lative authority of God, and satisfy God's justice. As fallen creatures, we are actuated by principles which have a natural tendency to perpetuate and increase our crimes and our miseries. The evil principles of sin that are within us are so extensive and powerful, that not an instance can be adduced, since the fall of Adam, of a human being in whom they have not discovered themselves with the very first exertions of his rational powers. The seeds of evil are sown deep in the human heart, and produce abundance of evil fruit. The fountain being polluted the streams are necessarily vitiated. As "the heart is deceitful above all things, and desperately wicked," therefore our ways are perverse. Notwithstanding the threatenings of God's law against all unrighteousness, and the restraints imposed by natural conscience, &c., the sinful propensities of our evil hearts display themselves in open transgressions; and even when these are prevented by circumstances, there is a secret alienation from God, a desire to be independent of Him, a love to sin, which fully proves the entire ruin of our nature, and shows that of ourselves we cannot cease from sin.

But general views do not deeply affect the mind. The apostle speaks here in the language of conscientious enjoyment of the cleansing efficacy of the blood of Christ—" And washed us from our sins in His own blood." This text teaches us that there is everything venerable, and even awfully grand, in the plan through which sin is forgiven and salvation is bestowed. God has indeed discharged all the debt, and set His elect free; but this is done by a price of incalculable, infinite value. The Scriptures of truth constantly inform us that sin is not forgiven without punishment or satisfaction. This was clearly manifested by the sin-offerings under the law, which at once proclaimed the justice of God, and illustrated the way in which mercy is exercised. To these there is an allusion in the text: "And washed us from our sins;" not by the blood of inferior victims, but by His own blood. "He bore our sins in His own body on the tree.”

In Isaiah liii. 10, it is said, "When thou shalt make His soul an offering,"―asham, guilty, as the word here used signifies; or, by a figure, an offering for guilt-guilty. He was not in Himself guilty, but innocent, and perfectly so; yet He was accounted and treated as guilty, Heb. vii. 26; 2 Cor. v. 21. The reason of this was, the sins of all the elect were imputed to Him, laid upon Him, laid to His charge, and He was made accountable for them, being made a curse for us. Hence, He was made an offering for guilt. His sufferings formed that real and mysteterious expiation which hath put away sin. These were endured according to the Father's appointment-voluntarily endured in the nature that had sinned. And His sufferings were intense, unfathomable, ineffable, involving an overwhelming demonstration of the wrath of God against sin, and the direful effects of transgression. But these were fully sufficient. The dignity of His Person gave infinite value to His sufferings, so that they rendered it consistent with the justice of God and even conducive to His glory, honour, and praise, to extend forgiveness to the guilty. How powerful that blood when sprinkled on the awakened conscience! There are no stains of guilt it does not wash away, never to be again remembered in the court of heaven. It washes away sins past, present and to come. The believer in Christ has proof of its virtue every day of his life. It makes him clean in the eyes of God. It inspires

peace of conscience; it comforts him in sorrow, and supports him in death, and admits him into heaven, where there are pleasures for ever

more.

The apostle, simple, holy, and upright in his conduct amongst men, was yet conscious in his own experience of inward defilement; for, though it may seem paradoxical, the more holiness the Spirit bestows upon the believer, he is the more deeply affected with a sense of his unholiness. Having higher and clearer views of the holiness of God, he feels the more his own unworthiness. Having larger views into the extent and spirituality of God's holy, just, and good law; he sees the more his own manifold short-comings; and is ever ready to confess himself the chief of sinners But when the Holy Ghost applies the blood of Christ to the soul, then there is a sweet sense of meaning: "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood." Made nigh by the blood of Christ-an entrance into the holiest by the blood of Jesus; "for through him we both have access by one Spirit into the Father." Eph. ii. 13–22.

R. Mayhew says, "Christ's blood is purifying blood (Heb. ix. 14). It is Christ's blood purgeth from dead works in a state of death, and from lifeless works in a state of life. Yea, it is Christ that must wash us in His own blood." This precious blood has washed away the plague spots, and stains of many thousands who are now praising the Lamb for doing so. Amongst the happy number I desire to be found, sincerely saying, "Unto Him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in His own blood, be glory and dominion, for ever and ever." Amen and amen. Boston, Lincolns, Oct. 9, 1867. D. WILSON.

The Trabail of the Soul from Despondency to a Happy Deliverance.

A FEW WORDS OF EXPERIENCE TO CLOSE THE YEAR WITH..

WE began this wörk more than twenty years since by recording some of those things which the tried believer is called to experience in this wilderness. From time to time we have continued in this path, and in closing another volume, we shall simply refer to a state of conflict which all the earnest followers of the Lamb are called to endure in some portion of their Christian life.

We know "the Book of Psalms" is a part of the holy Word which is little thought of, little understood, but little quoted, and perhaps but little realized in the large professing family in these days. Still, there are some of the house of David yet upon the earth, and to them ALL the experiences of David, Asaph, Heman, Moses, and others, are frequently useful.

There is a remarkable verse in the 31st Psalm which we have found to express both sides of that inward conflict which the ancient saints were often the subjects of; and some in these days know their twofold spiritual conflict. When David was once more enabled to rejoice in God, he refers to a fearful state of dark agitation, of awful desertion, and of sudden amazement into which many adverse circumstances had driven him. Let us look carefully at these words, as expressing THE EXPERIENCE OF THE

TRIED SOUL in its night of sorrow, as well as THE JOY OF THE BELIEVER in his morning of deliverance.

Our words will be few. The portion we have referred to is the 22nd verse of the 31st Psalm, “For I said in my haste, I am cut off from before thine eyes; nevertheless, thou heardest the voice of my supplication when I cried unto thee."

What did David mean by his "haste ?" This word stands in opposition to "faith," which is a steady, and sometimes a stern and strong reliance upon the Lord. "He that believeth shall not make haste." He will wait for the Lord. "Though He slay me, yet will I trust in Him.” But a soul who doth believe in the Lord may sometimes be driven to hasty and to false conclusions respecting its state and condition before the Lord. Peter exhorts to soberness, and in times of danger and distress it is a mercy to be enabled to commit all unto, and leave all, with Him, of whom one said, "Let my sentence come forth from thy mouth.” What, in his haste, did this mysterious man of God say? "I am cut off from before thine eyes." The eyes of the Lord expresses his knowledge, His love, His approbation, and His blessing. To be persuaded that He will say at last, "Depart from Me, I never knew you," is a temptation or persuasion most horrible indeed. To feel that there is no love in God toward you-no sanction from heaven resting upon you -no Divine blessing for you, is an agonising grief beyond the power of words to define.

How did David prove that all this which he said in his haste was false? Because he realized after all, that the Lord heard the voice of his supplications when he cried unto him. There is a three-fold experience resulting from the Lord hearing our cries. 1. In seeking the Lord, if He hear us, He draws that seeking soul closer and closer unto Himself; until the Spirit of adoption carries out the meaning of that great Scripture, Come, now, let us reason together," &c., and that other one," Put me in remembrance, let us plead together, declare thou, that thou mayest be justified."

Again, when the Lord hears a man's cries, He relieves his soul; and gives him some rest at the footstool of mercy; which is a great mercy for a tempest-tossed spirit. But, more than all, deliverance is the result of cries being heard, and of prayers being answered. This is the highest blessing. Deliverance from all enemies, from tears and sorrows, from death and from hell.

Now David addresses himself to two kinds of experience, to two classes of believers.

Gratitude contrains him to exclaim, "O, love the Lord, all ye his saints; for the Lord preserveth the faithful." He would have all the saints to cleave unto the Lord, and honour Him with all their souls and strength.

And, then, to such as "hope in the Lord," he speaketh to their help, "Be of good courage; and He shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord."

All the branches of this Scripture carry with them the three great lessons of Christian experience. 1. That it is through great tribulation, the people, who are saved, have to pass. 2. That no trouble can finally stop the living soul from crying unto the Lord. 3. That out of all its terrors and trials, God will deliver every ransomed saint. May we all prove these things for Christ's sake. Amen.

A LETTER FROM SAMUEL COZENS, OF AUSTRALIA.

MY DEAR BROTHER BANKS,—When I left Willenhall, a quiet, sober-minded man came up to me, and with a grave countenance and solemn voice said, "Mr. Cozens, you are Jonah, you are running away from the Lord; and mark my words, you will pass through the belly of hell, and God will bring you back again. The first part of the prediction is as true as the Bible. I have indeed passed through the belly of hell-such a hell that I would not wish the greatest enemy I have on earth to experience. I have been in darkness and the deeps, without one spark of glimmering day; and have been more than once, or twice, or thrice, in a horror of great darkness, Gen. xv. 12. Yes, and the darkness was so dense that there was not a beam of hope; and O, the horrors of that darkness can only be known by being felt in the belly of hell. I used to think that no man, after being brought into the glorious liberty of the sons of God, could ever after feel the pains of hell. But I had not then dug down into the awful chambers of imagery, where Swarms of ill thoughts their bane diffuse.

But I have seen enough since then to exclaim,

Tell it unto sinners, tell,

I am, I am, out of hell.

A spark in the ocean, a stone in the air, a Daniel unhurt in the lions' den, the Hebrew children unconsumed in the fiery furnace, a Jonah undamned in the belly of hell, are not greater miracles than that the most upright should be out of hell. The human heart is far more devilish than the devil, for he has no mercy to insult. If the heart is deceitful above all things it must be worse than the devil. Our God never assumed the nature of devils to redeem them; but he has assumed our nature, and, therefore, to sin against Him in our nature is a species of evil that out-devils the devil himself. It is an evil of which he cannot be guilty. O Lamb of God, to deny Thee that died for us; to sin against Thee that suffered such a passion and death for our sins, is cruel ingratitude, and more than diabolical wickedness ; and if we have not with our lips done as Peter did, have we not in our lives followed the example of those who forsook him and fled? Who was the worst, the man who no doubt was struggling in himself to carry out his solemn resolution, but fell in the fight; or, those who fled from the contest, and left their loving Lord alone in the hands of His enemies? Have we not again and again sung in solemn sadness, "Prone to wander," about, "His loving heart is still eternally the same." He anticipated Peter's folly, and prayed for his faith. He inspired his confidence, and made him feel the power on the whelming waves. He challenged his love, and bade him feed His sheep and lambs; but never once mentioned the naughty words of his lips. O, to treat with any unkindness, or to exhibit the least disrespect towards so loving and tender a Shepherd is base indeed. Peter might have said of himself and all his fellow-disciples, "We were as sheep going astray, but (blessed adoration !) are now returned to the Shepherd and Bishop of our souls." O, I would hold fast, or, rather, I would be held fast by his crook, and never more, even in thought, stray from His blessed feet, but sit there-like Mary-like a child at home. There is no hell, no horror of darkness there, but sacred, high, eternal noon. I am sure I did wrong in leaving dear Old England, and the evils that have come upon me were the rods for the fool's back; but the rods are fewer than our sins, and lighter than our guilt. "He corrects us in measure." The rod is in a Father's hand, and love measures the affliction that shall be chastening.

We know all that is going on at home, for I have found VESSEL readers in all the colonies that I have visited. We get the periodicals almost as punctually as the people get them at home. We got the July periodicals last Monday the 23rd; and when I am reading what you are doing, I can hardly

realize that 14,000 miles of God's great and wide sea is rolling between us. Try and fill your periodicals with as much vital godliness and sound doctrines as you can, for hundreds in the interior are so remote from the public service of God, that they have nothing for their souls but what they get from the religious publications and the Bible. Think when you are freighting your VESSEL that it has to go further than Captain Cook went; and that the poor and needy feel the terrible loss of the stated means of grace. Poor dears, my soul often weeps for them. You folks at home, that can jump into your railway carriage and be taken from one end of the land to another, can form no idea of the colonies.

I am writing on what comes under my observation, and I have thought I would send it to you, but so much that I have written has never been printed, and as I attach some importance to my papers on the colonies, I must have your promise that you will publish them, for to copy them would involve a great expense of time. I promise you that they shall be interesting. But one thing be sure to do, and that will be a blessing; dissuade everybody from coming out here. I have rarely met with any but what are longing to return home again. They get out here, but have not the means to return, and here they are obliged to stay. I came here about two months ago to fulfil a twelve months' engagagement. Mr. Dowling is succeeded by a gentleman from the Metropolitan College.

Give my love to all enquiring friends, and especially to Mr. Wells, and accept the best wishes of yours very truly and sincerely,

S. COZENS.

MEMOIR OF MRS. ELIZABETH
TURNER,

OF KING'S LANGLEY, HERTS, WHO DEPARTED
THIS LIFE, AUGUST 3, 1867.

Or the early years of the subject of
this memoir the writer has been un-
able to obtain but little information,
except that she was in infancy de-
prived of the dearest relative on
earth; but the deprivation of ma-
ternal care was compensated for by
the devoted attachment of a tender,
loving father, whose circumstances
enabled him to give her that educa-
tion which was so useful to her at a
later period of life. She married at
the early age of eighteen; and though
the marriage was a happy one in many
respects, she found difficulties arise
to which she had before been a
stranger, and which it is quite un-
necessary to mention in this memoir.
Her writings (for she kept a diary
from a very early age) show that she
was the subject of religious impres-
sions; but the precise period when
she was called by grace does not ap-
pear. She has, however, been con-
nected in membership with the
Church of Christ assembling for wor-
ship at King's Langley, for upwards
of thirty years; and it is this part

of her useful, if not eventful history, which we have thought might be profitable and instructive to the people of God who are journeying the same road, subject to the same cares, beset by the same temptations, yet guarded by the same Almighty power which protected our departed friend, and eventually took her to that heavenly rest "which remaineth for the people of God."

During her long connection with the Church below, she appears to have adorned her profession, and to have merited the high esteem and regard which were ever entertained for her; and her loss will be long felt by many as a counsellor and friend, both in the secluded village in which she dwelt, and as a valued correspondent to those far away; and the writer of this memoir who has had the advantage of her friendship for a period of nearly twenty years, and who has in his possession a large number of her letters, feels that he has sustained a loss that will not easily be made up.

As a member of a Christian Church, she often lamented the coldness of heart and want of vitality which characterized the cause of God, at which she was deeply grieved.

But