Epistles of Faith

Letter XLII

William Huntington (1745-1813)

TO MR. SAMUEL CROUCH, GODALMING, SURREY.

Dear Friend,

I CANNOT now remember particularly every word that dropped from my lips in the discourse to which you allude; but, I believe, you heard nothing from my mouth but what was proved from plain scripture proofs. That our Lord Jesus Christ is the self-existent and eternal God, is a truth that can never be denied. He is the beginning and the ending, the first and the last, the Almighty, Rev. i. 8. The mighty God, Isa. ix. 6. He is the Lord Jehovah, the Holy One of Israel, and his Maker, Isa. xlv. 11. He is God upon his throne for ever and ever. He laid the foundations of the earth, and the heavens are the work of his hands, Heb. i. 8, 10. He is the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory, the Lord mighty in battle, Psalm xxiv. 8-10. "The true God and eternal life," 1 John v. 20. These incommunicable names and titles can be given to none but to him whose name alone is Jehovah, and who is the Most High over all the earth, Psa. lxxxiii. 18. Jehovah will never give his glory to a creature, nor his praise to graven images. It was the spirit of Christ that preached in all the prophets: it was he that declared the righteousness of the gospel, by Noah, to the spirits that are now in the prison of hell, 1 Peter, iii. 18-20. "Who hath declared this from ancient time? Who hath told it from that time? have not I, the Lord? And there is no God else besides me, a just God and a Saviour; there is none beside me. Look unto me, and be saved, all ye ends of the earth, for I am God, and there is none else. I have sworn by myself, the word is gone out of my mouth in righteousness, and shall not return, that unto me every knee shall bow, every tongue shall swear." This is the God that hath saved my soul, and the God that, I hope, will save my dear friends at Godalming. He is a just God and a Saviour there is none else; there is no God to the exclusion of him. " Whosoever denieth the Son, hath not the Father; but he that acknowledgeth the Son, hath the Father also," 1 John ii. 23. This is our God, and he is the God of our salvation: there is no Saviour besides him, for there is salvation in no other name. There is no God besides him; there is no God to the exclusion of him, for he and his Father are one. Israel's God is one Lord the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, are one, 1 John v. 7. When the Father draws your soul to Christ, John vi. 44, and you receive grace for grace from the fullness of Christ, John i. 16, and the Holy Ghost operates on your heart as a comforter, guiding you into all truth, and beating witness with jour spirit; then you will know what Paul means when he says, "That their hearts might be comforted, being knit together in love, and unto all riches of the full assurance of understanding, to the acknowledgment of the mystery of God [the Holy Ghost], and of the Father, and of Christ," Colos. ii. 2. Has the anointing taught you all things? then, even as he hath taught you, you shall abide iii him, I John ii. 27. And, if the Spirit teaches you all things, "Let that which you have heard of him abide in you, and ye shall continue in the Son, and in the Father."

These are things so plain, that he who runs may read them they are the oracles of God; not a jot or tittle shall ever pass away. The scriptures cannot be broken; the scriptures of truth cannot deceive. He that denies these things errs, not knowing the scriptures, nor the power of God. But I hope better things of you, and things that accompany salvation, though I thus write; and therefore conclude, wishing you the heart-felt experience, and the soul-satisfying enjoyment, of the greatest and sweetest benediction that ever was dropped from heaven; namely, "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all!" Amen, anal amen! Says

W. H.