through the most painful circumstances and exercises of mind to "stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." And while I have experienced a host ready to swallow me up, have heard a voice say," With them is an arm of flesh, with you is the God of armies." Then have my fears fled, my unbelief put to the blush, tears of joy have run down my cheek, and I have sung the Lord's praise in this great and terrible wilderness. And so it is to all God's dear family while passing on in an enemy's country, "going from strength to strength in the Lord." Sometimes full of casuality and death, the next stage renewed by the Holy Ghost to fight with faith in exercise, the Captain appearing in the front. Then again bowed down and all energy fail, strength gone, hope weak, darkness surround, unbelief present, Satan accuse, conscience condemn, with a thousand more awful forebodings than language can ever express, the last shift, the last struggle, the last gasp, "Lord save, Lord help; "the heavy sigh, the bitter groan, God hears, the commission is given, the mandate goes forth, his Almighty arm rescues, the Devil is foiled, Jesus is glorified, the child is saved; is it not so, my dear brother? Have you not declared this truth in numbers of your communications sent to the GOSPEL MAGAZINE when dear Walter Row was the conductor? O how glad was I to see your name again appearing; may you not fail to strengthen the weak hands of the present Editor; may more of our old friends come to the feast. I rejoice in the thought that the Lord is setting his gracious seal to the work, and that its circulation is going far and wide in this day of awful blasphemy and error. "Watchmen, what of the night?" is the cry; may God's servants sound the alarm, and may the true Israel respond thereto, until the true light and power of Divine truth shall break forth.

Though darker still will be the cloud,
But soon the day star will arrive.

O, my dear brother, look at the signs of the times, look at the progress of error, look at the disunion and want of fellowship of the brethren, look at the cold state of the Church of the living God; where are the loving faithful witnesses for the truth? who are they? who will dare to take in hand the outcasts of Jesus? and look at the great red dragon casting out of his mouth a flood after the woman and the child. May the dear readers of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE ponder well and observe most deliberately. And may God the Holy Spirit pour out upon his chosen elect family a spirit of grace and supplication which is greatly needed. And may we love one another, bear one another's burdens, and seek out each other in this cloudy and dark day. For my part I can find but few who refuse the mark of the Beast, and few who are following the Lord through evil as well as good report, who is honest enough to declare against the spurious professions of the present day, or stand against the torrent of delusive hypocrisy and fraud practised in the Sanctuary. I know I have written enough already in this epistle to draw upon me all the nominally pious minds in indignation and wrath, but what of that, who have we to fear? not the powers of mortals. My desire is that I 66 may cease from man," that I may know Christ and the power of grace ruling in me. Amid a sinful and perverse generation, proving and tracing out his providence, approbation, and love, manifest over and above all creature consequences, should we be called to suffer more for the sake of the Gospel; yea, and even to seal our testimony with our blood. Grace then shall reign, through righteousness, unto eternal day. I believe the fanning time is near; the Lord will purge his floor. May the dear jewels shine through the fire, and live through the flame, be it of whatsover kind it may. All hail! our redemption draweth nigh.

May the presence of him who dwelt in the bush be with you all who are waiting for the appearance of our dear Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, is the prayer of

Your affectionate Friend and Brother in Gospel bonds,

A LETTER TO A MINISTER.

MY DEAR FRIEND AND PASTOR,

J. G.

I have sent, as you will perceive, a little of the fruit I was enabled to gather last Lord's-day morning, while you were helped to shake the boughs; I found it sweet to my taste, and refreshing to my spirit. I may not have placed it in the order in

which it fell into my lap, that I hope you will excuse, as it will not spoil the fruit; it is a cordial in a chill fit, as well as cooling in a fever; it creates appetite, as well as satisfies the hungry soul; never cloys, and keeps well in all seasons. It is my heart's desire and prayer, that he in whom all our fruit is found, may make larger and larger your share; in this I may be selfish, knowing, the more our dear Lord gives you, the more we may expect. Here, however, I only covet earnestly the best gifts. O, may he give you many a message of love to our souls, that you and we may rejoice together in his dear name, which, through sovereign grace is precious to our souls.

Unto you that believe he is precious.-1 Pet. ii. 7.

OUR Jesus is the corner stone,
Jehovah built his church upon,
And never fallen to the ground,
Shall that blest edifice be found.
The worldly wise, with boasted sense,
Count him a rock of great offence;
And all who are not newly born,
Behold him with contempt and scorn.
Sufficient goodness of their own,
Makes Jesus but a stumbling stone;
By reason of their blinded eyes,
God's way of saving, they despise.
But when in his appointed hour,
The Holy Spirit comes with power,
And leads the soul to Sinai's mount,
And opens there the black account;
He stands condemn'd, and looks around,
No friend, nor helper, can be found:
Then, when the Comforter comes near,
And sweetly whispers in his ear,
That Jesus came for him to bleed;
His name is precious then indeed.
Precious as God's appointed way,
His own perfection to display ;
For what of God is understood,
But through the Lamb's redeeming blood?
He's precious all our journey through,
As when the first believing view,
Remov'd the heavy load of sin,
And brought the peace of God within.
The church of Christ that favour'd ONE,
Shall with delight, and pleasure own,
He's precious in his righteousness,
As her complete and glorious dress;
That robe, which evermore endures!
Rejoice, believers! it was yours,
In God's decree, through his dear Son,
you had faith, to put it on.
He's precious as our cov'nant Head,
And precious when in sinner's stead;
He paid the law's immense demands,
Into his righteous Father's hands.
And precious when "Tis done" he cried,
And bow'd his sacred head and died.
Then death for ever lost its sting,
The church may now of victory sing;
Precious when faith beholds him RISE,
Victorious to his native skies.

Ere

And precious now in heaven he PLEADS
And for his members intercedes.

He's precious then in various ways;
When weary, faint, or sore oppress'd,
If varied often be our case,
He's precious as a place of rest.
When clouds of darkness intervene,
And Jesu's beauties can't be seen,
Why do we linger by his cross?
And count all else but dung and dross?
Because he's precious to us still,
Nothing on earth his place can fill.
For him we wait, to him we cry,
Come, Lord, none else can satisfy:
When under fresh contracted guilt,
Sorrow, and deepest shame are felt;
The blessed Spirit comes again,
Sprinkles the blood, and heals the pain.
How precious then the Son of God,
From whose dear side the torrent flow'd;
With joy we lift our heads again,
And sing the Lamb that once was slain.
Sometimes lest we should lift our head,
As if the man of sin were dead.
We're left to feel a deadly blow,
To humble pride and keep us low.
God shows us some inherent sin,
Which makes us cry, Unclean, unclean!
Yet 'midst the thorns, he'll safely keep
The feet of all his helpless sheep.
He but designs from self to wean,
And makes us more on Jesus lean!
Atoning blood, the more to prize,
Himself more precious in our eyes.
Not only pleasant to our sight,
But PRECIOUS, all our heart's delight;
While trav'lling through a hostile land,
With mighty foes on every hand,
When call'd in battle to engage,
And hot the fight through Satan's rage;
How precious then our conquering Lord,
How sweet to hear that cheering word-
"You need not fear, you need not flee,
Stand still and my salvation see;
Then shout, ye saints, the battle's won!
Your Captain is to glory gone,
Gone up, your places to prepare,
And soon he'll fetch and place you there;
With all the heavenly hosts, to praise
A precious Christ, through endless days.
E Alconbury House, ANN STURTON.

A SISTER'S "SEASONABLE" SALUTATION.

MY DEAR SISTER IN THE LORD,

I wish

Grace, mercy, and peace, be ever with you ! "When Christ, who is your life, shall appear, you also shall appear with him in glory." you a happy realization of spiritual mercies at this time, and a blessed enjoyment of an incarnate God. "Christ in you the hope of glory," a sense of which in the soul will not confine Christmas to the 25th of December, but will give a happy Christmas all the year round. No less wonders are performed in the Church of God now, when Christ is begotten in the soul of a sinner, than were transacted in Bethlehem in the incarnation of the Godman; for the reception of Christ, and the impartation of life divine, are quite as miraculous as the conception of Christ by the virgin, and the overshadowing of the Holy Ghost as specially manifested in our case as in hers. I am kept longing, looking, and waiting for his felt presence, his kindly visits, his Christmas welcome. The old man is gasping after sin, the new man gasping after Christ. The old man putting out the powers belonging thereunto, perfect in their nature, but restrained in degree, and the new man putting forth its powers, which are like God because begotten of him. Thus saved, man is the greatest mystery in earth or heaven. A compound of opposites, a union of differences, all sin, all holiness-all peace, all war-all joy, all sorsow-all love, all enmity in one person. We are just about to close another year, and neither of us may see the next out, but if called by grace "the briefer life the earlier immortality." Our turn shall surely come by-and-by. It will be said to us by that disarmed messenger, "The Master is come and calleth for thee." The Master can do without thee no longer. The Bridegroom waits. The marriage supper is ready. Thou must come up hither. Thy place is vacant, none other in heaven or earth can fill it. It is thine by right and title, thine by everlasting appointment, thine by eternal redemption, thine by the Spirit's declaration. Come, for all things are ready. How soon may not this be said to us! And shall it assuredly be the character of our dismissal from a body of sin and death? Sometimes I say, What if it should be all a delusion; no reality, no heartwork, all flesh-andblood deception! O what a fatal mistake in that day to find no name enrolled in the Lamb's book of life. But this cannot be, for we have tasted of the waters that issue from under the throne of God, and they shall find their level and return thither, bearing us upon their surface, and so land us in eternal blessedness. We walk by faith not by sight, hence we are often in the dust, for it is only as faith is an exercise we can realize the hope that maketh not ashamed. May our covenant God keep us very near to himself till we shall meet to part no more.

Dec. 26.

DEAR SIR,

Yours in undying bonds,

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

R.

Since the death of my protege, the much lamented Walter Row, I have done little more than amuse myself with the monotony of my own stall; from which place I have been for some years observing the movements of what is termed "the religious world; " very few of them, however, claim any admiration from the old shoemaker; but being apprehensive that the quietude of my stall will soon be broke in upon, for the day is not far distant when "the host" shall perambulate the vicinity of St. Paul's, and high mass be performed within its walls, for the leaven has well nigh leavened the whole lump, and the glory of our land is about to set under the cloud of Papal superstition; with these feelings I have been induced to step beyond the boundary of the corner, for the purpose of gleaning a little from the monthly stores of the famous Paternoster, and my hap was to light upon the neat and very prettily adorned bantling produced under your fostering hand.

From the nausea received during the time it lay in the hands of the enemies to truth, I must confess, I felt but little inclination to peruse its pages, from a jealousy that though it had changed hands the scent of the tank remained, and that the name it bore was a misnomer; but in taking a bird's-eye view of "THE PU. SEYITE MASK THROWN OFF," I felt a glowing desire in my mind to make a further examination, and obtained the loan of a few numbers (for I had not confidence to make a purchase), which I carefully placed under my arm, and retraced my steps back to my stall, that with the aid of my spectacles I might con over their

contents.

Excuse me, my dear Sir, but I should rather judge you were not conversant with either the contents or correspondents of the MAGAZINE during the last few years particularly, which accounts for the unpalatable courses which at times you have served up. I would observe the readers and lovers of that work were a peculiar class of beings; and am well satisfied they are not taken up with any of the ephemerals of the day, therefore transmit over to those philippic vehicles of the day, all funeral expenses, grocers' bills, &c.; however they might be advocated by the bombast of chapel-selling agents, the cursed love of money runs through the whole system.

Many things there are with which I am delighted, and you deserve credit for the gradual improvement you have made since it has fallen into your hands (not in the decorations of the self-dubbed Reverenceses, be it observed), and never sink its name in the muckhill of such rubbish; maintain your eminence, be content to stand alone, succumb to no one, wield the sword manfully against every stronghold of errer, and you will find the lovers of truth gather around you. I regret not meeting more of my old colleagues. No doubt, with myself, they were driven to their tents, and have been standing in the doorway, watching for the hand to appear. Should you not cast aside old Crispin's lap stone, but let his friends see he is still in his stall; I would entreat them to follow my example, take a view of what has been done by way of improvement, since it was rescued from the Baker's burning and destructive oven; and as in unity there is strength, let them aid thee with their prayers and contributions, that our old favourite, the GOSPEL MAGAZINE, may retain its standing until it "dies the death" under the persecution of Roman ascendency, which is fast hastening upon us. May you and all of us be found faithful!

From my Stall, Amen Corner.

CRISPIN.

THE EDITOR FROM A CORNER NICHE IN AN UPPER STORY, TO HIS FRIEND THE ANCIENT OCCUPANT OF A COBBLER'S STALL. THINE epistle, friend, has caused us many an anxious hour, but we trust has worked well. In the earlier pages of the present No., thou wilt perceive it has roused us to a Confession, and perhaps will place us on a better understanding with some of our Correspondents. But we would have thee know, that our minds have undergone no alteration; no change has taken place in our creed, in consequence of thine epistle; it has merely brought us to a more formal acknowledgment of what were our pre-established opinions; and we trust, however rigidly our past papers may be criticised, a uniformity of sentiment will appear. Refer us to a point in which we have betrayed the least disposition to sacrifice an iota of truth; if thou canst do so upon scriptural grounds, and the Holy Ghost carries conviction to our hearts of the propriety of thine objections, we will immediately renounce them, and plead forgiveness at the throne for another proof of the imperfection of our services.

We have declared, and we repeat, that we accommodate ourselves to the party feeling of no man; we unite ourselves to no particular sect; but pursue our editorial career as we are led by God the Holy Ghost. If, on our road, we fall in with a man apparently taught by the same Spirit, we greet that man in the name of the Lord; and onward we journey together, avoiding minor points of difference, where we perceive enmity and strife appear likely to be engendered by a discussion.

As to the Portraits: Does the countenance of a friend please thee? Dost thou welcome him with a hearty shake of the hand, and a cheerful inquiry after his well-being? Upon this principle (combined with the conviction that, in these days, it is desirable that men of truth should not be afraid to declare themselves) we introduce the Portraits. "As iron sharpeneth iron, so doth the countenance of a man his friend." This we intend for our future Portrait motto.

Once more--however the narrative of such anecdotes as the "Funeral Expenses," and the "Grocer's Bill," may be abused; though it be said, that "the cursed love of money runs through the whole system," we know the principle upon which they were introduced--that it

was to testify of the faithfulness of God, and to comfort his exercised family thereby-and we rejoice, moreover, in the fact, that circumstances have since come to our knowledge, to prove that our object was not defeated.

If our friend, the cobbler, or any of our readers, suppose that, by the narration of such anecdotes, we would encourage a begging system-a running to this friend and that, to tell the tale of woe, they greatly misjudge us. We have said enough to testify our conviction, that the place for a child of God to tell out his troubles, is at a throne of grace: we think little of that man's experience of the benefits of such a course, who can go about from house to house, chattering about his trials. If he knows what intimacy with God is, he knows likewise what it is to have an Advocate---a Friend---to go before, and prepare and open up the way for him.

To such an extreme may the Cobbler's objections be carried, as to obliterate a great portion of the Bible; for does not a goodly part of it comprise the kind providential dealings of an evergracious Father? When deliverance in trouble is vouchsafed--and that by the visible hand of God, without the interference of human craft or policy-we believe that the individual thus delivered, would be unable to refrain in testifying of it, when his heart is warmed by the remembrance, and circumstances conspire together to call forth the narration. For our own part, we cannot say but we love to be listeners when an experienced child of God has anything fresh to tell of the kindly acts of his loving Father. Often has it warmed the heart, cheered the drooping spirit, and encouraged the soul, when our language, through the prevalency of unbelief and slavish fear, had just previously been

"Of feeling, all things show some sign,

But this unfeeling heart of mine."

CORRESPONDENCE OF THE LATE YOUTHFUL H. A. HARRIS. LETTER V.-TO MR. J— S.

MY DEAR MADIGAN,

I have promised to write to you, and therefore I will do it; but I am so deficient in talent for epistolary correspondence, that I write heavily, and am read with weariness; could I but command the ability of Tully or Demosthenes, the case would be different, and that would delight, which is now unpleasant; bear with me. There is a subject upon which I can say a little-and oh! the sublimity of such a theme-a subject passing loftiest imaginations, and little known to the best and wisest, but I do not know whether you are willing I should introduce it-I should grieve to hear you say not: here is my reason. You have a wife who is dear to you, she is your closest and best beloved Friend; you take her to a friend's house, who would say, "I like you, but your wife is not welcome; "I am sure of the result. I have no wife, but I have a Friend, who is so attached that the vilest insults, the deepest ingratitude, have not changed Him. He is the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever; in temptations a deliverer; in sickness a physician; in poverty riches; in death a support; in judgement a kind acquitting judge. Shall I not love Him and speak well of Him whose heart was pierced for me; who forsook those bright scenes where He was All in All, to be despised and rejected of men, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief? Shall I prefer, in writing to an intelligent and immortal being, the tittle tattle of the world, to the dazzling magnificence of the glorious Prince, whose smile raises to heaven, and whose frown sinks to perdition. Shall I write you the folly of this life, or speak of the matchless wisdom which Solon knew not, and the Sanhedrim despised? After this long preface, what have I to say? say what I will of Him, it will be only preface, because he is not to be fully understood by a finite faith. Do you love him, my dear Madigan? You will never be above the petty disappointments of time till you are fitted for eternity. I would that I knew that yourself, your other self, and myself were walking in the narrow way that leadeth unto life. I have often prayed for you, that forsaking earthly dependences you may rest upon the Rock of Ages; desiring to know nothing among men, but Jesus Christ and Him crucified. I have expended all my paper, and have not come to the subject; perhaps you wish I had expended it before, but I sincerely desire best interest; and if you consider me enthusiastic, remember I am sincere; and know something of the happiness which flows from religion, and therefore recommend it to my friends. Perhaps you will ridicule, remember it is not my cause; if dislike it, you shall have no more; kind respects to your kind wife. Yours very sincerely.

your

you

H. A. HARRIS.