CONTEMPLATIONS

- A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND

William Huntington (1745-1813)

LETTER X.

TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, LEWES, SUSSEX.

To the man of God, greeting.

BELOVED, when I finished my last, I thought I had nearly exhausted the treasure that was to be brought forth upon this subject I went last night to my bed weary, having sat hard at it for fifteen hours; and I thought the spring in my heart, as well as my bodily strength were both spent. But before I could get to sleep another branch of this subject sprung up, and soon my cup overflowed again, which kept me awake for some time: nor could all my weariness and heaviness counterbalance it, so as to convey me into the regions of forgetfullness. The subject of my contemplation was communion; and here another field opened; and, on entering into the small avenue, it soon became a vast expanse. The first thing that struck me was the words of God to Moses - "Thou shalt make a mercy-seat of pure gold; and thou shalt make two cherubim's of gold, of beaten work shalt thou make them, in the two ends of the mercy-seat. And thou shalt put the mercy-seat above upon the ark; and in the ark thou shalt put the testimony that I shall give thee. And there I will meet with thee, and I will commune with thee from above the mercy seat," Exod. xxv. I knew the mercy-seat to be a throne of grace A glorious high throne from the beginning is the place of our sanctuary," Jer. xvii. 12. The great condescension of God the Father, which appeared in the above passage, forcibly struck me, the mercy-seat I considered to be a type of Christ, who is our throne of grace. He is "a father to the inhabitants of Jerusalem," and "a glorious throne to his Father's house," Isa. xxii. 23. The two tables of the testimony were to be put into the ark, so they were not to terrify nor arrest them who fled for mercy: this led me to the words of Christ, which says, "Yea, thy law is within my heart; I delight to do thy will, O my God. I then considered the words of the Psalmist, which says, that "though the Lord be high, yet hath he respect to the lowly; he humbleth himself to behold the things that are in heaven and in the earth, Psal. exiii. 6. But how much more to meet and commune with men!

To Christ Jesus, who received the sure mercies of David for us, and in whom all the fullness of grace dwells, and who is full of grace and truth, must we poor sinners go, that we may find grace and strength to help in every time of need. And here God promises to meet with us; for Christ is the way to the Father - "Thou meetest him that rejoiceth, and worketh righteousness, those that remember thee in thy ways," Isa. Ix iv. 5.

I then considered what were to be the blessed effects of this communion, or what was to be communicated to the children of Israel when God met them in their representative above the mercy-seat, and what they were to communicate to him. They were to communicate their troubles, cares, burdens, wants, fears, requests, c., to the Lord by prayer; and likewise their recitals of his favour with thanks, praises, blessings, and grateful acknowledgments of them; these were some of the things that they were to communicate to God. And God promises to communicate the following blessings to them by the priests - "The Lord bless thee, and keep thee: the Lord make his face shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee: the Lord lift up his countenance upon thee, and give thee peace. And they shall put my name upon the children of Israel; and I will bless them," Numb. vi. 24-27. This whole cluster of blessings is now to be found in Christ; the blessing of eternal life is in him; we are in his hand, and kept by his power through faith; the knowledge of the glory of God is in the face of Jesus Christ; from his foulness all grace is received; he is the Sun of Righteousness that rises and shines upon us; and he is our peace, who hath made both one, and broken down the middle wall of partition between Jew and Gentile. These, my beloved brother, were my thoughts of God our heavenly Father communing with us upon the mercy-seat.

My mind then roved to the free and friendly communion which our Lord Jesus Christ held with Abraham, when he communicated to him his mind and will with respect to the cities of the plain, and how freely Abraham communicated the desires of his soul to the Saviour; all which was granted as long as Abraham could find a heart to ask; and when Abraham stopped in asking, the Lord stopped granting. "And the Lord went his way as soon as he had left communing with Abraham, and Abraham returned unto his place," Gen. xviii. 33.

Then my mind roved to the two disciples going to Emmaus - And while they communed together, Jesus himself drew near, and went with them, and asked them, What manner of communications are these that ye have one to another, as ye walk, and are sad? They answering him said, Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which are come to pass there in these days? And he said unto them, What things? And they said unto him, Concerning, Jesus of Nazareth, which was a prophet mighty in deed and word before God and all the people: and how the chief priests and our rulers delivered him to be condemned to death, and have crucified him. But we trusted that it had been he which should have redeemed Israel. And, besides all this, to-day is the third day since these things were done. Yea, and certain women also of our company made us astonished, which were early at the sepulchre: and, when they found not his body, they came, saying, That they had also seen a vision of angels, which said that he was alive," Luke, xxiv. 21-23. Here they communicated to the Lord Jesus their bitter grief and trouble, and that the crucifixion of their dear Lord was the sole cause of all their calamities, and that the women's account from the angels that he was yet alive was good news. But they could receive no comfort from these things, "for him they saw not." And now he began and opened up the scriptures concerning his sufferings; and, as they had been eye-witnesses of them, they could compare spiritual things with spiritual while he opened the prophecies of the things concerning himself. And, after making himself known to them, he vanished out of their sight. However, all that they desired in this world was now granted them: they saw and knew that he was alive; "And they said one to another, Did not our hearts burn within us while he talked with us by the way, and while he opened to us the scriptures?" Luke, xxiv. 32.

I then thought of what the apostle says of our having the same communion with the Holy Spirit also: "The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen," 2 Cor. xiii. 14.

And upon the subject of communion with the Holy Ghost, is my mind now led.

Real communion is the blessed effect of vital union. God communicates no spiritual blessings to them who are in fellowship with devils, with the unfruitful works of darkness, with unrighteousness, or with infidels or heretics, "But he that is joined to the Lord is one spirit," with him. And from this union springs communion; and communion is nothing else but giving and receiving, and is both active and passive: active, in giving or bestowing good things upon others; passive, in receiving good things from others. Now all real believers are united to and in grafted into Christ, as the branch is to the vine: and without continual supplies of life, from the vine to the branch, the branch cannot live, much less be fruitful; it must wither and die away. "If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch and is withered, and [wicked] men gather them [into their company] and they are burned." No creature can stand alone; angels could not; Adam could not; Judas could not; no, nor could even Peter. "Woe to him that is alone when he falleth, for there is not another to help him up. But he that abideth in me, and I in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit for without me ye can do nothing." No stock in hand will do, however large a portion of the Spirit, as Elijah had; however strong the mountain of prosperity, as David's was; however emboldened and fortified, as Peter thought he was when he promised to face either prison or death all will soon wither without continual supplies. Elijah fled for his life from the face of Jezebel; God hid his face, and David was troubled; and Peter fell before the face of a servant girl. Christ is the root both of David and of all believers. They are wild olive branches grafted into the good olive tree, and partake of the root and fatness of the olive tree; and we bear not the root, but the root bears us, Rom. xi. 17. The life of all trees lies in the root; Christ is our life; and we must live in the root, and the root in us, or there will be no fruit. There are continual communications from the root to the tree, and to every branch of it: let this communication be obstructed, or the union cut off, or the intercourse be stopped up, and the tree will shew it as soon as the sun shines upon it. Nothing less than vital union with the living root, and momentary communications therefrom, can keep us either alive or fruitful. "In that day sing ye unto her, a vineyard of red wine. I the Lord do keep it, I will water it every moment; lest any hurt it, I will keep it night and day," Isa. xxvii. 2, 3. Momentary support and supplies, and nothing, else, can keep the strongest believer standing; without this all joys, yea, the strongest joys, will wither away from the sons of men, Joel, i. 10. Hence the apostle endeavours to bring his beloved son Timothy off from trusting in his own comfortable frames, however strong they might be, knowing that they are very short-lived, transient, and continually changing; "My son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ Jesus," 2. Tim. ii. 1. Here grace is, in all its fullness, always the same, and inexhaustible; and it is in the fountain, and not in the streams, that we must trust; for even for temporal supplies it will not do to trust in the grist that is in the house, nor in the barn that fills the grist, nor yet in the harvest that fills the barn; but in the living God, who promises seed-time, and harvest, and "who giveth us richly all things to enjoy," I Tim. vi. 17.

But then how are these momentary supplies of life and strength, grace, and help, to be communicated to us? I answer, By the Holy Spirit of God. As it is written, "For I know that this shall turn to my salvation, through your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ," Phil. i. 19. Again, "Howbeit, when he the Spirit of truth is come, he will guide you into all truth: for he shall not speak of himself; but whatsoever he shall hear, that shall be speak: and he will shew you things to come. He shall glorify me; for he shall receive of mine, and shall shew it unto you," John xvi. 13, 14. All spiritual and temporal blessing, truths, promises, grace, and glory, are secured to us in an ever lasting covenant; which covenant was ratified and confirmed by the death of Christ, and therefore he is called the Covenant - "I will keep him and give him for a covenant to the people," Isa. xlii. 6. In him all covenant mercies and blessings are, and he is appointed the "heir of all things," Heb. i. 2; and we are "heirs of God, and joint heirs with Christ," Rom. viii. 17.

The first work of the Holy Spirit is to convince of sin. "If I go not away the Comforter will not come unto you; but, if I depart, I will send him unto you. And, when he is come, he will reprove [or convince] the world of sin," John, xvi. 7, 8. Sometimes the Holy Spirit sends the word with such force and terrible majesty, as to arm the conscience of a sinner with a troop of terrors against him; which stops the mouth even of a gainsayer, and makes the preacher manifest in the conscience even of a persecutor; and yet does not convert him, nor bring him any more to the light; but he so silences him as that such an enemy has been brought to live in peace with a man whose ways have pleased God, Prov. xvi. 7.

But, when the Holy Spirit comes to convince a chosen vessel of sin, he applies the truth with such a piercing power as to penetrate into the deepest recesses of the heart, which alarms and awakens the conscience; and this is followed up with continual reproofs and rebukes; and he attends all his reproofs and rebukes with divine light, which makes the sinner's crimes manifest, and lays them all open to his view, even his secret sins and all his works of darkness - "For it is a shame even to speak of those things which are done of them in secret. But all things that are reproved are made manifest by the light: for whatsoever doth make manifest is light," Eph. v. 12, 13. No candle ever discovered the foulness of a room, nor the sun in his full strength the dust and atoms that fly in it, as the Holy Spirit discovers the guilt and filth, the corruptions and deceptions, of the human heart; as it is written, "And it shall come to pass at that time, that I will search Jerusalem with candles, and punish the men that are settled on their lees," Zeph. i. 12. Hence our Lord told the disciples that, "men do not light a candle to put it under a bushel," Matt. v. 15. And when the Holy Spirit came upon the apostles he searched Jerusalem with a witness; he mightily convinced the Jews of their unbelief, of their persecution, rejection, and crucifixion of Christ; and brought it home to their souls with such infallible proofs and facts as cut them to the heart, and made them cry out, "Men and brethren, what shall we do?" And here I can but take notice of a passage in Solomon's Proverbs, which is as real a prophecy, and was as punctually fulfilled in the apostles' days, as any prediction in the Bible; and sure I am that the words were spoken by the Spirit of Christ indeed - "Turn you at my reproof: behold, I will pour out my spirit unto you, I will make known my words unto you," Prov. i. 23. This Peter promised them - "Repent, and be baptized every one of you, and you shall receive the Holy Ghost as well as we," Acts, ii. 38. And, as Solomon foretold, desolation came upon the rest - "But ye have set at nought all my counsels, and would none of my reproofs. I also will laugh at your calamity, and mock when your fear cometh. When your fear cometh as desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind; then shall they call, but I will not answer," Prov. i. 25-27.

The Spirit not only convinces of sin, and gives cutting reproofs and rebukes for it, but he applies the word with power, and fixes it upon the mind; otherwise the elect would be robbed, as the reprobate is. "Then cometh the wicked one," and steals the word sown out of his heart, "and he becometh unfruitful." But the Spirit makes a powerful application of the word-by this God gives "testimony to the word of his grace."

3. The Holy Spirit attends the convictions and reproof that he gives with life, and the quickening influences of the Spirit makes his reproofs sink deep, and this makes the poor sinner's sensations so keen that he cannot rest day nor night: otherwise they would act like Cain, amuse themselves with other things, as he did when he built a city; or like Saul, who sought to the witch of Endor; or like the young man in the gospel, who went away sorrowful, and yet hugged his worldly possessions. But it is not so with a soul convinced by the Holy Spirit; he does not want to shake his convictions off by going from Christ, as the convicted accusers of the adulterous women did; all his fears are, that his convictions will wear off, and that he shall be given up to his own heart's lust. For

4. The Holy Spirit makes his heart honest. He receives the word in an honest and good heart; and therefore "comes to the light, that his deeds may be made manifest that they are wrought in God." His language is, Search me and try me. He accepts the punishment of his iniquity, and would put his mouth in the dust, if so be that there might be hope; he kisses the rod, and dreads the thoughts of carnal ease. He is an enemy to them that would bolster him, or cry, "Peace, Peace," to him, or heal his wounds slightly - "To the hungry soul every bitter thing is sweet." He would sooner labour under the guilt of sin, and the wrath of God, than fail of his grace, or be set down short of the promised rest. He sees the deceitfullness of sin, the treachery of his heart, and the cunning of the devil; and trembles at the sentence of the law, and the severity of the Most High - "He that rebukes him finds more favour in his eyes than he that flatters with his lips." Sweet to him "are the wounds of a friend, but the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." Thus does the Holy Spirit communicate power, life, honesty and sincerity, with the convictions and reproofs which he applies to the elect of God.

5. He supports them under the burden of sin which they feel, and under the sight of it which he presents to their view, and sustains them under the wrath and curse of a broken law. They are "holpen with a little help." Through the fire he is with them", and through the water; or else the former would dry up their spirits, and the latter drown them in desperation. And in all these things the convinced sinner obeys his divine operator, though he does not know who it is that leads him. The evils which the Holy Spirit discovers to him he confesses; the reproofs he gives he falleth under; to the word the Spirit leads him, and he searches the scriptures daily. Where he hears the word with power, and where he finds his case pointed out, there the preacher is made manifest in his conscience; there he desires to abide, however searching and trying the ministry may be; for where he gets his wounding there he expects his healing: "He that is of God heareth God's word. We are of God (says John), and he that is of God heareth us; and he that is not of God heareth not us."

6. The same Spirit that gives him light and quickening grace sets him to crying to God - "And I will pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants of Jerusalem, the spirit of grace and of supplications," Zech. xii. 10. The life and feeling, the holy longings, the desires, thirstings, cravings, and bitter cries, which are found in the convinced sinner, all spring from the energy and operations of the Holy Spirit of God: hence the many precious promises that are held forth in the word of God to such poor souls - "Shall not God avenge his own elect which cry day and night? When the poor and needy seek water and there is none, and their tongue fails for thirst, I the Lord will hear them, I the God of Israel will not forsake them. Wait upon God, and he shall give thee the desire of thine heart; trust in him, and he shall bring it to pass. They shall come that are read to perish. Because of the deep sighing of the poor, now will I arise, saith the Lord. I will satiate the weary, I will replenish the sorrowful soul, I will pour water on him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground. Blessed are they that hunger and thirst. Blessed are the poor in spirit." Again, "Thou shalt weep no more: he will be very gracious unto thee at the voice of thy cry; when he shall hear it he will answer thee," Isa. xxx. 19. All these intense longings and holy breathings are produced under the quickening energy of the Holy Spirit, even before he proclaims liberty to us, or creates "the fruit of the lip," Isa. lvii. 19; or gives us a door of "utterance," Acts, ii. 4. "The Spirit itself maketh intercession for us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," Rom. iii. 26. And this may be seen in the apostles themselves, before that miraculous outpouring of the Spirit upon them, on the day of Pentecost. The apostles had felt the power of the Spirit attending the word - "He speaks like one having authority, and not as the scribes; for his word is with power." He had convinced them of sin, as may be seen in their different cases, described by our Lord's first sermon on the mount, and by the confession of Peter - 'Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord." They owned that Christ had the "word of eternal life;" yea, and they believed in him - "Father, the word which thou hast given me I have given them, and they have received it, and have believed that I came forth from thee, and that thou didst send me." And they loved him too, and abode with him: and both faith and love are fruits of the Holy Spirit. But, as a spirit of revelation and understanding, as a distinct comforter, as a spirit of power and of a sound mind, and with all his miraculous gifts and graces, they were to be baptized with him in this wonderful way not many days hence. Hence it is said that "the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because that Jesus was not yet glorified." Power, also, in a wonderful manner, they were to receive when the Holy Ghost came upon them, to embolden them, and enable them to preach the gospel in all languages, and to work miracles in confirmation of it.

I must once more beg the pardon of my beloved brother for thus exceeding the limits of an epistle; but hope to have an opportunity of conveying this, as I did the other, by some stroller or straggler wandering from his nest. Begetting, quickening, travailing, and bringing forth, still go on among us - "our bed is green," Song. i. 16.

Yours in Christ Jesus,

W. HUNTINGTON.