Amos also informs you how God called him; as it is written, "Then answered Amos, and said to Amaziah, I am no prophet, neither was I a prophet's son; but I was a herdsman and a gatherer of sycamore fruit: and the Lord took me as I followed the flock; and the Lord said unto me, Go, prophesy unto my people Israel."
And why did he appear with a firey tongue? To shew that their hearts should burn with love to God, Luke, xxiv. 32; their understanding shines as a candle, Luke, xi. 36; and their whole souls be inflamed with zeal for the honor of Christ; and that the "word of the Holy One should be as a flame," Isa. x. 17. It is this that makes "a minister a flame of fire," Heb. i. 7. And "they were burning and shining lights." And he appeared as a cloven or cleft tongue, to shew that they should separate the elect from the reprobate "the vile from the precious, as God's mouth," Jer. xv. 19; that they should make a proper distinction between the law and the gospel, "and rightly divide the word of truth." And thus, sirs, he teaches us also to divide the persons of the glorious Trinity, though not the essence; yea, and to divide the work of each person of the Trinity in the salvation of man; and yet that they all concur in seeking their own honor and our eternal happiness.
And likewise to divide between men's traditions and God's truths; between the doctrines of God and the "doctrines of devils;" between the form of devotion invented by men, and the ancient model delivered by God: and to this end the Holy Ghost "appears a cloven tongue of fire;" and, wherever he preaches by an instrument, he either inflames the heart with his own flame or leaves the sinner "twice dead, fit fuel for everlasting burnings." The Saviour says, "The good man shall bring forth out of his own heart good treasure;" and David calls to all that fear God to "come and hear what God had done for his soul:" and, for my part if I never hear a minister mention the operations of God's Spirit on his own soul, nor anything of his call to the ministry from God, I always think he preaches an unknown and an unapplied Christ I however, every experimental Christian ought to stand in doubt of him. Preaching and writing the borrowed testimonies of other men do not make a man "a minister of the Spirit," 2 Cot. iii. 6; he is but a minister of the dead letter at best. But perhaps my reader may object, and say the call of the prophets and the apostles was miraculous, but miracles have now ceased.
True, in some senses, they have ceased; but the spiritual substance of every miracle still continues. Did Christ raise Lazarus out of his grave? He did; and by his own Spirit he raises dead souls out of the grave of original pollution, where they have covered their souls over, deep enough, with actual transgressions; as it is written, "Then he said unto me, Son of man, these bones are the whole house of Israel: behold, they say, Our bones are dried, and our hope is lost; we are cut off from our parts. Therefore prophesy, and say unto them, Thus saith the Lord God, Behold, O my people, I will open your graves, and cause you to come up out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel: and ye shall know that I am the Lord when I have opened your graves, O my people, and brought you up out of your graves, and shall put my Spirit in you," (this is the spiritual resurrection) "and ye shall live, and I shall place you in your own land; then shall ye know that I the Lord have spoken it, and performed it, saith the Lord," Ezek. xxxvii. 11 - 14. And to this agree the Saviour's words, "The time cometh, and now is, when the dead shall hear the voice of the Son of God, and they that hear shall live," John, v. 25. Nor is the miracle of "rebuking the waves of the sea" ceased; for I read that the wicked, in persecuting the righteous, are like the "troubled sea, when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt," Isa. lvii. 20. But God stilleth "the noise of the seas, the noise of their waves, and the tumults of the people," Psa. lxv. 7.
Nor are the miracles of opening the mouth of the dumb, unstopping the ears of the deaf, and strengthening the limbs of cripples, ceased; for I read that "the eyes of the blind (understanding) shall be opened, and the ears of the deaf shall be unstopped. Then shall the lame man leap as a hart, and the tongue of the dumb shall sing: for in the wilderness the Spirit of God shall break out, and streams shall run in the desert," Isa. xxxv 5, 6. When this becomes the experience of a soul, he shakes off? the galling yoke of priestcraft, and throws away his Sheep's clothing, that so many wolves assume; I mean his forms of prayer; for, if the Holy Ghost makes the "lame man leap as a hart" (or deer), he certainly can walk to God without crutches; and, if he does not, he acts like an impostor, in leaning on his wooden props without cause, when he ought (to the honor of the Spirit)to convince the world that by a miracle he has got the use of his limbs. And this brings to my mind what I once read in a sweet tract on Divine Providence, written by Professor Franck; who, in his relation of the efficacy of the Spirit on the hearts of sinners, says, "The number of prayerbooks and communion books, wherein too many place the whole substance of their religion, has begun to abate, and people put in the way more to mind their experience within them than the book without them.
Some have laid by the crutches, for fear of losing the use of their own limbs, by walking too constantly on them." Footsteps of Providence, page 47. Nor is the miracle of cursing the fruitless fig tree ceased; for many such withering trees there still are, who are fruitless, Luke, xxii 6, 7, or their "fruit is so vile that it cannot be eaten," Jer. xxlv. 8; and God's awful axe is at their root; yea, and their countenance and lips both declare that they are withered beneath the burning wrath of God, Luke, viii. 6; Joel, i. 12. Nor is the miracle of enclosing the multitude of fishes ceased; for I read that every gospel minister is a "fisher of men," Matt. iv. 19; Ezek. xlvii. 9,. 10: and every real believer that is entangled in the gospel net is a fish, and such shall be gathered into the kingdom when the bad are thrown away. Nor is the miracle of rebuking the winds ceased; for I read that he still forbids the winds of error to blow, "till he has sealed the servants of the Lord in their foreheads," Rev. vii. 3. All these miracles, in their spiritual meaning, are still to be found in the world, though they are bound up in the hearts of God's hidden ones, in whom are all the springs of God; as it is written, "All my springs are in thee." Thus, reader, the Scriptures inform us of the dealings of God with his servants in old times; and he is the same God now as he was then; as you read, "Jesus Christ the same yesterday, today, and forever," Heb. xiii. 8. Thou seest, likewise, that miracles have not ceased in their spiritual operations; no, not even the miracle of" speaking with new tongues," Mark, xvi. 17; for I firmly believe that if ten men, out of ten different countries, and each of them of a different language, were to come and hear a discourse delivered in the English tongue, if God intended to convert those men, his own Spirit would carry the word with such convincing power as to make them "know what were their own thoughts," and would make them feel and understand his displeasure against their sins, and make them know their wretched life, and their present state before God, even in the language wherein they were born. The Spirit of God would make them understand, by feeling that the kingdom of God is not in word, but in power, 1 Cor. iv. 20. I could find a living witness of the above assertion if I chose, but I forbear.
However, I myself appear as great a mystery to myself as any I find in the Word of God, and as great a miracle; and can just as soon unriddle the whole Bible as unriddle myself. When God writes his laws on the heart, and puts them in the mind, of a man, just as far as he feels this, so far he can with comfort understand the Bible. "What I do know thou knowest not, but thou shalt know hereafter," John, xiii. 7. He finds his heart a sealed book, as well as the Bible: and he can just as soon unseal the one as the other. This he often finds when critical questions are put to him; and he is, at times, enabled to bring out what he never considered before; which appears as wonderful to himself as to him that hears it; but the time will come when the veil, that is rent at the top, shall open down to the bottom; and then "that which is in part shall be done away, and that which is perfect shall come;" then we shall "see as we are seen, and know as we are known."
But in our present state "it doth not appear what we shall be; but this we know, that when he shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is." Reader, let this be thy "expectation and thy hope," and hope for what thou seest not; and let patience bring up the rear; as it is written, "But, if we hope for what we see not, then do we with patience wait for it." The vision will surely speak in the end, when the mystery of God and the mystery of iniquity are finished. Perhaps my reader has heard of the report that is lately gone abroad; namely, that the little treatises written by me are not my own: but thou mayest tell them that I defy the world to produce any book that I have plundered, except the Bible; and that blessed book I call my own, because God has written it on my heart, and given it me freely, John, xvii. 8; therefore the divinity and the language are all my own, as Archbishop Bunyan says; - nor have I one commentator in my possession; nor was I ever owner of one, nor ever intend to be. And the reason why I would not have them is, that I feared they would quench the Spirit and that I should get slothful in my studies, and then fly to a commentator for matter to preach, instead of praying to God for it. In short, as God has hitherto supplied me, I chose to cleave to my old friend, and to ask for wisdom from him; and I find, in this way, that I generally get something new. And indeed I have often been without a word on my mind till within a few minutes of going into the pulpit; when, in answer to a few petitions, I have got matter enough to last me an hour and a half: and it was poured in as fast as I could pour it out; as it is written, "He that watereth shall be watered also himself," Prov. xi. 25. Indeed I found the wise man's words true to me - the more I have scattered the more I have increased, Prov. xi. 24; or, as the Saviour says, "to him that hath, to him shall be given;" and so it has often appeared, insomuch that I have left off with my cruse springing as fast as when I began. I believe the reader will never find that I publish anything but my own divinity, which I had from God. My reason for this is because there are so many sermons in the world that have been published in our days, which I thought were very excellent, and, in consequence, entertained a very high opinion of their authors; but, since a few old books have been lent me for my opinion of them, I have seen the mines out of which even whole volumes have been dug: this rather disgusted me, and has forever cured me of picking and stealing; nor do I desire to shine in the rays of another man's testimony. However, some of these great men, who, I am informed, have condemned my writings, have put out some pages of them as their own, that never appeared in the world till I sent them out.
The learned Charnock, and Herman Witsius, seem to contribute greatly towards many of our new publications; though the authors have not been honest enough to own it. Their reasons for this are best known to themselves. I must inform my reader that I have given another public offense that I never intend to acknowledge; which is, that I have quoted a passage out of the book of Job, and put it at the bottom of my print, namely, "The root of the matter is found in me." My reason for this was, that I once delivered a discourse from that text, described it from my own experience, and proved it from the word of God; and those who heard it allowed that I understood the subject; therefore I put it at the bottom of my print, not thinking it would offend so many professors, who have not that root in them. However, I found our old Kentish proverb true, that" one man may steal a horse sooner than another look over a hedge." And so I have seen it; for I can find authors who have stolen scores of pages, and published them as their own, and that without blame; but I only applied that to myself which God had freely given me; and that is a crime before men, though it is none before God. Nobody condemns Job for saying this root was found in him, though, at the same time, "he was righteous in his own eyes," and had only heard of God by the hearing of the ear; but they will not allow me to say so, though my eyes have seen the Lord as plain as ever he did at his deliverance. I am now going to give my reader an honest account of the dealings of God with me; and, when I have thus done, I can appeal to him, and to Scripture, for a confirmation of every particular; and will appeal also to the consciences of all the real divines in the world for a confirmation: nay, more, I defy them all to overthrow it while I have got a Bible in my hand. No man can overthrow the living testimony of God's Spirit; as it is written, "What God doth, he doth it forever; nothing can be added to it, or taken from it; and he doth it that men might Fear before him," Eccl. iii. 14.
Some have been inquiring what I mean by S.S. at the end of my name, and various constructions have been put upon it. I now choose to inform my reader of my meaning. You know we clergy are very fond of titles of honor; some are called Lords Spiritual, though we have no such lords in the persons of the ever-blessed Trinity; others are named Doctors of Divinity, and Prebends, though God gives no such titles; therefore I cannot conscientiously add D.D. to my function, though some hundreds have been spiritually healed under my ministry; nor have I fourteen pounds to spare to buy the dissenting title of D.D. Being thus circumstanced, I cannot call myself a Lord Spiritual, because Peter, the pope's enemy, condemns it: nor can I call myself Lord High Primate, because supremacy, in the scriptures, is applied only to kings, and never to ministers of the gospel.
As I cannot get at D.D. for the want of cash, neither can I get at M.A. for the want of learning; therefore I am compelled to fly for refuge to S.S., by which I mean Sinner Saved; or, that I am made wise to salvation; or, as Luke expresses it, "I have had the knowledge of salvation by the forgiveness of my sins." This is true wisdom; all wisdom short of this is of no use to the soul: and to walk in the happy enjoyment of pardon and peace is to walk in wisdom's pleasant way. I think nobody will be offended at my styling myself a sinner saved; nay, I have the testimony of some divines that hear me incog. for this truth; for not long ago there came one who owned he could not contradict what I said; but added, that I was an illiterate or unlearned man. Give me leave to try his confession by the touchstone of truth, and see if it is not a contradiction in terms. "Even as our beloved brother Paul also, according to the wisdom given unto him, hath written unto you; as also in all his epistles, speaking of these things; in which are some things hard to be understood, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do also the other scriptures, unto their own destruction," 2 Pet. iii. 15, 16.
Now this divine owned that I did not wrest the scriptures, for he could not contradict what I said; and the text says that he is unlearned who does wrest the scriptures. Weigh me in that balance, and I am a scholar by his own confession. However, the Holy Ghost has put a question to every letter-learned man in the world, who is ignorant of the power of God's word; nor has it ever been answered; as you will find in Jer. viii. 7, 8. "How do ye say, We are wise, and the law of the Lord is with us? Lo, certainly in vain made he it, the pen of the scribes is vain. The wise men are ashamed, they are dismayed and taken: lo, they have rejected the word of the Lord; and what wisdom is in them?" At the most, their wisdom is but a snare to their souls; for "God taketh the wise in their own craftiness." I do not blame any man who fears God for quoting any sound author: but I blame some for condemning what they cannot overthrow; and yet, at the same time, both write and preach from it, as if it were their own. This is building again what they have by words labored to pull down, and such thereby making themselves transgressors. Reader, fare thee well; everlasting love be with thee, while I subscribe myself, in the face of every adversary, the honest coalheaver, and thy willing servant at command in all godliness,
W. HUNTINGTON.
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