One night, I told one of our friends who had asked the Lord to forgive him for his shortcomings, that he should have prayed to be forgiven for his longcomings. He kept praying for such a great while that he prayed us into a good spirit, and then prayed us right out again. Our prayer- meetings must not be shams; all the deacons must be present, whosoever else may be absent. If they do not lead in attendance at all public services on Sundays and on week-nights, how can we expect the members to be present? The prayers must be real prayers, five minutes apiece, ten at the outside; and those who do pray, must be earnest; one cold prayer dampens and spoils a whole prayer-meeting.
Then, again, if revivals are to become more numerous, we must become more consistent. We have rich men, members of our churches, grinding the faces of the poor; and while this is the case, God will assuredly withhold His blessing. Some men, when they resolve to become rich, seem as if they constructed a great cauldron, into which they are ever ready to pitch their poor clerks and working people, with their wives and children, crying, “Never mind them; do not trouble about their comfort;” and thus they go on, until curses follow them as they walk the streets. They seem to say, “Boil them all up, and then let us go and receive the Lord’s Supper.” Detestable hypocrisy! And, you, shopkeepers, too, when the poor come to deal with you, be sure that you adulterate all the things they buy; if you must sell at a large profit, do it; that’s the way some get on in this world. People say they must live; I wonder, if they have forgotten that they must DIE!
We cannot expect to have God’s blessing until storekeepers, salesmen, masters and workmen, employers and servants, feel that the Holy One is their Master, even Christ, and that all they are brethren. Some men, who are members in our churches, are as bad as their masters; they merely “put in their time at their jobs.” Some people think it is very bad that a boss oppresses his workers, but it is equally wrong for the worker to cheat his boss. There are some men who pray most delightfully, but I would not give them six pennies a day for their work; they don’t mind eating other people’s bread, but never know what it is to earn their own. The commandment in the Bible is, “Six days you shall labor and do all your work.” Some people make a fuss about keeping the Lord’s Day holy and special, but they are not so careful to labor the “six days.” Work during the six days, then rest on the Lord’s Day. God will not hold the man guiltless who observes only one half of His commandment. A partial obedience is positive disobedience.
You see, I am treating you all alike; there is a piece for everyone, and if the cap fits anybody, let him wear it to his heart’s content, and “Produce fruit in keeping with repentance.”
I was preaching in the shoe manufacturing area, some time ago, when the shoes where being sold for six pennies per shoe, and the workers applauded me; so I said a few more things, and they applauded me again; then, when I tried to talk straight to the workers, the masters began to applaud. I have tonight said something for all of you, for it seems that all need the word of reproof. Oh, if we could all love one another! Down in the cotton districts, in the wool country, and in the iron districts, we do not love one another as we should. “In everything, do to others what you would have them do to you, for this sums up the Law and the Prophets.”
In London, the old idea about loving one another, the master loving his worker, and the mistress her servant girl, is deemed Utopian and ridiculous, and the question is asked, “Who can do it?” I wish, though, we could get the old idea back again, and love one another. Why, men would work ten times more cheerfully, if they could only feel that their masters loved them, and took an interest in them, and masters would be better served. When this comes to pass, then we shall see a great revival of Christianity. But the present clashing of interests, the knocking one against another, prevents the growth of Christianity.
The poor man says, “I shall not go to church; look at the deacon, he is such a harsh man.” Then there is the church where most of the members are poor, and the master says, “I shall not join them, they are only my workers.” So both of them are kept from the place where God would bless them, because they have not learned the great truth that God has “From one man made every nation of men, that they should inhabit the whole earth.” Until that truth is fully recognized, men will not know how to have love one to one another. We must try to set this matter right, and then God will bless us, He will bless us, and right away.
Let us go to our pulpits, my brethren in the ministry, praying for a revival. Deacons, go to your offices, asking for a revival. Church- members, take yourselves to your prayer meetings, and plead for a revival. And, oh, you who are unconverted, remember, it is for your sakes we want a revival! Hear me, you who are unsaved, while I preach the gospel to you for a minute. You are lost, you are ruined, you are utterly condemned. Christ Jesus came to seek and to save the lost, to save sinners, to save you. “Believe in the Lord Jesus, and you will be saved–you and your household.”
