66 reason of the oppressions of the enemy, and the feelings of her mind answered to the Psalmist, when he said, Bring my soul out of prison that I may praise thy name for ever." But I desire ever to speak it to the praise and glory of my covenant keeping God; my first visit proved a time of refreshing from the presence of the Lord, and from the glory of his power; I could easily perceive the doubting and distressed state of her soul, arising out of the legality of her feelings, and the incorrect views she formed of God's method of salvation; but, as it was evident the Lord the Spirit had convinced her of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment to come, and crying out, Lord save, or I perish, I felt assured the providence of God had brought us together, that I might speak on the behalf of my dear Saviour, and to set before her despairing spirit, the riches of redemption, as they gloriously shine forth in the person of the Lord Jesus, who is able to save to the uttermost all that come unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for us. You remember it is said, "Out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh," and truly in her case it was exemplified, for in great bitterness of spirit she told me, the fears that distressed her, the darkness that overwhelmed her soul, and the fearful consequences that seemed to await her on account of her numerous sins and transgressions, so that in the midst of all unbelieving conclusions, I felt it my happiness to speak of him, who hath said, "The whole need not the physician but they that are sick; I came not to call the righteous but sinners to repentance." I endeavoured to set before her the sacred person of the Lord Jesus Christ, whose precious blood cleanseth from all sin, and by the imputation of his spotless righteousness, makes a sin-smitten and despairing s'aner fairer than an angel of light. I attempted to lay open, before her view the boundless blessings treasured up in him, and the freeness with which every conscious sinner is invited to partake of the provision of everlasting love, and to drink freely of the river of God's pleasure. I felt I was warranted to tell out, as far as they had been manifested to my own soul the wonders of redeeming love, and to assure this afflicted and perplexed saint, that all power in heaven and in earth was given into the hands of Christ, that he might give eternal life to as many as the Father had given him; whereby every saint is kept through faith unto eternal salvation. I perceived upon this statement, a visible alteration in her countenance; joy and gladness could now be read in every look; the penitential tear that ran down her cheeks was expressive of mingled grief, sorrow and of joy, which caused her again to rejoice in believing there was still hope for such an one as herself, and immediately began to speak of him, "In whom all the families of the earth are blessed :" she listened with deep attention while I attempted to describe the love of the Saviour's heart, the virtue of his precious blood, the freeness of his grace, and the boundless nature of his mercy, as displayed in every case, when a sinner is delivered from the power of darkness, and translated into God's marvellous light. She appeared to clasp with inexpressible delight the promises of the everlasting gospel; and as I knew her former anxiety and distress was occasioned by supposing some qualification were necessary, in order to secure a favourable reception, I felt it my business to declare, that mercy's provision was not to be purchased by any act of the creature, but should be regarded as the free gift of God, without money and without price; that apart from any consideration of the creature, salvation with all its numberless blessings, is complete and entire, wanting nothing. That Christ is the pearl of great price, the gift of the Father, in whom all the spiritual Israel shall be justified, and shall glory. My sister, I do assure you, I felt quite happy in the Lord while speaking of the wonders of redemption, as they shine most gloriously in the cross, and whilst endeavouring to lead the mind of my disconsolate sister, into clear and Scriptural apprehensions of the way of access to the Father, and the means by which a poor ruined sinner might escape the wrath to come, the Lord was pleased to own his own word, and in some happy degree to bless her with the joy of his great salvation. It was no difficutly to perceive by her altered countenance the inward composure and calmness that existed within, and the holy confidence she felt in committing to the hands of Jesus the interest of her immortal spirit, "who came to seek and to save that which was lost." I saw fulfilled in her experience that precious promise, They shall look on Him whom they have pierced, and shall mourn and be in bitterness, as one that is in bitterness for her first-born." Yes, indeed, her joys were mingled with tears, and the sweets of covenant mercy accompanied with a sense of her numberless transgressions; she bitterly complained of her base ingratitude to the Father of mercies, for want of improvement of the many privileges with which she had been favoured, the waste of precious time, the abuse of the means of grace, as well as her ignorance of divine things in the midst of showers of spiritual blessings, seemed to humble her in the very dust, and constrained her to acknowledge, she was the chief of sinners. I freely confess it proved to me a season of spiritual enjoyment. I felt an unusual degree of pleasure in holding up to her view the uncreated glories of the man of sorrows, and in pointing out to this afflicted saint the way of life and salvation, as mani 66 fested in the sufferings of Christ, his death and resurrection unto eternal glory. I desire to be thankful that this work of faith in which I was then engaged, and labour of love, was not in vain. We mutually felt the enjoyment of the presence of the Lord, and could say with the enquiring disciples, "Did not our heart burn within us, whilst Jesus talked with us by the way," and opened our understandings to receive the truth in the love of it: truly we could say, “There is a river, the streams thereof make glad the city of God, the holy place of the tabernacle of the Most High.' Until this sacred hour, we were entire strangers to each other: but the grace of the Lord Jesus, and the love of the Spirit, made us one in heart and soul, under the influence of which, we spake of the wonders of dying love, and were blest with the enjoyment of a hope full of immortality and eternal glory. During the day that I visited her in the evening, Satan had been very busy in setting before her eyes the sins of her past life, by which her mind was filled with fear, which hath torment. Here, again I found it my happiness to point out the completeness of the Saviour's righteousness, and the efficacy of his precious atonement, as sufficient to justify the sinner from all things, from which he never could have been justified by the law of Moses, and I am happy to say the Holy Spirit was pleased to own the testimony of Jesus, and to fill her heart with all joy and peace in believing. My dear sister, I fear I shall exhaust your patience by this lengthened account, I will then only say, in visiting this afflicted saint, I experienced the reality of that Scripture, "It is better to go to the house of mourning, than to the house of feasting." Indeed it was a time of spiritual enjoyment, and free communication between God and my soul, in pointing to the "Lamb of God, whicn taketh away the sin of the world." Fresh light seemed to shed its glory over the sacred page, which testified of him, the employment was profitable, and I felt an inexpressible delight in speaking of the freeness and power of the everlasting love of God, in snatching sinners as brands from the everlasting burnings; in one word, this sweet and blessed Scripture was evidently fulfilled in her experience, "Instead of the thorn shall come up the fir tree, and instead of the briar shall come up the myrtle tree, it shall be to the Lord for a name, for an everlasting sign that shall not be cut off." We parted at the throne of grace, mutually praising the God of salvation, that we had been favoured to spend an hour together, in which the Lord had commanded the blessing, even life for evermore. This is the spouse of Christ our God, PREACHING in the course of one of his long journies at lady H-'s chapel in Bristol, he was led to the following passage for his text, "My grace is sufficient for thee." In the course of the sermon he took occasion to relate the circumstance of a young woman who knew and loved the Lord, but was labouring under a strong temptation to put a period to her life by drowning herself: the enemy so far succeeded as to prevail on her to go to the river, in order to put the dreadful plan in execution; but as she was adjusting her clothes to prevent her from floating, she felt something in her pocket, it was her Bible, she thought she would take it out and look in it again for the last time, she did so, and the above mentioned text immediately caught her eye. The Lord applied it with his own energy to her soul, the snare was instantly broke, the temptation was taken away, and she returned blessing him who had given her the victory. The relation of this circumstance, was blest to the conversion of a man and his wife then present, and to the completing a similar deliverance. These persons, it appeared, previous to this, had lived in an almost continued state of enmity, their habitation had exhibited a scene of discord and confusion, and often their quarrels would end in a total silence. Some considerable time would elapse before a single word would be changed by them; in one of these unhappy seasons, the wife came to the dreadful determination of drowning herself. She accordingly left her house for the purpose, and came near the river, but it being too light, she feared on that account, she should be detected. She therefore knew not where to go till it grew darker. She at length espied a place of worship open; she thought she would go in, and when it was over it would be sufficiently dark. She went in, Mr. Wills was preaching, and as before observed, related the before mentioned circumstance. She heard with attention, and the Lord blest what she heard to her conversion, and the devil lost his ends. She returned home another person, and when she arrived at home, her husband looked at her with surprise-her countenance which before was the index of a malevolent disposition, now indicated the temper of the Lamb. Struck with her appearance, her husband asked her where she had been? she told him. He immediately interrogates, and, Did you see me there, she replied, No. He added, But I was, and blessed be God, I found his grace sufficient for me also. The reality of the change evidenced itself in their future lives and conversation, which were such as became the gospel of Christ, the grace of whom was sufficient to renew their hearts and save their souls. |