Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
My Dear Brother in Christ—our Life, our Love, our All,
You desire a line from me. What shall I write? Methinks you want to hear of
your Beloved; and if His Spirit, sent from the Father and the Son, will
please to take of the things of Christ, and show them unto you by so weak,
so unworthy a worm, it will be to our mutual joy, and the Lord shall have
all the glory. It is grace unknown, my dear brother—free, rich,
superabounding grace, that gave you a saving acquaintance with Christ in
love—in that infinite love which is in His heart toward poor lost sinners
who are enabled to look unto Him for all salvation.
Christ is a fountain of all supplies. You cannot need
more than Christ has to give, is willing to bestow, and will enrich you with
in your every time of need. It has pleased the Father that in Him should all
fullness dwell. All fullness dwells in Christ, to supply us in all our
emptiness. Do you see your nakedness? Christ's name is, "The Lord our
Righteousness." Do you groan under your unholiness of heart and life?
Christ is made of God unto us sanctification,
to present such defiled worms as us, perfectly holy before God in His
own personal purity now, and to maintain, increase, and perfect that purity
of heart which is begun in us by His Holy Spirit, until we are perfectly
conformed to the image of Christ, our holy Head. Does your folly,
your inability to know the things of God in their greatness and glory,
grieve you? Christ of God is made unto us wisdom. It is His office, as our
prophet, to teach the most ignorant souls who come to Him. He will teach the
meek his way. It is His joy to teach us, and His teachings are efficacious
to those who humbly wait upon Him for the same.
Does your spiritual poverty distress, and your
spiritual enemies afflict you? Christ is made of God unto us
redemption. Our Redeemer is great and strong. His redemption by price and
power is and shall be perfect. Your Redeemer has paid all your debts; He has
bought you and your inheritance.
Your whole person, made perfect, shall be taken by Him
into His own embrace to enjoy the most intimate communion with Him and His
Father—in love, life, and glory—to a blessed eternity! And can your heart
conceive, my dear brother, the one-half, the thousandth part of that
bliss, that vast inheritance of God, of which, by Christ, as a believer in
Him, you are now made an heir, and of which, by Him, you shall shortly be a
possessor? I tell you no! Eye has not seen, nor ear heard, neither has it
entered into the heart of man, in a mortal state, to conceive of those great
things, according to their greatness, which God has prepared for those who
love Him, to be enjoyed by them in immortal glory!
Come then, my dear brother, come by faith, and lie
down in the bosom of Christ, in His Person and fullness, as made yours
by infinite love. For, this, this Jesus, is the rest, and this the
refreshing with which the weary soul may rest. The love of Christ to you,
and your salvation in Him, are unchangeable amid all the changes of your
frames. The good work of God, begun in your soul, shall be performed until
the day of Christ. Abide in Him by faith, and cleave unto him by love. In
every path of duty follow on to know the Lord, and you shall know Him to
your full and endless joy and glory!