I cannot say the exact time when I was quickened; but I well remember the law-terrors I felt within before pardoning mercy dissolved my heart, soul, and eyes, at the foot of the cross. I have now reason to believe that God the Spirit was gradually unfolding the law in my conscience for several years, though I knew it not then; neither did any one else know, except myself, (so reserved was I, for fear of being a hypocrite,) the dreadful workings and torments of my mind, until guilt, law-terrors, and fear, were removed from my conscience by the application of the blood of Jesus. Then the love of Christ, for the first time, tuned my heart, soul, and tongue so sweetly that I could not help but make it known. During those several years, my convictions wore off, from time to time, till the last six months during which I was in this state, when they never wore off again, but grew stronger and deeper, till, on the verge of despair, my soul did, as a drowning man, most vehemently cry out with bitter anguish and resistless desire, "Lord, save, or I perish! God be merciful to me, a sinner!" Then, as quick as thought, a voice echoed through all the powers of my soul, saying, "Fear not, I am with thee; be not dismayed, I am thy God. I will strengthen thee; yea, I will help thee; yea, I will uphold thee by the right hand of my righteousness." This was enough; my heart was broken, law-terrors and guilt were removed from my conscience, my doubts and fears were gone, my eyes were bathed in tears, my pillow was wet beneath my head, my soul was filled with joy and peace in believing, and my tongue began the new song, which I still am singing, and live in hope of singing above for ever: "Glory to God and the Lamb, redeeming love, and victory through the blood of the Lamb!" O what a blessed change my soul experienced in that well-known hour! O what a time of love I then enjoyed! O the heavenly raptures I felt, the fixed hatred to my sins for wounding the heart and piercing my Saviour so, and the longings I felt to die in his dear embrace, that I might not sin against him any more, and to be with him for ever! My dear friend, would to God that all who talk about liberty did really thus know what it is for themselves. I cannot take all for gold that glitters; neither can I feel satisfied with myself or others, unless I can feel and see the peaceful sign of the sprinkled blood within. Thus was I sealed up to the day of redemption; so others must receive the mark in their foreheads here below, and begin this song of the redeemed in glory while they are here on earth, or they will never sing it above. I have escaped from the dread of the wrath to come, in my own apprehension, only as by the skin of my teeth, my eternal damnation appeared to be so near; and I cannot set it down for granted that others may escape in silver slippers. True religion, and undefiled before God, is not so easily to be got at or obtained. If a man would give the substance of his house, and his body to be burned, for charity, or the love of God, it would be utterly contemned. And the soul that never knows what the love of God is here, will never know what it is beyond the grave. Salvation is of the Lord. Such language as this once would make me tremble; I could not endure it, nor bear those persons who spoke it; therefore, it is no wonder to me that the natural man resents and hates it, and those who love it, as he does. But now a feeling interest in these truths, under God the Spirit's sealing, has turned my choice, my feelings, and my voice; blessed be God for that. Such language now thrills through my soul with sweet and solemn joy, and endears to my heart the men who dare to (and do, in love and soul-travail for sinners, for Zion, and to advance the declarative glory of God) advance these blessed truths. Thus you have a few of my reasons of the hope that is in me; why I hope that I am loved by God, called of God, redeemed to God, and shall for ever reign with Israel's covenant God in glory when time is no more. Suspicions and doubts do indeed arise at times within, beneath the hidings of God's face, and make my soul tremble; but a single moment's interview in solemn communion with Jesus, and a faith's view of my best Beloved, put all matters straight, and my unbelief to the blush, and make my soul rejoice again in his great salvation. Nevertheless, it is not the fear of being lost at last that distresses me; it is the deceitfulness, wanderings, and base ingratitude of my wretched heart that so often cause me to walk in bonds beneath the hidings of his face, that grieve me. But when sin is done away, all my sorrows will cease; therefore doth soul rest in hope. Adieu. my Yours affectionately in the Lord, Bedworth, Aug. 2, 1844. THE TRIUNE GOD. G. T. C. "This, I confess, is a mystery which I cannot possibly conceive; yet it is a truth which I can easily believe. Yea, therefore, it is so true that I can easily believe it, because it is so high that I cannot possibly conceive it; for it is impossible that anything should be true of the infinite Creator which can be fully expressed to the capacities of a finite creature; and for this reason I ever did and ever shall look upon those apprehensions of God to be the truest whereby we apprehend him to be the most incomprehensible, and that to be the most true of God which seems most impossible unto us. "Upon this ground, therefore, it is, that the mysteries of the gospel which I am the less able to conceive I think myself the more obliged to believe; especially this mystery of mysteries-the Trinity in Unity, and Unity in Trinity, which I am so far from being able to comprehend, or, indeed, to apprehend, that I cannot set myself seriously to think of it, but I immediately lose myself as in a trance or ecstacy. 66 That God the Father should be one perfect God of himself, God the Son one perfect God of himself, and God the Holy Ghost one perfect God of himself, and yet that these three should be but one perfect God of himself; so that one should be perfectly three, and three perfectly one; that the Father, Son, and Holy Ghost should be three, and yet but one; but one, and yet three; O! heart-amazing, thought-devouring, inconceivable mystery! Who cannot believe it to be true of the glorious Deity? Certainly none but such as are able to apprehend it, which I am sure I cannot do, nor do I believe any other creature can. And because no other creature can possibly conceive how it should be so, I therefore believe it really to be so; namely, that the Being of all beings is but one in essence, yet three in substance; but one nature, and yet three Persons; and that these three Persons in that one nature, though absolutely distinct from one another, are yet but the same God. And I believe these three Persons in that one nature are, indeed, to one another as they are expressed to be to us, that the one is really a Father to the other, that the other is really a Son to Him, and the third the product of both; and yet that there is neither first, second, nor third amongst them, either in time or nature. So that he that begat was not at all before him that was begotten, nor he that proceeded from them both any whit after either of them; and, therefore, that God is not termed Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, as if the divine nature of the one should beget the divine nature of the second, or the divine nature of the first and second should issue forth the divine nature of the third; for then there would be three divine natures, and so three divine Gods, essentially distinct from one another. By this means, also, only the Father would be truly God, because he only would be essential of and from himself, and the other two from him. But what I think myself bound to believe is, that it was not the divine nature, but the divine Person of the Father which did, from eternity, beget the divine Person of the Son; and from the divine Persons of the Father and the Son did, from eternity, proceed the divine Person of the Holy Ghost; and so one not being before the other in time or nature, as they are from eternity three perfectly distinct Persons, so they are but one co-essential God. But dive not, O my soul, too deep into this bottomless ocean, this abyss of mysteries! It is the holy of holies; presume not to enter into it, but let this suffice thee, that He who knows best himself hath avouched it himself, and therefore thou oughtest to believe it: Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.' There are three, that bear record in heaven, the Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one.”—Beveridge. THE JUST SHALL LIVE BY FAITH. Dear Brother in the Lord,-In Habakkuk ii. 4, I find these words: " The just shall live by his faith," which are quoted by the apostle Paul in Rom. i. 17, Gal. iii. 11, and Heb. x. 38; of such importance are those precious words. This, dear brother, is what we need daily to enjoy, to glorify God, and for our own comfort; for "without faith it is impossible to please God." Kind Father! give us this faith, for Christ's sake. Amen. God assisting me, I will give you a few remarks upon this text; and that God may bless it to your soul, is my design and prayer in. writing, I can assure you. I. A scriptural description of a just man, in a gospel sense. III. What the just is to live upon. IV. The properties of the life that the just man lives. I. The just is a man that has had the condemning sentence of the law in his heart by the quickening operations or the regenerating power of the blessed Spirit; the real effects of which are, "Lost, lost, undone!" a discovery of the just requirements of God's just law, a deep sense of our total inability to perform its just demands, the just sanction of the law in our justly deserving damnation, and that God would be just in banishing us from him for ever. Now, the man really convicted of these truths cannot disbelieve them if he would, because they are fixed in his heart by the power of the eternal Spirit. (John xvi. 8.) O monster sin, pregnant cause of all misery, meritorious of eternal damnation! Hence arises the absolute necessity of a precious Christ (and thanks to God for his unspeakable gift); and, by the Spirit's further leading, Christ is made known as the Saviour of the lost, the Receiver of sinners, as dying the Just for the unjust, as the Deliverer from the curse, being made a curse (O sweet news!) for those that feel the killing letter. The sensible sinner is raised up to a hope by these truths; and a spirit of grace and supplication being poured out upon it, the soul cries, "God, be merciful, for Christ's sake! Dear Lord, save, or I perish!" Further. The sinner is taught the need and the truth of Christ's righteousness, the suitability of it for his justification and the acceptance of his person in the sight of God, for time and eternity. Now, this blessed righteousness includes Christ's divinity, incarnation, substitution, representative character, suretyship engagements, his holy life of perfect obedience to that law which we have disobeyed, his expiatory death, enduring the damnation due to us, having our sins condemned in his flesh, (Rom. viii. 34,) that the righteousness of the law might be fulfilled in us. This righteousness is imputed to us without works done by us. (Rom. iv. 6.) "But to him that worketh not, but believeth on him that justifieth the ungodly, his faith is counted for righteousness." (Rom. iv. 5.) O blessed truth! This, dear brother, is a gospel description of a just man; and not all his after sins shall make this believer unjust, for this reason-the righteousness that justifies him is everlasting; therefore, his state, as just, is so too, thanks to Christ. II. The just is to live by his faith. Observe, he does not live of, nor upon his faith, but by his faith. Not his faith, you see, but that which his faith receives, is that which makes the sinner just. Dear brother, I break my fast with pottage by my spoon. I feed myself; but it is the pottage, and not the spoon, that I eat. It is said, you know, that Esau should live by his sword, but not of it; it would have been too hard to eat, much more to digest. But he lived upon what his sword fetched in, suppose some good venison procured by his sword, and well cooked; and it would be comfortable living. I hope that you see the distinction between faith and its blessed object, Christ, and all belonging to his glorious Person. Yet by faith, and not by works, the just man lives; by faith as a fruit of the Holy Spirit, (Gal. v. 22,) the gift of God, (Phil. i. 29,) effected by the power of God, (1 Cor. ii. 5,) that has Christ for its beginning and end; (Heb. xii. 2;) by faith that is connected with the salvation of the soul. (Heb. x. 38, 39.) So much for the faith by which the just lives. III. Upon what the just lives, viz., the Object of faith; and on nothing else can he live comfortably. What is this? The ThreeOne God, three Persons in one incomprehensible Jehovah, coeval, coequal, and coeternal,- Father, Son, and Holy Ghost. The Father hath chosen us to salvation; (2 Thess. ii. 13;) and he has not appointed us to wrath, but to obtain salvation through Christ. The Son has accomplished salvation; his own arm has brought salvation; his death effected it; sin was put away by it, made an end of through it, blotted out, cast behind his back, cast into the depth of the sea, and, if sought for, never to be found; by which the just is without blame before God in love, faultless, complete, and accepted in the Beloved. The blessed Spirit glorifies the Son, in taking these blessings and showing them to believers. The Father was, in Christ, reconciling the whole elect unto himself, not imputing their sins unto them, (blessed be his name!) but made his Son sin (by imputation) for us, though he knew none (by perpetration), that we who knew no righteousness of our own might be made (by imputation) the righteousness of God in him. Jesus reconciled us to God by his death, even when we were enemies to God; much more, then, being reconciled (manifestively by the blessed Spirit's manifestation to the faith of the just man), we shall be saved from wrath through him. 66 Again. Sanctification of the Trinity: "To them that are sanctified by God the Father, and preserved in Jesus Christ, and called;" (Jude 1;) set apart in the counsel, purposes, and covenant love of the Father before the foundation of the world, to be "holy and without blame before him in love." Jesus, that he might sanctify the people with his own blood, suffered without the gate, that he might set apart the people holy, just, and pure before God as a God of justice as well as holiness, by the shedding of his precious blood. Every man that hath this hope in him purifieth himself, even as he is pure;" and, to accomplish this, Christ says, "And for their sakes I sanctify myself;" (John xvii. 19;) that is, "set apart myself, as my people's Head, Husband, and Surety, to put away their sins by the sacrifice of myself, and have, by myself, purged their sins." Blessed Jesus, eternal thanks to thee! And the Holy Spirit begins a good work of grace in their souls, carries it on in opposition to all corruption, sin, temptations, and every evil, and perfects the same to the day of Jesus; and they believe this truth, unto which they are called by the gospel. Now, dear brother, these are the objects of faith by which the just man lives. And we know how much we have of faith by the life we receive from those blessed objects. But observe, my brother, our |