This excellent book consists of a selection of Thomas Charles’ papers and letters edited by his friend Edward Morgan. It presents biblical Christianity in a sound, practical and refreshing way. In it are 26 essays (on such subjects as “Divine Guidance”, “The Infinite Greatness of the Son of God”, “Walking with God” and “The Operations of the Holy Spirit”). There are also 94 letters, various other pieces and an introductory biographical sketch of Charles by Iain H Murray.
Thomas Charles (1755-1814) was converted when 17 under a sermon by Daniel Rowland. He studied at Oxford, became an Anglican preacher and ministered in a number of places, the last of which was near Bala, in his native Wales. On account of his biblical doctrine and evangelistic activities he incurred the hostility of some of his influential parishioners and was forced to leave his congregation. He eventually became a minister with the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists. In some religious circles he is still remembered as the minister who gave a Bible to Welsh teenager Mary Jones. Because of the spiritual darkness of Wales at the time and the need of the people to have the Scriptures in their own language, he became one of the main movers behind the formation of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Among its earliest productions was the Bible in Welsh, the translation being edited by Charles himself.
He lived for the cause of Christ. Even in his old age he wrote, “Whilst I live, I very much wish I may be enabled to work. The work is most important and the labourers are comparatively but few. But the Lord of the harvest can send when He pleases, and as many as He pleases; only it is my comfort and privilege to work.” And to a young clergyman he wrote, “We have an eternity to rest; let us be active here”.
To his correspondents he sought to be encouraging. As Edward Morgan said, “Doing good seems to have been the main object of all that he wrote, and that was promoted by his exhibiting divine things according to Scripture, in a manner plain, yet interesting, and in a style remarkably simple and easy, and at the same time, dignified and forcible. But what he seems to excel in, is on the subject of Christian experience; and on this he does greatly excel. . . . The tried, the doubting, and the tempted, will find in this volume what may by God’s blessing be of great service to them.”
The following extracts will give a flavour of his spiritual counsels to believers and others. To one good man, troubled by a sense of sin, he wrote, “Here, I apprehend, lies the secret cause of most of our doubts and distresses on account of sin, that is, in our want of a clear knowledge of, and a firm belief in, the fulness, sufficiency and ability of Christ to save”.
Regarding the fullness in Christ, he wrote to a godly couple, “God wills us to live entirely upon that fullness. Without living by faith upon that fullness, it is impossible for our souls to thrive and prosper. His ‘fullness filleth all in all’. It is not a fullness for Himself alone; but whatever He is in Himself, He is that to us. His all filleth our all. His all of fullness filleth our all of wants. He is not something, but all, and that in our all, in all our emptiness and want. His all is triumphant. His all of merits triumphs over our all of guilt; His all of grace triumphs over our all of impurity; and His all of power is made perfect in our all of weakness. God does not give us half but a whole Christ. Let our faith be as large in receiving as His heart is in giving. And this whole Christ, when received by faith, filleth all in all. In Him we have enough; we have no room for more. God is satisfied, and the mind of the believer is satisfied. Here God rests, and let this be our resting-place. He giveth rest to the soul of the sinner. Who besides can do this? None in heaven, and none on earth.”
To another correspondent he writes, “If we believe that testimony [which God gives of Christ], He must appear to us infinitely lovely and amiable indeed, exactly such a one as we want [need]; and in the enjoyment of whom we cannot but be eternally happy. A poor woman in our country frequently on her deathbed repeated the following words; ‘Jesus and I exactly suit one another; I have nothing, and He has every thing.’ I have nothing more to say in my best hours; and when I can say this, it is well with me, it is my best season.”
In his essay, “The Object of Faith”, he encourages the godly to hold fast their faith in God’s promises, by citing Hebrews 10:23, “He is faithful that promised”, and remarks, “He is of the same mind as when He made the promises; and He is abundantly able to fulfil them all in their utmost extent. ‘He is in one mind, and who can turn Him? And what His soul desireth, even that He doeth.’ He is of one mind; there is not in Him as in us, succession of ideas, purposes and designs. He is of one mind from eternity to eternity. His love, and the motive which influenced Him in making the promises, is always one and the same: ‘known unto God are all His works from the beginning’. His vast mind takes in the end from the beginning. No unforeseen subsequent event can happen to induce Him to alter His purpose: for all things which to us are past, present, and future, are in one view present to Him, naked and open to his infinite understanding.”
At the same time he comforts those who mourn over the weakness of their faith: “The weakest degree of faith hath the fulfilment of all the promises annexed to it as well as the strongest. It is not said, ‘He that believeth’ with a strong faith, but he that believeth, whether his faith be weak or strong, if it be true, ‘shall be saved’. Every branch in a tree is not equally strong, yet the least twig is united to and supported by the tree, and as really partaker of the sap as the largest branch. If the smallest twig is enabled to hold fast to the tree in the midst of storms, it will grow and thrive as well as the largest. It is believing the faithfulness of God to His promises, that will enable us to hold fast in the midst of tempests without wavering.”
And to believers battling against sin, he gives this advice (in his essay, “The Means of Mortifying Sin”), “Both the old and the new man are strengthened by having their proper food administered to them; and their strength is impaired when this provision is withheld from them. For this reason we are exhorted by the apostle, not to make ‘provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts thereof’ (Rom 13:14); that is, not to provide food for its support and gratification. Every lust is strengthened by gratifying it, and weakened by denying it.”
He frequently directs his correspondents and readers to Christ. To a godly lady he writes regarding the Saviour: “Cultivate kind thoughts of Him. We never think justly of Him but when we think kindly of Him; for He is altogether, and perfectly, a kind being. Every unkind thought of Him, is an unjust thought of Him; and therefore a very sinful thought. The sinfulness of our thoughts in this respect is very aggravating, for which it becometh us to be exceedingly humbled. O may He renew a right spirit within us!”
In his fine essay, “The Infinite Greatness of the Son of God”, he makes many profound and beautiful statements. He says, “No words perhaps in the whole Scripture set forth the dignity and glory of the person of Christ more emphatically and expressively than the following, ‘No man knoweth the Son but the Father’. . . . It is not sufficient to say that He is far above all principalities and powers, infinitely above all created beings, but He is so great, and so infinite in His nature, and in the glory of His person, that none but the Father, who is an infinite Being, can know Him. The imagination of a creature cannot even reach Him. The distance is so great, and the glory so far beyond all comprehension, that the mind of the highest angelic being is overwhelmed with the vastness of the idea. Saints in heaven, and believers on earth, know Him to be a sufficient Saviour for them: and this is a great deal; but what they know of Him falls infinitely short of what He is. . . . None except the Father knoweth the Son; therefore He must be far above all others excepting the Father. And in the same manner as the Father knoweth the Son, the Son also knoweth the Father.”
With regard to Christ’s atonement, Charles continues, “The justice of God delighteth infinitely more in the satisfaction which Christ hath made for sin, than in the obedience of men and angels united. . . . To comprehend the infinite value of His merits, neither men nor angels shall be able, to all eternity; but let us endeavour to believe what we cannot comprehend. . . . In short, such a Saviour hath the love of God provided for us; a Saviour so infinitely great and all-sufficient, whose merits are of such inestimable value, whose faithfulness is so inviolable, whose love, grace, and mercy are so great, so unsearchable and eternal, and His power so immense, that none but the Father fully knows him.”
May this volume, which we heartily recommend, be blessed to many.
1The article reviews Thomas Charles’s Spiritual Counsels, published by the Banner of Truth Trust, hardback, 389 pages, £15.50; available from the Free Presbyterian Bookroom.