THE 1 Spiritual Magazine ; OR, SAINTS TREASURY. John v. 7. "There are Three that bear record in heaven; the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST; and these Three are ONE." "Contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints." Jude 3. (For the Spiritual Magazine.) THE LORD THE KEEPER OF HIS ELECT AND CHOSEN PEOPLE. "The Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want."-Psalm xxiii. 1. IN offering a few observations on this most blessed portion of scripture, I shall endeavour, as God the eternal Spirit shall be pleased to lead on and direct, to present to the family of heaven some of the consolations to be derived from a lively faith in these words, the Lord is my shepherd. David, the man after God's own heart, was most eminently a type of our adorable Jesus, and in very many of the Psalms said to be written by him, it is evident, to a soul taught by the Spirit, that it is Jesus that is speaking. David was a man afflicted, and beset with enemies. In this he was a type of the Lord Jesus, who was, though God over all blessed for evermore, a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief. Yes, it behoved him to be made like unto his brethren, sin excepted; hence the Lord's chosen people are most generally a poor and afflicted people, not only as regards spiritual things, but, more especially, in things of a temporal nature they are like their covenant Head, despised and rejected of the wise and the prudent of their day and generation; verifying the assertion of Jesus, that the children of this world are wiser in their generation than the children of light. But there are some times and seasons when they can say with the Psalmist, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. David, then, was confident of this; he knew from past experience, and from past deliverance wrought in his behalf, that the Lord was, and would still continue to be, his shepherd; therefore he confidently affirms, I shall not want. VOL. II.-No. 25. 2 Y The faith necessary to support the soul when brought into trying and distressing circumstances; the faith, I say, to trust a promisemaking and a promise-performing God, must be, and is, his own almighty work; the operation of the Spirit of his grace on our souls, and the giving us to trust him where we are not able to trace him in a way of providence. David was not afraid to trust his God; yet many, nay all, more or less, of the children of God are afraid to trust the shepherd of the sheep with their earthly concerns; while they have most willingly committed their eternal all into his hands. How is this to be accounted for? why this distrust of my heavenly Father, concerning the things of time and sense?—verily, it is dishonouring his word-it is denying his ability to perform that which he has promised. I said, the Lord's people were a poor and an afflicted people; yes, my brother and sister in the Lord, that promise must be fulfilled, I will leave in the midst of thee a poor and an afflicted people, and they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Now it is not worded, they may if they like; or, if they don't, it is their own fault; no, but they shall trust in the name of the Lord. Do they all do it? no; will any of them do it? no ;-not till every refuge and false prop fails them; nor till every visible way and means of deliverance is taken away, will they apply themselves to the work. They resort to this arm of flesh, and to that, and they are alike unavailing;-for, even the hearts of God's own people are often shut up, and, shall I say, steeled against the anguish, the distress, and privations which others are suffered to struggle with? But, behold him in whom are treasured up all the riches and all the supplies of the covenant of grace, comes forth in a way they little expected, and delivers them for his name's sake, and for his own glory; and hence they can exclaim with David, I love the Lord! what for? because he hath heard the voice of my supplication; and again, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. Then it is they can bow with submission to his righteous and sovereign will, and say, he hath done all things well! What However trying it may be to flesh and blood, it pleases Jehovah in infinite wisdom to permit some of the family-nay, I may say the major part-to be often in very trying circumstances, as it respects worldly concerns. The way is often hedged up with thorns; there seems, to all human appearance, no visible way of escape. are they to do? can they adopt the language of David? I doubt it. Have they no faith in exercise? not a grain. They say in their haste, all men are liars; they are in the situation of the unbelieving lord, we read of in the second book of Kings, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might such a thing be! O, my brother! have not you and I both copied from this unbelieving lord, in our unbelief, giving God the lie? How blessed then is it to realize, that the Lord is indeed my shepherd! then follow the inference, I shall not want,' I cannot want, for all is treasured up in my covenant Head; all I have need of in time; all my refreshments by the way; all the streams of his mercy will flow down to my soul while in this vale of tears. Jehovah's wisdom shines conspicuously in permitting his chosen vessels to be involved in difficulty, that he may have all the glory in delivering them in his own time and way, to the satisfaction of their souls and the confusion of their enemies, without and within. The Psalmist David had been brought into many straits and difficulties ; he was hunted up and down like a partridge on the mountain and at one time he exclaimed, "I shall one day fall by the hands of Saul." Yet in all these things he was more than a conqueror, through him who had loved him with an everlasting love; and in due time that love was made manifest to him personally in his deliverance; hence he said, the Lord who delivered me out of the paw of the lion and the paw of the bear. 1 Sam. xvii. 37. David was a type of Christ, in that he kept sheep. Our blessed Lord is called the shepherd of the sheep; and the apostle Paul in the Hebrews xiii. 20. says, "Now the God of peace that brought again from the dead our Lord Jesus, that great shepherd of the sheep, through the blood of the everlasting covenant," &c. &c. How emphatic those words! yes, he is the true shepherd, as he himself said when he sojourned in this sinful world, "I am the good shepherd; I lay down my life for the sheep." John x. 11-15. The signification of the word shepherd implies a keeper; the Lord is in a special and peculiar manner the keeper of and protector of his feeble ones. "He that keepeth Israel, neither slumbereth nor sleepeth." And there are some precious seasons when the believer in Jesus feels so satisfied with the Lord's dealings with him, both in providence and grace, and so sweetly resigned to his sovereign will, that in the calm which reigns in his soul, he can say with Toplady Inspirer and hearer of prayer, Thou feeder and guardian of thine, My ALL to thy covenant care, I sleeping and waking resign. Yes, covenant Lord! not only all my eternal concerns, but all my earthly cares-all my anxieties respecting the things of time and sense. Thou knowest what I stand in need of daily; give me neither poverty nor riches, feed me with food convenient for me. Thou hast appeared for me in times that are past; thou hast delivered in six troubles, and, blessed Redeemer! in seven thou hast said, I will not forsake thee! Our gracious covenant Head not only watches over the souls of his dear people, but also their persons, while in this wilderness world, are the objects of his special care and tender regard. It is very true that many of them have scarcely enough of the bread that perisheth; but they are not less beloved of him; and those of his dear family who are driven by necessity, like the disciples of old, to be dependent on his gracious bounty for daily bread, are generally favoured with greater manifestations of his paternal care and love: not having any supply but what comes immediately from himself, they are enabled to watch his hand in all things as respects themselves, and in a more especial manner than those upon whom he is pleased, in infinite wisdom, to bestow much of this world's goods. Sad and bitter experience proves the evil commonly resulting, to even the Lord's own people, from being fed to the full. How often have they had their request granted them; but what follows? he sends leanness into their soul. Leanness of soul will be the consequence of craving after some imaginary worldly good, which, if granted, often proves a thorn in the flesh. When the believer in Jesus finds this to be the case, O how does he pant and pray that it may be taken away; but no-my grace is sufficient for thee, is the answer; my strength is made perfect in weakness. Such of the family as have a goodly portion of the world's goods, are apt to be nestling, to be secure and comfortable, as if this were their rest; but our gracious covenant Head sends this disaster, or that trouble, to shew them this is not their rest, it is polluted,—to loosen their hold of this world and its vanities, to draw their affections to himself, and to set before their eyes durable riches and righteousness; for here they have no abiding city. Will not some be ready to ask, why all this vast difference? are they not all children? yes; are they not all loved with the same eternal love? yes; are they not all embraced and enclosed in the same everlasting arms of mercy? yes: Infinite wisdom sees fit that some shall have all that heart can wish, while others, as I observed before, scarcely can procure the bread that perisheth. This is all according to eternal, unalterable appointment; the bounds of our habitations are fixed, beyond which we cannot pass. Happy and highly favoured the few, who can truly say with the Psalmist, the Lord is my shepherd, I shall not want. And if their lot in this vale of tears be sorrow and affliction, and if they suffer privation, it only increases their longings, their pantings, for the rest that remaineth for the people of God. It is true they have rest now, but it is not complete; they rest in the full, free, and finished salvation of their glorious covenant Head; they have the peace of God which passeth all understanding. That holy calm within the breast, "Tis the dear pledge of sacred rest. The sweet intercourse they hold with Jesus, amply, nay, more than compensates for the bitter privations they suffer here below; and in the displays of his love they fully prove, the Lord is their shepherd, they shall not want. Well, my poor and troubled brother,poor in this world, but rich in faith and heir to a kingdom,-troubled like Martha, it may be, about many things,-fear not! thy covenant God cares for thee; the very hairs of thine head are all numbered; Jesus thine elder Brother is thy shepherd; verily thou shalt not want. In a little season and thou wilt drop the clay tenement; in a moment wilt thou be absent from the body, and present with the Lord. O blissful thought! delightful anticipation! I shall burst into the full blaze of eternal day! there behold, there gaze upon the unveiled glories of the Lamb,admire and adore the uncreated beauties of Immanuel ! If thou, my Jesus, still art nigh, To find ten thousand worlds in thee! London, Dec. 14, 1825. A SINNER. ON THE CHARACTER OF A SAINT. DEAR SIR, Ir appears to me that much confusion prevails in the minds of men, when reading the epistles of St. Paul, from not duly considering the character of those to whom he writes them. Let me draw your attention to the Apostle's first epistle to the Thessalonians, and you will I think perceive, both from the direction, and, if I may so speak, from the postscript, as well as from the exhortations which it contains, that it is not addressed to all men; and if we do not bear this in mind, a great portion of it will appear to be void of all sense. The epistle is addressed" to the church of the Thessalonians, which is in God the Father, and in the Lord Jesus Christ." It is addressed to a church, which according to the Hebrew and Greek meaning of the word, signifies, "persons specially called out of, or chosen from the people of the world, for a particular purpose;" and there was a congregation of these "called and chosen ones," at Thessalonica, to whom the Apostle writes this epistle. There were some in that city, both jews and gentiles, who constituted a church; for they had been called under the ministry of the word, by the grace of God, "out of darkness into marvellous light," and from among the men of the world, to be a holy and peculiar people. And this church, it is said, was "in God the Father," that is, they were interested in his love and free favour; for it appears from the first chapter, that they were elected by him from eternity to be his people; and that they knew it by the gospel having come to them, as it came not to others, "not in word only, but in power, and in the Holy Ghost, and in much assurance ;" and that they were believers, and so were distinguished from an assembly of heathens that were in the faith of idols. And these people are further described by the Apostle, as being "in the Lord Jesus Christ." They were "chosen in him before the foundation of the world;" they were in him as their head and representative; they were in him as members of his body, and as branches in the vine. They were openly in him by effectual calling and conversion; and they were in the faith of him, and in the observance of his commands, and in communion with him; and so were distinguished from a jewish synagogue or congregation, |