Christ; and I humbly beg of God Almighty, that the love of his Son may sweetly constrain you, and that his promises may be ever operative on your mind. I am, with great gratitude and much esteem, reverend and dear sir, your affectionate brother in Christ. LETTER CCVIII. Friday morning. DEAR SIR,-You ask me what I think of you, in case it should please God to take you out of the world in the perplexed state you have described to me. An answer to such a question is much more difficult than you seem to be aware of; and therefore I must beg leave to decline passing any sentence. We ministers are to teach, warn, comfort, and exhort every man, according to God's most holy word; but after death comes the judgment on each of us. For, alas! how little, how very little do we know of one another, or of ourselves! The most amazing, perhaps, and one of the most humbling considerations too, which can well be offered to the human mind, is, that though we cannot form a tolerable judgment of any man's real condition, yet God shall judge the world, the whole world, in equity; not so much as one single case, how intricate soever it may seem to us, will he mistake. He was, is, and ever shall be, omniscient and omnipresent. And yet, short-sighted creatures as we are, how often do we usurp this prerogative, and presume to judge our fellow-creatures? A certain author, whose name I forgot, (though I registered to the following effect from him in one of my old diaries), has observed, "That it is impossible for us mortals to form an equitable judgment of the state of any one individual; because God alone knows all the circumstances he has been, and now is in. He alone can be the proper judge of his abilities and powers; what opportunities he had of improving himself, and of doing good; what were the force of his temptations; what difficulties he had to struggle with; what portion of divine grace was given to him; what natural understanding he had; what acquired knowledge was or could be obtained by him; and, in short, what the true state of his case was. Nor will he condemn any one unjustly or arbitrarily. How comfortable a reflection is this! especially to one who is cruelly persecuted, or unjustly censured-that God shall judge the world in equity; and yet what a tremendous thought is it, that every day we live we provoke this Judge of all men, and increase our heap of sin, which swells into such a frightful size, such a stupendous mountain of guilt, as will make us one day stand amazed at the sight of it! But what art thou, O thou great mountain? before Zerubbabel thou shalt become a plain,' Zech. iv. 7. • We have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the Righteous, and he is the propitiation for our sins.' Ŏh! that I may have a devout and lively faith in him, as it is by him alone my sins can be cancelled. May the cry of his blood drown their clamour!-We are, most just God, the children of thy wrath, and he is the Son of thy love, who died to save us, and through whom thou art willing to receive us. Yet what a distrustful fainting of mind comes over me, on the remembrance of former transgressions, which neither a reflection on God's ineffable goodness, nor on the unbounded value of the sacrifice of Christ, can effectually relieve? Hear me, O Lord God, in this my hour of heartfelt distress, nor take thou vengeance of my sins; spare thy creature, O Lord, spare him whom thou hast redeemed with thy most precious blood; let thy mighty Spirit fit me for mercy and acceptance, and be not, oh! be not angry with me for ever.' With this prose quotation, I send you a copy of verses on the renovation of a sinner; which will, perhaps, at this time, be neither unacceptable nor unseasonable. It was wrote by a very particular friend of mine, and is as poetical as it is instructive and consolatory. I transcribed these verses, as I hope you will com them as mit them to your memory, and often repeat you ride or walk, till your tongue, lips, eyes, ears, and very heart, are subservient to the great end of your salvation, and that of others. Exert yourself; be of good cheer, the clouds that darken the face of your affairs, will ere long disperse. He that gave his blood for you, and refused not to bear the racking agonies of the cross for you; he will not leave you, nor forsake you. God, who is faithful and just, has promised to forgive us our sins through the mediation of his Son. Lord, I believe this; help thou our unbelief. So wishes, and so prays, yours very sincerely. LETTER CCIX. Weston-Favell, Monday morning. DEAR SIR, I AM much obliged to you for the loan of Dr Squire's Inquiry into the Foundation of the English Constitution. The performance seems to be curious, useful, and interesting. But how interesting soever the subject may be to others, it can be very little so now to me; as my indisposition is daily increasing, and must, in all human probability, soon put an end to my being. In spite of the sarcastical reflections you say are thrown upon me, I must recommend to every one Marshall on Sanctification, and Jenks's Submission to the righteousness of God. These are with me the two fundamental books; these teach vital religion. Do they who would decry faith, and extol their good works, distinguish themselves by the practice of them? If not, I must beg leave to say, they are self-condemned. Only observe for the next month (by their fruits you will know them) the conduct of those who are such loud advocates for the merit, the dignity of man, and the freedom of his action; and of those who rely on the active and passive obedience of Christ and then tell me ingenuously, which are the people that pay the greatest reverence to the word of God; and in particular to the fourth commandment? Inquire which of them use familyprayer? whose conversation is most edifying? which of them visit and travel on Sundays? and which of them pass that holy day as becomes those who have named the name of Christ? I will be bold to say, that, on an impartial examination, the majority will be found on the side of those who embrace the doc trine of the imputation of Christ's righteousness, and who expect salvation by him alone, and not by deeds which they have done. Yet I should wonder how men of discernment (men who, one would think, should be daily sensible of their innumerable failings) could possibly espouse the opposite doctrines, had I not too many melancholy proofs to the contrary. You may safely confide in this doctrine; for this, dear sir, is not to be considered as the particular opinion of James Hervey, but it is the general opinion of our exemplary reformers; it is the doctrine of our Articles and our Homilies. Will you say that our modern moral Christians, if I may so call them, are to be set in competition with men like these? I appeal to facts. Mark the effect of preaching mere morality, and of preaching the grace of Christ. But so long as the devil is suffered to deceive the nations, and so long as the heart is unconvinced of sin, we may assure ourselves the doctrines of justification by Christ's righteousness, and salvation by free grace, will meet with opposition. Therefore St Paul exhorts Timothy, Αγωνίζω τον καλον αγώνα της πίςεως, fight the good fight of faith:" it is an address to a combatant, and supposes a conflict; a noble conflict; xaλs, the finest word in the most expressive language, importing all that is good and great; let us not then be ashamed of the cause. ❝ to My cough is very troublesome. I can get little rest; medicines yield no relief; but my never-failing cordial is the love of Christ. Religion bears my spirits up; A faithful and unchanging God WATTS' HYMNS, b. I. Staynoe (see Let. cxxx), whom you inquire after, was a good man, a tutor at Trinity College, Oxford, and afterwards Rector of St Leonard, Foster-lane; and in the year 1704 published, in two volumes + 2 Pet. i. 4. Heb. vi. 17. Rev. i. 5. |