THE KINGDOM OF HEAVEN TAKEN BY PRAYER 6/10 (WILLIAM HUNTINGTON)

Sometimes, in reading the Bible, I have received a little encouragement from these words, "Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and blasphemy shall be forgiven unto men;" but then, in a few minutes after, this passage would come, and, to my confused judgment, contradict it: "Verily I say unto you, that man shall give an account for every idle word." My mind and judgment were so confused, that I could not reconcile these two passages of scripture together; and, indeed, all the scriptures seemed to contradict each other throughout the whole book.

Oh, how blind is every man by nature! "The natural man discerneth not the things of the Spirit of God; nor can he know them, for they are spiritually discerned," I Cor. it. 14. However, this confusion lay in my blind understanding, and not in God's word; "for all the words of his mouth are in righteousness; there is nothing froward or perverse in them: they are all plain to him that understandeth, and right to them that find knowledge," Prov. viii. 8, 9.

I found that this long and severe trial wonderfully weakened my body, as well as impaired my reason. It brought me almost to death's door. My life hanging perpetually in doubt before me tried my temper amazingly; till at last I gave way so much to peevishness and fretfullness, that I was quite a burden to myself and to my family. And indeed it is a rare thing to see a sensible criminal cheerful when the sentence of death is passed on him; it is a bad sign in a literal, but much worse in a spiritual, sense.

I still persevered in reading, though I did not understand the meaning of what I read unless it were those passages that leveled their threatenings at me; and I still kept on praying, though my prayers were nothing but confusion; nor did I give up blessing the Lord while I was under those wretched temptations.

I labored hard also, for many months together, to keep the sabbath-day holy; putting great confidence in that act of obedience, if I could but have compassed my design. But, alas, I never kept one Lord's day holy all the time I was in that despairing way; for something or other occurred to put me out of temper on that day above all the days in the week. I have often been tempted to rise by three o'clock on the Lord's Day morning and go into some distant wood, and there stay till night, that I might not see anybody to provoke me to anger. For many months I was harassed with this temptation But, alas, there is no more real religion in a wood than on board a ship, when this heart is destitute of the grace of God. I often thought my wife behaved more contrary to me while I was in this state than ever she had done before. This made me have very hard thoughts of her. However, no family can be happy where the allegorical Hagar, or the law of Moses, keeps house.

My reader must "go and learn what that means." At this time my wife knew not what cutting convictions were, therefore could form no judgment of my case: and I believe I tried her patience very severely; for my life was a burden to myself, and I went "mourning all the day long."

I labored as hard when at church to keep my mind and thoughts on the minister as I did to keep the sabbath, and had just as much success; for I could not stay my thoughts on the prayers or sermon any more than I could create a world, not even at private prayer; for my thoughts were flurried and confused by the devil, or chained down to the horrors of despair; so that, as Paul says, "I could not speak a good word, or think a good thought." Nor is there a man living that can, if he is truly convinced of sin; for the Saviour declares that without him man can do nothing, John, xv. 5. And I am sure he cannot, unless the Spirit of Christ condescends to work in him both to will and to do. This is dying to the law; and a long lingering death I had of it; as it is written, "I was alive without the law," Rom. vii. 9; "but when the commandment came (that is, with its convincing power, and in its spiritual meaning), sin revived, and I died," Rom. vii. 9. "But sin, taking occasion by the commandment, wrought in me all manner of concupiscence," Rom. vii. 8. "For without the law sin was dead. For sin, taking occasion by the commandment, deceived me, and by it slew me; and the commandment, which was ordained to life, I found to be unto death." And thrice happy is that soul who is dead to the law, to all hope in it, and to all expectation from it; for such a soul is "alive to God through Jesus Christ," and shall live by faith here, and in the full fruition of God hereafter, and that to all eternity.

But perhaps my reader has never been in these deep waters; and therefore is troubled in his mind, fearing he hath "neither part nor lot in the matter."

To which I answer, You are not to limit the Holy One of Israel. Has God blessed thee with a godly sorrow? for it is that which "worketh repentance unto salvation, not to be repented of," 2 Cor. vii. 10. Let not my reader, therefore, desire to travel through these regions of confusion. If thou art a child of God, thou wilt meet with as much of it as thy faith will be able to manage. God had a particular work for me to do, and therefore he qualified me accordingly. Gospel-ministers are called "fishers of men;" and some mystical fish, that are to be caught, are playing among the rocks of error; some of the serpentine kind, like eels, are crawling in the mire; and some are swimming on the surface of pleasure and vanity: each of these chosen ones must have its particular hook, Amos, iv. 2; or net, Matt. xiii. 47. My design in writing this book is to fish for those in the mud, or among the rocks, and therefore I bait my hook with the very same bait which caught me. For this cause, also, I have spoken very plainly about my temptations; for which I shall possibly be highly blamed by some who are not very well acquainted with heart-work; but wherefore should I regard that? seeing my testimony is that, and that only, which I received from God, "who revealed his Son in me." Not a word of it is either feigned, forged, or borrowed. No man shall stop me from this boasting in all the regions of Britain. David says, "he will make his boast of God all the day long, and tell others what God hath done for his soul."

I know there are many poor souls who lie under very grievous temptations, and yet are tempted never to reveal their case; for Satan knows that a skillful hand, under God, would weaken his stronghold; therefore he tempts such to be his privy council; for we know he is not divided against himself: if he was, his kingdom would be destroyed.

Howbeit, I am determined to write plainly about my temptations, as far as I can find them mentioned or hinted at in the scriptures; and those very black ones, which the scriptures are silent about, I will keep to myself unless there be any poor buffeted soul who thinks his temptations to be without a parallel; such a one shall be welcome to a private conference with me.

What has much encouraged me to write this treatise is, that God has been pleased to bring many deeply-tried souls into gospel-liberty under my ministry, while the ministry of some others has floated too much on the surface for them. As for Infidelity, I know she will give this testimony of God the lie; and, indeed, I should wonder if she did not, seeing that God has declared twice in his word, that she shall do it; as it is written, "Behold, ye among the heathen, and regard, and wonder marvelously; for I will work a work in your days, which ye will not believe, though it be told you," Hab. i. 5. And again, "Behold, ye despisers, and wonder, and perish; for I work a work in your days, a work which ye shall in no wise believe, though a man declare it unto you," Acts, xiii. 41. But "shall their unbelief make the faith of God without effect? God forbid. Yea, let God be true, and every man a liar," Rom. iii. 3, 4.

I find in scripture that many professors gave the testimony of Paul the lie, though they saw that the Lord set his broad seal to it, as proof that it was from him. And those who were sealed under the sound of his testimony brought forth fruit to the glory of the Great Sealer, Rom. iii. 7, 8; Gal. iii. 1, 2.

I believe I shall ever have cause to bless the Almighty for bringing me the way that he did, though it appeared perilous; for it has made me more useful to others, and has also been a means, under God, of effectually fixing my heart, and shielding me from many false doctrines that abound in our day. I have always thought those ministers, who have been well-stripped by a law work and brought out in a conspicuous manner by the revelation of Christ to their consciences, never stink so rank of Arminianism, or popery, as those who are not acquainted with the plague of their own hearts, and their trumpet generally gives a more certain sound: they are most skillful also with a wounded conscience, and such will ever be attended with the choicest flock.

If my reader be a poor tempted, dejected soul, he will long to put a few questions to me, which I conjecture may be these: -

He will say in his heart, "I have heard of your convictions, and of the convictions that have exercised others also. I have read of the cutting convictions of Isaiah, David, Job, Paul, and others; I have also read of the convictions of Cain, Judas, Ahab, and Saul: and I cannot distinguish the one from the other. David says, 'I have sinned;' and Job says, 'I have sinned: what shall I answer thee?' And Judas says, 'I have sinned, and betrayed innocent blood.' David says, 'My sin is a sore burden, and too heavy for me to bear;' and Cain says, 'My punishment is greater than I can bear.' Their distresses and confessions are almost alike, says. my reader; and I am afraid my convictions are those of the latter class which you have mentioned. Now I want to know the difference between the convictions which end in gospel conversion, and those of the reprobate, or apostate, which lead to black despair, or to hardness of heart and desperate wickedness."

You have asked me, I confess, a hard, puzzling question, and you ought to be wisely and soundly answered from the oracles of God; as a hasty, unscriptural solution may be attended, for a time, with bad consequences. I will, therefore, as God may enable me, give my reader as good an answer as he can expect from an illiterate coal-hearer.

I read a book some time ago, written by a very great man, who seemed to cast all law-work aside, and said it ought not to be regarded: but I trust I shall be enabled to set that forth in a scriptural point of view. We know there must be a beginning, and labor too, before there can be a birth; and so it is with

God's children; there is labor, sooner or later, more or less, to bring them all forth; as it is written, they are begotten "by the word of truth," James, i. 18; they "labor, and are in pain to bring forth," Micah, iv. 10; and are born again of the Holy Ghost, John, iii. 5; and then "perfect love casteth out fear," and glorious liberty from bondage takes place.

First, What is it to convince a man of sin? It is to prove a man guilty by the laws of God and of conscience; so as to persuade his mind that he is a transgressor of those laws; and to bring him to acknowledge it, either by confession, by a fallen countenance, like Cain, or by a guilty silence, like the adulterous woman; which proves he has nothing but guilty to plead, and therefore ceases to plead at all.

The man has these witnesses brought in against him; - lst. His own thoughts; 2dly. His own conscience; 3dly. The voice of a holy God in his righteous law; which three-fold testimony is sure to convict him. Then the sentence of that law is revealed, which is a death-warrant from the legal ministration; and this stops the sinner's mouth, and he appears condemned by the law of God; so that he cannot disown but that the sentence is justly due to him, and the Judge strictly just in denouncing that sentence.

Secondly, What will convince a man of sin, and yet leave him without the grace of God? - I answer, The eye of God's justice fishing upon a rebel in his mad career of sin, and a visible view of the hand of God going out against him may convince him of his acting diametrically opposite to the will of his Maker, as it is written, "And it came to pass, that in the morning watch the Lord looked unto the host of the Egyptians through the pillar of fire and of the cloud, and troubled the host of the Egyptians, and took off their chariot wheels, that they drove them heavily; so that the Egyptians said, Let us flee from the face of Israel, for the Lord fighteth for them against the Egyptians," Exod. xiv. 24, 25. Secondly, when the lips of truth appeal to a man's conscience, and bring him to a proper reflection, insomuch that he is internally convicted, from a conscious knowledge of his being guilty of the crime for which the lips of truth have made their appeal to him; as it is written, "So, when they continued asking him, he lifted up himself, and said unto them, He that is without sin among you, let him east a stone at her. And they which heard it, being convicted by their own consciences (mark that), went out one by one, beginning at the eldest, even unto the last," John, viii. 7, 9.

Thirdly, A judgment denounced from the mouth of a minister against a sinner for his sin. After the sin has been described by a preacher, though erroneous preachers contradict it, and try to heal the wound, this will convince a man; as is seen in the days of Ahab. Micaiah declares he shall not return from the field of battle in peace and is hated and imprisoned for it. Four hundred false prophets declare that he shall prosper, and the Lord shall deliver the victory into the hand of the king; and these prophets pleased the king well, for they prophesied good to the king with one voice. Surely they ought to please their own master; for they were prophets of his own making, and were kept at his own expense; and the devil was in them all, as you read, I Kings, xxii. 23. Notwithstanding all this, the death denounced by old Micaiah stuck close to his conscience; as it is written, "And the king of Israel said unto Jehoshaphat, I will disguise myself, and enter into the battle; but put thou on thy robes. And the king of Israel disguised himself and went into the battle," I Kings, xxii. 30. Honest conscience pleaded powerfully against the promised success of four hundred prophets; and the prediction of good old Micaiah was fulfilled at Ramoth-Gilead, by an arrow sent from a venturous bow, which gave him his death's wound and his royal blood became, in consequence, a banquet for dogs.

Fourthly, A man who has been much in the company of the righteous has at times felt a superficial spark of joy from their fire, and has been an eye-witness of the providences and salvation of God in a temporal way; and who, after all this, turns an enemy to the righteous, whom he knows God favors; may, at times, convince a sinner, and bring him to confession; as may be seen in the case of Saul; "Return, my son David; thou art more righteous than I; I have rewarded thee evil, when thou hast saved my life; thou shalt surely be king."

Fifthly, A question put to a guilty sinner, either by God himself, in a way of judgment, or by the mouth of his ministers, will at times convict the sinner, and send the painful arrow into his heart; as it is written, [Cain] "where is Abel thy brother? Thy brother's blood crieth." This brought down his countenance; nor could it ever stand afterward.

Now what effect had all these convictions upon these men? Did they bring them to confess their sins to God? No; only to men. "God fighteth against us," said the host of Pharaoh. Were their eyes on God for any help? No; they hated the light. Did their convictions bring them to God? No: they ran farther from him. Did they pray to him? No. Had they any hope in him? No. Were they convinced of the evil of their own hearts? No. Were they convinced of unbelief? No. Were they brought to hate sin, and loath themselves on the account of it? No; they sinned with a higher hand and were yet more desperate. In like manner Ahab goes to battle; Saul also continues to persecute David and even has recourse to the witch of Endor.

I will now endeavor to show my reader the method which the Spirit takes to convince a sinner, of the effects of that method, and how convictions operate under the management of the Holy Ghost.

First, The Spirit's law of faith lays hold on the justice of God, and as fast hold on the spirituality of the law of God; which law Of faith, though it has law and justice for its first objects, is, nevertheless, the new covenant law; as it is written - "I will write my law in their hearts, and will be their God, and they shall be my people," Jer. xxxi. 33. We are first convinced of our actual transgressions; "My sin is ever before me." Secondly, of the pollution of our nature; "We are all as an unclean thing, there is no soundness in us," saith the prophet Isaiah. God the Spirit convinces us that the law is spiritual and that every thought of our heart is carnal; even our religion is shown to be sin, and we call it dung and dross, as Paul did; as it is written, "the law is spiritual, but I am carnal, sold under sin," Rom. vii. 14. Yea, the Spirit convinces us that we came forth from the womb polluted with original guilt, and by nature under the law, as children of wrath; as it is written, "Who can bring a clean thing out of an unclean? Not one," Job, xiv. 4. "How can he be clean that is born of a woman?" Job, xxv. 4. The Spirit leads us up to the fountain of pollution, by tracing the streams; as it is written, "In sin was I shapen, and ill iniquity did my mother conceive me," Psal. li. 5. And from this, he leads us up to Adam's fall; as it is written, "Nevertheless, man being in honor abideth not; he is like the beasts that perish," Psal. xlix. 12.

The Spirit of God not only convinces us of actual transgressions against the letter of the law; as also our internal pollution, evil thoughts, and rotten righteousness, before the spirituality of that law; but he likewise convinces us that there is a Saviour and that there is mercy for the believer, but that we are in unbelief, and therefore cannot apply him; as it is written, "And, when the Comforter is come, he will reprove the world of sin, because they believe not in me," John, xvi. 8, 9.

The Holy Spirit then proceeds to convince us of an imputed righteousness, or of the Saviour's active obedience to the law, paid by him as our surety; and of that being accepted by God, who is our creditor; and this is witnessed by his having sent an angel to roll away the stone on the grave's mouth, and thus taking him "from prison and from judgment," and then "defying the world to declare his fraternity," Isa. lilt. 8. Yea, "God raised him from the grave; accepted him, and the price he had paid as our surety; and his obedience as our full payment by him," Rom. v. 21; and gave him "all power in heaven and earth;" as you read, Matt. xxviii. 18. God sends his own Spirit to convince us of righteousness, because Christ is gone to the Father, John, xvi. 10; which is proof that our surety is accepted, I Cor. xv. 27. This obedience of the Saviour is to justify many; as it is written, "By one man's obedience shall many be made righteous," Rom. v. 19. Christ Jesus brought in this everlasting righteousness Dan. ix. 24. God the Father accepts it, Isa. xxvi. 21; and make, a sinner righteous by it.

The gospel reveals this righteousness of God, and no other, Rom. i. 17; and puts it to the account of the believer, though before he was ungodly, Rom. iv. 5. The Spirit convinces us of the need of this righteousness, and reveals it to the understanding; and, as the Spirit of faith, works faith in the heart; and faith puts this righteousness on; as it is written, "It is unto all and upon all that believe," Rom. iii. 22. And thus "the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith," Rom. i. 17 - from a faithful God to everyone that is ordained to eternal life through faith: it is also "witnessed by the law and the prophets;" and it is upon every faithful member of Christ's mystical body. In this righteousness, a man shall find acceptance with God and peace of conscience.

When the Arminians can overthrow this doctrine of imputed righteousness, they will overthrow the whole Bible, and render every soul that is now in heaven under the curse of Moses's law.

Now let us view the workings of these convictions, under the management of God the Holy Ghost. First, These spiritual convictions are attended with a looking to God for help; "My eyes are ever towards the Lord; for he shall pluck my feet out of the net," Psal. xxix. 15. Such a soul not only looks to God for help, but he desires to know what these workings of his mind mean; and therefore "he comes to the light, that they may be made manifest." "And his eye waits on the Lord, as the eye of a man on the hand of his master, until he has mercy upon him." But the reprobate goes another way to work. When the Egyptians saw the eye of justice flashing from the cloud, they turned their eyes and backs too; such "hate the light, nor will they come to it, lest their deeds should be reproved," John, iii. 20. So the accusers of the poor woman went out from Christ the true light, as soon as conscience had done its office.

Secondly, These convictions of the Spirit are attended with a turning the feet to God; as it is written," I turned my feet to thy testimony," Psal. cxix. 59. Yea, they follow after God while the chains of guilt and legal bondage lie heavy on them: and even then the Spirit helps them to cry and pray, while he holds them under the tuition of the law, as it is written. "They shall come after thee in chains, and with supplications and bitter weeping will I lead them," Isaiah, xlv. 14; Jer. xxxi. 9. But how does the reprobate act? Why he runs away. "The Egyptians fled; - the accusers of the adulterous woman went out role by one; - and Cain went out from the presence of God." I will never believe that Cain felt the burden of wrath with that keenness that some of the elect have done; for I was scarcely capable of fetching a tool for my work, or even digging up the ground; and for many months was quite dead to all the charms of mortals. But Cain went and married a wife in his

trouble; set to work; built a city, and called the name of it after the name of his son, to gain the applause of the world.

Thirdly, Spiritual convictions are attended with heartfelt confession in private to God; as it is written, "For day and night thy hand was heavy upon me: my moisture is turned into the drought of summer. I acknowledged my sin unto thee, and mine iniquity have I not hid: I said, I will confess my transgressions unto the Lord," Psal. xxxii. 4, 5. But does the reprobate confess? Yes, Judas confessed to the high priest, "I have betrayed innocent blood." Did impenitent Pharaoh confess? Yes, to Moses; "I have sinned against the Lord, and against you; entreat the Lord for me" to take away the frogs. Does Cain confess? Yes, his punishment, not his sin; "My punishment is greater than I can bear," Gen. iv. 13.

Fourthly, A soul convicted by the Spirit of God will call upon God; nor can all the devils in hell, nor all the persecutors in the world, ever stop the mouth of prayer, when the Spirit of the ever-blessed God takes possession. "The sorrows of death compassed me, and the Pains of hell get hold upon me: I found trouble and sorrow. Then I called upon the name of the Lord: O Lord, I beseech thee, deliver my soul," Psal. cxvi. 3, 4. The blessed Spirit will make such souls pray under the greatest discouragements; as we may see in the matter of Hezekiah. "In those days was Hezekiah sick unto death. And the prophet Isaiah, the son of Amos, came unto him, and said unto him, Thus saith the Lord, Set thine house in order, for thou shalt die and not live. Then he turned his face to the wall, and prayed unto the Lord," 2Kings, xx. 1, 2. Thus the elect follows God with supplications, even when they are in chains; and pour out a prayer when God's chastening hand is upon them," Isa. xxvi. 16. "But the hypocrites in heart heap up wrath; they cry not when God binds them," Job, xxxvi. 13.

Fifthly, The repentance of a chosen vessel is said to bring him near to God; as it is written," I testify both to the Jews and also to the Greeks, repentance toward God," [mark that - toward God] Acts, xx. 21. But which way does the repentance of a reprobate drive him? Why, farther from God; as it is written, "Then Judas, which had betrayed him, when he saw that he was condemned, repented himself, [mark that - repented himself] and brought again the thirty pieces of silver to the chief priests and elders, saying, I have sinned, in that I have betrayed innocent blood. And he cast down the pieces of silver in the temple and departed, and went and hanged himself," Matt. xxvii. 3, 4, 5. Thus the scripture was fulfilled, which saith, "Though wickedness be sweet in his mouth, though he hides it under his tongue, though he spares it, and forsake it not, but keep it still within his mouth, yet his meat, or sop, in his bowels is turned; it is the gall of asps within him; he hath swallowed down riches, and he shalt vomit them up again: God shall cast them out of his belly," Job, xx. 12-15.

Sixthly, Convictions by the Spirit are attended with an invisible hope, which, as a sure anchor, keeps the soul from drowning in perdition, as it is written, "Why art thou cast down, O my soul: and why art thou disquieted within me? hope thou in God," Is. xliii. 5. But where is the hope of the reprobate? "The hypocrite's hope shalt perish; whose hope shall be cut off, and whose trust shall be a spider's web," Job, viii. 13, 14.

Seventhly, Those who experience spiritual convictions have always an intense desire after God, even though they meet with perpetual disappointments; as it is written, "Hope deferred maketh the heart sick; but, when the desire cometh, it is a tree of life," Prov. xiii. 12. And again, "With my whole soul have I desired thee" in the night; "but the wicked say unto God, Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways," Job, xxi. 15.

Eighthly, A man convicted by the Spirit is so humbled as to submit to the righteousness of God when it is brought near to him; "they count their own righteousness but filthy rags; yea, but dung, that they may win Christ, and be found in him; not having their own righteousness, which is of the law, but the righteousness which is of God by faith." Thus "the elect, who sought not after righteousness [by the law], have attained to it." But hypocrites are said to be "stout-hearted, and far from [this] righteousness;" as it is written, "Hearken unto me, ye stout-hearted, that are far from righteousness; I bring near my righteousness," Isa. xlvi. 12, 13. They refuse this righteousness; as it is written, "For they, being ignorant of God's righteousness, and going about to establish their own righteousness, have not submitted themselves unto the righteousness of God. For Christ is the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believeth," Rom. x. 3, 4. The elect are said to attain to this righteousness, and they that seek it by the works of the law are blinded," Rom. ii. 7; as it is written, "What shall we say, then? - that the Gentiles, which followed not after righteousness, have attained to righteousness, even the righteousness which is of faith: but Israel, which followed after the law of righteousness, hath not attained to the law of righteousness. Wherefore? Because they sought it not by faith, but as it were by the works of the law; for they stumbled at that stumbling stone," Rom. ix. 30 - 32. And this is the stone that the Arminians have stumbled upon to this day. They are denying and ridiculing the righteousness of the Son of God, and laying their own boasted merit at the bottom of the building; but "on whomsoever this stone shall fall, it will grind him to powder," Matt. xxi. 44. God declares "their webs shall not become garments, neither shall they cover themselves with their works," Isa. lix. 6.

Ninthly, The Spirit of God humbles the sinner; and brings him not only to own but also to submit to, the sovereignty of his maker, Job, xliii. 6; and to close in with the doctrine of eternal election, Acts, xxii. 14. Thus God appears "just, and the justifier of him which believeth in Jesus," Rom. iii. 26. But carnal convictions will stir up a man impiously to reply against God; as it is written, "Why doth he yet find fault?" The Spirit's answer to such is, "Nay, but, O man, who art thou that repliest against God? Shall the thing formed say unto him that formed it, Why hast thou formed me thus?" Rom. ix. 19, 20. Such wage war against God's sovereignty, and his revealed doctrines of election and predestination, as all Arminians do at this day, and even strive against God himself: but they shall never prevail; for God says, "We unto him that striveth with his Maker" Isa. xlv. 9. God has laid a secret snare for mystical Babylon, and all merit-mongers; as it is written, "I have laid a snare for thee, and thou art also taken, O Babylon, and thou wast not aware: thou art found, and also caught, because thou hast striven against the Lord," Jer. 1. 24