_Peckham_, _August_ 30, 1814.
_MY DEAR FRIEND_,
I once more resume my pen to give you a few more thoughts on the 12th of
Ecclesiastes, but lament the limits, of a Letter, or even a Sermon would
be too short to do justice to that subject. The Wise Man has in the
verses we have already considered, described age to us, in the influence
it has upon all the functions and faculties of a man; and shews how they
are all weakened in his declining state. He now proceeds to notice one
sad effect of age, that is, _Fear_. Verse 5, _Also they shall be afraid
of that which is high_, _and fears shall be in the way_; _and the Almond
tree shall flourish_, _and desire shall fail_, _and the Grasshopper shall
be a burden_, _because man goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go
about the streets_.
The first is _Fear_, either of things high or low. _He shall be afraid
of that which is high_, either in respect of place or objects; as steep,
and eminent ways, hills, mountains, steeples, and towers; some of which
formerly they could ascend without fear, in their juvenile and manly
days; but it is not so now, they are weak in mind, nervous, low, timid,
and fearful; so they are afraid of high things, as fiery meteors, strange
apparitions, thunder, lightning, and such like. So they are likewise,
probably, afraid of abstruse and mysterious points in any science, which
while strong, they durst have ventured upon, but now they are too weak in
the faculties to dive deep into them; they are always in fear lest tiles
of houses, or chimney pots, or any thing else should fall on them,
especially in windy weather. They have fears about them constantly on
all hands; they see danger, lest they should dash their foot against a
stone; lest some people in their hurry should push them down, or should
rush upon them, and injure them. Being conscious of their own impotency,
it makes them most obnoxious to this terrible passion, which is the great
change made on them in the time of age. Thus Solomon notices the change
made in the mind by sickness, trouble, and age. He then points it out
clearly upon the body in the next line, _The Almond tree shall flourish_.
The learned tell us, this tree waketh, and riseth from its winter’s
repose before any other, it flowers in the month of January, and by March
bringeth its fruit to maturity. The forwardness of this fruit-bearing
tree is intimated by the vision which Jeremiah had of the speedy
Destruction of Jerusalem; _For the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah_,
_saying_, _what seest thou_? _And he said_, _I see a rod of an Almond
tree_. _Then said the Lord_, _thou hast well seen_, _I will hasten my
word to fulfil it_. _Jeremiah_, 1 chapter, XI verse. This was to shew
the speedy fulfilling of the word of God against that City. Now there is
no change that befalleth man, that can be so lively represented by the
blooming of the Almond tree, as that whereby the hair of the head becomes
hoary and white. The grey head is similar to this tree, for its
whiteness, so in hastiness of appearance, as the Almond tree buds sooner
by two or three months than most other trees, so do these hasty buds of
age appear; these steal upon men suddenly before they are aware. Some
peoples’ hair turns grey at thirty or forty years of age, while other
symptoms of the decay of life do not appear on them till sixty or seventy
years of age. Both these attract attention. An Almond tree in full
blossom, and an almond head, especially if found in the ways of God,
these are alike in their indications, they foretel what is approaching—a
change; fruit will come after; so grey hairs prognosticate that death is
at hand; these are Church-yard flowers, which serve, like passing bells,
to give those notice that bear them, that their end is near. Two things
more the Wise Man observes; _The Grasshopper shall be a burden_, _and
desire shall fail_. The learned say the word _Grasshopper_, likewise
signifies the Locust, and will apply to both in the original language;
and they likewise suppose that Solomon here alludes to some parts of the
body, which being shrivelled and deformed, appear like the Locust and
Grasshopper. These Species are both of them hard, crusty, cragged,
crumpling creatures, differing from all others, principally in the
protuberance of the limbs, having their legs strangely crooked, and their
joints very closely inverted, and at a great distance from the trunk of
their body. This description may refer to some of the bones in the neck,
the back, the loins, the heels, and the ancles. Now when a man by reason
of age, begins to stoop, and bend forwards, and withal those fleshy parts
that cover these processes, begin to shrink and decay, he resembles these
creatures. This may also include the change upon the cartilages of the
body, the Ligaments, the Membranes, the Fibres, the Veins, the Nerves,
the Arteries, the Tendons, and the like, which all grow harder and drier
in old age, and become a burden; the skin, likewise, as man declines,
becomes crusty, dry, callous, and consequently falls into many wrinkles.
This may also include that fretfulness to which aged people are subject;
every thing is a burden, though light, weak or trifling as a Grasshopper.
Good Mr. Henry, observes, Perhaps this Grasshopper or Locust was some
light food, such as John did eat; but even this was a burden to an aged
man’s stomach; then, of course, through these things Solomon well adds,
_Desire shall fail_: Sensual and natural desire for food, pleasure, or
any sensual delight whatever. This word _Desire_, the celebrated Dr.
Smith says, should be translated _Capers_, the fruit, or rather the
flowers of the Caper Shrub, or Bush; and alludes to something calculated
to give appetite; and that as the Grasshopper did represent the Bones, or
hard parts of the Body, so these the soft, spongy, and dilated; and what
Solomon by this expression means, is the alteration of all the moist and
tender parts of the body, usually called the Sanguineous; including the
change that befals the Blood, and the natural Humours of the Body in time
of age, for they become low, and much depauperated; they are diminished
and far less in quality than they were before. The reason of this _is_,
_for man goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go about the
streets_. The grave, said Job, is my house, and soon the funeral
proclamation must be repeated over us, _Dust thou art_, _and unto dust
shall thou return_. The grave is the home for the body, when once it
comes there, as long as there is any dust to cover it, or heavens to
surround it, Man lieth down, and riseth not till the Heavens be no more;
they shall not awake, nor be raised out of their sleep till death is
swallowed up in victory. _And the mourners go about the streets_. This
we see daily; the friends, the relations, characters of every
description. Mourning, is not because my friend is gone to glory, but on
account of the loss I sustain, that person being near and dear to me;
besides, it is a solemn call, _Be ye also ready_, _for in such an hour as
ye think not_, _the Son of Man cometh_. And oh, my dear friend, to have
the lamp of salvation from sin, its guilt, and curse, and power, and to
have my soul filled with joy in God, through Jesus—this is the oil which
will blaze when he appeareth. But if I have not much joy, I am blessed
with a good hope, through grace; a hope that maketh not ashamed, and God
declares it shall never be lost; _There is hope in thy end_, _and thy
expectation shall not be cut off_. Praise ye the Lord.
I would again glance at this Text in another sense. Having considered
the evil days coming on the body in this verse, let us once more survey
some days of evil, in which I am sure you and I can say I have no
pleasure in them. _Fear shall be in the way_, _and the Almond tree shall
flourish_; _the Grasshopper be a burden_, _and desire shall fail_, _for
man goeth to his long home_, _and the mourners go about the streets_.
Without turning, twisting, or wresting this Text, I am forcibly struck
with the following thoughts, which I must pen and send you. 1st. The
Believer’s home. 2ndly. The way to it. 3rdly. The fears which attend
him. 4thly. Their cause, which is a source of grief, and causes the
spiritual mourners to go about the streets of Zion. I know of no
dwelling or resting place, for a soul born of God, but the everlasting
love of God in Covenant; the Person and Work of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is my habitation, my dwelling, my resting place; nor is there any
safety, happiness, felicity, or peace, any where else. All that are born
of God, naturally, in this sense, tend to this one grand object. Hence
the question of a seeking soul, Does God love me? Did Jesus die for
me?—and after the soul knows this, yet in general, there is a thirsting
after greater knowledge, and greater enjoyment of it, nor is a Believer
ever at home but when he is here. He rests not in his attainments of
this knowledge, but is anxious to go on to know the Lord, in his infinite
love; to feel more, to enjoy more, to be delighted with more of it, till
he arrives at perfect bliss, and is filled with all the fulness of God,
which is love. He tastes what the poet did, and has exprest in these two
lines:
’Tis heaven to rest in thine embrace,
And no where else but there.
This is our resting place, as Faith apprehends it in its antiquity, its
freeness, power, complacency, and beneficence: It is truly delightful to
eye the goings forth of this Love, in the ancient settlements, in the
covenant engagements of each Person in the adorable Trinity, in the gift
of Jesus to the Church, in his great work, and wonderful Person, as
God-Man Mediator, in the Gifts of the Spirit, and all his saving
operations upon the soul, testifying of Christ, as putting away sin, as
obeying the Law, as delivering us from going down into the pit, and
making intercession for us. On these topics we, who have the Life and
love of God, are quite at home; especially as the Holy Ghost realizes
them in our hearts; for this we labour in Spirit, to know and enjoy; and
this one point we wish to die to know, and to plunge in this sea of
bliss.—To view the Father’s love, the Son’s dear face, and the Holy
Spirit’s Grace, in Heaven, are objects worth dying for; this is the home,
the place, the state, the mansions of peace, rest, joy, satisfaction, and
pleasure, we hope to get to shortly. This is our long home, eternal as
the throne of God. No foe shall ever enter there. No friend shall ever
depart—they shall go no more out; so shall we be ever with the Lord.
This is our everlasting home, nor will our Lord let us rest short of
this. There may we meet soon, Amen.
But do you ask me, 2ndly. The _way_? It is clearly set forth in the
word, and I hope you have long known it, and highly approved of it, and
been led into it; nor shall you ever finally depart from it. The word of
truth says, I am _the_ way; not _a_ way, but _the_ way. Ah, my dear
Friend, how lamentable that thousands are deluding their souls with this
unscriptural notion, that all the sects, parties, and religious
denominations in the world, are only as so many different ways to one
city. Hence they suppose the Turk, the Pagan, the Papist, the Socinian,
the Arian, the Arminian, and the Antinomian, are all going right, and
some out of all these will be saved as such. Alas, what an error; there
never was but one way to God, to heaven, and to glory, and that is
Christ, as the adorable Mediator; all that reject this will find to their
grief, that _whatever_ way they went it led to the chambers of death; it
led to hell. What a mercy to be satisfied with a precious Saviour, and
to hear the voice of the Word and Spirit pointing to him, saying, _This
is the way_, _walk ye in it_. Christ is the way to the Father, to the
knowledge and enjoyment of his love. By the sacrifice he offered, by his
perfect law-fulfilling Righteousness, by the path he trod as our
fore-runner, by the Door of Hope that he opened, by the way of life he
cast up, and consecrated through the vail of his flesh, by the doctrine
he taught, by the example he set, and by the promise of life and peace.
We are brought into this way by the Holy Spirit of Promise, and kept in
it by the same, with an eye to Jesus, as the way. We walk in his
appointments, in his ordinances. We use them to gain the knowledge of
the Pearl of great price. By waiting upon him we renew our strength, and
by abiding in him we bring forth fruit. This way leads us to God, and
will bring us to glory, assure as it brings us to a sense of his love on
earth. Many have waited long, and travelled far in this way, before they
have been very fully persuaded of God’s Love to them; but all shall have
their minds satisfied about that, though not all in the same degree, as
walking in this way of truth, way of holiness, way of wisdom, way of
charity, way of life, and way of peace. We are called Strangers,
Pilgrims, Travellers, Runners in a Race, and going a Journey. Our
Pilgrim’s Coat is an imputed righteousness; our Staff is Christ; our Map
is his word; the Girdle is truth; our Shoes is peace; our Way is marked
out for us, omnipotent Power guards us, infinite Wisdom directs us, Mercy
is often shewed us, and eternal Love cheers us, while we can sing with a
Pilgrim who has reached glory before us,
How harsh soe’er the way,
Dear Saviour still lead on.
But as this is God’s way we must expect to meet with enemies, with savage
beasts of prey, with robbers, many a stormy day, and many a dismal night,
when neither moon nor stars appear to cheer the Pilgrim’s way, for it is
our lot to travel much by night; this begets fears lest we have come
wrong, lest this be not the right road. God’s dear people are
unavoidably the subject of many fears; when the eyes are first opened,
they fear the wrath of God, they fear Death, Judgment, and Eternity:
these are high things. If they hear of Christ, the Promises, and
Ordinances, they fear to come to these high things, or make use of them,
lest they should presume. Thus there are fears in the way, and many
times after God has raised the soul up to hope, they fear the work is not
genuine; they fear they shall fall into sin, and disgrace their
profession; and feeling the power of sin, and the weakness of their
souls, they fear they shall at last fall away. When they see many
apparently brighter characters than themselves go back into the world, or
sink into error, they fear it will one day be their case; and when they
see how far a person may go in a profession and yet be nothing, they
startle, they fear, lest they should. Thus we find fears in the way, and
when the mind is low, deprest, and every grace of the spirit, to all
human appearance out of exercise, they are afraid of high, great,
precious, and important Doctrines, lest they should presume in medling
with them, fearing they have no interest in them. Sometimes fears of
poverty, pain, persecution, and what we may suffer in the agonies of
death. These kind of fears may come on us, and above all, the fears that
all we have experienced may be a delusion, and that hypocrites may come
as far as we have, talk better than we do, and give a better account of
themselves than we can; this makes us fear in the way. All these fears
is for want of looking unto Jesus, and permitting Satan to get so much
ground, by listening to his suggestions. These fears, likewise, are
occasioned by other feelings, and trying parts of our experience. What
Satan principally aims at is to make us as miserable as himself, and as
rebellious against God; to this end he endeavours to get us to look
within in seasons of darkness, that we may dispute the whole of the
Spirit’s work, and consider all our sins, failings, and corruptions as
sure tokens of a speedy destruction, just as Jeremiah saw the rod of an
Almond tree speedily flourishing; so might have been our profession, but
soon gone away. So we fear may be all our religion, and then be damned
for being hypocrites. O the misery of looking within, when we should be
looking unto Jesus! What a gloomy prospect before us! what unbelieving
fears are indulged; and this must be our misery, till the Saviour shines
again. But what a mercy when we have grace enough to look from our sins,
our grace, our Religion, or any thing in us, or done by us, to God the
Father’s Christ, who lived and died for poor sinners.
A second source of fears is, Sin but little felt, so as to be lamented,
so as to break the heart, humble the spirit, and endear the Saviour. It
appears God sometimes sent the Grasshoppers to devour the fruits of the
earth, as in Amos, chapter 7, where the Prophet foresees the Destruction
of Jerusalem, by Pul, king of Assyria, bringing his vast troop to devour
that land, coming up like Grasshoppers for their number and destructive
influence. So in the Book of Judges it is said, the enemies came up
among them as Grasshoppers for multitude to destroy them. As these
represented the enemies of God’s dear people of old, do they not point
out the corruptions of the heart, inbred sin, the Old man, with its
deceitful lusts? Are they not numerous is Grasshoppers, and as
destructive to every thing that is good? Do not these destroy our peace,
our joy, our bright evidences, and cause us, sometimes, to fear we have
neither part nor lot in the matter, especially when we cannot see that
these sins are pardoned by the precious blood of Christ?—These are felt
as a burden too heavy to bear, and a burden we fear will sink us to hell,
till we believe they are all blotted out, then the inbeing of them
becomes a burden to us. But here we must admire divine mercy,
communicating to us spiritual life that we may feel these things a
burden. As this life operates the difference between a child of God and
one that is not, is clearly seen; they who are not quickened by the
Spirit do not feel these things; but, alas, my dear Friend, have not you
been left in such a strange state of mind, that you have neither felt
sin, nor grace, neither mourned at the judgments of God, the terrors of
hell, the sufferings of Christ, the afflictions of the Church, nor the
plague of the heart. O! worst of states my soul ever was in; this
deadness, carelessness, dull, stupid, heavy frame, I hate it, I lament
it. Before this came on I could sigh deeply on account of my sins, their
number, and destructive tendency, but now I have fresh fears that all is
not right, because I don’t see sin such an evil as it is. I don’t groan
beneath it; I don’t lament my vileness. Surely my soul cannot be right
with God, while this is the case; the Grasshopper is a burden, because it
is so light; I am burdened, because I don’t feel sin that heavy, hateful
burden, I have felt it, and as others do.—Thus you see, my dear sister,
what poor, foolish, fearful creatures we are, how discontented with the
cross; when we feel much sin, we fear, and when we scarcely feel it at
all, then we fear also. Alas, how much of poor Jonah’s spirit do we all
possess. Murmuring, repining, rebelling.
But I must mention a third source of _Fear_, _The failing of Desires_.
The people of God are the objects of his desire; Christ saw them in the
glass of the Father’s decrees and purposes. He desired them. Hence the
Church triumphs in the Song, _I am my Beloved’s and his desire is towards
me_. He desired the Church for himself, and gained it, every one that he
desired, in electing grace, is brought to desire Christ, by calling
grace, and one blessed effect of being truly called, is the desire of the
soul towards God, to hold communion with him, to be like him, and to be
with him. Hence that sweet Promise will one day be accomplished, _He
will fulfil the desire of them that fear him_. This will not be till we
awake up in his likeness; then, but not till then, shall we be satisfied.
These desires of the soul are highly commended by the Saviour, as they
spring from a feeling sense of need; are the pulse of the soul, which
beats for God. Many a poor Believer in seasons of darkness, has blessed
God for the feeling desire, the hunger, the thirst, the wish for what God
has promised, and what the soul feels its need of. But let me ask you
again, have you not found such days of evil, as the loss of these
desires? No life, no spirituality, no appetite, no earnestness, no
fervent desires, not a breath of the New man felt or seen; and to be left
in this state a considerable time, when all has been shut up? I have
still triumphed in my desires, but when _these_ have failed, all is dark,
gloomy, wretched, desolate. This has sent me mourning about the streets
of Zion, crying, _Saw ye him whom my soul loveth_? This is the enquiry
of souls who are afresh quickened to feel their native guilt, their
deadness, and want of the light of comfort, of joy, of peace, and the
testimony of the Holy Spirit. The Saviour was sent to comfort them that
mourn after a godly sort, sorrowing after Jesus; to gain a sense of his
love, a token for good, a fresh view of pardon, and eternal life. This
is calculated to comfort the mourner in Zion, to cheer his heart, and
enable him to look forward to death and the grave, with sweet composure,
knowing Jesus is the conqueror of death, spiritual, temporal, and
eternal. To him, I commend you, and remain
Your’s in him,
[Picture: Signature of J. C.]
_LETTER XI_.