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THE SPIRITUAL MAGAZINE,

ZION'S

AND

CASKET.

"For there are Three that bear record in heaven, the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY GHOST: and these Three are One."-1 John v. 7.

"Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints."-Jude 3. Holding the mystery of the faith in a pure conscience."-1 Tim. iii. 6.

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AUGUST, 1845.

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"Call upon me in the day of trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Pa. 1. 13.

This psalm was penned by Asaph, a man of God, but a man of like passions as you and I; in Ps. lxxiii. he complains of the power of unbelief, in this language, "I was envious at the foolish, when I saw the prosperity of the wicked," and so it continued working until he went into the sanctuary of God, then understood he their end; "surely thou didst set them in slippery places," which sight humbled his rebellion, and brought him down to behold himself as a beast before the Lord. "Nevertheless," he said, "I am continually with thee, thou hast holden me by my right hand; thou shalt guide me with thy counsel, and afterwards receive me to glory." The way in August, 1845.]

which this is to be brought about he sweetly speaks in the 5th verse of the psalm in which my text stands,

gather my saints together unto me, those that have made a covenant with me by sacrifice;" this gathering together is not merely a congre gating together in numbers to hear the word, for there are thousands that meet in this way who have never "made a covenant by sacrifice." Hear the word of the Lord to such, "But cursed be the deceiver which hath in his flock a male, and voweth and sacrificeth unto the Lord a corrupt thing;" and it is evident there are thousands that have light sufficient to deceive the child of God for a time, and be admitted into church fellowship, to partake of the outward symbols, but in doing this without faith they eat and drink damnation to their own souls. Hence we see it in the case which our Lord describes in Matt. xxii., of a certain king making a marriage for his son, who sent his servants to call them that were bidden to the wedding, and they would come by no persuasion whatever, but rather persecuted the servant; but by and by he sends his servants into the highways, saying, as many as ye find, bid to the mar

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riage, as is described by the prophet in this verse, Gather my saints." By and bye the king comes in to see the guests, and he saw there a man which had not on a wedding garment -a solemn place this, my friends, to be, in without a warrant and when he put the question, hów he came there, he was speechless; and so will every soul be, that has not got the testimony of God of their adoption in that day when God comes to make up his jewels. The gathering then here spoken of means, "not by might nor by power (of man), but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," and the way in which this is done, is sometimes by the preaching of the gospel, and sometimes without the means; "the wind bloweth where it listeth, thou heareth the sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth, so is every one that is born of the Spirit." But it is evident that the Spirit does not work contrary to the word, nor the word contrary to the Spirit, for it is one object that the Spirit and the word directs the poor sinner to, viz., the sacrifice of the Lamb of God that made the atonement for sin; and their commission is, "bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the earth, I will say to the north, give up, and to the south, keep not back," and here they shall hear the Spirit and the Bride saying, Come, and let him that is athirst come, and whosoever will let him take of the water of life

freely, and SO saith God in the words of my text, "call upon me in the day of trouble. I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." In delivering my thoughts upon these words I shall, in the first place, show what this day of trouble is; Secondly, I shall endeavour to prove a real cry or call; Thirdly, the object to whom the poor soul in this distress is directed to; and Lastly, I shall notice the happy deliverance and its effect.

In the first place I am to show

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what the day of trouble is. "In the day of trouble call upon me," it is a time of real need, a time when heart and flesh fails, when lover and friend stand aloof, when the soul is sinking in deep waters where no standing is, They that go down to the sea in ships, these do business in deep waters." There must be a descending into the depths of our misery under the fall, before there is any ascending up into the joy of the Lord; these depths, when discovered by the spirituality of God's law, will cause the soul to fear the wrath of God against him in a broken law, which will produce real trouble, and it is of that nature, unless supported, it will sink him into black despair. The secret support or protection that is granted in this place is not perceptible to the poor soul, or his trouble would be lessened by it; but it is there, or such a one would under this trouble, be left like Saul, when his deceptive garb could no longer cover him, he first requested the prophet to honour him before the elders of the people; then he has recourse to a witch, and at length to his own sword; therefore, this man's trouble was nothing but the trouble of the world, or sorrow of the world which worketh death, but godly sorrow worketh repentance, that needeth not to be repented of. This trouble is something like the apostle Paul's, when the Lord met him in his journey to Damascus, he was felled to the ground, and smote with blindness, and the arrows of God stuck fast in his conscience so that he could not rise, and here be would have kept, sinking lower and lower, had not the Lord had mercy on him. And it was the same with the jailor, when Paul and Silas were in prison, singing praises, the Lord sent his earthquake and shook the prison, and the jailor's heart too, so that he was in that trouble that he knew not what to do, and the devil finding him

in this position presented the same to him as he did to Paul, and why did he not fall into the temptation? why, he was preserved in Christ Jesus, and called to feel the need of his helping hand. "There is no tempta. tion that happeneth unto you but what is common unto man; but God is faithful, who will not suffer you to be tempted above that you are able, but will with the temptation also make a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it."

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Another place we see where there is a distinct mark made between the sorrow of the world and that of godly sorrow is in those two passages in the Acts of the Apostles, the one in the 2nd chap. 37th verse, when Peter preached to the conscience they were pricked in their heart, which produced a cry from real trouble; but the other in the 7th chap. 54th ver., when Stephen charged them of murder they were cut to the heart; but all the effect it had with them they continued to go on in their abominations, to fill up the measure of their iniquity. Yet God had mercy on one of them, and heard Stephen's prayer, for Paul said he was there consenting to the deed, but he obtained mercy, for he did it in ignorance and in unbelief. But when God brings a poor soul into these places he does the work most effectually, he lays judgment to the line, and righteousness to the plummet ; and it is "precept upon precept, line upon line, here a little and there a little," and the work is not to be hurried, “he that believes shall not make haste." God will show this soul the danger there is in the way without a guide, and if he steps a step further he fears it will be his utter destruction; destruction, too, appears behind, and no way of escape on either side, and what to do he knows not, He mounts up, and he goes down into the depths, and he staggers to and fro, and reels like a drunken man-he is in real trouble

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There are troubles in providence which are so peculiarly difficult which you may not be able to relate to any one that may be able to help you, no not if it be the nearest friend you have in the world. When God shuts up there is no communication that can be made that will prosper. And this may appear very strange why there should be this bondage, but it would not be an errand to the Lord, if we could unbosom ourselves to man, therefore, if the Lord has hedged us in, it is for some wise purpose. He does not afflict willingly, nor grieve the children of men; but what makes this trial so heavy to a real believer is "the honour of God," lest by this trouble I should fall, and bring a reproach upon his most holy name, and his precious name be blas. phemed through me, I say, this will produce real trouble, and cause the poor soul to cry, Oh, Lord, undertake for thy great name's sake. The trouble is such at times that he knows not how to put his petitions into words; and when such a text as this meets him, "call upon me in the day of trouble," he finds that he lacks something to enable him to prevail, which increases the trouble ten-fold. But, poor soul, these are some of the means, God, in his wisdom, uses to bring the christian into a right spot, where he shall say, "thy will be done," and to acknowledge in that spot "without me ye can do nothing;" where the worth and blessedness of such a Saviour shall be found in the deliverance of the soul from whatsoever trouble it may be in.

But it is not so with a carnal pro.

fessor, he says, well I cannot help it, God could help it if he chose, and could make it very different; and he hath said in his word, "be careful for nothing," and again, "labour not for the meat which perisheth ;" and thus he unwarrantably charges God foolishly, and makes him the author of his trouble, when oftentimes he is buffetted for his faults. But remember this, oh, vain man, this is not the faith of God's elect. But, perhaps, it will work another way with others. His trouble is lest he should lose his reputation among men; but as sure as it is so, so sure as there is a God living this trouble will only work death. The prayer may be answered, as was the Israelites of old, "God gave them the desire of their hearts, but sent leanness into their souls."

But the Christian will go on to find other troubles mixed with these. He will, perhaps, in these places have to mourn for the presence of an absent God like one that mourneth for her first born, and like the dove that mourneth sore for its mate, David speaks in the 42nd Psalm," as the hart panteth after the water brooks, so panteth my soul after thee, O God. My soul thirsteth for God, for the living God: when shall I cone and appear before God?" And all down that psalm he is pouring out his complaint before God, but at last he encourageth himself, and says, "Why art thou cast down, oh, my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God for I shall yet praise him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God." Here the man of God found a place of rest where he might bring his trouble, and "cast his burden upon the Lord." I know this spot well of late, my soul has been like Job's, where he cries out, "Oh, that I might know where I might find him." I have sought him in one place and in another place, and again in another place, but could find no place to pour out my soul in; I

could not find him whom my soul loveth, the good man had taken the bag of money and gone a long jour. ney. And here I find self pity to be a very predominant feature, together with unbelief, which sinks the soul into a state of total helplessness to wrestle with God in prayer; but it is in these spots of real necessity and trouble that God places the words of my text, viz., "in the day of trouble." It is not when we may imagine the trouble before us, but "in the day of trouble," when we are really in want of assistance. "In that day, saith the Lord, I will pour upon the house of Israel the Spirit of grace and supplication, they shall call upon me and I will hear them," which cry I shall endeavour to show in the next part of my text.

Secondly, having shown a little what trouble is, I will now endeavour to prove, the real cry or call. It hath oftentimes been a trial to a child of God, that their cries have been as consistent with the word of God as possible, yet, they have not been answered; when it is declared by Christ himself, that “whatsoever we ask the Father in his name, it should be given to us." This mystery can be unfolded, by none other than God the Holy Ghost, where he will shew this poor soul, his faith is not to stand in word only, but in power; and that this power is not inherent in the creature," not by might, nor by power, (of the creature) saith the Lord, but by my Spirit," and "when he the Spirit of truth is come, he shall lead you into all truth," he will not lead into presumption, no, he will strip the soul of all confidence in the creature, and he will put the cry there himself, and enable the poor soul, to mix it with humble faith, "the Spirit itself making intercession within us, with groanings which cannot be uttered," will be the prevailing power, that shall bring us into the presence of God, where we shall pour out our souls, in spirit and in

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