The Great Revival
A Sermon
(No. 185)
Delivered on Sabbath Morning, March 28th, 1858, by the
REV. C.H. SPURGEON
at the Music Hall, Royal Surrey Gardens
"The Lord hath made bare his holy arm in the eyes of all the nations;
and all the ends of the earth shall see the salvation of our
God."–Isaiah 52:10.
WHEN THE HEROES of old prepared for the fight they put on their armour;
but when God prepares for battle he makes bare his arm. Man has to look
two ways–to his own defence, as well as to the offence of his enemy;
God hath but one direction in which to cast his eye–the overthrow of
his foeman, and he disregards all measures of defence, and scorns all
armour. He makes bare his arm in the sight of all the people. When men
would do their work in earnest, too, they sometimes strip themselves,
like that warrior of old, who, when he went to battle with the Turks,
would never fight them except with the bare arm. "Such things as they,"
said he, "I need not fear; they have more reason to fear my bare arm
than I their scimitar." Men feel that they are prepared for a work when
they have cast away their cumbrous garments. And so the prophet
represents the Lord as laying aside for awhile the garments of his
dignity, and making bare his arm, that he may do his work in earnest,
and accomplish his purpose for the establishment of his church.
Now, leaving the figure, which is a very great one, I would remind you
that its meaning is fully carried out, whenever God is pleased to send
a great revival of religion. My heart is glad within me this day, for I
am the bearer of good tidings. My soul has been made exceedingly full
of happiness, by the tidings of a great revival of religion throughout
the United States. Some hundred years, or more, ago, it pleased the
Lord to send one of the most marvellous religious awakenings that was
ever known; the whole of the United States seemed shaken from end to
end with enthusiasm for hearing the Word of God; and now, after the
lapse of a century, the like has occurred again. The monetary pressure
has at length departed; but it has left behind it the wreck of many
mighty fortunes. Many men, who were once princes, have now become
beggars, and in America. more than in England, men have learned the
instability of all human things. The minds of men, thus weaned from the
earth by terrible and unexpected panic, seem prepared to receive
tidings from a better land, and to turn their exertions in a heavenly
direction. You will be told by any one–who is conversant with the
present state of America, that wherever you go there are the most
remarkable signs that religion is progressing with majestic strides.
The great revival, as it is now called, has become the common market
talk of merchants; it is the theme of every newspaper; even the secular
press remark it, for it has become so astonishing that all ranks and
classes of men seem to have been affected by it. Apparently without any
cause whatever, fear has taken hold of the hearts of men; a thrill
seems to be shot through every breast at once; and it is affirmed by
men of good repute, that there are, at this time, towns in New England
where you could not, even if you searched, find one solitary
unconverted person. So marvellous–I had almost said, so
miraculous–has been the sudden and instantaneous spread of religion
throughout the great empire, that it is scarcely possible for us to
believe the half of it, even though it should be told us. Now, as you
are aware, I have at all times been peculiarly jealous and suspicious
of revivals. Whenever I see a man who is called a revivalist, I always
set him down for a cipher. I would scorn the taking of such a title as
that to myself. If God pleases to make use of a man for the promoting
of a revival, well and good; but for any man to assume the title and
office of a revivalist, and go about the country, believing that
wherever he goes he is the vessel of mercy appointed to convey a
revival of religion, is, I think, an assumption far too arrogant for
any man who has the slightest degree of modesty. And again, there are a
large number of revivals, which occur every now and then in our towns,
and sometimes in our city, which I believe to be spurious and
worthless. I have heard of the people crowding in the morning, the
afternoon, and the evening, to hear some noted revivalist, and under
his preaching some have screamed, have shrieked, have fallen down on
the floor, have rolled themselves in convulsions, and afterwards, when
he has set a form for penitents, employing one or two decoy ducks to
run out from the rest and make a confession of sin, hundreds have come
forward, impressed by that one sermon, and declared that they were,
there and then, turned from the error of their ways; and it was only
last week I saw a record of a certain place, in our own country, giving
an account, that on such a day, under the preaching of the Rev. Mr.
So-and-so, seventeen persons were thoroughly sanctified, twenty-eight
were convinced of sin, and twenty-nine received the blessing of
justification. Then comes the next day, so many more; the following
day, so many more; and afterwards they are all cast up together, making
a grand total of some hundreds, who have been blessed during three
services, under the ministry of Mr. So-and-so. All that I call farce!
There may be something very good in it; but the outside looks to me to
be so rotten, that I should scarcely trust myself to think that the
good within comes to any very great amount. When people go to work to
calculate so exactly by arithmetic, it always strikes me they have
mistaken what they are at. We may easily say that so many were added to
the church on a certain occasion, but to take a separate census of the
convinced, the justified, and the sanctified, is absurd. You will,
therefore, be surprised at finding me speaking of revival; but you
will, perhaps, not be quite so surprised when I endeavour to explain
what I mean by an earnest and intense desire, which I feel in my heart,
that God would be pleased to send throughout this country a revival
like that which has just commenced in America, and which, we trust,
will long continue there.
I should endeavour to mark, in the first place, the cause of every
revival of true religion; secondly,the consequences of such revival;
then, thirdly, I shall give a caution or two, that we make not mistakes
in this matter, and conceive that to be God's work which is only man's;
and then I shall conclude by making an exhortation to all my brethren
in the faith of Christ, to labour and pray for a revival of religion in
the midst of our churches.
I. First, then, THE CAUSE: OF A TRUE REVIVAL. The mere worldly man does
not understand a revival; he cannot make it out. Why is it, that a
sudden fit of godliness, as he would call it, a kind of sacred
epidemic, should seize upon a mass of people all at once? What can be
the cause of it? It frequently occurs in the absence of all great
evangelists; it cannot be traced to any particular means. There have
been no special agencies used in order to bring it about–no machinery
supplied, no societies established; and yet it has come, just like a
heavenly hurricane, sweeping everything before it. It has rushed across
the land, and of it men have said, "The wind bloweth, where it listeth;
we hear the sound thereof, but we cannot tell whence it cometh or
whither it goeth." What is then, the cause? Our answer is, If a revival
be true and real, it is caused by the Holy Spirit, and by him alone.
When Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and preached that
memorable sermon by which three thousand persons were converted, can we
attribute the remarkable success of his ministry to anything else but
the ministry of the Holy Spirit? I read the notes of Peter's discourse;
it was certainly very simple; it was a plain narration of facts; it was
certainly very bold, very cutting, and pointed, and personal, for he
did not blush to tell them that they had put to death the Lord of life
and glory, and were guilty of his blood; but on the mere surface of the
thing, I should be apt to say that I had read many a sermon far more
likely to be effective than Peter's; and I believe there have been many
preachers who have lived, whose sermons when read would have been far
more notable and far more regarded, at least by the critic, than the
sermon of Peter. It seems to have been exceedingly simple and suitable,
and extremely earnest, but none of these things are so eminently
remarkable as to be the cause of such extraordinary success.
What, then, was the reason? And we reply, once more, the same word
which the Holy Spirit blesses to the conversion of one, he might, if he
pleased, bless to the conversion of a thousand: and I am persuaded that
the meanest preacher in Christendom might come into this pulpit this
morning, and preach the most simple sermon, in the most uneducated
style, and the Holy Spirit, if so he willed it, might bless that sermon
to the conversion of every man, woman, and child, within this place:
for his arm is not shortened, his power is not straitened, and as long
as he is Omnipotent, it is ours to believe that he can do whatsoever
seemeth him good. Do not imagine, when you hear of a sermon being made
useful, that it was the sermon itself that did the work. Conceive not,
because a certain preacher may have been greatly blessed in the
conversion of souls, that there is anything in the preacher. God forbid
that any preacher should arrogate such a thing to himself. Any other
preacher, blessed in the same manner, would be as useful, and any other
sermon, provided it be truthful and earnest, might be as much blessed
as that particular sermon which has become notable by reason of the
multitudes who by it have been brought to Christ. The Spirit of God,
when he pleaseth, blows upon the sons of men. He finds a people hard
and careless; he casts a desire into their minds–he sows it broadcast
in their spirits–a thought towards the house of the Lord, and
straightway, they know not why, they flock in multitudes to hear the
Word preached. He casts the seed, the same seed, into the preacher's
mind, and he knows not how, but he feels more earnest than he did
before. When he goes to his pulpit, he goes to it as to a solemn
sacrifice, and there he preaches, believing that great things will be
the effect of his ministry. The time of prayer cometh round; Christians
are found meeting together in large numbers; they cannot tell what it
is that influences them, but they feel they must go up to the house of
the Lord to pray. There are earnest prayers lifted up; there are
earnest sermons preached, and there are earnest hearers. Then God the
Almighty One is pleased to, soften hard hearts, and subdue the
stout-hearted, and bring them to know the truth. The only real cause
is, his Spirit working in the minds of men.
But while this is the only actual cause, yet there are instrumental
causes; and the main instrumental cause of a great revival must be the
bold, faithful, fearless preaching of the truth as it is in Jesus. Why,
brethren, we want every now and then a reformation. One reformation
will never serve the church; she need's continually to be wound up, and
set a-going afresh; for her works run down, and she does not act as she
used to do. The bold, bald doctrines that Luther brought out, began to
be a little modified, until layer after layer was deposited upon them,
and at last the old rocky truth was covered up, and there grew upon the
superficial subsoil an abundance of green and flowery errors, that
looked fair and beautiful, but were in no way whatever related to the
truth, except as they were the products of its decay. Then there came
bold men who brought the truth out again, and said, "Clear away this
rubbish; let the blast light upon these deceitful beauties; we want
them not; bring out the old truth once more!" And it came out. But the
tendency of the church perpetually is, to be covering up its own naked
simplicity, forgetting that the truth is never so beautiful as when it
stands in its own unadorned, God-given glory. And now, at this time, we
want to have the old truths restored to their places. The subtleties
and the refinements of the preacher must be laid aside. We must give up
the grand distinctions of the school-men, and all the lettered
technicalities of men who have studied theology as a system, but have
not felt the power of it in their hearts; and when the good old truth
is once more preached by men whose lips are touched as with a live coal
from off the altar, this shall be the instrument, in the hand of the
Spirit, for bringing about a great and thorough revival of religion in
the land.
But added to this, there must be the earnest prayers of the church. All
in vain the most indefatigable ministry, unless the church waters the
seed sown, with her abundant tears. Every revival has been commenced
and attended by a large amount of prayer. In the city of New York at
the present moment, there is not, I believe, one single hour of the
day, wherein Christians are not gathered together for prayer. One
church opens its doors from five o'clock till six, for prayer; another
church opens from six to seven, and summons its praying men to offer
the sacrifice of supplication. Six o'clock is past, and men are gone to
their labour. Another class find it then convenient–such as those,
perhaps, who go to business at eight or nine-and from seven to eight
there is another prayer meeting. From eight to nine there is another,
in another part of the city, and what is most marvellous, at high noon,
from twelve to one, in the midst of the city of New York, there is held
a prayer meeting in a large room, which is crammed to the doors every
day, with hundreds standing outside. This prayer meeting is made up of
merchants of the city, who can spare a quarter of an hour to go in and
say a word of prayer, and then leave again; and then a fresh company
come in to fill up the ranks, so that it is supposed that many hundreds
assemble in that one place for prayer during the appointed hour. This
is the explanation of the revival. If this were done in London-if we
for once would outvie old Rome, who kept her monks in her sanctuaries,
always at prayer, both by night and by day,–if we together could keep
up one golden chain of prayer, link after link of holy brotherhood
being joined together in supplication, then might we expect an abundant
outpouring of the Divine Spirit from the Lord our God. The Holy Spirit,
as the actual agent–the Word preached, and the prayers of the people,
as the instruments–and we have thus explained the cause of a true
revival of religion.
II. But now what are THE CONSEQUENCES OF A REVIVAL OF RELIGION? Why,
the consequences are everything that our hearts could desire for the
church's good. When the revival of religion comes into a nation, the
minister begins to be warmed. It is said that in America the most
sleepy preachers have begun to wake up; they have warmed themselves at
the general fire, and men who could not preach without notes, and could
not preach with them to any purpose at all, have found it in their
hearts to speak right out, and speak with all their might to the
people. When there comes a revival, the minister all of a sudden finds
that the usual forms and conventionalities of the pulpit are not
exactly suitable to the times. He breaks through one hedge; then he
finds himself in an awkward position, and he has to break through
another. He finds himself perhaps on a Sunday morning, though a Doctor
of Divinity, actually telling an anecdote–lowering the dignity of the
pulpit by actually using a simile or metaphor–sometimes perhaps
accidentally making his people smile, and what is also a great sin in
these solid theologians, now and then dropping a tear. He does not
exactly know how it is, but the people catch up his words. "I must have
something good for them," he says. He just burns that old lot of
sermons; or he puts them under the bed, and gets some new ones, or gets
none at all, but just gets his text, and begins to cry, "Men and
brethren, believe on the Lord Jesus Christ, and you shall be saved."
The old deacons say, "What is the matter with our minister?" The old
ladies, who have heard him for many years, and slept in the front of
the gallery so regularly, begin to rouse, and say, "I wonder what has
happened to him; how can it be?" Why, he preaches like a man on fire.
The tear runs over at his eye; his soul is full of love for souls."
They cannot make it out; they have often said he was dull and dreary
and drowsy. How is it all this is changed? Why, it is the revival. The
revival has touched the minister; the sun, shining so brightly, has
melted some of the snow on the mountain-top, and it is running down in
fertilizing streams, to bless the valleys; and the people down below
are refreshed by the ministrations of the man of God who has awakened
himself up from his sleep, and finds himself, like another Elijah, made
strong for forty days of labour. Well, then, directly after that the
revival begins to touch the people at large. The congregation was once
numbered by the empty seats, rather than by the full ones. But on a
sudden–the minister does not understand it–he finds the people coming
to hear him. He never was popular, never hoped to be. All at once he
wakes up and finds himself famous, so far as a large congregation can
make him so. There are the people, and how they listen! They are all
awake, all in earnest; they lean their heads forward, they put their
hands to their ears. His voice is feeble; they try to help him; they
are doing anything so that they may hear the Word of Life. And then the
members of the church open their eyes and see the chapel full, and they
say, "How has this come about? We ought to pray." A prayer-meeting is
summoned. There had been five or six in the vestry: now there are five
or six hundred, and they turn into the chapel. And Oh! how they pray!
That old stager, who used to pray for twenty minutes, finds it now
convenient to confine himself to five; and that good old man, who
always used to repeat the same form of prayer when he stood up, and
talked about the horse that rushed into the battle, and the oil from
vessel to vessel, and all that, leaves all these things at home, and
just prays, "O Lord, save sinners, for Jesus Christ's sake." And there
are sobs and groans heard in the prayer meetings. It is evident that
not one, but all, are praying; the whole mass seems moved to
supplication. How is this again? Why, it Is just the effect of the
revival, for when the revival truly comes, the minister and the
congregation and the church will receive good by it.
But it does not end here. The members of the church grow more solemn,
more serious. Family duties are better attended to; the home circle is
brought under better culture. Those who could not spare time for family
prayer, find they can do so now; those who had no opportunity for
teaching their children, now dare not go a day without doing it; for
they hear that there are children converted in the Sunday school. There
are twice as many in the Sunday school now as there used to be; and,
what is wonderful, the little children meet together to pray; their
little hearts are touched, and many of them show signs of a work of
grace begun; and fathers and mothers think they must try what they can
do for their families: if God is blessing little children, why should
he not bless theirs?
And then, when you see the members of the church going up to the house
of God, you mark with what a steady and sober air they go. Perhaps they
talk on the way, but they talk of Jesus; and if they whisper together
at the gates of the sanctuary, it is no longer idle gossip; it is no
remark about, "how do you like the preacher? What did you think of him?
Did you notice So-and-so?" Oh, no! "I pray the Lord that he might bless
the word of his servant, that he might send an unction from on high,
that the dying flame may be kindled, and that where there is life, it
may be promoted and strengthened, and receive fresh vigour." This is
their whole conversation.
And then comes the great result. There is an inquirers' meeting held:
the good brother who presides over it is astonished; he never saw so
many coming in his life before. "Why," says he, "there is a hundred, at
least, come to confess what the Lord has done for their souls! Here are
fifty come all at once to say that under such a sermon they were
brought to the knowledge of the truth. Who hath begotten me these? How
hath it come about? How can it be? Is not the Lord a great God that
hath wrought such a work as this?" And then the converts who are thus
brought into the church, if the revival continues, are very earnest
ones. You never saw such a people. The outsiders call them fanatics. It
is a blessed fanaticism. Others say, they are nothing but enthusiasts.
It is a heavenly enthusiasm. Everything that is done is done with such
spirit. If they sing, it is like the crashing thunder; if they pray, it
is like the swift, sharp flash of lightning, lighting up the darkness
of the cold hearted, and making them for a moment feel that there is
something in prayer. When the minister preaches, he preaches like a
Boanerges, and when the church is gathered together, it is with a
hearty good will. When they give, they give with enlarged liberality;
when they visit the sick, they do it with gentleness, meekness, and
love. Everything is done with a single eye to God's glory; not of men,
but by the power of God. Oh! that we might see such a revival as this!
But, blessed be God, it does not end here. The revival of the church
then touches the rest of society. Men, who do not come forward and
profess religion, are more punctual in attending the means of grace.
Men that used to swear, give it up; they find it is not suitable for
the times. Men that profaned the Sabbath, and that despised God, find
it will not do; they give it all up. Times get changed; morality
prevails; the lower ranks are affected. They buy a sermon where they
used to buy some penny tract of nonsense. The higher orders are also
touched; they too are brought to hear the word. Her ladyship, in her
carriage, who never would have thought of going to so mean a place as a
conventicle, does not now care where she goes so long as she is
blessed. She wants to hear the truth; and a drayman pulls his horses up
by the side of her ladyship's pair of grays, and they both go in and
bend together before the throne of sovereign grace. All classes are
affected. Even the senate feels it; the statesman himself is surprised
at it, and wonders what all these things mean. Even the monarch on the
throne feels she has become the monarch of a people better than she
knew before, and that God is doing something in her realms past all her
thought–that a great King is swaying a better sceptre and exerting a
better influence than even her excellent example. Nor does it even end
there. Heaven is filled. One by one the converts die, and heaven gets
fuller; the harps of heaven are louder, the songs of angels are
inspired with new melody, for they rejoice to see the sons of men
prostrate before the throne. The universe is made glad: it is God's own
summer; it is the universal spring. The time of the singing of birds is
come; the voice of the turtle is heard in our land. Oh! that God might
send us such a revival of religion as this!
I thank God, that we, as a people, have had great cause to thank him
that we had great measure of revival of this kind, but nothing compared
with what we desire. I have heard of revivals, where twenties, and
thirties, and forties, and fifties, were gathered in; but, tell it to
the honour of our God, there is never a month passes, but our baptismal
pool is opened, and never a communion Sabbath, but we receive many into
the fold of the Lord. As many as three hundred in one year have we
added to the church, and still the cry is, "They come! they come!" and
were but our new sanctuary built, I am persuaded, that in six months
from its erection, instead of having twelve hundred members, I should
be the pastor of at least two thousand. For I believe there are many of
you who attend this hall in the morning, who find it quite impossible
to crowd into the chapel in the evening, and are only waiting and
anxious, that you may tell to me and to the brethren, what God has done
for your souls. This I know, the Lord hath been very gracious to us,
and to him be the honour of it. But we want more. Our souls are
greedy–covetous for God. Oh! that we might be all converted!
"We long to see the churches full,
That all the chosen race,
May with one voice, and heart, and tongue,
Sing his redeeming grace."
And we have to thank God, too, that it has not ended there; for we had
last Sabbath evening, Exeter Hall full, Westminster Abbey full, and
this place full too; and though we may not altogether agree in
sentiment with all that preach, yet God bless them all! So long as
Christ is preached, I rejoice, yea, and will rejoice; and I would to
God that every large building in London were crowded too, and that
every man who preached the Word were followed by tens of thousands, who
would hear the truth. May that day soon come! and there is one heart
which will rejoice in such a day more than any of you–a heart that
shall always beat the highest when it sees God glorified, though our
own honour should decrease.
III. Now we shall have to turn to the third point, which was A CAUTION.
When Christmas Evans preached in Wales, during a time of revival, he
used to make the people dance; the congregation were so excited under
his ministry that they positively danced. Now I do not believe that
dancing was the work of the Spirit. Their being stirred in their hearts
might be the Holy Spirit's work, but the Holy Spirit does not care to
make people dance under sermons; no good comes of it. Now and then
among our Methodist friends there is a great break out, and we hear of
a young woman in the middle of a sermon getting on the top of a form
and turning round and round in ecstacy, till she falls down in a
fainting fit, and they cry, "Glory be to God." Now we do not believe
that is the work of the Spirit; we believe it is ridiculous nonsense,
and nothing more. In the old revivals in America a hundred years ago,
commonly called "the great awakening," there were many strange things,
such as continual shrieks and screams, and knockings, and twitchings,
under the services. We cannot call that the work of the Spirit. Even
the great Whitfield's revival at Cambuslang, one of the greatest and
most remarkable revivals that were ever known, was attended by some
things that we cannot but regard as superstitious wonders. People were
so excited, that they did not know what they did. Now, if in any
revival you see any of these strange contortions of the body, always
distinguish between things that differ. The Holy Spirit's work is with
the mind, not with the body in that way. It is not the will of God that
such things should disgrace the proceedings. I believe that such things
are the result of Satanic malice. The devil sees that there is a great
deal of good doing; "Now," says he, "I'll spoil it all. I'll put my
hoof in there, and do a world of mischief. There are souls being
converted; I will let them get so excited that they will do ludicrous
things, and then it will all be brought into contempt." Now, if you see
any of these strange things arising look out. There is that old
Apollyon busy, trying to mar the work. Put such vagaries down as soon
as you can, for where the Spirit works, he never works against his own
precept, and his precept is, "Let all things be done decently and in
order." It is neither decent nor orderly for people to dance under the
sermon, nor howl, nor scream, while the gospel is being preached to
them, and therefore it is not the Spirit's work at all, but mere human
excitement.
And again, remember that you must always distinguish between man and
men in the work of revival. While, during a revival of religion, a very
large number of people will be really converted, there will be a very
considerable portion who will be merely excited with animal excitement,
and whose conversion will not be genuine. Always expect that, and do
not be surprised if you see it. It is but a law of the mind that men
should imitate one another, and it seems but reasonable, that when one
person is truly converted, there should be a kind of desire to imitate
it in another, who yet is not a possessor of true and sovereign grace.
Be not discouraged, then, if you should meet with this in the midst of
a revival. It is no proof that it is not a true revival; it is only a
proof that it is not true in that particular case.
I must say, once more, that if God should send us a great revival of
religion, it will be our duty not to relax the bonds of discipline.
Some churches, when they increase very largely, are apt to take people
into their number by wholesale, without due and proper examination. We
ought to be just as strict in the paroxysms of a revival as in the
cooler times of a gradual increase, and if the Lord sends his Spirit
like a hurricane, it is ours to deal with skill with the sails, lest
the hurricane should wreck us by driving us upon some fell rock that
may do us serious injury. Take care, ye that are officers in the
church, when ye see the people stirred up, that ye exercise still a
holy caution, lest the church become lowered in its standard of piety
by the admission of persons not truly saved.
IV. With these words of caution, I shall now gather up my strength, and
with all my might labour to stir you up to seek of God a great revival
of religion throughout the length and breadth of this land.
Men, brethren and fathers, the Lord God hath sent us a blessing. One
blessing is the earnest of many. Drops precede the April showers. The
mercies which he has already bestowed upon us are but the forerunners
and the preludes of something greater and better yet to come. He has
given us the former, let us seek of him the latter rain, that his grace
may be multiplied among us, and his glory may be increased. There are
some of you to whom I address myself this morning who stand in the way
of any revival of religion. I would affectionately admonish you, and
beseech you, not to impede the Lord's own work. There be some of you,
perhaps, here present to-day who are not consistent in your living. And
yet you are professors of religion; you take the sacramental cup into
your hand and drink its sacred wine, but still you live as worldlings
live, and are as carnal and as covetous as they. Oh, my brother, you
are a serious drawback to the church's increase. God will never bless
an unholy people, and in proportion to our unholiness, he will withhold
the blessing from us. Tell me of a church that is inconsistent, you
shall tell me of a church that is unblest. God will first sweep the
house before be will come to dwell in it. He will have his church pure
before he will bless it with all the blessings of his grace. Remember
that, ye inconsistent ones, and turn unto God, and ask to be rendered
holy. There are others of you that are so cold-hearted, that you stand
in the way of all progress. You are a skid upon the wheels of the
church. It cannot move for you. If we would be earnest, you put your
cold band on everything that is bold and daring. You are not prudent
and zealous; if you were so, we would bless God for giving you that
prudence, which is a jewel for which we ought ever to thank God, if we
have a prudent man among us. But there are some of you to whom I
allude, who are prudent, but you are cold. You have no earnestness, you
do not labour for Christ, you do not serve him with all your strength.
And there are others of you who are imprudent enough to push others on,
but never go forward yourselves. O ye Laodiceans, ye that are neither
hot nor cold, remember what the Lord hath said of you–"So then,
because thou art neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my
mouth." And so will he do with you. Take heed, take heed, you are not
only hurting yourselves, but you are injuring the church. And then
there are others of you who are such sticklers for order, so given to
everything that has been, that you do not care for any revival, for
fear we should hurt you. You would not have the church repaired, lest
we should touch one piece of the venerable moss that coats it. You
would not cleanse your own garment, because there is ancient dirt upon
it. You think that because a thing is ancient, therefore it must be
venerable. You are lovers of the antique. You would not have a road
mended, because your grandfather drove his waggon along the rut that is
there. "Let it always be there," you say; "Let it always be knee-deep."
Did not your grandfather go through it when it was knee deep with mud,
and why should not you do the same? It was good enough for him, and it
is good enough for you. You always have taken an easy seat in the
chapel. You never saw a revival; you do not want to see it. You believe
it is all nonsense, and that it is not to be desired. You look back;
you find no precedent for it. Doctor So-and-so did not talk about it.
Your venerable minister who is dead did not talk so, you say; therefore
it is not needed. We need not tell you it is scriptural; that you do
not care for. It is not orderly, you say. We need not tell you the
thing is right; you care more about the thing being ancient than being
good. Ah, you will have to get out of the way now, it isn't any good;
you may try to stop us, but we will run over you if you do not get out
of the way. With a little warning we shall have to run over your
prejudices and incur your anger. But your prejudices must not, cannot,
restrain us. The chain may be never so rusty with age, and ever so
stamped with authority, the prisoner is always happy to break it, and
however your fetters may shackle us, we will dash them in pieces if
they stand in the way of the progress of the kingdom of Christ.
Having thus spoken to those who hinder, I want to speak to you who love
Jesus with all your hearts, and want to promote it. Dear friends, I
beseech you remember that men are dying around you by thousands. Will
you let your eye follow them into the world of shades? Myriads of them
die without God, without Christ, without hope. My brother, does not
their fearful fate awake your sympathy. You believe, from Scriptural
warrant, that those who die without faith go to that place where "their
worm dieth not and their fire is not quenched." Believing this, is not
your soul stirred within you in pity for their fate? Look around you
to-day. You see a vast host gathered together, professedly for the
service of God. You know also how many there are here who fear him not,
but are strangers to themselves and strangers to the cross. What! Do
you know yourself what a solemn thing it is to be under the curse, and
will you not pray and labour for those around you that are under the
curse to-day? Remember your Master's cross. He died for sinners; will
not you weep for them?
"Did Christ o'er sinners weep;
And shall your cheek be dry?"
Did he give his whole life for them, and will not you stir up your life
to wrestle with God, that his purposes may be accomplished on their
behalf? You have unconverted children–do you not want them saved? You
have brothers, husbands, wives, fathers, that are this day in the gall
of bitterness, and in the bonds of iniquity; do you not want a revival,
even if it were only for their sakes? Behold, how much of robbery, of
murder, of crime, stains this poor land. Do you not want a revival of
religion, if it were merely for quenching the flames of crime? See how
God's name every day is blasphemed. Mark how, this day, trades are
carried on, as if it were man's day, and not God's. Mark how multitudes
are going the downward course, merry on their way to destruction. Do
you not feel for them? Are your hearts hard and stolid? Has your soul
become steeled? Has it become frozen like an iceberg? O sun of
righteousness arise, and melt the icy heart, and make us all feel how
fearful it is for immortal souls to perish; for men to be hurried into
eternity without God, and without hope. Oh, will you not now, from this
time forth, begin to pray that God may send forth his Word and save
them, that his own name may be glorified?
As for you that fear not God, see how much ado we are making about you.
Your souls are worth more than you think for. O that ye would believe
in Christ, to the salvation of your souls!
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