public assemblies of which I have been speaking are the assembling
together of those who meet for God's worship and service; the honourable
persons to whom I referred are those whom the Bible calls the children
of God; and the King whom I believe to have been present at these
assemblies is He who is 'King of kings and Lord of lords,' who Himself
has told us that, where two or three are gathered together in His name,
there He is in the midst of them."
There was such kindness and courtesy and respect in the gentleman's
manner, that I could not feel vexed at his having spoken in a sort of
parable, so I smiled, and said, "I had no idea that you were a minister,
sir."
"I am glad that you are not angry with me, young lady," said he, "for
having wilfully misinterpreted your questions. You know it is 'out of
the abundance of the heart' that 'the mouth speaketh'; and when you got
into the coach I was engaged in thought, studying a subject which I hope
to speak about next Sunday; and, singularly, this subject is so far like
that which has engaged a few minutes of our conversation, as that it
refers to an assembly, though one of a very superior character to any
the world has ever seen or known."
"May I ask, sir, what assembly it is you mean?"
"Certainly," replied he; and taking from his pocket a New Testament, he
opened it and read, "Ye are come unto Mount Sion, and unto the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, and to an innumerable company of
angels, to the general assembly and Church of the First-born which are
written in heaven, and to God, the Judge of all, and to the spirits of
just men made perfect, and to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant,
and to the blood of sprinkling, that speaketh better things than that of
Abel."
Having read this, my fellow-traveller again put up his Book, and there
was a short silence between us, until he said, "That is the text, madam.
Do you think it possible for any preacher to do justice to it?"
"I do not know indeed, sir," I said; and I added (what I truly thought)
that the words struck me as being very beautiful.
"They are indeed beautiful, and magnificent, and solemn," he said; and
he continued to remark that they were highly calculated to arouse in the
mind emotions of no ordinary nature. Did I not think so?
I hesitated what to reply, for I shrank from expressing sentiments which
I did not really feel. Doubtless he saw my embarrassment, and, instead
of pressing for an answer, he asked me if he might mention a few of the
thoughts which had passed through his mind, as he had pondered over the
passage. I said, if he pleased to do so, I should be glad to hear him,
and accordingly he went on--
"I suppose that the words I have read referred not so much to the
future, as to the present position or condition of those to whom they
were addressed, and that they may be applied also to certain characters
at the present time. I have no doubt, madam, that you understand of what
characters I speak?"
"I could not misunderstand you," I said. "Of course you mean
Christians?"
"Yes; of all true Christians it may be said that they are come to Mount
Sion. All who truly believe in Christ live under a dispensation of
mercy. They are even now 'fellow-citizens with the saints, and of the
household of God.' Their names are enrolled in the Lamb's book of life;
angels are their invisible attendants; they are united in spirit to
'Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant'; they are admitted into the
gracious presence of the Father, 'the Judge of all,' so as to find
access at every hour to God within the veil; and they have even now
received the atonement, 'the blood of sprinkling,' by which their
polluted consciences are cleansed and purified. These are great and
exalted privileges, are they not?"
"Yes, sir," I said, feeling as I said it how incapable I was of
appreciating them. The stranger did not notice my hesitation, however,
but went on with still more animation--
"I cannot help thinking that more than I have mentioned is implied in
the words which you justly think so beautiful, and that the writer had
in his mind the future as well as the present life. The final and
everlasting _residence_ of all believers, after all the cares and toils
of their earthly pilgrimage are past, is to be Mount Sion, the city of
the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem; part of their _employment_ will
be holy and devout adoration; their _society_, myriads of angels and a
vast assembly of the perfected spirits of the just; the _chief source of
their happiness_ will be the presence of 'the Judge of all,' in 'Jesus
the Mediator'; and the cause of all this blessedness is indicated in the
closing words--'the blood of sprinkling,' or the atonement of Jesus."
I was interested, and wished he would continue. Probably he could see
that I was not unwilling to listen, for, after the pause of a minute or
two, he began to expatiate a little on some of the ideas he had already
expressed. He spoke of the unbroken repose and perfect security of the
city of God, and then of the happy employments of the great assembly in
heaven. Here he drew a contrast between the amusements of the world and
the enjoyments of the heavenly state, and added that, to worldly and
unsanctified minds, these enjoyments had no attractions.
"Those who live only for this life," he said, "cannot conceive of any
pleasure to be found in heavenly adoration and praise. Accustomed to
account the Sabbath of the Lord a weariness, and devotional services
irksome and tedious, it cannot appear to them desirable to enter upon a
state of existence in which the worship of the Almighty is one of the
choicest occupations of its inhabitants. Nor can we wonder," continued
my companion, "that it should be thus, so long as the heart remains at
enmity with God, while the affections are earthly and sensual, and where
there is no fear of God, no love to God, no delight in God, no earnest
desire to serve and honour Him. Am I not right?" the stranger asked,
fixing his eyes upon me.
"Yes, sir, I think you are," I replied, faintly; and, after some further
conversation on the same subjects, my fellow-traveller told me that he
was going only to the end of the present stage. "There we shall part,"
he said, "and possibly we shall not meet again in this world; but if, by
divine grace, we should be fellow-heirs of the same glorious
inheritance, we _shall_ meet in that general assembly."
These were almost the last words he spoke, for, in a few minutes, the
coach stopped, and the stranger, alighting and bidding me farewell,
disappeared.
Many years passed away, and I was a happy wife and mother. My husband
was a true and earnest Christian; and I--yes (and therein was my
happiness), I, too, was a believer in Christ. My Christian life had
been, in some respects, an eventful one. My first steps in it had been
beset with difficulties and no ordinary opposition; but patience was
given me to endure; strength, to overcome; and, blessed be God, my
heart's desire and prayer to Him on behalf of some very dear to me had,
I trust, been heard and answered.
My conversion was in part, at least, the result of the stage-coach
conversation I have recorded. God, in His infinite mercy, by means of
the words of a stranger, called me to consideration. The Holy Spirit
showed me my miserable condition, as being "a lover of pleasures more
than a lover of God." Through a long, dark passage of soul-distress and
great conflict I was led into the light and faith of the glorious
Gospel--from the thunders of Sinai to "Mount Sion, the city of the
living God; to Jesus, the Mediator of the new covenant, and to the blood
of sprinkling."
One thing troubled me--or, if not troubled exactly, left within me an
unsatisfied desire. For years I had longed to see, to meet once more,
the stranger who had so kindly and so wisely invited my attention to
religion. I wished to hear his voice again, and to tell him what the
Lord had done for my soul. Sometimes, indeed, I recalled his parting
words with something like awe, though yet with a thrill of pleasurable
assurance--"Possibly we shall not meet again in this world; but if, by
divine grace, we should be fellow-heirs of the same glorious
inheritance, we shall meet in that general assembly."
"Annie," said my husband one day--he had an open letter in his hand--"a
visitor is coming, whom I shall be very glad for you to know--my old
friend and pastor, Mr. J----"; and he put the letter into my hands. It
was a short note, merely stating that, finding he should be at a certain
time within easy reach of my husband's home, the writer would, if he
might, avail himself of the opportunity of renewing the personal
intercourse which time and distance had so long interrupted.
A few days later, a chaise drove to our door, and my husband, eager to
welcome his old friend, met him in the hall, where I also was waiting to
receive him. He was an elderly man, but with a firm step, a strong
frame, a pleasant smile, a kindly voice, and a benevolent countenance.
"Annie, my dear, this is----"
I cannot go on to describe a scene in which I became all at once and
unexpectedly so personally interested. In my husband's friend I
recognized, at a single glance, my stage-coach companion, though he had
no recollection of me.
It was a happy meeting--the faint foreshadowing, it may be, of such
meetings innumerable in that general assembly in the heavenly Jerusalem
above, when they who have sown, and those who have reaped, shall rejoice
together with "joy unspeakable and full of glory."--_A Tract issued by
the Religious Tract Society._
ANSWER TO BIBLE ENIGMA.
(_Page 275._)
"_I am the Rose of Sharon._"--SONG
OF SOLOMON ii. 1.
I ssachar Genesis xxxv. 23.
A biram Numbers xxvi. 9.
M icah Judges xvii. 1.
T irzah 1 Kings xvi. 6.
H oreb Exodus iii. 1.
E bal Joshua viii. 30.
R ehoboam 1 Kings xi. 43.
O g Numbers xxi. 33.
S hammah 1 Samuel xvii. 13.
E dom 2 Samuel viii. 14.
O nan Genesis xlvi. 12.
F elix Acts xxiv. 25.
S imon Mark iii. 18.
H adadezer 2 Samuel viii. 3.
A maziah Amos vii. 10.
R aven Leviticus xi. 15.
O bed-edom 2 Samuel vi. 11.
N adab Numbers iii. 4.
ADA WILLERTON
(Aged 9 years).
_Corby, Grantham._
I HAVE found, by a strict and diligent observation, that a due
observance of the duty of Sunday has ever had joined to it a blessing
upon the rest of my time.--_Sir Matthew Hale._
OUR BIBLE CLASS.
THE CROSS OF CHRIST.
The "cross of Christ" is mentioned by the Apostle Paul in his Epistles
to different Churches, but we may confidently say that the wooden gibbet
upon which the Saviour suffered was never loved or reverenced by that
honoured servant of the Lord, or the people to whom he wrote.
The brazen serpent, that divinely appointed means of Israel's cure, was
broken in pieces by good Hezekiah, who contemptuously called it a bit of
brass, because the Israelites worshipped it; and their idolatry is
described as a base crime in 2 Kings xviii. 4, although it was a figure
of Him that was to come; and Jesus Himself declared, "As Moses lifted up
the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of Man be lifted up,
that whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal
life" (John iii. 14, 15); and the "true cross," if it now existed, would
only be a bit of wood--a thing in itself worthless--and the adoration of
it would be nothing better than idolatry.
"Christ and Him crucified" is the sinner's hope, the believer's joy, and
this is what we are to understand by the apostolic mention of the cross
of Jesus.
The cross was the sign, the illustration, of His sufferings and death.
Crucifixion was most painful and most shameful, and both these facts
appear in Hebrews xii. 2. He "endured the cross, despising the shame."
With the hands and feet nailed to the cross, and the weight of the body
borne by those pierced hands, the sufferer, who generally was first
cruelly scourged, expired after long, lingering torture; and it was a
shameful death, to which only the lowest and worst of men were supposed
to be sentenced. Yet Jesus, the High and Holy One, "humbled Himself unto
death, even the death of the cross."
But there was deep spiritual meaning in all this. "Tribulation and
anguish" (Rom. ii. 9), sorrow and death, are sin's reward. "Dying, thou
shalt die" (Gen. ii. 17, margin) is the divine sentence upon every
transgressor, and "sin is a reproach to any people" (Prov. xiv. 34).
"Shame and everlasting contempt" will be the sinner's recompense. And
Jesus was His people's Surety and Substitute. He stood for them; He took
their place. The Just One suffered for the unjust. The King of Glory
bore reproach and shame for the sake of the sinners He eternally loved,
that whosoever believeth in Him should have everlasting life, glory, and
joy (Dan. xii. 2).
"The death of the cross," as Jesus suffered it, involved the shedding of
blood, and "the blood is the life." "He poured out His soul unto death."
"He gave His life a ransom for many," because "without shedding of blood
there is no remission," no forgiveness of sin.
But crucifixion, unlike many violent deaths, did not divide or dismember
the body. In stoning, the back was often broken; by other modes of
execution, the head was cut off, the neck broken, or the body otherwise
mutilated. The legs of the crucified might be broken to hasten death,
but this was no necessary part of the sentence; and concerning Jesus it
was prophesied, "None of His bones shall be broken" (Psa. xxxiv. 20;
John xix. 36). And this also was fraught with deep spiritual meaning.
That bruised and torn, yet perfect body which hung on the cross, and was
laid in the grave, was but a picture of that holy soul, that perfect
spirit, which He yielded up to God. How clear was His memory! That the
Scripture might be fulfilled, He said, "I thirst." How perfect His love!
He prayed for His executioners; He remembered Mary. How full His
knowledge of His people, and how perfect His confidence in Himself! He
blessed the penitent thief, and assured him of a home with Himself in
heaven.
Oh, wondrous Sufferer! almighty Saviour! None ever died as Jesus died,
bearing sin and guilt away, and overcoming death, while He laid down His
sacred life.
The cross of Christ has a mighty influence upon all who believe on His
name. Paul said, with holy earnestness, "God forbid that I should glory
in anything but the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by which the world
is crucified unto me, and I unto the world" (Gal. vi. 14). Once, as a
Pharisee, he loved the world--the religious world--the esteem of men,
the applause of his fellow-Pharisees; but now they hated and persecuted
him, and he despised their favour. So, if we are led to behold by faith
Jesus crucified for us, the sins, the pleasures, and the friendships of
the world will lose their power and attractions, and the love of Christ
will constrain us to live to Him who died and rose again for us.
We find that, when the Apostles were first beaten and threatened for
preaching the Gospel, "they departed from the presence of the council,
rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His sake"
(Acts v. 40, 41). They knew that Jesus loved and gave Himself for them,
and they, out of love to their Saviour, were willing to lay down their
lives for His sake, or to live despised and hated by the world.
Before He died, Christ said, "If any man will come after Me, let him
deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow Me." He foresaw His own
sufferings from the first, but the joy that was set before Him animated
Him all the while, and, as His people's Leader, He says, "Follow Me, and
enter at last into My joy." But Jesus never said, "Take up My cross."
Oh, no! His cross He alone could bear! His saving sufferings He only
could endure! It is our own cross that we are called to bear as His
followers, and His love will strengthen and support us.
Oh, that we may indeed know Him as our once crucified, but now exalted
Saviour, and follow Him through all life's changes to the bright home
whither He has gone, living henceforth to Him, and Him alone.
Our next subject will be, Psalm xxxii.
Your loving friend,
H. S. L.
PRIZE ESSAY.
HOW TO LIVE WELL.
We cannot live well without we acknowledge God in all our ways. A
Christian cannot exist without prayer. Thus, in 1 Thessalonians v. 17,
it says, "Pray without ceasing," which shows us that we cannot live well
without prayer. To live well also means that we should obey and honour
our parents, as enjoined in Ephesians vi. 1, 2, and make ourselves
useful to those that surround us. And, in 2 Thessalonians iii. 13, it
says, "Brethren, be not weary in well doing." Jesus Christ has also set
a pattern, for He was always doing good. He even came into this world to
die for sinners. As Jane Taylor says--
"Jesus, who lived above the sky,
Came down to be a Man, and die;
And in the Bible we may see
How very good He used to be.
"And so He died; and this is why
He came to be a Man, and die:
The Bible says He came from heaven
That sinners' sins might be forgiven."
If we are taught to live a Christian life--to trust in, and fear God--He
will be sure to provide for our every want.
To live well is to try and always do the things that are just, treating
people with respect, and to love those who hate us, and those who
despitefully use us, for Jesus Christ's sake. He says, in John xv. 20,
"Remember the word that I said unto you, The servant is not greater than
his lord. If they have persecuted Me, they will also persecute you; if
they have kept My sayings, they will keep yours also." If we wish to
live well, we must seek God in little things as well as in larger
things; for He takes account of the thoughts, words, and actions of men,
which are to be revealed at the last day.
Living well also means that we should do those things that are pleasing
in God's sight; for if we love and serve Him truly, we shall be happy
here and in the life to come, for the righteous Christ will gather as
His jewels at the great judgment day, and they will be happy for
evermore in that beautiful heaven which Jesus has prepared for those who
love Him, and do His will; for Jesus says, in John xiv. 3, "If I go to
prepare a place for you, I will come again, and receive you unto Myself;
that where I am, there ye may be also."
To live well is to live as expecting every day to be our last, and to be
looking for that time when the trump of the archangel shall sound, and
all the dead arise from their graves. We do not know the day, nor the
hour, when the Son of Man shall come to judge the quick and the dead,
for it says, in Matthew xxiv. 36, "But of that day and hour knoweth no
man, no, not the angels in heaven, but My Father only."
Newton expresses in the following verse some good thoughts upon the
right way to learn how to live, and that is, by seeking God's
direction--
"Show me what I have to do;
Every hour my strength renew;
Let me live a life of faith;
Let me die Thy people's death."
LILLY RUSH
(Aged 13 years).
_Red House, Thornham,
near Eye, Suffolk._
[There have been several creditable Essays sent, but none that have
reached the desired mark. We may mention those by Ernest Sawyer,
Margaret Creasey, E. B. Knocker, Jane Bell, Maria Reeder, E. T. Mann,
Edith Hirst, Ella Saunders, W. B. Beckwith (aged 11 years), A. Pease,
Sarah Hicks, and Jesse Hammond. The age of the writer must always be
given.]
[The writer of the above Essay receives a copy of THE LITTLE GLEANER
(cloth).
The subject for March will be, "Self-Help," and a kind friend has
promised a copy of "From the Loom to a Lawyer's Gown; or, Self-Help that
was not all for Self," for the best Essay. We hope we shall have some
good Essays on the subject. All competitors must give a guarantee that
they are under fifteen years of age, and that the Essay is their own
composition, or the papers will be passed over, as the Editor cannot
undertake to write for this necessary information. Papers must be sent
direct to the Editor, Mr. T. Hull, 117, High Street, Hastings, by the
first of February.]
A CHILD'S PRAYER.
SUITABLE FOR THE NEW YEAR.
Oh, blessed Jesus, care for me,
And wash me in Thy blood;
Teach me to ever look to Thee,
And help me to be good.
Give me Thy Holy Spirit, Lord,
And teach me how to pray;
Oh, let me understand Thy Word,
And take my sins away.
Whene'er I'm tempted to do wrong,
Oh, let me think of Thee;
Help me to always guard my tongue,
When naughty I would be.
Teach me to tread the narrow way,
Which all Thy saints have trod;
And guard and guide me every day;
Be Thou my Lord and God.
Help me to trust in Thee alone,
And not have fear of men;
To seek Thy will before my own,
For Jesus' sake. Amen.
JANE BELL
(Aged 14 years).
_Sleaford._
Interesting Items.
A RARELY-BLOOMING FLOWER.--In one of the conservatories at Hamilton
Palace gardens there is a fine specimen of the _Angeavia variegata_ in
full bloom. The tradition is, that the plant only flowers once in a
hundred years.
STEAM heating and electric lighting of trains is receiving very close
attention from a number of the leading railway managers in the United
States. On some roads the change has been decided upon, and cars are
being reconstructed on the new plans as rapidly as possible.
PILOTS' PAY.--From London to Gravesend the pilot's fee may range from
18s. to L7 18s., and from Gravesend to the Nore from L1 12s. to L7 8s.;
and while a vessel drawing less than seven feet of water is piloted from
the Downs to the Isle of Wight for L3 4s., one that draws twenty-five
feet will cost for the same distance, either way, as much as L14 6s.
ROMANISM in America is throwing off its sheep's clothing, and revealing
its wolfish nature. The following is an extract from one of its
journals, the _Western Watchman_--"Protestantism! We would draw and
quarter it. We would impale it and hang it up for crows' nests. We would
tear it with pincers, and fire it with hot irons. We would fill it with
molten lead, and sink it in hell fire a hundred fathoms deep." Only the
genius that invented the multiform cruelties of the Inquisition could
express itself in such an infernally varied vocabulary of torture.
THE WARRANT FOR BUNYAN'S LAST IMPRISONMENT.--Among the Chauncy
collection of autographs recently dispersed by Messrs. Sotheby, there
lay, hidden and unnoticed, the original warrant under which Bunyan was
apprehended for that third and final imprisonment of some six months'
duration, during which, according to his latest biographer, he wrote the
first part of "The Pilgrim's Progress." It fills a half-sheet of
foolscap, and is dated March 4th, 1674-5, under the hands and seals of
twelve justices, six of them, either then or in the Parliament of 1678,
members for county or borough, and three of whom had originally
committed him for the previous twelve years' imprisonment.
COMPOSITION DURING SLEEP.--Lord Thurlow told his nephew that, when
young, he read much at night, and that once, while at college, having
been unable to complete a particular line in a Latin poem he was
composing, it rested so on his mind that he dreamed of it, completed it
in his sleep, wrote it out next morning, and received many compliments
on its classical and felicitous turn. In my own experience, I have
imagined myself, during sleep, to be listening to instrumental music
quite new to me, and have been able to reproduce the melody next day;
and I have now in my possession a MS. copy of a Dead March composed by
the author, from whom I had it, in a dream.--_Correspondent of "Notes
and Queries._"
THE DANGERS OF EATING ORANGE PEEL.--It is a very bad habit to eat orange
peel. Nor is the juvenile habit of eating apples with the peel on to be
recommended either. Parents who do not care as yet to correct these evil
propensities will perhaps be more inclined to do so when they hear that
the little black specks which may be found on the skins of oranges and
apples that have been kept some time are clusters of fungi, precisely
similar to those to which whooping-cough is attributed. Dr. Tschamer, of
Graz, who has made the discovery, scraped some of these black specks off
an orange, and introduced them into his lungs by a strong inspiration.
Next day he was troubled with violent tickling in the throat, which by
the end of the week had developed into an acute attack of
whooping-cough.