Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
Dear Madam,
It is indeed a very great privilege to be favored with a
religious parentage and education, but if this were our greatest felicity,
we would sink, nevertheless, into eternal misery! But the vessels of mercy–
of God's free, rich, sovereign mercy– in order to their time-preparation for
eternal glory, are blessed by Him, with His Holy Spirit sent down into their
hearts, as the spirit of regeneration, conviction, and conversion.
And this blessed spirit, in His saving work on the heart,
when He first begins it, finds the sinner dead in sin, and under total
darkness, as to spiritual things, in his understanding– in an entire
alienation from them, and aversion to them, in his will and affections; and
so, afar off from God in Christ, without any apparent right to the covenant
of promise, and without any good hope through grace. And at such a time as
this, He is pleased, by His almighty and all-gracious energy, to produce a
new and holy principle of spiritual life in that soul which lay under the
power of spiritual death entirely.
This principle, which is instantaneously given, and as to
the exact moment of it to us unknown, contains in it all graces, which are
afterwards drawn out into their various exercises, under the Spirit's
influence, unto the regenerate soul's various privileges. And this gracious
work of the Holy Spirit of the heart discovers itself to the soul that is
the subject of it, and to others, so far as it is related, by a supernatural
light set up in the understanding, whence the soul sees itself to be
utterly lost and undone by sin, by heart and life-sin, under the curse
of God's law, and in danger of the wrath which is to come– that it neither
has, nor can, by self-power, attain a perfect righteousness of its own for
justification.
And also, in the soul's discerning, upon the Spirit's
revealing, the infinite glory and transcendent excellency of Christ as
the great Savior, in His Person and offices, blood and righteousness,
and in all the fullness of His grace– as God's great provision for the
salvation of the chief of sinners– and as in the gospel held forth to be
received of them by faith.
And further, the Spirit's saving work, on the will and
affections, discovers itself by that soul's approbation of the Savior
beheld, its desires after Him, its approaches to Him, its laying hold of
Him, and casting itself, under the Spirit's sweet and strong attraction,
with the whole weight of its everlasting salvation upon Christ alone for all
holiness and all happiness, to the present and eternal praise of the God of
all grace, and to the soul's present and eternal bliss; upon which, that
soul becomes declaratively and apparently a child and heir of God, through
Christ, as the God of grace and glory– and is more or less sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise.
And now, dear Madam, if you are blessed with a precious
experience of this happy work on your heart, you are most certainly a new
creature in Christ, and a true believer in Him, and "shall be saved in the
Lord, with an everlasting salvation," notwithstanding the greatest inward or
outward opposition. You are forever safe in the hands of Jesus, and none of
the powers of darkness, with all their subtlety and force, shall ever be
able to pluck you thence. "Your refuge is the eternal God, and underneath,
for your support, are the everlasting arms!" And as an inhabitant of the
Rock– the Rock of Ages, who is your strong defense– you may sing and shout
salvation from the top of the mountains!
But you complain, dear Madam, "that notwithstanding your
approach by faith unto Christ, to touch the hem of His garment, and to lay
hold of His royal robe of righteousness, the root of sin is not dried
up within you– the plague of your heart is not healed– but that your heart
is like a painted sepulcher, full of rottenness and putrefaction; yes, that
your heart grows worse and worse." To these things I answer:
The root of sin in your heart may be considered in
a twofold respect, as (1), In its principle; and (2), In its act; or, your
misery may be distinguished into 'heart' and 'life-defiling' iniquity; and
this, again, into the guilt and filth of both. With respect to the guilt
of both, your root of sin was fully dried up and gone, upon your first act
of faith on Christ's blood and righteousness, for your justification. As
God, then, by the gracious declarations of His unchanging word, did not
impute unto you your sin, but the perfect righteousness of His own Son,
whose nature, being without a spot of sin, His heart, lip, and
life-obedience, even unto death, was without blemish, so from thenceforth,
you were, are, and ever shall be, in God's sight, as you appear before Him
in His son– perfectly clean from the guilt of all sin, and righteous before
Him as to your state of justification.
And as to the filth of your heart and life-sin,
that also is dried up and gone as you appear before God for His acceptance
and complacency, in His Holy Son, who has for you who stand in Christ, as
perfectly holy heart, to remove out of the Father's sight all your
unholiness. You are now presented before God, by Christ, "holy and
unblameable, and unreproveable in His sight," though you still have the
running outcome of sin– so much unholiness– in yourself. And in this
respect, you are called to wash daily, by faith, in that fountain set open
for sin, both in its guilt and filth.
"The plague of your heart," you say, Madam, "is not
healed." but you ought to distinguish between your heart and your heart, or
between your heart, as renewed by grace, in which dwells a principle
of holiness, and from whence proceeds internal and external acts of
holiness; and your heart as unrenewed, or the unrenewed part of your
heart, in which dwells a whole body of sin and death, with all its members,
and from whence flows internal and external acts of wickedness. For though
the Holy Spirit's work on the heart is perfect, as to kind, and in respect
of parts, as it extends to all the parts, powers, and faculties of the soul,
so that there is no power or faculty in it but what is sanctified; yet this–
His sanctifying work, is still imperfect in degree, and is to be increased
by His almighty influence, unto a perfection of holiness; and having
experienced the Spirit's sanctifying work on your heart as a begun-work in
it, the plague of your heart, so far as it is renewed, is healed.
And if the plague of your heart were not, in this
respect, healed, you would not, you could not, desire so earnestly a clean
heart universally, for like loves its like. It is from holiness in your
heart begun, that you long after perfection, and until that time comes,
there remains in your corrupt heart all sin, which is as contrary to
holiness as darkness is to light. And this is your great grief and burden
and matter of your complaint, "that the plague of your heart is not healed."
And indeed it is not, in the unregenerate part of it, but it is in the
regenerate part of it.
When I speak of the heart, understand it as of all the
powers of your soul, each of which is in part renewed and in part unrenewed;
but that same almighty power which begun in you this holy work, in
conformity to Christ, the Father's first-born Son, will carry it on unto
absolute perfection, and then you will feel no more of heart, lip and
life-abominations; but shall shout the triumphs of that mighty grace, to its
endless praise, which has wrought your deliverance from all misery, and
brought you up unto perfect purity, fullness of joy, and eternal glory.
But you tell me, Madam, "that your heart grows worse
and worse." To this I reply: The unrenewed part of your heart, in
which resides the principle of sin, has in it such a fullness of evil, such
heights and depths of wickedness, such putrefaction and rottenness, that it
cannot admit of greater degree. "It is deceitful above all things, and so
desperately wicked" that none but the Lord Himself can find it out, or
search the amazing depths of this bottomless gulf! But though sin as a
principle, in the unregenerate part of your heart, cannot grow worse– the
ebullitions, or boilings up of corruptions, may be more or less, as they
have more or less advantage to show their rage against the God of grace and
holiness, and against us as bearing His image. The workings of corruptions
have less advantage when we are under present divine influence; but when
this is in measure withdrawn from us, they instantly boil over with rage
against the principle of grace, and by their subtlety and force, under
Satan's influence– entice or hurry us away with rapidity into sinful acts,
to God's dishonor and our soul's distress.
But all the rage of hell and sin within and without us,
with all those hellish waters which they cast forth as a flood to swallow us
up, shall never quench that spark of heavenly fire, that little grace which
is wrought in our hearts by the hand of Omnipotence! No! this, by the same
almighty power which enkindled it, shall be maintained and
increased amid and by the greatest opposition, until it is raised into a
full and eternal flame! The triumphant Captain of our salvation has
vanquished all the powers of hell and sin. He has led captivity captive, and
dragged all the legions of devils at His chariot wheels, when He went up to
glory with a shout– with the sound of a trumpet, amid thousands and tens of
thousands of His holy angels, who saw His triumphs and sung His victories.
And as for sin, our worst enemy– the old man– the whole
body of sin– it was crucified with Him, and thence, by omnipotent grace– by
sin-pardoning and sin-subduing grace– it shall be shortly, totally, and
finally destroyed in us! And therefore, by faith in Jehovah's almighty and
covenant-engaged power, let us stand to our arms as good soldiers of Jesus
Christ, and wax valiant in fight against all His and our enemies; for out of
weakness we shall be made strong, and brought from the field victorious
through His love and blood as more than conquerors. And meanwhile, as our
begun holiness increases, we shall see corruptions in their horrid
ebullitions, under advancing displays of reigning grace, which gives them
greater aggravations– to be worse and worse– and our new hearts shall be to
all sin more and more averse– until a complete victory is won, and we are
blessed with an immortal crown.
You well say, dear Madam, that "unbelief in the
promises and faithfulness of God is the productive root of numerous evils,"
and therefore we should not indulge it, but fight against it in Jehovah's
might, while we stand fast by faith in that full, glorious, and eternal
liberty with which Christ, by and irreversible promise-grant, upon our first
act of faith, has made us free. By standing fast by faith in that glorious
liberty in which upon our first believing we were instated, I intend those
after-acts of faith which respect persuasion of that saving interest in
Christ and all His benefits which was then given us by promise, and so to
hold fast our confidence, or persuasion of salvation, in the face of all
inward or outward opposition made against it; for this is not only for God's
praise, in His infinite grace and faithfulness to His promise, but will be
also of great advantage for the mortification of sin in us.
As our faith in our saving interest rises, our love and
gratitude to God increases; but faith of our saving interest is depressed,
love and gratitude sink with it; we depart from God, the Fountain of all
good, the whole of our life, as if for us in Him there were no help, and are
carried away by deceitful evil– by numerous evils– as by a mighty torrent,
into comfort's death. Let us beware, therefore, of an evil heart of
unbelief, for faith in God, as the God of love unto us in Christ, will yield
us a sweet relief, under Satan's temptations and the strong workings of
inward corruptions, and edge our spirits keenly against all the Lord's and
our enemies.
As to our heart-idolatry, it is a very great
iniquity of which the Lord's own people are deeply guilty. But since this is
the promise of His rich, free grace, "Ephraim shall say, What have I to do
any more with idols?" let us plead it before His throne, and bring our every
idol unto Him to be entirely slain, so shall our hearts be disjointed from
them, and our admiration of, and sinful affection to, all 'glittering
glow-worm glories' sink and die before the rising attracting display of His
all-transcendent and infinite excellences.
And permit me, Madam, to give you a caution– Not to keep
company, familiarly, with any but those whom you judge to be truly
godly; for the ungodly, by their carnality, will bring you into great
danger, and impair in your own spirituality. And if your intimate
acquaintances are truly gracious and richly blessed with an inward
experience, continue your intimacy, and labor to improve it to a mutual
increase of your soul's joint-felicity, your growth in grace and furtherance
in the knowledge of God in Christ.
All company has in it either the nature of fire or
of air– it either heats or cools– it either excites our love of God,
or upon that holy fervor casts the benumbing cold of a dreadful winter.
Therefore it is a piece of spiritual wisdom, in spiritual people, to choose
such alone for their intimate companions. And if your intimates, dear Madam,
excel in spiritual gifts, admire not them– but admire God in them, so shall
you be conducted by the brightness of a 'beam' to the all-comprehending and
all-reflecting glories of Him who is the infinite and eternal Sun.
Be assured, dear Madam, that that work of God upon the
heart which brings the soul to an entire dependence on Christ– a whole
Christ, is no illusion, but shall end in a full and eternal salvation. And
as to the 'hope of the hypocrite', which shall perish, that is always
founded upon self-worthiness; but that hope which has for its foundation
God's free grace, in and through what Christ has done and suffered for us,
and is made of God unto us, is good hope that shall not make ashamed, but
shall be, in its glorious fruits, to the righteous, gladness unto endless
ages.
As to those precious promises (Ezekiel 36:25), etc.,
which you so earnestly desire to experience, they are fulfilled in you
already, partially and initially, and shall be, shortly, completely and
eternally!
I wish you a rich increase of all grace unto all joy,
peace, and holiness, and a massive crown of immortal bliss!