The spiritual and believing prayers
The spiritual and believing prayers
The spiritual and believing prayers of a Christian church are the most precious and costly blessing it can present its pastor. Nothing can equal it — and nothing substitute for it. The spiritual knowledge, vigor, and comfort which through this channel are conveyed by the Spirit to his mind — no thought can conceive, nor words express. The blessing is immense — it is incalculable! The seals of the book so often closed — are loosed to his dark and perplexed understanding; the waning strength so ready to droop — is renewed; and the lonely sorrows which drink up his spirits — are softened and soothed — by the constant, fervent, and affectionate prayers of his flock.
Happy is that pastor to whom is committed the oversight of a spiritual and praying people; who, when the arms of his faith and intercession are weary and ready to hang down — has his Aaron and his Hur to steady and support them; who, amid all his personal and official trials — can find solace, sympathy, and comfort in the bosom of a spiritual, affectionate, and praying church.
Nor was the Son of God, less the man and the minister of prayer. How illustrious is His example! Himself the glorious object of prayer — yet becoming the humble subject of prayer. Around much of the early part of our Lord's life, the Holy Spirit has drawn the veil of silence. Where and how He was especially employed from the period He was found disputing with and confounding and astonishing the doctors in the temple — is not revealed. That His early years were spent in a preparation for His public work, we cannot doubt. And that a material part of that preparation was secret communion with God, we have every reason to believe. But from the age of thirty, the period at which we may date the commencement of His public ministry, His habits of devotion were invested with a most palpable and distinguished character.
Prayer constituted His very existence — He lived in close converse with His Father. Prayer preceded, it accompanied, and it followed every important act of His life. Whole nights was He accustomed to spend in wrestlings with God. The twilight hour would behold Him retiring from the world, and even from the company of His disciples — to spend His midnight solitude in prayer. And when morning dawned, it still found Him with His Church upon His heart, prostrate at the mercy-seat.
Let a single example suffice. It is in connection with His election and designation of His twelve apostles, and is thus recorded by the evangelist Luke. "In these days He went out to the mountain to pray, and all night He continued in prayer to God. And when day came, He called His disciples and chose from them twelve, whom He named apostles." How rich the instruction this affecting fact conveys! What a picture for us to gaze upon, my brethren! What a model on which to form our ministerial character!
But not to Christ and His apostles exclusively — though to them preeminently — does this high devotional character belong. All eminently holy men, have ever been eminently praying men. And all who have ever been distinguished for deep spirituality of character in their preaching and marked success in winning souls to Christ — have been men who wrought much at the throne of grace.
From the "cloud of witnesses" to this truth which encompass us on every side, we may select the names of Rutherford, Leighton, Flavel, Baxter, Brainerd, Martyn, Payson, Whitefield, Berridge, and Doddridge — men whose personal sanctity, whose ministerial devotedness, whose extraordinary labors, and whose almost miraculous success in the development and diffusion of divine truth and the extension of Christ's kingdom — must be traced to their habits of constant, secret, and close communion with God . They first gave themselves to prayer — and then to the ministry of the word.
They did not neglect their own vineyards. The close connection between a heart right with God, a soul dwelling at the throne of grace — drawing its life, light, vigor, and anointing immediately from Heaven — and a ministry of strength, power, and success — they well and experimentally understood. They recognized the solemn fact that they were to give all diligence to save themselves, as well as those who heard them. And of this they were well assured, that vital religion could only flourish in their souls — as they abstracted time from study, from visitation, yes from recreation and repose itself — to devote to the exercises of secret confession and prayer, the hours thus economized and stolen.
To our individual selves, let us make a solemn and close application of this important subject. What, brethren, are our habits of prayer? What testimony do our closet and our study bear to our secret transactions with God? What evidence does our pulpit furnish to our near walk with Christ? Are our subjects selected and our sermons prepared, studied, and preached — in the spirit of prayer? Is there no secret, undue dependence upon the intellectual part of our preparation for the pulpit? Is there no resting in the official discharge of our duty — instead of watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication? If the Lord has graciously given to us any measure of success in our work — had our minds been more imbued with the spirit of prayer — would not that success have been far greater? And may we not refer the limited measure of the Holy Spirit's influence which has attended our labors — mainly to our partial and contracted habits of communion with God?
As ministers of Christ, then, and as in the presence of Him before whose bar we shall soon stand — as the praying, or the prayerless; the faithful, or the faithless; the holy, or the unholy; the saved, or the condemned; the happy, or the miserable ambassador of Jesus — let us search our hearts, examine our souls, and review our ministry concerning the single but deeply solemn and vastly important point of prayer.
An enlarged degree of the anointing of the Holy Spirit must be considered as indispensable to a high order of Christian ministry. In this lies concealed the grand secret of ministerial excellence, power, and success. How poor, how paltry, and how powerless — is all human science, scholastic lore, profound intellect, and brilliant eloquence — apart from this. In the one case — it is the power of God that works; in the other — it is the power of man. The one begets a humble, self-distrusting, and self-abasing mind. The other puffs up and engenders a spirit of pride, self-confidence, and vainglory. In the one case, the faith of the Church will stand "in the power of God"; in the other case, it will stand "in the wisdom of men."
Preaching without the anointing of the Spirit — we may be but little aware of our approximation to the sin, and of our fearful exposure to the punishment — of Nadab and Abihu. The "fire" we offer before God may be "false." We may surround ourselves with sparks of our own kindling, and burn incense unto our own dragnet. The splendid performance, the brilliant effort that has awakened the subdued murmur of human applause , and has given wings and distance to our fame — has brought no glory to a Triune God. In the zeal, fervency, and passion which have wrapped the sacrifice in a flame — He has seen, it may be, no inward unction of the Spirit, no fragrance of the anointing oil, no sweet incense ascending from the broken heart — nor the humble, lowly view of self, the elevated and adoring thought of Jesus.
Well is it for us, my brethren, if, when we are kindling upon the altar a false fire — the vengeance of God does not descend and smite us to the earth!
To be holy and efficient ministers — we must be "filled with the Spirit." Thus only can we officiate with acceptance to God and with profit to our people. Without this perpetual anointing, this daily annointing of the Spirit to our work . . .
our souls will become lean;
our spirituality will wither;
our graces will decay;
our study of God's Word will be wearisome;
our views of divine truth will be meager;
our discourses will be barren and unctionless;
our prayers will be cold and lifeless; and
the church committed to our care, will be but as the fleece on which no dew descended.
Oh, let us not be a curse, rather than a blessing, to our people. Let not a blight fall upon their souls — for our sake. We shall be blessings to them, only in proportion as we are blessed with the anointing of the Holy Spirit. And we shall be a hindrance to their soul's progress in holiness, stumbling-blocks in the way of their advance towards Heaven — as our heads lack the Spirit's anointing, and our souls are not constantly thirsting for God.
Let us ever remember how close is the relation of a pastor and his people; that as he is — so, in a great degree, will they be; that he will impart to their souls, the complexion of his piety; that he will impress upon their minds, the spiritual character of his own; that he will share with them, the blessing he himself has received from God. We must be men "full of faith and of the Holy Spirit." It was this that gave to the prophets of old their inspiration, to the apostles their zeal, and to the martyrs their steadfastness.
God is summoning us to a work, in these our days, demanding all the requisites of each. We need the deep, the far-reaching views of truth which marked the prophets . We need the self-consuming zeal and devotedness which distinguished the apostles . We need the martyr spirit which led many of them to the stake. A mere intellectual and learned clergy — is not the ministry that will meet the exigencies of the day — more, vastly more, is required. We need a ministry which is . . .
taught of God,
full of faith,
anointed of the Holy Spirit,
baptized in the spirit of prayer, and
clothed down to the foot with the garment of humility!
Directness of aim in the conversion of sinners , as an essential and important end of preaching — demands particular notice in this sketch of an efficient ministry. Our great work is to bring men to Christ. We are truly wise, only as we are wise to win souls. Our attainments are really valuable, only as they are directed to and as they secure this end. It is Jehovah's purpose; it was the great end of the Redeemer's death; and it is now the grand work of the Holy Spirit — to call His hidden people to salvation. To this, as their end, all the events of providence and grace are tending.
But is it not so that we lose sight of this important end of our ministrations — that it occupies but a subordinate place in our estimate of the results, that we look not for it as the present and immediate crown of our labors? We prepare our sermon with labored diligence — its orthodoxy is sound; its reasoning is logical; its argument is convincing; its sentences are graceful; its imagery is brilliant. We enter the pulpit, across whose awesome threshold an angel bearing our commission would turn pale to pass. We deliver our message — and lo, it falls upon the consciences of our hearers as beautiful, but as cold and powerless as the snowflake upon a marble statue! No emotion of contrition or alarm is awakened; no conviction of sin is produced; no immediate and saving impression is made. And why? Because we never designed it!
The subject of our discourse was not selected; its plan was not arranged; its matter was not studied, prayed over, and delivered with one definite, pointed, holy, and sublime aim — the immediate salvation of souls! We never intended that it should come down like a thunderbolt from the throne of God — arousing the slumbering mass from their deep sleep of death. We never intended that it should grapple with their consciences, expose to view their "refuge of lies," detect their secret sins and rebuke their open sins, and bring them as guilty and self-condemned criminals to the foot of the cross!
Nothing would more have astonished us, than that these should have been the results. No sound would have broken on our ears more startling and unexpected, than one loud, piercing cry, bursting from a thousand riven hearts, "Men and brethren, what shall we do to be saved?" Oh how criminally do we lose sight of this, as an immediate, legitimate, and glorious end of preaching! Let us, then, cease to wonder that, "You are very entertaining to them, like someone who sings love songs with a beautiful voice or plays fine music on an instrument" — yet they believe not our report — and flee not from the wrath to come.
It would, perhaps, seem proper in this place — to notice the importance of a more prominent and simple exhibition of the Lord Jesus Christ, as constituting the grand theme of the Christian ministry and as forming an essential element of its power — were it not more our object in these pages to speak of the spirit , rather than of the subject matter, of our ministrations. And yet we may be permitted to express an opinion, we trust not hastily formed or harshly expressed — that no ministry can be eminent for its unction or distinguished for its power and success — whose one and single aim is not the exalting of Christ.
Christ is the person whom the Father delights to honor. It is the office of the Holy Spirit to testify of Jesus and thus to glorify Him. He, then, who preaches Christ fully — is honored with the approbation of the Father, and secures a large degree of the unction of the Holy Spirit. We would not limit His ministrations to a single topic or narrow his subjects to a single theme. Let the minister traverse the wide circumference of divine truth — but let Christ be its center; let him explore the vast system of revelation — but let Christ be its sun; let him descend into the rich mine of the gospel — but let Christ be its treasure. In all his researches and meditations — let his object be to know more of Christ; and in all his preaching and labors, let his aim be to make known more of Christ.
It only remains that we briefly refer to a few of the more prominent and weighty considerations by which the principles set forth in this work, are commended to the attention of the advancing and the settled ministry.
We remark, first, that a high order of personal holiness and devotedness in the Christian ministry — will wield a powerful influence upon the spirituality of the Christian Church, greatly strengthening and elevating its tone. The relation may, perhaps, be found closer than would at first sight appear. That a solitary instance may occasionally appear of a church in the advance of its pastor in its efforts for the salvation of men and in its sympathies with popular, benevolent institutions — we can readily suppose. A lack of time to examine their principles, investigate their claims, and trace their results, or the existence of a mind susceptible of strong prejudice and slow in yielding to conviction — may influence a minister in withholding his suffrage from some important forms of benevolent action, around which the affections and prayers of his flock conscientiously and closely entwine.
Instances, too, may have existed in which the spirit of true piety in a Christian body, or in individual members of the body — has been more fervent and elevated than that which emanated from the pulpit. But it is not often that, in the vigor and purity of Christian holiness — a church is in the ascendant of the pastor it venerates and loves. His standard of holiness is rarely exceeded by theirs. They may strive to reach it — and may, indeed, closely approximate to it; but the thought of being more holy, of reaching to higher attainments in spirituality of mind, in personal consecration to Christ, than the pastor — is most uncommon. It follows, then, that it is in the power of the Christian ministry — to fix the standard of the Church's spirituality and to bring up the Church to that standard.
But especially within the bosom of the church he serves, does the power of his moral influence receive its most beautiful and impressive illustration. It is here the pastoral office appears invested with such peculiar and solemn responsibilities. God has entrusted to him the work of molding and fitting a people for Heaven. He is, in a degree, responsible for the character they sustain as a holy, spiritual, and devoted flock. The formation of that character, is committed to him. They will be, under God, just what he makes them — yes, just what he himself is. On him their eye will rest, as on a finished portrait; they will study him as a perfect model; they will imitate him as a peerless example; and thus each one will bear a stronger or a fainter resemblance to his moral and spiritual image.
Especially if begotten by him in the gospel — will they receive the instillations of his spirit, imbibe his views, and sit at his feet as their teacher and their pattern. Woe to that pastor whose preaching, whose spirit, and whose example a cold, formal, and worldly flock — may quote in support of their low standard of personal holiness! Blessed is that pastor, the transcript of whose preaching and the complexion of whose elevated spirituality and single devotedness to the Lord — are seen and reflected in the spirit, conversation, and life, of each member of his church!