1.A 25. LETTER XXV

LETTER XXV.

How the blessing is kept Walk in Christ-Live in Him by faith God’s work to sanctify and keep us Poetry and Scripture quoted in proof None can withstand God Proved from Scripture and our Hymns St. Paul’s triumphant declaration It is enough The security of the sanctified asserted. MY DEAR M : Many, I suppose, have been deterred from seeking the entire sanctification of their natures from a fear that, though they might obtain it, they should not be able to keep it. This fear arises, I apprehend, from erroneous views respecting not only the nature of the blessing itself, but also of the manner in which it is to be kept.

It is true we have a duty to perform. " As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him." Call to remembrance the manner in which you received Christ Jesus as your almighty, your present Saviour. Was it not by faith? But this faith was not exercised in him, until you were led to renounce all dependence upon yourself, as well as on every other creature, thing, or work. It was exercised also in the midst of prayer, accompanied by deep repentance, a renunciation of all sin, a sacrifice of self- love, earnest watchings against the intrusion of errors and sinful indulgence, and an intense de sire after the " one thing needful." But not withstanding all these exercises, none of them, nor all of them together, could have procured the blessing, unless God had bestowed it upon you by his Holy Spirit, applying directly to the heart the merits of the Lord Jesus, by which all sin was washed away. The work of sanctification is therefore eminently the work of God. He effects it in the heart by the mighty energies of his Holy Spirit. Not all our mourning, self-loathing, sincere repentance, fasting, praying, and even believing, would bring the blessing to our souls, until God himself " work within us to will and to do of his own good pleasure."

None is like Jeshurun’s God, So great, so strong, so high! Lo! he spreads his wings abroad, He rides upon the sky! Israel is his first-born son :

God, the Almighty God, is THINK; See him to THY HELP COME DOWN, The excellence divine!"

Read this hymn through, my dear M., not carelessly, nor hurriedly, but attentively, marking every word, and note particularly the 2d and 6th verses, and see how emphatically our evangelical poet ascribed our salvation from sin to that God who spreads around the head of those who come to him for help, " The everlasting arms."

Well, now, as we are indebted to God’s free, unbounded, unmerited grace in Christ Jesus for the reception of this great salvation, so we must remain indebted to the same almighty hand for its continuance.

" But is it possible that I Should live, and SIN no MORE?"

Hear the answer the poet gives to his own question :

" Lord, if on thee I dare rely, The FAITH shall bring the POWKB." This is in perfect accordance with the declaration of the Apostle Peter: "Ye are kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation." Observe! "Ye are kept." But how kept? "By the POWER OF GOD!" Not by your faith, simply considered, but only by faith, as a medium through which this continuous salvation is kept in the soul by the power of God. And I would ask, with all humility, and yet with strong faith in the veracity and ability of God, whether HE be not fully adequate to keep and preserve from all their enemies, however numerous, subtle, or strong, the souls that have " fled for refuge to lay hold of the hope that is set before them?" Hence he sings most delightfully, and with a strong, triumphant faith, " Thee the great Jehovah deigns To succour and defend; Thee the eternal God sustains, Thy Maker and thy Friend : Israel, what hast thou to fear?

Safe from all impending harms, Round thee and beneath are spread The everlasting arms."

I have not marked any particular words in the above stanza, to distinguish them from the rest as being more emphatical, because every noun and verb appear to be full of meaning expressive of the surest sustenance, support, and comfort to a believing, sanctified soul, so that he may confidently say, " The world, sin, death, oppose in vain; Thou, by thy dying, death hast slain, My great Deliverer and my God! In vain does the old dragon rage, In vaiu all hell its powers engage;

None can withstand thy conquering blood."

If none of the powers of hell, not even the "old Dragon" himself, can "withstand the conquering blood" of the Son of God, which is continually applied to the heart of the believer, not only to cleanse but to keep him clean, what has this believing soul however feeble, ignorant, or even helpless in himself what, I say, has he to fear? If he only fears and loves God, puts his trust in him, obeys his commandments with a filial heart, he may bid defiance to all his enemies, and adopt the following language of the same inimitable poet, whose celestial strains have animated the hearts of many a weary pilgrim in his way to the land of rest :

" By faith I plunge me in this sea;

Here is my hope, my joy, my rest; Hither, when hell assails, I flee :

I look into my Saviour’s breast : Away, sad doubt, and anxious fear! Mercy is all that’s written there."

O that our souls may fully enter into the spirit of these words, and catch a spark of the heavenly flame which burned upon the altar of his heart, and exercise a portion of that strong, triumphant faith, which bound him fast to the throne of God, and made him hang upon the promises, when he so confidently sung, and taught others to sing, " Fix d on this ground will I remain, Though my heart fail, and flesh decay; This anchor shall my soul sustain, When earth’s foundations melt away; Mercy’s full power I then shall prove, Loved with an everlas infr love "

O! my dear M., does not your soul feel a new impulse of holy joy while reading the above lines? and do you not find, descending into the very depths of your heart, that settled peace of God which passeth all human understanding, while you, in imitation of the poet, fix your firm, unwavering faith on that promise, made to every believing soul which proves the genuineness of its faith by its fidelity in every good word and work, " I will never leave thee nor forsake thee?" If this be the feeling of your heart, you do but sympathize with your unworthy friend and bro ther, whose heart expands, while writing, with an enlarged desire to make known, as far as in him lies, the riches of Divine grace, with which God has furnished the persevering believer, to buoy him up amidst the turbulent waves of the sea of life, and to give him those transporting anticipations of entering upon that tranquil ocean of eternal repose, " Where all the ship’s company meet."

How numerous, how rich, how full are the promises of God to this effect! Among others which might be selected, take the following from the lips of Christ himself: "My sheep hear my voice, and I know them, and they follow me : And I give unto them eternal life; and they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of my hand." John 10:27-28. This promise is as full and as absolute as words can possibly make it. If, therefore, the sheep of Christ only listen to his voice, follow him in faith and love, refusing to hearken to " the voice of a stranger," they are safe as the power, goodness, and veracity of God can make them for they shall never perish, neither shall any man pluck them out of his hand : and, with a view to render sure doubly sure, Jesus Christ adds, "And my Father, which gave them me, is greater than all; and no man shall pluck them out of my Father’s hands."

Though it is allowed that a sanctified believer may apostatize from God, yet, so long as he perseveres with fidelity, he is perfectly safe, because God has pledged himself to keep him under the hollow of his hand; and hence the apostle asks, " Who shall harm you, if ye be followers of that which is good?" There is no reason, therefore, to fear, provided only we are faithful in the performance of our duty, but that God will perfect the work, will "carry it on until the day of Jesus Christ;" and no man, no power in earth or hell, shall ever be able to " pluck us out of his Father’s hand."

It was this view of the subject which enabled St. Paul to adopt that triumphant language in Romans 8:35-39, in which he asks, " Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or peril, or sword? Nay, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him that loved us. For I am persuaded that neither death, nor life, nor angels, nor principalities, nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come, nor height, nor depth, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus." On what is this persuasion founded? It is founded, 1. On the certainty of his own, and the experience of those of whom he wrote, of the sanctifying grace of God, respecting whom he had said, in verses 1-4, that " the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus had made them free from the law of sin and death," and who "walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit." So long as they continue thus to walk straight-for ward in the path of obedience to the commands of God, living by faith in Jesus Christ, they are perfectly safe, being " kept by the power of God." It is founded, 2. On the blood, and righteousness, and continued intercession of the Lord Jesus.

" Who is he that condemneth? It is Christ that died, yea rather, that is risen again, who is even at the right hand of God, who also maketli intercession for us."

It is enough! If the death of Christ was suffered for us if his resurrection and continual intercession are in our behalf if his strength is imparted to us if the Holy Spirit has descended upon us to justify, regenerate, and sanctify our natures if this same Holy Spirit is continually with us, to guide and comfort us, and help our infirmities then, so long as we yield ourselves to his teachings, and consent to follow the Lamb wheresoever he may lead us, then may we confidently persuade ourselves that nothing " shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus."

Here, then, is the security of the sanctified Christian. So long as he is faithful, he is under the protection of the everlasting anus, and therefore may rest securely amidst storms and tempests, amidst temptations and trials, equally as calmly and confidently as in the most serene days of prosperity and happiness. In the midst of all these things he oau say,

" Yea, let men rage, since thou wilt spread Thy shadowing wings around my head , Since in all pain thy tender love Will still my sure refreshment prove."