Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
Mr. James Hervey,
I bless our dear Lord for the great things which He has done for you, and
that He has enabled you to write your Meditations. They came
out of His fullness, they shine with His beauties, and are truly excellent,
as under His influence they sweetly and simply lead unto Him, the Most
Excellent One—the wonder and joy of heaven and
earth—through all time—and to all eternity. I congratulate your
happiness, dear Sir, in that the Lord the Savior has given you a capacious
soul to behold—and a learned tongue to express, His ineffable beauties and
glories, which are cast upon, and shine through, every creature and thing in
the upper and lower world. It was He who gave you the mental eye, that
new-created your sin-darkened mind, and gave it a superior capacity, by
faith, for converse with brighter glories than the first Adam was capable
of, by the utmost stretch of his perfect reason. It was He who presented
every beauty to your spiritual eye, that darted every ray of glory upon your
illuminated mind, in your converse with seen and unseen things, in the
visible and invisible worlds; it was the Lord your Savior, who loved every
instruction and every delight into your mind, who gave the matter and form
of every idea impressive and expressive of whatever your eyes beheld; yes,
who loved Himself to you, and you unto, into, Him. In love to Him, then, we
will join to give Him glory.
In Christ there is enough to instruct, delight and fill
you unto endless ages. Here, in the knowledge of Christ and Him crucified,
you may expatiate, stretch your utmost capacities, swim and dive and live
forever; for while you know the love of Christ, which passes
knowledge, you shall be filled with all the fullness of God. It is most
delightful to me to see Christ the Alpha and Omega of all your thoughts,
that you begin and end with Him in everything. Alas, how empty, dear Sir,
would all your fine language be if Christ was not in it! It is He who fills
your volumes and makes then truly valuable. I rejoice that the Lord has
given this, your labor of love, such a large circuit and acceptance; I trust
its usefulness will be as extensive as its progress, and that many will be
blessed with the knowledge of Christ, and their hearts fired with love to
Him thereby, to His glory and their endless joy.
For myself, Sir, I can say, to the praise of our good
God, and, I hope, unto your joy, that what you have written has been blessed
to bring Christ to me, and me to Him, in further sweet communion, to endear
every mercy to me, as the price of His blood, and to endear my heart to Him
thereby, and engage me to give Him glory. It gladdens my heart, Sir, to see
the love of Christ shed abroad in yours, and the gratitude of your soul
awakened thereby, and upon the flow, as a hasty stream, by which you
yourself are wafted into Him and His love's ocean. Favorite of heaven! Lover
of the altogether lovely Jesus! Seek the Lord and His strength, that you may
ever stand fast in His glorious gospel, and never be ashamed of any of its
precious truths. Lay out your love to Him, who ineffably and infinitely
loved you, in spreading the precious savor of His name as the Lord our
righteousness and strength—our righteousness for justification, unto
acceptance with God; our strength for sanctification, unto conformity to His
image—and tell the world your joys, the triumphs of your faith, in your
Savior's blood, when your interest therein is sealed with the Holy Spirit of
promise, which casts out bondage-fear and gives you filial freedom in the
service of that glorious God unto whose praise and honor your happy soul is
devoted. These things, Sir, which brightly shine in the volumes you most
kindly were pleased to present me with, delight me much, and most heartily I
pray the Lord to increase you and your usefulness more and more.