But if you want a large blessing, let me say, first of all, “Meet for
prayer.” What a grand thing a good prayer-meeting is! I like the
“Amen!” when people do not shout it out too loudly, and when they put it
in the right place. To hear it sometimes makes a man respond, “Amen!
Amen!” he cannot help it. I was once at a Primitive Methodist meeting
where a good brother was intent in prayer, so, they said to him, “Plead
the blood, plead the blood, brother!” It frightened me at first, till I
remembered where I was. The poor man did plead the blood of Jesus, and
we had a blessed prayer-meeting indeed. What we want is, more life and
earnestness in all our prayer-meetings; briefer, more fervent, burning,
believing praying. If we all prayed as we would plead for our own lives,
if we all said no more words than were needed, and quit when we had done
praying, then we should have good prayer-meetings. Some of our brethren
evidently have an idea that they must keep up to the orthodox twenty
minutes, and there they stand, telling God everything in the world, but
not praying even one little petition.
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.”
Cast yourself entirely on Jesus; say, “Sink or swim, I take Jesus to be
my only hope. I give up everything else, and take Christ to be my all,
and in all.” If you are able to say that from the heart, believing
wholly and entirely on our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, you may rejoice
that you are safe now, and you will be safe when the earth will reel and
stagger, when the pillars of heaven will stagger, when the stars will
fall, and when all created things will pass away.
Believe! Believe! Believe! Look, Look, Look, and Live! The Lord is ready
to save you. He Himself invites you, yes, commands you to turn to Him
and be saved: “Turn to me and be saved, all you ends of the earth; for I
am God, and there is no other.” I have often told the story of how that
text was blessed to my soul’s conversion; it is a Baptist text, and an
Independent text, and an Evangelical text, too. We may not agree in all
things; but, poor sinner, we are agreed in telling you to look to Jesus
Christ for salvation.
“Venture on Him, venture wholly,
Let no other trust intrude;”
” None but Jesus, none but Jesus,
Can do helpless sinners good.”
Oh, that there may be some here tonight who will now look to Jesus!
Spirit of the living God, hear our prayers! Save sinners; grant a
revival to the whole Church of Jesus Christ, for His Name’s Sake! Amen
and Amen.
“This article originally appeared here at Bible Bulletin Board.”
