CONTEMPLATIONS

- A SERIES OF LETTERS TO A FRIEND

William Huntington (1745-1813)

LETTER XV.

TO THE REV. J. JENKINS, AT THE NEW VICARAGE, LEWES, SUSSEX.

To the Son of my Vows.

BELOVED! "the blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors, even to the utmost bounds of the everlasting hills;" and they shall rest upon the head of my son, and "upon the crown of the head of him that is separated from his brethren." But say you, "Who shall ascend into this hill of the Lord? and who shall stand in his holy place?" Even "he that hath clean hands and a pure heart; who hath not lift up his soul unto vanity, nor sworn deceitfully;" he "in whose eyes a vile person is contemned, but he honoureth them that fear the Lord."

A pure heart, is a heart purified by faith; for it is with the heart that man believes unto righteousness. Clean hands, are hands clean from bribes, and from dishonest gain, and from holding lies; and hands that are liberal to the poor of the flock: "Give alms of such things as ye have, and behold all things are clean unto you. Such despise the heretic and hypocrite, but they will honour the faithful of the Lord's household.

But the utmost bounds of these everlasting hills are hard to describe; for who can describe the bounds or borders of the heavenly country! However, souls that have hope in their end shall come to the borders of it. This the scriptures witness: "Thus saith the Lord, A voice was heard in Ramah, lamentation and bitter weeping; Rachel, weeping for her children, refused to be comforted for her children, because they were not. Thus saith the Lord, Refrain thy voice from weeping, and thine eyes from tears: for thy work shall be rewarded, saith the Lord; and they shall come again from the land of the enemy [the last enemy is death]. And there is hope in thine end, saith the Lord, that thy children shall come again to their own border," Jer. xxxi. 15-17. But I must pull in, or else I shall be carried I know not where. I shall now,

15. Treat of mortification of sin by the Spirit. "For, if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die; but, if ye through the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live," Rom. viii. 13. There is a great deal of mortification among the superstitious papists, pharisees, and legal workmongers; but it all stands for nothing, because it is not done through the Spirit; and, "if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." Besides, whipping, thumping the breast, walking bare-footed, fasting, in Lent, abstaining, from animal food, and confining themselves to fish, are human inventions; for "that which goes into a man defiles him not. "And fasting is left to our own option; the Son of man came eating and drinking. It is not the lawful use, but the abuse, of temporal mercies, which the scriptures condemn. Besides, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from meats, are expressly called doctrines of devils, I Tim. iv. 1-3.

This work of mortifying the deeds of the body is called by different names in scripture. Our Lord calls it self-denial: "He that cometh after me let him deny himself, and take up his cross daily, and follow me."

It is called putting off: "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man."

It is called a crucifying: "They that are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and lusts."

And it is likewise called mortifying the flesh: " Mortify, therefore, your members which are upon the earth; fornication, uncleanness, inordinate affection, evil concupiscence, and covetous less, which is idolatry. Put off anger, wrath, malice, blasphemy, filthy communication out of your mouth, and lie not one against another; seeing ye have put off the old man with his deeds," Col. iii. Here we have a description of the old man, and of the limbs or members of him; and a most formidable monster he is. Now there can be no putting this old man off, but by putting the new man on. Without the law of God in the mind there can be no war against the law in the members, and of course no daily cross. Where there is a renewed self that follows Christ in the regeneration, there will be a denying sinful self that hinders us in the way. The Holy Spirit raises up a new man in us, and then helps us to mortify the old man, that the new man may keep the throne: "Sin shall not have dominion; grace shall reign." Every attempt to mortify sin without the Spirit and grace of God, is like the Ethiopian changing his skin, or the leopard his spots. Satan is not divided against himself. No superstitious modes of mortification, which are invented by Satan, will ever hurt his reign, or destroy his kingdom. Whipping may wound the back, going bare-foot may cripple the feet, and thumping the breast may make it sore. This is not only "neglecting the body" Col. ii. 23, but abusing it; for the old man is still untouched, and of course, unhurt. Such mortification is wickedness; for no man should hate his own flesh, but nourish and cherish it, Ephes v. 29. The body is the workmanship of God, but sin is not. The body was very good till man let sin into it. They punish the poor body, but shew lenity to the old man: These "tender mercies of the wicked are cruel." Not the body, therefore, but the deeds of the body, the corruptions of our heart, are to be mortified through the spirit.

1. The Spirit assists us in this work by testifying of Christ to the soul. Every time that faith is favoured with a fresh view of Christ, all grace is in exercise; faith looks and rejoices; love delights in the blessed object; hope abounds at the thoughts of future enjoyment; patience brings up the rear, in waiting till the change come; humility and meekness sink the soul into less than nothing, at the thoughts of a rebel being made heir to the inheritance of the saints in light. "Put off, concerning the former conversation, the old man, which is corrupt according to the deceitful lusts; and put on the new man, which after God is created in righteousness and true holiness," Eph. iv. 22, 24.

2. By helping our infirmities in prayer, God promises to subdue our iniquities: "He will turn again; he will have compassion upon us; he will subdue our iniquities; and thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea," Micah, vii. 19. In this way the Spirit helped Jabez: "And Jabez called on the God of Israel, saying, O that thou wouldest bless me indeed, and enlarge my coast, and that thine hand might be with me, and that thou wouldest keep me from evil, that it may not grieve me. And God granted him that which he requested," I Chron. iv. 10. In this way Paul prevailed against his thorn in the flesh, the messenger of Satan that was sent to buffet him.

3. The deeds of the body are mortified by our attending to, and delighting our souls in, the influences and operations of the Holy Spirit. When we follow after righteousness, peace, charity, meekness, patience, and faith, setting our minds upon them, and delighting our souls in these things, the old man gets neglected, and withers. "This I say, then, Walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lusts of the flesh," GaL v. 16.

4. By leading us to love and to delight ourselves in reading and meditating on the word of God. "Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the ungodly, nor standeth in the way of sinners, nor sitteth in the seat of the scornful. But his delight is in the law of the Lord; and in his law doth he meditate day and night. And he shall be like a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither; and whatsoever he doth shall prosper," Psalm i, 1-3. Here we are informed that this delightful work is intended to keep our leaf green, and to make us fruitful, like a tree that brings forth its fruit in due season.

5. The Spirit assists us in mortifying the deeds of the body by his quickening influences upon us, which keep up a keen appetite for spiritual food; such souls thirst for the living God, and long for the courts of the Lord's house; saying, "When shall I come and appear before God?" And such have their promise: Those that be planted in the house of the Lord shall flourish in the courts of our God: they shall be fat and flourishing, they shall bring forth fruit in old age, to shew that the Lord is upright." A keen appetite and a heavenly banquet employ all the powers of the soul: "I sat down under his shadow with great delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste." And, when Christ's fruits are so sweet and delightful to our taste, the devil cannot vend his wares; the old man, with his deceitful lusts, are rather despised and blown upon than relished. This sorrowful meat is set before us when the better sort is withheld, when there is a famine and a compulsive fast. "Can ye make the children of the bride chamber fast while the bridegroom is with them? But the days will come when the bridegroom shall be taken away from them, and then shall they fast in those days," Luke, v. 34, 35. When these mournful days come, which are but too often, then Satan shews us all the kingdoms of this world, and the glory of them, and the imaginary happiness of his children, who war after the flesh. These are the days for sour grout, and for filling the belly with the east wind. But Satan never tells us who is to pay the reckoning, nor informs us about an eternal fast, and begging water in hell, when the Lamb and his wife will be bathing in endless pleasures in heaven.

6. The Spirit helps us in mortifying the deeds of the body by exciting us to follow hard after Christ, and by encouraging us to cleave to him with full purpose of heart, to labour hard in order to our abiding sensibly in him, in his favour, in the light of his countenance, in the peace of him, and in the love of him; in the joy of the Lord, and in communion and fellowship with him; and by constant visits to him, and abounding in the work of him: "I am the vine, ye are the branches: he that abideth in me, and in him, the same bringeth forth much fruit: for without me ye can do nothing. If a man abide not in me, he is cast forth as a branch, and is withered; and men gather them, and cast them into the fire, and they are burned," John, xv. 5, 6. This is the most sure way to abound in fruitfullness; the more we commune with the Saviour, the more we savour of his good ointments, and the more we are equipped against Satan and his wiles. When, on the other hand, if this be neglected and not attended to, the branch gets at a distance, till sin, guilt, fear, and shame, stop up the intercourse, and then deadness and barrenness follow; leanness comes into the soul, the heart sinks, the countenance falls, spiritual gifts, abilities, zeal, apparent liveliness, diligence, and all joys, seem to blight under the fire of inbred lust; and all wither away together, unless the Spirit displays his power in such a soul.

7. The deeds of the body are not a little mortified by the fiery trial. When the old man, with his deceitful lusts, are ready to be too much for the believer, insomuch as that the enjoyment of peace and common comforts are not sufficient to keep him, these are withdrawn; at which the soul is alarmed, fatherly anger lowers, fear and terrors follow up and flow in, and a spirit of heaviness succeeds. Doubts and fears about the goodness of our state lay us under great concern; God seems to be gone; every thing looks dismal; and the devil tempts the poor soul that he has no part nor lot in the better inheritance, &c. This sometimes crucifies the old man, with all his lusts and pleasures. This terrible remedy was applied to the incestuous Corinthian: "In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ, when ye are gathered together, and my spirit, with the power of our Lord Jesus Christ, to deliver such an one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be saved in the day of the Lord Jesus," 1 Cor. v. 4,5. Many times, but in a less decree, and not for public scandal, but to mortify the sins of the flesh, which are too strong for the believer in prosperity, does the fiery trial come on, only to subdue his sin and to purge his dross.

These, my dearly beloved son, are some of the kind helps with which the holy and blessed Spirit of God doth assist the believer in mortifying the deeds of the body. And eternal life will most surely attend and succeed this long and lingering toil and labour, which God has given to the sons of men to be exercised therein. Adieu; grace and peace be with thee. Amen and amen,

Says thine affectionate father in Christ Jesus,

W. Huntington