FRAGMENTS. (Allen)

FRAGMENTS.

DEAR BROTHER BEEBE:—My intention at this time is only to pen a very few thoughts;

and as I have occasion to write to you respecting some alterations relative to the “Signs,” the warp and the woof shall go together. I am still through the tender mercy of Jehovah in the land of the living, and to the praise of the glory of his grace, I speak it, enjoy many tokens of his Fatherly loving kindness; and although it is not his will that I should be much on the mountain top, still he suffereth not my hope to perish, but often comforts my soul with his promises, and cheers it with his presence. When God the Holy Ghost, whose office it is to glorify Christ, is graciously pleased to shed abroad the love of Christ to my soul, this hope is bold and courageous, and is by no means ashamed, but assures the soul that through the perfect obedience of Christ on her behalf, the law was magnified, and faith, a true sister of hope, takes the glorious and immaculate robe of Christ’s righteousness, and puts it on the soul; I say when the Holy Ghost is pleased to thus favor the soul, all carnal boasting is excluded, and Christ alone is exalted; and the soul maketh her boast in God, saying “In the Lord have I righteousness and strength,” though all sin in myself; yes I am all righteousness in the person of the Lord Jesus, who is what the scriptures declares him to be, even Jehovah the Righteousness of the church. Jer. xxiii. 6.—But being desirous to mail my letter in the morning, (having delayed it too long already,) I shall leave entering further into these sublime meditations, the recollection of which is sweet to my taste. Methinks the Lord Jesus in view of the church’s enjoyment by faith and the unspeakable delight he has in her enjoyment of them; thus breaks forth, “Thy lips O my spouse, drop as the honeycomb. There is no necessity of compulsory measures to force her to speak of the goodness of her Lord; but even as the honeycomb drops freely, and without constraint, and each drop with succeeding sweetness to the lips of the spouse of Christ, speaks forth the high praises of him who hath called her out of darkness into his marvelous light. Yet at seasons, poor thing, she is ready to ask with the disciples of old, “Lord, how is it that thou dost manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world?” Why it is from the honey and milk that her Lord hath graciously placed under her tongue that she has gone out in love themes to her Lord; again, Sol. Song iv. 11. The name of Christ, salvation by Christ, and the hope of eternal life with Christ, which God (that cannot lie) promised before the world began, in the covenant made with Christ, are exercises which no hypocrite ever felt. It is a path which no fowl knoweth, and which the vulture’s eye hath not seen: the lion’s whelps have not trodden it, nor the fierce lion passed by it. Job xxviii. 7, 8. And I have never in my life heard of nor seen—yea, there never was a man since the first man fell, that could find out, by the light of nature, the saints’ way to glory. Yet this way, dark and obscure as it may be to all in a state of nature, Jehovah has provided for the blind; and he convinces them, by his word and Spirit, of their ignorance and sinfulness, and of their need of a Divine teacher. I, saith the Lord, will bring the blind by a way which they know not; I will lead them in paths that they have not known; I will make darkness light before them, and crooked things straight. These things will I do unto them, and not forsake them. Isa. xlii. 16.

How very blessed, my dear brother, is the contemplation that Jehovah not only put us among the children before the world began, but graciously settled the time and place, when and where the efficacy of his grace and the power of the Holy Ghost should be known and felt by us. And this time with the Church, past, present and to come, has been the “day of Christ’s power.” Psalm cx. 3. Preachers talk, now-a-days, as though Christ had lost all his power to save! or at least without some help from man. I heard a man, no longer ago than Sunday, December 30th, in the Oliver Street Meeting-house, advance what is no other than giving Christ the lie. “It becomes every christian (said the zealous Zelotes) to do all in their power; and it is the duty of all to bring souls to Jesus.” Surely he could not have paid much respect or attention to the words of Jesus himself, “I am the Way, and the Truth and the Life: no man cometh to the Father but by me.” John xiv. 6. But it is very fashionable, my brother, in New York, for men to preach themselves, (and that with a great deal of self importance) and not Christ Jesus the Lord. I need not detain you a moment, nor attempt in the least to show what is the popular doctrine of the day, nor who are the teachers of it. But alas! it is too true that the ministers of Christ may be compared to the gleaning of grapes when the vintage is done. Isa. xxiv. 13. Only here and there are they manifest. But as to those who seek to have credit and influence among the people by resting their acceptance with God, not simply on what Christ has done, but more or less on the use we make of him, the advance we make toward him, or some secret desire, wish or sigh to do so; on something we employ him to do, and suppose he is yet to do for us, &c., I say their name is legion, for verily they are many.—Finally my beloved farewell; may the good will of him that dwelt in the bush, be with thee, in thy going out, and in thy coming in, in thy lying down, and in thy rising up, may the chief things of the ancient mountains, and the precious things of the lasting hills, be the rich enjoyment and solace of thy soul through all thy adverse scenes. Remember there is none like unto the God of Jeshurun, who rideth upon the heaven in thy help, and in his excellency on the sky. Deut. xxxiii. 26. And of the whole church of the blessed Jesus, the Holy Ghost hath been very graciously pleased to bear testimony, both as it respects her salvation here, through riches of grace, and her final triumph over all her enemies: “Happy art thou O Israel, who is like unto thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and who is the sword of thy excellency! and thine enemies shall be found liars unto thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high places;” and the Lord Jesus himself, to manifest his special regard for their happiness, thus affectionately addressed his disciples, “Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father’s good pleasure to give you the kingdom.” Luke xii. 32.

Thine in the bonds of the gospel,
SAMUEL ALLEN.

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