LETTERS. LETTER I. Paddington, March 5, 1796. Dearly beloved in the Lord, true yokefellow, and companion in tribulation; grace and peace be with thee through Jefus Christ our Lord. I MUST Confefs that the works of God are wonderful; and as all things work together for good to them that love him, fo all things work together for evil to them that hate him. I no fooner hear of a damnable herefy fent by a heretic to entangle the fimple, but as foon as I find out what it is, my crufe fprings like an overflowing fountain, and twenty texts flow in harmony against their confufion. Two fcriptures have been on my mind through all the late fcuffle, and againft all the heap of penny-post fquibs that have been fent to me upon the fubjects of Arianifm, Socinianifm, and Sabellianifm. The first text convinced me that the Holy Ghoft had no hand in the writing of any of them, for he is not the author of confufion, and their letters are nothing else; and the fecond is, that the B true light never once fhined into them, for God's words" are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge; there is nothing froward or perverfe in them." These men serve to ftir up the Lord's watchmen to vigilance and watchfulnefs; and their lies, under the teaching of God, drive us further into the truth, and the good Spirit of God fhews the confiftency of his teaching in the falfe mirror of their felf-contradictions; and by these means draws forth gratitude and thankfulness to God for the little we do know, and for not leaving us thus to ftumble and take offence at the greatest truths in the Bible. But fo it is written, and fo it muft be; " Evil men and feducers fhall wax worfe and worfe, deceiving and being deceived," while, "The path of the just shall shine more and more, even to perfect day;" but who makes us to differ? To God only wife be glory and majefty, dominion and power, both now and ever, amen. I have this teftimony in my confcience, that I fhall be a favour of death unto death, or of life unto life; but it is astonishing to fee the pains they take to damn themselves and others; and the more fuccefs they have in feduction, the more increased will be their torment, until, as Milton fays of the majesty of Satan, he is only fupreme in mifery;' may my God reward them according to their works. One that has pursued me thefe five years, Benjamin Byng by name, he even followed me one cold evening to Brentford, and has circulated fome of Elliott's books there among the fimple. By these things I learn that the devil fuffered fome lofs through the inftrumentality of the Coalheaver, or else he would never fend fo many of his body-guards to attempt a recapture of his loft fubjects and I take comfort in this, that Chrift's sheep fhall never be plucked out of his hands; that the deceivablenefs of unrighteoufness fhall never work effectually in any but in them that perish and I bless my God that I fhall meet these face to face in the great day. I fee, more clear than ever, what Peter means by damnable herefies, or by errors that accompany eternal damnation; for the confufion of such men, their implacable hatred at the Trinity, their effrontery, felf-conceit, and infallibility, are evident tokens of perdition. I can fee clear enough where they are, but they cannot fee where I am; I know their ftanding, and who fixed them there, but they know not mine: "The fpiritual man judgeth all things, but he himself is judged of no man ;" and here we have the advantage. I wonder not at God keeping thee from exercifing thyself in that high matter which is too wonderful for men, for I believe, nor have I a fingle doubt of, thine eternal election, and that of God; and upon the neck of fuch God lays a fecret rein, to keep them from the fin unto death. "All that ever came before me," faith Chrift, "were thieves and robbers, but the fheep did not hear them;" you know what I mean. I believe my dear friend will have his wifh, for they seem to push me at every corner to drive me into a controverfy upon this great and glorious truth. I know that Chrift is able to use the weakest inftrument, and he hath promifed both a mouth and wifdom; and I know he is faithful, and that the lip of truth fhall be eftablished for ever, and the mouth of them that speak lies fhall be ftopped fooner or later; and what the Lord hath enabled me to preach, I believe he will enable me to defend: yet as I am getting old, I prefer peace to war. But my dear brother knows nothing as he ought to know; if he knows his finful felf, and his own ignorance, he knows two great leffons, two branches of knowledge which are effential to the ministry, for God hath chofen the bafe and the foolish to confound the honourable and the wife. 'You cannot despair, nor feel the guilt and terrors you used to feel:' no, my fon, nor thou never wilt feel them again; where the dying love of Jefus once enters and operates, where peace is once felt and enjoyed, and faith drawn out to Christ, and made to work by love to him, the die is caft, the lot is in the lap, the lines are fallen to thee in a fair ground, and the chofen one is a pillar of the truth, and fuch have a goodly heritage. Vindictive wrath, and unatoned guilt, never meet and work there again; fatherly anger may, or what is called a little wrath; "In a little wrath I hid myself from thee for a moment," &c.: and again, "I smote him and was wroth;" yet the anchor of hope now counteracts the workings of defpair, and one feeling fense of the operations of the dying love of Jefus fhews the non-imputation of fin; what was finished upon the cross is impreffed upon the foul; the firft was done for us, and this is known by the latter, which is done in us. Thou wilt never bring thy guilt and terrors back again, my fon, and therefore do not try at it; "The fins of Ifrael and Judah fhall be fought for, but they fhall not be found, for there fhall be none: for I will pardon them whom I referve." The knowledge of wiflom has been fweet to thy foul, and there is a reward, and thine expectation shall not be cut off, Prov. xxiv. 14. Power in the pulpit, and chains out of it, were my exercise for three years; this is going in and out and finding pafture. The pulpit lifts us up, the chains pull us down; the latter keeps us weak, the former is the Lord's ftrength made perfect in our weaknefs. When God wings us for flight, the devil's aim is to exalt us above measure; God loads us with chains to keep us humble, and to hide pride from our eyes. If God but for one week un |