Solemn Pleadings for Revival

A SERMON DELIVERED ON LORD'S-DAY MORNING, JANUARY 3, 1875,

BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

"Keep silence before Me, O islands; and let the people renew their
strength: let them come near; then let them speak: let us come near
together tojudgment." Isaiah 41:1.

THE text is a challenge to the heathen to enter into a debate with the
living God. The Lord bids them argue at their best and let the
controversy be calmly carried out to its issues, so as to be decided
once and for all. He bids them be quiet, reflect and consider, in order
that with renewed strength they may come into the discussion and defend
their gods if they can. He urges them not to bring flippant arguments,
but such as have cost them thought and have weight in them, if such
arguments can be. He bids them be quiet till they are prepared to speak
and then, when they can produce their strong reasons and set their
cause in the best possible light, He challenges them to enter the lists
and see if they can maintain, for a moment, that their gods are gods,
or anything better than deceit and falsehood.

I am not about to speak of that controversy at this time, but to use
the text with quite another view. We, also, who worship the Lord God
Most High have a controversy with Him. We have not seen His Church and
His cause prospering in the world for many a day as we would desire. As
yet heathenism is not put to the rout by Christianity, neither does the
Truth of God everywhere trample down error. Nations are not born in a
day, nor have the kingdoms of the world become the kingdoms of our Lord
and of His Christ. We desire to reason with God about this and, He,
Himself, instructs us how to prepare for this sacred debate.

He bids us be silent. He bids us consider and then draw near to Him
with holy boldness and plead with Him. He bids us produce our cause and
bring forth our strong reasons. It seems to me that at the beginning of
the year I cannot suggest to Christian people a more urgent topic than
this, that we should plead with God that He would display among us
greater works of Grace than as yet our eyes have seen. We have read of
wonderful revivals. History records the prodigies of the Reformation
and the marvelous way in which the Gospel was spread during the first
two centuries. We pine to see the same, again, or to know the reason
why it is not so–and with holy boldness it is our desire to come
before the Lord and plead with Him–as a man pleads with his friend.
May God help us to do so in the power of the Holy Spirit.

I. First, then, LET US BE SILENT. "Keep silence before me, O islands."
Before the controversy opens, let us be silent with solemn awe, for we
have to speak with the Lord God Almighty! Let us not open our mouths to
impugn His wisdom, nor allow our hearts to question His love. What if
things do not look as bright as we would wish? The Lord reigns! And
what if He seems to delay? Is He not the Lord God with whom a thousand
years are as one day, and who is not slack concerning His promise as
some men count slackness?

We are going to be bold to speak with Him, but still, He is the eternal
God and we are dust and ashes. Whatever we may say with holy boldness,
we would not utter a word in rash familiarity. He is our Father, but He
is our Father in Heaven. He is our Friend, but at the same time He is
our Judge. We know that whatever He does is best. We would not say unto
our Maker, "What have You made?" Nor to our Creator, "What have You
done?" Shall the potter give account to the clay for the works of his
hands? "It is the lord, let Him do what seems good to Him." When we
look at what He does, it may seem to our dim apprehension to be
exceedingly strange, and we may fail to read its meaning. But we need
not wish to read it. It is the glory of God to conceal a thing and if
He chooses to conceal it, let it be concealed!

Truly, God is good to Israel and His mercy endures forever! If this
world's history is to drag on through another score of mournful
centuries, it will only reveal so much the more matter for praise when
the great hallelujahs of the ultimate victory shall peal forth. Our
silence of awe should deepen into that of shame, for, my Brothers and
Sisters, though it is certainly true that the cause of God has not
prospered, whose fault is this? If there has been straitening, it has
not

been in God. Where, then, has it been? If the seed has rotted under the
clods, or if the cankerworm has eaten the green shoot so that the
reaper has not joyfully filled his arm, from where does it come?

Has there not been sin among us, yes, sin in the Church of God? What if
Israel has turned her back in the day of battle? Is there not an
accursed thing in the camp and an Achan who has hidden away the goodly
Babylonian garment and the shekel of gold? God says, "Is there not a
cause? Can two walk together, except they be agreed? If you walk
contrary to Me, I also will walk contrary to you." Truly, when I see
how God has blessed us, I am not so much astonished that He has not
given more as I am amazed that He has given so much! Does He bless such
unworthy instruments, such laggards, such slothful workers? Does He do
anything by tools so unfit? Does He place any treasure in vessels so
impure? This is to be ascribed to His Grace.

But if He does not use us to the highest point, let us take shame and
confusion of face to ourselves–and before the Throne of His Glory let
us sit down in silence. What, indeed, can we say? We have no charges,
no accusations to bring against the Most High, but we must silently
confess that we, ourselves, are vile. Unto us belongs shame and
confusion of face. Go further than this and keep the silence of
consideration. This is a noisy age and the Church of Christ, herself,
is too noisy. I fear we have very little silent worship. I do not so
much regret the absence of silence from the public assembly as from our
private devotions where it has a sacred hallowing influence,
unspeakably valuable.

Let us be silent, now, for a minute, and consider what is it that we
desire of the Lord. The conversion of thousands, the overthrow of
error, the spread of the Redeemer's kingdom. Think in your minds what
the blessings are which your soul pants after. Get a correct idea of
them and then enquire whether you are prepared to receive them. Suppose
they were to be now bestowed? Are you ready? If thousands of converts
were to be born unto this one Church, are you prepared to teach them,
instruct them and comfort them? Are you doing it now, you Christian
people? Are you acting in such a way that God knows you to be fit to
have the charge of those converts that you are asking for?

You pray for Divine Grace–are you using the Grace you have? You want
to see more power–how about the power you have? Are you employing it?
If a mighty wave of revival sweeps over London, are your hearts ready?
Are your hands ready? Are your purses ready? Are you altogether ready
to be carried along on the crest of that blessed wave? Consider. If you
reflect, you will see that God is able to give His Church the largest
blessing and to give it at any time! Keep silence and consider, and you
will see that He can give the blessing by you or by me–He can make any
one of us, weak as we are–mighty through God to the pulling down of
strongholds!

He can make our feeble hands, though we have but a few loaves and
fishes, capable of feeding myriads with the Bread of Life. Consider
this, and this morning ask yourselves in the quiet of your spirits,
what can we do to get the blessing? Are we doing that? What is there in
our temper, in our private prayer, in our acts for God which would be
likely to bring down the blessing? Do we act as if we were sincere?
Have we really a desire for these things which we say we desire? Could
we give up worldly engagements to attend to the work of God? Could we
spare time to look after the Lord's vineyard? Are we willing to do the
Lord's work and are we in the state of heart in which we can do it
efficiently and acceptably? Keep silence and consider. I would suggest
to every Christian that he should sit a while before God, when he
reaches his home, and worship with the silence of awe, with the silence
of shame–and then with the silence of careful thought concerning these
things.

Then we shall pass on to the silence of attention. "Keep silence before
Me, O islands." Keep silence that God may speak to you. That God's Word
may be heard in your soul, not only parts of it, but all of it! That
God's Spirit may be heard with His gentle monitions warning you. With
His blessed enlightenments revealing to you, yourself and your Lord.
With His Divine promptings urging you to greater consecration and
superior holiness. And with His Divine assistances leading you onward
in the path of a higher life than you have yet attained. O, it is well
to sit still before the Lord, deaf to every voice but the Divine! We
cannot expect him to hear us if we will not hear Him. "I will hear,"
says the Prophet, "what God the Lord will speak."

Do you always do so? If you have heard the Lord speak to you, you will
admit that there is no voice like His. Be silent till you hear the
Lord's Word slaying all your pride and self-will and self-seeking and
proclaiming His sole Glory in every part of your manhood. If you have
learned attention, be silent with submission. For this you will need
the gracious aid of the Holy Spirit. It is not easy to attain to full
submission of soul to whatever the Lord wills. We are often like hard
brass which will not take the impression from the seal. If we were what
we should be, we should be as melted wax which

at once takes the stamp that is put upon it. O, to have a heart that is
quite silent as to any wish or will, or opinion, or judgment of our
own, so that God's mind shall be our mind, God's will shall be our
will!

The Church would soon be healed of her sorrows and delivered from her
divisions if she would, for a while, be silent. But the voice of a
favorite teacher is heard by some, and the voice of another master in
Israel is listened to by others– and so God's voice is lost amid the
clamor of sects and the uproar of parties. O, that the Church would sit
at Jesus' feet, lay aside her prejudices and take the Word in its
simplicity and integrity–and accept what God the Lord, and He only,
does declare to be the Truth!

I invite the members of this Church and urge the members of all
Churches to see to this. See to it that we cry unto the Lord for a
blessed silence in His Presence till we sit, like servants, waiting for
their Master's word and stand like watchmen waiting for the Master's
coming–ourselves quiet, restful, peaceful, resigned–no, acquiescing
in the Divine will, all attentive to hear each Word that falls from Him
and resolved with humble resolution that whatever the Lord shall speak,
that will we do. We will accent His Word as Law, Light and Life to our
souls and nothing else! May the Lord send that solemn silence over all
His people now!

II. In that silence LET US RENEW OUR STRENGTH. Noise wears us out.
Silence feeds us. To run upon the Master's errands is always well. But
to sit at the Master's feet is quite as necessary, for, like the angels
which excel in strength, our power to do His commandments arises out of
our hearkening to the voice of His Word. If even for a human
controversy, quiet thought is a fit preparation, how much more is it
necessary in solemn pleadings with the Eternal One? Now let the deep
springs be unsealed! Let the solemnities of eternity exercise their
power while all is still within us.

But how does it happen that such silence renews our strength? It does
so, first, by giving space for the strengthening Word to come into the
soul and the energy of the Holy Spirit to be really felt. Words, words,
words! We have so many words and they are but chaff! But where is THE
WORD that in the beginning was God and was with God? That Word is the
living and incorruptible Seed. "What is the chaff to the wheat? with
the Lord." We need less of the words of man and more of Him who is the
very Word of God! Be quiet, be quiet and let Jesus speak! Let His
wounds speak to you. Let His death speak to you. Let His Resurrection
speak to you. Let His Ascension and His subsequent Glory speak to you.
And let the trumpet of His Second Advent ring in your ears. You cannot
hear the music of these glorious things for the rattle of the wheels of
care and the vain jangle of disputatious self-wisdom. Be silent, that
you may hear the voice of Jesus, for when He speaks, you will renew
your strength.

The eternal Spirit is with His people, but we often miss His power
because we give more ear to other voices than to His, and quite as
often our own voice is an injury to us, for it is heard when we have
received no message from the Lord and, therefore, gives an uncertain
sound. If we will wait upon the blessed Spirit, His mysterious
influence will sway us most divinely and we shall be filled with all
the fullness of God. Even as we have seen the frost yield suddenly to
the influence of the warm south wind, so shall our lethargy melt before
His Sovereign energy. How often have I felt, in a moment, my ice-locked
spirit yield to the breath of the Holy Spirit!

You have seen a cloud on high flying, as you thought, against the wind,
driven on by some upper current of air which you did not feel below.
Even thus have we been carried on by upper currents which flesh and
blood cannot understand. We sang as Dr. Watts does–

"Look how we grovel here below, Fond of these trifling toys. Our souls
can neither fly nor go To reach eternal joys."

But when the Holy Spirit came, the lightning, itself, could not
overtake us! We rode upon a cherub and did fly, yes, we did ride upon
the wings of the wind, for God, The Everlasting One, had caught us up
and filled us with His power! Be silent, then, that the Spirit may thus
work upon you. Let other spirits be gone–let the spirit of the world,
and the spirit of the flesh, and the spirit of self be banished–and
let the Spirit of the Ever Blessed be heard speaking in your soul.

Thus shall you renew your strength. We must be silent to renew our
strength, next, by using silence for consideration as to Who it is that
we are dealing with. We are going to speak with God about the weakness
of His Church and the slowness of its progress. Be silent, that you may
remember who He is with whom you are expostulating. It is God the
Omnipotent, who can make His Church mighty if He will, and that at
once! We are coming to plead, now, with One whose

arm is not shortened, and whose ear is not heavy. Renew your strength
as you think of Him! If you have doubted the ultimate success of
Christianity, renew your strength as you remember who it is that has
sworn by Himself that surely all flesh shall see the salvation of God!

You are coming to plead with Jesus Christ! Be silent and remember those
wounds of His with which He has redeemed mankind! Can these fail of
their reward? Shall Jesus be robbed of the power He has so dearly
earned? The earth is the Lord's and He will unsheathe her of the mists
which dimmed her luster at the Fall. He will make this planet shine as
brightly as when she first was rolled from between the palms of the
Omnipotent Creator. There shall be a new Heaven and a new earth in
which dwells righteousness! Think of that, and renew your strength. Has
not the Lord said, concerning His beloved Son, that He shall divide the
spoil with the strong, and the pleasure of the Lord shall prosper in
His hands? Shall it not be so?

Think, too that you are about to appeal to the Holy Spirit and there,
again, you have the same Divine attributes. What cannot the Spirit of
God do? He sent the tongues of fire at Pentecost and Parthians, Medes
and Elamites, and men of every nation heard the Gospel at once! He
turned 3,000 hearts by one sermon to know the Crucified Savior to be
the Messiah. He sent the Apostles like flames of fire through the whole
earth, till every nation felt their power. He can do the same again! He
can bring the Church out of darkness into noonday! Let us renew our
strength as we think of this. The work we are going to plead about is
not ours one-half so much as it is God's! It is not in our hands, but
in hands that cannot fail! Therefore let us renew our strength as we
silently meditate upon the Triune Jehovah with whom we have to speak.

In silence, too, let us renew our strength by remembering His promises.
We want to see the world converted to God and He has said, "The
knowledge of the Lord shall cover the earth as the waters cover the
sea." "The glory of the Lord shall be revealed, and all flesh shall see
it together, for the mouth of the Lord has spoken it." "They that dwell
in the wilderness shall bow before Him; and His enemies shall lick the
dust." "The idols He shall utterly abolish." There are a thousand
promises! Let us think of that and however difficult the enterprise may
be, and however dark our present prospects, we shall not dare to doubt
when Jehovah has spoken and pledged His Word!

Our strength will be renewed, next, if in silence we yield up to God
all our own wisdom and strength. Brothers and Sisters, I never am so
full as when I am empty. I have never been so strong as in the
extremity of weakness. The source of our worst weakness is our strength
and the source of our worst folly is our personal wisdom. Lord, help us
to be still till we have given up ourselves, till we have said, Lord,
our ways of working cannot be compared with Your ways of working. Teach
us how to work! Lord, our judgments are weak compared with Your perfect
judgment. We are fools–be You our Teacher and Guide in all things.
Crush out of us our fancied strength and make us like worms, for it is
the worm Jacob that You will make into the new sharp threshing
instrument which shall thresh the mountain!

After this sort shall you renew your strength. Keep silence, then, you
saints, till you have felt your folly and your weakness–and then renew
your strength most gloriously by casting yourselves upon the strength
of God. More than ever before, let your inmost souls be filled with
trust in the arm that never fails, the hand that never loses its
cunning, the eyes that are never closed, the heart that never wavers.
Jehovah works everywhere and all things are His servants. He works in
the light and we see His Glory. But He equally works in the darkness,
where we cannot perceive Him. His wisdom is too profound to be at all
times understood of mortal men. Let us be patient and wait His time,
for as surely as God lives, the idols must go down, the crescent of
Mohammed must die forever, and the harlot of the Seven Hills must be
devoured with fire–the Lord has said it–and so it must be!

Jehovah has declared it, and who shall say He is a liar? With no more
doubt of our Father's power than the child at its mother's breast has
of its mother's love–with no more doubt than an angel before the
Throne can have of Jehovah's majesty–let us commit ourselves, each one
after his own fashion, to suffering and to labor for the grand cause of
God, feeling well assured that neither labor nor suffering can be in
vain in the Lord! Thus much, then, concerning the renewing of our
strength. I wish we could have had a quarter of an hour's silence that
you might reflect upon these topics, but I leave them with you,
trusting that you will seek that silence at home and so renew your
strength.

III. Our text proceeds to add, "Then let them draw near." Beloved, you
that know the Lord, I would urge you to DRAW NEAR. You are silent. You
have renewed your strength. Now enjoy access with boldness! The
condition in which to intercede for others is not that of distance from
God, but that of great nearness to Him. Even thus did Abraham

draw near when he pleaded for Sodom and Gomorrah. May God the Holy
Spirit draw us near even now. Perhaps the following five considerations
may help us in so doing.

Let us remember how near we really are. We have been washed from every
sin in the precious blood of Jesus. We are covered from head to foot,
at this moment, with the spotless Righteousness of Immanuel, God with
us! We are accepted in the Beloved! Yes, we are, at this moment, one
with Christ and members of His body. How could we be nearer? How near
is Christ to God? So near are we! Come near, then, in your personal
pleadings, for you are near in your Covenant Representative. The Lord
Jesus has taken manhood into union with the Divine Nature and now,
between God and man, there exists a special and unparalleled
relationship, the likes of which the Universe cannot present. No actual
blood relationship exists between God and any other creature but man,
"for verily He took not up angels, but He took up the seed of Abraham."
"Unto which of the angels said He at any time, You are My Son; this day
have I begotten You"? And yet has He said this first and chiefly to the
Lord Jesus Christ!

And next, in a true but secondary sense, to each regenerate one whom He
has, of His own will, begotten by the Word of Truth! Come near, then, O
you sons of God, come near, for you are near! Stand where your sonship
places you, where your Representative stands on your behalf. Let the
slaves of the flesh and the bondservants of the Law stand afar off from
the Lord who speaks to them from Sinai. But as for us, it is our joy to
come very near, for the voice of Love calls to us from Calvary!

The next consideration which may help you to draw near is that you are
coming to a Father. That was a blessed word of our Lord's, "The Father
Himself loves you." God forbid I should say a word to make you think
less of the splendor and majesty of God! But I pray you remember that,
however great and terrible He is, He is our Father! I delight in those
words of our poet–

"The God that rules on high, And thunders when He please, That rides
upon the stormy sky, And manages the seas– This awful God is ours, Our
Father and our love."

As surely as my earthly father is near akin to me and I may come to him
with loving familiarity, so may I approach the Lord who has begotten me
again unto a lively hope by the Resurrection of Jesus Christ from the
dead! And I may say to Him, "Abba," "Father," and He will not disregard
the cry. Has He not given us the spirit of adoption? How can He despise
that which He gives? Come, then, and speak in your Father's ear. O
child of God, you are not talking to a stranger! You are not about to
hold a debate with an enemy! You are not seeking to wring a blessing
from an unwilling hand! It is to your Father that you speak! Come near
to Him, I pray you, and plead this day!

Remember next, that the desire which is in our heart for God's Glory
and the extension of His Church, is a desire written there by the Holy
Spirit. Now, if the Holy Spirit, Himself, incites the prayer, and He
knows the mind of God. If He makes intercession in our hearts according
to the will of God, we need have no hesitation to express our desires
because our desires are simply the shadow of the eternal purpose! And
that which always was in the mind of God to give, the Spirit of God has
inclined us to ask! True prayer is the intimation of God to man that He
intends to bless Him. It is the herald of mercy. Plead, then, O child
of God, for the Spirit of God is pleading in you! Come and speak out
that which He speaks within. He Himself helps your infirmities, making
intercession in you according to the will of God. When the Spirit
prompts, what cause can there be for hesitation? We must speak when He
inspires.

Remember next, that what we ask, if we are now about to plead with God
concerning His Kingdom, is according to His own mind. We are at one
with God in this matter. If it were not for God's Glory for sinners to
be converted, we would not pray for it. We desire to see thousands of
sinners turn to Christ, but it is with this view–that the infinite
mercy, wisdom, power and love of God may be manifested towards
them–and so God may be praised. Verily, much as our heart is set upon
the prosperity of the Church of God, if it were conceivable that such
prosperity would not glorify God we would not ask for it! We desire to
see not our notions, but God's Truth prevail!

I do not want you to believe as I believe except so far as that belief
is according to the mind of God. I pray every Believer here to search
his heart and see whether his desire is a pure one, having God's Glory
as its Alpha and Omega. It is God's Truth, God's Kingdom, God's Glory
that we want to see promoted! If this is the case, may we not come very

boldly? We have not only the king's ear but His heart, also, and we may
open our mouths wide. When we have a question as to the Lord's will, we
are bound to go no further than, "nevertheless, not as I will." But
when there is no ground for hesitancy, with what sacred ardor may we
press our suit!

Moreover, there is this further consideration–the Lord loves to be
pleaded with. He might have given all the Covenant blessings without
prayer–why does He compel us to use entreaties unless it is that He
loves to hear the voices of His children? God has given to the Church
untold mercies in answer to intercession, for He delights to bless His
people at the Mercy Seat. In this, our own beloved Church, prayer has
been more glorious and excellent than all mountains of prey. Its bow
has not returned empty, neither has its shield been cast away! Prayer
has been bolder than the lion, swifter than the eagle, and has
overthrown all her adversaries, treading them beneath her feet as straw
is trod for the dunghill! To this day we live by prayer!

The Church of God has never gained a victory but in answer to prayer.
Her whole history is to the praise of the Glory of a prayer-hearing
God! Come, then, Brothers and Sisters, if we have sped so well before,
and if God invites us now, yes, if He delights in our petitions, let us
not be slack, but enlarge our requests before Him. O, for Grace that we
may now, this day, and from now on draw very near to God!

IV. I may need a few minutes over the allotted time this morning while
I now come to the fourth and last point, which is, "LET US SPEAK." Be
silent, renew your strength, draw near and then speak. What have we to
say upon the matter which concerns us? Let us first speak in the spirit
of adoring gratitude. How sweet to think that there should be a Savior
at all! To think that the project of rescuing this poor world from her
ruin should ever have been entertained in the courts of Heaven. To
think that the Spirit should be given to reside among men, to turn the
hearts of the fathers to the children and the rebels to obedience to
the Truth! To think that there should be a heavenly kingdom set up, as
it is set up–that it should have made such advances as it has made and
should still grow mightily is absolutely wonderful!

That Jesus Christ should be seen of angels is put down as a wonder, but
it is mentioned, next to it, that He was "believed on in the world." He
has been believed on by millions, and, however gloomy the prospects of
the Church may appear, the kingdom of Christ is not an insignificant
kingdom, even now. Those who deride her laugh too soon. She is in her
twilight, as Voltaire said, but it is the twilight of her morning, and
not of her evening! Brighter times are coming. But even now, up to this
moment, the history of the Church cannot be told without adoring
gratitude to God.

She has been foolish and has lost her strength, but, like Samson's, it
will return. Deceived and deluded in the days of Constantine, she
allowed baptized heathen to proclaim an adulterous connection between
the Church and the State– and from that day her glory has departed and
her power has fled. When will she repent? The nominal Church goes after
her lovers, seeking her corn and her wine at their hands, and she says
to kings and queens of the earth, "Be you my head, and let your
senators rule me."

While she does this God cannot and will not bless her in any great
degree. When was the ark taken? Never till it was defended by the
carnal sword! When did the ark triumph? Was it not when, left alone in
its own glory, it smote Dagon to the ground? When the visible Church
gets back to her chastity to Christ, she will say, "We have nothing to
do with parliaments and kings, except to convert them! Ours is a
spiritual kingdom and Statecraft is foreign to us. We ask not for your
endowments! We care not for your persecutions. Let us alone–all we ask
is a clear stage and no favor." The bride of Christ comes not into the
world to toy with the politics of princes–hers is a higher work. She
leans upon the Lord, alone, and yields allegiance to none else. Remove
worldliness and you will see bright days.

The grand impediment of the Church, now, is the arm of flesh–the
lofty, high-sounding titles of her prelates, the palaces of her
bishops–the priestliness of her ministers and the lack of Gospel
simplicity! Be amazed, you heavens, that the successors of the Apostles
should be owners of palaces! This hampers her, but cut the Church clear
of this and God's bare arm will soon win victory unto the Truth in this
land. I, for my part, bless and magnify the Lord that, though a great
section of the visible Church has played the harlot so sadly in the
midst of the nations, yet He has not quite cast her away. He keeps a
chosen company who follow the Lamb where ever He goes–on whose banner
is written, "One Lord, one faith, one baptism." And whose watchword is,
"One is our Master, even Christ, and all we are brethren." As to the
world, we will seek its conversion, but we will never enter into
alliance with it, much less bow down our necks before its kings and
princes! May God grant us Grace as we draw near to Him, to speak out in
adoration of Him.

Next, let us speak in humble expostulation. I would earnestly urge my
Brethren in Christ to reason thus with the Lord. "O Lord, Your Truth
does not prosper in the land, yet You have said, 'My Word shall not
return unto Me void.' Lord, You are every day blasphemed, and yet You
have said that Your Glory shall be seen of all flesh. Lord, they set up
idols, even in this land, where Your martyrs burned. They are setting
up graven images again! Lord, tear them down, for Your name's sake. For
Your honor's sake, we beseech You, do it! Do You not hear the enemy
triumph? They say the Gospel is worn out! They tell us that we are the
relics of an antiquated race, that modern progress has swept the old
faith away.

"Will You have it so, good Lord? Shall the Gospel be accounted a
worn-out almanac and shall they set up their new gospels in its place?
Souls are being lost, O God of Mercy! Hell is being filled, O God of
Infinite Compassion! Jesus sees but few brought to Himself and washed
in His precious blood. Time is flying and every year increases the
number of the lost! How long, O God, how long? Why do You tarry?" In
this manner order your case before the Lord and He will listen to you.
When you have spoken by way of reason, then turn to pleading. Plead
with all your skill in argument. "There is Your promise, O Jehovah.
Will You not keep it? You have said unto Your Son, Ask of Me, and I
will give You the heathen for Your inheritance, and the uttermost parts
of the earth for Your possession!

"We ask in Jesus' name! Do it for Your promise sake! Lord, You have
done great things and unspeakable in times gone by! We have heard with
our ears and our fathers have told us the wondrous things which You did
in their days and in the old times before them. You are the same Lord,
therefore glorify Yourself again! By all the past, we beseech You,
reveal Yourself at this present." Plead with the Lord and lay stress
upon His Glory. Tell Him that it glorifies His mercy to save sinners,
and glorifies His wisdom and His power, yes, every attribute of His
Divine Nature.

Then plead the merit of His Son. O, Brothers and Sisters, plead the
blood! Plead the wounds! Plead the bloody sweat in Gethsemane! Plead
the Cross! Plead the death and Resurrection! Come not away from the
Mercy Seat till with this mighty plea you have won the victory! I
scarcely need remind you at how many points you may get a grip of the
Covenant Angel, for when wrestling with Him, if you but have the will
to do it, you may seize Him anywhere and hold Him fast, and say, "I
will not let You go unless You bless me."

I wish I could preach like John Knox, but I wish 10 times more that I
could pray like he did–a man who would not take "no" for an answer,
but won Scotland for Christ–and she remains Christ's still, through
John Knox's prayers! It is not possible for prelacy to flourish where
Knox has prayed! Oh for prayer such as that, again! King of kings, will
You not stretch out Your scepter and save men? Will You not pluck Your
sword out of its scabbard and strike Your foes? There are some men to
whom God would almost say, as He did to Moses, "Let Me alone." They are
favored to use such forcible arguments and valid pleas that wrath
forbears and mercy yields the blessing. If we can push on as Moses did
with renewed pleading and entreaties, the blessing will come! This is
what England, yes, the world, needs–men who can plead with God–men
who can draw near and then speak!

Again, dear Brothers and Sisters, after we have been silent, after we
have renewed our strength and after we have drawn near to God, let us
speak, today, in the way of dedication. Now, here I cannot suggest to
any man what he, in particular may speak. I charge you before the
living God, do not lie to Him, but if you can say this, I pray you say
it–"I give to God this day my whole being, absolutely and forever. My
body, my soul, my spirit. I have asked that His Kingdom may come–I
pledge myself, in His sight, to extend that Kingdom by every power I
possess or may be able to gain, by every opportunity He may put in my
way–and by every means which I am able to use." I do not think Jesus
ought to have less than that from us, but I know He gets far less.

Perhaps the Lord may move some of you young men to say, "Lord, I want
to see Your Kingdom spread and, therefore, I will give myself up to
preach the Gospel." Perhaps some of you good women here may say, "I
will undertake a work of usefulness of some kind or other for Jesus. I
am resolved I will." And you who have this world's goods, I hope you
will say, "I know that this good work always needs money. By His Grace
I have it–it shall be freely given. When I see that the Gospel does
not spread, I will not have the reflection on my mind that it is
retarded by deficiency of pecuniary means while I have gold stored up."

I will not suggest to any of you more than this–whatever the Lord
moves you to do, do it! But I think when we come to plead with the Lord
after this fashion we ought to be able to say, "Lord, spread Your
kingdom. It is not my fault if it does not spread. I do for You all I
can. I boast not of it, for all I do, I ought to do! I wish I could do
a thousand times

as much, but still, Lord, during this year of Grace I hope to do much
for You which I may have forgotten until this time."

Last of all, Brothers and Sisters, let us speak, still, in the way of
confidence. However we may complain of the spread of error, the deaths
of good men and the fewness of able ministers to take their places.
However we may think the times to be dark and dreary, let us never
speak as if God were dead. I walked, some time ago, with one of the
most earnest Christians I know of, a very devout man, and he told me he
was afraid one day the streets of London would run with blood. He was
afraid of an educated democracy which, being uneducated in religion in
School Board schools, would become clever Atheists and cast off all
reverence for God and law. And he gave me an awful picture of what was
going to happen.

But I touched him on the arm and said, "There is one thing you have
forgotten, dear Friend–God is not yet dead. What you are dreading will
never occur in this land, I am sure. We have an open Bible. We still
have some who preach the Gospel with all their hearts, and there is
still a salt and leaven in the city of London that God will bless to
keep down the rottenness and corruption. In spite of all His foes, the
Lord reigns."

What, my Friends? The Devil conquer our God? Never! Rome triumphant
over Zion? Never! Rome has been very cunning. Satan has done his best
in Roman Catholicism. There is no more wisdom left in the Devil than he
has put into that concern, and if that is confounded he has lost all.
That is his ultimatum, the course of hellish craft can go no further.
He has staked all his power in the Church of Rome–and to a certainty
she will be driven before the Church of Christ like chaff before the
wind! They shall ask and say, "Where is this harlot city that made the
nations drunk with the wine of her fornication? That rode upon the
scarlet beast up and down upon the earth and had written upon her brow,
'Mystery, Babylon the Great, the Mother of Harlots'?"

Vain will it be to ask where she is, for they shall answer, "Did you
not hear the splash of the millstone as the angel hurled it into the
flood, and said, 'Thus terribly shall Babylon fall, and thus no more be
found at all'?" Then shall go up the shout, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah,
the Lord God Omnipotent reigns." Let us anticipate the hour! Even now
let every heart shout, "Hallelujah, Hallelujah," and yet again let us
say, "Hallelujah, the Lord reigns, and all must be well."