1. _A heart perfect in its loyalty to G.o.d_, thoroughly given over to G.o.d"s side, irrespective of consequences,--_loyal_. These are the hearts that G.o.d wants. This was the difference between David and Saul. There was not so much difference in the greater part of Saul"s outward life, when compared with the life of David. It was only the prophet Samuel, perhaps, who knew the difference, and a few close observers; but the difference was, that David was loyal to G.o.d, and G.o.d calls him, for this reason, a man after His own heart.
From the first calling of David from the sheepfolds, right to the end, with one or two exceptions, during the whole of his life, he was loyal to G.o.d, and, if you will carefully search his history, you will find that in all his wars, and all his dealings with the nations round about, and with the leaders of affairs in his own kingdom--in everything,
David was loyal to G.o.d. It was the interests of G.o.d"s kingdom that lay at David"s heart--not his own honor, ease, or aggrandizement--not his own fame or riches, or building himself a house--it was the house of his G.o.d that was dear to his heart. He was loyal; whereas Saul was loyal only as far as it served his own purposes and interests. Oh!
how many such Sauls there are in these days. When G.o.d"s commandments went counter with his notions, he openly set G.o.d at naught, and did as he liked. He sacrificed G.o.d"s interests to his own. He was unloyal at heart, hence he was a traitor, and never could learn the way of the Lord. He was never perfect towards the Lord his G.o.d, and, at last, G.o.d cast him off, and Samuel did also, and you know what his end was. Just the difference between the two--loyal and unloyal.
A heart perfect towards G.o.d! What does it mean? It means--
2. Perfect in its _obedience_. That man or woman who has this kind of a heart, ceases to pick and choose amongst the commandments of G.o.d, which he shall obey, and which he shall not--he ceases to have his own will, though sometimes he may have a struggle with his own will, and the way that G.o.d may call him to take may look to him as if it were a dangerous or risky way, and he may wait a little bit, to be thoroughly satisfied; but when once satisfied that it is G.o.d"s way, the true child will not hesitate. He confers not with flesh and blood, but on he goes, irrespective of consequences. This was Paul"s kind of obedience. He conferred not with flesh and blood; he counted all things dung and dross, and he went on doing so to the end--thorough in his obedience.
People come to us and want to know what they are to do; they feel that they are only half-hearted in G.o.d"s service; they have neither joy nor power, and say, "What must I do?" and we take, as G.o.d helps us, the dissecting knife, and try to find out the difficulty. We get them down under the blaze of the Holy Spirit"s light, and try to probe them and find where they are wrong. Perhaps the Lord leads us to the sore spot, and we point out the difficulty, but, instead of obeying, they shrink away. They look ahead, and they see that to obey the light will involve loss of some kind--perhaps reputation, wealth, family a.s.sociations, ease, or loss of friends, loss of temporal comforts, loss of good business. Loss is in the background, and they see it. They know where we are leading them to, and they slip back; they do not want to see, and yet they do not want to consider themselves dishonest, so they turn their heads away, and will not look in the direction of the light, smoothing it all over and singing--
"Were the whole realm of nature mine, That were an off"ring far too small," &c.
That is not a perfect heart, but a partial heart towards the Lord G.o.d.
The partial heart, so common, alas, now-a-days, wants to serve G.o.d a little. It is willing to go a little way with G.o.d, but not all the way; so that, taking the lowest interpretation, that is not a perfect heart towards the Lord. Can it be expected that the Lord should shew Himself strong in behalf of such people? Do you think you would if you were G.o.d?
Suppose you were a king, and had a prince or statesman who was serving you very valiantly and devotedly while it served himself; but, suppose the tables were turned, and you were dethroned and cast away into exile, your name being bandied about the nation where you once reigned as king, in disgrace and dishonor; suppose this statesman gave you up, and said, "Oh! I am going to be on the side of the reigning monarch. I was very devoted to this man while he reigned, but I cannot afford to be devoted to him now his interests draggle in the dust; I must be on the winning side." What would you think of such a man? And if you were restored to your kingdom and power, would you show yourself strong on behalf of such a man? No; you would remember, as David did, the man who cursed you. But if you had a prince or statesman who followed you into exile, who ministered to you in secret, who tried to hold up your interests, who contended for your righteousness and justice, and held up your name and tried to make the people see that you were a good and true man, who held on to you, when all the nation was calling you traitor--if you came back to your throne, would you not show yourself strong in behalf of that man? Of course you would. The Lord says He will show Himself strong in behalf of those of such a heart towards Him.
You masters here have a servant--a clever, smart man; you know how well he can serve you, and how valuable he can be, and would be if he were true; but you have reason to believe that he will only go with you as far as it will be for his own interests; he will serve you as far as he can serve himself, too, but, if he can get up by putting you down, you may lie there. What would you say to such a man? You would say, "I shall never show myself strong for him." So G.o.d is not likely to show Himself strong for people who are not of a perfect heart. A lady said to me, "I have been doing this and doing that for years, but I have no power; why don"t I have it?" I said, "Because you are not true to G.o.d. He will give it to anybody who is true to Him, and He can see into your heart, and knows you are not." Why will He not show Himself strong in your behalf? _Because you do not show yourself thorough in His behalf._ The moment you show yourself thorough, that moment will He show Himself strong for you. If you had been in Daniel"s place you would not have done as he did. Daniel was one of the perfect-hearted men; he served his G.o.d when he was in prosperity. He set his window open every day. Then his enemies persuaded the king to make a decree that no man should pray but to this king for so many days. "Now," they said, "we shall have him."
But Daniel just did as he was wont, he went and prayed with his window open. You say, "That was demonstrative religion, that was courting opposition. What need was there for him to make this display; could he not have shut the window and gone into an inner room? That was just like you Salvation-Army people, you always make a demonstration. Why could he not have gone into an inner chamber and prayed?" Because he would be thorough for his G.o.d in adversity, in the face of his enemies, as he was in prosperity. So he went and prayed with open window to the G.o.d of Heaven, and because _He is_ the G.o.d of Heaven, He is able to take care of His own. His heart was perfect towards the Lord his G.o.d.
3. _This perfect heart is perfect in its trust_:--and, perhaps, that ought to have come first, for it is the very root of all.
Oh, how beautiful Abraham was in the eyes of G.o.d; how G.o.d gloried over him. How do I know that Abraham had a perfect heart towards G.o.d?
Because he trusted Him. No other proof--no less proof--would have been of any use. I dare say he was compa.s.sed with infirmities, had many erroneous views, manward and earthward, but his heart was perfect towards G.o.d. Do you think G.o.d would have failed in His promise to Abraham? Abraham trusted Him almost to the blood of Isaac, and G.o.d showed Himself strong in his behalf, and delivered him, and made him the father of the faithful; crowned him with everlasting honor, so that his name, from generation to generation, has been a pillar of strength to the Lord"s people, and a crown of glory to his G.o.d.
CHAPTER IX.
HOW TO WORK FOR G.o.d WITH SUCCESS.
Son, go work to-day in my vineyard.--MATT. xxi. 28.
Compel them to come in, that my house may be filled.--LUKE xiv. 23.
I am to speak of some needful qualifications for successful labor; and I say:--
First, that there are certain laws which govern success in the kingdom of grace as well as in the kingdom of nature, and you must study these laws, and adapt yourself to them. It would be in vain for the husbandman to scatter his seed over the unbroken ground or on pre-occupied soil. You must plough and harrow and put your seed in carefully, and in proper proportion, and at the right time, and then you must water and weed and wait for the harvest. And just so in Divine things. Oh! we shall find out, by-and-by, that the laws of the spiritual kingdom are quite as certain and unerring in their operation as the laws of the natural kingdom, and, perhaps, a great deal more so; but, through the blindness and obtuseness and unbelief of our hearts, we could not, or would not find them out. People get up and fl.u.s.ter about, and expect to be able to work for G.o.d without any thought or care or trouble. For the learning of earthly professions they will give years of labor and thought, but in work for G.o.d they do not seem to think it worth while to take the trouble to think and ponder, to plan and experiment, to try means, to pray and wrestle with G.o.d for wisdom. Oh! no: they will not be at the _trouble_. Then they fail, grow discouraged, and give up.
Now, my friends, this is not the way to begin work for G.o.d. Begin as soon as you like--begin at once--but begin in the right way. Begin by praying much for Him to show you how, and to equip you for the work, and begin in a humble, submissive, teachable spirit.
Study the New Testament with special reference to this, and you will be surprised how every page of it will give you increased light. You will see that G.o.d holds you absolutely responsible for every iota of capacity and influence He has given you, that He expects you to improve every moment of your time, every faculty of your being, every particle of your influence, and every penny of your money _for Him_.
When you once get _this_ light, it will be a marvelous guide in all the other particulars and ramifications of your life. Study your plans. How men in earthly warfare study plans of stratagem, and adopt all manner of measures in order that they may take the enemy by surprise! But, alas!
how little care and attention G.o.d"s people give to taking souls; and yet it is _far harder work to take souls than it is to take cities_.
How surprised I have often been at the a.s.sumption of people who, perhaps, never gave one hour"s consecutive thought in their lives to the best means of doing certain work, and yet they will p.r.o.nounce an opinion right off as to certain modes and measures which have been tried and proved successful in the lives of some of the most successful laborers for G.o.d. They will say, "Oh! I don"t believe in it." "Oh! it is all nonsense, ridiculous, wrong!" while, perhaps, those people whom they condemn have been pleading, and weeping, and studying, and experimenting, and almost sacrificing their heart"s blood to try to find out the best means of winning souls for Christ.
I shall never forget the shock that came over me once in a large gathering of Christian people, when a gentleman, who occupied a somewhat prominent position, was giving out a hymn which contained a verse something about spending one hour in watching with Jesus. He stopped in the middle of this hymn, and said words to this effect: "I am afraid we are verily guilty here. I do not know that I dare say I ever watched one consecutive hour with Jesus in my life." I shall never forget it. My cheeks burned with shame. I said, "Oh! my G.o.d, if these are the leaders, we need not wonder at the people." A man occupying such a position to dare to say it! The Lord have mercy on him. No wonder the Lord"s work is done in such a bungling way! I say those who want to be successful in winning souls require to watch not only days but nights. They want much of the Holy Ghost, for it is true still, "This kind can come forth by nothing, but by prayer and fasting." We have grown wiser than our Lord now-a-days; but, I tell you, it is the same old-fashioned way, and if you want to pour out living waters upon souls, either publicly or privately, you will have to drink largely at the fountain yourself, and have them very ready to let out! If you have not, your talk will be as sounding bra.s.s or tinkling cymbal. Oh! it makes my soul weep tears of blood to think of the misdirected effort that will be put forth this very Christian Sabbath. Plenty of labor, but how little comes of it?--all because it is cramped, and ruined, and misdirected, for want of thought, and prayer, and a single eye for the salvation of souls. May G.o.d rouse us up to this, and make us willing to think, and labor, and learn, and wrestle, and sacrifice, in order that we may do it.
Then, further, the second qualification for successful labor is power to get the truth _home_ to the _heart_.
Not to _deliver_ it! I wish the word had never been coined in connection with Christian work. "Deliver" it, indeed--_that_ is not in the Bible!
No, no; not deliver it; but drive it home--send it in--make it _felt_.
That is your work;--not merely to say it--not quietly and gently to put it before the people. Here is just the difference between a self- consuming, soul-burdened, Holy Ghost, successful ministry, and a careless, happy-go-lucky, easy sort of thing, that just rolls it out like a lesson, and goes home, holding itself in no way responsible for the consequences. Here is _all_ the difference, either in public or individual labor. G.o.d has made you responsible, not for delivering the truth, but for GETTING IT IN--getting it home, fixing it in the conscience as a red-hot iron, as a bolt, straight from His throne; and He has placed at your disposal the power to do it, and if you do not do it, _blood_ will be on your skirts! Oh! this genteel way of putting the truth! How G.o.d hates it! "If you please, dear friends, will you listen?
If you please, will you be converted? Will you come to Jesus? or shall we read just this, that, and the other?"--no more like apostolic preaching than darkness is like light.
G.o.d says, "GO AND DO IT: compel them to come in. That is your work.
I have nothing to do with the measures by which you do it providing they are lawful."
"Use just the same diligence, earnestness, and determination that you would if you were resolutely set on any human project, and always be sure that I will be with you to the end of the world. Never doubt My presence when you are set on My business. I will be with you, and I will succeed you." Do it--the Lord help us to get the truth home!
This was the way with Paul, and this was the way with Jesus. Paul says: "Knowing, therefore, the terror of the Lord, we persuade men."
Oh! what a beautiful insight this gives us into the ministry. Why do you persuade men, Paul? "Because I know the terror of the Lord that is coming on, and because we thus judge that, if One died for all, then were all dead. Therefore, I persuade men." He did not give up when he had put it before them. He carried them on his heart, and he says, "That by the s.p.a.ce of three years I ceased not to warn every one night and day with tears." He wept it in, as well as drove it in, with his logic, and his eloquence, and with the power of the Holy Ghost in him. Make it go in--make your words felt; don"t talk to them in that sickly, languid way that makes no impression--make them know it. If you have not enough of the Holy Ghost for this, go to your closet till you have, and then come and drive the Word home to their conscience as a two-edged sword, dividing asunder soul and spirit.
The second thing indispensible to success is _simplicity_:-- naturalness in putting the truth.
You have not only to get it home, but, in order to do this, give it them simply and naturally. If I were asked to put into one word what I consider the greatest obstacle to the success of Divine Truth, even when uttered by sincere and real people, I should say, _stiffness_.
It seems as if people, the moment they come to religion, a.s.sume a different tone, a different look, and manner--short, become unnatural.
People sometimes come to me and say, "Oh! I would give the world to be natural, but I have got into this way of talking to people. It seems as though I cannot be natural. Can you help me?" I say, "Yes, I can help you, by this advice--Determine, by the help of G.o.d, that you will break the neck of this bondage. I will tell you how to begin.
Begin with your family. Break off right in the middle of conversation on earthly matters, and begin to talk about their souls, or your own experience, or drop down on your knees, and begin to pray." "Oh! but it would be such a break." It should not be a break to talk to your Father. If you are in the spirit of it there will be no break. This will help you, more than anything else. Determine that you will overcome this sanctimoniousness, which is the curse of a great deal of the religion of this day. We want SANCTIFIED HUMANITY, not sanctimoniousness. You want to talk to your friends in the same way about religion, as you talk about earthly things. If a friend is in difficulties, and he comes to you, you do not begin talking in a circ.u.mlocutory manner about the general principles on which men can secure prosperity, and the sad mistakes of those who have not secured it; you come straight to the point, and, if you feel for him, you take him by the b.u.t.ton-hole, or put your hand in his, and say, "My dear fellow, I am very sorry for you; is there any way in which I can help you?" If you have a friend afflicted with a fatal malady, and you see it, and he does not, you don"t begin to descant on the power of disease and the way people may secure health, but you say, "My dear fellow, I am afraid this hacking cough is more serious than you think, and that flush on your cheek is a bad sign. I am afraid you are ill--let me counsel you to seek advice." That is the way people talk about earthly things. Now, do exactly so about spiritual things.
If your friend is a spiritual bankrupt, tell him so. Tell him where he is going, and that the reckoning day is coming, and that he will be in G.o.d"s prison-house very soon, and that, if the creditor once gets hold of him, and shuts him up, he will never get out till he has paid the uttermost farthing. If your friend has a spiritual disease, tell him so, and deal just as straight and earnestly with him as you would about his body. Tell him you are praying for him, and the very concern that he reads in your eyes, will wake him up, and he will begin to think it is time he was concerned about himself. Try to attain this simple, easy, natural way of appealing to people about their souls. I believe if all real Christians would attain this, and act upon it, this country would be shaken from end to end!
Thirdly, you must be in _earnest--desperate_, I would like to say.
And, indeed, friends, settle this as a truth, that you will never make any other soul realize the verities of eternal things, any further than you realize them yourself. You will beget in the soul of your hearer, exactly the degree of realization which the Spirit of G.o.d gives to you, and no more; therefore, if you are in a dreamy, cosy, half-asleep condition, you will only beget the same kind of realization in the souls who hear you. You must be wide awake, quick, alive, feeling deeply in sympathy with the truth you utter, or it will produce no result.
Here is the reason why we have such a host of stillborn, sinewless, ricketty, powerless spiritual children. They are born of half-dead parents, a sort of sentimental religion, which does not take hold of the soul, which has no depth of earth, no grasp, no power in it, and the result is, a sickly crop of sentimental converts. Oh! the Lord give us a real robust, living, hardy Christianity, full of zeal and faith, which shall bring into the kingdom of G.o.d, lively, well-developed children, full of life and energy, instead of these poor, sentimental ghosts that are hopping around us. Oh! friends, we want this vivid realization ourselves. If we have it we shall beget it in others.
Oh! get hold of G.o.d. Ask Him to baptize you with His Spirit "till the zeal of His house eats you up." This Spirit will burn His way through all obstacles of flesh and blood, of forms, proprieties, and respectabilities--of death, and rottenness of all descriptions!
He will burn His way through, and produce living and telling results in the hearts of those to whom you speak. Earnestness--such earnestness that it comes to desperation--like that of Paul, who counted all things but dross; yea, and who counted not his life dear unto him. That was the secret. He counted not his life, nor anything that const.i.tutes life--liberty, pleasure, enjoyment, friends, reputation, ease, &c.,--all on the altar, all was in the scale. He counted none of those dear unto him, so that he might win the perfection, the fulness of Christ in his own soul, and the salvation of the souls around him.
Oh! what a LAUGHING-STOCK TO h.e.l.l is a light, frivolous, easy, lukewarm professor. Oh! what a shame and puzzle to the angels in Heaven, and what a supreme disgust to G.o.d. "I would thou wert cold or hot. So, then, because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of My mouth." Oh! what will that be? Talk about shame! Think of that! Shame! Some of you feel it going into the streets for G.o.d. You feel it when a few people see you kneel down here! Think of being spewed out of the mouth of G.o.d before an a.s.sembled universe. What will that be? G.o.d helping me, I will avoid that I will sooner hang with Jesus on the cross, between two thieves, than I will bear that shame. "_I would thou wert cold or hot!_"
Some of you say, in your letters, that you will have this whole- heartedness. You say that you have given up all, and that you are consecrating yourself to a life of labor. Now, be _hot_. I know you will burn the fingers of the Pharisees. Never mind that. I know you will fire their consciences, like Samson"s foxes did the corn.
Never mind that. _Be hot._ G.o.d likes hot saints. Be determined that you will be hot. They will call you a fool: they did Paul. They will call you a fanatic, and say, "This fellow is a troubler of Israel"; but you must reply, "It is not I, but ye and your father"s house, in that ye have forsaken the commandments of the Lord." Turn the charge upon them. Hot people are never a trouble to hot people.
The hotter we are the nearer we get, and the more we love one another. It is the cold people that are troubled by the hot ones. The Lord help you to be HOT.
Then another indispensable condition is the surrendering of _all our powers_.
There must be no holding back. "Cursed be he that holdeth back his sword from blood." That curse is resting on Christendom to-day. Oh!
they will thrust the sword a little way in, but they will not go in to the core. They dare not draw blood--the soldiers of this age--for their lives. They dare not touch a man to the quick, because, alas!
they are looking to themselves, and thinking what people will say of THEM, instead of what G.o.d will say of them. You must not be afraid of blood if you are to be a true warrior of the Lord Jesus Christ. You must not be afraid to say, if need be, "Oh! generation of vipers, who hath warned you to flee from the wrath to come? "You must not be afraid to say, if need be, "You have made my Father"s house a den of thieves," if you save some of them by doing it.
Oh! this accursed sycophancy; I was going to say, this accursed fear to brave the censure of the world--this accursed making good evil and evil good, as if G.o.d were altogether such an one as ourselves. Don"t you think He sees through the vile sham? Oh! my friends, if we don"t mend in this respect, He will come in judgment before long, and we shall find out then the difference between the precious and the vile, if we do not find out before. If you want to be a successful worker, you must make up your minds to begin with, that you will be CRUCIFIED.