Letters of John Fletcher - To Miss Hatton

Madeley, November 1, 1762

Madam—I thank you for the confidence you repose in the advice of a poor fellow sinner. May the Father of lights direct you through so vile an instrument! If you build all your hopes of Heaven upon Jesus Christ in all His offices, you do not build without a foundation, but upon the true one.

That there is a seal of pardon, and an earnest of our inheritance above, which you are as yet a stranger to, seems clear from the tenor of your letter. Had I been in the place of the gentleman you mention, I would have endeavored to lay it before you as the fruit of faith, and a most glorious privilege, rather than as the root of faith, and a thing absolutely necessary to the being of it.

I believe many people know when they receive faith, and all people when they receive the seal of their pardon. When they believe in Christ, they are justified in the sight of God. When they are sealed by the Spirit, they are fully assured of that justification in their own conscience. Some receive faith and the seal of their pardon in the same instant, as the jailor for example; but others receive faith first, as the dying thief, the woman of Canaan, David, the people of Samaria (Acts. 8:12-16), and the faithful at Ephesus (Eph. 1:13).

Suppose then that God gave you faith, i.e. a hearty trust in the blood of Christ and a sincere closing with Him as your righteousness and your all, while you received the sacrament (which seems to me very probable, by the account you give me), your way is exceeding plain before you. Hold fast your confidence, but do not rest in it. Trust in Christ; and remember He says, “I am the way,” not for you to stop, but to run on in Him.

Rejoice to hear that there is a full assurance of faith to be obtained by the seal of God’s Spirit, and go on from faith to faith until you are possessed of it. But remember this, and let this double advice prevent your straying to the right or left: First, that you will have reason to suspect the sincerity of your zeal if you lie down easy without the seal of your pardon and the full assurance of faith. Secondly, while you wait for that seal in all the means of grace, beware of being unthankful for the least degree of faith and confidence in Jesus; beware of burying one talent because you have not five; beware of despising the grain of mustard seed because it is not yet a tree.

May the Lord teach you the middle path between resting short of the happiness of “making your calling and election sure,” and supposing you are neither called nor chosen, and that God hath not yet truly begun His good work in you. You can never be too bold in believing, provided you still aspire after new degrees of faith and do not use your faith as a cloak for sin. The Lord despises not the day of small things; only beware of resting in small things. Look for the seal and abiding witness of God’s Spirit according to the following direction,

Restless, resigned, for this I wait,
For this my vehement soul stands still.

As to deep sights of the evil of sin, the more you go on, the more you will see Christ exceeding lovely, and sin exceeding sinful. Therefore, look up to Jesus as a vile and helpless sinner, pleading His promises, and trust Him for the rest; this is going on.

With respect to myself, in many conflicts and troubles of soul, I have consulted many masters of the spiritual life; but divine mercy did not, does not, suffer me to rest upon the word of a fellow-creature. The best advices have often increased my perplexities, and the end was to make me cease from human dependence and wait upon God from the dust of self-despair. To Him, therefore, I desire to point you and myself, in the Person of Jesus Christ. This incarnate God receives weary, perplexed sinners still, and gives them solid rest. He teaches as no man ever taught; His words have spirit and life; nor can He possibly mistake our case. I am, Madam, your fellow servant in the patience and Kingdom of Jesus.