Anne Dutton's
Letters on Spiritual Subjects
Honored Sir,
The little things which we are apt to desire and to lay out for ourselves as
a path to heaven in, let us refer them wholly to the will and wisdom of our
heavenly Father. It is our privilege that, as His children, we may lay them
before Him and pray Him to bestow them if for His glory and our good; but in
nowise let us choose for ourselves, but continually give up ourselves and
all things which concern us into the hands of the Lord, and say, "Choose our
inheritance for us."
Alas! we would make a foolish choice if left to our
own will, our own wisdom! We would soon be undone if left to our own
conduct. Let us not attempt it. There is a snake in the grass of
those pleasing things which we desire to lie down in, which the Lord denies
us of, that we do not see, which would soon destroy the health and comfort
of our souls.
We naturally love smooth things, but alas, we have
so much roughness in us that we must have rough things to smooth us. It is
well we have a Father that loves us infinitely—who is infinitely wise and
well knows how to make us as glorious as He designs us—who will not spare
for our crying, but will pare off our knots and blemishes, and hew and carve
us into gracious pieces of His workmanship—whatever labor it costs
Him—whatever sharp things are needful to be used on us—or whatever blows are
requisite to be given us.
Come, my brother, let us give up ourselves into our
all-wise, all-gracious, and almighty Father's hands! He will work us into
the image, the glorious image, of Jesus! And what does it matter which way
He does it? If this blessed work is done we shall rejoice and praise Him
forever; aye, and let me say, we shall admire and praise all the ways that
He took to do it in, when we see, with the veil cast off, all those
exceeding riches of His infinite grace, wisdom, and prudence, which have
been expended and laid out upon us therein. Oh, we shall admire and adore
all the Lord's ways with us, which are mercy and truth. We shall see and
say, they were like God—worthy of God—of His great Being—of His glorious
art!
Until then, let us live by faith, and in the obedience
thereof shroud ourselves under the shadow of Jehovah's wings, and cry unto
Him continually, under a deep sense of our utter insufficiency—and of His
all-sufficiency to guide us by a right way all through this valley of
misery, until He has brought us unto Himself in glory!