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is a searcher of the thoughts and
desires of your heart, weighing your
actions by the same.
See Matt. v.
27, 28. How encouraging then are
these words," Remember the Lord
afar off." It admits of no set dis-
tance, for it is unlimited. Can you
go farther off than Peter, David, or
Solomon ? I write not thus to en-
courage sin, God forbid; but to the
honour of God's free grace; for a
just man falleth seven times, and
riseth up again; but the wicked shall
fall into mischief."

ingly but practically; for the Spirit" for what fellowship bath righteousness with unrighteousness? and what communion hath light with darkness." Therefore if the soul is enjoying the unutterable mercy of pardon through the Saviour's blood, and has sweet intercourse with a covenant God through the Eternal Spirit, the effect produced is the fruit of righ teousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost, producing a conformity of conduct to the divine word; and where there are no effects there can · not be the cause; for with the heart man believeth unto righteousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation," accompanied with zeal for good works. See Titus ii. 4.

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Whatsoever be thy state or condition, poor sin-burdened soul, if the dear Lord puts a cry into thy sinharassed conscience, as he did for the dying thief upon the cross, when he cried, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom;" you will sooner or later feel the drawings of thy Lord's compassion, bringing you from that infinite distance where sin has carried you from the Lord, unto the blessed meeting-place, that is Calvary's cross, and all your sins and transgressions will be lost in the fountain opened by thy dear Lord for sin and uncleanness, to the house of Judah and the inhabitants of Jerusalem The life of God in the soul when in active exercise, will regulate and mould the christian's conduct in conformity to the written word, in the absence of the written word. But if the life of God in the soul be not in act and exercise, the written word is not sufficient of itself, any more than the laws of our land do not prevent the people from breaking those laws, but only condemn and punish transgressors: just so, yet in an infinite and higher sense, does the written word of our God reprove the children of Zion for all deviations from its precepts, and guilt is contracted in the conscience, and the soul becomes afar off from God, and nothing short of an application of the blood of Christ, by the Eternal Spirit, can bring the soul back again:

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We pass on to notice, briefly, the last sentence in the verse: And let Jerusalem come into your mind.”

2.

Jerusalem is I consider a type and representation of the visible church of Christ. 1. Because God manifested himself in Jerusalem and for Jerusalem, in a more peculiar manner than any other city at the time. Because Jerusalem was taken under his special government. 3. Because in Jerusalem all the rites and ceremonies of the Mosaic dispensation were fulfilled, all of which were types and shadows of the gospel of the Son of God. Our present limits will not allow us to enlarge upon the several features. But if we are afar off from the Lord, so as to have no evidence of his mercy, love, faithfulness; let the manifestations of his love, faithfulness, long-suffering, compassion, goodness and forbearance to his church and people come into thy mind. Look at the Lord's almighty power evinced in the church's preservation; his faithfulness in her continuance; his love in her abiding in the truth; his compassion in looking over her innumerable infirmities; his longsuffering with her sins, and his goodness towards her. Look at her, and behold thy God mighty to save and to redeem. Has any weapon formed

find nothing but sorrow and anguish, for you are far off from the Lord feelingly. So when sinful thoughts and unholy desires arise, and arise they do, the conscience, made tender by God the Spirit, brings you to judgment, and the principle of divine grace implanted in the heart, condemns you; and being afar off from the Lord, you will not get nigh again until his blessed Majesty calls you, with his almighty power, to remember the Lord as your sin-atoning Jesus, as the Lamb slain for you from the foundation of the world, as your Intercessor pleading before the throne of the Father the merits of his blood; Him who hath power to say unto thy sin-burdened soul, "Thy sins, though many, are all forgiven.'

The children of God, lamentable to say, not only fall, or get afar off from the Lord feelingly, but also in practice. Rebecca, the mother c Jacob, could not trust the Lord, nc withstanding he had declared to that her elder son should serve younger, but put the project in mind of Jacob, to obtain the b by fraud. Isaac also denied although he sojourned in the the express command of promising to bless him. also, the wisest man, an man after God's own idolatry, adultery and r Peter, one of the apos Lord that bought him we rehearse the black old and new testam we not more reason

For myself, I plead it not for restrainin serving grace, I sh Peter, Solomon or of profligacy and s that is born of the heart-felt experie free grace alone

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ye will reAnd though em with these .sitations, sword, and captivity; yet eaf to the voice of instead of softening harder. And unless forth his own glorious e the creature still rensible, stupid, lifeless, and ne voice. The world and in general, I will say the in particular, for their rejecmalice and envy against the doctrines of the gospel, will have unexpected visitation. The Lord as threatened to come as a thief in the night, and they shall not know in what hour he will come. And I think the unexpected visitation will be, to deprive them of their privileges, which they have for many years enjoyed, if it does not go further. May we not slumber and sleep, like the foolish virgins, until the midnight cry awakes us, Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" May the Lord trim our lamps, fill our vessels with oil, and cause them to give a clear light; that we may discern the door, and enter in with the Bridegroom and wise virgins before the door is shut.

I thank you for your letter, and the precious truths inserted in the same. May the Lord bless our souls

aily with the sweet enjoyment of in our own souls for ourselves,

may know in whom we have , and that he is able to keep reserve our souls from all the ies of the day, and the poisonous etion of the same, and at the last > present us blameless before his throne in glory.

My sister will pardon my long silence in not answering her kind letter sooner. Last Christmas Day I entered into my eighty-ninth year, and I feel my natural faculties declining. When I sit for an hour or two to write, an insensible stupor creeps over the whole frame; I grow heavy, dull and drowsy; a frame I abhor to be overtaken with, when I long to be all zeal and activity when writing on eternal things: but it loudly tells me that nature is gravitating to its original dust, but at the resurrection it will be raised free from all these infirmities, a glorious, heavenly, lively body, no more subject to corruption, disease or death, freed from sin the cause of it all.

JOHN RADFORD.

THE GREATNESS OF OUR ADORABLE IMMANUEL.

"He shall be great.”—Luke i. 32. THE words with which my paper is headed, form part of an address which was delivered by the angel Gabriel to Mary, at the time of her pregnancy with the lovely child Jesus. In the sixth month, Gabriel, that noted ängel, who explained to Daniel his visions of the four beasts, was sent from God to the virgin Mary, to inform her of the conception and birth of that child who was to appear in the fulness of time, set up his kingdom among men, dash the rising powers of hell, and bring salvation to his church-salvation full as are the fountains of eternal love, free as the air we breathe, and desirable as the throne of God. See, beloved, how

against her prospered? Did the Egyptians annihilate her? Could the Philistines overcome thein ? Could the Babylonians destroy them, or the Romans extirpate them? Did Jeroboam draw them into the world, so that they became extinct; or Haman's hatred terminate their existence? And, coming down to the gospel dispensation, did persecution, or famine, or peril, or the sword? Did not the Romans in the first century persecute the christian church, when at the same time they were not troublesome to any nation on account of their religion? And has not all the earth rose in the universal dominion of the Pope of Rome, to destroy the church of the living God from off the face of creation, but have they ever accomplished their design? And is there not a combination at the time to destroy her vitality? Seeing then the power, love, and faithfulness of Jehovah towards her, in supporting, upholding, maintaining her in so great conflict; mark ye well her bulwarks, consider her palaces, and let her come into your mind. If you cannot call upon the Lord for your self, pray for her prosperity; if you cannot carry your case and situation to the Lord, go to her. Is there not one brother in the Lord to whom you can open your mind? We know he cannot relieve you, but he can sympathize with you, and it may be the Lord will appear for your relief; and

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if he tarry wait for him," for the Lord is not slack concerning his promise, as some men count slackness; but is long-suffering to usward, not willing that any of his blood-bought family should perish, but that all of them should come to repentance. Nevertheless we, according to this promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness. Seeing that ye look for such things, be diligent, that ye may be found of him in peace, without spot and blameless, to the honour of

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A CORDIAL BY THE WAY.

My long silence, my dear sister, since the reception of your christian and affectionate letter, has no doubt given your mind a little uneasiness as to what could be the reason for the same. I know that the old adversary is very busy with injections of various kinds, and many times he shapes and forms them so much in his own image and likeness, that we imagine them to be realities, though they are nothing but fictions all the while! and then laughs at us for our folly. For we read in the word, that even Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light; and when he decks himself in an angel's dress, then it is that we are most likely to be deceived by him; and Deceiver is the name that the Holy Ghost has branded him with in the scriptures of unerring truth. And God's own people know him by long experience to answer to his character, to the grief of their souls; and though he is a final deceiver to many, yet the Lord has so wisely ordered that he shall not finally deceive the elect; for he taketh that wise serpent in his own craftiness, and carries his froward counsels headlong. God frustrates his infernal designs, he breaks his snares, and delivers his dear people out of them. Blessed be God for that may they echo to the glory of his name.

And now a word or two respecting the Rev. Mr. N――. If he is one of the Lord's own sending, or has run before he was sent, the Lord will make manifest in a little time in the consciences of his own people. They shall not be finally deceived, either by those who are transformed as the ministers of righteousness, or by wolves in sheep's clothing.

The

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blessed promise to God's children is, Ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free;" and God will not recede from his word, that shall stand firm, though heaven and earth pass away.

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How is it with you in. Exeter and Devonshire are under a visitation of disease, called by the faculty 'Influenza." Whole families and servants down in it at one time. Blessed be God, so far we have been preserved from the contagion. The rod has a voice, but who hears it? only those whose ears the Lord has unstopped. The Lord puts this question to Israel of old, Why will ye be stricken any more? ye will revolt more and more." And though the Lord chastised them with these four awfully trying visitations, sword, famine, pestilence and captivity; yet the most were deaf to the voice of the rod, so that instead of softening they only grew harder. And unless the Lord puts forth his own glorious power, there the creature still remains, insensible, stupid, lifeless, and dead to the voice. The world and church in general, I will say the church in particular, for their rejection, malice and envy against the pure doctrines of the gospel, will have an unexpected visitation. The Lord has threatened to come as a thief in the night, and they shall not know in what hour he will come. And I think the unexpected visitation will be, to deprive them of their privileges, which they have for many years enjoyed, if it does not go further. May we not slumber and sleep, like the foolish virgins, until the midnight cry awakes us, "Behold, the Bridegroom cometh!" May the Lord trim our lamps, fill our vessels with oil, and cause them to give a clear light; that we may discern the door, and enter in with the Bridegroom and wise virgins before the door is shut.

I thank you for your letter, and the precious truths inserted in the May the Lord bless our souls

same.

daily with the sweet enjoyment of them in our own souls for ourselves, that we may know in whom we have believed, and that he is able to keep and preserve our souls from all the heresies of the day, and the poisonous infection of the same, and at the last to present us blameless before his throne in glory.

My sister will pardon my long silence in not answering her kind letter sooner. Last Christmas Day I entered into my eighty-ninth year, and I feel my natural faculties declining. When I sit for an hour or two to write, an insensible stupor creeps over the whole frame; I grow heavy, dull and drowsy; a frame I abhor to be overtaken with, when I long to be all zeal and activity when writing on eternal things: but it loudly tells me that nature is gravitating to its original dust, but at the resurrection it will be raised free from all these infirmities, a glorious. heavenly, lively body, no more subject to corruption, disease or death, freed from sin the cause of it all.

JOHN RADFORD.

THE GREATNESS OF OUR ADORABLE IMMANUEL.

"He shall be great.”—Luke i. 32.

THE words with which my paper is headed, form part of an address which was delivered by the angel Gabriel to Mary, at the time of her pregnancy with the lovely child Jesus. In the sixth month, Gabriel, that noted angel, who explained to Daniel his visions of the four beasts, was sent from God to the virgin Mary, to inform her of the conception and birth of that child who was to appear in the fulness of time, set up his kingdom among men, dash the rising powers of hell, and bring salvation to his church-salvation full as are the fountains of eternal love, free as the air we breathe, and desirable as the throne of God. See, beloved, how

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