Correspondence. To the Editor of the Quarterly Journal of Prophecy. MY DEAR SIR,-To-day the idea struck me of a prayer union among prophetic inquirers. I enclose my scheme.— Yours, &c. UNION FOR PRAYER AMONG THOSE THAT LOOK FOR THE PREMILLENNIAL ADVENT OF THE LORD, Watch "For as a snare shall it come on all them that dwell on the face of the whole earth. ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man."-LUKE xxi. 35, 36. "So much the more as ye see the Day approaching."-HEB. X. 25. FIRST DAY. Praise and adoration of Him who giveth prophetic light—Daniel ii. 17– 23; 2 Peter i. 16-21; Rev. i. 1, 2, xxii. 16. More especially for, 1. All that the prophets spoke of Christ's first coming; 2. All that they have spoken of his second-1 Pet. i, 10-13. SECOND DAY. Confession. Our contentedness with present things, and our own things, forgetting what is written-1 John ii. 17; 1 Pet. i. 24, 25. Our ignorance of the prophetic word, like the disciples-Luke xxiv. 25. Our neglect of it, unlike Daniel ix. 2, 3. Our sin in gratifying mere curiosity when searching the word of prophecy-Acts i. 6. Our failure in realising prophecy as having "the testimony of Jesus" for its spirit-Rev. xix. 10. Our carelessness about the blessing promised-Rev. i. 3. THIRD DAY. Prayer for light--Ps. cxix. 18, 19; Dan. viii. 15, 16, and xii. 8, 9; 1 Pet. i. 10, 11. Prayer to be kept from error, and to be delivered from prejudice— Acts xiii. 27. Prayer to be kept from the suggestions of carnal fancy, as well as from the glare of false philosophy and pretended intellect-1 Tim. vi. 10; 2 Tim. ii. 17, 18. To be made sober, patient, calm, freed from self. opinionativeness and rashness—Isaiah xi. 2, 3. FOURTH DAY. Prayer for the gathering in of the elect from every nation, and tongue, and kindred, and people-Rev. v. 9. Prayer for ministers at home, missionaries among Jews and heathen, all faithful labourers. Raise the cry, "How long," in sympathy with the souls under the altar-Rev. vi. 10. Cry against Popery and infidelity, and entreat the fulfilling of 2 Thess. ii. 7, 8; Rev. xviii., Prayer for the Jews.-For the gathering out of the election-Rom. xi. 5. The removal of the vail-2 Cor. iii. 14-16. For the great day of their restoration and conversion-Zech. xii., and xiii. 1. For the blessing they shall bring to the earth-Rom. xi. 12; Micah v. 7, 8. For a heart to ourselves to care for them as Paul did-Rom. ix. 1-5; x. 1. To be stirred up to use efforts for them. For a blessing on all missionaries among them. SIXTH DAY. To be pre Prayer to be kept steadfast.-To be fitted for what is coming on. served from false teaching, Matt. xxiv., and lying spirits-Rev. xvi. 14. From falling asleep-Matt. xxv. 1-10, and from being overtaken by other sinsLuke xxi. 33-36; 1 Tim. iv. 1-3. To be prepared for troubles - Matt. xxiv. 44. SEVENTH DAY. Prayer for strong desires for Christ's coming,-" hasting unto it"2 Peter iii. 12; Song, viii.; Rev. xxii.; 1 Cor. i. 7; Titus ii. 13-16. Prayer for delight in the Lord himself. For full assurance of his love. For holiness -1 John iii. 3; 2 Peter iii. 11; in prospect of that event. EIGHTH DAY. Prayer that others may believe the premillennial coming.-Prejudices removed. Delivered especially from saying, as Matt. xxiv. 48, 49. Ask the Holy Spirit to "shew things to come," to us and them-John xvi. 13. And to glorify Christ-John xvi. 14, 15. NINTH DAY. Prayer for solemn views of the times.-To be kept watching against the Devil in these last days. Anxious to save souls-2 Peter iii. 9-15. To be busy trading for our Lord-Luke xix. 12-27. To be in readiness whether he call us within the vail to wait on the mountain of myrrh, or come himself to us in our lifetime-Rev. xix.; Isa. xxv. 6-9. TENTH DAY. Thanks for the blessed hope and the glorious appearing - Titus ii. 13. For all the promises. For the crown. For resurrection. For his "kindness to us in the ages to come"-Ephes. ii. 8. For "New Jerusalem." For likeness to the Lord when we see him as he is-1 John iii. 3; Ps. xvii. 13. Thanks for perseverance promised-Ps. xxiii. 6; 1 Peter i. 5, 6. For being made to see the Premillennial Coming. Thanks for the comfort it imparts under sorrow for departed saints-1 Thess. iv. 13-18. For the support under earth's darkness-Luke xxi. 25-28. Glory to the Lord-Luke vi. 15, 16. Poetry. THE STRANGER SEA-BIRD. FAR from his breezy home of cliff and billow Upon the tremulous bough of this stream-shading willow Fann'd by fresh leaves, and soothed by blossoms closing, A stranger, in bewilder'd loneliness reposing, His dream of ocean-haunts and ocean-brightness,— The silent blue of heaven,-the sea-cloud's trail of whiteness, And he would fly, but cannot, for the shadows Of night have barr'd his way; How could he search a path across these woods and meadows Dark miles of thicket, swamp, and moorland dreary, With plumage soil'd, eye dim, heart faint, and wing all weary, And I in this far land a timid stranger, Resting by time's lone stream, Lie dreaming, hour by hour, beset with night and danger, The dream of home possess'd, and all home's gladness, Of solace after earth's sore days of stranger-sadness, Life's exile past, all told its broken story; Night, death, and evil gone; This worse than Egypt-shame exchanged for Canaan's glory, Come then, O Christ! earth's Monarch and Redeemer, Thy glorious Eden bring; Where I, even I, at last, no more a trembling dreamer, Shall fold my heavy wing. TO CORRESPONDENTS. Several papers have been unavoidably postponed. NOTICE. All readers of this Journal are_most_earnestly_besought to give it room in their prayers; that by means of it God may be honoured and His truth advanced; also, that it may be conducted in faith and love, with sobriety of judgment and discernment of the truth, in nothing carried away into error, or hasty speech, or sharp unbrotherly disputation. BALLANTYNE AND CO., PRINTERS, EDINBURGH. THE QUARTERLY JOURNAL OF PROPHECY. APRIL 1856. ART. I.-DR BROWN ON CHRIST'S SECOND COMING. (Continued from page 39.) "HAVING thus annihilated Christianity at Christ's coming, and all that will have been accomplished by it in the salvation of men, it was scarcely necessary that he should undertake to shew that the intercessions of Christ and the renewing influences of the Spirit will also cease at that epoch. He, however, makes that the subject of his next chapter. "But I said that the agencies of salvation would cease at the same time; by which I mean the present work of Christ in the heavens, and the work of the Spirit as the fruit of it. The truth on this subject, which I shall now illustrate from Scripture, may be expressed as follows: 66 Proposition Fourth-The intercession of Christ and the work of the Spirit for saving purposes will cease at the second advent.—(P. 116.) of "A theme that so intimately affects the extent of Christ's redemptive work, and the nature of the administration he is to exercise through his eternal reign, is surely no fit subject for dogmatism, or presumptuous speculation. If Mr Brown's proposition is false, it is a falsehood as great as the purposes mercy are infinite which it contradicts, and as vast in its reach as the ages are illimitable through which that mercy is to extend. It ought not to be affirmed, therefore, without the most indisputable proof of its truth. What then does Mr Brown offer to sustain it? Not a particle of evidence ;-not a solitary hint from the Scriptures that such an event is ever to take place; not a word from which it can even be remotely deduced. He only alleges passages which teach that Christ at his ascension entered on the work of intercession, and sent the Spirit as the author of miraculous gifts, and renewer and sanctifier; and accordingly makes the fact that Christ now intercedes, and the Spirit now enlightens and regenerates, the ground of his assertion that the one will not intercede, and the other will not renew and sanctify after the second advent! In other words, he treats the fact that they now fill those offices as a proof that after that epoch they will not fill them! "The passages he quotes in support of it are Heb. vii. 25, and ix. 12, 24-28. 66 Instead, however, of indicating the discontinuance of Christ's intercessions at his return to the earth, Heb. vii. 25 teaches directly and specifically that they are to continue for ever! Mr Brown transcribes only the 25th verse, which declares, on the ground of Christ's everlasting and unchangeable priesthood, that he is for ever to be able to save those coming unto God by him, seeing he ever liveth to make intercession for them.' Eis Tò Tavteλès, rendered in the common version, to the uttermost, does not mean, as Mr Brown assumes, completely as to the necessities of those who are saved, but eternally as to Christ's ability to bestow salvation. The apostle's argument is, that as Christ is to live for ever and have a priesthood which is never to change; that is, is never to pass from his hands, sink into desuetude, or undergo any variation in its object, therefore he can for ever save those coming unto God by him. It is a perpetuity of his ability to save those coming to God whenever it may be-not who have already come, or shall at any specific period have come-that is thus affirmed of him, and on the ground of his everlasting life, unalterable priesthood, and perpetual ability to intercede. The perpetuity of his priesthood and intercessions is thus declared in the most explicit manner; that perpetuity is offered as a proof of the perpetuity of his power to save those coming to God for salvation; and that annunciation directly implies, that men are for ever to be coming to God to be saved by him, and are to enjoy his intercessions, and experience his redeeming power! The whole passage, most of which is omitted by Mr B., presents this great truth in the clearest light. • The Lord sware and will not repent, Thou art a priest FOR EVER, after the order of Melchizedeck. They truly were many priests, because they were not suffered to continue by reason of death. But this, because he continueth EVER, hath AN |