LivePrayerSermon 734. The Dawn of Revival, or Prayer Speedily Answered
A sermon
(No. 734)
Delivered on Lord's-day Morning, FEBRUARY 10, 1867, by
C.H.SPURGEON,
At the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington
"At the beginning of your supplications the commandment came forth, and I am come to show you; for you are greatly beloved."-Daniel9:23.
PRAYER is useful in a thousand ways. It is spiritually what the old physicians sought after naturally-namely, a catholicon-aremedy of universal application. There is no ease of need, distress, or dilemma, in which prayer will not be found to be avery present help. In the case before us Daniel had been studying the book of Jeremiah, and had learned that God would accomplishseventy weeks in the desolation of Jerusalem, but he felt that there was still more to be learned, and he set his face tolearn it.
His was a noble and acute mind, and with all its energies he sought to pry into the prophetic meaning. But he did not relyupon his own judgment-he betook himself at once to prayer. Prayer is that great key which opens mysteries. To whom shouldwe go for an explanation if we cannot understand a writing, but to the author of the book? Daniel appealed at once to theGreat Author, in whose hand Jeremiah had been the pen. In lonely retirement the Prophet knelt upon his knees and cried untoGod that He would open up to him the mystery of the prophecy, that he might know the full meaning of the seventy weeks andwhat God intended to do at the end of them, and how He would have His people behave themselves to obtain deliverance fromtheir captivity.
Daniel made his suit unto the Lord to unloose the seals and open the volume of the book, and he was heard and favored withthe knowledge which he might have sought for in vain by any other means. Luther used to say that some of his best understandingsof Holy Scripture were not so much the result of meditation as of prayer-and all students of the Word will tell you that whenthe hammers of learning and Biblical criticism have failed to break open a flinty text, oftentimes prayer has done it, andnuggets of gold have been found concealed therein. To every student of the Word of God who would become a well-instructedscribe we would say, "With all the means which you employ. With all your searching of commentaries. With all your digginginto the original languages. With all your research among learned Divines, mingle much fervent prayer."
As the Lord said to Israel, "With all your offerings you shall offer salt," so does wisdom say to us, "With all your searchingand with all your studying, offer much prayer." Rest assured that the old maxim, "To have prayed well is to have studied well,"is worthy to be written not only upon the walls of our studies but upon the tablets of our hearts. If you will place the Bookof Inspiration before your attentive eyes and ask the Lord to open up its meaning to you, the exercise of prayer itself shallbe blessed by God to put your soul into the best state in which to get at the hidden meaning which lies concealed from theeyes of the worldly wise-but which is clearly manifested to meek and lowly souls-when they reverently seek the guidance oftheir heavenly Father.
The particular point in the text to which I would direct your attention, this morning, is that Daniel's prayer was answeredat once-while he was yet speaking! Yes, and at the beginning of his supplication. It is not always so. Prayer sometimes tarrieslike a petitioner at the gate until the king comes forth to fill her bosom with the blessings which she seeks. The Lord, whenHe has given great faith, has been known to try it by long delays. He has suffered His servants' voices to echo in their earsas from a bronze sky. They have knocked at the golden gate, but it has remained immovable, as though it were rusted upon itshinges.
Like Jeremiah they have cried, "You have covered Yourself with a cloud, that our prayer should not pass through." Thus havetrue saints continued in patient waiting for months, and there have been instances in which their prayers have even waitedyears without reply! Not because they were not vehement, nor because they were unaccepted, but because so it pleased Him whois a Sovereign, and who gives according to His own pleasure. If it pleases Him to bid our patience
exercise itself, shall He not do as He wills with His own? Beggars must not be choosers either as to time, place, or form.Brethren must not take delays in prayer for denial-God's long-dated bills will be punctually honored-we must not suffer Satanto shake our confidence in the God of Truth by pointing to our unanswered prayers.
We are dealing with a Being whose years are without end-to whom one day is as a thousand years-far be it from us to countHim slack by measuring His doings by the standard of our little hour! Unanswered petitions are not unheard. God keeps a filefor our prayers. They are not blown away by the wind-they are treasured in the King's archives. There is a registry in thecourt of Heaven where every prayer is recorded. O tried Believer, your sighs and your tears are not fruitless! God has a tearbottle in which the costly drops of sacred grief are put away and a book in which your holy groans are numbered! And by-and-byyour suit shall prevail.
Can you not be content to wait a little? Will not your Lord's time be better than your time? By-and-by He will comfortablyappear, to your soul's joy, and make you put away your sackcloth and ashes of long waiting, and put on the scarlet and finelinen of full fruition! However, in the case of Daniel, the man greatly beloved, there was no waiting at all. In Daniel'scase the promise was true, "Before they call I will answer, and while they are yet speaking I will hear." The angel Gabrielwas made to fly very swiftly, as though even the flight of an angel was hardly swift enough for God's mercy. Oh how fast themercy of God travels, and how long His anger lingers!
"Fly," He said, "bright spirit. Try your utmost power of wing! Descend to my waiting servant and fulfill his desire." Brethren,my heart's desires and earnest longings are that at the commencement of our supplication we may have an answer from the Throneof God! This is the commencement of our prayers only in a certain sense, for prayer has never ceased here-for the last fewmonths the public meeting for prayer every morning and every night has been sustained by earnest Brothers and Sisters-butwe are now at the commencement of a month of more special prayer and I pant for an early visitation of Divine Grace.
It will be a very blessed encouragement to us, a stimulus to more intense ardor, an argument for greater confidence in Godif we should be favored, with Daniel, to receive gracious answers to our supplications at their very commencement! In speakingof such a mercy, two points press for consideration. First, reasons for justly expecting so early a blessing. And secondly,forms in which we earnestly desire and hopefully expect it.
I. First, have we any REASONS TO EXPECT THAT AT THE COMMENCEMENT OF OUR SUPPLICATION THE COMMANDMENT OF MERCY WILL COME FORTH?Rest assured that we have, if we are found in the same posture as Daniel, for God acts towards His servants by a fixed rule.Let self-examination be now in vigilant exercise while we compare ourselves with the successful Prophet.
God will hear His people at the commencement of their prayers if the condition of the supplicant is fitted for it. The natureof such fitness we may gather from the state of Daniel's mind and the mode of his procedure. Upon this, our first noteworthyobservation is that Daniel was determined to obtain the blessing which he was seeking. Note carefully the expression whichhe has used in the third verse-"I set my face unto the Lord God to seek by prayer and supplication." That setting of the faceis expressive of resolute purpose, firm determination, undivided attention and fixed resolute perseverance. "I set my facetowards the Lord."
We never do anything in this world until we set our faces thoroughly to it. The warriors who win battles are those who areresolved to conquer or die. The heroes who emancipate nations are those who count no hazards and reckon no odds, but are resolvedthat the yoke shall be broken from the neck of their country. The merchants who prosper in this world are those who do theirbusiness with all their hearts and watch for wealth with eagerness. The half-hearted man is nowhere in the race of life-heis usually contemptible in the sight of others-and a misery to himself. If a thing is worth doing, it is worth doing well!And if it is not worth doing thoroughly, wise men leave it alone.
Especially is this a truth in the spiritual life. Wonders are not done for God and for the Truth of God by men asleep upontheir back, or out of their beds but still asleep! Souls are not saved by men who scarcely know or care whether they are savedthemselves! Errors are not dashed from their pedestals by those who are careless concerning truth and count it of little value.Reformations have not been worked in this world by men of lukewarm spirit and temporizing policy. One fiery Luther is of morevalue than twenty like the half-hearted Erasmus who knew infinitely more than he felt, and perhaps felt more than he daredto express.
A man, if he would do anything for God, for the Truth, for the Cross of Christ, must set his face and with the whole forceof his will resolve to serve his God. The soldier of Christ must set his face like a flint against all opposition, and atthe same moment set his face towards the Lord with the attentive eyes of the handmaiden looking towards her mistress. If calledto suffer for the Truth of God, we must set our face towards this conflict as Jesus set His face towards Jerusalem. He whowould conquer in this glorious war, and overcome the Lord at the Mercy Seat must be resolved! Resolved with his whole soul-resolvedafter matured thought-resolved for reasons which are too weighty for him to escape- resolved that from the Throne of Gracehe will not depart without the blessing.
Never, never shall a man be unsuccessful in prayer who sets his face to win the promised mercy. Granted that you are seekingwhat you ought to seek for, that you are seeking it through Christ and by faith in Him, the one qualification to success thatwe recommend to you, Brothers and Sisters, is the setting of your faces towards the attaining of it. If there are but a dozenmen in this, my Church, who have set their faces for a revival, we shall surely have it! Of this my heart knows no doubt.If there are but half-a-dozen, like Gideon's men that lapped-if, I say, there are but six who are unwavering, and will notbe baulked by difficulties, or turned back by disappointments-as sure as God is God, He will hear the prayers of such!
No, if it came down to but two or three, the promise is to two of us who are agreed as touching one thing concerning the kingdom.Yes, more-if two could not be found, if there were but one faithful saint left, provided that he were endowed with the spiritand ardor of Daniel-he would yet prevail as Daniel did of old! We must not fail in the setting of our face towards the Lord.I humbly but devoutly ask God, the Holy Spirit, to give you, my beloved in the Lord Jesus, both men and women, members ofthis Church, a solemn resolution that in the work in which we are engaged for God you will not be satisfied unless the largestanswers are granted.
This was the first proof that God might safely give Daniel the blessing at once, for the Prophet's heart was fixed in immutableresolve, and there was no turning him from the point. Now, if a beggar is resolved to have his request, you may as well givein at once-it is wasting both his time and yours to put him off with delays-we think it best to give it to him at once, andso does our heavenly Father with us.
Next, Daniel felt deeply the misery of the people for whom he pleaded. Read that expression, "under the whole Heaven has notbeen done as has been done upon Jerusalem." The condition of that city-lying in ruins, her inhabitants captives, her choicestsons banished to the ends of the earth-afflicted him very sorely. He had not a light superficial acquaintance with the sorrowsof his people, but his inmost heart was embittered with the wormwood and the gall of their cup. Brethren, if God intends togive us souls He will prepare us for the honor by causing us to feel the deep ruin of our fellow creatures, and the fearfuldoom which that ruin will involve unless they shall escape from it.
I would have you school yourselves till you obtain a horror of the sinner's sin-surely not so strange a task if you rememberyour own former estate and present tendencies! How fiery was that oven through which your spirit passed when the hand of Godwas heavy upon you both by day and night? I want you, my Brothers and Sisters in the Lord Jesus, to get a clear view of thewrath of God which threatens your own children, your own friends, your fellow seat-holders, your neighbors, your kinsfolk-unlessthey are saved.
If you could get into your heart as well as into your creed the sincere belief that, "the wicked shall be turned into Hellwith all the nations that forget God." If you could remember that even those who hear the Gospel have no way of escape ifthey remain impenitent, and that if they reject Christ there remains nothing for them but "a fearful looking for ofjudgmentand of fiery indignation." If your soul could be made to melt for heaviness because of the woes of lost spirits, and becauseso many of your fellow men will, within a little while, be lost-lost as these others are, past all recall, beyond all hope,or all dream of alleviation-surely you would become awfully earnest about souls!
We would hear praying of a mighty sort if Believers sympathized with men in their ruin! Then groans and tears would not beso scarce! Then the soul, pouring out itself in groans which cannot be uttered, would be but an ordinary thing! Then shallwe prevail with God through the precious blood of Jesus when we feel intensely the sinner's need! If there are some here whoreally feel the terrors of the world to come and are bound under those terrors, and moved to wait and wrestle at the MercySeat till souls are rescued from their sins, there is no fear but what at the very commencement of our supplication the commandmentto bless us will go forth!
In the next place, Daniel was ready to receive the blessing because he felt deeply his own unworthiness of it. I do not knowthat even the 51st Psalm is more penitential than the chapter which contains our text. I bade you remark, while we were readingit, how the Prophet confesses the people's sin and styles it by three, four, five or more descriptive epithets, all expressiveof his deep sense of its blackness. Read the chapter and note how he humbly acknowledges sins of commission, sins of omission,and especially sins against the warnings of God's Word and the entreaties of God's servants.
The Prophet is very explicit. He lays bare his heart before the Lord. He tears off every film from the corruption of the people.He exposes the wound to the inspection of the Great Surgeon and asks Him to send it health and cure. I believe that the Lordis about to bless that man, personally, to whom He has given a deep sense of sin. And certainly that Church which is willingto make confession of its own sinfulness and unworthiness is on the eve of a visitation of love.
Let us go, then, to our God-I pray that the Holy Spirit may enable us to go to Him-each man and woman making confession forhimself apart. Individual confession is needed! I have sins which, perhaps, you might not discover in you. Sins, which itwere not possible for you to commit because you are not placed in my station. You, too, have in your families, in your business,in your private and public lives, sins with which I am not acquainted. Each man has a point of sin where he is separated fromhis fellows. And each man must therefore make his own confession, apart, with the fullest honesty, with the deepest humiliation.And each one must add to his acknowledgements the humble prayer, "Search me, O God, and know my heart. Try me, and know mythoughts!"
My dear fellow Members, are you conscious, each one, of your own personal iniquity towards the Lord your God? Then let notthis day pass till a full confession has been made! And should there remain, dear Brethren, in us as a Church any transgressionunconfessed, I hope the Lord may lead us to confess it. If we have been proud of our numbers. If we have been exalted by success.If there should be any bickering among us. If any Christian here has any ill feeling towards another, let not this day godown till all such evil is removed! I am very conscious that, in the midst of so large a Church, much sin may remain undetected.O for great searching of heart!
Beloved, you will certainly spoil our hopes and cause us to miss the blessing unless every evil thing is put away. Let thisbe a day for purging out the old leaven that we may keep the feast not with the leaven of malice, but in holiness as becomesthe disciples of Jesus. The idols must be utterly abolished! And till we put them all away we cannot expect to receive a blessingfrom the Lord our God. "O come, let us worship and bow down: let us kneel before the Lord our Maker." Let us bless His namefor His exceedingly great goodness to us as a Church and sing of all His loving kindness which He has shown to us these 13years!
Let us confess our unworthiness, our coldness, and deadness, and lethargy, and wanderings of heart, and the backsliding ofmany among us! And then, having confessed our faults, we may expect that at the very commencement God will visit us! Whenthe vessel is empty, Heaven's fountain will fill it. When the ground is dried and chapped and begins to open her mouth withthirst, down shall come the rain to make fat the soil. When we feel a sense of need, deep and crushing, then shall a blessingshine forth from the Presence of the Most High. "At the beginning of your supplication the commandment came forth."
But again, dear Friends, we have not exhausted the points in Daniel which deserve our imitation. You will notice that Danielhad a clear conviction of God's power to help His people in their distress. His lively sense of Divine power was based uponwhat God had done in the olden time. One is interested to note in the history of the Jews, how in every dark and stormy hourtheir minds reverted to one particular point of their history! Just as the Greek, in the days when Greece was living Greece,would remember Thermopylae and Marathon and feel his eyes sparkle and every sinew grow strong at the thought of the heroicday when his fathers slew the Persians and broke the yoke of the great king!
So with nobler emotions, because more heavenly, the Israelite always thought of the Red Sea and what the Lord did to Egyptwhen He divided the waters, and they stood upright as a heap that His people might pass through! Daniel, in the prayer says,"You have brought Your people forth out of the land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and have gotten You renown, as at this day."He lays hold upon that deed of ancient prowess and pleads, in effect, after this fashion: "You can do the same, O God, andglorify Your name anew, and assure deliverance to Your people."
My Brothers and Sisters in the bonds of the Lord Jesus, you and I may at this moment draw comfort from the fact that thisGod who divided the Red Sea is our God forever and ever! And is at this hour as mighty as when He overthrew the horse andhis rider in the mighty waters. We worship the God who loves His chosen now even as He did of old. It is
written, "But as for His people, He led them forth like sheep," and so He leads us. He led them through the wilderness andbrought them to the promised rest. And even thus will He bring us to our eternal home.
O God, You that went forth before Your people, go forth before us after the same fashion! Though doubts and fears roll beforeus like a sea, remove them, we beseech You! Though our iniquities clamor behind us, swallow them up in the Red Sea of Jesus'blood! Though we march through the wilderness, yet give us Heaven's manna and let the Rock distil with living streams! Thoughwe deserve not to be visited by Your love, yet are we not Your people and the sheep of Your pasture? Are we not called byYour name? Have You not bought us with Your blood? Bring us into the promised land! Give us the heritage of Your people andbless us with the blessings of Your chosen! We too, if we are sensible of past mercies to the Church of God, and to ourselvespersonally, shall then be ready to receive present mercy.
But once more, the most apparent point about Daniel's prayer is his peculiar earnestness. To multiply expressions such as,"O Lord! O Lord! O Lord!" may not always be right. There may be much sin in such repetitions, amounting to taking God's namein vain. But it is not so with Daniel. His repetitions are forced from the depths of his soul, "O Lord, hear! O Lord, forgive!O Lord, hearken and do!" These are the fiery volcanic eruptions of a soul on fire, heaving terribly! It is just the man'ssoul needing vent. Jesus Himself, when He prayed most vehemently, prayed three times, using the same words.
Variety of expression sometimes shows that the mind is not altogether absorbed in the object, but is still able to considerthe mode of its utterance. But when the heart becomes entirely swallowed up in the desire, it cannot stay to polish and fashionits words-it seizes upon any expressions nearest to hand-and with these it continues its entreaties. So long as God understandsit, the troubled mind has no anxiety about its modes of speech. Daniel here, with what the old Divines would have called multipliedingeminations, groans himself upward till he gains the summit of his desires!
To what shall I liken the pleadings of the man greatly beloved? It seems to me as though he thundered and lightened at thegate of Heaven! He stood there before God and said to Him, "O You Most High, You have brought me to this just as you did Jacobto the Jabbok. And with You all night I mean to stay and wrestle till the break of day. I cannot, will not let You go exceptYou bless me." No prayer is at all likely to bring down an immediate answer if it is not a fervent prayer. "The effectualfervent prayer of a righteous man avails much." But if it is not fervent we cannot expect to find it effectual or prevalent.We must get rid of the icicles that hang about our lips. We must ask the Lord to thaw the ice caves of our soul and to makeour hearts like a furnace of fire heated seven times hotter.
If our hearts do not burn within us we may well question whether Jesus is with us. Those who are neither cold nor hot He hasthreatened to spew out of His mouth! How can we expect His favor if we fall into a condition so obnoxious to Him? Our Godis a consuming fire and He will not have communion with us until our souls grow to be like consuming fires, too. Unless weare warm with love to God we cannot expect the love of God to manifest itself in us to its highest degree.
Now I know some of you are cold enough. But I thank God we have a great many very warm-hearted earnest Christians in connectionwith this Church-Christians, I will here make bold to say, that I never expected to live to see-such true and lovely saints.I have seen Apostolic piety revived in this Church! I will say it before the Throne of God-I have seen as earnest and as truea piety as Paul or Peter ever witnessed! I have seen in some here present such godly zeal, such holiness, such devotion tothe Master's business as Christ Himself would look upon with joy and satisfaction. But there are others who are members ofthe Church who never enter heartily into our projects of labor, nor yet unite with our solemn assemblies of prayer.
What shall I say of them? If I were to speak sharply they would only say that I scolded them with severity, and that mightnot serve my turn, for I desire their best interests. Shall I not rather say to them, "My dear Brothers and Sisters, if youare, indeed, with us. If you have fellowship with us, and truly our fellowship is with the Father and with His Son Jesus Christ,we do beseech you, ask the Lord to make you more earnest than the most earnest of us have ever been! And ask Him to make you,if you have been laggards, to now take the front place! If you have been slow either in the generosity of your giving, orin the earnestness of your pleading, ask the Lord that you may, from this day on, double your pace and do more in the timethat remains for you in this life than others might be expected to do who have not before now been so backward as you havebeen!
Of the things which we have spoken, this is the sum-if the whole Church in this place shall be brought to set its face tobe conscious of the deep need of sinners, to confess its own sin, to be mindful of God's mercy, and to be vehemently, passionatelyin earnest for a blessing, I cannot, for my own part, see the slightest reason why at the commencement of the supplicationthe commandment should not go forth!-
"Let us pray! The Lord is willing,
Ever waiting, prayer to hear!
Ready, His kind words fulfilling,
Loving hearts to help and cheer." Thus much upon that first reason. We may expect a speedy answer to prayer when the conditionof the suppliant is as God would have it.
Secondly, I believe we have every reason to expect a blessing when we consider the mercy itself. That which we, as a Church,are seeking is, if I understand your hearts and my own, just this-we want to see our own personal piety deepened and revived,and we want to see sinners saved. Well, is not that, in itself, so good a thing that we may expect the Giver of every goodand perfect gift to give it to us? We need not ask the sun to shine-is it not its very office as a sun to do so? We ask Godto give us this good thing-is it not according to the Nature of the Father of Lights to bestow on us such mercies? We seekthat which is for the good of His Church-the Church which He has purchased with His own
blood!
A brother once remarked in prayer that none of us would let our spouse ask again and again for any good thing and refuse her-ifit were in our power to give her anything under Heaven we would feel it our greatest delight to do so! And shall the bride,the Lamb's wife, find her Husband less kind than we poor evil mortals are to our wives? No. If Christ's Church pleads withher own Husband, she cannot be refused! Depend upon it, her royal Husband will give her according to His infinite fullness!What we ask is for God's Glory. We are not seeking a gift which may glorify us or may exalt some one of our fellow men. Wecrave not victory for the arms of a warrior. We ask not success for the researches of a philosopher. We seek nothing whichcan bring honor to human prowess or to human wisdom. We seek that which will put crowns upon the head of our gracious God,and we seek it with the one pure desire that He may be glorified!
Above all, we ask that which is dear to the heart of Christ. He is the Friend of sinners-for sinners He lived, for sinnersHe died, for sinners He rose, for sinners He pleads, for sinners He reigns in Glory-and if we come to God and say to Him,"By the blood and wounds of Jesus, by the griefs of Gethsemane, and by the groans of Calvary, hear us!" how can it be thatwe shall be kept waiting? No, I gather that if such is the burden of the prayer, at the beginning we shall receive it.
Thirdly, there is another thing which encourages me, namely, the nature of the relations which exist between God and us. Isnot that a choice word, "O man greatly beloved"? "Yes," you will perhaps say, "it is easy to understand why God should sendso swift an answer to Daniel, because he was a man greatly beloved." Ah, has your unbelief made you forget that you are greatlybeloved, too? You, my dear Brothers and Sisters, as a Believer in Jesus Christ, will not be at all presumptuous if you applyto yourself the title of, "Man, greatly beloved." I will ask you a few questions which will prove your title. Must you nothave been greatly beloved to have been bought with the precious blood of Christ, as of a lamb without blemish and withoutspot?
When God spared not His own Son, but gave Him up for you, must you not have been greatly beloved? Let me ask you about yourexperience. You lived in sin, and rioted in it. Must you not have been greatly beloved for God to have had patience with you?You were called by Grace and led to a Savior, and made a child of God and an heir of Heaven. Why, that proves, does it not,a very great and super-abounding love? Since that time, whether your path has been rough with troubles, or smooth with goodness,I have no doubt it has been full of proofs that you are a man greatly beloved! If the Lord has chastened you, yet not in anger!If He has made you poor, you have been greatly beloved in your poverty.
I know this, when I look back upon my own life, I must confess my unworthiness and acknowledge my sin most sincerely. Andyet I dare to feel and to say that I am a man greatly beloved of my God! He has given me such distinguished mercies to enjoywhen I have deserved not even the least of them, that I cannot help saying, "He crowns me with loving kindnesses and tendermercies." I make my boast in the tender mercy of my God all the more freely because I am sure that you, my Beloved, also arespecially beloved of Heaven!
The more unworthy you feel yourselves to be, why, the more evidence you have that nothing but unspeakable love could haveled the Lord Jesus to save such a soul as yours! The more unworthiness the saint feels, the more proof of the great love ofGod in having chosen him and called him and made him an heir of bliss. Now, if there is such love between God and us, letus ask very boldly. Do not let us go to God as though we were strangers, or as though He were unwilling to give-we are greatlybeloved!
"If He spared not His own Son, but freely delivered Him up for us all, how shall He not with Him also freely give us all things."Come boldly, Brother! Come boldly, Sister, for despite the whisperings of Satan and the doubts of your own heart, you aregreatly beloved! And Jesus says, "Ask what you will, and it shall be done unto you." Who will refuse to ask when such encouragementsare suggested to our minds? But enough! I am afraid I shall weary you on this point, and I need a long time on the second.But time has gone. Therefore a few minutes must suffice. O swift-winged Time, I could gladly delay you when such a theme ison hand!
II. If we are to gain the blessing at the commencement, IN WHAT FORM SHOULD WE PREFER TO HAVE IT? Could I have my heart'sdesire, I would crave a blessing for every one of you. I wish the blessing would come on me at the commencement, that I mightpreach with more power and pray with more fervor, and that my own spiritual life might be of a more healthy and vigorous character.
I wish the blessing might come on you, my dear Brethren, deacons and elders, for in the management of such a Church as thisyou need much more Grace than falls to the lot of ordinary men. I pray that you may be made examples to this flock, true guidesin this, our Israel. I wish that the Holy Spirit may fall on all of you workers for Christ who will be here this afternoon.The Lord bless you Sunday school teachers. May you weep in your classes today! Pray for your children before you begin totalk with them! May my dear friends who teach our great classes of men and women have a rich blessing this afternoon!
May it be seen in Mrs. Bartlett's class and Mr. Ranks' class and the others, that the Lord is with you, indeed, and of a truth.It would be a great token for good if this very day we felt the first waves of a great revival. I wish the Lord's power wouldcome upon some of His people who do nothing-that they may be dreadfully miserable this afternoon-that they may be so unhappythat they cannot keep at home but be compelled to start out and do good! You who are working, may God help you to work withheart and soul, not doing it officially as of routine, but doing it with your very life, as though your heart's blood warmedin the work, and your soul's breath were in every word you spoke.
You who do so little, O may the Master constrain you to amend your ways! It would be a very blessed sign of Grace if everyone of us felt this day, "Perhaps there is something more I could do for Christ. I shall do it at once. Perhaps there is somethingI might give to Christ, some department of Christian labor shall have a special donation from me. Perhaps I have a talentwhich I have never used, like an old sword hanging on the wall. This day of battle every weapon must be used, and I have notused mine. Now, before the Lord I lift my hand to Heaven, and I ask that if I have anything, even though it is the smallesttalent, if I have not used it, may He help me to use it at once."
This is such a dark world that we must not waste the tiniest piece of candle. The night is so dark that even a glowworm mustnot refuse to give its feeble ray. Each one of us must give personal service to Christ! Do you not know that all God's peopleare priests? Those lying priests, nowadays, put on their gaudy trappings like the priests of Baal, and come forward and say,"We are priests." Priests of Dagon, priests of Baal, priests of Hell, but not God's priests! God's priests are those who arealive from the dead by the power of the Holy Spirit-and every man and every woman here who loves Jesus is a priest to God!
brethren, God would have you all act as priests, and not to say, "We have a minister, let him serve God for us." I will havenothing to do with your responsibilities! Serve God yourselves! It is as much as I can do to serve Him-only by His Grace amI upheld under my own load. In fact, my own responsibilities are so heavy that I cannot bear them! But as for being a proxyfor any one of you, I cannot be anything of the kind! Personally you were bought with blood! Personally you hope to enterHeaven! Personally, then, consecrate yourselves this day unto the Lord, and if you do so, oh, what a blessing it will be!May God send a new and quickened life into His people at the commencement of our supplication!
1 was turning over in my mind how early and sweet a blessing it would be if the Lord would give us today, this morning, thisevening, this afternoon, some conversions! Who shall we especially plead for? What kind of conversions do we desire? Whatif the Lord would call by Grace some of the children of the Church members? What a blessing that would
be! Oh for salvation for our sons and daughters! Pray for them, parents! Pray for them! Pray now, and the Lord will hear you!
Or suppose He were to give to some dear Brother here the soul of his wife for whom he has prayed so long? Or to some of you,my Sisters, your husbands who are still in the gall of bitterness? I would take it as a special favor if the Lord would giveus our dearest friends. I look forward during this month with the hope that we may see some in our own households-our servants,our children-and our unconverted friends and acquaintances saved. But we are not selfish! We should think it a priceless blessingif some of you who have been seat-holders for years were to yield to Sovereign Grace!
I am afraid for many of you because you have felt the power of the Gospel in a measure. But there is some darling sin youcannot give up-which sin will be your everlasting ruin! I remember M'Cheyne says, "Christ gives last knocks." That is a verysorrowful thought. He knocks at the door, but there is such a thing as a "last knock," and some of you will get your lastknock before long. He will never knock again! You will never have another warning nor another invitation, but He will say,"Let him alone, let him alone." You, perhaps, will feel all the easier, but ah, if you do not wake here, you will wake upin Hell! And if before long God does not startle you into repentance, you will be startled into everlasting despair. O, mayGod give us your souls this day!
It would be no small mercy if the Lord would give us many of the casual hearers who will be here tonight, or are now herethis morning. I cannot understand why it is these aisles are always crowded, and why on Sunday night the doors have to beclosed and thousands shut out! Why, men rush into this House as eagerly as if they came here to get gold and treasure! Theyseem so earnest and so eager, and push and tread, one upon another. Surely God must bless some of them! We never know whoare here-men from the utmost ends of the earth-of all nations, kindreds, and tongues! Crowds who never heard the Gospel atall. I am so thankful to think of them, because when they do hear it, if they have never heard it before, they are, perhaps,more likely to be blessed by it than those who have grown hardened under the sound of it.
O, for a mighty cry! A prevailing cry! A Heaven-shaking cry! A cry that would make the gates of Heaven open! A cry which God'sarm could not resist! The cry of all the saints here, knit together in love, with holy vehemence, using the great plea ofthe atoning sacrifice and making this the burden of their cry, "O Lord, revive Your work in the midst of the years. In wrathremember mercy." Let the gracious visitation begin in this place! But if God so pleases, we shall be equally content if itbegins anywhere else-let Him but throw the stone into the stagnant pool of His Church-and I can see the first circle goinground these galleries and many of you saved! I can see the next circle enclosing the neighboring churches! I can see it spreadover London-I can see the widening amphitheatre taking in the whole of this United Kingdom! I can see it cross the Atlantic-tillall round the world God's kingdom spreads, and days of refreshing come from the Presence of the Lord!
Now let us say in His sight, if He does not please to hear us at the commencement of the supplication, yet it is our desireto wait upon Him until He does. O You, our Beloved, if the day does not break nor the shadows flee away. If You will stillremain hidden behind the mountains of separation, yet we wait for You as they that wait for the morning! And we watch andlong as the watchman watches for the rising of the sun. But do not tarry, O our God! Make haste, our Beloved! "Be You likea roe or a young hart upon the mountains of Bether," for Your name's sake. Amen.