of rashly judging the brethren forms no small part of the rubbish which it is necessary to remove, before the walls of the heavenly Jerusalem can be built up, so that she may rise up and appear in that beauty, majesty, and glory, which her Head and Husband hath put upon her, and predestinated every one of her members, enrolled in heaven, to the full enjoyment and possession of, in and by himself. (See Neh. iv. 10; Ps. 1. 2; li. 18; cxxii.; Isa. lii.; lxii.; Zech. xii.; Heb. xii. 22-24); to which may be added, Rev. xxi. and xxii., as they contain the fullest and most glorious description of the blessings, benefits, and privileges of the church; or, in other words, the Covenant of Jehovah's free grace and salvation with all those interested therein, the heirs of its promises-yea, those who are graciously made the heirs of that covenant God, the Father, the Son, and the Holy Ghost, and joint heirs with Jesus, the Mediator of the covenant of eternal wedlock between Christ the Bridegroom, and the Church his bride, the Lamb's wife; which matters are more largely and powerfully set forth, in various figures and similes, in the last two chapters of the Bible than in any other portion of it. This paper begins with a portion having respect to a great evil, and I would close it with two others, which, if duly considered, would point out and lead to its remedy-" Blessed are (all) they which are called unto the marriage supper of the Lamb" (Rev. xix. 9). "BEHOLD, THE BRIDEGROOM COMETH; GO YE OUT TO MEET HIM” (Matt. xxv. 6). To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine. PEACE BE WITH you in Christ Jesus. M. H. If you think these few lines will be of service to any poor awakened sinner under Mount Sinai, who wants to shelter himself there, he may see the writer could not, with all his strength and legal striving. THE CONSEQUENCE OF SIN AS IT APPEARED TO ONE UNDER THE LAW, AND THE SLAVISH FEAR ENDURED FOR NEARLY SEVEN YEARS AFTER THE ARROWS of CONVICTION HAD ENTERED THE HEART, AS DIRECTED BY THE HOLY GHOST. THE subject.-A person died of a brain fever, and all the features were distorted. On entering the room where the corpse lay, the curtains being drawn aside, in order that the person who had thus breathed his last and was now in the presence of God, might be seen, in a moment these words entered my heart, like a powerful voice into the ear, “Behold the features of the damned under the torments they endure for sin!" Fearfulness and trembling instantly seized me, and with eagerness I departed from the room. This was a moment never to be forgotten. ings of my heart. Overwhelmed with horror and distress, and being poor by None to go to that I might tell out the feelbirth, and amongst the lowest grades of society, living in the height of wickedness with them—these were my only companions; and all day long working with them to earn the bread that perisheth, nothing was heard but horrid imprecations and blasphemy against the God of heaven and against the rulers of the people; myself no common transgressor. In vain I strove to remove out of my sight the object I had seen, or to forget the awful sentence. My tongue was quickly stopped in swearing, and in a few days my countenance began to grow pale and wan, and many heavy sighs proceeded from my heart. I was laden with a heavy load of guilt and sin; it arose like the smoke of a furnace; the sins of my childhood were brought to my remembrance. I was now become like a speckled bird amongst my companions; my parents, brothers, and sisters-all, with one voice, said that I was fast hastening to the grave in a deep decline, which increased my fears; and others, because I wandered so much alone, pronounced me guilty of some awful crime and in this wretched, forlorn state I wandered for three years, until I was forsaken of all friends and acquaintance-in poverty and distress-with a conscience laden with slavish fear. At length, with great difficulty, I bought a small Bible and Prayer-book; and though I could read but very imperfectly, yet I discovered the purity of God's law, and that I was too weak to fulfil all that the law required. However I strove to do so with all my might, and purchased a few decent things to appear at church in. Here I thought to know all that I was required to do; many of the prayers my heart could respond to—such as this, "Although we be tied and bound with the chains of our sins, yet let the piteousness of thy mercy loose us,” with several more; for I was in real earnest, and I went to church with a sincere desire to hear of something that would remove the burden of sin. But the sermon was of no use to me, but was intended for those who were perfect in the flesh; well might the apostle say, "The letter killeth." I now began to conclude Í was past recovery; for the minister whom I went to hear did not preach to such as I, but to a different kind of people altogether-to those who had been pious all their days-who were full of charity, good works, &c. Now as I had no money to give away, I concluded I had no charity; I knew I was not pious, having been exceedingly wicked all my days: and I felt myself bound to believe what the minister said, as he professed to speak the word of God. Under these considerations all hope fled away, and I believed God had cut me off, and would not show mercy or favour. I now gave myself up to despair; hard thoughts of God were continually before my mind, from which I had no power to extricate myself; I left off going to church, seeing I could get no good there, and I even meditated self-destruction. Nevertheless I continued to read my Bible, although every word condemned me. But God had something more to show me yet-oh the unsearchable riches of his grace! who teacheth like him? I had at this time a wife and one child, of whom I was very fond; the latter was the idol of my heart. It pleased the Lord in his wisdom to lay the child on a bed of sickness; and oh how earnestly did I entreat the Lord, night and day, with tears, that he would spare my child; but it was all in vain; the vital spark fled, in a few days, to the kingdom of light and glory. My wife was also taken ill, and, to add to my sorrow, I was thrown out of employment. Rebellion now rose in my heart to a fearful height, the fountains of the great deep of my sinful nature were broken up I looked upon God as a cruel judge, and his law without mercy; and I tried to put away from me all thoughts of God, and harden myself in sin-so desperate was my enmity. And now conscience testified against me that my wickedness was greater than at the first, and these words would follow me all the day long, "Rebel not, lest thy bands be made strong;" also, "Pay me what thou owest-perfect obedience and sinless perfection." At this I sank still deeper into despair. I was condemned of high rebellion against Goddespised by the world-body, soul, and circumstances, seemed engulphed in one eternal ruin; no minister of the Gospel to speak to me-no one to prescribe for my case-too fearful to tell it out to any one; and in reading the word of God that I might know the worst of my state, the following portion of it was distressing to my soul, "And if a soul sin, and hear the voice of swearing, and is a witness whether he hath seen or known of it, if he do not utter it, then he shall bear his iniquity;" "The wages of sin is death." I had light enough to see that the death of the soul, as well as the death of the body, was included in this latter text; and faith was given me to believe in the judgments of God. I beheld the miserable punishment of sin, which was death, as a deprivation of life, joined to extreme misery; and I found the beginning of spiritual death, in matter of sense, was spiritual bondage; and spiritual bondage had brought me into subjection to the powers of darkness and to spiritual, deadly enemies. I had light to see that, by whom a man is overcome, of the same he is brought into bondage; and this bondage was the bondage of the devil, and the bondage of the devil is a subjection to that power of the devil whereby he effectually worketh in men, and in respect of them he hath command over death; which I found by Acts, xxvi. 18, “To open their eyes, and to turn them from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God." I found myself in subjection to the enticement of the world, and had been, and still was, in bondage to the world and to sin, from which I had no power to come out. From this spiritual death there seems to follow a multiplying of sin continually by acts of rebellion; and light was given me to discover from Rom. i. 25, 26, that those sius that followed had a respect to punishment because of the first sin; for it is written, "For this cause God gave them up to vile affections," which secures the death and increases the misery. I found they were punishments, because of the inward suffering which I was subject to in sinning, which pressed me down; and I am confident that no legalist or work monger, nor Arminian, nor any other sect or denomination, however refined their morals according to the light of nature, can lift up their heads and declare that God accepts them because of their innate righteousness; for I think my morality was not inferior to that of many who were round about me, and with no small strictness I adhered to it. But I forbear to make farther mention of this, knowing it to be of no avail before the holiness of God. I was led to draw the most awful conclusions from Mark, ix. 45—48, where the punishment of the wicked is said to be eternal, or never to be ended, where their worm dieth not and their fire never goeth out; eternal, because of the eternal abiding of the offence, and because of the unchangeable condition which that degree of punishment doth follow for want of satisfaction; and I found, by woful experience, that the incorruptibility of the damned would be their immortality in death and to death: and from Matt. vii. 23, "Depart from me "-go ye cursed-I found there must and did follow an eternal hardening in sin. Now my despair reached its height; I saw I could do no good thing, because of the internal workings of my evil heart, and I thought I was cast off from the face, presence, and favour of God. I could not subdue the awful rebellion of my heart, and I concluded I was given over to the power of Satan. I strove with all my might to be delivered from the terrors of a guilty conscience, but I saw no way in which this could be done; nothing that I heard or read did me any good, but, on the contrary, it produced a gloom on my mind, and filled me with horrible fears. At last the dreadful night came, my room appeared to be filled with smoke, and I walked out of it and went down into a dark wood-house to know the worst; but God saw my footsteps, and watched over me all the time my strength was failing; and, when it was quite gone, and there was only a step between me and destruction, then the blessed promise entered my heart with great power, bringing with it indescribable liberty, and light, and joy, and |