A VOICE FROM AMERICA,

DECLARING THE POWER OF GOD TO

HIS OWN PEOPLE, WITH OR WITHOUT
MEANS, OR IN SPITE OF ALL FALSE
MEANS. BEING A LETTER FROM SARAH
SHELTON, THE ONLY DAUGHTER OF MRS.
CORBITT, WIFE OF JOHN CORBITT, BAP-
TIST MINISTER, ORFORD HILL CHAPEL,

NORWICH.

AND

can never come; I felt as if there could be no mercy for me; my husband's employer came SAVE in and kindly endeavoured to encourage me, but I could not be comforted; I wanted something to come home with power to my soul, because I read in my Bible that " power belongeth to God;" and just in this extremity these words came in with delivering power, "Come unto me all ye that are weary and heavy laden, and I will give you rest." I felt as if my burden rolled off, my conscience was eased, and my heart rejoiced, and I could and did rejoice, and praise the name of the Lord. Then those blessed words followed, "I will bring the blind by a way they know not, and lead them in paths they had not known; and make crooked things straight, and rough places plain; this will I do for them, and not forsake them." O! what blessed words are these to my poor soul now, applied by the Spirit of God to me; I have been brought to see and feel myself blind, and miserable, and naked, therefore I desire to be clothed with his righteousness; my righteousness is as filthy rags; I often have to say with Job, "O that I knew where I might find him, that I might come even to his seat. take, and But he knoweth the way that when he hath tried me, I shall come forth as gold tried in the fire." I hope the Lord will make me truly sensible what I am, and what I must be, to come before him; what would it profit me to come before him with a few cold prayers, and yet be dead in sin? What will it profit me in a dying day? we read,

MY DEARLY BELOVED FATHER MOTHER-We were glad to hear from you, and that you are so comfortable, and that the Lord is blessing your labours of love at Norwich. What a mercy to know that there is a way that poor sinners may come unto him and be saved; he hath said in his word, "Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest." My dear parents, there is a great deal of profession in these parts, but how much possession I cannot tell but they profess to have a great deal-they go to chapel and say they are converted, and in a few nights they say they have found the Lord, and they are so happy; but you never hear them complain of their sinful hearts. My husband and me have been to these meetings a great deal this winter; they are of the Baptist denomination, they have meetings every night, even Saturday, also in the morning. I think they have not missed baptizing only one week out of six; one week they baptized eleven persons, and another five, and I cannot say how many the other three weeks. My dear parents, we read in the Scriptures, that in the last days anti-christ shall come; and even now there are many in the world. We went to one of these meet. ings, and the minister took his text from Romans vi. 16, "Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death,, or of obedience unto righteousness ?" The minister invited all that would to come, and yield themselves unto Christ, and be saved; and then all the front seats were cleared, to see who would come to be saved. I kept my seat; and to hear the screams and cries of the people and the minister bidding them all to come, I felt myself in an awful place; I felt as if my hair stood erect, I thought they were blind leaders of the blind; and I knew I was wrong, and the cold sweat stood on me, and I felt as if hell would swallow us all up together; and I now felt these things of great importance, and such as I could not get rid of-I saw and felt that I was a sinner, and a great one too; yea, the very chiefest of sinners; and that I needed a great Saviour, and knew not what to do to be saved. Oh! the anguish of soul that I felt, I cannot tell you half; I could only think of the poor publican, and smite my breast as he did, crying, "God be merciful unto me a sinner." In this way I was made to pray for days and weeks, before I could get the least gleam of hope: one day we all sat down to tea, my husband saw that I was in great trouble, could take no tea. I felt as if my sin would drag me down to that place where hope

ye must be born again;" I hope I can say I desire these things; but I often feel when "I would do good, evil is present with me." O! this wicked heart of mine, this makes me feel my need of him; I hope he will ever make me feel my need of him; I desire to put my trust in him; we read, "it is better to trust in the Lord, than to put confidence in princes;" I know it is if we come right: "Search me, O God, and know my heart; try me; and know my thoughts; and see what wicked way there is in me; and lead me in the way of everlasting life." The Lord knoweth my heart - it must be in and through him alone, if ever I am saved. Oh! my dear parents, these are the days that I want your instruction and prayers; but thanks be to God, we have his precious word

to

go

to.

We do not go to the baptist chapel now; I have been there until I could not bear to hear them. Their minister has called on me several times; he told me, I must believe and rejoice in God's promises; but I felt as if I could as easy create a world as to do that in the state I was in; I kept going until I was starved out, and often felt as if I had not got any desire to go there; then these words came powerfully to my mind," come out from amongst them, and be ye separated, and touch not the unclean thing, and I will receive you, saith the Lord of Hosts." This Scripture used to trouble me very much, for I thought they were all better than me; but we were forced to leave them; and we now go to what they call the Old School Presby

terians. The minister there took for his text Galatians vi. 7, 8, "Be not deceived, God is not mocked; whatsoever a man soweth, that also shall he reap; for he that soweth to the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption; but he that soweth to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting !" That was what I loved; and in the evening he took for his text, John vii. 37, "If any man thirst, let him come unto me, and drink;" and it seemed as if it was all for me; we did not make ourselves known to them; but they have found us out; one lady and gentleman came to see me last week, and invited me to come before the Church; but I shall not do that at present, for I do not know their rules of practice; but I understand they believe in sprinkling. My dear parents, do pray for me, that I may be kept by the mighty power of God, and not left to myself, or I shall fall. I remain your affectionate daughter,

SARAH SHELTON.
America.

To her beloved mother and father, John and Mary Corbitt.

"THE CHURCH IN THE CIRCUS."

bent of St. John's, Portsea-(a Christian brother indeed) has set the churches in Christendom a noble example in the course he has pursued, with reference to opening one of the adversary's great banquetting halls, and turning it into a house of prayer; and a place where the Gospel is preached; where Christ is exalted; and where thousands are gathered together to hear the words of life and salvation.

This shilling volume entitled "THE CHURCH IN THE CIRCUS," now publishing by Partridge and Co., is, certainly, worthy of the attention of all who are longing to see the Church of Christ arise, and shake herself from the dust. We have read the work; and earnestly wished we could thus be useful to some of the thousands who surround us, deep sunk in heathen darkness and in sin. would give extracts, but have not room this month. The following paragraph, from a Portsmouth print, will shew how highly Mr. Knapp is esteemed in the district where he labours.

We

PROVIDENTIAL ESCAPE FROM DROWNING-We announce with feelings of thankfulness and pleasure, the providential escape of the Rev. J. Knapp, the respected Incumbent of St. John's, and founder of the Church at the Circus, from a watery grave. The Rev. gentleman was bathing on Southsea beach, on Monday morning last, when by some means he got beyond his depth, and had it not been for the timely assistance rendered by two bathers, who saw the perilous position in which Mr. Knapp was placed, he must inevitably have perished. Such a calamity would have plunged the whole borough in mourning, for the loss would have been irreparable. Our thankfulness ought to be profound, that the rev. gentleman is yet spared to us to carry on, to a still greater extent, and to a yet more favourable issue, his "work of faith and labour of love," amongst us.

WITH mingled feelings of joy and jealousy we perceive that in all directions the most evangelical, spiritual, and faithful clergymen of the Church of England, are exerting themselves in the most laudable manner, and are putting forth all their powers, to gather up, and to bring under the sound of the Word, the great masses of our rapidly increasing population. As Christians we must rejoice in every enterprise which is successful in gathering into the fold of the visible Church, the fallen sons of men; but as believers in the New Testament Order of Faith and Divine worship, we must confess we view the great and wide spreading influences of the Church of England, the Congregational, and other denominational churches-with some degree of MAIDSTONE, MOTE ROAD CHAPEL. The Great jealousy. The great Truths of the Gospel and Gracious Head of His Church has given us a are dear to us: the ordinances of the Lord's little revival: during the last half year our conHouse, as instituted by Christ, and as observ-gregation has somewhat increased; we have reed by the apostles and first churches, are ceived into the church three by experience, and very sacred; and we would not depart from four by dismission; and our Pastor hopes to bapthem for all the popularity and praise mor- tize three others on the 27th. There seems to be tals can bestow. But when these truths are an increasing spirit of prayer among us; also held merely in a cold and formal manner; love and unity. when these ordinances are administered in On the 16th inst we held our thirty-eighth connection with cold, haughty, and unlovely anniversary; and were favoured with a more enspirits; and when, as a consequence, our couraging attendance and collections than for sechurches and congregations wither and de- veral years past. Our friend Milner was enabled to cline: it is impossible but that we must grieve; give us a full and rich discourse, in the morning, we fear lest the candlestick be removed from from Ephes. i. 9, "Having made known unto us? We do grieve. Our spirits have weeped us the mystery of his will, according to his in secret; and in deep anguish we have good pleasure which he hath purposed in himmourned over that death-like, that shallow, that weak, that unedifying, and that severing, Milner closed the day with an encouraging and disuniting, stoical, theoretical, and anti-practical spirit which so alarmingly wastes and scat-instructive discourse on Heb. xi. 25, "Choos ters the energies of our truth-espousing ing rather to suffer affliction with the people of congregations; and we long to see a Christ- God, than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a like power going forth to the help of our Several ministering brethren took a much-loved Zion. part in the devotional services, and friends came The Rev. John G. F. Knapp, the Incum-12 miles, and others 7, to help and cheer us. Maidstone, June 18, 1858. JOHN DIXON.

self."
In the afternoon, brother Shindler ad-
dressed us from Levit. xxv. 9, 10. And brother

season."

"GOOD NEWS" FROM CANADA.

DEAR BROTHER BANKS-I desire to be thankful to the God of all my mercies for every bestowment of His gracious hand upon one so unworthy as I am of the least of his favours: he hath kept me, and watched over me, all my life long till now; he hath hum. bled me under his mighty hand, and broken down my haughty spirit, and brought me near to his feet, that he might look with pity and love upon me, and cause me to desire no other portion than himself while here in the wilderness; and to make me thankful for my very existence, and to bless the hand that directed me to the place where such sweet peace and love have been manifested to my soul. But these blessed seasons of enjoyment have passed away; and I have again been left to mourn an absent God; or, through my own waywardness and sinfulness, have brought darkness and guilt upon my conscience; peace has been destroyed, and comfort put far from me; slavish fears have taken possession of the mind; and God in the distance, has been approached with dread, and no relief could be found till a healing leaf from the Tree of Life has been applied by the Good Physician, with these words inscribed thereon, "All we like sheep have gone astray, we have turned every one to his own way; but the Lord hath laid on him the inquity of us all." This has gradually effected a cure, and wiped the guilt away; yet, with shame do I remember my sins before God, whilst I adore the grace that reconciles poor sinners to God, not imputing their trespasses unto them; and although I am far from always being on the mount of enjoyment, I trust that he does

"Now and then let fall a ray

Of comfort from his throne."

And this, too, he does in a sovereign way: when, and by what means he sees fit, and, blessed be his holy name, (if I am not deceived,) he often makes use of THE EARTHEN VESSEL to this end. As I was reading brother Bloomfield's sermon in the April No., on "the Smitten Shepherd," I had a most blessed season of holy communion and sweet fellow ship with that glorious Person, whose excellencies the dear man of God, through the aid of the Divine Spirit, was enabled to unfold; and, permit me to remark, that, here at these "ends of the earth," where we have but a scanty supply of preached gospel-truth, how much sweeter are such pieces as the above named, than those hair-splitting controversies which some (who are favored with gospel food in every variety,) seem inclined to indulge in; could they be sent here in Canada but for one year, I think it would cure them of some of their whims. We are favoured to read THE VESSEL, The Standard, and The Trumpet; and we sometimes regret that there are such

little things that cause a disunion between those servants of Jesus Christ, who all preach error abounds in almost every shape; yet the glorious truths of the gospel. Here they can lay aside their little differences, and hold their Union Meetings" throughout the country; how much more ought those who one another in love, endeavouring to keep the hold "the truth as it is in Jesus" to forbear unity of the spirit in the bond of peace. But we are thankful to God that he has made our and that some of its rich dainties we are favdear native land, the great emporium of truth, oured to partake of.

Perhaps you may feel interested in knowing that the Lord has a people ("a remnant according to the election of grace,") even here, in Canada, one of whom he has lately called from earth to join the heavenly host above; and as I was favored to sit for a few times beside the dying bed of the departed one, I will try and tell you a little about it.

There is something sublime in the triumphs of a departing saint; the last enemy, the king of terrors, is looked for and welcomed as a friend; the dark valley is illumined by the brightness and glory of his presence who spoiled death of its sting, and the soul catches the sounds of sweet music from the heavenly mansions, and longs to wing its flight to join the immortal choir in singing the song of redeeming love; and there is something here very encouraging to ourselves,-we look back at the past life of such an one, and see that they too, like us, have been trembling, doubting souls; often fearing lest they had no part nor lot amongst God's children; we see the grace which then sustained them, and kept them travelling Zionward, now shines forth so gloriously in their final victory. These things revive our drooping faith, confirm our hope, and fill our souls with love to that dear Friend and Almighty Saviour, who never leaves nor forsakes those who put their trust in him. And sometimes, while in this blessed and holy atmosphere, we could almost gladly exchange places with the departing spirit, and rejoice to lay down this sin-burdened body, and no more go out into this world of temptation, to have the affections alienated from him who is the dearest object of our soul's desire and admiration; and who that knows the power of temptation, and his own weakness and inability to withstand it, the influence of the world in its thousand perplexing, alluring and deceiving contrivances to hold the soul in bondage thereto, and the enmity of the carnal mind against God; who that knows these things, and what it is to be engaged in this conflict, and has been favored for a short season to sit, as it were within the very precincts of the heavenly world, does not dread the thought of being again immersed in that which so often holds the soul so far from the enjoyment of God?

It is not quite a year since I first became

acquainted with our dear departed sister, (Mrs. ELIZABETH HAIGHT, of Thurlow, C. W.) so that I can give you but a very limited and imperfect account of her christian career; but, from what I can learn, she must have been a member of the Thurlow Baptist Church nearly forty years, and was always remark able for her punctual attendance on the means of grace till prevented by infirmity and old age. She was a lively Christian, one that well adorned the doctrine of God her Saviour.

The first time I was introduced to her, I went in company with two or three Baptist friends. She lived with her son, a farmer, back in the country, with no friends who knew and loved the truth anywhere near, and had for many years been deprived the privilege of attending the public worship of God. I found her to be a cheerful and happy dear old saint, at the great age of 94 years. We were now on a long journey, and had not time to read and pray with her; at which she was much disappointed. The next time we went, she was confined to her bed from the effects of a fall she had a few days before; she rejoiced much to see us; we read and prayed, and sung a hymn, in which she joined heartily; she conversed freely on the Scriptures, and on the preciousness of Christ to her soul, and told us how the Lord first met with her, and manifested himself to her soul, which (if I remember right) is about 40 years since; she said, "I had been under deep convictions for a long time, and the concern I felt about my soul prevented me eating and resting, so that my son often used to tell me that I should certainly loose my senses if I went on that way long; and one day while in this trouble of mind, the thought struck me, that I would go to a Christian woman living at a house a short distance across the fields, and enquire of her what to do to relieve my distressed mind. I started, and while crossing the fields the Lord met me with these words, 'Lord, to whom shall we go? thou hast the words of eternal life, and we believe and are sure that thou art Christ the Son of the living God.' John vi. 68, 69. I knew who it was; I was changed in a moment, and filled with joy and peace, and saw the gospel plan, and my duty: I had not now to go and ask the good woman what I must do, but I went to tell her what the Lord had done for my soul." We left her much cheered and comforted by our visit. I have called on her several times since, but I have seldom conversed with her, without her referring to that memorable day of deliverance to her soul. I have lately visited her every alternate Lord's-day, having to pass her house to attend a meeting; sometimes other friends have gone with me. She used to long for the hour to arrive for our visit, and would sometimes count the days and hours before we went; she was always overjoyed to see us, and would at once carefully remind us, not to leave without praying with her. I am sorry that I did not write down many of her sweet remarks, but I had not thought of ever writing to any one what she said. Her only companion was the New Testament, which she read a great deal; she told us that she had read it through three times during the last

year of her life, and it is a remarkable fact that her sight had returned, so that for several years (I think 13 or 14,) she had been able to see to read without the aid of glasses till within a few days of her death; and this privilege she highly prized. She would sometimes say, "what should I do, laying here night and day, if it was not for my blessed Jesus?''

On Sabbath, 13th December last, I was rather late before I reached there; she had began to fear that I had forgotten her; she said, if I had done so, she should have felt herself to be a miserable and deserted creature; she held me by the hand, and blessed the Lord that I had come, and asked the Lord to bless my coming to see such a poor old woman. She spoke of the happy seasons she had enjoyed in the house of God; she remarked that I had now been to meeting, but she was confined to her bed; this she felt rather keenly. She said, 66 pray for me, that the Lord will sustain me in the trying_hour. What a good thing it is for me, that I have such a good evidence that the Lord has manifested his pardoning mercy to my soul." Here again she referred to the day when her darkness was turned to light, and her sorrow into joy; and added, "what great things the Lord has done for me." She then told me of the blessedness that sometimes filled her soul during her sleepless nights: one night very lately she was so overjoyed that she could not help singing aloud the Evening Hymn,

66 Glory to thee, my God, this night," &c. at which the family in the other part of the house were alarmed; but, she said, "I could not help it, I was so happy."

Dec. 27th.-On seeing me enter, she manifested the same joy as on former visits; and talked most familiarly of the Lord Jesus, and his preciousness to her soul. She said, "Jesus is dear to me, he is sometimes so bright in my eyes, and the way to heaven so clear." I asked, what were the feelings of her mind about meeting death! She answered, "I am quite ready whenever he shall come; but, all the days of my appointed time will I wait, till my change come.' Again she spake of her love to the sanctuary, and to the ordinance of believers' baptism: and praised the Lord for my visit! she held my hand in her's and charged me never to neglect or forsake her while she lived. She made some remarks with reference to myself, in reply to which, I spake to her of the doubts I sometimes have of myself, when she sharpely replied, "you must not always expect light and comfort, but in darkness Christ is a sure resting place for the soul."

Jan. 10th, 1858.-I called, with 'several other friends, and noticed a striking change in her countenance; and this was the last time I conversed with her; her mind was unchanged and happy. With strong confidence in the God of her salvation, she said to us, "when night now comes, I never expect to live till morning, which makes me feel very happy." She wished us to read to her of the birth of Christ. We did so; and she made some remarks thereon, which I do not dis