The Importunate Widow

“And he spake a parable unto them to this end, that men ought always to pray, and not to faint; saying, There was in a city a judge, which feared not God, neither regarded man: and there was a widow in that city; and she came unto him, saying, Avenge me of mine adversary. And he would not for a while: but afterward he said within himself, Though I fear not God, nor regard man; yet because this widow troubleth me, I will avenge her, lest by her continual coming she weary me. And the Lord said, Hear what the unjust judge saith. And shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he bear long with them? I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” — Luke xviii. 1 — 8.

REMEMBER that our Lord did not only inculcate prayer with great earnestness, but he was himself a brilliant example of it. It always gives force to a teacher’s words when his hearers well know that he carries out his own instructions. Jesus was a prophet mighty both in deed and in word, and we read of him, “Jesus began both to do and to teach.” In the exercise of prayer, “cold mountains and the midnight air” witnessed that he was as great a doer as a teacher. When he exhorted his disciples to continue in prayer, and to “pray without ceasing,” he only bade them follow in his steps. If any one of all the members of ttye mystical body might have been supposed to need no prayer, it would certainly have been our Covenant Head, but if our Head abounded in supplication, much more ought we, the inferior members. He was never defiled with the sins which have debased and weakened us spiritually; he had no inbred lusts to struggle with. But if the perfectly pure drew near so often unto God, how much more incessant in supplication ought we to be! So mighty, so great, and yet so prayerful I 0 ye weak ones of the flock, how forcibly does the lesson come home to you I Imagine, therefore, the discourse of this morning is not preached to you by me, but comes fresh from the lips of one who was the great master of secret prayer, the highest paragon and pattern of private supplication, and let every word have the force about it as coming from such a One.

Turn we at once to our text, and in it we shall notice, first, the end

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and design of the parable; secondly, we shall have some w jrds to say upon the two actors in it. whose characters are intentionally so described as to give force to the reasoning; and then, thirdly, we shall dwell upon the power which in the parable is represented as triumphant.

I. First, then, consider OUR LORD’S DESIGN IN THIS PARABLE — “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

But can men pray always? There was a sect in the earlier days of Christianity who were foolish enough to read the passage literally, and to attempt praying without ceasing by continual repetition of prayers. They of course separated themselves from all worldly concerns, and in order to fulfil one duty of life neglected every other. Such madmen might well expect to reap the due reward of their follies. Happily there is no need in this age for us to reprobate such an error; there is far more necessity to cry out against those who, under the pretence of praying always, have no settled time for prayer at all, and so run to the opposite extreme. Our Lord meant by saying men ough t always to pray, that they ought to be always in the spirit of prayer, always ready to pray. Like the old knights, always in warfare, not always on their steeds dashing forward with their lances in rest to unhorse an adversary, but always wearing their weapons where they could readily reach them, and always ready to encounter wounds or death for the sake of the cause which they championed. Those grim warriors often slept in their armour; so even when we sleep, we are still to be in the spirit of prayer, so that if perchance we wake in the night we may still be with God. Our soul, having received the divine centri petal influence which makes it seek its heavenly centre, should be evermore naturally rising towards God himself. Our heart is to be like those beacons and watch-towers which were prepared along the coast of England when the invasion of the Armada was hourly expected, not always blazing, but with the wood always dry, and the match always there, the whole pile being ready to blaze up at the appointed moment. Our souls should be in such a condition that ejaculatory prayer should be very frequent with us. No need to jause in business and leave the counter, and fall down upon the knees; the spirit should send up its silent, short, swifb petitions to the throne of grace. When Nehemiah would ask a favour of the king, you will remember that he found an opportunity to do so through the king’s asking him, “Why art thou sad?” but before he made him an answer he says, “I prayed unto the King of heaven;” instinctively perceiving the occasion, he did not leap forward to embrace it, but he halted just a moment to ask that he might be enabled to embrace it wisely and fulfil his great design therein. So you and I should often feel, “I cannot do this till I have asked a blessing on it.” However impulsively I may spring forward to gain an advantage, yet my spirit, under the influence

/>f divine grace, should hesitate until it has said, “If thy Spirit go not with me, carry me not up hence.” A Christian should carry the weapon of all-prayer like a drawn sword in his hand. We should never sheathe our supplications. Never may our hearts be like an unlimbered gun, with everything to be done to it before it can thunder on the foe, but it should be like a piece of cannon, loaded and primed, only requiring the fire that it may be discharged. The soul should be not always in the exercise of prayer, but always in the energy of prayer; not always actually praying, but always intentionally praying.

Further, when our Lord says, men ought always to pray, he may also have meant that the whole life of the Chrisiiansfwuldbea life of devotion

to God.

“Prayer and praise, with sins forgiven,
Bring down to earth the bliss of heaven.”

T praise God for mercies received both with our voices and with our actions, and then to pray to God for the mercies that we need, devoutly acknowledging that they come from him, these two exercises in one form or other should make up the sum total of human life. Our life psalm should be composed of alternating verses of praying and of praising until we get into the next world, where the prayer may cease, and praise may swallow up the whole of our immortality. “But,” saith one, 11 we have our daily business to attend to.” I know you have, but there is a way of making business a part of praise and prayer. You say, “Give us this day our daily bread,” and that is a prayer as you utter it; you go off to your work, and as you toil, if you do so in a devout spirit, you are actively praying the same prayer by your lawful labour. You praise God for the mercies received in your morning hymn; and when you go into the duties of life, and there exhibit those graces which reflect honour upon God’s name, you are continuing your praises in the best manner. Remember that with Christians to labour is to pray, and that there is much truth in the verse of Coleridge — “He prayeth best who loveth best.”

To desire my leliow creatures’ good and to seek after it, to desire God’s glory, and so to live as to promote it, is the truest of devotion. The devotion of the cloisters is by no means equal to that of the man who is engaged in the battle of life; the devotion of the nunnery and the monastery is at best the heroism of a soldier who shuns the battle; but the devotion of the man in business life, who turns all to the glory of God, is the courage of one who seeks the thickest of the fray, and there bears aloft the grand old standard of Jehovah-nissi. You need not be afraid that there is anything in any lawful calling that need make you desist from vital prayer; but, oh 1 if your calling is such that you can not pray in it, you had better leave it. If it be a sinful calling, an unholy calling, of course, you cannot present that to God, biU any of the irdiiiary avocations of life are such that if you cannot sanctify them, it is a want of sanctity in yourself, and the fault lies with you. Men ought always to pray. It means that when they are using the lapstone, or the chisel, when the hands are on the plough handles, or on the spade, when they are measuring out the goods, when they are dealing in stocks, whatever they are doing, they are to turn all these things into a part of the sacred pursuit of God’s glory. Their common garments are to be vestments, their meals are to be sacraments, the»r ordinary actions are to be sacrifices, and they themselves a royal prk- jthood, a peculiar people zealous for good works.

A third meaning which I think our Lord intended to convey to us was this: men ought always to pray, that is, they should persevere in prayer. This is probably his first meaning. When we ask God for a mercy once, we are not to consider that now we are not further to trouble him with it, but we are to come to him again and again. If we have asked of him seven times, we ought to continue until seventy times seven. In temporal mercies there may be a limit, and the Holy Ghost may bid us ask no more. Then must we say, the “Lord’s will be done.” If it be anything for our own personal advantage, we must let the Spirit of submission rule us, so that after having sought the Lord thrice, we shall be content with the promise, “My grace is sufficient for thee,” and no longer ask that the thorn in the flesh should be removed. But in spiritual mercies, and especially in the united prayers of a church, there is no taking a denial. Here, if we would prevail, we must persist; we must continue incessantly and constantly, and know no pause to our prayer till we win the mercy to the fullest possible extent. “Men ought always to pray.” Week by week, month by month, year by year;. the conversion of that dear child is to be the father’s main plea. The bringing in of that unconverted husband is to lie upon the wife’s heart night and day till she gets it; she is not to take even ten or twenty years of unsuccessful prayer as a reason why she should cease; she is to set God no times nor seasons, but so long as there is life in her and life in the dear object of her solicitude, she is to continue still to plead with the mighty God of Jacob. The pastor is not to seek a blessing on his people occasionally, and then in receiving a measure of it to desist from further intercession, but he is to continue vehemently without pause, without restraining his energies, to cry aloud and spare not till the windows of heaven be opened and a blessing be given too large for him to house. But, brethren, how many times we ask of God, and have not because we do not wait long enough at the door! we knock a time or two at the gate of mercy, and as no friendly messenger opens the door, we go our ways. Too many prayers are like boys’ runaway knocks, given, and then the giver is away before the door can be opened. 0 for grace to stand foot to loot with the

THE IMPORTtTRATE WIDOW 101

angel of God, and never, never, never relax our hold; feeling that the cause we plead is one in which we must be successful, for souls depend on it, the glory of God is connected with it, the state of our fellow men. is in jeopardy. If we could have given up in prayer our own lives and the lives of those dearest to us, yet the souls of men we cannot give up, we must urge and plead again and again until we obtain the

answer.

“The humble suppliant cannot fail

To have his wants supplied,

Since he for sinners intercedes

Who once for sinners died.’’

I cannot leave this part of the subject without observing that our Lord would have us learn that men should be more frequent in prayer. Not only should they always have the spirit of prayer, and make their whole lives a prayer, and persevere in any one object which is dear to their souls, but there should be a greater frequency of prayer amongst all the saints. I gather that from the parable, “lest by her continual coming she weary me.” Prayerfulness will scarcely be kept up long unless you set apart times and seasons for prayer. There are no times laid down in Scripture except by the example of holy men, for the Lord trusts much to the love of hia people and to the spontaneous motions of the inner life. He does not say, “Pray at seven o’clock in the morning every day,” or “pray at night at eight, or nine, or ten, or eleven;” but says, “Pray without ceasing.” Yet every Christian will find it exceedingly useful to have his regular times for retirement, and I doubt whether any eminent piety can be maintained without these seasons being very carefully and scrupulously observed. We read in the old traditions of James the apostle, that he prayed so much that his knees grew hard through his long kneeling: and it is recorded by Fox, that Latimer, during the time of his imprisonment, was so much upon his knees that frequently the poor old man could not rise to his meals, and had to be lifted up by his servants. When he could no longer preach, and was immured within stone walls, his prayers went up to heaven for his country, and we in these times are receiving the blessing. Daniel prayed with his windows open daily and at regular intervals. “Seven times a day,” saith one, “will I praise thee.” David declared that at “Evening, and morning, and at noon,” would he wait upon God. 0 that our intervals of prayer were not so distant one from the other; would God that on the pilgrimage of life the wells at which we drink were more frequent. In this way should we continue in prayer.

Our Lord means, to sum up the whole, that believers should ex&rcisea universality of supplication — we ought to pray at all times. There are no canonical hours in the Christian’s day or week. We should pray from eockcrowing to midnight, at such times as the Spirit moveth us. We Bhould pray in all estates, in our poverty and in our wealth, in our health and in our sickness, in the bright days of festival and in the dark nights of lamentation. We should pray at the birth and pray at the funeral, we should pray when our soul is glad within us by reason of abundant mercy, and we should pray when our soul draweth nigh unto the gates of death by reason of heaviness. We should pray in all transactions, whether secular or religious. Prayer should sanctify every thing. The word of God and prayer should come in over and above the common things of daily life. Pray over a bargain, pray over going into the shop and coming out again. Remember in the days of Joshua how the Gibeonites deceived Israel because Israel enquired not of the Lord, and be not thou deceived by a specious temptation, as thou mayst well be if thou dost not daily come to the Lord, and say, “Guide me: make straight a plain path for my feet, and lead me in the way everlasting.” Thou shalt never err by praying too much, thou shalt never make a mistake by asking God’s guidance too often; but thou shalt find this to be the gracious illumination of thine eyes, if in the turning of the road where two paths meet which seem to be equally right, thou shalt stay a moment and cry unto God, “Guide me, 0 thou great Jehovah.” “Men ought always to pray.” I have enlarged upon it from this pulpit, go you and expound it in your daily lives.

II. In enforcing this precept, our Lord gives us a parable in which there are TWO ACTORS, the characteristics of the two actors being such as to add strength to his precept.

In the first verse of the parable there is a judge. Now, herein is the great advantage to us in prayer. Brethren, if this poor woman prevailed with a judge whose office is stern, unbending, untender, how much more ought you and I to be instant in prayer and hopeful of success when we have to supplicate a Father! Far other is a father than a judge. The judge must necessarily be impartial, stern, but the father is necessarily partial to his child, compassionate and tender to his own offspring. Doth she prevail over a judge; and shall not we prevail with our Father who is in heaven? And doth she continue in her desperate need to weary him until she wins what she desires; and shall not we continue in the agony of our desires uatil we get from our heavenly Father whatsoever his word hath promised?

In addition to being a judge, he was devoid of all good character. In both branches he failed. He “feared not God.” Conscience was seared in ‘him, he had no thoughts of the great judgment-seat before which judges must appear. Though possibly he had taken an oath before God to judge impartially, yet he forgot his oath, and trod justice under his foot. “Neither did he regard man.” The approbation of his feJ]ow creatures, which is very often a power, even with naturally bad men, either to restrain them from overt evil, or else to constrain them to righteousness, this principle had no effect upon him. Now, if the widow prevailed over such a wretch as this, if the iron of her importunity broke the iron and steel of this man’s obduracy, how much more may we expect to be successful with him who is righteous, and just, and good, the Friend of the needy, the Father of the fatherless, and the Avenger of all such as are oppressed! 0 let the character of God as it rises before you in all its majesty of truthfulness and faithfulness, blended with lovingkindness, and tenderness, and mercy, excite in you an indefatigable ardour of supplication, making you resolve with this poor woman that you will never cease to supplicate until you win your suit.

The j udge was a man so unutterably bad, that he even confessed his badness to himself, with great contentment too. Without the slightest tinge of remorse, he said within himself, “Though I fear not God, neither regard man.” There are few sinners who will go this length. They may neither fear God nor regard men, yet still they will indulge in their minds some semblance of that which is virtuous, and cheat themselves into the belief that at least they are not worse than others. But with this man there was no self-deception. He was as cool about this avowal as the Pharisee was concerning the opposite, “God, I thank thee that I am not as other men are.” To what a brazen impertinence must this man have come, to what an extent must he have hardened his mind, that knowing himself to be such, he yet climbed the judgmentfieat, and sat there to judge his fellow men! Yet the woman prevailed with this monster in human form, who had come to take pleasure in his own wickedness, and gloated in the badness of his own heart. Over this man importunity prevailed — how much more over him who spared not his own Son, but freely delivered him up for us all; how much more over him whose name is love, whose nature is everything that is attractive and encouraging to such as seek his face! The worse this judge appears, and he could scarcely have been painted in blacker colours, the more does the voice of the Saviour seem to say to us, “Men ought always to pray, and not to faint.”

Note with regard to the character of this judge, that he was one who consciously cared for nothing but his own ease. When at last he consented to do justice, the only motive which moved him, was, “lest by her continual coming she weary me. “She stun me,” might be the Greek word — a kind of slang, I suppose, of that period, meaning lest “she batter me,” “she bruise me,” and as some translate it, “black my face with her incessant constant batterings.” That was the kind of language he used- a short quick sentence of indignation at being bothered, as we should say, by such a case as this. The only thing that moved him was a desire to be at ease, and to take things comfortably. 0 brethren, if she could prevail over such a one, how much more shall WQ speed with God whose delight it is to take care of his children, who loves them even as the apple of his eye!

This judge was practically unkind and cruel to her; yet the widow continued. For awhile he would not listen to her, though her household, her life, her children’s comfort, were all hanging upon his will; he left her by a passive injustice to suifer still. But our God has been practically kind and gracious to us, up to this moment he has heard us and granted our requests. Set this against the character of the judge, and surely every loving heart that knows the power of prayer will be moved to incessant importunity.

We must, however, pass on now to notice the other actor in the scene — the widow; and here everything tells again the same way, to induce the church of God to be importunate. She was apparently a perfect stranger to the judge. She appeared before him as an individual in whom he took no interest. He had possibly never seen her before; who she was and what she wanted was no concern to him. But when the church appears before God she comes as Christ’s own bride, she appears before the Father as one whom he has loved with an everlasting love. And shall he not avenge his own elect, his own chosen, his own people? Shall not their prayers prevail with him, when a stranger’s importunity won a suit of an unwilling judge?

The widow appeared at the judgment-seat without a friend. According to the parable, she had no advocate, no powerful pleader to stand up in the court and say, “I am the patron of this humble woman.” If she prevailed, she must prevail by her own ardour and her own intensity of purpose. But when you and I come before our Father, we come not alone, for —

“He is at the Father’s side,
The Man of love, the Crucified.”

We have a Friend who ever liveth to make intercession for u 0 Christian, urge thy suit with holy boldness, press thy case, for the blood of Jesus speaks with a voice that must be heard. Be not thon therefore faint in thy spirit, but continue instant in thy supplication.

This poor woman came without a promise to encourage her, nay, with the reverse, with much to discourage; but when you and I come before God, we are commanded to pray by God himself, and we are promised that if we ask it shall be given us, if we seek we shall find. Does she win without the sacred weapon of the promise, and shall not we win who can set the battering-rams of God’s own word against the gates of heaven, a battering-ram that shall make every timber in those gates to quiver? 0 brethren, we must not pause nor cease a moment while we have God’s promise to back our plea.

The widow, in addition to having no promise whatever, was even without the right of constant access. She had, I suppose, a right to clamour to be heard at ordinary times when judgment was administered, but what right had she to dog the judge’s footsteps, to waylay him in the streets, to hammer at his private door, to be heard calling at nightfall, so that he, sleeping at the top of his house, was awakened by her cries? She had no permission so to importune, but we may come to God at all times and all seasons. We may cry day and night unto him, for he has bidden us pray without ceasing. What, without a permit is this woman so incessant! and with the sacred permissions which God has given us, and the encouragement of abounding lovingkindness, shall we cease to plead?

She, poor soul, every time she prayed, provoked the judge, lines of anger were on his face. I doubt not he foamed at the mouth to think he should be wearied by a person so insignificant; but with Jesus, everj time we plead we please him rather than provoke him. The prayers of the saints are the music of God’s ears.

“To him there’s music in a groan,
And beauty in a tear.”

We, speaking after the manner of men, bring a gratification to God when we intercede with him. He is vexed with us if we restrain our supplications; he is pleased with us when we draw near constantly. Oh, then, as you see the smile upon the Father’s face, children of his love, I beseech you faint not, but continue still without ceasing to entreat the blessing.

Once more, this woman had a suit in which the judge could not be himself personally interested; but ours is a case in which the God we plead with is more interested than we are; for when a church asks for the conversion of souls, she may justly say, “Arise, 0 God, plead thine own cause.” It is for the honour of Christ that souls should be converted; it brings glory to the mercy and power of God when great sinners are turned from the error of their ways; consequently we are pleading for the Judge with the Judge, for God we are pleading with God. Our prayer is virtually for Christ as through Christ, that his kingdom may come, and his will may be done.

I must not forget to mention that in this woman’s case she was only one. She prevailed though she was only one, but shall not God avenge his own elect, who are not one, but tens of thousands? If there be a promise that if two or three are agreed it shall be done, how much more if in any church hundreds meet together with unanimous souls anxiously desiring that God would fulfil his promise? These pleas cast chains around the throne of God! How do they, as it were, hem in omnipotence! How ‘hey constrain the Almighty to arise out of his place and come in answer to his people, and do the great deed which shall bless his church and glorify himself.

You see, then, whether we consider the judge, or consider the widow, each character has points about it which tend to make us see our duty and our privilege to pray without ceasing.

III. The third and last point: THE POWER WHICH, ACCORDING TO

THIS PARABLE, TRIUMPHED.

This power was not the woman’s eloquence, “I pray thee avenge me of mine adversary.” These words are very few. They have the merit of being very expressive, but he that would study oratory will not gather many lessons from them. “I pray thee avenge me of mine adversary.” Just eight words. You observe there is no plea, there is nothing about her widowhood, nothing urged about her children, nothing said about the wickedness of her adversary, nothing concerning the judgment of God upon unjust judges, nor about the wrath of God upon unjust men, who devour widows’ houses — nothing of the kind. “I pray thee avenge me of mine adversary.” Her success, therefore, did not depend upon her power in rhetoric, and we learn from this that the prevalence of a soul or of a church with God does not rest upon the elocution of its words, or upon the eloquence of its language. The prayer which mounts to heaven may have but very few of the tail feathers of adornment about it, but it must have the strong wing feathers of intense desire; it must not be as the peacock, gorgeous for beauty, but it must be as the eagle, for soaring aloft, if it would ascend up to the seventh heavens. When you pray in public, as a rule the shorter the better. Words are cumbersome to prayer. It often happens that an abundance of words reveals a scarcity of desires. Verbiage is generally nothing better in prayer than a miserable fig leaf with which to cover the nakedness of an unawakened soul.

Another thing is quite certain, namely, that the woman did not prevail through the merits of her case. It may have been a very good case, there is nothing said about that. I do not doubt the rightness of it; but still, the judge did not know nor care whether it was right or wrong; all he cared about was, this woman troubled him. He does not say, “She has a good case, and I ought to listen to it.” No, he was too bad a man to be moved by such a motive — but “she worries me,” that is all, “[ will attend to it.” So in our suit — in the suit of a sinner with God, it is not the merit of his case that can ever prevail with God. Thou hast no merit. If thou art to win, another’s merit must stand instead of thine, and on thy part it must not be merit but misery; it must not be thy righteousness but thy importunity that is to prevail with God. How this ought to encourage those of you who are labouring under a sense of unworthiness! However unworthy you may be, continue in prayer. BUck may be the hand, but if it can but lift the knocker, the gate will open. Ay, though thou have a palsy in tlat hand; though, in addition to that palsy, thou be leprous, and the white leprosy be on thy forehead, yet if thou canst but tremblingly lift up that knocker and let it fall by its own weight upon that sacred promise, thou shalt surely get an audience with the King of kings. It is not eloquence, it is not merit, that wins with God, it is nothing but importunity.

Note with regard to this woman, that the judge said first, she troubled him, next he said, she came continually, and then he added his fear lest 41 she weary me.” I think the case was somewhat after this fashion. The judge was sitting one morning on his bench, and many were the persons coming before him asking justice, which he was dealing out with the impartiality of a villain, giving always his best word to him who brought the heaviest bribes; when presently a poor woman uttered her plaint. She had tried to be heard several times, but her voice had been drowned by others, but this time it was more shrill and sharp, and she caught the judge’s eye. “My lord, avenge me of mine adversary.” He no sooner sees from her poverty-stricken dress that there are no bribes to be had, than he replies, “Hold your toL0-ue! I have other business to attend to.” He goes on with another suit in which the fees were more attractive. Still he hears the cry again, “My lord, I am a widow, avenge me of mine adversary.” Vexed with the renewed disturbance, he bade the usher put her out, because she interrupted the silence of the court and stopped the public business. “Take care she does not get in again to-morrow,” said he, “she is a troublesome woman.” Long ere the morrow had corne, he found out the truth of his opinion. She waited till he left the court, dogged his footsteps, and followed him through the streets, until he was glad to get through his door, and bade the servants fasten it lest that noisy widow should come in, for she had constantly assailed him with the cry, “Avenge me of mine adversary.” He is now safely within doors, and bids the servants bring in his meal. They are pouring water on his hands and feet, his lordship is about to enjoy his repast, when a heavy knock is heard at the door, followed by a clamour, pushing, and a scuffle. “What is it?” saith he. “It is a woman outside, a widow woman, who wants your lordship to see justice done her.’’ “Tell her I cannot attend to her, she must be gone.” He seeks his rest at nightfall on the housetop, when he hears a heavy knock at the door, and a voice comes up from the street beneath his residence, “My lord, avenge me of mine adversary.” The next morning his court is open, and, though she is forbidden to enter, like a dog that will enter some how, she finds her way in, and she interrupts the court continually with her plea, “My lord, avenge me of mine adversary.” Ask her why sh« is thus importunate, and she will tell you her husband is dead, and hd left a little plot of land — it was all they had, and a cruel neighbour who looked with greedy eyes upon that little plot, has taken it as Ahab took Naboth’s vineyard, and now she is without any meal or any oil for the little ones, and they are crying for food. Oh, if their father had been alive, how he would have guarded their interests! but she has no helper, and the case is a glaring one; and what is a judge for if he i& not to protect the injured? She has no other chance, for the creditor is about to take away her children to sell them into bondage. She cannot bear that. “No,” she says, “I have but one chance; it is that this man should speak up for me and do me justice, and I have made up my mind he shall never rest till he does so. I am resolved that if I perish, the last words on my lips shall be, ‘Avenge me of mine adversary.’” So the court is continually interrupted. Again the judge shouts, “Put her out; put her out! I cannot conduct the business at all with this crazy woman here continually dinning in my ears a shriek of ‘Avenge me of mine adversary.’” But it is sooner said than done. She lays hold of the pillars of the court so as not to be dragged out, and when at last they get her in the street, she does but wait

her chance to enter again, she pursues the judge along the highways, she never lets him have a minute’s peace. “Well,” says the judge, “I am worried out of my very life. I care not for the widow, nor her property, nor her children; let them starve, what are they to me? but I cannot stand this, it will weary me beyond measure. I will see to it.” It is done, and she goes her way. Nothing but her importunity prevails. Now, brethren, you have many other weapons to use with God in prayer, but our Saviour bids you not neglect this master, all-conquering, instrument of importunity. God will be more easily moved than this unjust judge, only be you as importunate as this widow was. If you are sure it is a right thing for which you are asking, plead now, plead at noon, plead at night, plead on; with cries and tears spread out your case, order your arguments, back up your pleas with reasons, urge the precious blood of Jesus, set the wounds of Christ before the Father’s eyes, bring out the atoning sacrifice, point to Calvary, enlist the crowned Prince, the Priest who stands at the right hand of God; and resolve in your very soul that if Zion do not flourish, if souls be not saved, if your family be not blessed, if your own zeal be not revived, yet you will die with the plea upon your lips, ai?d with the importunate wish upon your spirits. Let me tell yta that if any of you should die with your prayers unanswered, you need not conclude that God has disappointed you. “With one story I will finish. I have heard that a certain godly father had the unhappiness to be the parent of some five or six most graceless eons. All. f them as they grew up imbibed infidel sentiments, and led a libidinous life. The father who had been constantly praying for them, and was a pattern of every virtue, hoped at least that in his death he might be able to say a word that should move their hearts. He gathered them to his bedside, but his unhappiness in dying was extreme, for he lost the light of God’s countenance, and was beset with doubts and fears, and the last black thought that haunted him was, “Instead ot my dtath being a testimony for God, which will win my dear sons, I die in such darkness and gloom that I fear I shall confirm them in their infidelity, and lead them to think that there is nothing in Christianity at all.” The effect was the reverse. The sons came round the grave at the funeral, and when they returned to the house, the eldest son thus addressed his brothers: — “My brothers, throughout his lifetime, our father often spoke to us about religion, and we have always despised it, but what a sermon his deathbed has been to us! for if he who served God so well and lived so near to God found it so hard a thing to die, what kind of death may we expect ours to be who have lived without God and without hope?” The same feeling possessed them all, and thus the father’s death had strangely answered the prayers of his life through the grace of God. You cannot tell but what, when you are in glory, you should look down from the windows of heaven and receive a double heaven in beholding your dear sons and daughters converted by the words you lefc behind. I do not say this to make you cease pleading for their immediate conversion, but to encourage you. Never give up prayer, never be tempted to cease from it. So long as there is breath in your body, and breath in their bodies, continue still to pray, for I tell you that he will avenge you speedily though he bear long with you. God bless these words for Jesus’ sake. Amen.

POBTJON OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON — Lake XViil”. 1 — 30.

§Iatmrade fulptt,

THE SEARCH FOR FAITH.

t

DELIVERED ON LORD’S-DAY MORNING, MAY 15TH, 1887, BY

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINQTON.

“Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” — Luke xviii. 8.

IT is absolutely certain that God will hear the prayers of his people. From beneath the altar souls cry unto him day and night to vindicate thn cause of Christ, the cause of truth and righteousness, and to cast clown his adversary: these shall be answered speedily. Here on earth, si tint though the supplication may be, yet there is a remnant according to the election of grace, who cease not to importune the Almighty God to make bare his arm, and display the majesty of his Word. Though for wise and gracious purposes the answer to those prayers may be delaye-.), yet it is absolutely certain. Shall not God avenge his own elect, which cry day and night unto him, though he keep their case long in hand? Assuredly he will; for those prayers are inspired by the Spirit, who knows the mind of God; they are for the glory of God and of his Christ, and they are presented by our great High Priest. Longsuffering keeps back the advent and the judgment for a while; for the Lord is not willing that any should perish, but that all should come to repentance; but he will not for ever delay the long-expected end. The Lord Jesus himself gives us this personal assurance, “I tell you that he will avenge them speedily.” No doubt remains when Jesus says, “I tell you.” The Lord will come, and, according to his own reckoning, he will come quickly. His reckoning is according to the chronology of heaven, and this the heirs of heaven ought gladly to accept: it is meet that we keep celestial time even now.

Brethren, let not your hearts fail you as to the ultimate issue of the present conflict. “The Lord shall reign for ever and ever. Hallelujah.” The idols he shall utterly abolish. Antichrist shall be overthrown; like a millstone cast into the sea, it shall fall and be no more. The heathen shall be our Lord’s inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth shall be his possession. He must reign until all enemies shrll be put under his feet. If the present contest should be continued century after century, be not weary. It is only long to your impatience; it is a short work unto God. So grand a volume of the book as this, which contains the history of redemption, may well No. 1,963. 41 require a Ions: time for its unrolling, and to such poor readers as we are the spelling of it out word by word may seem an endless task; but we shall yet come to its close, and then we shall find that, like the Book of Psalms, it ends in hallelujahs.

The matter to be questioned is not what God will do, but what men will do. Faithfulness is established in the very heavens: but what of faithfulness upon the earth? The part that God allots to us is that we believe his word, for so shall we be established: it is the child’s part to trust his father, it is the disciple’s part to accept the teaching of his Master. Alas! how little there is of it at this moment! Knowing the feebleness of the faith of those around him, and foreseeing that future generations would partake of the same folly, the Saviour gave utterance to this memorable question, “When the Son of man cometh. shall he find faith on the earth?” God is faithful; but are men faithful? God is true; but do we believe him? This is the point: and it is upon this that I shall speak this morning as the Holy Ghost shall help me.

I. I notice with regard to our text, first, that IT is REMARKABLE IP

WE CONSIDER TUE PERSON MENTIONED AS SEARCHING FOR FAITH:

“When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

When Jesus conies he will look for precious faith. He has more regard for faith than for all else that earth can yield him. Our returning Lord will care nothing for the treasures of the rich or the honours of the great. He will not look for the abilities we have manifested, nor the influence we have acquired; but he will look for our faith. It is his glory that he is “believed on in the world,” and to that he will have respect. This is the jewel for which he is searching. This heavenly merchantman counts faith to be the pearl of great price — faith is precious to Jesus as well as to us. The last day will be occupied with a great scrutiny, and that scrutiny will be made upon the essential point — where is there faith, and where is there no faith? He that believeth is saved; he that beiieveth not is condemned. A search-warrant will be issued for our houses and our hearts, and the enquiry will be: Where is your faith? Did you honour Christ by trusting his word and his blood, or did you not? Did you glorify God by believing his revelation and depending upon his promise, or did you not? The fact that our Lord, at his coming, will seek for faith should cause us to think very highly of faith. It is no mere act of the intellect; it is a grace of the Holy Spirit which brings glory to God and produces obedience in the heart. Jesus looks for it because he is the proper object of it, and it is by means of it that his great end in his first advent is carried out. Dear hearers, conceive for a minute that our Saviour is searching for faith now. “His eyes behold, his eyelids try, the children of men.” This is the gold he seeks alter amid the quartz of our humanity. This is the object of his royal quest — Dost thou believe in the Lord Jesus Christ?”

When our Lord comes and looks for faith, he will do so in his most sympathetic character Our text saith not, When the Son of God cometh, but “When the Son of man cometh, will he find faith on the earth?” It is peculiarly as the Son of man that Jesus will sifc as a refiner, to discover whether we have true iaith or not. He also as the Son of

THE SEARLrf FOR FAITH. 279

man displayed faith in God. In the Epistle to the Hebrews it is mentioned as one of the points in which he is made like unto his brethren, that he said, “I will put my trust in him.” The life of Jesus was a life of faith — faith which cried, “My God, my God,” ev«n when he was forsaken. His was, on a grander scale than ours, the battle of faith in the great Father, waged against all the rebellious influences which were in array against him. He knows what fierce temptations men experience, for he has felt the same. He knows how want tries the faithful, and what faith is needed to be able to say, “Man shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God shall man live.” He knows how elevation tests the soul; for he once stood on the pinnacle of the temple, and heard the infernal whisper, “Cast thyself down: for he shall give his angels charge over thee.” He knows what faith means in contradistinction to a false confidence which misreads the promise, and forgets the precept altogether. He will not err in judgment, and accept brass for gold. He knows what it is to be tempted with the proffer of honour and gain: “All these things will I give thee,’’ said the fiend, “if thou wilt fall down and worship me.” He knows how faith puts all the glory of the world away with its one brave and ‘prompt utterance, “Get thee hence, Satan: for it is written, Thou jshalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only shalt thou serve.” Beloved, when Jesus comes as the Son of man he will recog nize our weaknesses, he will remember our trials; he will know the struggle of our hearts, and the borrow which au h»nest faith has cost us. He is best qualified to put the true price upon tried faith, self-denying faith, long-enduring faith. He will discern between the men who presume and the men who believe; the men who dote upon vain delusions, and those who follow the plain path of God’s own word.

Further, I would have you note well that the Son of man is the most likely person to discover faith if it is to be found. Not a grain of faith exists in all the world except that which he has himself created. If thou hast faith, my brother, the Lord has dealt with thee; this is the mark of his hand upon thee. By faith he has brought thee out of thy death in sin, and the natural darkness of thy mind. “Thy faith hath saved thee,” for it is the candlestick which holds the candle by which the chamber of thy heart is enlightened. Thy God and Saviour has put this faith in thee. Now, if faith in every instance is our Lord’s gift, he knows where he has given it. If it is the work of God, he knows where lie has produced it; for he never forsakes the work of his own hands If that faith be only as a grain of mustard seed, and if it be hidden away in the obscurest corner of the earth, yet the loving Jesus spies it out, for he has an intimate concern in it, since he is its author and finisher. Our Lord is also the sustainer of faith; for faith is never independent of him upon whom it relies. The greatest believer would not believe for another moment unless grace were constantly given him to keep the flame of faith burning. Beloved friend, if thou hast had any experience of the inner liie at all, thou knowest that he that first made thee live, must keep thee alive, or else thou wilt go back to thy natural death. Since faith from day to day feeds at the table of Jesus, then he kuowa where it is. It is well for us that we have one looking for faith who, on accouat of his having created and sustained it, will be at no loss to discern it.

Besides, faith always looks to Christ. There is no faith in the world worth having, but what looks to him, and through him to God, for everything. On the other hand, Christ always looks to faith; there never yet was an eye of faith but what it met the eye of Christ. He delights in faith: it is his joy to be trusted: it is a great part of the reward of his death that the sons of men should come and shelter in him. If faith looks to Christ, and Christ looks to faith, he is sure to find it out when he comes, and that makes the text so very striking: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

The Son of man will give a wise and generous judgment in the matter. Some brethren judge so harshly that they would tread out the sparks of faith; but it is never so with our gracious Lord; he does not quench the smoking flax, nor despise the most trembling faith. The question becomes most emphatic when it is put thus. The tender and gentle Saviour, who never judges too severely, when he comes, shall even he find faith on the earth? What a sad and humbling question it is! He who is no morose critic but a kind interpreter of character, he who makes great allowances for feebleness, he that carrieth the lambs of faith in his bosom and gently leads the weak ones — when even he shall come to make a kindly search, will he be able to find faith on the earth? Unbelief is rampant indeed, when he who is omniscient can scarce find a grain of faith amid the mass of doubt and denial! Ah me! that ever I should have to explain the question, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Once more: I want to put this question into a striking light by dwelling on the time of the scrutiny. “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Look ye, brethren, the ages are accumulating proofs of the truth of Christianity, and the s°arch takes place when this process has reached its climax. Whatever may be said about the present torrent of doubt, which no doubt is exceedingly strong, yet the reason for doubt grows weaker and weaker every year. Every mound of earth in the East contributes a fresh testimony to the accuracy of the Word of God. Stones are crying out against the incredulity of sceptics. Moreover, all the experiences of all the saints, year after year, are swelling the stream of testimony to the faithfulness of God. You that are growing grey in his service know how every year confirms your confidence in the eternal verities of your God and Saviour. I know not how long this dispensation of longsuffering will last; but certainly the longer it continues the more wantonly wicked does unbelief become. The more God reveals himself to man in ways of providence, the more base is it on man’s part to belie his solemn witness. But yet, my brethren, at the winding-up of all things, when revelation shall have received its utmost confirmation, even then faith will be such a rarity on the earth that it is a question if the Lord himself will find it. You have, perhaps, a notion that faith will go on increasing in the world; that the church will grow purer and brighter, and that there will be a wonderful degree of faith among men in the day of our Lord’s appearing. Our Saviour does not tell us so; but he puts the question of our text about it. Even concerning the dawn of the golden «ge he asks, “When the Son ot man cometh, shaK he find faith on the earth?”

I want you to notice tJie breadth of the region of search. He doea not say, shall he find faith among philosophers? When had they any? He does not confine his sc-rutiny to an ordained ministry or a visible church; but he takes a wider sweep — “Shall he find faith on the earth?” As if he would search from throne to cottage, among the learned and among the ignorant, among public men and obscure individuals; and, after all, it would be a question whether among them all, from the pole to the equator, and again from the equator to the other pole, he would find faith at all. Alas, poor earth, to be so void of faith! Is there none in her vast, continents, or on the lone islets of the sea? May it not be found in some of the countless ships upon the deep? What! not upon the earth? Not with Jesus himself to look for it?

I have tried to set forth the question as distinctly as I can, that it may have due effect upon your minds. It sounds through the chambers of my soul like the knell of many a gay hope and pleasant imagination. Lord, what is man, that centuries of mercy can scarce produce a single fruit of faith among a whole world of the sons of Adam? When thousands of summers and autumns have come and gone, shall there be no harvest of faith upon the earth, except a few ears of corn, thin and withered by the east wind?

II. Let us somewhat change the run of our thoughts: having introduced the question as a remarkable one, we will next notice that IT is

EXCEEDINGLY INSTRUCTIVE IN CONNECTION WITH THE PARABLE OF

WHICH IT is PART. It is wrong to use the Bible as if it were a box full of separate links, and not a chain of connected truth. Some pick sentences out of it as a crow picks worms out of a ploughed field. If you tear words from their connection, they may not express the mind of the Spirit at all. No book, whether written by God or man, will bear to be torn limb from limb without being horribly mutilated. Public speakers know the unfairness of this to themselves, and Holy Scripture suffers even more. The connection settles the drift and directs us to the true meaning — a meaning which may be very different from that which it seems to bear when rent from its surroundings. Lei us carefully note that this passage occurs in connection with the parable of the importunate widow pleading with the unjust judge; for it is to be interpreted in connection with it.

Hence, it means, first of all: When the Son of man cometh, shall he find upon the earth the faith which prays importunately, as this widow did? Now, the meaning is dawning upon us. We have many upon the earth who pray; but where are those whose continual coming is sure to prevail? 1 thank God that the prayer-meetings of this church are well sustained by praying men and women; but where are the Jacob-like wrestlers? I am afraid it cannot even be said of many churches that their prayer-meetings are at all what they should be; for among many the gathering for prayer is despised, and men say, “It is only a prayer-meeting!” As if that were not the very crown and queen of all the assemblies of the church, with the sole exception of that for the breaking of bread. Brethren, I will not judge with severity, but lhere are those who offer effectual, fervent, much-privailing prayer? I know that there are many here who do not neglect private and family devotion, and who pray constantly for the prosperity of the Church of Jesus Christ, and for the salvation of souls. But even to you I put the question: If the Son of man were now to come, how many would he find among us that pray with a distinct, vehement, irresistible importunity of faith? In the olden days, there was a John Knox, whose prayers were more terrible to the adversary than whole armies, becau-e he pleaded in faith; but where shall we find a Knox at this hour? Every ase of revival has had its men mighty in prayer — where are ours? Where is the Elias on the top of Carmel who will bring down the rain upon these parched fields? Where is the church that will pray down a Pentecost? I will not decry my brethren in the ministry, nor speak little of deacons and elders, and other distinguished servants of my Lord; but still, my brothers and sisters, taking us all round, how few of us know what it is to pray the heaven-overcoming prayer which is needful for this crisis! How few of us go again, and again, and again to God, with tears, and cries, and heart-break, pleading as for our own lives for the increase of Zion, and the saving of the ungodly! If the Son of man cometh, will he find much of such praying faith among our own churches? Ah me T that I should have to ask such a question; but I do ask it, hanging my head for shame.

The importunate widow waited with strong resolve, and never ceased through sullen doubt. If the judge had not yet heard her, she was sure hs must hear her, for she had made up her mind that she would plead until he did. A waiting faith is rare. Men can believe for a time, but to hold out through the long darkness is another matter. Some soldiers are good at a rush, but they cannot form a square, and stand fast hour after hour. When the Son of man cometh, will he find many who can believe in a delaying God, and plead a long-dated promise — waiting, but never wearying? When we have a revival, and everybody is crying “Hosannah!” certain eager folk are sure to be in the front; but when the popular voice growls out its “Crucify him!” where are they? Where are even Peter, and John, and the rest of the disciples? Go, learn to plead on when no answer comes, and to press on when repulsed: this is the test of faith. It is so easy to be a believer when everybody believes; but to be a believer when nobody believes, and to be none the less a firm believer because nobody believes with you, this is the mark of the man valiant for truth, and loyal to Jesus. Brethren, is it, after all, a matter of counting heads? Can you not dare to be in the right with two or three? Can you not be like rocks which defy the raging waves? Can you not let the billows of popular mis belief wash over you, and break and crash, and break and crash in vain? If these things move you, where is your faith? When the Son of man cometh, how many will he find on the earth whose faith stands not in men, but in the witness of God?

The widow staked her all upon the result of her pleading with the judge. She had not two strings to her bow, she had but one ‘esort in her trouble: the judge must hear her. She would lose her little property, and her children would die of starvation, if he did not hear her. He must hear her; about that she had no two opinions. What we want at the present moment is the man that believes God, and believes the gospel, and believes Christ, and does not care two pins about anything else. We need those who will stake reputation, hope, and life itself upon the veracity of God and the certainty of the everlasting gospel. To such the revelhMon of God is not one among many truths: it is the one and only saving truth. Alas! we have nowadays to deal with foxes with holes to run to in case they are too closely hunted. Oh, to have done with all glory but glorying in the cross! For my part, I am content to be a fool if the old gospel be folly. What is more, I am content to be lost if faith in the atoning sacrifice will not bring salvation. I am o sure about the whole matter, that if I were left alone in the world aa ibe last believer in the doctrines of grace, I would not think of abandoning them, nor even toning them down to win a convert. My all is staked on the veracity of God: “Let God be true, but every man a liar.”

“When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth,” such as he de.-erves at our hands? Do we believe in Jesus practically, in matter-of-fact style? Is our faith fact, and not fiction? If we have the truth of faith, have we the degree of faith which we might have? Just think of this: “If ye have faith as a grain of mustard seed, ye shall say unto this mountain, Remove hence to yonder place, and it shall remove.” What does this mean? Brethren, are we not off the rails? Do we even know what faith means? I begin sometimes to question whether we believe at all. What signs follow our believing? When we think what wonders faith could have done; when we consider what marvels our Lord might have wrought among us if it had not been for our unbelief; are we not humiliated? Have we ever cut ourselves clear of the hamper of self-trustfulness? Have we ever launched out into the deep in clear reliance upon the eternal God? Have we ever quitted the visible for the invisible? Have we clung to the naked promise of God and rested upon the bare arm of omnipotence, which in and of itself is more than sufficient for the fulfilment of every promise? 0 Lord, where are we? Where shall we find an oasis of t’uith amid this -wilderness of doubt? Where shall we find an Abraham? Is not the question an instructive one when set in connection with the parable which teaches us the power of importunate prayer?

III. In the next place, our text seems to me to be SUGGESTIVE IN VIEW OF ITS VERY FORM. It is put as a queption: “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth? “I think it warns us not to dogmatize about what the latter days will be. Jesus puts it as a question. Shall he find faith on the earth? If you say, “No,” my dear friend, I shall be very much inclined to take the other side, and warmly plead the affirmative. 1 remember how Elias said that he only was left, and yet the Lord had reserved unto himself seven thousand men that had not bowed the knee to Baal. Nations that know not •Christ shall run unto him, and the kings of Sheba and Seba shall offer gifts. I venture to hope that when the Son of man comes he will find laith on the earth: but if you vehemently assert that it will be so, I shall be driven to advance the negative side with much apprehension that it may prove true. When our Lord was here before, he found little enough of laith; and he has distinctly told us that when he shall come <the second time, men will be as they were in the days of Noah:” they

284 MF/TROPOLITAN TABERNACLE PULPIT.

did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given in marriage, until the day that Noe entered into the ark.” I am inclined to take neither side. Let it remain a question, as our Lord has pat it.

This question leads us to much holy fear as to the matter of faith. If our gracious Lord raises the question, the question ought to be raised. They say that some of us are old fogies, because we are jealous for the Lord “of hosts. They say that we are nervous and fidgety, and that our fears are the result of advancing age. Yes, at fifty-three I am supposed to be semi-imbecile with years. If I were of their way of thinking, I do not suppose that this would occur to them. We fall into a pessimism — I think that is the word they use: I do not know much about such terms. Surely the Saviour was not nervous. None will dare to accuse him of foolish anxiety; but yet he puts it, “When the Son of mfm cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” As far as my observation goes, it is a question which might suggest itself to the most hopeful persons at this time; for many processes are in vigorous action which tend to destroy faith. The Scriptures are being criticized with a familiarity which shocks all reverence, and their very foundation is being assailed by persons who call themselves Christians. A chilling criticism has taken the place of a warm, childlike, loving confidence. As one has truly said, “We have now a temple without a sanctuary.” Mystery is discarded that reason may reign. Men have eaten of the fruit of the tree of knowledge of good and evil till they think themselves gods. Revealed truth is not now a doctrine to be believed, but a proposition to be discussed. The loving woman at Jesus-* feet is cast out to make room for the traitor kissing Christ’s cheek. Like Belshazzar, our men of modern thought are drinking out of the vessels of Jehovah’s sanctuary in honour of their own deities. The idea of child-like faith is scouted, and he is regarded as the most honest man that can doubt the most, and pour most contempt upon the authority of the divine word. If this continues we may well say, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?” Inp some places the greatest fountain of infidelity is the Christian pulpit. If this is the case — and I am sure it is so — what must become of the churches, and what must come to the outlying world? Will Jesus find faith in the earth when he comes?

In addition to many processes which are in actipn to exterminate faith, are there not influences which dwarf and stunt it f Where do you find great faith? Where is the preaching or the teaching that is done in full faith in what is preached and taught? It is no use flogging other people; let us come home to ourselves. My brothers and sisters,, where is our own faith? It seemed almost a novelty in the church when it was s ated long ago that Mr. George Müller walked by faith in regard to temporal things. To feed children by faith in God waslooked upon as a pious freak. We have come to a pretty pass, have we not, when God is not to be trusted about common things? Abraham walked with God abouo daily life; but, nowadays, if yon meet with a man who walks wich God as to his business, trusts God as to every item and detail of his domestic affairs, persons look at him with a degree 01 suspicious wonder. They think he has grace in his heart, but they also suspect that he has a bee in his bonnet, or he would not act in that sort of way. Oh yes, we have a fancied f;iith; but when it comes to the stern realities of life where is our faith?

My brethren, why are you so full of worldly care? Why are you so anxious, if you have faith in God? Why do you display in worldly things almost as much distrust as worldly men? Whence this fear? this murmuring? this worry? 0 my Saviour, if thou wert to come, we could not defend ourselves for our wretched mistrust, our foolish apprehension, our want of luring reliance upon thee. We do not trust thee as thou oughtestto be trusted; and if this be the case among those who are such great debtors to thy loving faithfulness, where wilt thou find faith on earth? Where is that unstaggering faith which betakes itself to prevailing prayer, and so rises above the petty miseries of the hour, and the fears of a threatening future?

Do you not think that this, put in a question a« it is, invites us to intense watchfulness over ourselves? D<> you not think it should set is scrutinizing ouiselves as our Lord will scrutinize UH when he comes? You have been looking for a j/reat many things in yourself, my brother; let me entreat yon to look to your faith. What if love grow cold! I am sorry for it; but, after all, the frost mutt have begun in your faith. You are not so active as you used to be; that is to be greatly regretted; but the streams run low because the well-head is not so full as it was wont to be; your faith is failing. Oh that your soul were fed upon divine realities! Oh that you had a vivid consciousness of the certainty of God’s presence and power! When faith is strong, all the other graces are vigorous. The branches flourish when the root suclw up abundant nutriment; and when faith is in a healthy state, all the rest of the spiritual man will be vigorous aUo. Brethren, guard well your faith. My fear is that when Christ comes, if he delays much longer, he will find many of us faint because of our long waiting, and because of the disappointments which arise out of the slow spread of the gospel. The nations continue in unbelief. 0 Lord, how long Because we have not accomplished all that we hoped to have done, we are apt to grow weary. Or perhaps when he comes he will find us sleeping for sorrow, like the disciples in the garden when he came to them thrice and found them very heav). We may get to feel so sad that the gospel does not conquer all mankind, that we may fall into a swoon of sadness, a torpor of despair, and so be asleep when the Bridegroom cometh. I fear, most of all, that when Jesus comes he may find that the love of many has waxed cold because iniquity abounds. Warm-hearted saints keep each other warm, but cold also is contagious. When sin abounds saints may be able to stand against it; ami yet it has a sad tendency to chill their faith. If the Masier comes and finds us lukewarm, it will be a calamity indeed. The question stirs a bitter anguish in my soul. I trust it moves you also.

It is H question. I cannot answer it, but I open wide the doors of my heart to let it enter and try me. It acts like a fan in the Lord’s hand to purge the floor. It sweeps away my self-confidence and leads ine to watch and pray, that I enter not into the temptation of giving up my faith. I pray that we may stand fast when others slide, so when the Lord cometh we may be found accepted of him.

IV. I will close with this remark: my text is very IMPRESSIVE IN RKSPECT TO PERSONAL DUTY. “When the Son of man comets, shall he find faith on the earth.” Let faith have a home in our hearts, if it is denied a lodging everywhere else. If we do not trust our Lord, and trust him much more than we have ever done, we shall deserve his gravest displeasure. It will be a superfluity of naughtiness for us to doubt; for to some of us conversion was a clear, sharp, and distinct fact. The change made in our characters was so manifest that the devil himself could not make us doubt it. We know that the misery we suffered under a sense of sin was no fiction, and that the peace we received through faith in Jesus was no dream. Wherefore do we doubt? Since conversion some of us have been led in a strange way, and every step of it has shown us that the Lord is good and true, and ought to be trusted without stint. We have been sore sick, and full of pain, and anguish, and depression of spirit, and yet we have been upheld, and sustained, and brought through. In great labours we have been strengthened, in great undertakings we have been supported. Some of you have been very poor, or your business has been declining, and emergencies have been frequent, and yet all these have proved the truth of God. Do not these things make it the more incumbent upon you to trust him? Others of you have suffered sad bereavements: you have lost, one after another, the props of your comfort; but when you have gone to God he has heard your prayers, and been better to you than father, husband, or friend. It is down in your diary in black and white that his mercy eridureth for ever; and you have said to yourself many times, “I shall never doubt again after this.” Brethren, it ought to us to be impossible to mistrust, and natural to confide; and yet I fear it is not so. If after all this watering we grow so little faith, we may not wonder that our Lord said, “When the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?”

Some of us have been so familiar with dying beds, we have seen so many pass away in holy calm, and even with transporting triumph, that for us to doubt is disrespect to the memories of the saints. For us to doubt would be treachery to the Lord who has favoured ourselves also with visits of his love. We may doubt the dearest ones we have, and that would be cruel; but we had better do that than cast any suspicion upon him who has manifested himself to us as he does not to the world. I speak not to you all, but I speak to those whom the Lord has specially favoured, to whom he has revealed his secrets, and made known his covenant; for these to question his faithfulness is wickedness. What shall I say of his own elect, if they do not believe him.? If it were possible for you to quit your faith, you would crucify your Lord afresh. He must not be thus wounded in the house of his friends. No, go where thou wilt, 0 unbelief, thou shalt not find willing lodgrneat in my heart. From my spirit thou shalt be banished as a detested traitor; for my Beloved is true, and I will lean upon him.

I think I hear you say, “We are resolved upon it; we are called to have faith in our Lord, even if none else believe him.” Then look to it that you do not fail in these evil times. If you would keep your faith, settle it in your minds that the Holy Scriptures are inspired of the Holy Ghost, and so are our infallible rule of faith. If you give up that foundation you cannot exhibit faith worthy of the name. It is as clear as the sun in the heavens that a childlike faith in God as he is revealed is not possible to the man who doubts the revelation. You must accept the revelation as infallible, or you cannot unquestioningly believe in the God therein revealed. If you once give up inspiration, the foundations are removed, and all building is laborious trifling. How are the promises the support of faith if they are themselves questionable? God can only be known by his own light, and if we cannot trust the light, where are we? Next, settle it in your soul as to the Holy Spirit’s dealings with yourself. He has renewed you in the spirit of your mind. At least, I ask the question — Has he or has he not? You were converted tpy a divine agency from your lost estate of sin, and brought by the same divine agency into newness of life: were you or were you not? Unless you are quite certain about this, it is not possible for you to rise to any height of faith. You must know that God has come into contact with your soul, or else what have you to believe? Next to that belief, you must know your full pardon and sure justification through the blood and righteousness of Jesus Christ your Lord. Believe in the precious blood: x hatever else you doubt, believe in the merit of the great sacrifice of Calvary. Rejoice in your own acceptance through the sacrifice, seeing your whole faith rests therein. 0 brothers, our eternal hopes cannot be built on speculation; we need revelation. We cannot fight the battles of life with probabilities; we need certainties for such a conflict. If God has not revealed fixed truth, you may go and think and dream; but if he has given us a clear revelation, Jet us believe it, and cease to imagine and invent. 0 sirs, if you must speculate, risk your silver and your gold; but I beseech you to lay aside all idea of speculating in reference to your souls. I want- absolute certainties and unquestionable verities to bear me up when death’s cold flood is rising up to my Joins. Divine truths, as they are written in the Book, and brought home to the heart by the Holy Ghost, are sure standing ground for that faith which Jesus looks for. He looks for it in vain when men no longer accept his work as undoubted fact. Again, if you would have strong faith, never relax your confidence in the efficacy of prayer. This is essential to my text; for the widow used n«» other weapon than prayer in her importunity with the judge. She would not have persevered as she did in her pleadings if she had not felt morally certain that in the long run she would prevail. Brethren, believe that God hears your prayers, and that he will answer them. As for me, I do not want any argument to prove the influence of prayer with God. I have tried it, and do try it, till it is no longer an experiment. The man that habitually eats bread knows that he is nourished by it: the man that habitually lives by prayer to God knows that God hears him. It would be absurd to offer him evidence for or against the statement. If a person were to argue with me that there was no sun in the heavens, I am afraid I should laugh outright. I f anyone said that he did not believe me to be alive, I do not know in what way I could prove it to him. Would it be lawful to kick him, by way ot argument? When a man says, “I do not believe in prayer,” I answer, “What if you do not? You are che only loser.” That God Answers prayer is u living certainty to me, and I can say 110 more and no less. If you do not believe in prayer,

288 METROPOLITAN TAKEKNACI/E PULPIT.

assuredly the Lord will not find in you the faith of which our text speaks. If yon regard it as a pious exercise which refreshes the devout but has no power whatever with God — well then, if all are of your mind, the Son of man will find no faith on the earth. Do not talk aboufc believing, you know nothing of the matter.

If you do believe, believe up to the hilt. Plunge into this sea of holy confidence in God, and you nhall find waters to swim in. He that believes what he believes shall see what he shall see. No man was ever yet found guilty of believing in God too much. Among the high intelligences of heaven no creature was ever censured for being too credulous when dealing with the word of the Most High. Let us believe implicitly and explicitly. Let us believe without measure and without reserve. Let us hang our all upon the truth of God. Let us aspire also to walk with God in the heavenlies, and become the King’s Remembrancers. Let us seek grace to become importunate pleaders of a sort that cannot be denied, since their faith overcomes heaven by prayer. Oh, that 1 might have in my church many a prevailing Israel! Some here know what it is to be up early in the morning to besiege the throne of 2ra<;e with all the power of believing prayer. How much I owe to these dear ones, eternity alone will declare! Oh, that we ha 1 many more intercessors, who would bear sinners on their hearts day and night, before the Lord, and, like their Saviour, would never rest till the Lord built up his church! Alas, for the rarity of such conquering faith! I question whether there are not Christian people here who have never heard a certain text which I am about to quote; and I aw sure there are others who will shudder when they hear it. “Thus saith the Lord, concerning the work of my hands command ye me.” “Surely that cannot be Scripture!” cries one. But it is so. Turn to Isaiah xlv. 11, and read it both in the Authorized and the Revised Versions. Can a man command the Lord? Yes, to believing men he puts himself at their call; he bids them command his help, and use it as they will. Oh that we could rise to this! Is there sucn faith among us? If there be not, inpiy our Lord Jesus, by his Spirit, work it in us for his own glory! Amen.

PORTIONS OF SCRIPTURE READ BEFORE SERMON — Luke xvii. 20 — 87 1

xviii. 1 — 8.