is finished as to their right to glory, and what remains is only to be done in them by grace of a divine operation, and all that grace is ready for them in their Redeemer, and shall be made theirs inherently. It is true they feel but little within, and if they had no more without, they would have no foundation for comfort-all hopes of joy and bliss would vanish and disappear. Oh, how miserable must they be who have no more grace than what they have within! If this was all their portion, they would presently come to poverty and an everlasting jail; but they can bless God for ever, that their portion is in their Redeemer, and not in themselves. They see in all their contracted love to Christ and his people, that they have in him such a spring of love as can never be exhausted, and can, under the manifestations of this love to their souls, go forth in strongest passions of love to him and the saints; they can look upon Christ as the most delightful and most glorious object, and the saints as the most excellent of the earth. But, alas! their love soon flags both to Christ and to his people; a coldness overtakes them, and they become indifferent. Now, this is all their glory-that they have in, and shall have from, their Redeemer, such a measure of love as will admit of no abatement, but be always perfect, strong, and vigorous. But this will be in heaven-not before. Oh, blessed portion of love in Jesus-blessed, may we all say, be our God for ever and ever! who will fill his people with as much love as shall redound to his own glory, the honour of Christ, the praise of the Holy Ghost, and the comfort and good of their own and others' souls whilst in this world; so that in the Redeemer they have all joy in the Lord as the rock of their salvation. But, alas! their joys are like their other graces, often gone, or else very low; and if their present joys, which are intermixed with so many sorrows and troubles, were all their portion, what unhappy persons would they be, for they are generally despised in the world and undeservedly reproached. Now, if they had not before them greater joys in view, they would be of all men most miserable; but this is the matter of their satisfaction, that they have greater joys in their Redeemer, which they shall partake of beyond the grave, in a world of perfect bliss, where they shall delight themselves for ever in their God; and it affords joy to them now, through the great and gracious hand of God upon them, that they are not left to go on without their joys in the Lord, for their joy in him hath been strength to their souls, and they have been made to sing upon their high places. Their joys fill their souls with earnest longings to be in the perfection of joy and pleasure of God's right hand; they want the whole of their portion at once, and desire to depart to the realms of blessedness, where is the fulness of their portion; so that at certain times their joys have been made to abound. Well, blessed be the Lord that all their joys are safe in their Redeemer, for he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and for his fellows his chosen and redeemed ones. LETTER FROM THE LATE REV. EDWARD GOLDSMITH TO HIS SECOND DAUGHTER AND HER HUSBAND, ON THEIR MARRIAGE. MY DEAR CHILDREN, The important change you have lately made has been a loud call on me for a letter, on the deeply interesting subject. Among the causes which have kept my pen dormant of late, the principal one is bodily infirmity; my weakness is such as (though well in health) to render writing and every other exercise extremely burdensome. You are, my dear children, brought by the unerring wisdom of our Heavenly Father into that honourable state, the sweets and bitters of which you are called mutually to share. As the marriage union has brought you under indispensable obligations to each other, as man and wife; so, I trust, in the enjoyment of your eternal union to the Heavenly Bridegroom, you will find constant inducements to discharge those obligations with fidelity. The state in which you are now placed, is capable of affording the sweetest felicities this changeful world will allow; for domestic peace and conjugal affection surpass, in an eminent degree, all the pleasures that are elsewhere to be found. The path you have entered, and are to travel in through life, will doubless open many unexpected scenes to view, both of joy and sorrow. My earnest prayer for you is, that in all your joys you may have grace to be humble, and thankful to the Divine Author of your mercies; and in all your sorrows find strength to bear with patience the most righteous will of your Heavenly Father. You are, I trust, through sovereign grace, both feelingly taught to own the helplessness, depravity, and ruin of our poor fallen nature; therefore need not be told that all good must be found in our most precious Lord Jesus. It is very blessed to know so much of ourselves and Christ; but this is very far below the summit of the true believer's privileges. Many have this knowledge who continually fear for their safety, because they do not know Christ as Christ; they do not understand the work of the Holy Ghost within them, is God's witness of their interest in Christ and union to Him. Hence they live on their comforts; and when these are lost, they are ready to suppose Christ is lost too. At such seasons, the cares of life, with the corruptions of the flesh, and the vile temptations of Satan, make sad havoc in the feelings of those who have a scriptural warrant to rejoice and be glad: this you may frequently notice among the dear followers of the Lamb. Now, my beloved children, you have the frowns of the world to endure, and the smiles of the world to withstand; you have the power and policy of hell opposed to you, and you have the unbelief and rebellion of the heart to contend against continually. These may often wound your peace for a time-perhaps, destroy it for a moment-but ever remember they have no power over your best interests; the precious jewel, "life in Christ," is out of their reach and out of their sight! On this sweet truth I would have your minds exercised constantly, and your faith fixed firmly. If you are not in the full enjoyment of it, search the Scriptures; and they, by the teaching of the Spirit, will furnish you with plenty of instruction on the subject, to fill your souls with spiritual knowledge and holy triumph. Remember, all your comforts must flow from the fulness of Christ, but all your stability must be found in what Christ is to you. The union of Christ to ren is your eternal safety, while the fulness of Christ supplies your every need. May the Lord the Holy Ghost establish your minds in these truths; then, through all the vicissitudes incident to Zion-travellers in this vale of woe, you will have both a ground of security and a source of comfort; seeing that in Christ you have all things richly tong Parhans I cannot end this short epistle. than by expressi and enable you Be assured Bunte ten in unfeigned love a me rebility, better prayer that the Latte may incline looking unto Jesus! the affection of a par meg shiidren, HER. 1 is finished as to their right to glory, and what remains is only to be done in them by grace of a divine operation, and all that grace is ready for them in their Redeemer, and shall be made theirs inherently. It is true they feel but little within, and if they had no more without, they would have no foundation for comfort-all hopes of joy and bliss would vanish and disappear. Oh, how miserable must they be who have no more grace than what they have within! If this was all their portion, they would presently come to poverty and an everlasting jail; but they can bless God for ever, that their portion is in their Redeemer, and not in themselves. They see in all their contracted love to Christ and his people, that they have in him such a spring of love as can never be exhausted, and can, under the manifestations of this love to their souls, go forth in strongest passions of love to him and the saints; they can look upon Christ as the most delightful and most glorious object, and the saints as the most excellent of the earth. But, alas! their love soon flags both to Christ and to his people; a coldness overtakes them, and they become indifferent. Now, this is all their glory-that they have in, and shall have from, their Redeemer, such a measure of love as will admit of no abatement, but be always perfect, strong, and vigorous. But this will be in heaven-not before. Oh, blessed portion of love in Jesus-blessed, may we all say, be our God for ever and ever! who will fill his people with as much love as shall redound to his own glory, the honour of Christ, the praise of the Holy Ghost, and the comfort and good of their own and others' souls whilst in this world; so that in the Redeemer they have all joy in the Lord as the rock of their salvation. But, alas! their joys are like their other graces, often gone, or else very low; and if their present joys, which are intermixed with so many sorrows and troubles, were all their portion, what unhappy persons would they be, for they are generally despised in the world and undeservedly reproached. Now, if they had not before them greater joys in view, they would be of all men most miserable; but this is the matter of their satisfaction, that they have greater joys in their Redeemer, which they shall partake of beyond the grave, in a world of perfect bliss, where they shall delight themselves for ever in their God; and it affords joy to them now, through the great and gracious hand of God upon them, that they are not left to go on without their joys in the Lord, for their joy in him hath been strength to their souls, and they have been made to sing upon their high places. Their joys fill their souls with earnest longings to be in the perfection of joy and pleasure of God's right hand; they want the whole of their portion at once, and desire to depart to the realms of blessedness, where is the fulness of their portion; so that at certain times their joys have been made to abound. Well, blessed be the Lord that all their joys are safe in their Redeemer, for he was anointed with the oil of gladness above his fellows, and for his fellows his chosen and redeemed ones. LETTER FROM THE LATE REV. EDWARD GOLDSMITH TO HIS SECOND DAUGHTER AND HER HUSBAND, ON THEIR MARRIAGE. MY DEAR CHILDREN, The important change you have lately made has been a loud call on me for a letter, on the deeply interesting subject. Among the causes which have kept my pen dormant of late, the principal one is bodily infirmity; my weakness is such as (though well in health) to render writing and every other exercise extremely burdensome. However, I cannot refrain from attempting to convey a few words expressive of my strong parental affection for you both, and my deep concern for your happiness and welfare. You are, my dear children, brought by the unerring wisdom of our Heavenly Father into that honourable state, the sweets and bitters of which you are called mutually to share. As the marriage union has brought you under indispensable obligations to each other, as man and wife; so, I trust, in the enjoyment of your eternal union to the Heavenly Bridegroom, you will find constant inducements to discharge those obligations with fidelity. The state in which you are now placed, is capable of affording the sweetest felicities this changeful world will allow; for domestic peace and conjugal affection surpass, in an eminent degree, all the pleasures that are elsewhere to be found. The path you have entered, and are to travel in through life, will doubless open many unexpected scenes to view, both of joy and sorrow. My earnest prayer for you is, that in all your joys you may have grace to be humble, and thankful to the Divine Author of your mercies; and in all your sorrows find strength to bear with patience the most righteous will of your Heavenly Father. You are, I trust, through sovereign grace, both feelingly taught to own the helplessness, depravity, and ruin of our poor fallen nature; therefore need not be told that all good must be found in our most precious Lord Jesus. It is very blessed to know so much of ourselves and Christ; but this is very far below the summit of the true believer's privileges. Many have this knowledge who continually fear for their safety, because they do not know Christ as Christ; they do not understand the work of the Holy Ghost within them, is God's witness of their interest in Christ and union to Him. Hence they live on their comforts; and when these are lost, they are ready to suppose Christ is lost too. At such seasons, the cares of life, with the corruptions of the flesh, and the vile temptations of Satan, make sad havoc in the feelings of those who have a scriptural warrant to rejoice and be glad this you may frequently notice among the dear followers of the Lamb. Now, my beloved children, you have the frowns of the world to endure, and the smiles of the world to withstand; you have the power and policy of hell opposed to you, and you have the unbelief and rebellion of the heart to contend against continually. These may often wound your peace for a time-perhaps, destroy it for a moment-but ever remember they have no power over your best interests; the precious jewel, "life in Christ," is out of their reach and out of their sight! On this sweet truth I would have your minds exercised constantly, and your faith fixed firmly. If you are not in the full enjoyment of it, search the Scriptures; and they, by the teaching of the Spirit, will furnish you with plenty of instruction on the subject, to fill your souls with spiritual knowledge and holy triumph. Remember, all your comforts must flow from the fulness of Christ, but all your stability must be found in what Christ is to you. The union of Christ to you is your eternal safety, while the fulness of Christ supplies your every need. May the Lord the Holy Ghost establish your minds in these truths; then, through all the vicissitudes incident to Zion-travellers in this vale of woe, you will have both a ground of security and a source of comfort; seeing that in Christ you have all things richly to enjoy. Perhaps I cannot end this short epistle, written in unfeigned love and much debility, better than by expressing my earnest prayer that the Lord the Spirit may incline and enable you continually to be looking unto Jesus! Be assured that I am, with all the affection of a parent, my dear children, THE PORTRAIT.-THE YOUTHFUL H. A. HARRIS. His letters speak for him; or, rather, for that grace of which he was made the rich partaker. Nothing remains for us but to give insertion, from time to time, to the series of epistles which we have by us. They embody the language of a soul longing after Jesus; the breathings of a heart touched with the finger of his love; and sweetly testify of a gradually-increasing deadness to the world, and heartfelt aspirations after that full developement of Christ and glory which is in reserve on the other side of Jordan. Faint and weary with close attention to business, I can still steal a few moments to commune, though absent, with my dear friends. It is a sweet consolation that I have a place on earth into which I can pour my earthly and my heavenly troubles, and my spiritual joys-joys flowing from Calvary mingled with blood-blood flowing from Jesus, the effect of love, boundless, infinite, and majestic. And from what does this love spring? From love, love; no first cause for love "This was compassion like a God, That when the Saviour knew Oh, for this love let every redeemed sinner sing, Hallelujah to Immanuel! and say, Behold! behold! what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, that we should be called the sons of God. On such a subject my heart glows; and, though my body seems fatigued, my soul, invigorated, seems to rise above, shouting, "Worthy is the Lamb!" Is this enthusiasm? Oh, for an increase thereof. Is this madness? Oh, that I may rave therein "while life, or thought, or being lasts, or immortality endures." I would not exchange my hope of salvation, through a crucified Saviour, for all the sceptres, all the crowns, of this fleeting world. I wish I had another Christian name engraven on my inmost soul in everlasting characters, and that I could always read it “Jedediah,' "the beloved of the Lord." You will, my dearest friends, doubtless think I am writing in a very selfish strain-self, self. If I ever write anything glorifying self, may my pen cleave to my hand. Oh, may we each be humbled in the dust, seeing our sinfulness, our depravity, our vileness, our ingratitude, and marvell at the mercy and long-suffering of the Holy One of Israel-blessed be HIS dear name-that we, bottomless-pit-like as we are, can say he hath not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation, through Jesus Christ our Lord. Oh, may the Holy Ghost daily, hourly, and momentarily, testify that we are redeemed from amongst men, not with corruptible things, but with efficacious, precious blood. The Lord Jehovah bless you. And oh, that in that tremendous, that awful day, when every element shall be dissolved, and every soul shall stand before the judgment-throne of the Lion of the tribe of Judah, may we, washed in the blood, with joy unspeakable, before assembled worlds, rush to the bosom of our risen Lord, and ascribe to him all honour, praise, and glory, for his covenant unchanging love to us, his covenant brethren, through the short ages of a long eternity. Amen and amen-even so, Lord Jesus. I remain, Yours most affectionately, and in Him, HARRY. |