verse again, how sweet-that suits us! Well, does it not? for by grace alone we are saved. "Grace! 'tis a charming sound." Now where is boasting. O bless the Lord I know now that nothing is too hard for King Jesus to do. He has saved me. I have no fear, all sorrow is gone. The Lord's day before her departure some friends called to see her; her joys ran so high, she insisted on singing, and they with her; she joined with a sweet smile, and delightful countenance; took a most affectionate leave of them, with all her children. In the evening of the same day, a kind sister, with part of her family, called. Having conversed with great freedom and pleasure, said, We must leave you for the present, as it is near time to offer up our evening oblation; we will see you to-morrow, should the Lord spare us and you.' Thank you,' she said, 'the Lord bless you, comfort, and keep all of you. I am fully persuaded I shall see you in glory! She was asked, Have you any thing to say to your minister? O yes! yes! give my tender love to him; tell him I bless the Lord for sending him to this place; and if he is pleased to say any thing about me to the dear people of God, let it be all of Jehovah's love, goodness, and mercy; for sure I am, it is all of God's grace that makes us to differ from those now in Tophet. Yes, I know, that our dear Mr. will tell all the people that I am a poor sinner, saved alone by the rich, free, sovereign grace of our triune Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit. Pray say also to our dear pastor, that I am as happy as I can be, till absent from the body. I pray his divine Lord and Master to bless him with the church and people abundantly; they are all very dear to me; but my thrice precious Jesus is much more so. O his love tokens delight and refresh my soul; the sting of death is taken away, I am without fear; I am ready to depart; my children are no burthen; I have given them up to the Lord; all my affairs are settled for this life. O the blessedness of Immanuel's sweet presence! Remember me this evening in our little Bethel. I have had many blessed moments there! Again, she broke out praising and singing; then prayed affectionately for the friends present, and absent; and then sang "Come thou fount of ev'ry blessing, Tune my heart to sing thy grace; Call for songs of loudest praise." After requesting that and the following one to be sung at her funeral, "Hail! sovereign love, that first began, She took an affectionate farewell of them with her children, and fell asleep in Jesus the next morning about seven o'clock. Christian reader, indulge the writer to say to thee, What a blessed proof of Jehovah's love, faithfulness, grace, and power was our dear departed sister! How encouraging for you and I to hear, that for nearly forty years passing through this world, much, yea, surely tried, tempted with doubts and fears, yet in death triumphing in the everlasting love of God, and the great salvation of Christ, by the power of the Holy Ghost. Therefore, "wait on the Lord; be of good courage; and he shall strengthen thine heart: wait, I say on the Lord!" Birmingham. W W. UNION TO CHRIST. [FROM SIR RICHARD HILL'S "DEEP THINGS OF GOD."] THE Lord passes his love over upon a soul, and takes it into cove→ nant with himself, whilst it is in a state of enmity and rebellion against him, and dead in trespasses and sins. But the soul cannot be taken into covenant with God, and yet remain unpardoned; for if the covenant be not a covenant of peace and reconciliation, and if it do not actually reinstate the soul into that favour with God, which was forfeited by the fall, it does nothing. Every elect sinner, then, is a partaker of the gospel salvation, and is brought into a state of reconciliation, whilst he is "in his blood," totally unconverted, " an enemy to God, ungodly, without strength," without faith, without repentance, or any one holy disposition. Rom. v. 6, 7, 8, 9, 10. In consequence of the Lord's having loved, betrothed, and espoused to himself the elect sinner in all his enmity and in all his filthiness, and having freely forgiven him all trespasses, the quickening Spirit visits his heart in a way of conviction of sin, Col. i. 21, 22. Col. ii. 13, 14. Eph. ii. 4, 5. discovering to him its "exceeding sinfulness," filling him with a restless desire to be delivered from its guilt, punishment, and power; and causing him anxiously to seek out for that remedy which the scriptures hold forth. Now will any one affirm, that the soul in such a state, is under the curse of the law; that it is not taken into covenant with God; and that it hath no union with Christ? What! whilst the Spirit of Christ has possession of the heart! Surely such an assertion is big with absurdity, and at once says, that there is and is not reconciliation; and that though Christ be in the sinner, and one with him, yet that the sinner is not in Christ, and not one with him. It will be said, that conviction of sin precedes faith and regeneration, and that a sinner cannot be interested in any of the gospel blessings till he believes, nor till he is regenerate and born again. I answer, Faith doth indeed discover to the elect sinner, that he is taken into covenant wfth God; doth shew him that the law's curse is removed from him to his surety; and that through faith it is that the Spirit manifests to the soul its adoption into the family of God; yea, that it is through faith only, the elect sinner receives Christ in all his offices, as his Prophet, Priest, and King; and therefore it is, that such great things are spoken of faith, and thus it is said to justify : yet, who but an idiot in divinity, would say that the grace of faith justifies, or that it reconciles to God, any otherwise than by laying hold of, or making known to the elect soul that perfect righteousness which it bath in Christ, its head; of whom the soul is "apprehended” before it "apprehends" Christ. In a word, to say that there is no being in covenant with God, no interest in gospel blessings, no pardon, reconciliation, or justification, no union with Christ, no redemption from the curse of the law, no acceptance with God (for these are synonymous terms) before conviction of sin, nor before faith and regeneration, is to make all that dependent upon inherent grace which is itself the ground and foundation of that very grace; consequently, it makes the cause to flow from the effect, instead of the effect from the cause: at the same time that it favours too much of a refined sort of justification by works, and holds forth a very uncomfortable idea to distressed, awakened consciences. It will not, however, be found so certain as some imagine, that conviction of sin precedes faith and regeneration. The truth is, that in order of time they all take place together, insomuch that no one can be convinced of sin without a degree of faith in the scripture testimony; and no one is either convinced of sin, or has faith without being born again; a convinced, unregenerate believer, being a contradiction in terms. "What therefore God hath joined together, let no man put asunder." But though conviction of sin, faith, and regeneration, all take place at once, and are all complete works of God, as much as justification itself is complete (since no one can be half a convinced sinner, half a believer, half born again, any more than he can be half justified) yet do they all admit of degrees and growth, though justification admits of neither. That is to say, the soul that is convinced of sin grows in the knowledge of the evil, and of the "exceeding sinfulness of sin;" and still attains greater degrees of this knowledge as it advances in the divine life, though its original conviction be a perfect work of the Spirit. 2dly. The soul that upon its first awakening has but faith enough to put it on the flight to Christ, yea, though its faith be but as a grain of mustard-seed, and though it be impeded in its progress by mountains of self-righteousness, and by dark thick clouds of unbelief, has as much received a complete Saviour as the most advanced believer, though it may be many years before such a soul attains to the full assurance of faith, and perhaps may never attain to it at all. 3dly. The soul which is thus far convinced of sin, and is thus far looking to Christ, is as much born again of the Spirit, and new created, as the most exalted saint can be; but as the natural babe "grows in all its parts, so doth the new born spiritual babe grow in grace, and in the knowledge of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ." In this sense though regeneration itself be at first perfect, yet doth the new born child of grace grow and increase till it arrive at the full sta→ ture of a young man and father in Christ. In brief, there can be no intermediate state or moment between spiritual death and spiritual life; between unbelief and faith; between unregeneracy and being born again; and therefore, the soul that has experienced the first quickening influences of the Holy Ghost, is as much passed from death unto life, and as much freed from curse and condemnation as if he were already in heaven. RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE. On the 13th of November, a Public Meeting was held at the London Coffee House, Ludgate Hill, when a Society was formed, to be designated, "The City of London Society for the Suppression of Sunday Trading." Sir ANDREW AGNEW, Bart. presided. The Meeting was addressed by several Ministers and Gentlemen; and resolutions adopted for the purpose of facilitating the proper observance of the Sabbath-day. We have on our table the Report from the Select Committee of the House of Commons on the subject; and we sincerely hope, that the manufacturers and tradesmen of London will aid the object by the payment of wages earlier than is now usually done. POETRY. SOVEREIGN GRACE. Oн, who the heights and depths can trace Or who the lengths and breadths can tell? 'Tis more than seraphs can explore 'Tis as a sea without a shore; From Israel's triune God it flows, Who once against their Saviour fought, God's sov'reign grace is ever free : -- By those the world deem wise and good A mystery only by Him taught, To whom should every praise be brought; Northamptonshire. LITTLE-FAITH. ZION'S DWELLING-PLACE. OTнOU who wast the dwelling place, Of thy belov'd elected race, Ere time his course begun : Whose firm immutable decree, Chose us, and gave us all to thee, Whose blood shed on mount Calv'ry, Confirm'd the eternal plan. When blood of bulls could ne'er atone, For sins against the eternal throne, Nor justice satisfy : The book was open'd, there 'twas read, That thou, our great High Priest and head, Should'st come and suffer in our stead, And bring us wand'rers nigh. How vast thy grace! how free thy I love! Which while we all such rebels prove By nature prone to stray: Could ever pluck us thence. E'er since, that blood has been the plea, Oxford, July, 1832. Of every soul made meet to be, When Israel kill'd the Paschal lamb, Whilst strangers in the land of Ham, (Where we are strangers too): The blood was sprinkl'd o'er the door, Their first-born's blood kept them secure, For he was slain long time before And while we walk life's dreary way, Yet nought can harm, still we're secure, Thou hast the keys of hell's dark door, Not men nor devils can do more, Than thy command fulfil. And when in heaven we take our LINES, G. R. Written impromptu upon reading a sentence (page 229) in the communication of "T. W. H. on Salvation," in the Spiritual Magazine for Jan. 1832. ALAS! and did the heart of man More base than that of devils prove; When 'twas for him th' Saviour came To suffer 'neath his Father's frown, Incarnate thro' the Virgin's womb; Then man his bitterest foe became, All from the manger to the tomb. When he put forth his rightful claim, As Lord of men, and angels too; Man mock'd, despis'd: while angels wept, And devils smil'd the scene to view. When on the accursed tree he hung, A sacrifice of human guilt; Hell trembl'd, but base man rejoic'd, And mock'd the agonies he felt. Oh man and could it be to thee, His unreserv'd salvation came; Who thus return'd a Saviour's love, And pour'd dishonour on his name. VIATOR. |