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GOSPEL LIBERTY.

Boddicott.

THE liberty by saints enjoyed
Is no licentious thing;
They find a Father in their God,
Yet own him as their King.

To taste his love, and feel him near,
Is liberty indeed;

'Tis this, my friend, that is so dear
To all the chosen seed.

As a dear child, to walk with God,
And prove him loving too,
To bring to him their every load,
And tell him all their woe:

To find his helping hand sustain,
And lighten every load,

The darkest paths by him made plain,
And straight the crooked road.

The soul who thus to God lives near,

Of bondage little knows;

For Jesus doth his spirits cheer,
As on his way he goes.

But none can know the liberty

Of which the Christians boast,
Until from wrath they are set free
By God the Holy Ghost.

"Tis He applies that precious blood
Which makes the conscience clean,

Unites the soul by faith to God,
And brings sweet peace within.

Whene'er he doth this peace impart,
The soul to God draws nigh,
And with a thankful grateful heart
Doth Abba Father cry.

SARAH.

"THE LORD THINKETH UPON ME."

Ps. xl. 17.

66

We know

"How sweet are thy words to my taste; yea, sweeter than honey to my mouth." Believer, perhaps you are troubled; you may say, "The Lord thinketh upon me." It is something that your friends and your relations think of you; but this surpasses all;" they may forget, yet will I not forget thee." "Behold I have graven thee upon the palms of my hands, thy walls are continually before me." This word "thinketh" is a work of great import in the original; it signifies to esteem: "He was despised, and we esteemed Him not" (same word). Yet He esteems us; "His ways are not as our ways, neither His thoughts as our thoughts." It also signifies to meditate, to purpose; implying that the Lord is, if we may so speak, planning and devising for our good continually. "He thinketh upon me;" it is always true present time. He thought of me yesterday, yea, from eternity; He is thinking upon me now, and will for ever. The word, as a noun, signifies the girdle of the High Priest's ephod. that our great High Priest wears a girdle; righteousness is the girdle of His loins, and faithfulness the girdle of His reins." His thoughts towards us are righteous and true. All the Lord's people are Hashabiahs (1 Chron. vi. 45), whose name signifies "whom Jehovah regards, or esteems." What need has a Hashabiah to fear? Cannot the Lord carry out His thoughts and purposes? Can He be wanting in means to accomplish His designs? Impossible! "I know the thoughts (same word) that I think toward you;" saith the Lord, " thoughts of peace and not of evil, to give you an expected end" (Jer. xxix 11). Well, then, let the child say, I am a Hashabiah, "Jehovah thinketh upon me;" every day and hour prove it true. "I will water it every moment," then He thinketh of me every moment. Let us never forget how it is that Jehovah esteems such dust and ashes-it is only in His Son, "accepted in the Beloved." Hence He considers us, having His well beloved (in whom He views us) ever in His sight. "The Lord thinketh upon me." It is of great practical use.

Can I offend while

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my Father beholds and considers my actions of heart and life? If I do, He will think upon me to correct me. Am I in danger? Surely not much danger while He is thus engaged. Could He forget for a moment, some enemy might step in and ruin all; but "He thinketh upon me. Am I in sorrow? Now He will double His thoughts—“ I have seen— I have seen the affiiction of My people." He will think upon me to Am I tempted? He thinks upon me to deliver me. I sick? He thinks upon me to make my bed, and to send His children to visit me (Ps. xli.; Matt. 25). Am I dying? He, even Jesus, thinks

comfort me.

Am

upon me, to come down into the dark valley, and guide me safely through, and at length to admit me to His glorious presence. Is my body laid in the tomb? He thinks upon my sleeping dust to reanimate it, and make it like His own glorious body. He thinks upon this cottage of clay, to rear it into a magnificent temple, with the rest of His saints, for God to dwell in.

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And through eternity He will think upon me. All my safety and happiness are wrapt up in this,-"Jehovah thinketh upon me.' He thought of me in the counsels of eternity, to unfold me in the cove nant; He thought of me on the cross to put away my sins; He thinks of me on the throne, to bring me there also.

Brighton.

AN INHABITANT OF THE ROCK.

A FRAGMENT.

COME, poor trembling reader, thou whose eyes, perhaps, are just beginning to be opened as it were to a new-and at present altogether fearful -state of things, what is it that troubles thee? Thou art burdened— uncomfortable-yea, art very miserable, and knowest not what is the matter with thee. The world has not its former charms; its society has no attractions; its habits and practises are loathsome: a gloom has overspread everything: nothing affords thee pleasure or gives satisfaction: life is a burden, and yet the thoughts of death, and the contemplation of judgment, are intolerable. Each and all thou art seeking to drive from thee, and yet thou lookest in vain for quiet. Thou dost inquire after thy former repose, and thou askest thyself whither it is gone, and why? yet thou hast a dread even of it. If it were offered thee again, thou wouldest scarcely accept of it: for a certain amount of danger seems to attach itself to thy former condition, and thou art feeling as if thon hadst been drinking of a stream whose waters had been infected by the poisonous herbage that grew upon its banks. Contemplating thy sad condition, whilst with one breath thou art ready to exclaim, "Oh, that I had never been; woe is me, my mother, that thou didst ever bear me," with a second is mingled an involuntary sigh for help. And this, poor sorrowing soul, is prayer, although the object thus addressed is yet unknown. The Lord it is who kindly thus hath given thee sorrow and disquietude in the world, and from thyself, in order that in Himself alone thou mayest find thy future and abiding resting-place. The world no longer is thy home-creatures cannot aid thee; nor canst thou help thyself. Thou must go to Jesus. He is the good Physician, and se skilled in maladies like thine, that one touch from His own hand will act as if with magic (because it it is Almighty) power upon thee. Seek no other refuge; try no other remedy; it is Christ alone can give thee cure. All peace but that which He affords will yield to greater sorrow. Ireland, June 1, 1847. ALFRED.

CORRESPONDENCE.

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

DEAR BROTHER IN THE KINGDOM AND PATIENCE OF CHRIST,

THE accompanying letter I received, according to date, from an illiterate man in the lower ranks of life; and as he lives in a little nook of the world, far away from gospel ordinances and gospel magazines, I feel I am spreading no snare for his feet in sending you his letter. I found the morsel so sweet, I was reluctant to eat it alone, but wished to share it with the Christians who are interested in your Magazine, if perchance they may find it as savory as I did. The writer, "T. W.,” I became acquainted with casually, as some would think, last year, and his letters are the silent sample of his words and ways. A man who understands something of "balancing accounts daily between God and his soul," and knows the power of an experimental religion. His simple history, which may add a little interest to his letter, can be given in few words. About thirty years ago, when at the age of twenty-five, the Lord called him by grace under the following circumstances :- -He was a young man of mirthful disposition, which, with a good voice and jocund manners, made him the centre of attraction to the young men of his village; and in addition to much weekly impiety, the Sabbath was profaned by his attendance in the singing choir of the parish church, where, hid behind the gallery curtain, "T. W." was the leader of joke and jest. One day, two of the profane fraternity were missed. In the middle of the service one of them entered, and seating himself beside "T. W.," said "C. L. is dead." Starting with horror at the sudden news of his sinful associate's death, "T. W." answered, "Then he is damned, and I shall be no better off." Rushing from the church, he walked the fields in an agony of soul. The arrows of God had entered his veins: for three years he endured its barbed point. Shortly after his first impressions, he began to take a little comfort from his new walk and circumspect conduct, but going as a hearer into a place of worship, he heard the preacher quote in his sermon the words of the apostle James, "He that keepeth the whole law, and offendeth in one point, is guilty of all." This opened his wounds afresh, and he lay bleeding under the strokes of a broken law, till, under the application of the blood of sprinkling, and by the Spirit's revelation of a precious Christ, he was set at liberty and brought into experimental acquaintance with the gospel in power. Some time after this he was brought into a state of backsliding, through the instrumentality of his vivacious temperament, and his exercises afterward were more severe than his first convictions. But this was the time of the enemy's power, and a young woman of pleasing appearance, and moral conduct, attracted his attention and won his heart. To use his own simple words, "I be

lieve my love to the girl made me make the most of her religion, added
to which, I lost much of my spiritual discernment, whilst in this back-
sliding state. Still she wrote me very pretty religious letters, which
would frighten you to read, and I thought her at that time the best
saint of the two." "Woe be unto them when I depart from them;"
and so Israel finds to this day. But the Lord left him, and "T.W.”
like many more of God's silly people, fell into the snare.
Then began
his accumulated sorrows; his wife's religion, like her letters, were put
by, and "T. W." found he had taken a Hagarene to his heart and his
home. "Not," said the dear old man, "but she has been a good
wife. I am my lord, and she is my lady. She renders me all obe-
dience, and I have ever dearly loved her; but she knows not my God;
so this is the cause and source of all our tiffs. I am too straitlaced;
I am too severe. I think every one wrong but myself and half a dozen
in and near the village, and an odd minister that nobody approves of,
and who comes once or twice a year to preach in a cock-loft, or a
neighbour's parlour. "But love covereth all sins," and so I found,
for my poor friend made the best of it. God followed him up with
stroke upon stroke. A worldly wife made a deceitful household, and
the curse of disunion quickly appeared in the conduct of his insubmis-
sive children. A troop at enmity with God did not need much to set
them at enmity with their God-taught father. His gospel restraints.
were counted as cruel thraldom, and the worldly wife slyly sided with
her sinful offspring. A prosperous business was made the pretext for
increased expences, and nought but the presence of the father kept the
house free from the profane associates of his elder sons. Thus years of
trouble and sorrow rolled on. The sin of his youth was ever present
with "T. W.," and though the Lord more than made it all up to him
in the abundance of the revelations given him, yet this rankling thorn
is fostering in his bosom to this day. Perhaps this simple recital may
have its commission to some of God's family, who are vibrating between
carnal affections and spiritual light; who may now have a leaning
towards a Hagarene love, and, blended by natural feeling, are making
the most of a flimsy profession. Reader, remember "T. W.," and
take warning.

Believe me to be, dear brother in Christ,
Yours truly, for His sake,

K.

MY DEAR CHRISTIAN FRIENDS,

Grace be unto you, and peace from God our Father, and the Lord Jesus Christ. I have been, and now am, in great troubles, for they are many and continual, like the waves of the sea. Since I last wrote to you, I have been exercised with so many doubts and fears, such hardness of heart, blindness of mind, and discontentedness of spirit, that

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