Charles Spurgeon the Baptist and J. C. Ryle the Anglican were like Peter and Paul to London in the latter half of the nineteenth century. The names of the enemies of what these two men were doing in their pulpits....and with their writings....are long forgotten today....but Spurgeon's ministry and Ryle's ministry are still being used by God in a mighty way.
The church in England was heading downhill fast by the late 1880s....and these two men stood up in defense of the gospel.....particularly Spurgeon....England's greatest light.....who was censured by his own denomination.....and that fight....that censure....contributed to his early death at the age of 57....a few years after this fight began. Jonathan Edwards had also died relatively young....(54)....in no small way because the rejection from his own congregation of 23 years set him on the move....placing him in an area experiencing a smallpox outbreak......and J. Gresham Machen....the great Presbyterian defender of the gospel in America in post-WWI America.....who was defrocked by his congregation....also died young....(55)....while traveling a long distance to give aid and encouragement to congregations in need.
Spurgeon's battle in defense of the gospel lasted a few years....and he wrote these words in summary while the battle was still hot and heavy....
"We believe in prayer....LET US PRAY LIKE ELIJAHS....May the Lord himself direct his people! Meanwhile, to redouble our prayers, and to seek a revival in all our churches, cannot possibly be a mistake. Prayer, mighty prayer, can do wonders. This is the work of the present hour. Pray without ceasing, and preach the faithful Word in clearer terms than ever before. Such a course of conduct may seem to some to be a sort of standing still and doing nothing, but in very truth it is bringing God into the battle; and when HE comes to avenge the quarrel of his covenant, he will make short work of it. 'Arise, O Lord, plead thine own cause!" (PS 74:22)
We in America are where Spurgeon was at the time of this writing....where the battle is essentially lost....as our supply lines are cut....and our only alternative is to rely on prayer....but O....do not consider this a plan B....for this is where we should have made our base camp from the very beginning. God did answer Spurgeon's pleading to "Arise!"....only not in the way that Spurgeon had hoped in his limited vision....and our prayers will be answered....but also in a way that we might not expect.
