monition we should like a few hundreds of our parsons to read; for truly we lament to say that we hear very few whose ideas, either in whole or part, are not picked up from Dr. This or Mr. That; and the nearer they approach the letter of truth, if they have not the power of it in their own souls, the more, as a matter of necessity, are their discourses the oozings out of dead men's brains..

On the whole, the "Ministering Workman" is a good work of the sort, and we think deserves perusal.

We find that Mr. Drawbridge continues issuing his tracts. No. 13 was lately published, and we like it quite as well as the former ones. He unties some hard knots, as regards the literal meaning of the word, but has very little to say about the experimental feeling. The tracts are more for upsetting Arminians than edifying the church; but still we are persuaded they are the best Tracts now afloat. The author, we understand, writes not for pecuniary profit, but expends the whole produce of his sale, after defraying expenses, in gratuitous distri

bution.

POETRY.

A HYMN.

Endless blessings on the Lamb!
Broken hearts, repeat the same.
His dear heart was broken too,
When he bore the curse for you.
Your dread crimes once pierced his heart;
Sunk his soul in vengeful smart;
But his sin-atoning blood
Now maintains your peace with God.
Endless blessings on him rest!
Broken hearts in him are bless'd;
And though they may trembling stand,
He upholds them with his hand.
In his heart they have a place,
'Stablished there through sov'reign grace;
March, 1838.

And, in his set time and way,
He will change their night to day.
Trust in him, ye tempted saints;
Tell him all your sad complaints;
He a present help will be-
Give you strength and victory.
Blessed Jesus! fill each heart,
With thy love, and blood, and smart;
Then thy wonders we'll proclaim,
And adore thy matchless name.
Endless blessings rest on thee!
Thou hast set the captive free;
We would shout aloud and sing,
Glory to our God and King.

A SOLDIER.

The following lines were occasioned by the death of Mr. Edward Vorley, for 31 years pastor of the Church of Christ at Ebenezer Chapel, Leicester.

AN ACROSTIC.-EDWARD VORLEY.

E lecting love, eternal, rich, and free,
Did he proclaim to sinners lost, like me,
With all the effects that flow to guilty man,
A s founded on Jehovali's glorious plan:
Redemption, personal, complete, and free,
Dear to his soul was, and 'tis sweet to me.
V ile in himself, he never did deny;
O wretched man! I oft have heard him cry;
Redeem'd by Christ, his soul now sings above
Loud songs of praises to redeeming love.
E dward is safe, no more can sin annoy;
Yes, all is peace, and happiness, and joy.
Leicester, March 17th, 1838.

UNWORTHY.

CLAY IN THE POTTER'S HAND.

Submissive make me be,
Clay 'neath the Potter's skill;
Entirely moulded, Lord, by thee,
And fashion'd at thy will.
Thy work upon the wheel,
Thou heav'nly Potter, thine!
Thy perfect workmanship reveal,
And make thy glories shine.
What humbling thoughts arise;
I'm vile and filthy clay;

O Lord! in me thine holy eyes,
A shapeless lump survey.
In me is nothing good;
In me is all that's ill;

The vessel form'd, I must conclude,
Displays the Potter's skill.

When Christ is form'd within,
By faith and pow'r divine;
While in myself I'm nought but sin,
Still right, for Christ is mine.
I inly sigh and groan,
While what's within I see;
But still its opposite is known,
In Christ by faith for me.
In me there's all that's base,
But strange things grace can do,
Manchester.

In Christ its opposite I trace
By faith, imputed too.

A fool; in Christ I'm wise,
Condemn'd; yet just as well;
Unclean; Christ holiness supplies,
Lost; yet redeemed from hell.
A chosen vessel, call'd,

I God's election know;
May I, tho' once by sin enthrall'd,
The master's honours show.

Lord, all my graces mould;

They come, dear Lord, from thee;
I nought but weakness can unfold,
Thy pow'r display in me.
My outward, inward things,
To order I've no skill;
My doing but confusion brings;
Lord, work thy sov'reign will.
I'm such a fool, I know,
If aught were left to me;
Shameful defeat and overthrow,
The painful end would be.

Clay in the Potter's hand,
In all things may I be;
What's at my sovereign's command,
It must be right for me.

OMEGA.

REDEMPTION.

"In whom we have redemption through his blood."-Eph. i. 7.
"Tis finished! the work of redemption is done;
Salvation the Father bestows by the Son;

The Spirit eternal implanting the word,

In Jacob's lost seed, by the breath of the Lord.
Sing forth to the praise and the glory of God,
Ye heritage ransomed aud bought by his blood;
Far richer than rubies, more precious than gold,
Whose worth saints and seraphs shall fail to unfold.
Behold in the beautiful, red-blushing rose,
The sweetest and fairest in Sharon that blows;
His wounds, fresh and flowing, whence odours arise,
Like incense ascending for us to the skies.

His innocence, see how the lily displays;
Like it, in life's valley, he spent all his days;
The garment imputed by grace to his poor,
Is lovelier far and more spotlessly pure.

Then who to the charge of his chosen shall lay
The slightest of sins? Lo, he took all away;
The land of forgetfulness hid the least clue;
The sea of his sufferings engulphed them from view.
Fear not, thou disconsolate, sin-burdened soul;
Hell's rock-beating billows around thee may roll,
But firm and unshaken thy Rock shall remain,
And hell's fiercest legions assault thee in vain.

Bolton.

Exult thou in triumph, and tread down the foe;
For free in its fountain, and free in its flow,
The stream of unpurchased, unmerited grace,
Hath gladdened thy heart, though infernally base.
Proclaim the eternal, unchangeable love

Of the Father, the Son, of the Spirit above;
The glorious and gracious Jehovah triune;
Blest Church, bright as Tirza, and fair as the moon.
Tell, tell how thy Bridegroom, all melting with love,
Did leave the high courts of his Father above,
And leaping o'er mountains, his spouse to embrace,
Fulfilled his engagement of covenant grace.

And from the bright diadem now that adorns
His brow, which below was encircled with thorns,
No gem shall be lost, nor a jewel misplaced;
There little ones fear not the wolves of the waste.

W. B.

Some persons are of opinion that there is no faith in the soul whilst it is under the law, and that when deliverance comes, faith comes with it. To support their opinion, they quote this text, "But after that faith is come, we are no longer under a schoolmaster," (Gal. iii. 25,) where "faith" means not the grace of faith but the object of faith, that is Jesus Christ. Others assert that there is no faith but the full assurance of faith, and that all that falls short of this, is no faith at all. But I would ask, "Is there any difference between a soul dead in sins, and one quickened into spiritual life? Are there not fears, terrors, convictions, pangs, cries, groans, and a host of feelings in the one, which are not in the other? Whence arises this sense of guilt and wrath, this remorse for the past, and terror of the future?" I answer, because divine faith credits the divine testimony. Before the soui was quickened into spiritual life the holiness and justice of God were the same, his wrath against sin and the curse of his righteous law were the same. But the soul did not feel them. Why not? Because the word was not mixed with faith in him that heard it. (Heb. iv. 2.) A divine principle was needed to credit the divine testimony. He had heard these things by the hearing of the ear in the dead, outward letter. He had not seen them by the seeing of the eye, by an inward revelation. If the soul did not believe the word which entered it, did not credit the commandment which came to it, (Rom. vii. 9,) how could it fall beneath the power of it? It did not formerly care for eternal realities, because it did not believe them by a divine faith. But now it receives, credits, and believes the testimony of God, and this very faith is the cause of its alarm. If it could cease to believe, it would case to feel. But whence comes it to pass that faith acts in so different a manner when the Sun of righteousness breaks in upon the soul? Simply because faith credits just such a testimony only as is revealed to it. Faith may be compared to a hand. My hand feels just according to the nature of the object which I grasp. I touch things hot or cold, rough or smooth, hard or soft. The hand is the same, and I touch the object in the same way; but I feel differently according to the different nature of the object. Or faith may be compared to the eye, which receives different impressions according as it looks upon different things; if upon things agreeable, impressions that are pleasant, if upon things disagreeable, impressions that are painful. But the eye is the same, and the mode of seeing is the same. Thus faith is the hand, as well as the eye of the soul. If God reveal to the conscience his wrath against sin, faith is the hand to receive, and the eye to see this divine testimony. If God reveal to the soul pardon and mercy in Christ, the same hand opens to receive, the same eye uncloses to see the heavenly manifestation.-Winter Afore Harvest. p p. 13, 14.

ERRATA: Page 96, “wounded on the knee," should be "dandled on the knee.' Page 39, line 14 from the bottom, manifestations should be manipulations.

THE

GOSPEL STANDARD,

OR,

FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."—2 Tim. i. 9.

"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.-In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 30.

JUNE, 1838.

PROFESSION.

VOL. IV.

In my various travels I meet with many annoyances; and one thing that causes me a deal of trouble is, to see how the cause of God and truth is despised; for most certain it is, where the word of God is faithfully and decidedly proclaimed, there is a whole herd of deceitful and boasting hypocrites fighting against it, and watching for the overthrow of the cause altogether; and how grievously they belch out their enmity against that servant of the Most High, who is taught by the Holy Ghost to preach the discriminating truths of the word of God. A man that lays open the deception and craft that is practised in this day of wretched profession, is sure to make himself a prey. I do declare, as in the sight of a heart searching God, and I speak the truth and lie not, that, if I go to hear a dozen Calvinist preachers, it is a rare thing that I find a man after God's own heart, that is able to feed the church of God; and as for the Holy Ghost making them overseers, it appears plain to me that they know but little about that blessed person, for if they attempt to speak about his quickening grace, they are lost and bewildered; and as for pardoning grace being applied to the soul by the Holy Ghost, they seem to know nothing about it, only as far as they learn it from the letter of Scripture, and from different authors; and if I speak against these clouds without water, and trees without fruit, I am called quarrelsome, bigotted, and conceited. I lament that I cannot get within reach of men like your correspondents, especially your Preston and Abingdon writers, with the Watchman on the Walls of Zion. O no, I have to dwell alone like a partridge hunted upon the mountains, or a worthless sparrow alone upon the house top. What grieves me as well, is to hear these men presumptuously say, when in the pulpit, "My Lord,

F

and my God," and call themselves servants of God and ministers of the gospel; and whenever they go to preach from home, they are sure to make a long prayer about the minister of the people they are invited to preach to, calling him a servant of God, and a useful man in the cause of truth; and the people, though he has never seen them before, be calls dear brethren and children of God; and when he has done his discourse, be will bare a parcel of hypocrites around him, shading hands with him, with 40 what a sweet discourse we have bad; you have been much farocred this moming, or evening, Sir." Do you see one qors the other on, and apparently they ran mighty fast. The 5th chapter of the book of Jeremiah is written chiefly against such deceit. They are just like their brother Ishmael; they dwell still in the wilderness, for they are of the world, and they are canting archers, who whet their tongue like a sword, and bend their bows to shoot their arrows, even bitter words: that they may shoot in secret at the perfect: (for they are very crafty,) suddenly do they shoot at him, and fear not." (Psa. ixiv. 3, 4.) O how my heart bas beared with indignation to hear these bond-children mocking God's free-born sons that are called by divine grace, calling them Antinomians, lawless, and even graceless people: Thus with lies they attempt to make the heart of the righteous sad, and strengthen the hands of the wicked; they blaspheme the holy name of the Lord for pieces of bread;" (Ezek. xiii;) and it is evident they are at war with Jehovah and his people; but the Lord shall suddenly shoot at them, and his arrows will be sharp in the hearts of these enemies, though they are now at ease and reign as kings like Ahab; yet, their day shall come to die, and the Lord's arrows will stick fast in them to eternity; for as they are at war with God, they will be overthrown; and though they have had an honourable and genteel profession, they will have a dishonourable death; and as the people that follow them do not live a life of faith upon the Son of God, but upon what their ministers preach, at their death these greedy and filthy dogs will act the part of Ahab's dogs, lick the blood of their master; for remember, "there be gods many, and lords many.” (1 Cor. viii. 5.) A short time ago, a certain minister near these parts, left time for eternity. What hope there was of his being a good man, I cannot tell. Yet, at his funeral, there were several ministers gathered together. One made a funeral prayer, and another made a funeral discourse, and a deal of ceremony. I say, they made, for I feel persuaded the Holy Ghost was not mouth and wisdom to them. The man that prayed said, his dear brother was in heaven, and so said the preacher. How I did think in my mind what deceit and falsehood here are practised. The people loved to hear their minister thus extolled; and I think they had a better meal in feeding upon dust and ashes, (most of them,) than ever they had from the flesh and blood of Christ, and wept more over the death of their minister, than the death of the Lord Jesus. I mention this to lay open deceit, that the child of God may take heed who he hears, and what he hears. I do not expect reaping much for my pains, but an evil name. I declare solemnly that I have heaviness and continual sorrow of heart. O the many strivings and workings of my carnal mind to give up the work of the ministry, and the opposition I have without, till my soul is melted within me like wax, and I often have to cry out, "Be not a terror to me, O Lord." The terrible nature of Jehovah, as a sin avenging God, strikes me with terror, and when I look around me and see the awful state of the world at large, both