PART II. (continued 2)

But here let us bow to his sovereign will, and rejoice that he has given us any evidence that he has chosen us in Christ Jesus.

“For, O, my soul, if truth so bright Should dazzle and confound my sight, Yet still his written Word obey, And wait the great decisive day.”

This is true humility.

Yours, J. C.

LETTER XI.

“Blessed is the man that maketh the Lord his trust, and respecteth not the proud, nor such as turn aside to lies.”

To —

It was about the year 1791, that Mr. John Wesley died. I was about 11 years of age; much talk was about him at that time, which often arrested my attention—but, as I had never heard the gospel preached, of course I could know nothing of doctrines; but after I had been led into truth, in some degree, some men that worked for my master, where I was an apprentice, lent me some of his books, but finding them so remarkably dull and dry, there was neither pleasure nor profit to me in reading them.—Hearing much also from the same persons, of the controversy between Arminians and Calvinists, I was certainly anxious to understand the great difference between them. Reading what each advanced, I knew both could not be right. Warmly attached to the doctrines and doctrinal articles of the Church of England, I soon discovered that the system of Arminianism was in direct opposition to those doctrines. This led on to enquiry and diligent search. Acquaintances lent me books of the controversy that had been carried on by the Wesleys, Fletchers, and others, and the answers that had been given by the magnanimous Toplady, Dr. Gill, Mason, and the (at that time) faithful and bold Hills. Mr. Fletcher’s works have been since re-published, but our dastardly cowardly Calvinists do not re-publish what was then so ably written in defence of truth; shame to them, to let truth lie bleeding in the streets, and very few dare to plead her cause. The old Gospel Magazine, like the present one, was the excellent means of spreading and maintaining truth, and which I believe is the only one of all our periodical publications, that dare advance the whole truth.—These books came into my hands, with some of Sir Richard Hill’s works, which I now bless God for, as they have been of especial service to me, in establishing my mind in the truth, as it is in Jesus.

Since I have been in the ministry, the question has been frequently asked me—“What is your opinion of Mr. John Wesley?” I do not like such questions.—He has been many years in the presence of his Judge, and whether saved or lost, is not for man to decide: but, by an attention to works, some of them which I shall quote in this letter to you, and the opinions which good men had of them. I leave you to draw an inference. You and I well know, from the Word of God, and the teaching of the Eternal Spirit, that the Sacred Scriptures are the Word of God; and that, adding to, or diminishing from, or perverting it, is threatened with damnation.—Rev. xxi. I do not say that the rev. John Wesley has done either, wilfully, but I beg you to read for yourself, some of his notes on the New Testament, and if you never did before, I think you will blush at some parts of his explanations, as they are called. I would quote some of them, but it would fill this letter, in which I want to point out some of the many errors which he held, and which is still maintained by his followers, quite forgetting that “he who loveth and maketh a lie, dying so, shall have his part in the lake which burneth with fire and brimstone”.—Rev. xxi.

One of the principal doctrines of the glorious gospel of the blessed God, on which the salvation of the church rests, and which can only entitle us to, and prepare us for death, judgment, and eternity, is the meritorious obedience of Christ to the holy law of God. This, by an act of grace, is imputed and placed to the account of the elect church of God, by the adorable Father, and received into the enlightened minds, affections, and consciences of those who are taught by the Holy Spirit. This, and this only, justifies us before God. On this holy thirty-three years’ obedience of Christ, to the law is the sole matter of our justification in the sight of a holy God. And can you believe it? But I beg you will read Mr. Hervey’s “Eleven Letters to J. Wesley,” wherein you will find that the latter has ridiculed this glorious foundation of the church as imputed nonsense. Is not this an awful proof that himself, and all such, must be totally destitute of this righteousness.

I will, however, give you a quotation from a pamphlet written many years ago, by the rev. R. H. entitled “Calumny Refuted, and the Dead Vindicated,” p. 9. The rev. writer remarks:—

“Once upon a time we find him, J. Wesley, sitting in the Norwich stage-coach, wrapped in a most profound meditation; the first thing that occurred to his consideration was, whether a person might not be a sincere Christian, and deny the phrase—imputed righteousness?—This he did not doubt. He then advances farther (as the wheels roll on) and asks—if a man may not be a Christian, and deny the thing? He directly determines that a person certainly may. Thus, at two strides, he completely gets rid of the righteousness of Christ.”

The following horrid propositions, which are here transcribed, verbatim, from Mr. Wesley’s “Minutes of the Year 1770,” fully and incontestibly demonstrate the more than popish pelagianism of the man. He says—

“Every believer, till he comes to glory, works for, as well as from life. We have received it as a maxim, that a man is to do nothing in order to justification. Nothing can be more false. As to merit itself, of which we have been so dreadfully afraid, we are rewarded according to our works, i.e. as our works deserve. All that are convinced of sin under-value themselves in every respect. We are every hour and every moment pleasing or displeasing to God, according to our works, according to the whole of our inward tempers and outward behaviour.”

If this is not high popery, what is? Mr. John was a professed churchman; but how the above doctrine stands, with what the doctrinal articles of that church maintains, I leave you to judge. As they declare, that he must believe that no good works can be done, in order to justification, but that we are accounted righteous only for the sake of our Lord Jesus Christ.

I could quote more from the above pamphlet, but this is a sufficient specimen of the foundation hope, as expressed by Mr. Wesley, and adhered to by thousands of his professed followers. What a mercy there are others who are building on a firmer basis. I bless God that he was pleased to open my mind to receive the complete perfect work of the dear Redeemer; that he shewed me it was neither my works nor my faith, (as a grace, nor as an act) that could justify me before God. I must have a perfect law-fulfilling righteousness, wrought out by the holy nature and holy life of the Lord Jesus Christ, as the surety of his church—as God-man Mediator—to build on any thing less, is building on the sand, and the dreadful consequences must be—the curse, wrath, and eternal death. Faith is the eye that sees the sufficiency of his righteousness—faith is the hand that receives; the vessel, or mind, which contains it when the Holy Spirit brings it near: but surely there is a difference between the eye and the object it discovers; between the hand of the beggar and the alms you put in it; or my coat and the hand that puts it on me. The Lord brought my soul into liberty on this point, but I had another struggle in my mind. Soon after this subject had been clearly and sweetly settled, or rather my soul in the perception of it, some of the same party harrassed my mind about persevering in holiness, till I had gained a perfect sinless nature: this was the very thing I wanted; to get rid of sin, to have it totally eradicated, that I should never be overcome by sin, in thought, word, or deed. Oh happy state, this side heaven!—how I did long for it; sin was, and is, my principal trouble.

“Long time I fought, with groans and tears, To drive this rebel from my home.”

I was told this was to be obtained; I was informed of many who really had obtained it, and was already perfect; why not I, if I did but persevere. To work I went, and strove hard for it; not to gain the favor of God, I was better taught than that; but, that sin might trouble me no more, and that I might no more offend God by so much as a sinful glance of the eye. To this rubbing off the spot of the leopard; to this washing the black Moor white, I was encouraged by the above accounts of some who had obtained perfection.

Mr. Wesley, and some of his preachers and hearers could prove that they had known some who were perfect. I could not suppose these holy creatures would tell lies. But then I wanted to know how far they might be perfect, and how far not; and to satisfy my mind, I obtained Mr. J. Wesley’s tract on Christian Perfection, a paragraph of which I will quote:—

“And where the Spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty; such liberty, from the law of sin and death, as the children of this world will not believe, though a man declare it unto them. The son hath made them free who are thus born of God, from that great root of sin and bitterness, pride. They feel that all their sufficiency is of God; that it is he alone who is in all their thoughts, and worketh in them both to will and to do of his good pleasure. They feel that it is not they that speak, but the Spirit of their Father who speaketh in them, and that whatsoever is done by their hands, the Father who is in them, he doeth the works. So that God is to them all in all, and they are nothing in his sight. They are freed from self-will, as desiring nothing but the holy and perfect will of God: Not supplies in want, not ease in pain, nor life, or death, or any creature, but continually crying in their inmost soul, ‘Father, thy will be done.’ They are freed from evil thoughts, so that they cannot enter into them; no not for a moment. A foretime, when an evil thought came in, they looked up, and it vanished away. But now it does not come in, there being no room for this, in a soul which is full of God. They are free from wanderings in prayer. Whensoever they pour out their hearts in a more immediate manner before God, they have no thought of any thing past, or absent, or to come, but of God alone. In times past they had wandering thoughts darted in, which yet fled away like smoke: but now that smoke does not rise at all. They have no fear or doubt, either as to their state in general, or as to any particular action. The unction from the Holy One teacheth them every hour, what they shall do, and what they shall speak. Nor therefore have they any need to reason concerning it. They are, in one sense, freed from temptations: for though numberless temptations fly about them, yet they trouble them not. At all times their souls are even and calm, their hearts are steadfast and unmoveable: their peace, flowing as a river, passeth all understanding, and they rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory. For they are sealed by the Spirit unto the day of redemption, having the witness in themselves, that there is laid up for them a crown of righteousness, which the Lord will give them in that day—” What a collection of lies!

The above pamphlet is full of such daring impudence; and in one of his sublime hymns he thus sings—

“My cup it runs o’er, I have comfort and power, I have pardon, and what can a sinner want more; He can have a new heart, so as never to start From thy ways, he may be in the world as thou art;

He may be without sin, all holy and clean; He may be as his master, all glorious within, Without blemish or blot, without wrinkle or spot, Without power to offend thee, in deed, word, or thought.”

This is the sublime poetry of Wesley, who has been classed with Dr. Watts as a poet; yea, almost with the psalmist, David, in a recent publication called “The Conference; or, Sketches of Wesleyan Methodism.” The author of which very far exceeds the Wesleys, either John or Charles. But I beg leave to say, the writers of the Evangelical Magazine, very highly applaud the work. I think the following lines on Mr. Wesley, in the above work, fulsome:—

“Thou, too, art gone, sweet leader of the choir, Thou soul of music with a seraph’s lyre; When Royal David made his final will, Sweet fancy added this last codicil— I give to Solomon my crown and throne, This sacred harp shall Watts and Wesley own; And thou hast touch’d the strings with so much skill, The Hebrew melodist enchant us still.”

The propriety of this classification I leave to your judgment, and conclude with one remark more. Finding by all my strivings, that that which is born of the spirit is spirit, and can never alter; and that which is born of the flesh is flesh, and can never become any thing else. Reading the word of God it shewed me that the cause of all the groans, tears, complaints, sighs, distresses and afflictions, of all the old and new testament saints was, in-dwelling sin; and by tracing the lives of those eminent characters, I found they were sinners saved by grace alone—sinners to the last moment, as it respects their sinful nature: but as they, and all the church of God, stand accepted in Christ, they are perfect before God; and to that perfection they will arrive at the glorious resurrection, and not before. Seeing this was the case, I gave up all hopes of being perfect in the fleshly nature, and was enabled to rejoice in my perfection in the love of God’s heart towards me; in my oneness in Christ, in my complete justification in his obedience, and in my perfect pardon, and cleansing from all sin in the sight of God, as revealed in the law by the great atonement of the God-man Christ Jesus. Herein is the perfection of the Christian, and it is the gracious work of the Holy Spirit, to lead up the minds of his own people to know and to enjoy these great privileges, and not to set them an utterly impossible task, of gaining fleshly perfection, which is a mere delusion of the devil. A great writer [229] observed to Mr. Wesley, on Perfection—“You formed a scheme of collecting as many perfect ones as you could, to live together in one house: a number of these flowers were accordingly transplanted from some of your nursery beds to the hot-house, and an hot-house it soon proved; for, would we believe it, the sinless people quarrelled in a short time, at so violent a rate, that you found yourself forced to disband this select regiment: had you kept them together much longer, that line would have been literally verified in the squabbling members of your church militant.”

“The males pulled noses, and the females caps.”

A very small house, I am persuaded, would hold the really perfect upon earth; you might drive them all into a nut-shell. Perfection and sincerity, as mentioned in Scripture, are synonimous terms, and being made sincere, may you go on to this perfection.

Yours, truly, J. C.

LETTER XXII.

“And they shall teach my people the difference between the holy and the profane, and cause them to discern between the clean and the unclean; and in controversy they shall stand in judgment.”

To —

Amongst the many painful lessons which the Lord teaches his children, perhaps there is none much more humiliating than the carnal enmity of the human heart; all sin in men, or devils, has an enmity in it to God; every man is by nature an enemy to God, to his holy law, to his holy gospel, and to his holy ways and people; and, dying in that state, it is impossible for him to be saved; for, “without holiness no man can see the Lord; but, blessed are the pure in heart, for they shall see God,” the great atonement brought nigh to us in the gospel, applied, revealed and manifested to the conscience, purifies the conscience; the love of God, shed abroad, purifies the affections; but the truth, as it is in Christ, purges the understanding and the judgment from error, which is spiritual uncleanness, and without being purged away, by the light of truth in the soul, a person is not fit for the kingdom of light, because he is not yet translated out of darkness; but, being in the dark about the way of salvation, he is also in a state of enmity. Many such are to be found in the church of God, whose proud hearts have never been humbled to submit to God’s truth; and being men of talent, have perverted, carnalized, and scoffed at the great leading doctrines of the gospel; yet mighty sticklers for holiness, love, charity and good works (falsely so called;) their conceptions of God are all carnal, dictated by the flesh, and are opposite to the revealed character of God. Hence the awful charge brought against them.—“Thou thoughtest that I was altogether such an one as thyself, but I will reprove thee.” I was very much astonished, in my younger days, at many persons, into whose company I fell, as they passed for very holy good people, when some of the fundamental truths of God were spoken of, to see their very countenances redden, and their rage and enmity boil at the very mention of some of the most sweet and awful doctrines of the cross. With all their pretended, delusive, supposed meekness, they hissed like serpents, particularly at the very mention of the glorious doctrine of eternal election, and divine predestination to eternal life. Here they lost all patience, like their fathers of old, who listened, and wondered at the general discourse of our Lord; but when he began to talk about God’s sovereignty, they hurried him to the brow of the hill, with an intent to break his neck. Luke 4. And so it is now. I observed one thing, namely, that I could see no difference between these great professors, who boasted they were convinced here, converted there, justified here, and sanctified there. I say I could see not the least difference between them, as it respects their religious sentiments or views of God’s word, than the most profane, wicked, worldling, or dead formalist. This then, is an awful proof of their blindness and enmity. Situated as I was in the world, I had often opportunities of hearing carnal, wicked, worldlings talk about religion; and generally observed, that they brought up, censured and ridiculed eternal election, and represented it as a most dreadful and arbitrary act; adding, that those who held this sentiment, also believed that God had, from eternity, reprobated and consigned over to hell, the greatest part of mankind; yea, infants who had never sinned, which (they argued) made out God to be a very unjust, and tyrannically wicked; being, yea, worse than Molech. All these sentiments and ideas we expect from an ungodly world; they know no better. God declares that they are blind, and enemies; yea, enmity itself. Such we can pity. But, judge my surprize, when one of Mr. Wesley’s followers put a book into my hand, entitled “Hymns on God’s Everlasting Love:” finding it contained the very language that these profane and wicked worldlings had been constantly using; where then, exclaimed I, is the difference between the author, the admirers of this work, and the bitterest enemies of God: why, alas! in point of truth, or light, or love, none at all; they are all upon a footing; for, though they may differ in some things of an external nature, I found they all agreed to ridicule the truth of God’s most holy word. Here the Heathen, the Papist, the Quaker, the Arminian and the most profane, as well as the most precise and moral professor, all unite. The above hymns, as they are called, are full of the most deadly poison, and the most awful misrepresentations; and though but consisting of little better than eighty pages, contain more than two hundred palpable falsehoods: no Christian, as taught of God, can read them without shuddering at the base, lying, wicked declarations, insinuations, and wilful misrepresentations; and, while the author professes so much seeming meekness and pity for the wicked world, and is ridiculing the awful doctrine of reprobation, he himself has the daring impudence to reprobate all the real ministers of the gospel in the following lines:—

“Hear the old hellish murderers roar For you Christ died, and not one more; His children listen to his call, And shout Christ did not die for all.”

You will surely be surprised when I tell you that this was written by that candid, meek, holy creature, against those who differ from him in doctrine. The Calvinist preachers, and their hearers, surely owe Mr. Wesley little thanks for his politeness and candour, as he has styled them all hellish murderers, monsters, and the people in general who receive the truth, the children of such monsters and murderers. This is the man who is reprobating reprobation; and, at the same time, is reprobating all who differ from him, as reprobates. I found, through all his book, his awful enmity to the doctrines of the gospel.—Eternal election, and scriptural reprobation he first scandalously misrepresents, and then holds both up to ridicule, while he asserts God’s holy and awful decrees to be horrible; and that if election and reprobation are true, God is worse than Molech, if he has chosen some, and left others, in the solemn display of his severity. Hear the language of Mr. Wesley.

“Oh, horrible decree! worthy of whence it came. Forgive their hellish blasphemy, who charge it on the Lamb.”

“I could the devil’s law receive, Unless restrain’d by thee; I could, good God, I could believe The horrible decree. I could believe that God is hate, The God of love and grace, Did damn, pass by, and reprobate The most of human race. Farther than this I cannot go, Till Tophet takes me in; But oh, forbid that I should know This mystery of sin.”

And did these holy men, John and Charles, thus talk?—Yes; such were their hearts, and out of that wicked abundance they thus spoke and wrote; and, in these awful delusions, and dreadful enmity to truth, I suppose they lived and died, for we never hear that either of them ever recanted or repented of their awful errors; and I am informed that many Calvinist preachers hung their pulpits in black when the above gentlemen died.—I ask was it for sorrow, or to shew the colour of their errors? The man that dies in his errors unrepented of, must be damned if God be true; and he that errs from the truth must be converted from the errors of his way, before his soul can be saved from death, or the multitude of his sins be covered. I am thankful, however, it was my mercy to be favoured with the sound of the pure gospel, and at times furnished with some excellent books written in answer, and forming a complete refutation of the system of Arminianism. Dr. Gill, Mr. Toplady and others very masterly answered Wesley and his colleagues; and Sir Richard Hill and others, refuted Fletcher; although the Wesleyan Methodists boldly assert that Fletcher is invulnerable, and has never been answered or refuted. This could easily be proved, if Sir Richard’s works were again revived. Gurney likewise wrote many excellent pieces; especially the “Nature and Fitness of Things,” and “The Perfection of God, a Standing Rule to try all Doctrines and Experiences by;” in which the author says, upon a review of the “Hymns (blasphemously so called) on God’s Everlasting Love.”

“Blush, Wesley blush, be fill’d with shame, Doom thy vile poem to the flame: What tongue thy horrid crime can tell; Put saints to sing the song of hell!”

Many, indeed, humbly hope that Mr. John and Charles are now in heaven, singing the song of the Lamb, with all the blood-bought throng. I hope they are; but they must both alter their singing there, to that strange song they sung upon earth. In the hymns we have just noticed, no man can learn that song which the redeemed sing there; but the redeemed themselves; and if not redeemed, they cannot sing; if they are the redeemed they will sing of it. But millions dying in awful enmity to God is no proof they were redeemed from hell; and all that are in heaven, or ever will be, are redeemed from among men. This is the world which he died for. As God took a nation from the midst of another nation, so he takes a world from the midst of the world. These are the every men he died for; not devils, serpents, vipers, dogs and goats; “But ye my flock are men, and the sheep of my pasture are ye, oh house of Israel;” the price of their redemption is paid—God hath accepted it, and the Holy Spirit has engaged to make it known to all who are interested in it sooner or later; and, having began this work, he will never leave it till it terminates in the glorification of the bodies and souls of all his elect redeemed.

“For how would the power of darkness boast, If but one praying soul was lost.”

But that cannot be, while Jesus lives to plead their cause; he must deliver up his kingdom in the final consummation. For this is the Father’s will, that of all he hath given me I should lose nothing, but shall raise it up again at the last day. This opposition to truth was raised originally by Pelaquis, revived in Holland by Van Harmin, Arminius, and brought over to this country in the sixteenth century; propagated by the Wesley’s, and received by so many thousands, because it is suited to the carnal world, the pride of the heart, and opposition to God’s divine sovereignty and justice. This subject, I say, not only drew forth the pens of great men in its defence, but also some sarcastic writings, treating it with the contempt it deserves. Amongst many other pieces, there was one which appeared in the Old Gospel Magazine, supposed to be written by The Rev. R. H—, or Mr. M’Gowan, and signed “Auscultator,” which, as it is printed, I here present it.

The Serpent and the Fox; or an Interview between Old Nick and Old John.

I have no doubt I shall get but little thanks for the revival of this old controversy, nor should I have mentioned it, but—1st, To inform you how my mind was harrassed at times between Calvinism and Arminianism, and how I was delivered from that shackling system into electing and constraining love.—2. To caution others against such a sandy foundation.—3. To shew you the state of the professing church at this day. How once they tried those who said they were apostles and were not, but were found liars, and who very industriously carried their system, as they now do, to almost every quarter of the globe: but, alas! this first love is left, and a system of moderation is adopted to please the pharisaic part of the world, by those who know better; this is giving their colours to the enemy indeed. We see this in some old ministers who were once zealous for truth; but now, alas! occupy the very pulpits, and wink at those very errors they once opposed. How is the gold become dim, and the most fine gold changed. Instead of the Lord’s controversy—a statement and defence of truth in its purity—many of our Dissenting, Independent, and Baptist congregations, are entertained with a dish or two of Fuller’s earth and Baxteriansand; their sermons in general being eked out with a stir about the Antinomians, merely to help out at a dead lift when they have nothing else to say. I speak this of our modern Calvinists; but blessed be God we have still a few names in our sardis that have not defiled their garments, and who are bold champions for all the truth, as it is in Christ; the Lord increase their number in the churches of every denomination.—Amen.

Whatever were the objections I could possibly raise against the doctrine of God’s sovereignty, I found in the Sacred Scriptures the line of distinction drawn by the pen of eternal truth, between the two heads—Christ and Adam; and between the two seeds—elect and non-elect; nor could I, nor dare I contradict it,—the subject was plainly set before my eyes, and all the carnal logic that men are masters of, can never blot this fact from the word of God, let them turn and twist it how they may—namely, that there is a people whom the Lord never loved nor ever will save. I will now remind you of this in a few Scriptures, and leave them in the solemn and awful manner in which God has stated them.

“The Lord hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil; and they shall call them the border of wickedness, the people against whom the Lord hath indignation for ever.—But Esau have I hated; the abhorred of the Lord shall fall into it; their souls abhorred me and my soul also abhorred them.—Reprobate silver shall men call them, because the Lord hath rejected them.—I will profess unto you I never knew you.—A stone of stumbling, a rock of offence to both the houses of Israel for a gin and a snare, and many among them shall stumble and fall and be broken, and snared and taken.—Behold this child is set for the fall of many in Israel.—I thank thee, oh Father, that thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent.—Not many rich are called.—But the wicked shall do wickedly, and shall not understand.—To the one we are a savour of death unto death.—Whosoever hath not, from him shall be taken that which he seemeth to have.—But ye believe not because ye are not of my sheep.—To them it is not given, the world cannot receive, the natural man cannot discern.—No man can come to me to me except the Father draw him.—For when he would have inherited the blessing he was rejected.—For there are certain men crept in unawares who were before of old ordained to this condemnation.—I also will choose their delusions—And many false prophets shall arise and deceive many.—For it is a people of no understanding; therefore he that made them will not have mercy upon them, and he that formed them will shew them no favour.—They which are the children of the flesh are not the children of God.—But because ye are not of the world, therefore the world hateth you. Behold ye despisers, and wonder and perish. I will work a work in which you shall in no wise believe.—You shall not believe, ye shall seek me and shall not find me.—And if the prophet be deceived, I the Lord have deceived that prophet, and I will destroy him.—So then it is not of him that willeth, nor of him that runneth.—For judgment I am come into this world that those which see might be made blind.—Make the heart of this people gross, and make their ears heavy lest they see, hear, understand, convert and be healed.—And for this cause God shall send them strong delusions that they should believe a lie, that they all may be damned who believe not the truth, but had pleasure in unrighteousness.—Evil men and seducers shall wax worse and worse.—It shall be a bridle in the jaws of the people, causing them to err.—They perish for ever, without any regarding it.—Ye shall seek me, and shall die in your sins.—Many are called, but few chosen.—He that is unjust, let him be unjust still; and he that is filthy, let him be filthy still.—But the miry places shall be given to salt.—But these, as natural brute beasts, made to be taken and destroyed, and shall utterly perish in their own corruptions.—This is the portion of a wicked man from God, and the heritage appointed unto him by God.—He shall divide the sheep from the goats—Whom he will he hardeneth.—The Lord bid Shimei to curse David, moved David to number the people, stirred up Joseph’s brethren to sell him into Egypt, hardened the heart of Pharaoh, sent a lying spirit to deceive Ahab, mingled a perverse spirit in the midst of Egypt.—I make peace and create evil.—If our gospel be hid, it is hid to them that are lost, whose names are not written in the book of life; therefore will he give them up.—And Eli’s sons hearkened not unto the Lord, because he would destroy them.—It had been better for that man if he had never been born.—One shall be taken and another left.”

These are a few of those Scriptures which are so highly offensive to the Arminian pride of the human heart: I find them very offensive to my proud heart. But the Lord is in his holy temple. Let the earth keep silence before him, and do you give all diligence to make your calling and election, sure.—Get some solid evidence of your predestination to eternal life, so as to render it unquestionable, and your labour shall not be in vain in the Lord. I cannot conclude this letter without sending you part of a remarkable speech, delivered in parliament, Jan. 26, 1628, by Francis Rouse, esq. a member of the House of Commons.

“We have of late entered into consideration of the petition of right, and the violation of it, and upon good reasons; for it concerns our goods, liberties and lives. But there is a right of an higher nature—a right of religion, derived to us from the King of Kings, confirmed to us by the kings of this kingdom, and enacted by laws in this place: streaming down to us in the blood of the martyrs, and witnessed from Heaven by miracles, even miraculous deliverances.—And this right, in the name of this nation, I this day claim; and desire that there may be a deep and serious consideration of the violations of it.

“I desire, first, it may be considered what new paintings are laid on the old face of the whore of Babylon, to make her more lovely, and to draw more suiters to her.

“I desire that it may be considered, how the See of Rome doth eat into our religion, and fret into the banks and walls of it; by which banks and walls I mean the laws and statutes of this realm.

“I desire that we may consider the increase of Arminianism: an error that maketh the grace of God lacquey it after the will of man; that maketh the sheep to keep the shepherd; and makes mortal seed of the immortal God. I desire that we may look into the very belly and bowels of the Trojan horse, to see if there be not in it men ready to open the gates to Romish tyranny and Spanish monarchy. For an Arminian is the spawn of a Papist; and if there come the warmth of court favour upon him, you shall see him turned into one of those frogs that arise out of the bottomless pit.

“If ye mark it well, you shall see an Arminian reaching out his hand to a Papist; a Papist to a Jesuit; a Jesuit gives one hand to the Pope, and the other hand to the king of Spain. And these men (that is the Arminians, then newly sprung up) having kindled fire in our neighbour’s country, (that is in the Dutch provinces) have now brought over some of it hither, to set on flame this kingdom also.”

I must also recommend to your diligent attention “Dr. Owen, on Arminianism,”—“Dr. Gill’s cause of God and Truth,”—“Huntington’s Arminian Skeleton, and Funeral of Arminianism,” with Mr. Toplady’s “More Work for John Wesley.” Praying for a spirit of judgment (Isaiah iv.) and burning, that the filth, (the Arminianism) of the daughters of Zion may be purged, according to his very precious promise. Many shall be purified and made white, and tried: not forgetting the exhortation that speaketh to you as to children. “Let thy garments be always white, and thine head lack no ointment: let thy fountain be always blessed, and rejoice with the wife of thy youth (the truth as it is in Christ); let her be as the loving hind and the pleasant roe; let her breasts (of consolation) satisfy thee at all times, and be thou always ravished with her love; and why wilt thou my son be ravished with a strange woman, (error) and embrace the bosom of a stranger, for the ways of man are before the Lord, and he pondereth his goings.”—Proverbs v. But the Lord is faithful, which will establish you and keep you from evil.

Yours, truly, J. C.

LETTER XXIII.

“Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He will guide you into all truth.”

To —

We have a just right to record the deliverances which the Most High God has wrought out for us. I have, in my humble degree, done so; and although it may incur the displeasure of many, I could not avoid it. I consider such acknowledgments a part of the glory due to God. Hence the promise “I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.” And I must also acquaint you with a few more of these great deliverances which I have experienced by his grace, in leading me from the paths of death to the fountain of life. I can never be sufficiently thankful that he has opened to me the law of the wise, that I might escape from the snares of death, which I consider consist in opposition to God’s revealed truths. In my last I informed you of deliverance from the shackles of Arminianism; and in a former letter, from the dreadful heresy of denying the godhead and personality both of the dear Redeemer and the Holy Spirit. But though delivered, I was, and am frequently beset by the enemies of the doctrine of the adorable Trinity in Unity. This has often grieved me sorely, especially in seasons of weakness, when satan, unbelief and carnal reason seemed to triumph in my mind. The glorious, holy and sublime doctrine of the Trinity, in the essential Unity, is clearly revealed in the word of God, and without attempting to comprehend, it is enough for us to believe. After I had been much perplexed in my mind, I bless God that he ever condescended to open the subject satisfactorily, and as he was pleased to use means for this purpose: the best I have ever seen, and the most conclusive, is the book I have already mentioned, the excellent “Jones, on the Catholic Doctrine of the Trinity,” and by his masterly comparisons of one Scripture with another, he has clearly proved that point, by shewing that the Unity of the Sacred Three is maintained in the sacred names, attributes and acts of the Sacred Three.

Isaiah, xliv. 24. “I am the Lord that maketh all things, that stretcheth forth the heavens alone, that spreadeth abroad the earth by myself.”

Psalm, xxxiii. 6. “By the word of the Lord were the heavens made, and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth—the spirit of his mouth.”

Therefore the Father, with the word and spirit, are the alone, Lord and Creator of all things.

It has been proved, again and again, that the word Lord, when printed in capital letters, always signifies Jehovah.

Deut. vi. 4. “The Lord our God is one Jehovah.”

Jeremiah, xxiii, 6. “This is the name whereby he shall be called, Jehovah our righteousness; so is the Spirit also.”

Ezekiel, viii. 1, 3. “The Lord Jehovah put forth the form of an hand, and took me up, and the Spirit lifted me up.”

Therefore the Father, Son and Spirit are the one Jehovah; they are three persons, yet have but one name and nature.

Matthew, xv. 31. “The multitude glorified the God of Israel.”

Luke, xvi. 17. “The children of Israel shall return to the Lord their God, and he shall go before them.”

2 Samuel, xxiii. 23. “The Spirit of the Lord spake by me, and the Rock of Israel said unto me.”

Therefore the Trinity in Unity is the God of Israel.

Deut. vi. 16. “Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God.”

1 Cor. x. 9. “Neither let us tempt Christ.”

Acts, v. 9. “How is it that ye have agreed to tempt the Spirit of the Lord?”

Here the whole Trinity is represented as tempted and visited.

The mind and will of God is the mind and will of a Trinity in Unity.

1 Cor. ii. 14. “Who hath known the mind of God.”

Ibid. “We have the mind of Christ.”

Rom. xxvii. “He that searcheth the hearty knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit.”

1 Thes. iv. 3. “This is the will of God.”

Acts, xxii. 14. “The God of our fathers hath chosen thee, that thou shouldest know his will.”

This is meant of Christ and of his will. Acts, ix. 15, 16.

2 Peter, xxi. “Prophecy came not in old times by the will of men, but holy men of God spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.”

The power of God is the power of the Trinity in Unity.

Eph. iii. 7. “The grace of God given unto me by the effectual working of his power.”

2 Cor. xii. 9. “That the power of Christ may rest upon me.”

Rom. xv. 19. “Signs and wonders by the power of the Spirit of God.”

TRUE.

“He that sent me is true.”

“These things saith he that is holy, he that is true.”

“It is the spirit that beareth witness, because the spirit is truth.”

HOLY.

“For thou only art holy.”

“But ye denied the Holy One.”

“Ye have an unction from the Holy one, the anointing.”

OMNIPRESENT.

“Do I not fill heaven and earth, saith the Lord.”

“The fulness of him (Christ) that filleth all in all.”

“Whither shall I go from thy Spirit; if to heaven, thou art there, or hell, thou art there also.”

LIFE.

“Love the Lord thy God, for he is thy life.”

“When Christ, who is our life, shall appear.”

“The spirit is life.”

“The Trinity in Unity, made all mankind.”

“The Lord he is God, he it is that hath made us.”

“By him (Christ) were all things made.”

“The Spirit of God hath made me.”

RESURRECTION OF CHRIST.

“God hath raised up the Lord, and shall raise us up by his own power.”

“Destroy this temple, and in three days I will raise it up.”

“Being put to death in the flesh, but quickened by the Spirit.”

LEADING.

“I am the Lord thy God, which leadeth thee by the way.”

“He (Christ) calleth his own by name and leadeth them out.”

“As many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”

SANCTIFICATION.

“Sanctified by God the Father.”

“He that sanctifieth, and they who are sanctified, are all of one.”

“Being sanctified by the Holy Ghost.”

I might quote many more Scriptures to prove this very interesting subject, and produce a thousand arguments, but if they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will they be persuaded though one rose from the dead: it is no small mercy to believe, and receive the truth in the love of it, and to be fully persuaded in our own minds, of the truth, as it is in Jesus. On the word of God’s truth I rest, without asking a thousand carnal questions, remembering Him that hath said, “What is that to thee, follow thou me.” The above Scriptures, thus arranged, with many more by the above author, and Mr. Huntington’s book, “Contemplations on the God of Israel,” which, in my humble opinion, exceeds all that that good man wrote. These were the means of establishing my mind on this great subject, and delivering my soul from a thousand perplexities, for which I can never be too thankful.

Yours, J. C.

LETTER XXIV.

‘“But watch thou in all things.”

To —

I have often intimated to you the necessity of keeping a sort of diary, and minuting down some of the Lord’s dealings with you: this has a tendency to excite watchfulness, prayer, and gratitude. I do not mean that you should minute down all, as that might appear ostentatious; and forgetting all, as a mark of ingratitude. However, for those that have time and ability for such a work, it must greatly add to their joy and improvement in the divine life, and at the close of the year, to retrace written memorandums of the Lord’s dealings, would greatly felicitate the mind, and strike the soul with wonder. “Who is wise will observe these things, and he shall understand the loving kindness of the Lord.” I will transcribe the short memorandums of a few days, to stir you up to adopt the same method, as it will reward you in the end.

Saturday.—Awoke this morning, dull, dejected, and unfit for study; very little life in prayer, and even a degree of reluctance to pray. What a mercy necessity compelled me to arise and go unto my Father! and after some time sitting before the Lord, I felt a degree of spirituality. Some precious subjects opened to my view, which I put into the hands of the ever blessed Spirit, to bring to my mind when I should stand in need of them. Closed the day in spiritual conversation and prayer with our friends Mr. and Mrs. —.

Sunday.—Early this morning visited with these sweet words; “Oh, go your way into his courts with thankfulness, and into his gates with praise; be thankful to him, and speak good of his name.” Predicted I should have a good day, and so it proved; but surely satan envied it, for at night my feet had well nigh slipped. Closed the day very dejectedly. Alas! what poor returns of love hath my Creator found, what cause of shame and confusion for such ingratitude; oh, for more conformity to his blessed image.

Monday.—Weak in body, low in mind, sadly harrassed. Many useless visitors upon mere trivial affairs, with the wretched reflection upon a debt owing to —. Could find no text to preach upon in the evening. Fretful, peevish, and in much bondage. Yet oh! the patience and forbearance of God! How sweetly supported, supplied and melted in the house of God, in preaching on John xvi. 27. Received the same evening a present from a lady, which relieved my anxious mind and confounded my unbelief. Closed the day in holy wonder and admiration at the grace and providence of God.

Tuesday.—I almost grieve I let sleep close my eyes last night; my frame is changed again; corruption sin and folly has interrupted me, disturbed my mind, prevented communion with God in meditation, prayer and reading; irregular passion let loose to vex me. Oh, that I could fly from myself! In vain I wish a solitary life, a cave, or the place of the way-faring man; I should carry the same nature with me there: I sink in despondency about the renovation of this sinful nature; but, blessed be God for Jesus Christ, in whom his people stand complete. A clear spiritual apprehension of this warms my heart, and again carries me above all my horrid feelings.

Wednesday.—Blest with a spirit of prayer, diligence in reading, and clear light in the Word. Read a little of “Dr. Owen, on Communion with God,” “Dr. Goodwin, on the Condition of the Creatures,” “Gospel Magazine,” “Huntington’s Moral Law not Injured by the Everlasting Gospel.” &c.

“My willing soul would stay In such a frame as this.”

No exstacies or ravishing joys, but a solid satisfaction of soul, by the knowledge and reception of truth. Very happy in preaching this evening, on “Is thine heart right.”

Thursday.—Lost much time to day in needless visits and trifling company, disputed with a Swedenborgian for three hours, about some of the grand truths of the Word, but I saw no good effects in my opponent. I am thankful I was kept cool and deliberate all the time. I dislike disputes, and always very reluctantly enter the lists, but when compelled I never keep back; the religion that is not worth contending for, is not worth having. A good man once observed, that was always a lost day wherein he neither got any good, nor did any good; such days are painful to reflect upon. I gained one thing to day—a grateful heart for the knowledge of the truth.

Friday.—Received a gracious answer to prayer in the opening of a very great subject in the Word of God; also an answer to prayer in a providential way. Some time previous, a sweet portion was sent to my soul; but the fulfilment of the promise evidences it to be of God’s sending: thousands boast of promises applied, but it is the accomplishment proves them to be of God. He that hath received his testimony, hath set to his seal that God is true. Comfortable in preaching in the evening.

Sunday.—A good day to my soul. Felt much light and liberty in all my subjects; the Lord gave me power of utterance. Preached in the morning on that ambiguous portion, “Behold the man is become one of us.” Opposed a prevailing error, concerning the oneness of absolute Deity and a sinner. Shewed Adam was a type of Christ, in about twenty-four particulars: applied the text to Christ as God-man; 2, to Adam, as restored to God’s image; 3, to every believer as converted to God: noticed the last part. Gave the opinion of commentators, and then what views I had of it.

Afternoon.—The opening of the passion week. The eventful circumstances of the last week of our Lord’s humiliation is always very affecting to my mind. Preached on his riding to Jerusalem. In the evening, his weeping over Jerusalem, entering into the temple, and return to Bethany. A solemn day throughout.

Monday.—Met with many things to grieve me, but several peculiar providences cheered my heart. Preached in the evening on the Saviour’s cursing the fig-tree. Oh! what a mercy to be in Christ, and grafted into the true tree of life, that we may bring forth fruit unto God.

Tuesday.—Visited several sick beds, and dear families who had been visited by death, prayed with some, but sorely shut up with others; this was painful indeed. Preached same evening on the poor widow and her two mites; and what have I to cast into the fulness of Christ, but my soul and my body; not to enrich, but to be enriched.

Wednesday.—Read Ambrose Christopher Vess, and other good writers. Preached in the evening on the Saviour washing the disciples’ feet. Alas! our daily errors and infirmities need washing away in the blood of the Lamb, by the word of God, and the influence of the Spirit.

Thursday.—A particular solemn day. Viewed with sacred delight, the thirty-three years of our Lord’s obedience to the law, for the justification of his Church, and now I behold him hastening to the awful entrance upon his direful sufferings and death, to put away sin. Preached in the evening on “They shall shew you a large upper room, furnished, there make ready.” Gave the sacrament between eight and nine o’clock, to about 300 persons; all was solemn and impressive; I was sweetly supported and a little melted. Oh, that it had been more so.

For canst thou, ungrateful man, his sorrows see, Nor drop one tear for him who shed his blood for thee.

Good Friday.—Preached in the morning on Ephesians, i. I felt the power of the subject, and nearly at times overwhelmed, but kept up under the description of the Saviour’s sorrows; blessed also with a lively hope; he died for me. Preached in the evening upon his burial, and predicted resurrection, 41st Psalm. A solemn and blessed day.

Saturday.—Led to some precious portions of God’s word, though rather dead in mind and tired in body. Same day buried a dear friend, conversed and prayed with the family in the evening.

Easter Sunday morning.—Blessed with spirituality, though a little indisposed in body. Preached on the Seven Resurrections, but enlarged on our resurrection state in Christ, from Romans vi.

Afternoon.—Preached on Habakuk, iii. 2. “Wilt thou not revive us again.” In the evening, a funeral sermon for a beloved friend, whose life was spiritual, and whose death was blessed; the text John xi. “I am the resurrection,” &c. But alas! how flat and insipid I felt, yet God blessed the word.

I look back with gratitude on what the Lord has done for me, and rejoice that amidst the many changes I experience in body, soul and circumstances, in the Church and in the world, he is the same yesterday, to day and for ever; in his love, in his purposes, in his covenant, in his word, and in his faithfulness. Oh, could I know and love him more.

“For Lord I would be thine alone, And wholly live in thee; Take all that I possess below, And give thyself to me.”

I only send you this as a short specimen of a few memorandums I wish you to make and keep by you; you will often find the benefit of reviewing them.—Hence the order, “Set thee up way-marks, make thee high heaps.” These memorandums are as Gilead, an heap of witnesses, and ye are my witnesses saith the Lord.

Yours, J. C.

LETTER XXV.

“Examine yourselves, whether ye be in the faith.”

To —

The work of God, Father, Son, and Spirit, was ever opposed by satan and his emissaries in all the grand displays of his favour to his dear people, in the open manifestation of his love, in the accomplishment of our redemption, in the proclamation of pardon and mercy in the gospel, and in the operations of the ever-blessed Spirit on the hearts of his chosen. It is the last point I now beg you to notice; there are greater and more mischievous foes to this work than to any other, because this opposition generally comes from a quarter where one would hardly expect it; some profest Christians deny it entirely; others admit it in part only, as an assistant to the creature. The apostle has addressed such characters in this pointed speech. “Beware, lest that come on you which was spoken by the prophet, ‘Behold ye despisers and wonder, and perish, for I work a work in your days; a work in which you shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you.’” You may talk to many about the works of creation and redemption, and they may give credit to it; but if you talk to them about the work of God the Holy Spirit on the heart, they will hiss like a serpent, and soon manifest their enmity to you and the work itself. But, my dear friend, although God has been pleased to begin, and is actually carrying on this work in our hearts, have we not more formidable foes within: are not our inward enemies worse than every outward foe? Let me appeal to your conscience. Do you not at times give way to doubting, and God-dishonouring unbelief? Do you not lie against your right, and offend the Lord in a fit of ingratitude, and too often indulge your suspicions and your complaints? Is not this giving place to satan, to harrass your mind, and keep up the distance between God, and your soul; setting you at questioning the reality of a work of grace in the heart, and begetting a fear in your soul that you are nothing but an hypocrite? The world, perhaps, joins in it and says the same: oh, you are nothing but an hypocrite. Perhaps providence seems contrary, troubles befal you, the members of the same church are permitted to suspect your religion, and condemn you only as an hypocrite. Under this opposition I have sighed and wept. Yet will you believe it, even this has done me much good: the fears of being an hypocrite, and being found so in death and judgment, have driven me to pray that God would make me sincere and without offence. By persevering in prayer I have obtained fresh light; the Lord has cast a ray on the track he has led me; and by reading the word I have been enabled to compare my past and present case with the word of God: this has often afforded me joy and peace in believing: not that I make my experience a foundation of hope, but I look upon some Bible parts of experience to be tokens for good, way-marks, evidences, and infallible signs and proofs of the electing love of God and of redemption from woe. The method I have found good to adopt has been the following:—

First, I have considered the characters specified in the Bible, to whom the promises and invitations belong: these persons are described clearly by such terms, and couched in such words as the very weakest believer may comprehend, sometimes as expressive of his feelings, and the views which he has of himself, in himself; so that when faith is too weak to apprehend what we are in Christ, it is busied about what we are in ourselves, as described in the word, and as we are led to feel, see, lament and acknowledge the same before God and man. For instance, the word of God has set forth our state as dead, blind, captive, alienated from God, filled with enmity, rebellion, pride and unbelief. An acquaintance with these things as inherent in our nature is peculiar only to God’s people: all men are by nature in this state, but the children of God are the only persons who see it, feel it and lament it, and prize the remedy God has provided. When I have heard or read sermons and authors speak of the dignity and excellency of human nature, I have felt disgusted, because I know, first, what the Bible has declared of human nature, and secondly, I have had the painful feelings of these things; I have felt my deadness, I have seen my blindness, I have felt my bondage, and saw, with horror, my distance and want of conformity to God. I have been brought into such circumstances as to feel my rebellion against a holy and a just God, his law, his gospel, his people and his sovereign dispensations: the Lord has shown me my pride of heart, and I have felt shut up in unbelief; I have seen my weakness, and been led captive by sin, satan and the world; and to this day feel the tyranny of sin; though, blessed be God, sin is not my sovereign, it rages, but it does not reign. A view, a deep heart-felt acquaintance with these things is feeling the plague of the heart; and deep as our knowledge may be of this desperate sore, not one half can ever be known by us. It was a good saying of Mr. Whitfield’s, “There are two mysteries we can never comprehend, the mystery of Godliness, as set forth in the gospel, and the mystery of iniquity which works in the heart.” No one can possibly prize the holy person and precious work of Christ, but those who are led by the Spirit into an acquaintance with their own hearts. This knowledge of the human heart distinguishes a believer from an hypocrite, and a mere carnal professor; it is the most painful part of our experience, but it is very useful. The full loatheth an honeycomb, but to the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet; and as the ever blessed Spirit leads us on to know our desperate vileness, so we see the justice of God in our condemnation, by the holy law which we have violated; we see the sin of Adam in a most awful light, and view it imputed to us, and condemning us. These things are better understood than it is possible to write them. I beg leave to observe once more, this knowledge of the human heart is gradual; we saw a little of it at our first setting out, but what do we see now. Hence the command to Ezekiel, “Turn again, son of man, thou shalt yet see greater abominations than these.” Oh! the patience and forbearance of God with such hell-deserving sinners. Oh! the love of his heart, and the greatness, freeness, and power of his grace, give, oh, give him the glory for ever.

Yours, J. C.

LETTER XXVI.

“For the Spirit itself, Himself beareth witness with our Spirits, that we are the children of God, and if children, then heirs.”

To —

One of the very great errors of the present day in which we live amongst our professing churches, is not giving to God the Holy Ghost, the glory of his distinct personality in the Godhead, in perfect equality with the Father and the Son, adoring and worshiping him as a person in God, and making him the object of our faith, hope and love. We confess that he is equally interested in our salvation, but do we give him equal praise? I fear not. It is a mercy to be divinely led to understand the personality, divinity, covenant offices and work of God the Holy Spirit; the different characters he bears to his people, and in which he is presented to our view in his own word as an advocate, reprover, comforter, sanctifier, teacher, leader, sealer, glorifier and witness of Jesus in his word, and to the hearts of his own dear people, for which he is well qualified as the spirit of knowledge, a spirit of judgment, and a spirit of truth; and he that believeth on the Son of God hath the witness in himself, because the Spirit has taken the great things of Christ, and shewn them to his soul; for all the spiritual knowledge we have of Christ is by his teaching, and in no other way: the Holy Spirit has borne his witness of Christ as God in the language of Isaiah, “His name shall be called the mighty God and of his Sonship, and I saw and bare record that this is the Son of God, and of the person, work and offices of the Redeemer. He shall testify of me.” This he has graciously done in the word, and to the souls of all his elect redeemed ones in all ages. He also is a witness with, or to the hearts of his people. Hence the apostle asserts that the Lord’s people are heirs of God, and joint-heirs with Christ; being interested in God as the covenant God of his people in Christ, and with Christ, as the head of the Church, and heir of all things, and although they are put into the possession of some of the all things to which they are heirs,—and their spirits, or consciences, can witness the fact—yet there are sad seasons, when we are permitted to doubt it ourselves, and in which this may be disputed by Satan. We have indeed much to accuse ourselves of. Sin has a voice against us—natural conscience has a voice, and is always finding fault, and the devil is sure to accuse us right or wrong; and declare we have no part in David, nor no inheritance in the Son of Jesse. Till these accusers are borne down by better witnesses, and where the one fails the other is sure to prove victorious. The first witness is our spirit, an enlightened conscience—and the second is the holy condescending spirit of truth, the infallible witness.—Good men have called this twofold witness, the common and the uncommon, or the ordinary and extraordinary witness. The former is at all times in the believer’s heart, and by a ray of divine light, it is given him to discover it. Conscience can bear witness of the work of God upon the soul, and draw its inference upon a review of the Lord’s dealings with it, as Manoah’s wife did. If the Lord had been pleased to have destroyed us, he would not have done this, nor would he have told us such things as he has. Conscience bears its testimony to the work of God on the soul within, by comparing it with the word of God without, and this is done by proving that our minds have been opened to receive God’s testimony of Christ; what he is, and what he has done; and this not in a bare rational way, however clear, but that we have so received him, as to believe in him, desire him, call upon him, prize him, trust him, hold communion with him, and most earnestly desire to live to his glory; and as we have received him, so to walk in him, be conformed to his image, and spend a blest eternity with him, to love all that he loves, and to hate all that he hates. Conscience bears witness of our sincerity in these things. This is the witness of conscience, and it is a mercy to hear it speak amidst the host of witnesses against us. Satan’s accusation, as in the case of Job before God, accusing him of hypocrisy, although God had declared he was the most sincere character in the world—and in the business of Joshua, the high priest, satan stood at his right hand to resist him, as it had long before been predicted of Judas. “Set thou a wicked man over him, and let satan stand at his right hand.” The world is also waiting to accuse, longing for every opportunity to ridicule the religion of the Son of God. Mere professors are all upon the watch, and even preachers, who are inimical to truth. “My mother’s children were angry with me—not my father’s, but my mother’s, children—all my familiars watched for my halting, they said peradventure he will be enticed, and we shall prevail against him. The watchmen found me, they smote me, they wounded me, they took away my veil from me.” Natural conscience legally biassed, and external appearances in the dispensations of Providence leads us on till we exclaim in the passionate language of Jacob, “All these things are against me.” Falling amongst thieves, we are stripped and wounded, and left half dead; or to keep up the metaphor, these witnesses would swear us out of our eternal life. But blessed be God, conscience can witness to the sincerity of our souls, the reality of our faith that it is unfeigned, the goodness of our hope that it is founded upon the person and work of Christ; that our love to God, and all that is dear to him is without dissimulation, and the desires of our souls are to Christ and the glory of his name. Yet, alas! what sad seasons of darkness, doubts and fears come on till these clouds which come betwixt, are dispersed by some precious manifestation of love; the holy spirit creating in the mind some very precious exalted views of Christ, clear apprehensions of the love of God, his secret purposes, and decrees the glorious covenant of redemption, the gracious transactions of each adorable person in the Trinity, respecting the salvation of the church; the truth as it is in Christ producing holy meltings of soul, and filling it with all joy and peace in believing; sometimes cloathing the word with such power as fills the mind with extacy; suddenly visiting the soul with light, life and love, and indulging us with sweet sensible communion with Father, Son and Spirit: this is an infallible witness. These things form no part of the salvation which is in Christ; yet they are very valuable tokens of God’s high approbation of us in Christ: these should be coveted by us—prayed for, that our joy might be full. This is a spiritual baptism indeed, of which water baptism is an outward and visible sign; this is being immersed in the spirit, and filled with the spirit; and those who have not yet attained should tarry in Jerusalem till they be endued with this power from on high. Peter calls it rejoicing with joy unspeakable, and full of glory; and although many of the Old Testament saints had glorious manifestations, yet this spiritual baptism is more clearly revealed, and is peculiar to the New Testament dispensation. If my reader complains he has not yet arrived at these things, nor been thus favoured with such extraordinary witness of the spirit, it is still our mercy to rejoice the holy spirit has began the good work in our hearts, and as that is made manifest, it is the witness of the spirit to us that we belong to God; and while his gracious power is afforded to conscience, it is the Spirit with our spirit, bearing testimony that we are his people, heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ; for as many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God. The Lord be pleased to bless the reading of this simple statement of this important work to your heart, that you may rejoice in Christ, worship God the Spirit, be favoured with clearer views of the Father’s love, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. This witness of the spirit is the Lord’s secret with the righteous; it is the deep mystery of faith, it is a path that no foot knoweth, and that the vulture’s eye hath not seen; it is one of the mysteries the Saviour gives his disciples to know, and which is hidden from the wise and prudent (in their own esteem). This work is a mystery at times, even to the real possessor; in fact, all he is, all he knows, all he feels, and all he meets with is very mysterious to him; he is a complete paradox to himself and all others—he is a riddle. This reminds me of what the excellent Erskine says in his “Gospel Sonnets,” to which I must refer you, but cannot pass by a few verses without transcribing them from his riddle.

I could quote a great deal more, but must request you to read the work itself and you will find a scriptural description of the mystery of the saint’s life, warfare and state; and while you are at times perplexed about yourself, may you be led to enjoy the clear witness of the Holy Spirit in your soul, this will comfort you in life, cheer you in death, and let this be our daily prayer.

Yours, J. C.

Thus I have compiled with the request of those who so earnestly solicited a brief account of my life to the fortieth year. In a second edition I shall see great reasons for omitting some things which I have inserted, and introducing others of greater importance; also of correcting the errors of this little work, in the hasty printing of it. [270] I have been obliged to be thus brief, owing to a variety of circumstances. If I am spared I shall add a third part to this work: at present, reader, whether friend or foe, I bid you farewell, praying that we may experience more grace in the heart, more knowledge in the understanding, and more love to the Friend of sinners; that we may live more devotedly to his glory; being redeemed from the hands of them which hate us, we may serve him in holiness and righteousness all the days of our lives.—Amen.

END OF THE SECOND PART.

R. Weston, Printer, Crosby Row, Southwark.