Travailing for Souls part2
September 3rd, 1871
by
C. H. SPURGEON
(1834-1892)
As we shall not have time to narrate many instances, let us take a long
leap in history to the days of David. The era of the son of Jesse was
evidently a time of religious revival. God was honored and his service
maintained in the midst of Judea's land in the days of the royal bard;
but it is clear to readers of the Scriptures that David was the subject of
spiritual throes and pangs of the most intense kind. His bosom throbbed
and heaved like that of a man made fit to be the leader of a great
revival. What yearnings he had! He thirsted after God, after the living
God! What petitions he poured forth that God would visit Zion, and
make the vine which he had planted to flourish once again. Even when
his own sins pressed heavily upon him, he could not end his personal
confession without entreating the Lord to build the walls of Jerusalem,
and to do good in his good pleasure unto Zion. Now, David was only
the mouth of hundreds of others, who with equal fervency cried unto
God that the blessing might rest upon his people. There was much soul-
travail in Israel and Judah, and the result was that the Lord was
glorified, and true religion flourished.
Remember also the days of Josiah, the king. You know well now the
book of the law was found neglected in the temple, and when it was
brought before the king, he rent his clothes, for he saw that the nation
had revolted, and that wrath must come upon it to the uttermost. The
young king's heart, which was tender, for he feared God, was ready to
break with anguish to think of the misery that would come upon his
people on account of their sins. Then there came a glorious reformation
which purged the land of idols, and caused the passover to be observed
as never before. Travails of heart among the godly produced the
delightful change.
It was the same with the work of Nehemiah. His book begins with a
description of the travail of his heart. He was a patriot, a man of
nervous, excitable temperament, and keen sensibility for God's honor,
and when his soul had felt great bitterness and longing, then he arose to
build, and a blessing rested on his efforts.
In the early dawn of Christian history, there was a preparation of the
church before it received an increase. Look at the obedient disciples
sitting in the upper room, waiting with anxious hope; every heart there
had been ploughed with anguish by the death of the Lord, each one was
intent to receive the promised boon of the Spirit. There, with one heart
and one mind, they tarried, but not without wrestling prayer, and so the
Comforter was given, and three thousand souls were given also.
The like living zeal and vehement desire have always been perceptible
in the Church of God before any season of refreshing. Think not that
Luther was the only man that wrought the Reformation. There were
hundreds who sighed and cried in secret in the cottages of the Black
Forest, in the homes of Germany, and on the hills of Switzerland.
There were hearts breaking for the Lord's appearing in strange places,
they might have been found in the palaces of Spain, in the dungeons of
the Inquisition, among the canals of Holland, and the green lanes of
England. Women, as they hid their Bibles, lest their lives should be
forfeited, cried out in spirit, "O God, how long?" There were pains as
of a woman in travail, in secret places there were tears and bitter
lamentations, on the high places of the field there were mighty strivings
of spirit, and so at length there came that grand revulsion which made
the Vatican to rock and reel from its foundation to its pinnacle. There
has been evermore in the history of the church, the travail before there
has been the result.
And this, dear friends, while it is true on the large scale, is true also in
every individual case. A man with no sensibility or compassion for
other men's souls, may accidentally be the means of a conversion; the
good word which he utters will not cease to be good because the
speaker had no right to declare God's statutes. The bread and meat
which were brought to Elijah were not less nourishing because the
ravens brought them, but the ravens remained ravens still. A hard-
hearted man may say a good thing which God will bless, but, as a rule,
those who bring souls to Christ are those who first of all have felt an
agony of desire that souls should be saved. This is imaged to us in our
Master's character. He is the great Saviour of men; but before he could
save others, he learned in their flesh to sympathize with them. He wept
over Jerusalem, he sweat great drops of blood in Gethsemane; he was,
and is, a high priest who is touched with the feeling of our infirmities.
As the Captain of our salvation, in bringing many sons unto glory he
was made perfect by sufferings. Even Christ went not forth to preach
until he had spent nights in intercessory prayer, and uttered strong
cryings and tears for the salvation of his hearers. His ministering
servants who have been most useful, have always been eagerly
desirous to be so. If any minister can be satisfied without conversions,
he shall have no conversions. God will not force usefulness on any
man. It is only when our heart breaks to see men saved, that we shall be
likely to see sinners' hearts broken. The secret of success lies in all-
consuming zeal, all-subduing travail for souls. Read the sermons of
Wesley and of Whitfield, and what is there in them? It is no severe
criticism to say that they are scarcely worthy to have survived, and yet
those sermons wrought marvels, and well they might, for both
preachers could truly say--
"The love of Christ doth me constrain
To seek the wandering souls of men;
With cries, entreaties, tears, to save,
To snatch them from the fiery wave."
Travailing for Souls part1 C. H. SPURGEON
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