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live in the future and in the past; ing to see the result of the invitation and it is well for us, as Christians to prayer. Six gentlemen came toand as individuals, that we can look gether, and the burden of their prayback and review the experiences, the er was: 'Thy kingdom come.' On that mercies, and the privileges of the day a small coal was placed upon past, as well as anticipate the pro- the altar, and it has kindled and mises of the future. So it is well blazed, and shines brighter and brightthat we can look back to-day on the er, till its influence is felt around the anniversary of the Fulton-street pray- world. 'Behold how great a mater-meeting, and review the history ter a little fire kindleth.' Who and rejoice over the blessings that would have thought on that day, have flowed from this sacred foun- that thousands would come together tain. tocelebrate the fifth anniversary of the Fulton-street prayer-meeting? And then, sir, when we look at the results from this small beginning, we exclaim: 'It is the Lord's doings; it is marvelous in our eyes.' We are not to look only at the results in our churches and families, but we may draw aside the vail, and look at the company around the throne, and see them to-day, as they sing the praises of the Redeemer. We may truly feel that God has set his seal to this instrumentality.

"The power of prayer has been wonderfully illustrated by the Fulton-street prayer-meeting. I believe this meeting has had the effect to commend this great and genuine power of the Church of God. It is prayer that energizes the preacher, moves all obstacles out of the way, and enables us to rejoice over all our foes.

"Prayer was appointed to convey

"This meeting illustrates the value of specific prayer. I think that we are apt to make our prayers too general, We want specific prayer. We are reminded of this by the Apostle : The blessings God designs to give.'" 'In every thing give thanks. It is good to be here to-day, to see these Rev. Dr. Hutton addressed the crowded seats and this large assem- throne of grace, and the Rev. Dr. bly, as a witness of the power of Cookman, of the Methodist Church, prayer in drawing us together; but arose and said, that perhaps he could there are unseen witnesses who are not offer any thing more appropri not with us here to-day-souls that ate to the occasion than to menhave been saved, in answer to the tion one or two facts illustrating the prayers of this meeting, who are influence of the Fulton-street prayernow walking in spotless robes in meeting. Several years ago, he the New Jerusalem, and singing the was pastor of a church in Philadelpraises of redeeming love around phia, and while there, a young man the throne." who had enjoyed the Fulton-street Rev. Dr. Rodgers, of New-Jersey, meetings resolved to establish a simisaid: "When I look at this meeting lar meeting in that city. The speakto-day, I look back to the twenty-third er passed by the door of the lectureof September, five years ago, when room on several occasions, and looked five or six gathered for prayer, and I in, when he ought to have gone in, am reminded of the exclamation of and saw three or four assembled in the sacred writer: 'How great a mat. prayer. Though few, God heard and ter a little fire kindleth!' In a little answered their prayers. The numroom, in the upper part of the adjoin- bers increased, and it was removed to ing building, sat one anxiously wait- Jayne's Hall; and before the work

closed, that spacious room, capable ble; those in which we disagree are of holding four thousand person, was found in catechisms, creeds, and litcrowded. When he saw such results urgies. The points in which we from such a small beginning, he asked agree are fundamentals; those in himself what might not be expected which we disagree are non-essenand hoped for from the continued and tials." persevering prayer of the Fulton- Mr. Cookman closed with an apt street meeting. He believed that illustration of the alabaster box of when the great crisis of the coun- ointment, which, being broken into try is passed, and our war ended, pieces, sent its odor not only over here will be such a revival of the house, but through all ages, and the spirit of prayer, and we may to-day, and will to the end of time. look for the answer to our prayers, So the Church, in different fragments, that not only four thousand, but mil- may send up to the throne the odor lions will be brought in, and the and offering of a sanctified and unitSpirit will breathe upon the slain, ed service. that they may live.

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Rev. Dr. Rufus Clark, of Brooklyn, Mr. Cookman mentioned the case alluding to the history and results of one of his brothers who, he was as- of the Fulton-street prayer-meeting, sured, had been brought to a know- said: "Eternity alone can reveal ledge of Christ, in answer to the what has been accomplished by this prayers of the meeting in Philadel- prayer-meeting. I have been askphia, where he had made a personal ing myself: What are the princirequest on his behalf. He gave it ples that make up the power of this as a proof of the power of prayer, meeting?' And the first principle, and the willingness of God to hear. I think, is in the spirit of unity. "Some time since, two gentlemen We meet as the followers of Christ, met in a car in the city of Boston, in and in this gathering of different a train going to an inland town. In names, we see the dawning of the conversation, it appeared that they millennial light, when differences will were going to the same place, and be little accounted of. Another prinfurther, they found that they were of ciple is the earnestness with which the same name, and were both going prayer is offered daily for the differ to see an elder brother whom they ent objects brought before the meethad not seen for many years. An ing. Another principle is faithexplanation followed, in which it ap- confident, trusting faith in the fullpeared that they were brothers, who ness of God's promises, and in the had long been separated, and were on the same errand to the home of their brother. So, while sitting here, I have felt that we had one destination. My name is Alfred Cookman. I am a Methodist. But I have a higher name. It is that of Christian.' Here I meet you, bearing the same name, and all in the same train -brothers and sisters-going home to heaven, to rest in the presence of God.

"I thank God that the points in which we agree are found in the Bi

presentation of the cases daily brought before the assembly.”

Dr. Clark urged the importance of prayer for the nation, for the widow and the orphan, for the hero on the battle-field, and for our rulers. He read a letter from an officer of the army, written to his wife on the evening preceding the battle in which he fell for his country, in which he seemed to have had a full premoni tion that his end was near. her farewell, and commending her and his two young boys to God, he

Bidding

sent this last message to her hands. battle, "A peerage or a grave in The letter was peculiarly beautiful, Westminster Abbey !" and this and awakened the deepest emotions might be taken as the motto of his in the audience, many of whom life, and not of his only, but of thouurged its publication. sands more.

The hymn, "All hail the of power But what is the aristocracy of Jesus' name," was sung, and then wealth or rank to the aristocracy of Dr. Butler, of New-York, spoke of faith? What is the record of a the four great periods when the Spirit name in the peerage of England, to had been poured out, commencing the record of a name in the Book of with the day of Pentecost, and re- Life? What is the favor of a king ferred to the great persecutions and or president to the covenant love of commotions that followed these re- the King of kings? What is the vivals. boast of noble descent to the assurance of the humblest believer who is warranted to say, "My Father, God"? What are the privileges of

Rev. J. H. Morrison, of the Lodiana Mission, Punjaub, India, appealed for a deeper interest in behalf of foreign missions, both for its own rank and titles to those which per sake and the reflex influence upon the churches at home, in deepening a spirit of prayer and piety in the hearts of the professed followers of Christ.

After another hymn had been sung, and prayer offered by Rev. Dr. Krebbs, the assembly was dismissed by singing the Doxology, and the Benediction, by Dr. Vermilye. Thus another year of the prayermeeting blessings have gone on record in the history of this blessed meeting, to be preserved forever in the annals of eternity. Would that Fulton-street prayer-meetings were established in all our large cities, to bless our land and the world.

For The Prayer-Meeting.

tain to such as are made "kings and priests unto God"? How the mere external splendor of all worldly greatness pales amid the twilight of calamity, or the shadows of the dark valley! and yet it is then that the believer's hope shines forth with a peculiar radiance, and the mists of earth disperse to reveal the triumphant glory of One that shall shine as the stars forever and ever.

The story of mere worldly greatness, whatever it be, serves only to point a moral. Like the meteor of the night, it gleams for a moment, and then vanishes away. Its memory and its fame soon die out in doubtful traditions, unread biographies, and crumbling epitaphs. But the course of him whom God shall own as the peer of angels, is like the rising light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day. To him belong the blessings of adoption, the covenant of grace, the great and precious promises of the divine word - not the patent of earthly nobility, but the charter of salvation. His treasure is in heaven, and his record is on high.

The Highest Honor. It has been accounted a high object of ambition to win a name and place among the great and titled of this world. A coronet, a patent of no bility, an admission to the aristocracy of a nation, has kindled the zeal and enterprise of tens of thousands. The great naval hero of England, Yet this is the birthright of the Lord Nelson, is said to have ex- redeemed. It is bestowed by an claimed, on the eve of a memorable infinitely gracious Sovereign on all

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that repent and believe. It is not dependent on the chances of natural descent. It belongs to all that are born of God. The humblest may aspire to it, and the greatest may well feel that it outvies all his honors.

creature, beneath envy, beneath all but infinite compassion.

Why, then, will you seek the less and reject the greater? Why seize the fleeting sand that cheats your grasping fingers, and let the costliest treasure, the crown of life, with all its jewels, go? Why choose the gilded vapors of the morning, that soon vanish, and scorn the inviting loveliness of the paradise of God?

The Curious Mirror.

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Why, then, above all else, does it not kindle the ambition of the soul? Why do any despise it? Why do they insult by cold neglect the grace that offers it? No one will say that it is unneeded. Human guilt, want, and wretchedness, demand nothing so much. Is it, then, inaccessible? It is said that among the curiosiNo; it is freely offered. It is even ties displayed at the late Exhibition urged upon human acceptance. The in Paris, and promised for the one exclusiveness of a worldly aristoc- now held in England, was a large racy is unknown in the domain of concave mirror, the instrument of a grace. You might, unless inheriting startling species of optical magic. it by the accident of birth, have to .On standing close to the mirror and toil long to win admission to the looking into it, it presents nothing circles of the great and titled of this but a monstrously magnificent exhiworld. But through the grace of bition of your own physiognomy. our Lord Jesus Christ, you are free- On retiring a little, it gives your own ly invited to the communion of his face and figure in true proportion, redeemed. You are called to ob- but reversed -the head downward. tain, through the merits of another, But retire-still further, and you see what could never be yours in your yourself-not a reflection, it does own right. You are called and urged not strike you as a reflection, but to lay hold upon eternal life, to re- your veritable self-standing in the ceive the inheritance of the promises middle part between you and the and the blessings of the covenant, to mirror. The effect is almost appallbe numbered among God's children, ing, from the idea it suggests of to be "heirs of God and joint-heirs something supernatural; so startling, with Jesus Christ." You know that in fact, that men of the strongest the blessedness which you are thus nerves will shrink involuntarily at invited to share has no earthly par- the first view. allel. You know that the inheritance offered is one that beggars the princeliest domain. You know that the honor extended for your acceptance is one which might warrant you in looking down with contempt on all terrestrial distinctions. You know that the privileges you are urged to accept are such as no king could confer by royal patent. You know that though you might gain the whole world, yet if still without these, you would be a poor, miserable, guilty

It is said that the artist who first succeeded in finishing a mirror of this description, brought it to the French King, placed his majesty on the right spot, and bade him draw his sword and thrust at the figure he saw. The King did so, but seeing the point of a sword directed at his own breast, threw down his weapon and ran away. He was frightened by his own image.

But is not time, when opportunity is given for reflection, and the eye

of conscience is directed at one's ory, and a finger is pointed at you. own image, just such a mirror as You open your lips to excuse or this? You look at yourself, as you confess, and there too are lips that are at the passing moment, and your move, though they utter not a sound. self-importance and self-sufficiency You draw the sword to chase away are wondrously magnified. You are that unwelcome visitor, the animate a colossal man. You are magnified statue of your former self, the livto the measure of your own conceit. ing, startling apparition of your Before you is the gigantic exhibition guilty heart, and a sword is drawn of self, by the side of which all other that threatens to pierce you. You interests, and the well-being of your start back in terror, confronted by fellows, shrink into insignificance. what you dread above all else to But you draw back a little. You meet, trembling to face in its true let a few yesterdays pass by. And features the look and bearing of your now you look for the same image, own soul. but it is gone. Another has taken its place. But what is it? A man, somewhat less colossal, but standing on his head. You see the visions of hope, and the features of other days reversed. The self-importance and the selfishness that were all in all, have become fairly ludicrous. You are ashamed of your ambitious greatYou see your head resting on the earth, and fastened there, or your feet rise so that you stand upon the air, and a world upon your head is crushing you.

ness.

Is not this with thousands and tens of thousands a real experience? Does there not often come a period when the golden visions of early days end in somber clouds and deep shadows, and when the prospect that was once a delight has been com pletely reversed? Defeated plans seem to stand on their head, or vainly essay to walk, with feet reversed, the thin and yielding air.

Terse Sentences from Jeremy
Taylor.

TAYLOR'S tendency to diffuseness and excessive verbiage is sometimes checked, and he repeatedly throws off sentences terse and striking enough for the pen of a satirist. Sometimes in a word he paints a picture or condenses the emphasis of a whole paragraph. Urging perseverance in prayer, he says: "Fall upon your knees, and grow there." Absalom's sin, committed by the advice of Achitophel, was "to secure him in the possession of hell." By offering tempting allurements to sin, a man "kills his neighbor like a gentleman." In such a case our civilities are direct treasons to the soul. "That you may be kind to your guest, you step aside and lay away the Christian. Your love can not be expressed, unless you But this is not the end. Let the do him an ill turn, and civilly invite yesterdays become years. Let a him to a fever." The folly of sin. longer interval separate you from ners is depicted by showing them to the image of what you were. Stand be "as greedy of the world as childin that point where, with time before ren of raw fruit." Counterfeiting and only eternity behind, your own sickness, he speaks of "a trap-door life comes out before you with a new to fall into it," as in the case of and startling distinctness. It is no longer an image you behold, but your real self. And what an exhibition! You lift the finger of mem

Coelius, who pretending to the gout, found that "his arts of dissimulation were so witty, that they put life and motion into the very image of the

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