DROPPINGS FROM THE SANCTUARY.

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The second letter in this tract is addressed to our esteemed friend Mr. Henry Hercock, Oakham; and its design appears to be to encourage him in the work of the Gospel Ministry, to which he has lately been called. We cannot withold one extract from this letter also. Mr. Osbourn to Mr. Hercock says:

little tract. It may not be generally known | the furrows made in my soul by the arrows that since our last, this dear old veteran of the Almighty were all bleeding very cohas been laid down on a bed of sickness; piously, and I felt as sure of my eternal and a very sharp attack it was; but it overthrow as if already overthrown. This hath pleased the Lord to raise him up to me was a day of slaughter." again, and his pen and his tongue are returned to that sacred employment which has for years been the delight of his soul-the testifying of the gospel of the grace of God. The first part of this tract is a letter to the saints of the Most High God at Sherborne, in Dorsetshire. Mr. Osbourn found at Sherbourn what we have ourselves there enjoyed -the company and kindness of a few warmhearted, honest, truth-loving, christian friends, and it appears he could not leave England without addressing an epistle to them. The principal part of the letter is reflections on the beauties and the glories of the Person of Christ; after which he says a few things to the Sherbourn friends, and a few things connected with his own experience, which we here quote:

Brethren, although I am meditating a speedy remove out of this kingdom, yet will ye not be forgotten by me through time, if my reason continue. We, in the sanctuary of God, have passed some peaceful hours together, for the Lord has come down upon us like rain upon the mown grass, and as showers that water the earth, Psa. Íxxii. 6. Yes, he has been as the dew to our souls, though graceless professors believe it not, nor know they what it all can mean; but through the mercy of God we know what we have heard, and which we have seen with our eyes, and which we have looked upon, and our hands have handled of the Word of Life, and by the same our souls have been made glad in the Lord, and together we have rejoiced in hope of the glory of God. With more regret I shall not leave any society in England, than the one I'm now writing to, for I know what we are, and the ground on which we stand, and the God we adore, and the gospel which bears our spirits up, and that it is by the grace of our Almighty Lord and Saviour that we are what we are."

Fifty-one years ago this spring I was first aroused to a feeble sense of my lost condition as a sinner before God; but it was a year or so after this before God's divine vengeance was more openly displayed against me, at which time I felt as though I should sink under my burden without remedy. O what a forlorn hope was I put upon in that day. I found it hard and very fearful to stand with a naked soul in the front of divine ire and there to be closely scrutinized on some of the most momentous points that were ever laid before a guilty sinner. At that time there was no one thing in religion that resembled a fiction, but every department was as real as life, and as palpable as death itself, and under the same I was made to bow and to acknowledge the justice of God in my utter condemnation, for I was a guilty wretch and deeply sensible of it, for

I hope you will not greatly be discouraged because of the roughness of the way, for 'tis the path in which all regenerate souls walk, and you know the prospect before us is quite promising, and we shall get to our journey's end soon, and there we shall sing on a lofty key and shout aloud for joy. Do my brother try to live and walk near the Lord, and adore and honour him, and speak good of his name, and tell of his wonderful works, and of his mighty acts, and of the thoughts of his heart which are thoughts of peace and not of evil.

"I can truly say that preaching Christ Jesus and his blessed gospel is still the delight of my soul, and in a most remark able manner the Lord is pleased to bless my ministry wherever I go, and my calls to preach are far more, both in cities, towns, and country places, than I'm able to attend to. By the will of God I expect to leave England about the last of June next. I calculate to be in Leicester the last two Sundays in April, and the third Sunday in May in Brighton, and the second and third Sundays in June in London. Perhaps I shall sail from Liverpool, if so, Manchester will be my last preaching place in this realm. It was in that city preached my three first sermons on my arrival in this country in Nov. 1846, and well was I received by the brethren if I may judge by things which then and there were seen by me."

The third and last letter is addressed to Mr. E. Butt, (of the Surrey Tabernacle.) In godly sincerity we say, this (though last) is the most able and valuable epistle of the whole-and beautifully declares the high, the holy, and the happy liberty of soul in which the writer stands. The perusal of this tract must be wholesome and profitable to all real christians.

Droppings from the Sanctuary.

THE PARABLE OF THE TALENTS
Luke xix. 45 48.

FIFTY-SEVEN years ago I knew not these
things in this chapter. I knew no profession
of religion then; so stupid and illiterate was
I at first I scarcely knew there was a Bible.

bought the harmony of the four gospels; the book I have still by me. I told the man at whose shop I bought it, I had bought the kingdom of heaven in your shop for Eighteen pence. The enemy so beset me I dared not

THE LATE ELEANOR WHEELER.

A LIVING WITNESS OF DIVINE SOVEREIGNTY.

DEAR FRIENDS:-May grace, mercy, and peace be with you. Having been called upon to speak of the Lord's work in my soul, and not feeling confidence so to do, I resolved, if the Lord would enable me, to write a little of the way in which it has pleased him to lead me. Surely goodness and mercy has followed me all the days of my life.'

When I was an infant, my poor mother was severely afflicted with the rheumatics, so that she could neither take me out of the cradle, nor yet lay me down; by which means, I became neglected, and to all appearances must have been a cripple, if it had not been for a kind aunt who took me, and paid every attention to me she could, and also to my morals, and was particular in instilling into my mind the Holy Scriptures; but as I grew up my delight was in the world, and after its vanities. I used to go constantly to church, and was jealous for the rites and ceremonies. These words would sometimes arrest me when there 'What, know you not that your bodies are the temples of the Holy Ghost, which used to occasion some little searching.

123

A Living Witness of Divine Sovereignty. I became greatly perplexed; I thought he must be a very bad man, or else a very good one; election and predestination distressed me; I searched the Bible from Genesis to Revelations to confute it; I was greatly distressed; the Bible became a sealed book to me. Before going to hear him I most times went on my knees, and begged of the Lord if it was his truth he preached, I might be constrained to listen to him, but if it was error he would stop me from hearing him; I knew not what to do, but I soon found out I had been sitting under blind guides; sometimes I tried to go and hear the Wesleyans, till betwixt the two, I was nearly torn to pieces. I told Mr. Banks, and asked him how I was to know who was right? He told me the Spirit must teach me. Here I felt quite undone ; I could not command the Spirit. So that I was brought through sheer necessity to beg of the Lord to teach me as he taught his children, reading that all his children were taught of him. All my fancied religion fell to pieces, and I became a complete fool. O how I wished I had never heard this doctrine preached; I felt so much worse; I never knew I had such enmity in my heart before; how God could be just in taking one and leaving another, I could not think, not to give every one a chance of being saved. O, the forbearance of a long-suffering God that he did not cut me down at a stroke. I used to tremble at my rebellion, but still clave to going to hear, though hardly able to keep my seat many times. I longed to know if I was interested in it. I was brought to the foot of the cross with a 'Lord, have mercy upon me! save, or I perish.' Past and present sins stared me in the face; and so far from getting holy, I found I could not command a good thought nor perform a good action. I found, and do to this present time, that

Things continued thus till sometime after I was married; when my mind became impressed with the need there was of a change of heart. I used to listen attentively to the clergyman, strive to please God, and work out a repentance; I almost worshipped the bells, the gown, and the pew, and thought I was on holy ground when there; I was very strict in receiving the communion. About this time I had put into my hands Mr. Philpot's first book; I here saw with him. I became very dissatisfied; and soon found to my mortification that the clergyman I was sitting under attended balls, &c. I used to attend the Wesleyan chapel of an evening, and became very much in earnest, greatly desiring to be born again of the Spirit; I used to go praying all the way there, and return begging; I strove hard to keep the Sabbath-day holy, but always found I broke it, oftentimes before breakfast.

One evening the preacher, Mr. Jackson, took for his text, Without holiness no man shall see the Lord.' I became greatly tried; there seemed such a barrier betwixt the Lord and myself; I felt very far from holiness; I knew not how to attain unto it; I thought it must be perfect holiness in life and conduct; I used to go through the weekly preparation for the sacrament, and strive after perfection. About this time, which is about twelve years back, Mr. Charles Banks came to preach at the little chapel near us; I was invited to go to hear him, but did not directly, not liking to leave the Wesleyans, for whom I felt great attachment. But after a time I went; it seemed altogether a new doctrine; I could not understand one half what he preached;

"Sin is mix'd with all I do."

Lord

The depravity of my heart has been broken up by little and little; I have been brought to feel my entire helplessness, and without his aid I can do nothing but sin; so that I sigh and groan under a body of sin and death. For when I would do good, evil is present with me.' Christ has become very precious to me; a Saviour just suited to cover my polluted soul; and I stand as a monument of mercy, keenly feeling at times, that hell must be my portion was it not for the Sovereign love and mercy of a gracious God and Saviour; I have proved him again and again a prayer-hearing and a prayeranswering God, and my only hope is now in the merits of a crucified Redeemer. I trust I have written this with a single eye to the glory of God, and should it be blest in any humble measure to any soul, to his name be all the praise and glory. Amen.

Sturry.

M. FULFORTH.

124

NOTICES OF NEW WORKS.

The late Mrs. Ann Jones.

JUST before going to press, we received a note announcing the death of the beloved partner of Mr. John Andrew Jones, pastor of Jireh Meeting. Her immortal and ransomed soul passed the river in holy and happy triumph at one o'clock on Saturday morning, April 21st, 1849, after many months of deep suffering. She was born December 1st, 1774; and was in her seventyfifth year; having been married to her now bereaved husband on the tenth of October, 1805; she had for FORTY YEARS been a sympathising companion for him in all his trials, and a sweet sharer of all his happi

ness.

course. It is published at the earnest request of those who heard it; and it fully declares the author to be a man under divine teaching: it rejoices our hearts to find that God, of his infinite mercy, is here and there raising up men who have been brought into the inner court of a holy acquaintance with God in his Trinity of Persons, and Trinity of powers; and who come from thence to declare the unsearchable riches of Jesus Christ. Such a man is Joseph Rudman. The Lord bless him and hold him as a star in his right hand, prays his poor brother-THE EDITOR.

Angel's Food," and "The Spiritual Gleaner." Two Sermons by Mr. Gwinnell. WE did not expect to find such interesting matter as we have found in these two discourses. They are not dry nor merely doctrinal, but they are striking, wholesome, and well interspersed with pleasing facts. They are likely to do good; this should be our aim, (if we are christians) in all our preaching, publishing, and practice.

Her conflicts are over; her soul is at rest; and according to the course of nature, it cannot be long before John Andrew Jones himself must drop his hold of the gospel plough, be gathered unto his fathers, and see, and immediately commune with, that Almighty Saviour, that ever to be adored Immanuel, whose glorious gospel it has been his happy lot for so long a period to proclaim. Ah, brethren! the great Husband-"Israel's Corner; Judah's Nail; David's

man is gathering home his sheaves. Yet, a little while, and he that shall come will come, and will not tarry; the LORD HIMSELF will descend from heaven: the gospel dispensation will close and the King's daughter, in her glorious apparel, shall be brought unto him never more to part. Seeing then that we look for such things, let us not be grovelling in earthly vanities; but, with our loins girt about with truth, our feet well shod, our staff in our hand, and our garments clean, may we be found watching and waiting for the Master to come and fetch us home.

The late Mrs. Jones was the happy mother of seven children, six of them (daughters,) married to God-fearing men; and honourable members of the church at Jireh. This is a mercy rarely enjoyed by the best of wonen. Her mortal remains were interred in Bunhill Fields on Friday, April 27th.

We understand a funeral sermon for Mrs. Jones was preached on Friday evening, April 27th at Jireh Meeting by Mr. John Fore

man.

"Far from affliction, toil, and strife,

Our dear departed sister's fled;
Stern death, that puts an end to life,
Has plac'd her with the silent dead."
"She's gone to be where Jesus is,

To praise the riches of his grace :
In realms of everlasting bliss,
And see her Saviour face to face."

Battle Bow; and Zion's every oppressor together," by THOMAS POOCK, Ipswich, Suffolk.

and no mistake.

A CHOICE and sterling piece of pure divinity, Some deep things are consistently and Scripturally opened. We read the work in manuscript, and read it without flagging; it is but seldom we can and we know this little stream of living do that; but here we found a springing well; water is destined to refresh many a weary

soul.

"The Plain Christian Man, a Funeral Sermon for the late Mr. Thomas Banks."

IN some humble measure this discourse carries us over Jordan's streams; and anticipates a little of that glory, and unspeakable bliss which is laid up for all the saints of God. We think the brief sketch of the deceased's character, as a plain christian man, adds much to the value of the discourse. [All the above works are published by Houlston and Stoneman.]

"Heartfelt Religion and its Expression." A Sermon by the REV. ALFRED HEWLETT. London: Wertheim and Macintosh. THIS discourse was preached before the University of Oxford. The preacher was evidently enabled to deal faithfully with his audience; and to speak of things that flow out of the Holy Spirit's work upon the heart of a redeemed sinner; but how a liv"Zion: her inhabitants and name. A Sering, experimental man of God can comfortmon by JOSEPH RUDMAN, preached at ably stand in the unnecessary and unscripTrowbridge." tural ceremonies and gaudy trappings of the THIS is a faithful and an experimental dis-National Establishment we cannot tell.

Notices of New Works.

A BRIEF BUT FAITHFUL ACCOUNT OF

The Conversion, Experience, and Death of a Vessel of Mercy,

WHO WAS BOTH DEAF AND DUMB.

DEAR BROTHER-I send the following account of a marvellous instance of divine Sovereignty in the salvation of a sinner. John Paddy was the third son of Mr. Thomas Paddy, of Lutterworth, a family who are the tried, firm and liberal supporters of the cause of God and truth. I baptised the grandmother of my departed friend, last year at the advanced age of eighty-two years,' An elect lady of the old school.'

In a few weeks his friends were surprised at the evident alteration in his manner; he appeared very solemn and thoughtful, and often retired to his room; his Godfearing father and sister (his dear mother had been dead some years,) watched him; and through the key hole of the door, saw him upon his knees, pouring out his soul before the Lord in prayer; and who but parents and friends that truly fear the Lord, can enter into their feelings, when they saw this dear youth, earnestly pleading with the Lord, by signs, for pardon and forgiveness.

My late young friend, J. P. was born in the year 1823, and was deaf and dumb; in early life painfully manifesting, that he was born in sin, and conceived in iniquity; His dear friends were melted into tears yet, from the affectionate influence of God- of joy and thankfulness to the God of all fearing parents and friends, he was pre-grace at the sight, and very soon the subserved from those outward acts of im- ject was named to me. I must confess I morality common to youth. His natural affliction acting upon the feelings of his kind parents, caused him to be the subject of much anxiety to them, and many petitions were put up to the Lord for his temporal and eternal interest.

was very jealous lest parental kindness should lead them to think more favourably of him than of another in the same state of mind. I therefore determined to receive nothing but what I received directly from himself. His dear sister offered to As he grew up he shewed a natural taste put any question to him I wished to ask; I for drawing, and he was sent to an estab-said, 'Ask him if he would object to corlishment for the deaf and dumb at Edge- respond with me? He replied, he should baston, near Birmingham; after remain-feel a pleasure to receive a note from me. ing at school his term, he was with other The next day I wrote some very plain and respectable parties, improving in his pro- searching questions in reference to his fession, and much respected by a circle of views, feelings, and state of mind. In a affectionate friends. He always referred with gratitude to their kind and tender regard, and would express himself as under great obligation to the devoted gentleman under whose care and instruction he was placed at Edgbaston.

While at school he had many natural convictions for sin, and was very miserable when he thought of death and judgment; he had also many singular dreams that much exercised his mind, but all his strong convictions were like the 'morning cloud and early dew.' Being of a natural, lively, and engaging disposition; a company of young friends, and an hour of youthful vanity would drown his anxieties about eternal things; and, as he told me, though he was always trying to do good, and to be good, he did nothing but evil.

day or two he sent me a very honest reply, which led me to hope the good work was begun in him, yet I was not satisfied, and I resolved at once, to learn the method of communication used by the deaf and dumb; the deep interest I took in my dear young friend caused me to master this in a few days, without his knowing it, until I put the first question by sign to him; he wept when he saw the interest I took in him, and was ready to open all his mind to me as a minister and friend.

His health caused some anxiety, and the physician to the family was consulted. He gave it as his opinion, that there was a cavity in the left lung, and that he was consumptive; it was thought prudent for him to remain at home; we often met, and walked out for reading, and communion. Our young friend came home from Bir-The Word of God, and Mr. Gadsby's semingham in the autumn of 1846, and was lection of hymns, were our books of reanxious to go to Paris for improvement; ference. but good Kent says:

"There is a period known to God,

When all the sheep redeemed by blood, Shall leave the hateful ways of sin, Turn to the fold, and enter in." J. P. was poorly in his health when he came home, and his kind friends advised him to continue at home for a time to benefit his health; and as relaxation from study was needful, he consented to continue with his friends.

VOL. V.-PART LIII.-June, 1849.

From communion with him, I learned the Lord was shewing him much of the ture; he would reply in answer to my evil of sin, and the depravity of his naquestions, I am nothing but sin, and quite helpless; if ever I am saved it must be all of free grace alone.' As we were walking one morning, I felt my soul drawn forth to the Lord in prayer, that he would be pleased to give me a testimony from him, that I might receive him into my heart as a man of God; I took the hymn-book

R