been the
conditions of revival. In all intercession confession of man's sin and
God's righteous judgment is ever an essential element.

Throughout the history of Israel we continually see this. It comes out
in the reformations under the pious Kings of Judah. We hear it in the
prayer of men like Ezra and Nehemiah and Daniel. In Isaiah and Jeremiah
and Ezekiel, as well as in the minor prophets, it is the keynote of all
the warning as of all the promise. If there be no humiliation and
forsaking of sin there can be no revival or deliverance: "These men have
set up their idols in their hearts. Shall I at all be inquired of by
them?" "To this man will I look, even to him that is poor and of a
contrite spirit, and that trembleth at My word." Amid the most gracious
promises of Divine visitation there is ever this note: "Be ashamed and
confounded for your ways, O House of Israel."

We find the same in the New Testament. The Sermon on the Mount promises
the kingdom to the poor and them that mourn. In the Epistles to the
Corinthians and Galatians the religion of man, of worldly wisdom and
confidence in the flesh, is exposed and denounced; without its being
confessed and forsaken, all the promises of grace and the Spirit will be
vain. In the Epistles to the seven churches we find five of which He,
out of whose mouth goes the sharp, two-edged sword, says, that He has
something against them. In each of these the keyword of His message
is--not to the unconverted, but to the Church--Repent! All the glorious
promises which each of these Epistles contain, down to the last one,
with its "Open the door and I will come in"; "He that overcometh shall
sit with Me on My throne," are dependent on that one word--Repent!

And if there is to be a revival, not among the unsaved, but in our
churches, to give a holy, spiritual membership, will not that trumpet
sound need to be heard--Repent? Was it only in Israel, in the ministry
of kings and prophets, that there was so much evil in God's people to be
cleansed away? Was it only in the Church of the first century, that Paul
and James and our Lord Himself had to speak such sharp words? Or is
there not in the Church of our days an idolatry of money and talent and
culture, a worldly spirit, making it unfaithful to its one only Husband
and Lord, a confidence in the flesh which grieves and resists God's Holy
Spirit? Is there not almost everywhere a confession of the lack of
spirituality and spiritual pow