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the whole matter, I have been made to rejoice in reading the communications of the dear brethren and sisters that write for the Messenger. I believe o they are all taught of the Lord, and do speak to the understanding of each other, and can rejoice in the Lord, and cannot have any confidence in the flesh ; and say with the Psalmist, “ For the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory, no good thing will he withhold from them that walk uprightly.” This is the God of the Primitive Baptists. He has all power in heav en and earth. lie controls all things according to his will and purpose of love and mercy, and is a sun and shield to his people. He is their light to enlighten their path through this wilderness, through which they travel as strangers and pil grims, and as their sun, he warms their cold and frozen hearts ; he shines in their heart and gives the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ, and as the sun, literally, rules the day, so also does the Lord God rule the day or light, and darkness of his people and they are commanded to walk while it is day; for they are not always to be in the light or day. When he withdraws his presence they experience darkness or rright, and being deprived of the heat of his presence they become cold, hard-hearted and neglected, and sometimes they sleep and appear to have no life, light or knowledge. Then how de lightful it is to enjoy this sun ! How beautiful to realize its enlivening rays, and be enabled to ex claim, and also to feel, that the Lord God is a sun and shield, &c.; not only that he is a sun, but also that he is a shield to defend them from all the fiery darts of the wicked, and has promised that no weapon that is formed against them shall prosper, and as the Lord is their shield, he works in them to will and to do of his good pleasure, and turns the darts of the adversary into messengers of love, and the curses into blessings, and while they fol low him they are sure of victory, for he will lead them to peace; then how necessary that we always keep this shield before us, and follow him, and not get before, if we do, we are sure to get defeated ; but let us follow the Captain of our Salvatio v n, for his reward is with him, and his work before him, and He is exalted a Prince and Savior to give re pentance and remission of sins to Israel, and they are partakers of the blessings that are treasured in Christ for them, and through him they receive this grace; for the Lord will give grace and glory, and faith is given them to lay hold of the promises which brings them to a knowledge of their inheri tance. The Spirit of God has taught them their condition as sinners, yes condemned sinners, before God, and their inability to render satisfaction to a divine law, and has given them a desire for holi ness, without which no man can see the Lord. — They are led in paths and ways that they never knew, and when they are led away from self, and self dependence Christ is revealed to them as their -Savior, and thus he gives them grace and glory, and they ascribe all the glory to the Lord ; and now they desire to follow his footsteps. I hey now realize that He is a sun and shield ; that he will give grace and glory ; and now no good thing will SOUTHERN BAPTIST MESSENGER. he withheld from them that walk uprightly; and now the blessings are in the discharge of duty ; he has given them rest from under the law, and now by obeying his commands they shall find rest unto their soul. There is a rest that remains to the peo ple of God, and if they keep not his laws and stat utes and do them, he will visit their transgressions with the rod, and they will realize that the way of the transgressor is hard, and that the wicked shall he filled with his own ways, for which the child of God is often made to loath himself, and to mourn, and often to exclaim unclean, unclean, and to say surely I am no Christian. Then truly he is in need of those good things, and when it is the pleasure of the Lord that the Sun of righteousness shall arise upon him with healing in his wings, he is enabled to exclaim, the Lord God is a sun and shield, the Lord will give grace and glory ; no good thing will he withhold from them that walk up rightly. The child of grace can then go on his way rejoicing in God his Savior, and herein they work out their salvation ; for it is God that woiketh in them to will and to do of his good pleasure. He purifies unto himself a peculiar people, zealous of good woiks, and will feed his flock like a Shepherd. Then dear brethren and sisters, that write for the Messenger, write on, speak often to the people that know the joyful sound, they can understand your language; and let us all endeavor to keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace, and when it goes well with vou, remember me. 1 cannot tell wheth er I am a saint or not, if I am, I surely am the least of all, but one thing I do know, that whereas I was blind, I now see, and what I once took no pleasure in, is now ray delight, so it is by the grace of God that I am what I am. Yours as ever, S. W. GRESHAM. P Home, Sept. 1800. BaETHiiEN & Sisters : —Permit one who loves you in the Lord Jesus Christ to propound a few inquiries upon the great and important subject of God’s dealing with his people. Ist. Does God save his people of his own free and eternal love, and is his salvation perfect in Je sus Christ; God being immutable ? 2d. Is the love of God dependent on anything out of himself, or does any (or all) of created things, influence him in his love or his dealings to bis people, or to any created thing ? if so, would he he entirely independent, as he represents him self in the Scripture ? 3d. Is everlasting salvation sure to all his chil dren, or may his children through the weakness of the flesh, so move upon God’s holiness and justice as to destroy or remove from them his love, which he calls an everlasting love ? 4th. Is man a creature ? if so, is not man in cluded in that number or catalogue of beings which Paul says shall not be able to separate him and his brethren from the love of God ? sth. Does God teach all his children to under stand him as a sovereign immutable being ? Now if God has given us a true description of himself and his dealings toward us, by the Proph ets and Apostle, how is it that some who seem to have the glory of God, and the good of man at heart, deny that man is a creature, or that God is unchangeable, for when a man teaches that the act of man can change the love of God, or move his love from his children, is not that either deny ing that man is a creature, or that God is unchange able? If Paul is correct in declaring that neither life nor death, height or depth, principalities nor powers, nor things present, nor things to come> nor any other creature shall be able to separate us from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus. Now if man is a creature, and he shall be able to separate himself from the love of God, (which love is cot in man, but in Christ Jesus.) is it not then settled that Paul made a mistake, (either wilfully or ignorantly) in the above quotations. Now which horn of the dilemma, will the lov ers of Apostacy take, for they say that Paul was both a good and a wise master-builder? Now if he was good, he should not make such a mistake willfully, and if be was wise and guided by the Holy Ghost, he could not make such a mistake ig norantly, unless we suppose God to be deficient in wisdom, Now if those who view God as a mutable being, or man as potent enough to change the mind and purpose of the great I AM, would only read the Scriptures with more care and attention, instead of reading the opinions of poor frail man, perhaps the views of at leasusome of them might be less con tradictory to the word of God, for if any man lack wisdom, let him ask of God, and he has promised to give liberally. If this scribble should chance to meet the eye of any who have been viewing the doctrine of apostacy as the doctrine of God our Savior. I would earnestly invite such to consider the plain metaphors which Heavenly Father has been pleased to use in his word for our encouragement, such as the relation of father and child, husband and wife, (which twain are one flesh) members of his body, aud our Savior’s prayer to his Father, that he and they might be one, even as He and the Father are one, and also his direct expressions on various occasions to his children, such as I give unto them eternal life. Now if the life which he gives is eternal, how is it possible tor that life to have an end, for if one eternal thing may have an end, then why may not all other eternal things have an end also. Even the Eternal God himself- For the word eternal, must have a uniform signifi cation, and if it means without end, when applied to Jehovah, it must of necessity mean the same when applied to the life which is in him, which life he gives to his children. Now why does God so often in his word call his people his children, and himself their Father, unless it is to show that in dissoluble union, which exists between him and them, being of the character as that of Father and child literally. Now can any man tell how a son can change the relation that exists between him and his Father, or even how the Father can do the same thing. Next permit me to cite you to a few out of the many passages of Scripture which bear directly on this point. Isa. lxi. 8, and 1 John iv. 19, Eph. iii. 10, John iii. 10, Rom. v, 9, Ex. xix. 4-0, Rom. viii. 30, Rom. vi. 23, Jer. xxxi. 3, Mai. iii. G, Psa. xxxvi. 7, A. TOMLIN. 147