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place, unless the wind blows; so with the christian, he needs the gales of God the Holy Spirit continually. Ministers have no success in preaching, either in the conversion of sinners, or building up of saints, or comforting the distressed, or lifting any out of the horrible pit and miry clay, without divine agency. They have no insight into the secrets of the covenant-mysteries of redeeming love, without the holy anointing; nor have the heirs of salvation any access to God in prayer, nor any brokenness of spirit on the account of sin. They have no confidence in divine mercy; no faith in the great salvation of Jesus; no feeling sense of pardon; no enjoying peace with God; no prizing the precious promises; no going out in affection after the Lord; no highly esteeming a dear Redeemer; no earnests of heaven enjoyed; no loathing sin nor self; no war with satan and the world; nor any welcoming death, and longing to be with Jesus, without the blessed influences of him, who loves to glorify the Son of God.

Fifthly. A merchant sometimes is much distrest when the weather is stormy; he has many sleepless nights, and fearful forebodings, under the idea that he shall lose all his property by shipwreck, or the sinking of his vessels. So it is with the spiritual merchant; he meets with many tempests and violent storms of persecution, that toss him about and try his faith; the thunder and lightning of mount Sinai threatens to overwhelm him; hurricanes from hell frequently alarm him; the inward sin of his deceitful heart rises like a fearful flood, and threatens to drown him; the adverse winds of cross providences, such as great losses in trade, breaches by death, and the frowns of heaven; all these things rock him about like a ship in a storm, and be expects to sink to rise no more. Many anxious prayers are put up to the great Captain and Pilot that he would steer him safely over every billow. Sometimes he hopes it will be all well, and that he shall weather out the gale; his fears again rise, his faith fails, his heart sinks, and he gives up all for lost, with a "Lord, 'save, or I perish!" then the hand of help is stretched out, the great Commander commands a calm, and winds and waves obey.

Sixthly. A merchant is delighted when he hears of the arrival of his ships, that the winds have favoured them with a prosperous voyage, and the cargo safe landed. And how rejoiced the christian is, when the good Lord makes his soul a storehouse to lodge the blessings of .salvation in; when the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts; when there is some good thing found in us toward the Lord God of Israel; when Christ dwells in our hearts by faith; when the Spirit bears witness with our spirits that we are the children of God; when the precious grace of faith brings in a large supply out of the fulness of Jesus; when the word of God dwells richly in us, and a new heart and a new spirit are given to us, with an earnest of the joys of heaven. Seventhly. A merchant feels a pleasure in walking through his warehouses, and among his wares, and can point to them, and say, they are all mine! And when a child of God is favoured with the

confidence of faith, he can look up to God the Father, and say, he is mine; he loved me from all eternity, he chose me in Christ, he ordained me a vessel of mercy, he wrote my name in the Lamb's book of life! He can look up to Jesus as his ransom, righteousness, Redeemer, law-fulfiller, debt-payer, burden-bearer-all and in all. He can look to God the Holy Ghost as his new creator, as his glorifier of Jesus, his almighty comforter, quickener, restorer, instructor, and his helper in prayer. He can look at all the invaluable contents of the bible, and say, they are all mine; the covenant of grace, the robe of Jesu's righteousness, the fountain open for sin, the feast of fat things, the rivers of pleasure, the garden of God, the glorious gospel, the ministers of Christ, the throne of grace, and all the ordinances of God's house, with endless bliss when time is no more. Then what are all the goodly pearls of worldly riches, amiable tempers, brilliant talents, religious education, pious inclinations, uniformity of deportment, empty titles, fading honours, a cultivated mind, or consummate learning? These are all goodly pearls, but not the pearl of great price; when the great worth of that is known, all others will be sold to obtain it. To dive into the secrets of nature, to observe the beauties of creation, to watch the wonders of providence, to acquire the knowledge of trade and commerce, to be well acquainted with different languages, well read in the history of nations, to study every subject that may fit us to be useful members of society, is highly desirable and commendable, and all may be termed goodly pearls; but the Lord Jesus Christ is of more worth than all beside; he is the grand eclipser of all creation; every thing sinks into nothing in compare with him; and having him we possess all.

But, lastly, every merchant considers himself bound in honour to pay all demands lawfully made upon him, and to render all their due. And so does every one who trades with heaven; he ascribes the whole glory of his election to God the Father; his complete salvation to God the Son; and his regeneration and effectual calling to God the Holy Ghost. And his only hope of having all his sins pardoned, his person justified, his soul saved, and his admittance into the presence of God, is built upon the life, sufferings, death, and resurrection of the God-man, Christ Jesus the Lord. The richest merchants are generally the greatest traders; but the poorest pilgrims generally carry on the greatest trade with heaven. They are often obliged to go with their poverty to their best friend, and he sends them a bountiful supply; their great difficulties they are often constrained to spread before the Lord, and their loving Saviour hears them, and sends a sweet word home to their hearts, and a providential supply soon follows. As when the ravens ceased to bring Elijah his bread and flesh, and the brook dried up, then a widow woman was provided, a few sticks, a little meal, and a little oil: and Jesus Christ is the same yesterday, to-day and for ever.

Then, my reader, let me ask you, are you acquainted with this high and heavenly mystery of trading with God? have you gone confess

of

ing your sins to him, and received in return the free and full forgiveness of them? have you gone to Jesus under a distressing discovery your nakedness, and has your time been his time of love? and has he spread his skirt over you? have you received out of his fulness a supply for your emptiness? can you adopt the language of an old fashioned, but excellent poet ?

To all my vileness, Christ is glory bright;
To all my miseries, my infinite delight;
To my deformity, he is my beanty fair,

And to my ignorance, wisdom without compare :
Sight to my blindness, and to my sickness health;
Life to my deadness, and to my meanness wealth;
Light in my darkness, my liberty in thrall,

Heav'n to my hell-deservings,-Christ is my all in all!

If this be thy happy lot, O reader! thou art grown rich by trading. May the best of merchants bless thee with a further increase to thy stock!

Hampstead, June 16, 1826.

JAMES.

(For the Spiritual Magazine.)

ORIGINAL LETTER FROM

TO MRS.

My Friend,

I Take my pen to set before you, as far as I can conceive and apprehend your case, and to point out the true cure for it. May the Lord bless my attempt.

From what you express of yourself, and recite of your experience, I conclude you to be a blessed woman, because it hath pleased the Lord to give you an inward sight and sense of your own sinfulness, misery, and hell-deservings.

You say, none can conceive how exceedingly sinful you are; what sights and discoveries it has given you, so that you tremble at the very remembrance of it, and think no one was ever like you in this respect. Surely this is sound and genuine experience, without which you could not see, nor feel your want of Christ. If you should be led to a fuller sight of yourself, it would only prove to a demonstration, that you are what the Lord God describes you to be in his holy word. And with all you feel and say of yourself, you are but a sinner, and can deserve nothing at the hands of God but damnation. Now as you see and acknowledge this, it proves that the Holy Ghost is at the bottom of your convictions. He hath done great things for your soul indeed, if you have learnt that in your fallen nature dwells nothing that is good: and I must tell you that there never will to your last breath be any thing there but sin, self, misery, and death. This is so clear to me in my own soul's experience, that I feel every moment that I am the subject of all the sinfulness that can be found in earth or hell. This I am ready every moment of my life to acknowledge; the essence of all sin is within me, of which I have had sad and awful experience. This, through

the teachings of the word and Spirit, brings me to renounce myself for ever. As I have no expectation of ever seeing, feeling, or finding any good in my fallen nature; so I am not in the least degree discouraged by its workings, because I am taught to look out and off myself for life and salvation. The Lord Jesus Christ says, "Ye must be born again." The experience I have of my exceeding sinfulness proves to a demonstration that I am born of God. I could not see, feel, and apprehend sin as I do, if I had not been a partaker of a new and supernatural birth; neither could you. Regeneration is not salvation: by it we are capacitated for the partaking of all the blessings of salvation, and made meet to be partakers of the inheritance of the saints in light; but Christ is the Saviour, and his work is salvation; his blood and righteousness is the object of our faith; his word is the ground of our faith; and his Spirit reveals him by the word to our minds, and forms him in our hearts the hope of glory.

I consider you, with all your present views of sin, and your experiencing such misery as you describe, to be a fit subject for Jesus Christ to manifest his infinite and tender compassion upon; you are indeed fit for Christ; for Him, who shines into the heart, who heals the broken in heart, and bindeth up the wounds of such as are oppressed of the devil. He looks upon us with a look of love, and turns our darkness into light. Never did a sinner come to him and was rejected! Indeed his heart is everlasting love; his bowels are filled with everlasting mercy; his blood cleanseth from all sin; and his righteousness delivereth from everlasting death. His arm is omnipotent, and he saves to the uttermost all that come unto God by him.

What think you of this? These are the true sayings of God himself. Our Lord Jesus Christ is upon his throne shining forth all in flames of love; and he is saying to you, "Look unto me, and be ye saved!" If you go to Christ with all your sinfulness and misery, you will find in Him a perfect and everlasting cure for the whole of your disease. He will not loathe nor despise you on account of what you are; but he will receive you as graciously, and love you as freely as though you had never sinned in thought, word, and deed.

There is no sight this side heaven like a poor sinner coming to Christ, and Christ manifesting himself to him; who, perhaps, feels himself more fit for hell than heaven; but when such approach and present themselves before the Lord Jesus, it is then our Lord displays the wonders of his mercy. I am a witness for Christ to the truth of this, and must ever confess it to his everlasting praise and glory. I have gone with the whole body of sin and death to Christ, when he looked upon me, and shone within me, as he did upon the thief on the cross. He hath then made known in my soul the virtue of his blood, and purified my mind from the guilt of sin thereby. To know him, therefore, and the everlasting virtue and efficacy of his most precious blood-shedding, is the only cure for all the maladies of sin and to have the eye of faith fixed on Christ, and the mind employed in

thinking on his righteousness and sacrifice, are the way and means whereby we enjoy peace with God through Jesus Christ our Lord.

It is the principal thing in experience to have the blood of Christ. removing the guilt of sin from our consciences; then we have a good conscience, it speaks the same things of Christ which God the Father doth in his word. God the Father is infinitely well pleased with the person, work, and salvation of Christ; and we cannot be too confident in Christ, nor can we distrust ourselves too much.

Now Jesus is exactly suited to the whole of your case; and there is no sin in you, but there is complete cure for it in his blood; and there is no part or feeling of your spiritual disease, but there is health and healing for the same in him: and there is nothing you can possibly want, but Jesus Christ has it to bestow. He is upon his throne almighty to save, pardoning iniquity, transgression, and sin, freely and fully, for his great name's sake: and he bestows all the blessings of his great salvation without money and without price, agreeably to his word, whosoever will, let him come, and take of the water of life freely." These are truths, and the words of eternal life. Consider them then, and ponder over them; for in the true knowledge of them everlasting life is contained. And may the Lord give you understanding in all things. Having set before you Christ as your complete and perfect antidote against sin, satan, death, and hell, I put my hand and seal to this as the Lord's witness.

GOSPEL TRACT SOCIETY.

P.

WITH unfeigned delight we record the proceedings of the Second Anniversary of this Institution:

On Tuesday evening, July 4, a Sermon was preached at the City Chapel, Grub Street, by the Rev. Joseph Irons, minister of Grove Chapel, Camberwell.

On Wednesday evening, July 5, at Salem Chapel, Meard's Court, Dean Street, Soho, by Mr. W. H. Colyer, of Foot's Cray, Kent.

On Thursday evening, July 6, at the Broadway Church, St. Margaret's, Westminster, by the Rev. John Tucker, of Ham House, Cheltenham.

On Friday evening, July 7, the Anniversary Meeting of the subscribers and friends to the Institution, was held at the Freemason's Hall, Great Queen Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, the Rev. Robert Hawker, D. D. in the chair. At an early hour this immense room was crowded to overflowing, and hundreds of persons presented themselves for admission without success. The business was commenced by the venerable president reading and expounding the 19th of Isaiah; after which a prayer was offered to the throne of grace, the report read, and the various resolutions unanimously passed. Many admirable speeches were heard with great approbation, and not a dissentient voice interrupted the important proceedings of the evening. short and animated address. of the services, and at the hall. and will be noticed in our next Number.

Dr. Hawker closed the business with a
Liberal collections were made after each
The report of the society is just published,

LITERARY NOTICES.

IN the press, and will be published on the 15th of August, the first part of a Volume of Sermons, by the Rev. Edward Andrews, L.L.1). of

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