Sermon 1215. Solemn Pleadings for Revival

(No. 1215)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1875,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Keep silence before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their strength: let them come near; then let them speak: letus come near together tojudgment." Isaiah 41:1.

THE text is a challenge to the heathen to enter into a debate with the living God. The Lord bids them argue at their bestand let the controversy be calmly carried out to its issues, so as to be decided once and for all. He bids them be quiet,reflect and consider, in order that with renewed strength they may come into the discussion and defend their gods if theycan. He urges them not to bring flippant arguments, but such as have cost them thought and have weight in them, if such argumentscan be. He bids them be quiet till they are prepared to speak and then, when they can produce their strong reasons and settheir cause in the best possible light, He challenges them to enter the lists and see if they can maintain, for a moment,that their gods are gods, or anything better than deceit and falsehood.

I am not about to speak of that controversy at this time, but to use the text with quite another view. We, also, who worshipthe Lord God Most High have a controversy with Him. We have not seen His Church and His cause prospering in the world formany a day as we would desire. As yet heathenism is not put to the rout by Christianity, neither does the Truth of God everywheretrample down error. Nations are not born in a day, nor have the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord andof His Christ. We desire to reason with God about this and, He, Himself, instructs us how to prepare for this sacred debate.

He bids us be silent. He bids us consider and then draw near to Him with holy boldness and plead with Him. He bids us produceour cause and bring forth our strong reasons. It seems to me that at the beginning of the year I cannot suggest to Christianpeople a more urgent topic than this, that we should plead with God that He would display among us greater works of Gracethan as yet our eyes have seen. We have read of wonderful revivals. History records the prodigies of the Reformation and themarvelous way in which the Gospel was spread during the first two centuries. We pine to see the same, again, or to know thereason why it is not so-and with holy boldness it is our desire to come before the Lord and plead with Him-as a man pleadswith his friend. May God help us to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I. First, then, LET US BE SILENT. "Keep silence before me, O islands." Before the controversy opens, let us be silent withsolemn awe, for we have to speak with the Lord God Almighty! Let us not open our mouths to impugn His wisdom, nor allow ourhearts to question His love. What if things do not look as bright as we would wish? The Lord reigns! And what if He seemsto delay? Is He not the Lord God with whom a thousand years are as one day, and who is not slack concerning His promise assome men count slackness?

We are going to be bold to speak with Him, but still, He is the eternal God and we are dust and ashes. Whatever we may saywith holy boldness, we would not utter a word in rash familiarity. He is our Father, but He is our Father in Heaven. He isour Friend, but at the same time He is our Judge. We know that whatever He does is best. We would not say unto our Maker,"What have You made?" Nor to our Creator, "What have You done?" Shall the potter give account to the clay for the works ofhis hands? "It is the lord, let Him do what seems good to Him." When we look at what He does, it may seem to our dim apprehensionto be exceedingly strange, and we may fail to read its meaning. But we need not wish to read it. It is the glory of God toconceal a thing and if He chooses to conceal it, let it be concealed!

Truly, God is good to Israel and His mercy endures forever! If this world's history is to drag on through another score ofmournful centuries, it will only reveal so much the more matter for praise when the great hallelujahs of the ultimate victoryshall peal forth. Our silence of awe should deepen into that of shame, for, my Brothers and Sisters, though it is certainlytrue that the cause of God has not prospered, whose fault is this? If there has been straitening, it has not

been in God. Where, then, has it been? If the seed has rotted under the clods, or if the cankerworm has eaten the green shootso that the reaper has not joyfully filled his arm, from where does it come?

Has there not been sin among us, yes, sin in the Church of God? What if Israel has turned her back in the day of battle? Isthere not an accursed thing in the camp and an Achan who has hidden away the goodly Babylonian garment and the shekel of gold?God says, "Is there not a cause? Can two walk together, except they be agreed? If you walk contrary to Me, I also will walkcontrary to you." Truly, when I see how God has blessed us, I am not so much astonished that He has not given more as I amamazed that He has given so much! Does He bless such unworthy instruments, such laggards, such slothful workers? Does He doanything by tools so unfit? Does He place any treasure in vessels so impure? This is to be ascribed to His Grace.

But if He does not use us to the highest point, let us take shame and confusion of face to ourselves-and before the Throneof His Glory let us sit down in silence. What, indeed, can we say? We have no charges, no accusations to bring against theMost High, but we must silently confess that we, ourselves, are vile. Unto us belongs shame and confusion of face. Go furtherthan this and keep the silence of consideration. This is a noisy age and the Church of Christ, herself, is too noisy. I fearwe have very little silent worship. I do not so much regret the absence of silence from the public assembly as from our privatedevotions where it has a sacred hallowing influence, unspeakably valuable.

Let us be silent, now, for a minute, and consider what is it that we desire of the Lord. The conversion of thousands, theoverthrow of error, the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom. Think in your minds what the blessings are which your soul pantsafter. Get a correct idea of them and then enquire whether you are prepared to receive them. Suppose they were to be now bestowed?Are you ready? If thousands of converts were to be born unto this one Church, are you prepared to teach them, instruct themand comfort them? Are you doing it now, you Christian people? Are you acting in such a way that God knows you to be fit tohave the charge of those converts that you are asking for?

You pray for Divine Grace-are you using the Grace you have? You want to see more power-how about the power you have? Are youemploying it? If a mighty wave of revival sweeps over London, are your hearts ready? Are your hands ready? Are your pursesready? Are you altogether ready to be carried along on the crest of that blessed wave? Consider. If you reflect, you willsee that God is able to give His Church the largest blessing and to give it at any time! Keep silence and consider, and youwill see that He can give the blessing by you or by me-He can make any one of us, weak as we are-mighty through God to thepulling down of strongholds!

He can make our feeble hands, though we have but a few loaves and fishes, capable of feeding myriads with the Bread of Life.Consider this, and this morning ask yourselves in the quiet of your spirits, what can we do to get the blessing? Are we doingthat? What is there in our temper, in our private prayer, in our acts for God which would be likely to bring down the blessing?Do we act as if we were sincere? Have we really a desire for these things which we say we desire? Could we give up worldlyengagements to attend to the work of God? Could we spare time to look after the Lord's vineyard? Are we willing to do theLord's work and are we in the state of heart in which we can do it efficiently and acceptably? Keep silence and consider.I would suggest to every Christian that he should sit a while before God, when he reaches his home, and worship with the silenceof awe, with the silence of shame-and then with the silence of careful thought concerning these things.

Then we shall pass on to the silence of attention. "Keep silence before Me, O islands." Keep silence that God may speak toyou. That God's Word may be heard in your soul, not only parts of it, but all of it! That God's Spirit may be heard with Hisgentle monitions warning you. With His blessed enlightenments revealing to you, yourself and your Lord. With His Divine promptingsurging you to greater consecration and superior holiness. And with His Divine assistances leading you onward in the path ofa higher life than you have yet attained. O, it is well to sit still before the Lord, deaf to every voice but the Divine!We cannot expect him to hear us if we will not hear Him. "I will hear," says the Prophet, "what God the Lord will speak."

Do you always do so? If you have heard the Lord speak to you, you will admit that there is no voice like His. Be silent tillyou hear the Lord's Word slaying all your pride and self-will and self-seeking and proclaiming His sole Glory in every partof your manhood. If you have learned attention, be silent with submission. For this you will need the gracious aid of theHoly Spirit. It is not easy to attain to full submission of soul to whatever the Lord wills. We are often like hard brasswhich will not take the impression from the seal. If we were what we should be, we should be as melted wax which

at once takes the stamp that is put upon it. O, to have a heart that is quite silent as to any wish or will, or opinion, orjudgment of our own, so that God's mind shall be our mind, God's will shall be our will!

The Church would soon be healed of her sorrows and delivered from her divisions if she would, for a while, be silent. Butthe voice of a favorite teacher is heard by some, and the voice of another master in Israel is listened to by others- andso God's voice is lost amid the clamor of sects and the uproar of parties. O, that the Church would sit at Jesus' feet, layaside her prejudices and take the Word in its simplicity and integrity-and accept what God the Lord, and He only, does declareto be the Truth!

I invite the members of this Church and urge the members of all Churches to see to this. See to it that we cry unto the Lordfor a blessed silence in His Presence till we sit, like servants, waiting for their Master's word and stand like watchmenwaiting for the Master's coming-ourselves quiet, restful, peaceful, resigned-no, acquiescing in the Divine will, all attentiveto hear each Word that falls from Him and resolved with humble resolution that whatever the Lord shall speak, that will wedo. We will accent His Word as Law, Light and Life to our souls and nothing else! May the Lord send that solemn silence overall His people now!

II. In that silence LET US RENEW OUR STRENGTH. Noise wears us out. Silence feeds us. To run upon the Master's errands is alwayswell. But to sit at the Master's feet is quite as necessary, for, like the angels which excel in strength, our power to doHis commandments arises out of our hearkening to the voice of His Word. If even for a human controversy, quiet thought isa fit preparation, how much more is it necessary in solemn pleadings with the Eternal One? Now let the deep springs be unsealed!Let the solemnities of eternity exercise their power while all is still within us.

But how does it happen that such silence renews our strength? It does so, first, by giving space for the strengthening Wordto come into the soul and the energy of the Holy Spirit to be really felt. Words, words, words! We have so many words andthey are but chaff! But where is THE WORD that in the beginning was God and was with God? That Word is the living and incorruptibleSeed. "What is the chaff to the wheat? with the Lord." We need less of the words of man and more of Him who is the very Wordof God! Be quiet, be quiet and let Jesus speak! Let His wounds speak to you. Let His death speak to you. Let His Resurrectionspeak to you. Let His Ascension and His subsequent Glory speak to you. And let the trumpet of His Second Advent ring in yourears. You cannot hear the music of these glorious things for the rattle of the wheels of care and the vain jangle of disputatiousself-wisdom. Be silent, that you may hear the voice of Jesus, for when He speaks, you will renew your strength.

The eternal Spirit is with His people, but we often miss His power because we give more ear to other voices than to His, andquite as often our own voice is an injury to us, for it is heard when we have received no message from the Lord and, therefore,gives an uncertain sound. If we will wait upon the blessed Spirit, His mysterious influence will sway us most divinely andwe shall be filled with all the fullness of God. Even as we have seen the frost yield suddenly to the influence of the warmsouth wind, so shall our lethargy melt before His Sovereign energy. How often have I felt, in a moment, my ice-locked spirityield to the breath of the Holy Spirit!

You have seen a cloud on high flying, as you thought, against the wind, driven on by some upper current of air which you didnot feel below. Even thus have we been carried on by upper currents which flesh and blood cannot understand. We sang as Dr.Watts does-

"Look how we grovel here below, Fond of these trifling toys. Our souls can neither fly nor go To reach eternal joys."

But when the Holy Spirit came, the lightning, itself, could not overtake us! We rode upon a cherub and did fly, yes, we didride upon the wings of the wind, for God, The Everlasting One, had caught us up and filled us with His power! Be silent, then,that the Spirit may thus work upon you. Let other spirits be gone-let the spirit of the world, and the spirit of the flesh,and the spirit of self be banished-and let the Spirit of the Ever Blessed be heard speaking in your soul.

Thus shall you renew your strength. We must be silent to renew our strength, next, by using silence for consideration as toWho it is that we are dealing with. We are going to speak with God about the weakness of His Church and the slowness of itsprogress. Be silent, that you may remember who He is with whom you are expostulating. It is God the Omnipotent, who can makeHis Church mighty if He will, and that at once! We are coming to plead, now, with One whose

arm is not shortened, and whose ear is not heavy. Renew your strength as you think of Him! If you have doubted the ultimatesuccess of Christianity, renew your strength as you remember who it is that has sworn by Himself that surely all flesh shallsee the salvation of God!

You are coming to plead with Jesus Christ! Be silent and remember those wounds of His with which He has redeemed mankind!Can these fail of their reward? Shall Jesus be robbed of the power He has so dearly earned? The earth is the Lord's and Hewill unsheathe her of the mists which dimmed her luster at the Fall. He will make this planet shine as brightly as when shefirst was rolled from between the palms of the Omnipotent Creator. There shall be a new Heaven and a new earth in which dwellsrighteousness! Think of that, and renew your strength. Has not the Lord said, concerning His beloved Son, that He shall dividethe spoil with the strong, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in His hands? Shall it not be so?

Think, too that you are about to appeal to the Holy Spirit and there, again, you have the same Divine attributes. What cannotthe Spirit of God do? He sent the tongues of fire at Pentecost and Parthians, Medes and Elamites, and men of every nationheard the Gospel at once! He turned 3,000 hearts by one sermon to know the Crucified Savior to be the Messiah. He sent theApostles like flames of fire through the whole earth, till every nation felt their power. He can do the same again! He canbring the Church out of darkness into noonday! Let us renew our strength as we think of this. The work we are going to pleadabout is not ours one-half so much as it is God's! It is not in our hands, but in hands that cannot fail! Therefore let usrenew our strength as we silently meditate upon the Triune Jehovah with whom we have to speak.

In silence, too, let us renew our strength by remembering His promises. We want to see the world converted to God and He hassaid, "The knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the sea." "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed,and all flesh shall see it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." "They that dwell in the wilderness shall bowbefore Him; and His enemies shall lick the dust." "The idols He shall utterly abolish." There are a thousand promises! Letus think of that and however difficult the enterprise may be, and however dark our present prospects, we shall not dare todoubt when Jehovah has spoken and pledged His Word!

Our strength will be renewed, next, if in silence we yield up to God all our own wisdom and strength. Brothers and Sisters,I never am so full as when I am empty. I have never been so strong as in the extremity of weakness. The source of our worstweakness is our strength and the source of our worst folly is our personal wisdom. Lord, help us to be still till we havegiven up ourselves, till we have said, Lord, our ways of working cannot be compared with Your ways of working. Teach us howto work! Lord, our judgments are weak compared with Your perfect judgment. We are fools-be You our Teacher and Guide in allthings. Crush out of us our fancied strength and make us like worms, for it is the worm Jacob that You will make into thenew sharp threshing instrument which shall thresh the mountain!

After this sort shall you renew your strength. Keep silence, then, you saints, till you have felt your folly and your weakness-andthen renew your strength most gloriously by casting yourselves upon the strength of God. More than ever before, let your inmostsouls be filled with trust in the arm that never fails, the hand that never loses its cunning, the eyes that are never closed,the heart that never wavers. Jehovah works everywhere and all things are His servants. He works in the light and we see HisGlory. But He equally works in the darkness, where we cannot perceive Him. His wisdom is too profound to be at all times understoodof mortal men. Let us be patient and wait His time, for as surely as God lives, the idols must go down, the crescent of Mohammedmust die forever, and the harlot of the Seven Hills must be devoured with fire-the Lord has said it-and so it must be!

Jehovah has declared it, and who shall say He is a liar? With no more doubt of our Father's power than the child at its mother'sbreast has of its mother's love-with no more doubt than an angel before the Throne can have of Jehovah's majesty-let us commitourselves, each one after his own fashion, to suffering and to labor for the grand cause of God, feeling well assured thatneither labor nor suffering can be in vain in the Lord! Thus much, then, concerning the renewing of our strength. I wish wecould have had a quarter of an hour's silence that you might reflect upon these topics, but I leave them with you, trustingthat you will seek that silence at home and so renew your strength.

III. Our text proceeds to add, "Then let them draw near." Beloved, you that know the Lord, I would urge you to DRAW NEAR.You are silent. You have renewed your strength. Now enjoy access with boldness! The condition in which to intercede for othersis not that of distance from God, but that of great nearness to Him. Even thus did Abraham

draw near when he pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. May God the Holy Spirit draw us near even now. Perhaps the following fiveconsiderations may help us in so doing.

Let us remember how near we really are. We have been washed from every sin in the precious blood of Jesus. We are coveredfrom head to foot, at this moment, with the spotless Righteousness of Immanuel, God with us! We are accepted in the Beloved!Yes, we are, at this moment, one with Christ and members of His body. How could we be nearer? How near is Christ to God? Sonear are we! Come near, then, in your personal pleadings, for you are near in your Covenant Representative. The Lord Jesushas taken manhood into union with the Divine Nature and now, between God and man, there exists a special and unparalleledrelationship, the likes of which the Universe cannot present. No actual blood relationship exists between God and any othercreature but man, "for verily He took not up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham." "Unto which of the angels said Heat any time, You are My Son; this day have I begotten You"? And yet has He said this first and chiefly to the Lord Jesus Christ!

And next, in a true but secondary sense, to each regenerate one whom He has, of His own will, begotten by the Word of Truth!Come near, then, O you sons of God, come near, for you are near! Stand where your sonship places you, where your Representativestands on your behalf. Let the slaves of the flesh and the bondservants of the Law stand afar off from the Lord who speaksto them from Sinai. But as for us, it is our joy to come very near, for the voice of Love calls to us from Calvary!

The next consideration which may help you to draw near is that you are coming to a Father. That was a blessed word of ourLord's, "The Father Himself loves you." God forbid I should say a word to make you think less of the splendor and majestyof God! But I pray you remember that, however great and terrible He is, He is our Father! I delight in those words of ourpoet-

"The God that rules on high, And thunders when He please, That rides upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas- This awfulGod is ours, Our Father and our love."

As surely as my earthly father is near akin to me and I may come to him with loving familiarity, so may I approach the Lordwho has begotten me again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead! And I may say to Him, "Abba,""Father," and He will not disregard the cry. Has He not given us the spirit of adoption? How can He despise that which Hegives? Come, then, and speak in your Father's ear. O child of God, you are not talking to a stranger! You are not about tohold a debate with an enemy! You are not seeking to wring a blessing from an unwilling hand! It is to your Father that youspeak! Come near to Him, I pray you, and plead this day!

Remember next, that the desire which is in our heart for God's Glory and the extension of His Church, is a desire writtenthere by the Holy Spirit. Now, if the Holy Spirit, Himself, incites the prayer, and He knows the mind of God. If He makesintercession in our hearts according to the will of God, we need have no hesitation to express our desires because our desiresare simply the shadow of the eternal purpose! And that which always was in the mind of God to give, the Spirit of God hasinclined us to ask! True prayer is the intimation of God to man that He intends to bless Him. It is the herald of mercy. Plead,then, O child of God, for the Spirit of God is pleading in you! Come and speak out that which He speaks within. He Himselfhelps your infirmities, making intercession in you according to the will of God. When the Spirit prompts, what cause can therebe for hesitation? We must speak when He inspires.

Remember next, that what we ask, if we are now about to plead with God concerning His Kingdom, is according to His own mind.We are at one with God in this matter. If it were not for God's Glory for sinners to be converted, we would not pray for it.We desire to see thousands of sinners turn to Christ, but it is with this view-that the infinite mercy, wisdom, power andlove of God may be manifested towards them-and so God may be praised. Verily, much as our heart is set upon the prosperityof the Church of God, if it were conceivable that such prosperity would not glorify God we would not ask for it! We desireto see not our notions, but God's Truth prevail!

I do not want you to believe as I believe except so far as that belief is according to the mind of God. I pray every Believerhere to search his heart and see whether his desire is a pure one, having God's Glory as its Alpha and Omega. It is God'sTruth, God's Kingdom, God's Glory that we want to see promoted! If this is the case, may we not come very

boldly? We have not only the king's ear but His heart, also, and we may open our mouths wide. When we have a question as tothe Lord's will, we are bound to go no further than, "nevertheless, not as I will." But when there is no ground for hesitancy,with what sacred ardor may we press our suit!

Moreover, there is this further consideration-the Lord loves to be pleaded with. He might have given all the Covenant blessingswithout prayer-why does He compel us to use entreaties unless it is that He loves to hear the voices of His children? Godhas given to the Church untold mercies in answer to intercession, for He delights to bless His people at the Mercy Seat. Inthis, our own beloved Church, prayer has been more glorious and excellent than all mountains of prey. Its bow has not returnedempty, neither has its shield been cast away! Prayer has been bolder than the lion, swifter than the eagle, and has overthrownall her adversaries, treading them beneath her feet as straw is trod for the dunghill! To this day we live by prayer!

The Church of God has never gained a victory but in answer to prayer. Her whole history is to the praise of the Glory of aprayer-hearing God! Come, then, Brothers and Sisters, if we have sped so well before, and if God invites us now, yes, if Hedelights in our petitions, let us not be slack, but enlarge our requests before Him. O, for Grace that we may now, this day,and from now on draw very near to God!

IV. I may need a few minutes over the allotted time this morning while I now come to the fourth and last point, which is,"LET US SPEAK." Be silent, renew your strength, draw near and then speak. What have we to say upon the matter which concernsus? Let us first speak in the spirit of adoring gratitude. How sweet to think that there should be a Savior at all! To thinkthat the project of rescuing this poor world from her ruin should ever have been entertained in the courts of Heaven. To thinkthat the Spirit should be given to reside among men, to turn the hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebels to obedienceto the Truth! To think that there should be a heavenly kingdom set up, as it is set up-that it should have made such advancesas it has made and should still grow mightily is absolutely wonderful!

That Jesus Christ should be seen of angels is put down as a wonder, but it is mentioned, next to it, that He was "believedon in the world." He has been believed on by millions, and, however gloomy the prospects of the Church may appear, the kingdomof Christ is not an insignificant kingdom, even now. Those who deride her laugh too soon. She is in her twilight, as Voltairesaid, but it is the twilight of her morning, and not of her evening! Brighter times are coming. But even now, up to this moment,the history of the Church cannot be told without adoring gratitude to God.

She has been foolish and has lost her strength, but, like Samson's, it will return. Deceived and deluded in the days of Constantine,she allowed baptized heathen to proclaim an adulterous connection between the Church and the State- and from that day herglory has departed and her power has fled. When will she repent? The nominal Church goes after her lovers, seeking her cornand her wine at their hands, and she says to kings and queens of the earth, "Be you my head, and let your senators rule me."

While she does this God cannot and will not bless her in any great degree. When was the ark taken? Never till it was defendedby the carnal sword! When did the ark triumph? Was it not when, left alone in its own glory, it smote Dagon to the ground?When the visible Church gets back to her chastity to Christ, she will say, "We have nothing to do with parliaments and kings,except to convert them! Ours is a spiritual kingdom and Statecraft is foreign to us. We ask not for your endowments! We carenot for your persecutions. Let us alone-all we ask is a clear stage and no favor." The bride of Christ comes not into theworld to toy with the politics of princes-hers is a higher work. She leans upon the Lord, alone, and yields allegiance tonone else. Remove worldliness and you will see bright days.

The grand impediment of the Church, now, is the arm of flesh-the lofty, high-sounding titles of her prelates, the palacesof her bishops-the priestliness of her ministers and the lack of Gospel simplicity! Be amazed, you heavens, that the successorsof the Apostles should be owners of palaces! This hampers her, but cut the Church clear of this and God's bare arm will soonwin victory unto the Truth in this land. I, for my part, bless and magnify the Lord that, though a great section of the visibleChurch has played the harlot so sadly in the midst of the nations, yet He has not quite cast her away. He keeps a chosen companywho follow the Lamb where ever He goes-on whose banner is written, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." And whose watchwordis, "One is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren." As to the world, we will seek its conversion, but we will neverenter into alliance with it, much less bow down our necks before its kings and princes! May God grant us Grace as we drawnear to Him, to speak out in adoration of Him.

Next, let us speak in humble expostulation. I would earnestly urge my Brethren in Christ to reason thus with the Lord. "OLord, Your Truth does not prosper in the land, yet You have said, 'My Word shall not return unto Me void.' Lord, You are everyday blasphemed, and yet You have said that Your Glory shall be seen of all flesh. Lord, they set up idols, even in this land,where Your martyrs burned. They are setting up graven images again! Lord, tear them down, for Your name's sake. For Your honor'ssake, we beseech You, do it! Do You not hear the enemy triumph? They say the Gospel is worn out! They tell us that we arethe relics of an antiquated race, that modern progress has swept the old faith away.

"Will You have it so, good Lord? Shall the Gospel be accounted a worn-out almanac and shall they set up their new gospelsin its place? Souls are being lost, O God of Mercy! Hell is being filled, O God of Infinite Compassion! Jesus sees but fewbrought to Himself and washed in His precious blood. Time is flying and every year increases the number of the lost! How long,O God, how long? Why do You tarry?" In this manner order your case before the Lord and He will listen to you. When you havespoken by way of reason, then turn to pleading. Plead with all your skill in argument. "There is Your promise, O Jehovah.Will You not keep it? You have said unto Your Son, Ask of Me, and I will give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and theuttermost parts of the earth for Your possession!

"We ask in Jesus' name! Do it for Your promise sake! Lord, You have done great things and unspeakable in times gone by! Wehave heard with our ears and our fathers have told us the wondrous things which You did in their days and in the old timesbefore them. You are the same Lord, therefore glorify Yourself again! By all the past, we beseech You, reveal Yourself atthis present." Plead with the Lord and lay stress upon His Glory. Tell Him that it glorifies His mercy to save sinners, andglorifies His wisdom and His power, yes, every attribute of His Divine Nature.

Then plead the merit of His Son. O, Brothers and Sisters, plead the blood! Plead the wounds! Plead the bloody sweat in Gethsemane!Plead the Cross! Plead the death and Resurrection! Come not away from the Mercy Seat till with this mighty plea you have wonthe victory! I scarcely need remind you at how many points you may get a grip of the Covenant Angel, for when wrestling withHim, if you but have the will to do it, you may seize Him anywhere and hold Him fast, and say, "I will not let You go unlessYou bless me."

I wish I could preach like John Knox, but I wish 10 times more that I could pray like he did-a man who would not take "no"for an answer, but won Scotland for Christ-and she remains Christ's still, through John Knox's prayers! It is not possiblefor prelacy to flourish where Knox has prayed! Oh for prayer such as that, again! King of kings, will You not stretch outYour scepter and save men? Will You not pluck Your sword out of its scabbard and strike Your foes? There are some men to whomGod would almost say, as He did to Moses, "Let Me alone." They are favored to use such forcible arguments and valid pleasthat wrath forbears and mercy yields the blessing. If we can push on as Moses did with renewed pleading and entreaties, theblessing will come! This is what England, yes, the world, needs-men who can plead with God-men who can draw near and thenspeak!

Again, dear Brothers and Sisters, after we have been silent, after we have renewed our strength and after we have drawn nearto God, let us speak, today, in the way of dedication. Now, here I cannot suggest to any man what he, in particular may speak.I charge you before the living God, do not lie to Him, but if you can say this, I pray you say it-"I give to God this daymy whole being, absolutely and forever. My body, my soul, my spirit. I have asked that His Kingdom may come-I pledge myself,in His sight, to extend that Kingdom by every power I possess or may be able to gain, by every opportunity He may put in myway-and by every means which I am able to use." I do not think Jesus ought to have less than that from us, but I know He getsfar less.

Perhaps the Lord may move some of you young men to say, "Lord, I want to see Your Kingdom spread and, therefore, I will givemyself up to preach the Gospel." Perhaps some of you good women here may say, "I will undertake a work of usefulness of somekind or other for Jesus. I am resolved I will." And you who have this world's goods, I hope you will say, "I know that thisgood work always needs money. By His Grace I have it-it shall be freely given. When I see that the Gospel does not spread,I will not have the reflection on my mind that it is retarded by deficiency of pecuniary means while I have gold stored up."

I will not suggest to any of you more than this-whatever the Lord moves you to do, do it! But I think when we come to pleadwith the Lord after this fashion we ought to be able to say, "Lord, spread Your kingdom. It is not my fault if it does notspread. I do for You all I can. I boast not of it, for all I do, I ought to do! I wish I could do a thousand times

as much, but still, Lord, during this year of Grace I hope to do much for You which I may have forgotten until this time."

Last of all, Brothers and Sisters, let us speak, still, in the way of confidence. However we may complain of the spread oferror, the deaths of good men and the fewness of able ministers to take their places. However we may think the times to bedark and dreary, let us never speak as if God were dead. I walked, some time ago, with one of the most earnest ChristiansI know of, a very devout man, and he told me he was afraid one day the streets of London would run with blood. He was afraidof an educated democracy which, being uneducated in religion in School Board schools, would become clever Atheists and castoff all reverence for God and law. And he gave me an awful picture of what was going to happen.

But I touched him on the arm and said, "There is one thing you have forgotten, dear Friend-God is not yet dead. What you aredreading will never occur in this land, I am sure. We have an open Bible. We still have some who preach the Gospel with alltheir hearts, and there is still a salt and leaven in the city of London that God will bless to keep down the rottenness andcorruption. In spite of all His foes, the Lord reigns."

What, my Friends? The Devil conquer our God? Never! Rome triumphant over Zion? Never! Rome has been very cunning. Satan hasdone his best in Roman Catholicism. There is no more wisdom left in the Devil than he has put into that concern, and if thatis confounded he has lost all. That is his ultimatum, the course of hellish craft can go no further. He has staked all hispower in the Church of Rome-and to a certainty she will be driven before the Church of Christ like chaff before the wind!They shall ask and say, "Where is this harlot city that made the nations drunk with the wine of her fornication? That rodeupon the scarlet beast up and down upon the earth and had written upon her brow, 'Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother ofHarlots'?"

Vain will it be to ask where she is, for they shall answer, "Did you not hear the splash of the millstone as the angel hurledit into the flood, and said, 'Thus terribly shall Babylon fall, and thus no more be found at all'?" Then shall go up the shout,"Hallelujah, Hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Let us anticipate the hour! Even now let every heart shout, "Hallelujah,Hallelujah," and yet again let us say, "Hallelujah, the Lord reigns, and all must be well."