FOR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES. New Brunswick, N. J., Feb. 16, 1841.

FOR THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES.

New Brunswick, N. J., Feb. 16, 1841.

DEAR BROTHER BEEBE:—The sweet religion of the Lord Jesus is as unchanging as its adorable author, and life is revealed to us in his word, as the same yesterday, to-day, and forever—the great God our Savior, who saves to the uttermost, and justifies from all things all that come unto God by him. And who can tell the blessedness of that soul who, taught by the Holy Ghost in his daily experience, to feel his utter vileness and total emptiness of all good in himself, so a poor falling sinner, whose one fancied excellencies is turned into corruption, and his blossoms into dust, is enabled to live a life of faith on the Son of God, and while every fresh view he takes of himself fills his heart with anguish and his soul with bitterness—hope puts up the petitions of the Apostle Paul, that I might know him and be found in him—not having my righteousness which is of the law, but that which is through the faith of Christ, the righteousness which is of God by faith; and rejoice to find that salvation is of the Lord alone, and that union to the Lord Jesus brings with it all those immense benefits and blessings; the sweet approbation of which, to his own soul by the Holy Ghost, fills him at times with a joy unspeakable and full of glory.

And it does appear to me my brother, that the whole difference between the modern flaming professor and the humble follower of the Lamb, is, that while the former is feeding on the flesh of his own arm and following his own vain imaginations, the latter having received the sentence of death in himself, that he should not trust in himself, cries out with the psalmist, In thee, O Lord, do I put my trust; O leave not my soul destitute. His greatest fear is of being left to himself, and his request is, Teach me, O Lord, and lead me in thy way. Everlasting; for thou hast delivered my soul from death, wilt not thou deliver my feet from falling; that I may walk before God in the light of the living. And thus, while the modern Pharisees are making the land ring with their great efforts to help the Lord, the child of promise, while passing through this desert, and realizing that the smallest rivulet that he meets with to quench his thirsty soul, flows directly from the ocean of the unchanging love of his heavenly Father, cries to God for help and finds all other helps vain. And while looking around this poor dying world, and passing on through it as a pilgrim to Zion, his heart is touched with compassion for the thousands around him who, seem regardless of the things that make for their eternal peace: his hope is still in the Lord who has declared that his arm is not shortened that it cannot save, nor his ear heavy that it cannot hear; and that he will bring the blind by a way that they know not, and lead them in paths that they have not trodden, and make darkness light before them and crooked things straight.—And let us never forget, my brother, that the whole work is ascribed to him who it is declared shall build the temple and bear the glory; and it is a sweet part of the work of a gospel minister to proclaim that all the true born sons of Zion are born of God, passed from death unto life and cannot come into condemnation—chosen in their glorious Head before the foundation of the world, that they should be holy and without blame before him in love. Paul, in addressing the saints at Corinth, says, And ye are complete in him. O glorious truth! Complete in him: may the sweet words sound aloud in my conscience under every accusation of Satan, may they be my song in the wilderness, and as I pass the valley of death, may the sweet words acceptable in him drop from my lips as I have time for eternity. These are old fashioned traits my brother, and the older the better, for all those who have realized the blessing of being saved in the Lord with an everlasting salvation, planned before time and reaching through all the contingencies of time; and to be enjoyed in full fruition when time shall be lost in eternity. Blessed are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted. But what kind of sound is that which issues from the pulpits of your Theological School Baptists? You will hear very little about that precious Lord Jesus, who is the all and in all of his dear people: and the most that you will hear about his glorious person and finished work is contrary to the record that God has given of his Son; but you may hear much about the wonders done and to be done by the concentrated efforts of poor fallen man by means and measures untaught and untold of in the word of God. But he that is made alive from the dead cannot feed on such vanities—no, he needs the bread of life and the wells of salvation; and to that God he looks, that has declared he will supply all his needs according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus; and the longer he travels in his pilgrimage, and the more he is led to see the vanity of all created good, the more earnest will be this cry, Lord evermore give me this bread.

I sincerely congratulate you that your valuable little sheet has progressed to a ninth volume, and is so much improved, and I am pleased that political subjects are to be entirely excluded. My soul has been both edified and comforted in perusing the valuable correspondence, especially those of that able champion for a strict adherence to the simplicity of the gospel, Elder S. Trott. And I do entreat some of our brethren who differ with him in some points to manifest more of that meekness and brotherly kindness towards him which so much in my view distinguishes his communications.

And may the Lord enable you, my brother, still to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and to fight the good fight of faith until you lay hold on eternal life,

Is the prayer of yours truly.
GAD.