Chapter XVI: Letter VII

To a Person burdened with inward and outward Troubles.

_Worthy Sir_,

MY heart embraces you with all the tenderness and affection of Christian love; and I earnestly beg of God, to make me a messenger of _his peace_ to your soul.

You seem to apprehend, I may be much surprized at the account you have given of yourself; but I am neither surprized nor offended at it; I neither condemn nor lament your estate, but shall endeavour to shew you, how soon it may be made a blessing and happiness to you. In order to which, I shall not enter into a consideration of the different kinds of trouble you have set forth at large. I think it better to lay before you the ground and root, from whence all the evils of human life have sprung. This will make it easy for you to see what that is, which only can be the full remedy for all.

The scripture has assured us, that God made man in _his own image and likeness_; a sufficient proof, that man, in his first state, as he came forth from God, must have been absolutely free from all vanity, want, or distress; from any thing painful, either within or without him. It would be absurd to suppose, that a creature beginning to exist in the image of God, should have vanity of life, or vexation of spirit: a god-like perfection of nature, and a painful, distressed nature, stand in the utmost contrariety to one another.

_Again_, the scripture has assured us, _that man that is born of a woman, hath but a short time to live, and is full of misery_: Therefore man now is not the creature that he was by his creation. The first god-like nature of _Adam_, which was to have been immortally holy in union with God, is lost; and instead of it, a poor mortal of earthly flesh and blood, born like a wild ass’s colt, of a short life, and full of misery, is going thro’ a vain pilgrimage, to end in dust and ashes. Therefore, let every evil, whether inward or outward, teach you that man has lost his first life in God; and that no comfort, or deliverance is to be expected, but only in this one thing, that though man had lost his God, yet God is become man, that man may be again alive in God.

Now here are two things raised up in man, instead of the _life of God: First, selfishness, brought_ forth by his chusing to have a wisdom of _his own_; contrary to the will and instruction of his Creator. _Secondly_, an earthly, bestial life, brought forth by his eating that food, which was poison to his paradisaical nature. Both these must therefore be removed; that is, a man must totally die to himself, and all earthly desires, views, and intentions, before he can be again in God.

But now if this be an immutable truth, that man, so long as he is a _selfish earthly-minded_ creature, must be deprived of his true life, the life of God, in his soul; then how is the face of things changed! For then, what life is so much dreaded as a life of worldly ease and prosperity? What a curse is there in every thing that gratifies and nourishes our self-love, self-esteem, and self-seeking? On the other hand, what happiness is there in all inward and outward troubles, when they force us to know the hell that is within us, and the vanity of every thing without us, when they turn all our self-love into self-abhorrence, and force us to call upon God to save us from ourselves, to give us a new life, and new spirit in _Christ Jesus_.

“O happy famine,” might the poor prodigal have said, “which by reducing me to eat husks with swine, _brought me to myself_, and caused my return to my first happiness in my father’s house.”

Now, I will suppose your state to be as you represent it; inwardly, heaviness and confusion of thoughts and passions; outwardly, ill usage from friends, relations, and all the world; with an inability to strike out the least spark of light or comfort, by any thought or reasoning of your own.

O happy famine, which leaves you not so much as the husk of one human comfort to feed upon! For this is the time and place for all that life and salvation to happen to you, which happened to the prodigal son. Your way is as short, and your success as certain as his was: you have no more to do than he had; you need not call out for books, or methods of devotion; for, in your present state, much reading, and borrowed prayers, are not your best method; all that you are to offer to God, all that is to help you to find him to be your Saviour and Redeemer, is best taught by the distressed state of your heart.

Only let your present and past distress make you feel and acknowledge this two-fold great truth: _First_, That in and of yourself, you are nothing but darkness, vanity, and misery. _Secondly_, That of yourself, you can no more help yourself to light and comfort, than you can create an angel. People at all times seem to assent to these truths; but then it is an assent that has no depth or reality, and so is of little or no use: but your condition has opened your heart for a full conviction of them. Now give way, I beseech you, to this conviction, and hold these two truths in the same degree of certainty as you know two and two to be four, and then you are with the prodigal _come to yourself_, and above half your work is done.

*Being now in the full possession of these two truths, feeling them, as you feel your own existence, you are to give up yourself entirely to God in Christ Jesus, as into the hands of infinite love; firmly believing that God has no will towards you, but that of _infinite love_, and infinite desire to make you a partaker of his divine nature; and that it is as impossible for the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, to refuse all that life and salvation which you want, as it is for you to take it by your own power.

*O drink deep of _this cup_! for the precious water of eternal life is in it. Turn unto God with _this faith_; cast yourself into this _abyss of love_: and then you will be in that state the prodigal was in, when he said, _I will arise, and go to my father, and will say unto him, father, I have sinned against heaven, and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son_; and all that will be fulfilled in you, which is related of him.

*Make this, therefore, the two-fold exercise of your heart: _now_, bowing yourself down before God, in the deepest sense and acknowledgment of your own nothingness and vileness; _then_, looking up unto God in faith and love, consider him as always extending the arms of his mercy towards you, and full of an infinite desire to dwell in you, as he dwells in angels in heaven. Content yourself with this simple exercise of your heart for awhile; and seek nothing in any book, but that which nourishes it.

*_Come unto me_, says the holy Jesus, _all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you_. Here is more for you to live upon, more light for your mind, more of unction for your heart, than in volumes of human instruction. Pick up the words of the holy Jesus, and beg of him to be the light and life of your soul: love the sound of his name: for Jesus is the love, the sweetness, the compassionate goodness, of the _Deity_ itself; which became man, that so men might have power to become the sons of God. Love and pity and wish well to every soul in the world; _dwell in love_, and then you _dwell in God_; hate nothing but the evil that stirs in your own heart.

*Teach your heart this prayer, till your heart continually saith, though not with outward words; “O holy Jesus: meek Lamb of God! Bread that came down from heaven! Light and life of all holy souls! help me to a true and living faith in thee. O do thou open thyself _within me_, with all thy holy nature, spirit, tempers, and inclinations, that I may be born again of thee, quickened and revived, led and governed by thy Holy Spirit.”

Prayer so practised, becomes the _life of the soul_, and the true _food of eternity_. Keep in this state of application to God; and then you will infallibly find it to be the true way of rising out of the vanity of time, into the riches of eternity.

The poverty of our fallen nature, the depraved workings of flesh and blood, cannot destroy us, so long as the _spirit of prayer_ works contrary to them, and longs for the light and spirit of heaven. Our natural evil loses its poison and death, and only becomes our _holy cross_, on which we happily die from ourselves and this world, into the kingdom of heaven.

Would you have done with error, scruple, and delusion? Consider the Deity to be the greatest love, the greatest meekness, the greatest sweetness, the _eternal unchangeable will to be a good and blessing to every creature_; and that all the misery, darkness, and death of fallen angels and fallen men, consist in their having lost their _likeness to this divine nature_. Consider yourself and all the fallen world, as having nothing to wish for, but by the _spirit of prayer_ to draw into your soul this divine, meek, loving, nature of God. Consider the holy Jesus as the _gift of_ God to your soul, to begin and finish this within you, in spite of every inward or outward enemy. These three infallible truths, heartily embraced, and made the nourishment of your soul, shorten and secure the way to heaven, and leave no room for error, scruple, or delusion.

Expect no life, strength, or comfort, but from the Spirit of God, dwelling and manifesting his own goodness in your soul. The best of men, and the best of books, can only do you good, so far as they turn you from themselves, and every human thing, to seek and receive every kind of good from God alone; not a distant, or an absent God, but a God living, moving, and working in your inmost soul.

They never find God, who seek for him by reasoning; for since God is the highest spirit, nothing but a like spirit can unite with him; find or feel, or know any thing of him. Hence it is, that faith and hope, turned towards God, are the only possible means of obtaining a true knowledge of him. And the reason is plain, it is because by these _holy tempers_, which are the workings of his _spirit_ within us, we seek the God of life _where he is_, we call upon him with his _own voice_, we draw near to him by _his own spirit_; for nothing can breathe forth faith and hope, but that Spirit which is of God, and which therefore through flesh and blood thus presses towards him, and readily unites with him.

There is not a more infallible truth in the world than this, _that neither reasoning nor learning can ever introduce a spark of heaven into our souls_: but if this be so, then you have nothing to seek, nor any thing to fear, from reason. _Life_ and _death_ are the things in question: they are neither of them the growth of reasoning or learning, but each of them is a state of the soul, and only thus differ, _death is the want, and life the enjoyment of its highest good_. Reason, therefore, and learning, have no power here; but only by their vain activity to keep the soul insensible of that life and death, one of which is always growing up in it, according to the desire of the heart.

Add reason to a vegetable, and you add nothing to its life or death. Its life and fruitfulness lieth in the soundness of its root, the goodness of the soil, and the riches it derives from air and light. Heaven and hell grow thus in the soul of man: his heart is his root; if that is turned from all evil, it is then like a plant in a good soil; when it hungers and thirsts after the divine life, it then infallibly draws the light and Spirit of God into it, which are infinitely more ready to live and fructify in the soul, than light and air to enter into the plant that hungers after them. For the soul hath its breath, and being, and life, for no other end, but that the _triune_ God may manifest the riches and powers of his own life in it.

Thus you see, and feel, that the _spirit of prayer_ is your certain way of returning to God.

*When, therefore, it is the one ruling desire of our hearts, that God may be the _beginning_ and _end_, the _reason_ and _motive_, the _rule_ and _measure_, of our doing, or not doing, from morning to night; then every where, whether speaking or silent, whether inwardly or outwardly employed, we are equally offered up to the eternal Spirit, have our life in him, and from him, and are united to him by _that spirit of prayer_, which is the comfort, the support, the strength and security of the soul, travelling by the help of God, through the vanity of time into the riches of eternity. For _this spirit of prayer_, let us willingly give up all that we inherit from our fallen father, to be all _hunger_ and _thirst_ after God: and to have no thought or care, but how to be wholly his devoted instruments; every where, and in every thing, his adoring, joyful, and thankful servants. Have your eyes shut, and ears stopped to every thing, that is not a step in that ladder that reaches from earth to heaven.

*Reading is good, hearing is good, conversation and meditation are good, but then they are only good at proper times and occasions. But the _spirit of prayer_ is for all times, and all occasions; it is a lamp that is to be always burning, a light to be ever shining; every thing calls for it, every thing is to be done in it, and governed by it; because it is, and means, and wills nothing else but the whole soul, incessantly given up to God, to be _where_, and _what_, and _how_ he pleases.

*This state of absolute resignation, naked faith, and pure love of God is the highest perfection, of those who are born again, and thro’ the divine power become sons of God: and it is neither more nor less, than what our blessed Redeemer has called us to in these words: _Thy kingdom come; thy will be done on earth, as it is in heaven_. It is to be sought for in the simplicity of a little child, without being captivated with any mysterious depths or heights of speculation; without coveting any knowledge, but so far as it brings us nearer to God, forces us to forget and renounce every thing for him; to do every thing in him, with him, and for him; and to give every breathing, moving, intention, and desire of our heart, and life to him.

Let every creature have your love. Love with its fruits of meekness, patience, and humility, is all that we can wish for to ourselves, and our fellow-creatures; for this is to live in God, united to him, both for ♦time and eternity.

♦ “and time” replaced with “time and”

To desire to communicate good to every creature, in the degree we can, is a divine temper; for thus God stands unchangeably disposed towards the whole creation; but let me add my request, as you value the peace which God has wrought by his Holy Spirit in you, as you desire to be continually taught by an unction from above, that you would on no account enter into any dispute with any one, about the truths of salvation: give them every help, but that of debating with them; for no man has fitness for the light of the gospel, till he finds an hunger and thirst, and want of something better, than that which he has and is by nature. Yet we ought not to check our inclinations to help others in every way we can. Only do what you do, as a work of God; and then, whatever may be the event, you will have reason to be content with the success that God gives it.

The next thing that belongs to us, and which is also godlike, is a true patience and meekness, shewing every kind of good-will and tender affection towards those that turn a deaf ear to us; looking upon it to be full as contrary to God’s method, and the good state of our own heart, to dispute with any one in contentious words, as to fight with him for the truths of salvation.

We are apt to consider parts and abilities, as the proper qualifications for the reception of divine truths; and wonder that a man of a fine understanding should not immediately embrace just and solid doctrines: but the matter is quite otherwise. Had man kept possession of his first glorious state, there had been no foundation for the gospel redemption; and the doctrine of the cross, must have appeared quite unreasonable: and therefore says our Lord, _To the poor the gospel is preached_. It is to them, and none else: that is, to poor fallen man, that has lost all the riches of his first divine life. *But if a man knows and feels nothing of this poverty, he is not that person to whom the gospel belongs: it has no more suitableness to his state, than it had to man unfallen: and then the greater his parts, the better is he qualified to shew the folly of that salvation, whereof he has no want.

*Such a man, though he may be of an humane, generous nature, of lively parts and much candour, is nevertheless entirely ignorant of the depth of the heart of man, and the necessities of human nature. As yet (though he knows it not) he is only at play, pleasing himself with supposed deep enquiries after truth, whilst he is only sporting himself with lively, wandring images of this, and that, just as they happen to start up in his mind. Could but he see himself in the state of the poor distressed prodigal son, and find that himself is the very person there recorded, he would then, see the fitness of that redemption, which is offered him by the mercy of God in Christ Jesus. But such an one, alas! is rich; he is sound; light is in his own power, goodness is in his own possession: he feels no distress or darkness; but has a crucible of reason and judgment, that on every occasion separates gold from dross; and, therefore, he must be left to himself, to his own elysium, till something more than argument awakens him out of these golden dreams.

All preachers of the true spiritual gospel, of a birth, and life from above, by Jesus Christ, ever were, and will be, treated by the reigning fashionable orthodoxy, as enemies to the outward gospel, and its services, just as the prophets of God were by the then reigning orthodoxy, condemned and despised, for calling people to a spiritual meaning of the letter, to a holiness infinitely greater than that of their outward sacrifices, types, and ceremonies.

The sect of the Pharisees did not cease with the _Jewish_ church: it only lost its old name; it is still in being, and springs now from the gospel, as it did then from the law: it has the same place, lives the same life, does the same work, minds the same things, has the same religious honour, and claim to piety, in the Christian, as it had in the _Jewish_ church, and as much mistakes the depths of the gospel, as that sect mistook the meaning of the law and the prophets.

It would be easy to shew how the leaven of that sect works among us, just as it did among them. _Have any of the rulers believed on him?_ was the orthodox question of the antient Pharisees. Now we readily condemn the folly of that question; and yet who does not see, that, for the most part, both priest and people, in every Christian country, live and govern themselves by the folly of the very same spirit which put that question: for when God, as he has always done from the beginning of the world, rises up private and illiterate persons, full of light and wisdom from above, so as to be able to discover the workings of the mystery of iniquity, and to open the absolute necessity of such an inward spirit and life of Christ, as carnal wisdom, and worldly policy have departed from; when this is done, by the weakest instruments in such simplicity and fulness, as may be justly deemed a miracle: do not clergy and laity get rid of it all, merely by the strength of the good old question, “_Have any of the rulers believed_ and taught these things? Hath the church in council or convocation? Hath _Calvin_, _Luther_, _Zuinglius_, or any of our renowned system-makers, ever taught or asserted these matters?”

But hear what our blessed Lord saith, of the place and origin of truth: he refers us not to the current doctrines of the times: _My sheep_, says he, _hear my voice_. Here the whole matter is determined, both where truth is, and who they are that can have any knowledge of it.

Heavenly truth is no where spoke but by the voice of Christ, nor heard but by a power of Christ in the hearer. As he is the only word of God, that speaks forth all the wisdom, and wonders of God; so he alone is the word, that speaks forth all the life, wisdom, and goodness, that can be in any creature; it can have none but what it has in him and from him: this is the one unchangeable boundary of truth, goodness, and every perfection of men on earth, or angels in heaven.

Literary learning, from the beginning to the end of time, will have no more of heavenly wisdom, nor any less of worldly foolishness in it, at one time than at another; its nature is the same through all ages; what it was in the _Jew_, that same it is in the Christian. Its name, as well as nature, is unalterable, viz. foolishness with God.

*I shall add no more, but the two or three following words.

I. Receive every inward and outward trouble, every disappointment, pain, uneasiness, temptation, with both thy hands, as a blessed occasion of dying to thyself, and entering into a fuller fellowship with thy self-denying, suffering Saviour.

II. Look at no inward or outward trouble, in any other view; reject every other thought about it; and then every kind of trial and distress will become the blessed day of thy prosperity.

III. Be afraid of seeking or finding comfort in any thing, but God alone; for that which gives thee comfort, takes so much of thy heart from God. “What is a pure heart? One to which God alone is totally, and purely sufficient; to which nothing relishes, or gives delight, but God alone.”

IV. That state is best, which exerciseth the highest faith in, and fullest resignation to God.

V. What is it you want and seek, but that God _may be all in all in you_? But how can this be, unless all worldly good and evil become as nothing to you?

“O my soul! abstract thyself from every thing. What hast thou to do with changeable creatures? Waiting and expecting thy bridegroom, who is the author of all creatures, let it be thy sole concern, that he may find thy heart free and disengaged, as often as it shall please him to visit thee.”

Be assured of this, that sooner or later, we must be brought to this conviction, that every thing in ourselves by nature is evil, and must be entirely given up; and that nothing that is created, can make us better than we are by nature. Happy, therefore, and blessed are all those inward or outward troubles, that hasten this conviction in us; that with the whole strength of our souls, we may be driven to seek _all_ from and in God, without the least thought, hope, or contrivance after any other relief: then it is, that we are made truly partakers of the cross of Christ; and from the bottom of our hearts shall be enabled to say, with St. _Paul_, _God forbid that I should glory in any thing, save the cross of our Lord |Jesus Christ|; by which I am crucified to the world, and the world is crucified to me_.

*Give up yourself to God without reserve. This implies such a state of heart, as does nothing of itself, from its own reason, will or choice, but stands always in an absolute dependance upon being led by the Spirit of God into every thing that is according to his will; in singleness of heart meeting every thing that every day brings forth, as something that comes from God, and is to be received, and gone through by you, in such an heavenly use of it, as you would suppose the holy Jesus would have done, in such occurrences.――This is an attainable degree of perfection; and by having Christ and his Spirit always in your eye, and nothing else, you will never be left to yourself, nor without the full guidance of God.

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LETTER ♦VIIa.

♦ second letter “VII”, added “a” suffix

To Mr. _T. L._

IT matters not my friend, what you are upon, whether you would save a man from _deism_, _debauchery_, or _suicide_; you must begin in the same place, from one and the same ground, and this as unavoidably, as every fruit must have its beginning from the root, and from the root in its right state.

The amiableness of any virtue, or the horrid nature of any vice, whilst only considered as in themselves, are but as pictures set before our eyes, and have no other effect upon us. And this is the unprofitableness of all _moral instructions_, whether Heathen or Christian.

If you can help a man to seek, and find, and know himself, and his real relation to God; to know that he has neither inward nor outward evil, but because he has lost his _true state_, and place in God; and that therefore nothing can be his peace and happiness, but his first divine life restored again in him, then you have done all that you can for him, whatever his malady is.

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