A Call To Prayer and Testimony

A Call To Prayer and Testimony

(No. 2189)

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, FEBRUARY 8, 1891,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"I have set watchmen upon your walls, O Jerusalem, which shall never
hold their peace day nor night: you that make mention of the Lord, keep
not silent, and give Him no rest, till He establishes, and till he
makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." Isaiah 62:6, 7.

IN the opening verses of this chapter our Lord declares that He will
not rest till His purpose of Grace is accomplished. "For Zion's sake
will I not hold My peace, and for Jerusalem's sake I will not rest."
His soul is set upon the perfection of His Church. There is never a
moment when the heart of Christ ceases to beat high with desire for the
salvation of His redeemed. From the dreadful work of making Atonement,
He stayed not His hand, but set His face like a flint towards it, till
He could say, "It is finished." And now, the work of the gathering of
His chosen He carries on with quenchless zeal, never staying His Divine
intercession, never withholding His hands from wielding that "All
Power" which is given Him in Heaven and in earth.

Mark well, Beloved, how He would have His people to be in tune with
Himself! He will have no rest till salvation work is done! And He would
not have us rest, but He would have us stirred with passionate desire
and fired with holy zeal for the accomplishment of the Divine plan of
Grace. Till He holds His peace, He will not allow us to be silent! You
that have the Revised Version will be struck with the more literal and
forcible rendering of our text–"You that are the Lord's remembrancers,
take you no rest, and give Him no rest, till He establishes, and till
He makes Jerusalem a praise in the earth." A restless Savior calls upon
His people to be restless and to make the Lord, Himself, restless–to
give Him no rest till His chosen city is in full splendor, His chosen
Church complete and glorious. Ah, when the three unite, the Son, the
people whom He has redeemed and the Lord who works all things, then
shall the golden age have come!

Learn from this fact a valuable lesson, that Christ's determination to
perform a work, His decree that it shall be so, is no argument for our
idleness, but is the best plea and encouragement for our endeavors. "If
it is to be," cries one, "I need not do anything." No, Friend, you
argue slothfully! On the contrary, the earnest heart will reason itself
into immediate and confident action. If it were not to be, to what
purpose my zeal? Even if I do not know whether it is to be or not to
be, if I think it desirable, I will labor for it with anxiety! But if I
am assured that the Lord has appointed it, I labor with might and main,
feeling a holy confidence in doing the work of the Lord! Since He wills
it, we will it–and so it shall be.

Predestination, when rightly understood, never leads to sloth–it has
frequently, in human history, been of tremendous force for the
production of the most daring and determined action–and it shall be so
again. "Deus vult," God wills it, is a grand cry to produce a crusade!
God wills it, therefore it shall be. Like thunderbolts flung from an
almighty hand, Believers crash through every difficulty under the
irrepressible impulse of fulfilling a Divine purpose. Oh, that our
meditations at this time may bring us all to this resolve, that we will
not rest, and we will give God no rest, till His decree is fulfilled
and till He has established and made Jerusalem a praise in the earth!

I. In my text I see three things which I will mention one by one. The
first is RESPONSIBLE OFFICE–"I have set watchmen upon your walls."
"You that make mention of the Lord, keep not silent," or, as your
margin and the Revised Version have it, "You that are the Lord's
remembrancers." Here are three responsible offices–watchmen set upon
the walls, speakers who never hold their peace and remembrancers who
cease not to plead with their Lord.

May the Holy Spirit help us while we think of the Lord's people as
watchmen! In times of war every fortified city had upon its walls
certain watchmen, so placed as to see eye to eye–that is to say, the
eye of one sentinel reached to the eye of another and so they
encompassed the city round about. Whoever passed that way by day or
night, they challenged him!

And if he turned out to be a foe, they gave an alarm and straightway
men-at-arms came forth from the guard rooms and the city was protected
against surprise. God's people and especially the stronger, the more
instructed and the most experienced of them, should, for Christ's sake,
act as watchmen upon the walls.

Observe what manner of watchmen we ought to be. It is written, "I have
set watchmen." We are under Divine command! In the old Roman days, when
a sentry was placed in his position by his centurion, he never thought
of quitting his post. Rocks might roam, but not the sentinels of the
empire! There was found in Pompeii, among the ashes, a sentry, standing
in his place with his javelin in his hand–he had not flinched amid the
deadly shower which fell from the volcano and buried the city. His
centurion, in the name of the emperor, had set him there, and there he
stood! How steadfast and immovable ought these to be, whom the Lord,
Himself, has set in their place in connection with His Church! It is
Jehovah who says, "I have set watchmen upon your walls." By a Divine
arrangement and by a sacred command, saints are set in their positions
and they must stand fast and, having done all, must still stand, for
they have received their charge from the King, Himself.

These watchmen guarded the city of cities, "your walls, O Jerusalem."
The legionary who guarded old Rome felt that if he did not fight for
his native city, he would be base, indeed. If we are set to guard the
Church of God, what shall I say to him who sleeps at his post, or
proves a traitor? If you do not throw your whole strength into the
guarding of such a cause as this, what will awaken you? Know you not
that the Church is purchased by the blood of Christ? That it is God's
peculiar heritage? "The Lord's portion is His people." O shepherds,
watch well the sheep that cost your Lord so dearly! "Feed the flock of
God which He has purchased with His own blood." If we do not guard the
Truth of God, once and for all delivered to the saints, we are
something worse than traitors! No word has yet been invented which can
set forth the perfidy of the man who betrays the cause of Christ and of
the Gospel! He is the murderer of souls. God has set us to guard His
own city, and we must not slumber. Let the other cities go, if go they
must, but as for you, Salem, City of Peace and City of God, if I forget
you, let my right hand forget her cunning! If I count you not beyond my
chief joy, let me be in sorrow forever! See, Brethren, your responsible
office–watchmen of God's setting–watchmen on the walls of God's own
city!

The service is seen to be responsible to the utmost degree when we see
that it demands constant care. The Lord says of these watchmen, "they
shall never hold their peace day nor night." We are not set to keep the
Church of God by day only, but amid the dews or frosts of the darkest
night we are to maintain our watch! Christians are to be sentries who
will not retreat into the barracks because of the cold, nor quit the
rampart because of the heat. At night, watchmen are most required. We
are to be instant in season, giving the password at each particular
time when the watch reports itself, and thus never holding our peace
day nor night. We are to be instant out of season–for at such times
the enemy is most likely to come. God's watchmen are not taken on by
the hour, to watch by turns, but they are bound to be, throughout life,
watchers for souls! We are never off duty! We take a day and a night
shift. Our rest is in the Lord's service. Our recreation is in change
of occupation. Ours is a life service and a constant service.

Believers raise no discussion with their Lord as to how many hours of
the day they shall spend for Him. Our hours are these–"They shall
never hold their peace day nor night." St. Augustine desired to be
always found aut precantem, aut predicantem–that is, either praying or
preaching–either speaking to God for men in prayer, or speaking for
God to men in His ministry. Ministers of Christ, especially, should
give themselves, not to the serving of tables, but to the ministry of
the Word and to prayer. For us to give ourselves to getting up
entertainments, to become competitors with theatres and music halls, is
a great degradation of our holy office! If I heard of a minister
becoming a chimney-sweep to earn his living, I would honor him in both
his callings, but for God's watchmen to become the world's showmen is a
miserable business! God keep all of us who are ministers of Christ from
entangling ourselves with the things of this life! The proverb says,
"Stick to your last, cobbler." And I would say–"Stick to your pulpit,
minister! Keep to your one work and you will find quite enough for all
the strength you have, and even more." Oh, for preachers who "shall
never hold their peace"!

You Christian people, you, also, must fulfill your watch. You, also,
are called to ceaseless service. A policeman wears an armlet to show
that he is on duty–and all Believers should feel that such a badge is
worn upon their very heart day and night. "The love of Christ
constrains us," not now and then, but always! Our service of the Lord's
cause comes not once a week, on Sundays, but so often as we have
opportunity! These must always watch, who would be watchmen for

souls, watchmen for God, watchers against error and sin, watchers for
the coming of the Lord. "I have set watchmen upon your walls, O
Jerusalem, which shall never hold their peace day nor night."

But, in the next place, we are to be spokesmen, for we are never to
hold our peace, but make mention of the Lord. Believers are to speak
for God to the people. If you have the ability and the commission,
speak to the great congregation. You have both ability and commission,
each one of you, to speak to those round about you. Be always ready to
speak a word in season. Keep a shot in the locker–never run short of a
good word for those whom God's Providence puts in your way. If there is
nobody near to whom you can speak for God, then in your solitude speak
to God for your fellow men. What a blessed thing to be so familiar with
God that you have His ear for your friends and neighbors! Plead with
Him for the erring, the unbelieving, the profane. Never hold your peace
towards God, for in this case, speech is more than golden. By prayer
you unlock the treasuries of Heaven–keep the golden key in constant
motion. Never cease to pray, since intercession is benediction. If the
world is asleep, if the Church is asleep, hold not your peace by night
and, should the Church become active and the world be a little
awakened, redouble your prayer till the world is won! You spokesmen for
God and spokesmen to God, never hold your peace day or night!

Sick saints are especially set to take the night watches. While the
most of us are blessed with refreshing slumber, these find that sleep
forsakes their eyes. They hear the clock's unwearied tick and listen to
the slow striking of the hours. Now let them lift their hearts
heavenward on behalf of the Lord's cause and Kingdom. Maybe God arouses
them to this end– that they may keep the nights safe by their
prayers–chasing away evil spirits and keeping the incense burning upon
the altar of acceptable intercession! The Lord girdles the globe with
intercessions by his daily and nightly watchers. As our Queen's morning
drum beats round the globe, so does ceaseless prayer cast a belt of
golden Grace around the earth. O you that are the Lord's remembrancers,
never suffer the flame of prayer to die down! Arise, even in this night
season of the Church, and trim your lamps! Lift up your voices for your
God and with your God. Let no dumb spirit possess you. As speakers
heavenward and earthward, never hold your peace day or night!

A third office is brought before us in the marginal reading and in the
new version–"You that are the Lord's remembrancers, take no rest."
This is an amazing expression–"The Lord's remembrancers." I find the
same word elsewhere translated, "recorder"–and truly we are to be the
Lord's recorders and keep in memory His great goodness. A high office
is that of Remembrancer to the King of kings! Every Christian holds
this eminent position. Oriental kings maintained an officer whose
business it was to remind the king of the promises which he had made
before. He said this to that courtier, that to the other, but His
Majesty had plenty of other things to think of and, therefore, every
now and then, his Remembrancer would say, "Please, Your Majesty, you
promised to do this and that. May it please you to perform your word."

Now the Lord has appointed His praying people to be His remembrancers.
I should never have dared to use such an expression had I not found it
in the Inspired Word, itself. The Lord says, in Isaiah 43:26, "Put Me
in remembrance." The Lord cannot forget, but in condescension to our
forgetfulness, He bids us act as if He could do so, and put Him in
remembrance! By calling the promise to the Lord's remembrance, we are,
ourselves, made to be the better acquainted with it. I find that a
Remembrancer was also appointed in our English courts to remind the
officers of their duty to their sov-ereign–and this is also a part of
our work to remind the world that there is a God–and that He claims
obedience from His creatures. Brothers and Sisters, fulfill your
office!

If you would be good remembrancers towards God, you must know the
promises of which you remind Him. You must be acquainted with your
Bibles so as to fill your mouths with arguments and order your
petitions aright. You must come to the great King and say, "Lord, do as
You have said. Fulfill this Word unto Your servant whereon You have
caused me to hope." If we pray without a promise, we have no reason to
expect an answer. God will do what He has promised to do–he may do
somewhat more, but we have no right to expect it. The best praying in
the world is pleading the promises! I wish we all practiced this sort
of prayer. It is wise to bring before the Lord His own Words and plead
His Divine veracity–"You have said it. You are true, therefore fulfill
Your Word!" It is your business, as the Lord's remembrancers, to be
well acquainted with these sacred Words of Grace which you are to bring
to remembrance. If you do not remember them, yourself, how can you
bring them to the Lord's memory?

Your office of remembrancer is to be carried on incessantly. "You that
are the Lord's remembrancers, take you no rest and give Him no rest." I
fear that very many of God's promises are seldom used. They are like
the locksmith's bunch

of keys. Why are they so rusty? Because they are not in constant use.
They have not been turned in the lock day by day, or they would be
bright enough. Are there not exceedingly great and precious promises
which, to some of you, are a dead letter? Promises lie hidden away in
God's most Holy Word which you have never used! Perhaps you do not even
know that they are there. One came to me, not long ago, and said, "I
was surprised to find these words in the Bible." To him I answered,
"Your remark makes me fear that you have not searched your Bible as you
should have done." We ought to know the length and breadth of the
estate which the Lord has given us. Oh, that we would incessantly use
the promises in prayer! One said, with a smile, the other day, "It is a
fine thing to have a checkbook, to get what money you please by signing
your name!" I did not stop to explain to him the limits of that power,
but I noted that he looked like one who, if he had owned such a
checkbook as he spoke of, would have written down larger amounts than
the most of us could compass!

Still, his folly was not equal on the one side to the stupidity of
these who err in the other direction, for they have a checkbook and yet
never use it! The treasury of Heaven lies open to faith and yet we fret
and worry about our little daily cares. We have but to plead a promise
of God, to put Him in remembrance, and He will supply all our needs!
Why, then, do we pine in need? Fools that we are, to be anxious and
poverty-stricken with the possibilities of infinite riches close at
hand! Who among us is there that comes up to the text, "You that are
the Lord's remembrancers, take you no rest and give Him no rest"? Thus
much upon the office–may the Holy Spirit lead all Believers to
undertake and carry on this sacred work!

Ministers, Deacons and Elders of Churches are specially called to this.
You older and more advanced Christians should lead the way in this holy
employment and, as I have already shown you, the sick must take their
turn. Every Christian should aspire to take his place in the cordon and
in some way watch on the behalf of Zion. But especially should we be
constant, instant and fervent in pleading the precious promises of our
Lord. These were not given to be forgotten, but to be pleaded and then
to be fulfilled. It is written, "For this will I be enquired of by the
house of Israel, to do it for them." It is the rule of God's Kingdom
that we must bring to His remembrance the promise which we would have
fulfilled in our own experience! Therefore, "You that are the Lord's
remembrancers, take you no rest."

II. My second head is a REMARKABLE CAUTION–"You that are the Lord's
remembrancers, take you no rest." I quote the best translation.

Take no rest from prayer. Be always praying. If not always in the act
of prayer, be always in the spirit of prayer. "Pray without ceasing."
Not only reason, but wrestle with God in prayer. Sometimes pray without
words and, sometimes, with them. Pray alone, but often pray with
Brothers and Sisters. There is special prevalence in the prayer of two
or three. "If two of you shall agree on earth as touching anything that
they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which is in
Heaven." Gather in the greater congregations for prayer. "Forsake not
the assembling of yourselves together, as the manner of some is," as, I
regret to say, the manner of many Churches has come to be in these
days. The moderns despise the meeting for prayer and in this, they
condemn themselves, by acknowledging that they attach little value to
their own prayers! Possibly their consciousness of having lost all
power with God in prayer is thus betraying itself. Where the Prayer
Meeting is despised, there may be cleverness in the preacher, but there
will be no unction for the hearer. O my Brothers and Sisters, I beseech
you, both as individuals and as a Church, do not restrain prayer!
"Watch and pray"–that precept is a condensation of our text.

Never rest from prayer because you are weary of it. Whenever prayer
becomes distasteful, it should be a loud call to pray all the more. No
man has such need to pray as the man who does not care to pray. When
you can pray and long to pray–why, then, you will pray! But when you
cannot pray and do not wish to pray–why, then, you must pray, or evil
will come of it! He is on the brink of ruin who forgets the Mercy Seat.
When the heart is apathetic towards prayer, the whole man is sickening
from a grievous disease. How can we be weary of prayer? It is essential
to life! When a man grows weary of breathing, surely he is near to
dying! When a man grows weary of praying, surely we ought to pray
anxiously for him, for he is in an evil case.

Never rest from prayer because you have prayed enough. When has a man
prayed enough? The greatest pleaders with God in prayer are the
hungriest after more of it. The more a man gets from God, the more he
desires from God. Those who have but little, ask but little–but to him
that has shall be given–and he shall have abundance. Does anyone say,
"I have long been prayerful and watchful, and I shall now take things
more easily"? Yes. I saw a good man taking it easy the

other day–he was riding upon a bicycle with both feet off the
pedals–and with the brake in full force. I did not blame the cyclist,
but one thing was quite clear–he was going down the hill. He would not
have had his feet on the rests in that fashion if he had been upon the
upgrade. Brother, whenever you begin to put your legs up and have no
more work to do, you are going down hill and there is no doubt about
it! The way to Heaven is up hill, and every inch of the way will need
effort–for the Kingdom of Heaven suffers violence. Grace does not
exempt us from activity, but works it in us. If you know the power of
the weapon called, "all-prayer," never put it into its sheath, but
continually call upon the Lord, and in this matter, "take no rest."

Do not fall into the habit ofpraying as a matter of routine. "You that
are the Lord's remembrancers, take you no rest." I have heard of
soldiers sleeping while on the march and I have known some good people
sleep while praying, till I have thought that their prayers were a kind
of pious snore. They go on with the old phrases without considering
what they mean by them. They are like crickets, whose notes are forever
the same. "I sleep," says the spouse, "but my heart wakes." But these
might more truly say, "I do not sleep, and yet my heart is not awake."
Many prayers are like a grocer's or a draper's account–"Ditto, ditto,
ditto." The petitions are as "per usual." It is dreary work when we
have the shell of prayer before us, but have no oyster in it. The
Brother's lips are here in prayer, but his soul has gone home to his
shop, or to his farm. The sails of his mill go round as the wind blows,
but he is not grinding anything–there is no grist in the mill, no
intelligent, loving desire. Let us get out of the ruts of phrases and
set petitions! Mere routine religion is hateful and yet how easily we
all fall into it! Let us not rest on our oars and hope to make progress
by the impetus already gained. All progress made heavenward by the
natural drift of the current is seeming and not real. All worship which
is mechanical is, so far, dead! God is a Spirit and we can only worship
Him acceptably in spirit and in truth–if the spirit is gone, the very
truth of the worship is gone–and it becomes an offense rather than a
sweet-smelling savor.

Brethren, take no rest, so as to pray by fits and starts. Look at what
has been done in many Churches–they plan to have a grand time–and
possibly they succeed. Everybody comes up to the Prayer Meetings and
all appear to be in earnest about the conversion of souls. There is
great excitement and probably much good is done. But after that there
is a reaction, a stupor of indifference. As in nature, after high
hills, deep valleys–so is it with some religious communities. We say
of a man, in the proverb, "He is as sound asleep as a church." Yes,
very good. Nothing sleeps so soundly as a church and, especially after
a time of excitement. Men who are at one time lively beyond measure,
are apt at another time to sleep beyond waking! After a high wind there
may come a lull, wherein everything drops, and stagnation reigns
supreme. The Lord save us from spasmodic religion!

"You that make mention of the Lord, take you no rest." Always keep in a
high state of revival, or if that is a state which cannot be
maintained, suspect that it is a condition unhealthy and undesirable.
If there is a kind of celestial delirium here and there–and I am
afraid that such is a correct description of it–avoid it! The wild
fury of the flesh, in which everything is done by noise, and men are
saved by bluster, is not of God! An excitement which cannot be kept up,
since the spirit of man would be exhausted by it, is questionable. An
excitement which is lawless and ungovernable, since the Spirit of God
is not ruling it, is to be dreaded. Fanaticism is a tornado of the
flesh and not the health-giving breath of the Holy Spirit. It is well
to be as you would always wish to be. That pace is best which can, by
Divine Grace, be maintained from year to year. Enoch walked with
God–he could not have run with Him, but he was always enabled to keep
in step with God–and God's pace is always the right one. Oh, for a
gracious energy which does not flag, but goes from strength to
strength! "You that are the Lord's remembrancers, take you no rest."

Above all, let us never rest out of despair. The feeling does come over
us, sometimes–"What is the use of our labor? So little comes of it.
What is the use of protesting for the Truth of God? The Churches will
not hear you. You only earn ill-will, and are ridiculed as an old fogy.
What is the use of being earnest about winning souls? Men are
indifferent. The present engrosses thought–social questions are
pressing. Everybody pines for sensationalism or amusement. What profit
is there in keeping to the old way?" That spirit creeps over the child
of God like the cold of the Arctic regions, numbing him and tending to
send him into the sleep of despair. The evidence of this evil power is
found in the tendency to restrain prayer before God. From this may our
God rescue us! Come, my Brothers and Sisters, I do not know who among
you is going to sleep, but I would like to shake the man who is so
benumbed, and wake him up. And I hope that, in your turn, when you see
me benumbed, you will shake me, also, and wake me up to diligence in
prayer!

Let us awake this morning and begin again! We must not, will not, yield
to slumber! There is small cause for fear and no cause for despair. Our
cause defeated? Not a bit of it! All will yet come right. God waits,
but He waits that He may be gracious unto us. His time to favor Zion
will come and the good old cause will win the victory! "The work of the
Lord is in a greater hand than ours. He will not fail nor be
discouraged." "Men ought always to pray, and not to faint"–and when
they feel that they are fainting–they should resolve to pray with
double earnestness–and faintness will yield to

joy.

Only one more observation–avoid setting any time limits to God in your
prayers. He says, "You that are the Lord's remembrancers, take you no
rest." A wife said that she would pray for her husband for 10 years and
if he was not converted, then, she would conclude that there would be
no use in further pleading. To that good wife I would say, "You are
right in praying 10 years, but you must not limit the Holy One of
Israel! Who are you to put your finger down on the almanac and say,
'God shall answer me on such a day, or I will pray no more'? Plead for
your husband as long as he lives." "Well," says one, "I have been
praying a long time for a favor, but I am now inclined to cease
pleading for it." If you have a question about the rightness of the
prayer, do not persevere in a mistake. Solve as quickly as possible the
question as to the correctness of the request, for if you waver on that
point, your prayer will be of that wavering kind which meets no
acceptance with the Lord! If you are asking what you know the Lord has
promised and what is certainly for His Glory, you may pray with
confidence–and you may even spend the last breath in your body in
praying for it! Give the Lord no rest and take no rest, yourself, but
incessantly, perpetually, continually plead with God till He answers
you out of His holy place.

III. And so I come, in the last place, to dwell upon the third matter,
which is very amazing. The charge to take no

rest was notable, but here is A STILL MORE REMARKABLE CHARGE–Give Him
no rest." What a word is this! I

speak with solemn awe! When the Lord condescends so greatly, we must be
doubly reverent. Give God no rest? I am amazed at such a command! Come,
gracious Spirit and teach me how to speak!

I see then, first, very clearly, that importunity is here commanded.
"Give Him no rest" is our Lord's own command to us concerning the great
God. I do not suppose any of you ever advised a beggar to be
importunate with you. Did you ever say, "Whenever you see me go over
this crossing, ask me for a penny. If I do not give you one, run after
me, or call after me all the way down the street. If that does not
succeed, lay hold upon me and do not let me go until I help you. Beg
without ceasing." Did any of you ever invite applicants to call often
and make large requests of you? Oh, no! Importunity is a common enough
thing when men are seeking earthly gifts, but it is so sadly rare in
heavenly concerns, that the Lord has to exhort us to be importunate
with Him! He does, in effect, say, "Press Me! Urge Me! Lay hold on My
strength! Wrestle with Me, as when a man seeks to give another a fall
that he may prevail with him." All this, and much more, is included in
the expression, "Give Him no rest." Importunity is commanded!

Importunity is influential with God. How vividly the Savior sets this
forth in His parables! The poor widow seeks justice of an unrighteous
judge. She had a good case and she appeared in court begging for
justice, where she might expect it. She cried, "My Lord, hear my suit!"
She meets with no response–the harsh magistrate declares that he
cannot attend to her. The court is occupied with other cases. At the
first pause the widow is heard crying, "My Lord, there is now an
interval! Will you hear me?" She is sternly refused. Another day she
appears, and another, and another–her case is urgent, and she is in
terrible earnest to be heard. She is put out of the court, over and
over. Then the order is given that she shall be kept out. But she gets
in, somehow, and her voice, so touching and piercing, is heard in
season and out of season, seeking to be delivered from her adversary.
Just as the court is closing she cries, "My Lord!" and is answered,
"Have not I told you many times before that I cannot attend to you?"
"But, my Lord!" He turns on his heels and is gone to his home.

The next morning, when he comes forth from his gate, there is the
widow. She cries, "My Lord!" With a curse he spurns her. He goes down
to the court and he takes his seat. You see "His Excellency" on the
bench with his officers around him–a very great personage is he! The
first thing he hears is, "My Lord, I pray you, avenge me of my
adversary!" "That woman again! Let her be removed. Go on with the next
case." All day long, whenever there is a pause, or when His Lordship
rises to retire, there is the same bitter wail, "O my Lord, hear me, I
pray you!" The widow haunts him! He dreams about the sad-faced woman
with the uplifted finger, and the cry, "Hear me, my Lord! Hear me!" The
next morning it is no dream. He is at breakfast when the servant says,
"A person begs to see you, Sir. She has been at the

door very often and she will not go away." "What is she like?" "Well,
it is a woman dressed in mourning–no doubt a widow." "Drive her away!
She is a common nuisance!"

He goes to the court and there is the woman–and she begins again. Then
the judge says to himself, "Though I fear not God, nor regard man, yet
because this widow troubles me, I will avenge her, lest by her
continual coming she weary me." The Lord puts that woman's importunity
before us as a model and as an encouragement! "And shall not God avenge
His own elect, which cry day and night unto Him?" Pray like that widow.
Do not take, "No," for an answer!

Study that other picture. A man has a friend who arrives at his door in
the dead of night. The friend has been walking a long, long way and is
worn out. When he gets to the door, he says, "I am glad I have got here
at last. I lost my way in the burning heat of the sun and it has taken
me many hours to find the track and reach your door. Give me, I pray
you, a morsel of bread, for I am near to die of hunger." "I have not a
morsel in the house. I have nothing to set before you. Come in and try
to sleep, for food I have none." "Alas, I could not sleep, I am so
faint with hunger. I pray you, find me food, or I shall perish." The
compassionate householder resolves to go down the street to a friend
and beg from him, three cakes. He knocks at the door, but he has no
answer. He knocks, and knocks, and calls aloud to his neighbor. The
answer comes from the top of the roof that the man is in bed and cannot
rise at that unearthly hour to search for bread.

The householder is not to be put off, for his friend is dying of
hunger. And so he knocks and shouts, and ceases not. The man in bed on
the roof tries to sleep, but the noise is too great, and the children
are being frightened and asking what is the matter. He hears the
pleadings of his friend and again reminds him that the request is
unreasonable at such an hour. But this does not end the matter. Knock!
Knock! Knock! Call! Call! Call! "I will not go down!" vows the man in
bed. "I will not go away!" says the man below! He keeps up an incessant
shout and clatter. Again you hear knock! Knock! Knock! The man has
turned on the other side and tried to go to sleep, but he cannot manage
it–that knocking is too vigorous. Although he will not help him
because he is his friend, "yet because of his importunity he will rise
and give him as many as he needs." Pray after this manner and you shall
prevail! Oh, for Grace to knock till God's door is opened! You may have
what you will if you understand the art of importunity!

"Give Him no rest!" Importunity would not have been commanded had it
not been right for us and prevalent with God! How safely may we commend
what the Lord commands! God is to be moved by the importunate prayers
of His people. He will hear! He must hear, if we will pray with
persistent faith!

Importunity on our part is the sign of coming action on God's part.
Sometimes the Lord seems, according to Old Testament figure, to put His
right hand into His bosom. We cry to Him, "O Lord, how long?" But His
right hand is still in His bosom. Error prevails, sin triumphs, God's
people are despised–but His right hand is still in His bosom. Take no
rest from prayer and give Him no rest! Before long He will pluck His
right hand out of His bosom and He will roll up His sleeve and you will
see what His bare arm can do! He will work as soon as He sees that His
time is come and that will be when we are in earnest and give Him no
rest!

Sometimes God's work goes on so well that we have much cause for
gratitude and yet we feel that the pace might be greatly quickened. A
sermon that could save a hundred could as readily save a thousand if
God blessed it to that extent. The same Truth of God which sways one
mind could sway a million minds if applied by the Great Spirit. There
is no reason why the sowing of the Lord's Word should not bring forth a
hundred-fold instead of twenty-fold. We may not dream that the Spirit
of the Lord is straitened! When God is with us, all things are
possible. When the Lord fires His saints with zeal, His own work never
lags behind. God is never behind the desires of His people–in fact,
their longings are prophecies of His giving. When we cry day and night,
God will work day and night. When saints groan and sigh for revival, it
is because the revival is already come and has begun within their
souls! When the whole company of the faithful shall glow together with
passionate desire and importunate prayer, we may know that our
redemption draws near!

Importunate prayer is the sign of a growing work. The sighs and cries
of the Church are growing pains. Prayer is the thermometer of Divine
Grace. The Lord has committed His Divine Force, in a large degree, to
the custody of His people. Unbelief shuts up that Force–as it is
written, "He did not many mighty works there because of their
unbelief." Faith, on the other hand, sets the sacred Force free, for,
"all things are possible to him that believes." When saints are all
alive and instant in prayer, it is the index and token that the Lord
will open the windows of Heaven and pour them out such a blessing that
they shall not have room enough to receive it!

I have done when I have urged you, my well-beloved Friends, to take
this text as a lesson to be practiced. This first sermon on my return
ought to be the keynote of this year's service of God. Have you a mind
for great Grace and grand enterprises? Or do you prefer to slacken? I
hope you will not hesitate, or choose the meaner part. Does the Lord
put it into the heart of one and another to feel an agony concerning
the unconverted? Do some of you feel a deep concern for the souls of
others? Does this happen to you that teach in the Sunday school, or who
go out to the lodging houses? Is this state of mind prevailing among
the officers of the Church? Is this the condition of a large proportion
of private members? Then a grand future lies before us! If God gives
all of us to travail for souls, we shall see greater things than these!
Brothers and Sisters, we hold the Truth of God! If we had wickedly
departed from the way of the Lord, all the praying in the world would
have brought us no spiritual progress! But holding fast the everlasting
Gospel, what is now needed is the fire from Heaven to fall upon our
altar and consume the sacrifice! Oh, for the Holy Spirit! Oh, for the
working of God, Himself, in our midst!

I exhort you who fear the Lord and are His appointed remembrancers, to
be much in prayer and in testimony. Pray and preach! Keep not silent!
Tell out the simple Gospel! The more you tell of pardon bought with
blood, the better. I saw my dear Brother, Archibald Brown, this week,
and he told me of a poor fellow in East London who had been visited by
a soul-winning Brother. He had been a wild and wicked man. He was ill
and the visitor talked long with him. It seemed to make no impression,
till one day he explained Substitution to him and the man asked
pointedly, "If I believe in Jesus, do you tell me that He took all my
sins upon Himself?" "Yes, he bore all your sins in His own body on the
tree." "Well, well," the man cried, "if He took them, I have not got
them." "No," said the other, "that is the glorious Truth of God. The
Lord suffered for your sins." "Then I shall not have to suffer for
them?" "No," said the visitor. "Your sin is put away." "Never heard
that before," said the rough man. "That is the most wonderful thing I
ever heard. I believe it! Blessed be God, I believe it and I am saved!"
Soon after his son came in–another fellow of the Bill Sykes
[Fictitious character in Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist."–eod] order
and the visitor began exhorting him. The older man cried out, "Give him
that little bit! That will do it!"

Just so, "that little bit will do it." The visitor told the story of
Jesus dying in the sinner's place and the little bit did the work! Our
chief business should be to cry, "Behold the Lamb of God, which takes
away the sin of the world." We must bid men look to Jesus and live!
Keep not silent! Publish this salvation far and wide! Preach the Cross
and plead the blood! Preach and pray for Jesus! He is All in All. Keep
His Sacrifice to the front and God will bless His own Word! Oh, that He
may now grant us a glorious period of genuine Grace-work! Amen.