he shall bring forth the head stone thereof with shoutings, crying, grace grace unto it. For then shall the everlasting gospel thresh and break thee in pieces, and thou shalt not be found.

Zerubbabel thou shalt beome a plain, and | crown every one of the fallen family, which are already crucified with Christ. If, to be reconciled to God in his own way of reconciling sinners, and an inward, willing subscribing to whatever his hand and his council hath determined to be done for the accomplishment of salvation, according to his own will and good pleasure, be any part of sound evidence of an endless interest in the favour of God, I can venture to put in my humble claim amongst the chosen family. Though that be but one evidence, yet if it be really a good one, many more will appear upon the premises of a gracious experience, although frequently so beclouded as scarcely to be visible; but our God seeth through the dark cloud, when our keenest sight is well nigh totally obscured; who judgeth not as we see and feel, think and do, but as he willeth; passing the sweet sentence of entire absolution, upon the

Then, the city of confusion' shall be broken down, and the feet of the poor, and the steps of the needy shall tread it under foot; and the Lord alone, the true Christ of God shall be exalted in that day. And of this thing hoped for, our faith is the substance; and therefore, in the mean time may we still go forward threshing in hope, looking for, and hasting to, the coming of the day of God, when the heavens, being on fire, shall be dissolved, and the elements shall melt with fervent heat.

I am, brethren, your's Brenchley, July 28, 1847.

A FEW

W. C. P.

Thoughts to an Outcast Israelite, eternally fixed principle and foundation.

LOOKING WITH HIS FACE TOWARDS ZION.

DEAR FRIEND AND BROTHER-It is now sometime since we met face to face. Since I saw you last I have passed through some afflicting changes touching body and mind. Although I have not been laid by entirely from bodily exercise at home, in my small way of business, nor from going to several places to supply, yet my bodily health and strength has been much impaired; added to which, my mind, at times, has been deeply exercised and tried. I find this time-state to be a thorny maze indeed. The conflicts of the appointed way, together with the various mischiefs of a sorely corrupted heart, are a burden indeed, of no small weight. Sins and sorrows stick too close together, and too close to me, (I find) to be parted assunder, or shaken off. I seem like one travelling through a body of lively sparks of fire, with pockets filled with gunpowder; liable to take fire, and explode every step I walk; really it appears as if sin was the definition of a mortal man; for the most and best that can be said of the very best of men, as men, is that that they lived-sinned-and died. Then oh, what a wonder of grace it is, that millions of such should freely be forgiven, perfectly sanctified in Jesus, and for ever saved beyond the reach of sin, death, and hell; for love divine will

of his own unwearied love to us in Christ. In the life, sufferings, and sacrificial death of Jesus, the guilty sinner's surety and friend, we see, in the most striking light, the abominable nature of sin, the admirable love of God in Christ, the true estimate of redeemed souls, and the victory of our great Captain, all united to utter the voice of sovereign mercy to miserable sinners, from the throne of matchless grace.

May that mercy melt us down; raise, and hold us up, and be a well-spring of consolation to us till the sorrows of the wilderness become exchanged for songs of triumph in the heights of Zion above, where nothing shall stifle our comforts, cramp our spirits, nor disturb our communion and repose for ever, with Jesus, and all the just in him. May this be our happy lot; now in good hope, and then in full fruition. Amen.

Things at are in a sad state indeed. The appalling signs of the foretold falling away, seem to say we we are now in the dregs of the latter time. The night is darkening more and more over the prophets and churches of the New Testament; but it is to be feared the worst is not yet come. But our God is in the heavens; he doeth whatsoever pleaseth him; and will overrule the worst as well as the best for the good of them that love him. Grace, mercy, and truth be your shield. I am, your's truly, WILLIAM.

Some Important Words

To the Heart which knoweth its own Bitterness.

(Concluded from our last,)

AND what an amazing wonder that in the midst of long waiting for a blessing, through the means of grace, and not finding the blessing to come, you have still been kept walking in his ordinances, going and waiting at the posts of his doors, watching daily at his gates; though ye have gone, and returned again and again, and have been like the door on its hinges; and in your feelings have been like the barren heath, as to real, spiritual enjoyment in the worship or service of God; and so, also, concerning a going to a throne of grace, you have been holpen still to look again towards God's holy temple, though, like poor Jonah, the weeds have been wrapped about your head, and you have felt as being in the very belly of hell: and your walking thus, though it be in the midst of felt darkness, is vastly different to the walking of the duty-faith, church, or chapelgoing pharisee, and dead doctrinal-professor, who is satisfied with a mere filling up his place, in the midst of a round of duties, and what is called 'attending the means of grace;' for there is no groping, or feeling after that which they never found with them in their walks and rounds. But you grope; that is, you feel after the wall; even Christ for your succour, and his promise for your guide, even as the blind man, who has no eyes, would earnestly grope, and feel, with outstretched arms for the wall, on his being informed the house in which he was found, was on fire at both ends, in hopes, thereby, to find the door for an escape. And in your groping, you grope as if you had no eyes; finding, that neither the eye of sense can direct you, nor the eye of faith lead you, by reason of the darkness by which your soul is surrounded; and to talk to you now about looking to Christ, and beholding Christ, and rejoicing in Christ, in your present state, would be like whistling jigs to mill stones, or, rather, in Scripture language, like vinegar to nitre, and singing songs to him who is of an heavy heart But, what a blessing,

"He sees us when we see not him,

And always hears our cry."

enlightened with the light of the living, that
Well, your case is not peculiar to yourself, or
I can stumble in the midst of these things?"
a solitary one, as the text plainly shows; and
your very stumbling is a proof that you live;
for, a dead thing, a dead image, however it
may have the outward appearance of life,
may be stumbled at, but it never can stum-
ble; and you stumble, not at Jesus Christ,
nor at his truth; but you stumble at, or
through unbelief; and this stumbling some-
times brings you down on your knees with
a right earnest cry in your soul-'Lord, help
thou my unbelief!' that is, take this stum-
bling block out of iny way. And the things
which you stumble over are the works of the
flesh; by which stumbling, you are often
brought down on your belly, with your mouth
and eyes in the dust, before God, with the
cry of poor Jeremiah, (from blows you have
received by your fall,) My bowels, my
bowels;' and with the groan of poor Paul-
Oh, wretched man that I am! who shall
deliver me from the body of this death?'
And you know, in your experience, what it
is to be in desolate places; not merely talk-
ing about them as being desolate places
where God's people have been, and some-
times get, but you are actually in desolate
places; and now, like the pelican in the wil-
derness, who once had a large stock of water
with her, but the same is now expanded in
the dreary waste; or like the owl in the
desert, in the midst of felt darkness, in
the night of your soul trouble, you groan out
your sorrowful cry; or, like the beast out of
the wood, where they have lived (as we are
told) for a long period without food, so you
roar out unto God, and after God, even as
and at such a time; and as the bear bereaved
the bear roareth for food at such a season,
of her whelps, (or fruit) roars in the pursuit
of the same, (Prov. xvii. 12,) so you find you
must have food, and you must find fruit, and
you cannot be satisfied with pretty sounds,
nor duty rounds; nor pleasing stories, nor
anecdotes, nor antidotes of men's prescrib-
ing, can satisfy the longing desire of your
soul. Realities! Realities! Such as food
for the soul, and fruit acceptable to God, and
pleasant to the soul's desire, are the things
which you must find. And, now, if these
children are not in your sight, around you,
and in your feelings within you, like Rachel,
you refuse to be comforted, while you mourn
sore, like doves, having lost the company of
your mate, to whom you have been wedded
in spiritual, conjugal ties, even a precious
Christ, your spiritual husband, who in your
feelings seems to have taken a long journey
of absence from you, and you sorrowfully
sigh-

Still wait, still walk, and still grope, poor groping soul, and soon, in mercy, the Lord will come down, and come in your way, and will come into your heart. 'But,' say you, 'I stumble in my groping, and stumble again, even in the midst of noon day; for, I hear the glorious truths of the gospel declared from time to time, and am favoured to move in the midst of the very sunshine of the glorious truths of the gospel of Christ, and how can it be, if I am a child of God, And like weeping Mary, the cause of your

"I miss the presence of my friend
Like one whose comfort's gone."

soul's grief is because the presence of the | me in his anger.' But what saith the answers Lord is taken away, and you know not where of God?-(Job xxxv. 14, 15.) May he speak to find him, or where he will again find you; into thy soul-'Although thou sayest, I while, as the hart panteth after the water- shall not see him, yet judgment is before brooks, so panteth your soul after God, yea, him; therefore trust thou in him.' But now, the living God, saying when shall I come because it is not so with thee, in thy present and appear before God, and again behold soul's experience, you say in your feelings, the light of his countenance, and rejoice he hath visited me in his anger; yet, know again in his smiles, and realise again the thou, he knoweth not anger for thee in great blessedness of communior with him, as the extremities; and though in a little wrath he effects of a living, vital, and eternal union hath hid his face from thee for a moment, with him; and feeling yourself to be sick of yet, with everlasting kindness, love, grace, love, that is love sick towards your heavenly and mercy will he gather thee; and that lover, husband, Lord, and God; you want judgment which he hath pronounced conhim again to stay you with flagons, and cerning you, (Jer. xxxi. 28, And it shall comfort you with apples; and if you meet come to pass, that like as I have watched with those who are blessedly favoured to see over them to pluck up, and to break down, him, you could tell them, you charge them and to throw down, and to destroy, and to when he pays them a love visit, to tell him afflict, so will I watch over them to build you are sick of love, and you want him, and and to plant saith the Lord'), be awarded must have him, or else you must die; and unto you in the Lord's appointed time; and that you want again to feel his dear left hand that salvation which a Triune Jehovah has to be under your drooping head, and his placed in Zion for Israel. His glory shall almighty right hand to embrace your faint- again burst forth as a lamp that burneth, in ing person, or soul; and say unto them, the felt experience of your souls, and then tell him that I want him to give me another being again adorned with your tabrets, you of the sweet kisses of his dear mouth, know- shall again go forth in the dances of them ing that his love communicated to my soul that make merry, and ye shall have another is better than wine, having found in times song in the night, even as when an holy past, the roof of his mouth like the best assembly of joy is kept, and as one who wine unto me, and for me, his beloved; and goeth with a pipe into the house of the the dear words which the roof of his mouth, Lord, to praise his God as the God of his being struck with his heavenly tongue, has salvation, who shall yet make thee, poor sent forth into me, I have found that goeth soul, notwithstanding all thy present bitterdown sweetly, causing the lips of her who ness, to dwell in tabernacles with himself; was asleep to speak. and give you to say, again, 'his tabernacle is with men, for he dwelleth still with me, and maketh me to dwell with him;' for, when the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him; and the Redeemer shall come himself unto poor Zion, and unto them who turn from transgression in Jacob, saith the Lord.' And concerning these things, there is a three-fold amen; for there is the amen of Jehovah in his Word, who hath said, “all his promises are yea, and in Christ they are amen;' it shall be so. There is the amen of the poor writer, who can say, to the glory of Jehovah's faithfulness it has been so in his own personal experience. And there is the amen of the Holy Ghost in the heart which knoweth its own bitterness,' and whose case the present communication may meet, and be suitable, 'let it be so in the personal and individual experience of my soul.' And for which blessing and blessedness in the behalf of such heart, prays and longs its wellwisher, companion in tribulation, and servant for Christ's sake, in the bonds of the gospel.

Well, dear souls, he never can have kindled such a fire as this in your souls, and caused such a burning desire as this to be felt within thee, without intending to feed it, and purposing to fulfil it; for the desire of the righteous (that is the righteous desire of the new man, after himself, and in this sense, it is, that the desire of the righteous) is only good.' Prov. xi. 23. This desire shall be granted, though now for a season, you are in heaviness, saying, 'We look for judgment and for salvation, but it is far off from us,' though you acknowledge it was never far off from God, for judgment and salvation have everlastingly been with him; but you want that which is with God for you, and in your behalf, to be with you, and to be felt in you; as poor David, who said- Let thy mercies come also unto me, O Lord, (that I may call them experimentally, my mercies,) even thy salvation, (that I may soul-feelingly call thy salvation, my salvation,) according to thy word, (for thou hast promised it,) so shall I have wherewith to answer him that reproacheth me, (in saying, now, where is thy God?) for I trust in thy word.' But thou sayest in the midst of still having to look for these things, and because it is not so with thee as thou wouldst have it to be, he hath visited

WILLIAM SKELTON, S.S. Baptist Parsonage, Aldringham, Suffolk,

THESE thoughts are intended for the poor soul who is discontented with his convictions because they are slight.

The epistle in which these words occur, is called general, because it was not written to any particular church, but to the tried christians, both of converted jews and gentiles, who were scattered in the various countries named in the preceeding verse, by a violent persecution. But it is also addressed to all God's elect; therefore it is for us to prove our election, by some of its evidences, before we can properly decide that the epistle is written to us. There are a few things in the words read, which have particularly arrested my attention, which, I think, will, under the divine blessing, prove this election. The first thing is the obedience here named. I here reverse the order of the words as they stand in the sentence; but you must pardon this.

That this is not the obedience of the moral law is evident, for that law was given to show to us God's holy requirements of us, and how extremely low we were sunk in sin-' By the law is the knowledge of sin. The law entered, that the offence might abound. Whatsoever the law saith, it saith to them who are under the law, (mark!) that every mouth may be stopped, and all the world may become guilty before God.' That this is not the obedience of either the moral or ceremonial law, is further evident, if we consider that Christ has fulfilled the former, and abolished the latter. Yes; he has obeyed the moral law in every point for his people. Then what obedience is it? It is the heart's obedience of the command of God to seek his face. David exemplifies this where he says, 'When the Lord said unto me, seek ye my face, my heart said, thy face, O, Lord, will I seek.' Various ways has the Lord in his bringing his people to a knowledge of themselves as sinners, and of himself as their | Saviour. But there appears to me to be two ways in which God generally performs this: The first I shall call an audible command or call. The second is a silent one.

With respect to what I have called an audible command, I mean where the soul has been arrested by the power of God, with some such a sentence as this, Prepare to meet thy God, which is as thunder in the soul, and as the flashing of mount Sinai, which strikes the soul with the greatest horror and alarm; placing the man under the painful

apprehension of being cast into hell for ever and ever.

But, I wish to speak a word or two to my weak brother or sister, whose conviction has been comparatively slight, and who is often cast down on this account. There are many of the dear children of God, who, because the Lord has not spoken to them by some word from his blessed book, as in the case above mentioned, doubt as to whether it be the voice of God by which they have been called. But, if they contemplate what language really is, they will find that they may be spoken to in mute, or silent language. Now, language may be defined to be:-The means by which thought is expressed. So that any thing that is used to express our thoughts or intention to others, is language. Look, for instance at what may be expressed by the eyes, by a frown, or by a smile.

By the silent command, or call, I mean where there has been an impression made on the soul, without any word being spoken or applied to it, which impression has gradually informed the soul as to its sinful state before God, and which produces certain effects by which this call is to be judged. It awakens the soul to its awful state by nature. The sinner sees he is a sinner before God, whom he now fears as an angry judge; he is personally convinced of his sin; he sees that he has been fighting against him with an high and outstretched arm; that he has been doing nothing but evil in his sight; that he has broken his holy law, insulted his justice; is under the condemnation of eternal punishment; and that unless he can find some way of escape, he shall be lost for ever. Under this painful conviction, he cries outWhat must I do to be saved? Oh, what must I do to be saved?' And he cries also to God in the bitterness of his soul-'What wouldst thou have me to do?' He is willing to do anything could he but pacify his wounded conscience, and appease that angry God whom he knows he has offended so awfully. He commences the attempt. He shuns his old companions; he forsakes his sinful practices. He reads the Bible; goes to a place of worship; perhaps gets among the Arminians; sets about the work with all the earnestness of his soul; he makes up his mind in the morning to live without sin through the day; but, alas! before he has advanced many hours into the day, he finds himself overtaken by sin, he is cast down in his soul, and begins to form stronger resolutions for the next day, but all in vain. He sees spots here, and spots there. Then view him in secret! his hands clasped; binding himself under the most solemn vows he can think of, before God, that he will abstain from sin. But, ah! poor thing; he finds he breaks them all as fast as he makes them. Here he sinks down in despair of ever getting