The praying spirit can be granted to a man as his soul is in the attitude of prayer. Then we are like a bird with out- stretched pinions, poised betwixt earth and heaven, waiting in the atmosphere of God for the knowledge of the work we have to do. And as the bird descends to the nest on the earth which it can see from afar, so we should descend to our duties unperceived except we were on high with God. There, the heart open to God, the soul responsive to His influences, lifted above the mean- ness of earth, we get a true perspective of our duty ; we have a high courage, we see what is required of us, and seeing, we descend to do it. It is easy for us in our hours of silent com- munion with God to feel the meaning of things — the meaning never put into words, for heaven comes near and illuminates earth. Nay, rather we discover that earth and heaven are one.
^ A. H. Huizinga, in The Presbyterian and Reformed Review, v. p. 89.
ISAIAH 237
And when in silent awe we wait
And word and sign forbear, The hinges of the golden gate
Move soundless to our prayer.
1 During the great Welsh revival, it is said a minister was marvellously successful in his preaching. He had but one sermon, but under it hundreds of men were saved. Far away from where he lived, in a lonely valley, news of this wonderful success reached a. brother preacher. Forthwith he became anxious to find out the secret of this success. He started out, and walked the long and weary road, and, at length, reaching the humble cottage where the good minister lived, he said, "Brother, where did you get that sermon ? " He was taken into a poorly furnished room, and pointed to a spot where the carpet was worn shabby and bare, near a windove that looked out towards the solemn mountains, and the minister said, " Brother, that is where I got that sermon. My heart was heavy for men. One evening I knelt there, and cried for power to preach as I had never preached before. The hours passed until midnight struck, and the stars looked down on a sleeping valley and the silent hills ; but the answer came not, so I prayed on until at length I saw a faint grey shoot up in the east ; presently it became silver, and I watched and prayed until the silver became purple and gold, and on all the mountain crests blazed the altar fires of the new day ; and then the sermon came, and the power came, and I lay down and slept, and arose and preached, and scores fell down before the fire of God ; that is where I got that sermon."^
IF In the year 1861 the Southern States of America were filled with slaves and slaveholders. It was proposed to make Abraham Lincoln president. But he had resolved that if he came to that position of power he would do all he could to wipe away the awful scourge from the page of his nation's history. A rebellion soon became imminent, and it was expected that in his inaugural address much would be said respecting it. The time came. The Senate House was packed with people ; before him was gathered the business skill and the intellectual power of the States. With one son lying dead in the White House, whom he loved with a fond father's affection ; another little boy on the borders of eternity ; with his nation's eternal disgrace or everlasting honour resting upon his speech, he speaks distinctly, forcefully, and without fear. Friend and foe marvel at his collected movements. They know of the momentous issues which hang on his address. They know
' G. H. Morgan, Modern Knights- Errant, p. 100.
238 THE GREAT TEXTS OF THE BIBLE
the domestic trials that oppress his heart. But they do not know that, before leaving home that morning, the President had taken down the family Bible and conducted their home worship as usual, and then had asked to be left alone. The family withdrawing, they heard his tremulous voice raised in pleadings with God, that He whose shoulder sustains the government of woilds would guide him and overrule his speech for His own glory. Here was the secret of this man's strength.^
2. It means Faith. The original word means to " fully trust " or " strongly hope," to believe that the thing hoped for will be effected, and so to wait patiently and steadily till it is done. It has nothing to do, therefore, with the off-putting of the impeni- tent ; nor with the apathy, indolence, and indifference that too often creep over believers themselves. To wait upon the Lord, instead of being a weak or languid form of faith, is the form that shows most of its endurance and power. No doubt it is an expression which brings out the quiet side of the spiritual life. But our text states this important and too much forgotten secret of that life — that it is just such quiet confidence in God that maintains and revives grace in the soul.
IT " They that wait upon the Lord " is Old Testament dialect for what in New Testament phraseology is meant by " Believe on the Lord Jesus Christ." For the notion expressed here by " waiting " is that of expectant dependence, and the New Testament " faith " is the very same in its attitude of expectant dependence, while the object of the Old Testament " waiting," Jehovah, is identical with the object of the New Testament " faith," which fastens on God manifest in the flesh, the Man Jesus Christ. Therefore, I am not\ diverting the language of my text from its true meaning, but simply opening its depth, when I say that the condition of the^^ inflow of this unwearied and immortal life into our poor, fainting, dying humanity is simply the trust in Jesus Christ the Eedeemer of our souls. True, the revelation has advanced, the contents of ' that which we grasp are more developed and articulate, blessed be God ! True, we know more about Jehovah, when we see Him in Jesus Christ, than Isaiah did. True, we have to trust in Him as dying on the Cross for our salvation and as the pattern and example in His humanity of all nobleness and beauty for young or old, but the Christ is the " same yesterday, and to-day, and for ever." And the faith that knit the furthest back of the saints of old to the Jehovah whom they dimly knew, is in essence identical