glass she is all black and deformed, if she beholds another, the glory of God, she is changed into the same image from glory to glory by the Spirit of God; she feels herself completely lost, yet sings she has salvation in Christ Jesus with eternal glory; all unrighteousness in herself, but made the righteousness of God in Christ Jesus. She can promise herself nothing, yet has everything according to promise; she fears an oath, and has everything secured to her by oath; she never entered into a covenant with God, yet lives in covenant with her God; and as she never made a promise, so she can never break one. She transgressed the law, but never the commandment; she cannot live without words, but never speaks one in her own favour; she does not live by words only, and yet the Word is her only life; she never stole, and yet was apprehended as a thief; she was a manslayer, but never a murderer; started off in early life to go to hell, but could not find the way; never thought of seeking heaven, till more than heaven sought her; worse than a bankrupt, yet hast unsearchable riches; daily poor and needy, yet has bread and water without money and without price; she is a decided orphan, yet has an everlasting father; she is an heir to nothing good in her own sight, yet an heir of God through Christ; she was brought forth in death, yet will never be the subject of it; her mother was the very one to produce death, yet she was the mother of life. Thus, my Sarah, I have sent you nuts which will more than amuse you in your sleepless hours, and still your tossings on the bed; the palpitation of the heart will cease for a time whilst employed in opening them. They are spices of the first order, and the juice of them will cause the lips of them that are asleep to speak; and as I have been favoured with their going down so sweetly, I am persuaded that if the indulgence be granted you, you will have neither ache nor pain; all your moveables will appear fixtures, and you will say to your own husband, "in his favour there is life; weeping may endure for a night, but joy cometh in the morning ;" and "in my prosperity I said I shall never be moved; by thy favour thou hast made my mountain stand strong;" and you will be able to take the harp from the willows, and strike up, "Awake harp and lute, and go forth in the dances of them that make merry," and sing the ancient song, "the Lord is my strength and song, he is become my salvation: he shall be an habitation for me, my father's God, and I will exalt him." These things abound in my heart, my child. May Jesus and salvation be increasingly precious unto you, is the prayer of him who writes these truths unto you, from a heartfelt experience of them, who with you in the unity of the Spirit desires to ascribe all to the praise of the glory of his grace, that has made us accepted in the Beloved, and joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement. And as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk we in him, rooted and built up in him, established in the faith, abouuding therein with thanksgiving. A hint before I stop, don't you try to tie faith by sight, or circumscribe it by sense; it stands high above such things, for our faith does not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. Be content with this short epistle from the heart in love, Yours in our precious Lord Jesus, 20, Laura Terrace, London. A. TRIGGS. ON THE EXTENT OF THE LAW OF MOSES. To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine. DEAR BROTHER IN THE LORD JESUS, I am sure I need not apologize to you for calling your attention to the letter of "W. F." in your Magazine for the present month You have wisely and kindly prefaced the same with a few weighty words, to which I doubt not you would have added others had time permitted. You know my desire is not to enter into controversy, particularly with the brethren, yet I cannot help engaging my pen in behalf of "De M.," and in remarking to you the strangeness of the "Village Grazier's" ideas of what he terms the law of Moses. Not having the last few numbers of the Magazine at home, I cannot refer to the previous state of the correspondonce, but in the present number it has evidently taken a new form, and your correspondent evidently wishes to maintain that the Gentiles were never at any time under the law, an idea which I believe was never broached until the nineteenth century. I imagine it would be almost useless to ask you to refer your correspondent to the writings of any of our great and good forefathers, or I might mention to you Calvin, Usher, Turretine, Gill, Huntington, Hawker, and others; men differing in words as to whether the law is a rule of life to believers, yet all agreeing that that part of the law commonly designated moral is the perfect standard of right and wrong, which though delivered by Moses, is the unerring standard whereby the thoughts, words, and deeds of men will be proved to be sinful. I say I suppose it will be vain to ask you to refer "W. F." to these writings, as he will most likely reject them as uninspired, yet it may be well to guard him against the vague and loose way he has of speaking of the law. It is taken in scripture in both a wide and a restricted sense; in Psalm i. 2, xix., viii. 9, it is evidently put for the whole word of God. In John x. 34, and 1 Cor. xiv. 21, all the books of the Old Testament are intended. In Luke xxiv. 44, and Rom. iii. 21, it is used to signify the Pentateuch, apart from the Psalms and Prophecies. In Heb. vii. 12, it is taken in a stricter sense for the Mosaic dispensation as opposed to the New Testament, as it is also in John i. 19; and again for the covenant of works in distinction from the covenant of grace, as Rom. vi. 14, or it is taken generally as a rule of things to be done, and things to be avoided, which God has prescribed to all rational creatures under the sanction of rewards and punishments. It is easy to perceive what part of the law was given for the government of the Jewish nation; what part, as the rites and ceremonies, was intended to preach the gospel, or to preach Christ unto them; and that part which must remain as the transcript of the requirements of Jehovah in all who approach unto him. Doubtless when "De M." said the law was older than Moses, he did not refer to the covenant made with the Israelites, but to the fact of Jehovah's requirements being eternally the same; and I much wonder that your correspondent should have adduced the self-opiniated young man, who fondly flattered himself that he had observed all the commandments from his youth up, as a proof that the law does not contain a transcript of the holiness and justice of Jehovah, for our Lord immediately exposed the young man's self-deception, by putting his love to his neighbour to the test," and he went away sorrowful." If the fact of the law, the moral law, being given by Moses, confines it to the Jewish nation, we may give up the Bible altogether; for the same rule would confine the Gospels and Epistles to those to whom they were originally addressed. The fact of persons abusing the word of God, by applying to themselves portions of God's word which do not belong to them, their characters and circumstances not at all corresponding with those of the individuals to whom they were addressed, is no reason why I should close my eyes and ears to the voice of God speaking in the Old Testament, for "those things were written for our learning;" but I would observe to you, my brother, that Jesus, our Emanuel, is called Jehovah-Tsidkenu, "the Lord our Righteousness;" but how can he be the Lord our Righteousness but as our law-fulfiller-but if we are not by nature under the law, how can it be said that he is our righteousness? If I have mistaken the drift of your correspondent, I shall regret it, but I must confess his letter is not easy to be understood. Preferring to walk in the old paths, to tread in the footsteps of the flock, and rejoicing in the assurance that Christ has redeemed me from the curse of the law, that he is to me the end of the law for righteousness, and that I am dead to the law by the body of Christ, Astley, October, 1845. Í subscribe myself your loving brother, ALFRED HEWLETT. THOUGHTS SUGGESTED BY THE TRANSLATION OF W. H. COLYER, ESQ. 'Tis true, the conflict's o'er, the race is run; Blest as much as God can bless -entirely filled with bliss: By whom all things exist-through whom all things remain ; May mourning friends unite with saints in heaven to fall Greenwich, Sept. 18, 1845. AQUILA. UPON THE TERM "CASTAWAY." To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine. MY DEAR BROTHER IN HIM WHO IS THE FIRST AND THE LAst, Grace, mercy, and peace be unto you, and all that love our dear Lord in truth and sincerity, for we rejoice to know the love springs from that love which knows no beginning, and never shall end; and as we are travelling through a waste howling wilderness, often dreary and tired, how cheering it is when we can get a sip of the brook by the way-it makes us look up, we forget our trials, and press forwards towards the mark for the prize of our high calling of God in Christ Jesus. Blessed be his dear name, it is a high calling. Oh that you and I, my dear brother, may realize it more and more, for we are perfect in him, who is the head of the body the church. Our dear Father's revealed will to us is that sweet brook which never fails when applied by the power of the Holy Ghost; often have I sipped it and sipped again, but yesterday's sip will not do for to-morrow's troubles; but we rejoice to know the brook is still running, and we crave for it like the camel in the desert, faint, weary, and thirsty. But when we come to a part of the brook which the devil would make us believe is stagnant water, and appear not refreshed and disappointed, even so have I looked at the portion of Holy Writ brought under our notice by "Laudi Dei," which I know has made many of the Lord's family cry out (when under the sound of a roaring devil), "What! cast away at last?" No, beloved, it is some of the running stream perverted from its right course by cruel Arminians; for I rejoice to tell the tempted of the Lord's family, that in an old Bible of 1569, it is rendered “unapproved." For the word "castaway" could never have been the mind of the Holy Ghost, for the Holy Ghost declares the word "castaway to mean abandoned, given over to destruction, taken no more account of, as it is seen in Rom. xi. J, 2; Ezek. xviii. 31; Hosea ix. 17; Isa. xli. 9, and xxxi. 7; Job viii. 20; Heb. x. 35; and as I do not pretend to know anything of the Greek, I seek to know the mind of the Holy Ghost-for all Scripture are given by inspiration, for holy men wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Trusting this will support some of the weaklings, is the prayer of Yours in the everlasting gospel, Bedmont. BIRTH-DAY REFLECTIONS. FOR fifty years this day, oh Lord, As able and as willing too, To save my soul from hell; Had I the tongues of angels now, Redeeming love I'd tell. Yes, that I would tell of his love, That saved a wretch like me; ABIJAH. Oh Lord, enable me to praise, To tell of goodness, love, and power, An Ebenezer raise. Oh keep me still-watch o'er my path, Leicestershire. * October 20, 1845. W. F. care. SINGULAR RESTORATION. The ONE of my father's brothers, residing in Boston at that time, became a victim to the pestilence (the yellow fever then prevailing). When the first symptoms appeared, his wife sent the children into the country, and herself remained to attend upon him. Her friends warned her against such rashness. They told her it would be death to her, and no benefit to him, for he would soon be too ill to know who attended upon him. These arguments had no impression on her affectionate heart. She felt that it would be a life-long satisfaction to her to know who attended upon him, if he did not. She accordingly stayed and watched him with unremitting This, however, did not avail to save him. He grew worse and worse, and finally died. Those who went round with the death-carts had visited the chamber, and seen that the end was near. They now came to take the body. His wife refused to let it go. She told me she never knew how to account for it, but though he was perfectly cold and rigid, and to every appearance quite dead, there was a powerful impression on her mind that life was not extinct. The men were overborne by the strength of her conviction, though their own reason was opposed to it. The half hour again came round, and again was heard the solemn words "Bring out the dead." The wife again resisted their importunities; but this time the men were more resolute. They said the duty assigned to them was a painful one; but the health of the city required punctual obedience to the orders they received; if they ever expected the pestilence to abate, it must be by a prompt removal of the dead, and immediate fumigation of the infected apartments. She pleaded and pleaded, and even knelt to them in an agony of tears, continually saying, "I am sure he is not dead. men represented the utter absurdity of such an idea; but finally, overcome by her tears, again departed. With trembling haste she renewed her efforts to restore life; she raised his head, rolled his limbs in hot flannel, and placed hot onions on his feet. The dreaded half-hour again came round and found him as cold and rigid as ever. She renewed her entreaties so desperately that the messengers began to think a little gentle force would be necessary. They accordingly attempted to remove the body against her will, but she threw herself upon it, and clung to it with such frantic strength that they could not easily loosen her grasp. Impressed by the remarkable energy of her will they relaxed their efforts. To all their remonstrances she answered, "If you bury him, you shall bury me with him." At last, by dint of reasoning on the necessity of the case, they obtained from her a promise that if he showed no signs of life before they again came round, she would make no further opposition to the removal. Having gained this respite, she hung the watch up on the bed-post and renewed her efforts with redoubled zeal. She placed kegs of hot water about him, breathed into his nostrils, and held hartshorn to his nose; but still the body lay motionless and cold. She looked anxiously at the watch; in five minutes the promised half-hour would expire, and those dreadful voices would be heard passing through the street. Hopelessness. came over her; she dropped the head she had been sustaining, her hand trembled violently, and the hartshorn she had been holding was spilled on his pallid face. Accidentally the position of the head had become slightly tipped backward, and the powerful liquid flowed into his nostrils. Instantly there was a short quick gasp-a struggle-his eyes opened; and when the deathmen came again they found him sitting up in the bed. He is still alive, and has enjoyed unusually good health.-Letters from New York, by Mrs. Child. |