could be no more an enemy and an opposer exalting itself against the Lord and against his anointed. (See 2 Thess. ii. 3-8.) It is idle to look upon this in any other light than that of the covenants, and God's dispensations connected therewith; for it never has been shown, and there is nothing in the Bible to show, that what are generally understood by the kingdoms of this world,' ever were the Lord's, in any other way than as there is now no exclusively privileged nation, Jew and Gentile being alike recognized in the constitution of the new heaven and new earth. This is plain enough, in that the Apostle writes, "but now we see not yet all things put under him," thereby implying that they expected shortly to see this; and the implication, just as it is, is as justly borne out, if the prince of this world,' 'principalities and powers,' leading captivity captive,' be, as one day they will, acknowledged to have their interpretation in that which was the ministration of condemnation and death. The Apostle and his fellow believers did not, when he wrote the Epistle to the Hebrews, then see all these put under the feet of the Saviour, but they did very soon after. Satan, very shortly after, was bruised, (Rom. xvi. 20,) so that we confess we do not here again see how this interpretation of the putting all things under his feet,-all rule, and authority, and power,can be rejected, without impugning the inspiration of the Scriptures. This interpretation is consistent throughout. We have no more to observe, than that, when it is said, 'he must reign till he hath put all enemies under his feet,' this does not imply that when all enemies should be put under his feet, he should cease to reign, but rather, that his kingdom should have no end. The Scriptures would be contradictory unless this were their implied meaning. It may further be remarked, that the words, "then shall the Son also himself be subject unto him that put all things under him," do not convey the idea that previously to this the Son was not subject to the Father, because it is expressly asserted, that "he is excepted which did put all things under him." Their true meaning will appear more plainly by a right position of also.' "Then also shall the Son himself," &c., i. e. if the Father hath put all things in subjection under Christ, by his own decree, it is equally true that he will continue to have the pre-eminence, after, as before, the fulfilment of that decree. Taking the mediatorial dominion to be included in the delivered kingdom,' the words 'then also shall the Son himself be subject,' are weighty, because the second dominion of the kingdom, which is a dominion of glorious rest, might lead to the supposition that then the Son would ascend higher; but the Apostle shows, that all the grandeur and glory which accrued from the putting down all rule, authority, and power, still left him second on the throne, according as it is written, "The throne of God, and of the Lamb."

There is yet one subject connected with the above which must not be passed over in silence. We allude to prayer. It was shown, in treating of the ministries of John and Christ, that there was prayer peculiar to those ministries. It was likewise shown that when those ministries were respectively fulfilled, the prayer that was attached to them was no longer needed, but was done away. The same is true of prayer under the ministry of the Apostles. In that ministry the

mediatorial work of Christ was finished. That alone was the medium through which prayer could find acceptance; and therefore wherever, by whomsoever, and for whatsoever prayer is offered up now, it is an offering with strange fire. If the mediatorial dominion is surrendered, and all the purposes for which it was instituted are answered, prayer is not only a work of supererogation, but it is something infinitely more objectionable, it is presumption-being a plain declaration that the work of Christ is a defective work. The object of this volume is to prove that Christ's work is complete: and that it is a complete work is admitted, incautiously enough, by all orthodox denominations, for it is allowed by all that Dan. ix. 24 did not extend beyond A. D. 70: but the work of mediation is wholly contained in that passage, therefore it is allowed that the work of mediation is fulfilled, and consequently it is admitted that the prayers of David, the son of Jesse, are ended.' Psalm lxxii. 20. The prayers of Christ, the true David, being ended, therefore all other prayers are ended; consequently, every prayer offered up in church or chapel is a glaring inconsistency.

But further. Not only does the finished mediation of Christ forbid and exclude the exercise of prayer, but the ability for prayer, which was one of the gifts consequent upon that mediation, is now no longer forthcoming. A glance at the Epistles will suffice to show that prayer in Apostolic times was inspired, supernatural, Holy Ghost prayer. "The Spirit also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought, but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered Rom. viii. 26. There is nothing of this now, nor ever has been since the cessation of the supernatural gifts with which the Lord promised to be with his disciples to the end of the world. The Holy Ghost dispensation has long since come to a close, notwithstanding all that may be urged to the contrary. Any prayer, to be prayer, must be the act of the inspiration of the Holy Ghost. This is claimed by the Society of Friends, the Irvingites, and the Plymouth Brethren; but a supernatural claim requires supernatural proof, and if the proof be not evident, the claim is a delusion. No proof will avail but one similar to this, in James' Epistle, "Is any sick among you? let him call for the elders of the Church and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord: and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up, (Query, out of his grave,) and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." If any religious body can prove this power accompanying the prayers offered up by them, we will join them. Romanism, we know, makes an attempt at this part of Apostolic succession, but it is an attempt which looks in the wrong direction. Extreme unction is the viaticum of the dying, not the healing medicine of the sick: just as in the Church of England there is the ad:ninistration of the Lord's Supper, with the absolution of the sins even of a murderer, but no raising up of the sick. We never heard such a wonderful thing as a prayer in the Holy Ghost, and we are confident that we never shall. Here, at least, the exhortations of the Epistles are inapplicable. Jude writes, "But ye beloved pray in the Holy Ghost;" and Paul, when he exhorts the Ephesians to put on the whole armour of God, enumerates prayer," Praying always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit.”

To have exhorted thus would have been a mockery during the ministry of Christ and John, for the Holy Ghost was not then given. We contend that it is just the same now, the Holy Ghost being withdrawn, as the ministration of the Spirit is ended. This view throws much light on numerous passages of Scripture, which, for want of a right understanding of the dispensations, are much misrepresented. Take for example Rom. viii. 11, “But if the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, he that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken your mortal bodies by his Spirit that dwelleth in you." This cannot be applied now. Christians are not now 'temples of the Holy Ghost' as to their bodies, as they were in the apostolic ministry. If they are, we ask for a manifestation such as the following: "The manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of wisdom : to another the word of knowledge by the same Spirit: to another faith by the same Spirit: to another the gifts of healing by the same Spirit: to another the working of miracles: to another prophecy to another discerning of spirits, (trying the spirits whether they be of God:) to another divers kinds of tongues: to another the interpretation of tongues. But all these worketh that one and the self-same Spirit, dividing to every man severally as he will." (1 Cor. xii. 7-11.) The Irvingite and the Mormonite pretend to this manifestation of the Spirit, and are so far conscious, that to support the system of a ministry, they must have the outward appointed sign. Orthodox bodies repudiate the manifestation, but hold to the present work of the Holy Ghost "We know," they will say, "that prophecies have failed, tongues ceased, and knowledge vanished away: yes-but these were part and parcel of the manifestation of the Spirit given to every man that he might profit withal. Are we to be told then that the Holy Ghost has a work now, while he gives no proof, no manifestation? O no! it is said, there is the teaching of the Holy Ghost. We ask-where, and in whom? The teaching of the Holy Ghost was, visibly and outwardly in the sight of an unbeliever, miraculous. There is none such now: there is no authority from Scripture to look for any such. The only teaching that we recognise there, is the teaching of all teachings, that of the new and better covenant, according to which all God's family are taught of him who is the all things in all,' and know him from the least to the greatest, their sins and iniquities being remembered no more. Heb. viii. 10-13. This, however, is very different from the ministration and teaching of the Holy Ghost. It is teaching which implies a close of all progressive dispensations, all liability to change; and therefore, it excludes the work and office of the Holy Ghost. It is teaching which excludes prayer; for if sins and iniquities are remembered no more, Christ is no more interceding for sin, and his people have nothing to pray for, but everything to rejoice in and be thankful for.

To return to Rom. viii. 11. This passage bears an altered aspect in a knowledge of the distinct and closing ministration of the Spirit. It is a declaration, on the part of the Apostle, of the change which should ensue at Christ's second coming upon those who should be alive and remaining. It has nothing whatever in relation to a resurrection of human bodies. How absurd then is the following specimen of a

so-called Divine inversion : "Here" (Rom. viii. 11,) "it is asserted as a positive fact, that in regeneration the mind is new-created in the first place, the new-creation of the body (!) following at a subsequent period; while, from Genesis ii. 7, it appears that Adam's body was created first, and that the vital principle with the mind was imparted afterwards. This needs no comment.

We now bring forward a third and concluding argument for the nonobligation of prayer. Judging from the use of the Lord's prayer in the prayer-book, the Church of England would seem not to aspire to the pretensions of prayer in the Holy Ghost, therefore, we should leave her out of the question here. Most assuredly there was no written form of prayer, no Lord's Prayer whatever, in the Apostles' ministry. Before any one pleads apostolic precedent for prayer, he must show that he has the same object in view in his petitions as the Apostles had. Their object, beyond a doubt, was the second advent. Now, of this event Paul wrote, "What a man seeth why doth he yet hope for ?” maintain that we do see it, and that hope is no more hope, but fruition. But we may read, 'What a man hath why doth he yet pray for?' We maintain that the petition has been granted: prayer is consequently out of place.

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Paul exhorts, "Brethren, pray for us:" and again, "Continue in prayer that God would open unto us a door of utterance to speak the mystery of Christ. (Colos. iv. 3.) This was prayer for ministers; but there are no such characters now. Show us a minister of Christ, and we will immediately acknowledge the obligation of prayer.

Jesus spake a parable to this end, that men ought always to pray and not to faint. The parable was that of the unjust judge; "And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith, And shall not God avenge his own elect which cry unto him day and night, though he bear long with them: I tell you that he will avenge them speedily." (Luke xviii. 7, 8, with Rev. vi. 10, 11.) The days of vengeance were the days of Jerusalem's overthrow, they are therefore long since past, and consequently the cry or prayer is ended, because it is avenged. The same is true of the illustration of prayer, in the friend who borrowed three loaves. The loaves being obtained, what are we to think of one who continues begging for them? It becometh the justified to be thankful. It was written of them, "The path of the justified is as the shining light, that shineth brighter and brighter unto the perfect day." The perfect day being come, what more has God to do than he hath done for his people? Promise is the foundation of prayer; but not one thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord promised Israel; the promises are all fulfilled, and all prayer is now without a warrant.

The same remarks apply to Paul's writing to Timothy, where we read 1 Tim. ii. 1, “I exhort therefore, that first of all, supplications, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks, be made for all men; for kings, and all that are in authority; that we may lead a quiet and peaceable life in all godliness and honesty." In the context we read, "there is one mediator between God and man, the man Christ Jesus." Paul's exhortation depended upon the continuance of this official character of the man Christ Jesus. We must repeat that believers were then in the death image, "alway bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord

Jesus." They were treated as those "who did evil that good might come," in short, they were as the filth of the world, and the off-scouring of all things; their cause had nothing to shew against the Jew whom they condemned; for as the Jew ascribed their Master's miracles to Beelzebub, so he did theirs. But when the days of vengeance' were fully come, it was not so. The aspect of things was altered, and we have only to make that (to most) seemingly impossible effort,-to place ourselves in imagination back to that very day; to know ourselves as forming part and parcel of a vilified, persecuted, and ridiculed sect; to think how in such case we should wish to provide things honest in the sight of all men, as the most circumspect of the circumspect, and the observed of all observers; and then to suppose ourselves witnesses of the fall of that hierarchy, whose doom we had been proclaiming through evil report and good report, and the beauty and applicability of the Apostle's exhortation will be evident. When Christianity triumphed at the fall of Jerusalem, the kingdoms of this world became the kingdoms of the Lord and of his Christ; all rule, authority, and power was put down; all enemies were under his feet: but when Paul exhorted Timothy, it was, "now we see not yet all things put under him."-Not to enlarge upon this, we may observe, in conclusion, that prayer and the second coming are mostly found in juxta-position in the Epistles. When Peter declares the end of all things is at hand,' immediately comes the word of warning, be ye therefore sober, and watch unto prayer.' This was in accordance with the Lord's oft-repeated exhortation, "Watch ye, therefore, and pray always, that ye may be accounted worthy to escape all these things that shall come to pass, and to stand before the Son of man." (Luke xxi. 36, compare Eph. vi. 12-18.) When the event here spoken of transpired, watching and prayer were alike ended. Believers in such end were called to inherit the kingdom prepared from the foundation of the world. In one word, it has been one great object in these pages, to show that the heaven of the Bible is a heaven on earth. We believe that this has been shewn; we believe that we enjoy the blessings, sing the songs, live in that abiding love, which religious systems postpone to the period when we shall have shuffled off this mortal coil. We are in the heavenly state, and it is admitted that prayer would be out of place in heaven. In the heavenly state, as described in the Revelation, there is nothing but unceasing praise. It has been proved that the close of Daniel and of the Revelation lands us not in a time subsequent to a physical conflagration of the earth, but in the earth's everlasting jubilee of victory and peace. It has been proved that that jubilee commenced nearly eighteen hundred years ago. There is now neither faith nor hope, for we walk by sight, and what a man seeth why doth he yet hope for? It is all love. "All things are yours," saith the Apostle to the Corinthians, "whether Paul, or Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or things present, or things to come; all things are yours; and ye are Christ's, and Christ is God's." (1 Cor. iii. 21-23.) If this could be said in that day, when death was not swallowed up in victory, how much more now, when there is neither adversary nor evil occurrent. There is no evil can happen to a Christian. He comes into all the ills which flesh is heir to, like other

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