With the blood-washed ones before the throne, we own Him worthy; yea, our worthiness; and crown Him Lord of all with glad Hosannas; loving to make these cottages of clay re-echo Jesus' name, resound His wonders, and breathe His praises forth; for they no longer are our own, but His. Oh! bless Him, praise Him for it! Take them, precious Jesus, and fill them with thyself, and use them as thou wilt; but be in them more glorified and honoured, while we in thee rejoice, and on thy fruits do feed with sweet delight; yea, eat thy flesh, and drink thy blood, beholding through a glass thy glory. Oh! may we bathe in thy love, and, in such joys ineffable, self and created objects lose; and though, dear Jesus, we long to fly away to thine embrace, and feel the fetter and the clog no more for ever, we also long, that in us all thy will may be accomplished; and that these poor little lives may be just drawn out to such a span, and attended with such circumstances, as will most glorify thee; knowing that through all thou wilt be our Patience; and that the cross-carrying and affliction-bearing can but be for a moment, when compared with the "far more exceeding and eternal WEIGHT of GLORY.' ""* "Bless the Lord, O our souls, and all that is within us, bless His Holy Name."

Well now, dear brother, I have told you how profitable your sermons were, and that they came at the very right time; but if I were to tell you all the truth, I should confess that I thought it the wrong time, and a long time; and that my heart was the subject of many painful jealousies because silence was so long the order of your house toward me; though deeply conscious, and humbly acknowledging, that what I had already received, was a free and most undeserved benefit; and that if I had come to the end of your favours, it was, and must be, right; though contrary to what I wished and hoped for.

The anxieties of myself and dear mother were also much increased by certain rumours which have reached Nottingham; which led us to fear that you had been assailed by the "Black Dog" again; and, indeed, that some of the sheep were scattered from you. Now, although we are quite sure that all things shall be for the furtherance of the Gospel, the glory of Jesus, and your real good, yet, being also in the body, we cannot but sympathise with you in your trials, and be pained when you are afflicted; and the fear that your silence arose from oppression of mind, added much to our disquietude. Should matters be as above, He, who has hitherto stood by you, will still be your help. He will deliver you from the paw of the lion and the bear, suffer none to "set on you to hurt you," and allow "no weapon formed against you to

*Now fully, fully realised, by our glorified sister!

prosper." May He give you quietude of spirit, suffering none of these things to move you, because you" know that we are appointed thereto;" and that it is through much tribulation we must enter the kingdom. May He, moreover, give you to say, with Paul," Some indeed preach Christ even of envy and strife; and some also of goodwill, &c. What then? notwithstanding, every way, whether in pretence, or in truth, Christ is preached; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice."

"The Lord bless thee, and keep thee, and cause His face to shine upon thee," is the warm desire of,

Yours affectionately in Him,

RUTH.

THE TWO UNION S.

(Continued from page 254.)

THE Church and Christ being eternally one, whatever He possesses belongs to her by right of oneness. Hence the great Apostle Paul, in writing to the Church, says, "Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places (or things) in Christ; according as He hath chosen us in Him before the foundation of the world, that we should be holy and without blame before Him in love." That is, chosen us as "His body, the fulness of Him who filleth all in all." If, therefore, the Church was chosen in Him, and had all spiritual blessings in Him before the foundation of the world, the members of that Church must of necessity be" heirs or God, and joint heirs WITH Jesus Christ." The vast possessions,-" all are yours,"-of the Church, or the election of grace, are thereby secured to an eternal day. Nothing can by any means mar the inheritance; nothing can possibly invalidate their right of possession. We therefore find that Christ is the security of all the bliss and blessedness that saints will ever realise. Union to Christ, ensures the blessings of Christ ; oneness with Christ, is the groundwork of our knowledge of Christ. To know that we have, as the elect of God, an eternal union to Jesus, we have at once opened to us a glorious secret hid from thousands. As all our blessings and mercies are in the Person of Christ, who is our Covenant, we need not despair of being well provided for; we need not be uneasy upon the ground of losing blessings for the want of asking for them; for every blessing, as before quoted, is already bestowed; and whatever blessings, included in this wondrous bestowment, we need in the lowlands, the Lord will, by His Spirit that dwelleth in us, give us a knowledge of, hungering and thirsting for. So that whatever He has to

-a

bestow upon us as His children, He will bring us into such circumstances as to really need. We shall then, by the same Spirit, "make our request known unto God," and this dear portion of His own truth shall be exemplified in our souls' experience: “But my God shall supply all your need according to His riches in glory by Christ Jesus. Thus we shall daily find that "no good thing will He withhold from them that walk uprightly” in Christ Jesus. That is, to walk by faith and not by sight; for "whatsoever is not of

faith is sin.”

The Church, then, being one with, and possessing every blessing in, Christ, her lapse in time did not invalidate one blessing: but that glorious Christ, of whom she formed a part (1 Cor. xii. 27), came down and destroyed all the works of the devil on her account (1 John iii. 8). Neither would there have been any redemption wrought, had there not been relationship between her who needed redemption, and Him on whom the right of redemption fell (* Jer. xxxii. 7). No; for it was union to Christ that secured to us every blessing in Christ.

The blessings being all in Christ, and He never considered without His Church, how is it possible that one spiritual blessing can be enjoyed by any save those who thus compose His body and His fulness? It is utterly impossible. Christ is the great Storehouse, containing all the provision needed by the Church. Christ is the great Reservoir that supplies the whole of Zion's sons and daughters with pure living water. Christ is the life-giving and life-maintaing Head of the whole election of grace. Christ is the great Fountain of Purity, Person of Beauty, and God of Glory (Isaiah lx. 19). Christ is the great Bond that binds God and man in one grand whole (John xvii. 23). Christ is the grand MeetingPlace of the Creator and creature, Father and child, Husband and bride, Shepherd and sheep, Saviour and sinner, Physician and patient, Creditor and debtor. Christ reckons His Church so one with Himself, that He includes her in Himself when he says, "I am the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley :" "I am the Vine, and ye are the branches." Yea, He declares her to be one with Jehovah (Jno. xvii. 21); and names her by the same glorious name (Jer. xxxiii. 16). This indeed is astounding, beyond all expression or human conception. It far, ah, far exceeds all efforts to explore. Its impenetrable depth leaves the plummit of faith nearly at its surface. Its scanless and topless height leaves imagination's utmost stretch at an infinite distance, lost in holy wonder, and overwhelmed with profound astonishment.

As the Church is one with Christ, His life must be her life, His

* A type of Christ.

holiness her holiness, His beauty her beauty, His glory her glory, His righteousness her righteousness, His dignity her dignity: in a word

"Whatever Jesus is, such is His bride;

So close the union, nothing can divide."

How very particular we find the Holy Ghost, in leading holy men to write the scriptures, in tracing every blessing and mercy, named to the Church and for the Church, into Christ Jesus. "In whom we have redemption through His blood, the forgiveness of sins, according to the riches of His grace; wherein He hath abounded toward us in all wisdom and prudence; having made known unto us the mystery of His will, according to His good pleasure which He hath purposed in Himself; that in the dispensation of the fulness of times He might gather together in one all things in Christ, both which are in heaven, and which are in earth; even in Him. To the praise of the glory of His grace, wherein He hath made us accepted in the Beloved." All, all was accomplished in Jesus Christ; and "without Him was not anything made that was made."

Thus we find the Most High, who is our Redeemer, is our Head and Husband; yea, the "King Eternal, Immortal, Invisible," "the only wise God our Saviour," declares that we are "members of His body, of His flesh, and of His bones."

This holy participation in all the blessings treasured in the glorious fulness of Jesus belongs to all the sons and daughters of Zion, by virtue of oneness with Christ; nor can one new Covenant blessing be realised by any save those sons and daughters. Thus the blessing of salvation is theirs; and Christ, to whom they are united, is that Salvation (Luke ii. 30). The blessing of redemption is theirs; and Christ, with whom they are one, is that Redemption (1Cor. i. 30). The blessing of eternal glory is theirs; and Christ, in whom they stand one, is that Glory (Isaiah lx. 19).

(To be continued.)

GLEAMS OF HIS GLORY.

BLESSED be the name of the Lord for ever and ever, was, dear reader, the exclamation that burst forth from my heart when meditating on the works of my glorious Jesus, who is "the Rose of Sharon and the Lily of the Valley." My mind was led, after meditating on the works of His beautiful creation, admiring the brilliant flowers that were growing luxuriantly before my eyes, to muse upon the glories which bloom in the Paradise above, the Garden of God, where the "Rose of Sharon" blooms in all the sweetness of “Emmanuel, God with us." The brightness of the colours adorning

the natural flowers, blooming beneath the sun in the firmament, no pencil can paint, and no language describe. How, then, can I describe the colours, or picture the sweetness, of the flowers which bloom in the Paradise of God! There, the poor afflicted child of God, who now suffers tribulation, and all the sorrows that sinful flesh is heir to, blooms in the full beams of Jehovah, the Sun of Righteousness; "the Rose of Sharon" perfumes the Land of Promise with richest fragrance, and warms the heart of His beloved spouse with all manner of sweet spices. "Sharon shall be a fold for flocks;" there shall they lie down and feed in a fat pasture; and in that Land the grapes of Eschol are perfumed with the blood that flowed in living streams from the heart of our dearest Christ, whom our God delighted to honour. He, our glorious Jesus, bears all the vessels of the sanctuary, both cups and flagons, which are "full with the blessing of the Lord.” If our cup of sorrow overflows, while in this "Valley of Achor," how will the oil and wine overflow in our hearts, when poured in by the hand of Him who drank the cup of indignation dry, that our cup might be full with salvation, flowing from the wounded heart of our adorable Jesus, the Christ of God.

Are our consolations small, while we drink of the brook in the way? there we shall drink rivers of pleasure, at His right hand, for evermore. Do we tremble lest the thing which we greatly feared should come upon us? He says, "Be not afraid, only believe." "Fear none of those things which shall come upon thee; but be faithful unto death, and I will give thee a crown of life;" and a "crown of righteousness, which the Lord, the righteous Judge, shall give me in that day." The sun shall be turned into darkness, but this crown will shine in all the glories of Jehovah; for "He will rest in His love" and pleasure for evermore: and we shall see Him as He is,—the King in His beauty, the Beauty of Israel, "clothed in a garment down to the feet, and girt about the paps with a golden girdle." His eyes are a flame of fire, and they behold every precious thing; and His feet are like polished brass, as if they burned in a furnace.

66

"All thy works praise thee, O Lord, and thy saints bless thee." "They shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom, and talk of thy power. Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that love Him."

I read of my Jesus in the Hebrew characters of Moses, as directed to me a passenger from the land of my nativity, where I leave my earthly kindred, and all that appertains to them, that I may follow that faithful Word who has inscribed, in golden letters of promise, "Come out from among them, and be ye sepa