Bear "She knew she had an Intercessor above, | and you and I shall surely stand at His and what great things He had done for her; right hand. No night there. Grace therefore, says she, I am glad. To-day she and patience, the prize is sure. has been sleeping much, but ever responds the cross-wear the crown. My Saviour to the name of Jesus, which does often says, 'In my Father's house are many brighten her face, now much disfigured from mansions: if it were not so, I would have the effects of the fit. We can scarcely un- told you. I go to prepare a place for derstand what she says, and to all appearance you.' 'Peace I leave with you, my her ransomed spirit will soon be with Him she has loved. Come, Lord Jesus, and take Peace I give unto you; not as the world possession of this heart; make it holy, giveth give I unto you.' Oh yes, He is make me clean,' was her frequent cry yester- shall be like Him, and see Him as He is. gone to prepare a place for me, and I day. "There remaineth a rest for the people of God, happy in the Lord.' "It does grieve me to think she should have had such a fall-her sufferings are so great; but it was not by chance, it was the Lord's will. I will try and write again to-morrow or next day, if there is a change. "With our united kind love, believe me Yours in the best of bonds, "E. M." as ever, But the Lord dealt very mercifully with her, in not suffering her to linger many days after she had thus broken This occurred on the Wed her arm. nesday, and on the Friday following her spirit winged its way to glory. During those few days, she lay very quiet. On Wednesday she said : 'I know I have an Intercessor above, and what great things He hath done for me; therefore I am glad. Oh! yes, I do love my Saviour. Do, Lord Jesus, come and take full possession of this heart of mine; make it holy, make me clean. 'I know that my Redeemer liveth,' and He will not forsake me, a poor, unworthy worm. 'Bless the Lord, O my soul, and all that is within me bless His holy name.' te Hallelujah to Jesus, who died on the tree, To purchase salvation for you and for me." 6 Friday morning. Troubled in mind "Blessed are the from outward trials. peacemakers." On being reminded further, "Blessed are they that do hunger and thirst after righteousness," she replied, "Yes, my Saviour's righteousness, for they shall be filled. O my Lord, I do need thy baptism as much now as I ever did. I beseech thee, I intreat thee, now to baptize me with the Holy Ghost. Come and speak comfortably to my soul. Purify my heart, and make it a fit temple for thee. "There is a fountain filled with blood,' &c. Oh, let me wash, and be clean." Her lips moved on in prayer for some time, but words could not be heard. She lay in an unconscious state until Saturday night, eleven o'clock, when her spirit passed without a groan to glory. Thus ended the career of our poor widow. We felt a great desire, as a Christian duty, to follow her to her grave; but kind friends thought it prudent to have her buried ere we could arrive. However, we stood upon the fresh-turned sod, and thought of what a wonder-working God is ours— Thursday. After spending a very "Choosing the weak things of the world restless night, and sleeping the greater to confound the things which are mighty, part of the day from the effects of an and base things of the world, and things opiate, in the evening she became de- which are despised hath God chosen; lirious, and again very restless, but, at yea, and things which are not, to bring the sound of the name of Jesus, was to nought things that are, that no flesh calm, composed, and in her right mind-should glory in His presence." talked of the happiness she then experienced. "She would not change places with the Queen on her throne. What would a man give in exchange for his soul? But if I should lose my soul?" Being assured she could not, for Jesus says, "My sheep shall never perish," &c., she said, "Oh yes, and He prays for me; And now, dear friends, in conclusion, we want to ask you, who have been subscribers to this fund which has thus smoothed the pathway to the grave of this poor afflicted one of the household of faith, what is to be done with the little balance that is in hand? We had thought it might be given to the Aged Pilgrims' Society, but we shall wait to hear from you, and the weight of your wishes concerning it will guide us therein. Let this brief history, reader, encourage you to be increasingly on the look out for the Lord, and recollect, whatever may be your position, however trying, "Nothing is too hard for the 5, Oliver Terrace West, EXPERIENCE OF A NOW GLORIFIED SISTER. I was brought up an Episcopalian, and lived in the communion of that church, blind and ignorant, for some years, when it pleased the Lord, in sovereign mercy, to send his Holy Spirit to convince me of my lost and ruined state by nature, and to show me that there was salvation in no other name given under heaven whereby sinners could be saved, but the name of Jesus Christ of Nazareth. soul, for that day, when the work of grace was begun in my soul; and bless the Lord, that He has promised that He will carry on the good work until the day of Christ Jesus. I saw plainly, from Scripture, God's method of saving sinners was just the reverse of what I had been used to think. I had quite a different view of the character of God, of Christ, of the Holy Spirit, and of myself. I now began to understand the truth of My first awakening took place whilst what the Lord Jesus told Nicodemus, engaged in reading the Dialogues of "Ye must be born again;" and I felt Mr. HERVEY. The work treats chiefly that without regeneration there was no of imputed righteousness; but it takes | salvation. Now I sensibly felt my own in the fall of man, and the doctrines of inability for doing anything spiritually grace. My soul was wonderfully good; and I felt entirely helpless and alarmed when I saw myself a partaker of Adam's sin, and consequently liable to eternal death. O Lord, thou knowest the anguish of my heart, when I looked back and saw that I had brought a sinful nature into this world with me; that I had lived in sin all my days; that I was a rebel against my rightful Sovereign. Till now I was ignorant of the spirituality of the holy law of God. I knew not that its demands extended to the heart and life, and required perfect obedience; but now it was brought home to my conscience, and I felt that I had broken every law of God, and that my heart was deceitful and desperately wicked; and that I had forfeited every claim to the favour of God, and that I deserved nothing but His eternal wrath; and that if He sent my soul to hell, it would be only what I justly merited. Under a full conviction of my state, I for the first time in my life, in the bitterness of my spirit, cried out, " O Lord, be merciful to me, a sinner!" That was my first prayer; and I humbly trust was dictated by the Holy Spirit, and has since been answered by a gracious God in Christ Jesus. Bless the Lord, O my hopeless in myself, and my soul earnestly longed for an interest in the precious blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ, which I firmly believed could alone cleanse and justify my guilty and polluted soul in the sight of a holy and offended God. And now came on my trials; hitherto I had lived quite peaceable about my soul's concerns. I thought, like the rest of the world, that if I did as well as I could, I should get to heaven at last. But I now found that all my doings were vain, and worse than nothing; and that if the Lord did not show mercy upon me, and be all my salvation, I was undone for ever. Now I felt the burden of guilt on my soul heavy, and too hard for me to bear. Now I began to experience the hard conflict between nature and grace, and the difficulty of believing that the Lord would ever be merciful to me. I wished and strove to exercise faith on the Lord Jesus Christ, whom I believed had power to save, and did save Paul, Manoah, and Mary Magdalene; which was a sweet thought to me, that the Lord could save the greatest sinner, and that in a way of free favour; for although I had long : fought against election, I now was enabled to believe and embrace it with all my heart but to act faith on the Redeemer was more than I could do, and to love God supremely I found impossible. And now I felt the enmity of my heart to God raised to such a height, that I dare mention it to none but God himself, who knows the secrets of all hearts, and who knows how I have mourned over the hardness and impenitency of mine. And I believe that a more miserable creature than I was for nearly five years could hardly well be. I mourned and went heavily, for the oppressions of the enemy of my soul, that continually haunted me with one horrible and sinful thought, that made me cry bitterly unto the Lord. I had no human bosom that I could tell my griefs to, and I kept them concealed in my own breast till my health and the strength of my body declined, and I lost my relish for all the comforts of life which I had formerly enjoyed. I wished for death more than life; for really my life was a burden to me: nothing could satisfy or give me peace but a scriptural evidence of an interest in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus Christ. I looked into my heart, but I was frightened; for I saw nothing there but corruption and depravity, and my life was the same. This made me seek the Lord more earnestly (though in the dark) by prayer and supplication. I cried, "Lord, save me, or I perish;" "Lord, if thou wilt, thou canst make me clean." I felt sensible of my own darkness, and I said, "Lord, thou hast but to speak the word; let there be light, and light and peace will spring up in my soul." I knew the Lord's power to save, but I doubted His will to save such a poor, miserable, unworthy sinner as I felt myself to be. I told the Lord, with floods of tears, all my sins and all my sorrows; and I rejoiced, bad as my heart was, and full of sin as it was; the Lord saw it all, He knew all my trials and all my temptations, and everything I had to conflict with. I felt something relieved by this confession, but still I went heavily. I have often said that I expected I should go mourning to my grave; but I did not know what my gracious God had in store for me, his poor unworthy child. I had become dissatisfied with the preaching, and wandered off in quest of something more substantial; but continued in the communion of the church. I was pleased for awhile with the Presbyterian preaching, until I discovered it to be a complete mixture of law and gospel; and I used to come out of their churches more distressed and weighed down than when I went in: and my soul turned for comfort to the Lord's written word, which became very precious to me. I found a sweetness in the promises of God, which gave me great support; although I did not realize my interest in them, they showed me the power and faithfulness of God, and that He had saved thousands of poor sinners who had come to Him through the Lord Jesus Christ: and I was kept from despair, and continued to cry for mercy. I wanted to serve and love the Lord alone, but my heart was so hard that I told the Lord I had not power to open it. The Lord said, "I can open, and none can shut; and I can shut, and none can open.' So that I found I must be wholly dependent on the Lord for ability either to love or serve Him; for, alas! I felt that I had no power over my own heart, and I really mourned that it was so full of sin and wickedness. Here the Lord's word met me again with sweet promises such as these, "I will take away the stony heart, and give them an heart of flesh; "I will put my fear into their hearts, that they shall not turn away from me;" "I will work, and who shall let it;" "Is there anything too hard for the Lord ?" "for the gifts and calling of God are without repentance;" "sin shall not have dominion over you;" "the Lord is good and upright, therefore will He teach sinners in the way;" "if our heart condemn us not, God is greater than our hearts, and knoweth all things.' And many other passages of Scripture were made a support and stay for my soul to hope on. About this time the Lord led me to hear the preaching of Mr. P., and from his sermons, under the teachings of the Holy Spirit, I was enabled to see and believe that I was in that state which every poor sinner under conviction is in, and that I was not the only one who had thus suffered. However, I still thought that my distress had something peculiar in it, and I thought if my sins were of "How precious are thy thoughts unto On another kind than what they really were, they would be easier for the Lord to pardon. Many a precious discourse have I heard from that man of God; one from these words, "The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit; a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise," was a great comfort to me; and I humbly hoped that my heart was broken on account of sin. I saw that the Lord saved none for their worthiness, but alone for His own name sake; for the sake of His own dear and precious Son. Another, from these words, "Heaviness in the heart of man maketh it stoop, but a good word maketh it glad," was made a help to me; and On the morning of the 24th of Nov., many others of his sermons were made 1817, I attended on the banks of the useful to my soul, although I did not North River, to see the ordinance of yet rejoice in the liberty of the gospel. baptism administered by a young man I now heard Mr. FREY (a converted Jew) whom I had heard preach with satisfacpreach, whom I liked very much. This tion. My heart was much softened, and lasted but a few months, for in the my soul filled with love to the Lord for course of Providence he was stopped His amazing goodness to poor sinners, preaching, which deprived me of a great while I witnessed the ordinance. deal of comfort. I had been accustomed, the evening of that day the same young on lying down on my bed at night, to man preached, and I heard him to my repeat a little prayer which begins with soul's comfort. His text was from the the word, “I will lay me down in 5th chapter of Mark and 19th versepeace;" and many a night I have wept "Go home to thy friends, and tell them sore that I could not say it with truth: how great things the Lord hath done for I felt that I had no peace, and I was for thee, and hath had compassion on miserable indeed. Satan worried me thee." He spoke largely on the case of constantly, and followed me with that the poor man possessed with the devils; horrible temptation which distressed me and showed what great things the Lord more than I can express, and my soul had done for him, and the likeness there mourned continually. I think I would was between him and every poor, saved have given the wealth of worlds, had it sinner. Every word he said was powerbeen in my possession, to be delivered fully and sweetly applied to my soul by from this temptation, and to have en- the Holy Spirit. Mr. C. then told us joyed peace with God. I often thought his own experience, and my soul went I should have lost my reason; and in- sweetly along with him. I saw that he deed at times I felt very, very strangely. had been the very same sinner that I I often wished to die, and once or twice was, and that the Lord saved him as He Satan put it to me as a kind of question, had saved me; for I could no longer Could I not contrive to put an end to doubt that I was a sinner saved by myself? But, for ever blessed be the grace. My heart was full of love to the Lord, who has done such great things Lord for the great things He had done for me, that temptation was but mo- for me; and my eyes overflowed with mentary, and was quickly removed. tears-sweet tears they were, such as I When I heard afterwards of two un-had never shed-but now under a sense happy creatures who put an end to their existence, I was constrained to believe that it was owing to grace alone that I had not done as they had; for I had the seed of every sin in my depraved heart, but the Lord had thoughts of mercy towards me, and kept me safe. of the Lord's love to my soul, I wept freely, for I believed that the Lord had showed compassion upon me: and blessed be His holy name for ever and ever. The next morning I awoke, and felt the love of God shed abroad in my heart. Oh, happy morn name, He has added, for the comfort of It is of the Lord's mercies that I, a poor unworthy sinner, am still in the land of the living; and would once more attempt, in a very feeble manner, to record the loving-kindness of the Lord to a poor worm of the dust. Under extreme bodily suffering, and in the view of a speedy death, the presence of my precious Lord and Saviour was infinitely valuable and sweet to my soul. When first taken ill the Lord enabled me to remember the way along which He had led me, and to exercise a confident hope that He had given me grace to trust alone in the Lord Jesus Christ for life and salvation, and for everything my soul could possibly need. Oh, where can the trembling soul, on the very brink of the look with any grave, confidence or comfort, but to the precious Lord Jesus Christ? "who once suffered the just for the unjust, that He might bring us unto God." I felt that I ing! never to be forgotten, when I was enabled to rejoice in the Lord with joy unspeakable. I took a review of my past experience, and received strength to believe firmly that the Lord had thoughts of mercy towards me from eternity; that He had called me by His grace to a knowledge of my lost estate by nature, and the way of life and salvation through a precious Mediator; and now gave me faith to believe that I had an interest in all that the dear Lord Jesus had done and suffered that my guilty soul was washed in His precious blood, that cleanseth from all sin, and clothed in His perfect righteousness, which can alone justify a sinner in the sight of God, and my person and services accepted for His sake. I threw myself on my knees, and poured out my soul in thanksgiving and praise before the Lord. I called God my Father; my reconciled Father, my gracious Father, through the dear Mediator. I called Jesus my Saviour, my precious Saviour, who died and suffered so much for me, and delivered my soul from the lowest hell. I called the Holy Ghost my Sanc- was a poor, vile, worthless sinner; but, tifier, my Comforter, who enlightened under the gracious influence of the Holy my understanding to see my need of all Spirit, I was enabled to see and feel that that Christ had done; and now com- the marks of grace in my soul agreed forted me by enabling me to see my in- with those laid down in the word of terest therein. This day I consider the God, as being evidences of being born happiest day of my life, and I think I again, without which, the Lord Jesus shall never forget it. I felt at peace says, none can see the kingdom of God. with God; all my former fears and dis- Upon the finished salvation of the Lord tressing feelings were vanished: my eyes Jesus Christ, my soul desired to rest all were moistened with tears of gratitude her hope for time and eternity; and I to God, and I wanted to be talking of was enabled to believe that I had an inHis goodness all the day long. Thus terest in the everlasting covenant agreed hath the Lord, in His infinite goodness, upon in eternity between the Father and showed mercy to me, a poor unworthy the Son, according to which God's holy creature; a sinful rebel, not deserving law is magnified and made honourable the least of God's mercies, whose just by the obedience and sacrifice of the desert is (considered in myself) the Lord Jesus Christ, justice satisfied, and wrath and indignation of God for ever. the salvation of poor sinners secured But the Lord does not deal "with us who have an interest therein. I heard according to our sins, neither rewards two sermons preached the Sabbath I us according to our iniquities; for as was taken sick, the remembrance of the heaven is high above the earth, so which was very sweet to my soul. Part great is His mercy toward them that of the text of one was these words, fear Him." "The blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, Thus the Lord fulfils His own word. cleanseth us from all sin." Oh, how He has led me, a poor blind creature, by comforting and supporting did those that I knew not, in paths that I precious words seem to me, who felt had not known; He has made darkness myself to be by nature filthy and sinful; light before me, and crooked things but enabled, through grace, to believe straight, And, blessed be His holy that that precious blood had been ap & way |