the grace wherein they stand, as truly, if not in the same way or degree, as those already departed to be with Christ see him in glory? By the actings of a living faith they see him as a God of sovereign mercy in Christ Jesus, and can bless him as such for delivering them through him from the eternal wrath to come. They see him as a sin-pardoning God; and they call upon him as such. They see him as the "faithful God," and call upon him to hold up their goings in his paths, to bless them with clean hands, and to preserve them to the end. They know that if they are kept, it must be by the power of God. These things make for the peace of the believer's own soul, and for the peace of Zion. This is "the poor walking in his uprightness." (Prov. xxviii. 6.) (Prov. xxviii. 6.) This is "holding the Head, from which all the body by joints and bands having nourishment ministered, and knit together, increaseth with the increase of God." G. A. 66 GOD IS LOVE. 'Hereby perceive we the love of God, because he laid down his life for us."-1 JNo. III. 16. WHERE is a theme our hearts can raise To God in songs of loudest praise? Where is a theme? That Christ was slain, That we might life eternal gain. The blood of Jesus can inspire Our hearts, and warm with heavenly fire. O! Here was love! The Father's love! God's power in nature I may trace; While softly whispering, God is Love. cup GOD puts a sweetmeat at the bottom of his children's of sorrows; and when they have well drunk of the bitter potion, they come at the sweetness. (Heb. xii. 11.) THE INIQUITY OF TRAFFIC. We readily insert the following letter, received from a friend of truth, and a reader of our magazine, because the particular form of the "Iniquity of Traffic" to which it adverts cannot be too strongly reprobated. Of course, it was virtually included under what was said in the third paragraph of the "Short Paper" upon this subject; but we quite agree that it deserves a special mention and distinct mark of reprobation, and we thank our friend for supplying what was deficient. It really never occurred to us that the godly, at any rate, could be guilty of this iniquity; but we fear our correspondent is right. In these days of laxity, and anythingism in religion, even those of whom we might hope better things do not appear exercised, with the apostle Paul, to have always a conscience void of offence towards God and towards Hence we sometimes see with amazement in the shop windows of persons professing to fear God handbills of theatrical and other vain entertainments, and of those professing free grace, handbills inviting to places where free will reigns and riots. men. To the Editor of the "Gospel Standard.” Dear Sir, I have read with interest your article on the "Iniquity of Traffic" in the "G. S." for the present month, and I doubt not that the majority of your readers will have hailed with mingled feelings of satisfaction and sorrow the exposure of an evil, the existence of which is only too painfully manifest, and which is as evidently working sad havoc amongst the children of God; and may, moreover, in the humble opinion of the writer, be traced as one of the fruitful sources of the prevailing spirit of lethargy, indifference, and halfheartedness which is now desolating and demoralizing the church of God. Within the Christian camp there is, it is to be lamented, too much of the presence of a spirit of ambition, and desire for worldly gain and prosperity, which too often prompts to the use of means in no degree differing from those adopted by the mere worldling and godless professor, and to which the reproof expressed in Hymn 807 (Gadsby's) is both suitable and seasonable. It must, therefore, I repeat, be a source of satisfaction to those who are enlightened to find that you have been led to expose and oppose, through the medium of the "G. S.," this spirit of "covetousness, which is idolatry." The time in which we live calls for plain and faithful speaking on the part of all who love and value the precious truth of God, and desire by the grace of God to "live soberly, righteously, and godly in this present world.” But with reference to the subject in hand, it has occurred to the writer that an important omission has been made, which calls for comment, the supplying of which will add very considerably to the grave and serious nature of the case, as already laid bare in your periodical. Briefly stated, then, it is the mournful fact that there are those who profess to fear God, and contend for the doctrines of distinguishing grace, who are en gaged in the traffic and dealing out, principally to the young, of that which is calculated to demoralise, and call into action the basest propensities of the carnal nature, in the form of the trashy, fictitious, and, in some cases, utterly impure and degrading, yea, filthy literature, with which our land is almost deluged, and yet is ever increasing. It may be a hard saying, yet it is nevertheless a truth, that such are dealing out to our children poison of the most deadly nature, as it respects both soul and body. Shall the people of God, for the sake of filthy lucre, or even in order to obtain a livelihood, lend themselves to such a trade, and display in their shops for sale these publications which a moment's consideration must convince them are nothing but emanations from the fruitful brains of those who are engaged in doing service to the prince of this world, even the devil, whose occupation and aim we are distinctly told is to go "about as a roaring lion, seeking whom he may devour"? Viewed in the light and teaching of the sacred Word of God, the gain that accrues from such a traffic must, if it be called by its proper name, be termed the wages of unrighteousness. That the Lord may follow with his diyine blessing what has already gone forth on the important subject of the "Iniquity of Traffic," and also these few thoughts, should you deem them worthy a place in the "G. S.," is the prayer of the writer, Cardiff, Jan. 7th, 1880. 66 A RIVER OF MERCY. A. RADDON. There is a river, the streams whereof make glad the city of God." PS. XLVI. 4. THE church, in her manifold sorrows below, Of strong consolation has need; And sweet streams of truth, which those comforts bestow, O the mercy in heaven, which open'd a door, "There is," and we love to proclaim it anew, And all who would feelingly prove it is true, O how feeble and faithless, ofttimes, is our cry! 1880. If natural pleading will fathers incline Much more will the Father of mercies divine Ye have not, he says, for ye ask not aright; To the man who in Jesus can truly delight, But more of the image of Jesus to show, And see his dominion increase; Who asks for more courage and strength in his race; But daily to hold forth the word of his grace, GRACE REIGNS. A BRIEF AND FRAGMENTARY MEMOIR OF M. S. THE LATE MR. CLOUGH, WHO DEPARTED THIS LIFE VERY SUDDENLY ON MAY 26TH, 1879, AGED 62. In presenting our readers with this very inadequate account of the Lord's dealings with our late friend Clough, we feel to regret two things:-First, that this memoir has not appeared at an earlier date; and, secondly, that it is of such a fragmentary nature. The delay in its appearance has arisen partly from our having waited for a time in hopes of being furnished with more material for a fuller account, and partly from a state of health which made us shrink from the labour of putting into something like shape what we possessed. Had we been furnished with a memoir compiled by some friend, an early insertion would have been easy; but as we had the burden of compilation thrown upon us, the request being made that we would put the memoir into form, the causes we have mentioned have proved a hindrance. The fragmentary nature of this account arises from the nature of the materials for a memoir with which we have been furnished. Our own acquaintanceship with Mr. Clough has only been of late years. We admired the grace of God in him which made him what he was. We loved him in the Lord. Some of his letters, which we have seen from time to time, have excited our astonishment and admiration on account, not only of the truths contained in them, but the real beauty of the expressions in which that truth was contained and set forth. Though his intellect was not trained and cultivated by early education, it was naturally, we conceive, very good; and he was well informed in many particulars, being self-educated, so we suppose, to a con siderable degree. He was a man that truly feared God, dearly loved the doctrines of free grace, and loved to exalt the Name of the Lord Jesus, who had doubtless done great things for his soul. He was a preacher, as many of our readers know better indeed than ourself, of considerable gifts; an able minister of the New Testament. For some length of time before his decease his bodily ailments interfered much with his ministerial work. But even to the last he spoke occasionally. We had the pleasure of hearing him at Zion Chapel, Leicester, from Eph. iv. 3, not very long before the Lord took him home. We felt it was an able and good discourse. He trusted in the Lord's providence; and God did not fail him. Our readers will, no doubt, remember a sweet record of the Lord's appearing for him in a providential way which was inserted in this magazine in October, 1878. We heard him relate the circumstance at a friend's house; and feeling a desire that our readers should have the benefit of reading it, we requested him to send it to us in writing; which request he kindly complied with. Amongst the able and valiant men of Israel taken home last year, we feel that Mr. Clough was one. We wish we could give a more connected and adequate account of his career, but we cannot exceed our materials. From time to time we hope to be able to insert some of his letters in our pages; and letters written, as his were, warm from the heart, give a good representation of the mind of the writer. We now proceed to give an account, beginning with his earlier years of profession, which has been furnished by Mr. Smith, of Siddal Hall, who prefaces the account, which will indicate the reckless, headstrong character possessed naturally by the subject of this memoir, as follows: Mr. Thomas Clough said in the presence of myself and some others a few years ago: "The time the Lord first opened my eyes to see myself a sinner is a time to be remembered. I was then living in sin, and loving it well. At that time I was working at a coal-mine in the North of England for my daily bread. I was then dead in sin, and cared for nothing. At the pit in which I worked there was a law or rule that no collier should be allowed to go down into the pit within three hours if he was not on the ground at a given time in the morning. One morning I was a few minutes late, and the banksman who had the care of the cage in the shaft refused to allow me to go down with the other men. As soon as all the men had gone down, I began to abuse the banksman who refused to allow me to go down, when some oaths and curses were exchanged between us. I then went off the ground to a publichouse on the opposite side to get something to drink, proclaiming vengeance against my enemy, as I thought. In the course of ap hour or two, I was singing merrily, and declaring I would not go to work that day; when news was brought into the publichouse that every man that had gone down into the pit that morning was killed; and it was soon discovered that the news was too |