1 00:00:01,480 --> 00:00:06,720 Metropolitan Tabernacle Pulpit, Church Increase. 2 00:00:07,520 --> 00:00:09,960 A sermon intended for reading on Lord's Day, 3 00:00:10,300 --> 00:00:12,460 September 16th, 1900. 4 00:00:13,780 --> 00:00:14,460 Delivered by C. 5 00:00:14,520 --> 00:00:14,640 H. 6 00:00:14,720 --> 00:00:18,160 Spurgeon at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, Newington on Thursday 7 00:00:18,160 --> 00:00:21,480 evening, August 18th, 1881. 8 00:00:23,280 --> 00:00:28,220 Isaiah 49, verses 20 and 21. 9 00:00:30,510 --> 00:00:34,970 The children which thou shalt have, after thou 10 00:00:34,970 --> 00:00:39,350 hast lost the other, shalt say again in 11 00:00:39,350 --> 00:00:43,050 thine ears, The place is too straight for 12 00:00:43,050 --> 00:00:43,310 me. 13 00:00:44,590 --> 00:00:46,890 Give place to me that I may dwell. 14 00:00:48,570 --> 00:00:51,990 Then shalt thou say in thine heart, Who 15 00:00:51,990 --> 00:00:55,650 hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost 16 00:00:55,650 --> 00:00:58,510 my children, and them desolate, a captive, and 17 00:00:58,510 --> 00:01:00,810 removing to and fro? 18 00:01:01,390 --> 00:01:03,170 And who hath brought up these? 19 00:01:04,230 --> 00:01:06,730 Behold, I was left alone. 20 00:01:07,770 --> 00:01:10,330 These, where had they been? 21 00:01:13,640 --> 00:01:16,320 Men who have no grace in their hearts 22 00:01:16,320 --> 00:01:19,780 despise the Church of God. 23 00:01:21,160 --> 00:01:23,900 Those who have only a little grace have 24 00:01:23,900 --> 00:01:26,500 but slight sympathy with her condition. 25 00:01:26,500 --> 00:01:30,740 Men who have great grace and are conscious 26 00:01:30,740 --> 00:01:33,700 of having received much mercy from God have 27 00:01:33,700 --> 00:01:37,600 great sympathy with the Church of God and 28 00:01:37,600 --> 00:01:39,420 a deep regard for her. 29 00:01:40,700 --> 00:01:44,220 You remember how David in that memorable penitential 30 00:01:44,220 --> 00:01:47,580 psalm, the 51st, after he had poured out 31 00:01:47,580 --> 00:01:50,420 his whole soul in pleading for mercy and 32 00:01:50,420 --> 00:01:54,500 forgiveness for himself, concluded his prayer by saying, 33 00:01:55,060 --> 00:01:57,940 Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion. 34 00:01:58,700 --> 00:02:01,140 Build thou the walls of Jerusalem. 35 00:02:02,660 --> 00:02:06,120 In like manner, those who have needed mercy, 36 00:02:06,700 --> 00:02:09,979 and have pleaded for mercy, and have received 37 00:02:09,979 --> 00:02:13,220 much mercy, are usually those who are most 38 00:02:13,220 --> 00:02:15,320 anxious that the people of God should be 39 00:02:15,320 --> 00:02:18,120 happy, that the cause of God should prosper, 40 00:02:18,120 --> 00:02:20,720 that the truth of God should speedily overthrow 41 00:02:20,720 --> 00:02:23,060 error, and that the Christ of God should 42 00:02:23,060 --> 00:02:26,160 be exalted and glorified in the earth. 43 00:02:27,260 --> 00:02:29,480 I do not expect to say anything upon 44 00:02:29,480 --> 00:02:32,240 this subject which will interest those who have 45 00:02:32,240 --> 00:02:34,860 no love for the Church of God. 46 00:02:35,540 --> 00:02:38,500 But those who belong to her, and who 47 00:02:38,500 --> 00:02:40,960 are spending their lives to promote her welfare 48 00:02:40,960 --> 00:02:43,740 because she is the bride of Christ, will, 49 00:02:43,880 --> 00:02:46,260 I trust, find something in what I say 50 00:02:46,260 --> 00:02:49,200 which will interest and perhaps encourage them. 51 00:02:50,760 --> 00:02:52,640 I shall come at once to the text 52 00:02:52,640 --> 00:02:55,840 and notice that first, we must expect a 53 00:02:55,840 --> 00:02:58,320 measure of decrease in the Church. 54 00:02:59,560 --> 00:03:03,620 And then secondly, we may expect a great 55 00:03:03,620 --> 00:03:05,480 increase in the Church. 56 00:03:06,780 --> 00:03:09,360 And thirdly, from what this text has to 57 00:03:09,360 --> 00:03:11,420 say upon that subject, and for other reasons 58 00:03:11,420 --> 00:03:14,780 also, we ought to be encouraged to seek 59 00:03:14,780 --> 00:03:17,760 the increase of the Church of God. 60 00:03:19,500 --> 00:03:22,920 First then, dear friends, there is a decrease 61 00:03:22,920 --> 00:03:26,320 going on in the Church of God on 62 00:03:26,320 --> 00:03:26,880 earth. 63 00:03:28,400 --> 00:03:31,680 Zion is represented here as mourning for the 64 00:03:31,680 --> 00:03:33,340 children that she had lost. 65 00:03:33,800 --> 00:03:36,420 The Jewish church in the olden times saw 66 00:03:36,420 --> 00:03:39,660 her sons and daughters slain with the sword 67 00:03:39,660 --> 00:03:41,540 or carried away captive. 68 00:03:42,580 --> 00:03:45,100 Afterwards, she saw the great majority of the 69 00:03:45,100 --> 00:03:48,060 nation refusing Christ and turning away from Him, 70 00:03:48,400 --> 00:03:50,860 and thus the Jewish church was minished and 71 00:03:50,860 --> 00:03:51,800 brought very low. 72 00:03:53,120 --> 00:03:55,040 The same thing has happened in many other 73 00:03:55,040 --> 00:03:56,960 cases, and I am going to apply the 74 00:03:56,960 --> 00:03:59,040 text to ourselves and our own churches. 75 00:03:59,980 --> 00:04:03,780 We must naturally expect to see in each 76 00:04:03,780 --> 00:04:07,160 separate church of Jesus Christ a certain process 77 00:04:07,160 --> 00:04:09,840 and measure of decrease. 78 00:04:11,460 --> 00:04:14,560 For first, some are being drafted from us 79 00:04:14,560 --> 00:04:18,180 to supply the choirs of heaven with fresh 80 00:04:18,180 --> 00:04:18,920 ministry. 81 00:04:20,320 --> 00:04:22,560 That is a happy source of loss which 82 00:04:22,560 --> 00:04:24,400 we would not stop if we could. 83 00:04:25,580 --> 00:04:28,660 Peradventure, in the case of each sheaf that 84 00:04:28,660 --> 00:04:30,640 is gathered into the heavenly garner, there are 85 00:04:30,640 --> 00:04:33,940 some who would feign detain it to the 86 00:04:33,940 --> 00:04:36,260 loss of that particular sheaf and also to 87 00:04:36,260 --> 00:04:38,200 the loss of the great husbandman. 88 00:04:38,720 --> 00:04:41,000 When we speak as we ought concerning those 89 00:04:41,000 --> 00:04:43,320 who are thus taken home, we thank God 90 00:04:43,320 --> 00:04:45,640 that when the shocks of corn are fully 91 00:04:45,640 --> 00:04:48,400 ripe, they are no longer left in the 92 00:04:48,400 --> 00:04:51,180 field to suffer through the falling showers or 93 00:04:51,180 --> 00:04:53,860 the blighting mildew, but they are carried away 94 00:04:53,860 --> 00:04:56,700 to their proper place in the garner of 95 00:04:56,700 --> 00:04:57,080 God. 96 00:04:58,600 --> 00:05:01,200 Therefore, beloved, dare ye not the saints with 97 00:05:01,200 --> 00:05:04,780 dolorous music but sing psalms of praise as 98 00:05:04,780 --> 00:05:05,980 you bear them to the grave. 99 00:05:06,720 --> 00:05:09,460 I like the old Puritan style of funeral 100 00:05:09,460 --> 00:05:11,840 when the body of the believer was borne 101 00:05:11,840 --> 00:05:14,840 to the tomb upon men's shoulders and the 102 00:05:14,840 --> 00:05:18,320 surviving friends sang psalms and hymns as they 103 00:05:18,320 --> 00:05:19,260 marched along. 104 00:05:20,140 --> 00:05:22,540 Their faith taught them that they had no 105 00:05:22,540 --> 00:05:24,920 need to sorrow as those that are without 106 00:05:24,920 --> 00:05:27,920 hope, so they took care always to mingle 107 00:05:27,920 --> 00:05:31,120 the music of a joyful faith with the 108 00:05:31,120 --> 00:05:33,040 tears that they shed over the departure of 109 00:05:33,040 --> 00:05:35,680 those who had fallen asleep in Christ. 110 00:05:36,520 --> 00:05:39,080 So let it always be with us. 111 00:05:40,340 --> 00:05:43,740 As star by star descends below the horizon 112 00:05:43,740 --> 00:05:46,800 of earth, it shines far more brightly in 113 00:05:46,800 --> 00:05:47,700 the skies above. 114 00:05:48,760 --> 00:05:50,460 Should not Jesus have his own? 115 00:05:50,980 --> 00:05:54,200 Is it not still his prayer, Father, I 116 00:05:54,200 --> 00:05:56,720 will that they also whom thou hast given 117 00:05:56,720 --> 00:05:59,040 me be with me where I am, that 118 00:05:59,040 --> 00:06:01,540 they may behold my glory? 119 00:06:02,520 --> 00:06:05,060 Should we wish to detain them from their 120 00:06:05,060 --> 00:06:07,600 Lord's embrace or rob the master of the 121 00:06:07,600 --> 00:06:10,960 satisfaction of receiving home his loved ones? 122 00:06:11,620 --> 00:06:13,000 No, certainly not. 123 00:06:13,960 --> 00:06:17,300 That source of decrease has taken away lately 124 00:06:17,300 --> 00:06:20,580 some of the godliest and most gracious of 125 00:06:20,580 --> 00:06:20,920 ministers. 126 00:06:21,840 --> 00:06:24,160 Some of the officers of the church who 127 00:06:24,160 --> 00:06:27,000 seemed to be its pillars have been removed, 128 00:06:27,940 --> 00:06:30,460 and others less known but equally gracious have 129 00:06:30,460 --> 00:06:32,340 also been missed from our midst. 130 00:06:33,760 --> 00:06:35,720 So must it continue to be. 131 00:06:37,000 --> 00:06:39,820 Therefore let us not rebel against the blessed 132 00:06:39,820 --> 00:06:40,480 necessity. 133 00:06:41,560 --> 00:06:43,300 Who among us would wish to alter the 134 00:06:43,300 --> 00:06:44,080 Lord's arrangement? 135 00:06:44,320 --> 00:06:47,600 No, let this form of decrease still go 136 00:06:47,600 --> 00:06:47,980 on. 137 00:06:48,880 --> 00:06:50,740 Let the church on earth be the nursery 138 00:06:50,740 --> 00:06:51,800 of the church above. 139 00:06:52,760 --> 00:06:54,360 Let it be the school, the place of 140 00:06:54,360 --> 00:06:58,200 education, the training ground, until the children shall 141 00:06:58,200 --> 00:07:01,140 come of age and enter upon their inheritance 142 00:07:01,140 --> 00:07:04,260 fully prepared to enjoy it to the praise 143 00:07:04,260 --> 00:07:06,600 and glory of their Lord. 144 00:07:08,060 --> 00:07:10,860 Each separate church will also have a measure 145 00:07:10,860 --> 00:07:14,620 of decrease through the removal of God's servants 146 00:07:14,620 --> 00:07:16,420 from one place to another. 147 00:07:17,980 --> 00:07:21,140 This is a circumstance which is sometimes much 148 00:07:21,140 --> 00:07:23,320 regretted, but I think it should not be 149 00:07:23,320 --> 00:07:23,700 so. 150 00:07:24,820 --> 00:07:27,780 Many shall run to and fro, and knowledge 151 00:07:27,780 --> 00:07:28,920 shall be increased. 152 00:07:29,900 --> 00:07:31,820 Often the removal of a Christian out of 153 00:07:31,820 --> 00:07:33,440 a particular place is in order that he 154 00:07:33,440 --> 00:07:36,060 may be more helpful to another community than 155 00:07:36,060 --> 00:07:37,400 he is in his present position. 156 00:07:38,280 --> 00:07:41,260 I have frequently seen brethren who were just 157 00:07:41,260 --> 00:07:44,480 ordinary members of this church, good, useful people, 158 00:07:45,080 --> 00:07:46,800 but they did not attain to any very 159 00:07:46,800 --> 00:07:48,100 great prominence. 160 00:07:48,840 --> 00:07:51,780 Yet in another place they have been exceedingly 161 00:07:51,780 --> 00:07:52,200 useful. 162 00:07:53,240 --> 00:07:55,720 I go into the country to preach, and 163 00:07:55,720 --> 00:07:58,300 the deacon shakes hands with me, and as 164 00:07:58,300 --> 00:08:00,580 I look at him I say, Ah, I 165 00:08:00,580 --> 00:08:01,460 recollect you. 166 00:08:02,420 --> 00:08:05,320 Well, sir, he replies, I moved away from 167 00:08:05,320 --> 00:08:07,320 London some years ago, and the Lord has 168 00:08:07,320 --> 00:08:09,080 been pleased to put me here so that 169 00:08:09,080 --> 00:08:10,720 I may help this little cause. 170 00:08:11,540 --> 00:08:13,380 It has been strengthened, I hope, by my 171 00:08:13,380 --> 00:08:13,700 coming. 172 00:08:15,020 --> 00:08:17,480 And I find the brother greatly developing by 173 00:08:17,480 --> 00:08:18,840 being transplanted. 174 00:08:19,760 --> 00:08:21,540 He is where the trees do not stand 175 00:08:21,540 --> 00:08:24,900 so thickly together as they do here, and 176 00:08:24,900 --> 00:08:27,420 he grows all the better for the change. 177 00:08:28,960 --> 00:08:31,580 Sometimes under the shadow of some great tree 178 00:08:31,580 --> 00:08:34,460 there is a large number of saplings, and 179 00:08:34,460 --> 00:08:35,840 they grow there pretty well. 180 00:08:36,860 --> 00:08:39,100 But by and by the big tree is 181 00:08:39,100 --> 00:08:41,860 cut down, and it is not altogether a 182 00:08:41,860 --> 00:08:44,540 loss, for then the minor trees that were 183 00:08:44,540 --> 00:08:46,260 beneath it begin to develop and to become 184 00:08:46,260 --> 00:08:48,180 strong forest trees themselves. 185 00:08:49,400 --> 00:08:52,920 So is it sometimes that men are overshadowed 186 00:08:52,920 --> 00:08:55,780 in one position, and their removal is for 187 00:08:55,780 --> 00:08:56,720 their own development. 188 00:08:58,400 --> 00:09:00,160 On the whole it is a gain to 189 00:09:00,160 --> 00:09:02,220 the Church of God for certain churches to 190 00:09:02,220 --> 00:09:04,520 lose some of their members. 191 00:09:05,440 --> 00:09:08,400 Do not therefore always regret this source of 192 00:09:08,400 --> 00:09:09,060 decrease. 193 00:09:10,020 --> 00:09:11,840 For my part, I thank God for the 194 00:09:11,840 --> 00:09:13,640 many whom we lose by immigration. 195 00:09:14,520 --> 00:09:16,140 I am glad that some friends have gone 196 00:09:16,140 --> 00:09:16,800 to America. 197 00:09:17,780 --> 00:09:19,300 What would the United States have been at 198 00:09:19,300 --> 00:09:20,720 this moment if it had not been for 199 00:09:20,720 --> 00:09:23,300 the men of the Mayflower in the olden 200 00:09:23,300 --> 00:09:25,940 times, and the many pilgrim fathers and pilgrim 201 00:09:25,940 --> 00:09:28,300 sons who have since gone across the Atlantic 202 00:09:28,300 --> 00:09:31,220 to be in that part of the earth? 203 00:09:32,640 --> 00:09:35,580 Look still further away to Australia, so largely 204 00:09:35,580 --> 00:09:37,860 peopled by those who are of our race. 205 00:09:38,760 --> 00:09:40,340 What a mercy that it is so. 206 00:09:41,320 --> 00:09:43,080 Would you have those lands given up to 207 00:09:43,080 --> 00:09:47,460 Romanism, or to Mohammedanism, or to paganism? 208 00:09:48,280 --> 00:09:51,000 God forbid, salt ought not to be kept 209 00:09:51,000 --> 00:09:51,700 in a box. 210 00:09:51,840 --> 00:09:53,140 It is meant to be rubbed into the 211 00:09:53,140 --> 00:09:56,100 meat, and Christians are intended to be scattered 212 00:09:56,100 --> 00:09:58,280 all over the carcass of this world, to 213 00:09:58,280 --> 00:10:01,180 salt it all, and act with purifying and 214 00:10:01,180 --> 00:10:03,220 preserving power in every place. 215 00:10:04,140 --> 00:10:05,840 Let not the members of any one church 216 00:10:05,840 --> 00:10:09,100 therefore sit down and sigh and cry because 217 00:10:09,100 --> 00:10:10,480 their fellow members are removed. 218 00:10:11,740 --> 00:10:13,440 There are as good fish in the sea 219 00:10:13,440 --> 00:10:15,320 as ever came out of it, so try 220 00:10:15,320 --> 00:10:16,500 to catch some more. 221 00:10:17,340 --> 00:10:19,720 If your brethren and sisters are gone where 222 00:10:19,720 --> 00:10:22,340 they can be more useful, God speed them 223 00:10:22,340 --> 00:10:24,540 freely and cheerfully let them go. 224 00:10:25,540 --> 00:10:27,480 A heart that should try to keep all 225 00:10:27,480 --> 00:10:30,020 the blood within itself would be no source 226 00:10:30,020 --> 00:10:31,960 of life to the body, nay, it could 227 00:10:31,960 --> 00:10:34,640 not itself live, but the heart that continually 228 00:10:34,640 --> 00:10:36,640 pumps in the blood and then pumps it 229 00:10:36,640 --> 00:10:38,520 out again is the one that is serving 230 00:10:38,520 --> 00:10:39,700 its proper purpose. 231 00:10:40,580 --> 00:10:42,180 That is how churches should do. 232 00:10:43,100 --> 00:10:46,580 Let them not be parsimonious, but rather prodigal 233 00:10:46,580 --> 00:10:47,620 in the cause of God. 234 00:10:48,320 --> 00:10:51,040 Depend upon it that if we decrease in 235 00:10:51,040 --> 00:10:53,740 numbers because our friends depart to other spheres 236 00:10:53,740 --> 00:10:55,980 of service for the Savior, it is not 237 00:10:55,980 --> 00:10:56,980 a thing to weep over. 238 00:10:57,740 --> 00:10:59,680 We must try to get in some new 239 00:10:59,680 --> 00:11:02,440 members to take their places, and may God 240 00:11:02,440 --> 00:11:03,820 prosper their endeavor. 241 00:11:05,540 --> 00:11:07,600 But there is another source of decrease over 242 00:11:07,600 --> 00:11:11,680 which we must greatly grieve, and that is 243 00:11:11,680 --> 00:11:14,660 the backsliding of many professors. 244 00:11:16,160 --> 00:11:18,620 Over this decrease I mourn even more than 245 00:11:18,620 --> 00:11:22,640 over another, grievous as that is, namely, the 246 00:11:22,640 --> 00:11:26,100 sifting process by which the chaff is removed 247 00:11:26,100 --> 00:11:27,380 from the wheat. 248 00:11:28,320 --> 00:11:31,460 For when the saints backslide, they are still 249 00:11:31,460 --> 00:11:34,700 God's people, although their power for good, their 250 00:11:34,700 --> 00:11:36,720 influence, their help to the church of God 251 00:11:36,720 --> 00:11:39,060 is gone until they are brought back, and 252 00:11:39,060 --> 00:11:40,240 that is very lamentable. 253 00:11:41,180 --> 00:11:43,980 Churches lose much if not in number, yet 254 00:11:43,980 --> 00:11:46,820 certainly in strength, in fervor, in power of 255 00:11:46,820 --> 00:11:48,940 prayer by the declining in grace of some 256 00:11:48,940 --> 00:11:51,780 who once did run well but who have 257 00:11:51,780 --> 00:11:52,420 been hindered. 258 00:11:53,700 --> 00:11:57,340 Pray much, dear friends, that God would keep 259 00:11:57,340 --> 00:12:00,420 all who are members with us from growing 260 00:12:00,420 --> 00:12:01,060 cold. 261 00:12:02,200 --> 00:12:04,640 May they have their first love restored if 262 00:12:04,640 --> 00:12:06,720 it is at all declining, and may they 263 00:12:06,720 --> 00:12:09,520 have much more than that, for it is 264 00:12:09,520 --> 00:12:12,060 little to keep just as we were when 265 00:12:12,060 --> 00:12:13,720 we were spiritually made alive. 266 00:12:14,060 --> 00:12:15,580 We ought to grow in grace. 267 00:12:15,980 --> 00:12:17,840 Our first love should be like the kindling 268 00:12:17,840 --> 00:12:20,460 of the fire when perhaps there are shavings 269 00:12:20,460 --> 00:12:23,240 or straw set alight, and it burns apparently 270 00:12:23,240 --> 00:12:25,560 more fiercely than it does afterwards. 271 00:12:26,120 --> 00:12:28,140 Yet later on in the Christian life there 272 00:12:28,140 --> 00:12:29,820 ought to be a steady flame like the 273 00:12:29,820 --> 00:12:32,000 glow of the coals when they are turned 274 00:12:32,000 --> 00:12:34,200 in the great to one solid ruby. 275 00:12:34,940 --> 00:12:37,520 That steady glow of permanent love to the 276 00:12:37,520 --> 00:12:39,780 Lord Jesus Christ is what we should seek 277 00:12:39,780 --> 00:12:42,120 after, but we do not see it in 278 00:12:42,120 --> 00:12:43,940 some of our fellow members. 279 00:12:45,400 --> 00:12:47,880 Then by and by they cease their attendance 280 00:12:47,880 --> 00:12:50,300 at the communion, and they are missing from 281 00:12:50,300 --> 00:12:52,840 various forms of Christian work and service, and 282 00:12:52,840 --> 00:12:56,360 so the church has non-efficient members, and 283 00:12:56,360 --> 00:12:59,540 thus it has to regret a real decrease. 284 00:13:01,240 --> 00:13:03,620 As for that other decrease over which we 285 00:13:03,620 --> 00:13:06,940 mourn, the sifting by which the chaff is 286 00:13:06,940 --> 00:13:10,840 separated from the wheat, how sadly true it 287 00:13:10,840 --> 00:13:14,060 still is, as the beloved apostle wrote, they 288 00:13:14,060 --> 00:13:16,060 went out from us, but they were not 289 00:13:16,060 --> 00:13:16,540 of us. 290 00:13:17,280 --> 00:13:19,540 For if they had been of us, they 291 00:13:19,540 --> 00:13:22,440 would no doubt have continued with us, but 292 00:13:22,440 --> 00:13:24,300 they went out that they might be made 293 00:13:24,300 --> 00:13:27,000 manifest that they were not all of us. 294 00:13:28,360 --> 00:13:30,900 There is a separating process always going on 295 00:13:30,900 --> 00:13:34,500 in the professing church, and the most effectual 296 00:13:34,500 --> 00:13:37,640 fan of all is a faithful ministry. 297 00:13:38,980 --> 00:13:41,800 After a while, some of our hearers do 298 00:13:41,800 --> 00:13:43,200 not like what we say. 299 00:13:44,060 --> 00:13:47,540 It is too personal, too cutting, too searching. 300 00:13:48,520 --> 00:13:50,100 They want to listen to that kind of 301 00:13:50,100 --> 00:13:52,280 preaching which will allow them to go on 302 00:13:52,280 --> 00:13:54,420 comfortably in their sins and to keep up 303 00:13:54,420 --> 00:13:56,940 a name to live even while they are 304 00:13:56,940 --> 00:13:57,360 dead. 305 00:13:58,360 --> 00:14:02,000 How constantly our Lord's teaching kept on sifting 306 00:14:02,000 --> 00:14:02,980 His disciples. 307 00:14:04,760 --> 00:14:07,940 After one of His utterances concerning human inability 308 00:14:07,940 --> 00:14:11,520 apart from divine grace, we read, from that 309 00:14:11,520 --> 00:14:14,540 time many of His disciples went back and 310 00:14:14,540 --> 00:14:15,980 walked no more with Him. 311 00:14:17,040 --> 00:14:19,160 As He continually brought out some of the 312 00:14:19,160 --> 00:14:21,780 deeper truths, as His disciples were able to 313 00:14:21,780 --> 00:14:24,120 bear them, there were certain of the mixed 314 00:14:24,120 --> 00:14:26,980 multitude that had joined with His followers who 315 00:14:26,980 --> 00:14:29,580 went off this way and that way. 316 00:14:30,640 --> 00:14:33,680 So is it ever, and so must it 317 00:14:33,680 --> 00:14:37,340 be under the faithful preaching of the Word. 318 00:14:38,180 --> 00:14:40,780 And you must not be astonished or grieved 319 00:14:40,780 --> 00:14:41,960 when it is so. 320 00:14:42,800 --> 00:14:44,620 It is a gain to any church to 321 00:14:44,620 --> 00:14:47,740 lose such members as these, for the mixed 322 00:14:47,740 --> 00:14:50,920 multitude usually falls a lusting as it did 323 00:14:50,920 --> 00:14:51,980 in the olden time. 324 00:14:52,400 --> 00:14:54,720 Half the sin in the wilderness came not 325 00:14:54,720 --> 00:14:56,880 from the children of Israel, but from the 326 00:14:56,880 --> 00:14:59,180 riffraff and rabble that went up out of 327 00:14:59,180 --> 00:15:01,700 Egypt with them, that were mingled among them 328 00:15:01,700 --> 00:15:02,520 to their hurt. 329 00:15:03,740 --> 00:15:06,980 Do not, you dear friends, ever believe that 330 00:15:06,980 --> 00:15:09,700 the true saints of God can finally turn 331 00:15:09,700 --> 00:15:11,200 away from Him and be lost. 332 00:15:12,180 --> 00:15:15,240 There was a notable sermon preached last Sunday 333 00:15:15,240 --> 00:15:18,620 in St. Paul's Cathedral against the perseverance of 334 00:15:18,620 --> 00:15:19,240 the saints. 335 00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:22,440 Did you notice why it was preached, and 336 00:15:22,440 --> 00:15:24,020 the whole tone and tenor of it? 337 00:15:24,560 --> 00:15:25,440 It was this. 338 00:15:26,280 --> 00:15:30,440 If the saints shall finally persevere, why then 339 00:15:30,440 --> 00:15:32,900 do we not need the sacraments? 340 00:15:33,760 --> 00:15:35,660 Ah, that is the great secret. 341 00:15:36,540 --> 00:15:39,560 Calvinism is the death of priestcraft. 342 00:15:39,740 --> 00:15:43,160 Calvinism is the end of sacramentalism, and hence, 343 00:15:43,460 --> 00:15:46,540 sacraments must be cried up, and God's everlasting 344 00:15:46,540 --> 00:15:48,560 love is to be proved to be mutable, 345 00:15:48,880 --> 00:15:50,720 and the covenant to be founded on an 346 00:15:50,720 --> 00:15:53,500 if and an and, and the Christ of 347 00:15:53,500 --> 00:15:55,300 God is, after all, to be just a 348 00:15:55,300 --> 00:15:57,700 toy for priests to play with. 349 00:15:58,460 --> 00:16:01,680 The preacher perhaps unintentionally let the cat out 350 00:16:01,680 --> 00:16:02,420 of the bag. 351 00:16:02,720 --> 00:16:06,060 The sacraments must be cried up, the priests 352 00:16:06,060 --> 00:16:08,580 must be kept up, and everything else must 353 00:16:08,580 --> 00:16:09,060 go. 354 00:16:09,360 --> 00:16:11,480 But we do not believe any such teaching 355 00:16:11,480 --> 00:16:12,060 as that. 356 00:16:12,620 --> 00:16:15,240 We still hold to it that when Christ 357 00:16:15,240 --> 00:16:18,180 gives to his sheep eternal life, they shall 358 00:16:18,180 --> 00:16:20,500 never perish, neither shall any pluck them out 359 00:16:20,500 --> 00:16:22,880 of his hands, and yet there are some 360 00:16:22,880 --> 00:16:25,220 that come in among his sheep that are 361 00:16:25,220 --> 00:16:28,560 only goats or wolves in sheep's clothing, and 362 00:16:28,560 --> 00:16:31,140 after a time, these depart, and the church 363 00:16:31,140 --> 00:16:33,700 thus apparently decreases. 364 00:16:35,240 --> 00:16:37,640 But so it must be to the end, 365 00:16:38,300 --> 00:16:41,360 even as Judas went to his own place, 366 00:16:41,360 --> 00:16:44,220 yet the apostles did not really lose by 367 00:16:44,220 --> 00:16:46,880 his departure, they were rather the gainers thereby, 368 00:16:47,480 --> 00:16:49,380 and as those who are not true converts 369 00:16:49,380 --> 00:16:51,880 go out from her, the church need not 370 00:16:51,880 --> 00:16:55,480 lament except for their sakes, certainly not for 371 00:16:55,480 --> 00:16:56,060 her own. 372 00:16:57,600 --> 00:17:00,800 I've brought this subject forward because I may 373 00:17:00,800 --> 00:17:03,300 be addressing some brethren who see the tide 374 00:17:03,300 --> 00:17:06,119 running out in their churches, and they are 375 00:17:06,119 --> 00:17:08,160 very sad as they watch the ebb. 376 00:17:09,140 --> 00:17:10,740 I have not seen much of that sort 377 00:17:10,740 --> 00:17:12,920 of thing myself, but the least ebb troubles 378 00:17:12,920 --> 00:17:15,540 me, and I go before God in prayer 379 00:17:15,540 --> 00:17:16,180 about it. 380 00:17:16,760 --> 00:17:18,819 I cannot bear really to lose one of 381 00:17:18,819 --> 00:17:20,359 the members of my church or to see 382 00:17:20,359 --> 00:17:22,020 one of them turn aside from the company 383 00:17:22,020 --> 00:17:24,660 of the faithful, yet there is another side 384 00:17:24,660 --> 00:17:27,680 to this picture, and we must not shut 385 00:17:27,680 --> 00:17:28,860 our eyes to it. 386 00:17:30,790 --> 00:17:32,390 So I ask you now to consider with 387 00:17:32,390 --> 00:17:35,010 me the second part of our subject, and 388 00:17:35,010 --> 00:17:36,970 that is there is an increase to be 389 00:17:36,970 --> 00:17:38,670 expected in the church of God. 390 00:17:38,990 --> 00:17:41,490 There are new converts yet to come in, 391 00:17:41,550 --> 00:17:45,230 as says my text, these children which Zion 392 00:17:45,230 --> 00:17:48,110 is to have after she has lost the 393 00:17:48,110 --> 00:17:54,230 others, and brethren, these new converts are needful. 394 00:17:55,870 --> 00:17:58,170 No church can be healthy without the constant 395 00:17:58,170 --> 00:18:00,810 infusion of fresh blood. 396 00:18:01,630 --> 00:18:03,790 Unless there are new converts, you cannot see 397 00:18:03,790 --> 00:18:05,030 the church built up. 398 00:18:05,450 --> 00:18:07,470 They often help to keep the old members 399 00:18:07,470 --> 00:18:08,690 warm and zealous. 400 00:18:09,390 --> 00:18:11,150 How I like at a prayer meeting to 401 00:18:11,150 --> 00:18:13,270 hear a brother pray for the first time, 402 00:18:13,350 --> 00:18:15,210 and I am not greatly grieved even if 403 00:18:15,210 --> 00:18:17,050 he breaks down, for it is the best 404 00:18:17,050 --> 00:18:18,750 kind of praying in the world when a 405 00:18:18,750 --> 00:18:19,650 man breaks down. 406 00:18:20,650 --> 00:18:23,270 Such an incident puts a sense of reality 407 00:18:23,270 --> 00:18:24,930 into the whole meeting. 408 00:18:25,470 --> 00:18:27,890 Our good old friends who could not break 409 00:18:27,890 --> 00:18:30,290 down but must inevitably run on till the 410 00:18:30,290 --> 00:18:32,530 winding was all worked out were not always 411 00:18:32,530 --> 00:18:34,970 the most edifying to us, but those who 412 00:18:34,970 --> 00:18:38,150 from very passion of earnestness cannot find words 413 00:18:38,150 --> 00:18:40,330 in which to express their feelings, and so 414 00:18:40,330 --> 00:18:42,570 come to a pause with a sigh or 415 00:18:42,570 --> 00:18:44,290 a groan or a flood of tears often 416 00:18:44,290 --> 00:18:45,890 do us the most good. 417 00:18:46,750 --> 00:18:49,790 The young converts are also quick in inventing 418 00:18:49,790 --> 00:18:51,610 new ways of usefulness, and they venture to 419 00:18:51,610 --> 00:18:54,330 do things which some consider imprudent. 420 00:18:54,330 --> 00:18:58,250 Oh, how I love that word, imprudent, in 421 00:18:58,250 --> 00:18:59,150 such a connection. 422 00:18:59,610 --> 00:19:01,710 I like imprudent young people. 423 00:19:02,230 --> 00:19:04,050 The more imprudent they are in the cause 424 00:19:04,050 --> 00:19:06,310 of God, in the judgment of stolid, cold 425 00:19:06,310 --> 00:19:08,790 -hearted professors, the more I rejoice in them, 426 00:19:09,070 --> 00:19:12,110 for imprudence which believes in God and dares 427 00:19:12,110 --> 00:19:14,990 to do exploits in His strength is far 428 00:19:14,990 --> 00:19:18,490 preferable to that prudence which has no faith 429 00:19:18,490 --> 00:19:21,330 and is therefore a poor, dead, useless thing. 430 00:19:22,770 --> 00:19:25,870 So you see that the church needs new 431 00:19:25,870 --> 00:19:28,390 converts, and therefore she ought to have every 432 00:19:28,390 --> 00:19:30,850 preparation for their reception. 433 00:19:31,830 --> 00:19:34,030 There should always be an arrangement in every 434 00:19:34,030 --> 00:19:37,110 church to afford welcome to the coming ones. 435 00:19:37,710 --> 00:19:39,850 Everything should be in readiness for the reception 436 00:19:39,850 --> 00:19:41,550 of the newborn converts. 437 00:19:42,570 --> 00:19:45,110 They should scarcely have to ask for admission, 438 00:19:45,250 --> 00:19:46,850 and certainly as soon as they come, they 439 00:19:46,850 --> 00:19:49,230 should see that it is the church's joy 440 00:19:49,230 --> 00:19:50,190 to welcome them. 441 00:19:51,230 --> 00:19:52,630 Hence we should always be on the lookout 442 00:19:52,630 --> 00:19:53,150 for them. 443 00:19:53,250 --> 00:19:55,370 We ought to look for new converts every 444 00:19:55,370 --> 00:19:55,770 Sunday. 445 00:19:56,750 --> 00:19:58,410 I do not think any sermon ought to 446 00:19:58,410 --> 00:20:00,710 be preached without each one of you Christian 447 00:20:00,710 --> 00:20:03,110 people saying, I wonder whether God has blessed 448 00:20:03,110 --> 00:20:05,090 the message to this stranger who has been 449 00:20:05,090 --> 00:20:06,110 sitting next to me. 450 00:20:06,870 --> 00:20:08,830 I will put a gentle question to him 451 00:20:08,830 --> 00:20:10,310 and see if I can find out. 452 00:20:11,070 --> 00:20:12,910 I have known some hearers to be annoyed 453 00:20:12,910 --> 00:20:14,730 at such a question being put to them 454 00:20:14,730 --> 00:20:16,010 by an earnest brother. 455 00:20:16,630 --> 00:20:18,790 Do not be annoyed, dear friend, if you 456 00:20:18,790 --> 00:20:21,030 can help it, because you are very likely 457 00:20:21,030 --> 00:20:22,710 to be treated in that way again. 458 00:20:23,570 --> 00:20:25,550 It is our custom to do it here, 459 00:20:25,730 --> 00:20:27,330 so you will have to put up with 460 00:20:27,330 --> 00:20:27,590 it. 461 00:20:28,110 --> 00:20:29,850 The only way to get over the annoyance 462 00:20:29,850 --> 00:20:31,530 is to give your heart to Christ and 463 00:20:31,530 --> 00:20:33,810 to settle the matter once for all. 464 00:20:35,010 --> 00:20:36,630 Then the next time you come here, you 465 00:20:36,630 --> 00:20:38,910 will not be asked the question because they 466 00:20:38,910 --> 00:20:41,050 will know you are, for they will recognize 467 00:20:41,050 --> 00:20:42,130 your happy face. 468 00:20:42,350 --> 00:20:44,230 Or if anyone else should ask you the 469 00:20:44,230 --> 00:20:45,950 question, you will give such a glad answer 470 00:20:45,950 --> 00:20:49,070 to it that you too will rejoice together. 471 00:20:50,570 --> 00:20:53,250 We expect people to be converted when they 472 00:20:53,250 --> 00:20:53,770 come here. 473 00:20:54,190 --> 00:20:55,770 So much is the case that I know 474 00:20:55,770 --> 00:20:57,390 a friend who came to take a sitting. 475 00:20:57,810 --> 00:20:59,430 I will not point it out, but I 476 00:20:59,430 --> 00:21:01,850 know just where he is now occupying it. 477 00:21:02,090 --> 00:21:04,170 And he said that he must see me 478 00:21:04,170 --> 00:21:05,330 before he took the sitting. 479 00:21:05,650 --> 00:21:07,950 He said, I understand that if I take 480 00:21:07,950 --> 00:21:09,850 a sitting here, you will expect me to 481 00:21:09,850 --> 00:21:10,510 be converted. 482 00:21:11,090 --> 00:21:14,250 I said, oh yes, I do expect that. 483 00:21:14,850 --> 00:21:17,170 Well, he replied, I cannot guarantee that. 484 00:21:18,030 --> 00:21:19,430 No, my good man, I answered. 485 00:21:19,530 --> 00:21:21,870 I know you cannot, but you use the 486 00:21:21,870 --> 00:21:24,130 word expect in a different sense from what 487 00:21:24,130 --> 00:21:24,570 I do. 488 00:21:25,250 --> 00:21:27,350 I hope you will be converted through coming 489 00:21:27,350 --> 00:21:27,650 here. 490 00:21:28,110 --> 00:21:29,150 That is what I mean. 491 00:21:29,190 --> 00:21:31,430 Oh, he said, I hope so too. 492 00:21:31,950 --> 00:21:33,730 And that is just what did happen. 493 00:21:34,430 --> 00:21:36,630 When people come to the house of God 494 00:21:36,630 --> 00:21:38,830 and they expect to be saved and we 495 00:21:38,830 --> 00:21:41,730 expect it too, it is tolerably certain that 496 00:21:41,730 --> 00:21:43,570 they will be converted before long. 497 00:21:44,470 --> 00:21:46,310 We may rejoice and bless God if you 498 00:21:46,310 --> 00:21:49,730 live in an atmosphere of holy expectancy, where 499 00:21:49,730 --> 00:21:52,010 the great door stands wide open for the 500 00:21:52,010 --> 00:21:54,610 prodigal son to come back, where all in 501 00:21:54,610 --> 00:21:56,770 the house are on the watch for his 502 00:21:56,770 --> 00:21:59,090 return, where they keep on sending letters to 503 00:21:59,090 --> 00:22:00,670 him to ask him to come home. 504 00:22:01,010 --> 00:22:02,470 Is there not a good hope that such 505 00:22:02,470 --> 00:22:04,910 a wanderer will indeed return and that the 506 00:22:04,910 --> 00:22:07,150 great father will be made glad? 507 00:22:08,570 --> 00:22:11,970 Churches need converts and they should be on 508 00:22:11,970 --> 00:22:13,970 the lookout for them and all who love 509 00:22:13,970 --> 00:22:16,930 the Lord should labor earnestly on their behalf. 510 00:22:18,030 --> 00:22:21,330 All of us who believe in Jesus should 511 00:22:21,330 --> 00:22:23,670 seek, as God helps us according to our 512 00:22:23,670 --> 00:22:26,970 individual talent, to bring others to the dear 513 00:22:26,970 --> 00:22:28,130 Savior's feet. 514 00:22:29,030 --> 00:22:30,750 If we do this, we shall often be 515 00:22:30,750 --> 00:22:34,530 made to recollect that all true conversion comes 516 00:22:34,530 --> 00:22:35,950 from God alone. 517 00:22:36,890 --> 00:22:39,850 There is no possibility of converting anybody by 518 00:22:39,850 --> 00:22:44,050 persuasion, by logic, by rhetoric or anything of 519 00:22:44,050 --> 00:22:44,570 the sort. 520 00:22:44,850 --> 00:22:46,790 It is the work of God and the 521 00:22:46,790 --> 00:22:47,850 work of God alone. 522 00:22:49,010 --> 00:22:52,350 Though he uses instrumentality in almost every case, 523 00:22:52,750 --> 00:22:55,390 yet he will not use that instrumentality which 524 00:22:55,390 --> 00:22:58,090 thinks itself sufficient for the work. 525 00:22:58,990 --> 00:23:00,970 He will make us know that we are 526 00:23:00,970 --> 00:23:03,650 nothing, and then he will make everything of 527 00:23:03,650 --> 00:23:04,030 us. 528 00:23:04,750 --> 00:23:06,790 He does not mind how much he makes 529 00:23:06,790 --> 00:23:08,750 of his servants when all that he does 530 00:23:08,750 --> 00:23:10,550 for them brings them the more glory to 531 00:23:10,550 --> 00:23:12,590 his own name, and they do not even 532 00:23:12,590 --> 00:23:14,650 with their little finger touch the honor of 533 00:23:14,650 --> 00:23:16,230 it or wish to do so. 534 00:23:17,190 --> 00:23:19,950 When we come to that point and we 535 00:23:19,950 --> 00:23:22,450 are all pleading and laboring for an increase 536 00:23:22,450 --> 00:23:23,690 to the church, it will come. 537 00:23:24,330 --> 00:23:27,430 And when it comes, it is probable that 538 00:23:27,430 --> 00:23:30,470 we shall be astonished at the number of 539 00:23:30,470 --> 00:23:31,310 those that come. 540 00:23:32,230 --> 00:23:34,670 The children which thou shalt have after thou 541 00:23:34,670 --> 00:23:37,170 hast lost the other shall say again in 542 00:23:37,170 --> 00:23:39,730 thine ears, The place is too straight for 543 00:23:39,730 --> 00:23:39,930 me. 544 00:23:40,230 --> 00:23:42,150 Give place to me that I may dwell. 545 00:23:42,910 --> 00:23:45,130 Or, to quote another text, the church shall 546 00:23:45,130 --> 00:23:47,690 say, Who are these that fly as a 547 00:23:47,690 --> 00:23:50,270 cloud and as the doves to their windows? 548 00:23:50,990 --> 00:23:52,870 I wish I could put it into the 549 00:23:52,870 --> 00:23:56,050 heads of some Christian people that when there 550 00:23:56,050 --> 00:23:58,550 are large additions to a church, the new 551 00:23:58,550 --> 00:24:01,550 members are not necessarily at all inferior to 552 00:24:01,550 --> 00:24:03,510 those who come in by slow degrees and 553 00:24:03,510 --> 00:24:04,430 in small numbers. 554 00:24:05,050 --> 00:24:07,850 My own solemn impression is that it is 555 00:24:07,850 --> 00:24:10,610 more probably a work of God in conversion 556 00:24:10,610 --> 00:24:12,490 when there are many than when there are 557 00:24:12,490 --> 00:24:13,010 but few. 558 00:24:13,990 --> 00:24:16,670 For look, when there are few converts, the 559 00:24:16,670 --> 00:24:19,230 tendency of human nature is to encourage as 560 00:24:19,230 --> 00:24:21,350 many as possible to come forward, and in 561 00:24:21,350 --> 00:24:23,710 the process to bring some who, if more 562 00:24:23,710 --> 00:24:26,190 caution had been used, the more true judgment 563 00:24:26,190 --> 00:24:28,490 exercise might have been bidden to stand back 564 00:24:28,490 --> 00:24:29,110 for a while. 565 00:24:30,250 --> 00:24:32,490 The tendency of the minister and of everybody 566 00:24:32,490 --> 00:24:35,330 else is to try to bring in some 567 00:24:35,330 --> 00:24:36,870 when but few are being converted. 568 00:24:37,670 --> 00:24:40,490 And the probability is that they will not 569 00:24:40,490 --> 00:24:42,690 all of them prove to be true Christians. 570 00:24:43,950 --> 00:24:46,250 But then when there are a great many 571 00:24:46,250 --> 00:24:48,910 candidates moving forward, I can vouch for it 572 00:24:48,910 --> 00:24:51,110 that we become even more earnest than usual 573 00:24:51,110 --> 00:24:53,210 not to receive any but those who are, 574 00:24:53,490 --> 00:24:56,410 so far as we can judge, truly converted. 575 00:24:57,170 --> 00:24:59,510 Every elder is doubly watchful at such a 576 00:24:59,510 --> 00:25:02,030 time, and everybody tries, if possible, to prevent 577 00:25:02,030 --> 00:25:05,230 an enthusiasm which might deceive people into the 578 00:25:05,230 --> 00:25:07,830 notion of their being Christians when they are 579 00:25:07,830 --> 00:25:08,250 not. 580 00:25:09,290 --> 00:25:11,410 We feel that we can afford, as it 581 00:25:11,410 --> 00:25:15,330 were, to use many sieves and strainers, many 582 00:25:15,330 --> 00:25:18,290 tests by which to try whether they really 583 00:25:18,290 --> 00:25:20,510 are the children of God or not, whether 584 00:25:20,510 --> 00:25:23,430 they are resolved and determined that they will 585 00:25:23,430 --> 00:25:25,750 follow Christ at all hazards. 586 00:25:27,110 --> 00:25:28,950 I say not this as though I would 587 00:25:28,950 --> 00:25:32,210 depreciate the work of God in the conversion 588 00:25:32,210 --> 00:25:35,050 of ones and twos and threes. 589 00:25:35,270 --> 00:25:35,610 No, no. 590 00:25:35,810 --> 00:25:37,550 I bless God for them, but I want 591 00:25:37,550 --> 00:25:39,510 to make it clear that when great numbers 592 00:25:39,510 --> 00:25:42,070 of converts come, it is wrong of people, 593 00:25:42,210 --> 00:25:43,590 for that reason, to think that it is 594 00:25:43,590 --> 00:25:45,290 not the work of God. 595 00:25:45,990 --> 00:25:48,390 I should, on the contrary, conclude that it 596 00:25:48,390 --> 00:25:50,190 is the work of God when many are 597 00:25:50,190 --> 00:25:51,530 saved at one time. 598 00:25:52,390 --> 00:25:53,910 If Peter, when he preached on the day 599 00:25:53,910 --> 00:25:56,990 of Pentecost, had been the means of the 600 00:25:56,990 --> 00:25:58,690 conversion of half a dozen of his heirs, 601 00:25:58,750 --> 00:26:00,390 it would have been a thing for which 602 00:26:00,390 --> 00:26:02,050 to praise God, and no one ought to 603 00:26:02,050 --> 00:26:04,910 have suspected the genuineness of the half dozen. 604 00:26:05,810 --> 00:26:08,230 But as Peter's ministry was blessed of God 605 00:26:08,230 --> 00:26:11,110 to three thousand, there was not any the 606 00:26:11,110 --> 00:26:13,650 more reason to say that there was one 607 00:26:13,650 --> 00:26:14,650 too many. 608 00:26:16,010 --> 00:26:19,590 Recollect also, dear friends, that they were all 609 00:26:19,590 --> 00:26:22,710 baptized before night, and the whole of the 610 00:26:22,710 --> 00:26:24,730 three thousand were received into the church that 611 00:26:24,730 --> 00:26:26,250 same day. 612 00:26:27,290 --> 00:26:30,750 Many critics might have said, Oh, dear, there 613 00:26:30,750 --> 00:26:32,010 is far too much excitement. 614 00:26:32,710 --> 00:26:34,410 Are you afraid of excitement, brother? 615 00:26:34,970 --> 00:26:37,030 You have excitement in political affairs, you have 616 00:26:37,030 --> 00:26:39,770 excitement in business matters, you have excitement in 617 00:26:39,770 --> 00:26:40,350 your family. 618 00:26:41,170 --> 00:26:43,230 What excitement there was in your house when 619 00:26:43,230 --> 00:26:45,070 but one little stranger came there! 620 00:26:45,490 --> 00:26:47,150 And shall there be no excitement in the 621 00:26:47,150 --> 00:26:49,770 church of God when souls are born there? 622 00:26:50,590 --> 00:26:53,250 Why, surely we may be permitted to share 623 00:26:53,250 --> 00:26:55,330 in a divine excitement, for there is an 624 00:26:55,330 --> 00:26:56,350 excitement in heaven. 625 00:26:56,810 --> 00:26:58,670 Our Lord Jesus has told us that there 626 00:26:58,670 --> 00:27:00,450 is joy in the presence of the angels 627 00:27:00,450 --> 00:27:02,830 of God over one sinner that repenteth. 628 00:27:03,790 --> 00:27:06,150 There was considerable excitement when the prodigal son 629 00:27:06,150 --> 00:27:06,730 came home. 630 00:27:06,990 --> 00:27:08,630 It was so great that they killed the 631 00:27:08,630 --> 00:27:10,990 fatted calf and had a festival of joy, 632 00:27:11,090 --> 00:27:12,770 and there was holy merriment in the house. 633 00:27:12,910 --> 00:27:14,970 It was the scene of intense excitement. 634 00:27:16,010 --> 00:27:18,750 And I think within reasonable bounds, within such 635 00:27:18,750 --> 00:27:21,030 bounds as true reason would dictate from the 636 00:27:21,030 --> 00:27:23,390 great events that are happening, for the conversion 637 00:27:23,390 --> 00:27:25,270 of a soul is the grandest event in 638 00:27:25,270 --> 00:27:27,850 human history next to the redemption, there must 639 00:27:27,850 --> 00:27:30,530 be a blessed excitement among the people of 640 00:27:30,530 --> 00:27:30,870 God. 641 00:27:32,230 --> 00:27:35,850 Dear friends, expect great numbers of sinners to 642 00:27:35,850 --> 00:27:38,330 be converted by the proclamation of the gospel. 643 00:27:39,190 --> 00:27:41,550 I remember praying when I went to preach 644 00:27:41,550 --> 00:27:43,510 in the great shed at Bedford, belonging to 645 00:27:43,510 --> 00:27:46,230 Mr. Howard, the plowmaker, that God would be 646 00:27:46,230 --> 00:27:48,810 pleased to bring at least some few souls 647 00:27:48,810 --> 00:27:50,370 to himself by that service. 648 00:27:51,130 --> 00:27:54,490 Dear old Mr. Howard, a Wesleyan friend who 649 00:27:54,490 --> 00:27:56,930 has since gone home to heaven, kept on 650 00:27:56,930 --> 00:28:01,230 saying, Amen, Amen, Amen, while I was praying. 651 00:28:01,970 --> 00:28:04,330 But he did not say Amen to that 652 00:28:04,330 --> 00:28:05,210 particular petition. 653 00:28:06,170 --> 00:28:07,470 When I went home to the house, he 654 00:28:07,470 --> 00:28:09,350 said to me, I joined with you in 655 00:28:09,350 --> 00:28:11,130 all your prayer, except when you asked that 656 00:28:11,130 --> 00:28:13,090 God would at least convert a few people. 657 00:28:13,390 --> 00:28:16,010 Why, my dear friend, said he, did you 658 00:28:16,010 --> 00:28:18,090 not pray that God would convert every soul 659 00:28:18,090 --> 00:28:18,530 there? 660 00:28:19,350 --> 00:28:22,130 I said, I will tonight, Mr. Howard. 661 00:28:22,250 --> 00:28:23,950 I am rebuked by what you have said. 662 00:28:24,430 --> 00:28:25,890 We do not ask enough of God. 663 00:28:26,370 --> 00:28:28,090 Open your mouth wide and he will fill 664 00:28:28,090 --> 00:28:28,330 it. 665 00:28:28,970 --> 00:28:30,870 Oh, that we would open our mouths wide 666 00:28:30,870 --> 00:28:33,290 in large request to God that he would 667 00:28:33,290 --> 00:28:36,350 bring in the converts by hundreds of thousands 668 00:28:36,350 --> 00:28:38,790 to the glory of his holy name. 669 00:28:39,870 --> 00:28:42,150 The next thing that was a subject for 670 00:28:42,150 --> 00:28:45,890 astonishment to Zion was how those converts came 671 00:28:45,890 --> 00:28:47,390 to be born at all. 672 00:28:48,450 --> 00:28:51,210 She inquired in the language of the text, 673 00:28:51,690 --> 00:28:54,870 Who hath begotten me these? 674 00:28:55,610 --> 00:28:57,730 The reason was that she did not feel 675 00:28:57,730 --> 00:28:59,190 as if she had any power to bring 676 00:28:59,190 --> 00:29:00,550 forth all these. 677 00:29:00,670 --> 00:29:02,650 Why, said she, I have been in a 678 00:29:02,650 --> 00:29:03,750 sad state. 679 00:29:04,050 --> 00:29:06,610 I have lost my children and am desolate, 680 00:29:06,730 --> 00:29:08,830 a captive, and removing to and fro. 681 00:29:09,170 --> 00:29:10,790 How did it ever happen that all these 682 00:29:10,790 --> 00:29:12,430 should be my children? 683 00:29:13,370 --> 00:29:16,190 Ah, brethren, sometimes we ask the same question. 684 00:29:17,550 --> 00:29:19,710 Yesterday I had a joy day. 685 00:29:20,650 --> 00:29:22,870 All the bells of my heart did ring. 686 00:29:23,310 --> 00:29:25,110 While many of you had been away at 687 00:29:25,110 --> 00:29:27,850 the seaside, I thought there was a little 688 00:29:27,850 --> 00:29:29,670 difference in the numbers coming to here. 689 00:29:29,670 --> 00:29:32,570 And when I sat to see inquirers, there 690 00:29:32,570 --> 00:29:34,130 did not seem to be quite so many 691 00:29:34,130 --> 00:29:35,830 as usual coming forward, and I was troubled 692 00:29:35,830 --> 00:29:36,370 about it. 693 00:29:37,210 --> 00:29:40,910 But I came yesterday and I had so 694 00:29:40,910 --> 00:29:43,150 many sheaves that the cart was loaded with 695 00:29:43,150 --> 00:29:43,450 them. 696 00:29:43,730 --> 00:29:45,790 And my helpers came to me every now 697 00:29:45,790 --> 00:29:47,910 and then and said, What a joyful day. 698 00:29:48,910 --> 00:29:50,830 I do not know whether all the friends 699 00:29:50,830 --> 00:29:53,690 whom I saw yesterday are here, but they 700 00:29:53,690 --> 00:29:56,070 delighted my soul with the stories they told 701 00:29:56,070 --> 00:29:58,110 me of what the grace of God had 702 00:29:58,110 --> 00:29:58,810 done for them. 703 00:29:59,650 --> 00:30:01,910 I bless God and take courage as I 704 00:30:01,910 --> 00:30:04,910 see another great slice cut out of devildom 705 00:30:04,910 --> 00:30:07,610 and transferred to the kingdom of Christ. 706 00:30:08,550 --> 00:30:10,670 Quite a number of people who had never 707 00:30:10,670 --> 00:30:13,550 known the Lord or anything about Him, outsiders 708 00:30:13,550 --> 00:30:16,590 altogether, had dropped in here and heard the 709 00:30:16,590 --> 00:30:18,250 word and found Christ. 710 00:30:18,790 --> 00:30:20,850 And they kept on coming hour after hour 711 00:30:20,850 --> 00:30:23,170 till I was weary with the blessed task 712 00:30:23,170 --> 00:30:25,910 of speaking to them one by one about 713 00:30:25,910 --> 00:30:26,790 their souls. 714 00:30:28,110 --> 00:30:29,830 And as I went home, I kept saying 715 00:30:29,830 --> 00:30:32,870 to myself, How has all this come about? 716 00:30:33,410 --> 00:30:35,590 Because I have often felt so dull and 717 00:30:35,590 --> 00:30:36,730 heavy when I have been preaching. 718 00:30:37,130 --> 00:30:39,190 Who hath begotten me these? 719 00:30:40,150 --> 00:30:43,250 And dear friends, if God blesses you in 720 00:30:43,250 --> 00:30:45,930 your Sunday school classes, you also will say, 721 00:30:45,930 --> 00:30:47,510 However has this come about? 722 00:30:47,850 --> 00:30:49,530 What could I have said that could have 723 00:30:49,530 --> 00:30:51,470 brought my scholars to Christ? 724 00:30:52,050 --> 00:30:53,950 If the Lord shall bless you much, my 725 00:30:53,950 --> 00:30:56,570 dear brother, in your preaching, you will more 726 00:30:56,570 --> 00:30:58,830 and more marvel that ever He should use 727 00:30:58,830 --> 00:31:00,630 such a poor tool as you are. 728 00:31:01,970 --> 00:31:04,050 I do not mean that you are a 729 00:31:04,050 --> 00:31:05,910 worse tool than I am, for I feel 730 00:31:05,910 --> 00:31:07,730 that I am still a poor instrument than 731 00:31:07,730 --> 00:31:08,210 you are. 732 00:31:08,830 --> 00:31:11,290 But I often wonder that God uses me 733 00:31:11,290 --> 00:31:13,750 as He does, and I think you will 734 00:31:13,750 --> 00:31:15,650 also marvel that He uses you. 735 00:31:16,890 --> 00:31:19,990 When the church has grown feeble, when she 736 00:31:19,990 --> 00:31:22,050 has seemed to have no hope that God 737 00:31:22,050 --> 00:31:24,210 should bless her, and when He comes and 738 00:31:24,210 --> 00:31:27,050 visits her, and a multitude of converts is 739 00:31:27,050 --> 00:31:29,890 suddenly brought forth, she may well say, Who 740 00:31:29,890 --> 00:31:32,170 hath begotten me these, seeing I have lost 741 00:31:32,170 --> 00:31:34,490 my children and I am desolate, a captive, 742 00:31:34,630 --> 00:31:35,830 and removing to and fro? 743 00:31:36,310 --> 00:31:39,190 Take comfort then, beloved, from the fact that 744 00:31:39,190 --> 00:31:41,550 whatever the decreases in the church may be, 745 00:31:41,710 --> 00:31:44,350 we may also expect increase. 746 00:31:45,290 --> 00:31:47,730 But in their number, the converts will surprise 747 00:31:47,730 --> 00:31:50,310 us, and in their being converted at all, 748 00:31:50,410 --> 00:31:52,370 we shall greatly marvel. 749 00:31:53,910 --> 00:31:58,330 But what Zion wondered at next was how 750 00:31:58,330 --> 00:31:59,690 they had been nurtured. 751 00:32:00,250 --> 00:32:03,350 For she says, Who hath brought up these? 752 00:32:04,490 --> 00:32:06,610 They were not merely born, but they had 753 00:32:06,610 --> 00:32:07,790 been brought up. 754 00:32:08,350 --> 00:32:10,570 And we also meet with persons who come 755 00:32:10,570 --> 00:32:13,090 forward to tell us that they are converted 756 00:32:13,090 --> 00:32:15,170 to Christ, and they are by no means 757 00:32:15,170 --> 00:32:15,830 fools. 758 00:32:16,290 --> 00:32:18,170 Nay, but when we begin to question them 759 00:32:18,170 --> 00:32:20,730 concerning the things of God, they answer us 760 00:32:20,730 --> 00:32:22,750 sensibly and intelligibly. 761 00:32:23,450 --> 00:32:25,370 They do not need us to lead them 762 00:32:25,370 --> 00:32:27,450 like little children and to put the words 763 00:32:27,450 --> 00:32:29,590 into their mouth, for they know what to 764 00:32:29,590 --> 00:32:30,030 say. 765 00:32:30,330 --> 00:32:32,370 Yet some of them have only been converted 766 00:32:32,370 --> 00:32:34,370 about a month, and they have not been 767 00:32:34,370 --> 00:32:35,670 used to hearing the gospel. 768 00:32:36,390 --> 00:32:38,690 But since they have heard it, they seem 769 00:32:38,690 --> 00:32:40,930 to have sucked it in like Gideon's fleece 770 00:32:40,930 --> 00:32:41,990 drank in the dew. 771 00:32:42,910 --> 00:32:45,870 Many doctors of divinity make a dreadful muddle 772 00:32:45,870 --> 00:32:48,630 of their theology, but these dear converts are 773 00:32:48,630 --> 00:32:50,630 as clear as possible upon what they believe. 774 00:32:51,050 --> 00:32:52,970 They have it all at their fingers' ends, 775 00:32:53,130 --> 00:32:55,690 and they can tell what covenant means, and 776 00:32:55,690 --> 00:32:59,290 what substitution means, and what regeneration means. 777 00:32:59,970 --> 00:33:02,170 We say, Who has brought up these? 778 00:33:02,910 --> 00:33:04,430 It seems so wonderful to us. 779 00:33:04,730 --> 00:33:06,590 Has it not often been so to you 780 00:33:06,590 --> 00:33:07,610 also, dear friends? 781 00:33:08,350 --> 00:33:10,250 Yet all the while we have been forgetting 782 00:33:10,250 --> 00:33:12,550 the teaching of the Holy Spirit, and we 783 00:33:12,550 --> 00:33:15,110 have said, Why, my poor teaching could not 784 00:33:15,110 --> 00:33:16,250 have taught them all this. 785 00:33:16,870 --> 00:33:19,530 No, nor has it taught them all this. 786 00:33:20,030 --> 00:33:22,190 There is a higher teacher than the best 787 00:33:22,190 --> 00:33:22,770 of ministers. 788 00:33:23,090 --> 00:33:24,950 There is a better teacher than the most 789 00:33:24,950 --> 00:33:27,570 earnest and the most advanced of Christians, and 790 00:33:27,570 --> 00:33:31,090 he still fulfills that gracious promise, All thy 791 00:33:31,090 --> 00:33:33,750 children shall be taught of the Lord. 792 00:33:35,330 --> 00:33:38,290 A further cause of wonder was the sudden 793 00:33:38,290 --> 00:33:40,930 appearance of this great increase. 794 00:33:41,950 --> 00:33:45,910 Zion inquires, These, where had they been? 795 00:33:46,890 --> 00:33:48,870 Ah, that is just what I thought and 796 00:33:48,870 --> 00:33:51,430 said last night, and that is why I 797 00:33:51,430 --> 00:33:53,150 took this text, for it kept coming to 798 00:33:53,150 --> 00:33:53,990 my mind. 799 00:33:54,810 --> 00:33:56,750 These, where had they been? 800 00:33:57,610 --> 00:33:59,870 Some of them had been seen here ever 801 00:33:59,870 --> 00:34:02,610 so long, but others of them had never 802 00:34:02,610 --> 00:34:04,690 been seen at all, except one or two 803 00:34:04,690 --> 00:34:05,430 Thursday nights. 804 00:34:05,590 --> 00:34:08,250 Lately I noticed them, perhaps at one or 805 00:34:08,250 --> 00:34:09,830 two prayer meetings, and I began to think 806 00:34:09,830 --> 00:34:12,050 that there was something good coming to pass 807 00:34:12,050 --> 00:34:13,650 with them, or else they would not have 808 00:34:13,650 --> 00:34:13,909 come. 809 00:34:14,909 --> 00:34:16,570 So I kept saying to myself as I 810 00:34:16,570 --> 00:34:19,429 went home, These, where had they been? 811 00:34:20,090 --> 00:34:22,090 A month ago I could not have found 812 00:34:22,090 --> 00:34:22,270 them. 813 00:34:22,389 --> 00:34:23,929 These, where had they been? 814 00:34:24,090 --> 00:34:26,110 They have sprung up and come forward all 815 00:34:26,110 --> 00:34:28,230 of a sudden through the blessed working of 816 00:34:28,230 --> 00:34:29,310 the Spirit of God. 817 00:34:30,610 --> 00:34:32,230 These, where had they been? 818 00:34:32,310 --> 00:34:34,290 Shall I tell you where they had been? 819 00:34:35,150 --> 00:34:37,550 Some of them had been in godly families, 820 00:34:38,110 --> 00:34:40,989 where with fathers and mothers praying for them, 821 00:34:41,770 --> 00:34:44,270 no wonder that they came to close with 822 00:34:44,270 --> 00:34:44,570 Christ. 823 00:34:44,670 --> 00:34:45,949 Some of them had been in the Sunday 824 00:34:45,949 --> 00:34:49,130 school, in classes where brethren and sisters love 825 00:34:49,130 --> 00:34:51,610 their children and never rest till they bring 826 00:34:51,610 --> 00:34:53,330 them to decision for Christ. 827 00:34:54,550 --> 00:34:56,730 It is not so very marvellous that they 828 00:34:56,730 --> 00:34:58,170 should by and by come forward. 829 00:34:59,010 --> 00:35:00,330 These, where had they been? 830 00:35:00,450 --> 00:35:02,470 Well, they had been under the influence of 831 00:35:02,470 --> 00:35:05,910 Christian wives, Christian children, sometimes Christian brothers and 832 00:35:05,910 --> 00:35:06,290 sisters. 833 00:35:07,890 --> 00:35:09,890 And so at last the gracious influence took 834 00:35:09,890 --> 00:35:10,730 effect upon them. 835 00:35:10,990 --> 00:35:12,670 By the power of God's Spirit and out 836 00:35:12,670 --> 00:35:13,210 they came. 837 00:35:14,230 --> 00:35:16,530 Thank God that there are great numbers still 838 00:35:16,530 --> 00:35:19,250 under those sacred influences, for they also are 839 00:35:19,250 --> 00:35:20,890 sure to come in due time and say, 840 00:35:21,290 --> 00:35:22,690 we are on the Lord's side. 841 00:35:24,570 --> 00:35:26,010 And then there were some others. 842 00:35:26,810 --> 00:35:27,690 Where had they been? 843 00:35:28,010 --> 00:35:31,430 Well, they had long been listening to the 844 00:35:31,430 --> 00:35:33,790 gospel, regularly sitting in their pews. 845 00:35:34,230 --> 00:35:35,950 And we had heard of them as people 846 00:35:35,950 --> 00:35:38,610 who had been attracted by our ministry for 847 00:35:38,610 --> 00:35:40,550 twenty years, but who did not know the 848 00:35:40,550 --> 00:35:40,970 Lord. 849 00:35:41,810 --> 00:35:43,470 What a blessing it was for them that 850 00:35:43,470 --> 00:35:46,190 even after the hardening influence of listening so 851 00:35:46,190 --> 00:35:49,010 long to the gospel had operated upon them, 852 00:35:49,490 --> 00:35:50,970 for it had such an influence in some 853 00:35:50,970 --> 00:35:54,110 cases, yet at last God Himself touched the 854 00:35:54,110 --> 00:35:56,430 rock and the water streamed forth. 855 00:35:57,450 --> 00:36:00,270 There are some such persons now coming forward 856 00:36:00,270 --> 00:36:02,270 to join us in church fellowship. 857 00:36:03,190 --> 00:36:05,230 Let us pray for all the rest of 858 00:36:05,230 --> 00:36:08,230 our fellow worshippers who are unconverted, that they 859 00:36:08,230 --> 00:36:09,810 also may come after them. 860 00:36:11,030 --> 00:36:13,390 But there were others whom I saw yesterday 861 00:36:13,390 --> 00:36:15,190 about whom I might well ask. 862 00:36:15,950 --> 00:36:18,150 These, where had they been? 863 00:36:19,170 --> 00:36:21,250 On the Lord's day, at home in their 864 00:36:21,250 --> 00:36:24,610 shirt sleeves, on weeknights at the theatre or 865 00:36:24,610 --> 00:36:27,530 the music hall, finding enjoyment in the lowest 866 00:36:27,530 --> 00:36:28,550 form of amusement. 867 00:36:29,470 --> 00:36:30,630 Where had they been? 868 00:36:31,050 --> 00:36:33,610 Never troubling church or chapel, some of them 869 00:36:33,610 --> 00:36:36,230 scarcely ever entering such an edifice at all, 870 00:36:36,310 --> 00:36:39,210 but God in His providence brought them for 871 00:36:39,210 --> 00:36:40,690 once to hear the word. 872 00:36:40,990 --> 00:36:42,790 And as one said to me, I laid 873 00:36:42,790 --> 00:36:45,110 hold of something, and something laid hold of 874 00:36:45,110 --> 00:36:47,030 me, and I shall never part with it, 875 00:36:47,070 --> 00:36:48,690 for it will never part with me. 876 00:36:49,450 --> 00:36:52,690 This is how it happened with many utterly 877 00:36:52,690 --> 00:36:56,090 irreligious people, those who had no fear or 878 00:36:56,090 --> 00:36:57,030 thought of God. 879 00:36:57,870 --> 00:36:59,630 And there were some were still who had 880 00:36:59,630 --> 00:37:04,050 gone into sin and transgression and crime, but 881 00:37:04,050 --> 00:37:06,050 they had been induced by some kind friend 882 00:37:06,050 --> 00:37:08,230 to come and listen to the gospel. 883 00:37:08,770 --> 00:37:11,730 So there they were to tell of free 884 00:37:11,730 --> 00:37:14,430 grace and dying love, and to testify what 885 00:37:14,430 --> 00:37:16,650 infinite mercy had done for them. 886 00:37:18,230 --> 00:37:20,510 These, where had they been? 887 00:37:20,610 --> 00:37:22,550 Well, I cannot tell you where they had 888 00:37:22,550 --> 00:37:23,050 all been. 889 00:37:23,870 --> 00:37:26,030 Some had been at death's dark door, buried 890 00:37:26,030 --> 00:37:28,910 in sorrow and in sin, in poverty and 891 00:37:28,910 --> 00:37:29,390 in vice. 892 00:37:29,650 --> 00:37:32,070 Others, though, they were not apparently so bad 893 00:37:32,070 --> 00:37:35,210 as these, were notwithstanding quite as much lost, 894 00:37:35,210 --> 00:37:37,190 for they were in the dark wood of 895 00:37:37,190 --> 00:37:39,790 self-righteousness, boasting that they were not as 896 00:37:39,790 --> 00:37:41,850 other men, and that they were as good 897 00:37:41,850 --> 00:37:43,650 as they ought to be, and so deceiving 898 00:37:43,650 --> 00:37:44,190 themselves. 899 00:37:45,310 --> 00:37:47,470 Now it is just as such a marvel 900 00:37:47,470 --> 00:37:49,830 of mercy for God to save a self 901 00:37:49,830 --> 00:37:51,310 -righteous man as it is for him to 902 00:37:51,310 --> 00:37:53,250 save a drunkard or a harlot. 903 00:37:53,530 --> 00:37:55,110 And it takes as much of the almighty 904 00:37:55,110 --> 00:37:57,190 grace of God to tear a man away 905 00:37:57,190 --> 00:37:58,950 from his own righteousness as to pull him 906 00:37:58,950 --> 00:38:00,650 away from his own sin. 907 00:38:01,810 --> 00:38:03,990 Oh, the wonders of redeeming love! 908 00:38:03,990 --> 00:38:07,030 That out of every place he can fetch 909 00:38:07,030 --> 00:38:09,390 its thousands upon thousands to make the church 910 00:38:09,390 --> 00:38:12,610 glad and to cry in sweet surprise, these, 911 00:38:13,230 --> 00:38:14,510 where had they been? 912 00:38:16,010 --> 00:38:17,790 I have no time to dwell on the 913 00:38:17,790 --> 00:38:20,170 third point, further than just to say that 914 00:38:20,170 --> 00:38:24,350 all things should encourage this church. 915 00:38:25,150 --> 00:38:27,070 And the same rule applies to every church 916 00:38:27,070 --> 00:38:30,210 that God blesses, to seek larger increase. 917 00:38:30,770 --> 00:38:34,050 For first, dear brethren, there is the same 918 00:38:34,050 --> 00:38:37,410 power to convert ten thousand as there is 919 00:38:37,410 --> 00:38:38,330 to convert one. 920 00:38:39,210 --> 00:38:41,550 The Lord who brought you in can bring 921 00:38:41,550 --> 00:38:42,510 thousands in. 922 00:38:43,090 --> 00:38:44,770 And if he adds to our church some 923 00:38:44,770 --> 00:38:46,870 hundreds now and then, why should he not 924 00:38:46,870 --> 00:38:48,250 be constantly doing it? 925 00:38:48,550 --> 00:38:49,870 His arm is not shortened. 926 00:38:50,030 --> 00:38:51,790 He is still ready to bless us. 927 00:38:52,730 --> 00:38:55,010 Besides, we ought to be encouraged by the 928 00:38:55,010 --> 00:38:58,090 fact that converts come in answer to prayer. 929 00:38:59,230 --> 00:39:02,630 Notice that these additions to our church have 930 00:39:02,630 --> 00:39:05,050 come just when we have been praying more 931 00:39:05,050 --> 00:39:05,470 than ever. 932 00:39:06,750 --> 00:39:09,810 Every Thursday night before the service, there is 933 00:39:09,810 --> 00:39:12,310 a prayer meeting at six o'clock in 934 00:39:12,310 --> 00:39:14,670 which a few friends gather specially to pray 935 00:39:14,670 --> 00:39:17,370 that their pastor may be helped to preach. 936 00:39:18,330 --> 00:39:20,250 And tonight, I suppose, there were three or 937 00:39:20,250 --> 00:39:22,090 four hundred gathered together with that object. 938 00:39:22,990 --> 00:39:25,250 And it is real praying, let me tell 939 00:39:25,250 --> 00:39:29,690 you, short, deep, earnest cries to God for 940 00:39:29,690 --> 00:39:30,150 a blessing. 941 00:39:30,910 --> 00:39:33,570 And the preacher cannot help preaching when he 942 00:39:33,570 --> 00:39:34,770 is prayed for like that. 943 00:39:35,670 --> 00:39:37,610 And as that prayer meeting has increased in 944 00:39:37,610 --> 00:39:40,870 intensity and power, a blessing has already begun 945 00:39:40,870 --> 00:39:41,350 to come. 946 00:39:42,310 --> 00:39:43,870 Some of us are conscious of it. 947 00:39:44,250 --> 00:39:45,650 We cannot help seeing it. 948 00:39:46,230 --> 00:39:48,970 Is it possible for me not to believe 949 00:39:48,970 --> 00:39:49,570 in prayer? 950 00:39:50,110 --> 00:39:51,950 Can I deny that there is such a 951 00:39:51,950 --> 00:39:54,410 thing as the electric fluid when I see 952 00:39:54,410 --> 00:39:57,210 a tower shivered by the lightning flash? 953 00:39:58,170 --> 00:40:00,030 If I were fool enough, I could deny 954 00:40:00,030 --> 00:40:00,450 that. 955 00:40:00,970 --> 00:40:02,590 But I never could be such a fool 956 00:40:02,590 --> 00:40:05,230 as to deny the power of prayer, which 957 00:40:05,230 --> 00:40:07,630 I see every day exhibited in all sorts 958 00:40:07,630 --> 00:40:09,750 of things, in all sorts of ways. 959 00:40:10,430 --> 00:40:13,990 Very largely, in proportion as we pray, God 960 00:40:13,990 --> 00:40:15,190 blesses the word. 961 00:40:15,690 --> 00:40:18,030 It has been so for years, and they 962 00:40:18,030 --> 00:40:19,790 who have been among us and know can 963 00:40:19,790 --> 00:40:23,510 bear witness that this is an unexaggerated statement 964 00:40:23,510 --> 00:40:24,290 of fact. 965 00:40:25,170 --> 00:40:28,770 Well then, if that be so, let us 966 00:40:28,770 --> 00:40:29,170 pray. 967 00:40:29,790 --> 00:40:32,390 If prayer can be the means of bringing 968 00:40:32,390 --> 00:40:35,530 souls to Christ, let there be no stint 969 00:40:35,530 --> 00:40:36,350 in that matter. 970 00:40:37,670 --> 00:40:41,970 And further, since the from all sorts of 971 00:40:41,970 --> 00:40:45,750 places, let us carry the gospel into all 972 00:40:45,750 --> 00:40:46,730 sorts of places. 973 00:40:47,770 --> 00:40:50,130 There is not any part of London, however 974 00:40:50,130 --> 00:40:53,870 bad it may be, where God may not 975 00:40:53,870 --> 00:40:55,590 have an elect soul in it. 976 00:40:56,450 --> 00:40:59,450 Go after him then, down in the deepest 977 00:40:59,450 --> 00:41:02,470 kennel, in the worst court, in the filthiest 978 00:41:02,470 --> 00:41:05,350 houses, following the vilest occupation. 979 00:41:05,730 --> 00:41:08,190 There may be some whom God, in mercy, 980 00:41:08,350 --> 00:41:10,010 means to bless through you. 981 00:41:10,610 --> 00:41:12,970 So go after them, and go after them 982 00:41:12,970 --> 00:41:13,590 at once. 983 00:41:14,870 --> 00:41:17,670 You can never tell where God's chosen ones 984 00:41:17,670 --> 00:41:18,050 are. 985 00:41:19,010 --> 00:41:22,570 These, where had they been, is the question 986 00:41:22,570 --> 00:41:24,730 concerning those who have come to him. 987 00:41:25,490 --> 00:41:27,950 And where they were, there are others like 988 00:41:27,950 --> 00:41:28,230 them. 989 00:41:29,650 --> 00:41:33,370 How many sheep are straying, lost from the 990 00:41:33,370 --> 00:41:34,530 Saviour's fold? 991 00:41:35,150 --> 00:41:38,570 Upon the lonely mountain they shiver with the 992 00:41:38,570 --> 00:41:39,070 cold. 993 00:41:39,790 --> 00:41:43,770 Within the tangled thickets where poison vines do 994 00:41:43,770 --> 00:41:48,370 creep, and over rocky ledges wander the poor 995 00:41:48,370 --> 00:41:49,430 lost sheep. 996 00:41:50,290 --> 00:41:52,270 Oh, come, let us go and find them. 997 00:41:52,450 --> 00:41:54,410 In the paths of death they roam. 998 00:41:55,050 --> 00:41:57,030 At the close of the day it will 999 00:41:57,030 --> 00:42:00,110 be sweet to say, I have brought some 1000 00:42:00,110 --> 00:42:01,530 lost one home. 1001 00:42:02,730 --> 00:42:06,090 What a little thing God often blesses! 1002 00:42:06,630 --> 00:42:09,310 To save a soul, a word from a 1003 00:42:09,310 --> 00:42:13,450 sister, a little note from a Christian woman, 1004 00:42:13,610 --> 00:42:15,890 half a word in these isles. 1005 00:42:16,130 --> 00:42:18,630 A man who was never before spoken to 1006 00:42:18,630 --> 00:42:21,250 about his soul, has not been pleaded with 1007 00:42:21,250 --> 00:42:23,550 for five minutes before he comes under conviction 1008 00:42:23,550 --> 00:42:25,990 of sin, and soon he finds the Saviour. 1009 00:42:27,130 --> 00:42:30,010 The very smallest thing has been made the 1010 00:42:30,010 --> 00:42:31,910 means of bringing souls to Christ. 1011 00:42:32,390 --> 00:42:33,930 Will you not, dear friends, make use of 1012 00:42:33,930 --> 00:42:35,170 those little things? 1013 00:42:35,930 --> 00:42:37,430 Will you not use everything? 1014 00:42:38,470 --> 00:42:40,290 Will you not be willing to spend and 1015 00:42:40,290 --> 00:42:43,370 be spent for Christ in this blessed work 1016 00:42:43,370 --> 00:42:44,470 of soul-saving? 1017 00:42:45,210 --> 00:42:48,290 In the morning sow thy seed, and in 1018 00:42:48,290 --> 00:42:50,670 the evening withhold not thine hand, for thou 1019 00:42:50,670 --> 00:42:53,770 knowest not whither shall prosper, either this or 1020 00:42:53,770 --> 00:42:56,430 that, or whether they both shall be alike 1021 00:42:56,430 --> 00:42:56,850 good. 1022 00:42:57,890 --> 00:43:00,010 Go on, dear brethren and sisters, to cry 1023 00:43:00,010 --> 00:43:03,470 mightily to God, and to labour earnestly for 1024 00:43:03,470 --> 00:43:06,850 Him, till we shall, in glad surprise, bless 1025 00:43:06,850 --> 00:43:10,110 and magnify His grace, that multitudes are brought 1026 00:43:10,110 --> 00:43:12,410 to Him, and that His name is made 1027 00:43:12,410 --> 00:43:13,930 to be yet more renowned. 1028 00:43:14,650 --> 00:43:17,210 Let us constantly have your prayers at home 1029 00:43:17,210 --> 00:43:20,010 as well as here, and the Lord be 1030 00:43:20,010 --> 00:43:20,790 with you all. 1031 00:43:21,370 --> 00:43:21,890 Amen.