A Sermon<\/p>\n
DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, MARCH 25, 1855, BY THE <\/i><\/p>\n
REV. C. H. SPURGEON,<\/span> <\/i><\/p>\n AT EXETER HALL, STRAND.<\/p>\n \u2018For, behold, he prayeth.\u2019\u2014Acts 9:11.<\/p>\n GOD has many methods of quenching persecution. He will not suffer his church to be injured by its enemies, or overwhelmed by its foes; and he is not short of means for turning aside the way of the wicked, or of turning it upside down. In two ways he usually accomplishes his end: sometimes by the confusion of the persecutor, and at others in a more blessed manner, by his conversion. Sometimes he confuses and confounds his enemies; he makes the diviner mad; he lets the man who comes against him be utterly destroyed, suffers him to drive on to his own destruction, and then at last turns round in triumphant derision upon the man who hoped to have said aha! aha! to the church of God. But at other times, as in this case, he converts the persecutor. Thus, he transforms the foe into a friend; he makes the man who was a warrior against the gospel, a soldier for it. Out of darkness he bringeth forth light; out of the eater he getteth honey; yea, out of stony hearts he raiseth up children unto Abraham.<\/p>\n Such was the case with Saul. A more furious bigot it is impossible to conceive. He had been bespattered with the blood of Stephen when they stoned him to death; so officious was he in his cruelty, that the men left their clothes in the charge of a young man named Saul. Living at Jerusalem, in the college of Gamaliel, he constantly came in contact with the disciples of the Man of Nazareth; he laughed at them, he reviled them as they passed along the street; he procured enactments against them, and put them to death; and now, as a crowning point, this were-wolf, having tasted blood, becomes exceeding mad, determines to go to Damascus, that he may glut himself with the gore of men and women; that he may bind the Christians, and bring them to Jerusalem, there to suffer what he considered to be a just punishment for their heresy, and departure from their ancient religion. But oh! how marvellous was the power of God! Jesus stays this man in his mad career; just as with his lance in rest he was dashing against Christ, Christ met him, unhorsed him, threw him on the ground, and questioned him, \u2018Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me?\u2019 He then graciously removed his rebellious heart\u2014gave him a new heart and a right spirit\u2014turned his aim and object\u2014led him to Damascus\u2014laid him prostrate for three days and nights\u2014spoke to him\u2014made mystic sounds go murmuring through his ears\u2014set his whole soul on fire; and when at last he started up from that three days\u2019 trance, and began to pray, then it was that Jesus from heaven descended, came in a vision to Ananias, and said, \u2018Arise, and go into the street which is called Straight, and inquire in the house of Judas for one called Saul, of Tarsus: for, behold, he prayeth.\u2019<\/p>\n First, our text was an announcement<\/span>: \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Secondly, it was an argument<\/span>: \u2018For<\/span>, behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Then, to conclude, we will try to make an application<\/span> of our text to your hearts. Though application is the work of God alone, we will trust that he will be pleased to make that application while the word is preached this morning.<\/p>\n I. First, here was an announcement<\/span>: \u2018Go enquire for Saul of Tarsus: for behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Without any preface, let me say that this was the announcement of a fact which was noticed in heaven, which was joyous to the angels, which was astonishing to Ananias, and which was a novelty to Saul himself.<\/p>\n It was the announcement of a fact which was noticed in heaven<\/span>. Poor Saul had been led to cry for mercy, and the moment he began to pray God began to hear. Do you not notice, in reading the chapter, what attention God paid to Saul? He knew the street where he lived: \u2018Go to the street that is called Straight<\/span>.\u2019 He knew the house where he resided: \u2018Enquire at the house of Judas<\/span>.\u2019 He knew his name; it was Saul<\/span>. He knew the place where he came from: \u2018Enquire for Saul of Tarsus<\/span>.\u2019 And he knew that he had prayed. \u2018Behold, he prayeth<\/span>.\u2019 Oh! it is a glorious fact that prayers are noticed in heaven. The poor broken-hearted sinner climbing up to his chamber, bends his knee, but can only utter his wailing in the language of sighs and tears. Lo! that groan has made all the harps of heaven thrill with music; that tear has been caught by God and put into the lachrymatory of heaven, to be perpetually preserved. The suppliant, whose fears prevent his words, will be well understood by the Most High. He may only shed one hasty tear; but \u2018prayer is the falling of a tear\u2019. Tears are the diamonds of heaven; sighs are a part of the music of Jehovah\u2019s throne; for though prayers be<\/p>\n The simplest form of speech<\/p>\n That infant lips can try;<\/p>\n So are they likewise, the<\/p>\n Sublimest strains that reach<\/p>\n The majesty on high.<\/p>\n Let me dilate on this thought a moment. Prayers are noticed in heaven. Oh! I know what is the case with many of you. You think, \u2018If I turn to God, if I seek him, surely I am so inconsiderable a being, so guilty and vile, that it cannot be imagined he would take any notice of me.\u2019 My friends, harbour no such heathenish ideas. Our God is no God who sits in one perpetual dream; nor doth he clothe himself in such thick darkness that he cannot see; he is not like Baal, who heareth not. True, he may not regard battles; he cares not for the pomp and pageantry of kings; he listens not to the swell of martial music; he regards not the triumph and the pride of man; but wherever there is a heart big with sorrow, wherever there is an eye suffused with tears, wherever there is a lip quivering with agony, wherever there is a deep groan, or a penitential sigh, the ear of Jehovah is wide open; he marks it down in the registry of his memory; he puts our prayers, like rose leaves, between the pages of his book of remembrance, and when the volume is opened at last, there shall be a precious fragrance springing up therefrom. Oh! poor sinner, of the blackest and vilest character, thy prayers are heard, and even now God hath said of thee, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Where was it\u2014in a barn? Where was it\u2014in the closet? Was it at thy bedside this morning, or in this hall? Art thou now glancing thine eye to heaven? Speak, poor heart. Did I hear thy lips just now mutter out \u2018God have mercy upon me, a sinner?\u2019 I tell thee, sinner, there is one thing which doth outstrip the telegraph. You know we can now send a message and receive an answer in a few moments; but I read of something in the Bible more swift than the electric fluid. \u2018Before they call I will answer, and while they are speaking I will hear.\u2019 So then, poor sinner, thou art noticed; yea, thou art heard by him that sitteth on the throne.<\/p>\n Again; this was the announcement of a fact joyous to heaven<\/span>. Our text is prefaced with \u2018Behold\u2019, for, doubtless, our Saviour himself regarded it with joy. Once only do we read of a smile resting on the countenance of Jesus, when lifting up his eye to heaven, he exclaimed, \u2018I thank thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes: even so, Father; for so it seemed good in thy sight.\u2019 The Shepherd of our souls rejoices in the vision of his sheep securely folded, he triumphs in spirit when he brings a wanderer home. I conceive that when he spoke these words to Ananias, one of the smiles of paradise must have shone from his eyes. \u2018Behold\u2019, I have won the heart of my enemy; I have saved my persecutor; even now he is bending the knee at my footstool; \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Jesus himself led the song, rejoicing over the new convert with singing. Jesus Christ was glad, and rejoiced more over that lost sheep than over ninety and nine that went not astray. And angels rejoiced too. Why, when one of God\u2019s elect is born, angels stand around his cradle. He grows up, and runs into sin, angels follow him, tracking him all his way; they gaze with sorrow upon his many wanderings; the fair Peri drops a tear whene\u2019er that loved one sins. Presently the man is brought under the sound of the gospel. The angel says, \u2018Behold, he begins to hear.\u2019 He waits a little while, the word sinks into his heart, a tear runs down his cheek, and at last he cries from his inmost soul, \u2018God have mercy upon me!\u2019 See! the angel claps his wings, up he flies to heaven, and says, \u2018Brethren angels, list to me: \u201cBehold, he prayeth.\u201d\u2019 Then they set heaven\u2019s bells ringing; they have a jubilee in glory; again they shout with gladsome voices, for verily I tell you, \u2018there is joy in heaven among the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth\u2019. They watch us till we pray, and when we pray, they say, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019<\/p>\n Moreover, my dear friends, there may be other spirits in heaven that rejoice, besides the angels. Those persons are our friends who have gone before us. I have not many relations in heaven, but I have one whom I dearly love, who, I doubt not, often prayed for me. For she nursed me when I was a child and brought me up during part of my infancy, and now she sits before the throne in glory\u2014suddenly snatched away. I fancy she looked upon her darling grandson, and as she saw him in the ways of sin, of vice, and folly; she could not look with sorrow, for there are no tears in the eyes of glorified ones; she could not look with regret, because they cannot know such a feeling before the throne of God; but ah! that moment when by sovereign grace, I was constrained to pray, when all alone I bent my knee and wrestled, methinks I see her as she said, \u2018Behold, he prayeth; behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Oh! I can picture her countenance. She seemed to have two heavens for a moment, a double bliss, a heaven in me as well as in herself\u2014when she could say, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Ah! young man, there is your mother walking the golden streets. She is looking down upon you this hour. She nursed you, on her breast you lay when but a child, and she consecrated you to Jesus Christ. From heaven, she has been watching you with that intense anxiety which is compatible with happiness; this morning she is looking upon you. What sayest thou, young man? Does Christ by his Spirit say in thine heart, \u2018Come unto me?\u2019 Dost thou drop the tear of repentance? Methinks I see thy mother as she cries, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Once more she bends before the throne of God and says, \u2018I thank thee, O thou ever-gracious one, that he who was my child on earth, has now become thy<\/span> child in light.\u2019<\/p>\n But, if there is one in heaven who has more joy than another over the conversion of a sinner, it is a minister, one of God\u2019s true ministers. O, my hearers, ye little think how God\u2019s true ministers do love your souls. Perhaps ye think it is easy work to stand here and preach to you. God knows, if that were all, it were easy work; but when we think that when we speak to you, your salvation or damnation, in some measure, depends upon what we say\u2014when we reflect that if we are unfaithful watchmen, your blood will God require at our hands\u2014oh, good God, when I reflect that I have preached to thousands in my lifetime, many thousands, and have perhaps said many things I ought not to have said, it startles me, it makes me shake and tremble. Luther said he could face his enemies, but could not go up his pulpit stairs without his knees knocking together. Preaching is not child\u2019s play; it is not a thing to be done without labour and anxiety; it is solemn work; it is awful work, if you view it in its relation to eternity. Ah! how God\u2019s minister prays for you! If you might have listened under the eaves of his chamber window, you would have heard him groaning every Sunday night over his sermons because he had not spoken with more effect, you would have heard him pleading with God, \u2018Who hath believed our report? To whom is the arm of the Lord revealed?\u2019 Ah, when he observes you from his rest in heaven\u2014when he sees you praying, how will he clap his hands and say, \u2018Behold the child thou hast given me! behold, he prays.\u2019 I am sure when we see one brought to know the Lord, we feel very much like one who has saved a fellow creature from being drowned. There is a poor man in the flood; he is going down, he is sinking, he must be drowned; but I spring in, grasp him firmly, lift him on the shore, and lay him on the ground; the physician comes; he looks at him, he puts his hand upon him, and says, \u2018I am afraid he is dead.\u2019 We apply all the means in our power, we do what we can to restore life. I feel that I have been that man\u2019s deliverer, and oh, how I stoop down and put my ear beside his mouth! at last I say, \u2018He breathes! he breathes!\u2019 What pleasure there is in that thought! He breathes; there is life still. So when we find a man praying, we shout\u2014he breathes; he is not dead; he is alive; for while a man prays he is not dead in trespasses and sins, but is brought to life, is quickened by the power of the Spirit. \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 This was joyful news in heaven, as well as being noticed by God.<\/p>\n Then in the next place, this was an event most astonishing to men<\/span>. Ananias lifted up both his hands in amazement. \u2018O my Lord, I should have thought anybody would pray but that man! Is it possible?\u2019 I do not know how it is with other ministers, but sometimes I look upon such-and-such individuals in the congregation, and I say, \u2018Well, they are very hopeful; I think I shall have them. I trust there is a work going on, and hope soon to hear them tell what the Lord has done for their souls.\u2019 Soon, perhaps, I see nothing of them, and miss them altogether; but instead thereof, my good Master sends me one of whom I had no hope\u2014an outcast, a drunkard, a reprobate, to the praise of the glory of his grace. Then I lift up my hands in astonishment, thinking, \u2018I should have thought of anybody rather than you.\u2019 I remember a circumstance which occurred a little while ago. There was a poor man about sixty years old; he had been a rough sailor, one of the worst men in the village; it was his custom to drink, and he seemed to be delighted when he was cursing and swearing. He came into the chapel, however, one Sabbath day, when one nearly related to me was preaching from the text concerning Jesus weeping over Jerusalem. And the poor man thought, \u2018What! did Jesus Christ ever weep over such a wretch as I am?\u2019 He thought he was too bad for Christ to care for him. At last he came to the minister, and said, \u2018Sir, sixty years have I been sailing under the colours of the devil; it is time I should have a new owner; I want to scuttle the old ship and sink her altogether; then I shall have a new one, and I shall sail under the colours of Prince Immanuel.\u2019 Ever since that moment that man has been a praying character, walking before God in all sincerity. Yet he was the very last man you would have thought of. Somehow God does choose the last men; he does not care for the diamond, but he picks up the pebble stones, for he is able, out of \u2018stones, to raise up children unto Abraham\u2019. God is more wise than the chemist: he not only refines gold, but he transmutes base metal into precious jewels; he takes the filthiest and the vilest, and fashions them into glorious beings, makes them saints, whereas they have been sinners, and sanctifies them, whereas they have been unholy.<\/p>\n The conversion of Saul was a strange thing; but, beloved, was it stranger than that you and I should have been Christians? Let me ask you if anybody had told you, a few years ago, that you would belong to a church and be numbered with the children of God, what would you have said? \u2018Stuff and nonsense! I am not one of your canting methodists; I am not going to have any religion; I love to think and do as I like.\u2019 Did not you and I say so? and how on earth did we get here? When we look at the change that has passed over us, it appears like a dream. God has left many in our families who were better than we were, and why has he chosen us? Oh! is it not strange? Might we not lift up our hands in astonishment, as Ananias did, and say, \u2018Behold, behold, behold; it is a miracle on earth, a wonder in heaven\u2019?<\/p>\n The last thing I have to say here, is this\u2014this fact was a novelty to Saul himself<\/span>. \u2018Behold he prayeth.\u2019 What is there novel in that? Saul used to go up to the temple twice a day, at the hour of prayer. If you could have accompanied him, you would have heard him speak beautifully, in words like these: \u2018Lord, I thank thee I am not as other men are; I am not an extortioner, nor a publican; I fast twice in the week, and give tithes of all I possess\u2019; and so on. Oh! you might have found him pouring out a fine oration before the throne of God. And yet it saith, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 What! had he never prayed before? No, never. All he had ever done before went for nothing; it was not prayer. I have heard of an old gentleman, who was taught, when a child, to pray, \u2018Pray God bless my father and mother\u2019, and he kept on praying the same thing for seventy years, when his parents were both dead. After that it pleased God, in his infinite mercy, to touch his heart, and he was led to see that, notwithstanding his constancy to his forms, he had not been praying at all; he often said his prayers, but never prayed. So it was with Saul. He had pronounced his magniloquent orations, but they were all good for nothing. He had prayed his long prayers for a pretence; it had all been a failure. Now comes a true petition, and it is said, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Do you see that man trying to obtain a hearing from his Maker? How he stands! He speaks Latin and blank verse before the Almighty\u2019s throne; but God sits in calm indifference paying no attention. Then the man tries a different style; procures a book, and bending his knee again, prays in a delightful form the best old prayer that could ever be put together; but the Most High disregards his empty formalities. At last the poor creature throws the book away, forgets his blank verse, and says, \u2018O Lord, hear, for Christ\u2019s sake.\u2019 \u2018Hear him,\u2019 says God, \u2018I have heard him.\u2019 There is the mercy thou hast sought. One hearty prayer is better than ten thousand forms. One prayer coming from the soul is better than a myriad cold readings. As for prayers that spring from the mouth and head only, God abhors them; he loves those that come deep from the heart. Perhaps I should be impudent if I were to say that there are hundreds here this morning who never prayed once in their lives. There are some of you who never did. There is one young man over there, who told his parents when he left them, that he should always go through his form of prayer every morning and night. But he is ashamed, and he has left it off. Well, young man, what will you do when you come to die? Will you have \u2018the watchword at the gates of death\u2019? Will you \u2018enter heaven by prayer\u2019? No, you will not; you will be driven from God\u2019s presence, and be cast away.<\/p>\n II. Secondly, we have here an argument<\/span>. \u2018For<\/span>, behold he prayeth.\u2019 It was an argument, first of all, for Ananias\u2019 safety<\/span>. Poor Ananias was afraid to go to Saul; he thought it was very much like stepping into a lion\u2019s den. \u2018If I go to his house,\u2019 he thought, \u2018the moment he sees me, he will take me to Jerusalem at once, for I am one of Christ\u2019s disciples, I dare not go.\u2019 God says, \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 \u2018Well,\u2019 says Ananias, \u2018that is enough for me. If he is a praying man, he will not hurt me; if he is a man of real devotion, I am safe.\u2019 Be sure you may always trust a praying man. I do not know how it is, but even ungodly men always pay a reverence to a sincere Christian. A master likes to have a praying servant after all; if he does not regard religion himself, he likes to have a pious servant, and he will trust him rather than any other. True, there are some of your professedly praying people that have not a bit of prayer in them. But whenever you find a really praying man, trust him with untold gold; for if he really prays, you need not be afraid of him. He who communes with God in secret, may be trusted in public. I always feel safe with a man who is a visitor to the mercy-seat. I have heard an anecdote of two gentlemen travelling together, somewhere in Switzerland. Presently they came into the midst of the forests; and you know the gloomy tales the people tell about the inns there, how dangerous it is to lodge in them. One of them, an infidel, said to the other, who was a Christian, \u2018I don\u2019t like stopping here at all, it is very dangerous indeed.\u2019 \u2018Well,\u2019 said the other, \u2018let us try.\u2019 So they went into a house, but it looked so suspicious that neither of them liked it; and they thought they would prefer being at home in England. Presently the landlord said, \u2018Gentlemen, I always read and pray with my family before going to bed; will you allow me to do so to-night?\u2019 \u2018Yes,\u2019 they said, \u2018with the greatest pleasure.\u2019 When they went up stairs, the infidel said, \u2018I am not at all afraid now.\u2019 \u2018Why?\u2019 said the Christian. \u2018Because our host has prayed.\u2019 \u2018Oh!\u2019 said the other, \u2018then it seems, after all, you think something of religion; because a man prays, you can go to sleep in his house.\u2019 And it was marvellous how both of them did sleep. Sweet dreams they had, for they felt that where the house had been roofed by prayer, and walled with devotion, there could not be found a man living that would commit an injury to them. This, then, was an argument to Ananias, that he might go with safety to Saul\u2019s house.<\/p>\n But more than this. Here was an argument for Paul\u2019s sincerity<\/span>. Secret prayer is one of the best tests of sincere religion. If Jesus had said to Ananias, \u2018Behold, he preacheth\u2019, Ananias would have said, \u2018That<\/span> he may do, and yet be a deceiver.\u2019 If he had said, \u2018He is gone to a meeting of the church\u2019, Ananias would have said, \u2018He may enter there as a wolf in sheep\u2019s clothing.\u2019 But when he said, \u2018Behold, he prayeth\u2019, that was argument enough. A young person comes and tells me about what he has felt and what he has been doing. At last I say, \u2018Kneel down and pray.\u2019 \u2018I would much rather not.\u2019 \u2018Never mind, you shall.\u2019 Down he falls on his knees, he has hardly a word to say; he begins groaning and crying, and there he stays on his knees till at last he stammers out, \u2018Lord have mercy upon me a sinner; I am the greatest of sinners; have mercy upon me!\u2019 Then I am a little more satisfied, and I say, \u2018I did not mind all your talk, I wanted your prayers.\u2019 But oh! if I could trace him home; if I could see him go and pray alone, then I should feel sure; for he who prays in private is a real Christian. The mere reading of a book of daily devotion will not prove you a child of God; if you pray in private, then you have a sincere religion; a little religion, if sincere, is better than mountains of pretence. Home piety is the best piety. Praying will make you leave off sinning, or sinning will make you leave off praying. Prayer in the heart proves the reality of conversion. A man may be sincere, but sincerely wrong. Paul was sincerely right. \u2018Behold, he prayeth\u2019, was the best argument that his religion was right. If any one should ask me for an epitome of the Christian religion, I should say it is in that one word\u2014\u2018prayer\u2019. If I should be asked, \u2018What will take in the whole of Christian experience?\u2019 I should answer, \u2018prayer\u2019. A man must have been convinced of sin before he could pray; he must have had some hope that there was mercy for him before he could pray. In fact, all the Christian virtues are locked up in that word, prayer<\/span>. Do but tell me you are a man of prayer, and I will reply at once, \u2018Sir, I have no doubt of the reality, as well as the sincerity, of your religion.\u2019<\/p>\n But one more thought, and I will leave this subject. It was a proof of this man\u2019s election<\/span>, for you read directly afterwards, \u2018Behold, he is a chosen vessel.\u2019 I often find people troubling themselves about the doctrine of election. Every now and then I get a letter from somebody or other taking me to task for preaching election. All the answer I can give is, \u2018There it is in the Bible; go and ask my Master why he put it there. I cannot help it. I am only a serving man, and I tell you the message from above. If I were a footman I should not alter my Master\u2019s message at the door. I happen to be an ambassador of heaven, and I dare not alter the message I have received. If it is wrong, send up to head-quarters. There it is, and I cannot alter it.\u2019 This much let me say in explanation. Some say, \u2018How can I discover whether I am God\u2019s elect? I am afraid I am not God\u2019s elect.\u2019 Do you pray? If it can be said, \u2018Behold, he prayeth\u2019, it can also be said, \u2018Behold he is a chosen vessel.\u2019 Have you faith? If so, you are elect. Those are the marks of election. If you have none of these you have no grounds for concluding that you belong to the peculiar people of God. Have you a desire to believe? Have you a wish to love Christ? Have you the millionth part of a desire to come to Christ? And is it a practical desire? Does it lead you to offer earnest, tearful supplication? If so, never be afraid of non-election; for whoever prays with sincerity, was ordained of God before the foundation of the world, that he should be holy and without blame before Christ in love.<\/p>\n III. Now for the application<\/span>. A word or two with you, my dear friends, before I send you away this morning. I regret that I cannot better enter into the subject; but my glorious Master requires of each of us according to what we have, not according to what we have not. I am deeply conscious that I fail in urging home the truth so solemnly as I ought; nevertheless, \u2018my work is with God and my judgment with my God\u2019, and the last day shall reveal that my error lay in judgment, but not in sincere affection for souls.<\/p>\n First, allow me to address the children of God. Do you not see, my dear brethren, that the best mark of our being sons of God is to be found in our devotion? \u2018Behold, he prayeth.\u2019 Well then, does it not follow, as a natural consequence that the more we are found in prayer the brighter will our evidences be? Perhaps you have lost your evidence this morning; you do not know whether you are a child of God or not; I will tell you where you lost your confidence\u2014you lost it in your closet. Whenever a Christian backslides, his wandering commences in his closet. I speak what I have felt. I have often gone back from God\u2014never so as to fall finally, I know, but I have often lost that sweet savour of his love which I once enjoyed. I have had to cry,<\/p>\n Those peaceful hours I once enjoyed,<\/p>\n How sweet their memory still!<\/p>\n But they have left an aching void<\/p>\n The world can never fill.<\/p>\n I have gone up to God\u2019s house to preach, without either fire or energy; I have read the Bible, and there has been no light upon it, I have tried to have communion with God, but all has been a failure. Shall I tell where that commenced? It commenced in my closet. I had ceased, in a measure, to pray. Here I stand, and do confess my faults; I do acknowledge that whene\u2019er I depart from God it is there it doth begin. Oh Christians, would you be happy? Be much in prayer. Would ye be victorious? Be much in prayer.<\/p>\n Restraining prayer, we cease to fight;<\/p>\n Prayer makes the Christian\u2019s armour bright.<\/p>\n Mrs Berry used to say, \u2018I would not be hired out of my closet for a thousand worlds.\u2019 Mr Jay said, \u2018If the twelve apostles were living near you, and you had access to them, if this intercourse drew you from the closet, they would prove a real injury to your souls.\u2019 Prayer is the ship which bringeth home the richest freight. It is the soil which yields the most abundant harvest. Brother, when you rise in the morning your business so presses, that with a hurried word or two, down you go into the world, and at night, jaded and tired, you give God the fag-end of the day. The consequence is, that you have no communion with him. The reason we have not more true religion now, is because we have not more prayer. Sirs, I have no opinion of the churches of the present day that do not pray. I go from chapel to chapel in this metropolis, and I see pretty good congregations; but I go to their prayer meetings on a week evening, and I see a dozen persons. Can God bless us? Can he pour out his Spirit upon us, while such things as these exist? He could, but it would not be according to the order of his dispensation, for he says, \u2018When Zion travails she brings forth children.\u2019 Go to your churches and chapels with this thought, that you want more prayer. Many of you have no business here this morning. You ought to be in your own places of worship. I do not want to steal away the people from other chapels; there are enough to hear me without them. But though you have sinned this morning, hear while you are here, as much to your profit as possible. Go home and say to your minister, \u2018Sir, we must have more prayer.\u2019 Urge the people to more prayer. Have a prayer meeting, even if you have it all to yourself; and if you are asked how many were present, you can say, \u2018Four.\u2019 \u2018Four! how so?\u2019 \u2018Why, there was myself, and God the Father, God the Son, and God the Holy Ghost; and we have had a rich and real communion together.\u2019 We must have an outpouring of real devotion, or else what is to become of many of our churches. Oh! may God awaken us all, and stir us up to pray, for when we pray we shall be victorious. I should like to take you, this morning, as Samson did the foxes, tie the firebrands of prayer to you, and send you in among the shocks of corn till you burn the whole up. I should like to make a conflagration by my words, and to set all the churches on fire till the whole has smoked like a sacrifice to God\u2019s throne. If you pray, you have a proof that you are a Christian; the less you pray, the less reason have you to believe your Christianity; and if you have neglected to pray altogether, then you have ceased to breathe, and you may be afraid that you never did breathe at all.<\/p>\n And now, my last word is to the ungodly. Oh, sirs! I could fain wish myself anywhere but here; for if it be solemn work to address the godly, how much more when I come to deal with you. We fear lest on the one hand we should so speak to you, as to make you trust in your own strength; while on the other hand, we tremble lest we should lull you into the sleep of sloth and security. I believe most of us feel some difficulty as to the most fit manner to preach to you\u2014not that we doubt but that the gospel is to be preached\u2014but our desire is so to do it, that we may win your souls. I feel like a watchman, who, while guarding a city, is oppressed with sleep; how earnestly does he strive to arouse himself, while infirmity would overcome him. The remembrance of his responsibility bestirs him. His is no lack of will<\/span>, but of power; and so I hope all the watchmen of the Lord are anxious to be faithful, while at the same time they know their imperfection. Truly the minister of Christ will feel like the old keeper of Eddystone lighthouse; life was failing fast, but summoning all his strength, he crept round once more to trim the lights before he died. O may the Holy Spirit enable us to keep the beacon fire blazing, to warn you of the rocks, shoals, and quicksands, which surround you, and may we ever guide you to Jesus, and not to free-will or creature merit. If my friends knew how anxiously I have sought divine direction in the important matter of preaching to sinners, they would not feel as some of them do, when they fancy I address them wrongly. I want to do as God bids me, and if he tells me to speak to the dry bones and they shall live, I must do it, even if it does not please others; otherwise I should be condemned in my own conscience, and condemned of God. Now with all the solemnity that man can summon, let me say that a prayerless soul is a Christless soul. As the Lord liveth, you who never prayed are without God, without hope, and strangers from the commonwealth of Israel. You who never know what a groan is, or a falling tear, are destitute of vital godliness. Let me ask you, sirs, whether you have ever thought in what an awful state you are? You are far from God, and therefore God is angry with you; for \u2018God is angry with the wicked every day\u2019. Oh sinner! lift thine eyes, and behold the frowning countenance of God, for he is angry with you. And I beseech you, as you love yourselves, just for one moment contemplate what will become of you, if living as you are ye should at last die without prayer. Don\u2019t think that one prayer on your deathbed will save you. Deathbed prayer is a deathbed farce generally, and passes for nothing; it is a coin that will not ring in heaven, but is stamped by hypocrisy, and made of base metal. Take heed, sirs. Let me ask you, if you have never prayed, what will you do? It were a good thing for you, if death were an eternal sleep; but it is not. If you find yourself in hell, oh, the racks and pains! But I will not harrow up your feelings by attempting to describe them. May God grant you never may feel the torments of the lost. Only conceive that poor wretch in the flames who is saying, \u2018Oh for one drop of water, to cool my parched tongue!\u2019 See how his tongue hangs from between his blistered lips! how it excoriates and burns the roof of his mouth, as if it were a firebrand. Behold him crying for a drop of water. I will not picture the scene. Suffice it for me to close up by saying, that the hell of hells will be to thee poor sinner, the thought, that it is to be for ever<\/span>. Thou wilt look up there on the throne of God, and it shall be written \u2018for ever\u2019! When the damned jingle the burning irons of their torments, they shall say \u2018for ever\u2019! When they howl, echo cries \u2018for ever\u2019!<\/p>\n \u2018For ever\u2019s written on their racks,<\/p>\n \u2018For ever\u2019 on their chains;<\/p>\n \u2018For ever\u2019 burneth in the fire,<\/p>\n \u2018For ever\u2019 ever reigns.<\/p>\n Doleful thought! \u2018If I could but get out, then I should be happy. If there were a hope of deliverance, then I might be peaceful; but I am here for ever!\u2019 Sirs, if ye would escape eternal torments, if ye would be found amongst the numbers of the blessed, the road to heaven can only be found by prayer\u2014by prayer to Jesus, by prayer for the Spirit, by supplication at his mercy-seat. \u2018Turn ye, turn ye, why will ye die, O house of Israel. As I live saith the Lord, I have no pleasure in the death of him that dieth, but had rather that he should turn unto me and live.\u2019 \u2018The Lord is gracious and full of compassion.\u2019 Let us go unto him and say, \u2018He shall heal our backslidings, he shall love us freely and forgive us graciously, for his Son\u2019s name\u2019s sake.\u2019 Oh! if I may but win one soul to-day, I will go home contented. If I may but gain twenty, then I will rejoice. The more I have, the more crowns I shall wear. Wear! No, I will take them all at once, and cast them at Jesus\u2019 feet, and say, \u2018Not unto me, but unto thy name be all the glory, for ever.\u2019<\/p>\n Prayer was appointed to convey<\/p>\n The blessings God designs to give;<\/p>\n Long as they live, should Christians pray,<\/p>\n For only while they pray they live.<\/p>\n And wilt thou still in silence lie,<\/p>\n When Christ stands waiting for thy prayers?<\/p>\n My soul, thou hast a Friend on high,<\/p>\n Arise, and try thine interest there.<\/p>\n \u2019Tis prayer supports the soul that\u2019s weak,<\/p>\n Though thought be broken, language lame;<\/p>\n Pray, if thou canst, or canst not speak,<\/p>\n And pray with faith in Jesu\u2019s name.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n <\/p>\n Thumbnail Photo by Joacim Bohlander<\/a> on Unsplash<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A Sermon DELIVERED ON SABBATH MORNING, MARCH 25, 1855, BY THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, AT EXETER HALL, STRAND. \u2018For, behold, he prayeth.\u2019\u2014Acts 9:11. GOD has many methods of quenching persecution. He will not suffer his church to be injured by its enemies, or overwhelmed by its foes; and he is not short of means […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":11,"featured_media":98852,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20070],"tags":[20097],"resource-author":[20073],"topic":[],"class_list":["post-98850","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-sermons","tag-spurgeon-sermons","resource-author-charles-spurgeon"],"yoast_head":"\n