A LETTER TO THE PEOPLE OF MILNATHORT-Burns, William Chalmers

1841

DEAR-BELOVED FRIENDS,

I am now far from you in bodily presence; but I can with truth say, that my heart is nearer to you than before, as my eye turns joyfully, from the awful contemplation of sin and ungodliness around me, in this poor town, to those favoured spots of my dear native land, on which the Holy Ghost has lately been pouring out his quickening grace. I lately sent you, in print, a letter on the all-important subject of “THE KNOWLEDGE OF SIN;” and as I have many duties pressing on me here, I must fulfill my promise of writing to you in a very hurried way, — hoping that you will read the letter I have alluded to, as if sent to you in writing, and addressed to you alone. I shall, then, say a word to the following classes among you.

I. THE CARELESS. Careless sinners, I know not what to say to you. I have before declared to you the terrors of the Lord, and have sought to win you by the love of Christ. Others have done, and are doing the
same: And is this to be all in vain? Are you resolved to go on as if there were no God, no Devil, no sin, no Saviour, no Heaven, no Hell? It is a time to dream when death, and devils, and perdition, are coming every
moment nearer you, and are expecting soon to have you for their victim? What mean ye, O! sleepers? Arise, and call upon your God!

II. THE ANXIOUS. I am glad that there are some of this class among you, and I would that there were thousands more; for a man will never get to Heaven until he cries, under the sight of a holy God, of a guilty soul, and of a bleeding Saviour, “What must I do to be saved?” but beware, I entreat you, of thinking that all the anxious are saved, or that you are sure to be converted, because you are in this state. It is when you find peace and joy in believing, or, at least, when you do actually believe on Jesus as a Savior, that you enter in at the strait gate. If you cannot find peace, the reason may be, either, as it often is, that you do not view Jesus as
an all-sufficient Savior, freely offered to you, in your present state and as you are; or, it may be, that you are not willing to make a full surrender of yourself to him, but are holding fast some bosom sin or secret idol. This will infallibly rob you of peace, and, if it is not abandoned, rob you of eternal life! Ah! dear friend, look after the Achan in the camp. Be sure your sin will find you out.

III. THE BACKSLIDER. I am afraid there may be some among you already in this melancholy state. Do any of you feel that your impressions are decayed – that your former feelings and habits are returning – that
your old companions are again drawing round you – and that, though you may be still keeping up a profession of religion, its life and savour are gone? Do you feel that you have no true nearness to JEHOVAH
– no warm, grateful, adoring love to JESUS – no deep, penitent thirsting after the presence and power of the
HOLY GHOST? If this be your state, O! do not conceal it from yourself or from God’ do not cloak it under dead religious forms; awake to your true condition; admit the full view of its guilt and danger; spread it out, with grief and shame, before the Lord; resist every suspicion of his pardoning love to returning backsliders; cherish high thoughts of his pure and infinite mercy; cast yourself on the merits of Emmanuel’s blood; plead
for the return of the Holy Ghost; watch against all that would keep him away; stay yourself on the promises to sinners; and wait on the Lord until the day break and the shadows flee away. Remember eternal life is at
stake and the glory of the name of JESUS also. O! will you go back to Hell from Heaven’s gates? Will you be mocked, by men and devils, as one who once sought to be better than they, and, at the same time, hated and abhorred by God, and Christ, and saints, and angels, because you went back from following the Lord?

IV. THE CHILDREN OF GOD. To such of you as are, in very deed, entitled to this high name of heavenly dignity, I would say, Think much of your infinite privileges, of their cause in the bowels of JEHOVAH’S
love, of their channel in the wounded heart of EMMANUEL, and of that blessed SPIRIT, who takes the things of Christ, and shows them to the soul. Set perfect likeness to the Son of God before you, as the pattern
to which you are to be conformed. Cultivate, at any sacrifice of time, or comfort, or worldly advantage, increasing nearness to God, as your Father. Abound in the love of Jesus, and be ashamed to love him so little
as, even at the best, you can do. Be filled with the Spirit, as the fountain of all grace, and the author of all fruitfulness in the life of God. O! seek to commend the Lord Jesus, by a godly, humble, consistent, devoted
life, which is mightier to convince than a hundred sermons. All Christians cannot preach Christ; but they ought all to live Christ. Be intent on winning souls to Jesus, especially among your immediate friends and
acquaintances. This, even when you do not see fruit following will be a means of glorifying God, and will be blessed for the growth of grace in your own soul; and at last, also, if persevered in with much prayer and
watchfulness, will lead to the saving of souls. Be not weary in well-doing; for in due time you shall reap, if you faint not. Plead continually in behalf of a perishing world; and seek to have the heart enlarged to
embrace in its desires the whole human race. We are told that John Welch was heard praying one night, when others were asleep, — asleep in two senses, alas! – and that he cried, “Lord, give me Scotland! Lord,
give me Scotland!” Every Christian should be like him, — nay, we may cry, “Lord, give me the world – the whole world – to Jesus!” This already is and it will more and more be, the cry of God’s children, until at last
Babylon shall fall, and the kingdoms of this world shall become the kingdoms of our God and of his Christ.For the benefit of all the classes among you whom I have addressed, I would add a word or two in regard
to some of the ordinances of grace, and the manner in which you should improve them.

1 st . The Closet. This is the nearest spot on earth to Heaven. It is here more than anywhere that souls are brought near to God; it is here more than anywhere that souls are brought near to God; it is here that almost
every new attainment of grace is won; it is here that the Devil is dismayed and driven away to the pit; it is here that the world is to be rescued from his grasp, through the blood and spirit of Jesus! If a sinner wish to
be saved, let him go to the closet, and bolt his door until the door of mercy open to him, and lie on the ground until God’s mercy lift him up, and read the Word until the Spirit shines in it, and shows him his sin
and his Saviour. If a backslider wish to return, let him return to his closet, and bedew the ground with his tears, and lay hold on the horns of the altar. If the believer wish to go on to perfection and to have souls, let
him be like Jacob, when he was left alone, and there wrestled a man with him till the breaking of the day. O! Christian, remember the closet, and write over it, in your thoughts at least, “My Father is in secret.”

2 nd . The Family Altar. No one can pretend to be a Christian who has a family, and yet does not worship God in it regularly and devoutly. I have, alas! known some who would rather go to a prayer meeting in a
neighbour’s house than have one with their family in their own dwelling. This will not do. Some say they cannot pray in public; but, if they cannot pray finely, surely they can tell God plainly what they are, and what
they need, and what they have caused to praise him for. He that cannot do this must be a dead sinner, and cannot be acquainted with closet prayer. The curse of God will rest, remember, on every prayerless heart and every prayerless house. Begin, I entreat you, tonight, if you have not already; and if you can say no more, cry aloud, “Lord, teach me to pray.” Confess your guilt in not being able to do so, and retire from your
knees in public to your knees, or to lie on your face, in secret, and wrestle for divine teaching. Many have the form of family worship; but it is a dead dry skeleton, — a monument of their ungodliness rather than of
their piety.

3 rd . The Prayer Meeting. Such meetings you had formed and were forming when I was among you. I hope you have realized so much advantage from them that you are more and disposed and resolved to meet together in such associations. If such meetings do not proper, the guilt lies upon yourselves. Purge out the old leaven that ye may be a new lump! In coming to a prayer meeting, make conscience of having the soul in tune, by being previously with God in the closet; and, if every member comes from the presence of Jehovah, you will be like burning faggots piles on each other and fanned into a blaze; whereas, if you meet together in a dry and carnal frame, you will find it like lighting wet firewood to kindle the communion of the saints among you. You will have little enjoyment, and little profit, and so tire of the meeting, and at last give it up. We have heard of prayer meetings which through the grace of God upon the members of them, grew and flourished longs, and even survived to bless succeeding generations. Avoid controversy, and feed at your
meetings on the marrow of the Word. Beware of making censorious remarks on each other’s prayers, even though less suitable than might be wished. In your prayers, be brief, scriptural, spiritual, humble, earnest,
sincere, and full of faith. Plead with a precise object in view, and let your cries be the echo of God’s intimation, “Now is the accepted time.” Ask for blessings now with humble expectation, and wait with
constancy on the Lord. Let love – the love of Jesus – reign among you; and if anyone should be as a thorn in the flesh to buffet you, seek to view this, not only as your fellow sinner’s guilt, but as God’s arrangement for
trying and humbling and refining you.

4 th . The Public Ordinances. Set a high value on these as appointed of God, for the quickening of sinners and the edifying of his children. Wait upon the preaching of the Word and public worship with a hungering, humble, prayerful, thankful spirit; and, doing so, you will often obtain a full feast where others find nothing but a ground of empty speculation, or of idle and censorious talk. Pray much for ministers, and
do all you can to encourage those who seek the Lord’s glory in their high, responsible, and arduous work. My time, dear friends, does not allow me to enlarge these hints; and I have only to add, that I have been
rejoiced to hear, from my dear brother Mr. M’Cheyne, interesting tidings of the work of God among you, and that I shall seek to agonize in prayer in your behalf. I have to implore, in conclusion, the wrestling cries of all who seek the Lord in behalf of Newcastle, to which the Lord seems to have led me, I hope, for his own glory. Tens of thousands are here openly and visibly going down the broad road, and there are great difficulties in the way of even reaching their ears. But the Lord is almighty; and, in answer to his people’s cries, and in fulfillment of his own promises and
purposes, he will do great things. (Blessed be God, we have tokens of his presence now (September 27 Th ). Let the Lord’s people continue in prayer.) O! give him no rest until he arise and make Jerusalem a praise in the  whole earth.

Your affectionate servant in the Gospel,

Wm. C. BURNS Newcastle, August 17* 1841.