be made without ceasing, of the Church unto God! It only can stand between the living and its dead. It only hath power with God and with man Jehovah will regard His Zion! the Lamb will hear His Bride! Is it not time to seek the Lord, when millions and hundreds of millions of souls, precious and immortal as our own, are ready to perish, are destroyed from morning to evening, perish for ever without any regarding it? Is it not time to seek the Lord when we are yet so little impressed with the woe and danger of our perishing fellow-men, that we only give of our abundance toward their conversion, and make no sacrifice of even our luxury? Is it not time to seek the Lord when we expend so much of our attention and energy upon little strifes and unedifying disputes,-keeping open our ranks instead of serrying them,-presenting to the foe a thousand easy points of annoyance and attack? Is it not time to seek the Lord when the largest empires, and the most numerous peoples, have not as yet heard the Saviour's blessed name? Is it not time to seek the Lord when His manifestations are so dim and few in comparison with those which His promise assures, when it shall be duly pleaded? Is it not time to seek the Lord when prophecy has counted so many of its oracles, and already is standing out so radiantly among its latest visions? Is it not time to seek the Lord when only now the means for the holy enterprise are becoming easy and abundant? Is it not time to seek the Lord when, from their mysterious significance, we learn that these are the last times? Is it not time to seek the Lord when all proclaims the eve of a mighty crisis, when all awakes to earnestness around, when the world is racked with suspense and struck with awe, when the vials are overflowing with the odours of prayer from the lips of the saints of all generations since the world began, when the days are breaking-the days of the voice of the seventh angel when he begins to sound?

"To these duties promises are attached, most graciously compensatory. They are written that "He who plougheth should plough in hope,' and that He who reapeth may receive wages, and gather fruit unto life eternal.'

"In the matter which now engages us, we possess an ample and explicit security. Here is nothing vague and indistinct. If we differ in our construction of any prophecy, enough remains about which there can be no difference. We have but to survey the obvious foreground. That all things shall be subdued to Christ, that at His name every knee shall bow, that the knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth, that men shall learn war no more, that the saints of the Most High shall possess the kingdom under the whole heaven,-are bright and assured outlines of the future which require little guess. Do we believe? clearly and confidently are we convinced? firmly and unblenchingly are we persuaded?"

The Author adds:-"While we pray for the conversion of heathen nations, let us not forget the Jews. The holy and seraphic prelate, Robert Leighton, thus wrote:-'Undoubtedly, the people of the Jews shall once more be commanded to arise and shine; and their return shall be the riches of the Gentiles; and that shall be a more glorious time than ever the Church of God did yet behold. They forget a main point of the Church's glory, that pray not daily for the conversion of the Jews.""

The present aspect of the Jewish cause, and instances such as those we are permitted to record in the present Number, are well adapted to strengthen the appeal for prayer, scriptural, believing, unfainting. Let us

realise more powerfully the spiritual condition of the Jews, and their onward progress to eternity. Let us grasp the simple, unmistakeable, and comprehensive promise that affects their spiritual renovation and restitution, and plead in mingled prayer and praise, until the grey mist upon the mountains, and the faint streaks of early morn, give place to the bright and gladdening beams of the Sun of righteousness-the Sun which shall for ever shine on the whole family of God, gathered home, by His blessing on His word and the agency of His own people.

Jesus and Jerusalem.

No. VIII. THE DYING SAVIOUR.

MANY Wonderful things have taken place at Jerusalem, but the most wonderful of all is the death of the Saviour. Believing, as we do, that He was indeed what He declared Himself to be, "the Son of God;" believing that His death was the one great and all-sufficient sacrifice, and that from His death life eternal shall flow to millions of lost sinners, we feel fully persuaded that nothing which ever occurred in time, or shall occur in eternity, can equal this event.

Even those who do not believe in the divinity of Jesus of Nazareth, and to whom His cross is a stumbling-block, must yet acknowledge that nothing has created so much interest in the world, or produced such effects upon the world, as the death of that wondrous Person who, many hundred years ago, was crucified at Jerusalem. What was it that made Jerusalem, for so many ages, a centre of interest to the nations of Europe? what has caused millions of persons to travel thither? what but their one faith? It is true that we cannot look on these things with any pleasure; the valour of warriors, the zeal of devotees, agree not with the sacred and sublime associations which hover around Calvary. We gladly turn from them to think how the guilty have been justified, the unholy sanctified, the miserable made happy, and the lost saved, by believing on Him who died at Jerusalem, although their feet never have stood within its gates, or their eyes looked with delight on its towers and palaces.

Jerusalem had been marked out, ages before, as a place for sacrifice. Thither it was, in the far back ages, as is generally believed, that Abraham, at the Divine command, led forth his son Isaac. In the land of Moriah, and on the spot where the Temple afterwards stood, he bound the victim, laid him on the altar, and stretched forth his hand to slay him. Then God interposed, and another victim was provided. In the Mount the Lord was seen. Believers in successive ages who heard the wondrous record, and who waited for the fulfilment of the first great promise of Eden, still nourished their faith in the heaven-suggested thought, "Jehovah will provide."

In the time of David, Jerusalem was taken from the Jebusites, and passed permanently into the possession of Israel. Under circumstances of some trial and righteous chastisement, David was brought to the spot where henceforth the sacrifices of Israel must be offered. "And David said, this is the altar of the burnt-offering for Israel" (1 Chron. xxii. 1). "There Solomon built Jehovah a house;" and for ages, on Moriah's hill, sacrifices countless for their number were offered up. There God dwelt in glory, and manifested His mercy to those who sought His face in the appointed way.

But none of these sacrifices could take away sin. Ages rolled on; the Temple was destroyed and rebuilt; the altar-fires were extinguished and relighted. At length, when the Temple stood in greater glory than it had for many ages, when sacrifices were most abundant, but when sin, notwithstanding, triumphed more than ever among priests and people, a voice was heard in heaven respecting the ancient prophecy, "Sacrifice and offering thou didst not desire; mine ears hast thou opened: burnt-offering and sinoffering hast thou not required. Then said I, lo, I come; in the volume of the book it is written of me, I delight to do Thy will, O my God: yea, thy law is within my heart." Then a voice was heard from heaven, proclaiming "a Saviour, Christ the Lord," while many voices sing "Glory to God in the highest, on earth peace, good-will toward men." And soon a voice was heard in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord." "Behold the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the world” (John i. 19.)

Yes, let us behold Him, and trace His wondrous path up to Jerusalem to die. Let us listen to Him, and meditate on His many testimonies respecting that great purpose of His loving heart. When Peter had confessed His glory as the Son of God, and the rest of the Apostles had agreed thereto, we are told that "from that time forth began Jesus to show unto His disciples how that He must go unto Jerusalem, and suffer many things of the elders and chief priests and scribes, and be killed, and be raised again the third day" (Matt. xvi. 21). Some time after, the same Evangelist writes how "Jesus, going up to Jerusalem, took the twelve disciples apart on the way," and again repeated the same wondrous, but unwelcome facts (Matt. xx. 18). We read, too, "of His face being as though He would go up to Jerusalem." See, also, Heb. ix. 11, 28. In the anticipation of thus going up, He mournfully, yet composedly said, "It cannot be that a prophet perish out of Jerusalem" (Luke xiii. 33); and then uttered a pathetic lament over the stubborn and rebellious, yet much-loved city (Luke xiii. 33-35; Matt. xxiii. 37). When the time came for Him "to finish transgression, make an end of sin, and bring in everlasting righteousness" (Dan. ix. 24), for the first and only time He who was so soon to pass out of Jerusalem, bearing His cross amidst the yells of the multitude, entered its gate in triumph, riding on an ass, amidst waving palm branches and loud acclaims. Surely His loving heart exulted in the thought that He was going to perform a work which should issue in the highest glory to God, the greatest honour to Himself, and in salvation to man; a work that would furnish matter for an eternal song.

There is a point in the history of the Man of Sorrows from whence His wondrous death may be most advantageously contemplated. "Jesus took Peter, and James, and John, and went up in a mountain to pray. And as He prayed, the fashion of His countenance was altered, and His raiment was white and glistering. And behold, there talked with Him two men who appeared in glory, and spake of His decease which He should accomplish at Jerusalem." Two more honoured persons than Moses and Elias the Old Testament does not furnish; and here they appear as satellites around the Sun of glory. But their history, their official and representative character, we must not dwell on; we can only think upon their theme. These glorified men are come to speak of shame and sorrow; fresh from a world where there is no sorrow nor crying, they are come to speak of strong crying and tears. From standing before the throne of the living ONE, they are come to a world of graves, to talk about death; but it was THE DEATH OF JESUS

AT JERUSALEM. No theme like this; none so full of glory, so fraught with life, so brimming over with joy. It is well worthy to be the theme of the glorified, and shall be so eternally (Rev. vii. 10-17). It was the absorbing thought of Christ, because it was the great idea of God, His grand purpose, the full expression of His infinite love (Rom. v. 8). See it here, too, in connexion with the law and the prophets. As one observes: "The law and prophets kiss the feet of Mary's Son." He it is whom all taught of God, and in sympathy with Him, delight to praise. But there is a testimony grander and sweeter by far than that of either Moses or Elias. From the excellent glory a voice was heard, "This is my beloved Son, in whom I am well pleased; HEAR YE HIM." And mark, this voice was uttered in connexion with the discourse respecting His decease at Jerusalem. Surely the death of Christ is, of all subjects, most earnestly commended to our attention. Precious thought! Christ hath died, and sin must die; Christ hath died, and sinners who believe in Him shall live. "He appeared, to put away sin by the sacrifice of Himself (Heb. ix. 26), and "that He might sanctify the people with His own blood, He suffered without the gate' (Heb. xiii. 14).

Come, then, and "let us go forth to Him without the camp, bearing His reproach." As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wilderness, so hath the Son of Man been lifted up, that "whosoever believeth in Him should not perish, but have eternal life." A voice calls us to "come and see," and, seeing, to live eternally. God has caused the history of Christ's death to be written more fully and minutely than the death of any other person, or than any other event relating even to Himself. What preceded His death, where He died, how He died, what He said, what He felt, what He thought; what others felt, and said, and thought; what took place during His sufferings, and at His death; all are recorded. "His decease, which He accomplished at Jerusalem," should be continually pondered. Every incident, every word teems with deepest interest. Let not Calvary, with its wondrous transactions, its deep sorrow, lofty love, and deathless triumphs, ever be forgotten. All that is vast in power, sublime in majesty, tender in mercy, beautiful in holiness, deep in wisdom, or attractive in love; all that is delightful in friendship, touching in sorrow, or cheering in sympathy; all that is dreadful in the wrath to come, or desirable in the glory to be revealed, demands that Calvary should be held in everlasting remembrance.

And what a contrast does the death of Christ furnish between Himself and the people of Jerusalem! There the winds of temptation lashed into fury the waves of human passion, which raged like the troubled sea around the cross, and overwhelmed the innocent Redeemer. But amidst all the blackness of sin, the holiness of His character, like a solitary star meekly looking through dark, tempestuous clouds, shone with resplendent lustre. The rage of devils and the madness of men served as a foil for His loneliness, and were made use of as instruments to accomplish the designs of Eternal Love and Wisdom.

Three days after this event, three travellers were seen walking from Jerusalem to a distant village. One of them, in tones of sadness, asks, "Art thou only a stranger in Jerusalem, and hast not known the things which have come to pass in these days?" Ah, that apparent and kindly questioning stranger indeed knew all full well. He who stood with the two glorified prophets, and anticipated His decease with strong desire, now

walks with the two humble travellers, and reviews that "accomplished decease" with deep delight. His death is now in the retrospect—a fact, an eternal fact! THE fact, the fruitful fact, teeming with millions of wonders, glories, and blessings. Hark! He talks about it; and as He speaks, that dark, dark scene of Calvary becomes an effulgent sun. How plain the prophecies seem, and how full of deep and blessed meaning are the types! Gracious Lord, still walk with us and talk with us, for " we are yet slow of heart to believe all that the prophets have spoken." Speak to thine Israel, rend the veil from their hearts; show them that the Messiah of their ancient books "ought to have suffered these things, and to enter into His glory," and thus make thousands of dark, dead, cold hearts burn within them, and begin to beat in sympathy with them. For, Lord Jesus, thou didst "die for that nation" (John xi. 51), and Thou wilt save Thy people from their sins" (Matt. i. 21). "The fountain has been opened;" and oh, hasten the day when "the inhabitants of Jerusalem" shall wash therein (Zech. xiii. 1), when the iniquity of the land shall be removed (Zech. iii. 10), and a nation be born in a day (Isa. lxvi. 8). Till then, may saved Gentiles never cease to cry to the outcasts of Israel, "BEHOLD THE LAMB OF GOD." J. C.

66

THIS is a strange production to issue from the pen of a Christian minister. It is to be regretted that the author has taken so much trouble and pains to expose his own ignorance of the Gospel in his dogmatism on this important question of the spiritual condition and prospects of the Jewish people. The pamphlet pretends to display great depth of logic, and great breadth of liberality. The author considers that there is no circumstantial analogy between the guilt of the Jews now, and the Jews of 2,000 years ago; and the present race ought not to be burdened with the crime of rejecting Christ as their forefathers did. The Jews of our own day ought, he thinks, to be excused on the score of ignorance, though it might be different with the past generation who might have sinned wilfully. So it is evidently the opinion of this writer, that ignorance of the Gospel is justifiable in the Jews. He thinks it even "ridiculous" and "dictatorial" in Christians to wish the Jews to read the New Testament. The author would, on this view of the case, decidedly condemn all missionary efforts for the evangelisation of either Jews or heathens. He is not of Paul's way of thinking on this subject. Sincerity, ignorance, according to the Rev. M. Daniell, seem to be sufficient to save any man. What need, then, of the Gospel? what need of a Saviour? what need of being born again of the Spirit? or what necessity for the Divine command, "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; he that believeth shall be saved, and he that believeth not shall be damned?" The author seems to have "another Gospel.” I. R.

WHY OUGHT CHRISTIANS TO SEEK THE CONVERSION OF

THE JEWS ?

Ir may be useful to consider this question, by way of correcting the mistakes entertained concerning it by those Christian professors who deny

• A tract by the Rev. Mortlock Daniell, of Ramsgate. London: Thickbroom Brothers, 1859.