and lively faith believed, what the Word of God teaches regarding ministers being filled with the Spirit? Have we prayed for the gift of the Spirit as those ministers prayed whose preaching has been so powerful in convincing and converting sinners? When we think of our closet exercises, of the nature of these exercises, and of the time we spend in them, do we not see the reason why we have only a little strength? Were we often, much, long, near the throne, we would become penetrated with the Divine love, purity, power-we would bring away a large and increasing measure of the Holy Spirit; for it is when we are lying low before the throne in humble, earnest, expecting desire and prayer that the Holy Spirit communicates Himself to us. If we give ourselves to prayer like those ministers whose preaching has turned many to righteousness—if the brethren in the eldership join with us in this, and in stirring up all the praying people-God's true children in our several congregations—to ask God with many persevering, believing prayers to pour out His Holy Spirit abundantly on themselves, on the dead souls around them, and especially on us who are God's messengers of salvation to perishing sinners, we are persuaded that there will appear a power in the preaching of the word, and an abundance of fruit from it in the conversion of sinners, that will fill heaven and earth with gladness." Ertracts. Opposition to the Kingdom. "Pray don't be so much against the preaching of the kingdom of Christ; but rather bow your knees and buckle your hearts to the very lowest, at the throne of grace, to desire that His kingdom may come.”Old Writer. Desire for the Kingdom. Seeing we have so great reason to hope the kingdom of Christ is near, how earnest should we be for the time! How should we desire to see one, that is in Scripture phrase, the first of the days of the Son Oh what a change would such a one day make in the world." of man! -Ibid. Romanism in the East. Romanism in the East is just now convulsed to its centre. Through the new patriarch, Rome is trying to force the Gregorian Calendar upon the churches there. It is unknown to the whole Church. The Oriental has been used from the earliest times. With the saints in the East they are familiar, but those of the West are unknown to them. Damascus, Alexandria, Cairo, and other cities, are agitated with the conflict. The French Consul and the Vicar Apostolic of Rome are urging the patriarch to his present course, whilst the bishops and the clergy are violently opposed to it. The civil power has been invoked, and consequences the most serious are expected to result from it. Already a hundred and twenty-two of the principal families of Alexandria have united with the Greek Church, and the schism is likely to spread far and wide if the obnoxious calendar is still pressed upon them. To aid in this work of propangandism, the Romanists in Ireland have contributed L.311 from June 4th to July 6th. Strong Delusion. "There is a high department of theology, which has glided out of the minds of our feeble time, but which deserves the most solemn consideration of the true theologian. It gives the key to all the great heresies of ecclesiastical history. Nothing can be clearer than the evidence, alike furnished by Scripture and experience, that there exists a law of the Divine government by which, when nations abuse the gift of reason, they are punished by being delivered over to infatuation. A 'strong delusion,' a real and direct urgency to error, from a source of evil more imperious and more subtle than the mere perversity of human nature, is let loose against them. Under this influence they become rapidly incapacitated from judging of right and wrong; they act gravely on principles of palpable absurdity; they embrace habits of notorious ruin; they cling to the most startling superstitions as holiness; and they imagine rationality, wisdom, and virtue, as the very depths of folly, falsehood, and crime. To any man who has read the history of ancient heathenism, the most natural of all questions is, How could human beings have ever fallen into practices of such absolute repulsiveness and undisguised horror? If the gross impurities of the worship might allure the carnal mind, how are its cruelties to be accounted for, its offerings of human victims, its burning of infants by their parents, the senseless fury and startling abominations of its altars, and the remorseless corruptions and unsparing slaughters of national life? Even in Israel, when it once fell from its Divine allegiance, the Books of Kings are almost a perpetual record of domestic massacre. "St Paul gives the solution, as the principle of a Divine punishment, 'Even as they did not like to retain God in their knowledge, God gave them over to a reprobate mind' (Rom. i. 28). We have no right to dilute this language into metaphor. The nations first fell into impiety, they were then delivered over to heathenism, a system of retributive evil by which their understandings were imbruted, and their natural propensity to irreligion was rendered desperate. Thenceforward they were 'filled with all unrighteousness.""-Croly. Importance of Preaching the Lord's Coming. "A proclamation of this event is of great importance, because it is the right portion of meat for the present period of time. It is now midnight, and the professed Church has for some time been asleep over the Bible, dreaming of peace and prosperity, and not aware of destruction being so near; and now God stands, as it were, at the bedroom door of a slumbering Church, and knocks, and calls by the midnight cry, 'Behold, the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him.' The cry must be given some time previous to the appearing of the Bridegroom, in order to give the virgins the opportunity of preparing to meet Him. If the Bridegroom came before the cry was given, the virgins would have no time to trim their lamps, and get oil in their vessels, and go out to meet the Bridegroom; neither would the cry, 'Behold, He cometh,' be correct; but it would be more proper to cry, 'Behold, the Bridegroom is come!' Then how could they get ready? For, previous to the cry being given, the virgins are all asleep, and probation, and opportunity for obtaining oil ceases at once, when the Bridegroom is come; and all those that are ready will go in with Him, and the door will be shut. Therefore, it is plain that some one must be wide awake to know when it is midnight, in order to give the cry; for I have already shewn that the cry must precede the Bridegroom. And it is now very manifest and clear, from irrefutable evidence, that the Bridegroom is now nigh, even at the door. The cry has been sounded throughout every part of the world, and a proclamation of this event is now made in every nation, far and near; and it answereth to John's description of the angel of our age, proclaiming with a loud voice, 'Fear God, and give glory to him, for the hour of his judgment is come.' And the same apostle speaks of the same messenger standing with one foot on the sea, and another upon the land, and swearing by Him that liveth for ever and ever, 'that there shall be time no longer' (Rev. x. 5, 6).”—Anon. Waiting for Jesus. "For whom is this honour reserved? might the prophets, angels, and fathers inquire, who longed to see this hour, but saw it not. And what are we that we should be counted worthy to wait for the King of kings; what humility should our position inspire; what deep searchings of heart, and what sacrifice of self? And is it so-have we this glorious privilege, which angels might desire? Is it reserved for us to wait and watch for the coming of the Son of man? And may we also claim that peculiar promise-'Blessed is that servant whom the Lord when he cometh shall find watching'? What zeal should this inspire, yea, what carefulness to be found in all things, without spot and blameless. If, when the Lord once descended on Mount Sinai to give laws to the people, they were commanded to wash themselves with water, to cleanse and sanctify themselves, lest His anger should break out upon them; how much more, when He is coming to make His dwelling among men, should we sanctify ourselves and 'keep ourselves in the love of God,' and seek His cleansing blood, and gift of the Holy Ghost; for he that hath not His Spirit, is none of His. Who shall stand when He appeareth, or who shall abide the day which shall try as by fire, every man's work of what sort it is. Let us be diligent; let us not sleep; lest when He comes, our raiment shall be found stained with the shades of worldliness and sin. But let us realise the peaceful and glorious position of waiting for Jesus."-Anon. Christ's tie to Earth. "That wondrous volume, the charter of human hope, the ancnor of human faith, affords instructions on this subject, to my mind more definite, and expectations more precise. Surely the Lord Jesus Christ is linked to our world by ties less fragile than those which the received theology has framed. He will come again, and exhibit those ties in all their beauty and strength."-Jerard Noel. Correspondence. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. MR EDITOR,--Will you allow me to propose a difficulty and to suggest a solution—but a solution which I should gladly see amended by some of your correspondents bringing forward a better. In Joel iii. 19, we read, Egypt shall be a desolation;" yet in Isaiah xix. 25, 26, Egypt's blessedness is most distinctly foretold. Now, both prophets are speaking of the latter day events. How, then, can Egypt be a desolation then? My suggestion is this. The Hebrew is rather peculiar in this respect, viz., the sentence is not introduced by Vau, as if to shew us that it is to be understood imperatively. Thus "Let Egypt be a desolation, And let Edom be a desolate wilderness! Though Egypt were to remain desolate, and though Edom shall continue a wilderness, yet not so Judah. It is like Ps. cix. 20, "Let them curse (fut. tense), but thou shalt bless."-Yours, &c., INVESTIGATOR. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. SIR,-As everything connected with Jerusalem is interesting to the student of prophecy, and as discoveries are now beginning to be made in the topography of the city, I send you the two following articles regarding the foundations of the ancient temple. They are long but most interesting I. THE MOSQUE OF OMAR. "To those who take an interest in the topography of Jerusalem, and more especially to those who are desirous of being able to arrive at some approximate idea of the real position of Solomon's Temple, it may perhaps be acceptable to state that, having lately, by the favour of the Pasha, been enabled not only to see the interior of the Mosque of Omar, but to make a lengthened examination of it and all the various courts and buildings within its prohibited enclosures, I have had the opportunity of noting down several details which, as far as I am aware, have not as yet been published in any English work upon the subject. One fact appears to me so interesting that I venture to communicate it at once to you, in the hope that you will make it public, as a lengthened period must elapse before I have leisure to make use of the materials in my note book. "The relative positions of the Mosque of Omar, the Mosque of El Aksa, the 'Beautiful Gate,' and the south-eastern corner of the city walls will be familiar to the mind of every one acquainted with Jerusalem. To those who are not, any tolerable map of modern Jerusalem will enable your readers to determine the place to which I am about to allude. The space enclosed by these four localities is a grassy platform upon which olive trees have been allowed to grow. With these it is thinly covered. Whether the outer court of the temple extended further north than the Mosque of Omar, or whether it did not (a vexata questio, not now to be discussed), it is pretty well agreed on all sides that this portion of ground must have been included within the exterior circuit of the temple buildings. A line drawn from the Mosque of Omar to the south-eastern corner of the city walls, would about divide this platform. When walking in that direction in order to descend into the chambers in the foundations of that portion of the walls, although I was surrounded by the Pasha's guard, a few of the straggling 'faithful,' who were watching my movements, here made a demonstration of their disgust at seeing a 'Giaour' within the sacred precincts, and, in not very choice Arabic, garnished with a proper compliment of oaths, expressed the relish they would find in stoning to death the Frankish interloper. This hereditary penchant for stoning to death caused me to balt and see whether they intended mischief. In so doing I observed a small opening in the ground, where evidently a block of stone in an arch had fallen in, discovering a vault beneath. In the chamber in the foundations of the south-east corner of the walls (where, by the way, the Sheikh gravely shewed me the recesses in which Zacharias resided, and the cradle in which he rocked the infant Christ—a Roman niche, cut in marble, and laid on its back upon the ground; the circular-head, as is common, being carved like a shell, and suggesting to the ignorant Mussulman an appropriate place for the head of the cradle), and in the very remarkable vaulted passages under El Aksa, it is impossible to resist the conviction that the masonry, gigantic as the blocks of stone and pillars are, must, at least, be of Roman, perhaps even of Jewish construction. In examining them my mind recurred to the vault beneath the olive trees, and it struck me that it must be much on the same level under-ground as the south-east chamber and the El Aksa vaults. I accordingly examined the whole of that platform of olive trees very minutely, and I was enabled to satisfy myself that from the south-east corner of the walls, and from the Mosque El Aksa, the whole area stretching towards the Beautiful Gate is one mass of vaulted chambers. I came upon one vault, adjoining the walls, where the roof had broken in, and into which I vainly begged to be permitted to descend and explore. Enough, however, appeared in various directions to prove the existence of a series of vaults, and I discovered that the olive trees above have in places struck through the roofs with their roots; they have then descended through the chambers beneath, and again taken root in the solid earth. Any one who observes the level, bowling-green like surface of this platform, compared with all the adjacent ground, will easily apprehend that it is artificial. When it is crossed from south to north, we approach at the one corner, west, the Mosque of Omar; at the east, the Beautiful Gate. When we come near the Beautiful Gate, this platform suddenly ceases; and the ground slopes steeply down to the roadway level of the gate. Now, that here is a vast artificial platform there is no question. I write without having any books of reference at hand, but, as far as my memory bears me out, this fact has not been pointed out by any one who has written regarding the site of the temple. As you are aware, few Europeans have ever entered the precincts of the Mosque of Omar; certainly none with an opportunity for more close observation in all its parts than I have had. The questions that arise in my mind are-Can the chamber in the south-east corner of the walls, the vaulted gallery under El Aksa, and the vast platform of archways or vaults I have described (which brought the superb and massive platform of Baalbec forcibly back to my mind) be all remains of one period of building? Can they be portions of the architecture of the period of Herod (without venturing to dwell on a still earlier date)? Or do the vaults of the platform belong to a more modern era-the age of the Crusades? for it is worthy of observation, that while the Mosque of El Aksa is simply a Christian Church |