I HAVE been a little concerned of late about the term _Prophet_. You
guess what is the cause: many eminent professors, who are better
acquainted with the News-paper than the Bible, have been lately venting
out a good deal of spite against the memory of a late Minister, in
consequence of what they call his ambitious and strongly-conceited
_Epitaph_—“A Prophet hath been among them.” Quite forgetting that _all_
real, faithful ministers, are entitled to the same name. The passage is,
in part, quoted from Ezekiel ii, 5. _And they_, _whether they will
hear_, _or whether they well forbear_, _for they are a rebellious house_,
_yet shall know that a Prophet hath been among them_. I believe this
name is applied to gospel ministers, nearly twenty times in the New
Testament. Many things of eternal importance do they prophecy; and one
branch of their prophecy I am sure you will find true, _viz._ That
through much tribulation, they must enter the kingdom.—Jacob called his
sons together and said, _I will tell you that which shall befal you in
the latter days_. And Solomon, the type of our most blessed Immanuel,
acting in this character, gives intimation, of what _we_ must experience,
that are created anew in Christ Jesus, and predestinated to the
possession and enjoyment of the good work of Jesus—the good work of the
eternal Spirit, and the good work and enjoyment of the blessed in Heaven.
These God has ordained we should walk in—these are the evidences of union
to Jesus; and as these are our privileges, so we must indeed drink of the
same Cup Jesus did, and be immersed in the same Baptism. This was what
the Holy Spirit witnessed to Paul, that in every city where he came bonds
and affliction should await him, and he must go through them. No doubt
these will have a glorious tendency, for our Covenant God does nothing in
vain. You have hitherto been much indulged; I have really envied you,
but the change you now experience is only to shew you what need you have
of the _whole_ armour of God. You are but just come into the field of
action, to combat with sin, Satan, errors, hypocrites, and erroneous
men—to combat with many outward and inward foes, who now appear to your
view.
But the dear Saviour will also appear very precious now, in other forms,
to what you have ever felt of seen him. The Spirit will take every
opportunity to reveal him just as you really need him. You will so learn
Christ that you will be able to stand in these days of evil, which must
come on the followers of the dear Saviour, and in which they must say
they feel no pleasure. These evil days are set forth by Solomon under
the following metaphors: The darkness of the sun, the moon, and stars,
with a long, heavy, lowering sky. These things will be understood by the
tried family of God; so that while you have the season of getting, or
doing good, you must use that period for that use—hence such seasons are
called an _Hour_—very short, but precisely fixed and determined by our
covenant God. This season is called a _Day_ that will soon go away, and
the _Night_ commence. This day is far spent with you, and a night is
come on, in which you cannot work, but must wait—in which you cannot run,
but must stand still, till the Lord sends you bright clouds, and a clear
shining after rain. This season, in your experience, is called a
_Morning_. How lovely and pleasant, while through the falling dew of
God’s favor, your graces budded, and the softly-pleasing southern gales
caused your spikenard to send forth a delightful perfume. But evil days
must come; not such evil days as must befal those as have no interest in,
or love to the Saviour, and which may never come on in _this_ world.
Hence they are said to receive their good things in this life, but the
righteous evil things. What a mercy, my brother! in all that befals you
there is no curse, no hatred in God to you, no unatoned guilt, no danger
of hell, or of coming short of the desired haven; nor perhaps _many_
fears or dread of _these_ things: I hope they are gone out of your
conscience long ago: not but you may be tempted about them for a time,
but these shall be gone. Hence God promises, that on all hills which
shall be digged with a mattock there shall not come thither the fears of
briars and thorns; the real cause of these fears never shall come on you
again. But the design of this Letter is simply to point out some of the
evil days. Literally, Solomon refers to old age, with all the infinities
that attend it. And this may be applied to the weakness of the human
frame, the trouble, as well as to longevity of life; and hence the 71st
Psalm, composed by David, and indited by the Spirit, which belongs to
Christ. He, the adorable Messiah, prays, _Cast me not off in the time of
old age_, which is explained in the next clause, _when my strength
faileth me_; and is doubtless the meaning of the 18th verse. This may be
seen in his agony in the garden, when he cried out, _O my Father_! _if it
be possible let this cup pass from me_. Now likewise his prayer was
answered, for there appeared an angel from heaven to him to strengthen
him. Thus age is not always applied to length of years; a person through
affliction of body, many cares, crosses and losses, may be old; that is,
as weak in constitution as the most aged and infirm character. No doubt
many bear up amazingly well under the infirmities of age; but it must be
allowed these are evil days: _that_ alone which can sweeten them, is a
good hope through grace, the clear witness of the Spirit of God to the
conscience, a lively precious faith in an everlasting covenant, in the
blood of the Lamb, and in the faithfulness of that God who has graciously
said, _and even to old age and hoary hairs will I be with you_.
Justified in the Redeemer’s obedience, and kept firm in the truth.
Solomon says, _The hoary head is a crown of glory if it be found in the
way of righteousness_. Happy, thrice happy old man! just upon the
threshold of that joy that awaits thee. Soon thy spiritual Joseph will
send the waggons of his holy angels to conduct thee to himself, to behold
all his glory.
Yet a season and you know,
Happy entrance shall be given—
All your sorrows left below,
And earth exchang’d for heaven.
What a prospect! what a scene! what a joy! nor shall you be disappointed
of your hope, seeing Christ is commissioned to keep what you have long
committed to his dear divine hands, your body and soul, the one for
almost immediate glory, the other for a joyful resurrection.
Thus having viewed the passage in this literal form, let me return to
point out some of the days of evil of which the Bible speaks, and you may
meet with, that when they come you may remember I told you of them. When
God is pleased to shew us our sinful hearts in that degree we are able to
bear it. When conscience reproaches us for sins of omission and
commission; sins long practised and long pursued by us. Satan taking the
advantage of these convictions, and throwing in his fiery darts. These
are called the days of evil. _Wherefore should I fear in the days of
evil_, _when the iniquity of my heels shall compass me about_. This is a
time you will surely meet with, as Job and others have, who have said
before you, _Thou makest me to possess the iniquities of my youth_.
_Thou hast set my secret sins before me_. _Remember not the sins of my
youth_. Such days as these, when guilt lies heavy on the conscience, you
will feel no pleasure, till faith embraces the atonement, and banishes
fear. Another evil day you will have is the day of temptation, when
Satan is apparently let loose upon you, as he was upon poor Job, and
Paul, and Jeremiah. When you will want your head covered in the day of
battle, and feel your need of the shield of faith and the helmet of hope,
the one to cover your head, the other to repel these fiery darts of the
Devil, which he will shoot at you—fiery shot, from the burning malice of
Hell, such as strong temptation to excite burning lusts, blasphemous
thoughts of God, horrid suggestions, debasing thoughts of Christ, with
all the Atheism, Deism, Arianism, Socinianism, Arminianism, and
Antinomianism of the human heart, stirred up by the Devil, to foster
despair, enmity, and hatred of God. Thus tried you must watch the
motions of the Spirit, leading you to the death of the Saviour, and with
your Spirit exclaiming, Thou, O Lord, art my hope in the day of evil.
I must notice another day: _Public troubles on the Church_, which I
believe will come yet; I humbly conceive the man of sin will die hard; he
seems to be hearing some of his dying groans at present, but it will have
its last convulsive struggle; the hour of temptation must come on—the
Church seems in her Laodicean state, and it may be really in that state
for all I know, though many great men suppose the Church in her Sardian
state; be that as it may, have we not cause to lament the general
drowsiness of the Church, the very few names that have not defiled their
garments—the cloudy state of Professor and Possessor—the state the
Prophet alluded to, when he said, _It shall come to pass that the light
shall not be clear nor dark_. Is it not true of that light which is in
the Church? the people not wholly in the dark about the Doctrines of the
Gospel, yet they are not clear; and perhaps, never was a time in the
Church when God’s real people were so cloudy, generally, about their
interest in the Saviour, so that we may look for the sieve—a sifting time
will come, for the Church and the World seem too much allied, at present,
in principle and practice. The Saviour says, _Be ye seperate_—and if
this small, still voice is not obeyed, you may depend upon it he will
bring his rod, _for his fan is in his hand_, _and he will thoroughly
purge his floor_. Hence his own declaration, _And I will bring upon thee
a day of evil_. This you may feel personally. Also, after having been a
little at ease, and careless of God’s glory, his cause, and his ways, he
may permit you to fall; or by associating with carnal Professors, or the
World too much, God may bring on you a rod to drive you from them—and if
you should chance to fall, and they know it, though God in mercy, gives
you repentance to life, they will be the first to stone you, and like the
Priest and Levite, take care to avoid you; and if after this, you
maintain the sentiment of human weakness, and insist upon it man is
nothing, but as he is made and kept by the grace of God, these stout men,
these whole-hearted professors, will hate you and your Doctrines; so Job
found, when he said, _He that is ready to slip with his feet_, _is as a
lamp despised in the thought of him that is at ease_. But God may bring
on you such an evil day.
Another day of evil is, _Suffering persecution from the world for the
truth’s sake_; or from those who profess a part of the truth. Such may
hate you, nay the Saviour says they _shall_ hate you, and say all manner
of evil against you—_all manner_, not a few hard and ill-natured things,
but any thing disrespectful, spiteful, and disgraceful. This may be the
lot of my Brother—this you will find very hard, seeing you have been kind
to all, and acted as upright before men as you could, never deserving
this from man,—yet meeting with it. Defamation of character,
endeavouring to injure you in your situation, trying to prejudice all
your friends against you, and to stir up your own household to oppose
you. But these things _will_ they do to you, because, says the Saviour,
_They have not known the Father nor me_. However, you will not be wholly
destitute of some who will be raised up for your good. Hence the promise
to the persecuted saint, _And I will cause you to be well entreated in
the day of evil_. This was God’s promise to poor Jeremiah; and the
Saviour gives the command, _Let my out-casts dwell with thee_, _Moab_,
_be thou a covert to him_, _from the face of the spoiler_.
Thus the Lord will take care of you in time of persecution, national
troubles, which the children of God must feel in their degree, through
the loss of trade, bankruptcies, a long war, the high price of
provisions, and the scarcity of every national blessing; yet, depend upon
it, the Lord will find bread for you. So David encourages the people of
God, _I have been young and now am old_, _yet I never saw __the righteous
forsaken nor his seed begging of bread_. Or, as the learned say, it
should be rendered, _though_ begging of bread, _yet_ not forsaken. Bread
and water the Lord has promised you, and remembering that you are one of
his prisoners, that he is bound to maintain _you_, Friends will be raised
up, a supply will be sent in from the most unlikely quarters. _And the
earth helped the woman.—I have commanded the Ravens to feed thee there_.
Thus you shall not want in the day of evil. You may meet with many
family troubles as Jacob did, and say with that dear Patriarch, at the
close of your life, _Few and evil have the days of my life been_. Many
evils have I met with from my children and relations, enough to break a
heart of stone. My relations were envious, oppressive, cruel, and
ungrateful. My children’s conduct often pierced my heart.—I have been in
many wants and dangers, but the Lord that redeemed me from all evil, has
thus far led me on, and I am now going home, for I have waited for thy
salvation, O Lord.
Thus my dear Brother, you may have some days of evil, from family
troubles, losses, crosses, and cares. You may have no small opposition
from men of corrupt minds, that lay in wait to deceive. Hence the
Apostle recommends a clear experimental knowledge of the truth—Christ the
essential truth, and the word of God as the revealed truth. A few head
notions though very clear, are not able to withstand the artifices of
hell, for if a man is argued into a set of notions, he is liable to be
argued out of them. When a man of ability, reason, sense, and a vast
string of arguments, against the previous truths of the gospel, attacks
such as have no grace in the heart, they are soon moved from the truth;
but when those are attacked that have felt the precious truths of the
gospel in the heart, though the poor believer is not able to answer him
one question out of an hundred, he can prove the reality of those truths
he holds, because they have done so much for him. The truth has brought
him from darkness to light, from sin to holiness, from the service of the
devil to the Service of God. Thus He can prove the reality of Bible
truth, by his own present experience; and thus he is able to stand in the
evil day, the day of rebuke and blasphemy. I can prove the Divinity of
God my Saviour; by the answers he has given me to prayer, by the words he
has sent to my heart, with power, and by the virtue of his sacrifice,
which has lifted up my mind, so as no human power or object could have
done, I can likewise prove the Doctrine of the Trinity, by the operation
of the Father’s love, the manifestation of the Atonement of the Son, and
by the regenerating influences of the Spirit. So we can experimentally
prove the truth of every doctrine and divine ordinance. But then, when
all my former experience is hid from me; what am I to do, when attacked
by my foes in this evil day, and I am as a dumb man, in whose mouth are
no reproofs? How shall I act? methinks you are ready to say. To which I
must reply, that there is a time to keep silence, and a time to speak;
but if shut up in heart and lip, then stand still, and hence the watch
word, _Stand_! _stand_! _shall they cry_, _but none shall look back—still
abide by the stuff_, _if you are not able to go out to battle_, _you
shall share alike with those that do_. _Having done all to stand_,
_stand in the evil day_. Still go on hearing, praying, reading, hoping,
and waiting, and whatever errors are thrown into your mind, and have
brought it into bondage, you may depend upon it the Lord will deliver you
from them; and here you will see sovereign grace, yourself delivered, and
the wise and prudent given up to believe a lie. This made the redeemer
glad; he rejoiced in spirit and said, _I thank thee_, _Father_, _Lord of
heaven and earth_, _that thou hast_ HID _these things from the wise and
prudent_, _and hast revealed them unto babes—even so Father_, _for so it
seemeth good in thy sight_.—Thus may you stand in the days of evil.
But finally; sickness, age, death, and judgment, are days of evil; not
that there can be any curse in these things, to one of God’s elect, but
they will be found such to those who know not God.—These are days in
which none but the favourites of Christ can lift up their heads: _the
prudent man foreseeth the evil_, _and hideth himself_, _but the simple
__pass on and are punished_. But in times of sickness and age, the
brightest saint may suffer much in body, and be afflicted in mind: God
may hide his face, Satan may plague, conscience may be uneasy; pain may
be great, the spirits may droop; but there is no curse in all these
things: one smile from the Saviour will clear all up, and make the soul
happy in a sickly body. Hence the promise, _blessed is he that
considereth the poor and needy_; even a precious Jesus in his personal or
mystical suffering, the Lord will make his bed in his sickness. This my
dear brother is acting the part of a kind nurse, he will strengthen you
upon the bed of languishing: thus shall my subject be felt in times of
sickness and age, even the peculiar blessedness of considering, of
remembering our Creator in the days of youth. Death and judgment will be
evil times to many of our fallen race, but they must be the crowning days
of all who love _his_ appearing. But I must not enlarge, I think I shall
tire your patience in this long letter; the sheep are gathering together,
I must ran with some food for them—’tis past seven o’Clock; God bless
thee.
Ever your’s in him who is our hiding place, and our shield,
[Picture: Signature of J. C.]
_LETTER V_.