in his temple. We remain, my brethren, to fill up the measure of our days, and what is our life, but a fleeting shadow, a handbreadth, a vapour which appeareth for a little while, and then vanisheth away: we soon shall feel heart and flesh failing-our sands are falling fast-time is short-death is near-eternity just at hand. Salvation is an important, a personal affair: the state of the soul before God in Christ, is, or should be the supreme concern, and the sublime, the awful realities of the eternal world, demand the most serious, the most devout consideration, at each of our hands. must each for ourselves know Christ as revealed in the word, or we shall die as we were born, estranged from God, and ignorant of his Son Jesus Christ." We We strongly recommend these letters to our readers, convinced they will be read with pleasure and profit. Horem; an Offering dedicated to God. By G. W. Wilks, Minister of Zoar Chapel, Great Alie Street. No. 1, to be continued. 12mo. p.p. 24. Palmer. WE have perused with much pleasure this first Number, by Mr. Wilks; which is upon the covenant name of Christ-JEHOVAHJIREH. We shall not take any extracts, but would recommend our readers to obtain it; the price is very low, and they will not regret having bestowed threepence upon what, in its perusal, will afford them much pleasure. At the same time, we would affectionately recommend to the author, that he be more careful in his composition. He has evidently much ability; and it is to be regretted, that his works should lose any of their interest, by the hasty way in which they are written. He has also several words in his vocabulary, which he would do well to reject altogether. We offer these remarks only with a desire that the works of our author may be rendered likely to be more generally useful. We shall most probably notice these tracts again, when another Number or two are published. POETRY. THE RAISING OF LAZARUS. Nigh to Jerusalem, in Bethany, Martha and Mary dwelt, and Lazarus, three The sisters this petition to him sent: "O whom thou lovest, Lord, is sick, O Lord, attend our earnest cry!" But Jesus came not, two long days expired, And sick at heart with hope deferred, and faint, "Ah! where, my sister, tarries now our Lord? He found, as he drew near with all his train, Shall never die. Canst thou this truth receive?" "Yea, Lord, thou art the Christ, God's only Son, He that should come, th' anointed Holy One, Of whom the psalms and prophets witness gave, Then ran she to her sister, with the news And to her secretly enbosomed thus her heart: The Master comes, and calls for thee! He whose love is ever new, He who still delights to save, He can rescue from the grave: Dearest sister, haste and see, The Master comes, and calls for thee!" Mary arose, and ran to meet her Lord; The Jews, too, followed with her, for, they said, And said, "thy face, dear Lord, why didst thou hide ? When Jesus saw her weeping, and the Jews, Who spread the skies, and gave the mountains birth! To save the guilty and for sin atone : "And Jesus wept!" See how he loves his own. 66 "Could not this man, who op'd the sightless eye, They took away the stone from off the dead; He ceased. A solemn silence reigns around, Rose and came forth, bound face, and foot, and hand; "Loose him and let him go!" the Saviour gave command. He late who wept, as man with grief opprest, Now God Omnipotent stands forth confest. So when the soul, long held in Satan's chain, Unholy, dead in trespasses and sin, Is made to hear the Spirit's quickening voice- So also, when th' archangel's trump shall sound, To waken all the nations under ground, "Arise, ye dead-to judgment come away!" Believ'd on him, as he of whom their law Westminster. P. THE Spiritual Magazine; OR, SAINTS TREASURY. "There are Three that bear record in heaven; the FATHER, the WORD, and the HOLY "Earnestly contend for the faith which was once delivered unto the saints." 1 John v.7. Jude 3. APRIL, 1831. (For the Spiritual Magazine.) THE BIRTH, REIGN, AND OVERTHROW OF THE KING OF TERRORS; WITH THE GROUNDS OF A BELIEVER'S TRIUMPH OVER, AND COMBAT WITH, THIS LAST ENEMY. "For by man came death, by man came also the resurrection of the dead."-1 Cor. xv. 21. THERE is no subject presented to the human mind more solemn and terrific than death. If viewed apart from connection with Christ, is the most mortifying, tremendous, and dreadful in its consequences; but to a believer in Jesus, standing on the summit of Calvary, its power is limited, its territory conquered, and its dominion shortly to be surrendered to the Captain of his salvation. All without exception must meet this gigantic foe, and fall in the struggle; but the believer boldly exclaims, "Though I fall, I shall arise." Many speak of death as a mere shadow; but I look forward to meet it as a substantial enemy: rather let me be prepared to meet and face a foe, than he should come upon me unawares. We read in the word, of the bitterness the waves-the snares the floods and the terrors of death-all implying we shall have to grapple with this last enemy. - First, we look at the origin of this foe. God could not make a man liable to death; death could have no entrance into our world but by fault. When the Maker placed his creature in the Eden abode, he made one solemn prohibition-" The day thou eatest thereof, thou shalt surely die!" The woman thou gavest me, she gave me of the tree, and I did eat." Then came the sentence-" Dust thou art, VOL. VII.-No. 84. 2 T and unto dust shalt thou return. 66 'By one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin," Rom. v. 14. "By one man came death," 2 Cor. i. 10. Here we trace the source of bodily destruction. Death is Jehovah's threatening put into execution; not the debt of nature, (as is commonly observed) but the debt of justice. Man, by transgression, put the scythe of death into the hands of awful justice; and all flesh is grass, mowed down from the earth at the time appointed. God made man upright, and while he continued in Eden purity was incorruptible and immortal; when he disobeyed he forfeited his life. Satan, the old serpent, seized upon our nature, infused his poisonous sting, which finally falls a ruinous heap of dust. Not only is it founded in original sin, but actual transgression. "Sin when finished bringeth forth death-the wages of sin is death -the soul that sinneth shall die;" not only death to the body, but eternal death to the soul, called "the second death." The temporary part of the curse is endured by the whole human race; the eternal part is removed from the church, being endured by her substituting Head. The arch enemy of God and man, laid the plan of our destruction. Adam, the root of the human household, listened to his devilish insinuations, and thereby brought condemnation and destruction on his posterity; sapped the basis of the once noble structure of infinite wisdom, and levelled the masterpiece of Jehovah's works with the dust. Well might the Lord God say to his rebellious "What hast thou done?" Here was the dreadful downfall of our nature, the pregnant source of all our woe; that fatal deed that spoiled the whole creation, and defaced the image of his Maker, made man mortal, and converted the earth into a grave. Can we behold our dear relatives and friends in the agonies of death, witness the awful wreck of humanity, see them turn to corruption, and convey them to the tomb, and not be smitten with the awfulness of sin, its dreadful nature, and ruining consequences. Oh, the direful effects of that one transgression that consigned the whole creation to the tomb! But, believer, dry up thy tears of sorrow over Eden's ruin with the skirt of Immanuel's righteousness, and rejoice in the second Adam, who has brought life and immortality to light, and provided for thee a paradise, where no tree of temptation grows, world without end. worm, We will, as the Lord shall aid, look at the conquest gained over this enemy. Who could enter the field, or undertake to rescue the prey from this mighty one-this universal king of terrors? Angelic ranks viewed creation's lordly tyrant sweeping its myriads off the earth, but could render no help;-but the Lord of angels declared from his eternal throne, "O death, I will be thy plagues; O grave, I will be thy destruction;" I will swallow up death in victory. In the fulness of time, when the enemy's sable banner waved in triumph- "Lo! he leaves those heav'nly forms, The Word descends, and dwells in clay!" |