near to us, and enlightens the sinner to see Christ as the end of the law; while he works faith in the heart to go forth, embrace him, and put him on: hence we are said to be "justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God." The Holy Spirit, by the ministry of the apostles, judging the twelve tribes of Israel; he, by applying the words of reproof and rebuke to them, arraigned and brought in many guilty, who humbly craved forgiveness and obtained it; when the blessed Spirit, who takes of the things that are Christ's and shews them to us, pointed these poor condemned sinners to the atonement and satisfaction of Christ, and to his righteousness and reconciliation with God by it; and, upon their believing, he filled them with the flames of love and zeal; and, sanctifying them, he set them apart, and devoted them as holy vessels of honour, meet for the Master's use. You have this work and these people thus described by the prophet; - "In that day shall the branch of the Lord be beautiful and glorious, and the fruit of the earth shall be excellent and comely for them that are escaped of Israel. And it shall come to pass, that he that is left in Zion, and he that remaineth in Jerusalem, shall be called holy, even every one that is written among the living in Jerusalem: when the Lord shall have washed away the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof, by the spirit of judgment, and by the spirit of burning," Isa. iv. 2-4. Where this work is done there is a court of equity and justice set up and established in the conscience of a believer, that he may no more call evil good, and good evil; nor put light for darkness, and darkness for light. The law is put into the heart, and written in the mind; or that which is equivalent to it. Faith being a persuasion in the mind, and the love of God (which love is the fulfiling of the law) in the heart; this, with the righteousness of Christ placed to our account, is called, by the apostle, "the righteousness of the law fulfilled in us," while we "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." Now, to keep things in order in the breasts of all Gods children, God sets up this court of equity and justice, that we may daily cite ourselves at it; and, upon every arraignment, "if our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God." Our daily happiness depends upon our attention to this; - "Herein do I exercise myself," says Paul, "to have a conscience void of offence;" for "blessed is the man that condemns not himself in the thing which he allows." To this end God promises the Holy Spirit to guide and assist us in judgment: "In that day shall the Lord of hosts be for a crown of glory, and for a diadem of beauty, unto the residue of his people; and for a spirit of judgment to him that sitteth in judgment; and for strength to them that turn the battle to the gate," Isa. xxviil 5, 6. My brother, take notice of the personality of the Holy Spirit in that text; of the personal characters and incommunicable names ascribed to him, and of the train of divine perfections-the Lord of hosts; a crown of glory; a diadem of beauty; a spirit of judgment; and strength to them that turn the battle to the gate. I know the text may be accommodated to religion magistrates, and to persons in the church of Christ-judging them that are within: but these tbings are often done, and well done, even by men who know nothing savingly of the things which I am writing. The apostle, reprehending some of the church at Corinth, for their unbecoming behaviour at the Lord's table, tells them that, "if we would judge ourselves, we should not be judged. But when we are judged we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world," I Cor. xi. 31, 32. Did the believer attend more to this when conscience reproaches or checks him, and go immediately to God by confession and prayer, disallow and disapprove of what he has done, and not suffer his sin to go either from mind or memory, but importune, and implore pardon and forgiveness; he would soon prevail, and save himself many a bitter cry and restless hour. The Corinthians omitted this, and therefore God took it in hand. "For this cause many are weak and sickly among you, and many sleep," I Cor. xi. 30. David neglected this, till his soul got hardened through the deceitfulness of sin; till Nathan set him where he ought to have set himself; namely, on the judgment seat; and, by his wise parable, made him condemn himself, which he ought to have done before. These God judged and chastened, that they might not be condemned with the world.
God not only keeps his court in the believer's heart, and the spirit of judgment there; but his house of correction also. God purges the daughter of Zion and Jerusalem by the spirit of judgment and by the spirit of burning; hence he keeps his "fire in Zion, and his furnace in Jerusalem," Isa. xxxi. 9. Those whom God judges he chastens; and this fire and furnace are to purge away the dross and tin. Many a time have I escaped that terrible furnace, by judging and condemning myself. And, though sometimes the process has continued for several days, yet I followed it up, and could not, would not rest, till pardon was obtained, conscience quieted, and peace restored; and sometimes this has been done even in the pulpit; there the word has come and healed me. Whereas some are in the furnace almost all the year round, they hardly ever make straight paths for their feet; but that which is lame is turned out of the way instead of being healed, Heb. xii. 13. "From all your filthiness, and from all your idols," says God, "will I cleanse you." This he does at conversion. But dross and tin still remain, and the furnace is prepared for this; - "I will purely purge away thy dross, and take away all thy tin," Isa. i. 25. The spirit of judgment, and the furnace of affliction, are continually at work in Zion. Cold and lifeless frames; ingratitude for mercies received; yielding to unbelief, and listen to Satan; murmuring and rebelling at the daily cross; deadness in the service of God; being often selfwilled and soon angry; speaking hastily and unadvisedly with our lips; indulging evil and unclean thoughts; being stubborn and sullen under the rod, with many slips and falls into sin. Hence the complaints; - "Nevertheless, I have somewhat against thee, because thou hast left thy first love: thou hast a name that thou livest, but art dead. My people are bent to backslide from me. Hezekiah rendered not again according to the kindness done unto him: nevertheless Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart," 2 Chron. xxxii. 25, 26. Hezekiah judged and humbled himself, and so escaped the furnace: "Hezekiah humbled himself for the pride of his heart, both he and the inhabitants of Jerusalem; so that the wrath of the Lord came not upon them in the days of Hezekiah," verse 26. If we would judge ourselves we should not be judged. Upon every sinful frame and miscarriage God calls us to bar of equity; - "Come, now, and let us reason together, saith the Lord; though your sins be as scarlet, they shall be as white as snow; though they be red like crimson, they shall be as wool," Isa. i. 18. "When these things are strictly attended to, a solid joy and lasting consolation is established in the soul. "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world," 2 Cor. i. 12. The testimony of conscience, and the enjoyment of peace, are inseparable; and by attending to these, a man walks with God: "He walked with me in peace and equity, and did turn many away from iniquity," Mal. ii. 6.
Some indiscreet ones of the Lord's household are like some men who are embarked in several branches of business, and, being often cast down in their own minds, fearing they are going back, omit taking stock, lest a right knowledge of their affairs should sink them lower. But God will bring all his children to book; and, if they shun the bar of equity, he will bring them to the bar of judgment, and put fresh wrath and terror into the law, and hold up that hand-writing against them; - "Enter not into judgment with thy servant," says David. "Thou writest bitter things against me," says Job. If we will not judge ourselves, the Lord will judge us; and, if we will not reason with him, he will make us bear the rod, and who hath pointed it; and then the question is, "Hast thou not procured these things to thyself?" Then into the furnace we go, kicking and plunging like a wild bull in a net, full of the fairy and the rebuke of our God; and here he keeps us till we can say from the heart, "Not my will, but thine be done. I will bear the indignation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for me; he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness," Micah, vii. 9. By these means is the iniquity of Jacob purged, and this is all the fruit, to take away his sin. Faith gets a fresh discovery of the atonement of Christ, and a fresh application of it by the Spirit. If this is not the case, we come out "like a fool brayed in a mortar." It is not a deliverance from the furnace, but is intended to confound us, and to keep us in fear and suspense; doubting whether the furnace is not going to be heated hotter. When God takes us in hand, and judges and chastens us, we are sure of this furnace; - "I will bring them through the fire, and will purify them as silver is purified, and try them as gold is tried; and make a man more precious than the golden wedge of Opbir." But my dear brother will say, "If all our dross and tin are to be taken away, how comes it to pass that so much still remain? "When I would do good, evil is" always "present with me." No furnace that I have yet been in has ever removed the in-being of it from me." No; if the vessels of mercy were ever thus effectually and perfectly purged, there could be no more conscience of indwelling sin. But, the root that bears gall and wormwood still remaining, the furnace remains. I can find that the furnace purges me from my evil frames; but not from the in-being of sin, which betrays me into these evil frames. Self is daily to be denied; the war between the law of the mind and that of the members remains, and is sure to be, more or less, directly or indirectly, the daily cross that a child of God has to take up. On account of these things the spirit of judgment remains in Zion. To subdue sin, and to keep grace in the throne, is the cause of this fire and this furnace in Jerusalem. Self-examination is to the believer the business of every day; and every bill that conscience files against us is intended to bring us to the bar; and, upon trial, that which is disallowed, disapproved, bewailed, lamented over, and which is a cause of grief, and which makes us groan for deliverance, is no more we; - "It is not I" that do it, "but sin that dwelleth in me." We are complete in him; without fault before the throne; and clean every whit, notwithstanding these things. And now, my dear brother, in observing these things; - "Whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are just, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are of good report; if there be any virtue, and if there be any praise, think on these things. And the God of peace, that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great Shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, make you perfect in every good work, to do his will, working in you that which is well-pleasing in his sight, through Jesus Christ; to whom be glory for ever and ever, amen." So says yours, in the unity of the faith, and in the bond of love,
W. HUNTINGTON, S.S. LETTER XV. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. To the Son of my Vows.
BELOVED! "the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, even to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills;" and they shall rest upon the head of my son, and "upon the crown of the head of him that is separated from his brethren." But say you, "Who shall ascend into this hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place?" Even "he that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully;" he "in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord."A pure heart, is a heart purified by faith; for it is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness. Clean hands, are hands clean from bribes, and from dishonest gain, and from holding lies; and hands that are liberal to the poor of the flock: "Give alms of such things as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto you. Such despise the heretic and hypocrite, but they will honour the faithful of the Lord's household.
But the utmost bounds of these everlasting hills are hard to describe; for who can describe the bounds or borders of the heavenly country! However, souls that have hope in their end shall come to the borders of it. This the scriptures witness: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy [the last enemy is death]. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border," Jer. xxxi. 15-17. But I must pull in, or else I shall be carried I know not where. I shall now,
15. Treat of mortification of sin by the Spirit. "For, if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live," Rom. viii. 13. There is a great deal of mortification among the superstitious papists, pharisees, and legal workmongers; but it all stands for nothing, because it is not done through the Spirit; and, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Besides, whipping, thumping the breast, walking bare-footed, fasting, in Lent, abstaining, from animal food, and confining themselves to fish, are human inventions; for "that which goes into a man defiles him not. "And fasting is left to our own option; the Son of man came eating and drinking. It is not the lawful use, but the abuse, of temporal mercies, which the scriptures condemn. Besides, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, are expressly called doctrines of devils, I Tim. iv. 1-3.
This work of mortifying the deeds of the body is called by different names in scripture. Our Lord calls it self-denial: "He that cometh after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."
It is called putting off: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man."
It is called a crucifying: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."
And it is likewise called mortifying the flesh: " Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetous less, which is idolatry. Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, and lie not one against another; seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds," Col. iii. Here we have a description of the old man, and of the limbs or members of him; and a most formidable monster he is. Now there can be no putting this old man off, but by putting the new man on. Without the law of God in the mind there can be no war against the law in the members, and of course no daily cross. Where there is a renewed self that follows Christ in the regeneration, there will be a denying sinful self that hinders us in the way. The Holy Spirit raises up a new man in us, and then helps us to mortify the old man, that the new man may keep the throne: "Sin shall not have dominion; grace shall reign." Every attempt to mortify sin without the Spirit and grace of God, is like the Ethiopian changing his skin, or the leopard his spots. Satan is not divided against himself. No superstitious modes of mortification, which are invented by Satan, will ever hurt his reign, or destroy his kingdom. Whipping may wound the back, going bare-foot may cripple the feet, and thumping the breast may make it sore. This is not only "neglecting the body" Col. ii. 23, but abusing it; for the old man is still untouched, and of course, unhurt. Such mortification is wickedness; for no man should hate his own flesh, but nourish and cherish it, Ephes v. 29. The body is the workmanship of God, but sin is not. The body was very good till man let sin into it. They punish the poor body, but shew lenity to the old man: These "tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Not the body, therefore, but the deeds of the body, the corruptions of our heart, are to be mortified through the spirit.
1. The Spirit assists us in this work by testifying of Christ to the soul. Every time that faith is favoured with a fresh view of Christ, all grace is in exercise; faith looks and rejoices; love delights in the blessed object; hope abounds at the thoughts of future enjoyment; patience brings up the rear, in waiting till the change come; humility and meekness sink the soul into less than nothing, at the thoughts of a rebel being made heir to the inheritance of the saints in light. "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph. iv. 22, 24.
2. By helping our infirmities in prayer, God promises to subdue our iniquities: "He will turn again; he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," Micah, vii. 19. In this way the Spirit helped Jabez: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested," I Chron. iv. 10. In this way Paul prevailed against his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan that was sent to bufet him.
3. The deeds of the body are mortified by our attending to, and delighting our souls in, the influences and operations of the Holy Spirit. When we follow after righteousness, peace, charity, meekness, patience, and faith, setting our minds upon them, and delighting our souls in these things, the old man gets neglected, and withers. "This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh," GaL v. 16.
4. By leading us to love and to delight ourselves in reading and meditating on the word of God. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doth shall prosper," Psalm i, 1-3. Here we are informed that this delightful work is intended to keep our leaf green, and to make us fruitful, like a tree that brings forth its fruit in due season.
5. The Spirit assists us in mortifying the deeds of the body by his quickening influences upon us, which keep up a keen appetite for spiritual food; such souls thirst for the living God, and long for the courts of the Lord's house; saying, "When shall I come and appear before God?" And such have their promise: Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God: they shall be fat and flourishing, they shall bring forth fruit in old age, to shew that the Lord is upright." A keen appetite and a heavenly banquet employ all the powers of the soul: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." And, when Christ's fruits are so sweet and delightful to our taste, the devil cannot vend his wares; the old man, with his deceitful lusts, are rather despised and blown upon than relished. This sorrowful meat is set before us when the better sort is withheld, when there is a famine and a compulsive fast. "Can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days," Luke, v. 34, 35. When these mournful days come, which are but too often, then Satan shews us all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, and the imaginary happiness of his children, who war after the flesh. These are the days for sour grout, and for filling the belly with the east wind. But Satan never tells us who is to pay the reckoning, nor informs us about an eternal fast, and begging water in hell, when the Lamb and his wife will be bathing in endless pleasures in heaven.
6. The Spirit helps us in mortifying the deeds of the body by exciting us to follow hard after Christ, and by encouraging us to cleave to him with full purpose of heart, to labour hard in order to our abiding sensibly in him, in his favour, in the light of his countenance, in the peace of him, and in the love of him; in the joy of the Lord, and in communion and fellowship with him; and by constant visits to him, and abounding in the work of him: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned," John, xv. 5, 6. This is the most sure way to abound in fruitfulness; the more we commune with the Saviour, the more we savour of his good ointments, and the more we are equipped against Satan and his wiles. When, on the other hand, if this be neglected and not attended to, the branch gets at a distance, till sin, guilt, fear, and shame, stop up the intercourse, and then deadness and barrenness follow; leanness comes into the soul, the heart sinks, the countenance falls, spiritual gifts, abilities, zeal, apparent liveliness, diligence, and all joys, seem to blight under the fire of imbred lust; and all wither away together, unless the Spirit displays his power in such a soul.
7. The deeds of the body are not a little mortified by the fiery trial. When the old man, with his deceitful lusts, are ready to be too much for the believer, insomuch as that the enjoyment of peace and common comforts are not sufficient to keep him, these are withdrawn; at which the soul is alarmed, fatherly anger lowers, fear and terrors follow up and flow in, and a spirit of heaviness succeeds. Doubts and fears about the goodness of our state lay us under great concern; God seems to be gone; every thing looks dismal; and the devil tempts the poor soul that he has no part nor lot in the better inheritance, &c. This sometimes crucifies the old man, with all his lusts and pleasures. This terrible remedy was applied to the incestuous Corinthian: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," 1 Cor. v. 4,5. Many times, but in a less decree, and not for public scandal, but to mortify the sins of the flesh, which are too strong for the believer in prosperity, does the fiery trial come on, only to subdue his sin and to purge his dross.
These, my dearly beloved son, are some of the kind helps with which the holy and blessed Spirit of God doth assist the believer in mortifying the deeds of the body. And eternal life will most surely attend and succeed this long and lingering toil and labour, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therein. Adieu; grace and peace be with thee. Amen and amen,
Says thine affectionate father in Christ Jesus, W. Huntington
LETTER XVI. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. My dearly beloved Son,
I TOLD thee, in my last, that the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; and that these blessings shall be upon the head of my son. And this shall come to pass "by the God of thy father, who shall help thee, and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb." These blessings of heaven are the blessings that will bring us to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: "I will lift up mine eyes unto the hills from whence cometh my help. My help cometh from the Lord, which made heaven and earth," Psalm cxxi. 1, 2. "But who shall abide in thy tabernacle? Who shall dwell in thy holy hill? He that walketh uprightly, and worketh righteousness, and speaketh the truth in his heart, &c." Psal. xv. The best blessing in heaven is that of being filled with all the fulness of God; the best blessing that lieth under, is the victory Christ obtained over Satan, sin, death, and hell, by his own death and burial; the best of all breasts is the comforts of the Holy Ghost attending the gospel, called the sincere milk of the word; and the best womb is the promise of adoption and life, in which all the children of the promise lay. But I must proceed,16. To shew the sealing of the Holy Spirit. This is promised to all that are taught of God: "And many among them shall stumble, and fall, and be broken, and be snared, and be taken. Bind up the testimony, seal the law, among my disciples," Isa. viii. 15. 16. But then what is the testimony? It is the gospel. And what is the gospel? The ministration of the Spirit. But if the ministration of death was glorious, How shall not the ministration of the Spirit be rather glorious?" 2 Cor. iii. 7, 8. He therefore, that receives the Spirit and is born again of him, receives our Lord's testimony or witness. "Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God. That which is born of the flesh is flesh; and that, which is born of the Spirit is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again. Nicodemus answered and said unto him, How can these things be? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, We speak that we do know, and testify that we have seen; and ye receive not our witness," John, iii. This doctrine Jesus spake; and adds, "We speak that we do know:" and this he testified: "We testify that we have seen, and ye receive not our witness." This doctrine of the new birth, received in the experience of it, is emphatically called the testimony of Jesus. "And I fell at his feet to worship him. And he said unto me, See thou do it not: I am thy fellowservant, and of thy brethren that have the testimony of Jesus: worship God; for the testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy," Rev. xix. 10. The testimony of Jesus is the spirit of prophecy. Hence it is plain that no man, in an unregenerate state, can be a prophet of the Lord, nor a minister of Christ, nor a testifier, nor a true witness; for he is destitute of the testimony of Christ, which is the spirit of prophecy. Christ sends the Spirit into our hearts, and he is the living testimony and the witness; and we are witnesses of what he does in us through Christ. "But 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. And ye also shall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning," John, xv. 26, 27. This is the testimony. The bond that binds the testimony is the bond of the covenant; and that bond is the everlasting "love of God" the Father, which is "shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given unto us," Rom. v. 5. Thus God's covenant, in which he promises that the word of life and the spirit of truth shall never depart from Christ, nor from his seed, are received into the heart of God's elect, and are attended with the sweet blessing of God's eternal love to our souls.
"Seal the law among my disciples." This law is not the moral law; for that was given by Moses, and which Christ came to fulfil: it is another law, that poor miserable sinners, who feel the plague of their heart, are commanded to wait for; for, as for the moral law, such sinners have got enough of that already, in their soul's cursing and condemning them; and, to encourage them, they are commanded to wait for another. "Hearken unto me, my people! and give ear unto me, O my nation! for a law shall proceed from me, and I will make my judgment to rest for a light of the people. My righteousness is near: my salvation is gone forth, and mine arms shall judge the people: The isles shall wait upon me, and on my arm shall they trust," Isa. li. 4, 5. This law that goes forth is attended with salvation and righteousness; but neither salvation from sin, nor righteousness to justify, are obtained by the works of the moral law. The Lord's arm is to judge the people. It is "the arm of the Lord revealed" that makes a man believe the gospel report; and he that believes is saved with this salvation; and the righteousness of Christ is to and upon all them that believe: they are justified; and that is their judgment which begins at the house of God first. And this judgment of the people is to be a light to them in future; for every preacher that contradicts or denies the justification of God's elect by faith, contradicts the gospel and the Spirit's work: therefore the Lord says, in the same chapter, "To the law and to the testimony: if they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them," Isa. viii. 20.
Thus, my dear brother, comes the arm of the Lord working faith. Salvation from sin, and justification from all things, attend believing. Such souls have taken their trial; their judgment is over: their cause is decided, and the decision is in their favour: they are pronounced just: and, of course, are passed from death to life, and shall not come into condemnation, John, v. 24. On this arm of the Lord are we to trust, and to say, "In the Lord we have righteousness and strength," Isa. xlv. 24. And this our judgment is to be our future light, to try preachers and their doctrintes by; these are to be brought to this law, and to the testimony that we have received; and if they speak not according to this word, there is no light in them: and this is the judgment that we are to make of them. And how few preachers have we that can stand in this judgment, or in a congregation thus made righteous!
Upon believing, we are to be sealed - "Seal the law among my disciples." This law is the law of faith the seal of God never attends the preaching, of any other law. "This would I learn of you, received ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the preaching of faith?" Gal. iii. 2. Again, "He, therefore, that ministereth the Spirit and worketh miracles among you, doth he it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?" Gal. iii. 5. Not by the law, for that worketh wrath; and all ministers of the law are dead men. "We are not ministers of the letter, but of the Spirit; for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life."
The Holy Spirit of promise belongs to the new covenant and he is the giver of the law of life. "The law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and death," Rom. viii. 2. Believers in the Son of God, whose hearts are purified, and whose souls are justified; these, and no other, are ministers of the Spirit. No other, however gifted, can convey the golden oil, for that always flows through golden pipes, Zech. iv. 2, 12. Spiritual gifts, such as the gift of tongues, or that of working miracles, or that of prophecy, or that of understanding all mysteries, or of having all knowledge, or that of casting out devils, which is the best of all-are not the things that accompany salvation; men may have all these, and yet be nothing, 1 Cor. xiii. 1, 2. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name, and in thy name cast out devils, and done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you; depart from me, all ye that work iniquity," Matt. vii. 22, 23. Balaam was a worker of iniquity when he prophesied, and so was Judas when he preached and wrought miracles; the love of money, the root of all evil, was in the heart of them both; nor did they ever love God, or seek his glory; they sought their own glory, and therefore they were not true men, nor was there any righteousness in them. Spiritual gifts have their seat only in the judgment and in the understanding: and the word of God never goes any deeper than into their judgment and their mouth; there they hold the truth, and it is in unrighteousness, Rom. i. 18. The nobler faculties of the soul are never touches by these gifts, nor does the soul reap any benefit from them. There is no divine power operating on the will, making them willing. He that God makes willing repents, and goes into the vineyard and does the will of his father. Nor is the conscience purged, nor the heart purified, by these things. There is no law written in the mind, nor any holy fire kindled in the affections, to raise them up to the right hand of God where Christ sitteth. If they have any confidence or peace; the former is only presumption, and the latter is kept up by the strong man armed, who remains in possession of his goods unmolested; and all their joys spring from the novelty of the doctrine, and from the operation of oratory on the natural passions. Many of these gifts were bestowed on graceless men in the apostolic age, to raise reports, to send out a sound into tne world, to excite curiosity, and to draw people to hear the word, and be witnesses of the power of God; which terminated in the salvation of God's elect, and which was for a witness against others, Matt. xxiv. 14. But, when the elect of God were collected together, and churches formed and endowed with the Holy Ghost, then the year of jubilee was come, and these gifts returned again to the Prince of peace; as was foretold by the prophet; and the men that were endowed with them either went into the world, or into all manner of heresies, and so became the Pests and foes of Zion; just as we see some people do now. "Thus saith the Lord God; If the prince give a gift to any of his sons, the inheritance thereof shall be his sons; it shall be their possession by inheritance. But, if he give a gift of his inheritance to one of his servants, then it shall be his to the year of liberty; after it shall return to the prince; but his inheritance shall be his sons for them " Ezek. xlvi. 16, 17. Thus we see there is nothing secured to the servant when the year of jubilee comes; but the inheritance of the sons is richly secured. All which is punctually fulfilled by Christ. "Take, therefore, the talent from him, and give it unto him which hath ten talents. For unto every one that hath shall be given, and he shall have abundance; but from him that hath not shall be taken away even that which he hath. And cast ye the unprofitable servant into outer darkness; there shall be weeping and gnashing of teeth," Matt. xxv. 28-30.
But God writes the law of faith in the mind, and the law of love in the fleshly tables of the heart: and where these come, there the year of jubilee is proclaimed, and the law of liberty is published in the soul; and, to make all things sure and secure here, God sets the broad seal of heaven to the work. "In whom ye also trusted after that ye heard the word of truth, the gospel of your salvation: in whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise," Eph. i. 13. Believers are living epistles, and as such they are sealed with an everliving seal. Others may know these epistles and read them; but the choice contents, the mysteries, and the treasure, belong to God, and none else.
Seals are to keep things secret to the real proprietors, who can open them, read and delight themselves with the contents when they please, and seal them up again when they have done, and keep them close from all others. "A garden enclosed is my sister, my spouse: a spring shut up, a fountain sealed," Song iv. 12. The waters of this fountain are all sacred to the heavenly Bridegroom and his friends; when the Lord chooses that they should spring up in praise and thanksgiving to himself, or flow out to refresh his friends, they are opened, and will keep rising up and running over as long as this opening or enlargement lasts; and, when shut up and sealed, they always stop.
Sealing is to make things sure. So the Spirit seals the saints, that they may be sure that they belong to the elect of God. Assurance, therefore, attends the seal. "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God. For our gospel came not unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what manner of men we were among you," 1 Thess. i. 4, 5. Assurance, therefore, is to the believer one of the blessed effects of this seal; as it is written, "Until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high, and the wilderness be a fruitful field, and the fruitful field be counted for a forest. Then judgment shall dwell in the wilderness, and righteousness remain in the fruitful field. And the work of righteousness shall be peace; and the effect of righteousness, quietness and assurance for ever. And my people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places," Isa. xxxii 15-18. The Jewish nation, called a fruitful field, was to be counted a forest; and the Gentile world, which formerly was called a wilderness, was to be turned into a fruitful field, under the out-pouring of the Spirit. Then judgment and righteousness were to remain in this field: peace, quietness, and assurance for ever, are to be the effects of judgment and righteousness. Their habitation is to be a peaceable one: and so it is, for they dwell in the cleft of the rock, that is their habitation - "Let the inhabitants of the rock sing; let them shout from the tops of the mountains," Isa. xiii. 11. They are to have sure dwellings: and so they have, for they abide in the Son and in the Father - "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations," Psal. xcl. . And "he that dwelleth the secret in the secret place of the Most High, shall abide under the shadow of the Almighty," Psal. xci. 1. They are to have peaceable resting-places: they rest in the love of God, in his absolute choice of their persons, in his covenant, in the finished salvation of Christ, and in the Holy Spirit's work on their own souls; and I know of no resting-places so precious and so quiet as these.
Paul calls circumcision a seal. "And he received the sign of circumcision, a seal of the righteousness of the faith which he had, being yet uncircumcised," Rom. iv. 11. Abraham believed God, and it was counted to him for righteousnes, before ever he was circumcised, that neither he nor his seed might ever glory in the flesh. His circumcision is called no more than a sign of real circumcision; for a true circumcised person is one whose heart God circumcises, that he may love him with all his heart, and with all his soul, that he may live, Deut. xxx. 6. Such, and only such, are truly circumcised - "For we are the circumcision which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh," Phil. iii. 3. The real seal of true and spiritual circumcision is love; and circumcision in the flesh was a sign of this, and no more. This seal in Abraham's heart, and the sign of it in his flesh, was to assure Abraham that God would adopt (by national adoption) his natural seed, and give unto them the land of promise; which he did; and led then, into it by the hand of Moses and Joshua. And love was a seal to all Abraham's spiritual seed, that he would adopt them by his grace, bless them with faith, righteousness, and life; and that he would give them the heavenly country, and bring them into it by that renowned seed Christ Jesus, in whom all nations should be blessed.
Almost every thing belonging to the believer is sealed; the foundation on which be builds is sealed. "Hymeneus and Philetus, concerning the truth, have erred, saying that the resurrection is past already; and overthrow the faith of some. Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his," 2 Tim. ii. 18, 19. I do understand this passage as some good men do; that by seal here is meant the secret purpose of God, or his prescience. By this foundation the apostle undoubtedly means the Lord Jesus Christ; as it is written, "According to the grace of God which is given unto me, as a wise master-builder I have laid the foundation, and another buildeth thereon. But let every man take heed how he buildeth thereon. For other foundation can no man lay than that is laid, which is Jesus Christ," 1 Cor. iii. 10, 11. Now this foundation standeth sure; as the prophet Isaiah speaks. "Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner-stone, a sure foundation: he that believeth shall not make haste," Isa. xxviii. 16. From this text Paul takes it, and says, with the prophet, "Nevertheless, the foundation of God standeth sure; having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his." Now this foundation, which is Christ Jesus, has got the seal of God upon it. "Labour not for the meat which perisheth, but for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life, which the Son of man shall give unto you; for him hath God the Father sealed," John, vi. 27. Christ was sealed with the Holy Spirit; he was distinguished, pointed out, authorized, anointed, commissioned, and sent to be the promised and long looked-for Messiah. He was filled with the Holy Ghost from the womb, and sealed by the public descent of the Holy Spirit upon him at his baptism, just before he entered on his public ministry. The miracles that he wrought, and the souls that he converted, were all scriptural evidences of his being sealed and sent of God. Hence the apostle concludes, that though some, who profess the name of Christ, depart from the faith themselves, and overthrow the faith of others; yet the true Messiah, who is the omniscient God, and who, as man, is sealed with the Holy Ghost, must know who his own elect are; he must know whose sins he bore, for whom he died, and who are his own purchased possession: and surely he will never lose what his Father has given him, nor suffer any of those to be plucked out of his hand who are made his charge. The good shepherd may suffer Satan to steal away the wolves, but not the sheep; for the Lord (but none else) knoweth them that are his. Hence it appears that the believer's foundation is sealed, and so is the believer himself; and his sealing, is said to be in Christ - "In whom, after that ye believed, ye were sealed," Eph. i. 13 And thus God seals both the Saviour and the saved. "Now he which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath anointed us, is God: who hath also sealed us," 2 Cor. i. 21. Those, therefore, that are joined to the Lord are one spirit, for the seal of God is upon them both.
The choice treasures of the covenant also, or the spiritual blessings of the New Testament, are all concealed and bid, under the same seal, from the eyes of all living; nor can any man ever get at them until the Spirit that seals the believer unseals the gospel, and leads the believing mind into it. "The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; nor can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned," I Cor. ii. 14. "And the vision of all is become unto you as a book that is sealed, which men deliver to one that is learned, saying, Read this, I pray thee; and he saith, I cannot, for it is sealed. Therefore, says God, I will proceed to do a marvellous work, and a wonder among this people: for the wisdom of their wise men shall perish, and the understanding of their prudent men shall be hid," Isa. xxix. 11, 14. And this came to pass in the days of Christ - "Father, I thank thee, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things, from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them to babes: even so, Father, for so it seemeth good in thy sight," Matt. xi. 25. How many times, before I was twelve months old from my second birth, have I seen men in a pulpit labouring in the dark to get into the treasure of an eminent text which lay hid under the seal, but all in vain. The sweet sense of pardon, of peace, of joy unspeakable and full, of glory; the melting flames under a sense of eternal love; the sweet soul-dissolving sensations enjoyed under the divine flowings of godly sorrow and evangelical repentance, which are drawn forth under the sounding of God's bowels towards us, and the repeated discoveries of his love to us in Christ Jesus; the heavenly sense and divine glee that spring up by the Spirit, under the impressions that attend the divine presence being about our path and about our bed: the sweet rays of divinity that often appear in the word, ploughing up the deep mysteries, and leading the enlightened mind, by a glorious radiance, out of one mystery into another, establishing the soul in the glorious harmony that appears in the word; when crooked things are made straight, rough places plain, and apparent discords are made to harmonize; the delightful and soul-enriching thoughts of poor worms being indulged with access to God, and with boldness, freedom, and familiarity with him; and to hold communion and fellowship both with the Father and the Son; and, at the same time, to see the word of God tally with all the divine teachings, influences, and operations of the most Holy Spirit of God upon us; and to be sensibly under the divine smiles of heaven; to be acquainted with the private thoughts of God's heart, which are thoughts of good and not of evil, to give us an expected end! How many transient visits! how many transforming views! what sympathy does the God of all grace discover to us in trouble! what succour does he afford! what support does the heart feel in a trying hour! how sensibly does he rent the heavens and come down to our relief! Isa. lxiv. 1. He admits our hopes within the veil, and our affections to his own right hand, where Christ sitteth. His blessed presence, when he shines upon the soul, casts a divine lustre upon the whole work of his hands; his brilliant perfections shine in both globes; "his glory covers the heavens, and the earth is full of his praise," Hab. iii. 3. The astonishing condescension of God, in stooping so low to visit us, makes us less than nothing. The distance and disproportion between God and such worms appear to be more, if possible, than infinite; and yet charity, that believeth all things, says, at the same time, and that with the witness on earth and the record of heaven, "I dwell in God, and God dwells in me." The divine hints dropped for faith to catch, the mysterious leadings of his providence, the goodness that passes daily before us, and the mercy and truth that follow us; the watchful eye of God upon us; the most minute circumstances which are so sensibly observed by him; the deaf ear that he turns to all our exclamations against ourselves; the divine approbation; the love, the paternal embraces, which are forced upon us, which we, when self-abased, coyly shun and try to put away, judging ourselves unworthy his clemency! These things, and thousands more, which my poor soul has enjoyed, and with which the word of God abounds, are all couched under the seal; which no natural man, however bright his parts, or however profound his learning, can touch, much less discover, and bring to the light. Natural men in the ministry are broken cisterns, wells without water, clouds without rain, lamps without oil, and a cruse without salt. One dead discourse from a minister of the letter is sufficient to cast the most lively soul into a deep sleep, to lay the most enlarged saint in irons, and to make a watered garden like a barren heath. Spiritual lethargy, legal bondage, and soul-beggary, are all that ever I got from such ministers; and I have formerly had enough of this hard fare. They turn a house of prayer into a prison, and freeborn citizens into slaves.
The believer, as a living epistle, has all the contents of God's laws written upon his heart, sealed and kept secret from the world; for the men of the world can neither see them nor believe them, though he declares them. He is sealed with the assurance of faith, which fixes his heart. He is sealed with the love of God in Christ Jesus, which is his circumcision, and a sure sign and seal of the righteousness of Christ being his; for love casteth out fear, and believeth all things. Christ, his foundation, is sealed; the covenant, and all its rich contents, which are hid from the world, are sealed also, and made sure to him; but not concealed, nor hid from him.
Every wholesome truth, promise, or doctrine of Christ; every reproof or rebuke that gives instruction; together with all the cautions, warnings, and secret counsels, which are given by the great prophet of the church; are clothed with power, impressed upon the soul, and fixed, as with a seal, upon his heart. "For God speaketh once, yea, twice, yet man perceiveth it not in a dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep filleth upon men, in slumberings upon the bed; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth their instruction; that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man," Job, xxxiii. 14-16. Without this sealing Satan and his heretics would soon steal away the word sown in the heart; as we often see in men of the greatest abilities, when the word is only received in the understanding and in the judgment. These are often seduce, and led to believe the greatest absurdities; and so would the elect themselves, were it not for the seal which attends the word. Truth, when sealed, makes the conscience free; and such souls set to their seal that God is true. Truth, then, reaches the affections; it is received in the love of it. It is the word of healing that makes us whole; the word of faith which makes us believe; the word of power which makes us obey; the word of wisdom which makes us wise unto salvation; the word of health which cures all our spiritual diseases, attended with the abundance of peace; a word of light to guide our feet into the way of peace. It is the word of righteousness which makes us just; and the word of reconciliation which makes us friends. It is the promise of adoption which makes us sons; the promise of life which makes us heirs; and the promise of victory through grace which makes us more than conquerors. All this, and much more, attends the sealing of our instruction. Hence the impossibility of the elect being finally deceived. Satan tries hard at the young believer, and sends the most wise and subtle servants in all his interest to do the same: but the young believer, just verged out of his bondage, and delighting himself in his liberty, and living upon little else but his divine comforts; and finding that these heretics bring nothing to his mind but confusion and bondage, which strip him of his sweet morsels; he soon begins to be afraid of them; he shuns them, and suspects them to be thieves and robbers: and he is quite right, for they are nothing else. And the Holy Spirit continues to revive and renew the work; this brings the soul again and again forth to the light. And every time the Lord shines into his heart the impostor is more and more discovered; while he feels his own heart the more strengthened, grounded, and settled in the truth.
By this seal the image of God is impressed; and this is done upon the soul by the Spirit, while Jesus Christ is exhibited to the enlightened understanding, and to the eye of faith: as it is written, "But we all, with open face, beholding as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are chanced into the same image from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord," 2 Cor. iii. 18. Various are the views that believers have of Christ Jesus, while the Holy Spirit operates and makes this change, or impresses this image on the soul. Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, Moses, Joshua, Gideon, and Manoah, all saw him; for he appeared to each of these, and many more. Some saw him as an angel of the Lord, very terrible. Some in a human form, as Joshua; and in the clouds, as Job. Some as a flame of fire, as Moses. Some in suffering circumstances, as Isaiah. Others in his priestly habit, as Ezekiel and Daniel. Others in a war appearance, with garments dipped in blood, and upon a red horse, as John and Zechariah. Sometimes as the Ancient of days and venerable Judge, with his "hair like the pure wool." Some upon his judgment-seat, as Daniel. And others upon his glorious throne, as King of Zion, and above the cherubim, as Ezekiel. He was seen also of Paul; and since that by Mr. Hart, and by me also, and by many others in the present day, who have seen him in his own light by the eye of faith, and, with the enlightened understanding as man in suffering circumstances upon the cross, and shining, at the same time, in the fountain of eternal light. O most precious, most wonderful, and soul-transforming view! Others see him in the light of the word. The word is attended with light and life. The Spirit testifies of Christ to the soul; at which time "the Sun of righteousness arises with healing in his wings;" which vision is promised to all them that fear his name, Mal. iv. 2; and it is a promise of gospel times. And this is attended with joy unspeakable and full of glory. - "Arise, shine forth; for thy light is come, and the glory of the Lord is risen upon thee. And the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the brightness of thy rising, Isa. lx. 1, 3. Which promise will be fulfilled, and be found to be true, as long as there is a chosen vessel among the Gentiles to be called. And, although we have many preachers who deny all vision, and of course all supernatural light, yet we know that such cannot be burning and shining lights, because they deny the light; nor ministers of Christ; for he makes "his ministers a flaming fire," Psalm civ. 4. Nor are they children of light, nor of the day, but of the night and of darkness; for, if what they assert be true, there is nothing but damnation in all the country: for God says, "Where there is no vision, the people perish," Prov. xxix. 18. Such blind guides have nothing to guide them but the light of nature; "They speak a vision of their own heart," Jer. xxiii. 16. To deny all vision is to deny God, who is light, and all knowledge of him. God promises that all his children shall know him; but how? God gives us the light of the knowledge of the glory of himself in the face of Jesus. It is to deny all the sure word of prophecy; for this is "a light shining in a dark place." Such deny the title of the saints, and all the good work within; for they are called "the children of light, and children of the day." They deny the path of the just, which shines more and more. They deny the salvation of God; for that is "a lamp that burneth." They deny the lamp and the oil of the wise virgins; yea, and of the foolish too; for how could their lamps go out if they had no sort of light? They deny all joy to the righteous; for "the light of the righteous rejoiceth." Such men deny the scriptures of truth; for they are "a light to our feet, and a lamp to our path." They deny all preaching the gospel; for that is sowing "light for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart." They deny the being of God in his church; for "out of Zion, the perfection of beauty, God hath shined." It strips a real servant of God of every name God gives him. How can be be a seer, a prophet, or a watchman, if he be stone-blind? How can he be a burning or a shining light, a flame of fire, a candle on a candlestick, or a star in the Lord's right hand, if there be no light in him? They must be blind watchmen and dumb dogs; for what dogs will bark unless they see a stranger, or hear a noise? And just such blind watchmen are all preachers who deny vision; for all supernatural light, which is above and beyond the light of nature, is vision whether it shine into the heart, as in Paul, or into the head, as in Balaam; whether it shine in the word of God, or in the face of Jesus Christ. Paul calls his the heavenly vision. Such men deny the dexterity of Satan; for Paul says that be is transformed into an angel of light. Yea, more; such preachers even deny their own deception, and the influence that they are under; for Paul tells us that even impostors, or ministers of Satan, are "transformed as the ministers of righteousness," 2 Cor. xi. 14, 15. In this account Satan aims to imitate an angel by his shining; and his servants to imitate the ministers of Christ by walking in the light of their own fire, and in the sparks that they have kindled.
The image of God, which the Spirit impresseth on the soul when it is sealed, stands in light, knowledge, glory, love, righteousness, and true holiness. And such souls shine as lights in the world, for they are converted; and real conversion is turning men "from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to God."
This sealing us is said to be unto the day of redemption. "Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption," Eph. iv. 30. The day of redemption, here spoken of, appears to be the resurrection, which is the redemption of the body from the grave. As it is written, "Ourselves also, which have the first-fruits of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves, waiting for the adoption, to wit, the redemption of our body," Rom. viii. 23. Now our sealing is the pledge and earnest of this. "In whom also, after that ye believed, ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased possession," Eph. i. 13, 14. In these words the church of God is called a possession, as it is the Lord's portion. "The Lord's portion is his people; Jacob is the lot of his inheritance." This portion is called the purchased possession, because it is bought with a price - "Feed the church of God, which he hath purchased with his own blood," Acts, xx. 28. The whole of this possession was given by the Father to Christ, and be laid down his life for it; and the price that he paid purchased the whole body and soul: of all which he will lose nothing; no, not so much as a single hair, "There shall not an hair of your head perish. And this is the Fathers will which hath sent me, that of all which he hath given me I should lose nothing, but should raise it up again at the last day. And this is the will of him that sent me, that every one which seeth the Son, and believeth on him, may have everlasting life: and I will raise him up at the last day," John, vi. 39, 40. This purchased possession is, at the present time, strangely scattered about. Many souls, called "the spirits of just men made perfect," are now in heaven. Two of the bodies of the saints, as well as their souls, are in heaven also, even Enoch and Elijah. The bodies of thousands of the saints are now in the dust, which their souls in faith have left behind them to sleep in hope. Some part of the purchase is now in a militant state; another part lies in the ruins of the fall: some in the wombs of women; some in the loins of men; and some in non-existence. But, at the first resurrection, they must be all collected together; all whose names are written in heaven, the whole church of the first-born. And this will be the grand convocation, or "the general assembly," Heb. xii. 23.
Now the apostle tells us that we are sealed by the Holy Spirit unto this day of redemption; which shews that none but sealed persons will rise in the resurrection of the just. None but those that are of faith, and who, upon thus believing are sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, can rise in the first resurrection; for they, and only they, are blessed and holy persons. "Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection; on such the second death has no power," Rev. xx. 6. Being of faith, they are blessed with faithful Abraham; and, being, sealed with the Holy Spirit, they are holy. Hence this sealing us to the day of redemption is to assure us of a part and lot in this first resurrection; it is a pledge and an earnest of it. It is the Holy Spirit sanctifying and sealing of us that makes us meet to partake of it. And this is a truth, that the Holy Ghost never will quicken and chance any one mortal body, and fashion it like unto the glorious body of Christ, unless he dwell in it, and make it his temple in this life. "Know ye not (saith the apostle) 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 this temple is holy; and, being blessed and holy, it must rise in the resurrection of the just; and truly blessed and holy shall it be when it rises. Christ raised up the temple of his own body; and the Holy Ghost will raise up the Church, which is his temple, and fashion it like unto the glorious body of Christ. To these things, which are not seen, must we look. This, and what follows upon it, is the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus. "So run that ye may obtain."
In the path of the just that leads to life, and in this race that is set before us, and in hope of the prize, this leaves me-faint, yet pursuing.
Ever yours in undissembled love, W. HUNTINGTON. LETTER XVII. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. To my own Son in the faith,
BELOVED, I think it meet, as long as I am in this tabernacle, to stir up thy pure mind by way of remembrance, that after my decease these things may remain with thee. Meditate upon these weightier matters; give thyself wholly up unto them, that thy profiting may appear to all. "Do the work of an evangelist; make full proof of thy ministry." Bring them off from their old sandy bottom, from all trust in the flesh, and from their sour lees of legal righteousness. Discharge truth in all its naked force and naked simplicity; and observe and watch its operations, its fruits and effects, and thou wilt find it sufficient, in the hand of the Spirit, to subdue the most stubborn, to chanae the most obdurate, to silence a gainsayer, and to furnish the man of God for every good word and work. But I shall proceed,
16. To treat of the Holy Spirit as an earnest of the inheritance. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, being burdened not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life. Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit," 2 Cor. v. 4, 5. The apostle here calls our earthly bodies a "tabernacle" which is a portable dwelling, set up, taken down, and removed, just as it pleaseth the owner of it to do. This tabernacle, as it now stands, is not to continue, because of the misery which attends the inhabitants of it in its present state; "We that are in it do groan, being burdened." There is in it the plague of leprosy, and therefore it must be pulled down. There is a body of sin, a body of death in it; and this has made it corruptible, and corruption is the seed of death; "It is appointed unto all men once to die;" God has made it "subject to this vanity, not willingly;" for death, abstractedly considered, is not welcome to us, "but God hath subjected it in hope." Death, disarmed of its sting, which is sin; and of the strength of sin, which is the law; and of the curse of the law, which is wrath and damnation; all which attend death as a penal evil: death, being disarmed of these, it is not death, nor the king of terrors; but the shadow of death, and the gate to life; for all things are ours, "whether life," or death, or things present, or things to come," 1 Cor. iii. 22.
2. The apostle calls these our earthly bodies "clothes," which a man puts on in the morning. So we come into this world with these corruptible bodies; and, as a man puts off his clothes at night and goes to bed, so there is a night coming on (in which no man can work) for the Lord's servants, when they shall be paid they who labour under the cross, in faith and love, and in self-denial, at which time they will put off their clothes, go to rest, or fall asleep in Jesus. But this is not all that hope is conversant about. "Not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." In the resurrection morning, when the marriage of the Lamb is to be consummated, these bodies of ours shall not only be put on again upon our souls, but these corruptible bodies themselves "shall put on incorruption, and these mortal bodies shall put on immortality;" and this is to be done "when he who only hath immortality shall appear." This will be the finishing stroke to the new creation, and is the last transforming view that we are looking for. "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ," Tit. ii. 13. We have already put on the Lord Jesus Christ, and have walked in him; namely, by putting on his righteousness, the garments of salvation, and the covering or the Lord's Spirit. But at this time we shall put him on with a witness, and that for good and all. The Holy Spirit will, quicken our mortal bodies, and infuse divine life throughout every member of them, "when Christ, who is our life, shall appear." The Spirit will purge away, not only all our sins, which is called changing our vile bodies," Phil. iii. 21, but will eradicate all corruptible matter, for incorruption shall be put on. We shall then "know the love of Christ which (in this state) passeth knowledge," and "be filled with the fulness of God," Eph. iii. 19. The church is Christ's body, the fulness of him, all dwelling in him; and he will fill them all, be all fulness to them, and be all in them, Eph. i. 23. Our bodies will not only be purged from all their gross and corruptible matter, which is now a clog and a weight, but they shall be spiritual; "There is a natural body, and there is a spiritual body." This dead weight shall give place to an "eternal weight of glory," 2 Cor. iv. 17. It shall be raised in power; power to bear this eternal weight of glory, and power to bear the sight of seeing God the Father; for "the pure in heart shall see God," Matt v. 8. "In that day I shall shew you plainly of the Father." In this power the body will be a fit companion for the soul; it will be vigorous, alert, and for its agility, as the angels of God in heaven," Matt. xxii. 30. Hence, in the delightful service of God, there will be no fainting, no weariness, though we shall "sing salvation to God and the Lamb for ever and ever," Rev. v. 13.
We are to be led by the Lamb to the fountain of living waters, Rev. vii. 17; and, the soul and body both being spiritual, we shall "drink of the river of God's pleasure," Psalm xxxvi. 8; which will fill us with divine fulness as fast as we can pour it forth in blessings, praises, and thanksgivings; together with the ascriptions of "power, and riches, and wisdom, and strength, and honour, and glory, and blessing," to God and the Lamb, Rev. v. 12.
Our bodies will be raised in glory. I think our bodies will be fiery, or have a fiery appearance. Which may be gathered from the following passages: "Our bodies," says Paul, "are to be fashioned like unto the glorious body of Christ." "We," says John, "shall be like him; we shall awake with his likeness." And the glorified humanity of Christ is thus described: "And I saw as the colour of amber, as the appearance of fire round about within it; from the appearance of his loins even upward, and from the appearance of his loins even downward, I saw as it were the fire, and it had brightness round about," Ezek. i.27. Divine light will shine through them with such a radiance of celestial glory as will equal, and in many thing, exceed, all the luminaries of heaven. "Then shall the righteous shine forth as the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Who hath ears to hear, let him hear," Matt. xiii. 43.
At this time also, and at the consummation of the marriage of the Lamb, the spouse will be " perfumed with all the powders of the merchant," Song, iii. 6. "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead," Isa. xxvi. 19. The odour of the Lord's sacrifice, with which the church will be perfected, the sweet savour of her glorifying grace with which she will be adorned, will be wonderful. All her Lord's "garments smell of myrrh, and aloes, and cassia, out of the ivory palaces," Psal. xlv. 8. And this divine fragrance will be spread all over her: "We are a sweet savour unto God" now, 2 Cor. ii. 16; but how much more then?
All the priests that attended in the holy place, near the holy of holies, were perfumed, Exod. xxx. 35, 37; much more so in the holy of holies, eternal in the heavens. Sanctifying grace makes the church a "bed of spices" now, Song, vi. 2; then what will glorifying, grace do? Prayers in the hearts of believers are golden vials full of odours," Rev. v. 8; but perfect praises in heaven must exceed them. As perfumed, God accepts us in his dear Son in this life; and in Christ we shall ever remain a sweet savour. "I will accept you with your sweet savour, when I bring you out from the people, and gather you out of the countries," Ezelc. xx. 41. "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in dust: for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out the dead," Isaiah, xxvi. 19.
We have reason to believe that Adam was very handsome, as he was "the figure of him that was to come," Rom. v. 14; who is said to be "fairer than the children of men," Psalm xlv. 2. It is said of David, that "he was ruddy, of a beautiftul countenance, and goodly to look to; prudent in matters, and a comely person, and that the Lord was with him," I Sam. xvi. 12, 18. And no doubt but Christ was much like him in person. All defects and deformity came into the world with and by sin; and, when this evil cause is removed, the disagreeable effects will cease: "He that is perfect shall be as his master," Luke, vi, 40.
That he might present it to himself a glorious church, not having spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing; but that it should be holy and without blemish," Eph. v. 27. All superfluity, deformity, or deficiency, rendered a Levite under the law unfit for the priesthood, or service of the sanctuary; nor will it be admitted in the true tabernacle above. There will be no spot of sin, no wrinkle of old age, nor the scar of old wounds, nor any such thing as deformity. Leah will appear without tender eyes, Jacob without halting, and Paul without deformity or temptation, and Timothy without his bilious complaint. The church shall be "perfect in one," John, xvii. 23; and no imperfection can stand before God. Christ was a lamb without blemish and without spot, and "we shall be like him," and "see him as he is."
There will be a perfection of sight. The remains of the old veil hangs heavy upon us in this state; it is a darkness that is often felt; the dismal gloom upon the mind keeps us from looking to the end of things, and from seeing them as they really are: "We look through a glass darkly," 1 Cor. xiii. 12, and see by the mirror of faith. Faith is the visive faculty of the heaven-born soul, which, like the moon, borrows all her light from the sun; for, if the Sun of righteousness shine not, if the Lord's countenance be not lifted up, we are walking in darkness, and have no light; we can only trust in the name of the Lord in the dark, and stay ourselves upon an absent God: "With thee is the fountain of light: in thy light shall we see light," Psalm xxxvi. 9. "For now we see through a glass, darkly; but then face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I know even as also I am known. For we know in part, and we prophesy in part. But, when that which is perfect is come, then that which is in part shall be done away," 1 Cor. xiii. 9, 10, 12. "Blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God," Matt. v. 8. And this sweet sight in the face of Jesus Christ is the ultimate end of hope, the fulness of expectation, and the superabounding banquet of all holy and heavenly desires, which shall fill them even to satiety. There we shall see face to face, and know as we are known.
We shall see poor Adam and Eve, our first parent, to whom the first promise was revealed; and Abel, the protomartyr, the first victim to satanic rage and cruelty; and Noah, the second stock, the first ship-builder and navigator, who went a twelve-month's voyage in a sea without a shore; and the venerable Abraham and Sarah, our mystic parents, whose bodies for many years were so barren, and their faith so fruitful, as even to conceive and enjoy many nations at once. There we shall see Isaac, the grand type and figure of the mystic birth of all the promised seed; and Jacob the mighty wrestler, who overcame both heaven and earth when he had but one leg to stand upon. There will be poor peevish Jonah, well-pleased, and delighting himself in his God, after maintaining a strong contest with him both by sea and land. There we shall see Melchizedek, who is set before us as an evangelical priest, a worshipper of God in the Spirit, and who, with respect to genealogy, has neither father nor mother, birth nor death. There we shall see Peter, without his sword, among the faithful confessors; Mary Magdalen among the wise virgins, and David among the company that were not defiled with women; Paul, also, that unparalleled champion and indefatigable labourer; John the beloved disciple; Mary, also, who anointed the Lord; the blessed mother of the second Adam; and Lazarus, who, though raised a second time, yet is a sharer in the first resurrection.
Adam knew Eve and her origin as soon as she was brought to him; Peter and John knew Moses and Elias through in a glorified state: but knowledge in heaven will be perfect, and therefore far exceed all attainments in this life.
There will likewise be an end for ever to all grief and sorrow, and to all the causes of them. "What are these which are arrayed in white robes? and whence came they? And I said unto him, Sir, thou knowest. And he said to me, These are they which came out of great tribulation, and have washed their robes, and made them white in the blood of the Lamb. Therefore are they before the throne of God, and serve him day and night in his temple: and he that sitteth on the throne shall dwell among them. They shall hunger no more, neither thirst no more; neither shall the sun light on them, nor any beat. For the Lamb which is in the midst of the throne shall feed them, and shall lead them unto living fountains of waters: and God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes," Rev. vii. 13-17, These happy creatures came out of great tribulation, all sorts of trials, troubles, temptations, and persecutions; which is the common lot of all God's family. The robes washed and made white in the blood of the Lamb were their bodies, with which their souls were clothed. Their happiness is, that God dwells among them; that they are before his throne, and engaged in his continual service, being filled with love to him and delight in him.
They hunger no more after righteousness, after life, nor after the word, being perfectly filled. They thist no more after comfort, after the new wine of the kingdom, nor after the living God, being filled with all his fulness. Neither shall the sun light on them, nor any heat. The sun of persecution and temptation, which comes because of the word, and which offends and withers so many unsound professors, shall smite them no more, nor any treat. Not the fiery darts of Satan, nor the fire of lust, nor a fiery law, nor the flames of spiritual and carnal jealousy, nor the wrath and rage of cruel men; for the Lamb in the midst of the throne shall feed them with his fulness of glory, and lead them' to living fountains of waters; namely, to God the Father; saying, "Behold me and the children which God hath given me," Heb. ii. 13. And God, Father, Son, and Spirit, are the living fountains of living waters; the fountain of life, love, joy, peace, goodness, glory, and majesty. And God shall wipe away all tears from their eyes, being presented unto the Father by Christ; and, being, cordially accepted, embraced, and blessed by him, all fear, sorrow, and grief, and the causes of them, must be for ever banished, and of course all fears and tears about failing of his grace, common short of the promised rest, and all dread about an eternal separation from him, are for ever wiped away. And so it must be; for "there shall be no more curse: but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him: and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads," Rev. xxii. 3, 4. These, my dearly beloved son, are some of the things which we have in view: "Faith is the substance of" these "things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen."
Now he that hath wrought us for the self-same thing is God, who also hath given unto us the earnest of the Spirit," 2 Cor. v. 5. God hath loved us, chosen us in Christ, ordained us to life by him, pre-adopted us, and predestinated us to future sonship and heirship, and to the enjoyment of this inheritance: "that he might make known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy, which he had afore prepared unto glory," Rom. ix. 23. He hath also reconciled us and redeemed us by Christ; he hath called us, quickened us, justified us, and sanctified us, regenerated and renewed us, tried and purged us; giving us faith, the substance of these things and the evidence of them, and begotten us to a lively hope and expectation of them; and has given us the seal of secresy, the seal of surety, the seal of ratification and confirmation; and led us to subscribe to the seal with the hand of faith, which has felt them; and to set our hearty amen to these things, and our acquiescence with God in them, and in which we believe and confess that God is true. And, to make things sure to all the seed, he hath given us the earnest of the Spirit.
This earnest of the Spirit is likewise called "the first-fruits of the Spirit," Rom. viii. 23. The end of the world is called the harvest, when the angels will reap the world and gather it, the elect of God, and those who have sown to the Spirit in this life "shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." Glory in heaven is the great and grand harvest, when the master and Lord of the harvest will gird himself and come forth and serve the reapers," Luke, xii. 37; when "he that soweth and he that reapeth shall rejoice togther," John, iv. 36.
Now, by the regenerating and sanctifying work of the Holy Spirit, the first-fruits of this blessed harvest are produced.
Christ is clearly seen by the enlightened understanding and by the eye of faith; and this is an earnest to us that we shall be like him, and see him as he is.
We see "the light of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ;" and this is an earnest to us, that all that are pure in heart shall see God.
Faith, which the Spirit produces, is the substance of things hoped for. To be found in Christ, and in his righteousness, is what we have in hope, and faith is the substance of this; for Christ, the object of faith, dwells in the heart of all believers.
"Faith is the evidence of things not seen:" it is a clear and perfect proof both of our sonship and heirship. - "We are all (manifestly) the children of God by faith in Christ Jesus: and, if sons, then heirs; heirs of God and joint heirs with Christ."
Faith is an undoubted certainty which silences all misgivings of heart; it is assurance itself, that persuades the mind, and stays it on the object believed in; it discovers future things to the believer, brings them near, and embraces them, and realizes them to the soul.
It believes in divine life, and applies it; it believes in atoning blood, and purifies the heart by it; it believes in an imputed righteousness, and puts it on; it believes in the promised comforts of the Spirit; and "we receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."
It believes in the love of God, and receives it in the enjoyment of it. and works by it both to God and to his children. And what shall I say more to my son? for time would fail me to tell of half that I have felt.
Heaven is a place of rest; and we that believe do enter into rest.
Heaven is a place of peace; and, "being justfied by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ."
With joy and rejoicing shall the church be brought to Christ, and shall enter into the king's palace; and God fills us now with joy and peace in believing.
Heaven is a place of endless day; and the path of a just man, who lives by faith, shines more and more till that perfect day takes place.
The gift of God promised in heaven is eternal life; and "he that believeth hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation."
The inheritance above is endless glory; and even this begins in this life: "Arise, shine; for thy light is come, and the glory of God is risen upon thee." This fills the soul with joy unspeakable and full of glory.
All these, my beloved son, are the foretastes of eternal fulness, the streams of grace (which make glad the city) flowing from the river of divine pleasure, the head of which is God, the fountain of life; for "unto the place from whence the rivers come, thither they return again," Eccl. i. 7.
All these worketh the Holy Spirit of God through Christ the mediator, from whose fulness all grace is communicated to us, and through whom all grace flows back again, even to its own proper fountain.
What rich security is this, that the heirs of promise might have a strong consolation! God, with his own finger, writes his laws on the fleshly tables of our hearts, and puts them into our minds. He binds up the testimony in the bond of love to us; then he seals the law among his disciples with a comfortable assurance; yea, more, the Spirit himself is the seal. He is the divine impress of heaven, he stamps the divine image upon us, he affixes the truth and power of it, he makes and maintains a melting impression on the soul, he confirms and establishes the heart, he is the attestation and the ratification of all to us. In his quickening, enlivening, enlarging, and cheering operations, he is the pledge of the first resurrection. In his operations of love, joy, light, and comfort, he is the first-fruits of the glorious harvest; and in all these the earnest of the future inheritance. Well may Paul say, "It is of faith, that it might be by grace, to the end the promise might be sure to all the seed."
Matters thus settled between Father, Son, and Spirit; revealed and made known, ratified and confirmed, by the triune God to his chosen and beloved family; testified by God's hand-writing upon our hearts, sealed with the broad seal of heaven, and a pledge and earnest given: O this stands faster than mountains of brass! O the immutability of his counsel, the stability of his covenant, the security and safety of the blessed inheritance!
An earnest differs nothing from the whole lump in quality, only in quantity. The first-fruits are the same as all the rest of the harvest, only they are a very small part of an abundant crop: whether, therefore, we glean a handful (like Ruth) or reap a sheaf (like Joseph in his dream), it will at last terminate in a barnful. "Gather the wheat into my barn," Matt. xiii. 30. "O the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledge of God! how unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past finding out! For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things: to whom be all glory, might, majesty, dominion, and power, both now and for ever." So be it, so be it; says
The chiefest of all sinners, W. HUNTINGTON.
LETTER XVIII. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. Dearly beloved and longed-for, my joy, and the crown of any rejoicing; standfast in the Lord, my dearly beloved.
METHINKS I hear thee crying out, "Hast thou but one blessing, O my Father?" Yes, my son, I have many blessings. I have as many spiritual and temporal blessings from my God, and as many curses from hypocrites in Zion, as most men living; and the latter is the consequence of the discriminating effects of the former. "Let them curse, but bless thou: when they arise, let them be ashamed; but let thy servant rejoice," Psalm cix. 28. I shall now proceed,17. To take notice of the different distributions and influences of the Holy Spirit. "Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same spirit. And there are differences of administrations [or ministries], but the same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is the same God which worketh all in all," I Cor. xii. 4-6. You see here the different divine names which the Holy Ghost takes to himself. In the distribution of his gifts he styles himself the Spirit; in his different ministries, the Lord; and in his different operations he styles himself God.
Now these his ministerial gifts the holy apostle mentions - "To one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another the gifts of healing, by the same Spirit; to another the working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another discerning of spirits; to another divers kinds of tongues; to another the interpretation of tongues," 1 Cor. 8-10. There is nothing in all these gifts that will infallibly assure or secure everlasting life in heaven to the recipients of them. The kingdom of God stands not in word; neither in the word of wisdom, nor in the word of knowledge. We see many wise enough in the word that were never made wise unto salvation, or who never had the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of their sins; and therefore, however wise they may be in the word, they are ignorant of their own hearts, and of the all-conquering grace of God in Christ Jesus.
Nor doth the word of knowledge, or the greatest gifts of knowledge in the word, secure the heavenly inheritance. "Knowledge puffeth up." Satan knows more of God, of the works of creation, of the efficacy of divine grace in sinners hearts, by his being so often cast out by it; yea, and of the scriptures of truth, the glories of heaven, and of the pains of hell; than all the natural men in the world, put them all together; and yet the weakest believer in all the church of God knows more than be. Men may have all knowledge, and understand all mysteries, and yet be nothing, I Cor. xiii. 2.
Nor is the faith here spoken of, that faith which purifies the heart and works by love; but miraculous faith, or the faith of miracles; which many have had to whose heart it never applied the atonement, nor put on an imputed righteousness; nor did it ever embrace the Son of God, much less bring him into the heart, and give him a dwelling-place there. It is like a faith upon sight, which many had, who, "when they saw his miracles, believed." It is temporary, and for a time - "these for a while believe, and then fall away." This faith has its seat in the judgment and understanding, but not in the heart. It deals with the power of God in its operations, but not with the loving-kindness and tender mercy of God in Christ Jesus. And this power is put forth in working miracles on others, when it does nothing towards the salvation of the possessor of it. And, as it deals not with the loving-kindness and tender mercy of God in Christ, it is nothing in the grand business of salvation; for, "though I have all faith, so that I could remove mountains, and have not charity, I am nothing," I Cor. xiii. 2.
Nor is there any salvation in the gifts of healing; such as healing the sick, the lame, the blind, the leper, or the lunatic, by casting out devils. "Many will say to me in that day, Lord, Lord, have we not prophesied in thy name? and in thy name have cast out devils? and in thy name done many wonderful works? And then will I profess unto them, I never knew you: depart from me ye that work iniquity," Matt. vii. 22, 23.
Nor is the gift of tongues, or the interpretation of them, any of the things which accompany salvation. This gift has its seat only in the understanding and judgment, and is played off from the tongue; but never reaches the heart nor the affections. Though some value themselves very much upon these things, yet no man will affirm that either Latin, Greek, or Hebrew, can purge the conscience of a guilty and filthy sinner. "Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not charity, I am become as sounding brass, or a tinkling cymbal," 1 Cor. xiii. 1. All these things have a tendency to lift men up; unless by the indwelling of the Holy Ghost, and by his humbling operations, they are counterbalanced, as they were in Paul and others. "It is a good thing that the heart be established with grace," Heb. xiii. 9.
"There are differences or administration, but the same Lord." The Lord the Spirit administers not only different gifts to men, but grace; he administers strength to the weak in faith, increaseth it in them that have no might, making their strength equal to their day. He administers the word to the preachers of it, and light to see into it; wisdom rightly to divide it; boldness to declare it faithfully, without fearing the face of any; zeal in the delivery of it, with lively frames to set off the sweetness and excellency of it, and power to enforce, it; and that with the greatest confidence, from an inward testimony of interest in it. And, without this divine influence of the Spirit, the pulpit would be little better than a pillory, and the world of the ministry quite a slavery; as we see in too many who are obliged to have recourse to country tales and old wives' fables, in order to fill up the time; or else to set up some supposed rival as a scare-bird, and call him an Antinomian, and so belabour him, just to help out; which is done for want of matter, and for want of the divine aid of the Holy Spirit. To these men I have contributed not a little, in thus helping them out at a dead lift.
The Holy Spirit administers different power and authority to men; furnishing some to be apostles, some to be prophets, some evangelists, some teachers, and some to be helps; enabling each in his place to be of some use to the body, the church; that the whole, by the joints of one faith, and of one and the same judgment, and by the bands of love and peace, may be bound together; and that the whole body, holding fast the head, may have nourishment communicated from the head of influence (by the Spirit) to every part of the body; so knitting it together that it may increase in grace and in number with the increase of God. See Col. ii. 19. Every one of these different gifts are of use in the mystical body, when each, with diligence and affection, fills his place. "For, as we have many members in one body, and all numbers have not the same office; so we, being many, are one body in Christ, and every one members one of another. Having then gifts differing according to the grace that is given to us, whether prophesy, let us prophesy according to the proportion [or analogy] of faith; or ministry, let us wait our ministering; or he that teacheth, on teaching; or he that exhorteth, on exhortation: he that giveth, let him do it with simplicity; he that ruleth, with diligence; he that sheweth mercy, with cheerfulness. Let love be without dissimulation. Abhor that which is evil, cleave to that which is good," Rom. xii. 4-9. Thus doth the Holy Spirit administer different gifts and abilities, and assign men to different work in the church of God, to edify the body, and to keep it together, that there should be no schism in the body, or no renting and dividing the affections of one member from another. And each of these is useful in his place; so that "the hand cannot say to the foot, I have no need of thee; nor the foot to the hand, I have no need of thee." Now, as there are differences of administrations, but all these by the same Lord the Spirit, so "there are diversities of operations; but it is the same God which worketh all in all," I Cor. xii. 6.
The divine operations here spoken of are not those which are put forth in persons on whom miracles are wrought; for these, in the general, are only displays of divine power; but the operations of the Spirit in the souls of God's chosen are divers. And the infusing of grace into us, in forming the new man in us, and in keeping and preserving him when formed, requires divers operations. Though the new man, the whole work of grace, is produced at once, at the entrance of the Holy Spirit into the heart (he comes as a spirit or all grace, and a spirit of all supplications); yet it is not perceptible to us but by degrees; nor do I suppose it was, either to the thief upon the cross, who died almost as soon as the new man was formed, nor to the child of Jeroboam, though the work was complete in them both. The first thing that we discover of it is light; this was the first thing that appeared in the old creation, and so it is in the new. And even this entitles us to sonsbip, though we cannot claim it; such are children of light, and God is the father of lights.
The next thing that is felt is life; and, when this quickening influence is spread through the soul, a mighty famine ensues; we cannot feed upon our former lusts and pleasures; these sweet morsels become bitter, and our former glory in the pleasures or sin becomes our shame. The famine increasing upon us, and former gratifications becoming nauseous, to work we go to get some entertainment (or satisfaction) from our own performances, and labour hard to fill our belly with these husks which the swine can eat; but the poor hungry soul can find no satisfaction in these. However, there is now and then some strange emotions within, and some softening sensations felt; some flying tidings are brought to the mind by the sudden occurrences of different passages of scripture; and often transient beams of light, attended with a sense of soul-dissolving love; but their influences are so sudden, that they are gone before we can hardly relish them, which makes the appetite the keener.
But, when the Holy Spirit discovers Christ to us with all his finished work, and leads the soul forth in faith to embrace and solace itself in his dying love, the new creature comes forth with all its beauty. But we are so taken up with the love and excellency of Christ, and with the unspeakable joys and consolations of the Holy Spirit, that we know but little of the new man; though this would be the only time to observe him, when he is so lively, and the old man appears to be quite banished. But nothing of this can be attended to till spiritual desertions make us doubt and fear; and then matters are examined and sifted over in order to support and arm ourselves against the attacks of Satan. The sad struggles of the old man, also, make us watch and seek, in order to find out the new one; but it is hard to describe him - the head of the new man is knowledge; he is renewed in this, Col. iii. 10.
His eyes are the illuminating anointings of the Holy Spirit giving us an understanding, Rev. iii. 18; 1 John, ii. 27. Without this he sees nothing.
The hands of him are faith and the assurance of it; with these he holds fast, and will not let go, Song iii. 4; Gen. xxxii. 26.
His feet are the actings of faith under the influence of the Spirit; if these are continued he can walk, either upon the waves of the sea, or upon the dry land; but, if these fail, he either halts or sinks; and, whichever it be, in he goes; nor will he venture out again unless the sun shine: either mercy, love, or divine power, must influence him and draw him, before he will attempt to stir abroad again. "We walk by faith" and feeling "not by sight," 2 Cor. v. 7. I say by feeling: for faith stands in the power of God, and it moves in the same; for we are kept up, and kept on, by the power of God through faith; and without this power there is no walking safely. "Hold thou me up, and I shall be safe," Psalm cxix. 117.
Righteousness is the robe of this new man, and true holiness his glorious adorning: "And that ye put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph. iv. 24. This new man, that I am speaking of, is of divine orgin, and of heavenly extraction; he is born of the most Holy Spirit of God. "That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," John, iii. 6. This principle of grace, which is called the new man, and is promised in the Old Testament under the names of "a new heart and a new spirit," is that which Peter alludes to when he says, "Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises, that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature," 2 Peter, i. 4. The apostle says that this new man is created after the image of him that created him; and therefore it is a creature, and a very holy creature, being created in righteousness.
The heart of this new man is love, for love influences every member of him; hence we are exhorted to "put on charity, the bond of all perfectness," Col. iii. 14; which is the same as to put the new man. Now, as love is the fulfilling of the law, both on the first and the second table; yea, and the gospel too, for charity believeth all things;" the apostle says that this new man is created in righteousness; the heart of this new man being love, and love fulfilling both the law and the prophets, love is the righteousness of this new man.
Moreover, as one member of this new man is faith, so of course this new man must believe also. Observe the following text: "But now is made manifest, and by the scriptures of the prophets, accordingly to the commandment of the everlasting God, made known to all nations for the obedience of faith," Rom. xvi. 26. Observe here, it is not called the obedience of men, nor is it called our obedience by faith, or obedience in faith, through this may be true; but the obeyer there spoken of is faith itself, it is the obedience of faith, and this is the obedience of the new man; and, of course, he is created in righteousness, having both faith and love, which fulfil both the laws of faith and of works, and therefore there is no unrighteousness in this new man. And this is a truth, that, as in the justification of our persons the righteousness of Christ is imputed, so in the sanctification of our souls there is a righteous nature imparted. He is created in true holiness in opposition to all ceremonial, negative, spurious, counterfeit, or hypocritical holiness, which is nothing but an outward shew in the flesh.
Every member of this new man is holy, there is real holiness in every part of him; every grace produced in the soul under the operations of the Holy Spirit is holy; hence this new man is called the holiness of God: "God chastens us for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness," Heb. xii. 9. That is, after our chastisements are over, which are intended to humble us, God giveth us more grace; for he "resisteth the proud, but giveth grace unto the humble," James, iv. 6. Hence trials make this grace shine the brighter, and appear the more conspicuous; for these are intended to weaken and subdue our inbred corruptions, which lust against the Spirit.
The ornaments of this new man, or that with which he is decked, especially when the believer puts them on and appears at court, are meekness and quietude: "Whose adorning let it not be that outward adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing of gold, or of putting on of apparel; but let it be the hidden man of the heart, in that which is not corruptible, even the ornament of a meek and quiet spirit, which is in the sight of God of great price," I Pet. iii. 3,4. These ornaments are said to be incorruptible. Meekness is a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. v. 23, and exercises itself upon God, after we have been under his chastening hand and are humbled, and the affliction begins to be sanctified to us. These ornaments are worn for many days together at the soul's first espousal to Christ; and are generally continued, more or less, as long as the wedding lasts and the Bridegroom continues to discover his dying love to the bride: "I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation, he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness, as a bridegroom decketh himself with ornaments, and as a bride adorneth herself with her jewels," Isaiah, lxi. 10. Thus we see that the church ascribes all her attire and her divine decorations to her Lord; he provided both her wedding suit and her heavenly trinkets. He hath clothed us, he hath covered us, and adorned us like a bride with her jewels. Meekness is generally put on upon every undeserved visit that the Lord pays us especially when he restores our souls from our backslidings, or reclaims us from our misdoings, or appears in our behalf in times of trouble, or when he gives us a fresh sight and sense of our interest after some sad days of doubting and fearing. Nay, we never think ourselves, on such occasions, properly dressed without these jewels; these generally attend the kisses that make all up, for they are a satisfactory proof to us of the renewals of love.
Moreover, sore trials contract the heart; and under these contractions a load of grief is conceived, and the heart sets full, and must have vent. Under such circumstances, if legal bondage and a sense of wrath operate, these beget slavish fear; at such times the lips often ease the heart by muttering perverseness, which only hardens and makes the breach wider: but, when meekness operates, all the ashes are poured out at the foot of the altar.
The other jewel is quietness; this springs from fulness, and all fulness of satisfaction in us is according to faith: In quietness and confidence shall be your strength." "Faith puts on a perfect and an all-sufficient righteousness, and fills the soul with joy and peace in believing in it: "The effect of righteousness is quietness and assurance for ever," Isa. xxxii. 17. And the stronger faith is, the more solid the joy; full assurance of faith is fulness of satisfaction; and full satisfaction produces quietude, and sets us down with contentment, thankful for what we have, and envying none.
But this jewel is only worn by the bride whilst she abides with her bridegroom: "My people shall dwell in a peaceable habitation, and in sure dwellings, and in quiet resting-places," Isa. xxxii. 18. Our quiet resting-places are in the electing love of God the Father, the finished salvation of Christ, and in the work and witness of the Holy Ghost. The soul that is ignorant of these, "is like the troubled sea which cannot rest." But my brother will say, Can the Holy Trinity, with any degree of propriety, be called a place and a resting-place? Yes, "Lord, thou hast been our dwelling-place in all generations," Psalm xc. 1. And I know of no rest nor resting-places for weary souls but these.
The bowels of this new man are described by the apostle; for, whenever the old man is put off and the new man is put on, some of the following things appear: "Put on, therefore, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, long-suffering." Col. iii. 12.
Bowels of mercies are exercised chiefly towards the children of God in trouble, and flow from the influence of love and sympathy; and are only exercised by those who know what soul-distresses are. Kindness is a grace that springs from tenderness, and tenderness springs from life. Souls quickened by the Spirit have keen sensations and tender feelings, which a child of God in distress will easily touch; for grace in one soul claims kindred with grace in another, and will move in consort with it. If one subject of grace suffer, the other suffers; if one be honoured, the other will rejoice; the motions of it will make us weep with them that weep, and rejoice with them that do rejoice. This humbleness of mind, long-suffering, &c. the apostle ascribes altogether to charity, which is the very heart and soul of the new man, and the choicest principle in him: "Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil; rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth," I Cor. xiii, 4-6.
The daily employ of this new man is hoping and expecting to return to his own native country: "Grace shall reign through righteousness unto eternal life, by Jesus Christ our Lord," Rom. v. 21. And in this hope and expectation it exercises much patience and long-suffering till it be obtained; for, "if we hope for that we see not, then do we with patience wait for it," Rom. viii. 25.
The ears of the new man are very wonderful, and cannot be described. But this is a truth; God speaks many words by the Spirit to the soul, or speaks friendly to the church's heart, Hosea ii. 14. And what the Lord speaks is not only felt, but heard and understood, although no sound reaches the ears of the body. Paul, when caught up into Paradise, heard unspeakable words, which it was not possible to utter; and yet he doth not know whether the body was in company or not;" 2 Cor. xii. 8.
To infuse and form this new man in the soul is the work of the Holy Spirit, and so is every renewal and every revival of him, from the first formation of him till perfection in endless glory takes place. "The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me: thy mercy, O Lord, endureth for ever: forsake not the works of thine own hands," Psalm cxxxviii. 8.
How sensibly felt are the revivals of this good work under the operations of the Holy Ghost! Sometimes by communicating fresh power, all on a sudden, when every thing seems to be falling to decay, and the poor believer is just ready to cast away all confidence, and in his own mind to fall a victim to sin and Satan, concluding all to be lost for ever; then is the divine power of the Spirit put forth in this new creature. "That he would grant you, according to the riches of his glory, to be strengthened with might by his Spirit in the inner man," Eph. iii. 16.
Sometimes great communications of light, and fresh discoveries of the love of God in Christ, wonderfully strengthen and inflame the new man. "But mine horn shalt thou exalt like the horn of an unicorn; I shall be anointed with fresh oil," Psalm xcii. 10.
At other times the uncommon struggles of hope, attended with vigour, earnestness, diligence, liveliness, activity, and uncommon anxiety, after the glory that is to be revealed, appear in this new man. "Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in believing that ye may abound in hope through the power of the Holy Ghost," Rom. xv. 13. Every day throughout the believer's whole pilgrimage, does the Holy Spirit revive or renew this new man of grace in one member or another; as it is written, "For all things are for your sakes, that the abundant grace might through the thanksgiving of many redound to the glory of God. For which cause we faint not; but, though our outward man perish, yet the inward man is renewed day by day," 2 Cor. iv. 15, 16.
That which is born of the Spirit is spirit," John, iii. 6. Now it is against the Holy Ghost, in his forming and preserving this new man which is born of the Spirit, that the flesh lusteth. "For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh: and these are contrary the one to the other: so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. But, if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law," Gal. v. 17, 18. The way that the Spirit leads us is by influencing and putting fresh strength, life. love, and fervour, in the new man. This new man of grace is a mighty worker while the Spirit keeps renewing of him. I laboured (says Paul) more abundantly than they all; yet not I, but the grace of God which was with me," 1 Cor. xv. 10.
Sometimes we have noble works ascribed to the different members of the new man. We read of the "work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope, in our Lord Jesus Christ," I Thess. i. 3. Sometimes faith appears very strong, and performs wonders, especially in times of great need; as we see in David, when he went against the giant of Gath. At other times love labours mightily both to the Lord and to his people: the first may be seen in Mary at the Lord's feet, and the second in Paul to the Corinthians. At other times the patience of hope is very conspicuous in waiting for that which is hoped for. "I will wait upon the Lord, that hideth his face from Jacob, and I will look for him," Isa. viii. 17.
This new man of grace comes from the fulness of Christ in whom all fulness dwells, and out of whose fulness we all receive, and grace for grace. And it is the Spirit that works it in us by his wonderful operation, and he supplies this new man daily; hence we read of a "supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 19; that is, the Spirit of Christ supplies us with more grace from Christ, the blessed head of influence.
"Now (says the apostle) if ye be led by the Spirit, ye are not under the law." They that are under the law have nothing else but lust and corruption working in them, let them talk of spurious holiness as much as they please. "Law was given (says Milton) to evince man's natural pravity, by stirring up sin against law to fight." "The motions of sins, which were by the law [stirred up], did work in our members to bring forth fruit unto death," Rom. vii. 5. So that he who is under the law is destitute of that new man, and of course has nothing but sin in him.
He may at times feel rebukes, checks, and lashes within; which he may, and many do, call the old man of sin: but this is a mistake; it is not an enemy, but a friend; not the old man of sin, but honest conscience doing his duty, buffeting the sinner for his hypocrisy. So, on the other hand, a hypocrite may, at times, find a little calm of peace and tranquillity in his mind, which he may call the new man, and I believe thousands do so: but as the former is nothing but natural conscience accusing, so the latter is nothing but natural conscience excusing, according to the light of nature.
For, even under this calm of peace and tranquillity, there is no godly sorrow flowing out to God; no condemning, hating, and abhorring self; nor any real tears of pious grief, mourning over a suffering Saviour; no repentance towards the Lord, nor heartfelt gratitude to him, nor real thanks and praises for his long-suffering, undeserved, and unexpected clemency.
Such men's peace springs from a cessation of arms with Satan; they have had a few days' respite, in which the devil has not wallowed them in the mire; and, during, this interval, they have done something for God, and of course he must be pleased with them. All this takes its spring from self, and centres in self, and there such faith stands; for he has no trust but in his own heart; look to Jesus he cannot, because there is no good thing in him toward the Lord God of Israel: whereas the believer looks to Jesus, depends on his arm, and views his own heart worse than Satan himself-being "deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," Jer. xvii. 9. The believer knows that he can stand no longer than while the Lord upholds him; if he withdraw his supporting hand he is sure to sink, and when sunk he despairs of all help in his own arm, or in his own heart; he knows that nothing can recover him but a propitious look from his dear Lord, or a restoring visit from him, or a fresh discovery by faith of his dying love, attended with the reviving and renewing operations of the Holy Spirit of promise.
"The flesh lusteh against the Spirit" in behalf of, and to be gratified in, its own delightful fruits; which the apostle mentions: which are, "adultery, fornication, uncleanness, lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred, variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditious, heresies, envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings," &c. Gal. v. 19-21. Some of these are sins which easily beset the child of God; they often intrude themselves into his mind; yea, even when he would do good some of these are present with him: nor is the believer without his slips and falls in one way or other. But still he is not a servant of sin; for they that are the servants of sin are "free from the righteousness," Rom. vi. 20. Such are free to sin, and free from all righteousness; which the believer never is. He is a servant of righteousness, and doth serve both in faith and love. And, though he does not live without sin, being in one sense still in the flesh, yet sin is neither his element nor his service. "For, though we walk in the flesh, we do not war after the flesh," 2 Cor. x. 3; but war against it. Nor are the sins of believers called service, for they have no wages for it, neither present pleasure nor endless death, which are all the wages that a servant of sin gets. He may be brought "into captivity to the law of sin, which is in his members," Rom. vii. 23. But a captive and a servant in this matter widely differ.
The apostle, having called the whole mass of inbred corruptions the fruits of the flesh and a body of sin, he also assigns different sins as so many different members of this monstrous body, in allusion to the body of a man. "Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetousness, which is idolatry," Col. iii. 5.
So, on the other hand, he calls the principle of implanted grace the new man. And, as this new man is formed by the Holy Spirit, and consists of different graces, so the apostle calls these the fruits of the Spirit, in opposition to the other, which he calls the fruits of the flesh. "But the fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance: against such there is no law," Gal. v. 22, 23. Now all these, strictly speaking are not graces of the Spirit; but fruits and effects of his operation: for gentleness, long-suffering, and temperance, may be exercised, and often are exercised, by men in a state of nature. Some, who are inured to sufferings, may and do suffer with much patience; others are naturally temperate; and others as gentle, easy, and unmoved, who have no fear of God before their eyes. But those that are the reverse of these are made so by grace. When the wolf is taught to dwell with the lamb, and the lion to lie down with the kid, then these things are attended to, and men exercise themselves in them in the fear of God.
Nor are all the graces or fruits of the Spirit mentioned in that catalogue. Fear, patience, zeal, and hope, are fruits of the Spirit and so are contrition, godly sorrow, humility, repentance, &c. Now, as the new man is composed of these manifold graces, so the Holy Spirit, by his powerful operations, enlivens, strengthens and draws forth into exercise, first one and then another, as seemeth good to him. Sometimes he strengthens faith, and fortifies the mind with such might and power, that the excellency and the power appear so conspicuously to be of God, that the man is quite above himself. "But truly I am full of power by the Spirit of the Lord, and of judgment, and of might, to declare unto Jacob his transgression, and to Israel his sin," Micah, ii.i. 8.
Again, when we are led to defend any truth that is opposed, and it pleases the Holy Spirit to instruct, settle, and establish the children of God in them, be not only gives you light into the truth, and brings text after text to the mind to support and confirm it, but fires the soul with such zeal, that we are clad with it as with a cloak. "My zeal hath consumed me; because mine enemies have forgotten thy words. Thy word is very pure; therefore thy servant loveth it," Psalm cxix. 139, 140.
At other times faith shall be influenced with such power and activity, that the soul can tell beforehand something of the success that shall attend the word. "When, therefore, I have performed this, and have sealed to them this fruit, I come unto you into Spain. And I am sure that, when I shall come in the fulness of the blessing of the gospel of Christ," Rom. xv. 28, 29.
Sometimes one grace shall appear predominant, and sometimes another; as patience in Job; meekness, as in Moses; godly sorrow, as in Hannah; jealousy for God's honour, as in Elijah; contrition, as in David; and sometimes love, as in Paul - "I am not only ready to be bound, but even to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus.". All these move and act as the Holy Spirit operates in them; he enlivens and invigorates them; but, without a divine breeze, there is neither motion nor emission. "Awake, O north wind, and come, then south; blow upon my garden, that the spices thereof may flow out. Let my beloved come into his garden, and eat his pleasant fruits," Song iv. 16.
If my dearly beloved brother will observe these things, he will perceive much more than I can describe; and he will find the different frames that he is cast into to be wonderfully suited to the work then in hand. To the Thessalonians Paul was a nurse; to Timothy an affectionate father; to the Corinthians God made him humility and meekness; to the false apostles an invincible champion; to the weak he was a babe in grace; to the Jews straitened as under the law; to the Gentiles as one guided alone by conscience; to the wise and discerning he was the chiefest apostle; and to Alexander and Elymas the sorcerer he was a lion. "I am made all things to all men, that I might by all means save some," I Cor. ix. 22.
Well may the apostle say "there are diversities of operations;" for they are diverse and innumerable too; yea, and often various in one day. Life, contrition, and sorrow, for morning prayer; a sweet flow of Gratitude soon after for a thank-offering; upon the back of this comes a promise in due season, increasing faith then a smiling Providence turns up, that makes the bowels yearn; next comes a letter bringing good tidings, and blessing God for the instrument, and for the power of divine grace put forth; this fires the soul with fresh zeal for the work. Then comes a poor soul telling the dreadful tale of the plaque of leprosy breaking out in the house; these touch your love and sympathy. Next comes in a word, and opens out a large field of hidden treasures, pearls and jewels for Zion. And, last of all, comes in an arch hypocrite, appearing to be some great one, when he is nothing, with all the art and craft imaginable to impose upon your judgment; and, at the appearance of him - "What have I to do with thee? Get thee to the prophets of thy father, and to the prophets of thy mother. But now bring me a minstrel," 2 Kings, iii. 13, 15. Let my dear brother observe these things, and he will have some insight into this bessed promise - "I the Lord do keep it; I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day," Isaiah, xxvii. 3.
The new man is fed by prayer, by reading, by meditation, by hearing the word, and by conversing with the lively friends of the Bridegroom. He is very choice in his food. Hence it appears that, under the dry orations which are drawn from the letter, and those confused jumbles upon free-will, enforced by those who have not been emptied of self, but are settled upon their lees, and those violent shouts from the top of the mountain, not of Zion, but of Sinai: none of these entertain the new man; it is not such tidings as these that bring him, nor does the Spirit, who forms him, accompany such. God gives "testimony to the word of his grace." The new man feeds upon power. You read of strength by the Spirits might in the inward man; you read of his being renewed day by day, and of his being renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him. Light, attended with love, feeds him; it revives him, refreshes him, and renews him. He gathers his myrrh with his spice. Myrrh is a bitter potion to the old man, but it never hurts the new one. Spice comes after the myrrh has had the desired effect. But this sweet scent is no more pleasing to the old man than the myrrh; the bitterness of trials mortifies the old man, and so does the sweet odours of humbling grace. He eats his honeycomb with his honey, and drinks his wine with his milk, Song v. 1. The promises, and the sweets that are hid in them; divine love, and the comforts that attend it; are the sweet provisions of the new man. The old man, with all his members, Paul describes; and those very evil things of which he is composed are the things that feed, entertain, and gratify him. When he is fed, then the new man is starved, and leanness enters into the soul. So of the manifold graces infused or wrought in the soul by the Holy Spirit is the new man composed, and by those very things of which he is composed is he fed. His divine orgin is God, and therefore called the divine nature. His mansion is Christ Jesus, in whom all fulness of grace dwells, and from whose fulness all grace is received. Fresh supplies from the same fulness, by the Holy Ghost feed him and keep him alive; and under no other preaching but that of preaching Christ; and it must be Christ revealed and made known in the soul of the preacher. Under such, and under no other, can this new man be fed and nourished; and this many know by sad experience, who are seeking water and there is none, and their tongues are failing for thirst. "Now unto him that is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."
And so says your companion in travail, W. HUNTINGTON.
LETTER XIX. TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VIGATAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX. To my deeply beloved Son, greeting; wishing that grace and peace may be multiplied to him through our Lord Jesus Christ.
I RECEIVED yours, and am thankful for the good tidings. Go on; God shall endow us with a good dowry, by adding to us many more sons; these are a kind of first-fruits of God's creatures, and these fruits shall remain. But I shall proceed with my delighful subject, which is to shew.18. That the Holy Spirit in the gospel must be obeyed; for, according to the obedience of man, is the reward to be given, whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness. "Be not deceived; God is not mocked: for whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he also reap. For he that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting. And let us not be weary in well-doing; for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not. As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," Gal. vi. 7-10. To sow to the Spirit is to obey him and to be led by him. Our Lord calls himself a sower, and the word of life which he sowed he calls seed; and in sowing the good seed of the word he was obedient to him that appointed him. "My Father gave me a commandment what I should say and what I should speak, and I know that his commandment is life everlasting: whatsoever I speak, therefore, even as the father said unto me, so I speak," John, xii. 49, 50. Now there is a twofold sowing to the Spirit: internal and external. Internal when we observe his operations, and are obedient to his motions and dictates; for instance, when he applies the word with power, and reproves us with the word, convincing us of our sins by it; then to speak evil of the preacher by whom the Spirit speaks, to rail against him and the truth, is hating the light, and rebelling against it and against our own convictions of the truth of it; and this rebellion is against the Holy Ghost himself. It is said of Israel in the wilderness, that "they rebelled, and vexed his holy Spirit so that "he was turned to be their enemy, and he fought against them," Isaiah, lxiii. 10. Moses and Aaron were God's mouth to the people; the Holy Spirit spake in them to the children of Israel: but "they envied Moses in the camp, and Aaron the saint of the Lord," Psalm cvi. 16. And by their rebelling against these men they rebelled against the Holy Spirit which influenced them and spoke by them. "They angered him also at the waters of strife, so that it went ill with Moses for their sakes: Because they provoked his spirit, so that he spake unadvisedly with his lips," Psalm cvi 32, 33. Sinners, reproved and convinced by the Holy Spirit, should not only come to the light and be diligent in their attendance on the word; but God calls for confessions to be made to him, and for submission to his will; which is called humbling ourselves under the mighty hand of God, that he may exalt us in due time. There is such a thing as accepting the punishment of our iniquity, choosing the chastenings of God before our own will and our own way; saying, as others have done, "Search me, and try me, and see if there be any wicked way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting." And again, "I will bear the indignation of the Lord because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause and execute judgment for me; he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness." Coming to the light that our deeds may be made manifest; exposing our conscience to the force and power of his word, however sharp and piercing; confessing all our crimes, which the light of the word discovers and reproves us for; is accepting our punishment, and preferring the chastisements of God before carnal ease and the pleasures of sin, and is yielding obedience to the Holy Spirit; And it shews that the heart is made honest.
2. The Spirit is a spirit of supplication. He sets the elect of God to crying day and night, until God avenge them of their adversaries. "Call upon me in the time of trouble (says God); I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." And again, "I will bring the third part through the fire, and will refine them as silver is refined, and try them as gold is tried; they shall call upon my name, and I will bear them; and I will say, It is my people; and they shall say, The Lord is my God. This should be carefully and diligently attended to when the Holy Spirit is illuminating, quickening, reproving, and convincing the sinner; and if it is neglected the Spirit resents it, and makes conscience accuse the sinner for this his neglect, and he is often covered with shame and confusion of face when he goes to the throne of grace again. Nor is it seldom that some disaster or other befalls the sensible sinner, under this sin of omission, when prayer has been neglected; and often times the sinner is informed of this when he comes to examine himself. Prayer, in the times of the gospel, was typified by the offering of incense under the law, which was perpetual morning, and evening; and prayer goes by the same name under the gospel. "For from the rising of the sun, even unto the going down of the same, my name shall be great among the Gentiles; and in every place incense shall be offered unto my name, and a pure offering: for my name shall be great among the heathen, saith the Lord of hosts," Mal. i. 11.
Moreover, God requires of us thank-offerings for favour, received. "I will make her wilderness like Eden, and her desart like the garden of the Lord; joy and gladness shall be found therein, thanksgiving, and the voice of melody." The souls of God's saints are often filled with joy and gladness, that thanksgiving and the voice of melody may redound to the glory of God, by humble acknowledgments of his mercies, and by singing his praises.
Furthermore, we should celebrate those perfections of God which shine so bright in his appointment of Christ Jesus to be the Saviour of mankind; which is done by speaking good, or by making honourable mention of his holy name; and by proclaiming the glorious perfections of his nature, making them famous and illustrious among mankind; praising and commending the holy properties of his nature; and enumerating and extolling them, by speaking of his manifold and wonderful works, and of the innumerable mercies and blessings of his providence and grace towards us in Christ Jesus. The scriptures abound with such ascriptions, acclamations, and celebrations, in the saints holy triumphs. David is famous for this; there is scarce a revealed attribute of God but he makes honourable mention of.
As holiness. - "God hath sworn by his holiness I will rejoice."
Power. - "Sing unto the Lord a new song, for his own right hand and stretched-out arm hath gotten himself the victory."
His might and reign, his glory and majesty. - "Great is the Lord, and greatly to be praised; and his greatness is unsearchable. One generation shall praise thy works to another, and shall declare thy mighty acts. I will speak of the glorious honour of thy majesty, and of thy wondrous works. And men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts: and I will declare thy greatness. They shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness, and shall sing of thy righteousness. All thy works shall praise thee, O Lord; and thy saints shall bless thee. They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom, and talk of thy power; to make known to the sons of men his mighty acts, and the glorious majesty of his kingdom," Ps. cxlv. 3-7, 10-12. Almost every perfection of the Divine Being is brought forth in the holy triumphs of the royal psalmist, justice and judgment not excepted. "Justice and judgment are the habitation of his throne; mercy and truth shall go before thy face." Of loving-kindness David sings; of faithfulness and truth; of goodness, pity, and compassion; and of mercy, and the eternal duration of it, through-out a whole psalm.
Different frames and different dispensations call for different offerings and exercises. "Is any afflicted? let him pray." Times of trouble and times of affliction in the furnace are seasons for extraordinary prayers; the common morning and evening sacrifices are not sufficient at such times; we must give ourselves unto prayer; give up ourselves wholly unto it, and attend to this very thing. Nor will the old common way, no, nor even the usual mode of expressions, do. Fiery trials call for fresh power, and even for agonzing energy; new words, new arguments, and unusual pleas and entreaties must be made use of; our arguments and pathetic pleadings must tally with our dreadful sensations. Souls that meditate terror must fetch their words from their feelings, or else the words of their mouth will run counter to the meditations of their heart. We must use all the skill and oratory of distress, grief, and sorrow, and all the eloquence of misery. "I cried to thee, O Lord; and unto the Lord I made supplication. What profit is there in my blood, when I go down to the pit? Shall the dust praise thee? shall it declare thy truth?" Psalm xxx. 8, 9. "Will the Lord cast off for ever? and will he be favourable no more? Is his mercy clean gone for ever? doth his promise fail for evermore? Hath God forgotten to be gracious? Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies?" Psalm lxxvii. 7-9. "For the grave cannot praise thee; death cannot celebrate thee: they that go down into the pit cannot hope for thy truth," Isa. xxxviii, 18. Sowing to the Spirit internally, is to walk as the Spirit leads us; he is to guide us into all truth, and not to speak of himself. This chiefly respects our principles, the object of our faith and worship, and the true and spiritual worship and adoration which God requires of us; the whole of which is included in what the scripture calls "the way of holiness," Isaiah, xxxv. 8; which is following the Lord "in the regeneration," Matt. xix. 28. In which following, all things become new; not only a new birth, but we are brought into the bond of a new covenant, are made to serve in the newness of spirit, with new views and new principles, and to walk in a new and living way.
The Spirit leads us to "walk with God in peace and equity." These two, peace and equity, always go together. When the believer keeps a conscience void of offence, he delights himself in the abundance of peace; he makes straight paths for his feet, and he finds his ways to be pleasantness, and his paths peace. But, if he make a crooked path (and all the ways of sin are crooked, because they are counter to the will and word of God), he that goes therein shall not know peace. But
2. There is a sowing to the Spirit externally. And the apostle's explanation of this sowing to the Spirit, is given by himself "Let us not be weary in well-doing, for in due season we shall reap, if we faint not." And then tells us what he means by well-doing. "As we have, therefore, opportunity, let us do good unto all men, especially unto them who are of the household of faith," Gal. vi. 9, 10. To do good to them that are not as yet in the faith, is to labour to recommend Christ and his gospel to them by a becoming life and conversation, to drop a word of reproof or instruction to them when opportunity offers, or to use our endeavours to bring them under the word. "And the Spirit and the bride say, Come. And let him that beareth say, Come. And let him that is athirst come. And whosoever will, let him take the water of life freely," Rev. xxii. 17. After our Lord had called two or three of his first followers, he made use of these to bring others. Andrew hearing and seeing John point to Christ, followed him; he then finds his brother Peter, and brings him to Jesus; the next day Jesus found Philip; and then Philip finds Nathaniel, and brings him; and, blessed be God, this work is going on still.
Moreover, by doing good unto all men, the apostle means liberality. Poor people have more exalted notions of alms-deeds than they have of any other good-work whatsoever. You may talk to them about faith, and about love to the brotherhood, and the patience of hope, and of suffering afflictions, of bearing the cross, and of self-denial; but these are all out of their sight, and out of their reach; but circumspection in life and a liberal heart, are obvious to all, and stop the mouths of all, unless it be the devil himself. And in this the child of God has a double advantage. The world loves its own; sinners love sinners, and will give and lend to sinners; but sinners cannot love saints as saints, and because they belong to Christ; nor can they relieve them, or be charitable to them, because of God's love to them in Christ Jesus. "When saw we thee an hungered, or athirst, or a stranger, or naked, or sick, or in prison, and did not minister unto thee?" The answer is, "Inasmuch as ye did it not to these," my brethren, 'ye did it not to me.'" Not one of all these ever relieved a child of God as such; whereas there are thousands of sinners, persecutors, and even enemies both to God and to his church, who do partake largely of the liberality of the people of God; and this is acceptable to God, as may be seen in the prayers and alms of Cornelius the centurion, Acts, x.; and in the nobleness of mind which Abraham shewed to the King of Sodom. By these means some are drawn or won to hear the word of God, and that to profit. The mouths of others are stopped, while the believer makes it manifest that the kingdom (of which he is a subject) is not of this world. And in all these things God is glorified; and the children of God are a sweet savour unto him, both in them that perish and in them that are saved. "Let your light so shine before men that they may see your good works, and glorify your Father which is in heaven," Matt. v. 16.
But the apostle adds, "Especially to the household of faith." The ties of nature give us a feeling for those who are in the flesh, and fill us with wonder at discriminating grace, when the bond of all perfectness binds us more strongly to the excellent of the earth; for we can only pity the other, but we can delight ourselves in these. To the household of faith, if we sow sparingly we shall reap sparingly, and if we sow bountifully we shall reap bountifully. To receive a prophet in the name of a prophet, has the promise of a prophet's reward. To receive a righteous man in the name of a righteous man, has the promise of a righteous man's reward. And he that receives one of the little ones that belong to Christ, shall in nowise lose his reward. A morsel of bread, or a cup of cold water only, given to any in the name of a disciple, shall most surely be rewarded at the resurrection of the just; for he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." We must sow prayers in their behalf; we may sow the seeds of instruction in their ears, bread and water to their bellies, apparel to their backs, and relief in their necessities; and reap fourfold in this life, and in the world to come life everlasting. To all this the word of God directs, and to all this the Holy Spirit leads - "For the fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth," Eph. v. 9.
Once more, my dear son. The best of men have no more than their own appointed time on the earth; the strength, the natural and spiritual abilities, the grace, and such wordly substance as it pleases God to give them. Now, as all these come of God through Christ, so from all these things Christ expects some returns; for when he comes, it will be to know what every one has gained by trading. Some redeem the time while the days are evil. Paul, was willing to spend and be spent for the church; he spent his property and his strength in the service of Christ; with the grace that he had received by the Spirit he seasoned many; and by his natural and spiritual abilities he became all things to all men; he instructed many, he silenced many gainsayers, and left a glorious testimony behind of his fruitfulness in the church, of the goodness of God to him, of the blessedness of his state, and of his glorious and triumphant end: and in all these things he sowed to the Spirit; and they that do so "shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting." And this reaping respects this present life as well as the future. God's blessing upon mount Zion is life for evermore. And it has pleased God to put the blessing of life into every spiritual thing that the believer deals in. Upon his believing he passes from death to life; his repentance is unto life; the promises he obtains are the words of life; his justification is unto life; God circumcises his heart to love God that he may live; his hope is a lively hope; and the very way in which he walks is the new and living way. In short, the love and eternal purpose of God, the voice of the Son and the operations of the Spirit, are all life to the believer; and the more we sow the more we reap; the more we love God and the brethren, the more lively we are; the stronger our faith and the firmer our hope are, the more abundant is our life. In all these things lie our sowing and reaping. And let us, my dear brothers be constant, unmoveable, and always abounding in this work of the Lord, knowing that our labour is not, shall not, be in vain in the Lord. To get weary and to faint in well-doing, is sad work. "Look to yourselves," says John, "that we lose not those things which we have wrought, but that we receive a full reward," 2 John, 8.
And now, my beloved son, seeing we are not ignorant of Satan's devices, and knowing his desperate and inveterate enmity both to Christ and his church, suffer him not to baffle and confuse thee, by setting up any imaginary resemblances of the divine persons in your mind when you are approaching to God; infinity and immensity cannot be circumscribed! God filleth all space. Nor suffer the devil to confound thee, by suggesting that you will displease the one by addressing the other. Whatsoever is truly and property God, is the object of divine worship. And that Jesus Christ the Son of God, and the Holy Ghost the Spirit of God, are truly, really, and properly God, is as clearly revealed in the scriptures as that the Father is so. "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God our heavenly Father, and the communion of the Spirit of all grace, be with thee, and with all that love our Lord Jesus Christ in sincerity and truth, both now and for evermore;" is the prayer of, dear son,
Yours in Christ Jesus, W. HUNTINGTON, S.S.