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THE

GOSPEL STANDARD,

OR,

FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."-2 Tim. i. 9.

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"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."—-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.---In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 55.

JULY, 1840.

GOOD TIDINGS.

VOL. VI.

My dear friend does not, I trust, impute my long silence to any decrease of affection and esteem on my part, but to inability to write to him as I could wish. You heard that I was thinking of visiting Ireland for ten days or a fortnight; and had it not been for the violent tempests which have been very awful on our coast, I should in all human probability by this time have returned thence. Three weeks successively was I waiting for an opportunity to leave, but every time I made the attempt, the storm arose with redoubled violence, and the steamers could not leave the port. Seeing so manifestly that the hand of the Lord was against my desire, I at length abandoned it for the time being. No sooner had I done this, than the reason wherefore I was to remain here came to light. During the time of my detention, a person, who had been at the very brink of despair, was brought into glorious, liberty by the Lord; and although wishing to keep it back, was constrained to make me acquainted therewith. When you hear who that person is, it will, I think, astonish you. It is, then, no other than Mrs.

B.

For the last eighteen months or more, she had been in the deepest distress of soul. Time after time the Lord broke her false confidence into pieces, and ripped open the deceit of her heart; and such has been her wretchedness, and the condemnation which she got under my ministry, that she has often determined in herself that she would leave the chapel, and thus escape being so lacerated and pierced; but she said she felt she dared not leave, and was obliged to continue coming. All her former religion she lost, and became convinced there was a something in God's regenerate children which was not in her, and this conviction so worked in : ber, that she often thought she must be eternally lost. About a week before her deliverance, she dreamed that she took a living child, which be longed to no one and to every one, and cut it into pieces as beartlessly as if it had been a piece of meat after which, seeing a nail on the wall, she

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THE LATE MISSIONARY WILLIAMS.

Much interest having been excited in what is called the religious world by the unhappy massacre of the missionary Williams by some of the savage heathens of the New Hebrides, in the Pacific Ocean, I cannot forbear to tell a little anecdote connected with him. I was travelling a few years ago in a coach inside with him, (not knowing at the time who he was) and a young Oxford student. The subject of religion having come up, the student asked the missionary whether he thought the gospel was preached more among the Dissenters, or in the Church of England. The reply of the missionary of the South Seas was, "Why, Sir, if we except two sects, the Unitarians and the Antinomians, I believe every dissenting minister in England preaches the gospel." However we may lament the unhappy massacre of a most amiable and zealous individual, we can hardly, after such a speech, consider he knew any thing experimentally of the glorious doctrine of Jesus Christ.-Aliquis.

:

Mr. Huntington was once preaching from "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord; and worship thou him ;" (Ps. xlv. 10;) when he was powerfully impressed that his text was given for some elect vessel present, who was at that time a member of the Romish Church; nor was he deceived, for my late friend, Mrs. Snelling, for the first time, was present, who answered in every respect to the character, and the Lord blessed the word to the quickening of her soul; and though her old connections strove to subvert her, she witnessed a long and good confession, and died in Mr. Fowler's communion, in London. I, who am now writing this account, being favoured with her acquaintance, witnessed her, a few days previous to her death, expressing her vehement desire to depart, to be with Christ; which she said she knew would be so very far better; and what was still more remarkable, she was at the time happy in mind, surrounded with every earthly comfort, and, for what I could see, in good health of body.-L. Z.

One Sunday morning, (said Mr. S.,) I heard Mr. Huntington preach, and he was, as it were, in the spirit and power of Elias. He preached from "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone," (Hosea iv. 17,) observing as follows, "Let him alone conscience; let him alone wrath; let him alone law." From that discourse the word of God was as a sharp sword with two edges cutting two ways; it was made a savour of life and a savour of death, for one man, who had been in a backsliding state, was graciously restored, and another man went and put an end to his mortal existence.-L. Z.

I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible than I could well tell how to stand under; and yet, at another time, the whole Bible hath been to me as a dry stick; or, rather, my heart hath been so dead and dry unto it, that I could not conceive the least dram of refreshment, though I have looked it all over.— Bunyan.

I have wondered much at this one thing, that though God doth visit my soul with ever so blessed a discovery of himself, yet I have found again, that such hours have attended me afterwards, and I have been in my spirit so filled with darkness, that I could not so much as once conceive what that God and that comfort was, with which I had been refreshed.-Bunyan.

Of all the temptations that ever I met with in my life, to question the being of of God and truth of his gospel is the worst, and the worst to be borne.-Bunyan. No human creature's life is peaceable without disquietness; every one hath his tribulations; and many a one, rather than be without them, will make and procure disquietness to himself; for no man is content with that which God giveth and sendeth. Hath one a wife? so wisheth he that he had her not; & single man desireth to have a wife; a master wisheth to be a servant; a poer man would willingly be rich, a rich man continually coveteth more he cannot be filled nor satisfied. Even so fareth it with the heart of a human creature, which never can be at rest.-Luther.

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THE

GOSPEL STANDARD,

OR,

FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."-2 Tim. i. 9.

"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.---In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 55.

JULY, 1840.

GOOD TIDINGS.

VOL. VI.

My dear friend does not, I trust, impute my long silence to any decrease of affection and esteem on my part, but to inability to write to him as I could wish. You heard that I was thinking of visiting Ireland for ten days or a fortnight; and had it not been for the violent tempests which have been very awful on our coast, I should in all human probability by this time have returned thence. Three weeks successively was I waiting for an opportunity to leave, but every time I made the attempt, the storm arose with redoubled violence, and the steamers could not leave the port. Seeing so manifestly that the hand of the Lord was against my desire, I at length abandoned it for the time being. No sooner had I done this, than the reason wherefore I was to remain here came to light. During the time of my detention, a person, who had been at the very brink of despair, was brought into gloriots, liberty by the Lord; and although wishing to keep it back, was constrained to make me acquainted therewith. When you hear who that person is, it will, I think, astonish you. It is, then, no other than Mrs. B. For the last eighteen months or more, she had been in the deepest distress of soul. Time after time the Lord broke her false confidence into pieces, and ripped open the deceit of her heart; and such has been her wretchedness, and the condemnation which she got under my ministry, that she has often determined in herself that she would leave the chapel, and thus escape being so lacerated and pierced; but she said she felt she dared not leave, and was obliged to continue coming. All her former religion she lost, and became convinced there was a something in God's re-` generate children which was not in her, and this conviction so worked in her, that she often thought she must be eternally lost. About a week before her deliverance, she dreamed that she took a living child, which be longed to no one and to every one, and cut it into pieces as heartlessly as if it had been a piece of meat; after which; seeing a nail on the wall, she

A

THE LATE MISSIONARY WILLIAMS.

Much interest having been excited in what is called the religious world by the unhappy massacre of the missionary Williams by some of the savage heathens of the New Hebrides, in the Pacific Ocean, I cannot forbear to tell a little anecdote connected with him. I was travelling a few years ago in a coach inside with him, (not knowing at the time who he was) and a young Oxford student. The subject of religion having come up, the student asked the missionary whe. ther he thought the gospel was preached more among the Dissenters, or in the Church of England. The reply of the missionary of the South Seas was, "Why, Sir, if we except two sects, the Unitarians and the Antinomians, I believe every dissenting minister in England preaches the gospel." However we may lament the unhappy massacre of a most amiable and zealous individual, we can hardly, after such a speech, consider he knew any thing experimentally of the glorious doctrine of Jesus Christ.—Aliquis.

Mr. Huntington was once preaching from "Hearken, O daughter, and consider, and incline thine ear; forget also thine own people, and thy father's house so shall the king greatly desire thy beauty; for he is the Lord; and worship thou him ;" (Ps. xlv. 10 ;) when he was powerfully impressed that his text was given for some elect vessel present, who was at that time a member of the Romish Church; nor was he deceived, for my late friend, Mrs. Snelling, for the first time, was present, who answered in every respect to the character, and the Lord blessed the word to the quickening of her soul; and though her old connections strove to subvert her, she witnessed a long and good confession, and died in Mr. Fowler's communion, in London. I, who am now writing this account, being favoured with her acquaintance, witnessed her, a few days previous to her death, expressing her vehement desire to depart, to be with Christ; which she said she knew would be so very far better; and what was still more remarkable, she was at the time happy in mind, surrounded with every earthly comfort, and, for what I could see, in good health of body.-L. Z.

One Sunday morning, (said Mr. S.,) I heard Mr. Huntington preach, and he was, as it were, in the spirit and power of Elias. He preached from "Ephraim is joined to idols: let him alone,” (Hosea iv. 17,) observing as follows, "Let him alone conscience; let him alone wrath; let him alone law." From that discourse the word of God was as a sharp sword with two edges cutting two ways; it was made a savour of life and a savour of death, for one man, who had been in a backsliding state, was graciously restored, and another man went and put an end to his mortal existence.-L. Z.

I have sometimes seen more in a line of the Bible than I could well tell how to stand under; and yet, at another time, the whole Bible hath been to me as a dry stick; or, rather, my heart hath been so dead and dry unto it, that I could not conceive the least dram of refreshment, though I have looked it all over.Bunyan.

I have wondered much at this one thing, that though God doth visit my soul with ever so blessed a discovery of himself, yet I have found again, that such hours have attended me afterwards, and I have been in my spirit so filled with darkness, that I could not so much as once conceive what that God and that comfort was, with which I had been refreshed.—Bunyan.

Of all the temptations that ever I met with in my life, to question the being of of God and truth of his gospel is the worst, and the worst to be borne.-Bunyan. No human creature's life is peaceable without disquietness; every one hath his tribulations; and many a one, rather than be without them, will make and procure disquietness to himself; for no man is content with that which God giveth and sendeth. Hath one a wife? so wisheth he that he had her not; & single man desireth to have a wife; a master wisheth to be a servant; a poor man would willingly be rich, a rich man continually coveteth more he cannot be filled nor satisfied. Even so fareth it with the heart of a human creature, which never can be at rest.-Luther.

.

THE

GOSPEL STANDARD,

OR,

FEEBLE CHRISTIAN'S SUPPORT.

"Blessed are they which do hunger and thirst after righteousness; for they shall be filled."-Matt. v. 6.

"Who hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, not according to our works, but according to his own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ Jesus before the world began."-2 Tim. i. 9.

"The election hath obtained it, and the rest were blinded."-Rom. xi. 7.

"If thou believest with all thine heart, thou mayest.-And they went down both into the water, both Philip and the eunuch; and he baptized him.---In the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost."-Acts viii. 37, 38; Matt. xxviii. 19.

No. 55.

JULY, 1840.

GOOD TIDINGS.

VOL. VI.

My dear friend does not, I trust, impute my long silence to any de-. crease of affection and esteem on my part, but to inability to write to him as I could wish. You heard that I was thinking of visiting Ireland for ten days or a fortnight; and had it not been for the violent tempests which have been very awful on our coast, I should in all human probability by this time have returned thence. Three weeks successively was I waiting for an opportunity to leave, but every time I made the attempt, the storm arose with redoubled violence, and the steamers could not leave the port. Seeing so manifestly that the hand of the Lord was against my desire, I at length abandoned it for the time being. No sooner had I done this, than the reason wherefore I was to remain here came to light. During the time of my detention, a person, who had been at the very brink of despair, was brought into glorious, liberty by the Lord; and although wishing to keep it back, was constrained to make me acquainted therewith. When you hear who that person is, it will, I think, astonish you. It is, then, no other than Mrs. B. For the last eighteen months or more, she had been in the deepest distress of soul. Time after time the Lord broke her false confidence into pieces, and ripped open the deceit of her heart; and such has been her wretchedness, and the condemnation which she got under my ministry, that she has often determined in herself that she would leave the chapel, and thus escape being so lacerated and pierced; but she said she felt she dared not leave, and was obliged to continue coming. All her former religion she lost, and became convinced there was a something in God's regenerate children which was not in ber, and this conviction so worked in her, that she often thought she must be eternally lost. About a week before her deliverance, she dreamed that she took a living child, which be longed to no one and to every one, and cut it into pieces as beartlessly as if it had been a piece of meat after which, seeing a nail on the wall, she.

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