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THE SEVEN HELPS OF HEAVEN, WHEREWITH A WANDERING ISRAELITE RETURNED UNTO GOD.

"Sure as God is living,

The storm is drawing nigh;
The warning still is giving;
The millions pass it by.
To Scripture I'm appealing,
THE TRUTH is there contain❜d,
It needs no human sealing,
Its Author is unfeign'd.

"This storm of heaven's sending
Will come as in the night,
When Christ the Lord descending
Shall all His foes affright:

"The heaven and earth all flaming,
Away will quickly pass,

And all creation's framing
Will be one flaming mass.

"THEN-every true believer,
Whose safety is of grace.
Shall be WITH CHRIST FOR EVER,
And see HIM face to face.
His Church, for heaven fitted,
Shall enter at the door;

No more shall be admitted,

For "Time shall be no more!"

KIND READERS OF THIS "EARTHEN VESSEL "-in commencing the twenty-third volume of this wide-spreading monthly-in entering upon the year One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty-seven, I feel the responsibility and solemnity of my work more than ever; because I cannot divest my mind of the stern conviction that there is an approaching reality in the facts expressed in the lines which I have quoted above, and which, on sitting down to pen this brief address to you, caught my eye, and sunk down my soul almost to sadness as I read them in the November number of The Gospel Magazine; and in printing them here pray God to bless the perusal of them unto many thousands: for, certainly these are not times for trifling, or thinking lightly of the awful and fast-approaching fulfilment of many of the most important portions of the word of God: much less doth it become us to be carried away with the extravagant speculations, or mere literal predictions which meet us on every hand. Three things appear to me to be of more value than all the writings and anticipations of the wisest of men which the world can produce.

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The first thing is, to have THE WORD OF GOD, as Jeremiah con

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fessed before the LORD he had it. He says, "Thy words were found, and I did eat them, and Thy word was unto me the joy and rejoicing of mine heart,—for I am called by Thy name, O Lord God of Hosts." For many years, Christian friends, this one thing has been my stay-my strengthmy salvation-my comfort-my secret and holy pleasure, and the mainspring of my ministry; the word of the Lord has been found (dropping in my soul) and I have ate it, and it has carried me into the closest communion with the Lord God; and it has enabled me to stand in the ministry with authority, with liberty, and with some usefulness to seeking and sorrowing hearts. Seek ye, to have, and to hold fast by then, the good word of God.

The second invaluable blessing is to have that which is written of the Witnesses in Revelation xi. : "The Spirit of Life from God entered into them, and they stood upon their feet.' We are all dependent upon the incomings, shinings, revealings, and teachings of the blessed SPIRIT OF GOD, if, indeed, we are the quickened and Spirit-born children of God. Without His unction and power, we nothing good can do; but with His gracious and sacred enlightenings we shall be wiser than all the carnal and naturally gifted teachers in Christendom. To have the SPIRIT-to be led of the SPIRIT-to know His teachings and His power are privileges great indeed!

Then, of course, the third result of all this will be an experience of the love of God in the heart, making it honest and hearty, and humble in His sight and in His service: an experience of the sin-subduing and sin-forgiving blood of the Passover LAMB, and an experience of the convicting and converting grace of the HOLY SPIRIT in our souls from day to day. With these things we are safe, whatever may come.

With Paul I would say—if God will condescend still to spare and use me as His instrument in any measure,-"I will very gladly spend and be spent for your souls-(as the margin says)-"Though the more abundantly I love you, the less I be loved." Be it so-if God see

best.

There are three sentences which have taken fast hold of me in opening this part of my work for you. They are in Hosea's prophecy. chapter thirteen, verses nine and ten, and read thus,

If the whole of the Divine revelation concerning man in the fall— A TRIUNE GOD in the covenant of grace-and the ultimate mutual glory of CHRIST and the Church, I say, if the whole of the two-fold mystery is not comprehended in these three lines, then I have not received the true knowledge of the Scriptures; nor have I that wisdom which maketh wise unto salvation. But with confidence I presume to call attention to these words, in these times,—because they are expressive of the three general conditions in which the redeemed Church of Christ has been-is -and will be found-as the Holy Ghost again and again declares. In the Bible there are, as it were

THREE FAITHFULLY REFLECTING MIRRORS.

In the first place-if the SPIRIT OF THE LIVING GOD be your Teacher, you may see the whole family of Adam in the depths of darkness-in