many questions. Does he love me? Am I his or am I not? Is past experience real? Is my hope upon a right foundation? Were my convictions genuine, and was it really his voice that spoke, or that I thought spoke, pardon and peace to my sin-burdened heart, my troubled conscience? Oh! that I could see Jesus; oh! for one more smile, and the soft word, that precious promise spoken over again, "I have redeemed thee, thou art mine." "I would see Jesus, for I am in a barren land—a wilderness condition; I have not strength for the journey; light to discover my path; nor courage to proceed on my way. I would see Jesus; I would know that he is near to shelter and succour me; to exchange his strength for my weakness ; his light for my darkness; and his blessed Fear nots' for my many fears." "I would see Jesus, for the enemy thrusts sore at me that I may fall. Many and grievous things arise in my heart, which make me tremble. I am apprehensive of the consequences. I fear I shall dishonour, if not despise, his holy name. I fear I shall return to the beggarly elements of the world, making shipwreck of faith and of a good conscience. I fear that my enemies are too many and too mighty for me; and I want to see Jesus and hear him say, I will bruise Satan under thy feet shortly.'" "I would see Jesus and appeal to him, for here I have to contend with the strife of tongues.' Many and bitter things are said of me, which, if true, would be derogatory to his most holy name. I would urge my plea before him; I would say, Lord, is it so? Have I said this, or done that? Oh! give me not over to the will of mine enemies. Let them not prevail against me. Let not their dark prophesies, their base insinuations, be brought about; let not the destruction which they foretel, and wish for, come to pass but let me see thee; let me hear thy sweet, thy well-known voice, 'No weapon formed against thee shall prosper, and every tongue rising in judgment against thee thou shalt condemn.' ووو "I would see Jesus, for I am both temporally and spiritually poor and needy,' and I want the sweet assurance that the Lord thinketh upon me; I have no stock in hand, and scarcely a grain of faith to trust him for future supplies. And though he has led me and fed me to the present moment, brought me by a wondrous way, and supplied me by a marvellous hand; yet I seem less able to trust him, and more inclined to doubt him, than ever. I want to see him,' to hear him say again, 'There shall be a handful of corn in the earth upon the top of the mountains, and in the mount of the Lord (the mount of apparent difficulty and danger) the hand of the Lord shall be seen.' barrel of meal shall not waste, nor shall the cruse of oil fail.'” 66 "The I would see Jesus, for I am in perplexity, and I want to inquire of him what is his will, and which is the way in which he would have me walk. I know that I have not wisdom to guide myself; I have had such repeated proofs of my own weakness and folly, that now I want the Lord to be my guide and instructor; I want to hear his sweet voice saying, 'This is the way, walk ye in it;' 'Fear not to go down into Egypt, I will surely do thee good;' 'My presence shall go with thee, and I will give thee rest;' 'I will guide thee with mine eye.' These precious promises, spoken with power to my doubting, fearing soul, so embolden me; they dissipate my fears, and afford me such a simple dependence upon the Lord, as a promise-fulfilling God, that, however dark my way in prospect, I fear not to enter upon it; I go forward leaning on my Lord, not anxious about what may befal me on my journey, knowing that the Lord is with me to guide me, to strengthen me, and to bring my soul out into a wealthy place; and, moreover, when fresh darkness intercepts my path, and new and heavy troubles present themselves, I am furnished with such a blessed appeal to the Lord, that, remembering the season of holy intercourse with him-my entreaties with him, and his sweet overtures to me of merciful guardianship and care-I cannot but remind him of his promise, 'And thou saidst, I will surely do thee good.' Ah! privileged soul, these are such favoured seasons that well you may prize them. You are quite right in your pleadings. The Lord loves such; and (we speak it with reverence), never is he better pleased than when his poor, hesitating, tempest-tossed children thus wrestle and plead with him. It is (so to speak) bringing the Lord to a point. His blessed Majesty understands our meaning, and will not condemn us for the use of it, though professors may charge us with blasphemy for it; it is the holy, importunate wrestling of faith, which will not let the Lord draw back from, or shift out of, his promises; it is the cry of his own Spirit in the heart; it is the Holy Ghost responding to his own work-the echo (if we may so speak) to himself. God bless you and us with much of it, dear reader. Why, in some of the dark spots that we go down into, without seeing sun, moon, or stars for many days, we know not what we should do, if the Eternal Spirit did not thus come in to our relief, as a Spirit of grace and supplication. How do you think we appear before you, from month to month, in the face of enemies, without this; kept, perhaps, to the eleventh hour, as now, without a message; upon the point of issuing the Magazine without a few plain words from our own feeble pen, and yet kept back from doing so, we know not why, until the Lord breaks in afresh, dispels the darkness, removes the doubts and fears, and, for a brief period, gives us a little precious intercourse with his dear family scattered up and down in the wilderness? It is trying, brethren (and you that are exercised about the ministry, try yourselves by this rule, and do not be in over-haste to show yourselves in a pulpit), when there is not a ray of light upon a single passage of God's word, nor one spark of pleasurable reflection to be derived therefrom, nor seemingly a particle of interest any part thereof. We repeat, this is trying work; though, on the contrary, it is very blessed, heart-cheering, soul-comforting, when the Lord does give a portion, and opens it up word after word, and line after line, just as it is needful for speaking or writing; and giving the scul, at the same time, a precious participation in the subject. The reader will pardon the digression, and we will proceed. in *We use the expression to accommodate it to our poor finite minds. "I would see Jesus, for I have some dark-yea, very dark, providence before me; I have heavy troubles in prospect; something seems to tell me that trials far exceeding any that I have yet encountered await me, and that I shall surely, after all, be overwhelmed. 'I would see Jesus,' and hear him say, 'Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, I am thy God; I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness.' When thou passest through the waters, I will be with thee; and through the rivers, they shall not overflow thee; when thou passest through the fire, thou shalt not be burned, neither shall the flames kindle upon thee."" "And when united trials meet I'll show a path of safe retreat;" and bring thee forth, contrary to all thine expectations, and, in spite of all thy dark forebodings and gloomy appearances, to sing of sweet deliverance. Yes "Thou to the end shalt endure, As sure as the earnest is given; "I would see Jesus, for I have wandered from him into bye-paths; sin has had dominion; an evil temper has prevailed; and much darkness and bondage are the consequence thereof. I want him to break in afresh; again I want to hear his lovely voice speaking that most suitable word, 'I will multiply pardons ;' multiply-pardon over and over again; pardon as if I had never had occasion to forgive before; as if thou hadst not been an old offender; as if it were thy first offence, and as if I never expected thee to presume upon my future indulgence; 'I will multiply pardons.' 999 "I would see Jesus, to inquire of him if he really can bear with my manners in the wilderness, and conduct me safely through. I would ask him to assure me that his love should never tire; that he is of one mind and none can turn him. I would entreat him again to rebuke my slavish fears, by saying, 'I will not turn away from thee to do thee good; for, I hate putting away.'" "I would see Jesus-more of him and less of myself; I would be looking more to Jesus than into self or upon surrounding circumstance; for, a sight of self, of creatures, and of the world, only tends to fill my soul with dismay; while a sight of Jesus, a simple looking to, and resting upon him, inspires my soul with hope, and affords me an humble confidence, that while myself and everything around is fluctuating, changeable, and in nowise to be depended upon ; Jesus, and he alone, continues ، the same yesterday, to-day, and for ever. I "I would see Jesus, not only during my journey, but at the end of it. Oh! I have many fears about a long and tedious affliction. I see some upon the bed of languishing; I see them racked with pain; hear their groans; their restless days and sleepless nights I dread beyond description, and ofttimes, as I take my stand beside their dying couch, do I inquire, 'How can I stand such a trying hour? Surely my little confidence will yield to such a conflict.' I wish, then, to see him; I want him to impart the grace of faith, that I may rest upon the promise, 'As thy day is, so shall thy strength be.' I desire to listen to the sweet droppings of that precious promise, The eternal God is thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms."" "I would see Jesus when death seizes me; when he fixes his grasp upon me; then, seeing Jesus-feeling his blessed, soul-comforting, heart-cheering presence with me-I would smile at death, and, welcoming him as my friend instead of mine enemy, I would exclaim, 'O death, where is thy sting? O grave, where is thy victory? The sting of death is sin, and the strength of sin is the law; but thanks be unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord Jesus Christ.'” "I would see Jesus at the resurrection and at a judgment hour; for what could I do without him at such a time? How could I meet my Judge, but in the person of my adorable Surety? Upon Jesus alone can I fix my dying eye, and to none other can I look when the archangel's trump shall summon sleeping millions. My last look in time, and my first in eternity, must be unto Jesus-Jesus." "I would see Jesus in glory, surrounded by angels and archangels. and by the spirits of just men made perfect. I am looking forward to, and longing to welcome to my astonished view, the_glorious vision; then it will not be as now, I would see him, but, I do see him, my lovely Lord, my Friend, my Husband; my responsible Surety before time; my Brother born for adversity, my Friend that sticketh closer than a brother, in time; my Portion, my Joy, and the Crown of my rejoicing, after time." Hallelujah! Thus may the dear readers of the GOSPEL MAGAZINE, and as many more, even to the whole election of grace, the one church of the living God, behold Jesus, the glorious Captain of their salvation. May they and we see him from one eternity to another. In eternity past as standing forth in covenant engagements for their rescue and security; through time, with all its changes and vicissitudes, as their "very present help in trouble," their all-sufficient strength; and in eternity future, as their everlasting portion, their God and their glory. Amen and amen. So prays their servant in Gospel bonds, THE EDITOR. THE STATE OF THE NATION-THE WEATHER-AND THE CROPS. Aug. 29th. LATE as it is in the month, we are unwilling that our present Number should be issued without reminding our readers of the very merciful circumstances by which, notwithstanding all our ingratitude and departures from God as a nation, we are surrounded. But a very few weeks since, and our public prints teemed with the intelligence of the scanty appearance of the crops, and a long catalogue of evils were pourtrayed as the result of a limited harvest; now, in consequence of a constant succession of fair weather, we are informed from the same sources, that "scarcely ever has such a harvest been known." Only a few days ago, and our manufacturing districts were in such commotion that the most painful results were anticipated; now peace is in a measure restored, and we hope a goodly number of the Lord's family are looking to him-wrestling with him like an ancient Abraham (Gen. xviii. 23 -33) to spare our guilty land; and so to scatter the bounties of his, hand, that there may be no complaining in our streets (Ps. cxliv. 13, 14). # As the mouthpiece of many, we are compelled to acknowledge thatTM as a nation, and more especially as an enlightened nation, making high professions of Christianity, we are deserving of his most righteous dis-! pleasure. The line of demarkation between the church and the world is now scarcely to be traced. The professing church is gone over toa the world in conformity to its maxims and habits; the world is come over to the professing church in an assumption of religion; and thus is the Majesty of Heaven insulted; and thus are we placed in a position! for him to come forth in anger, separating the precious from the vile, the chaff from the wheat, distinguishing between those that fear him, " and those that fear him not. Still, though Popery-as we believe it is ' -were at our very doors; though Infidelity were to encompass a yet more extensive range; though the prince of darkness, assuming a Puseyite garb, should split the Church of England asunder; and an envious dictatorial spirit still characterise Dissent; yet, God enabling us, to the very latest extremity, our cry shall be, " Spare us, good Lord!" We are thoroughly persuaded that nothing but the mighty arm of the Lord can accomplish on behalf of his church what that church stands in such peculiar need of. The Scriptures we have in abundance-far and wide are they scattered-and so far do we rejoice! in it, inasmuch as we believe the time approaches when the Lord will make use of this his Holy Word, in going forth in his own divine irresistible power to gather together the outcasts of Israel. Moreover, plenty of light have we, as a professing church, into that word; but it is light of a superficial character-it is merely a natural or human light, such as would trace out in other works, as well as in the book of God, abundance wherewith to gratify the intellectual inquiries of men; and,... as the fruit and product of this light, plenty of men are to be found! going forth in the character of ministers and teachers: these constitute, in their turn, blind leaders of the blind, inasmuch as, with all their light into the mere canon of Scripture, until God the Holy Ghost is pleased, as at the beginning, to move upon the chaos of the mind, t leading a man down into a heartfelt acquaintance with himself and... human nature universally, he is, both before the church and the world, mere "sounding brass and tinkling cymbal." It is thy light-thy gracious, resistless power we want, O Holy and i Eternal Spirit! THE EDITOR. |