up to this time was continually waiting upon him; but now all help or relief was vain, and all we now could do was to watch him, and it became very painful, seeing he so laboured for breath. It was therefore suggested that she should leave the room. But I said the Lord could relieve him; and we bowed the knee, and entreated the Lord that he would ease him. When I arose from my knees, the relief in his breathing was so evident that we could not but acknowledge the visible hand of the Lord in answer to prayer.

My daughter has lost a good husband, and his brothers and sister say they have lost a good brother; but their loss is his eternal gain. Godalming.

A. WELMAN. HANNAH LITHERLAND.-On Dec. 17th, 1879, aged 69, Hannah Litherland, the wife of Mr. Thomas Litherland, of Haydock.

Mr. Litherland was the principal instrument in getting men of truth to preach the gospel in the village of Haydock, near Liverpool; and was the principal man in procuring a chapel to be built in that place, after many years' struggle. The church was formed in his house on Sept. 24th, 1848, by Mr. William Vaughan, then of Liverpool, now of Bradford. At this place many of the old ministers of the gospel who are now dead used to preach in rooms in the village, until the new chapel was built a few years ago. Among these were Mr. Kershaw, Mr. McKenzie, Mr. Collinge, and Mr. Clough. Those men were dear to Mrs. Hannah Litherland, who is now gone to join them in songs of everlasting love. She was a lover of good men, and a lover of the Lord Jesus Christ, the sinner's Friend, of whom she could sometimes say, "He is altogether lovely." She was baptized by Mr. Vaughan, and joined the church at Haydock on Jan. 30th, 1850, where she remained an honourable member up to the time of her death. Her house was always open with a hearty welcome to receive the Lord's sent servants, both before and after the church was formed in her house; yes, from the time that the gospel was first proclaimed in that place. Her house was a lodging place for every man of God who proclaimed salvation, rich and free, to weary and heavy-laden souls. As the great woman said to her husband about Elisha, so Mrs. Litherland said to her husband concerning a servant of God, "Let us make a little chamber, I pray thee, on the wall; and let us set a bed, and a table, and a stool, and a candlestick; it shall be, when he cometh to us, that he shall turn in hither." (2 Ki. iv. 14.) Yes, and there God's servants had the best, the very best which that hospitable house could afford. She was a servant of the church at Haydock, and a succourer of many, and of myself also. (Rom. xvi. 1, 2.) Yes, and it may be said of her husband also, who is left to mourn the loss of one of the most tender-hearted and affectionate wives and mothers that ever graced a household, "the bowels of the saints are refreshed by

thee." (Phil. 7.) As Paul said to Timothy concerning Onesiphorus, so it may be said of this man and his household, "The Lord give mercy unto the house of Onesiphorus; for he oft refreshed me, and was not ashamed of my chain." (2 Tim. i. 16.)

Mrs. Litherland was a woman who feared the Lord above many, and thought much upon his name. She was not a great talker; but a very humble walker. She had very humbling views of herself, never presuming to say she was what she was not. Whenever she expressed her feelings, it was "with meekness and fear." She highly valued the grace of God, and said, "If ever my poor soul be saved, it must be by the free grace of God; for I can do nothing towards saving and helping myself." She would sometimes say, "I do hope I love the Lord, his people, and his ways." The Lord's own words to Peter would aptly

apply in her case, "O thou of little faith, wherefore didst thou doubt ?" The writer can speak of one real mark of a child of God that this poor dear weakling possessed above many,-she loved the brethren. And, says John, "We know that we have passed from death unto life, because we love the brethren." (1 Jno. iii. 14.) In this she shone brightly; and this is one of the special marks of a child of God. It has the seal of heaven stamped upon it by the Holy Ghost; and

"The mark of that celestial seal

Can never be erased."

But she possessed other marks of a heaven-born soul, such as "a meek and quiet spirit," and "a tender conscience in the fear of the Lord." These are special marks of a child of God; but she had another; one that every regenerated soul bas, in a lesser or a greater degree. This she carried in her heart, but she bore it patiently, and that was a large share of "tribulation." The Lord says, "In the world ye shall have tribulation; but in me peace." (Jno. xvi. 33.) Mrs. Litherland both lived and died to prove the truth of that portion of God's truth; for in addition to much soul trouble about purely soul matters, she had a large share of family trouble.

Perhaps it would not be wise to enter much into family matters; but it may be well to name one or two things of a painful and afflictive nature to prove what has been said; for where God gives grace he tries it, sometimes as by fire and flood. Her husband was a collier, and was severely burned on several occasions in the coal-pit. On one of these occasions, Mr. Litherland was brought home from an explosion which took place on May 16th, 1831, charred to appearance like a cinder, almost burned to death. His life was despaired of. The neighbours say to this day that it was nothing less than a miracle that he recovered. This took place about two years after he was married to Mrs. Litherland. While this affliction was in the house, Mrs. Litherland gave birth to a son, who lived only ten years, and was killed by falling down a coal-pit thirty yards deep. That child was brought home dead on June 24th, 1841. A painful sight for a dear and affectionate mother to look upon. Another son died of a decline, at the age of twenty-five. A married daughter died of a decline at the age of twenty-eight, leaving three young children. A son, who is now at home, is totally blind. These are a few of the many sore troubles Mrs. Litherland had to pass through in the family circle. She proved the truth of what an ancient poet says in reference to "tribulation;" yes, and what the Word of Goù says of

it too.

"No wider is the gate, no broader is the way;

No sweeter is the ancient path that leads to endless day;
No sweeter is the cup, no less our draught of ill;

'Twas tribulation ages since, 'tis tribulation still."

But in all these troubles she was upheld, supported, and strengthened by the hand of an unerring God. She was brought through all these trials, as well as many others that cannot be named here, with honour and credit, blessing and praising God for all his mercies to such a poor helpless worm. The Lord Jesus Christ was her refuge in all these "times of trouble." What a mercy that "he hears the needy when he crieth, the poor also, and him that hath no helper," and makes a way of escape.

This dear woman often spoke of God's mercies and goodness to her, to her husband, and to the children, and how he had raised up friends to supply their every need. At last she died, in her seventieth year, worn out with care and anxiety, weary of earth and sin, longing to be at home, where the weary traveller enters into rest. She has gone down

to the grave at a good old age, resting on the Rock of ages, the Lord Jesus Christ, the Eternal Son of God, and is now

"Freed from a world of toil and sin,

Eternally with God shut in."

The day before she died she said to her husband, "I wish I was in heaven." "Yes," he said, “and I wish I was there with thee.” Almost with her dying breath she said, "I want heaven;" and the Lord kindly granted the desire of her soul, and took her home, saying, "Fear not, little flock; for it is your Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom." (Lu. xii. 32.) She entered into rest without a struggle or a groan, to be for ever with her Lord.

To conclude. The end of Hannah Litherland was peace in believing in the Name and Person of a once crucified but now risen and exalted Redeemer.

Having known Mrs. Litherland personally for many years, I have been requested by a dear friend of hers to write a few lines, and to send them to be inserted in the "Gospel Standard."

D. S.

THE SPIRITUAL MERCHANTMAN. "For the merchandise of it is better than the merchandise of silver, and the gain thereof than fine gold."-PROV. III. 14.

"I know thy poverty; but thou art rich."-REV. II, 9.

A MERCHANTMAN by grace am I,

And trade in things beyond the sky;
Things that invaluable are,

With which no others can compare.
Better than silver far, or gold,
Or precious stones, of worth untold;
All, all the things of earth are nought
To those in Wisdom's market bought.
I without money go to buy

Of Him who hears the beggar's cry;
I for his treasures humbly crave;

For "ask," he says, "and you shall have.”
He knows that I have nought to pay,

And yet he does not answer nay;
But still invites me to his door,

And gives me grace to ask for more.
I always shall a beggar be,
While on this side eternity;
I have to beg for all I get;

Am rich, yet, strange, a pauper yet.
Dear Lord, I'm glad thou givest free;
Such gifts are gifts indeed to me;
If for those gifts I'd aught to pay,
I should be empty sent away.

July 12th, 1878.

A. H.

"THAT which is born of the Spirit is spirit." Whatever it is that is so born, it is spirit, it hath a spiritual being, and it is not derivable by any means from the principles of nature. So it is said to be "a new creature." (2 Cor. v. 17.)-Owen.

THE

GOSPEL STANDARD.

OCTOBER, 1880.

MATT. V. 6; 2 TIM. I. 9; ROM. XI. 7; ACTS VIII. 37, 38; MATT. XXVIII. 19.

THE HOPE THAT PERFECTS.

SHORT NOTES OF A DISCOURSE BY MR. SHORTER.

"For the law made nothing perfect, but the bringing in of a better hope did; by the which we draw nigh unto God."-HEB. VII. 19.

THE Lord help us to attend for awhile to these three things, in his fear.

I. That the law made nothing perfect;

II. That the bringing in of a better hope did;

III. That by this better hope we draw nigh unto God.

I. The law made nothing perfect. Is, then, the law imperfect? No; that cannot be, because it was given by God himself. Nothing but purity ever proceeded from the lips of the eternal God. Moreover, Paul says, "The law is holy, and the commandment holy, and just, and good." And David says (Psa. xix): "The law of the Lord is perfect, converting the soul." And again (Psa. cxix.): "Thy commandment is exceeding broad." But the law makes nothing perfect, inasmuch as it has no power to give life to a dead sinner. It had no power to give life to a man even when in a state of innocency; but in the day that he broke it, he fell under its curse, and death was entailed upon himself and all his posterity. "In the day that thou eatest thereof, dying, thou shalt die."

And we know that the moral law, given upon Mount Sinai, had no power to give life to those to whom it was given, for the prophets constantly testify that they were worse than the surrounding heathen. They were the most rebellious of all people. But if you take the law in this passage to mean the Levitical law, it is as true that that made nothing perfect. Like the moral law, it proceeded from God, and therefore was perfectly adapted to its designed end, which was to be a representation of the fulness of grace and love hidden in the mind of God, and which was to be manifested at the appearing of Jesus Christ. Still it was but a perfect shadow, and a shadow, however perfect, is deficient in substance. It could not give life or purge the conscience. A remembrance was again made of sins every year, and notwithstanding all the vast expense incurred in offering sacrifices, not one conscience was thereby purged. It was not No, 538.

possible that the blood of bulls and goats could take away sin. O no! the worshippers must lay hold, by faith, on that perfect Offering of which these things were only shadowy representations, if ever they were saved.

Nor was there even a full exhibition of the grace and love to be hereafter revealed, for in the judicial portion of that law no sacrifice was allowed for the wilful murderer, nor for the man who had committed adultery, but he was to be stoned to death without mercy under two or three witnesses. Hence David, having committed both these crimes, together with vast deception and abominable hypocrisy, says, "Thou desirest not sacrifice, else would I give it; thou delightest not in burnt offering. The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise." That broken heart and contrite spirit got a view of the great Surety, who was to

come.

But do not we know, some of us, by experience that the law makes nothing perfect? You know the law is briefly summed up by our Lord in this sentence: "Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy mind, and with all thy soul, and with all thy strength, and thy neighbour as thyself." The law requires that this be commenced with the first dawn of existence, and continued down to a man's latest breath, and at the first failure curses the sinner. Here, then, we see the foundation of a legal hope, and I can remember when this was all the hope I had, even to attain to heaven by my own doings. O! what a lie, what an awful lie, my hope then was! And yet I thought I was quite right. However, it pleased the Almighty in his mercy to appear for me, and take that hope away.

Now, when the law is applied to a man's conscience, it will always through his legal spirit tend to make a workman of him. He will work for his life; O yes! he will work for his life. But alas! it makes him only a workman to be ashamed. He will read, hear, sit up late at night, fast, give alms, &c.; and the more he does, the greater shame, loss, and confusion he feels. But the Lord applies it to the consciences of all his people in order that, being first well disciplined out of it, they may be fitted to love and prize the grace contained in the gospel. This was the effect it had on Paul. Like the rest of his brethren, he was familiar enough with the letter of the law, but it was never applied to his conscience until on his mad career to Damascus, to slaughter the Lord's beloved saints. "When the commandment came,' says he, "sin revived, and I died." Do you know what it is for sin to be thus made manifest in you? To be, as it were, like a giant, a monster, in you? Now, it is not an easy thing to die naturally; and you may rely on it, it is not an easy thing to die this spiritual death. "I through the law am dead to the law, that I might live unto God." (Gal. ii. 19.) O what groaning, and labour, and sorrow, does the poor creature feel while under the law! For the law is not only a spiritual demander, but a