with exceeding joy, where you will each of you find rest in the house of your Husband

Brethren, farewell-the time is short-behold the Judge standeth at the door for whom shall the next summons be issued? the enquiry be put-Lord, is it I?

Lockwood.

Let

A STRIPLING.

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CHRIST THE DOOR OF HOPE.

To see a sinner seeking salvation by Christ is a pleasing sight. It is pleasant to God the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and to all the angels and glorified saints; for there is joy in heaven, when a sinner on earth takes a flight into Christ by faith. It is pleasant to all honest ministers who travail in birth till Christ be formed in sinners; and it is pleasant to God's whole family; all his house rejoices when the prodigal comes home.

I will tell you some things that make it a pleasant sight. It cannot but be pleasant, because it is a fulfilling of God's purpose of grace and love from all eternity. He has loved his own with an everlasting love; he loved them when he saw them in their blood. Now, must it not be pleasant to see the election of God obtaining and taking place; to see his everlasting love breaking out in the drawing of his own with loving kindness? because the flight of sinners to Christ is just the travail of Christ's soul. "He shall see of the travail of his soul, and shall be satisfied." It is a satisfaction to Christ to see the fruit of his sore travail, when he said, "Now my soul is exceeding sorrowful, even unto death ;" and what is so pleasant unto Christ himself, cannot but be pleasant unto all that love him. It is the day of his espousals, the day of Christ's mar. riage and coronation, and therefore must be very pleasant to the bride, and the friends of the Bridegroom, "Go forth, O ye daughters of Zion, and behold King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousals." Because then the prisoners are released, "the captives of the mighty are taken away, and the prey of the terrible is delivered." Then the head of the old serpent gets a new bruise, and his works are destroyed more and more, "The strong man is then bound, and spoiled of his goods."

Consider the state and condition that the sinner is into before he fly to Christ. He is dead in sin, wholly destitute of any principle of spiritual life. Now, is it not surprising to see God shewing wonders among the dead? to see a dead sinner rising, and taking a flight to Christ within the vail ? The sinner is afar off; and is it not surprising to see the man that was "afar off, made nigh by the blood of Jesus?" The sinner is by nature full of enmity against God and his Christ, yea, enmity itself: and is it not surprising to see the enmity of the heart broken, and the man brought to a state of peace and reconciliation with God.

The flight of the sinner to Christ is surprising, considering the strong opposition that arises against it from within. The ignorance of the mind lies in the way; for we are "alienate from the life of God, through the ignorance that is in us," and it is impossible, while this stands in its power and reign, that ever the sinner can fly to Christ, because faith is founded in knowledge, even " the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." The obstinacy and hardness of the heart stand in the way. The will is inflexible, and will bend to nothing but the almighty power of God; and is it not surprising to see this iron sinew bended and made pliable by the rod of the Mediator's strength? The legal bias of the heart opposes the sinners flight unto Christ: the man is married to the law as a covenant, and nature can never think of another way of acceptance before God than by doing or working; and is it not surprising to see the sinner that was wedded to the law, and to his own righteousness, crying, "I through the law am dead to the law, that I may live unto God," through the righteousness of Christ; and saying with Paul, "What things were gain to me, these I counted loss for Christ; yea, doubtless, I count all things but dung, that I may win Christ, and be found in him, not having mine own righteousness." The guilt that is upon the conscience opposes the sinner's going to Christ; for we find a guilty Adam flying from the presence of God; and the natural language of a guilty conscience, when it is awakened, is, O there is no mercy for me, there is no hope of acceptance. Now, is it not surprising to see the sinner, that was flying from God under a sense of guilt, flying to him through Christ, and crying, " Pardon mine iniquity, for it is great." The carnality of the affections lie in the way of the sinner's coming. The man was flying after vanity, and crying, 'O, who will shew me any good?" who will give me riches, honours, pleasures in a world? This is the natural run of the affections; they spend themselves upon things that cannot profit; and is it not surprising to see the man turning his back upon all these things? saying with Solomon, "All is vanity," and seeking and "setting his affections on things that are above, where Christ is at the right hand of God."

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Consider at the same time how active Satan is to keep the sinner under his power. He is called the strong man, and he keeps the house; he rules in the hearts of the children of disobedience, and leads them about in the chains of their own lusts. Now, is it not surprising to see Christ coming in a day of his power "spoiling the strong man of his prey ;" and not only so, but arming the poor captive of the devil as a soldier under his own banner, to resist that enemy, and put him to flight, and by the shield of faith quenching the fiery darts of the enemy ?

Take also into the account, that the devil is called the god of this world, because, ever since the entry of sin, Satan has got so much power over the good things and bad things of it, as that they

are all his tools for ruining the souls of sinners, and for detaining them in his service. Hence it is that we see most part of the world dancing to the devil's pipe, and selling their souls for profits, for pleasures, for riches, for honours, and the like. These are just the devil's baits, whereby he trains men and women on, until he has brought them to hell, where he is sure he has them fast through eternity. Now, is it not a wonder afterwards to see a sinner that has been decoyed and deceived all his days with the things of the world, casting them all behind his back, and trampling on them like the woman who hath the moon under her feet.

To say no more, is it not surprising to see the dry bones getting life, and flesh, and strength? to see the Ethiopian washed and made whiter than snow? the seed of the serpent that licked the dust taking a flight from earth to heaven?

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DEEP CALLING UNTO DEEP.

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"Beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial which is to try you." TRIALS which are common to the view and wracking to the feelings of a young stripling, when putting on the armour to enter the field to face a daring foe, are by a veteran soldier, inured to toil, hardships, and war, treated lighter than the dust of the balance, and as a thing of nought; so a young unsettled believer, who is uuskilful in the word of righteousness, is ready to flinch from the cross when his spirits are spiritually languid; or his public and private devotions barren of pleasing consolations; or when the irreligious world on the score of religion laughs him out of countenance; or when the temptations of Satan, together with the perplexities of worldly affairs, are so numerous, so pointed, so unremitting in their assaults, that it is like wave after wave,-it is in these seasons that he calls all his experience of the love and salvation of Christ into question; recollects only, that the candle of the Lord did once shine upon his tabernacle; but now his mercy is clean gone for ever; he is ready to give up the ghost; he lays by his harp of praise for God's unspeakable gift; restrains prayer before him, and sits down concluding, that God considers him his enemy, and there is no hope in his end.

Fellow-sinner, fellow-saint, and fellow-citizen with the saints and of the household of God, why this ungenerous conclusion against the only true and approved friend that ever you had? Is not Jesus God over all your comforts, and perplexities too? Is he not seated at the right hand of all majesty, power, and authority, to preserve you safe to his eternal kingdom? Did not he die on the cross under the weight of your sins and transgressions, that you might have eternal life by his death? Is his arm shortened, or his ear deafened, or his heart callous to insensibility of your manifold infirmities? Believe in the Lord your God, so shall ye be established; believe his prophets, so shall ye prosper.

The man of God who has had his senses exercised to know good and evil, who knows his standing in Christ, and is satisfied with it, knoweth that afflictions are not joyous, but grievous; yet they work for him the peaceable fruits of righteousness; therefore he concludes, that however fiery the trials may be, they work together for his good, and are necessary for his welfare; and are enjoyed when the complete atonement of Christ is by heartfelt satisfaction known, and depended on as the thing needful, and all-sufficient good for the saved soul in circumstances the most distressing; and even when the valley of the shadow of death encloses him on every side, when heart and Aesh shall fail, then he knoweth, that Jesus will be the strength of his heart and his portion for ever.

Fiery trials are many, and all intended to harass the Redeemer's sheep. Among the many may be found the following: When the Lord has been pleased first to manifest himself clearly (as the complete and everlasting salvation of the church elect) to a poor sinner, who before was at death's door, and ready to sink and perish under a sense of sin, death, and wrath; the manifestation being made in the revelation of the atonement of Christ, whose principal feature is blood; which, by the Spirit's power being applied to the conscience, happily frees him from that painful load of misery consequent upon a deep sense of sin, and empowers him for the moment to rejoice in God his Saviour; hence he concludes that his mountain stands too secure to be staggered by any future scheme of Satan's; that he never more shall feel the rage of sin, that he never more can doubt of God's favour towards him, that he always shall be able to pray to, and believe that God is the health of his countenance and his joy; and that he shall (most probably) walk in the light of his countenance all the day long.

But O how woefully upset he is in finding this sunshine of gospel glory eclipsed; his spirtual enjoyments interrupted; himself shut up from immediate interviews and communion with the Saviour; the spirit of prayer withdrawn, and the gift hardly left; the great deep of corruptions inbred broke up; Satan by sinful temptations let loose, and no sign nor token for good in public or private devotions; the devil, the world, and the flesh breaking in upon every quarter, rout him out of his entrenched security of sensible enjoyments; and leave him as one walking in darkness, having no light, till his own clothes abhor him, and his soul cleaveth to the dust; saying, For these things I weep, mine eye runneth down with water, because the Comforter that should relieve my soul is (departed) far from me.

This is a scene at once both new and terrible, as corroding to the mind as fire (in proportion) is to the body and probably the first distressing trial which the true believer considers as fiery. Now is Satan's hour to throw his fiery darts into the mind; the past views which the believer had of Christ, and of the unsearchable riches of his grace, his prospect of salvation, and experience of the VOL. IV. No. I.

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atonement, are all questioned, and frequently considered as chimerical, or the mere effect of fanciful delusion and religious cheat: this is a dart, the venom of which cannot be removed from the mind but by the precious blood of Christ; and till the venom is removed, every circumstance in the family, or in the world, which appear to thwart the views or feelings of the mind, is considered as a messenger of death, and will certainly bring him down with sorrow to the grave. Still there is an anxiety which is accompanied with fervent prayer to God that light, life, and love may increase; that submission to his will may keep pace with the knowledge thereof; that the man may know Jesus, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable to his death.

Believers generally limit the Holy One of Israel by concluding that no prayer is heard and answered, except the thing prayed for be identically and (sometimes) immediately done. This disposition has in it more of an authoritative tone to command, than of the humility and meekness most peculiar to the mind, when the Spirit helpeth our infirmities, and maketh intercession for the saints according to the will of God.

The Lord of Hosts frequently, not always, answers prayer by keeping himself, and the favour, not from the possession but from the view of the man who maketh his requests known to God by prayer and supplication; and if the mind be steadily fixed with prayer for a greater conformity to Christ, possibly the next urgent occasion that the man may have for supplication will be to pray against some secret, darling, besetting sin; a sin, the temptation to which will, like a ghost, chase him from morning till night, from the drawing-room to the garret, from public employ to private retirement, from the Bible to the church, and from the church to the closet; where, half exhausted with fright, fear, dread, and terror, he may resolve (falling upon his knees) not to quit his devotions, nor cease wrestling with the angel of the covenant, till he shall have obtained a blessing of deliverance from this destructive evil: but here Satan redoubles his efforts, and may, from secret gestures of the body, and the apparent perturbation of the mind, conclude that the man is too confused to pray, therefore plies his temptation closer still, till under cover of suggestions on the necessities of nature, and the utter impossibility of escape, owing to the non-possession of consistent relief, he accomplisheth his black design.

This is a fiery trial indeed! Now for his fiery darts. Satan having succeeded in forcing the believer in a quarter which he thought to be invulnerable, coward like, his enemy is down, but he shows no quarter. Accuser of the brethren he is called, and his accusations come on like an overflowing stream; not only the man's religion is suggested to be false, bnt he is accused of being an hypocrite, impostor, deceiver, and enemy to all that is good and godlike. From accusation he turns to insult, and upbraids the man