: hold of eternal life, by earnest prayer, from a deep sense of my misery when just before I appeared to be nothing but a lump of sin and misery, like an Antinomian; but shortly after this I felt it all removed, and was fully persuaded of God's eternal love to my soul. 2. This laying hold is also felt, when uniting with God's tried family. I have gone to see them, and kept praying as I have gone along that I might find it good; but when I have seen them, felt as if I hated them all; being so shut up; but shortly after the Lord has appeared and I have felt the sweetest union being helped to lay hold again of eternal life. See Thomas when he was with the rest, notwithstanding all his unbelief be fore, cried out, “ My Lord and my God." And the disciples, before this who were going in company to Em (a little village) they said, "did not our hearts burn within us while he opened to us the Scriptures." Yes. he was known unto them in breaking of bread." And he is the bread of life: so that when by faith, we helieve, that his body was broken for us, and that his blood was shed for us, as individuals; then it is that we lay hold of Christ, the bread of eternal life. maus 66 3. This laying hold takes place sometimes while hearing the word preached : "for faith cometh by hearing." Now though you may have known well what it is to lay hold on eternal life, yet through the power of your corruptions working, and the difficulties of the way, unbelief makes head against you, and you will come to the house of God, full of this unbelief, writing bitter things against yourself; but the Lord appears, and either in singing the hymn, calling on the Lord in the first prayer or in preaching, the clouds disperse, faith gathers strength, and you lay a fast hold of eternal life. See Asaph and the change he experienced, when he went into the sanctuary, Psalm lxxiii. March, 1844.] for 17, for at the last he said" thou art the strength of my heart and my portion for ever." This is Christ coming down (in a preached gospel) as rain upon the mown grass, our gospel came to you with power, in the Holy Ghost, and with much assurance :" this life and immortality are brought to light (in a believer's heart) manifestly by the gospel. 4. This laying hold is brought about at times in reading the word, or good experimental books. When the Lord is pleased to shine upon the word while reading, he removes the vail of darkness from our minds and shines into the understanding, so that we can tell, that he has given us an understanding to know him that is true; and we also are persuaded that we are in him also: and that he is the true God and eternal life. I have found this myself in reading Mr. H.'s book, Romaines, &c., and the holy word. 5. This laying hold sometimes comes while meditating, trying hard to get hold. Oh, how the soul will try to look backward, forward, on the right and left hand in meditation. And although unbelief says it is of no use, yet we find that we gain ground this way: hence David says, I will remember thee from the land of Jordan, the Hermonites and the hill Mizar' and this was when deep called to deep, when all the waves and billows had gone over his head, and all this meditation was not in vain: for if you read on you will find that he calls Christ his life, his rock, the health of his countenance, and his God; then he laid hold, Psalm xlii. Lastly, this laying hold is sometimes, while acknowledging past and present mercies both spiritual and temporal. A christian gains as much if not more ground this way as any; hence God told Abraham," that in blessing he would bless him, and in multiplying he would multiply him," that is, while you are blessing me for the mercies I hestow upon you I will I increase those mercies: so that you shall find more and more cause to bless me continually and while you are multiplying or telling to others of the favours I give you, I will multiply them more than ever, and therefore remember that you magnify his work which men behold. Hence, the Lord says by the prophet Jeremiah, as follows: And it shall be to me a name of joy, a praise, and an honour before all the nations of the earth, which shall hear all the good that I do unto them, and they shall fear and tremble, for all the goodness and for all the prosperity which I procure unto it." Jer. xxxix. 9. And all this is the work of God's spirit in us, drawing forth his own grace into exercise and if he does not, no gratitude ever can arise to God for any mercy. No, our corrupt nature which we still carry about with us is quite opposite to all this. Now in this wey we sometimes get hold, and it is by sowing to the spirit; and although there may be little or no heart for it, when we begin; yet I have found as I have gone, a heart given me; then it is a sweet and delighful work. But I come now to the fourth particular, which is to treat of good works and what it is to be rich in them: and here I shall be very brief, having entered largely some time back into this subject about good works, upon that text, they profess to know God; but observe, there are no good works in any that are destitute of God's grace and Spirit; the tree must be made good before the fruit can be good, all other fruit is only a fair shew in the flesh; but the good works which Paul is here particularly alluding to, is, certainly liberality not only in parting with temporal things which may be done by people destitute of grace but having a heart to do it in faith to God's poor. Now, take notice that this admonition is to those of God's family that are rich, that have it in their power, and to be rich in good works is to let it go where it is 66 needed as fast as it comes, and such shall never want, for "the liberal deviseth liberal things" and by liberal things he shall stand. I will. shew you from God's word some that were rich in good works, according to our text, take it as follows: Moreover brethren, we do you to wit of the grace of God bestowed on the churches of Macedonia, how that in a great trial of affliction, the abundance of their joy and their deep poverty abounded unto the riches of their liberality; for to their power I bear record, yea, and beyond their power they were willing of themselves; praying us with much intreaty that we would receive the gifts and take upon us the fellewohip of the ministering to the saints. And this they did, not as we hoped, but first gave their own selves to the Lord, and unto us by the will of God. Cor. viii, 1, 5. Now in all this there is something wonderful, and such liberality as never can possibly be found in any one destitute of the grace of God, for Paul says "not as we hoped," but how did Paul hope? why he hop. ed that God would bless them with a liberal heart to give, not grudgingly or of necessity, but they exceeded all this, for they in heart give themselves to the Lord, and then to Paul by the will of God; as though they should say, all we have, Paul, is at your disposal if it is God's will and that freely; what a blessed frame of soul and how very like the primitive christians who had all things common, Acts, ii, 44, and 45. 2. Now this is certainly being rich in good works; and, in order to it, 1st. There must be a heart to give. 2. It must be done to God's poor, and for this cause-out of love to the image of Christ in them. Lastly, Laying ourselves out for God: For we are not our own." A man may perform good works, and yet not be rich in them; but this I consider being rich in good works, and never can be done, no not by a real christian, without a great supply of grace, for it is oppo site to nature altogether. And observe that liberality to the saints is called grace. Hence Paul says, "As ye abound in every thing, in faith, in utterance, and knowledge, and in all diligence, and in your love to us; see that ye abound in this grace also,” 2 Cor. viii. 7. Oh for more of this gospel spirit, and less of that selfish, covetous, miserable spirit that I feel so much of, and is so very opposite to those blessed characters recorded in the sacred Scriptures. Lastly, let us treat a little about these uncertain riches, and the use which God's people, which have them, are to make of them. This might be very copiously entered into, but time and strength forbid. We all know that the generality of God's elect are poor, hence James says, "hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, &c." Nevertheless there are some that have been rich, as Solomon, David, Abraham, Job, and many others; and there are some in our day and ever have been more or less; but there is no certainty in these riches to any one, elect or reprobate, for "riches make themselves wings and fly away." Now the right use of them you may take in these six things-1. The right use is to assist a man's own family, if he has any, in a prudent way, and this will try temperance, for such are exposed to many temptations, which a poor christian cannot be; let your moderation be known unto all men. 2. The right use is to assist all men who need, giving the preference to those that we believe love and fear God, do good to all men, but especially to the household of faith. 3. To support well the cause of God in a preached gospel, as you may see both in furnishing the Tabernacle ni Moses' day, and also the Temple. It is said the people willingly offered, yea they were forced to restrain the people, for they brought too much, Ex: xxxvi, 6. 5, But if this is neglected, what reproofs there are against such by the prophet Malachi. 4. To assist the real ministers of Christ, for as they partake of their spiritual things, it is right, that in return, they receive carnal things, and not in a niggardly way neither. 5. It is right for sucn to be laid out for God as stewards accountable to him, knowing that they are not their own, and that what they have is the Lord's, "the silver and gold is mine, &c." Lastly. To be humbled before the Lord that he should so bountifully supply them, when thousands that he loves, he is pleased in a sovereign way to keep back and withhold for wise ends. This is the right use which I have just hinted at, and thus I have gone through briefly what I promised. And will finish with the text, " Charge them that be rich in this world, that they be not high minded, nor trust in uncertain riches, but in the living God, who giveth us richly all things to enjoy; that they do good, that they be rich in good works, ready to distribute, willing to communicate, laying up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on eternal life." I add no more. If profit be thy scope, Diffuse thy alms about; 'Tis lending to the Lord; No rankling rust or moth, J. RUSK. THE FIELD WHICH THE LORD HATH BLESSED. "Thou shalt not sow thy field with mingled seed."-Leviticus xix. 19. It is very sweet, yea, consoling to the minds of the living in Zion, when led by God the Holy Ghost to con template upon the Lord's special care over the nation of the Jews; his defending, protecting, leading, guid. ing, and supplying their every need, connected with his faithfulness in fullfiling his promise to them whichhe made with Abraham, relative to his bringing them into the promised land, becomes a source for admiration, to the heirs of grace. Again, his admonishing them to attend to the ordinances he enjoined upon them: his reminding them also of the perilous condition they were in, when Egyptian task-masters had the ascendency over them his reminding them of his sovereignty in stretching out the arm of his power to bring them from their hard bondage and the restrictions laid upon them, to worship no other God but his Almighty Majesty. At once reminds us of that grace We have ample proof of what is cited above, recorded in the foregoing chapter: "And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying, After the doings of Egypt shall ye not do: and after the doings of the land of Canaan whither I bring you, shall ye not do." These choice sayings of our Lord appear, yea, they are in unison with the language of our text, which I pray the Lord the Spirit will help me to speak or write from; for the comfort of Zion's family. The first thing that presents itself to our notice is the field, the field is a striking figure of the church of God which is emphatically called " a garden inclosed Song iv. 13. Walled around with salvation" Isaiah xxv. 1. It is spoken of as a vineyard, Isaiah xxvii. 2, covered over with thorns, and nettles, Prov. xxiv. 31; which in the Lord's time is to be ploughed, like a field, Jer. xxvi. 18. Having thus briefly briefly noticed the field, I proceed secondly to describe the seedsmen and their office. And surely, beloved in the Lord, there is a great contrast between them, and Satan's seedsmen, but it is a sweet thought that as they are commissioned by the Lord and owner of the field, to go forth, and scatter the pure seed of the gospel they are sure to meet with success though they often think to the contrary. See Exod. v. 22, 23; Numb. xi. 14, 15. But the (the ministers of God's truth), are not only called seedsmen but ploughmen also as it is written, "he that putteth his hand to the plough, and looking back, is not fit for the kingdom of God; " they instrumentally break up the fallow ground of the elect sinner's hard heart Jer, iv, 3, they handle the plough or law lawfully. 1 Tim. i, 8, Again our gospel came, said one of these plough. men unto you, not in word only but in power, yea, in power to make you willing to submit to the sceptre of Christ; power to deliver you from satanic influence; power to make you hate sin with a perfect hatred and cleave to the Lord with a determi nation to know nothing amongst men save, Jesus Christ and him crucified yea, Power to plead with God in prayer, I see it is necessary in the third place to notice the nature of the seed. Thou shalt not, said God, sow thy field with mingled seed; but, say you, what is mingled seed? It is a mixture of truth and error or what is called by some a yea and nay gospel, which in truth is no gospel at all to the spiritual church; and, alas, what numbers of such seedsmen there are that scatter this mingled seed. If you that are spiritually taught go over into a field, or in other words go amongst those who embrace this unsound doctrine, you will behold every plant on whom this mingled seed has fallen, corrupt; but the seed which God's seedsman, under his influence sow, is the pure seed of the everlasting gospel, free from the pernicious weeds of man's invention, This is beautifully described by our dear Lord in Matthew's gospel; again the principal of divine grace implanted by the good Spirit of God in the heart of a vessel of mercy is called a seed which is pure. But I hasten fourthly to make some remarks relative to the growth of the plants of this field, which the Lord hath blessed. The promise of the Lord and owner of this field, is, that these plants cited above, shall grow yea, revive as the corn. Now the term revive implies that they have to endure severe checks from the cold blast of affliction, &c., and as literal plants have to undergo the severity of the benumbing frost in winter, so doth these spiritual plants have to witness A heart shut up as hard as steel, Again I bave often thought of a saying come away. Thus they expand and sweetly grow, This makes their hearts rejoice and sing. The last thing I have to uotice upon the subject before us is the produce A WORD TO THE LORD'S AFFLICTED. My dear Sister in the Lord, WITH shame I take my pen to answer your last, considering so much time has since elapsed; but let not this delay be attributed to want of affection, but time. Your last discovered to me an heir of heaven walking in darkness, a child of liberty in bondage, a spring shut up, a fountain sealed, sparrow alone upon the house-top, a pelican in the wilderness, an owl in the desert (do not be offended) a soul in Mesech, a dove on the mountain mourning its iniquities, with a Woe is me! my leanness! Oh, that it was with me as in months past. Ch, that I knew where I might find him. What is the matter, poor girl? Thou couldest never lose what thou didst never possess, nor miss what you never found; nor regret the want of communion, if you never knew it; nor mourn his absence, if you never None but living felt his presence. souls can experimentally say, For these things I weep; mine eye, mine eye runneth down with water, because the Comforter that should relieve my soul is far from me." That dear Comforter will return again with renewed testimonies of his love, and you will then know, that those who sow in tears will reap in joy." Yea, no doubt ere this will reach you, |