TO THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BRIGHTON, MASS.

 

TO THE BAPTIST CHURCH OF CHRIST IN BRIGHTON, MASS.

MY DEAR BRETHREN, Grace be with you all:—You make part of that small number of professors of Christianity with whom I feel a kindred spirit, and whom I love in the Lord our Saviour; and I sincerely wish you may grow and thrive in the Gospel, and become more and more bold and courageous for the honor of God and divine truth.

As ye are light in the Lord, so I hope you will continue to walk in that light, and not stumble at all, nor yet swerve from that narrow path in which so few are found; nor be tossed about by the various winds of doctrine now current among us, nor be in the least charmed with those preachers around you, whom St. Paul, if he was here, would call tinkling cymbals. Nay, I charge you in the name of my divine Master, not once to countenance a time-server, a man-server, and a gospel perverter, whoever he may be or wherever he may be from, or whatsoever outward appearance he may make; for such an one is a deceiver, and a hypocrite. The whole drift of such a man’s preaching is calculated to beguile unstable souls, and to delude the mind, and to confuse the judgment, to starve a saint, and to bind grievous burdens on the shoulders of those whom the Lord hath made free.

And on the other hand, his preaching is well adapted to make carnal proselytes (which is the fashion of our day) and to nurse hypocrites, to feed graceless professors, to amuse worldly men, to encourage rebellion against divine truth, and to entertain a proud dressy congregation. Stand aloof, therefore, from a man so dangerous, and from all such men, for we have an abundance of them in our land, and they are tenfold more mischievous than locusts.

Beloved, see that ye cleave to the true gospel-interest, and be willing to bear reproach and scandal for the sake of truth and a good conscience. You may always know the true gospel interest from the interest connected with what my favorite author, Paul, calls “another gospel,” from its being so much in disesteem, by the great bulk of professors in this our day. They are closely adhering to, and greatly admiring and crying up, and helping forward an interest without a cross, without reproach, and without any scandal or scorn; for it is an interest which carnal men love and hold in esteem; and it is an interest which strictly belongs to “another gospel,” than the gospel of Christ.

I then say again, see that ye cleave to the true gospel and to its interest, and be willing to bear reproach for the same, and God will be your reward and your dependence; your deliverer, your best and constant friend; and thence in all your straits, afflictions, distresses, temptations, and wants, you are to look to him, to depend on him, to hope in him, and with him to make as free as you can. And God grant you may be enabled so to act, so to talk, and so to walk, as that he may be honored thereby.

Since I was with you in August last, I have travelled far, preached often, conversed much in private, written a vast deal, seen many people, and things, and places; and upon the whole I must in conscience say that I have but a very poor opinion of nearly all the religion which is now to be found in the New England States. To me, it is as light as a puff of empty air, and with it I have just as much fellowship as I have with the Church of Rome. Yet still I find that the people generally are amazingly enamoured with it; and no wonder, for it is a religion that just suits and well agrees with a pharisaical spirit, which spirit has inundated all the New England States, and the people are now as much under the influence of this pharisaical spirit as a hundred and fifty years ago they were of witchcraft. If from my very soul can say unto them, O, foolish Yankees, who hath bewitched you that ye should not obey the true spirit of the Gospel, which your venerable Shepherd and Master obeyed?

That these people are now giving heed to a spirit that is repugnant to the genius of the gospel is no more to be questioned than that man is a sinner in the sight of God. Indeed, I will here venture to affirm that there is no one thing in the whole current of human events among men more apparent than the above awful fact. They profess to become wise in things divine—even to have the pre-eminence over their honest neighbors in all the departments of religion; and if their pretence be well founded—happy for them, but there yet remains this very notable clause in our sacred Canon, viz: “They become vain in their imaginations, and their foolish hearts were darkened. Professing themselves to be wise, they became fools,” Rom. i. 21—22.

I shall not transgress in saying that every advance made in a religion which is not produced in the soul by the Holy Ghost at the first onset, and wholly under his control in all the subsequent stages of it, is a serious retrograde from God and truth. It is an easy matter for men to be impressed on by an apparition resembling piety, because under the influence of this religious phantom, their wisdom perverts them, Isa. xlvii, 10, and they become dupes to a shadow, while they think themselves in possession of the substance of that religion which is from above and ends in the salvation of the soul.

I may here also venture to affirm that the devotion of most religionists in your New England States is as destitute of divine savor, heavenly dew, and holy unction, as were the Athenians in Paul’s day, “the true knowledge of God. It is true they have the form, but not the power; they make a noise, but they have no life; they seek honor, but not of the Lord; they are assiduous, but not for divine truth; they increase, but not with heaven-born children; they are also very liberal in money matters, but it is to support a spurious cause. Beloved, I do not write thus from a slanderous spirit, but conscientiously, from a thorough conviction of what I write being the truth, for I heartily wish that these things were not so. But so at present they are, and so they will remain “until the Spirit be poured upon us from on high,” Isa. xxxii, 15.

Not that in my opinion this sad state of things is wholly confined to our Eastern States, for I find the same to be true in a greater or less degree, in all the States where I travel. The Lord hath withdrawn himself from our tabernacles, and left our altars without the usual hallowed fire, and in lieu thereof, unwise men have kindled fires of their own, and in the light of the same they now walk, and they say, “we are warm for we have seen the fire,” xliv. 16. This is the fire by which so many are deceived in our age, and by which their zeal, faith, hope, and confidence become so highly heated and inflamed; and well may we call it false fire, inasmuch as it stands opposed to the holy fire of God, and intoxicates men instead of correcting their wrongs and improving their minds.

But my dear friends, although the foregoing statement is concerning how things are among us, yet we may rejoice, since the Lord hath not forsaken his well beloved Church, nor left the earth without witnesses; for in my extensive travels from state to state, I find a few choice berries on the hill of Zion, and in this day of great darkness, they appear to me to resemble “the treasures hid in the sand,” Deut. xxxiii. 19; but the Lord seeth them and loveth them, and will save them with an everlasting salvation. I hope we shall always be found on the Lord’s side, and be willing to own him before men, and seek to walk before him righteously, so that we may not be afraid nor ashamed of the faces of men. I bless God that this is my condition, so that I am no more afraid of my enemies than I am of my friends.

I know, beloved, that you are a despised people, and treated very coolly by men who ought to know better, but care not for this, neither be discouraged, but hope in God, and it shall be well with you in the end. John speaking of our Saviour, says: “As he is, so are we in this world,” John i, 4, 17. Well then, how was he in this world? Why was he despised and rejected by men, and of men, too, who were great sticklers for the law of Moses, and an outside religion? By just such sort of men are you now derided and laughed to scorn; yea, they inwardly hate you and your religion. But as David says, so I say unto you; “Let them curse, but bless ye: when they arise, let them be ashamed;” Psa. cix. 28.

When we are hated and despised by hypocritical professors, or by anybody else, our business should be to watch the hand of God with them, and we shall often see that they are put to shame before our eyes, and their carnal hearts laid open, and made to appear before us as mere whitened sepulchres. I hope that all your outward and inward trials may be sanctified by the Lord to the good of your souls. I can but be persuaded that the God whom we adore will bear you up under all your discouragements as a Church; but you must be patient and prayerful, and not easily moved by what the Ishmaelitish mockers of New-England may say and do by way of opposing you.

With regard to myself, who despises me, slanders me, and turns his back upon me, affects me not; for a good conscience, and the approbation of an indulgent God, the comforts of the Holy Ghost, and divine truth rooted in my soul, form my standing credentials from Maine to Georgia; and with these, I fear not to face enemies or friends.

Since my arrival home, I have been very busy, having had more than thirty letters to answer, and much other writing to attend to in reference to my life, which is now in the press and will be ready for the binder in less than a month from now. It will contain nearly 500 pages, and will appear with good paper and in handsome pica type. My subscribers from Maine to Tennessee are numerous, and I verily believe the work will be read by them with pleasure and surprise.

Write to me just when you please; I wish to see Boston, Brighton, and Charleston again. May the blessing of Almighty God rest upon you all.