Letters

I have been reading John Newton’s autobiography “out of the depths” and in many ways, the way he was taken to a thorough conversion was extraordinary even in his day. In my own lot in life, one of extraordinary suffering, I often feel that the puritans and people of that time, could relate to what I endure and experience more than anyone I know alive today. I’m thankful for this great cloud of witnesses, and want to share a short something by Newton now, there is also something else I would like to share over the next day or two from the same source, one which I relate to very much, and often burdens my soul, yet to know Newton also experienced the same thing, is of some small comfort. But for now

All true believers walk by the same rule and mind the same things. The Word of God is their compass, Jesus is both their polar star and their sun of righteousness, and their hearts and faces are all  zion-ward. They are as one body, animated by one spirit yet their experiences, formed upon these common principles, are far from being uniform. The Lord in his first call, and his following providential actions, regards the situation, temperament, and talents of each and the particular services or trials he has appointed for them. All are tested at times yet some pass through the voyage of life much more smoothly than others. But he who “walketh upon the wings of the wind” (Psalm 104:3) and “measures the water in the hollow of his hand” (Isa. 40:12) will not suffer any in his charge to perish in the storms, although for a season perhaps, many of them are ready to give up hope.
—John Newton

John Knox’s time as a galley slave, left him weak constitutionally, and with recurrent attacks of an acute condition they called “The gravel.” He had to labour still while this was upon him, but even Knox expresses how the body in pain, is a cross that can be hard to bear. He was also called to London while in these attacks to answer some trumped up charges against him. In 3 excerpts of letters he wrote to his sister, he speaks of his bodily infirmity

My daily labors must now increase, and therefore spare me as much as you may. My old
malady troubles me sore, and nothing is more contrarious to my health
than writing. Think not that I weary to visit you; but unless my pain shall
cease, I will altogether become unprofitable. Work, O Lord, even as
pleaseth Thy infinite goodness, and relax the troubles, at Thy own
pleasure, of such as seeketh Thy glory to shine. Amen.

The pain of my head and stomach troubles me greatly. Daily I find my body decay; but the providence of
my God shall not be frustrate. I am charged to be at Widrington on
Sunday, where I think I shall also remain Monday. The Spirit of the Lord
Jesus rest with you. Desire such faithful as with whom ye communicate
your mind, to pray that, at the pleasure of our good God, my dolor both
of body and spirit may be relieved somewhat; for presently it is very
bitter. Never found I the Spirit, I praise my God, so abundant where
God’s glory ought to be declared; and therefore I am sure there abides
something that yet we see not.

Your messenger found me in bed, after a sore trouble and most dolorous night; and
so dolor may complain to dolor when we two meet. But the infinite
goodness of God, who never despiseth the petitions of a sore troubled
heart, shall, at His good pleasure, put end to these pains that we presently
suffer, and in place thereof shall crown us with glory and immortality for
ever. But, dear sister, I am even of mind with faithful Job, yet most sore
tormented, that my pain shall have no end in this life. The power of God
may, against the purpose of my heart, alter such things as appear not to be
altered, as He did unto Job; but dolor and pain, with sore anguish, cries the
contrary. And this is more plain than ever I spake, to let you know ye
have a fellow and companion in trouble, and thus rest in Christ, for the
head of the serpent is already broken down, and he is stinging us upon the
heel.

Eighth Pastoral Letter

Warnings to the Unsaved—Causes Why So Many Among Us are Unsaved.

Edinburgh, March 20, 1839.

TO all of you my dear flock, who are dearly beloved and I longed for, my joy and crown, your pastor wishes grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and from our Lord Jesus Christ.

In my last letter I showed you that, in all human probability, there are many of you to whom I have preached the gospel of salvation, to whom I shall never preach it again face to face. I cannot be blind to the many dangers that accompany foreign travel—the diseases and accidents to which we shall be exposed; but if, through your prayers, I be given to you again, how many blanks shall I find in my flock! How many dear children of God gone to be “where the weary are at rest,” where the imperfect “are made perfect!” How many of you that have stood out against all the invitations of Christ, and all the warnings of God, shall I find departed, to give in your account before the throne! It is to these last I wish now to speak.

For two years I have testified to you the gospel of the grace of God. I came to you in “weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling;” and if the case of the children of God and of backsliding souls has often lain heavy at my heart, I can truly say that your dreadful condition—“settled like wine upon her lees,” when you are about to be “turned upside down, as a man turneth a dish and wipeth it”—has been a continued anxiety to me; and sometimes, when I have had glimpses of the reality of eternal things, it has been an insupportable agony to my spirit. I know well that this is a jest to you, that you care not whether ministers go or stay; and if you get a short sermon on the Sabbath day that will soothe and not prick your conscience, that is all you care for. Still, it may be the Lord who opened Manasseh’s heart will open yours, while I go over solemnly, in the sight of God, what appear to be the chief reasons that, after my two years’ ministry among you, there are still so many unconverted, perishing souls. continue

We still feel the weakness and failings of our sinful nature. Because of our own ignorance and unbelief, we often fail to understand the LORD’s dealings with us, and we are all too ready to complain. If we knew anything from God’s perspective, we would rejoice.

For us, however, there is a time coming when our spiritual warfare will be finished, our perspective enlarged and our understanding increased. Then we will look back upon the experiences through which the Lord led us and be overwhelmed by love and adoration for Him. We will then see and acknowledge that mercy and goodness directed every step. We shall see that what we once mistakenly called afflictions and misfortune were in reality blessings without which we would not have grown in faith. Nothing happened to us without a reason. No problem came upon us sooner, pressed on us more heavily, or continued longer than our situation required. God, in divine grace and wisdom, used our many afflictions, each as needed, that we might ultimately possess an exceeding and eternal weight of glory, prepared by the Lord for His people.

We very often fail to see our present circumstances in right perspective. Look back over the past, however, and compare what you have been brought through with your frame of mind during each successive period. Consider how wonderfully one thing has been connected with another so that what  we now count as our greatest benefits are rooted in incidents that at the time seemed insignificant. We have sometimes escaped from grave dangers not by any wisdom or foresight of our own, but by the intervention of unforeseen circumstances. So both the revelation of Scripture and our own individual experiences confirm the wisdom and good providence of God. He watches over His people from the earliest moment of their lives. He overrules and guards them through all their blind wanderings and leads them in a way they know not.
–John Newton from “Out of the Depths” his autobiography

Seventh Pastoral Letter

Edinburgh, March 13, 1839.

TO all of you who are my brethren, and my companions in tribulation, and in the kingdom and patience of our Lord Jesus Christ, your pastor wishes grace, mercy, and peace.

It gives me great joy to address you once more; and if I could only grave on your heart some of those words which make wise unto salvation, my time and labor would be amply repaid. The providences of every day convince me that I have followed not my own will, but God’s, in leaving you for a time. If the Lord permit, I shall come to you again, and I trust more fully taught by the Spirit—a holier, happier, and a more useful minister. I did not know when I last preached to you that I was to be so long parted from you; and though I felt a solemn tenderness stealing over my soul which I could not well account for, and eternity seemed very near, and your souls seemed very precious, yet the Lord was “leading the blind by a way which we knew not.” I have been searching God’s Word to find examples of this, and I find them very many

You remember Abraham, how he was living quietly in his father’s house, in Ur of the Chaldees, when the Lord appeared to him, and said, “Get thee out of thy country, and from thy kindred, and from thy father’s house, unto a land that I will show thee” (Gen. 12:1). And he went out, not knowing whither he went. You remember Jacob: his mother said unto him, “Arise, flee thou to Laban, my brother, to Haran, and tarry with him a few days.” But the Lord meant it otherwise; and it was twenty years before Jacob came back again (Gen. 27:43, 44). You remember Joseph his father sent him a message to his brethren: “Go, I pray thee, see whether it be well with thy brethren, and well with the flocks, and bring me word again” (Gen. 37:14). He expected to see him return in a few days; but God had another purpose with him. It was more than twenty years before he saw the face of Joseph again; till he said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: and I will go and see him before I die.” continue

Robert Murray McCheyne’s Sixth Pastoral Letter
Edinburgh, March 6, 1839.
TO all my dear flock over which the Holy Ghost hath made me overseer—to all of you who are of the Church of God, which He purchased with His own blood—your pastor wishes grace, mercy, and peace.
I thank my God without ceasing that ever I was ordained over you in the Lord. For every shower of the Spirit that ever has been shed upon us—for every soul among you that has ever been added to the Church—for every disciple among you whose soul has been confirmed during our ministry, I will praise God eternally. May this letter be blessed to you by the breathing of the Holy Spirit! May it teach you and me more than ever that we “are not our own, but bought with a price.” continue

To-morrow is the Sabbath. I am usually glad when it returns, though it seldom finds me in that frame of mine which I would desire. But it is my happiness to live amongst many who count the hours from one ordinance to another. I know they pray that I may he a messenger of peace, and an instrument of good to their souls; and I have cause to hope their prayers are in a measure answered. For their sakes, as much as my own, I am glad to go up to the house of the Lord. O that in watering others I may be also watered myself! I have been praying that to-morrow may be a day of power with you and with us, and with all that love Jesus in sincerity; that we may see his glory, and taste his love in the sanctuary! When it is thus, the Sabbath is a blessed day indeed, an earnest of heaven. There they keep an everlasting sabbath, and cease not night or day admiring the riches of redeeming love, and adoring Him who washed his people from their sins in his own blood.

To have such imperfect communion with them as is in this state attainable in this pleasing exercise, is what alone can make life worth the name. For this I sigh and long, and cry to the Lord to rend the vail of unbelief, scatter the clouds of ignorance, and break down the walls which sin is daily building up to hide him from my eyes. I hope I can say, My soul is athirst for God, and nothing less than the light of his countenance can satisfy me. Blessed be his Name for the desire: it is his own gift, and he never gives it in vain. He will afford us a taste of the water of life by the way; and ere long we shall drink abundantly at the fountain-head, and have done with complaint for ever. May we be thankful for what we receive, and still earnestly desirous of more.
—From the Letters of John Newton

continue

Dear Sir,

Though many authors have written largely and well concerning communion with God, I shall not refer you to books or have recourse to them myself; but in compliance with your request, shall simply offer you what occurs to my thoughts upon the subject. I propose not to exceed the limits of a sheet of paper, and must therefore come immediately to the point.

That God is to be worshipped, is generally acknowledged, but that they who worship him in spirit and in truth, have real fellowship and communion with him, is known only to themselves. The world can neither understand nor believe it. Many who would not be thought to have cast off all reverence for the Scripture, and therefore do not choose flatly to contradict the apostle’s testimony, I John i. 3, attempt to evade its force by by restraining it to primitive times. They will allow that it might be so then; but they pretend that circumstances are, indeed, altered with us, so far, that men now pass for Christians who confess and manifest themselves strangers to the Spirit of Christ: but who can believe that the very nature and design of Christianity should alter in the course of time? and that communion with God, which was essential to it in the apostles days, should be now so unnecessary and impracticable, as to expose all who profess an acquaintance with it to the charge of enthusiasm and folly? However, they who have tasted that the Lord is gracious, will not be disputed out of their spiritual senses. If they are competent judges whether they ever saws the light, or felt the beams of the sun, they are no less certain that, by the knowledge of the Gospel, they are brought into a state of communion with God.

continue

MY DEAR LADY HESKETH,

Since you were so kind as to pay me in the Temple (the only time I  ever saw you without pleasure), what have I not suffered! And since it  has pleased God to restore me to the use of my reason, what have I not  enjoyed! You know, by experience, how pleasant is it to feel the first  approaches of health after a fever; but, Oh, the fever of the brain! To  feel the quenching of that fire, is indeed a blessing which I think it  impossible to receive without the most consummate gratitude. Terrible as  this chastisement is, I acknowledge it in the hand of an infinite  justice; nor is it all more difficult for me to perceive it in the hand  of an infinite mercy likewise: when I consider the effect it has had  upon me, I am exceedingly thankful for it, and, without hypocrisy,  esteem it the greatest blessing next to life itself I ever received  from the divine bounty. I pray God that I may ever retain this sense of  it, and then I am sure, I shall continue to be as, I am at present,  really happy.
I write thus to you, that you may not think me a forlorn and  wretched creature; which you might be apt to do considering my very   distant removal from every friend I have in the world–a circumstance  which, before this event befell me, would have undoubtedly made me so;  but my affliction has taught me a road to happiness which without it, I  should never have found; and I know I have experience of it every day,  that the mercy of God, to him whom believes himself the object of it,  is more than sufficient to compensate for the loss of every other  blessing.
You may now inform all those whom you think really interested in  my welfare that they have no need to be apprehensive on the score of my  happiness at present. And you yourself will believe that my happiness  is no dream because I have told you the foundation on which it is  built. What I have written would appear like enthusiasm to many, for we  are apt to give that name to every affection of the mind in others  which we have not experience in ourselves; but to you, who have so much  to be thankful for, and a temper inclined to gratitude, it will not  appear so.
I beg you will give my love to Sir Thomas, and believe that I am obliged to you both for inquiring after me at St. Albans.

Yours ever,

W.C.

continue

Fifth Pastoral Letter

Edinburgh, February 27, 1839.
TO all of you, my dear flock, who are washed and sanctified and justified in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our God, your pastor again wishes grace, mercy, and peace.
This is now the fifth time I am permitted by God to write to you. If you are not wearied, it is pleasant and refreshing to me. I wish to be like Epaphras (Col. 4:12): “Always laboring fervently for you in prayer, that you may stand perfect and complete in all the will of God.” When I am hindered by God from laboring for you in any other way, it is my heart’s joy to labor for you thus. When Dr. Scott of Greenock, a good and holy minister, was laid aside by old age from preaching for some years before his death, he used to say, “I can do nothing for my people now but pray for them, and sometimes I feel that I can do that.” This is what I also love to feel. Often I am like Amelia Geddie, who lived in the time of the Covenanters, and of whom I used to tell you. The great part of my time is taken up with bringing my heart into tune for prayer; but when the blessed Spirit does help my infirmities, it is my greatest joy to lay myself and you, my flock, in His hand, and to pray that God may yet make “the vine to flourish and the pomegranate to bud.”
If you turn to Isaiah 5:4, you will find these affecting words: “What could have been done more to my vineyard, that I have not done in it? wherefore, when I look that it should bring forth grapes, brought it forth wild grapes?”
Consider these words, my dear people, and may the Spirit breathe over them that they may savingly impress your souls. These words are God’s pathetic lamentation over His ancient people, when He thought of all that He had done for them, and of the sad return which they made to Him. We have come into the place of Israel; the natural branches of the good olive tree have been broken off, and we have been grafted in. All the advantages God gave to Israel are now enjoyed by us; and ah! has not God occasion to take up the same lamentation over us, that we have brought forth only wild grapes? I would wish every one of you seriously to consider what more God could have done to save your soul that He has not done. But, ah! consider again whether you have borne grapes, or only wild grapes.
First, consider how much God has done to save your souls. He has provided a great Savior, and a great salvation. He did not give man or angel, but the Creator of all to be the substitute for sinners. His blood is precious blood. His righteousness is the righteousness of God; and now “to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted to him for righteousness” (Rom. 4:5). Most precious word! Give up your toil, self–justifying soul. You have gone from mountain to hill; you have forgotten your resting place; change your plan: work not, but believe on Him that justifieth the ungodly. Believe the record that God hath given concerning His Son. A glorious, all–perfect, all–divine Surety is laid down at your feet. He is within your reach—He is nigh thee: take Him and live; refuse Him and perish! “What could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?”
Second, again, consider the ordinances God has given you. He has made you into a vineyard. Scotland is of all lands the most like God’s ancient Israel. How wonderfully has God planted and maintained godly ministers in this land, from the time of Knox to the present day! He has divided the whole land into parishes; even on the barren hills of our country He has planted the choicest vine. Hundreds of godly laborers He has sent to gather out the stones of it. God has done this for you also. He has built a tower in the midst of you. Have you not seen His own hand fencing you round, building a gospel tower in the midst of you, and a gospel wine press therein? And has He not sent me among you, who am less than the least of all the members of Christ, and yet “determined not to know anything among you save Jesus Christ and Him crucified?” Has not the Spirit of God been sometimes present in our sanctuary? Have not some hearts been filled there with gladness more than in the time that their corn and wine increased? Have not some hearts tasted there the “love that is better than wine?” “What could have been done more for my vineyard, that I have not done in it?”
Now let me ask, what fruit have we borne—grapes or wild grapes? Ah, I fear the most can show nothing but wild grapes. If God looks down upon us as a parish, what does He see? Are there not still a thousand souls utter strangers to the house of God? How many does His holy eye now rest upon who are seldom in the house of prayer, who neglect it in the forenoon! How many who frequent the tavern on the Sabbath day! Oh! why do they bring forth wild grapes? If God looks upon you as families, what does He see? How many prayerless families! How often, as I passed your windows, late at eve or at early dawn, have I listened for the melody of psalms, and listened all in vain! God also has listened, but still in vain.
How many careless parents does His pure eye see among you, who will one day, if you turn not, meet your neglected children in an eternal hell! How many undutiful children! How many unfaithful servants! Ah! why such a vineyard of wild grapes? If God looks on you as individual souls, how many does He see that were never awakened to real concern about your souls! How many that never shed a tear for your perishing souls! How many that were never driven to pray! How many that know not what it is to bend the knee! How many that have no uptaking of Christ, and are yet coldhearted and at ease! How many does God know among you that have never laid hold of the only sure covenant! How many that have no “peace in believing,” and yet cry, “Peace, peace, when there is no peace!” (Jer. 8:11). How many does God see among you who have no change of heart and life, who are given up to the sins of the flesh and of the mind! And yet you “bless yourself in your heart, saying, I shall have peace, though I walk in the imagination of my heart, to add drunkenness to thirst” (Deut. 29:19).
Ah! why do you thus bring forth wild grapes? “Your vine is of the vine of Sodom, and of the fields of Gomorrah: your grapes are grapes of gall, your clusters are bitter” (Deut. 32:32). Ah! remember you will blame yourselves to all eternity for your own undoing. God washes His hands of your destruction. What could have been done more for you that God has not done? I take you all to record this day, if I should never speak to you again, that I am pure from the blood of you all. Oh barren fig trees, planted in God’s vineyard, the Lord has been digging at your roots; and if ye bear fruit, well; if not, then ye shall be cut down (Luke 13:6–9).
Now I turn for a moment to you who are God’s children. I am persuaded better things of you, my dearly beloved, and things that accompany salvation, though I thus speak. Yet what need is there, in these trying times, to search your heart and life, and ask what fruit does God find in me?
What fruit of self–abasement is there in you? Have you found out the evil of your connection with the first Adam (Rom. 5:19)? Do you know the plagues of your own heart (1 Kings 8:38)? the hell of corruption that is there (Jer. 17:9)? Do you feel you have never lived one moment to His glory (Rom. 3:25)? Do you feel that to all eternity you never can be justified by anything in yourself (Rev. 7:14)?
Consider, again, what fruit there is of believing in you. Have you really and fully taken up Christ as the gospel lays Him down (John 5:12)? Do you cleave to Him as a sinner (1 Tim. 1:15)? Do you count all things but loss for the excellency of the knowledge of Him (Matt. 9:9)? Do you feel the glory of His person (Rev. 1:17)? His finished work (Heb. 9:26)? His offices (1 Cor
. 1:30)? Does He shine like the sun into your soul (Mal. 4:2)? Is your heart ravished with His beauty (Song 5:16)?
Again, what fruit is there in you of crying after holiness? Is this the one thing you do (Phil. 3:13)? Do you spend your life in cries for deliverance from this body of sin and death (Rom. 7:24)? Ah! I fear there is little of this. The most of God’s people are contented to be saved from the hell that is without. They are not so anxious to be saved from the hell that is within. I fear there is little feeling of your need of the indwelling Spirit. I fear you do not know “the exceeding greatness of his power” to usward who believe. I fear many of you are strangers to the visits of the Comforter. God has reason to complain of you, “Wherefore should they bring forth wild grapes?”
Again, what fruit is there of actual likeness to God in you? Do you love to be much with God—“to climb up near to God (Gen. 5:22)—to love, and long, and plead, and wrestle, and stretch after Him?” you weaned from the world (Ps. 131)—from its praise, from its hatred, from its scorn? Do you give yourselves clean away to God (2 Cor. 8:5)—and all that is yours? Are you willing that your will should be lost in His great will? Do you throw yourselves into the arms of God for time and for eternity? Oh, search your hearts and try them; ask God to do it for you, and “to lead you in the way everlasting”! (Ps. 139:23, 24).
I am deeply afraid that many of us may be like the fig tree by the wayside, on which the hungry Savior expected to find fruit, and He found none. Ah! we have been an ungrateful vine, minister and people! What more could God have done for us? Sunshine and shade, rain and wind, have all been given us; goodness and severity have both been tried with us; yet what has been returned to Him? Have curses or praises been the louder rising from our parish to heaven? Does our parish more resemble the garden of the Lord, or the howling wilderness? Is there more of the perpetual incense of believing prayer, or the “smoke in God’s nose” of hypocrisy and broken sacraments?
I write not these things to shame you, but as “my beloved sons I warn you.” If there be some among you, and some there are, who are growing up like the lily, casting forth their roots like Lebanon, and bearing fruit with patience, remember “the Lord loveth the righteous.” He that tells the number of the stars takes pleasure in you. “The Lord taketh pleasure in his people; he will beautify the meek with salvation.” Keep yourselves in the love of God. Go carefully through all the steps of your effectual calling a second time.
The Lord give you daily faith. Seek to have a large heart. Pray for me, that a door of utterance may be opened to me. Remember my bonds. Pray that I may utterly renounce myself, that I may be willing to do and to suffer all His will up to the latest breath.
May you all obtain mercy of the Lord now, and in that day to which we are hastening. The grace of the Lord Jesus be with your spirits. Amen.

continue

To Miss Collier, Dundee
HOW HIS SILENCE MAY BE USEFUL TO HIS PEOPLE AND HIMSELF.
Edinburgh, March 14, 1839.
I FEEL IT very kind your writing to me, and rejoice in sending you a word in answer by my excellent friend Mr. Moody. Indeed, I was just going to write to you when I received yours, for I heard you had been rather poorly, and I was going to entreat of you to take care of yourself; for you do not know how much my life is bound up in your life, and in the life of those around you who are like–minded. I feel it quite true that my absence should be regarded by my flock as a mark that God is chastening them; and though I know well that I am but a dim light in the hand of Jesus, yet there is always something terrible where Jesus withdraws the meanest light in such a dark world.

continue

"I am made this day a spectacle unto God, angels and men; and among men I am
made a grief to the godly, a laughing stock to the wicked, and a gazing stock to
all, yet, blessed be my God, not a terror to myself. Although there is but
little between me and death, yet this bears up my heart; there is but little
between me and Heaven. There is a lesser way between me and my Father’s house,
but two steps between me and glory. It is but lying down upon the block, and I
shall ascend upon the throne.

I am this day sailing towards the ocean of
eternity, through a rough passage to my haven of rest, through a Red Sea to the
promised land. I think hear God say to me as He did to Moses, "God up to Mount
Nebo, and die there."

Beloved I am this day making a double exchange. I
am changing a pulpit for a scaffold and a scaffold for a throne; and I might add
a third; I am changing this numerous multitude on Tower Hill, for the
innumerable company of saints and angels in Heaven, the holy hill for Zion; I am
changing a guard of soldiers for a guard of angels which will receive and carry
me into Abraham’s bosom. This scaffold is the best pulpit that ever I preached
in. In my church pulpit, God through His grace, made me an instrument to bring
others to heaven, but in this pulpit He will bring me to Heaven."

Excerpts from the speech of Christopher Love upon the scaffold
immediately before martyrdom

July 15th, 1651 [the day he expected to be executed from the Tower of London]

"My Dearest Beloved,

"I am now going to my long home, yet I must write a word before I go hence and shall be seen no more. It is to beg thee to be comforted in my gain and not to be troubled in they loss. Labour to suppress thy inward fears now that thou art under outward sorrows. As thy outward sufferings abound, let they consolations in Christ also abound. I know thou art a woman of a sorrowful spirit. My time is short; I have but a few words of counsel to give thee, and then I shall leave thee to God who careth for thee and thine.

1. While thou art under desertions, labour rather to strengthen and clear up they evidences for Heaven than question them

2. Remember a faith of adherence or reliance on the Lord Jesus brings thee to Heaven, though thou want the faith of evidence or assurance.

3. Labour to find that (and more also) in God which thou hast lost in the creature.

4. Spend not thy days in heaviness for my death. If there were knowledge of things below or sorrow in heaven, I should grieve to think my beloved should mourn on earth.

5. Lie under a soul-searching ministry. I know thou art not a spongy hearer, sucking in foul water as well as fair. God hath given thee a good understanding, to be able to discern things that differ. As the mouth tastes meat, they ear trieth words.

6. Be conversant in Christian meetings and much in the exercises of mortification, in fasting and prayers, yet have respect to the weakness of they body and they present condition.

7. Have a care of thyself and babes. God will take care of thee and them. I can write no more; farewell my dear, farewell, farewell.

My dear, I be thee to be satisfied. My heart is greatly comforted in God. I can quietly submit to the good pleasure of His will, and I hope thou dost so also. I am delivered by the determinate counsel of God; the will of the Lord be done. Read for thy comfort when I am dead and gone, Jeremiah 49:11 and the beginning of 12; Isaiah 9:6-8; Psalm 5:6 and 146:9; 2 Corinthians 4:17-18 and Hebrews 12:6-7
These are the last words written by thy dying yet comforted husband.

Christopher Love

"I am accused of being an apostate, of being a turn-coat, of being this, of being that, of being anything but what I am. In general, I will tell you, I bless my God, a high court, a long sword, a bloody scaffold have not made me in the least to alter my principles or to wrong my conscience."

"Take heed of those doctrines that come under the notion of "new light." Those doctrines you ought to suspect as to whether they are true, which the broachers of them say are new, for truth is as old as the Bible. Many things go under the notion of "new light" yet they are but old darkness, old heresies raked out of the dunghill, and which were buried in former ages of the Church with contempt and reproach many hundreds of years ago."

"Here I come to that which you call an untimely end and shameful death, but (blessed be God) it is my glory and it is my comfort. I shall justify God; He is righteous because I have sinned. He is righteous though He cuts me off in the midst of my days and in the midst of my ministry."

"I conclude with the speech of the Apostle, 2 Timothy 4:6-7, "I am now to be offered up, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have finished my course, I have fought the good fight, I have kept the faith, henceforth there is a crown of righteousness laid up for me; and not for me only, but for all them that love the appearing of our Lord Jesus Christ," through whose blood I expect remission of sins and eternal salvation. And so the Lord bless you all."

More Dear to me than Ever,

It adds to my rejoicing that I have so good and gracious a wife to part with for the Lord Jesus. In thy grief, I have been grieved; but in thy joy I have been comforted. Surely, nature could never help thee to bear so heavy a stroke with so much silence and submission to the hand of God! Oh, dearest, every line which thou writest me gladdeneth my heart. I dare not think that there is such a creature as Mary Love in the world. For Kit and Mall [the two living children], I can think of them without trouble, leaving them to so good a God and so good a mother.

Be comforted concerning thy husband, who may more honour God in his death than in his life. The will of the Lord be done; he is fully satisfied with the hand of God. Though there is but little between him and death, he knows there is but little between him and heaven, and that ravisheth his heart.

The Lord bless and requite for thy wise and good counsel. Thou hast presented me; the very things I thought to have written to thee, thou hast written to me. I have had more comfort from thy gracious letters that from all the counsel I have had elsewhere in the world. Well, be assured, we shall meet in heaven. I rest till I rest in heaven, thy dying but comforted friend.

Christopher Love

"My most gracious beloved,

I am now going from a prison to a palace. I have finished my work, I am now
to recieve my wages. I am now going to Heaven where are two of my children, and
leaving thee on earth where are three of my babes. Those two above need not my
care, but the three below need thine. It comforts me to think two of my
children are in the bosom of Abraham and three of them will be in the arms and
care of so tender a godly mother.

I know thou art a woman of a sorrowful spirit, yet be comforted; though
thy sorrow be great for thy husband’s going out of the world, yet thy pains
shall be the less in bringing thy child into the world. Thou shalt be a joyful
mother, though thou beest a sad widow. God hath many mercies in store for thee;
the prayers of a dying husband for thee will not be lost. To my shame I speak
it: I never prayed so much for thee at liberty as I have done in prison." From the letters of Christopher Love to his wife Mary Love whilst awaiting martydom.

"To my beloved Daughter, Dorothy Cromwell, of Husrley.

"From aboard the John, 13th August 1649

"My Dear Daughter,

"Your Letter was very welcome to me. I like to see anything from your hand; because indeed I stick not to say, I do entirely love you. And therefore I hope a word of advice will not be unwelcome or unacceptable to thee.

"I desire you both to make it above all things your business to seek the Lord: to be frequently calling upon Him, that He would manifest Himself to you in His Son; and be listening what return He makes to you, –for He will be speaking in your ear and in your heart, if you attend there unto. I desire you to provoke your Husband likewise there unto. As for the pleasures of this life, and outwards business, let that be upon the bye. Be above all these things by comfort of them,–and not otherwise. I have much satisfaction in hope your spirit is this way set; and I desire you may grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ; and that I may hear thereof. The Lord is very near: which we see by His wonderful works; and therefore He looks that we of this generation draw near to Him. This late great mercy of Ireland si a great manifestaion thereof." [News had just arrived that the Irish army before Dublin had been defeated.] "Your husband will acquaint you with it. We should be much stirred up in our spirits to thankfulness. We needmuch of the Spirit of Christ to enable us to praise God for so admirable a mercy.

"The Lord bless thee my Dear Daughter,
"I rest, thy loving father,
"Oliver Cromwell."

“Dear Cousin,
“I thankfully acknowledge your love in your kind remembrance of me upon this opportunity. Alas you do too highly prize my lines and my company. I may be ashamed to own your expressions, considering how unprofitable I am, and the mean improvement of , my talent.
“Yet to honour my God, by declaring what He hath done, for my soul, in this I am confident, and I will be so. Truly, then this, I find: that He gives springs in a dry barren wilderness where no water is. I live you know where in Meshec, which they say signifies prolonging; in Kedar which signifies blackness; yet the Lord foresaketh me not. Though He do prolong, yet I He will I trust bring me to His tabernacle, to His resting place. My soul is with the congregation of the First-born, my body rests in hop: and if here, I may honour my God, either by doing or by suffering, I shall be most glad.
“Truly no poor creature have more need to put himself forth in the cause of God than I. have had plentiful wages beforehand; and I am sure I shall never earn the least mite. The Lord accept me in His Son, and give me to walk in the light, as He is the light! He it is that enlighteneth our blackness, our darkness, I dare not say He hideth His face from me. He giveth me to see light in His light. One beam in a dark place has much refreshment in it:–blessed be His name for shining upon so dark a heart as mine! You know what manner of life mine hath been. Oh, I lived in and loved darkness and hated light; I was the chief; a chief of sinners. This is true: I hated godliness, yet God had mercy upon me. O the riches of His mercy! Praise Him for me, pray for me that He who hath begun a good work would perfect it in the day of Christ.
“Salute all my friends in that family whereof you are yet a member. I am much bound unto them for their love. I bless the Lord for them; and that my son by their procurement is so well. Let him have your prayers, your counsel; let me have them.
“Salute your sister and husband from me;- He is not a man of his word! He promised to write of Mr Wrath of Epping, but as yet I have received no letters; put him in mind to do what with the convieniency maybe done for the poor cousin I did solicit him about.

“Once more, farewell. The Lord be with you, so prayeth
Your truly loving cousin,
“Oliver Cromwell”

To Colonel Robert Hammond: These.25th November, 1648.“Dear Robin,“Thou desirest to hear of my experiences. I can tell thee: I am sucha one as thou didst formerly know, having a body of sin and death;but I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord, there is nocondemnation, though much infirmity; and I wait for there redemption. And in this poor condition I obtain mercy and sweetconsolation through the Spirit. And find abundant cause every dayto exalt the Lord and abase the flesh, — and herein I have someexercise.“As to outward dispensations, if we may so call them, we have notbeen without our share of beholding some remarkable providencesand appearances of the Lord. His presence hath been amongst us,and by the light of His countenance we have prevailed. We are surethe goodwill of Him who dwelt in the bush (Exodus 3) has shinedupon us; and we can humbly say, we know in whom we havebelieved; who can and will perfect what remaineth, and us also indoing what is well pleasing in His eyesight.

"I find some trouble in your spirit, occasioned …by thedissatisfaction you take at the ways of some good men whom youlove with your heart, who through this principle, that it is lawfulfor a lesser part, if in the right, to force a numerical majority, etc…"You say: ‘God hath appointed authorities among the nations, towhich obedience is to be yielded. This resides in England in theParliament. Therefore resistance, etc.

"[This is true, but] I do not therefore think the authorities may doanything [i.e. whatsoever they like], and yet such obedience be due.All agree that there are cases in which it is lawful to resist. If so,your ground fails, and so likewise the inference.“I desire thee to see what thou findest in thy own heart to two orthree plain considerations. Whether the whole fruit of the war isnot likely to be frustrated [by this treaty with the King], and allmost like to turn to what it was, and worse? And this, contrary toengagements, explicit covenants with those who ventured their lives upon those covenants and engagements? Whether this armybe not a lawful power, called by God to oppose and fight againstthe King; and being in power to such ends, may not oppose onename of authority, as well as another name?" Oliver Cromwell

MONITORY LETTERS

TO

CHURCH MEMBERS

PHILADELPHIA:

PRESBYTERIAN BOARD OF PUBLICATION,

NO. 265 CHESTNUT STREET

 Entered according to Act of Congress, in the year 1855, by

A. W. MITCHELL, M.D.,

In the Clerk’s Office of the District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.

 PREFACE.

A low state of religion, in any community, is indicated especially by the delinquencies of professed Christians. These delinquencies take on a variety of forms, according to the temperament of the individual, and the peculiar circumstances in which he is placed. Sometimes, no doubt, they result more immediately from the want of due reflection, or of a cultivated moral discernment; while yet, perhaps still more frequently, they originate in the concurrence of powerful temptation with an ill kept heart and a bribed or stifled conscience. In order to elevate the tone of Christian feeling and action, it is necessary not only that Christians should be exhorted in general to avoid that which is evil, and cleave to that which is good, but that the various forms of evil which they are to avoid, and of good which they are to practise, with corresponding motives, both dissuasive and persuasive, should be distinctly placed before them. However suitable it is that the principles of Christian duty should be often urged in their comprehensive import, it is quite certain that there are many consciences by which they will never be applied, unless they are presented in the minute details of daily experience.

MONITORY LETTERS.
 
 

LETTER 1 OF 22

TO ONE WHO UNDERVALUES DIVINE TRUTH.

 
In a conversation that I lately had with you, you made certain statements in regard to some of the great truths of the Gospel, and I may say in regard to Christian truth in general, that have given me, on reflection, no little anxiety. You did not explicitly deny any important doctrine, but you seemed to have difficulties in respect to several; and what occasioned me still greater concern was, that you appeared to think it a matter of small moment whether a person should believe one doctrine or system of doctrine, or another, provided he has a general belief in Christianity, and is blameless in his external deportment. I beg to call your attention to a few thoughts which the conversation to which I refer has suggested to me. I will not now dwell on the consideration that this unsettled state of mind is utterly inconsistent with the relation you bear to the Church—the consent which you have, at least virtually, given to an evangelical creed; but will endeavour to show you, on other grounds, that it is utterly unworthy of your character as a professed disciple of Christ.
My first remark is, that a belief in the distinctive doctrines of Christianity is essential to all evangelical experience and evangelical practice. What we call Christian experience, has to do more immediately with the feelings, the affections, the heart. But the influence which is brought to bear upon this part of our nature, is the influence of truth received first by the intellect—of the very truths which the Gospel reveals, and no other; and if these truths are not received, it is impossible that there should exist any experience that corresponds to them. Each of these truths in particular, as well as the general system of which each is a part, is adapted to produce a certain effect—to bring into exercise certain classes of the moral feelings; and if something else be substituted for this, no matter though it be called by the same name, the effect produced will correspond with the doctrine that is actually received, and not with that for which it is substituted; in other words, it will not be evangelical experience. As to practice, or the outward demonstration of the inward feeling, it may not always be easy to distinguish that which is evangelical from that which is not so; because other motives than those that are in the highest sense Christian, may operate to produce an exterior, in many respects, such as Christianity requires; and yet, if the act be viewed in connection with the state of the heart in which it originates, it cannot be said to bear an evangelical character, any further than it is prompted by evangelical motives. Is it not manifest, then, that there is just as much importance to be attached to a firm belief of the great doctrines of the Gospel, as there is to a genuine Christian experience, or to a truly religious life?
I did not understand you to say that you felt prepared to renounce any of what are commonly considered the leading truths of Christianity; but you seemed to think that there might be so much doubt in respect to some of them, as to justify considerable latitude of opinion, and call for the exercise of an enlarged charity. Allow me to say, that this supposes a state of mind that must give to your own Christian experience, at least, an equivocal character. I would fain hope that it may be only a shock which your religious convictions have received, and from which they will quickly recover; but so long as you continue of the same mind as you now are, undervaluing God’s truth, and doubting whether he has revealed one thing or another, your experience, to say the least, cannot be of a settled and decided character. You have too much reason to fear, and you give others too much reason to fear, that you have come into the visible Church a stranger to renewing grace.
Admitting even that the state into which you have fallen is consistent with the existence of a principle of grace in your heart, yet it must, at least, prove greatly adverse to your Christian enjoyment. A state of uncertainty in respect to any question in which we are deeply interested, is always a painful state. What, then, must it be to be in doubt in regard to those great doctrines which have respect to the soul’s eternal salvation—doctrines in which are bound up alike both our duty and our destiny? Can you, for instance, have the shadow of doubt whether Jesus Christ has made an atonement for sin, or whether our salvation depends on faith in his atonement, without being thrown into a state of the deepest perplexity and distress? If you can feel such doubts, unaccompanied with deep anxiety, you need no better evidence that you have built on a foundation that will be swept away.
You tell me that there has always been a variety of opinions in respect to the meaning of Scripture, and that men of equally pure morality have held views directly opposite to each other; that it were intolerable arrogance in any one sect to profess to have discovered the whole truth, and that the Bible really does seem to speak a different language, on the same subject, in different places. But I take for granted you do not doubt that the Bible really contains a divine revelation. Is it, then, I ask, consistent with the wisdom and goodness of God, that he should have spoken to men on a subject that involves their highest interests, and yet should have spoken so obscurely that, in the due application of their faculties, they cannot understand his communications? Can that justly be considered a revelation, which is not so clear as to leave men without excuse for rejecting it? But you ask, Why, then, this variety of opinion? The true answer is, that men naturally "love darkness rather than light, because their deeds are evil." [John 3:19] But you tell me that many of those persons, of whose creed I should judge most unfavourably, are distinguished for kindness and urbanity—for everything that is amiable, and graceful, and of good report in private and social life. I answer, all this may be nothing more than nature highly cultivated; there may be concealed beneath that beautiful exterior, a heart unreconciled to God—a heart that has no relish for divine truth, and has never known so much as one holy pulsation. Admitting, then, that the divine revelation is perfectly clear, and full, and consistent, there is no difficulty in accounting for the fact that men of different characters view it with different eyes; but the alleged obscurity and inconsistency of the record, it is impossible to account for, without rejecting it altogether, or arraigning the character of God on the charge of having trifled with his creatures.
You say that if a man possesses a general belief in Christianity, that is enough, and though his creed may be one thing or another, he is to be accounted a Christian, especially if there is nothing in his life that is inconsistent with his profession. But does not this idea annihilate the importance of Christian faith altogether? Christianity is a great moral system, designed to produce great moral effects. But tell me what great effects can be expected to flow from a belief of the proposition, that the Bible contains a revelation from God, independently of a belief of the particular truths which this revelation embraces. A man may believe in the divine authority of the Scriptures, and yet if he does not know what they contain, or if, by perversion, he gathers from them some system of error, his belief in their divinity becomes a matter of no significance. He may, indeed, call himself a Christian, but he assumes a name that does not really belong to him.
Allow me to say that, even on the most favourable supposition in respect to your present state of mind—that is, admitting that it is only a temporary religious aberration, and not a confirmed habit of the soul—it places you in circumstances of peculiar jeopardy. Be it so that you have not yet made shipwreck of the faith—have not yet become fixed in any fundamental error—yet you can have no security against it; for if you have reached the point of believing that any form of error is harmless, you have taken one step in the downward course; and even though you may pause for the present, yet you are standing on a declivity, where the descent is easy, and will be likely to be rapid and fatal. I say again, you have no security against any error—you are at the mercy of every wind of false doctrine that may overtake you. If you will be secure from error, you must value the truth; and if you will value it, you must understand it.
Let me, then, earnestly entreat you to betake yourself at once to the diligent study of God’s word. Settle it in your mind that there is something revealed there that is definite; and that, however there may be real difficulties in respect to some points of minor importance, yet in regard to all the essentials of Christianity, there is nothing that is not perfectly clear to a truly docile spirit. Take up the doctrines of the Gospel, and examine them one by one; and then observe how harmoniously they arrange themselves into a great system of truth, and see how the whole is illumined by the glory of God as it shines in the face of Jesus Christ. If you have any doubts in respect to any particular doctrine, let it be your first concern to get rid of them; but take care that you stop where the revelation stops, and that you never perplex yourself by an attempt to be wise above what is written. I pray you, from a regard to your Christian consistency, and comfort, and usefulness, to ponder these few hints, and I pray God that you may henceforward be fully established in the faith of the Gospel.