and fill all the expansion; so that, while we try to speak His glories and His love, we may be constrained to confess that we cannot reach it; for it is beyond, far beyond, all utterable ideas; and sure the perfected spirits of the redeemed before the throne, and the angelic beings who never fell, are overmatched in their highest capabilities to tell what Jesus is, or even what they know of Him.

Though still encrusted with our clay, and fettered by mortality, may we now in spirit join that glorious company, crying, with a loud voice, "Salvation to our God, which sitteth upon the throne; and unto the Lamb;" and, in prostrate adoration, say, with them, "Amen: blessing, and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God for ever and ever. Amen."

I perceive from your letter that you are in great tribulation; but He, whose love gushed out in streams of blood to cleanse us, doth uphold and comfort you. He hides you in the hollow of His hand, covers you with the shadow of His wings, and suffers none of these things to move you; but works them all for your good and His glory. Thanks to His Divine Majesty for the exceeding riches of His grace manifested on your behalf; so that, beyond many, you are enabled to triumph in Christ, sitting with Him in the heavenlies, rejoicing that you are more than conqueror through Him who hath loved you; persuaded also that neither death, life, angels, principalities, nor powers; things present, nor things to come; heights, depths, nor any other creature, shall be able to separate you from the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus your Lord.

Oh! what strong, strong consolation! As inhabitants of the Rock, let us sing, yea, shout from the tops of the mountains, 66 Grace, grace unto it !"

May the dear Lord continue His mercies towards you, granting such alleviations from the trials in your family as shall be for His glory; and, if His Holy will, may it prove that some of the suffering members of it are "chosen in the furnace of affliction." I had no idea of the remarks in the until I received your valued epistle; for, to tell you the truth, I very seldom read any of the periodicals. I am but a poor, weak woman; and their queries, controversies, criticisms, and being puffed up for one above another, is very confusing. I therefore leave them for stronger minds, having found one dear Book which suits the simple, because its Divine Author condescends to be its infallible Expositor. There was a time when it was a sealed book to me; but now the veil is done away in Christ; and though I understand but little of its depths, I see it to be full of fulness, and esteem it my privilege to search it daily, looking up to the most Holy Comforter for new light and teaching.

What the writer says about your preaching, does not

surprise me; for, with their present views, they cannot approve of it. But it is astonishing that real men of God--and some of many years standing-should cling so tenaciously to those painful developments of corruption which prove what we inherit by union to the first Adam. It is true that we could know nothing of our own hearts' deceitfulness but by divine life and light communicated; but I do humbly conceive that this life and light is given for a far higher end than to know that we are alive, and then to spend our living breath in lamenting the desolations of the fall and sorrows consequent upon it. Ah! methinks there is a going on to the remedy, triumphs, and victory in the second Adam, the Lord from heaven, who is that "excellency" from which-though, perhaps, unwittingly-they have consulted to cast you down. But the Lord is the Shield of thy help, and the Sword of thy excellency, who will prove thine enemies to be liars unto thee, and will enable you to tread upon their high places.

Does it not, beloved, excite your wonder that so many of the Lord's family are tied and bound to that system of complaining? We have indeed abundant cause for thankfulness that the dear Lord should have brought us out of it, enabling us to prove that where the Spirit of the Lord is there is liberty; and those whom the Son makes free, are free indeed. In this freedom I have been privileged to see the glory of the ministration, spoken of in your last, as I never saw it before. Upon its first perusal, light broke not upon my mind; but the next day, while sitting in the house of God, I saw the Well-Beloved of our souls, upon whom the condemnation fell, standing under all those vials of Divine wrath, nor letting go His spirit until He had drank up every drop of curse due to His mystic members; and, as you say, I beheld a glory which I never saw when the sentence was brought into my guilty conscience. It was a scene rich in love and blood; resplendent in justice and holiness; and though dark clouds of horrible guilt-even yours and mine-rested on immaculate purity, the last vestige of those clouds rolled for ever away when, with a loud voice, He cried, "IT IS FINISHED!"

O, my brother, let us give glory and unceasing praise to Him whose love was unquenchable, though tested by flood and flame!

Glory to His sacred name,

Jesu's love's a constant flame; Hell may rage, and sin conspire,

All to quench this heavenly fire :

"Still the flame vehement grows,

Jesu's love no measure knows;
Hills of guilt, like smoke, retire,
Touch'd by this eternal fire!

*These words were sweet to me the other day:

"For mine own

sake will I do it; for how should my name be polluted? and I will not give my glory to another." No, He never will! "The woman

*As our sister's letter was rather short this month, we have given an extract or two from one she wrote to us a few weeks ago.--ED.

is the glory of the man ;" "and thou shalt be for me, and not for another." O, it melts my heart! I am His glory, because He is mine. He is my life, my holiness, my beauty, my perfection, my all! He alone took our shame; and endured the cross for this joy that was set before Him. We are His everlasting joy, and His rest for ever. He rests in His love; and, in His love to her, "the rest of a labouring man is sweet." When this precious second Adam had laboured and suffered under the curse of the law, even to sweat of blood,-when He had endured the sting of death and pains of hell, and had said, "It is finished," how sweet was His rest in her for whom He toiled! "This is my rest for ever; here will I dwell; for I have desired it." "Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." The dear Head could but account Himself dealt bountifully with in having the cup of curse, that His members might have the cup of blessing. The dear Bridegroom was dealt bountifully with, in love's reckoning, in the gift of His bride, though her redemption cost Him so much. In her He delights; in her He will rest for ever: and how sweet was that rest when His labour was done.

The bride is also dealt bountifully with in having the cup of salvation at such a cost; but most so in enjoying the glories of her Bridegroom's person for ever. Here will she rest for ever, when she returns to Zion above, with songs and everlasting joy upon her Head. It is a sweet mutual song, Return unto thy rest, O my soul; for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." His thoughts to us-ward-Head and members-are more than can be numbered; they are even "thoughts of peace, and not of evil, to give us an expected end."

Ever yours affectionately, in our lovely and loving Lord,

RUTH.

A TEMPTED MEMBER.

I

DEAR MR. EDITOR,-Having prayerfully read six numbers of "Zion's Witness," I make free to give you my mind concerning it, believing it to be far more calculated to benefit real living, hungry souls than most of the gilded, flesh-pleasing, Christless trash that have sometimes painfully glanced at in this Christ-despising age. have read the "Witness" with much pleasure, and also profit; which is of vast importance to every living, seeking soul; and which untried, arrogant professors know nothing about; although they may be lifted up to the skies in their high-sounding, empty notions. But it is most truly written of my precious Lord, that He shall teach us to profit; and that we shall all be taught of Him, from the

least, even unto the greatest. Though every lesson may be painfully learnt, yet we are brought to joyfully say, "Who teacheth like

him!"

One sweet lesson the Lord taught me ten years ago, He will never let me forget. On a Sunday morning, about six o'clock, I awoke from my sleep in much bitterness of soul and confusion of mind; and though temporal things seemed hard against me, yet that was nothing compared to the frightful working and risings of my corrupt heart. It was indeed like the high rolling waves of the troubled ocean, casting up mire and dirt. But keener still I felt "The fiery darts of the tempting foe,

Who worries the saints in the desert below."

To be beset with such devilish, infidel thoughts on a Sunday was, to me, distressing beyond measure. I strove hard to drive them away, instead of which I appeared more beset:

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But those precious words in the 15th of John, dropped most sweetly from His own mouth into my soul: "Without me ye can do nothing. The very sound of His sweet voice drove every foe into silence, and hushed the dreadful uproar in a moment. O how truly forcible are His words! Such words can only be spoken by Him, our Brother born for adversity. He alone can speak comfort to His tried ones. Never man spake like Him! The truth and sweetness of His words I am still proving, and shall do until I leave dull mortality behind, and fly beyond the grave.

Ah! little did I think, a few years ago, that He would bring my soul into such an infantine state of helplessness, dependance, and need. But I was brought to prove the truth of these words, "Except ye be converted, and become as little children, ye shall not enter into the kingdom of heaven." How true it is that "in Him we live, move, and have our being;" therefore how sad and dull we are without His dear presence manifested! Without Him we can neither pray, read, hear, nor sing; for the Lord Jehovah is our strength and song; and is become our salvation. Was Jesus a babe in Bethlehem? so we must become babes to know Him rightly. "for as He is, so we are in this world." As He was the Everlasting Father, we, His children, are in His dear hands, come what will,whether rough or smooth, painful or pleasant. How sweet, then, to have access to Him when loaded and bowed down with cares; and, as children, to cast all our care upon Him our Father, knowing that He careth for us.

Dear Sir,-While reading "Zion's Witness" for December, page 69, on "Temptation, " I found it most truly soul-comforting and heart-warming; and likewise felt a real living union to the writer, as it forcibly reminded me of those words written concerning my

ever-dear, tempted Lord, "He was afterward an hungered," which were so sweetly applied, by the blessed Spirit, to my hungry, thirsty soul one morning, about two years ago, while walking down the Bayswater Road. My mind was at that time sharply and sorely exercised; but on thinking of Him, my hungering Lord, in wonder and astonishment, I forgot all my poverty, misery, and everything that I was the subject of, while I ate and drank in His dear name. Yes, and ever since that favoured hour, I have had my mealtimes, in spite of all the old fellow's fiery darts, which have been flying about in all directions. And though it has been a trouble to me, it could not hurt me; for I have been led to think more of Him, my great sin Bearer, who was made sin for me, that I might be made the righteousness of God in Him. Though temptations have indeed been alarming, they have not prevented my feeding on "the finest of the wheat;" for they have sharpened my appetite, and caused me to love Him more, who is my dear, succouring Brother, born for adversity; and who "was in all points tempted like as we are, yet without sin."

In conclusion: May the dear Lord bless you in your own soul, and make you increasingly useful, both in preaching and writing, to the edification and comfort of His dear, tried children, is the real prayer of the poor scribbler,

R. J. PEARL.

NO CONDEMNATION,

"There is therefore now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus, who walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit.'

It is very evident that this blessed apostle is here speaking of those who are manifestly and vitally in Christ by living union; and not that eternal standing they had in Christ before their natural existence. And although it be perfectly true that there could be no time when the whole of the election of grace were not in Christ, in the eternal purpose of Jehovah, yet Paul is here treating of those who are the real quickened children, who have passed from death into life, and from the power of darkness into the marvellous light of life; which distinction it were well to notice, both by preacher and hearer, otherwise much of the power and force of the truth is not realised.

The apostle saith, in another place, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature." This also implies vital manifestation. And again, he elsewhere observes that neither circumcision availeth anything, nor uncircumcision (in Christ Jesus), but a new creature; and as many as walk according to this (new creature) rule, peace be