Letters, 1835
Letter* — To a Tcnatee on his Duty as Patron — Mr. Simeon’s to his Trustees Letter to a Friend on the same Subject — To the Bishop of Salisbwj on Resignation — To the Same on Christian Joy — To Hiss £. Elliott on Humiliation — To the Bishop of Gloucester for a Copy of bis ‘Commencement’ Sermon — To the Bishop of Calcutta on the Abolition of Caste — To the Same on prudential Care of Health — To J. J. Gumey, Esq., on the Loss of his Wife — To Rev. J. T. Nottid on the Divine Dispensations-To Miss Mary Elliott on the Indulgence of Affection — To the Same on the Mixed Nature of Chnstian Experienoe.
1835.
CORKESPONDENCE, ETC.
To a Trustee, on his duty as patron of a benefice.
K. 0^ Jan. 5, 1835.
“My dear Friend, —
•’ Wherever there is a good minister, there will be, if any, a good curate: consequently the curate will ’ ingratiate himself. with the parishioners; and consequently in their view he will be the fittest person to present: and therefore petitions will be made in his favor. From every place I have had petitions upon peti* tions; and for fit persons too. But where then is my knowledge of persons, my judgment, and my right of patronage, and my conscience, if I too readily and without extreme vigilance, comply with them? I must not only do well but the best that I can possibly do; and I must spare no pains to effect this. It is on this account, that in my dyin charge to my trustees I have particularly guarded them against being influenced by petitions for curates. But you will say, or rather do say, that you fear for the interests of the Church. To this I answer, I will approve myself to God in doing the best I possibly can for His Churcnand people; and though some, through personal attachment, may be pained at the first, they, if they have a spark of piety towai’ds God or of gratitude to me, will soon find reason to acknowledge, that I have approved myself faithful both to God and them. How did they all bless me for not attending to their petitions, (one signed by 400,
and the other by 700,) when I appointed Mr.! Forty of the
heads of both parties sent me a united letter of thanks, for doing for them infinitely better than they would have done for themselves. And a similar letter will in all probability be sent me on the present occasion within six months. In these matters / know none but God. I would not know my own father, or my son;
436 THE DITTT OF PATRONS. f^HAP. XZXII.
and that is the spirit, which I trust you and all my trustees will exercise, when i am ffone to a better world.* What a land would this be, if the lord chancellor and all other patrons would act to Qod in this way.
I would not hav6 troubled you with this, because the presentation is on the road to you, but to give you an exposeof my mind. If I were to send them an ignaratnus for his own sake I might fear for the Church, &c.; but when I send them the most blessed man that can be found, and that solely for their sakes I have no fear but that God will bless my endeavors, and the people will soon be brought to a right mind. In such a case as that, a dissatisfied man says in fact, ‘I will take the patronage into my own hands; and neither God nor the proper patron shall have anything to do with it; or if the patron presume to think and act for himself, I will quarrel with him on account of it, Such a person as this is not the proper person to consult or to follow. I would
E lease all men, but it snould he for their good to edification; and ow to do that, I must judge for myself. Believe me, my dear friend,
“Very affectionately yours, C. Simbom.’’
To a Friend, on the same subject
“My dear Brother, —
*’ At Mr. M 1 do not wonder; love with him swallows up all considerations, I had almost said, of wisdom and prudence. At you I rather do wonder. I thought that you would have known that I discard love and pity, and everything else, in comparison of love to God and to immortal souls. Why have I bought those livings? Not to present a good man to each, but to
* The following is the solemn chirge of Mr. Simeon to his Tiustees: — “In the Name and in thr Pruencs op ALMIGHTY OOD, I give the follovniig Charge to all my Trustees, and to all who shall succeed them in the trust to the i
r. I implore them for the Lord Jesus Christ’s sake, and I charge them also before adorable Saviour, who will call them into iudgment ibr their execution of this tnist
“1st, That they be very careful, whenever the shall be called upon to fill up a vacancj in this trust, which they must invariably do within three months oSfa vacancy occurring, that they elect no one who is not a truly pious and devoted man, a man of God in dera and in truth, who, with his niety, combines a solid judgment and a perfectly independent mind. And I place this nrst, because a ftilure in this one particular would utterly defeat, and thai in perpetuity too, all that I have sought to do for God and for immoitsi souls.
“2ndly, That, when they shall be called upon to appoint to a living, they consult nodiing but the welfare of the people, ibr whom they are to provide, and whose eternal interests have been confided to tneih. They must <mi no account be influenced b any solicitation of the great and powerful, or by any partiality towards a particular individual, or by compassion towards any one on account of the largeness of his faniilv or the smallness of his mcome. They must be particuUrlv on their guard against petitions from the parishes to be provided for, whether on behalf of a curate that has labored among them, or W any other individual. They must examine carefully, and judge as before God, how far any person poosesscs the qualifications suited to the particular parish, and by thai c tion alofu must they be detcmitned in their appomtment of him.”
fill them with men who shall prove great and leading characters
in the Church of God. Mr., I doubt not, is a go<^ man. But
what great stir was there amongst immortal souls under his ministry whilst he officiated in i What lamentations were there
when he left it T What great efforts were made to retain him t Is this .then the man to place there? He has shown what he could do: and if I cannot find in Britain one, who may with God’s blessing do more, I will appoint him; but I will search the whole kingdom, before I will despair of finding a fitter man.
I trust you will understand me aright: I am not displeased in the slightest degree with your letter; but I wish you to know, that I am in a few days to sive up my account to God, and to answer for all the souls for whom I have engaged to provide, and I will do that, and that only, which God will approve when I stand before Him.
“They have sent a petition signed by eighty-eight persons.
When I presented to 1 had two petitions, one signed by 400,
and the other by 700: I complied with neither, but sent them
Mr. and within six months I received a letter of thanks,
signed by forty of the heads of both parties, saying that I had *
! provided infinitely better for them than they would have provided or themselves. In another living I had, under far more pressing circumstances, a similar acknowledgment.
Let all, instead of petitioning me, petition Almighty God for
me; and they will render more service to the souls of and
to the Church of God at. Let personal regards be banished.
Let us know no man after the flesh. Let the good of immortal souls swallow up every other consideration. This at all events. God helping me, shall alone influence
Your very affectionate brother, C. Simeon.
“P. S. Without the intervention of five minutes after the receipt of your letter.”
To the Bishop of Salisbury (Dr. Burobss.)
K. C^ Cftmb Muroh 19, 183dL
My Lord, —
I feel extremely indebted to your lordship for your little poetical present,, to every word of which my heart responds. I am myself dying daily: and I find that to be the best ana happiest mode of living. Whv should we not be taking Pisgah views of the promised land, and tuning our harps that we may be ready at any moment to join the heavenly choir in their sons of praise to * Him, who hath loved us, and washed us firom our sins in His own blood,’ or rather I would say, to Him who loveth and washeth us from our sins? The Psalmist has strongly suggested this distinction, in calling on all that is within him to ore and magnify his God tor present and existing blessings; forgiveth, heakthf redeemeth.
488 ON KESiONATiair. [chap. ZXZII.
crownetk saiisjiethj And if we be in a right frame of mind, we shall receive all Grod’s dispensations, however painful, in the same way, tasting nothing but love even in His severest chastisements.
The words your lordship quotes from Mrs. Hannah More’s Memoirs, as having been used by her sister Martha in her last ill- ness — * I love whatever comes from God; I love my sufferings,’, struck me also. Is not this, indeed, the proper disposition to be exercised in the hour of trial? St. Paul (wFal T was resigned t no:) took pleasure (^tdoxa) in trials of every description: he had scarcely the word resignation in his vocabulary; and we also* according to the grace given to us, should almost banish that weird, except in very grievous trials indeed, and should substitute for it the apostle’s eoxw,
It is a joy to me, my lord, to see that this is the happy frame of mind which you enjoy under the infirmities of age, when the grasshopper may be a burthen to the hody but tribulation itself ia the occasion of nothing but joy Xjo’the souL If only we believe that our verv hairs are all numbered, and the minutest occurrences are ordered by Infinite Wisdom for our good, we neither have, nor. can have, anything but what should be to us a source of joy.
“At this time last year, this was my blessed experience, on what was thought by all to be the bed of death: and I am anxious so to improve my few remaining hours, that, when the closing scene shall actually arrive, I may be thus highly favored again, and have an abundant entrance ministered unto me into the kingdom of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ.
“Since my restoration to health, circumstances of more than ordinary importance have engaged my attention. I have been called to dispose of no less than six livings, in all of which I have placed ministers, without reference to anything but their peculiar fitness for the place they are sent to occupy. This is the great reform wanted in our Church; and if generally carried into eflTect by all who have patronage in the Church, it would super* sede all occasions for any further reform. If it did not stop the mouths of Dissenters, it would diminish their numbers, and enect* ually prevent their increase.
“At our last Jews’ Auxiliary Society, of which your lordship is the president, I dropped a few hints which produced a great effect amongst ministers, as well as the undergraduates; and as my views are both peculiar and important, I take the liberty of transmitting a paper to you containing them. Religion is understood by many in its rise and progress in the soul, but by very few in its more perfect state. Even the apostles themselves, for six years after the day of Pentecost, did not see their duty towards the Gentiles; and so it is even with good and pious ministers at this day in reference to the Jews: and if the contents of my paper be duly considered, I cannot but hope that many of our brethren and even fathers in the ministry will exdlaim, ‘Then hath
Gold appointed mb to seek the salvation of the Jews; and I ann shamefully remiss, if I do not exert all my talents and all my ear ergies for the promotion of it’
‘^I am, my lord, your lordship’s most obliged and obedient servant, C. Simbon.’*
To the Same.
K. G^ Cambridge, April 4, 1839.
My Lord, my dear Lord, —
I am this moment returned from the table of the Lord, and think I am performing an acceptable service to my Divine Master in returning a few lines to your lordship, in answer to the letter which I received from you this morninff. You notice my observation relative to the word ’ resignation. I love the hih tone of Christian morals. * Rejoice evermore: in every thing give thanks: for this is the will of (rod in Christ Jesus concerning you.’ I see no exception here; nor would I make any in my own experience. I read that * all the ways of the Lord are mercy and truth unto such as keep His covenant and His testimonies.’ But what is truth? Is it not an accomplishment of a promise 7 Shall I be RESIGNED then to a mercy coming in this way? I pray dail, * Thy will be done on earth, as it is done in heaven.’ And if actively why not passively also? I do not read of the apostles being resigned to their imprisonment and beating; or of Paul and Silas bein resigned to their stripes, and feet in the stocks. The former ’ rejoiced that they were counted worthy to suffer;’ and the latter ’ sang praises to God at midnight.’ I grant that the occasion of their sufferings gave an elevation to their minds; but sufferings of whatever kind are, in fact, sent and apportioned by God himself, without whom not a sparrow falls to the ground: and our privilege under them is to say, * The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it V Shall I not then be thankful for it, under a full assurance that it is amongst the ‘all things that are to work together for my good V The great secret is, to have it well settled in our minds what our desert is — nothing will appear heavy then: on the contrarv, everything which is sent to keep us from our desert, will be welcomed as a blessing in disguise.
But even this is low ground.. It is our privilege to soar far above all this. I have been preaching on these words (Isai. xliii. 4,) * Since thou wast precious in my sight, thou art honorable, and I have loved thee:’ and I ask. Were the Jews * precious, and honorable, and loved,’ above all the people upon earth, and are Christians less so? If they were so blessed as having been redeemed from temporal bondage, am not I as redeemed by the blood of God’s only dear Son? am I then precious in His sight, and shall not He be so in mine? am I * honorable and beloved ’ in His estimation? What then shall I quarrel with, or complain of, that comes from Him? If ypu want to see my desert, see the ‘440 ON CONSCIENCE* [CBAP. XXXH.
two last verses of the forty-second chapter: and if you want to see the extent of God’s mercy, see the first three verses of the forty-third chapter; and then if you want to see what kind of piEsiGNATioN befits us, see my text; and then be as querulous under any trials, or, if you please, as resigned, as the remembrance of such mercies will admit of.
Now, my lord, you will forgive the fulness of my heart, and pardon the expression of it. It is your own kindness and condescension that embolden me thus to divulge the secrets of my heart; and the rather, because I feel assured that there is a responsive chord in your heart, that will vibrate to the touch. Your own expression, that * we are bought with a price,’ shows that we should be equally ready to glorify our God either by life or death, both the one and the other of which are to be numbered amongst our treasures. All things are yours, whether life or death, if ye be Christ’s.’ This, my lord, it is our privilege to feel; and I hope that every day which shall be added to your lordship’s life will bring you to a richer enjoyment of it.
And now let me thank your lordship for the kind present which you did me the honor to send me about a week ago, and to which you have added the last page by this day’s post I am quite of your lordship’s opinion, that * the Gentiles being a law unto themselves,’ is only as distinguishing them from those who had a law revealed to them; and whilst I do not enter much into the vexata question of innate ideas, I feel assured that every one has a sense of right and wrong operating in accordance with the light that has been vouchsafed to him, and that every one is bound to get his mind enlightened, in order that that consciousness may aid him in fleeing from evil and in doing good. To us who enjoy the full light of the Gospel, this divine principle is a source of the deepest humiliation and of the sublimest joy. I have a consciousness that I ought to lie at the foot of th£ Cross, and I have a consciousness that I do so. T have a consciousness that I perform no duty aright; but I have a consciousness that God hears my sighs, and treasures up my tears; and taking this consciousness in connection with God’s promises, I rejoice m hope of the glory of Grod.
“With many thanks to your lordship for your condescending kindness towards me,
“I remain, my dear lord,
“Most truly yours, C. Simeon.”
To Miss Ellen Elliott.
«K.C.,April3,183S.
•*MydearEllenr-
You and your sister Charlotte desired me to send you nnr thoughts on humiliation and contrition, as priinarv constituents oi the Christian’s happiness, and absolutely essential to it. But I
have written so much upon this topic, that I despaired of adding anything to what I have already spoken. The most important view which I have given of it, is that wherein I have 3rawn the difference between a wife who has all her days acted up to the duties of her station, and the wife who, after having been taken from the lowest state, has dishonored both herself and the kindest and best of husbands, and been sought out by him again, and reclaimed, and forgiven. Her recollections of the past, and her admiration of the transcendent love exercised towards her, would generate in her mind feelings, of which the former woman was incapable, and would give a tone to her conduct more precisely in accordance with our state before God. This will explain to you what I meant in my last by “going on my way weeping,’ and by my saying, that the more gracious and merciful God was to me, the more would I loathe and abhor myself, and have my happiness so interwoven with humiliation, as not for a moment to have them separate. On all of this I could speak all the day long: it is so aeeply inwrought in my heart as a principle, and so constantly cherished by me, as the chief object of my desire.
But whilst thinking of you in my carriage to-day, a view of this subject occurred to my mind, which, though not overlooked in my work, I have never treated in a separate form: It is this — That this very humiliation will give to our happiness in heaven a tone that will elevate us above the highest arcnangel there. The angels can sing the air; but cannot from their own experience send forth the deep notes which will soften, and enlarge, and complete our songs. I need not say to you that a chorus of HandePs far exceeds any mere melody. There is in the chorus a richness and fuhiess that a simple melody neither does, nor can contain. So I should say of the holy angels: their melody is exquisite; but our deep notes they want. They have all the felicity that the contemplation of a Creator and Benefactor can impart; but they cannot look back to a state of guilt and misery from which they have been redeemed; nor can they look upon the Redeemer with our eyes; nor can they see every atom of their bliss bought with blood. These are considerations which will enhance our bliss infinitely beyond any that they can feel, and will give a character to our happiness, of which they can have no consciousness or conception. In fact, they can only add an amen to the song which we sing; and acknowledge that our blessedness is what they can admire indeed, but not participate. You see I do not touch here on their being made wiser by the Church, and their having only a creature’s righteousness, whilst we have that of our Creator; or their formmg an exterior circle round the throne, whilst we form the interior (of these things I have spoken occasionally in my works:) I confine myself to the subject on which you wished me to write. The union of humiliation with our joy; and the aspect of the one on the other. I have
442 THB 8TUDT OF THBOLOOT. [CHAF* XZXII*
merely scribbled in great haste what has occurred to me, bat without any order or precision. I thought I had not done well in declining to enter on the subject; and I am not sure that if I delay til! to-morrow, I shall not tnrow it into the fire, as being crude, hasty, ill- written, and ill-digested. But it shows my love to all who have any blood of the Venns in their veins, and that I am,
‘’With very affectionate regard, Charlotte’s and Ellen’s and Mary’s friend, — not to mention your honored mothers also,
‘*C. SiMBOK.’’
Query. — If I were offered to change place with an angel, would I do it? On my principles I say, No.
To the Bishop of Gloucester.
August 4) 1835.
My Lord, —
I have just received, and with much pleasure read, your lordship’s commencement sermon; which, whilst it honors me greatly as a gift from the author, is peculiarly dear to me as recommending the study of theology to be made a more integral and conspicuous part ot our academic course. The times call for this: religion itself calls for this; and your lordship’s text very strongly inculcates the necessity of it; since whatever aid philosophy may afford us, it is the knowledge of Christ, and of that alone, that can render us ’ complete,’ either as instructors of others, or in a meetness for a better life. If, as your lordship has justly observed, ‘the very essence of Christianity consists in the atonement made upon the Cross for the sins of mankind,’ every person, whatever office he may sustain in life, whether ecclesiaistical or civil, ought to be instructed in it; nor can we doubt but that a more enlarged knowledge of this, if added to their other acquisitions, would tend to qualify each succeeding generation of students for more efficiency in every department of the state, and in a very short time to place the Church of England itself, and all the institutions connected with it, on the firmest basis.
‘’Earnestly hoping that your lordship’s repeated suggestions may be speedily carried into effect, I remain, my lord,
“Your most obliged and obedient servant, C. Simeon.”
To the Bishop of Calcutta.
“K. C, March 16, IS35.
My most beloved and honored Friend, —
Respecting the abolition of caste, I think nothing can be said against it as a measure; but possibly the time, the manner, the means, may admit of a diversity of opinion. I do not know that I should differ a hair’s breadth from you; I am wholly uninformed and incompetent to judge: but I know, that for forty
CntAP. XZXU.] ABOLITIOir OF CA8TB. 443
years the apostles bore with much -which had in reality passed away; and that St. Paul, knowing that it had passed away, himself conformed to it by the advice of all at Jerusalem. I say not that the cases are altogether parallel; but I think that the spirit exercised in the one case, may throw some light upon the spirit to be exercised in the other. I Teel myself, that I should rather undermine that horrid structure, than have butted it down at once. You know pretty well that / am not a coward, nor over careful in a doubtful matter; but, as Paul in his visit to Jerusalem acted very warily, lest he should counteract the good which he had labored to effect, so would I; not considering merely what I know to be right, but how to diffuse that knowledge, and secure my end, in the easiest and best way. Still, a thing done requires great care as to any subsequent modification of it; though I hope no modification of it will be found necessary. A thing may be done inoffensively in a way of affectionate recommendation, which creates resistance if done in a way of authoritative mandate.” ....
To the Same.
«KC.,Aug. 19, 1835.
My beloved and honored Brother, —
“I have received, and read with exquisite delight, your two charges; of which I will only say at present, that you have completely carried into effect that well-known rule, Quicquid pre-, cipies, esto hrevis.
‘* I take up my pen now, having but a few minutes to spare, to state one or two things, lest I forget them. In your last, you intimate, that you had heard I did. not go along with you in the line you have taken about caste. Whoever suggested to you that, has made a great mistake. I am a friend to latitude, where it can be allowed consistently with the integrity of Christianity: e.g.l approve of what Paul did, by the advice of all the elders at Jerusalem -in making himself a Nazarite, in order that he might counteract the false reports respecting him as being adverse to the observance of Mosaic rites amongst Jews, or even amongst converts from Judaism, provided those rites were not observed with any view to justification, but only from a sense of duty to God, who had enjoinea the observance of them, and not totidem verbis repealed them. For N. B. these Judaizing Christians had respect to the authority of Jehovah, whom as Christians they were still bound to obey. But Hindoos, in becoming Christians, renounced their former gods, and therefore were no longer bound in any respect to obey them, or to observe any rites enjoined by them: and in becoming Christians, they are bound to obey only what Christ himself has enjoined. Now Christ regards the very least and meanest of His people as members of His body: and consequently, the separations occasioned by caste are contrary to the
444 PRUDENTIAL CARS OF HEALTH. [OHAP. XXXIL
▼ery spirit of His religion which makes all His people to be one. Therefore the distinctions of caste are inadmissibk in a Christian community. If you had said, Hindoos, whilst they continue Hindoos, shali not observe caste, you would in my judgment have done wrong: but if you say, Christians must in all respects be Christians, you require no more than what you are bound to require. Naaman’s case does not apply to this: though I think that it did to the officers at Malta, who might have said to their superior officer, Lfire, because you order me; and not to do honor to the Host: in so far as it is, or may be thought an idolatrous act, you alone must be responsible for it both to God and man.’ If this was not a right line, every drummer or fifer might reply, ‘I will not beat ray drum, or sound my fife, till I am assured that your motives in ordering me to play it are right.’
*’ N. B. In the one case, conformity is enjoined by the person himself: in the other case, it is only submitted to by a person in order to the prevention of a greater evil. If a Pariah were to submit to it rather than be deprived of the Lord’s Supper, I should say he did right; but if one of a higher caste imposes it, he does wrong, and is to be withstood.
It is probable that the person who has misrepresented my sentiments to you, has inferred my sentiments about caste from my sentiments about Paul, and about the officers at Malta. But there is a great difference between insisting on a thing, and submitting to a thing, in order to avoid a greater evil. A thing which is evil per se must neither be insisted on, nor submitted to: but the distinctions I have before made will serve to draw the line between undue laxity, and an undiscriminating and unbending rigidity. Those who ate, and those who forbore to eat meats offered to idols, equally pleased God in acting according to the dictates of their own consciences, but equally displeased Hini in condemning each other. But one was more in accordance with Christian liberty than the other. This, however, in no respect applies to the subject of caste, which except in such an instance as I have specified, is equally distant from and repugnant to Christian liberty and Christian duty.
“My few minutes are gone twice over, and I have run to a sad length about what I had intended to say in half a dozen words. So that, in spite of my love of brevity, I must send you a double letter. Pray mind and repay me in my own coin.
“The next thing about which I intended to say a few words was the joy I feel, and the gratitude I feel to Almighty God, on account of your prudence, in not setting climate at defiance, but acting so as, with God’s blessing, to preserve your health for future services. It is with me a fixed principle, that it requires more deeply-rooted zeal for God to keep within our strength /or His sake, than to exceed it Look at all the young ministers: they run themselves out of breath in a year or two, and in many in-OHAP. XXXII.] PRUDENTIAL CAEB OF HEALTH. 445
Stances never recover it. Is this wise t I could easily break myself down in two or three days, and incapacitate mvself for any future work. But would this be wise? Health and life are but of little importance to me so far as 5e is concerned: but they are of great importance as far as the service of God is interested: and it requires incomparably greater self-denial to restrain myself for Him, than it would do to expend my strength by imprudent exertions. Probably many say, * See, how strong he is! he might surely do more My answer is, I am strong, because I do not do’more. If I did more, I should soon do nothing.’ This, as it respects you, is still more important. One year will do more service to the cause of God in India ten years hence, than two or three years now. You have at least a four mile heat to run, (I hope many;) will you run the first mile as if that was to terminate your course? Let me say again, I bless God who has given you wisdom and firmness to act as you will wish you had acted a dozen years hence. And I the rather say this, because I am a living witness to the things I utter. It is unwise to exceed our strength, (I was laid by thirteen years.) It is wise not to exceed it. (I am now, through constant care, preaching at seventy-six with all the energy of youth.)
How lamentable the case of Mr. R. I 1 had thought of writing to him, (being such an one as Paul the aged;) but he would naturally say, * What knows he of this matter? He can know nothing except from the Church Missionary Society: and I have already set at nought all that they can say or do.’ And now that it has come under your cognizance, any effort of mine can be of no use, because you can point out what St. Paul would have done under his circumstances, not only as well, but much better than myself: and you know all, which^I do not; and can speak with authority as well as love, which I cannot. But to break his own church to pieces, as he has done, and in so many instances, it is to be feared, to destroy those for whom Christ died, is a measure of folly and wickedness far greater than we should have conceived so good a man could ever be induced to commit. Would not the idea of destroying those for whom Christ died, lead him to pause, if not to retrace his steps? John Mark was Barnabas’s nephew, and Lutheranism was R.’s church. The whole Church commended Paul to the grace of God, whilst they let Barnabas go his way without any sucn expression of regard. And do not all
the church at T (the more pious and consistent part of
them) bewail the conduct of Mr. R. r These two circumstances tell in favor of Paul and against Mr. R. But the true spirit of Christianity, if felt, would supersede argument.
Your charges are the result of much, very much thought. They quite surprise as well as delight me. There is everything suited to meet the feelings of those at home, as well as those abroad. But how beautitully do you put the duty of preaching
446 TENDERNESS IN PEATBR. [cHAP. XXXU.
the Gospel, without an undue respect to minor points. 7%a, at all events, is approved in heaven. What you say also about
discipline is good
“My whole soul is delighted with your diversified addresses. Think how important your life may be, if you live to see them all carried into effect! I say, then, be wise and temperate as well as active, and may God be ever with you.”
To the Same.
<<Sept.36,1833.
” My beloved and honored Brother, —
I have always thought that the highly applauded account of the primitive churches uttering their Amens like thunder was an exceedingly bad symptom. Who that felt as he ought would utter such an Amen at the close of the publican’s prayer? My distinction is this. What is offered in prayer for our own souls should he deep and tender; what is offered for the world at large may he loud and ardent; as may the Amens which commend God to men. I was once in a church where there were several persons who quite disgusted me with their clamorous, bold, and sharply accented Amens. Such were not the prophet Jeremiah’s, when God heard * his breathing and his cry/
^’Ihave been working double tides at Cambridge for seven weeks, and at Brighton one. Through mercy, I am, for ministerial service, stronger than I have been at any time these thirty J ears. But I am looking for my dismission daily, at the appointed our. Till then, I hope to work according to my ability with zeal and love. My church is made one of the most beautiful in
the diocese It holds 300 more than it did; and the poor
have the best accommodation throughout.
“Prudence to a person of warm temperament is an act of great self-denial, and the rather, because conscience takes part with our great adversary, and says, * You might do more.’ But here is my line of distinction; what is done for fear of injuring self is wrong; what is done for the better serving of God and for immortal souls is good. Over-exertion is repaid to us by self-gratulation: prudential care is, in an energetic mind, accompanied with an erroneous kind of self-condemnation. But if conscience tells us that we consult the benefit of immortal souls and the best service of God, we shall doubtless be approved by God as much for not going to fight with beasts at Ephesus, as lor running into their jaws. This opinion of mine, I think, is sound in our own country, and I am sure it is sound in India.” ....
To J. J. GuRNBY, Esq., on the loss of his Wife.
<<K. C^ Camli Oct S, 1835.
My verv dear Friend, —
The sad tidings which yesterday’s post brought me
CBAP. XXXII.] MBEOT IN CBASTISBMBNT. 447
afflicted me deeply; and though my public enffaffements prevented me from dwelling upon the event as I coiud have wished, it forced upon my mind some reflections suited to the occasion* both in reference* to yourself and to the dear deceased. Respects ing yourself, particularly as now a second time visited with this heavy affliction, I consider it as evincing the truth of those words,
* Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth;’ and, * If any branch beareth fruit, he purgeth it that it may bring forth more fruit.’ God has taught you to realize the thought of his superintending Providence, and to be assured that, if you could see all that He sees, there is no dispensation, however afflictive, which is not both’
* mercy and truth;’ mercy,’ as being what your necessities re-Juired; and * truth,’ as engaged for you, and promised to you, in [is everlasting Covenant; and consequently as a blessing, which, if you saw as He sees, you would rather have desired than deprecated. This was the view with which my soul was comforted in what I thought my dying, hour, and which, whilst it leaves ample scope for the sorrows of natural affection, will compose the mind upon the whole, and enable you to say, as the bereaved Shunammite, It is well.’ Apathy is no part of religion. We are permitted to sorrow, only not as those that are without hope. There is a medium between ’ despising’ the chastening of the Lord, (or being unfeeling under it,) and ‘fainting’ when we are rebuked of Him. That medium, I conceive, is expressed in those words,
* Not my will, but thine, be done.’ And my prayer to God for you is, that you may altogether be conformed to your blessed Lord and Saviour, saying, * The cup which my Father hath given me, shall I not drink it r....
“Still however such a bereavement must of necessity be painful; and I greatly admire the condescension of God in acknowledging that it cannot at the present be joyous, but grievous: but afterwards Its fruits shall be both profitable’ and peaceful, which it shall assuredly be, if it lead you, as I trust it will, into nearer communiob with your God. Let it not then discourage you, if you feel it ’ grievous.’ Religion is not to divest us of our natural feelings, but to regulate them, and give them a sanctifying issue: and I trust the day is not far distant, when you shall add vour testimony to that of David, It is good for me that I have been afflicted.^
Present my very kind regards to your sister, and believe me your most affectionate friend and brother,
“C. SlMBOH.*’
To the Rev. J. T. Nottidob, Ipswich.
<’ K. C:, Gamb., Oct 99, 1838i
My most beloved Brother, —
I have for some time past been reproaching myself for
448 ON THB DIVINE DI8PBN8ATION8. [cHAP. XXXII.
not answering your last letter; but as it did not call for any answer, I have delayed to write, till I should have somewhat to say and to communicate. I am grieved that you should be so low in your mind. But I will tell you how I habitually view the diversified dispensations of our heavenly Father towards His children. I see a man of great intelligence and skill take -a great number of stones, and’ I ask him, ‘What are you going 16 do with those stones V The answer given me is, ‘Wait and see.’ I then behold him making a furnace as hot as ever Nebuchadnezzar’s was, both under the stones and above them, and I ask, * What is that for V The answer as before is, ‘Wait and see.’ By-and-by I see a caldron filled with liquid extracted from these stones; and I ask, * What in all the world have you got here V The same answer is made me again. In my cogitations, I am almost ready to impute folly to him, for taking so much pains about nothing at all.
But on being again admitted to his presence, I see him put into the caldron a tube, and take a little of the melted product out of it, and blow it; and then I see him put that little blown portion into a furnace, made on purpose for it, and blow it again, and repeat that process five or six times afterwards, and reduce this little portion of melted stuff to a vast globe; and then I see him whirl that globe round with such velocity as was calculated, in my judgment, to scatter it in ten thousand pieces far and wide: but behold, he only brings it to a plane; and then, with a gentle stroke, he separates it from the tube, and leaves it to become cool gradually: and at last I see my own church adorned with it, and all my audience protected from weather, and the service of Gk)d advanced, and God glorified: and beholding all this, I say. That man knew what he was about from the beginning; and his final object was in his mind all the time; and I will neither doubt his wisdom in future, nor be impatient to unravel all his counsels, but expect assuredly that whether I understand the process or not, I snail, in a very short time, not only approve, but admire every one of his proceedings: and then, as the improvement of it all, I say, If man’s ways be so wise, what must God’s be?’ Now then if I take a trip to Ipswich, and ascend a certain hill, and see a certain friend, I will invite him to come to this glass-house; and if he ask. What can I learn there? I will say to hint, •Come and see.’
Now for the size of your sphere. I see you in such a little sphere as Yelling, and I ask myself. When will be the time that my fi*iend and brother will say, I have completely filled this sphere? Will it be next month, or next year, or the year after? I am afraid that, if his sphere be ever so small, there will be the same complaint as at Ipswich, with this additional grievance, that, as there was a physical impossibility for you to fill the one, and in appearance a possibility of filling the other, your self-reproach at the smaller sphere will be the more bitter. Did you never
hear of its being said of a woman, ‘She hath done what she
could V Let that same testimony, even with considerable abatementt comfort us in the midst of all our short-comings and defects.
Ever, ever yours, C. Sim kobt.’*
To Miss Mart Elliot.^
Not. 97, 1836.
“My beloved Mary, —
In your letter of this morning you expressed a fear that you may love your dear mother or a friend too much; and I m anxious to correct that idea without loss of time; first, because it is a source of disquiet to the conscience, and next, because it is an error which almost universally prevails in the Church of God. That we may show our love improperly, I readily grant; but that we can love one another too much, I Utterly deny, provided only it be in subserviency No the love of God. 1 think I have explained to you that word fervently (* see that we love one another with a pure hesxi fervently :*) its precise meaning is intensely. No two words in any two languages more exactly agree than * intensely’ does with the orinal. If then our love be with a pure heart, this alone were sumcient to establish the point. But I am anxious to convey to you more fully my views of this matter, because, as God himself is love, I think that the more intensely I love those who are beloved of Him, the more I think I resemble Him. The proper model for our love to each other is Christ’s love to us. If you will not fall short of that, I have no fear of your exceeding it. We are required to lay down our lives for the brethren. We shall not readily exceed that. The union that should subsist between the saints should resemble, as far as possible, the love that subsists between God the Father and His Son Jesus Christ. How then can we fear excess? But see it in operation. We read of those who would have * plucked out their own eyes,’ and given them for the apostle; yea, and who even ’ laid down their own necks’ for the apostle. Did Prisciila or Aquila err in this? or was Epaphroditus carried to excess, when he * disregarded his own life’ to supply the lack of the service of others towards the apostle? What shall we say then of the apostle himself, who counted the pouring out of his heart’s blood, like a libation upon the sacrifice of his people’s faith, a ground of joy and a subject for congratulation? But here an apostle was in one case the object, and in the other case the subject, of this love; and therefore we can scarcely hope for such attainments as theirs. Then let us come to one more like ourselves, Jonathan, of whom David says, * Thy love to me was wonderful, passihs the love of woman.* Now whether we understand this of woman’s love to man, or, as I understand it, of man’s love to woman, (for I have no conception of woman’s love surpassing, or even equalling, man’s to
450 THB INDVLOBlfOB OF AFFECTION. [CBAP. XXXUL,
woman,) it is spoken not with blame, but with commendation; and I would not that I, or any one whom I love, should fall short of that ‘He loved David,’ we are told, ‘as he loved his own soul;’ and we cannot easily go beyond that; yet is that the proper measure for a friend.
Perhaps you will say, My grief is, that my love generates disquietude when those who are dear to me are ill; and this is an evidence that my love is idolatrous, and not truly Christian. Then what will you say to Paul, who confesses, he had no rest in his spirit because he found not Titus his brother V Christianity does not encourage apathy; it is to regulate, not to eradicate, our affections. It admits of their full operation, but tempers them aa to their measure, and sanctifies them to the Lord. I have often been comforted by knowing, that Lazarus and his sisters were
Eeculiarly beloved of their Lord, and that John was an object of is more than ordinary attachment: and from hence you will see, that if I have written this for your instruction, I have had an eye also to my own vindication, if I should appear to err in the discharge of the most delightful of all duties
Sut I will not delay this, that I may show at lea8t,.that if love be a crime, there are few more guilty than your friend,
*’ C. SiMBOlf.
“Let me hear soon how your dear mamma is; and be sure you do not love her too well: and tell her that I thus put you on your guard.”
To the Same.
“K.C.,Dee.7, 1836.
” My beloved Mary, —
‘- Let me touch again upon the subject of my last letter. You do not sufficiently consider, that all our experience here is of a mixed kind. We are to * rejoice with trembling.’ Now if you rejoiced,’ you would say, I do not * tremble * as 1 ought: and if you trembled,’ you would say, I do not ’ rejoice ’ as I ought. But it is in the eternal world alone that the two are or ought to be, quite separate. Paul was * sorrowful, yet always rejoicing;’ and devout men made great lamentation over Stephen. Now I am afraid Paul was either Legal or Antinomian, but which I do not know. Be sure he do not lead you to combine the two feelings: and be sure you never love anybody, no, not your dear mother, (and tell her 1 say it,) so as to make any great lamentation about her when she is taken from you. I had a friend who was kicked by a horse, and had his leg nearly broken: and he was sure he was not in a proper state before God; 1st, because he felt it; and 2ndly, because he could not run as expeditiously upon the Lord’s errands as he was wont. Don’t you think he was right? He ought not to have had human feelings in exercise, or to have suffered even a broken leg to impede him in the discharge of his
duty. If you should ever meet ‘with a person so circumstanced, pray deliver to him my judgment; and oe sure to tell him at the same time, that you know a lady who quite concurs in it.
But why do I thus dwell on this point? I do it not to lessen your watchfulness, or diminish in any respect your humiliation before God, (for it is not possible to exceed, either in watchfulness or humiliation,) but to bring your mind to that holy liberty, into which it is the will of God that all His children should be brought, (and a ‘glorious liberty’ it is,) and that the peace of God which passeth all understanding may keep (keep as in a garrison) both your heart and mind :* your understanding and your affections, or your feelings, being in perfect harmony on this all-impoi-tant subject. This is what our blessed Lord calls * my peace;’ and He would give it, not in a niggardly way as the worla giveth, but with all the profusion of unbounded love. And if any light, which God may enable me to throw upon the subject, be the means of clearing away your mists, and of bringing you to ’ the perfect day,* need I say what joy it will afford me? or with what gratitude- I shall return thanks to Almighty Grod for such an honor conferred on myself, and such a blessing conferred on you? My beloved Mary, 276 souls were given to Paul, and not a hair of the head of any one of them was suffered to perish. Is not this an encouragement to us, to remember each other before the Lord? It is a blessed privilege to be permitted to bring each other into His presence, and to make our requests known to Him in behalf of each other. Let us abound in this holy exercise, yea, abound in it more and more. Did you never find that you could pray for another, when you could not pray for yourself; and that your coming for another has led to, and facilitated an access for yourself 7 I could tell you, that a door opened for you has often, and I hope will yet often open it for your most loving friend,
**C. Simeon.
“Your letter arrived yesterday, Dec. 6.
“P. S. I get this franked, merely that you may not be frightened at my handwriting. But do not you follow my example in this respect, till I give you some reason to think that your autograph is unwelcome. Kindest love to your dear mamma, and to your sisters.”