“Soundness of doctrine is only worth having when it is the result of the living indwelling of God in the church; and because too much the Holy Spirit has departed, we see the signs that the orthodox faith is given up, and the inventions of man preached instead thereof.
Sometimes I breathe as I walk along, this prayer, that God would raise up more ministers to preach the gospel with power; there is so much feeble preaching, mere twaddling, and so little declaration of the gospel with power. But I do not know that I will pray that prayer again; I will put up this, “Lord, send thy Spirit upon the churches!” then will come the ministers, then will come the earnest workers. The Spirit of God will touch their tongues with fire, and they will say, “Here am I, send me,” and once again we shall have back the Puritanic age of preaching and ministries like those of Whitfield, Edwards, and McCheyne. The Spirit of God is the power of the church, and speaks with might in her.
My longing is that the churches may be more holy. I grieve to see so much of worldly conformity; how often wealth leads men astray; how many Christians follow the fashions of this wicked world. But shall I pray that the churches may be holy? I will, but I will put my prayer in this form, I will ask that God will give the Holy Spirit. He is the Spirit of holiness, he leads to obedience, purges from sin and creates the image of God in his people.”
- C. H. Spurgeon, Right Replies To Right Requests
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