Page images
PDF
EPUB

as confirmed and enhanced by the mediation of that illustrious person, who has magotied the law and made it honourable: and he felt himself laid under new, additional, powerful, and endearing obligations, by the love of the Saviour, and the benefits secured to him through his gracious interposition.

He considered the perfect obedience of God's incarnate Son, who voluntarily assumed the form of a servant, as being at once the sole ground of his justification, and the lovely pattern of his sanctification. And the former view of it, instead of obscuring the latter, only endeared it to him the more abundantly. That Holy One could never say, 'Because I am holy, ye need not be holy;' his language is, As he who hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy. Hence as he desired to be found in Christ, not having his own righteousness, which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; so he lived upon him for strength as well as for righteousness. He earnestly sought sanctification from Christ, as well as justification in

Some, of late, are not satisfied with the idea of an imputed righteousness for justification, but talk also of an imputed sanctification. What do they intend by this phrase? If they mean no more than this, that God, (in placing to the

Christ. Though deeply convinced that separate from him he could do nothing, yet he rejoiced that he could do all things through Christ who strengthened him. And the tepor of his life evinced that Christ wrought in him mightily. He walked by faith, and not by sight; regarding invisible realities as of in

account of the believer that obedience of one by which many are made righteous; or for the sake of which all believers shall be treated as if they had personally and perfectly fulfilled the law, and shall enjoy even a greater reward than they could in that case have expected,) has a regard, not only to the good actions of his beloved Son, but also to his holy disposition; we should never hesitate for a moment in maintaining the same. We only ask, how dare they labour to throw an odium on their brethren, as though they denied this?

But if they mean to deny that any internal holiness is imparted from Christ to his people, or that the branches of the true vine are made fruitful by the vital nourishment derived from the root; then, indeed, we disclaim all brotherhood with such professors. I would say,

'O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united!'

Though such men, by their fair speeches about free grace, may beguile unstable souls, yet they are enemies to the cross of Christ, and the adversaries of divine grace. They who deny all duty and obligation, must thereby annihilate all sin and guilt; and those who deny the justice of the sinner's condemnation, must consequently annihilate all grace in his pardon: thus they utterly dishonour the Saviour, and turn the grace of God into wantonness. While they promise men liberty, they themselves are the servants of corruption: for of whom a man is overcome, of the same is he brought into bondage.'

finitely greater importance than all the things that are seen. His faith, working by love to God and holiness, to all saints, and to the souls of men, made him willing to spend and be spent for the honour of his Lord, and the advancement of his kingdom, even to the ends of the earth. His faith opposed whatsoever was opposite to the glory and the revealed will of God. He contended earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, guarding against error, on the right hand and on the left. It engaged him also in a constant conflict with sin, especially with sin in his own bosom, against which he incessantly watched and prayed; and now this good fight has ended in complete victory: and he has joined them who, with palms in their hands, are surrounding the throne of God and the Lamb.

He was concerned, not only to do the will of God, but to suffer it also. The last chapter has shown how he was supported under manifold relative afflictions, under which he endured hardness as a good soldier of Jesus Christ. And in this chapter I shall take a survey of his deportment under personal afflictions; which I am able to do, both from my own papers, and from documents furnished by other friends and by his own family.

Though Mr. Fuller appeared to be of a remarkably strong and athletic make, yet he had been, from his youth, liable to severe

bilious attacks; and his lungs were at different times severely affected by colds. It was

therefore a more remarkable favour that he was spared to us so long.

It was not till some time after his removal to Kettering that he had the small-pox, for which he was at last inoculated. But some time before he underwent that operation, he took a journey to London, where he seemed to have been much in danger of infection from that disorder; on which occasion he wrote me the following letter:

66

London, Nov. 4, 1783.

Very dear Brother!

Amidst the confusions of the city, and my fatigues in travelling about it, I cannot forget you. I have been much dispirited, and have a mind to try and cheer myself to-night, by writing to my friend, the remembrance of whom gives me pleasure. Perhaps I may have nothing to say, that will be equal in value to the postage of a letter; but however that may be, I must write to ease myself. I have been for this week past thinking of little else but dying. On Wednesday, Oct. 29, I accidentally went into a house, where had been the smallpox. A young man had just recovered, so as to get out into the air. I smelt something disagreeable, which made me inquire, and then I received this information. I was not af

I have

frighted, though pretty much affected. not been distressed, yet cannot put all such thoughts from my mind, as that I may have the small-pox, and perhaps die in London, and so see my friends no more. On the other hand, these may be all mere thoughts. But I have to-night been reading Mr. Macgowan's Death a Vision, and what with my own case and that together, I am as if one half of me was in another world. I feel myself reproved by what I have read, for my attention to my dear wife and children, before the church of God. I must own, if it be to my shame, that these have been more than any thing near my heart, when I have thought of dying: though, on the other hand, I feel loth to go out of the world, without having done more than I have yet done for the cause of Christ. I have not written any thing of this kind to Kettering, nor must you let it be known to any one but yourselves."

Some references have already been made to what was supposed to be a slight paralytic affection of his cheek, in 1793; concerning which he wrote to me thus:

66

[ocr errors]

Kettering, Feb. 8, 1793.

My face is much better. I ride out every day, and find the use of my eye and lips return daily. God grant that my powers, if preserved, may be laid out for him. I bless

« PreviousContinue »