helped to trust God in the dark: "But if we believe not, he abideth;" and he says, "I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you." You know what he says in Isaiah liv. 28. I trust ere long your drooping soul will say, "It is the voice of my Beloved. Behold he cometh." You say, "Why should he regard me?" This is a question that can only be resolved into his own holy sovereignty. No sinful child of Adam can see why God should love him. Each truly converted soul feels himself the very most unlikely to have been noticed, and each can only say, "Even so, Father."

The scriptures quite show us that the Lord's choice and love were, without desert or deserving of the creature, of his own will, for his own glory. We also plainly find he has not taken the most excellent things, but rather those which look weak and base to the eye of flesh; so here you will find no ground of exclusion. Look not into yourself for a cause to induce divine love; but look up to the mighty Jehovah, and admire his sovereign grace. Having looked over all your statements, I can find nothing contrary to the common exercises of the Lord's people, and quite believe you must prepare to "endure with hardness," if you are a soldier of Jesus Christ; for it is his will that they who reign with him shall also suffer with him, and that we shall have many varied exercises in the discipline of the wilderness. We must learn our own weakness as well as his strength, our own emptiness as well as his fulness; our own dryness as well as that he is like the dew unto Israel; our own ignorance, as well as his wisdom; and we must have times of shutting up, that we may give him the glory of opening, and be kept feelingly, saying, "All my springs are in thee."

Now, through a healthy state of soul, and so walking, we shall come to understand that the Lord does nothing in vain; but that all the humbling, emptying, proving, that we come into, are for our establishment in him and for his glory; in short, that all is for the lifting of Jesus on high in our souls. This is the constant work of the Holy Ghost bringing us to be experimentally nothing, and makJesus precious and All in All to us, teaching us to live by faith upon him, which is blessed indeed.

Do not be discouraged because you are yet learning your nothingness; this is most really needful to make way for the rest. Do not seek to exercise yourself in things too high for you, or be comparing yourself with others and what they know and enjoy, for this will be only a stumblingblock to you. Be constantly begging the Holy Spirit to show you how the Lord may be glorified. May he bless you, and give you understanding. You know that I have been very ill, and you know also that I have enjoyed good health. Ah! truly I could tell you much of the love, power and preciousness of my Jesus. Though it might be more for your benefit to take you upon your own ground, and talk over your state rather than describe mine, this I must say, that I have proved there is a reality in vital godliness which will stand amidst the decay of all that is

of the flesh; I have proved that Jesus loveth at all times, and in the depths. He is solid rock to those who put their trust in him.

May the weakness of my words throw no confusion over your mind, but the wind of the Spirit cleave away the darkness. May you by his power have the application of precious blood, the imputation of perfect righteousness, and a close steady walk with God, Affectionately desires your sincere friend,

GREETINGS FROM A DISTANT LAND.

My dear Friend,—After thinking much of writing to you, I have at last determined to do so. I hope to be able to say something that will stir up the remembrance of an old friend. What shall I say? "I should think you have plenty to write about,” no doubt, is your reply. Yes, dear friend, and so I have; but, as you know a politician writing to his friend interested in those matters, would assuredly adopt politics as his topic, so I, adopting his plan, shall write about a subject nearest and dearest to us; for as we are laboring under the same Master, fighting under the same banner, wielding the same weapons, clothed in the same armor, and having the same great enemy to combat with, I do not see what · should be so interesting to us as how we get on in this conflict with sin, flesh, and the devil. Well, dear friend, to speak for myself, I must say I feel it hard work at times, to get on at all. O how abominable do the desires and lusts of the natural man appear; for I find myself ever ready to murmur at God's providence, and exclaim with David, “Verily I have cleansed my heart in vain ;” yes, ever ready to distrust the blessed Lord's faithfulness and word, and doubt his precious promises. The devil would even have me, at times, to believe the word of God and all connected with it to be a mere delusion. O how desperately wicked is the heart of man! What I have told you is but a faint specimen of the workings of my wicked heart. O how heartily I can join with the man of God, and say, "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord!" In brief, I find the carnal mind just what it ever has, and ever will be, enmity against God.

I once thought this nature would have been made better, and that it and grace would have commingled; but, dear friend, this is natural religion; this is something like what my first teacher, man, informed me; but blessed be God, the Spirit has taught me better. Yes, he has taught me that nature and grace are divided against each other, and always will be; and I have been led to see, in some measure, what is nature, and what is grace. O what a blessing to be enabled to discriminate between nature and grace! May it be ours; for how often will nature put itself forward, under the lovely form of grace to deceive us into the acceptance of the one for the other. Well may the Apostle say, "Give all diligence to make your calling and election sure.” That word election is thought by many professors to be a dangerous word; but it is not thought so by that

poor, tempest-tossed, tried child of God, who sees that even his best works would be sinful enough to sink his soul to hell, if not pardoned through a Saviour's blood. Such a one feels election to be a fountain of consolation to his troubled soul; for when darkness surrounds him on all sides, and the heavens seem as brass, how comforting is the word of God: "I have loved thee with an everlasting love; therefore with lovingkindness have I drawn thee." This everlasting love is that electing love which will not let the soul go, or utterly fall, that has once been in possession of it. Hear

what God says, "For I am with thee, saith the Lord, to save thee. Though I make a full end of all nations whither I have scattered them, yet will I not make a full end of thee; but I will correct thee in measure, and will not leave thee altogether unpunished." O how full of love and mercy are the Lord's dealings with his people; for he corrects his children only in measure, as they are able to bear it, not according to their deserts. No; he knows well their merits would be final perdition; but according to his eternal love and purposes does he continue to correct and bless his people.

The minister I hear is a Particular Baptist, one whom some uncharitable professors would term an Antinomian. If preaching the truth, or the doctrines of free and distinguishing grace, constitute an Antinomian, I must admit his title; but, blessed be God, the Spirit has led me to see and feel the wide difference between truth and Antinomianism. The Apostle says, "Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?" I believe there is no child of God who would not say so with him. God forbid that the doctrines of free and distinguishing grace should be those which make a child of God an idler. No; they animate him in the time of battle with his great enemy to lift up his hands, knowing that, as Christ has overcome, he will overcome also; and, relying on God's covenant promises to his elect, through Christ, he still holds on his way, seeing that God has made all things for himself or his glory, yea, even the wicked for the day of evil. And not only the wicked; for we read in Romans ix. 23, of his making known the riches of his glory on the vessels of mercy which he had prepared unto glory, even us, whom he hath called. O what a blessing to know, by his holy word, "that whom he did predestinate, them he also called; and whom he called, them he also justified; and whom he justified, them he also glorified." Here you see the soul led on from one degree to another in grace. Can we, dear friend, trace the Spirit working in our souls thus, or can we trace the beginning of the good work within us? If so, then the doctrines of electing grace are a mine rich and deep, which will supply us with many abundant feasts, and enable us to dig deep into the mystery of godliness, as revealed by the Holy Spirit. But as Hart says, in hymn 90, so it is with me :---

It is when these truths are applied by the Holy Spirit tha we

are enabled to value them; for instance, what comfort or consolation is it to me to hear of God choosing his people in Christ before the world was, and that no weapons that are found against them shall prosper, and every tongue that shall rise up against them in judgment he will condemn? Why, if I cannot trace out my title to those precious truths, through being made an heir of God, and a joint heir of Christ, then they are but a dry morsel indeed; but when brought home by the Holy Spirit, and applied to our souls, then it is we feel them precious; then it is that the eye of faith views the great triune Jehovah in all his glorious attributes. 0 how blessed to hear, to feel, to know by experience that God is an unchanging God; that he does not love to-day and hate tomorrow, but "whom he loveth he loveth to the end," and that none can alter his eternal purposes.

O dear friend, I have not to go far to trace out the unchangeableness of God, either in his love or purposes; for when I look back to the time when the Holy Spirit visited me with the arrow of conviction, and feel what a rebel I was to his Majesty; when I take a view of my past life, since my blindness was removed, and see what a rebellious hard-hearted, shipwrecked, and self-willed wretch I was, I am led to believe, if there could be such a thing as extinguishing the love of God, or counteracting his purposes, I should have done it. It cannot be; for I trust there is yet a good thing to be found in my heart towards the Lord God of Israel, and to whom I ascribe all praise.

That the Holy Spirit would lead and enable us to walk in all holiness before him, who hath redeemed us by his precious blood, and grant us the sweet consolation and assurance of our names being written in the Lamb's book of life, is the earnest prayer of Your sincere friend in the holy ties of love,

Melbourne, May 27th, 1853.

E. R.

Play well on one string, the trials of the Lord's people; you will soon shake off professors.-W. T.

The whole sum eand substance of the Bible is comprised in one word, and that wo rd is Christ. For in the spiritual apprehension and knowledge of him the redeemed and regenerated church of God have, in connexion with it, the spiritual knowledge of, and communion with "the Holy Three which bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these Three are One."-Hawker.

I have often thought, and am still of the same mind, that all our crosess and trials are to accomplish a twofold work; the one to bring us low, to hide pride from our eyes, and to set us down at the Lord's feet; the other to empty us of self, and give us an appetite which prepares us to receive a better fulness. A high look, the Lord will not suffer, but he dwells with the humble. He blesses the poor and needy, but punishes those that are settled on their lees. Faith, hope, and love appear the plainer, and shine the brighter, when the dross and tin are removed; and I have often wondered to see how fast this base metal collects again.-Huntington.

INQUIRIES.

Dear Sir,-If you consider it profitable, I should be glad (and I know one or two of your friends who also coincide with me) if you would offer your opinion, through the medium of the "Gospel Standard," on the scriptural means of administering the Lord's Supper. I know one or two ministers of truth, who consider the proper mode to be, that it should remain open for any of the church to stand up, engage in prayer, read a portion of God's word, give out a hymn, &c., as they feel led, and that the pastor ought not exclusively to take that or any part of the administration to himself, but take his seat only as one of the church.

ANSWER.

MINIMUS.

Order is desirable, not to say indispensable, in every part of the service of God, and certainly in no part more than in the administration of the Lord's Supper. "Joying and beholding your order," says the Apostle, (Col. ii. 5;) and again: "Let all things be done decently and in order." (1 Cor. xiv. 40.)

Now, as a general rule, order will not exist without a head. The Corinthian Church, as we lately showed, was the most disorderly church in the New Testament, mainly, we believe, for want of a pastor or ruling elders; and their disorderly conduct at the Lord's table drew down upon them the special and severe rebuke of the Apostle. (1 Cor. xi. 17-33.) A small church, consisting of a dozen members or so, and these much united together, as well as of recent formation, before divisions and jealousies have crept in, is very different from a large church and one of long standing. What, therefore, might very well suit the former would not do at all for the latter; and it by no means follows because breaking bread in a kind of primitive simplicity might be adapted for a small church, it would be equally suitable for a larger one, and where there are many minds and members of different ages and standing. There are many small churches scattered up and down the country destitute of a pastor. There is no reason why these should not have the Lord's Supper among themselves in the way most edifying and profitable; but they must not lay down a rule that their way is best for larger churches which have a pastor over them. Many rules will naturally suit a small family which would be quite out of place in a larger; and in business small establishments have a may degree of freedom allowed them which in more extensive ones would produce the greatest disorder and confusion. So in churches, the larger the church, the more necessary is order. We are as much opposed to priesteraft and ministerial lordship as any, but we are great friends to order, quietness, and edification; for "God is not the author of confusion, but of peace, as in all churches of the saints."

Confining ourselves, then, to churches which have a pastor or acceptable supplies, and have a fair proportion of members, our decided opinion is that the minister is the fittest person to admi