At the Lord's coming there will be a large number of the saints alive, and these will not have to pass through death, but will be changed.

The apostle might have had an eye to this when he said, "in this we groan, "not that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon." He would prefer this exchange, he would be spared this passage through death, he would greatly prefer being "clothed upon, that mortality might be swallowed up of life." There was something, even to an apostle, gloomy, sad, and mournful in that dark passage of death which the coming of the Lord would prevent. "Those that are alive and remain shall be caught up unto the Lord in the clouds." Hence they escape this gate of death, and so mortality is swallowed up of life.

Lastly the proviso. "If so be that being clothed we shall not be found naked." "If" may be sometimes rendered "since," as in Col. iii. 1, but we may use it here by way of inquiry. There is something very solemn in this expression "naked." The ungodly shall suffer for their sins in their bodies throughout eternity. "Being found naked," naked of justifying righteousness, naked of a good hope through grace, naked of saving dealings, naked of new-creatureship, naked of everything pleasing to God, because naked of His work; for nothing but God's work in Christ can recommend a soul to God. Hence, God says at the last, "I never knew you. My work in Christ has never been made over to you; nor is there any proof in your words and ways of a saving work being wrought in you, "Depart from me." But, if you are looking to Christ and His finished work, you are looking where God looks; and this proves God's work for you and in you. "If so be." Ah, friends it all turns upon this. "If so be" that you are looking to Jesus, then are you already clothed, and, being clothed, you shall not be found naked. If you have a good hope through grace, if you are made to groan, being burdened, if you are sensible of divine dealings, then you "Come, Lord Jesus, come quickly;" and, if you cannot now, you shall by and by. All your own attempts to recommend yourself to God are fruitless, all your recommendation is in Christ alone. And to look to Him by the Spirit's power, and enjoy His great salvation, is God's work begun which He will never leave or forsake. He will do all the rest; for "whom He calls He justifies, and whom He justifies He will glorify." Your own righteousness has nothing whatever to do with your salvation, but when you are made alive in Christ, you will live righteously in Christ Jesus. This is according to the nature of the gift of grace, which teaches us to live godly in Christ Jesus. Your best righteousness could neither justify nor satisfy you; other people's righteousness may testify to you as a mark of their new-creatureship; but your own will not afford you any comfort. If you are brought to the feet of a precious Christ, and made satisfied with His finished work, this is God's work in you; and His work shall endure, for He, the great God, hath said, "I will never leave thee, nor forsake thee." The Lord bless His word.

can say,

There is not an archangel in heaven, through all the heavenly train, who would not delight and glory in attending a poor depressed Lazarus, in an hospital, or a dungeon, to ward off the machinations of evil spirits, to procure a calm for his dying moments, and to hail his departing soul to the mansions of the blessed.

Correspondence.

A FATHER'S CRIES.

To the Editor of the Gospel Magazine.

Bedminster, Bristol, January 16, 1869. REV. AND DEAR SIR,-Sometimes as I lie on my bed I think I could write to you out of a full heart-full with holy pleasure and grateful loveto the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, as I think of His rich mercy and sovereign grace to a poor sinner like me. Yet I have "great heaviness and continual sorrow in my heart" when I think of a son who is yet in the gall of bitterness and in the bonds of iniquity. He is now in his 46th year, and, months before he was born, and more or less up to this time, I have prayed to God that his heart might be changed, and that he might be taught the same lessons which God the Holy Ghost has taught me from my youth, but no answer yet; and, when I think, in all probability, how near I am to an eternal world, he is much on my mind; and shall I go down to the grave with that bitter lament, "O Absolom, my son, my son ?" At such a thought I could water my couch with my tears, and mingle, my drink with weeping, and put my mouth in the dust if so be there is hope. I know you, as a Christian parent, will sympathize with me, and pray for me and him, and, as a minister of Christ, you will give me your kind advice, and ask our dear brethren to pray for me and mine this evening.

My late dear wife bore only two sons, and the youngest, when only seven-and-a-half years old, was drowned by falling into the Bathurst Basin. We two were walking, on Sunday, the other side of "the Cut," from here, and, seeing some trees growing, he said, "Father, it is men that plant the trees; but the Lord makes them grow." "Yes," I said. Then he said, "Father, and it is the Lord makes the little birds sing to us." "Yes, and do you know the greatest things the Lord has done for us?" He said, "Why, in sending his Son to die for us." He was drowned on the morrow. JESSE HEAVEN.

[The foregoing is from one of the dear aged ones who commonly takes part at our Saturday-night prayer-meetings. He is now far past the age of man. We are thankful to say, that, within the last few months, we have been enabled to get him on the Aged Pilgrims' Friend Society, as one of their shilling-a-week pensioners, which is a great boon to the dear old man. This the Committee of the Society in question has kindly granted in recognition of our humble services in preaching at different times on behalf of the Society. Most fully do we sympathize with our dear old friend in his deep, deep solicitude in regard to the salvation of his son. Ah, who but a parent knows the yearning of heart and the travail of soul which such undergo on behalf of the eternal welfare of their dear, dear children? Who but such can conceive of how intense the anguish and ardent the wrestlings at the throne of grace upon this momentous subject, when sleep is far removed, and the pleading parent turns to and fro upon his restless bed, seeking access at the footstool of mercy? Our comfort is, that the Lord is not limited to time or means. Many such petitions are registered above, to be answered, it may be, when the poor wrestling one is far removed from this vale of tears and has reached that happy

land where sighs and groans are never known. We know a case where an intensely-anxious father became so overwhelmed (as it were) with concern and anxiety about his children, in their varied positions and requirements, as (foolish as it may appear) he felt as if death itself would not release him from that anxiety. It seemed as though he must actually take his weight and anxiety into eternity with him. The way in which the Lord most effectually cured him of this vain supposition was, to lay His afflictive hand upon his poor frail body, and bring him down in feeling and apprehension to the very brink of the grave. Then, and not until then, all anxiety and concern were removed. Never could he have imagined, had he not experienced it, that every particle of fear and solicitude about wife and children could be so entirely removed, and a simple leaving all and everything in the hands of a wise and merciful and gracious and loving Lord, to order and regulate as should seem good in His sight. Surely, dear reader, that was a blessed fruit of experience to which the psalmist attained, when he said, "Although my house be not so with God, yet hath He made with me an everlasting covenant, ordered in all things, and sure; and this is all my salvation and all my desire, although He make it not to grow."-ED.]

27, South Gates, Leicester, Nov. 15th, 1868.

MY BELOVED DAUGHTER,-May Heaven's best blessing, eternal life, be thy portion! This inestimable blessing is the free gift of God to His own peculiar people (Rom. vi. 23, John x. 27-29). The Holy Spirit is the efficient agent in the production of this life (Ezek. xxxvii. 9, 10). St. Paul says, "If any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His." Our Liturgy says, "I believe in the Holy Ghost." Also, "Take not Thy Holy Spirit from us." And, again, "Cleanse the thoughts of our hearts by the inspiration of Thy Holy Spirit." Mr. Huntington says (if I remember rightly), "Scoffing sceptics tauntingly ask us, 'How do we know that the Holy Spirit dwells in us?' Let them tell us how the devil dwells in them ?" Our lives prove under whose influence we are. The fruits of

the flesh are shown in Gal. v. 19-21; and the fruits of the Spirit in ver. 22, 23. The former fruits are the inevitable offspring of that fallen and corrupt nature in which every child is born into this world; and, unless a man be born again ("not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of man 99 -John i. 13) of the Holy Spirit, he cannot see, much less enter into, the kingdom of God. This new creation produces its own proper fruits before referred to, and cannot be effected by the agency of a poor blind mortal; it is the work of God alone. I was christened when a child, and afterwards confirmed by a bishop; still, all this time, and for some years after, I gave abundant proof to all that, I was still the bond-slave and willing drudge of Satan; but God, who is rich in mercy, for His great love wherewith He loved me, was pleased to quicken me when dead in sin, by whose free sovereign grace alone I am saved. When the Spirit of life entered into my soul, He quickened my dead soul into life (Eph. ii. 1), and the light of this life discovered to me my lost estate and conlition by nature and practice; this moved me to cry to God for mercy and forgiveness, and, in His own time, He heard and answered the cries of His own Spirit in my soul, and filled me with that " peace of God which passeth all understanding." All my guilt, misery, bondage, fear of death,

and dread of destruction, fled, I knew not whither. Thus did I prove the fruits of the Spirit to be love, joy, peace, &c.; then was I truly regenerated, created anew in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God had before ordained that I should live and walk in them. This teaching never led me to licentiousness; but I have proved, a thousand times over, that this grace of God teaches us to deny all ungodliness and worldly lusts, and to live godly, soberly, and righteously in this present evil world. The tree, having been made good, was capable of bringing forth good fruit; and, under the teaching of the Holy Spirit, my life and conduct before men was seen and acknowledged to be changed indeed. Men may as well look for thorns to produce grapes, or thistles figs, as for good works to be the producc of nature. The tree must first be made good, then fruit to eternal life will be brought forth. In other words, "works meet for repentance."

Godly sorrow and contrition for sin at all times humbles the soul in the dust, and sets it down in the lowest room, lost in wonder at such grace manifested to such a worm of the dust, and we exclaim with Judas (not Iscariot), "Lord, how is it that Thou wilt manifest Thyself unto us, and not unto the world?" Such can sweetly adopt the words of the late Dr. Watts, and say,

""Twas the same love that spread the feast,

That sweetly forced me in;

Or still I had refused to taste,

And perished in my sin."

This love works no ill to its neighbour, and, therefore, persecution of our fellow-creatures cannot spring from it. In the exercise of this grace may you and I evermore be found.

I am, through mercy, well in health; and, though often faint, yet still am kept pursuing; the Lord's strength being perfect in my weakness. To His care I commend thee, and remain,

Thine most affectionately,

T. S.

THE TRINITY IN THE RESURRECTION.

"Jesus Christ of Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from

the dead."-ACTs iv. 10.

IN Scripture each of the three Persons in the Trinity is said to have raised Christ from the dead. What are the doctrines we may draw from this?

1st. The doctrines of Three Persons in one undivided Essence, all acting most harmoniously together in everything that goes on in the world, from its creation to its final consummation, also in everything relating to the salvation of sinners; since, though the relationship of the Three Divine Persons is one and indissoluble, yet their offices and work are entirely different, each sustaining His own part in the wonders they have wrought.

2ndly. The doctrine of the resurrection from the dead is an indisputable doctrine, being confirmed by the ever-blessed Trinity uniting their power in raising up our glorious Redeemer from the grave, thus conquering death, and opening the kingdom of heaven to all true believers.

W.

The Protestant Beacon.

Paris, January 6. NOTHING astonishes an educated foreigner more than to hear of an English Protestant gentleman, declared to be of sound mind and honest in character, becoming a convert to the Roman Catholic religion, especially in days like these when continental States and Governments, and the intelligence of the people, are getting as far away from Rome as possible. It is not long since the French newspapers were occupied calculating how many francs a day could be spent by the Most Noble the Marquis of Bute, and the general conclusion was that so much wealth in one hand argued much misery around-a very French idea, if not a correct one. No sooner have we forgotten our surprise about the immense wealth of this young nobleman than we hear of his having become a Roman Catholic, the news reaching Paris simultaneously from Nice and London. Roman Church influence has of late made itself conspicuously instrumental in bringing about the fall of dynasties and Governments, and become so obnoxious to the educated Catholic of the Continent by its hostility to the Christian religion and man's progress and education, that whether you talk the subject over at Vienna, Florence, Madrid, or Paris, you hear nothing but a pronounced condemnation of the Roman faith as imposed by the present Pontiff and his advisers. But this is not a condemnation of their religion, but its modern practices and degradation. Good continental Catholics lament the lost influence of the Church amongst the educated classes, and more especially the humbler classes. A Church which has allowed religion to expire in such states as Italy, Austria, and Spain, by attending only to its worldly interests, is not likely to make converts on the Continent. The French are accounting for the conversion of the Marquis of Bute in a variety of ways; but you never hear any one attribute his becoming a subject of Pius IX. instead of Queen Victoria to conscientious motives. No, there must be political or social reasons for it. Is it love, or money, or ambition? English converts to the Romish faith, as all of us know who have lived long abroad, are selected by the Jesuits, who do the business, either for their social rank or for their wealth; the Church does not care for a poor nobody. Many of us who have lived in Roman and other Italian cities know precisely the sort of English who embrace the Roman faith; and, heavens, what an enthusiast is the British neophyte! The Jesuits work on people of this description—the imaginative, enthusiastic, weak-minded; those who ask for imposture, and would be equally the dupes of Mr. Home or Madame Rachel. There are a few earnest thinkers, who end by desiring to give up all independence of thought and exercise of reason; and there are those (and especially women) who, having lost position in society amongst their own country people, become Roman Catholics, to make themselves, as they think, respectable again. To what group does the Marquis belong? asks the inquiring foreigner. We may be sure of one thing-there is a lady and a Jesuit in the little comedy of which he is the youthful hero.-Morning Post, Jan. 7th.

Take the Now into consideration, do it justice, and live as if there were only one second between you and eternity.