this dear saint, in the hand of our covenant God and Father (the particulars of which I may give at some future time), I hold my present position in life; so that I have good cause to remember "this same poor man." Beloved, are not the Lord's poor equally dear to himself? Truly He is no respecter of persons. Whether rich in this world's goods, or poor, there is the same Father's love, the same Saviour's blood, the same fulness of grace, and the same eternal weight of glory. In this world the prince and the peasant are separated by circumstances; but in that to come, bless His holy name, there will be an equality; and how consoling the thought, that, "Though few here esteem us, the God we adore, Hath died to redeem us, what could He do more !" Many more instances I could name equally striking, but for the present must conclude with this remark:-Should the reader have it in his or her heart to communicate to that really necessitous afflicted one at Sturry, I shall feel happy in being the honoured channel of such a communication.-ED.] THE GOSPEL NOT YEA AND NAY. Having heard the joyful sound of the Gospel, and proved it to be the glorious Gospel of the ever blessed God, even good news and glad tidings to me a lost undone sinner, I feel anxious to spread abroad the matter, especially as there is so much extant generally received as gospel, which bears no more resemblance to it than Satan, the prince of darkness, does to our Emmanuel, the Prince of Light. Is the Gospel "Yea and Nay" or "Yea and Amen ?" If it is the former, it must be to the glory of the creature; but if the latter, it is to the glory of God and the praise of rich free grace. The Yea and Nay gospel declares that grace has no hand in it, and our Bible not true in declaring, "Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace ; and if by grace then it is no more of works; otherwise grace is no more grace. But if it be of works, then it is no more grace, otherwise work is no more work." We will, in the first place, inquire a little into the scriptural account of its being "Yea and Amen," and then prove the fallacy of the "Yea and Nay system. We love the Word of God, for it is so positive in all its statements, and such a certain declaration of what our God did in eternity to the glory of His own great name, and the everlasting safety and well-being of His loved people. It shews forth in its sun-beam rays the love of our triune God, above, beneath, and beyond the fall, the inflexibility of His justice, and the triumph of His mercy! How, in strict accordance with equity, the unoffending Head was smitten for the offending members! And how, when that one member suffered they all suffered with it; and when honoured, they were all honoured together! So that, "Christ and His members ever stood, one glorious mystic man, The first "Yea" I will quote, centring in Christ, is to be found in Deut. xxxiii. 3. r "Yea, He loved the people." Who loved the people? The eternal God, the Jehovah, that self-existing uncreated I AM, the everlasting Father. When did He love them? In eternity; and, as a necessary conse→ quence, can never end. Did sin in its first appearance affect it? Not in any way; for love had secured an antidote. A precious provision was in the covenant storehouse for all the effects of sin; so that, instead of sin being at all prejudicial to it, it was the immediate cause of that love being made manifest. There was then an opening for the Gospel, a way made for the uncreated glories of Jehovah, Father, Son, and Spirit, to be developed. The Gospel was first proclaimed in the garden of Eden by the Lord Himself after the fall. Man was then in a fit state to receive it. The gospel was the channel God devised to shew His covenant character through; there He reveals His Christ; there He makes known His righteous servant; there He proves the man to be made strong for Himself; there He shows Christ to be His fellow, and yet a worm (Psalm xxii. 6). Sin is a thing an holy God hates ; His fellow was made that identical thing (2 Cor. v. 21). Sin entailed the curse; His fellow was made that (Gal. iii. 13). Sin brought death into the world; His fellow destroyed it, by tasting and going through it (Heb. ii. 9-14). Sin incurred the stroke of an eternal God; an eternal person received the blow (Zec. xiii. 7), which being once endured, cannot again be inflicted (Heb. ix. 26), unless God denies Himself, which He cannot do for "He is not a man that He should lie, nor the son of man that He should repent." We have the heart-cheering and soul-endearing account of that grand infliction being made upon the Son of the Father's love in the 89th Psalm "If his children forsake my law, and walk not in my judgments; if they break my statutes, and keep not my commandments; then will I visit their transgressions (not their persons) with the rod, and their iniquity (mark! not persons) with stripes." Compare the key-portions to the above (Isaiah liii. 3, 4, 5): "He is despised and rejected of men; a man of sorrows and acquainted with grief; and we hid as it were our faces from Him; He was despised, and we esteemed Him not. Surely He hath borne our griefs, and carried our sorrows; yet we did esteem Him stricken, smitten (here's the rod) of God, ('I will visit,' &c.) and afflicted. But He was wounded for our transgressions, He was bruised for our iniquities (here are the 'iniquities' you see); the chastisement of our peace was upon Him; and with His stripes we are (not shall be) healed. All we like sheep (not goats!) have gone astray; we have turned every one to his own way; and the Lord (mark!) hath (done!) laid on Him the iniquity of us all." Compare with : Heb. x. 17. The above is a little of the "Yea and Amen" gospel, showing forth the inflexibility of God's justice, and the satisfaction given by a just and righteous person; the consequence of which is, "He hath not beheld iniquity in Jacob, nor seen perverseness in Israel;" for, "Thou art all fair my love; there is no spot in thee." "The King's Daughter is (not, to be!) all glorious within; her clothing is of wrought gold." So that "The Lord's portion is His people; Jacob is the lot of His inheritance;" hence the reciprocal response of this loved one is : The Lord is my portion, saith my soul :" "This is my beloved, and this is my friend, O daughters of Jerusalem." (To be continued.) VOL. I. ZION'S WITNESS. NOVEMBER, 1858. No. 2. A HOME QUESTION. "Lacked ye anything? And they said, Nothing." WHAT a home question, beloved! and how timely spoken. Truly never man spake like this man. He alone knows how to speak a word in season to him that is weary. "A word spoken in due season, how good is it!" "A word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver." There is no waste of words when Jesus speaks; but each commands and secures a place in our heart. Now may the blessed Spirit take both reader and writer into His hands, filling the mind of the latter with savoury thoughts touching the King, and the heart of the former with the things thus "brought forth by the sun, and put forth by the moon," that each may be refreshed while meditating upon the way the Lord hath led us, and musing on a few of the many Ebenezers we have been enabled, through grace, to raise, singing, How in the Providence of God, All things together work for good How mysterious when we view How wonderful His dealings are; To think He's brought us on thus far; And promised that He'll ne'er forsake, But for us always undertake. The paths the Lord has brought us through! Beloved, "Lacked ye anything?" Surely you are saying, "Nothing." In what single instance has He failed you? In what trial did He forsake you? When did He leave you to bear a trouble unaided? Dost thou remember the affliction He was not interested in, that He was not the sympathising one in? Were not the afflictions of His own appointing, and the bed of His own making? Was He not a God nigh at hand? Didst thou ever get a wound He was not able to heal? Did you ever get into so intricate a path that He could not find you? Do you remember the time His strength was not made perfect in your weakness? Canst thou look back at a mountain He did not level, or a valley He did not exalt? Is there a period in your history in which there was a crooked thing left unstraightened, or a rough place not made plain? Can your memory furnish you with a doubt He could not dissolve, or a fear He was unable to banish? Dost thou remember the time when the flood was too powerful for the standard of the blessed Spirit? Iast thou, through soul trouble, staggered like a drunken man, and been at your wit's end, and from extreme bitterness of heart fallen down helpless? Was He there at the needed moment, or did He leave you in that forlorn condition? Never. Has He changed in His love when you have basely sinned against Him? Can you not sing, No, bless His name, I've often prov'd "Lacked ye anything ?" Art thou saying, "Yes ?" Stay, pause, consider; be not too hasty; take a review of a few of your deservings; then ponder over some of His gracious dealings; and see if you are not "A debtor to mercy alone." What one thing hath failed of all He hath spoken? strained to say, "Hitherto the Lord hath helped me." Surely you are conThen, "He who hath helped you hitherto, وو Lacked ye anything? " Even in thine unregeneracy did He not take care of you? In how many instances has He kindly interposed when there was but a step, as it were, between you and death? How many times have you been on the threshold of a temptation, when, had there been an advance of but one step, your crime had witnessed against you to your dying day? But, no, He would not allow it, but kindly, graciously, and lovingly interfered, causing you to escape, though narrowly, even by "the skin of your teeth.” How powerful the adversary in such instances! how greedy of his prey! and yet, O marvellous mercy! thou hast been delivered, though a captive in the hands of that mighty foe. "Lacked ye anything? Was not His evervigilant eye following thee in the days of thy giddy youth? Did He not then keep thee from many hurtful snares? And was there not an occasional check or sharp reproof to make thee soberly reflect? Has He not held you back from running into that excess of profanity that your fallen nature would have urged you to? Surely His timely help was not lacking, even in those days. Lacked ye anything?" Who kept thee when an infant at your mother's breast, full of sin, and helpless, deserving hell as soon as you began to breathe, by virtue of union to a fallen head? Lacked ye food, raiment, or place of abode, when brought into this world of sin and sighing? Was there not a provision awaiting your arrival, even without a thought or the least care on your part? And are things altered now? Does He not say, "Consider, the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin ?" "Your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things;' "neither be ye of doubtful mind." Has He not also said, "Without me ye can do nothing;" "If ye then be not able to do that thing which is least, why take ye thought for the rest?" "Lacked ye anything?" How frequently have you looked forward to some approaching difficulty; and how it has been magnified from the fact of being viewed through an inverted medium; when to your great surprise, on a near approach, the seeming mountain was but a mole-hill of your own raising. On the contrary, how many times you have gone fearlessly and carelessly on, not for a moment dreaming of trouble near; yet, ere you were aware, there has been a sudden plunge, and you found yourself in an ocean of trouble-a sea of difficulties—a river of perplexities; darkness has overpsread the horizon; neither sun, moon or stars have been seen for a season; a devil tempting; a conscience accusing; friends forsaking; the heart sealed, mouth closed, and the word of God appearing like a tale that is told. I was almost saying,—well, I will say it, what an enviable position! Flesh and blood, it is true, cannot understand how a trying position can be an enviable one; for in every instance, like Lot of old, have it judges after the sight of the eyes. How true the words of the poet in such cases: "Blind unbelief is sure to err, And scan His work in vain ; And He will make it plain." It is true to be thus circumstanced is not pleasant to the flesh, but the Word of God and daily experience of saints declare there is a needs be, and a profit arising therefrom. If it depended upon the creature, as to the deliverance, it were an hopeless case. But, blessed be the adorable name of our sympathising High Priest, He knows how to compassionate such a case; and "The mount of danger is the place, Well beloved, didst thou lack anything then, or was His strength made perfect in thy weakness? Did He not deliver thee? Was not the storm converted into a calm? Did you not find His hand in the sea to break the flood, and His right hand in the rivers to stay the running waters? Surely you are constrained, after taking a retrospect of the whole, to say, "He hath done all things well." "Lacked ye anything?" May the Lord put the question, and the answer will be-"Nothing." Ponder over His eternal thoughts of peace; think how much higher His thoughts were than your thoughts, and His ways than your ways. Canst thou not remember the time, when, brought to a partial knowledge of thyself, there appeared nought but death and hell before thee; nought but the devil and thy sins within thee; and nothing but trouble around thee? Surely thou canst! Has it proved after all according to the prediction of the devil, and the cursed unbelief of thine heart? Was there aught lacking then, or canst thou sing with the poet : "Just in the last distressing hour, He did display delivering power?" If so, may you not further sing, "He cannot have taught me to trust in His name, And thus far have brought me to put me to shame?" وو "Lacked ye anything? ' Oh! may the home question put thy cursed unbelief to the blush, and cause the language of thine heart to be, "Who am I O, Lord God; and what is my house that thou hast brought me hitherto ?" Had it not been for thy love, my name had not been enrolled in the Lamb's Book of Life; had it not been for thy blood, my sins had witnessed against me to an eternal day; had it not been for thy justifying righteousness, I should have remained under the law and under the curse for ever and ever; was not Christ all my acceptance, I could not appear before the Father; was He not all my strength, I could not stand a moment; was He not all my wisdom, I must perish in my foolishness; was He not my redemption, I should remain in slavery, without the least hope of ever hearing the Jubilee trumpet's emancipating sound: but, blessed and adored be the name of our Prince Emmanuel, He is all my salvation, and all my desire. I have no other God and Saviour, Father or Friend. I have no other hope in the land of my pilgrimage, but am constrained to say, "Whom have I in heaven but thee? and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee," "O thou the hope |
