THE PEN OF TRUTH***


Transcribed from the 1814 B. Bennett edition by David Price, email
ccx074@pglaf.org

                   [Picture: Public domain book cover]





                                   THE
                              LIVING LETTER,
                             WRITTEN WITH THE
                             _PEN OF TRUTH_,


                           BEING THE SUBSTANCE

                               Of a Sermon,

                             PREACHED AT THE

                 _OBELISK CHAPEL_, _St. George’s Fields_,

                    On SUNDAY Morning, Sept. 26, 1813.

                                * * * * *

                        _By J. CHURCH_, _V. D. M._

                                * * * * *

    My Tongue is the Pen of a ready Writer.  Psalm xlv.  Ver. 1.

    Written among the living in Jerusalem.  Isaiah, Chap. iv.  V. 3.

    I will write on him my new name.  Rev. Chap. 3.  Ver. 12.

                                * * * * *

                                 London:
                         PRINTED FOR THE AUTHOR,
               BY B. BENNETT, TICHBORNE STREET, HAYMARKET.

                                  1814.

                                * * * * *




_To Miss K. and Miss M._


_Dear Friends_,

_Grace and Peace be with you_:—_I received your kind present of the
Bundle of Pens_, _and beg your acceptance of my thanks for the same_; _I
really stood in need them_, _and I suppose you thought so by the badness
of my writing_, _or my reluctance in sending out more Sermoms from the
Press_.  _The Pens were very good_, _and I hope to use them for the Glory
of God only_,—_whilst laying before me they led me to reflect on the
passage I selected for a Text preached from on the following Sunday
morning_, _and I now send you the outlines of the Discourse_.  _This
Sermon will no doubt meet with the same reception that others have_;
_some bless_, _some curse_, _some believe the things that are spoken_,
_and some believe not_, _but to the great Head of the Church_, _I humbly
commit my feeble attempt to shew forth his praise_, _praying you may be
able to ascertain your personal interest in the Book of Life_, _where the
names of the elect are enrolled_, _and remain_,

                                   _Your obliged Servant in Christ Jesus_,

                                         [Picture: Signature of J. Church]




A Sermon.


                  II. CORINTHIANS, Chap. iii.  Verses 2 & 3.

    _Ye are our Epistle written in our hearts_, _known and read of all
    men_.  _For as much as ye are manifestly declared to be the Epistle
    of Christ ministered by us_, _written_, _not with ink_, _but with the
    spirit of the Living God_,—_not in tables of stone_, _but in fleshy
    tables of the heart_.

THE Epistle out of which this Text is selected, was with the one
proceeding it, written to the Church of Jesus at Corinth; many of the
Lord’s elect people were in this place, and the Apostle Paul was sent
here to proclaim the glad tidings of salvation; the Lord was graciously
with him, and gave testimony to the word of his grace, those who received
the truth, being knit together in spirit, formed themselves into a body.
Among them the Apostle abode two years and then departed.  Soon after his
departure he heard of their dissentions; defections in doctrines and
ordinances, luxury, intemperance, uncleanness, and abuses of their
religious liberties, litigious law suits and irregularities in their
public assemblies, he writes this Epistle to correct them, to warn,
instruct, and direct in all important subjects.  False teachers made sad
work among them likewise; endeavouring to set their minds against the
Apostle to bring him into contempt that his ministry might lose its
efficacy, and also to misrepresent his doctrine, as tending to
licentiousness, whereas there was nothing but the violation of law and
conscience, the effect of their ministry and which is to be seen to this
day amongst most teachers of the law such as direct their hearers to the
law instead of Jesus, as the law fulfiller:—these in general are full of
wrath, bitterness, pride, and carnal enmity, and though great advocates
for holiness and good works never perform any without making it well
known, that they may have to plead in the last day:—“Lord, Lord, have we
not done many wonderful works?”  However the Apostle in this second
epistle triumphs, that his ministry is a sweet savour to God; to some it
would terminate in their present salvation, to others add to their
condemnation for rejecting it.  Then he levels his artillery at those
false apostles, who had formed themselves into a body and gave letters of
recommendation to one another to the Churches where they went, they could
go no where without these letters.  But Paul and every true Apostle
needed not such recommendation.

“Do we begin again to commend ourselves to you, or need we, as some
others, epistles of commendation to you, or letters of commendation from
you?”  No, ye are our epistles; you were written on our hearts, we
travailed in spirit for your conversion, and all could see the change
made in you, it was so clearly manifested to be the writing of Christ,
which we preach; the impressions made on you could not be erased from the
mind, and which will be seen in the last great day.  So runs the Text
which we will proceed to notice in the following order: first, the
writing; secondly, the means; thirdly, its publicity: “Ye are our
epistles written in our hearts, known and read of all men.”  We shall
first consider the writing.  First, the writing: Our covenant, God has
promised that he will write his laws on the hearts of his people; that he
will write on them his new name and the city of God.  These blessings in
the heart are the writings he himself will own it is his own image and
the superscription to this image all the elect people of God are divinely
predestinated; there never was but one image in which the great Jehovah
expressed his delight, namely, “Behold, my servant whom I uphold, mine
elect in whom my soul delighteth.”  This is the image and all others he
will surely despise: this image is the pattern model exemplar, it is
Christ’s holy nature and as the elect head of his family, possessing all
divine and human excellencies, graces and qualifications; these
excellencies shining in the human nature even in the seven-fold
operations of the holy spirit that was upon him, this was the image in
which God made man: “in the image of God made he man.”  In this he
delighted even from eternity, for Adam was formed the shadow of him that
was to come, from this image Adam fell, and to this we are brought again
by the renewing influences of the Holy Ghost: hence the Apostle says, we
all with open face beholding as in a glass, the glory of the Lord are
changed into the same image, this image the Apostle declares is wisdom,
righteousness and true holiness, it is an experimental knowledge of Jesus
and a covenant God in him.  Our dear Lord is called wisdom.  God made man
and endued him with wisdom and we are made wise unto salvation, through
faith in Christ Jesus, this image is love; the Saviour is love also; Adam
had it, and it is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost given to
us; this image is righteousness: this is another name our Lord bears; in
righteousness the first Adam was created and our privilege is to know
that in the Lord we have righteousness and strength; this image is true
holiness, it is the holy spirit that makes a man holy a spirit of light,
life and love, this holy spirit breathed into Adam the breath of
life,—rested on the Redeemer and takes up its abode in every believer’s
heart—all holiness besides this is false—this is writing on us, this is
stamping the image of Jesus: love to this image wherever we see it,
evidences we are passed from death unto life;—this image which Christ
bears, he stamped on the hearts of his Apostles; the church being
converted through their ministry having this image communicated to their
souls, are called their children, for this the Apostles travailed in
spirit till Christ was formed in them the hope of glory.  Second, the
writing in my Text is not only the image of God, but also the words of
truth which these men preached,—hence Paul says in the Text, this writing
was ministered by us, these words are of Divine Authority, they were
first received of the Father, by the Lord Jesus in the everlasting
Covenant; during our Lord’s Ministry upon the earth they were applied to
the hearts of the Apostles; hence the Redeemer says, in John xvii.  “I
have given them the words thou gavest me, and they have believed thou
didst send me.”  The Saviour received the Father’s Mind and Will
concerning the elect and their salvation; this was written on his heart,
then copied off in the word, and afterwards wrote on the hearts of God’s
Ministers, and through them conveyed to the hearts of God’s elect with
power:—the Will of the Father is made known to Christ as Mediator,—the
Saviour makes it known in his word by his spirit, and ministers to God’s
children.  Thus it appears, what is in Christ’s human nature, is to be
found in all his people, and what the Father has made known to him, he
has kindly revealed to us,—this appears the sense of the writing in the
Text, the love of God shed abroad in the heart, and the word having an
abiding place in the soul, producing its glorious fruits to his honor;
these are the laws written within, not on tables of stone, which could
receive no lively impression, but on the new hearts, God has promised to
give his people:—I come secondly, to shew the means, “written by us.”
Those who receive the truth in the love of it are compared to epistles or
letters wrote which contain the mind and will of God, and it is evident
there must be pen, paper, and ink.  To this the Apostle alludes; here the
minister is compared to a pen, to shew their meaness, their entire
dependance, and that they cannot act to any good purpose only as they are
led; as pens, they must be shaped, formed, cut on purpose, simple means,
yet accomplishing great ends, no merit due, yet useful, pleasant, and
prized as it suits the purpose, hard or soft, giving broad or fine
strokes, often wants nibbing or mending, used to write on various
subjects, charges, sentences, consolations, love, promises, and
pardons:—this is a fit emblem of the ministers of the gospel in their
different gifts, as called and qualified by the Great Head of the church.
Some of the most simple, mean, and obscure characters have been employed
in this service of Jesus in the great work of the ministry.  Elisha, from
following the plough, David, the sheep, and Amos from the herds, Peter,
and the other Apostles from their fishing-boats, John Bunyan from mending
kettles, and William Huntington from the coal barge: and Paul declares
that God has chosen the base things to confound the wise, that no flesh
should glory in his presence.  Such ministers are cut and formed for the
work; cut also from the from of Godliness, from fleshly confidences, from
dependance, or any thing short of the Almighty minister in the Church.
By trials, by divine light, life and love, by knowledge and wisdom they
are formed and furnished in heart, head, and tongue.  Hence Paul says,
God has made us ministers of the New Testament, and spiritual counsel in
the heart of such men, is as deep water, and men of understanding shall
draw it out.  This makes their tongue like the pen of a ready writer,
whilst their hearts teach their mouths and adds learning to their lips;
by such means the spirit has accomplished the external designs of
Jehovah, in bringing souls to the knowledge of a dear Saviour; hence the
Prophet predicts the glorious effects of converting grace: they shall
beat their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into pruning
hooks;—this may be seen in Paul, and many others who have been
persecutors, whose hearts and tongues have been afterwards used in
turning up the ground of sinner’s hearts, and employed in God’s vintage.
No merit is due to the greatest preacher in the world, for he is nothing
but as he is made, used and guided any more than a pen; hence the
acknowledgement of one minister, for all I laboured more abundantly than
they all, yet not I but the grace God; we must speak as the spirit of God
gives us utterance, and as we are led into the truths of God’s most holy
word, nor can we go but as we are led;—whence the promise, he shall guide
you into all truths; all means must be used by the minister; it is the
spirit alone can bless in public and private; God giveth the increase, as
pens differ, so do the ministers of God in their knowledge and ability,
having different gifts, some give broad, others fine strokes, some cry an
alarm in God’s holy mountains, others speak more comfortably.  “He that
believeth not shall be damned,” “except a man be born again he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God:” these are broad strokes indeed; others
are commanded to cry unto her that her iniquity is pardoned, to shew the
richess of grace and mercy in the salvation of the soul, the covenant
love, ancient counsels, the glorious end of the law, and the unspeakable
efficacy of the blood of the lamb:—some are capacitated to explain
mysterious passages in the word; mysterious experience of grace and
providence; such are sons of consolation, all these worketh that one, and
the self-same spirit that divideth to every man severally as he will.  As
pens, we often want mending, we are apt to get dull when God is pleased
to cut us, that we may be the more useful to others; if we are afflicted,
it is for your consolation; this appears hard to us,—but faith bows with
adoring submission, when the head fall into the water.  The Prophet cut
down a stick and cast it into the water also, which brought it up again;
so the Lord appoints that his ministers should dive deep into
tribulations to bring out his dear elect people.  These pens are used to
write charges and sentences.  So Peter charged the blood of Christ to the
consciences of his hearers; and Paul declares if the Gospel be hid, be it
hid to them that are lost.  The Saviour said whatsoever they bind on
earth should be bound in heaven.  Pens are used to write on subjects of
consolation, pardons, and promises, and these glad tidings we are to
proclaim to the broken and contrite hearts of God’s people; these must be
held in his hands and used at his pleasure to accomplish his good will of
purpose and promise.  These must in time be wore out and laid aside,
affecting thought, yet glorious prospect.  Your Fathers, where are they,
and do the Prophets live for ever?  Death worketh in us, but life in you,
as candles that waste away their bodies in giving light to others.  This
the Prophet saw in the vision of Cherubims, when they stood they let down
their wings.  I have often admired the wisdom of God in the
qualifications of his dear ministers.  Let not one minister envy, oppose
or speak against another, every one will and must do his own work; they
can never do the work of another.  Here I must introduce a beautiful
though simple, yet just and candid remark of Mr. Huntington, in his book
called the Qualifications of a Minister, page 316.  “The Lord’s army in
London is marshalled in three