mentioned a circumstance to her respecting two aged saints, man and wife, who had lived and walked in the ways of God in company for upwards of fifty years, and who were advanced to a great age. The woman said to her husband, who was taken ill, “John, I think you will go before me now." He replied, "I think I shall.” “However," she said, "I have this consolation if you should, you will be one of the first to welcome me into heaven's gates." The dear old man made answer and said, "Why, Mary, you know not what you say. If I get landed safely in heaven above, I verily believe it will take me at least a thousand years before I shall ever be able to take my eyes off from beholding my dear and loving Saviour; and I am quite sure, Mary, that I shall not see when you come in." Our dear friend smiled, and said, "Ah! that is it, that is it." After engaging in prayer, I left her. At another time, she told me of her complete deadness to the world and the things thereof. She said, "My poor body is a great clog to my soul. I am shut up, as it were, in this cage, and must there remain until it shall please the Lord to send and release me, although my soul longs much to get out of it. O the sweet and blessed communion I have had with Jesus this night! I shall never be able to relate the one half of what I have seen of his beauty, and tasted and felt of his precious love. He is to me 'the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.' Such, I can assure you, were my feelings, that I was actually afraid of any one coming into the room, lest they should disturb my peace, and cause my Beloved to withdraw his sensible presence from me. I communed with him so familiarly, and he with me, as a friend.' I replied, "Then you had the same feelings and experience as the church speaks of: His left hand was under my head, and his right hand embraced me;' 'I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my Love, till he please.' Yes, she said, those were exactly her feelings. She longed much to be gone, and said she thought that it could not be sin in the sight of the Almighty her thus wishing to depart. I told her, "By no means; only we should ever pray for faith and patience, with humble submission to the Lord's will." Her pains at this time came on again most violently. It was truly distressing to see her. Her cough was one of the most irritating nature. She would cough incessantly for hours together, with little, if any, intermission; and yet she was enabled to bear it all with much patience and resignation, continually saying to me, "O do pray the dear Lord to keep me from murmuring and fretfulness. I fear I shall be impatient, and so dishonour God in speaking unadvisedly with my lips." As soon as she recovered a little, and her cough ceased, she said, "I fear I do wrong in giving too much honour and glory to Christ, and thereby greatly dishonour the Father." I replied, "Not so, by any means. cannot give too much honour and glory to Christ. Hear what he himself says on this head: 'The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.' For what reason? Why, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. You He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.' And all this is that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.' Thus, you see, from Christ's own words, that it is impossible to give too much honour or glory to himself; for, in thus doing, you honour both the Father and the Son. And remember that all this is alone performed through the medium and divine influence of God the Holy Ghost, the third divine Person in the ever blessed Trinity, who also is thereby glorified." "Well," she said, "now I am satisfied." At another time, she complained much of the hardness of her heart, of unbelief, and of carnal reason, and said, “How dishonouring it is to God, and how much these enemies rob us of our peace and happiness!" and complained of being so completely shut up as not to be able to speak one word in prayer; that is, not to have any feeling sight or sense of her need, for a season. She spoke much of what real prayer is, and what it consists in, and said that she saw more in it than ever she did in her life before; after which, she informed me that she was enveloped in thick darkness. A horror of great darkness fell upon her. Her feelings were dreadful for a time. The depravity of her nature, the corruptions of her heart, and the filth and foulness thereof were discovered to her in such a way as she had never before witnessed or experienced. She saw and felt herself worse, if possible, than Satan, and said to me, "If there be any such thing as a devil incarnate, I am one, contaminated throughout, a mass of sin, and a lump of iniquity. Surely God can never look upon one like me.' I told her that this was only a prelude to some future enlargement, or more blessed revelation and manifestation of God's love and mercy towards her through Christ Jesus; also, that it was sent to hide pride from her eyes, and to keep her from vaunting or boasting in self, through the abundant revelations the Lord had before favoured her with; and that it was like Paul's thorn in the flesh, to keep her from being exalted above measure. And so it proved; for the next day when I saw her, she was as full of the love of God as she could hold. She smiled when I tered the room, took me by the hand, blessed me in the name of the Lord, and said, "O how sweet is real communion and fellowship with Jesus! How he opens up the love of his precious heart, pours in his wine and oil, heals every disease, and binds up every wound! How sensibly is his sweet presence felt when he deigns to come and visit us! O! blessed be his dear name, I am not afraid of death; it has lost its sting. Doubts and fears are now all gone; Doubting Castle is out of sight, nay, it is quite demolished; and Giant Despair is disabled, being in one of his fits. If free will could do anything for us, I know how it would be with me; I would not remain here one minute longer, but would bid an everlasting farewell to all things below, and take my happy flight to mansions of eternal bliss." She said that the Lord gave her this sweet portion: "The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework;" and she exclaimed, "O how blessedly do I see myself clothed with Christ's righteousness; there is glory within too, wrought in our souls by the en mentioned a circumstance to her respecting two aged saints, man and wife, who had lived and walked in the ways of God in company for upwards of fifty years, and who were advanced to a great age. The woman said to her husband, who was taken ill, "John, I think you will go before me now." He replied, "I think I shall.” 66 However," she said, "I have this consolation if you should, you will be one of the first to welcome me into heaven's gates." The dear old man made answer and said, Why, Mary, you know not what you say. If I get landed safely in heaven above, I verily believe it will take me at least a thousand years before I shall ever be able to take my eyes off from beholding my dear and loving Saviour; and I am quite sure, Mary, that I shall not see when you come in." Our dear friend smiled, and said, "Ah! that is it, that is it." After engaging in prayer, I left her. At another time, she told me of her complete deadness to the world and the things thereof. She said, "My poor body is a great clog to my soul. I am shut up, as it were, in this cage, and must there remain until it shall please the Lord to send and release me, although my soul longs much to get out of it. O the sweet and blessed communion I have had with Jesus this night! I shall never be able to relate the one half of what I have seen of his beauty, and tasted and felt of his precious love. He is to me 'the chiefest among ten thousand, and the altogether lovely.' Such, I can assure you, were my feelings, that I was actually afraid of any one coming into the room, lest they should disturb my peace, and cause my Beloved to withdraw his sensible presence from me. I communed with him so familiarly, and he with me, as a friend." I replied, "Then you had the same feelings and experience as the church speaks of: 'His left hand was under my head, and his right hand embraced me; I charge you, O ye daughters of Jerusalem, by the roes, and by the hinds of the field, that ye stir not up, nor awake my Love, till he please.'' Yes, she said, those were exactly her feelings. She longed much to be gone, and said she thought that it could not be sin in the sight of the Almighty her thus wishing to depart. I told her, "By no means; only we should ever pray for faith and patience, with humble submission to the Lord's will." Her pains at this time came on again most violently. It was truly distressing to see her. Her cough was one of the most irritating nature. She would cough incessantly for hours together, with little, if any, intermission; and yet she was enabled to bear it all with much patience and resignation, continually saying to me, "O do pray the dear Lord to keep me from murmuring and fretfulness. I fear I shall be impatient, and so dishonour God in speaking unadvisedly with my lips." As soon as she recovered a little, and her cough ceased, she said, "I fear I do wrong in giving too much honour and glory to Christ, and thereby greatly dishonour the Father." I replied, "Not so, by any means. cannot give too much honour and glory to Christ. Hear what he himself says on this head: The Father judgeth no man, but hath committed all judgment unto the Son.' For what reason? Why, that all men should honour the Son, even as they honour the Father. You He that honoureth not the Son, honoureth not the Father which hath sent him.' And all this is that ye may know and believe that the Father is in me, and I in him.' Thus, you see, from Christ's own words, that it is impossible to give too much honour or glory to himself; for, in thus doing, you honour both the Father and the Son. And remember that all this is alone performed through the medium and divine influence of God the Holy Ghost, the third divine Person in the ever blessed Trinity, who also is thereby glorified." "Well," she said, "now I am satisfied." At another time, she complained much of the hardness of her heart, of unbelief, and of carnal reason, and said, "How dishonouring it is to God, and how much these enemies rob us of our peace and happiness!" and complained of being so completely shut up as not to be able to speak one word in prayer; that is, not to have any feeling sight or sense of her need, for a season. She spoke much of what real prayer is, and what it consists in, and said that she saw more in it than ever she did in her life before; after which, she informed me that she was enveloped in thick darkness. A horror of great darkness fell upon her. Her feelings were dreadful for a time. The depravity of her nature, the corruptions of her heart, and the filth and foulness thereof were discovered to her in such a way as she had never before witnessed or experienced. She saw and felt herself worse, if possible, than Satan, and said to me, "If there be any such thing as a devil incarnate, I am one, contaminated throughout, a mass of sin, and a lump of iniquity. Surely God can never look upon one like me." I told her that this was only a prelude to some future enlargement, or more blessed revelation and manifestation of God's love and mercy towards her through Christ Jesus; also, that it was sent to hide pride from her eyes, and to keep her from vaunting or boasting in self, through the abundant revelations the Lord had before favoured her with; and that it was like Paul's thorn in the flesh, to keep her from being exalted above measure. And so it proved; for the next day when I saw her, she was as full of the love of God as she could hold. She smiled when I entered the room, took me by the hand, blessed me in the name of the Lord, and said, "O how sweet is real communion and fellowship with Jesus! How he opens up the love of his precious heart, pours in his wine and oil, heals every disease, and binds up every wound! How sensibly is his sweet presence felt when he deigns to come and visit us! O! blessed be his dear name, I am not afraid of death; it has lost its sting. Doubts and fears are now all gone; Doubting Castle is out of sight, nay, it is quite demolished; and Giant Despair is disabled, being in one of his fits. If free will could do anything for us, I know how it would be with me; I would not remain here one minute longer, but would bid an everlasting farewell to all things below, and take my happy flight to mansions of eternal bliss." She said that the Lord gave her this sweet portion: "The King's daughter is all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold. She shall be brought unto the King in raiment of needlework;" and she exclaimed, "O how blessedly do I see myself clothed with Christ's righteousness; there is glory within too, wrought in our souls by the blessed Spirit of God! Well might the church exclaim, 'I will greatly rejoice in the Lord; my soul shall be joyful in my God; for he hath clothed me with the garments of salvation; he hath covered me with the robe of righteousness!' O that I had a thousand tongues! They should all be employed in showing forth the praises of my dear and loving Saviour. What hath God wrought for me, a poor vile worm of the earth, that he should look upon one like me? He hath indeed done great things for me, whereof I am glad." She told me that one night the Lord said to her, "Come with me from Lebanon, my spouse, with me from Lebanon; look from the top of Amana, from the top of Shenir and Hermon, from the lion's dens, from the mountains of the leopards. Thou hast ravished my heart, my sister, my spouse." What she then saw of the beauty, glory, and transcendent excellency of Christ's person, majesty, and honour, she should never be able to describe. She said that she had a view of Christ's second coming very different from that of his first coming. He would not then come as a poor despised Jew, dependant on his followers for food; O, no! but as the "Mighty God, the everlasting Father, and the Prince of peace;" as the "only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords;" "He shall be revealed from heaven, with his mighty angels, in flaming fire, taking vengeance on them that know not God, and that obey not the gospel of our Lord Jesus Christ, who shall be punished with everlasting destruction from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power, when he shall come to be glorified in his saints, and to be admired in all them that believe in that day." She continued, "They shall all see him; yes, the wicked too, and many shall be ashamed and bewail on account of him; but, blessed be God, we shall be with him, and "be made like unto him, for we shall see him as he is." At this time, she had constantly read to her out of the epistle of John passages such as these, "Beloved, let us love one another, for love is of God; and every one that loveth is born of God, and knoweth God;" "We love him because he first loved us," &c., such language being descriptive of and suitable to her then state of enjoyment. She told me that, in the simplicity of her heart, she one day said to the Lord Jesus, "Lord, what love is thine! how great it is!" for she thought she had never felt half so much of it before. He answered, "It is a fountain, a fountainfulness; an ocean without either bottom or shore; it is a full, free, and everlasting love, without beginning or end;" and what made it doubly sweet to her was, he said unto her, "Yea, I have loved thee with an everlasting love, therefore with loving-kindness have I drawn thee." "O how I long to sing his praise! I have been attempting it all the morning, but my breath was insufficient." After engaging in prayer, I began singing, "What creatures beside are favoured like us- By God our good Father, who gave us his Son, |