Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
My Dear Sister in the Lord,
All our times of refreshing, my dear sister, come from the presence of the
Lord. If God is present with our souls, by the special gracious influence of
His Holy Spirit, we are refreshed; if God is absent, as to His sensible
influence, we find no refreshment in reading, hearing, or praying. We are
dry and barren if the Lord does not sensibly water us.
We are cold and frozen if His sun-like
face does not shine to thaw, warm, and comfort us. All the refreshment that
new-born souls enjoy, does and must come down from heaven. Nothing that this
earth affords can refresh and solace the spiritual part of a heaven-born
soul. No, such a soul is prepared for a higher glory, than any that is to be
seen and enjoyed among the creatures and things of this lower world. Such a
soul opens its mouth wide after God, and His gracious influence, to refresh
and comfort it, as the earth in a time of drought opens its mouth for the
dew and rain to descend for its refreshment. "Give me Christ," says the
new-born soul, "or I die. God is my life, my exceeding joy, and without His
gracious, comforting presence, my spirit dies, and I sink in sorrow."
When the Sun of righteousness withdraws His glorious
rays, and it is night with our souls, then, in an especial manner, the
corruptions of the heart, and Satan with his temptations, like the devouring
beasts of prey, creep forth from their dens, and with their hideous roars,
afflict and terrify us. But our compassionate Jesus, whose eyes are as the
eyes of doves—pure, piercing, mild, loving towards his own mate—clearly
sees, with infinite delight, the dove-like nature of His spouse, and looks
upon her with boundless compassion under her present affliction by the
serpentine poison and gall of every sin which remains in her, and the
cunning and power of every temptation that besets her; and from these her
enemies—from these grieving thorns which scratch and tear His beloved
lily—He does and will, in His own way and time, deliver her.
Again, beware of thinking—from what I have said of the
nature of new-born souls to thirst after God, to see His power and His glory
as they have seen Him, when He withdraws the brightness of His face—that if
at such seasons you do not always find such a thirst in you, you are not
therefore a regenerate person, or that you do not love the Lord above all;
for when Christ withdraws from His spouse, as she loses sight of His glory,
which drew her graces into exercise, these shutting up, like the flowers at
the sun's withdrawal, the corruptions of her unrenewed part, excited by
diverse temptations from Satan and the world, begin to exert themselves, and
after foolish vanities and vile iniquities the heart for a time may run, and
even the spouse of Christ may play the harlot with other, with many
lovers—and, thoughtless as it were of her Beloved, lie down in sinful ease
on her bed of carnal security without Him; yes, she may sink so low as to be
unwilling to be raised up by repeated intimations of His mind unto her duty
of seeking Him in good earnest, as (Jer. 3:1; Song 3:1, with 5:2, 3), Until
her beloved puts His hand in by the hole of the door, until His power afresh
touches her heart, renews her grace, and gives her a quick remembrance of
His glory, and of her great misery without Him, and then straight away her
affections move for Him, she arises to every duty, and inquires of His
friends, "Have you seen Him whom my soul loves?" And rest she cannot until
she finds Him, in whom all her joy and life is, and from whose presence all
her refreshment flows.
Thus, my dear sister, when I speak of what souls are and
do as creatures, it is to be understood of them as when enabled to act
according to the new creature life in their hearts. That you may walk in the
comforts of the Holy Spirit and be edified, is my hearty desire.