Hark! me thinks, I hear him say,
O let this cross now pass away,
If possible it be;
Nevertheless, "Thy will be done,"
My life I'm willing to lay down,
To set thy children free.

The ruffian band approach my Lord,
Each with his lantern and his sword,
And Judas at their head

Sleep on, he says, and take your rest,
The powers of hell my soul molest,
The Son of man's betrayed.

Hail! master, the traitor loudly cries,
Judas, the devil, in disguise,

Comes forth to seize his prey.

My Lord exclaims, and whom seek ye?
Jesus of Nazareth ?" I am He!"
Let these each go their way..

Follow him thence to Pilate's bar,
And view the rage and malice there
Of all the bellish clan

While He, who earth's foundation laid,
And skies, and seas, and all things made,
Is arraign'd before a man.

1 see the judge his seat ascend,
While hell, in human form, attend
The trial of my Lord.

Methinks they, with united breath
Exclaim-let him be put to death!
He answers not a word.

The verdict given-the sentence passedThey take my Lord and bind him fastHe's clad in purple hue.

With thorn torn brow, and weeping eyes, Father, forgive them, lo! he cries,

They know not what they do.

Methinks I bear the Saviour say,
The debt I have engaged to pay,
And I must shed my blood.
The Father hides his smiling face,
And Justice, frowning, sternly says,
In thee I'll plunge my sword.

I see him toil along the road,
Sweating beneath a pondrous load,
No mortal can conceive.
Surrounded by a Romish band,
Each clad in mail, with sword in hand,
And by his side two thieves.

From thence he's hurried on, until
They reach the summit of the bill,
Dejected, and cast down;
Each sacred limb methinks I see,
Transfixed to Calvary's rugged tree,
Each nail extorts a groan.

The sun withholds his wonted light,
And spreads the curtain of the night,
The vail is rent in twain.

'Tis finished-lo! he loudly cries,
'Tis finished! bows his head, and dies,
And bids adieu to pain.

I hear some stander-by exclaim,
What hath be done?-what is his name?
Why does he suffer thus?

A voice proceeds from yonder throne,
This is Jehovah's equal son,

For man he bears the curse.

For man-what! all lost Adam's race,
Who are sunk in ruin and disgrace,
Who fell when Adam fell?
Oh! no-'tis for the chosen seed,
My Son, the Saviour, deigns to bleed,
To rescue them from hell,

The sickening graves yield up their prey,
The blushing sun withholds her ray,
And sinks behind the cross.
The stoutest heart with terror quakes,
Nature, to her foundation shakes,

And Demons dread their loss.

I hear the ruffian band deride-
I see the soldier pierce his side,
And view his lifeless clay.
All hell in arms, the Tempter cries,
With hellish frenzy in his eyes,

I've lost! I've lost my prey.

GABRIEL.

·000

LITERARY INTELLIGENCE.

MEMOIRS OF AUGUSTUS TOPLADY, in large 8vo. 4th edition, containing God's gracious dealings with him in Providence and in Grace, with a Diary, and account of his Remarkable Dying Moments, with an Elegy annexed, and a PORTRAIT prefixed, from a painting of RYLEY'S, taken a little time before his death, engraved by BLACKBIRD.

THE

GOSPEL MAGAZINE.

VOL. IV. No. II.

Of a FIFTH SERIES, for FEBRUARY, 1839.

"In doctrine shewing uncorruptness."

"Beware ye of the leaven of the Pharisees which is Hypocrisy.”

"Jesus Christ, the same yesterday to-day and for ever.

eternal."

Whom to know is life

THE BELIEVER'S STRENGTH AND SUPPORT.

"When the enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

WE have here an illustrious prophecy concerning our glorious Redeemer, and the salvation he was to work for lost sinners by his obedience unto death. He is introduced as a renowned champion, taking the field, when there was none to interpose for our deliverance from hell and sin. He puts on his armour: Righteousness is his breast-plate, and salvation his helmet. Being thus armed, he distributes death and ruin among all those who stand in the way of his undertaking," According to their deeds, accordingly he will repay, fury to his adversaries, recompence to his enemies."

Having spoiled principalities and powers, the fame thereof shall spread abroad among the Gentile nations, upon the wings of the everlasting gospel. And what is the fruit of this?" They shall fear the name of the Lord from the west, and his glory from the rising of the sun." The Gentile nations have already come from the east and west to the kingdom of the New Testament church, which is the nursery for the kingdom of glory: when the Jews, who had been for a long time the only children of the kingdom; are cast out into uttter darkness.

But now, when the powers of hell are thus overthrown by a glorious Redeemer, and his church reared up among the Gentiles; will the routed enemy rally his forces, or molest the church of God any more?-Yea, says the prophet, after all this," the enemy will come in like a flood," but though he do, he shall not succeed in his attempts, for "the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard against him."

VOL. IV. No. II.

G

The church of God, or his saints in this world, have many enemies, who have an unity in their designs against Christ and his kingdom, and because they attack under one principal leader and commander, namely, the God of this world, whose kingdom Christ came to overthrow. The enemy comes in like a flood, with great violence and noise, as though he would sweep away all before him; we read that the serpent cast out of his mouth water as a flood after the woman, that he might cause her to be carried away of the flood. It is no unusual thing in scripture, to represent the irruptions of hell and its armies upon the church of of God, under the notion of a rapid flood or river, which threatens the ruin of every thing that stands in its way. "The floods have lifted up, O Lord, the floods have lifted op their voice." The enemy he shall come in: he shall not stay without the walls or borders, like an enemy laying siege, he shall come in, and "overflow even to the neck." Satan has a party in the church to take him by the hand; yea, he has a party in the very heart of the elect to side with him. We have the certainty of all this; it is not a may-be, or a peradventure, but there is a certainty of it; The enemy shall come in like a flood ;" the Lord has said it, and therefore it needs be no surprise when it comes.

But, "The Spirit of the Lord shall lift up the standard against him. It is not by might or power, it is not by any created strength, but" by my Spirit, saith the Lord of hosts." It is by lifting up a standard against him. "Christ, who is not only a standard-bearer among ten thousand, but the standard or ensign itself; "And in that day there shall be a root of Jesse, which shall stand for an ensign of the people; to it shall the Gentiles seek, and his rest shall be glorious." The lifting up of the standard displays the glory of Christ in the gospel, accompanied with the efficacy of the Spirit of the Lord: this is called a lifting up Christ: "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, even so must the Son of man be lifted up." It is by the lifting up of this standard, or the manifesation of Christ in the gospel, that Satan's kingdom is ruined in the world, and his strong-holds pulled down. Then the enemy by the Spirit of the Lord; is put to flight, the Spirit of the Lord shall drive him back like the waters of Jordan, which were driven back toward their fountain, when they stood in the way of Israel's entry upon the possession of the promised land, "What ailed thee, Ŏ thou sea, that thou fleddest thou Jordan, that thou wast driven back?”

Believers, while in a militant state, may lay their account to have the enemy breaking in upon them like a flood, and that when least expected. Even when he has brought you into his banquetinghouse, and made you sit under his banner of love: when he has stayed you with flagons, and comforted you with apples; you are still to remember that this is not heaven, it is only a wildernessmeal to hearten you for your journey; and, in your journey, you are to go through the dens of lions, and mountains of leopards. The people of God never meet with more violent attacks, than

after they have been admitted to the nearest and sweetest communion with him: Satan sought to winnow Peter, after he had been at the first supper; a messenger of Satan is sent to buffet Paul, after he had been wrapt up to the third heavens. The devil, that old serpent called sometimes the "god of this world," is the leading enemy of the woman and her seed. This was the grand enemy Christ had to debate with, when he came upon the great undertaking of our redemption; his errand was to beat up the devil's quarters, to drive him out of his usurped possession in the hearts and souls of men, to bruise his head, to destroy his works, to spoil principalities and powers of their prey. And as this was the prin cipal enemy that Christ had to grapple with; so this is the leading enemy that attacks the seed of Christ in their travels through the wilderness to the promised land of glory: hence is that caution of the apostle Peter," Be sober, be vigilant; because your adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh about, seeking whom he may devour." And, says Paul, we wrestle not against flesh and blood; but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, against spiritual wickednesses in high places. The devil has two grand auxiliaries, in managing his hellish designs against Christ and his seed, which are entirely at his devotion and under his command; the one is within the believer, and the other without him.

Satan has a strong party within, namely, indwelling sin and corruption, "a law in the members warring against a law of the mind;" sometimes called the flesh, which lusteth against the Spi

rit.

This is such a crafty enemy, and its workings, in order to serve the designs of Satan, for the ruin of the soul, are so subtile, that it is said to be " deceit above all things and desperately wicked." David, the man according to God's own heart, through the impression of its subtilty, cries, "Who can understand his errors ?"

The world without us is another main auxiliary of hell; the profits, pleasures, und preferments of the world, called by the apostle, "the lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the pride of life.' The apostle James has a word to this purpose," Know ye not that the friendship of the world is enmity with God? whosoever therefore will be a friend of the world, is the enemy of God." From whence it is plain, that the man that will stand upon the Lord's side, must resolve to have the world upon his head. Sometimes the believer has the powers of this world to contend with; especially when their commands interfere with the commands of God; as in the case of Daniel, the apostle, and the three children; and in that case he may lay his account with rage and violence. In a word, the devil being the god of this world, he hath both the things and the persons of this world under his power, he pretends to be sole master of it; as we see in his attack he made upon the Son of God in the wilderness, "All these things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall