MY DEAR FRIEND, I am glad to hear again from you, and to know that you were well flogged at Antioch (Acts 11:26) last week. I can sympathize with you in each stripe; for I also “bear in my body the branding-marks of the Lord Jesus” (Galatians 6:17). You will on your part be pleased to know that our young friend TIMOTHY TITUS has had his first taste of persecution for the truth’s sake. They fastened him to the stake in the marketplace, intending to burn him; but although they tried six times to light the fagots, they were too damp to catch fire. I like plenty of fire in the pulpit, of the right kind; but I think that the other kind of fire is kindled by Satan. It certainly does not fall from heaven, or manifest a heavenly spirit, or any sweet savor of love.
You have very kindly given me your thoughts upon. the subject of my last letter, namely, the preaching of the gospel to every creature. You have also told me that you named the matter at Antioch, and defended yourself by the example (i) of the Lord Jesus Christ, (2) of the apostles, and (3) of those great and good men we commonly call Puritans, including some later preachers, such as Bunyan and Whitefield, who were so abundantly honored of God in their ministry. But the only answer you received to this was that these godly men were in darkness, imperfectly instructed, and very ignorant; and that we in these days have more light.
Well, my dear friend, judging from the company you were in, I am not at all surprised at this. In fact, I have been told the same thing. And what is more to the point, I have read it in the Bible. The Pharisees and other blind teachers said that they were the only persons who had sound sight, and that all others were blind. But how did the Lord answer them? “And Jesus said, For judgment I am come into this world,. that they which see not might see; and that they which, see might be made blind. And some of the Pharisees which were with Him heard these words, and said unto Him, Are we blind also? Jesus said unto them, If ye were blind, ye should have no sin; but now ye say, We see, therefore your sin remaineth. Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that entereth not by the door into the sheepfold, but climbeth up some other way, the same is a thief and a robber.” (John 9:39-41; 10:1).
Here we clearly see that the judgment of all men has to bow to the judgment of the Lord. These things are still hidden from the (self-) wise and prudent, and revealed to the humbled disciple.
But, in replying to your kind note, I desire to examine this charge of darkness as to the Puritans, and this boast of having superior light.
1. In the first place, as the Puritans were godly men, and in this matter followed the Lord Jesus Christ and the teaching of Scripture; is it not a reflection upon Himself and His Word to charge them with darkness in so doing? For this is really implied by such remarks, and lies at the root of the whole matter. The Lord commanded men to repent. He commanded them to “labor for that meat which endureth unto everlasting life.” (John 6:27.) He commanded them to “strive to enter in at the strait gate.” (Luke 13:24.) He also commanded the unbelieving Jews to believe (John 12:35-50): “While ye have light, believe in the light, that ye may be the children of light.” I do not read that in all these cases He communicated the power to obey, without which not one sinner ever could obey; but I do read that in every case, whether of obedience unto life, or of rejection unto death, His sovereignty was displayed.
You will also read, in the parable of the marriage supper (Luke 14) that all who were invited refused to come; and in the end that not one of those who were bidden was permitted to taste of the supper. All who come have to be “compelled” by sweet almighty grace to come: all who refuse to come are justly condemned for not coming.
You will also have read the solemn words of the Lord Himself to those who refuse His call, in Proverbs 1:20-33. Also, to refer again to John 12:48: “He that rejecteth Me, and receiveth not My words, hath one that judgeth Him: the word that I have spoken, the same shall judge him in the last day.”
I might quote numerous passages to the same purpose, but let these suffice. And I feel sure, my dear brother, you will agree with me when I say that to nullify this solemn teaching is supremely impertinent and profane.
2. But the apostles also are brought under the charge of “darkness and ignorance.” In obedience to their Lord’s command, they went forth, and preached that men should repent. What else could they preach when they went first among people who had never heard the gospel before? I need not quote the words of Peter, of John, of Paul: the Acts of the apostles is full of them. These servants of Christ knew perfectly that sinners dead in sin could not of themselves either repent or believe; yet they commanded them to do so. They preached with great power; and God gave testimony to the word of His grace. Satan tried hard, as he does now, to put a stop to such preaching; but the more they were flogged, and stoned, and imprisoned, and killed, the more they preached the gospel of the grace of God. Yet we are now asked to believe that all this gospel preaching was “ignorance and darkness” in the blaze of the superior light of these days of ours! Well; this is just what the other rulers said. They were “grieved that they taught the people, and they laid hands on them, and put them in hold.” (Acts 4:2, 3.) “Now when they saw the boldness of Peter and John, and perceived that they were UNLEARNED AND IGNORANT MEN, they marveled; and they took knowledge of them, that they had been with Jesus.” (Acts 4:13.) So it proved then, as it must prove now, that “the foolishness of God is wiser than men.” May it be your happy lot, my dear friend, and mine, to be on God’s side. We shall have His sweet approval in the end.
3. But those eminent men known as “the Puritans” are also held up to shame and contempt on the same ground. They followed the example of Christ and the apostles. They exhorted men to repent and believe the gospel. They pointed out to sinners their awful danger, and warned them to flee from the wrath to come. They labored night and day, on their knees, in season and out of season, and with tears besought men to obey the gospel. Yet we are asked to believe that some wise men among us have discovered a more excellent way, and that the Puritans were all of them in gross darkness!
Now let me name these poor ignorant men. Calvin, Luther, Knox, Owen, Goodwin, Sibbes, Charnock, Manton, Brooks, Sedgwick, Rutherford, Alleine, Jane-way, and a hundred others of high eminence; to say nothing of the godly Reformers and martyrs. The treatise of blessed Bradford, the martyr, on Election is one of the best and sweetest ever written; yet he freely invited sinners to the Gospel feast. Then, a little later, we have Boston, the Erskines, Flavel, Bunyan, Berridge, Hervey, John Newton, Whitefield, and many more. These men no more believed that sinners have any gracious power to obey the gospel call than they believed they could create a new sun; yet because they followed the Lord and the apostles, we are asked to believe that they were in darkness!
Well; it was such darkness as God greatly honored. I would rather have their darkness than the modern light. Look at the fruits of their labors. We are reaping them today. God used their preaching to the conversion of thousands. Can as much be said of our friends who boast of superior light? I might go even further than this. I have often been tempted to think that our friends who talk thus do not desire to see sinners called by grace. They pronounce it weakness to weep over the perishing! A good man, quite recently, preached from the words (Lamentations 3:51): “Mine eye affecteth mine heart.” He spoke of the condition of unsaved sinners, and the grief it gave him. And for this he was condemned as going “towards Arminianism!” What next? O where is there in all this the spirit of One who wept over Jerusalem; or of Paul who could wish himself separated from Christ for the sake of his fellow-men? No, my dear friend; there is nothing of the Spirit of Christ in all this, but very much of the malice and hatred of someone else.
To write down all the godly Puritans as in darkness is very sad and very pitiful. It reminds me of Matthew 6:23: “If therefore the light that is in thee be darkness, how great is that darkness!”
O for more of the gracious light, immense zeal, holy love, godly power, and vast success, of the Puritans! O thou Spirit of the living God, come down 1 baptize Thy servants with living, loving, holy zeal! Shed forth a reviving rain of blessing upon the preachers of this dark day; and may I live to see a return of what is profanely called “the darkness of the old Divines!”
I fear, dear friend, I have tried your patience. And perhaps I had better not write more at this present, or I also may get a flogging. Believe me, my dear brother, your affectionate fellow-worker, JONATHAN JONES.
June 5th, 1905.