THE EARTHEN VESSEL, AND Christian Record. THE GROUNDS OF OUR HOPE, AND THE CHARACTER OF OUR WORK. THE EDITOR'S ADDRESS TO HIS READERS. TWELVE years have rolled away since first our path; and either as an Illuminator, as "THE EARTHEN VESSEL" appeared in the a Corrector, or as a Comforter, the Word has world. Its appearance and pretensions been to us a faithful friend. We were were of the humblest character-it simply called out of darkness into a seeking state aimed to give expression to the faith and of soul by the powerful application of that feelings of such as are "asking their way Word: "Awake, thou that sleepest, and to Zion, with their faces thitherward;" and arise from the dead; and CHRIST SHALL to many souls of this description it has GIVE THEE LIGHT." Strength was imbeen rendered useful. As the same heart parted; we fell prostrate at the Saviour's and hand that began it is permitted still to feet; but from spiritual death we were conduct it, it is hoped that its usefulness raised, and HE has been our light and our may in nowise diminish; but whether its salvation from that day to this. The influence shall increase or decrease is gates of Gospel freedom were opened to known only to that GoD in whom alone we us by two sermons, preached at two difdesire to confide, and whom we wish faith-ferent times, by two directly different men, fully to serve until our journey comes to from the words of Paul: "Being confident its end. True thankfulness to Him doth of this very thing, that he which hath begun well become us, seeing we have been con- a good work in you will perform it until the tinued in the service so long; and being day of Jesus Christ." In the first sermon almost daily in receipt of letters from there was a revelation of the grace and different parts of the kingdom, from Ame-glory of the Mediator's person and work; rica, the Colonies, the Indies, and other in the second discourse there was a blessed hores, informing us of the spiritual declaration of "THE GOOD WORK," which benefit derived from the perusal of "THE Christ begins in the souls of all the EARTHEN VESSEL," We thank God, and take elect by the power of the Holy Ghost, and courage; and although it hath not pleased a happy confirmation that that work was Him to make our circumstantial way either begun in us. This was a time never to be pleasant or prosperous; although our sor-forgotten. rows have been great, our fears many and mighty, and our difficulties almost insurmountable, still we have proved his faithfulness in the fulfilment of every word upon which our faith has been helped to rely. The Word of God has not been bound, although in anything beside his Word and his service, we seldom know what freedom is. Our authority for becoming united unto the visible Church of Christ was derived from the speaking home to the heart Christ's own words to John the Baptist: "Suffer it to be so now, for thus it becometh us to fulfil all righteousness;" and being afterwards positively commanded by the elders of the church to go forth and speak in the Lord's name, we went out with the words of James: "Hearken, my beloved brethren, hath not God chosen the poor of this world, rich in faith, and heirs of the kingdom?" The substance of that text has been the theme of our ministry B between twenty and thirty years. That destruction of heaps upon heaps in the glorious bunch of promises in the three Valley of Dry Bones. last verses of the ninety-first Psalm have been partly verified: we wait until every word shall be complete, and— "Then, in a nobler, sweeter song, We'll sing his power to save." These are the times in which our lot is cast, and in the midst of which we are called to labour; and most feelingly, like Nehemiah, we cry, 66 Now, therefore, O GOD, strengthen our hands. Think upon us, O our God, for good." And with Moses we cry, "Make us glad according to the days wherein thou hast afflicted us. thy work appear unto thy servants, and thy glory unto their children. And let the beauty of the Lord our God be upon us; and establish thou the work of our hands upon us; yea, the work of our hands establish thou it." Let We simply ask, in conclusion, that this our brief Address may be read in chapels, in cottages, and in all places where our friends have opportunity of doing so, and consider that good may thereby be done. As regards the character of our work, we only say we hope to go on with our labour, which we consider lays under the six following heads. Instrumentally we hope— First. To open the book of Gospel mysteries, and thus unfold a little of the boundless mercies of the everlasting covenant. Secondly. To open the book of the poor sinner's heart, and to set forth, in a measure, the conflict which is found therein, when life, and faith, and hope do enter. We have thus given "a reason of the hope" that is in us, with meekness and reverence (see marg. 1 Pet. iii. 15), and firmly do we believe it to be a hope that will not make us ashamed in that day when God alone shall be our judge, and the petty pre-eminences assumed by mortal men will have passed away for ever. During the past year, this publication, and all we had beside, was sold out of our hand, and we considered it gone for ever; and no small tempest has lain upon us for many months. A kind Providence, however, has so ordered it that we have been compelled to re-purchase this "EARTHEN VESSEL" at the cost of 2501., which sum is to be paid, if possible, out of the monthly proceeds of its sale, if its sales be suffi cient; but if not-and no other way is opened up—it must go from us altogether. We have thus briefly laid open our spiritual and our temporal position; and in the unshaken persuasion that God, even our God, has wrought by this work, and put honour upon it, believing also that it is destined to be of much more extensive good to Zion, we are determined (in the given strength of Israel's triune Jehovah) to go forth in the face of all persecution, opposition, and mistaken views of our aim and effort; and in all places where power and Providence unite to open the way, to preach THE TRUTH, and to circulate this work even to the darkest and most remote corners of our own and other lands. The united and untiring co-operation of all who are friendly to this issue will be abso-ration following. lutely necessary. The church and the world is fast filling with publications. Almost every section of professing Christendom is in a state of high excitement, of division and tumult. There is not one of Zion's walls, but the enemy is trying to throw it down. There is not one of her foundations, but men are directly or indirectly labouring to tear them up, and cast them away. The Church herself is almost fallen fast asleep; and not a few of her ministers have sunk into a barren system of cold formality and lifeless dissertation, while floods of iniquity and streams of blasphemy are being poured forth, to the Thirdly. To open the book of Providence, and review the dealings of God with his servants and saints, while, on their pilgrimage, they pass to Canaan's happy home. Fourthly. To open the book of the Church's history, in that which is past, as well as in that which is present, carefully and charitably to consider her palaces, that we may testify of her unto the gene Fifthly. To plead the cause of God's poor and afflicted children, which He has always said He would leave in the midst of Zion; and in this small branch of our work, no little mercy has been bestowed upon us. Oft have we made the sorrowful heart to be glad; and hope to do so again in instances out of number. Lastly. To furnish all the information relative to the Church's public meetings and movements, as may tend to aid her in the great work she hath upon her hands. To carry out this manifold amount of labour, we need the continued and persevering help of every one who has faith in our position. To all such real friends we say: Place in your study a boldly-written paper, with these words on it, "Send your communications to THE EARTHEN VESSEL' by the 15th, or not later than the 20th of every month." And direct it to your faithful and devoted servant in the Gospel, CHARLES WATERS BANKS, 2, Eldon Place, Upper Grange Road, Bermondsey, London. Dec. 18, 1856. *** An influential ministering brother has suggested the propriety of forming a Committee, for the purpose of giving strength and for facilitating the circulation of this periodical. Pastors of churches and honourable members holding the truth are eligible both to unite with the Home Committee and also to form Provincial Branches. Communications will be thankfully received. EPISTLES TO THEOPHILUS. LETTER XXVIII. MY GOOD THEOPHILUS.-I hope the Song of Songs still has a place in your heart; but deep and many will be your trials to make you know that song which none can learn but them that are redeemed from among men. This Song of Songs begins in the soul by the manifestations to it of Divine favour. "Let him kiss me with the kisses of his mouth; for thy love is better than wine." Thus you know that wherever sin and wrath have made wounds, there the love of Jesus shows effectually its sympathies, its interests, and its delights. Wrath is no more. What does my good Theophilus say to this? Are you brought to see the completeness there is of contrast between Law and Gospel ?-that in the one there is nothing but wrath, in the other nothing but love; so that the change of state from wrath eternal to love everlasting is in greatness unspeakable. Now, if you are with Him in that love, and are not angry with Him because He loves unto the end, and because there is no separation from his love, and because its immutability is demonstrated and sealed by his atoning death-if, with these features of his love, you are not angry with Him, then you have on your side this his own testimony that "Blessed is he whosoever shall not be offended in me;" and if not offended, then you are pleased, and will seek the tokens of his love with-let Him "kiss me with the kisses of his mouth;" for not the literal purest blood of the grape can cheer us as his love can cheer us. His love thinketh no evil of us, nor ever thinks it does too much for us; and if you have in your heart an abiding place for the testimony of his love, then, if his love be not yet manifested, it surely will be; for if the law of love be thus written in your heart, then by that law you will dwell for ever in his love. Its language is, "As one whom his mother comforteth, so will I comfort you, and ye shall be comforted in Jerusalem." What, then, will be the path in which this love will constrain you to walk? It will be a path of increasing divine endearments; every relation of his name will be as a fragrant medicine poured forth. "Because of the savour of thy good ointments, thy name is as ointment poured forth. Therefore the virgins (the hidden ones) love thee." You will, therefore, walk in his name; and this name will, in all ways, meet everything in all ways for you. It meets the holiness, and justice, and law of God for you; it has met the curse of the law for you; it has met sin and death for you; it meets every one of your needs; and will continue with you and bring you to all that Jesus Himself is come to; for you are to be like Him and with Him, and so continue for ever, for his name shall endure for ever. You need no other name under heaven, nor in heaven, but the name of Jesus. Now, in this next, this fourth verse of the Song of Songs, we have a distinction between the staid experience of the established Christian and the glowing delight of the little one just brought into the liberty of the Gospel-the one, conscious of his weakness, and of the heavy hindrances hanging about him, and of the miry experiences into which he gets-the waters of temptation and tribulation, like a flood, around him, sighs, “Draw me;" but the little ones not yet come into these depths, being already brought near, and their fect, made like hinds' feet, being thus free, they can run. "We will run after thee. We can run through troops, and leap over walls. We can tread the world beneath our feet. We can run, and not be weary." Then comes in the older Christian, just with a quiet sort of testimony; but hardly allowed to speak among these noisy little ones, but does just get a word in edgewise. "The King-and where the word of a king is, there is power-the King hath fidence can be put in the flesh. But we shall meet with these little ones again, if we should be favoured to go on with this Song of Songs, which is Solomon's. As, then, you are called to the marriage paths which shall bring you thereto. Let brought me into his chambers." This is a good solid testimony; but not half glow ing and flourishing enough for the little ones. "We will be glad, and rejoice in Thee! We will remember thy love more than wine! The upright love Thee!" Al-supper of the Lamb, you will walk in those most calling in question the reality of the love of the steady and established Christian. The upright love Thee! Yes, it is a truth that the upright love Him, and these little children playing in the streets of Jerusalem, while the old fathers, with the staff of promise in their hand for very age, are just standing up under the city walls of salvation, and sunning themselves a little, these little ones, I say, do not love the Lord so much as they think they do, and whereas these fathers in the faith love the Lord more than these little ones, perhaps, will give them credit for. It would, perhaps, be difficult to decide which these little ones are most in love with, the truth itself, or their own comforts. Whereas the true fathers in the faith have undergone a weaning from the breasts of consolation, and the great feast of the Gospel is substituted for the mere sensible comforts of the Gospel, and so they are brought to live by and upon the fulness of the Saviour, the immutability of the counsel of God, and the strong meat of an everlasting covenant, even the sure mercies of David, their hearts are fixed; the truth itself, God Himself, are the objects of their hope, their decision, their supreme affection. The truth enters into their understanding. There is stable judgment in their goings; their comforts come and go; but the truth abides with them, while their confidence in the truth is very great. "Though he slay me," says one, "yet will I trust in Him." "Though an host should encamp against me," says another, "my heart shall not fear: though wag should rise against me, in this will I be confident." In what would he be confident, but in that which he had just described (Psa. xxvii. 1): “The Lord is my light and my salvation; whom shall I fear? The Lord is the strength of my life; of whom shall I be afraid?" But this is a state of things we little ones have yet to learn; for when our comforts are taken away we grow peevish, and, like Jonah, think we do well to be angry even unto death; but even this is one step towards a further knowledge of our own hearts, and towards a demonstration of the faithfulness of the Lord, and a proof of how much con "Black." Here we have sin - black with sin; death-black with death and wrath. Are we, therefore, meet for any work? "Behold," saith the prophet (Ezek. xv. 4), "it is cast into the fire for fuel; the fire devoureth both the ends of it, and the midst thereof is burned." Is it meet for any work? Thus are we in the first Adam blackened by sin and death, and consumed by the righteous wrath of God, being by nature children of wrath even as others. Black! alas, it is not mere skin-deep blackness, not mere personal blackness,— it is a blackness of person which stands connected with the blackness of darkness for ever. And what creature-power can alter any one of these four-sin, death, wrath, hell? Sin will be sin still; the deed is done; all have sinned; all are throughout corrupted. Death-who can stay its hand, or say unto it, What doest thou? Wrath-who can hold its winds in his fists? Who can bind its waters in a garment? Who can meet its devouring fire? Who can drive away its impenetrable clouds? and who can grasp and neutralize the thunderbolts of Heaven? I am black! and here, but for the mercy of our God, we must stop,-and that for ever; but, blessings for ever on the Lamb, it is also written, we are comely,yes, in oneness with Jesus, in sacred relationship to, Him we are comely, free from sin, free from death, free from wrath, free from the bottomless pit. And this blackness and this comeliness are contrary one to the other; and especially are the qualities of each as they dwell in us contrary one to the other. So that the blackness forming a large part of ourselves, we do still love (after the flesh) darkness rather than light, because its deeds are evil, and every kind of sin is perfectly natural to us. But then we have our comely as well as our uncomely parts. The comely, certainly, is stronger than the |