up; good that the man should be alone; I will make him an helpmeet for him." Where did the Lord go for the help meet? He saw her in the man; so that there was no occasion to look elsewhere. When was she useful to Adam? when she stood as a rib in his side, or when she was taken out? When taken out of course. Then, notice, they were one in God's purpose ere He brought them together; and when the Lord brought her to the man, it was where she was before; the woman previously being a rib in his side. Carry the idea the woman—the church-stood out in creation; she plunged herself into sin, and became polluted; the man's (Christ's) side is opened to emit blood to remove it all away. She incurs the penalty, He endures it ; she merits death, He who was the eternal life destroys it; she breaks the holy law, He magnifies it, and makes it honourable; she awakes the sword of justice, He receives it, yea, welcomes it into His own bosom, that she His bride might upon His bosom for ever; she merits hell, He bears it all, and said, in meditation, "Thou will not leave my soul in hell, nor suffer thine Holy One to see corruption." The bride brings herself into poverty; Christ becomes poor, for, "He that was rich for our sakes became poor;" she becomes weak, He is "crucified through weakness;" she falls into temptation, He was tempted in all points; she becomes a servant to Satan and sin, He became a servant, and served His righteous Father on her behalf, and serves her with blood to take away all defilement; yea, grants her His own flesh which is meat indeed, and His own blood which is drink indeed. Christ serves His bride in every needed way. lie As Eve stood in Adain ere she stood out in creation, so the bride the Lamb's wife stood in Christ in eternity, even as the rib did in Adam ere it was made into a woman. What was the woman before she was taken out of man? A part of man, even his very bone. What was the woman, the church, or bride, ere she stood in creative manifestation? A part of Christ. What was she when standing in the first open head? No less a part of Christ. What was she when fallen in Adam? Still His own bride, His own wife, His very bone; nor could the fall destroy the relationship. Why? It was eternal. The fall could not sunder the bond, for it was eternal; therefore the woman, the church, was in the man, Christ, in eternity, appeared in creature standing from the man, but was brought to Him her lawful rightful husband by God himself. He is not ashamed of her, but owns her notwithstanding all her defilement, still saying in undying language, "Thy Maker is thy Husband." Repent of His choice, He never will; for, "He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent." How consoling, then, the thought to know that the Lord of life and glory " 'Claims this partner of His throne, Through floods of wrath and deep destess." So near and dear is the church to Christ in sacred marriage ties, that, what is done to her He declares is done to Himself; for when Saul of Tarsus was persecuting her, He could not remain a silent spectator in heaven, but was moved for the love He bore her to stay the hand of him, her persecutor, actually confessing, that what Saul was doing was against Himself. How precious the words are which fell from His lips: Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Are you aware she is bone of my bone, flesh of my flesh, joined to me and one spirit? And, what God joineth together let no man put asunder." Christ, then, and His bride are one, and, to shew the re ciprocity of their love, we have Solomon's song left on record, which songs Solomon (Christ) and His bride alone can sing or understand anything about; It is therefore well called " Solomon's; but not His in any separatednes, from His bride, for she declares, "I am my Beloved's, and my Beloved is mine;" "I am my Beloved's, and His desire is towards me;" and He saith, "My love, my dove, my undefiled is but one; she is the only one of her mother, the choice one of herthat bear her; Thou art all fair my love, there is no spot in thee." The question being asked, "What is thy Beloved more than another beloved?" She answers in the joy of her heart, "My Beloved is white and ruddy, the chiefest among ten thousand ;" and, "This is my Beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." Thus stood the Bridegroom and the bride, In knots of love securely tied, All fair and comely ere the fall, The Bridegroom being the all in all. But when, alas! the woman fell, The bride of Christ, therefore, was covered in the day of battle; her Head and Husband received the vindictive blow, while she sheltered in the place she stood in in eternity, even in the place the Lord told Moses was by Him (Exod. xxxiii, 21), which place we have recapitulated in the viii, 30, of the book of Proverbs. O precious shelter! O glorious hiding place! O sacred secret retreat! What love in the Lamb of God to endure all the wrath the Church incurred! “That wrath would have kindled a hell In millions of creatures, which fell "'Twas justice that burst in a blaze Sustain'd Him 'till nature was dead." (To be continued.) THE ELECTION OF GOD. A Sermon preached at Love Lane Chapel, Margate. "The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded.”—Rom. xi. 7 "The spirit that would this truth withstand, Would pull God's temple down; Wrest Jesu's sceptre from His hand, And spoil Him of His crown." THIS glorious truth is little spoken of in this day of great profession. The natural man, or mere professor of religion, fights against it. To such we would say, "Who art thou that repliest against God?" But notwithstanding all and every opposition, God has an elect or chosen people, which fact our text clearly sets forth; and, was there no other portion in the word of God in favour of this doctrine, the one we have quoted is sufficient. But it is not so, the Bible teems with it from Genesis to Revelations, which we hope to shew before closing this grand and glorious subject. We well know the pride of the human heart is such, that no man, until humbled by sovereign grace,until brought down by hard labour, even to the place of stopping of mouth's -will receive the doctrine in the love of it. A mere ASSENT and CONSENT to the truth is not enough, it must be HEART-FELT and HEART LOVEd. Beloved, do mark the difference between the doctrine, and grace of the doctrine. The former has often made me tremble, while the latter has distilled into my soul, and broken me down in contrition of heart, before the Lord, to think that He should in love and mercy choose me, and manifest the same by a knowledge of His dear and precious name; which name I have often proved to be as ointment poured forth," and have well understood by heartfelt experience that Christ was "anointed with the oil of gladness, above His fellows;" and that, "grace was poured into His lips." How sweetly He pours it into the heart and soul of His dearly beloved people, causing "The lame man to leap as an hart, and the tongue of the dumb to sing," bringing thereby the favoured one into the enviable position of Mary, namely, at His dear feet, rejoicing to hear gracious words proceed out of His mouth. We well know our spiritual Aaron can speak well, and so much to the purpose! Election was in the eternal mind of the eternal Three before the world began; it was first manifested in Heaven, when those Angels kept not their first estate, but rebelled against the sovereign sway of Him their creator and benefactor, who had raised them to that lofty position and blessed estate: hence the war in Heaven. "And there was war in Heaven, Michael and His angels fought against the Dragon; and the Dragon fought and his angels, and prevailed not; neither was their place found any more in Heaven" (Rev. xii. 7, 8). Cast out, no more to enter, no longer an angel of light; no more to enjoy the blissful clime, nor to be favoured with the rays of that glorious light; but, on the contrary, to be reserved in chains of darkness until the judgment day. The question may arise in some of my hearers' minds: "What has that to do with election? Much, very much, indeed. Why were they not all cast out? Because all did not rebel (Rev. xii. 9). Why did not all rebel? Because some were elect (1 Tim. v. 21), and all that were elect were kept by free and sovereign grace, flowing from eternal love. So that when the rebellious ones were cast out (there being no more room for them in heaven), how astonished the others must have been to think that they were preserved, upheld, and not suffered to fall. Do you not think election was manifest to them? Do you not suppose they were sensible that nothing short of electing love kept them, free favour upheld them, and undeserved grace surrounded them? The whole of which must necessarily flow from the good pleasure of Him "who doeth as he pleases in the armies of Heaven, and amongst the inhabitants of the earth.' They must, indeed, have been filled with love, joy, and gratitude to Him their Sovereign and upholder. Could we judge from our own feelings, when by heartfelt experience the same undeserved goodness hath been extended to us, we should say they were lost in astonishment, love, and wonder, in reflecting upon their election and consequent preservation, when so undeserving of so marked a display of the boundless love of Him, whose counsel shall stand, and who will do all His pleasure. "Yea, God the Lord, that changeth not, Nor alters His decrees; But gives to every one the lot That He designed should be." Having said thus much upon election being developed in Heaven, we now descend to the lower world, into the garden of Eden; there we find man fallen from his primitive rectitude, the particulars of which time will not allow us to enter into. We know all men are fallen creatures, by the Word of God, and also by our own experience; and, in the first Adam, stand without hope, and without God, in the world, being “children of wrath, even as others. But God who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved us even when we were dead in sins, hath quickened us together with Christ (by grace ye arc saved); and hath raised us up together, and made us sit together in heavenly places in Christ Jesus.' When the Lord appeared in the garden, He addressed the serpent thus: "And I WILL put enmity between thee and the woman, and between thy seed and her seed; it shall bruise thy head, and thou shalt bruise His heel." So it is manifest, from God's unerring word, that there are Two seeds: one the elect seed, and the other the nonelect. Christ speaks of the latter in the following words: "Ye are of your father the devil, and his works will ye do ; " and the formor is spoken of by the Apostle Paul to the Gallatian Church: "Now to Abraham and his seed were the promises made, He saith not and to seeds, as of many ; but as of one; and to thy seed, which is Christ." And again, "In Isaac shall thy seed be called; and, there is a remnant according to the election of grace;" except the Lord of Sabaoth had left us a seed, we had been as Sodoma, and been like unto Gomorrah." Thus, beloved, we have given a few scripture statements plainly shewing to all, but the blinded mind, that election is a solemn truth; but it is the Lord alone can fasten it upon the conscience, can convince a man of his lost undone condition, and can show him he is "a brand plucked from the burning" by an act of undeserved grace flowing from sovereign love in eternal choice or election. The heart language of such is, "Why, O Lord, didst thou love me, choose me, and, why call me, unworthy as I am, sinner that I am, not deserving of the least of Thy mercies? Why did Thy mercy triumph over my misery? Why has grace superabounded all the aboundings of my sin? Why did the Father love? Why did Christ die? Why did the Holy Ghost quicken, convert, and, oh! above all, comfort my soul by speaking peace through the blood of my dear Redeemer ? Why was Thy love so rieh and free, To pick one up so vile as ms; To raise a hope so firm and strong, But, how different is the language of one who has a name to live, yet is dead in trespasses and sins. He is continually fighting against the grand and glorious doctrine of election. We must speak of it, beloved, whether men will hear or whether they will forbear. If you wish me to keep to my text, I must preach election. All our own righteousness must be swept away before we can receive the imputed righteousness of Christ. All who are righteous, are righteous in Him; all who are accepted, are accepted in Him; all who are complete before God are complete in Christ (Col. ii. 10). AWAY with that creature meetness for Christ-that natural preparation of the heart to receive Him. It is all a lie, a cheat, a delusion of the devil, a priestcraft-trap in which souls are kept in ignorance, in hard and cruel bondage in perpetual fear and dread, with hard thoughts of God. "Ho! ye needy, come and wolcome; God's free bounty glorify; Come to Jesus Christ and buy. Let not conscience make you linger, Nor of fitness fondly dream; 'Tis the Spirit's rising beam." Until a man is brought to receive the kingdom of Heaven as a little child he will oppose the glorious truth of the Gospel. "The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he know them, because they are spiritually discerned." But our mercy is, we can rejoice in electing love, "knowing brethren, beloved, our election of God;" and can thereby respond to the following portions of scripture: "Let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me; and, "In the Lord shall all the seed (elect seed) of Israel be justified, and shall glory." The great Apostle Paul preached election despite all that opposition he was privileged to meet with, and at last suffered martyrdom for believing, and preaching in the great and precious name of Jesus. Shall I, then, refrain from bearing my humble testimony to the truth as it is in Jesus? O, no! I cannot-nay, dare not! The Lord enabling, I will continue to speak in the dear name of Him who has done so much for me-of Him who laid down His own invaluable life that I should never die (John xi. 26). But how different is the preaching of those who have not been sent by the Lord; they know nothing of "The burden of the Word of the Lord-nothing of the soul travail Paul speaks of, and every minister of the Gospel experiences. O, no! they arrange their sermons to please fleshly hearers to suit the carnal mind-and are "blind leaders of the blind." It is not so with those under the anointing of the Spirit. They must have their message from the Lord, to the people of the Lord, and must speak as the Spirit gives them utterance, learning the meaning of the words of Christ : "For it is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of my Father which speaketh in you. Such ministers know it is not by might nor by power, but by the Spirit of the Lord; and their heart-breathings are : The response "We venture in Thy name to go; Our hopes on thee alone rely; May streams that from Thy river flow, Our hearts with joy and strength supply." in the souls of all spiritual hearers, who are thus so highly favoured of the Lord, as to have a man after His own heart, is, "Bless, O bless His message to us! To our poor and helpless souls" (To be continued.) THE PERPETUAL DWELLING-PLACE. Lord, thou hast been our dwelling place in all generations."-PSA. xc. 1. How sweet to contemplate the safety of the Lord's people, with the hope in our own soul of an interest in the glorious mercy; to feel that we walk under the ever-watchful eye and guardian care of Christ our Beloved, while the arm of His strength is continually outstretched to shield us from all harm. Well might Moses exclaim, "Happy art thou, O Israel; who is like unto thee |