Three Remarkable Prayers.

They are in the ninth chapter of Daniel, the ninth of Ezra, and the ninth of Nehemiah- three men whose hearts yearned for the interests of the Lord in relation to Israel. They loved the Lord; and as His heart was set upon Israel, so were theirs. Israel's prosperity was to God's praise, and that was their joy. Israel's downfall was to God's reproach, and that was their sorrow. Such is God's delight in such men that He thus calls one of them:"O Daniel, a man greatly beloved."

Daniel had understood in reading Jeremiah the prophet that a rebuilding of Jerusalem and a reviving of exiled Israel was about to take place. It produces in him priestly intercession; he not only confesses his own sins, but the sins of the whole people; he does not accuse any one; he takes, in prayer and supplications, fasting, sackcloth and ashes, the place which it becomes all Israel to take before God.

Oh for such hearts now to be found in like manner before God in relation to the Church, which is the body of Christ! Were the desolations of Jerusalem-Israel's place of gathering and holy joy-and the scattering of the nation greater than what is now seen in the Church of God ?

The word of God by Jeremiah was fulfilled, and the prayer of Daniel answered. Jerusalem was rebuilt and the nation restored in part; but God leads His "man greatly beloved " further on:He directs his eye to the coming of "Messiah the Prince" "to finish the transgression, and to make an end of sins, and to make reconciliation for iniquity, and to bring in everlasting righteousness, and to seal up the vision and prophecy, and to anoint the Most Holy."

How far beyond Daniel's highest thoughts and expectations all this is! But so it is in God's ways:if only we have a heart that takes earnest interest in what God loves, in the measure in which we know it, He leads us further on. Who are they that enter in truth into the glorious purposes of God toward Christ and the Church but such as weep over present conditions.

Ezra's prayer follows in the sequence of events. The same love for the nation is in Him as in Daniel. He seeks nothing for himself-no wealth, no place, no power, no glory. Israel is linked with Jehovah's name, and that is cause enough for all the exercise and labor he passes through. He knows all blessing for the people depends on the place which God occupies in their hearts. The Altar and the Temple are therefore preeminent in his thoughts. If the atoning sacrifice of Christ-the basis of all true gathering to God-is not the prominent thing, there is nothing real, no tie with God.

But this great sacrifice, by which we draw nigh to God, tells in unmistakable terms of the holiness of God. What holiness must be God's holiness if the Son of His love must die and put away sin before we can approach God! And the people gathered back in the land had not realized that holiness. They had not separated themselves from what was an offence to God. They were still doing what had originally scattered them.

This prostrates Ezra, and makes him pray and confess. He does not proceed to smite the offenders. He does not drive the Lord's flock. Nor does he forsake them. To smite them would not have corrected the evil. To drive them would have scattered them into parties. To forsake them would have been to discourage them by saying, " I am the only righteous man left." He is a man of God, and therefore he does not so. He identifies himself with their sin, and confesses it before God. He is a true priest. This gathers the people to him; it makes them weep with him; it unites all against the wrong; it corrects it.

Oh for men of God to-day who can weep over the sad failures of those who had left Babylon to return to God's center of gathering, who do not pretend to be superior ones, or to occupy a superior place, but can eat the sin-offering for all as their own, confess it, and wait upon God! It is sweet to the flesh to draw a few around us and think our self some one. It is the power of grace to be nothing, that our Lord may have what belongs to Him. Nor does this wink at evil, as Ezra's subsequent course bears witness.

What a lovely effect all the foregoing has produced, as seen in the third prayer in Nehemiah:Israel as a whole is in the place where we have seen both Daniel and Ezra. The word of God has resumed its power over them, and it leads them to hearty confession. They recognize that as God had judged their enemies because "they dealt proudly against them," so had He judged them because " they dealt proudly " toward God. They recount all His mercies, are ashamed of their past pride and wilfulness, own their lowly estate still, yet praise and worship Him.

What lessons the word of God has for us all!

Reviews.

A number of things have been sent us for review, all of which prove how rapidly the spirit of apostasy is developing-a leading sign of the approaching end of the dispensation in which we are now.

Love "rejoiceth not in iniquity," though the rising apostasy intimates that the blessed hope of the people of God is drawing near. Iniquity necessitates judgment; and if judgment is God's "strange work," it must also be so to the Christian mind. But may we all realize the present special need of clinging to the word of God!

One of the publications sent is "Baptism in Plain English," issued by the "American Christian Missionary Society."Its gospel is baptism by immersion in water-not the Cross of Christ. To be "born of water" in John 3:5 is baptism by immersion- not the word of God. Paul preached baptism by immersion-this was his gospel. Now, as he said "Though we, or an angel from heaven, preach any other gospel unto you than that which we have preached unto you, let him be accursed," it logically follows that any one who does not preach this gospel of baptism by immersion must be accursed. (!)

It is painful indeed to see how men can thus be deceived and labor to deceive others; for, far from making baptism his gospel, Paul himself contrasts his gospel with baptism in i Cor. i:17.There he says,"For Christ sent me not to baptize, but to preach the gospel." Men therefore may baptize and rebaptize, and harp on baptism, and yet not preach '' the gospel of God . . . concerning our Lord Jesus Christ." This seems to be the case with the publication in question. It preaches salvation by works, and easy works at that-to be put under Water. Paul's gospel is, " For by grace are ye saved through faith; and that not of yourselves:it is the gift of God:not of works, lest any man should boast" (Eph. 2:8, 9).

Another of these publications is, "A Sermon by the Rev. John H. Dietrich, St. Mark's Memorial Reformed Church, Pittsburgh, Pa." After ridiculing the account of the creation in Gen. i, aspersing the character of God in the Old Testament, denying the downfall of man, making a jest of the inspiration of the Scriptures, accounting the atoning blood of Christ of no saving value, denying the existence and actual power of the devil, he cries down everlasting punishment, etc.

A paper which recently came to our hands, though written for another purpose, and not altogether in the form which we might choose, sheds so true a light on most of this "sermon" that we give it here as our answer; at least, that part which is adapted. The paper represents Satan "as having assembled the "principalities, powers, and rulers of the darkness of this world," and addressing them thus :

" I have convened you for a purpose of more than ordinary importance. You have been both enthusiastic and painstaking in executing, even to its details, all the work that has been committed to your hands during the ages of our warfare against the kingdom of heaven, and I want to thank you.

"The project about to be divulged I count the most difficult of any I have ever set before you. The time is short. We are approaching the end of the age, and whatever additions are made to my kingdom must be made quickly. We are operating in every avenue of possible gain except one. I propose that we shall now enter the circle of the very elect, and by concession of everything but the essentials of Truth seduce the good from the path of salvation. We will enter, permeate, and paralyze the churches. We will operate the plan only among people of character, culture, and knowledge.

"Many centuries ago I taught you the simplicity of the plan of salvation perfected and launched by Jesus Christ for the saving of sinners. It was made so easy that children and fools might understand it. Faith in Him as Son of God and Saviour of men was all that was required. We have succeeded in surrounding these only essentials of salvation with great masses of debris, which have deceived the multitudes and kept them in our hands. Nevertheless, we have not been altogether successful.

"Now I propose to create a church of my own, which will so counterfeit the genuine that it cannot be detected save by experts in the knowledge of God.. It will teach love, joy, humility, peace, gentleness, longsuffering, patience, hospitality, integrity, justice, liberality, and nearly all the fruit of the Spirit of God. None of these things which I have named as the essentials of my church are the essentials of salvation. I propose to appropriate such of the fruits of salvation as I can, and leave the salvation itself out. I will give the people the apples from the tree, but they shall not have the tree, nor the life in the tree which produces the apples.

" But how will you conceal the essentials of salvation from the people ?" asked one of the princes.

"By allowing them to suppose that they are included in the system," was the reply. "As I have said, there are but two of them. The first is that Jesus Christ is Deity. We will tell them that Jesus is the Son of God, but that they also are sons of God. We will not teach Christ as the only begotten of the Father, but we will constantly inculcate the doctrine of their own divine sonship. As they become exalted in their own opinions consequent upon this teaching, the necessity of exalting the doctrine of the Deity of Jesus will disappear. Thinking they worship Jesus, they will be really worshiping themselves, which is equivalent to worshiping me."

"The other is that the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin. But the Scriptures say that 'the blood is the life.' We will ring the changes upon this, and by the time we get through with it the blood will have disappeared and the life only remain. We will continually show forth the beauties in the life and character of Jesus, and discount the value of His sacrifice and death. We will also show how shocking to refined sensibilities is the thought of blood. It will not be long until the sort of culture we teach will reject the blood as a sanguinary and abhorrent topic. They will then prefer to hear about His life and virtues. We will teach them that the imitation of His life is sufficient. When questioned concerning the blood we will simply declare that ' the blood is the life,' and it is the life we are after. We will have nothing unpleasant in our religion. You will admit that so long as the membership of our church do not believe in the Deity of Christ and blood-atonement for sin they may believe and practice everything else in the Bible and still belong to us. Is it not so ?"

Alas, it is but too true! And this is what comes of setting up as teachers of truth men who may have been at man's school, but not at God's; who have never been born of God; never learned their own hearts in the presence of God; men who therefore have no need of the Saviour whom God has provided for sinners. And can it be that a whole congregation of professing Christians can sit under such a "sermon" without misgivings and fears rising up in their bosoms ?