THE LATE MISSIONARY WILLIAMS. 6 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. 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 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: 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 meaty after which, seeing a nall on the wall, she 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. 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. "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 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 beartlessly as if it had been a piece of meat) after which; seeing a nall on the wall, she took the head, and putting the nail into the child's mouth, dragged it through it with no more feeling than she had when she first commenced cutting it up. Upon this the child came to life again, and smiled on her, and she awoke. This dream threw her into great alarm, as she could not understand what it meant, and feared she was about to fall into the commission of some horrible crime. She could see nothing scriptural in it, but still it followed her wherever she went; and she could not bear to be with her family, or with any one, but wandered for days about the house, from one room to another, crying to the Lord in terror and distraction. On the Lord's day morning she went to chapel, and I preached from Ps. ciii. 3; "Who forgiveth all thine iniquities; who healeth all thy diseases." Every word entered her soul. She felt she was nothing but sin, and had every disease in her own heart, which, to use her own words, seemed to boil up like a pot within her. She felt that there was no way of escape for her but by the blood of the Redeemer, and that if she had not an interest therein, she must go to hell, for there was no salvation but in him. She was then convinced of what she had so often rebelled against, when hearing me insisting on the truth and necessity thereof, and knew that I had not even painted her heart and her inward corruptions so black as they were, and that salvation in the blood of Jesus must be inwardly experienced, known, sealed, and felt with the witness of the Spirit to our adoption, for without this we cannot have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ. She sat hearing inwardly, every word that was said sinking into her heart, and condemned in all. The prayer likewise had the same effect, and she was quite cut off for her part. In the afternoon she was standing in the kitchen alone, meditating on these things, and thinking what was to befal her, and what cutting the child in pieces could mean, when it appeared to her as though some one said, "It is your sins which have cut the dear babe in pieces, and crucified the Saviour." This cut her to the quick. She felt that it was truth-that she had done so. It was her sins which had with wicked hands cruci- ̈ fied and slain "the holy child Jesus," and that, without feeling grieved, she had done it heartlessly; and she stood guilty before God. She confessed it to him, was overwhelmed, and had not a word to say in extenuation of her sin, but could only cry, "Guilty, guilty!" and confess the justice of God. In the evening, she went to the chapel again. I spoke from the same text, and the still small voice entered her soul. She felt that "all her sins" were forgiven, and that Jesus had healed all her diseases. She had now (which she had often told me she dared not say she had) full assurance that she was a child of God, and saved for ever. In this state of peace and rejoicing she has been nearly ever since, which is more than a fortnight, and you would scarcely believe her to be the. same woman. Her language is so different-pure and pointed. She has such a deep knowledge of the deceptions of her heart and the nature of false religion, having been in a profession twenty-two years. I feel what she says very much, and I find I gain instruction from her and profit; for her words penetrate and come with power and decision; and instead of being upset by searching preaching, and thinking it harsh and severe, I assure you she has preached so searchingly to me, that it has made me, I trust, truly cry to the Lord; for I have felt she is more fit to teach me than I am to teach her. The many testimonies the Lord has ministerially given me of late, and the clear manner in which several have been manifested have made me feel my own littleness, vanity, and nothingness, in no small degree; for my death has, of a truth, been their life. I have been crushed, tormented, tempted, buffeted, and walking in darkness and |