Lectures on Revivals
of Religion
By
CHARLES G. FINNEY
Author of “Lecturer to Professing
Christians,”
“Sermons on Gospel Themes,” etc.
NEW YORK CHICAGO TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company
2
Entered according to Act of Congress in the year
1868, by
E. J. GOODRICH,
in the Clerk’s Office of the District Court of the
District of Ohio.
Let it be remembered, that these Lectures were delivered to my own
congregation. They were entered upon, without my having previously marked
out any plan or outline of them, and have been pursued, from week to week, as
one subject naturally introduced another, and as, from one lecture to another,
I saw the state of our people seemed to require.
I consented to have the Editor of the Evangelist report
them, upon his own responsibility, because he thought that it might excite a
deeper interest in, and extend the usefulness of, his paper. And as I am now a
Pastor, and have not sufficient health to labor as an Evangelist, and as it has
pleased the Head of the Church to give me some experience in revivals of
religion, I thought it possible that, while I was doing the work of a Pastor in
my own church, I might, in this way, be of some little service to the churches
abroad.
I found a particular inducement to this course, in
the fact that on my return from the Mediterranean, I learned, with pain, that
the spirit of revival had greatly declined in the
The peculiar circumstances of the church, and the
state of revivals, was such, as unavoidably to lead me to the discussion
of some points that I would gladly have avoided, had the omission been
consistent with my main design, to reach and arouse the church, when she was
fast settling down upon her lees.
I am far from setting up the claim of infallibility
upon this or any other subject. I have given my own views, so far as I have
gone, without pretending to have exhausted the subject, or to have spoken in
the best possible manner upon the points I have discussed.
I am too well acquainted with the state of the
church, and especially with the state of some of its ministers, to expect to
escape without censure. I have felt obliged to say some things that I fear will
not, in all instances, be received as kindly as they were intended. But
whatever may be the result of saying the truth as it respects some, I
have reason to believe, that the great body of praying people will
receive and be benefited by what I have said.
What I have said upon the subject of prayer, will
not, I am well aware, be understood and received by a certain portion of the
church and all I can say is, “He that hath an ear to hear, let him hear.”
4
I had not the most distant idea until recently, that
these Lectures, is this, or any other form, would ever grow into a book; but
the urgent call for their publication, in a volume, and the fact that I have
had repeated assurances that the reading of them in the Evangelist, has
been owned and blessed, to the quickening of individuals and churches, and has
resulted in the conversion of many sinners, have led me to consent to their
publication in this imperfect form.
The Reporter has succeeded, in general, in giving an outline
of the Lectures, as they were delivered. His report, however, would, in
general, make no more than a full skeleton of what was said on the
subject at the time. In justice to the Reporter, I would say, that on reading
his reports, in his paper, although there were some mistakes and
misapprehensions, yet I have been surprised that, without stenography, he could
so nearly report my meaning.
As for literary merit, they have none; nor do they
lay claim to any It was no part of my design to deliver elegant Lectures.
They were my most familiar Friday evening discourses; and my great, and I may
add my only object, was to have them understood and felt.
In correcting the Lectures for a volume, I have not
had time, nor was it thought advisable to remodel them, and change the style in
which they had been reported. I have, in some few instances, changed the
phraseology, when a thought had been very awkwardly expressed, or when the true
idea had not been given. But I have, in nearly every instance, left the
sentences as they were reported when the thought was perspicuously expressed,
although the style might have been improved by emendation. They were the
editor’s reports, and as such they must go before the public, with such little
additions and alterations, as I have had time to make. Could I have written
them out in full, I doubt not but they might have been more acceptable to many
readers. But this was impossible, and the only alternative was, to let the
public have them as they are, or refuse to let them go out in the form of a
volume at all. I am sorry they are not better Lectures, and in a more
attracting form; but I have done what I could under the circumstances; and, as
it is the wish of many whom I love, and delight to please and honor, to have
them, although in this imperfect form, they must have them.
C. G. FINNEY.
By perusing the above Preface, the reader will get a
clue to the time and circumstances that led to the delivery and
publication of these Lectures. In revising them for a new edition, I have done
little more than correct the phraseology in a few instances, add a few
foot-notes, and replace the last two Lectures by newly-written ones on the same
texts, 5and prepared especially
for this edition. These Lectures are distinct from the course I deliver to my
theological class upon the same subject. That course I may publish
before my death. These Lectures have been translated in the Welsh and French
languages, and have been very extensively circulated wherever the English or
either of those languages is understood. One house in
THE AUTHOR.
CONTENTS.
|
LECTURE I. |
|
|
What a Revival of Religion is |
9 |
|
LECTURE II. |
|
|
WHEN A REVIVAL IS TO BE EXPECTED |
22 |
|
LECTURE III. |
|
|
How to Promote a Revival |
35 |
|
LECTURE IV. |
|
|
Prevailing Prayer |
48 |
|
LECTURE V. |
|
|
The Prayer of Faith |
67 |
|
LECTURE VI. |
|
|
Spirit of Prayer |
83 |
|
LECTURE VII. |
|
|
Be Filled with the Spirit |
101 |
|
LECTURE VIII. |
|
|
Meetings for Prayer |
118 |
|
LECTURE IX. |
|
|
Means to be Used with Sinners |
134 |
|
LECTURE X. |
|
|
To Win Souls requires Wisdom |
149 |
|
LECTURE XI. |
|
|
A Wise Minister will be Successful |
166 |
|
8LECTURE
XII. |
|
|
How to Preach the Gospel |
185 |
|
LECTURE XIII. |
|
|
How Churches can Help Ministers |
213 |
|
LECTURE XIV. |
|
|
Measures to Promote Revivals |
238 |
|
LECTURE XV. |
|
|
Hinderances to Revivals |
263 |
|
LECTURE XVI. |
|
|
Necessity and Effect of |
294 |
|
LECTURE XVII. |
|
|
False Comforts for Sinners |
317 |
|
LECTURE XVIII. |
|
|
Directions to Sinners |
345 |
|
LECTURE XIX. |
|
|
Instructions to Converts |
364 |
|
LECTURE XX. |
|
|
Instruction of Young Converts |
392 |
|
LECTURE XXI. |
|
|
Backsliders in Heart |
412 |
|
LECTURE XXII. |
|
|
Growth in Grace |
428 |
9
LECTURE I.
WHAT A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS
Text.—O Lord, revive thy work
in the midst of the years, in the midst of the years make known; in wrath
remember mercy.—Hab. iii. 2.
IT is supposed that the prophet Habakkuk was
contemporary with Jeremiah, and that this prophecy was uttered in anticipation
of the Babylonish captivity. Looking at the judgments which were speedily to
come upon his nation, the soul of the prophet was wrought up to an agony, and
he cries out in his distress, “O Lord, revive thy work.” As if he had said, “O
Lord, grant that thy judgments may not make
Religion is the work of man. It is something for man to do. It consists in
obeying God with and from the heart. It is man’s duty. It is true, God induces
him to do it. He influences him by his Spirit, because of his great wickedness
and reluctance to obey. If it were not necessary for God to influence men—if
men were disposed to obey God, there would be no occasion to pray, “O Lord,
revive thy work.” The ground of necessity for such a prayer is, that men are
wholly indisposed to obey; and unless God interpose the influence of his
Spirit, not a man on earth will ever obey the commands of God.
A “Revival of Religion” presupposes a declension.
Almost all the religion in the world has been produced by revivals. God has
found it necessary to take advantage of the 10excitability
there is in mankind, to produce powerful excitements among them, before he can
lead them to obey. Men are so spiritually sluggish, there are so many things to
lead their minds off from religion, and to oppose the influence of the Gospel,
that it is necessary to raise an excitement among them, till the tide rises so
high as to sweep away the opposing obstacles. They must be so excited that they
will break over these counteracting influences, before they will obey God. Not
that excited feeling is religion, for it is not; but it is excited desire,
appetite and feeling that prevents religion. The will is, in a sense, enslaved
by the carnal and worldly desires. Hence it is necessary to awaken men to a
sense of guilt and danger, and thus produce an excitement of counter feeling
and desire which will break the power of carnal and worldly desire and leave
the will free to obey God.
Look back at the history of the Jews, and you will
see that God used to maintain religion among them by special occasions,
when there would be a great excitement, and people would turn to the Lord. And
after they had been thus revived, it would be but a short time before there
would be so many counteracting influences brought to bear upon them, that
religion would decline, and keep on declining, till God could have time—so to
speak—to convict them of sin by his Spirit and rebuke them by his providence,
and thus so gain the attention of the masses to the great subject of salvation,
as to produce a widespread awakening of religious interest, and consequently a
revival of religion. Then the counteracting causes would again operate, and
religion would decline, and the nation would be swept away in the vortex of luxury,
idolatry, and pride.
There is so little principle in the church, so
little firmness and stability of purpose, that unless the religious feelings
are awakened and kept excited, counter worldly feeling and excitement will
prevail, and men will not obey God. They have so little knowledge, and their
principles are so weak, that unless they are excited, they will go back from
the path of duty, and do nothing to promote the glory of God. The state of the
world is still such, and probably will be till the millennium is fully come,
that religion must be mainly promoted by means of revivals. How long and how
often has the experiment been tried, to bring the church to act steadily for
God, without these periodical excitements. Many good men have supposed, and still
suppose, that the best way to promote religion, is to go along uniformly,
and gather in the ungodly gradually, and without excitement. But however sound
such reasoning 11may appear in the
abstract, facts demonstrate its futility. If the church were far enough
advanced in knowledge, and had stability of principle enough to keep awake,
such a course would do; but the church is so little enlightened, and there are
so many counteracting causes, that she will not go steadily to work without a
special interest being awakened. As the millennium advances, it is probable
that these periodical excitements will be unknown. Then the church will be
enlightened, and the counteracting causes removed, and the entire church will
be in a state of habitual and steady obedience to God. The entire church will
stand and take the infant mind, and cultivate it for God. Children will be
trained up in the way they should go, and there will be no such torrents of
worldliness, and fashion, and covetousness, to bear away the piety of the
church, as soon as the excitement of a revival is withdrawn.
It is very desirable it should be so. It is very
desirable that the church should go on steadily in a course of obedience
without these excitements. Such excitements are liable to injure the health.
Our nervous system is so strung that any powerful excitement, if long
continued, injures our health and unfits us for duty. If religion is ever to
have a pervading influence in the world, it cannot be so; this spasmodic
religion must be done away. Then it will be uncalled for. Christians will not
sleep the greater part of the time, and once in a while wake up, and rub their
eyes, and bluster about, and vociferate a little while, and then go to sleep
again. Then there will be no need that ministers should wear themselves out,
and kill themselves, by their efforts to roll back the flood of worldly
influence that sets in upon the church. But as yet the state of the Christian
world is such, that to expect to promote religion without excitements is unphilosophical
and absurd. The great political, and other worldly excitements that agitate
Christendom, are all unfriendly to religion, and divert the mind from the
interests of the soul. Now these excitements can only be counteracted by
religious excitements. And until there is religious principle in the world to
put down irreligious excitements, it is vain to try to promote religion, except
by counteracting excitements. This is true in philosophy, and it is a
historical fact.
It is altogether improbable that religion will ever
make progress among heathen nations except through the influence of
revivals. The attempt is now making to do it by education, and other cautious
and gradual improvements. But so long as the laws of mind remain what they are,
it cannot be done 12in this way. There must
be excitement sufficient to wake up the dormant moral powers, and roll back the
tide of degradation and sin. And precisely so far as our own land approximates
to heathenism, it is impossible for God or man to promote religion in such a
state of things but by powerful excitements. This is evident from the fact that
this has always been the way in which God has done it. God does not create
these excitements, and choose this method to promote religion for nothing or
without reason. Where mankind are so reluctant to obey God, they will not act
until they are excited. For instance, how many there are who know that they
ought to be religious, but they are afraid if they become pious they shall be
laughed at by their companions. Many are wedded to idols, others are
procrastinating repentance, until they are settled in life, or until they have
secured some favorite worldly interest. Such persons never will give up their
false shame, or relinquish their ambitious schemes, till they are so excited by
a sense of guilt and danger that they cannot contain themselves any longer.
These remarks are designed only as an introduction to
the discourse. I shall now proceed with the main design, to show,
I. What a revival of religion is not;
II. What it is; and,
III. The agencies employed in promoting it.
I. A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IS
NOT A MIRACLE.
1. A miracle has been generally defined to be, a
Divine interference, setting aside or suspending the laws of nature. It is not
a miracle in this sense. All the laws of matter and mind remain in force. They
are neither suspended nor set aside in a revival.
2. It is not a miracle according to another
definition of the term miracle—something above the powers of nature.
There is nothing in religion beyond the ordinary powers of nature. It consists
entirely in the right exercise of the powers of nature. It is just that,
and nothing else. When mankind become religious, they are not enabled to
put forth exertions which they were unable before to put forth . They only exert
the powers they had before in a different way, and use them for the glory of
God.
3. It is not a miracle, or dependent on a miracle, in
any sense. It is a purely philosophical result of the right use of the
constituted means—as much so as any other effect produced by the application of
means. There may be a miracle among 13its
antecedent causes, or there may not. The apostles employed miracles, simply as
a means by which they arrested attention to their message, and established its
divine authority. But the miracle was not the revival. The miracle was one
thing; the revival that followed it was quite another thing. The revivals in
the apostles’ days were connected with miracles, but they were not miracles.
I said that a revival is the result of the right
use of the appropriate means. The means which God has enjoined for the
production of a revival, doubtless have a natural tendency to produce a
revival. Otherwise God would not have enjoined them. But means will not produce
a revival, we all know, without the blessing of God. No more will grain. when
it is sowed, produce a crop without the blessing of God. it is impossible for
us to say that there is not as direct an influence or agency from God, to
produce a crop of grain, as there is to produce a revival. What are the laws of
nature according to which it is supposed that grain yields a crop? They are
nothing but the constituted manner of the operations of God. In the Bible, the
word of God is compared to grain, and preaching is compared to sowing seed, and
the results to the springing up and growth of the crop. And the result is just
as philosophical in the one case, as in the other, and is as naturally
connected with the cause; or, more correctly, a revival is as naturally a
result of the use of the appropriate means as a crop is of the use of its
appropriate means. It is true that religion does not properly belong to the
category of cause and effect; but although It is not caused by means, yet it
has its occasion, and may as naturally and certainly result from its occasion
as a crop does from its cause.
I wish this idea to be impressed on all your minds,
for there has long been an idea prevalent that promoting religion has something
very peculiar in it, not to be judged of by the ordinary rules of cause and
effect; in short, that there is no connection of the means with the result, and
no tendency in the means to produce the effect. No doctrine is more dangerous
than this to the prosperity of the church, and nothing more absurd.
Suppose a man were to go and preach this doctrine
among farmers, about their sowing grain. Let him tell them that God is a
sovereign, and will give them a crop only when it pleases him, and that for
them to plow and plant and labor as if they expected to raise a crop is very
wrong, and taking the work out of the hands of God, that it interferes with his
sovereignty, and is going on in their own strength: and that 14there is no connection between the means and the
result on which they can depend. And now, suppose the farmers should believe
such doctrine. Why, they would starve the world to death.
Just such results will follow from the church’s being
persuaded that promoting religion is somehow so mysteriously a subject of
Divine sovereignty, that there is no natural connection between the means and
the end. What are the results? Why, generation after generation has gone down
to hell. No doubt more than five thousand millions have gone down to hell,
while the church has been dreaming, and waiting for God to save them without
the use of means. It has been the devil’s most successful means of destroying
souls. The connection is as clear in religion as it is when the farmer sows his
grain.
There is one fact under the government of God, worthy
of universal notice, and of everlasting remembrance; which is, that the most
useful and important things are most easily and certainly obtained by the use
of the appropriate means. This is evidently a principle in the Divine
administration. Hence, all the necessaries of life are obtained with
great certainty by the use of the simplest means. The luxuries are more
difficult to obtain; the means to procure them are more intricate and less
certain in their results; while things absolutely hurtful and poisonous, such
as alcohol and the like, are often obtained only by torturing nature, and
making use of a kind of infernal sorcery to procure the death-dealing
abomination. This principle holds true in moral government, and as spiritual
blessings are of surpassing importance, we should expect their attainment to be
connected with great certainty with the use of the appropriate means; and such
we find to be the fact; and I fully believe that could facts be known, it would
be found that when the appointed means have been rightly used, spiritual
blessings have been obtained with greater uniformity than temporal ones.
II. I AM TO SHOW WHAT A
REVIVAL IS.
It is the renewal of the first love of Christians,
resulting in the awakening and conversion of sinners to God. In the popular
sense, a revival of religion in a community is the arousing, quickening, and
reclaiming of the more or less backslidden church and the more or less general
awakening of all classes, and insuring attention to the claims of God.
It presupposes that the church is sunk down in a
backslidden 15state, and a revival
consists in the return of a church from her backslidings, and in the conversion
of sinners.
I. A revival always includes conviction of sin on the
part of the church. Backslidden professors cannot wake up and begin right away
in the service of God, without deep searchings of heart. The fountains of sin
need to be broken up. In a true revival, Christians are always brought under
such convictions; they see their sins in such a light, that often they find it
impossible to maintain a hope of their acceptance with God. It does not always
go to that extent; but there are always, in a genuine revival, deep convictions
of sin, and often cases of abandoning all hope.
2. Backslidden Christians will be brought to
repentance. A revival is nothing else than a new beginning of obedience to God.
Just as in the case of a converted sinner, the first step is a deep repentance,
a breaking down of heart, a getting down into the dust before God, with deep
humility, and forsaking of sin.
3. Christians will have their faith renewed. While
they are in their backslidden state they are blind to the state of sinners.
Their hearts are as hard as marble. The truths of the Bible only appear like a
dream. They admit it to be all true; their conscience and their judgment assent
to it; but their faith does not see it standing out in bold relief, in all the
burning realities of eternity. But when they enter into a revival, they no
longer see men as trees walking, but they see things in that strong light which
will renew the love of God in their hearts. This will lead them to labor
zealously to bring others to him. They will feel grieved that others do not
love God, when they love him so much. And they will set themselves feelingly to
persuade their neighbors to give him their hearts. So their love to men will be
renewed. They will be filled with a tender and burning love for souls. They
will have a longing desire for the salvation of the whole world. They will be
in an agony for individuals whom they want to have saved—their friends,
relations, enemies. They will not only be urging them to give their hearts to
God, but they will carry them to God in the arms of faith, and with strong
crying and tears beseech God to have mercy on them, and save their souls from
endless burnings.
4. A revival breaks the power of the world and of sin
over Christians. It brings them to such vantage ground that they get a fresh
impulse towards heaven. They have a new foretaste of heaven, and new desires
after union with God; and the charm of the world is broken, and the power of
sin overcome.
16
5. When the churches are thus awakened and reformed,
the reformation and salvation of sinners will follow, going through the same
stages of conviction, repentance, and reformation. Their hearts will be broken
down and changed. Very often the most abandoned profligates are among the
subjects. Harlots, and drunkards, and infidels, and all sorts of abandoned
characters, are awakened and converted. The worst among human beings are
softened, and reclaimed, and made to appear as lovely specimens of the beauty
of holiness.
III. I AM TO CONSIDER THE
AGENCIES EMPLOYED IN CARRYING FORWARD A REVIVAL OF RELIGION.
Ordinarily, there are three agents employed in the
work of conversion, and one instrument. The agents are God,—some person who
brings the truth to bear on the mind,—and the sinner himself. The instrument is
the truth. There are always two agents, God and the sinner, employed and
active in every case of genuine conversion.
1. The agency of God is two-fold; by his
(1.) By his providential government, he so arranges
events as to bring the sinner’s mind and the truth in contact. He brings the
sinner where the truth reaches his ears or his eyes. It is often interesting to
trace the manner in which God arranges events so as to bring this about, and
how he sometimes makes every thing seem to favor a revival. The state of the
weather, and of the public health, and other circumstances concur to make every
thing just right to favor the application of truth with the greatest possible
efficacy. How he sometimes sends a minister along, just at the time he is
wanted! How he brings out a particular truth, just at the particular time when
the individual it is fitted to reach is in the way to hear!
(2.) God’s special agency by his Holy Spirit. Having
direct access to the mind, and knowing infinitely well the whole history and
state of each individual sinner, he employs that truth which is best adapted to
his particular case, and then sets it home with Divine power. He gives it such
vividness, strength, and power, that the sinner quails, and throws down his
weapons of rebellion, and turns to the Lord. Under his influence, the truth
burns and cuts its way like fire. He makes the truth stand out in such aspects,
that it crushes the proudest man down with the weight of a mountain. If men
were disposed to obey God, the truth is given with sufficient clearness 17in the Bible; and from preaching they could learn all
that is necessary for them to know. But because they are wholly disinclined
to obey it, God clears it up before their minds, and pours in a blaze of
convincing light upon their souls, which they cannot withstand, and they yield
to it, and obey God, and are saved.
2. The agency of men is commonly employed. Men are
not mere instruments in the hands of God. Truth is the instrument. The
preacher is a moral agent in the work; he acts; he is not a mere passive
instrument; he is voluntary in promoting the conversion of sinners.
3. The agency of the sinner himself. The conversion
of a sinner consists in his obeying the truth. It is therefore impossible it
should take place without his agency, for it consists in his acting
right. He is influenced to this by the agency of God, and by the agency of men.
Men act on their fellow-men, not only by language, but by their looks, their
tears, their daily deportment. See that impenitent man there, who has a pious
wife. Her very looks, her tenderness, her solemn, compassionate dignity,
softened and moulded into the image of Christ are a sermon to him all the time.
He has to turn his mind away, because it is such a reproach to him. He feels a
sermon ringing in his ears all day long.
Mankind are accustomed to read the countenances of
their neighbors. Sinners often read the state of a Christian’s mind in his
eyes. If his eyes are full of levity, or worldly anxiety and contrivance,
sinners read it. If they are full of the Spirit of God, sinners read it; and
they are often led to conviction by barely seeing the countenance of
Christians.
An individual once went into a manufactory to see the
machinery. His mind was solemn, as he had been where there was a revival. The
people who labored there all knew him by sight, and knew who he was. A young
lady who was at work saw him, and whispered some foolish remark to her
companion, and laughed. The person stopped and looked at her with a feeling of
grief. She stopped, her thread broke, and she was so much agitated she could
not join it. She looked out at the window to compose herself, and then tried again;
again and again she strove to recover her self-command. At length she sat down,
overcome with her feelings. The person then approached and spoke with her; she
soon manifested a deep sense of sin. The feeling spread through the
establishment like fire, and in a few hours almost every person employed there
was under conviction, so much so, that the owner, though a worldly man, was
astounded, and requested 18to have the works
stop and have a prayer meeting; for he said it was a great deal more important to
have these people converted than to have the works go on. And in a few days,
the owner and nearly every person employed in the establishment were hopefully
converted. The eye of this individual, his solemn countenance, his
compassionate feeling, rebuked the levity of the young woman, and brought her
under conviction of sin: and this whole revival followed, probably in a great
measure, from so small an incident.
If Christians have deep feeling on the subject of
religion themselves, they will produce deep feeling wherever they go. And if
they are cold, or light and trifling, they inevitably destroy all deep feeling,
even in awakened sinners.
I knew a case, once, of an individual who was very
anxious, but one day I was grieved to find that her convictions seemed to be
all gone. I asked her what she had been doing. She told me she had been
spending the afternoon at such a place, among some professors of religion, not
thinking that it would dissipate her convictions to spend an afternoon with
professors of religion. But they were trifling and vain, and thus her
convictions were lost. And no doubt those professors of religion, by their
folly, destroyed a soul, for her convictions did not return.
The church is required to use the means for the
conversion of sinners. Sinners cannot properly be said to use the means for
their own conversion. The church uses the means. What sinners do is to submit
to the truth, or to resist it. It is a mistake of sinners, to think they are
using means for their own conversion. The whole drift of a revival, and every
thing about it, is designed to present the truth to your mind, for your
obedience or resistance.
REMARKS.
1. Revivals were formerly regarded as miracles. And
it has been so by some even in our day. And others have ideas on the subject so
loose and unsatisfactory, that if they would only think, they would see
their absurdity. For a long time, it was supposed by the church, that a revival
was a miracle, an interposition of Divine power which they had nothing to do
with, and which they had no more agency in producing, than they had in
producing thunder, or a storm of hail, or an earthquake. It is only within a
few years that ministers generally have supposed revivals were to be promoted,
by the use of means designed and adapted specially to that object. 19Even in New England, it has been supposed that
revivals came just as showers do, sometimes in one town, and sometimes in
another, and that ministers and churches could do nothing more to produce them
than they could to make showers of rain come on their own town, when they are
falling on a neighboring town.
It used to be supposed that a revival would come
about once in fifteen years, and all would be converted that God intended to
save, and then they must wait until another crop came forward on the stage of
life. Finally, the time got shortened down to five years, and they supposed
there might be a revival about as often as that.
I have heard a fact in relation to one of these
pastors, who supposed revivals might come about once in five years. There had
been a revival in his congregation. The next year, there was a revival in a
neighboring town, and he went there to preach, and staid several days, till he
got his soul all engaged in the work. He returned home on Saturday, and went into
his study to prepare for the Sabbath. And his soul was in an agony. He thought
how many adult persons there were in his congregation at enmity with God—so
many still unconverted—so many persons die yearly—such a portion of them
unconverted—if a revival does not come under five years, so many adult heads of
families will be in hell. He put down his calculations on paper, and embodied
them in his sermon for the next day, with his heart bleeding at the dreadful
picture. As I understood it, he did not do this with any expectation of a
revival, but he felt deeply, and poured out his heart to his people. And that
sermon awakened forty heads of families, and a powerful revival
followed; and so his theory about a revival once in five years was all
exploded.
Thus God has overthrown, generally, the theory that
revivals are miracles.
2. Mistaken notions concerning the sovereignty of God
have greatly hindered revivals.
Many people have supposed God’s sovereignty to be
some thing very different from what it is. They have supposed it to be such an
arbitrary disposal of events, and particularly of the gift of his Spirit, as
precluded a rational employment of means for promoting a revival of religion.
But there is no evidence from the Bible that God exercises any such sovereignty
as that. There are no facts to prove it. But every thing goes to show that God
has connected means with the end through all the departments of his
government—in nature and in grace. There is no natural event in which
his own 20agency is not concerned.
He has not built the creation like a vast machine that will go on alone without
his further care. He has not retired from the universe, to let it work for
itself. This is mere atheism. He exercises a universal superintendence and
control. And yet every event in nature has been brought about by means. He
neither administers providence nor grace with that sort of sovereignty that
dispenses with the use of means. There is no more sovereignty in one than in
the other.
And yet some people are terribly alarmed at all
direct efforts to promote a revival, and they cry out, “You are trying to get
up a revival in your own strength. Take care, you are interfering with the
sovereignty of God. Better keep along in the usual course, and let God give a
revival when he thinks it is best. God is a sovereign, and it is very wrong for
you to attempt to get up a revival, just because you think a revival is
needed.” This is just such preaching as the devil wants. And men cannot do the
devil’s work more effectually than by preaching up the sovereignty of God, as a
reason why we should not put forth efforts to produce a revival.
3. You see the error of those who are beginning to
think that religion can be better promoted in the world without revivals, and
who are disposed to give up all efforts to produce religious awakenings.
Because there are evils arising in some instances out of great excitements on
the subject of religion, they are of opinion that it is best to dispense with
them altogether. This cannot, and must not be. True, there is danger of abuses.
In cases of great religious as well as all other excitements, more or
less incidental evils may be expected of course. But this is no reason why they
should be given up. The best things are always liable to abuses. Great and
manifold evils have originated in the providential and moral governments of
God. But these foreseen perversions and evils were not considered a
sufficient reason for giving them up. For the establishment of these
governments was on the whole the best that could be done for the production of
the greatest amount of happiness. So in revivals of religion, it is found by
experience, that in the present state of the world, religion cannot be promoted
to any considerable extent without them. The evils which are sometimes
complained of, when they are real, are incidental, and of small importance when
compared with the amount of good produced by revivals. The sentiment should not
be admitted by the church for a moment, that revivals may be given up. It is
fraught with all that is dangerous to the interests of
Finally.—I have a proposal to make to you who are here
present. I have not commenced this course of Lectures on Revivals to get up a
curious theory of my own on the subject. I would not spend my time and strength
merely to give you instructions, to gratify your curiosity, and furnish you
something to talk about. I have no idea of preaching about revivals. It is not
my design to preach so as to have you able to say at the close, “We understand
all about revivals now,” while you do nothing. But I wish to ask you a
question. What do you hear lectures on revivals for? Do you mean that whenever
you are convinced what your duty is in promoting a revival, you will go to work
and practise it?
Will you follow the instructions I shall give you
from the word of God, and put them in practise in your own lives? Will you
bring them to bear upon your families, your acquaintance, neighbors, and
through the city? Or will you spend the winter in learning about
revivals, and do nothing for them? I want you, as fast as you learn any
thing on the subject of revivals, to put it in practice, and go to work and see
if you cannot promote a revival among sinners here. If you will not do this, I
wish you to let me know at the beginning, so that I need not waste my strength.
You ought to decide now whether you will do this or not. You know that
we call sinners to decide on the spot whether they will obey the Gospel.
And we have no more authority to let you take time to deliberate whether you
will obey God, than we have to let sinners do so. We call on you to unite now
in a solemn pledge to God, that you will do your duty as fast as you learn what
it is, and to pray that He will pour out his Spirit upon this church and upon
all the city this winter.
22
LECTURE II.
WHEN A REVIVAL IS TO BE EXPECTED.
Text.—Wilt thou not revive us
again; that thy people may rejoice in thee?—Psalm
lxxxv. 6.
THIS Psalm seems to have been written soon after the
return of the people of
Last Friday evening I attempted to show what a
Revival of Religion is not; what a Revival is; and the agencies to be employed
in promoting it. The topics to which I wish to call your attention to-night,
are,
I. When a Revival of Religion is needed.
II. The importance of a Revival when it is needed.
III. When a Revival of Religion may be expected.
I. WHEN IS A REVIVAL OF
RELIGION NEEDED?
1. When there is a want of brotherly love and
Christian confidence among professors of religion, then a revival is needed.
Then there is a loud call for God to revive his work. When Christians have sunk
down into a low and backslidden state, they neither have, nor ought to have,
nor is there reason to have, the same love and confidence toward each other, as
when they are all alive, and active, and living holy lives. The love of
benevolence may be the same, but not the love of complacency. God loves all men
with the love of benevolence, but he does not feel the love of complacency
toward any but those who live holy. Christians do not and cannot love each
other with the love of complacency, only in proportion 23to their holiness. If Christian love is the love of
the image of Christ in his people, then it never can be exercised only where
that image really or apparently exists. A person must reflect the image of
Christ, and show the spirit of Christ, before other Christians can love him
with the love of complacency. It is in vain to call on Christians to love one
another with the love of complacency, as Christians, when they are sunk down in
stupidity. They see nothing in each other to produce this love. It is next to
impossible that they should feel otherwise toward each other, than they do
toward sinners. Merely knowing that they belong to the church, or seeing them
occasionally at the communion table, will not produce Christian love, unless
they see the image of Christ.
2. When there are dissensions, and jealousies, and
evil speakings among professors of religion, then there is great need of a
revival. These things show that Christians have got far from God, and it is
time to think earnestly of a revival. Religion cannot prosper with such things
in the church, and nothing can put an end to them like a revival.
3. When there is a worldly spirit in the church. It
is manifest that the church is sunk down into a low and backslidden state, when
you see Christians conform to the world in dress, equipage, parties, seeking
worldly amusements, reading novels, and other books such as the world read. It
shows that they are far from God, and that there is great need of a Revival of
Religion.
4. When the church finds its members falling into
gross and scandalous sins, then it is time for the church to awake and cry to
God for a Revival of Religion. When such things are taking place, as give the
enemies of religion an occasion for reproach, it is time for the church to ask
God, “What will become of thy great name?”
5. When there is a spirit of controversy in the
church or in the land, a revival is needful. The spirit of religion is not the
spirit of controversy. There can be no prosperity in religion, where the spirit
of controversy prevails.
6. When the wicked triumph over the church, and
revile them, it is time to seek for a Revival of Religion.
7. When sinners are careless and stupid, and sinking
into hell unconcerned, it is time the church should bestir themselves. It is as
much the duty of the church to awake, as it is of the firemen to awake when a
fire breaks out in the night in a great city. The church ought to put out the
fires of hell which are laying hold of the wicked. Sleep! Should the firemen
sleep, and let the whole city burn down: what would be thought of 24such firemen? And yet their guilt would not compare
with the guilt of Christians who sleep while sinners around them are sinking
stupid into the fires of hell.
II. I AM TO SHOW THE
IMPORTANCE OF A REVIVAL OF RELIGION IN SUCH CIRCUMSTANCES.
1. A Revival of Religion is the only possible thing
that can wipe away the reproach which covers the church, and restore religion
to the place it ought to have in the estimation of the public. Without a
revival, this reproach will cover the church more and more, until it is
overwhelmed with universal contempt. You may do any thing else you please, and
you can change the aspects of society in some respects, but you will do no real
good; you only make it worse without a Revival of Religion. You may go and
build a splendid new house of worship, and line your seats with damask, put up
a costly pulpit, and get a magnificent organ, and every thing of that kind, to
make a show and dash, and in that way you may procure a sort of respect for
religion among the wicked, but it does no good in reality. It rather does hurt.
It misleads them as to the real nature of religion; and so far from converting
them, it carries them farther away from salvation. Look wherever they have
surrounded the altar of Christianity with splendor, and you will find that the
impression produced is contrary to the true nature of religion. There must be a
waking up of energy, on the part of Christians, and an outpouring of God’s
Spirit, or the world will laugh at the church.
2. Nothing else will restore Christian love and
confidence among church members. Nothing but a Revival of Religion can restore
it, and nothing else ought to restore it. There is no other way to wake
up that love of Christians for one another, which is sometimes felt, when they
have such love as they cannot express. You cannot have such love without
confidence; and you cannot restore confidence without such evidence of piety as
is seen in a revival. If a minister finds he has lost in any degree the
confidence of his people, he ought to labor for a revival as the only means of
regaining their confidence. I do not mean that this should be his motive
in laboring for a revival, to regain the confidence of his people, but that a
revival through his instrumentality, and ordinarily nothing else, will restore
to him the confidence of the praying part of his people. So if an elder or
private member of the church finds his brethren cold towards him, there 25is but one way to remedy it. It is by being revived
himself, and pouring out from his eyes and from his life the splendor of the
image of Christ. This spirit will catch and spread in the church, and
confidence will be renewed, and brotherly love prevail again.
3. At such a time a Revival of Religion is indispensable
to avert the judgments of God from the church. This would be strange preaching,
if revivals are only miracles, and if the church has no more agency in
producing them, than it has in making a thunder storm. To say to the church,
that unless there is a revival you may expect judgments, would then be as
ridiculous as to say, If you do not have a thunder storm, you may expect
judgments. The fact is, that Christians are more to blame for not being
revived, than sinners are for not being converted. And if they are not
awakened, they may know assuredly that God will visit them with his judgments.
How often God visited the Jewish church with judgments, because they would not
repent and be revived at the call of his prophets! How often have we seen churches,
and even whole denominations, cursed with a curse, because they would not wake
up and seek the Lord, and pray, “Wilt thou not revive us again, that thy people
may rejoice in thee?”
4. Nothing but a Revival of Religion can preserve
such a church from annihilation. A church declining in this way cannot continue
to exist without a revival. If it receives new members, they will, for the most
part, be made up of ungodly persons. Without revivals there will not ordinarily
be as many persons converted as will die off in a year. There have been
churches in this country where the members have died off, and there were no
revivals to convert others in their place, till the church has run out, and the
organization has been dissolved.
A minister told me that he once labored as a
missionary in
26
5. Nothing but a Revival of Religion can prevent the
means of grace from doing a great injury to the ungodly. Without a revival,
they will grow harder and harder under preaching, and will experience a more
horrible damnation than they would if they had never heard the Gospel. Your
children and your friends will go down to a much more horrible fate in hell, in
consequence of the means of grace, if there are no revivals to convert them to
God. Better were it for them if there were no means of grace, no sanctuary, no
Bible, no preaching, and if they had never heard the Gospel, than to live and
die where there is no revival. The Gospel is the savor of death unto death, if
it is not made a savor of life unto life.
6. There is no other way in which a church can be
sanctified, grow in grace, and be fitted for heaven. What is growing in grace?
Is it hearing sermons and getting some new notions about religion? No—no
such thing. The Christian who does this, and nothing more, is getting worse and
worse, more and more hardened, and every week it is more difficult to rouse him
up to duty.
III. I AM TO SHOW WHEN A
REVIVAL OF RELIGION MAY BE EXPECTED.
1. When the providence of God indicates that a
revival is at hand. The indications of God’s providence are sometimes so plain
as to amount to a revelation of his will. There is a conspiring of events to
open the way, a preparation of circumstances to favor a revival, so that those
who are looking out can see that a revival is at hand, just as plainly as if it
had been revealed from Heaven. Cases have occurred in this country, where the
providential manifestations were so plain, that those who are careful
observers, felt no hesitation in saying that God was coming to pour out his
Spirit, and grant a revival of religion. There are various ways for God to
indicate his will to a people—sometimes by giving them peculiar means,
sometimes by peculiar and alarming events, sometimes by remarkably favoring the
employment of means, by the weather, health, etc.
2. When the wickedness of the wicked grieves and
humbles and distresses Christians. Sometimes Christians do not seem to mind any
thing about the wickedness around them. Or if they talk about it, it is in a
cold, and callous, and unfeeling way, as if they despaired of a reformation:
they are disposed to scold at sinners—not to feel the compassion of the Son of
God for them. But sometimes the conduct of the 27wicked drives Christians to prayer, and breaks them down, and makes them
sorrowful and tender-hearted, so that they can weep day and night, and instead
of scolding and reproaching them, they pray earnestly for them. Then you may
expect a revival. Indeed this is a revival begun already. Sometimes the wicked
will get up an opposition to religion. And when this drives Christians to their
knees in prayer to God, with strong crying and tears, you may be certain there
is going to be a revival. The prevalence of wickedness is no evidence at all
that there is not going to be a revival. That is often God’s time to work. When
the enemy cometh in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord lifts up a standard
against him. Often the first indication of a revival, is the devil’s getting up
something new in opposition. It will invariably have one of two effects. It
will either drive Christians to God, or it will drive them farther away from
God, to some carnal policy or other that will only make things worse.
Frequently the most outrageous wickedness of the ungodly is followed by a
revival. If Christians are made to feel that they have no hope but in God, and
if they have sufficient feeling left to care for the honor of God and the
salvation of the souls of the impenitent, there will certainly be a revival.
Let hell boil over if it will, and spew out as many devils as there are stones
in the pavements, if it only drives Christians to God in prayer—they cannot
hinder a revival. Let Satan get up a row, and sound his horn as loud as he
pleases; if Christians will only be humbled and pray, they shall soon see God’s
naked arm in a revival of religion. I have known instances where a revival has
broken in upon the ranks of the enemy, almost as suddenly as a clap of thunder,
and scattered them—taken the very ringleaders as trophies, and broken up their
party in an instant.
3. A revival may be expected when Christians have a
spirit of prayer for a revival. That is, when they pray as if their hearts were
set upon a revival. Sometimes Christians are not engaged in prayer for a revival,
not even when they are warm in prayer. Their minds are upon something else;
they are praying for something else—the salvation of the heathen and the
like—and not for a revival among themselves. But when they feel the want of a
revival, they pray for it; they feel for their own families and neighborhoods,
and pray for them as if they could not be denied. What constitutes a spirit of
prayer? Is it many prayers and warm words? No. Prayer is the state of the
heart. The spirit of prayer is a state of continual desire and anxiety of mind
for the salvation 28of sinners. It is something
that weighs them down. It is the same, so far as the philosophy of the mind is
concerned, as when a man is anxious for some worldly interest. A Christian who
has this spirit of prayer feels anxious for souls. It is the subject of his
thoughts all the time, and makes him look and act as if he had a load on his
mind. He thinks of it by day, and dreams of it by night. This is properly
praying without ceasing. The man’s prayers seem to flow from his heart liquid
as water—“O Lord, revive thy work.” Sometimes this feeling is very deep;
persons have been bowed down, so that they could neither stand nor sit. I can
name men in this state, of firm nerves, who stand high in character, who have
been absolutely crushed with grief for the state of sinners. They have had an
actual travail of soul for sinners, till they were as helpless as children. The
feeling is not always so great as this, but such things are much more common
than is supposed. In the great revivals in 1826, they were common. This is by
no means enthusiasm. It is just what Paul felt, when he says, “My little
children, of whom I travail in birth.” I heard of a person in this State, who
prayed for sinners, and finally got into such a state of mind, that she could
not live without prayer. She could not rest day nor night, unless there was
somebody praying. Then she would be at ease; but if they ceased, she would
shriek in agony till there was prayer again. And this continued for two days,
until she prevailed in prayer, and her soul was relieved. This travail of soul,
is that deep agony, which persons feel when they lay hold on God for such a
blessing, and will not let him go till they receive it. I do not mean to be
understood that it is essential to a spirit of prayer, that the distress should
be so great as this. But this deep, continual, earnest desire for the salvation
of sinners, is what constitutes the spirit of prayer for a revival. It is a
revival begun so far as this spirit of prayer extends.
When this feeling exists in a church, unless the Spirit
is grieved away by sin, there will infallibly be a revival of Christians
generally, and it will involve the conversion of sinners to God. This anxiety
and distress increases till the revival commences. A clergyman in W——n told me
of a revival among his people, which commenced with a zealous and devoted woman
in the church. She became anxious about sinners, and went to praying for them,
and she prayed and her distress increased; and she finally came to her
minister, and talked with him, and asked him to appoint an anxious meeting, for
she felt that one was needed. The minister 29put
her off, for he felt nothing of it. The next week she came again, and besought
him to appoint an anxious meeting; she knew there would be somebody to come,
for she felt as if God was going to pour out his Spirit. He put her off again.
And finally she said to him, “If you do not appoint an anxious meeting I shall
die, for there is certainly going to be a revival.” The next Sabbath he
appointed a meeting, and said that if there were any who wished to converse
with him about the salvation of their souls, he would meet them on such an
evening. He did not know of one, but when he went to the place, to his
astonishment he found a large number of anxious inquirers. Now do not you think
that woman knew there was going to be a revival? Call it what you please, a new
revelation, or an old revelation, or any thing else. I say it was the Spirit of
God that taught that praying woman there was going to be a revival. “The secret
of the Lord” was with her, and she knew it. She knew God had been in her heart,
and filled it so full that she could contain no longer.
Sometimes ministers have had this distress about
their congregations, so that they felt as if they could not live unless they
could see a revival. Sometimes elders and deacons, or private members of the
church, men or women, have the spirit of prayer for a revival of religion, so
that they will hold on and prevail with God, till he pours out his Spirit. The
first ray of light that broke in upon the midnight which rested on the churches
in
Generally, there are but few professors of religion
that know any thing about this spirit of prayer which prevails with God. I have
been amazed to see such accounts as are often published about revivals, as if
the revival had come 30without any
cause—nobody knew why or wherefore. I have sometimes inquired into such cases;
when it had been given out that nobody knew any thing about it until one
Sabbath they saw in the face of the congregation that God was there, or they
saw it in their conference room, or prayer meeting, and were astonished at the
mysterious sovereignty of God, in bringing in a revival without any apparent
connection with means. Now mark me. Go and inquire among the obscure members of
the church, and you will always find that somebody had been praying for a
revival, and was expecting it—some man or woman had been agonizing in prayer,
for the salvation of sinners, until they gained the blessing. It may have found
the minister and the body of the church fast asleep, and they would wake up all
of a sudden, like a man just rubbing his eyes open, and running round the room
pushing things over, and wondering where all this excitement came from. But
though few knew it, you may be sure there has been somebody on the watch-tower;
constant in prayer till the blessing came. Generally, a revival is more or less
extensive, as there are more or less persons who have the spirit of prayer. But
I will not dwell on this subject any further at present, as the subject of
prayer will come up again in this course of lectures.
4. Another sign that a revival may be expected, is
when the attention of ministers is especially directed to this particular
object, and when their preaching and other efforts are aimed particularly
at the conversion of sinners. Most of the time the labors of ministers are, it
would seem, directed to other objects. They seem to preach and labor with no
particular design to effect the immediate conversion of sinners. And
then it need not be expected that there will be a revival under their
preaching. There never will be a revival till somebody makes particular
efforts for this end. But when the attention of a minister is directed to the
state of the families in his congregation, and his heart is full of feeling of
the necessity of a revival, and when he puts forth the proper efforts for this
end, then you may be prepared to expect a revival. As I explained last week,
the connection between the right use of means for a revival, and a revival, is
as philosophically sure as between the right use of means to raise grain, and a
crop of wheat. I believe, in fact, it is more certain, and that there are fewer
instances of failure. The effect is more certain to follow. The paramount
importance of spiritual things makes it reasonable that it should be so. Take
the Bible, the nature of the case, and the history of the church 31all together, and you will find fewer failures in the
use of means for a revival, than in farming, or any other worldly business. In
worldly business there are sometimes cases where counteracting causes
annihilate all a man can do. In raising grain, for instance, there are cases
which are beyond the control of man, such as drought, hard winter, worms, and
so on. So in laboring to promote a revival, there may things occur to
counteract it, something or other turning up to divert the public attention
from religion, which may baffle every effort. But I believe there are fewer
such cases in the moral than in the natural world. I have seldom seen an
individual fail, when he used the means for promoting a revival in earnest, in
the manner pointed out in the word of God. I believe a man may enter on the
work of promoting a revival, with as reasonable an expectation of success, as
he can enter on any other work with an expectation of success; with the same
expectation as the farmer has of a crop when he sows his grain. I have
sometimes seen this tried and succeed under circumstances the most forbidding
that can be conceived.
The great revival in
5. A revival of religion may be expected when
Christians begin to confess their sins to one another. At other times, they
confess in a general manner, as if they were only half in earnest. They may do
it in eloquent language, but it does not mean any thing. But when there is an
ingenuous breaking down, and a pouring out of the heart in making a confession 32of their sins, the flood-gates will soon burst open,
and salvation will flow over the place.
6. A revival may be expected whenever Christians are
found willing to make the sacrifice necessary to carry it on. They must be
willing to sacrifice their feelings, their business, their time, to help
forward the work. Ministers must be willing to lay out their strength, and to
jeopard their health and life. They must be willing to offend the impenitent by
plain and faithful dealing, and perhaps offend many members of the church who
will not come up to the work. They must take a decided stand with the revival,
be the consequences what they may. They must be prepared to go on with the
work, even though they should lose the affections of all the impenitent, and of
all the cold part of the church. The minister must be prepared, if it is the
will of God, to be driven away from the place. He must be determined to go
straight forward, and leave the entire event with God.
I knew a minister who had a young man laboring with
him in a revival. The young man preached pretty plain, and the wicked did not
like him. They said, We like our minister, and we wish to have him
preach. They finally said so much that the minister told the young man, “Mr.
Such-a-one, that gives so much towards my support, says so and so. Mr. A. says
so, and Mr. B. says so. They think it will break up the society if you continue
to preach, and I think you had better not preach any more.” The young man went
away, but the Spirit of God immediately withdrew from the place, and the
revival stopped short. The minister, by yielding to the wicked desires of the
wicked, drove him away. He was afraid the devil would drive him away
from his people, and by undertaking to satisfy the devil, he offended God. And
God so ordered events, that in a short time he had to leave his people after
all. He undertook to go between the devil and God, and God dismissed him.
The people, also, must be willing to have a revival,
let the sacrifice be what it may. It will not do for them to say, “We are
willing to attend so many meetings, but we cannot attend any more.” Or, “We are
willing to have a revival if it will not disturb our arrangements about our
business, or prevent our making money.” I tell you, such people will never have
a revival, till they are willing to do any thing, and sacrifice any thing, that
God indicates to be their duty. Christian merchants must feel willing to lock
up their stores for six months, if it is necessary to carry on a revival. I do
not 33mean to say any such thing is called for, or that it
is their duty to do so. But if there should be such a state of feeling as to
call for it, then it would be their duty, and they ought to be willing to do
it. They ought to be willing to do it if God calls, and he can easily burn down
their stores if they do not. In fact, I should not be sorry to see such a
revival in New York, as would make every merchant in the city lock up his store
till spring, and say he had sold goods enough, and now he would give up his
whole time to lead sinners to Christ.
7. A revival may be expected when ministers and
professors are willing to have God promote it by what instruments he pleases.
Sometimes ministers are not willing to have a revival unless they can
have the management of it, or unless their agency can be conspicuous in
promoting it. They wish to prescribe to God what he shall direct and bless, and
what men he shall put forward. They will have no new measures. They cannot have
any of this new-light preaching, or of these evangelists that go about
the country preaching. They have a great deal to say about God’s being a
sovereign, and that he will have revivals come in his own way and time. But
then he must choose to have it just in their way, or they will have nothing to
do with it. Such men will sleep on till they are awakened by the judgment
trumpet, without a revival, unless they are willing that God should come in his
own way—unless they are willing to have any thing or any body employed, that
will do the most good.
8. Strictly I should say that when the foregoing
things occur, a revival, to the same extent, already exists. In truth a revival
should be expected whenever it is needed. If we need to be
revived it is our duty to be revived. If it is duty it is possible, and we
should set about being revived ourselves, and, relying on the promise of Christ
to be with us in making disciples always and everywhere, we ought to labor to
revive Christians and convert sinners, with confident expectation of success.
Therefore, whenever the church needs reviving they ought and may expect to be
revived, and to see sinners converted to Christ. When those things are seen
which are named under the foregoing heads, let Christians and ministers be
encouraged and know that a good work is already begun. Follow it up.
REMARKS.
1. Brethren, you can tell from our subject, whether
you need a revival here or not, in this church, and in this city; 34and whether you are going to have one or not. Elders
of the church, men, women, any of you, and all of you—what do you say?
Do you need a revival here?
Do you expect to have one?
Have you any reason to expect one?
You need not make any mist about it; for you know, or
can know if you will, whether you have any reason to look for a revival here.
2. You see why you have not a revival. It is only
because you do not want one. Because you are not praying for it; nor anxious
for it, nor putting forth efforts for it. I appeal to your own consciences. Are
you making these efforts now, to promote a revival? You know, brethren, what
the truth is about it. Will you stand up and say that you have made the efforts
for a revival and been disappointed—that you have cried to God, “Wilt thou not
revive us?” and God would not do it?
3. Do you wish for a revival? Will you have one? If
God should ask you this moment, by an audible voice from heaven, “Do you want a
revival?” would you dare to say, Yes? “Are you willing to make the sacrifices?”
would you answer, Yes? “When shall it begin?” would you answer, Let it begin
to-night—let it begin here—let it begin in my heart NOW? Would you dare to say
so to God, if you should hear his voice to-night?
LECTURE III.
HOW TO PROMOTE A REVIVAL.
Text.—Break up your fallow ground; for it is
time to seek the Lord, till he come and rain righteousness upon you.—Hosea x. 12.
THE Jews were a nation of farmers, and it is
therefore a common thing in the Scriptures to refer for illustrations to their
occupation, and to the scenes with which farmers and shepherds are familiar.
The prophet Hosea addresses them as a nation of backsliders, and reproves them
for their idolatry, and threatens them with the judgments of God. I have showed
you in my first lecture what a revival is not—what it is—and the agencies to be
employed in promoting it; and in my second, when it is needed—its importance—and
when it may be expected. My design in this lecture is to show,
HOW A REVIVAL IS TO BE
PROMOTED.
A revival consists of two parts; as it respects the
church, and as it respects the ungodly. I shall speak to-night of a revival in
the church. Fallow ground is ground which has once been tilled, but which now
lies waste, and needs to be broken up and mellowed, before it is suited to
receive grain. I shall show, as it respects a revival in the church,
1. What it is to break up the fallow ground, in the
sense of the text.
2. How it is to be performed.
I. WHAT IS IT TO BREAK UP
THE FALLOW GROUND?
To break up the fallow ground, is to break up your
hearts—to prepare your minds to bring forth fruit unto God. The mind of man
is often compared in the Bible to ground, and the word of God to seed sown in
it, and the fruit represents the actions and affections of those who receive
it. To break up the fallow ground, therefore, is to bring the mind into such a
state, that it is fitted to receive the word of God. Sometimes your hearts get
matted down hard and dry, and all run to waste, till there is no such thing as
getting fruit from them till they are all broken up, and mellowed down, and
fitted to receive the word of God. It is this softening of the 36heart, so as to make it feel the truth, which the
prophet calls breaking up your fallow ground.
II. HOW IS THE FALLOW GROUND
TO BE BROKEN UP?
1. It is not by any direct efforts to feel.
People run into a mistake on this subject, from not making the laws of mind the
object of thought. There are great errors on the subject of the laws which
govern the mind. People talk about religious feeling, as if they thought they
could, by direct effort, call forth religious affection. But this is not the
way the mind acts. No man can make himself feel in this way, merely by trying
to feel. The feelings of the mind are not directly under our control. We
cannot by willing, or by direct volition, call forth religious feelings. We
might as well think to call spirits up from the deep. They are purely
involuntary states of mind. They naturally and necessarily exist in the mind
under certain circumstances calculated to excite them. But they can be
controlled indirectly. Otherwise there would be no moral character in
our feelings, if there were not a way to control them. We cannot say, “Now I
will feel so and so towards such an object.” But we can command our attention
to it, and look at it intently, till the involuntary affections arise. Let a
man who is away from his family, bring them up before his mind, and will he not
feel? But it is not by saying to himself, “Now I will feel deeply for my
family.” A man can direct his attention to any object, about which he ought to
feel and wishes to feel, and in that way he will call into existence the proper
emotions. Let a man call up his enemy before his mind, and his feelings of
enmity will rise. So if a man thinks of God, and fastens his mind on any parts
of God’s character, he will feel—emotions will come up, by the very laws of
mind. If he is a friend of God, let him contemplate God as a gracious and holy
being, and he will have emotions of friendship kindled up in his mind. If he is
an enemy of God, only let him get the true character of God before his mind,
and look at it, and fasten his attention on it, and his enmity will rise
against God, or he will break down and give his heart to God.
If you wish to break up the fallow ground of your
hearts, and make your minds feel on the subject of religion, you must go to
work just as you would to feel on any other subject. Instead of keeping your
thoughts on every thing else, and then imagine that by going to a few meetings
you will get your feelings enlisted, go the common sense way to work, as you
would on 37any other subject. It is
just as easy to make your minds feel on the subject of religion as it is on any
other subject. God has put these states of mind under your control. If people
were as unphilosophical about moving their limbs, as they are about regulating
their emotions, you would never have got here to meeting to-night.
If you mean to break up the fallow ground of your
hearts, you must begin by looking at your hearts—examine and note the state of
your minds, and see where you are. Many never seem to think about this. They
pay no attention to their own hearts, and never know whether they are doing
well in religion or not—whether they are gaining ground or going back—whether
they are fruitful, or lying waste like the fallow ground. Now you must draw off
your attention from other things, and look into this. Make a business of it. Do
not be in a hurry. Examine thoroughly the state of your hearts, and see where
you are—whether you are walking with God every day, or walking with the
devil—whether you are serving God or serving the devil most—whether you are
under the dominion of the prince of darkness, or the Lord Jesus Christ.
To do all this, you must set yourself at work to
consider your sins. You must examine yourselves. And by this I do not mean,
that you must stop and look directly within to see what is the present state of
your feelings. That is the very way to put a stop to all feeling. This is just
as absurd as it would be for a man to shut his eyes on the lamp, and try to
turn his eyes inward to find out whether there was any image painted on the
retina. The man complains that he does not see anything! And why? Because he
has turned his eyes away from the objects of sight. The truth is, our moral
feelings are as much an object of consciousness as our sensations. And the way
to excite is to go on acting, and employing our minds. Then we can tell our
moral feelings by consciousness, just as I could tell my natural feelings by
consciousness, if I should put my hand in the fire.
Self-examination consists in looking at your lives,
in considering your actions, in calling up the past, and learning its true
character. Look back over your past history. Take up your individual sins one
by one, and look at them. I do not mean that you should just cast a glance at
your past life, and see that it has been full of sins, and then go to God and
make a sort of general confession, and ask for pardon. That is not the way. You
must take them up one by one. It will be a good thing to take a pen and paper,
as you go over them, and 38write them down as
they occur to you. Go over them as carefully as a merchant goes over his books;
and as often as a sin comes before your memory, add it to the list. General
confessions of sin will never do. Your sins were committed one by one;
and as far as you can come at them, they ought to be reviewed and repented of
one by one. Now begin; and take up first what are commonly, but improperly,
called your
SINS OF OMISSION.
1. Ingratitude. Take this sin, for instance,
and write down under it all the instances you can remember, wherein you have
received favors from God, for which you have never exercised gratitude. How
many cases can you remember? Some remarkable providence, some wonderful turn of
events, that saved you from ruin. Set down the instances of God’s goodness to
you when you were in sin, before your conversion. Then the mercy of God in the
circumstances of your conversion, for which you have never been half thankful
enough. The numerous mercies you have received since. How long the catalogue of
instances, where your ingratitude is so black that you are forced to hide your
face in confusion! Now go on your knees, and confess them one by one to God,
and ask forgiveness. The very act of confession, by the laws of suggestion,
will bring up others to your memory. Put down these. Go over these three or
four times in this way, and you will find an astonishing amount of mercies, for
which you have never thanked God. Then take another sin. Let it be,
2. Want of love to God. Write that down, and
go over all the instances you can remember, when you did not give to the
blessed God that hearty love which you ought.
Think how grieved and alarmed you would be, if you
discovered any flagging of affection for you in your wife, husband, or
children; if you saw somebody else engrossing their hearts, and thoughts, and
time. Perhaps, in such a case, you would well nigh die with a just and virtuous
jealousy. Now, God styles himself a jealous God; and have you not given your
heart to other loves: played the harlot, and infinitely offended him?
3. Neglect of the Bible. Put down the cases,
when for days, and perhaps for weeks—yea, it may be, even for months together,
you had no pleasure in God’s word. Perhaps you did not read a chapter, or if
you read it, it was in a way that was 39still
more displeasing to God. Many people read over a whole chapter in such a way,
that if they were put under oath when they have done, they could not tell what
they have been reading. With so little attention do they read, that they cannot
remember where they have read from morning till evening, unless they put in a
string or turn down a leaf. This demonstrates that they did not lay to heart
what they read, that they did not make it a subject of reflection. If you were
reading a novel, or any other piece of intelligence that greatly interested
you, would you not remember what you read last? And the fact that you fold a
leaf or put in a string, demonstrates that you read rather as a task, than from
love or reverence for the word of God. The word of God is the rule of your
duty. And do you pay so little regard to it as not to remember what you read?
If so, no wonder that you live so at random, and that your religion is such a
miserable failure.
4. Unbelief. Instances in which you have
virtually charged the God of truth with lying, by your unbelief of his express
promises and declarations. God has promised to give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him. Now, have you believed this? Have you expected him to answer?
Have you not virtually said in your hearts, when you prayed for the Holy Spirit,
“I do not believe that I shall receive it?” If you have not believed nor
expected you should receive the blessing, which God has expressly promised, you
have charged him with lying.
5. Neglect of prayer. Times when you omitted
secret prayer, family prayer, and prayer meetings, or have prayed in such a way
as more grievously to offend God, than to have neglected it altogether.
6. Neglect of the means of grace. When you
have suffered trifling excuses to prevent your attending meetings, have
neglected and poured contempt upon the means of salvation, merely from
disrelish of spiritual duties.
7. The manner in which you have performed
those duties—want of feeling—want of faith—worldly frame of mind—so that your
words were nothing but the mere chattering of a wretch, that did not deserve
that God should feel the least care for him. When you have fallen down upon
your knees, and said your prayers, in such an unfeeling and careless
manner, that if you had been put under oath five minutes after you left your
closet, you could not have told what you had been praying for.
8. Your want of love for the souls of your
fellow-men. Look 40round upon your
friends and relations, and remember how little compassion you have felt for
them. You have stood by and seen them going right to hell, and it seems as
though you did not care if they did. How many days have there been, in which
you did not make their condition the subject of a single fervent prayer, or
even an ardent desire for their salvation?
9. Your want of care for the heathen. Perhaps
you have not cared enough for them to attempt to learn their condition; perhaps
not even to take a Missionary paper. Look at this, and see how much you do
really care for the heathen, and set down honestly the real amount of your
feelings for them, and your desire for their salvation. Measure your desire for
their salvation by the self-denial you practise, in giving of your substance to
send them the Gospel. Do you deny yourself even the hurtful superfluities of
life, such as tea, coffee, and tobacco? Do you retrench your style of living,
and really subject yourself to any inconvenience to save them? Do you daily
pray for them in your closet? Do you statedly attend the monthly concert? Are
you from month to month laying by something to put into the treasury of the
Lord, when you go up to pray? If you are not doing these things, and if your
soul is not agonized for the poor benighted heathen, why are you such a
hypocrite as to pretend to be a Christian? Why, your profession is an insult to
Jesus Christ!
10. Your neglect of family duties. How you
have lived before them, how you have prayed, what an example you have set
before them. What direct efforts do you habitually make for their spiritual
good? What duty have you not neglected?
11. Neglect of social duties.
12. Neglect of watchfulness over your own life.
Instances in which you have hurried over your private duties, and not taken
yourself to task, nor honestly made up your accounts with God. Where you have
entirely neglected to watch your conduct, and have been off your guard, and
have sinned before the world, and before the church, and before God.
13. Neglect to watch over your brethren. How
often have you broken your covenant, that you would watch over them in the
Lord! How little do you know or care about the state of their souls! And yet
you are under a solemn oath to watch over them. What have you done to make
yourself acquainted with them? How many of them have you interested yourself
for, to know their spiritual state? Go over the list, and wherever you find
there has been a neglect, write it down. How many times have you seen your
brethren growing cold in religion, 41and
have not spoken to them about it? You have seen them beginning to neglect one
duty after another, and you did not reprove them in a brotherly way. You have
seen them falling into sin, and you let them go on. And yet you pretend to love
them. What a hypocrite! Would you see your wife or child going into disgrace,
or into the fire, and hold your peace? No, you would not. What do you think of
yourself, then, to pretend to love Christians, and to love Christ, while you
can see them going into disgrace, and say nothing to them?
14. Neglect of self-denial. There are many
professors who are willing to do almost any thing in religion, that does not
require self-denial. But when they are called to do any thing that requires
them to deny themselves, Oh! that is too much. They think they are doing a
great deal for God, and doing about as much as he ought to ask in reason, if
they are only doing what they can do about as well as not; but they are not
willing to deny themselves any comfort or convenience whatever, for the sake of
serving the Lord. They will not willingly suffer reproach for the name of
Christ. Nor will they deny themselves the luxuries of life, to save a
world from hell. So far are they from remembering that self-denial is a condition
of discipleship, that they do not know what self-denial is. They never have
really denied themselves a riband or a pin for Christ, and for the Gospel. Oh,
how soon such professors will be in hell! Some are giving of their abundance,
and are giving much, and are ready to complain that others don’t give more;
when, in truth, they do not give any thing that they need, any thing
that they could enjoy, if they kept it. They only give of their surplus wealth;
and perhaps that poor woman, who puts in twelve and a half cents at the monthly
concert, has exercised more self-denial, than they have in giving thousands.
From these we now turn to
SINS OF COMMISSION.
1. Worldly mindedness. What has been the state
of your heart in regard to your worldly possessions? Have you looked at them as
really yours—as if you had a right to dispose of them as your own,
according to your own will? If you have, write that down. If you have loved
property, and sought after it for its own sake, or to gratify lust or ambition,
or a worldly spirit, or to lay it up for your families, you have sinned, and
must repent.
42
2. Pride. Recollect all the instances you can,
in which you have detected yourself in the exercise of pride. Vanity is a
particular form of pride. How many times have you detected yourself in
consulting vanity, about your dress and appearance? How many times have you
thought more, and taken more pains, and spent more time, about decorating your
body to go to church, than you have about preparing your mind for the worship
of God? You have gone to the house of God caring more how you appear outwardly
in the sight of mortal men, than how your soul appears in the sight of the
heart-searching God. You have in fact set up yourself to be worshipped by them,
rather than prepared to worship God yourself. You came to divide the worship of
God’s house, to draw off the attention of God’s people to look at your pretty
appearance. It is in vain to pretend now, that you don’t care any thing about
having people look at you. Be honest about it. Would you take all this pains
about your looks if every body was blind?
3. Envy. Look at the cases in which you were
envious at those who you thought were above you in any respect. Or perhaps you
have envied those who have been more talented or more useful than yourself.
Have you not so envied some, that you have been pained to hear them praised? It
has been more agreeable to you to dwell upon their faults, than upon their
virtues, upon their failures, than upon their success. Be honest with yourself,
and if you have harbored this spirit of hell, repent deeply before God, or he
will never forgive you.
4. Censoriousness. Instances in which you have
had a bitter spirit, and spoken of Christians in a manner entirely devoid of
charity and love—charity, which requires you always to hope the best the case
will admit, and to put the best construction upon any ambiguous conduct.
5. Slander. The times you have spoken behind
people’s backs of their faults, real or supposed, of members of the church or
others, unnecessarily or without good reason. This is slander. You need not lie
to be guilty of slander;—to tell the truth with the design to injure, is slander.
6. Levity. How often have you trifled before
God, as you would not have dared to trifle in the presence of an earthly
sovereign? You have either been an Atheist, and forgotten that there was a God,
or have had less respect for him, and his presence, than you would have had for
an earthly judge.
7. Lying. Understand now what lying is. Any
species of designed deception for a selfish reason is lying. If the
deception 43is not a design it is not
lying. But if you design to make an impression contrary to the naked truth, you
lie. Put down all those cases you can recollect. Don’t call them by any soft
name. God calls them LIES, and charges you with LYING, and you had better
charge yourself correctly.
How innumerable are the falsehoods perpetrated every
day in business, and in social intercourse, by words, and looks, and
actions—designed to make an impression on others contrary to the truth for
selfish reasons.
8. Cheating. Set down all the cases in which
you have dealt with an individual, and done to him that which you would not
like to have done to you. That is cheating. God has laid down a rule in
the case; “All things whatsoever ye would that men should do to you, do ye even
so to them.” That is the rule; and now if you have not done so you are a cheat.
Mind, the rule is not that you should do what you might reasonably expect them
to do to you. That is a rule which would admit of every degree of wickedness.
But it is “As ye WOULD they should do to you.”
9. Hypocrisy. For instance, in your prayers
and confessions to God. Set down the instances in which you have prayed for
things you did not really want. And the evidence is, that when you had done
praying, you could not tell what you had prayed for. How many times have you
confessed sins that you did not mean to break off, and when you had no solemn
purpose not to repeat them? Yes, have confessed sins when you knew you as much
expected to go and repeat them as you expected to live.
10. Robbing God. Instances in which you have
misspent your time, and squandered hours which God gave you to serve him and
save souls, in vain amusements or foolish conversation, reading novels, or
doing nothing; cases where you have misapplied your talents and powers of mind;
where you have squandered money on your lusts, or spent it for things you did
not need, and which neither contributed to your health, comfort or usefulness.
Perhaps some of you who are here to-night have laid out God’s money for
TOBACCO. I will not speak of rum, for I presume there is no professor of
religion here to-night that would drink rum. I hope there is no one that uses
that filthy poison, tobacco. Think of a professor of religion, using God’s
money to poison himself with tobacco!
11. Bad temper. Perhaps you have abused your
wife, or your children, or your family, or servants, or neighbors. Write it all
down.
12. Hindering others from being useful.
Perhaps you have 44weakened their influence
by insinuations against them. You have not only robbed God of your own talents,
but tied the hands of somebody else. What a wicked servant is he that loiters
himself, and hinders the rest! This is done sometimes by taking their time
needlessly; sometimes by destroying Christian confidence in them. Thus you have
played into the hands of Satan, and not only showed yourself an idle vagabond,
but prevented others from working.
If you find you have committed a fault against an
individual, and that individual is within your reach, go and confess it
immediately, and get that out of the way. If the individual you have injured is
too far off for you to go and see him, sit down and write him a letter, and
confess the injury, pay the postage, and put it into the mail
immediately. I say, pay the postage, or otherwise you will only make the matter
worse. You will add to the former injury, by making him a bill of expense. The
man that writes a letter on his own business, and sends it to another without
paying the postage, is dishonest, and has cheated him out of so much. And if he
would cheat a man out of a sixpence or shilling, when the temptation is so
small, what would he not do were the temptation greater, if he had the prospect
of impunity? If you have defrauded any body, send the money, the full amount
and the interest.
Go thoroughly to work in all this. Go now.
Don’t put it off; that will only make the matter worse. Confess to God those
sins that have been committed against God, and to man those sins that have been
committed against man. Don’t think of getting off by going round the stumbling
blocks. Take them up out of the way. In breaking up your fallow ground, you
must remove every obstruction. Things may be left that you may think little
things, and you may wonder why you do not feel as you wish to in religion, when
the reason is that your proud and carnal mind has covered up something which
God required you to confess and remove. Break up all the ground and turn it
over. Do not balk it, as the farmers say; do not turn aside for little
difficulties; drive the plow right through them, beam deep, and turn the ground
all up, so that it may all be mellow and soft, and fit to receive the seed and
bear fruit a hundred fold.
When you have gone over your whole history in this
way, thoroughly, if you will then go over the ground the second time, and give
your solemn and fixed attention to it, you will find that the things you have
put down will suggest other things of which you have been guilty, connected
with them, or near them. Then go over it a third time, and you will 45recollect other things connected with these. And you
will find in the end that you can remember an amount of your history, and
particular actions, even in this life, which you did not think you should
remember in eternity. Unless you do take up your sins in this way, and consider
them in detail, one by one, you can form no idea of the amount of your sins.
You should go over it as thoroughly and as carefully, and as solemnly, as you
would if you were just preparing yourself for the judgment.
As you go over the catalogue of your sins, be sure to
resolve upon present and entire reformation. Wherever you find any thing wrong,
resolve at once, in the strength of God, to sin no more in that way. It will be
of no benefit to examine yourself, unless you determine to amend in every
particular that you find wrong in heart, temper, or conduct.
If you find, as you go on with this duty, that your
mind is still all dark, cast about you, and you will find there is some reason
for the Spirit of God to depart from you. You have not been faithful and
thorough. In the progress of such a work you have got to do violence to
yourself, and bring yourself as a rational being up to this work, with the
Bible before you, and try your heart till you do feel. You need not
expect that God will work a miracle for you to break up your fallow ground. It
is to be done by means. Fasten your attention to the subject of your sins. You
cannot look at your sins long and thoroughly, and see how bad they are, without
feeling, and feeling deeply. Experience abundantly proves the benefit of going
over our history in this way. Set yourself to the work now; resolve that you
never will stop till you find you can pray. You never will have the
spirit of prayer, till you examine yourself, and confess your sins, and break
up your fallow ground. You never will have the Spirit of God dwelling in you,
till you have unraveled this whole mystery of iniquity, and spread out your
sins before God. Let there be this deep work of repentance, and full
confession, this breaking down before God, and you will have as much of the
spirit of prayer as your body can bear up under. The reason why so few
Christians know any thing about the spirit of prayer, is because they never
would take the pains to examine themselves properly, and so never knew what it
was to have their hearts all broken up in this way.
You see I have only begun to lay open this subject
to-night. I want to lay it out before you, in the course of these lectures, so
that if you will begin and go on to do as I say, the results will be just as
certain as they are when the farmer breaks up 46a fallow field, and mellows it, and sows his grain. It will be so, if
you will only begin in this way, and hold on till all your hardened and callous
hearts break up.
REMARKS.
1. It will do no good to preach to you while your
hearts are in this hardened, and waste, and fallow state. The farmer might just
as well sow his grain on the rock. It will bring forth no fruit. This is the
reason why there are so many fruitless professors in the church, and why there
is so much outside machinery, and so little deep-toned feeling in the church.
Look at the Sabbath-school for instance, and see how much machinery there is,
and how little of the power of godliness. If you go on in this way, the word of
God will continue to harden you, and you will grow worse and worse, just as the
rain and snow on an old fallow field makes the turf thicker, and the clods
stronger.
2. See why so much preaching is wasted, and worse
than wasted. It is because the church will not break up their fallow ground. A
preacher may wear out his life, and do very little good, while there are so
many stony-ground hearers, who have never had their fallow ground broken up.
They are only half converted, and their religion is rather a change of opinion
than a change of the feeling of their hearts. There is mechanical religion
enough, but very little that looks like deep heart-work.
3. Professors of religion should never satisfy
themselves, or expect a revival, just by starting out of their slumbers, and
blustering about, and making a noise, and talking to sinners. They must get
their fallow ground broken up. It is utterly unphilosophical to think of
getting engaged in religion in this way. If your fallow ground is broken up, then
the way to get more feeling, is to go out and see sinners on the road to hell, and
talk to them, and guide inquiring souls, and you will get more feeling. You may
get into an excitement without this breaking up; you may show a kind of
zeal, but it will not last long, and it will not take hold of sinners, unless
your hearts are broken up. The reason is, that you go about it mechanically,
and have not broken up your fallow ground.
4. And now, finally, will you break up your fallow
ground? Will you enter upon the course now pointed out, and persevere till you
are thoroughly awake? If you fail here, if you do not do this, and get
prepared, you can go no further with me in this course of lectures. I have gone
with you as far as 47it is of any use to go,
until your fallow ground is broken up. Now, you must make thorough work upon
this point, or all I have further to say will do you little good. Nay, it will
only harden and make you worse. If, when next Friday night arrives, it finds
you with unbroken hearts, you need not expect to be benefited by what I shall
say. If you do not set about this work immediately, I shall take it for granted
that you do not mean to be revived, that you have forsaken your minister, and
mean to let him go up to battle alone. If you do not do this, I charge you with
having forsaken Christ, with refusing to repent and do your first work. But if
you will be prepared to enter upon the work, I propose, God willing, next
Friday evening, to lead you into the work of saving sinners.
LECTURE IV.
PREVAILING PRAYER.
Text.—The effectual, fervent prayer of a
righteous man availeth much.—James v. 16.
THE last lecture referred principally to the
confession of sin. To-night my remarks will be chiefly confined to the subject
of intercession, or prayer. There are two kinds of means requisite to promote a
revival; one to influence men, the other to influence God. The truth is
employed to influence men, and prayer to move God. When I speak of moving God,
I do not mean that God’s mind is changed by prayer, or that his disposition or
character is changed. But prayer produces such a change in us and
fulfils such conditions as renders it consistent for God to do as it would not
be consistent for him to do otherwise. When a sinner repents, that state of
mind makes it proper for God to forgive him. God has always been ready to
forgive him on that condition, so that when the sinner changes his mind towards
God, it requires no change of feeling in God to pardon him. It is the sinner’s
repentance that renders his forgiveness proper, and is the occasion of God’s
acting as he does. So when Christians offer effectual prayer, their state of
mind renders it proper for God to answer them. He was always ready to bestow
the blessing, on the condition that they felt right, and offered the right kind
of prayer. Whenever this change takes place in them, and they offer the right
kind of prayer, then God, without any change in himself, can answer them. When
we offer effectual fervent prayer for others, the fact that we offer such
prayer renders it consistent for him to do what we pray for, when otherwise it
would not have been consistent.
Prayer is an essential link in the chain of causes
that lead to a revival; as much so as truth is. Some have zealously used truth
to convert men, and laid very little stress on prayer. They have preached, and
talked, and distributed tracts with great zeal, and then wondered that they had
so little success. And the reason was, that they forgot to use the other branch
of the means, effectual prayer. They overlooked the fact, that truth by itself
will never produce the effect, without the Spirit 49of God, and that Spirit is given in answer to earnest
prayer.
Sometimes it happens that those who are the most
engaged in employing truth, are not the most engaged in prayer. This is always
unhappy.—For unless they, or somebody else have the spirit of prayer, the truth
by itself will do nothing but harden men in impenitence. Probably in the day of
judgment it will be found that nothing is ever done by the truth, used ever so
zealously, unless there is a spirit of prayer somewhere in connection with the
presentation of truth.
Others err on the other side. Not that they lay too
much stress on prayer. But they overlook the fact that prayer might be offered
for ever, by itself, and nothing would be done. Because sinners are not
converted by direct contact of the Holy Ghost, but by the truth, employed as a
means. To expect the conversion of sinners by prayer alone, without the
employment of truth, is to tempt God.
The subject of discourse this evening, is
PREVAILING PRAYER.
I. I propose to show what is effectual or prevailing
prayer.
II. State some of the most essential attributes of
prevailing prayer.
III. Give some reasons why God requires this kind of
prayer.
IV. Show that such prayer will avail much.
I. I proceed to show what is prevailing prayer.
1. Effectual, prevailing prayer, does not consist in
benevolent desires merely. Benevolent desires are doubtless pleasing to God.
Such desires pervade heaven, and are found in all holy beings. But they are not
prayer. Men may have these desires as the angels and glorified spirits have
them. But this is not the effectual, prevailing prayer, spoken of in the text.
Prevailing prayer is something more than this.
2. Prevailing, or effectual prayer, is that prayer
which obtains the blessing that it seeks. It is that prayer which effectually
moves God. The very idea of effectual prayer is, that it effects its
object.
II. I will state some of the most essential
attributes of prevailing prayer. I cannot detail in full all the things that go
to make up prevailing prayer. But I will mention some things that are essential
to it; some things which a person must do in order to prevail in prayer.
1. He must pray for a definite object. He need
not expect 50to offer such prayer, if
he prays at random, without any distinct or definite object. He must have an
object distinctly before his mind. I speak now of secret prayer. Many people go
away into their closets, because they must say their prayers. The time
has come that they are in the habit of going by themselves for prayer, in the
morning, or at noon, or at whatever time of day it may be. And instead of
having any thing to say, any definite object before their mind, they fall down
on their knees, and pray for just what comes into their minds, for everything
that floats in their imagination at the time, and when they have done, they
could not tell hardly a word of what they have been praying for. This is not
effectual prayer. What should we think of any body who should try to move a
legislature so, and should say, “Now it is winter, and the legislature is in
session, and it is time to send up petitions,” and should go up to the
legislature and petition at random, without any definite object? Do you think
such petitions would move the legislature?
A man must have some definite object before his mind.
He cannot pray effectually for a variety of objects at once. The mind of man is
so constituted that it cannot fasten its desires intensely upon many things at
the same time. All the instances of effectual prayer recorded in the Bible were
of this kind. Wherever you see that the blessing sought for in prayer was
attained, you will find that the prayer which was offered was prayer for that
definite object.
2. Prayer, to be effectual, must be in accordance
with the revealed will of God. To pray for things contrary to the revealed will
of God, is to tempt God. There are three ways in which God’s will is revealed
to men for their guidance in prayer.
(1.) By express promises or predictions in the Bible,
that he will give or do certain things. Either by express promises in regard to
particular things, or promises in general terms, so that we may apply them to
particular things. For instance, there is this promise: “Whatsoever things ye
desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
(2.) Sometimes God reveals his will by his
providence. When he makes it clear that such and such events are about to take
place, it is as much a revelation as if he had written it in his word. It would
be impossible to reveal every thing in the Bible. But God often makes it clear
to those who have spiritual discernment, that it is his will to grant such and
such blessings.
51
(3.) By his Spirit. When God’s people are at a loss
what to pray for, agreeable to his will, his Spirit often instructs them. Where
there is no particular revelation, and providence leaves it dark, and we know
not what to pray for as we ought, we are expressly told, that “the Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities,” and “the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with
groanings that cannot be uttered.” A great deal has been said on the subject of
praying in faith for things not revealed. It is objected, that this doctrine
implies a new revelation. I answer, that, new or old, it is the very revelation
that Jehovah says he makes. It is just as plain here, as if it were now
revealed by a voice from heaven, that the Spirit of God helps the people of God
to pray according to the will of God, when they themselves know not what things
they ought to pray for. “And he that searcheth the heart knoweth the mind of
the Spirit,” because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God, and he leads Christians to pray for just those things, with
groanings that cannot be uttered. When neither the word nor providence enables
them to decide, then let them be filled with the Spirit, as God commands them
to be. He says, “Be ye filled with the Spirit.” And He will lead their
mind to such things as God is willing to grant.
3. To pray effectually, you must pray with submission
to the will of God. Do not confound submission with indifference. No two things
are more unlike. I once knew an individual come where there was a revival. He
himself was cold, and did not enter into the spirit of it, and had no spirit of
prayer; and when he heard the brethren pray as if they could not be denied, he
was shocked at their boldness, and kept all the time insisting on the
importance of praying with submission; when it was as plain as any thing could
be, that he confounded submission with indifference
So again, do not confound submission in prayer with a
general confidence that God will do what is right. It is proper to have this
confidence that God will do what is right in all things. But this is a
different thing from submission. What I mean by submission in prayer, is,
acquiescence in the revealed will of God. To submit to any command of God is to
obey it. Submission to some supposable or possible, but secret decree of God,
is not submission. To submit to any dispensation of
4. Effectual prayer for an object implies a desire
for that object commensurate with its importance. If a person truly
desires any blessing, his desires will bear some proportion to the greatness of
the blessing. The desires of the Lord Jesus Christ for the blessing he prayed
for, were amazingly strong, and amounted even to agony. If the desire for an
object is strong, and is a benevolent desire, and the thing not contrary to the
will and providence of God, the presumption is, that it will be granted. There
are two reasons for this presumption:
(1.) From the general benevolence of God. If it is a
desirable object; if, so far as we can see, it would be an act of benevolence
in God to grant it, his general benevolence is presumptive evidence that he
will grant it.
(2.) If you find yourself exercised with benevolent
desires for any object, there is a strong presumption that the Spirit of God is
exciting these very desires, and stirring you up to pray for that object, so
that it may be granted in answer to prayer. In such a case no degree of desire
or 53importunity in prayer is improper. A Christian may
come up, as it were, and take hold of the hand of God. See the case of Jacob,
when he exclaimed, in an agony of desire, “I will not let thee go, except thou
bless me.” Was God displeased with his boldness and importunity? Not at all;
but he granted him the very thing he prayed for. So in the case of Moses. God
said to Moses, “Let me alone, that I may destroy them, and blot out their name
from under heaven, and I will make of thee a nation mightier and greater than
they.” What did Moses do? Did he stand aside and let God do as he said? No, his
mind runs back to the Egyptians, and he thinks how they will triumph.
“Wherefore should the Egyptians say, For mischief did he bring them out.” It
seemed as if he took hold of the uplifted hand of God, to avert the blow. Did
God rebuke him for his interference, and tell him he had no business to
interfere? No; it seemed as if he was unable to deny any thing to such
importunity, and so Moses stood in the gap, and prevailed with God.
It is said of Xavier, the missionary, that he was
once called to pray for a man who was sick, and he prayed so fervently that he
seemed as it were to do violence to heaven—so the writer expresses it. And he
prevailed, and the man recovered.
Such prayer is often offered in the present day, when
Christians have been wrought up to such a pitch of importunity and such a holy
boldness, that afterwards, when they looked back upon it, they were frightened
and amazed at themselves, to think they should dare to exercise such importunity
with God. And yet these prayers have prevailed, and obtained the blessing. And
many of these persons, that I am acquainted with, are among the holiest persons
I know in the world.
5. Prayer, to be effectual, must be offered from
right motives. Prayer should not be selfish, but dictated by a supreme regard
for the glory of God. A great deal of prayer is offered from pure selfishness.
Women sometimes pray for their husbands, that they may be converted, because
they say, “It would be so much more pleasant to have my husband go to meeting
with me,” and all that. And they seem never to lift up their thoughts above
self at all. They do not seem to think how their husbands are dishonoring God
by their sins, and how God would be glorified in their conversion. So it is
with parents very often. They cannot bear to think that their children
should be lost. They pray 54for them very
earnestly indeed. But if you go to talk with them, they are very tender, and
tell you how good their children are, how they respect religion, and they think
they are almost Christians now; and so they talk as if they were afraid you
would hurt their children if you should tell them the truth. They do not think
how such amiable and lovely children are dishonoring God by their sins; they
are only thinking what a dreadful thing it will be for them to go to hell. Ah!
unless their thoughts rise higher than this, their prayers will never prevail
with a holy God. The temptation to selfish motives is so strong, that there is
reason to fear a great many parental prayers never rise above the yearnings of
parental tenderness. And that is the reason why so many prayers are not heard,
and why so many pious, praying parents have ungodly children. Much of the
prayer for the heathen world seems to be based on no higher principle than
sympathy. Missionary agents, and others, are dwelling almost exclusively upon
the six hundred millions of heathens going to hell, while little is said of
their dishonoring God. This is a great evil; and until the church have higher
motives for prayer and missionary effort than sympathy for the heathen, their
prayers and efforts will never amount to much.
6. Prayer, to be effectual, must be by the
intercession of the Spirit. You never can expect to offer prayer according to the
will of God without the Spirit. In the first two cases, it is not because
Christians are unable to offer such prayer, where the will of God is revealed
in his word, or indicated by his providence. They are able to do it, just as
they are able to be holy. But the fact is, that they are so wicked, that they
never do offer such prayer, without they are influenced by the Spirit of God.
There must be a faith, such as produced by the effectual operation of the Holy
Ghost.
7. It must be persevering prayer. As a general thing,
Christians who have backslidden and lost the spirit of prayer, will not get at
once into the habit of persevering prayer. Their minds are not in a
right state, and they cannot fix their minds, and hold on till the blessing
comes. If their minds were in that state, that they would persevere till the
answer comes, effectual prayer might be offered at once, as well as after
praying ever so many times for an object. But they have to pray again and
again, because their thoughts are so apt to wander away, and are so easily
diverted from the object to something else. Until their minds get imbued with
the spirit of prayer, they will not keep fixed to one point, and push their
petition to an issue on the spot. Do not think you are prepared to offer prevailing
55prayer, if your feelings will let you pray once for
an object, and then leave it. Most Christians come up to prevailing prayer by a
protracted process. Their minds gradually become filled with anxiety about an
object, so that they will even go about their business, sighing out their
desires to God. Just as the mother whose child is sick, goes round her house,
sighing as if her heart would break. And if she is a praying mother, her sighs
are breathed out to God all the day long. If she goes out of the room where her
child is, her mind is still on it; and if she is asleep, still her thoughts are
on it, and she starts in her dreams, thinking it is dying. Her whole mind is
absorbed in that sick child. This is the state of mind in which Christians offer
prevailing prayer.
What was the reason that Jacob wrestled all night in
prayer with God? He knew that he had done his brother Esau a great injury, in
getting away the birthright a long time ago. And now he was informed that his
injured brother was coming to meet him, with an armed force altogether too
powerful for him to contend against. And there was great reason to suppose he
was coming with a purpose of revenge. There were two reasons then why he should
be distressed. The first was, that he had done this great injury, and had never
made any reparation. The other was, that Esau was coming with a force
sufficient to crush him. Now, what does he do? Why, he first arranges
everything in the best manner he can to meet his brother, sending his present
first, then his property, then his family, putting those he loved most farthest
behind. And by this time his mind was so exercised that he could not contain
himself. He goes away alone over the brook, and pours out his very soul in an
agony of prayer all night. And just as the day was breaking, the angel of the
covenant said, “Let me go;” and his whole being was, as it were, agonized at
the thought of giving up, and he cried out, “I will not let thee go except thou
bless me.” His soul was wrought up into an agony, and he obtained the blessing,
but he always bore the marks of it, and showed that his body had been greatly
affected by this mental struggle. This is prevailing prayer.
Now, do not deceive yourselves with thinking that you
offer effectual prayer, unless you have this intense desire for the blessing. I
do not believe in it. Prayer is not effectual unless it is offered up with an
agony of desire. The apostle Paul speaks of it as a travail of the soul. Jesus
Christ, when he was praying in the garden, was in such an agony, that he sweat
as it were great drops of blood falling down to the ground. I have never known
a person sweat blood; but I 56have known a
person pray till the blood started from the nose. And I have known persons pray
till they were all wet with perspiration, in the coldest weather in winter. I
have known persons pray for hours, till their strength was all exhausted with
the agony of their minds. Such prayers prevailed with God.
This agony in prayer was prevalent in President
Edwards’ day, in the revivals that then took place. It was one of the great
stumbling blocks in those days, to persons who were opposed to the revival,
that people used to pray till their bodies were overpowered with their
feelings. I will read a paragraph of what President Edwards says on the
subject, to let you see that this is not a new thing in the Church, but has
always prevailed wherever revivals prevailed with power. It is from his
Thoughts on Revivals.
“We cannot determine that God never shall give any
person so much of a discovery of himself, not only as to weaken their bodies,
but to take away their lives. It is supposed by very learned and judicious
divines, that Moses’ life was taken away after this manner; and this has also
been supposed to be the case with some other saints. Yea, I do not see any
solid, sure grounds any have to determine, that God shall never make such
strong impressions on the mind by his Spirit, that shall be an occasion of so
impairing the frame of the body, and particularly that part of the body, the
brain, that persons shall be deprived of the use of reason. As I said before,
It is too much for us to determine, that God will not bring an outward calamity
in bestowing spiritual and eternal blessings: so it is too much for us to
determine, how great an outward calamity he will bring. If God give a great
increase of discoveries of himself, and of love to him, the benefit is
infinitely greater than the calamity, though the life should presently after be
taken away; yea, though the soul should not immediately be taken to heaven, but
should lie some years in a deep sleep, and then be taken to heaven; or, which
is much the same thing, if it be deprived of the use of its faculties, and be
inactive and unserviceable, as if it lay in a deep sleep for some years, and
then should pass into glory. We cannot determine how great a calamity
distraction is, when considered with all its consequences, and all that might
have been consequent, if the distraction had not happened; nor indeed whether
(thus considered) it be any calamity at all, or whether it be not a mercy, by
preventing some great sin, or some more dreadful thing, if it had not been. It
were a great fault in us to limit a sovereign, all-wise God, 57whose judgments are a great deep, and his ways past finding
out, where he has not limited himself, and in things concerning which he has
not told us what his way shall be. It is remarkable, considering in what
multitudes of instances, and to how great a degree, the frame of the body has
been overpowered of late, that persons’ lives have, notwithstanding, been
preserved, and that the instances of those that have been deprived of reason,
have been so very few, and those, perhaps all of them, persons under the
peculiar disadvantage of a weak, vapory habit of body. A merciful and careful
Divine hand is very manifest in it, that in so many instances where the ship
has begun to sink, yet it has been upheld, and has not totally sunk. The
instances of such as have been deprived of reason are so few, that certainly they
are not enough to cause us to be in any fright, as though this work that has
been carried on in the country was like to be of baneful influence; unless we
are disposed to gather up all that we can to darken it, and set it forth in
frightful colors.
“There is one particular kind of exercise and concern
of mind, that many have been overpowered by, that has been especially stumbling
to some; and that is, the deep concern and distress that they have been in for
the souls of others. I am sorry that any put us to the trouble of doing that
which seems so needless, as defending such a thing as this. It seems like mere
trifling, in so plain a case, to enter into a formal and particular debate, in
order to determine whether there be anything in the greatness and importance of
the case that will answer and bear a proportion to the greatness of the concern
that some have manifested. Men may be allowed, from no higher a principle than
common ingenuity and humanity, to be very deeply concerned and greatly
exercised in mind at seeing others in great danger of no greater a calamity
than drowning, or being burnt up in a house on fire. And if so, then doubtless
it will be allowed to be equally reasonable, if they saw them in danger of a
calamity ten times greater, to be still much more concerned; and so much more
still, if the calamity was still vastly greater. And why, then, should it be
thought unreasonable, and looked upon with a very suspicious eye, as if it must
come from some bad cause, when persons are extremely concerned at seeing others
in very great danger of suffering the fierceness and wrath of Almighty God to
all eternity? And besides, it will doubtless be allowed that those that have
very great degrees of the Spirit of God, that is, a spirit of love, may well be
supposed to have vastly more of love and compassion to their fellow 58creatures, than those that are influenced only by
common humanity. Why should it be thought strange that those that are full of
the Spirit of Christ should be proportionably, in their love to souls, like to
Christ? who had so strong a love to them and concern for them as to be willing
to drink the dregs of the cup of God’s fury for them; and at the same time that
he offered up his blood for souls, offered up also, as their high priest, strong
crying and tears, with an extreme agony, when the soul of Christ was, as it
were, in travail for the souls of the elect; and, therefore, in saving them, he
is said to see of the travail of his soul. As such a spirit of love to and
concern for souls was the spirit of Christ, so it is the spirit of the church;
and, therefore, the church, in desiring and seeking that Christ might be
brought forth in the world and in the souls of men, is represented, Rev. xii.,
as ‘a woman crying, travailing in birth, and pained to be delivered.’ The
spirit of those that have been in distress for the souls of others, so far as I
can discern, seems not to be different from that of the apostle, who travailed
for souls, and was ready to wish himself accursed from Christ for others. And
that of the Psalmist, Psalm cxix. 53, ‘Horror hath taken hold upon me, because
of the wicked that forsake the law.’ And v. 136, ‘Rivers of waters run down
mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.’ And that of the prophet Jeremiah,
Jer. iv. 19, ‘My bowels! my bowels! I am pained at my very heart; My heart
maketh a noise in me: I cannot hold my peace, because thou hast heard. O my
soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war!’ And so, chap. ix. 1, and
xiii. 17, and Isa. xxii. 4. We read of Mordecai, when he saw his people in
danger of being destroyed with a temporal destruction, Esther iv. 1, that he
‘rent his clothes, and put on sackcloth and ashes, and went out into the midst
of the city, and cried with a loud and bitter cry. And why, then, should
persons be thought to be distracted, when they cannot forbear crying out at the
consideration of the misery of those that are going to eternal destruction?”[2][1]
I have read this to show that this thing was common
in the great revivals of those days. It has always been so in all great
revivals, and has been more or less common in proportion to the greatness, and
extent, and depth of the work. It was so in the great revivals in
59
9. If you mean to pray effectually, you must pray a
great deal. It was said of the apostle James, that after he was dead it was
found his knees were callous like a camel’s knees, by praying so much. Ah! here
was the secret of the success of those primitive ministers. They had callous
knees.
10. If you intend prayer to be effectual, it must be
offered in the name of Christ. You cannot come to God in your own name. You
cannot plead your own merits. But you can come in a name that is always
acceptable. You all know what it is to use the name of a man. If you
should go to the bank with a draft or note, endorsed by John Jacob Astor, that
would be giving you his name, and you know you could get the money from the
bank just as well as he could himself. Now, Jesus Christ gives you the use of
his name. And when you pray in the name of Christ, the meaning of it is, that
you can prevail just as well as he could himself, and receive just as much as
God’s well-beloved Son would if he were to pray himself for the same things.
But you must pray in faith. His name has all the virtue in your lips that it
has in his own, and God is just as free to bestow blessings upon you, when you
ask in the name of Christ, and in faith, as he would be to bestow them upon
Christ, if he should ask.
11. You cannot prevail in prayer, without renouncing
all your sins. You must not only recall them to mind, but you must actually
renounce them, and leave them off, and in the purpose of your heart renounce
them all for ever.
12. You must pray in faith. You must expect to obtain
the things you ask for. You need not look for an answer to prayer, if you pray
without an expectation of obtaining it. You are not to form such expectations
without any reason for them. In the cases I have supposed, there is a reason
for the expectation. In case the thing is revealed in God’s word, if you pray
without an expectation of receiving the blessings, you just make God a liar. If
the will of God is indicated by his providence, you ought to depend on it,
according to the clearness of the indication, so far as to expect the blessing
if you pray for it. And if you are led by his Spirit to pray for certain
things, you have just as much reason to expect the thing to be done as if God
had revealed it in his word.
But some say, “Will not this view of the leadings of
the Spirit of God lead people into fanaticism?” I answer, that I know not but
many may deceive themselves in respect to this matter. Multitudes have deceived
themselves in regard to all the other points of religion. And if some people
should think they are led by the Spirit of God, when it is nothing 60but their own imagination, is that any reason why
those who know that they are led by the Spirit should not follow? Many people
suppose themselves to be converted when they are not. Is that any reason why we
should not cleave to the Lord Jesus Christ? Suppose some people are deceived in
thinking they love God, is that any reason why the pious saint who knows he has
the love of God shed abroad in his heart, should not give vent to his feelings
in songs of praise? So I suppose some may deceive themselves in thinking they
are led by the Spirit of God. But there is no need of being deceived. If people
follow impulses, it is their own fault. I do not want you to follow impulses. I
want you to be sober minded, and follow the sober, rational leadings of the
Spirit of God. There are those who understand what I mean, and who know
very well what it is to give themselves up to the Spirit of God in prayer.
III. I will state some of the reasons why these
things are essential to effectual prayer. Why does God require such prayer,
such strong desires, such agonizing supplications?
1. These strong desires strongly illustrate the
strength of God’s feelings. They are like the real feelings of God for
impenitent sinners. When I have seen, as I sometimes have, the amazing strength
of love for souls that has been felt by Christians, I have been wonderfully
impressed with the amazing love of God, and his desires for their salvation.
The case of a certain woman, of whom I read, in a revival, made the greatest
impression on my mind. She had such an unutterable compassion and love for
souls, that she actually panted for breath almost to suffocation. What must be
the strength of the desire which God feels, when his Spirit produces in
Christians such amazing agony, such throes of soul, such travail—God has
chosen the best word to express it—it is travail—travail of the soul.
I have seen a man of as much strength of intellect and
muscle as any man in the community, fall down prostrate, absolutely overpowered
by his unutterable desires for sinners. I know this is a stumbling block to
many; and it always will be as long as there remain in the church so many blind
and stupid professors of religion. But I cannot doubt that these things are the
work of the Spirit of God. Oh that the whole church could be so filled with the
Spirit as to travail in prayer, till a nation should be born in a day!
It is said in the word of God, that as soon “as
2. These strong desires that I have described, are
the natural results of great benevolence and clear views of the danger of
sinners. It is perfectly reasonable that it should be so. If the women who are
in this house should look up there, and see a family burning to death in the
fire, and hear their shrieks, and behold their agony, they would feel
distressed, and it is very likely that many of them would faint away with
agony. And nobody would wonder at it, or say they were fools or crazy to feel
so much distressed at such an awful sight. They would think it strange if there
were not some expressions of powerful feeling. Why is it any wonder, then, if
Christians should feel as I have described, when they have clear views of the
state of sinners, and the awful danger they are in? The fact is, that those
individuals who never have felt so, have never felt much real benevolence, and
their piety must be of a very superficial character. I do not mean to judge
harshly, or to speak unkindly. But I state it as a simple matter of fact; and
people may talk about it as they please, but I know that such piety is
superficial. This is not censoriousness, but plain truth.
People sometimes wonder at Christians having such
feelings. Wonder at what? Why, at the natural, and philosophical, and necessary
results of deep piety towards God, and deep benevolence towards man, in view of
the great danger they see sinners to be in.
3. The soul of a Christian, when it is thus burdened,
must have relief. God rolls this weight upon the soul of a Christian, for the
purpose of bringing him near to himself. Christians are often so unbelieving,
that they will not exercise proper faith in God, till he rolls this burden upon
them, so heavy that they cannot live under it, and then they must go to God for
relief. It is like the case of many a convicted sinner. God is willing to
receive him at once, if he will come right to him, with faith in Jesus Christ.
But the sinner will not come. He hangs back, and struggles, and groans under
the burden of his sins, and will not throw himself upon God, till his burden of
conviction becomes so great that he can live no longer; and when he is driven
to desperation, as it were, and feels as if he was ready to sink into hell, he
makes a mighty plunge, 62and throws himself
upon God’s mercy as his only hope. It was his duty to come before. God had no
delight in his distress, for its own sake. It was only the sinner’s obstinacy
that created the necessity for all this distress. He would not come without it.
So when professors of religion get loaded down with the weight of souls, they
often pray again and again, and yet the burden is not gone, nor their distress
abated, because they have never thrown it all upon God in faith. But they
cannot get rid of the burden. So long as their benevolence continues it will remain
and increase, and unless they resist and quench the Holy Ghost they can get no
relief, until at length, when they are driven to extremity, they make a
desperate effort, roll the burden off upon the Lord Jesus Christ, and exercise
a child-like confidence in him. Then they feel relieved; then they feel as if
the soul they were praying for would be saved. The burden is gone, and God
seems in kindness to sooth down the mind to feel a sweet assurance that the
blessing will be granted. Often, after a Christian has had this struggle, this
agony in prayer, and has obtained relief in this way, you will find the
sweetest and most heavenly affections flow out—the soul rests sweetly and
gloriously in God, and rejoices, “with joy unspeakable and full of glory.”
Do any of you think now, that there are no such
things in the experience of believers? I tell you, if I had time, I could show
you from President Edwards, and other approved writers, cases and descriptions
just like this. Do you ask why we never have such things here in
4. These effects of the Spirit of prayer upon the
body are themselves no part of religion. It is only that the body is 63often so weak that the feelings of the soul overpower
it. These bodily effects are not at all essential to prevailing prayer, but
only a natural or physical result of highly excited emotions of the mind. It is
not at all unusual for the body to be weakened and even overcome by any
powerful emotion of the mind, on other subjects besides religion. The
door-keeper of Congress in the time of the revolution, fell down dead on the
reception of some highly cheering intelligence. I knew a woman in
5. Doubtless one great reason why God requires the
exercise of this agonizing prayer is, that it forms such a bond of union
between Christ and the Church. It creates such a sympathy between them. It is
as if Christ came and poured the overflowings of his own benevolent heart into
his church, and led them to sympathize and to co-operate with him, as they
never do in any other way. They feel just as Christ feels—so full of compassion
for sinners that they cannot contain themselves. Thus it is often with those
ministers who are distinguished for their success in preaching to sinners; they
often have such compassion, such overflowing desires for their salvation, that
it shows itself in their speaking, and their preaching, just as though Jesus
Christ spoke through them. The words come from their lips fresh and warm, as if
from the very heart of Christ. I do not mean that he dictates their words; but
he excites the feelings that give utterance to them. Then you see a movement in
the hearers, as if Christ himself spoke through lips of clay.
6. This travailing in birth for souls creates also a
remarkable bond of union between warm-hearted Christians and the young
converts. Those who are converted appear very dear to the hearts that have had
this spirit of prayer for them. The feeling is like that of a mother for her
first-born. Paul expresses it beautifully, when he says, “My little children!”
His heart was warm and tender to them. “My little children, of whom I travail
in birth again.” They had backslidden, and he has all the agonies of a parent over
a wandering child. “I travail in birth again, till Christ be formed in you, the
hope 64of glory.” In a revival, I have often noticed how
those who have had the spirit of prayer, love the young converts. I know this
is all algebra to those who have never felt it. But to those who have
experienced the agony of wrestling, prevailing prayer, for the conversion of a
soul, you may depend upon it, that soul, after it is converted, appears as dear
as a child is to the mother who has brought it forth with pain. He has agonized
for it, and received it in answer to prayer, and can present it before the Lord
Jesus Christ, saying, “Here, Lord, am I, and the children thou hast given me.”
7. Another reason why God requires this sort of
prayer is, that it is the only way in which the church can be properly prepared
to receive great blessings without being injured by them. When the church is
thus prostrated in the dust before God, and is in the depth of agony in prayer,
the blessing does them good. While at the same time, if they had received the
blessing without this deep prostration of soul, it would have puffed them up
with pride. But as it is, it increases their holiness, their love, their
humility.
IV. I am to show that such prayer as I have described
will avail much. But time fails me to go into a particular detail of the
evidence which I intended to bring forward under this head.
Elijah the prophet mourned over the declensions of
the house of
John Knox was a man famous for his power in prayer,
so that bloody Queen Mary used to say she feared his prayers 65more than all the armies of
Take a fact which was related, in my hearing, by a
minister. He said, that in a certain town there had been no revival for many
years; the church was nearly run out, the youth were all unconverted, and
desolation reigned unbroken. There lived in a retired part of the town, an aged
man, a blacksmith by trade, and of so stammering a tongue, that it was painful
to hear him speak. On one Friday, as he was at work in his shop, alone, his
mind became greatly exercised about the state of the church, and of the
impenitent. His agony became so great, that he was induced to lay by his work,
lock the shop door, and spend the afternoon in prayer.
He prevailed, and on the Sabbath called on the
minister, and desired him to appoint a conference meeting. After some
hesitation, the minister consented, observing, however, that he feared but few
would attend. He appointed it the same evening, at a large private house. When
evening came, more assembled than could be accommodated in the house. All was
silent for a time, until one sinner broke out in tears, and said, if any one
could pray, he begged him to pray for him. Another followed, and
another, and still another, until it was found that persons from every quarter
of the town were under deep conviction. And what was remarkable was, that they
all dated their conviction at the hour when the old man was praying in his
shop. A powerful revival followed. Thus this old stammering man prevailed, and,
as a prince, had power with God. I could name multitudes of similar cases, but,
for want of time, must conclude with a few.
REMARKS.
1. A great deal of prayer is lost, and many people
never prevail in prayer, because, when they have desires for particular
blessings, they do not follow them up. They may have had desires, benevolent
and pure, which were excited by the Spirit of God; and when they have them,
they should persevere 66in prayer, for if
they turn off their attention to other objects, they will quench the Spirit. We
tell sinners not to turn off their minds from the one object, but to keep their
attention fixed there, till they are saved. When you find these holy desires in
your minds, take care of two things:
(1.) Do not quench the Spirit.
(2.) Do not be diverted to other objects.
Follow the leadings of the Spirit, till you have
offered that effectual fervent prayer that availeth much.
2. Without the spirit of prayer, ministers will do
but little good. A minister need not expect much success, unless he prays for
it. Sometimes others may have the spirit of prayer, and obtain a
blessing on his labors. Generally, however, those preachers are the most
successful who have the most of a spirit of prayer themselves.
3. Not only must ministers have the spirit of prayer,
but it is necessary that the church should unite in offering that effectual
fervent prayer which can prevail with God. You need not expect a blessing,
unless you ask for it. “For all these things will I be inquired of by the house
of
Now, my brethren, I have only to ask you, in regard
to what I have preached to-night, “Will you do it?” Have you done what I
preached to you last Friday evening? Have you gone over with your sins, and confessed
them, and got them all out of the way? Can you pray now? And will you join and
offer prevailing prayer, that the Spirit of God may come down here?
LECTURE V.
THE PRAYER OF FAITH.
Text.—“Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have
them.”—Mark xi. 24.
THESE words have been by some supposed to refer
exclusively to the faith of miracles. But there is not the least evidence of
this. That the text was not designed by our Saviour to refer exclusively to the
faith of miracles, is proved by the connection in which it stands. If you read
the chapter, you will see that Christ and his apostles were at this time very
much engaged in their work, and very prayerful; and as they returned from their
places of retirement in the morning, faint and hungry, they saw a fig-tree at a
little distance. It looked very beautiful, and doubtless gave signs of having
fruit on it; but when they came nigh, they found nothing on it but leaves. And
Jesus said, “No man eat fruit of thee hereafter for ever.
“And in the morning, as they passed by, they saw the
fig-tree dried up from the roots.
“And Peter, calling to remembrance, saith unto him,
Master, behold the fig-tree which thou cursedst is withered away.
“And Jesus answering, saith unto them, have faith in
God.
“For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall say
unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea; and shall
not doubt in his heart, but shall believe that those things which he saith
shall come to pass; he shall have whatsoever he saith.”
Then follow the words of the text:
“Therefore I say unto you, What things soever ye
desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them, and ye shall have them.”
Our Saviour was desirous of giving his disciples
instructions respecting the nature and power of prayer, and the necessity of
strong faith in God. He therefore stated a very strong case, a miracle—one so
great as the removal of a mountain into the sea. And he tells them, that if
they exercise a proper faith in God, they might do such things. But his remarks
are not to be limited to faith merely in regard to working miracles, for he
goes on to say,
68
“And when ye stand praying, forgive, if ye have aught
against any, that your Father also which is in heaven may forgive you your
trespasses.
“But if ye do not forgive, neither will your Father
which is in heaven may forgive you your trespasses.”
Does that relate to miracles? When you pray, you must
forgive. Is that required only when a man wishes to work a miracle? There are
many other promises in the Bible nearly related to this, and speaking nearly
the same language, which have been all disposed of in this short-handed way, as
referring to the faith employed in miracles. Just as if the faith of miracles
was something different from faith in God!
In my last lecture, I dwelt upon the subject of
“prevailing prayer;” and you will recollect that I passed over the subject of faith
in prayer very briefly, because I wished to reserve it for a separate discussion.
The subject to-night is,
THE PRAYER OF FAITH.
I propose,
I. To show that faith is an indispensable condition
of prevailing prayer.
II. Show what it is that we are to believe when we
pray.
III. Show when we are bound to exercise this faith,
or to believe that we shall receive the thing that we ask for.
IV. That this kind of faith in prayer always does
obtain the blessing sought.
V. Explain how we are to come into the state of mind,
in which we can exercise such faith.
VI. Answer several objections, which are sometimes
alleged against these views of prayer.
I. That faith is an indispensable condition of
prevailing prayer, will not be seriously doubted. There is such a thing as
offering benevolent desires, which are acceptable to God as such, that do not
include the exercise of faith in regard to the actual reception of those
blessings. But such desires are not prevailing prayer, the prayer of faith. God
may see fit to grant the things desired, as an act of kindness and love, but it
would not be properly in answer to prayer. I am speaking now of the kind of
faith that insures the blessing. Do not understand me as saying that there is
nothing in prayer that is acceptable to God, or that even obtains the blessing
sometimes, without this kind of faith. But I am speaking of the faith
which secures the very blessing it seeks. To prove that faith is indispensable
to prevailing prayer, it is only necessary 69to
repeat what the apostle James expressly tells us: “If any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, that giveth to all men liberally, and upbraideth not; and
it shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing wavering. For he that
wavereth is like a wave of the sea, driven with the wind and tossed.”
II. We are to inquire what we are to believe when
we pray.
1. We are to believe in the existence of God—“He that
cometh to God must believe that he is”—and in his willingness to answer
prayer—“that he is, and that he is the rewarder of them that diligently seek
him.” There are many who believe in the existence of God, and do not believe in
the efficacy of prayer. They profess to believe in God, but deny the necessity
or influence of prayer.
2. We are to believe that we shall receive—something—what?
Not something, or anything, as it happens, but some particular thing we ask
for. We are not to think that God is such a being, that if we ask a fish, he
will give us a serpent, or if we ask bread, he will give us a stone. But he
says, “What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye
receive them, and ye shall have them.” With respect to the faith of
miracles, it is plain that they were bound to believe they should receive just
what they asked for—that the very thing itself should come to pass. That is
what they were to believe. Now what ought men to believe in regard to other
blessings? Is it a mere loose idea, that if a man prays for a specific
blessing, God will by some mysterious sovereignty give something or other to
him, or something to somebody else, somewhere? When a man prays for his
children’s conversion, is he to believe that either his children will be
converted, or somebody’s else children, and it is altogether uncertain which?
All this is utter nonsense, and highly dishonorable to God. No, we are to
believe that we shall receive the very things that we ask for.
III. When are we bound to make this prayer? When are
we bound to believe that we shall have the very things we pray for? I answer,
When we have evidence of it. Faith must always have evidence. A man cannot
believe a thing, unless he sees something which he supposes to be evidence. He
is under no obligation to believe, and has no right to believe, a thing will be
done, unless he has evidence. It is the height of fanaticism to believe without
evidence. The kinds of evidence a man may have are the following:
1. Suppose that God has especially promised
the thing. As for instance, God says he is more ready to give his Holy Spirit
to them that ask him, than parents are to give bread 70to their children. Here we are bound to believe that
we shall receive it when we pray for it. You have no right to put in an if,
and say, “Lord, if it be thy will, give us thy Holy Spirit.” This is to
insult God. To put an if into God’s promise, where God has put none, is
tantamount to charging God with being insincere. It is like saying, “O God, if
thou art in earnest in making these promises, grant us the blessing we pray
for.”
I heard of a case where a young convert was the means
of teaching a minister a solemn truth on the subject of prayer. She was from a
very wicked family, and went to live with a minister. While there, she was
hopefully converted, and appeared well. One day she came to the minister’s
study, while he was in it—a thing she was not in the habit of doing; and he
thought there must be something the matter. So he asked her to sit down, and
kindly inquired into the state of her religious feelings; she said, she was
distressed at the manner in which the old church members prayed for the Spirit.
They would pray for the Holy Spirit to come, and would seem to be very much in
earnest, and plead the promises of God, and then say, “O Lord, if it be thy
will, grant us these blessings for Christ’s sake.” She thought that saying,
“if it be thy will,” when God has expressly promised it, was questioning
whether God was sincere in his promises. The minister tried to reason her out
of it, and of course he succeeded in confounding her. But she was distressed
and filled with grief, and said, “I cannot argue the point with you, sir, but
it is impressed on my mind that it is wrong, and dishonoring God.” And she went
away weeping with anguish. The minister saw she was not satisfied, and it led
him to look at the matter again, and finally he saw that it was putting in an
if where God had put none, and where he had revealed his will expressly, and
that it was an insult to God. And he went and told his church they were bound
to believe that God was in earnest when he made them a promise. And the spirit
of prayer came down upon that church, and a most powerful revival followed.
2. Where there is a general promise in the
Scriptures which you may reasonably apply to the particular case before you. If
its real meaning includes the particular thing for which you pray, or if you
can reasonably apply the principle of the promise to the case, there you have
evidence. For instance, suppose it is a time when wickedness prevails greatly,
and you are led to pray for God’s interference? What promise have you? Why,
this one: “<scripture passage="Isaiah
59:19" parsed="|Isa|59|19|0|0" osisRef="Bible:Isa.59.19"></scripture>When the enemy shall come 71in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up
a standard against him.” Here you see is a general promise laying down a
principle of God’s administration, which you may apply to the case before you,
as a warrant for exercising faith in prayer. And if the case come up, to
inquire as to the time in which God will grant blessings in answer to
prayer, you have this promise: “While they are yet speaking, I will hear.”
There is a vast amount of general promises and
principles laid down in the Bible, which Christians might make use of, if they
would only think. Whenever you are in circumstances to which the
promises or principles apply, there you are to use them. A parent finds this
promise: “The mercy of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting upon them
that fear him, and his righteousness unto children’s children, to such as keep
his covenant, and to those that remember his commandments to do them.” Now,
here is a promise made to those that possess a certain character. If any parent
is conscious that this is his character, he has a rightful ground to apply it
to himself and his family. If you have this character, you are bound to make
use of this promise in prayer, and believe it, even to your children’s
children.
If I had time to-night, I could go from one end of
the Bible to the other, and produce an astonishing variety of texts that are
applicable as promises; enough to prove, that in whatever circumstances a child
of God may be placed, God has provided in the Bible some promise, either
general or particular, which he can apply, that is precisely suited to his
case. Many of God’s promises are very broad on purpose to cover much ground.
What can be broader than the promise in the text: “Whatsoever things ye desire
when ye pray?” What praying Christian is there who has not been surprised at
the length, and breadth, and fullness, of the promises of God, when the Spirit
has applied them to his heart? Who that lives a life of prayer, has not
wondered at his own blindness, in not having before seen and felt the extent of
meaning and richness of those promises, when viewed under the light of the
Spirit of God? At such times he has been astonished at his own ignorance, and
found the Spirit applying the promises and declarations of the Bible in a sense
in which he had never dreamed of their being applicable before. The manner in
which the apostles applied the promises, and prophecies, and declarations of
the Old Testament, places in a strong light the breadth of meaning, and
fullness, and richness of the word of God. He that walks in the light of God’s
countenance, and is filled with the Spirit of God as he ought 72to be, will often make an appropriation of promises
to himself, and an application of them to his own circumstances, and the
circumstances of those for whom he prays, that a blind professor of religion
would never dream of.
3. Where there is any prophetic declaration,
that the thing prayed for is agreeable to the will of God. When it is plain
from prophecy that the event is certainly to come, you are bound to believe it,
and to make it the ground for your special faith in prayer. If the time is not
specified in the Bible, and there is no evidence from other sources, you are
not bound to believe that it shall take place now, or immediately. But if the
time is specified, or if the time may be learned from the study of the
prophecies, and it appears to have arrived, then Christians are under
obligations to understand and apply it, by offering the prayer of faith. For
instance, take the case of Daniel, in regard to the return of the Jews from
captivity. What does he say? “I Daniel understood by books the number of the
years whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, that he would
accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
4. When the signs of the times, or the providence of
God, indicate that a particular blessing is about to be bestowed, we are bound
to believe it, The Lord Jesus Christ blamed the Jews, and called them
hypocrites, because they did not 73understand
the indications of Providence. They could understand the signs of the weather,
and see when it was about to rain, and when it would be fair weather; but they
could not see, from the signs of the times, that the time had come for the
Messiah to appear, and build up the house of God. There are many professors of
religion who are always stumbling and hanging back, whenever any thing is
proposed to be done. They always say, The time has not come—the time has not
come; when there are others who pay attention to the signs of the times, and
who have spiritual discernment to understand them. These pray in faith for the
blessing, and it comes.
5. When the Spirit of God is upon you, and
excites strong desires for any blessing, you are bound to pray for it in faith.
You are bound to infer, from the fact that you find yourself drawn to desire
such a thing while in the exercise of such holy affections as the Spirit of God
produces, that these desires are the work of the Spirit. People are not apt to
desire with the right kind of desires, unless they are excited by the Spirit of
God. The apostle refers to these desires, excited by the Spirit, in his epistle
to the Romans, where he says—“Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our infirmities;
for we know not what we should pray for as we ought; but the Spirit itself
maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And he that
searcheth the heart knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit, because he maketh
intercession for the saints, according to the will of God.” Here, then, if you
find your self strongly drawn to desire a blessing, you are to understand it as
an intimation that God is willing to bestow that particular blessing, and so
you are bound to believe it. God does not trifle with his children. He does not
go and excite in them a desire for one blessing, to turn them off with
something else. But he excites the very desires he is willing to gratify. And
when they feel such desires, they are bound to follow them out till they get
the blessing.
IV. I will proceed to show that this kind of faith always
obtains the object. The text is plain here, to show that you shall receive
the very thing prayed for. It does not say, “Believe that ye shall receive, and
ye shall either have that or something else equivalent to it.” To prove that
this faith obtains the very blessing asked, I observe,
1. That otherwise we could never know whether our
prayers were answered. And we might continue praying and praying, long after
the prayer was answered by some other blessing equivalent to the one we ask
for.
74
2. If we are not bound to expect the very thing we
ask for, it must be that the Spirit of God deceives us. Why should he excite us
to desire a certain blessing, when he means to grant something else?
3. What is the meaning of this passage, “If a man ask
bread, will he give him a stone?” Does not our Saviour rebuke the idea that
prayer may be answered by giving something else? What encouragement have we to
pray for any thing in particular, if we are to ask for one thing and receive
another? Suppose a Christian should pray for a revival here—he would be
answered by a revival in
4. Perhaps you may feel a difficulty here about the
prayers of Jesus Christ. People may often ask, “Did not he pray in the garden
for the cup to be removed, and was his prayer answered?” I answer that this is
no difficulty at all, for the prayer was answered. The cup he prayed to be
delivered from was removed. This is what the apostle refers to, when he
says—“Who in the days of his flesh, when he had offered up prayers and
supplications with strong crying and tears unto him that was able to save him
from death, was heard in that he feared.” Now I ask, On what occasion was he
saved from death, if not on this? Was it the death of the cross he prayed to be
delivered from? Not at all. But the case was this. A short time before he was
betrayed, we hear him saying to his disciples, “My soul is exceedingly
sorrowful, even unto death.” Anguish of mind came rolling in upon him, till he was
just ready to die, and he went out into the garden to pray, and told his
disciples to watch, and then he went by himself and prayed; “O my Father,” said
he, “if it be possible, let this cup pass from me; nevertheless not as I will,
but as thou wilt.” In his agony he rose from his knees, and walked the garden,
till he came where his disciples were, and there he saw them fast asleep. He
awaked them and said, “What, could ye not watch with me one hour?” And then he
went again, for he was in such distress that he could not 75stand still, and again he poured out his soul. And
the third time he goes away and prays, “Father, if thou be willing, remove this
cup from me; nevertheless, not my will, but thine be done.” And now the third
time of praying, there appeared an angel unto him from heaven, strengthening
him. And his mind became composed, and calm, and the cup was gone. Till
then, he had been in such an agony that his sweat was as it were great drops of
blood, but now it was all over.
Some have supposed that he was praying against the
cross, and begging to be delivered from dying on the cross! Did Christ ever
shrink from the cross? Never. He came into the world on purpose to die on the
cross, and he never shrunk from it. But he was afraid he should die in the garden
before he came to the cross. The burden on his soul was so great, and produced
such an agony, that he felt as if he was on the point of dying, His soul was
sorrowful even unto death. But after the angel appeared unto him, we hear no
more of his agony of soul. He had prayed for relief from that cup, and
his prayer was answered. He became calm, and had no more mental suffering till
just as he expired. This case, therefore, is no exception. He received the very
thing for which he asked, as he says, “I knew thou always hearest me.”
But there is another case often brought up, where the
apostle Paul prayed against the thorn in the flesh. He says, “I besought the
Lord thrice, that it might depart from me.” And God answered him, “My grace is
sufficient for thee.” It is the opinion of Dr. Clarke and others, that Paul’s
prayer was answered in the very thing for which he prayed. That “the thorn in
the flesh, the messenger of Satan,” of which he speaks, was a false apostle who
had distracted and perverted the church at
But admitting that Paul’s prayer was not answered by
granting the particular thing for which he prayed, in order to make out this
case as an exception to the prayer of faith, they are obliged to assume the
very thing to be proved; and that is, that the apostle prayed in faith.
There is no reason to suppose that Paul would always pray in faith, any more
than that any other Christian does. The very manner in which God answered him
shows that it was not in faith. He virtually tells him, “That thorn is
necessary for your sanctification, and to keep you from being exalted above
measure. I 76sent it upon you in love,
and in faithfulness, and you have no business to pray that I should take it
away.—LET IT ALONE.”
There is not only no evidence that he prayed in
faith, but a strong presumption that he did not. From the history it is evident
that he had nothing on which to repose faith. There was no express promise, no
general promise, that could be applicable, no providence of God, no prophecy,
no teaching of the Spirit that God would remove this thorn; but the presumption
was that God would not remove it. He had given it to him for a particular
purpose. His prayer appears to have been selfish, or at least praying against a
mere personal influence. This was not any personal suffering that retarded his
usefulness, but on the contrary it was given him to increase his usefulness by
keeping him humble; and because on some account he found it inconvenient and
mortifying, he set himself to pray out of his own heart, evidently without
being led to it by the Spirit of God. But did Paul pray in faith without
the Spirit of God, any more than any other man? And will any one undertake to
say that the Spirit of God led him to pray that this might be removed, when God
himself had given it for a particular purpose, which purpose could not be
answered only as the thorn continued with him?
Why then is this made an exception to the general
rule laid down in the text, that a man shall receive whatsoever he asks in
faith? I was once amazed and grieved at a public examination at a Theological
Seminary, to hear them darken counsel by words without knowledge on this
subject. This case of Paul, and that of Christ just adverted to, were both of
them cited as instances to prove to their students that the prayer of faith
would not be answered in the particular thing for which they prayed. Now to
teach such sentiments as these in or out of a Theological Seminary, is to
trifle with the word of God, and to break the power of the Christian ministry.
Has it come to this, that our grave doctors in our seminaries, are employed to
instruct
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5. It is evident that the prayer of faith will obtain
the blessing, from the fact that our faith rests on evidence that to grant that
thing is the will of God. Not evidence that something else will be granted, but
that this particular thing will be. But how, then, can we have evidence that this
thing will be granted, if another thing is to be granted? People often
receive more than they pray for. Solomon prayed for wisdom, and God granted him
riches and honor in addition. So a wife sometimes prays for the conversion of
her husband, and if she offers the prayer, of faith, God may not only grant
that blessing, but convert her child, and her whole family. Blessings sometimes
seem to hang together, so that if a Christian gains one he gets them all.
V. I am to show how we are to come into this state of
mind, in which we can offer such prayer. People sometimes ask, “How shall I
offer such prayer? Shall I say, Now I will pray in faith for such and such a
blessing?” No, the human mind is not moved in this way. You might just as well
say, “Now I will call up a spirit from the bottomless pit.” I answer,
1. You must first obtain evidence that God
will bestow the blessing. How did Daniel make out to offer the prayer of faith?
He searched the Scriptures. Now, you need not let your Bible lie on a shelf,
and expect God to reveal his promises to you. Search the Scriptures, and see
where you can get either a general or special promise, or a prophecy, on which
you can plant your feet when you pray. Go through the Bible, and you will find
it full of such things—precious promises, which you may plead in faith. You
never need to want for objects of prayer, if you will do as Daniel did. Persons
are staggered on this subject, because they never make a proper use of the
Bible.
A curious case occurred in one of the towns in the
western part of this state. There was a revival there. A certain clergyman came
to visit the place, and heard a great deal said about the Prayer of Faith. He
was staggered at what they said, for he had never regarded the subject in the
light they did. He inquired about it of the minister that was laboring there.
The minister requested him, in a kind spirit, to go home, and take his
Testament, look out the passages that refer to prayer, and go round to his most
praying people, and ask them how they understood these passages. He said he
would do it, for though these views were new to him, he was willing to learn.
He did it, and went to his praying men and women, and read the passages without
note or comment, and 78asked what they
thought. He found their plain common sense had led them to understand these
passages, and to believe that they mean just as they say. This affected him,
and then the fact of his going round and presenting the promises before their
minds awakened the spirit of prayer in them, and a revival followed.
I could name many individuals who have set themselves
to examine the Bible on this subject, and before they got half through with it
have been filled with the spirit of prayer. They found that God meant by his
promises just what a plain, common sense man would understand them to mean. I
advise you to try it. You have Bibles; look them over, and whenever you find a
promise that you can use, fasten it in your mind before you go on; and I
venture to predict you will not get through the book without finding out that
God’s promises mean just what they say.
2. Cherish the good desires you have. Christians very
often lose their good desires by not attending to this; and then their prayers
are mere words, without any desire or earnestness at all. The least longing of
desire must be cherished. If your body was likely to freeze, and you had even
the least spark of fire, how you would cherish it! So if you have the least
desire for a blessing, let it be ever so small, do not trifle it away. Do not
grieve the Spirit. Do not be diverted. Do not lose good desires by levity, by
censoriousness, by worldly-mindedness. Watch and pray, and follow it up, or you
will never pray the prayer of faith.
2. Entire consecration to God is indispensable to
the prayer of faith. You must live a holy life, and consecrate all to
God—your time, talents, influence—all you have, and all you are, to be his
entirely. Read the lives of pious men, and you will be struck with this fact:
that they used to set apart times to renew their covenant, and dedicate
themselves anew to God; and whenever they have done so, a blessing has always
followed immediately. If I had Edwards here to-night, I could read passages
showing how it was in his days.
4. You must persevere. You are not to pray for
a thing once, and then cease, and call that the prayer of faith. Look at
Daniel. He prayed twenty-one days, and did not cease till he had obtained the
blessing. He set his heart and his face unto the Lord, to seek by prayer and
supplications, with fasting, and sackcloth, and ashes: and he held on three
weeks, and then the answer came. And why did not it come before? God sent an
5. If you would pray in faith, be sure to walk
every day with God. If you do, he will tell you what to pray for. Be filled
with his Spirit, and he will give you objects enough to pray for. He will give
you as much of the spirit of prayer as you have strength of body to bear.
Said a good man to me, “Oh, I am dying for the want
of strength to pray. My body is crushed, the world is on me, and how can I
forbear praying!” I have known that man go to bed absolutely sick, for weakness
and faintness, under the pressure. And I have known him pray as if he would do
violence to heaven, and then seen the blessing come as plainly in answer to his
prayer as if it was revealed, so that no person would doubt it any more than if
God had spoken from heaven. Shall I tell you how he died? He prayed more and
more, and he used to take the map of the world before him and pray, and look
over the different countries and pray for them, till he absolutely expired in
his room praying. Blessed man! He was the reproach of the ungodly and of carnal,
unbelieving professors, but he was the favorite of heaven, and a prevailing
prince in prayer.
VI. I will refer to some objections which are brought
forward against this doctrine.
1. “It leads to fanaticism and amounts to a new
revelation.” Why should this be a stumbling block? They must have evidence to
believe before they can offer the prayer of faith. And if God gives other
evidence besides the senses, where is the objection? True, there is a sense in
which this is a new revelation; it is making known a thing by his Spirit. But
it is the very revelation which God has promised to give. It is just the one we
are to expect, if the Bible is true; that when we know not what we ought to
pray for, according to the will of God, his Spirit helps our infirmities, and
teaches us the very thing to pray for. Shall we deny the teaching of the
Spirit?
2. It is often asked, “Is it our duty to pray the
prayer of faith for the salvation of all men?” I answer, No; for that is not a
thing according to the will of God. It is directly contrary to his revealed
will. We have no evidence that all will be saved. We should feel benevolently
to all, and, in itself considered, desire their salvation. But God has revealed
it to us that many of the human race shall be damned. And 80it cannot be a duty to believe that they shall
all be saved, in the face of a revelation to the contrary. In Christ’s prayer,
in the seventeenth chapter of John, he expressly said, “I pray not for the
world but for those thou hast given me.”
3. But say some, “If we were to offer this
prayer for all men, would not all men be saved?” I answer, Yes, and so they
would be saved, if they would all repent. But they will not. Neither will
Christians offer the prayer of faith for all, because there is no evidence on
which to ground a belief that God intends to save all men.
4. But you ask, “For whom are we to offer this
prayer? We want to know in what cases, for what persons, and places, and at
what times, etc., we are to make the prayer of faith.” I answer, as I have already
answered, When you have evidence, from promises, or prophecies, or providences,
or the leadings of the Spirit, that God will do the things you pray for.
5. “How is it that so many prayers of pious parents
for their children are not answered? Did you not say there was a promise which
pious parents may apply to their children? Why is it, then, that so many pious
praying parents have had impenitent children, that died in their sins?” Granted
that it is so, what does it prove? Let God be true, but every man a liar. Which
shall we believe, that God’s promise has failed, or that these parents did not
do their duty? Perhaps they did not believe the promise, or did not believe
there was any such thing as the prayer of faith. Wherever you find a professor
that does not believe in any such prayer, you find, as a general thing, that he
has children and domestics yet in their sins. And no wonder, unless they are
converted in answer to the prayers of somebody else.
6. “Will not these views lead to fanaticism? Will not
many people think they are offering the prayer of faith when they are not?”
That is the same objection that the Unitarians make against the doctrine of
regeneration—that many people think they have been born again when they have
not. It is an argument against all spiritual religion whatever. Some think they
have it when they have not, and are fanatics. But there are those who know
what the prayer of faith is, just as there are those who know what spiritual
experience is, though it may stumble cold-hearted professors who know it not.
Even ministers often lay themselves open to the rebuke which Christ gave to
Nicodemus: “Art thou a master in
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REMARKS.
1. Persons who have not known by experience what this
is, have great reason to doubt their piety. This is by no means uncharitable.
Let them examine themselves. It is to be feared that they understand prayer as
Nicodemus did the new birth. They have not walked with God, and you cannot
describe it to them, any more than you can describe a beautiful painting to a
blind man who cannot see colors. Many professors can understand about the
prayer of faith just as much as a blind man does of colors.
2. There is reason to believe millions are in hell
because professors have not offered the prayer of faith. When they had promises
under their eye, they have not had faith enough to use them. Thus parents let
their children, and even baptized children, go down to hell because they
would not believe the promises of God. Doubtless many women’s husbands have
gone to hell, when they might have prevailed with God in prayer and saved them.
The signs of the times and the indications of Providence were favorable,
perhaps, and the Spirit of God prompted desires for their salvation, and they had
evidence enough to believe that God was ready to grant a blessing, and if they
had only prayed in faith, God would have granted it; but God turned it away
because they would not discern the signs of the times.
3. You say, “This leaves the church under a great
load of guilt.” True, it does so; and no doubt multitudes will stand up before
God covered all over with the blood of souls that have been lost through their
want of faith. The promises of God, accumulated in their Bibles, will stare
them in the face and weigh them down to hell.
4. Many professors of religion live so far from God
that to talk to them about the prayer of faith is all unintelligible. Very
often the greatest offence possible to them is to preach about this kind of
prayer.
5. I want to ask the professors who are here a few
questions. Do you know what it is to pray in faith? Did you ever pray in this
way? Have you ever prayed till your mind was assured the blessing would
come—till you felt that rest in God, that confidence, as perfect as if you saw
God come down from heaven to give it to you? If not, you ought to examine your
foundation. How can you live without praying in faith at all? How do you live
in view of your children, while you have no assurance whatever that they will
be converted? 82One would think you would
go deranged. I knew a father at the West; he was a good man, but he had
erroneous views respecting the prayer of faith; and his whole family of
children were grown up and not one of them converted. At length his son
sickened and seemed about to die. The father prayed, but the son grew worse and
seemed sinking into the grave without hope. The father prayed till his anguish
was unutterable. He went at last and prayed—(there seemed no prospect of his
son’s life)—but he poured out his soul as if he would not be denied, till at
length he got an assurance that his son would not only live, but be converted;
and not only this one, but his whole family, would be converted to God. He came
into the house and told his family his son would not die. They were astonished
at him. “I tell you,” says he, “he won’t die. And no child of mine will ever
die in his sins.” That man’s children were all converted years ago.
What do you think of that? Was that fanaticism? If
you believe so, it is because you know nothing about the matter. Do you pray
so? Do you live in such a manner that you can offer such prayer for your
children? I know that the children of professors may sometimes be converted in
answer to the prayers of somebody else. But ought you to live so? Dare you
trust to the prayers of others when God calls you to sustain this most
important relation to your children?
Finally—See what combined effort is made to dispose
of the Bible. The wicked are for throwing away the threatenings of the Bible,
and the church the promises. And what is there left? Between them, they leave
the Bible a blank. I say it in love: What are our Bibles good for if we do not
lay hold on their precious promises, and use them as the ground of our faith
when we pray for the blessing of God? You had better send your Bibles to the
heathen, where they will do some good, if you are not going to believe and use
them. I have no evidence that there is much of this prayer now in this church
or in this city. And what will become of it? What will become of your children?
your neighbors? the wicked?
83
LECTURE VI.
THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER.
Text.—Likewise the Spirit also helpeth our
infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we ought: but the
Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which cannot be
uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the
Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints, according to the will of
God.—Romans viii. 26, 27.
My last lecture but one was on the subject of
Effectual Prayer; in which I observed that one of the most important attributes
of effectual or prevailing prayer is Faith.
This was so extensive a subject that I reserved it for a separate discussion.
And accordingly, I lectured last Friday evening on the subject of Faith in
Prayer, or, as it is termed, the Prayer of Faith. It was my intention to
discuss the subject in a single lecture. But as I was under the necessity of
condensing so much on some points, it occurred to me, and was mentioned by
others, that there might be some questions which people would ask, that ought
to be answered more fully, especially as the subject is one on which there is
so much darkness. One grand design in preaching is to exhibit the truth in such
a way as to answer the questions which would naturally arise in the minds of
those who read the Bible with attention, and who want to know what it means, so
that they can put it in practice. In explaining the text, I propose to show,
I. What Spirit is here spoken of, “The Spirit also
helpeth our infirmities.”
II. What that Spirit does for us.
III. Why he does what the text declares him to do.
IV. How he accomplishes it.
V. The degree in which he influences the minds of
those who are under his influence.
VI. How his influences are to be distinguished from
the influences of evil spirits, or from the suggestions of our own minds.
VII. How we are to obtain this agency of the Holy
Spirit.
VIII. Who have a right to expect to enjoy his
influences in this matter—or for whom the Spirit does the things spoken of in
the text.
I. What Spirit is it that is spoken of in the text?
84
Some have supposed that the Spirit spoken of in the
text means our own spirit—our own mind. But a little attention to the text will
show plainly that this is not the meaning. “The Spirit helpeth our infirmities”
would then read, “Our own spirit helpeth the infirmities of our own
spirit,”—and “Our own spirit likewise maketh intercession for our own spirit.”
You see you can make no sense of it on that supposition. It is evident from the
manner in which the text is introduced, that the Spirit referred to is the Holy
Ghost. “For if ye live after the flesh, ye shall die: but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live. For as many as are led
by the Spirit of God, they are the sons of God. For ye have not received the
spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye have received the spirit of adoption,
whereby we cry, Abba, Father, The Spirit itself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God.” And the text is plainly speaking of
the same Spirit.
II. What the Spirit does.
Answer—He intercedes for the saints. “He maketh
intercession for us,” and “helpeth our infirmities,” when “we know not what to
pray for as we ought.” He helps Christians to pray according to the will of
God, or for the things that God desires them to pray for.
III. Why is the Holy Spirit thus employed?
Because of our ignorance. Because we know not what we
should pray for as we ought. We are so ignorant both of the will of God,
revealed in the Bible, and of his unrevealed will, as we ought to learn it from
his providence. Mankind are vastly ignorant both of the promises and prophecies
of the Bible, and blind to the providence of God. And they are still more in
the dark about those points of which God has said nothing but by the leadings
of his Spirit. You recollect that I named these four sources of evidence on
which to ground faith in prayer—promises, prophecies, providences, and the Holy
Spirit. When all other means fail of leading us to the knowledge of what we
ought to pray for, the Spirit does it.
IV. How does he make intercession for the saints? In
what mode does he operate, so as to help our infirmities?
Not by superseding the use of our faculties. It is
not by praying for us, while we do nothing. He prays for us, by exciting our
own faculties. Not that he immediately suggests to us words, or guides our
language. But he enlightens our minds, and makes the truth take hold of our
souls. He leads us to consider the state of the church, and the condition of 85sinners around us. The manner in which he
brings the truth before the mind, and keeps it there till it produces its
effect, we cannot tell. But we can know as much as this—that he leads us to a
deep consideration of the state of things; and the result of this, the natural
and philosophical result, is, deep feeling. When the Spirit brings the truth up
before a man’s mind, there is only one way in which he can keep from deep
feeling. That is, by turning away his thoughts, and leading his mind to think
of other things. Sinners, when the Spirit of God brings the truth before them,
must feel. They feel wrong, as long as they remain impenitent. So, if a man is
a Christian, and the Holy Spirit brings a subject into warm contact with his
heart, it is just as impossible he should not feel, as it is that your hand
should not feel if you put it into the fire. If the Spirit of God leads him to
dwell on things calculated to excite warm and overpowering feelings, and he is
not excited by them, it proves that he has no love for souls, nothing of the
Spirit of Christ, and knows nothing about Christian experience.
2. The Spirit makes the Christian feel the value of
souls, and the guilt and danger of sinners in their present condition. It is amazing
how dark and stupid Christians often are about this. Even Christian parents let
their children go right down to hell before their eyes, and scarcely seem to
exercise a single feeling, or put forth an effort to save them. And why?
Because they are so blind to what hell is, so unbelieving about the Bible, so
ignorant of the precious promises which God has made to faithful parents. They
grieve the Spirit of God away, and it is in vain to try to make them pray for
their children, while the Spirit of God is away from them.
3. He leads Christians to understand and apply the
promises of Scripture. It is wonderful that in no age have Christians been able
fully to apply the promises of Scripture to the events of life, as they go
along. This is not because the promises themselves are obscure. The promises
themselves are plain enough. But there has always been a wonderful disposition
to overlook the Scriptures, as a source of light respecting the passing events
of life. How astonished the apostles were at Christ’s application of so many
prophecies to himself! They seemed to be continually ready to exclaim,
“Astonishing! Can it be so? We never understood it before.” Who, that has
witnessed the manner in which the apostles, influenced and inspired by the Holy
Ghost, applied passages of the Old Testament to Gospel times, has not been 86amazed at the richness of meaning which they found in
the Scriptures? So it has been with many a Christian; while deeply engaged in
prayer, he has seen that passages of Scripture are appropriate which he never
thought of before, as having any such application.
I once knew an individual who was in great spiritual
darkness. He had retired for prayer, resolved that he would not desist till he
had found the Lord. He kneeled down and tried to pray. All was dark, and he
could not pray. He rose from his knees, and stood for a while, but he could not
give it up, for he had promised that he would not let the sun go down before he
had given himself to God. He knelt again, but it was all dark, and his heart
was hard as before. He was nearly in despair, and said in agony, “I have
grieved the Spirit of God away, and there is no promise for me. I am shut out
from the presence of God.” But his resolution was formed not to give over, and
again he knelt down. He had said but a few words, when this passage came into
his mind as fresh as if he had just read it; it seemed as if he had just been
reading the words, “Ye shall seek me, and find me, when ye shall search for me
with all your heart.” Jer. xxix. 13. Though this promise was in the Old
Testament, and was addressed to the Jews, it was still as applicable to him as
to them. And it broke his heart, like the hammer of the Lord, in a moment. He
prayed, and rose up, happy in God. Thus it often happens when professors of
religion are praying for their children. Sometimes they pray, and are in
darkness and doubt, feeling as if there was no foundation for faith, and no
special promises for the children of believers. But while they are pleading,
God has shown them the full meaning of some promise, and their soul has rested
on it as on the mighty arm of God. I once heard of a widow who was greatly
exercised about her children, till this passage was brought powerfully to her
mind: “Leave thy fatherless children with me, I will preserve them alive.” She
saw it had an extended meaning, and she was enabled to lay hold on it, as it
were, with her hands; and then she prevailed in prayer, and her children were
converted. The Holy Spirit was sent into the world by the Saviour, to guide his
people and instruct them, and bring things to their remembrance, as well as
to convince the world of sin.
4. The Spirit leads Christians to desire and pray for
things of which nothing is specifically said in the word of God. Take the case
of an individual, That God is willing to save is a general truth. So it is a
general truth that he is willing 87to
answer prayer. But how shall I know the will of God respecting that individual,
whether I can pray in faith according to the will of God for the conversion and
salvation of that individual, or not? Here the agency of the Spirit comes in,
to lead the minds of God’s people to pray for those individuals, and at those
times, when God is prepared to bless them. When we know not what to pray for,
the Holy Spirit leads the mind to dwell on some object, to consider its
situation, to realize its value, and to feel for it, and pray, and travail in
birth, till the object is attained. This sort of experience I know is less
common in cities than it is in some parts of the country, because of the
infinite number of things to divert the attention and grieve the Spirit in
cities. I have had much opportunity to know how it has been in some sections. I
was acquainted with an individual who used to keep a list of persons that he
was specially concerned for; and I have had the opportunity to know a multitude
of persons for whom he became thus interested, who were immediately converted.
I have seen him pray for persons on his list, when he was literally in an agony
for them; and have sometimes known him call on some other person to help him
pray for such a one. I have known his mind to fasten on an individual of
hardened, abandoned character, and who could not be reached in any ordinary
way. In a town in the north part of this State, where there was a revival,
there was a certain individual who was a most violent and outrageous opposer.
He kept a tavern, and used to delight in swearing at a desperate rate, whenever
there were Christians within hearing, on purpose to hurt their feelings. He was
so bad, that one man said he believed he should have to sell his place, or give
it away, and move out of town, for he could not live near a man that swore so.
This good man, that I was speaking of, was passing through the town, and heard
of the case, and was very much grieved and distressed for the individual. He
took him on his praying list. The case weighed on his mind, when he was asleep
and when he was awake. He kept thinking about him, and praying for him for
days. And the first we knew of it, this ungodly man came into a meeting, and
got up and confessed his sins, and poured out his soul. His bar-room
immediately became the place where they held prayer meetings. In this manner
the Spirit of God leads individual Christians to pray for things which they
would not pray for, unless they were led by the Spirit. And thus they pray for
things according to the will of God.
By some, this may be said to be a revelation from
God. I 88do not doubt that great
evil has been done by saying that this kind of influence amounts to a new
revelation. And many people will be afraid of it if they hear it called a new
revelation, so that they will not stop to inquire what it means, or whether the
Scriptures teach it or not. They suppose it to be a complete answer to the
idea. But the plain truth of the matter is, that the Spirit leads a man to
pray. And if God leads a man to pray for an individual, the inference from the
Bible is, that God designs to save that individual. If we find by comparing our
state of mind with the Bible, that we are led by the Spirit to pray for
an individual, we have good evidence to believe that God is prepared to bless
him.
6. By giving to Christians a spiritual discernment
respecting the movements and developments of
There was a woman in
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V. In what degree are we to expect the Spirit of God
to affect the minds of believers? The text says, “The Spirit maketh
intercession with groanings that cannot be uttered.” The meaning of this I
understand to be, that the Spirit excites desires too great to be uttered
except by groans. Something that language cannot utter—making the soul too full
to utter its feelings by words, where the person can only groan them out to
God, who understands the language of the heart.
VI. How are we to know whether it is the Spirit of
God that influences our minds or not?
1. Not by feeling that some external influence or
agency is applied to us. We are not to expect to feel our minds in direct
physical contact with God. If such a thing can be, we know of no way in which
it can be made sensible. We know that we exercise our minds freely, and that
our thoughts are exercised on something that excites our feelings. But we are
not to expect a miracle to be wrought, as if we were led by the hand, sensibly,
or like something whispered in the ear, or any miraculous manifestation of the
will of God. People often grieve the Spirit away, because they do not harbor
him and cherish his influences. Sinners often do this ignorantly. They suppose
that if they were under conviction by the Spirit, they should have such and
such mysterious feelings, a shock would come upon them, which they could not
mistake. Many Christians are so ignorant of the Spirit’s influences, and have
thought so little about having his assistance in prayer, that when they have
them they do not know it, and so do not cherish, and yield to them, and
preserve them. We are conscious of nothing in the case, only the movement of
our own minds. There is nothing else that can be felt. We are merely aware that
our thoughts are intensely employed on a certain subject. Christians are often
unnecessarily misled and distressed on this point, for fear they have not the
Spirit of God. They feel intensely, but they know not what makes them feel.
They are distressed about sinners; but why should they not be distressed, when
they think of their condition? They keep thinking about them all the time, and
why shouldn’t they be distressed? Now, the truth is, that the very fact that
you are thinking upon them is evidence that the Spirit of God is leading
you. Do you not know that the greater part of the time these things do not
affect you so? The greater part of the time you do not think much about the
case of sinners. You know their salvation is always equally important. But at
other times, even when you are quite at leisure, your mind is entirely dark,
and vacant of any 90feeling for them. But
now, although you may be busy about other things, you think, you pray, and feel
intensely for them, even while you are about business that at other times would
occupy all your thoughts. Now, almost every thought you have is, “God have
mercy on them.” Why is this? Why, their case is placed in a strong light before
your mind. Do you ask what it is that leads your mind to exercise benevolence
for sinners, and to agonize in prayer for them? What can it be but the Spirit
of God? There are no devils that would lead you so. If your feelings are truly
benevolent, you are to consider it as the Holy Spirit leading you to pray for
things according to the will of God.
2. Try the spirits by the Bible. People are sometimes
led away by strange fantasies and crazy impulses. If you compare them
faithfully with the Bible, you never need be led astray. You can always know
whether your feelings are produced by the Spirit’s influences, by comparing
your desires with the spirit and temper of religion as described in the Bible.
The Bible commands you to try the spirits. “Beloved, believe not every spirit,
but try the spirits, whether they be of God.” Observe not only your own
feelings in regard to your fellow-men, but also, and more especially, the
teachings of the Spirit within you respecting our Lord Jesus Christ. “Hereby
know ye the Spirit of God. Every spirit that confesseth that Jesus Christ is
come in the flesh is of God. And every spirit that confesseth not that Jesus
Christ is come in the flesh is not of God; and this is that spirit of
Antichrist whereof ye have heart that it shall come; and even now already it is
in the world.”
VII. How shall we get this influence of the Spirit of
God?
1. It must be sought by fervent, believing prayer.
Christ says, “If ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts to your
children, how much more shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask him!” Does any one say, I have prayed for him, and he does not come?
It is because you do not pray aright. “Ye ask and receive not, because ye ask
amiss, that ye may consume it upon your lusts.” You do not pray from right
motives. A professor of religion, and a principal member in a church, once
asked a minister what he thought of his case; he had been praying week after
week for the Spirit, and had not received him. The minister asked him what his
motive was in praying. He said he wanted to be happy. He knew those who had the
Spirit were happy, and he wanted to enjoy his mind as they did. Why, the devil
himself might pray so. That is mere selfishness. 91The man turned away in anger. He saw that he had never known what it was
to pray. He was convinced he was a hypocrite, and that his prayers were all
selfish, dictated only by a desire for his own happiness. David prayed that God
would uphold him by his free Spirit, that he might teach transgressors and turn
sinners to God. A Christian should pray for the Spirit that he may be the more
useful and glorify God more; not that he himself may be more happy. This man
saw clearly where he had been in error, and he was converted. Perhaps many here
have been just so. You ought to examine and see if all your prayers are not
selfish.
2. Use the means adapted to stir up your minds on the
subject, and to keep your attention fixed there. If a man prays for the Spirit,
and then diverts his mind to other objects; uses no other means, but goes right
away to worldly objects; he tempts God, he swings loose from his object, and it
would be a miracle if he should get what he prays for. How is a sinner to get
conviction? Why, by thinking of his sins. That is the way for a Christian to
obtain deep feeling, by thinking on the object. God is not going to pour these
things on you without any effort of your own. You must cherish the slightest
impressions. Take the Bible, and go over the passages that show the condition
and prospects of the world. Look at the world, look at your children, and your
neighbors, and see their condition while they remain in sin, and persevere in
prayer and effort till you obtain the blessing of the Spirit of God to dwell in
you. This was the way, doubtless, that Dr. Watts came to have the feelings
which he has described in the second Hymn of the second Book, which you would
do well to read after you go home.
<verse> <l class="t1">My thoughts on awful subjects roll,</l> <l class="t2">Damnation
and the dead:</l> <l class="t1">What horrors seize the guilty soul</l> <l class="t2">Upon
a dying bed!</l> </verse><verse> <l class="t1">Lingering about these mortal shores,</l> <l class="t2">She
makes a long delay,</l> <l class="t1">Till, like a flood, with rapid force</l> <l class="t2">Death
sweeps the wretch away.</l> </verse><verse> <l class="t1">Then, swift and dreadful, she descends</l> <l class="t2">Down
to the fiery coast,</l> <l class="t1">Amongst abominable fiends,</l> <l class="t2">Herself
a frighted ghost.</l> </verse><verse> 92 <l class="t1">There
endless crowds of sinners lie,</l> <l class="t2">And darkness makes their chains;</l> <l class="t1">Tortured
with keen despair thy cry,</l> <l class="t2">Yet wait for fiercer pains.</l> </verse><verse> <l class="t1">Not
all their anguish and their blood</l> <l class="t2">For their past guilt atones,</l> <l class="t1">Nor
the compassion of a God</l> <l class="t2">Shall hearken to their groans.</l> </verse><verse> <l class="t1">Amazing
grace, that kept my breath,</l> <l class="t2">Nor bid my soul remove,</l> <l class="t1">Till I had learned my Saviour’s death,</l> <l class="t2">And
well insured his love!</l> </verse>
Look, as it were, through a telescope that will bring
it up near to you; look into hell, and hear them groan; then turn the glass
upwards and look at heaven, and see the saints there, in their white robes,
with their harps in their hands, and hear them sing the song of redeeming love;
and ask yourself—Is it possible, that I should prevail with God to elevate the
sinner there? Do this, and if you are not a wicked man, and a stranger to God,
you will soon have as much of the spirit of prayer as your body can sustain.
3. You must watch unto prayer. You must keep a look
out, and see if God grants the blessing when you ask him. People sometimes
pray, and never look to see if the prayer is granted. Be careful also, not to
grieve the Spirit of God. Confess and forsake your sins. God will never lead
you as one of his hidden ones, and let you into his secrets, unless you confess
and forsake your sins. Not be always confessing and never forsake, but confess
and forsake too. Make redress wherever you have committed an injury. You cannot
expect to get the spirit of prayer first, and then repent. You cannot fight it
through so. Professors of religion, who are proud and unyielding, and justify
themselves, never will force God to dwell with them.
4. Aim to obey perfectly the written law. In other
words, have no fellowship with sin. Aim at being entirely above the world; “Be
ye perfect even as your Father in heaven is perfect.” If you sin at all, let it
be your daily grief. The man who does not aim at this, means to live in sin.
Such a man need not expect God’s blessing, for he is not sincere in desiring to
keep all his commandments.
VIII. For whom does the Spirit intercede?
Answer—He maketh intercession for the saints, for all
93saints, for any who are saints. “Likewise the Spirit
also helpeth our infirmities: for we know not what we should pray for as we
ought; but the Spirit itself maketh intercession for us with groanings which
cannot be uttered. And he that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit, because he maketh intercession for the saints according to the
will of God.”—Rom. viii. 26, 27.
REMARKS.
1. Why do you suppose it is, that so little stress is
laid on the influences of the Spirit in prayer, when so much is said about his
influences in conversion? Many people are amazingly afraid the Spirit’s
influences will be left out. They lay great stress on the Spirit’s influences
in converting sinners. But how little is said, how little is printed, about his
influence in prayer! How little complaining that people do not make enough of
the Spirit’s influences in leading Christians to pray according to the will of
God! Let it never be forgotten, that no Christian ever prays aright, unless led
by the Spirit. He has natural power to pray, and so far as the will of God is
revealed, is able to do it; but he never does, unless the Spirit of God
influences him. Just as sinners are able to repent, but never do, unless
influenced by the Spirit.
2. This subject lays open the foundation of the
difficulty felt by many persons on the subject of the Prayer of Faith. They
object to the idea that faith in prayer is a belief that we shall receive the
very things for which we ask; and insist that there can be no foundation or
evidence upon which to rest such a belief. In a sermon published a few years
since, upon this subject, the writer brings forward this difficulty, and
presents it in its full strength. I have, says he, no evidence that the thing
prayed for will be granted, until I have prayed in faith; because,
praying in faith is the condition upon which it is promised. And of course I
cannot claim the promise, until I have fulfilled the condition. Now, if the
condition is, that I am to believe I shall receive the very blessing for which
I ask, it is evident that the promise is given upon the performance of an impossible
condition, and is of course a mere nullity. The promise would amount to just
this: You shall have whatsoever you ask, upon the condition that you first
believe that you shall receive it. Now, I must fulfill the condition before I
can claim the promise. But I can have no evidence that I shall receive it until
I have believed that I shall receive it. This reduces me to the necessity of
believing that I shall receive 94it before I
have any evidence that I shall receive it—which is impossible.
The whole force of this objection arises out of the
fact, that the Spirit’s influences are entirely overlooked, which he
exerts in leading an individual to the exercise of faith. It has been supposed
that the passage in Mark xi. 22 and 24, with other kindred promises on the
subject of the Prayer of Faith, relate exclusively to miracles. But suppose
this were true. I would ask, What were the apostles to believe, when they
prayed for a miracle? Were they to believe that the precise miracle would be
performed for which they prayed? It is evident that they were. In the verses
just alluded to, Christ says, “For verily I say unto you, that whosoever shall
say unto this mountain, Be thou removed, and be thou cast into the sea, and
shall not doubt in his heart, but SHALL BELIEVE THAT THESE THINGS WHICH HE
SAITH SHALL COME TO PASS, he shall have whatsoever he saith. Therefore I say
unto you, what things soever ye desire, when ye pray, BELIEVE THAT YE RECEIVE THEM, and ye shall have them.” Here
it is evident, that the thing to be believed, and which they were not to doubt
in their heart, was, that they should have the very blessing for which they
prayed. Now the objection above stated, lies in all its force against this kind
of faith, when praying for the performance of a miracle. If it be impossible to
believe this in praying for any other blessing. it was equally so in praying
for a miracle. I might ask, Could an apostle believe that the miracle would be
wrought, before he had fulfilled the condition? inasmuch as the condition was,
that he should believe that he should receive that for which he prayed. Either
the promise is a nullity and a deception, or there is a possibility of
performing the condition.
Now, as I have said, the whole difficulty lies in the
fact that the Spirit’s influences are entirely overlooked, and that faith which
is of the operation of God, is left out of the question. If the objection is
good against praying for any object, it is as good against praying in faith for
the performance of a miracle. The fact is, that the Spirit of God could give
evidence, on which to believe that any particular miracle would be granted;
could lead the mind to a firm reliance upon God, and trust that the blessing
sought would be obtained. And so at the present day he can give the same
assurance, in praying for any blessing that we need. Neither in the one case
nor the other, are the influences of the Spirit miraculous. Praying is
the same thing, whether you pray for the conversion of a soul, or for a
miracle. Faith is the same thing in the one case as 95in the other; it only terminates on a different
object; in the one case on the conversion of a soul, and in the other on the
performance of a miracle. Nor is faith exercised in the one more than in the
other, without reference to a promise; and a general promise may with
the same propriety be applied to the conversion of a soul as to the performance
of a miracle. And it is equally true in the one case as the other, that no man
ever prays in faith without being influenced by the Spirit of God. And if the
Spirit could lead the mind of an apostle to exercise faith in regard to a
miracle, he can lead the mind of another Christian to exercise faith in regard
to receiving any other blessing, by a reference to the same general promise.
Should any one ask, “When are we under an
obligation to believe that we shall receive the blessing for which
we ask?” I answer:
(1.) When there is a particular promise, specifying
the particular blessing: as where we pray for the Holy Spirit. This blessing is
particularly named in the promise, and here we have evidence, and are bound to
believe, whether we have any Divine influence or not; just as sinners are bound
to repent whether the Spirit strives with them or not. Their obligation rests,
not upon the Spirit’s influences, but upon the powers of moral agency which
they possess; upon their ability to do their duty. And while it is true that
not one of them ever will repent without the influences of the Spirit, still
they have power to do so, and are under obligation to do so, whether the Spirit
strives with them or not. So with the Christian. He is bound to believe where
he has evidence. And although he never does believe, even where he has an
express promise, without the Spirit of God, yet his obligation to do so rests
upon his ability, and not upon the Divine influence.
(2.) Where God makes a revelation by his providence,
we are bound to believe in proportion to the clearness of the providential
indication.
(3.) So where there is a prophecy, we are bound also
to believe. But in neither of these cases do we, in fact, believe,
without the Spirit of God.
But where there is neither promise, providence, nor
prophecy, on which to repose our faith, we are under no obligation to believe,
unless, as I have shown in this discourse, the Spirit gives us evidence,
by creating desires, and by leading us to pray for a particular object. In the
case of those promises of a general nature, where we are honestly at a loss to
know in what particular cases to apply them, it may be considered 96rather as our privilege than as our duty, in
many instances, to apply them to particular cases; but whenever the Spirit of
God leads us to apply them to a particular object, then it becomes our duty
so to apply them. In this case, God explains his own promise, and shows how he
designed it should be applied. And then our obligation to make this
application, and to believe in reference to this particular object, remains in
full force.
3. Some have supposed that Paul prayed in faith for
the removal of the thorn in the flesh, and that is was not granted. But they
cannot prove that Paul prayed in faith. The presumption is all on the
other side, as I have shown in a former lecture. He had neither promise, nor
prophecy, nor providence, nor the Spirit of God, to lead him to believe. The
whole objection goes on the ground that the apostle might pray in faith without
being led by the Spirit. This is truly a shorthand method of disposing of the
Spirit’s influences in prayer. Certainly, to assume that he prayed in faith, is
to assume either that he prayed in faith without being led by the Spirit, or
that the Spirit of God led him to pray for that which was not according to the
will of God.
I have dwelt the more on this subject, because I want
to have it made so plain, that you will all be careful not to grieve the
Spirit. I want you to have high ideas of the Holy Ghost, and to feel that
nothing good will be done without his influences. No praying or preaching will
be of any avail without him. If Jesus Christ were to come down here and preach
to sinners, not one would be converted without the Spirit. Be careful then not
to grieve him away, by slighting or neglecting his heavenly influences when he
invites you to pray.
4. In praying for an object, it is necessary to
persevere till you obtain it. Oh, with what eagerness Christians sometimes
pursue a sinner in their prayers, when the Spirit of God has fixed their
desires on him! No miser pursues his gold with so fixed a determination.
5. The fear of being led by impulses has done great
injury, by not being duly considered. A person’s mind may be led by an ignis fatuus. But we do wrong if we let the fear of impulses lead
us to resist the good impulses of the Holy Ghost. No wonder Christians
do not have the spirit of prayer, if they are unwilling to take the trouble to
distinguish; and so reject or resist all impulses and all leadings of invisible
agents. A great deal has been said about fanaticism, that is very unguarded,
and that causes many minds 97to reject the
leadings of the Spirit of God. “As many as are the sons of God are led by the
Spirit of God.” And it is our duty to try the Spirits whether they be of God.
We should insist on a close scrutiny and an accurate discrimination. There must
be such a thing as being led by the Spirit. And when we are convinced it is of
God, we should be sure to follow—follow on, with full confidence that he will
not lead us wrong.
6. We see from this subject the absurdity of using
forms of prayer. The very idea of using a form rejects, of course, the
leadings of the Spirit. Nothing is more calculated to destroy the spirit of
prayer, and entirely to darken and confuse the mind, as to what constitutes
prayer, than to use forms. Forms of prayer are not only absurd in themselves,
but they are the very device of the devil to destroy the spirit and break the
power of prayer. It is of no use to say the form is a good one. Prayer does not
consist in words. And it matters not what the words are, if the heart is not
led by the Spirit of God. If the desire is not enkindled, the thoughts
directed, and the whole current of feeling produced and led by the Spirit of
God, it is not prayer. And set forms are, of all things, best calculated to
keep an individual from praying as he ought.
7. The subject furnishes a test of character. The
Spirit maketh intercession—for whom? For the saints. Those who are saints are
thus exercised. If you are saints, you know by experience what it is to be thus
exercised, or it is because you have grieved the Spirit of God, so that he will
not lead you. You live in such a manner that this Holy Comforter will not dwell
with you, nor give you the spirit of prayer. If this is so, you must repent.
Whether you are a Christian or not, do not stop to settle that, but repent, as
if you never had repented. Do your first works. Do not take it for granted that
you are a Christian, but go like a humble sinner, and pour out your heart unto
the Lord. You never can have the spirit of prayer in any other way.
8. The importance of understanding this subject.
(1.) In order to be useful. Without this spirit there
can be no such sympathy between you and God that you can either walk with God
or work with God. You need to have a strong beating of your heart with his, or
you need not expect to be greatly useful.
(2.) As important as your sanctification. Without
such a spirit you will not be sanctified, you will not understand the Bible,
you will not know how to apply it to your case. I 98want you to feel the importance of having God with
you all the time. If you live as you ought, he says he will come unto you, and
make his abode with you, and sup with you, and you with him.
9. If people know not the spirit of prayer, they are
very apt to be unbelieving in regard to the results of prayer. They do not see
what takes place, or do not see the connection, or do not see the evidence.
They are not expecting spiritual blessings. When sinners are convicted, they
think they are only frightened by such terrible preaching. And when people are
converted, they feel no confidence, and only say, “We’ll see how they turn
out.”
10. Those who have the spirit of prayer know when the
blessing comes. It was just so when Jesus Christ appeared. These ungodly
doctors did not know him. Why? Because they were not praying for the redemption
of
11. There are three classes of persons in the church
who are liable to error, or have left the truth out of view, on this subject.
(1.) Those who place great reliance on prayer, and
use no other means. They are alarmed at any special means, and talk about your
“getting up a revival.”
(2.) Over against these are those who use means, and
pray, but never think about the influences of the Spirit in prayer. They talk
about prayer for the Spirit, and feel the importance of the Spirit in the
conversion of sinners, but do not realize the importance of the Spirit in
prayer. And their prayers are all cold talk, nothing that any body can feel, or
that can take hold of God.
(3.) Those who have certain strange notions about the
sovereignty of God, and are waiting for God to convert the world without prayer
or means.
There must be in the church a deeper sense of the
need of the spirit of prayer. The fact is that, generally, those who use
means most assiduously, and make the most strenuous efforts for the salvation of
men, and who have the most correct notions of the manner in which means should
be used for converting sinners, also pray most for the Spirit of God, 99and wrestle most with God for his blessing. And what
is the result? Let facts speak, and say whether these persons do or do not
pray, and whether the Spirit of God does not testify to their prayers, and
follow their labors with his power.
12. A spirit very different from the spirit of prayer
appears to prevail in certain portions of the Presbyterian church at the
present time. Nothing will produce an excitement and opposition so quick as the
spirit of prayer. If any person should feel burdened with the case of sinners,
in prayer, so as to groan in his prayer, why, the women are nervous, and he is
visited at once with rebuke and opposition. From my soul I abhor all
affectation of feeling where there is none, and all attempts to work one’s self
up into feeling by groans. But I feel bound to defend the position that there
is such a thing as being in a state of mind in which there is but one way to
keep from groaning; and that is, by resisting the Holy Ghost. I was once
present where this subject was discussed. It was said that groaning ought to be
discountenanced. The question was asked, whether God could not produce
such a state of feeling that to abstain from groaning was impossible? and the
answer was, “Yes, but he never does.” Then the apostle Paul was egregiously
deceived when he wrote about groanings that cannot be uttered. Edwards was
deceived when he wrote his book upon revivals. Revivals are all in the dark.
Now, no man who reviews the history of the church will adopt such a sentiment.
I do not like this attempt to shut out, or stifle, or keep down, or limit the
spirit of prayer. I would sooner cut off my right hand than rebuke the spirit
of prayer, as I have heard of its being done by saying, “Do not let me hear any
more groaning.”
But then, I hardly know where to conclude this
subject. I should like to discuss it a month, and till the whole church could understand
it, so as to pray the prayer of faith. Beloved, I want to ask you if you
believe all this? Or do you wonder that I should talk so? Perhaps some of you
have had some glimpses of these things. Now, will you give yourselves up to
prayer, and live so as to have the spirit of prayer, and have the spirit with
you all the time? Oh, for a praying church! I once knew a minister who had a
revival fourteen winters in succession. I did not know how to account for it
till I saw one of his members get up in a prayer meeting and make a confession.
“Brethren,” said he, “I have been long in the habit of praying every Saturday
night till after midnight, for the descent of the Holy Ghost among us. And now,
brethren,” and he began to weep, “I confess that I 100have neglected it for two or three weeks.” The secret
was out. That minister had a praying church. Brethren, in my present state of
health, I find it impossible to pray as much as I have been in the habit of
doing, and continue to preach. It overcomes my strength. Now, shall I give
myself up to prayer, and stop preaching? That will not do. Now, will not you,
who are in health, throw yourselves into this work, and bear this burden, and
lay yourselves out in prayer, till God will pour out his blessing upon us?
LECTURE VII.
ON BEING FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
Text.—Be filled with the Spirit.—Eph. v. 18.
SEVERAL of my last lectures have been on the subject
of prayer, and the importance of having the spirit of prayer, of the
intercession of the Holy Ghost. Whenever the necessity and importance of the
Spirit’s influences are held forth, there can be no doubt that persons are in
danger of abusing the doctrine, and perverting it to their own injury. For
instance, when you tell sinners that without the Holy Spirit they never will
repent, they are very liable to pervert the truth, and understand by it that
they cannot repent, and therefore are under no obligation to do it until
they feel the Spirit. It is often difficult to make them see that all the
“cannot” consists in their unwillingness, and not in their inability. So again,
when we tell Christians that they need the Spirit’s aid in prayer, they are
very apt to think they are under no obligation to pray the prayer of faith,
until they feel the influences of the Spirit. They overlook their obligation to
be filled with the Spirit and wait for the spirit of prayer to come upon them
without asking, and thus tempt God.
Before we come to consider the other department of
means for promoting a revival, that is, the means to be used with sinners,
I wish to show you, that if you live without the Spirit, you are without
excuse. Obligation to perform duty never rests on the condition, that we shall
first have the influence of the Spirit, but on the powers of moral agency. We,
as moral agents, have the power to obey God, and are perfectly bound to obey,
and the reason we do not is, that we are unwilling. The influences of the
Spirit are wholly a matter of grace. If they were indispensable to enable
us to perform duty, the bestowment of them would not be a gracious act, but a
mere matter of common justice. Sinners are not bound to repent because they
have the Spirit’s influence, or because they can obtain it, but because they
are moral agents, and have the powers which God requires them to exercise. So
in the case of Christians. They are not bound to pray in faith because they
have the Spirit, (except in those cases where his 102influences in begetting desire constitute the
evidence that it is God’s will to grant the object of desire,) but because they
have evidence. They are not bound to pray in faith at all, except when they
have evidence as the foundation of their faith. They must have evidence from
promises, or principle, or prophecy, or providence. And where they have
evidence independent of his influences, they are bound to exercise faith,
whether they have the Spirit’s influence or not. They are bound to see the
evidence, and to believe. The Spirit is given not to enable them to see or
believe, but because without it they will not look, nor feel, nor act,
as they ought. I purpose this evening to show from the text,
I. That Christians may be filled with the Spirit of
God.
II. That it is their duty to be filled with the
Spirit.
III. Why they are not filled with the Spirit.
IV. The guilt of those who have not the Spirit of
God, to lead their minds in duty and prayer.
V. The consequences that will follow if they are
filled with the Spirit.
VI. The consequences if they are not.
I. I am to show you that you may have the Spirit. Not
because it is a matter of justice for God to give you his Spirit, but because
he has promised to give it to those that ask. “If ye then, being evil, know how
to give good gifts to your children, how much more shall your Father
which is in heaven give the Holy Spirit to them that ask him?” If you ask [for]
the Holy Spirit, God has promised to give it.
But again, God has commanded you to have it. He says
in the text, “Be filled with the Spirit.” When God commands us to do a thing,
it is the highest possible evidence that we can do it. For God to command, is
equivalent to an oath that we can do it. He has no right to command, unless we
have power to obey. There is no stopping short of the conclusion that God is an
infinite tyrant, if he commands that which is impracticable.
II. I am to show, secondly, that it is your duty.
1. Because you have a promise of it.
2. Because God has commanded it.
3. It is essential to your own growth in grace that
you should be filled with the Spirit.
4. It is as important as it is that you should be
sanctified.
5. It is as necessary as it is that you should be
useful and do good in the world.
6. If you do not have the Spirit of God in you, you
will dishonor God, disgrace the church, and die and go to hell.
103
III. Why many do not have the Spirit. There are some,
even professors of religion, who will say, “I do not know any thing about this;
I never had any such experience; either it is not true or I am all wrong.” No
doubt you are all wrong, if you know nothing about the influence of the
Spirit. I want to present you with a few of the reasons that may prevent you
from being filled with the Spirit.
1. It may be that you live a hypocritical life. Your
prayers are not earnest and sincere. Not only is your religion a mere outside
show, without any heart, but you are insincere in your intercourse with others.
Thus you do many things to grieve the Spirit, so that he cannot dwell with you.
A minister was once boarding in a certain family, and
the lady of the house was constantly complaining that she did not enjoy her
mind, and nothing seemed to help her. One day some ladies called to see her,
and she protested that she was very much offended because they had not called
before, and pressed them to stay and spend the day, and declared she could
not consent to let them go. They excused themselves, however, and left the
house, and as soon as they were gone, she said to her servant, she wondered
these people had so little sense as to be always troubling her, and taking up
her time. The minister heard it, and immediately rebuked her, and told her she
could now see why she did not enjoy religion. It was because she was in the
daily habit of insincerity that amounted to downright lying. And the Spirit of
truth could not dwell in such a heart.
2. Others have so much levity that the Spirit will
not dwell with them. The Spirit of God is solemn, and serious, and will not
dwell with those who give way to thoughtless levity.
3. Others are so proud that they cannot have the
Spirit. They are so fond of dress, high life, equipage, fashion, etc., that it
is no wonder they are not filled with the Spirit. And yet such persons will
pretend to be at a loss to know why it is that they do not enjoy religion!
4. Some are so worldly-minded, love property so well,
and are trying so hard to get rich, that they cannot have the Spirit. How can
he dwell with them, when their thoughts are all on things of the world, and all
their powers absorbed in procuring wealth? And they hold on to it when they get
it, and they are pained if pressed by conscience to do something for the
conversion of the world. They show how much they love the world, in all their
intercourse with others. Little things show it. They will screw down a poor
man, who is doing a little piece of work for them, to the lowest penny. If 104they are dealing on a large scale, very likely they
will be liberal and fair, because it is for their advantage. But if it is a
person they care not about, a laborer, or a mechanic, or a servant, they will
grind him down to the last fraction, no matter what it is really worth; and
they actually pretend to make conscience of it, that they cannot possibly give
any more. Now they would be ashamed to deal so with people of their own rank,
because it would be known and injure their reputation. But God knows it, and
has it all written down, that they are covetous and unfair in their dealings,
and will not do right, only when it is for their interest. Now how can such
professors have the Spirit of God? It is impossible.
There are a multitude of such things, by which the
Spirit of God is grieved. People call them little sins, but God will not call
them little. I was struck with this thought, when I saw a little notice in the
Evangelist. The publishers stated that they had many thousand dollars in the
hands of subscribers, which was justly due, and that it would cost them as much
as it was worth to send an agent to collect it. I suppose it is so with all the
other religious papers, that subscribers either put the publisher to the
trouble and expense of sending an agent to collect his due, or else they cheat
him out of it. There are doubtless, I do not know how many, thousands of
dollars held back in this way by professors of religion, just because it is in
such small sums, or they are so far off that they cannot be sued. And yet these
people will pray, and appear very pious, and wonder why they cannot enjoy
religion, and have the Spirit of God! It is this looseness of moral principle,
this want of conscience about little matters, prevailing in the church, that grieves
away the Holy Ghost. Why, it would be disgraceful to God to dwell and have
communion with such persons, who will take an advantage and cheat their
neighbor out of his dues, because they can do it and not be disgraced.
5. Others do not fully confess and forsake
their sins, and so cannot enjoy the Spirit’s presence. They will confess their
sins in general terms, perhaps, and are ready always to acknowledge that they
are sinners. Or they will confess partially some particular sins. But they do
it reservedly, proudly, guardedly, as if they were afraid they should say a
little more than is necessary; that is, when they confess to men the injuries
done to them. They do it in a way which shows that, instead of bursting forth
from an ingenuous heart, the confession is wrung from them, by the hand of
conscience 105gripping them. If they
have injured any one, they will make a partial recantation, which is
hard-hearted, cruel, and hypocritical, and then they will ask, “Now, brother,
are you satisfied?” And you know it would be very difficult for a person to say
that he was not satisfied, even if the confession is cold and heartless. But I
tell you God is not satisfied. He knows whether you have gone the full length
of honest confession, and taken all the blame that belongs to you. If your
confessions have been constrained and wrung from you, do you suppose you can
cheat God? “He that covereth his sins shall not prosper, but whoso confesseth
and forsaketh shall find mercy.” “He that humbleth himself shall be exalted.”
Unless you come quite down, and confess your sins honestly, and remunerate
where you have done injury, you have no right to expect the spirit of prayer.
6. Others are neglecting some known duty, and that is
the reason why they have not the Spirit. One does not pray in his family,
though he knows he ought to do it, and yet he is trying to get the spirit of
prayer! There is many a young man who feels in his heart that he ought to
prepare for the ministry, and he has not the spirit of prayer because he has some
worldly object in view, which prevents his devoting himself to the work. He has
known his duty, and refuses to do it, and now he is praying for direction from
the Spirit of God. He cannot have it. One has neglected to make a profession of
religion. He knows his duty, but he refuses to join the church. He once had the
spirit of prayer, but neglecting his duty, he grieved the Spirit away. And now
he thinks, if he could once more enjoy the light of God’s countenance, and have
his evidences renewed, he would do his duty, and join the church. And so he is
praying for it again, and trying to bring God over to his terms, to grant him
his presence. You need not expect it. You will live and die in darkness, unless
you are willing first to do your duty, before God manifests
himself as reconciled to you. It is in vain to say, you will come forward if
God will first show you the light of his countenance. He never will do
it as long as you live; he will let you die without it, if you refuse to do
your duty.
I have known women who felt that they ought to talk
to their unconverted husbands, and pray with them, but they have neglected it,
and so they get into the dark. They knew their duty and refused to do it; they
went round it, and there they lost the spirit of prayer.
If you have neglected any known duty, and thus lost
the spirit of prayer, you must yield first. God has a controversy 106with you; you have refused obedience to God, and you
must retract it. You may have forgotten it, but God has not, and you must set
yourself to recall it to mind, and repent. God never will yield nor grant you
his Spirit, till you repent. Had I an omniscient eye now, I could call the
names of the individuals in this congregation, who had neglected some known
duty, or committed some sin, that they have not repented of, and now they are
praying for the spirit of prayer, but they cannot succeed in obtaining it.
To illustrate this I will relate a case. A good man
in the western part of this State, had been a long time an engaged Christian,
and he used to talk to the sleepy church with which he was connected. By-and-by
the church was offended and got out of patience, and many told him they wished
he would let them alone, they did not think he could do them any good. He took
them at their word, and they all went to sleep together, and remained so two or
three years. By-and-by a minister came among them and a revival commenced, but
this elder seemed to have lost his spirituality. He used to be forward in a
good work, but now he held back. Everybody thought it unaccountable. Finally,
as he was going home one night, the truth of his situation flashed upon his
mind, and he went into absolute despair for a few minutes. At length his
thoughts were directed back to that sinful resolution to let the church alone
in their sins. He felt that no language could describe the blackness of that
sin. He realized that moment what it was to be lost, and to find that God had a
controversy with him. He saw that it was a bad spirit which caused the
resolution: the same that caused Moses to say, “You rebels.” He humbled himself
on the spot, and God poured out his Spirit on him. Perhaps some of you that
hear me are in just this situation. You have said something provoking or unkind
to some person. Perhaps it was peevishness to a servant that was a Christian.
Or perhaps it was speaking censoriously of a minister or some other person.
Perhaps you have been angry because your opinions have not been taken, or your
dignity has been encroached upon. Search thoroughly, and see if you cannot find
out the sin. Perhaps you have forgotten it. But God has not forgotten it, and
never will forgive your unchristian conduct until you repent. God cannot
overlook it. It would do no good if he should. What good would it do to
forgive, while the sin is rankling in your heart?
7. Perhaps you have resisted the Spirit of God.
Perhaps you are in the habit of resisting the Spirit. You resist
conviction. 107In preaching, when
something has been said that reached your case, your heart has risen up against
it and resisted. Many are willing to hear plain and searching preaching so long
as they can apply it all to others; a misanthropic spirit makes them take a
satisfaction in hearing others searched and rebuked; but if the truth touch them,
they directly cry out that it is personal and abusive. Is this your case?
8. The fact is that you do not on the whole
desire the Spirit. This is true in every case in which you do not have the
Spirit. Let me not be mistaken here. I want you should carefully discriminate.
Nothing is more common than for people to desire a thing on some accounts,
which they do not choose on the whole. A person may see an article in a
store which he desires to purchase, and he goes in and asks the price, and
thinks of it a little, and on the whole concludes not to purchase it. He
desires the article, but does not like the price, or does not like to be at the
expense, so that, upon the whole, he prefers not to purchase it. That is the
reason why he does not purchase it. So persons may desire the Spirit of God on
some accounts; from a regard to the comfort and joy of heart which it brings.
If you know what it is by former experience to commune with God, and how sweet
it is to dissolve in penitence and to be filled with the Spirit, you cannot but
desire a return of those joys. And you may set yourself to pray earnestly for
it, and to pray for a revival of religion. But on the whole you are unwilling
it should come. You have so much to do that you cannot attend to it. Or it will
require so many sacrifices, that you cannot bear to have it. There are some
things you are not willing to give up. You find that if you wish to have the
Spirit of God dwell with you, you must lead a different life, you must give up
the world, you must make sacrifices, you must break off from your worldly
associates, and makes confession of your sins. And so on the whole you do not
choose to have him come, unless he will consent to dwell with you and let you
live as you please. But that he never will do.
9. Perhaps you do not pray for the Spirit; or you
pray and use no other means, or pray and do not act consistently with your
prayers. Or you use means calculated to resist them. Or you ask, and as soon as
he comes and begins to affect your mind, you grieve him right away, and will
not walk with him.
IV. I am to show the great guilt of not having the
Spirit of God.
1. Your guilt is just as great as the authority of
God is 108great, which commands
you to be filled with the Spirit. God commands it, and it is just as much a
disobedience of God’s commands, as it is to swear profanely, or steal, or
commit adultery, or break the Sabbath. Think of that. And yet there are many
people who do not blame themselves at all for not having the Spirit. They even
think themselves quite pious Christians, because they go to prayer meetings,
and partake of the sacrament, and all that, though they live year after year
without the Spirit of God. Now, you see the same God who says, “Do not get
drunk,” says also, “Be filled with the Spirit.” You all say, if a man is an
habitual murderer, or a thief, he is no Christian. Why? Because he lives in
habitual disobedience to God. So if he swears, you have no charity for him. You
will not allow him to plead that his heart is right, and words are nothing. God
does not care anything about words. You would think it outrageous to have such
a man in church, or to have a company of such people pretend to call themselves
a
2. Your guilt is equal to all the good you might do
if you had the Spirit of God in as great a measure as it is your duty to have
it, and as you might have it. You, elders of this church! how much good you
might do, if you had the Spirit. And you, Sunday-school teachers, how much good
you might do; and you, church-members, too, if you were filled with the Spirit,
you might do vast good, infinite good. Well, your guilt is just as great. Here
is a blessing promised, and you can have it by doing your duty. You are
entirely responsible to the church and to God for all this good that you might
do. A man is responsible for all the good he can do.
3. Your guilt is further measured by all the evil
which you do in consequence of not having the Spirit. You are a dishonor to
religion. You are a stumbling block to the church, and to the world. And your
guilt is enhanced by all the various influences you exert. And it will prove so
in the day of judgment.
V. The consequences of having the Spirit.
1. You will be called eccentric; and probably you
will deserve it. Probably you will really be eccentric. I never knew a person
who was filled with the Spirit, that was not called eccentric. And the reason
is, that they are unlike other people. This is always a term of comparison.
There is therefore the 109best of reasons
why such persons should appear eccentric. They act under different influences,
take different views, are moved by different motives, led by a different
spirit. You are to expect such remarks. How often I have heard the remark
respecting such and such persons, “He is a very good man—but he is rather
eccentric.” I have sometimes asked for the particulars; in what does his
eccentricity consist? I hear the catalogue, and the amount is, that he is
spiritual. Make up your mind for this, to be eccentric. There is such a thing
as affected eccentricity. Horrible! But there is such a thing as being so
deeply imbued with the Spirit of God, that you must and will act so as to
appear strange and eccentric, to those who cannot understand the reasons of
your conduct.
2 If you have much of the Spirit of God, it is not
unlikely you will be thought deranged, by many. We judge men to be deranged
when they act differently from what we think to be prudent and according to
common sense, and when they come to conclusions for which we can see no good
reasons. Paul was accused of being deranged by those who did not understand the
views of things under which he acted. No doubt Festus thought the man was
crazy, and that much learning had made him mad. But Paul said, “I am not mad,
most noble Festus.” His conduct was so strange, so novel, that Festus thought
it must be insanity. But the truth was, he only saw the subject so clearly that
he threw his whole soul into it. They were entirely in the dark in respect to
the motive by which he was actuated. This is by no means uncommon. Multitudes
have appeared to those who had no spirituality as if they were deranged. Yet they
saw good reasons for doing as they did. God was leading their minds to act in
such a way that those who were not spiritual could not see the reasons. You
must make up your mind to this, and so much the more, as you live more above
the world and walk with God.
3. If you have the Spirit of God, you must expect to
feel great distress in view of the church and the world. Some spiritual
epicures ask for the Spirit because they think it will make them so perfectly
happy. Some people think that spiritual Christians are always very happy and
free from sorrow.
There never was a greater mistake. Read your Bibles,
and see how the prophets and apostles were always groaning and distressed in
view of the state of the church and the world. The apostle Paul says he was always
bearing about in his 110body the dying of
the Lord Jesus. I protest, says he, that I die daily. You will know what it is
to sympathize with the Lord Jesus Christ, and be baptized with the baptism that
he was baptized with. Oh how he agonized in view of the state of sinners! how
he travailed in soul for their salvation! The more you have of his Spirit, the
more clearly you will see the state of sinners, and the more deeply you will be
distressed about them. Many times you will feel as if you could not live in
view of their situation; your distress will be unutterable. Paul says, Rom ix:
1-3: “I say the truth in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing me
witness in the Holy Ghost, that I have great heaviness and continual sorrow in
my heart. For I could wish that myself were accursed from Christ for my
brethren, my kinsmen according to the flesh.”
4. You will be often grieved with the state of the
ministry. Some years since I met a woman belonging to one of the churches in
this city. I inquired of her the state of religion here. She seemed unwilling
to say much about it, made some general remarks, and then choked, and her eyes
filled, and she said, “Oh, our minister’s mind seems to be very dark.”
Spiritual Christians often feel like this, and often weep over it. I have seen
much of it, and often found Christians who wept and groaned in secret, to see
the darkness on the minds of ministers in regard to religion, their earthliness
and fear of man; but they dared not speak of it, lest they should be denounced
and threatened, and perhaps turned out of the church. I do not say these things
censoriously, to reproach my brethren, but because they are true. And ministers
ought to know that nothing is more common than for spiritual Christians to feel
burdened and distressed at the state of the ministry. I would not wake up any
wrong feeling towards ministers, but it is time it should be known that
Christians do often get spiritual views of things, and their souls are kindled
up, and then they find that their minister does not enter into their feelings,
that he is far below the standard of what he ought to be, and in spirituality
far below some of the members of his church. This is one of the most prominent
and deeply to be deplored evils of the present day. The piety of the
ministry, though real, is so superficial, in many instances, that the
spiritual part of the church feel that ministers cannot, do not, sympathize
with them. Their preaching does not meet their wants, it does not feed them, it
does not meet their experience. The minister has not depth enough of religious
experience to know 111how to search and wake
up the church; to help those under temptation, to support the weak, to direct
the strong, and lead them through all the labyrinths and mazes with which their
path may be beset. When a minister has gone with a church as far as his
experience in spiritual exercise goes, there he stops; and until he has a
renewed experience, until he is reconverted, his heart broken up afresh, and he
set forward in the divine life and Christian experience, he will help them no
more. He may preach sound doctrine, and so may an unconverted minister; but,
after all, his preaching will want that searching pungency, that practical
bearing, that unction which alone will reach the case of a spiritually-minded
Christian. It is a fact over which the church is groaning, that the piety of
young men suffers so much in the course of their education, that when they
enter the ministry, however much intellectual furniture they may possess, they
are in a state of spiritual babyhood. They want nursing, and need rather
to be fed, than to undertake to feed the
5. If you have much of the Spirit of God, you must
make up your mind to have much opposition, both in the church and the world.
Very likely the leading men in the church will oppose you. There has always
been opposition in the church. So it was when Christ was on earth. If you are
far above their state of feeling, church members will oppose you. If any man
will live godly in Christ Jesus, he must expect persecution. Often the elders,
and even the minister, will oppose you, if you are filled with the Spirit of
God.
6. You must expect very frequent and agonizing
conflicts with Satan. Satan has very little trouble with those Christians who
are not spiritual, but lukewarm, and slothful, and worldly-minded. And such do
not understand what is said about spiritual conflicts. Perhaps they will smile
when such things are mentioned. And so the devil lets them alone. They do not
disturb him, nor he them. But spiritual Christians, he understands very well,
are doing him a vast injury, and, therefore, he sets himself against them. Such
Christians often have terrible conflicts. They have temptations that they never
thought of before, blasphemous thoughts, atheism, suggestions to do deeds of
wickedness, to destroy their own lives, and the like. And if you are spiritual,
you may expect these terrible conflicts.
7. You will have greater conflicts with yourself than
you ever thought of. You will sometimes find your own corruptions making
strange headway against the Spirit. “The flesh 112lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against the flesh.” Such a
Christian is often thrown into consternation at the power of his own
corruptions. One of the Commodores in the United States was, as I have been
told, a spiritual man; and his pastor told me he had known that man lie on the
floor and groan a great part of the night, in conflict with his own
corruptions, and to cry to God in agony that he would break the power of the
temptation. It seemed as if the devil was determined to ruin him; and his own
feelings, for the time being, was almost in league with the devil.
8. But you will have peace with God. If the church,
and sinners, and the devil oppose you, there will be one with whom you will
have peace. Let those who are called to these trials, and conflicts, and
temptations, and who groan, and pray, and weep, and break your hearts, remember
this consideration: your peace, so far as your feelings towards God are
concerned, will flow like a river.
9. You will likewise have peace of conscience, if you
are led by the Spirit. You will not be constantly goaded and kept on the rack
by a guilty conscience. Your conscience will be calm and quiet, unruffled as
the summer’s lake.
10. If filled with the Spirit, you will be useful.
You cannot help being useful. Even if you were sick and unable to go out of
your room, or to converse, and saw nobody, you would be ten times more useful
than a hundred of those common sort of Christians who have no spirituality. To
give you an idea of this, I will relate an anecdote. A pious man in the Western
part of this State was sick with a consumption. He was a poor man, and sick for
years. An unconverted merchant in the place had a kind heart, and used to send
him now and then something for his comfort, or for his family. He felt grateful
for the kindness, but could make no return, as he wanted to do. At length he
determined that the best return he could make would be to pray for his salvation;
he began to pray, and his soul kindled, and he got hold of God. There was no
revival there, but by and by, to the astonishment of every body, this merchant
came right out on the Lord’s side. The fire kindled all over the place, and a
powerful revival followed, and multitudes were converted.
This poor man lingered in this way for several years,
and died. After his death, I visited the place, and his widow put into my hands
his diary. Among other things, he says in his diary: “I am acquainted with
about thirty ministers and churches.” He then goes on to set apart certain
hours in the day and week to pray for each of these ministers 113and churches, and also certain seasons for praying
for the different missionary stations. Then followed, under different dates,
such facts as these: “To-day,” naming the date, “I have been enabled to offer
what I call the prayer of faith for the outpouring of the Spirit on —— church,
and I trust in God there will soon be a revival there.” Under another date, “I
have to-day been able to offer what I call the prayer of faith for such a
church, and trust there will soon be a revival there.” Thus he had gone over a
great number of churches, recording the fact that he had prayed for them in
faith that a revival might soon prevail among them. Of the missionary stations,
if I recollect right, he mentions in particular the mission at
11. If you are filled with the Spirit, you will not
find yourselves distressed, and galled, and worried, when people speak against
you. When I find people irritated and fretting at any little thing that touches
them, I am sure they have not the Spirit of Christ. Jesus Christ could have
everything said against him that malice could invent, and yet not be in the
least disturbed by it. If you mean to be meek under persecution, and exemplify
the temper of the Saviour, and honor religion in this way, you need to be
filled with the Spirit.
12. You will be wise in using means for the
conversion of sinners. If the Spirit of God is in you, he will lead you to 114use means wisely, in a way adapted to the end, and to
avoid doing hurt. No man who is not filled with the Spirit of God, is fit to be
employed in directing the measures adopted in a revival. Their hands will be
all thumbs, unable to take hold, and they will act as if they had not common
sense. But a man who is led by the Spirit of God, will know how to time his
measures right, and how to apportion Divine truth, so as to make it tell to the
best advantage.
13. You will be calm under affliction; not thrown
into confusion or consternation when you see the storm coming over you. People
around will be astonished at your calmness and cheerfulness under heavy trials,
not knowing the inward supports of those who are filled with the Spirit.
14. You will be resigned in death; you will always
feel prepared to die, and not afraid to die, and after death you will be
proportionably more happy for ever in heaven.
VI. Consequences of not being filled with the Spirit.
1. You will often doubt, and reasonably doubt,
whether you are Christians. You will have doubts, and you ought to have them.
The sons of God are led by the Spirit of God. And if you are not led by the
Spirit what reason have you to think you are sons? You will try to make a
little evidence go a great way to bolster up your hopes, but you cannot do it,
unless your conscience is seared as with a hot iron. You cannot help being
plunged often into painful doubt and uncertainty about your state. Rom. viii.
9.—“But ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of
God dwell in you. Now, if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of
his.” 2 Cor. xiii. 5.—“Examine yourselves whether ye be in the faith; prove
your own selves: know ye not your own selves, how that Jesus Christ is in you,
except ye be reprobate?”
2. You will always be unsettled in your views about
the prayer of faith. The prayer of faith is something so spiritual, so much a
matter of experience and not of speculation, that unless you are spiritual
yourselves, you will not understand it fully. You may talk a great deal about
the prayer of faith, and for the time get thoroughly convinced of it. But you
will never feel so settled on it as to retain the same position of mind
concerning it, and in a little while you will be all uncertainty. I knew a
curious instance in a brother minister. He told me, “When I have the Spirit of
God, and enjoy his presence, I believe firmly in the prayer of faith; but when
I have it not, I find myself doubting whether there is any such thing, and my
mind offering objections.” I know, from my 115own
experience, what this is, and when I hear persons raising objections to that
view of prayer which I have presented in these lectures, I understand very well
what their difficulty is, and have often found it impossible to satisfy their
minds, while so far from God; when at the same time they would understand it
themselves, without argument, whenever they had experienced it.
3. If you have not the Spirit, you will be very apt
to stumble at those who have. You will doubt the propriety of their conduct. If
they seem to feel a good deal more than yourself, you will be likely to call it
animal feeling. You will perhaps doubt their sincerity when they say they have
such feelings. You will say, “I do not know what to make of brother such-a-one;
he seems to be very pious, but I do not understand him, I think he has a great
deal of animal feeling.” Thus you will be trying to censure them, for the
purpose of justifying yourself.
4. You will be had in reputation with the impenitent,
and with carnal professors. They will praise you, as a rational, orthodox,
consistent Christian. You will be just in the frame of mind to walk with them,
because you are agreed.
5. You will be much troubled with fears about
fanaticism. Whenever there are revivals, you will see in them a strong tendency
to fanaticism, and will be full of fears and anxiety, or rather of opposition
to them.
6. You will be much disturbed by the measures that
are used in revivals. If any measures are adopted, that are decided and direct,
you will think they are all “new,” and will be stumbled at them just in
proportion to your want of spirituality. You do not see their appropriateness.
You will stand and cavil at the measures, because you are so blind that you
cannot see their adaptedness, while all heaven is rejoicing in them as the
means of saving souls.
7. You will be a reproach to religion. The impenitent
will sometimes praise you because you are so much like themselves, and
sometimes laugh about you because you are such a hypocrite.
8. You will know but little about the Bible.
9. If you die without the Spirit, you will fall into
hell. There can be no doubt of this. Without the Spirit you will never be
prepared for heaven.
REMARKS.
1. Christians are as guilty for not having the
Spirit, as sinners are for not repenting.
116
2. They are even more so. As they have more light,
they are so much the more guilty.
3. All beings have a right to complain of Christians
who are not filled with the Spirit. You are not doing work for God, and he has
a right to complain. He has placed his Spirit at your disposal, and if you have
it not, he has a right to look to you and to hold you responsible for all the
good you might do, did you possess it. You are sinning against all heaven, for
you ought to be adding to their happy ranks. Sinners, the church, ministers,
have a right to complain.
4. You are right in the way of the work of the Lord.
It is in vain for a minister to try to work over your head. Ministers often
groan and struggle, and wear themselves out in vain, trying to do good where
there is a church who live so that they do not have the Spirit of God. If the
Spirit is poured out at any time, the church will grieve him right away. Thus
you may tie the hands and break the heart of your minister, and break him down,
and perhaps kill him, because you will not be filled with the Spirit.
5. You see the reason why Christians need the Spirit,
and the degree of their dependence. This cannot be too strongly exhibited.
6. Do not tempt God, by waiting for his Spirit, while
using no means to procure his presence.
7. If you mean to have the Spirit, you must be
childlike, and yield to his influences—just as yielding as air. If he is
drawing you to prayer, you must quit everything to yield to his gentle
strivings. No doubt you have sometimes felt a desire to pray for some object,
and you have put it off and resisted, and God left you. If you wish him to
remain, you must yield to his softest and gentlest motions, and watch to learn
what he would have you do, and yield yourself up to his guidance.
8. Christians ought to be willing to make any
sacrifice to enjoy the presence of the Spirit. Said a woman in high life, a
professor of religion, “I must either give up hearing such a minister (naming
him) preach, or I must give up my gay company.” She gave up the preaching and
staid away. How different from another case!
A woman in the same rank of life heard the same
minister preach, and went home resolved to abandon her gay and worldly manner
of life—dismissed most of her attendants—changed her whole mode of dress, of
equipage, of living, and of conversation; so that her gay and worldly friends
were soon willing to leave her to the enjoyment of communion with God, and free
to spend her time in doing good.
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9. You see from this, that it must be very difficult
for those in fashionable life to go to heaven. What a calamity to be in such
circles! Who can enjoy the presence of God in them?
10. See how crazy those are who are scrambling to get
up to these circles, enlarging their houses, changing their style of living,
furniture, etc. It is like climbing up mast-head to be thrown off into the
ocean. To enjoy God, you must come down, not go up there. God is not there,
among all the starch and flattery of high life.
11. Many professors of religion are as ignorant of
spirituality as Nicodemus was of the new birth. They are ignorant, and I fear
unconverted. If any body talks to them about the spirit of prayer, it is all
algebra to them. The case of such professors is awful. How different was the character
of the apostles! Read the history of their lives, read their letters, and you
will see that they were always spiritual, and walked daily with God. But now
how little is there of such religion! “When the Son of Man cometh, will he find
faith on the earth?” Set some of these professors to work in a revival, and
they do not know what to do, have no energy, no skill, and make no impression.
When will professors of religion set themselves to work, filled with the
Spirit? If I could see this church filled with the Spirit, I would ask nothing
more to move this whole mighty mass of minds. Not two weeks would pass before
the revival would spread all over this city.
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LECTURE VIII.
MEETINGS FOR PRAYER.
Text.—“Again I say unto you, That if two of you
shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be
done for them of my Father which is in heaven.”—Matthew xviii. 19.
HITHERTO, in treating of the subject of Prayer, I have confined my remarks to
secret prayer. I am now to speak of social prayer, or prayer offered in
company, where two or more are united in praying. Such meetings have been
common from the time of Christ, and even hundreds of years before. And it is
probable that God’s people have always been in the habit of making united supplication,
whenever they had the privilege. The propriety of the practice will not be
questioned here. I need not dwell now on the duty of social prayer. Nor is it
my design to discuss the question, whether any two Christians agreeing to ask
any blessing, will be sure to obtain it. My object is to make some remarks on
MEETINGS FOR PRAYER.
I. The design of Prayer Meetings.
II. The manner of conducting them.
III. Mention several things that will defeat the
design of holding them.
I. THE DESIGN OF PRAYER MEETINGS.
1. One design of assembling several persons together
for united prayer, is to promote union among Christians. Nothing tends more to
cement the hearts of Christians than praying together. Never do they love one
another so well as when they witness the outpouring of each other’s hearts in
prayer. Their spirituality begets a feeling of union and confidence, highly
important to the prosperity of the church. It is doubtful whether Christians
can ever be otherwise than united, if they are in the habit of really praying
together. And where they have had hard feelings and differences among
themselves, they are all done away, by uniting in 119prayer. The great object is gained, if you can bring
them really to unite in prayer. If this can be done, the difficulties
vanish.
2. To extend the spirit of prayer. God has so
constituted us, and such is the economy of his grace, that we are sympathetic
beings, and communicate our feelings to each other. A minister, for instance,
will often as it were breathe his own feelings into his congregation. The
Spirit of God that inspires his soul, makes use of his feelings to
influence his hearers, just as much as he makes use of the words he preaches.
So he makes use of the feelings of Christians. Nothing is more calculated to
beget a spirit of prayer, than to unite in social prayer, with one who has the
spirit himself; unless this one should be so far ahead that his prayer will
repel the rest. His prayer will awaken them, if they are not so far
behind as to revolt at it and resist it. If they are anywhere near the standard
of his feelings, his spirit will kindle, and burn, and spread all around. One
individual in a church, that obtains a spirit of prayer, will often arouse a
whole church, and extend the same spirit through the whole, and a general
revival follows.
3. Another grand design of social prayer, is to
move God. Not that it changes the mind and feelings of God. When we speak
of moving God, as I have said in a former lecture, we do not mean that it
alters the will of God. But when the right kind of prayer is offered by
Christians, they are in such a state of mind, that it becomes proper for God to
bestow a blessing. They are then prepared to receive it, and he gives because
he is always the same, and always ready and happy to show mercy. When
Christians are united, and praying as they ought, God opens the windows of
heaven, and pours out his blessings till there is not room to receive them.
4. Another important design of prayer meetings is the
conviction and conversion of sinners. When properly conducted, they are
eminently calculated to produce this effect. Sinners are apt to be solemn when
they hear Christians pray. Where there is a spirit of prayer, sinners must
feel. An ungodly man, a Universalist, once said respecting a certain minister,
“I can bear his preaching very well, but when he prays, I feel awfully; I feel
as if God was coming down upon me.” Sinners are often convicted by hearing
prayer. A young man of distinguished talents, known to many of you, said
concerning a certain minister to whom before his conversion he had been very
much opposed, “As soon as he began to pray, I 120began to be convicted, and if he had continued to pray much longer, I
should not have been able to contain myself.” Just as soon as Christians begin
to pray as they ought, sinners then know that they pray, and they feel awfully.
They do not understand what spirituality is, because they have no experience of
it. But when such prayer is offered, they know there is something in it; they
know God is in it, and it brings them near to God; it makes them feel awfully
solemn, and they cannot bear it. And not only is it calculated to impress the
minds of sinners, but when Christians pray in faith, the Spirit of God is
poured out, and sinners are melted down and converted on the spot.
II. THE MANNER OF CONDUCTING
PRAYER MEETINGS.
1. It is often well to open a prayer meeting by
reading a short portion of the word of God; especially if the person who takes
the lead of the meeting, can call to mind any portion that will be applicable
to the object or occasion, and that is impressive, and to the point. If he has
no passage that is applicable, he had better not read any at all. Do not drag
in the word of God to make up part of the meeting as a mere matter of form.
This is an insult to God. It is not well to read any more than is applicable to
the subject before the meeting, or the occasion. Some people think it always
necessary to read a whole chapter, though it may be ever so long, and have a
variety of subjects. It is just as impressive and judicious to read a whole
chapter, as it would be for a minister to take a whole chapter for his text,
when his object was to make some particular truth bear on the minds of his
audience. The design of a prayer meeting should be to bring Christians to the
point to pray for a definite object. Wandering over a large field, hinders and
destroys this design.
2. It is proper that the person who leads should make
some short and appropriate remarks, calculated to explain the nature of prayer,
and the encouragements we have to pray, and to bring the object to be prayed
for directly before the minds of the people.
A man can no more pray without having his thoughts
concentrated, than he can do anything else. The person leading, should therefore
see to this, by bringing up before their minds the object they came to pray
for. If they came to pray for any object he can do this. And if they did
not, they had better go home. It is of no use to stay there and mock 121God, by pretending to pray, when they have nothing on
earth to pray for.
After stating the object, he should bring up some
promise or some principle, as the ground of encouragement to expect an answer
to their prayers. If there is any indication of Providence, or any promise, or
any principle in the Divine government that affords a ground of faith, let him
call it to mind, and not let them be talking out of their own hearts at random,
without knowing any solid reason to expect an answer. One reason why prayer
meetings mostly accomplish so little, is because there is so little common
sense exercised about them. Instead of looking round for some solid footing on
which to repose their faith, they just come together and pour forth their words,
and neither know nor care whether they have any reason to expect an answer. If
they are going to pray about anything concerning which there can be any doubt
or any mistake, in regard to the ground of faith, they should be shown the
reason there is for believing that their prayers will be heard and answered. It
is easy to see, that unless something like this is done, three-fourths of them
will have no idea of what they are doing, or of the ground on which they should
expect to receive what they pray for.
3. In calling on persons to pray, it is always
desirable to let things take their own course wherever it is safe. If it can be
left so with safety, let those pray who are most inclined to pray. It sometimes
happens that even those who are ordinarily the most spiritual, and most proper
to be called on, are not at the time in a suitable frame; they may be cold and
worldly, and only freeze the meeting. But if you let those pray who desire to
pray, you avoid this. But often this cannot be done with safety, especially in
large cities, where a prayer meeting might be liable to be interrupted by those
who have no business to pray; some fanatic or crazy person, some hypocrite or
enemy, who would only make a noise. In most places, however, this course may be
taken with perfect safety. Give up the meeting to the Spirit of God, Those who
desire to pray, let them pray. If the leader sees any thing that needs to be
set right, let him remark, freely and kindly, and put it right, and then go on
again. Only, he should be careful to time his remarks, so as not to
interrupt the flow of feeling, or to chill the meeting, or turn off the minds
from the proper subject.
4. If it is necessary to name the individuals who are
to pray, it is best to call on those who are most spiritual first. And if you
do not know who they are, then those whom you would 122naturally suppose to be most alive. If they pray at
the outset, they will be likely to spread the spirit of prayer through the
meeting, and elevate the tone of the whole. Otherwise, if you call on those who
are cold and lifeless at the beginning, they will be likely to diffuse a chill
throughout the meeting. The only hope of having an efficient prayer meeting is
when at least a part of the church is spiritual, and they infuse their spirit
into the rest. This is the very reason why it is often best to let things take
their course, for then those who have the most feeling are apt to pray first,
and give character to the meeting.
5. The prayers should always be very short.
When individuals suffer themselves to pray long, they forget where they are,
that they are only the mouth of the congregation, and that the congregation
cannot be expected to sympathise with them, so as to go along and feel united
in prayer, if they are long and tedious, and go all around the world and pray
for every thing that they can think of. Commonly, those who pray long in
meeting, do it not because they have the spirit of prayer, but because
they have not. And they go round and round, not because they are full of
prayer. Some men will spin out a long prayer in telling God who and what he is,
or they exhort God to do so and so. Some pray out a whole system of divinity.
Some preach, some exhort the people, till every body wishes they would stop,
and God wishes so too, undoubtedly. They should keep to the point, and pray for
what they came to pray for, and not follow the imagination of their own foolish
hearts all over the universe.
6. Each one should pray for some one object.
It is well for every individual to have one object for prayer: two or more may
pray for the same thing, or each a separate object. If the meeting is convened
to pray for some specific thing, let them all pray for that. If its object is
more general, let them select their subjects, according as they feel interested
in them. If one feels particularly disposed to pray for the church, let him do
it. If the next feels disposed to pray for the church, he may do so too.
Perhaps the next will feel inclined to pray for sinners; for the youth; to
confess sin; let him do it, and as soon as he has got through let him stop.
Whenever a man has deep feeling, he always feels on some particular point, and
if he prays for that, he will speak out of the abundance of his heart, and then
he will naturally stop when he is done. Those who feel most, will be most ready
to confine their prayers to that point, and stop when they have done and not
pray all over the world.
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7. If in the progress of the meeting it becomes
necessary to change the object of prayer, let the man who leads state the fact,
and explain it in a few words. If the object is to pray for the church, or for
backsliders, or sinners, or the heathen, let him state it plainly, and then
turn it over and hold it up before them till he brings them to think and feel
deeply before they pray. Then state to them the grounds on which they may
repose their faith in regard to obtaining the blessings they pray for, if any
such statement is needed, and so lead them right up to the throne, and let them
take hold of the hand of God. This is according to the philosophy of the mind.
People always do it for themselves when they pray in secret, if they really
mean to pray to any purpose. And so it should be in prayer meetings.
8. It is important that the time should be fully
occupied, so as not to leave long seasons of silence. This always makes a
bad impression and chills the meeting. I know that sometimes churches have
seasons of silent prayer. But in those cases they should be specially requested
to pray in silence, so that all may know why they are silent. This often has a
most powerful effect, where a few moments are spent by a whole congregation in
silence, while all lift up their thoughts to God. This is very different from
having long intervals of silence because there is nobody to pray. Every one
feels that such a silence is like the cold damp of death over the meeting.
9. It is exceedingly important that he who leads the
meeting should press sinners who may be present to immediate repentance. He
should crowd this hard, and urge the Christians present to pray in such a way as
to make sinners feel that they are expected to repent immediately. This tends
to inspire Christians with compassion and love for souls. The remarks made to
sinners are often like pouring fire upon the hearts of Christians, to awaken
them to prayer and effort for their conversion. Let them see and feel the guilt
and danger of sinners right among them, and then they will pray.
III. I am to mention several things which may
defeat the design of a prayer meeting.
1. When there is an unhappy want of confidence in the
leader, there is no hope of any good. Whatever the cause may be, whether he is
to blame or not, the very fact that he leads the meeting will cast a damp over
it and prevent all good. I have witnessed it in churches, where there was some
offensive elder or deacon, perhaps justly offensive, and perhaps not, set to
lead the prayer meeting, and the meeting would all die under his influence. If
there is a want of confidence 124in regard to his
piety, or in his ability, or in his judgment, or in anything connected with the
meeting, everything he says or does will fall to the ground. The same thing
often takes place where the church have lost their confidence in the minister.
2. Where the leader lacks spirituality, there
will be a dryness and coldness in his remarks and prayers, and every thing will
indicate his want of unction, and his whole influence will be the very reverse
of what it ought to be. I have known churches where a prayer meeting could not
be sustained, and the reason was not obvious, but those who understood the
state of things knew that the leader was so notorious for his want of
spirituality, that he would inevitably freeze a prayer meeting to death. In
many Presbyterian churches the elders are so far from being spiritual men that
they always freeze a prayer meeting. And then they are often amazingly jealous
for their dignity, and cannot bear to have any body else lead the meeting. And
if any member that is spiritual takes the lead of a prayer meeting, they will
take him to task for it: “Why, you are not an elder, and ought not to lead a
prayer meeting in presence of an elder.” And thus they stand in the way, while
the whole church is suffering under their blighting influence.
A man who knows he is not in a spiritual frame of
mind has no business to conduct a prayer meeting; he will kill it. There are
two reasons: First, he will have no spiritual discernment, and will not
know what to do, or when to do it. A person who is spiritual can see the
movements of
125
And then, if the leader is not spiritual, he will
very likely be dull and dry in his remarks and in all his exercises. He
will read a long hymn in a dreamy manner, and then read a long passage of
Scripture, in a tone so cold and wintry that he will spread a wintry pall over
the meeting, and it will be dull as long as his cold heart is placed up in
front of the whole thing.
3. A want of suitable talents in the leader.
If he is wanting in that kind of talents which are fitted to make a meeting
useful, he will injure the meeting. If he can say nothing, or if his remarks
are so out of the way as to produce levity or contempt, or if they have nothing
in them that will impress the mind, or are not guided by good sense, or not
appropriate, he will injure the meeting. A man may be pious, but so weak that
his prayers do not edify, but rather disgust, the people present. When this is
so, he had better keep silence.
4. Sometimes the benefit of a prayer-meeting is
defeated by a bad spirit in the leader. For instance when there is a revival,
and great opposition, if a leader gets up in a prayer meeting and speaks of
instances of opposition, and comments upon them, and thus diverts the meeting
away from the object they come to pray for, he knows not what spirit he is of.
Its effect is always ruinous to a prayer meeting. Let a minister in a revival
come out and preach against the opposition, and he will infallibly destroy the
revival, and turn the hearts of Christians away from their proper object. Let
the man who is set to lead the church be careful to guard his own spirit, lest
he should mislead the church, and diffuse a wrong temper. The same will be
true, if any one who is called upon to speak or pray, introduces in his
remarks or prayers anything controversial, impertinent, unreasonable,
unscriptural, ridiculous or irrelevant. Any of these things will quench the
tender breathings of the spirit of prayer, and destroy the meeting.
5. Persons coming late to the meeting. This is
a very great hindrance to a prayer meeting. When people have begun to pray, and
their attention is fixed, and they have shut their eyes and closed their ears,
to keep out everything from their minds, in the midst of a prayer somebody will
come bolting in and walk up through the room. Some will look up, and all have
their minds interrupted for the moment. Then they all get fixed again, and
another comes in, and so on. Why, I suppose the devil would not care how many
Christians went to a prayer-meeting, if they will only go after the meeting is
begun. He would be glad to have ever so many go scattering along so, and
dodging in very piously after the meeting is begun.
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6. When persons make cold prayers, and cold
confessions of sin, they are sure to quench the spirit of prayer. When the
influences of the Spirit are enjoyed, in the midst of the warm expressions that
are flowing forth, let an individual come in who is cold, and pour his cold
breath out, like the damp of death, and it will make every Christian that has
any feeling want to get out of the meeting.
7. In some places it is common to begin a prayer
meeting by reading a long portion of Scripture. Then the deacon or elder gives
out a long hymn. Next, they sing it. Then he prays a long prayer, praying for
the Jews and the fullness of the Gentiles, and many other objects that have nothing
to do with the occasion of the meeting. After that perhaps he reads a long
extract from some book or magazine. Then they have another long hymn and
another long prayer, and then they go home. I once heard an elder say, they had
kept up a prayer meeting so many years, and yet there had been no revival in
the place. The truth was, that the officers of the church had been accustomed
to carry on the meetings in just such a dignified way, and their dignity would
not allow anything to be altered. No wonder there was no revival. Such prayer
meetings are enough to hinder a revival. And if ever so many revivals should
commence, the prayer meeting would destroy them. There was a prayer meeting
once in this city, as I have been told, where there appeared to be some
feeling, and some one proposed that they should have two or three prayers in
succession, without rising from their knees. One dignified man present opposed
it, and said that they never had done so, and he hoped there would be no
innovations. He did not approve of innovations. And that was the last of the
revival. Such persons have their prayer meetings stereotyped, and they are
determined not to turn out of their track, whether they have the blessing or
not. To allow any such thing would be a new measure, and they never like new
measures.
8. A great deal of singing often injures a
prayer meeting. The agonizing spirit of prayer does not lead people to
sing. There is a time for everything; a time to sing, and a time to pray. But
if I know what it is to travail in birth for souls, Christians never feel less
like singing, than when they have the spirit of prayer for sinners. Singing is
the natural expression of feelings that are joyful and cheerful. The spirit of
prayer is not a spirit of joy. It is a spirit of travail, and agony of soul,
supplicating and pleading with God with strong cryings, and groanings that
cannot be uttered. This is more like any 127thing
else than it is like singing. I have known states of feeling, where you could
not distress the people of God more than to begin to sing. It would be so
entirely different from their feelings. Why, if you knew your house was on
fire, would you first stop and sing a hymn before you put it out? How would it
look here in
When singing is introduced in a prayer-meeting, the
hymns should be short, and so selected as to bring out something solemn; some
striking words, such as the Judgment Hymn, and others calculated to produce an
effect on sinners; or something that will produce a deep impression on the
minds of Christians; but not that joyful kind of singing, that makes every body
feel comfortable, and turns off the mind from the object of the prayer meeting.
I once heard a celebrated organist produce a
remarkable effect in a protracted meeting. The organ was a powerful one, and
the double bass pipes were like thunder. The hymn was given out that has these
lines:
<verse> <l class="t1">See the storm of vengeance gathering</l> <l class="t2">O’er
the path you dare to tread;</l> <l class="t1">“Hear the awful thunder rolling,</l> <l class="t2">Loud
and louder o’er your head.”</l> </verse>
When he came to these words, we first heard the
distant roar of thunder, then it grew nearer and louder, till at the word
“louder,” there was a crash that seemed almost to overpower the whole
congregation.
Such things in their proper place do good. But common
singing dissipates feeling. It should always be such as not to take away feeling,
but to deepen it.
Often a prayer meeting is injured by calling on the
young 128converts to sing joyful hymns. This is highly
improper in a prayer meeting. It is no time for them to let feeling flow away
in joyful singing, while so many sinners around them, and their own former
companions, are going down to hell. A revival is often put down by the church
and minister all giving themselves up to singing with young converts. Thus by
stopping to rejoice, when they ought to feel more and more deeply for sinners,
they grieve away the Spirit of God, and they soon find that their agony and
travail of soul are all gone.
9. Introducing subjects of controversy into
prayer will defeat a prayer meeting. Nothing of a controversial nature should
be introduced into prayer, unless it is the object of the meeting to settle
that thing. Otherwise, let Christians come together in their
prayer-meetings, on the broad ground of offering united prayer for a common
object. And let controversies be settled somewhere else.
10. Great pains should be taken, both by the leader
and others, to watch narrowly the motions of the Spirit of God. Let them
not pray without the Spirit, but follow his leadings. Be sure not to quench the
Spirit for the sake of praying according to the regular custom. Avoid
everything calculated to divert attention away from the object. All affectation
of feeling that is not real, should be particularly guarded against. If there
is an affectation of feeling, most commonly others see and feel that it is
affectation, not reality. At any rate, the Spirit of God knows it, and will be
grieved, and leave the place. On the other hand, all resistance to the Spirit
will equally destroy the meeting. Not unfrequently it happens, that there are
some so cold that if any one should break out in the spirit of prayer, they
would call it fanaticism, and perhaps break out in opposition.
11. If individuals refuse to pray when they are
called on it injures a prayer meeting. There are some people, who always
pretend they have no gifts. Women sometimes refuse to take their turn in
prayer, and pretend they have no ability to pray. But if any one else should
say so, they would be offended. Suppose they should know that any other person
had made such a remark as this, “Do not ask her to pray; she cannot pray; she
has not talents enough;” would they like it? So with a man who pretends he has
no gifts, let any one else report that he has not talents enough to make a
decent prayer, and see if he will like it. The pretence is not sincere; it is all
a sham.
Some say they cannot pray in their families, they
have no gift. But a person could not offend them more than to say 129they cannot pray a decent prayer before their own
families. They would say, “Why, the man talks as if he thought nobody else had
any gifts but himself.” People are not apt to have such a low opinion of
themselves. I have often seen the curse of God follow such professors. They
have no excuse. God will take none. The man has got a tongue to talk to his
neighbors, and he can talk to God if he has any heart for it. You will see
their children unconverted, their son a curse, their daughter—tongue cannot
tell. God says he will pour out his fury on the families that call not on his
name. If I had time, I could mention a host of facts to show that God MARKS
those individuals with his disapprobation and curse who refuse to pray when
they ought. Until professors of religion will repent of this sin and take up
the cross (if they choose to call praying a cross!) and do their duty,
they need not expect a blessing.
12. Prayer meetings are often too long. They
should always be dismissed while Christians have feeling, and not be spun out
until all feeling is exhausted, and the Spirit is gone.
13. Heartless confessions. People confess their sins
and do not forsake them. Every week they will make the same confession over
again. A long, cold, dull, stupid confession this week, and then the next week
another just like it, without forsaking any sins. Why, they have no intention
to forsake their sins! It shows plainly that they do not mean to reform. All
their religion consists in these confessions. Instead of getting a blessing
from God by such confessions they will get only a curse.
14. When Christians spend all the time in praying for
themselves. They should have done this in their closets. When they come to a
prayer meeting, they should be prepared to offer effectual intercessions for
others. If Christians pray in their closets as they ought, they will feel like
praying for sinners. If they pray exclusively in their closets for
themselves, they will not get the spirit of prayer. I have known men shut
themselves up for days to pray for themselves, and never get any life, because
their prayers are all selfish. But if they will just forget themselves, and throw
their hearts abroad, and pray for others, it will wake up such a feeling, that
they can pour forth their hearts. And then they can go to work for souls. I
knew an individual in a revival, who shut himself up seventeen days, and prayed
as if he would have God come to his terms, but it would not do, and then he
went out to work, and immediately he had the Spirit of God in his soul. It is
well for Christians to pray for themselves, and confess 130their sins, and then throw their hearts abroad, till
they feel as they ought.
15. Prayer meetings are often defeated by the want
of appropriate remarks. The things are not said which are calculated to
lead them to pray. Perhaps the leader has not prepared himself; or perhaps he
has not the requisite talents, to lead the church out in prayer, or he does not
lead their minds to dwell on the appropriate topics of prayer.
16. When individuals who are justly obnoxious for any
cause, are forward in speaking and praying. Such persons are sometimes very
much set upon taking a part. They say it is their duty to get up and testify
for God on all occasions. They will say, they know they are not able to edify
the church, but nobody else can do their duty, and they wish to testify.
Perhaps the only place they ever did testify for God was in a prayer
meeting; all their lives, out of the meeting, testify against God. They had
better keep still.
17. Where persons take a part who are so illiterate
that it is impossible persons of taste should not be disgusted. Persons of
intelligence cannot follow them, and their minds are unavoidably diverted. I do
not mean that it is necessary a person should have a liberal education in order
to lead in prayer. All persons of common education, especially if they are in
the habit of praying, can lead in prayer, if they have the spirit of prayer.
But there are some persons who use such absurd and illiterate expressions, as
cannot but disgust every intelligent mind. They cannot help being disgusted.
The feeling of disgust is an involuntary thing, and when a disgusting object is
before the mind, the feeling is irresistible. Piety will not keep a person from
feeling it. The only way is to take away the object. If such persons mean to do
good, they had better remain silent, Some of them may feel grieved at not being
called to take a part. But it is better that they should be kindly told the
reason than to have the prayer meeting regularly injured, and rendered
ridiculous by their performances.
18. A want of union in prayer. When one leads the
others do not follow, but are thinking of something else. Their hearts do not
unite, do not say, Amen. It is as bad as if one should make a petition and
another remonstrate against it. One asks God to do a thing, and the others ask
him not to do it, or to do something else.
Neglect of secret prayer. Christians who do not pray
in secret, cannot unite with power in a prayer meeting, and cannot have the
spirit of prayer.
131
REMARKS.
1. An illy conducted prayer meeting often does more
hurt than good. In many churches, the general manner of conducting prayer
meetings is such that Christians have not the least idea of the design or the
power of such meetings. It is such as tends to keep down rather than to promote
pious feeling and the spirit of prayer.
2. A prayer meeting is an index to the state of
religion in a church. If the church neglect the prayer meetings, or come and
have not the spirit of prayer, you know of course that religion is low. Let me
go into the prayer meeting, and I can always see the state of religion there.
3. Every minister ought to know that if the prayer
meetings are neglected, all his labors are in vain. Unless he can get
Christians to attend the prayer meetings, all he can do will not bring up the
true religion.
4. A great responsibility rests on him who leads a
prayer meeting. If the prayer meeting be not what it ought to be, if it does
not elevate the state of religion, he should go seriously to work and see what
is the matter, and get the spirit of prayer, and prepare himself to make such
remarks as are calculated to do good and set things right. A leader has no
business to lead prayer meetings, if he is not prepared, both in head and
heart, to do this. I wish you, who lead the district prayer meetings of this
church, to notice this point.
5. Prayer meetings are the most difficult meetings to
sustain as they ought to be. They are so spiritual, that unless the leader be
peculiarly prepared, both in heart and mind, they will dwindle. It is in vain
for the leader to complain that members of the church do not attend. In nine
cases out of ten, it is the leader’s fault, that they do not attend. If he felt
as he ought, they would find the meetings so interesting, that they would
attend of course. If he is so cold, and dull, and without spirituality, as to
freeze every thing, no wonder people do not come to the meeting. Church
officers often complain and scold because people do not come to the prayer
meeting, when the truth is, they themselves are so cold that they freeze every
body to death that comes.
6. Prayer meetings are most important meetings for
the church. It is highly important for Christians to sustain the prayer
meetings:—
(1.) To promote union.
(2.) To increase brotherly love.
132
(3.) To cultivate Christian confidence.
(4.) To promote their own growth in grace.
(5.) To cherish and advance spirituality.
7. Prayer meetings should be so numerous in the
church, and be so arranged, as to exercise the gifts of every individual member
of the church—male and female. Every one should have the opportunity to pray,
and to express the feelings of his heart, if he has any. The sectional prayer
meetings of this church are designed to do this. And if they are too large for
this, let them be divided, so as to bring the entire mass into the work, to
exercise all gifts, and diffuse union, confidence, and brotherly love through
the whole.
8. It is important that impenitent sinners should
always attend prayer meetings. If none come of their own accord, go out and
invite them. Christians ought to take great pains to induce their impenitent
friends and neighbors to come to prayer meetings. They can pray better for
impenitent sinners when they have them right before their eyes. I have know
female prayer meetings exclude sinners from the meeting. And the reason was,
they were so proud they were ashamed to pray before sinners. What a spirit!
Such prayers will do no good. They insult God. You have not done enough, by any
means, when you have gone to the prayer meeting yourself. You cannot pray, if
you have invited no sinner to go. If all the church have neglected their duty
so, and have gone to the prayer meeting, and taken no sinners along with them,
no subjects of prayer—what have they come for?
9. The great object of all the means of grace is to
aim directly at the conversion of sinners. You should pray that they may be
converted there. Not pray that they may be awakened and convicted, but
pray that they may be converted on the spot. No one should either pray or make
any remarks, as if he expected a single sinner would go away without giving his
heart to God. You should all make the impression on his mind, that NOW he must
submit. And if you do this, while you are yet speaking God will hear. If
Christians make it manifest that they have really set their hearts on the
conversions of sinners, and are bent upon it, and pray as they ought, there
would rarely be a prayer meeting held without souls being converted, and
sometimes every sinner in the room. That is the very time, if ever, that
sinners should be converted in answer to those prayers. I do not doubt but that
you may have sinners converted in every sectional 133prayer meeting, if you do your duty. Take them there,
take your families, your friends, or your neighbors there with that design,
give them the proper instruction, if they need instruction, and pray for them
as you ought, and you will save their souls. Rely upon it, if you do your duty,
in a right manner, God will not keep back his blessing, and the work will be
done.
MEANS TO BE USED WITH SINNERS.
Text.—Ye are my witnesses, saith the Lord, and
my servant whom I have chosen.—Isaiah
xliii: 10.
IN the text it is affirmed of the children of God,
that they are his witnesses. In several preceding lectures I have been dwelling
on the subject of Prayer, or that department of means for the promotion of a
revival, which is intended to move God to pour out his Spirit. I am now to
commence the other department:
MEANS TO BE USED FOR THE
CONVICTION AND CONVERSION OF SINNERS.
It is true, in general, that persons are affected by
the subject of religion, in proportion to their conviction of its truth.
Inattention to religion is the great reason why so little is felt concerning
it. No being can look at the great truths of religion, as truths, and
not feel deeply concerning them. The devil cannot. He believes and trembles.
Angels in heaven feel in view of these things. God feels. An intellectual conviction
of truth is always accompanied with feeling of some kind.
One grand design of God in leaving Christians in the
world after their conversion, is that they may be witnesses for God. It
is that they may call the attention of the thoughtless multitude to the
subject, and make them see the difference in the character and destiny of those
who believe and those who reject the Gospel. This inattention is the grand
difficulty in the way of promoting religion. And what the Spirit of God does is
to awaken the attention of men to the subject of their sin and the plan of
salvation. Miracles have sometimes been employed to arrest the attention of
sinners. And in this way, miracles may become instrumental in conversion,
although conversion is not itself a miracle, nor do miracles themselves ever
convert any body. They may be the means of awakening. Miracles are not always
effectual even in that. And if continued or made common, they would soon lose
their power. What is wanted in the world is something that can be a sort 135of omnipresent miracle, able not only to arrest
attention but to fix it, and keep the mind in warm contact with the truth, till
it yields.
Hence we see why God has scattered his children
everywhere, in families and among the nations. He never would suffer them to be
all together in one place, however agreeable it might be to their feelings. He
wishes them scattered. When the church at Jerusalem herded together, neglecting
to go forth as Christ had commanded, to spread the Gospel all over the world,
God let loose a persecution upon them and scattered them abroad, and then “they
went every where preaching the Gospel.” In examining the text, I propose to
inquire.
I. To what particular points Christians are to
testify for God.
II. The manner in which they are to testify.
I. To what points are the children of God required to
testify?
Generally,
they are to testify to the truth of the Bible. They are competent witnesses to
this, for they have experience of its truth. The experimental Christian has no
more need of external evidence to prove the truth of the Bible to his mind,
than he has to prove his own existence. The whole plan of salvation is so fully
spread out and settled in his conviction, that to undertake to reason him out
of his belief in the Bible would be a thing as impracticable as to reason him
out of the belief in his own existence. Men have tried to awaken a doubt of the
existence of the material world. But they cannot succeed. No man can doubt the
existence of a material world. To doubt it, is against his own consciousness.
You may use arguments that he cannot answer, and may puzzle and perplex him,
and shut up his mouth; he may be no logician or philosopher, and unable to
detect your fallacies. But what he knows he knows.
So it is in religion. The Christian is conscious that
the Bible is true. The veriest child in religion knows by his experience the
truth of the Bible. He may hear objections from infidels, that he never thought
of, and that he cannot answer, and he may be confounded, but he cannot be
driven from his ground. He will say, “I cannot answer you, but I know the Bible
is true.”
As if a man should look in a mirror, and say, “That’s
my face.” How do you know it is your face? “Why, by its looks.” So when a
Christian sees himself drawn and pictured forth in the Bible, he sees the
likeness to be so exact, that he 136knows
it is true. But more particularly, Christians are to testify—
1. To the immortality of the soul. This is clearly
revealed in the Bible.
2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of all earthly
good.
3. The satisfying nature and glorious sufficiency of
religion.
4. The guilt and danger of sinners. On this point
they can speak from experience as well as the word of God. They have seen their
own sins, and they understand more of the nature of sin, and the guilt and
danger of sinners.
5. The reality of hell, as a place of eternal
punishment for the wicked.
6. The love of Christ for sinners.
7. The necessity of a holy life, if we think of ever
getting to heaven.
8. The necessity of self-denial, and living above the
world.
9. The necessity of meekness, heavenly-mindedness,
humility, and integrity.
10. The necessity of an entire renovation of
character and life, for all who would enter heaven. These are the subjects on
which they are to be witnesses for God. And they are bound to testify in such a
way as to constrain men to believe the truth.
II. How are they to testify?
By precept and example, on every proper
occasion, by their lips, but mainly by their lives. Christians have no right to
be silent with their lips; they should rebuke, exhort, and entreat with all
long-suffering and doctrine. But their main influence as witnesses is by their
example.
They are required to be witnesses in this way,
because example teaches with so much greater force than precept. This is
universally known. Actions speak louder than words. But where both precept and
example are brought to bear, it brings the greatest amount of influence to bear
upon the mind. As to the manner in which they are to testify; the way in which
they should bear witness to the truth of the points specified; in general—they
should live in their daily walk and conversation, as if they believed the
Bible.
1. As if they believed the soul to be immortal, and
as if they believed that death was not the termination of their existence, but
the entrance into an unchanging state. They ought to live so as to make this
impression full upon all around them. It is easy to see that precept without
example on this point will do no good. All the arguments in the world will not
convince mankind that you really believe this, unless you live as if you 137believed it. Your reasoning may be unanswerable, but
if you do not live accordingly, your practice will defeat your arguments. They
will say you are an ingenious sophist, or an acute reasoner, and perhaps admit
that they cannot answer you; but then they will say, it is evident that your
reasoning is all false, and that you know it is false, because your life
contradicts your theory. Or that, if it is true, you do not believe it, at any
rate. And so all the influence of your testimony goes to the other side.
2. The vanity and unsatisfying nature of the things
of this world. You are to testify this by your life. The failure in this is the
great stumbling block in the way of mankind. Here the testimony of God’s
children is needed more than any where else. Men are so struck with the objects
of sense, and so constantly occupied with them, that they are very apt to shut
out eternity from their minds. A small object, that is held close to the eye,
may shut out the distant ocean. So the things of the world, that are near,
magnify so in their minds, that they overlook every thing else. One important
design in keeping Christians in the world is to teach people on this point,
practically, not to labor for the meat that perisheth. But suppose professors
of religion teach the vanity of earthly things by precept, and contradict it in
practice. Suppose the women are just as fond of dress, and just as particular
in observing all the fashions, and the men as eager to have fine houses and
equipage, as the people of the world. Who does not see that it would be quite
ridiculous for them to testify with their lips, that this world is all vanity,
and its joys unsatisfying and empty? People feel this absurdity, and it is this
that shuts up the lips of Christians. They are ashamed to speak to their
neighbors, while they cumber themselves with these gewgaws, because their daily
conduct testifies to every body the very reverse. How it would look for some of
the church members in this city, male or female, to go about among the common
people, and talk to them about the vanity of the world! Who would believe what
they say?
3. The satisfying nature of religion. Christians are
bound to show by their conduct, that they are actually satisfied with
the enjoyments of religion, without the pomps and vanities of the world; that the
joys of religion and communion with God keep them above the world. They are to
manifest that this world is not their home. Their profession is, that heaven is
a reality, and that they expect to dwell there for ever. But suppose they
contradict this by their conduct, and live in such a way as to prove that they
cannot be happy unless they have a 138full
share of the fashion and show of the world, and that as for going to heaven,
they had much rather remain on earth, than to die and go there! What do the world
think, when they see a profession of religion just as much afraid to die as an
infidel? Such Christians perjure themselves—they swear to a lie, for they
testify that there is nothing in religion for which a person can afford to live
above the world.
4. The guilt and danger of sinners. Christians are
bound to warn sinners of their awful condition, and exhort them to flee from
the wrath to come, and lay hold on everlasting life. But who does not know that
the manner of doing this is every thing? Sinners are often struck under
conviction by the very manner of doing a thing. There was a man once very much
opposed to a certain preacher. On being asked to specify some reason, he
replied, “I cannot bear to hear him, for he says the word HELL in such a way that
it rings in my ears a long time afterwards.” He was displeased with the very
thing that constituted the power of speaking that word. The manner may be such
as to convey an idea directly opposite to the meaning of the words. A man may
tell you that your house is on fire in such a way as to make directly
the opposite impression, and you will take for granted that it is not your
house that is on fire. The watchman might sing out FIRE, FIRE, in such a way that every body would think he was
either asleep or drunk. A certain manner is so usually connected with the
announcement of certain things that they cannot be expressed without that
manner. The words themselves never alone convey the meaning, because the idea
can only be fully expressed by a particular manner of speaking. Go to a sinner,
and talk with him about his guilt and danger; and if in your manner you make an
impression that does not correspond, you in effect bear testimony the other
way, and tell him he is in no danger of hell. If the sinner believes at all
that he is in danger of hell, it is wholly on other grounds than your saying
so. If you live in such a way as to show that you do not feel compassion for
sinners around you; if you show no tenderness, by your eyes, your features,
your voice; if your manner is not solemn and earnest, how can they believe you
are sincere?
Woman, suppose you tell your converted husband, in an
easy, laughing way, “My dear, I believe you are going to hell;” will he believe
you? If your life is gay and trifling, you show that either you do not believe
there is a hell, or that you wish to have him go there, and are trying to keep
off every serious impression from his mind. Have you children 139that are unconverted? Suppose you never say any thing
to them about religion, or when you do talk to them it is in such a cold, hard,
dry way as shows you have no feeling; do you suppose they believe you? They
don’t see the same coldness in you in regard to other things. They are in the
habit of seeing all the mother in your eye, and in the tones of your voice,
your emphasis, and the like, and feeling the warmth of a mother’s heart as it
flows out from your lips on all that concerns them. If, then, when you talk to
them on the subject of religion, you are cold and trifling, can they suppose
you believe it? If your deportment holds up before your child this careless,
heartless, prayerless spirit, and then you talk to him about the importance of
religion, the child will go away and laugh, to think you should try to persuade
him there is a hell.
5. The love of Christ. You are to bear witness to the
reality of the love of Christ, by the regard you show for his precepts, his
honor, his kingdom. You should act as if you believed that he died for the sins
of the whole world, and as if you blamed sinners for rejecting his great
salvation. This is the only legitimate way in which you can impress sinners
with the love of Christ. Christians, instead of this, often live so as to make
the impression on sinners that Christ is so compassionate that they have very
little to fear from him. I have been amazed to see how a certain class of
professors want ministers to be always preaching about the love of
Christ. If a minister preaches up duty, and urges Christians to be holy, and to
labor for Christ, they call it all legal preaching. They say they want to hear
the Gospel. Well, suppose you present the love of Christ. How will they bear
testimony in their lives? How will they show that they believe it? Why, by
conformity to the world, they will testify point blank, that they do not
believe a word of it, and that they care nothing at all for the love of Christ,
only to have it for a cloak, that they can talk about it, and so cover up their
sins. They have no sympathy with his compassion, and no belief in it as a reality,
and no concern for the feelings of Christ, which fill his mind when he sees the
condition of sinners.
6. The necessity of holiness in order to enter
heaven. It will not do to depend on talking about this. They must live holy,
and thus testify that men need not expect to be saved, unless they are holy.
The idea has so long prevailed that we cannot be perfect here, that many
professors do not so much as seriously aim at a sinless life. They cannot
honestly say that 140they ever so much as
really meant to live without sin. They drift along before the tide, in a loose,
sinful, unhappy and abominable manner, at which, doubtless, the devil laughs,
because it is, of all others, the surest way to hell.
7. The necessity of self-denial, humility, and
heavenly-mindedness. Christians ought to show by their own example what the
religion is which is expected of men. That is the most powerful preaching,
after all, and the most likely to have influence on the impenitent, by showing
them the great difference between them and Christians. Many people are
trying to make men Christians by a different course, by copying as near as
possible their present manner of life, and conforming to them as much as will
possibly do. They seem to think they can make men fall in with religion best by
bringing religion down to their standard. As if the nearer you bring religion
to the world, the more likely the world would be to embrace it. Now all this is
as wide as the poles from the true philosophy of making Christians. But it is
always the policy of carnal professors. And they think they are displaying
wonderful sagacity and prudence by taking so much pains not to scare people at
the mighty strictness and holiness of the Gospel. They argue that if you
exhibit religion to mankind as requiring such a great change in their manner of
life, such innovations upon their habits, such a separation from their old
associates, why, you will drive them all away. This seems plausible at first
sight. But it is not true. Let professors live in this lax and easy way, and
sinners say, “Why, I do not see but I am about right, or at least so near
right, that it is impossible God should send me to hell for the difference
between me and these professors. It is true, they do a little more than I do,
they go to the communion table, and pray in their families, and a few such like
little things, but they cannot make any such great difference as heaven and
hell.” No, the true way is, to exhibit religion and the world in strong
contrast, or you never can make sinners feel the necessity of a change. Until
the necessity of this fundamental change is embodied and held forth in a strong
light by example, how can you make men believe they are going to be sent to
hell if they are not wholly transformed in heart and life?
This is not only true in philosophy, but it has been
proved by the history of the world. Look at the missions of the Jesuits in
8. Meekness, humility, and heavenly-mindedness. The
people of God should always show a temper like the Son of God, who when he was
reviled, reviled not again. If a professor of religion is irritable, and ready
to resent an injury, and fly in a passion, and take the same measures as the
world do to get redress, by going to law and the like, how is he to make people
believe there is any reality in a change of heart? They cannot recommend
religion while they have such a spirit. If you are in the habit of resenting
injurious conduct; if you do not bear it meekly, and put the best construction
that can be on it, you contradict the Gospel. Some people always show a bad
spirit, ever ready to put the worst construction on what is done, and take fire
at any little thing. This shows a great want of that charity which “hopeth all
things, believeth all things, endureth all things,” But if a man 142always shows meekness under injuries, it will
confound gainsaying. Nothing makes so solemn an impression upon sinners, and
bears down with such a tremendous weight on their consciences, as to see a
Christian, Christ-like bearing affronts and injuries with the meekness of a
lamb. It cuts like a two-edged sword.
I will mention a case to show this. A young man
abused a minister to his face, and reviled him in an unprecedented manner. The
minister possessed his soul in patience, and spoke mildly in reply, telling him
the truth pointedly, but yet in a very kind manner. This only made him the more
angry, and at length he went away in a rage, declaring that he was not going to
stay and bear this vituperation. As if it was the minister, instead of himself,
that had been scolding. The sinner went away, but with the arrows of the
Almighty in his heart, and in less than half an hour he followed the minister
to his lodgings in intolerable agony, wept, and begged forgiveness, and broke
down before God, and yielded up his heart to Christ. This calm and mild manner
was more overwhelming to him than a thousand arguments. Now if that minister
had been thrown off his guard, and answered harshly, no doubt he would have
ruined the soul of that young man. How many of you have defeated every future
effort you may make with your impenitent friends or neighbors, in some such way
as this. On some occasion you have showed yourself so irascible, that you have
sealed up your own lips, and laid a stumbling block over which that sinner will
stumble into hell. If you have done it in any instance, do not sleep till you
have done all you can to retrieve the mischief; till you have confessed the sin
and done every thing to counteract it as far as possible.
9. The necessity of entire honesty in a Christian. Oh
what a field opens here for remark! But I cannot go over it fully now. It
extends to all the departments of life. Christians need to show the strictest
regard to integrity in every department of business, and in all their
intercourse with their fellow-men. If every Christian would pay a scrupulous
regard to honesty, and always be conscientious to do exactly right, it would
make a powerful impression on the minds of people of the reality of religious
principle.
A lady was once buying some eggs in a store, and the
clerk made a miscount and gave her one more than the number. She saw it at the
time, but said nothing, and after she got home it troubled her. She felt that
she had acted wrong, soon hurried back to the young man and confessed it and 143paid the difference. The impression of her
conscientious integrity went to his heart like a sword. It was a great sin in
her to conceal the miscount, because the temptation was so small; for if she
would cheat him out of an egg, it showed that she would cheat him out of his
whole store, if she could do it and not be found out. But her prompt and humble
confession showed an honest conscience.
I am happy to say, there are some men who deal on
this principle of integrity. And the wicked hate them for it. They rail against
them, and vociferate in bar-rooms, that they never will buy goods of such and
such individuals, that such a hypocrite shall never touch a dollar of their
money, and all that, and then they will go right away and buy of them, because
they know they shall be honestly dealt with. This is a testimony to the truth
of religion, that is heard from
And if Christians will do the same in politics,
they will sway the destinies of nations, without involving themselves at all in
the base and corrupting strife of parties. Only let Christians generally
determine to vote for no man for any office, that is not an honest man and a
man of pure morals, and let it be known that Christians are united in this,
whatever may be their difference in political sentiments, and no man would be
put up who is not such a character. In three years it would be talked about in
taverns and published in newspapers, when any man is set up as a candidate for
office, “What a good man he is, how moral, how pious!” and the like. And any
political party would no more set up a known Sabbath-breaker, or a gambler, or
a profane swearer, or a whoremonger, or a rum-seller, as their candidate for
office, than they would set up the devil himself for president. The carnal
policy of many professors, who undertake to correct politics by such means as
wicked men employ, and who are 144determined to
vote with a party, let the candidate be ever so profligate, is all wrong—wrong
in principle, contrary to philosophy and common sense, and ruinous to the best
interests of mankind. The dishonesty of the church is cursing the world. I am
not going to preach a political sermon, I assure you. But I want to show you,
that if you mean in impress men favorably to your religion by your lives, you
must be honest, strictly honest, in business, politics, and every thing you do.
What do you suppose those ungodly politicians, who know themselves to be
playing a dishonest game in carrying an election, think of your religion when
they see you uniting with them? They know you are a hypocrite!
REMARKS.
1. It is unreasonable for professors of religion to
wonder at the thoughtlessness of sinners.—Every thing considered, the
carelessness of sinners is not wonderful. We are affected by testimony, and
only by that testimony which is received by our minds. Sinners are so taken up
with business, pleasure, and the things of the world, that they will not
examine the Bible to find out what religion is. Their feelings are excited only
on worldly subjects, because these only are brought into warm contact with
their minds. The things of the world make therefore a strong impression. But
there is so little to make an impression on their minds in respect to eternity,
and to bring religion home to them, that they do not feel on the subject. If
they examined the subject they would feel. But they do not examine it, nor
think upon it, nor care for it. And they never will, unless God’s witnesses
rise up and testify. But inasmuch as the great body of Christians in fact live
so as to testify on the other side by their conduct, how can we expect
that sinners will feel right on the subject? Nearly all the testimony and all
the influence that comes to their minds tends to make them feel the other way.
God has left his cause here before the human race, and left his witnesses to
testify in his behalf, and behold, they turn round and testify the other way!
Is it any wonder that sinners are careless?
2. We see why it is that preaching does so little
good; and how it is that so many sinners get Gospel-hardened. Sinners that live
under the Gospel are often supposed to be Gospel-hardened; but only let the
church wake up, and act consistently, and they will feel. If the church were to
live only one week as if they believed the Bible, sinners 145would melt down before them. Suppose I were a lawyer,
and should go into court and spread out my client’s case, the issue is joined,
and I make my statements, and tell what I expect to prove, and then call in my
witnesses. The first witness takes his oath, and then rises up and contradicts
me to my face. What good will all my pleading do? I might address the jury a
month, and be as eloquent as
Yet there are ministers who will go on in this way
for years, preaching over the heads of such a people, that by their lives
contradict every word they say, and they think it their duty to do so. Duty! To
preach to a church that are undoing all his work, and contradicting all his
testimony, and that will not alter! No. Let him shake off the dust from his
feet for a testimony, and go to the heathen, or to the new settlements. The man
is wasting his energies, and wearing out his life, and just rocking the cradle
for a sleepy church, all testifying to sinners, there is no danger. Their whole
lives are a practical testimony that the Bible is not true. Shall ministers
continue to wear themselves out so? Probably not less than
ninety-nine-hundredths of the preaching in this country is lost, because it is
contradicted by the church. Not one truth in a hundred that is preached takes
effect, because the lives of professors testify that it is not so.
3. It is evident that the standard of Christian
living must be raised, or the world will never be converted. If we had as many
church members now as there are families, and scattered all over the world, and
a minister to every five hundred souls, and every child in a Sabbath-school,
and every young person in a Bible-class, you would have all the machinery you want,
but if the church contradict the truth by their lives, it never would produce a
revival.
146
They never will have a revival in any place while the
whole church in effect testify against the minister. Often it is the case that
where there is the most preaching, there is the least religion, because the
church contradict the preaching. I never knew means fail of a revival where
Christians live consistently. One of the first things is to raise the standard
of religion, so as to embody and hang out in the sight of all men, the truth of
the Gospel. Unless ministers can get the church to wake up and act as if
religion was true, and back their testimony by their lives, in vain will they
attempt to promote a revival.
Many churches are depending on their minister to do
everything. When he preaches, they will say, “What a great sermon that was.
He’s an excellent minister. Such preaching must do good. We shall have a
revival soon, I do not doubt.” And all the while they are contradicting the
preaching by their lives. I tell you, if they are depending on preaching alone
to carry on the work, they must fail. If Jesus Christ were to come and preach,
and the church contradict it, he would fail. It has been tried once. Let an
apostle rise from the dead, or an angel come down from heaven and preach,
without the church to witness for God, and it would have no effect. The novelty
might produce a certain kind of effect for a time, but as soon as the novelty
was gone, the preaching would have no saving effect, while contradicted by the
witnesses.
4. Every Christian makes an impression by his
conduct, and witnesses either for one side or the other. His looks, dress,
whole demeanor, make a constant impression on one side or the other. He cannot
help testifying for or against religion. He is either gathering with Christ, or
scattering abroad. Every step you take, you tread on chords that will vibrate
to all eternity. Every time you move, you touch keys whose sound will re-echo
over all the hills and dales in heaven, and through all the dark caverns and
vaults of hell. Every movement of your lives, you are exerting a tremendous
influence, that will tell on the immortal interests of souls all around you.
Are you asleep, while all your conduct is exerting such an influence?
Are you going to walk in the street? Take care how
you dress. What is that on your head? What does that gaudy ribbon, and those
ornaments upon your dress, say to every one that meets you? It makes the
impression that you wish to be thought pretty. Take care! You might just as
well write on your clothes, “NO TRUTH IN RELIGION.” It 147says, “GIVE ME DRESS, GIVE ME FASHION, GIVE ME
FLATTERY, AND I AM HAPPY.” The world understand this testimony as you walk the
streets. You are “living epistles, known and read of all men.” If you show
pride, levity, bad temper, and the like, it is like tearing open the wounds of
the Saviour. How Christ might weep to see professors of religion going about
hanging up his cause to contempt at the comers of streets. Only “let the women
adorn themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and sobriety, not with
broidered hair, or gold, or pearls, or costly array, but (which becometh women
professing godliness) with good works;” only let them act consistently, and
their conduct will tell on the world, heaven will rejoice and hell groan at
their influence. But oh, let them display vanity, try to be pretty, bow down to
the goddess of fashion, fill their ears with ornaments, and their fingers with
rings. Let them put feathers in their hats, and clasps upon their arms, lace
themselves up till they can hardly breathe. Let them put on their “round tires
and walk mincing as they go,” and their influence is reversed. Heaven puts on
the robes of mourning, and hell may hold a jubilee.
5. It is easy to see why revivals do not prevail in a
great city. How can they? Just look at God’s witnesses, and see what they are
testifying to. They seem to be agreed together to tempt the Spirit of the Lord,
and lie to the Holy Ghost. They make their vows to God, to consecrate
themselves wholly to him, and then go bowing down at the shrine of fashion, and
then wonder there are no revivals. It would be more than a miracle to have a
revival under such circumstances. How can a revival prevail in this church? Do
you suppose I have such a vain imagination of my own ability, as to think I can
promote a revival by preaching over your heads, while you live on as some of
you do? Do you not know that so far as your influence goes, many of you are
right in the way of a revival? Your spirit and deportment produce an influence
on the world against religion. How shall the world believe religion, when the
witnesses are not agreed among themselves? You contradict yourselves, you
contradict one another, and you contradict your minister, and the sum of the
whole testimony is, there is no need of being pious.
Do you believe the things I have been preaching are
true, or are they the ravings of a disturbed mind? If they are true, do you
recognize the fact that they have reference to you? You say, perhaps, “I
wish some of the rich churches 148could hear it!”
Why, I am not preaching to them, I am preaching to you. My responsibility is to
you, and my fruits must come from you. Now are you contradicting it? What is
the testimony on the leaf of the record that is now sealed for the judgment
concerning this day? Have you manifested a sympathy with the Son of God,
when his heart is bleeding in view of the desolations of
Finally.—I must close by remarking, that God and all moral
beings have great reason to complain of this false testimony. There is ground
to complain that God’s witnesses turn and testify point-blank against him. They
declare by their conduct that there is no truth in the Gospel. Heaven might
weep and hell rejoice to see this. Oh, how guilty! Here you are, going to the
judgment, red all over with blood. Sinners are to meet you there, those who
have seen how you live, many of them already dead, and many others you will
never see again. What an influence you have exerted! Perhaps hundreds of souls
will meet you in the judgment, and curse you (if they are allowed to speak) for
leading them to hell, by practically denying the truth of the Gospel. What will
become of this city, and of the world, when the church is united in practically
testifying that God is a liar? They testify by their lives, that if they make a
profession and live a moral life, that is religion enough. Oh, what a doctrine
of devils is that! Enough to ruin the whole human race.
TO WIN SOULS REQUIRES WISDOM.
Text.—He that winneth souls is wise.—Proverbs xi. 30.
THE most common definition of wisdom is, that it is
the choice of the best end and the selection of the most appropriate means for
the accomplishment of that end—the best adaptation of means to secure a desired
end. “He that winneth souls,” God says, “is wise.” The object of this evening’s
lecture is to direct Christians in the use of means for accomplishing their
infinitely desirable end, the salvation of souls. To-night I shall confine my
attention to the private efforts of individuals for the conversion and
salvation of men. On another occasion, perhaps I shall use the same text in
speaking of what is wise in the public preaching of the Gospel, and the labors
of ministers. In giving some directions to aid private Christians in this work,
I propose,
I. To show Christians how they should deal with careless
sinners.
II. How they should deal with awakened
sinners.
III. How they should deal with convicted
sinners.
I. The manner of dealing with careless sinners.
1. In regard to the time. It is important that
you should select a proper time to try to make a serious impression on
the mind of a careless sinner. Much depends on timing your efforts right. For
if you fail of selecting the most proper time, very probably you will be
defeated. True, you may say, it is your duty at all times to warn sinners, and
try to awaken them to think of their souls. And so it is; yet if you do not pay
due regard to the time and opportunity, your hope of success may be very
doubtful.
(1.) It is desirable, if possible, to address a
person that is careless, when he is disengaged from other employments.
In proportion as his attention is taken up with something else, it will be
difficult to awaken him to religion. People who are careless and indifferent to
religion are often offended, rather than benefited, by being called off from
important and lawful business. For instance, a minister perhaps goes to visit
the family of a merchant, or mechanic, or farmer, and finds the 150man absorbed in his business; perhaps he calls him
off from his work when it is urgent, and the man is uneasy and irritable, and
feels as if it was an intrusion. In such a case, there is little room to expect
any good. Notwithstanding it is true that religion is infinitely more important
than all his worldly business, and he ought to postpone everything to the
salvation of his soul, yet he does not feel it, for if he did he would no
longer be a careless sinner, and therefore he regards it as unjustifiable, and
gets offended. You must take him as you find him, a careless, impenitent
sinner, and deal with him accordingly. He is absorbed in other things, and very
apt to be offended if you take such a time to interfere and call his attention
to religion.
(2.) It is important to take a person, if possible,
at a time when he is not strongly excited with any other subject. If that
is the case, he is in an unfit frame to be addressed on the subject of
religion. In proportion to the strength of that excitement, would be the
probability that you would do no good. You may possibly reach him; persons have
had their minds arrested and turned to religion in the midst of a powerful
excitement on other subjects. But it is not likely.
(3.) Be sure that the person is perfectly sober.
It used to be more common that it is now for people to drink spirits every day,
and become more or less intoxicated. Precisely in proportion as they are so,
they are rendered unfit to be approached on the subject of religion. If they
have been drinking beer, or cider, or wine, so that you can smell their breath,
you may know there is but little chance of producing any lasting effect on
them. I have had professors of religion bring persons to me, pretending they
were under conviction; for you know that people in liquor are often very fond
of talking upon religion; but as soon as I came near them, so as to smell their
breath, I have asked, Why do you bring this drunken man to me? Why, they say,
he is not drunk, he has only drank a little. Well, that little has made him a
little drunk. He is drunk if you can smell his breath, The cases are
exceedingly rare where a person has been truly convicted, who had any
intoxicating liquor in him.
(4.) If possible, where you wish to converse with a
man on the subject of salvation, take him when he is in a good temper.
If you find him out of humor, very probably he will get angry and abuse you.
Better let him alone for that time, or you will be likely to quench the Spirit.
It is possible you may be able to talk in such a way as to cool his temper, but
it is not likely. The truth is, men hate God, and though their hatred may be 151dormant, it is easily excited, and if you bring God
fully before their minds when they are already excited with anger, it will be
so much the easier to arouse their enmity to open violence.
(5.) If possible, always take an opportunity to
converse with careless sinners when they are alone. Most men are too
proud to be conversed with freely respecting themselves in the presence of
others, even their own family. A man in such circumstances will brace up all
his powers to defend himself, while if he was alone he would melt down under
the truth. He will resist the truth, or try to laugh it off, for fear that if
he should manifest any feeling somebody will go and report that he is serious.
In visiting families, instead of calling the family
together at the same time to be talked to, the better way is to see them all, one
at a time. There was a case of this kind. Several young ladies, of a proud,
gay, and fashionable character, lived together in a fashionable family. Two men
were strongly desirous to get the subject of religion before them, but were at
a loss how to accomplish it, for fear they would all combine, and counteract or
resist every serious impression. At length they took this course. They called
and sent up their card to one of the young ladies by name. She came down and
they conversed with her on the subject of her salvation, and as she was alone,
she not only treated them politely, but seemed to receive the truth with
seriousness. A day or two after, they called in like manner on another, and
then another, and so on, till they had conversed with every one separately. In
a little time they were all, I believe, every one, hopefully converted. This
was as it should be, for then they could not keep each other in countenance.
And then the impression made on one was followed up with the others, so that
one was not left to exert a bad influence over the rest.
There was a pious woman who kept a boarding house for
young gentlemen; she had twenty-one or two of them in her family, and at length
she became very anxious for their salvation; she made it a subject of prayer,
but saw no seriousness among them. At length she saw that there must be
something done besides praying, and yet she did not know what to do. One
morning after breakfast, as they were retiring, she asked one of them to stop a
few minutes. She took him to her room, and conversed with him tenderly on the
subject of religion, and prayed with him. She followed up the impression made,
and pretty soon he was hopefully converted. Then there were two, and they addressed
another, and prayed with him, and soon he was prepared to join them. Then
another, 152and so on, taking one at
a time, and letting none of the rest know what was going on, so as not to alarm
them, till every one of these young men was converted to God. Now if she had
brought the subject before the whole of them together, very likely they would
have turned it all into ridicule; or perhaps they would have been offended and
left the house, and then she could have had no further influence over them. But
taking one alone, and treating him respectfully and kindly, he had no such
motive for resistance as arises out of the presence of others.
(6.) Try to seize an opportunity to converse with a
careless sinner, when the events of
(7.) Seize the earliest opportunity to
converse with those around you who are careless. Do not put it off from day to
day, thinking a better opportunity will come. You must seek an opportunity, and
if none offers make one. Appoint a time and place, and get an interview
with your friend or neighbor, where you can speak to him freely. Send him a
note, go to him on purpose, make it look like a matter of business, as if you
were in earnest in endeavoring to promote his soul’s salvation. Then he will
feel that it is a matter of importance, at least in your eyes. Follow it up
till you succeed, or become convinced nothing can now be done.
(8.) If you have any feeling for a particular
individual, take an opportunity to converse with that individual while this
feeling continues. If it is a truly benevolent feeling, you have reason to
believe the Spirit of God is moving you to desire the salvation of his soul,
and that God is ready to bless your efforts for his conversion. In such a case,
make it the subject of special and importunate prayer, and seek an early
opportunity to pour out all your heart to him and bring him to Christ.
2. In regard to the manner of doing all this.
(1.) When you approach a careless individual to
endeavor to awaken him to his soul’s concerns, be sure to treat him kindly.
Let him see that you address him, not because you seek a quarrel with
him, but because you love his soul, and desire his best good in time and
eternity. If you are harsh and overbearing in your manner, you will probably
offend him and drive him farther off from the way of life.
(2.) Be solemn. Avoid all lightness of manner
or language. Levity will produce any thing but a right impression. You ought to
feel that you are engaged in a very solemn work, 153which is going to affect the character of your friend or neighbor, and
probably determine his destiny for eternity. Who could trifle and use levity in
such circumstances if his heart was sincere?
(3.) Be respectful. Some seem to suppose it
necessary to be abrupt, and rude, and coarse in their intercourse with the
careless and impenitent. Nothing can be a greater mistake. The Apostle Paul has
given us a better rule on the subject, where he says, “Be pitiful, be
courteous, not rendering evil for evil, or railing for railing, but
contrariwise blessing.” A rude and coarse address is only calculated to give an
unfavorable opinion both of you and your religion.
(4.) Be sure to be very plain. Do not suffer
yourself to cover up any circumstance of the person’s character, and his
relations to God. Lay it all open, not for the purpose of offending or wounding
him, but because it is necessary. Before you can cure a wound, you must probe
it to the bottom. Keep back none of the truth, but let it come out plainly
before him.
(5.) Be sure to address his conscience. In
public addresses, ministers often get hold of the feelings only, and thus
awaken the mind. But in private conversation you cannot do so. You cannot pour
out the truth in an impassioned and rousing manner. And unless you address the
conscience pointedly, you get no hold of the mind at all.
(6.) Bring the great and fundamental truths to
bear upon the person’s mind. Sinners are very apt to run off upon some pretext
or some subordinate point, especially some point of sectarianism. For instance,
if the man is a Presbyterian, he will try to turn the conversation on the
points of difference between Presbyterians and Methodists. Or he will fall foul
of old school divinity. Do not yield to him, or talk with him on any such
point; it will do more hurt than good. Tell him the present business is to save
his soul, and not to settle controverted questions in theology. Hold him to the
great fundamental points, by which he must be saved or lost.
(7.) Be very patient. If he has a real
difficulty in his mind, be very patient till you find out what it is, and then
clear it up. If what he alleges is a mere cavil, make him see that it is a
cavil. Do not try to answer it by argument, but show him that he is not sincere
in advancing it. It is not worth while to spend your time in arguing against a
cavil, but make him feel that he is committing sin to plead it, and thus enlist
his conscience on your side.
(8.) Be careful to guard your own spirit.
There are many 154people who have not good
temper enough to converse with those who are much opposed to religion. And such
a person wants no better triumph than to see you angry. He will go away
exulting because he has made one of these saints mad.
(9.) If the sinner is inclined to intrench himself
against God, be careful not to take his part in anything. If he says he
cannot do his duty, do not take sides with him, or say any thing to countenance
his falsehood. Do not tell him he cannot, or help him maintain himself in the
controversy against his Maker. Sometimes a careless sinner will go to finding
fault with Christians. Do not take his part or side with him against
Christians. Just tell him he has not got their sins to answer for, and he had
better see to his own concerns. If you fall in with him, he feels that he has
you on his side. Show him that it is a censorious and wicked spirit that
prompts him to make these remarks, and not a regard for the honor of religion
or the laws of Jesus Christ.
(10.) Bring up the individual’s particular sins.
Talking in general terms against sin will produce no results. You must make a
man feel that you mean him. A minister who cannot make his hearers feel
that he means them, cannot expect to accomplish much. Some people are very
careful to avoid mentioning the particular sins of which they know the
individual to be guilty, for fear of hurting his feelings. This is wrong. If
you know his history, bring up his particular sins, kindly but plainly, not to
give offence, but to awaken conscience, and give full force to the truth.
(11.) It is generally best to be short, and
not spin out what we have to say. Get the attention as soon as you can to the
very point, say a few things and press them home, and bring the matter to an
issue. If possible, get them to repent and give themselves to Christ at the
time. This is the proper issue. Carefully avoid making an impression that you
do not expect them to repent NOW.
(12.) If possible, when you converse with sinners, be
sure to pray with them. If you converse with them, and leave them without
praying, you leave your work undone.
II. The manner of dealing with awakened sinners.
1. You should be careful to distinguish between an awakened
sinner, and one who is under conviction. When you find a person who feels a
little on the subject of religion, do not take it for granted that he is convicted
of sin, and thus omit to use means to show him his sin. Persons are often awakened
by some providential circumstance, as sickness, a thunderstorm, pestilence,
death in the family, disappointment, 155or
the like, or by the Spirit of God, so that their ears are open, and they are
ready to hear on the subject of religion with attention and seriousness, and
some feeling. If you find a person awakened, no matter by what means, lose no
time in pouring light upon his mind, Do not be afraid, but show him the breadth
of the Divine law, and the exceeding strictness of its precepts. Make him see
how it condemns his thoughts and life. Search out his heart, find what is
there, and bring it up before his mind, as far as you can. If possible, melt
him down on the spot. When once you have got a sinner’s attention, very often
his conviction and conversion is the work of a few moments. You can sometimes
do more in five minutes, than in years or a whole life while he is careless or
indifferent.
I have been amazed at the conduct of those cruel
parents, and other heads of families, who will let an awakened sinner be in
their families for days and weeks, and not say a word to him on the subject.
Why, they say, if the Spirit of God has begun a work in him, he will certainly
carry it on! Perhaps the person is anxious to converse, and puts himself in the
way of Christians, as often as possible, expecting they will converse with him,
and they do not say a word. Amazing! Such a person ought to be looked out
immediately, as soon as he is awakened, and let a blaze of light be poured into
his mind without delay. Whenever you have reason to believe that a person
within your reach is awakened, do not sleep till you have poured in the light
upon his mind, and tried to bring him to immediate repentance. Then is the time
to press the subject with effect. If that favorable moment is lost, it can
never be recovered.
I have often seen Christians in revivals, who were constantly on the look-out to see if any persons appeared to be