Minister. ]But I shall next proceed to shew, that all true,
experimental, and practical relgion, seems so
consistent with the universal Restoration, that it
may be reconed a wonder, that all who have
tasted that the Lord is gracious, and have diligently
practised his commands, have not in all
ages been fully convinced of the truth of it.
Friend. Is it possible that you can do this?
If so, I hope your reasoning will be attended to;
and I must confess, that you have cleared your
way so well, by considering the first principles
of the doctrine, and shewing that they are
very far from tending to licentiousness, that I am
half inclined to think you will be able to answer
this objection, formidable as it has been considered
hitherto.
Minister. As I trust you have been made acquainted
with experimental religion, I need only
appeal to your own experience, for the truth of
what I advance; and I am apt to think, if you
will answer me candidly, to a few questions, you
must acknowledge either that the Restoration is
true, or that your experience is false.
Friend. I am willing to give you as plain and
candid answers as I can; for it will be of no use
to deny what the Lord has done for my soul.
Minister. Let me then ask you in the first
place, did you not see yourself lost and undone;
and that you were vile before God, unworthy of
his mercy, and totally unable to deliver yourself
from your sin and misery ?
Friend. I certainly did; and I was sometimes
ready to think there was hardly such a
sinner on earth as myself, all circumstances considered;
for I had sinned against such light and
love, that I thought all the world might be forgiven
sooner than myself.
Minister. And were you not brought by the
power of God, to resign yourself into his hands,
without reserve, to do with you, and dispose of
you, according to his will and pleasure; being
convinced, that he neither would nor could do
you any injustice?
Friend. O yes; and then I found peace; my
rebellion against God ceased; I looked upon
him quite differently from what I did before; I
saw that he was wholly right and just, and that
I was entirely to blame. My murmurings against
him ceased; I viewed him as such a holy, good,
merciful, and yet righteous God, that I could
trust my soul in his hands, with the most entire
satisfaction.
Minister. And when Christ was revealed to
you as a Saviour, how did he appear?
Friend. As one able and mighty to save,
even to the uttermost; and I thought there was
not only a sufficiency in him for me, the vilest of
all, but for the whole world, yea for a thousand
worlds, had there been so many. His blood
seemed to me so precious, his obedience and sufferings
so meritorious, his power so great, his
love so rich, boundless and free, that I was overcome
with the transporting view. And as I saw
in him a fullness for all, so I found in him an infinite
willingness to save all: for how could I
think otherwise? I knew myself to be most unworthy,
and that he had graciously pitied me: I
beheld his love, like a river, flowing down to me
as free as water; and I was amazed that I had
not beheld it before, in the same light. I saw
that the love of God to me, did not now begin,
but was now manifested to my soul. I saw that
there was no change in God, but all in myself.
These words were precious to my heart at that
time. “Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting
love;—therefore with loving kindness
have I drawn thee.” Jer. xxxi. 3. As also
these; “Son be of good cheer; thy sins be forgiven
thee,” St. Matth. ix. 2.
Minister. You have brought my own experience
to my mind: It pleased God, by an incident
too trifling to mention, to bring me to seek
earnestly for an unfading treasure; and by a
train of circumstances, fixed the concern deeply
upon my mind; and I labored night and day,
but could obtain no rest, till one morning—
a time never to be forgotten!—as I was walking
on a journey, under great distress, and when
deliverance seemed farther from me than ever,
all at once I was brought to resign my soul into
the hands of God, and thus I expressed myself:
“Lord, here I am: a poor helpless sinner: I
resign myself into thine hands; take me, and deal
with me just as thou pleasest. I know thou canst
do me no injustice.” Immediately these words
came into my mind, with great power and sweetness.
“In an acceptable time have I heard thee;
and in a day of salvation have I helped thee.”
Isa. xlix. 8. and I had then such a view of
CHRIST, as to make me cry out “Glory to God
in the highest! This is salvation; I know this is
salvation!” Then those passages which you
have mentioned, came into my mind with great
energy; and I saw the fulness, sufficiency, and
willingness of CHRIST to save me and all men,
in such a manner as constrained me to venture
my soul into his arms; and if I had ten thousand
souls, I could have trusted them all in his hands.
And O how did I long, that every soul of Adam’s
race might come to know the love of God
in Christ Jesus! And I thought I could not be
willing to live any longer on earth, unless it
might please God to make me useful to my fellow
creatures.
" What peaceful hours I then er.joyed !
" How sweet their memory still!
'* But they have left an aching void
" The world can never fill."
This is a little abstract of what God did then
graciously teach me by his Spirit; but I had
been brought up in that particular system and in
the course of a few years came to be so firmly
attached to it, as to refuse, in my preaching, to
make general invitations to mankind at large;
rightly reasoning with myself, that if provision
was only made for a small part, I had no warrant
to call or invite the whole to come and partake;
and therefore only pressed the duty on
such and such characters, as hungry, thirsty, weary,
heavy laden, such as were without money,
sensible sinners, &c. all of which I concluded to
be of the elect, because I judged the Spirit had
begun to operate savingly upon their hearts;
and that to these, and these only, the Scriptures
directed invitations to be made; never considering
that text—" Hearken unto me, ye stout
hearted, that are far from righteousness. I
bring near my righteousness; and it shall not be
far off, and my salvation shall not tarry." Isa.
xlvi. 12, 13. During the time that I remained
in this close hearted system, laboring with all my
might to maintain it, I chanced to come to a
house where, as far as I can judge, was a very
sensible and pious young woman, whom I never
saw before or since. She gave a very judicious
account of the work of grace upon her heart;
but when she came to that part, where she said
she beheld an infinite fulness in CHRIST for ALL
the world, I interrupted her, and told her, that
could not be; for there was no provision made
for all, and therefore it was impossible that she
could have any such discoveries made to her by
the Spirit of God. This I insisted upon, according
to my system, contrary to my experimental
knowledge; (O the mischiefs of bigotry, prejudice,
and vain attachment to system!) she, on the
contrary, maintained, that she clearly viewed
matters in that light; and that she certainly was
taught to believe, that in Christ there was a fulness
& freeness for all. This I denied; & she was thereby
prevented from finishing what she had begun.
I can never forgive myself, for the opposition I
made to what I knew to be truth by experience;
and as I did not inquire the name of the person,
I have had no opportunity of making a recantation
by letter, as I ought to have done; and having
never been in the place since, and it being
highly improbable that ever I shall again, I feel
myself extremely hurt, whenever I think of it.
Friend. I can but admire the agreement between
us in matters of experience; for I found
the same dispositions of mind that you mentioned,
when it pleased God to reveal his Son in me.
Minister. I never found an experienced
Christian in my life, but would give much the
same account, provided that his system was not
in sight; and I have found some, that though
they were violently attached to the contrary
system, and knew my intention in asking the
questions; yet answered the following affirmatively:
Did you not see and feel yourselves the vilest
of sinners?
Did you not view the love of GOD infinitely
full, free and unmerited?
Did you not behold in Christ an infinite fulness,
sufficiency and willingness, to save all,
without exception?
Did you not love all, and wish all might come
and partake of his grace?
Did you not earnestly desire the salvation of
all, not only of your family, friends, neighbors
and nation; but also of your enemies, and of all
mankind?—Could not you embrace the whole
human race in the arms of benevolence?
Did you not find it in your heart to pray for
the salvation of all mankind, as for your own?
–If you had as much power as good will, would
you not bring all to bow to the sceptre of grace,
and to be reconciled to God through Jesus
Christ?
Friend. I do not see how an experienced,
person can refuse to say yes, to all these questions;
they are so agreeable to the very tempers
of the newborn soul; and, I am sure, I found
them in my heart, at the very time when I first
tasted of the love of God.
Minister. Well then, my friend, let me ask
you, from whence did these tempers and dispositions
proceed?
Friend. To be candid, I think they were
given me from above, and came down from the
Father of lights, from whence, every good and
perfect gift cometh; and I am the more apt to
think so, because I found contrary dispositions
in my heart before; and the more I am sensible
of the forgiving love of God, the more I find
these affections which you have described, and
these desires for the good of others.
Minister. Then let me ask you, can a small
drop be larger than the unfathomed abyss, and
ocean of love? Have you more compassion towards
your fellow creatures than the God that
made them? Can any effect be greater than its
cause? Would you bring all to submit to God,
and be happy, if you could?–And will not he,
to whom nothing that he pleases to do is impossible,
bring all his creatures to be reconciled to
himself at last ? He has infinitely more love to
his creatures, than all the saints and angels in
glory have; he is possessed of infinite power
and wisdom, as well as love; all means to accomplish
the work are known to him; he can do
it in a way that shall cause his praise to abound
exceedingly, in a way perfectly consistent with
all his perfections, and the whole of his glorious
character; it is his will and purpose so to do, as
has been proved at large. What, then, can hinder
him from fulfilling it ?
Friend. I am not able to gainsay this reasoning;
it seems almost undeniable.
…skipping a few pages on the expectation to pray for all men to be saved…]
Minister.] We are commanded to pray for all men,
because it is the will of God that all men should
be saved (or Restored) because Christ hath given
himself a ransom for all. And we are bid to
pray without doubting. O what a world is this!
May we, ought we, to pray, for the salvation of
all men, without doubting? Surely, God would
never have commanded us to do this, unless it
was his purpose to restore all men, in his own
time; and no man can say, that the belief of the
Restoration will prevent our praying for all men.
I was once on a journey, and called in at the
house of one of my former good friends. Several
religious persons were there; and, after
some time, my sentiments came to be spoken of,
and they seemed to wonder how I could embrace
the opinion, that all men, finally, would be saved!
I told them, however many might preach
against it, that no person, under the influence of
the Divine Spirit, could pray against it; but, on
the contrary, we could pray for it in faith, nothing
wavering, as God had commanded, and as
his Spirit naturally inspired; that no person
could pray God not to save or restore all man-
kind, without being shocked at the blasphemy
and impiety of such a prayer; but that our Lord
had said, that all things whatsoever we asked in
prayer, believing that we should receive, should
be granted, let them be things seemingly ever so
impossible; that if we asked any thing according
to his will, it should be done; and that it was
his positive and declared will, that all men should
be saved (or restored) and come to the knowledge
of the truth; that we were ordered to pray
for it in faith, without doubting; and, therefore,
it was as evident as the nature of things required,
that it would be done; since God had never
ordered us to pray for any thing that he was not
able and willing to do. This, and much more,
I said, and they seemed exceedingly well satisfied;
especially, when I informed them, that it
was through the blood of Christ, the blood of the
covenant, that the prisoners should be sent forth
out of the pit wherein is no water, and that all
should be restored through his mediation.
[Here the topic shifts.]
) his original choices, too–but I decided to present them in a column only a few inches across so they would feel less like one big run-on sentence at times.
man oh man thank you for posting this Jason. Every word echoed true in my heart. The experience which he spoke of I have known as well. Brought me to tears. It brought me to prayer. And if anything brings you to joyous and loving prayer, how can that thing not be right?
But that’s how good a job he did with it.