260
July - August, 1934
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
a w a k e ! Christian, a w a k e ! t Continued from page 2S3]
“ ‘Brother,’ said he, ‘it is a composition made o f one part o f tears o f agony for the souls o f men, and the other part o f tears o f holy agony which wrestles with God in prayer— this mixture, if you drop your seed in it, has a transcendent efficacy to make every grain full o f life* so that it is not lost.’ “ The other one rose and went his way and forgot not what he had learned, but began to steep his seed too ; he spent less time in his study, and more time in his closet; he was less abroad, more at home; less with men, and more with God. As he went abroad and scattered his seed, he too saw a harvest, and the Lord was glorified in them both. “ Brethren, I do feel with regard to myself, and there fore, when I speak o f others, I speak not uncharitably, that the reason o f the non-success o f the ministry in these years (fo r compared with Pentecost I do not call our success a success) lies in our want o f prayer. I f I were addressing students in a college, I think I should venture to say to them, ‘ Set prayer first in your labors; let your subject be well prepared; think well o f your discourse, but best of all, pray it over, study it on your knees.’ “ Let me beseech you whatever you do, go not about your work, except you have first entreated that the dew o f heaven may drop on the seed you sow. Steep your seed, and it shall spring up. W e are demanding in our days more laborers—-it is a right prayer; we are seeking that the seed should be first o f the best sort— it is a right demand; but let us not forget another which is even more necessary than this— let us ask, let us plead with God, that the seed be steeped, that men may preach, agonizing for souls. I like to preach with a burden on my heart— the burden of other men’s sins, the burden o f other men’s hard-heartedness, the burden o f their unbelief, the burden o f their desperate estate which must ere long end in perdition. There is no preaching,. I am persuaded, like that, for then we preach as though: Spurgeon’s princely ministry was saturated with prayer. He drank deeply o f the spirit o f the apostles, and gave himself to the ministry o f the W ord and to prayer. He recognized that every work o f God has its roots in prayer; that God is much with His servants who are much with Him in the closet o f prayer. Thank God for the individual prayer groups holding on in living faith, but oh, for mul titudes— fathers, mothers, brothers, and sisters, pastors, teachers, missionaries, Christian workers, to hear and heed the divine challenge. Are you awake ? Are you concerned for the spiritual welfare o f the church? Then pray and get others to pray with you. As Thomas E. Stephens said, “ God has given to His church one supreme task for this generation. That task is to make known the sovereign grace o f Christ to the very last member o f the human race (Acts 1 :8 ). The age is fast ebbing away— every sign points to its speedy close— and yet the church’s task is far from done. Two-thirds o f the race is still in darkness. Millions at home and abroad await the glad tidings o f the gospel through a revived and reempowered church. Oh, that the sovereign Spirit o f God might move once more upon the face o f all the earth—move through His church, to whom He has committed the only light that can dispel humanity’s darkness—move in such a manner as to compel men to ascribe all the glory to Himself alone, and to none other.” ‘W e ne’er might preach again; As dying men to dying men.’ ”
a chaotic state o f society like ours, only Almighty God can move hearts, melt them, subdue them, change them, and make them habitations o f truth and temples for the Holy Spirit. The actual cause o f revival is God the Holy Spirit. G od R evives H is C hurch T hrough G ospel P reaching God, we say it reverently, must use instrumentalities. He has, in His condescension, limited Himself to their use in His saving work. God uses preaching, after the apos tolic pattern, by men faithful with God, to revive His work. Every generation needs such men. They are needed how. The church is like a great lamp—-she needs fresh supplies o f fuel. She is like Peter’s w ife’s mother, laid low with fever— she needs the miracle touch of Christ. The preach ing o f the times needs to be corrected. It needs to con form to the gospel pattern. It needs to be more full o f Christ. But most o f all, it needs to have Christ set forth, not so much as a Teacher, or as a Prophet, though He fulfilled both o f these missions, but as the world’s Saviour whose blood was shed for the redemption o f our souls. His deity, omniscience, omnipotence, and eternalness are glori ous indeed, but it is the death o f this divine, all-knowing, almighty, eternal Son o f God that is the message for these times. A R evival I s A lways U shered in by the P rayers of the C hurch Gospel preaching' is like a ship, but prayer is like the • tide that floats the vessel. Where there is little prayer, there is little power in the preached word. Spurgeon uniquely illustrates this vital truth: “ Two laborers in God’s harvest met each other once upon a time, and they sat down to compare notes. One was a man o f sorrowful spirit, and the other joyous, for God had given him the desire o f his heart. The sad brother said, ‘Friend, I cannot understand how it is that everything you do is sure to prosper. You scatter seed with both hands very diligently; and it springs up so rapidly, too, that the reaper treads upon the heels o f the sower, and the sower, himself again, upon the heels o f the next reaper. I have sown,’ said he, ‘as you have done, and I think I can say that I have been just as diligent; I think, too, the soil has been the same, for we have labored side by side in the same town. I hope the seed has been o f the same quality, for I found mine where you got yours— in the common granary. But alas, my seed, friend, never springs up. I sow it, but it is as if I scattered it upon the waves— I never see a harvest. Here and there a sickly blade o f wheat I have discovered with great and diligent search, but I see but little for my labor.’ “ They talked together, for the brother who was suc cessful was o f a tender heart, and therefore he sought to comfort this mourning brother. They compared notes; they looked through all the rules o f farming, and could not solve the mystery, why one was successful and the other labored in vain. A t last one said to the other, ‘I must go.’ “ ‘Why ?’ asked the other. “ ‘Because,’ said he, ‘I must go and steep my seed.’ “ ‘ Steep your seed?’ said the other. “ ‘Yes, brother, I always steep my seed before I sow it. I steep it until it begins to swell and germinate, and I can almost see a green blade springing from it, and then you know it speedily grows after it is sown.’ “ *Ah!’ said the other. ‘But I don’t understand what you mean. How do you steep your seed, and in what mysteri ous mixture ?’
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