THE TRUE WAY. "This is the way; walk ye in it." Bow down thine ear, most gracious Lord, You I would ask, without delay, YE MUST BE What numbers in this world we find At ease while here they stay, Suppose their heav'n secure, Know nothing of Christ's righteousness, To tell my soul, Is this the way? BORN AGAIN. The mighty power of God alone And some can with their judgment trace May it then be our great concern The doctrines of his love, Yet destitute of saving grace But we are taught this truth to know, His pard'ning love to know, While here we dwell below. This precious love will live, and sing, Dunham, Cheshire. CHRIST THE ONLY REFUGE. No comfort nor cordials Can heal the soul wounded, And tells them his case, He finds medicines vain; And add to the pain. To make ourselves whole! Of the sickness within, To make himself clean. S. K. Boast not then of power, God will overboard throw. 'Tis my pleasure to tell, Alone, by free grace, He saves us from hell. He saves us from hell! How deep is the thought! By omnipotent power To him we are brought; That our sins we may know; By his sovereign mercy, I thus have been brought; The price that redeems us By blood are we bought: Nought else could release us; He came to obey; All the sins that are in us, He has clean wash'd away. London, 1840. Stand astonish'd, my soul! How deep are his ways! To us it abounds, Thy sins, though much thought of, MOSES G. ACCIDENT TO MR. GADSBY. Many of our readers have doubtless heard of the accident which has befallen our dear and aged friend Gadsby; but, as many may not have heard of it, and as reports lose nothing in their travels, we feel inclined to give the particulars, which may have the effect of preventing the matter being made worse than it really is. While walking in his garden on the morning of the 14th September, his foot slipped, and he fell, and by the fall, we are grieved to say, his right leg was broken just at the ancle. He was immediately helped into the house, and medical assistance procured; and, at the time of our going to press, was doing as well as can be expected. He has travelled thousands and thousands of miles to preach the gospel, and has invariably been mercifully preserved from any serious accident; and yet, while in his own garden, the dear Lord has seen fit to suffer that to befal him which we fear will confine him to the house for many weeks. He desires us, through this notice, to give his love to his friends, and to assure them that as yet he feels fully persuaded that the Lord means the affliction for good, and that he cannot murmur against his Sovereign dispensations. He knows that his Master is too wise to err, and too good to be unkind, but he does not know how long he may be favoured to remain in this sensible frame of mind, as he feels himself to be a poor fickle creature. He trusts that it may be impressed on the hearts of his friends to remember him at the throne of grace, that he may be kept submissive to the will of the Lord, with his mind steadfastly stayed on his God. And we trust that it may be impressed on his mind, when he is able to sit up, to commit to paper some account of the Lord's dealings with him, both in providence and grace. Indeed, we cannot help believing he is made prisoner for the purpose. Bunyan wrote his Pilgrim's Progress while in prison. A BEGGING IMPOSTER. A person, apparently about fifty years of age, of the ordinary stature, and his hair turning grey, has lately been going about the country begging, representing himself as a member with Mr. Kershaw, of Rochdale. Now our friend Kershaw wishes us to say that this man is an imposter, as they have no such person a member with them. We feel it to be our duty to apprise our friends hereof, as we shall also of all similar cases that may come to our knowledge. ERRATUM.-Page 119, line 26, for "straitened," read "shattered." 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. 59. NOVEMBER, 1840. SEPARATING GRACE. VOL. VI. My dear Friend,—I am much obliged to you for your kind letter. Ministers need encouragement in the midst of their trials, persecutions, and oppositions; for as they are often tried in their own minds about their eternal standing, so they are also tried as to whether the word has been really applied with power to the hearts of their hearers. When the Lord bears testimony to our souls, or to the word of his grace by us, Satan soon makes an attack, or our evil hearts rise up with sin and unbelief to bring every token of good into question; and, I believe, when the Lord is blessing his word, Satan will raise up Shimeis to curse; and where good is done, opposition and sneers will be manifested by the Hagar race. But if this were not the case, the Scripture would not be fulfilled; for as we are all by nature alike, something must be done to separate and distinguish God's people from the mere professors and worldlings. So the Lord in mercy convinces his people of their sins, and of the various errors of their supposed right religion; and when the repentance is so deep and lasting as to cause them to relinquish their connexion with dead professors, and to be separate, as changed characters, from their old worldly companions, they are then sure to have a cross to bear, and to be derided as fools and fanatics. It is the power of God which causes the separation. Honesty in confession, and faithfulness in contending decidedly for the truths experienced in the soul, will ever be hated and despised by a world lying in wickedness; and all whom the Lord has called to follow him in the path of tribulation shall find that they need all the afflictions, trials, and difficulties that the Lord is pleased to try them with. I know, from experience, that the soul is never so alive and prosperous as in a fire, and never so dead and cold as when at ease, unplagued, unchastened, and without Ꮮ a cross. But the soul is not long in this state; for we wander and go astray, build castles in the air, contract fresh guilt upon the conscience by worldly conformity self-seeking and our besetting lusts, till we receive again in mercy chastisements from the Lord, wherein he blessedly proves the truth of his word and promise; "I will visit their transgressions with a rod, and their iniquities with stripes; nevertheless, my faithfulness shall not fail." O what a mercy it is that we are not allowed to have our own way and will! for we should always have hard, dark, and unfeeling hearts. As it was in times past, so it is now; for when God sent them their hearts' desire, he sent leanness withal into their souls. What a mercy it is to be kept from self-seeking, and from eagerly following all such vanities as the world calls good and great! A child of God, with all his desires for such things, is checked with a view and consideration that those things which are highly prized amongst men are an abomination in the sight of God, and, through the grace of God, he is willing to sacrifice the friendship of the world for the love of God, and his creature comforts for spiritual consolations; and in his right mind he blesses God that he has made him to differ from those who are having their portion in this life, and who have no earnest desires for an experimental testimony of their interest in the blood and righteousness of the Lord Jesus. Although we may speak of the vanity and emptiness of this world, and of the glory and blessedness of eternal things, it is God's power alone that causes us to feel in any measure the wonderful difference. If there be real religion, there will be an experience of the humbling effects of grace. The blessed Spirit will convince of sin, and will lay the poor sinner low, trembling at God's judgments, well knowing that he deserves hell; and when an apprehension of eternal misery seizes the soul, such a change takes place as makes the poor sinner view everything with different eyes, and a sense of God's pardoning love and mercy is so prized in his mind, that he is content to be called a fool for preferring it before worldly riches and honours. Nevertheless, old nature is old nature still, and will ever be looking after idols, and wanting the sweets of this life; so crosses, trials, and afflictions are needed to check and restrain these evil workings; for under the various trials of real faith, faith works wonders, for it fights the devil, overcomes the world, purifies the heart, and brings home sweet promises to encourage the poor soul to hold on in the midst of all the afflictions and tribulations which must be passed through to glory. Whoever therefore obtains precious faith with Peter, and loves Christ and delights in him, must buy this gold tried in the fire, for such blessings and mercies flow to the soul in no other way; and whoever has experienced such a call by grace, has the fear of God in his soul, which will cause him to depart from iniquity. The secret of the Lord is really with him, and he will surely show him his covenant of grace, "ordered in all things, and sure." If good be done, troubles will arise as well as difficulties; but it is by patient continuance" in well doing that grace is maniYours affectionately, fested. Abingdon, Sept. 1, 1840. W. T. A WORD TO MR. TIPTAFT. Dear Sirs,-Will you have the goodness to insert the following lines for Mr. Tiptaft through your Gospel Standard? Dearly beloved Friend for the truth's sake,-Grace, mercy, and peace be with thee. In your letter, which I saw in the Standard for June, you speak of the sad state of your health, which I am truly sorry to hear of. If it be the will of God, I could wish you good health, both in body and soul, and many years' labour in God's vineyard, with thousands of seals to your ministry, and then go home like a shock of corn fully ripe. In your letter you say that you cannot preach more than once on a Lord's day. I should be very glad if it were the Lord's will that I could hear you once a month, especially if I could hear you with the same comfort that I experienced the first time you preached at Bath. You appear, from what is stated in your letter, to have great searchings of heart respecting your ministry; but whatever fears you may have upon the subject, I have none. I believe that you are one of those aliens spoken of by the prophet Isaiah; one of Zion's ploughmen and vine dressers; that you are an ox to tread out the corn, and to feed God's elect with the finest of the wheat; that you are one of those good householders who bring out of the treasure of the heart things new and old. I believe that the things which you bring forth are waters from your own fountain, and not stolen waters. I believe that you have chosen "to suffer affliction with the people of God, rather than to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season," because the root of the matter is in you. I feel convinced that you can sing, at times, with the Spirit and with the understanding also; "Blessed are they whose guilt is gone; I pray that the right hand of the Lord may do valiantly for you, and that you may not die, but live, and declare the works of the Lord. Though the Lord may sorely chasten you, I pray, if it be his blessed will, that he will not give you over unto death; but if he should be pleased so to deal with you, I would say with the psalmist, “Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints." In your letter you say that you are glad at the wide circulation of the Gospel Standard. I am of one spirit with you in this respect. I pray that God's elect may continue to speak often one to another through the Standard; for I am persuaded that that little work has often been to many of God's elect as face answering to face in a glass, and as iron sharpening iron, and that it does help many a poor doubting soul to hope in God's mercy through Christ, when, in their feelings, they were just ready to cast away their confidence. I have taken the liberty to say a few words to my dear friend respecting himself; but what shall I say to him respecting myself? Why, say that I deserve to be banished from the presence of the |