Independence of Christianity
A Sermon
(No. 149)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, August 31, 1857, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens.
"Not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of
Hosts."–Zechariah 4:6.
GOD'S first and greatest object is his own glory. There was a time,
before all time, when there was no day but the Ancient of days, when
God dwelt alone in the magnificence of his sublime solitude. Whether he
should create, or not create was a question depending upon the answer
to another question–Would it be to his honor or not? He determined
that he would glorify himself by creating; but, in creating, beyond all
doubt, his motive was his glory. And since that time, he hath ever
ruled the earth, and even blessed it with the same object in his
infinite mind–his own glory and honor. Lesser motive for God to have,
were less than divine; it is the highest position to which you or I
could attain, to live for God; and the very highest virtue of God is
for him to magnify himself in all his greatness as the Infinite and the
Eternal. Whatever, then, God permits or does, he doeth with this one
motive, his own glory. And even salvation, costly though it was, and
infinitely a benefaction to us, had for its first object, and for its
grand result, the exaltation of the Being and of the attributes of the
Supreme Ruler.
Now, as this is true in the general of the great acts of God, this is
equally true in the minutiae of them. It is true that God has a church,
that that church has been redeemed and will be preserved for his glory,
and it is equally true that everything that is done to the church, in
the church, or for the church either with the permission or by the
power of God, is for God's glory, as well as for the church's weal. You
will notice, in reading Scripture, that whenever God has blessed the
church, he has secured himself the glory of the blessing, though they
have had the profit of it. Sometimes he has been pleased to redeem his
people by might but then he has so used the might and power that all
the glory hath come to him, and his head alone hath worn the crown. Did
he smite Egypt, and lead forth his people, with a strong hand and
outstretched arm? The glory was not to the rod of Moses, but to the
Almighty power which made the rod so potent. Did he lead his people
through the wilderness, and defend them from their enemies? Still, did
he, by teaching the people their dependence upon him, preserve to
himself all the glory? So that not Moses or Aaron amongst the priests
or prophets could share the honor with him. And tell me, if ye will, of
slaughtered Anak, and the destruction of the tribes of Canaan; tell me
of Israel's possessing the promised land; tell me of Philistines
routed, and laid heaps on heaps; of Midianites made to fall on each
other; tell me of kings and princes who fled apace and fell, until the
ground was white, like the snow in Salmon. I will say of everyone of
these triumphs, "Sing ye to the Lord, for he hath triumphed
gloriously;" and I will say at the end of every victory, "Crown him,
crown him, for he hath done it; and let his name be exalted and
extolled, world without end." Sometimes, however, God chooseth not to
employ the agency of power. If he chooses to save, by might and by
power, it is that glory may be unto him; and when he says, "Not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord," it is still
with the same object, and the same desire, that we may be led–
"To give to the King of kings renown,
The Lord of Lords with glory crown,"
God is jealous of his own honor; he will not suffer even his church to
be delivered in such a way as to honor men more than God; he will take
to himself the throne without a rival he will wear a crown that never
head did wear, and sway a scepter that never head hath grasped, for as
truly as he is God, the earth shall know that he, and he alone, hath
done it, and unto him shall be the glory.
Now, my objects this morning will be to glorify God, by showing to you,
who love the Saviour, that the preservation and the triumph of the
church are both of them to be accomplished, not by might, nor by power,
but by the Spirit of God, in order that all the honor might be to God,
and none of it to man. I shall divide my text very simply; it divides
itself. First, not by might; secondly, nor by power; thirdly, but by my
Spirit.
You will ask me whether there is any distinction to be drawn between
these two words, "NOT BY MIGHT, NOR BY POWER." I answer, yes. The best
Hebrew scholars tell us that the "might," in the first place, may be
translated, "army." The Septuagint does so translate it. It signifies
power collectedly–the power of a number of men combined together. The
second word, "power," signifies the prowess of a single individual, so
that I might paraphrase my text thus–"Not by the combined might of men
laboring to assist each other, nor by the separate might of any single
hero, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord." And now you will see the
distinction, which is not without a difference.
To begin then, the preservation and the triumph of the church cannot be
accomplished BY MIGHT–that is, not by might collectedly.
First, let us consider that collected might to represent human armies.
The church, we affirm, can neither be preserved nor can its interests
be promoted by human armies. We have all thought otherwise in our time,
and have foolishly said when a fresh territory was annexed to our
empire, "Ah! what a providence that England has annexed Oude,"–or
taken to itself some other territory–"Now a door is opened for the
Gospel. A Christian power will necessarily encourage Christianity, and
seeing that a Christian power is at the head of the Government, it will
be likely that the natives will be induced to search into the
authenticity of our revelation, and so great results will follow. Who
can tell but that, at the point of the British bayonet, the Gospel will
be carried, and that, by the edge of the true sword of valiant men,
Christ's Gospel will be proclaimed?" I have said so myself; and now I
know I am a fool for my pains, and that Christ's church hath been also
miserably befooled; for this I will assert, and prove too, that the
progress of the arms of a Christian nation is not the progress of
Christianity, and that the spread of our empire, so far from being
advantageous to the Gospel, I will hold, and this day proclaim, hath
been hostile to it.
We will just confine our attention for a moment or two to India. I
believe that British rule there, has been useful in many ways. I shall
not deny the civilizing influence of European society; or that great
things have been done for humanity; but I do assert, and can prove it,
that there would have been greater probability of the Gospel spreading
in India if it had been let alone, than there has been ever since the
domination of Great Britain. Ye thought that when Christians, as ye
called them, had the land, they would favor religion. Now I will state
a fact which ought to go through the length and breadth of the land; it
does not rest on hearsay, I was informed of it a little while ago by a
clergyman, upon whose memory the fact is vividly impressed. A Sepoy in
a certain regiment was converted to God by a missionary. He proposed to
be baptized, and become a Christian. Mark, not a Christian after our
way and fashion, as a Baptist, or an Independent or a Methodist; but a
Christian according to the fashion of the Episcopalian church
established in this realm. He was seen by the chaplain, and was
received as a Christian. What think you became of that Sepoy? Let the
East India Company blush for ever, he was stripped of his regimentals,
dismissed the service and sent home, because he had become a Christian!
Ah! we dreamed that if the; had the power they would help us. Alas! the
policy of greed cannot easily be made to assist the Kingdom of Christ.
But I have another string to my bow, I believe that the help of
Government would have been far worse than its opposition, I do regret
that the Company sometimes discourages missionary enterprise; but I
believe that, had they encouraged it, it would have been far worse
still, for their encouragement would have been the greatest hindrance
we could receive. If I had to-morrow to go to India to preach the
Gospel, I should pray to God, if such a thing could be, that he would
give me a black face and make me like a Hindoo; for otherwise I should
feel that when I preached I should be regarded as one of the lords–one
of the oppressors it may sometime be added–and I should not expect my
congregation to listen to me as a man speaking to men, a brother to
brother, a Christian full of love, but they would hear me, and only
cavil at me, because even my white face would give me some appearance
of superiority. Why in England, our missionaries and our clergymen have
assumed a kind of superiority and dignity over the people; they have
called themselves clergy, and the people laity; and the result has been
that they have weakened their influence. I have thought it right to
come amongst my fellow men, and be a man amongst men, just one of
themselves, their equal and their friend; and they have rallied around
me, and not refused to love me. And I should not expect to be
successful in preaching the gospel, unless I might stand and feel that
I am a brother, bone of their bone, and flesh of their flesh. If I
cannot stand before them thus, I cannot get at their hearts. Send me,
then, to India as one of the dominant ruling race, and you give me a
work I cannot accomplish when you tell me to evangelise its
inhabitants. In that day when John Williams fell in Erromanga, ye wept,
but it was a more hopeful day for Erromanga than the day when our
missionaries in India first landed there. I had rather go to preach to
the greatest savages that live, than I would go to preach in the place
that is under British rule. Not for the fault of Britain, but simply
because I, as a Briton, would be looked upon as one of the superiors,
one of the lords, and that would take away much of my power to do good.
Now, will you just cast your eye upon the wide world? Did you ever hear
of a nation under British rule being converted to God? Mr. Moffat and
our great friend Dr. Livingstone have been laboring in Africa with
great success, and many have been converted. Did you ever hear of
Kaffir tribes protected by England, ever being converted? It is only a
people that have been left to themselves, and preached to by men as
men, that have been brought to God. For my part, I conceive, that when
an enterprise begins in martyrdom, it is none the less likely to
succeed, but when conquerors begin to preach the gospel to those they
have conquered, it will not succeed, God will teach us that it is not
by might All swords that have ever flashed from scabbards have not
aided Christ a single grain. Mahommedans' religion might be sustained
by scimitars, but Christians' religion must be sustained by love. The
great crime of war can never promote the religion of peace. The battle,
and the garment rolled in blood, are not a fitting prelude to "peace on
earth, goodwill to men." And I do firmly hold, that the slaughter of
men, that bayonets, and swords, and guns, have never yet been, and
never can be, promoters of the gospel. The gospel will proceed without
them, but never through them. "Not by might." Now don't be be fooled
again, if you hear of the English conquering in China, don't go down on
your knees and thank God for it, and say it's such a heavenly thing for
the spread of the gospel–it just is not. Experience teaches you that,
and if you look upon the map you will find I have stated only the
truth, that where our arms have been victorious, the gospel has been
hindered rather than not; so that where South Sea Islanders have bowed
their knees and cast their idols to the bats, British Hindoos have kept
their idols, and where Bechuanas and Bushmen have turned unto the Lord,
British Affairs have not been converted, not perhaps because they were
British, but because the very fact of the missionary being a Briton,
put him above them, and weakened their influence. Hush thy trump, O
war; put away thy gaudy trappings and thy bloodstained drapery, if thou
thinkest that the cannon with the cross upon it is really sanctified,
and if thou imaginest that thy banner hath become holy, thou dreamest
of a lie. God wanteth not thee to help his cause. "It is not by armies,
nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."
Now, understanding this word "might," in another sense, to signify
great corporations, or, as we say, denominations of men. Now-a-days,
people get a queer notion in their head, and they form what they call a
denomination. It is all wrong; there never ought to have been any
denominations at all, for according to Scripture, every church is
independent of every other. There ought to have been as many separate
churches as there were separate opinions; but denominations, which are
the gathering up of those churches, I take it, ought not to have
existed at all. They may do some good, but they do a world of mischief.
Now, when first denomination starts it is very much opposed. Take, for
instance, Methodism; how earnest were its first preachers, how
indefatigably did they toil, and how incessantly were they persecuted;
yet what a harvest of souls God gave to them! What a great blessing was
showered from the cloud that first started at Oxford, with those few
young men preaching the everlasting gospel! Methodism goes on till it
grows to be a most respectable kind of society, its ramifications
extend all over England and it has societies in every country–and
now–God forbid I should say anything against Methodism; let those who
like it believe it; I do not like it–but I do say now, when they have
come to the greatest is the time when they are doing the least. They
will confess that the ancient power of Methodism has to a great degree
failed. That power which once seemed to turn the world upside down, and
set the whole of the churches on fire with a divine light and life, is
to a great degree quenched. Wars and rumors of wars are in their camp;
till, what with new connections and old connections, reformed and
conferential, and an infinite quantity of names, one does not know into
how many fraternities they intend to divide themselves. The fact is,
that just when the corporation began to be the greatest, God said, "Now
then, you have done your work, to a great degree, it shall not be by
you any longer; not by might, not by your allied forces. You have said
our efforts will cover the earth with the gospel." "Now," says God, "I
will diminish you by thousands, I will take off your roll year by year,
as many as would make another denomination strong; and though you shall
still exist, you shall have to weep and repent with bitterness, because
of your departed zeal." It is just the same with every other
denomination. When we Baptists were reckoned to be the poorest lot in
the world, and everybody sneered at us, we did far more good than we do
now. There was far more pure doctrine, and far better preaching than
there is at the present time. But we began to be respectable–and just
as we began to be respectable we began to lose our power. Every fresh
Gothic Baptist chapel was a diminution of simplicity; and every fresh
place where the minister become intellectual, as it was called, was
just a loss of evangelical might, till now, as a denomination, we are
just as low as any other: and we need some of our old leaders again,
just to preach the word with demonstration and with power, and to
overthrow all those grand conventionalisms which have tried to make the
Baptist denomination respectable. I pray to God I may never be called
to preach to a much applauded congregation; it would be a sad and evil
day. To be despised, to be spit upon, to be caricatured, and to be
jeered, is the highest honor that a Christian minister can have; and to
be pampered, flattered, and applauded by men, is a poor, base thing,
that is not worth having. If any come here and say "They are not a
respectable sort;" we reply, "we labor to preach to the poor." But mark
this, whenever a great denomination begins to get too great, God will
cut away its horns, and take away its glory, till the world shall say,
"It is not by might nor by power."
And now, I shall give one more application of the word "might." It is
so with one particular church, just as I have been observing. I tremble
for the church of which I am the pastor. I never trembled for it when
we were few, when we were earnest in prayer, and devout in
supplication, when it was a thing of contempt to go into "that
miserable Baptist Chapel in Park Street," when we were despised and
maligned and slandered. I never trembled for them then; God was
blessing the ministry, souls were saved, and we walked together in the
fear of the Lord and in love. But I tremble for it now, now that God
hath enlarged our borders, and given us to count our members not by
tens but by hundreds, now that we can say we are the largest Baptist
church in England. I do tremble now, because now is just the time when
we shall begin to say, "We are a great people," "We shall do very
much," "We are a great agency," "The world will look upon us, and we
will do a great deal." If we ever say that, God will say, "Cursed is he
that trusteth in man and maketh flesh his arm," and he will hide the
light of his countenance from us, so that our mountain that standeth
firm shall begin to shake. O churches!–all of ye here that are
representatives of churches, carry ye the tidings. O churches! take
heed lest ye trust in yourselves; take heed lest ye say, "We are a
respectable body," "We are a mighty number," "We are a potent people;"
take heed lest ye begin to glory in your own strength; for when that is
done, "Ichabod" shall be written on your walls and your glory shall
depart from you. Remember, that he who was with us when we were but
few, must be with us now we are many, or else we must fail; and he who
strengthened us when we were but as "little in Israel," must be with
us, now that we are like "the thousands of Manasseh," or else it is all
over with us and our day is past. "Not by might, nor by power, but by
my Spirit saith the Lord."
II. NOR BY POWER, that is, individual strength. You know, beloved, that
after all, the greatest works that have been done have been done by the
ones. The hundreds do not often do much, the companies never do, it is
the units, just the single individuals, that after all are the power
and the might. Take any parish in England where there is a
well-regulated society for doing good–it is some young woman or some
young man who is the very life of it. Take any church, there are
multitudes in it, but it is some two or three that do the work. Look on
the Reformation, there might be many reformers, but there was but one
Luther, there might be many teachers, but there was but one Calvin.
Look ye upon the preachers of the last age, the mighty preachers who
stirred up the churches; there were many coadjutors with them, but
after all, it was not Whitfield's friends, nor Wesley's friends, but
the men themselves that did it. Individual effort is, after all, the
grand thing. A man alone can do more than a man with fifty men at his
heels to fetter him. Committees are very seldom of much use, and bodies
and societies sometimes are loss of strength instead of a gain. It is
said, that if Noah's Ark had had to be built by a company, they would
not have laid the keel yet; and it is perhaps true. There is scarcely
anything done by a body, it almost always fails; because what is many
men's business is just nobody's business at all. Just the same with
religion, the grand things must be done by the ones, the great works of
God must be accomplished by single men. Look back through old history.
Who delivered Israel from the Philistines? It was a solitary Samson.
Who was it gathered the people together to rout the Midianites? It was
one Gideon, who cried, "The sword of the Lord and of Gideon." Who was
he that smote the enemy? It was one Shamgar, with his ox goad, or it
was an Elon, who with his dagger, put an end to his country's tyrant.
Separate men–Davids with their slings and stones, have done more than
armies could accomplish. "But," says God, "it is not even by individual
might, the gospel is to be spread." Take individual might in different
senses; sometimes we may say, of this kind, it represents learning. We
discover here and there certain great and mighty men in learning, that
can take an infidel, strap him on to the dissecting board, and just
anatomise him in a minute, they are great doctors of divinity, they
have achieved the highest titles that can be given them at the
universities; they have read the Scriptures thoroughly, they are mighty
theologians, they could dispute with John Owen, and could entirely take
the wind out of the sails of Calvin, they know a great deal, a very
great deal; they can write most excellent reviews, and are much gifted
in philosophical disquisitions. But did you ever hear, in the course of
all your life, of any one of these being blessed by God to lead any
great religious movement? Such a thing may have been, but I have
forgotten all about it; there may have been such an occurrence, but I
do not remember it. This I am sure of; that the apostles of the Lord
Jesus Christ had taken no degree, except it was a good degree of being
excellent fishermen, this I am certain, that all through the ages God
has not often used men of any very great intellectual compass, they
have not seemed to be men of profound learning; they have generally
been men of determined will and strong principle, but not often of any
very high intellectual attainments. Do I, therefore, rail at learning?
O! no; God forbid, the more of that the better. Let men be as wise as
they can be, and as learned as they can be, but still the fact
remaineth, and there is no one that can dispute it–that God hath often
taken the foolish things of this world to confound the wise, in order
that men may see "It is not by power, but by my Spirit, saith the
Lord."
I have the pleasure and happiness of being acquainted with a large
number of the most eminent ministers in England; I have walked and
talked with them, and spoken to them about the things of the kingdom,
and with great pleasure, and if they were present they would not think
me severe in what I am about to say. Many of those at whose feet we
have been prepared to sit as little children to hear their wisdom,
confessed as ministers, that when they reviewed up their life, they
felt that it has been unprofitable. They have been learned, but they
would say with Owen, "I would give up all my talents to preach like
Bunyan the tinker." They have wished that they could have believed
something else besides having attained a name for profound learning and
research. My brethren, it is not their fault, they have labored well
and earnestly, I find no fault whatever with them: it is God's
supremacy that stamps this upon them and makes them feel the force of
it–that it must not be by power, and their very intellectual prowess,
puts them out of the way–so that they are incapable of being used by
God as a mass at least, though individuals may be, for any very great
result in the church, because then it would seem to be by power.
"No, no," says one. "If a man is not learned that does not signify
much, a man must be eloquent." That is another mistake, it is not by
power of eloquence that souls are saved. I believe every man that
preaches the gospel in his heart is eloquent; so I have used a wrong
word. I mean, however, that great oratorical powers are very seldom
made use of by God for any very great result; not even here, is God
pleased to let it be seen to be by power. Ye have heard of the
preaching of Whitfield did ye ever read his sermons? If ye did ye will
say they were rather contemptible productions. There is nothing in them
that I should think could have approached to oratory; it was only the
man's earnestness that made him eloquent. Have ye heard any preacher
that has been blessed by God to move the multitude? He has been
eloquent, for he has spoken earnestly, but as to oratory, there has
been none of it. I, for my own part, must eschew every pretension
thereunto. I am certain I never think, when I come into this pulpit,
"How shall I talk to this people in a grand fashion?" I think when I
come up here, "I have got something to say, I will tell them it." How I
will tell them, it does not signify much to me, I shall find the words
somehow or other I daresay, God helping me, but about any of the graces
of eloquence, or the words of oratory, I am utterly and quite in the
dark, nor do I wish to imitate any who have been masters in that. I
believe that the men whom we call eloquent now they are dead, were
laughed at in their day as poor bungling speakers. Now they are buried
they are canonized, but in their lives they were abused.
Now, my brethren, God, I do think will generally cast a slur upon fine
speaking and grand compositions and so on, in order that he may show
that it is not by individual power, but by his Spirit. I could stand
here, and point my finger in a certain circle around this place, and I
could pause at such a chapel and say, There is a man preaching there
whose compositions are worthy to be read by the most intellectual of
persons, but whose chapel contains this morning, a hundred. I will
point you to another of whose preaching we can say that it was the most
faultless oratory to which we ever listened, but his congregation were
nearly all of them asleep. We might point you to another, of whom we
could say that there was the most chaste simplicity, the most
extraordinary beauty in the compositions he delivered, but there has
not been a soul known to be saved in the chapel for years. Now, why is
that? I think it is because God says, it is not by power, it shall not
he by individual power. And I will say this that whenever God is
pleased to raise up a man by individual power to move the world, or to
work any reform, he invariably selects a man whose faults and whose
errors are so glaring and apparent to everyone, that we are obliged to
say, "I wonder that man should do it, surely it must be of God, it
could not be of that man." No, there are some men who are too great for
God's designs, their style is too excellent. If God blessed them the
world would cry–especially the literary world–it is their talent that
God blesses; but God, on the other hand takes up some rough fellow,
truly an earthen vessel, puts his treasure in him, and just shakes the
whole world. People cry, "We do not see how it is, it is not in the man
certainly;" the critic takes up his pen, dips it in gall, writes a most
fearful character about the man, the man reads it, and says, "It is
just true, and I am glad of it for if it had not been true God would
not have used me. I glory in my infirmities, because Christ's own power
rests on me. If I had not those infirmities so much could not have been
done, but the very infirmities have insured against men's saying, It
was the man.'" I have often been delighted at some of my opponents,
they have sneered at everything in me–from the crown of my head to the
sole of my foot, I have been all over bruises and putrifying sores,
every word has been vulgarity, every action has been grotesque, the
whole of it has been abominable and blasphemous; and I said, Well that
is delightful, now that is good.' And while some persons have said, Now
we must defend our minister,' I have thought, "You had better let it
alone, it is much the best that it should be so; for suppose it is
true–and it is, the most of it–there is all the more glory to God;
for who can deny that the work is done?'" And he is a great workman
that can use bad tools and yet produce a fine piece of workmanship; and
if the conversion of hundreds of souls now present, if the sobriety of
drunkards, if the chastity of harlots, if the salvation of men who have
been swearers, blasphemers, thieves and vagabonds from their youth up,
is not a grand result, I do not know what is. And if I have been the
unwieldy, uncouth, unworthy tool employed in doing it, I bless God, for
then you cannot honor me, but must give all the glory to him, and to
him all the glory belongs. He will have it proved that "It is not by
might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord."
III. And now to conclude lest I weary you. Whilst the progress and
advance of the church are neither to be accomplished by the collected
might of armies, corporations, nor churches, nor by the separate
exertions of individuals, by the might neither of learning nor of
eloquence, yet both the objects are to be accomplished BY THE SPIRIT OF
GOD.
I was thinking, yesterday, my friends, what a magnificent change would
come over the face of Christendom if God were on a sudden to pour out
his Spirit as he did on the day of Pentecost. I was then sitting down
meditating upon this sermon, and I thought! oh, if God should pour his
Spirit upon me, should I not leap from this place where I am now
sitting, and on my knees begin to pray as I never did before; and
should I not go next Sabbath-day to a congregation who would feel a
solemn awe about them! Every word I spoke would strike like arrows from
the bow of God; and they themselves would feel that it was "none other
than the house of God and the very gate of heaven!" Thousands would cry
out, "What must I do to be saved?" and go away carrying the divine fire
till the whole of this city would be kindled. And then I had pictured
to myself what would come over all the churches if they were in the
same condition, and all the people received that same Spirit. I had
seen the minister from Monday morning till Saturday night doing little
or nothing; delivering his weekly lecture, attending one
prayer-meeting, and thinking himself hard worked I saw him, on a
sudden, start from his couch, and go round to all the sick of his
chapel, and I marked how he delivered a short address of comfort to the
sick, with such holy gravity and such divine simplicity, that they
lifted their heads from their pillows, and began to sing, even in the
agonies of death. I thought I saw others of them girding up their
loins, and crying, "What am I doing?–men are perishing, and I am
preaching to them but three times a week and am called to the work of
the ministry." I thought I read of all those ministers going into the
open-air to preach next Monday night; I thought I saw the whole of them
flying, like angels fly, to-and-fro this land. And then I thought I saw
the deacons all full of the Spirit too, and found them with all their
powers, doing everything in the fear of God. I found those who had been
lords and rulers no longer seeking to be like Diotrephes; I saw the
heavenly influence spread over every mind, I saw the vestries too small
for the prayer-meetings, and I saw the chapel crowded, and I heard the
brethren who year after year had prayed the same monotonous prayer,
break forth in earnest burning words; I saw the whole assembly melted
in tears when the pastor addressed them, and urged them to prayer, and
I heard the brethren one by one as they rose up speak like men who had
been with Jesus, and had learned how to pray. They prayed as if they
had heard Christ pray in Gethsemane, that prayer which was such as
never man prayed; and then I thought I saw all those members, and those
deacons, and those pastors going out into the world. And, oh, I
pictured what preaching there would be, what tract distributing, what
alms giving, what holy living! And then I already thought I heard every
house at vesper uttering its song, and every cottage as its matin,
sending up its prayer to heaven. I thought I saw upon every ploughshare
"consecrated to God," and every bell upon the horses, "holiness unto
the Lord." And then I thought I saw the different denominations rushing
into each others arms; I saw the bishop doff his mitre, and clasp his
dissenting brother and call him friend, and bid him preach in his
cathedral. And I thought I saw the stiff puritanical dissenter casting
away his hatred of conformity, and receiving the Church of England
brother to his heart. I thought I saw baptized and unbaptized sitting
at one table. I saw Presbyterian, Wesleyan, Independent, and Quaker
agreeing in one thing–that Christ crucified was all: and clasping one
another's hands. Ay, and then I thought I have the angels coming down
from heaven. And I was not long before I finished my reverie by hearing
the shout–"Hallelujah, hallelujah, hallelujah, the Lord God Omnipotent
reigneth!" It was a reverie, but it will be true some day. By the
Spirit of God all this will be accomplished. How and by what means I
know not, but I know the great agency must be the Holy Spirit.
And now, dear friends, let me counsel you. The grand thing the church
wants in this time, is God's Holy Spirit. You all get up plans and say,
"Now, if the church were altered a little bit, it would go on better."
You think if there were different ministers, or different church order,
or something different, then all would be well. No, dear friends, it is
not there the mistake lies, it is that we want more of the Spirit. It
is as if you saw a locomotive engine upon a railway, and it would not
go, and they put up a driver, and they said, "Now, that driver will
just do." They try another and another. One proposes that such-and-such
a wheel should be altered, but still it will not go. Some one then
bursts in amongst those who are conversing and says, "No, friends; but
the reason why it will not move, is because there is no steam. You have
no fire, you have no water in the boiler: that's why it will not go.
There may be some faults about it; it may want a bit of paint here and
there, but it will go well enough with all those faults if you do but
get the steam up." But now people are saying, "This must be altered,
and that must be altered; but it would go no better unless God the
Spirit should come to bless us. You may have the same ministers, and
they shall be a thousand times more useful for God, if God is pleased
to bless them. You shall have the same deacons, they shall be a
thousand times more influential than they are now, when the Spirit is
poured down upon them from on high. That is the church's great want,
and until that want be supplied, we may reform, and reform, and still
be just the same. We want the Holy Spirit, and then whatever faults
there may be in our organization, they can never materially impede the
progress of Christianity, when once the Spirit of the Lord God is in
our midst.
But I beseech you be earnest in praying for this. Do you know that
there is no reason to day, why I should not have preached to day, so
that every soul in the place was converted, if God the Holy Spirit had
been pleased to manifest himself. There is not any solitary shadow of a
reason why every soul that has been within the sound of my lips should
not have been converted by something said to-day if God the Holy Spirit
had been pleased to bless the word. Now I will repeat, there, is not a
humble Primitive Methodist, nor a poor insignificant preacher of any
sort on earth, but who, if he preaches the truth, God the Spirit may
not make as useful in conversion, as any of the great departed, who are
now before God's throne. All we want is the Spirit of God. Dear
Christian friends, go home and pray for it; give no rest until God
reveals himself, do not tarry, here you are, do not be content to go on
in your everlasting jog-trot as you have done; do not be content with
the mere round of formalities. Awake, O Zion; awake, awake, awake! Put
on thy strength, O Jerusalem, start ye from your slumbers, arouse ye
from your lethargy, and cry unto God and say unto him, "Awake, awake!
put on thy strength, O arm of the Lord, as in the ancient days," then
when he shall do it, you will find that while it is not by might, nor
by power, it is by God's Spirit.
And now I conclude with a brief address that shall not occupy a moment.
Sinner, unconverted sinner, thou hast often tried to save thyself, but
thou hast often failed. Thou hast, by thine own power and might, sought
to curb thy evil passions and licentious desires with thee, I lament
that all thine efforts have been unsuccessful. And I warn thee, it will
be unsuccessful, for thou never canst by thine own might save thyself;
with all the strength thou hast, thou never canst regenerate thine own
soul; thou canst never cause thyself to be born again, And though the
new birth is absolutely necessary, it is absolutely impossible to thee,
unless God the Spirit shall do it. I pray for thee that God the Spirit
may convince thee of sin, and if thou art already convinced, I bid thee
believe in the Lord Jesus Christ, for he has died for thee, hath washed
away thy sins; thou art forgiven. Believe that; be happy, and go thy
way rejoicing; an, God Almighty be with thee until thou diest.