by Rev. William Romaine
My Dear Madam,
I cannot resist the opportunity, though I can write but two or three lines, to thank you for your last letter, and for your kindness to me expressed in it. I thank God for the contents. What you say of yourself is to me very comfortable, because I see how the Spirit of God is leading you. He is taking you up into the highest form in the school of Christ, and is teaching you an experience which is not only next to glory, but is also glory begun. This being the hardest to learn, no wonder you should complain. I take notice of your account of your present state, of your trials, and of the exercises of your faith. A great part of your letter is upon these points, describing your self-abasement and loathing at the sight and sense of what you are in yourself, and wondering that such a one as you should be brought to know, to believe in, and to love our Jesus.
Now, my good friend, I must tell you, if you had written to me, and desired me to give you the character of a true Christian, I should have copied it from your letter. I could not have left one circumstance out. All that you mention of your being tried, afflicted in body and mind, brought low and kept low; sometimes mourning at the strength of corruption, and at the weakness of your graces; at your love to earthly relations, and at your love to our Jesus — one so strong, the other so weak; your trials on these, and many other such like accounts, are such as no true disciple of Christ, in your circumstances, could be without. My answer should have been, ‘He is exactly what Mrs. ——— says she is.’ For in reading the Scriptures I can find but these two things spoken of the office of the Holy Spirit: He first enables the sinner to receive Christ by faith; and then to live upon Him, so received, for all things. If you examine these two rules carefully, you will see that all the teachings of the Holy Spirit may be reduced to them; and if you examine yourself by the light of the Word, you will have no doubt but that you are among them to whom the promise was made: ‘All thy children shall be taught of God.’ For have you not renounced your righteousness as well as your sins? Is not the holy nature of our Emmanuel, His infinitely holy life, His everlastingly precious death — is not this complete work of His the only ground of your hope? ‘O yes,’ say you, ‘on this rock I lay my foundation;
I build all on it for time and eternity,’ Very well! then certain it is the Holy Spirit had done His first work in you. He has enabled you to receive Christ; now He is carrying on His work, the second part of the same lesson, which is enabling you to live upon Christ received. This is very hard to learn; it is against nature; against our natural love for law and works, our legal lookings at self, our foolish hope, if I live longer I shall be better. O it is hard, I find it to this hour like leaping overboard in a storm, to cast myself simply on Jesus for everything; but it must be done. The Spirit abides with you for this purpose — “that He may take of the things of Christ, and show them to you, and so glorify Him.” When He is teaching this heavenly truth, we kick against it, we pervert it. When we go on the best, we think we are at the worst. But He abides, to conquer our opposition, to set right what we pervert, and to convince us all is and shall be well. May He thus bless a word spoken to the Saviour’s glory!
My dear friend, you know it pleased the Father that all fulness should dwell in our Jesus: it pleases the Spirit to witness of it, and to glorify it. How? in what way? — why, just as He is teaching you. He is bringing you to live out of yourself upon the fulness of Jesus. Mind how He does it. He shows you, first, that you lack such a thing; then, that you cannot get it anywhere but from Jesus; and then He leads you to think, that trusting to His faithful word, you may experience how ready His heart, how able His hand, is to supply all your need. This is a beggar’s life; here is nothing but alms. We do not like it. We want some stock; if we could get it, we should like an independent fortune. But it cannot be. The Spirit of Jesus will witness of nothing, and glorify nothing, but the Saviour’s all-sufficient grace; and therefore He sets Himself against all our greatness and goodness — that he who glorieth may glory only in the Lord Jesus. And when He is bringing us to this true glorifying of the Lord, we mistake, we pervert His lessons; I know I do, and I think you do. We both fail in our experience, as your letter clearly proves to me.
If you ask me how you may become a better scholar? as I have been taught I would gladly inform you.
Read and pray for more self-knowledge: God’s Word and Spirit will teach you nothing about yourself but what will humble you to the dust, and keep you there. Read and pray for more knowledge of Jesus, of His person God-man — His salvation-work infinitely and
everlastingly perfect: He is yours, now He is received; and all He has, and all He is, as Jesus, yours in title; and, so far as you believe, yours now in possession.
Read and pray for more faith, that what you have a title to, you may take possession of, and so make constant use of it. Your estate is great, immensely great. Use it and live up to it: as you do in temporals so do in spirituals. Your money, your land, your air, your light, your meat and drink, and house and clothing, these you use: but you have not them in you; only being yours they are used by you. So do by Christ. When the Spirit would glorify Jesus, He humbles you; when He would glorify His fulness, He makes you feel emptiness; when He would bring you to rely on His strength, He convinces you of your weakness; when He would magnify the comforts of Jesus, He makes you sensible of your misery; When He would fix your heart on His heaven, He makes you feel you deserved hell; when He would exalt His righteousness, you find you are a poor miserable sinner. Can you, my friend, practise this? let nothing keep you from Jesus. Whatever you need, whatever you feel wrong, may it bring you to the Saviour’s fulness! O that all things may help forward your acquaintance with Him! I except nothing, neither sin nor sorrow; I would carry all to Him, as one great lump of sin, and receive all good from Him, as the only storehouse of good for wretched sinners. In this communion I desire to grow; for this I desire to live. O that you and I may learn it more and get every day nearer fellowship with our Sweet Jesus – growing up into Him in all things.
See how my pen runs on as fast as I can write. My very heart and soul are enamoured with Him! I love His name; I adore His person; He is my heaven. O what treasures are there in our Jesus! May His glorious Spirit witness for Him in your heart. Believe me your very friend, a well-wisher in that matchless Lover of sinners and of one of the chief of them,
William Romaine.