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Anne Dutton
Anne Dutton (1692–1765) was an English poet and Calvinist Baptist writer on religion.[1] She published around 50 titles and corresponded with George Whitefield and John Wesley. Dutton's Narration of the Wonders of Grace (1734) was a 1500-line poem in heroic couplets, complete with marginal references to Scripture, reviewing redemption history from the point of view of Calvinist Baptists. (A modern scholar has called it "execrable verse, interesting only as testimony to the mental tilt of a particular kind of zealot".[3]) In her correspondence with Wesley she differed with him over the question of Election. A Brief Account of the Negroes Converted to Christ in America was one of 13 tracts and letters she published in 1743 alone. George Whitfield was another recipient of her work.
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Anne Dutton preaches a message of encouragement to a sister in Christ, reminding her that trials are not strange but are part of God's preparation and exercise of love towards her. She emphasizes the need to willingly work and suffer for God, surrendering completely to His will out of gratitude for His boundless love. Dutton reassures that even in the midst of bitter experiences, God's love sweetens the cup of trials, turning curses into blessings that work for the believer's present and eternal good, testing and increasing their graces for Christ's glory.
A Cup of Bitters?
My Dear Sister in our precious Lord, I sympathize with you in your trials. Do not think them strange. Your kind Father well prepared you for these exercises by that abundant love which He long manifested towards you. He let you rest long in His bosom; will you not be willing to work for Him now—yes, to suffer whatever He shall call you to? Oh, remember what obligation His boundless love lays you under to be entirely His! Remember but His love, in which He has given you Himself, and you will freely give up yourself to His whole will, and count nothing too much, either to do or suffer, that so you may glorify Him. Has your kind Father given you a cup of bitters? Drink it freely! It is well sweetened with His love! The curse is taken out of it by Christ being made a curse for you; and lo! It is no other but a cup of blessing! Infinite love ordained it and infinite wisdom prepared it, and infinite power will work with and by it unto your present and eternal advantage. All your graces are to be tried, and by the trial of them to be increased here, and found unto praise and honor and glory at Christ's appearing. You will not think any of the labors and sorrows of the wilderness too much when once you reach Canaan's land. You will bless God when you get to heaven for every step of the way He led you, and see it was all right. And will you not begin the work of heaven now, and go, not only patiently and cheerfully, but thankfully also, through all the trials of the wilderness into your everlasting rest? Your tender, faithful Shepherd, who gave His life for you, will not allow you to lack any good thing. Into His arms I commit you; His grace be with your spirit.
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Anne Dutton (1692–1765) was an English poet and Calvinist Baptist writer on religion.[1] She published around 50 titles and corresponded with George Whitefield and John Wesley. Dutton's Narration of the Wonders of Grace (1734) was a 1500-line poem in heroic couplets, complete with marginal references to Scripture, reviewing redemption history from the point of view of Calvinist Baptists. (A modern scholar has called it "execrable verse, interesting only as testimony to the mental tilt of a particular kind of zealot".[3]) In her correspondence with Wesley she differed with him over the question of Election. A Brief Account of the Negroes Converted to Christ in America was one of 13 tracts and letters she published in 1743 alone. George Whitfield was another recipient of her work.