A DREADFUL PLATEL MEN SOME prayer-meetings are spoken of assumed or meration It takes place, but it will seraly week, and eter personally interested in having some at. Lemans vra o verde i on the throne and from the wrai y de Zem.* There will be a great maritud at that prayer meeting ings are thin-very thin-few are present Xxx de that have ever treated the Lamb of God mrvy a TCE 1 who have neglected the great salvation- te present. this, millions more will do it. They will be at the meeting Distinguished persons will be present Those vir GE TO Te 12: Da of the earth usually have little or nothing at a مة There will be great emotion in that prayer meeting crying and tears. There will be stress and howlog tom weeping and wailing, such as might melt the adsmart. and drowsy, and formal. There will be feling the deepest feeling who could not bear the very name of religions extent sove - then be the most strongly excited of all. Ah, they must have the most terrible emotions when they are led to ask the rocks and mountains to fall on them. How treat fal must be the sight of Him that sitteth on the throne, and the Laus, when the fear of them inspires such a prayer as this. They will all pray. Some prayer-meetings have but two or three, a few at the most, that take any part in them. The mass often take little or no dostat interest in the object of the meeting. Not so of this meeting The roug runs, that not only the great men above-mentioned shall pray, but ** every bondman, and every freeman." And then the nature of the coject before them decides that all will pray, viz.,-God on His throne of judgment, and the Lamb in His wrath! The whole assembly being inspired with the same terrible emotions of dread, will be constrained to offer the same prayer. And what a prayer! It is not addressed to God or to the Lamb. They never received any spiritual homage from the multitude present at this meeting. They so ill-treated the blessed God, and carried it to such desperate length, that they now despair, as they well may, of any mercy. Hence the dreadful prayer before us. They would have anything but an interview with God. "Hide us from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne." They beg to be crushed beneath the mountains, rather than meet the frowning face of God! They choose the rocks should fall on them and grind them to powder, rather than ncounter the wrath of the Lamb. To what desperate misery must men be driven when they can implore so dreadful a curse upon themselves! The attendants upon this meeting are all from this world:-"The kings of the earth," &c. We have Divine assurance that all who persist in treating Christ unworthily, are on their way to this meeting. The multitudes who are now doing this think little of this matter; yet every day spent in sin is hastening them toward it. Most of them have little to do with prayer-meetings in this world, and none of them have anything to do with the spiritual service of God. They refrain from prayer now, but they will pray at this meeting. God's character and claims had few thoughts here, but there will be no want of emotion in view of them there. Reader, are you on your way to this meeting? You hope not. But it is your manner of life, and not your hopes that determines this. If you have little or nothing to do with prayer in this world-if no domestic or secret altar is fragrant with the incense of your daily supp'ications-if you are now averse to drawing nigh to God, you are certainly on your way to this awful meeting. If you do not pray here, you assuredly will there. Be persuaded to avoid that meeting. There will be enough there without you. *Seek the Lord while he may be found, call upon him while he is near." Acquaint thyself now with him, and be at peace." Let the blessed duty of prayer be your joy here from day to day. Love it. Watch unto it. Persevere in it. In faith and humility carry it on. Let nothing but death stop you. Then, while others pray for the rocks and mountains to fall on them and hide them from the face of Him that sitteth upon the throne, you will sing, Worthy is the Lamb that was slain and has redeemed me ine to God by His blood"!-Old Tract. 66 THE ORIGINAL SECESSION MAGAZINE. JULY, 1877. THE MEETING OF SYNOD. IN the good providence of God another meeting of the Supreme Court of our Church has been held, and as formerly a full account of its proceedings will be found in the present number, which we enmend to the attentive perusal of our readers. Amidst much fitted to depress and fill with anxiety for the future, there was not a little to encourage and be thankful for in connection with the recent meeting. Though few in number and weak in resources, and though faces long familiar had disappeared, and voices wont to be listened to with delight were unheard, there were not wanting, we fondly trust, some cheering tokens of the presence and “good will of Him who dwelt in the bush,” and who says, with special reference to such assemblies of His commissioned servants, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them." The reports presented regarding the various schemes and operations of the Church were, upon the whole, of a highly gratifying and stimulating nature, and we hope they will not be perused without a grateful acknowledgment of the Lord's continued goodness. And, as the Moderator remarked in his closing address, it was matter for thankfulness that the Synod had not had any of those "burning questions" seriously on hand which were agitating so violently other parts of the Church; and it was a token for good that its members were so much of one heart and of one way, and that such a spirit of brotherly love prevailed. Whilst the Synod's proceedings were characterised as usual by an all but unbroken harmony, this harmony was not the dead calm of cold indifference to what is transpiring in the ecclesiastical and other spheres, but the harmony of men who, while thinking for themselves, NO. IV. VOL. XIIL N NEW SERIES. continue, through the good hand of God upon them, to see eye to eye, and who, from deep convictions of truth and duty, are resolved to abide by their position as witnesses for the cause of the Covenanted Reformation-a position which they count it the highest honour to occupy, though by many it be lightly esteemed. Nothing could be more evident, from the whole tone of the proceedings, than that the members of Synod were keenly alive to the present state of matters in the ecclesiastical world, and deeply impressed with the importance of letting their voice be heard in reference to questions now occupying public attention, touching the very foundations of our faith; and it was further evident that all were animated by a calm resoluteness to continue, through grace, "standing fast in one spirit, with one mind striving together for the faith of the gospel." All this was made very apparent alike in the admirably seasonable sermon of the retiring Moderator, and the no less excellent and appropriate address of the new Moderator, as well as subsequently in connection with the Report on Public Questions. And that the views so fully and unhesitatingly expressed in the Synod, in relation to matters of public interest, were carefully noted from widely different quarters, was shown by the somewhat unusual and significant fact that they were very freely and largely commented upon by the public press, both in a friendly and hostile spirit. In such circumstances, it is certainly to be regretted that there should be even a semblance of division amongst us in regard to such an important question as that of Disestablishment, affording as it does to such as are watching for our halting a coveted pretext for uttering and penning their spiteful remarks and gross misrepresentations as to how matters really stand. The very fact that the existence of this difference of sentiment on one solitary point is so gratifying to those who have no sympathy with us, and particularly to those who have turned their backs upon their former profession, and are treating our whole testimony-bearing with contempt, shows very clearly that such difference ought not to exist; and from our opponents themselves it is easy to learn where the change should take place, and what that change should be, that would put an end to it. Said the author of Spiritual Despotism, nearly half a century ago, "The aid we receive in argument at any time from persons between whom and ourselves their exists an absolute contrariety of first principles, may well be suspected, even if it ought not at once to be renounced. Undoubtedly some capital sophism forms the bond of that accidental connection which makes us one with men whom we must think in every sense wrong. Let the infidel and the dissenter join hands in upheaving the Church, and before the ruins have settled in the dust the former will turn upon the latter, as then his sole enemy and his easy victim." How applicable these remarks are to much that is going on at the present time in connection with the movement for Disestablishment we need not stay to point out. A word is enough to the wise. It is very gratifying that the total income for the year is at a higher figure than ever it reached before, but it should be remembered that this is due chiefly to liberal donations from generous friends, there being a slight decrease in the regular contributions from congregations to the sanctioned schemes of the Church. All must rejoice in the success which has attended our Foreign Mission enterprise, and in the liberality with which it continues to be supported. It is earnestly to be hoped, however, that other equally important objects will not be lost sight of by the members of the Church. If due provision be not made for the maintenance of gospel ordinances at home our work abroad will soon suffer also. And that such provision is not being made as it ought is painfully apparent from the fact that the minimum stipend of last year, small and inadequate though that was, has not even been maintained this year, but is less by several pounds. This, all will readily admit, is not as it onght to be, and unless something be done effectually to remedy this state of matters it must soon come to tell most injuriously upon the Church in various ways. To those whom God has given the means, and who have a true love of the cause we are struggling to uphold, there is at present no more important practical way open for manifesting their selfdenying zeal in behalf of that cause than by increasing their contributions to the Mutual Assistance Fund. The membership of the Church, including grown-up adherents, is upward of 4,000, and were they to give, on an average, one shilling each more in the year to this fund, it would be augmented by £200, which would yield £20 each to ten aid-receiving congregations. We do not think this is beyond our reach, even though the average contributions per member will compare favourably with those of other denominations. A very little self-denial would easily accomplish it, were there only the will and the heart. The addition of Bridgeton Congregation to the Synod's roll-the happy settlements there and at Carnoustie—and the good work carried on by our esteemed brother at Cheltenham afford much cause for our thanking God and taking courage. Had we only more faith in God, more love to Christ and precious souls, and more enlightened zeal for the Redeemer's cause in the world, we would devise still more liberal things, and weak though we be, we would yet "do exploits." That our two Territorial Congregations in Glasgow may have much success in their praiseworthy efforts to get commodious churches |
