Forward! Forward! Forward!

Forward! Forward! Forward!

DELIVERED ON SUNDAY EVENING, OCTOBER 18, 1863,

BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"And the Lord said unto Moses, Why cry you unto Me? Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward." Exodus 14:15.

SPIRITUAL men, in their distresses, turn at once to prayer even as the
stag when hunted takes to flight. Prayer is a never-failing resort. It
is sure to bring a blessing with it. Even apart from the answer of our
supplications, the very exercise of prayer is healthy to the man
engaged in it. Far be it from me ever to say a word in disparagement of
the holy, happy, heavenly exercise of prayer. But, Beloved, there are
times when prayer is not enough–when prayer itself is out of season.
You will think that a hard saying and say, "Who can bear it?" But my
text is to the point. Moses prayed that God would deliver His people.
But the Lord said to him, "Why cry you unto Me?" As much as to say this
is not the time for prayer, it is the time for action. "Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward." When we have prayed over a
matter to a certain degree, it then becomes sinful to tarry any longer.
Our plain duty is to carry our desires into action, and having asked
God's guidance and having received Divine power from on high, to go at
once to our duty without any longer deliberation or delay.

Brethren, a vigorous faith will often shut its eyes to difficulties.
When faith looks upon a difficulty as being exceedingly great, then she
turns to prayer. But, on the other hand, after having sought God's help
and having received it, she frequently laughs at the impossibility and
cries, "It shall be done." and then, instead of betaking herself any
longer to her knees, she boldly marches on, believing that the
difficulty will vanish before her, that the crooked will be made
straight and the rough places plain. We are not to be always praying
over a difficulty. When we have fairly committed it to God, we are to
act upon the assurance that He has heard us.

Nor will such an action be the fruit of rashness for it is a solid and
substantial fact that prayer does avail with God. Beloved, it strikes
me that the advice which the Lord gave to Moses was such as He has
given to the preacher tonight– and that the message which Moses
delivered to the children of Israel is a very fit one for me to deliver
to you. Short, prompt, soldier-like, here is the whole of it–"Forward!
Forward!" If you have been sitting down or tempted to go
back–"Forward!" We have long been praying, let us tonight, "go
forward." The one subject we shall take up and try to deliver to
different classes of characters, is, "Thus says the Lord, you children
of Israel, Forward!"

I. First, we will contemplate THE CHILDREN OF ISRAEL AS A FLOCK OF
FUGITIVES. And in this light they give encouragement to trembling
sinners flying from the curse of the Law and from the power of their
sins. I think I see those poor Israelites crowding together, all
alarmed and afraid, whispering to one another some such trembling words
as these–"I saw them. I saw my old master on horseback riding after
me. I looked and I saw regiment upon regiment of warriors marching in
long red lines." "I heard," says another, "the sound of their war
music. I heard the clash of their spears. We cannot stand against them!
We are only defenseless multitudes and they are the well-trained sons
of Mizraim. Their swords will be drunk with our blood."

They huddled together as a company of doves seeking to escape the hawk.
Alas! What can they do? They are crying to God and to Moses, thinking
of this plan and devising another. And Moses himself, in some sort of
alarm, is crying out to God for them–"Lord, help this people! They are
in great straits. They are in frightful difficulties. The enemy says,
'I will pursue them. I will overtake them. I will divide the spoil. My
lust shall be satisfied upon them.' Lord, what am I to do with this
company?" Here comes the Divine answer, full of wisdom and love–"Speak
unto them and bid them go forward."

Now such is my message to the company of fugitives who are here
tonight. You have been awakened. Your conscience has been alarmed. You
have begun to feel the terrors of the Law. You have heard the crack of
the whip and felt it on your back. You are trying to escape from your
sins. You are not as you used to be, a contented bondsman, but you pant
to be delivered altogether from sin and its power and its guilt. You
have been flying as best you could from sin. But the whole of your sins
are after you and your conscience, with its quick ear, can hear the
sound of threatening judgment. "Alas," your heart is saying, "unless
God helps me, I shall be in Hell!" "Alas," says your judgment, "unless
God is merciful, I shall soon perish!" Every power of your manhood is
now upon the alarm. The different parts of your heart are talking to
one another and they are all foreboding desperate mischief.

Now what shall I do for you? Shall I pray for you? Yes, that I will.
Shall I bid you pray? Yes, that I may. And we may blend our prayers
together–"God be merciful to us sinners! Lord save us, or we perish!"
But I think while I am praying for you, I hear my Master saying, "Why
cry you unto Me?

Tell them to go forward! Preach Christ to them instead of praying any
longer or bidding them pray.

Deliver to them the message of the Gospel–"Forward, Sinner, forward to
the Cross! Forward to the five wounds! Forward to the bloody sweat and
to the crown of thorns! Go forward to the agonies of Gethsemane and to
the death struggles of Golgotha. Forward! Forward to the place–

'Where the full Atonement's made, Where the utmost ransom's paid.'"

I know what you say. "Right before me rolls the great sea of God's
wrath. I am surrounded with a dark, dark night and I see no light but
the sheen of these terrible waves of fire. If I go forward, God's
eternal wrath is in the way." Forward, Sinner, whatever may obstruct
the way! Let not Hell itself block up the road! Do you not know that
when Jesus is your Leader, He will at once divide the Red sea of
Jehovah's wrath? He did divide it! He went through it Himself when He
suffered the wrath of God instead of you!

As you go forward, you shall find Almighty Justice standing up as a
protecting wall on either hand and no longer rolling as a devouring
flood. Forward in the way of faith in the Savior's name! And when you
have passed through the dry bed of a sea once deep and stormy, you
shall look back and see the deep sea swallowing up your sins and shall
sing, "The depths have covered them, there is not one of them left."
Forward, Sinner, forward! "Well," says one, "I will pray about it."
Beware of substituting prayer for faith–faith is your present
duty–Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved. "I will
think about it a little longer." Do no such thing! Thinking is a very
poor substitute for believing. Forward! Forward at once and on the
spot! Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved.

"But I am not fit to believe!" Forward, in God's name–forward! What
have you to do with fitness? God commands you to believe in His Son
Jesus Christ. Forward is my message–I come not here to tamper with
you–to deal with your "ifs" and "buts," and excuses and perhapses.
Hell is behind you–you are shut up on the right hand and on the left
by God's Providence, your own fears, and Divine Justice. There is but
one way of safety and that is the way of faith. Forward, Sinner!
Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ and you shall be saved!

Why, some of you have been frittering away your time–weeks and months
and years! You have been thinking about it, praying about it, reading
about it, hoping about it, fearing about it–but never coming to Jesus
just as you are. It is wrong–it is all wrong! God's command is neither
work, nor feel, nor fear–it is simple and plain–BELIEVE! Forward!
Trust a Savior's wounds. And in trusting there is life. In a look at
Him you are saved! O, I wish I could get behind some of you and whisper
a word in your ear, for I know what Satan says. He says, "Tarry, tarry,
tarry!" Ah, he loves to have you in the place of breaking forth as
children, that he may vex and torment you.

"Go back," he says, "go back!" Ah, I know he would like to have you at
your cups again and in your old sins, but you cannot go back if God has
once brought you out of Egypt! I know what he whispers. He says, "It is
of no use going forward. If you believe in Jesus," says he, "you will
perish after all." Back, you old Liar, back! God never did permit a man
yet to walk in a path in which He commanded him to go and not to walk
safely. Forward, Sinner, FORWARD! Christ is before you and Heaven in
Him is before you. If you stay where you are, you shall die. If you go
forward, you can but die. And, therefore, take the captain's word
tonight, for it is the word of the captain's King–"Speak unto the
children of Israel that they go forward."

II. Secondly, we may view the great company who came out of Egypt as AN
ARMY UNDER COMMAND. Therefore they must obey. The command given to them
is, "Forward! Forward! Forward!" Might the wise men have said in the
host of Israel, "How can we go forward? That narrow beach leads down to
the foaming billow. Forward? What do you mean? We are altogether as
dead men if we go forward! Would you have us swim? Do you know where
you are? There are miles and miles of deep water and who knows the
bottom of the sea? Forward? Absurd!–We shall lose the camels and the
sheep and the baggage and our wealth and our children and our little
ones–yes, and our own lives also."

But thus says the Lord, "Forward!" You came out of Egypt under Moses'
command, will you play the rebel's part? If the Lord is your Captain,
you must do absolutely what He bids you at any loss and at any cost. If
He says, "Forward," and it is into the Red Sea or into a gulf of fire,
forward you must go. Now, Beloved, this presents us a picture of those
who are savingly converted, who, on a sudden, meet with difficulties in
following Christ and run to their minister or to their friend, and say,
"What are we to do?"

The Lord's message by me tonight to your anxious inquiry is
this–"Forward!" It is a simple one–"Forward!" "Sir, I have just begun
to be a Christian, but if I continue in it, I shall lose my business.
My calling is such that I cannot be honest in it and serve my God
faithfully without sinking all my capital and bringing myself and
family to beggary. What ought I to do? Ought I not to give up my
religion?" Forward! Forward! No matter what is before you. Forward! You
are not fit to be a soldier of Christ unless you can count all costs
and still hold fast to the Cross of Christ.

"Ah," says one, "but what is to become of my children, my family, my
household?" Friend, I cannot tell you, but God can. It is yours to
trust them with Him, for the only command I have for you is, Forward!
Forward! "But my husband says I shall never come into the house again!
My father tells me he will turn me out of doors." Be it so, no one
pities you more than I do. But I dare not alter my message to your
soul. I am to bid you, Go forward! "Well," says one, "these are hard
commands."

Yes, but the martyrs had harder still. Theirs was the stake, the
gibbet, the rack. They must rot in prison. They must be dragged at the
heels of the wild horse. But what is the command? "Forward.!" On went
the goodly host through floods, through fires, through seas of blood.
They never paused. And if you would be worthy followers of them, you
must do the same. The Master's message to you is, "Forward!" At the
famous charge of Balaclava, when the order was given to charge the
batteries, what could that troop do but ride into the valley of death?
There they go! On, on, up to the very cannons' mouths! The word of
command must not be questioned but obeyed–

"Theirs not to make reply.
Theirs not to reason why.
Theirs but to do and die–
Into the valley of death
Rode the six hundred."

And you, if you are fit to be God's soldiers–if you are really His and
filled with His Holy Spirit–you must do the same. What would you think
of our soldiers if, when they were bid to charge, they should say,
"There is a ditch in the way." Jump in it! "But there are soldiers in
the way." Cut them to pieces! "But they have very sharp fixed
bayonets." Fix yours, too! Push them at the bayonet's point and drive
them back. England expects every man to do his duty. What God commands
must surely have a higher claim on men than what England commands them
to do! Comrades in arms, all my message to you is, "Forward! Forward!"
If God has called you to honor and glory and immortality and eternal
life–if loss of business, comfort, honor, fame, friends. If relatives
should threaten you, you must not be daunted–for He who loves any of
these more than Christ is not worthy of Him.

There are cowards of another sort with whom I must have a word. They do
not like going forward. They would not lose by it if they did, but they
feel a quivering sensation of nervousness come over them. And though
they know their Master's commands, yet they say, "Well, I must think
the matter over." Now suppose one instance–and I take only one of the
sort–suppose you know it (as it certainly is, whether you know it or
not), to be your duty to be baptized? How often I have heard people
say, "Well, yes, the Lord is my gracious Master and I am His servant
and I believe it is the duty of Believers to be baptized. But if the
Lord ever reveals it to me, then I will do it"?

There is a soldier for you! He is not content to get the same orders as
his fellow soldiers! No, he cries, "When the regiment is on the march,
if the captain will come round to my tent and talk to me by myself, I
will not mind going." Why, he deserves to be flogged as a deserter! I
will not wish anything hard to my Christian Brothers and Sisters, but I
do venture to prophesy that they will be beaten with many stripes if
they talk in that way. "Ah," says one, "but the Lord must apply it to
me." What for? The thing is clear enough without its being applied. If
there is anything in the Bible which is plain at all, it is that he who
believes in Christ should he buried with Him in Baptism. Then, if it is
your clear duty, you ought to do it at once.

"Well, I will pray about it." And do you believe God will hear such a
wicked prayer as that? If I tell my child that there is something for
him to do and he tells me, "Well, I will think about it." I shall let
him know that I am not to be thus impudently trifled with. If I say to
him, Now, my child, do so-and-so. "Father, I will pray about it."
Believe me, I shall not put up with such hypocritical rebellion! It
will not do in one's own house, much less in the House of God. Are you
to be permitted to trifle with positive precepts and then to lay your
sin upon God's back? I do not think so.

Dear Brothers and Sisters, if you have been sitting down timidly and
saying, "Well, one of these days I will come out and own my Lord,"
instead of that, I am bid to command you on this point and on every
other, if it is a plain duty, whether it is pleasant to the flesh or
not, "Forward! Forward! Forward!" What are your marching orders? Does
your Lord tell you to do it? Do it! Do the Scriptures bid you? Do it!
It is not yours to reason why any more than it is the soldier's. But as
the seed of Israel marched right on, even though the sea was in their
way, so must you–though death itself should be the result. "Speak to
the children of Israel, that they go forward."

III. We will change the topic once again and we will take a third view
of it. Let us view these people as ON THE MARCH TOWARDS CANAAN. Many of
you are on your way towards Heaven and the Lord's command to you is,
"Forward! Forward!"

I would that I could sound that one word in the ears of many whom I
believe to be the Lord's people but who have for a long time settled
upon their lees. There are some persons who cannot be persuaded to make
an advance in the Divine life. The moment you urge them to anything
practical they call you legal. They seem to consider themselves as
inanimate clay ordained to lie passively in the hands of the Holy
Spirit. But they forget that the Holy Spirit works in us, not to be
idle and powerless, but to will and to do of God's good pleasure. They
neither will, nor do, but talk about the Spirit as though He were to
will and to do everything for them.

To such who have been converted but have made no progress let me, in my
Master's name, give clear utterance to that word, "Forward." Brothers
and Sisters, you and I ought to go forward in knowledge. If I know no
more of Scripture than I did ten years ago, what have I done with my
time? If I am no better instructed myself as a scribe in my Master's
kingdom, of what use shall I be to others? If you have been in this
world these years and yet doctrine has not become more clear, nor
experience more plain it is time you should look about you and follow
on to know the Lord. We do not keep boys at school year after year if
they make no progress. And yet how many there are of professing
Christians who seem to have been stunted in their early profession so
that they positively have not advanced in knowledge one iota beyond
where they were ten or twenty years ago? In this point, however, they
are not so much to blame as in others.

"Forward," should be the motto as to our faith. You were doubting and
fearing twenty years ago. If I recollect, when I was but a lad ten
years ago, I heard you lament–

"It is a point I long to know,
Oft it causes anxious thought."
Have you not a better time than that now?
Can you not sing–

"A debtor to mercy alone,
Of Co venant mercy I sing;
Nor fear with Your righteousness on,
My person and offerings to bring–
The terrors of Law and of God,
With me can have nothing to do;
My Savior's obedience and blood
Hide all my transgressions from view."

I do not suppose you will altogether be rid of fears, but I do think
your motto should be–"Forward!"–that your faith should become more
constant and your doubts less frequent. Surely the venerable saint who
has proved his Master a hundred times ought to find his faith more
strong than those of us who are but babes in the family! Ought we to be
always limping, always hoping and trusting, doubting and fearing? Is it
not time for us to use the strong muscles of the fully developed
man–and, leaving all nursery carts–ought we not to stand upright with
Abraham with a faith which staggers not because of unbelief? Forward,
Christian, forward as to your faith!

May I not use the same word in reference to our fellowship with Christ?
I am afraid most of us make no progress as to nearness to Christ. Some
of us, I am afraid, go backwards. We said, years ago, "Nearer, my God,
to You, nearer to You." Are we nearer? Have we come closer to the
wounds of Jesus? Do we more frequently recline upon His bosom and sit
at His feet? If not, I am commanded with Moses, "Speak unto the
children of Israel, that they go forward."

Above all, have we made any progress as to work for our Master? Some,
as they grow old, give up their work. I do not understand it! I must
confess an inability of comprehending how any man who once preached the
Gospel can ever leave his ministry while his strength lasts. If the
Master has once allotted you a field of labor, unless it is sheer
inability, I cannot understand how you can ever cease to till the
ground, or reap the sheaves. No, you will, if God has called you, want
to do more and more and more for Jesus!

You will feel a growing thirst after precious souls–at least you ought
to. You will be moved with greater yearnings of your heart towards your
fellow immortals and a higher zeal for the spread of your Master's
kingdom. Christian men, when I think of some of you who have tasted
that He is gracious, and are content with the taste. You who have been
into the river of Jesus' love until you are up to the ankles, but are
loath to wade into the deeper parts of the heavenly stream. When I
think of some of you who are worshipping in the outer courts and have
no ambition to enter into that which is within the veil. When I
remember how some of you seem never to comprehend the resurrection
life, nor what it is to be raised up together to sit in heavenly places
in Christ Jesus–I do marvel at you that you thus stand back and in the
name of God, whose servant I am, I give you this motto–"Forward!
Forward!"

Press onward in the Divine life! Forget the road already trod and
onward urge your way. Cry for the Spirit of God! Ask for more unction,
more power, more consciousness of the Divine indwelling and then take
for the motto on your banner–"Forward! Forward! Forward!"

IV. In the fourth place, but with very great brevity, TO CHRISTIANS IN
TROUBLE our text is applicable. The children of Israel were in great
straits. They were in a trial into which God had brought them. And it
is an absolute certainty that if God brings you in, He will bring you
out. He never did take a saint where he must of necessity perish. The
rocks of daily life rise on the right and on the left. The raging enemy
is behind. The equally raging sea is before. What is to be done now?
God's word is–"Forward!"

God shall fight for you and you shall hold your peace. In this vast
assembly there may be several Christians who said to themselves last
Saturday night, "I will go up to the House of God and enquire at the
hand of the man of God what the Lord will do for me." This is the
answer to your enquiry. You cannot help yourself–that is clear. Your
trouble is none of your own finding–that you know. And your escape
will not be of your own working–that you know, also. You have nothing
now to do but to cast yourselves upon your God and go forward!

Beloved, it is a blessed thing to be absolutely stripped of creature
comforts that you may be wholly clothed upon with the Creator. It is
not pleasing to flesh and blood to be brought down to abject
nothingness. But faith never is more happy than when the strength of
the mortal is altogether dead–because then the immortal God comes in
and clothes our weakness with His Omnipotence. If I might have any
choice between having abundant wealth, or being brought to absolute
dependence upon daily supplies. If in the latter case I could have
greater power to exhibit and to exert faith in Christ, I must confess
that I should prefer the mode of living which would give me most room
to enjoy the luxury of depending upon my God.

I believe it is more happy and more Divine a life to live from hand to
mouth, dependent upon the Providence of God and having the confidence
to trust Him, than it is to have all the abundance of this world but to
have nothing about which faith may exercise itself. Often when our joys
are thick about us and we have ten thousand creature comforts, we are
then naked and poor and miserable in spirituals. But when the creature
comforts fall as the leaves are falling from the trees in autumn, then
it is that we have frequently the most joy and the most peace in God.
"Give me back my sickbed," said a saint when he remembered what joy he
had had upon it!

Theodoret, the martyr, said that his persecutors had done him an injury
when they took him off the rack. "For," said he, "while I was on the
rack, God sent His angels to comfort me. And now you have taken me off,
I am afraid I shall lose their heavenly presence." Experimentally I
have learned, dear Friends, that at the Red Sea of affliction we see
most of the right arm of God. I am glad there was a Red Sea! I bless
God that it had deep and foaming billows! I praise His name that there
were fierce and cruel Egyptians–for if there had never been that Red
Sea, never would the song of Moses and the shout of Miriam have been
heard–"Sing unto the Lord, for He has triumphed gloriously: the horse
and his rider has He thrown into the sea."

Your tribulations will yet yield you music. All you have to do now is
to honor God by going forward! Hold your peace and God shall fight for
you! "Be still and know that I am God." When the worst has come to the
worst, that God–

"Who moves in a mysterious way His wonders to perform, Will plant His
footsteps in the sea, And ride upon the storm. Forward! Christian,
forward!"

V. Let me not weary you, but I must, again, use my text in another
manner–for the exhortation of all of you who are followers of my Lord
and Master. THE ISRAELITES WERE UPON A DIVINE MISSION. They were going
up to slay the Canaanites, Hivites, Jebusites and Hittites. They must
all be slain with the sharp sword of Israel. But a difficulty rolls
between them and their prey! The message, however, of God's captain, is
still, "Forward! Forward!"

My Brothers and Sisters, let me specially address you who are
associated in Church fellowship here. Some of you will remember when I
came up from the country. I remember better than you do, for I have
hidden these things in my heart. A child, almost a babe, I came into
your place of worship which was half empty, no, not one-sixth full. You
may, some of you, remember that sermon when the youth preached of the
faithfulness of God and tried to magnify Divine Immutability. I believe
the note of the charge that morning, was, "Forward!"

Hope was kindled in the breasts of many. The few there who were
faithful to the cause hoped and believed that God had better days for
them and we took heart. You will remember, some of you, when the people
began to throng the aisles. Within three or four Sundays, when the
place was full, our cry was "Forward!" We had more Prayer Meetings,
more earnestness every day! I recollect it was thought a strange thing
to see such zeal! Then we wanted to enlarge the Chapel. And one Sunday
evening, preaching from that text–"By faith the walls of Jericho fell
down"–when certain ones had objected to any alteration because it was
a mere spasm, a mere excitement–the young lad from the country would
soon be forgotten–I said concerning that wall at the back, "By faith
this wall will fall down," for our motto was "Forward!"

We held a little meeting, raised the money at once–down went the
wall–the place was enlarged. The enlargement was of no use, our motto
was, "Forward!" God opened the doors of Exeter Hall to us. We went
there. The place was crowded, multitudes of souls were converted. The
Church increased–did we stop? Our motto was "Forward!" The Surrey Hall
was proposed to us, a larger structure. We went about it and we said,
"This is too immense a place, too bold a venture."

I thought in my own mind, "The place will never be filled." You
remember we still dared it, for our motto was "Forward!" Then came a
crushing blow, a terrible disaster which seemed to shatter us all and,
most of all, the man who was called to take the brunt of the battle. He
was laid upon the ground all broken-hearted and wretched by the
catastrophe, but God suffered him not to lose heart! He rose from the
dust of despondency. The Spirit of the Lord was upon him. His cry was
"Forward!" And once again he stood among you and again the thousands
gathered and on, on, on, from that time, "Forward!" has been the cry.

"We will build a tabernacle," said we. Thirty thousand pounds! We stood
back. Where would it come from? "The silver and the gold are Mine," was
the promise of God. Some bold hearts went on, for our motto was
"Forward!" And we prayed and worked and believed and lo–we entered
this spacious house without a debt and we worship in it, remembering
that of our own we gave unto God and that this goodly structure is a
proof of the power of faith. Our motto was still "Forward!"

The pastor took one or two young men to educate. He soon had a dozen.
He asked your help, you helped him. He had a score. Some said it was
too many. He had forty–before long fifty–now seventy. And still the
cry is, "Forward! Forward!" What I want to do tonight is just to stir
your souls with a little of the old enthusiasm, to scatter among you
some coals of that holy fire which once set you in a blaze. "Forward!
Forward!" is what we want! Brethren, we want to be doing more for
Christ!

Compared with our congregation I believe we are doing much, but still
not what we might do–not what we ought to do. Here is this great city
teeming with its multitudes and the proportion of evangelistic work
which we take is far too small. "Forward! Forward!" At this time we
have men ready to preach the Word. But we do not know where to find the
room for them. There are rich men in this congregation and men in
middling circumstances who might take a little room and pay the rent
and let some young man come and preach in it and try to raise a Church
in a destitute neighborhood. Some of you might cry, "Forward!" and do
that.

Others of you in the Providence of God live in poor neighborhoods and
you may have a room which holds twenty, perhaps. Could you not let some
one preach in it? Preaching is the great weapon of God for pulling down
strongholds. It will pull down the largest blocks of stone the enemy
can pile together. Preach the Gospel, the gates of Hell shake! Preach
the Gospel, prodigals return! Preach the Gospel to every creature–it
is the Master's mandate and it is the Master's power–"the power of God
unto salvation unto everyone that believes."

I would I could make every member of this Church feel in earnest about
doing good. Do you not long to win souls? Do you not desire to spend
and to be spent for your Master? I will venture to say that if you do
not, you are not worthy of membership with such a Church as this! If no
Divine zeal stirs you. If no heavenly fire has fallen on your soul, you
might find a more congenial place of rest among some dull and sluggish
people who care not for God. As for my own soul, God knows how I yearn
over souls–I work and if there is any man living who can work more for
God than I do, I envy him his strength and endurance!

It is not twelve, nor thirteen, nor fourteen, or fifteen hours a day
which will satisfy me in the service of my Master. I wish I could be
cut in pieces to preach His Gospel and that every drop of blood might
tell it to my perishing fellow men. As I cannot do that, I do love to
see my young men preaching the Word of God. They are so many new mouths
for me, so many tongues for some of you who have no power of speech for
your Master. They speak for you, if you have a share in their
maintenance. But, oh, what I can do seems to be nothing but
contributing a drop, but taking out a cupful from the great see of the
world's sorrow and the world's sin!

Do help me! Do help me, I pray you! Brethren, pray for us! If you can
do nothing else, pray that the Spirit of God may rest upon us in our
preaching and in our efforts to extend His Kingdom–and may every one
of you take a hand in this good work. I would sooner have half of you
and have you all alive and earnest, than have the whole of you and have
some of you a drag upon the wheels. If this Church does not serve
God–mark these words, I speak, I think, prophetically–God will make
this House a hissing and write "Ichabod" upon these walls!

Never was a Church more favored than you have been! For more than two
hundred years God has given you a succession of faithful pastors. We
have, each of us in our, lot strived to do our work. We have stood upon
the walls of Zion and those who have gone before, at least, have not
been found unfaithful. And as God helps me, neither will I be
unfaithful either to God's Truth or to the souls of men.

But if with such appliances–with such preaching of the Gospel and
helped so marvelously–and so many of you great sinners saved from
great sins, having had much forgiven. If you do not love much and serve
much, O my God, let me not live to see the curse fall upon this Church!
But at least in my day let the blessing continue! Yes, and when this
head sleeps among the clods of the valley, find them better men than we
are to preach the Word and let this Church still be a star in Your
right hand to shine amidst the thick darkness of the world!

Dear Friends, if you are not in earnest about this, I am. Oh, we must
not let this opportunity pass! There is much which you can do. I want
you to help the heathen world, but I want you to begin with caring for
this great heathen world of London. And if you can do nothing else, at
least give us your prayers.

VI. I have done when I shall say that soon you and I will stand on the
brink of Jordan's river. The deep sea of death will roll before us.
Trusting in Jesus, washed in His blood, hoping in His mercy we shall
not fear the last solemn hour. We shall hear the angel say, "Forward!"
We shall touch the chilly stream with our feet, the flood shall fly,
and we shall go through the stream dry-shod. If the flood gathers and
the Jordan overflows its banks, still the Divine watchword, "Forward!"
shall speed us on and we will enter Heaven's gates among the
blood-washed throng and sing unto Him who has enabled us to triumph
gloriously in obedience to that command, "Forward! Forward!" God help
you to go forward and unto Him be praise forever and ever. Amen.