Coleford, Gloucestershire, Feb. 3, 1838.
Sir,

From the advice of the Rev. S. Winter, of Bristol, I beg leave to submit to you for consideration the following destitute state of the Baptist Church at Garway, in the county of Hereford.

About the year 1818, a convenient chapel was built, and under the ministerial labour of the Rev. W. Rogers, the word preached continued to prosper for several years, so that it was considered desirable to erect another branch chapel, in an adjoining parish, four miles distant from the first. During the period Mr. Rogers continued with them he supplied both places, and the attendance was good; but his removal (which was occasioned by the death of his brother) left them in a destitute state; and since that, continued to decrease to such a lamentable degree, that the one chapel has not been opened since last summer, and the other kept open only by a member of the Primitive Methodist connexion.

The field for labour is large, while the means of grace are small, nor can the church of its own strength increase them; therefore, on their behalf, I would earnestly plead, and hope you will be induced to assist them

Mr. Herbert, who has written the above, is an excellent member of our church. His statements are true. I remember preaching at the opening of both places of worship. If anything can be done it will be very gratifying to all the ministers and friends who know their present state of lamentable destitution.

If a minister with zeal, labour, and devotion could be supported there, I have no doubt but it would be for the comfort of the saints, the conversion of sinners, and the glory of God. I beg, therefore, most earnestly to recommend this application.

Coleford, Feb. 3rd.

JOHN FRY.

THE history of the patriarch Jacob is a very eventful history, full of affecting incidents, which show the care of divine providence concerning him, and the exercise of God's especial grace on his behalf. Those who would study well the doctrine of divine providence, should read repeatedly the history of Jacob: whose history illustrates, what the mystic ladder which he saw in vision, reaching from earth to heaven, was intended to represent; that there is a constant correspondence maintained between heaven and earth, that the events which transpire here take place by the permission, and are directed by the counsels, of Jehovah there.

That part of the patriarch's history connected with his coming to Bethel, is deeply interesting. He was then but young, yet he begins already to taste the bitterness that sin has put into the cup of life; the blighting wind of care begins to blow upon his ruddy countenance; the troubles that are allotted in this world to men, begin, like thorns and briars, to infest his path; his high youthful expectations as to earthly things, begin to be brought down and corrected by distress. He was now on his way to Padan-aram, from his home, where, in consequence of the cruel purpose of his own brother, Esau, who designed to take away his life, he was forced to leave reluctantly, a mother who was affectionate to a fault; and a dear father who, by reason of the weight of years, was fast sinking into the tomb. He had torn himself away from their embrace, perhaps for ever, and with a sorrowful and heavy heart he advanced on his

VOL. I.-FOURTH SERIES.

way. But it was while on this journey that God appeared to Jacob, declaring him to be the object of his protecting care, and confirming to him the covenant that God had made in mercy, with his fathers. We should never in our course through life allow ourselves to regard distresses as being always unconnected with advantage; troubles are oftentimes but clouds of mercy that burst with blessings on the believer's head; times of trouble have repeatedly been found to be times of refreshing from the presence of the Lord; he delights to bind up the broken-hearted, to interpose his friendly and effectual aid when all other assistance would be vain: when clouds of trouble darken the condition of his people, then frequently, as from between the Cherubim, God shines forth. It was thus in the case before us. Jacob had journeyed on his way to Padan-aram until the sun had set; and then coming to a certain place, he took the stones of that place, and put them for his pillows, and lay down in that place to sleep. It was an uncomfortable resting-place; the earth was his couch, the stones of the place his pillows, his canopy the sky: but he was wearied with his journey, and thoughts, moreover, of Esau's unkindness, and of his own separation from his beloved parents, pressed upon his spirit, and it is probable inclined him for repose; and in this place, and in these circumstances of sorrow, God appeared to Jacob." He dreamed: and behold a

ladder set upon the earth, and the top of it reached to heaven; and behold the angels of God ascending and descending on it. And behold the Lord

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stood above it, and said, I am the Lord God of Abraham thy Father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed. And thy seed shall be as the dust of the earth, and thou shalt spread abroad to the west, and to the east, and to the north, and to the south, and in thee and in thy seed shall all the nations of the earth be blessed. And behold I am with thee, and will keep thee in all places whither thou goest, and will bring thee again into this land; for I will not leave thee until I have done that which I have spoken to thee of." Such was the vision which Jacob saw. The impression this vision made on Jacob's mind is remarkable, and it is to that the following remarks will in particular refer, to the terror of Jacob's spirit as excited | by the vision. He "awaked out of his sleep, and he said, Surely the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not. And he was afraid, and said, How dreadful is this place! this is none other but the house of God, and this is the gate of heaven." The dread that was excited in his spirit was evidently occasioned by the conviction which the vision had created in his mind that God was nigh. "He said, Surely the Lord is in this place." Jehovah appeared to Jacob in a dream; at a time, therefore, when his senses, being locked up in sleep, were less liable to feel the shock of any impression. Jacob saw Jehovah's glory through the dimness of a vision, yet he was afraid. God revealed himself to Jacob in a way of mercy; all that he said to him was kind. It was a very blessed vision; it transformed for the time the rugged place where Jacob slept, into a kind of temple, and made him feel as if he were at the gate itself of heaven. Yet God's presence made him afraid, an awe amounting to terror occupied his mind; and in the perturbation of his feelings he exclaimed, "How dreadful is this place!" With similar emotions of awful terror, Moses, when God revealed himself on Sinai, said, "I do exceedingly fear and quake!" and Isaiah, when he saw in vision the Lord "high and lifted up, and his train filling the temple, cried out, Woe is me, for I am undone!" and Peter, when a ray of Christ's divinity darted on him through the medium of a miracle that Christ had wrought, entreated Jesus, saying, "Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, O Lord!" and John, when favoured with a

view of the glorious Saviour in the isle of Patmos, "fell at his feet as dead:" nor, constituted as human nature at present is, does it appear possible that any individual of our race on earth could witness such glorious manifestations of God without emotions of equal uneasiness and fear. The causes of this it may not be very difficult to state. They are chiefly the greatness and the holiness of God. Our minds are naturally affected with awe by the view of greatness. The sight of mere greatness, apart from any other consideration, operates upon us in that way: no thoughtful individual perhaps ever entered the dome of a great cathedral without this emotion being excited in his bosom as he beheld the lofty arches towering high above his head, and felt himself in the contrast to diminish into insignificance as he trod the tesselated floor. The greatness of power affects us with increased dread. To stand upon the shore of the ocean in a storm; to look down from the cliff upon the deep below, boiling like a pot, to observe the foaming waves rising to the clouds, or dashing with tremendous concussion upon the base beneath our feet, or bearing upon their angry surges, like feathers in the breeze, vessels huge as is Leviathan, and withal so ponderous that scarcely any other influence on earth could move them. Herein we behold the greatness of power, and who could possibly behold it without a portion of dismay? And then here is the greatness of majesty, that also overcomes us with astonishment and awe. There is that in royal majesty even as possessed by human beings, which makes those persons who are unaccustomed to it uneasy in its presence, so that some are said to have even fainted at the sight of a monarch in robes of state and seated upon his throne. But what is all this in comparison with the greatness of God? How diminutive are the lofty arches of a cathedral in comparison with his immensity; the mighty waves of the sea, in comparison with his might; the majesty of even Solomon himself in all his glory, when compared with the majesty of God! The heaven, even the heaven of heavens cannot contain him. "He measures the waters of the sea in the hollow of his hand, and metes out heaven with the span, and comprehends the dust of the earth in a measure, and weighs the mountains in scales, and the hills in a balance. Behold, the nations

are as the drop of a bucket, and are counted as the small dust of the balance; behold, he taketh up the isles as a very little thing." Isaiah xl. The greatness of power; the greatness of majesty; in fact, all true greatness resides in him; and it is that, the greatness of God, which fills us with fear when he reveals himself to us in any way of visible and extraordinary manifestation. And it is not surprising that it should be so; that man, a little breathing dust, should be filled with awe while he listens to the voice of God. When Jehovah, whose glory causes the faces even of the cherubim to be veiled before him, comes near to a human being in a way of immediate manifestation, it is not remarkable that the highly-favoured individual should exclaim, "How dreadful is this place!"

But the holiness of God, as well as his infinite greatness, makes us fearful of his presence. It is not merely the infirmity of man's nature that makes him incapable of calm, immediate converse with his Maker, but also the guilt that cleaves to him: it was that chiefly which distressed Isaiah's mind when he saw Jehovah's glory-"Woe is me," he said, "for I am undone, because I am a man of unclean lips!" It was that chiefly which troubled Peter when Christ's divinity was shadowed forth in the miraculous draught of fishes; "he fell down at Jesus' knees, saying, Depart from me, for I am a sinful man, Ô Lord." Guilt makes us fearful of Jehovah's presence. The approach of God awakens the conscience, and excites the recollection of our transgressions against him. Especial views of his majesty suggest to us the great enormity of our iniquities, and his unlimitted ability to punish them, that creates our fear, and it has thus operated upon human beings ever since Adam endeavoured to hide himself from the presence of the Lord God amongst the trees of the garden.

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presence of supreme holiness, clothed with majesty, and armed with power, cannot but fill a sinner with consternation. It was a consciousness of guilt, together with an awful impression of Jehovah's greatness, which at Bethel shook the mind of Jacob with a storm of fear, so that he exclaimed, "How dreadful is this place!"

In this we see the great importance and value of the mediation of Jesus. It was to be exceedingly deplored, that man, by reason of his sinful frailty, had

become incapable of calm, immediate converse with his Maker. His Maker himself lamented it: though the incapacity was the effect of man's own sin against God, yet he pitied man's condition as to this. He knew how much we needed him; how dependent we were upon him; how needful it was to our comfort and well being, that we should be able calmly to attend to his counsels, and listen to his voice. He did not desire to see his creatures trembling with fearful apprehensions when he spake to them, even words of mercy; and words of mercy he desired to speak to them, guilty as they were. He raised up a succession of prophets, and put words into their mouths, which they were to speak in his name. But that alone did not satisfy the immense benevolence of his heart. He sought to bring himself into closer communion with his creatures; his paternal bowels yearned that he might be nearer to us; he wanted to converse with us in a way of greater nearness and tenderness; and he determined to do this by the mediation of his dear Son. He appointed that his only-begotten Son should come into the world to tell us what was in his heart-that in coming he should clothe himself in our nature, for a double purpose that he might allay the glories of his Godhead by the veil of flesh, in kindness to our frailty; and that he might in his human nature become a sacrifice for sin, to take away our guilt that, in both respects, we might commune with him without fear. The mediation of Jesus is the mystic ladder by means of which there is calm and happy intercourse between heaven and earth. Herein appears the value of Christ's mediation: "We come unto God by him." "Now, we may bow before his face, and venture near the Lord." We have "boldness to enter into the holiest by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way which he hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is to say, his flesh."

Again. The dread occasioned in Jacob's mind by the vision which he saw, suggests the fearfulness of their condition who perish in impenitence. God appeared to Jacob at Bethel in kindness, yet he was afraid. The Holy One came near to him for purposes of mercy, yet he exclaimed, "How dreadful is this place!" How much more exceedingly dreadful, then, must be that place where God is present for pur

poses exclusively of wrath! If that which Jacob likened to the gate of heaven was dreadful, because God was there, how unutterably more dreadful to a guilty spirit must be the domains of hell-for God is also there! "If I make my bed in hell, behold, thou art there." The wretched Altamont, addressing his offended Maker in the hour of death, and which to him, unhappy creature, was the hour of despair, is said to have exclaimed: "O God, hell itself is a refuge, if it hide me from thy frown!" -But, alas, that dreary dungeon does not hide its wretched prisoners from the frown of God! No, He is there, illustrating the greatness of his power in the ruin of his enemies, and vindicating the honours of his government and name in the righteous and eternal punishment of impenitent transgressors. He is there; and the miserable occupants of of that dread abode know him to be present, and they feel the hand of that infinite Being pressing upon them, and the lighting down of his arm inflicting upon them judgments indescribable, and it is his frown that darkens their atmosphere, and which bars the doors of their prison, and which constitutes the fierceness of their eternal fire, and which causes them to weep and wail and gnash their teeth. Have we fled from the threatening of this wrath to Jesus? He is the hiding place-he delivers "from the wrath to come."--If we have not yet fled to him, let us at once do so. Sinners contemplate God in his holiness and majesty, and like Jacob at Bethel they are afraid; but let them look to Jesus. "Look unto me," he says, "and be ye saved all ye ends of the earth." God waits that he may be gracious to such through Christ; he is exalted, that he may have mercy upon them: those who come to him in that way will find him supremely kind; but if any refuse, and sink into the pit, they will meet with God, but there "our God is a consuming fire!"

Further. The awe that pervaded and oppressed the mind of Jacob, at Bethel, reminds us of the reverence that is due to God in Christian assemblies. He, according to his promise, is eminently present there. To the Jewish Church, he said "In all places where I record my name, I will come unto thee and I will bless thee.'-To the Christian Church he has promised, saying, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name,

there am I in the midst of them." God is present in the Christian assembly so as he is not generally present anywhere else on earth. He is there the witness of the worship; the acceptor of the worship; the communicator of blessing in the worship: commanding "the blessing, even life for evermore."-He is there working his great work, the work that is for eternity: his works that are for time only, he carries on elsewhere, but in the Christian assembly he effects the work that is for eternity-the work of renewing and sanctifying human souls of raising dead souls to life by the instrumentality of the gospel, and of forming those minds, by the same instrumentality, more and more for heaven. Yet many, because God is not evident to their senses, in the Christian assembly, do not perceive him. In their grossness and carnality they forget whatever is not material and palpable. Because they do not hear the rustling of angels' wings; nor see as Jacob did their beauteous forms; nor the mode of their transit and intercourse between heaven and earth; nor His transcendent glory on whom they humbly wait; therefore, many fail to remember that God is present where his people are met to worship him. Because he, in kindness to us "holdeth back the face of his throne," and hides his immediate glory, and communes with us by his word and ordinances, that we may worship without being alarmed; therefore, many are irreverent, and forget his majesty, and his nearness to them, and that "God is greatly to be feared in the assembly of his saints, and to be had in reverence of all them that are about him," There is much of this forgetfulness even in those who love the Lord: and it is this that lowers the tone of our devotions; that makes our praises feeble, our supplications cold. We are not saying in the Christian assembly, "Surely the Lord is in this place." We feel too frequently as if there were no one present with us but our fellow-creatures, and our worship consequently rises not above the level of such feeling; and, therefore, it is very low. Whereas if we remembered God was there, that thought of the present God would awe our minds, would raise our devotions far above the accustomed level, would impart vigour to our songs, fixedness to our meditations, fervour to our prayers. Nor need we suppose that it would render us uneasy;