exclusion of thee." Good Lord, remember all my kind friends, and have mercy on them in that day, for in how many things they and you have ministered unto me thou knowest well. The good Lord bless you all according to your need and to his own praise. Amen. W. M. ENCOURAGING WORDS. Dear Friend,-Your letter I received safely. If the Lord will, I am to supply at Eden Street during June; but I do not expect to supply anywhere near you before. With respect to my intended visit to D-, I hope that I may not journey so far, if the presence of the Lord be not with me. I hope you will be encouraged in getting supplies by the Lord blessing his word through them. It is a great mercy to be blest with a spiritual appetite. The Lord will renew and revive his work when it is once begun, so that your deadness and coldness do not prove that you are dead in sin, if it cause you to groan, mourn, and sigh. At times you are full of fears whether you shall get safely to glory after all. Grace must be tried, and the Lord tries his work in different ways, so that we cannot understand what the Lord intends; but when we are brought out of a trial, then we can see how the Lord has wisely ordered all things. This world is a wilderness, with various allurements and enticements, and it is a great mercy to be kept by the Lord in his fear; for if left to ourselves, how soon we should find how vain is all help and strength, except that which comes from above. Our life is short when compared with eternity; but yet even a dying man will attach great importance. to that which is not worth a thought. Our proneness to err, with our many sins in word, thought, and deed, shows us what fallen creatures we are, and how we need frowns as well as smiles to keep us from doing those things so displeasing to God. Grace must save all that go to heaven. Mercy shall be built up for ever, and God shall have all the praise. The Lord at times blesses my soul. About two ,months ago, I had a sweet blessing, which caused my tears to flow, so that I could " weep to the praise of the mercy I had found;" but I know what darkness, deadness, and unbelief are. But the Lord knows how to lead and teach his people to profit. Some things are to humble us, and some things are to encourage us. John Bunyan says, "A good man is not long without trouble;" so if you pray to be a good man with divine faith, you may expect a cross. It seems strange that those who feel themselves the vilest sinners should be good men. It is all of grace. Give my love to all inquiring friends. Abingdon, March 1st, 1818. Yours in the truth, W. T. There are no marks of shipwrecks, no remnants of lost vessels, floating upon the sea which flows between God's Jerusalem below and the Jerusalem which is above.-Toplady. INQUIRY. Dear Sir,—Is it right for members to sit down to the Lord's table, having so much against each other, that they cannot speak or be spoken to? How does it accord with these scriptures: “How good and how pleasant it is for brethren to dwell together in unity;" "Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another;" "By this shall all men know that ye are my disciples, if ye have love one to another?" Can such members be said to profit under the preached word? By giving your reply in the "Standard" you will oblige, Yours truly, ANSWER. A CONSTANT READER. Divisions in churches and private contentions among the members are sad fruits of the fall, and are certainly much opposed to the precepts and spirit of the gospel; and, unhappily, there are few churches in which they are not more or less found. But the question is, how far they should hinder the members from sitting down together to the Lord's Supper. If we were to lay down a general rule of this kind, that wherever there are divisions or disputes the disagreeing parties should not sit down together, we should soon come to this, that the Lord's Supper might be deserted by many of the members. On the other hand, it seems very sad and unbecoming for members to sit down together as brethren to the Lord's table, mutually partaking of the emblems of his flesh and blood, and all the time at such a state of variance as not even afterwards to speak to one another. This should not be; and it would be far better if an aggrieved member were patiently to suffer wrong, than show his resentment at such a time and in such a way. In these points, however, much must be left to the conscience of individuals and the influence of the blessed Spirit on their hearts. Where there is not an open breach and a decided quarrel, the church cannot well interfere. A sore, which rubbing will increase, left to itself, will frequently heal; and so unkind feelings, which public notice would probably chafe, will often gradually subside, if not give place to better. Much wisdom and forbearance are needed in all these matters and we must bear in mind that we are still in the body, poor fallen sinners, saved only by sovereign grace. If we are to wait till every unkind feeling towards a brother is removed, we may never sit down to the table at all; nay, the very uncomfortable feeling produced may lead to confession, and the very sitting down together may be blessed to produce the love which will remove it. The hot furnace is the workshop of Christ. In that fire he takes away the scum, the dross, the refuse of the true metal, that faith may be found unto praise, and honor, and glory, at the appearance of Jesus Christ.- Rutherford. WHO IS A GOD LIKE UNTO OUR GOD? Dear Friend, I was glad to hear from you and learn something of your estate; to hear that the good hand of the Lord was upon you as well as upon many others of the chosen race, the instructed, corrected, and quickened family of the Almighty. I am tolerably well, better than I deserve to be. I am a great debtor to the great Creditor, and have no hope to stand before him with acceptance only in and through the great Surety and his great and all-sufficient satisfaction, and receive a forgiveness of all my debts out of the love and mercy of the Creditor and Surety, revealed, brought home and applied unto my poor ill and hell-deserving soul with a divine power. O that I were not so tongue-tied, so spirit-bound, so winter-cold, so trembling in fear, so stone-like hard, but that I could praise his name, and extol him on high for evermore! I am not only out of hell, but I am fed, clothed, relieved from sickness by medicine, supplied with money, protected, preserved, upheld, maintained, defended, guided, directed, and have my way cast up unto and through Christ for this everlasting salvation so full, so free, or it would never suit the condition that I see and feel myself to be in. What pains and care he has taken with me; what expense has been incurred to rear me, and bring me thus far on my way unto him. How has he humbled, meekened, softened, swaddled, and dandled me, in order that I should know him as my covenant God, and Father, and that I might be free, although he is so high, so great, and so glorious and take all my delight and pleasure in himself and the things, the only things that please him. How he has crucified my old man, quickened my soul, weaned me from the world, and is weaning me from the church, from my family, and the dear creatures for whom I have labored that Christ might be formed in their hearts, and dwell there the hope of glory. Moses said, the prophet said, you have said, and I say, "Who is a God like unto our God?" We challenge them all to show us a God as our Immanuel; he is with us in our nature, will be with us in his good Spirit, and will never leave us as the omnipresent God. What wooing, winning, cheering, comforting, and captivating ways has Jehovah! How has he conquered, wooed, and won us for his bride, brought us up as his children, trained us for his servants, drilled us for his soldiers, elevated us as his courtiers, and commissioned us as his ambassadors. How has he given us authority with his seals, ornamented us with his robe, chain, and girdle. How has he banqueted, feasted, and quenched our souls. How has he endeared himself, and set our affections upon his blessed self, and made us jealous if we think that others have more of his visits and presence than we. How wisely has he planned all things; how divinely are all things ordered; how justly are all things dealt out unto us; how feelingly we know that he is merciful in all the past and present How at times he enables us to believe that all will be right in the unknown future. Dear F., I commend you unto him for all that faithfulness that has never failed. You know him, but I have wants. had almost double the time that you have had for the attainment of that pure and divine knowledge. I think if life be spared, and health and strength admit, I will endeavor to see you before another summer has passed away. Our union remains the same. We pray the Lord to bless you and yours and to give you souls for your hire, and seals to your ministry, that shall be the crown of your rejoicing in that day. AN ACKNOWLEDGMENT. W. C. Dear Mr. Editor,-Will you allow me, through you, to acknowledge, with deep sorrow, my unfeigned regret for the many errors contained in my recently-published tract, "The Spirit of God Grieved, and the Church of God Sleeping," and to beg that the statements of that pamphlet may no longer be considered as the expression of my thoughts and feelings. Notice to this effect has been given to the publisher; and no more copies will be sold with my sanction. It is painful to feel that any step of mine should have been the means of countenancing a system so full of error, and so delusive to the soul, as that of the Plymouth Brethren; bitterly have I been made to prove its emptiness and vanity, in the day of fire, which tries the work of man. For myself, I am continually compelled to confess my sin to God, and to lay my guilty soul, all defiled, ignorant, and helpless, at the feet of Jesus, until he shall be pleased, of his blessed will, once more to speak a word of love and forgiveness to my wounded heart. Surely there is a way that seemeth right unto a man, but the end thereof is the ways of death." May the Lord himself, who alone keepeth the feet of his saints, keep back his servants from presump 66 tuous sins. Bideford, Aug. 13, 1855. I am, dear Mr. Editor, C. H. MARSTON. [We should be very unworthy of the post we occupy as the Editor of the 46 Gospel Standard," very ignorant of our own heart, and very harsh and unfeeling towards an erring and repenting brother, were we to refuse insertion, to the above letter. At the same time, Mr. Marston must not feel surprised if the Church of God require a little time to be fully satisfied he is wholly purified of Plymouth leaven, as it is a system of which the taint is usually burnt out only by hot and long furnaces.—ED] Herod, Pilate, and the Jews, all conspire the death of Christ, and each party on a several account; not thinking in the least to fulfil the determinate counsel of God; yet that was what Providence intended, as is plain by Acts ii. 23. As also the soldiers, in parting his garments, and piercing his side; it was their barbarous rudeness which put them upon it; but Providence designed to make good a prophecy: "these things therefore the soldiers did." (John xix. 24.) All that God does in the world, is the transcript or impression of his ancient decrees.-Coles. OBITUARY. MRS. WITHERS. Dear Friend," The memory of the just is blessed." You are not unacquainted with the name of Mr. George Payton, late minister of the gospel, at Edenbridge, Kent. The account he published of the dealings of God with his soul is as sweet and simple as any description I ever read. I long enjoyed his friendship, and profited much by his ministry. I was in his company just after he had recovered from an alarming illness. Speaking of the happy state of his mind, he remarked, "I had no desire to live or to die; but I considered day better than night, heaven than earth. The first discourse I preached after my illness was from the text, 'Hope thou in God. I fed on that text the whole of the succeeding week." He might be truly said to be waiting on and for his Lord, in which condition he was called away, as may be seen in a letter in "Zion's Casket" for 1838. I have since visited his last resting-place, and wandered beside the graves of many of his spiritual children, who repose near him. Many trod the path of death before, while others lingered but yet a little time after him. Among them was my departed, and much-lamented friend, Mrs. Withers, the following memoir of whom was sent me by one still living, a relation of Mr. Chandler, who was Mr. Payton's successor, at Edenbridge. While in the neighbourhood of this hallowed spot, I met an old friend of Mr. Payton, who, in alluding to Mrs. Withers, remarked, "Mr. Payton believed that the death-bed of Mrs. W. was the happiest he had ever witnessed." This declaration induced me to send you a copy, that you might insert it in a future number of the "Gospel Standard," if you deemed it worthy of such distinction. I thought of Watts's words: "Why should the wonders God has wrought Bromley, Kent, July 22nd, 1855. MEMOIR OF MRS. WITHERS. L. Z. Having lost my dear mother and five sisters by the same insidious disease, consumption, I felt a deep sympathy for her in her affliction. I will endeavour to give you a connected narrative of the events which occurred during the three months immediately preceding her much-lamented death. Added to the ravages on her poor body by the progress of her disease, her mind was sorely troubled by the embarrassments of her family. Such comfort as I could afford her amidst this ocean of tribulation, I gave her. One evening, however, the lowering clouds by which she was surrounded were suddenly dispelled, and she seemed to awaken to new and to more hopeful feelings. "Mrs. C," she said, "I have been thinking to-day, that, if the Lord be pleascd ever to shine into my soul, I shall be like your father, and sing as he did, Then will I tell to sinners round, What a dear Saviour I have found."" |