Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
My Dear Brother in Christ,
Grace unto you, and peace be multiplied. May the God of all grace reward you
with the more abundant displays of His love—His free, undeserved, rich
and endless love!
Oh, my brother, I am surely the most unworthy of love
from God, of any that ever found grace in His sight. Hell, the hottest
hell, is my desert! Oh, what a sinner am I! The sin of my nature, that
deluge of filth and guilt which overspread all my parts and powers as soon
as quickened in the womb, and in which I was born—together with my actual
sins, my going astray from the womb, when I did nothing else but sin—until
mighty grace laid hold of me! These sins of mine I saw, when the Lord
opened my eyes, did deserve the damnation of hell—and I wondered at the
infinite forbearance of God in allowing me to live so long out of hell, when
I was such fit fuel for everlasting burnings! And I could have justified Him
if He had sent me down to the pit the next moment.
But oh, behold, I was a vessel of mercy; and therefore
the Lord made known unto me the riches of His glory, not only in sparing,
but in pardoning mercy also. He not only spared me from hell, but
forever delivered me from going down to the pit by the ransom which He had
found—by His own Son, to bear my sin, to be made a curse, and to die for me!
By this mighty ransom—this infinite price of the life of the Son of God laid
down for my redemption, did the God of all grace let me go free. And oh, the
riches, the exceeding riches of His grace, which He then displayed, in the
forgiveness of all my sins through the Lamb's blood! Where sin had abounded
grace did much more abound!
Oh, how freely did my heavenly Father receive me, a poor
prodigal, when under His own drawings I came to Him by Jesus Christ! He did
not upbraid me with my vile transgressions, nor deal with me in wrath
according to my sins—but graciously opened His arms and let me into His
bosom—His heart's love—no more to be separated from His love, nor to fall
out of love's arms forever! No! having loved me with an everlasting love,
and thus manifested His love through the slain Lamb, He resolved to love me
forever—that He would never cast me off, nor cast me out of His free love
for all that I had done.
Oh, astonishing! That abundant pardon which my
heavenly Father then granted, and I received, carried in the bosom of it not
only the forgiveness of my past and present sins, but of my future sins
also—of all my transgressions, even to my life's end. He forgave me all
trespasses—resolved to be merciful to my unrighteousness and to remember my
sins no more. He took away my filthy garments and clothed me with change of
clothing—put a ring on my hand and shoes on my feet—set me with Him at His
table—made a feast for me of the flesh and blood of His own Son—and rejoiced
over me with singing! Oh, the heights, depths, lengths, and breadths of
grace!
And with this wondrous love of God He melted my hard
heart, revived my dying soul, put a new song of joy and praise into my
mouth, and drew me to give up myself unto Him, to be entirely His forever.
Oh, then I said I would not transgress, when He had thus broken my yoke and
burst my bonds, and brought me into liberty—the glorious liberty of the sons
of God!
But ah! I have not rendered to the Lord according to all
the great things which He has done for me, but have ill-requited Him for all
His kindness. I am indeed bent to backsliding from God, and have dealt very
treacherously with my gracious Father. I see, to my shame and grief, the
seeds of all sin in my vile heart—a hell of iniquity there! I feel that my
carnal mind is enmity, entire and irreconcilable enmity, against God—and
such are the ebullitions of this unsearchable deep, this horrid fountain,
that I am frequently struck with amazement that I am not sent down to
hell—that my life is not among the unclean—that so vile a sinner has not a
portion among the damned, in the lake that burns with fire and brimstone!
Ah, not because I do not deserve a place there am I
spared—but because Jehovah will be gracious unto whom He will be gracious,
and show mercy on whom He will show mercy. Oh, if the love of God was not
free, sovereign, and independent of my goodness—which as the morning cloud
and the early dew quickly passes away—I would perish still, and sink into
the pit with the additional weight of 'abused kindness'.
Oh, my sins, since the Lord manifested His love to me, I
see to be of a greater guilt, a deeper dye, than all that I was guilty of
before I knew the Lord, or rather was known of Him. And these, in a special
manner, break my heart and humble me before the Lord, when He breaks in upon
my soul with the displays of His infinite favor.
For lo! the love of God and the blood of Christ are
depths that infinitely surpass and swallow up all my sin! Oh, what are
my vast, numberless, aggravated transgressions, to the boundless depth of
Jehovah's love—to the infinite merit of the blood of the Son of God? Here,
through the blood and righteousness of Jesus, grace reigns and triumphs
gloriously over all my abounding sin. It not only began to reign thus in the
first glorious displays thereof made to my poor soul when just ready to
perish, but it reigns still—and will reign on in its infinite, majestic
state, until all my sins, which are now pardoned, shall be fully subdued and
utterly destroyed out of my nature—until all sin and death are swallowed up
in the victory of eternal life to the praise of its own glory. Oh,
glorious grace!
Thus, my dear brother, according to this grace has my God
hitherto dealt with me. He has followed me with His kindness, His rich,
free, everlasting kindness. And thus He will deal with you. According to His
own heart has He done, will He do, great things for you; and not according
to 'your worthiness'. Your God did not wait for your goodness before He
fixed His love on you, nor seek it as a motive thereof—but from His own free
heart took all His motives from within Himself to love you. And therefore
they must needs be strong and invariable like Himself, who is the Lord that
changes not.
And this great, free, and invariable love of God was
fixed upon you in the Beloved of His Soul, who is Jesus Christ, the same
yesterday, today, and forever. So that, as long as God's love abides, which
is as permanent as His being; as long as Christ endures, who is the same,
and whose years fail not; and as long as Christ stands in the love of God
for you, and you stand in the love of God in Him—so long will Jehovah
love you!