INSTRUCTION OF A YOUNG CONVERT

“The following article is an extract of a letter written by Jonathan Edwards:

Do not leave off seeking, striving and praying for the very same things that we exhort unconverted persons to strive for, and a degree of which you have had already in conversion. Pray that your eyes may be opened, that you may receive sight, that you may know yourself, and be brought to God’s footstool; and that you may see the glory of God and Christ, and may be raised from the dead, and have the love of Christ shed abroad in your heart. Those who have most of these things, have need still to pray for them; for there is so much blindness and hardness, pride and death remaining, that they still need to have that work of God wrought upon them, further to enlighten and enliven them, that shall be bringing them out of darkness into God’s marvelous light, and be a kind of new conversion and ressurrection from the dead.

Though God has forgiven and forgotten your past sins, yet do not forget them yourself; often remember what a wretched bond-slave you were in the land of Egypt. Often bring to mind your particular acts of sin before conversation; as the blessed apostle Paul is often mentioning his old blaspheming, persecuting spirit, and his injuriousness to the renewed; humbling his heart and acknowledging that he was “the least of the apostles,” and not worthy, “to be called an apostle,” and the “least of all saints,” and “the chief of sinners;” and be often confessing your old sins to God, and let that text be often in your mind, “That thou mayest remember and be confounded, and never open thy mouth any more, because of thy shame, when I am pacified toward thee for all that thou hast done, saith the Lord God” (Ez. 16:63).

Be always greatly abased for your remaining sin, and never think that you he low enough for it; but yet be not discouraged or disheartened by it; for, though we are exceeding sinful, we have an Advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous, the preciousness of whose blood, the merit of whose righteousness, and the greatness of whose faithfulness and love, infinitely overtop the highest mountains of our sins.

Remember, that pride is the worst viper that is in the heart, and the greatest disturber of the soul’s peace and of sweet communion with Christ; it was the first sin committed, and lies lowest in the foundation of Satan’s whole building, and is with the greatest difficulty rooted out, and is the most hidden, secret, and deceitful of all lusts, and often creeps insensibly into the midst of religion, even, sometimes, under the disguise of humility itself.

If at any time you fall into doubts about the state of your soul, in dark and dull frames of mind, it is proper to review your past experience; but do not consume too much time and strength in this way. Rather, apply yourself, with all your might, to an earnest pursuit after renewed experience, new light, and new lively acts of faith and love. One new discovery in the glory of Christ’s face will do more toward scattering clouds of darkness in one minute, than examining old experience, by the best of marks that can be given, through a whole year.

In all your course, walk with God, and follow Christ as a little, poor, helpless child, taking hold of His hand, keeping your eye on the marks of the wounds in His hands and side, whence came the blood that cleanses you from sin, and hiding your nakedness under the skirt of the white shining robes of His righteousness. Pray much for the ministers and the church of God; especially, that He would carry on His glorious work which He was now begun, till the world shall be full of His glory.

Deze tekst is geautomatiseerd gemaakt en kan nog fouten bevatten. Digibron werkt voortdurend aan correctie. Klik voor het origineel door naar de pdf. Voor opmerkingen, vragen, informatie: contact.

Op Digibron -en alle daarin opgenomen content- is het databankrecht van toepassing. Gebruiksvoorwaarden. Data protection law applies to Digibron and the content of this database. Terms of use.

Printen