{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_58012/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_58012","id":"gutenberg_58012","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/58012","summary":null,"tags":["Bible. Ecclesiastes -- Commentaries","Category: Essays, Letters & Speeches","Category: Old Age & the Elderly","Category: Religion/Spirituality"],"text":"Transcribed from the [1814] R. Thomas edition by David Price, email\nccx074@pglaf.org\n\n                   [Picture: Public domain book cover]\n\n\n\n\n\n                                   THE\n                                _MORNING_\n                                    OF\n                             SPIRITUAL YOUTH\n                                IMPROVED,\n                            IN THE PROSPECT OF\n                       Old Age and its Infirmities;\n\n\n                                 BEING A\n\n                     LITERAL AND SPIRITUAL PARAPHRASE\n\n                _On the Twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes_.\n\n                         In a Series of Letters.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                          By J. CHURCH, V. D. M.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n    \u201cRejoice, O young Man, in thy Youth.\u201d\u2014_Solomon_.\n\n    \u201cThe prudent Man foreseeth the Evil, and hideth himself.\u201d\n\n    \u201c\u2014and add to your Faith Virtue.\u201d\u2014_Peter_.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 LONDON:\n             PRINTED BY R. THOMAS, RED LION STREET, BOROUGH.\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n\n\n\n_PREFACE_.\n\n\n_CHRISTIAN READER_,\n\n_I need make no apology far publishing the following Letters_, _as the\nSubject was first delivered in several Discourses_, _and is now by the\nparticular desire of many friends_, _published to the Church in the form\nof familiar Letters\u2014appearing in the homely dress of plain speech_, _they\nwill_, _doubtless_, _meet the censure of the carnal critic_, _but my mind\nis fully made up on that point\u2014that which is highly esteemed amongst such\nmen_, _is abominable in the sight of God_.\n\n_Being favored with much of the presence of God in preaching the\nSermons_, _and since then in writing some of these Letters_, _I trust\nevery wise_, _spiritual_, _and humble Christian_, _into whose hands this\nWork may fall_, _will be edified_, _reproved_, _comforted_, _and built up\non their most holy Faith_.\u2014\n\n                                            _So prays thy witting Servant_\n                                                        _in Christ Jesus_,\n\n                                         [Picture: Signature of J. Church]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER I_.\n\n\n                                TO AMICUS.\n\n                                                          _Lambeth_, 1814.\n\nDEAR FRIEND,\n\nHAVING waded through many deep waters of late, and, I hope, learned many\ninteresting lessons in the School of the Cross, I cannot forbear dropping\nyou a few thoughts on the great things of God.  It is my mercy and yours,\nthat our salvation is the joint work of the adorable Trinity in Unity,\noriginating in eternal love, planned in infinite wisdom, and executed by\nalmighty power.  This salvation I have been led to prise, of late, more\nthan ever I did; and to bless a covenant God that I ever heard its joyful\nsound; that I was ever convinced of my need of its blessings; that I ever\nwas enabled to receive it as my own: which glorious salvation consists in\nthe pardon of sin\u2014the acceptation of the Saviour\u2019s obedience\u2014the clear\nwitness of God\u2019s Spirit\u2014and the happy heart-felt communion with God.\nThis is the salvation of the Gospel I have been made acquainted with in\nsome degree, and trust I shall yet more abundantly, even in this present\nlife, and beyond the grave be favored with it in body and soul for ever.\nThis is what I have in humble hope and expedition, and God declares it\nshall not be cut off.  The Spirit of God is given us as an earnest of\nthis, and faith is the evidence of it\u2014and though I am not yet in the\nenjoyment of it, the promise still stands firm, _Thine eyes shall see the\nking in his beauty\u2014they shall behold the land that is far off_.  _Thine_\neyes: are you inclined to ask, Whose eyes?\u2014the answer is ready\u2014those who\nare in possession of a good work of grace\u2014hence, _having begun the good\nwork_, _he will perform it unto the day of Jesus Christ_.\u2014Sometimes you\nhope, you believe, you trust, nay you are sure this work is begun; then I\nam sure it will be carried on, and must be completed; for the Man will\nnot be in rest till the great work is done, and he presents us to himself\na glorious Church, not having spot or wrinkle, nor any such thing.  May\nyou and I live in the pleasing prospect of this, and finally, die to\nenjoy it\u2014no doubt it will be an heaven worth dying for\u2014when I contemplate\nthis glory, I forget the trials of the way.\n\nBut, perhaps, my dear friend, while reading this, is particularly tried\n_in_ the way; _for as vinegar upon nitre_, _so is he that singeth songs\nto an heavy heart_.  Well, then, I must pay you a visit in Achor\u2019s vale,\nwhere I know you are truly safe, though miserable; reflecting on the days\nthat are past, and contrasting them with what you now feel and fear\u2014once\nfeeling light, joy, peace, comfort, love, zeal, activity, and diligence;\nbut now you feel darkness, insensibility, lowness the workings of inbred\nsin, and too often have to lament the out-breakings of them.  This may be\nsucceeded by legal bondage, unbelief, fretfulness, enmity, and a sad\ndistance between God and the soul; and instead of activity and diligence,\na general stupor; calling all in question, because you cannot act as you\nhave formerly done\u2014quite forgetting him that has said, and who is now\nmaking good his promise, _Even the youths shall faint and be weary_, _and\nthe young men shall utterly fail_, _but those who wait on the Lord shall\nrenew their strength_.\n\nPermit me, my brother, just to intimate, that there is nothing singular\nin your trials; it appears to be the very path the Redeemer went, and the\nvery footsteps of the flock.  Hence we read, directly after the Baptism\nof our dear Lord, when his soul was filled with all the fulness of God;\nwhen the Father, with an audible voice, proclaimed from above, _This is\nmy beloved Son_!\u2014and the Holy Spirit was seen hovering over his head, in\na body of light, just like a Dove in its descent\u2014the Redeemer rising from\nthe watery tomb, and the gazing spectators astonished at the solemn\nscene\u2014immediately after this transaction we find him led into the\nWilderness to be tempted of the Devil; and he was with the wild beasts,\nand evil angels came to him; and upon the back of this, Satan, the head,\nthe chief Devil, most daringly tempted him to presumption, to doubt his\nSonship, and to commit suicide!\u2014and can my brother wonder that he is a\nsubject of temptation\u2014_that_ he has forty days of mourning, without a\nspiritual entertainment, or the manifestative presence of Christ\u2014_that_\nhe is among the wild beasts of his inbred sins\u2014that evil thoughts stirred\nup by evil angels, should ever trouble or visit him?  And can you wonder\nthat you should be tempted to doubt your sonship\u2014tempted to presume\u2014that\nis, forbear to use the scripture means in time of trouble, or even\ntempted to suicide?  You think some strange thing has happened to you,\nbut this is the path the Redeemer trod, in his measure\u2014and, recollect,\nthe servant is not greater than his Lord\u2014it is enough to be as he was,\nthat we may be as he _is_.  This part of your experience was strikingly\nexhibited in the case of the Israelites, who came through the Red Sea\nwith joy and praise\u2014shouted victory, through the mercy of Jehovah\u2014and\nfelt happy that they were delivered.  But their felicity was soon abated,\nfor they were ordered to encamp at Marah, in the Wilderness.  So you find\nit: you have been convinced of your lost state; you have felt the slavery\nof sin and the Devil; you have felt the bondage of the Law; you have seen\nthe Redeemer making an atonement for sinners: your faith has received\nthis; your hope has enjoyed this; your love has been led out to him in\nsweet return; and though you still felt yourself a sinner, yet your mind\nwas happy in Jesus, his glorious Person, and his great Work.  Here you\nsung with Moses and Miriam, with gospel ministers and people, _The Lord\nis my strength and my song_, _he also is become my salvation_, _and I\nwill exalt him_.  But your note was soon changed, for you presently found\nyourself in the wilderness of fears, lest you had been deluded, and lest\nyou had presumed\u2014lest your grief had been like Esau\u2019s, and your joys the\nraptures of a way-side hearer; quite forgetting that that religion which\ncomes from God, always leads to God, as our salvation and our eternal\nall.  This was certainly your experience; then why doubt the reality of\nit?  The commandment has gone forth, that you, for wise and\nGod-glorifying purposes, should pitch your tent at Marah; here you must\ntaste of the bitter cup of sorrow.  This will only endear the Tree of\nLife to you, who was cut down, and cast into deeper waters than you can\npossibly go into; and will lead your faith to apprehend, that though your\nwaters are deep and bitter, yet faith tastes them sweet, by virtue of\nChrist\u2019s removing the curse\u2014\n\n    Thus believing we rejoice,\n    To see the curse removed.\n\nYour path may indeed be hard and thorny, but, bless God, there is no\ncurse in it; let this console your mind, I am sure it will, if the Holy\nSpirit gives you power to believe it.  Your present experience of\ndarkness, guilt, deadness, bondage, contraction of spirit, and great\nstupor, are the days of evil that Solomon speaks of, which are many, but\nmust at last issue in an exceeding and an eternal weight of glory.  But\nseeing such are the days that must come on the followers of the dear\nSaviour, how truly important, and how highly interesting that exhortation\nin the twelfth of Ecclesiastes, _Remember now thy Creator_, _in the days\nof thy youth_, _while the evil days come not_, _and the years draw nigh_,\n_wherein thou shalt say I have no pleasure in them_.  Solomon could well\ntalk of these things, for he had a wonderful share of them, and wrote the\nwhole Book of Ecclesiastes upon the subject.  The word is said by some,\nto mean the Preacher, but others think it signifies Restoration to the\nChurch.  It was also written by him in his old age, after his recovery\nfrom backsliding; as such it must be a precious treasure in the hands of\na poor sinner, who knows the plague of his heart, the weakness of human\nnature, the inconstancy and mutability of all transitory things, of all\nterrestial objects.\n\nThis book shews the vanity of all things out of Christ; that they are\nfleeting, insubstantial, and disappointing; that they elude the grasp of\ntheir followers, and leave the soul in darkness, misery, and woe.  Having\nlearnt so much by deep heart-felt experience, of the power of grace and\nthe power of sin, and having been deeply taught by the Holy Ghost, he\nadvises as a father to his children, how to act, before the sad days of\ntribulation come on; and this is agreeable to his own declaration, _The\nprudent man foreseeth the evil_ (i.e.) _day and hideth himself_, _but the\nsimple pass on and are punished_.  Thus in this chapter he exhorts,\nwhich, through God\u2019s assistance, I shall consider in an experimental\nmanner; and shew, I hope, the mind of the Spirit upon this important\ntheme.\n\nI have often been grieved when this precious text has been taken by mere\nMoralists, who knew nothing of the Spirit\u2019s work upon the heart, as the\ntestifier of Jesus; and applied to youth, literally, who are destitute of\nthe grace of God\u2014and by a mere moral harangue, they have set youth to\nperform a task they themselves never did.  Hence, in general, Sermons are\npreached to young people from this passage, when the very passage shews\nthey are characters that have been taught of God; else why exhort to a\nremembrance of that glorious object, Thy Creator? it must imply some\nknowledge of him; and this great Creator can only be known by his own\nWord and Spirit; only seen in his own light, _for the world by wisdom\nknows not God_, nor can all the works of God lead us to God, as some\ndream; there is no coming to a knowledge of trusting in, or loving, or\nobeying God, but by the glorious Mediator, and the impulse of the Holy\nGhost.  I consider it necessary then, my dear Brother, to shew you,\n_First_, The Characters addressed in this important exhortation\u2014the\n_Youth_.  _Secondly_, the grand object recommended to their attention,\n_Thy Creators_.  _Thirdly_, What is implied in the idea of _remembering\nhim_.  _Fourthly_, The _Arguments_ the wise man makes use of to urge this\nimportant act, viz. _The approach of evil days and years_\u2014which I shall\nendeavor to explain in a scriptural and experimental way, to comfort some\npoor mourner; to show the value of a precious Saviour; and endear\nsalvation, by free grace alone.\n\nOn the first head of this subject, I would just observe, the blessedness\nof being early called by the grace of God, can never be fully appreciated\nin this world.  We read of some who were called at a very early period:\nJeremiah was really sanctified from the womb: John the Baptist was filled\nwith the Holy Ghost in the womb; which shews the possibility of a work of\ngrace in the souls of those who die in infancy, as they are in general,\nif not _all_, influenced by the Holy Spirit before their departure, and\nare passively the subjects of Regeneration.  What a consolation for a\nparent bereaved of a _lovely babe_!\u2014It appears Joseph was early taught of\nGod; perhaps the first martyr, Abel, was\u2014it is very clear Obadiah,\nJosiah, David, and Solomon, were early converted.  Samuel and Timothy\nknew the Saviour at a very early period\u2014the Lord was their guide from\ntheir youth.  This saves a person from many a bitter pang,\u2014many a sigh,\nmany a tear, many a deep, black, sad reflection of parents, broken\nhearts, violated sabbaths, a despised gospel, a ruined pocket, and\nconstitution.  To be sure grace shines very bright in the calling of\nsuch; but you and I must say, we are greater debtors to preserving grace.\nI rejoice your mind was so early imprest with the power of godliness, and\nthat you was directed under a sound ministry, which clearly pointed out\nthe way of salvation, by free grace alone; for the labour of some foolish\npreachers wearieth every one, because they know not how to go to the\ncity.  But this is not the youth in the text, they are the seed which the\nLord hath blessed\u2014the seed of God; the seed that was to serve the Lord,\ncalled the seed of Jacob; for these the Redeemer entered into a covenant\nwith his Father\u2014for these he travailed in spirit, groaned, cried, obeyed,\nbled, and died.  Hence the promise, _He shall see of the travail of his\nsoul and be satisfied_.  This is begun in our conversion, and will be\naccomplished in our final glorification.  Hence the Psalmist says, _As\narrows in the hand of the mighty so are the children of thy youth_.  And\nthe matter of the covenant between the Father and the Son, is thus\nexhibited\u2014_Thy people shall be willing __in the day of thy power_, _in\nthe beauties of holiness_.  _From the womb of the morning thou hast the\ndew of thy youth_\u2014which beautiful passage Mr. Hervey translates, and\nparaphrases thus: \u201cAs the morning is the mother of dews; produces them,\nas it were, from a prolific womb; and scatters them with the most lavish\nabundance, over all the surface of the earth: _So shall thy seed be_, O\nthou everlasting Father!  By the preaching of thy word, shall such an\ninnumerable race of regenerate children be born to thee, and fill all\nlands.  Millions, millions of willing converts, shall _croud_ into thy\nfamily, and _replenish_ thy church; till they become like the stars of\nHeaven, or the sands of the sea, for multitude; or even as _numberless_,\nas these fine _spangles_, which now cover the face of nature.\u201d\n\nOf the same opinion was the late Mr. Huntington; see his \u201cLight shining\nin Darkness;\u201d on the 110th _Psalm_.  \u201cThe youth which is to spring from\nthe womb and is to be numerous as the drops of the dew, seem to _be_ a\ntime yet to come; when the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the\nearth\u2014when a nation shall be born at once\u2014when a little one shall become\na thousand\u2014and when the Lord\u2019s family will consist of strong men in the\nfaith; who are called youth; instead of thy fathers, shall be thy\nchildren, whom thou mayest make Princes in the earth;\u201d this must be when\nthe greatest kingdom under the whole heavens shall be given to the saints\nof the most high, and they shall take it, and possess it, for\n\n    Jesus shall reign where\u2019er the Sun\n    Does his successive journies run.\n\nThe truly excellent Dr. Hawker reads this passage in reference to the\nheavenly extraction of the Lord\u2019s people, to shew, That sovereign grace\nwill give to Christ an abundance of souls, like the dew drops; so\nnumerous as to be perfectly incalculable: \u201cAnd they shall come of\nheavenly extraction, as the dew from God, _being born not of the will of\nthe flesh_, _but of God_; and unperceived, unnoticed, and unknown, as the\nsilent drops of the morn; _for the kingdom of God cometh not by\nobservation_: and as they are begotten like the dew, without the aid of\nman, so also shall they be preserved by the same predisposing cause,\nwithout man\u2019s descent.\u2014_Not by might or by power_, _but by my spirit_,\n_saith the Lord of Hosts_.\u201d  Thus the youth to whom Solomon writes are\nthe spiritual seed of God, and not to mere carnal worldly youth, who are\ndestitute of the knowledge of God.  Dear _Amicus_, adieu\u2014Grace and peace\nbe with you.\n\n                                  I remain, your\u2019s in the Sinner\u2019s friend,\n\n                                               [Picture: Signature: J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER II_.\n\n\n                                TO AMICUS.\n\n                                                          _Lambeth_, 1814.\n\nBELOVED FRIEND,\n\nAMIDST a vast multitude of thoughts which occurred to my mind this\nmorning, one more than all the rest, seemed longest to abide, namely,\nthat as the Lord\u2019s people are called Servants as well as Sons, it appears\nto me that the services of none are accepted of God, but only the\nservices of those who are Sons by adoption and graces and by the\ntestimony of the Holy Spirit in the heart.  Such Sons are also called his\nServants, who shall serve him: they were by nature the servants of the\nDevil, wore his livery, and did his will; but Almighty grace having\nwrought a glorious change in the heart, there is a change of the service;\nand this service is not in the oldness of the letter, but in the newness\nof the spirit; then it must be with a new heart, a new spirit; with new\nviews, aims, pursuits and ends.  Into this service we are first\npressed\u2014then we become volunteers, and though we meet with many\ndiscouragements by the way, yet we are not tired of our Master, nor he of\nus; nor do we serve in heart, in affection, in word and deed, as we wish\nwe could, yet he kindly accepts the will for the deed, and says, _If\nthere be a willing mind_, _it is accepted according to what a man hath_,\n_and not according to what he hath not_.  In the service of so divine a\nLord, our chariot wheels would fain run swift along.  My dear Brother can\nrecollect when his feet run cheerfully in the way\u2014_ye did run well_, _who\ndid hinder you_? and you had a divine command for it\u2014_Rejoice_, _O young\nman_, _in thy youth_, _and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy\nyouth_.  Walk in the way of thy new heart, and in the light of truth that\nyou are favored with; but it is added, that all this work must be tried,\njudged, and proved, that it may appear to be genuine, that what belongs\nto God may go to God, and what belongs to nature you may discover, and\nlament; for this is the design of the furnace, the design of the fire of\ntribulation\u2014therefore do not be alarmed, as though some unaccountable\nthing had happened.  In the days of prosperity you did right to be\njoyful; in those days of adversity you must now consider, the Lord\napproved of the days of your youth, and even promises a renewal of them;\nand David declared he experienced it: this you may see in the following\ntexts\u2014_I remember thee_, _and the kindness of thy youth_, _and the love\nof thy __espousals_, _when thou wentest after me in a land that was not\nsown_.\u2014_He shall return to the days of his youth_.  _Thy youth is renewed\nas the Eagle\u2019s_.  This is experienced after a season of backsliding and\ndarkness, deadness, and misery.  In these youthful days it is necessary\nto be diligent, as dark days may come.  Hence the exhortation, _Remember\nthy Creator in the days of thy youth_.  These youthful days do not so\nmuch regard the time of life as the time of the light, love, and liberty\nof the children of God; these are our first, best, and sweetest days.\n\nHence it is said, _it is good for a man that he bear the yoke in his\nyouth_: whatever may be the sense of this text, it is a point beyond all\ncontroversy, that it is a mercy to be taught out of the Law, in our first\nsetting out, to bear the yoke of our transgressions, and receive\ndeliverance from them by the precious blood and righteousness of Christ.\nIt is likewise a mercy to be in the service of Christ, in health and\nstrength of body and mind; the service of Christ is easy and his burden\nlight; so he told his disciples, _Take my yoke upon you_.  The word\nyouth, does not always signify the term of years; this is evident from\nJob\u2019s pathetic moan\u2014_O that it was with me as in the days of my youth_,\nwhen I was blest with health of body, peace of mind, cheerful days,\nplenty of ordinances, and means to get the knowledge Jesus; and an\ninclination thereto, while the Spirit taught me to say, _My Father_,\n_thou art the guide of my youth_.  And hence the apostate and backslider\nis said, to forsake the guide of her youth.  Thus it appears the time to\nremember our creators is the days when first imprest with the good things\nof God; when powerfully drawn on by the cords of love; when we feel\nstrong, lively, warm, and affectionate; when peace, comfort, and joy, are\nfelt; when the mind is free from care, vexation, temptation, and misery;\nwhen God blesses us with health and strength, with ministers and books,\nwith ordinances, and the company of saints.  These are our most happy but\nnot most god-glorifying times; yet, while they last, Solomon advises a\ncareful attention to great truths, as we may meet with many crafty,\ncruel, malicious enemies to God, enemies to the doctrines of the Trinity\nin Unity; enemies to the Covenant of Redemption; enemies to free Grace,\nto the Work of the Holy Ghost; to the Divinity and work of the adorable\nImmanuel; and in fact, to every revealed truth.  So Paul advises, _Put on\nthe whole armour of God_, _that ye may stand in the evil day_.  Every\npart of this armour will be needed, for it is provided for poor\nbelievers, who have to wrestle hard with sins, and doubts, and fears,\nnothing short of an experimental knowledge of the truth will abide the\nfurnace, will stand in the days of evil, which are coming on, and which\nall the Lord\u2019s children, either in a greater or less degree, must endure\nfor it is plain those who fall away had only the form of godliness,\nwithout the power: there may be a form of sound words, a form of\nknowledge; a form of faith, of hope of love, of humility\u2014this is but\nsuperficial; my dear Brother, I hope, has been convinced of the danger of\nthis, and that nothing short of the gracious teachings of the Holy Ghost\ncan satisfy his mind.  This leads me to consider the second particular I\npromised to attend to in my first letter\u2014The glorious object\u2014_Thy\nCreators_.\n\nI need not tell you I am no scholar, I wish I was; but the passage must\nbe read in the plural, according to the testimony of most Hebrew\nscholars\u2014_Remember now thy_ CREATORS.  There are other texts which must\nbe read in the same way: _Where is God thy_ MAKERS, _who giveth songs in\nthe night_?  _Let Israel rejoice in_ THEM _that made him_.  _Thy_ MAKERS\n_is thy husband_; _the Lord of Hosts is his name_.  We live in an awful\nday, wherein the most crying sin of our nation is the dreadful opposition\nto the doctrine of the most adorable Trinity in Unity, though it is a\ntruth so clearly revealed\u2014the foundation of the Church and the\nchristian\u2019s highest glory.  Alas! how awfully opposed!  Many great and\nlearned, experimental christians have employed their pens in proving from\nsacred scripture, this most glorious point of Doctrine, the foundation of\nall the rest.  The adversaries of this truth pretend to hold the Unity of\nthe Godhead\u2014so do we.  They say there is but one God\u2014so do we; but can\nthey prove that the Godhead does not, cannot admit of _three_ distinct\nPersons in that Essence?\u2014No!  We, then, who are Trinitarians, can prove\nthat there is but one simple, undivided Essence; and, that, if there is\nany truth in the Bible, there are _distinct subsistences_ in that one\nGodhead\u2014that these three are equal in power, majesty, dignity, and glory;\nco-equal, co-essential, and co-eternal.  There are not three Gods, but\n_three Persons_ in the Godhead.  That there are three distinct\nSubsistences, which, for want of better words, we call _Persons_, is\nevident from a vast many passages of scripture\u2014distinct from each other,\nin Person, Name, and Office; for, to what beside the term Person, can we\nwith any propriety apply the distinct acts of speaking, working, and\ncommanding?  And the Persons in the Trinity are clearly set forth by\ntheir personal characters, such as _I_, _me_, _him_, _thou_, _his_, _he_.\nThe scriptures plainly declare that _there are three that bear record in\nheaven_, _the Father_, _the Word_, _and the Holy Ghost\u2014and these three\nare one_\u2014one in the divine Essence, undivided, which Essence is peculiar\nto the three; yet these have different modes of subsisting in this\nEssence, which we must call Persons\u2014and they must be Persons, to be\nTestifiers\u2014testifying is a personal act; if the Father is one testifier,\nthe Son another, and the Holy Ghost a third, they must be three\n_Persons_, not three Gods; only one in the divine Essence, but three\ndistinct in Personality, Name, and Office.  The Unity of the Godhead is\nexprest in this text, _Hear O Israel_, _the Lord our God is one Lord_.\nBut the Plurality of Persons in the Godhead is exprest as before\u2014_There\nare three which bear record_, _the Father_, _the Word_, _and the Holy\nGhost_.  There is one God; this is not said to the exclusion of the Son\nand the Spirit, for the Word is applied to both as well as to the Father,\nand in the same senses.\n\nThis doctrine will still appear more plain, to my dear brother, by the\n_plural_ names of God.  In the first verse of the Bible it is evident\u2014_In\nthe beginning God created the heaven and the earth_.  That this name is\n_plural_, is plain by the work of the distinct Persons.  _And the spirit\nof God moved upon the face of the waters_.  And the third person is\nspoken of as the WORD, who said _Let there be light_.  Thus the _three in\none_ were concerned in creation.  In Ephesians iii, 9, God is said to\ncreate all things by Jesus Christ\u2014this is one Person\u2014Christ is said to be\ncreator too\u2014_by the word of the Lord was the heavens made_, _and all the\nhost of them by the breath of his mouth_.  Here is the Word that was with\nGod, and was God; and the spirit of God moved upon the face of the\nwaters.  _By his spirit he garnished the heavens_, _and his hand framed\nthe crooked Serpent_.  This is the Holy Trinity in Unity\u2014the Persons who\nsaid, _Let_ US _make man in_ OUR _image_, _after_ OUR _likeness_.\n_Behold the man is become at one of_ US.  _Go to_, _let_ US _go\ndown_.\u2014_Whom shall I send_, _and who will go for_ US?  These words\nclearly prove a plurality of Persons.  _If any man love me_, _my Father\nwill love him_, _and_ WE _will come unto him_, _and make_ OUR _abode with\nhim_.\n\nIn the Epistle of John we read of Communion with the Father, and the Son;\nand Paul speaks of Communion with the Holy Ghost.  The glorious Covenant\nof Grace shews a Plurality of Persons.  Divine worship is to be given to\nthe three Persons.  Baptism is in their Names: sometimes one Person is\nmentioned before the other; _the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ_, _the\nlove of God_, _and the communion of the Holy Ghost_; here Christ is first\nmentioned.  _The Lord direct your hearts into the love of God_, _and into\na patient waiting for Christ_.  _The acknowledgement of God_, _and of the\nFather_, _and of Christ_\u2014thus we see the Spirit is mentioned first.  In\nthe first chapter of Ephesians the Father is first introduced\u2014Paul prays\nthat the _Father of our Lord Jesus Christ would grant the spirit of\nwisdom in the knowledge of Christ_.  These, and many other passages\nevidently prove that there are _Three_ in _One_ and _One_ in _Three_, God\nblessed for evermore; so the Scripture teaches, and so must we believe;\nto err in this subject is fatal.  But the Spirit has engaged to lead us\ninto all truth, nor can one humble follower of Jesus go down to the\nshades of death, opposing this glorious doctrine.  How these are _one_,\nand how each Person subsists in the one Divine Essence, is not for us to\nknow, nor is it of any importance, it is enough for me to know, that the\nterms of Father, Son, and Spirit, are not given to shew what the Trinity\nis in the divine Essence, as God; but what they are to the church in an\neverlasting Covenant; and this is life eternal to know the Father, that\nadopted me as his own\u2014to know the Lord Jesus, in the greatness of his\nsalvation, by the teaching and leading of the Holy Ghost.  This is the\nharmonious witness in the word, and I bless God for the same in the\nheart.  There are three which bear witness; and he that believeth on the\nSon hath the witness in himself; and this is the witness, the Father\nsays, _Yea I have loved thee_; the Redeemer says, _I have redeemed thee_;\nand the voice of the Spirit is known, _I have called thee_.  This is the\npoint I want you, my brother, to apprehend, to feel, and enjoy.  This is\na religion that will stand the test, will bear the furnace, and all\nreligion, besides what comes from, and leads to the adorable Trinity, is\nmadness, delusion and daring presumption!  This is the _maker_ or\nMAKERS\u2014CREATORS, _father_, _husband_, _friend_, and _God_.\n\nThe wise man not only points out the glorious Object, but the Work in\nwhich they are engaged, even the Work of Creation.  These glorious\nPersons having formed the grand plan of salvation, which was the first\ngreat act of Jehovah, in Council and Covenant, now brings forth the grand\ntheatre of the Universe, whereon to display the glories of rich, free,\nrestoring grace; and this act of power, love, wisdom, and goodness, is\nthe joint Work of the _three Persons_; as the word _God_ is a plural\nterm, _Elohim_, or as some term it _Alehim_\u2014the Persons engaged, the\nCovenanters.  This is a point that has been long proved by good and great\nmen\u2014the several acts of Creation\u2014God created the heaven and earth, formed\nboth; then the Spirit\u2019s, act\u2014_and the Spirit of God_, the Lord and giver\nof life, _moved upon the face of the waters_, to separate the parts which\nwere mixed together, and to give them a quickening virtue, to produce\nliving creatures in them.  Then the Saviour is represented as saying,\n_Let there be light_, _and there was light_.  This came from himself, who\nis called the Light of the World.  _And God said_ (this is repeated nine\ntimes over; and as the term God is plural, and includes the Three, there\nis great propriety and beauty in the expression) _Let_ US _make man in_\nOUR _image_, _after_ OUR _likeness_.  This consultation is designed to\npoint out that honor and dignity that was to be conferred on Man, the\nnoblest work of all his creatures\u2014_in his image_, as God\u2019s vicegerent;\nhaving dominion over the creatures; erect in his body; with every\nexcellent endowment of his mind; in purity, holiness, and righteousness;\nin wisdom and beauty\u2014thus man was made in his image.  But though this is\na great truth, yet I humbly conceive this is not all; from all eternity\nGod had a favour towards man; and having exalted the dear Saviour to be\nthe great Head of the Church, he set him up in the nature of his people,\nso that Adam was formed in the nature, in the very image which God had\ndesigned to honour Christ in; that image made he man: this was agreeable\nto divine consultation.  In this image our dear Lord four thousand years\nafterwards made his appearance; and this was the joint work of the Holy\nTrinity\u2014_a body hast thou prepared me_.  He took part of the children\u2019s\nflesh and blood\u2014_The power of the Holy Ghost shall come on thee_, _and\nthat which shall be born unto thee shall be called the Child of the Most\nHigh_.\n\nThus the formation of our nature is the joint work of the Trinity, in the\nfirst and second Adam; but this point will appear of equal importance if\nwe contemplate our New Creation, as the work of the same divine Persons.\nOur Regeneration is called a Creation, but more of this in my next.  The\nbest of blessings attend you.\n\n                                  So prays your willing servant to command\n                                                         in all Godliness,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER III_.\n\n\n                                TO AMICUS.\n\nDEAR FRIEND,\n\nGRACE and peace be with you.  I thought it needful to drop you another\nLetter on a subject of infinite importance to you, to myself and to the\nwhole church of God.  The Saviour, in a conversation with a learned and\npolite Doctor of Divinity, positively declared the necessity of another,\na New, a second _Birth_.  Blessed be God, the salvation of the children\nof God is completed without this, but we must be born again to know this\nsalvation is ours; and to pretend to lay claim to such Salvation, without\nbeing born again, is most daring presumption!  This _new Birth_ is a\nchange of heart and life; the formation of a new man; an infusion of holy\nprinciples\u2014all new\u2014every thing; that is, every principle which the Holy\nSpirit inspires is new; new views, new sensations, new ideas, new\npursuits; and new trials; all is become new.  _If any man be in Christ\nJesus he is become new_.  This birth goes by various names in\nscripture\u2014it is stiled _a Calling_; _The master is come and calleth for\nthee_.  It is represented as an _implanting_ or _engrafting\u2014Cut off from\nthe old stock_: Our souls cleave to Jesus as our all in all.  It is a\n_Conquest_; by the power of the Holy Spirit our enmity is slain, our\nwills subdued, and our affections set on heavenly objects.  It is called\nan _heavenly Birth_\u2014Of the seed of God\u2019s word we are said to be begotten\nto a lively hope.  A new man is formed; for this the Redeemer travailed\nin spirit; for this ministers labour and toil; and to enjoy God in Christ\nJesus, no small portion of spiritual labour falls to the share of the\nhappy possessor.  The Saviour enters the soul; this must create a stir\nthere.  He comes into, and by the door of the heart; all that come in any\nother way, as sin and Satan did, are thieves and robbers.  Upon his\nentrance we, by his light, see our lost state\u2014feel our guilt\u2014conscience\nis quickened, as well as the mind enlightened; and here, my brother, you\nmay discover the vast disparity between the Possessor and the mere\nnominal Professor; it is not to be seen either in their light, or\nconduct, for a man destitute of the grace of God, may be clear in his\nhead, and upright in his moral deportment.  This is the snare that is\ncome upon the Churches: these are the false evidences by which thousands\nare deceived\u2014it is not enough, the main spring is wanting, which is LIFE.\nThis is the genuine work of God: this proves our union with the Living\nVine.  By this life I feel myself condemned by the Law.  I feel a spirit\nof bondage to fear.  I feel the sting of death.  I feel the workings of\ncorruption, which I knew nothing of before.  I feel dreadful\napprehensions of God\u2019s wrath; and while my conscience feels these things,\nI see, in the light of the word, and by the Spirit, the exact\nsuitableness of the dear Saviour.  I am enabled by the same Spirit to\nbelieve he lived, obeyed, suffered, died, and is risen again, and\nreceives poor sinners\u2014the lost, the helpless, the guilty, and the vile.\nThis begets a hope in my mind that he will save me.  The Promises\nencourage me\u2014the freeness of grace\u2014the Lord delighting in mercy, through\nthe satisfaction of Jesus\u2014the scriptural account of poor sinners as vile\nas me being saved.  These things encourage me to hope; while my faith,\nsmall as it is, argues at times, as Manoah\u2019s wife did, If the Lord had\nmeant to have destroyed me, would he have shewed me what I see?\u2014or told\nme what he has?  No, no!\n\nBut while I thank God, and am taking courage, perhaps sin again overcomes\nme\u2014the Law still works wrath; Satan then takes the advantage, and down I\nsink again, and must there lay till the dear Father of Mercies draw me to\nChrist again.  Thus the spiritual life, at this time, hangs in doubt, and\nthere is no assurance of life, either spiritual or eternal.  This is\ntravailing in spirit, coming to the birth, and no strength to bring\nforth.  This is tarrying long in the place of the breaking forth of\nchildren; panting, breathing, looking, thirsting, longing for the\nknowledge of the pardon of sin, the clear witness of the Spirit, and the\nsweet, smiting, kind, loving approbation of God.  Such souls are already\npronounced blessed, and what God has promised he will surely perform.\nSuch long to come forth; are afraid of peace and comfort, ease and\nquietness, lest it should not be God\u2019s work; and such would rather be\nalways in bondage than in carnal ease, or false peace or confidence.\n\nBeautiful that Promise, _Blessed are they that hunger and thirst after\nrighteousness_, _for they shall be filled_.  Such are represented as\nwaiting upon God.  Those that wait upon the Lord shall renew their\nstrength\u2014and they shall not be ashamed that wait for me.  At the Pool of\nBethesda they lay till Jesus appears\u2014at the posts of God\u2019s Doors they\nwait till favour is shewed them\u2014they are admitted to the Inner Court,\ntill faith gathers strength enough to believe in the love of God towards\nthem; and till they can receive into their souls the Atonement this gives\npeace to the conscience, and joy in God, and this honor have all the\nsaints.  This is the New Birth, which you, I trust, know something of\nexperimentally; but darkness will sometimes hide it from you.  I must\nrecommend you a sweet text in Job.  _Thine age shall be clearer than the\nnoon day\u2014thou shalt shine forth_, _thou shall be clear as the morning_.\n\nBut this new-making second Birth, and new Creation, is the joint work of\nthe adorable Trinity, and is, of course, property ascribed to each\nPerson, _Remember therefore thy new Creators_.  Let Israel rejoice in\n_them_ that made him.  God the Father is called the Father of Christ, the\nFather of Lights.  Of his own will begat he us, with the Word of Truth.\nHe sheds the dew of the Spirit upon us abundantly, through Jesus Christ\nour Lord.  This Work is also attributed to Jesus; he is the Resurrection\nand the Life\u2014he raiseth up and quickeneth whom he will; and it is by\nvirtue of his Resurrection from the dead that we are begotten again to a\nlively hope.\n\nThe blessed and eternal Spirit, the Lord and giver of Life, is also the\nAuthor of this New Creation\u2014_Except a man be born of water and the Spirit\nhe cannot enter into the kingdom of heaven_.  It is the Spirit that\nquickens; he it is prepares the mind for Christ, then testifies of Christ\nto the soul.  May you, my dear Friend, enjoy much of his testimony, and\nset to your seal, that _God is true_\u2014and, if I have not tired your\npatience, let me remind you of another great act of your CREATORS, the\ncompleting the Work in a manifestative way, in the glorious Resurrection\nof the Body, to enjoy endless felicity with the soul.  This is what we\nhave in lively hope and earnest expectation; for this we groan\u2014this is\nthe redemption of the purchased Possession.  God our covenant Father\nloved our bodies as well as our souls\u2014the dear Redeemer bought the one as\nwell as the other\u2014he suffered in the body for sins done by the body.  The\nHoly Spirit graciously takes up his abode in the soul, as the earnest of\nthe future inheritance.\n\nThis Doctrine has been denied by many\u2014this has been ridiculed as contrary\nto sense and reason; but why should it be thought a thing incredible\n_that God should raise the Dead_? it can easily be accomplished by the\ninfinite power and wisdom of God, as well as the first formation of it;\nthe one will be as easy to him as the other\u2014the sacred scriptures assure\nus of it, our faith gives credit to it; and this faith is not in vain,\nthe Redeemer would lose a part of his purchase if the dead rise not;\nbesides, he has redeemed them to God, and from the grave; and the general\njudgment requires that those who sleep in the dust should come forth.\nThere is a necessity of the body rising, else we should lose part of our\nbliss; for we shall want some of our members in heaven, as the eye, to\nsee Christ in the flesh, and one another; and the ear, to hear the\neverlasting songs of praise; and the tongue, to sing them.\u2014Nor is this\ncontrary to reason; hence the dear Redeemer, and his servant Paul, has\nset it forth by the figure of a corn of wheat, which, being sown, alters,\ncorrupts, and then springs up a very different figure, yet it is the same\ncorn of wheat that was sown, though now it appears with a stalk, a blade,\nand an ear: so our bodies will be sown; and spring up again with\nadditional circumstances.  Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the\nfirst Resurrection.  What heart can conceive the joyful meeting of soul\nand body again?  This is most affectingly described by Blair:\n\n          \u2014Nor shall the conscious soul\n    Mistake its partner, but amidst the crowd,\n    Singling its other half, into its arms\n    Shall rush, with all the impatience of a man\n    That\u2019s new come home, and having long been absent,\n    With haste runs over every different room,\n    In pain to see the whole.  Thrice happy meeting!\n    Nor time, nor death shall ever part them more.\n\nThis Resurrection to eternal life, is the joint work of our glorious\n_Makers_.\u2014_Knowing that he which raised up Jesus from the dead_, _shall\nraise us up also by him_, _and shall present us with you_.  So this great\nact is ascribed to the dear Saviour; he shall change our vile bodies.\nThe Holy Spirit will have an hand in this momentous affair, he shall also\nquicken our mortal bodies.  And it is a charming thought, my Brother,\nthat as sure as we have been quickened in the soul we shall be in the\nbody\u2014certain as we hear the voice of Jesus in the Gospel, we shall hear\nit in the Resurrection, calling us forth to eternal life.  And as sure as\nthe Gospel trumpet proclaims liberty to our souls, the last trumpets\nsound shall bring liberty to our bodies.  Let this thought comfort you,\nnor shall you be ashamed of your hope, for the mouth of the Lord hath\nspoken it.\n\nIt is time I proceed to speak of the third particular, the Wise Man\u2019s\nexhortation\u2014_Remember_.\u2014We meet with many such fatherly admonitions in\nscripture, and in fact, God promises we shall remember.  _Thou shalt\nremember all the way the Lord thy God hath led thee in the\nWilderness_.\u2014And one of the blessed Offices of the Holy Ghost is that of\na Remembrancer.  This influence over the mind we often need in our state\nof pilgrimage: we have, naturally, bad memories\u2014besides, Satan is a\nthief, and he is secretly watching to steal all the good he can from us,\nand to leave us all the dregs.  Our inbred sins, and many outward foes,\nalso hurt our memories\u2014they are Foxes that spoil the Vines, that have\ntender grapes.  It is an unspeakable mercy that our Salvation does not\ndepend upon our memories, but in God\u2019s remembering of us.  Hence he has\nsaid, _If I forget thee_, _O Jerusalem_, _let my tongue cleave to the\nroof of my mouth_.  He remembered his Covenant, he remembered his mercy.\n_I will remember my Covenant with thee_.  Then he appeals to parental\naffections, and asks, _Can a woman forget her sucking child_?  _Yea_,\n_she may forget_, (perhaps, my Brother, I am an instance of it) _yet will\nI not forget thee_.  _My kindness shall not depart from thee_, _nor the\nCovenant of my peace be removed_, _saith the Lord_, _that hath mercy on_\nTHEE, _O thou afflicted_, _tossed with tempest_, _and not\ncomforted_.\u2014Here is our security, though we are so forgetful, so\nungrateful\u2014forever we dwell in his heart, forever in his mind; and he has\ngraciously intimated there are some things which he can never do,\nconsistently with his Nature, his Perfections, and Covenant.  It was\nimpossible for God to lie: he cannot forget his people, he will not\nremember their sins; he will never leave nor forsake those he once has\nloved.\n\nBut we are exhorted to _Remember him_.  This act, in scripture, signifies\nto keep in mind somewhat future and important, that we may notice it when\nit comes again.  _Remember thou keep holy the Sabbath day_: it signifies\nto think of, and deeply consider.  _When I remember thee on my bed and\nmeditate on thee in the night watches_: it signifies to love and esteem.\n_No man remembered that same poor man_: to praise or mention the great\nacts of covenant love, in a way of gratitude.  _Remember his marvellous\nworks which he hath done_: it signifies to call to mind.  _Remember that\nye were Gentiles in the flesh_: so that we remember God, when we think\nof, believe in, and depend on him for help and strength.  _Some put their\ntrust in horses_, _some in chariots_, _but we will remember the Lord our\nGod_.  To remember, in scripture, also signifies to make a collection.\nHence the Apostle speaking of christian alms giving, says, _That we\nshould remember the poor_; _the same which I was always forward to do_.\nHere, then, clearly appears our privilege, to think deeply of the great\nthings of God\u2014often to call them to mind; his everlasting love, its\nfreeness and power; his everlasting covenant, that cannot be broken\u2014his\neverlasting purposes to save the ruined, the helpless, and the vile.  The\neverlasting righteousness of the dear God Man Mediator\u2014the everlasting\nsalvation with which all the elect shall be saved\u2014the value, the\nefficacy, and unspeakable worth of the Atonement\u2014the preciousness of the\noffices, glory, titles, and characters of the adorable Trinity in Unity.\nThese things must be deeply learnt and kept in mind\u2014the knowledge of them\nwill surely do us good in the days of evil.  To make a collection of the\ngood things the Spirit has shewn to us\u2014every token for good, every sermon\nhe has blest with power, every sweet view of Jesus, every precious\npromise that has been applied, every ray of comfort, every season of\naccess and nearness to God, every good word and kind hint he has given\nus, every deliverance he has wrought for us, every clear answer to\nprayer, whether of things temporal or spiritual.  These we ought to\nnotice, keep in mind, and often think over, with humility, with\ngratitude, with joy, with wonder; and ask, with the humble Ruth, _Why\nhave I found grace in thy sight_, _that thou shouldest take knowledge of\nme_, _seeing I am but a stranger_?\n\nRemember, with _diligence_; for as we abound in faith the Apostle says,\nWe are to abound in all diligence.  The pious Psalmist declares, His\nheart and spirit made a diligent search.  The woman who had lost her\npiece of silver, is said, To sweep the house, and search diligently till\nshe found it\u2014and the Lord is sure to bless the diligent remembrance of\nhimself; take the following texts: _The hand of the diligent maketh\nrich_.  _The hand of the diligent shall bear rule_.  _The substance of\nthe diligent man is precious_.  _The soul of the diligent shall be made\nfat_.  _The thought of the diligent tends only to plenty_.  _He that\ndiligently seeketh good procureth favour_.\u2014Thus we see what God has\npromised to the _diligent_.  Say not this is _legal_, No!\u2014I am exhorting\na believer, a quickened soul, one that has light, life, and love.  All\nspiritual actions, acceptable to God, must spring from this quarter.  Do\nyou attend while you can to these important things, nor shall you fail of\nyour reward.  Be not deceived, God is not mocked, for whatever a man\nsoweth that shall he also reap; and sure I am, every man shall find this\ntext true in his experience, 2 Cor. ix, 6, _He that soweth sparingly\nshall reap sparingly_: _He which soweth bountifully shall reap\nbountifully_.  So the scriptures affirm: I have found it and so shall\nyou.\n\nThus while you are in health of body, peace of mind, furnished with the\nSpirit\u2019s influence as a Remembrancer\u2014do call to mind, collect together\nand highly esteem these things, in meditation and prayer, and bless him\nfor what he has done for you and in you.  Turn down those pages in your\nBible which you have found precious.  Tell the dear people of God what\nChrist has done for you, that they may help you to praise him; for it is\nwritten, _They shall come and declare the Work of God in Zion_.\u2014Nor would\nyou lose any thing by it, should you keep a Diary of the Lord\u2019s dealings\nwith you; it would be blessed to read it over another day, especially in\nthe days of evil.  Hence the exhortation, _Set thee up way marks_: _set\nthee up high heaps_\u2014for, being like poor Jacob, we want reminding of our\nvows, and of God\u2019s goodness.  Hence the command, _Arise_, _go to Bethel_,\n_where thou anointedst the Pillar_, _and make thee an altar to God_, _who\nappeared for thee when thou fleddest from the face of Esau_.  It is well\nto remember what God has done for us, it encourages us in prayer and\nsweet confidence another day, as may be seen in this good man\u2019s History,\nGenesis xxxii, when pleading with God for his safety.  He acknowledges\npast mercies, when he only possessed a staff twenty years before, and\nwith it came over that very place where he then stood with two hands!  He\nconfesses his utter unworthiness, and pleads with God upon the ground of\nhis promises he had applied to him in times pest.  Presents his prayer,\nmixed with thanksgiving, and obtains an answer.  To feel gratitude is a\nmercy for it well becomes the just to be thankful.\n\n    I\u2019ll speak the honors of thy name,\n       With my last lab\u2019ring breath;\n    And, speechless, clasp thee in my arms,\n       My joy in life and death.\n\nThis leads me to notice the reasons Why Solomon urges this point;\n_because the evil days and years are coming on_, _in which you will truly\nsay_, _I have no pleasure in them_.  And as you have a little pleasure at\ntimes, and have had a good deal of pleasure in the Bible, in the House of\nGod, at the Table of the Lord, in company with the saints, in private\nretirement, in doing good to some, in pitying and in praying for others,\nand could understand something of this text, _They meetest him that\nrejoicest in thee\u2014those that remember thee in thy ways_.  In which things\nyou have had pleasure, and could rejoice in these youthful days.  But as\nsome of these days are gone, and the rest may fly, let me advise you\nagainst such seasons as you will say, You have no pleasure in.  But may\nthe Lord water you every moment, and keep you night and day, to final\nsalvation\u2014maintain his own work, and bear testimony to your spirit, what\nis his work, and what is not.  This you have prayed for many a time, and\nby terrible things in righteousness God is pleased often to answer us.\n\n                                                          I remain your\u2019s,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER IV_.\n\n\n                                TO AMICUS.\n\nDEAR FRIEND,\n\nI HAVE been a little concerned of late about the term _Prophet_.  You\nguess what is the cause: many eminent professors, who are better\nacquainted with the News-paper than the Bible, have been lately venting\nout a good deal of spite against the memory of a late Minister, in\nconsequence of what they call his ambitious and strongly-conceited\n_Epitaph_\u2014\u201cA Prophet hath been among them.\u201d  Quite forgetting that _all_\nreal, faithful ministers, are entitled to the same name.  The passage is,\nin part, quoted from Ezekiel ii, 5.  _And they_, _whether they will\nhear_, _or whether they well forbear_, _for they are a rebellious house_,\n_yet shall know that a Prophet hath been among them_.  I believe this\nname is applied to gospel ministers, nearly twenty times in the New\nTestament.  Many things of eternal importance do they prophecy; and one\nbranch of their prophecy I am sure you will find true, _viz._  That\nthrough much tribulation, they must enter the kingdom.\u2014Jacob called his\nsons together and said, _I will tell you that which shall befal you in\nthe latter days_.  And Solomon, the type of our most blessed Immanuel,\nacting in this character, gives intimation, of what _we_ must experience,\nthat are created anew in Christ Jesus, and predestinated to the\npossession and enjoyment of the good work of Jesus\u2014the good work of the\neternal Spirit, and the good work and enjoyment of the blessed in Heaven.\nThese God has ordained we should walk in\u2014these are the evidences of union\nto Jesus; and as these are our privileges, so we must indeed drink of the\nsame Cup Jesus did, and be immersed in the same Baptism.  This was what\nthe Holy Spirit witnessed to Paul, that in every city where he came bonds\nand affliction should await him, and he must go through them.  No doubt\nthese will have a glorious tendency, for our Covenant God does nothing in\nvain.  You have hitherto been much indulged; I have really envied you,\nbut the change you now experience is only to shew you what need you have\nof the _whole_ armour of God.  You are but just come into the field of\naction, to combat with sin, Satan, errors, hypocrites, and erroneous\nmen\u2014to combat with many outward and inward foes, who now appear to your\nview.\n\nBut the dear Saviour will also appear very precious now, in other forms,\nto what you have ever felt of seen him.  The Spirit will take every\nopportunity to reveal him just as you really need him.  You will so learn\nChrist that you will be able to stand in these days of evil, which must\ncome on the followers of the dear Saviour, and in which they must say\nthey feel no pleasure.  These evil days are set forth by Solomon under\nthe following metaphors: The darkness of the sun, the moon, and stars,\nwith a long, heavy, lowering sky.  These things will be understood by the\ntried family of God; so that while you have the season of getting, or\ndoing good, you must use that period for that use\u2014hence such seasons are\ncalled an _Hour_\u2014very short, but precisely fixed and determined by our\ncovenant God.  This season is called a _Day_ that will soon go away, and\nthe _Night_ commence.  This day is far spent with you, and a night is\ncome on, in which you cannot work, but must wait\u2014in which you cannot run,\nbut must stand still, till the Lord sends you bright clouds, and a clear\nshining after rain.  This season, in your experience, is called a\n_Morning_.  How lovely and pleasant, while through the falling dew of\nGod\u2019s favor, your graces budded, and the softly-pleasing southern gales\ncaused your spikenard to send forth a delightful perfume.  But evil days\nmust come; not such evil days as must befal those as have no interest in,\nor love to the Saviour, and which may never come on in _this_ world.\nHence they are said to receive their good things in this life, but the\nrighteous evil things.  What a mercy, my brother! in all that befals you\nthere is no curse, no hatred in God to you, no unatoned guilt, no danger\nof hell, or of coming short of the desired haven; nor perhaps _many_\nfears or dread of _these_ things: I hope they are gone out of your\nconscience long ago: not but you may be tempted about them for a time,\nbut these shall be gone.  Hence God promises, that on all hills which\nshall be digged with a mattock there shall not come thither the fears of\nbriars and thorns; the real cause of these fears never shall come on you\nagain.  But the design of this Letter is simply to point out some of the\nevil days.  Literally, Solomon refers to old age, with all the infinities\nthat attend it.  And this may be applied to the weakness of the human\nframe, the trouble, as well as to longevity of life; and hence the 71st\nPsalm, composed by David, and indited by the Spirit, which belongs to\nChrist.  He, the adorable Messiah, prays, _Cast me not off in the time of\nold age_, which is explained in the next clause, _when my strength\nfaileth me_; and is doubtless the meaning of the 18th verse.  This may be\nseen in his agony in the garden, when he cried out, _O my Father_! _if it\nbe possible let this cup pass from me_.  Now likewise his prayer was\nanswered, for there appeared an angel from heaven to him to strengthen\nhim.  Thus age is not always applied to length of years; a person through\naffliction of body, many cares, crosses and losses, may be old; that is,\nas weak in constitution as the most aged and infirm character.  No doubt\nmany bear up amazingly well under the infirmities of age; but it must be\nallowed these are evil days: _that_ alone which can sweeten them, is a\ngood hope through grace, the clear witness of the Spirit of God to the\nconscience, a lively precious faith in an everlasting covenant, in the\nblood of the Lamb, and in the faithfulness of that God who has graciously\nsaid, _and even to old age and hoary hairs will I be with you_.\nJustified in the Redeemer\u2019s obedience, and kept firm in the truth.\nSolomon says, _The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the\nway of righteousness_.  Happy, thrice happy old man! just upon the\nthreshold of that joy that awaits thee.  Soon thy spiritual Joseph will\nsend the waggons of his holy angels to conduct thee to himself, to behold\nall his glory.\n\n    Yet a season and you know,\n       Happy entrance shall be given\u2014\n    All your sorrows left below,\n       And earth exchang\u2019d for heaven.\n\nWhat a prospect! what a scene! what a joy! nor shall you be disappointed\nof your hope, seeing Christ is commissioned to keep what you have long\ncommitted to his dear divine hands, your body and soul, the one for\nalmost immediate glory, the other for a joyful resurrection.\n\nThus having viewed the passage in this literal form, let me return to\npoint out some of the days of evil of which the Bible speaks, and you may\nmeet with, that when they come you may remember I told you of them.  When\nGod is pleased to shew us our sinful hearts in that degree we are able to\nbear it.  When conscience reproaches us for sins of omission and\ncommission; sins long practised and long pursued by us.  Satan taking the\nadvantage of these convictions, and throwing in his fiery darts.  These\nare called the days of evil.  _Wherefore should I fear in the days of\nevil_, _when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about_.  This is a\ntime you will surely meet with, as Job and others have, who have said\nbefore you, _Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth_.\n_Thou hast set my secret sins before me_.  _Remember not the sins of my\nyouth_.  Such days as these, when guilt lies heavy on the conscience, you\nwill feel no pleasure, till faith embraces the atonement, and banishes\nfear.  Another evil day you will have is the day of temptation, when\nSatan is apparently let loose upon you, as he was upon poor Job, and\nPaul, and Jeremiah.  When you will want your head covered in the day of\nbattle, and feel your need of the shield of faith and the helmet of hope,\nthe one to cover your head, the other to repel these fiery darts of the\nDevil, which he will shoot at you\u2014fiery shot, from the burning malice of\nHell, such as strong temptation to excite burning lusts, blasphemous\nthoughts of God, horrid suggestions, debasing thoughts of Christ, with\nall the Atheism, Deism, Arianism, Socinianism, Arminianism, and\nAntinomianism of the human heart, stirred up by the Devil, to foster\ndespair, enmity, and hatred of God.  Thus tried you must watch the\nmotions of the Spirit, leading you to the death of the Saviour, and with\nyour Spirit exclaiming, Thou, O Lord, art my hope in the day of evil.\n\nI must notice another day: _Public troubles on the Church_, which I\nbelieve will come yet; I humbly conceive the man of sin will die hard; he\nseems to be hearing some of his dying groans at present, but it will have\nits last convulsive struggle; the hour of temptation must come on\u2014the\nChurch seems in her Laodicean state, and it may be really in that state\nfor all I know, though many great men suppose the Church in her Sardian\nstate; be that as it may, have we not cause to lament the general\ndrowsiness of the Church, the very few names that have not defiled their\ngarments\u2014the cloudy state of Professor and Possessor\u2014the state the\nProphet alluded to, when he said, _It shall come to pass that the light\nshall not be clear nor dark_.  Is it not true of that light which is in\nthe Church? the people not wholly in the dark about the Doctrines of the\nGospel, yet they are not clear; and perhaps, never was a time in the\nChurch when God\u2019s real people were so cloudy, generally, about their\ninterest in the Saviour, so that we may look for the sieve\u2014a sifting time\nwill come, for the Church and the World seem too much allied, at present,\nin principle and practice.  The Saviour says, _Be ye seperate_\u2014and if\nthis small, still voice is not obeyed, you may depend upon it he will\nbring his rod, _for his fan is in his hand_, _and he will thoroughly\npurge his floor_.  Hence his own declaration, _And I will bring upon thee\na day of evil_.  This you may feel personally.  Also, after having been a\nlittle at ease, and careless of God\u2019s glory, his cause, and his ways, he\nmay permit you to fall; or by associating with carnal Professors, or the\nWorld too much, God may bring on you a rod to drive you from them\u2014and if\nyou should chance to fall, and they know it, though God in mercy, gives\nyou repentance to life, they will be the first to stone you, and like the\nPriest and Levite, take care to avoid you; and if after this, you\nmaintain the sentiment of human weakness, and insist upon it man is\nnothing, but as he is made and kept by the grace of God, these stout men,\nthese whole-hearted professors, will hate you and your Doctrines; so Job\nfound, when he said, _He that is ready to slip with his feet_, _is as a\nlamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease_.  But God may bring\non you such an evil day.\n\nAnother day of evil is, _Suffering persecution from the world for the\ntruth\u2019s sake_; or from those who profess a part of the truth.  Such may\nhate you, nay the Saviour says they _shall_ hate you, and say all manner\nof evil against you\u2014_all manner_, not a few hard and ill-natured things,\nbut any thing disrespectful, spiteful, and disgraceful.  This may be the\nlot of my Brother\u2014this you will find very hard, seeing you have been kind\nto all, and acted as upright before men as you could, never deserving\nthis from man,\u2014yet meeting with it.  Defamation of character,\nendeavouring to injure you in your situation, trying to prejudice all\nyour friends against you, and to stir up your own household to oppose\nyou.  But these things _will_ they do to you, because, says the Saviour,\n_They have not known the Father nor me_.  However, you will not be wholly\ndestitute of some who will be raised up for your good.  Hence the promise\nto the persecuted saint, _And I will cause you to be well entreated in\nthe day of evil_.  This was God\u2019s promise to poor Jeremiah; and the\nSaviour gives the command, _Let my out-casts dwell with thee_, _Moab_,\n_be thou a covert to him_, _from the face of the spoiler_.\n\nThus the Lord will take care of you in time of persecution, national\ntroubles, which the children of God must feel in their degree, through\nthe loss of trade, bankruptcies, a long war, the high price of\nprovisions, and the scarcity of every national blessing; yet, depend upon\nit, the Lord will find bread for you.  So David encourages the people of\nGod, _I have been young and now am old_, _yet I never saw __the righteous\nforsaken nor his seed begging of bread_.  Or, as the learned say, it\nshould be rendered, _though_ begging of bread, _yet_ not forsaken.  Bread\nand water the Lord has promised you, and remembering that you are one of\nhis prisoners, that he is bound to maintain _you_, Friends will be raised\nup, a supply will be sent in from the most unlikely quarters.  _And the\nearth helped the woman.\u2014I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there_.\nThus you shall not want in the day of evil.  You may meet with many\nfamily troubles as Jacob did, and say with that dear Patriarch, at the\nclose of your life, _Few and evil have the days of my life been_.  Many\nevils have I met with from my children and relations, enough to break a\nheart of stone.  My relations were envious, oppressive, cruel, and\nungrateful.  My children\u2019s conduct often pierced my heart.\u2014I have been in\nmany wants and dangers, but the Lord that redeemed me from all evil, has\nthus far led me on, and I am now going home, for I have waited for thy\nsalvation, O Lord.\n\nThus my dear Brother, you may have some days of evil, from family\ntroubles, losses, crosses, and cares.  You may have no small opposition\nfrom men of corrupt minds, that lay in wait to deceive.  Hence the\nApostle recommends a clear experimental knowledge of the truth\u2014Christ the\nessential truth, and the word of God as the revealed truth.  A few head\nnotions though very clear, are not able to withstand the artifices of\nhell, for if a man is argued into a set of notions, he is liable to be\nargued out of them.  When a man of ability, reason, sense, and a vast\nstring of arguments, against the previous truths of the gospel, attacks\nsuch as have no grace in the heart, they are soon moved from the truth;\nbut when those are attacked that have felt the precious truths of the\ngospel in the heart, though the poor believer is not able to answer him\none question out of an hundred, he can prove the reality of those truths\nhe holds, because they have done so much for him.  The truth has brought\nhim from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, from the service of the\ndevil to the Service of God.  Thus He can prove the reality of Bible\ntruth, by his own present experience; and thus he is able to stand in the\nevil day, the day of rebuke and blasphemy.  I can prove the Divinity of\nGod my Saviour; by the answers he has given me to prayer, by the words he\nhas sent to my heart, with power, and by the virtue of his sacrifice,\nwhich has lifted up my mind, so as no human power or object could have\ndone, I can likewise prove the Doctrine of the Trinity, by the operation\nof the Father\u2019s love, the manifestation of the Atonement of the Son, and\nby the regenerating influences of the Spirit.  So we can experimentally\nprove the truth of every doctrine and divine ordinance.  But then, when\nall my former experience is hid from me; what am I to do, when attacked\nby my foes in this evil day, and I am as a dumb man, in whose mouth are\nno reproofs?  How shall I act? methinks you are ready to say.  To which I\nmust reply, that there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;\nbut if shut up in heart and lip, then stand still, and hence the watch\nword, _Stand_! _stand_! _shall they cry_, _but none shall look back\u2014still\nabide by the stuff_, _if you are not able to go out to battle_, _you\nshall share alike with those that do_.  _Having done all to stand_,\n_stand in the evil day_.  Still go on hearing, praying, reading, hoping,\nand waiting, and whatever errors are thrown into your mind, and have\nbrought it into bondage, you may depend upon it the Lord will deliver you\nfrom them; and here you will see sovereign grace, yourself delivered, and\nthe wise and prudent given up to believe a lie.  This made the redeemer\nglad; he rejoiced in spirit and said, _I thank thee_, _Father_, _Lord of\nheaven and earth_, _that thou hast_ HID _these things from the wise and\nprudent_, _and hast revealed them unto babes\u2014even so Father_, _for so it\nseemeth good in thy sight_.\u2014Thus may you stand in the days of evil.\n\nBut finally; sickness, age, death, and judgment, are days of evil; not\nthat there can be any curse in these things, to one of God\u2019s elect, but\nthey will be found such to those who know not God.\u2014These are days in\nwhich none but the favourites of Christ can lift up their heads: _the\nprudent man foreseeth the evil_, _and hideth himself_, _but the simple\n__pass on and are punished_.  But in times of sickness and age, the\nbrightest saint may suffer much in body, and be afflicted in mind: God\nmay hide his face, Satan may plague, conscience may be uneasy; pain may\nbe great, the spirits may droop; but there is no curse in all these\nthings: one smile from the Saviour will clear all up, and make the soul\nhappy in a sickly body.  Hence the promise, _blessed is he that\nconsidereth the poor and needy_; even a precious Jesus in his personal or\nmystical suffering, the Lord will make his bed in his sickness.  This my\ndear brother is acting the part of a kind nurse, he will strengthen you\nupon the bed of languishing: thus shall my subject be felt in times of\nsickness and age, even the peculiar blessedness of considering, of\nremembering our Creator in the days of youth.  Death and judgment will be\nevil times to many of our fallen race, but they must be the crowning days\nof all who love _his_ appearing.  But I must not enlarge, I think I shall\ntire your patience in this long letter; the sheep are gathering together,\nI must ran with some food for them\u2014\u2019tis past seven o\u2019Clock; God bless\nthee.\n\nEver your\u2019s in him who is our hiding place, and our shield,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER V_.\n\n\n                              TO THEOPHILUS.\n\nDEAR FRIEND,\n\nI well remember some conversation which we once had upon the subject of\nthe creation, and feeling my mind particularly imprest with that subject,\nI venture only to drop a word or two upon it, \u2019tis a mercy to be\nsatisfied with what God has said; but some are daringly presumptuous, so\nthat they can treat both the Deity and his revelation with contempt.  I\nam glad you are delivered from that snare.  The Mosaic account of the\nCreation has always been supposed to be too weak, simple, and incorrect\nfor a philosophic mind; they vainly suppose the mind ought to have been\nled through the whole Planetary System, instead of being led to the\nglorious Work of Redemption, which reflects his highest honour and\nbeauty; for here, and here alone, his brightest form of glory shines.\n\nThe six days work of Creation was to open to the eye of faith his works\nvery gradually, that like the stars of a night, they might be seen one by\none.  The six days work, and the seventh day of rest, was no doubt\ndesigned to shadow forth the Seven Millenniums, which would include all\ntime between the two eternities.  The first day, from Adam to Enoch, had\nin it a revelation of the true light\u2014the second, from Enoch to Abraham,\nincluding the division of the waters\u2014the third day, from Abraham to\nDavid, including the separation of the nations of the world\u2014the fourth\nday, represented the Thousand Years from Solomon to Christ, the time when\nthe Shekinah appeared in the Temple: the Church, fair as the Moon, and\nthe Prophets, the Stars, shone bright in the firmament.  At the close of\nthis, Christ the true Sun appeared.  The fifth day was to point out the\nstate of the church and the world, from Christ to the Reformation, when\nthe great Whales of Anti-christian powers, troubled the seas.  This\nlasted till the glorious Reformation, the beginning of the Sixth Day, in\nwhich we now are, and longing for the Seventh, the rest of Jesus and his\nBride, in the den of Eden, the glorious Millennium.  But infidels object\nto the Mosaic account of light, the finest emblem of Jesus\u2014there is\nnothing in the account contrary either to reason or philosophy.  I\nacknowledge the question which philosophers have asked, cannot be solved,\nthe Bible has not engaged to satisfy vain curiosity, viz. _What was that\nlight that made its appearance before the Sun_?  A very learned man\nsupposes it to have been an emanation of the same Sun that enlightens us,\nand which was created though it had not yet appeared in his glory, yet it\nshed sufficient light to make the Globe visible.\u2014This is not a bad idea\nfor a half-hearted Christian Philosopher.\u2014Milton seems to lean this way\nwhen speaking of light\u2014\n\n    To journey through the aerial gloom began,\n    Sphered in a radient cloud, for yet the Sun\n    Was not, she in a cloudy tabernacle\n    Sojourn\u2019d the while.\n\nThis is a very pretty idea, nor is it at all contrary to reason any more\nthan the cloud that followed the Israelites which contained a shade, a\nfire, darkness, and light at the same time.  Yet the word of God is true,\nand to that we must adhere.  As light without the sun was first formed,\nso it appears the great Creator collected these particles of light into\none body, the Sun.  The language of scripture often expresses the\nappearance of things to us, such as the Sun rising and setting, which at\nthe same time, perfectly in the main point, agreeing with the Newtonian\nSystem of Philosophy.  Did light appear first? was it not to notice the\ndispensation for the four first thousand years, till on the fourth day\nthe Sun of Righteousness should appear?  Was it not an emblem of all the\nlight the Church of God has now, till the second appearance of the Son of\nGod in our nature, and of that light which we have till the Saviour\nshines upon the soul, with healing in his beams?  We have light to see\nourselves and his glory, but we want him to shine with power, then we\nshall _be light in the Lord_, till then, light and darkness must struggle\ntogether; and God divided them, to shew the difference between the Law\nand the Gospel\u2014between the Flesh and the Spirit, between the Church and\nthe World\u2014between the Elect and the Reprobate\u2014Christ and Anti-christ.\nSee the light and darkness struggling; see it soon begins in Cain and\nAbel, and to this day it continues, and will for ever.  The Elect and\nReprobate are divided in election, in redemption, in calling, in\nprinciples, in practices, in death, judgment, and eternity.  May this\nsubject lead you and me to the Saviour, who is the light, the beauty,\npurity, loveliness, and glory of the Church.  O may we see him, love him,\nadore him, and enjoy him, till we behold him in Heaven.\n\nPermit me to notice further, that the Holy Ghost is pleased to represent\nvarious characters and things by these same terms, Sun, Moon, Light, and\nStars,\u2014which is really worthy our attention.  He sets forth the Lord\nJesus by that well known emblem, the Sun, and I think it is the finest\nfigure in nature; and hence that very precious promise to those who are\nthe called according to his purpose, _Unto you that fear my name shall\nthe Sun of righteousness arise with healing in his beams_.  Eternal sun,\nwhose morning measures all our days, who hast gradually risen on my dear\nfriend\u2019s heart, shine brighter to perfect day, even to that blessed\nmeridian when in our flesh we shall see God.\n\nSometimes the moon, in scripture, signifies the Church of God as inferior\nto Christ, the glorious sun, from whom they borrow all their light and\ntruth; their frames and feelings inconstant, spotted in their hearts and\nlives, which is the cause of much grief to their souls, yet they are the\nlight of this lower world, and their influence is great on the sea of\nthis troubled state.\n\nLight is sometimes used as an emblem of God\u2019s word, as pure, glorious,\npleasant, and comfortable, penetrating and purifying.  While favored with\nthis light, may we walk in it, lest darkness overtake us, as it is\nwritten, _Give glory to the Lord your God_, _before he cause\ndarkness_.\u2014By Stars, in scripture, sometimes the Spirit condescends to\npoint out the Ministers of the Gospel, with all the Ordinances, which are\ndesigned, like the Star in the East, to lead to the grand end, the Babe\nof Bethlehem.  These are fixed in the firmament of the Church, for\nadorning it, and for guiding the spiritual mariner to endless glory,\namidst the nights of trouble and woe.  These are held in the hands of\nChrist, kept, supported, and blest by him; and though constantly opposed\nand troubled, yet shine on, and shine forth.  This is the mystery of the\nSeven Stars.  But these are likewise used to point out other things in\nsacred writ.  When God foretold the exaltation of Joseph, in a dream, he\nshewed him, in a second revelation, the sun, moon, and eleven stars,\nbowing down to him; which was afterwards explained by the venerable\nPatriarch finding an asylum with his son Joseph, and his brethren doing\nhim homage in his state of exaltation.\u2014And was it not a striking type of\nour truly-exalted spiritual Joseph? honored by the most dignified\ncharacters in our world, for kings shall submit themselves to him, and\nthe whole Church of Jesus, the moon, with all the stars, ministers of the\nGospel, that should bow before him, and Crown him Lord of all.\n\nI remark again, that when the Saviour predicted the overthrow of\nJerusalem, he foretold that the sun should be darkened, that is, that the\nLord, who was the light of the Jewish Church, should withdraw his light,\njustly leave them in judicial blindness, in which they remain to this\nday\u2014that the moon should be turned into blood, that is, their Synagogue,\ntheir Church, which was put to the sword, (at least the greatest part of\nthem)\u2014that the stars should fall\u2014their doctors, rulers over the church\nand state\u2014which they did.  But Solomon, in his 12th of Ecclesiastes,\nverse 2, seems to borrow these metaphors of sun, moon, light, and stars,\nand applies them to the human frame, when sickness or old age has\nimpaired it.  Good Mr. Henry remarks on this passage\u2014the decays and\ninfirmities of old age are here elegantly set forth in figurative\nexpressions, which have some difficulty in them to us now, who are not\nacquainted with the phrases and metaphors used in Solomon\u2019s age and\nlanguage.  But the general scope is plain, to shew how uncomfortable,\ngenerally, the days of old age are.  Then he proceeds, and says, that the\nsun, moon, stars, and light will be dim to old people, through the decay\nof their sight; their countenance is decayed, and the beauty and lustre\nof it is eclipsed\u2014their intellectual powers and faculties, which are as\nlight in the soul, are weakened\u2014their understanding and memory fail them,\nand their apprehension is not so quick, nor their fancy so lively as it\nhas been.\u2014Light is often put for joy and prosperity\u2014the days of their\nmirth are over, and they have not the pleasure either of the converse by\nday, or the repose of night, for both the sun and moon was darkened to\nthem; then the clouds return after the rain, as when the weather is\ndisposed to wet, no sooner is one shower blown over but another succeeds\nit, when one pain is a little abated another comes on\u2014the gout, the\nrheumatism; and so these afflictions being common to aged persons, they\nare continually grieved.\n\nThat famous commentator, Patrick, observes on this verse, that the words\nintimate the universal decay of the whole frame of nature, and a failing\nof the mind in all its faculties and powers\u2014that something particular is\nsignified by every word; that by the sun is meant the soul itself; by the\nlight the understanding, by the moon his will, by the stars all the\nmotion of the mind and memory, with all the affections and powers in the\nwill.  So the sense of the wise man is thus\u2014the mind of man grows feeble\nin all its powers, the understanding dim-sighted, the memory forgetful,\nthe reason weak and childish, giving even a feeble light, that can\nneither direct ourselves or others.  The will listless in all its\ndesires, dull about our greatest concerns, wavering and inconstant in all\nresolutions, and so on.  But the interpretation first mentioned seems\nmost consistent.\n\nSurely then, my Brother, these are some of the evil days which are\nhastening on us, and though we may not live to see old age, yet, through\naffliction we may have all our faculties as much impaired as the most\nancient person in the world; this has been very often seen.\u2014What a mercy\nI do consider it, that _he_ who hath begun the good work in my heart, can\ncarry it on without my aid, or the concurrence of my powers or faculties\nworking with him.  Say not it is my duty to do so and so, in and with the\nwork of the Spirit: _Thou_, _Lord_, says the Church, _shall work all our\nworks __in us_, _and ordain peace for us_.  But while we would look\nforward to the evil days which must come on the body, may we not notice\nsome evil days that our souls may meet with, when the all-healing,\ncomfortable, soul-reviving, soul-cheering, heart-warming beams of Christ,\nthe glorious Sun of Righteousness shall be with-held, and coldness,\ndeadness, sickness, darkness, legality, and distance is felt; and such\nseasons have befel the brightest saints.  Hence the mournful cry, _Why\nhidest thou thy face_, _O Lord_? _thou hidest thy face and we are\ntroubled_, about our state, our feelings, our wants, our prospects, our\nway, our end.  We always know when we feel him shine and when we do not,\nthough, as it respects himself, he is just the same in his shining, but\nwe are not sensible of it by reason of the cloud that cometh betwixt.\nWhen we feel this wretched state we are always ready to fly to means,\nthough we ought never to neglect them; yet there is a proneness in us to\ncleave to something short of the main subject.  But, alas, we find the\nmoon of Ordinances is just as dark!  We move backwards and forwards, like\nthe door on its hinges, yet get neither dew nor rain, light, life,\ncomfort, nor joy.  At the table of the Lord we neither feel love nor pity\nfor our dear Saviour.  In singing his praises we have no heart, in\nassociating with his people we get nothing from them; if they talk of\njoys, we have none! if of a broken-heart, we feel nothing but hardness\u2014if\nof light or comfort, we feel destitute of both\u2014thus the moon gives no\nlight.  As to ministers, they don\u2019t seem to touch our case, nor is their\nword cloathed with any power.  We fancy they are very much altered in\ntheir preaching\u2014we change them: the passions are stirred up for a little\nwhile, but we find we are in just the same state.  Hence the spouse is\nrepresented as having lost her lover\u2014she rises, runs, seeks, mourns, and\nis still disappointed.  _I sought him but I found him not_.  Then she\nwent into the broad places of public worship, then into the streets,\namong the inhabitants; after this to ministers, to enquire, _how_? _why_?\nand _wherefore_?  But, for a season, all was still dark, yes, very dark\nindeed: these stars seem to give but little light during such painful\nseasons: the scriptures of light shut up in their beautiful histories,\npromises, types, parables, and doctrines, where we could see Christ once\nin every part, and enjoy him; now, alas, it is not so, but it is as a\nspring shut up, and sealed from us.  While this is attended with a\nlowering sky, and a continual dropping of rain; no bright clouds now\nreturn as they used to do, and how it is with us we cannot tell.  Once if\nwe felt a little dark or uncomfortable, it was soon gone, smiling hope\nused to spring up, or a promise sent home with power.  The company of\nGod\u2019s people cheered us up, or a little access to God\u2019s throne revived\nus.  Seldom heard a sermon but we got something by it\u2014and if a few storms\nof persecution, temptation or corruption, or family trials befel us, the\nLord made a bright cloud after it; but, alas, it is not thus with us now,\nthese clouds don\u2019t return after the rain\u2014thus\n\n    Afflictions like vapours may rise,\n       Light, love, and delight may be gone;\n    The sun may be dark in the skies,\n       And hell with its legions come on!\n\nAh, my dear Brother, these are dark days truly, but it shall not be\nalways thus; _to the upright there arises light in darkness_\u2014this light\nis sown for us, and shall spring up again.\n\nBut may I not here enquire, as on another occasion, the Prophet did,\n_Shall there be an evil in the City and the Lord hath not done it_?  _Is\nthere not a cause_?  _Why doth a living man_ (a quickened man)\n_complain_?  Let us enquire the cause: Have you not been making too much\nof your comforts?  Have you not been looking at them instead of the\nSaviour, living on them instead of his fulness?\u2014and were you not too\nprone to slight those who had not attained the same consolation?  And, if\nso, Can you wonder that God should permit a partial death to overtake\nyou?\u2014Or, perhaps, there may be other causes\u2014a sad neglect of those means\nwhich are appointed for the spiritual health of the soul: as abstinence,\nor neglect of food, will soon bring the body into a pining, languishing\ncondition, so, if the means of the knowledge of grace be not diligently\nattended to and implored, our souls must get into a starving state.  The\nindulgence of sensual pleasures may bring on deadness, darkness, and\ndistance.  See this in Sampson, while sleeping in the lap of Delilah, he\nwas shorn of his strength; and he arose to shake himself as at other\ntimes, but he wist not that the Lord had departed from him.  But perhaps\nthe Lord has done this to shew his adorable sovereignty, as in the case\nof Job: hence his complaint, _He hath fenced up my way that I cannot\npass_, _and he hath set darkness in my path_.  And so complains Jeremiah,\n_He hath led me_, _and brought me into darkness_, _and not into light_.\nSometimes this is done to humble us, lest we should be exalted above\nmeasure.  But, above all, the Spirit leads into these deep and painful\nfeelings, to make us prize our adorable Redeemer, and see our continual\nneed of being supplied from his fulness.  He lets our cisterns run dry,\nthat we may come and lay our vessels under the flowings of the blessed\nfountain of life, that from him we might receive grace for grace.\n\n                                    May great grace rest on you.  I remain\n                                           Your willing Servant in Christ,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER VI_.\n\n\n                              TO THEOPHILUS.\n\n_DEAR BROTHER_,\n\nI OWE you a long epistle, for the many kind letters I have received from\nyou.  This acknowledgment of my debt is a part of payment.  Being a\nlittle confined through indisposition of body, I thought I would pen a\nfew thoughts to my dear friend, trusting they will be acceptable at this\ntime.\n\nI am more than ever delighted with the pleasing theme the Gospel exhibits\nof our most adorable Lord, of whom it is written, _that in all our\nafflictions he was afflicted_; _that he was the subject of all sinless\ninfirmities_; _that he was a man like ourselves_, _sin only excepted_.\nThis is a sweet thought to me, under every pressure; and surely it proves\nour union with him, and a participation of his Spirit, of course of the\nsame covenant privileges.  What a Christ have we got!  God with God, Man\nwith Man, very God and very Man; a kind brother, to feel with and for me,\nunder all my trials, and a God able to supply my every need; and what\nadds a glory to this point is, that as God-Man he is the glorious\nMediator, commissioned to give all I need; for this purpose he hath\nascended upon high and received gifts for the rebellions!  This is a most\ncharming consideration, it is the joy of my heart; I feel it so\u2014and such\nan High Priest became us: O! for an heart to bless him, to praise him as\nI ought, as I wish to do!  I long to be disembodied for this purpose.  O\ncould my soul leap out of her dull clay, scarce should a harp above aim\nat a sweeter, nobler song, _Unto him that hath loved me_.  My dear\nbrother, I feel mortality, I am at times very glad of it: I have had much\nsickness of late, it is a signal, it is a knock, it is a servant sent\nwith a message.  Mark the command, _Look_, _as when the messenger\ncometh_, _and shut to the door_: _is not the sound of his master\u2019s feet\nbehind him_?  I keep the messenger; I retire; I read the note, Thus saith\nmy Master, _Behold I come quickly_; I can send no answer back but\nthus\u2014_Even so come_, _Lord Jesus_.  May I therefore esteem every pain,\nevery felt weakness, and every beating pulse, but as so many messengers\nsent in covenant love, to remind me of my mortality\u2014that this is not my\nrest, that my whole bodily frame is but as a Shepherd\u2019s tent, as Hezekiah\ncalls it, soon unpinned, easily taken down, and removed, as the Arabian\nShepherd\u2019s tents were.\u2014Hence the scriptures in a variety of places shew\nthat the body is but earth, dust and ashes, formed of it, lives on it,\nand must soon return to it.  The apostle calls the body an outward man,\nwhich must decay, while the inward man, the hidden man of the heart, is\nrenewed day by day, by the secret influences of the Spirit.  This work is\ncarried on by a continual application of Gospel promises, and tokens of\nlove: this inward man gets renewed day by day, till we arrive to perfect\nday.  This is going from strength to strength, and being changed from\nglory to glory.  This body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, the object of\nGod\u2019s Love, and the purchase of the precious blood of Jesus.  This frame\nis called by Solomon, an house, built up in infinite wisdom, supported by\nAlmighty power, and is the noblest workmanship of Jehovah.  Compared to\nan house, the understanding faculty is the windows, the receptive\ncapacity is the door; and as the soul is converted to God, the will and\nthe affections is the throne, the principal seat of Jesus; the graces of\nthe Spirit is the furniture, and Father, Son, and Spirit, are the\nglorious and ever blessed inhabitants thereof, where they will dwell for\never.  The Body, only, I am about to notice.\n\nI acknowledge I am not much skilled in Anatomy, it is a science I never\nlearned, though I believe the best Anatomist is a person who can dissect\nthe human heart.  Yet the body being the great work of God, I would view\nit with wonder, with admiration, and praise.  I dare say you are\nsometimes amazed at this wonderful, curious-wrought frame; this wonderful\ndisplay of divine skill.  Permit me just to notice only a very few\nthings, though you are so well acquainted with anatomy.  I trust you will\ncorrect me where I err, in considering this earthly house of our\ntabernacle.  I must refer you to the excellent Hervey\u2019s description of\nthe human frame, in his 12th Dialogue of Theron and Aspasio, which I beg\nyou to read: that excellent author observes, first, the _Bones_, cast\ninto a variety of moulds, enlarged or contracted into a variety of sizes,\nall strong, that they may bear up the fleshy machine, yet light, that\nthey may not depress the animal with an encumbering load.  Insensible\nthemselves, they are covered with a membrane of exquisite sensibility.\nThe _Feet_ compose the firmest and neatest pedestal, capable of altering\nits form and extending its size, containing a set of the nicest springs,\nwhich help to place the body in a variety of graceful attitudes; the\n_Legs_ and _Thighs_ are like substantial and stately columns, forced in\nsuch a manner as is quite commodious to the acts of either walking or\nsitting.  The _Ribs_ turned into a regular arch, are gently moveable for\nthe act of respiration; they form a secure lodgment for the lungs and the\nheart, and fortify them.  The back bone is intended, not only to\nstrengthen the body, and sustain its most capacious store rooms, but also\nto bring down that communication of the Brain, which is usually termed\nthe Spinal Marrow, and guards the silver cord.  The _Arms_ are exactly\nproportioned to each other; these being the guards which defend, and the\nministers which serve the whole body, are fitted for the most extensive\noperations, firm with bone, yet not weighty with flesh; they bend inwards\nor turn outwards, they rise upwards or stoop downwards, and they throw\nthemselves into whatever direction we please.  To these are annexed the\n_Hands_, and all terminated by the _Fingers_, which give a most graceful\nappearance, yet destined to almost incessant employ; though the\nextremities or the fingers are an assemblage of the finest fibres, most\nacutely sensible; for this reason our Almighty Maker has overlaid them\nwith an horny substance called _Nails_, to preserve the tender part from\ndangerous impressions.  Above all, is _the Head_, a majestic dome,\ndesigned for the residence of the Brain; ample to receive it, strong to\nuphold it, and firm to defend it.  This stately Capital, is screened from\nheat, defended from cold, and at the same time much beautified by a\ncopious growth of Hair, which no ways encumbers the wearer.  This is the\n_outward_ Man, the noble work of the great God our Saviour, who became\nman for our sakes.\n\nIt is equally as wonderful to notice the _Inside_ of this house; with the\namazing arrangement of Fibres that unite the several Limbs of the Body,\ntough and strong.  The small _Membranes_ appointed, enwrap the fleshy\nparts, to part some, and form a connection with the others.  _Arteries_,\nsome of which ascend to the Head, others spread themselves over the\nshoulders; some extend to the Arms, and others descend to the Feet.\n_Veins_, these are appointed to receive the blood from the arteries, and\nreconvey it to the heart.  _Glands_, whose office it is to filtrate the\npassing fluid; an assemblage of _vessels_, complicated and intervolved\nwith seeming confusion, but with perfect regularity.  _Muscles_, wove in\nnatures finest loom, seem composed of the slenderest fibres, yet indeed\nwith incredible strength; these, with their tendons, constitute the\ninstruments of motion; not like a sluggish beast, but quick as lightning.\n_Nerves_, surprisingly minute tubes, derived from the Brain, which\ngliding into the Muscles, set them on work, depress the power of\nsensation through the body, or returning upon any impression from\nwithout, give all needful intelligence to the soul.  The _Skin_, like a\ncurious surtout, exactly fitted, is superadded over the whole, formed of\nthe most delicate net work.  The _Pores_ are minute, and nervous fibres\nare multiplied even to a progeny.\u2014The Veins beautifying the human\nstructure, especially the most conspicuous parts of it; the pliant wrist\nand the taper arm, are adorned with them, they spread vermillion over the\nlips, and plant roses on the cheeks; while the eye, tinged with glossy\njet, or sparkling with the blue of Heaven, is fixed in an orb of polished\nchrystal.\n\nThe grand means of keeping up this wonderful frame, is a point worthy our\nattention; for this purpose it is furnished with the powers of nutrition.\n_Teeth_, the foremost thin and sharp, fit to bite asunder, or cut off\nsuch a portion as the mouth can conveniently manage: those which are\nbroad and strong are qualified to grind in pieces whatever is transmitted\nto their operation.  The _Throat_, the _Stomach_, with its various\noperations and appendages, which are so admirably constructed, I leave\nyou to muse upon.  There are but two things more I have time to notice.\nHigh in the Head, and conspicuous, as a star in the evening, is placed\nthe _Eye_.  This is one of the greatest works of our blessed Creator,\nconsisting only of simple fluids, inclosed in thin tunicles: it conveys\nto our apprehension all the graces of blooming nature, and all the\nglories of the visible heavens.  The _Eye_ so particularly tender, that a\nslight accident, scarce perceivable by any other part of the body, would\nbe very injurious to its delicate frame.  It is intrenched deep in the\nHead, and barricadoed on every side with a strong fortification of bones,\ndefended by two substantial curtains, hung on a slender rod, which\nsecures it from every troublesome annoyance.  The _Ear_.  The structure\nof this organ is so wonderful that God claims it as his own work, _He\nthat planted the Ear_.  Amazing nice and exact must be the formation and\nthe tension of the auditory nerve, since they correspond with the\nsmallest tremors of the atmosphere: these living chords, tuned by an\nAlmighty hand, receive the impressions of sound, and propagate them to\nthe Brain.  These give existence to the charms of music, and the\nentertainment of discourse.  I must not enlarge\u2014read the whole of that\nChapter, and no doubt you will be well entertained.\n\nBut while I would admire this noble work of God, I rejoice that Jesus has\ntaken my nature, and lives in it for ever; and that he will raise my\nframe from the disgrace of corruption, earth, and worms, to glory,\nhappiness, and God.  I am at the same time deeply affected with the\nmiseries of my fallen nature, in consequence of sin; this has injured all\nits fine powers, damaged every room in this wonderful house, so that in\nconsequence of the bad tenants which occupy it, the Almighty landlord has\nordered us to quit it.  We have received by many a pain, a writ of\nejectment, but being unwilling to leave this clay frame, though in such a\ndamaged state, the owner and builder of this house takes it down by\ndegrees, which, Solomon mentions in the following four verses.  Ah! my\nbrother, what has sin done! the pains, miseries, strife, and agonies\nintroduced into our poor bodies, and distress into our souls.  Permit me\nhere to mention that affecting description which the Angel gave to Adam,\nsoon after his fall, as represented by Milton.\u2014\n\n    \u2014Immediately a place\n    Before his eyes appear\u2019d, sad, noisome, and dark;\n    A lazar house it seem\u2019d, wherein were laid\n    Numbers of all diseas\u2019d; all maladies,\n    Of ghastly spasm, or racking torture, qualms\n    Of heart-sick agony, all feverous kinds,\n    Convulsions, epilepsies, fierce catarrhs,\n    Intestine stone and ulcer, colic-pangs,\n    Demoniac phrensy, moping melancholy,\n    And moon-struck madness, pining atrophy,\n    Marasmus, and wide-wasting pestilence,\n    Dropsies, and asthmas, and joint-racking rheums.\n    Dire was the tossing, deep the groans; despair\n    Tended the sick, busiest from couch to couch;\n    And over them triumphant death his dart\n    Shook, but delay\u2019d to strike, though oft invok\u2019d\n    With vows, as their chief good, and final hope.\n    Sight so deform\u2019d what heart of rock could long\n    Dry-ey\u2019d behold?  Adam could not, but wept,\n    Though not of woman born; compassion-quell\u2019d\n    His best of man, and gave him up to tears.\n\nFrom this sight let us turn, likewise, and consider the infinite love and\ncondescension of God our dear Saviour, who took all our infirmities, bore\nour sickness, and knows how to sympathize with our poor natures in all\ntheir sorrows; and such an High Priest became us; such a Saviour is\nexactly adapted for all our miseries; and hence he is called a Physician\nof value, he healeth all our diseases, and surely the mind is awfully\ndiseased with sin, nothing but his skill can penetrate into the depth of\nthe diseases of the mind; whatever may be the ailments of the body, they\nare but emblems of the diseases of the soul; the blindness of ignorance,\nthe deafness of spiritual unconcern, the fever of concupiscence, the\njaundice of malice, the swelling tympany of pride, the vertigo of\ninconstancy, the quinsey of cursing and blasphemy, the dropsy of\ncovetousness, the palsey of stupidity, the pleurisy of envy, the\nrheumatism of discontent, the delirium of constant levity, the\nmoon-struck madness of passion and rage, with unbelief, hardness of\nheart, temptations of Satan, and the stings of conscience, of whatever\ndisease we may feel we have got; these the adorable Physician heals.  Let\nus carry all our hard cases to him\u2014_See Brown\u2019s Tropology_.  We are\nalways welcome to him, and though he may not seem to notice our case for\na season, yet he will in his own appointed time.  This text has often\nbeen very precious to my soul, _Therefore will the Lord wait that he may\nbe gracious to you\u2014and therefore will he be exalted that he may have\nmercy upon you_.\n\nFinally, The earthly house of our tabernacle shall soon be dissolved, it\nhas got the plague in it, the plague of leprosy, and the house is\ncondemned to come down.  Leviticus xiv.  _He shall break down the house_,\n_the stones of it_, _and the timber of it_, _and all the mortar of the\nhouse_, _and he shall carry them forth out of the city into an unclean\nplace_, even to the grave, till the last trumpet shall sound, and the\ntabernacle be raised again, beautiful and glorious, like the human nature\nof our most glorious Covenant Head; and this will be thy lot, O\nTheophilus, as sure as the trumpet of the Gospel ever quickened your\nsoul.\n\nI shall add no more, but my prayers for you, as I trust I have your\u2019s for\nme.\n\n                      [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER VII_.\n\n\n                               TO MRS. D\u2014.\n\n                                               _Peckham_, _July_ 11, 1814.\n\n_MY DEAR FRIEND_.\n\nMAY the Father of Mercies and God of all consolation be with you, as your\nall in all, the foundation of your soul, the shield of your faith, the\nhelmet of your hope, the length of your days, the joy of your mind, the\nstrength of your heart, and your portion for ever.\n\nI think, a few months ago you requested, and I promised you, a few\nremarks on the 12th of Ecclesiastes.  Having repeated it in the Pulpit in\na Sermon, I will how endeavour to give you my opinion in the most literal\nand spiritual manner I can, with all due deference to superior judgments;\nand humbly submit my sentiments to the whole Church of Christ, which is\nthe pillar and the ground of the truth.\n\nIt has been asserted that Solomon was the wisest of all men; here I beg\nleave to differ, I humbly conceive he was not so wise as Adam, before the\nfell; nor perhaps so wise as the Apostle Paul: but when it is said he was\nthe wisest of men, it must be considered merely in a political point of\nview; as God blest him with much natural wisdom, so that he was able to\nmanage the affairs of the Nation without a Parliament, and to try all\ncauses without a Bench of Judges; this was indeed a great work, and the\nLord fitted him for it, by a spirit of wisdom and understanding, which he\nrequested of the Lord.  He was the wisest man, therefore, in natural\nthings, that perhaps ever lived since the fall.\u2014He collected and framed\nthree thousand Proverbs, and a thousand and five spiritual Songs.  He was\nwell versed in, and well explained the nature of Herbs and Animals of\nevery kind.  Solomon had several books to study, the Book of the\nCeremonial Law, which is often alluded to in the Proverbs, the Book of\nthe Moral Law, out of which he was taught his need of a Mediator, and a\nbetter righteousness than his own, to justify him before God, the Book of\nall the scriptures that were then extant.  Into these he was deeply led.\nHe had the book of nature, and appeared to be a Master of all the\nSciences of natural and spiritual Philosophy.  He was well skilled in\nAstronomy, in Botany, and Anatomy; the last he shews his skill in, as\nthis last chapter of the Preacher shews.  This book was probably written\nin his old age, after his recovery from his fall, and God had healed his\nbroken bones.  Age and sorrow coming on him, he felt the decline of\nmortality, urges the necessity of spiritual knowledge and practice, while\nhealth lasts and God furnishes a man with opportunities, knowing that the\nmental faculties would soon decay, however bright they might have been.\nThese are set forth in three verses.  He then notices the decay of the\nhuman frame\u2014its weakness, and how every limb and joint, every power and\npassion, every member and faculty is affected, either by age, sickness,\nor trouble.  The Lord, indeed, sometimes sends for his dear people,\nsuddenly.  He snatches them away from the power of enemies, and the evil\nto come; but others are gently gathered, not hastily plucked.  God takes\ndown our tabernacle a pin at a time, and loosens the cords just as we are\nable to bear it; gives kind warnings, and then appears like a cloud of\nthe latter rain.  This gradual decay Solomon pays a particular attention\nto, he had noticed it in others, perhaps began to feel it himself; and\nhaving called the Body an House, he describes its timbers, its strong\nbeams, its supporters; _in the day when the keepers of the house shall\ntremble __and the strong men bow themselves_.  The almost universally\nreceived opinion of these _Strong men_, _the keepers of the house_, is,\nthat they signify the _Hands_ and _Feet_, which include the _Shoulders_,\nthe _Arms_, and _Hands_, the _Thighs_, the _Legs_, and the _Feet_.\u2014These\nHands and Arms are the keepers of the house, for when the scripture\nspeaks of preserving, defence, and deliverance, the Hands and Arms are\ngenerally mentioned, besides, they keep the house by providing for it,\ngetting maintenance for the whole body.  _These Hands_, says Paul, _have\nministered to my necessities_: these protect the house, and also keep off\nan adversary; these tremble through age or infirmities, as experience\nshews; and this includes all weakness and inactivity of those parts in\nthis condition, whether they are outward, as stiffness and contraction,\nor inward, as aches, pains, numbness, palsies, cramps, and tremblings.\nThus the Keepers tremble.  The wise Man then descends to notice the\ninferior, the _Feet_, containing these parts in connection, the Thighs,\nLegs, Ancles, and Feet.  These are the strong men; sometimes they are\ncalled the Strength of a man; and the Spouse is setting forth the majesty\nand glory of her beloved, in his strength, by this text, _His legs are as\npillars of marble_; and because the great strength of a Man lays in these\nparts, therefore in his infirm and weak condition, these parts must\nbecome more eminently weak.  As the diseases which affect the superior\npart, also affect the inferior, as the rheumatism, gout, and such like,\nthe keepers and the strong men are subject to a similarity of diseases;\nand the learned say they are in the original exprest nearly alike\u2014_The\nkeepers of the house tremble_, _and the strong men shall nod_, _or\nshake_.\n\nThe next part of this shakey house the Wise Man observes, is the\n_Grinders_; these cease, because they are few.  Grinding, all men know to\nbe performed by two hard bodies, the one immovable, on which the Grinding\nis made, the other movable; which by strong compression against the\nformer, and by its motion, makes the grinding.  The upper and the nether\nmillstone, as the scripture calls them, the firm stander, and the strong\nmover.  Now, similar unto these in a mill, there are for that grinding\nwhich is performed in the mouth, two jaw-bones, the upper and lower; the\nupper admits no movement at all, the lower is movable, and so both\nperform that act called mastication, or chewing.  Out of these jaw-bones\nproceed a certain number of small bones, we call _Teeth_\u2014these are the\nproper _strict_ instruments of grinding.  By the ceasing of the Teeth, we\nmust understand all those infirmities that are incident to them by reason\nof age, whether looseness, hollowness, rottenness, brokenness, blackness,\nor whatever else may be an impediment to them in their use; for as age\ncomes on, the natural moisture at the root of the teeth is consumed, and\na preternatural is distilled in its room: thus as the teeth drop out, and\nvery few are left in it, the chewing in the mouth ceaseth, more so than\nwhen there is none at all, for then the gums might act one against\nanother.  But when the grinders are few, they hinder those from working,\nand having no antagonists they are not able to work themselves, and so\nthe whole grinding ceaseth, which is a great symptom of the decay of\nlife, at least of a state of weakness.\n\nThe next great object which we are called to observe, is, the _Decay_ of\n_Sight\u2014Those that look out of the windows_, _are darkened_.  I believe\nnone has ever questioned but this means the eyes, and the infirmities of\nthem in old age.  One may be said to look out of a window, when he looks\nthrough the glass of the window, or when he looks through the open\ncasement.  Now a man could not look through a window, if it was not made\nof glass, or something of the kind, neither could he perceive any thing\nwith his eye were not the parts thereof which the passage is made of, the\nvery same substance.  The parts of the eye through whose bodies the\nvisible _species_ must pass, that they may be discerned, are either the\nhumours, or the tunicles; the humours are three, the watery, the\nchrystalline, and glossy humour, so Anatomists call them; and however\nthey differ, yet they are all instrumental to vision.  The tunicles or\ncoats, through which the sight is made, are only two, though there are\nothers which conduce to the sight, yet there are but two through which\nthe beams of light pass; the first is as fine and curious as a Spider\u2019s\nweb, and being derived from the Brain and optic Nerve, it becomes a\nvestment for the humors, and is pellucid and transparent.  The other is\nan hard and horny membrane, and encompasseth the whole body of the eye,\nwithout perforation, and on the back part, behind the sight of the eye is\nmore obscure and dark, but on the fore part is far more plain and clear.\nSolomon observes these _lookers out of the windows to become dark_, that\nis, as age enfeebleth the eye the form and figure becomes more plane and\ndepressed than it was before, and the chrystalline humor, which had a\npower of reducing itself, now becomes dry and altogether unfit for such\nan end, which must breed a confusion in the sight.  As age comes on, and\nincreaseth, it is well known the sight goeth away, the lookers out of the\nwindows must be darkened.  We have scarce any description in scripture of\nan old man and his infirmities, but the decrease of sight is mentioned,\ntheir eyes were dim, and they could not see.\n\nI hope you will pardon this very short description of the eye, as it is a\nvery large subject, and a vast deal may be said open it, which I\nreluctantly omit, lest I should swell this letter to a volume.\u2014Thus my\ndear friend, our poor bodies in sickness and age, are compared to an old\nhouse, with its teams, pillars, and windows, terribly shattered;\ncondemned by the Parish to come down.  But I cannot let this letter pass\nwithout the promise of another.  May your confidence increase, and abound\nmore and more in this blessed truth, _If this earthly house of our\ntabernacle is dissolved_, _we have a building of God_, _an house not made\nwith hands_, _eternal in the heavens_\u2014there may we meet.\u2014Amen.\n\n                      I remain ever yours in Jesus,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER VIII_.\n\n\n                               TO MRS. D\u2014.\n\n                                               _Peckham_, _July_ 21, 1814.\n\n_MY DEAR FRIEND_,\n\nWhat an unspeakable blessing it is for you, that the Holy Ghost has\nenabled you to rejoice in hope of eternal glory, and put that expression\nin your mouth, as well as the hope and confidence in your heart, _I know\nthat if this earthly house of my tabernacle were dissolved_, _I have a\nbuilding __above_, _an house not made with hands_, _eternal in the\nheavens_\u2014this is in your hope, and a God of truth has declared your\nexpectation shall not be cut off.  The blessed Spirit is promised to all\nthe Elect seed, as the earnest of that promised rest.  While the glorious\noperations of that self-same Spirit, are designed to prepare us for that\nglorious inheritance.  My dear Sister has, I trust, been long taught the\nsad state of man by nature, that though he was originally built for God\nto dwell in, and his image did reside in man a little while, yet an enemy\ncame against this little City, besieged it, and raised awful bulwarks\nagainst it, gained the possession of the capital, and keeps it in peace,\ntill the stronger than he, even the eternal Spirit comes on him, spoils\nhim of his armour, makes him quit his territory, and gets full possession\nof his heart.  Solomon well instructed in the operations of the Spirit,\nunder the emblems of old age and its infirmities, points out this work in\nstriking, figurative language.  _In the days when the keepers of the\nhouse shall tremble_, _and the strong men shall bow themselves_.  We are\nnot at a loss to conjecture who those keepers are in the worst of senses,\nSatan having blinded the eyes of man, it is his work, to study how to\nkeep them blind, keep them enemies, keep them in prejudice, keep them\nproud, and keep them in awful rebellion.  This is the work of the devil,\nnor is he at a loss for means to carry on this work.  Religious systems,\nand erroneous preachers, are the Devil\u2019s under-strappers, by whom he\ncarries on his infernal work.  Hence the out-cry made against the truth,\nwhenever and wherever it is preached; the endeavours to stop the progress\nof truth in the world, lest the light of the glorious Gospel should shine\ninto the heart, and poor sinners be saved.  These strong keepers of the\nhouse tremble at the approach of the light of the Gospel, and as soon as\nit comes in power they must submit, bow themselves, relinquish their\nclaim, and turn out, knowing they come in by art, and with a view to\ndeceive the house, that it might share the same fate as devils do.  But\nviewing this subject experimentally, the Spirit coming to convince of\nsin, to apply the law to the conscience, and to shew us the works of the\ndevil, at his coming these keepers tremble, but we do not find them gone,\ntill the power of the Gospel is felt.  Many have trembled at the curse of\nthe Law; at the preaching of the Law as Felix did, when Paul reasoned of\njudgment, temperance, and righteousness.  It is one thing for a criminal\nto tremble in his chains, and another for Satan to be overthrown.  Satan\nwill maintain his seat in the heart as long as he can, but God says, _I\nwill overturn_, _overturn_, _overturn it_, _until he comes_, _whose right\nit is_; _and I will give it him_.\u2014There is nothing Satan hates so much as\nlight, when this comes into the mind he is discovered, his works hated,\nand the poor sinner votes against both him and his works, cries unto the\nLord because of these oppressors, while his hope springs up in the Gospel\nnews, that the Son of God was manifested in the flesh, that he might\ndestroy the works of the devil, as the power of the word is felt, as\ngrace reigns, so these keepers and strong ones bow, and like the soldiers\nat the sepulchre, the keepers thereof became as dead men.  When the Angel\nof the covenant descends to open the prison doors, the poor prisoner\ncomes forth as Peter did, from his prison, though the keepers stand at\nthe door they are not able to retain the captive; hence the question,\n_Shall not the prey be taken from the mighty_?  _Shall not the lawful\ncaptive be delivered_?  Yes, blessed be God it is the mighty work of God\nthe Spirit to cast down the strong holds of the devil, carnal enmity,\npride, prejudice, and self-righteousness; when these are demolished,\nSatan has no hope of the damnation of such a soul; though the poor sinner\nhimself cannot perhaps see his own part and lot in the salvation of the\nGospel; he may still remain in bondage to the fears of death, the dread\nof hell; unbelief still prevails, doubts, fears, and sad despondency may\nstill operate to keep the soul in misery, till the Holy Ghost favours it\nwith an increase of faith, gives it strength enough to believe in his\nlove, in his Person and in his glorious Work; then we enter into rest.\nThis is done by believing the report of the Gospel, by believing such\nprecious truths as these: _He shall finish transgression\u2014he shall make an\nend of sin_.  _He shall magnify the law_.  _Blotting out the handwriting\ncontained in Ordinances_, _that was against __us_.  _Ye are complete in\nhim_, _having forgiven us all our trespasses_.  _I have loved thee_, _I\nhave redeemed thee_.  _I have blotted out as a cloud thy transgression_,\n_and as a thick cloud thy sins_.  _He hath made to meet on him the\niniquities of us all_.  _The Lord is well pleased with his righteousness\nsake_.\n\nNow, my dear friend, I can assure you that I always feel peace and joy in\nbelieving these precious truths for myself; they are for such poor\nsinners as I have described; but faith to receive these precious things\nis the gift of God.  And this work of God carries us above our strong\nfears and doubts, which are as much the corruptions of the human heart as\nour sins.  This glorious conquest of the keepers and strong men is\nsometimes achieved by sensible tokens, clear deliverances, and open\nmanifestations; it was not so with me, but it has been the happy\nexperience of many who have had much legal bondage; not favored with a\nclear ministry of the word, and when God intends them either for much\nsuffering or for public usefulness.  I have often wished it my case, but\nI should be sorry to endure what many have, nor would I murmur that my\nheavenly Father has not drove me into such awful deeps.\u2014This portion of\nscripture I get into very well; _to you which believe he is precious_;\nyea, he is preciousness itself: This I find true in my experience, and it\nis enough to convince me that the good work is begun, that the work is of\nGod, and must terminate in an exceeding and eternal weight of glory.\nThus we see, feel, and admire the conquests of sovereign Grace; this\nbrings us to God, this endears the Saviour, this inspires us with a\nlively hope, this turns our feet to God\u2019s testimonies, opens the eyes to\nsee the beauty of God\u2019s word; the glories of the Saviour, and imbitters,\nyea, darkens all terrestial objects.  The eyes by nature are full of\nevil, they are fixed on sinful objects, they are full of sin.\u2014Hence we\nread of _eyes full of adultery_.  We read of lofty eyes, and of an evil\neye, the one signifies pride of self-righteousness, the other of a\nchurlish, envious disposition.  These eyes must become dark, dim, and\nleast exercised as grace reigns.  The lust of the eye is, and must be the\ngrief of all who feel it; with this temptation Satan beset poor Eve; she\nsaw the tree was good; she soon fell after this.  Satan plied this to the\nSaviour, but in vain.  He shewed him all the kingdoms of the world, and\nthe glory of them, in a moment of time.  The eye is the inlet of sin;\nhence Job says, _I have made a covenant with my eyes_; _why then should I\nthink on a maid_.  Job xxxi, verse 1.  The power of almighty grace most\neffectually _at times_, affects the very sight of the believer, and makes\nhim delight in looking into the Word of God, and employing even his very\neyes as well as every other faculty, in the good ways of God; and as\nthese are open to every thing that is good, they must be darkened to what\nis evil, neither the heart nor the eyes of a believer, _as converted_,\nare designedly set to evil; but when the one wanders and the other slides\nback from God, it is then the soul mourns,\n\n    Prone to wander, Lord I feel it,\n    Prone to leave the God I love!\n\nThis Subject may lead us to further experimental remarks, I do not\ndecidedly pretend to fix the mind of the Holy Ghost on this passage, but\nwhile I contemplate the keepers of the house, in the worst sense, may we\nnot look at them in a better point of view; as faith, hope, fear, and\nlove, the christian\u2019s keepers; the believer\u2019s strong men, who have done\nmuch for the Church.  Paul has given us a whole chapter on what faith has\ndone, 11th of Hebrews.  Hope keeps us at an anchor, firm in our\nconfidence, though it may be small in enjoyment.  Fear will never let us\nwholly depart from God, while love bears us up, and carries us through\ndifficulties, duties, and dangers, and abides with us for ever.  These\ngraces are not self-active, they cannot act but as the Spirit keeps them\nup; they are always in us as spiritual principles, but they are set\nalways active, though perhaps all the ways in which they operate are not\nknown to us.  These are very strong in time of tribulation; at least in\nmost cases.  Faith is tried deeply when guilt is felt on the conscience,\nwhen Satan roars, when the mind is distressed, when outward circumstances\nrun crooked; then faith often leans towards the Atonement; trusts in an\nunseen, though not an unknown God; waits on God till light springs up,\nand is looking for suitable promises to support the soul, to plead with\nGod, and to animate the mind at a future day.  Thus faith keeps us from\nsinking.  _I had fainted unless I had believed to see the goodness of the\nLord in the land of the living_.\n\nBut Solomon found some days in his experience when these keepers were not\nso strong; when these strong men bowed through weakness, and when his\nsight was not so well occupied, nor his mind quite so clear.  He found\nsomething, as Sampson did, which weakened his strength, which might have\nmade him question the reality of his faith, the sincerity of his love,\nand the foundation of his hope, when he found the hedge of Godly fear\nbroken down, and himself at a sad distance from God, befooled in his old\nage, and led into awful idolatry.  When conscience was awakened, and the\nhand of God was upon him, he then found the keepers were weak indeed;\nLove had been out of exercise, and the inordinate love of women came in;\nfear was out of exercise, and idolatry was soon practised, a sin God\ndetests more than any other.  Faith was inactive, and hope at a low ebb,\nso that Satan stept in when these keepers were weak.  And is not this, at\ntimes, the painful experience of God\u2019s Elect, in their degree?  Do we not\nfind every sin indulged weakens the graces of the Spirit, beclouds our\nevidences, and brings us low; so that as soon as trouble comes on, we\nfind neither faith nor hope, nor love, nor fear, nor zeal, nor\nspirituality.  A worldly spirit, levity, evil tempers, giving way to our\nmost easy besetment; hearkening to Satan, conforming to the world, or\nmedling with erroneous sentiments.  These things will weaken, and make\nthe strong men tremble.  Guilt felt, sin creeping in between conscience\nand God, and faith not strong enough to make use of the Atonement; this\nmakes us tremble indeed, while the eyes of an illuminated understanding\nbecome very dim\u2014this darkness we feel when we can neither see the way\nbehind nor before with pleasure.  Ah! how painful, how truly wretched is\nthis for God\u2019s children\u2014_but the backslider in heart shall be filled with\nhis own ways_.  What a painful subject is this I am writing to you; but\nyet it is necessary to know these things; such knowledge is painful, but\nit is good to write thus to warn, having tasted this bitter cup myself.\nHere we see the necessity of abiding continually in Jesus, keeping near\nhim, that we may have peace maintained in the conscience; be kept from\nsin, and led on in the ways of God, strong in faith, cheerful in hope,\nfervent in love, and tender in conscience.  May that be your felicity and\nmine, dear Sister in Jesus, is the earnest prayer of ever yours in Jesus.\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER IX_.\n\n\n                               TO MRS. D\u2014.\n\n                                              _Peckham_, _August_ 4, 1814.\n\n_MY DEAR FRIEND_,\n\nGRACE and peace be yours.  I am come to visit you once more with pen and\nink, though I am not able to come in person to see you.  This is a means\nof conversation the Almighty has afforded us, nor can we be too thankful\nfor it, as we may write to each other on those momentous subjects which\nconcern our never dying souls; nor can the pen be better employed than in\nstirring up each other\u2019s mind, by way of remembrance.  Time with us both\nis short; you are farther advanced in years than I am, but both are going\nto our Father\u2019s house; let us therefore follow that advice of the Wise\nMan\u2019s while we can, _Whatsoever thy hand findeth to do_, _do it with all\nthy might_, _for there is no work_, _nor device_, _nor knowledge_, _nor\nwisdom_, _in the grave whither thou goest_.\n\nIt is the work of faith to lay hold of eternal life.  The knowledge of\nfaith gives present peace; the wisdom of faith is to cleave to God, and\nthe art or device of faith is to endeavour to gain all it can, to be\nuseful to others.  This faith leads us to think God\u2019s thoughts, and\napprove of them; to do what Jesus has commanded\u2014to carry our cases to\nGod; to search diligently into his word, and to open the mouth for God\nwhen we have an opportunity.\u2014Faith opens the mouth to God in prayer and\npraise, and for God\u2019s glory, in a firm, warm, decided attachment to his\ncause, his people, his ways, his truth; and while we are favoured with\nhealth and means, let us improve them.  The faculty of speech, the\nopening of the lips, and the exercise of the lungs, should be all\nemployed in his service and to his glory, who died, the just for the\nunjust, to bring us to God.  Age, infirmities, trials, and death itself,\nwill soon put an end to these; let us therefore employ them while we can,\nand in the lively hope of glory, may we sing, with the excellent\n_Cowper_,\n\n    And when this lisping stammering tongue,\n       Lies silent in the grave,\n    Then in a nobler sweeter song,\n       I\u2019ll sing thy power to save.\n\nHence Solomon exhorts to these things in your favourite chapter, which I\nglanced at in my last letter.  He reminds us of the solemn period to\nwhich we are all hastening, _when the doors shall be shut in the street_;\n_the sound of the grinding be low_, _and __he shall rise up at the voice\nof the bird_, _and all the Daughters of Music shall be brought low_.\n\nI believe I have already intimated that Solomon, was well versed in the\nscience of Anatomy; that he well understood the human frame, and perhaps\nmuch better than any before him.  He had in the former verse spoken of\nthe Animal System; in this fourth verse he proceeds to notice the Natural\nFaculties, inward and outward.  A great writer says these words form but\none sentence: _The doors shall be shut in the streets_, _when the sound\nof the grinding is low_.  This Grinding is supposed to relate to almost\nevery part in man, which is preserved, kept up, and supported by food,\nand respects the alteration which that food undergoes, that it may be\nreally transubstantiated into our flesh.  These are by Physicians called\ndigestion or concoction.  By the _sound_ of the Grinding is meant some\nnatural symptoms which are expressive of digestion, and prove that all\nthings are right in the bodily frame, which a want of digestion would\nprove to the contrary.  The voice of the Grinding is the natural appetite\nof the stomach to meat and drink, and is what we call hunger and thirst\nafter food, with the strength and power of the stomach to retain what it\nreceives, and nourishes the whole body.  This Grinding and its voice\ntakes in at once all the excellencies of nature, while they are in power;\nbut, as age comes on, all the indicators of strength and concoction must\nbe depraved, diminished, and abolished.  Loss of appetite, with all its\nattendants, is the lowness of the voice of this Grinding; the doors of\ncourse are shut in the streets.  When this is the case with a sickly,\nfeeble, aged body, the mouth, the throat, in speaking, and the stomach in\nreceiving food; the nostrils, and the eyes, which are called doors, these\nare all affected and must weaken as nature ceaseth to perform its\noriginal offices.  Thus these doors are shut in the street when the\nGrinding is low.  The Streets are the several passages of the body, which\nthe matter of nourishment passeth through, and are the roads and highways\nto and from the places where the Grinding is performed.  May not this\nexpression likewise refer to the inability of the sick, feeble, and aged,\nto encounter with the noise and bustle of business; and to the doors and\nshutters shut, as a signal of the departure of some of the family; and\nthe voice of singing, even of common cheerfulness is altered.\n\nSolomon gives us another intimation of the weakness of the human\nbody\u2014listlessness of repose, easily awakened.  _He shall rise up at the\nvoice of the Bird_.  His age, or sickness, is like the wealth of the rich\nman, it will not suffer him to sleep; in the night he may have some\nunquiet drowsiness, but the approach of morn, when healthy young people\nsleep sound, he shall be broad awake, and at the crowing of the cock, or\nthe singing of a Bird, he shall be rising up from his sleepless bed.\nHence the saying, The singing of Birds and the sighing of old Men are\ngenerally contemporaries\u2014these are as soon weary of their lodgings,\nthrough the pains and wakefulness in the night season, as the Birds are\nfor lifting up their pleasant notes.\n\nThe last remark in this verse is, _The Daughters of Music shall be\nbrought low_.  These Daughters are considered by those skilled in\nAnatomy, to be both active and passive, such as make Music and such as\nreceive Music; the active make a Music themselves, or bear a part in it;\nthe other delights in that of which they have not the least share in\nmaking.  There are three several kind of organs that do more immediately,\nyet distinctly and gradually, conduce to the production of vocal Music;\nthe first is the Lungs, which are the proper instruments of our\nbreathing; the second sort of organs that conduce to music, are such as\nform the Breath into the Voice, or Respiration, the Tongue, the Palate of\nthe Mouth, the Teeth, especially the four Front Teeth, and, lastly, the\nLips: these form the sound into a Voice; the others that modulate this\nVoice into Music, are the cartilaginous parts of the Wind-Pipe; the head\nof the Wind-Pipe is very small, yet it has thirteen Muscles belonging to\nit, most of which are framed only for the modulation of the Voice.  Some\nshut the Pipe, some open it, some dilate, some contract it, so that\nacting severally or jointly, according as there is occasion, they do\nwonderfully conduce to the variation of sound.  This also has got five\nCartilages some are moveable, some immoveable, some of one form, others\nof anther, that they may better contain the air and break the Voice into\nMelody.  This is the Pipe to sing the high praises of God with, and which\ninfinitely excels all the Instruments of Music: these are the active\nDaughters of Music which are brought low through age; the passive\nDaughters of Music are the organs of hearing; these are inward and\noutward; the outward Ear is spread abroad like a net, that it may gather\nand catch the sound as it rolls about the ocean of the air; the inward\near is a great secret, that no one can possibly understand\u2014all have\nconfessed their ignorance of this great matter; the first part we meet\nwith is a thin strong membrane, which being placed over the Hole of the\nEar, transversely, divides between the inward and the outward Ear; within\nthis there are three Cavities, and three little Bones.  So likewise there\nis implanted in the Ear a pure, subtil, and quiet air, with the filaments\nof the auditory Nerve; and then the whole Nerve itself.  By the help of\nthose several parts our hearing is thus performed; in age the several\nholes and Cavities of the Ears are stopped; the drum is unbraced; the\nhammer is weakened, the anvil is worn, the stirrup is broken, and the\ninward air is mixed and defiled; the filaments are dulled, the nerve\nitself is obstructed, so that there cannot but follow heaviness of\nhearing.  Hence old _Barzillai_ complains to David, 2 Samuel, xix, 35, _I\nam this day eighty years old_, _and can I discern between good and evil_?\n_Can I hear any more the voice of singing men and singing women_?\n_Wherefore should thy servant be yet a burden to my lord the king_?  Thus\nthe habit and taste for Music is brought low.  This appears to be the\nliteral sense of this passage, and some of those unpleasant days which\nmany of our fallen race see with grief; all must lament it as creatures,\nbut yet Believers must rejoice, as new creature, that all their musical\ndays are not at an end\u2014no, but that they are only beginning, as son as\nthey enter upon their Father\u2019s house above, and in the resurrection morn\ntheir harps, their powers, will be sweetly tuned to the praise of\nelecting grace and eternal love.  Permit me here to insert those lines\nfrom the hymn just quoted.\n\n    Lord I believe thou hast prepar\u2019d,\n       Unworthy tho\u2019 I be,\n    For me a Blood-bought, free reward,\n       A golden harp for me.\n    \u2019Tis tun\u2019d and strung for endless years,\n       And form\u2019d by power divine,\n    To sound in God the Father\u2019s ears,\n       No other name but thine.\n\nIn once more looking over this verse, my mind is impressed with other\nideas, which I must commit to paper and send to my dear friend.  We read\nin sacred Writ of the Door of the Heart, and of the Door of the Lips, and\nof the Conscience: these Doors are all opened by the finger of God.  The\nconscience is quickened to feel the native guilt of our sins; the heart,\nthe mind, all the faculties of the soul are opened by the operations of\nthe eternal Spirit; the Understanding is enlightened to perceive the\nglories of the Saviour; the Will is bowed down to chuse Jesus, the\nAffections are set upon him, the Thoughts love to retain him; thus the\nDoor of the Heart is open.  Hence the Spouse says, _He put in his finger\nby the hole of the Door_, _and my bowels were moved for him_, _I rose up\nto open to my beloved_.  The Door, here, may signify Faith in her heart;\nthe Hole of the Door, a principle of love, though not wide open, free,\nand at sweet liberty, yet, as a principle, it was there.  The Lord Jesus\nputting forth his powerful grace in the heart afresh, stirred her up,\nopened all the faculties, and afresh quickened the Conscience, she was\nled forth in soul after him.  This is opening the Door.  Hence he\naddresses the Laodicean Church; _Behold I stand at the door and knock_;\n_if any man hear my voice and open the door I will come into him_.  This\ntext has been awfully perverted by the Arminians and Modern Calvinists of\nthe day: they tell us that the Deity is knocking at the door of every\nman\u2019s heart, begging to come in\u2014waiting till the creature will open the\ndoor, and receive salvation!  Alas! what a most miserable perversion of\nthe text.  The passage has nothing to do with the World, it is an address\nto the Church in a backsliding state, as the 5 Chapter of Songs shews.\nThe Church knew her Beloved\u2019s voice, which is the Gospel.  Every\nenlightened, quickened soul, understands the truth, whether it is drowsy\nor not; the soul is again made willing to receive Jesus, to seek most\nardently the best of friends: this is opening the door, as we are made\nwilling in the day, the time, the moment he puts forth his power.  This\nis what the Church means by _the Beloved putting forth his hand by the\nHole of the Door_.  The heart moved after him, the door of the lips is\nopened, in prayer, in entreaty, and when admittance is gained, they are\nopened in praise, and in speaking good of his name.  _They shall speak of\nthe glory of thy kingdom_.  Thus the doors are opened for the King of\nGlory to come in.  These are everlasting doors and will never be fully\nshut against Christ, nor will his doors ever be shut against his Church.\nHe manifests himself to us, and we entertain him with the fruits of his\nown Spirit.  The Grinders cease in the best of senses.  The worst\noppressors we ever meet with is a broken Law and a tempting Devil, and\naccusing conscience, this is the trouble of the Spirit.  Hence that fine\npassage, _They shall cry to the Lord because of the oppressors_.  _He\nshall send them a Saviour_, _a great one_, _and he shall deliver them_.\nThe manifestation of pardon eases the conscience; the testimony of the\nSpirit that we are complete in Christ\u2019s righteousness, silences the Law,\nand the Saviour\u2019s great Work, pleaded by himself as an Advocate with the\nFather, drives off the Devil.  Thus these oppressors cease, because they\nare few.  A Believer can bear and endure any thing while all is right\nwithin, between God and the soul; not that he is rid of the inbeing of\nhis sins, or the temptation of Satan, these will often oppress him; nor\nwill they fully cease till he lays down his poor body in the grave.\n\nAnother sweet priviledge, _He shall rise up at the voice of the Bird_.\nThis is a most blessed truth in our experience, for the gospel attended\nwith power stirs up all our faculties, and we follow hard after God.\nThis voice as used by the ministers of the word, is called _The time of\nthe singing of Birds_.  The Gospel Dispensation is called a spring time,\nand when the love of Jesus is felt casting out fear, when the storms of\nsin cease, by the voice of pardoning mercy, this sweet text is well\nunderstood: _My beloved spake_, _and said unto me_, _rise up my fair\none_, _and come away_, _for lo_, _the winter is past_, _the rain is over\nand gone_; _the time of the singing of Birds is come_.  The Lord Jesus,\nand the blessed Spirit of all Grace, are called Birds, and their voice is\nheard, known, and felt.  _My Sheep hear my voice_, _and follow me_.\nThese leave all when Jesus speaks by the Spirit to their souls; while\nevery kind promise, every sweet invitation, and every precious\ndeclaration, form the sweet voice of Jesus, in the word and in the souls\nof them that believe.  The Ministers of the Gospel are called Birds, and\nwhen they are understood and the power of their message is felt, the soul\nyields the obedience of faith.  Conscience, approving and taking part\nwith the man, as his experience is genuine, is a Bird, and is called by\nSolomon, _a Bird of the air_; this accuses or approves as God the Spirit\ninfluences it.\n\nThus, in the best of senses, we read this text; but, alas! we must take\nanother view of it, as alluding to some evil days the soul may experience\nin passing through this valley of Bochim, or Weeping.  We find the saints\nof old at times had the Doors of their Hearts and Lips shut as well as\nopen.\u2014One said, _I am shut up_, _I cannot come forth_.\u2014Another, _I go\nbound in the Spirit_: Another, _I was dumb_, _and opened not my mouth_.\nEzekiel was dumb for seven days before the people, as a Preacher, and in\nthe streets of Zion, that is among the inhabitants of Gospel Zion.  This\nhas been often experienced to their grief, shut up in prayer, either\nreluctantly going to the exercise, or else finding but little access\nthere; hurrying through the act.  Hence the charge against one of old,\n_Thou restrainest prayer before God_.  Job did not say such did not pray,\nbut they were not open, free, familiar, or staid at the throne till\nliberty was felt; but the act was performed merely to quiet conscience.\nAt times in company, dumb almost about the things; and though the voice,\nthe lips, the tongue, the lungs, were sweetly exercised before, _yet\nthese Daughters of Music are brought low_, for they neither sound with\nprayer or praise, or godly conversation, or reproof, or comfort, to any\nother!  Thus these Doors are shut in the streets.  Conscience is, however\nstill awake, and the poor Believer is alarmed; is startled at the voice\nof that Bird, when listening to its accusation of sin committed, of duty\nneglected, of a worldly spirit of levity or covetousness, or of some\ncorruption given way to, or permitted to lie on the conscience.  Thus the\nvoice of the Bird is heard, and it is well to listen to it, lest another\nday it should fill the soul with horror and sorrow.  This is what David\nfelt after a long series of months, with guilt on his conscience, till\nNathan came with his Parable; but not knowing what it meant, he vows\nvengeance against the man that did it, _That he should surely die_.  This\nwas indeed true, for it was David\u2019s wayfaring man, the man of sin, that\ncame to steal the ewe Lamb; but David rose up at the voice of this Bird,\nand life went with the word to David\u2019s soul, _Thou art the man_.  He felt\nit, conscience was afresh awakened, and it is our mercy to have the life\nof God in the Conscience; for the main difference between the Christian\nand the mere nominal Professor, lays in this; the one has got all his\nreligion in his Head, and if that was cut off, he would have none; the\nothers lays in his Conscience, as pardoned by blood, and quickened by the\nHoly Spirit.\n\nAnother evil day we may find in this dark state, when so sadly shut up,\nis the fewness of them that preach all the truth as it is in Jesus: Hence\nthe Church in her sad state ran to some who did not know her case; of\ncourse we find they ceased to give advice.  She ran to others; they only\nrebuked her, and added affliction to her bonds, doubted her interest in\nthe garments of Salvation.  Hence she says, _The watchmen found me_; _to\nwhom I said_, _Saw ye him whom my soul loveth_?  Then again in the 5th\nChapter, _The watchmen met me_, _they wounded me_; _they smote me_; _they\ntook away my veil from me_: and sure I am that nothing can be more trying\nthan for a soul in such intricate paths not to be able to find one to\nsuit its case; and if they do, the word not being attended with power,\nthey get neither light nor life.  These are called Teeth in scripture, as\nthey prepare food, break the bread of life, make all things plain, easy,\nand intelligible to the people; fixed in their Covenant Head, harmonize\nand agree in sentiment, at least in the main points, and engaged in the\nsame work.  These may cease by death\u2014_the Prophets_, _do they live for\never_?\u2014by removals in providence far from the abode of such a soul as I\nhave been describing; or they may not be blest much to tried souls.  They\nmay be few in number, and those cease, as it respects their usefulness to\nsome; so that, though they were once _as a lovely song_, _and as one who\ncould play well on an instrument_, yet they may get dry, barren, and\nlifeless; at least, apparently so for any use they may be to a soul in\nthe above circumstances.  The make us mourn, nor can the Daughters of\nMusic make melody again till he shines.  We are compared Instruments of\nMusic, set in tune by the Spirit, but can make no Music till he touches\nthe chords of the heart; then upon the instruments of ten strings, he\ngets praise.  The Doors of his Heart, his House, his Table, and his\nThrone, will never shut against you, any of his children.  The days of\nyour Mourning will soon end, the voice of Jesus will call you at the\nglorious resurrection of the just, when you will rise up at that voice,\nand sigh and sin no more.\u2014_Hallelujah_.\n\n                               Ever your\u2019s,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER X_.\n\n\n                               TO MRS. D\u2014.\n\n                                             _Peckham_, _August_ 30, 1814.\n\n_MY DEAR FRIEND_,\n\nI once more resume my pen to give you a few more thoughts on the 12th of\nEcclesiastes, but lament the limits, of a Letter, or even a Sermon would\nbe too short to do justice to that subject.  The Wise Man has in the\nverses we have already considered, described age to us, in the influence\nit has upon all the functions and faculties of a man; and shews how they\nare all weakened in his declining state.  He now proceeds to notice one\nsad effect of age, that is, _Fear_.  Verse 5, _Also they shall be afraid\nof that which is high_, _and fears shall be in the way_; _and the Almond\ntree shall flourish_, _and desire shall fail_, _and the Grasshopper shall\nbe a burden_, _because man goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go\nabout the streets_.\n\nThe first is _Fear_, either of things high or low.  _He shall be afraid\nof that which is high_, either in respect of place or objects; as steep,\nand eminent ways, hills, mountains, steeples, and towers; some of which\nformerly they could ascend without fear, in their juvenile and manly\ndays; but it is not so now, they are weak in mind, nervous, low, timid,\nand fearful; so they are afraid of high things, as fiery meteors, strange\napparitions, thunder, lightning, and such like.  So they are likewise,\nprobably, afraid of abstruse and mysterious points in any science, which\nwhile strong, they durst have ventured upon, but now they are too weak in\nthe faculties to dive deep into them; they are always in fear lest tiles\nof houses, or chimney pots, or any thing else should fall on them,\nespecially in windy weather.  They have fears about them constantly on\nall hands; they see danger, lest they should dash their foot against a\nstone; lest some people in their hurry should push them down, or should\nrush upon them, and injure them.  Being conscious of their own impotency,\nit makes them most obnoxious to this terrible passion, which is the great\nchange made on them in the time of age.  Thus Solomon notices the change\nmade in the mind by sickness, trouble, and age.  He then points it out\nclearly upon the body in the next line, _The Almond tree shall flourish_.\nThe learned tell us, this tree waketh, and riseth from its winter\u2019s\nrepose before any other, it flowers in the month of January, and by March\nbringeth its fruit to maturity.  The forwardness of this fruit-bearing\ntree is intimated by the vision which Jeremiah had of the speedy\nDestruction of Jerusalem; _For the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah_,\n_saying_, _what seest thou_?  _And he said_, _I see a rod of an Almond\ntree_.  _Then said the Lord_, _thou hast well seen_, _I will hasten my\nword to fulfil it_.  _Jeremiah_, 1 chapter, XI verse.  This was to shew\nthe speedy fulfilling of the word of God against that City.  Now there is\nno change that befalleth man, that can be so lively represented by the\nblooming of the Almond tree, as that whereby the hair of the head becomes\nhoary and white.  The grey head is similar to this tree, for its\nwhiteness, so in hastiness of appearance, as the Almond tree buds sooner\nby two or three months than most other trees, so do these hasty buds of\nage appear; these steal upon men suddenly before they are aware.  Some\npeoples\u2019 hair turns grey at thirty or forty years of age, while other\nsymptoms of the decay of life do not appear on them till sixty or seventy\nyears of age.  Both these attract attention.  An Almond tree in full\nblossom, and an almond head, especially if found in the ways of God,\nthese are alike in their indications, they foretel what is approaching\u2014a\nchange; fruit will come after; so grey hairs prognosticate that death is\nat hand; these are Church-yard flowers, which serve, like passing bells,\nto give those notice that bear them, that their end is near.  Two things\nmore the Wise Man observes; _The Grasshopper shall be a burden_, _and\ndesire shall fail_.  The learned say the word _Grasshopper_, likewise\nsignifies the Locust, and will apply to both in the original language;\nand they likewise suppose that Solomon here alludes to some parts of the\nbody, which being shrivelled and deformed, appear like the Locust and\nGrasshopper.  These Species are both of them hard, crusty, cragged,\ncrumpling creatures, differing from all others, principally in the\nprotuberance of the limbs, having their legs strangely crooked, and their\njoints very closely inverted, and at a great distance from the trunk of\ntheir body.  This description may refer to some of the bones in the neck,\nthe back, the loins, the heels, and the ancles.  Now when a man by reason\nof age, begins to stoop, and bend forwards, and withal those fleshy parts\nthat cover these processes, begin to shrink and decay, he resembles these\ncreatures.  This may also include the change upon the cartilages of the\nbody, the Ligaments, the Membranes, the Fibres, the Veins, the Nerves,\nthe Arteries, the Tendons, and the like, which all grow harder and drier\nin old age, and become a burden; the skin, likewise, as man declines,\nbecomes crusty, dry, callous, and consequently falls into many wrinkles.\nThis may also include that fretfulness to which aged people are subject;\nevery thing is a burden, though light, weak or trifling as a Grasshopper.\nGood Mr. Henry, observes, Perhaps this Grasshopper or Locust was some\nlight food, such as John did eat; but even this was a burden to an aged\nman\u2019s stomach; then, of course, through these things Solomon well adds,\n_Desire shall fail_: Sensual and natural desire for food, pleasure, or\nany sensual delight whatever.  This word _Desire_, the celebrated Dr.\nSmith says, should be translated _Capers_, the fruit, or rather the\nflowers of the Caper Shrub, or Bush; and alludes to something calculated\nto give appetite; and that as the Grasshopper did represent the Bones, or\nhard parts of the Body, so these the soft, spongy, and dilated; and what\nSolomon by this expression means, is the alteration of all the moist and\ntender parts of the body, usually called the Sanguineous; including the\nchange that befals the Blood, and the natural Humours of the Body in time\nof age, for they become low, and much depauperated; they are diminished\nand far less in quality than they were before.  The reason of this _is_,\n_for man goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go about the\nstreets_.  The grave, said Job, is my house, and soon the funeral\nproclamation must be repeated over us, _Dust thou art_, _and unto dust\nshall thou return_.  The grave is the home for the body, when once it\ncomes there, as long as there is any dust to cover it, or heavens to\nsurround it, Man lieth down, and riseth not till the Heavens be no more;\nthey shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep till death is\nswallowed up in victory.  _And the mourners go about the streets_.  This\nwe see daily; the friends, the relations, characters of every\ndescription.  Mourning, is not because my friend is gone to glory, but on\naccount of the loss I sustain, that person being near and dear to me;\nbesides, it is a solemn call, _Be ye also ready_, _for in such an hour as\nye think not_, _the Son of Man cometh_.  And oh, my dear friend, to have\nthe lamp of salvation from sin, its guilt, and curse, and power, and to\nhave my soul filled with joy in God, through Jesus\u2014this is the oil which\nwill blaze when he appeareth.  But if I have not much joy, I am blessed\nwith a good hope, through grace; a hope that maketh not ashamed, and God\ndeclares it shall never be lost; _There is hope in thy end_, _and thy\nexpectation shall not be cut off_.  Praise ye the Lord.\n\nI would again glance at this Text in another sense.  Having considered\nthe evil days coming on the body in this verse, let us once more survey\nsome days of evil, in which I am sure you and I can say I have no\npleasure in them.  _Fear shall be in the way_, _and the Almond tree shall\nflourish_; _the Grasshopper be a burden_, _and desire shall fail_, _for\nman goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go about the streets_.\nWithout turning, twisting, or wresting this Text, I am forcibly struck\nwith the following thoughts, which I must pen and send you.  1st.  The\nBeliever\u2019s home.  2ndly.  The way to it.  3rdly.  The fears which attend\nhim.  4thly.  Their cause, which is a source of grief, and causes the\nspiritual mourners to go about the streets of Zion.  I know of no\ndwelling or resting place, for a soul born of God, but the everlasting\nlove of God in Covenant; the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.\nThis is my habitation, my dwelling, my resting place; nor is there any\nsafety, happiness, felicity, or peace, any where else.  All that are born\nof God, naturally, in this sense, tend to this one grand object.  Hence\nthe question of a seeking soul, Does God love me?  Did Jesus die for\nme?\u2014and after the soul knows this, yet in general, there is a thirsting\nafter greater knowledge, and greater enjoyment of it, nor is a Believer\never at home but when he is here.  He rests not in his attainments of\nthis knowledge, but is anxious to go on to know the Lord, in his infinite\nlove; to feel more, to enjoy more, to be delighted with more of it, till\nhe arrives at perfect bliss, and is filled with all the fulness of God,\nwhich is love.  He tastes what the poet did, and has exprest in these two\nlines:\n\n    \u2019Tis heaven to rest in thine embrace,\n    And no where else but there.\n\nThis is our resting place, as Faith apprehends it in its antiquity, its\nfreeness, power, complacency, and beneficence: It is truly delightful to\neye the goings forth of this Love, in the ancient settlements, in the\ncovenant engagements of each Person in the adorable Trinity, in the gift\nof Jesus to the Church, in his great work, and wonderful Person, as\nGod-Man Mediator, in the Gifts of the Spirit, and all his saving\noperations upon the soul, testifying of Christ, as putting away sin, as\nobeying the Law, as delivering us from going down into the pit, and\nmaking intercession for us.  On these topics we, who have the Life and\nlove of God, are quite at home; especially as the Holy Ghost realizes\nthem in our hearts; for this we labour in Spirit, to know and enjoy; and\nthis one point we wish to die to know, and to plunge in this sea of\nbliss.\u2014To view the Father\u2019s love, the Son\u2019s dear face, and the Holy\nSpirit\u2019s Grace, in Heaven, are objects worth dying for; this is the home,\nthe place, the state, the mansions of peace, rest, joy, satisfaction, and\npleasure, we hope to get to shortly.  This is our long home, eternal as\nthe throne of God.  No foe shall ever enter there.  No friend shall ever\ndepart\u2014they shall go no more out; so shall we be ever with the Lord.\nThis is our everlasting home, nor will our Lord let us rest short of\nthis.  There may we meet soon, Amen.\n\nBut do you ask me, 2ndly.  The _way_?  It is clearly set forth in the\nword, and I hope you have long known it, and highly approved of it, and\nbeen led into it; nor shall you ever finally depart from it.  The word of\ntruth says, I am _the_ way; not _a_ way, but _the_ way.  Ah, my dear\nFriend, how lamentable that thousands are deluding their souls with this\nunscriptural notion, that all the sects, parties, and religious\ndenominations in the world, are only as so many different ways to one\ncity.  Hence they suppose the Turk, the Pagan, the Papist, the Socinian,\nthe Arian, the Arminian, and the Antinomian, are all going right, and\nsome out of all these will be saved as such.  Alas, what an error; there\nnever was but one way to God, to heaven, and to glory, and that is\nChrist, as the adorable Mediator; all that reject this will find to their\ngrief, that _whatever_ way they went it led to the chambers of death; it\nled to hell.  What a mercy to be satisfied with a precious Saviour, and\nto hear the voice of the Word and Spirit pointing to him, saying, _This\nis the way_, _walk ye in it_.  Christ is the way to the Father, to the\nknowledge and enjoyment of his love.  By the sacrifice he offered, by his\nperfect law-fulfilling Righteousness, by the path he trod as our\nfore-runner, by the Door of Hope that he opened, by the way of life he\ncast up, and consecrated through the vail of his flesh, by the doctrine\nhe taught, by the example he set, and by the promise of life and peace.\nWe are brought into this way by the Holy Spirit of Promise, and kept in\nit by the same, with an eye to Jesus, as the way.  We walk in his\nappointments, in his ordinances.  We use them to gain the knowledge of\nthe Pearl of great price.  By waiting upon him we renew our strength, and\nby abiding in him we bring forth fruit.  This way leads us to God, and\nwill bring us to glory, assure as it brings us to a sense of his love on\nearth.  Many have waited long, and travelled far in this way, before they\nhave been very fully persuaded of God\u2019s Love to them; but all shall have\ntheir minds satisfied about that, though not all in the same degree, as\nwalking in this way of truth, way of holiness, way of wisdom, way of\ncharity, way of life, and way of peace.  We are called Strangers,\nPilgrims, Travellers, Runners in a Race, and going a Journey.  Our\nPilgrim\u2019s Coat is an imputed righteousness; our Staff is Christ; our Map\nis his word; the Girdle is truth; our Shoes is peace; our Way is marked\nout for us, omnipotent Power guards us, infinite Wisdom directs us, Mercy\nis often shewed us, and eternal Love cheers us, while we can sing with a\nPilgrim who has reached glory before us,\n\n    How harsh soe\u2019er the way,\n    Dear Saviour still lead on.\n\nBut as this is God\u2019s way we must expect to meet with enemies, with savage\nbeasts of prey, with robbers, many a stormy day, and many a dismal night,\nwhen neither moon nor stars appear to cheer the Pilgrim\u2019s way, for it is\nour lot to travel much by night; this begets fears lest we have come\nwrong, lest this be not the right road.  God\u2019s dear people are\nunavoidably the subject of many fears; when the eyes are first opened,\nthey fear the wrath of God, they fear Death, Judgment, and Eternity:\nthese are high things.  If they hear of Christ, the Promises, and\nOrdinances, they fear to come to these high things, or make use of them,\nlest they should presume.  Thus there are fears in the way, and many\ntimes after God has raised the soul up to hope, they fear the work is not\ngenuine; they fear they shall fall into sin, and disgrace their\nprofession; and feeling the power of sin, and the weakness of their\nsouls, they fear they shall at last fall away.  When they see many\napparently brighter characters than themselves go back into the world, or\nsink into error, they fear it will one day be their case; and when they\nsee how far a person may go in a profession and yet be nothing, they\nstartle, they fear, lest they should.  Thus we find fears in the way, and\nwhen the mind is low, deprest, and every grace of the spirit, to all\nhuman appearance out of exercise, they are afraid of high, great,\nprecious, and important Doctrines, lest they should presume in medling\nwith them, fearing they have no interest in them.  Sometimes fears of\npoverty, pain, persecution, and what we may suffer in the agonies of\ndeath.  These kind of fears may come on us, and above all, the fears that\nall we have experienced may be a delusion, and that hypocrites may come\nas far as we have, talk better than we do, and give a better account of\nthemselves than we can; this makes us fear in the way.  All these fears\nis for want of looking unto Jesus, and permitting Satan to get so much\nground, by listening to his suggestions.  These fears, likewise, are\noccasioned by other feelings, and trying parts of our experience.  What\nSatan principally aims at is to make us as miserable as himself, and as\nrebellious against God; to this end he endeavours to get us to look\nwithin in seasons of darkness, that we may dispute the whole of the\nSpirit\u2019s work, and consider all our sins, failings, and corruptions as\nsure tokens of a speedy destruction, just as Jeremiah saw the rod of an\nAlmond tree speedily flourishing; so might have been our profession, but\nsoon gone away.  So we fear may be all our religion, and then be damned\nfor being hypocrites.  O the misery of looking within, when we should be\nlooking unto Jesus!  What a gloomy prospect before us! what unbelieving\nfears are indulged; and this must be our misery, till the Saviour shines\nagain.  But what a mercy when we have grace enough to look from our sins,\nour grace, our Religion, or any thing in us, or done by us, to God the\nFather\u2019s Christ, who lived and died for poor sinners.\n\nA second source of fears is, Sin but little felt, so as to be lamented,\nso as to break the heart, humble the spirit, and endear the Saviour.  It\nappears God sometimes sent the Grasshoppers to devour the fruits of the\nearth, as in Amos, chapter 7, where the Prophet foresees the Destruction\nof Jerusalem, by Pul, king of Assyria, bringing his vast troop to devour\nthat land, coming up like Grasshoppers for their number and destructive\ninfluence.  So in the Book of Judges it is said, the enemies came up\namong them as Grasshoppers for multitude to destroy them.  As these\nrepresented the enemies of God\u2019s dear people of old, do they not point\nout the corruptions of the heart, inbred sin, the Old man, with its\ndeceitful lusts?  Are they not numerous is Grasshoppers, and as\ndestructive to every thing that is good?  Do not these destroy our peace,\nour joy, our bright evidences, and cause us, sometimes, to fear we have\nneither part nor lot in the matter, especially when we cannot see that\nthese sins are pardoned by the precious blood of Christ?\u2014These are felt\nas a burden too heavy to bear, and a burden we fear will sink us to hell,\ntill we believe they are all blotted out, then the inbeing of them\nbecomes a burden to us.  But here we must admire divine mercy,\ncommunicating to us spiritual life that we may feel these things a\nburden.  As this life operates the difference between a child of God and\none that is not, is clearly seen; they who are not quickened by the\nSpirit do not feel these things; but, alas, my dear Friend, have not you\nbeen left in such a strange state of mind, that you have neither felt\nsin, nor grace, neither mourned at the judgments of God, the terrors of\nhell, the sufferings of Christ, the afflictions of the Church, nor the\nplague of the heart.  O! worst of states my soul ever was in; this\ndeadness, carelessness, dull, stupid, heavy frame, I hate it, I lament\nit.  Before this came on I could sigh deeply on account of my sins, their\nnumber, and destructive tendency, but now I have fresh fears that all is\nnot right, because I don\u2019t see sin such an evil as it is.  I don\u2019t groan\nbeneath it; I don\u2019t lament my vileness.  Surely my soul cannot be right\nwith God, while this is the case; the Grasshopper is a burden, because it\nis so light; I am burdened, because I don\u2019t feel sin that heavy, hateful\nburden, I have felt it, and as others do.\u2014Thus you see, my dear sister,\nwhat poor, foolish, fearful creatures we are, how discontented with the\ncross; when we feel much sin, we fear, and when we scarcely feel it at\nall, then we fear also.  Alas, how much of poor Jonah\u2019s spirit do we all\npossess.  Murmuring, repining, rebelling.\n\nBut I must mention a third source of _Fear_, _The failing of Desires_.\nThe people of God are the objects of his desire; Christ saw them in the\nglass of the Father\u2019s decrees and purposes.  He desired them.  Hence the\nChurch triumphs in the Song, _I am my Beloved\u2019s and his desire is towards\nme_.  He desired the Church for himself, and gained it, every one that he\ndesired, in electing grace, is brought to desire Christ, by calling\ngrace, and one blessed effect of being truly called, is the desire of the\nsoul towards God, to hold communion with him, to be like him, and to be\nwith him.  Hence that sweet Promise will one day be accomplished, _He\nwill fulfil the desire of them that fear him_.  This will not be till we\nawake up in his likeness; then, but not till then, shall we be satisfied.\n\nThese desires of the soul are highly commended by the Saviour, as they\nspring from a feeling sense of need; are the pulse of the soul, which\nbeats for God.  Many a poor Believer in seasons of darkness, has blessed\nGod for the feeling desire, the hunger, the thirst, the wish for what God\nhas promised, and what the soul feels its need of.  But let me ask you\nagain, have you not found such days of evil, as the loss of these\ndesires?  No life, no spirituality, no appetite, no earnestness, no\nfervent desires, not a breath of the New man felt or seen; and to be left\nin this state a considerable time, when all has been shut up?  I have\nstill triumphed in my desires, but when _these_ have failed, all is dark,\ngloomy, wretched, desolate.  This has sent me mourning about the streets\nof Zion, crying, _Saw ye him whom my soul loveth_?  This is the enquiry\nof souls who are afresh quickened to feel their native guilt, their\ndeadness, and want of the light of comfort, of joy, of peace, and the\ntestimony of the Holy Spirit.  The Saviour was sent to comfort them that\nmourn after a godly sort, sorrowing after Jesus; to gain a sense of his\nlove, a token for good, a fresh view of pardon, and eternal life.  This\nis calculated to comfort the mourner in Zion, to cheer his heart, and\nenable him to look forward to death and the grave, with sweet composure,\nknowing Jesus is the conqueror of death, spiritual, temporal, and\neternal.  To him, I commend you, and remain\n\n                              Your\u2019s in him,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n\n\n\n_LETTER XI_.\n\n\n                               TO MRS. D\u2014.\n\n                                          _Peckham_, _September_ 30, 1814.\n\n_MY DEAR FRIEND IN CHRIST JESUS_.\n\nI have been just reflecting a little on that glorious Title and Office of\nour most blessed Lord, a _Surety_: the longer I live the more I feel the\nneed of him as such; the bondage, sin, and misery I am daily and hourly\nexperiencing, except a few sweet seasons of liberty in prayer, preaching,\nwriting, and conversing about the precious things of God.  It is well he\nbecame one with us, in the eye of the law, that he kindly undertook for\nus, and infallibly secured the payment of that obedience it demanded of\nus.  This whole debt he took upon himself, and crossed our name from the\nbond, and addressed his divine Father for us, _Whatsoever my people owe\nthee_, _put that to my account_.  The Father graciously accepted this,\nand has declared himself well pleased with it.  Every blessed view of\nthis gives me hope, peace, and rest.  I am truly miserable but when this\nis shewed me, then I feel a sweet serenity of mind.  O! precious Surety,\nO! glorious Redeemer, thy Person, thy Name, and thy Work, is very dear to\nmy heart:\n\n    No other stay have I beside,\n    If these should alter I must fall.\n\nI need this to support me now, I shall need it as much when my heart and\nflesh fail.  _When the Silver Cord is loosed_, _when the Golden Bowl is\nbroken at the Cistern_, _when the Pitcher is broken at the Fountain_,\n_and the Wheel broken at the Cistern_, this glorious Saviour will then\ncarry my regenerated spirit to God who gave it me, and this is as sure to\nmy soul as that God has begun the good Work in it.  He begins it with a\nview to carry it on, and he will perfect that which concerneth me, for\nhis mercy endureth for ever.\n\nI will now drop you a few thoughts on the sixth verse, with which I must\nclose these letters, which I trust you will candidly read, and where I\nerr, attribute that to me, but receive the truth as from that God whose I\nam, and whom I serve.  Here are four symptoms of approaching dissolution;\nthe first is _the loosing the Silver Cord_.  By this is most probably\nmeant the Spinal Marrow, and all the Nerves arising therefrom; with all\nthe Filaments, Fibres, and Tendons that proceed from those Nerves; as\nthere can be no motion or drawing performed in all the Body without\nthese; and through the influence of the animal Spirits upon them; and\nalthough these belong to the spinal Marrow, and all draw together as it\nwere, yet Solomon expresses it in one word, _the Silver Cord_, because\nthe rest are but a continuation of the same thing.  This is called the\nSilver Cord from its colour, for it appears to the eye a white, bright as\nsilver; it is seated deep in the body; it lays lower and deeper, and\nsafer than the Veins or Arteries, or other common conveyers in the Body,\nand it is reckoned the most excellent of all, so that some Philosophers\nhave termed it the Foundation of Life.  The loosing of this Cord, is an\nundoubted sign of death; sometimes this is only affected in one part, and\nis the cause of Paralytics, but when it happens to the head of the spinal\nMarrow, it hinders the influence of the spirits upon the whole Silver\nCord, and consequently takes away all sense and motion from all the\nsubjected parts, and gives a sure prognostic of death, especially in aged\npeople.  Thus the Silver Cord is loosed.\n\nThe next object worthy notice is, _the Golden Bowl broken_, by which some\nthink is meant the Scull pan; or, as the Seventy translate it, the\nRepository of the Brain.  The celebrated Dr. _Smith_ (to whom I am\nindebted for many of his ideas on Anatomy) says, there are two Membranes\nwithin the Skull, a thicker and harder, and a thinner and finer, which\ndoes more immediately encompass the Brain, and by an immediate contact,\nencircles the very Substance of it, which seems to me to be the Golden\nBowl, so called, by way of eminence, which is broken.  This is called\nGolden, for the same reason that the other is called the Silver Cord, in\nits colour.  The Membrane is of a flavious colour, nearer to that of\nGold; it is hidden, secret, and well defended; and requires much wisdom\nand time to find our all its secret caverns and mysterious branches, and\nalso for its ductility; above all, it may be compared to Gold, for\nexcellency and use.  Now as long as man remains in his strength, this\nGolden Bowl is knit unto itself in all its parts, but in the event of\nextreme old age, when he is just giving up the ghost, it can no longer\nretain itself, by reason of its natural dryness, shrivelling into itself,\nor preternatural moisture, imbibing excrementitious humours, till it is\nover full, it often snaps asunder, and so recurs into itself, from whence\nthe Brain must naturally subside, and all the parts cease from their\nseveral uses; upon this we perceive a change of the whole countenance;\nthe nose appears very sharp, the eyes sunk into the head, the temples are\npinched in, with all the other symptoms of approaching dissolution.  This\nbrings the house down indeed, when the animal faculty is so deeply\naffected.  I think there is something very interesting in the idea of the\nbody compared to a _Golden_ Bowl, not China, Earthenware, or Tin, but\n_Gold_, to shew how precious our bodies are in his sight who redeemed\nthem; that he will take special care of them, collect all the various\npieces together, and raise them up a glorious body by and by.\n\nThe third point worthy our consideration, is, _The Pitcher broken at the\nFountain_.  This must refer to something belonging to the vital faculty;\nit appears in sacred Scriptures, that the life of man consists in his\nblood; _For the life of all Flesh is in the Blood thereof_; and this most\nnoble liquor of Life, hath a primary Seat or Fountain, where it is\nprincipally made, and from whence it is dispensed through the whole Body,\nand this Fountain is the Heart, _for out of it are the issues of life_.\nThis part continually issueth out abundance of Blood, wherein is the\nlife, to all the parts of the body.\u2014This is a deep Fountain, it is the\nFountain of Life, the first living, and last dying Part of Man.  Within\nthe Body of the Heart there are two firmly-divided Cavities, a right and\nleft, called Ventricles; from these are certain vessels.  Out of the\nright Ventricle, of the Heart, proceeds the great Vein, which sends forth\nBranches throughout the whole, and hath, at its entrance into the Heart,\ncertain Portals, and also an Artery.  Out of the left Ventricle proceeds\na Vein, inserted into the Lungs, and also the great Artery, which\ndisperseth its Branches throughout the whole Body, both whose Cavities\nare defended with the like Portals.  How the blood passeth in and through\nthese passages I have not time to describe, I wish I had.  By the\nPitcher, therefore, we must understand the true and proper concepticle of\nthe Blood, namely, the Veins, which throughout the whole body, serve only\nas vessels to contain that noble liquor, and carry it back again to the\nFountain.  This is the Pitcher here intended.  The Fountain is the right\nVentricle of the Heart.  But neither the Fountain nor Pitcher continues\nfor ever; the Pitcher does not go so often to the Fountain but at last it\ncomes home broken.  The breaking of it in old age, is the failing of the\nVeins, their ceasing from their natural action and use; when they can no\nlonger carry back, nor conveniently pass into the Heart that liquor, the\nblood they contain, it stops, it is stagnated, it dies in the Veins.\nThis is _breaking the Pitcher at the Fountain_.\n\nFinally, _The Wheel broken at the Cistern_.  The Cistern is the left\nVentricle of the Heart, as the Fountain is represented as the right; for\nthe Blood being enlivened and ennobled in the right Ventricle, it remains\nonly to be dispersed into these several parts it is to quicken, which it\ncannot consequently do, except it be received into this Cistern.  The\nWheel is that round, or circulation of the Blood which flows from the\nleft Ventricle of the Heart.  Take this part of the symptom of Death, the\nchasing of the Pulse; the instruments of pulsation decay, and can no\nlonger perform that work which must necessarily be continued for the\npreservation of life; when that ceases to beat, the man ceaseth to live;\nthus the Wheel, which till now, run its constant round, is broken at the\nCistern, heart and flesh now fail.  O! that when this is your case and\nmine, we may have nothing to do but to depart and be with Christ.  May\nour Spirits return to God who gave them, while the poor tabernacle\nreturns to its original dust.  Solemn thought!\u2014But the Gospel opens to my\nwondering, pleasing view, the Resurrection of this Body, formed and\nfashioned like the glorious Body of my Jesus, who appeared on Mount\nTabor, or Mount Lebanon, as perhaps we shall appear when he comes in\nglory.  May this be your felicity and mine, _Amen_.\n\nDo accept a few thoughts more upon this verse, of the evil days which may\ncome on the mystical Body of Christ, which is drawn together, acts,\nmoves, and is kept together by the strong Silver Cord of everlasting\nlove.  _I drew them with the Cords of Love_, _with loving kindness have I\ndrawn thee_.\u2014This keeps the whole Body together; and Paul tells us to\n_endeavour to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace_.  Love\nis the bond; _put on charity_, _which is the bond of perfectness_.  This\nis the Cord that draws us to heaven: this unites us in heart to Jesus.\nLove as a principle, and as shed abroad in the heart, unites us to his\nTruth, his Ways, his Ministers and his People.  When this is sweetly\nfelt, and especially in that degree the Apostle speaks of, when perfect,\nthat is eternal love comes in, it casts out fear, which hath torment: to\nlive under this influence is truly blessed, but such seasons are short,\nthey are pleasant days truly; and in our first setting out, or some part\nof our pilgrimage, we do experience them truly blessed.  So did Solomon,\nbut he had some evil days, when his own corrupt heart overflowed with\nsin, which brought on a sad distance between God and his soul.  This is\nalso attended with a shyness to the Household of Faith, and very few\npleasant seasons in God\u2019s House of Prayer.  No love is felt to Jesus, and\nscarce a desire after him; very little affection is felt to faithful\nministers, as there is but little received under their message, which\nused to be so sweet to them, and their love to ministers so strong, for\nthe truth\u2019s sake.  Thus, by contracted guilt, the cord of love is loosed,\nnot in God, but in our exercise of this grace.  So of those we once\nviewed saints, many we have proved to be nothing but hypocrites; some\nonly mumping a living under the mask of religion; some lying in wait to\ndeceive; some watching for our halting, to find something amiss in our\nconduct; and if they can catch any thing, it is marrow and fatness to\ntheir bones.  Tattling, lying, backbiting, jealousies, and evil speaking.\nThese things we begin to discover, and groan on account of them in\nProfessors, till we can hardly help exclaiming with the Prophet, _There\nis none upright among men_, _the __best of them is a briar_, _the most\nupright is sharper than a thorn hedge_.  Very little spiritual love being\nnow felt, the Silver Cord, appears to be loosed, not that the principle\nis lost, but God is teaching the Believer wisdom, and directing the\nprinciple of love to the proper object, even to the Household of\nFaith\u2014not to every Professor, but only to those who stand manifest in our\nconsciences, that they are taught of God; yet it must be acknowledged\nthat while the heart is shut up from the exercise of love it is an evil,\na trying day.  Sin on the conscience, backsliding, getting into a worldly\nspirit, the affections being entangled with creature love\u2014these things\nbring on evil days.  O! what a mercy to have the heart right with God.\nWhen the soul is thus filled with love, it is always attended with an\nilluminated mind, a mind receiving the truth.  Charity rejoiceth in the\ntruth, believeth all things God hath said, as well as hopeth for what God\nhath promised.  But it is possible to stumble upon the dark mountains;\nGod may cause darkness to come on the mind, the judgment to be\nbewildered, and errors to creep in\u2014the Golden Bowl may be\nbroken.\u2014Ephraim, says God, is oppressed and broken in judgment, either by\nevil men, who lay in wait to deceive, or by a curious spirit, which a\nBeliever may be plagued with, till he has imbibed some error, which leads\nhim into darkness, bondage, and misery.  A sound judgment is valuable,\nlike a Golden Bowl, but many of God\u2019s children have got proud, and God\nhas permitted Satan to lay a snare for their feet, _a haughty Spirit\nbefore a fall_, and into awful errors they have run, till days of trouble\nhave come on, and they have found out their errors.  Moreover, real\ncontrition for sin; a heart affected with grief after the Saviour,\nmourning on account of him.\u2014Compunction and godly sorrow of heart is\nprecious, is valuable to God; with this sacrifice he is well pleased;\nthis is a Golden Bowl broken indeed, in the best of senses.  _Blessed are\nthey that mourn_, _for they shall be comforted_.  The Silver Cord of\nLove, the Golden Bowl of a sound Judgment, and an heart influenced by the\nSpirit of Grace, are in sweet connexion; these make a Believer shine in\nthe Church\u2014such are valuable characters, but they are few.  _My soul\ndesired the first ripe Fruit_.\n\n_The Pitcher may be broken at the Fountain_.  Our Lord Jesus is a\nnever-failing Fountain in his Person, in his Offices, in his Love, and in\nhis Work.  He is the Fountain of all spiritual and eternal Life.  What a\ndeep, never-failing, abundant source of all good he is to his Covenant\nPeople.  He is a fountain of Gardens for his Church, a Fountain of living\nWaters, and a Fountain opened for Sin and Unclearness.  Faith wrought in\nthe heart, may be compared to a Pitcher, which draws its supplies from\nthat inexhaustible source of all blessings.  It receives the Atonement\ninto the conscience, it is the great Artery in the spiritual Body, which\nconveys peace and joy through the whole soul, as it receives the precious\nBlood from the heart of Christ, and every other blessing is in this one,\n_Jesus died for me_.  While Faith is thus busied, the exercises of\nReligion, like a wheel, go their happy round to the Cistern of Gospel\nOrdinances; for a while Faith is thus exercised on Jesus, the mind, the\nsoul is made willing, and rolls its happy round, like a wheel well oiled.\nFaith is going to the Fountain while the Believer is willingly running\nthe way of God\u2019s Commands.  It is worthy our notice, that all the\ntreasures of blessings in Christ, are compared to a Fountain; but in\nOrdinances, in Ministers, and Means, it is but a Cistern.  Hence the\nfolly of those who seek salvation in their round of duties; they forsake\nthe Fountain, and cleave, in general, to those _Cisterns that can hold no\nwater_.  Faithful Ministers and Gospel Ordinances hold the Water of Life,\nand wisdom declares the man of understanding shall draw it out.  This I\ndare say you can prove in your own experience; if your soul is, through\nfaith in the Person and Work of Jesus, happy in his love\u2014all the while\nthe Pitcher of Faith is bringing you such supplies, you can come as\nregular to the Cistern of Gospel Ordinances, and as willing as a wheel,\nwell set in motion, goes its round.  In such days of the Power of Faith,\nwe are made willing to believe, to do, to suffer, and to obey.  Such days\nwe have had, but we have had some evil days besides, some opposite\nreasons, when the Pitcher of Faith appeared to be broken, for all the\ngood it did for us; it ceased to act, at least in the way it had done; it\nbrought no grace, no love, no joy, no comfort; it was like a Broken\nPitcher; not that it can cease to exist, as a principle, but only in its\nmotions, \u2019tis weak, low, and of course the mind must be low, and the\nwheel move slowly, if it moves at all, in Ordinances, in Conversation, in\nPrayer, in Reading, and every other religious Exercise.  Ah, my dear\nfriend, have you not met with such days of evil? _but all things work\ntogether for good_, even those sins, those hindrances to our comfort,\nshall terminate right; for _the elder sin shall serve the younger_.  Sin\nmakes us pray, cry, groan, wrestle, entreat; this makes Faith grow and\nincrease, and what belongs to God ascends to him, gravitates to its own\ncentre.  Faith comes from him, is busied about him, affections go to him,\nhope centers in him, patience waits on him, humility is precious to him;\nthis is the fruit of his own Spirit, and we find by daily experience,\nthat the Spirit goes to God who gave it, while all that is carnal in us\nwill cleave to the dust, to sin, to the world, to all that is opposite to\nGod; like loves its like, _that which is born of the Spirit_, _is\nSpirit_, and delights in spiritual objects; _that which is born of the\nFlesh is Flesh_, and is desirous of sensual gratification.  This is the\nBeliever\u2019s affliction; but we shall soon be done with time, and commune\nupon an eternal scene, when all that belongs to the earth, to the dust,\nwill return to it, and all of me, and belonging to me, will return to him\nfrom whom it came.  The Lord carry on his Work in your soul and mine; and\nwhile we live, may we be enabled, through all, and by all our evil days,\nto distinguish between the Dust and the Spirit, the Old-Man and the\nNew\u2014to watch the operations of both; lament the one, and bless God for\nthe other.\n\n                              Yours in him,\n\n                                             [Picture: Signature of J. C.]\n\n                                * * * * *\n\n                                 _FINIS._","title":"The Morning of Spiritual Youth Improved, in the Prospect of Old Age and Its Infirmities: Being a Literal and Spiritual Paraphrase on the Twelfth Chapter of Ecclesiastes. In a Series of Letters.","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":32375}