Vermont telegraph. [volume] (Brandon [Vt.]) 1828-1843, 1836-06-02
BRANDON, THURSDAY, JUNE 3, 1886.


blessed with rcvivals, in answer to pray,
! ers that are not half in earnest. They
;4nust tel the infinite importance Of re-
vlVaL before they will pray so as to pre-.
vail Blessings otthis kind are not grant
ed but IN answer to such prayers as arise
rom sense Of their importance. AS |
have shown before, when preaching on
the SUBJECT of prevailing prayer, 1t is
when Ii desire the blessing with UN-
UTTERABLE AGONY, that they Of
fer such prayer as will infalhbIy prevail
with God. l hose no feel less Of the i'm
portancc Of a revival may pray for it in
words but they will never lave the LESS
ing. But when a church has been united
IN prayer, and really felt the importance
OF revival, they never have failed Of hav-
ing one. do not believe case Can be
found, Of such a church being turned
empty away. Such an agreement when
sincere, will secure an agreement a so on
all other subjects that are Indispensable
4. They must be agreed also, in having
correct scriptur0I u0tl0ns a6out SereraL
things c0mnected 1c1th rrrlrals.
a. The necessity of diriue agency to
produce a revival It is not enough that
they hold all this IN Meorv and pray for
it IN acOrdS. They must fully understand
and deeply feel this necessity, they must
realize their entire dependence on the
Spirit Of God, or the whole will fail.
(2.) Why divine agency is necessary.
There must be an agreement on correct
principles in regard to the reason that d.
v'nc agency is so indispensable If they
get wrong ideas on this point, they will
be hindered. If Christians get the idea
that this necessity Of divine influence lies
in the inability of Sinners or if they feel
as if God was under obligation to give the
Holy Spirit, in order to make sinners able
to obey the gospel, they insult God, and
their prayers will not avail. For in that
case they must feel that it is mere matter
ofcommon justice for God to pour out his
Spirit, before he can justly require Chris
tlans to work. or sinners to repent.
Suppose church get the idea that sin
nerS are poor, unfortunate creatures who
come into the world with such nature
that they can't help shining, and that sin
ners are ust as unable to repent and be-
Iieve the gospel as they are to fly to the
moon, how can they feel that the sinner is
rebel against God, and that he deserves
to be sent to he'll? How can they feel
that the sinner is to blame? And how
can they take Gods part when they pray?
lfthey do not take Gods part against the
sinner, they cannot expect God will re-
gard their prayers, for they do not pray
with right motives. No doubt one great
reason why SO many prayers are not an
swered, is that those who pray do in fact
take the sinners part against God They
pray as II the sinner was poor untortun-
ate being, to be pitied, rather than as if he
was guilty wretch, to be blamed. And
the reason is that they do not believe sim
ners are able TO obey God. Ifa person
does not believe that sinners are able to
obey their Maker, and really believes that
the Spirits Influences ore necessary to
make him able, it is impossible, with these
views, to offer acceptable and prevailing
prayer for the sinner, and it is not Won
derfuI that persons with these views should
not prevail with God, and should doubt
about the efficacy Of the prayer OF faith
How often do you hear people pray for
sinners in this style, 80 Lord, help this
poor soul 10 do what he is required to do
20 Lord, enable him to do so and so.'-
Now this language implies that they take
the sinners art, and not Gods. If
was understood BY those who use it, as it
is sometimes explained, and if people
meant by it what they ought to mean
when they plead for sinners, would not
find so much fault with it, But the truth
is, that when people use this language,
they often mean just what tie language
itself would be naturally at first sight. IN
de1stood to mean, which is just as if they
should pray, 90 Lord, thou commandest
these poor sinners to repent, when, O
: Lord, thou knowest they cannot repent
unless thou givest them thy Spirit, to eua
bic them to do it, though thou hast dec]ar-
! ed that thou wilt SEND them TO hell if they
do not, whether they ever receive the
Spirit or not; and now, Lord, this seems
very hard, and we pray thee to have pity
upon these poor creatures, and do notdea
50 hardly With them, for Chris:'s sake;
Who does not see that such prayer, OF
aprayer which means this, whatever Ian
guage it may be couched in, is an insult
to God, charging him with infinite mus
tice, if he continues to exact from sinner:
f. duty which they are unable to perform
f without that aid which he will not grant
People may pray in this way till the day
of judgment, and never obtain blessing
!; because they ia Ike the sinners part agains
God. They canno. pray successfully
until they understand that the sinner is ;
rebel, and obstinate in his rebelhon-st
, obstinate that he never will, without tn
: Holy Spirit, do what he might do as vel
| as nst, instantly, and this obstinacv is tn
2 reason, and the only reason, why he need