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be in the evangelical churches immediately, if all Christians would but feel towards each other as Christians. There is the same key-note of truth in every soul, though the chant of different hearts may express itself in varied phrases. All are attuned by the Redeemer to the same salvation. There is the same Spirit breathing upon all, and making all to respond. And let but the medium, in which all move, be made kindly to harmonize-let but a medium of mutual sympathy and love reach between soul and soul, while all look stedfastly to Jesus, and forthwith there will ascend from the church into the heavens, a sweetly-pealing harmony that will give joy to the angels, and glory to God in the highest. And peace upon earth and good will towards men being seen to reign in the bosom of Christians and of the church, the world will be forced to say that God is among us, indeed; and there will be added to the church daily, again, as there was in the primitive church, when all were of one accord, multitudes of men and women of such as shall be saved. Infidelity will lose its power to seduce the world from true religion. Popery will crumble like an old uninhabitable house, and Christian liberty and purity of faith will rise upon its ruins. All that we now deplore will vanish away, and there will be universal peace and joy. The church will be adorned as the bride for the bridegroom. The bridegroom will come. The church will enter on the millennium.

"And then that outward uniformity over all, which so many are vainly demanding now, will be granted, because it will be suitable to the then universally assimilated and crowned church. Varied appliances will not then be needed for then

666 They shall teach no more

Every man his neighbour, and every man his brother,
Saying, Know THE LORD;

For they shall all know Me,

From the least of them to the greatest of them,

Saith THE LORD.'"

JEREMIAH Xxxi. 34.

Pp. 372-6.

Bicentenary of the Assembly of Divines at Westminster, held at Edinburgh July 12th and 13th 1843, containing a full and authentic Report of the Addresses and Conversations. Edinburgh: Kennedy, 1843.

Having been disappointed of a more lengthened article upon the Bicentenary, we have only time to recommend this work and Mr Hetherington's to the study of our readers. We hope not to lose sight of either.

RELIGIOUS INTELLIGENCE.

UNION FOR PRAYER."—Our readers would observe from our last Number, that there is to be another union for prayer, during the ten days commencing with Saturday the 2d of December next. We trust that measures will be taken to make this proposal known as extensively as possible, in order that it may be responded to by Christians of every church and every clime throughout the world. We would urge our readers not merely to remember this proposal themselves, but to do every thing in their power for making it extensively known. Especially we would request ministers of every denomination under whose notice these lines may come, to take means for announcing it to their people some considerable time beforehand, and preparing them for engaging in it when the period arrives. The first year it was more extensively made known, and a very deep interest taken in it even by many of the careless and worldly, who, though they might not relish its exercises, were yet struck and startled by its occurrence. Last year there was not such an extensive announcement of it, nor such pains taken to awaken an interest in it. Hence it was not so universally observed, nor did it impress the public so deeply. We trust, however, that this third proposal may be cordially and universally responded to by all who name the name of Christ, not only in Great Britain, but throughout the world.

Truly we need to pray! In these prayerless days we need to be stirred up to prayer! We need to learn what it is to pray in faith, and what it is to pray without ceasing.

I. OUR DUTY. Pray without ceasing, (1 Thess. v. 17.) Men ought always to pray and not to faint, (Luke xviii. 1.) Few Christians remember the command thus laid on them to continue instant in prayer. They acknowledge the privilege, but overlook the duty. Hence they do not consider the sin of ne glecting prayer. Yet who can calculate the weight of guilt at this moment Lying on the churches of Christ as well as on private Christians, for not praying without ceasing? Hours, weeks, months, wasted in folly, indolence, sleep, company, idle visiting, frivolous conversation, unprofitable reading, useless occupations, that might have been redeemed for prayer! What is half an hour, what is an hour each morning and evening? What is this to Luther's three hours, or John Welsh's eight? Lord, teach us to pray!

II. OUR NEED OF PRAYER. Oh, what need! Words cannot set forth its greatness; nor would a lifetime suffice to declare our manifold wants. One single glance within, upon our own famine-stricken souls, or without upon churches in which the things that remain are ready to die, or abroad upon a world lying in wickedness, and given over to the evil one, would be enough to overwhelm us with the scene of " lamentation, and mourning, and woe.' What need to pray!

(1.) Spiritual life is low, (Rev. iii. 1.) Compared with the warmth of other days, it can scarcely be called life at all. We have left our first love, (Rev. ii. 4.) We have become lukewarm, neither cold nor hot, (Rev. iii. 16.) Living religion is a lean and spectral shade. Zeal evaporates in form and bustle.

It is agreed that during the ten days, commencing with Saturday the 2d of December, and concluding with Monday the 11th, the hour between eight and nine in the morning, and eight and nine in the evening, or as near that as possible, shall be devoted to secret prayer, the former of the two Saturdays being more especially set apart as a day of humiliation, fasting, and prayer; and the latter of the two Mondays appropriated to thanksgiving and praise.

Faith is languishing, and love is fallen into the sere and yellow leaf. What need of quickening! What need of vital warmth, a warmth not produced by the mere friction of excitement, but glowing and fresh from the altar above, the warmth of souls baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire.

(2.) We make little progress. Ever learning and never able to come to the knowledge of the truth, (2 Tim. iii. 7; Heb. v. 12.) In the mighty business of advancing in the Christian course, of growing in grace, we seem, alas, to dream. Five, ten, twenty, forty years fly on, and we seem only at the point whence we started when first we believed! Our light is not brightening, our holiness is not deepening, our graces are not ripening! What a feeble, famished band of worn-out Christians are we! Neither growing ourselves, nor help

ing others to grow! Oh, what need to pray!

(3.) There is much inconsistency. Our light does not shine before men, (Matt. v. 14, 16.) It is hidden and clouded. At the best, it has more of the red blaze of the meteor than the fresh, glad radiance of the morning-star. Christ expects us to be his representatives on earth; " as he was, so are we to be in this world." Yet we are not. The mirror is not merely soiled and dim, but marred and broken, reflecting the world more than Jesus, from its thousand fragments. We have little of the mind of Christ, (Phil. ii. 1-5.) We are not self-denied, solemn, humble, lowly, gentle, loving; but full of self, pride, levity, malice, and envy. Miserable representatives of the altogether perfect one! Sad, shaded, mis-shapen likenesses of the altogether lovely one! Through us his name is blasphemed, and his gospel hindered! (Ezek. xxxvi. 20.) Oh, what need to pray!

(4.) There is little power in the ministry. Of Luther it was said, " each word of thine was a thunderbolt." Of Venn we are told, that when he preached, 66 men fell before him like slaked lime." Baxter tells us, that he had reason to believe that he never preached one sermon in vain. How different now! Our sermons fall pointless and powerless. Consciences are not pricked, hearts are not broken, souls are not saved! The sleepers awake not, the dead arise not, the dark world remains a dark region still. The dry bones still lie whitening along the valley, unquickened and unshaken! What a palsied ministry is even that of those who have been most blest in our day! Where are the pentecostal sermons, where the pentecostal shower? What desolate parishes, what lifeless congregations appal the eye and sadden the believing soul! Oh, what need to pray! (Hos. x. 1-12; Zech. x. 1-3.)

(5.) Disunion prevails. Instead of being ONE, the churches of Christ are rent in a thousand pieces. Instead of being bound together in loving union, Christians keep far asunder, and allow their love toward each other to be chilled. The cement of charity which binds souls together being removed, the whole body crumbles into fragments. Unity cannot subsist when love has fled. What dishonour on the name of Jesus does this disunion bring! It seems as if he had prayed in vain, (John xvii. 20—23.) Sad, strange spectacle to a scoffing world for these eighteen hundred years! Oh, what need to pray! (6.) Wickedness abounds. What are our large cities but sinks of iniquity, and what are our country parishes even at the best but so many barren wastes. The enemy has come in like a flood. Error multiplies. Superstition spreads itself. Infidelity is leavening the multitude. Licentiousness pours itself out like a flood. Ungodliness covers the land. The efforts of Christians to arrest the torrent, or dry up its waters, are unavailing. Perilous times have come. The shadows of the world's evening are stretched out. The earth is defiled under the inhabitants thereof, (Isa. xxiv. 5.) Oh, what need to pray!

III. THE ADVANTAGES OF SUCH A UNION. It would unite all real believers, removing the many interposing barriers of separation, and drawing them into It would kindle love to each other among God's people of every church and clime. It would tend to separate us from the world. It would present a

one.

solemn spectacle to the world. It would fix our hearts upon the obtaining of the promised blessings. It would awaken in us a more fervent spirit of prayer, and make us alive to the necessity of praying more. It would honour God's ordinance of prayer, and Christ's special promise regarding agreement in prayer. It would draw down the blessing from above, so that in answer to our united cries, we should have the Holy Spirit of promise poured largely down on us to gather out a people prepared for the Lord. What might we not expect for ourselves, for our land, our cities, our congregations, the world in which we live? Who can calculate the blessed, the infinite, the eternal results of such a union in prayer?

IV. THE MANNER IN WHICH IT IS TO BE DONE. The experience of former years will suggest many profitable hints on this point, teaching us the necessity of looking forward to and preparing for it, that when it arrives, every thing may be done decently and in order.

(1.) Each Christian should endeavour to set apart as much of the proposed time as possible for private prayer. It is one of the chief ends of this concert to send each individual to his closet, and to summon them to more fixed earnestness of soul in wrestling with the prayer-hearing promise-keeping God. (2.) Besides directing the minds of the household to the objects of the prayer union at family worship, small temporary prayer-meetings might be formed among Christians, who may have it in their power to meet with each other. This would tend greatly to promote union in prayer, and help forward the design of the concert.

(3.) There should be public congregational meetings during the whole period. These ought to be frequent; once each day would not be too often in most cases. This, however, must be left to the judgment of each minister. These public meetings ought by no means to trench upon the hour set apart for private prayer.

LORD, TEACH US TO PRAY!

Passages for our warrant and encouragement,-Deut. iv. 29-31; Hos. xii. 3—6; Zech. x. 1; Mal. iii. 16; Matt. xviii. 19; Mark xi. 22-24; John xiv. 13, 14; Rom. viii. 26.

FOREIGN MISSIONS.-Our readers are by this time aware, that all our Jewish missionaries have joined the Free Church of Scotland. Their letters will be found in the Missionary Record. All our Bombay missionaries have also adhered to us. Their letters are remarkable for their calmness and decision, as well as their Christian tone. We cannot afford space to quote them. From Madras and Calcutta no tidings have as yet arrived.

AFRICA. We extract the following account of a work of God at Caledon institution, from a letter of Rev. H. Helm, dated Nov. 1842.-" The great and good work of God, mentioned in former communications, has continued, although not without some variations, to the present time. Many a sinner, I trust, has, during this season of refreshing, come heavy-laden to Christ, and has received the promised rest. Of our young people, from 17 to 25 years of age, more than forty have experienced a saving change of heart; and of those more advanced in years, some whom we thought to be hardened, were not too hard for the Lord; they sought and found him. Great changes for the better have taken place in several families. Husbands who had formerly much to suffer from their unconverted wives, have had the joy to see that God has answered their prayers by humbling and converting their unbelieving partners, and the consequences are, peace and love in their families. Five young persons, members of a very irreligious family, the heads of which I have often had to admonish for not attending the means of grace, have been converted, and the father has followed this good example. In two families four have been converted, in others three, and in others two. My own family have also

participated in this blessing; five of my sons experienced some years ago a saving change of heart; and their youngest brother has now been converted to God. What causes of joy and thankfulness has a father to see all his children walking in the truth! Bless the Lord, O my soul !

"On the other hand, we have seen and heard the words of our Saviour verified in more than one instance-Matt. x. 35, 36. I shall mention only two cases. Two of our converts are hated and persecuted for their piety by their wives, who say that they cannot bear them now, and they beat and pelt them with stones, not only in their houses, but also in the fields where they go to pray; and both of the men, of whom one was naturally of an unyielding and obstinate temper, not only bear patiently such treatment, but pray for their wicked wives. By this conduct even the people still unconverted are constrained to testify that these two men must be truly converted.

"That this awakening is the work of the Holy Spirit, and not, as it was thought at first by a few, a mere excitement, is, I think, sufficiently proved by the effects, the length of time it has continued, and the cases of those who, after prolonged resistance to the power of divine grace, yielded themselves to God. They left the station in the beginning of this awakening, and went on journeys, or into the service of neighbouring farmers, in order to get rid of the uneasiness they felt in their minds; but finding no relief, they returned and bent their knees before God to implore mercy. I shall relate an instance of this kind.

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Two young men of about nineteen years of age had been for several months with a trader on a journey into the interior; they returned in February, and finding the people and their former companions so different from what they were when they left the institution, they felt very uneasy, and would have left this place on the same day, had not one of my sons persuaded them to stay. One of them went, in the forenoon of that day, to see another young man, with whom he had been very intimate, and to whom he had given a ring as a sign of his friendship and respect. His former friend invited him to come to Christ, and when he saw that the other paid little or no attention to what he said, he took the ring out of his pocket, saying, You and I were formerly companions-I am no longer a companion of yours; there, take your ring back. I do not say that I will never be your companion again, but then you must come over to me-to you I connot return.' This made some impression onhis mind. He came to me in the afternoon to salute me, as is usually done by such of the people as have been long from home. I spoke to him seriously and affectionately on his awful state, and concluded by saying, that he must without delay begin to pray; and he did so. The Holy Spirit convinced him of his sins and lost condition; he prayed almost whole nights, and at day-time he would take his Testament and go into the fields to read and pray; and at the end of eight days, he enjoyed peace, love, and joy in the Holy Ghost. The other young man, who had been with him on his journey, experienced the same happy change about a month later."-Missionary Magazine.

MADAGASCAR. The cruel and relentless persecution commenced in 1835 continues to rage in this island; and during the year 1842, five new victims have been added to the glorious company of Christian martyrs. The suspicion and cruelty of the Queen and her government have, if possible, increased; and the state of the people in general, and of the persecuted Christians in particular, is one of the most aggravated misery. Two devoted brethren suffered death for the sake of the Lord Jesus, in the month of June, and by a letter from some of the native Christians themselves, forwarded from Tananarivo, in October last, we learn that three more have been put to death since that period. The suffering believers thus write:

"This is what we have to tell you with regard to our state at the present time. Some person unknown to us having written a paper, [containing, it

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