On him waits every creature's eye, The crane and swallows flight he guides, He moves all power, secures his praise, He quickens all who life possess, It is by him our hearts still beat, Life would be swallow'd up in death, Sun, moon, and stars, would fade away, As ere he spake it was. He is the life of all that lives, His influence doth ov'r all pervade, And when man's heart his ways devise, Though Laban's rage against Jacob burns, Urging him to proclaim; Though in my power to do you harm, Esau in anger takes the field, While Balaam, Israel means to curse, Saul in his fury David sees, The famine, pestilence, and sword, He speaks, and fire forbears to burn, He looks, and Pharaoh dies; He's omnipresent, hence is he, The lion bold, the viperous brood, Obey his wise design; Each atom in creation's whole, And he is wholly mine. Then sing his praise with heart and voice, Always in him confide; Let lyre, and lute, and harp combine, Greenwich, July, 1845. MARK PHILIP STONEHAM. D. A. DOUDNEY, CITY STEAM PRESS, 1, LONG LANE, " ENDEAVOURING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE." "JESUS CHRIST, THE SAME YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER. WHOM TO KNOW VOL. V.] SEPTEMBER, 1845. [No. 57. MINISTERIAL TRAVAIL. FOR GOD IS MY RECORD, HOW GREATLY I LONG AFTER YOU ALL IN THE BOWELS OF JESUS CHRIST.-1 PHIL. I. 8. READER, there is something very forcible in the language of the apostle, "For God is my record." He seems to have been brought to the happy position of " ceasing from man;" he felt it was enough that he could appeal to God, to whom the secrets of his heart were fully known, and who was well acquainted with each peculiar exercise. Ah! brethren, how much time, and labour, and vexation, should we save ourselves, had we grace to follow the apostle's example. Could we make every. thing very plain and plausible to our fellow men-were we enabled to explain satisfactorily each and every of the circumstances attending our daily life, walk, and conversation, so as thereby to secure the good opinion of our fellows, of what service would it be? Nay, might not an evil-the snare of being beloved, and caressed, and applauded-be the consequence? On the contrary, were not our position less dangerous if under the harsh conclusions-the unkindly sayings-of our No. 57, VOL. V.-New Series. 2 E fellow-men, we could secretly look up and exclaim, "For God is my record?" Job felt the comfort of such a conclusion when, under the reproaches of his pretended friends and advisers, he could say, "My witness is in heaven, and my record on high." And how, permit us to ask, how could we have fellowship with our dear Lord and Master, who was 66 despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief;" of whom David spake prophetically when he said, Reproach hath broken my head," if we were well thought of and bighly spoken of, by the professing and the profane world? Would not indeed the woe denounced by our Lord (Luke vi. 26) fall upon us under such circumstances? Let the reader clearly understand us here, and let him not for a moment imagine we are apologizing for an indifferent walk or a reckless mode of procedure before the world. God forbid. We are merely contending for that firmness-that straight forwardness of principle and conduct which must ensure to the man or the woman "coming out" and "being separate " from the world, a certain amount of censure and reproach. It is conformity to the world-a desire after the good opinions of men-and a fear of taking up the cross, and following our adorable Head and Lord through evil report and good report, that verily, brethren, insures to us and to the church of God in the present day almost universally, so much pain and suffering. It is pain and suffering of another kind-it is an admixture of pride and mortification-a species of anguish as great, if not greater, than his or hers who meets it on the Christian's fair, legitimate grounds-namely, love to the Lord, and conformity to his blessed image, as opposed to the principles and practices of a world lying in wickedness not the spurious conformity of the proud-hearted pharisee, nor the mimicry of the "would-be saint," but the profession of the plain, wholesome, open-faced Christian, who is neither ashamed of his Lord, nor afraid to "give a reason of the hope that is in him, with meekness and fear." Reader, who of us stands the test here? Some there are, certainly, who do. But, oh, if we ourselves personally were weighed in the balances of the sanctuary upon this ground-if God were to add righteousness to the liue and judginent to the plummet here, verily we should fall infinitely short. In the contemplation of the subject, we fall in deep humility and self-abasement before God: the language of Jesus, "Whosoever shall be ashamed of me and of my words, of him shall the Son of Man be ashamed, when he shall come in his glory, and in his Father's, and of the holy angels," cuts us to the very quick. Reader, the Lord the Spirit lead you to a close examination of yourself upon these matters; the exercise may not be an unprofitable one, more especially in prospect of the test-day which may not be far distant. Mentally, take your stand by the apostle when brought before Felix, and then ask yourself the question whether you think the like noble, fearless confession would be forthcoming? In immediate connexion with this appeal, there is also another very consolatory thought-that God is not only conscious of-acquainted with-those deep emotions of which the apostle was about to speak, but that he kept account of them-treasured them up as it were-laid them by in his own loving heart, that at the set time he might pour forth into the bosom of his servants, the living fruits and sure effects of the self-same feeling which he had enkindled. And these fruitsthese special consolations-are among the means which the Lord is pleased to make use of to keep his poor burdened ministers from sinking beneath a total exhaustion; it is by the occasional pouring into the bosom of these secret consolations, that their depressed spirits are revived, and sweet cordials administered to their wounded hearts. The wisdom, as well as the love of the Lord, is also wonderfully displayed in the times and seasons he reserves to himself for the administering of these revivals. Where is the sent servant of God who has not been struck with amazement at the very timely and unexpected way in which the Lord has brought forward some soul to testify of the communication of grace by his means the application of a promise in a time of deep necessity? the untying of some knotty part of experience? the minute description of the character and standing of some poor traveller who believes he was either never in the way, or that if once in it, he haslost the same? the pointing to Jesus as a Friend-a Brother-a Portion, when one has seemed to be cast out, forsaken by God and man? These, dear friends, are among the few-and-far-between cordials which a minister has; and these stand in connexion with that record of which the apostle speaks. Those only who are called to administer from time to time to the spiritual necessities of their fellow-men, can feelingly enter into the spirit and meaning of the prophet, when he exclaimed, "Who hath believed our report, and to whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?" None but the really Spirit-taught and Spirit.commissioned men, know what that deep sinking of heart is which arises from the fear of a lack of usefulness-the apprehension that their labour has been in vain, and their strength spent for nought; and these--and these only-will prize the record spoken of in the text, which leaves both themselves and their ministrations in the hands of the great Searcher of hearts. What a mercy the Lord is the Searcher of hearts, and that he is acquainted with each bosom secret, and reads most perfectly the language of each sigh and groan which oozes forth from the pent-up, burdened breast. Time was when we trembled at the thought, and would have given our very existence to prevent the Lord God from having knowledge of those vain sinful thoughts of which we were the subject; but now we would not hide a thought—a wish-a desire from him, be they good or bad: they are all known to him. Great indeed is the mercy; and oh how grateful the truth in connexion, "[ knew that thou wouldst deal very treacherously, and that thou wouldst be called a transgressor from the womb." Then our God is not deceived nor disappointed? No, not in the least. Nor did he expect to find in his church any but― "Fickle fools, and false to him." And will this make any fond of sin, or lead to trifling with it? |