We esteem it our highest honour to serve you in the Lord and our peculiar joy to hear of your prosperity. We are glad to find by your letters, that all the associating churches continue steadfast in the faith; that, excepting a few they enjoy the stated means of grace, and that some have received considerable . additions: We wish we could inform you that peace and prosperity abound in all.
Brother Isaac HANN*, after having comfortably, associated with us for more than half a century, has at length quitted our society for that of the general assembly, and his grey hairs, for a crown of glory. We are all, both ministers and people, whether aged or young, ever hastening to the eternal world, where we must stand before the judgment-seat of Christ, where every character, and every heart must appear in its proper light, and where we must either suffer the just and awful indignation of a sin-avenging God, or enjoy the blissful smiles of our adorable Saviour, world without end. Permit us therefore, Brethren, as your dying ministers, to address you as our 'dying people, with God and eternity full in view! O thou great Master of assemblies, hasten the advice of thy servants in every heart, as a nail in a sure place! It is with your spiritual and eternal interests, which we trust are dearer to us than our lives, that we are particularly concerned: to promote your spiritual welfare we pray, we study, we preach among you, we watch over you, and now most solemnly God - the holiness and perpetuity of his law - the adorable glories of Christ - the truths and promises of the gospel- the dreadful malignity of sin - the nature and importance of holiness - the several precepts of Christianity - the misery of impenitent sinners and the permanent happiness of real Christians? The Searcher of hearts, and your own consciences, are best acquainted with the manner in which our former letters have been received and improved. You indeed attend the worship of God; you embrace evangelical truths; you profess the religion of Jesus; you appear concerned for its credit and support: All this affords us pleasure, attracts our esteem, and induces us to hope that you are heirs of salvation. But alas! How many are there who satisfy, and thereby deceive themselves with the bare externals of religion, while they are utter strangers to vital godliness! Permit us, Brethren, to entertain a godly jealousy over you: For though the lamps of many burn so bright, that we have no just reason to doubt of their being wise virgins; yet the lamps of others are so dim and languid, that we greatly fear lest they should appear at last to be foolish virgins.
We are grieved at heart to behold signs of declension among you. Are not some unstable and wavering? Some lukewarm and inactive? Some light and trifling in their discourse? Some too much attached to the profits, pleasures, and honors of the world? Others rash and opinionative, of a censorious unforgiving spirit, directly opposite to the Christian temper? The great truths which you profess to believe, are of a holy and heavenly nature, and calculated to mortify the body of sin in its various members, like our Lord's sentence on the barren fig-tree that withered in all its roots and branches, and to make you grow in grace, and bring forth the fruits of righteousness. We wish you not only clearly to understand the glorious truths of the gospel, but likewise experimentally and powerfully to feel their renewing energy, that you may be pure in heart, lowly in mind, heavenly in affection's, savoury in conversation, holy in life, useful in the world, and divinely happy in your own souls.
That you may abound in the exercise of grace, in divine peace, in good works, and in holy thankfulness to the God of your salvation, we earnestly beseech you carefully-do guard against all pernicious errors in doctrine experience and practice, and to bring all your religious sentiments, feelings, and actions, into the unerring test of God's word, our only infallible rule in s matters of religion: Buy the truth cost what it will, and sell it not for all the world. Draw no conclusions from the secret decrees of God, that are dishonourable to any of his attributes, inconsistent with the sacred scriptures or in the least degree, productive of presumption on the one hand; or of despair on the other. Let the divine threatenings guard you against the former; and the divine intimacy preserve you from the latter: The moral law, which is as immutable as its author the King eternal, forbids and condemns every sin, while the everlasting gospel promises pardon and salvation to every one that repents and believes; so that presumption and despair, which are equally destructive, are by the word of God equally forbidden. We wish you therefore, to have a clear, distinct, and operative knowledge of the precepts and sanction of the law, and of the fulness and freeness of the grace of the gospel, that you may carefully obey the command, and cheerfully confide in the promise, and so be kept at an equal distance from abominable libertinism and self-righteousness, from delusive hopes and slavish fears.
Content yourselves with no religion but that of the heart; which is founded in a divinely enlightened understanding, and consists in affections correspondent to the word and perfections of God. Be careful that you do not mistake some favourite notion for evangelical truth, natural passion for the work of the spirit, transient conviction for true repentance, a partial reformation for a thorough conversion, an orthodox creed for a living faith, a party spirit for Christian zeal, and a warm-imagination for spiritual joy. True grace illuminates the understanding, humbles the mind, purifies the heart, spiritualizes the affections, regulates the temper, determines the conduct, diffuses its influence thro' the whole man, is active, prevailing, immortal.
Carefully distinguish between faith and assurance, which some have injudiciously blended together, Faith is a humble confidence in the Son of God for eternal life, founded upon the declaration of the gospel, accompanied with a cordial approbation of the law of God, and may subsist with perplexing doubts respecting its truth and reality: Faith, which is the eye of the believing foul; may, like that of the body, clearly discern the object of its trust and delight, and not be able to behold itself, Place then your entire confidence in Christ for salvation: Let the declarations and promises of the gospel be your only warrant for believing in him 1 and consider your purest principles, happier frames, and holiest duties, not as the foundation, but the superstructure of faith : Let not your sweetest experiences, which are at best but hollow cisterns, but Christ alone be the source of your comfort, and constantly live upon that inexhaustible fountain. Assurance is a personal application of the promise of eternal life to every one that believeth, applied by the operation of the holy Spirit, and enjoyed in the exercise of faith, love, and ałl the other graces; which constitute the Christian temper: It has for its evidence an active faith and prevailing holiness and is liable to be interrupted by innumerable imperfections, temptations and jealousies; and therefore its degrees must be exceedingly various in different believers, and in the same believer at different times. A Christian spirit, the fruits of righteousness, and the continued exercise of grace, are .... Earnestly desire these.
*Isaac Hann 1690-1778 pastor at Loughwood (between Honiton and Axminster) 1743-1763 and nearby Upottery.
