Part 6

Now, my dear friend, I can assure you that I always feel peace and joy in believing these precious truths for myself; they are for such poor sinners as I have described; but faith to receive these precious things is the gift of God. And this work of God carries us above our strong fears and doubts, which are as much the corruptions of the human heart as our sins. This glorious conquest of the keepers and strong men is sometimes achieved by sensible tokens, clear deliverances, and open manifestations; it was not so with me, but it has been the happy experience of many who have had much legal bondage; not favored with a clear ministry of the word, and when God intends them either for much suffering or for public usefulness. I have often wished it my case, but I should be sorry to endure what many have, nor would I murmur that my heavenly Father has not drove me into such awful deeps.—This portion of scripture I get into very well; _to you which believe he is precious_; yea, he is preciousness itself: This I find true in my experience, and it is enough to convince me that the good work is begun, that the work is of God, and must terminate in an exceeding and eternal weight of glory. Thus we see, feel, and admire the conquests of sovereign Grace; this brings us to God, this endears the Saviour, this inspires us with a lively hope, this turns our feet to God’s testimonies, opens the eyes to see the beauty of God’s word; the glories of the Saviour, and imbitters, yea, darkens all terrestial objects. The eyes by nature are full of evil, they are fixed on sinful objects, they are full of sin.—Hence we read of _eyes full of adultery_. We read of lofty eyes, and of an evil eye, the one signifies pride of self-righteousness, the other of a churlish, envious disposition. These eyes must become dark, dim, and least exercised as grace reigns. The lust of the eye is, and must be the grief of all who feel it; with this temptation Satan beset poor Eve; she saw the tree was good; she soon fell after this. Satan plied this to the Saviour, but in vain. He shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and the glory of them, in a moment of time. The eye is the inlet of sin; hence Job says, _I have made a covenant with my eyes_; _why then should I think on a maid_. Job xxxi, verse 1. The power of almighty grace most effectually _at times_, affects the very sight of the believer, and makes him delight in looking into the Word of God, and employing even his very eyes as well as every other faculty, in the good ways of God; and as these are open to every thing that is good, they must be darkened to what is evil, neither the heart nor the eyes of a believer, _as converted_, are designedly set to evil; but when the one wanders and the other slides back from God, it is then the soul mourns,

Prone to wander, Lord I feel it, Prone to leave the God I love!

This Subject may lead us to further experimental remarks, I do not decidedly pretend to fix the mind of the Holy Ghost on this passage, but while I contemplate the keepers of the house, in the worst sense, may we not look at them in a better point of view; as faith, hope, fear, and love, the christian’s keepers; the believer’s strong men, who have done much for the Church. Paul has given us a whole chapter on what faith has done, 11th of Hebrews. Hope keeps us at an anchor, firm in our confidence, though it may be small in enjoyment. Fear will never let us wholly depart from God, while love bears us up, and carries us through difficulties, duties, and dangers, and abides with us for ever. These graces are not self-active, they cannot act but as the Spirit keeps them up; they are always in us as spiritual principles, but they are set always active, though perhaps all the ways in which they operate are not known to us. These are very strong in time of tribulation; at least in most cases. Faith is tried deeply when guilt is felt on the conscience, when Satan roars, when the mind is distressed, when outward circumstances run crooked; then faith often leans towards the Atonement; trusts in an unseen, though not an unknown God; waits on God till light springs up, and is looking for suitable promises to support the soul, to plead with God, and to animate the mind at a future day. Thus faith keeps us from sinking. _I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the land of the living_.

But Solomon found some days in his experience when these keepers were not so strong; when these strong men bowed through weakness, and when his sight was not so well occupied, nor his mind quite so clear. He found something, as Sampson did, which weakened his strength, which might have made him question the reality of his faith, the sincerity of his love, and the foundation of his hope, when he found the hedge of Godly fear broken down, and himself at a sad distance from God, befooled in his old age, and led into awful idolatry. When conscience was awakened, and the hand of God was upon him, he then found the keepers were weak indeed; Love had been out of exercise, and the inordinate love of women came in; fear was out of exercise, and idolatry was soon practised, a sin God detests more than any other. Faith was inactive, and hope at a low ebb, so that Satan stept in when these keepers were weak. And is not this, at times, the painful experience of God’s Elect, in their degree? Do we not find every sin indulged weakens the graces of the Spirit, beclouds our evidences, and brings us low; so that as soon as trouble comes on, we find neither faith nor hope, nor love, nor fear, nor zeal, nor spirituality. A worldly spirit, levity, evil tempers, giving way to our most easy besetment; hearkening to Satan, conforming to the world, or medling with erroneous sentiments. These things will weaken, and make the strong men tremble. Guilt felt, sin creeping in between conscience and God, and faith not strong enough to make use of the Atonement; this makes us tremble indeed, while the eyes of an illuminated understanding become very dim—this darkness we feel when we can neither see the way behind nor before with pleasure. Ah! how painful, how truly wretched is this for God’s children—_but the backslider in heart shall be filled with his own ways_. What a painful subject is this I am writing to you; but yet it is necessary to know these things; such knowledge is painful, but it is good to write thus to warn, having tasted this bitter cup myself. Here we see the necessity of abiding continually in Jesus, keeping near him, that we may have peace maintained in the conscience; be kept from sin, and led on in the ways of God, strong in faith, cheerful in hope, fervent in love, and tender in conscience. May that be your felicity and mine, dear Sister in Jesus, is the earnest prayer of ever yours in Jesus.

[Picture: Signature of J. C.]

_LETTER IX_.

TO MRS. D—.

_Peckham_, _August_ 4, 1814.

_MY DEAR FRIEND_,

GRACE and peace be yours. I am come to visit you once more with pen and ink, though I am not able to come in person to see you. This is a means of conversation the Almighty has afforded us, nor can we be too thankful for it, as we may write to each other on those momentous subjects which concern our never dying souls; nor can the pen be better employed than in stirring up each other’s mind, by way of remembrance. Time with us both is short; you are farther advanced in years than I am, but both are going to our Father’s house; let us therefore follow that advice of the Wise Man’s while we can, _Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do_, _do it with all thy might_, _for there is no work_, _nor device_, _nor knowledge_, _nor wisdom_, _in the grave whither thou goest_.

It is the work of faith to lay hold of eternal life. The knowledge of faith gives present peace; the wisdom of faith is to cleave to God, and the art or device of faith is to endeavour to gain all it can, to be useful to others. This faith leads us to think God’s thoughts, and approve of them; to do what Jesus has commanded—to carry our cases to God; to search diligently into his word, and to open the mouth for God when we have an opportunity.—Faith opens the mouth to God in prayer and praise, and for God’s glory, in a firm, warm, decided attachment to his cause, his people, his ways, his truth; and while we are favoured with health and means, let us improve them. The faculty of speech, the opening of the lips, and the exercise of the lungs, should be all employed in his service and to his glory, who died, the just for the unjust, to bring us to God. Age, infirmities, trials, and death itself, will soon put an end to these; let us therefore employ them while we can, and in the lively hope of glory, may we sing, with the excellent _Cowper_,

And when this lisping stammering tongue, Lies silent in the grave, Then in a nobler sweeter song, I’ll sing thy power to save.

Hence Solomon exhorts to these things in your favourite chapter, which I glanced at in my last letter. He reminds us of the solemn period to which we are all hastening, _when the doors shall be shut in the street_; _the sound of the grinding be low_, _and __he shall rise up at the voice of the bird_, _and all the Daughters of Music shall be brought low_.

I believe I have already intimated that Solomon, was well versed in the science of Anatomy; that he well understood the human frame, and perhaps much better than any before him. He had in the former verse spoken of the Animal System; in this fourth verse he proceeds to notice the Natural Faculties, inward and outward. A great writer says these words form but one sentence: _The doors shall be shut in the streets_, _when the sound of the grinding is low_. This Grinding is supposed to relate to almost every part in man, which is preserved, kept up, and supported by food, and respects the alteration which that food undergoes, that it may be really transubstantiated into our flesh. These are by Physicians called digestion or concoction. By the _sound_ of the Grinding is meant some natural symptoms which are expressive of digestion, and prove that all things are right in the bodily frame, which a want of digestion would prove to the contrary. The voice of the Grinding is the natural appetite of the stomach to meat and drink, and is what we call hunger and thirst after food, with the strength and power of the stomach to retain what it receives, and nourishes the whole body. This Grinding and its voice takes in at once all the excellencies of nature, while they are in power; but, as age comes on, all the indicators of strength and concoction must be depraved, diminished, and abolished. Loss of appetite, with all its attendants, is the lowness of the voice of this Grinding; the doors of course are shut in the streets. When this is the case with a sickly, feeble, aged body, the mouth, the throat, in speaking, and the stomach in receiving food; the nostrils, and the eyes, which are called doors, these are all affected and must weaken as nature ceaseth to perform its original offices. Thus these doors are shut in the street when the Grinding is low. The Streets are the several passages of the body, which the matter of nourishment passeth through, and are the roads and highways to and from the places where the Grinding is performed. May not this expression likewise refer to the inability of the sick, feeble, and aged, to encounter with the noise and bustle of business; and to the doors and shutters shut, as a signal of the departure of some of the family; and the voice of singing, even of common cheerfulness is altered.

Solomon gives us another intimation of the weakness of the human body—listlessness of repose, easily awakened. _He shall rise up at the voice of the Bird_. His age, or sickness, is like the wealth of the rich man, it will not suffer him to sleep; in the night he may have some unquiet drowsiness, but the approach of morn, when healthy young people sleep sound, he shall be broad awake, and at the crowing of the cock, or the singing of a Bird, he shall be rising up from his sleepless bed. Hence the saying, The singing of Birds and the sighing of old Men are generally contemporaries—these are as soon weary of their lodgings, through the pains and wakefulness in the night season, as the Birds are for lifting up their pleasant notes.

The last remark in this verse is, _The Daughters of Music shall be brought low_. These Daughters are considered by those skilled in Anatomy, to be both active and passive, such as make Music and such as receive Music; the active make a Music themselves, or bear a part in it; the other delights in that of which they have not the least share in making. There are three several kind of organs that do more immediately, yet distinctly and gradually, conduce to the production of vocal Music; the first is the Lungs, which are the proper instruments of our breathing; the second sort of organs that conduce to music, are such as form the Breath into the Voice, or Respiration, the Tongue, the Palate of the Mouth, the Teeth, especially the four Front Teeth, and, lastly, the Lips: these form the sound into a Voice; the others that modulate this Voice into Music, are the cartilaginous parts of the Wind-Pipe; the head of the Wind-Pipe is very small, yet it has thirteen Muscles belonging to it, most of which are framed only for the modulation of the Voice. Some shut the Pipe, some open it, some dilate, some contract it, so that acting severally or jointly, according as there is occasion, they do wonderfully conduce to the variation of sound. This also has got five Cartilages some are moveable, some immoveable, some of one form, others of anther, that they may better contain the air and break the Voice into Melody. This is the Pipe to sing the high praises of God with, and which infinitely excels all the Instruments of Music: these are the active Daughters of Music which are brought low through age; the passive Daughters of Music are the organs of hearing; these are inward and outward; the outward Ear is spread abroad like a net, that it may gather and catch the sound as it rolls about the ocean of the air; the inward ear is a great secret, that no one can possibly understand—all have confessed their ignorance of this great matter; the first part we meet with is a thin strong membrane, which being placed over the Hole of the Ear, transversely, divides between the inward and the outward Ear; within this there are three Cavities, and three little Bones. So likewise there is implanted in the Ear a pure, subtil, and quiet air, with the filaments of the auditory Nerve; and then the whole Nerve itself. By the help of those several parts our hearing is thus performed; in age the several holes and Cavities of the Ears are stopped; the drum is unbraced; the hammer is weakened, the anvil is worn, the stirrup is broken, and the inward air is mixed and defiled; the filaments are dulled, the nerve itself is obstructed, so that there cannot but follow heaviness of hearing. Hence old _Barzillai_ complains to David, 2 Samuel, xix, 35, _I am this day eighty years old_, _and can I discern between good and evil_? _Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women_? _Wherefore should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king_? Thus the habit and taste for Music is brought low. This appears to be the literal sense of this passage, and some of those unpleasant days which many of our fallen race see with grief; all must lament it as creatures, but yet Believers must rejoice, as new creature, that all their musical days are not at an end—no, but that they are only beginning, as son as they enter upon their Father’s house above, and in the resurrection morn their harps, their powers, will be sweetly tuned to the praise of electing grace and eternal love. Permit me here to insert those lines from the hymn just quoted.

Lord I believe thou hast prepar’d, Unworthy tho’ I be, For me a Blood-bought, free reward, A golden harp for me. ’Tis tun’d and strung for endless years, And form’d by power divine, To sound in God the Father’s ears, No other name but thine.

In once more looking over this verse, my mind is impressed with other ideas, which I must commit to paper and send to my dear friend. We read in sacred Writ of the Door of the Heart, and of the Door of the Lips, and of the Conscience: these Doors are all opened by the finger of God. The conscience is quickened to feel the native guilt of our sins; the heart, the mind, all the faculties of the soul are opened by the operations of the eternal Spirit; the Understanding is enlightened to perceive the glories of the Saviour; the Will is bowed down to chuse Jesus, the Affections are set upon him, the Thoughts love to retain him; thus the Door of the Heart is open. Hence the Spouse says, _He put in his finger by the hole of the Door_, _and my bowels were moved for him_, _I rose up to open to my beloved_. The Door, here, may signify Faith in her heart; the Hole of the Door, a principle of love, though not wide open, free, and at sweet liberty, yet, as a principle, it was there. The Lord Jesus putting forth his powerful grace in the heart afresh, stirred her up, opened all the faculties, and afresh quickened the Conscience, she was led forth in soul after him. This is opening the Door. Hence he addresses the Laodicean Church; _Behold I stand at the door and knock_; _if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him_. This text has been awfully perverted by the Arminians and Modern Calvinists of the day: they tell us that the Deity is knocking at the door of every man’s heart, begging to come in—waiting till the creature will open the door, and receive salvation! Alas! what a most miserable perversion of the text. The passage has nothing to do with the World, it is an address to the Church in a backsliding state, as the 5 Chapter of Songs shews. The Church knew her Beloved’s voice, which is the Gospel. Every enlightened, quickened soul, understands the truth, whether it is drowsy or not; the soul is again made willing to receive Jesus, to seek most ardently the best of friends: this is opening the door, as we are made willing in the day, the time, the moment he puts forth his power. This is what the Church means by _the Beloved putting forth his hand by the Hole of the Door_. The heart moved after him, the door of the lips is opened, in prayer, in entreaty, and when admittance is gained, they are opened in praise, and in speaking good of his name. _They shall speak of the glory of thy kingdom_. Thus the doors are opened for the King of Glory to come in. These are everlasting doors and will never be fully shut against Christ, nor will his doors ever be shut against his Church. He manifests himself to us, and we entertain him with the fruits of his own Spirit. The Grinders cease in the best of senses. The worst oppressors we ever meet with is a broken Law and a tempting Devil, and accusing conscience, this is the trouble of the Spirit. Hence that fine passage, _They shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors_. _He shall send them a Saviour_, _a great one_, _and he shall deliver them_. The manifestation of pardon eases the conscience; the testimony of the Spirit that we are complete in Christ’s righteousness, silences the Law, and the Saviour’s great Work, pleaded by himself as an Advocate with the Father, drives off the Devil. Thus these oppressors cease, because they are few. A Believer can bear and endure any thing while all is right within, between God and the soul; not that he is rid of the inbeing of his sins, or the temptation of Satan, these will often oppress him; nor will they fully cease till he lays down his poor body in the grave.

Another sweet priviledge, _He shall rise up at the voice of the Bird_. This is a most blessed truth in our experience, for the gospel attended with power stirs up all our faculties, and we follow hard after God. This voice as used by the ministers of the word, is called _The time of the singing of Birds_. The Gospel Dispensation is called a spring time, and when the love of Jesus is felt casting out fear, when the storms of sin cease, by the voice of pardoning mercy, this sweet text is well understood: _My beloved spake_, _and said unto me_, _rise up my fair one_, _and come away_, _for lo_, _the winter is past_, _the rain is over and gone_; _the time of the singing of Birds is come_. The Lord Jesus, and the blessed Spirit of all Grace, are called Birds, and their voice is heard, known, and felt. _My Sheep hear my voice_, _and follow me_. These leave all when Jesus speaks by the Spirit to their souls; while every kind promise, every sweet invitation, and every precious declaration, form the sweet voice of Jesus, in the word and in the souls of them that believe. The Ministers of the Gospel are called Birds, and when they are understood and the power of their message is felt, the soul yields the obedience of faith. Conscience, approving and taking part with the man, as his experience is genuine, is a Bird, and is called by Solomon, _a Bird of the air_; this accuses or approves as God the Spirit influences it.

Thus, in the best of senses, we read this text; but, alas! we must take another view of it, as alluding to some evil days the soul may experience in passing through this valley of Bochim, or Weeping. We find the saints of old at times had the Doors of their Hearts and Lips shut as well as open.—One said, _I am shut up_, _I cannot come forth_.—Another, _I go bound in the Spirit_: Another, _I was dumb_, _and opened not my mouth_. Ezekiel was dumb for seven days before the people, as a Preacher, and in the streets of Zion, that is among the inhabitants of Gospel Zion. This has been often experienced to their grief, shut up in prayer, either reluctantly going to the exercise, or else finding but little access there; hurrying through the act. Hence the charge against one of old, _Thou restrainest prayer before God_. Job did not say such did not pray, but they were not open, free, familiar, or staid at the throne till liberty was felt; but the act was performed merely to quiet conscience. At times in company, dumb almost about the things; and though the voice, the lips, the tongue, the lungs, were sweetly exercised before, _yet these Daughters of Music are brought low_, for they neither sound with prayer or praise, or godly conversation, or reproof, or comfort, to any other! Thus these Doors are shut in the streets. Conscience is, however still awake, and the poor Believer is alarmed; is startled at the voice of that Bird, when listening to its accusation of sin committed, of duty neglected, of a worldly spirit of levity or covetousness, or of some corruption given way to, or permitted to lie on the conscience. Thus the voice of the Bird is heard, and it is well to listen to it, lest another day it should fill the soul with horror and sorrow. This is what David felt after a long series of months, with guilt on his conscience, till Nathan came with his Parable; but not knowing what it meant, he vows vengeance against the man that did it, _That he should surely die_. This was indeed true, for it was David’s wayfaring man, the man of sin, that came to steal the ewe Lamb; but David rose up at the voice of this Bird, and life went with the word to David’s soul, _Thou art the man_. He felt it, conscience was afresh awakened, and it is our mercy to have the life of God in the Conscience; for the main difference between the Christian and the mere nominal Professor, lays in this; the one has got all his religion in his Head, and if that was cut off, he would have none; the others lays in his Conscience, as pardoned by blood, and quickened by the Holy Spirit.