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in upon her joys, no peevish thought makes miserable her blissful spirit, no unbelieving heart can rob her of her endless peace, nothing enters that blissful world that defileth: this vile inmate clave to her till she reached Jordan's brink, but it sunk in the river to rise no more for ever. O the jubilee moment, when her happy spirit was freed from the deadly plague of sin, when she dropt the body of this death, with all its tremendous effects. What a transition! The long wished-for change arrived, thousands of prayers answered in a moment, and all the desires of the heaven-born soul consummated; death to her redeemed spirit was the outlet of all misery, and the inlet of all felicity.

She has left the field of battle, and is now harboured in the land of eternal peace, where as a conqueror she waves the palm of victory. The scene of conflict is ended; no fiery darts pierce her heart, and burn up the vitals of her joy now; no insinuation of the devil racks her soul, nor can an evil thought be ejected into her perfect mind; no enemy in ambush terrifies her, nor can his roarings now fill her with dismay.

"Beyond the reach of all her foes,
She dwells in undisturb'd repose."

She is delivered from this present evil world; from all the evil that is in it; from all the craft, dishonesty, filthy conversation, and vile practices of it; from all the cares, oppressions, and miseries attaching to it; from all the hatred, contempt, slander, and persecution of it; from all the domestic sorrows, infirmities, afflictions, and distressing circumstances of it. She has left the world of sin and death, the place overspread with woe, where the whole creation groaneth under the direful effects of man's transgression. What a relief—what a deliverance to be lifted out of this present evil world, into the realms of pure and everlasting felicity!

Let me invite your thought to her complete and absolute salvation from all she had merited as a sinner against God, solely arising from her eternal election-interest in the Father's sovereign love, the gracious interpositions and infinite clemency of the Lord Jesus, and the distinguishing love and almighty work of Jehovah the Spirit, the result of the good will and joint agency of the trinity in unity. Her desert was the lake that burneth with fire and brimstone, but she is now faultless before the throne; her crimes would have sunk her to the bottomless pit, but she is now on the summit of bliss; the merit of her transgression would have consigned her to utter darkness, but she is now elevated to that glorious world where the essential glory of God is the everlasting light of it; had she been left under the curse, she had sunk for ever under the wrath of God, and gone into everlasting punishment; but now her soul is baptized in bliss, and all the pleasures of eternal life in the divine presence; if she had had her due, she would have been turned into hell, where the worm dieth not, where there is weeping, and wailing, and gnashing of teeth; but she is elevated to a throne in glory, basking in the beams

of unclouded day, and engulphed in the felicity of a manifested God; if justice had sought its right at her hand, she had been suffering the vengeance of eternal fire; but being an object of divine love, and covered in the rights of a finished redemption, she is sweeping the lyre of holy gratitude to him who bought her soul from endless ruin. Instead of sinking in the roarings of perdition, she is exalted to the melody of paradise; she who might justly have sunk in the yawning abyss, ranks among the adoring hosts who are pouring eternal praises at his feet; instead of sinking in the gloom of eternal night, she is beholding the meridian blaze of a glorified Redeemer; instead of falling into the hands of the living God as an ir ful Judge, she is folded in the bosom of manifested Majesty, and dwells in the heart of infinite love: had she died without an interest in Christ, we must have said, "The smoke of her torment ascendeth up for ever and ever:" but we can truly say of her, as we sung over her mortal part when consigned to the grave,

"She liv'd a debtor to his grace,

Rejoic'd in sins forgiv'n;

Died in her Father's fond embrace,

And fled from earth to heav'n."

Therefore we are privileged to sing. She is drinking of the rivers of God's pleasures for evermore. Oh! what a debtor to sovereign, independent grace, that laid hold of her, and passed millions by; she might have been left to sink in irremediable ruin without injustice. But Oh the wonders of infinite love! she is within the glorified enclosure, casting the crown of her bliss at the feet of the Eternal, and for ever rolling along the endless song, "To him that hath loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and made us kings and priests unto God. To him be glory."

Thus, my dear brother, your loss is her eternal gain. Her being ushered into all the glory of the eternal world, sheds a lustre on the thick gloom that surrounds you, and bends the will to the all-wise dispensation of our unerring Father, and gracious God. Her being unclad of her corruptible clay, 'distance has given place to uninterrupted communion, darkness to the brilliancy of eternal noon-day, poverty to unknown treasures of wealth, conflict to eternal triumph; the chilling damps of the wilderness to ever-burning affections, wandering thoughts to an everlasting fixture on the centre of bliss, a life mingled with sorrow to unceasing joy; there holiness universally reigns, light without a shade, worship in full perfection, glory fills every faculty of the soul, and God is all and in all. The Lord abundantly bless and overrule this stripping dispensation, fill up the vacuum with his all-satisfying presence, have you under his especial keeping the remnant of your days, direct you in all your future footsteps, and when you come to put off the tabernacle, grant you an abundant entrance into his everlasting kingdom.

So prays your soul and body's well wisher,
In Zion's unalterable Beloved,

Golden Square, April 20, 1830.

E. M.

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(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

A FEW WORDS TO TERIO.

HAVING read, Mr. Editor, with attention, the respective communications of your correspondents, W. A. M. and Terio, the latter of whom has been stating many objections to the sentiments of the former, without once attempting to disprove those assertions which are so obnoxious to his mind; and seeing several statements in your Miscellany for this month, from Terio, which appear to me inconsistent with our only rule and article of faith-the bible,' I feel constrained to offer a few remarks on the same, for the perusal of your readers, leaving W. A. M. to answer the paper for himself and the church of Christ, whose articles of faith Terio seems to undermine. First, Terio asks for scripture proof for the assertion, that God permits men to sin, in order to punish them for it, that his judgment may be the more signally displayed;' and I suppose (yea! it is evident, from what follows) that Terio thinks it cannot be given, by his declaration, 'This is not the language of Jehovah. Has Terio forgotten that "the potter has power over the clay of the same lump, to make one vessel to honour, and another to dishonour ?" or will he dispute his right, or his will, in so doing? Surely not the latter, seeing he would come to scripture truth for confirmation; and as all things are to be brought to the word and the testimony of God for confirmation, before the church of Christ hath any warrant for believing them, let me refer your correspondent to a passage or two of Jehovah's word, which I think full to the purpose of confirmation on this point. And first, we find in Rom. i. 28. the apostle (speaking of the abominations of men's hearts) says, And even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind;" which plainly shews that Jehovah gave up these gentile sinners to the hardness of their own hearts, to work iniquity with greediness." But perhaps it may be said that this was on account of their enormous crimes, which called for the vengeance of God; in answer to which I would refer to the apostle's description of mankind universally, in the third chapter of the same epistle, and say, there is no difference in the hearts of men naturally, for all are concluded under sin, both Jews and Gentiles," for there is none righteous, no, not one;" and that the sovereign purpose of Jehovah in reprobation, as well as electing love, may be seen, his will is revealed concerning Jacob and Esau, before they had committed any transgression, saying, "Jacob have [ loved, but Esau have I hated:" in which we see his divine permission of sin, and his judgments on account of it, all brought to the one great centre of his own sovereign will. Another passage we find in 1 Pet. ii. 8. where the apostle, speaking of the person and work of Christ, says, that he is made "a stone of stumbling, and rock of offence, even to them which stumble at the word, being disobedient; whereunto also they were appointed:" from whence it appears that the sovereign decrees of Jehovah had given them over to the guilt of their

men

own carnal hearts; or as the apostle Jude expresses the subject, who were before ordained to this condemnation," that they should creep into the church unawares, that they, through the ungodliness of their minds, should turn the grace of God into lasciviousness, and that they should deny the only Lord God, and our Saviour Jesus Christ. Now the question arising from the declarations of Jehovah's sovereignty is this, (and the question is that which belongs to believers) for what purpose are they thus appointed or ordained of God? let the Holy Ghost, by the apostle, give the answer: "And for this purpose God shall send them strong delusions, that they should believe a lie; that they all may be damned who believe not the truth, but have pleasure in unrighteousness," 2 Thess. ii. 11, 12. The subject is indeed awful, but it is equally true, and consequently believers are bound to embrace it, being the "language of Jehovah;" now if we examine this declaration from Jehovah, we find, first, that sinners are deluded; secondly, their delusions are said to be sent from God; and thirdly, the purpose of God in thus acting toward sinners.

That the eyes of the mind are blinded, and the carnal heart stupified to all spiritual objects and enjoyments, is a fact which none can disprove. "The whole head is sick, and the whole heart is faint; from the sole of the foot unto the crown of the head there is no soundness, but wounds, and bruises, and putrifying sores." The heart of man presents a scene of sin, guilt, and death, insomuch that no trace is to be found therein of the divine image of Jehovah, but all presents one awful picture of the image of Satan stamped thereupon; and such is the principle of corruption ingrafted in the carnal mind, that there remains no power or will to perform spiritual services, because it is under the dominion of the prince of the power of the air, whose servants we are, and whose service only we perform, until the influence of divine life is imparted from above, whereby the sinner is translated from the image of Satan into the divine and glorious likeness of our dear Saviour Jesus Christ. That Adam was created in his likeness, is a divine truth, but that he soon lost it is equally true; and had the church of Christ had no grace standing in her great Head before she had a standing in Adam, she must have continued under the influence of sin and delusion, until it had been consummated in everlasting woe, because sin having once entered the heart, nothing short of the eternal act of Jehovah could restore the sinner, and "bring life and immortality to light." Nor is it at all to be wondered that the mind is thus blind and ignorant, for sin is in itself a system of delusion, which blinds the mind, casts a veil over the eyes of the understanding, bewilders the soul, and leaves the subject thereof in a labyrinth of wretchedness and woe; but while we view the effects of sin on the minds of all men, we are not to view the matter as an accidental circumstance, but as the effect of the sovereign purpose of Jehovah.

Now, that sinners are deluded, or the eyes of their minds blinded by God, is a truth much objected to in the present day; and the reason is obvious, but because the pride of the carnal mind cannot submit to

such a display of sovereignty in Jehovah, and is therefore sitting up a plan of salvation more congenial with its own creature importance, rather than submit to the humbling doctrines of the gospel of Christ whereby the sinner is debased, and Christ exalted; but however men may declaim against the truth of God, they can never take away the same from the pure word of life, in which it stands conspicuous in the front of every disputer of divine sovereignty. "He hardeneth whom he will," and none dare reply against God, or say unto him, what doest thou." And as this hardening of sinners is an act fully consistent with the holiness and justice of his divine character, who would call Jehovah to account for the wonders of his working, which are to mortals unfathomable mysteries, and not rather fall at his footstool, owning the sovereignty of a God of justice, mercy, and truth.

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Jehovah has permitted the entrance of sin, and still permits its continuance in the world, for the display of his own glory; and by giving men up to the influences thereof, he hardens the hearts and blinds the minds of them that believe not, which is strikingly confirmed by the apostle's language; "and for this purpose God shall send them strong delusions, that they shall believe a lie." And indeed if this declaration had not been made, sufficient is revealed to prove that nothing did ever or can hereafter take place, but that which Jehovah did from eternity purpose should take place, seeing that "he is of one mind, and none can turn him," viewing the end from the beginning; nor can any thing take place without his divine purpose. Seeing he is the Sovereign Ruler and Disposer of all events, and being Jehovah, cannot have a purpose in him which was not his purpose in eternity past, which is herein declared to be in the " damnation of them that believe not." Yes! because his own glory was to shine with undiminished splendour in the display of his justice-"I have created all things for myself," saith Jehovah, not excluding the guilty sinner who was left as Esau to experience the weight of the wrath of God due unto transgressors, 66 even the wicked for the day of my power

this is the language of Jehovah!

But passing to the next remark made by Terio, I cannot but express my surprise at the confused ideas put forth concerning the same, in which after desiring scripture proof for the assertion I rejoice that there is a hell,' he says, 'I believe there is a hell in which the finally impenitent shall be everlastingly punished, and that there is a heaven in which the saints of God shall enjoy him for ever. Herein I do and will rejoice, (that is, that Terio will and does rejoice that there is a hell in which the finally impenitent shall be everlastingly punished,' as well as in the following part of the sentence); but then he adds, but to rejoice that there is a hell,' I do not, I will not, I cannot. This, Sir, appears so complete a contradiction, that I think it is impossible to understand the exact meaning of the writer: but it appears evident he dislikes the expression, and I suppose the sentiment.

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