We shall next introduce some of Mr. Henry's letters to a person of quality in London. The beginning of his correspondence with that gentleman, (which continued to his death, and was kept up monthly for a great while,) was, in the year 1686; and the following letter broke the ice : : Honoured Sir; Hoping you are, by this time, as you intended, returned to London, to your home and habitation there, I make bold, according to my promise, to salute you in a few lines. In the first place, to be your remembrancer of the vows of God which are upon you, upon the account of the many mercies of your journey, both in your going out, and in your coming in. Was not every step you took hedged about with special providence? Had not the angels charge over you? Did they not pitch their tents where you pitched your's? Did not goodness and mercy follow you, and should it not then be had in thankful remembrance? Where mercy goes before, should not duty follow after? If you have Mr. Angier's Life, you will find there, pages 88, 89, a collection out of his Diary, of ten heads of mercies, acknowledged in a journey,* to heighten God's praises, and to quicken his own and others' hearts therein, and they are certainly very affecting. Next, sir, I am to acquaint you, that I have faithfully disposed of the money you left with me at parting, to eight poor praying widows in this neighbourhood, as you appointed. And this, among all the rest of your alms'-deeds, is had in memorial before God;-it is fruit that will abound to your account;-bread, sent a voyage upon the waters, which you and your's will find again after many days; for, he is faithful that hath promised. The apostle's prayer shall be mine; 2 Corinthians, ix. 10;-Now he that ministereth seed to "1. Direction in the right way; want of this causeth wandering, labour, and sorrow. Ps. cvii. 7. "2. Preservation of man and beast, of life and health, from falls, harm, from enemies, robbers, murderers: some have died in the way, as Rachel; others fallen sick by the way, as, 1 Sam. xxx. 13. It is a mercy when God supports in travel, to endure heat and cold; for a horse to die, or be lame in the way, is a great affliction; so, daily supply of new strength is mercy. "3. Comfort in the way and weather, when both are good, and company is suitable and comfortable. "4. Convenient places for rest, and good refreshment for noon and night. "5. Seasonable provision of necessary food, and cheerful entertainment. "6. Temporary ease from the burden of domestick affairs, both care and labour, the mind and body both are eased; others take the burden upon them for a time. “7. Variety of objects to delight the sense, fair buildings, fruitful fields, pleasant meadows. "8. Change of air; pleasantness and healthfulness there, by refreshing gales in the heat of the day. "9. The society of friends whom we visit, and the mutual comfort that arise th from their meeting after a time of absence, and from their friendly and hearty converse. "10. Opportunity of understanding more fully how God hath answered our prayers for them; opportunity of soul-help, of doing and receiving good by joint prayer, and by conference, by declaring experiences, by stirring up one another to what is good." Life of the Rev. John Angier, pp. 88, 89, duod. 1685. the sower, both minister bread for your food, and multiply your seed sown, and increase the fruits of your righteousness. Amen.* [Who shoots an arrow, and looks not after it;+ or knocks at a door, and stays not for an answer? I will direct my prayer to Thee, says holy David, Psalm v. 3, as an archer his arrow to the mark, and will look up, to see what becomes of it. And, again, Psalm lxxxv. 8, I will hearken what God the Lord will say. And so, another prophet, having been at prayer, says, Habakkuk, ii. 1; I will get me to my watch-tower. Sometimes our heavenly Father withholds mercies, to quicken prayer; grants them, to awaken our thankful acknowledgments; or, if denied, to excite penitent reflections, searching and trying,-why, and wherefore: for, it is never so, but there is some cause. Thus the soul and God converse, and correspond. We send to him for some mercy wanted. He replies in his providence, either giving, delaying, or denying. We, in suitable returns, as there is occasion; and, if so, he is never wanting to rejoin, either in kind, or kindness, as he sees best. With my due and true respects, I take leave, and rest, Sir, Your's, ever obliged to honour and serve you, in our dear Lord, November 3, 1686. PHILIP HENRY.S For Henry Ashurst, Esq. at his house in St. John-street, London. Sir; December 15, 1686. I received your's soon after the date of it; and, according to your order therein, I have distributed other 20s. to the same eight poor praying widows in this neighbourhood, to whom I gave the former. I did also oblige them to continue their supplications at the throne of grace on the same particular account, which you at first desired; and, I believe, they have done, and do it accordingly; and, you may be sure, it shall not be in vain, because Truth itself hath said it shall not. Isaiah, xlv. 19. It is true of prayer what is said of winter, that it rots not in the skies. Though the answer be not always in the thing asked, yet it is in something else as good, or better. Abraham's prayer for Ishmael was heard in Isaac. Sometimes God answers us, by strengthening us with strength in our souls. Psalm cxxxviii. 3. He answered his Son so, Transposed from the 3d edit. pp. 176, 177. + See Ps. v. 3. See Gurnall's Christian in Complete Armour, part iii. pp. 603, 604, 4to. 1662. From an authentick copy. Beware of extremities; and, till the Lord hath truly brought downe thy winter out of the sky, know it will never rot there, it must be the mercifull calme of grace which must bring a settled state upon thy soule. Naaman's Disease and Cure, by Daniel Rogers, p. 264, fol. 1642. Luke, xxii. 42, 43. If the prayer be for the removal of a present burden, and it be not removed, yet, if we are enabled with faith and patience to undergo it, the prayer is answered. If, for the bestowing of a desired mercy, as that of Moses, that he might go over into the promised land; if he say, as he did to him, Let it suffice thee; that is, if he give a contented frame of heart in the want of it, the prayer is answered; as was also that of Paul's, when he prayed that the thorn in the flesh might pass from him;-My grace, said he, is sufficient for thee. We have great need of heavenly wisdom, (the Lord give it!) both to discern and to improve answers to prayer; if we have them not in kind, if we have in kindness, we should be no less thankful. I shall be glad to hear, if God see good, that your child recovers; but, if not, if he sanctify the affliction to him and you, that is, further you in sanctification, do your souls good by it, bear you up under it in a quiet, patient, submissive frame, you will say, at last,-It was well. So, also, as to the fitting you with a convenient seat for your family; it were very desirable, if he please that you should be sped in it, but, if his pleasure be rather to keep you longer in your present circumstances, and then, withal, to give you a heart to improve the same, and to take occasion, from the uncertainties and unsettlements of this world, to be so much the more diligent in making sure, what will be made sure, a building in heaven, not made with hands, you will be no loser thereby, but a gainer. My thoughts of justifying faith and sincere repentance, are, 1. That they are choice gifts of God, Ephesians, ii. 8; Acts, xi. 18. If he give not to us to believe and to repent, we can neither believe nor repent; and, therefore, the want of them, we are to ask them; and, if we ask, he will give. 2. That they are the fruits of electing love. Those that were, from all eternity, given to Christ,-to all those, and to none but those, it is in time given to believe, and repent, Acts, xiii. 48; John, vi. 37; xii. 39, 40. If it be said, Why doth he then find fault?' I should answer,-The decree is secret, which is concerning us, but that is revealed which is our duty; and to that we must attend. 3. That they are necessary conditions of pardon. There may perhaps be such a notion framed of a condition, as will by no means be applicable to them, but sano sensu, they are so required, that, if we have them not, our sin remains upon us. Luke, xiii. 3-5; John, iii. 36. If we have them, it is most certainly done away; 1 John, i. 9; John, iii. 16; not for their sake, but for Christ's sake. 4. That they are inseparable companions; where one is, there is the other also. He that says, 'I believe,' and doth not repent, presumes; he that says, I repent,' and doth not believe, despairs. Faith in Christ doth not justify from sin, where there is not godly sorrow for sin; * neither can * The motives to repentance are, the shortness of life, and uncertainty of the space for repentance, Rev. ii. 21;--the misery and danger of impenitency, Luke, xiii. 3, 5; the commands of God, Acts, xvii. 30, 31; the goodness of God, - sorrow for sin obtain pardon of it, where there is not faith in Jesus Christ, because his blood, alone, cleanseth from all sin. If your meaning were, what the nature of them is, and how they may be known, I have not left myself room in this paper to tell you. The Lord, by his grace, work them in us, and increase them more and more! Please to give my most humble service to your good lady,* and to your virtuous daughter. I hope she doth not forget her baptismal covenant. The Lord fill you with comfort in each other, and in your children, but, especially, and above all, in himself, who is the Spring-head and Fountain! all With my due respects to your good self, Sir, I rest, Your's, much obliged, to honour and serve you, For Henry Ashurst, Esq. At his house in St. John-street, London.+] P. H. Rom. ii. 4;-his readiness to forgive us upon our repentance, Ps. lxxxvi. 5 ;-the gospel's gracious invitations of Jesus Christ, Matt. iii. 2;-there is no other way to pardon and reconciliation. P. Henry. Orig. MS. She was the fifth daughter of William, Lord Paget, by the Lady Frances, eldest daughter of Henry, Earl of Holland. See a Sermon preached on the Death of the Lady Diana Ashurst, who died Aug. 24, 1707, by Richard Mayo, Minister of St. Thomas's Hospital in Southwark, 4to. 1708. p. 17. + Orig. MS. CHAPTER VIII. The last Nine Years of his Life in Liberty and Enlargement at Broad Oak, from the Year 1687. [THE correspondence, already introduced, was early continued in the year 1687, by the following excellent letters: Sir; Our last to each other, as it seems, were of the same date, and met upon the road. You begin with a good subject;—to have my thoughts of faith and repentance. They are the two hinges, upon which the door of our salvation turns; except we repent, and believe the gospel, we cannot possibly be accepted, and saved. Paul tells the elders of Ephesus, Acts, xx. 20, that he had kept back nothing that was profitable unto them; and then adds, verse 21, -testifying repentance towards God, and faith towards our Lord Jesus Christ,-as if those included all that is profitable.* But why repentance towards God? Because he is the party wronged and injured by sin; and, therefore, to him it is fit the penitent acknowledgment should be made. And, also, because if it be not towards God, it is worth nothing. If we sorrow not with an eye to him; Ezekiel, vi. 9;-They shall remember me, and loathe themselves. If our confessions be not before him, as the prodigal's,-Father, I have sinned, &c. (not as Judas, who told the chief-priests what he had done, but did not tell God,) and, if our forsaking of sin, which is a necessary ingredient of saving repentance, be not for God's sake, and from a true respect to his will and glory,-it is not the sorrow, the confession, the forsaking, that accompanies salvation. We are, notwithstanding it, but as sounding brass, and tinkling cymbals. And, therefore, this is the main matter in repenting. Is what I do in it, done as towards God? Is he in the beginning, in the middle, at the end of it?-When ye fasted and mourned, saith * In managing the great business of repentance, set God before thee in his holiness, Christ in his love, and thy sins in their filthiness. Dwell awhile upon the sight; compare one with another. Compare thy sins with the pure law. P. Henry. Orig. MS. Guilt in the soul is like a mote in the eye; not at ease till wept out. P. Henry. Palmer's Noncon. Mem. v. 3, p. 490. |