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perish," or the penitent publican, " God be merciful to me a poor sinner," feeling yourself (as the prophet Isaiah describeth)" from the crown of the head unto the sole of the foot, to be nothing but wounds, bruises, and putrifying sores;" and so far putrified, that no remedy will do but the blood of the precious Lamb of God, once shed on Calvary, when he there opened a fountain for sin and uncleanness; and that unless, by faith, that balmy blood be applied to your wounded conscience, you must perish everlastingly?-For Jesus Christ is the only Physician of all wounded sin-sick souls; and what thanks, what praises shall we return unto our God for providing us such a good and able Physician, who is able to save to the uttermost all that, by faith, come unto him! For he healeth all diseases of what kind soever they be; and be for ever liveth to do his needy creatures good. He kindly inviteth us, saying, "Come unto me all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my yoke upon you, and learn of me, and you shall find rest unto your souls; for my yoke is easy, and my burden light." If all these kind invitations will not encourage us to come and be healed by this kind Physician, I know not what will. He doth not require any pay; for he saith, "If any man will, let him come and take of the water of life freely, without money and without price." He is not in one office only, but in every thing we stand in need of. He is our wisdom to teach us, to make us wise to everlasting salvation; our righteousness, in our stead, before God; our sanctification before his Heavenly Father, to make us acceptable in his sight, and to answer for us, and make a full satisfaction for the multiplicity of our imperfections; and our redemption, to make us fully complete and acceptable in his sight. Oh wonderful love! Jesus, what hast thou bestowed on such a worm as me! What compassion hast thou shewed to draw me after thee!

"If still to me thy bowels move,

Help me to taste thy dying love."

Come on then, dear soul, haste to Jesus; escape for your life; tarry no longer in the horrible city, lest the avenger overtake you and bind you as a prisoner, and deliver you to the judge, and the judge deliver you to the officer, and you be cast into prison, there to lie till you have paid injured justice; which never can, nor ever will be to all eternity. Therefore, delays are dangerous. David said, "I made haste, and delayed not to keep thy righteous commandinents." And elsewhere he said, "I will not come into my house, nor suffer my eyes to sleep, nor eye-lids to slumber, till I have found a habitation for the God of Jacob to dwell in,"

As the Lord has created an appetite in your soul, let no external or outward forms of religion without the power, satisfy

you. Think nothing too much to part with for Christ; for, saith he, "Except a man sell all that he hath, he cannot be my disciple; and whosoever loveth father or mother, wife or child, more than me, is not worthy of me: for whosoever loveth his life shall lose it; and whosoever loseth his life for my sake and the gospel's, shall find it in the life eternal. For what is a man rofited, if he should gain the whole world, and lose his own soul? or what shall he give in exchange for his soul" I must conclude. May the Lord bless what I have now feebly attempted to speak to you, unto your precious and immortal soul, and make each of us heirs of everlasting life and glory! so prays your unworthy servant. Please to give my dutiful respects to Mr. C—; and acquaint him, that I hope he is making sure work of his soul's salvation, for the day is far spent, and the night is at hand; and the wise man adviseth,

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whatsoever thy hand findeth to do, do it with all thy might, for there is no knowledge, wisdom, nor device, in the grave, whither thou goest." Beware of the world's flatteries; for, I believe, it has beguiled thousands of poor souls with its flattering delusions; labouring to catch at a shadow, they have lost the substance, still busying themselves with labour and toil after perishing things; like Martha, much encumbered; while Mary sat at Jesus' feet and heard his words (and so the blessed Jesus declared) that one thing needful: she had chose the good part that never should be taken from her. I do not say we are to be idiots, and care nothing about the world; for the apostle saith, "Be not slothful in business, but fervent in spirit, serving the Lord." And the Lord saith," Seek ye first the kingdom of God and his righteousness, and all needful things shall be added unto you.' Let him, and each of us, beware we do not lose sight of Jesus, but carefully follow his footsteps; for, saith he, "I am the way, the truth, and the life. If any man follow me; where I am, there shall my servant be also."

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My dear friends, I see such beauty in the looks of his love, that I know not how to drop my pen from carnestly desiring you to go unto him, without the camp, bearing his reproach. "Let the dead bury their dead ;" — everlasting life is before us:

"Ere long we shall fly

To the regions on high,

For Israel's strength cannot vary nor lie :

He soon shall appear,

He more than draws near;

Our Jesus is come, and eternity's here!"

Farewell; and may the God of peace and love be with you. all! so prays your sincere friend and wellwisher, for my dear Lord and Master Jesus Christ's sake,

DAVID SAUNDERS.

Sir,

THE INVASION OF SATAN'S KINGDOM,

BY THE PRINCE OF PEACE.

To the Editor.

I Now turn to the more pleasing topic proposed in my last, and with which I shall conclude my subject. The triumphs of Satan were not unknown to our divine Emmanuel, who immediately determined, in return, to attack the usurper, and invade his newly-acquired empire. Scarcely had the tyrant effected his purpose, and carried the victims of his lawless power captive into his own territory, which is truly a region of darkness, oppression, and death, than this glorious Person caused it to be intimated to them, that he," the Seed of the woman," would certainly" bruise the serpent's head*." This pleasing and merciful intelligence, in some measure, dissipated the dark cloud which hung over them, and inspired them with a ray of hope, that both themselves and their pos terity might yet expect to be rescued from the deep and endless ruin which seemed to await them, as the consequence of this awful and disastrous event.

The majesty and power of the all-conquering King of Zion, together with his design against this desperate and malignant enemy of the human race, were not altogether unknown to him; he therefore immediately exerted all his policy and power to prevent its ruinous effects upon his extensive and benighted empire. Among a variety of other measures which he adopted, he did every thing he could to conciliate his new subjects to the laws, government, and manners of his empire,

providing for them every thing which could tend to gratify "the lust of the eye, the lust of the flesh, and the pride of life;" assuring them, at the same time, that they had nothing to repine at or to dread, as the motto of his diadem was Pleasure, Liberty, and Security: than which, nothing could be more false, as his service yields nothing but misery, oppression, and danger. He made use of every artifice to prevent any intelligence from this great personage reaching those whom he had so basely subjugated; and yet, after all his care, he found that communications had been made, and had excited some discontent with his service; he endeavoured to remove and counteract those impressions, by assuring them, that it was all false and delusive; nay, that the persons who pretended to be commissioned from him to announce his intention of invading his happy and enviable country, were interested enthusiasts, and only aimed to make merchandize of them. He set his emissaries to blacken their characters and misrc

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present their designs; nay, they did not scruple to swearthat they were known and inveterate enemies to all order and government. Sometimes Sometimes they were mocked, -being asked, "Where is the promise of his coming? At other times they threatened them; nay, they even laid hold on some of those truly good and heavenly messengers: some they beat and cast into prison, and others they put to death; pretending, at the same time, that it was doing both God and the world service*. But these eminent and injured messengers from "the King of Kings and Lord of Lords," instead of being ashamed of the cause in which they had engaged, or, through fear of suffering, recanting what they asserted, did to the last boldly and confidently repeat their messages; assuring their oppressed countrymen, that Jesus, the King of Glory, the Lord of Hosts, known to be mighty in battle, and who had often divided the spoil with the great, and taken the prey from the mighty, would most certainly invade the kingdom of Satan, and break the heavy and galling yoke under which his subjects so bitterly and so incessantly groaned.

The event proved exactly as these faithful men had foretold. After a variety of preparatory steps had been taken, and a long interval had elapsed between the first intimation of the design and its actual accomplishment, this long-desired and glorious Deliverer made his appearance. This was indeed an eventful period, a joyful day;-a day which had long been anticipated, yea, ardently prayed for by all who had believed the message which this gracious, King had at different times sent by the hands of his servants. On the contrary, it is impossible to describe the consternation and rage which this event occasioned in Satan, and all the infernal powers under his direction and influence. Councils were held, messengers ánd trusty agents were dispatched in every direction, with orders to arm and muster all the armed and tried friends of the Satanic empire, with a view to a prompt and vigorous defence of the country in this time of common danger, against an enemy known to be truly wise in council and omnipotent in conflict. Satan and his emissaries knew well enough that this was the King who was to come, and of whom his followers and subjects were heard to sing," Unto us a Child is born, and a Son is given, and the government shall be upon his shoulder; and his name shall be called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace. Of the increase of his government and peace there shall be no end upon the throne of David, and upon his kingdom, to order and to establish it with judgment and with justice from henceforth, even for ever. The zeal of the Lord of hosts will perform this."

Heb. xi. 36, 37, 38.

↑ Heb. i, 1, 2. ‡ Isaiah ix. 6, 7.

Although the god of this world knew the tremendous power and resources of this anointed One, yet he did not discover any cowardice or intimidation; but summoned all his experience and resolution, and determined not to yield one inch of his territory, or lose one of his subjects, but by dire necessity. Disguising himself, like Ahab of old, he went into the battle; and, in single combat, he assaulted the Prince, by whose hand his empire was destined to fall. But, after various severe and well-planned attacks, he retreated, not a little chagrined at his want of success. He then employed a chosen band of troops, on whom he could safely depend †, and placed them in ambush against him; hoping to ensnare and ruin him by their means:- but he repulsed these also. In short, in every encounter Emmanuel's wisdom and power proved victorious, although the enemy was not totally destroyed.

To these partial and undecisive conflicts succeeded a more tremendous one. It was indeed one of the most determined efforts of the god of this world to defend his empire against the assaults of " the Captain of the Lord of Hosts." The latter was indeed aware of the period and manner in which this last and desponding attack would be made; and spoke of it to his followers, calling it, in his discourse, by the strong expression of "The hour and power of darkness." He anticipated also an affecting circumstance, which indeed actually took place about the same time: - this was the cowardice and unfaithfulness of his followers; to whom he expressed his suspicions: in answer to which, every one of them renewed their declaration of attachinent; and even pledged themselves rather to die than forsake him. The event turned out just as he had predicted. One of the twelve, whom he had chosen as leaders, agreed to betray him for thirty pieces of silver; and the rest fled at the first onset, and left him to bear, singly the whole heat of the enemy's furious assault: then was fulfilled that ancient saying of his, "I have trodden the wine-press alone; and of the people, there were none with me." This was indeed, to the Friend of sinners, the most awful and afflicting day in all his dreadful warfare; and, to perpetuate the remembrance of its interesting transactions among his followers, he has instituted an ordinance of commemoration, which is to continue in force to the end of the world §. Although in this last conflict he was sorely wounded, and "his visage marred more than that of any man ;" yet he obtained a most signal victory over the enemy, which is thus celebrated by one of the most valiant captains in the Prince's army, "Having spoiled principalities and powers, he made a shew of them, openly triumphing over them."

Mat. iv. 1-12,
Mat. xxvi. 35. 56.
Col. ii. 15.

The Scribes and Pharisees.
Mat. xxvi. 26-28.
Isaiah lii. 14.

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