My dear Nancy, these are emphatically perilous times, Iniquity abounds, and the love of many waxes cold." "The ways of Zion do mourn, because few come unto her solemn feasts." Could. I see professing Christians sighing and crying for the abominations that prevail, I should consider it a token for good. But I hope yet to see better times. The Lion of the tribe of Judah shall prevail. His cause shall revive and flourish, his kingdom shall extend till all nations are brought into it. Those who sit in darkness and the shadow of death, shall exult in the cheering rays of the Sun of righteousness, and triumph in his pardoning love. Thousands, now led cap- tive by Satan at his will, shall ere long be emancipated from their galling bondage, shall emerge from obscurity, ignorance, and vice, to the possession of pardon, peace, and felicity. "O blessed hour! O glorious day What a large victory shall ensue ? Accept the effusions of my heart, and overlook imperfections, I need not say that an answer would be highly gratifying. I am yours affectionately, July 12. I groan, being burdened. I am cold and stupid to an amazing degree. But I have to mourn over my carnal mind, my rebellious will, my unprofitable life, my unguarded conversation, and my distance from my Lovenant-God and Saviour. Blessed be God, I am not under the law, but under grace. There is balm in GiJead, there is a Physician there. The bruised reed he will not break, the smoking flax he will not quench. O that I could ever be looking unto Jesus. O that my desires, my hopes, my thoughts, my whole heart might centre in him, for he is worthy. May his name be music to my ears, and celestial joy to my heart. O that his matchless excellencies may be manifested, adored, and admired in heathen climes. May the wilderness and solitary place be glad, and resound with loud hosannas to his name. May our dear missionaries be favoured with his smiles, and diffuse the odour of his name through desart lands. July 23. This being a day appointed by the Governor of Massachusetts for fasting, humiliation, and prayer, O that all the children of God may have a spirit of prayer poured out upon them! May they all meet at the throne of grace, and plead earnestly for our dear country, and the whole world; and may their wrestlings avail with a prayer-hearing God. May all our churches be Bochims, and all our ministers prudent, humble, and fervent. May I be graciously guided, animated, and assisted in the complicated duties of the day, that I may have an Ebenezer to erect to my Lord and my God. LETTER TO MISS N. J. OF BEVERLY. Beverly, July 29, 1812. MY DEAR NANCY, YOUR ideas on the atonement and character of Christ, fully coincide with mine. That Christ is equal to the Father is, I think, obviously held to view in the oracles of God. He himself asserts, "I and my Father are * Places of weeping. See Judges ii. 1--6. ་་་་་་་ one;" and John, speaking of the Son, says, "This is the true God, and eternal life." He is the brightness of the Father's glory, and the express image of his person; he thought it not robbery to be equal with God, and declared it to be the divine will, “that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father." As far as I can ascertain, this precious doctrine is generally advocated among professors in this parish. But I have been in company with persons who discard from their systems the doctrine of divine decrees and of election, and who have manifested such disgust and pain at the very introduction of these subjects, that no arguments, no scripture proofs could be attended to, or even heard with composure. But why do they thus mutilate the unerring word of God? If the bible is a revelation of his will, a perfect rule of faith and practice, let us take it as we find it, and cordially receive what is there revealed, though to us incomprehensible. Whatever is necessary to our salvation appears in the most explicit terms, adapted to the meanest capacity. There are mysteries in nature; and were there none in the volume of inspiration, coming from the infinite Jehovah, the great I AM, whose ways and thoughts are as high above ours, as the heavens are higher than the earth, might we not suspect it to be of human invention? Now we see through a glass darkly. Many are the difficulties we cannot solve. The ways of God are inscrutable, and many of his dispensations appear mysterious and unaccountable. But we are called to walk by faith, and not by sight, to trust implicitly in God, and rest assured, that though clouds and darkness are round about him, yet judgment and justice are the habitation of his throne. Those who thus humbly trust and serve Him, shall one day see a satis◄ factory solution of these ambiguous dispensations, and wise reasons for all his procedure, when they shall behold him face to face, see as they are seen, and know as they are known. Ignorance and error shall then vanish, and they shall see that the Lord" has done all things well." My dear friend, we live in a dark and gloomy day, when errors and divisions prevail even among professors, to the great detriment of religion, and grieving of the Holy Spirit. I often fear I am a stumbling-block in the way of others, and that I strengthen the hands of evil doers. How affecting his interrogation, "Will ye also go away?" May we not exclaim, "Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life." O, may he be the Shepherd and Physician of our souls. appropriate the following verses to myself. thee, O Lord, my strength. The Lord is my rock, and my fortress, and my deliverer, my God, my strength, in whom I will trust; my buckler, and the horn of my salvation, and my high tower." I long to "I will love This could soften the rugged path of life; cheer me under the most acute and complicated trials; and smooth the bed of death. Were I banished to the cold climes of Nova Zembla, without an earthly friend or comfort, this would warm and exhilarate my heart, and make me a little heaven below. It would constrain me to sing the praises of God in the joyless dungeon at midnight, as did Paul and Silas; and it would enable me to embrace the martyr's stake with joy unutterable. Do you not * feel, my dear friend, that " God in himself is bliss enough, take what he will away?" That without his smiles and presence you would be miserable, even though you were possessor of the earth, and called all its honours and pleasures your own? And yet how prone are we to leave the Fountain of living waters, for broken cisterns that can hold no water,-to leave the God of all comfort for perishing, withering gourds, which are less than nothing and vanity. How strange it is, that those who have been called from darkness to light, and have tasted that the Lord is gracious, should ever become immersed in the carcs and pleasures of this vain world, and be stupid and inactive in his delightful service. May you, my beloved sister, ever be a distinguished ornament to the religion you profess. When you enjoy nearness to God, think of your vile, worthless, stupid friend. O for the quickening, enlivening influences of the Holy Spirit, to put life into every duty; without which all is formality. If I am a child of God, how can I "live at this poor dying rate!" If I know any thing of my heart, I do long to be conformed to the holy law of God, to die unto sin and live unto righteousness, to be active in the promotion of Christ's cause and kingdom. But if these desires are sincere, why do they not produce correspondent exertions? If I love God, it must be tested by cheerful obedience to his commandments. The service of Christ is perfect freedom; his yoke is easy, his burden light, and his com mandments are not grievous, but just and reasonable. True, the christian has crosses to take up, conflicts to sustain, trials to endure, and battles to fight; but he has an almighty Captain, who supplies, guides, and guards Jonah iv. 6, 7. |