it is through much tribulation we are to enter the kingdom of heaven. Expect tribulation of some sort or other, before we gain this victory,- that is, if it is going to be an extraordinary one. If ordinary, then, probably, ordinary trials. My soul has been crying to God for a great work. I am willing to face, through divine help, whatever blasts of opposition may assail us in consequence. Are you willing? Every soul-saving minister is a witness of the truth of diabolical agency. He is made to feel, with an aching heart, as many times as there are hairs upon his head, the power of the enemy. - Let him who doubts, or estimates lightly such a power, enter the field for the conquest of souls. Let him give battle against sin and Satan, in downright earnest, night and day. Let him measure his success by the number of sinners driven to their knees with cries for mercy, and converts to Christ. O, I will say it, he shall be made to acknowledge in sorrowful defeat, or in agonizing conflict and victory, that he has encountered a power the strength of which he never had properly estimated! A power "From thrones of glory driven, By flaming vengeance hurled." To hurl vengeance back again, is their element. Their malice and revenge are inextinguishable. To baffle effort, to defeat the victory, to intercept divine power, to neutralize truth, to harden sinners, they never tire, never give over, till driven from the field. There are points of time in every revival when their power is unmistakable; when their shadow is thrown across the Christian host; when the gloom of their presence falls like a pall on hopes of victory. It is, as I remarked before, a darkness that may be felt, like that which covered Egypt. But, ye followers of the Crucified, listen! There is another great captain in the field,- Jesus, whom St. Paul calls "The Captain of our salvation." If all is right in our little army, he is in the midst of us with his angels. It stands to reason; it is not against Scripture. It accords with the promise, "Where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst." "Go ye into all the world, and preach the Gospel to every creature; and, lo, I am with you always, even unto the end of the world." Where the Lord of the universe is, there, undoubtedly, will be a concourse of angels. Where Christ is, angels are. He is never alone, never unattended; and where interests are pending such as we have here, never unprepared to take the part of those who are battling for his glory with pure intention. Let none of you doubt this. Besides, is it not written, "Are they not all ministering spirits, sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation?"- Heb. 1: 14. Not are heirs, but "shall be,"to assist in making them heirs. But where are they more needed than on such a spiritual battlefield?to minister to the wounded, the weary, the dejected, the disheartened, the faltering, the fallen. To heal, to awaken, to inspirit, to strengthen, to cheer to glory and to victory. The servant of Elisha cried, "Alas! my master! what shall we do?" For he saw, by morning light, that the host of the Syrians, with horses and chariots, had quite encompassed the city, and there was no way of escape. "Fear not," said the prophet, "for they that be with us are more than they that be with them;" and prayed, "Lord, I pray thee open his eyes, that he may see!" Eli sha saw what the servant saw not. So Lord opened the eyes of the young man it is said, "The and he saw, and behold the mountain was full of horses and chariots of fire round about Elisha." 2 Kings 6. If the enemy host, so had Elisha. had a Had they horses and chariots, Elisha had them also,but "horses and chariots of FIRE!" So it is now; so it shall be in this battle of Huddersfield. I had a vision of this on Shelburn Point, in Lake Champlain, before I left America for Europe. The Lord's host met me there, in spiritual vision, with my eyes open. How inexpressible!—how inexplainable! But it encouraged me then; for it regarded my visit to the British islands, and success there. That scene cheered me then,-it cheers me now! If it was an illusion some hallucination it did me no injury, but inspired emotions sublime, humiliation profound, zeal ardent, courage, faith, determination! There was nothing in it contrary to that declaration of the Bible, "The angel of the Lord encampeth round about them that fear him, and delivereth them.". - Ps. 34: 7. Thronging angels are round about us; their breasts burning with loyalty to Jesus; their hearts rejoicing in the evolutions of his wisdom in bringing about this crisis; their weapons burnished for the fight! I looked up among the clouds, the other day, and noticed two layers of clouds moving in contrary directions, one underneath the other, owing to contrary currents of air aloft. It reminded me of what I had been thinking of,contrary influences, heavenly and infernal, which we have been realizing of late. A few hours after, and all the clouds were moving in one direction,- one of the air-currents having ceased. Let us look up and expect the prevalence of divine influences, to the exclusion of the diabolical. Angels are with us. The lightnings are not swifter than they, to do the will of our Jesus. They are also great in strength. "Forty centuries look down on you from the top of yonder pyramids," said Napoleon to his troops, on the eve of "the battle of the pyramids." How many centuries of souls are looking down from the heights of heaven upon us this moment! Napoleon hinted to his soldiers they were about to add another leaf to the four thousand years of history which belonged to those pyramids and surrounding plains. We are about to add another leaf to the spiritual history of Huddersfield. God grant it may be a bright one, such as may be read in heaven with joy by those there before us, and by ourselves in glory afterwards! Brethren, there is no vagrancy of fancy in all this! Hearken. Luke 15: 7.—"There is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth." Hearken again. Luke 15: 10. Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth." Why did our Lord make two such remarkable declarations almost in the same breath, but to assure and encourage us regarding heavenly sympathy, at least — ay, and assistance by inference? Epiphanius, of old, said of the prophet Elijah, that, "He sucked fire out of his mother's breasts." The Lord help me! but I would suck revival fire out of these two texts! - In all this, O Christ, let us look unto thee! To trust in man, men or means, or in self, or in anything short of thyself, is to lean upon a bruised reed; to seek light from darkness, warmth from cold, support from bruised reeds, victory from weapons of straw. Victory is of the Lord! O Jesus! all that I have, or am, and all I shall be, now, hereafter and forever, I consecrate eternally to thee, and to thy glory! "To do or not to do, to have Or not to have, I leave with thee; To be or not to be, I leave : Thy only will be done in me! All my requests are lost in one,— "Welcome alike the crown, the cross! FATHER! thy only will be done! " Now, my soul, rouse thee! Gird on thy armor! It is on, my Lord-it is on! - buckled tight upon my soul, - and to remain till the victory. Now, is it unsafe to say: "Rouse thee, heart! Bow of my life, thou art full of springs, Unsafe? No, it is safe! My trust is wholly in the Lord. Self is conquered; the battle has been fought, the victory won, there! Self and unbelief have been made "to bite the dust" before the Lord! O, how unwilling a preacher is, sometimes, to become a fool!-1 Cor. 3: 18. A fool for Christ, that he may become wise in winning souls for Christ; unwilling ever, till he gain this victory over himself. Now, I am willing to be as a madman in the eyes of the world, of the great and the wise; at least, to preach so as they will call me such; or a hypocrite, or knave, or schismatic, or any other name, old or new, coming as if "glowing from the lips of eldest hell;" all is well to me if souls are only saved, and Jesus glorified. Sin is |