The Power Of Prayer And The Pleasure Of Praise

The Power Of Prayer And The Pleasure Of Praise
A SERMON DELIVERED ON SUNDAY MORNING, MAY 3, 1863, BY THE REV. C. H.
SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.
"You also helping together byprayer for us, that for the gift bestowed
upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given by many on our
behalf. For our rejoicing in this, the testimony of our conscience,
that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by
the Grace of God, we have had our conversation in the world and more
abundantly to you." 2 Corinthians 1:11,12.
THE Apostle Paul had, by singular Providences, been delivered from
imminent peril in Asia. During the great riot at Ephesus, when
Demetrius and his fellow shrine-makers raised a great tumult against
him, because they saw that their craft was in danger, Paul's life was
greatly in jeopardy. Consequently he writes, "We were pressed out of
measure, above strength, insomuch that we despaired even of life." The
Apostle attributes to God, alone, his singular preservation. And if he
referred also to the occasion when he was stoned and left for dead,
there is much appropriateness in his blessing "God which raised the
dead."
The Apostle, moreover, argues from the fact that God had thus delivered
him in the past, and was still his helper in the present, that He would
be with him also in the future. Paul is a master at all arithmetic–his
faith was always a ready-reckoner–we here find him computing by the
Believer's Rule of Three. He argues from the past to the present, and
from the present to things yet to come. The verse preceding our text is
a brilliant example of this arriving at a comfortable conclusion by the
Rule of Three–"Who delivered us from so great a death and does
deliver: in whom we trust that He will yet deliver us."
Because our God is, "the same yesterday, today and forever," His love
in time past is an infallible assurance of His kindness today, and an
equally certain pledge of His faithfulness on the morrow. Whatever our
circumstances may be, however perplexed may be our pathway, and however
dark our horizon, if we argue by the rule of, "He has, He does, He
will," our comfort can never be destroyed. Courage, then, O you
afflicted seed of Israel. If you had a changeable God to deal with,
your souls might be full of bitterness–but because He is, "the same
yesterday, today and forever," every repeated manifestation of His
Grace should make it more easy for you to rest upon Him. Every renewed
experience of His fidelity should confirm your confidence in His Grace.
May the most blessed Spirit teach us to grow in holy confidence in our
ever faithful Lord.
Although our Apostle thus acknowledged God's hand, and God's hand
alone, in his deliverance, yet he was not so foolish as to deny or
undervalue the second causes. On the contrary, having first praised the
God of All Comfort, he now remembers with gratitude the earnest prayers
of the many loving intercessors. Gratitude to God must never become an
excuse for ingratitude to man. It is true that Jehovah shielded the
Apostle of the Gentiles, but He did it in answer to prayer. The chosen
vessel was not broken by the rod of the wicked, for the outstretched
hand of the God of Heaven was his defense–but that hand was
outstretched because the people of Corinth, and the saints of God
everywhere had prevailed at the Throne of Grace by their united
supplications.
With gratitude those successful pleadings are mentioned in the text,
"You also helping together by prayer for us," and he desires the
Brothers and Sisters now to unite their praises with his, "that for the
gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons thanks may be given
by many on our behalf." He adds that he has a claim upon their love
since he was not as some who were unfaithful to their trust, but his
conscience was clear that he had preached the Word simply and with
sincerity.
While speaking upon these topics, may the anointing Spirit now descend
to make them profitable to us. We shall, first, acknowledge the power
of united prayer. Secondly, excite you to united praise. And then, in
the third place, urge our joyful claim upon you–a claim which is not
ours alone, but belongs to all ministers of God who in sincerity labor
for souls.
I. First, then, dear Friends, it is my duty and my privilege this
morning to ACKNOWLEDGE THE POWER OF UNITED PRAYER.
It has pleased God to make prayer the abounding and rejoicing river
through which most of our choice mercies flow to us. It is the golden
key which unlocks the well-stored granaries of our heavenly Joseph. It
is written upon each of the mercies of the Covenant, "For this will I
be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them." There are
mercies which come unsought, for God is found of them that sought not
for Him. But there are other favors which are only bestowed upon the
men who ask, and therefore receive–who seek, and therefore find–who
knock, and therefore gain an entrance.
Why God has been pleased to command us to pray at all it is not
difficult to discover, for prayer glorifies God, by putting man in the
most humble posture of worship. The creature in prayer acknowledges his
Creator with reverence and confesses Him to be the giver of every good
and perfect gift. The eye is lifted up to behold the Glory of the Lord,
while the knees are bent to the earth in the lowliness of acknowledged
weakness. Though prayer is not the highest mode of adoration, or
otherwise it would be continued by the saints in Heaven, yet it is the
most humble, and so the most fitting, to set forth the Glory of the
Perfect One as it is beheld by imperfect flesh and blood.
From the "Our Father," in which we claim relationship, right on to,
"the kingdom and the power and the glory," which we ascribe to the only
true God, every sentence of prayer honors the Most High. The groans and
tears of humble petitioners are as truly acceptable as the continual,
"Holy, Holy, Holy," of the Cherubim and Seraphim. For in their very
essence all truthful confessions of personal fault are but a homage
paid to the Infinite perfections of the Lord of Hosts. More honored is
the Lord by our prayers than by the unceasing smoke of the holy incense
of the altar which stood before the veil.
Moreover, the act of prayer teaches us our unworthiness, which is no
small blessing to such proud beings as we are. If God gave us favors
without constraining us to pray for them, we should never know how poor
we are. But a true prayer is an inventory of wants, a catalog of
necessities, a suit in forma pauperis, an exposure of secret wounds, a
revelation of hidden poverty. While it is an application to Divine
wealth, it is a confession of human emptiness. I believe that the most
healthy state of a Christian is to be always empty–and always
depending upon the Lord for supplies. To be always poor in self and
rich in Jesus–weak as water personally–but mighty through God to do
great exploits. And therefore the use of prayer–because while it
adores God, it lays the creature where he should be–in the very dust.
Prayer is in itself, apart from the answer which it brings, a great
benefit to the Christian. As the runner gains strength for the race by
daily exercise, so for the great race of life we acquire energy by the
hallowed labor of prayer. Prayer plumes the wings of God's young
eaglets that they may learn to mount above the clouds. Prayer girds the
loins of God's warriors and sends them forth to combat with their
sinews braced and their muscles firm. An earnest pleader comes out of
his closet, even as the sun rises from the chambers of the east,
rejoicing like a strong man to run his race.
Prayer is that uplifted hand of Moses which routs the Amalekites more
than the sword of Joshua. It is the arrow shot from the chamber of the
Prophet foreboding defeat to the Syrians. What if I say that prayer
clothes the Believer with the attributes of Deity, girds human weakness
with Divine strength, turns human folly into heavenly wisdom, and gives
to troubled mortals the serenity of the immortal God? I know not what
prayer cannot do! I thank You, great God, for the Mercy Seat, a choice
gift of Your marvelous loving kindness. Help us to use it aright!
As many mercies are conveyed from Heaven in the ship of prayer, so
there are many choice and special favors which can only be brought to
us by the fleets of united prayer. Many are the good things which God
will give to His lonely Elijahs and Daniels, but if two of you agree as
touching anything that you shall ask, there is no limit to God's
bountiful answers. Peter might never have been brought out of prison if
it had not been that prayer was made without ceasing by all the Church
for him. Pentecost might never have come if all the disciples had not
been, "with one accord in one place," waiting for the descent of the
tongues of fire. God is pleased to give many mercies to one pleader,
but at times He seems to say, "You shall all appear before Me and
entreat My favor, for I will not see your face, unless even your
younger Brothers and Sisters are with you."
Why is this, dear Friends? I take it that thus our gracious Lord sets
forth His own esteem for the communion of saints. "I believe in the
communion of saints" is one article of the great Christian creed, but
how few there are who understand it. Oh, there is such a thing as real
union among God's people. We may be called by different names–
"But all the servants of our King In Heaven and earth are one."
We cannot afford to lose the help and love of our Brothers and Sisters.
Augustine says, "The poor are made for the rich and the rich are made
for the poor." I do not doubt but that strong saints are made for weak
saints, and that the weak saints bring special benedictions upon the
full grown. There is a fitness in the whole body–each joint owes
something to every other–and the whole body is bound together and
compacted by that which every joint supplies. There are certain glands
in the human body which the anatomist hardly understands. He can say of
the liver, for instance, that it yields a very valuable fluid of the
utmost value in the bodily economy. But there are other secretions
whose distinct value he cannot ascertain. Yet , doubtless, if that
gland were removed, the whole body might suffer to a high degree.
And so, beloved Friends, there may be some Believers of whom we may
say, "I do not know the use of them. I cannot tell what good that
Christian does." Yet were that insignificant, and apparently useless
member removed, the whole body might be made to suffer, the whole frame
might become sick, and the whole heart faint. This is probably the
reason why many a weighty gift of Heaven's love is only granted to
combined petitioning–that we may perceive the use of the whole body
and so may be compelled to recognize the real vital union which Divine
Grace has made–and daily maintains among the people of God. Is it not
a happy thought, dear Friends, that the very poorest and most obscure
Church member can add something to the body's strength?
We cannot all preach. We cannot all rule. We cannot all give gold and
silver–but we can all contribute our prayers. There is no convert,
though he is but two or three days old in Divine Grace, but can pray.
There is no bedridden Sister in Jesus who cannot pray. There is no
sick, aged, imbecile, obscure, illiterate, or penniless Believer who
cannot add his supplications to the general stock. This is the Church's
riches. We put boxes at the door that we may receive your offerings to
God's cause–remember there is a spiritual chest within the Church into
which we should all drop our loving intercessions, as into the treasury
of the Lord. Even the widow without her two mites can give her offering
to this treasury. See, then, dear Friends, what union and communion
there are among the people of God, since there are certain mercies
which are only bestowed while the saints unitedly pray.
How we ought to feel this bond of union! How we ought to pray for one
another! How, as often as the Church meets together for supplication,
should we all make it our bounded duty to be there! I would that some
of you who are absent from the Prayer Meeting upon any little excuse
would reflect how much you rob us all. The Prayer Meeting is an
invaluable institution, ministering strength to all other meetings and
agencies. Are there not many of you who might, by a little pinching of
your time and pressing of your labors, come among us a little oftener?
And what if you should lose a customer now and then, do you not think
that this loss could be well made up to you by your gains on other
days? Or if not so, would not the spiritual profit much more than
counterbalance any little temporal loss? "Not forgetting the assembling
of yourselves together as the manner of some is."
We are now prepared for a further observation. This united prayer
should especially be made for the ministers of God. It is for them,
peculiarly, that this public prayer is intended. Paul asks for
it–"Brethren, pray for us." And all God's ministers to the latest time
will ever confess that this is the secret source of their strength. The
prayers of the people must be the might of the ministers. Shall I try
to show you why the minister, more than any other man in the Church,
needs the earnest prayers of the people? Is not his position the most
perilous? Satan's orders to the hosts of Hell are, "Fight neither with
small nor great, save only with the ministers of God." He knows if he
can once smite through the heart one of these, there will be a general
confusion. For if the champion is dead, then the people fly.
It is around the standard bearer that the fight is thickest. There the
battle-axes ring upon the helmets. There the arrows are bent upon the
armor, for the enemy knows that if he can cut down the standard, or
cleave the skull of its bearer, he will strike a heavy blow and cause
deep discouragement. Press around us, then, you men at arms! Knights of
the red cross rally for our defense, for the fight grows hot! We
beseech you, if you elect us to the office of the ministry, stand fast
at our side in our hourly conflicts. I noticed on returning from
Rotterdam, when we were crossing the bar at the mouth of the Maas,
where by reason of a neap tide and a bad wind, the navigation was
exceedingly dangerous, that orders were issued–"All hands on deck!"
So methinks the life of a minister is so perilous, that I may well cry,
"All hands on deck"–every man to prayer! Let even the weakest saint
become instant in supplication. The minister, standing in such a
perilous position, has, moreover, a solemn weight of responsibility
resting on him. Every man should be his brother's keeper in a measure,
but woe to the watchmen of God if they are not faithful, for at their
hands shall the blood of souls be required. At their door shall God lay
the ruin of men if they preach not the Gospel fully and faithfully.
There are times when this burden of the Lord weighs upon God's
ministers until they cry out in pain as if their hearts would burst
with anguish. I marked the captain as we crossed that bar throwing the
lead, himself, into the sea. And when one asked why he did not let the
sailors do it, he said, "At this point, just now, I dare not trust any
man but myself to heave the lead, for we have hardly six inches between
our ship and the bottom." And, indeed, we felt the vessel touch once or
twice most unpleasantly. So there will come times with every preacher
of the Gospel–if he is what he should be– when he will be in dread
suspense for his hearers. He will not be able to discharge his duty by
proxy, but must personally labor for men–not even trusting himself to
preach–but calling upon his God for help since he is now overwhelmed
with the burden of men's souls.
Oh, do pray for us! If God gives us to you, and if you accept the gift
most cheerfully, do not so despise both God and us as to leave us
penniless and poverty-stricken because your prayers are withheld.
Moreover, the preservation of the minister is one of the most important
objects to the Church. You may lose a sailor from the ship, and that is
very bad, both for him and for you. But if the pilot should fall over,
or the captain should be smitten with sickness, or the helmsman be
washed from the wheel, then what is the vessel to do? Therefore, though
prayer is to be put up for every other person in the Church, yet for
the minister is it to be offered first and foremost, because of the
position which he occupies.
And then, how much more is asked of him than of you? If you are to keep
a private table for individual instruction, he is, as it were, to keep
a public table, a feast of good things for all comers. And how shall he
do this unless his Master gives him rich provisions? You are to shine
as a candle in a house–the minister has to be as a lighthouse–to be
seen far across the deep. And how shall he shine the whole night long
unless he is trimmed by his Master, and fresh oil is given him from
Heaven? His influence is wider than yours–if it is for evil, he shall
be a deadly upas, with spreading boughs poisoning all beneath his
shadow. But if God makes him a star in His right hand, his ray of light
shall cheer with its genial influence whole nations, and whole periods
of time. If there is any truth in all this, I implore you, yield us
generously and constantly the assistance of your prayers.
I find that in the original, the word for, "helping together," implies
very earnest WORK. Some people's prayers have no work in them. But the
only prayer which prevails with God is a real working-man's
prayer–where the petitioner, like a Samson, shakes the gates of Mercy,
and labors to pull them up rather than be denied an entrance. We do not
want fingertip prayers, which only touch the burden–we need shoulder
prayers–which bear a load of earnestness, and are not to be denied
their desire. We do not want those dainty runaway knocks at the door of
mercy, which professors give when they show off at Prayer Meetings. We
ask for the knocking of a man who means to have, and means to stop at
Mercy's gate till it opens and all his need shall be supplied.
The energetic, vehement violence of the man who is not to be denied,
but intends to carry Heaven by storm until he wins his heart's
desire–this is the prayer which ministers covet of their people.
Melancthon, it is said, derived great comfort from the information that
certain poor weavers, women and children, had met together to pray for
the Reformation. Yes, Melancthon–there was solid ground for comfort
here. Depend on it, it was not Luther only, but the thousands of poor
persons who sung psalms at the plow-tail, and the hundreds of serving
men and women who offered supplications, that made the Reformation what
it was.
We are told of Paulus Phagius, a celebrated Hebrew scholar, very useful
in introducing the Reformation into this country, that one of his
frequent requests of his younger scholars was that they would continue
in prayer, so that God might be pleased to pour out a blessing in
answer to them. Have I not said a hundred times that all the blessings
that God has given us here, all the increase to our Church, has been
due, under God, to your earnest, fervent supplications? There have been
Heaven-moving seasons both in this house and at New Park Street. We
have had times when we have felt we could die sooner than not be heard.
When we carried our Church on our bosom as a mother carries her child.
When we felt a yearning and a travailing in birth for the souls of men.
We may truly say, when we see our Church daily increasing, and the
multitudes still hanging upon our lips to listen to the Word, "What has
God worked?" Shall we now cease from our prayers? Shall we now say unto
the Great High Priest, "It is enough"? Shall we now pluck the glowing
coals from the altar and quench the burning incense? Shall we now
refuse to bring the morning and evening lambs of prayer and praise to
the sacrifice? O children of Ephraim, being armed and carrying bows,
will you turn your backs in the day of battle? The flood is divided
before you. The Jordan is driven back! Will you refuse to march through
the depths? God, even your God, goes up before you. The shout of a King
is heard in the midst of your hosts!
Will you now be recreant and refuse to go up and possess the land? Will
you now lose your first love? Shall "Ich-abod" be written upon the
forefront of this tabernacle? Shall it be said that God has forsaken
you? Shall the day come in which the daughters of Philistia shall
rejoice, and the sons of Syria shall triumph? If not, to your knees
again, with all the force of prayer! If not, to your vehement
supplications once more! If not, if you would not see good blighted and
evil triumphant, clasp hands again–and in the name of Him who ever
lives to intercede–once more be prevalent in prayer that the blessing
may again descend! "You also helping together by prayer for us."
II. We must now EXCITE YOU TO PRAISE. Praise should always follow
answered prayer. The mist of earth's gratitude should rise as the sun
of Heaven's love warms the ground. Has the Lord been gracious to you,
and inclined His ear to the voice of your supplication? Then praise Him
as long as you live. Deny not a song to Him who has answered your
prayer, and given you the desire of your heart. To be silent over God's
mercies is to incur the guilt of shocking ingratitude, and ingratitude
is one of the worst of crimes.
I trust, dear Friends, you will not act as basely as the nine lepers,
who after they had been healed of their leprosy, returned not to give
thanks unto the healing Lord. To forget to praise God is to refuse to
benefit ourselves, for praise, like prayer, is exceedingly useful to
the spiritual man. It is a high and healthful exercise. To dance, like
David, before the Lord, is to quicken the blood in the veins, and make
the pulse beat at a healthier rate. Praise gives to us a great feast,
like that of Solomon, who gave to every man a good piece of flesh, and
a flagon of wine.
Praise is the most heavenly of Christian duties. The angels pray not,
but they cease not to praise both day and night. To bless God for
mercies received is to benefit our fellow men–"the humble shall hear
thereof and be glad." Others who have been in like circumstances shall
take comfort if we can say, "Oh, magnify the Lord with me, and let us
exalt His name together, this poor man cried, and the Lord heard him."
Tongue-tied Christians are a sad dishonor to the Church. We have some
such–some whom the devil has gagged–and the loudest music they ever
make is when they are champing the bit of their silence. I would, my
Brothers and Sisters, that in all such cases the tongue of the dumb may
sing.
To go a step further here. As praise is good and pleasant, blessing man
and glorifying God, united praise has a very special commendation.
United praise is like music in concert. The sound of one instrument is
exceedingly sweet, but when hundreds of instruments, both wind and
stringed, are all combined, then the orchestra sends forth a noble
volume of harmony. The praise of one Christian is accepted before God
like a grain of incense, but the praise of many is like a censor full
of frankincense smoking up before the Lord. Combined praise is an
anticipation of Heaven, for in that general assembly they all,
together, with one heart and voice, praise the Lord–
"Ten thousand thousand are their tongues, But all their joys are one."
Public praise is very agreeable to the Christian himself. How many
burdens has it removed? I am sure when I hear the shout of praise in
this house it warms my heart. It is at times a little too slow for my
taste, and I must urge you to quicken your pace, that the rolling waves
of majestic praise may display their full force! Yet with all
drawbacks, to my heart there is no music like yours. My Dutch friends
praise the Lord so very slowly that one might very well go to sleep,
lulled by their lengthened strains. Even there, however, the many
voices make a grand harmony of praise.
I love to hear God's people sing when they really do sing, not when it
is a drawing out somewhere between harmony and discord. O for a sacred
song, a shout of lofty praise in which every man's soul beats the time,
and every man's tongue sounds the tune–and each singer feels a high
ambition to excel his fellow in gratitude and love! There is something
exceedingly delightful in the union of true hearts in the worship of
God–and when these hearts are expressed in song– how sweet the
charming sounds. I think we ought to have a Praise Meeting once a week.
We have a Prayer Meeting every Monday, and a Prayer Meeting every
Saturday, and a Prayer Meeting every morning, but why do we not have a
Praise Meeting? Surely seasons should be set apart for services made up
of praise from beginning to end. Let us try the plan at once.
As I said about united prayer, that it should be offered specially for
ministers, so should united praise often take the same aspect. The
whole company should praise and bless God for the mercy rendered to the
Church through its pastors. Hear how our Apostle puts it again–"That
for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may
be given by many on our behalf." Brethren, we ought to praise God for
good ministers that they live–for when they die much of their work
dies with them. It is astonishing how a reformation will press on while
Luther and Calvin live, and how it will cease as soon as the reformers
die.
The spirits of good men are immortal only in a sense. The Churches of
God in this age are like the Israelites in the times of the Judges.
When the judges died they went after graven images again. And it is so
now. While God spares the man, the Church prospers, but when the man
dies, the zeal which he blew to a flame smolders among the ashes in
nine cases out of ten, if not in ninety-nine out of every hundred. The
prosperity of a Church rests on the minister's life. God so ordains it
to humble us. There should be gratitude, then, for spared life.
But there should be great gratitude for preserved character, for oh,
when a minister falls, what a disgrace it is! Why, when you read in the
police reports the sad case of the Rev. Mr._, who chose to call himself
a Baptist minister, everybody says, "What a shocking thing! What a bad
set the Baptists must be." Now, any fool in the world may call himself
a Baptist minister. Our liberty is so complete that no law or order
exists. Any man who can get a dozen to listen to him preach is a
minister, at least to them. Therefore you cannot suppose but what there
will be some hypocrites who will take the name in order to get some
sort of reputation.
If the true minister is kept and made to hold fast his integrity, there
should be constant gratitude to God on his behalf. If the minister is
kept well supplied with goodly matter. If he is like a springing well.
If God gives him to bring out of His treasury things both new and old
to feed His people, there should be hearty thanks. And if he is kept
sound, if he goes not aside to philosophy on the one hand, nor to a
narrowness of doctrine on the other, there should be thanksgiving
there. If God gives to the masses the will to hear him, and above all,
if souls are converted and saints are edified, there should be
never-ceasing honor and praise to God.
Ah, I am talking now about what you all know, and you just nod your
heads to it, and think there is not much in it. But if you were made to
live in Holland for a little time you would soon appreciate these
remarks. While traveling there, I stayed in houses with godly men–men
of God with whom I could hold sweet communion–who cannot attend what
was once their place of worship. Why not? "Sir," they say, "can I go to
a place of worship when the most of the ministers deny every Word of
Scripture? Not those of the Reformed Church only, but of every sect in
Holland! How can I listen to the traitors who swear to the Calvinistic
or Lutheran articles, and then go into the pulpit and deny the reality
of the resurrection, or assert that the ascension of Jesus is a mere
spiritual parable?"
I find that in the Netherlands they are fifty years in advance of us in
infidelity. We shall soon catch up with them if gentlemen of a certain
school I know of are suffered to multiply. The Dutch Divines have taken
great strides in Neologism, till now the people love the Truth of God
and there are multitudes that are willing to hear it. But these are
compelled absolutely to refuse to go to Church at all, lest by any
means they should give countenance to the heretical and false doctrines
which are preached to them every Sunday.
Ah, if God were once to take away from England the ministers who preach
the Gospel boldly and plainly, you would cry to God to give you the
candlestick back again. We may indeed say of England–
"With all your faults I love you still." We have a colonial bishop who
avows his unbelief. We have a few men of all denominations who are
quietly sliding from the Truth. But, thank God they are nothing as of
yet. They are but as a drop in a bucket compared to the Churches of
Christ, and those among us who are not quite as Calvinistic as we might
wish. I thank God, there are many who never dispute the inspiration of
Scripture, nor doubt the great Truth of justification by faith. We have
still preserved among us men that are faithful to God, and preach the
whole Truth as it is in Jesus.
Be thankful for your ministers, I say again, for if you were placed
where some Believers are, you would cry out to your God–"Lord, send us
back Your Prophets. Send us a famine of bread or a famine of water, but
send us not a famine of the Word of God!"
I ask for myself this morning, as your minister, your thanksgivings to
be mingled with mine in praising God for the help which He has
vouchsafed to me in the very arduous work of the last fortnight. Praise
be to God for the acceptance which He gave me in that country among all
ranks of the people. I speak to His praise and not to mine, for this
has been a vow with me, that if God will give me a harvest, I will not
have an ear of corn of it, but He shall have it all. I found, in all
the places where I went, great multitudes of people, crowds who could
not understand the preacher, but who wanted to see his face, because
God had blessed his translated sermons to their souls.
Multitudes gave me the grip of brotherly kindness and, with tears in
their eyes, invoked, in the Dutch language, every blessing upon my
head. I hoped to preach to some fifties and hundreds, and instead of
that, there were so many that the great cathedrals were not too large.
This surprised me, and made me glad–and caused me to rejoice in
God–and I ask you to rejoice with me. I thank God for the acceptance
which He gave me among all ranks of the people. While the poor crowded
to shake hands, till they almost pulled me in pieces, it pleased God to
move the heart of the Queen of Holland to send for me, and for an hour
and a quarter I was privileged to talk with her concerning the things
which make for our peace.
I sought no interview with her. It was her own wish. And then I lifted
up my soul to God that I might talk of nothing but Christ, and might
preach to her of nothing but Jesus. And so it pleased the Master to
help me. And I left that very amiable lady, not having shunned to
declare the whole counsel of God. Gratified was I, indeed, to find
myself received cordially by all denominations, so that on the Saturday
at Amsterdam I preached in the Mennonite Church in the morning, and at
the Old Dutch Reformed Church in the evening. The next Sunday morning
in the English Presbyterian Church, and then again, in the evening, in
the Dutch Free Church.
Sometimes I was allowed to preach in the great cathedrals, as in the
Dom Kirk at Utrecht, and in Peter's Kirk, at Leyden, not having the
poor only, but the nobility and the gentry of the land, who, of course,
could understand English better than most of the poor, who have had no
opportunity of learning it. I felt, while going from town to town, the
Master helping me continually to preach. I never knew such elasticity
of spirit, such bounding of heart in my life before. And I come back,
not wearied and tired, though preaching twice every day, but fuller of
strength and vigor than when I first set out!
I give God the glory for the many souls I have heard of who have been
converted through the reading of the printed sermons, and for the
loving blessings of those who followed us to the water's edge with many
tears, saying to us–"Do your diligence to come again before winter,"
and urging us once more to preach the Word in that land. There may be
mingled with this some touch of egotism. The Lord knows whether it is
so or not, but I am not conscious of it. I do praise and bless His
name, that in a land where there is so much philosophy, He has helped
me to preach His Truth so simply, that I never uttered a word as a mere
doctrinalist, but I preached Christ and nothing but Christ. Rejoice
with me, my dear Brothers and Sisters. I must have you rejoice in it,
or if you will not, I must rejoice alone, but my loaf of praise is too
great for me to eat it all.
III. And we come to a close. I have to urge THE JOYFUL CLAIMS which the
Apostle gives in the twelfth verse, as a reason WHY THERE SHOULD BE
PRAYER AND PRAISE. "For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our
conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly
wisdom, but by the Grace of God, we have had our conversation in the
world and more abundantly to you."
Ah, after all, a man's comfort must come, next to the finished
salvation of God, from the testimony of his own conscience. And to a
minister, what a testimony it is that he has preached the Gospel in
simplicity, to which there are two senses– preached it not with
double-mindedness–saying one thing and meaning another. And he has
preached it, not as oarsmen row–looking one way and pulling
another–but preached it meaning what he said, having a single heart,
desiring God's Glory and the salvation of men.
And what a blessing to have preached it simply, that is to say, without
hard words, without polished phrases, never studying elocutionary
graces, never straining after oratorical embellishments. How accursed
must be the life of a man who profanes the pulpit to the dignity of
eloquence! How desperate will be his deathbed when he remembers that he
made an exhibition of his powers of speech rather than of the solid
things which make for the winning of souls! That conscience may well be
easy that can speak of having dealt with God's Truth in simplicity.
The Apostle says, also, that he had preached it with sincerity. That
is, he had preached it meaning it, feeling it–preached it so that none
could accuse him of being false. The Greek word has something in it of
sunlight, and he is the true minister of God who preaches what he would
wish to have hung up in the sunlight, or who has the sunlight shining
right through him. I am afraid we are none of us like white glass–most
of us are colored a little–but he is happy who seeks to get rid of the
coloring matter as much as possible, so that the light of the Gospel
may shine right straight, clear as it comes from the Sun of
Righteousness, through him.
Paul had preached with simplicity and sincerity. And he adds, "Not with
fleshly wisdom." Oh, what stories have I heard of what fleshly wisdom
will do! And I have learned a lesson during the last fortnight which I
would that England would learn. There are three schools of theological
error over yonder, and each one leaps over the back of its fellow. Some
of them hold that all the facts of Scripture are only myths. Others of
them say that there are some good things in the Bible, though there are
a great many mistakes. And others go further still, and fling the whole
Bible away altogether as to its Inspiration, though they still preach
it, and still lean on it, saying that they do that merely for the
edification of the vulgar–merely holding it up for the sake of the
masses–though I ought to add merely to get their living as well.
Sad! Sad! Sad that the Church has gone to such a length as that–the
Old Dutch Reformed Church–the very mirror of Calvinism, standing fast
and firm in its creeds to all the doctrines we love, and yet gone
astray to latitudinarian and licentious liberty. Oh, how earnestly
should we decry fleshly wisdom! I am afraid, dear Friends, that
sometimes some of you, when you hear a minister, like him to put it
pretty well, and you find fault unless he shows some degree of talent.
I wonder whether that is not a sin? I am half inclined to think it is.
I sometimes think whether we ought not to look less every day to
talent, and more and more to the matter of the Gospel that is preached.
Whether if a man is blessed with elocutionary power we may, perhaps, be
more profited by him–whether that is not a weakness. Whether we had
not better go back to the days of fishermen once again, and give men no
sort of education whatever, but just send them to preach the Truth of
God simply. This, rather than go the length they are now going, giving
men, I know not what, of all sorts of learning that is of no earthly
use to them, but which only helps them to pervert the simplicity of
God. I love that word in my text–"Not with fleshly wisdom."
And now I lay my claim, as my conscience bears me witness–I lay my
claim to this boasting of our Apostle. I have preached God's Gospel in
simplicity. I do not know how I can preach it more simply, nor can I
more honestly declare it. I have preached it sincerely–the Searcher of
all hearts knows that. And I have not preached it with fleshly wisdom,
and that for one excellent reason–that I have not any–and have been
compelled to keep to the simple testimony of the Lord. But if I have
done anything, it has been done by the Grace of God.
If any success has been achieved, it has been Divine Grace that has
done it all. "And more especially to you." For though our word has gone
forth to many lands, and our testimony belts the globe, yet, "more
especially to you." You have we warned. You have we entreated. You have
we exhorted. With you have we pleaded. Over you have we wept. For you
have we prayed. To some of you we have been a spiritual parent in
Christ. To many of you as a nursing father. To many of you as a teacher
and an edifier in the Gospel. And we hope to all of you a sincere
friend in Christ Jesus. Therefore do I claim your prayers–yours more
than any other people's.
And though there will be not a few who will remember us in their
supplications, I do conjure you, inasmuch as it has been, "especially
to you," let me especially have your prayers. Some will say that it is
unkind even for me to suppose that you do not pray. Well, I do not so
suppose it out of unkindness, but there may be some who forget–some
who forget to plead. Oh, do pray for me still! The whole congregation
is not saved yet. There are some that hear us that are not yet
converted. Plead with God for their sakes. There are some hard hearts
unbroken! Ask God to make the hammer strike. And while there are some
still unmelted, pray God to make the Word like a fire!
This great London needs to be stirred from end to end. Pray for all
your ministers, that God may make them mighty. The Church wants more
still of the loud voice of God to wake it from its sleep. Ask God to
bless all His sent servants. Plead with Him with Divine energy, that so
His kingdom may come, and His will may be done on earth as it is in
Heaven.
O that you all believed in Jesus! For until you do, you cannot pray nor
praise! O that you all believed in Jesus! Remember, this is the only
way of salvation. Trust Jesus, for he that believes on Him is not
condemned, but he that believes not is condemned already, because he
believes not on the Son of God. Trust Jesus and you shall be saved. May
Christ accept you now, for His own love's sake. Amen.