not call him a hard master; and though I am thus naked as to my body, (he having in his fits greatly torn his shirt,) I have a better dress than this; I do not mean a fig-leaf one; no, I mean the robe of Christ's righteousness, which will cover my poor, naked soul, "without spot, or wrinkle, or any such thing.' He then called for his youngest child that he might take his leave of it; the child being fearful, clung to its mother, upon which he observed, "Just so the Lord Jesus Christ will hug and take care of me." To his wife he said, "You have been a good wife to me, although I have sometimes been crooked to you, yet I love you and my children, but this is a natural love; the love that I have to Christ is above all this. I did think at first that I should like to have lived a little longer with you, if it had been the Lord's will, but since it is not, I am willing to lay down these earthly weapons, and let his will be done; and I hope you will be a good mother to your children as you have been, and I can give you and my children up into the hands of the Lord, knowing that he has promised to be a Father to the fatherless, and a Husband to the widow.' It will be a dull Christmas with you, but it will be a merry one with me.' Then he said, "My dear brother and sister in the flesh and spirit too, I firmly believe I shall soon be in the New Jerusalem, and sing, and you will say, 'What will you sing? Why, I shall sing the new song. My body is nearly dead you see, but my soul is alive in Christ Jesus. I doubt not but some of you who have heard me, may be ready to say, that what I have said, is not the truth. But look at the 22nd chap. of Revelation, 18th and 19th verses, and you will find that it reads thus, For I testify unto every man that heareth the words of the prophecy of this book, if any man shall add unto these things, God shall add unto him the plagues that are written in this book; and if any man shall take away from the words of the book of this prophecy, God shall take away his part out of the book of life, and out of the holy city, and from the things which are written in this book." After this, he was not able to speak any more, but even then the faithfulness of the Lord was most gloriously manifested, as he testifieth, "According to thy day, so shall thy strength be;" for it is believed by faithful witnesses, who were present with him, that the Spirit of God spoke through his features when he was nearly dead, to the astonishment of those present, as well medical gentlemen as others. A sermon was preached on the occasion, from Hosea chap. ii., and part of the 14th and 15th verses; "And speak comfortably unto her. And I will give her her vineyards from thence, and the valley of Achor for a door of hope; and she shall sing there."

LIVING WORDS FROM LIVING WITNESSES.

Dear E-,-To my ever invaluable friend in the path of tribulation, grace, mercy, and peace be with you. I continue as to my health nearly the same at present. But I am persuaded that such is the will of my covenant God and Father in Christ Jesus, that he will do all things well for me. Though he afflict sore, he will

not give me over unto death; and though his hand may go out against me, yet his everlasting arms are underneath me to support me; and though he may appear angry with me, yet he is still my God and Father in Christ Jesus, and he will surely have mercy upon me.

me.

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I have heard that there is a person in my line of business set up at R~; but blessed be his holy name, none of these things move I am willing to go to R, or to stay where I am, or to leave this world, or to do whatever my heavenly Father sees fit. I can put my hearty Amen to this. If he sees fit to restore me to health, I shall have many things to encounter besides an old man of sin, a fierce and cruel enemy, and a deceitful and evil world; but he promises that as my days are, so my strength shall be. But should he call me out of this world, it will be with, Friend, come up higher;" then shall I leave this world and all its vanity, and get rid of this body of death and dross, this frail tabernacle with all its infirmities, at the foot of the cross; whilst the nobler part of this rich treasure of God's grace, shall ascend into the hill of the Lord. O happy day, O happy moment, when this shall take place; then I shall leave sin and sorrow, and every thing that causes sorrow, and all sorrow and sighing shall be done away, and the days of my mourning will be at an end; for God shall wipe away all tears from all faces, and there shall be no more trouble. How does my soul at times long to be gone, to be with Christ, which is far better." I do acknowledge, to the glory of his name, that I feel my mind sweetly reconciled, come what may, for I know that he will do all these things well; and though I have awfully rebelled, yet his love is still the same; and the reason is this, that his love was fixed upon us from all eternity in Christ Jesus, and that nothing can alter it, or disannul it, or make it void. No, not all the evil of our nature, nor yet the perverseness of our wills, nor the natural enmity of the heart, nor the unbelief that we are the subjects of, nor Satan himself shall ever frustrate the purposes of God, or make the promises of no effect; and the reason is this; he hath loved us with an everlasting love, and he is God and changeth not, therefore, ye sons of Jacob are not consumed." And how can it be otherwise, when our blessed Jesus paid the ransom price that was due against us? "He died the just for the unjust," to bring sinners to God; so that the work was completed before we had a being; therefore, we have nothing to pay, and nothing to do. But when the Lord gives us eyes to see it, like Manoah and his wife, we can look on and see what a Triune God has done, and wonder at the provision that he has made in his dear Son; and when he gives us faith and love, faith to believe it, and love to embrace it, so that the contents of it are received into the conscience, we then are enabled to rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory; and when he appears to us in all his finished work, and brings salvation to the heart, we then cry out, "Lo! this is our God, we have waited for him, he will save us." I hope the Lord will be with you, and sanctify your afflictions to you. There is nothing beneath the sun that will bring any comfort or peace when affliction comes, but as he gives us submission. I know what it is

to be bowed down with affliction, and to be looking to second causes, with nothing but murmuring and complaining, and thinking that we are hardly dealt by; but this cannot be, for his thoughts are thoughts of mercy and of peace, that he may give us an expected end. Yours affectionately,

Bayswater, Feb. 23, 1820.

T. C.

My dear Miss W-,-I hope by this time, if it be the sovereign pleasure of the Lord, that you are revived both in body and mind; and that whatever the Lord designs concerning your body, he has graciously been pleased to reveal "Christ in you, the hope of glory;" and if so, you will be enabled to say, All is well. Remember my dear young friend, "The fear of the Lord is the beginning of wisdom." (Prov. ix. 10.) To be brought by the power of God the Holy Ghost to fear the Lord, to have a tender conscience, and to tremble at God's word, is, in very deed, the beginning of wisdom. And to such poor trembling, broken-hearted souls, the Lord will, in his own time, look with a look of manifestive mercy, "For to this man will the Lord look, even to him that is poor and of a contrite spirit, and trembleth at my word.” (Isa. lxvi. 2.) It is one part of true wisdom to feel ourselves real fools, that the whole of our life has been a life of folly, sin, and shame, and that we are such poor besotted fools, that we are unable to alter it to any good purpose; and feeling that all our foolishness has been sin against a holy, just, and good God, we tremble before him, and are quite broken down in spirit under a deep sense of our vileness before a holy God, and we mourn over our guilt, sin, and filthiness; and then we cry to the Lord for mercy, and pant for pardon made manifest by the revelation of Christ in our souls. Thus we thirst and sigh, and groan, and long for salvation; and yet, often fear it will never be ours. We feel we neither have, nor can have any rest without it; and though now and then we feel a little hope, yet we dare not say, "My Lord and my God." To us our path seems very, very gloomy indeed, and we are ready to wish we had never been born; and yet at times we appear as if we had got into a deathly sloth and carelessness, and our only feeling appears to be a painful one to find such ease under such circumstances; and again we cry, Lord have mercy upon us, and save us from carnal ease and dead sloth; and, Save us dear Lord, save us in thyself, with an everlasting salvation. Were we asked what we want, we should, if we could speak out our real desires, say, I want neither to be deceived myself, nor to deceive others. I want, in very deed, to experience "Christ in me the hope of glory;" I want to feel pardon through his precious blood, and to love, praise, and adore him. O how I thirst and pant, and sigh and groan, to be able to say, truly say, He loved me, and gave himself for me." Could I but feel his precious, pardoning love, my poor cast down soul would sing for joy; but I fear this joy will never be mine, though I really feel that I can have no rest, comfort, or true consolation without it. By this time methinks my young friend is saying, "These are some of my feelings; but I am such a poor, bewildered, strange creature, that I cannot describe all my feelings, nor do I think any one else can." Well, my dear friend, if the above is your case, the Lord has begun to make you wise; and eternal truth has said, "The wise shall inherit glory." (Prov. iii. 35.) Never, my dear friend, give up the point till the Lord is graciously pleased to say unto your soul, “I am thy salvation." "The Lord is nigh unto all them that

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call upon him, to all that call upon him in truth.

He will fulfil the desire of them that fear him; he also will hear their cry, and will save them." (Psa. cxlv. 18, 19.) Do you say, I do cry, and cry again, and yet the Lord does not answer me? Remember, my dear friend, how often you sinned, and sinned again, and yet the Lord did not visit you with deserved wrath. And shall we be weary of crying for mercy, and waiting the Lord's time to manifest it? He may appear to

bear long, but "Shall not God avenge his own elect, who cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." (Luke xviii. 7, 8.) Thus, my dear young friend, you see that God's elect have to cry day and night, and sometimes the Lord appears not to regard them, but in the end he does send deliverance; "For the vision is yet for an appointed time, but at the end it shall speak, and not lie; though it tarry, wait for it; because it will surely come, it will not tarry." (Hab. ii. 3.) Go on, my dear friend, breathing after the sweet power, presence, and love of the Lord Jesus Christ, for you shall not cry and wait in vain. He will come and call you his love, his dove, his fair one; and enable you to say, "This is my Beloved, and this is my Friend."

That the Lord may be with you, and cause his face to shine upon you, give you sweet rest and peace, by faith in the blood and obedience of Christ, is the prayer of yours in the Lord,

Oct. 11, 1838.

W. G.

My dear Father in the Lord,-I forward you a scull-cap. In absence of measure or shape, I have shot at random, but hope it may fit your head, and please your fancy. Alas! my nature-head wants either a cap, or brace to-day, for the devil is turning it round like a whirligig. But I draw comfort, through the Spirit, from the consideration that our Redeemer is mighty, (Prov. xxiii. 11,) and that his left hand is under my head, and with his right hand he doth embrace me. Yes; he keeps my feet from falling, and, by expressions of his love, cheers up my spirit to run the race set before me, assuring my soul that he will not leave me nor forsake me, and thus convinces me that he is Alpha in the upper streams of everlasting love, and Omega in these low lands in my underfall way, and that all my springs in nature, grace, and glory are in him my glorious Head, whose fulness the church is, although he filleth all in all. Happy for me that it is so, for of myself I am a poor dull stupid creature; from necessity, a dependant upon his bounties; being wet with the dews of the mountains, I embrace the rock for want of a shelter. My miseries are my only recommendations at the pardon office, or I should meet with no encouragement there; but how truly it may be said of our dear Lord, "This God-Man receiveth sinners, and eateth with them." I sail to heaven on a sea of the richest mercy, but very many storms of temptation, persecution, and soul affliction come down upon it, attended with mighty head winds which seem to threaten me with stranding almost every moment, and I should most certainly go to the bottom only for a certain Pilot called Jesus who came on board at the Cape of Good Hope, who is wisdom and immortality, and, therefore, can neither sink nor drown. He is truth essentially, and cannot lie; wise, and cannot err; infinite, and cannot be overcome, and hath engaged to save me, therefore I live, being kept as the apple of his eye, and amidst outward fightings and inward fears he gives me rest, through believing, in a strong city having gates and bars. "He opens, and no man shuts; he shuts, and no man opens;" opens to receive the doves flying to the windows, and shuts

the door of the ark against the enemy and avenger, and the troubled soul in the ark to ride upon, and weather out the storm; so that I am privileged to go in and out and find pasture; when in, to be nursed and dandled, to suck and to be satisfied, to be comforted and counselled, to draw out and be delighted with the abundance of Zion's glory; and when out, to be tried, exercised, hated, persecuted, spoken against, (and that falsely) maltreated, laughed to scorn, held up to derision, buffetted, tempted, and evil treated, and all to prove to my soul that God is faithful, who hath engaged that grace shall reign; grace, the last principle manifested, but the first in existence; for although corruption be the first with respect to communication, the elder shall serve the younger, for grace took its rise in eternity, but sin in time, therefore grace must have the preeminence in as much as I had life in the second Adam before I died in the first, and was complete in the Lord from heaven, before I existed in the flesh of an Adam-nature. I have often been tempted to smile, since I saw you, at the various reports which have been presented to my mind, and you, no doubt, have heard much of the wonderful. Alas! for human nature, I cannot but weep for it, although, as a public person, I am exposed to its venom; but I love my Master, whose work often galls my shoulder, and chafes my nature-mind; but still I hear him say, "Be thou faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life." The recompense of the reward gilds my prospects, and makes hard things easy, and heavy burdens light. He tells me that I am justified, and gives me the spirit of faith to receive his testimony, which brings peace home to my conscience and seals it there, through which I am enabled, at times, to joy in God, my Jesus, my Lord, who made the reconciliation and brought me nigh unto God, who speaks to my soul and saith, "Who art thou that thou shouldst be afraid of a man that shall die ?" I am held fast by these means to the work in which I have been long engaged, but which I should at once relinquish if left to my own will for a single week, but having received momently supplies, I continue to the present day.

It strikes me that the days are at hand when you ought to be with us. I fear you make a labour of our pleasure. Your presence cheers us, your testimony helps us on our way; let us hear your voice in Providence chapel ere long.

Liverpool, Oct., 1839.

In gospel bonds, yours most truly,

D. K.

INQUIRY.

"If any man speak, let him speak as the oracles of God; if any man minister, let him do it as of the ability which God giveth; that God in all things may be glorified through Jesus Christ, to whom be praise and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." "Let a man so account of us, as of the ministers of Christ, and stewards of the mysteries of God.”—1 Pet. iv. 11; 1 Cor. iv. 1.

What are the true marks of a true minister of Christ? If any one taught of God the Holy Ghost will favour me with an answer, I, and I think many of our dear brethren, who labour and groan, being burdened, will feel obliged; for there are many professed ministers, who, instead of administering bread, give chaff; instead of fish, a scorpion; instead of food, gravel stones; in short, who appear not to be God's mouth to the people.

Sept. 12, 1839.

A REJECTED ONE.