Page images
PDF
EPUB

humility then, became as manifest as her pride before was apparent, and her language was, "I am too vile to be saved; God can never love such a sinner as I am."

Rev.

About four years before her translation, the Lord brought her out into Gospel liberty, and gave her a faith's view of a finished salvation under the ministry of the The last time she was in chapel, she said when the hymn was given out, and the minister-as was his custom-began by saying, "The Lord lift up our hearts while we sing his praise," such a beam of Divine light and love visited her soul, that it was a taste of heaven upon earth; and all she then wanted was to die; the next Sabbath she was in glory.

This dear saint arose in her usual health on a winter's morning, that proved to her "the last Saturday of time." She was unusually cheerful, remarking to one who was about her the fulness of a passage that had been much upon her mind, as exemplifying her own history, "I girded thee, though thou knewest it not." "Now that word," she observed, "has cast of late a bright light upon my pathway. In how many ways I have seen his girding, though I knew it not."" In the afternoon of the day, she was sitting with her family at her favourite occupation, knitting, when she was seized with a violent pain in her side. A medical man happening by an unexpected coincidence to be present, advised her to go to bed, and to take some remedies. To the astonishment of those about her, who knew her active habits, she complied at once, and observed to those who assisted her to bed, “I am undressing to die." When she lay down, she said, "This is no surprise to me; I have been expecting this pain for some time. I have no wish to live; I only trust the Lord will hear my prayer."

Now it was very remarkable, that on the morning of this day she said to one who was about her, "I have lately made two things a matter of urgent prayer; and I shall tell you what about, because it will strengthen your confidence in a prayerhearing God, if you are able to testify that it has been answered. I have been urgent with the Lord to let me have a short illness, so that I may not weary you all, and that I may have my faculties to the last." That the Lord answered this prayer, let the reader judge.

66

Directly after she was settled in bed, she requested her minister to be sent for. When he came, she told him, though her illness was not sufficient to cause alarm to those about her, yet she felt assured her time was come. Up to four years ago,” said she, “I was nothing but a Pharisee, clinging to my own works; but God brought me out with a high hand through your ministry, and I die in dependence upon the blood of Jesus Christ alone. You have a sweet promise for to-morrow (Matt. x. 20); I thought I should have shared it with you in the sanctuary; but I shall be better off above. To-morrow I shall be with the Lord." To the doctor, who was a worldly man, she said, "When you come to the spot I am now in, you will find your need of true religion. Nothing but the blood of Jesus Christ can make a dying bed happy; and I know it can, for I feel its blessedness now. I have neither fear or care; I am perfectly happy in the Lord." As night drew on, she said, "I don't want to sleep; I want to praise the Lord." She then repeated deliberately the 14th of John; and then said, "My dear children, this is death; but it is not like dying; it is simply going home. Jesus is so near and so present, that I have nothing to ask Him for, but to be a Friend and a Brother to you all." Again she said, "Can this be death? Oh, what easy work to die! The sting of death is gone; sin is pardoned; Christ is mine, heaven is mine."

[ocr errors]

She often re"He will rest in

As her breathing became difficult, she was supported in the arms of one of her children, to whom she said, "This text just expresses my feelings, The Lord thy God in the midst of thee is mighty. He will save; He will rejoice over thee with joy; He will rest in his love; He will joy over thee with singing.' peated throughout the night these clauses, repeatedly remarking, his love. That is my rest, my hope, my peace now." This text seemed her great stay; and when others were repeated, she returned to this with new delight, as if she had got deeper into its Divine meaning, as she drew nearer her journey's end. Towards eight o'clock on the Sunday morning, she asked for some tea, and cheerfully addressed the members of her household, as one and another of them came into She told them she had had a pleasant night, for the Lord was with her, and she was only tried at the thoughts of having kept others from their bed. "But

her room.

we had a very happy night-hadn't we, dear E?" she said with a bright smile to the one whose arms were supporting her. And then giving the cup-and-saucer back to another who stood beside her, she quietly leaned her head back, and was "Thou shalt come to thy grave in a full age, like a shock of corn cometh in

gone.

his season."

L.

OUR COUNTRY!

READERS! we are, if possible, more and more concerned about our long and highly-favoured land. Humanly speaking, we believe things wax worse and worse. We have long thought and are increasingly of opinion that unless our God is pleased to appear for us, England is doomed! Vain indeed, is the help of man. None but God can deliver! We have been betrayed! It is no marvel. It is but the natural course of things-precisely what might have been expected. It may be said of nations, as well as of individuals, "Him that honoureth me, I will honour, whilst he that despiseth me shall be lightly esteemed." We trembled at the vain boast about our army and our fleet; we trembled at dates being decided on for the downfal of Sebastopol ; but we most of all trembled when the late Government repudiated a day of thanksgiving and prayer. True, the victory was not achieved; but how did Jehovah honour Jehoshaphat and his army in 20th chapter 2nd Book of Chronicles. When praise was offered, then the destruction of the enemy began! But, alas! how different is our condition. Our boasted army! where is it? Virtually it no longer exists as a large and well-organized force. We are in a position to know that a certain proportion of the community sympathizes with the foe! The United Kingdom is overspread with those who would greet an invader! And, presuming-as, alas! we have too much reason to do that our interference has been a failure, involving the sacrifice of our army-in what state of defence are we? Oh, that the Lord may hear prayer, and graciously give wisdom, strength, and courage to our Queen at this most critical crisis. May there be an out-pouring of the Spirit upon each of our hearts, in order that we may specially remember her, as well as those engaged on behalf of our land. In God-and God aloneis our hope and our help! We fall back with some degree of comfort upon the remembrance that God would have spared the cities of the plain if so be that but ten righteous had been found therein. We have, as a nation, many thousand tens, which are as the salt or preserving property of the land; but again we are reminded that Israel was put to confusion before the little city Ai; why? There was an Achan in the camp. Alas! and has not England the long-and-dearly-cherished Achan too? Is not Antichrist-God's greatest foe, man's deadliest enemy-nestled in her bosom? "There is an ac

cursed thing in the midst of thee, O Israel: thou canst not stand before thine enemies, until ye take away the accursed thing from among you." So God said then, and so, we believe, God says now. Until the act of '29 be repealed, and the Maynooth Grant be revoked, we believe that, as a nation, never again shall we prosper.

The following Petition lately presented by the DUBLIN PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, SO fully expresses our own sentiments, that we feel it incumbent upon us at this juncture to transfer it from the Dublin Sentinel to these pages, and also to append thereto the very forcible and solemn comments of Dr. GREGG :

TO THE QUEEN'S MOST EXCELLENT MAJESTY.

The Petition of the Dublin Protestant Association. MOST HUMBLY SHOWETH—That your Majesty's | as to the present state of public affairs, and petitioners are deeply impressed with concern are convinced that it is a sacred duty, while

misled by second causes, ordinary politicians | rights of your Majesty and of our Church, the are vexing themselves with sorrow and anxiety about public disasters, with conjectures as to their origin, and with vain guesses as to the proper remedies, that those who look profoundly into things should loyally, religiously, and humbly fix your Majesty's attention upon what is certain and indubitable, as explanatory of existing evils, and to a way of escape which never failed, and the rectitude of which admits of proof.

That your petitioners would most humbly, in the first place, state, as incontrovertible facts, that a noble British army has, by this time, well nigh perished at the seat of war, and mainly through judicial visitation, by want of wisdom in its leaders, of energy, foresight, and prudence, all of which are the gift of God; by pestilence, by tempest, and by the inclemency of the heavens. to say nothing of the sword of the enemy. That the British name, which ranked unquestionably in the first place, has become tarnished, and that our allies. the French, now, in the estimation of the world, are our superiors in power, wisdom, and military science, and would, if our warfare were successful, hold as of admitted right and by virtue of strength of arm, the territories now disputed with Russia. That this dishonour and those foul stains militate seriously against the pre-eminence of the British state. the safety, welfare, and usefulness of its subjects. That your petitioners most humbly submit to your Majesty that such considerations force them to the conclusion that the hand of the Almighty is against us, and his heavy arm outstretched to chasten us.

That your petitioners further submit to your Majesty, that there rests upon the kingdom the guilt of national sin to account for such vicissitudes, and it will add weight to their exposition to remind your Majesty that, when this national guilt was being incurred, your Majesty's petitioners, and what may be denominated the religious section of all your Majesty's subjects, remonstrated and protested against its consummation, and most earnestly testified that national disaster and calamity would be sure to be the result; and prayed, petitioned, besought, and supplicated, but in vain, that high heaven should not be provoked, nor the wrath of the Almighty brought down upon the empire, by a course of conduct so fatal in its nature.

That your petitioners entreat your Majesty to remember that a nation should be honest, faithful, consistent, manly, and true to their professions that they should not trample upon principles, despise obligations, set at nought religious duties, and violate their covenants with heaven; and that, if they neglect such plain rules of probity, they will cause to grow amongst them vice, demoralization, wickedness, and crime. and may be expected to suffer the pen alty of national degradation and ultimate ruin. That the British nation at the present day is compromised in each and every of these moral delinquencies.

That the nation propagates at the College of Maynooth, at an expense of £30,000 per annum, a belief in what the nation itself pronounces to be an erroneous and idolatrous religion. That it gives that large annual sum to educate men to be the priests of sacrifices which it calls itself, and declares to be, blasphemous fables, and dangerous deceits (Art. XXXI.,) that it gives nearly £200,000 a year to support schools from which it has removed that life-giving Word of God which He has magnified above all his name; that it admits to equal prerogatives, as Christian teachers, with the ministers of the Church, the sacrificers of the Pope,

whom it pronounces to be the ministers of a church which hath erred not only in their living and manners of ceremonies, but also in matters of faith, (Art. XIX:) and that it has endured, without anything like a due jealousy for the honour of God and his truth, for the

intrusion into England of an alien hierarchy, to parcel out the land among them, to propagate their delusions with all the deceivableness of a rightful apostolic mission and lawful church, and to seduce into the abominations of revived Paganism the weak-minded and the unstable, and that thereby, to the scandal of all scriptural believers, considerable numbers of lesser note, but beside these some eminent dignitaries and persons of rank, have been withdrawn from the Church of England and the faith of the Gospel.

That your Majesty's petitioners most humbly, most respectfully, but most earnestly and firmly, pronounce such state conduct to be treason against God Almighty, rebellion against high heaven, indefensible, unjustifiable, audacious in its character, and fully sufficient to account for the withdrawal of wisdom from our councils, of sagacity from our generals, of providential mercy from our troops, of virtue and grace from our population, and of honour from our national character; that it is sin that would disgrace any people that would suffice to subvert any throne established in truth and righteousness; sin that should explain the destruction by heaven itself of three millions of the Irish population by famine and pestilence, of an army of forty thousand men, and of the prestige of three hundred years of brilliant achievements accomplished by Britain while she was true to her principles, to her Church, and to her God.

That on such grounds your petitioners most humbly pray your Majesty to take the premises into your gracious consideration, and as you would preserve your throne for your posterity, their liberties for your subjects, and power and honour for your native land and for your empire, purchased and won by the blood of martyrs, at once to take counsel, not with mere politicians, who look only at second causes, but with simple, truthful, God-fearing, and wise men taught of the Holy Spirit, that you should, as your pious grandfather would have done, and your princely predecessors, Elizabeth, Edward VI., and William III, go to the root of our evils, rid the kingdom from the foolishness of political empirics, and set it right with the word of eternal verity, by exalting to its due honour in all our National Schools the Word of God, by withdrawing every penny of the national money expended to teach what the nation itself pronounces to be error, falsehood, and idolatry, and by a course of policy strictly, severely, and punctiliously scriptural and truthful. Then will the Almighty give to you, our beloved Queen, mighty captains to lead your arms to victory; then shall one of your soldiers chase a thousand, and two put ten thousand to flight; then will grace, wisdom, and blessing adorn your people with virtue and knowledge; then will He take away from us the plagues of Egypt and the sickness from the midst of us; then will he bless our bread and our water, our basket and our store, our outgoing and our incoming; and every one of your subjects will sit in peace beneath his own vine and his own fig-tree: whereas, if we still harden our necks, and proceed in a course of rebellion against which every order of things cries aloud, and which has already eventuated in such dread results, we cannot doubt but that the end will be destruction, and that without remedy.

That the Almighty may bless and preserve your Majesty long to reign over us in wisdom and in truth, is the heartfelt desire of your faithful subjects, and that for which your Majesty's petitioners will ever pray. Now, Mr. Chairman, (says Dr. Gregg) I am sure I need not say much to recommend this petition for adoption at this meeting. I do trust the Almighty God, who is the disposer of the hearts of the children of men, and above

The Hon. and Rev. Mr. Osborne, lately returned from the Crimea, informs us that the English force there depends for its very existence upon the French. We have been further informed by the Times correspondent, that the name of England has vanquished from the mind of the East, and that the war is called by the Orientals. The French war with Russia. And it appears that England has so little hope of concealing her misfortunes-has so utterly deso dead to the feeling of self-respect, which some spaired of sustaining her character-and become time since, was intolerable pride, that the voice of her press proclaims her incompetency to or even to meet the inconvenience of a few weeks' correct the consequences of stupid ignorance, rain. Alas!

The Tablet thus places the case before us :

all, the disposer of the hearts of princes-I | key-note on the subject of the present condo trust that He may dispose our gracious Queen test (hear, hear,) and when we raised the to consider these truths, for I solemnly believe voice to declare that the calamities at the that at this present moment we are placed in the seat of war were judicial, and that the proper greatest peril as an empire (hear, hear,) and way to remedy them was to go to the root that, unless there be a change in the order of from which they spring; that we proclaimed, things, we shall see the British empire de- and it was no weak voice, for the utterance stroyed (hear, hear.) Mr. Chairman, the that we sent forth then was given through petition glances at a most stupendous fact the metropolitan papers of England, and I -I call it nothing else, for it states,-"That may say, resounded through the earth. Well, the British name, which ranked unquestion- we were laughed to scorn; many said it was able in the first place, has become tarnished, fanaticism; but, sir, what have we now in and that our allies, the French, now in the patent and remarkable plainness before us? estimation of the world, are our superiors in Why, that the identical cry which we raised power, wisdom, and military science, and is now taken up by the Roman Catholic would, if our warfare were successful, hold, papers, which are, in all directions, saying as an admitted right and by virtue of strength that the calamities are judicial. What does of arm, the territories now disputed with the Telegraph say? It speaks thus:-Russia" (hear, hear.) The present war is called the French war. The French have taken possession of the chief places at Constantinople; and if we succeeded in the warfare, they would, at this present moment, be able to dictate terms to Britain, and to hold Constantinople by an army of occupation (hear, hear.) Let me ask, is not that a most dangerous and unthought of downfall for Britain-that Britain was the other day considered to be the leading empire of the earth, and believed to be superior, in every respect, to the French? It is not a stupendous thing that the British nation that defeated the French in the Peninsular war, and all Europe may say, that that British empire should now be placed in the painfu! position of beg ging supplies for our soldiers in the camp from our French allies? that our soldiers should be wearing the uniform of France, from the wretched want of wisdom and energy on the part of our rulers? (hear, hear)-that it should be a proverb in the East that the British name has become associated with disorder, weakness, mismanagement, and contemptible imbecility? (Hear, hear.) It is a most fearful thing; and let me ask, at this present hour-for it must be asked, and should be put before the world-let me ask, if at the existing crisis there was thrown upon the shores of this country some invading foe-let me ask, are we not almost devoid of organised defenders to maintain our sacred soil from the invasion of the enemy? (Hear, hear.) Now, sir, these are serious matters, and I am confident, and it is the reason of the thing, that the cause must be fathomed. It is a proverb that it is the dog that takes and bites at the stone that strikes it. It is contemptible only to contemplate second causes. There is a great first cause in this matter to which we must go, and plumb those evils to their depths, in order that we may apply the remedy at the foundation (hear, hear.) Now, sir, I must say that I do consider that this association has a right to feel grateful and privileged from the fact that we were the first body to raise the

I

The history of this campaign is so sad as to force upon us the most sad anticipations. blindness, and to be supernaturally urged to their Official people seem to be struck with judicial doom. All Europe pronounced the hand of God to have been manifested in Napoleon's Russian invasion, and can we say that we are centuries of blasphemy and pride are enough not in the same calamity? It may be that three exhaustive of the Supreme patience, and that we shall now fall inevitably before a despised barbarian, as great an enemy of God as we are, and that therefore, the scourge is well adapted for the scourged. Incapacity cannot wholly explain our apathy and neglect. The country itself stands sacrifice our troops at the rate of one hundred mute, with its arms folded, while the ministers a day. Beyond the visible ruin rise other thoughts grave and distressing, for a camp life is not the best preparation for the hour of

death.

I could multiply such statements, I might say, ad infinitum; but I shall just cite another instance from the Kilkenny Journal, said to be a kind of "government organ,' which says:

[ocr errors]

Thus has this insane game been played out. It was not difficult to guess how it would terminate. It has terminated, as the Times says, in disaster-it has left England without an army. Well, God is just. Retribution sooner or later follows crime; and we most firmly believe that here is the army of the Deity upraised to scourge the nation which has gazed on in while pestilence and famine mowed the Irish brutal triumph, or laughed with fiendish glee, people, and left the land desolate.

Now, sir, there we have the Roman Catholic journals declaring that the present calamities of the war are judicial. They say, that we are judged for our Protestantism,

Blakes, the Pitts, the Chathams-glorious leaders in every department of the State, that would silence the enemy, vindicate the crown and the glorious cause of the British constitution, and thereby hold up the British name to the admiration and respect of mankind-for, my friends, be it remembered, that at this moment there is trembling in the balance the constitutional liberties of the earth (hear.) Recollect that the despots of Europe are contemplating the present crisis of affairs in Britain, pointing to the state of things to prove that there is an imbecility in constitutional governments. Consequently, I say, that at this present moment, in the destiny of Britain are involved the liberties of mankind (hear;) and I do trust that the testimony which we send forth on this occa sion may be contemplated by her Majesty in the light of God's truth; let her take up her Bible, that gives consolation to her heart in the hour of distress, and see if we have not spoken according to the law and to the testimony (hear, hear.) She will see that we utter no uncertain sound, and offer no vain counsel, and that we know of what we speak, and whereof we declare; and therefore I trust our testimony may have, on the Queen's heart, the desired effect-but whether it does or not, it will go forth on the wings of the press before the public mind, and they will see that in our hour of peril there is a light to lighten our darkness, and to make clear our understanding. And I trust to see a growth of knowledge and wisdom, and an increase of faithful prayers to God Almighty to give wisdom to those in high places. It is our duty to lift our voice in prayers to God that He may be graciously pleased to inspire the whole nation with a sense of its entire dependence upon Him, so that the result may be a deliverance from our present dangers, and our restoration to that high place which for so long a period we occupied among the nations of the earth (cheers.)

but were we judged for our Protestantism during the Peninsular war, when Protestantism was in the ascendant? (Hear, hear.) Were we judged for our Protestantism in the reign of Queen Elizabeth, when the Almighty dashed to pieces the "Invincible Spanish Armada," as it was called? (Hear, and cheers.) Were we judged for our Protestantism when William III., marched like a conquering hero through Europe, came here, and, by glorious victories, established those liberties which we hold dear, confessedly acknowledged to be brought about by the arm of God? (Cheers.) Were we then judged for our Protestantism? No, sir; the whole history of England shows that Protestantism is our palladium (cheers ;) and, therefore, when the Romish journals say that our punishment is judicial, we adopt their conclusion, but we deduce it from a very different set of premises (hear, hear.) We say we are chastised for having departed from the Word of God, and that Christian integrity that for three hundred years has been the glory of the British name (cheers.) But, sir, is there not a remedy? Yes; our petition suggests it. I do believe that if our Queen acted according to the prayer of that petition, and called to her councils men of God, with a brave heart, I believe they would concentrate the strength of Britain as in one man's arm, that they would breathe zeal and enthusiasm into every British heart, that, they would rally on British ground 500'000 soldiers to fight the battles of the country (cheers.) Five hundred thousand! What is five hundred thousand to a nation that numbers twenty-seven millions within her boundaries? I do believe that if the Queen called to her councils men of God -the secret of success is in the Divine blessing-they would at once concentrate her powers, and re-take a position that would redeem us from this weakening influence that has been bearing upon our strength (hear, hear.) And you would see Almighty God raising up men like the Wellingtons, the Since penning the few observations with which this article was introduced, we have received a letter from our beloved friend and brother in Christ, "W. M,” of Liverpool, the author of many valuable pieces, which have from time to time appeared in these pages. It is with deep concern we state, that he is in exceedingly delicate health. Most fervently do we pray, that, if it is Jehovah's will, he may yet long be spared to continue his faithful testimony for God and truth. Not on his own account, but on our own, and the Church's behalf, deeply, deeply shoul we deplore his removal as yet, to that blessed inheritance which is in reserve for him, beyond the reach of sin and suffering. From his letter we extract the following: DEAR BROTHER IN THE LORD,-What think you of the Times? can we realize the dreadful fact that within the last few months 50,000 of our poor countrymen have been swept away by the sword and the pestilence! Abroad war-at home political and commercial convulsion-a thousand dangers all around; and yet astounding!-there are men, yea Christian men, like our dear brother -who can calmly fold their hands and cry, "Peace! peace!" and yet there are men, yea Christian men, who are so blind that they cannot see that God's wrathful hand is stretched out in judgment against this disobedient and gainsaying nation! For my own part, I dare not think of these things, I dare no longer watch

fellow

« PreviousContinue »