21. “J. F. B.,” Penzance. We do not remember the paper to which you refer.
22. “J. S.,” Edinburgh. Your appeal is hardly suitable for our pages.
23. “C. M. J.,” Dawlish. Your lines have come to hand.
24. “R.B.,” Oxon. If you were, as you say, so “careless, indifferent, and utterly hardened,” we do not think you would have written such a letter to us. The very fact of your writing to ask us what we think of your case, proves, in our judgment, that you are by no means indifferent to the momentous question of your soul’s salvation. You say, “My heart is as hard as a stone; and I don’t suppose I should ever think or care one bit about it, if I were not afraid to die, or to think of our Lord’s second coming.”
Now, dear friend, if your heart were as hard as a stone, you would not be troubled about your state at all. The very fact of your feeling and deploring the hardness of your heart proves that you are not careless, indifferent, and utterly hardened.” Why are you afraid to die? Why do you dread the thought of the Lord’s coming? Whence come these exercises? Do you not think the Spirit of God is working in you, in order to make you see your true condition in the sight of God, that you may judge yourself, and look to Christ, in true repentance? It is well you should judge the hardness of your heart—well to feel your guilt and danger—well to be afraid of death or the Lord’s coming. There is good cause for all this.
But you have no ground whatever for fearing “that God has given you over to impenitence.” This is a suggestion of the devil. God has not given you over. He is calling you to come. The door of mercy stands wide open. You never were, and you never can be, more welcome than you are this moment. What was it made the prodigal think of returning to the Father? Was it love for the father, or a desire for his company? Was it a desire to escape from the habits and ways of the “far country?” It was not any of these things. He said, “How many hired servants of my father have bread enough, and to spare, and I perish with hunger!” In other words, it was a selfish motive that brought him back. Did that hinder his reception? Nay, dear friend, the father was glad to get him back on any terms. The joy of the father in getting him back was infinitely greater than his joy in being received. This is the grand point of the parable. “The Pharisees and scribes murmured, saying, This man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them;” and our blessed Lord spoke those three exquisite parables in reply to their murmurings. He condescends to vindicate the grace of God in receiving sinners. He shows, blessed forever be His name, that it is the very joy of the heart of God to receive sinners. “There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.”
“Ah! yes,” you say, “one sinner that repenteth; but my heart is as hard as a stone.” Why the very fact of your deploring the hardness of your heart is a proof to us of an incipient work of repentance in your precious soul. Come, then, just as you are, to Jesus. “This man receiveth sinners.” What kind of sinners? All kinds. If your heart were ever so hard; though your sins were as scarlet; though you were the very vilest sinner on the face of the earth, “This man receiveth sinners.” It makes Him happy to do so. It causes joy in heaven when a lost one is found. Do, dear friend, come to Jesus just now. He has glorified God about the question of sin, and hence God can be just, and the Justifier of every soul that simply believes in Jesus. Delay not, we beseech thee, to come. Say not, “I must wait till my heart grows softer, my mind more anxious, my conscience more tender, my motive for coming purer. I must feel the burden of my sins more intensely.”
All this is simply the effort of the enemy to keep you away from Christ, by occupying you with yourself. Do not listen to him. Regard him not. Look to Jesus. His love will melt and subdue your hard heart. He died for you when you were a hateful rebel and an enemy. This is your ground for coming. Do you want to find a title for coming in your softened heart or tender conscience? It will not do. It is a mistake. Your title to come is that you are a lost sinner, and when you come, Christ is your title to everything.
25. “W. J. M.,” Teignmouth. Matt. 6:9-159After this manner therefore pray ye: Our Father which art in heaven, Hallowed be thy name. 10Thy kingdom come. Thy will be done in earth, as it is in heaven. 11Give us this day our daily bread. 12And forgive us our debts, as we forgive our debtors. 13And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil: For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, for ever. Amen. 14For if ye forgive men their trespasses, your heavenly Father will also forgive you: 15But if ye forgive not men their trespasses, neither will your Father forgive your trespasses. (Matthew 6:9‑15) is the form of prayer which our Lord taught His disciples to use. It suited their condition at that time, and it will, we doubt not, suit the condition of the godly remnant after the church has been taken up. A great change took place when our Lord was glorified. He sent down the Holy Ghost to dwell with and in His people, to lead them into all truth, to teach them how to pray, and to make intercession in them. When our Lord gave His disciples a form of prayer, the Holy Ghost had not been given, because Jesus was not glorified. Compare John 7:3939(But this spake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him should receive: for the Holy Ghost was not yet given; because that Jesus was not yet glorified.) (John 7:39) with 16:7. But from the time the Holy Ghost was given, we have no record of the disciples’ prayer being used. In Rom. 8 we read, “Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities; for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us according to God.” We are dependent wholly upon the power of the Spirit, and not upon any given form, however perfect in itself. No doubt the disciples’ prayer was divinely perfect for the time then present. It could not be otherwise, seeing our Lord gave it. But then the work of redemption was not accomplished; the Holy Ghost was not given; the prayer is not in the name of Jesus. These are weighty considerations for all who desire to understand this subject. We do not doubt in the least that many of the Lord’s beloved people are virtually in the condition of the disciples previous to the day of Pentecost. They do not rejoice in accomplished redemption—in full remission of sins—perfect acceptance in a risen Christ; they do not know themselves as sealed by the Holy Ghost. Hence the disciples’ prayer is a suited utterance for them. But should they be satisfied in such a condition? Ought they not to know the things which are freely given them of God? Surely they should; but, alas! alas! Christendom’s creeds and formularies act as a sad hindrance to these precious souls in understanding and appropriating the true christian position. May the Lord, in His infinite goodness, visit them with the full-orbed light of His salvation!
26. “A Young and Troubled Believer.” You are perfectly right, dear friend, in thinking it is the enemy seeking to disturb your mind, and occupy you with anything but Christ. Dismiss the question, once and forever, from your mind, and rest, like a little child, in the simple truth of scripture. Stephen saw the Son of man standing on the right hand of God. We read in Rev. 22, “There shall be no more curse; but the throne of God and of the Lamb shall be in it; and his servants shall serve him; and they shall see his face; and his name shall be in their foreheads.” God is revealed in the face of Jesus Christ, and we shall be with Him and like Him forever. May the Lord set your mind at perfect rest!
27. “M. S. S.,” St. Petersburg. We heartily thank God for the contents of your letter of February 20th, just received. How good He is, dear friend! And what a grand reality to have Him to lean upon in all the vicissitudes, trials, and exercises of our earthly path! May He keep you ever in the moral shelter of His own most blessed presence, separated to Him; safe in Him; satisfied with Him, until that clay! Many thanks for the poem.