need their lamps trimming and their loins girding afresh. May there be great searchings of heart, causing the inquiry, Why, being a King's child, should there be leanness from day to day? Is there not a cause? Is there not bread enough in the Father's house? or, rather, has there not been a turning away from His spiritual provision to some beggarly elements of the creature or the world? May the Lord in mercy restore all such to their first love, and also lead them on to those more blessed revelations of Himself which are to be enjoyed even ir. the house of our pilgrimage. I will yet be inquired of by the house of Israel, said the Lord of Hosts, to do it for them. The Lord ever bless you with sweet and close communion with Himself.

A warm adieu, with tender love, from your ever affectionate

RUTH.

EXPERIMENTAL TRUTHS.

DEAR BROTHER IN THE LORD,-We live in a day of universal profession. It has become quite fashionable to attend some place of so-called worship. The natural professor does not want Christ, "for the carnal mind is enmity against God: it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be." "We will not have this man to reign over us," is the language of the heart of all those who have a name to live and are dead. Men may hold clearly all the doctrines of grace in the head whilst the heart is destitute of the regenerating power of the Holy Ghost. All short of the work of the eternal Spirit in the soul is nothing worth; therefore those who are not the subjects of the new birth have no reason to conclude that they have any part or lot in the matter of God's salvation. It is an unspeakable mercy for us to know for ourselves that we have been delivered from the horrible pit and the miry clay and our feet placed upon Christ the precious rock of ages, our goings established, and a new song of praise put into our mouth. "Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless His holy name." I feel whilst writing these lines a blessed going out of soul after my precious and adorable Lord Jesus, and I would fain fly away to be in His eternal embrace, where there is no more sin, sickness, or sorrow; but it will be one eternal song of praise to our covenant God who hath loved us and washed us from our sins in His own most precious blood: "and there shall be no night there." This blessed text of scripture takes me back to more than two years where I had a feast of fat things whilst hearing you preach from it in the Assembly Rooms. Whilst many are looking forward to heaven as being at a great distance, and which they must die to know, we bless God that we have already died to know those glorious realities, and have entered into the blessed state, which is a new covenant or resurrection state. "For as in Adam all die, so in Christ shall all be made alive." As we have been made alive in Christ, and are the children of the resurrection, the second death has no power over us; neither can we die anymore. Christ says, "Because I live, ye shall live also." He

also says, "I am He that liveth and was dead, and, behold, I am alive for evermore. Amen. And have the keys of hell and of death." "There is no death in the new covenant. Nothing that defileth can enter therein. "For this I say, brethren, that flesh and blood cannot inherit the kingdom of God;" and "that which is born of the flesh is flesh," and it can never act contrary to its nature.

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As I said before, we have not to die to know something of heaven, for we have received blessed foretastes of it here below whilst travelling through this dreary wilderness: and sweet indeed it is to be enabled to look back upon the hill Mizars, the precious Bethel spots, where the Lord hath so graciously made manifest His love to our souls. Not only have we been privileged to sing the song of Zion, but now we are favored to join in the anthem of the redeemed whilst journeying through this strange land. True it is that we must fall asleep in Jesus before we can enter into the full fruition of eternal glory; but what a mercy to know something now about that blessed state which people are so continually harping upon enjoying when they leave this world! We bless God that we have not to go up to heaven to fetch Christ down, nor go down to the depths to bring Him up; for He is in our heart the hope of eternal glory; and He will be no more our God when we leave this time-state than He is now; for even now we are the sons of God, and it doth not appear what we shall be, but we know that when He shall appear, we shall be like Him, for we shall see Him as He is; and "because as He is, so are we in this world." In Him we have lost our sinner name and our sinner nature, and by union with Him we are partakers of the divine nature." The Lord declares in His precious Word that He will not remember our sins any more; and as far as the east is from the west, so far hath He removed our transgressions from Then why should we attempt to bring before the Lord what He has cast behind His back, and that which He tells us in His Word He has forgotten? We are divorced from the law and are married to another, even to Him who is raised from the dead: and we bear our Husband's name, which is, "The Lord our righteousness." Upon the ground of this unchanging relationship we are enabled to go to Him, in that new and living way, as heirs of God and joint heirs with Jesus Christ. He has loved us with an everlasting love, and He tells us to come boldly to a throne of grace, that we may find grace to help in every time of need. O may we be enabled more and more to walk with our precious and adorable Lord! May we hold sweet communion and fellowship with Him in His blessed Word, and be found daily and hourly waiting upon Him! For He says, They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their strength they shall mount up on the wings of eagles: they shall run and not be weary, and they shall walk and not faint." What a mercy to be favored to lie prostrate at the feet of Jesus, waiting upon Him, and to be privileged to sing with the poet :—

us.

"Tis joy enough, my All in all,

At thy dear feet to lie :

Thou will not let me lower fall,
And none can higher fly."

Soon we shall hear the gracious voice of our loving God and Father, saying, "Come up higher," and then we shall fly away to be in His immediate presence, to everlastingly sing, without intermission, the song of redeeming love.

"And if His voice be now so sweet,

Whilst in this mortal vale,
What will it be when we all meet,

And naught but love inhale?"

JABEZ.

CHRIST THE OBJECT AND SUBJECT.

VERY DEAR FRIEND IN THE LORD,-Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of Him who is our new-creation light, our resurrection life, our God, and our eternal glory! "In Him was life,' and in Him is life; "and the life was the light of men," that is, spiritual men, for "the world knew Him not," and the world knows us not, viz. : in our union-life relationship and everlasting oneness with Jesus. "Beloved, now are we the sons of God, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be like Him; for we shall see Him as He is." Even this glory we have experienced in the first fruits thereof, but O! when the curtain of mortality shall be drawn aside once and for ever, we shall enter into the joy of our Beloved, and serve Him day and night in His temple; and yet "there shall be no night there," for the former things will have passed away; neither shall there be any more death, neither sorrow nor crying, for God Himself shall wipe away all tears from the eyes. Thrice blessed anticipation! Quite ready shall we be to leave this lower sphere when His voice shall echo and re-echo in our heart, "Come up higher : " time-things will indeed then seem beneath our feet and unworthy of a thought, whilst eternal realities will beam upon us in their true refulgence. As I said before, we know something of dwelling on high for a season now, and of having our conversation in heaven: how great then will be our delight when we shall come within sight of our desired haven, when we shall reach the borders of our longed-for home! O! to be more continually on the wing; and to be enjoying in earnest our incorruptible inheritance, even Jesus, for

"He is the Prize to which I press,
My wisdom and my righteousness;
My Surety, bound my debts to pay,
My light, my life, my love, my way.'

I do like to see everything that is glorious made to centre in Him, for sure I am that to know Him and the power of His resurrection far exceeds all other knowledge. "And we have known and believed the love that God hath to us." We are assured of this fact because He hath shed it abroad abundantly in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us, and because He hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into our

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souls, crying, "Abba Father." True, darkness often veils the sky and clouds obscure our vision, so that we grope for the wall "-Salvation— "like the blind" who have never seen the King in His beauty, yea we grope as if we had no-spiritual-eyes to behold the land of far distances. But the darkness and the light are both alike to Him. He changes not, and " ever we are aware our soul makes us like the chariots of Amminadib." Behold He comes upon the wings of the wind: He rides upon a chariot, and flies to our relief: He re-appears: and although heaviness may endure for a night, joy comes in the morning. We then go forth to meet Him with timbrels and with dances, for He rejoices over us with singing the trees of the field clap their hands and the hills are joyful together, for the heavens drop down dew, in fulfilment of His own gracious promise, "My doctrine shall drop as the rain, my speech shall distil as the dew." He speaks out gloom, and speaks in consolation: He speaks out despondency, and speaks in light, life, peace, and happiness: He makes our wilderness like Eden, and our desert like the garden of the Lord. What matchless power have His accents sweet! They convey to us the blessings of the ancient mountains and everlasting hills: they produce a calm serenity within to which mere professors are total strangers and they bring every thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ. O precious Jesus, we long more frequently to sit at Thy feet, and receive of Thy words: we long more often to listen to Thy still small voice. Graciously be pleased again and again to break the silence and cause our hearts to burn within us whilst we pass through Achor's valley: and when we shall have suffered Thy will in the lowlands, then beckon us up-ward, and grant us an abundant entrance into Thy glorious kingdom, where we shall ever see Thee face to face, ever live in Thy presence and go no more out, and ever crown Thee Lord of all.

What an infinite mercy, dear Friend, to have been privileged to realise His power and to enjoy His blessing in the time-state! He has pardoned our sins, He has clothed us in His spotless righteousness, He has pronounced us "all fair" in His sight, and now we live to sing His worth, to reflect His praise, and to declare His righteous acts. Monuments of mercy are we to the praise of the glory of His grace; men wondered at; persecuted by the world, but loved of God; troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed, but not in despair. No! blessed be His name, our building is of God, our foundation is immoveable, our fortress is Christ: He is our Alpha and Omega, our All in all, the chiefest among ten thousand and the altogether lovely. He has captivated our souls, He has run away with our affections: hence onr hearts are where our treasure is, above, beyond, this fleeting world, and we are continually on the look out for His manifestations and unfoldings.

"No other voice can calm our breast,

Or still the raging sea:

But when He whispers 'In me rest,'
We're lost in Deity."

Blest losing-place! We then sweetly glide into our true Sabbath of rest, and sit and sing in heavenly places: and as Toplady beautifully words it, it is

"Sweet to look inward and attend

us.

The whispers of His love,

Sweet to look upward to the place
Where Jesus pleads above."

"Him hath God exalted with His right hand, a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel, and forgiveness of sins," and He ever lives to make intercession, and now appears in the presence of God for O! what a glorious Advocate have we: what an able Pleader: what a mighty Counsellor. In His hands our cause must prosper: listen to His pleadings on our behalf, and mark the ground of His plea. "Father, I will that they also, whom Thou hast given me be with me where I am; that they may behold my glory, which Thou hast given me for Thon lovedst me before the foundation of the world:' and 'Thou hast loved them as Thou hast loved me.' 'I will praise Thee; for I am fearfully and wonderfully made. Thine eyes did see my substance, yet being imperfect; and in Thy book all my members were written.' I received them at Thy covenant hand before all worlds, and

'Ere the bright angelic legion
Sang creation's natal day,
Pleas'd I saw the distant region,
Where my mystic body lay.

"Twas for them I stood convicted,

Bound by love's immortal tie,

Suffer'd all the law inflicted,

Did on Calv'ry's summit die.'

Yes! I paid their ransom in my blood: I atoned for their sins: I suffered in their room and stead: I took the cup of wrath which was due to them, and drank it to the dregs: and I have given them the glory which Thou gavest me. Mercy and truth have met together, righteousness and peace have kissed each other.'"

"How sweet thus to trace up the source of our bliss

As it flows through a channel of blood!

Had Jesus ne'er died, we could never have known
The sweets of communion with God."

But we stand upon the law's honors, since our Head and Surety has magnified it and made it honorable and we are everlastingly free from condemnation since Christ has redeemed us, being made a curse for us. "Hail, sacred mystery,

Of debt and dear release,
The everlasting Father died

To gain His children peace!"

Solid peace! vital peace! lasting peace! for although in the world we have tribulation, in Him we have peace, rest and quietude. He is at all times our portion above the strife of tongues, our only dwelling-place, and it is right our nests should be continually shaken up that we may plume our wings and soar heaven-ward in thought and desire. Ah! we must not expect a smooth pathway to our Father's house, for billows will ofttimes toss our frail bark, breakers will often threaten to overwhelm ns: nevertheless, our Pilot is at the helm, and we shall not have one wave o much or one tempest too many. Hid in the secret place of the Most igh, sheltered in the hollow of Jehovah's hand, we shall outride every orm and sail triumphantly into our Harbor of eternal repose,