The Assembly of God. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. IIIMackintosh, Charles Henry
Religion
The Assembly of God. Miscellaneous Writings of C. H. Mackintosh, vol. III
Mackintosh, Charles Henry
Theology
If not, what then? Let us, even if there be but two who really feel the
condition of things, get together, with one accord, and pour out our
hearts to God. Let us wait on Him, in holy concord, with united, firm
purpose, until He send a copious shower of blessing upon the barren
spot. Let us not fold our arms and vainly say, "The time is not come."
Let us not yield to that pernicious offshoot of a one-sided theology,
which is rightly called fatalism, and say, "God is sovereign, and He
works according to His own will. We must wait His time. Human effort is
in vain. We cannot get up a revival. We must beware of mere
excitement."
All this seems very plausible; and the more so because there is a
measure of truth in it; indeed it is all true, so far as it goes: but it
is only one side of the truth. It is truth, and nothing but the truth;
but it is not _the whole truth_. Hence its mischievous tendency. There
is nothing more to be dreaded than one-sided truth; it is far more
dangerous than positive, palpable error. Many an earnest soul has been
stumbled and turned completely out of the way by one-sided or misapplied
truth. Many a true-hearted and useful workman has been chilled,
repulsed, and driven out of the harvest-field by the injudicious
enforcement of certain doctrines having a measure of truth, but not
_the_ full truth of God.
Nothing, however, can touch the truth, or weaken the force of Matthew
xviii. 19. It stands in all its blessed fullness, freeness, and
preciousness before the eye of faith; its terms are clear and
unmistakable. "If two of you shall agree upon earth, as touching _any
thing_ that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of My Father which
is in heaven." Here is our warrant for coming together to pray for any
thing that may be laid on our hearts. Do we mourn over the coldness,
barrenness, and death around us? Are we discouraged by the little
apparent fruit from the preaching of the gospel--the lack of power in
the preaching itself, and the total absence of practical result? Are our
souls cast down by the barrenness, dullness, heaviness, and low tone of
all our reunions, whether at the table of our Lord, before the
mercy-seat, or around the fountain of holy Scripture?
What are we to do? Fold our arms in cold indifference? give up in
despair? or give vent to complaining, murmuring, fretfulness, or
irritation? God forbid! What then? Come together, "with one accord in
one place;" get down on our faces before our God, and pour out our
hearts, as the heart of one man, pleading Matthew xviii. 19.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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