Before Daybreak with Christ

Before Daybreak with Christ

(No. 1769)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON THURSDAY EVENING, FEBRUARY 14, 1884,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And in the morning, rising up a great while before day, He went out,
and departed into a solitary place, and there prayed. And Simon and
they that were with Him followed after Him. And when they had found
Him, they said unto Him, All men seek for You. And He said unto them,
Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also for
therefore came I forth. And He preached in their synagogues throughout
all Galilee, and cast out devils." Mark 1:35-39.

A WONDERFUL day was closed and crowned by a wonderful evening.
Capernaum had been exalted to Heaven that day, for deeds worthy of
Heaven had been worked in her. Within the synagogue the power and
authority of the new Teacher had been seen, but at the close of the
Sabbath, when the people felt more free to lay their sick before Him,
His Divine Majesty was glorified before all in the open streets of the
little town. Galilee had never before seen such a day of preaching, or
such an eventide of healing. "At even, when the sun did set, they
brought unto Him all that were diseased, and them that were possessed
with devils. And all the city was gathered together at the door. And He
healed many that were sick of different diseases, and cast out many
devils."

Surely this day was worthy to take a front rank among "the days of the
Son of Man." A very wonderful evening! Did not they think it so who had
long grown to their beds, but suddenly found themselves walking,
leaping and praising God? Those must have thought it so who beheld
their pining relatives restored to health and vigor. Even devils must
have felt it to be so, as they fled pell-mell into the deep! Assuredly
the people of the city must have been greatly excited– on the
housetops, in the market and in every lane and alley the one theme of
talk must have been the new Rabbi–His strange teaching and His
unrivalled miracles!

After our Lord's sermon in the synagogue He held an inquiry-meeting in
the street–He had no other assembly room. There He led them to look to
Him and obtain healing; and as this went on, crowds of persons were
present confessing what the Lord had done for them. One might be
content to die after being present at such a scene! After that evening
was over and men went home, they said, "It was a very extraordinary
occasion. What new teaching is this? What power is this? We have never
seen its like." It was a day from which to date an era–Heaven and
earth and Hell were all affected by it! That pure teaching opening the
mystery of the Kingdom; that healing energy setting forth the power of
the redeeming King! No wonder that all tongues were fluent and all lips
eloquent, when there was so Divine a subject to enlarge upon!

Children and unlettered peasants could repeat the chronicle of that day
of Grace. They needed not to expatiate, much less to exaggerate, for,
in truth, it was a heavenly day and grew even brighter as the shadows
fell. Those evening hours were as the hands of Mercy, all bedecked with
rings and jewels of heavenly charity–Love was then in her bridal
attire and miracles were the bespangled ornaments of her beauty! Do you
not think that the wonderful evening was followed by an equally
wonderful morning? That Sunday morning, as we now call the first day of
the week, was it not equally notable? Remember the grand excitement of
the day and its long eventide–and then observe the hallowed devotion
of the coming dawn.

The Preacher and Miracle-Worker had been worked up to a high pitch and
we should not have wondered had He needed lengthened rest. But instead
thereof we read, "Rising up a great while before day, He went out, and
departed into a solitary place, and there prayed." Jesus has taken such
necessary sleep as He desired and He wakes. It is still dark and all
the inhabitants of the house are asleep. He very quietly and
noiselessly steals out of the chamber and finds His way into the
street. And you see Him go along, alone, till He has left the narrow
roadway and reached the open fields. The gleaming of the morning has
hardly come–the dawn is scarcely gray. It is, "a great while before
daylight," and the darkness hangs all around with its friendly veil.

But Jesus knows His way–He had been down those streets healing the
sick–and out in the open He is at home, for He is acquainted with
solitude and the lines upon the face of sleeping Nature are familiar to
Him. He turns to the most solitary hillside. Yonder is a hollow. He who
enters that recess is quite out of sight. Jesus has passed into that
hidden place and there, in the darkness, He kneels. He cries! He
supplicates! He speaks with God! He prays! Is this His rest after a
toilsome day? Is this His preparation for coming labor? It is even so!
That early morning of prayer explains the evening of power. As Man, He
had not possessed that wonderful power over human minds if He had not
perpetually communed with God. And now that His day's work is done and
the marvelous evening is over, all is not ended–a life-work still
remains before Him and, therefore, He must pray.

He feels a necessity that there should be more marvelous evenings–that
there should be further displays of power– and therefore the Great
Worker draws near, again, to the Source of strength, that He may,
afresh, gird up His loins for that which lies before Him. Dear Friends,
there is always a connection, even if we do not see it, between that
great crowd on Sunday, and the pleadings of the saints–a most intimate
connection between the flocking converts of the ministry and those
secret prayers which follow and precede it. There is such a connection
that the two cannot be parted! God will not send great blessings in the
way of open conversion if secret prayer is neglected. Let the preacher
or the Church fail to pray and God will refuse to bless!

Yes, and after conversions, unless there is, again, special prayer
presented by the Lord's servants, much that looked like blessing may
turn out to have been but the semblance of it and future blessings may
be withheld. If I could impress my heart on every syllable, and baptize
every word with my tears, I could not too earnestly entreat you to be,
above all things, earnest in prayer! I delight to think of our Lord as
praying before He did a great thing–it was His custom so to do!
Perhaps the early morning prayer of our text preceded the Sermon on the
Mount. I am not quite sure about that fact, though certain of the
writers of Harmonies are assured of it. But I am quite certain that
this special supplication followed an evening of miracles and it seems
to teach us that when God is with us, we should have even more anxiety
than ever to keep Him with us.

When the blessing has really come and souls are being saved on all
sides, then are we to redouble our cries to Heaven, that the merciful
Presence may be retained and enjoyed to a still higher degree! Fresh
from the wonderful successes of that miraculous night, the Christ of
God goes, on the Sunday morning, to open the gates of the day with the
uplifted hands of His prayers! Prayer should be our companion at all
times. Pray when you are pining for a blessing. Pray when you have
newly obtained a blessing.

Now, we shall look at four points of our Savior's Character as we see
them in these few verses. Let us hear the melody of four of those
golden bells which adorn the garments of our great High Priest. First,
we are caused to observe–Prayer by Him intensely esteemed. Secondly,
popularity weighed in the balances and lightly valued. Thirdly,
practical duty followed out, for when they said, "All men seek for
You," He said to them, "Let us go into the next towns that I may preach
there also for therefore came I forth." The fourth point is well worthy
of attention. Here it is–preaching always to the forefront with Him.
Whatever He does not do, He does preach and, though He works miracles
such as casting out devils, He evidently regards all bodily cures as
subsidiary to His main work.

"Let us go into the next towns, that I may preach there also for
therefore came I forth." We shall put the four things together and see
how the power and the preaching hang upon one another, and how the
despising of popularity is fitly conjoined with the intense purpose to
carry out His life-work.

I. First, then, let us think a little about our Lord in His private
communion with the Father–PRAYER–HOW INTENSELY IT WAS ESTEEMED BY
HIM! He rose up early that weekday morning and retired to a solitary
place to pray, to teach us not to keep our religiousness for Sabbath
days, or retain our prayerfulness for one day of the week. Many Jews in
Christ's day said, "We have been to synagogue." And when going to
synagogue was over, their religion was over, too. At this day we are
surrounded by persons whose godliness is circumscribed within the four
walls of their synagogue, their church, their tabernacle, or whatever
else they like to call it. Religion means to many the observance of
certain ceremonies at stated times. They put on different clothes and
tread another floor–and then their religion begins.

Do they put on different garments on the Sabbath because they are
different men, or because they wish to be thought so? There is such a
thing as a Sunday religion and he that has it will be lost. The
religion which only lives in our religious assemblies–how can it serve
our turn? Shall we be at the meeting all the week? Shall we die in the
place of worship? In all probability we shall die in our beds at home
and, therefore, we need a household godliness. Prayer on Sunday is well
enough, but far better is the supplication which continually waits upon
God. Our Sunday prayer should abound, but the weekdays equally need
prayer and should be saturated with it. Grace is for streets and shops
as well as for sanctuaries.

It is well when God rules our thoughts as much in the shop as in the
Prayer Meeting–when we are as much under the governance of our Lord
Jesus Christ when we are busy in the family as when we are sitting in
the Church of God. Oh, let us see to this! Our Master gives us a good
example, here. It was not upon the Sabbath morning that He woke so
early–it was on the first day of the week, not yet rendered sacred by
His Resurrection, that our Lord left His bed and wended His way through
the shadows to find a place for fellowship with the Father!

You observe that in His prayer He desired very much to be alone. He was
anxious that His prayer might not be seen of men. Woe unto that man
whose devotion is observed by everybody and who never offers a secret
supplication! Secret prayer is the secret of prayer, the soul of
prayer, the seal of prayer, the strength of prayer! If you do not pray
alone, you do not pray at all. I care not whether you pray in the
street, or in the church, or in the barracks, or in the cathedral–but
your heart must speak with God in secret–or you have not prayed. "You,
when you pray, enter into your closet and when you have shut your door,
pray to your Father which is in secret; and your Father which sees in
secret shall reward you openly!" The less prayer is observed on earth,
the more it is observed in Heaven. That which is carefully concealed
from men is seen of the Father.

I suppose, too, that our Lord loved to be alone that He might pray
aloud. It is not necessary to pray with the voice– it is sometimes
highly undesirable that you should pray aloud–but yet, as a rule, you
will find it greatly advantageous to yourself to use your voice as well
as your mind in prayer. I speak what I have often proved. I am
accustomed to pray without uttering a single sound, but I find a relief
and a stimulus in occasionally "crying aloud." In a lone spot where I
shall not be heard, I find it an intense delight to pour out my heart
aloud, using words and exclamations whereby the spirit expresses itself
with freedom and force. I think that the Savior, who was intensely
Human, felt much rest in the unrestrained pouring out of His heart and
soul before His Father. He was supremely Human as He was certainly
Divine– and I do not doubt that it was a comfort to Him to awaken the
hills with His praises, startle the glens with His groans and put a
tongue into every bush and tuft by His strong crying and tears.

All Nature was akin to Him and the desert places were meet chambers for
His great soul, wherein as in His own house "the Holy Child Jesus"
might speak with the Father face to face. I commend to you, who would
attain to high communion with the Eternal that, as often as you can,
you get so far afield as to be able to pray aloud and use the
unrestrained voice in prayer. "My voice shall You hear in the morning,
O God." David continually speaks of crying with his voice unto God. It
is not essential, but it is often helpful. Our blessed Master desired
to get alone because there He would feel free to express Himself–to
tell out His very secrets to the great Father. His prayers in solitude!
They must have been marvelous communications! How familiar with God and
yet how lowly! How simple, yet how spiritual! How full! How deep! How
intense!

Perhaps you have desired that they had been recorded, but you need not
that I remind you that the world, itself, could not have contained all
the books that might have been written! Be grateful for those that are
written and believe that Infinite Wisdom is as much displayed in the
concealment of a part of our Lord's life as in the publication of the
rest of it. Perhaps those prayers of His were such as we might not
hear. Every saint pleads, at times, in forms of passionate petition
which nobody else should hear but God. When we are quite alone, we may
dare to say things which might seem too venturesome for any other. I am
glad that we have not many of Luther's prayers, for I conceive that the
great bold German often said things to his God which a common Christian
might not dare to say. That which was perfectly reverent in him might
have savored of presumption if you or I had ventured upon it! That
which the Lord accepted from Luther, whom He had placed in so singular
a position and constituted in so remarkable a way for his work, might
have been offensive if spoken by another.

The Master's prayers were a free, outspoken talk with the Most High.
His heart was open to the Lord as yonder river to the shining of the
moon above it. Certainly, our Lord Jesus Christ rose up early and went
alone in the dark to pray,

because He loved to put prayer first of all. He would go nowhere till
He had prayed. He would attempt nothing till He had prayed. He would
not cast out a devil, He would not preach a sermon, He would work no
cure, however necessary, however profitable, until, first of all, He
had drawn near to God. Take good heed unto yourselves, my Brothers and
Sisters, that you follow the same rule. Look no man in the face till
you have seen the face of God. Speak with none till you have spoken
with the Most High. Go not to your labor with your loins ungird with
the girdle of devotion, lest you fail therein. Take not to running till
you have, in prayer, laid aside every weight, lest you lose the race.

We cannot, we must not, think of entering upon a day, or upon an
enterprise, without first saying, "Bring here the ephod: let us ask
counsel of the Lord!" We can do nothing without our God! Let us attempt
nothing without Him. So the Savior rises a great while before day and
gets alone with His God, that for Him prayer might perfume the morning
dew and sweeten the first breath of the dawn. There was about the
Savior an intense desire to meet with God–to commune with the Father.
Herein there is a living likeness between His prayers and ours, but yet
His devotions must have been very different from ours because He had no
sin to confess as we have. A large part of our communion with God must
lie in our confession of sin, in our expression of personal weakness
and in our pleading the righteousness of our Divine Redeemer.

But this Blessed One had no sins to admit before the Host High and no
weakness to lament, for in Him was neither sin nor tendency to sin. I
can conceive that much of His devotion was shown in converse with the
Father, when His blessed mind, forever in agreement with the mind of
God, spoke to God and God revealed Himself to Him. Intimate communion
must have been the main ingredient of the Savior's prayers. Some of the
sweetest devotion Christians ever enjoy does not lie in asking anything
of the Father, but in the enjoyment of the Father, Himself. Two friends
in closest communion do not spend their time in mutual explanations and
setting things straight–nor even in asking favors of each other–they
proceed to heart-to-heart conversation, known only to those who have
enjoyed the like.

We are always in need and, therefore, our daily devotion must consist
largely of petitions, but yet we are, by Divine Grace, the children of
the Lord, and the child says many things to his Father beside that
which takes the form of a request. Have we not, with joyful reverence,
told our heavenly Father how we love Him? How we long to be more like
He? How we desire to serve Him? That is how we talk–alone with
God–our heart is to the heart of God as the echo to the living voice
which calls to it. The Savior would tell the Father of all His love to
Him, how He desired nothing but the salvation of those whom the Father
gave Him, how He devoted Himself to glorify His name in them, for they
were His and He was Surety for them. All that the Divine Jesus could
and would say to His Father, we may not endeavor to imagine. We could
not be permitted to stand by and hear those solitary prayers, but they
must have been something unique, worthy of the Sacred Persons who there
held solemn dialogue. Yes, the great heart of Jesus swam in
supplication as in its element–and in proportion as we become like He,
we shall be of His mind as to private prayer.

One said to me the other day what I have sometimes read, but I was
especially shocked to hear it. She said, "I am so conformed to the mind
and will of God that I do not need to pray." I answered in sad
surprise, "I pray God will open your eyes to see the delusion under
which you are laboring, for the Holy Lord Jesus Christ abounded in
prayer, notwithstanding His absolute perfection." That kind of
perfection which leads a man to think that he does not need to pray is
damnable! I will use no calmer word. I believe that the "doctrine of
sinless perfection," as it is frequently taught in these fanatical
days, will be the ruin of many a soul that holds it! Could you cease to
pray, you would cease to live spiritually. It is the very breath of
your nostrils if you are a child of God!

As to your being so perfect as to need no more prayer and watchfulness,
you lie to your own soul, as surely as you live! Instead of believing
in your perfection, I pray God deliver you from so terrible a delusion.
If you were perfect, you would still need to pray. No, you would pray
more than ever and your life, like that of Jesus, would be steeped and
saturated in prayer! Our Lord, because He was perfect, longed
perpetually to draw near unto God. "Oh," says one, "I live in the
spirit of prayer and, therefore, I do not need times and seasons for
prayer." And do you think that Christ did not live in the spirit of
prayer? Yet He must have His special time and place to pray! Do not
fall under the injurious notion that because your spirit cries to God
in prayer all day long, therefore there must not be some season for
more immediately coming into God's Presence! If you do thus imagine, I
am afraid that it will prove a snare to your feet. The Lord Jesus
Christ, who knew better than you, that the main thing is the spirit of
prayer rather than the act of prayer, yet, Himself retired into desert
places to maintain the act and exercise of prayer!

Be spiritual. Be baptized into the spirit of prayer, but do not be
deceived by the enemy who can spirit a duty away while we dream that we
only spiritualize it! We had better preserve the very bones of prayer,
the posture, time and place, rather than let it all ooze away into an
impalpable mental condition. God keep us prayerful! He will do so if He
makes us like His dear Son. Further, I want you to notice concerning
our Lord's prayer that there can be no doubt that in His prayer He
prayed for Himself. Much of His prayer belonged to Himself, and to
Himself, only. He was, we know, in one great instance, "heard in that
He feared," and He was heard in many other things known only to
Himself. But our Lord also much abounded in prayer far His
disciples–He took their cases, one by one, and pleaded with the Father
for them.

Remember how He prayed for Peter–supplicating for him before he came
into danger? He said. "Simon, Simon, Satan has desired to have you."
The enemy had only reached as far as the desire, but the Good Shepherd
was quicker than the wolf and had already interceded–"but I have
prayed for you." Christ had outstripped the devil! He had already
prayed before the temptation came. And here on earth, as a father in
the midst of his children, He took care that none of them should be in
danger through the lack of His loving intercession! And do you not
think that He was praying, too, at that time, for the sinners that were
round about Him?

It is His practice in Heaven to make intercession for the
transgressors–and I am sure that He did it here below. As He looked
into those faces in the streets of Capernaum, He read the stories of
their sin and these came back to His memory amid those lone hills. He
knew more about men than we do, for He could search their thoughts. He
knew how foolish they were and how far they had gone aside from
God–and so, in the silence of the desert, He prayed with wide
knowledge and profound sympathy–and He spoke with the Most High in
eager pleas for those whose sins He measured and whose doom He foresaw.

To do His people and the world the grandest service in His power till
He should lay down His life, our Lord stole away amid the heathery
hills or the stony heaps of the shores of Galilee. Dear Friends, take
care that you pray. Need I say it? Take care that you use all aids to
prayer, such as being alone and rising early to pray. If your Lord
needed prayer, you require it much more. Take care that you pray much
in the time of your success. Do not think that because of the wonders
God did for you last night, you are not to pray in the morning, but set
double guard over your spirit in the moment of rejoicing lest you be
carried away by pride. "Oh," you say, "but my prayers are so often
disturbed!" I know! The devil is sure to send somebody to knock at the
door when you want to be quiet in prayer. Your Lord can sympathize with
you in that, for Simon and they that were with Him followed after Him
and disturbed the solitude which He had sought with so much care.

Simon was always to the front and sometimes mischievously so. And here
He is, leading the way in disturbing His Master! Do not wonder if Satan
finds a Simon to worry you. But as your Lord knows what it is to be
disturbed, He can help you to bear up under disturbances. He can cheer
you when these interruptions distress you and He can aid you to renew
your pleadings when the chain of your prayer has been broken. I regret
that I can say no more on this point, because my time has fled.

II. Only just a word or two, in the second place, upon POPULARITY
WEIGHED by the Savior. The disturbance that came to the Savior's
prayers arose out of the desire of His disciples to tell Him that
everybody was after Him and, according to Luke's account in his fourth
chapter, the people of the town were close on the heels of the
disciples, to pray him not to go away, but to stop and be their Prophet
and heal their sick. Our Lord's popularity was of the best kind–it had
not been gained by any arts or tricks, nor by pandering to their pride,
nor by yielding to their prejudices. He had preached nothing but the
Truth of God and He had worked no miracle among them for the mere sake
of display, but only for their good.

Yet He did not care for the best of popularity. He did not think it
worth the having for its own sake and, therefore, He shunned it to the
utmost. His popularity could be used and He did use it–for when the
people came together He preached the Gospel to them–but applause had
no charms for Him. He knew what poor stuff it is–of what gas it is
made. He knew how uncertain it is–how, like the wind, it will veer
round in no time. He knew that it might prove dangerous and it did, for
they sought, by-and-by, to make Him a king. Even His disciples would,
if they could, have turned Him from His spiritual purpose. Poor hearts!
They wished to see Him honored, but they did not know that honor from
men would have brought no honor to Him. When they told our Lord, "All
men seek you," He did not take notice of it, but proposed to go
elsewhere and preach the Gospel.

Oh, dear Friends, if ever you succeed in Christ's Kingdom, bless God
for your spiritual success, but do not think much of the approbation
which follows upon it. Pass it over in silence, as though you heard it
not. What is human approbation? What can it do for you? "When we have
done all, we are unprofitable servants." If we have done anything good,
no credit is due to us, but only to the Lord, whose Grace has made us
to be His workmanship! If the Lord Jesus Christ, who preached by His
own authority and power, and who worked miracles by His own might, yet
fled away as much as He could from the applause of men, much more let
each one of us do so! Oh, to walk before the Lord and be blind and deaf
to all the censures and the plaudits of the poor creatures around us!

I have seen men whom God has greatly blessed, who have been highly
honored by their Brethren, and yet they have been cast down and have,
therefore, been made to lie low in their own esteem. On the other hand,
I have observed others whose usefulness in the Church has not appeared
to anybody but themselves, and yet they have been so tall that they
almost needed St. Paul's Cathedral to stand upright! Their self-esteem
has been 10 times taller than the esteem of their wiser brethren! Let
us prefer to be found among the useful and lowly, rather than among the
self-conceited and useless! God will not greatly bless us if we grow
great.

We may soon become too big to be used to win souls. I notice that
soul-winning is generally accomplished by humble instruments. It is a
delicate task and the Lord, who does it, will not use those who are
great, strong and mighty in their own esteem. When the Lord finds His
servants lowly, like the Lord Jesus Christ, then they shall be used!
The longer I live, the more do I see that, as a rule, pride is the
death of all true spiritual usefulness. As you love God and would
desire to honor Him by a useful life, put far from you the temptation
to sip of the intoxicating cup of human honor! Drafts of worldly glory
are not for the priests of the Most High! Though not in the Savior's
case, yet in ours, there is a close connection between our prayers and
our being kept humble before the Lord.

It is remarkable how kindly our neighbors watch over our vineyards in
that respect. They are all in a fraternal flutter for fear we should
grow vain–it is very good of them, but we do not wish them to rob
themselves for our advantage! "Ah, Sir," said a good lady to me one
day, "I pray for you every day that you may be kept humble!" She was a
wonderfully fine-looking woman and splendidly dressed and, therefore, I
replied, "Thank you much; but you remind me of a failure in my duty. I
have never prayed for you that you might be kept humble." "Dear Sir,"
she cried, "there is no need for such prayers, for I am not tempted to
be proud."

How proud she was to have attained to such a delusion! When anybody
says, "I am not tempted to be proud," shrewd common sense suggests that
it is time to wake up, lest the enemy get a fatal advantage over the
vain spirit! When there is much prayer–abundant prayer and drawing
near to God–then the greatest success can be borne without risk.
Prayer ballasts the ship and so, when God fills the sails with a
prosperous wind, the vessel is not overborne.

III. Notice, thirdly, how our Lord put aside all the dangers of
popularity by setting before us PRACTICAL DUTY FOLLOWED OUT. They said,
"All men seek You." I think that most of us would have replied, "Well,
then, let us go down and talk to them." But Jesus cries, "Let us go
into the next towns, that I may preach there also." Instead of desiring
honor, He shuns it! Yes, He leaves no space for it, for He occupies
each hour with a new labor. He will break up new soil–old harvests
only serve to fill the basket for new seed-sowings. He will go to
encounter other trials as soon as the first are overcome. When He
enters a place for the first time, there is opposition, and Jesus is
eager to face it. For Him there remained no love of ease, no resting
upon laurels already won.

His nobly impatient spirit cries, "We have done something for
Capernaum; let us seek fresh fields and new pastures." He will also
enlist assistance and awaken others to share in the Holy War. How
condescendingly the Master puts it! He says, "Let us go." "O Divine
Master, all men seek Fou." And the answer is, "Let us go into the next
towns." He lifted His poor disciples into the us with Himself! Because
they are, through the rest of their lives, to be associated with Him in
His holy work, He takes care that in the first flush of His success
they shall be brought to the front in connection with Himself. They
will feel how unworthy they are to be in such high fellowship–they
will admire His condescension in putting them there–and they will be
the more ready to go on with Him, taking their full part in
evangelizing the other villages and towns.

Our Lord is thinking of the whole business! It is all before His mind's
eye what He is to do personally and what He is to do through each one
of them. The practical duty of doing His part of the work and using
them for their part of the work is strong upon Him. With a quick eye He
sees not what has been done, but what is to be done! Not what God has

given, but what God will still give in answer to the prayers which He
has prayed–and He expects that it will be so large that He will need
all His followers to help Him in the process of gathering it in! So He
says, "Let us go into the next towns." He does not say, "Let us rest
and be thankful," but He obeys the secret instinct which drives Him
forward to be doing more and more of good to the sons of men. He feels
within His soul that imperial must which, every now and then, crops up
in His story as it is told by the Evangelists.

He is under a necessity to do the Father's will in blessing the sons of
men. All else is as nothing to Him–"Therefore came I forth," He says.
The errand for which He came forth evidently presses Him, constrains
Him, impels Him! He must go forward till all His baptism is
accomplished! His slow of understanding disciples cry, "All men seek
You; stay in Capernaum!" But He thinks of the myriads who do not seek
Him, but need Him more than those who do! Let His zeal for the
unseeking multitudes inflame our hearts and let us, in enthusiastic
chorus, sing concerning the lost sheep–

"O, come, let us go and find them!

In the paths of death they roam!

At the close of the day it will be sweet to say,

'I have brought some lost one home.'" Jesus seemed to say, "Come with
Me and I will lead the way, for therefore am I sent, that all over
Galilee and Judea I may wander after wandering souls and give them
health of body and salvation of spirit."

This absorption in His life-purpose is one great evidence and
accompaniment of our Lord's perfect spiritual sanity. He could not
repose in work done, for the work which remained drove Him always
onward! I say not that the Master could possibly have gloried–He never
did glory–never would have gloried with any sinful pride. But in your
case and mine, the way to keep from ever glorying in what we have done
is to think of what we have yet to do–

"Forget the steps already trod,

And onward urge your way."

You know what the general said when one of his officers rode up and
cried, "Sir, we have taken a standard!" "Take another," he cried.
Another officer salutes him and exclaims, "Sir, we have taken two
guns." "Take two more," was the only reply. This way lies the reward of
holy service–you have done much–you shall do more. Have you won a
soul? Win another! Did you bring 50 to Christ? Bring 50 more! If you
have been faithful in little, you shall be entrusted with much.

What is all we have accomplished compared with the necessities of this
immeasurable city, compared with the needs of our nation, compared with
the desolated condition of the world? Brothers, in the hour of success,
resolve on wider labor. Go forward! Press on! Go to other cities.
Attempt other methods of service, for therefore came you forth from

God.

IV. Now I must close–compelled to do so by the incessant ticking of
the clock–when I have noticed how the Lord Jesus Christ in all things
makes us see PREACHING PUT TO THE FRONT, for He says, "Let us go into
the next towns, that I may preach there also: for therefore came I
forth." It is refreshing to hear preaching spoken of without a sneer.
"The Pulpit is a worn-out piece of furniture," so they say. Printers
have quite annihilated preachers–the few of us who survive may as well
go home to our beds! Well, I am not going to speak of any excellence in
preachers, or stand up for my Brothers as though we were the wisest of
all men. Suppose I confess that we are a set of fools? This is nothing
remark-able–we have always been so!

But it still remains written in Scripture, "It pleased God, by the
foolishness of preaching, to save them that believe." Such is our folly
that we are fools enough to go on preaching after our critics have
decided that we belong to the dead past! The wise men tell us about our
day being over, but notwithstanding all of that, we shall keep to our
marching orders–"Go you into all the world and preach!" In that day
when stock shall be taken of results and judgment shall be according to
equity, it will be found that the preachers of the Gospel have, after
all, with all their imperfections, been the great instruments in the
hands of God for bringing in His people to eternal salvation!

The people are supposed to read books in these times of the School
Board and, therefore, they do not need living speech. We are glad that
the people should read, but much of what they read which is best worth
reading was first heard from the pulpit! We know of no rivalry between
the printed word and the preached Word–it is often the same thing. But
I reckon that the most of you who have been converted to God will say
that it was not what you read, but what you heard which was used of the
Holy Spirit for your conversion! When heart speaks to heart with
accents of emotion, it is

somehow different from the paper. Some Brothers read their sermons and
I do not condemn them, but I know that most of the people feel a kind
of chill creeping over them as they hear the leaves rustle. It may be a
prejudice, but I know that nine out of10 are numbed by the foolscap for
the reading.

I confess I feel the influence myself–a read sermon usually freezes me
to the marrow, or else makes me fidget upon my seat. When a warm heart
speaks to an earnest ear, it proves itself a suitable means for the
transmission of blessing. The man bears witness better than the paper
can! He speaks what he knows and he throws a tone, a force, a light, a
vigor into what he says which the printing press cannot possibly
communicate to the page! I know you grumble at the dullness of
preachers and I do not wonder at it, but I believe that the improvement
of that matter lies much with yourselves. You shall find, I believe,
that when more attention has been paid to the ministry–when you have
prayed more for students– and when more care has been exercised in
churches that only the right kind of men shall be helped into the
ministry, the preachers of the Word of God will rise into higher rank
in esteem.

When, instead of a man's being set apart for a minister because his
father has a living to give him. Or because he cannot pick up a
subsistence anywhere else. When, instead of the power of simony and
patronage–men shall only be introduced into the ministry who are
really moved by the Holy Spirit–then the dishonor will be wiped from
the pulpit and it shall be seen to be the tower of the flock, the
castle of the Truth of God. We preach Christ Crucified and preach it
because we are commanded to preach it. And we are well assured that
wisdom is justified of her children. God's grand means of preaching the
Gospel, which the Lord Jesus followed so closely, is used for the sure
accomplishment of eternal purposes!

I leave that point, because I need to say this much more–it is the
praying man that is the right preaching man–and if any of you long to
do good to your fellow men, you must begin on your knees! You cannot
have power with man for God until first you have power with God for
man! Solitary prayer was the equipment for the Prince of Preachers when
He came forth among the crowds–it is the best equipment for you, also.
In solitary vigil, buckle on the armor of the Light of God. Workers for
God, I entreat you to be abundant in supplication, that if success
comes, you may not be elevated unduly by it. That if failure comes, you
may not be depressed unduly by it. Come what may, having prayed, it is
yours to continue steadfast in present duty, still doing that for which
you were sent, and still believing that the Gospel of Jesus will
prevail. Oh, my Comrades, may the Lord uphold us even to the end!

As for you here present who never pray, what will become of you? As for
you who, instead of preaching, do not care to hear preaching, what will
become of you? If the Lord Jesus Christ went out to pray so early in
the morning, do you know what He was praying for? Why, for the
salvation of sinners like you, that you might be saved! His cries and
tears were for those who neither plead nor weep for themselves! When
Jesus stood up to preach, what had He on His mind but the salvation of
sinners like you? Shall He think of you and will you not think of Him?
Oh, look to Him! See how He loves sinners!

Now that He has been dead and buried, and has risen again and gone into
His Glory, He still lives to save sinners! Look to Him! Trust Him! Seek
Him, tonight, in solitary prayer, and He will meet with you. Tomorrow
morning rise up early, "a great while before day," if you have no other
means of being alone, and cry to Him for mercy and He will set Heaven's
gate open before you–and answer you even as His Father answered Him!
The Lord bless you, for Christ's sake. Amen.