are still within the inner gates of the King's palace. May they richly enjoy the presence of the King, and mystically live in all the splendour, dignity, and independence which become royal blood, princes, kings and priests unto God, and joint-heirs with Christ. Well may the inquiry be made, "Who is she that looketh forth as the morning, fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with banners?" How is the poor widowed Mrs. O- -? Does she know the widow's best Friend, or rather, is she known of him? Remember me kindly to her, and I wish it was in my power to do more than remember her. Pray do you know whether Mr. B. visits your place of meeting? if he does, and you know him, give my hearty respects to him. He knows something of what flesh and blood is, and, I trust, what it is to be a King's son, or daughter if you like, all glorious within. I should like much to see him. I often think of him. The company of those who do in very deed know the plague of their own heart is truly valuable, and never in all my life did I know so much of their intrinsic worth as I do at the present time. He formerly lived at and if he is still walking about in his tabernacle of clay, it is very likely he has fallen in with your society at You will render me a great kindness by inquiring after him; and if you should see him, tell him that my first Adam is not a jot better than it was forty years ago, and that I trust he will join with me in rejoicing in Christ Jesus, putting no confidence in the flesh. I am glad to hear that there is even food for babes to be had in my old neighbourhood; for as to very strong meat, it is rare indeed to find much of that in public preaching; it is too astounding, too marvellous, too great, and grand, and glorious; who can hear it? It is more likely to be found amongst the twos and threes in more private intercourse. Indeed, it is somewhat difficult to define what strong meat is; for the fact is, I want it stronger and stronger every week I live; I want strong meat, and strong brandy-like drink; and indeed, I soon begin to faint without it. I frequently think of our old friend Fowler and his Shulamite. If you have it by you, I should almost have impertinence enough to beg the loan of it from you for a week or two, as it strikes me very forcibly I should discover some fresh beauties in it, or that it would particularly suit my present and past experience; for I indeed find a law in my members warring against the law of my mind, and bringing me into captivity to the law of sin which is in my members; so that how to perform that which I would I find not, neither do I find how to leave off performing that which I would not. Well, then, I conclude that the apostle spoke forth something like the words of truth and soberness when he declared that "the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh, and that these two were contrary the one to the other, so that ye cannot do the things that ye would." No, verily, neither on one side nor the other, for the spirit is prevented ofttimes from doing its will, and no less is the flesh prevented from performing its vile and impetuous propensities; for to will is present with me in both cases, but I can go no farther in many instances. And how long is this war to continue? why, till this great giant flesh, with all his sensual and devilish propensities, is slain, and laid for ever in the dust. I have been ruminating on that testimony of the Spirit through John; "Whosoever is born of God sinneth not; he cannot sin, because he is born of God." Now, comparing this with the apostle Paul's experience and consequent assertion; It is no more I that sin, but sin that dwelleth in me," I come to this conclusion, namely, that my flesh or animal nature is as distinct from my new-born spirit as Satan is from Christ, and there fore that it is as impossible to make the one holy as it is to make the other unholy; nor can I conceive of any possible means by which that first Adam nature can be controlled or kept in subjection but by the mighty power of the Lord of Hosts; nay, further, it seems as though there was as great a necessity for the action and manifestation of sin to be in the one nature, as there is for the manifestation and experience of righteousness in the other. When the Lord cursed the ground, and said "briers and thorns shall it bring forth," (mark! not merely that it will bring forth, but shall,) which mystically was intended that which is earthly, sensual, and devilish. And so when the disciples said, "Didst thou not sow good seed in thy field; whence, then, bath it tares? wouldst thou that we go and pluck them out?" "Nay," said the divine, mystical Husbandman, "let them both grow together until the harvest, and then, and not till then, shall they be separated the one from the other." By this, I presume, was intended not so much the world and the church, as it was to show the precise circumstances of flesh and spirit, and that the outward man should never fail to produce the tares of corruption and unrighteousness, to the constant annoyance of the inner man, which is pure even as God is pure. When, my dear friends, you favour me with another letter, which I trust will not be long, you will perhaps indulge me with some of your reflections on the above very momentous matter. SPIRITUAL CORRESPONDENCE. R. T. TO THE EDITORS OF THE GOSPEL STANDARD. Dear Sirs, I desire to bless the Lord that he has enabled you to continue the Gospel Standard another year. I am often the subject of so much unbelief, so much darkness of mind and distress of soul, that at times I am led to believe that my religion is all empty profession and hypocrisy, that my prayers are an affront to the Almighty, and that I am altogether under the delusion of the devil. Yet at times I think, in looking over the pages of the Standard, where some poor soul has been setting forth his experience, that I have discovered a little of my own, and a ray of hope has sprung up that I am treading in the footsteps of the flock; and this encourages me. Perhaps it may be for the comfort of some poor soul, under the hidings of God's countenance, to send you a little account of the way and manner the Lord has been pleased to deal with me, since he called me by his grace, and enabled me to flee for refuge to lay hold of the hope set before me in the gospel. I can look back to the time when the Lord was pleased first to set my soul at liberty, when I enjoyed much of the presence of Christ, and lived much under the cheering rays of divine influence. The warming south wind the Holy Spirit blows upon the garden, when the spices thereof flow out. (Song iv. 16.) O how my soul was ravished with delight! I was ready to sacrifice all for Christ and his cause; but ere long I felt a chilliness I never felt before; my love to Jesus began to wax cold; I wondered, and could not account for the change I felt; not knowing, lacking experience, that the Lord was about to teach me to know myself, that I might know and enjoy a precious Christ more fully. Blessed teaching this, though painful to my poor carnal nature. A storm appeared to gather thick around me, and I now felt alarmed, for the first time, lest, (if I were a child of God,) I should make shipwreck of faith. A darkness came over my mind; I could see nothing of the beauty I once saw in Christ; felt little of the love to Jesus I once felt and en joyed; could not feed upon the precious promises of the gospel as heretofore, having no application of them to my soul by the power of the Holy Ghost. I now went many days without a meal, just enabled now and then to take a sip of the brook by the way; trials and afflictions of almost every kind began to increase; I was ready to give up all for lost; I neglected the word of truth, which is able, under the teachings of the Spirit, to make wise unto salvation; experienced nothing of the promises of the gospel, which are as an anchor to the soul; felt nothing like the firm hold I thought I once had of Christ by faith, who is God over all, blessed for ever; went from the Head, the Lord Jesus Christ, to the stern, taking hold of a broken covenant of works in one hand, and embracing self-righteousness with the other; was driven about in a horrible darkness, such a darkness that was indeed felt in my poor soul, and I believe is often felt by the child of God when he gets into a cold, backsliding state, and loses the light of God's countenance; was indeed cast into deep waters of soul-trouble and distress, and was made to cry out, as did Peter, "Lord, save me." Whilst in this awful state, the language of the prophet broke in upon my soul; "Fear thou not, for I am with thee; be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness." (Isa. xli. 10.) And again, "Fear not, for I have redeemed thee, I have called thee by thy name; thou art mine. When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee: when thou walkest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned; neither shall the flame kindle upon thee.” (Isa. xliii. 1, 2.) Thus, I bless the name of Jehovah, I was led to sing of his mercy and goodness, and to say with the wife of Manoah, "If the Lord had intended to kill us, he would not have showed us all these things." (Judges xiii. 23.) Yet, dear Sirs, I am often ready to say with Newton at times, being full of doubts and fears; ""Tis a point I long to know, Oft it causes anxious thought, Ye that love the Lord indeed, Tell me, is it thus with you?" you, who have felt the love of Christ shed abroad in your hearts by the inwrought work and power of the Holy Ghost. I ask it not of those who profess a free grace gospel, but are graceless professors, and there are hundreds such, who are ever crying out that they love a precious Christ, and delight to hear his dear and blessed name exalted, and profess to love the preacher too who sets it forth, so long as he preaches only the doctrines. Precious truths indeed! But when the servant of the Lord comes forth with the knife of God's truth, and insists upon vital godliness in the soul, and that every one born of the Spirit must and will know that the doctrines are blessed by experience, or that he knows nothing savingly; when he begins to separate the precious from the vile, and to cut away all the useless suckers and unfruitful branches, (John xv. 2;) immediately these stony ground hearers begin to be offended, and cry out that the preacher is in a bad spirit, or that he is too personal, and some go so far as to say that he does not preach Jesus Christ. But where, by the by, do you find such men of God now? Taken up up with men who hold the truth in unrighteousness, the poor things are not able to distinguish between truth and error, and cannot discover the difference between that species of refined Arminianism, renovation, and regeneration; and I believe, Sirs, some that are the Lord's children, (very weak ones, but who think they know a great deal,) are in this situation. May the Lord show them where they are and what they are, and bring them to prize a separating ministry, and not to be led away by every Jack-o'-lantern, that tends only to lead them into quagmires and muddy places, lest they be plunged into the ditch, and have to cry out that their own clothes abhor them. (Job ix. 31.) J. Sirs, With every respect, I beg to make a communication to you concerning your Gospel Standard. You, as spiritual conductors, ought to know how it is vilified and abused from the pulpit, as it was last Thursday week, July 18, and called, in contempt, the "Standard of Corruption," and that "those who were considered the best writers therein were those who could write the most of their abominations, and instead of it being worthy to be called the name it now bears, the Standard of Corruption' is its proper one." But to heighten the scene, and S- were present. Mr. C. is over a church at D and preaching for Mr. T-———. Messrs. CMr. S. is from N. Yet, after hearing all that was said, the next Thursday evening Mr. C. preached in the same pulpit, and Mr. S. has agreed to do the same on the 7th of August. Then surely they must allow the propriety of the minister's remarks, and, therefore, dear Sirs, there must be something wrong. The person who made the remarks holds all the high doctrines of our most holy faith; but is very strong on God's damnation, and often roundly asserts that God's decree is the cause of man's damnation, and that not on account of his sin; and the following is a favourite text of his: "He hath made all things for himself, even the wicked for the day of evil;" and whatever portion of Scripture can be gathered of a similar nature, he is constantly in the habit of dwelling on it. Plymouth, Devonshire. J. T. [We have omitted the latter part of this letter, because the last sentence is quite enough to satisfy us as to the state of the minister referred to.-EDS. EDITORS' REMARKS. "A Constant Reader" has sent us a work entitled, "The Life and Death of J. O'Reilly, once a Roman Catholic Student," desiring our thoughts thereon, and stating that it has been "highly spoken of in the (so-called) Spiritual Magazine,” though he (our correspondent) believes we would "rather throw it into the fire." It is not our general rule to review works that have not been sent for the purpose by the author or publisher, and it would perhaps be quite as well if we never did so, because we perceive we may be easily led into the snare of gratifying the curiosity of some, and the splenetic intentions of others. However, we have looked over the Life of Joseph O'Reilly, and from what is related of his experience and death, we believe he was a vessel of mercy, and taught of God, though he must have been in a great measure buried in the religious lumber of the day. The pamphlet has evidently been written by some rotten, blind professor, as the legal and fleshly-religion style of it shows; but still, underneath the rubbish which the biographer has thrown upon it, we can see something of the peculiar shade of true metal. Our correspondent adds, that many would be disappointed if they purchased the work on the recommendation of the magazine above alluded to; but how can this be? Those who can regularly read with comfort any magazine, surely can read without much disappointment the works recommended therein, otherwise the Editors are not much to be trusted by them. Mr. Stenson has sent us a letter repudiating our remarks in our July No. on his hymn book. Had we adhered to our general rule, as hinted at above, we should have spared ourselves the pain of having to read such expressions, from a professed minister of the gospel, as "barefaced effrontery," ," "marked contempt," "lying scandal," &c., and Mr. S. would have been spared the shame of writing them. We do not feel disposed to go through his wordy epistle, for we are sure our readers would not thank us, seeing that if we adopted a rule of replying to aggrieved authors because of our reviews, we might always be at strife. Suffice it to say, that our opinion is not one whit changed, though we have read the original hymns which Mr. S. recommended to our notice. As regards Mr. S.'s charitable suspicion, however, we must observe to him, that the person to whom he alludes never saw the matter before it was in print, and we do not know whether he has seen it even now. It did not spring either from him or any person immediately connected with him THE GOSPEL STANDARD, OR, FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT. "Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6. "Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."-2 Tim. i. 9. "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7. "If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.-In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19. No. 46. OCTOBER, 1839. VOL. V. NO JUSTIFICATION FOR ANGELS OR MEN BY THE LAW OF WORKS. "Whoso looketh into the perfect law of liberty, and continueth therein, he being not a forgetful hearer, but a doer of the work, this man shall be blessed in his deed, or doing." (James i. 25.) Therefore, my beloved brethren, "so speak ye, and so do, as they that shall be judged by THE LAW OF LIBERTY;" for the law of liberty is full of mercy and good fruits, therefore, "he shall have judgment without mercy, that hath showed no mercy; and mercy rejoiceth or glorieth against judgment." (James ii. 12, 13.) I write unto you, my beloved brethren, because "you know the truth, and the truth hath made you free." (John viii. 32.) “Whosoever committeth sin is the servant of sin. And the servant abideth not in the house for ever; but the Son abideth ever. As the Son therefore hath made you free, ye are free indeed." (John viii. 35, 36.) There are certain things recorded in the Holy Scriptures for our notice, like light-houses at sea for the safety of mariners. Amongst these things, there are two which are mentioned by way of preface to the doctrine under consideration, because they are sea-marks to the spiritual mariner, to beware of the real Antinomians, for such they are, who are opposed to the LAW OF FAITH, either in doctrine or in practice. 1. The apostles and elders and brethren send greeting unto the brethren which are of the Gentiles in Antioch and Syria and Cilicia; Forasmuch as we have heard, that certain which went out from us have troubled you with words, subverting your souls, saying, Ye must be circumcised, and keep the law; to whom we gave no such commandment. For it seemed good to the Holy Ghost, and to us, to lay upon K |