there shall be no more partings, no more sorrow, no more sin, but 'Where, in Love's unclouded reign, Are there not some who have longed for a return of those blessed seasons of spiritual communion and Christian fellowship? We feel sure that there are many such, many who look back with thankfulness to those precious seasons; and though the voice that then spake to them can be heard no more, yet some drops of comfort may yet be distilled into their souls, some words of peace, some bright hopes for the future, some refreshment as they journey on, may, by God's blessing, be experienced by now gathering together the sweet thoughts and precious truths which were then brought before them. In writing out the notes of these Lectures delivered long ago, I feel most forcibly the conviction that if the dear departed one could speak to us now, it would be to confirm every utterance here given; the same unchangeable truths, the same blessed hope, the same anticipated glories, the same firm trust, the same record of loving-kindness and mercy, the same glorious theme of redeeming love! Assuredly he would set his seal now to every word then spoken, only declaring that the half was not told him. We have gathered up but the fragments, and in every case the notes here given were hastily and briefly taken down at the moment, for the benefit of sick or infirm ones who were unable to be present; and without any idea of their being ever committed to type; yet it is hoped that they may be made a blessing to many souls, in reviving the remembrance of those blessed seasons which have passed away for ever, and that they may come as sweet whispers from Emmanuel's Land, so that he, being dead, may yet speak and remind us of God's blessed words, in His own Book, 'Then they that feared the Lord spake often one to another; and the Lord hearkened and heard it, and a book of remembrance was written before Him for them that feared the Lord, and that thought upon His Name. And they shall be Mine, saith the Lord, in that day when I make up MY JEWELS.' May these thoughts on His own Word be owned and blessed by the Lord Jesus, to the comforting and building up of His believing people; and to Him alone shall be all the glory. HARRIET DRUMMOND. EXTRACT FROM A LETTER IN THE MEMOIR OF MR. PENNEFATHER. THE following extract from a letter in Mr. Pennefather's Memoir is so strikingly applicable to the subject of this volume, that I am led to insert it as a motto of the contents. He says:-The Psalms have ever been to me an unfailing spring of Living Water. When wearied, they have refreshed me; in sickness, they have almost restored me; in joy, they have given me words to express my thankfulness; in sorrow, they have been a channel in which my grief hath flowed, leading me away from myself, to behold and see if ever there was sorrow like unto His sorrow. Like Jerusalem situated in the centre of the world, and the joy of the whole earth, that heavenly city which shall yet be established in the beauty of holiness, they lie as it were in the very heart of the Word of God, and seem to me as the fairest spot in that land which floweth with milk and honey. They are at once the soul of the Old Testament and the sun of the New, the index of the mind of Him who is the glory of the invisible God, and the sympathising friend and companion of His people.' |