FROM THE RELIGIOUS MONITOR. A Letter of the late Rev. H. Venn, to one who had just entered on a Religious Life. DEAR SIR, Nov. 6, 1765. I CANNOT leave Shropshire, without giving you joy on your determination to live in the service of Christ. This connects us more closely than if we had sprung from the same parents; for, in numberless instances, brothers will be separated from each other, as far as heaven is from hell; but all who love the Lord Jesus Christ, shall dwell for ever with him. Love to him and your soul prompts me to lay before you a few hints, furnished from long service in the church of Christ, which had I received on my entrance into it, they might have preserved me from many hurtful mistakes. Your Christian calling is a warfare, where no quarter can be given on either side. If you prove faithful unto death, angels will receive your departing soul; eternal glory will be your crown; the armies of the saints will receive you with transport, as a soul ransomed with that precious blood to which they owe their all; and the Redeemer's presence will be your heaven for evermore. Should you forsake his service, or hold secret correspondence with his foes, you must be punished, like them, with eternal infamy in hell. The enemies you have to oppose, and conquer, will probably be, first, your former intimates, friends, and nearest relations, whose polite conversation, and affection for you, have been so pleasing; for, till their judgment of sin, true religion, and man's chief good, are formed from Scripture, as your own now is, they must both despise and hate the way of life in which you must persist. With these opposers, your corrupt nature will take part; and also a subtle destroyer, long practised in arts and wiles to compass the ruin of immortal souls. In this perilous condition, you have joined yourself, (effectually influenced by his grace,) to Christ, as your leader and commander. Under his banner, diligently using the means he in tenderest love enjoins, you are confidently to expect both protection and victory. These means, are secret prayer; study of the Bible; public worship; hearing his preachers; Christian society; and much retirement. Secret prayer, at stated times, was constantly practised by our Lord. All his illustrious saints have done the same. Indeed, stated times of prayer, where they can be had, are no less needful to make the soul flourish, than stated meals to keep the body in health. Wilfully to neglect them, is to walk contrary to the example of Christ and his saints, which can never produce resemblance to them in our life. Yet stated times of secret prayer will grow tiresome, and prove of no use, unless you take pains to present yourself a worshipper before the Lord in spirit and in truth, by looking up, and begging that the Spirit of grace and supplication may be poured out upon your soul. But when you duly observe stated times of secret prayer, be not cast down, because you find great stupidity of mind, and know not what to ask ; or because you feel your faith weak, much backwardness to pray, and a swarm of idle thoughts oppressing you.. Do not on this account leave off stant devotions; nor question whether they will profit your soul. It is much for your good, to feel that you have no power of yourself to command Vol. III.-No. V. 2 K your con your own thoughts. It is much for your good, that your own experience should confirm what the word of God teaches, that you are weak and poor, always standing in absolute need of the mercy of God, the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the power of the Holy Ghost. On the contrary, beware of being elated on account of that enlargement of heart, and spiritual joy, which you will find sometimes to flow in upon you. Should these lead you to think highly of yourself, carelessness first, and then perhaps a miserable fall, will follow; for self-exalting thoughts pollute the soul, and grieve the Spirit of God; neither can any dependence, as to future safety, be justly built on what has passed in our own minds. Witness the noble confession Peter made of his faith in Christ one hour, and the astonishing reprimand he received the next: "Get thee behind me, Satan; thou art an offence unto me." These sensations of spiritual joy realize to us some of the precious promises made to believers in Christ, and are designed to allure us ; not to excite a conceit of any thing good in our selves. To secret prayer, you will join devout study of the Bible; because it is our infallible guide, and the treasury of all truth necessary to salvation. But the riches laid up there, are not to be found by proud or careless minds; none possess them, till they dig for them as for silver, longing to know the will of God, that they may do it.-To superficial readers of the Bible, it presents little more than a great number of duties, which must be performed; and sins which must be renounced; with insupportable pains, in failure of obedience ;--passages of excellent use, when believed; as they at once rouse the selfish soul of man to seek reconciliation with God, and help from heaven; and sweep away every refuge of lies, under which the love of sin leads us to take shelter. But earnest and devout readers of their Bible discover much more they discover the tenderness of Christ; the efficacy of his blood to cleanse from all unrighteousness; and a variety of spiritual blessings, which are the present reward of being true-hearted in his service. I am at a loss for words to express how much solid knowledge, transforming your mind into the divine image, you will certainly gain by persevering in diligent prayer year after year, for the true interpretation of God's blessed word, that you may be made wise and holy. A pattern is plainly set before us in these memorable petitions; may they come from our hearts, and ever dwell upon our tongues! "I am a stranger upon the earth, (very soon to leave it, therefore its riches and honours cannot profit me,) O hide not thy commandments from me, which will enrich me for ever. Open thou my eyes, that I may see wondrous things in thy law! Thy hands have formed and fashioned me; O give me understanding that I may know thy law!" This method of reading the Bible must be continued through life, especially whilst the capital truths of the Bible are before our eyes. We shall thus be secured from abusing any part of the word of God. And those who dare despise, as if they knew enough, persevering prayer to be taught, by the Spirit of God, what is contained in his holy word, fall into pernicious errors; wrest some passages of Scripture to contradict others; or grow violently zealous for doctrines, but very cold respecting that heavenly mind those doctrines are revealed to produce. Our profiting will then only appear, when, after the example of David and St. Paul, we pray, from a deep conviction, that we cannot be properly affected with what we believe, unless we are divinely taught; and that if any man thinketh that he knoweth any thing as he ought to know, that man knoweth nothing. Secret prayer, and devout study of the Bible, will prepare you to worship in the house of God. And here, you need beware of a fatal error, common amongst many who love to hear the Gospel preached. Assured from the oracles of God, that preaching the Gospel is the appointed means to convert sinners, and knowing they were themselves illuminated in this way, not a few shamefully disparage public worship; as if all good to the soul was to come through the speaker, none from calling with one heart and voice upon the name of the Lord in his own house. Hence, whilst both minister and people should be abased before God, in confession of their vileness; should be pleading in the full assurance of faith, the sacrifice and intercession of Christ for pardon; should be earnestly imploring more grace to serve the Lord to all well-pleasing; should, with fervent love to all mankind, be recommending them to the tender care of our heavenly Father; and be filled with joy, in returning ardent thanks for the loving-kindness of God towards themselves and all men; whilst this grand business is carrying on, a total inattention is visible in many countenances. Their entertainment seems only to begin when the preacher has taken his text! Gross ignorance! Impious indecency! Professed believers, can you imagine you shall ever receive profit in one means of grace while you pour contempt on another? or that, after passing through the time of divine worship without any exercise of repentance, love, and devotion, you can be in a fit disposition to attend to the things which shall be delivered from the pulpit? Be undeceived: it is novelty and curiosity by which you are pleased, in all the discourses you extol. On the contrary, I would have you, dear sir, raise your |