To Mr. M——
A matter of surprise -mth Mr. P.l Reasons for delay wholly with
the creature — Singnlar case of a lady where conviction followed comersion — Late Rev. S. M. relates a similar case — God ever meets us on the ground of his word — How to keep a new heart — Progression required — The Bible; its exeeBencs — The scheme of salvation conditional.
To MY Happy Brother in Christ, Mr. M.
“Why did I not before ventui’e on the Saviom*?” you exclaim. Just so hundreds have with amazement asked before you. But the unrenewed mind cannot foiTn proper perceptions of the power of faith. In reference to every stage of experience it may be said, “If any man will do his will he shall know of the doctrine.” In complying with the condition, “Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and thou shalt be saved,” you have been brought to a blessed knowledge of the doctrine of justification by faith. Such effects must of necessity follow such acts of obedience and faith. I say must of necessity follow, because the principles by which the kingdom of grace is governed are unchangeable.
Christ always ready. Remarkable Instance.
The reason why you were not before blessed, you now perceive, was not because God was unwilling to meet you, but wholly from delay on your part in complying with the conditions upon which you were to be received. The moment you complied with these, you found the Lord. Thus it is that the Saviour ever stands waiting to save th sinner, and from no cause will he ever withhold salvation one moment after the sinner has comphed with the conditions of salvation.
I have known some instances peculiarly illustrative of the fact, that God ever meets us thus, on the ground of his word. One is that of a lady whose solidity of Christian character is well known and appreciated. For one whose birth had been in a Christian land, she was siu’prisingly ignorant of her accountabihty to God. She had not been in the habit of reading the Bible, nor attending public worship; neither had she mingled with pious associates; and thus all her early years were spent, haling no hope, and without God in the world. She fell in the way of a devoted Christian, who told her of the claims of her Redeemer. Her heart seemed at once won, with a view of his great love in dying to save her, and she quickly renounced the world, and gave her heart to God. Immediately she was made happy in the enjoyment of the Saviour’s love. This sudden transition astonished her friends, as they had heard so little about her
Painful View of Sin after Conversion.
convictions for sin. But the fruits of conversion were so evident, that the most skeptical could not doubt the reality of the change.
In relating her experience some time afterward, she informed me, that she in reality had few of those deeply distressing perceptions of guilt spoken pf by many previous to her conversion. She felt, indeed, that she needed a Saviour, and was told that Jesus received sinners. In accordance with what was told her, she verily believed that all the Lord required of her was to give up herself, as a sinner, into his hands. She at once believed, and according to her faith it was done unto her. Afterward, as she became better able to bear the view, the guilt of her former life, with powerful convictions of the exceeding sinfulness of sin, and of the wrath awaiting her, had not the Saviour, “his own self, borne her sins in his own body on the tree,” so appeared to her, that nature could scarce endure the sight. How this view endeared the Saviour to her, you can now form some conception.
Another case was related to me by that eminent minister, the late Rev. S. Merwin. It occurred where he was laboring, and I think under his own eye. The brothers of a certain young lady had been converted, but she as yet had resisted the influences of the Holy Spirit. One evening she accompanied some of her gay friends to a singing school, and on her return stopped at a meeting
A Young Lady suddenly converted.
then in progi-ess. Several kneeling penitents were at the altar, and presently she saw one, newly entered upon the joys of salvation, praising the Lord. “The same happiness is for yon, if you will only renounce your sins, and give your heart to the Lord,” was suggested. She counted the cost, and then deliberately decided on the surrender. The first intimation which her pious brothers had of her change, was conveyed in her joyful acclamations of praise for salvation through Christ. They had only thought of her as of one resisting the Holy Spirit, and now to witness her sudden triumph filled them with amazement, and- for a moment they thought, “Has our sister become a scoffer? has she in her opposition come to ridicule the subject of religion?” But they were soon undeceived, and by her life were assured that she was truly converted.
My object in giving these narrations is to exhibit the faithfulness of God in meeting us at any moment on the ground of his word; and if you had come to the act of surrender and reliance on Christ, the first moment you saw yourself to be a condemned sinner, pardon and acceptance would at once have followed. Only thmk how soon the jailer and his household were converted.
But now, my dear friend, you have only entered upon the heavenly way of a life of faith on the Son of God. In order to be sustained in this state.
Keep giving your Heart to Jesus.
ceaseless reliance on your part, and the continued agency of the Holy Spirit, will be needful. You are required to work out your salvation with fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you. Though you are required to keep yourself in the love of God, yet you can be kept only through the power of the Holy Ghost, in answer to the ceaseless intercessions of Christ.
“You obtained a new heart, by giving it away to Jesus,” said I to a very youthful disciple, “and the only way you can retain it is — “She caught the words from my hps, and said,” By giving it away, and giving it all the timc.^’ It is only by this act of ceaseless surrender that you can retain the ground gained. But while you retain, you must not think you are not gaining, for you cannot abide in Christ without becoming hourly more assimilated to his likeness.
As you have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in him. This, as you will observe, implies ceaseless progression — “walk.’’ Settle it in your mind now, at the commencement of your heavenward pilgrimage, that there is no standing still in religion. The Saviour says, “He that gathereth not with me, scattereth abroad; he that is not with me, is against me.” Much that passes for religion is nothing more than an empty profession. Though you may often be much benefited in looking at the example of devoted Christians, for Christ
Human Guides unsafe. The Bible.
says of such, “Ye are the light of the world,” yet it is not safe to have your mind too much absorbed, even in the contemplation of this. At best they shine but in borrowed rays; and it is possible to have your vision so filled with these lesser hghts, as to draw the attention from those believmg Tiews of Christ which are ever transforming. And then there is danger here. The best human beings are, at least, liable to err; and if your eye is on them, instead of being fixed on the Sun of righteousness, most disastrous consequences might ensue.
Good books are often very helpful; but let the Bible be the book of books with you. Try to have one ever about your person, so that at any moment you may turn to it, as the man of your coimsel. In this way you may often save moments for communing with God, and with David hide his word in your heart, so that you may not offend. The eminent Wesley, when he had nearly finished his earthly pilgrimage, in speaking of the Bible, says, *’ 0 give me that book! At any price give me the book of God! I have it: here is knowledofe enouo;h for me. Let me be a man of one book.” How unlike all other books is the Bible! Here the appetite never satiates. Here you may feast with increasing relish, until with unutterable longings the spirit cries, “Lord, evermore give me this bread.”
But this is a subject on which I know not where to pause. My heart gathers inspiration whenever
Faith in the Bible. Justification.
I speak of the excellence of the Scriptures. Would that my lips or pen were empowered to give utterance to the sentiments which possess my soul, in reference to this wonderful book. 0, it is in verity the word of the Lord! If the whole Christian world indeed believed this, then all perplexities about faith would be at an end. “God hath said it, and I believe it,” would be the ready response from the lips of thousands, who are now groping their way in darkness, because of their unbelief; and the effect of faith would be most gloriously manifested in the lives of professors, by their entire renewal in the image of God.
I have much more that I wish to say on this, and on many other points. I greatly desire that you may know the full power of saving grace, and not stop short of any state made possible for you through the death and present intercession of the Saviour. Fix your aim here; to apprehend that for which you have been apprehended of Christ. You have attained a state of justification before God. This is indeed a state of great blessedness; and when, in view of higher attainments, I have heard it spoken of disparagingly, I have been often gTeatly pained. But in order that you retain this state, there are duties which come in, link after link, forming one continuous chain of gospel privilege. The entire scheme of our salvation is conditional.” Now, therefore, if ye will obey my
The Conditional Promise. Inconsistency.
voice indeed, and keep my covenant, then ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me,” meets us at every point. Would you remain in this glorious state of justification? the condition at once meets you:” If ye will obey my voice indeed,’* &c. I am sure you will much desire to know more of the conditions upon which you may remain in this state, and of the obedience requu-ed; but I must defer what I would say on this point till my next. Yours as ever.