THE EARTHEN VESSEL,

AND

Christian Record.

"The Great Year of Prophecy."

ONE THOUSAND EIGHT HUNDRED AND SIXTY-SIX. WHAT DO THE PROPHETS SAY OF IT?

As I was contemplating the commencement of this my twenty-first volume of THE EARTHEN VESSEL, the words of Paul to Titus, in chapter two and thirteen, softly and sweetly crossed my mind-" LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE; AND THE GLORIOUS APPEARING OF THE GREAT GOD AND OUR SAVIOUR JESUS CHRIST;" and so heavily laden, so richly freighted, did they appear to be, that I resolved, in the strength of the LORD, to present them to my readers, praying God the Holy Ghost to render them useful to thousands in these days of excitement and delusion on the one hand, and of supineness and apostacy on the other.

The words referred to furnish two very great features in the conduct and ultimate happiness of the true Church of CHRIST. First, there is her Posture here; there is an emphatic exposition of WHAT OUGHT to be her POSITION" LOOKING FOR!" Then, secondly, there is her FUTURE PRIVILEGE ;-her expectation and her highest honour expressed in those voluminous words, "the glorious appearing of the Great God, and our Saviour, JESUS CHRIST."

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Christian People all! Am I deceived when I write down in this my Opening Address to you, my twofold conviction respecting the Church's Posture ?-(I mean the visible Church professing FAITH in CHRIST'S Gospel.) My first conviction is, that the professing Church of God in these days is not "LOOKING FOR that Blessed Hope.' dency of the ministry, in some cases, is to settle people down in the possession of a firm faith in the great doctrines of grace; and this, as a foundation to build upon, is absolutely indispensable, and is of the highest value. Still, let it be noted that the Holy Ghost by Paul to the Ephesians representeth those who "are built upon the foundation of the apostles and prophets, JESUS CHRIST himself being the chief cornerstone," as "GROWING unto an Holy Temple in the LORD;" which growing is, in one sense, that of the soul's "Looking for, and hastening

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unto, the coming of the day of God." Standing upon the Rock of Ages, the Church should be "Looking for that Blessed Hope"-that glorious appearing of her Glorious Head-which is THE END, the completion, the perfecting finale, of all that CHRIST did in the days of His deep humiliation, and of all that He is doing in these Gospel days of His Intercession.

To my mind, it is a sacred fact that the HOLY SPIRIT, in all His work in these Gospel times, has His eye intently set upon the future glorious manifestation of the Son of GOD. Hence that precious closing up of the figurative expression of the Church's growth and unity, where Paul, addressing the in-called and grace-converted Ephesians, says, "In whom (that is, in the LORD) ye also are builded together for an habitation of GOD THROUGH THE SPIRIT." Do not these words imply that the work and teaching of the SPIRIT is, not only to lead believers into a happy realisation of their oneness with, and their interest in, JESUS now, but that the SPIRIT of CHRIST which is in them leadeth them on to a rich anticipation of the day when openly, visibly, really, and most gloriously, they shall SEE HIM as He is; be made like unto Him; be with Him; and serve Him day and night in His temple? Does not the COMFORTER divinely comfort the souls of the saints by taking them oftentimes up into the Gospel Observatory, and by placing the prophetic telescope to the eye of their faith, causing them to be "Looking for that Blessed Hope, and the Glorious Appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ?" I feel as though at my very elbow there stand, prophets, apostles, martyrs, puritans, and a host of God-taught men of all ages, ready to testify to this great fact, that, although many have been deceived, and many have said of Christ's Great Advent things they never were authorised to say, still it is a revealed truth that the sacred teachings of the HOLY SPIRIT, in the written word, in the preached word, and in all His secret operations in the souls of the saved ones, is to carry their minds on to the fulfilment of that holy parting pledge-" And if I go and prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto myself, that where I am there ye may be also." Volumes on this delightful theme could I write, but I know it would be despised by many even of the nobles in our Gospel land, to whom, in passing on, I say, -having so many times been robbed, peeled, trodden down, distressed on every hand, and afflicted, it is to me-oh, may it be to very many millions of the ransomed-a joyful declaration where JESUS says, "Ye now have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.' This manifestation of CHRIST, imparting a joy which no man can take away, is yet, as to its perfection, to come; and for it-if we are built upon the Rock of His Godhead and complete atonement-let us be looking.

To return to my first conviction, I observe,-The tendency of the ministry, in some other cases, is, to satisfy the dear people of God that their soul's experience is of the right kind; that it is of heavenly origin; that it is THE EXPERIENCE which floweth out of the regenerating and revealing operations of the Eternal Spirit of Life and Truth and woe be unto us if we make light, or think little, or speak ill, either of such a ministry or of such an experience! Nay, God forbid. But Peter says, and it is of the true Church he speaks, "We, according to his promise, look for new heavens and a new earth, wherein dwelleth righteousness."

These are not the newly-created powers of the soul by the Holy Ghost within, for these the saints have already; nor are they merely the evangelical or Gospel heavens, for in these true believers dwell by faith and by fellowship now, and cannot be said to be looking for them; but they are those future habitations of purity, of soul-exalting power, and of holy pleasure, revealed to John in Patmos, and which he tells us he saw in vision —that is, a new heaven and a new earth, and the advent of the holy city therein, he sweetly declares-" I, John,"-mark, he puts his name to it, assuring us this is no borrowed figure, no conjured-up metaphor, but the revelation given to him by God, and by the SPIRIT of GOD handed down to us, wherein we are assured of its reality-for "I, John, SAW the holy city, the New Jerusalem, coming down from God, out of heaven, prepared as a bride adorned for her husband." Then, to seal home the matter with greater certainty still, John says, "And I heard a great voice out of heaven, saying, Behold the tabernacle of God is with men; and He will dwell with them, and they shall be His people; AND GOD HIMSELF SHALL BE WITH THEM, AND BE THEIR GOD." And then follow all the blessings resulting therefrom.

So that the Church's true Posture certainly is expressed in that word, "LOOKING FOR THAT BLESSED HOPE!"

My second conviction is, that this Posture exactly answereth to the mind, and command, and kind injunction of CHRIST, when to His disciples he said, "What I say unto you I say unto all-WATCH." This watching is a peering upward, a looking onward, an expectation of something outward, above and beyond all that we have ever had before.

Soundness in the faith, and deepness in the real experience of the saving work of God, then, lead not to a despising or neglecting, but rather to a "Looking for, and hasting of, THE COMING OF THE DAY OF Gɔd."

There is a third conviction in my soul on this matter. The parable of the virgins opens up our state: "While the bridegroom tarried they slumbered and slept." For many generations and for many years there has been an expectation of His coming in the minds of some-but He tarried; He tarries still; and many, nearly all, are either slumbering or fast asleep.

No doubt there have been many who have gone into wild and unwarranted extremes, in directing attention to this blessed hope. We all know how excitingly and constantly Mr. Hughes, of Trinity chapel, Hackney, urged this upon his people years ago, and how multitudes gathered around his testimony; and although clouds and sorrows have now for years seemed to lessen his usefulness, still, from his ministry hundreds have gone forth, either publicly or privately, scattering the seed of eternal truth; and although they are "a peculiar people," they are a gracious people in the main; but because the Bridegroom has tarried, some are slumbering and sleeping, while others, under Mr. Lincoln's ministry at Beresford, or Mr. Jay's ministry at the Grove, are alive and witnessing for Christ and His kingdom, in a way I must love and admire.

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It appears plain to me-and this is one thing which I ask both friends and foes to consider-that there is no branch or essential part of Christ's Gospel kingdom but what has been severely tested in one of these two ways:—either it has been bitterly assailed, or it has been carried too far.

James Allin, in his "Old Testament Prophecies," says::- "Some enthusiasts, as the late Rev. Edward Irving and others, insisted that we ought to desist from missionary exertions because Christ's coming was then at hand."

The abuse, however, of any Bible doctrine, of any New Testament ordinance, of any new covenant promise, the abuse (by men) of anything God has revealed to us, ought not to lessen our reverence for it, nor cool our zeal in the defence of it: but it should rather stimulate us on to a more fervent and faithful advocacy of it, in the spirit of meekness, faith, and godly fear.

Our pas

Ministerial Brethren, Christian Churches, Fellow Pilgrims, and Believers all! I hail you most heartily in the name of our Lord, at the commencement of this One Thousand Eight Hundred and Sixty Five; and I pray unto the God of our fathers that He may grant unto you further and fuller discoveries of His grace in your own souls, and that amidst the declensions and disappointments, the divisions and distressing events of the times in which our lot is cast-that you may be cheered, and encouraged, and comforted, and strengthened, and prospered in all your way, by the certainty and superiority of that Blessed Hope which shall be realized in perfect happiness at the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Saviour JESUS CHRIST. If you will not admit it, I will give expression to the fact, that there is nothing very glorious in the "appearing" of our Ministerial Brethren at this day. tors and our preachers are, beyond all question, the most truthful, the most experimental, the most faithful, and the most useful men upon the face of the earth; but in many cases, there is nothing to sight and sense very glorious in their present position. The uprising of an army of Juveniles, planted in all parts of the country, and a growing tendency to Open-Communionism and Free-willism, and a new fashioned ministerialism—have seriously affected the position of many a devout and long-standing servant of Jesus Christ. Their hearts are aching, their heads are bowed down. They keep themselves respectably, they walk before their people honestly, they carry out their commission manfully; but, in many a minister's home, in many a pastor's heart, around many a preacher's hearth-there are conflicts, cares, and sorrows which mightily oppress their spirits, and often make them weep. Therefore, to all of them, I would endeavour to administer the stimulating exhortation, "Brethren, be of good cheer. Jesus stands on the shore; and although the ship (the Church) is now in the midst of the waves; in a little while, He will appear for your deliverance. He will say to both winds and waves, Peace, be still!' Brethren, be ye on your watch-tower. Get ye high as ye can, and be "Looking for that blessed hope, and the gloricus appearing of the Great God and our Saviour Jesus Christ."

Our Queen is still mourning her irreparable loss. Our National Church is threatened by a thousand breaches and breakers of an ominous kind. Our fashionable Nonconformist communities are going farther and faster from the good old-fashioned Gospel than ever. Our own Churches are, with few exceptions, dwindling and dividing. Our country, our nation, is almost every day startled by some frightful calamity. Our trading population is hard put to it by the monopolizing alliances and liability companies' customs of the times. Our labouring millions are almost sunken into the earth by poverty and the sins which so easily

beset them.

On every hand we see the letters great and gloomy, the world ye shall have tribulation."

"In

Surely, then, to have grace to be "Looking for that blessed hope, and the glorious appearing of the Great God and our Savious Jesus Christ," must be our only source of real happiness here! And if, while we are thus looking, we may be favored to hear HIM say to us, "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon. LOOK FROM the top of Amana, from the top of Shinar and Hermon, from the lions' dens, and from the mountains of leopards,”—if from all these He calls us to Himself, it will be a joyful change indeed. And, then, as concerning that Great Prophetic Year, 1866, of which we have so much written to and for us, and on which future papers may appear, we shall have no perplexing fears.

With this short note to begin with, let me subscribe myself still, the Church's willing servant,— THE EDITOR.

January 1, 1865.

FOR

Obituary of Mr. John Searle, Sen.,

MANY YEARS PASTOR OF THE BAPTIST CHAPEL AT AYLESBURY, BUCKS, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE OCT. 28, 1864, IN HIS 82Nd year.

MY DEAR BROTHER BANKS,-As you have on so many previous occasions found place in your magazine for my "Memorials of the Dead." may I request that you will kindly give insertion to enclosed account of my late revered father. Put "these evidences in an EARTHEN VESSEL, that they may continue many days." Although with my beloved father, as with many of the Lord's servants, the sphere of labour he was called to occupy was humble, and comparatively obscure, yet such men do their great Master's work, pursue "the even tenor of their way," although "the world knoweth them not," nor is their high calling appreciated except by the Lord's chosen and afflicted people. "Their record is on high," their feet leave but faint impress on the "sands of time," but the work they do is done with a single eye to the glory of their Lord, and is done for eternity.

Of such was my father, and although unknown to the many, there are some in the Churches to whom his memory is fragrant, and they will prize this last record of one from whose lips they have heard with much savour the Word of Life. His work is done; his reward is gained; and he is "for ever with the Lord." "Amen! so let it be." May we all follow him as he followed Christ. Let us say, as once said the sainted Bonar, (one of Scotland's worthies) on the occasion of some loved one's death, "Now for a swifter race." And it was with uncommon sweetness and power the expression came to my mind, when my loved wife said as she brought to us the sad tidings, "His race is run; the conflict is over now."

Frederick Silver is gone, Gad Southall is gone, William Ball is gone, Dr. Archer is gone, and our father, John Searle, is gone; all within a short time of each other, all worthy standard bearers of Calvary's banner, though in different sections of the one Church of the Living God. And now are they all before "the throne of God and of the Lamb." And however they might differ on some points in the Church below, yet "as one" in the grand doctrines of the Saviour's glory-through the sinner's salvation, so now they join harmoniously in the "one song," "Now unto him that hath loved us," &c. God grant unto some of us, my brother, to bear aloft the banner of the cross as worthily as they have done. Thus "may we die the death of the righteous, and our last end be like his."

"I heard a voice from heaven saying unto me, Write, blessed are the dead who die in the Lord from henceforth; yea, saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their labours, and their works do follow them."

I remain, dear brother, yours as ever in the hope of the Gospel, J. P. SEARLE. My father was born at Plymouth, in 1783. The days of his early life were passed in ignorance of God and Christ, and it appears by the record he himself has given (in a diary which he kept for the year 1807) that