15 October 1742

Anne Dutton, Great Gransden, to John Lewis, London, 15 October 1742.

Oct. 15, 1742.

My dear Brother in Christ,

         I thank you for your Letter. I rejoice in the Lord’s Goodness to you and others, in applying his own Truths with Power to your Hearts, so weakly [2] stammer’d out by a Babe. I rejoice in the Lord’s Kindness to me, in making my weak Attempts to serve him and his People, acceptable to you. Not unto us, not unto us, O LORD, but unto thy Name be all the Glory!

         Glad am I to hear, what Haste our Lord makes, that his glorious Kingdom comes, that he has begun to shake the Nations: O may the Shake be general ; and the Desire of all Nations come! My dear Brother, we had Need to be ready. There’s no Time for us to sleep now. The Bridegroom cometh! O let us arise and trim our Lamps, lest he find us unprepared! Surely that great and wonderful Work which Christ is doing in the world, at this Time, calls aloud upon us, Christians, to arise out of our carnal Security, to put off the Deeds of Darkness, to put on the Armour of Light, and as Children of Light to stand prepar’d for the Glory of the approaching Day. Even of that bright Day, when the Knowledge of the LORD shall cover the Earth, as the Waters do the Sea; when Jew and Gentile shall be brought into one Fold, and one Lord shall be Shepherd over them! When the LORD shall be King over all the Earth, shall Reign in Mount Sion, and before his Ancients gloriously! Surely our Lord in his Word, and by his present Work says, I come quickly. Let us in Transports of Love and Joy say, Amen! Even so come Lord Jesus!

         I am glad, my dear Brother, that you have Boldness through the Goodness that is in JESUS, even in the Views of your Self-Emptiness. It is Christian-like, Believer-like, to be Nothing in ourselves, and ALL in CHRIST, who is our ALL! Oh it requires much of the Wisdom and Strength of Faith, to look well into our own Vileness and Emptiness, without unbelieving Dejections: and to feel and see ourselves full and glorious, by our LORD’s Beams and Streams, without Self-Exaltation! Oh how apt are we to look upon ourselves in a separate View from Christ! To look upon our Wants in a separate View from his Fulness; and to look upon our Supplies in a separate View from the glorious Fountain whence they proceed: And so on the one Hand, to sink into Discouragement; and on the other, to make Idols of our Lord’s fair Jewels! Oh we have Unbelieving, Self-exalting, and in both, CHRIST-Excluding Hearts! The Voice of proud Unbelief, in all its various Ways of Working, is None of Christ! None of Christ And the Grace of our Lord Jesus Christ is sufficient for us: To forgive our Sins, to subdue our Iniquities, and to give us humble Faith; the Voice of which, with a louder Cry, is, None but CHRIST! None but CHRIST! He is ALL, and in ALL! The Lord, and Our LORD! and unto Him be all the GLORY! And happy are the Souls, whose Language is This! And happy They, when This is their Voice! CHRIST will say of them, in the Infinity of his Grace, from his own Beauties, Imputed and Imparted, Thou art All-Fair my Love, there is no Spot in thee! And they again will reply, Thou art Fair my Beloved; Fairer than the Children of Men, Fairer than Angelick Glories, Immensely Fair, and Altogether Lovely! How Blessed then are the Souls that Believe in JESUS, and have Communion with Him by Faith! That have an Interest in CHRIST’s Love, and Fellowship with Him therein! And that this, my dear Brother, may be your Daily Privilege, is the hearty Desire of

                                 Your Affectionate Friend and Servant in the Lord,

                                                         ---- ------.  [Anne Dutton]

Text: “The Copy of a Letter from a Friend in the Country, to the Printer of this Paper,” No. 83 of The Weekly History, 6 November 1742, pp. 1-2. Also appeared in An Account of the Most Remarkable Particulars relating to the Present Progress of the Gospel, ed. John Lewis (London: Printed and Sold by John Lewis, in Bartholomew-Close, near West-Smithfield, 1742), Vol. II, no. 2, pp. 13-18.