as being in glory, for I believe he is in glory. "About four years after this, my last remaining daughter Sarah, was taken with a lingering consumption, and she died also. It was the time of frost and deep snow. My affliction was great, both on her account and my own. I was not without hope for her soul, yet I never could feel sure that she was right; and in losing her, I lost my right hand, and almost my only companion in my lonely darkness. I found it now very hard to trust in the Lord, yet because He did not forsake me, I was enabled to trust Him, and to see that he had done all things well. So that I can say, that by all these things, my soul has received much good. "One good has been this, that the Lord has shewn me a great deal more of the evil of sin, and also of the application of Christ's blood; and I know, and am quite sure, that He died for my sins indeed. I don't mean that inwardly any more than outwardly it has been all sunshine: Oh! the plague that my heart has occasioned me, joined at times with the devil and all his troop. But the Lord will never forsake the work of his own hands; die when I may, I know I am the Lord's: what a wonderful mercy! I can say with all my heart that I am not but he was subject to fits: It began to be needful for me to retire from the farm; and no prospect was left except to go down, with Benjamin and Sarah, to my son William, in the farm I am in at present. They told me it was very lonely place, far away in the wood; and I thought there were none near who feared God, and that I should be quite cut off from all christian friends. I sent Sarah down to see the place before me. She came back with tears, telling me that it was indeed very lonely, not a house nor a neighbour within about a mile round. Notwithstanding all this, I was persuaded in mind that it was right for me to go; nay, that I must go. The Lord really saw that it was needful; I am afraid it was needful, because those I had been amongst did not really know the Lord, and would have been stumbling-blocks in my way; for I had yet deeper things to learn, and harder trials to bear. At this time it was that I first began to feel the power of this word, 'My desire is that Job should be tried to the end.' Oh, a trial it was which soon came! My dear son Benjamin was greatly beloved by me; I believed with all my heart that he was a child of God: the work in his soul was very clear, but, as I said before, he was afflicted with fits. At Barley he was well known and respected. He would some-worthy of the least of all his mercies, nay, times wander by himself in the woods, and once in so doing, must have been seized with one of his fits. Some men found him, and it is believed they thought he had been drinking, for they treated him cruelly, dragged him through the water, and left him. He was found by others in an insensible state, and taken to Wormley workhouse, where he died, and that before any of us heard what had become of him. Óh! what a heavy trial was this; yet it was one appointed of the Lord, and for which He had brought me up to this place, that I might go through it. I said, 'Had I known this beforehand, all the horses in Barley could not have dragged me here. I was quite overpowered for a time; I knew not what to think. But I found the Lord's help, and the Lord's blessing. Does it seem as if the blessed Lord treated me hardly in these trials? No, He does not: He sends them in pure love. After a time I began to thank the Lord for not suffering me to know of my dear son's trouble till it was over, and I could think of him that I am truly and indeed deserving of hell! but I know and am certain sure that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from all sin. Also, I wish to encourage others to seek the Lord, for He teaches us these things by very slow degrees, and He has much to teach us; but He is always faithful, and every thing which He says, He will fulfil. He will never leave His work unfinished. He appeared to Jacob when Jacob went down to Padan Aram, and said I am with thee.' And it does not appear that Jacob was SO visited again for twenty years, but the Lord returned in his own time, and fulfilled His word. So he does with all his people. I have lived here more than nine years already, and have seen but little of any who feared God: but the Lord has not forsaken me. That I know and find. Many times I have gone up stairs to feel about and put the room to rights, and because I had no cause to be in a hurry, I would stop and meditate, and the Lord would appear to me, and open my understanding, and make me know many things; that I felt strengthened indeed: and if I had been called upon to speak at such times, I could have said many things and great things which I felt in my heart to be true. At other times when the Lord has left me alone, I was quite empty, all seemed gone: so I see and know there is no good thing in me; also, when I would do good, evil is present with me.' Surely, this part of Mrs. Judd's experience is a wonderful comment on, as well as a glorious sealing testimony to that golden truth-"WE KNOW THAT ALL THINGS WORK TOGETHER FOR GOOD to them that love God, to them who are called according to his purpose!" But to return: Mrs. Judd continues,— "Since Sarah died, I have been mostly quite alone; William out in the fields all day, and no soul in the house to look after me. But by all these things I know and feel that the Lord teaches me deeper and deeper. I can compare my case to that of children whom we put from one school to another school that they may be deeper and deeper educated. About the beginning of last winter the Lord taught me in a wonderful way. I the uttermost; I was ill in my body, and was left to feel my abject weakness to I felt at that time an exceeding great I believed that death might ensue; and dread and fear of death. I had sunk To any one out of the furnace, these upon the floor in my bedroom, and was heavy dispensations must appear hard insensible for some time. It was the day indeed! But Mrs. Judd was in the fur- before my daughter-in-law from Chishill nace; and the Lord was with her there; returned home. She came up to say therefore, she could see and say of them all that two ladies wished to see me. I just He sends them in pure love" By all these had strength to go down, but I could things my soul has received much good." hardly speak to them, and they soon left. Dear christian pilgrim, it is trueAt this time I felt no fury from the "We can do all things, and can bear enemy, and no help from God; but a All sufferings if our Lord be there:" sinking lower and lower, even to hell, "In his presence is life:" let that pre- and neither foot-hold nor hand-hold to sence be found where it may: whether keep me up. Surely it was a horror of with Daniel in the lions' den, with the great darkness which fell upon me. At three Hebrew children in the furnace, day-break my daughter-in-law took her with Jeremiah in the pit, with Jonah in leave; and being left quite helpless and the whale's belly, with Stephen in being forlorn, my inward trouble and my outstoned, with Paul in the Euroclydon ward trouble together, seemed too great storm, with John in the Isle of Patmos, for me. I thought it was needful that I with Mrs. Judd in these deep waters, or should try to get through a little housewherever an elect vessel of mercy is hold work. I went out to wash some found, there being also the covenanted pails, and as I was feeling along by the presence of a triune Jehovah, there must bushes into the garden, I was so overbe life-life spiritual, leading to and pre-whelmed and pressed down, that I stood paring for life immortal and eternal, for still and said, My burden is too great "at his right hand are pleasures for ever for me!' Then were these words spoken to me with such light and power, it was as if I heard the Lord speaking them from heaven, it was as when I saw his glory in the heavens, Cast thy burden upon the Lord, and He shall sustain thee!' This took away all my trouble. It was as if I looked about for my trouble, but could not find it. I thought I did not want my daughter-in-law, nor any one else, to make me comfortable, since God loved me with an everlasting love, and would certainly save me to the end. I felt the sureness of his love, and that not one thing He has promised me could fail for evermore." more :" "A hope so much divine, May trials well endure." Think, for a moment, upon the two opposites found in this dear woman's soul: First, she says,-"Die when I may, I know I am the Lord's: at other times when the Lord has left me alone, I was quite empty; all seemed gone." It must be so with the saints of the living God, while in this tabernacle of sin and corruption there will be changes-sometimes joyous, at other times grievous: but the darkness and the light are both alike with him with whom we have to do. "My father's at the helm, And glory must be mine." : 6 (To be continued.) Death in Self, and Life in Christ. | souls ?-many of you seem ignorant of No. III. "The body is dead because of sin, but the spirit is life, because of righteousness." Rom. viii. 10. this glorious truth; that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus, (viz. when he was baptized in sufferings, blood, and death,) were baptized into his death? Rom. vi. 3. "The body is dead" Death is passed away, there shall be no more death. "Knowing this that our old man is crucified with Christ, that the body of sin might be destroyed." Rom. vi. 6. Beloved, what body is this? I answer the body of Christ, with our dead body in it, with all our sins in his body. "He was made sin for us, who knew no sin, that we might be made the righteousness of God in him." 66 Jesus died-"It is Christ that died." "The body is dead, because of sin," and the whole body of our sins destroyed in the dead body of Christ. I say beloved souls, Christ and his church is but one body, and that body is dead through sin : ye are dead, and your life is hid with Christ in God;" and Christ through the spirit is risen again from the dead, and we, through the spirit, are risen in him, and with him. The spirit is life, because of righteousness." O life! life! eternal life! Blessed and glorious Jesus, thou art my only life, I live by thee, through thee, and in thee-O, Lord Jesus! live in me, and let me feel thee in my soul the hope of glory daily, until the eternal day break, and the shadows flee away. Shout! shout! ye highly favoured saints of God, for this thing is true in him. Sing! sing! holy hallelujahs, and loud hosannahs unto God and the Lamb, who liveth for ever, and we in him. Death is dead, and life and immortality brought to light through the gospel. COME, my brethren, by the help of the God most high, and the teachings of the eternal Spirit, let us come to solemn and solid realities, and sure things, as they are in Christ Jesus our Lord. "The creature, (at first,) was made subject to vanity;" (Rom. viii. 20.) subject to sin, corruption, and death: sin entered, and death followed; and all the creatures that we see with our mortal eyes, have death in them; yea, death is in these very eyes that are looking upon them. The devils that sinned, and the wicked are eternally dying, yet never find the end of death; it is called-"eternal death." But the eternally beloved righteous, quickened by the Spirit, quickened together with Christ, are eternally living in him, yea, never find the end of life; it is called" eternal life." "The wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ, our Lord." Wherever sin is found, death is found following hard after it, bellowing at its heels and every ache and pain that we feel in this poor mortal body, are but warnings that death is approaching; and we must soon find ourselves in his jaws. Wherever sin is found, death follows. But lo! our sins were all found in the body of Christ-"The Lord laid on him the iniqities of us all. bore our sins in his own body, on the tree." The sins of the chosen church being found in his body, death followed him, and "he poured out his soul unto But, perhaps, some of you are groandeath;" and the body of the chosen, electing and saying, "Who shall deliver me church, is dead in him: "I am crucified from the body of this death ?" You are with Christ;"" if ye be dead with him, delivered in Christ, and through Christ, ye shall live with him." The sins of though you feel the dead body a loaththe church were no more her sins, but some load till it falls off into the grave. Christ's; "he was made sin for us, who I thank God, through Jesus Christ our knew no sin, that we might be made Lord, you are delivered from sin, death, the righteousness of God in him:" mark hell, and condemnation. But I know it this expression, the saints are God's is the Holy Spirit's work, to lift you exrighteousness! and God in Christ is perimentally out of and above self, sin, our righteousnsss. Then the body of guilt, death and condemnation, to rethe elect is dead already in Christ's death, joice in Christ Jesus, and in his life, love, in Christ's dead body, for they are mem-righteousness, and glorious holiness-for bers of his body, of his flesh, and his bones. Then "the body is dead, because of sin, but the spirit is life, because of righteousness." Know ye not, O blessed He it is by faith, which is the Spirit's work in us, that we have access into this grace, wherein we stand and rejoice in hope of the glory of God. No holy ground to stand on but in Jesus; and now ye live, if ye stand fast in the Lord. Stand! stand! having your loins girt about with this truth. "Stand up my soul, shake off thy fears, But hell and sin are vanquished foes, And sung the triumphs when he rose." And now I say, beloved, as it is the Holy Spirit's work, to quicken and raise us up unto Jesus, our life, holiness, and righteousness, so, it is the devil's, the evil spirit's work, to drag us down into sin, self, darkness, and corruption, and to bury us in the grave of sin and dead self: and then we go groping and moping about like the blind for the wall, until heaven's angel or messenger comes again to us in the dark, and says, "Why seek ye the living among the dead? is not here he is risen." He O, how we mope and grope and groan when buried and sunk into vile dead self; and there satan twists our guilt and sin (the entrails of the dead old man) : about the necks of our souls and the stink of this grave almost suffocates our souls. Until the Spirit speaks again in us, and says, "O my people, I will bring you out of your graves, and bring you into the land of Israel." Ezekiel xxxvii. No grave so vile and filthy as self: human dead flesh smells horrible. But when Jesus breathes by his sweet and happy souls, blessed souls, we shall rise from our graves of dust, and sing with Jesus and all our friends in our Father's house above. A WATCHMAN ON THE WALLS. Leicester, March 19, 1846. JESUS. Talk not, O man, of pity, or of love, 'Twas done !!! The deep, exhaustless fount was ope'd! 'twas done, Its source free grace, and its precious store Eternal light, and life, pardon, peace, and joy: Oh! through the ravish'd heart these streams do flow; The elect of God alone their value know. Omnipotent Hero! the real Atlas, thou, Whose shoulders bore a weight of mountain guilt, To which all heaven and earth were light as air! And thou didst heave, the huge, the dreadful load, By passive virtue sole, (O spotless Lamb.) Down, down for ever, oblivion's dark abyss";Slay the old dragon of the loathsome pit, And leave death stingless on the field! Divorce damnation from damning sin, O world! highly honour'd, favor'd orb; Than angels ere witnes'd in highest heaven. That call'd down applause from her high battlements, With shouts of holy triumph proclaim'd the deed, While echoing loud, through nature's wide expanse, The thunder-voice of God, join'd in the praise. Leicester, March, 1846. J. H. healthful Spirit: it is like lillies, pinks, Salvation to God and the Lamb! and roses: it is holy odours-an unction from the Holy One-the breath of his mouth-and his Spirit is most sweet. Yea, the Spirit is life. And Jesus saith, "Live." "Because I live ye shall live also." Beloved, it was an holy agreement in the eternal covenant between the three The Lord Holy sworn Ones in One. sware by himself and his holiness, to bless his people in one Lord Jesus Christ. Hear the Father's word to Jesus, Isaiah xxvi. 19.-"Thy dead men shall live." Hear the answer of Jesus to his Father: "With my dead body shall they arise.' Now, hear the voice of the heavenly turtle, the Holy Ghost: "Awake and sing, ye that dwell in the dust, for thy dew is as the dew of herbs, and the earth shall cast out her dead." Come, Suff'ring Saviour, Lamb of God, The church is purg d from sin; That I'm complete in Him. And praise to thy dear name; That I may learn thy ways; Langport. JOSEPH. THE EXERCISES AND THE MERCIES CONNECTED WITH THE MINISTRY OF THE WORD. "The fire shall try every man's work, of what sort it is." MY DEAR BROTHER, I know it is at times a source of comfort to you, to believe that the Lord is in any way pleased to make use of me, in the ministry of the word. Very briefly, therefore, I proceed to inform you wherein it was I was constrained to hope that He did both go before and with me into the county of Suffolk. From the moment almost that I en gaged to go, I felt a great drawing back in my soul, and a wish that I had not promised to go: beside which, my temporal affairs looked so dark, and my burdens appeared so heavy, that I really dreaded leaving home: worse than all, I could not see that the Lord had in any way opened the door; it seemed as though, without prayer or seeking the mind of God, I had rushed into the engagement, and should certainly have to suffer for it. Darkness that he would go with me. the Lord for some direction and instruc- I was preserved and permitted to reach the end of my journey in safety; and had sat for some few hours pondering over my desolate state of soul, and wondering what old subject I could fix upon, when the words "Behold the man whose name is the Branch, and he shall grow up cut of his place, and he shall build the temple of the Lord," rather took hold of my mind; I knew I had preached from these words sometime before, and tried to bring up a few of the old heads and ideas, and so to frame up something of a sermon or two: but all was flat and lifeless, and in the flesh. Presently, in the sorrow of my soul, I lifted up a secret cry to the Lord for help: and it was as though the Lord did, with a little power, speak the following words right On the day before I left, these feelings and fears appeared to be wound up to their highest pitch: I felt as though I could bear them no longer: I locked my door, flung myself upon my knees, and endeavoured to cast myself upon the Lord. I seemed as though I said to the Lord "Do with me as seemeth to thee good if I am to go down into Suffolk to have my mouth stopped, and my pride more deeply humbled, Lord, so let it be." I arose from my knees, and took up the Bible, when immediately these words met my eye-" So foolish was I, and ignor-home to my heart-" Go, and cry in the ant, I was as a beast before thee: nevertheless, I am continually with thee: thou hast holden me by my right-hand." These words really for a time seemed to do me good; they shewed me my foolishness, my ignorance, my inward murmurings and rebellion; and that all this was before God: nevertheless, that I was still with him, and he with me. I went to Camberwell that evening, and preached from those words, and really hoped I had the presence of the Lord. But in the morning, a measure of my darkness came again: I could not see that the Lord had given me any word or promise at all, VOL. II, PART XVI. May. ears of Jerusalem, saying, Thus saith the LORD; I remember thee; the kindness of thy youth, the love of thine espousals, when thou wentest after me in the wilderness; in a land that was not sown. Israel was holiness unto the Lord; and the first fruits of his increase: all that devour him shall offend; evil shall come upon them saith the Lord." (Jer. ii. 2, 3.) So softly, and with such illuminatings of mind, did these words possess my soul, that I fully received them as from the Lord; and could not help exclaiming, in the comfort of my soul, "I really do be lieve the Lord will be with me to M |