him as a vile offender: his soul, which was previously dead in sins, and lay unconsciously imprisoned, is now quickened by the eternal Spirit, and feels sin a burden; the hand of God lies upon him, pressing him sore; he is shut up under the law, and cannot come forth, has no soundness in his flesh, because of a sense of God's anger; neither is there any rest in his bones, because of his iniquities, for they are gone over his head as a heavy burden, too heavy for him to bear; he is troubled and bowed down greatly, seeing others walk at large, and, mourning his own lonely state, longs for deliverance. But he can no more come out of this low dungeon, this horrible pit, this mire and clay, of himself, by his own strength or exertions, than he can create a world; and the more he struggles to break off his chains, and open the prison doors, and come out by his legal works, the more he gets entangled, and the deeper he sinks in the pit, for he finds that the law demands perfect and perpetual obedience, is inflexible, and will not abate the least mite. Therefore, the Lord alone can bring a soul out of prison and set it at liberty; hence we read that "God setteth the solitary in families; he bringeth out those which are bound with chains, but the rebellious dwelleth in a dry land." (Ps. lxviii. 6.)

This is alone of his free favour, through the blood of the everlasting covenant, by means of the gospel of his grace, which "is the power of God to salvation to every one that believeth." (Rom. i. 16.) And the man who has thus been imprisoned and delivered, knows when, by whom, and by what means he was brought out. He knows that it is owing to the love of God the Father as the moving cause; and to the Lord Jesus Christ, as the sinner's surety, in his obedience death and resurrection as the procuring cause, by whose doing and dying the law is magnified and made honourable, and the justice of God completely satisfied: therefore the poor prisoner. is sent out of the pit wherein is no water, by virtue of the blood of the covenant, the lawful captive is delivered, and the prey taken from the terrible one; he is ransomed from hell, and delivered from going down into the pit of endless misery. He knows, too, that it is owing to the power and grace of God the Spirit as the efficient cause, who has shed abroad the love of God in his heart, brought near the blood, righteousness, and salvation of Christ, and testified of the validity and efficacy of his blood to pardon, his righteousness to justify, and of his power to save to the uttermost them that come unto God by him; having wrought faith in his heart to look to, and confide alone in the merits of Christ. Nor can he ever forget the mercy of God to him, a lost and helpless sinner, who was just ready to perish, when the great trumpet of love, pardon, and salvation was blown in his heart by the almighty Spirit, and his soul set at sweet and happy liberty thereby from the yoke of bondage, freed from Satan's heavy chain, and brought out of the prison house into the glorious liberty of the children of God, to hold converse and communion with the Father and with his Son Jesus Christ by an unction from the Holy One.

(To be continued.)

POETRY..

WOE IS ME!

Woe is me! for I am as when they have gathered the summer fruits, as the grapegleanings of the vintage; there is no cluster to eat: my soul desired the firstripe fruit. Micah vii. 1. The vintage glean'd, the summer fruits Are gather'd in, and nought but roots; No cluster on the vine I see,

MY GOD.

"I trusted in thee, O Lord: I said, Thou art my God."-Ps. xxxi. 14.

O Lord! and art thou not my God?
Though Satan dares suggest,
That I've no claim,
My hopes are vain,
And I am sore oppress'd?

O Lord! and art thou not my God?
Though sin and hell agreed,
Thy work deny,

Messrs. Editors,-I have reason to bless God for placing within my reach your little work, entitled the Gospel Standard; when it first fell into my hands I welcomed it as good news from a far country, for I was then labouring under very great anxiety of soul, and believing my case to be singular (for I had not heard of any one who had been exercised with such horrid feelings as I was the subject of,) as such I did not venture to divulge the state of my mind; but upon reading your little work, I rejoiced to find there were some whose experience somewhat coincided with my own, who were deemed by more advanced Christians to be vessels of mercy. This seemed to be the day-dawn of hope to my soul; peradventure, said I, the Lord may yet deliver me; and these words came powerfully to my mind, "Search the scriptures, for they testify of me." I did so, and I feel constrained to believe that God the Holy Ghost has, by such means, taught me to profit. The doctrine of election, which I had fought so much against, and from which I would fain have dissuaded both myself and others, I was led to embrace.

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I recently heard a sermon from the 16th of Ezekiel, and the 6th verse, which induced me to peruse the chapter, and I was led to exclaim with Thomas, " My Lord and my God!"

The following lines were written at this time; should they be deemed by you worthy of publication, perhaps you will give them a place.

THE BRIDEGROOM AND BRIDE.

Ye poor and ye needy, whoever you be,
Who have just light enough your darkness to see,
Have knowledge enough your sad state to deplore;
But cannot at present true wisdom explore!
'Tis not yea and nay, as some preachers have said,
But yea and amen in Christ Jesus your Head:
If tried and condemn'd though not yet set free,
Despair not! for Jesus says, Look unto me.
Talk not of your fitness, he knows all you've done;
The amount of your sins, he sees the large sum;
It is nought you can do, nor aught you can say,
'Tis believe and be sav'd, yea this is the way!
Mount Sinai's loud thunder which does thee alarm,
Mount Zion shall quiet and hush to a calm:
God blows with his north wind to bring in the south,
By and by you shall have the sweet kiss of his mouth.
When Jesus pass'd by, I was wounded to death;
Hannah, what aileth thee? I am Jesus, he saith,

I am thy near kinsman, believe me 'tis truth!

Then he spread his skirt o'er me, as Boaz did Ruth.

Now for better or worse, whate'er shall betide,

He said, I'll protect thee, and for thee provide;

A most faithful husband I ever will be;

Thou wast in eternity married to me.

Then fear not, heartbroken, disconsolate soul;

Christ's bride must be wounded before she's made whole,
When she's quite insolvent, both great debts and small,
This glorious bridegroom will answer them all!

He's Alpha, Omega, beginning and end;

He's the first and the last, the sinner's best Friend;

He's a refuge, a rock, a foundation stone;

He's all and in all, sufficient alone.

Prittlewell, Essex.

HANNAH HARRIDGE.

THE

GOSPEL STANDARD,

OR,

FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."—2 Tim. i. 9.

"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.-In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 26.

FEBRUARY, 1838.

THE GOSPEL.

VOL. IV.

Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed."—Gal. i. 8. The thorough-bred sons of the ancient Scribes, Pharisees, and mongrel Ashdods in the professing Israel of this day, all claim and quote this text in confirmation of their gospel; and if it be asked them what gospel is meant in the text, the answer is, "The one we preach;" whereas, the gospel here meant is as much opposed to theirs as light is to darkness, truth to lies, or grace to works.

The anathema, or curse of God, is doubly pronounced upon all who preach any other gospel than that Paul preached to the Galatians; and sure I am this awful curse hangs over the great body of professed gospel preachers in this land at this very moment. Is it asked, What denomination are you alluding to? I answer, Not to any one in particular, but to the whole,-Papists, Socinians, the Established Church, Presbyterians, Independents, Wesleyans and Arminians of every shade, General Baptists, yes, and Particular Baptists too, for many of them call themselves particular, when their conduct shows that they are not very particular. These all come under the curseindividual exceptions amongst some of them, but they are very rare compared to the mass. Well, but the grand point is, what was the gospel the apostle preached to the Galatians, and of what did it consist of free grace, free will, a mixture of both, or a medley of neither? Thank the Lord, though Scribes and Pharisees darken counsel, we, under the teachings of the Holy Spirit, are at no loss

B

to know what gospel is meant, and of what it consists. If we read verse 6 of the same chapter, it is there stated as plain as language can express it what this gospel is. "I marvel," says the apostle, that ye are so soon removed from him that called you into the grace of Christ unto another gospel." The grace of Christ, then, is the gospel here meant, and which the apostle preached unto them. "O,” say the Scribes and Pharisees, "this is the gospel we preach." But let me tell you it is no such thing. When you speak about the grace of Christ, you are like Balaam with his parable, you know not what you are saying. I know you can make a mighty clamour in the pulpit about grace; but what of that? It is like the unmeaning mockery of the vain, prating parrot, which learns its speech from hearsay. But what does the word grace in this verse mean? In the Greek Testament it is called charity, which, in plain English, means free gift, free bounty, free, distinguishing love and favour, unmerited kindness. It is the same word as is used in Rom. xi. 6; iii. 24; Titus iii. 7; and Eph. ii. 8. "If by grace, (charity,) then it is no more of works;"" Being justified freely by his grace," (charity), &c. Seeing, then, that it is the same word as is used in all these Scriptures, it is easy to understand what the apostle means by the term grace of Christ in our text, namely, the free, distinguishing, and unmerited love and favour of the Lord Jesus Christ, in the gift of himself and his fulness to his people, in direct opposition to the works of the law and the creature, in any sense, either conjointly or separately. This is the gospel the apostle meant and preached to the Galatians, which is clear, not only from verse 6, but from the whole epistle.

The marvellous love and unmerited kindness the Father hath to the church is such, that he gave his dearly-beloved Son for her; and as he loves his Son, so he loves her. But this sovereign grace more conspicuously shines and is manifested in the office-work of our glorious Redeemer as Mediator. Such is his love to her, that as the Father hath loved her, so he loves her. (John xv. 9.) Yea, his heart was so enlarged towards her that he laid down his life for her; he bought her with his own blood, standing as her Bondman and Surety; and now, on the strictest principles of justice and equity, having paid all her debt, he is for ever freed, and has a legitimate right to eternal glory. With an unceasing and perfect obedience, he kept and fulfilled every jot and tittle of the law, magnified and made it honourable for her. He was led forth as a malefactor to the spot of execution, really and actually bearing every one of the sins of every one of his eternally-beloved children, as really so as I now bear my coat upon my back. "He bare our sins in his own body on the tree." Nay, he was actually made sin for them. (2 Cor. v. 21.) With this inconceivable and obnoxious load, he ascended Calvary's hill and Calvary's cross; was numbered with transgressors; suffered the vindictive wrath and unsparing vengeance of God; poured out his soul unto death; was buried and rose the third day, according to the Scriptures. Thus he was delivered for our offences, and raised again for our justification, and so removed the iniquity of