Britain's Period of Calamity and Trial; the Church's Duty and Destiny.

WE issue this number of THE EARTHEN VESSEL at a time when thousands of our people are either suffering the loss of their property by the pestilence and the plague, or are trembling for those things which are coming upon the earth.

We are constrained-we feel it most imperatively laid upon us, to direct the attention of our readers to three things, very briefly, but most earnestly.

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The first thing is-THE CERTAINTY THAT THE TRUE CHURCH OF God WILL BE PRESERVED, AND HER SALVATION SPEEDILY CONSUMMATED IN

GLORY. By this, we mean no prophetic assumption that the world's end is at hand; we mean, simply, the Lord will faithfully fulfil His promise toward His own people, and that whatever, or whenever, changes may come, the ransomed of the Lord shall be hidden, delivered, and saved in Himself. But this fact should not, must not, lead them to an abstract, to a lukewarm, to an indifferent and inactive [confidence. By no means. As citizens, as Christians, as stewards, as good soldiers, as faithful servants, it becomes them to obtain a correct understanding of the times, and "to know what ISRAEL ought to do."

"The Great Tribulation" is said to be close at hand. We will not dispute it. But great tribulations have been on this nation before. Referring to the times of Mary and Elizabeth, Thomas Clark Westfield says:

"On the morning of the 17th of November, 1558-long afterwards called 'Hope Wednesday' the cruel Mary died.

"In the afternoon of the same day, all the bells in London pealed joyously forth for the accession of Elizabeth, and at night bonfires were lit and tables spread in the streets, at which the glad citizens feasted in triumph.

"On the entry of our First Protestant Queen into London, she was met by a procession of citizens, who solemnly presented to her an ENGLISH BIBLE. She held it up towards heaven in thankful praise; then kissed and laid it reverently in her bosom; earnestly thanked the City for that present, and said that she would often read that blessed Book of Books. On reaching the Tower, she knelt down upon the pavement under the frowning gateway, which she had so lately passed through a forlorn prisoner, and offered up the following beautiful prayer:-"O Lord, Almighty and Everlasting God, I give thee most hearty thanks, that thou hast been so merciful unto me, as to spare me to behold this joyful day! And I acknowledge that thou hast dealt as wonderfully and as mercifully with me as thou didst with thy true and faithful servant Daniel, thy prophet, whom thou deliveredst out of the den from the cruelty of the greedy and raging lions. Even so was I overwhelmed, and only by thee delivered. To thee, therefore only be thanks, honour, and praise, through Jesus Christ for ever. Amen!"

Here was a bright morning following upon a dark and murderous night. But even the morning of Elizabeth's accession to the throne was followed by a day of dreadful threatening and slaughter of Protestants.

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Pope Pius IV. tried his utmost to reclaim his "most dear daughter Elizabeth;" but she knew Popery too well.

Spain, Scotland, and Ireland, were all in a perfect volcano of Rome's intriguing fires and powers; but Elizabeth played a noble part in the heat of the battle. We will present our readers with a view of Elizabeth's prowess and faith; yea, not her prayers only, but her godly and good PRACTICE also, really hoping that all our brethren in Christ may pray that even our beloved VICTORIA may play as dignified a part as did Elizabeth, should the perils of our Protestant cause demand it. field says:

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"To make matters worse, and to increase the peril in which Elizabeth was placed, a chosen body of Rome's hell-hounds (Jesuits) were dispatched over here from Rome to oppose the progress of the English Reformation, and at the same time, if possible, to assassinate England's Protestant Queen, in which, happily, though many attempts were made, they failed. And notwithstanding all their endeavours Protestantism made the most rapid strides. But a day of severe trial was approaching; the Spanish armada was nearing our shores; nevertheless see Elizabeth riding among her troops at Tilbury Fort, charging them to remember their duty to God and their country; or hear her as she utters those spirit-stirring words, 'I am come amongst you at this time, my faithful and loving people, being resolved, in the midst and heat of the battle, to live or die amongst you all; to lay down for my God and for my kingdom, and for my people, my honour, and my blood even in the dust. I know I have but the body of a weak and feeble woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too; and I think it foul scorn that Parma, or Spain, or any prince in Europe should dare to invade the borders of my realms; to which, rather than any dishonour should grow by me, I myself will take up arms. I myself will be your general, judge, and rewarder of every one of your virtues in the field. We shall shortly have a famous victory over those enemies of my God, of my kingdom, and of my people!'

"Elizabeth trusted in the God of battles, and all know how that trust was honoured; how on July 19th, 1588, the mighty armada hove in sight, but which, with three honest English cheers, was courageously and manfully encountered by England's then pigmy fleet; how that fearful tempest arose which in one night sank Spain's mightiest ships beneath the surging and rejoicing billows. It was then Elizabeth struck the medal, and gave the victory to Heaven: "Deus afflavit, et dissipantur'-'He sent his breath: they were scattered.'"

What is England's Present Condition? Rome is commencing her struggle. A so-called archbishop says he will destroy Protestantism, and supplant it by Romanism. And men of every professing grade are bent upon driving the essential truths of the Gospel out of our land. The mark of the beast is everywhere to be seen.

Who can tell England's Future? Mr. Westfield, in his book just issued (and to be had at our office), after quoting many Scriptures, says:

"Now from these passages we are led to expect that very great blessings are in store for us, but in no case does it lead us to believe that we shall not have first to pass through a period of calamity and trial; on the contrary, there is abundant evidence to show that we must. The Lord hath declared, concerning the restoration of his people, that he will 'refine them as silver is refined, and will try them as gold is tried' (Zech. xiii. 9); in other words that he will bring them through fiery persecution and tribulation, that their idolatrous dross may be entirely consumed from their midst !:

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"And again, And these are the words that the Lord spake concerning Israel, and concerning Judah' (mark the distinction of the two houses: "For thus saith the Lord, we have heard a voice of trembling, of fear, and not of peace.' Is not this especially the case now!

"Alas! for that day is great, so that none is like it: it is even the time of Jacob's trouble; but he shall be saved out of it.'

66 Passages like these could be greatly multiplied, clearly shewing that God's people will not escape chastisement for their transgressions. I was much struck with the following passages from the prophet Joel, which would seem almost to bear especial reference to ourselves at this time; at least, it may with propriety be applied to ourselves :

"Sanctify ye a fast, call a solemn assembly, gather the elders and all the inhabitants of the land unto the house of the Lord your God, and cry unto the Lord.'

"Alas for the day! for the day of the Lord is at hand, and as a destruction from the Almighty shall it come.'

"Is not the meat cut off before our eyes, yea, joy and gladness from the house of our God? And again (v. 18): 'How do the beasts groan, the herds of cattle are perplexed, because they have no pasture; yea, the flocks of sheep are made desolate.'

Does not this seem to threaten us, that as the Almighty has already visited us in our flocks and herds, sorer judgments await us unless we put away the unclean thing from our midst-even Romanism, the vilest form of uncleanness and idolatry!

"Trying and perilous things await us, dark and direful times are at but blessed be the Lord, he hath prepared a haven for his people who trust in him, and await his coming."

hand;

Our second branch is a question :-ARE WE ON THE EVE OF ANY

GREAT CHANGE OR CRISIS?

We believe we are. Ungodly professors laugh at this. Let them, if they dare so to do. We know some who do sneer; but what will their end be? Only one paragraph from William Huntington's prediction, pointing to our own times, will we here quote. Expounding Rev. xi., he says:

This slaughter of the witnesses is the time of trouble before us, to which we are hastening apace; and, look which way you will, it appears. The son of perdition was revealed in 605, according to the best accounts, and one thousand two hundred and sixty years, or forty-two months, is all the time that he is to continue; which makes it plain that the longest time that this hireling hath to accomplish his days cannot exceed 1866 or 1870. And, if the eastern way of reckoning years, which was shorter than ours, is meant, then the account may be shorter but that I must leave to the wonderful calculator.

"This is a dark and cloudy day, which Zion hath to meet with next, and the shadows of the evening are stretched out already. The Arminians, as I have showed, are on the very basis of Popery; and the outer court, which appears to me to be the bastard Calvinists, who hold the truth in unrighteousness, (for these are the nearest of any to the Church, or to the inner court,) these are going, nay, are already gone, over to the Arminians; they have formerly waged war with them, and opposed their tenets, but now they have sent an ambassage, and desired conditions of peace, Luke xiv. 32. And some there are who detest this, and exclaim against it, who at the same time have drunk into the very murdering spirit of popery, and are in the same bond of iniquity with them that are now killing the Protestants in Ireland; these are gone over in spirit to the whore of Babylon; and go over they must and shall, even every one but the elect of God; for so it is written: And all that dwell upon the earth shall worship Him, whose names

are not written in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the foundation of the world,' Rev. xiii. 8. But wo, wo, wo, be to all such! And so says truth itself! ' And the third angel followed them, saying with a loud voice, If any man worship the beast and his image, and receive his mark in the forehead, or in his hand, the same shall drink of the wine of the wrath of God, which is poured out without mixture into the cup of his indignation; and he shall be tormented with fire and brimstone in the presence of the holy angels, and in the presence of the Lamb.'

We add nothing to this now; but, compelled to be brief, we notice, Thirdly: "THE CHURCH'S DUTY." The Rinderpest, or cattle plague still holds on its mysterious course. One remedy after another has been suggested, but all have equally failed. Its extending ravages seem to mock all the boasted science of the nineteenth century. What then are we to do under such circumstances? We may pass legislative enactments for the isolation of diseased cattle, and for compensation to those farmers whose infected herds are for the public good devoted to the poleaxe. But these stringent measures confess inability to arrest the disease, and at all events it is doubtful whether even the extermination of its victims will stamp out the plague, and suffice to prevent its outburst in distant quarters. Prayer is the first lesson which Christianity imparts to a believer in his Heavenly Father. Prayer is the mysterious force by which the creature is enabled to hold communion with his Creator, and by which the Almighty condescends to be intreated to avert calamities or bestow blessings both temporal and spiritual-national, social, or individual. But prayer appears as foolishness to those who have not experienced its power; and it is an offence to men whose conscience is ill at ease, and who seek to hide themselves from God, either by denying his existence or banishing Him to an infinite distance both in space and time. It is thus that we account for the irritation which prevails in certain quarters at the mere suggestion of a day of national humiliation and prayer. The Queen's order for a prayer to be used in our churches and chapels was received with a burst of profane ribaldry by the organs of infidelity.

Upon this we could write, in letters of blood, of the hardness, the infidelity, and the presumption of our leaders, our preachers, our editors, and our penmen. But we close by only quoting those striking words: "Call upon me in the day of trouble-I will deliver thec-and thou shalt glorify me."

Is not this a day of trouble? Should not Christians now call upon God for national troubles? Will not He deliver them who do? HE WILL THE EDITOR.

so believes,

A Great Sinner and a Great Saviour.

"Therefore the redeemed of the Lord shall return and come to Zion with praise; and everlasting joy shall be upon their heads; they shall obtain joy and gladness; and sorrow and mourning shall flee away."-Isaiah xxxv. 10.

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WHATEVER I may write (in my poor way) for the pages of the VESSEL, must be accepted as a humble effort to glorify my Master. am not a scholar in the general acceptation of that term, nor am I desirous of "vain glory." A glance at my composition and grammar

will be sufficient to convince the "wise and the learned," that I have never been to college; but blessed be God for instruction in the school of Christ, even Him who spake as man never spake.

With this brief introduction, I will tender to the reader's acceptance a short narrative, which may (by the blessing of God) not only arrest the eye, but find its way to the heart of some poor careless wanderer from the fold, who when he reads of "the way of transgressors being hard," may be convinced by the wonder-working hand of a covenant God of his state as a sinner, and led to cry aloud, "Lord! save or I perish," followed up by the solemn prayer, "Teach me to number my days, that I may apply mine heart unto wisdom." I opened upon a text the other morning in Spurgeon's little almanack, and these were the words, “I am Jehovah, is there anything too hard for me?"

My heart, yea, my soul responds, "nothing, dear Lord, nothing!" In the same street dear Mr. Gotch lived. [See EARTHEN VESSEL for January.] I was attracted by a bill in a parlour window bearing this inscription, "A Prayer Meeting held here every Thursday evening.

This announcement, so unusual in a private dwelling, forcibly arrested my attention, and I felt a desire to know something of the people. How to manage it was the question. I might, it is true, go in some night, when these "two or three are gathered together," and mingle my supplication with theirs, but I am so backward in praying "to be seen of men," although thanks to the Master, I can go into my closet, and shut to the door," that this plan was not carried into effect.

A thought struck me that I would make up a parcel of tracts, and tender them for distribution amongst those who assembled there "in the name of the Lord." This plan was adopted, and I soon found myself company of one whom I could take notice of, as having been with Jesus.

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This was the wife of a poor man lying upon a bed in the back parlour-a bed from which he was never to arise.

Again I called, and was shewn into the room of the fast dying man. He was stout, and broad-set, and in the days of his vigour of manhood, was, what the world would term a finely built man;" but now a mere wreck, and of a shattered frame.

From a few hints by the way, I could gather that he had been a free living man. Probably the pride of his associates, and a "happy go lucky," as the quaint saying is, amongst those equally careless with himself. Where were those gay acquaintances to be found now? not in the room of the dying man; no, no, but in pursuit of others with whom to drink away their lives, now that one of their number was laid aside by affliction. But "one is taken and the other left," by Him who "ordereth all things after the counsel of His own will;" whose hand none can stay, or ask "What doest Thou?" If they do "reply against God," let them answer it.

A wasting consumption had set in, and in addition to which the poor fellow was suffering from some disease which baffled all the skill of those having the "gifts of healing." Yes, dear reader, the medical men were in this case powerless!

The man's legs were so corrupted by wounds, that mortification set in whilst he was yet alive. I know not the disease, but "where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise," and here I will let it rest.