I

is to come, but the Lord knows. It is hard for me to give you up : this I must do, but do not sorrow for me. When I am cold, and in my coffin, you will look upon me then, and remember my spirit will be with the Lord, which is far better. The dear Lord will give you strength to bear all He sees fit to cail you to pass through. If I thought you would weep for me, it would make ine unhappy; it will not be long, and then you will come to me. I am greatly comforted to think I shall soon meet you in heaven; there will be no conflicts-then all will be joy and peace. Hold fast thy confidence, that no man take thy crown.' When I am gone, you will remember my words and me; but, above all, remember Jesus lives. Crown Him Lord of all. Yes, when we get home, will we not crown Him? Is it long, dear Lord, before thou wilt send for me? I long to be gone, to be with Christ, which is far better." August 24th-Speaking of the Sabbath, she said, "My time is fast hastening to a close. I shall soon leave you. We have spent many happy days together on earth, and in death we shall not be divided. shall soon meet you again; I am only going a little while before you ; in heaven there is no parting, no going out again when within the gates. Oh, what a glorious sight it will be; there will be all the holy prophets, and all the host of martyrs; and, above all, I shall be there with my Lord, and then I shall not be tempted to believe my hope is vain. How often have I feared lest it should be, but the Lord giveth light and life. Oh, live for his glory; do love Him, and not only love Him, but adore Him; He is most worthy of your heart; yes, He alone is worthy." Augnst 26th. She called me to her bedside, and took my hand, and said, Harriet (in words I shall never forget), I have something to tell you before we part. I am about to leave you, but remember, Jesus lives; commit your way unto Him; tell Him all your sorrows, and He will bless you. The Lord has brought you into his fold, and He must keep you there; cleave close to him, and you will be safe and happy; Trust in the Lord, and do good; let me beg of you not to sorrow for me when I am gone; I shall be happy, and with the Lord in glory. He is my portion; I love Him because He first loved me. I must leave you, but the Lord will bless you. I am happy to think I shall meet you in glory; I hope to meet you all there."

August 28th.- -She enjoyed much of the peace of God, and assured me she had a firm hold of Christ her Saviour. Not a single doubt of her safety. During the night she spoke much of the glories of heaven, and said she saw a beautiful light, and said, "Why, dear Lord, are thy chariot wheels so long in coming? I am ready." She exclaimed, “He is coming-He is coming-I shall soon be with Him in glory." She took leave of all around her bedside in a most affectionate and affecting manner, quite indescribable, and sweetly fell asleep in the arms of Jesus August 29th, 1845.

MUSINGS.

"So the wood-pigeon is not dead," thought I, "that naughty bird, whose only note is, 'Do, do,' and yet makes the very worst nest of all the feathered tribe." Such were my musings, as slowly and solitarily I turned my back upon a far-famed edifice, where evangelicals of all shades and grades perched and roosted, and found peace in a lifeless profession, cajoled by appeals to creature-ability and natural faith,— comforted by the fatal hope that some day they might begin to save themselves; the congregation demurely dispersed, and left me to my meditations.

And what was the marrow of the so-called gospel I had been listening to for an hour? It was the wood-pigeon's note, with all the variations, that the Arminian mind of man is so skilled in inventing, based upon the foundation of universal atonement. Free-will soon appeared, and the doctrine of the sermon was creature-power, from beginning to end. The sermon was to be before-hand with God in every act; the dead were desired to do the works of the living-invitations, addressed to the character of God's called people, were dealt out and applied to the world, and the fashionable throng were pressed to believe, repent, petition, and obey, as if there were no such word in Scripture as this, "God looked down from heaven after the children of men, to see if there were any that did understand and seek God; they are all gone aside; they are altogether filthy-there is none that doeth good—no, not one. And what was the preacher's remedy for this wretchedness? The offer of a contingent salvation, at the will of the creature to choose and refuse. "Well," thought I, "this is called gospel! good news to hear of a random redemption that secures no salvation, and effects no deliverance! a conditional salvation, dependent upon creatureability-a kingdom obtained by the exertions of the dead-and blessings purchased by a sinner's obedience-this is good news! glad tidings!"

Now as I had been brought by grace divine to this point in experience, nothing to pay, I felt there was no gospel in all this to me. My soul needed the speciality of a present, and personal redemption, “I have redeemed thee.". It needed an unconditional salvation, "without money and without price;" it needed to hear of a kingdom given to the saints by grace, obtained by power, secured by blood-" for it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the kingdom;" and it needed, for the encouragement of faith, to hear, that all obedience was received at the Surety's hands, Christ being "the end of the law for righteous

ness, to every one that believeth;" and the believer's obedience was the evidence of life, not the condition, it being wrought in the elect for God's glory, and the church's good, but in no respect helpful to salvation.

This was the gospel that suited a needy wretch like me, a bankrupt by nature and practice; I wanted a salvation out of myself, a salvation that gave all, and asked for nothing—a salvation that won the affections, and drew the feet-a salvation that laid" the first stone in grace, and brought off the top stone with shoutings of Grace, grace unto it.” Evening came, and I wended my way to a place of worship, where a friend, of whom I hoped well, told me I should hear just what would suit me. This quenched all critical hearing, and I felt a hungry desire for a little gospel food; I sat and listened with profit and pleasure for about twenty-five minutes of the time allotted for the discourse; surely, thought I, the wood pigeon is dead and buried here; no sound of axe and hammer is heard in this temple (1 Kings vi. 7); no unhallowed tool is lifted up in forming this altar (Exodus. xx. 25); no Uzzah is priest to this ark, and puts forth the faithless hand to steady its supposed shakings (2 Sam. vi. 6. margin). Here we have divine sovereignty, everlasting love, present and eternal salvation, all secured to the church; her utter depravity in Adam-her glorious perfection in Christ. Precious truths, thought I—but hardly had the congratulation for hearing such, glanced through my mind, than a change seemed to pass over the mind of the preacher, whose grand drift for the next twentyfive minutes, was to uproot, overthrow, and contradict, all the foregone statements. The first half of the sermon was devoted to God, the last, to man; the first a display of divine power,-the last, of creaturestrength; Jesus was all-in-all to begin with-man all-in-all to end with. Thus, divine sovereignty was crushed, under the appalling weight of creature-responsibility—everlasting love, neutralized by an unavailing redemption. The depravity of man contradicted by appeals to creature-power, interspersed with threats of damnation to the already accursed sinner (born in sin, and under the law), because he did not exercise a faculty God had not bestowed, and believe, before faith was given,—and with fervid exhortations to the dead, that it was their duty to believe, though the preacher previously had insisted, "that every good and perfect gift, and faith amongst them, must come from God." The sermon came to a close, but not until the sinners in the congregation were doubly damned, both by law and gospel too, as the preacher explained "the acceptable day of the Lord" not to mean the gospel dispensations ushered in by Christ, as prophesied of by Isaiah xlix. 8, and corroborated by Paul, 2 Cor. vi. 2, but that identical Sunday, which, if they, though encrusted in corruption, and though dependent upon covenant-purposes,-let slip, they might never have another opportunity of grace, and so would be eternally ground between the upper and nether mill-stone of law and gospel too. Well, thought I,

two opposites may be both wrong, but they can't be both right; so said the apostle by the Spirit of God: "If it be of grace, then it is no more works, otherwise grace is no more grace; but if it be of works, there is no more grace, otherwise works is no more work,"as if he would make us understand it must be one or other. "Nay," said the preacher, "it can be both-it can be God's grace, and man's duty—it can be free grace, and free will-it can be covenant-power, and creaturestrength; I can put these opposites into my crucible, and make an image so pleasing to carnal man, so suitable to his native Arminianism, so calming to his convictions, so lulling to his fears, so supporting to his false hopes, that every empty profession shall cry out, Great is Diana of the Ephesians;' a gospel that shall offend no one, and please every one-with a spice of truth here and there that shall entrap the spiritual -enlighten the carnal-and quiet the alarmed,-but with enough of the bird-lime of error to keep the Lord's little ones in Egyptian bondage-to make the worldling keep his sins, and professors keep their seats."

Reader, art thou captivated by such a Gospel? Search the Word, and it will tell thee it is no gospel (1 Gal. vi. 7), and that the ministers thereof are the messengers of Satan (2 Cor. xi. 13, 15). Search thine own heart, and see what effects have followed these yea-and-nay ministrations. Have liberty, pardon, peace, love, joy, unction, power, attended them? has self been disclosed and debased, and Jesus been revealed and exalted? has the life of God been revived, while the life of sin has been chained? have the footsteps of the flock been made plain to faith, while the pathway of tribulation, and the inward war, have been described? has the Spirit given testimony to the word of his grace,‚—or have barren Sabbaths, and dead ordinances, ever led thee to question whether thou art "feeding in Carmel and Bashan,” and beside the shepherds' tents? I know the Lord's true-taught servants are few, but many of the Lord's people, as in Ezekiel's day of foul-feeding, love to have it so (Ezek. xxxiv. 19); they cry out, "Think of the consequences of this straight line of preaching; it hinders usefulness-it thins the pews-it sifts the people-it frightens the little ones-it is not judicious-it is not safe,-truth must be guarded from the wrong use men would make of it; general congregations cannot receive such things; to conceal, is not to deny, and if Scripture be verbally and vocally on the side of the Arminian in some places, we leave the Spirit to make it square, and do its own work, we giving the sound, and God the sense." Now, if man, in the ordinary affairs of life, in education, commerce, science, statistics, would denounce such a principle as subversive of all that was honest, why should divinity alone be the deposit of this fraud? why should God's revealed truth be the only subject men must blink? why should earth, sea, and sky, be ransacked by the curious and the learned, and every shred of truth, theoretical or practical, be prized and proclaimed, while the eternal verities of the

gospel must be covered, concealed, neutralized, or dealt out like Delphic oracles, so craftily, that the hearers may interpret them any way they please? Let men be honest to their message, and tell all they know, whether men will hear, or whether they will forbear, and let them leave the omnipotent God to do his own work in his own way, and to fulfil his own purposes by that gospel which is " the power of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth.”

MR. EDITOR,

A SERMON.

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

If the following Sermon, the Author of which was called suddenly home to his father's house, about three years since, meets with your approbation, its insertion in the GOSPEL MAGAZINE, will much oblige your constant reader,

Boddicott.

S. G.

Deuteronomy xxxii. 2.

Moses, the man of God, had been, in the preceding chapter, anticipating Israel's departure from God, with the consequences; and, in speaking of the latter days, implying, I apprehend, gospel days, the Holy Ghost was directing him to predict their rejection of the Messiah, and their natural ruin in consequence thereof. Compare 21st verse of this chapter with 10th chapter of Romans and 19th verse. Moses, it is evident in this chapter, was looking very far into future times, and that under the Holy Spirit's influence. The first verse contains a reproof to Israel in disregarding God's word; and Jehovah is represented as calling upon things inanimate, as the heavens and the earth, as a reproach to His professing people, which is most awfully applicable to this awful generation. Isaiah begins his prophecy in a similar way. The words of the text are a rich subject. The doctrine named is the Lord's word of salvation in all the branches of gospel truth concerning Jesus.

First. It is compared to rain and dew, as to its beneficial effects. As the rain and the dew produce on the earth their natural effects, so does the Lord's word; but only as that word is accompanied with the Holy Ghost's influences-for unattended with His saving operations it will only stir up the dreadful enmity of the human heart, and prove a savour of death unto death; but when accompanied to the heart by the saving sovereign power of God, each branch of truth will