villages, as well as in foreign climes, and magazines abounding with this
information; but, in my travels, I cannot say I found it true. It may be
the case, where I have not been. It is true, indeed, I found preaching
and professing; but duty, faith, moral harangues, and Baxterian
sentiments, were the greatest part of the preaching I could find. Both
wise and foolish virgins all appeared to me to be asleep, except now and
then a missionary meeting, when there did appear a little shaking amongst
the dry bones; and dry enough they are; simple-hearted souls, resting on
the piety and goodness of their preachers, though their souls were
starving for food; and others resting on their lees, never having been
emptied from vessel to vessel; a wonderful outcry against Antinomianism,
although one professor in thirty thousand can not tell what this
frightful thing can be. This sad state of professors not a little
affected my heart, and feeling the importance of truth, I desired to go
forth to this host of Midian, and the army of the Moabites, as the Lord
spake by the prophet, 2 _Kings_, iii. “And ye shall smite every fenced
city, and every choice city, and shall fell every good tree, and stop all
wells of water, and mar every good piece of land with stones, and so they
did, only in her Kir-haraseth left they the stones thereof, but the
slingers went about it, and smote it.” An alarm should be sounded in the
streets of Zion. We are at present in the Sardian state of the church.
When thousands have a name to live, but they are dead, and many of the
Lord’s spiritual people are sunk in a deep sleep, surely it is high time
to awake out of sleep, to arise from such deadly preaching; and
professing. It is time to seek the Lord, until he come and rain
righteousness upon you. I bless God for many visits in the country,
notwithstanding all opposition, and the plans satan laid in every
direction for my overthrow. A few years ago I was invited to a small
village called Horsell, near Woking: here I preached several times, in a
small hovel, which was the only place they had; and soon afterwards they
built a chapel and founded a church, and are blest with the pure gospel.
At the same time I visited Woking and Chertsey, and found some blessed
souls who were truly spiritual; and some who were the fruits Mr.
Huntington’s ministry, and had been well brought up under the pastoral
care of the truly excellent Mr. Merrit. Shortly afterwards, I was taken
by a gentleman into Essex, and preached at C—. After the morning service
I was invited to preach in the afternoon, it being a charity sermon for
the school in that place. This a little affected me, when the children
stood upon the forms, remembering when I was in like circumstances, while
I pleaded their cause. Being intreated, I preached again in the evening;
although I found, _afterwards_, it was a little out of order: this I did
not know at the time, as the minister had to preach elsewhere—but it gave
offence to him, which I was very sorry for; as the managers had
unanimously invited me, I concluded it was mutual, and acted accordingly.
I continued to preach, every evening, in the same place, except one, and
the Word was blest to many; but much trouble arose in consequence of it,
and many disputes about myself and my doctrine: but the Lord gave
testimony to the Word of his grace, and those who were spiritual rejoiced
for the consolation. I was again invited, but when I went down I was of
course denied the use of the chapel. Guards were set to protect the
place, lest the vast body of hearers should resolutely determine to
enter; and had they been of that mind, they might easily have done it, as
I was then informed that the holy men who employed them, made them _all_
* * * * *, but I had no notion of hostility. A gentleman opened his
house for me, which was soon crowded. I advised them to obtain a barn,
or any large place, rather than act in an unchristian-like manner, which
was done immediately. I opened it on the Lord’s-day, and preached in it
three times to a very large assembly. I continued there that week, and
shortly after visited it again; the last day of which I laid the
foundation of a new chapel, on St. John’s-green, and preached in the
evening on _Gen._ xxviii. 22—“And this stone, which I have now set, shall
be God’s house; and of all that I receive I will give the tenth unto
thee.” The people were exceedingly zealous and liberal. The place went
up rapidly; but before its completion some disputes occurred amongst
those who were engaged in it, which arose from spite on the part of some;
and, to vex the other party, an objection was made to my coming down to
open the chapel. A great deal of unpleasantry ensued, as a consequence,
which was produced by an artful character, and attended with much grief.
Both in town and country the plot took well, and another went to open it,
who was less credit to them, in the issue, than I was. I had a most
anxious desire to see the chapel, and to preach in it once, which was
accomplished. A lady who had invited my daughter to spend a few weeks at
her house in the town, requested I would come to see her; and, upon my
arrival, many friends came to visit me. I exhorted in the parlour, and
the next day was pressed by the friends to preach in the chapel. I
accordingly solicited the use of the pulpit, for the evening, which was
granted. The passage I was enabled to speak from, was—“He careth for
you.” I felt extremely affected with a variety of ideas which crowded on
my mind; the happy seasons I had experienced among them, the troubles
they had been called to meet with on my account, and the thoughts, the
solemn thoughts, that I should never see them more in this lower world,
deeply impressed my heart. The next day I left the town, and earnestly
prayed for them. My poor petitions were granted; the Lord has raised up
a very faithful and deeply-taught preacher among them; a church is formed
on the mixed Baptist plan, and God is with them. Many are very dear to
my heart, and their kindness will never be forgotten by me,—nor the Lord
neither, particularly the Messrs. A. H. L. and many more.
Some time after this I went to Lincoln, and to several places in
Lincolnshire, where the Word was received; and I have heard from many
what God had done by the preaching of the Word, through my feeble means.
Many other places in the country the Lord has sent me to; also to
Deptford, Greenwich, and some places near London.
The Lord will bless his own truth to his own people, by his own servants,
and giving testimony to the word of his grace by the man, is a proof the
man is a sent servant of God; as, on the contrary, the Lord says of
some—“They ran, but I sent them not: therefore, they shall not profit
this people at all”—where the Word is blest to precious souls it is an
evidence of their being truly sent of God. “By their fruits ye shall
know them; fruits of their ministry. Do men gather grapes off thorns, or
figs off thistles?”—Even so every tree is known by its fruit; and this is
a sure evidence to the people. So saith the Scripture, _Ezek._
xxiv.—“That he that escapeth in that day shall come unto thee, and cause
thee to hear it with thine ears, and thou shalt be a sign unto them, and
they shall know that I am the Lord.”
Yours, J. C.
“Each cherub of Jesus who preaches the Word,
Shews the path-way that leadeth to life;
The sixty that handle the spiritual sword,
Attends both the Lamb and his wife.” {106}
LETTER XXII.
“And the rains descended, and the floods came, and beat upon that
house, and it fell not.”
To —
From the building of the chapel, for the first two years, all went on
smoothly, all was prosperous and peaceable; we had set sail in the ship
Adramytum, and the South wind blew softly; and having obtained this, we
sailed too close by Crete. This soft wind and easy sailing is not very
advantageous to spiritual mariners. Ease, popularity, and prosperity,
will never do long for the believer or the Christian minister. Prayer,
meditation, and temptation, or trouble, makes a good preacher; and where
the former is neglected, or but slightly attended to, the Lord has always
trouble in store to arouse him again.
The pilgrim’s seldom long at ease;
When on fright’s gone another doth him seize.
Hence the following declaration—“If thou shalt not watch, I will come on
thee as a thief, and thou shalt not know in what hour I will come upon
thee.” This is an address to the angel, the minister, and the church of
Sardis. And I really think the description of that church exactly
answered to our situation, as a church: I am sorry to odd, like most of
the churches in the present day. This is too plain to be denied. Our
summer’s day was soon clouded, an awful storm was foreboded by many,
which at last fell upon us all: for, not long after, sailing by Crete,
there arose a mighty wind, called Euroclydon; and when the ship was
caught, and could not bear up to the wind, we let her drive, and running
under a certain island which is called Clauda, we had much work to come
by the boat, and being exceedingly tossed with a tempest, and neither sun
nor moon, nor stars, appeared for many days, and no small tempest lay out
us, all hope of deliverance being taken away, we cast fair anchor out of
the stern, and wished for the day; but falling into a place where two
seas met, they ran the ship aground, a part which was broken with the
violence of the waves, but some other parts remained immoveable; yet, in
God’s time we escaped to land; for, in the midst of the storm, some of
as, in the confidence of faith, said, “We shall yet praise Him;” and
though deep called unto deep, yet we knew the Lord would command his
loving kindness in the day time: and even in that night his song was at
times with us, and our prayer, unto the God of our lives; yet the sea
wrought, and was tempestuous, till the Lord High Admiral of the Seas
awoke and rebuked the winds and waves, and then there was a calm, for
which we can never be too thankful. O for a heart to praise him who
reigns over all his and our foes! In the year 1816 I began a course of
lectures on Paul’s voyage, which required a great deal of attention, and
a little more ingenuity than I ever possessed. Soon after this, alas! we
were brought experimentally to understand the subject; and though we all
rejoiced in the explanation and mystical sense, as it was explained, yet,
neither myself nor the congregation much liked the experimental part. It
is very easy to preach and hear of storms, but when we really feel them,
we are ready to exclaim, “I pray thee have me excused.” Nature ever did,
and ever will, rebel against the cross. Although faith sees it needful,
for a season, to be under temptations, no trial can come by chance, nor
does affliction spring from the ground, but man is born to trouble, as
the sparks fly upwards; afflictions are of Divine appointment, not to
make an atonement for sin, nor to eradicate sin from the body, but they
are as useful as medicines to the body, and though painful, yet
_afterwards_ they yield the peaceable fruits of righteousness to them
which are exercised thereby, no matter who the instruments are, nor what
they are called, nor what end they have in view. What God aims at is to
teach us wisdom; to try our faith, and that we may try him and find him
faithful; to wean us from this present evil world; to let us know what is
in our hearts; to display his power, love, wisdom, and faithfulness; and,
at last, to break down this earthly tabernacle, and bring the souls of
his redeemed to their eternal inheritance. And this is well. Surely
every Christian must say
I know in all that has befel,
My Jesus has done all things well.
I am sometimes grieved that the Lord’s tried people are so much prone to
look at second causes, and rebel against or resent the instruments which
afflict them; it is a mercy to be enabled to forgive, freely, fully, and
sincerely, those who, from _bad motives_, attempt to injure us; for this
conduct we have the very best of examples. O for grace to imitate them.
I do believe that neither priest nor Levite, neither professor or
profane, had any other motives in opposing me for so many years, but what
have arisen from ignorance, envy, and hatred to truth. I speak now of
those who have been so long endeavouring to injure me in the estimation
of the public. {110} I speak not of the excellent laws of the country.
God forbid. I have always, in public and in private, spoken well of
them; and if I transgressed any one law, I have as much right to suffer
the penalty of that law as any other man, and more so—but I am now
speaking of those gentlemen of the cloth who have endeavoured to degrade
me, both in doctrine and conduct: blessed be God they have failed.
“Behold, they shall surely gather together, but not by me, saith the
Lord.” I consider all that these have done has been _spite_, and I prove
it thus. How many erroneous preachers, and abominable in their conduct,
have appeared since I came first into the same neighbourhood? Why not
oppose them also? Why not watch their conduct—belabour them in the
pulpit—make them the subject matter of preaching (for want of better
matter)—search out their real or supposed faults—call committees on the
subject—expend large sums of money—publish, print, circulate—run from
county to county—employ the vilest vassals to carry on their nefarious
conspiracies—I say, why not others become the subjects of their spleen?
And even some amongst themselves, great advocates for what they choose to
call practical godliness, who have been drenched in sensuality, some of
whom have been exposed to the public—why not use them as they have me? I
only appeal to every thinking mind, whether their cruelty could arise
from any thing but _spite_. It cannot arise from my doctrine itself, but
their wilful ignorance of it, perversion of it, or hatred to it. What is
my doctrine, but—
That every believer being delivered from the law, as a covenant of
works, and having the love of God shed abroad in his heart, loves every
law of God, with all his _renewed heart_, his mind, and strength.
If this is the doctrine I preach, and I preach no other, can it be justly
condemned as being against the law? Surely not. And as I have stated
this as a solemn truth, that I preach no other doctrine, I only ask the
reader, once more, must not my religious enemies be most awful liars, who
have borne such false witness against me, upon this subject? As to the
general term used—the moral law a rule of life—I do not choose to use the
term, and why? Because no man in this world can make common sense of it;
it is a common hacknied phrase in the mouth of every pharisaic professor,
but the words will not bear an investigation. I only ask an explanation
of the term. Why should I make use of words I do not understand? From
my enemies I demand an explanation of it. I have read volumes of the
controversy on both sides, but no one _has_, for no one can, explain the
term. I know a certain Baptist preacher, who compels all his
newly-received members to declare, they believe the moral law is a rule
of life for believers; and, poor things, they are obligated in their
weakness, to acknowledge this, which neither themselves nor preacher can
understand. How can it be a rule for a Baptist? Do the ten commandments
say any thing about Baptism; about the Lord’s Supper; about singing of
psalms, hymns, or spiritual songs; or godly conversation, or forgiveness
of others; or any of their church rules? Not a word. How, then, can it
be a rule for a Baptist, who is bound to attend to the rules of his own
society, or even of my principal adversary; does it command him to read
or _chaunt_ prayers? Has it prescribed gowns or bands, or singers, or
organs? Does the moral law teach him to belie, ridicule, and use his
utmost to injure his neighbour, or run to consult counsellors, to know
how he can get rid of Mordecai sitting at the king’s gate; or once to be
zealous for truth, and now to wink at error? I think not. I leave this
to his conscience. I demand, if the moral law is a rule of life, why
transgress the fourth commandment, by labour and rest on the first day of
the week, instead of the seventh? If a rule, why do they not keep it? I
am only objecting to the term; but, beloved, abide then in Christ and his
Word; and as many as walk according to this rule, peace be on them.
LETTER XXIII.
“And set up false witnesses, which said, this man ceaseth not to
speak blasphemous words against this holy place and the law.”
In my last to you I have only objected to the mere obsolete and unmeaning
phrase—the moral law a believer’s rule of life. I beg you to bear in
mind, I do not say it is not a rule, but I maintain it is an insufficient
rule of conduct for a believer under the gospel dispensation. If it had
been a sufficient rule, why all the laws of Christ given as set forth in
the preceptive parts of the New Testament? The doctrine of the gospel
are the rules of our faith, and the precepts delivered to the churches,
the rules of our conduct: this is a truth which cannot be overthrown—for
asserting the above, it is surprising the enmity of the advocates of the
law of Moses, as they call themselves, manifest against those who differ
from them; yea, they would persecute them to bonds and to death. This is
evident in the life of the late truly experimental, devout, and faithful
Mr. W. Huntington, a man truly devoted to God; nor could his vigilant
enemies find a single fault in his moral deportment, although they tried
for it all his days; those serpents were disappointed of their food in
this particular; God blessed and kept him—owned his message to thousands;
and, while the Lord has a church upon earth, most of his writings will be
of signal service to God’s own family; yet he was made the butt of spite
and malice, ridicule, and contempt; nor could the rage of an empty
professor be ever so excited, than to hear of persons attending his
ministry; workmen and servants discharged from their situations by great
professors; wives, husbands, neighbours, and relations, persecuting each
other on this account; pastors cutting off members without mercy, when
they had been starved under their ministry, and went in search of food
under the ministry of that man of God. Preachers, when sadly off for a
subject, had only to introduce the frightful Antinomian, and this filled
up the time. A very rev. gentleman loaded him with every ill-natured and
low-life name he could; like Esau of old, whose conduct is strongly
reprobated in the book of _Obadiah_, to which I must refer you. This
elder brother fled from town to town, place to place, and house to house,
to oppose, traduce, misrepresent, and vilify the Lord’s servant; but, as
Mr. H. was a brother in Christ, in the faith of the gospel, and the love
of the Spirit, sad must be the state of that man who manifests such
hatred? See the epistles of _John_, then draw an inference. What a
mercy for us, who are dubbed Antinomians, that the civil sword is not in
the hands of these Balaams; {114} you may partly judge how they would
serve such asses as we are. It is a good remark I have met with—the name
Antinomian, we view as a kind of scare-bird, which the devil hangs up in
the pulpits of hypocrites, on purpose to keep the Lord’s doves from
flying to their windows; and it has happened to this figure, as it often
does to an image set up in a cherry-tree, it will frighten the birds for
a while, but when the little creatures come to discover the cheat, you
will see them sit upon the head of it. But why all this opposition?
Take it in Mr. H.’s own words, in his “Essay on Divine Law,” p. 275.
“The good man who has distinguished himself as my godfather, and who
has palmed the name of Antinomian upon me, and upon all that are in
connection with me, and who has, without intermission, slandered and
loaded we with reproach for five and twenty years, is an evangelist
of the first magnitude; though I never spoke to him but once in my
life. He is most exceeding zealous for the law of Moses, and of its
being the only rule of life for believers. My not holding this
assertion has filled him with all this holy indignation against me;
that, although he often forgets his text, and sometimes loses
himself, even in the pulpit, yet he never forgets nor loses sight of
the filthy Antinomian; and he is so violent for his own holiness and
sanctification, that he would be glad to send me to the devil, in
defence of it. And I doubt not but the Lord has set him at this work
to ripen him, as was the case when he bid Shimei curse David, that
God might curse him. And I am as fully persuaded as David was, ‘That
the Lord will requite me good for his cursing.’ 2 _Sam._ xvi. 12.
He has called me a spiritual monkey, a spiritual blackguard;
confessing that, if he was to see the devil flying away with me, he
could not find in his heart to cry, ‘stop thief!’ believing the devil
had only got his own property. And he has publicly confessed there
are three creatures in this world that his pious soul hates; namely,
the devil, Dr. Priestley, and Huntington; but that he hates
Huntington the worst of the three. Part of this is true, and part
false. It is true that he hates Huntington; but the other two have
received no damage by him in any thing. And I may say of my
godfather as the prophet says of Jacob’s brother, that, ‘He did
pursue his brother with the sword, and did cast off all pity, and his
anger did tear perpetually, and he kept his wrath for ever.’—_Amos_,
i. 2. My reader may believe me when I say, that I esteem his
indignation and his reproach a greater treasure to me than either his
affections or his prayers; for we are to be hated of all men, and
especially of all such men, for Christ’s name sake.—_Matt._ x. 22.
And this is so far from offending me, that I am pleased with it, and
make myself merry at the reports of his zeal, which hath almost eaten
him up; and he may go on, for his whole warfare is in defence of his
own honour; and the more the Lord enlarges me, the more he is
enlarged also.”
Again, p. 296—
“I wish these gentlemen would lay by the old thread-bare text, which
is of their own forging, and give us a few practical discourses upon
the law, shewing us how to love God, and love to the neighbours
fulfils it; for, ‘On these two commandments hang all the law and the
prophets.’—_Matt._ xxii. 40. And again; ‘Therefore all things,
whatsoever you would that men should do to you, do you even so to
them; for this is the law and the prophets.’ This last text would
try my pious godfather to the quick; for, although he is so very fond
of calling others blackguards, yet he cannot bear it himself. If
others were to pursue him for twenty-five years, as he has chased me,
and work him out of every pulpit, loading him with charges of error,
loose living, deceiving sinners, &c. &c. all of which, and in a
language equal to that of Billingsgate, his pious soul has thought
fit to heap upon me; I say, were others to treat him so, he would
weep like a child, fawn like a cat, and run to every counsellor in
London to plead his cause, and appeal to the world in behalf of his
innocency and the respectability of his family. Preachers that have
nothing to stand upon but the testimony of hypocrites, and the
applause of fools, can bear but little of this sort of scandal; for
their sandy foundation soon gives way, and, not being able to face
either God or conscience in the closet, they are sure to go down;
and, ‘Woe to him that is alone when he falleth.’ However, if these
laws of retaliation are not put into practice by my pious godfather
aforesaid, I have no doubt but the Law giver will put them in full
force himself, according to his own promise; ‘For with what judgment
ye judge ye shall be judged; and with what measure ye meet it shall
be measured to you again.’—_Matt._ vii. 2. He has not only loaded me
with reproach and scandal himself; but being a man noted for wisdom,
experience, and soundness of doctrine, he is much looked up to, and
therefore others have been emboldened to join him in the same work.”
All this opposition to that late man of God was undeserved; nor should I
have introduced the subject, but only to shew how far the rage of man may
go in his false zeal for the law {117} in these professing times. As it
respects myself, I would to God I had been like Mr. H. in almost every
branch of my conduct; it would have saved me many a painful and
distressing hour. However, it is evident the hand of God brought me into
this neighbourhood, and has kept me many years amidst so many storms; my
enemies themselves being judges. Our music and dancing has indeed
offended our elder brethren, _Luke_ xv. who boast they never transgressed
the commandment at any time; yet their pride of heart is not a little
mortified in beholding the hand of God towards me. God declared to the
pharisaic Jews—“By a foolish nation will I anger you.” This is the case
now; what I have erred in at any time is matter of the deepest grief to
my heart, and I will most readily confess it before God, and if there
were any necessity for it, I would to the church of God, in this little
work; but there is no occasion for that, as every believer feels the sin
of his _own_ heart to be a plague and a sore—yet prudence dictates to him
_not to acknowledge it_. Nevertheless I have no authority to confess or
acknowledge what I never did—what I never was guilty of. _Reader_,
_would you_? With all the faults with which the believer is guilty, as a
sinner in Adam, he never does, he never can sin, that grace may abound.
He cannot sin as a believer; when he sins at all, it is not upon the
free-grace principles of the gospel. God forbid; these teach him to deny
_all_ ungodliness, but to his grief he carries about with him a body of
sin; and the scriptures declare there is not a just man upon the earth,
that doeth good, and sinneth not. In many things, said the holy _James_,
we all offend, and the venerable, aged, and holy _John_, says the
same—“If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and the truth is
not in us.” If the saints of old were free from sin and sinning, what
can all their confessions, groans, tears, and sighs mean? And if my
opponents, who have represented me so bad so many years, are themselves
quite innocent, quite holy, or pure—how can they daily read the church
service, in her general confession, litany, collects, communion service,
and, indeed, throughout the whole. I say not this to encourage sin—to
charge me with this, is to charge the whole Word of God with it. Foolish
worldlings, who can be no judges of what either constitutes or
characterises a Christian, vainly suppose that to be a Christian is in
every respect to be a spotless person: and surely this is the wish of a
Christian; this is the desire of his heart—but who upon earth ever
attained it—none but the Divine Saviour. The Lord grant us increasing
conformity to his own image. Amen. I have sometimes reflected upon the
various enemies I have had, and am surrounded with now, who are every day
waiting, watching, and longing for my halting, as in _Jeremiah_, xx. 10th
verse.—“For I heard the defaming of many, fear on every side.—Report, say
they, and we shall report it; all my enemies watched for my halting,
saying, peradventure, he will be enticed, and we will prevail against
him.” But who are they? Perhaps _some_ pious, mistaken, good-meaning
people, to whom I have been misrepresented—_some_ envious, pharisaic
preachers and professors, who in heart hate the truth, as it is in Jesus,
and long for an opportunity to degrade it, by the bad conduct of some who
profess it. _Some_, hypocrites, who are secretly living in diabolical
sins; these are anxious to catch hold of some fault, on purpose to harden
their own hearts in sin, and ripen themselves for hell.—_Some_,
worldlings, either to furnish themselves with matter for ridicule against
religion—or to gain something by it, as many have gained many pounds by
coming forth to curse Israel. But enough of this. A little more than
four years rolled away, while the enemy took breath. We were so quiet,
that my name did not, for a long time, occur in the daily papers; yea,
they had forgotten me in the “Sunday News.” I was as a dead man, almost
out of mind: but this did not last long. As God had new mercies in store
for me, so he had also new trials and new deliverances.
Yours, J. C.
Of his deliverance I will boast,
Till all who are distrest,
From my example comfort take,
And charm their griefs to rest.
LETTER XXIV.
“He calleth to me out of Seir, Watchman, what of the night? The
morning cometh, and also the night.”
To —