diately to encounter difficulties and dangers which threatened them with little less than national, as well as individual, ruin. Brethren, pardon us for thus departing from our accustomed line of things. Our contact with citizens-the evident pressure upon their countenances and spirits-the visible failure of men's hearts from very fear of those calamities which threaten the land, so impress the mind, that we cannot be indifferent spectators, nor can we do less than offer at least a passing observation. But, beloved, to you who know and love the truth as it in Jesus, we come neither with the language of dread nor doubting. All is well, come what will; nor shall chance or contingency have the sway of any one circumstance. If Noah, of Jehovah's own free sovereign mercy, "found grace in the eyes of the Lord" (Gen. vi. 8), so have you, and that from the same source of free, sovereign, distinguishing love; if He forewarned Noah of those things which He was about to bring upon the land, so has He forewarned you; if by faith Noah took shelter in the ark of Jehovah's providing, so have you taken refuge in Christ, that glorious ark of which Noah's was but a type; and if Noah, and those which were gathered with him, rode in perfect safety upon those floods of wrath and indignation with which Jehovah deluged the world, so shall you enjoy a present and everlasting security in Christ! 66 "And the Lord shut him in." Having provided so gracious a refuge, we are told in the first verse of this same chapter, "The Lord said unto Noah, Come, thou and all thy house into the ark;" and though the "fountains of the great deep were not yet broken up, neither had the windows of heaven been opened,"-" all things continued as they were " (2 Peter iii. 4), yet the same Divine authority that spoke the invitation, caused it to enter the heart, and wrought a cheerful and instantaneous obedience. And just so now. Notwithstanding all the taunts with which both Jehovah and his Church are insulted about the power of man-poor puny worm as he is-proving effectual in the resistance of the Divine invitations, "Ho! every one that thirsteth," Whosoever will, let him come and take the water of life freely," yet-adored be His name-His truth shall stand, "His people shall be willing in the day of his power," so that the moment the Lord the Spirit speaks to the heart, that moment eternal life enters, "casting down imaginations, and every high thing that exalteth itself, against the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every thought, to the obedience of Christ "-former enmity is controlled Divine ability accompanies the Divine inclination wrought in the heart by God the Holy Ghost-and the poor sinner enters the ark Christ, "to come no more out for ever." The Lord shuts him in. He was in Christ from all eternity; but this shutting him in is the visible time-act, wherein Jehovah shows his discriminating grace, and omnipotent irresistible power. And what is the effect of this enclosure in the ark Christ? Salvation -salvation from all wrath and condemnation. All that the church would have suffered out of Christ, she has suffered in Him. He bore the cross-paid the penalty, and thus freed everlastingly all those who shelter in Him. Under the precious conviction of this truth, the apostle exclaims, "There is now no condemnation to them which are in Christ Jesus." Mark the importance of that little word "in." In Christ Jesus. No evil can befall such-no other condemnation arise. It is an everlasting salvation from past, present, or future evil, in Him. Reader, are you in Christ? Hath God called you into the arkbrought you in and shut you in there? If so, all is well-for time or for eternity-life or death. In Christ! Blessed security. The winds may blow and the floods rise; but neither the one nor the other can affect the safety, either of the ark or its inmates. It rides out every storm-sits unmoved on every billow. Neither sin, Satan, nor the world, can touch that life which is hid with Christ in God. Moreover, there is supply. Temporal and spiritual provision are treasured up in the ark Christ, for all who find shelter there. "My God," says the apostle, "shall supply all your need, according to his riches in glory, by Christ Jesus. There shall not-there cannot beany lack. All that we, as the children would require, was foreseen and provided for in Christ, to be dealt out unto us according to the love and discretion of our covenant God and Father: so that whenever the inquiry may be put, "Hast thou lacked anything?" the answer shall be always ready, "Nothing, Lord." This ever has been and ever shall continue to be, the truthful reply of all the Lord's children to all such inquiries. Lastly, there shall be in this ark Christ songs-songs of deliverance -songs of triumph. If Miriam and the hosts of Israel could sing as they came up out of the Red Sea, as they contemplated the temporal deliverance which God had wrought for them, with what infinitely higher joy may the really spiritually Israel sing of that deliverance which the Lord hath accomplished, and is daily maintaining for them.! Well may the prophet Isaiah exclaim, "In that day shall this song be sung in the land of Judah, We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks." Read the first few verses of this 26th chapter, and mark the peace and security with which the Lord possesses his children, as realizing their salvation and their security in Christ. They cannot but sing and rejoice as they realize it; and, dear brethren, be assured that, critical as may be the circumstances into which the Lord is bringing us, as a Church, yet (as we long since said to you) we shall not be greatly surprised, if to those of his family who are spared in the world to witness those things which are coming upon the world, the Lord will grant a composure and a consolation in Christ, which can alone arise from the conviction that they are saved by Him and saved in Him, the Lord having everlastingly "shut them in." London, March 21, 1818. THE EDITOR, JESUS SHOWING MERCY. Being Recollections of a Sermon preached at St. Andrew's Church, Bethnal Green, London, on Sunday Evening, March 19, 1848. "And he said unto Jesus, Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom. And Jesus said unto him, Verily I say unto you, To-day shalt thou be with me in Paradise.”— LUKE XXIII. 43. OUR text, dear friends, furnishes us with three leading thoughts: The Application. The Answer. The Acknowledgment is twofold: The dying thief's acknowledgment of himself as a poor, guilty sinner; his acknowledgment of Christ as a mighty-an all-sufficient Saviour. Now, neither of these acknowledgments would the dying thief, or any man by nature, have made. It is peculiarly of the operation of the Lord the Spirit. He alone it is who opens the eyes of the mind to a discovery of our lost state and condition as sinners, and brings us to the feet of Jesus, petitioners for mercy. If you turn to the 27th of Matthew, 30th to 44th verses, you will see a testimony so distinct from that which lies before us, as to prove how much God the Spirit had done for this poor dying thief. The passers by reviled Jesus, wagging their heads, and saying, "Thou that destroyest the temple, and buildest it in three days, save thyself. If thou be the Son of God, come down from the cross. He saved others, himself he cannot save. If he be the King of Israel, let him now come down from the cross, and we will believe him. The thieves also which were crucified with him, cast the same in his teeth." Hence it is clear that, as yet, the natural enmity of the heart had not been slain-conviction had not been wrought, neither was the dignity, power, and godhead of Christ as yet recognized. But if you turn to the language immediately connected with our text, there you behold a vast change-sudden, but effectual! A vile sinner laid low in a moment! Conviction wrought in the heart, and a deep sense of his sinfulness and demerit possessed. One of the malefactors railed on Jesus, but the other rebuking him, acknowledged the justness of their condemnation. receive the due reward of our deeds, but this man hath done nothing amiss." And then bursts forth the importunate cry, "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." Here again is Acknowledgment. The confession of Christ. The apostle tells us, "No man can call Jesus, Lord, but by the Holy Ghost." The apostle had had experience of this in his journey to Damascus (Acts xxii. 8), where he exclaims, "Who art thou, Lord ?" and the prophet Isaiah declares that, to the natural man, the Lord Christ is as a root out of a dry ground, he hath no form nor comeliness; and when we shall see him, there is no beauty that we should desire him." How great, then, the mercy to have the natural enmity slain-our opposition, “Depart from us, for we desire not the knowledge of thy ways," subdued. Surely, dear hearers, the church of God is prone to underrate this mercy. Let us apply the subject as we pass on. The Lord the Spirit has discovered to you what is your state by nature; hath charged home sin upon the conscience, and brought you deeply to know and acknowledge that "None but Jesus,-none but Jesus, Can do helpless sinners good." You know his ability-you confess his power-and you feel that none but the Lord himself can help and deliver; and here you have been kept waiting months-it may be years. Well, it is a blessed position. You shall not wait in vain. It is the Lord's doings. He hath brought you to this simple acknowledgment, and therein hath done much-yea, very much for you. He hath "made you willing in the day of his power," and ere long the time-yea, the set time to favour Zion, shall come, when the Lord shall answer the very desires and petitions which He hath enkindled in your heart, with a "Be it unto thee even as thou wilt. Son, daughter, thy sins, which are many, are all forgiven thee-go in peace." Could you contrast your condition with multitudes, you would then see what God has wrought, both for you and in you. I was forcibly reminded the evening before last of what the Lord hath done for his Church in this particular. In a fellow-passenger I found a most. agreeable and intelligent companion: he was a Jew, and employed as tutor in connexion with some of the colleges. At length the conversation turned upon Ireland; and when, in answer to his inquiries, I told him of the distress in which that hapless country is still found; a great lack of employment-poor-house accommodation to an extent that insures a most frightful mortality-out-door relief to the limit of merely a penny a day, he said, "Oh, how thankful we ought to be! Oh, how favoured we are here in England! Oh, how good the Almighty is to us! It is of his mercies we are not consumed." Anxious to test these acknowledgments, and to ascertain whether he had come out of Judaism, I said, " Yes, but those mercies all flow through one channel, the Lord Jesus Christ." In a moment he turned upon me most surprisingly. His affability ceased, and the enmity of the natural mind began to vent itself in the most boisterous terms. Now what a mercy, my dear friends, if this enmity is slain in you; it is that which possesses every man by nature; for "the natural mind is enmity against God, for it is not subject to the law of God, neither indeed can it be." And though you may not as yet have received those precious tokens of Divine favour-those sweet assurances of Divine love-after which you so intensely long; though you may be ready to conclude that being kept so long in waiting, your convictions cannot be of the right kind, nor from the work of the Spirit, yet all is well. To be deeply convinced of sin-to know your own vileness and depravity-to lay prostrate at the feet of Jesus, poor and penniless, willing to receive mercy upon any terms, so that that mercy be but bestowed; this, this is the work of God-the beginning of that work which He hath covenanted He will carry on and complete unto the day of the Lord Jesus. And how merciful the terms upon which this salvation is promised. The poor thief had nothing to purchase it with, neither have you. And though our poor Roman Catholic neighbours tell us it must be bought with prayers and penances, and I know not what, yet our mercy is that it is a salvation to be had for nothing, "without money and without price." "And having nothing to pay, he frankly forgave them both." We come, secondly, to the Application. "Lord, remember me when thou comest into thy kingdom." "Think upon me; be merciful and gracious unto me-poor, guilty, wretched me, when thou comest into thy glory. Let that precious blood which thou art now shedding be applied to my heart-let it drown my sins. I am guilty, Lord-a vile wretch, undeserving of thy notice. I am neither fit for life or death. Yet, oh yet remember me." Fellow-sinner, my poor distressed brother-my sister, have you been there? Guilty-guilty; lost, wretched, undone; yet suing for mercy. The poor thief could not look at himself nor his circumstances: neither can you. There was one-and but one--hope for him; there is one -and but one-hope for you! That hope is Jesus, Jesus! The thief durst not look into himself, nor at himself; he had nothing to bring but guilt, wretchedness, misery; nor have you; but his dying eye was to Jesus. Is yours there? If so, He will prove Himself to be Jesus still! "For though He lives exalted high, His love is still as great; Poor, troubled hearer, is thy burden so great that thou canst not speak? thy heart so full that thou canst not give utterance to thy feelings? The Lord knows the language-he hears the cry, understands the groan; they say, "Remember me." Guilty, worthless, vile, ill, and hell-deserving, I know; but oh, "remember me!" Hast thou not said, "All that the Father giveth me shall come to me; and him that cometh unto me, I will in no wise cast out." Mark that "in no wise," not on any account whatever. It is as if the Lord should say, "You can bring no cause against him why I should not save him. Let him be an old sinner, and a very black sinner, I cannot refuse him—I cannot put him off. I will in no wise cast him out." Wondrous grace! boundless mercy! Blessed be His holy name, dark and discouraging as is the day in which we live-threatening as is the general aspect of the times, yet still the Lord is exercising his sweet mercy. Take home the little tract,* my dear hearers, that lies in the pews before you; and see there a very precious account of what the Lord hath done in the conversion of a notorious sinner. My mind was pained on coming to England, to hear that its truthfulness had been questioned, from one of your London pulpits; but since that, the heart hath glowed with gratitude to the God of all grace, in that he hath A small tract, entitled " Nothing to Pay," reprinted from the Gospel Magazine for February, 1848. |