THE

SPIRITUAL WRESTLER,

OR,

ZION'S CHILDREN IN THE WILDERNESS.

"Strengthen ye the weak hands, and confirm the feeble knees. Say to them that are of a fearful heart, Be strong, fear not: behold your God will come with vengeance, even God with a recompence; he will come and save you." ISAIAH Xxxv, 3, 4.

"Blessed are they that mourn: for they shall be comforted." MATTHEW v, 4.

No. 11.

NOVEMBER, 1847.

THE NEW CREATURE.

One Penny.

"Therefore if any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become new." 2 Cor. v, 17.

(Continued from page 114.)

Having, as observed in my last, strayed a little from my line of subject, my Readers will please to bear with me while I bring their minds back again to St. Paul addressing the Church at Corinth.

It appears from the 15th verse, that St. Paul thought of the readiness of mankind to take his meaning in a universal way, as though he spoke to the purport, that, (in as much as "one died for all, then were all dead,") there now remained nothing but for them to persuade themselves, that, as in Adam they were under the power of Death, in Christ they were delivered from it, and so, in presumption, go on in their old state of wickedness; others too, might take licence on the other hand, and say within themselves, "This is news indeed; the world. that was lost, we are assured is saved! Adam our head lost, by transgression, the power of self-controul,—the

power of choice, yea, the power of thinking good, and the power of rejecting evil, and thus became an enemy to God, and a confederate of the devil; but, blessed is the thought! Christ hath repaired this breach! Now man's power is again restored, now is Salvation within his reach again, now may man withstand the devil! O, that man but knew this happy and acceptable visitation, how would he flee from the wrath to come!" Thus, and much more, the Apostle was fully aware man was prone to be excited with; and therefore, it is as though he should say, "I am not ignorant of the bearings you will construe this Gospel to, if I leave it here; consequently, I add, that none make mistake, This SALVATION is universal only to such as BELIEVE; because, For whom Christ died, that they may be with him in glory, there is need that their hearts be changed, that, though they have lived unto themselves in all things after the flesh, now henceforth they should live unto him in the spirit who died for them, and rose again."

Here I beg excuse will be made me, that I may pass over much that might be said respecting the professors of Religion of our own time. It has been sufficiently shown that St. Paul did not mean that the Gospel of Christ was universally, whether those who professed to be followers thereof had their hearts changed or not, so as to oblige them to live henceforth unto Christ. The same may be said of us, and of all people in all ages. There must be an evidence that we are Christ's, besides having his name "Lord, Lord," upon our tongues, and this must be the bent or inclining of our hearts to turn our backs upon the world, and our faces pressing Zionwards, for, "By their fruits ye shall know them. Not every one that saith unto me, Lord, Lord, shall enter

into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my father which is in heaven." Matthew vii, 20, 21.

Now, the Lord commanding the prophet Ezekiel to prophesy concerning the calling of his people to his own ordained worship, (the substance of which was Christ, as may be seen in Heb., particularly in chap. ix and x,) says, "Thus saith the Lord God; I will even gather you from the people, and assemble you out of the countries where ye have been scattered, and I will give you the land of Israel. And they shall come thither, and they shall take away all the detestable things thereof and all the abominations thereof from thence. And I will give them one heart, and I will put a new spirit within you; and I will take the stony heart out of their flesh, and will give them an heart of flesh: that they may walk in my statutes, and keep mine ordinances, and do them and they shall be my people, and I will be their God." Eze. xi, 17-20. This signifies (the law of ordinances as it was by Moses being now done away by Christ,) that, all God's peculiar people shall be gathered from the ruins of the Fall, and assembled unto Christ; and that this be accomplished effectually, they shall have one heart to put away all their former delights, which were abominations unto God, and have a new spirit of discernment, so that henceforth they might have hungering and thirsting desires to live unto the honour, praise, and glory of Christ Jesus their Lord: and, not only thus, but that this their new service might become more acceptable to them than their old service of Satan, their stony heart that could feel no comfort in holiness, should be taken away, and a heart of flesh given in its place that could not endure the least desire for wickedness, but the property of which should be entirely like its Author,-its only relish holy

and pure, one that could be satisfied only with heavenly food. So that this people become the Lord Christ's, and their observing and doing his will evidence it. Therefore, "If any man be in Christ, he is a new creature: old things are passed away; behold, all things are become

new."

Here again, I must beg to be permitted to omit much that might be said on the soul not yet to its own satisfaction in Christ, and how it is that it is dissatisfied with the pleasures of sin; however, let such a soul follow on, and it may be that there will be "let fall also some of the handfuls of purpose for it." Ruth ii, 16.

I observe then briefly, that the people in Christ in the covenant love of the Father before the foundation of the world, are, in Time, called by the Holy Ghost unto a knowledge of the same, which knowledge is implanted in them as being the express image of Christ unto himself; out of which springs forth the Fear of the Lord, hatred to sin, and a never-failing relish and desire for him whose image is thus set up within them; for, when God begins the work of grace in a sinner's heart, he says, "Be ye holy, for I am holy;" and, as when he spake in the beginning, "Let there be light, and there was light," so in this case, to whom he says, "Be ye holy," the Holy Spirit attends the command, and takes up his abode in that sinner's heart, so effectually, that the gates of hell shall not prevail against it to all eternity, and that same becomes momently holy unto the Lord: it is a perfect work, full of light, and at once shows the darkness such a one is surrounded with, which darkness then becomes so extremely opposed to the Spirit within him enjoying its delights in holiness, that it sends forth a cry to its Author for his interference; and no wonder if such a one

get in secret upon his knees before God, promising and vowing to be holy, for he is terrified and alarmed out of measure; he truly becomes a miserable object; sin has received its fatal sting, he can no longer feast and frolic therein; he has no comfort either in this life or in the anticipation that he shall have in that to come; for the law of holiness is written on the fleshy tables of his heart, and in holiness he must walk, or where God is he must not think of going, for, "Without holiness no man shall see the Lord." Hebrews xii, 14. This same heavenly light also within him shows to him the holiness of God in all his ways, and that he will punish with everlasting death all transgressors; in short, such a one will get no rest till the Holy Spirit brings of the things of Christ, and applies them to him as his by right in the free gift of God to such sinners as himself. Such is the teaching of the Holy Spirit, that, until the sinner be reconciled unto God in Christ, he feels himself under the curse of the law, either in a greater or lesser degree. It shows him that, till all demands are paid, he is not free; it shows him at length, his utter inability to pay them himself, and he is compelled to fall at the feet of Christ, whom the Spirit has set before him as being the Advocate with the Father for the disobedient; and the same blessed Spirit then manifesting to him his acceptance with the Father through this precious Advocate, he being his sinatoner, law-fulfiller, and Justice-satisfier, he feels freed from all fetters, and can look up, and call Jesus his Lord and his God in joyful confidence. Then is such a one in Christ in deed and in truth; he was in Christ before the world began, in purpose, now in Time it is manifested unto him, and he walks therein in faith; he is now in him with that confidence, that he believes he is bone of