by Arthur W. Pink
by Arthur W. Pink
Philologos Religious Online Books
Philologos.org
by Arthur W. Pink
June, 1933
Bitters and Sweets
Dear Brother: May mercy and peace be multiplied unto you, and may a covenant God bless you with abundance of His consolations, which are far better than the smiles of men. I have had wave upon wave, and billow upon billow since I saw you. I can assure you I did many times fear it was all over, that God had left me, that I should prove an apostate at last, and that all my prayers, groans, and fears were nothing but fleshly, and would all end in the flesh.
I understand you were at our house when my poor dear prodigal son set out on his last ramble, with the determination that he would never see T. again. When I came home from my journey and heard the particulars, had not the Lord given me a little help, I must have sunk. The old serpent set on me so unmercifully, that I reeled to and fro like a drunken man, for I have laboured for this dear child, particularly for the last four or five years, that God would prove him to be a vessel of mercy, and now he was gone for the fourth time, with the determination that he would never see father or mother, sister or brother again, but would go across the seas. O how the Devil did roar, “Where are your prayers now? Where is your hope now of his being a vessel of mercy? What do you think now of the promises which you have leaned on?” O how I staggered, and my pangs of labour came on again, I believe ten times stronger than before.
My dear friend, the lad was in my very bowels, and what could I do but travail in labour for him? I had four or five weeks' travail of soul before I could hear anything about him, except that he had passed on his way towards Exeter. I had but one prayer for him to God, and that was that He would turn the devil out of his palace from reigning in his heart, and set up His own kingdom there, and bring him home again, sitting at Jesus' feet, clothed, and in his right mind. Here my soul was fixed, nor could I be moved from it. And sometimes my soul was in such wrestlings for this one blessing, that the devil might be dethroned out of his heart, my body has been so weak that I could scarcely crawl from one end of the room to the other. A few weeks before he sent me a letter, O what a conflict I had! It came to my mind that he was a vessel of wrath, and this text ran through me like a dagger--”He that being often reproved, hardeneth his neck, shall suddenly be destroyed, and that without remedy.” O how I staggered, and my very loins heaved up with pangs of grief! “What,” cried I, “my dear child for whom I have travailed in such soul-trouble for five years, shall be destroyed, and that without remedy?” And then the devil presented him before my eyes, as having cut his throat, and being now in Hell, where he must be tormented forever and ever.
O my friend, I can never tell you a thousandth part of what I passed through for about an hour. O what groans I poured out that God would direct me to some portion of His dear Word. “O Lord,” I cried, “do send me a crumb; do let me pick up but a single crumb.” In my poor, feeble confused state of mind, I took the blessed book of God and opened it upon the eleventh chapter of Isaiah, when the first five verses so overpowered me with wonder and glory at the greatness, power, majesty, mercy, and grace of the dear Redeemer, that I was obliged to cry out, “Is anything too hard for the Lord”? But when I came to the sixth and seventh verses, I felt every string and bond break, and for a few minutes did not know whether the Lord was not breaking the pitcher at the fountain, and taking my poor tempest-tossed devil-dragged soul into the heavenly port. “The wolf also shall dwell with the lamb, and the leopard shall lie down with the kid; and the calf and the young lion and the fatling together; and a little child shall lead them. And the cow and the bear shall feed; their young ones shall lie down together, and the lion shall eat straw like the ox.”
O my dear friend, bless God for His mercy. He smiled, and whispered with His still small voice, “thy prayers are heard, and come up before Me. I will bring the leopard home, and he shall be heartily glad to lie down with the kids, and a little child shall lead them.” O how I kissed the feet of my dear Lord! I washed them with my tears, and wiped them in my feelings with the hairs of my head. I blessed Him, praised Him, till my very body was so faint and feeble that I hardly knew for a few minutes whether I was in the body or out of it. I could not help shouting, “Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy, when I fall I shall arise; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be light unto me.”
In about a fortnight after this my dear lad wrote me a letter, to say that he was a soldier in Plymouth barracks, that he was in the very bowels of Hell night and day, and that hell from beneath was moved for him to meet him at his coming. It was such a letter of contrition that I saw in a moment that the wolf was brought to dwell with the lamb, and the leopard was willing to lie down with the kid. Upon this I wrote to Mr. T. (though he was a perfect stranger personally to me), telling him all the circumstances, and begging of him the favour to go to the barracks, and see the lad, and then to let me know what he thought of him; whether he believed he was really brought to see the error of his ways, and is heartily sick of them; and whether he thought it would be advisable for me to purchase his discharge, or not.
I soon received a letter from Mr. T. and so full was it of feeling and sympathy with me, in my trouble, and so good an account did it give of the lad, that it so broke and melted my soul into union with his soul, that I felt as if we were one spirit. He said he believed there was a great change wrought in the lad's soul, that he was sick of his past life, and that therefore he considered it was my duty as his father, to get him out of his present situation. So I procured his discharge, and he has been at home near a month, and never did I see, bless the Lord, a more visible change. How he longs to feed amongst the kids! God has already, and still is sorely chastening him, out of His law, and what a school that is! I believe in my very heart that the kingdom of God is set up in his soul, though he is still shut up unto the faith, which, I believe, will hereafter be revealed to his soul. Poor thing! He has had two or three crumbs since he came home, and this makes him stick close under the table.
I have another testimony that sweets and bitters, emptyings and fillings, frowns and smiles, groans and songs, famishings and feastings, God has bound fast together, and neither men nor devils shall break them asunder. It is through fire and water that we are brought into a wealthy place. Yet, blessed be my covenant God, not one hair of my head has been singed. Poor fool! When I was in the furnace, I expected some times to be completely consumed. Ah, my dear friend, if God had dwelt with me on the ground of my faith, where must I have sunk? Into the pit, never to rise more. But though we believe not, He abideth faithful; He cannot deny Himself, bless His holy name. “As a father pitieth His children, so the Lord pitieth them that fear Him.” How sweet has that text been to me at times! But the Devil has come again and torn asunder with rage, and told me that it did not belong to me. And I tell you what, it does not matter what God does for me, or however He may favour me, at times with His presence, if He leaves me to the Devil and my own heart, I am disputing every bit of it. I find it just the same now as ever it was--flesh and blood are flesh and blood still; and the Devil, unbelief, carnal reason, and all his devilish crew, are devilish still. And I find that faith, love, patience, meekness, watchfulness, and every spiritual grace, either in thought, word, or deed, are all sovereign favours from God; and that not any one of them can ever be in exercise but as God the Holy Spirit draws it forth. I know that every good gift and every perfect gift is from above; and am a living witness that salvation, and salvations too, are all of grace. J.W., 1837—first published in the “Gospel Standard.” 1838
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