master, he brings us to Christ in a wretched state, because a man that is taught out of the law of God is in a state of fear. The law is holy, just and good; but we are carnal, sold under sin. The law requires love to God, and love to our neighbour. The law requires perfection, a perfect righteousness; perfection in thought, word, and deed. Thus, dear child of God, I have endeavoured to shew you who these Gentiles are. Under the teaching of God's law, they are greatly distressed; and the Lord knows the poor Jew speaks sincerely before you. When such was the grief of my heart, when brought feelingly in guilty before God, that I thought if I died in that state, damnation must be my lot: and I should not have been much mistaken, if I had died in that state, at enmity against God. I must get a better state from the Lord: "To him shall the Jews and Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." The Lord taught me by his law, and broke my pride. I thought by crying, praying, and fasting, to wipe away all my score of sin, just like the Papists, who copy their religion from the Jews. Thus, as they are taught by Tishovo, Tefelo, Itzdoko, they imagine, to put away the judgment of God. As are the Papists, so are the Arminians; they are striving to make a covering for their nakedness. But truly the child of God is stripped: while the law breaks the back of his pride, the love of God, in the pardon of his sin, breaks his heart. One breaks his pride, and the other breaks his heart: brings him with contrition, and godly sorrow, to the feet of Jesus: "When we were without Christ, being aliens from the commonwealth of Israel, and strangers from the covenants of promise, having no hope, and with out God in the world.' Now and then the dear Lord gives me some incomings, a little refreshing coming into my heart, lighting down, like the dew, the sweet breathings of the Spirit in my soul, producing meekness of spirit, compunction of heart, so that my pride is broken, my proud lusts subdued; and with tears I can cry like a child, "Dear Lord, thou can'st save me." Some years back, as I once said to my brother, with whom I was very friendly, more than twenty years ago, when speaking to the Bishop of Jerusalem, that Christ came to save some guilty sinners, but I did not think he would save me, I was such an awful character, such an awful blasphemer; yea, said I, you know how I have blasphemed his dear name, and delighted to ridicule him, will the glorious Jesus save me, such a guilty wretch as I am? How, how great is the goodness of the Lord, the poor child of God expects to sink down to hell; but he has a little breathing-time, a little hope that the Lord will appear, a little faith granted, and a little strength communicated, so that he is enabled to say, Why art thou cast down, 0 my soul," put thy trust in the Lord. Sometimes the poor child is under such gloom and dejection that if he has any sort of labour to perform, he gives up, retires to his chamber, feeling such a heaviness over his spirit, that he really thinks his burden of guilt will sink him to hell, that he is dead gone, and all is over. blessed Spirit now and then gives him a word of comfort, so that these Gentiles, under these circumstances, are enabled to seek him: "To it shall the Gentiles seek." Some that for many years diligently attended the means, always as soon as the doors were opened, the poor Gentile, and a poor Jew, were there, feeling a union to the Lord Jesus; the devil set in so hot that he suggested the poor soul was like the door on its hinges, backward and forward, no 66 The better, that the gospel being faithfully preached, and no benefit seemingly derived, it would prove his damnation. "Oh," says the poor soul, "I will give it all up, go no more." The poor creature came to the determination to go no more; but on the Sunday morning he had got into such dreadful gloom, the devil began to taunt him with setting lightly by Christ and his salvation; that by his forsaking the house of God he would be lost for ever, never be saved-all his hope had well-nigh vanished. Well, thought the poor creature, this is a dreadful state to be in; at last it came into his mind he might as well go and take a walk: "To it shall the Gentiles seek." He went for a walk, and after travelling about for some time, he looked up to see where he was, and found himself by Regent Street, seeing the chapel, the suggestion in his mind was, "Let us go in, who can tell but that the Lord may return, repent, and leave a blessing behind him." The dear man came with "Who can tell." God gave him a blessing; the Jew was made a blessing, he got a blessed lift, the Lord delivered his soul from that very time. Thus God works, and none shall let or hinder; they that seek shall find. Now comes the voice of the Son of God: "Come unto me all ye that labour, and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." Now come the invitations; are there no invitations in the Bible? Blessed be God to poor, needy, guilty sinners, there are invitations to come, and the poor soul is fearful it is not to him: but the Lord inclines the heart to come, subdues his rebellious will, wins his affections, moulds and melts him down, blesses him with this promise: "And the Spirit and the bride say, come, and let him that heareth say, come, (and let him that knows the gospel of Jesus Christ say come,) and let him that is athirst come, and take of the water of life freely." Oh, every one Oh, every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters; take of the water of life freely. How did you walk the way to God? He made you willing in the day of his power; he taught you to come, shewing you that there was none in heaven or on earth that could do your soul good: "To it shall the Gentiles seek." He shall be assisted in prayer, in the public means, in the house of God, everything will (if the Lord helps him) assist him; his heart and soul will be in the work. But sometimes such may be the state of the dear child of God, he may have such a weariness upon him that there will be no relish for the public ordinances, his heart will sink within him, and the devil come in with a "Shall you not be damned now?" I speak it with shame, such has been my state, that ere now I have closed my Bible, setting down in my chamber bemoaning myself, in a moment a word dropped into my mind, and I have taken up a book of old Berridge, and have trembled that such a miserable wretch as I dare take up that good man's book; but the first text, over the hymn, came feelingly and with power, was, "And I will raise up for them a plant of renown, and they shall no more be consumed with hunger in the land, neither bear the shame of the heathen any more." Yea, "Why art thou cast down." I could then say, "Oh my soul, hope thou in God, for I shall yet praise him." Yes, the child of God shall be blessed by the preaching of the everlasting gospel; let hypocrites in Zion say what they may, they know nothing about the matter: "To it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious.' We come now to his rest; what is this rest? When Christ calls, his voice is mighty. The voice of the Lord is mighty, dividing the flames of fire. If Jesus comes, his voice is mighty; for where the word of a king is there is power. If he calls you, though possessed of a legion of devils, like the mad Gaderene, he will bring you to your right mind, to set down and think about a precious Christ, where the dear Lord will appear unto your soul, thus constituting this glorious rest. Who are the characters that seek this rest? All those who are convinced of sin will have no rest only in the precious blood of Christ. There is the grand point; there it flows like a river, coming sweetly into thy heart. Did you ever have this precious blood coming into your conscience; not only in name but in the life and power of it? The precious blood of Christ that speaketh better things than that of Abel, it speaks peace to the conscience, and causeth a sweet and solemn rest to the soul. There is then a rest that remaineth for the people of God, and what a sweet rest it is "When tired with toil, The child of God can enter here, Here the child of God can sit down at the dear feet of Christ, with sweet peace of soul, finding rest from temptation; here he walks in the light of God's countenance, here he finds the rest glorious: "His rest shall be glorious" when time shall be no more; the poor child of God will then rest from sin, sorrow, temptation, doubts and fears, finding a glorious rest in heaven for ever. pleasure, at Stonehouse, near Ply. mouth, Devon, is this epistle, in brotherly love, and christian affection, sent, saluting my beloved brother, soldier, and fellow-heir of eternal glory, in the language of that bold veteran, Paul, to the Thessalonians, 2nd epistle, iii. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, “Finally, brethren, pray for us, that the word of the Lord may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you. and that we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked men, for all men have not faith; but the Lord is faithful, who shall establish and you, keep you from evil, and we have confidence in the Lord touching you, that ye both do, and will do the we command you. things which And the Lord direct your heart into the love of God, and into the patient And the 2nd waiting for Christ." chap., 16 and 17 v. "Now our Lord Jesus Christ himself, and God even our Father, which hath loved us, and hath given us everlasting consolation, and good hope through grace, comfort your hearts and stablish you in every good word and work." Oh, my dear brother, is there not cause for comfort, seeing that we are surrounded by the three glorious persons in the godhead, the Father being God, the Son being God, and the Holy Ghost being equally God. And oh, my brother, I feel myself lost in wonder and adoration, and long to praise them evermore, for their joint co-operative work, in covenant engagement and everlasting settlements, concerning such poor, ill and hell-deserving worms of the earth; that the glorious Trinity should concur in our salvation, the Father to choose or elect, the Son to redeem, the Holy Ghost to quicken and raise us from a death in sin to a newness of life in a precious Jesus. Oh, brother, what, call us by his operative power, with an holy calling, as a development of that glorious and wonderful transac tion that took place in the councils of eternity, before we had a personal existence here in this waste howling wilderness, and determine in infinite wisdom, from everlasting, that neither sin, devil, death, or hell, should ever prevent us from entering the portals of glory, to enjoy the sweet and glorious company of the triune Jehovah, throughout the countless ages of a never-ending eternity! Aye, and so to predestinate us to eternal life, as to secure us, in the very heart of God, even for our life to be hid with Christ, in God, safe hiding place! Brother, here we are enabled, in the strength of the Lord our God, to laugh that old roaring lion, the black king of the bottomless pit, to scorn, being so well and so safely protected by the strong arm of omnipotence "On every side we're guarded well, 66 Brother beloved, my dear Lord hath made me delight to rest upon the delectable mountains and the everlasting hills of God's love, decrees, purposes, final settlements, faithfulness, oath, and promise, and in the stability of his everlasting covenant, which is ordered well, and in all things sure: oh, hear the word of the Lord your God, For I am God, I change not, therefore ye, the sons of Jacob, are not consumed;" no, blessed be his holy name, He hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation, through our Lord Jesus Christ. Oh, here is something to rest our eternal concerns on, a covenantmaking, keeping, and performing God, for he is not a man that can lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. No; blessed be his glorious majesty, that whom he loved once, he loves to the end; no variation in him; all the variation is in our frames and feelings but he is of one mind, and none can turn him. Well, then, having been predestinated to eternal life, long before yon beautifully-be : spangled sky appeared in its present order, or that bright luminary of day shone forth with such brilliancy, which proclaims aloud the glorious handiwork of nature's God. Each and every blood-bought child of God, though their sins might have been as black as hell, or of a crimson hue, having been saved in the Lord, with an everlasting salvation, must, yea, there is no alternative, must enter the uninterrupted realms of joy and felicity, as sure as there is a glorious God in heaven; for their sins. though multitudinous as the stars in the firmament, or the sands on the sea shore, were all and every of them laid upon Christ, the sinner's Surety, and he bore them all in his own body, and paid the dreadful score, and laid down his life as a libation for the same, and ransomed the church, and every individual member composing his mystic body, by his most precious and invaluable blood, so that we are washed and cleansed so clean as though we had never sinned, cleansed by his blood, justified in his righteousness. Holy in his holiness, perfect in his perfection; there, to sum it up in a small compass, the whole of the blood royal are all fair; there's not even one spot, wrinkle, or any such thing, seen by God the Father in her, for she is beheld in her everlasting Head, and his beauty or comeliness was put upon her; aye, to the whole of the blood royal, sons and daughters of the Lord God Almighty. Hallelujah! for the Lord God Omnipotent reigneth; let the children of Zion be glad in their King. "The captive exiles set at large, I am aware that some will call me presumptuous. What of that, let God be true, and every man a liar that dare confront the same, whether he be Pope, Puseyite, which are no less than twin brothers, or any other heresiarch who dare deny the final perseverance of the saints to everlasting glory. Here I who am nothing in myself but a poor, insignificant worm, take my stand for the honour of my dear Lord, and for the comforting of his dear blood-bought feeble sheep, in the midst of a Goddishonouring, apostatizing, crooked, and perverse generation, that to, or left in the silent grave, and our immortal spirit wing its way up to the glorious realms of unbounded joy and felicity, "Where sin and death shall be destroy'd, "Not one of all the blood-bought race, But shall be sav'd, by sovereign grace; Each shall be wash'd by blood divine, And like bright stars in glory shine." And no other. Ah, say some, here's a pretty doctrine. Then we may go on Gallio like, and live as we list. Now to such, I would say, stop friend, stop, it appears that you were never let into the secret, for if you know what an inestimable blessing salvation by blood is, your tone would be altered, for really our trouble is because we cannot live as we list, for had we our desire granted, we should be completely or superlatively far beyond the angelic spirits, although, by the by, we are that already. But if you mean to say that the glorious doctrine referred to, gives licence has a tendency to cause live in sin, we deny that in toto. For the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, implanted in the soul, as a development to the senses of the glorious covenant transactions of, the ever-blessed and glorious Three, in eternity, hath quite a different effect or tendency, for it causeth us to hate sin with a perfect hatred, knowing that it caused our glorious Head, precious Jesus, to groan, sweat, bleed, and at last die on the cross on Calvary's mount. Oh, we long for the happy moment to arrive when we shall drop this lump of corruption, that is so often such a clog to our immortal spirit. Oh, how oft it prevents our sweet communion with the dearest of all the names above, our Saviour and our God. us to our And God eternally enjoyed.” But oh, the time is fast approaching when our corruptible part shall be Ah, my brother, Don't you long, and pant, and sigh, But anxious wait, that blissful day, With anthems to th' eternal King; A precious Christ is all their song, While endless ages roll along. Now, most beloved brother, with whom I fully anticipate spending an endless and most glorious eternity, when with us time shall be no more. Oh, the thought is sweet indeed, beyond expression. What, to spend |