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diff --git a/old/65115-h/65115-h.htm b/old/65115-h/65115-h.htm deleted file mode 100644 index ae0b52d..0000000 --- a/old/65115-h/65115-h.htm +++ /dev/null @@ -1,3684 +0,0 @@ -<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Strict//EN" - "http://www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-strict.dtd"> - -<html xmlns="http://www.w3.org/1999/xhtml" xml:lang="en" lang="en"> - <head> - <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /> - <title> - The Project Gutenberg eBook of - Power Through Prayer - by E. M. Bounds - </title> - - <link rel="coverpage" href="images/cover.jpg" /> - - <style type="text/css"> - - body { - margin-left: 6%; - margin-right: 7%; - font-size: 100%; - } - - p { - margin-top: .5em; - text-indent: 1em; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .5em; - line-height: 120%; - } - -h1 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: normal; - font-style: normal; - font-size: 125%; - line-height: 125%; - margin-top: 2em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - } - - h2,h3 { - text-align: center; - clear: both; - font-weight: normal; - font-style: normal; - font-size: 115%; - line-height: 115%; - margin-top: 1.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.75em; - page-break-before: avoid; - } - - hr { - margin-left: 30%; - margin-right: 30%; - margin-top: 0.5em; - margin-bottom: 0.5em; - } - - /* styles for Transcriber's Note */ - #tnote { - background-color: #EEE; - color: inherit; - margin: 1em 30%; - padding: 0.5em 1em; - border: 0.1em solid gray; - font-size: small; - } - #tnote p { - text-indent: 0; - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - margin-top: .25em; - } - - /* styles for front matter */ - .front { - margin: 2em 25%; - } - .front p { - margin-top: 1em; - margin-bottom: 1em; - text-indent: 0; - text-align: center; - line-height: 120%; - } - - /* styles for letters etc */ - .foot { - margin-top: 0.25em; - margin-bottom: 1.5em; - } - div.right1 { - padding-right: 3%; - text-align: right; - } - - /* styles for quotes */ - .quote { - margin: 1em 10%; - } - .quote p { - text-align: justify; - margin-bottom: .75em; - margin-top: .25em; - } - - /* styles for poetry */ - .poetry-container { - text-align: center; - } - .poetry { - display: inline-block; - text-align: left; - } - .poetry .verse { - font-size: 95%; - text-indent: -3em; - padding-left: 3em; - } - .poetry .indent2 { - text-indent: -2em; - } - .poetry .indent8 { - text-indent: 1em; - } - - /* style for page numbers */ - .pagenum { - position: absolute; - right: 1.5%; - font-size: small; - font-style: normal; - font-weight: normal; - text-align: right; - } - - /* style for page-breaks */ - div.chapter { page-break-before: always; } - h2.nobreak { page-break-before: avoid; } - - /* other styles */ - .center { text-indent: 0; text-align: center; } - .nodent { text-indent: 0; } - .smc { font-variant: small-caps; } - .small { font-size: small; } - .gap-above2 { margin-top: 2em; } - - </style> - </head> -<body> - -<div style='text-align:center; font-size:1.2em; font-weight:bold'>The Project Gutenberg eBook of Power Through Prayer, by Edward Bounds</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere in the United States and -most other parts of the world at no cost and with almost no restrictions -whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or re-use it under the terms -of the Project Gutenberg License included with this eBook or online -at <a href="https://www.gutenberg.org">www.gutenberg.org</a>. If you -are not located in the United States, you will have to check the laws of the -country where you are located before using this eBook. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Title: Power Through Prayer</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:1em; margin-bottom:1em; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Author: Edward Bounds</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Release Date: April 19, 2021 [eBook #65115]</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Language: English</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'>Character set encoding: UTF-8</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin-left:2em; text-indent:-2em'>Produced by: Brian Wilson, Chris Pinfield and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)</div> - -<div style='margin-top:2em; margin-bottom:4em'>*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POWER THROUGH PRAYER ***</div> - -<div id="tnote"> - -<p>Transcriber's Note:</p> - -<p>Obvious printer errors have been corrected. Hyphenation has been -rationalised.</p> - -<p>The quotations that precede each chapter have been moved to follow the -relevant chapter number.</p> - -</div> - -<div class="front"> - - <h1>POWER THROUGH - PRAYER</h1> - - <p class="small">BY<br /> - E. M. BOUNDS</p> - - <p class="smc">With Forewords by Rev. A. C. Dixon, D.D.,<br /> - and Mr. Albert A. Head.</p> - - <p class="small"><i>TWELFTH EDITION</i></p> - - <p class="small">MARSHALL BROTHERS, LTD.<br /> - <i>Publishers</i>,<br /> - LONDON, EDINBURGH & NEW YORK.</p> - - <p class="small">HUNT, BARNARD & CO., LTD.<br /> - PRINTERS,<br /> - LONDON & AYLESBURY.</p> - -</div> - - <h2>FOREWORDS</h2> - - <h3 class="smc">I<br /> - By Rev. A. C. Dixon, D.D.</h3> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">This</span> little book was given me by a friend. I -glanced through it and laid it aside, thinking that -I would read it at some convenient time, though -I had never heard of the author. But it was forgotten -till Christmas, when I received another copy as -a present from another friend. "Well," thought I, -"there must be something worth while in the little -book, or it would not have been selected as a present -by two such intelligent people." So I read at once -the first page till I came to the words: "Man is -God's method. The church is looking for better -methods; God is looking for better men." That -was enough to whet the appetite for more, and I -greedily read chapter after chapter with delight -and blessing. When the last sentence was finished -I felt that I knew more about prayer than when -I began to read, and, better than that, I felt more -like praying. Every page pulsates with the heart -and mind of a man who knows how to pray; knows -the men who have known how to pray, and is very -earnest in desiring that others should know how to -pray.</p> - -<p>His desire has been realized to some extent, in -the case of at least one, who would like to have -others share the blessing with him.</p> - -<p>The author has kindly consented to a reprint in -Great Britain.</p> - -<div class="foot"> -<div class="right1"><span class="smc">A. C. Dixon.</span></div> -</div> - - <h3 class="smc">II<br /> - By Mr. Albert A. Head.</h3> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">If</span> there is one need felt beyond another by the -members of the Church of Christ to-day, it is power -<i>in</i> prayer—desire <i>for</i> prayer—time to be devoted -<i>to</i> prayer. What a number of unions for prayer -exist already, and yet how few members continue -"instant in prayer" or "pray without ceasing." -The author of this book makes a clear diagnosis -of the case when he writes as follows:—"Never -did the cause of God need perfect illustrations of -the possibilities of prayer more than in this age. -To pray is the greatest thing we can do. We must -learn anew the work of prayer, enter anew the -school of prayer."</p> - -<p>The contents of this message upon prayer should -be read alike by preacher and teacher, evangelist -and intercessor. Its pages contain an appeal to -every "worker together with Christ," and stimulate -the desire for prayer in the varied relationships of -Christian life. The appeal deserves a wide circulation -amongst members of Prayer Circles and -Prayer Unions, and, indeed, amongst all who are -looking for a revival of true religion in our land, -and an exodus of ambassadors for Christ to heathen -and Moslem populations.</p> - -<p>I most heartily commend the reading of it, -feeling persuaded that God has given the author a -trumpet call to the Church of Christ to "arise and -pray."</p> - -<div class="foot"> -<div class="right1"><span class="smc">Albert A. Head.</span></div> -</div> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_007" id="Page_007">{7}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">I</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>Recreation to a minister must be as whetting is with the -mower—that is, to be used only so far as is necessary for -his work. May a physician in plague-time take any more -relaxation or recreation than is necessary for his life, when -so many are expecting his help in a case of life and death? -Will you stand by and see sinners gasping under the pangs -of death, and say: "God doth not require me to make myself -a drudge to save them?" Is this the voice of ministerial -or Christian compassion or rather of sensual laziness and -diabolical cruelty?</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Baxter.</span></p> - -<p><i>Misemployment of time is injurious to the mind. In -illness I have looked back with self-reproach on days spent -in my study: I was wading through history and poetry and -monthly journals, but I was in my study! Another man's -trifling is notorious to all observers, but what am I doing? -Nothing, perhaps, that has a reference to the spiritual good -of my congregation. Be much in retirement and prayer. -Study the honour and glory of your Master.</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Cecil.</span></p> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_008" id="Page_008">{8}</a></div> - -<p><i>Study universal holiness of life. Your whole usefulness -depends on this, for your sermons last but an hour or two; -your life preaches all the week. If Satan can only make a -covetous minister a lover of praise, of pleasure, of good eating, -he has ruined your ministry. Give yourself to prayer, and -get your texts, your thoughts, your words from God. Luther -spent his best three hours in prayer.</i>—<span class="smc">Robert Murray McCheyne.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_009" id="Page_009">{9}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">We</span> are constantly on a stretch, if not on a strain, -to devise new methods, new plans, new organizations -to advance the Church and secure enlargement -and efficiency for the Gospel. This trend of the -day has a tendency to lose sight of the man or -sink the man in the plan or organization. God's -plan is to make much of the man, far more of him -than of anything else. Men are God's method. -The Church is looking for better methods; God is -looking for better men. "There was a man sent -from God whose name was John." The dispensation -that heralded and prepared the way for Christ -was bound up in that man John. "Unto us a -Child is born, unto us a Son is given." The world's -salvation comes out of that cradled Son. When -Paul appeals to the personal character of the men -who rooted the gospel in the world, he solves the -mystery of their success. The glory and efficiency -of the Gospel is staked on the men who proclaim -it. When God declares that "the eyes of the -Lord run to and fro throughout the whole earth, -to show Himself strong in the behalf of them whose -heart is perfect toward Him," He declares the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_010" id="Page_010">{10}</a></span> -necessity of men and his dependence on them as -a channel through which to exert His power upon -the world. This vital, urgent truth is one that -this age of machinery is apt to forget. The forgetting -of it is as baneful on the work of God as -would be the striking of the sun from his sphere. -Darkness, confusion, and death would ensue.</p> - -<p>What the Church needs to-day is not more -machinery or better, not new organizations or -more and novel methods, but men whom the Holy -Ghost can use—men of prayer, men mighty in -prayer. The Holy Ghost does not flow through -methods, but through men. He does not come -on machinery, but on men. He does not anoint -plans, but men—men of prayer.</p> - -<p>An eminent historian has said that the accidents -of personal character have more to do with the -revolutions of nations than either philosophic -historians or democratic politicians will allow. -This truth has its application in full to the gospel -of Christ, the character and conduct of the followers -of Christ—Christianize the world, transfigure nations -and individuals. Of the preachers of the gospel -it is eminently true.</p> - -<p>The character as well as the fortunes of the -gospel are committed to the preacher. He makes -or mars the message from God to man. The -preacher is the golden pipe through which the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_011" id="Page_011">{11}</a></span> -divine oil flows. The pipe must not only be golden, -but open and flawless, that the oil may have a full, -unhindered, unwasted flow.</p> - -<p>The man makes the preacher. God must make -the man. The messenger is, if possible, more than -the message. The preacher is more than the -sermon. The preacher makes the sermon. As the -life-giving milk from the mother's bosom is but -the mother's life, so all the preacher says is tinctured, -impregnated by what the preacher is. The treasure -is in earthen vessels, and the taste of the vessel -impregnates and may discolour. The man, the -whole man, lies behind the sermon. Preaching is -not the performance of an hour. It is the outflow -of a life. It takes twenty years to make a sermon, -because it takes twenty years to make the man. -The true sermon is a thing of life. The sermon -grows because the man grows. The sermon is -forceful because the man is forceful. The sermon -is holy because the man is holy. The sermon is -full of the divine unction because the man is full -of the divine unction.</p> - -<p>Paul termed it "My gospel;" not that he had -degraded it by his personal eccentricities or diverted -it by selfish appropriation, but the gospel was put -into the heart and lifeblood of the man Paul, as a -personal trust to be executed by his Pauline traits, -to be set aflame and empowered by the fiery energy -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_012" id="Page_012">{12}</a></span> -of his fiery soul. Paul's sermons—what were -they? Where are they? Skeletons, scattered fragments, -afloat on the sea of inspiration! But the -man Paul, greater than his sermons, lives forever, -in full form, feature, and stature, with his moulding -hand on the Church. The preaching is but a -voice. The voice in silence dies, the text is forgotten, -the sermon fades from memory; the -preacher lives.</p> - -<p>The sermon cannot rise in its life-giving forces -above the man. Dead men give out dead sermons, -and dead sermons kill. Everything depends on -the spiritual character of the preacher. Under the -Jewish dispensation the high priest had inscribed -in jewelled letters on a golden frontlet: "Holiness -to the Lord." So every preacher in Christ's -ministry must be moulded into and mastered by -this same holy motto. It is a crying shame for -the Christian ministry to fall lower in holiness of -character and holiness of aim than the Jewish -priesthood. Jonathan Edwards said: "I went on -with my eager pursuit after more holiness and -conformity to Christ. The heaven I desired was a -heaven of holiness." The gospel of Christ does not -move by popular waves. It has no self-propagating -power. It moves as the men who have charge of -it move. The preacher must impersonate the gospel. -Its divine, most distinctive features must be embodied -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_013" id="Page_013">{13}</a></span> -in him. The constraining power of love -must be in the preacher as a projecting, eccentric, -an all-commanding, self-oblivious force. The energy -of self-denial must be his being, his heart and blood -and bones. He must go forth as a man among -men, clothed with humility, abiding in meekness, -wise as a serpent, harmless as a dove; the bonds -of a servant with the spirit of a king, a king in -high, royal, independent bearing, with the simplicity -and sweetness of a child. The preacher must -throw himself, with all the abandon of a perfect, -self-emptying faith and a self-consuming zeal, into -his work for the salvation of men. Hearty, heroic, -compassionate, fearless martyrs must the men be -who take hold of and shape a generation for God. -If they be timid timeservers, place seekers, if they -be men pleasers or men fearers, if their faith has -a weak hold on God or His Word, if their denial -be broken by any phase of self or the world, they -cannot take hold of the Church nor the world for -God.</p> - -<p>The preacher's sharpest and strongest preaching -should be to himself. His most difficult, delicate, -laborious, and thorough work must be with himself. -The training of the twelve was the great, difficult, -and enduring work of Christ. Preachers are not -sermon makers, but men makers and saint makers, -and he only is well-trained for this business who -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_014" id="Page_014">{14}</a></span> -has made himself a man and a saint. It is not -great talents or great learning or great preachers -that God needs, but men great in holiness, great -in faith, great in love, great in fidelity, great for -God—men always preaching by holy sermons in -the pulpit, by holy lives out of it. These can -mould a generation for God.</p> - -<p>After this order, the early Christians were formed. -Men they were of solid mould, preachers after the -heavenly type—heroic, stalwart, soldierly, saintly. -Preaching with them meant self-denying, self-crucifying, -serious, toilsome, martyr business. They -applied themselves to it in a way that told on -their generation, and formed in its womb a generation -yet unborn for God. The preaching man is -to be the praying man. Prayer is the preacher's -mightiest weapon. An almighty force in itself, it -gives life and force to all.</p> - -<p>The real sermon is made in the closet. The man—God's -man—is made in the closet. His life and -his profoundest convictions were born in his secret -communion with God. The burdened and tearful -agony of his spirit, his weightiest and sweetest -messages were got when alone with God. Prayer -makes the man; prayer makes the preacher; -prayer makes the pastor.</p> - -<p>The pulpit of this day is weak in praying. The -pride of learning is against the dependent humility -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_015" id="Page_015">{15}</a></span> -of prayer. Prayer is with the pulpit too often -only official—a performance for the routine of -service. Prayer is not to the modern pulpit the -mighty force it was in Paul's life or Paul's ministry. -Every preacher who does not make prayer a mighty -factor in his own life and ministry is weak as a -factor in God's work and is powerless to advance -God's cause in this world.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_016" id="Page_016">{16}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">II</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>But above all he excelled in prayer. The inwardness and -weight of his spirit, the reverence and solemnity of his address -and behaviour, and the fewness and fullness of his words -have often struck even strangers with admiration as they used -to reach others with consolation. The most awful, living, -reverend frame I ever felt or beheld, I must say, was his -prayer. And truly it was a testimony. He knew and lived -nearer to the Lord than other men, for they that know Him -most will see most reason to approach Him with reverence and -fear.</i>—<span class="smc">William Penn of George Fox.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_017" id="Page_017">{17}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">The</span> sweetest graces by a slight perversion may -bear the bitterest fruit. The sun gives life, but -sunstrokes are death. Preaching is to give life; -it may kill. The preacher holds the keys; he -may lock as well as unlock. Preaching is God's -great institution for the planting and maturing of -spiritual life. When properly executed, its benefits -are untold; when wrongly executed, no evil can -exceed its damaging results. It is an easy matter -to destroy the flock if the shepherd be unwary or -the pasture be destroyed, easy to capture the citadel -if the watchmen be asleep or the food and water -be poisoned. Invested with such gracious prerogatives, -exposed to so great evils, involving so many -grave responsibilities, it would be a parody on the -shrewdness of the devil and a libel on his character -and reputation if he did not bring his master influences -to adulterate the preacher and the preaching. -In face of all this, the exclamatory interrogatory -of Paul, "Who is sufficient for these things?" -is never out of order.</p> - -<p>Paul says: "Our sufficiency is of God, who -also hath made us able ministers of the new testament; -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_018" id="Page_018">{18}</a></span> -not of the letter, but of the spirit: for the -letter killeth, but the spirit giveth life." The true -ministry is God-touched, God-enabled, and God-made. -The Spirit of God is on the preacher in -anointing power, the fruit of the Spirit is in his -heart, the Spirit of God has vitalized the man and -the word; his preaching gives life, gives life as -the spring gives life; gives life as the resurrection -gives life; gives ardent life as the summer gives -ardent life; gives fruitful life as the autumn gives -fruitful life. The life-giving preacher is a man of -God, whose heart is ever athirst for God, whose -soul is ever following hard after God, whose eye -is single to God, and in whom by the power of God's -Spirit the flesh and the world have been crucified -and his ministry is like the generous flood of a life-giving -river.</p> - -<p>The preaching that kills is non-spiritual preaching. -The ability of the preaching is not from God. -Lower sources than God have given to it energy -and stimulus. The Spirit is not evident in the -preacher nor his preaching. Many kinds of forces -may be projected and stimulated by preaching -that kills, but they are not spiritual forces. They -may resemble spiritual forces, but are only the -shadow, the counterfeit; life they may seem to -have, but the life is magnetized. The preaching -that kills is the letter; shapely and orderly it may -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_019" id="Page_019">{19}</a></span> -be, but it is the letter still, the dry, husky letter, -the empty, bald shell. The letter may have the -germ of life in it, but it has no breath of spring to -evoke it; winter seeds they are, as hard as the -winter's soil, as icy as the winter's air, no thawing -nor germinating by them. This letter-preaching -has the truth. But even divine truth has no life-giving -energy alone; it must be energized by the -Spirit, with all God's forces at its back. Truth -unquickened by God's Spirit deadens as much as, -or more than, error. It may be the truth without -admixture; but without the Spirit its shade and -touch are deadly, its truth error, its light darkness. -The letter-preaching is unctionless, neither mellowed -nor oiled by the Spirit. There may be -tears, but tears cannot run God's machinery; -tears may be but summer's breath on a snow-covered -iceberg, nothing but surface slush. Feelings -and earnestness there may be, but it is the emotion -of the actor and the earnestness of the attorney. -The preacher may feel from the kindling of his own -sparks, be eloquent over his own exegesis, earnest -in delivering the product of his own brain; the -professor may usurp the place and imitate the fire -of the apostle; brains and nerves may serve the -place and feign the work of God's Spirit, and by -these forces the letter may glow and sparkle like -an illumined text, but the glow and sparkle will -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_020" id="Page_020">{20}</a></span> -be as barren of life as the field sown with pearls. -The death-dealing element lies behind the words, -behind the sermon, behind the occasion, behind -the manner, behind the action. The great hindrance -is in the preacher himself. He has not in himself -the mighty life-creating forces. There may be no -discount on his orthodoxy, honesty, cleanness, or -earnestness; but somehow the man, the inner man, -in its secret places has never broken down and -surrendered to God, his inner life is not a great -highway for the transmission of God's message, -God's power. Somehow self and not God rules in -the holy of holies. Somewhere, all unconscious to -himself, some spiritual non-conductor has touched -his inner being, and the divine current has been -arrested. His inner being has never felt its thorough -spiritual bankruptcy, its utter powerlessness; he -has never learned to cry out with an ineffable cry -of self-despair and self-helplessness till God's power -and God's fire come in and fill, purify and empower. -Self-esteem, self-ability in some pernicious shape -has defamed and violated the temple which should -be held sacred for God. Life-giving preaching -costs the preacher much—death to self, crucifixion -to the world, the travail of his own soul. Crucified -preaching only can give life. Crucified preaching -can come only from a crucified man.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_021" id="Page_021">{21}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">III</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>During this affliction I was brought to examine my life -in relation to eternity closer than I had done when in the -enjoyment of health. In this examination relative to the -discharge of my duties toward my fellow-creatures as a man, -a Christian minister, and an officer of the Church, I stood -approved by my own conscience; but in relation to my Redeemer -and Saviour the result was different. My returns of gratitude -and loving obedience bear no proportion to my obligations -for redeeming, preserving, and supporting me through the -vicissitudes of life from infancy to old age. The coldness -of my love to Him who first loved me and has done so much -for me overwhelmed and confused me; and to complete my -unworthy character, I had not only neglected to improve the -grace given to the extent of my duty and privilege, but for -want of that improvement had, while abounding in perplexing -care and labour, declined from first zeal and love. I was -confounded, humbled myself, implored mercy, and renewed -my covenant to strive and devote myself unreservedly to the -Lord.</i>—<span class="smc">Bishop McKendree.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_023" id="Page_023">{23}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">The</span> preaching that kills may be, and often is, -orthodox—dogmatically, inviolably orthodox. We -love orthodoxy. It is good. It is the best. It is -the clean, clear-cut teaching of God's Word, the -trophies won by truth in its conflict with error, -the levees which faith has raised against the desolating -floods of honest or reckless misbelief or unbelief; -but orthodoxy, clear and hard as crystal, suspicious -and militant, may be but the letter well-shaped, -well-named, and well-learned, the letter which kills. -Nothing is so dead as a dead orthodoxy, too dead -to speculate, too dead to think, to study, or to -pray.</p> - -<p>The preaching that kills may have insight and -grasp of principles, may be scholarly and critical -in taste, may have all the minutiæ of the derivation -and grammar of the letter, may be able to trim the -letter into its perfect pattern, and illumine it as Plato -and Cicero may be illumined, may study it as a -lawyer studies his text-books to form his brief or -to defend his case, and yet be like a frost, a killing -frost. Letter-preaching may be eloquent, enamelled -with poetry and rhetoric, sprinkled with prayer, -spiced with sensation, illumined by genius, and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_024" id="Page_024">{24}</a></span> -yet these be but the massive or chaste, costly -mountings, the rare and beautiful flowers which -coffin the corpse. The preaching which kills may -be without scholarship, unmarked by any freshness -of thought or feeling, clothed in tasteless generalities -or vapid specialities, with style irregular, slovenly, -savouring neither of closet nor of study, graced -neither by thought, expression, or prayer. Under -such preaching how wide and utter the desolation! -how profound the spiritual death!</p> - -<p>This letter-preaching deals with the surface and -shadow of things, and not the things themselves. -It does not penetrate the inner part. It has no -deep insight into, no strong grasp of, the hidden -life of God's Word. It is true to the outside, -but the outside is the hull which must be broken -and penetrated for the kernel. The letter may -be dressed so as to attract and be fashionable, -but the attraction is not toward God nor is the -fashion for heaven. The failure is in the preacher. -God has not made him. He has never been in -the hands of God like clay in the hands of the -potter. He has been busy about the sermon, its -thought and finish, its drawing and impressive -forces, but the deep things of God have never been -sought, studied, fathomed, experienced by him. -He has never stood before "the throne high and -lifted up," never heard the seraphim song, never -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_025" id="Page_025">{25}</a></span> -seen the vision nor felt the rush of that awful -holiness, and cried out in utter abandon and despair -under the sense of weakness and guilt, and had his -life renewed, his heart touched, purged, inflamed -by the live coal from God's altar. His ministry -may draw people to him, to the Church, to the -form and ceremony; but no true drawings to -God, no sweet, holy, divine communion induced. -The Church has been frescoed but not edified, pleased -but not sanctified. Life is suppressed; a chill is -on the summer air; the soil is baked. The city -of our God becomes the city of the dead; the -Church a graveyard, not an embattled army. -Praise and prayer are stifled; worship is dead. -The preacher and the preaching have helped sin, -not holiness; peopled hell, not heaven.</p> - -<p>Preaching which kills is prayerless preaching. -Without prayer the preacher creates death, and not -life. The preacher who is feeble in prayer is feeble -in life-giving forces. The preacher who has retired -from prayer as a conspicuous and largely prevailing -element in his own character has shorn his preaching -of its distinctive life-giving power. Professional -praying there is and will be, but professional praying -helps the preaching to its deadly work. Professional -praying chills and kills both preaching and praying. -Much of the lax devotion and lazy, irreverent -attitudes in congregational praying are attributable -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_026" id="Page_026">{26}</a></span> -to professional praying in the pulpit. Long, discursive, -dry, and inane are the prayers in many -pulpits. Without unction or heart, they fall like -a killing frost on all the graces of worship. Death-dealing -prayers they are. Every vestige of devotion -has perished under their breath. The more dead -they are the longer they grow. A plea for short -praying, live praying, real heart praying, praying -by the Holy Spirit—direct, specific, ardent, simple, -unctuous in the pulpit—is in order. A school to -teach preachers how to pray, as God counts praying, -would be more beneficial to true piety, true worship, -and true preaching than all theological schools.</p> - -<p>Stop! Pause! Consider! Where are we? -What are we doing? Preaching to kill? Praying -to kill? Praying to God! the great God, the -Maker of all worlds, the Judge of all men! What -reverence! what simplicity! what sincerity! what -truth in the inward parts is demanded! How real -we must be! How hearty! Prayer to God the -noblest exercise, the loftiest effort of man, the most -real thing! Shall we not discard forever accursed -preaching that kills and prayer that kills, and do -the real thing, the mightiest thing—prayerful -praying, life-creating preaching bring the mightiest -force to bear on heaven and earth and draw on -God's exhaustless and open treasure for the need -and beggary of man?</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_027" id="Page_027">{27}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">IV</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>Let us often look at Brainerd in the woods of America -pouring out his very soul before God for the perishing heathen -without whose salvation nothing could make him happy. -Prayer—secret, fervent, believing prayer—lies at the root -of all personal godliness. A competent knowledge of the -language where a missionary lives, a mild and winning -temper, a heart given up to God in closet religion—these, -these are the attainments which, more than all knowledge, -or all other gifts, will fit us to become the instruments of God -in the great work of human redemption.</i>—<span class="smc">Carey's Brotherhood, Serampore.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_029" id="Page_029">{29}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">There</span> are two extreme tendencies in the ministry. -The one is to shut itself out from intercourse with -the people. The monk, the hermit were illustrations -of this; they shut themselves out from men to -be more with God. They failed, of course. Our -being with God is of use only as we expend its -priceless benefits on men. This age, neither with -preacher nor with people, is much intent on God. -Our hankering is not that way. We shut ourselves -to our study, we become students, bookworms, -Bible worms, sermon makers, noted for literature, -thought, and sermons; but the people and God, -where are they? Out of heart, out of mind. -Preachers who are great thinkers, great students -must be the greatest of prayers, or else they will -be the greatest of backsliders, heartless professionals, -rationalistic, less than the least of preachers -in God's estimate.</p> - -<p>The other tendency is to thoroughly popularize -the ministry. He is no longer God's man, but a -man of affairs, of the people. He prays not, because -his mission is to the people. If he can move the -people, create an interest, a sensation in favour -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_030" id="Page_030">{30}</a></span> -of religion, an interest in Church work—he is -satisfied. His personal relation to God is no factor -in his work. Prayer has little or no place in his -plans. The disaster and ruin of such a ministry -cannot be computed by earthly arithmetic. What -the preacher is in prayer to God, for himself, for -his people, so is his power for real good to men, -so is his true fruitfulness, his true fidelity to God, -to man, for time and for eternity.</p> - -<p>It is impossible for the preacher to keep his -spirit in harmony with the divine nature of his -high calling without much prayer. That the preacher -by dint of duty and laborious fidelity to the work -and routine of the ministry can keep himself in -trim and fitness is a serious mistake. Even sermon-making, -incessant and taxing as an art, as a duty, -as a work, or as a pleasure, will engross and harden, -will estrange the heart, by neglect of prayer, from -God. The scientist loses God in nature. The -preacher may lose God in his sermon.</p> - -<p>Prayer freshens the heart of the preacher, keeps -it in tune with God and in sympathy with the -people, lifts his ministry out of the chilly air of -a profession, fructifies routine and moves every -wheel with the facility and power of a divine unction.</p> - -<p>Mr. Spurgeon says: "Of course the preacher is -above all others distinguished as a man of prayer. -He prays as an ordinary Christian, else he were a -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_031" id="Page_031">{31}</a></span> -hypocrite. He prays more than ordinary Christians, -else he were disqualified for the office he has undertaken. -If you as ministers are not very prayerful, -you are to be pitied. If you become lax in sacred -devotion, not only will you need to be pitied but -your people also, and the day cometh in which you -shall be ashamed and confounded. All our libraries -and studies are mere emptiness compared with our -closets. Our seasons of fasting and prayer at the -Tabernacle have been high days indeed; never has -heaven's gate stood wider; never have our hearts -been nearer the central Glory."</p> - -<p>The praying which makes a prayerful ministry -is not a little praying put in as we put flavour to -give it a pleasant smack, but the praying must -be in the body, and form the blood and bones. -Prayer is no petty duty, put into a corner; no -piecemeal performance made out of the fragments -of time which have been snatched from business -and other engagements of life; but it means that -the best of our time, the heart of our time and -strength must be given. It does not mean the -closet absorbed in the study or swallowed up in -the activities of ministerial duties; but it means -the closet first, the study and activities second, -both study and activities freshened and made -efficient by the closet. Prayer that affects one's -ministry must give tone to one's life. The praying -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_032" id="Page_032">{32}</a></span> -which gives colour and bent to character is no -pleasant hurried pastime. It must enter as strongly -into the heart and life as Christ's "strong crying -and tears" did; must draw out the soul into an -agony of desire as Paul's did; must be an inwrought -fire and force like the "effectual, fervent prayer" -of James; must be of that quality which when put -into the golden censer and incensed before God, -works mighty spiritual throes and revolutions.</p> - -<p>Prayer is not a little habit pinned on to us while -we were tied to our mother's apron strings; neither -is it a little decent quarter of a minute's grace said -over an hour's dinner, but it is a most serious work of -our most serious years. It engages more of time -and appetite than our longest dinings or richest -feasts. The prayer that makes much of our preaching -must be made much of. The character of -our praying will determine the character of our -preaching. Light praying will make light preaching. -Prayer makes preaching strong, gives it unction, -and makes it stick. In every ministry weighty -for good, prayer has always been a serious business.</p> - -<p>The preacher must be pre-eminently a man of -prayer. His heart must graduate in the school of -prayer. In the school of prayer only can the heart -learn to preach. No learning can make up for the -failure to pray. No earnestness, no diligence, no -study, no gifts will supply its lack. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_033" id="Page_033">{33}</a></span></p> - -<p>Talking to men for God is a great thing, but talking -to God for men is greater still. He will never talk -well and with real success to men for God who -has not learned well how to talk to God for men. -More than this, prayerless words in the pulpit and -out of it are deadening words.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_034" id="Page_034">{34}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">V</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>You know the value of prayer: it is precious beyond all -price. Never, never neglect it.</i>—<span class="smc">Sir Thomas Buxton.</span></p> - -<p><i>Prayer is the first thing, the second thing, the third thing -necessary to a minister. Pray, then, my dear brother; pray, -pray, pray.</i>—<span class="smc">Edward Payson.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_035" id="Page_035">{35}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Prayer</span>, in the preacher's life, in the preacher's -study, in the preacher's pulpit, must be a conspicuous -and an all-impregnating force and an -all-colouring ingredient. It must play no secondary -part, be no mere coating. To him it is given to -be with his Lord "all night in prayer." The -preacher, to train himself in self-denying prayer, is -charged to look to his Master, who, "rising up a -great while before day, went out, and departed into -a solitary place, and there prayed." The preacher's -study ought to be a closet, a Bethel, an altar, a -vision, and a ladder, that every thought might ascend -heavenward ere it went manward; that every part -of the sermon might be scented by the air of heaven -and made serious, because God was in the study.</p> - -<p>As the engine never moves until the fire is kindled, -so preaching, with all its machinery, perfection, -and polish, is at a dead standstill, as far as spiritual -results are concerned, till prayer has kindled and -created the steam. The texture, fineness, and -strength of the sermon is as so much rubbish unless -the mighty impulse of prayer is in it, through it, -and behind it. The preacher must, by prayer, put -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_036" id="Page_036">{36}</a></span> -God in the sermon. The preacher must, by prayer, -move God toward the people before he can move -the people to God by his words. The preacher -must have had audience and ready access to God -before he can have access to the people. An open -way to God for the preacher is the surest pledge -of an open way to the people.</p> - -<p>It is necessary to iterate and reiterate that prayer, -as a mere habit, as a performance gone through by -routine or in a professional way, is a dead and rotten -thing. Such praying has no connection with the -praying for which we plead. We lay stress on true -praying, which engages and sets on fire every high -element of the preacher's being—prayer which is -born of vital oneness with Christ and the fullness -of the Holy Ghost, which springs from the deep, -overflowing fountains of tender compassion, deathless -solicitude for man's eternal good; a consuming -zeal for the glory of God; a thorough conviction -of the preacher's difficult and delicate work and -of the imperative need of God's mightiest help. -Praying grounded on these solemn and profound -convictions is the only true praying. Preaching -backed by such praying is the only preaching which -sows the seeds of eternal life in human hearts and -builds men up for heaven.</p> - -<p>It is true that there may be popular preaching, -pleasant preaching, taking preaching, preaching of -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_037" id="Page_037">{37}</a></span> -much intellectual, literary, and brainy force, with -its measure and form of good, with little or no -praying; but the preaching which secures God's end -in preaching must be born of prayer from text to -exordium, delivered with the energy and spirit of -prayer, followed and made to germinate, and kept -in vital force in the hearts of the hearers by the -preacher's prayers, long after the occasion has -passed.</p> - -<p>We may excuse the spiritual poverty of our -preaching in many ways, but the true secret will -be found in the lack of urgent prayer for God's -presence in the power of the Holy Spirit. There -are preachers innumerable who can deliver masterful -sermons after their order; but the effects are -shortlived and do not enter as a factor at all into -the regions of the spirit where the fearful war -between God and Satan, heaven and hell, is being -waged because they are not made powerfully -militant and spiritually victorious by prayer.</p> - -<p>The preachers who gain mighty results for God -are the men who have prevailed in their pleadings -with God ere venturing to plead with men. The -preachers who are the mightiest in their closets -with God are the mightiest in their pulpits with -men.</p> - -<p>Preachers are human folks, and are exposed to -and often caught by the strong driftings of human -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_038" id="Page_038">{38}</a></span> -currents. Praying is spiritual work; and human -nature does not like taxing, spiritual work. Human -nature wants to sail to heaven under a favouring -breeze, a full, smooth sea. Prayer is humbling -work. It abases intellect and pride, crucifies vainglory, -and signs our spiritual bankruptcy, and all -these are hard for flesh and blood to bear. It is -easier not to pray than to bear them. So we come -to one of the crying evils of these times, maybe of -all times—little or no praying. Of these two evils, -perhaps little praying is worse than no praying. -Little praying is a kind of make-believe, a salve -for the conscience, a farce and a delusion.</p> - -<p>The little estimate we put on prayer is evident -from the little time we give to it. The time given -to prayer by the average preacher scarcely counts -in the sum of the daily aggregate. Not infrequently -the preacher's only praying is by his bedside in -his nightdress, ready for bed and soon in it, with, -perchance, the addition of a few hasty snatches -of prayer ere he is dressed in the morning. How -feeble, vain, and little is such praying compared -with the time and energy devoted to praying by -holy men in and out of the Bible! How poor and -mean our petty, childish praying is beside the -habits of the true men of God in all ages! To men -who think praying their main business and devote -time to it according to this high estimate of its -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_039" id="Page_039">{39}</a></span> -importance does God commit the keys of His -kingdom, and by them does He work His spiritual -wonders in this world. Great praying is the sign -and seal of God's great leaders and the earnest of -the conquering forces with which God will crown -their labours.</p> - -<p>The preacher is commissioned to pray as well -as to preach. His mission is incomplete if he does -not do both well. The preacher may speak with -all the eloquence of men and of angels; but unless -he can pray with a faith which draws all heaven -to his aid, his preaching will be "as sounding brass -or a tinkling cymbal" for permanent God-honouring, -soul-saving uses.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_040" id="Page_040">{40}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VI</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>The principal cause of my leanness and unfruitfulness -is owing to an unaccountable backwardness to pray. I can -write or read or converse or hear with a ready heart; but -prayer is more spiritual and inward than any of these, and -the more spiritual any duty is the more my carnal heart is -apt to start from it. Prayer and patience and faith are -never disappointed. I have long since learned that if ever -I was to be a minister, faith and prayer must make me one. -When I can find my heart in frame and liberty for prayer, -everything else is comparatively easy.</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Newton.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_041" id="Page_041">{41}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">It</span> may be put down as a spiritual axiom that in -every truly successful ministry prayer is an evident -and controlling force—evident and controlling in -the life of the preacher, evident and controlling -in the deep spirituality of his work. A ministry -may be a very thoughtful ministry without prayer; -the preacher may secure fame and popularity without -prayer; the whole machinery of the preacher's -life and work may be run without the oil of prayer -or with scarcely enough to grease one cog; but no -ministry can be a spiritual one, securing holiness -in the preacher and in his people, without prayer -being made an evident and controlling force.</p> - -<p>The preacher that prays indeed puts God into -the work. God does not come into the preacher's -work as a matter of course or on general principles, -but He comes by prayer and special urgency. -That God will be found of us in the day that we -seek Him with the whole heart is as true of the -preacher as of the penitent. A prayerful ministry -is the only ministry that brings the preacher into -sympathy with the people. Prayer as essentially -unites to the human as it does to the divine. A -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_042" id="Page_042">{42}</a></span> -prayerful ministry is the only ministry qualified for -the high offices and responsibilities of the preacher. -Colleges, learning, books, theology, preaching cannot -make a preacher, but praying does. The apostles' -commission to preach was a blank till filled up by -the Pentecost which praying brought. A prayerful -minister has passed beyond the regions of the -popular, beyond the man of mere affairs, of secularities, -of pulpit attractiveness; passed beyond the -ecclesiastical organizer or general into a sublimer -and mightier region, the region of the spiritual. -Holiness is the product of his work; transfigured -hearts and lives emblazon the reality of his work, -its trueness and substantial nature. God is with -him. His ministry is not projected on worldly or -surface principles. He is deeply stored with and -deeply schooled in the things of God. His long, -deep communings with God about his people and -the agony of his wrestling spirit have crowned him -as a prince in the things of God. The iciness of -the mere professional has long since melted under -the intensity of his praying.</p> - -<p>The superficial results of many a ministry, the -deadness of others, are to be found in the lack of -praying. No ministry can succeed without much -praying, and this praying must be fundamental, -ever-abiding, ever-increasing. The text, the sermon, -should be the result of prayer. The study should -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_043" id="Page_043">{43}</a></span> -be bathed in prayer, all its duties impregnated -with prayer, its whole spirit the spirit of prayer. -"I am sorry that I have prayed so little," was the -deathbed regret of one of God's chosen ones, a -sad and remorseful regret for a preacher. "I -want a life of greater, deeper, truer prayer," said -the late Archbishop Tait. So may we all say, and -this may we all secure.</p> - -<p>God's true preachers have been distinguished by -one great feature: they were men of prayer. -Differing often in many things, they have always -had a common centre. They may have started -from different points, and travelled by different -roads, but they converged to one point: they were -one in prayer. God to them was the centre of -attraction, and prayer was the path that led to -God. These men prayed not occasionally, not a -little at regular or at odd times; but they so prayed -that their prayers entered into and shaped their -characters; they so prayed as to affect their own -lives and the lives of others; they so prayed as -to make the history of the Church and influence -the current of the times. They spent much time -in prayer, not because they marked the shadow -on the dial or the hands on the clock, but because -it was to them so momentous and engaging a -business that they could scarcely give over.</p> - -<p>Prayer was to them what it was to Paul, a striving -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_044" id="Page_044">{44}</a></span> -with earnest effort of soul; what it was to Jacob, -a wrestling and prevailing; what it was to Christ, -"strong crying and tears." They "prayed always -with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and -watching thereunto with all perseverance." "The -effectual, fervent prayer" has been the mightiest -weapon of God's mightiest soldiers. The statement -in regard to Elijah—that he "was a man subject -to like passions as we are, and he prayed earnestly -that it might not rain: and it rained not on the -earth by the space of three years and six months. -And he prayed again, and the heaven gave rain, -and the earth brought forth her fruit"—comprehends -all prophets and preachers who have moved -their generation for God, and shows the instrument -by which they worked their wonders.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_046" id="Page_046">{46}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>The great masters and teachers in Christian doctrine have -always found in prayer their highest source of illumination. -Not to go beyond the limits of the English Church, it is recorded -of Bishop Andrewes that he spent five hours daily on -his knees. The greatest practical resolves that have enriched -and beautified human life in Christian times have been -arrived at in prayer.</i>—<span class="smc">Canon Liddon.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_047" id="Page_047">{47}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">While</span> many private prayers, in the nature of -things, must be short; while public prayers, as -a rule, ought to be short and condensed; while -there is ample room for and value put on ejaculatory -prayer—yet in our private communions with God -time is a feature essential to its value. Much time -spent with God is the secret of all successful praying. -Prayer which is felt as a mighty force is the mediate -or immediate product of much time spent with -God. Our short prayers owe their point and -efficiency to the long ones that have preceded them. -The short prevailing prayer cannot be prayed by -one who has not prevailed with God in a mightier -struggle of long continuance. Jacob's victory of -faith could not have been gained without that -all-night wrestling. God's acquaintance is not -made hurriedly. He does not bestow His gifts on -the casual or hasty comer and goer. To be much -alone with God is the secret of knowing Him and -of influence with Him. He yields to the persistency -of a faith that knows Him. He bestows His richest -gifts upon those who declare their desire for and -appreciation of those gifts by the constancy as -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_048" id="Page_048">{48}</a></span> -well as earnestness of their importunity. Christ, -who in this as well as other things is our Example, -spent many whole nights in prayer. His custom -was to pray much. He had His habitual place -to pray. Many long seasons of praying make up -His history and character. Paul prayed day and -night. It took time from very important interests -for Daniel to pray three times a day. David's -morning, noon, and night praying were doubtless -on many occasions very protracted. While we -have no specific account of the time these Bible -saints spent in prayer, yet the indications are that -they consumed much time in prayer, and on some -occasions long seasons of praying was their custom.</p> - -<p>We would not have any think that the value of -their prayers is to be measured by the clock, but -our purpose is to impress on our minds the necessity -of being much alone with God; and that if this -feature has not been produced by our faith, then -our faith is of a feeble and surface type.</p> - -<p>The men who have most fully illustrated Christ -in their character, and have most powerfully -affected the world for Him, have been men who -spent so much time with God as to make it a notable -feature of their lives. Charles Simeon devoted the -hours from four till eight in the morning to God. -Mr. Wesley spent two hours daily in prayer. He -began at four in the morning. Of him, one who -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_049" id="Page_049">{49}</a></span> -knew him well wrote: "He thought prayer to be -more his business than anything else, and I have -seen him come out of his closet with a serenity -of face next to shining." John Fletcher stained -the walls of his room by the breath of his prayers. -Sometimes he would pray all night; always, -frequently, and with great earnestness. His whole -life was a life of prayer. "I would not rise from -my seat," he said, "without lifting my heart to -God." His greeting to a friend was always: -"Do I meet you praying?" Luther said: "If -I fail to spend two hours in prayer each morning, -the devil gets the victory through the day. I have -so much business I cannot get on without spending -three hours daily in prayer." He had a motto: -"He that has prayed well has studied well."</p> - -<p>Archbishop Leighton was so much alone with -God that he seemed to be in a perpetual meditation. -"Prayer and praise were his business and his -pleasure," says his biographer. Bishop Ken was -so much with God that his soul was said to be -God-enamoured. He was with God before the -clock struck three every morning. Bishop Asbury -said: "I propose to rise at four o'clock as often -as I can and spend two hours in prayer and meditation." -Samuel Rutherford, the fragrance of whose -piety is still rich, rose at three in the morning to -meet God in prayer. Joseph Alleine arose at -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_050" id="Page_050">{50}</a></span> -four o'clock for his business of praying till eight. -If he heard other tradesmen plying their business -before he was up, he would exclaim: "O how -this shames me! Doth not my Master deserve -more than theirs?" He who has learned this trade -well draws at will, on sight, and with the acceptance -of heaven's unfailing bank.</p> - -<p>One of the holiest and most gifted of Scottish -preachers says: "I ought to spend the -best hours in communion with God. It is my -noblest and most fruitful employment, and is not -to be thrust into a corner. The morning hours, -from six to eight, are the most uninterrupted and -should be thus employed. After tea is my best -hour, and that should be solemnly dedicated to -God. I ought not to give up the good old habit -of prayer before going to bed; but guard must be -kept against sleep. When I awake in the night, -I ought to rise and pray. A little time after breakfast -might be given to intercession." This was the -praying plan of Robert McCheyne. The memorable -Methodist band in their praying shame us. "From -four or five in the morning, private prayer; from -five to six in the evening, private prayer."</p> - -<p>John Welch, the holy and wonderful Scotch -preacher, thought the day ill spent if he did not -spend eight or ten hours in prayer. He kept a -plaid that he might wrap himself when he arose -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_051" id="Page_051">{51}</a></span> -to pray at night. His wife would complain when -she found him lying on the ground weeping. He -would reply: "O woman I have the souls of three -thousand to answer for, and I know not how it -is with many of them!"</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_052" id="Page_052">{52}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">VIII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>The act of praying is the very highest energy of which the -human mind is capable; praying, that is, with the total -concentration of the faculties. The great mass of worldly -men and of learned men are absolutely incapable of prayer.</i>—<span -class="smc">Coleridge.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_053" id="Page_053">{53}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Bishop Wilson</span> says: "In H. Martyn's journal -the spirit of prayer, the time he devoted to the duty, -and his fervour in it are the first things which -strike me."</p> - -<p>Payson wore the hard-wood boards into grooves -where his knees pressed so often and so long. His -biographer says: "His continuing instant in -prayer, be his circumstances what they might, is -the most noticeable fact in his history, and points -out the duty of all who would rival his eminency. -To his ardent and persevering prayers must no -doubt be ascribed in a great measure his distinguished -and almost uninterrupted success."</p> - -<p>The Marquis DeRenty, to whom Christ was most -precious, ordered his servant to call him from his -devotions at the end of half an hour. The servant -at the time saw his face through an aperture. It -was marked with such holiness that he hated to -arouse him. His lips were moving, but he was -perfectly silent. He waited until three half hours -had passed; then he called to him, when he arose -from his knees, saying that the half hour was so -short when he was communing with Christ. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_054" id="Page_054">{54}</a></span></p> - -<p>Brainerd said: "I love to be alone in my cottage, -where I can spend much time in prayer."</p> - -<p>William Bramwell is famous in Methodist annals -for personal holiness and for his wonderful success -in preaching and for the marvellous answers to his -prayers. For hours at a time he would pray. He -almost lived on his knees. He went over his -circuits like a flame of fire. The fire was kindled -by the time he spent in prayer. He often spent -as much as four hours in a single season of prayer -in retirement.</p> - -<p>Bishop Andrewes spent the greatest part of five -hours every day in prayer and devotion.</p> - -<p>Sir Henry Havelock always spent the first two -hours of each day alone with God. If the encampment -was struck at 6 a.m., he would rise at four.</p> - -<p>Earl Cairns rose daily at six o'clock to secure an -hour and a half for the study of the Bible and for -prayer, before conducting family worship at a -quarter to eight.</p> - -<p>Dr. Judson's success in God's work is attributable -to the fact that he gave much time to prayer. He -says on this point: "Arrange thy affairs, if possible, -so that thou canst leisurely devote two or -three hours every day not merely to devotional -exercises but to the very act of secret prayer and -communion with God. Endeavour seven times a -day to withdraw from business and company and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_055" id="Page_055">{55}</a></span> -lift up thy soul to God in private retirement. Begin -the day by rising after midnight and devoting some -time amid the silence and darkness of the night -to this sacred work. Let the hour of opening -dawn find thee at the same work. Let the hours -of nine, twelve, three, six, and nine at night witness -the same. Be resolute in His cause. Make all -practicable sacrifices to maintain it. Consider that -thy time is short, and that business and company -must not be allowed to rob thee of thy God." -Impossible, say we, fanatical directions! Dr. -Judson impressed an empire for Christ and laid -the foundations of God's kingdom with imperishable -granite in the heart of Burmah. He was successful, -one of the few men who mightily impressed the -world for Christ. Many men of greater gifts and -genius and learning than he have made no such -impression; their religious work is like footsteps -in the sands, but he has engraven his work on the -adamant. The secret of its profundity and endurance -is found in the fact that he gave time to -prayer. He kept the iron red-hot with prayer, and -God's skill fashioned it with enduring power. No -man can do a great and enduring work for God who -is not a man of prayer, and no man can be a man -of prayer who does not give much time to praying.</p> - -<p>Is it true that prayer is simply the compliance -with habit, dull and mechanical? A petty performance -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_056" id="Page_056">{56}</a></span> -into which we are trained till tameness, -shortness, superficiality are its chief elements? -"Is it true that prayer is, as is assumed, little else -than the half-passive play of sentiment which -flows languidly on through the minutes or hours -of easy reverie?" Canon Liddon continues: "Let -those who have really prayed give the answer. -They sometimes describe prayer with the patriarch -Jacob as a wrestling together with an Unseen -Power which may last, not unfrequently in an -earnest life, late into the night hours, or even to -the break of day. Sometimes they refer to common -intercession with St. Paul as a concerted struggle. -They have, when praying, their eyes fixed on the -Great Intercessor in Gethsemane, upon the drops -of blood which fall to the ground in that agony of -resignation and sacrifice. Importunity is of the -essence of successful prayer. Importunity means -not dreaminess but sustained work. It is through -prayer especially that the kingdom of heaven -suffereth violence and the violent take it by force. -It was a saying of the late Bishop Hamilton that -"No man is likely to do much good in prayer who -does not begin by looking upon it in the light of -a work to be prepared for and persevered in -with all the earnestness which we bring to bear -upon subjects which are in our opinion at once most -interesting and most necessary."</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_058" id="Page_058">{58}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">IX</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>I ought to pray before seeing any one. Often when I -sleep long, or meet with others early, it is eleven or twelve -o'clock before I begin secret prayer. This is a wretched -system. It is unscriptural. Christ arose before day and -went into a solitary place. David says: "Early will I -seek Thee;" "Thou shalt early hear my voice." Family -prayer loses much of its power and sweetness, and I can -do no good to those who come to seek from me. The conscience -feels guilty, the soul unfed, the lamp not trimmed. Then -when in secret prayer the soul is often out of tune. I feel -it is far better to begin with God—to see His face first, to get -my soul near Him before it is near another.</i>—<span class="smc">Robert Murray McCheyne.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_059" id="Page_059">{59}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">The</span> men who have done the most for God in this -world have been early on their knees. He who -fritters away the early morning, its opportunity -and freshness, in other pursuits than seeking God -will make poor headway seeking Him the rest of -the day. If God is not first in our thoughts and -efforts in the morning, He will be in the last place -the remainder of the day.</p> - -<p>Behind this early rising and early praying is -the ardent desire which presses us into this pursuit -after God. Morning listlessness is the index to a -listless heart. The heart which is behindhand in -seeking God in the morning has lost its relish for -God. David's heart was ardent after God. He -hungered and thirsted after God, and so he sought -God early, before daylight. The bed and sleep -could not chain his soul in its eagerness after God. -Christ longed for communion with God; and so, -rising a great while before day, He would go out -into the mountain to pray. The disciples, when -fully awake and ashamed of their indulgence, -would know where to find Him. We might go -through the list of men who have mightily impressed -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_060" id="Page_060">{60}</a></span> -the world for God, and we would find them early -after God.</p> - -<p>A desire for God which cannot break the chains -of sleep is a weak thing and will do but little good -for God after it has indulged itself fully. The desire -for God that keeps so far behind the devil and -the world at the beginning of the day will never -catch up.</p> - -<p>It is not simply the getting up that puts men to -the front and makes them captain generals in -God's hosts, but it is the ardent desire which stirs -and breaks all self-indulgent chains. But the -getting up gives vent, increase, and strength to -the desire. If they had lain in bed and indulged -themselves, the desire would have been quenched. -The desire aroused them and put them on the stretch -for God, and this heeding and acting on the call -gave their faith its grasp on God and gave to their -hearts the sweetest and fullest revelation of God, -and this strength of faith and fulness of revelation -made them saints by eminence, and the halo of -their sainthood has come down to us, and we have -entered on the enjoyment of their conquests. But -we take our fill in enjoyment, and not in productions. -We build their tombs and write their -epitaphs, but are careful not to follow their -examples.</p> - -<p>We need a generation of preachers who seek -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_061" id="Page_061">{61}</a></span> -God and seek Him early, who give the freshness -and dew of effort to God, and secure in return the -freshness and fulness of His power that He may -be as the dew to them, full of gladness and strength, -through all the heat and labour of the day. Our -laziness after God is our crying sin. The children -of this world are far wiser than we. They are at -it early and late. We do not seek God with ardour -and diligence. No man gets God who does not -follow hard after Him, and no soul follows hard -after God who is not after Him in early morn.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_062" id="Page_062">{62}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">X</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>There is a manifest want of spiritual influence on the -ministry of the present day. I feel it in my own case and -I see it in that of others. I am afraid there is too much of -a low, managing, contriving, manœuvering temper of mind -among us. We are laying ourselves out more than is expedient -to meet one man's taste and another man's prejudices. -The ministry is a grand and holy affair, and it should find -in us a simple habit of spirit and a holy but humble indifference -to all consequences. The leading defect in Christian -ministers is want of a devotional habit.</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Cecil.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_063" id="Page_063">{63}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Never</span> was there greater need for saintly men and -women; more imperative still is the call for saintly, -God-devoted preachers. The world moves with -gigantic strides. Satan has his hold and rule on -the world, and labours to make all its movements -subserve his ends. Religion must do its best work, -present its most attractive and perfect models. -By every means, modern sainthood must be inspired -by the loftiest ideals and by the largest possibilities -through the Spirit. Paul lived on his knees, that -the Ephesian Church might measure the heights, -breadths, and depths of an unmeasurable saintliness, -and "be filled with all the fulness of God." -Epaphras laid himself out with the exhaustive toil -and strenuous conflict of fervent prayer that the -Colossian Church might "stand perfect and complete -in all the will of God." Everywhere, everything -in apostolic times was on the stretch that the -people of God might each and "all come in the -unity of the faith, and of the knowledge of the Son -of God, unto a perfect man, unto the measure of -the stature of the fullness of Christ." No premium -was given to dwarfs; no encouragement to an old -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_064" id="Page_064">{64}</a></span> -babyhood. The babies were to grow; the old, -instead of feebleness and infirmities, were to bear -fruit in old age, and be fat and flourishing. The -divinest thing in religion is holy men and holy -women.</p> - -<p>No amount of money, genius, or culture can -move things for God. Holiness energizing the soul, -the whole man aflame with love, with desire for -more faith, more prayer, more zeal, more consecration—this -is the secret of power. These we -need and must have, and men must be the incarnation -of this God-inflamed devotedness. God's -advance has been stayed, His cause crippled, His -name dishonoured for their lack. Genius (though -the loftiest and most gifted), education (though the -most learned and refined), position, dignity, place, -honoured names, high ecclesiastics cannot move -this chariot of our God. It is a fiery one, and fiery -forces only can move it. The genius of a Milton -fails. The imperial strength of a Leo fails. -Brainerd's spirit can move it. Brainerd's spirit was -on fire for God, on fire for souls. Nothing earthly, -worldly, selfish came in to abate in the least the -intensity of this all-impelling and all-consuming -force and flame.</p> - -<p>Prayer is the creator as well as the channel of -devotion. The spirit of devotion is the spirit of -prayer. Prayer and devotion are united as soul -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_065" id="Page_065">{65}</a></span> -and body are united, as life and heart are united. -There is no real prayer without devotion, no devotion -without prayer. The preacher must be surrendered -to God in the holiest devotion. He is -not a professional man, his ministry is not a -profession; it is a divine institution, a divine -devotion. He is devoted to God. His aim, aspirations, -ambition are for God and to God, and to -such prayer is as essential as food is to life.</p> - -<p>The preacher, above everything else, must be -devoted to God. The preacher's relations to God -are the insignia and credentials of his ministry. -These must be clear, conclusive, unmistakable. -No common, surface type of piety must be his. -If he does not excel in grace, he does not excel -at all. If he does not preach by life, character, -conduct, he does not preach at all. If his piety -be light, his preaching may be as soft and as sweet -as music, as gifted as Apollo, yet its weight will -be a feather's weight, visionary, fleeting as the -morning cloud or the early dew. Devotion to -God—there is no substitute for this in the preacher's -character and conduct. Devotion to a Church, to -opinions, to an organization, to orthodoxy—these -are paltry, misleading, and vain when they become -the source of inspiration, the animus of a call. -God must be the mainspring of the preacher's -effort, the fountain and crown of all his toil. The -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_066" id="Page_066">{66}</a></span> -name and honour of Jesus Christ, the advance of -His cause, must be all in all. The preacher must -have no inspiration but the name of Jesus Christ, -no ambition but to have Him glorified, no toil but -for Him. Then prayer will be a source of his -illuminations, the means of perpetual advance, the -gauge of his success. The perpetual aim, the only -ambition, the preacher can cherish is to have God -with him.</p> - -<p>Never did the cause of God need perfect illustrations -of the possibilities of prayer more than in -this age. No age, no person, will be ensamples of -the gospel power except the ages or persons of deep -and earnest prayer. A prayerless age will have but -scant models of divine power. Prayerless hearts -will never rise to these Alpine heights. The age -may be a better age than the past, but there is an -infinite distance between the betterment of an age -by the force of an advancing civilization and its -betterment by the increase of holiness and Christ-likeness -by the energy of prayer. The Jews were -much better when Christ came than in the ages -before. It was the golden age of their Pharisaic -religion. Their golden religious age crucified Christ. -Never more praying, never less praying; never -more sacrifices, never less sacrifice; never less -idolatry, never more idolatry; never more of -temple worship, never less of God worship; never -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_067" id="Page_067">{67}</a></span> -more of lip service, never less of heart service -(God worshiped by lips whose hearts and hands -crucified God's Son!); never more of church-goers, -never less of saints.</p> - -<p>It is a prayer-force which makes saints. Holy -characters are formed by the power of real praying. -The more of true saints, the more of praying; the -more of praying, the more of true saints.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_068" id="Page_068">{68}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XI</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>I urge upon you communion with Christ, a growing communion. -There are curtains to be drawn aside in Christ -that we never saw, and new foldings of love in Him. I -despair that I shall ever win to the far end of that love, there -are so many plies in it. Therefore dig deep, and sweat and -labour and take pains for Him, and set by as much time -in the day for Him as you can. He will be won in the labour.</i>—<span class="smc">Rutherford.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_069" id="Page_069">{69}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">God</span> has now, and has had, many of these devoted, -prayerful preachers—men in whose lives prayer has -been a mighty, controlling, conspicuous force. The -world has felt their power, God has felt and honoured -their power, God's cause has moved mightily and -swiftly by their prayers, holiness has shone out in -their characters with a divine effulgence.</p> - -<p>God found one of the men he was looking for in -David Brainerd, whose work and name have gone -into history. He was no ordinary man, but was -capable of shining in any company, the peer of the -wise and gifted ones, eminently suited to fill the -most attractive pulpits and to labour among the -most refined and the cultured, who were so anxious -to secure him for their pastor. President Edwards -bears testimony that he was "a young man of -distinguished talents, had extraordinary knowledge -of men and things, had rare conversational powers, -excelled in his knowledge of theology, and was -truly, for one so young, an extraordinary divine, -and especially in all matters relating to experimental -religion. I never knew his equal of his age and -standing for clear and accurate notions of the nature -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_070" id="Page_070">{70}</a></span> -and essence of true religion. His manner in prayer -was almost inimitable, such as I have very rarely -known equalled. His learning was very considerable, -and he had extraordinary gifts for the pulpit."</p> - -<p>No sublimer story has been recorded in earthly -annals than that of David Brainerd; no miracle -attests with diviner force the truth of Christianity -than the life and work of such a man. Alone in -the savage wilds of America, struggling day and -night with a mortal disease, unschooled in the care -of souls, having access to the Indians for a large -portion of time only through the bungling medium -of a pagan interpreter, with the Word of God in -his heart and in his hand, his soul fired with the -divine flame, a place and time to pour out his -soul to God in prayer, he fully established the -worship of God and secured all its gracious results. -The Indians were changed with a great change -from the lowest besotments of an ignorant and -debased heathenism, to pure, devout, intelligent -Christians; all vice reformed, the external duties -of Christianity at once embraced and acted on; -family prayer set up; the Sabbath instituted and -religiously observed; the internal graces of religion -exhibited with growing sweetness and strength. -The solution of these results is found in David -Brainerd himself, not in the conditions or accidents -but in the man Brainerd. He was God's man, for -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_071" id="Page_071">{71}</a></span> -God first and last and all the time. God could -flow unhindered through him. The omnipotence -of grace was neither arrested nor straitened by -the conditions of his heart; the whole channel -was broadened and cleaned out for God's fullest -and most powerful passage, so that God with all -His mighty forces could come down on the hopeless, -savage wilderness, and transform it into His blooming -and fruitful garden; for nothing is too hard -for God to do if He can get the right kind of a man -to do it with.</p> - -<p>Brainerd lived the life of holiness and prayer. -His diary is full and monotonous with the record -of his seasons of fasting, meditation, and retirement. -The time he spent in private prayer amounted -to many hours daily. "When I return home," he -said, "and give myself to meditation, prayer, and -fasting, my soul longs for mortification, self-denial, -humility and divorcement from all things of the -world." "I have nothing to do," he said, "with -earth, but only to labour in it honestly for God. -I do not desire to live one minute for anything -which earth can afford." After this high order -did he pray: "Feeling somewhat of the sweetness -of communion with God and the constraining force -of His love, and how admirably it captivates the -soul and makes all the desires and affections to -centre in God, I set apart this day for secret fasting -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_072" id="Page_072">{72}</a></span> -and prayer, to entreat God to direct and bless me -with regard to the great work which I have in view -of preaching the gospel and that the Lord would -return to me and show me the light of His countenance. -I had little life and power in the forenoon. -Near the middle of the afternoon God enabled me -to wrestle ardently in intercession for my absent -friends, but just at night the Lord visited me -marvellously in prayer. I think my soul was -never in such agony before. I felt no restraint, -for the treasures of divine grace were opened to -me. I wrestled for absent friends, for the ingathering -of souls, for multitudes of poor souls, -and for many that I thought were the children of -God, personally, in many distant places. I was in -such agony from sun half an hour high till near -dark that I was all over wet with sweat, but yet it -seemed to me I had done nothing. O, my dear -Saviour did sweat blood for poor souls! I longed -for more compassion toward them. I felt still in -a sweet frame, under a sense of divine love and grace, -and went to bed in such a frame, with my heart -set on God." It was prayer which gave to his -life and ministry their marvellous power.</p> - -<p>The men of mighty prayer are men of spiritual -might. Prayers never die. Brainerd's whole life -was a life of prayer. By day and by night he -prayed. Before preaching and after preaching he -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_073" id="Page_073">{73}</a></span> -prayed. Riding through the interminable solitudes -of the forests he prayed. On his bed of straw he -prayed. Retiring to the dense and lonely forests -he prayed. Hour by hour, day after day, early -morn and late at night, he was praying and fasting, -pouring out his soul, interceding, communing with -God. He was with God mightily in prayer, and -God was with him mightily, and by it he being dead -yet speaketh and worketh, and will speak and work -till the end comes, and among the glorious ones of -that glorious day he will be with the first.</p> - -<p>Jonathan Edwards says of him: "His life shows -the right way to success in the works of the ministry. -He sought it as the soldier seeks victory in a siege -or battle; or as a man that runs a race for a great -prize. Animated with love to Christ and souls, -how did he labour? Always fervently. Not only -in word and doctrine, in public and in private, -but in prayers by day and night, wrestling with -God in secret and travailing in birth with unutterable -groans, and agonies, until Christ was formed in the -hearts of the people to whom he was sent. Like -a true son of Jacob, he persevered in wrestling -through all the darkness of the night, until the -breaking of the day!"</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_074" id="Page_074">{74}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>For nothing reaches the heart but what is from the heart, -or pierces the conscience but what comes from a living conscience.</i>—<span class="smc">William Penn.</span></p> - -<p><i>In the morning was more engaged in preparing the head -than the heart. This has been frequently my error, and I -have always felt the evil of it, especially in prayer. Reform -it, then, O Lord! Enlarge my heart, and I shall preach.</i>—<span class="smc">Robert Murray McCheyne.</span></p> - -<p><i>A sermon that has more head infused into it than heart -will not come home with efficacy to the hearers.</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Cecil.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_075" id="Page_075">{75}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Prayer,</span> with its manifold and many-sided forces, -helps the mouth to utter the truth in its fulness and -freedom. The preacher is to be prayed for, the -preacher is made by prayer. The preacher's mouth -is to be prayed for; his mouth is to be opened and -filled by prayer. A holy mouth is made by praying, -by much praying; a brave mouth is made by -praying, by much praying. The Church and the -world, God and heaven, owe much to Paul's mouth; -Paul's mouth owed its power to prayer.</p> - -<p>How manifold, illimitable, valuable, and helpful -prayer is to the preacher in so many ways, at so -many points, in every way! One great value is, -it helps his heart.</p> - -<p>Praying makes the preacher a heart preacher. -Prayer puts the preacher's heart into the preacher's -sermon; prayer puts the preacher's sermon into the -preacher's heart.</p> - -<p>The heart makes the preacher. Men of great -hearts are great preachers. Men of bad hearts -may do a measure of good, but this is rare. The -hireling and the stranger may help the sheep at -some points but it is the good shepherd with the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_076" id="Page_076">{76}</a></span> -good shepherd's heart who will bless the sheep and -answer the full measure of the shepherd's place.</p> - -<p>We have emphasized sermon-preparation until -we have lost sight of the important thing to be -prepared—the heart. A prepared heart is much -better than a prepared sermon. A prepared heart -will make a prepared sermon.</p> - -<p>Volumes have been written laying down the -mechanics and taste of sermon-making, until we -have become possessed with the idea that this -scaffolding is the building. The young preacher -has been taught to lay out all his strength on the -form, taste, and beauty of his sermon as a mechanical -and intellectual product. We have thereby cultivated -a vicious taste among the people and raise -the clamour for talent instead of grace, eloquence -instead of piety, rhetoric instead of revelation, -reputation and brilliancy instead of holiness. By it -we have lost the true idea of preaching, lost preaching -power, lost pungent conviction for sin, lost the -rich experience and elevated Christian character, -lost the authority over consciences and lives -which always result from genuine preaching.</p> - -<p>It would not do to say that preachers study too -much. Some of them do not study at all; others -do not study enough. Numbers do not study the -right way to show themselves workmen approved -of God. But our great lack is not in head culture, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_077" id="Page_077">{77}</a></span> -but in heart culture; not lack of knowledge but -lack of holiness is our sad and telling defect—not -that we know too much, but that we do not meditate -on God and His word and watch and fast and pray -enough. The heart is the great hindrance to our -preaching. Words pregnant with divine truth find -in our hearts non-conductors; arrested, they fall -flat and powerless.</p> - -<p>Can ambition, that lusts after praise and place, -preach the gospel of Him who made Himself of -no reputation and took on Him the form of a -servant? Can the proud, the vain, the egotistical -preach the gospel of Him who was meek and lowly? -Can the bad-tempered, passionate, selfish, hard, -worldly man preach the system which teems with -long-suffering, self-denial, tenderness, which imperatively -demands separation from enmity and -crucifixion to the world? Can the hireling official, -heartless, perfunctory, preach the gospel which demands -that the Shepherd give His life for the sheep? -Can the covetous man, who counts salary and money, -preach the gospel till he has gleaned his heart and -can say in the Spirit of Christ and Paul in the words -of Wesley: "I count it dung and dross; I trample -it under my feet; I (yet not I, but the grace of -God in me) esteem it just as the mire of the streets, -I desire it not, I seek it not?" God's revelation -does not need the light of human genius, the polish -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_078" id="Page_078">{78}</a></span> -and strength of human culture, the brilliancy of -human thought, the force of human brains to adorn -or enforce it; but it does demand the simplicity, -the docility, humility, and faith of a child's heart.</p> - -<p>It was this surrender and subordination of intellect -and genius to the divine and spiritual forces which -made Paul peerless among the apostles. It was -this which gave Wesley his power and radicated -his labours in the history of humanity.</p> - -<p>Our great need is heart-preparation. Luther held -it as an axiom: "He who has prayed well has -studied well." We do not say that men are not -to think and use their intellects; but he will use -his intellect best who cultivates his heart most. -We do not say that preachers should not be students; -but we do say that their great study should be -the Bible, and he studies the Bible best who has -kept his heart with diligence. We do not say -that the preacher should not know men, but he -will be the greater adept in human nature who has -fathomed the depths and intricacies of his own -heart. We do say that while the channel of preaching -is the mind, its fountain is the heart; you may -broaden and deepen the channel, but if you do not -look well to the purity and depth of the fountain, -you will have a dry or polluted channel. We do -say that almost any man of common intelligence -has sense enough to preach the gospel, but very -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_079" id="Page_079">{79}</a></span> -few have grace enough to do so. We do say that -he who has struggled with his own heart and conquered -it; who has taught it humility, faith, love, -truth, mercy, sympathy, courage; who can pour -the rich treasures of the heart thus trained, through -a manly intellect, all surcharged with the power of -the gospel on the consciences of his hearers—such -an one will be the truest, most successful preacher -in the esteem of his Lord.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_080" id="Page_080">{80}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XIII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>Study not to be a fine preacher. Jerichos are blown down -with rams' horns. Look simply unto Jesus for preaching -food; and what is wanted will be given, and what is given -will be blessed, whether it be a barley grain or a wheaten loaf, -a crust or a crumb. Your mouth will be a flowing stream -or a fountain sealed, according as your heart is. Avoid all -controversy in preaching, talking, or writing; preach nothing -down but the devil, and nothing up but Jesus Christ.</i>—<span class="smc">Berridge.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_081" id="Page_081">{81}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">The</span> heart is the saviour of the world. Heads do -not save. Genius, brains, brilliancy, strength, -natural gifts do not save. The gospel flows through -hearts. All the mightiest forces are heart forces. -All the sweetest and loveliest graces are heart -graces. Great hearts make great characters; great -hearts make divine characters. God is love. There -is nothing greater than love, nothing greater than -God. Hearts make heaven; heaven is love. -There is nothing higher, nothing sweeter, than -heaven. It is the heart and not the head which -makes God's great preachers. The heart counts -much every way in religion. The heart must speak -from the pulpit. The heart must hear in the pew. -In fact, we serve God with our hearts. Head -homage does not pass current in heaven. - -We believe that one of the serious and most -popular errors of the modern pulpit is the putting -of more thought than prayer, of more head than of -heart in its sermons. Big hearts make big preachers; -good hearts make good preachers. A theological -school to enlarge and cultivate the heart is the -golden desideratum of the gospel. The pastor -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_082" id="Page_082">{82}</a></span> -binds his people to him and rules his people by his -heart. They may admire his gifts, they may be -proud of his ability, they may be affected for the -time by his sermons; but the stronghold of his -power is his heart. His sceptre is love. The -throne of his power is his heart.</p> - -<p>The good Shepherd gives His life for the sheep. -Heads never make martyrs. It is the heart which -surrenders the life to love and fidelity. It takes -great courage to be a faithful pastor, but the heart -alone can supply this courage. Gifts and genius -may be brave, but it is the gifts and genius of the -heart and not of the head.</p> - -<p>It is easier to fill the head than it is to prepare -the heart. It is easier to make a brain sermon -than a heart sermon. It was heart that drew the -Son of God from heaven. It is heart that will -draw men to heaven. Men of heart is what the -world needs to sympathize with its woe, to kiss -away its sorrows, to compassionate its misery, and -to alleviate its pain. Christ was eminently the man -of sorrows, because He was pre-eminently the man -of heart.</p> - -<p>"Give Me thy heart," is God's requisition of men. -"Give me thy heart!" is man's demand of man.</p> - -<p>A professional ministry is a heartless ministry. -When salary plays a great part in the ministry, -the heart plays little part. We may make preaching -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_083" id="Page_083">{83}</a></span> -our business, and not put our hearts in the business. -He who puts self to the front in his preaching puts -heart to the rear. He who does not sow with his -heart in his study will never reap a harvest for God. -The closet is the heart's study. We will learn -more about how to preach and what to preach -there than we can learn in our libraries. "Jesus -wept" is the shortest and biggest verse in the -Bible. It is he who goes forth <i>weeping</i> (not preaching -great sermons), bearing precious seed, who shall -come again rejoicing, bringing his sheaves with -him.</p> - -<p>Praying gives sense, brings wisdom, broadens and -strengthens the mind. The closet is a perfect -school-teacher and school-house for the preacher. -Thought is not only brightened and clarified in -prayer, but thought is born in prayer. We can -learn more in an hour praying, when praying -indeed, than from many hours in the study. Books -are in the closet which can be found and read -nowhere else. Revelations are made in the closet -which are made nowhere else.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_084" id="Page_084">{84}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XIV</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>One bright benison which private prayer brings down upon -the ministry is an indescribable and inimitable something—an -unction from the Holy One.... If the anointing which -we bear come not from the Lord of hosts, we are deceivers, -since only in prayer can we obtain it. Let us continue -instant, constant, fervent in supplication. Let your fleece lie -on the thrashing-floor of supplication till it is wet with the -dew of heaven.</i>—<span class="smc">Spurgeon.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_085" id="Page_085">{85}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Alexander Knox,</span> a Christian philosopher of the -days of Wesley, not an adherent but a strong -personal friend of Wesley, and with much spiritual -sympathy with the Wesleyan movement, writes: -"It is strange and lamentable, but I verily believe -the fact to be that except among Methodists and -Methodistical clergymen, there is not much interesting -preaching in England. The clergy, too -generally, have absolutely lost the art. There is, -I conceive, in the great laws of the moral world -a kind of secret understanding like the affinities in -chemistry, between rightly promulgated religious -truth and the deepest feelings of the human mind. -Where the one is duly exhibited, the other will -respond. "Did not our hearts burn within us"?—but -this devout feeling is indispensable in the -speaker. Now, I am obliged to state from my -own observation that this <i>onction</i>, as the French not -unfitly term it, is beyond all comparison more -likely to be found in England in a Methodist conventicle -than in a parish Church. This, and this -alone, seems really to be that which fills the Methodist -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_086" id="Page_086">{86}</a></span> -houses and thins the Churches. I am, I verily -think, no enthusiast; I am a most sincere and cordial -Churchman, a humble disciple of the School of -Hale and Boyle, of Burnet and Leighton. Now -I must aver that when I was in this country, two -years ago, I did not hear a single preacher who -taught me like my own great masters but such as -are deemed Methodistical. And I now despair of -getting an atom of heart-instruction from any -other quarter. The Methodist preachers (however -I may not always approve of all their expressions) -do most assuredly diffuse this true religion and -undefiled. I felt real pleasure last Sunday. I can -bear witness that the preacher did at once speak -the words of truth and soberness. There was no -eloquence—the honest man never dreamed of such -a thing—but there was far better: a cordial communication -of vitalized truth. I say vitalized -because what he declared to others it was impossible -not to feel he lived on himself."</p> - -<p>This unction is the art of preaching. The preacher -who never had this unction never had the art of -preaching. The preacher who has lost this unction -has lost the art of preaching. Whatever other arts -he may have and retain—the art of sermon-making, -the art of eloquence, the art of great, clear thinking, -the art of pleasing an audience—he has lost the -divine art of preaching. This unction makes God's -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_087" id="Page_087">{87}</a></span> -truth powerful and interesting, draws and attracts, -edifies, convicts, saves.</p> - -<p>This unction vitalizes God's revealed truth, -makes it living and life-giving. Even God's truth -spoken without this unction is light, dead, and -deadening. Though abounding in truth, though -weighty with thought, though sparkling with -rhetoric, though pointed by logic, though powerful -by earnestness, without this divine unction it -issues in death and not in life. Mr. Spurgeon says: -"I wonder how long we might beat our brains -before we could plainly put into word what is meant -by preaching with unction. Yet he who preaches -knows its presence, and he who hears soon detects -its absence. Samaria, in famine, typifies a discourse -without it. Jerusalem, with her feast of fat things, -full of marrow, may represent a sermon enriched -with it. Every one knows what the freshness of -the morning is when orient pearls abound on every -blade of grass, but who can describe it, much less -produce it of itself? Such is the mystery of spiritual -anointing. We know, but we cannot tell to others -what it is. It is as easy as it is foolish, to counterfeit -it. Unction is a thing which you cannot manufacture, -and its counterfeits are worse than worthless. -Yet it is, in itself, priceless, and beyond -measure needful if you would edify believers and -bring sinners to Christ."</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_088" id="Page_088">{88}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XV</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>Speak for eternity. Above all things, cultivate your own -spirit. A word spoken by you when your conscience is -clear and your heart full of God's Spirit is worth ten thousand -words spoken in unbelief and sin. Remember that God, -and not man, must have the glory. If the veil of the world's -machinery were lifted off, how much we would find is done -in answer to the prayers of God's children.</i>—<span class="smc">Robert Murray McCheyne.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_089" id="Page_089">{89}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Unction</span> is that indefinable, indescribable something -which an old, renowned Scotch preacher describes -thus: "There is sometimes somewhat in preaching -that cannot be described either to matter or expression, -and cannot be described what it is, or -from whence it cometh, but with a sweet violence -it pierceth into the heart and affections and comes -immediately from the Lord; but if there be any -way to obtain such a thing it is by the heavenly -disposition of the speaker."</p> - -<p>We call it unction. It is this unction which -makes the Word of God "quick and powerful, and -sharper than any two-edged sword, piercing even -to the dividing asunder of soul and spirit, and of -the joints and marrow, and a discerner of the -thoughts and intents of the heart." It is this -unction which gives the words of the preacher such -point, sharpness, and power, and which creates -such friction and stir in many a dead congregation. -The same truths have been told in the strictness -of the letter, smooth as human oil could make -them; but no signs of life, not a pulse throb; all -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_090" id="Page_090">{90}</a></span> -as peaceful as the grave and as dead. The same -preacher in the meanwhile receives a baptism of -this unction, the divine inflatus is on him, the letter -of the Word has been embellished and fired by this -mysterious power, and the throbbings of life begin—life -which receives or life which resists. The -unction pervades and convicts the conscience and -breaks the heart.</p> - -<p>This divine unction is the feature which separates -and distinguishes true gospel preaching from all -other methods of presenting the truth, and which -creates a wide spiritual chasm between the preacher -who has it and the one who has it not. It supports -and impregnates revealed truth with all the energy -of God. Unction is simply putting God in His own -Word and on His own preacher. By mighty and -great prayerfulness and by continual prayerfulness, -it is all potential and personal to the preacher; -it inspires and clarifies his intellect, gives insight -and grasp and projecting power; it gives to the -preacher heart power, which is greater than head -power; and tenderness, purity, force flow from -the heart by it. Enlargement, freedom, fulness -of thought, directness and simplicity of utterance -are the fruits of this unction.</p> - -<p>Often earnestness is mistaken for this unction. -He who has the divine unction will be earnest in -the very spiritual nature of things, but there may -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_091" id="Page_091">{91}</a></span> -be a vast deal of earnestness without the least -mixture of unction.</p> - -<p>Earnestness and unction look alike from some -points of view. Earnestness may be readily and -without detection substituted or mistaken for -unction. It requires a spiritual eye and a spiritual -taste to discriminate.</p> - -<p>Earnestness may be sincere, serious, ardent, and -persevering. It goes at a thing with a good will, -pursues it with perseverance, and urges it with -ardour; puts force in it. But all these forces do -not rise higher than the mere human. The <i>man</i> -is in it—the whole man, with all that he has of -will and heart, of brain and genius, of planning -and working and talking. He has set himself to -some purpose which has mastered him, and he -pursues to master it. There may be none of God -in it. There may be little of God in it, because -there is so much of the man in it. He may present -pleas in advocacy of his earnest purpose which -please or touch and move or overwhelm with -conviction of their importance; and in all this -earnestness may move along earthly ways, being -propelled by human forces only, its altar made by -earthly hands and its fire kindled by earthly flames. -It is said of a rather famous preacher of gifts, -whose construction of Scripture was to his fancy -or purpose, that he "grew very eloquent over his -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_092" id="Page_092">{92}</a></span> -own exegesis." So men grow exceeding earnest -over their own plans or movements. Earnestness -may be selfishness simulated.</p> - -<p>What of unction? It is the indefinable in preaching -which makes it preaching. It is that which -distinguishes and separates preaching from all mere -human addresses. It is the divine in preaching. -It makes the preaching sharp to those who need -sharpness. It distils as the dew to those who -need to be refreshed. It is well described as:</p> - -<div class="poetry-container"> -<div class="poetry"> - -<div class="verse indent8">"... a two-edged sword</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Of heavenly temper keen,</div> -<div class="verse">And double were the wounds it made</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Where'er it glanced between.</div> -<div class="verse">'Twas death to sin; 'twas life</div> -<div class="verse indent2">To all who mourned for sin.</div> -<div class="verse">It kindled and it silenced strife,</div> -<div class="verse indent2">Made war and peace within."</div> - -</div> -</div> - -<p>This unction comes to the preacher not in the -study but in the closet. It is heaven's distillation -in answer to prayer. It is the sweetest exhalation -of the Holy Spirit. It impregnates, suffuses, -softens, percolates, cuts, and soothes. It carries -the Word like dynamite, like salt, like sugar; -makes the Word a soother, an arraigner, a revealer, -a searcher; makes the hearer a culprit or a saint, -makes him weep like a child and live like a giant; -opens his heart and his purse as gently, yet as -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_093" id="Page_093">{93}</a></span> -strongly as the spring opens the leaves. This -unction is not the gift of genius. It is not found -in the halls of learning. No eloquence can woo it. -No industry can win it. No prelatical hands can -confer it. It is the gift of God—the signet set to -His own messengers. It is heaven's knighthood -given to the chosen true and brave ones who have -sought this anointed honour through many an -hour of tearful, wrestling prayer.</p> - -<p>Earnestness is good and impressive; genius is -gifted and great. Thought kindles and inspires, -but it takes a diviner endowment, a more powerful -energy than earnestness or genius or thought to -break the chains of sin, to win estranged and depraved -hearts to God, to repair the breaches and -restore the Church to her old ways of purity and -power. Nothing but this holy unction can do this.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_094" id="Page_094">{94}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XVI</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>All the minister's efforts will be vanity or worse than vanity -if he have not unction. Unction must come down from -heaven and spread a savour and feeling and relish over his -ministry; and among the other means of qualifying himself -for his office, the Bible must hold the first place, and the last -also must be given to the Word of God and prayer.</i>—<span class="smc">Richard Cecil.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_095" id="Page_095">{95}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">In</span> the Christian system unction is the anointing -of the Holy Ghost, separating unto God's work and -qualifying for it. This unction is the one divine -enablement by which the preacher accomplishes -the peculiar and saving ends of preaching. Without -this unction there are no true spiritual results -accomplished; the results and forces in preaching -do not rise above the results of unsanctified speech. -Without unction the latter is as potent as the -pulpit.</p> - -<p>This divine unction on the preacher generates -through the Word of God the spiritual results -that flow from the gospel; and without this unction, -these results are not secured. Many pleasant -impressions may be made, but these all fall far below -the ends of gospel preaching. This unction may -be simulated. There are many things that look -like it, there are many results that resemble its -effects; but they are foreign to its results and to -its nature. The fervour or softness excited by a -pathetic or emotional sermon may look like the -movements of the divine unction, but they have -no pungent, penetrating, heart-breaking force. No -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_096" id="Page_096">{96}</a></span> -heart-healing balm is there in these surface, sympathetic, -emotional movements; they are not -radical, neither sin-searching nor sin-curing.</p> - -<p>This divine unction is the one distinguishing -feature that separates true gospel preaching from -all other methods of presenting truth. It backs -and interpenetrates the revealed truth with all -the force of God. It illumines the Word and -broadens and enrichens the intellect and empowers -it to grasp and apprehend the Word. It qualifies -the preacher's heart, and brings it to that condition -of tenderness, of purity, of force and light that -are necessary to secure the highest results. This -unction gives to the preacher liberty and enlargement -of thought and soul—a freedom, fulness, and -directness of utterance that can be secured by no -other process.</p> - -<p>Without this unction on the preacher the gospel -has no more power to propagate itself than any -other system of truth. This is the seal of its divinity. -Unction in the preacher puts God in the gospel. -Without the unction, God is absent, and the gospel -is left to the low and unsatisfactory forces that the -ingenuity, interest, or talents of men can devise -to enforce and project its doctrines.</p> - -<p>It is in this element that the pulpit oftener fails -than in any other element. Just at this all-important -point it lapses. Learning it may have, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_097" id="Page_097">{97}</a></span> -brilliancy and eloquence may delight and charm, -sensation or less offensive methods may bring the -populace in crowds, mental power may impress and -enforce truth with all its resources; but without -this unction, each and all these will be but as the -fretful assault of the waters on a Gibraltar. Spray -and foam may cover and spangle; but the rocks -are there still, unimpressed and unimpressible. The -human heart can no more be swept of its hardness -and sin by these human forces than these rocks -can be swept away by the ocean's ceaseless flow.</p> - -<p>This unction is the consecration force, and its -presence the continuous test of that consecration. -It is this divine anointing on the preacher that -secures his consecration to God and his work. -Other forces and motives may call him to the work, -but this only is consecration. A separation to -God's work by the power of the Holy Spirit is the -only consecration recognized by God as legitimate.</p> - -<p>The unction, the divine unction, this heavenly -anointing, is what the pulpit needs and must have. -This divine and heavenly oil put on it by the imposition -of God's hand must soften and lubricate -the whole man—heart, head, spirit—until it separates -him with a mighty separation from all earthly, -secular, worldly, selfish motives and aims, separating -him to everything that is pure and Godlike.</p> - -<p>It is the presence of this unction on the preacher -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_098" id="Page_098">{98}</a></span> -that creates the stir and friction in many a congregation. -The same truths have been told in the -strictness of the letter, but no ruffle has been seen, -no pain or pulsation felt. All is quiet as a graveyard. -Another preacher comes, and this mysterious influence -is on him; the letter of the Word has been -fired by the Spirit, the throes of a mighty movement -are felt, it is the unction that pervades and stirs -the conscience and breaks the heart. Unctionless -preaching makes everything hard, dry, acrid, dead.</p> - -<p>This unction is not a memory or an era of the -past only; it is a present, realized, conscious fact. -It belongs to the experience of the man as well -as to his preaching. It is that which transforms -him into the image of his divine Master, as well -as that by which he declares the truths of Christ -with power. It is so much the power in the ministry -as to make all else seem feeble and vain without -it, and by its presence to atone for the absence -of all other and feebler forces.</p> - -<p>This unction is not an inalienable gift. It is a -conditional gift, and its presence is perpetuated -and increased by the same process by which it was -at first secured; by unceasing prayer to God, by -impassioned desires after God, by estimating it, by -seeking it with tireless ardour, by deeming all else -loss and failure without it.</p> - -<p>How and whence comes this unction? Direct -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_099" id="Page_099">{99}</a></span> -from God in answer to prayer. Praying hearts -only are the hearts filled with this holy oil; praying -lips only are anointed with this divine unction.</p> - -<p>Prayer, much prayer, is the price of preaching -unction; prayer, much prayer, is the one, sole -condition of keeping this unction. Without unceasing -prayer the unction never comes to the -preacher. Without perseverance in prayer, the -unction, like the manna overkept, breeds worms.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_100" id="Page_100">{100}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XVII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>Give me one hundred preachers who fear nothing but sin -and desire nothing but God, and I care not a straw whether -they be clergymen or laymen; such alone will shake the -gates of hell and set up the kingdom of heaven on earth. God -does nothing but in answer to prayer</i>.—<span class="smc">John Wesley.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_101" id="Page_101">{101}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">The</span> apostles knew the necessity and worth of -prayer to their ministry. They knew that their -high commission as apostles, instead of relieving -them from the necessity of prayer, committed -them to it by a more urgent need; so that they -were exceedingly jealous else some other important -work should exhaust their time and prevent their -praying as they ought; so they appointed laymen -to look after the delicate and engrossing duties of -ministering to the poor, that they (the apostles) -might, unhindered, "give themselves continually -to prayer and to the ministry of the word." Prayer -is put first, and their relation to prayer is put most -strongly—"give themselves to it," making a business -of it, surrendering themselves to praying, putting -fervour, urgency, perseverance, and time in it.</p> - -<p>How holy, apostolic men devoted themselves to -this divine work of prayer! "Night and day -praying exceedingly," says Paul. "We will give -ourselves continually to prayer" is the consensus -of apostolic devotement. How these New Testament -preachers laid themselves out in prayer for God's -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_102" id="Page_102">{102}</a></span> -people! How they put God in full force into their -Churches by their praying! These holy apostles -did not vainly fancy that they had met their high -and solemn duties by delivering faithfully God's -Word, but their preaching was made to stick and -tell by the ardour and insistence of their praying. -Apostolic praying was as taxing, toilsome, and -imperative as apostolic preaching. They prayed -mightily day and night to bring their people to the -highest regions of faith and holiness. They prayed -mightier still to hold them to this high spiritual -altitude. The preacher who has never learned in -the School of Christ the high and divine art of -intercession for his people will never learn the art -of preaching, though homiletics be poured into him -by the ton, and though he be the most gifted genius -in sermon-making and sermon-delivery.</p> - -<p>The prayers of apostolic, saintly leaders do much -in making saints of those who are not apostles. -If the Church leaders in after years had been as -particular and fervent in praying for their people -as the apostles were, the sad, dark times of worldliness -and apostasy had not marred the history and -eclipsed the glory and arrested the advance of the -Church. Apostolic praying makes apostolic saints -and keeps apostolic times of purity and power in -the Church.</p> - -<p>What loftiness of soul, what purity and elevation -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_103" id="Page_103">{103}</a></span> -of motive, what unselfishness, what self-sacrifice, -what exhaustive toil, what ardour of spirit, what -divine tact are requisite to be an intercessor for -men!</p> - -<p>The preacher is to lay himself out in prayer -for his people; not that they might be saved, -simply, but that they be mightily saved. The -apostles laid themselves out in prayer that their -saints might be perfect; not that they should -have a little relish for the things of God, but that -they "might be filled with all the fulness of God." -Paul did not rely on his apostolic preaching to -secure this end, but "for this cause he bowed -his knees to the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ." -Paul's praying carried Paul's converts farther -along the highway of sainthood than Paul's preaching -did. Epaphras did as much or more by prayer -for the Colossian saints than by his preaching. -He laboured fervently always in prayer for them -that "they might stand perfect and complete in -all the Will of God."</p> - -<p>Preachers are pre-eminently God's leaders. They -are primarily responsible for the condition of the -Church. They shape its character, give tone and -direction to its life.</p> - -<p>Much every way depends on these leaders. They -shape the times and the institutions. The Church -is divine, the treasure it incases is heavenly, but -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_104" id="Page_104">{104}</a></span> -it bears the imprint of the human. The treasure -is in earthen vessels, and it smacks of the vessel. -The Church of God makes, or is made by, its leaders. -Whether it makes them or is made by them, it will -be what its leaders are; spiritual if they are so, -secular if they are, conglomerate if its leaders are. -Israel's kings gave character to Israel's piety. A -Church rarely revolts against or rises above the -religion of its leaders. Strongly spiritual leaders; -men of holy might, at the lead, are tokens of God's -favour; disaster and weakness follow the wake of -feeble or worldly leaders. Israel had fallen low -when God gave children to be their princes and -babes to rule over them. No happy state is predicted -by the prophets when children oppress God's -Israel and women rule over them. Times of spiritual -leadership are times of great spiritual prosperity -to the Church.</p> - -<p>Prayer is one of the eminent characteristics of -strong spiritual leadership. Men of mighty prayer -are men of might and mould things. Their power -with God has the conquering tread.</p> - -<p>How can a man preach who does not get his -message fresh from God in the closet? How can he -preach without having his faith quickened, his -vision cleared, and his heart warmed by his closeting -with God? Alas, for the pulpit lips which are -untouched by this closet flame. Dry and unctionless -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_105" id="Page_105">{105}</a></span> -they will ever be, and truths divine will never -come with power from such lips. As far as the -real interests of religion are concerned, a pulpit -without a closet will always be a barren thing.</p> - -<p>A preacher may preach in an official, entertaining, -or learned way without prayer, but between this -kind of preaching and sowing God's precious seed -with holy hands and prayerful, weeping hearts -there is an immeasurable distance.</p> - -<p>A prayerless ministry is the undertaker for all -God's truth and for God's Church. He may have -the most costly casket and the most beautiful -flowers, but it is a funeral, notwithstanding the -charmful array. A prayerless Christian will never -learn God's truth; a prayerless ministry will never -be able to teach God's truth. Ages of millennial -glory have been lost by a prayerless Church. The -coming of our Lord has been postponed indefinitely -by a prayerless Church. Hell has enlarged herself -and filled her dire caves in the presence of the dead -service of a prayerless Church.</p> - -<p>The best, the greatest offering is an offering -of prayer. If the preachers of the twentieth century -will learn well the lesson of prayer, and use fully -the power of prayer, the millennium will come to -its noon ere the century closes. "Prayer without -ceasing" is the trumpet call to the preachers of the -twentieth century. If the twentieth century will -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_106" id="Page_106">{106}</a></span> -get their texts, their thoughts, their words, their -sermons in their closets, the next century will -find a new heaven and a new earth. The old sin-stained -and sin-eclipsed heaven and earth will pass -away under the power of a praying ministry.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_108" id="Page_108">{108}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XVIII</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>If some Christians that have been complaining of their -ministers had said and acted less before men and had applied -themselves with all their might to cry to God for their ministers—had, -as it were, risen and stormed heaven with their humble, -fervent, and incessant prayers for them—they would have been -much more in the way of success.</i>—<span class="smc">Jonathan Edwards.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_109" id="Page_109">{109}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Somehow</span> the practice of praying in particular -for the preacher has fallen into disuse or become -discounted. Occasionally have we heard the -practice arraigned as a disparagement of the ministry, -being a public declaration by those who do it of -the inefficiency of the ministry. It offends the -pride of learning and self-sufficiency, perhaps, and -these ought to be offended and rebuked in a ministry -that is so derelict as to allow them to exist.</p> - -<p>Prayer, to the preacher, is not simply the duty -of his profession, a privilege, but it is a necessity. -Air is not more necessary to the lungs than prayer -is to the preacher. It is absolutely necessary for -the preacher to pray. It is an absolute necessity -that the preacher be prayed for. These two propositions -are wedded into a union which ought -never to know any divorce: <i>the preacher must -pray; the preacher must be prayed for</i>. It will -take all the praying he can do, and all the praying -he can get done, to meet the fearful responsibilities -and gain the largest, truest success in his great -work. The true preacher, next to the cultivation of -the spirit and fact of prayer in himself, in their -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_110" id="Page_110">{110}</a></span> -intensest form, covets with a great covetousness the -prayers of God's people.</p> - -<p>The holier a man is, the more does he estimate -prayer; the clearer does he see that God gives -Himself to the praying ones, and that the measure -of God's revelation to the soul is the measure of -the soul's longing, importunate prayer for God. -Salvation never finds its way to a prayerless heart. -The Holy Spirit never abides in a prayerless spirit. -Preaching never edifies a prayerless soul. Christ -knows nothing of prayerless Christians. The gospel -cannot be extended by a prayerless preacher. -Gifts, talents, education, eloquence, God's call, -cannot abate the demand of prayer, but only -intensify the necessity for the preacher to pray and -to be prayed for. The more the preacher's eyes are -opened to the nature, responsibility, and difficulties -in his work, the more will he see, and if he be a -true preacher the more will he feel, the necessity -of prayer; not only the increasing demand to -pray himself, but to call on others to help him by -their prayers.</p> - -<p>Paul is an illustration of this. If any man could -extend or advance the gospel by dint of personal -force, by brain power, by culture, by personal grace, -by God's apostolic commission, God's extraordinary -call, that man was Paul. That the preacher must -be a man given to prayer, Paul is an eminent -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_111" id="Page_111">{111}</a></span> -example. That the true apostolic preacher must -have the prayers of other good people to give to -his ministry its full quota of success, Paul is a -pre-eminent example. He asks, he covets, he pleads -in an impassioned way for the help of all God's -saints. He knew that in the spiritual realm, as -elsewhere, in union there is strength; that the -concentration and aggregation of faith, desire, and -prayer increased the volume of spiritual force until -it became overwhelming and irresistible in its -power. Units of prayer combined, like drops of -water, make an ocean which defies resistance. So -Paul, with his clear and full apprehension of spiritual -dynamics, determined to make his ministry as -impressive, as eternal, as irresistible as the ocean, -by gathering all the scattered units of prayer and -precipitating them on his ministry. May not the -solution of Paul's pre-eminence in labours and -results, and impress on the Church and the world, -be found in this fact that he was able to centre -on himself and his ministry more of prayer than -others? To his brethren at Rome he wrote: -"Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus -Christ's sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye -strive together with me in prayers to God for me." -To the Ephesians he says: "Praying always with -all prayer and supplication in the Spirit, and -watching thereunto with all perseverance and -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_112" id="Page_112">{112}</a></span> -supplication for all saints; and for me, that utterance -may be given unto me, that I may open my mouth -boldly, to make known the mystery of the gospel." -To the Colossians he emphasizes: "Withal praying -also for us, that God would open unto us a door -of utterance, to speak the mystery of Christ, for -which I am also in bonds: that I may make it -manifest as I ought to speak." To the Thessalonians -he says sharply, strongly: "Brethren, pray for -us." Paul calls on the Corinthian Church to help -him: "Ye also helping together by prayer for -us." This was to be part of their work. They -were to lay to the helping hand of prayer. He in -an additional and closing charge to the Thessalonian -Church about the importance and necessity -of their prayers says: "Finally, brethren, pray for -us, that the Word of the Lord may have free course, -and be glorified, even as it is with you: and that -we may be delivered from unreasonable and wicked -men." He impresses the Philippians that all his -trials and opposition can be made subservient to -the spread of the gospel by the efficiency of their -prayers for him. Philemon was to prepare a -lodging for him, for through Philemon's prayer -Paul was to be his guest.</p> - -<p>Paul's attitude on this question illustrates his -humility and his deep insight into the spiritual -forces which project the gospel. More than this, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_113" id="Page_113">{113}</a></span> -it teaches a lesson for all times, that if Paul was -so dependent on the prayers of God's saints to give -his ministry success, how much greater the necessity -that the prayers of God's saints be centred on the -ministry of to-day!</p> - -<p>Paul did not feel that this urgent plea for prayer -was to lower his dignity, lessen his influence, or -depreciate his piety. What if it did? Let dignity -go, let influence be destroyed, let his reputation be -marred—he must have their prayers. Called, commissioned, -chief of the Apostles as he was, all his -equipment was imperfect without the prayers of -his people. He wrote letters everywhere, urging -them to pray for him. Do you pray for your -preacher? Do you pray for him in secret? Public -prayers are of little worth unless they are founded -on or followed up by private praying. The praying -ones are to the preacher as Aaron and Hur were to -Moses. They hold up his hands and decide the -issue that is so fiercely raging around them.</p> - -<p>The plea and purpose of the apostles were to -put the Church to praying. They did not ignore -the grace of cheerful giving. They were not ignorant -of the place which religious activity and work -occupied in the spiritual life; but not one or all -of these, in apostolic estimate or urgency, could at -all compare in necessity and importance with prayer. -The most sacred and urgent pleas were used, the -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_114" id="Page_114">{114}</a></span> -most fervid exhortations, the most comprehensive -and arousing words were uttered to enforce the -all-important obligation and necessity of prayer.</p> - -<p>"Put the saints everywhere to praying" is the -burden of the apostolic effort and the keynote of -apostolic success. Jesus Christ had striven to do -this in the days of His personal ministry. As He -was moved by infinite compassion at the ripened -fields of earth perishing for lack of labourers—and -pausing in His own praying—He tries to awaken -the stupid sensibilities of His disciples to the duty -of prayer as He charges them, "Pray ye the Lord -of the harvest that He will send forth labourers -into His harvest." "And He spake a parable -unto them to this end, that men ought always to -pray and not to faint."</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_116" id="Page_116">{116}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XIX</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>This perpetual hurry of business and company ruins me -in soul if not in body. More solitude and earlier hours! -I suspect I have been allotting habitually too little time to -religious exercises, as private devotion and religious meditation, -Scripture-reading, etc. Hence I am lean and cold and hard. -I had better allot two hours or an hour and a half daily. I -have been keeping too late hours, and hence have had but -a hurried half hour in a morning to myself. Surely the -experience of all good men confirms the proposition that -without a due measure of private devotions the soul will grow -lean. But all may be done through prayer—almighty prayer -I am ready to say—and why not? For that it is almighty -is only through the gracious ordination of the God of love -and truth. O then, pray, pray, pray!</i>—<span class="smc">William Wilberforce.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_117" id="Page_117">{117}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Our</span> devotions are not measured by the clock, -but time is of their essence. The ability to wait -and stay and press belongs essentially to our intercourse -with God. Hurry, everywhere unseeming -and damaging, is so to an alarming extent in the -great business of communion with God. Short -devotions are the bane of deep piety. Calmness, -grasp, strength, are never the companions of hurry. -Short devotions deplete spiritual vigour, arrest -spiritual progress, sap spiritual foundations, blight -the root and bloom of spiritual life. They are -the prolific source of backsliding, the sure indication -of a superficial piety; they deceive, blight, rot -the seed, and impoverish the soil.</p> - -<p>It is true that Bible prayers in word and print -are short, but the praying men of the Bible were -with God through many a sweet and holy wrestling -hour. They won by few words but long waiting. -The prayers Moses records may be short, but Moses -prayed to God with fastings and mighty cryings -forty days and nights.</p> - -<p>The statement of Elijah's praying may be condensed -to a few brief paragraphs but doubtless -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_118" id="Page_118">{118}</a></span> -Elijah, who when "praying he prayed," spent many -hours of fiery struggle and lofty intercourse with -God before he could, with assured boldness, say to -Ahab, "There shall not be dew nor rain these years, -but according to my word." The Bible record of -Paul's prayers is short, but Paul "prayed night -and day exceedingly." The "Lord's Prayer" is -a divine epitome for infant lips, but the man Christ -Jesus prayed many an all-night ere His work was -done; and His all-night and long-sustained devotions -gave to His work its finish and perfection, and to -His character the fulness and glory of its divinity.</p> - -<p>Spiritual work is taxing work, and men are loath -to do it. Praying, true praying, costs an outlay -of serious attention and of time, which flesh and -blood do not relish. Few persons are made of such -strong fibre that they will make a costly outlay -when surface work will pass as well in the market. -We can habituate ourselves to our beggarly praying -until it looks well to us, at least it keeps up a decent -form and quiets conscience—the deadliest of -opiates! We can curtail our praying, and not -realize the peril till the foundations are gone. -Hurried devotions make weak faith, feeble convictions, -questionable piety. To be little with God -is to be little for God. To cut short the praying -makes the whole religious character short, scrimp, -niggardly, and slovenly. -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_119" id="Page_119">{119}</a></span></p> - -<p>It takes good time for the full flow of God into -the spirit. Short devotions cut the pipe of God's -full flow. It takes time in the secret places to get -the full revelation of God. Little time and hurry -mar the picture.</p> - -<p>Henry Martyn laments that "want of private -devotional reading and shortness of prayer through -incessant sermon-making had produced much -strangeness between God and his soul." He judged -that he had dedicated too much time to <i>public</i> -ministrations and too little to <i>private</i> communion -with God. He was much impressed with the need -of setting apart times for fasting and to devote times -for solemn prayer. Resulting from this he records: -"Was assisted this morning to pray for two hours." -Said William Wilberforce the peer of kings: "I -must secure more time for private devotions. I have -been living far too public for me. The shortening -of private devotions starves the soul; it grows -lean and faint. I have been keeping too late hours." -Of a failure in Parliament he says: "Let me -record my grief and shame, and all, probably, -from private devotions having been contracted, -and so God let me stumble." More solitude and -earlier hours were his remedy.</p> - -<p>More time and early hours for prayer would act -like magic to revive and invigorate many a decayed -spiritual life. More time and early hours for prayer -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_120" id="Page_120">{120}</a></span> -would be manifest in holy living. A holy life -would not be so rare or so difficult a thing if our -devotions were not so short and hurried. A Christly -temper in its sweet and passionless fragrance would -not be so alien and hopeless a heritage if our closet -stay were lengthened and intensified. We live -shabbily because we pray meanly. Plenty of time -to feast in our closets will bring marrow and fatness -to our lives. Our ability to stay with God in our -closet measures our ability to stay with God out -of the closet. Hasty closet visits are deceptive, -defaulting. We are not only deluded by them, -but we are losers by them in many ways and in -many rich legacies. Tarrying in the closet instructs -and wins. We are taught by it, and the greatest -victories are often the results of great waiting—waiting -till words and plans are exhausted, and -silent and patient waiting gains the crown. Jesus -Christ asks with an affronted emphasis, "Shall not -God avenge His own elect which cry day and night -unto Him?"</p> - -<p>To pray is the greatest thing we can do: and to -do it well there must be calmness, time, and deliberation; -otherwise it is degraded into the smallest -and meanest of things. True praying has the -largest results for good; and poor praying, the -least. We cannot do too much of real praying; -we cannot do too little of the sham. We must -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_121" id="Page_121">{121}</a></span> -learn anew the worth of prayer, enter anew the -school of prayer. There is nothing which it takes -more time to learn. And if we would learn the -wondrous art we must not give a fragment here and -there—"A little talk with Jesus," as the tiny -saintlets sing—but we must demand and hold with -iron grasp the best hours of the day for God and -prayer, or there will be no praying worth the name.</p> - -<p>This, however, is not a day of prayer. Few -men there are who pray. Prayer is defamed by -preacher and priest. In these days of hurry and -bustle, of electricity and steam, men will not take -time to pray. Preachers there are who "say -prayers" as a part of their programme, on regular -or state occasions; but who "stirs himself up to -take hold upon God?" Who prays as Jacob -prayed—till he is crowned as a prevailing princely -intercessor? Who prays as Elijah prayed—till -all the locked-up forces of nature were unsealed -and a famine-stricken land bloomed as the garden -of God? Who prayed as Jesus Christ prayed as -out upon the mountain he "continued all night -in prayer to God?" The apostles "gave themselves -to prayer"—the most difficult thing to get -men or even the preachers to do. Laymen there -are who will give their money—some of them in -rich abundance—but they will not "give themselves" -to prayer, without which their money is -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_122" id="Page_122">{122}</a></span> -but a curse. There are plenty of preachers who -will preach and deliver great and eloquent addresses -on the need of revival and the spread of the kingdom -of God, but not many there are who will do that -without which all preaching and organizing are -worse than vain—pray. It is out of date, almost -a lost art, and the greatest benefactor this age -could have is the man who will bring the preachers -and the church back to prayer.</p> - -<div class="chapter"> -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_124" id="Page_124">{124}</a></span> -<h2 class="nobreak">XX</h2> -</div> - -<div class="quote"> - -<p><i>I judge that my prayer is more than the devil himself; -if it were otherwise, Luther would have fared differently long -before this. Yet men will not see and acknowledge the great -wonders or miracles God works in my behalf. If I should -neglect prayer but a single day, I should lose a great deal -of the fire of faith.</i>—<span class="smc">Martin Luther.</span></p> - -</div> - -<div class="pagenum"><a name="Page_125" id="Page_125">{125}</a></div> - -<p class="nodent"><span class="smc">Only</span> glimpses of the great importance of prayer -could the apostles get before Pentecost. But the -Spirit coming and filling at Pentecost elevated -prayer to its vital and all commanding position in -the gospel of Christ. The call now of prayer to -every saint is the Spirit's loudest and most exigent -call. Sainthood's piety is made, refined, perfected, -by prayer. The gospel moves with slow and timid -pace when the saints are not at their prayers early -and late and long.</p> - -<p>Where are the Christly leaders who can teach the -modern saints how to pray and put them at it? -Do we know we are raising up a prayerless set of -saints? Where are the apostolic leaders who can -put God's people to praying? Let them come to -the front and do the work, and it will be the greatest -work which can be done. An increase of educational -facilities and a great increase of money force will -be the direst curse to religion if they are not sanctified -by more and better praying than we are doing. -More praying will not come as a matter of course. -The campaign for the twentieth or thirtieth century -fund will not help our praying but hinder if we -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_126" id="Page_126">{126}</a></span> -are not careful. Nothing but a specific effort -from a praying leadership will avail. The chief -ones must lead in the apostolic effort to radicate -the vital importance and <i>fact</i> of prayer in the heart -and life of the Church. None but praying leaders -can have praying followers. Praying apostles will -beget praying saints. A praying pulpit will beget -praying pews. We do greatly need somebody who -can set the saints to this business of praying. We -are not a generation of praying saints. Non-praying -saints are a beggarly gang of saints who -have neither the ardour nor the beauty nor the -power of saints. Who will restore this breach? -The greatest will he be of reformers and apostles, -who can set the Church to praying.</p> - -<p>We put it as our most sober judgment that the -great need of the Church in this and all ages is -men of such commanding faith, of such unsullied -holiness, of such marked spiritual vigour and consuming -zeal, that their prayers, faith, lives, and -ministry will be of such a radical and aggressive -form as to work spiritual revolutions which will -form eras in individual and Church life.</p> - -<p>We do not mean men who get up sensational -stirs by novel devices, nor those who attract by a -pleasing entertainment; but men who can stir -things, and work revolutions by the preaching of -God's Word and by the power of the Holy Ghost, -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_127" id="Page_127">{127}</a></span> -revolutions which change the whole current of -things.</p> - -<p>Natural ability and educational advantages do -not figure as factors in this matter; but capacity -for faith, the ability to pray, the power of thorough -consecration, the ability of self-littleness, an absolute -losing of one's self in God's glory and an ever-present -and insatiable yearning and seeking after -all the fulness of God—men who can set the Church -ablaze for God; not in a noisy, showy way, but -with an intense and quiet heat that melts and -moves everything for God.</p> - -<p>God can work wonders if He can get a suitable -man. Men can work wonders if they can get -God to lead them. The full endowment of the -spirit that turned the world upside down would be -eminently useful in these latter days. Men who -can stir things mightily for God, whose spiritual -revolutions change the whole aspect of things, are -the universal need of the Church.</p> - -<p>The Church has never been without these men; -they adorn its history; they are the standing -miracles of the divinity of the Church; their example -and history are an unfailing inspiration and blessing. -An increase in their number and power should be -our prayer.</p> - -<p>That which has been done in spiritual matters -can be done again, and be better done. This was -<span class="pagenum"><a name="Page_128" id="Page_128">{128}</a></span> -Christ's view. He said: "Verily, verily, I say -unto you, he that believeth on Me, the works that -I do shall he do also; and greater works than these -shall he do; because I go unto My Father." The -past has not exhausted the possibilities nor the -demands for doing great things for God. The -Church that is dependent on its past history for -its miracles of power and grace is a fallen Church.</p> - -<p>God wants elect men—men out of whom self -and the world have gone by a severe crucifixion, -by a bankruptcy which has so totally ruined self -and the world that there is neither hope nor desire -of recovery; men who by this insolvency and -crucifixion have turned toward God perfect hearts.</p> - -<p>Let us pray ardently that God's promise to prayer -may be more than realized.</p> - -<div style='display:block; margin-top:4em'>*** END OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK POWER THROUGH PRAYER ***</div> -<div style='text-align:left'> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Updated editions will replace the previous one—the old editions will -be renamed. -</div> - -<div style='display:block; margin:1em 0'> -Creating the works from print editions not protected by U.S. copyright -law means that no one owns a United States copyright in these works, -so the Foundation (and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United -States without permission and without paying copyright -royalties. 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