Street Meeting Sixteenth

The sacred narrative recorded within the eighteenth chapter of the Gospel according to St. Luke was bequeathed to us by our blessed Redeemer for a singular and hallowed purpose: to impress upon the saints of every passing generation the solemn truth that 'men ought always to pray, and not to faint.' (Luke 18:1) Herein, the Master unveils that indelible mark by which the true followers of the Lamb are known—that they do 'cry day and night unto Him.'(Luke 18:7) Let it not be supposed, however, that we are called to a life of perpetual seclusion, divorced from our duties; rather, it is that our inward frame and the very breath of our spirits should abide in a state of unceasing communion with the Almighty, our thoughts ever ascending to the throne of grace amidst the labors of the day.

Not all which bears the name of prayer is accepted as such in the courts of Heaven, even as not every soul that professes the name of Christ shall be found among His jewels. It is a sobering observation that the adherents of pagan systems—the Buddhist, the Taoist, the Mohammedans—oft-times exceed the Christian in the frequency of their prostrations. This is most true in those societies of progress where ease and carnal comfort have conspired to enervate the Church and divest her of her power and witness.

The prayer which finds most ready entrance at the Throne of Grace is that which springs from the depths of a desperate soul. Hannah remains a most luminous pattern; her supplication was seasoned with every essential grace of true communion. We are told she was 'in bitterness of soul' and 'wept sore' before the Lord (1 Samuel 1:10). Thus, in His sovereign mercy, the Almighty did not merely stoop to grant her a son, but through her travail, He bestowed upon the entire commonwealth of Israel a great prophet.

The message herein contained for the sheepfold of Christ is distinct from that which is proclaimed in the ears of the public. As spiritual sustenance for the Master's sheep, we consider, that if even a hardened heart can be moved to action, how much more shall the Father attend to His own? We behold in this parable a judge of a most wretched character, who, by his own admission, neither feared the Almighty nor regarded the dignity of man, being entirely swallowed up in his own self-interest. His grant to the widow was born not of compassion, but of a desire for his own ease; he sought merely to deliver himself from the ceaseless berating of one whom he deemed an annoyance. He granted the petition only that he might rid his court of her stubborn presence. If, then, such a godless soul can be moved by persistence, let the believer take heart in the knowledge that his God is of a different and incomparable spirit.

The Almighty does not merely stoop to listen to the cries of His saints; He finds holy delight in the very act of answering them. His name is not truly magnified by the occasional petitions of the hasty comers-and-goers, but rather by that steadfast confidence which clings to the hem of His garment and refuses to let Him go till He blesses him. Indeed, the soul that persists in unceasing prayer affords the highest testimony of his belief; for were he not upheld by a divine assurance, he would surely abandon his suit at the first sign of delay.

Such a spirit of prayer is no mere product of the human will, but is a grace borne from above; it is faith that gives birth to prayer, and prayer, in its turn, serves to fortify and enlarge that very faith. We may rest assured that the Lord, in His infinite wisdom, inspires the very petitions He intends to grant, bestowing the spirit of intercession upon those He means to bless. He withholds no good thing from the believer who walks uprightly and reposes his entire trust in the promises of God.

Men indulge in manifold suppositions regarding that which constitutes a true Church. There is amongst us a ceaseless clamor concerning the niceties of systematic theology and the dusty records of ecclesiastical history; and while such matters are indeed profitable in their proper station, there exists a grievous peril of transforming them into 'golden calves' of our own fashioning. The very creeds which were intended to serve as a bulwark for the truth have, in our day, been perverted into a wall of exclusion; a barrier which cruelly shuts out those wandering sheep whom the good Shepherd is even now gathering into His fold. This lamentable state hath come to pass because these precious souls do not conform to the rigid molds of what the world—and a formalist Christendom—deems to be 'rightly ordained' or 'seemly in order.' Thus, the letter which was meant to protect the church hath become a stone of stumbling to the true seeker.

(There indeed remains much to be said on this subject. Let it not be thought that I hold a correct theology or a proper exegesis lightly; for these are the very ramparts of the faith, and are most critical to our standing. Yet, we must confess with a heavy heart that the Western Church hath so exalted these intellectual pursuits that they have cast a long and chilling shadow over the vital practice of consistent, persistent, and even stubborn prayer that pleads power through the Spirit, apart from the arm of the flesh. What is worse, the Asian church, and many other churches, have copied it. We must remember that while a righteous prayer must ever spring from sound theology, it is likewise true that a sound theology must inevitably blossom into sound doxology. We are powerless to worship the Almighty aright if our knowledge of His character be distorted or false; yet, if that knowledge doth not compel us to our knees, it is but a dead letter. True learning is the fuel, but prayer is the fire; and what profits the fuel if the flame be never kindled?)

Let it be understood that a Church truly established upon the Rock is not known by the loftiness of her intellect alone, but by a heart that treasures the Lord Jesus Christ above all earthly prizes. She is a body that strives with holy jealousy for inward purity, and which, being clothed in the unction of the Holy Spirit, bears a powerful witness against the depravities and corruptions of a fallen world bent in rebellion against God.

We are met with no scarcity of great conferences convened to deliberate upon the sovereignty of God; nor is there any shortage of sermons regarding His divine attributes, or of volumes penned in honor of the venerable Puritans. Yet, should one watch for a conference dedicated to the holy exercise of Prayer, I fear he would find his vigil to be a weary and protracted one.

Nay, I may dare to affirm, without fear of contradiction, that no such assembly shall be found. For wherefore should men gather to celebrate that which they hold in such light esteem, or to discourse upon a mystery of which they remain in profound and utter ignorance? We congratulate ourselves with a complacent spirit, upon the supposed magnitude of our achievements for the glory of God; yet we perceive not that the sacred fire upon the altar of the heart hath long since died in ashes. We boast of the outward order of our Christian business, while the inward flame hath utterly expired.

Was not our blessed Lord—He whom we so loudly profess to take as our divine pattern—preeminently a man of prayer? Was He not the 'Man of Sorrows,' intimately acquainted with grief, who yet sought prayers in the stillness of the midnight hour? We behold Him, through the sacred record, spending many a weary night in fervent supplication; now upon the desolate mountain-side, now amidst the shadowed boughs of the garden, in a solitude known only to the Father. 

The disciples asked wisely when they approached the Master; for they sought not to become better preachers, but asked, 'Lord, teach us to pray.' What petitions do we bring before the Throne in this degenerate age? It is a bitter truth that prayer is the very thing we seek the least. Of the many pastors whom I have heard in their supposed prayers, they address the King of Heaven with such a casual air as one might address a waiter for the menu. Their speech is utterly void of trembling, and profound reverence, when speaking to the King of Kings. Not so like Isaiah, who upon seeing the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, said, 'Woe is me! for I am undone; because I am a man of unclean lips, and I dwell in the midst of a people of unclean lips.' (Isaiah 6:5), or Daniel, who upon seeing his great vision, said that 'there remained no strength in me: for my comeliness was turned in me into corruption, and I retained no strength.' (Daniel 10:8), or Ezekiel who fell on his face when he beheld the glory of the LORD (Ezekiel 3:23), or John, who upon seeing the Majesty of God, 'fell at his feet as dead' (Revelation 1:17). 

We presume to draw near with an irreverent step, standing with shoes firmly bound upon our feet even while we tread upon holy ground. How have we become so strangely darkened in our understandings as to forget the nature of Him with whom we have to do? We speak of that God before whose blinding glory even the sinless seraphim must veil their faces, being unable to endure the brightness of His glory. We have lost the hallowed remembrance that our God is not a mere companion of our whims, but a Great and Terrible King—a consuming fire whose holiness should prostrate any soul in fear and trembling.

This observation, however, lays a grave and solemn emphasis upon our present state: that while the art to preach as He preached may be acquired by human learning, the grace to pray as He prayed can never be fashioned by the will of man. It is a holy breath, which can be breathed into the soul only by the Spirit of God Himself.

Nevertheless when the Son of man cometh, shall he find faith on the earth?
Luke 18:8

From the hour of His Ascension even unto the expected glory of His Second Advent, the spirit of the age shall wax ever more bold in its defiance, casting scorn upon the 'alleged' return of the King. The scoffer shall arise in his pride, crying out, 'Where is the promise of His coming? for since the fathers fell asleep, all things continue as they were from the beginning of the creation.' (2 Peter 3:4) Thus, the world shall be peopled with those who are 'lovers of their own selves, covetous, boasters,' and 'heady, high-minded, lovers of pleasures more than lovers of God.' We behold a generation having a 'form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.' (2 Timothy 3:1-5) As iniquity abounds, a thick darkness of deception shall overspread the face of the earth, until evil itself seems to sit enthroned. In that dismal hour, the very elect are in peril of a secret despair; they may yet maintain the outward rituals of their faith, while the inner fire of supplication dwindles to a spark. They shall begin to pray but little, and at the last, pray not at all—thereby betraying that they have, in the silence of their hearts, ceased to look for His appearing. For a soul that hath ceased to cry out for the Bridegroom is a soul that no longer expects His arrival.

These are mere thoughts and gleanings from the evening that followed. The sheep have been fed, the Gospel has been sounded, and the people have been warned. Thus the sixteenth installment of our street meeting is concluded.