Part 5
The grand means of keeping up this wonderful frame, is a point worthy our attention; for this purpose it is furnished with the powers of nutrition. _Teeth_, the foremost thin and sharp, fit to bite asunder, or cut off such a portion as the mouth can conveniently manage: those which are broad and strong are qualified to grind in pieces whatever is transmitted to their operation. The _Throat_, the _Stomach_, with its various operations and appendages, which are so admirably constructed, I leave you to muse upon. There are but two things more I have time to notice. High in the Head, and conspicuous, as a star in the evening, is placed the _Eye_. This is one of the greatest works of our blessed Creator, consisting only of simple fluids, inclosed in thin tunicles: it conveys to our apprehension all the graces of blooming nature, and all the glories of the visible heavens. The _Eye_ so particularly tender, that a slight accident, scarce perceivable by any other part of the body, would be very injurious to its delicate frame. It is intrenched deep in the Head, and barricadoed on every side with a strong fortification of bones, defended by two substantial curtains, hung on a slender rod, which secures it from every troublesome annoyance. The _Ear_. The structure of this organ is so wonderful that God claims it as his own work, _He that planted the Ear_. Amazing nice and exact must be the formation and the tension of the auditory nerve, since they correspond with the smallest tremors of the atmosphere: these living chords, tuned by an Almighty hand, receive the impressions of sound, and propagate them to the Brain. These give existence to the charms of music, and the entertainment of discourse. I must not enlarge—read the whole of that Chapter, and no doubt you will be well entertained.
But while I would admire this noble work of God, I rejoice that Jesus has taken my nature, and lives in it for ever; and that he will raise my frame from the disgrace of corruption, earth, and worms, to glory, happiness, and God. I am at the same time deeply affected with the miseries of my fallen nature, in consequence of sin; this has injured all its fine powers, damaged every room in this wonderful house, so that in consequence of the bad tenants which occupy it, the Almighty landlord has ordered us to quit it. We have received by many a pain, a writ of ejectment, but being unwilling to leave this clay frame, though in such a damaged state, the owner and builder of this house takes it down by degrees, which, Solomon mentions in the following four verses. Ah! my brother, what has sin done! the pains, miseries, strife, and agonies introduced into our poor bodies, and distress into our souls. Permit me here to mention that affecting description which the Angel gave to Adam, soon after his fall, as represented by Milton.—
—Immediately a place Before his eyes appear’d, sad, noisome, and dark; A lazar house it seem’d, wherein were laid Numbers of all diseas’d; all maladies, Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds, Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs, Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs, Demoniac phrensy, moping melancholy, And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy, Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence, Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums. Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despair Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch; And over them triumphant death his dart Shook, but delay’d to strike, though oft invok’d With vows, as their chief good, and final hope. Sight so deform’d what heart of rock could long Dry-ey’d behold? Adam could not, but wept, Though not of woman born; compassion-quell’d His best of man, and gave him up to tears.
From this sight let us turn, likewise, and consider the infinite love and condescension of God our dear Saviour, who took all our infirmities, bore our sickness, and knows how to sympathize with our poor natures in all their sorrows; and such an High Priest became us; such a Saviour is exactly adapted for all our miseries; and hence he is called a Physician of value, he healeth all our diseases, and surely the mind is awfully diseased with sin, nothing but his skill can penetrate into the depth of the diseases of the mind; whatever may be the ailments of the body, they are but emblems of the diseases of the soul; the blindness of ignorance, the deafness of spiritual unconcern, the fever of concupiscence, the jaundice of malice, the swelling tympany of pride, the vertigo of inconstancy, the quinsey of cursing and blasphemy, the dropsy of covetousness, the palsey of stupidity, the pleurisy of envy, the rheumatism of discontent, the delirium of constant levity, the moon-struck madness of passion and rage, with unbelief, hardness of heart, temptations of Satan, and the stings of conscience, of whatever disease we may feel we have got; these the adorable Physician heals. Let us carry all our hard cases to him—_See Brown’s Tropology_. We are always welcome to him, and though he may not seem to notice our case for a season, yet he will in his own appointed time. This text has often been very precious to my soul, _Therefore will the Lord wait that he may be gracious to you—and therefore will he be exalted that he may have mercy upon you_.
Finally, The earthly house of our tabernacle shall soon be dissolved, it has got the plague in it, the plague of leprosy, and the house is condemned to come down. Leviticus xiv. _He shall break down the house_, _the stones of it_, _and the timber of it_, _and all the mortar of the house_, _and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean place_, even to the grave, till the last trumpet shall sound, and the tabernacle be raised again, beautiful and glorious, like the human nature of our most glorious Covenant Head; and this will be thy lot, O Theophilus, as sure as the trumpet of the Gospel ever quickened your soul.
I shall add no more, but my prayers for you, as I trust I have your’s for me.
[Picture: Signature of J. C.]
_LETTER VII_.
TO MRS. D—.
_Peckham_, _July_ 11, 1814.
_MY DEAR FRIEND_.
MAY the Father of Mercies and God of all consolation be with you, as your all in all, the foundation of your soul, the shield of your faith, the helmet of your hope, the length of your days, the joy of your mind, the strength of your heart, and your portion for ever.
I think, a few months ago you requested, and I promised you, a few remarks on the 12th of Ecclesiastes. Having repeated it in the Pulpit in a Sermon, I will how endeavour to give you my opinion in the most literal and spiritual manner I can, with all due deference to superior judgments; and humbly submit my sentiments to the whole Church of Christ, which is the pillar and the ground of the truth.
It has been asserted that Solomon was the wisest of all men; here I beg leave to differ, I humbly conceive he was not so wise as Adam, before the fell; nor perhaps so wise as the Apostle Paul: but when it is said he was the wisest of men, it must be considered merely in a political point of view; as God blest him with much natural wisdom, so that he was able to manage the affairs of the Nation without a Parliament, and to try all causes without a Bench of Judges; this was indeed a great work, and the Lord fitted him for it, by a spirit of wisdom and understanding, which he requested of the Lord. He was the wisest man, therefore, in natural things, that perhaps ever lived since the fall.—He collected and framed three thousand Proverbs, and a thousand and five spiritual Songs. He was well versed in, and well explained the nature of Herbs and Animals of every kind. Solomon had several books to study, the Book of the Ceremonial Law, which is often alluded to in the Proverbs, the Book of the Moral Law, out of which he was taught his need of a Mediator, and a better righteousness than his own, to justify him before God, the Book of all the scriptures that were then extant. Into these he was deeply led. He had the book of nature, and appeared to be a Master of all the Sciences of natural and spiritual Philosophy. He was well skilled in Astronomy, in Botany, and Anatomy; the last he shews his skill in, as this last chapter of the Preacher shews. This book was probably written in his old age, after his recovery from his fall, and God had healed his broken bones. Age and sorrow coming on him, he felt the decline of mortality, urges the necessity of spiritual knowledge and practice, while health lasts and God furnishes a man with opportunities, knowing that the mental faculties would soon decay, however bright they might have been. These are set forth in three verses. He then notices the decay of the human frame—its weakness, and how every limb and joint, every power and passion, every member and faculty is affected, either by age, sickness, or trouble. The Lord, indeed, sometimes sends for his dear people, suddenly. He snatches them away from the power of enemies, and the evil to come; but others are gently gathered, not hastily plucked. God takes down our tabernacle a pin at a time, and loosens the cords just as we are able to bear it; gives kind warnings, and then appears like a cloud of the latter rain. This gradual decay Solomon pays a particular attention to, he had noticed it in others, perhaps began to feel it himself; and having called the Body an House, he describes its timbers, its strong beams, its supporters; _in the day when the keepers of the house shall tremble __and the strong men bow themselves_. The almost universally received opinion of these _Strong men_, _the keepers of the house_, is, that they signify the _Hands_ and _Feet_, which include the _Shoulders_, the _Arms_, and _Hands_, the _Thighs_, the _Legs_, and the _Feet_.—These Hands and Arms are the keepers of the house, for when the scripture speaks of preserving, defence, and deliverance, the Hands and Arms are generally mentioned, besides, they keep the house by providing for it, getting maintenance for the whole body. _These Hands_, says Paul, _have ministered to my necessities_: these protect the house, and also keep off an adversary; these tremble through age or infirmities, as experience shews; and this includes all weakness and inactivity of those parts in this condition, whether they are outward, as stiffness and contraction, or inward, as aches, pains, numbness, palsies, cramps, and tremblings. Thus the Keepers tremble. The wise Man then descends to notice the inferior, the _Feet_, containing these parts in connection, the Thighs, Legs, Ancles, and Feet. These are the strong men; sometimes they are called the Strength of a man; and the Spouse is setting forth the majesty and glory of her beloved, in his strength, by this text, _His legs are as pillars of marble_; and because the great strength of a Man lays in these parts, therefore in his infirm and weak condition, these parts must become more eminently weak. As the diseases which affect the superior part, also affect the inferior, as the rheumatism, gout, and such like, the keepers and the strong men are subject to a similarity of diseases; and the learned say they are in the original exprest nearly alike—_The keepers of the house tremble_, _and the strong men shall nod_, _or shake_.
The next part of this shakey house the Wise Man observes, is the _Grinders_; these cease, because they are few. Grinding, all men know to be performed by two hard bodies, the one immovable, on which the Grinding is made, the other movable; which by strong compression against the former, and by its motion, makes the grinding. The upper and the nether millstone, as the scripture calls them, the firm stander, and the strong mover. Now, similar unto these in a mill, there are for that grinding which is performed in the mouth, two jaw-bones, the upper and lower; the upper admits no movement at all, the lower is movable, and so both perform that act called mastication, or chewing. Out of these jaw-bones proceed a certain number of small bones, we call _Teeth_—these are the proper _strict_ instruments of grinding. By the ceasing of the Teeth, we must understand all those infirmities that are incident to them by reason of age, whether looseness, hollowness, rottenness, brokenness, blackness, or whatever else may be an impediment to them in their use; for as age comes on, the natural moisture at the root of the teeth is consumed, and a preternatural is distilled in its room: thus as the teeth drop out, and very few are left in it, the chewing in the mouth ceaseth, more so than when there is none at all, for then the gums might act one against another. But when the grinders are few, they hinder those from working, and having no antagonists they are not able to work themselves, and so the whole grinding ceaseth, which is a great symptom of the decay of life, at least of a state of weakness.
The next great object which we are called to observe, is, the _Decay_ of _Sight—Those that look out of the windows_, _are darkened_. I believe none has ever questioned but this means the eyes, and the infirmities of them in old age. One may be said to look out of a window, when he looks through the glass of the window, or when he looks through the open casement. Now a man could not look through a window, if it was not made of glass, or something of the kind, neither could he perceive any thing with his eye were not the parts thereof which the passage is made of, the very same substance. The parts of the eye through whose bodies the visible _species_ must pass, that they may be discerned, are either the humours, or the tunicles; the humours are three, the watery, the chrystalline, and glossy humour, so Anatomists call them; and however they differ, yet they are all instrumental to vision. The tunicles or coats, through which the sight is made, are only two, though there are others which conduce to the sight, yet there are but two through which the beams of light pass; the first is as fine and curious as a Spider’s web, and being derived from the Brain and optic Nerve, it becomes a vestment for the humors, and is pellucid and transparent. The other is an hard and horny membrane, and encompasseth the whole body of the eye, without perforation, and on the back part, behind the sight of the eye is more obscure and dark, but on the fore part is far more plain and clear. Solomon observes these _lookers out of the windows to become dark_, that is, as age enfeebleth the eye the form and figure becomes more plane and depressed than it was before, and the chrystalline humor, which had a power of reducing itself, now becomes dry and altogether unfit for such an end, which must breed a confusion in the sight. As age comes on, and increaseth, it is well known the sight goeth away, the lookers out of the windows must be darkened. We have scarce any description in scripture of an old man and his infirmities, but the decrease of sight is mentioned, their eyes were dim, and they could not see.
I hope you will pardon this very short description of the eye, as it is a very large subject, and a vast deal may be said open it, which I reluctantly omit, lest I should swell this letter to a volume.—Thus my dear friend, our poor bodies in sickness and age, are compared to an old house, with its teams, pillars, and windows, terribly shattered; condemned by the Parish to come down. But I cannot let this letter pass without the promise of another. May your confidence increase, and abound more and more in this blessed truth, _If this earthly house of our tabernacle is dissolved_, _we have a building of God_, _an house not made with hands_, _eternal in the heavens_—there may we meet.—Amen.
I remain ever yours in Jesus,
[Picture: Signature of J. C.]
_LETTER VIII_.
TO MRS. D—.
_Peckham_, _July_ 21, 1814.
_MY DEAR FRIEND_,
What an unspeakable blessing it is for you, that the Holy Ghost has enabled you to rejoice in hope of eternal glory, and put that expression in your mouth, as well as the hope and confidence in your heart, _I know that if this earthly house of my tabernacle were dissolved_, _I have a building __above_, _an house not made with hands_, _eternal in the heavens_—this is in your hope, and a God of truth has declared your expectation shall not be cut off. The blessed Spirit is promised to all the Elect seed, as the earnest of that promised rest. While the glorious operations of that self-same Spirit, are designed to prepare us for that glorious inheritance. My dear Sister has, I trust, been long taught the sad state of man by nature, that though he was originally built for God to dwell in, and his image did reside in man a little while, yet an enemy came against this little City, besieged it, and raised awful bulwarks against it, gained the possession of the capital, and keeps it in peace, till the stronger than he, even the eternal Spirit comes on him, spoils him of his armour, makes him quit his territory, and gets full possession of his heart. Solomon well instructed in the operations of the Spirit, under the emblems of old age and its infirmities, points out this work in striking, figurative language. _In the days when the keepers of the house shall tremble_, _and the strong men shall bow themselves_. We are not at a loss to conjecture who those keepers are in the worst of senses, Satan having blinded the eyes of man, it is his work, to study how to keep them blind, keep them enemies, keep them in prejudice, keep them proud, and keep them in awful rebellion. This is the work of the devil, nor is he at a loss for means to carry on this work. Religious systems, and erroneous preachers, are the Devil’s under-strappers, by whom he carries on his infernal work. Hence the out-cry made against the truth, whenever and wherever it is preached; the endeavours to stop the progress of truth in the world, lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine into the heart, and poor sinners be saved. These strong keepers of the house tremble at the approach of the light of the Gospel, and as soon as it comes in power they must submit, bow themselves, relinquish their claim, and turn out, knowing they come in by art, and with a view to deceive the house, that it might share the same fate as devils do. But viewing this subject experimentally, the Spirit coming to convince of sin, to apply the law to the conscience, and to shew us the works of the devil, at his coming these keepers tremble, but we do not find them gone, till the power of the Gospel is felt. Many have trembled at the curse of the Law; at the preaching of the Law as Felix did, when Paul reasoned of judgment, temperance, and righteousness. It is one thing for a criminal to tremble in his chains, and another for Satan to be overthrown. Satan will maintain his seat in the heart as long as he can, but God says, _I will overturn_, _overturn_, _overturn it_, _until he comes_, _whose right it is_; _and I will give it him_.—There is nothing Satan hates so much as light, when this comes into the mind he is discovered, his works hated, and the poor sinner votes against both him and his works, cries unto the Lord because of these oppressors, while his hope springs up in the Gospel news, that the Son of God was manifested in the flesh, that he might destroy the works of the devil, as the power of the word is felt, as grace reigns, so these keepers and strong ones bow, and like the soldiers at the sepulchre, the keepers thereof became as dead men. When the Angel of the covenant descends to open the prison doors, the poor prisoner comes forth as Peter did, from his prison, though the keepers stand at the door they are not able to retain the captive; hence the question, _Shall not the prey be taken from the mighty_? _Shall not the lawful captive be delivered_? Yes, blessed be God it is the mighty work of God the Spirit to cast down the strong holds of the devil, carnal enmity, pride, prejudice, and self-righteousness; when these are demolished, Satan has no hope of the damnation of such a soul; though the poor sinner himself cannot perhaps see his own part and lot in the salvation of the Gospel; he may still remain in bondage to the fears of death, the dread of hell; unbelief still prevails, doubts, fears, and sad despondency may still operate to keep the soul in misery, till the Holy Ghost favours it with an increase of faith, gives it strength enough to believe in his love, in his Person and in his glorious Work; then we enter into rest. This is done by believing the report of the Gospel, by believing such precious truths as these: _He shall finish transgression—he shall make an end of sin_. _He shall magnify the law_. _Blotting out the handwriting contained in Ordinances_, _that was against __us_. _Ye are complete in him_, _having forgiven us all our trespasses_. _I have loved thee_, _I have redeemed thee_. _I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgression_, _and as a thick cloud thy sins_. _He hath made to meet on him the iniquities of us all_. _The Lord is well pleased with his righteousness sake_.