HEZEKIAH WEST ON MISSIONS OCTOBER 1, 1838

[This is still as true today as it was in 1838.  Hezekiah West was a great preacher! - ed.]

Dear Brother Bennett: Sir, having the opportunity to write to you for another of your papers, I want to express to you, and the brethren through your paper, a few things that have come to my notice among the people in this region, as I am often shocking about among the mountains. And though I do have not the capacity to penetrate; as deep into things as some do, I sometimes meet with things that the surface is so rough that I get a little hold of them. And as I feel an interest in the war, and read with pleasure the news contained in the Prim, from many of the soldiers of the cross, whose station is so far distant from mine; I do not know but it may be some satisfaction to some of your readers, to learn that there are in the northern mountains of Pennsylvania a few, who though feeble are yet pursuing.

Preach-ing Christ to sin-ners by no means answers their minds; they want to have ministers preach sinners to Christ.

And who, though sensible that of themselves they cannot much annoy the enemy, yet are somewhat encouraged; learning that there is trouble in the camp of their foes. And as it appears the Lord is beginning to set every man's sword against his fellow, and there is a great discomfiture in some places among them. 

The children of Ammon and Moab are standing up against the inhabitants of Mount Seir, and we think, as the battle is the Lord's, that we shall not need to fight much under such circumstances; but may stand still and see the salvation of God. Now we think that something of a sample of what the Lord spoke by Isa. 19 chapter, is commencing in this region. God is setting the Egyptians to fight against their brethren, and the spirits of some seem beginning to fail who are seeking their idols, and the charmers, and them that have familiar spirits, and to wizards. But, I am running far from what I purposed to write when I began. I thought of communicating to you some ideas of what sort of folks we have in this wooden mountainous region, where, when the gentry from the polishing machine with their Revereds, A. M.'s, and D. D.'s, come to visit us in quest, of the glittering dust, they raise a monstrous cry amongst the commoners against our plain old fashioned preachers; because as they say, we do not preach to sinners. 

Now they live so much in, and are surrounded so much with, and puff out of their mouths so much of the smoke of the bottomless pit, that many of the people cannot see that sinners are preached to at all when Christ is held up before them as the only Saviour of men, and are told in plain words, that this is a faithful saying &. worthy of all acceptation, that Christ Jesus came into the world to save sinners. Preaching Christ to sinners by no means answers their minds; they want to have ministers preach sinners to Christ. Thus you can see the difference there is between the polished gentry and us; they profess to preach sinners to Christ, while we choose to preach Christ to sinners. 

But this is not all the difficulty. They increase the cry against us. saying, that we do not preach repentance. They indeed, often use the word in their clamorous noise, but are as far from preaching it in the gospel sense of the word; as the serpent was from telling the truth, when he said to Eve, ye shall not surely die. They preach it not as the gift of Christ; they preach it not in the name of Jesus; they preach it not as the fruit of the love of holiness, and hatred of sin. They preach it as the exercise of the natural man; they preach it as a condition of receiving the forgiveness of sins. And it suits the carnal mind so well, to hear of performing conditions to obtain eternal life, that when the true doctrine of repentance is held up to them, they know it not. 

When they are told that the repentance of the Gentiles was granted of God; when they are told that godly sorrow worketh repentance to salvation not to be repented of; to them it is foolishness, for they seem to know nothing about anything called repentance, except that kind of legal or slavish sorrow which they feel through fear of punishment; the exercise of which they call a condition of salvation, when it is accompanied with their believing that their sins are forgiven, which they call faith. And thus they think they make out to perform the conditions that are required of them; then they hope for heaven or happiness beyond the grave. 

Another source of slanderous falsehood that they clamorously circulate about us, is, that we are not in the habit of preaching practical godliness; and that we are opposed to the. circulation of the Bible, that we do not believe in good works — substantially that we are opposed to all that is good. Now they believe their own slanderous reports, or not; any more than the soldiers believed the falsehood the chief priests and elders of Israel hired them to tell about the disciples stealing Jesus out of the grave, I will not say. But one thing is certain, that they are living in such thick darkness that they call idolatry godliness, and if we would only preach up that system of idolatry' that the gentry called Rev.'s and D. D.'s, &c. are shearing them to support, we would be good fellows among them. Of this, there is no doubt. 

So then, because we will not embrace, and caress, the daughters of the old mother of harlots, and with them practice the abominations of the earth, they cry out, that we are opposed to all that is good, and are not in the habit of preaching practical godliness. Notwithstanding we affirm constantly, that, they who have believed in God should be careful to maintain good works. Yea, they learn to maintain them for necessary uses, that they are not unfruitful. 

The present popular system of religious mendicancy and effortism is a system of idolatry, admits of no doubt in any mind that is led by the Spirit of God to discover the difference between it and the plan of grace revealed in the scriptures of truth. God's plan of grace exhibits a Saviour omnipotent, omniscient, and omnipresent — God manifest in the flesh. The present popular plan holds up to view golden and silver saviors. God has said, that it is, Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit. Our present mendicants say, It is by a system of means, such as Education, Missionary, Bible, Sunday School, &e. &c. societies which are, and must be supported by money or they will fall, and this work of saving the world must cease. God's plan embraces only that body of which Christ is the head, for which he obtained eternal redemption. 

The present popular plan designs to embrace mankind indiscriminately, only as they comply with, or perform certain conditions. God's plan presents Christ as exalted at God's right hand to be a prince, and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel and remission of sins. The present popular system is idolatry, for it promises even to the finally impenitent a mitigation of their pains in hell for the money they give to support the preachers of it.

 I have only touched a few points in relation to things as they are moving with us here among the mountains; and as I suppose there may be a similarity with you at the South; with your readers at the far west, I thought perad venture there might be some of the feeble of the flock that might be glad to read a scroll from me; as I have been made to rejoice in reading their more able productions.

I remain your feeble Brother and an unworthy soldier of the cross of Christ. 

HEZEKIAH WEST. 
South-full, Bradford County, Pa. 
Oct. I, 1838. 

Primitive Baptist, Volume 3.21 November 10, 1838

New Vernon, N. Y., June 1, 1840, 

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