The twenty-first letter from Mr. Hardcastle.
These for my beloved friends, the members and auditors of the congregation yet meeting in Broadmead.
11 m. 14 d. 1675-6
Dearly Beloved, - That which next offers itself to your serious consideration, touching a true faith, is bottomed on Hebrews 11: 4. That which rendered Abel’s sacrifice accepted, and more acceptable than Cain’s, was his faith; which, in the offering of all spiritual sacrifices, and performing religious services, executes those offices.
1. True faith brings the soul into the presence of God, and sets God in the sight of the soul, and thereby preserves upon the heart an holy awe, dread, and reverence; keeps it in an humble, self-abhorring, and self-abasing posture; gives it a sight of that infinite excellency, majesty, purity, and omnisciency that is in God, and a discovery of its own meanness and vileness. And let me add, by all this it frees and delivers the soul from hypocrisy, formality, customariness, commonness, carelessness, wanderings, and distractions, which too often attend, weaken, and make void the duties of religion, and are the constant companions of a counterfeit faith.
2. True faith encourages the soul to plead with God, and furnishes it with pleas and arguments, Job 23: 3-7. Faith helps the soul in prayer, against those faintings and despondings which a sense of unworthiness, wretchedness, manifold miscarriages, and multiplied backslidings, would bring it under; and enables it, in the way of deep humiliation and self-condemnation, to take hold of the name and promises of God, the instances and examples of divine grace and pardoning mercy bestowed upon others, the satisfaction and intercession of the Lord Jesus, and the great prerogative and power of God to forgive iniquity, transgress, and sin. All, which is followed with an holy, incessant importunity, and patient waiting: so that the soul fails not of a gracious and comfortable answer. For proofs of all these things see Jeremiah 14: 7-9; Numbers 14: 17-19; Micah 7: 18-20; Luke 18: 1-8; Matthew 15: 23-28.
3. True faith rids and cleanses the heart from that superfluity of naughtiness which indisposes the soul to, and keeps it from having communion with God in worship, and consequently from honoring God by it, or gaining to itself any comfort or consolation from it. Worldliness and malice, covetousness and envy, wicked love and hatred, are two naughty things that choke the word, cut the sinews of meditation, hinder the efficacy of prayer, block up the passage of heavenly influence, and render our sacrifice an abomination to the Lord. See Mark 11: 22-26; I Peter 2: 1, 2; James 1: 19-21; Matthew 13: 22. Cain’s offering was not accepted, for he had in his heart an envy to his brother, and an enmity against him. Remember therefore that word, Matthew 5: 23-24. Your worship and services, public and private, will be in vain and to no purpose if the love of the world, and heart-burnings and prejudices against the brethren, be not purged away by faith.
4. Faith prepares the soul for duty, and helps to put the soul into a suitable frame and posture; for God works an inward solemnity and fixedness upon the spirit, and forbids a rude, hasty, and inconsiderate coming into the presence of God. Faith makes the soul stand at the door a while by serious meditation, and to talk within itself on this wise: - It is a great thing to draw near to God. I am a guilty person, unworthy to come into his presence, to speak to him, or hear him, or sit down with him at his table. This vain, worldly heart of mine is no way suited to his pure, all-seeing eye: nor will his exact justice bear these many debts and scores of mine: nor will his holiness endure my formal, lukewarm temper that is so little affected by sin when I confess it, and so little melted with mercy when I make mention of it, that have so little compassion and fellow-feeling in my intercessions, and manifest so little love, and delight, and joy; but on the contrary, a slavish, dull, heavy, straitened, and embo ndaged spirit in all my approaches and performances. How shall I do to appear before him? At first sight he will discover a great deal amiss in me! If I do not appear, I cannot hide myself from him; besides he has commanded me to appear, and it will be disobedience in me if I do not. I will therefore venture into his presence, and take with me the words he has prescribed, Hosea 14: 2-3; and the words of the prodigal, which gave him acceptance with his father, Luke 15: 18-19. – And thus faith helps the soul to take the advice given by Solomon, Ecclesiastes 5: 1-2.
5. True faith watches the heart, and calls it to an account after duty, and is careful to observe what divine impression are made upon it, what divine teachings are rained down on it, what gatherings and experiences for time to come, and what humiliation is necessary for defects and comings short; and endeavours to keep the savor of God fresh upon the heart, by recollections and frequent spiritual outcries, with fervent longings after more enjoyment of God.
6. True faith does all; it does in the name, strength, and for the honor of Christ. Faith speaks in the apostle’s language; I can do all things through Christ strengthening me. Faith will venture upon the greatest and hardest service, though of itself it cannot act in the least. Faith prays, and reads, and hears, and meditates, and gives alms, and goes about the occasions of calling, and family trade, and business, and all under the name, and in the power of the Lord Jesus, and likewise to his praise and glory. Faith keeps the eye fixed aright, and keeps the soul clear from self, squint-eyedness, sinister and secular respects and interests, and speaketh on this wise: - If I can but glorify God, with soul and body, in my generation, it is all I aim at. I would have every action of mine, both civil and religious, to have an aspect upon the honor of my heavenly Father. My Savior hath done all for me. I need not work for myself, all my service must be for him; and therein lays my interest, and salvation too.
That you and I may be enabled, in all things, by true faith, to aim directly at the honor and interest of the Lord Jesus, and the propagation of his gospel, and his grace in our hearts and lives, is the prayer of
Your yet surviving, unworthy brother, though a prisoner,
T. Hardcastle
