1.A 09. LETTER IX

LETTER IX. The subject continued Sustained by the experience of Isaiah Other texts imply the same truth. Psalms 51:10; 2 Corinthians 7:1; Ezekiel 36:25 The views confirmed by extracts from Wes ley, from Fletcher, from Mrs. Rogers These all sustain the doctrine of native impurity Poetry quoted to prove the same How delivered Poetry quoted for encouragement. " MY DEAR M : I still pursue the subject of my last, and cite a few more Scripture authorities in confirmation of the sentiments I have advanced. Look at that memorable passage in Isaiah 6:3-7. In the fifth verse the prophet confesses his vileness in the following words : " Then said I, Woe is me! for I am a man of unclean lips, and 1 dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips." How came he to this humbling view of himself? He tells us by saying, " Mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts;" and the King, the Lord of hosts, is denominated in the third verse " holy, holy, holy," while the "whole earth" is said to be " full of his glory."

It was therefore this view of the holy character of God which filled the soul of Isaiah with that knowledge of his own heart, that made him cry out, in the bitter anguish of his heart, "Woe is me, for I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips!" Nor was he left to perish there, or to groan for ever under this conscious load of his guilt and impurity; for it is added in the sixth and seventh verses, " Then flew one of the seraphims, having a live coal in his hand, which he had taken with the tongs from off the altar. And he laid it upon my mouth, and said, Lo, this hath touched thy lips; and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged" that is, thou art justified and sanctified, for not only his actual iniquity was forgiven, but his internal pollution was washed away, implying most evidently two separate and distinct acts of divine grace, whether a long or short time apart, we cannot tell. The question arises, How came Isaiah to this sight of himself? What made him exclaim, " Wo is me, for I am a man of unclean lips?" Was it not from a view of the glorious holiness of God, which he himself revealed to his servant, in such a clear manner as to make manifest all the hidden secrets of his heart, the same as he did to Job?

I must be more brief in my subsequent quotations, or I shall extend the subject to an undue length. All these promises and prayers for a " clean heart," for a " pure heart," and for the cleansing efficacy of the merits of Christ, are predicated of the fact of the inherent impurity of the heart and its affections. Thus David, in Psalms 51:10, after having prayed, in verse nine, for the blotting out of all his iniquities, that is, for the pardon of his actual sins, says, with all the earnestness arising from conscious impurity, " Create in me a clean heart, God, and renew a right spirit within me." What necessity of praying for a clean heart, unless his heart were already defiled? And if the forgiveness of his actual sins implied or included this inward cleansing at the same time, why pray for it to be done a second time? The thing would be absurd on either supposition either by sup posing that he had no inward impurity to be removed, or that his justification and sanctification were the same thing. So also in that often quoted passage in 2 Corinthians 7:1, in which the apostle exhorts his Corinthian brethren, in view of the promises, to " cleanse themselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God." Here not only their moral pollution is implied, but it is expressly mentioned as being incorporated both in the flesh, the body, and the spirit the soul; and from this filthiness he presses upon them the necessity of an inward cleansing; and to encourage them in this work, he reminds them of the promises, doubtless referring to Ezekiel 36:26, of God to that effect " I will sprinkle clean water upon you, and ye shall be clean; from all your filthiness, and from all your idols, will I cleanse you."

Now these texts are amply sufficient and they could be multiplied to almost any extent to prove the postulatum with which I commenced, namely, that the first step toward obtaining a sanctification of our natures is to be convinced of its absolute necessity, from an in ward consciousness of our impurity not merely an acknowledgment, arising from the presentation of truth to the understanding, that we are naturally sinful; but the heart must be made thoroughly sensible of the fact, from the shining of God’s Spirit into its darkest corners. This it is that shows us that we must be purified by the blood of Christ, that we may offer unto God an acceptable service here, and be prepared for his holy sanctuary hereafter. But are these views in conformity to those expressed by our standard writers? I think they are. To be convinced of this, read over Mr. Wesley’s two sermons; the one entitled, " Sin in believers," and the other, " Repentance of believers," and you will see his sentiments drawn out at length, in which he strenuously contends that all those who are justified, but not yet wholly sanctified, have " inward sin, sinful tempers, passion, or affection; such as pride, self-will, love of the world, in some kind and degree; such as lust, anger, peevishness; any disposition contrary to the mind which was in Christ."

Mr. Fletcher bears testimony to the same truth in the following words :

" To promote this deep repentance, consider how many spiritual evils haunt your breast. Look into the inward chamber of imagery, where assuming self-love, surrounded by a multitude of vain thoughts, foolish de-sires, and wild imaginations, keeps her court Grieve that your heart, which should be all flesh, is yet partly stone; and that your soul, which should be only a temple for the Holy Ghost, is yet so frequently turned into a den of thieves, a hole for the cockatrice, a nest for a brood of spiritual vipers, for the remains of envy, jealousy, fretfulness, anger, pride, impatience, peevishness, formality, sloth, prejudice, bigotry, carnal confidence, evil shame, self-righteousness, tormenting fears, un charitable suspicion, idolatrous love, and I know not how many of the evils which form the retinue of hypocrisy and unbelief. Through grace detect these evils by a close attention to what passes in your own heart at all times, but especially in an hour of temptation. By frequent and deep confession, drag out all these abominations; these sins which would not have Christ to reign over you; bring them before him; place them in the light of his countenance; and if you do it in faith, that light and the warmth of his love will kill them, as the light and heat of the sun kill the worms which the plough turns to the open air in a dry summer’s day." Fletclters Checks, vol. ii, p. 643.

Mrs. Hester Ann Rogers says, speaking of the necessity of " perfect love :"

" I have resolved this day, to set myself more fully than ever to attain victor} , complete victory, over the evils of my heart, which so often spring up and trouble me; and to this end I will, by thy grace, O my God, mortify every rising desire, and deny myself wholly; and fast more exactly, and pray more abundantly yea, I will begin afresh, and devote myself wholly to thee, Lord my God! I can say, Thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee; but I would love thee with all my heart, and soul, and strength."*

These authorities, both from the Holy Scriptures and our standard writers, are sufficient to show that we are warranted in believing that sin remains in the heart, even after the penitent believer has been pardoned, or justified by grace, through faith in the Lord Jesus Christ. If anything more were wanting to confirm this point, it may be found in those excellent hymns which are sung in all our worshipping assemblies. In addition to those I quoted in my last, I will present you with a few more specimens. Read attentively the following, in the old edition, for it is left out in the revised copy, much to my regret :

" O great mountain, who art thou?
Immense, immovable!
High as heaven aspires thy brow,
Thy foot sinks deep as hell!
Thee, alas! I long have known,
Long have felt thee fix d within;
Still beneath thy weight I groan;
Thou art indwelling sin.

" Thou art darkness in my mind,
Perverseness in my will!
Love inordinate and blind,
That always cleaves to ill :

·    This quotation is made from the second part of her Journal, which has never been republished in this country, from which I design to give some interesting extracts hereafter.

Every passion’s wild excess;
Anger, lust, and pride thou art;
Thou art sin and sinfulness,
And unbelief of heart." Nor does the poet leave himself or his readers to pine away and die under this ponderous weight of indwelling sin, which he so graphically describes, and so feelingly deplores. His words are so full of comfort, and so strongly express the unshaken confidence he had in the power and efficacy of the grace of God in Christ Jesus, that I cannot deny myself the pleasure of quoting them, not only that you, my dear M., may see how exactly they agree with your own happy experience, but that any others who may read these lines, and still be groaning under a consciousness of inbred sin, may take courage and fly immediately to Christ, who was " manifested that he might destroy the works of the devil." Hear him in the following energetic lines :

Christ, the Head, the corner-stone,
Shall be brought forth in me;
Glory be to Christ alone!
His grace shall set me FREE :
I shall shout my Saviour’s name;
Him I evermore shall praise;
All the work of grace proclaim,
Of SANCTIFYING GRACE.

" Christ hath the foundation laid,
And Christ shall build me up;
Surely I shall SOON be made
Partaker of my hope;

Author of my faith he is,
He its ftuither shall be;
PERFECT LOVE shall seal me his
To all eternity."

I have, as usual, emphasized the words to which I wish to call your attention, that you may see how fully and emphatically the poet carries the soul along, from the twilight of early dawn to the light of morning, and thence ascends with him to the top of the mountain of holiness, and seats him in the sunshine of God’s smiling countenance, by the side of Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant. O, my dear M., does not your soul catch fire at reading the above words? I feel assured, from my own experience, that you cannot read them, much less sing them, " with the spirit and understanding," without feeling your heart expanding with increasing- love to God and man, and without bending the knee in grateful adoration to God for raising up such a man as Charles Wesley to furnish His Church with hymns so Scriptural, experimental, and spiritual. With your glad heart filled thus with Glory and with God," you can exult in the ever-brightening prospect which looms up before your ravished soul, while you shout forth the following words with a sweet anticipation of entering at last into the land of rest :

" The promised laud from Pisgah’s top,*
I sow exult to see;
My hope is full (O glorious hopo!)
Of immortality." With these words trembling upon your lips, while their deep meaning is playing around your heart, kindling up the fire of divine love, 1 bid you adieu for the present.

* Compare tins rerse from the pen of Charles Wesley with the following from Watts :

" Could we but climb where Moses stood, And view the landscape o’er" implying a doubt whether it were possible for a believer, with all the advantages he possesses, to ascend the mountain of holiness, and by faith view the " landscape " beyond the " cold flood" of death while Wesley boldly ascends the lofty summit, sees the land delightfully spread out before him, and, as he triumphantly sings in another verse :

" Rejoicing now in earnest hope,
I stand, and from the mountain top
See all the land below :
Rivers of milk and honey rise,
And all the fruits of Paradise
In endless plenty grow."

While Watts is crawling along up the sides of the mountain, doubting the possibility of reaching its summit, from whence he may look into the promised land, Wesley mounts at once to the top of Pisgah, ami from thence he views, with the keen eye of faith,

" A land of corn, and wine, and oil,
Favour’d with God’s peculiar smile,
With every blessing blest." Which poet do you prefer?