The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-12-05 00:00:00

INVITATION TO UNITED PRAYER

The Rev. J. H. Stewart has issued his annual invitation
to united prayer, on the first day of the year, fe.* the out-
pouring of the Holy Spirit. The reverend gentleman,
after alluding to Monday as a day peculiarly suitable for
such a purpose, proceeds as follows :
" First. We enter upon the year 1849, when a revolu-
tion has taken place, or rather a great moral earthquake,
which for its extent, as well as for its suddenness, appears
)ass all former ones. For it is not merely a solitary
uous outbreak in a particular State, or the forcible
.
le dynasty ; but it is a general convulsion
Reminding us, at least, of the

hout Christendom

awful season spoken of by our Lord : when there shall
be upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity ;
the sea and the waves roaring; men's hearts failing them
for fear, and for looking after those things which are
coming upon the earth.' (Luke xxi.) Surely at such a
season we specially need the enlightening, strengthening,
comforting, and sanctifying grace of the Holy Spirit, to
meet what unexpected events God in his providence may
permit to fall upon us. Who can say what is before him ?
Whether He may not be at the very verge of that period
spoken of by St. Paul, when he exhorts his brethren to
take the whole armour of God, that ye may be able to
withstand IN THE EVIL DAY, AND HAVING DONE ALL, TO
STAND'—referring, it may be, to the same period as is
n:entioned in the Epistle to the Church of Philadelphia, in

LIM= WUrtlb necause tnou oast Kept toe wore or my
patience, I also will keep thee from the hour of tempta-
tion, which shall come upon all the world, to try them
that dwell upon the earth.' (Rev. iii.) That hour which,
ur Lord in another place declares, ' shall come on all
that

-.tem teat dwell upon the face of the whole earth.' (Luke
xxi.) Surely, in times like the present, to be prepared for
that day, is true wisdom. And how canwe beprepried
thatinward strength and fortitude which comes from
! that each of us may receive a double
avenly grace—or rather that the Holy
Le and fill our souls—so that should the

the Holy GI

year prove a day of darkness and of gloominess, a
day of clouds, and of thick darkness, as the morning
spread upon the mountains,' instead of being filled with

A I commn

dismay, we may ' lock up and lift up our heads
blessed hope that our Redemption draweth nigh
"A second reason for uniting in this concert for prayer,
is the animating position of two of our leading religious
societies—namely, the London Society for Promoting
Christianity among the Jews, and the Church Missionary
Society. The former of these institutions has completed
its 40th yes

'in the

since its first formation ; while the latter has
entered upon its 50th year. These different periods re-
•ind us of different events in the History of the Israelites.
first, of that period, when the twelve tribes having
' the time of their sojourning in the wilderness,
upon those successful contests which pre-
taking .possession of the promised land. The
latter, of the jubilee feast—or of that I --Lson which

were to ente

happy se