Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
Dear Sister,
Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied, from God our
Father, and our Lord Jesus Christ, by the blessed Comforter.
I understand that you are exercised both with
affliction of body and darkness of soul, and I sympathize with you
herein. But think it not strange, my dear sister, concerning the fiery
trials you meet with, as if some strange thing had happened unto you.
Remember the Lord has His fire in Zion, and His furnace in Jerusalem (Isa.
31:9), to refine, not to destroy His people. God sends afflictions
upon His children for their good. Sin and Satan indeed aim at our
destruction herein, but God bounds their rage and overrules their malice to
issue in His own glory and our salvation.
The design of Sin and Satan is the destruction of our
graces as well as of our persons, and therefore they blow up the fire of
affliction to the utmost, and would continue it until we are consumed. But
"Hold," says the Lord, "My children are my gold, precious in my esteem, and
they must pass through the fire to be refined, but not lie there until they
suffer loss."
And therefore, when we are in the furnace our God
sits by to see that the fire be not too hot, nor continued too long upon us,
as the refiner watches his gold, manages it while in the furnace, and takes
it out thence when it is fully purified. "He will sit as a refiner and
purifier of silver; he will purify the Levites and refine them like gold and
silver." Malachi 3:3
Well, then, my dear sister, since you are one of those
who are precious in the sight of the Lord you must pass through the fire of
affliction, but since it is the Lord's fire, which He has appointed, which
He manages, and which he will restrain at His pleasure, trust yourself in
the hands of your infinitely wise and gracious Refiner and you shall come
out of it both with present and eternal advantage. This affliction, as an
instrument in the hand of God the Almighty agent, is at work upon you, and
for you, to exercise and increase your graces here, and to prepare you for
your future crown. Therefore, endure the trial, for, "Blessed is the man who
perseveres under trial, because when he has stood the test, he will receive
the crown of life that God has promised to those who love him." James 1:12
But it may be you will say, "Aye, if I was sure I was one
that loved God, I would patiently wait for and expect a happy outcome, but I
am afraid lest I should deceive myself, deceive others, and at last come
short of that rest which remains for the people of God."
As for these your fears, and ten thousand more of a like
nature which may arise in your heart in a time of darkness, they are
altogether groundless, and though they may rob you of your comfort
they cannot rob you of your safety in Christ, nor of that
inheritance which is reserved for you in Heaven. No, blessed be God, you
are still just where free grace set you; God has fixed you in His Son, and
laid you, by faith, upon Him, the Rock of Ages; and now your salvation
stands as immovable as the rock on which it is founded. The rain may
descend, the floods come, and the winds blow, all kinds of afflictions and
temptations together may beat vehemently against your faith of safety in
Christ, but your security in Him shall never fall, because founded upon a
rock which is able to bear the greatest weights which are laid upon it, and
to secure the building from all danger in the greatest stress of weather
which can possibly befall it. The rock of immutability is still beneath you,
and unless Christ could sink, the salvation of your soul—that leans upon Him
can never fall. You may fall as to your frames, but you can never sustain
one shake as to your state. No, "The foundation God has laid in Zion is a
stone, a tried stone, a precious cornerstone, a sure foundation, and he who
believes on Him shall not be confounded" (Isa. 28:16, 1 Peter 2:6). And now,
let all the objections be brought out that all the legions of devils and
armies of corruptions combined can raise against the salvation of that
sinner that looks unto Christ for life, and down they must fall before the
grace of this promise—God's word shall stand, to the eternal salvation of
that soul and the confusion of all its enemies!
Into His arms I commit you, earnestly desiring that happy
morning of Divine favor which shall arise upon your soul when the short
night of your present weeping is over; Christ will see you again, and your
heart shall rejoice, and "your joy shall no man take from you." And
meanwhile, though clouds and darkness cover you, commotions and tempests
shake your mind, yet all is clear as to your state in the upper region of
Christ's love!