Thursday Morning, January fifth

A christian gentleman invited about 150 believers to breakfast at an hotel, after which there was again exposition of the scriptures and prayer. At noon, they were all conveyed in carriages to his residence, about five miles from Dublin, to an early dinner; after which meetings of the same character were resumed. After asking the blessing of God in prayer, Mr. RAINSFORD spoke of the goodness of God― His character, the blessing of those who trusted Him, and the recognition of such that God had, is taught in Nahum 1:7. “The Lord is good, He is a stronghold in the day of trouble, and He knoweth them that trust in Him.”
Mr. J. T. TRENCH said that much had been brought before us at the late meetings on practical godliness, but he thought there were three things necessary for spiritual attainment. First, the right object; secondly, right principles; thirdly, power—the power of the Holy Ghost. He happily enlarged on these points, and gave several illustrations from scripture.
Mr. W. REID; of Edinburgh, referred to parts of Colossians 2, to show that God in His rich grace called us into union with Christ our Head, “having forgiven us all trespasses,” and exhorted believers to rely on God for grace and strength for practical holiness, and all other things: God having given us His Son; what then can He withhold?
The meeting was adjourned till after tea, when Mr. H. H. Sward, referred to the three things brought forward in the afternoon by Mr. Trench, and said that if we would have “right principles,” they could only be got from God’s word, and that by prayerful, diligent searching. Never, perhaps, was there more need of this than in the present day. We should refuse everything that has not the authority of the written word of God. The importance of rightly dividing the word of truth can scarcely be overrated; for we live in a lay when a number of opposite things are jumbled together, and great confusion is the result. What can be more distinct in scripture than “law” and “gospel?” How many times too the word gospel is presented in scripture in various aspects. We read of “the gospel preached to Abraham,” “the gospel of the kingdom,” “the gospel of the grace of God,” “the gospel of Christ,” “gospel of God,” what Paul called “my gospel,” and” the everlasting gospel.” Surely these various expressions are not given to us without a meaning. Then, again, you bear some speaking of “the kingdom of heaven,” and “the church,” as if they were synonymous lie then called attention to the following texts, “Repent, for the kingdom of heaven is at hand” (Matthew 3:2); “The church, which is His body” (Ephesians 1:22, 23); and, “the seventh angel sounded, and there were great voices in heaven, saying, The kingdoms of this world are become the kingdoms of our Lord, and of His Christ; and He shall reign forever and ever. And the four and twenty elders, which sat before God on their thrones, fell upon their faces, and worshipped God” (Revelation 11:15, 16); and then endeavored to shew the difference between “the kingdom of heaven” and “the church of God,” as an example of the necessity of digging deeply into the Scriptures, if we would have right principles.
Mr. TURPIN called attention to believers walking in love, to put on, as the elect of God, holy and beloved, bowels of mercies, kindness, humbleness of mind, meekness, longsuffering, forbearing one another in love, &c.
Mr. J. ALFRED TRENCH most solemnly and earnestly called attention to the Lordship of Christ, as emphatically a truth for the times. He referred to the way in which this was set aside by many, and that Jude spoke of the last times as characterized by “denying the only Lord God, and our Lord Jesus Christ.” He shewed that the Holy Ghost alone taught us to own and confess Jesus as Lord (1 Corinthians 12:3) that when evil abounded among the Corinthian saints, the Holy Ghost, through the apostle, continually in his First Epistle, insisted on the Lordship of Christ; and in Paul’s Second Epistle to Timothy, when also terrible failure had set in, he most pointedly called attention to the Lordship of Jesus. He also gave references to Scripture, to shew the blessing always connected with obeying the Lord Jesus, and gave earnest exhortations to believers, to search and see if any were lacking in punctually carrying out the commands of Jesus our Lord.
Mr. T. S. HENRY then gave out the hymn beginning―
Lord Jesus, are we one with thee?
O height, O depth of level
Once slain for He upon the tree,
We’re one with thee above;”

and the meeting separated.