Thus, beloved, I have endeavoured to point out to you, what to me has often been a source of consolation and spring of joy; and I pray that you may often find, as I have, that such a dispensation of royal grace and tender mercy is what may truly and properly be termed HEAVENLY WEATHER. Ropley, May 20, 1841. JAZER. MUSINGS. I COME, my loved one, to hold a little intercourse with thee. Canst thou, for a few moments, lay aside thy golden harp, and cease thy blessed employ, to converse with him whom thou once loved? Dost thou forget thine own expression, when thou saidst, "If the redeemed are sent forth to minister to those on earth, how gladly would I be thy guardian angel!" Whether that be so or not, thou now best knowest; and whether thou canst still behold the transactions of earth I know not; but I can hardly think that all the way by which the Lord thy God was pleased to lead thee while here below, is erased from thy remembrance. I cannot but conjecture that the kind and gracious way by which thy Lord conducted thee, is fresh upon thy recollection; and that the many bestowing mercies, and delivering mercies, and preventing mercies, vouchsafed unto thee, are now more clearly than ever revealed to thine astonished view and wondering admiration. I would feign talk to thee, my dear one, about thy bliss; I would ask thee many questions respecting thy celestial dwelling, and the bright myriads by whom thou art surrounded; and I would talk to thee, moreover, of Him who sits upon the throne, and who constitutes the glory of the place. Ah! thou now beholdest his unveiled glories; no frown now sits upon his brow, nor dost thou ever doubt, as once thou didst, his love to thee. No; thou canst look to him, and in him recognise thy lovely-thine unchanging Lord. But I―dear Mary-I occasionally have such gloomy doubts and fears, whether after all I have not been deceived, and that finally it may prove a delusion. Though He has led me and fed me all my life long, even to this day; though He has preserved me in times of danger; succoured me in temptation; rescued me in perils; comforted me in sorrow; and encouraged me to look to and hope in Him, when upon the borders of despair; yet I seem more faithless, more unbelieving, weaker, and more distrustful than ever. I try to get near to Him; I seek to cast my burden on Him; I knock and knock again, but cannot get an answer: and I am ready to turn away in despair. Sometimes in fretfulness and anger, I am almost resolved to turn away, and say, " He will not hear;" and I feel such dark rebellion against his ever-blessed Majesty as makes me tremble and exclaim, "Can ever God dwell here?" But I would not knowingly sin against him. I hate myself on account of my impatience and rebellion, and would never indulge another thought or desire, had I the power to restrain them. As thou didst formerly exclaim, so I now say,— "I would submit to all thy will, For thou art good and wise; Ah! my loved one, I cannot but take encouragement from thine own history. Dost thou not recollect the dark-the gloomy fears which once thou didst express to me whilst leaning upon my arm at S though in a wintry season (with me, alas! a spring-day and I prevailed on thee to try the balmy atmosphere. before the closing scene-but a brief interval ere life's n? "Twas a sunny day, never since has dawned!) It was but a few weeks curtain fell, and hid thee from my view: as we walked, thou saidst, "I fear to speak of what I have lately felt. I have said in my heart, 'Oh, that I had a God that would hear me.' He does not seem to heed my cry. I get weaker and weaker. Nothing does me good." And yet 10 his will He brought thee most cheerfully to submit, so that thou didst even long to be gone! Yes, thou didst "long to see him as he is in his glory." Oh! how gracious was He to thee. Fear after fear gave way; and a simple looking to and resting upon Him took the place of each gloomy apprehension. And He was faithful to thee! I have just now been gazing upon those parts of our habitation where, during the latter part of thy short existence, thou didst express thy fears; where thou didst again and again inquire, "How shall I endure the closing scene? I fear I have much to suffer. I am so fearful of becoming impatient." Then I enter, with solemnity and awe, the chamber whence he summoned thee; and I gaze afresh upon the scenes of that morning on which he called thee home. Again in imagination I behold the celestial convoy waiting to bear thy disembodied spirit to its blessed abode; and again I see thy brightened eye and cheerful countenance as if betokening to them thy near approach. Again I watch the long-drawn breath, and strive in vain to strengthen the brittle cord of life which snaps beneath my touch. I strive-but the effort's fruitless-to exchange another parting word; and hasten, as did Elisha, to catch thy departing spirit, but 'tis gone beyond my grasp! I am left alone—I return to my own place (Gen. xviii. 33)-a pensive wanderer! I pass amid the giddy multitude, and appear cheerful; and when my Jesus smiles, I am so, for that smile tells me I again shall see thee, and one day mingle with the blessed society amongst whom thou art dwelling. Oh, rapturous day! oh, unspeakably glorious hour, when my Jesus comes to call me home! Yes, yes! I too "long to see him as he is in his glory." But when his face is clouded-when, as Mary did, I seek in vain my risen Lord, then my fears prevail-my spirit sinks—my heart desponds-and my language is, "Oh, that it was with me as in months that are past." When he vouchsafes his presence, then I can say, "All is well;" when that presence is withdrawn, everything wears a discouraging and gloomy aspect. My life is in Jesus; in him and in his favour is my delight. I cannot live without him, for he is my All and in all. "Such Jesus is, and such his love, Ah! now he smiles on you; Oh! tell him, now you see his face, ALFRED. SAUL OF TARSUS; OR, THE CONTRAST BETWEEN NATURE AND GRACE. (Continued from page 277.) WITH these credentials Saul went forth, and his after life fully testified that unto him "who was less than the least of all saints was this grace given, that he should preach among the Gentiles the unsearchable riches of Christ" (Eph. iii. 9). The interesting interview takes place between Ananias and him, he yields obedience to the commands of Jesus, and is baptized in his name; the Lord confirming the work by filling him with the Holy Ghost. So that in the synagogues of Damascus he preached Christ as the Son of God; and in despite of all the opposition shown by the Jews, he proved "that this is very Christ." From their rage he is compelled to resort to stratagem, and is by the disciples let down by the wall in a basket, and makes his escape to Jerusalem; where essaying to join himself to the disciples there, they are afraid of him, "and believed not that he was a disciple." But Barnabas took him and brought him to the apostles, and rehearsed unto them how he had seen the Lord in the way, and had boldly preached at Damascus in the name of Jesus. Then they received him, and in Jerusalem also he spoke boldly in the name of the Lord; and in consequence of the grievous seeking to slay him, he is sent to Tarsus. The public ordination of Saul with Barnabas takes place at Antioch, where, while the disciples were engaged in ministering to the Lord, the Holy Ghost said, "Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them" (Acts, xiii. 2). To follow him in the multifarious engagements recorded of him, is not the design of our present paper; but to confine ourselves more to the contrast between nature and grace as exemplified in his after life, throughout which he, as a chosen vessel, bore testimony to the name of Jesus before the Gentiles, and kings, and the children of Israel. And in all his writings it was his uniform custom to keep this feature the most prominent; thus, "Paul, a servant of Jesus Christ, called to be an apostle" (Rom. i. 1); "Paul, called an apostle of Jesus Christ, through the will of God" (1 Cor. i. 1); "Paul an apostle (not of men neither by man, but by Jesus Christ and God the Father, who raised him from the dead)" (Gal. i. 1); "Paul, an apostle of Jesus Christ, by the commandment of God our Saviour and the Lord Jesus Christ (1 Tim. i. 1); with 2 Tim. i. 1; Titus, i. 1. Nor does he allow his circumstances to invalidate the sweet union between; for when at Rome he, in his epistle to Philemon, styles himself "the prisoner of Jesus Christ" (Phil. i. 1). To the church at Rome, he declares he is "not ashamed of the Gospel of Christ" (Rom. i. 16). To the Corinthians, his determination to know nothing among them "but Jesus Christ and him crucified" (1 Cor. ii. 2). To the Philippians, he could say that what things were gain to him, he counted loss for Christ; yea, he had suffered the loss of all things, and did count them but dung "that he might win Christ" (Phil. iii. 7, 8). He certified to the Galatians, that the Gospel he preached was not after man, for he neither received it of man, nor was taught it, but by the revelation of Jesus Christ; and appeals to their knowledge of his having "beyond measure persecuted the church of God, and wasted it. But when,' says he, "it pleased God (who separated me from my mother's womb, and called me by his grace) to reveal his Son in me, immediately I conferred not with flesh and blood" (Gal. i. 11–15). So far we prove the change wrought, we now proceed to notice the contrast. Saul, or Paul as we may now call him (Acts, xiii. 9), establisheth it as a fact not to be controverted, that through the Lord Jesus only was preached the forgiveness of sins; and he identifies him as the one whom the Jews slew, but God had raised him from the dead; "and by him all that believe are justified from all things from which ye could not be justified by the law of Moses" (Acts, xiii. 38, 39). Thus, in the forgiveness of sins and justification in the Person of Christ, as branching from the eternal purposes of Jehovah as purposed in himself, formed the sum and substance of all his preaching; and he delighted to speak of the eternal election and choice of the church in Christ pre ceding all the after acts of his grace unto them. Thus, when writing to the church of the Thessalonians, his confidence is seen regarding them, "Knowing, brethren beloved, your election of God;" which election was made known by the Gospel coming unto them not in word only, "but also in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance" (1 Thess. i. 4, 5); which constrained him on their behalf, “to give thanks always to God for you, brethren, beloved of the Lord; because God hath, from the beginning, chosen you to salvation through sanctification of the Spirit, and belief of the truth" (2 Thess. ii. 13). From hence flow all the spiritual blessings wherewith the church is blessed; as they are said to be chosen in him—that is, Christ, and predestinated in him before the foundation of the world to the adoption of children, having redemption in his blood and forgiveness of sins, according to "the riches of his grace," who is said to have first trusted in Christ (Eph. i. 3—12). Alas! that we who are arrived so far in the nineteenth century, should have to complain both in regard to the pulpit and the press, that these truths are altogether thrown aside with the exception of a few upon whom necessity is laid that they should preach the Gospel; having fled for refuge to the hope set before them; being quickened from that state of death they were once under, and, like unto Saul, brought from the highway of nature. It can now be said, "Behold, he prayeth." However rejected these truths may and will be by every unregenerate man, "nevertheless the foundation of God standeth sure, having this seal, the Lord knoweth them that are his" (2 Tim. ii. 19). Nor do we find Saul in all his ministrations, in the least wavering from the point from which he set out; thus we hear him declare unto the Corinthians that consolatory truth, "God is faithful, by whom ye were called unto the fellowship of his Son Jesus Christ" (1 Cor. i. 9); and from a full conviction that the whole of salvation was wrought out and effected by the Christ of God, he delights to dwell upon him in that character, and to show how well suited he is to sustain the same, seeing that in him "are hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge;" the fulness of the Godhead bodily dwelling in him (Col. ii. 3—9), and being "made of God unto us wisdom, righteousness, sanctification, and redemption" (1 Cor. i. 30); yea, "Christ is all and in all" (Col. iii. 11). the The full tide of Paul's corrupt nature in the days of his unregeneracy, set in against the person of the Lord Jesus, and upon its floods was he carried until stopped by the breakwater of sovereign grace; and from thence wafted into the ocean of that love which has originated in eternity, and shown itself by its various streams through time. Sweetly carried forth upon its waves, we find him incessantly dwelling upon blessedness of that Jesus who appeared unto him in the way; and for this he is called to drink deeply of that cup he had forced others to do, and though conscious from what the Holy Ghost had witnessed unto him, "that in every city bonds and afflictions" awaited him, could cheerfully say, "None of these things move me; neither count I my life dear unto myself, so that I might finish my course with joy, and the ministry which I have received of the Lord Jesus, to testify the Gospel of the grace of God" (Acts, xx. 23, 24). And when at Cæsarea, the prophet Agabus took his girdle and bound his own hands and feet, to show how the owner of the girdle should be bound at Jerusalem ; and when they would have persuaded him, from affection to him, not to go up, he gives full vent to his overflowing heart, and says unto them, "What mean ye to weep and to break mine heart?" We have here a full view of both the hero and the saint; he fully valued their affection towards him, and felt the full force of their tears on his behalf; therefore makes the noble appeal, "What mean ye?" What view can you possibly take of the subject to cause this conduct? Do you not remember how many I have bound, or have you forgotten that I have obtained mercy who was the very "chief of sinners?" Break not mine heart, but the rather rejoice that I am counted worthy to suffer for his sake, "For I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at Jerusalem for the name of the Lord Jesus" (Acts, xxi. 10—13) ; and how was this amplified, not only in the list of sufferings which he endured as related by himself in 2 Cor. xi. 21-28, as well as in the holy triumph with which he seems to hail their termination: "For I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand; I have fought a good fight (yet not I, but the grace of God which was in me), I have kept the faith (yea, rather kept by the power of God through faith unto salvation), I have finished my course (yea, have been favoured with grace and strength to press toward the mark); henceforth there is laid up for me a crown of righteousness, which the Lord the righteous Judge shall give me at that day, and not unto me only, but unto all them which love his appearing" (2 Tim. iv. 1—8). A STRIPLING. (To be continued.) CORRESPONDENCE. MY DEAR CHRISTIAN BROTHER, Grace, mercy, and peace, from God our Father, and the blessed Jesus, our covenant Head, Husband, and elder Brother, be unto thee, as one of the elected ones in him; through the sweet influences of God the Holy Ghost, that blessed Spirit, to whom we are so greatly indebted for all we have ever known, tasted, handled, or felt, of the word of life, experimentally, in our own souls. Yours of the 25th inst. tells me how you are faring, as one whom the good Lord loves, hath loved, and will love. That with Job, you are ready to say, “Changes and war against me. My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul; I will say unto God, Do not condemn me; show me wherefore thou contendest with me." But, my dear brother, is it not with you, as placed by God in a public station in his church (as Editor of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE), as it was with our beloved Brother Paul? so that while you would take up the more mournful cry of Job, and are found among the doves of the valleys, all of them mourning every one for his iniquity; yet it is on the mountains that your cry is heard, it is from the Gospel church, and as a living experienced |