with mere doctrinal notions, without a living experience of them in the heart.

But, dear brother, after all do you not find "the body of this death" the greatest and most constant affliction? Does not it often make you groan ? It does me. And does not it often make you forget all your other afflictions and trials for the time, and long for escape from the flesh and its corruptions and lusts? Does not it make you pant to realize again and again the preciousness of that robe which covers all our deformity, and long again for the application, the sensible application of that precious blood which atones for sin and purges the conscience, so that for the time being there is no "more conscience of sin"? (Heb. x. 2.)

"And if guilt removed return and remain,

Its power may be proved again and again." That, as Christ's precious blood, when shed, overcame the powers of darkness, so that blood by faith in the conscience might purge from dead works to serve the living and true God. "Through death he overcame him that had the power of death, that is, the devil." And though we may be, and are, vanquished again and again, yet is our reliance not placed upon our victories, but upon his.

I also would have liked to have seen you and a few besides the other day; but it was not so to be. I did see a friend or two of yours at Devizes, and would have liked to have had more time with them; and there were some at Trowbridge I wished to see, and could not. However, our steps are ordered by the Lord.

I have written to Mr. A., which I dare say you know before this, unless he is from home, as I did not know what you meant exactly by his going out. As I said before, I could not bind myself to anything of a permanent nature; though I manage to go and speak when called upon to do so, though often in much pain, and yet I seldom think of it after I have begun speaking, until it is over, and then sometimes find a difficulty in reaching home. But what a dead pull-back it is, dear brother, to see no fruit to one's labours! There may be fruit; for God has said his word shall not return unto him void; but if we do not see it, we get discouraged, at least I do. I know this is sense and not faith, and that we should plough in hope; and yet we want to be partakers of the fruit, even in this sense. What a comfort to know that whether we see anything or no, God will have his own! Not one shall be lost. Not one slip through his fingers; for none is able to pluck them out of Jesus' or his Father's hands. Therefore not one shall be added over and above the covenanted number. There is no residuum of grace for goats, as some teach. No, every stone shall be in the spiritual building in its place. The height, breadth, length, and depth of that city are equal. Nothing out of place; no overplus materials. No Where shall I put this? nor What shall I do with that? Every

son will have a seat there. "I go to prepare a place for you." are the body of Christ, and members in particular." (1 Cor. xii. 27.) "Here am I, and the children which thou hast given me.' "Thine they were, and thou gavest them me." (John xvii.) What? An uncertain number? How could that be? No; blessed be God. "I know my sheep," says Christ; and "other sheep I have, them also I must bring," &c.

But I need not go on; though it seems to spring up. May the Lord the Spirit keep us in the truth, and keep us also firm in the persuasion of his own omnipotent will and power to bring, by his own divine operation, the many sons to glory whom the Father hath chosen, and the Son hath redeemed; that thus Father, Son, and Holy Ghost-one God-in all things may be glorified in bringing the many sons unto glory.

Please remember me kindly, when you see them, to Miss Blackwell and her friend whom I saw there, also to the young man whom I also saw at the station. I don't know the name of either of them. I had a nice interview with Mr. Hemington.

You lament the darkness which surrounds you. Well, it amounts to this: "They which are the children of the flesh, these are not the children of God; but the children of the promise are counted for the seed." See Rom. ix. 9, a passage I spoke from a short time since; and there we see how ineffectual all our own mere efforts are. We are living in a day of much profession, but even in that almost every man is doing what is right in his own eyes. If they are religious, they will be so in their own way, not God's. It is still abundantly manifest that there are two seeds,-the true church and the world. The one to be the object of God's love and mercy, the other of his justice and wrath. (Rom. ix. 22, 23.) And who hath made us to differ? And what have we that we have not received as a free-gift mercy?

"Pause, my soul, admire and wonder;

Why, O why, such love to me?

Grace hath put thee in the number
Of the Saviour's family."

But I must leave off. And now, with best Christian love to Mrs. L. and yourself, I remain, dear brother,

Yours in one hope,

W. W.

57, Raglan Street, Somers Road, Southsea, Nov. 13th, 1879.

Beloved in the Lord Jesus Christ,-I have often thought of sending you a line, but now I sit me down to do so, and to answer thine, which brought good tidings; for if it said anything about Jesus it was sure to be good, very good. His Person, grace, love, and compassion are all good to poor sinners such as I feel myself to be; his blood to wash my poor polluted soul; and I want to feel its power to cleanse me from day to day, because I sin through the infirmity of the flesh. But there is an

atonement for that sin, and I feel my need of this washing daily. O could I but live beneath that cross whereon was fixed that dear body of the Lamb of God, and by precious faith view him there for poor worthless me, dying in my room and stead, and draw life from his death, healing from his stripes, pardon from his wounds!

"Here it is I find my heaven;"

and heaven it is indeed when we can look on him whom we have pierced. O that word pierced! I do want the blessed Spirit to take of those things that belong to Jesus and show them unto me; according to the precious promise: "He shall take of mine, and show it unto you." My very soul longs and thirsts, begs and cries, at times, to know more of these things in my daily experience, for I cannot do without them. On these very things depends my everlasting salvation. Therefore blood and love have been my song in the house of my pilgrimage for many years; and if you knew half about me that I do about myself, you would not wonder. What a poor, vile, lost, ruined, and undone sinner I am! I can never look within but I see and feel some vile sin lurking there. Nay, it is a cage of unclean birds; and at times they seem all alive; and I have no power to tame, no, not one of them. And if they are still for a little time, there is sure to be something come and set them all alive again. Then they make me sigh and groan, and sometimes long to be delivered from them; for the dear Lord has fixed their everlasting doom; for I have read there shall be no more the Canaanite in the house of the Lord. Indeed, my dear brother, thou dost know that the inward Canaanite, the old man of sin, has been put away, and made an end of on the cross; but he is left for a plague. Now this is the reason why I stick so fast to the everlasting love and blood of Jesus. I must sink without them, and I do desire to think more of his love to me than of my love to him. His was from everlasting; mine but of yesterday. His is so great; mine so small. His the same from everlasting to everlasting, never more nor less; mine ebbing and flowing; sometimes hot, and then faint and cold. So to think of mine makes me sigh and groan, and casts me down; to think of his aright cheers, revives, and strengthens my poor weak mind. Indeed, this love of our precious Christ has done all that has been done, is done, or ever will be done for my poor soul, both in time and to all eternity. It bears with all my crooked ways, heals all my backslidings, brings me back again when I wander from him, lifts me up when cast down, raises the poor out of the dust, and lifts the poor beggar from the dunghill, and sets him among the princes of his people, and makes him to inherit the throne of glory. That same love has to support me under all trials, temptations, losses, and crosses; to enlighten me when dark, and to give beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, and the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness. It has to feed me when hungry, clothe me when naked, and take me in when a stranger, provide me a home when homeless, even Father's house. And he who loves has gone to get (shall I say

it?) my place ready in it. But what manner of love it is I cannot say; but to crown all that it has done is to make us sons of God; and it does not yet appear what we shall be; but we know that when our best Beloved shall appear we shall be like him, for we shall see him as he is. I would not part with my hope of this sight, no, not for the world. O sweet sight! transforming sight! May we by faith behold him as in a glass darkly now, but then face to face. O may I sing of blood and love in life, in death, and to all eternity. Blood pays all the debt which I contracted, sends the poor prisoner out of the pit in which there was no water to quench his thirst. It is a token of the Passover; brings us as well as makes peace, and seals the covenant with all its promises, and so makes them sure to all the seed. The Lord bless thee with all needful grace. This is the prayer Thine in love,

of

Malmesbury, Jan. 24th, 1865.

D. SMITH.

BAPTISMAL EXERCISES AND DIVINE

LEADINGS.

A SERIES OF FIVE LETTERS.

(Concluded from p. 27.)

My dear Friend,-It rejoices my very heart to read your letter. The sweet persuasion you felt that you were in possession of that living faith which entitles every believer to the privilege of following the Lord in the ordinances of his house could not have come from nature. That you wrote that letter to the friends at Galeed in faith I do not doubt; and also that unbelief kept you from sending it. I am not surprised after this that you durst not ask the Lord for another token, it was what I dared not do for a long time. I used to beg of the Lord either to give me strength to come forward, or remove the desire from me altogether. Well do I remember once opening upon the very text you speak of in Peter, and how it condemned me; for I felt I had not the answer of a good conscience. And on another occasion, when so tried I did not know how to bear it, I opened the Bible upon these words (Acts xxii. 16): "And now why tarriest thou? Arise, and be baptized." I had more than once said, if I knew the Lord's will, I would do it in spite of everything. I fear it was spoken in too much self-confidence; for I painfully had to feel I had no strength of my own. How well I can understand your feelings when you say you must go forward, and honour him by walking in his commandments! It is your desire to be an obedient child. And on the other hand, unbelief of the heart prevails, and tells you it is too sacred an ordinance for such a polluted being as you are to enter into. Thus you are tossed about like a wave of the sea, and know not where the scene will end.

I have just seen something which strikes me as being suitable to our case. It is this: "That is no love which is not productive

of obedience, nor is that worthy the name of obedience which springs not from love. Pretentions to love, without obedience, are glaring hypocrisy; and obedience without love is mere slavery." I am almost sorry I have written these last words down, lest you should think I am casting any reflection upon you. No, my dear friend, it is no such thing; for I am satisfied your desire for obedience springs from love; and it is the fear of presuming that keeps you back. May the Lord enable you to

"Venture on him, venture wholly,

Let no other trust intrude."

For I know he will honour that faith that he himself is the author of.

I feel much greater confidence that the Lord will be with, and bless you in following him, than I do for myself; and yet I know how wrong it is in me to doubt him, after the way he has appeared for me. Last evening I was much tried after I got to chapel, that when I came before the church I should not have a word to say; my mouth would be closed, and I should be put to shame before them; and I felt it would be no more than I justly deserved. The question then arose: Can I go under such a feeling? To my surprise, Mr. Freeman took his text from Mark xvi. 15, 16. He spoke much upon baptism, and of the right characters for it,-those that had been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Also that it is the command that Christ left behind, that his people should observe. He spoke of Christ's own baptism, and how his Father honoured it. Also his words to John: "Thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness." Also of the desire for obedience that was found in the hearts of his people, springing from love. He answered many objections that were brought forth by those who opposed it, plainly proving from the Word of God that it was the right way to the Lord's table. He spoke of some good men who did not hold with the ordinance, but said, Was it right in those that did see it to justify the omission of others? He spoke of the Reformers; though good and gracious men, yet they were not all clear in everything; and because they were good men, were they to be justified in what they held wrong? He also spoke of Open Communion. Some would say, Where is your charity in denying others the Lord's table be cause they have not been through the water? To those he would say, How dare you to set aside a command of the Lord? I wished you had been there. To me it was most encouraging and confirming.

And now I feel I can answer the question that arose at the commencement of the service; and say,

"I'll go, depending on my Lord,

By faith, and not by sight."

For if the Lord sees fit to put me to shame before his people, I am sure it will be for his honour and glory, and for my good. I know I have not had one exercise too many. They have been profitable to my soul; and I am thankful the Lord has not