THE

GOSPEL TREASURY:

VOLUME THE FIRST,

CONTAINING A GREAT VARIETY OF

INTERESTING ANECDOTES, REMARKABLE PROVIDENCES, AND PRECIOUS FRAGMENTS.

SELECTED CHIEFLY FROM THE

LONDON EVANGELICAL MAGAZINE.

BY WILLIAM COLLIER, A. M.
Pastor of the Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts.

Gather up the fragments. John vii. 12.

Second Edition.

PRINTL

IN FOUR VOLUMES.

SAMUEL T. ARMSTRONG. Charlestown, Massachusetts.

1810.

DISTRICT OF MASSACHUSETTS, TO WIT.

BE it remembered, that on the twenty sixth day of September, in the thirty fifth year of the Independence of the United States of America, William Collier, of the said district, has deposited in this of fice the title of a book, the right whereof he claims as proprietor, in the words following, to wit:

"The Gospel Treasury: volume the first, containing a great variety of interesting anecdotes, remarkable providences, and precious fragments. Selected chiefly from the London Evangelical Magazine. "By William Collier, A. M. Pastor of the Baptist Church in Charlestown, Massachusetts. Gather up the fragments. John vii. 12: Second edition. In four volumes."

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States, intitled, "An act for the encouragement of learning, by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned;" and also to an act, intitled, "An act supplementary to an act intitled, An act for the encouragement of learning by securing the copies of maps, charts, and books, to the authors and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein mentioned; and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of designing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints."

WM. S. SHAW,

Clerk of the District of Massachusetts.

THE DEDICATION.

THOU TRIUNE GOD! from whose rich stores of grace
All good proceeds, I now approach Thy throne,
To lay myself, and this my weak attempt,
Beneath the smile of PATRONAGE SUPREME.
My eye keep single, and my aim direct;
That all my efforts, in concurrence sweet,
May spread Thy praise, and edify Thy flock
In things divine. O let this select work
Stand up a faithful witness for thy truth;
Against the floods of error may it stand
A brazen bulwark, durable and firm.

FATHER OMNIPOTENT! Thy love doth sound
Along each line. Far as Thy word reveals
Thy plans and counsels, I with joy have mark'd
The brilliant footsteps of eternal grace

Tow'rds guilty man. JESUS! Thy charming name,
Bright as the noon-day sun, hath gilt each page.
The glories of Thy bleeding love is now
My darling theme. Thy influence benign,
Thou sacred COMFORTER! shed on my heart,
Teach me t'edite the thunders of Thy word
With sacred care; and point, with steady hand,
The dread artillery of the flaming mount
Against the conscience of Thy rebel foes.
When sinners, wounded by Thy terrors, fall;
And rack'd with guilty pains, begin to lift,
Towards Thy mercy seat a tearful eye

Or breathe a wish for peace; O for that balm,
So fam'd in sacred story for its power

To heal! O for the gracious words of pardon!.
Free pardon promis'd through atoning blood,
To draw the sting of guilt and pour that health
O'er all the soul, that health divine which none.
But pardon'd sinners ere can know or feel!
Th' exhaustless wells of thy salvation, fed
By springs perennial, teach me to disclose;
That, hither led, Thy lambs with joy may drink
Of living waters; and, with gentle hand,
Their steps to guide, where richest pastures rise,
With endless verdure crown'd, there to partake
Of angel's food, and grow prepar'd for heaven,
Where partial knowledge meets the blaze of day,
And means so blest on earth, shall all be done away.

PREFACE.

THE Evangelical Magazine, published in London, made its first appearance in July, 1793. A small volume was printed that year; and the proprietors have annually published a large octavo volume to the present time. Of course there are now sixteen volumes

before the public.

This work is regularly supported by thirty six ministers of the gospel, of different denominations, and of the first respectability in England; and occasionally assisted by many other ministers and friends of evangelical truth, both in Europe and America. It is the most extensively useful and generally interesting periodical publication of the kind in the world. Twenty thousand copies of which, in monthly numbers, are circulated among the friends of the mystery of godliness, and others, in every quarter of the globe. Having had access to this work from the beginning, I have long anxiously desired its precious contents might be more generally known in this country, than which, certainly nothing more is necessary to recommend it to real believers in Jesus, of every denomination.

There is such a vein of Christian experience runs through the whole, such a purity of doctrine every where maintained with singular ability, and the necessity and excellence of gospel morality is always treated in such a manner, as must convince those who are strangers to the truth, that although Christ is the righteousness of believers, the grace of God teacheth them to deny ungodliness, and every worldly lust, and to live soberly, righteously, and godly, in this present world; and will greatly edify and establish the weak in faith, and remove the doubts and comfort the hearts of the feeble minded. Feeling a conviction in my own mind of the probable utility of such a work-as might readily be compiled from such a source, I have been induced to make an exertion to bring the successful labors of these eminently distin guished servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, except those VOL. I.

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