valid child, A. H. I think you called her, was better. Please to give her my christian regards, and tell her she is not forgotten by me at a throne of grace, that this affliction may prove her greatest blessing, that she may give up her young heart to that God who has watched over her in sickness, that henceforth she may say in truth,

My life which thou hast made thy care,
Lord, I devote to thee."

And now, my dear friend, farewell. I commend you and your dear partner to the care of our unchangable God. May he guide, support and bless; sanctify your union, and make it a blessing to you both, for many years on earth of it be his righteous will. Pardon my free remarks, for out of the abundance of the heart my pen must speak, and allow me, dear est Madam, ever to subscribe myself in the bonds of christian fellowship, affectionately yours, Rotherhithe,

B. F.

THE LORD'S METHOD OF ESTABLISHING

HIS PEOPLE.

WHILST listening, my dear sister, last evening to your self told tale of woe, and observing the pain and difficulty you experienced in giving vent to your sorrows, I was reminded of the proverb, The spirit of a man will sustain his infirmity, but a wounded spirit who can bear it." As you have now for many years made an open profession of the name of Christ, and have walked as it were in silver slippers, seldom examining the ground of your hope, and hath many times vainly concluded, your superficial knowledge of divine things were sufficient to give you an inheritance among the saints of light; allow me with all affection to say, that as one of the daughters of the Lord God Almighty, your heavenly Father would not permit you to continue in this listless, barren state, but has in mercy employed mortifying dispensa

and to show you what was in your heart; and now as he is about to do great things for you, in a way of comfort, and soul establishment, in a covenant ordered in all things and sure, he has brought you into darkness, and not into light, so that you reel to and fro, and are at your wit's end; you now imagine, under the influence of unbelief, that you are about to be given up to hardness of heart, contempt of his most holy word, and will be finally left to fill up the measure of your iniquity, and reap the bitter pains of eternal death. My sister, the Lord has determined that faith shall be tried: this is his usual

method with the objects of his eternal regard; hence you will remember itis said, "Beloved, think it not strange concerning the firy trial which is to try you, as though some strange thing happened unto you; but rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ's sufferings, that when his glory is revealed, ye may be glad also with exceeding joy." I am aware the process adopted by our heavenly Father, to destroy the legality of our minds, and to bring us entirely off creature dependence and fleshly boasting, is like plucking out of right eyes, and cutting of right hands; still the effects of such a course of discipline is very blessed, and will be sure to issue in the communication of that grace, whereby we shall come behind in no spiritual gift, waiting for the coming of the Lord Jesus Christ, with all his saints.

"I asked the Lord that I might grow

In faith, and love, and every grace;
Might more of his salvation know,

And seek more earnestly his face.
Instead of this he made me feel

The hidden evils of my heart;
And let the angry powers of hell
Assault my soul in every part.
Lord! why is this? I trembling cried
Wilt thou pursue thy worm to death?
'Tis in this way, the Lord replied,
I answer prayer for grace and faith."

8

that our knowledge of divine things, in the first stages of our christian career, was very limited and partial, and equally so was the depravity of our hearts, and the need of such a Saviour as is revealed in the everlasting gospel. Now your present distressing and conflicting condition, is nothing else but an expression of a Father's heart, who has graciously designed to keep you near his footstool, and to prove in your happy experience that it is the visitations of his mercy which preserveth your spirits. Be assured that when the Holy Spirit searches our hearts, as with candles, it is with a full determination to destroy our false confidence, and every refuge of his we do so naturally cleave to. Call to remembrance, my sister, some of such exercises through which you have passed, and I am sure you will have to acknowledge how very precious Christ was to you, in such moments, and how very glorious was salvation in your view; more to be desired than gold, yea than fine gold. Never overlook the fact, that it is the special work of the Holy Spirit to convince of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment; and in the set time to favour Zion. He will glorify Christ, by forming him in the heart the hope of glory. It is here, so startling does our transgressions appear in this light, that the trembling sinner cannot conclude, apart from an applicatian of the precious blood of Christ, that we are about to be given up into the hands of the destroyer, that we might reap the fruit of our doings. Indeed it is only as the light of the ever-blessed Spirit rests upon our souls, that the darkness of our understanding is made manifest, the filthy and polluted state of our hearts laid open, and the way of life and peace, through the atoning blood of the Lord Jesus Christ, revealed and enjoyed. See how this remark is confirmed in the personal experience of the prophet Isaiah, and let this instance of divine

discipline teach my confused sister, that whilst the natural man understandeth not the things which have a direct bearing upon their eternal des. tiny, yet they have been revealed to her although it has been in the storm, and the tempest, by the Spirit: "In the year that king Uzziah died, I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne high and lifted up, and his train filled the temple; and I heard a voice, saying, Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord, the whole earth is filled with his glory. Then said I, Woe is me, for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell among a people of unclean lips; for mine eyes have seen the King the Lord of Hosts."

Why should a son, redeem'd with blood, Born not of man, but born of God, Feel an eternal war within, 'Twixt reigning grace, and striving sin. 'Tis but to make him every day, From self, to Jesus, turn away, His very falls, they make him wise, And teach him where his victory lies." I would remind you, my sister, there was a time when there was very little sympathy between your spirit and mine; when the great depths of human corruption were not broken up to your view: and having never been brought, as an old divine used to say, to the place of stopping of mouths, you vainly thought your speculative knowledge would pass for heart-felt experience, not knowing that," If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of his." However, I am now truly happy to meet you upon the wreck of human attainments. You are obliged from necessity to cleave to the Rock for the want of a shelter, and you never would have fled thither had you not have been stripped, and emptied, and brought in verily guilty before God. I can now present to your almost despairing spirit, a salvation commensurate with all the claims of divine justice, as well as to all the necessities of your leprous soul.

"Behold the Shepherd's tender care,

Towards the sheep that stray; Throughout the desert, waste and bare, He tracts its wand'ring way.

Amidst this flock belov'd of God,

Manasseh we behold;

He brought him to his fold.

Yea, from the very dregs of sin,
Shall grace her trophies wave;
And each eternal life shall win,

Whom God ordain'd to save."

But perhaps, at this very moment, even whilst the eyes of my distressed sister is running over these rambling remarks, she feels weary, and faint in the way let me again invite you to listen to the melody of Calvary's sweetest notes, as expressed by the forerunner of Christ, when he said, "Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world;" and may you with holy rapture and heavenly joy, be enabled to respond, This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O ye daughters of Jerusalem."

"

"Are thy sins beyond recounting,

Like the sand the ocean laves; Jesus is of life the fountain,

He unto the utmost saves."

And now, my dear friend, I would say with all affection, that as the Spirit of life in Christ has made you free from sin's dominion and power, be assured that as you carry within you the sentence of condemnation, you are passed from death unto life, never to experience eternal banishment from the presence of the Lord, or from the glory of his power. I am aware that your unsettled state of mind forbids you to lay hold, in a way of comfort, on the blessings he so fully bestows; yet I can now take you by the hand, and would lead you to Jesus, the great storehouse for mercy's provision, to which the most abject and polluted sinners are freely and graciously invited. Are you still in bondage through the manifold temptations, cast down by reason of the difficulties of the way-perplexed April, 1843]

and sinful man; no his name is Jesus, upon whom the Spirit of the Lord rested without measure, and who was sent expressly by the Father, to preach the glad tidings to the meek, to bind up the broken in heart, to proclaim liberty to the captives, and the opening of the prison to them that are bound, and to comfort all that mourn. Death and sin, like a cold, heavy mountain rests upon your conscience. Jesus hath said, The whole need not the physician, but they which are sick; I come not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance." Doth your guilt appear so hideous, and are you still apprehensive you will in the end reap the fruit of your doings? Still, as a convinced and hopeless sinner, the voice of mercy sounds sweetly from Calvary's holy summit, Ho! every one that thirsteth, come ye to the waters, and he that hath no money, come ye, buy and eat, yea come buy wine and milk without money and without price."

The want of room prevents enlargment. Let me know by the return of post how you have been since I saw you, and immediately upon your answer, if spared I will resume the evertelling theme.

"Calvary's summit let us trace,
View the heights and depths of grace;
Count the purple drops, and say,
Thus my sins were borne away.'
Chatham.

J. M.

A LETTER TO A FRIEND.

My very dear and by me never to be forgotten brother B., whom I feel to love with an affection that cannot, nor ever will cease, I am quite sure, until I change my earthly distance, nor even then, may grace mercy and

M

peace be with you and yours for Jesus sake. Amen.

My not answering your last kind favour before, is no mark of forgetfulness, but is owing to a multiplicity of events, many of which have been exceedingly painful; but I will not fill your ear with the sad tale of all my care. I have sent up to the "Casket" a few of the leading ideas of what I advanced on the after noon of the opening of B- Chapel; it being the wish of the church I should do so, of course I am their servant for Jesus sake. I expected I should have been called upon to meet a dear friend of mine, ere this, from Kingston in Jamaica, but his not coming in October I begin to doubt if I shall ever see his face again. Had I come to London I would, in the mind I now am, have ventured so far as P, but it now appears that in all probability I may never never again have the great pleasure of seeing my dear, and by me ever to be esteemed friends in the " upper room." Nevertheless I bear the whole of you in my heart, and I may venture to say I seldom approach a throne of grace, without affectionately carrying you in my arms to the God of all our mercies, and their breathing out my fervent desires both for your spiritual, temporal, and eternal welfare. I feel it somewhat hard that I have it not in my power to now and then slip in, and say unto you, Brethren how do you do? Peace be unto you. God is my witness I speak the truth and lie not, my friendship and brotherly union with you all is not merely of to day. If there be one thing in the people of God I dislike more than another it is fickleness of mind, and a sort of yea and nay friendship. If we are all one in Christ, neither distance nor time, circumstance nor silence can alter our union, although it may and often does unavoidably interrupt our sweet communion.

Well, my dearly beloved brother,

how do you go on in the " upper room," I hope you keep together there; even if it be but two or three God has promised to be with you (Exo. xx. 24). Mark that. How are all the old faces of the Lord's blessed ones; mine grows worse for wear, but the dear Lord is still on my side, nor can I fear what man can do unto me. Unto your dear father, that dear old saint, tender my sincere christian love, and forget me not in much affection to your aged and truly enlightened mother. My sincere and christian love also to all the precious sons and daughters of Zion at P, &c. And all others who love our Lord Jesus Christ. Tell the dear souls I love them all equally alike and dearly in the Lord, and this general way of expressing my. self may do away with all unnecessary partiality, and stop the mouth of ill founded jealousy. I hope if ever I am permited to see them again in the flesh, I shall be able to clear myself of all seeming neglect, and to stand up in the " upper room," and deal out therefrom all that is necessary to convince them that the H— prophet yet feels the same towards them he ever did, since the first day he ever knew them; and should I never more behold them in the flesh, let this letter convince them that as a dying man I know of no shade of difference, in my deep rooted affection, towards one and all of my dear brothers and sisters in Christ Jesus at P, &c. Now my sincere prayer is, May the God of Jacob bless you all; may the angel of the Lord's presence be with you all, and his love and his truth be in you all. May Jehovah in his Trinity of Per

sons

bless and preserve you all. May the dear Lord make his face to shine on you all, and be gracious to you all. May he lift up the light of his countenance on you all, and give and maintain his peace amongst you all, so prays one, who in mind and

BELOVED, what foundation is this which the Psalmist here speaks of? It is and can be no other than the foundation laid in Zion, even the Lord Jesus Christ: and this is God's foundation, as we can prove from his own mouth: Behold I lay in Zion, for a foundation, a stone, a tried stone, a precious corner stone." And this is the only foundation; for the Lord saith by the apostle, "Other foundation can no man lay, than that which is laid, which is Jesus Christ." Then this being God's foundation we know that it must stand, for what he hath done is done for ever: The word of the Lord standeth for ever, and the thoughts of his heart to all generations." Christ is that word, so saith the evangelist, “The Word was made flesh and dwelt among us." Then this Word is Christ, and Christ is God's foundation laid in Zion, and this is the foundation the wicked endeavour to destroy, but they never can, for the foundation of God stand. eth sure, and moreover it is said, the Lord knoweth them that are his.

The scripture quoted above, in the version of the Bible printed in 1595, reads thus: " For the foundations are cast down; what hath the righteous done?" Now this evidently refers to the wicked who trample on the word of the Holy One. The Psal mist says, in the 1st verse of this Psalm, "In the Lord put I my trust." Here he tells them where his confidence or trust was, and then, in reply to their wicked taunt, he asks of them, "How say ye to my soul, Flee as a bird to your mountain ?” They had levelled their arrows at that noble

confidence which David and all God's saints have in the Lord. " Lo (said he) they bend their bow, and make ready their arrow upon their string." And for what purpose did they do this? He says, That they might secretly shoot at them which are upright in heart." Thus these enemies endeavour to cast down that foundation on which God's children build their hopes; and they would, if it were possible, tread them and their foundation too under their feet. This they cannot do: mar their comforts they may, but never destroy them finally. What is it that urges these wicked ones to war against God's children? What hath the righteous done (asked the Psalmist) to merit this at your hands? Then, without waiting for an answer, he repeats again his own holy confidence in Jehovah, "For (said he in another place) the Lord is my rock," or foundation. "The Lord is still in his holy palace, the Lord's throne is in the heavens; his eyes will consider, his eyelids will try the children of men." As much as to say, The Lord will try the righteous, that I know, but he will not leave them in your hands, for the righteous Lord loveth righteousness, and his countenance doth behold the just; but the wicked, and them that love iniquity doth his soul hate, and upon them he will rain snares, fire and brimstone, and the stormy tempest: this shall be the portion of their cup.

Thus was David's soul comforted, and all his enemies could not shake that holy confidence which he had in the Lord. He knew in whom he had believed, and however these servants of Satan might despise him, that they should never obtain their end, which was the destroying of his hope. He told them plainly the Lord was his foundation, and that they his enemies would soon feel his vindictive wrath. He then named some of the awful judgments that would speedily fall upon them, as the just reward of despising his eternal truth.