Ruptured.-Hōōă nooě (literally great inflation.)

Hooă refembles the Hebrew Ruah in fignification, and is not very different from it in found.

There is something in the whole of this very fingular, and I hope our miffionaries will, in time, give us fuller information on the fubject.

I remain your's,

Spa Fields, Nov. 28, 1796.

T. HAWEIS.

THE BELIEVER'S LIFE SECURE IN CHRIST.

H

OW happy the man who is interested in Chrift and his great falvation! Of fuch the apoftie fays, Col. iii. 3. Your life is hid with Chrift in God." Union to Jefus is at once the principle, fupport, and perfection of his fpiritual life. All the fprings of his hope, comfort, fupply, and fupport, are in his divine head. He is fo joined to the Lord as to be one fpirit with him. In virtue of which fpiritual union to him, who is the head of all faving influences, a conftant (though often imperceptible) communication is kept up. By faith, he beholds this Saviour, as the only begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth;-in him all fulness dwells; and from that fulness he receives grace for, or grace upon, grace. With the apoftle Paul, he can fay, "I am crucified with Chrift; nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Chrift liveth in me; and the life I live in the flesh is by the faith of the Son of God, who loved me, and gave himself for me." At the fame time dead yet alive; dead with Chrift, but alive in him. He lived by Christ, in Christ, and on Christ. So that all that grace, for which this apoftle was fo much renowned; that knowledge, in which he fo greatly exceeded many ; that fortitude, which bore him through fuch complicated oppofition; that profound experience, whereby he was enabled to inftruct and comfort others; and that abundant fuccefs, which fo eminently crowned his labours, was all to be afcribed to Chrift living in him. The principle of the believer's life is fpiritual and divine; its fupport, whcther mediately from the word and ordinances, or more immediately from the Spirit and power of Jehovah, arifes either from the difcovery of the glory of the Redeemer's perfon, his offices as Mediator, the fufferings he endured, or that work which he either pronounced finifhed upon the grofs, or is now carrying on in heaven;-and the end of

* Gal. li. 20.

this life is God. On earth, they live to him, with the comfortable hope of foon living with him for ever.

;

It is an hidden life: Hid from the knowledge and the rage of this wicked world. The effects, indeed, of this life, may be, and must be, visible to the men of the world but of its origin and fupport they have no idea. Hence believers are defcribed as men wondered at, feeing both their fpring of action and their fource of fupply are hid, Their life is hid in the purpofc, promife, power, hand, and heart of God all-fufficient. How unaccountable then must it appear to a natural man, who never received the things of the Spirit of God, but accounts them foolishnefs, because they are fpiritually difcerned, that the fame Saviour, who to himfelf appears without form or comelinefs, to fuch fhould appear altogether lovely; that the Gofpel, which to him appears but as an idle tale, fhould to them prove fuch a joyful found; and things to him moft infipid, by them fhould be efteemed fweeter than honey, more valuable than gold, and more interefting than their daily food! Wonder not, then, that carnal men fhould cenfure and condemn what they cannot understand.

But leaving the men of this world, how often may it be faid to be a hidden life in reference to the Chriftian himself! He has this general conviction indeed, that it is fupported by the grace and power of God: But how that grace is communicated, or how that power operates, he can no more defcribe, than the tree can fhew us how it is nourished by the river that flows near its root; the babe, how it was formed in the womb; or the laborious hufbandman, how his food is digefted, fo as to impart fresh strength to every member of his body. This the Chriftian knows, that by the grace of God he is what he is; that by help obtained from above, he continues to hold on; and that he is kept by the power of God through faith unto falvation: But how that faith is nourished, that hope kept alive, or that ftrength imparted, he is unable to defcribe. All that he can fay upon thefe fubjects is, my fprings are in God, his grace has been fufficient for me, and he that has been my help ftands engaged ftill to fupply all my want, according to the riches of his glory. He is a wonder to himself while he reviews the paft, nor doth it yet appear what he shall be ; but when Chrift, who is his life, fhall appear, he thall be like him, for he shall fee him as he is.

This life is hid with Chrift. While upon earth, the glory of Chrift was much hid under that tabernacle of flesh, and that form o a fervant which he affumed. But even then Jehovah

Jehovah declared that he was well pleased in him, and in all that he did and fuffered. There was nothing in this world, nay, in the whole univerfe, that he could be faid to delight. in, but his dear Son. If viewed out of Chrift, even angeis would have been chargeable with folly; and feparate from him, the fpirits of juft men in heaven would no longer have been confidered as perfect. Yet this was the Saviour, whom men defpifed, rejected, and crucified. But God fent his miniftering fpirits to bear him to his own bofom; and now he is hid; for the heavens have received him till the time of the reftitution of all things. He is feated on the right hand of the Majefty on high, and all the members of his myftical body are virtually received, approved, accepted, and hid with him: Hence they are faid to be rifen with Chrift, and to be fet down with him in the heavenly places. For fecurity and certainty, all the fprings of their life are now in and with Chrift in heaven. Let not the believer in Jefus then fear: All the grace he needs, the ftrength he requires, the comfort he wants, the fupply that may be called for, either in fervice or fuffering-his fecurity-his all-is in Chrift. All his help cometh from that Jefus, whofe prefence fills heaven with happiness, and his glory all the ages of eternity.

But when it is faid, this life is hid with Chrift, in God, fatisfaction, fecurity, and perpetuity are comprehended in the expreffion. What fatisfaction! To have our life hid in that God who is all-fufficient! In his light to fee light. In his prefence to find pleafure. In Himfelf to enjoy all. That God, who is the rest of the weary, the portion of the wretched, the fulness of the creature's felicity, will open and unfold his own infinite excellencies for the folace and delight of his family.-Hid, in that abundance that can never be exhaufted, or cloy!

Himself, Himself, we in Himself shall view,

The same for ever, yet for ever new.

TRAPP.

Hid in God! In his omnipotence! What fecurity! Chrift in God, and our life in him. "As foon," fays the judicious Charnock, "might Satan pull God out of heaven, undermine the fecurity of Chrift, and tear him from the bosom of his Father, as deprive the believer of his fpiritual life, or defroy that principle of grace which God has implanted in him." No; it is the teftimony of Jefus; "I give to the eternal life, and they shall never perifh, neither fhall any pluck them out of my hand."-id in God. In that God who fills eternity. What perpetuity! Hid; not like Hagar in a wilderness of

66

diitres. *

diftrefs, but in a paradife of delights: Hid, not like Jonah in an ocean of rage, but of love: Ilid, like Mofes, both in the embrace, and in the glory of Jehovah, in the mount of vifion: To have life in God, and a life with him, endless as the ages of eternity.

AGNUS:

CHRISTIAN PATIENCE.

N the prefent world, every Chriftian has need of patience. It is not poffible to live in comfort, without the exercife of this grace. It is a choice remedy for every malady. Without it, Job would have utterly fainted in the day of his adverfity. Without it, Paul could not have been contented in his various conditions. Its effectual operation is not to deftroy the Chriftian's fenfibility, and to form in his bofom the heart of a ftoic; but it is to enable him to bear his trials and afflictions with a calm fubmiffion to the divine will, and to wait, with humble refignation, the Lord's own time and way for accomplishing thofe divine and precious promifes on which his moft pleafing expectations are founded. Afflictions of body, difappointments in life, temptations and buffetings of Satan, the contradiction, oppofition, and perfecution of men, together with the occafional hidings of God's lovely face, and his fecming delays to anfwer prayer, may be expected in this militant ftate of the church; but in the midit of all, let patience have its perfect work, and the pious foul will not defpair; nay it will even glory in tribulation. We have heard of the patience of job; he had great need thereof. There was a day when melancholy tidings reached his cars. One doleful meffenger arrived after another with intelligence ftill more difmal and difaftrous; that, after being informed of the deftruction of his oxen and affes, his fheep, camels, and fervants, the fourth and last meffenger arrived with the dreadful news that his fons and daughters were eating and drinking in their eldest brother's houfe, when, mournful to relate! a great wind from the wildernels fmote the four corners of the houfe, that it fell in, and killed every one except the individual who escaped to bring the fad account. In thefe diftrefiing and overwhelming circumftances, behold what patience, in connection with other graces, did for Job. He did not curfe God, and kill himfelf, but in patience poffeffed himfelf, and faid, "The Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away, bleffed be the

name

name of the Lord!" It was patience which made the holy Pfalmift open not his mouth in murmurs, when confumed by the blow of the hand of God. This made Aaron hold his peace, when his fons Nadab and Abihu were flain by fire from the Lord. It was the exercise of this grace which enabled Eli to say, "It is the Lord: Let him do what feemeth him good," when he was informed by Samuel that the Lord would judge his house for ever. The apoftle James tells the brethren to take the prophets for an example of patience. Jefus teftified of them, in his fermon on the Mount, that they had been perfecuted; and we know how Daniel and Jeromiah fuffered in that way; but patience enabled them to endure, and that without murmuring. Patience appeared confpicuous in the apoftles, and particularly in Paul, when, in the view of bonds, afflictions, and death, he could calmly and truly fay, None of these things move me." But never did patience appear in fuch perfection as in the ever blessed and adorable Jefus. This man of forrows, who endured all kinds of miferies, never once murmured. He was brought as a lamb to the flaughter; and, as a fheep before the fhearers is dumb, fo he openeth not his mouth. The garden in which he agonized, and the crofs on which he bled, bear witness to his patient fufferings even unto death.

But patience is exercised not only in a calm fubmiffion to prefent croffes and afflictions, but also in waiting for the good things which God has promifed to give to them that love him. Chrift was waiting for the joy fet before him, when he patiently endured the crofs. Mofes had refpect to the recompence of reward, when he patiently fuffered afflictions with the people of God. There are many great and precious promises which he has made to fuffering faints; particularly, that he will not fuffer them to be tempted above what they are able to bear, and will make a way for their escape; that their grievous chaftenings fhall produce the peaceable fruits of righteoufnefs; that he will never leave them, but ever be with them to fupply all their needs, and make all things work together for their good; and at laft to deliver them out of all their troubles, and take them ⚫ to the enjoyment of an eternal weight of glory. The apoftle fpeaks of the patience of hope, which may be the quiet waiting for God to accomplish his promifes in giving fuch enjoyment as hope had for its object. If we hope for that we fee not, then do we with patience wait for it. Ye have need of patience; that after ye have done the will of God, ye might receive the promife. There must be a patient conVOL. V. tinuance

E