Ditton, Dec. 17th, 1776,
All dear Friends in the Lord Jesus,THIS comes with my sincere love to your souls, and indeed I Write to you in the bonds of the strongest love, namely, that love that is stronger than death; O Lord, may it ever reign in all our hearts, world without end! even so, O Lord, Amen. When I think of the happy opportunities we have had together in holy conversation, and how amazingly the Almighty has sealed his truth, and the love of it upon our hearts, when we have assembled together; O what a strong mark of God's being in the work when it is so blest, knowing God never sets his seal to a lie, but to the truth.
But now my dear Samuel and Phebe, these opportunities will never again perhaps be put in our hands, yet God can change them for better; and as we cannot now reach each other's ears with our voices, may the Lord enable us to reach each other's minds with our pens. I shall, if God enable me, sometimes write to you, and should be glad to hear from you, and to know your affairs, and whether ye stand fast in the liberty of the gospel. Beware my dear souls of the world, and be not again entangled with the yoke of bondage; and be not of that number that, God says, draw back to perdition, but of them that press forward in faith, to the saving of the soul.
My dear friends, beware of Christless talkers, for they are the bane of the church; a man may have all the truths of the gospel in his head, but that will not do, because the scriptures say, " The kingdom of God is not in word, but fn power," 1 Cor. iv. 20. A man may have a gift of prayer and be a hypocrite, but God's children have the spirit of prayer as well as the gift. A child of God may cry to Christ, when he cannot speak; a hypocrite may speak when he cannot cry; view these things, and the Lord give thee understanding. A hypocrite may cry to God in trouble, but at the same time his heart never taken from the world, such cries God will not hear, because the world has their hearts, Hos. vii. 4; Micah iii. 4. But to the poor in spirit, and to the meek-hearted God says he will up, because of their deep sighings, and deliver them fro m the hands of him that is stronger than they.
But say you, our souls have got many enemies; yes, I know it, and there is but one friend; I know the world, the flesh, and the devil are your enemies, and I am glad of it, for woe to your souls if you are at friendship with either of these three. We are to declare war with all Christ's enemies, and when you are nothing but perfect weakness in yourself, then you will beat every enemy you fight with, Joel, iii. 10; but when you are strong in the flesh, you are sure to be beat, Ezek. xxxiv. 16. As for your enemies, Christ conquered them all for us, and when we come to Christ in trouble, then he imputes to us the victory, then all our enemies must hide their heads in a moment; and as for the devil, faith minds him not, faith knows he is nothing but a fallen rebellious angel, that lies under the most high God's everlasting curse, which holds him as a chain in utter darkness; and faith's work is to look to Jesus that destroyed principalities and powers. But say you there is sin; yes, but faith well knows that her object and author, has condemned sin in the flesh, and if sin is condemned and the sinner justified, then says faith, What God condemned in my flesh, shall not condemn my soul that God hath justified; therefore says faith, I must look to him that was manifest in the flesh, to destroy the works of the devil.
But say you, the world hems me in, and I am afraid that will draw me from Christ; I am glad you are afraid of it, for God says, he that is a friend of the world is an enemy of God, therefore faith looks to him that says "Be of good cheer, I have overcome the world," John xvi. 33. Well, say you, but my own wicked, corrupted, deceitful heart, is my worst enemy; yes, but says faith, God's word declares, he that trusts his own heart is a fool, a natural man, and not a saint, for faith says, My work is to took at my other object that prepares the heart; and I, says faith, am the instrument he uses to purify the heart, for I know, says faith, your heart and your flesh will fail, but if yourself will let me alone, I shall point out him to you that is the strength of your heart, and your portion for ever. Well, say you, but if they cannot destroy me, they destroy my comforts, an I drive me from the sensible presence of God, into many misty clouds of ignorance, stupidity, and insensibility, and into many dark days of desertion: darkness covers my mind, so that I grope like the blind, quite without an evidence: this is bad to be in, but, says faith, I must believe the promise, and look to the word of God, Ezek. xxxiv. 12.
A good man once said, that God, when he converted a sinner, laid his Spirit in pawn to that soul, so the Spirit is the soul's earnest of its inheritance, and so when we die, Christ receives his own with usury. So, my dear souls, let your troubles be what they may, obey God's voice. God says, " Give me thy heart;" let the blessed Jesus have it, for you can do nothing in mending of it, and he says, Commit the keeping of your souls into his hands; pray let him have it, and he will keep your's, as well as Paul's, till that day. He likewise says, Offer up your bodies, which is your reasonable service; pray, my dear souls, let him have them; and he likewise says, "Commit thy works unto the Lord, and thy thoughts shall be established." Obey his voice, for he gave himself for us; give we ourselves to him, and then says faith, "I You are not your own, you are bought with a price," 1 Cor. vi. 19, 20; then let what enemies will come against me, says faith, the battle is not mine but God's; and we must turn the battle to the gate, says David, and that gate is Christ.
So then when enemies come to us, say we as the three children did to the king in Babylon, "We are not careful to answer thee in this matter," Dan. iii. 16; for, says the soul, I cannot answer any enemies, therefore I have committed all my affairs into the wonderful Counsellor's hands, to plead for me. So the soul that is married to Christ, says to all enemies, if they demand any thing, Go to my heavenly husband, he pays all for me, he paid law and justice too for me; and as all fulness dwells in him, there is enough to pay all demands: and if you have peace with God through Christ, then let faith produce his receipt to any enemy that asks after it, which is this, He that believes is justified freely from all thins; that is your receipt, mark it; when ye thus live, then you live indeed.
Would you know, whether you have got Christ's righteousness on you? depend on it you have if you have got rid of all your own, for whom Christ strips he clothes, Zech. iii. 4; Christ puts no new cloth upon our old garments, lest the rent is made worse. I have much more to say but no more time. Pray give my love to C. and Mr. and Mrs. G. and tell them to take hold, and keep hold of Christ; stretch forth the withered hand, and pray the Lord to lift it up, according to his promise, Micah, v. 9. My wife joins in love to you, and I conclude, an enemy to the world, the flesh, and the devil. Christ be with you, Amen.
W. HUNTINGTON.
I cannot conclude here, now I must go on and make a double letter of it. Would you know whether you have got Christ, and the truth in your heart, and mercy from God through him? depend upon it you have, if conscience condemns thee not. Would you know whether you are made wise to salvation, and your wisdom all from the blessed Jesus, the great prophet? why, God says, he will destroy the wisdom of the wise, and if you are sure you are a fool of yourself, and have not wisdom in your own eyes, Prov. iii. 7, then be sure your wisdom is in Christ laid up, Prov. ii. 6 Would you know whether you have got saving faith in the blood of Christ? why, if you can discern unbelief to be the damning sin of the whole world, and feel it so to be, this is the Spirit's work in the heart, John xvi. 9.
Where God discovers unbelief, he gives faith; all the time unbelief is hid from our eyes, we cannot have faith, and therefore all that is not of faith is sin; but if you can persuade yourself from what you have felt, and what you have seen in the word, and what you have heard preached, that Jesus is your's, then if you have been enabled to believe, the fruit of faith is peace, Rom. v. 1. Hold him fast in the promises, and that will not fail. Bring what you feel and the word together, and that will stand fast, Isa. viii. 20. Would you know how God causes his people to hear his voice, and how God instructs his people? it is by temptation, and by deliverance from it; by persecution, and by the stirring of corruption, and by doubts and fears, and deliverance from them. By sharp convictions going before, and comforts coming after, by our blindness and knowledge, followed by the light of God's Spirit; by uncomfortable and comfortable frames, by sharp soul sorrow and heavenly joy.
Would you know whether God loves you? he does if he scourges you well, Prov. iii. 11, 12; his chastenings are our instructions, mind what every stripe utters, listen to its voice, Micah, vi. 9. Depend on it God loves you; if you on account of sin hate yourself; Christ says, He that hates his life in this world, shall keel) it to life eternal. Would you know whether you grow in grace, and knowledge, and love, and how you grow? I answer, by being condemned by the law, and by being justified by Christ's gospel; by being wounded in your spirit, and having it bound up by the Spirit of God; by being often in trouble, and helped out by Christ through the prayer of faith; by being honoured before sinners, and sometimes dishonoured before saints, to humble pride; by being lashed by conscience, and comforted by God: by being conquered by sin, and delivered by Christ. Thus we are taught by darkness and by light, by desertion and consolation, by deadness and liveliness, by insensible and sensible feelings, and by faith and unbelief. Now may the almighty Jesus bless this, and all your souls, is the desire of a miserable, poor wretch, and make you truly poor in spirit, continual beggars at a throne of grace, destitute of all help but Christ, and never any stock in your own hands, but all in Jesus, Amen. Love to all saints.
W. HUNTINGTON.
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