The Vision of Jacob's Ladder opened in the Believer's Soul. "When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him,' Isaiah lix. 19. DEAR BROTHERS AND SISTERS IN THE LORD:-Like Elihu, I said, days should speak, and multitude of years should teach wisdom. But there is a spirit in man, which at times constraineth him to speak. I will speak, therefore, though it be in chains; if so be I may be re freshed. sure to answer our prayers, and not keep us in such anxiety, care and woe. But, poor sinner, God waits to be gracious. Your time is always ready (says he) but my time is not yet come: "God hides the purpose of his grace, To make it better known." As you may read, his strength is in The clouds ye so much dread; I think that through the medium of the Earthen Vessel, I am talking to some who know what it is to sigh and groan a long time before the Lord pears to answer their prayers, or fulfil the desires of their hearts; that is to the joy and comfort of their souls. And you feel at a loss, no doubt, to know whether what you have seen, felt and With blessings on your head." realized comes from the Lord or not; But, I come more especially to the for it doth appear to be but here a little, enemies' work upon a man's soul. It is and there a little; here a line, and there not long ago, I was at work in my garden a line; so that according to our poor by my self, when I fell into a sad state of sense and carnal reason, it wants a good carnal reason. Being much tried in deal of putting together, before we can providence, and under the hidings of understand what it means; and where it God's face; I was in what you may call comes from. I think if there is one a bad place; so much so, that I began to thing more than another that troubles, think, whether after all, I was not wrong perplexes, and harasses a young believer in my views and feelings concerning my (particularly in dark seasons,) it is the interest in, and knowledge of the Lord want of clear views of THE PERSON of Jesus Christ; whether after all, I was the LORD JESUS CHRIST. As to whether not a hypocrite. And I must say, that they know him aright, pray to him the matter looked very black against me, aright, worship him aright, as the Christ so that I sunk deep in the feelings of of God; for as yet they seem not to know him as the Holy One of Israel; the Prince of Peace; King of Kings, and Lord of Lords; the everlasting Father; a perfect God, and a Saviour; God over all, blessed for evermore, Amen. For around this Door doth lay all hell with its infernal train-the scribes, (or ready writers,) pharisees, sadducees, lawyers, councellors, nobles, kings and rulers. Or, in other words, natural wisdom, sense and reason, philosophy, etymology, syntax and prosody. All of which are opposed to the faith of God's elect. I say with all these clever persons, every believer, more or less, has to fight. And while here, it is very natural for us to think we are in the wrong path, when we pray and pray again, and seem to be denied. I say we are sure to think something is wrong. Our God would be my spirit, and was afraid. When suddenly a person seemed to say to me in a gentle voice-"How can you make out that Jesus Christ is God and man in one Person, and yet there are three Persons in one God ?" And I was much staggered at the question, and could not answer a single word, but groaned in my spirit; and such arguments and questions arose, as to who Jesus Christ was, and where he came from, that I feel quite at a loss to know how to put together anything like what it was. I don't know how it is with you, but I feel at a great loss to speak of the craft of the devil in my soul. But I do say it was the most powerful argument I ever heard, and just suited for the purpose intended; which was to undermine the foundations of my hope; to pull God's dear Son from his throne; and send his church to hell; where according to my feelings I was just ready to be found. But, the other side of the ladder; for as yet, thanks be to God, who giveth us the "Grace first contrived the way, And well deserves the praise." it was imperfect. And immediately the "And my soul approved it well." This is the way, and the only way to a glorious high throne from the beginning. Behold, then, poor sinner, the way to God; the king's high way of holiness. It is here God the Father draws; and you may run after him. I say, here you may run, and not be weary; here you may walk, and not faint; here you may eat your bread with a merry heart, and go on your way rejoicing; here law and justice are satisfied. iniquity must stop its mouth. Oh, glorious ladder-Who shall lay anything to the charge of God's elect?" Therefore, "Bring forth the royal diadem, And crown him Lord of all." But I shall tell you how this grew and I say then-while I lay at the gates of multiplied in my soul. At times it has hell in dreadful horror and anguish of laid with much weight upon my spirit, as Spirit; having no power to cry or look to whether I should speak of it or not, up; for I appeared to have a deadly and perhaps I should not, if it had not wound in my soul; which caused a been for reading dear Osbourn's letter in heavy sigh and groan from the bottom the Vessel for October, where he said, of my heart; immediately a ladder was (and to me too)," it is worth publishing." presented to my view with only one side And these words arrested my mind, to it, with all the rounds or steps" Such things as I have, give I unto thee;" fastened to that one side sure and steadfast. At the sight of this my soul came up out of trouble, and like the prophet, said- What is this!' when after a few moments' meditation, the following words filled my soul, The Lord from heaven! The Lord from heaven! which brought peace into my soul, and an earnest craving to know what it all could mean; for as yet, I did not know; but with wonder and astonishment I meditated upon the object before the eye of my soul. And I said, What are all the steps in the Ladder? When after an anxious meditation, the following words came like a whisper into my soul- All the promises are yea and Amen in Christ Jesus.' And such was the craving appetite in my soul, that I cannot fully describe it to you. After this, the question arose in my soul, as to where was with this I began praying that the eternal 279 Again, the waters made their way towards the East country, for there the daystar first appeared; as it is written, "We have seen his star in the east ;" and they went down into the sea: here I am lost in wonder, for it is a mighty ocean— Far too deep for human reason; see the Godhead, or divine nature of our | if we are found; and if one may speak now exalted High Priest; and it is a for the rest, I was in a most deplorable blessed material for one side of my condition, when the second Adam came ladder, in whom all the rounds or steps, that way to restore and bring back my all the counsels of his Father's will, all soul from going down to the pit. the promises made in covenant love to a covenant people, are sure and stedfast; for his Father made all things over to him. He said, "Who will go for us?" "I," said the Son, "will undertake the work, or the cause of my people; here is my heart, here is my life, here is my blood, which I will shed on Calvary for the remission of sins and as he could It is the great ocean, or mystery of godnot swear by any greater, he sware by liness. Which things the angels desire to himself, that he would come into this our look into. Thus, in a rough way, I have wicked world to suffer, bleed, and die, and shown you what the right side of my rise again, even for the rebellious. And ladder did signify; and that it is long this is how the promises are all yea in Jesus Christ, in that he freely undertook enough to reach from earth to heaven, or from heaven to earth: for, as I said bethe cause of poor sinners, making thatthat was not, as though it was-that is, in fore, it is the Lord from heaven: the day spring from on high; the great I Am showing himself through the lattice, the King of kings, and Lord of lords, Amen a covenant sense. : All things being ready for the work given him to do, and the fullness of time being come, let us bring him on his journey, and in the volume of the book you may read, "Lo! I come to do thy will, O God; thy law is within my heart." Ten thousand honours on his name! out he came from under the threshold of the house, as the Water of life-eternal life—everlasting life, and the eternal rock On whom my hopes of heaven depend. This water, then, did make its way towards the East country, and went down into the desert, as you may read in Ezekiel xlvii. 1, and everything shall live whither the river cometh, that is, into whosoever's heart it shall run, because he is the second Adam, a quickening spirit, the word of life which liveth and abideth for ever, for where he gives grace, he will also give glory, and so let us sing— Whom once he loves, he never leaves, But it ran into the desert. Oh, believer! there he found her Sunk in sorrows and in sins, At hell's dark door she lay : and as it is written of Jacob, who in this place was a type of the church in her fallen state. "He found him in a desert land, and in a waste howling wilderness." And this is where he found us, my friends, and Amen. As it I come now to build the other side of my Ladder and shall I say that the material is of fir-tree? surely I may; and there the poor stork of the wilderness makes her nest, and take her rest. is written, "I will set in the desert the fir tree." Isa. xli. 19. And as for you, poor stork, or poor believer, where you not glad to make thy nest there, and rest under the shadow of his wings? Till God in human flesh I see, My thoughts no comfort finds. The doors to the inner court of the temple were made of fir, showing himself to be the way, and only way to God. For verily he took not on himself the nature of angels, but the seed of Abraham. For it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, that he might be able to succour them that are tempted. Zion! arise, and shine, for thy light is come! God in very deed doth dwell upon the earth, Clothed in a body like our own. Behold him about his Father's business, dividing the spoil with the great, fulfilling the law and making it honourable, that he might bring in an everlasting righteousness, to come and adorn poor, naked, guilty, worthless worms of the earth, in which, and through which they are justified, and can draw near to a holy God, and are made one with incarnate deity. Behold him in the garden, sweating great drops of blood! behold him on the 66 place, the ground of his merits, blood, and righteousness; read the following text: "And they saw the God of Israel, and there was under his feet as it were a paved work of a sapphire stone, and as it were the body of heaven in its clearness." Ex. xxiv. 10. Understand, wherever Jehovah Jesus sets the foot of this glorious ladder, that ground is his for ever. I say, then, has this ladder been set in thy heart? If so, thou art right. All the desires of thy soul, prayer, praise, thanksgiving, and gratitude from a broken and contrite heart, runs up this ladder as a sweet smelling savour unto the Lord; and in return, covenant blessings come down through the bleeding wounds of a dear and precious Redeemer. Therefore, this is the way, walk ye in it; but, professor, if this ladder has not been let into thy heart, thou art as yet in a very bad place, and should you have said ten thousand prayers, not one of them has ever been attended to. Jesus, our triumphant head, Risen victorious from the dead; To the realms of glory gone, To ascend his rightful throne. Cherubs on the Conqueror gaze, Mark again, that this is holy ground: Seraphs glow with brighter blaze; therefore, you that wish to come here, will Each bright order of the sky, please to pull off your shoes, casting all Hail him as he passes by. away as a menstrous cloth; and then, no doubt, but you will fare as well as thy Heaven, its king congratulates, brethren. Once more, the thought has Opens wide her golden gates: just struck my mind, that there is in the Angels songs of victory sing, All the blissful regions ring. world a class of professors, called Unitarians: now, I should like, if I could, to Sinners join the heavenly powers, analize this word, and see what it doth For redemption all is ours; signify. I know that unit means one, and None but burdened sinners prove, one is not two. I suppose, therefore, that Blood-bought pardon, dying love. you want to take away one of the sides of Hail! thou dear, thou worthy Lord, my ladder; if so, thou wilt get thyself into Holy Lamb! incarnate Word! a great deal of trouble. Oh! thou fool Hail! thou suffering Son of God, and unwise virgin, who hath warned you Take the trophies of thy blood. to flee from the wrath to come, upon such Thus, my ladder is finished: and thus the unfinished and unsafe ground as this? If promises became Amen in Christ Jesus. I was to ask you only to take a sparrow's Thus I clearly saw the two natures, or the nest from the side of my house with a complex character of our great fore-run-one-sided ladder, would you venture up ner-perfect God and perfect man-it? surely not; if you did, I must expect together with his finished work. The use that when near the top, one of the steps of this glorious ladder is expressly to convey poor sinners into a glorious and everlasting kingdom, where they shall live and reign for ever, and sing "Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own most precious blood, be praise and glory, and dominion, for ever and ever. Amen." Just a few words more. You know it is said that the Lord was at the top: yes, my friends, and he will not be any where else while there remains one vessel of mercy upon earth, for that is his standing would break and let you fall, never to rise See, one, and that thy Christ is a mighty one; | certainty it must be more near than at any or I scruple not to say that you will fall period heretofore. But are not the signs to the lowest hell, there to be racked in thy soul for ever and ever. May the Lord, if it be his holy will, have mercy on you. But I return to the saints scattered, wishing them all good bye for the present, and may the presence of the mighty God of Jacob go with you, and be with you, and may God the eternal Spirit, lead you into all truth, and then one triune Jehovah, in the person of his Son, shall have all the praise for ever and ever, Amen. JOHN COATES. The Day of Judgment. To the Readers of the Earthen Vessel. more pointed and increased? Do not the lengthening and increasing of the shadows of the evening tell us that our glory is fast departing, and the light of our day fast clouds and thick darkness lowering_around, sinking below the horizon? And are not so that the face of the heavens, the barometer of truth, and the noise of the mind in christian experience; all unite in saying, 'An end is come-the end is come: it waiteth for thee; behold it is come! An evil-an only evil, behold it is come?' But, what is the principal character of this crisis? Mysterious! All things are wrapt in mystery; so that no man can know the secret of the Almighty, unless he be led into the midst thereof by divine teaching; for in this arcana a man can walk only as he is led; learn only as he is taught; and see only as he is shewn. But it is not a circus DOUBTLESS many of us in reflecting on this opened to him that willeth; nor a show open solemn matter retain some of the ideas we to him that runneth; nor a theatre open to imbibed in our infancy, which, therefore, him who can purchase a ticket with the received only from natural persons, must be money of his good deeds, or duty faith. as far from the real truth, as the east is from But it is Jehovah's revelation open to those the west. But how can we form right ideas? only who have the privilege of being taken Only as our understandings are led into the between the Angel of the covenant-the subject by the Spirit of Jesus, who causeth faithful and true Witness-and the eternal his people by that means only to know Spirit, the comforter, who also beareth wit'all things' perfectly as it is written, In ness; and by these two guided along a the latter day shall ye consider it perfectly:' sacred path, hidden from the eye of all that is, in perfect accordance with the re- living, into a most wondrous and profound vealed word. And this solemn point can arena, lighted up with heaven's own lamp, best be understood by knowing the nature and filled with scenes managed with Imand character of those typic days of judg-manuel's own strong hand! And here, and ment which happened of old; as those of in this way only, are seen the wonders that Noah, of Sodom, of Egypt, of Canaan by have been thought worthy (if I may so say) Joshua, of Israel on Samaria, of Judah on to engross the mind of the Eternal God; to Jerusalem, of Babylon by Cyrus, and of the furnish employ for angels through ages Jewish commonwealth by Titus Cæsar; for past; and engage the attention of the church taking all these with their respective typic whose privilege it is to make known unto characters, prophetic denouncements, his- principalities and powers the manifold toric relations, in connection with the so- wisdom of God. Commentators, indeed, lemn revelations of the New Testament, we have held their flickering tapers to the cohave in the hand of the Spirit-taught mind lumns of advertisement, and left on record a sacred prophetic reed, or golden clue to their contradictory thoughts of scenes they find out the nature of that day in which all never saw, and which to follow is but an christians believe. But we mean not that ignus fatus guiding into the mazes of illuday which shall close up the thousand years sion, fanaticism, and error! Hence, let none yet to come spoken of by the terms last and utter a syllable of mystery further than he final judgment, but that which now imme- himself has been guided into, and trodden diately concerns us as closing up the present the holy ground, with the sacred and felt, dispensation; and upon which, existing yet invisible clue in his hand; for thus signs tell us we are already entering. For far, and no farther is he at liberty to tell it cometh, surely it cometh; the day of the those who can understand what he has seen, Lord hasteth greatly.' The apostles thought and heard, and tasted, and felt; and in this it near in their day, and were prepared to will be found harmony and analogy; while meet it; many righteous men since then holy sympathy will throw around the bond have thought it about to dawn in the dif- of perfectness; and hand in hand they will ferent centuries gone by; Luther and Bun-walk the road that leads from banishment. yan thought it near; but it has tarried even But, what are the things to be seen in those till now; when, if the signs are not more depths profound, of which you speak? Who striking than in days past, we know of a are you that asks this question? A fan |