day, is turned out of the pulpit, parlour, and conversation. But thanks be to God, the devil himself cannot turn it out of the hearts of God's people; they must say to his glory, kept by the power of God! What the Lord does stands for ever; nothing can be added to it, or taken from it. Blessed be his name he is in one mind, and none can turn him. "The counsel of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Having loved his own that are in the world, he loved them to the end! He remains the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever! Oh what a precious declaration. An unchangeable Jehovah is our covenant keeping, covenant performing God. Here is a firm foundation for the feet of faith to stand on; that rock of eternal ages. Well might one of old say in extacy of soul, "Let the inhabitants of the rock sing, let them shout aloud for joy," for of all the people in the world they are the only people that have cause to rejoice and glorify God and it is their grief, because they cannot glorify him more! Well may the grace of patience have its perfect work in us, enabling us to wait until the happy time arrives that the Lord will say to us, Come up hither; then adieu world, flesh and devil for ever. Then the ransomed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs, and everlasting joy upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness, and sorrow and sighing shall flee away," Isaiah xxxv. 10. Blessed, happy time indeed, which will abundantly recompense us, for all the tribulations we have endured while passing through this great and terrible wilderness.

You give a melancholy account indeed about Mr. —, his church and family. I am sorry for him. If the Lord does not keep us, we cannot keep ourselves. Strength is complete weakness. Hold thou me up," says one," and I shall be safe."

And unless the everlasting arms are underneath, fall we shall, though we may be as confident of our own strength as Peter. If Mr. is

the Lord's sent servant, he will teach him in this, terrible things in righteousness. And it will be among the all things that work together for good, though it may be very painful to the flesh to endure. The furnace

is very useful to God's people, or the Lord would not keep his furnace in Zion, and sit as a Refiner, and Purifier of silver, if it were not to purge away their dross, and to take away all their tin. When he hath tried me (says one) I shall come forth as gold." Fiery trials are sharp ones, yet the Lord preserves his people in them, and brings them forth out of the furnace to his glory, as he did Shadrack, Meshac and Abednego, without an hair of their head being singed, or the smell of fire passed upon them. I hope the Lord will make these things useful to you and your family, in keeping your affections more firmly settled upon Christ, and less upon the creature; for the most spiritual are but men at best. David tells us, in Psalm xxxix. 5, every man at his best state is altogether vanity, Yea, to put any trust or confidence in the creature, is preparing a thorn for our flesh, and we shall surely smart for it.

By your complaint in your letter, you appear to be gone from one wilderness to another: in P-- you had wars and fightings without, and fears within ; now you are cast into the land of famine, no bread to eat no water to drink. Well, but my dear sister, if you are in a wilderness, like Israel of old, where there is neither ploughing nor sowing, earing or harvest, God gave Israel daily manna, neither did the manna cease until the Lord brought them into the promised land and they fed upon the corn. And surely he does not stay the manna from falling now. What! no fellowship or communion with the

Father, and with his Son Jesus Christ? What! no love visits? no endearing kisses? no comfort? no consolations? Surely the Lord is not slack concerning his promise; he hath said, "Bread shall be given thee, and thy water shall be sure." And “he hath said and shall he not do it; or hath he spoken and shall he not make it good?" Numbers xxiii. 19. David never saw the righteous perish. And Paul said, My God shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus." May you be enabled, with

David, to look unto the hills from whence cometh your help; and if you can find no christian friends in

to hold comfortable conversation with, go boldly to a throne of grace, looking off from all creatures, and tell all your complaints to the Lord; beg him to turn your wilderness into an Eden, and your desert into the garden of the Lord. According as he hath promised, he sits now upon the mercy-seat to hear his children's petitions and to answer them; and he hath promised not to send them away disappointed. Did an earthly king in love once display it to his queen when she addressed his throne. (Esther v. 3.) And shall not the King of kings display his love to his queen the church, much more abundantly? Blessings on his name he will. "Ask and receive," says he, "that your joy may be full." Oh, it is a shame for the queen to mistrust her king's word. when she knows that he is faithful to his word of promise; but (however this will be the case sometimes,) while the devil finds a corrupt nature to work upon, we shall feel the souldistressing effects of the same.

JOHN RADFORD.

RECOLLECTIONS OF MY PILGRIMAGE.

BY AN OLD DISCIPLE.

No. 18-To be Continued.

Most of what I passed through, from the last visit of love, to the

the

long

autumn of 1825 was not extraordinary, but such as are common to all the saints, as sickness and temporary affliction in self and family, trials in employ, sometimes very low and sometimes rising up. A soul that hath life, will have cause to erect many Ebenezers in the course of nine years, as well as to cry out, Lord why hidest thou thy face from me: and perhaps to know as many changes as there are months in those times. I confess it was so with me, and I ever have found it to be a path of tribulation, but that which the Lord had in reserve for me, far exceeded all that I had been exercised in before. I did often say with Job That which I feared is come upon me." What produced this suspicion, was the extraordinary devolopement of the love of Christ, and the foretaste of the world to come, which the Lord Spirit was pleased to give, not before I was to be tried in the fire. When I have thought of the adversary, as the roaring lion seeking whom he may devour, and his desire to sift them as wheat, and of what took place before Job's trial came upon him, I have been enabled with all submission, to refer to the Lord, and confess my utter incapability to cope with such a powerful though fallen enemy, of whom there is such things written in the xlist chapter of Job, that unless I know and believe that the divine protection is around me, as my salvation and defence, I know I could not withstand his power at any time. He is made without fear, and is king over all the children of pride. He knoweth my propensity, my state by nature, and also what Christ our Saviour hath done for and in me, and by the many proofs and observations I have made, I know, although he is mighty, yet he is an enemy completely and eternally under the power and controul of our dear Friend, Saviour, and Brother, Christ Jesus, for which the Holy Three in One be praised.

It was not long before this trial came upon me, that I heard a stranger from the country preach two sermons, which were so blessed to my soul; that I was as one passed into the third heaven. I heard that which I could not utter nor write down; I could only conceive of his words as they dropt from his lips. They were to me two soul ravishing discourses of Christ and salvation; of what God hath freely given us, and hath prepared for us in him. The unction of the Holy One rested on the preacher and on my spirit. This is a favour we cannot command; a favour I desire ever to be thankful for, and which the Lord only can bestow. I said after the effects were abated, as perhaps many others have said, Ah! Lord this is a harbinger of some trial, of approaching adversity; deliver me from evil. The affections of a living soul goeth upward to God, as the steam of the consecrated blood of the lamb at the evening oblation, as the blood of righteous Abel, as the blood of a pierced Saviour; yet all under different circumstances.

It was not long after this, that it happened I was by work prevented from going home to dinner, therefore went to a cook's shop. I sat down by the side of a respectable person, verging upon seventy, who was reproving two young men for their unchaste conversation before the servant maid; his address was solemn and godly; the men confessed they were wrong. I felt prompted to join issue with him, approving and commenting on his observations. He then turned to me, and by the questions he put to me, he drew out all my heart; I had no controul over myself; I was constrained to tell him all my mind, and briefly hinted of the divine conduct towards me under conviction, and in conversion; from which he made some blessed remarks, and then he went on to lead my soul upward to Jesus so kindly, so divinely, from step to step,

so blessedly, that I felt as the revered Toplady sung,

"More happy, but not more secure,

The glorified spirits in heaven." He then went on with his views of the divine atonement by the blood of Jesus Christ, until I felt as happy as well as as safe as the glorified spirits. He said, he himself, as well as thousands who had the fear of God, and which is "the beginning of wisdom," was ignorant of this mystery, and consequently was in great bondage and darkness; and it is by the reve lation of the Holy Ghost, that any man is led into this grand fundamental truth of the religion of Christ. On account of this, some deny it; and others have it only on the lip and in the head. This deficiency is the primary cause of SO much freewill, and human merit, and cleaving to the law of works, and so many sects as we hear of. It is to be observed, above thirty years since, I was led, in the providence of God, to hear that great man, William Huntington, preach: I had never seen him before, and was so situated that I did not but once or twice after. He was led to speak from the 49th to the 52nd verses of the xivth chapter of Leviticus. When he had commented on the type, he brought it down to gospel times, and showed that Christ Jesus, God-man, was the substance of all. That day (continued the stranger) the Holy Spirit showed me what I had never known before, and sealed on my heart that grand truth, that Christ did atone for sin by his precious blood. It was as the key to unlock to me the sacred scriptures, and unfolded the plan of our everlasting redemption by his blood. I then saw by faith that justice was satisfied, God the Father well pleased, and sinners saved by his efficacious blood.

The stranger then went on to rehearse what he heard that day of the leprosy of all men; of the slain and

living bird; of the running water; of the living bird being dipt first in blood, then in water and then let fly into the air, &c: and which proved to me that the discourse was written with the finger of God on his heart. He repeated some texts which he heard explained to prove that by the merits, death, and blood of Christ, satisfaction was made for sin and as he was speaking of that verse," How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit of fered himself without spot to God, purge your consciences from dead works to serve the living God," I was as one caught away from earth. This text would so return to my mind with all its rich contents, with faith that works by love in and towards the great Three in One. My bosom swelled, faintings came on me; I seemed enraptured, from what I felt and saw of the efficacy, preciousness and plentitude of the atonement of Christ.

As it was a very heavy rain, we four sat long together, no other person came into the room. The two young men sat and heard in silence whilst we were speaking of the great, the divine things of God, the mysteries of Father, Son, and Spirit, as they are revealed of man's redemption. I was the first to go out, and then had to call on near twenty persons for money. I went to two and with difficulty settled. The text 'How much more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered himself to God, purge your conscience from dead works," would come on my mind, that I could scarcely refrain from bursting out. If all called christians of this day saw and felt what I did that day, of the Three in One, (Christ offered himself, his soul was made a sacrifice, his blood atoned; as it was through the Eternal Spirit it was unto God the Father, here is a glorious revelation of the Trinity,) I say we should not hear of the Arian, Socinian March, 1843.]

and many other errors in the land. But it behoves all who may read this to consider how this settles on their minds, as it is for their life. If they reject, the period must arrive when that conscience which remains unpurged will have power to condemn. When I went into the third shop, the text came so powerfully on my mind, my soul was so entered in Christ and God, that I was incapable of adding up a few figures of pounds, shillings, and pence. I made an apology to the clerk, and desired him to compare my book with his, and to pay me as he made it; as I had been to get my dinner, where I had heard a gentlemen speak of the 14th verse of the ixth chapter of Hebrews (and then repeated the words,) which hath so enraptured my heart, that I find myself incapable of any earthly employ. He paid me in silence, looking full at my eyes, from which tears had flowed. I came out, put my account-book into my pocket, walked home slowly, rehearsed the extraordinary account, and of my not being able to accomplish my collection to my wife, and gave vent without reserve to my feelings. As I sat in the chair, I desired her to cover me with a cloak, and soon after fell asleep. I had a most refreshing sleep, yet several times during the evening it would return. Had it not

been that in two or three cases I had, as I afterwards have been told, been made useful in an unexpected manner in speaking of a text, as once on

Perfect love casteth out all fear, and there is no fear in love," and another time on speaking on "He will visit the sins of the fathers upon the children of them that hate him;" I should have thought that this man was no inhabitant of this world, and especially as I heard a person expounding the xiiith chapter of Hebrews the 2nd verse, it was from which he made some allusion of this sort, Be not forgetful to entertain strangers, for thereby some have en

K

tertained angels unawares ;" but this I expect, he was as I am in a body of clay.

It was not long after this, when one day I had been exposed several hours to a heavy rain, I went home, changed my clothes, had tea, read a chapter, cried to the Lord in prayer, left home in a solemn, happy frame of mind; after considering the fresh burden the Lord had put on me and my wife, in sending to us her weak and helpless sister, who was forced from her situation through illness, of which though long, she never recovered. I was full of thought. It was dark and raining, when I heard a clock strike half-past five. I considered I was five minutes behind, and suddenly ran off to cross the street to fetch up the lost time; when in a moment I was hurled back two yards as a person who helped me up told It was by a horse in full speed which I neither saw nor heard. By the knee of the horse I was struck in the groins, which I paid the least attention to as did the doctor, but which hath since proved a source of great calamity. I fell on my head and elbow, which were both greatly hurt, yet I blessed the Lord, because I felt the instant the horse past me that my leg was not broken. This event shook my frame, from the effect of which I have never recovered.

me.

LETTER TO A MINISTER.

C. T.

My very dear brother in Him in whom we live, move, and have our eternal existence, and who hath said Because I live ye shall live also." Seeing then, beloved in the Lord, our life is thus "hid with Christ in God," out of the reach of men or devils, may we not with holy triumph exclaim, "Though an host should encamp against me, my heart shall not fear;" though wars should rise against me in this will I be confident, No weapon that is formed against me shall prosper. There shall no evil

befal us, neither shall any plague come nigh our dwelling; because thou, O Lord, hast been our dwellingplace in all generations;" will be our dwelling-place in the article of death, and throughout the countless ages of eternity! Thanks be unto God, who always causeth us to triumph in Christ Jesus. 1 Cor. xv. 55, 56, 57.

Accept, dear brother, our united thanks for your very affectionate and kind address; for the secret of the Lord is with them that fear him, and to them only his covenant. I can never bear to hear the grand and fundamental articles of our most holy faith traduced with impunity. Nor can I ever endure to hear any contend against the divine sovereignty of Jehovah, in his having chosen one vessel to honour and another to dishonour; or in having afore prepared the vessels of mercy for glory, and fitted the vessels of wrath for destruction. Shall I allow my Lord to be wounded in the hearing of his friends? and I deny him, or what is tantamount, be silent? God forbid. I hope to be enabled to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints with my latest breath. Sarah, be gentle to all. 2 Tim. ii. 24, 26.

You say,

Allow me to ask you, beloved in the Lord, how gentle did the stripling treat the champion of the Philistines, when he came out to defy the armies of the living God? How gentle did David handle the adversaries of his Lord, when he penned the cixth Psalm? How gentle did the great apostle of the Gentiles treat those who were contending for circumcision, and a religion after the flesh, when he wrote his epistle to the Galatians? Or Peter and Jude, when they wrote so expressly of the abounding errors or heresies of the present day! How gentle did that champion for truth Toplady, treat that rebel against the sovereignty of Jehovah ? I am well aware many in our day think he was too severe with