Meaner for God than the Devil. the OUR ONE LIFE. Life is brief, 79 'Tis not for man to trifle! How sacred should that one life ever be, Hour after hour still bringing in new spoil. Our being is no shadow of thin air. No fable of the things that never were, 'Tis full of meaning as of mystery, [be. On summer gale. No cloud that floats along a sky of light, the tank clad in their white robes, the sight was particularly interesting. Not a few of the heathen stood on the road to witness the administration of the ordinance. During its administration the greatest order and stillness prevailed, Six of the candidates were from the Girls' Asylum, and one from the Boys'. The latter is the son of the respected deacon of the church at Piplee, and is a quick promising youth. Among the girls was one whose parents perished on Juggernath pilgrimage, and she, when quite a child was rescued and placed in the asylum, about thirteen years ago. When conversing with her on the state of her mind, I took the opportunity of reminding her of God's goodness to her in saving her from a premature death and affording her saving knowledge which her parents never possessed. By such a reference a tender cord was touched, and tears rolled down her cheeks. She, we hope, has become a "pilgrim for Zion's city bound," thus differing from her parents who were pilgrims to wicked and hateful Pooree. In the afternoon we had a precious season around the table of the Lord, when the newly baptized were received into the fellowship of the church; and in the evening we meditated on Luke xv., 10., when reference was made to the joy which MEANER FOR GOD THAN THE angels would experience in witnessing the transactions of the day. "This is something like the day of Pentecost," observed one of the native brethren, and ardently do we desire to see such days occurring more frequently. Oh for an outpouring of the Holy Ghost similar to that enjoyed in apostolic days. The longer we live in India, and the more we see of the depravity of the human heart, the more do we feel that it will not be by human might, but by the Spirit of the Lord, that India will be converted to Christ. Among others a good work seems to be going on, as we have ten more candidates. W. HILL. O life above! how long, how fair, and glad! day of O day of Made fair and new! Come, better Eden, with thy fresher green; DEVIL. DR. BONAR. A gentleman of wealth, who had been much addicted to frolic and sports, was converted, and became a member of one of our congregations. This congregation had adopted the ad valorem principle as a means of defraying its expenses. In a few months after this gentleman's conversion the deacons waited on him in order to make their assessments; and knowing that he was rich, and that his proportion of the expenses would amount to a pretty handsome sum, they feared that he would not be willing to bear it, and their demand might give him serious offence, and prove an injury to him. Hence, they approached their busi- | united with a company in any ness with some trepidation and great caution. At first he was at a loss to ascertain the reasons of their apparent difference. The deacons perceiving this, became, of course, more explicit. The gentleman was surprised. "What on earth," said he, "do you mean? Did you suppose that I would be unwilling to pay my full proportion? When I was a man of the world, and scheme of pleasure, I would have deemed myself a mean man had I not paid my full proportion of the expenses. Go to the assessor's book and put me down for my full proportion of the expenses of the church. Do you think that I intend to be a meaner man now, since I have become a servant of God, than I was when a servant of the devil." American Paper. Foreign Letters Received. BERHAMPORE.-W. Bailey, December 3. | CUTTACK.-J. Buckley, Oct. 27, Dec. 4. CALCUTTA.-W. Brooks, December 6. -W. Hill, November 17. -I. Stubbins, December 3, 8. | PIPLEE.-G. Taylor, November 27. Contributions RECEIVED ON ACCOUNT OF THE GENERAL BAPTIST MISSIONARY SOCIETY, From December 20th, 1862, to January 20th, 1863. RAMSGATE. LONDON. RIPLEY. 100 Collections and subscriptions 12 17 5 Hope Armstrong HALIFAX. ... 70 Bicentenary Collections... 0 7 530 Collections and subscriptions 18 7 6 Per Rev. J. Packer... Major Farran Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the General Baptist Missionary Society will be thankfully received by Robert Pegg, Esq., Treasurer, Derby; and by the Rev. J. C. Pike, Secretary, Leicester, from whom also Missionary Boxes, Collecting Books, and Cards may be obtained. WHEREFORE COMFORT ONE ANOTHER WITH THESE WORDS.-1 Thess. iv. 18. I SHALL CONVEY no new truth to your minds when I say that sorrow is a part of our earthly lot. Man is born to trouble as the sparks fly upward. A portion of the 'bread of sorrows' is allotted out to each. None can evade this element of earthly experience. The sinner has the root of sorrow growing deep within him. The Christian, however bright may be his hope, has his portions of the sorrows of this life. Sorrowful, says one, yet alway rejoicing. There are many kinds of sorrow. Sorrow on account of sin. The swellings and gushings of a broken heart. Sin is the kernel and root of all sorrow. A consciousness of sin, and a preception of the holiness of that Being against whom our sin has been aimed, covers the soul with sorrow. Sorrow is an element of genuine repentance. Sorrow arising from disappointments. God sees fit sometimes to cross our purposes. He breaks through our plans, and lays low our schemes. He baffles the imaginations of our hearts, and teaches us our dependence upon Him. As he crushes the bud of our hope our heart is wrung with grief. VOL. IV.-NEW SERIES, No. 3. Sorrow on account of the loss of our friends. The tender ties of nature and love are snapped asunder by the hand of death. The pilgrims who have walked together for many years are separated not to meet again in this mortal sphere. The stroke of death moves the deepest feelings of our nature. The influence of the gospel is designed to temper and moderate the sorrow of the Christian. His sorrow for the departed may be deep and real, but it is not to overmaster his faculties or his feelings. The gospel is a light in the shades of death, and a lamp in the darkness of the grave. Hope is the anchor of the soul. Christians may sorrow, but not as others which have no hope. The gospel draws aside the curtain which veils the future and discloses Notes of a sermon preached in Wood-gate chapel, on the occasion of the death of Mr. Joseph Rowland, of Loughborough; and of Mrs. Ann Chapman, of Castle Donington. Each of these old disciples had been a member of the church of Christ for more than fifty years. Mrs. Chapman was baptized at Loughborough, September 9, 1804, received into the same church on a reby Mr. Pollard. Mr. Joseph Rowland was commendation from Kegworth,' March 28th, 1813. to us the present happiness and future glory of the pious dead. Our text leads us to consider a group of thoughts which are calculated to sustain and comfort the pious mind under bereavement. I. We have the peaceful state of the pious dead. They are asleep.' They sleep in Jesus. Sleep is an emblem of peace, and a source of rest. He giveth his beloved sleep. Sleep is a necessary condition of healthy and active existence. The image of death is a fountain of life. Sleep is an indication and result of the weakness and limitation of our nature. The powers of the strongest man in time become exhausted. which results in the renewal and in- He grows faint and becomes 'Sleep seldom visits sorrow; when it doth, It is a comforter.' In the sleep of death all the miseries and woes of this life are brought to a close. The dead are out of the reach of the calamities which this world inflicts. Anger cannot touch them; slander cannot disturb them; poverty cannot reach them; the grave is a refuge from the avenger. There the wicked cease from troubling; and there the weary are at rest. There the prisoners rest together; they hear not the voice of the oppressor. The small and great are there; and the servant is free from his master. Sleep is a state of unconsciousness, unto the Lord. They abide in Him, and He in them. Religion involves vital union with Christ. Our life is hid with Christ in God. That I may be found in him was the most ardent wish of the apostle. Faith, is taking hold of Christ. Faith reposes in the sympathies of a Person as well as in a system of doctrines. The church is the body of Christ. There is an organical unity in the church of God, and each member is a part of it. The holy dead are identified with the person of Christ, and interested in the work of Christ. His atonement has cancelled their sins. His intercession has availed for them at the golden altar above. His promises gave them consolation, His precepts guidance. Christ was the foundation of their hope. Their last thoughts were about Christ. Their desires and feelings clung to Him. They died in Christ, and now they sleep in Jesus. II. As a source of comfort, the apostle refers to the joyful and glorious resurrection of the pious dead. Dissolution is not destruction. The grave is the saint's bed. He shall rise again. Blissful Meeting at the Resurrection. 83 The great argument for our and glories of His advent before resurrection is the resurrection of others.'* our Lord. For if ye believe that Jesus died and rose again, even so them also which sleep in Jesus will God bring with Him. The death and resurrection of Christ are the fundamentals of our religion. They are the great immutable pillars of Christian doctrine; were it possible to move these, all would fall to the ground. If Christ be not raised, your faith is rain, ye are yet in your sins. But the resurrection of our Lord rests upon a basis of indestructible evidence. His friends, his enemies, angels, bore witness to the reality of it. You could as easily take the sun from the heavens as this doctrine from the history of the world. It is the grand crowning miracle of Christianity. It was the great topic and argument of the apostle's preaching; and the resurrection of a glorified church is built up upon the reality of the resurrection of her glorious Lord. Christ the first fruits; afterwards they that are Christ's at His coming. III. The apostle alludes to the blissful meeting which shall take place at the coming of the Lord between the pious who are then living and the pious who were dead. The encircling clouds will form a chariot for the glorified church. The chains of nature which have bound them to this earth will be broken, and the body will be free from the dominion of matter. The glorified and luciform body will be caught up in the enveloping and upbearing clouds.' The church will meet the Lord in the air. Think of the glories of that scene. The sun will be darkness compared to that glory. The imagination sinks in the effect to lift itself up to the conception. The apostle refers to the glorious circumstances which shall attend the resurrection of the pious dead. It will be in the midst of great pomp and majesty. The Lord himself shall descend from heaven. The angels of His power will accompany Him. They will be the ministers of His will, and the instruments of His power. The heavens will be lit up with the splendours of His glory. He will plant His throne in the skies. His voice will shake the earth. The realms of death shall hear the voice of the archangel and the trumph of God. How wonderful, and awful, and sublime will be the scene. The dead in Christ shall rise first. There shall be a manifestation of the sons of God. Those who are alive at the coming of the Lord shall have no advantage over those who were dead, they shall not anticipate them in anything; they shall not go before them to take the first places, not prevent them, the apostle says, 'Shall not arrive in the presence of the Lord, and share the blessings The saints shall enjoy eternal fellowship with Christ, and so shall we for ever be with the Lord. The little circles of Christian fellowship on earth are often broken by the hand of death. Our friends are being fast laid in the grave. Others take their seats in the sanctuary of the Lord. In heaven there will be no death. In heaven we part no more. These words constitute a source of comfort to those who have been bereaved. They were written with a design of clearing up the anxieties of Paul's own converts. They are adapted to soothe the minds of Christians now. The holy dead are happy. They are asleep. They sleep in Jesus. They are incorporated in that great system of love and life of which Jesus Christ is the author and head. The trials of this life are closed. The conflict ended, the victory won. They rest from their labours. A scene of future glory is before them. Their Lord shall descend from heaven and fill the skies with the clouds of His glory. He will gather His elect into His own arms. Amid the choral symphonies of His angels, He will lead them away in chariots of glory to the temple of light and blessedness above. * Ellicott. |