Page images
PDF
EPUB

DAY OF JUDGMENT.

[The following lines were presented us by an aged minister, who informed us that they were the production of the late ADMIRAL KEMPENFELT. The admiral was, we are assured by the same authority, a godly man, and the son of God-fearing parents. The annexed lines were written but a short time previous to the destruction of the Royal George at Spithead, in the year 1784, by which the gallant admiral and nearly the whole of his crew were drowned.]

[blocks in formation]

LINES SUNG ON THE LAST NIGHT OF THE YEAR 1840, AT FOOTSCRAY CHAPEL.

GREAT FATHER of unchanging love,
We seek thy Spirit from above,
To make our Jesus "All in all,"
While at thy throne of grace we fall.
Thy chosen children, call'd by grace,
Now seek the smilings of thy face;
Thy righteousness and blood alone,
We plead for pardons at thy throne.
We have been sinners, Lord, till now,
And none could bear with us but thou;
A stubborn and rebellious race,
Yet saved by free, by matchless grace.
We trace thy blessings from above,
All crowding from thy heart of love;
Footscray, Kent.

Blessings of grace and providence,
All flowing from thy love immense.
Though little faith has oft been tried,
Yet still our needs have been supplied;
And little faith can here this night,
Review thy wonders with delight.
Though trials may our souls surprise,
They're covenant blessings in disguise;
And every cross, however bent,
In everlasting love is sent.

Then saints of God, be not cast down,
We're in the pathway to the crown;
That crown that shall be freely given,
To crown the ransomed church in heaven.
T. W.

City Press, Long Lane: D. A. Doudney.

[merged small][merged small][graphic][ocr errors][subsumed]

"ENDEAVOURING TO KEEP THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT IN THE BOND OF PEACE.' "JESUS CHRIST, THE SAME YESTERDAY, TO-DAY, AND FOR EVER.

WHOM TO KNOW IS

[blocks in formation]

THEN the work is at present incomplete, unfinished, and apparently in confusion and disorder, is it, poor soul? and thou knowest not what judgment to make of thyself, thy circumstances, or of the Lord that leadeth thee? Sometimes thou art raised, as it were, to the very pinnacle of expectation; thou hast taken thy case to the Lord, he has removed this difficulty, cleared away that obstruction, and rendered thy path so delightfully clear, that already the language of praise takes possession of thy lips, and thy enraptured soul exclaims," Come, all ye that fear God, and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul." But ere yet the song of praise has died away, and thou art about to grasp thine object, a sudden cloud overshadows thee, darkness takes possession of thy soul, fear fills thy breast, thy bosom heaves a sigh ; for the Lord has snatched from thy grasp the beautiful vessel thou hast been moulding, and dashed it to atoms before thine astonished gaze. Amazed, terrified beyond measure, thy spirit sinks within thee; cloud succeeds cloud, fear follows fear, and thou in thine own apprehension art sinking lower and lower; the end thou knowest not, the issue thou canst not perceive. Already thy strength, thy courage faileth thee, and thou art ready to give up all for lost; nay, in thy apprehensions No. IX. Vol. I.-New Series.

2 L

thou mayst have given up, and it seems to thee as if thou hadst abandoned thy last hope. But ah! poor soul, thou canst not; it cannot be. The heavens may seem like brass above thee; not a gleam of hope, not a ray of light may appear, yet all is well. And why? Because the Lord has not given up either thee or thy case; thy cause is his cause, and by and by he will make it most wonderfully to appear. Not one sigh that trouble has pressed out of thy bosom, nor one out of the many tears that have rolled down thy cheek, shall pass unheeded by Omniscience. Thy God sees all, knows all, and is most graciously ordering and appointing all, though now thou seest it not; hereafter thou shalt see it to the delight and establishment of thine enraptured soul. For the Lord, unto whom thou hast committed thy way, and whom thou hast asked to be thy counsellor and guide, he he has thy case in hand; and when thy strength has entirely failed, and thou perhaps hast given up all hope, he will gently gather up the broken fragments that are bestrewed around thee, and in the skilfulness of his hand," so remodel them, as shall fill thy soul with holy rapture and amazement, and cause thee to exclaim with one of old, "Oh magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his name together."

Delays are not denials, dear reader; it is only the Lord postponing the fulfilment of thy desires-the desires of his own implantation-in order to make his hand the more conspicuous in and about thee. Thou didst ask him to bless thee, and to guide thee, didst thou not? Well, then, suffer him to do so in his own way; assuredly it is the best way. He looks straight through thy path, he sees every step of the way, and knows all thy future course; thou canst discover but a very small portion of it. He can see round the corners, and down into the valleys, and over the heights, through and over which thou hast to pass; and he is graciously making provision for thee against coming storms, impending difficulties, and a zig-zag way. Be it thy concern, then, to wait upon him, to watch his hand and handywork. Do not trouble thyself about second causes; these are only so many instruments made use of by thy loving God and Father, for the exercise of which thou wilt hereafter, and ever after, have cause to bless and adore him. It is of no use for thee to vex and trouble thyself about them; they are not their own; they are only acting the part which the Lord thy God intended them to act; and when his end is accomplished in and by them, then he will remove the difficulty, give willingness in the day of his power," and bring thee forth to the light to bless and praise his great and holy name.

[ocr errors]

As long as thou art merely looking to these second causes, just so long wilt thou be miserable, and find enmity and strife stir up in thy heart, and bondage and distress seize thy soul; but if the Lord brings thee to look away from these up unto himself, thou wilt be so blessedly favoured with a knowledge of his will, and have such enlarged and soulcomforting views of his almighty, wonder-working power, that instead of enmity, thine heart will be filled with love towards the very objects which before had possessed thy mind with envy and contention. Ay, and thou wilt bless thy God, too, for ever having raised them up; and

by and by, when thou seest those that oppose thee, brought round to encourage to cheer thee, what wilt thou say then? To whom wilt thou attribute it then but unto him "who worketh all things after the counsel of his own will," and in whose hands are all hearts? These are sweet lines, poor tried believer; we shall not lose the savour of them to all eternity

[ocr errors]

"God moves in a mysterious way,

His wonders to perform;
He plants his footsteps in the sea,
And rides upon the storm.

Deep in unfathomable mines
Of never-failing skill;

He treasures up his bright designs,
And works his sov'reign will.

Blind unbelief is sure to err,

And scan his work in vain;
God is his own interpreter,

And he will make it plain."

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.-Here is the future tense again; the Lord will perfect-not hath done it, but will do it ; in sweet accordance with the language of the apostle (Phil. i. 6), “ Being confident of this very thing, that he that hath begun a good work in you, will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ." Beloved, we know not how you find it, but we frequently have more sweet and solid comfort in the glorious certainty of the Lord's temporal accomplishments, than in the actual realization. It may appear strange to you, but if you examine the subject, we think you will find that there is more of faith and less of sense in the former than in the latter. Hannah could bless her God in the assurance of a son, as well as when she held Samuel in her arms (see 1 Sam. i. 18). The Shunamite could say, "It is well," when her son lay dead (2 Kings, iv. 26). When Jehoshaphat, and Judah, and the inhabitants of Jerusalem, "began to sing and praise" (before deliverance, mind; only resting upon the naked promise of God), "then the Lord set ambushments against the children of Ammon, Moab, and Mount Seir, which were come against Judah, and they were smitten" (read 2 Chron. xx). And Mary could "magnify the Lord," and "rejoice in God her Saviour," ere yet the Messiah was born (see Luke, i. 39-56).

There is a greater venturing out of self, and a more perfect and entire reliance upon the word, promise, and covenant faithfulness of an immutable God, when we are enabled to act faith upon the promise before its fulfilment; in contradistinction to appearances, and all that is gratifying to the fleshly mind. And without wishing to speak of ourselves merely for the sake of egotism, or as patterns of faith, we can say, that such at times-mind, only at times, and very rare times they are too--at times, we say, such is our conviction of the faithfulness of God, the unchangeability and constancy of his love, and his eternal regard for his chosen family in their every state and condition; that we feel we can trust him in the face of numberless opposing circumstances,

either for the larger or the smaller blessings of his hand, more than we can trust the dearest friend living. We dare not trust any man as a man; if we do, we are sure to be disappointed. We are obliged to go to our God first, and then if we can get a "Thus saith the Lord;" "Go, and I will be with thy mouth, and will teach thee what thou shalt say;" it is all well. We go forward as calm and composed as possible; and truly the Lord does seem so to put words in our mouth, that we stand with astonishment, and cannot do less than give him the glory for the operations of his hand. Do you know anything, reader, of this venturing by faith upon a precious Lord Jesus? you have found it sweet living, if you do. Why, it is this union and communion with Jesus that will do away with everything like strangeness, and distance, and shyness, between you and him; and by and by, when you get home to glory, you will readily know him, you will at once recognise him as your great and glorious Deliverer, as he who has known your soul in adversity. And the expression of the church, "This is my beloved, and this is my friend, Ö ye daughters of Jerusalem," will have scarcely died away upon your lips in time, ere you will commence it in a blessed eternity.

But there is one feature that must not be lost sight of, and that is, shall we say, the apparent dying of faith? Frequently the Lord has indulged the soul with a gracious enlargement, a simple resting, a holy dependence upon him, leaving the management and the result of every step in his most blessed hands; and enjoying a sweet confidence that the Lord would bring about his own purposes, and perform his own work. This, probably, has been the soul's experience; these, for the most part, his exercises, until he has arrived at the very eve of deliverance; and then suddenly his faith seems to fail him, his confidence is withdrawn, his path is thrown into confusion, and the issue he is at an entire loss to conjecture. And then, when faith is at its lowest ebb, his fears most prevail, and he, like a poor drowning Peter, cries, “ Lord, save, or I perish;" the Lord most graciously steps in, works almighty deliverance, and gives the soul to see that it is not in answer even to faith, as a meritorious cause, but of his free mercy, that the blessing is vouchsafed.

The Lord will perfect that which concerneth me.- -Without doing violence to the subject, we consider the language may be regarded as spoken typically by the dear Redeemer, as the God-man Mediator. Though in eternal covenant settlements, and in the view of the blessed Jehovah, the work given to Jesus to perform is now as perfect as it ever will be —as complete as if every elect vessel were gathered home, and shouting victory among the ransomed throng; yet, in a sense, that work is imperfect until the whole church, taken out of every kindred, nation, tongue, and people, shall be securely deposited in the heavenly garner. Blessed be God, dear reader, there is a glorious certainty upon this subject there is nothing precarious or doubtful respecting the fulfilment of the purposes of our God; and though it would be more comfortable you and I to have arrived at home, and thus be liberated from all disappointment, vexation, and care, yet we should not be one whit more

for

:

« PreviousContinue »