James Turner (1818-63)
James Turner was born in Peterhead, Aberdeenshire in 1818 to fairly poor, unsaved parents. He was sent to school for three years at the age of 6, but he did not prosper there. At ten he was apprenticed to a cooper (barrel maker) in Peterhead. When he was fifteen his eldest brother persuaded him to attend a Bible Class. "For five long years I sat in the back seat, but I was deaf to all that was said, and my heart was hard as a stone. I often wonder how I did not leave the class, for indeed I did not like it, but, somehow or other, I could not get away from it." Intentionally or not, Turner must have picked up at least a familiarity with the Bible.
During that time his conscience began to be awakened and early in 1840, when Turner was 22, his convictions of sin assumed a more decided character. It was no longer a vague feeling of uneasiness that troubled him, but he now saw himself to be a sinner in the sight of God, and that, as a sinner, his soul was in danger of perishing eternally.
He now anxiously enquired as to what he must do to be saved. At first he tried to, "give up a good many of my old sins, such as taking God's name in vain, and breaking the Lord's Day, but, instead of peace, I found sorrow. I then thought I should have a Bible, and went and bought one, so I made a god of it for a long time, and read it day and night, but I could not find the thing I wanted. Then I would try prayer and made this my god also. In short, I tried everything but the right thing. I went into the fields with my Bible, and I read it and prayed, and wept, but every day I grew worse and worse."
For three months the salvation of his soul became the only thing he could think of. He thought he could not lay hold on Christ by faith. He went to every sermon or prayer meeting he could hear of, in the hope that, there, his soul would find the blessing. But, at last, "It was on a Monday morning (4th May 1840), says Mr Turner, "that the Lord blotted out my sins. I had three hours of heaven on that day; my soul was so shut up in God, that I had no knowledge of what was doing on the earth. I have not felt such heavenly peace since that time."
After three wonderful days the enemy started to attack him, putting doubts in his mind. However, he fought through and all was well for 18 months, but then he became less passionate for the Lord, which lasted four years until he became friends with an old Christian lady. “She asked me to go and hear her minister in the Wesleyan Chapel, and I went to the sermon, and also to the class meeting. The Lord blessed my soul among that people, and, shortly afterwards, I saw it to be my duty to join them. I found among them what my soul much needed, which was help heavenward." From then on Turner’s walk with the Lord was stable – he had of course highs and lows, but the enemy was never able to knock him off the course laid out for him.
From 1853 until the end of 1859 Turner occasionally wrote in a diary. Unfortunately, he decided to stop writing just as his ministry exploded, possibly because so much was going on that there was never time to fill in the details. Apart from the diaries, Turner’s letters are the main source of information about him.
By the end of 1853 Turner had been used by the Lord to bring about ten people to Christ, so his role as evangelist was beginning to show. He was also a class leader for about 30 people in his church. He took his role very seriously, praying for the salvation and welfare of each member, regularly. In the course of that year, he preached about two hundred sermons. Took part in two hundred and sixty meetings for prayer. Led the classes committed to his care upwards of one hundred times, and stood by the bedside of the sick and the dying no fewer than five hundred times, and, better than all, "The Lord, has given me more souls this year than during any previous year of my converted life."
The number of dying people he was with during the year highlights how young people died in those days, which could explain the urgency with which he evangelised. Turner notes in his diary at this time that many of those he grew up with were already dead and he was only 34!
Turner saw his calling as getting as many as possible into the Kingdom of God. It was his passion, which he pursued for the rest of his life, despite his less than robust health. However, he had to temper this with working in his business of barrel making and curing herrings. He set up his own business with a brother around 1855.
From the time he became a member of the Wesleyan Church, Turner had heard and read a good deal about the possibility of getting "Christian perfection." Another name for this is the Baptism of Fire, which most great revivalists experienced before being involved in revival. Turner had been longing to attain this gift. He had made it a matter of a great deal of prayer, and it was so much a matter of faith with him that, long before the time he believed he experienced it—he felt assured that, sooner or later, he would do so.
However, it took a while as he wrote in July 1853, “Thanks be to God, my soul is still heavenward. Lord, make me holy, soul and body; this is what I am living for. On Sabbath night I was so filled with God that I thought 'Perfect Love' was laying hold on my heart, but oh no. May the Lord keep me from stumbling on this great matter. I know that my Jesus has made it over to me, and by faith I must lay hold. Lord, help, for Thou knowest that I long for this blessing.”
In March, 1854. Turner was with two fellow Christians who were very dear to him, and who were very gifted spiritually. They prayed powerfully for him and as they prayed, the Spirit was poured out on him and he was completely prostrated under the mighty power of God. He had received the Baptism of Fire or Sanctification as some call it. He wrote, “This day, by the grace of God. I can say the blood of Jesus has cleansed me from all sin.”
While leading his class the following Sunday, six members also received the Baptism. Others received the blessing in two other meetings that week. There was so much of the presence of God at those meetings that nobody wanted to leave them and they went on very late. It is believed that not a few people received salvation during these meetings. (This showed that the power of Holy Spirit that he received through the Baptism was already at work through him.)
At the end of the month Turner held meetings in Colliston, a village close to Peterhead. He held open-air meetings and many were convicted of sin, and anxiously inquired what they must do to be saved. He could scarcely get away from them. I believe that this was probably the first time he had mass salvations at his meetings – another example of the fruit of the Baptism of Fire.
Turner continued preaching in villages around Peterhead and he continued to lead people to Christ. He began several prayer meetings and meetings for studying the Scriptures and for exhorting these new Christians so that their passion and faith be stirred up and they be encouraged to bring in the lost themselves. He continued to pray for every one of them and for the unsaved and for revival. He was full of love for his fellow man and he was also very humble.
Despite his weak body, Turner persisted in doing his Master’s work. He wrote, "My body is completely worn out seeking to bring souls to the Saviour. Some people tell me that I am taking away my own life, but I am only devoting it to the God who gave it."
Like all Christians who are pushing forward in their calling, the enemy tries to interfere and it was no different for Turner. He often had a fight on his hands, but he was an overcomer. I am sure that his passion to lead a more holy life year by year helped in this fight.
In May 1855 his body broke down under the strain and he spent a month in Aberdeen hospital, followed by a period of rest at a friend’s. Even though he was meant to rest, he led twenty souls to the Lord while staying with his friend. On his way home he spent the night with a friend and led three of the servants to Jesus. That was his nature!
From July 1855 to the end of 1859 Turner worked and ministered in and around Peterhead. Some ministers in Peterhead held a daily prayer meeting to which Turner attended. However, during the meeting he prayed for the ministers and officials whom he thought were unsaved. This caused great offence and as a result the prayer meeting was closed down and he was not allowed to preach in certain areas, which had the effect of forcing him out of his home town.
Instead he continued to minister in the area south and southwest of Peterhead. One minister of a parish welcomed him warmly and the result was the whole parish was shaken. The word got out and other parish ministers welcomed him and their parishes were blessed. Four or five ministers would regularly come to his services and helped him speak to those who were awakened. These ministers recognised the power at work.
The revivalist Gordon Furlong wrote about Turner. "Whole parishes and districts changed their character, and through the power of God and the Holy Ghost hundreds of cold, Bible-taught Christians were turned into living temples; answers to prayer poured in, and yet the instrument was ostensibly no greater than one of the early fishermen.”
The curing of herrings had a very busy season in the summer and autumn, but the winter was spent making barrels. The 1859 herring season was a very poor one and the two brothers had a lot of unused barrels at the end of the season, which meant that there was little for them to do during the winter.
People in the past had suggested that James Turner should maybe consider a more active life as an evangelist. The unusual position he found himself in made him prayerfully consider if a door was opening for him to minister full-time for a while. He had a heart for the fishermen in the villages along the Moray coast, north of Peterhead along to Portgordon, so this was his chosen area of labour. After prayer and the agreement of his brother he set out on his mission.
The next five months Turner spent lighting revival fires in several villages along the coast and leading thousands to the Lord. During this time he was often offered money, even from the very poor areas, but he always declined, saying he wanted souls, not money. (I write about this period under ‘Revivals’ on my website.)
During this time he ministered mostly in six towns/villages. The description of events are the most powerful I have ever read about. The impact on these villages was huge, even though he was only a few days in each place. Each place had four or five revivals over the next fifteen years, partly due to the amazing depth of what happened in 1860.
He wrote, "I find that not only has the Spirit of God been preparing me to go round the coast, but has also been preparing the people for me."
A man from Banff describes his ministry, “Mr Turner was in the pulpit what he was out of it - a stern reprover of sin in its every form and phase. His preaching very much resembled the strain of the Baptist, stern, inflexible, some might even think harsh. He dealt with the truth of God always in a practical manner. He exposed the prevailing sins of the day, and knowing much of the human heart by a wondrous experience acquired during many years of close walking with God, he revealed the hidden hatred to God and things divine that naturally lurks in every human heart. He was jealous for the glory of God, being careful always to ascribe the glory in conversion work to God alone.”
Another wrote, “He had a great spiritual insight - it seemed scarcely possible to deceive him. And wherever he went, it was his constant practice to visit the old and the sick, and as soon as ever he entered in, the Spirit of the Lord seemed to use his very presence to awaken the people. Many a heavy burden did he lighten, and many an oppressed one was he the means of setting free. Yet he was a man of few words, but the little that he said had great weight.” Evidently, his only using a few words to get his point across was because he did not want to grieve the Spirit.
Turner wrote, "One day I was walking along the street to the meeting. My appearance seemed to excite as much curiosity as though I had been a wild beast that was being lead along the street in chains. One woman came to the door to throw out water. On seeing me quite unexpectedly, she let the basin fall, and stood looking at me quite oblivious of the fact that the basin lay in pieces at her feet. 'Lord save that woman,' said I, and He at once laid hold of her heart, for she turned and went into the house, took a shawl about her head, and followed on to the meeting, and before she left it she had Christ in her - the hope of glory." What an anointing must have been on him.
“A godlier, earnest, faithful man I have never seen nor one who relied more on God, seeming never for one moment to doubt but that God would fulfil His word. Although very often in his preaching dwelling on the terrors of the Lord and the awful eternity of the lost soul, Mr Turner could speak of the love of Christ in such a manner as to move any audience to tears, and it was when he spoke on the attractions of the cross and the infinite love there displayed that the hearts of his audiences were entirely broken.”
During this period not a day passed in which he did not address some meeting. Some days he preached three times, and on several occasions he conducted one continuous meeting from morning until night, and from night until well into the morning: then after three or four hours rest he was up and at the work again! The wear and tear on his mind and body must have been dreadful: enough to destroy the health of the strongest. How a weak man like Turner was enabled to go through it seems nothing short of a miracle. It can only be explained by the fact that the Lord had called him to special work and therefore sustained him.
He was so ill he had to remain in bed for a time, but then he continued his labours in Peterhead, Aberdeen and Inverness, but not really as powerfully as on the coast. In mid-July 1860 he returned to work. His place of work was quite large, so he and his brother made changes so that the building could hold a meeting for 200 people. They held meetings every night which James led when in Peterhead, otherwise his brother led them.
Towards the end of the year, Turner’s illness became worse. At some point he developed a pulmonary disease which now developed into a distressing cough accompanied with a bringing up of blood, showing but too plainly that the disease had made considerable progress. Feeling certain that the time which remained to him for active labour in the cause of God was now very short, he was anxious to make the most of it, and towards the end of November or early in December, the symptoms having reduced somewhat, he went to the coast again.
During his trip, which was a powerful one, he became ill and had to remain some time in Macduff before going to Huntly for three weeks to rest. On returning home in February 1861, his faithful doctor recommended that he went to a warmer climate, so he went to the Isle of Wight for three months. On his return home in June, it was clear that he was a little better. He was able to work for a time, but in August he had another attack and had to rest and recover.
In October he felt he was getting a little better. The cough was not so bad and he was able to walk about a good deal. As usual he was desperate to talk to people about Jesus. He must have been so frustrated at having such limited opportunities to pursue his passion over the last eighteen months. As he was feeling better he set off in October for the coast again with the intention of saying goodbye to the wonderful people he had met the previous year.
Turner was actually going on business, with no intention of ministering. However, while in Portgordon he thought of the blessed times he had formerly spent there, and on the mighty power which had accompanied the word of truth, he could not resist the burning desire which he felt to speak to the people, whatever the consequences to his frail body. However extraordinary it may seem, he was enabled to minister for nearly three weeks, visiting the coastal towns he had laboured in formerly, only taking short intervals for rest, and speaking with the same power and anointing he did previously. The power that accompanied his ministry was just as extraordinary as in 1860.
Whilst in Banff he stayed in the house where he had been several times before, but he became unwell. He had received much loving care in that house. On this occasion he was suffering so much that his host came down early one morning and asked his wife to go and see if there was anything she could do for their sick friend. She went up and after she had dressed his blistered chest, Turner insisted that she leave him and go back to bed. "To please him, I did so, and the power of God came down upon my spirit to an amazing degree. A perfect tide of blessing passed over my soul, as well as the thought, or the intuition rather, that that dear man was praying for me. Passage after passage crowded into my mind with indescribable power and blessing.” Later she asked Turner if he had been praying for her and he replied, "Yes, and I know that my Father has been blessing you." What an example of the power of prayer he had.
But, after this short time of ministry he had another attack and was unable to ever minister publicly again. The last year of his life was spent chiefly at home, though sometimes he moved about from place to place among his numerous friends for the benefit of a change of air; but so long as he was able to speak, he never ceased to speak to individuals about the state of their souls.
So long as he lived his heart burned with passion for his Master's glory, and it was not until very near his end that he was compelled to give up the hope of again being able to resume his labours.
James Turner spent the last weeks of his life in bed. Alluding to what some of his friends had said, that he had brought on, or at least very much hastened his death by his tireless work in the cause of God, his wife asked him what he would do if the Lord was pleased to give him back his strength.
"O," he replied, "I would do all that I have done for Christ over again, and much more."
James died on February 2nd, 1863, aged 44.
Although mourned by many, he was also remembered by thousands for as long as they lived. Someone estimated that he led over 8,000 people to Jesus. But it does not end there, because so many experienced powerful revelations of Christ at their salvation that a great number of them went out and brought in the lost themselves. “There has been three special times of revival in Whitehills since. One through someone, who, if not one of James Turner's converts, was at least led out to work for the Lord through him. The second and third also through those who had directly or indirectly received their working impetus through the instrumentality of James Turner, but it would be inconveniently long to recount particulars.” So, goodness knows how many people owe their salvation directly or indirectly to James Turner.
One person wrote, “He had a heavenly fragrance about him which spoke of Jesus wherever he went. His holy and humble walk testified to the existence in the heart of a living union to Christ.”
What a mighty man of God! Obedient, dedicated, humble, passionate and flowing in the Glory of God!
Taken from the book, “Life and Labours of James Turner,” by William Robbie.
James Turner preaching
"I know thy works; behold I have set before thee an open door, and no man can shut It; for thou hast a little strength, and hast kept my word, and hast not denied my name."— Rev. 3v8
I would seek to make use of these words for a few minutes, first, to the unsaved. "I know thy works." Christ knows every Christian, and all about them as also what passes through their souls. The Lord knows, too, what passes through the mind of the unpardoned. "I know thy works," He says to you, unsaved sinner. Now, sinner, what of your works? Your by-past life - much of it you have forgotten. The greater part of your life you have forgotten - you have lost sight of it. There is much of it you would take the pen through which still clings to your memory fresh and vivid. A good part of your history you would score out if you could, but it won't do - it cannot be.
Well, tonight, as you have come to the house of God, I trust you will allow the Lord to enter your heart. Look back at your past history, take a look at it - what do you think of it? Remember though you may have forgotten the one-twentieth part of it, God has not - God has not - no, no! There are some spots, too, you would not have liked your nearest and dearest to have seen, or have told them about. There are some spots in your life which are ever before you, and willingly would you sink them out of sight, and cast them into oblivion; but it won't do — Oh, no!
Unsaved sinner, God knows all these things, every thought even. It is the thoughts of the heart with which God has to do. The thoughts of your heart, sinner, what have they been? They have been evil continually. Look at the thoughts which have passed through a heart that has lived for, say, twenty years; yes, look at them - think of them. I would not take it upon me to say when our accountability to God begins, I would not say that, because God has not told me but I would not like to have died even at ten years of age, with all my wicked and abominable thoughts unrepented of and unpardoned.
What has your life been in the sight of a holy God? What thoughts! What wretched thoughts! What blasphemous thoughts! What infidel thoughts! Yea, what hard thoughts of God you have cherished! Well, the Lord remembers every thought, yes, every thought, every imagination that has passed through your unsaved soul since the first day he gave you existence in this trying scene of life.
"I know thy works." He looks at your thoughts. It is the heart God searches. He looks into the interior - oh! Yes. It is no surface work. He enters in and looks upon the heart. We only see the outside, only what is brought to our view; we can understand a little of that. But what would you think if you saw in a long list every thought, every vain imagination that has passed through you? Supposing you had never committed a single sin, still these thoughts and this abominable heart of yours would have ruined your soul. The Lord knows all about it. This is what the Spirit is speaking to the Church at Philadelphia, he says, "I know thy works," and thy thoughts.
I would now speak to those in middle life. Unsaved sinner in mid-life. What have you done for God all your lifetime? Thy works, too, are all known to God. Some of you I see, whose locks are now getting white with many winters, all your works are known to God. What a list! Yes, all that has been done in your family.
I once spoke to a father who had, I think, four sons and three daughters. One of his sons got deeply aroused about his never-dying soul. He spoke to his father, but his father would not hear him, and he spoke faithfully, as he knew his father was fast nearing on to eternity. After he had received salvation himself, he longed still more exceedingly for his father's conversion; but no, no, the father would give no heed to the son. At last there was a meeting in his house, which impressed two of his daughters, and they got one and then another of his sons aroused. Now, they all spoke to their father, and faithfully urged that aged man to stop in his mad career but no, all was still in vain.
At length God fixed an arrow in his heart, which was deep, deep - it was this:-"Have not I, the God of heaven, given thy family into thy hands, to train them up for me, and what hast thou been doing? Thou hast been urging and dragging them down to the pit by thy example." That went to the man's conscience, and there it rested. It cost him about eight weeks on his bed, this fearful thought, that, had not God turned his family, he would have been the instrument, in the hands of the devil, of sinking them down to perdition.
You then, in mid-life, think of this, that all thy family actions and all that transpires in thy household, God knows about it. Since ever God gave you these souls, what have you been doing? You have been putting stumbling blocks in your children's way, that they might stumble down to the pit. God knows that, had not some of the Lord's people come and taken them out of your grasp, as instruments in the hands of God, your sons and daughters, through your example and painful influence, would have sunk to rise no more. God knows that such lies against you, unconverted fathers and unconverted mothers.
But again, God knows not only your family works but also those in your business - your business. Oh! How much has God against you there? Unjust dealings man with man. You think if you pass clear and not be detected with your frauds in your business; that in thus getting off without being brought to the Court of Justice, all is well. God knows it, sinner. Business is in a sad state in the sight of a holy God in this respect. Everything is nearly turned upside down.
"I know thy works," says God, all about thy unjust transactions with your neighbour in your line of life, whatever it may be, and the Lord will bring them all to bear upon thee when thou wilt be brought to His bar above. God knows all your works then. What a mercy God forbears so long.
Again, "I have set before thee an open door." How important a little sentence is this — "Behold, I have set before thee an open door." What a wonderful God of mercy we have to do with! We have all given cause to God to frown upon us, and what has He being doing? - Affording us mercy. He does not say this is a wide door, but an open door. It is a narrow door, but it is an open door. Unsaved sinner, here is an open door provided for you. Oh! Come and read that invitation wrote on the top of it, "Enter in, enter in, that ye may find life."
What did it cost to open that door? It cost God all that Heaven could bestow to set open that door for a lost and ruined world. It is set open - God has set it open - and it stands so now. The Lord has opened it by Christ. Yes, the Son of God came into the world and died on Calvary for your sins and my sins, on the accursed tree, all that we might be saved from that lake which burneth with fire and brimstone. Thus the door was opened, and it stands open tonight.
Behold, says God, I have set it open, not by angels, not by men, not by ministers, but by Christ Jesus. Behold it, He says: look at it: oh! Think of it, it is an open door for you. But it is also an effectual door to enter in through. Yes, an effectual one. It is an open door provided for us, that we might enter through it into Heaven.
I trust then, unsaved sinner if you have not thought of this, that through the grace of God, you will do so tonight. God's door is open tonight, and you may escape. Your thoughts, your words, your deeds, are all hanging around your unsaved soul. See, then, this way is opened up for you; this door stands open by night and by day. Knock, and you will hear the joyous words, "Come in, come in, eternal glory thou shalt win;" "Whosoever will," let him enter this open door. The door was opened by God Himself, and Jesus is the door.
This door, then, having been opened, we are invited to enter in. Come then, and find pasture for your never-dying soul. Our circumstances are not called in question - whether we be rich or poor, young or old, learned or ignorant - there is no qualification in this respect. The door is open, and we are invited to enter; nay, - we are commanded to enter in by the King himself - the Lord Himself - the blessed Spirit commands all, even " whosoever will," to enter in, and find eternal life.
It has been open for some of you a long time now - ten, fifteen, twenty, thirty, or fifty years perhaps - and you have not entered in yet. Well, you cannot say you have not been invited or urged upon. God has done it Himself, and the Spirit has striven with you, but you have neglected it. The Lord God has spoken to you Himself in various ways. He speaks to you through the Gospel, through the law, and He has also urged you by His providences. Some of your family He has visited with affliction and bereavement, thus urging you to enter in. Every stroke is a call from the Lord to enter in at the door which is "opened up in the House of David for sin and for uncleanness." What a merciful God! yes, what a merciful Cod, that He should thus condescend to provide for us in our low and lost estate.
Think, again, what your impenitence has cost Him. Nothing in the universe could have done for your Salvation and mine, but this the door - Christ Jesus - no other door in the wide universe, no other way will do, but just that way alone, the way. No other door which men have entered has been found safe. No safety nor shelter to cover from the storm and tempest can anyone find, but in this the appointed way of God. Every other shelter is insufficient and unsatisfying but this. It is for you now to enter it, and find eternal life in the blessed Son of God.
Oh! Think, think. I am convinced that the Spirit is speaking to many hearts here, urging them to repent and escape, and to do so - when? Immediately, now, for the door is open, and it will not always remain open. Mark that, mark that! As I said before, - I cannot tell when we become responsible to God - it is very early - neither will I say when our time of probation is to end, it is not laid down in the Bible, God has kept that to Himself; but this I know, that this door will not stand always open. It will be shut by and bye. It has long been set wide; God threw it wide open by His Son, who came and dwelt in our world in the flesh, and suffered and died. Had it been by any other instrumentality, it would have been ineffectual, but it has been opened by God, and you are commanded to enter in and find eternal life, before it be shut - before it be shut forever. It is shut to some very early. The gate into the Heavenly country is a narrow gate, and mark, it will not always stand open for you. It may stand even a century to some, but two-thirds of the world go the way of all living long ere that period arrives. God's time is now; escape now. Enter in through this open, this safe, this only way, this only hiding place from the storm now, for the Lord has said, "My Spirit will not strive always with man." By and bye, the Spirit will cease; you will weary Him out.
Do not some of you in your own experience, in looking back a short time ago, perhaps, see how you have quenched the Spirit? Some faithful message of God's Word may have aroused you, or some affliction in your family, but now your hearts are hardened. What is the reason of this? Why do you not feel as you once did? It is because the Spirit is not striving with you. Your conscience is getting seared, that is the reason of it. By-and-bye the Lord will be wearied; He will say to His Spirit, "Let Ephraim alone, he is joined to his idols."
Oh! Why will you die? God invites you Himself tonight; the Holy Ghost is in this house tonight, speaking to your conscience. Take warning now, ere it be forever too late. "Now is the accepted time." Enter in and find eternal peace and comfort. It is offered freely and fully without money and without price, free as the air you breathe. Get hold, then, of this salvation provided in the Gospel. The door is open, and by-and-bye it will not stand open for you nor for me - it will be shut.
Again, "No man can shut it." What a mercy that is! No man nor devil either can shut that door, or it would not have stood two days open. It would have been shut early. Few would have entered in, but the Lord has taken care of that. All opposing powers of earth and hell are powerless because the Lord Himself opened it. No other power can shut it. No man - mark that! - can shut Heaven against you, no man can shut that fountain opened up in Calvary, in which to wash all your crimson stains. No man has power to shut it, neither have the devils power to do so, or, believe me, it would have been done long ago. But the Lord has kept this in His own hands.
What a mercy! Yes, what a mercy! He is unwilling that you should perish, and He has put it past the power of them all. They talk of the Church of Rome opening and shutting this gate, but thanks be to God, no church in the world can do it. He has made man the instrument of explaining the Gospel to his fellow man, but the opening and shutting of the gate, that is in His own power; He died on Calvary Himself to purchase this power, and it is by the Mighty God alone that it will be shut. It stands night and day opens for you to enter. Come from the east, west, north, or south, the Lord will not refuse. Never, never! Oh, no! Dear people, it is standing open now, and no man, no power, I am sure can do it.
If I could, I would have shut it against my own soul - often did I strive to do it. Are any of you striving to shut it? Let your unbelief strive no longer against the grace of God. The Lord says, "No man shall shut this door; it is opened by Myself, and I have preserved that power. No church, nor angel, in Heaven or Hell can, or dare, bar this entry which I have opened up in Calvary, till the great work be accomplished, till the Kingdom be filled, till My house be full; then will I shut it, but not till then."
Dear unsaved sinner, it is open to you this night, and it is you whom I wish to persuade, or rather that God would persuade to enter in; it is you I so much long after. Probably we may meet here for the last time till we meet t the bar of God - I know not. Tonight, then, I again urge you once more to enter in now, before it be forever too late, and the door shut against you. The blessed Lord is passing by, and very soon you will die in your sins - die in your blood; but tonight you can have peace with God if only you believe His word. Remember "there is no work, nor device, nor knowledge, nor wisdom in the grave whither thou goest."