Editor's Note: The following information has been gleamed from issues of The Earthen Vessel and Christian Record from the 1859 issue. These and the subsequent letters were published in the 19th century but have been long out of print. I have added headings briefly summarizing the subject of each letter. The location within the Vessel is given for reference.
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 51 - pages 9-11 January 1859
The Gospel of the ‘Seven Seals of Revelation'
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 52 - pages 30-32 February 1859
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 53 - pages 58-60 March 1859
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 54 - pages 77-78 April 1859
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 55 - pages 107-108 May, 1859
More, again on the First of the Seven Seals
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 56 - pages 127-139 June 1859
The Seven Vials: The Pale Horse (Against Free Will and Duty Faith)
Epistles to Theophilus Letter 57 - pages 152-154 July 1859
The Seven Seals: The Fifth and Sixth Se a l s
My good Theophilus, I wish you distinctly to understand, that I do not intend to encumber what I have to say upon the seven seals with the opinions of others, any further than just to observe, that learned writers upon the book of Revelation have generally been in their interpretations too secular; making the book take notice of wars, sad political revolutions, which have no material connection with the church of the living God; and have thus in a great measure, lost sight of the main and essential object of the book; the intention of which is, to set forth the character, sufferings, and final triumphs of the people of God; together with the destiny of their enemies. And thus, as the evangelist sets forth the sufferings of Christ, this book of the Revelation sets forth the glory that shall follow.
But, if most of the learned have been too secular, there is on the other hand, danger of fancifully spiritualizing everything, and so substituting mere councils for true interpretation. I will aim to avoid both; that I may neither sink into the whirlpool of Caribdis, nor fall upon the rocks of Sylla. That is, I shall try to avoid going out of my depth, and deal only in that which I can make plain both to you and to myself.
But I cannot forbear saying, that although most writers upon this book have been too secular, yet the labors of great and learned men have thrown much light upon this mysterious book. There is much respect due to ouch names as Bishop Newton, Mr. Elliot, Dr. Keith, Dr. Cumming, Octavius Winslow, etc. These names shine among the great in Biblical literature; and though one takes the ‘four mystic horses' spoken of in the sixth chapter to be four conspicuous Roman Emperors, namely, Vespasian, Trajan, Severus, and Maximillian; and another, that these four horses are the Gospel, Mahomedanism, Catholicism, and Infidelity; yet, notwithstanding these differences among them, they are no doubt right in many things; and cannot, I think, be justly charged with having in their intense and immense labors, any object in view contrary to honesty, and uprightness, and the good of their fellow men.
But my object chiefly will be the Gospel of these ‘seven seals.' That which is not merely intellectual, but that which bears upon our daily experience, Christian practice, and ultimate destiny.
Now I think that Psalm 45th and the 19th chapter of this book will explain to us the ‘white horse seal.' That this first seal is declarative of the successful progression of the Savior, not in his humiliation, but in his exaltation; even the very color of the horses appear to have a meaning.
But, before coming to the progression of this first war horse, let us just look for a moment at what is meant by the seal being opened, and also what is meant by John being commanded to ‘come and see'. Now the opening of this fist seal is in Psalm 45th, called, ‘inditing a good master.' The Psalmist then goes on to speak of the things which he had made out touching the king; that he was fairer than the children of men; that grace is poured into his lips; and he is blessed forever. ‘Fairer than the children of men' because sinless. ‘Grace poured into his lips' denotes the pure truths of the new covenant which he, by the Holy Ghost, records. It denotes, also, that nothing impure could ever enter his mind; and as he did no sin, he lost nothing: and not as it is in the first Adam, where by sin everything is lost, and we ourselves are lost; but this man, the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, has done nothing amiss, therefore has lost nothing; and has by the sacrifice of himself put that away by which we lost everything. So that he, as King in Zion, ‘is blessed forever;' and ‘of his kingdom there is no end.' May not the Psalmist then well say, that ‘his heart was inditing a good matter?' And this grace, by which he reigns over his people; this grace reigning in us; we shall hereby reign with him. Hence it is, that we are kept by the power of God, through faith, unto eternal salvation.
I think you clearly see that this 45th Psalm bears upon the subject of this first seal. You see that ‘a crown' was given unto him that sat upon the white horse. And, as I have before said, he did no sin, therefore he does not lose this crown, but is ‘blessed forevermore'. And, indeed, there being a crown given unto him means more than at first sight it seems to mean. It means in truth all that is meant in Daniel 7:14: and there was ‘given unto him dominion, and glory, and a kingdom;' power over all flesh, there is the dominion; ‘to give eternal life to as many as are given him', there is the glory; thus, to save much people alive, ‘come, you blessed, inherit the kingdom'. All this then is meant in the one fact, that a crown was given unto him.
But I shall in another part of this seal have to come back again to this 45th Psalm, I will now go to the 19th of Revelation; and see what help we can get there, to enable us to understand what is meant by the ‘opening' of this seal. And there, in the 19th of Revelation, what in the 45th Psalm is called ‘a good matter is here called ‘heaven being opened', (verse 11). This 19th of Revelation, from verse 11th to the end of the chapter, largely opens unto us this first seal.
But let us stop and look at what is meant by ‘heaven being opened', some take it to mean, the New Testament dispensation; and no doubt it does mean this; and also, some-thing infinitely beyond the mere outward dispensation. Sin and the sentence of the law, had severed us from God. The opening of the heaven therefore will mean the end of sin, and end of the law; both of which we have in Christ So that of himself he might well say, ‘I am the door, by me if any man enters in, he shall be saved.' And well also may he testify, ‘I am the way, the truth, and the life.' It was by him, that Abel obtained witness that he was righteous. It was by him, that Enoch walked with God. It was by him, that the heavens were opened to Jacob on his way to Padan-aram. It was by him, that the heavens were opened to Ezekiel, by the River Chebar. It was by him, that Nathaniel was to see the heavens opened, and the angels of God ascending and descending upon the Son of Man. And as it is by him, that heaven itself is opened, so by him, are opened the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; and by him, are opened the councils of God, in relation to friend and foe; to believers and unbelievers; for ‘all judgment is committed unto the Son'.
But the opening of this first seal, called here (in the 19th chapter) ‘the opening of heaven' this opening of heaven will mean also the setting aside of human tradition: ‘woe unto you Scribes and Pharisees, hypo-crites, for you shut up the kingdom of heaven against men; for you neither go in yourselves, neither suffer you them that are entering to go in.' Such is the tendency of all human tradition; fleshly meddling's with God's truth. Nevertheless, the kingdom ahull be given to them for whom it is prepared.
Daniel saw in vision the abounding's of human tradition, making void the commandments of God; (Daniel 7:10.) but he saw also, that the Savior would open the scriptures. ‘The judgment (said Daniel) was set, and the books were opened' What books were these but the books of the Old Testament? ‘And beginning at Moses, and all the Prophets, he expounded unto them in all the scriptures the things concerning himself,' (Luke 24:27). Now, my good Theophilus, remember Daniel is not, in saying ‘the judgment was set, and the books were opened,' speaking of the last judgment, but of the judgment which the Savior would pronounce against his enemies, as simultaneous with the opening up of the scriptures to his own disciples; and hence the thrones (Daniel. 7:94,) will mean the truths of the gospel, together with the rights and dignities of the people of God. Now, these thrones were cast down by enemies and persecutors, until the Ancient of Days interposed; and the man of sin, the mystery of iniquity, fell, and must yet fell, before the spirit of his mouth, and the brightness of his coming, and so shall the heavens be opened. Thus, you will see, this first seal pertains to the Savior, the opening thereof will mean all and much more than I have here said.
But before I enter into the details of this first seal, I will yet notice the command to ‘come and see.' One of the four living creatures' commands John to ‘come.' Now, I have before shown you, that the likeness of the four living creatures is taken from the square encampment of the Israelites in the wilderness; and here is a representative of the church making John welcome to divine revelations: ‘come and see.' Now this accords with the feeling of every true church toward their minister; as though this living (not dead, mind, but living,) creature should say, John here is something very mysterious; come, and see; and try and explain it to us, who are desiring to look into these things. And so, it is, that living souls can never be content with a blind watchman, a blind guide, a miserable comforter, a forger of lies, or with a physician of no value. Living souls see something of the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven; and by a true seer, they hope to see still more; and go on seeing and seeing until they ‘behold, as in a glass, the glory of the Lord, and, are changed into the same image, as from one degree of glory to another, as by the spirit of the Lord.'
The true seer is one who is born of God; poor in himself, ‘having nothing, yet possessing all things.' Now this true seer, is ‘made wise unto salvation;' he is but a child in spiritual things; that is, he is poor, and but a child in his own eyes, even less than the least of all saints. Now Solomon (Ecclesiastes 4:13), says ‘better is this poor and wise child than an old and foolish king, who will no more be admonished.' This old and foolish king will mean old Adam; and out of the materials of this old Adam are manufactured men for the office of ministers; but they are not new-born, heaven-born children; and though such may be personally, young in years, they belong to the old Adam stock, and are of the world; and therefore speak they of the world. But they are, in eternal things, self-contradictory, confused, and very cloudy; or, as Solomon says, ‘foolish, and their name is legion,' both in the Church of Rome and in the Church of England, as well as among
Dissenters. Now, for a poor and wise child of God to attempt to admonish one of these great book-made kings, appears in their eyes the height of presumption; they look down upon such a child with all the hauteur* of which they are capable; saying, ‘you were altogether born in sins, and do you teach us? and so they cast him out. Thus, this man-made minister, is after all but a foolish king; for ‘out of prison he comes to reign.' Yes, he has completed his studies, finished his education; this department has been his prison; so out of this prison he comes, to make same little noise in the world, and to reign upon some clerical throne; whereas also he said, ‘the wise man that is born in his kingdom becometh poor.'
Now there are two classes of persons born in his kingdom, who come to poverty. One is those who are called by grace under his ministers; for the Lord does sometimes make use of his own word from the lips of such men, and now and then one is convinced truly of sin, and made to hunger and thirst for more gospel than it is in the power of this unwise king to bring forward; such being born of God, they will become sensibly poor; and they will leave this duty-faith kingdom in which they were born, and seek that free-grace kingdom, for which they are fitted, and where they will find what they want; they will seek to those seers who can expound unto them the way of God more perfectly; and thus they come out of Babylon, and partake not of her errors, lest they receive also of her plagues; and so this foolish king has unwittingly taught these poor and wise children more then he intended them to know. But when once their eyes are opened: they cannot again be closed while each is bearing his own testimony; and saying, ‘whereas I was blind, now I see.' God is the Lord who has showed them light.
The other class born in the kingdom of this foolish king, who become poor, are those whose conversion consists merely of the un-clean spirit going out; but then is no supernatural life in the soul; and these dying in that state, will lift up their eyes in hell, and be so poor as to beg even for a drop of water to cool their tongue; and the devil that deceived them will glory to see them thus degraded.
Thus, my good Theophilus, you see something of what is meant by opening this first seal; and also, something of what is meant by John, a true seer being requested to ‘come and see,' and so tell to us what he sees.
A Little One.
* Pronounced ho'-tare, meaning great haughtiness
My Good Theophilus, I now proceed a little further, with the first seal. Now look at Psalm 46th, and there you find this Prince of Salvation, this King of kings, riding forth in majesty and prosperously; having on his side truth, meekness, and righteousness; in all of which, he is invincible. His truth cannot fail; his meekness is such, that his heart will never be lifted up above his brethren; their hearts are by nature lifted up above him, but he knows how to bring them down, for his arrows are sharp in the hearts of his enemies, whereby the people fall under him, and become glad to submit to him, and are made to rejoice that he has conquered them: for he goes forth ‘conquering, and to conquer;' and as his righteousness endures forever, so his throne is for ever and ever. And do not forget that he has hated sin for us; that he has loved righteousness for us; our dependence must be, not upon our hatred to sin and love to righteousness, but your hope will be in his having hated sin in perfection for you. Your glory must be in Christ having loved righteousness for you; for you, through the law that is in your members, will often be as though you neither hated sin, nor loved righteousness. Yes, you will at times feel, as though the very reverse was the case. What then, at such times, would become of you, were it not that Christ's perfect hatred of sin, and love to righteousness, stands always to your account; always to plead in perfection your cause; so that whatever faults there may be in you, (and there are many yet), there is no fault in him; so that you ever appear before God, not what you are in yourself, but what you are, as represented by him!
And, if it be said of some of the Church of Sardis, that, they had not defiled their garments; how much more, and in a higher sense, may it be said of him, that the son of wickedness could not defile him? Therefore, it is that ‘His garments smell of myrrh and aloes, and cassia; out of the ivory palaces, whereby they have made you glad. Yes! these mediatorial garments had been hid up in the palaces of eternity, and none but the King of kings could be entrusted with them; he alone could wear them in safety through all the paths of mediatorial life and death: wherein he has not only kept his garments white, but he has added a fragrance to them, they never before had; they savor now of all he did and suffered. ‘All your garments smell of myrrh, etc.: whereby they have made him glad' Here purity and fragrance are a demonstration of the excellency of his name; he therefore rejoices in his righteous conquests; for in righteousness he does judge and make war; and while his character is good, ours cannot be finally bad.
You will thus see, that this 45th Psalm helps us to understand the meaning of this first seal.
I will now go again to the 19th chapter of the Revelation, and trace out a little farther, the meaning and progress of this first seal. And if we follow out this 19th chapter, it would take us along into the 20th chapter, where his conquests extend to all nations; but for the present, I will trace the opening of this first seal, through the 19th chapter. We here see, that as he set out at the first, conquering and to conquer, we here, in the 19th chapter, see that he did conquer; He is never at a loss; he sees everything at once; his eyes are like a flame of fire. We are pretty often at a loss, and we are short-sighted enough; well, never mind, he, himself, knows what he will do; and he will guide us with his eye.
Just look at the progress he has made, for he has on his head many crowns. Now, my good Theophilus, try and get the meaning of these many crowns.
I think that these many crowns will mean five things.
First, that as David subdued the kings around him, and in some instances put their crown upon his own head; so the Savior takes away sin's dominion, and where sin reigned over the soul, he now reigns; where death, darkness, the world, error, and the curse reigned, he now reigns. Thus, does he spoil these principalities and powers, and takes their dominion to himself.
Second, the many crowns will mean the many souls he acquires; for as the church collectively is a crown of glory in the hand of the Lord, so is not each saved soul a crown of glory to the Prince of salvation, to the King of kings?
Third, it will mean the many honors which God the Father, and the Holy Spirit, crown him with; fulfilling as he does the counsels of the Father, and carrying out the testimonies of the Holy Spirit; for the Holy 8ptrit glorifies Christ, and the Father (Psalm 21:3.) ‘sets a crown of pure gold upon his head.'
Fourth, the many crowns of gold on his head, will mean also the many honors he has to bestow upon his faithful servants; for he will make them all kings and priests to God.
Fifth, the many crowns will mean those honors and glories with which the saints shall for ever do him honor.
And thus, you see, as he (as I have before said) set out to conquer, so he does conquer, and still delights to do the will of the Father; and none but himself knows the delight he has in glorifying God by the salvation of sinners. And this appears to me, to be the meaning of the next words, namely, ‘that he had a name written, that no man knew, but he himself', (verse 12). Some have thought that this unknown name is intended as a declaration of his God-head; I do not think so myself; you of course must use your own judgement; but it appears to me, that the promise to the conquerors at Pergamos is a key to this name, which ‘no one knew but he himself.' You will perhaps say, that if no one but himself knows it, is it not presumptuous to attempt to find it out? Yes, it would be, if the Word of God was silent upon the matter, and if the Lord did not reveal his secret unto his servants, the prophets. Now mind, it does not say ‘no man can know;' but ‘that no man knew'; therefore, it does not follow, that while no carnal man knew or can know, it does not follow that his brethren shall not know at least something about it.
Now, look at it in this way. Those at Pergamos who, by faith in the blood of the Lamb, were conquerors, were to receive a white stone, and in the stone a new name written, which no man knows, except he that receives it. Now this white stone may mean chiefly two things; first, pardon, and secondly, election to some place of honor and dignity. Well now, it is clear, that no one knows in reality, what pardoning mercy is, but he who receives it; it is a ‘peace which passes all understanding'. Go and ask the woman in Simon's house; see her washing the Savior's feet with her tears of pardoning love; see her wiping his feet with tresses of her hair, which have been her pride; see her devote those tresses to him; see her anoint his feet with costly ointment; and she can tell you something of the new name; something of pardoning love, redeeming blood, and saving grace.
And if the white stone means election to dignity and honor, the same woman, and like her, will tell you that the Lord ‘Raises up the poor out of the dust, and lifts up the beggar from the dunghill, to set them among princes, and make them inherit the throne of glory.' This, then, is the new name, which no man knows, saving he that receives it. So, the Savior, God knows, but no man but he himself, the delight, he has in bringing poor, perishing sinners to his feet; bringing them into their right mind. If unfathomable were the depths of his sorrows in his humiliation, unmeasurable are the heights of his joys in his exaltation. Thus, you, my good Theophilus, see that angels rejoice at the repentance of one sinner, and shall the Savior, who gives that repentance, be silent in this matter? Conclude that none know what it is to be a new creature, but those, who (like the woman in Simon's house) are new creatures. So the Savior has many crowns on his head: he is laden with many honors ; and, as no man knows but he himself what it was to be what he was in his humiliation, so no man knows but he himself, what it is to be what he is in his exaltation, conquests, and final glories.
Is there not then, in this, as well as in other respects, a likeness between himself and his brethren? He, in a most solemn sense, knows what it is to be what they, but for mercy, must have been: ‘He was made sin for them' ‘made a curse for them' and they know what it is to be like other men, but other men do not know what it is to be like them.
Thus, I think, we get a little light upon the meaning of the name written, which no man knows but he himself. For if I am right in this view of this ‘hidden name,' it is nevertheless still true, that no man but he himself knows the delights thereof.
You will, of course, notice, that in the sixth chapter, he set out by himself: but here, in this nineteenth chapter, there are armies following him, and following him too in a state or conquest; hence, says the Apostle, ‘thanks be to God, which always causes us to triumph in Christ.' These ‘armies in heaven,' I take to be his people in the heavenly dispensation. These armies are carried along by the power of the gospel, denoted, I should think, by the white horses, their raiment is the righteousness of saints, that is, Christ's righteousness put upon them, and by which they draw near to God. These armies do not go before him, but they follow him; knowing, as they well do, that ‘without him they can do nothing.'
He wears the robes of victory, while the greatness of his name shall still go before us, and still make a way for us; and the last enemy shall be like the first: Satan was the first; sin the second; and death the last. But all must bow to the King of kings, and Lord of lords.
His kingdom cannot fail;
He reigns o'er earth and heaven! The keys of death and hell
Are to our Jesus given.
So, believes
A Little One
Most excellent Theophilus, as you are now become a Baptist, I will, instead of going on this month with the “Seven Seals,” give one, if not two, short Epistles upon Baptism.
Now, there is in each department but one Baptism, the baptism of Christ's death, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and the ordinance of Baptism.
I will notice, first, the Baptism of Christ's death. Let us take first, as our guide in this matter, Psalm 42, every word of which is answered to better, and more perfectly by what the Savior endured, than by your own personal experience and path; not but the Psalm is beautifully descriptive of the path of the real Christian. In truth, this 42nd Psalm, like many others of the Psalms, answers the double purpose of describing the path both of the Savior, and of the soul born of God. But I shall notice this Psalm now chiefly as setting forth the path of the Savior, especially his Baptism; or, which is the same thing, his immersion into death.
“As the hart pants after the water brooks, so pants my soul after you O God." Whoever panted after God as he did? Whoever thirsted as he thirsted for the living God? Whoever longed to appear before God as he did? and he does now appear before God for us; and whose tears have ever been their meat as where his tears; and who so taunted by the enemy as he was, saying unto him continually ‘where is your God?' And when he remembered these things, he poured out his soul unto God. Yet, from his youth he went with the multitude to the house of God; with, the multitude that kept holy day. Yet, they laid no hands on him as yet, because his time was not yet come; and yet whose soul was ever cast down as his soul was cast down? What soul was ever disquieted as his soul was disquieted? Infinitely short do we come in all our castings down, and disquietudes, in comparison or his castings down and his disquieting's; yet he could not (as we often are,) be moved from an assurance that God was his God. ‘Hope you in God,' was his own effectual command to his own soul, while he was sure of the joy set before him; ‘for I shall yet praise him for the help of his countenance.' Yet he had to go on again to more work, more solemn casting down, when his soul should become exceeding sorrowful; no sorrow ever was or ever can equal it; yet he would remember the God of heaven and earth, ‘from the land of Jordan, and from the Hermonites; from the hill Mizar,' or little hill.
Now, my good Theophilus, if you know not where to look for these three places, I will show you. Look then at the Savior as just entering into the depths described in the next verse: ‘Deep calls unto deep' Look at the Savior as like the ark, just beginning to be surrounded with the flood. See humanity tremble, and ‘sweat great drops of blood, falling down to the ground.' See the fountains of the great deep about to be broken up! See the windows of heaven about to be opened! See him left by himself, like the Ark in a shoreless sea! as there was not another ark; so, there was not another Surety, there was not another Savior. If the one Ark fail, all must fail; so, if the one 8avionr, the only Savior, ‘the only name given under heaven whereby we must be saved,' if he fails, all must fail! No doings outside of the Ark could save one life; they must be in the Ark; the Lord himself must shut them in. See then the Savior alone; see him by himself; and then look at the three places where he encouraged himself. First, the land of Jordan. But why the land of Jordan? Ah! here it is, ‘when he came up straightway out of the water, and stood on dry land, the heavens were opened unto him, and he saw the spirit of God descending like a dove, and lighting upon him;
and lo! a voice from heaven, saying, this is my beloved Son in whom I am well pleased? This, then, is one place that, as Man, when he was entering the deepest of all gulphs, that he would remember. ‘I will remember you from the laud of Jordan.'
Now, look also at the Mount of Transfiguration; this took place as is evident in the northern part of Canaan, here called the land of the Hermonites. Here then, there came a voice from the excellent glory, ‘This is my beloved Son, hear you him.' Then where shall we look for the hill Mizar, or the little hill as the words mean? Where, I say, shall we look for this little hill, but to that little hill on which stood the Temple at Jerusalem? when but a few days before his death, standing on this little hill, he said, ‘Father glorify your name;' then came there a voice from heaven, saying, ‘I have both glorified it, and will glorify it again.' (John 12:28).
Thus, did the Savior, as man, remember God the Father from these three places, and then three are all that are recorded, so exactly did he walk as it was written of him.
You will see that the opening of the heavens followed upon his Baptism: it was when he came up out of the water that the heavens were opened, as a pledge of what should, and what actually did, and does still, follow upon his immersion into those depths which, to mere creature power, are unfathomable. Truly, on the day of Pentecost, the heavens were opened, and have never yet been closed, and never will be as long as there is one soul on earth thirsting for the tiring and true God. Now, mind, Jesus was not rantised in Jordan, but Baptized. The Greek word for sprinkling is rantiso; the Greek word for immersion is baptiso. Now, I say, the Savior was not rantized in Jordan, but baptized. John need not come to Enon, where there was much water to rantise, that is to sprinkle; but it was needful to come to where there was much water to Baptize, that is to immerse. If John had been sent not to baptize but merely to rantize, it would have been quite needless to go into a river like Jordan; or indeed in to any river, merely to rantize, but as he was sent to Baptize, he went into the water and Baptized in Jordan. It is not said that John came rantizing, but baptizing. It is not said, he that believes, and is rantized shall be saved, but, ‘He that believes, and is baptized shall be saved.' The Savior did not send his apostles to teach all nations, rantizing them in the name of the Eternal Three, but ‘baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' The Eunuch did not say to Philip, see here is water, what does hinder me to be rantised? but, ‘what does hinder me to be baptized? It is not said of the three thousand, that they that gladly received the word were rantised, but baptized. In a word, nowhere in the New Testament do we find a command to rantized, but to baptize.
And so much did the Savior himself think even of the ordinance of baptism, that not only he himself submitted to it, but had in so doing the presence and testimony of the Father and of the Holy Spirit. Nor is this in one sense, much to be wondered at, for ‘the Lord delights in mercy,' and it was by the Savior standing in our place, in his immersion into death, that mercy ‘over the guilty reigns.' And this immersion of the Savior into death is one of those things signified by the ordinance of baptism.
Therefore, you can but feel justified in the step you have taken; you have the word of God, the example of Christ himself, the testimony of the Father, and the presence of the Holy Spirit on your side; and for you now to turn from it, would be to turn your back upon Christ's example, it would be to turn away from that which Christ, God the Father, and the Holy Spirit delighted to sanction. An ordinance thus Divinely practiced, thus Divinely owned and sanctioned, and trebly consecrated. “Not everyone that says Lord, Lord, shall enter the kingdom of heaven; but he that does the will of my Father, which is in heaven.'
But, let us come back again to our 42nd Psalm: a Psalm that every real Christian knows something experimentally of, but not so perfectly as did the Savior, even with us deep sometimes calls unto deep. A deceitful heart within, and trials, deep trials, and temptations without; how often, have these so swallowed us up, that everything Godly and spiritual seems overwhelmed and lost, and, as it were, on boards, or on broken pieces of the ship we again get safe to land. Bat we have nothing to boast, except that amidst it all the Lord holds our soul in life and suffers not our foot fatally to be moved. What would have become of Peter on the sea, if the Lord had not been there with him? So here, in Christ's Baptism into death, is ‘deep calling unto deep; all your waves and your billows are gone over me.' Does not this look very much more like Baptizing than rantising? Here it was the waters were gathered together into one place; the crimes of past and future ages met on him, all penalties due thereto, met on him; truly these were noisy billows, mighty waves, and terrific waterspouts; no scriptures are so difficult to open up, or amplify as those which relate to what the Savior endured. Well may the Savior say to Peter upon this matter, ‘You cannot follow me now,' but let the mystery be deep as it may, one thing we know, and that is that he has (Isaiah 51:10,) dried this sea, these waters of this great deep, and has made those depths through which he passed a way for the ransomed to pass over; so that while there was sea left to drown the Egyptians, and so there are left sin and wrath to drown those in perdition who die in their sins. Yet, while there was sea left to drown the Egyptians, yet the Israelites, in passing through the sea were not even rantized or sprinkled; for the waters were a wall to them on either side. They were immersed in the sea and in the cloud, but not in a way for the sea to touch them. The flood could not touch them who were in the Ark; it is the ark that encountered and overcame the flood: so here it was the power and presence of the Lord that dried up the sea. It was the Lord that carried the Israelites safely through it: so, the Savior carries his people safely through; they were one with him, and were, shall I say relatively, Baptized with him, yet not in a way that touched them.
This then is the way, and that you may walk firmly therein is the sincere prayer of
A Little One
[We feel bound to give unusual prominence to the Letter of A Little One this time: its contents are of vast moment; seeing that the Dissenting aristocracy are endeavoring to throw a large amount of contempt upon that Ordinance which our Lord first observed; and seeing, moreover, that those who professed to be our friends, and the decided friends of truth too, are now boldly going half-way over to the ranks of our secret foes. We solemnly believe it is high time to awake out of sleep. Ed.]
My good Theophilus, as you are a Baptist, I wish you also to be decided for strict communion. Never give your vote for anyone to come to the Lord's table un-scripturally; neither do you yourself ever sit down at the table, either with Independents, or with mixed communion, or where they admit none into the Church as members but by Baptism, yet admit others to the table: but stand clear of all.
First, Because of the importance of conformity to New Testament order. Faith comes first; baptism stands next. Baptism is not so important, nor anything like so important, as regeneration, as living faith, having living works; or, as redemption, justification, eternal election, the truth of an everlasting covenant, with eternal glory. If Baptism were as important as these essential truths, every heaven-taught man would be sure to be a Baptist: Baptism is in no way essential to salvation; it is not in the vital sense, an essential doctrine; but it is essential to right discipline. Nor because Baptism is not essential to salvation, but only to gospel discipline, ought we to make light of it; nor does the word of God anywhere make light of it. Some have thought that the Apostle Paul did treat it rather lightly, when he thanked God that he had Baptized so few; but then he assigns the reason of this thankfulness: it was, lest any should say that he baptized in his own name. It does not appear that the apostles ever made it a common practice themselves to baptize; hence Peter himself, at Caesarea, did not himself baptize those who were made partakers of the Holy Ghost; but ‘He commanded them to be baptized in the name of the Lord.' And there are four reasons which suggest themselves why the apostles themselves did not baptize, but commanded others to do it. First, because they were given up chiefly to the ministry of the word. Secondly, because of the numbers called at times by their ministry, that it would hinder a large portion of their time. Thirdly, because it was a matter so simple as not to require apostolic gifts to enable one Christian to baptize another. And, fourthly, lest owing to the greatness of their gifts, Satan should take advantage, and attach a superior virtue to the Baptism performed by them; or, as the Apostle says, ‘Lest any should say they baptized in their own name.' But, although they themselves did not, as a general rule, baptize, still they commanded it to be done; for they were not sent personally to baptize, but to preach the gospel. And even the Savior himself, though he himself was baptized, yet he himself did not Baptize others (John 4:2) yet did he make Baptism one part of the mission be gave to the apostles. Do not then, my good Theophilus, make light of that order of Church government which the King of Zion has given. Surely, he is worthy of being obeyed; ‘For behold, to obey is better than sacrifice; and to hearken than the fat of rams: for rebellion is as the sin of witchcraft; and stubbornness is as iniquity and idolatry.' 1 Samuel 15:22, 23.)
Keep then to strict communion; not only because of the importance of conforming to gospel order; but also, because you prefer the word of the Lord, even before the most esteemed of your brethren in the Lord. There are some who are not Baptists, to whom I feel very much more union of soul, than I do to many that are Baptists; But still, when I am called upon to decide which I will do, set these esteemed aside, or set the command of their Lord and Master aside, I cannot hesitate which to do. I dare not alter the order of the Lord's house; I cannot to oblige them, sanction their disobedience, nor go into disorder with them. I must wait until they come into their right minds, and there I must leave it, ‘and go my way till the end be.'
So then, it comes simply to this, that you must either set a child of God aside from the Lord's table, or else you must set the command of God aside: the one is painful, but the other is sinful: for ‘Whatsoever is not of faith is sin.' Abide then by strict communion.
Abide then by strict communion also for the sake of others, A conscientious abiding hereby will do much towards bringing others over to order, but if we ourselves totter and stagger, can we expect to see others fall into our ranks? They may call us bigots, and a variety of other ugly names, and this will prove that they are angry with us, but it will not prove that they are right, or that we are wrong; and the great thing for us is, to quietly, but firmly, stand practically by what we know to be the good and the right way.
Stand fast by strict communion for conscience sake; and if you are placed where there is no Baptist minister that you can hear, and where there is no church of New Testament order, then stand out; and rather than come to the table unscriptural, come not at all. Be thus, a practical witness for truth and order. Let conscience have her perfect work, and take not the Lord's Supper unworthily, which all open communionists do; but ‘Be not you partakers with them;' pay no attention whatever to the argument that some of the best and greatest preachers we have had, were not even half-way Baptists, much less strict commnnionists: this argument amounts to this, that as we ought to follow such men where they followed Christ; so, in consideration of their many and great excellencies, we ought to adopt their errors also. Buch a notion as this would at once set us on the high way to Rome. Just adopt Luther's consutatantiation, and Calvin's practice of persecuting men tor matters of conscience, and we shall not be far from the kingdom of Rome; adopt the old semi-arminian father's duty-faith doctrine, and we corrupt the truth, and cover Zion with a cloud. ‘Be not you then partakers of other men's sins.' We sin enough by infirmity, and from want of experience and judgment, without sinning willfully. Until, therefore, another law be given from heaven, to sanction another way to the Lord's table, be you steadfast, and unmoveable, just where you are, go not you over unto them, but let them come over unto you.
I will here give you but one more reason for abiding by strict communion; and that is the preservation of the ordinances at they are delivered unto us. One of the laws most emphatically given to the Israelites was, that they were in every possible way to teach their children the laws, and statutes, and ordinances, which the Lord had delivered unto them; and a substituting of other laws, in whole or in part, in the place of the laws of God, made their worship vain, and ultimately proved their ruin and dispersion. The truth of God in all its departments is the salt of the earth; and the people of God, are the salt of the earth only as they abide vitally and practically in the truth. Apart from this they are neither fit for the land, nor for the dunghill; not savory enough to be any use in the Church; and yet, as with all their want of savor, they cannot hate the truth, and so are not fit for the dunghill of this world; but in this their sad captivity, are trodden under the foot (not of God, but) of men; but they shall be salted with the fiery heart-warming love of God, and that by the power of the Holy Ghost.
If then we would save ourselves from an untoward generation, it must be by abiding by the truth; and if we are set for the defense of the gospel let us defend it, and not corrupt it; for it is only abiding by the truth that we can serve God acceptably; nor can we get real good, or glorify him in any other way.
Thus, then, let the importance of abiding by New Testament order, the preference of the word of the Lord, a good conscience, and the preservation of the truth in its purity have due weight with you. ‘Trust in the Lord, and thus do good, and you shall dwell in the land, and verily you shalt be fed.' 8tand by his truth, and he will stand by you; for so it has been found even by
A Little One
Let us again, friend Theophilus, turn to the Seven seals. We have already, slightly traced the first seal up to the 15th verse of the 19th chapter of Rev. We must go on to the end of that chapter, and then come back to chapter the 6th. In the progress then, of this first seal, we still see the preeminence of the King of kings, and Lord of lords.
Here, then, in this latter part of the 19th of Revelations, we see people of all ranks, classes, state, and character, given up to delusion, and made the prey of the agents of Satan; all this the Angel saw in the light of eternal truth. ‘I saw,' said John, ‘an Angel standing in the sun; that is standing in the light of eternal truth. in the light of God, who is to his people, ‘A sun and a shield.' This is the place for every angel every messenger, every minister of the Gospel to stand. Here, in this light it is that they see light, and so understand the counsels of the Most High, as boldly to declare the same.
One thing then, which the angel saw, was great numbers of birds of prey; they were to eat the flesh of kings, and of all their subjects. Can there be much difficulty in understanding the mystical meaning of this? Are there not Mahommedan, and Roman Catholic, and State Church kings? Do not the priestly agents of those systems, prey upon, in the most awful sense of the word, the very vitals of those kings, and upon their subjects, free and bond, small and great; whether they be mighty men, military men, and the very flesh of houses, because horses are employed to maintain the interest of the wild beast. What an awful scene does this present! Whole kingdoms and empires deluded and made the prey of tyranny. This is the strong delusion to which they are given up; they are the feast of Satan and his ministers, and yet they know it not; for they are spiritually dead, and the Gospel is the only remedy that can give life and light, and so deliver from those powers of darkness.
And the angel further saw that the kings of the earth and their armies were gathered together to make war with him that sat upon the horse, and against his army. Now, even if here be not a local gathering together, still there is a mental gathering together against him that sat on the horse, and against his army. They, however much they differ among themselves, are all opposed to the truth, all opposed to the simplicity that is in Christ, all opposed to individual liberty of conscience, all usurping the place of the Most High, settling the destinies of men by their authority. But if these knew him that rides on the white horse half as well as he knows them, they would tremble at their own presumption, drop their weapons, and gladly submit themselves unto him; but they are blinded, and their end will be according to their works. The wild beast, the whole body of enemies, the false prophet that wrought (pretended) miracles with which he deceived them that had subscribed to the beast, and had conformed to his image or order of things, these must all go together into a lake of fire burning with brimstone, while thousands thus sink to hell, others are blinded, or slain with the sword of him that sat upon the horse, and the fowls (the birds of prey) still go on preying upon them. Thus, my good Theophilus, you see here illustrated the truth, that the election has obtained, it, and the rest were blinded.
But I will now come back to the 6th chapter; the second, the red horse seal, some think, means Mahommetanism, and it certainly agrees well therewith; and it is very probable that it has special reference thereto; but it is not our business to dwell so much in the learned department, as in the spiritual. The rider of his red horse, takes peace from the earth; and that is he takes the gospel of peace from the earth, and whatever power takes he gospel from the earth, takes peace from the earth, and there have been, and still are powers that do this; there can be no real peace where the gospel of Jesus Christ is not. ‘There is no peace to the wicked says my God.'
The gospel of God, even its mere moral influence, apart from saving grace considered, wonderfully tends to peace; love to God and man, is it first principle, as well as its ultimate glory. This gospel where it is savingly know, gives peace with God, good will towards men; such are peace makers, they live in peace, they die in peace, and shall dwell in peace forever. Now, where this gospel is taken away, selfishness becomes the ruling passion. Love, benevolence, and all its lovely train of excellencies are absent, and vicious powers of darkness take their place, and no one is sure even of his life; and so, under this red horse seal, they kill one another. How different this from that heavenly voice, which said ‘by this shall you know that you are my disciples; if you (not kill one another, but) love one another.' And this red horse rider had a great sword to denote the great havoc he should make; and if this seal refer to Mahometanism, it has certainly to the very letter fulfilled its mission, its government is still red with the blood of men; what a malicious fiend must Satan be, to glory in the sin and misery of so many millions of souls! and how unsearchable the judgments of the most high God! O what a favored land is ours! May true converts increase, and glory yet dwell in our land! And the time come, when the millions now in darkness, may see the light of eternal life.
The third seal is supposed to mean Catholicism and it certainly, like the second seal to Mahometanism, answers well thereto; a black horse; black enough mercy knows; darkness is the very delight of popery, the very structure, of its convents, and Cathedrals show this; they delight also in very dark habiliments, and in dark confessional corners. Truly, popery is a dark horse, and will certainly carry its riders to his own place. Its chief rider, the Pope, I suppose, has a pair of balances in his hand to weigh every one; I suppose with his scales, and so put them to the test as to whether they be true Catholics or not, and if not, to turn them out of the way; but the word sugos, here translated a pair of balances, is in every other place in the New Testament, translated yoke; and Popery has sought, and certainly has succeeded, in putting a yoke of bondage upon men; and this yoke of bondage is at this moment on the neck of millions, but nevertheless this black horse, like the others cannot go beyond its mission.
There is a voice from the midst of the four living creatures; that is, from the mercy seat; and this voice is a voice of assurance to the poor and needy, that is, poor in spirit, and who follow not this black horse; nor heed the scales of the rider, or wear his yoke; the needs of these shall be supplied; they shall have their daily bread; it is true, they may have just at present more barley than wheat, the barley is the bread of captivity, and they get three measures of this, but only one measure of wheat; they have more rough than smooth; more hard things than easy things; more, mourning than mirth; but though they live much upon barley bread, trying experiences, yet even of than one said, ‘By these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my spirit.' And as a penny a day was the usual pay of a working man, for good people are working people, working by faith, so it is a measure of wheat for a penny; and three measures of barley for a penny. Nor will they call the Lord a hard Master, but will find, ‘His yoke easy, and bis burden light.'
Thus, amidst all the tyrannies of sin, Satan and the world, the Lord will take care of his own: they shall have their daily sustenance, ‘As their days, so shall be their strength.' Ah! Popery! You arch-deceiver, you hell-born, and hell-bound power! we pity the millions you do deceive; but you cannot rob us of one grain of that heavenly wheat which our God has for us; and here is golden oil which you cannot hurt, which you cannot touch, even the golden oil of God's grace which comes to us through the golden pipes of heavenly truth; neither Popery, nor any other power, can over find a way to cut off these golden pipes, or stop the flowing of this golden oil. You mountain of falsehood! You monster of the deep! You are commanded not to hurt the oil or the wine; and shall we thank you for your obedience? Yes; the same as we thank the sea for its obedience, of which it is said; ‘hitherto you may come, but no further; here shall your proud waves be stayed.' So then, in spite of you, we shall live; we shall be anointed with fresh oil; and see, my good Theophilus, how the account of his provision closes; ‘hurt not the oil and the wine.' Here then, we have the blood of the everlasting covenant. What can invalidate that? What can take away its power to cleanse us, to give us the victory, to make us cheerful? Hereby it is that God does not behold inequity in Jacob, nor see perverseness in Israel. Hereby it is the Lord his God is with him, and the shout of a king is among them. So then, the person, the work of Christ, and his people, snail ultimately be unhurt; nothing shall finally hurt them. ‘Happy,' then ‘is the people whose God is the Lord.' And so, you may hope to hear again next month from
A Little One
My good Theophilus, Let us now go on a little farther with the seven mystic seals. We have next the pale horse, and his name that sat on him is death; what death is this? Not that death that is common to all men; I think it cannot mean this, but some special kind of death; and besides, this pale home, you observe, has power over only a fourth part of the earth, or as it may be rendered, a fourth part of the land. This pale horse has a rider whose name is death. So this pale horse is an ecclesiastically living power, and carries a rider, which I suppose the followers of this pale horse would not call death, but life; for surely they would not voluntarily follow what they believe and know to be death. This pale horse then must be some religious power; the rider must be the image of the system called death, but which men no doubt call life; for in eternal matters it is not at all uncommon for men to put death for life, darkness for light, bitter for sweet, falsehood for truth, and delusion for real divinity. And the followers of this pale horse are called hades, or hell; that is, they are children of hell, (Matthew 23:15) sons of perdition, ordained by the law of God to condemnation. What then is this pale horse? Not the gospel, for that is symbolized by a white horse; not Mahometanism, for that is denoted by a red horse; not Catholicism, for that is distinguished by a black horse. Where then shall we look for this pale horse? This pale horse may, to the eyes of moles and bats, and owls, appear to be a white horse; none comes so near in appearance to the white horse as does this horse. Now then, put free-willism and duty-faithism together, and you will have at once presented to you this pale horse; and the rider will mean the ministry that goes forth by this system of dead doctrine; and this system, and this ministry, the children of wrath follow. Hell followed with him, but all among such, whose names are in the book of life, who are so deceived for a time, shall in due time be undeceived, and shall see that they have been following not the white horse of the gospel of the true of God, but have been following a pale and a ministry of death, and not of life. However expert a rider this false ministry may be, still it is but death at the last; mere and more killing souls to New Testament, new covenant truth, this rider, this ministry by the pale horse wrests the Scriptures to the destruction of many; and would, if it were possible, deceive the very elect. The unlearned in the school of true gospel experience are unstable in the truth, dealing just enough in the truth to carry on the deception, themselves being deceived; and so it is written, ‘I will send them strong delusion, and they shall believe a lie.' So you see, they do believe what they preach; and are sincere in error, as good men are in the truth; and many of them no doubt would, such is their sincerity, that many of them would, from the force of a misguided conscience, give their body to be burned rather than apostatize from their pale horse system.
There are, by the followers of this pale horse, there are especially in the Epistles of Paul, some things hard to be understood, and what my good Theophilus, are these hard things? You cannot be at a loss to know what they are; you cannot fail to see from the 9th chapter to the Romans, and from the Epistle to Hebrews, what these hard things are, they are the sovereignty of God. The eternal perfection of the priesthood of Christ, and the new covenant with all its settled and eternal certainties. I pray that many a free-willer and duty-faith follower may read this letter, and
turn away from the pale horse and his rider, (a dead ministry,) and follow the white horse of certain and eternal triumph.
When I say a dead ministry, I mean it is dead to God, and to those who know their need of a better gospel. Alas! so far from this rider (death) being dead, in other respects be possesses immense power, he is a kind of living-death; this rider is a ministry which takes a mighty hold of the fleshly senses; its passion and pathos are tremendous; its workings upon the natural conscience is irresistible to those who know not the secret of the whole affair; this rider, this dead-living ministry, is a wonderful moralist, at least in theory; its own works, in its own eyes, are wonderful; and hell follows with him, not heaven follows with him, but hell follows with him. The Lord goes before his people, but Satan follows after his; he drives them before him, just as he drove the herd of swine, so he drives men until they are drowned in perdition.
Thus, here is in the eyes of the carnal mind, a white horse, but in reality, a pale horse to attract. Then here is the rider, riding off to his own place, and his followers dancing delightfully along after him.
But, let us now look at his weapons; he kills with the sword, with hunger, and with death, and with the beasts of the earth.
What, then, is this sword? Is it not the word of God itself? and, which word is called the sword of the Spirit? Did they not turn this very sword against Christ himself, and so handed him over to the secular power under the statute of blasphemy? And do not free-willers, duty-faith men, and mere moralists, so pervert the word of God, as to turn it against God himself, against his sovereignty, against the sovereignty of the Holy Ghost, against the real liberty that is in Christ? while a fourth part of those of whom we hoped better things, suffer themselves thus to be killed to that gospel which they professed to love, and to be saved by. How cleverly does this rider of the pale horse, this false ministry, brandish its sword: can take the Holy Scriptures by wholesale to defend their position; false as that position is, and thus making use (though at the same time turning it the wrong way) of the sword of the Spirit; their followers dare not resist them; and so this rider goes on killing his followers to God's truth, making use of God's own word to achieve their ends; and by such a sword as this, the people are very naturally awed, not perceiving that the rider is not fighting Jehovah's battles, but siding with him (ignorantly, of course,) who deceives the whole world. But we have the happiness of now and then seeing the eyes of one and another opened, so that they see that the pale horse, though much like the white horse, yet it is not the white horse and the rider, though he have great power; still it is not the power of electing, redeeming, and saving grace, but rather a power to kill to these. Try, then, my good Theophilus,-to distinguish between Solomon's valiant men, and the swords men of the deceiver: Solomon's valiant men defend the bed, the rest which is Solomon's; that is the rest which is established by the Savior, by the peace he has made; but Satan's swordsmen would spoil this our resting place; one telling us that there are some in hell, for whom Christ died; another telling us, that Jesus Christ wishes to save the non-elect, but does not put forth any power to save them, but will put forth power to damn them, for not putting forth for their own salvation, powers which they did not possess. Such swordsmen, are not the defenders, but the troublers, the disturbers, of the rest, the repose, the safety, which is Solomon's, that is the King of Peace. Solomon, as you know, means peace or peaceable, and so is Jesus King of Peace.
But this pale horse rider kills, also, with hunger: he starves his followers to death. What a solemn view does this give of this pale horse and his rider! here is a sinner with some partial convictions of sin; desiring to be led right; he falls in with the pale horse; and if the truth be given at all, it is for the most part given un-scripturally. False evidences are laid down; a mere conscience change of reformation, passes off for regeneration; true tokens, true evidences are not given; the hearer, with his mere natural convictions, settles down upon these false evidences; the real food of living souls is not given; the soul becomes satisfied without it; and is thus starved down into a dead profession but does not know it; and even if it had any enquiries after real gospel truth, is kindly told that it has nothing to do with election, or any of those mysterious things; it is to do its duty, and all will be well; and so they wrap it up, and so he falls to sleep, at least; he falls asleep to the truth, and so dreams that he eats and drinks.
But this rider of the pale hone, kills also with death. You will be ready to say, why death is death, how can he kill with death? Now, my good Theophilus, you must here be careful to notice the kind of death, by which this rider on the pale horse kills; the kind of death that this rider makes use of; and the kind of death, with which he kills, you will understand in a moment, when I just put a very simple question to yon: it is this, Suppose you could receive the doctrine of duty-faith or freewill, would not that at once kill you to the truth as it is in Jesus? So then, this rider on the pale horse, kills, souls, to the truth, by dead doctrine. Thus, by dead doctrine he hardens men against the truth, and so he kills with death. ‘And straight is the gate and narrow is the way that leads unto life, and few there be that find it.'
But this rider on the pale horse, has, in his employment beasts of the earth. An order of beings not very likely to spare the sheep; an order of creatures not very domesticated, they are beasts of the earth (Theerion) wild beasts, essentially different from the Zoon, the living creatures. Do we not then read of wolves in sheep's clothing? Do we not read of grievous wolves getting among sheep? and the wolf comes not but for to steal, to kill, and to destroy.
Thus, does it, my good Theophilus, appear to me, that this pale horse is a gospel, approaching in appearance to the truth, and even has truth enough about it, to give it almost a white appearance. Its rider is a dead ministry, that is dead to the real vital power of the truth; this rider kills to the truth, by the word of truth itself, by starvation, by dead doctrine, and by beasts of the earth whose range is the world, and whose real home is first an earthly religion, and then a lower destiny.
Many solemn and not unprofitable reflections arise from contemplating this pale horse, his weapons, his work, and his agents; but space forbids my writing them.
This pale horse stalks about among the living, but as his power is over, and only over a fourth part of the land, so that some will apostatize and leave the white horse for the pale horse; but for myself, I can be content only with him who rides on the white horse, seeing I am but
A Little One.
My good Theophilus, I now, in all simplicity and earnestness, will give you a few words upon the fifth and sixth seals, as given in Revelation, (chapter 6th.) The first of these two seals, you will see, is a martyr's seal, or the seal of martyrdom; showing that all the sufferings of the people of God are under the seal of heaven, that all is governed and over-ruled in accordance with what is written in heaven concerning them. Their souls are said to be under the altar, this is to show, first, their nearness to God, it is by the true altar, Christ Jesus, that God is their exceeding joy; this joy exceeding in intensity, in extent, and in duration all they have ever suffered. Their being under the alter, shows also that the Great High Priest of our profession was their way of access to God; that by him, they had boldness to enter into the holy of holies. Their being under the alter, shows also that they were sacrifices acceptable unto God; not acceptable as atonements: no! there is but one, and there needed nothing but that one atonement, Christ Jesus; but they an acceptable as witnesses for God, and in the service they rendered to the cause of God, in giving up their lives, rather than give up the truth. While the Lord's own account of the cause of their death, and the account the enemy would give of the cause of their death, very widely differ. Their enemies would say, they were not put to death for the word of God, nor for standing fast against error and idolatry; no, (say the enemies) for a good work we stone you not, but for blasphemy, reckoning them of course, enemies to good works. Hence, the Puseyites, and Papists tell us that the less we say about the Protestant Martyrs, the better; meaning, of course, that as the martyrs, when living, were blackened unto the last degree by the slanders, and reviling's, the enemies cast upon them; that the Puseyites, and Papists, would not be wanting again in rolling a dark river from the serpent's mouth, over the memory of the martyrs. The martyrs no doubt had, as all men have, their infirmities and faults; but not for these were they put to death, any farther than the enemy could make use of their faults to excuse themselves for putting them to death; the real ground of such treatment from their enemies, was, they rejected the commandments of men, and abode by the word of God, and refused to take anything else in their guide in eternal things; and they held also a certain testimony concerning that word, that Christ was the end of the law for righteousness to everyone that believes, and that faith is the gift not of man, but of God, and that the election has obtained it, and the rest blinded, and that a Savior's blood without any human works, or merit whatever, triumphantly and eternally availed for them, and that Christ remained a Priest forever; and that they could no more come short of eternal life and glory, than Christ himself could come short. And thus, notwithstanding all the Pharisaic pretensions of their enemies, they were in reality, slain for the Word of God, and for the testimony which they held. May we, say good Theophilus, partake more than ever of the martyr's spirit, and suffer all things for the truth sake.
Still, they did not wish others to suffer as they had suffered; but cried to God to stop the enemy; at least, this is I think, one part of the meaning of their cry. Their crying with a loud voice, shows the intense and immense power there is in their suffering, to draw down the vengeance of God upon their enemies; their enemies cannot escape, and those who have apparently escaped, have
yet (where grace prevents not) a most fearful and fiery judgment awaiting them. And, notice next that though they are under the altar in an apparently prostrate state as sacrifices, yet they do not continue in that state, for white robes were given unto every one of them. There is, you see no difference made: while robes are given to every one of them; they were not offered to them, but given, unto every one of them; you can hardly think of a gospel blessing, that is not implied in this white robe, as it will mean, purity, sanctification, justification, victory, festivity, welcome, armor put off, the conflict over, the prize obtained. It is also a robe of honor, of glory, of immorality, and they were to rest. Now among common words, a word of larger import than the word rest can scarcely be thought of; think it over which way you will, it is all but infinite in variety of meaning: sweet repose, entire satisfaction, internal and external, reflective and prospective, beneath and above, and in all the possible relations in which their existence stands. They are to rest, yet for a little season, a thousand years in eternity is but a little season, and during this little season, more of their fellow servants, mark that, fellow servants, and their brethren should be killed as they were. Yes, my good Theophilus, if we serve God in the one spirit, and in the same truth that they did, we shall (if not killed) be hated of all men; alas, for this ungodlike, ungodly world! nor can aught but grace make us to differ, but through it all the Lord God Omnipotent reigns.
Having made these few remarks upon the fifth seal, I will occupy the remainder of this letter with the sixth seal. This sixth seal you observe is a revelation seal, creating tremendous alarm; but there does not appear to be any body killed, but only alarmed, and the next chapter shows the good effects of this alarm: in the hundred and forty and four thousand sealed, and in the number which no man can number. We must therefore just run through the several parts of this sixth seal, and see if we can, what this alarm is. Here is, first, a great earthquake. Just so it is when God begins to work mightily with a sinner, his standing slips from under him, his soul sinks as into a pit, and the prayer of such will be, ‘Let not the pit shut her mouth upon me.' He is helpless, and may well be alarmed, for he sees that if his sins roll down upon him, he must be as it were, ground to powder, and be driven to eternal perdition; and now all his former sunny prospects, are become black as sackcloth of hair; he is no longer clothed with creature brightness, but is clothed in the sackcloth of soul trouble. Lamentation, mourning and woe, and the moon (his nightly pleasures) are turned into blood, they are dead, and he the sinner fears be shall die with them, and the stars of heaven fell unto the earth, even as a fig tree casts her untimely figs, when one is shaken of a mightier wind. The stars are a figure of rulers and teachers; and when the sinner is thus awakened, down falls fleshly rulers, and false teachers: here is a mighty wind: down goes the Pope, down goes Popery, down goes free-will, down goes duty-faith, down goes Lucifer, even as lightening from heaven. Here is the sinner, the convinced sinner, in the pit, without sun or moon or stars; this will make him in earnest for mercy, though as yet he sees not that mercy. The heaven departed as a scroll when it is rolled together. Yes, the convinced sinner's heaven is gone, and he can see nothing but hell before him. Once he thought he had, or should have a heaven, but it is departed, and the sinner left apparently to make his bed in hell. You, my good Theophilus, are not altogether a stranger to these soul solemnities; these are the solemnities which make us tremble at God's Holy Word, that teach us to pray, sever us from the world, and constrain us to listen to the glorious gospel of the blessed God.
But every mountain and island were moved out of their places. Yes, there is to be no place of refuge left; all must be moved out of the way; refuge must fail you; there is no place where the workers of iniquity may hide themselves. Jesus only can be a refuge for sinners, and workers of iniquity, as every man after the flesh is. It matters not, you see, whether kings, or great men, or rich men, or chief captains, or mighty men, or bonds-men, or free men, the royalty of the king cannot save his soul; the greatness of the great man cannot deliver his soul; the riches of the rich man cannot redeem his soul, or give to God a ransom for it. The might of the mighty man cannot conquer death and hell; the labors of the bondman cannot work out salvation; the freedom of the free man cannot free his soul from going down into the pit; and yet all of them, from the peasant to the prince, from the highest to the lowest, fly to the many places for refuge, to the dens and rocks of the mountains. Are not these mountains and rocks, dens, false churches? and do not sinners, when first awakened, often fly to these dens, and rocks, and under mountains, instead of going direct to Mount Zion? Hence, the true church, is almost perpetually receiving awakened sinners out of false churches. So, that like doves, they do find their way to their own windows at last, and are well received, well housed, well treated, and it is well with them forever; but before they get to Mount Zion, they seek (that is many of them do) the protection of these false churches, ‘saying to the mountains and rocks, fall on us', not to hurt us, but to hide us from the face of him that sits upon the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb; for the great day of his wrath is come, and who shall be able to stand? Such is the legal bias of the newly awakened mind, and such are the false notions they have of God and the Lamb, they see him not in his sacrificial character; but only in what they suppose to be his wrathful character as a sin-avenging Judge; presently, they begin to see him in his sin bearing character; then wrath begins to subside, and mercy begins to appear, and these Hebrews come out of their holes, and rocks, and dens, and mountains; and begin to show themselves decided for God; having first fought against him, then when convinced of sin, tried to fly from him, but are now coming to him, and shall be decided for him, and be forever with him; and that which they thought was a day of wrath, was after all a day of mercy. And so, you see you take the next chapter as a continuation of this sixth seal. Lo, these things worked God often times, with man to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the light of the living; they will not now want to be hid from the face of Him, that sits on the throne, they will not now look at the wrath of the Lamb; but be happy in the love of Christ, so believes, and so knows
A Little One