Page images
PDF
EPUB

which, although like some medicines thrown into a disordered stomach, it may make dreadful work; yet like such medicines it leaves the patient much better. I thank God for such a friend; and I censure that inordinate pride which revolted from such a friend. We have all the light of the sun; but O, we sigh for the refreshing rain. Without the fertilizing shower, light and heat render the earth barren; but sun and rain together-O for the heavenly dew, or for the small rain! O for the light of God's countenance !

I am commencing a very long journey-God only knows whether we shall ever meet again. But why should this be an object? we rarely meet in this state; this is not our home and when we meet in our Father's house, we are blessed by the prospect of passing an eternity together, without any fear of future separation. In this consolatory hope, in full assurance, I bid you farewell.

That the good will of him that dwelt in the bush may ever accompany you, and each of our ever dear connexions, is the fervent prayer of yours, &c. &c.

LETTER XXIV.

I

To the same.

STAND, my valuable friend, reproved; but you have treated my last letter too seriously; yet I must again repeat, writing is not my talent: I cannot in this way easily communicate what God hath been pleased to bestow upon me. I often reflect upon the wisdom of God, in the distribution of his gifts; and that he giveth to every one severally as he pleaseth. To some he gives the gift of seeing for themselves, and for themselves only; others he lights up as you would a candle, to give light to all who are in the house. Some shall preach only to the present, by speaking; others to the future, by writing; and some few distinguished individuals to present and future, by speaking and writing. I know, and am persuaded by our Lord Jesus Christ, that I was sent out to preach

[ocr errors]

his word; and you know when I say preach, I mean no more than that I am appointed to speak of the things of the kingdom; but I feel nearly certain I aın not appointed to write of them; and if I were not to preach except I had first written my sermons, I am inclined to think I should rarely preach at all. Yet, such as I have, I do, and will give unto you; and if I should be made instrumental in throwing light upon any dark passage, and thus help you, my faithful friend, forward in the path of peace, I shall be rendered very happy.

May you be more and more intimately acquainted with that most elevating subject, the love of God to man; the never beginning, never ending love of God to man. O, my friend, this knowledge doth not puff up; but it lifteth up, as on the wings of an eagle, ever mounting, never tiring, but still discovering new wonders, through the wasteless ages of eternity!

But man, fallen, erring man, by nature enmity against God, is ever measuring the love and compassion of a God, by his own rule; or rather a rule by which he would blush to walk. I have thought, and frequently said that no person ambitious of supporting uniform rectitude, would submit to be represented in any character, as the almighty God is conceived of and described.

What father would choose to be delineated as deficient in solicitude for his family? Were he a judicious and good father, how would he bear it should be reported he did not lend his children every possible aid? It is confessed by all that God is omnipotent; that he is a sovereign; that he can and will do as he pleases; and that throughout the extended universe, the power exists not, that can resist his will. It is also affirmed, in the oracles of truth, that God willeth not the death, the eternal destruction of the sinner; that he willeth that man should be saved, in the way and at the time he hath appointed; and that he therefore sends forth his servants to warn mankind; to invite them to eternal blessedness; to inform them that all things are now ready, and to urge them to come in.

All this is descriptive of love; of paternal love; the love of a God. But we are informed the people are enmity against God; and that not from a persuasion that God was in Christ, reconciling the world unto himself; but because they are not acquainted with this truth; and therefore do not, cannot believe it; because they have no knowledge of God, and are carnal minded, and sold under sin. We are told too, that no man can come unto VOL. II.

18

the Father but by Jesus; that no man can come to Jesus except the Father draw him; and that all who learn of the Father, cometh unto Jesus; and that those who come unto him, he will in no wise cast out.

Are multitudes cast out forever? Then it is because they were not taught of God. If they had learned of the Father, they would have come to Jesus, and he would in no wise have cast them out. But did God attempt to teach them, and was that intellect, of which the Almighty was the source, so sealed against his teaching, against his influence, that he, from whence it originated, could not communicate the requisite information? Were they such dull scholars that he was obliged to surrender them as altogether unteachable? But is not God omnipotent? "Surely, if he had chosen to have exerted his power." But why did he not choose to exert his power?" Because if he had, they must have been saved; and he chose to leave them to the freedom of their own will." Did he not know that his leaving them to the freedom of their own will, would issue in their eternal damnation? "O yes; but this is perfectly right, for when he called they would not answer." Did he intend they should? "We have nothing to do with this question."

But you are sufficiently acquainted with this jargon. It is astonishing that any one who admits omnipotence, prescience, and boundless love, boundless mercy, as essential attributes of Deity, should consent to such absurdities, and believe them dictated by the spirit of God. And yet the wisest of men, in every age, have thus thought, thus spoken of the divine Being. We except, however, such wise men as came from the East, directed by a star, to worship the descending, condescending Deity, in the form of humanity. Yes, it is the wisdom of this world which rejects that shining light, which shineth more and more unto the perfect day. It is the wisdom of this world which encompasseth itself about with sparks of its own kindling.

Casting my eye yesterday over some passages in Paradise Lost, I was really amazed at the bitterness of this great man. Some time or other, when I have leisure, I will point out to you the passages which particularly struck me. O, how God has confounded he language of this master builder, thus making foolishness the wisdom of this world! So it seemeth good in his sight, and now it appeareth good in my sight also. Thus will the righteous God stain the pride of all flesh, and his day will be upon all pleasant pic

[ocr errors][ocr errors][merged small]

tures. The idols, every idol shall be abolished; and the Lord, the Lord alone shall be exalted in that day; and the worshippers, of these idols shall cast them to the moles, and to the bats, that thus the emblems of darkness and the works of darkness may dwell together. Amen, and amen.

[ocr errors]

I believe you misunderstood the suggestion in my last letter. It was not the sacramental bread and wine, to which I adverted, when I spoke of the last supper. This last supper you will find in the close of your Bible; and it is indeed with propriety styled the last supper. In Revelations, xix. 17, 18, the account of this last supper is thus given:

"And I saw an angel standing in the sun; and he cried with a loud voice, saying to all the fowls which fly in the midst of heaven, Come and gather yourselves together unto the supper of the great

God;

"That ye may eat the flesh of kings, and the flesh of captains, and the flesh of mighty men, and the flesh of horses, and of them that sit on them, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great."

A grand supper this! Have you ever reflected seriously upon it? Let us give it a few moments consideration. The messenger, the guests, the bill of fare, Flesh; not the flesh of the Son of God, whose flesh is meat indeed, and whose blood is drink indeed; which meat and drink is designed for friends-Eat, O friends!drink abundantly, O beloved! No, it is the flesh of kings-not the king that the Lord fixed on his holy hill in Zion! This king is given for the life of the world, and his flesh will constitute their never ending repast. It is the flesh of kings in the plural. A set of men who have often been the scourges of mankind; that God has sometimes given in his wrath. The flesh of captains, the servants of these kings; the cheerful ministers of their will; however cruel, arbitrary and oppressive their commands might be. Of mighty men who have generally been tyrants in their day. And the flesh of horses; an animal celebrated for its pride, its strength, and its thirst for the battle. The emblem of destruction, Revelations vi. 8:

“And I looked, and behold, a pale horse and his name that sat on him was death, and hell followed with him. And power was given them over the fourth part of the earth, to kill with sword, and with hunger, and with death." In the sixth chapter

of Zechariah, and various other parts of scripture, you will find these horses strongly expressive figures. Ye shall not, saith the prophet, ride upon horses; go down to Egypt for horses, &c. &c. but the flesh of those who set on these horses is also to be eaten, and the flesh of all men, both free and bond, both small and great. Thus all men both free and bond have flesh, with which, upon this occasion, they must part.

But what flesh?

Certainly not that flesh which was formed by the hand of God, and redeemed by the blood of Jesus, which flesh, Jesus claims as his own flesh; this flesh is the body which was prepared for our Emmanuel, which he cheerfully assumed, and became one with it. This flesh is the fulness of the humanity of Christ; this is the flesh which shall be fashioned like unto the glorious body of the Son of God; this flesh is right precious in the sight of the Lord; this flesh shall enter into the kingdom of heaven. Where I am, says the Saviour, there shall my servants be, and there his servants shall serve him. In my flesh shall I see God, said one, who knew that his Redeemer lived.

What then is that flesh, which at the supper of the great God, shall be served up? Certainly that flesh, that cannot enter into the kingdom of God, the kingdom of heaven. It is that flesh that is an abomination to God, and to all who are taught of God. It is that flesh under the oppressive weight of which the Apostle Paul groaned, being burdened, crying out with great earnestness-O, wretched man that I am! Who shall deliver me from this body of sin and death? And in that day, that auspicious day, when the grace of the covenant shall be made manifest, when all shall be taught of God, from the least unto the greatest; then this detestable carcase, or these detestable carcases, shall become an abhorring unto all human flesh. Thus saith the Lord, by the prophet Isaiah, lxvi. 23, 24:

"And it shall come to pass, that from one new moon to another, and from one Sabbath to another, shall all flesh come to worship before me, saith the Lord.

"And they shall go forth, and look upon the carcases of the men that have transgressed against me: for their worm shall not die, neither shall their fire be quenched; and they shall be an abhorring unto all flesh."

« PreviousContinue »