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"ALL THINGS ARE OF GOD."

"ALL things are of God," as by him controll'd,
There's nought to him new, or can ever be old;
The king on the throne, the slave at the mill,
Each thing which has life performing his will;
The worship of angels, the fury of man,
Exist and endure to accomplish his plan.
"All things are of God"-the digging a grave
For Joseph, as also his sale as a slave;

His advance and disgrace, his confinement tho' long

"God meant unto good," though his brethren did wrong.
"All things are of God," though many deny,
Controlled by him to lift Jesus on high;

A Pharaoh shall rage, Leviathan foam,
While each shall direct the saint to his home.
"All things are of God"—the wilderness march,
The fiery serpents, the star-lighted arch;
The gold and the silver, earth, air, sky, and sea,
Are of him and to him, to whom glory be.

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All things are of God "-the famine and drought,

All Israel's encampments their journey throughout;

The rock and the streams, feather'd fowl and the bread,
Of which Israel drank, by which they were fed.
The ravens shall bring the saints' daily meat,
The lions shall lay as if tame at their feet;
A Nebuchadnezzar shall Daniel oppress,
But all are of God--and his saints he will bless.
The nations opposed to the reign of God's king,
Shall go but "thus far," as if held by a string;
Their plans shall revert upon their own head,
Till they sink in the sea as a millstone or lead.
In the city is evil, and the Lord hath not done,
Enough to secure the good of his Son;
By him it exists --he it doth control,

To work only good for the sin-sorry soul.
The song of the angels, the shepherd's delight,

As on Bethlehem's plains they mind sheep by night;
The worship of men highly famed in the east,
The birthplace of Jesus, a stable for beast.
The edict of Herod, the angels' descent,
The flight into Egypt, the manner they went;
The death of their foe the Scripture fulfilled,
"All things are of God" most graciously sealed,
The whole life of Christ, his trial and death;
Each work he performed, each life-giving breath,
His being made sin, his dying a curse,

"All things are of God" doth sweetly rehearse.

His bursting the grave, his meeting the saints,
Addressing them, " children," supplying their wants;
Breathing on them his peace, the lifting his hand,
Returning in triumph to his fatherland.
The Spirit bestowing my soul to instruct,
He still being with me, my feet to conduct;
The pardon of sin, my joy in the Lord,
My confidence based on his precious word.
My life in each death, in each sickness my health,
In battle my vict'ry, in meanness my wealth;
Yea, all that exists, all that shall endure,

"All things are of God" shall serve to secure.
When time is no more, caught up in the cloud,

With the ransom'd I'll sing, "All things are of God."

Greenwich.

MARK PHILIP STONEHAM.

LETTERS TO A GLORIFIED INHABITANT OF THE NEW JERUSALEM, WRITTEN DURING HER SOJOURN IN THE VALE OF TEARS.

LETTER I.

DEAR MADAM AND SISTER IN JESUS' UNALTERABLE LOVE,

I duly received yourletter of the 4th instant, and I hope it may have pleased the good Physician to have eased, or removed your pain of headache, blessing the change of place and air for the purpose. I too am hoping His kind attentions to me who at this time am feeling much debility; I bless Him, He knows both your case and mine-that he has suited medicines and restoratives for each, and that his most tender heart will ensure his doing us good, not only now, but for ever. May we be privileged to get very near to him-to pour out our hearts before him, and then to trust him for the performance of his yea and amen promises the whole of which shall be fulfilled in their season to his glory and our happiness.

I have been permitted to leave London for a few days and brought your letter with me. Ailing as I feel, I would essay to answer it, intreating my dear Lord to accompany it as you tell me he did the one I scnt you before; I assure you but for hoping this, I would not write to you. What can the talk of the lips, or the scribbling of the pen amount to,

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without his blessing yea, were he to withhold his heavenly wisdom in directing, and his love in owning the communication, it would be but "darkening counsel by words without knowledge." This would tend to confuse and perplex, instead of edifying the mind. Dear friend, pray for me and yourself that this may not be; entreat our best, our ever adorable Friend, to grant us an heavenly smile, while we attempt to write of himself, that infinite love, which no tongue can describe, no mind can conceive, no enraptured and glorified spirit to anything like extent enjoy. You seem not disposed to let me get away from the comment you ask for, on the 2nd Sam. xix. 29. "Thou and Ziba divide the land." I quite forget what I said from the pulpit about it, but I should suppose I took up the language as figurative and expressive of God our good Father's liberality to Christ, as the Head of the church and all his mystic members. Now you scarce need me to remind you that the great Jehovah, Father, Son, Spirit, our whole Triune God in covenant relation to us in Christ Jesus, has granted all things first and originally to Christ and then to the church in union with him. And what was David's liberality to Mephibosheth and Ziba, in giving them all that pertained to Saul, as related in the 2 Sam. ix, throughout, and confined to the verse to which you direct me, compared with the richer grant of all things to the church in connexion with her glorious head; Paul says our Father's choice of us in him was enriched, and mightily added to, by the endowment of "all spiritual blessing in heavenly places," and it may well excite our wonder when we read that mutual participation of all God's (his own essential deity and the glory arising therefrom excepted) has is granted to us, being heirs of God we are joint heirs with Christ. Now a joint heir in estates in this world is understood to mean a person equally inheriting with another, and to the same extent. Are you, my dear sister, disposed to question this equality of possession of poor sinners like you and me, with Jesus the holy, harmless, and undefiled? The Lord expects this astonishment to arise, and says, "if it be marvellous in your eyes, saith the Lord, should it also be marvellous in mine eyes," (Zech. 8. 6). Think my dear friend, of those sweet words of our Lord Christ in his ever-memorable prayer to his Father. "Thou hast loved them as thou hast loved me," and see the foundation of this unaccountable, unutterable liberality. You can easily conceive a father's love to his children cannot be alike to all, if he leaves to one the bulk of his estate, and the others but small portions of it, while if he loved all equally he would in proper proportions divide it among them. Now what says our dear Lord Christ. "All things are delivered to me of my Father," and again, "The Father loveth the Son and hath given all things unto his hand" and again, "all things that the Father has are mine." These scriptures shall prove Christ's right as head of the Church to all things, and what is the Holy Ghost's testimony as regards the Church, but this "All things are yours, for ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." Oh, the blessedness, the boundlessness of the liberality of our God, "joint heirs with Jesus Christ."

I think then the portion before us may be adapted to represent this

great subject, and David's love to the son of Jonathan and his servant Žiba, set out as an Old Testament type, our Father's love to Jesus and his Church. The Holy Ghost has been pleased to "use similitudes," and the glory of the ministry of the prophets (and David was one) seems to be their shadowing forth the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord.

And having scribbled so much as the thoughts have occurred to me, what more can I, or shall I add, excepting prayer for you that you may comprehend with all saints what is the breadth and length and depth and height of the love of God, which passeth knowledge. "The sweetest, highest, and best of all studies is, "Christ and him crucified"; as we know him, we grow up into him our living head in all things; we possess life eternal in heavenly enjoyment hereby. And it is the bent of the work of the Holy Ghost to make all other knowledge insipid, and uninteresting, as it certainly is, frail and perishing; hence Paul's prayer for the Ephesians, that "the eyes of their understanding might be enlightened in the knowledge of him," and his prayer for himself was to be found in him. Paul was a lost man out of Christ, but found in him he was sure of supply all from him.

My dear sister, you must not expect much from me in elucidations of Scripture; I know but little, that little is given me for the service of the Zion of God; but "the well is deep, and I have nothing to draw with;" ask your Lord to teach you, and he will, and that to profit. The passage, 33 Deut. and 8th verse must be left for him to open, before I can offer you a comment upon it. The Lord be with you; you must forgive bad writing and punctuation. I am not very well, but know I am rightly and blessedly situated both for time and eternity, and "found in Jesus's hands my soul cannot be lost."

I wish you better health, but above all, that your precious soul may prosper in the knowledge of him in whom I subscribe myself,

Harwich, August 17, 1841.

Yours very sincerely
THOMAS REED.

A SERMON PREACHED BY THE LATE REV. J. B. PAGET, ON SUNDAY MORNING, FEB. 24th, 1839.

And Isaac trembled very exceedingly and said, Who? where is he that hath taken venison and brought it to me, and I have eaten of all before thou camest, and have blessed him, yea, and he shall be blessed?—Gen. xxvii. 33.

BELOVED, I believe there is not a chapter in the blessed word which is a greater stumbling block, or gives greater occasion to the infidel to blaspheme than this, and the more we look into it, the more we shall be astonished and laid low. We shall see that it is a God-exalting, a man

humbling chapter, that it sets out mercy in grace, and grace in mercy, that it cuts up every way of works, and we shall learn also, how impossible it is to defeat the purposes of God; we shall learn that God is the doer of all things, that he does his work by means of man's sins, which yet lies at his own door.

To understand it, we must look a little at the characters. The word "Esau" comes from a word which signifies to do, and his father set him to get the blessing by doing. He was to get the venison, and then to have the blessing, being this doer. But we find that Jacob whose name signifies "supplanter," supplanted him; and we shall see that although it was done in subtilty, yet that Jacob only got his own.

First, let us endeavour to honour God a little. Was it by chance that Isaac and Rebekah lived so long without children—that after these young men had grown up Isaac became blind? This, I suppose, was God's arrangement.

Then how came it, when being entreated of Isaac, God gave conception, and conception of twins, that Esau was born first? This was God's arrangement also, for Rebekah going to enquire of God concerning her feelings, was told, "Two nations are in thy womb, and two manner of people shall be separated from thy bowels, and the one people shall be stronger than the other people, and the elder shall serve the younger." Then how came it that Esau was born covered with red hair? This was not by chance, for there was this wonderful transaction to come out of it. Beloved, let us learn in these things to spell out that "God ordereth all things in heaven and on earth," and that there is nothing that is out of the ordination of Jehovah our Elohim.

Then this Esau was a cunning hunter, a man of the field, just such an one as Nimrod, or Ishmael, a man given up to the world and its vanities: but Jacob was a plain man-the word is a perfect man, the same as is used for those who are said to be perfect in their generations. Jacob then was a plain man, dwelling peaceably, "And Isaac loved Esau because he did eat of his venison, but Rebekah loved Jacob.” And Jacob sod pottage, and Esau came from the field and was faint, and Esau said to Jacob, "Feed me I pray thee with that same red pottage, for I am faint. Therefore was his name called Edom. (It is very remarkable that the word without the vowels put under it, is the same as Adam, and means, "red clay.") And Jacob said, "Sell me this day thy birthright." Did not Jacob know that there was something attached to the birthright worth having, and do you not suppose that Jacob knew something of the new birth of man, this Abraham blessing, and which he imagined was attached to the birthright? And you are told that Esau despised his birthright; Esau despised his birthright, and Isaac was brought to fulfil this, and inspired to pronounce upon Jacob the Abraham blessing. "And Esau said, behold, I am at the point to die (he means not only then, but that his life was always in his hand, that he might die at any moment by any wild beast in the field or by the hand of any man with whom he might quarrel.) And what profit shall this birthright do to me? And Jacob said, Swear unto

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