Heretofore I have grappled with atheism, deism, and sadduceism: now a more bitter exercise Divines divide God's punishments Query, Which is awaits me. into judicial and corrective. mine? My purpose is some time to wait on you; and this is done to save time. That your courage and usefulness may be doubled, (these times require it) is the wish of You are welcome to have a little conversation with me at any time when I am disengaged from preaching, if you give me timely notice. I see nothing in your letter but what is com LETTER XVIII. To the Rev. Mr. HUNTINGTON. SIR, I HAVE HAVE frequently had a great desire for a little conversation with you, and which may yet be; but shortness of time with you, and distance of place with me, have been an hinderance: besides it is not fitting your time should be occupied with hearing the loquaciousness of a fool, or the ravings of a madman. I know to me ward is vain all human help; yet something may be a stay to my patience, if I have any left. From what I have read in Luther, and heard from you, both have tasted of my bitter cup; which opens a door of hope, if there is any hope left. What Job was outwardly, that I am inwardly. My case is similar to that of Francis Spira, the cause excepted. I am distracted, almost dead, and on the verge of desperation! My heart is broken, not only broken, but pulverized! My memory is almost gone, the executive power almost annihilated; and my conscience a wild beast, a roaring lion! Oftentimes at death's door, yet alive! Full of murder, theft, and all evil concupiscence, I cannot think a good thought, nor (I now find) never did! Heretofore I have grappled with atheism, deism, and sadduceism: now a more bitter exercise Divines divide God's punishments into judicial and corrective. Query, Which is mine? awaits me. My purpose is some time to wait on you; and this is done to save time. That your courage and usefulness may be doubled, (these times require it) is the wish of You are welcome to have a little conversation with me at any time when I am disengaged from preaching, if you give me timely notice. I see nothing in your letter but what is com mon to God's elect when first apprehended by divine justice. When the law is set home on the heart, sin will take occasion by the commandment to work in the alarmed soul all manner of concupiscence; for without the law sin is dead, Rom. vii. 8. When Justice arrests the sinner, and applies the law, the terrors of the law awake the slumbering enmity and unsuspected corruptions of the heart: "I was alive without the law once; but, when the commandment came, sin revived, and I died." Our ghostly enemy also is sure to be busy with such a case: he can never hold possession of his palace, and his goods, in peace, but only where the understanding is veiled, the conscience seared or stifled with dead works, the corruptions of the sinner fall asleep, and his soul in carnal ease and security. When the eye of Justice flashes convictions, the adversary is discovered; when the terrors of the law stir up and discover the desperate enmity and evil of the heart, his possession is disturbed; false peace and carnal ease are sure to be routed. Every sinner under heaven shall most certainly pass through this fiery trial; if it be not done in this world, it will be done in the next. They who are not alarmed or awakened in the land of the living, are sure to lift up their eyes in hell, where justice, law, terrors, guilt, corruption, and fiery darts, will not only seize them, but hold them fast for ever. On which account the Psalmist called the first terrors of his mind the pains of hell; signi fying, that they are peculiar to, and the everlasting portion of, souls there. But the elect have it in this world, that they may escape it in the next; "When we are judged, we are chastened of the Lord, that we should not be condemned with the world." I have grappled with all those evils which your letter contains; and they are all to be found dispersed here and there in the scriptures of truth, as some of the most perilous footsteps. of the flock, and left upon record for the encouragement of such as we. Yea, saith the apostle, "For this cause I obtained mercy, that in me first Jesus Christ might shew forth all long-suffering, for a pattern to them which should hereafter believe on him to life everlasting," 1 Tim. i. 16. As your day is, so shall your strength be. Judgment shall return unto righteousness, and thou wilt follow that. Moses himself was no stranger to this horrible pit; he had been plunged into it, and called out of it: "Thou turnest man to destruction; and sayest, Return, ye children of men," Psal. xc. 3. Remember, "The kingdom of heaven suffereth violence, and the violent take it by force." The thirty-third chapter of Job contains almost the whole of your case; in which God points it out, speaks to it, gives instructions about it, and lays a foundation for hope of deliverance. Be strong, and quit yourself like a sinner in earnest. Be as importunate as the widow with the unjust judge, who fairly tired him out. |