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1 2 3

4 5 6

THE HOLY SPIRIT

POWER FROM ON HIGH

I AN UNFOLDING "^^^ THE DOCTRINE OF THE
HOLY SPIRI i' IN THE OLD AND
NEW TESTAMENTS

By
REV. A. B. SIMPSON, D.D.

PJRT IL THE NEW TESTAMENT

CHRISTIAN PUBLICATIONS, INC.

Third and Reily Streets

Harrisburg, Pa.

NEW EDITION FROM NEW PLATES
With Foreword by
WALTER M. TURNBULL, D.D,

PREFACE TO VOLUME II

In issuing the seconc? volume of the Holy Spirit or
Power from on High, after an interval of a year since the
publication of the first volume, the author is deeply
conscious of the imperfections of his work. In view of
the vastness and grandeur of the theme, he asks the kind
inaulgence of his readers and friends, and begs them to
remember that these chapters are the substance of his
weekly pulpit ministrations amid the pressure of a life
of almost overwhelming work and care.

He is, however, encouraged by the numerous letters
that have come from those who havej read these messages
in the weekly columns of the Christian Alliance (now the
Alliance Weekly), to believe that they have often been
bread for God 's hungry children. He is reassured by the
humble consciousness that he is not attempting to min-
ister entertainment or instruction for the wise, the
scholarly and the critical, but to provide simple and sat-
isfying bread for the King's children.

He need scarcely say that this sublime theme has con-
tinually grown upon him during the two years that it
has been the subject of his regular pulpit ministrations,
and that, although he has now been able to complete the
survey of the whole sacred voiume in uiifolding this
theme, he feels, at the close, as if he were only standing
upon the shore of an infinite ocean of truth and love,
without a fathoming line or a shore.

He would humbly commend these pages to the bless-
ing of God and the earnest prayers of his friends, that
this volume may be used for the honor of the Holy
Spirit and the deepening of the interest of God's people

* PREFACE

in this great theme which, happily today, is occupying
the profoundest attention of the church of God, and
which,^ perhaps more than any other, is the "present
truth" which God is pressing upon the attention of His
people in these last days.

The first edition of Volume I having been quite ex-
hausted, another large edition is being rapidly pushed
through the press.

New York, April 1, 1896.

CONTENTS

PAGE

Preface to Volume II

I. The Holy Spirit in the Life of the

Lord Jesus Christ (Matthew) H

II. The Baptism with the Holy Ghost

(Matthew) 21

III. The Wise and Foolish Virgins (Mat-

thew) 29

IV. The Parable of the Pounds ; or, Power

for Service (Luke) 37

V. The Holy Ghost in the Gospel of John 49

VI. The Comforter (John) 53

VII. Waiting for the Spirit (Acts) 67

VIII. Power from on High (Acts) 77

IX. Filled with the Spirit (Acts) ....... 90

X. The Holy Spirit in the Epistles to the

Bomans qq

XI. The Holy Spirit in the First Epistle to

to the Corinthians 1Q9

XII. The Holy Spirit in the Body of Christ

(1 Corinthians) ^19

XIIL The Holy Spirit in Second Corinthians 126

XIV. The Holy Spirit in Galatians 134

XV. All the Blessings of the Spirit (Ephe-

sians) ^^^

XVI. The Holy Spirit in Philippians . 157

XVII. The Spirit of Love * iqq

6 CONTENTS

PAGE

XVIII. The Holy Spiiit in Thcssalonians .... 175
XIX. The Holy Spirit in the Epistles of Paul

to Timothy 184

XX. Regeneration and Renewal (Titus) 195

XXI. The Holy Spirit in the Epistle to the

Hebrews 204

XXII. God's Jealous Love (James) 214

XXIII. The Holy Spirit in the Epistles of Peter 225

XXIV. The Holy Spirit in the First Epistle of

John 234

XXV. The Holy Spirit in Jude 246

XXVI. The Sevenfold Holy Ghost (Revelation) 257
XXVII. The Spirit's IMessage to the Churches

(Revelation) 264

XXVIII. The Holy Spirit's Last Message (Rev-
elation) 277

PAQK

175

184
195

204
214
225

234
246
257

264

277

THE HOLY SPIRIT

POWER FROM ON HIGH

r,i

PART II.

THE NEW TESTAMENT

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CHAPTER I.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OP THE LORD

JESUS CHRIST.

"I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance; but He
that Cometh after me is mightier than 1, whose shoes I am not
worthy to bear; He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and
with fire."— Matt. 3: 11.

THESE words from the lips of the forerunner inti-
mate that there was to be a great distinction be-
tween the old dispensation which he was closing,
and the nev/, which Jesus Christ was about to usher in.

The distinction was to be very marked in connection
with the manner and measure in which the Holy Ghost
would be poured out upon the people of God and mani-
fested in connection with the work of redemption. The
two natural emblems of watex' and fire are used to denote
the difference between the two dispensations.

We have seen that the Holj Ghost was present on
earth during the Old Testament age, speaking through
the prophets and messengers of God, and working out
the divine purpose in the lives of God's chosen agents,
and instruments. But the New Testament is preemi-
nently the age of the Holy Ghost, and we might, there-
fore, expect that there would be a great and infinite
difference. The principal difference between the old
and new dispensations, with respect to the presence and
manifestations of the Holy Ghost, might be summed up
in the following particulars.

1. In the Old Testament, the Holy Ghost was given to
special individuals to fit them for special service ; in the
New Testament, the promise is that the Spirit shall be
poured out upon all flesh, and they shall not need to
say, one to another, "Know the Lord, for all shall know
Him," through the divine unction, ''from the least to

I'
*■-

POWER FROM ON HIGH

the greatest." The universal outpouring of the Holy
Ghost upon all believers is the striking feature of the
New Testament.

2. The Holy Spirit was with men and upon men,
rather than in them in the Old Testament. In the New
Testament dispensation, the Holy Ghost comes to dwell
in us and to unite us personally with God, and to be in
us, not only a Spirit of power and a preparation for
service, but a Spirit of life, holiness, and fellowship with
the Divine Being. It is not the iniluence of the Holy
Ghost that we receive, but it is the Person of the Holy
Ghost.

3. This leads us to the third distinction ; namely, that
under the Old Testament dispensation, the Holy Ghost
was not resident upon earth, but visited it from time to
time as occasion required. Now the Spirit of God is
dwelling upon the earth. This is His abode. He resides
in the hearts of men, and in the Church of Christ, just
as literally as Jesus resided upon the earth during the
thirty- three years of His incarnation and life belov/.

4. Perhaps the principal difference was this; in the
Old Testament age the Holy Ghost came rather as the
Spirit of the Father, in the glory and majesty of the
Deity, while under the New Testament He comes rather
as the Spirit of the Son, to represent Jesus to us, and
to make Him real in our experience and life. Indeed,
the Person of the Holy Ghost was not fully constituted
under the Old Testament. It was necessary that He
should reside for three and a half years in the heart of
Jesus of Nazareth, and become, as it were, humanized,
colored, and brought nearer to us by His personal union
with our Incarnate Lord. Now He comes to us as the
sa^ne Spirit that lived, and loved, and suffered, and
wrought, in Jesus Christ.

In a sense, our Master left His heart behind Him, and
when the Holy Ghost comes to dwell within us, He brings

THE SriRIT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

the living Christ and makes His person real to our
hearts.

This must be the meaning of that remarkable passage
in John 7 : 37, 38, where Jesus said that the Spirit in the
believer should flow out like rivers of living water; then
the evangelist adds, "The Spirit was not yet; because
Jesus was not yet glorified." The Holy Spirit, in the
form in which He was to be manifest in the coming age
was not constituted until after the ascension of Jesus.
Now , He comes to us as the Spirit of Christ. Therefore
it is intensely interesting to us to look at the relation of
the Holy Ghost to the person of our Lord in His first
baptism and earthly ministry.

This is our present theme. May the Holy Ghost Him-
self illuminate and apply it to all our hearts !

Our Lord was born of the Holy Spirit. The announce-
ment by the angel to Mary connects the Divine Spirit
directly with the conception and incarnation of Christ.
"The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee and the power
of the Highest shall overshadow thee, therefore, that
holy' thing which shall be born of thee shall be called the
son of God. ' ' Luke 1 : 35.

The human mind cannot fathom this m;y'stery — a holy
Christ conceived and born of one who was herself the
daughter of a sinful race. We cannot believe in the
immaculate Mary, but we can believe in the immaculate
Son of God, born ot her without sin.

The very fact that she was an imperfect and sinful
woman adds to the glory of this mystery and makes it
the more perfect type of the experience through which
we also come into fellowship with our living Head. For
just as Jesus was born of the Spirit, so we, the disciples
of Jesus, must also be born of the Holy Ghost; for
"except a man be boru from above he cannot enter the
kingdom of God."

I
I

■I

; I

POWER FROM ON HIGH

The mystery of the incarnation is repeated every time
a soul is created anew in Christ Jesus. Into the unholy
being of a child of Adam, a seed of incorruptible and
eternal life is implanted by the divine Spirit, and that
seed is in itself, through the life of God, holy and incor-
ruptible. Just as you may see in the sweet springtime
the little white, spotless shoot, coming from the dark
soil and out of the heap of manure, unstained by all its
gross surroundings, so out of our lost humanity the Holy
Spirit causes to spring forth the life of the new-born
soul; and while the subject of that marvelous experience
may seem an imperfect being, still ho has that within
him, of which the apostle has said, "His seed remaineth
in him, and cannot sin ; because it is born of God." He
can sin, but that holy nature implanted in him cannot;
it is like its Author, holy, too.

''And so He that sanctifieth, and they that are sancti-
fied, are all of one, for which cause He is not ashamed
to call them brethren." Like Him we are born of the
Holy Ghost and become the sons of God, not by adoption,
but by the divine regeneration.

II.

Jesus Christ was baptized by the Holy Spirit. Not
only did He derive His person and His incarnate life
from the Holy Ghost, but when at thirty years of age
lie consecrated Himself to His ministry of life and suf-
fering and service, and went down into the waters of the
Jordan, in token of His self-renunciation and His as-
sumption of death, the heavens were opened and the
Holy Ghost, by whom He had been born, now came down
and personally possessed His being and henceforth
dwelt within Him.

No one can for a moment deny that this was some-
thing transcendontly more than the incarnation of
Christ. Up to this time there had been one personality,
henceforth there were two; for the Holy Ghost was

Hi^

THE SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

added to the Christ, and in the strength of this indwell-
ing Spirit, henceforth He wrought His works, and spake
His words, and accomplished His ministry on earth.

But this also has its parallel in the experience of the
disciples of Christ. It is not enough for us to be born of
the Holy Ghost, we must also be baptized with the
Holy Ghost. There must come a crisis hour in the life
of every Christian when he, too, steps down into the
Jordan of death; when he yields his will to fulfill all
righteousness, like his Master; when he voluntarily as-
sumes the life of self-renunciation and service, which
God has appointed for him in His holy will, and when
there is added to him, as a divine trust, the Holy Ghost ;
henceforth it is not one, but two, and then these two are
one.

I remember the day when my daughter walked down
one aisle of this building, and another walked down the
other aisle, and they met at this altar and then they
walked back after that simple, solemn ceremony, but not
as they came. It vas not one person now, but two ; yet
those two were one, and she leaned her weakness upon
his strength and, assuming his name, henceforth looked
to him for all the needs of her life.

And so there comes a time when the believer joins his
hand with the Holy Ghost, and there is added to his new
heart and his Christian experience the mighty stupen-
dous fact of God Himself, and the personal indwelling
of the Holy Ghost.

How perfectly this is described in the two sentences in
Ezekiel. **A new heart will I give unto you and a
right spirit will I put within you." This is the new
heart in us. * * And I will put my Spirit within you, and
cause you to walk in My statutes, and you shall keep
My commandments and do them." That is the baptism
with the Holy Ghost. And so Pete^ and the other dis-
ciples were born of the Spirit betore the day of Pente-

POWER FROM ON HIGH

cost; but Jesus promised them that they should be
baptized with the Holy Ghost at the appointed time, and
when that day was fully come there was added to their
true Christian life the divine personality, the infinite
presence and all-sufficiency of God, the indwelling Holy
Ghost, who had lived and wrought in Jesus Christ.

Beloved, have we entered into this experience? Have
we received the Holv Ghost since we believed, cr have we
allowed our theological traditions and our pre-conceived
ideas to shut us out from our inheritance of blessing and
of power? Let us do so no longer. Let us, with the
Master, step down to Jordan, enter with Him into death,
rise with Him in resurrection life into the baptism of the
Holy Ghost, and then go forth in the fulness of His
power and liberty, even as He.

Oh, if the Son of God did not presume to begin His
public work until He had received this power from on
high, what presumption it is that v/e should attempt in
our own strength to fulfill the ministry committed to us
and be witnesses unto Him!

No sooner had the Lord received the baptism of the
Holy Ghost than He was led up of the Spirit into the
wilderness to "be tempted of the devil." This is espe-
cially emphasized by the evangelist. It was not the
devil that appeared first, but it was the Spirit. In the
Gospel of Mark the language is still stronger, and it is
said that he was "driven of the Spirit."

Perhaps His human spirit recoiled from the awful
ordeal of the wilderness, as it afterwards shrank from
the anguish of Gethsemane, and the Holy Ghost pressed
Him forward by one of those resistless impulses which
many of us have learned to understand, and for forty
days His blessing was challenged ; His faith was tested ;
His very rfoul was tried by all the assaults of the ad-
versary.

THE SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

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He was brought into certain places that seemed to
contradict all that He believed, and to challenge all that
had been promised to Him. The devil might well say to
Him, "Art Thou indeed the Son of God in the midst of
hunger, desolation, and wild beasts, and every form of
suffering, cast off and neglected even by God, and left
in destitution and desolation?"

And then, amid all these perils and privations, sud-
denly there opened before Him the vision of power and
pleasure — the kingdoms of the world and all the glory
of them, if He would but yield a single point and accept
the leadership of the enemy, who doubtless appealed to
His higher nature and represented Himself as an angel
of light, or perhaps approached Him through His own
form, and all the visions and possibilities of power He
might use for the good of men and the benefit of the
world.

These and other more subtle insinuations and instiga-
tions came to Him on every side and yet, amid them all,
He stood unmoved in His obedience to His Father's will
and His reliance upon Tlis Father's word, until Satan
was driven from His presence, and He came forth more
than conqueror. And so the first thing that we may look
for, after the baptism of the Holy Ghost, is the wilder-
ness with its desolations and privations. Circumstances
will surely come to us, which seem to contradict all that
we have believed, and to render impossible the promise
of God. Even God will seem to have failed us, and when
all is dark as midnight, the vision of help from other
sources will come to us, and a thousand voioes will
whisper to us their promises of sympathy and aid, if we
but yield a single point of conscience and give ourselves
np to the will of the deceiver. All the temptations of
our Master will come to us, — ^the lust of the flesh, the
lust of the eye, the pride of life, the temptation to take
help from foi «ien sources, or perhaps to carry even
our faith to the extreme of fanaticism and presumption.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

All these will come, but if the Spirit has led us up into
the wilderness He will lead us out. If we will but lift our
eyes above the tempter to the divine Deliverer, we shall
find that even Satan shall be compelled to become our
ally; and, more than conquerors, like our Master, we
shall take our enemy prisoner and make him fight our
very battles.

Let us not fear the conflict ; let us not shrink from the
testing ; let us not count it strange concerning the fiery
trial that is to try us ; let us not see the devil first, but the
Lord always above him, and the Holy Ghost in the midst
of our being, our Victor and Deliverer. "When the
enemy shall come in like a flood, the Spirit of the Lord
shall lift up a standard against Him."

We must first fight the battle in our own soul that we
are to fight in the world. David must meet Goliath alone,
before he can meet him in the hosts of the Philistines.
Jesus must conquer Satan in single combat, before He
can go forth to drive him out of hearts and lives. And
so we, too, must live out our public service on the private
arena of our own spiritual experience, and then repeat
our victory in the victory that God shall give us for the
lives of others.

Beloved, shall we not trust, through all our tests and
trials, and take the Holy Ghost as our Deliverer in the
hour of temptation, and our blessed and divine Dis-
cipliner, leading us through the ordeal of suffering to the
strength of victory?

IV.

We next read that Jesus went forth in the power of
the Spirit from the wilderness into Galilee. He was not
weakened but strengthened by His conflict, and almost
immediately afterward we find Him standing in the
synagogue at Nazareth publicy declaring, "The Spirit
of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me
to preach the gospel to the poor; He hath sent me to

r.i

THE SPIRIT IN THE LIFE OF JESUS CHRIST

bind up the broken-hoartetl, to preach deliverance to the
captives, and recovering of sight to the blind, to set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord." Luke 4: 18, 19.

Henceforth all Ilis teachings, all His works, all His
miracles of power were attributed direct^ to the Holy
Ghost. In the twelfth cha er of Matthew and the
twenty-eighth verse, we have a very distinct statement
of the connection of the Holy Spirit with His miracles
of power. '*If I by the Spirit of God, cast out demons,
then the kingdom of God is come unto you." That is
to say, it is the Holy Ghost that casts out demons in us,
and this same Holy Ghost is to remain in us and to
perpetuate the kingdom of God in the church through the
dispensation.

It is a very wonderful truth that it is the same Spirit
who wrought in Christ, that He has given to the church
to perform her works of love and power.

This was what the Master meant when He said, *'He
that believeth on Me, the works that I do shall he do
also ; and greater works than these shall he do ; because I
go unto the Father." The Holy Ghost in us is the same
Holy Ghost that wrought in Christ. We yield to none,
in honor to th'C Sou of God. He was truly the eternal
God, "very God of very God." But when He came down
from yonder heights of glory, he suspended the direct
operation of His own independent power and became
voluntarily dependent upon the power of God through
the Holy Ghost. He constantly said, **I can of mine
own self do nothing." He purposely took His place side
by side with us, needing equally with the humblest dis-
ciple the constant power of God to sustain Him in all
His work. Not that He might be dishonored in His
glory and majesty, *'For being in the form of God He
thought it not a thing to be grasped to be equal with
God but He emptied Himself and made Himself of no
reputation, and took upon Him the form of a servant

> >

POWER FROM ON HIGH

And so He went through life in the position of de-
pendence, that He might be our public example and
teach us that we, too, have the same secret of strength
and power that He possessed, and that as surely as He
overcame through the Holy Ghost, so may we.

Oh, what a solemn spectacle it is to see the Son of God
spending thirty years on earth without one single act of
public ministry until He received the baptism of power
from on high, and then concentrating a whole life-time of
service into forty-two short months of intense activity
and almighty power!

But He has left to us the same power which He pos-
sessed. He has bequeathed to the church the very Holy
Ghost that lived and wrought in Him. Let us accept this
mighty gift. Let us believe in Him and His all-suffici-
ency. Let us receive Him and give Him room, and let
us go forth to reproduce the life and ministry of Jesus
and perpetuate the divine miracles of our holy Chris-
tianity through the power of the blessed Comforter.

This is the mighty gift of our ascended Lord. This
is the supreme need of the church of today. This is the
especial promise of the latter days. God help us to
claim it fully and, in the power of the Spirit;, to go forth
to meet our coming Lord.

CHAPTER H.

THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST.

''He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire."
—Matt. 3:11.

HIS

sounds almost like
le Old Testament.

echo of the last

promise
voice of "the Mes-
senger" IS taken up by "the Forerunner." "He
is like a refiner's fire, and like fullers' soap ; and He shall
sit as a refiner and purifier of silver : and F'O sliall purify
the sons of Levi, and purge them like gold and silver, that
they may offer unto the Lord an offering in righteous-

ness,

In the last chapter \vc have seen the relation of the
Holy Ghost to the person of Christ. First, He was born
by the Spirit, then He was baptized by the Spirit, and
then He went forth to work out His life and ministry
in the power of the Spirit.

But "He that sanctifieth and they that are sanctified
are all of one;" so in like manner we must follow in His
footsteps and re-live His life. Born like Him of the
Spirit, we, too, must be baptized of tlio Spirit, and then
go forth to live His life and reproduce His work. And
so our next theme is the baptism of the Spirit of God
through the Lord Jesus Christ.

THE BAPTIZER.

It is Christ's province to baptize with the Holy Ghost.
The sinner does not come first to the Holy Spirit, but
to Christ. Our first business is to receive Jesus, and then
to receive the Holy Ghost. Therefore, the great promise
of the Old Testament is the coming of Christ, while the
great promise of the New is the coming of the Spirit.

POWER FKOM ON HIGH

JcKUs received the Spirit from the Father. We rceeive
the Spirit from Jesus. It is necessary for us, in order
that we may fully receive the Holy Ohost, that wo shall
first receive Christ in His person as our Saviour and as
our indwelling life.

The Father gave the Spirit to Ilim not by measure and,
if He dwells in us. He will bring the Spirit with Iliiii,
and lie shall dwell in us likewise in the same measure in
which He dwells in Jesus.

Our mere human hearts are not fit temples for the
TToly Ghost. It is only as we are united to Christ that
we are prepared and enabled to receive the Holy Ghost
in the fullness of His life and power. It is the Christ
within us, that still receives the Holy Ghost.

And so, when our Master was about to leave the world,
it is significantly stated that He breathed upon them,
and said: "Receive ye the Holy Ghost." The Holy
Spirit came upon them through the breath of Christ.
This significant action emphasized the fact that the
Spirit was imparted to them from His own person and
as His own very life. It is true that the act of breath-
ing on them did not bring immediately the residence of
the Holy Ghost into their hearts, for this could not
be until after the day of Pentecost. But it was meant to
connect it with Himself, so that when the Holy Ghost did
descend and dwell in them they would receive Him as the
Spirit of Jesus, and as communicated to them by the
breath and the very kiss of their departing Master.

As we have already seen, the Holy Ghost comes to
us as the Spirit of Christ and even as His very heart, the
One who wrought in Him His mighty works and repeats
them in us.

Would we receive the baptism with the Holy Ghost,
let us receive Jesus in all His fullness. Let us draw near
to His inmost being, and from His lips let us inbreathe
the Spirit of His mouth.

THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST

11.

3S to

the
)eats

lost,
■near
lathe

THE BAPTISM.

What is the bnptism imparted to us by Christ?

Sometimes we hear this spoken of as if He baptized us
with something diiferent from Himself, some sort of
an inHuenee, or feeling, or power. The truth is, the
Spirit Himself is the baptism. Christ baptizes, and it
is with or in the Spirit that He baptizes us. There is,
therefore, one baptism with the Spirit once for all, and,
from that time, the Holy Ghost Himself is our indwel-
ling life.

The word "baptize" is significant in this connection.
Literally, it might be translated ** Baptize you in the
Holy Ghost." It is scarcely necessary to say that the
word baptize means to immerse, and carries along with
it always the idea of death and resurrection. There is
something very significant in this in connection with the
reception of the Holy Ghost. It means that we are bap-
tized into death, and raised into life, and thus receive
the Spirit from on high. Just as Jesus went down into
the Jordan, which was the symbol of death, and there
received the Heavenly Dove, so we must step down into
the death of all our strength and all our life, and, sur-
rendering ourselves completely to Him, rise in newness
of life with Christ, and thus receive the Holy Ghost as
the seal and source of that new life.

The most important condition of th'e baptism with the
Holy Ghost is that we shall truly die to all our own life,
and enter into the meaning of Christ's resurrection. We
must be completely submerged, not a hair of our head
left in sight; then when we cease from ourselves we
shall enter into God and find that while, in one sense,
we have received the Holy Ghost into us, we have in a
far greater sense been received into the Holy Ghost,
lie is too vast and glorious for any soul to exhaust His
fullness ; therefore, after He has filled and flooded all our

POWER FROM ON HIGH

being, there is an overflow as boundless as the ocean of
immensity, and we are still in that ocean as the element
of our inexhaustible life.

It is scarcely necessary to say that the baptism of the
Holy Ghost is our union with the living personality of
the Spirit. It is not an influence. It is not a notion,
nor a feeling, nor a power, nor a joy, into which we are
submerged; but it is a heart of love, a mind of intelli-
gence, a living being as real as Jesus Christ of Nazareth,
and as real as our own personality.

in.

THE SYMBOL OF THIS BAPTISM, FIRE.

**He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with
fire. ' ' This does not mean that the Holy Ghost and fire
are different, or that the baptism of fire is something
distinct from that of the Spirit, but simi"\y that the
figure of fire expresses more fully the intensity and
power of this divine baptism. It means that the soul
that is truly baptized with God is a soul on lire. Fire is
the most forceful and suggestive of natural elements, and
seems made especially to symbolize the Holy Ghost.

1. It is a penetrating element. It goes to the very
fibre and heart of things, and is internal and intrinsic in
its action. And so the Holy Ghost ' ' pierces to the divid-
ing asunder of soul and spirit, and of the joints and
marrow, and is a Discerner of the thoughts and intents
of the heart." He searches our inmost being, and re-
quires and produces "truth in the hidden part."

2. Fire is a purifying element. It separates the dross
from the gold. It bums up the stubble and purges the
vessel from all defilement. It is the type of the cleansing,
sanctifying Spirit of God, who alone can purify our sin-
ful and polluted souls and burn up the dross of sin.

3. Fire is a consuming element. It is the most de-
structive of forces; so the Holy Ghost comes to destroy
all that is destructible, to consume all that is corruptible,

THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST

ross

the

3ing,

sin-

de-
troy
ible,

and to burn out all that is combustible. God wants a
people that have been so burned out, that when the test-
ing fires of the great final day shall come there shall be
nothing left to consume. It is not only the sinful but
the earthly, the natural, the self-bound life, that the
Spirit comes to wither, until there is nothing left but the
divine and everlasting. "The grass withereth and the
flower fadeth; because the Spirit of the Lord bloweth
upon it.'* Do we not want this blessed fire? Shall we
not welcome this blessed flame? Are we not weary of
the things that wither and decay, and do we not desire
the life that cannot pass away; the loves and friend-
ships that shall never say good-bye, and the treasures that
shall meet us in the sky?

4. Fire is a refining element. And so the Holy Ghost
is the great Refiner. He comes, not only to cleanse, but
to improve, to elevate, to mature, to beautify and glorify
the soul, and fit our heavenly robes for the marriage of
the Lamb. "H^ shall sit as a Refiner and Purifier of
silver." There is an instantaneous and there is a grad-
ual work of the Holy Ghost. There is an act by which
He baptizes us into Himself forever. And there is a
process in which He sits down beside the crucible, and
watches the molten silver until it perfectly reflects His
image, and then He removes the fire and declares the
work complete. He comes not only to give us love, but
all the gentleness of love; not only long-suffering, but
also **all long-suffering with joyfulness;" not only ''the
things that are pure, and true, and honest," but also the
"things that are lovely and of good report." Let us
welcome the refining fire. Let us invite Him to sit down
in our willing hearts, and finish His glorious work, until
we are "all glorious within," our clothing of wrought
gold, and our raiments "white and lustrous" for the
Marriage Feast.

5. Fire is a necessary element in preparing almost
every article of food for our nourishment. We cannot

POWER FROM ON HIGH

|i
It'-

live on raw wheat nor uncooked meat. It must pass
through the process of fire to be wholesome and nourish-
ing; so the Holy Ghost prepares the Word of God for
our spiritual subsistence. A great many people live on
raw and cold theology. It is little wonder that they
are si)iritual invalids and suffer terribly from bad diges-
tion. A little truth, thoroughly prepared and presented
to us by the loving hands of the Holy Ghost, is worth
volumes of dry theolog}'- and learned exegesis.

The passover must not be eaten ''raw or sodden," but
it must be roasted in the fire and properly prepared.
The Holy Ghost is as necessary as the blood of Christ and
the word of truth. He is a very foolish preacher who
tries to preach without Him, and a very foolish Christian
who expects to find the truth and the power of God
without His blessed anointing and constant illumination.

6. Fire is a quickening element. And so the Holy
Ghost is the source of life. What is it makes the spring,
the flov/ers, and the swarming life of the insect world?
It is the warmth of spring, it is the fire of yonder sun.
And so the Holy Ghost quickens our whole spiritual be-
ing into vitality. Like the mother bird, whose warm
bosom incubates the germs of life that she has dropped
into her nest, so the Spirit of God vitalizes all our being,
and quickens into life and blessing seeds that lay dor-
mant, perhaps, for years. He quickens our spiritual life ;
He quiclcens our intellectual life; He quickens our
physical life, and is the source of healing and strength.

7. The Holy Spirit, like fire, melts the rigid heart and
moulds it into the forms of God's holy will, and highest
purpose. Without the Holy Ghost we are set in our own
ideas, plans, and thoughts ; but the soul that is filled with
the Holy Ghost is adjustable, both to God and to man.
The easiest people to get along with are those most filled
with God.

The Spirit is a great lubricator and mellower, and He
keeps us adjusted to the will of God, and to the provi-

THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST

dences of life as they meet us, day by day, in God's
perfect order of place and time.

8. Fire is the great energizer and source of power.
It is the real secret of the electric current and the throb-
bing piston of yonder engine. And so the Holy Ghost is
the source of all spiritual power. He and He alone can
give effectiveness to our lives, and make us tell for God
and humanity, and the great purpose of our existence.
We need His power in every department of life. He is
not only for the pulpit, but for every walk of life. The
Holy Ghost will give power to all who will receive it,
to make life effective and to make us accomplish the
purpose of our being.

The Old Testament age was a life of effort, struggle,
and human endeavor. It was man 's best with God 's help ;
but God is through with that forever. God is not now
trying to get people to do as well as they can, but He is
offering to undertake Himself the whole responsibility
of their life and work, to enter and possess their hearts,
and to be their all-sufficiency. And so we are without
excuse if we fail through our own imperfection and in-
ability. God is not blaming us for what we do not do,
but for what we do not let Him enable us to do.

"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is
come upon you;" and we "can do all things through
Christ who is our strength. ' '

9. Fire warms, and so the Holy Ghost is the source
of love, zeal, and holy earnestness. He sets souls on fire
for God, and duty, and humanity. . He makes us all aglow
with divine enthusiasm. An ordinary mind will accom-
plish more than a brilliant one, if it is alive with holy
earnestness.

We are living in an earnest age. All the forces of
human intelligence are intensely alive. Be in earnest.
The world is in earnest. Satan is in earnest. God is in
earnest. Kedemption is an earnest business and cost its
Author every drop of His crimson blood. The Holy

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Ghost is intensely in earnest. Everything in heaven and
earth and hell is in earnest but man. It is an awful
thing for a Christian, redeemed by the blood of Christ,
and destined to an eternal future of weal or woe, to be
frivolous or trifling. 0, friend, think, if that day you are
wasting were to be cut off the end of your life, instead
of the middle, how quickly you would awaken and tremble
at the thought of trifling ! If every hour you waste were
deducted from the sum of your life at the close, how
frightful the sacrifice would seem ! And yet it is even so.
God help us to be intensly aroused to life's solemn
meaning !

Now, the Holy Ghost will make us earnest. Indeed,
one of His own names is this, **The Earnest of our in-
heritance until the redemption of the purchased pos-
session." The earnest means the reality. The Holy
Ghost is the reality of things, and He makes us real and
earnest, too.

10. Finally, fire is a protective element. The eastern
shepherd surrounds his fold by night with a little wall
of fire, as he heaps up the dry wood of the desert in a
circle around his flock, and the wild beasts fear to come
within the fiery wall. So God says, * * I will be unto her a
wall of fire round about, and will be the glory in the
midst of her."

The Holy Ghost defends us from the power of evil.
A heart on fire with God throws off a thousand temp-
tations. An electric wire, charged with the fiery current,
is as mighty as a battery of artillery. A hot stove cover
throws off the water that vainly tries to rest upon it.
So a heart filled with the Spirit of God is proof against
temptation, sin, sorrow, and even disease.

Oh, let us be filled with the Holy Ghost, and we shall
carry a charmed life and be preserved from all the
powers of earth and hell I

CHAPTER III.

THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS; OR, THE

HOLY SPIRIT AND THE COMING

OF THE LORD.

**Then shall the kingdom of heaven be likOuea unto ten virgins,
which took their lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom.

"And five of them were wise, and five were foolish.

"They that were foolish took their lamps, and took no oil
with them:

"But the wise took oil in their vessels with their lamps.*'—
Matt. 25: 1-4.

THE Gospel of Matthew is the Gospel of the King,
and its latest chapters are full of the Master 's teach-
ings about His coming. The parable of the virgins
is a picture of the attitude of the church at the coming
of the Lord, and the necessity of the Holy Ghost in order
to prepare us for that great event.

The ten virgins, like the ten servants in the parable
of the pounds, represent the whole church. The church
is often represented in the Scriptures under the figure
of a woman. It is an unnecessary and irrelevant strain
to try to make a distinction between the virgins and the
bride, and assume that the bride is somewhere in the
background of the parable, and in a still higher place
than the wise virgins. If that were so, it is strange that
the Lord makes no reference to so important a part of
the dramatis personam in any of these closing discourses.
The truth is, that which is elsewhere represented by the
bride is here represented by the virgins. Sometimes the
church is called a bride, sometimes a building, sometimes
a body, sometimes disciples, servants, virgins; but it is
always the same church, and all that is necessary in the
interpretation is to simply work out the figure used in
each case, consistently with itself, and not to drag in
every other feature and accompaniment which a lively

POWER FROM ON HIGH

fancy may suj?gest. As well iniglit \vc try to work out
an hypothesis for the mother in the parable of the prod-
igal son, or to find a meaning for all the figures intro-
duced in the necessary drapery of any of the parables.
The Great Teacher has one object in view in this great
parable — ^to show the need of special preparation for
the Lord's coming, and we only confuse the mind, and
detract from the simple object of the lesson when wo
try to bring in a whole system of theology.

THE POINTS OP RESEMBLANCE BETWEEN THE WISE AND

FOOLISH VIRGINS.

1. They were both virgins. They were both separated
and pure. It is possible to have a blameless character,
to have come out from the world and to be faultlessly
right, moral, and correct in our life, and yet be devoid
of the Holy Ghost and unprepared for the Lord's return.

2. Both were looking for the coming of the bridegroom.
They had all gone out with this one object and were
definitely expecting and preparing for him. And so we
may fully believe in the doctrine of the Lord's return,
may be deeply interested in it, may be personally de-
siring and expecting it, and yet may be, if we are without
the Holy Ghost, unprepared for it, and be found among
the foolish viria^ia; at the last.

3. They both Jumbered and slept." The Greek word
for slumhered literally means nodded. It vividly de-
scribes the drowsiness that gradually creeps over one,
until, at last, unwillingly and almost unconsciously, he
falls asleep. It implies that, even at the very best, the
people of God are more than half asleep. And yet it is
a very different thing to doze with the oil in your vessels,
than to fall asleep utterly unprepared for your Master's
appearing.

4. Both were called just before the Bridegroom came.

THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIBGINS

sels,
er's

How gracious it was of the Master to send word to the
sleeping virgins! He has promised us that "that day
shall not overtake us as a thief." And even the foolish
virgins were awakened at the last moment, and were
aware of the Master's near approach. But, alas! it did
not avail them now ; it was too late to obtain the oil and
prepare their dying lamps for the glorious procession
that welcomed their King's return.

There was much, very much, in their favor. Just one
thing they lacked. But it was enough to prevent their
entering in. God help us all to make sure of **that one
thing needful!"

THE DIFFERENCE.

What then was the difference between these two
classes of virgins ? What was the secret of failure on the
part of the foolish ones?

1. Five were wise and five were foolish. It is not
enough for us to be earnest and well meaning. God
expects us also to be intelligent, instructed, and wise.
"Be ye not unwise, but understanding what the will of
the Lord is." "See that ye walk circumspectly, not as
fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days
are evil."

It will be no excuse for us in the day of His coming
that we did not know what He expected of us. lie has
given us full instructions, and to neglect His word is
evidence of guilty and careless disobedience.

How many are defaulting in their life and service
because they do not even understand the truth about
their Master's coming, and the Bible is to them a sealed
book ! God make us wise !

2. The foolish virgins were impulsive, shallow, enthusi-
astic, and lacking in real solid and lasting qualities. This
is indicated by the simple statement that the first thing
that the foolish virgins thought about was their lamps,

POWER FROM ON HIGH

and the first thing that the wise thought about was their
vessels and the oil that filled them.

The one looked at the transient flame ; the other at the
abiding souree of life and light. The one represents the
present people; the other the permanent people with
whom we are always coming in contact.

John Bunyan expresses the difference by his two char-
acters of Passion and Patience. The one wanted every-
thing now ; the other wanted that which he would have
at the end.

3. But the supreme difference between the wise and
foolish virgins was the fact that the foolish virgins took
their lamps only, and the others took the oil in their
vessels. This, we need hardly say, expresses these two
great facts and experiences ; namely, a Christian life and
the baptism with the Holy Ghost. The burning lamp
represents the spiritual life which has been kindled by
the Holy Ghost; the oil in the vessels with the lamps
represents the Holy Ghost Himself, personally received
in the consecrated heart.

There is an infinite difference between these two facts.
The apostles before Pentecost and the apostles after
Pentecost represent this difference.

The vessel, of course, is our personality — spirit, soul,
and body; the oil is the Holy Ghost who comes to the
yielded and obedient heart to control it, and fill it with
the fullness of God. This is the true preparation for a
life of holiness and for the coming of our Lord Jesus
Christ.

With this we are ready to meet Him when He ap-
pears, and although we may have but a few" moments to
prepare, and may even nod and sleep at times, we have
the secret of the Lord within us, and * * we shall be found
of Him in peace."

This is the great question which God is pressing upon
His church to-day. "Have ye received the Holy Ghost
since ye believed ? ' ' This is the great mark of distinction

ipon
[host
kion

THE WISE AND FOOLISH VITfGINS

between Christians and Christians. Beloved, let us make
no mistake, but let us be filled with the Spirit and so
"give all diligence to make our calling and election

sure.

> >

nz.

THE EFFECTS UPON BOTH CLASSES.

1. The wise virgins were ready, and after a few mo-
ments of immediate preparation were received to the
marriage feast and the joy of their Lord.

2. The foolish virgins woke to find their lamps expir-
ing. "Give us of your oil," they cried, "for our lamps
are going out." They were not able to supply their
lamps from the vessels of the wise. These needed all the
oil they had for the great occasion which had come, and
there was none to spare for the lamps of the other vir-
gins.

It is true that the Holy Ghost is indivisible, and we
cannot give part of our blessing to another. If we have
Him, we have Him personally and He cannot be sepa-
rated into parts. We need all His fullness for our own
preparation. We may lead others to Him and help them
to receive Him, but they must take Him for themselves.

3. We may receive even this blessing too late.

It would seem to be implied that the Holy Spirit
might still be secured, even at the very moment of the
Lord's return, but "while they went to buy, the bride-
groom came, and they that were ready went in, and the
door was shut. ' '

There will be, doubtless, many spiritual blessings
poured out upon the world immediately after the Pa-
rousia of our blessed Master, and the translation of His
waiting Bride; but it will be too late to enter into the
joys of the marriage, and escape the sorrows of the
great tribulation.

Time is one of the factors in every great question, and
it is not only well for us to obey God's call, but it is

POWER FROM ON HIGH

essential to obey it promptly. The very essence of obedi-
ence is, "redeeming the time" — the very point of time —
** because the days are evil."

beloved, let us not lose a moment before we receive
the baptism of the Holy Ghost! There is not an hour
to spare. We are in solemn days, and we are neither
ready to live nor to die, nor to meet our coming Lord,
without the Holy Ghost.

There is something very suggestive in this figure of
buying. The traders in this case do not represent any
body of men who can sell us the Holy Ghost; they
simply represent the divine sources from which we re-
ceive Him, the divine method which God has provided.
There is a sense in which we buy Him by making Him
our OAvn. When we buy a thing, it becomes our own
property, and so we may receive the Holy Ghost for
ourselves and claim Him as our very own.

In the early part of the parable the beautiful original
expresses the idea very strongly. * * They took their own
lamps, and went forth to meet the bridegroom."

There is another sense, also, in which we buy. We
must give up something. We must let something go,
before we can receive the Holy Ghost. Indeed, we must
let all go and then receive Him in His fullness.

A few weeks ago, as we were passing out of a large
meeting, a sobbing girl was sitting near the aisle, and
asked us to pray with her. Her heart was very heavy.
She had come to the Gethsemane of life ; she was letting
go everything, and some of the things were very dear;
but she was true to God and obedient to the heavenly
calling.

Less than a week afterwards, we were passing away
from that place, and a friend came up to greet us and
say good-bye. It was the same face, but we scarcely
knew her, it was so transfigured. The light of heaven was
shining in her beautiful countenanee, and the joy and
glory of the Lord had lighted up all her face. The sae-

)bedi-
me— -

iceive

hour

dther

Lord,

re of

i any

they

'e re-

ided.

Him

own

t for

ginal
own

We
go,
must

arge
and
avy.
ting
ear;
enly

way
and
cely
was
and

THE WISE AND FOOLISH VIRGINS

she

rifice was past ; the resurrection morning had come ;
had let all go, and she had received Ilim.

There is still another sense in which we buy this great
blessing. Christ has purchased it for us, and He says to
us, ''Come ye, buy and eat! yea, come, buy wine and
milk without money, and without price." The Holy
Ghost is the purchased privilege of every believer. Be-
loved, come and receive Him, and receive Him at once,
that you may be prepared for the trusts of life and the
great Parousia.

4. The foolish virgins were excluded from the mar-
riage of the Lamb. All that this means we dare not at-
tempt to explain. That it does mean a difference, a
mighty difference between the two classes of Christians,
there can be no doubt, and that there shall be such a
difference between those who shall meet the Master with
joy, and those who meet Him with grief ; between those
who have confidence, and those who shall be ashamed
before Him at His coming, the Bible leaves us no room
to doubt.

Just what will be the peculiar privilege of those who
enter in, and the severest loss of those who are excluded,
it is presumptuous to attempt to define in detail; but
it will be loss enough, sorrow enough, to be shut out of
anything which our Master had for us ; and the soul that
is willing just to be saved and forego its crown and a
place in the bosom of the Lord, is too ignoble almost to
be saved. God write upon our hearts the solemn em-
phasis of that awful sentence, * * the door was shut ! ' '

5. But there was still a more solemn word, *'I know
you not. ' ' They came, they came perhaps with oil. They
knocked ; they begged for entrance, but He from within
only answered, "I know you not."

This, as has been shown by Dean Alford, is very dif-
ferent from the more terrible sentence addressed to
others, "I never knew you." It is simply an intimation
that they are not in the circle of His intimate personal

rOWER FnOM ON HIGH

friendship. lie does not exclude them from salvation,
but He excludes them from the phice of the Bride, and
the innermost center of Ilis communion and love.

Beloved, what constitutes a bride? It is not wedding
robes nor dowry nor surroundings. It is the heart of love
that knows her bridegroom and responds to his affec-
tion. It is an interior preparation, and this is the prep-
aration which the Holy Ghost is offering to-day to the
children of God.

He is calling out a Bride for the Lamb. Il-e is saying
to many a hesitating heart, "Hearken, O daughter, and
consider; forget also thy kindredj ajnd thy father's
house ; so shall the King greatly desire thy beauty ; for
He is thy Lord, and worship thou Him."

The Holy Ghost is bringing those who are willing into
a closer fellowship with Jesus, and giving them such an
acquaintance with Him that in that day no bolts, nor
bars, nor closed doors can keep them from the bosom of
their Lord. They know Him and are known of Him;
when He appears, His loving smile will recognize them
and the magnetic attraction of His presence will draw
them in a moment to His heart and His throne.

May God make us willing to receive this blessed prep-
aration that we may be found ready at His coming I

I i

CHAPTER IV.

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS; OR, POWER

FOR SERVICE.

' * Occupy till I come. ' '—Luke 19 : 13.

ARCIIELAUS, the son of Herod, went to Rome to
secure, by influence at the court of tlio Emperor,
the kingdom of Judea, and then returned to en-
joy his patrimony. Christ used this familiar ilhistration
to represent His return to the Father to receive the
Kingdom, and then to return to enjoy it with His fol-
lowers during the millennial age. This is the frame-
work of the parable of the pounds.

The special theme of the parable, however, is the trust
committed to His disciples during His absence, and the
resources given them to enable them to fulfill their trust.

While the Master is representing us and caring for
our interests at God's right hand, we are left here to
carry on His work and to represent the interests of His
Kingdom; to enable us to fulfill this ministry He gives
us the necessary resources.

These are illustrated by the pound, or mhia, given to
each of the ten persons. This was a little sum of money
v/orth about fifteen dollars. It represents the resources
which God gives to His servants for their work. What
are these resources as represented by the pounds?

In answering this question it is necessary to remember
the difference between the parable of the pounds and the
talents. In the case of the latter, there was a difference
in the enduement and endowment of the servants. They
had different talents. In the case of the pound, they had
an equal allowance. They cannot tht3refore mean the
same thing.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

If the talents represent our natural gifts of wealth,
social influence, or personal intelligence and capacity,
then the pound must represent the special enduement
of the Holy Ghost given to the people of God and the
servants of Christ to equip them for their work.

We are taught most distinctly that spiritual service
must come from spiritual enabling. "No man can say
that Jesus Christ is Lord except by the Holy Ghost."
No man can render any acceptable service to God through
natural talent or fleshly energy. The apostles were com-
manded "to wait for the promise of the Father," and
were to "receive power after that the Holy Ghost had
come upon them, ' ' and then to be witnesses unto Christ,
in the power of God.

There is but one divine enabling for service, and that
is the enabling of the Holy Ghost. There was but one
pound given to each of the servants, and it is the one
promise to every true servant of Christ — "Ye shall be
baptized with the Holy Ghost."

The same amount was given to each of the servants,
and the same Holy Ghost is given to all who will re-
ceive Him. We do not receive a part of His Person or
power, but we receive Him personally, and have as much
of His life and strength as we are able to take. The Holy
Ghost is one and indivisible, and there is no partiality
whatever in the opportunity which God gives to every
one of His consecrated children to serve and glorify Him.

The talents may be quite different. One may be ob-
scure, while another may be in the blaze of publicity;
but the same power is given to each one, and the same
glory will redound to God through each, no matter how
different they appear in the judgment of the world.

This blessed pound is given to every one of His serv-
ants. The Holy Ghost is purchased for all who belong
to Christ and will yield their lives in surrender and
obedience to the divine Spirit. The Apostle has given us
the simple condition when He says, "The Holy Ghost

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS

whom God hath given to them that obey Him." The
promise of Pentecost was not restricted to a few special
cases, but the Apostle distinctly states, ''The promise is
unto you, and to your children, and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call."

God does not send us warring upon our own charges.
He gives to us all that is needful for the trust com-
mitted to us. If you should be sent by a great com-
mercial house to carry out a trust for them in some
distant land you would expect them to pay your ex-
penses, to provide you your ticket, to give you all neces-
sary introductions, and to equip you thoroughly for your
important journey. And when God sends us on His
great embassy. He pledges Himself to enable us to carry
it out successfully. This promise of power just means —
all we need for efficiency. It is sufficiency for efficiency,
all personal qualifications, providential workings, and
divine enablings that we have a right to expect for the
successful accomplishment of the work that is given us
to do.

If our work is in the secular realm, we have a right
to expect His help and success. If it is in directly
spiritual things, we have a right to expect it there. The
power is in proportion to the place. God's provision
is ample for God's trust. Now the Holy Ghost is the
equivalent of all we need for our trust and work.

An English writer, I think Mr. Pearse, tells how he
once spoke to a poor woman in a London City Mission,
and tried to show her how Christ was the adequate sup-
ply for all her need. She could not understand it at
first, and then he stopped and began to ask her about her
home and her circumstances, and what she needed for
her family. Then, handing hev a shilling, he said, * Now
what would you do with this shilling if you had itT'*
She told him that she would spend two pence for bread,
and a penny for coal, and so on until she had spent the
shilling. **So you see," he said, ''that this shilling is

i *'

POWER FfiOM ON HIGH

really not a shilling, but it is coal, and sugar, and
bread." "Now," he said, ''Christ is the same. Looking
at Him in one way He is Christ but in another way He
becomes to you peace and joy and salvation and answered
prayer, providential help and guidance, supply for all
j'our needs, — everything God can be to you both for time
and eternity." The illustration was very simple and
beautiful. She understood it and accepted the Saviour,
who was the equivalent of all her need.

Just in the same sense the Holy Ghost is the equivalent
of all things. Therefore, in one place in Luke, He says,
''How much more will your Father in heaven <riv(- "he
Holy Ghost to them that ask Him;" and in ,' ao i^c
place in Matthew He says, "How much more will your
Father in heaven give good things to them that ask
Him." So this pound is the equivalent of all we need
for our work.

Do we need to understand the Bible? He will be
Light and Teacher. Do we need unction? He will give
the anointing of the Holy Ghost. Do we need faith? He
will be to us the Spirit of faith. Do we need sympathy
and love to draw souls to Clirist ? He will be in us, the
love of God shed abroad by the Holy Ghost. Do we
need power to convict and convert men ? He will convict
the world of sin and righteousness and judgment, and
will accompany our words with His effectiveness. Do
we need a power that will co-operate in the circumstances
of life? He will make all things work together for us.
So the Holy Ghost is just all things, and none of us is
excused if ever we fail or come short. God has made
provision for all that we require, and He will surely
expect us to be faithful and true and to measure up to
His high calling.

A Quaker lady was approached, one day, by a friend
who begged her to pray for her son, M-ho was going down
to destruction through the power of drink. The Quaker
lady turned to her and said, "Sister, has thee prayed for

■r

■»

.;ui*

1
if

THE PARABLE OF THE POUNDS

thy son?" *'0h yes," she said, "I pray as well as I
can, but I'm afraid my prayers are not worth much.
I want you to pray, for I believe you know how to pray
better than I."

"Sister, has thee prayed with thy boy?" she again
asked. "Why," replied the lady, "I couldn't pray
aloud, I should be embarrassed at the sound of my own
voice. Why, you don't expect me to pray in public, do
you ? I 'm a woman. " " Sister, ' ' said the Quaker friend,
"what right has thee to be weak, so that thee cannot pray
for thy boy ? Thee has the same Holy Ghost as I, to be
thy power. Sister, I will not pray for thy boy, till thee
prays with thy boy. ' '

The lady went away, angry, like Naaman of old, and
feeling very badly used ; but, like Naaman, she came to
her senses a little later, and God began to talk to her,
and to make her feel that her friend was right; that
she ought not to be powerless; that perhaps her boy
was going to perdition through her own weakness and
unbelief.

There were many tears and heart searchings and earnest
prayers to God for righteousness and help ; at length the
Holy Ghost came to her heart, and she began to pray for
her boy in faith and love. One night, he came home in
a drunken stupor, lay down in his room, and was soon
fast asleep. But the Spirit drew that mother to his side,
and she knelt and laid her hand on his hot brow, and
began to smooth his tangled hair and pray to God that
He would touch his heart and save her bo5\

Suddenly, he awoke, and the Holy Ghost sobered him
in a moment. He looked up in surprise, and cried,
"Mother! you praying for me? Oh God, have mercy on
me," and then he broke down in repentance and prayer
for his own soul. God heard those united prayers, and
before the night was over that boy was saved, and that
mother's heart was filled with the Holy Ghost.

ll i

POWER FROM ON HIGH

* ' sister, what right has thee to be weak ? " O brother,
why should you be ineffective and powerless ? * * Ye shall
receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me. ' '

We have said that the Holy Ghost is given alike to all
God's servants. Why then was there such a difference?

There is a difference in the way that we use the Holy
Ghost. He is given to us to use Him, and this is the
meaning of that word, ** Occupy till I come."

1 <.imilar thought is expressed in the twelfth chapter
of 1 ^athians, where the apostle says, "The mani-
festation^ of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal. " He is given to us to * * profit, ' ' to use, to invest,
to exercise the divine gift, and thus to grow ; and as we
use the Holy Ghost, we become accustomed to using Him,
and we have great boldness in the faith and work of
God; our efficiency increases and multiplies, until the
one pound is worth ten, and the servant hands back his
trust, tenfold greater than he received it. This is the
reason of the difference between men and men. It is a
difference of faithfulness. It is a difference of diligence
in improving the trust given iliem. It is a very solemn
thing to receive divine power. God invests Himself in
men, and God is a great economist of power and is deeply
grieved when we waste His treasures ; when we let His
power lie idle, or sluggishly neglect the mighty trust that
has cost Him so much.

Let us use God's precious gifts. Let us be diligent
and faithful in the exercise of spiritual things, and, as
we do, our faith will grow; our love will increase, and
our usefulness will expand until we shall ''bring forth
some thirty, some sixty, and some an hundredfold."

The word "occupy" in the original is a very striking
one. Indeed, even the English word is quite suggestive.
It implies that we do not own our gifts, but that they are
simply lent to us, and we use them as the gifts of another.
It is not your power. It is not your faith, but His, and

XWy,

THE PAEABLE OF THE POUNDS

the

tive.
y^ are
ther.
and

He lends to you His own divine sufficiency for the spe-
cial service required of you; when the service is per-
formed, you are no stronger nor wiser than before.
You just quietly depend upon Him for His own personal
power for the next service and opportunity.

But the word in the original has a still stronger force.
It is a word of affairs. It literally means to be engaged
in business affairs. The expression, "trading," used
later in the parable, expresses the same idea. There is
the deepest emphasis in the expression. The Holy Ghost
is not restricted to what we call spiritual things, but He
is a great business manager. He is a Spirit of practical
wisdom and power. He is an all-round Friend, and He
wants to be concerned in all the affairs of our life. In-
deed, there is nothing secular, but all things that are
given to God are sacred, holy and divine.

It is not necessary, therefore, that you should give up
your business and go out of the world to serve Him;
but let it be God's business, and then it will always be
service. God has no better opportunity for glorifying
Himself than to use a man in the secular affairs of life,
and be as near to him on Monday as on Sunday ; in the
workshop as in the holy sanctuary and the secret place.

There are plenty of preachers in the world today, but
God wants more practicers. There are many apostles, but
Christ is looking for living epistles.

There is nothing that speaks more for God than a life
spent in the blaze of the world, yet lighted up with holy
and heavenly purity and power. Such lives preach to
men, whether they want to hear or not.

"We are living in a day when the great men of the
world are business men. The strongest men of the pres-
ent century are our railroad kings, our bankers, the
founders of our immense corporations and commercial
enterprises.

These men have gigantic intellects and far-reaching
power. Why can they not be as mighty for God as they

POWER FROM ON HIGH

are for the world? Why can they not be as effective on
the Board of Missions as they are on the Board of Trade ?
They can spend their millions for railways and business
corporations; what is to hinder their spending their
hundreds of millions to spread the Gospel of Christ?
Why should the day not come when men of wealth and
successful enterprise shall invest, not a few thousands,
but ten, twenty, yes, fifty millions, for China, Africa and
India ? I should not eulogize the man who should come
to me and say, *'I have twenty millions I want to spend to
evangelizing Central Africa." I should say to him,
*'You have done just right, but you have been a long
time getting at it."

When business men come to understand that this is
the nature of entire consecration, we shall see greater
things than were seen on the day of Pentecost. Then
young men will come forward and consecrate their lives
to God, and He will give them the millions that belong
to Him to spend as grandly for Him, as the men of the
world are laying out their treasures for commercial en-
terprizes and gigantic schemes of selfishness and gain.
God help us to "occupy" in these practical ways and
days, with a view of His coming!

The most encouraging facts which I know today are
just such facts as I have spoken of. There are men in
this country who are carrying on great commercial enter-
prizes for the exclusive purpose of devoting the proceeds
on a magnificent scale to the evangelizing of the world,
and the giving of the Gospel to all nations.

"Occupy till I come." The object of the Holy Ghost
and the object of the consecrated believer must always
have direct reference to the Lord 's personal return. The
business of the Holy Spirit is to prepare Christ 's people
and the world for His second coming. First, this will
be done by the spiritual preparation of our own hearts
and lives. The Bride must be made ready, and so the
Holy Ghost is working out today a wondrous work of

THT, PARABLE OF THE POUNDS

sanctifying grace, in the hearts of the chosen few who are
willing to hear His call and to prepare for His return.

But this is not all. Our work is also to have reference
to His coming. We are "to occupy till He come." We
are to accomplish our ministry with direct reference to
the millennial reign of Jesus. Our Christian work is to
be shaped and moulded by this consideration. Oh, what
a difference it would make in our methods of service, if
we would make this the standpoint and object of all our
work for God! Then we should not have 120,000 min-
isters among sixty millions on this continent, and a few
hundreds among the vaster millions of China.

Oh, if the Holy Ghost had His way, how many of us
He would scatter to the uttermost parts of the earth !
I think I see Him going through Scotland, and dismis-
sing a thousand preachers, and saying, "Go to India,
China, and Africa."

I think I see Him entering a western town, where a
dozen churches are competing for the scanty population
and trying to establish their separate sects. I can hear
Him say, "Shut up three-fourths of these places, and
send the men to the neglected and destitute fields where
no voice speaks of Me."

How much of our Christian work is standing in the
way of Christ 's will ! How much of our best service is
not the service of the Holy Ghost, and is not occupying
till He come ! How long we have delayed Him even by
doing good, and not doing it in His way! But wj can
be looking for His coming even in our business.

It is very beautiful to notice that in the picture given
of Christ 's return and the translation of His waiting peo-
ple, they are found occupied in their callings. It is
night in one part of the world, and "two are in one
bed;" "one is taken, and the other is left." It is all
right to be in bed when Christ comes, if it is night, far
better be there than in sin. It is early morning in an-

■t

POWER FROM ON HIQH

Oilier place, and "two women are f^rinding at the mill."
One of them is getting her husband's breakfast ready.
It is quite right to be found there, and so she is taken
right up from her secular occupation. It is midday in
another land, and two are in one field working at their
harvest. It is all right to be there, too, if the work is
done for God. There is no need for them to hurry
home and change their clothes. There is no need to go
and fix up things. They are "found of Him in peace,
without spot and blameless." And so these toiling
farmers are taken right up to be with God, and meet
their Lord in the air, and to sit down with the wedding
robe at the marriage supper of the Lamb.

How beautiful to know that all that is done for God
is sacred ! How sweet the old story of the New England
Legislature; when the storm came on, and some of the
members thought that the day of judgment had come,
one of them anxiously moved that the house adjourn.
An old Puritan sprang to his feet and said, "Mr.
Speaker, if the day of judgment has not come, there is no
need for this unbecoming haste ; and if it has come, I,
for one, prefer to be found at my post. I move that the
house do not adjourn." Thus let us "occupy" and be
occupied with the Master's work, and for His glory and
His approval.

Finally, when He comes there will be a just award.
The servant that has faithfully used his enduement of
power, receives the Master's commendation and is pro-
moted to higher service. I am so glad that the coming
of Christ is not going to end our work. I should not
want to meet Him if I had to give up working for the
Master. Thank God, we shall have higher service through
the eternal years. "Be thou ruler over ten cities."

Oh, how much greater is the recompense than the serv-
ice! A city for a pound; ten cities instead of a hun-
dred and fifty dollars!

THE PAHABLE OF THE POUNDS

»»

All our service here is but a training for that higher
ministry. How touching to hear the Master say, * * Thou
hast been faithful over a very little." The man that
had gained ten pounds had done "a very little." The
highest service we do for God on earth is but **a very
little." We are simply playing at service, or rather
going to school at it. We are taking lessons in true min-
istry. The best we do is but childish and trifling, but it
is preparing us for the grand service of the ages to come
when, with our Lord Himself, endued with His ^visdom,
power, and glory, we shall be co- workers, perhaps, amid
yonder constellations or on this green earth, to restore
it to the beauties and glories of Paradise again, and to
rear the eternal temple for which He is now preparing
the precious stones.

The Master does not say that they have been success-
ful, but He recognizes them as having been ** faithful."
God help us at least to be faithful !

The reward will be in proportion to the fidelity of the
servant. The servant that had gained tenfold was re-
warded tenfold, and the servant that had increased his
investment fivefold received only in proportion. Be-
loved, we are laying up our treasures. We are carving
our eternal destiny. We are preparing our immortal
crown. Oh, how the days are telling! God help us to
be true!

But alas for the servant who came with his pound
wrapped up in a napkin! It was nicely kept. It was
a clean napkin, perhaps a costly one. He had taken
good care of his salvation. He had nursed his blessing,
and he gave it back as good as he got it. But was the
Master pleased ? Alas, alas, for such a servant ! * ' Take
from him the pound, and give it unto him that hath ten
pounds. ' ' He was not lost. He was not destroyed, as the
"enemies" of the Master were. He was deprived. He
had some place in the kingdom, but he was forever con-
scious of an opportunity lost, and a life that never would

POWER FROM ON HIGH

come again. Beloved, we may save our souls, but lose
our lives. We may gain an entrance into heaven, but
lose our everlasting crown. God help us to be our best !

Not easily shall that crown be won by any. Even
the great apostle did not think rashly of his reward, but
straining every nerve and reaching forth unto these
things that were before as one that had not yet attained,
he used this intense language, '*If by any manner of
means I might attain unto the resurrection from among
the dead." So let us so run that we may obtain.

Beloved, we have an eternity before us. We have an
unfading crown to win or lose ; we have a life in which
to win it, and we have the infinite Holy Ghost to enable
us for this mighty competition, for this glorious prize,
for this divine trust. God help us to be trueI

CHAPTER V.
THE HOLY GHOST IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN.

"In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus stood and
cried, saying, If any man thirst, let hmi come unto Me, and drink.

"lie that believeth on Me, as the Scripture liath said, out of
his belly shall How rivers of living water.

"But this spako He of the Spirit, which they that believe
on Him should reecivo: for the Holy (Ihoat was not yet given;
because that Jesus was not yet glorified." — John 7: 37-39.

IN the fir-st seven chapters of the Gospel of John, we
have a very striking progressive unfolding of the
doctrine of the Holy Ghost; first, in abstract state-
ments of truth, and then, illustrated in a very significant
and beautiful miracle.

First, we have the Holy Spirit in relation to the Lord
Jesus. In John 1 : 32, we see the Spirit descending from
heaven like a dove, and abiding upon Him, and in John
3 : 34, we are further told that God giveth not the Spirit
by measure unto Him.

Up to this time all men had received the Spirit by
measure; that is, they had received some of His gifts,
influences, and power; but Christ received the Spirit
Himself in His personal presence and immeasurable
fullness, and since then the Spirit has resided in the
world in His boundless and infinite attributes.

Christ first received Him as a pattern for His follow-
ers, and then gave Him forth to them, from His own
very heart, as the Spirit that had resided in Him, and
that comes to us softened by His humanity and witnes-
sing to His person.

Therefore we read in the next place not only of
Christ's receiving the Spirit, but of Christ's giving the
Spirit. In John 1 : 33, the great forerunner says of

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Ilim, "The same is lie which baptizeth with the Holy
Ghost." It is Christ that baptizeth with the Holy
Gliost. It is throu{^}i Him we receive tlie Spirit. It is
He who "hath shed forth," as the Apostle Peter says,
the power from ou high, and tiie S])irit of Pentecost.

This is the peculiarity of the Holy Ghost as He comes
to us in the New Testament age. He comes not only
from the Father, but especially from the Son, and
through the Son, and He comes to us as the Spirit of the
Lord Jesus Christ,

We next see the Holy Ghost in relation to the believer ;
first. He is presented to us as the Spirit of regeneration.
In John 3, verses 5 and 6, Christ says, "Except a man
be born of water and of the Spirit, he nnot enter into
the Kingdom of God. That which is of the flesh is

flesh, that which is born of the Spirit is Spirit."

The very first experience of the Christian life is to re-
ceive the new heart from the Holy Ghost. The natural
man is unable even to see the Kingdom of God, and is
powerless to enter. The Holy Ghost creates in us a new
life and a new set of spiritual senses altogether, through
which we discern, understand, and enter into the life of
God and the spiritual realm. "As many as received
Him, to them gave He power to become the sons of God,
even to them that believe on His name ; which were born,
not of blood, nor of the will of the flesh, nor of the will of
man, but of God."

Next, we see the Holy Ghost in His deeper, and per-
sonal indwelling in the heart. In John 4 : 14, Christ said
to the woman of Samaria, "The water that I shall give
him shall be in him a well of water springing up unto
everlasting life." This is the indwelling of the Holy
Spirit. It is much more than regeneration. It is the
personal incoming of the Spirit Himself, bringing not a
cup of water, but a well of water, and establishing in the

THE HOLY GHOST IN THE G08PEL OP JOHN 51

per-

said

give

unto

Holy

the

not a

n the

heart the fountain of life, so that we are henceforth
dependent, not upon eaeh other, but upon God only, for
the source of our life.

Again in Jolin 7 : 37, we have a still stronger expres-
sion to describe the interior life of the Holy Ghost in the
heart; *'If any man thirst, let him come unto Me, and
drink." Drinking of the Spirit is more than receiving
the Spirit. It is possible for us to receive the Spirit and
have Him, and yet not use Him nor drink from the
flowing fountain as abundantly as we might.

The Apostle in 1 Cor. 12:13 uses the same figures
where he says, *'By one Spirit are ye all baptized into
one body, . . . and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit." To use the old figure, it is the bottle
in the ocean and th( ocean in the bottle. It is possible
for us to be in the Spirit, and yet not be receiving the
Spirit as fully as we need. Drinking is the habit of faith,
an exercise of our spiritual senses which constantly re-
news and quickens our spiritual life, refreshing us and
filling us, so that we are glad to i)our out our full vessel
in service for others.

Then this receiving of the Spirit needs, on our part
as well as on Christ 's, the using and giving forth of the
Holy Ghost to others. And so we read in the next verse,
"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But
this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on
Him should receive." Thjs is the outflow of the spiritual
life. This is the evidence that we are filled, because we
cannot hold it longer, and now occupy ourselves in im-
parting the blessing to others. Like Ezekiel's river, it is
flowing not in, but out, pouring in streams of blessing
through the dry and desert places of life. As soon
as our life becomes positive, unselfish, and outflowing,
it becomes unspeakably magnified; so that what was a
well, in the heart, has grown to rivers of blessing, in the
life devoted to God and expended in blessing the world.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

The river suggests the idea of fullness, magnitude,
and abundance; spontaneous, free, and overflowing, it
does not need to be pumped but flows of itself for very
fullness. It is the service of a glad, unselfish and loving
heart.

God does not want anything that has to be pressed
from an unwilling giver. The prayer that is offered
God from a sense of duty, the work that is done just be-
cause we have to do it, the word that is spoken because
we are expected to be ministers and to be consistent with
our profession, are dead, cold, and comparatively worth-
less. True service springs from a full and joyful heart
and runs over, like the broad and boundless river. Like
the river, too, it runs downward into the lowest places
and aims to reach the saddest, hardest, and most hope-
lecs cases. And, like the river, it is a perennial and
everflowing spring, running on amid the changing
scenes around it, flowing through the whole course of
life, and saying, like the beautiful streamlet as it glides
along, ''Men may come, and men may go, but I go on
forever. ' '

This is the power of the Holy Ghost. It makes us
simple, sweet, exuberant, fullhearted, and enthusiastic
for God, and our work, and our words are the overflow of
a life so deep and full that it brings its own witnesses,
and it makes others long for the blessing that shines in
our faces and speaks in our voices and springs in our
glad and buoyant steps. And it is not merely a river,
but rivers. It runs wherever it can find a channel and
blesses every life that it touches on its way. Is God thus
using us, and has He thus filled us with the Holy Ghost
until the fullness overflows?

It is not necessary that we should be always preach-
ing. Indeed, sometimes we are looking, too far off for
the service that God expects of us. Just at hand '^'e
might often find the opening and the channel which
would bring blessing to some heart that God has brought

'ach-

for

I we

THE HOLY GHOST IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 53

into our life, to prepare us for future blessing to a wider
circle.

An anxious, earnest Christian woman was crying to
God for service and wondering why she was tied up in
her home and unable, like other women, to go out and
reach a broader place. Her bright little girl was playing
beside her and calling in vain to the preoccupied mother
to help her with lier little doll, which had lost a finger
or a garment, and which to her was the central object
of life.

Again and again she came to the mother with her little
trouble, and the mother, fretted and worried with her
own spiritual need, pushed her off, and, at length, rather
harshly sent her away and told her not to bother her,
as she was busy about higher things. Wearied and dis-
appointed, the little one went off alone into a corner
and sat down with her little broken doll and cried herself
to sleep.

A while afterward, that mother turned around and
saw the little rosy cheeks covered with tears, and the little
wrecked doll lying in her bosom, and then God spake to
her, and said, *'My child, in seeking some higher service
for Me, you have broken a little heart of Mine. You
wanted to do something for Me. That little child was
the messenger I sent, and that little service was the test
I gave you. He that is faithful in that which is least is
faithful also in moic, and he that is u'lliithful in the
least is unfit for the greater."

The mother learned her lesson. She picked up the
little lamb in her arms and kissed her awake ; then she
asked God and her baby to forgive her, and began from
that hour to pour out the love of Christ on every object
that came in her wa.y. As she became faithful to do the
things nearest at hand, God widened her sphere until the
day came when, stnnding among her sisters, leading them
on to higher service and speaking to hundreds and thou-
sands of her fellow-workers, she told the story of her ex-

POWER FROM ON HIGH

perience, and the lesson by which she learned that God
does not need our great service, but simply that we should
meet Him in the things that He brings to us, and that
we should everywhere be channels of blessing and love.

So let our lives be filled, and then emptied through-
out the channels around us. Let us come to Him, and
drink and drink again, and yet again, until our hearts
are so full that we shall go out to find the sad, the sin-
ning, and the suifering and comfort them with the com-
fort wherewith we ourselves are comforted of God.

Tnis was the story of the Master. This must be the
story of the disciple. We receive that we may give, and
only as we give, shall we continue to receive ; the more
abundantly we impart, the more richly shall we be filled
with all the fullness of God.

III.

Let us now look at a beautiful object lesson of this
double truth in the second chapter of this blessed Gospel.
It is the miracle of Cana of Galilee. The evangelist tells
us that this was the first of Christ's miracles, and it must
have had a special significance. He also tells us that it
was a miracle which manifested forth His glory, and*
this undoubtedly suggests to us that there was seme
deep lesson back of this miracle, which made it worthy
to occupy a place right in the beginning of the deeply
spiritual teaching of this wonderful gospel. Indeed, it
is a kind of parable and symbol of the whole truth which
we have been endeavoring to unfold from the direct
teaching of the Lord Jesus Christ in the passages which
we have quoted.

1. We see the failure of our natural life, joy, and love,
in the exhausting of Cana's wine. Beautiful, indeed, is
the bridal scene with its fair and fragrant blossoms, the
freshness and beauty of youth, the vigor and nobility
of young manhood, the sympathy of innumerable friends,
and the bright and sunny hopes and prospects of future

THE HOLY GHOST IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN 55

and*

id.

love,
d, is
the
)iUty
jnds,
turc

happiness. But oh, how soon the vision fails! How
quickly the goblet of pleasure is drained, and how often
the serpen i: is left in tue dregs, and all that remains is a
memory more bitter because of the joy that has turned to
sadness !

Alas for life, if this were all ! Bat it is just when the
natural fails, that the divine begins. It is just when the
old creation dies, that the new creation rises. It is just
when Cana's wine is exhausted, that Jesus Nazareth
appears. And now we see in this exquisite m. 'acle the
very truths we have been endeavoring to unfold.

2. Next we have the filling of the vessels. The Mas-
ter's command is, ''Fill the waterpots with water to the
brim." They were just earthen vessels, waterpots for
ordinary use; but they were empty and clean, and all
that was necessary was to fill them with pure water.
They represent tliese vessels of our human lives, earthen
vessels; but if they are empty ve-sels and offered to the
Master, and if they are filled to the brim w ith the Holy
Ghost, of which water is e^ the type, then something
will surely come to pass.

They must be full to the brim. A whole heart luust
receive a whole Christ. The Holy Gh(-t does j ')t take
us by halves, nor will He give Himself by halves. It is
the fullness which makes the overflow.

3. Next comes the other and nobler side of ^ho. miracle.
The filling is the smallest part. What next? "Draw
out now, and bear to the governor of the feaf:^" Be-
gin to use the water, and lo ! it becomes wine.

Oh! how clear and plain the lesson! It is bicssed to
receive the Holy Ghost, but it is more blessed to impart
Him. And the only way you will know that you have
received Him, is by beginning to give Him. You must
go forward like the servants of the parable, in faith, and
draw out before you see the miracle ; but as you bear it
to the guests, lo, it becomes wine, and it rises to a higher
quality. Both are types of the Holy Ghost, but the wine

II 1

POWER FROM ON HIGH

lit'

In ,

is the higher. The water speaks of cleansing and full-
ness, but the wine tells of joy, and love, and life divine.

When we are receiving the Holy Ghost we are only
cold water Christians, but when we are pouring forth His
fullness in holy service we are drinking of the heavenly
wine, and we are made partakers of the Masters own
divine and ineffable joy.

It is exactly the same idea expressed later in the
rivers of living water, running out, and running over;
but it is more than the river. It is the joy and the glad-
ness that turns all life into a marriage feast and a joy-
ful song. Even the world itself is forced to admit, like
the ruler of Cana's wedding, that the best wine has come
last.

Oh, that we might so live and so minister that men
would recognize, even as he, the higher qualities and
value of the blessing that He brings ! All around us are
hearts and lives where the wine of earth has failed, God
help us to bring them the heavenly cup, and the divine
life of the Lord Jesus Christ, until this poor, starving
world shall recognize that we have something better than
they, and shall be made hungry by our benignant faces
and our overflowing joy.

Now, in conclusion, how are we to receive this blessing ?
Let us hearken to the message of Mary. ''Whatsoever
He saith unto thee, do it." It comes to us through some
step of obedience to the Master Himself. He will show
you the way, and as you obey Him step by step, you will
enter into the joy of your Lord. He will interpret every
experience and more than realize every anticipation.

But next, you must not forget the other command,
"Fill the waterpots with water; fill them to the brim."
Leave no vacant place in the soul. Hold back no part
of your life from Him. Yield a whole heart and fill it
with a whole Christ.

And then finally, above all else, go forward and use
the gift of His love. "Draw out, and bear to the gov-

P 11'-

THE HOLY GHOST IN THE GOSPEL OF JOHN

ernor of the feast." Take the life that He has given
and use it to comfort the sorrowing, save the lost, help
the discouraged, and minister in the name and grace of
3-our blessed Master; as you go forth, the Holy Ghost
will go before you, and will work through you, and lead
you on from strength to strength, and will multiply you
one hundred fold, until, like Ezekiel's vision, the trick-
ling streamlet will become ''water to the ankles," "water
to the- knees," "water to the loins," "water over head,
a river to swim in," a torrent of blessing and of power,
with the trees of life on either shore, the leaves of heal-
ing, and the gladness and the glory of Paradise restored
all along your way.

! 1

i&;

llM

CHAPTER VI.

THE COMFORTER.

"And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you another
Comforter, that he may abide with you forever." — John 14: 16.

THESE three chapters contain Christ's deepest teach-
ings concerning the Holy Ghost.

THE NAME, THE COMFORTER.

This is not a very happy translation. The Greek word
is Paraclete, and it literally means a God at hand, One
by our side, O'ne that we may call upon in every emer-
gency. The Latin word, advocate, has the same mean-
ing, One that we call upon or call to us. One ever within
call. In this connection, the Holy Ghost is represented
to us as the present and all sufficient God. Of course,
there is comfort, infinite comfort in all this; but the
primary idea is not so much spiritual enjoyment, as
practical efficiency and sufficiency for every occasion and
emergency that arises.

This is just what the Holy Ghost is, — God for every-
thing. God at hand under all circumstances and equal
to all demands. Oh, what comfort this brings to our
oppressed and struggling life ! A God able to make all
grace abound to us; so that we, always having all-suffi-
ciency in all things, may abound unto every good work.

t'iii

THE MODE OP HIS PRESENCE.

He shall be in you. ' ' He dwelleth with you, and shall
be in you." The presence of God, through the Old Tes-

THE COMFORTER

Qother
L4: 16.

each-

word
, One
3mer-
nean-
itliin

nted
►urse,
the
as

and

v^ery-
qual
our
e all

Sllffi-

i^ork.

tament and even during the ministry of Christ, was a
presence with men; but in the New Testament dispen-
sation and after the coming of the Holy Ghost, it was to
be a presence in men.

The Holy Ghost was to become corporately united and
identified with the life of the believer, so that He would
bring us into direct personal union, and act, not upon
us, but in us and through us, becoming part of our very
life, and controlling every faculty, volition, and power,
from the inmost depths of our being. This is the dif-
ference between the two classes of Christians we find to-
day ; those who have God with them, and those who have
Him in them.

It may not be possible to explain it. It certainly is
impossible to make spiritual mysteries plain to any that
have not experienced them. It is difficult to explain how
the sunshine enters into the midst of the flower and
manifests itself in all the living beauties and tints of the
blossom ; how the water saturates the ground and comes
forth again in the leaf, and laden fruit; how the in-
fluence and image and personality of a friend becomes a
part of our very being, until we think as he thinks, and
act under his influence. These are but distant approxi-
mations to the blessed mystery of the Holy Ghost's enter-
ing, as a Person, into the life and being of a consecrated
disciple and controlling every choice, affection, thought
and action, and thus fulfilling His own promise, **I will
dwell in you and walk in you," "And I will put My
Spirit within you, and I will cause you to walk in My
statutes, and ye shall keep My judgments, and do them. ' '

fchall
Tes-

III.

THE DURATION OF THIS ABIDING.

((

He shall abide with you forever."
The Holy Ghost comes to stay. He seals the heart
unto the day of redemption. He takes possession of it

POWER Fi:OM ON TTIGII

r I

to depart no more. We may grieve Ilini; we may lose
the consciousness of His approval ; but He has loved us
with an everlasting love, and we are kept by His power
through faith unto salvation.

There are some who tell us that the Holy Ghost will
leave the world at the coming of Christ. This is not the
promise of the Master. '*He shall abide with you for-
ever." Even when Jesus comes, He will still remain.
For through those dark tribulation days, tliere will be
souls on earth that need His consolation, His keeping
and His help; He will linger with them through the
darkness, and then, through the millennial age, He will
co-operate with Christ as He did during the days of His
earthly ministry, in bringing this world into harmony
with the will of God, and establishing the dominion of
righteousness throughout the utmost limits of the crea-
tion.

We do not dishonor the work of the Spirit when we
pray for Christ to come. The grandest theatre of His
work will be in these millennial days, for which we are
looking forward with longing and prayer.

IV.

HIS RELATION TO JESUS CHRIST.

"Whom the Father will send in My name," that is,
in My character, to represent Me. He will be ''another
Comforter." He is to correspond in His relation to us
to what Christ was, but He is to be a substitute for
Christ, a successor to Christ, and, indeed, more to us
than Christ could continue to be. "It is expedient for
you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Com-
forter will not come; but if I depart, I will send Him
unto you."

Oh, how precious His presence mast be, if it can be
more than Christ's presence was! Can we conceive how
much Jesus was to these disciples T More than a mother

THE COMFORTER

to her child, more than a shepherd to his flock, more
than a ^niidc throu<?h the pathless desert, more than a
pilot on the trackless ocean.

The disciples had leaned upon Him, lived upon Him,
and were utterly dependent upon Him for everything,
and yet He says, "It is better for you that I go, for
One will come that will be more to you than I have been
in all these relationships."

Beloved, is the Comforter more to us than Jesus was
to His Galilean followers? Ah, then how much nioro
you have to learn of His intimacy and His ministry. Is
He to you the Counsellor and Companion of every mo-
ment, the Leader and the Guide of every step, the
Teacher of all you know, the Substance of all you believe,
the Source of all your strength and joy and life? This
He wants to be. Christ could only be present in one
place ; but He can be everywhere. Christ spoke to them
from outside their natures. He speaks from within.
Christ was to a certain extent a physical presence; He
is a spiritual, that enters into the deepest life of our
being, blends with every consciousness and every thought
and every capacity and feeling.

Was He so to supersede and substitute Christ as to
displace Him? Not at all. On the contrary. He was to
make Christ more real than He had ever been. Here
is the great mistake that many are liable to make in their
zeal for the honor of the Holy Ghost. They represent
Christ as far away at the right hand of God, and they
think they honor the Spirit when they exclude the per-
sonal pre'^jnce of the Master.

This was not the way the Saviour taught, and this is
not the way the Spirit comes. Nay, listen, "He shall
testify of Me, He shall not speak of Himself." "I will
not leave you comfortless, I will come to you." "At that
day ye shall know that I am in the Father, and ye in
Me, and I in you."

':W

POWER FROM ON HIGH

"He that hath my commandments, and keepeth them,
he it is that loveth me ; and lie that hjveth me shall be
loved of my Father, and I will love him, and will mani-
fest myself to him. If a man love me he will keep my
words ; and my Father will love him, and we will come
unto him, and make our abode with him."

It is not possible to read these verses and not see that
the personal and conscious presence of Jesus Christ is
to be ever with His people through the ministry of the
Comforter. Indeed, the great business of the Holy
Ghost is to stand behind the scenes and make Jesus real.
Just as the telescope reveals not itself, but the stars
beyond, so Christ is revealed by the blessed Spirit, as the
medium of our spiritual vision.

Just as the atmosphere can bring yonder sun down
until he is nearer to us here than if we went up into
the air to meet him, so the Holy Ghost, God's divine
medium for the revelation of spiritual realities, brings
Christ from the throne, until distance is annihilated and
space has no power to divide.

Surely, if a human telephone or telegraph can sweep
at a flash or by a wave of sound across intervening space
and bring the distant near, it is not hard for the divine
Author of light and life, and all creation, to open a line
of communication from earth to heaven, so that we may
dwell in the heavenlies, and the living realities of that
v^orld be within whispering distance of our quickened
souls.

It is even so. Through the telephone of prayer, we may
catch the very voice of our absent Master, and be con-
scious of the heart-throbs of His love; we may even go
on into the presence of the spirits of the just made per-
fect, and almost hear the songs that echo around the
throne. Yes, He is with us still, * * all the days even unto
the end of the age." The presence of the Comforter but
makes Him nearer and dearer, and enables us to realize
and know that we are in Him, and He in us.

THE COMFOKTER

nay
on-
go
er-
the
nto
but
llize

THE SPIRIT AS A TEACHER.

■4

Not only does He reveal the person of Christ, but He
reveals the truth which Christ only began to teach. "He
will guide you into all truth, He will teach you all
things." "I have many things to say unto you, but ye
cannot bear them now, howbeit when He, the Spirit of
truth, is come. He will guide you into all truth ; for He
shall not speak of His own knowledge; but that which
He shall hear He shall speak."

And so the Holy Ghost, the Author of the Scriptures,
is the Illuminator and Teacher of the Word. He makes
the truth clear, intelligible, and intensely real, just as
you have seen on some great occasion the metal frames,
where some grand illumination was to take place ; and it
seemed to you, in the light of day, that the forms of
men and the figures r ^Towns and stars and processions
could be dimly trac ii that network of leaden pipes,
erected above the triumphal arch, but it was dull and dim
to you and made little impression upon your senses or
your mind. But wait till evening, till the sun goes down,
and a flash of light bursts over that dead framework.
Lo ! in a moment it is lighted up, and you see the figure
of the military hero, the glowing crown with its many
colored jewels, the procession of living forms and all
the pageant of a grand triumph. The light has done it
all.

And so this Holy Book needs to be lighted up by the
Holy Ghost, and then we do not read the Bible from a
sense of duty; it speaks to us as the living message from
our Master, the love letter of our Bridegroom's heart.

Then how gentle and patient the Holy Ghost is in
teaching us ! He will guide us into all truth. He knows
how fast we can go, and He does not cram us ; but He
suits the word to the action, and the action to the word,

POWER FROM ON HIGH

and fits Ilis teacliing into the framework of our lives,
making? truth real, day by day, *'line upon line, preeei)t
upon precept, here a little and there a little," until He
has led us on to the graduating class, and fitted us for the
maturer tasks of the school of faith.

How much He left to be revealed in the later epistles
and the Apocalypse that they could not then endure!
And how much truth He keeps back from us, until we
are ready not only to understand it, but fully to obey it
and translate it into the living characters of our ex-
perience I

VI.

THE HOLY GHOST AS A REMINDER OP TRUTH.

"He shall bring all things to your remembrance what-
soever I have said unto you."

Not only does He teach us, but He quickens our intel-
lect to remember and to learn. He is the Author and the
Illuminator of the mind, and He is the Spirit of sug-
gestion. He knows how to bring back forgotten truths in
the moment of need. He knows how to suggest the prom-
ise in the time of depression. He knows how to say, "It
is written," and put into our hand the sword of the
Spirit, when the adversary's wiles are trying and per-
plexing us.

He knows how to "waken our ear, morning by morn-
ing, to hear as one that's been instructed, that we
might know how to speak a word in season to Him that
is weary." He knows how to give the appropriate mes-
sage for the fitting time, and then to bless it and send
it home with lasting power.

Let us trust Him to guide us, to speak through us,
triumph through us, and to be our monitor and mother
until all the mazes of life shall have been passed.

THE COMFORTER

per-

Imorn-
lat we
that
mes-
send

?h us,
lother

VII.
TUB HOLY SI'UIIT AS THE SPIRIT OP POWER FOR SERVICE.

"lie will convict the world of sin, and of righteous-
ness, and of judgment." "We can rebuke the world but
He alone can convict it.

He can make our expression, our words, our aetiwis,
awaken in the hearts of men a sense of sin, and a realiza-
tion of eternity.

llo can bring the message to the conscience and press
the will to the great decision, and make our words ve-
hicles for His power. Then He alone ^an convict of
righteousness, and so reveal Christ that it shall not be
merely reformation and self-improvement, but true re-
pentance, faith and reliance upon the finished work of
Jesus Christ. He can convict the world of judgment.
He can pass sentence of death on self, sin, and the world,
and separate men from this present evil world for the
kingdom of our Lord Jesus Christ.

He can take men out of the power of the prince of this
world, and introduce them into the kingdom of God's
dear Son. He can give victory over Satan and finish the
work which He begins.

Oh, how helpless all our work without Him! Oh,
how He waits to show us the great things that He is
willing yet to do, not only for us but for the world I

VIII.

Finally, He is the Spirit of hope, and the promise and
the realization of the future. He will show you things to
come.

Oh, how this promise was to be fulfilled in the later
teachings of the epistles and the Apocalypse, concerning
the bles.sed hope of the Lord's coming! And the same
Spirit that has given the light of prophecy, can give the
light of interpretation and the life of faith and living
hope! He alone can make these things real to us; He

' ' -^^

POWER FROM ON HIGH

alone can center our liopos and hearts in the blessed hope
of Christ's coming, and the throne of His Ascension.

It is not enough merely to know that Christ is coming,
and to desire it, but it is a great crisis in the life of a
soul when it becomes truly centered there, when the
source of attraction is removed from the earth to the
heavens, and when it learns to live under the power of
the world to come. It is one thing to be lifting up the
world from the earth side, it is another thing to be draw-
ing up the world from the heaven side. It is one thing
to be a man on the earth, living for the glory; it is an-
other thing to be a man in the glory, living for the
world. We must be taken out of the world fir&t, and then
sent back into it, to be any blessing to it.

The reason that Christ knew how to live was because
He did not belong here. The Father had sent Him from
heaven, and we must be sent from heaven, too, and work
on earih as men that dwell in heaven. Oh, may the
Spirit so show us things to come that we shall have our
jenter in the throne of our ascended Lord, and with
Him see and live and work to save the world in which,
for a little while, we sojourn 1

CHAPTER VII.
WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT.

*' Tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with,
power from on high." "Wait," saith He, "for the promise of
the Father, which ye have heard of Me." "And when the day
of Pentecost was fully come, they were all with one accord in one
place."

THESE three passages all suggest a single and very
definite thought, — waiting on God for the filling of
the Holy Ghost.
The law of time is an important factor both in nature
and in grace. There are some operations which are in-
stantaneous, but there are many more that require the
lapse of time and the process of development. The prin-
ciple of vegetation is gradual, unfolding first the blade,
then the ear, after that the full corn in the ear. Winter
id as needful as spring to fertilize the ground, and the
seed must lie silent in the soil until it germinates and
springs into the blade and the blossom.

And so, in the spiritual world, there is a place for
waiting. God's work of creation was not instantaneous
but successive. The promise of the coming Redeemer
waited for four thousand years. Abraham waited for
the fulfillment of the promise of his son. Moses waited
forty years before he could go forth to the great work of
His life. Jesus waited for thirty years to begin His
public ministry.

The promises of God are for those that wait for Him ;
and the spiritual life which, in some respects is instan-
taneous in its operations, in others, is progressive. There
is a moment when we definitely receive the Holy Ghost;
but there is a preparation for His coming, and a waiting
for His fullness for us, just as much as for Jesus and
Moses. Doubtless there is a sense in which they waited,

POWEK FROM ON HIGH

1; ,!^ I

which, cannot be true of us. For them the Holy Ghost
was not yet sent from heaven. The day of Pentecost was
the moment of His arrival on earth. Up to that moment
He had resided in the person of Jesus, now He was to
reside in his Body, the Church, and the earth was to be
His home. In that sense we cannot wait for the coming
of the Comforter, for He has come and He is here.

But even if the Holy Ghost had come to earth already,
that very same command would still have been given to
the disciples to wait in the upper room. There was a
preparation on their part, just as necessary as the
Spirit's coming from heaven to earth. And there is a
preparation on our part just as necessary^ in these days.

It is important, however, that we understand the true
nature of this waiting. It is not waiting for the Lord,
but it is waiting on the Lord. It is not looking forward
to a distant blessing, but it is continuing in the attitude
of receiving and claiming the blessing, and giving time
for the Holy Spirit to fill the waiting heart with all
His fullness.

It is more than expectation of a future blessing. It
is rather accepting a present blessing, and yet a blessing
so large and full, that it cannot be taken by us in all its
completeness in a moment of time, but requires the open-
ing of every vessel of our being, and the continuance of
our heart in the attitude of receiving.

The Master is calling us, as He called them to these
seasons of waiting, and there are deep reasons in the
principles that underlie all Christian experience, which
will show the importance and necessity of our thus wait-
ing on the Lord.

This season of waiting on the Lord was fitted and
designed to mark a great transition in their lives, an
epoch of spiritual new daoarturq, an area of the chro-

}

hcse
the
hich
svait-

and
an
»iiro-

WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT

nology of the heart. God wants His people to have such
epochs and such eras.

As we read the records of geology we find that the
surface of our globe has been formed by successive layers,
between which can be traced successive breaks. There
is a stratum of rock, and then there is a stratum of wreck
and conglomerate masses, between the layers of previous
strata.

It is so in spiritual life. These days of waiting lead
us to new planes and new advances. Sometimes it is
very desirable that there should be a complete break,
that we may get out of the old ruts, and be free to take
a higher place, and make a bolder advance.

In music one of the most effective things is the em-
phatic pause. The word ''Selah" in the book of Psalms
expresses this pause, and in order to the effectiveness of
such a pause it cannot be too complete a silence. Then
the chorus which follows has a double emphasis. And
so the Holy Ghost has given us our Selahs in the chorus
of spiritual life, emphatic pauses when God wants us to
be still and listen to Him, and break away from old
ideas and measures, and reach out into the larger fullness
of His thought and will.

II.

This time of waiting on God was also necessary in
order to teach them the greatest lesson of the Christian
life — to cease from themselves. The greatest danger
about these men was not in what they might fail to do,
but in what they might try to do. The greatest harm
that we can do is the attempt to do anything at all when
we are not prepared, and when we do not understand
our Master's will. Suppose a regiment of soldiers should
start off without their captain's orders, or their neces-
sary equipment or artillery; the next attempt of the
army would be rendered more hopeless by their rash ex-
posure and needless failure.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

r i

And so the Master wants to keep us from doing any-
thing, until we are prepared to go forth in His strength
and victory. Our hardest lesson to learn is to unlearn,
and to know our utter helplessness and wretchedness.

The deepest experience into which they had to enter
was self-crucifixion, and crucifixion is the death not only
of the evil self, but of the strong and self-sufficient self.

Peter had not yet learned to be still, for before these
waiting days were over we find him rushing again to the
front, and proposing the election of a new disciple, with-
out the divine direction or recognition. The best that
can be said of his work is that it did no harm if it did no
good, for God never afterwards seems to have recog-
nized the apostle that Peter led tlie brethren to choose,
but in His own time He called His own apostle.

And so it was necessary that these days should be
spent in waiting and learning to be silent, and forming
the habit of the suspension of our own activity, and the
dependence of our will entirely upon the direction of
the Holy Ghost. There are times when the most masterly
thing we can exercise is inactivity, and there are times
when the most mischievious thing we can do is to do
anything at all.

That is a most instructive story that is told of the
nervous passenger on board a vessel in a dangerous
urorm, who was running about the deck in every direc-
tion, and asking the captain what he could do to save the
ship from going to the bottom ; at last the captain, more
alarmed by him than by the tempest, fearing that he
would drive the passengers into a panic, called him to his
side and said, *'Yes, you can help me immensely if you
will just hold that rope hard and firm ; and don 't let it
go until T tell you!" He eagerly grasped the rope and
held it tight and steady until the storm was past, and
then he walked about the deck boasting that he had saved
the ship, until the captain, hearing of this, came up and,
looking at him with a twinkle in his eye, said, *'Why,

WAITING FOE THE SPIRIT

do you know the reason I gave you that rope to hold was
to keep you quiet ? The only good you did by holding on
so steadily was that you were kept from doing any mis-
chief."

Ah, how much mischief we do by doing our own
work! IIow long it took God to teach Abraham to be
still ! How long Abraham tried to help God to the ful-
fillment of His own promise! Then he got Sarah into
his counsel, and then he took Hagar into partnership,
and out of it came Ishmael. Out of Ishmael came noth-
ing but sorrow and hindrance, until, after a quarter of
a century had been spent, God quietly fulfilled His own
promise in His own way.

How long it took Moses to learn to be still! Forty
years he had to wait in the desert until all his young-
mannishness had died, and his precocious activity had
been changed into modesty and even timidity; then,
when Moses strank back and asked God to send someone
else, Moses was small enough and still enough for God
to use for His people's deliverance. And so, when he
came to the gates of deliverance, his first lesson was to
** stand still and see the salvation of God;" to do nothing
but wait for Him, and then God stepped upon the scene,
and did the work Himself.

God cannot use us until we come to the end of our-
selves, and see our utter worthlessness, and helplessness,
and then put on His mighty strength, and go forth, cry-
ing, **I am not sufficient even to think anything as of
myself; but my sufficiency is of God."

■ j

it
Ind
nd
red

III.

These waiting daj^s were necessary to enable the dis-
ciples to realize their need, their nothingness, their fail-
ure and their dependence upon the Master. They had to
get emptied first, before they could get filled. Oh, how
o^'ten they must have thought, as those days went by, of
the positions they were now to occupy, the responsibility

POWER FROM ON HIGH

that was resting upon them, the charge that the Master
had committed to them, and their utter inability for it
all ! How they must have recalled their folly, their un-
belief, their strife, their seljSshness, their fears, their
defeats, and shrunk back into nothingness, and even
stood aghast at the prospect before them, until in the
very dust they cried to Him for help and strength
needed.

And so God wants us to go apart and quietly wait
upon Him, until He searches into the depths of our being,
and shows us our folly, our failures, our need. There is
no wiser nor better thing to do on the eve of a season of
blessing than to make an inventory, not of our riches, but
of our poverty ; to count up all the voids and vacuums
and places of insuflSxjiency ; to make the valley full of
ditches, and then to bring to God the depths of our need
for Him to till.

And it takes time to make this work thorough. It
takes time to burn it into our consciousness. It takes
time to make us feel it. It is one thing to know in a
general way our need and failure; it is quite another
thing to realize it, to mourn over it, to be distressed
about it, and to be filled with sorrow and shame and that
holy zeal and revenge upon ourselves which the apostle
tells us is part of true repentdncc.

In the golden stairway of the Beatitudes, the first
promise is to those that are poor in spirit; but there is
another step still deeper down on the way to God, and
that is ** Blessed are they that mourn." It is needful
that we shall mourn over our poverty, that we shall real-
ize our need, that we shall be deeply troubled over our
spiritual wretchedness, and that we shall come with such
hunger that nothing less than all the fullness of Christ
can ever satisfy us again.

There are some spiritual conditions that cannot be ac-
complished in a moment. The breaking up of the fallow
ground takes time ; the frosts of winter are as necessary

WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT

ac-
low
ary

as the rains of spring to prepare the soil for fertility.
God has to break our hearts to pieces by the slow proces-
ses of His discipline, and grind every particle to powder,
and then to mellow us, and saturate us with His blessed
Spirit, until we are open for the blessing He has to give
us. Oh, let us wait upon the Lord with brokenness of
heart, with openness of soul, with willingness of spirit,
to hear what God the Lord will say !

IV.

These days of waiting are important also that we may
listen to God's voice. We are so busy that we cannot
hear. We talk so much that we give Him no chance to
talk to us. He wants us to hearken to what He has to
say to us. He wants us on our faces before Him, that
He may give us His thouglit. His prayer, His longing,
and then lead us into His better will.

And if He keeps us waiting long, we know the message
when it comes will be worth all the delay. **If He
tarry, let us wait for Him." Only a few times did He
speak to Abraham. Only a few times did He speak to
Paul. But these were messages that will live for ever,
and their echoes have sounded through all the years,
and will resound from the ages yet to come.

Let us wait upon God, not so much in prayer as in
hearkening.

God wants us to wait upon Him also that we may
realize not only our need, but His fullness and His will
for us. He wants to show us the vision of the future as
well as of the past. He wants to open to us the treasures
of His grace, and make us know all the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in us.

He wants to lift up our eyes northward and south-
ward and eastward and westward, and then say to us,
**A11 the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it."

■■im

POWER FROM ON HIGH

He wants to give us the vision of the King in His beauty
and the land of far distances. He wants to reveal to us
yet unexplored regions of glorious advances in the life
of faith. He wants to call us to higher service, and show
us mightier resources and enablings for the work of life.

Oh, it is so sweet to wait upon the Lord and dwell on
high, to survey the mountain peaks of His glorious grace
and look out on the boundless fullness of His promises
and His power, and to hear Him say, ^ ' Call unto Me, and
I will answer thee, and show thee ' ' not merely the things
thou hast seen, but ''great and hidden things which thou
knowest not!"

This is the waiting to which He is calling us today.
God grant that these days before us may bring the vision,
and then the victory !

I v\

V I

VI.

Waiting on the Lord is not only a preparation for
the Holy Spirit, but is a process of receiving the Holy
Spirit. There is a cumulative power in waiting prayer
to bring the answer and the blessing, breath by breath
\nd moment by moment. God 's blessing is too vast and our
capacity is too great to be filled in a moment. We must
drink, and drink, and drink again, and yet again, if we
would know all the fullness of the river of His grace.

Take an ash barrel, and begin to pour into it a bucket
of water, and your whole bucket will be exhausted before
the water has made the slightest impression; the ashes
will be as dry as at first, and you can pour bucket after
bucket, and still the ashes be as dry as ever. It is only
when the barrel has been filled that at last you see the
first trace of the water you have been pouring in. That
ash heap was so dry that it could only be saturated by
degrees from the bottom upwards; and it is only when
the whole body has been saturated, that the first evidence
appears.

WAITING FOR THE SPIEIT

And so our hearts are so dry, that we need to wait
upon the Lord for days and days before there is any
impression. But all the while the dry ground is filling,
and the thirsty soil is absorbing, and after the waiting is
completed we shall know that it was not in vain; we
shall realize that not one breath of prayer was vainly
spent; we shall find that every moment was storing up
the treasures of His grace and power in the depths of
our being.

Beloved, we do not wait enough upon the Lord. We
do not spend sufficient time at the Mercy Seat. We al-
low the rush and hurry of life to drive us off, and we lose
time instead of gaining it, by our reckless haste.

Yes, that is an instructive old story about the horse-
man parsued by his foes, who found his trusted charger
beginning to fail in the race, for one of the shoes upon
his feet had been detached, and he was slipping upon
the rocky path. Suddenly the horseman dismounted at
the blacksmith shop, where the two ways met, and al-
though he could see his pursuers over yonder hill, bear-
ing down upon him, yet he waited long enough to shoe
his horse. He called to the blacksmith, "Be quick," as
he threw him a coin of tenfold value; and the sweating
workman filed and hammered and clinched the nails, and
did his work fast and well. And when the last nail was
turned, and the fugitive leaped into his saddle, the hoofs
of his pursuers were thundering just behind him, and lie
heard their shouts of triumph, as they felt they had
secured their prey.

But no! he leaped into his saddle, plunged his spurs
into his horse's haunches, and dashed away like the
lightning, because he was now prepared for the journey.

Ah yes, he gained by losing time, and would have lost
all by going before he was prepared. 0, beloved, "Tarry
ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with
power from on high." "Wait for the promise of the

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Father, which ye have heard of Him." "In quietness
and confidence shall be your strength."

Without the Holy Ghost you are unequal to the jour-
ney of life ; you are unfit for the service of the Master ;
you are unwarranted in attempting to preach the gospel,
or to win a soul for Christ, and you are unprepared for
the f utui ^ which He is immediately opening to you. Oh,
let us wait at His feet; let us learn our weakness; let
us realize our nothingness; let us get emptied for His
filling, and then baptized with the Holy Gliost or filled
anew with His utmost fullness; and we shall go forth
not to our work, but to His, and find that **He is able
to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or
think, according the power that worketh in us. To
whom be glory n^.v^ and forever. Amen."

less

cur-
ler;
pel,

for
Oh,

let
His
lied
)rth
able
: or

CHAPTER VIII.
POWER FROM ON HIGH.

**Ye shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon
you; and ye shall lio witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem, and
in all Judea, and in iSamaria, and unto the uttermost part of the
earth. ' '—Acts 1 : 8.

THE greatest need of human nature is power. Man
is weaker than all other creatures. The tiger's cub
is able to take care of itself, but the human being
spends one-third of an ordinary lifetime before he
reaches maturity.

He is the prey of all the elements around him, and
morally he is much weaker still. In his heart are ele-
ments of evil that drag him downward, and around him
a thousand inliuences that lead him astray.

There is unspeakable pathos in the cry of a poor,
sinning woman who once said in a hospital, as we were
pleading with her to do right : * * I am not strong enough
to be good ; ' ' there is infinite comfort in that blessed as-
surance of the Holy Scriptures, "When we were yet
without strength, in due time Christ died for the un-
godly."

The gospel is a message of strength. * * It is the power
of God unto salvation, to every one that believeth. ' ' It
is the special ministry of the Holy Ghost to give power
from on high. How much is signified in this mighty
promise ? How far have we come short of His fullness ?
How far may we claim its fulfillment?

We cannot find a better answer than in the book of
Acts. This verse is the keynote and the table of con-
tents. Every word in this verse points forward to a
whole section of the book which follows.

The first chapter of Acts tell us the story of the
power. The next chapters tell us of the witnessing

POWER FROM ON IIICJI

which followed. Thou we have the eiiureh in Jerusalem.
Then wo have the gospel in all Judea. Then we have
the story of Samaria. And finally, the elosing chapters
are wholly devoted to the preaching of the gospel unto
the uttermost part of the earth.

"We snail not attempt now to trace the unfolding of
this order through the book of Acts, but shall simply
endeavor to illustrate the meaning of this word "power"
by the facts and incidents of the story of the apostolic
church, as given in the book of Acts, which is really the
story of the acts of the Holy Ghost more than the acts
of the apostles.

THIS IS THE POWER OP A PERSON.

The right translation is, ye shall receive not power,
but the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you.
It is not your power, but His power. It is not abstract
power under your control, but it is a Person, whose
presence with you is necessary to your possessing and re-
taining the power.

He has the power and you have Him. In the science
of electricity, it has been found that the best form in
which this motive power can be used to run our street
cars, is not through storage batteries, but through over-
head wires. The power is not stored up in the car, but
in the dynamo and the wire, and the car just draws it
from above by constant contact, and the moment it lets
go its touch the power is gone. The power is not in the
car, but in the wire.

And so the power of the Holy Ghost is power from
above. It is not our power, but His, and received from
Him moment by moment.

In order to receive this power and retain it, there are
certain conditions which are necessary. One of thum is
that we shall obey Him and follow His directions. We
can only have His power in the line of His will. The

i1
t

III

,»»

)llt

ets
the

rOWP]R FROM ON ITTGII

car can only draw the power from the wire in so far as
it follows the track. It can have the power to run ak)ng
the hij^hway, but it caiuiot iuiv(! it to run into the ncM^h-
borinj? farms and follow the capricious will of the driver.
The Holy Gliost is given to them that obey Ilim, and
obedience to the Holy Ghost is a much larger thing than
many dream.

It is not merely to keep from doing wrong in some
little contracted sphere; but it is to understand and
follow the whole will and purpose of God in the use of
this divine enduoment. We cannot have it to please our-
selves. We cannot have it to please ourselves even in the
mode of our Christian work. We can only enjoy the
fullness of the Spirit, in so far as we use this fullness for
the work to which He has called ns.

This verse is the measure and the limit of the Spirit's
power. He is given that we shall be witnesses unto
Christ, both "in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth."

We can only know the fullness of the Spirit's power
as we use it to give the gospel to the whole world. Only
in the line of the world's evangelization and the ful-
fillment of our great trust can the church of God ever
realize the utmost meaning of the promise of Pentecost.

II.

IT IS THE POWER OP HOLY CHARACTER.

It is not primarily power for service, but it i.^ power
to receive the life of Christ ; power to be, rather than to
say and to do. Our service and testimony will be the
outcome of our life and experience. Our works and
words must spring from our inmost being, or they will
have little power or efficacy. "We must ourselves be
ta*ue, if we the truth would teach."

The change produced by the baptism of the Holy
Ghost upon the first disciples was more remarkable in
their cwn lives than even in their service and testimony.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Peter, the irresolute disciple, — always running ahead
of his Master, boasting in bis self-confidence of what he
would do or would not do, and then running away at
the threat of a servant girl, transformed in*o the fearless
hero, who stood before the murderers of His Lord and
charged them with their crime, and then with lowly
spirit and humble heart, going forth to walk in his Mas-
ter 's steps, and at last to die upon his Master's cross
with downward head, — is a greater miracle in hh per-
sonal life than even in the wondrous power of his public
testimony.

The spirit of unselfish love, that led to the entire con-
secration of all their means to the service of Christ and
the help of one another, was an example that could not
fail to impress the skeptical and selfish world. The
*' great grace" that was upon them all was more wonder-
ful than ''the great power" with which tiwy bore wit-
ness to the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. The
heroic fortitude with which they endured unparalleled
sufferings, "rejoicing that they were counted worthy to
suffer shame for the name of Jesus," was an exhibition
of power that no man can gainsaj^ and liarried a weight
of conviction that nothing can counterp* ise.

This is the power which the church needs today to con-
vince an unbciieving world; the power tliat will make
us, not inspired apostles, but "living epistles, known and
read of all men." Nothing is so strong as the intiuence
of a consistent, supernatural, and holy character. Many
a skeptic, whom all the books in the universe would
never have convinced, has been converted by the sweet
example of his Christian wife.

Many a miss.onary among the heathen has found that
the failure of his temper and spirit has done more in a
moment to counteract all his teaching thaji years could
undo. "He that keepeth his spirit is greater than he
*hat taketli a city." And the power that can surpass the
angrj'- word, and stand in sweetness ^n the hour of pro

! !

POWER FROM ON HIGH

vocation in the humble kitchen and laundry, has often
become an object lesson to the proud and cultured mis-
tress, until her heart has hungered for the blessing which
has made her lowly servam's life a mimairy of power,
and her humble heart a heaven of love.

IT IS THE PO^VKB OF TRUTH.

The Holy Ghost wo^-ks through the Holy Scriptures,
and so the baptism ui Pentecost was clearly identified
with the power of the Word.

The very first thing that Peter did after the Holy
Spirit came was to quote the Scriptures, and explain the
manifestation from God's own inspired Word, and it
was a Scriptural sermon which wm used in the extra-
ordinary conversions of that day.

If you will carefully notice the different messages of
the apostles, you will find that in every instance they
made large use of the Bible, and some of their messages
are simply statements of Scripture and quotations from
the Old Testament.

The Holy Ghost has given the Holy Scriptures and
will never dishonor His own messa.|;e. The more we
know of Him, the more will we honor His Word. The
Bible must ever be the foundation of spiritual power,
and the instrument of spiritual service; but it must
ever be in the power of the Spirit. "The letter killeth,
but the Spirit giveth life."

The late Dr. Gordon tells of a Sabbath he spent
abroad, on whi^-h day he went in the morning to hear a
distinguished preacher who was celebrated for his Bib-
lical knowledge. He came home delighted with the clear
and brilliant expositions of the truth that he had heard,
but chilled with the icy coldness of the message. It was
true, clear, Scriptural truth, but as cold as an iceberg.

He went in the afternoon to hear another preacher
distinguished for his fervor, and he came back delighted
6

POWER FROM ON HIGH

with the earnestness and unction of the preacher but it
was a fire of shavings, and there was not truth enough
in it to make it lasting.

He went again at night, and heard a third preacher,
and he came away not only instructed, but thrilled,
because this sermon had been not only an exposition of
Scriptural truth, but it had also been alive with the
power of God and full of the fire of the Holy Ghost. It
was not a fire of shavings, but of substantial fuel, and it
left not only a memory of truth, but a glow of warmth
that filled his heart with joy and love. This is the power
of the Holy Ghost, speaking the truth in love; the
Bible ablaze with holy fire; the Word of God dissolved
in unction and love, until it can be observed in every
fibre of our being, and become the nutriment of our life.

IV.
IT IS THE POWER OF LOVE.

The baptism of Pentecost was a baptism of love. It
brouglit a luve to God that annihilated the power of self.
"Neither said any of them that aught of the things which
he possessed was his own. ' ' Their costliest treasures were
yielded up to God. Their wealth, tlieir homes, were
held at the service of the church of Christ.

It was love to one another, and they were so absolutely
bound together that they formed a corporate body. There
was no schism or possible place for the paralysis or
mutilation of the whole body of Ciirist. Today the
church of Christ has broken to pieces. Here and there
We find a sound member, but the whole body is mutilated
and severed, so that it is not possible for the Spirit to
flow with undivided and unhindrred fullness through
the whole ; consequently we do not have the gifts of the
Spirit in the same measure as in the day of Pentecost.
The body is carrying about with it diseased and lacerated
members, and it takes the strength of tliose that are
whole to carry those that are broken.

POWER FROM ON HIGH

What we need today is tlie baptism of the Holy Ghost,
and then the union will come because of the unUu, and
we shall not need our platforms and our convocations to
bring the body toji:ether, but bone to his bone, member to
member and heart to heart we shall stand in "unity of
the Spirit," and the Church of Jesus will be ''fair as the
moon, clear as the sun, and terrible as an army with
banners."

Tne baptism of the Holy Ghost will always brlag a
spirit of love. It will fill the heart with devotion and
devotedness to God, with tender consideration for one
another, with loving regard for our brethren, vvith in-
tense longing for the salvation of souls, and with sweet-
ness and charity toward all men.

utely

There

lis or

the

Here

Hated

it to

.ugh

the

(cost.

■ated

are

IT IS THE POWER OF SUPERNATURAL GIFTS AND DIVINE

'^lEALING.

The name of Jesus, through the power of the Holy
Ghost, was efficacious to restore the paralytic at the
Beautiful Gate of the temple, and even to raise the dead
at the prayer of Peter,

At every great crisis in the apostolic ministry, we find
a special manifestation of supernatural power. It was
given to emphasize their testimony in Jerusalem. It was
specially marked at the opening of the gospel in Samaria.
It was still more wonderfully manifested as Peter
preached through all Judea. And at everj' new point in
Paul's missionary journey we find "God bearing witness
by signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds."

You will notice, however, that the healing of the sick
and the working of supernatural power were not pri-
mary ends, but rather testimonies to something more
important, even the reality and power of the name of
Jesus, and the message of mercy through the gospel.

And so, while we must still recognize the supernatural
ministry of the Hpirit, which never was intended to be

POWER FROM OK HIGH

interrupted, and ouf?ht to be expected y^it more Wfmder-
fuUy in these last days before the coming of the Lord
Jesus Christ, let us never make the mistake of regarding
it as an end, or allowing it to take the place of the higher
truths that relate to our Hpiritual life. At the sam(;
time, Jet us not ignore it. The church is one through all
the ages. "Jesus Christ is tlie same yesterday, and to-
day, and forever"; the Holy Spirit in unchanged, and
the constitution of the church is identical with the twelfth
chapter of First Corinthians and the plan which God
gave at F^jwtecoft.

We cannot Umva ou't smy part of the Gospel without
weakening all Iai^ rei*t; and if there ever was an age
when the w^^^ki nt-A'AfA. the witness of God 's supernatural
working, it is this d*/ of unbelief and Satanic power.
Therefore, we may exp*!^,, an the end npproaches, that
the Holy Ghost w^^l trork in the healing of sickness, in
the casting out ot 4«mdlMi, in -^eiaarkable answers to
prayer, in special an^ wonc^er^ul provid<ences, and in
such forms as may please His sovereign will, — to prove
to an unbelieving world that the power of Jesus' name
is still unehangf/i, and that "all the promises of God iu
Him are yea, amA kt Him, Amen, forever. "

Let us not tenf U) fWira His power for our physical
as well as our H\)\nUm\ neoy], f-nd we shall find that, "if
the Spirit of fiim that raised up Jesus from the dead
dwell in us, He i)i»i raised u\) Christ from the dead shall
also quicken our laortal bodies by His Spir.'i; that dwell-
eth in us.'*

VI.

IT IS THE POWF.R OW PROVIDENTI/.L WORTilTNG.

There is nothing niore remakable tl'an the manaer in
which God's providene* worked in line with the first
disciples, showing that He who dw^elt within them was
the sKine God that eontr< Is the universe and all the affairs
of buutan life.

■J

POWER FROM ON HIGH

How wonderful the providence that brought repres-
tatives from the whole world to meet at Pentecost, and
then to receive the power and go forth to their homes in
every nation, as witnesses for Jesus!

How marvelous the providence that brought Philip and
the eunuch of Ethiopia together down there at the cross
roads of the desert, and then sent the prince on to his
home in Africa converted, enlightened, and filled with
the Holy Ghost, to be a witness for Jesus to his whole
nation, and perhaps bring all North Africa to God !

How remarkable the providence that sent Peter to the
housetop, and then brought to him the vision that illum-
inated his mind, enlarged his ideas, and prepared him
for his greater commission for the Gentile churches;
then, when he was ready, sent, on tlie very niche of time,
the messengers of Cornelius to knock at his door and
take him up to Ciesareu to pit h the gospel to the Gen-
tiles and witness the outpouruig of the Holy Ghost at
iN'utecost I

How wonderful the provide k'c of God that opened the
church at Antioch and prepared a new center for Gen-
tile Christ ianity, in the larger spirit of the cosmopolitan
congregation, and then g-^.thered there men like Paul an 1
Barnabas to be the leadvTS of a wider movement for all
th'j world !

How marvelous the providence that saved Peter from
the cruel hand of Herod, opening liis prison doors on the
very night preceding his intended execution, and smit-
ing Herod down with a hideous disease m the hour of
his i)resumptuous purpose to destroy the Church of God!

How extraordinary llie providences that followed Paul
llirougli his wondrous life, opening iiis way from land to
land, and making storm and tempest, and even the very
viper that sprang upon him, to work for the cause of
Christ !

And still the same God rules in the same rea
Providence. Still the Holy Ghost within as can con.u)l

;l|i;

POWER FROM ON HIGH

the circumstances around us. Still the march of events
will keep time to the leadings of the Spirit. And the
man that walks in the Holy Ghost shall have a charmed
life and be immortal till his work is done, and he will find
that winds and waves and fierce and cruel men, and even
Satan's very emissaries shall be forced to become auxili-
aries to His purpose, and work with Him for the further-
ance of the Gospel.

And so God has shown in the lives of men like Arnot,
in Africa ; Paton, in the New Hebrides ; George MuUer,
in Bristol, and many a humble missionary of the cross
who has dared to trust the mighty promise of the ascend-
ing Master, the permanent value of His words, *'All
power is given Me in heaven and in earth, and lo, I
am with you all the days, even unto the end of the age. ' '

VII.

IT IS THE POW^ER FOR GUIDANCE.

The Holy Spirit gives power for guidance. He di-
rected them. He led their steps. He sent Philip to
Samaria, and down to the desert to meet the eunuch.
He sent Peter to the housetop and then to the home of
Cornelius. He restrained Paul and Silas from preaching
in Bithynia and Ephesus, and then He sent them to
Macedonia, to give the gospel to Europe.

Step by step He was the Guide of all their ways, and
He is still our Counsellor and Guide; and if we will
trust Him and acknowledge Him in all our ways. He
will direct our steps and lead us into all the fullness of
our Father's will.

VIII.
IT IS THE POWER FOR THE GOVERNMENT OF THE CHURCH.

There is nothing more wonderful than the oversight
of the Holy Gh(>st in the church of the apostolic age.
He was its recognized Leader and Head. He directed itt

POWER FROM ON HIGH

rlit

councils, and was acknowledged as its President. He
controlled its disciples, kept out unworthy members, and
preserved it from the touch of the world.

How solemn and awful His dealing with Ananias and
Sapphira! How suggestive the solemn statement "of
the rest, durst none join themselves unto them"! Oh,
if the Holy Ghost is in the Church, the world will not
have to be kept out; it will be only too glad to stay
out.

Alas, that day should have come when learning, genius,
influence and worldly power should be recognized in the
house of God, and the world should be sought by sinful
compromises and unholy attractions, and the church
should be baffled and hindered by the ** mixed multit ado"
that she has no power to keep away. God is trying to
show His ministers and people that He is adequate for
all the needs of His work, and any pastor and church
that will fully recognize Him, shall always be prospered
and blessed, spiritually, financially, numerically, influ-
entially, and every way.

Oh, that God would show His Church her true power
and glory, and that she might again be the woman
* ' clothed with the sun, with the m.oon beneath her feet ! ' '

IX.

IT IS THE POWDER OP CONVICTION OVER THE HEARTS OF MEN.

The power of the Holy Ghost is not always a conscious
power on our part. It is marked chiefly by effectiveness
in reaching the hearts of others. On the day of Pente-
cost, it was the power to convict the consciences of men,
and to influence and control their actions. "They were
pricked to the heart, and they said. Men and brethren,
what shall we do?"

It is not always the highest excitement that indicates
the strongest power. The great question is, "What is the
effect upon the hearts and lives of men ? ' ' When Demos-
thenes used to speak in Athens, the people forgot all

rOWER FROM ON HIGH

about Demostlienes, and said, **Let us go and find
Pliilip." It put the *'go" into them. And so when
the Holy Ghost is present in power He leads to results.

The speaker may be very calm, and have little con-
sciousness of the power, but in the audience are men and
women who are brought face to face with God ; and the
truth is ** manifested to every man's conscience in the
sight of God,'' and a Voice within says, "Thou art the
man. ' ' The will is led to decide and choose for God, and
men turn from sin and yield themselves in entire sur-
render. This is the power we want — the power that
"will convict men of sin, and of righteousness, and of
judgment ; ' ' not the power of great machinery, of thril-
ling eloquence, melting pathos, and marvelous preaching
and singing but the power that quietly moves upon the
hearts of men, in their workshops and in their homes,
until they are constrained to give themselves to God.

IT IS THE POWER TO SUFFER.

Perhaps there is no more remarkable manifestation of
the power of the Holy Ghost, in the early church, than
the sweetness and grandeur with which they endured all
things for Jesus' sake. Beaten with stripes and hu-
miliated before the council, they came together, not to
condole with each other or show their bleeding wounds,
but to rejoice "that they were counted worthy to suffer
shame for the name of Jesus."

Hunted out of Iconium by a mob of respectable v^omen,
pelted with stones and hooted from the community, the
"disciples were filled with joy, and with the Holy
Ghost." Theirs was a gladness that did not recognize
their sufferings, but lifted them above persecution, and
counted it but part of their coronation.

And so the power of the Holy Ghost will give us the
heroism of endurance and enable us, like our Master, for
the joy set before us to endure the cross, despising the

POWER FROM ON HIGH

shame. It will bring about a spirit of self-denial and
holy sacrifice ; it will make it easy for us to let go things
and give up things * ' and endure all things for the elect 's
sake," and to say with the great apostle, *'Yea, and if
I be offered upon the sacrifice and service of your faith,
I joy and rejoice with you all."

XI.
IT IS THE POWER FOR SERVICE.

Finally this was the power for unw oaried, earnest and
effective work. It was a power that could enable Paul,
in a single lifetime, while supporting himself by his own
manual labor, unsupported by any missionary society or
church, and without the facilities of our railroads, steam-
boats, telegraphs and means of communication, to girdle
the globe and preach the gospel everywhere, and say in
words of superlative triumph, ' ' So that from Jerusalem,
round about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the
gospel of Christ."

0, beloved, we are living in an earnest age, and surely
the Holy Ghost ought to produce earnest men today.
God give to us this power for work that will multiply our
■ives until they measure up to the extraordinary oppor-
tunities, and to the marvelous intensities of these last
days on which the ends of the world are come.

Oh, for a race of Pauls ! Oh, for an army of Gideons !
Oh, for a band of heroes! Oh, for the baptism of the
Holy Ghost in all the meaning of Pentecost and in all the
highest thought of Christ Himself !

CHAPTER IX.
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.

•'They were all filled with the Holy Ghost."— Acts 2: 4.
"Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess; but bo filled with
the Spirit."— Eph. 5: 18.

THESE words imply that there is a difference be-
tween having the Spirit and being filled with the
Spirit. These disciples, on the day of Pentecost,
had, in some measure, received the Spirit previously.
The Lord Jesus must have meant something when He
breathed on them and said, * * Receive ye the Holy Ghost. ' *
And the disciples to whom the apostle wrote the Epistle
to the Ephesians had already been "sealed with that
Holy Spirit of promise," which was the earnest of their
inheritance until the redemption of the purchased pos-
session ; but they were not filled with the Spirit.

What this difference is we may not be able to state
explicitly or accurately. Our theories and definitions
may be at fault, and it is probably unnecessary that we
sliould understand all about it theoretically. The most
important thing is that we should feel after it until we
find it; that we should long for it and press forward
to receive it. It is very probable that many a soul is
converted without being distinctly conscious of the proc-
ess at the time, and that many a Christian receives the
gift of the Holy Ghost when he is stumbling after it
and reaching out for it in the darkness and the dimness
of spiritual trouble. And so we may not know all about
this, but we may earnestly desire it and persistently seek
until we find it. All divine conditions transcend our
understanding, and our most real, intense and important
experiences often come to us by processes which we our-
selves could not explain.

;-i3

FILLED WITH TIIL yPIRIT

The most familiar operations of the natural world
afford a loreible illustration of this distinction. We all
easily understand the difference between the shallow
stream and the overflowing river. In both, cases there is
water, but in one case it is a feeble current, while in the
other it is an overflowing stream that drives the in-
numerable wheels of the factories along the shores. The
power all comes from the fullness which causes the over-
flow.

We can easily understand the difference between a
boiler full of water and a boiler full of boiling water.
In the one case it is cold water which fills, but which has
no power; in the other it is the water converted into
steam, driving the wheels of the mighty engine and car-
rying the cars across the continent along the iron track.

That single degree o" temperature makes all the dif-
ference in the world between power and impotence. The
Scriptures of truth bear out this distinction with the
greatest possible clearness and force.

In writing to Timothy, the Apostle Paul says, in the
first chapter of the second epistle and sixth verse,
"Wherefore I put thee in remembrance that thou stir
up the gift of God, which is in thee by the putting on
of my hands. God hath not given us the Spirit of fear ;
but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind."

The gift was already bestowed and fully recognized,
but it was like an expiring flame — the embers of the fire
were falling into ashes, and the flame was almost dead.
The word used is rekindle, stir up the fadmg embers,
rekindle the fire — be filled with the Spirit.

Again, in 1 Corinthians 12 : 7, we read, ''But the mani-
festation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal." This word ''profit" expresses the whole dif-
ference between receiving the Spirit and being filled with
the Spirit. Every one may receive the Spirit, but only
a few "profit withal"; that is, improve the gift, develop
it, exercise it, and reach its utmost fullness.

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All this is perfectly unfolded in the beautiful parable
of the pounds, Luke 19. The one pound given to each
servant is the special enduement of the Holy Ghost,
power for service; but the improvement of the pound,
in each case, is different, according to the diligence and
fidelity of the servant. And so the outcome of each life
is different, and the final reward bears the same propor-
tion. It is a wonderful and solemn truth and places an
awful responsibility upon every one of us for the right
use of God's spiritual gifts, and especially that Gift of
gifts, the blessed Holy Ghost Himself.

In the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians and the
thirteenth verse, we have another remarkable statement :
*'For by one Spirit are we all baptizad into one body,
whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be bond or
free ; and have been all made to drink into one Spirit. ' '

It is one thing to be baptized into the one body by
the Spirit; it is another thing to drink into tliat one
Spirit. The first is an act ; the second is a habit. The
first brings us into a relationship ; the second is the true
use of that relationship, the drinking of His fullness
until we become filled, and the habit of abiding in His
fullness so that we are always filled.

Once more, the same truth is very beautifully taught
in the story of the widow and her pot of oil, already
referred to in connection with 2 Kings 4 : 1-7. That
little pet of oil represents the Holy Ghost ; but the out-
pouring of the pot of oil into all the vessels which the
widow borrowed from her neighbors, illustrates the full-
ness of the Spirit, as we receive Him into all the needs
of our life, and into all the circumstances which God's
providence brings to us as opportunities for the develop-
ment of our spiritual life and the richer fullness of the
Holy Ghost.

So many have the Holy Ghost confined in a little pot
of oil and hidden away on the shelf of a cabinet. God
wants us to go out into all the needs of life, and pour

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

that divine fullness into every vessel that comes to us,
until our whole life shall be a living embodiment and il-
lustration of the all-sufficiency of Christ.

Let us now inquire v/hat ar3 some of the effects and
evidences of the filling of the Holy Ghost.

1. To be filled with the Spirit, in the first place will
bring us the fullness of Jesus. The person and work
of the Holy Ghost must never be recognized apart from
the person of Christ — to do this is sure to lead us into
Spiritualism. Natural religion recognizes the spirit
world. Spiritualism is full of it. The priestess of Apollo
was called the Pythoness, because she inhaled a spiritual
influence until her whole body became swollen like a
python, and her whole being was alive with intense spirit-
ual force; but it was the spirit of evil; it was a spirit
apart from the person of Christ and the true God.

The Holy Ghost never comes to us apart from Jesus.
He is the Way to the Father, and He is the Way from
the Fatlier to us ; and the blessed Spirit when He comes
witnessei h not of Himself but of the Lord Jesus Christ.
Let us be very careful of this. It is possible to become
inflated with a spiritual influence, and yet to ignore and
even disobey the Lord Jesus Christ, and to be led into
pride, self-sufficient sentimentalism, and even sin.

The object of the Holy Ghost, like that of an artist, is
to picture Jesus upon the canvas and make Him real to
us, while the blessed Actor Himself is, in a measure, out
of sight.

The more we are filled with the Holy Ghost, the more
We recognize Christ, depend upon Christ, live upon
Christ alone. Therefore this very word ** filled" is used
in connection with Him.

In Colossians 2 : 9, 10, we have these two remarkable
relative verses, "In Him dwelleth all the fullness of
the Godhead bodily, and ye are complete in Him." Lit-

POWET? FROM ON HIGH

P
i

I ,

erally translated, it reads, *'Iii Him dwelleth all the full-
ness of the Godhead in a bodily form, and ye are filled
with Him." God fills Jesus ; Jesus fills us. Christ is the
ideal man, the pattern of what a man should be, and
God has put into Him all that humanity needs to be to
satisfy Him; therefore, in order that we should be true
men, we must re-live His life, reproduce His personality,
receive Him, grow up into Him, and live Him in all
the completeness of His glorious life.

So we read, '*0f His fullness have all we received,
even grace for grace. ' ' We ourselves are insufficient for
every situation, and the great business of the Holy Ghost
is to bring us up to the situations of life ai}d show us
our insufficiency^ and then reveal to us Christ and bring
Him into our life as the supply of our needs. So in
connection with that wonderful promise of the Holy
Ghost in the fourteenth chapter of John, the true sequel
is, "I am the Vine, ye are the branches. Abide in Me
and I in you. He that abideth in Me, and I in him, the
same bringeth forth much fruit; for apart from Me ye
can do nothing. ' '

This is the life into which the Holy Ghost brings us,
the life of personal union with and constant dependence
upon the Lord Jesus Christ. To be filled with the Spirit,
then, is to be filled with Christ, and so live that our con-
stant experience and testimony will be, **I live; yet not
I, but Christ liveth in me : and the life which I now live
in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son of God, who
loved me, and gave Himself for me. ' '

2. To be filled with the Spirit will exclude the life of
self and sin, and will, of course, bring us into a life of
holiness, righteousness and obedience.

We read in Exodus 40 : 34, 35, that **when the cloud of
the glory of the Lord filled the tabernacle, Moses was not
able to enter into the tent of the congregation ; because
the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled
the tabernacle."

PILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

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pirit,
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This is the true picture of a Spirit-filled man. The
indwelling and infilling of the Holy Spirit excludes selt
and sin. There is no room for Moses when the glory of
God fills our being.

3. The filling of the Holy Ghost will bring us joy and
fullness of joy. * ' These things have I spoken unto you, ' '
the Master said after He had given us the promise of the
Spirit, "that My j'^v oiight remain in you, and that your
joy might be full. ' And so the apostle prays that *'the
God of hope may fill us with all joy and peace in believ-
ing, that we may abound in hope through the power of
the Holy Ghost."

The fullness of the Spirit must crowd out pain, doubt,
fear and sorrow, and bring the joy of Christ to fill our
being. What is it makes the melody in an organ ? It is
not the touch of skillful fingers only on the keys, but it
is the filling of the pipes by the movement of the pedals.
I may try in vain to play the most skillful tune, unless
the organ is filled ; and so our songs of praise are dead
and cold until the breath of God fills all the channels of
our being. Then comes the heart-song of praise and the
overflowing fountain of gladness.

4. So all the fruits of the Spirit come from the Spirit-
filled heart. "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, faith,
temperance." These are all fruits or, at least, the fruit
of the Spirit, and spring spontaneous from the fullness
of the Holy Ghost.

When, a few years ago, I stood at Hebron and looked
at the pool of David and saw it overfloving, my friend
turned to me, and said, "This is the toktu by which we
know that the valleys of Judea are filled v ith water, and
its plains will be covered with fertility- and luxuriance.
The rains have been abundant because the dooI of David
is full at Hebron, and the sources of irrigation are
ample."

POWER FROM ON HIGH

11 Ik''

And so when the heart is full of God, the life will be
full of godliness. Spontaneously and sweetly will spring
up ail the fruits of righteousness, holiness and bessing,
and "the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the rose.'*

t. Again, the Holy Ghost can fill our minds and under-
standings with knowledge and light, and control our
thoughts with harmony and sweetness and strength.
The peace of God that passeth all understanding will
keep our hearts and minds, and our thoughts will be
stayed upon Him, and "brought into captivity to the
obedience of Christ.'*

6. Yes, our very bodies will feel the fullness. The
Holy Ghost is a true tonic for physical energy and per-
fect health. The fullness of the Spirit is the elixir for
body and brain and being. To be filled with His blessed
life will make our feet spring, our nerves steady, our
brain strong, our circulation regular, and our whole being
at its best for God and holy service.

7. Then, also, our very circumstances keep time to the
blessed fullness of the heart within.

Like the widow's pot of oil that flowed out into every
vessel, so the presence of God touches everything that
comes into our life, and we find that all things work
together for good to us if we love God and fulfill His
purpose.

Our circumstances will become adjusted to us, or we
become adjusted to our circumstances, and the whole of
our life, "fitly framed together," will become vigorous,
and full of power a^id blessing.

8. The blessing will no longer be expended upon itself ;
but we shall have enough and to spare ; it will overrun
until there is not room to receive it, and the residue will
become the inheritance of a suffering world. These are
the lives God uses, and God cannot use us until we are
running over.

It was when Cana's water was poured out that it was
changed from water into wine. It was when Ezekiel's

FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT

river ran from the sanctuary to the desert that it grew
deeper and broader and fuller. And it is when our lives
are lost in self -forgetting love that we know all the full-
ness of God.

in.

HOW MAY WE BE PILLED T

1. We must be empty.

I have a phonograph into whose sensitive gelatine
cylinders I dictate my literary work. One busy day, I
dictated a large amount of matter, filling up every
cylinder. I spent nearly two days getting through a
great amount of literary labor, and felt very much re-
lieved that it was off my hands.

But when my typist proceeded to copy the messages
which I had spoken to these cylinders, she could not
understand the words, they were all jargon and con-
fusion. The reason was very simple. I had neglected to
shave off the former dictation before giving the new
message. I had really dictated a lot of matter into ears
that were already filled and, therefore, it had made no
impression. My work was lost, my labor was in vain.
But I learned a lesson that was worth all it cost, and
that is, that we must be empty before we can be filled.
God cannot speak His messages into full ears. The Holy
Ghost cannot pour His fullness into those who are already
full.

2. We must be hungry. For "He hath filled the
hungry wiih good things, and the rich hath He sent
empty away. ' ' The caravans on the burning desert, when
they cannot find the accustomed well of water, let loose
the thirsty harts and they sweep over the burning plains,
panting with thirst, until they find the water brooks.

And so the hungry heart always finds the living bread,
the thirsty soul is always filled with water. There is
nothing that finds God so quickly as an earnest soul.

/"n^^

mmm

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Ml t

We always find Him when "we search for Him with all
our hearts."

3. We must be open if we would be filled. * * Open thy
mouth wide and I will fill it." We must be free from
prejudice and preconceptions of truth that shut us up
from God's voice. We must be adjusted so as to catch
His whisper and understand His will.

4. We must receive as well as ask ; we must believe as
well as pray; we must take the water of life freely;
we must know the secret of drinking the living water, if
we would be filled.

5. We must wait upon the Lord.

The heart is too large to be filled in a moment; the
soul is too great to be satisfied with a mere mouthful.
**They that wait upon the Lord shall renew their
strength." We must "continue in prayer"; we must
be much at the throne of grace ; we must learn the secret
of communion as well as supplication; and as we thus
wait upon the Lord, we shall be filled until we shall find
it a luxury to give forth or.r blessing to others.

6. And finally, if we would be filled, we must learn to
give as well as receive ; we must empty our hearts, that
they may be refilled. God is a great economist and He
loves to bless those who make the best use of their bless-
ings, and become in turn a source of blessing to others.

The Holy Ghost is given for service ; God cannot bless
a selfish soul ; and there is no selfishness more odious in
His sight than that which can hoard God's spiritual
blessing, and let others die in ignorance of the gospel,
and suffer through selfish neglect.

* * The liberal soul shall be made fat, and he that water-
eth others shall be watered himself." In this blessed
work of winning the lost and giving the gospel to the
world, we shall find our own rich reward, and "the
fullness of the blessing of Christ."

CHAPTER X.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE

ROMANS.

**But. ye are not in the flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that
the Spirit of God dwell in you. Now if any man have not the
Spirit of Christ, he is none of his. ' ' — ^Rom. 8 : 9.

WE approach, in this great epistle, a spiritual
temple, and from its illuminated windows there
shine out the beams of lofty and divine truth. It
is so glorious that it needs only to be stated to bring its
own illumination and vindication. This, the greatest of
the epistles, presents to us the doetine of the Holy Ghost
with a symmetry and fuliness quite as remarkable as the
unfolding of the other tloetrines which it contains.

I. First, we have the witnessing Spirit. In Romans
1:3, 4, the Lord Jesus Christ is said co have been "of
the seed of David according to the flesh, and declared to
be the Son of God with power, according to the Spirit
of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead."

The Spirit of holiness has been interpreted to mean
the divine nature of Jesus Christ, but it is quite proper
and, indeed, a more simple interpretation to apply it
directly to the Holy Ghost as a divine Person, witnes-
sing to the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ, by raising
Him from the dead according to the will of the Father.

The Holy Ghost was ever the witness to Christ 's divin-
ity, and tlie Spirit Who had so distinct a part in the
offering up of His sacrifice (for it was **by the eternal
Spirit that He offered Himself to God without spot")
had surely as important a part in His resurrection.
This ib the first view we love to take of the Holy Spirit,
as the Witness of Jesus, and especially of the risen Jesus.
the living Christ, and the divine Lord.

99 "'■ - '^'''■^\

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100

POWER FBOM ON HIGH

II. We next see the Eoly Ghost as the Spirit of life
and holiness. In Romans 8 : 2, we read, * ' The law of the
Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made me free from the
law of sin and death."

This is the first work of the Holy Ghost in sanctifying
the soul. Let us carefully notice the place where tliis
comes in. It is subsequent to our justification by faitli
and our surrender to Christ in death and resurrection.
Then the Holy Spirit comes and takes possession of us
and breathes into us the life of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This becomes a new law of life and power in our spiritual
being, and tliis new law lifts us above and sets us free
from the old law of sin and death.

Just as the law of life lifts us above the law of gravi-
tation, and the power of my will can raise my hand in
spite of that physical law which makes dead matter fall
to the ground, so the Holy Ghost, bringing Christ as a
living presence into my heart and life, establishes a new
law of feeling, thinking, choosing, and acting, and this
new law lifts me above the power of sin and makes it
natural to me to be holy, obedient, and Christ -like.

III. We see the Holy Spirit operating in the mind as
well as in the spirit, and we read in the next paragraph,
verses 5 and 6, *'The minding of the flesh is death, but
the minding of the Spirit is life and peace. ' ' The Holy
Spirit enters the mind and disposes it to the will of God,
so that we choose the things that He chooses, and think
God's thoughts after Him.

We mind the Monitor Who dwells within us ; we listen
to the voice that speaks to us ; we follow His directions,
and "we walk not after the flesh, but after the Spirit."

IV. The Holy Spirit is next revealed as the Spirit of
quickening and healing in our mortal flesh. In verse
II, **If the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus from the
dead dwell in you, He that raised up Christ from the
dead shall also quicken your mortal body by His Spirit
that dwelleth in you. "

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ROMANS

101

t of
erse
the
the
Dirit

The Holy Ghost is the source of physical as well as
mental and spiritual life. The human body consists of
more than the outward frame. There is the inner mechan-
ism of nerves, and, inside of that, the vital fluids and
currents which quicken, energize, and impel the whole
material organism.

Inside of all this is the principle of life, and inside of
this is the Holy Ghost in the consecrated believer. He
is most distinctly represented to us here as a vital force
in our material being, a source of life, quickening, ex-
hilaration and physical energy for those that know
Him and obey Him. He is the Spirit that raised up
Christ from the dead, and He dwells in our mortal bodies
as a quickening life. This is not the immor^ul body of
the resurrection, but the mortal frame of the present
life which feeds upon the divine life. A.nd this is the
secret of living on the life of God.

It is thus that our bodies are the temples of the Holy
Ghost, and our frames are the members of Christ, and
partake of the life of our living Head.

V. The Holy Spirit, as the guide and director of our
Christian life, is very clearly presented to us in the next
few verses. *' Therefore, " adds the apostle, "we are
debtors, not to the flesh, to live after the flesh. For if
ye live after the flesh ye shall die : but if ye through the
Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, ye shall live.
For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they are
the sons of God."

We are to "live after the Spirit"; w^e are to obey our
divine Guide ; we are to follow our heavenly Leader ; we
are to yield ourselves to the Mother and the Monitor
who comes to direct our pathway.

Christian life is not a mere moment of blessed trans-
formation, but it is a life of continual abiding and
obedience. Step by step, we must walk with God and
maintain the attitude and habit of dependence and holy
obedience. The Holy Spirit never wearies of the care

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■8

ill

of our life, and we should never weary of His loving-
jealousy for us. This is the secret of peace and gladness
constant obedience and a hearkening spirit that waits to
catch the whisper of His will and obey His every word.

VI. In this passage we have another most important
truth; namely, that the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of
crucifixion. He is the One that mortifies our evil nature
and holds us in the place of death and resurrection life.
The attitude of the Christian life is that of reckoning
ourselves dead, indeed, unto sin.

This attitude must be maintained as a habit, and there
are constant occasions A/hen the old life will seek to re-
assert itself and must be held steadily in the place of
death. This is what is meant by *' mortifying our mem-
bers," and this can only be done by the Holy Ghost.
If we attempt it ourselves we shall be everlastingly in the
attitude of attempted suicide, and we shall never reach
the place of peaceful death. The reason so many ghosts
are walking around is because so many people have tried
to die in their own strength, and have got up ir the same
strength, and walk about as the apparitions and shade v/s
of the old carnal life.

The Church of God is full of these uncanny spirits,
these live corpses, these resurrected ones; and they are
very sad looking objects to themselves and to everybody
elbe. The true secret is to be so full of the Holy Ghost
that, like the autumn leaves which drop off by the
coming of the spring, our old life shall be kept in the
place of death by the expulsive power of divinr love and
Christ's indwelling life.

VII. The Spirit of sonship is also clearly unfolded in
this beautiful par'igraph: "As many as are led by the
Spirit of God, they are the sons of God." The Holy
Ghast brings us into the same relation with the Father
as Jesus Christ, the divine Son. We are made '^artakers
of His Sonship through His indwelling life, and the
prayer of the Master becomes fulfilled in us and through
us, **that the love wherewith Thou hast loved Me, may be

THE HOLY SPIRIT TN ROMANS

103

bin
the

poly
;her
cers
the
ugh
be

in them and I in them. " It is because He is in us that
the Father loves us with the same love that He loves the
Son, and we dwell in the blessed consciousness and
confidence of this place of child liberty and love.

We are called the first born ones. We are ail first born
ones, even as He is the First Bom One and the Only
Begotten. We partake of His very Sonship ; and as the
bride shares the bridegroom's family and home, so we
enter into all privileges, immunities, glories, and pros-
pects of Christ's own glorious life. "Behold, what man-
ner of love the Father hath bestowed upon us, ' ' and the
Spirit hath brought to us, "that we should be called the
sons of God. ' '

Beloved, have we received power thus to become the
sons of God, and does the Spirit, not of adoption, but of
Sonship, cry out instinctively from our inmost being,
"Papa, Father," our own dear Father, His Father and
our Father, His God and our God?

VIII. The Spirit of hope and anticipation of the com-
ing glory is next seen. And so we read in verse 23, * * And
not only they, but ourselves also, who have the first fruits
of the Spirit, even we ourselves groan within ourselves,
waiting for the adoption; to wit, the redemption of our
body."

That is, the Holy Spirit awakt. is the consciousness and
brings the earnest of the coming glory, and calls forth
our eager longing and outreacliing for it. Just as the
embryo birdling in its shell, when the time for its birth
draws near it, presses through the restraints that confine
it, until at last it bursts the fragile shell and leaps forth
into liberty and life to breathe the air of the great world,
and soon to cleave the firmament on eagle's wings, so
the Spirit-filled heart has in it the bud and the embryo
of a transcendent future, and it stretches out even now
its nascent wings, and groans within itself for the com-
ing glory.

Who is .there of all the disciples of Christ who has not

, ■ (

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1 it

III

some time felt the birth-pangs of a grander life and the
prophecy of a future transcending all we know of power
and blessing?

We have not only the conception and anticipation of
this glorious future, but the apostle says we have "the
first fruits" even now. The Spirit of God in our hearts
is the prophecy and promise of the coming age of more
glorious spiritual life when we shall be like Him, and
clothed with His perfections and something of His wis-
dom and power, we shall share His throne forever.

The touches of divine healing that have chrilled our
mortal framj are but the foretaste of the resurrection
hour, when we shall sweep up into the fullness of our
eternal manhood, and these mortal frames shall be as
beautiful, as glorious, as pure, and as strong as His
glorified body on the throne.

What we have seen of answered prayer, of power over
nature, of victory over circumstances, of divine life even
in this limited sphere, these are but anticipations and
earnests of the time when we shall inherit the kingdom
which Adam lost, and share man's destined dominion
over the whole creation.

And so the Holy Spirit in us is teaching us the mil-
lennial soiig, is waking up in us the pulses ^f the resur-
rection, is illuminating before us the vision of the commg
glory, end is calling us out to prove even here our celes-
tial wings. And as the parent eagle teaches her little
ones to fly, moment by moment and effort by effort,
alluring them from their soft nest, bearing them on her
mighty wings, so the Mother Dove is teaching us to spread
our wings upon the higher air and press forward into a
little of our future inheritance.

Oh, let us not be disobedient to these heavenly visions !
Let us not repress these outreachings. Let us not quench
these immortal fires. And let ua not cramp and stunt,
and crush out the heavenly inspirations and aspirations

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN ROMANS

105

which cany with them not only the prophecy, but the
vital power of an endless and boundless life.

IX. In the twenty-sixth verse we have the Holy Spirit
as the Spirit of prayrr. ''Likewise also the Spirit help-
eth our infirmities ; for we know not wnat to pray for as
we ought; but the Spirit itself maketli intercession for
us with groanings which cannot be uttered. And He
that searcheth the hearts knoweth what is the mind of
the Spirit, because He maketh intercession for the saints
according to the will of God."

This is the deep mystery of prayer. This is the deli-
cate divine mechanism which words cannot interpret,
and which theology cannot explain, but which the hum-
blest believer knows even when he does not understand.

Oh, the burdens that we love to bear and cannot under-
stand! Oh, the inarticulate outreachings of our hearts
for things we cannot comprehend! And yet we know
they are an echo from the throne and a whisper from the
heart of God. It is often 9 groan rather than a song,
a burden rather than a buoyant wing. But it is a blessed
burden, and it is a groan whose undertone is praise
and utterably joy. It is ''a groaning which cannot be
uttered." We could not ourselves express it always, and
sometimes we do not understand any more than that God
is praying in U3, for something that needs His touch
and that He understands.

And so we can just pour out the fullness of our heart,
the burden of our spirit, the sorrow that crushes us, and
know that He hears, He loves, He understands, He
receives; and He separates from our prayer all that is
imperfect, ignorant and wrong, and presents the rest,
with the incense of the great High Priest, before the
throne on high; and our prayer is heaxd, accepted and
answered in His name.

X. The Spirit of service is His attribute. The Holy
Ghost is next represented as the Spirit of power for con-
secrated service. In the twelfth chapter of llomans and

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

the first verse, there is a singular and beautiful force in
the use of the Greek word '^paraclete.'*

The expression, '*! beseech you, therefore, brethren by
the mercies of God" literally means, "I paraclete you
by the mercies of God"; that is, not I, but the Holy
Ghost beseeches you, that ye present your bodies a living
sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reason-
able service. This is the Holy Spirit's message to the
saved and sanctified children of God, and this is the true
power for consecration and service.

We may so identify ourselves with the blessed Para-
clete, that our appeals and messages to men shall not be
ours but His, and we can say, '*! Paraclete you"; in the
name of the Holy Ghost, beseech you. Thus our words
and works will come to men with the authority and the
power of the Holy Ghost.

XI. The Spirit of gladness is revealed in Romans 14:
17. ' * The kingdom of God is not meat and drink ; but
righteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost."
Romans 15 : 13. "Now the God of hope fill you with all
joy and peace in believing, that you may abound in hope,
through the power of the Holy Ghost."

The Holy Spirit is always the Spirit of gladness, and
the Spirit of gladness and hope is essential to power for
service and effective testimony for Christ.

XII. The Spirit of missions is His Spirit. The crown-
ing revelation of the Holy Ghost in this sublime epistle
is the Spiril; of evangelization for the whole world.
It is very beautiful that in this, the most doctrinal of
all the epistles, the most profound theological treatise
on justification, sanctification and the purposes of God
ever written by inspired hands, should be these closing
words respecting the ministry of the Holy Ghost for
the evangelization of the whole world. But how could
it be otherwise from such a soul and such a hand as
Paul's?

Listen to these inspiring words : "I have written more

THE HOLY SriRTT IN ROMANS

107

boldly unto you, as putting you again in remembrance,
because of the grace that was given me of Grod, that I
should be the minister of Jesus Christ unto the Gentiles,
ministering the Gospel of God, that the offering up of
the Gentiles might be made acceptable, being sanctified by
the Holy Ghost.

"I have therefore my glorifying in Jesus Christ in
those things which pertain to God. For I will not dai3
to speak of anything save those which Christ wrought
for me, for the obedience of the Grentiles by word and
deed, through mighty signs and wonders, by the power
of the Spirit of God ; so that from Jerusalem and round
about unto Illyricum, I have fully preached the gospel
of Christ; yea, so have I strived to preach the gospel,
not where Christ was already named, lest I should build
upon another man 's foundation ; but as it is written. To
whom He was not spoken of, they shall see; and they
who have not heard shall understand." Chap. 15 : 15-21.

To the glowing heart of Paul the work of missions was
jiist the offering up of the Gentile world as a great living
sacrifice to God, sanctified by the Holy Ghost. To pre-
sent this offering to God was the glorious and all absorb-
ing service of his life, and in this he had claimed and
received the mighty power of the Holy Spirit; so that
his soul could truly say, ** through mighty signs and
wonders from Jerusalem round about unto Illyricum, I
have fully preached the gospel of Christ. ' ' He could not
rest in the beaten tracks of old and occupied fields, but
pressed forward to the regions beyond to tell the story
of divine love and grace, where Christ had not been
named.

In an age when all our methods of international com-
munication were unknown, when there were no railroads,
steamboats, telegraphs, nor missionary societies, this lone
man preached the Gospel, from land to land, until he
could say of this vast region of the known world that
circled round Jerusalem, he had so fully preached the

Hi!

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108

POWER FROM ON HIGH

il;

ill

;5:

i|;

gospel of Christ that no place was left in those parts,
and that he was now at length at leisure to visit his
friends in Rome and do some home mission work.

Wherever tiie Holy Ghost has possession of our hearts
and lives, this will be the impulse that will possess us, and
it will be the practical outcome of our consecration, until
we shall have given the gospel as a witness to every tribe
and tongue, and the purpose of the Christian Dispensa-
tion to gather out of the Gentiles a people for His name
shall be accomplished, and the Lord Himself shall come.

Oh, may the Holy Spirit help each of us, from the
study of this wonderful epistle, to understand His mean-
ing for us and for our times, and to rise from the grandest
truths of the gospel to the grandest work of the ages I

!|l

CHAPTER XI.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE FIRST EPISTLE TO

THE CORINTHIANS.

THE First Epistle of Paul to the Corinthians unfolds
the doctrine of the Holy Ghost in a number of
distinct paragraphs, bringing out four different
aspects of the truth, that are full of practical significance.

In the second chapter we have the Holy Ghost pre-
sented as the source of mental illumination and the
Spirit of wisdom and revelation.

In the third and sixth chapters we have the Holy
Spirit in His indwelling in our spirit, and His sanctify-
ing power.

In the sixth chapter we have the Holy Spirit dwelling
in our body and uniting us to Christ.

And in the twelfth chapter we have the Holy Spirit
constituting the whole body of Christ and uniting it,
filling it witn life, and enduing it with power for service.

THE SPIRITUAL MIND. I. Cor. 2 : 6-16.

The last verse of this wonderful chapter expresses the
particular truth of which the whole chapter is an unfold-
ing, — * ' We have the mind of Christ. ' ' The Spirit is here
represented as the Quickener of the mind, and the Source
of mental illumination, and the Revealer of spiritual
truth.

There are three distinct and important thoughts in the
chapter. The Holy Spirit is the Revealer of super-
natural truth.

1. In the first place, the Spirit is the revealer of
sources of knowledge. For "eye hath not seen, nor ear
beard, neither have entered into the heart of man the

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

things which Grod hath prepared for them that love Him.
But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit ; for
the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of
God."

There is much that eye hath seen, but there are truths
beyond our natural vision just as wonderful as this world
of light and beauty, when it is suddenly revealed to a
man who has always been blind, and whose vision is re-
stored. His first thought is, *'How beautiful, how won-
derful ! Why didn 't you tell me of this before ? ' '

And so there are spiritual truths, and there is a world
of higher vision which God has for the quickened spirit,
and which our natural senses never could discover ; and
when we see it in the light of His revealing, we wonder
we never heard of it, and we think everybody ought to
see it.

There are things which ear has heard, — the words of
eloquence and wisdom, the notes of melody and harmony,
the whisper of affection, the voices of nature and human
love; but there is a higher realm whose messages of
heavenly truth and divine love ear hath never heard.
There are words of tenderness and wisdom which the
Shepherd's voice is waiting to speak to those who know
it, and the Holy Ghost is longing to give to "him that
hath a ear to hear what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. ' '

There are thoughts and truths which human hearts
have conceived, wonderful creations of the human imag-
ination, wonderful conceptions of the human soul,
wonderful inductions from human observation and per-
ception, wonderful systems of thought and philosophy.
But there are deeper and higher truths for the heaven-
taught soul which will fill tlie ages to come with wonder
and rapture. "In Him are hid all the treasures of
wisdom and knowledge," and some day we shall know,
even as He, all the secrets of truth. But He cannot speak
them to us until we are able to hear them. This is the

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST CORINTHIANS m

province of the Holy Ghost. Some of these truths He
has revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures, but this is but
a primary revelation for the present age and, as we shall
know Him better, He will lead us on and up to all the
heights and depths of knowledge in the cycles of eternity.

"For the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep
things of God." Like a mother who is searching through
her wardrobe to find what will fit the ages of her chil-
dren, like a teacher who is wisely discriminating, and
determining just what class he can put the pupil into
according to his progress, so the Holy Ghost is searching
constantly to find how much we can stand; how far He
can advance us; how fully He can reveal to us "the
mind ( I Christ," and He is often disappointed, because
as babes, we are unprepared for His higher messages.

2, We need more than supernatural truth, we need a
supernatural mind to receive it. And so the next thought
presented here is the Holy Spirit's ministry in giving to
us the mind of Christ, and a supernatural power of
reception. "For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man that is in ii^m? even so the things
of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God."

You may repeat this sermon to the little canary bird
that sings in your chamber, and he may bend his little
head in earnest attention and try to take in your thought
and meaning, but you will find that he has not grasped
it. His little mind is not equal to your higher thought ;
he has only the mind of a bird, while you have the mind
of a man. In order to make him understand you, you
will need to put your mind into his brain.

And so when we bring our little mind up to the great
thoughts of God we are inadequate ; we cannot take them
in. Your canary may have a bigger head than your
neighbor 'p canary ; it may know one or two notes of song ;
it may ive a few little tricks that others have not
learned; it may be an educated, a cultivated, a profes-
sional bird but it is only a bird. And so your philosopher,

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

your man of science, your scholar, may know a few in-
tellectual tricks, which the common mind is ignorant
of ; but he has only a human mind, he cannot take in the
things of God without divine illumination.

This is the reason why **the wisdom of the world is
foolishness with God." "But," He adds, "we have re-
ceived the Spirit which is of God, that we might know
the things that are freely given to us of God." "We
have the mind of Christ."

This is the stupendous truth which revelation holds
out, that we may have a divine capacity in order to un-
derstand a divine revelation. The Holy Ghost does not
annihilate our intellect, but He so quickens it and in-
fuses into it the mind of Christ, that it is practically
true "that old things have passed away, behold, all things
have become new."

He can give us the power to cease from our own
thoughts, and He can put into us His divine thoughts.
He can make the truth real and living, so that it glows
and shines with the vividness of intense realization. He
can enable us to grasp it, to feel 't, to remember it, and
to understand it. He can light up the page until it
glows as the firmament of stars at night or as the sun-
shine of the day that makes all objects plain. He can
stop our foolish and vain imaginations and * ' bring every
thought into captivity to the obedience of Christ."
Blessed baptism for our poor wandering minds ! Blessed
"peace of God that passeth all understanding," that can
"keep our thoughts" as well as our hearts by Christ
Jesus! Blessed sight as well as light that the blind can
have!

Therefore, in that beautiful and symbolical Gospel of
John, where every act of Christ was an object lesson, we
find that, after He had revealed Himself as the Light of
the world, He immediately healed the blind man and
restored his sight, as much as to say, " It is not only light
you need, but vision." He came "that they which see

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST CORINTHIANS 113

not might see, and that they which see might be made
blind!"

3. There is one more thought still, and that is the in-
sufficiency of human wisdom to know the things of God.
**The natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit
of God ; for they are foolishness unto him : neither can he
know them, because they are spiritually discerned."

The natural man here is not, of course, the jfleshly
man, but it is literally the physical man ; that is, the soul
man, the intellectual mind, the cultured mind, the mind
of the philosopher. It is not for want of human education
that men do not know the truth of God, but it is for want
of spiri^ aal organs. Therefore it isi that * * the wisdom of
this world is foolishness with God, and He taketh the
wise in their own craftiness." Therefore it is that
scholarship and genius and even ecclesiastical authority
so often fail to grasp the deeper spirtual truths of the
gospel, and even oppose and hold up to ridicule and
scorn the things that God hath revealed to them that
love Him.

And so, beloved, when you find the gifted and the
influential, even in professors' chairs and sacred pulpits,
opposing the truths that are dearer to you than your
life, and that you have seen in the living light of God, —
do not wonder; do not feel provoked; do not answer
back according to their folly; but pray for them; pity
them and, as you have opportunity, let the light of the
truth they do not know shine into their hearts. Let
them feel the touch of your love. Let them see the
tears of your deep and earnest compassion. Let them
behold the glory that shines through your face and life,
and some day they will become hungry for the secret of
the Lord which you have found.

When ApoUos preached in Ephesus the wonderful

wisdom of the schools, Aquilla and Priscilla heard him

and saw his great lack. They did not criticise him and

denounce him, but they lovingly prayed for him; they

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! ;i;

I : ii

'il

gently brought to him the deeper truth, and God opened
his heart to receive it.

And Oh, men of culture, men of self-confidence, you
will never find the truth by your processes. You cannot
understand it without the divine revelation. You are
blind, and dark, and doomed, unless God will give you
light. Oh, lie down in humility, abasement, and helpless-
ness, at His blessed feet; confess your blindness, and
cry to Him like Bartimeus of old, "Lord, that my eyes
may be opened"! And you, too, shall receive spiritual
sight, and behold wondrous things out of his law.

THE INDWELLING OP THE HOLY GHOST AS OUB

SANCTIFIER.

I. Cor. 3 : 16, 17 : "Know ye not that ye are the temple
of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in yout
If any man defile the temple of God, him shall God
destroy ; for the temple of God is holy, which temple ye
are."

1. Cor. 6:11: "And such were some of you; but ye
are washed, but ye are sanctified, but ye are justified
in the name of the Lord Jesus, and by the Spirit of our
God."

Here we have the Holy Spirit as the indwelling pres-
ence of the sanctified heart, and, indeed, as the source of
its sanctification and preservation. This is the mystery
of godliness — God dwelling in the temple of a human
soul. It is not merely that the temple is made holy, but,
being separated and sanctified, it is made the abode of
God Himself, and He lives in it His own glorious life.
"I will dwell in them, and I will walk in them."

The apostle appeals to the Corinthians with the ques-
tion, * * Know ye not 1 ' ' The power of this blessed relation-
ship is in knowing it, recognizing it and living under its
power. There are many glorious facts, which, if we but
knew them, would revolutionize our lives. For ages the

liPl

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIBST GOBINTHIANS II5

world lived on the edge of the profoundcst secrets of
seienee and nature, and because it knew them not, it never
entered into their power; but when it knew the secret
that was locked up in the lightning and the steam, then
all the forces of our modem commercial and industrial
life at once came upon the scene of human life.

And when we know that we have within us the in-
dwelling presence of God, we become at once partakers
of His omnipotence. When we know that we have within
us the power that can lift us above every temptation,
difficulty and sorrow, we become partners in the power
of God, and we go forth with the shout of a conqueror.

0, beloved, many of you are living in poverty, defeat
and disappointment, when you might be conquerors and
millionaires — spiritual millionaires! Only claim your
rights, only touch the wire that is throbbing with electric
fire, only draw upon the bank account which is deposited
in your name, only use the resources that belong to you,
only know and prove your full salvation, and you shall
go forth as the victorious sons of God, and co^^ucrcd
difficulties shall fall beneath your feet, and you shall
march forth, shouting, "Thanks be unto God, who al-
ways causes us to triumph in Christ Jesus. ' '

THE HOLY SPIRIT FOR OUR BODY.

lues-

;ion-

r its

but

the

I. Cor. 6:19. ''What! know ye not that your body
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which
ye have of God?"

This is a different truth from the one that we have
been considering, at least it is a different measure and
degree of the same truth. The Holy Ghost not only fills
the heart, but He fills, or wants to fill, the body, too.
He wants to have us surrender to Him every physical
organ and member, and possess it, fill it, and quicken
it with His divine life. He is the Former of our body

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as well as tlic Father of our Rpirit, and lie is able to
iripart to every part of our franu; the very life of the
risen Christ. And when He fills the body and makes it
His temple, He unites it with Ciirist. Then also the
thirteenth and the fifteenth verses become true, "The
body is for the Lord, and the Lord is for the body."
**Know ye not that your bodies are the members of
Christ?"

Then He introduces us to that mysterious and glor-
ious relationship where we call Him Husband, where
we are wedded to the very life of our beloved Lord, and
where He imparts to our vital being and our physical
organism His own resurrection life and strength.

This is a relationship as pure and holy as the very
heart of God. It cannot be compared with any human
relationship ; it is infinitely above it. It is a fellowship
in the Holy Ghost so delicate, so sacred, so pure, that
the faintest image of earthliness would defile it. But
it is as real, as actual, as satisfying, as the most tender
and intimate of human affections; and, indeed, all we
know of earthly love and earthly joy is only its imperfect
type and shadow. It is the source of physical quicken-
ing for the consecrated body. It makes our bodies the
members of Christ. It brings into every part of our
being His very life; it makes Him to us our Life and
Living Bread. It translates into actual experience His
wonderful words, **As the living Father hath sent Me,
and as I live by the Father, so he that eateth Me, even
he shall live by Me."

This is a love and a life that "none but he that feels
it knows." But He will teach it to the consecrated and
obedient heart, and He will give to us even here a fore-
taste of that blessed fellowship above where we shall sit
down at the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and live for-
ever on His own divine life.

Then we are also taught that this indwelling of the
Holy Ghost in our body, and this union of our frame

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN FIRST CORINTHIANS 117

:or-

with the personal Christ will bring entire sacrednc^,
dedication, and consecration to all our being. **Ye are
not your own, for ye are bought with a price ; therefore,
glorify God in your body which is God's." The reading
of the Authorized Version is wrong here. The word
spirit is not found in the original. He is speaking ex-
clusively of our physical life. It is our body that ia
bought with a price. It is our body that is not our own.
It is our body in which we are to glorify God.

And how shall we glorify Him but by letting Him
live in it, look through it, and work in it for others,
until our whole physical life shall be an expression of
God's grace and fullness, and He shall look through our
holy lives, and walk in our springing steps and shine
in our glowing faces and speak in our living, loving tones,
and be revealed to men in all we think and say and do.

Oh, what a sacredness it gives to life to receive it
breath by breath and moment by moment from Him I

They tell of a poor Chinese woman who had refused
to accept Jesus from the missionary nurse that waited
upon her. She was dying of an ulcerated arm, and when
the doctor said that if she could get anyone to give up his
flfish and blood to be transfused into this shrunken and
diseased member she might be healed, she sent for her
son and asked him if he would let the doctor take the
piecei? of flesh and the drops of blood from his arm to
be infused into his mother. He refused, and then she
broke down in deep sorrow and discouragement.

One day the missionary nurse found her weeping and
sat down by her side and asked her if she would allow
her to give her flesh and blood to heal her. She was
deeply moved at the offer, and although she protested
that it was too much to ask, yet she allowed the operation
to be performed. Day by day she continued to improve,
and at length the arm was healed, and a white patch of
pure flesh and skin covered the place where the ulcer
so long had consumed her flesh.

mmmm

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

■*■ !

One day the missionary nurse saw her weeping again
and looking at her healed arm with strange tenderness.
She asjied her what was the matter, and the native woman
said, "Teacher, I have been looking at this white spot
on my arm, and thinking you gave me your flesh and
blood to heal my poor diseased body. Why could you
doit?"

And the teacher said, "It was only for love of Jesus,
because He gave His life for me."

The poor Chinese woman wept afresh, and looking up,
she said, "Teacher, I want your Jesus. If He can make
you love me that way, when my own son refused to save
me, I want Him to be my Jesus, too." And that poor
Chinese woman was brought to Christ by the love of a
missionary who could give her very flesh to her.

0, beloved, as I look at these veins that were once so
dark with the currents of disease, and tMnk of Him who
not only gave His life for me, but who every morning
freshly gives it to me, how can I live for myself; how
can I live for the world ; how can I prostitute to sin these
God-given powers; how can I but feel, as this text has
said, "I am not my own, I am bought with a price, I
will glorify God in my body which is God's"?

God help us so to receive the life of Jesus, and so to
give it forth in holy, consecrated service for Him, and
for the world, which can only be brought to Him by the
living pattern of His great love, and by the indwelling
of His own wondrous life, through the Holy Ghost which
is given to us !

CHAPTER XII.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BODY OF CHRIST.

**For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body, whether
we be Jews or GentOes, whether we bo bond or free; and have
been all made to drink into one Spirit," — 1 Cor. 12: 13.

THE whole of this wonderful chapter is devoted to
the unfolding of the profound truth that the church
is the body of Christ, and that the Holy Ghost is
the life of the church, constituting and sustaining its
union with Christ, the living Head, and clothing it with
divine power and efficiency for its holy ministry.

THE HOLY GHOST CONSTITUTES THE BODY OF CHRIST.

<( '

■ For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one body. ' '
The church is not an organization. It is an organic
life; it is a living body constituted by the Holy Ghost,
and united to Jesus Christ, its life and living Head.
Eve was created in the person of Adam, at first, and then,
afterwards was taken from him by the special act of God,
and united to him as his bride. So the Church is taken
out of Christ by the Holy Ghost, and then given back
to Hin^ in divine union, as His glorious Bride.

Each individual member is thus called and created
an \v in Christ Jesus and, one by one, the Lord adds to
Himself and to His Churcii such as shall be saved. No
other power can constitute a church. Men may be added
to organizationL, but this does not make them the body
of Christ. The union must be vital; the work must be
divine. It is called a baptism. This word expresses the
deep truth of death and resurrection. It is by the death
of our natural life and the resurrection life of the Lord
Jesus Christ, that we become incorporated into His

119

120

POWER PROM ON HIGH

'i)k

glorious body and united with His lii'o as the great Head
of the Chureh.

Everything pertaining? to the natural life is incon-
gruous with the true Church of Christ. The greatest
curse of the church today is the carnal element that still
adheres to it through unsanctified men. The greatest
need of the Church of the Lord Jesus Christ is to be
baptized into death through His cross, and raised into
His divine life. This the Hol.y Ghost alone can do. This
He is doing, member by member and moment by moment,
as the days go by, gathering out of every people and
kindred and tongue, a body for the Lord, a Bride for
the Lamb. And when the last member shall be gathered
and the Bride shall be complete, the Lord will come and
unite His body to its waiting and glorified Head.

So those alone belong to the true body of Christ, who
through the Holy Ghost, have passed through death into
resurrection. ''For by one Spirit are we all baptized
into one body.

;'. ■)•

THE HOLY GHOST SUSTAINS THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH.

The apostle adds in the same verse, "We have all been
made to drmk into that one Spirit." It is one thing to
be baptized into the body, it is another thing to drink
of the ocean into which we have been plunged.

The Holy Ghost becomes the vital element of our new
life. In Him we live, and move, and have our being.
As the bird lives in the air, as the fish lives in the sea,
as the flower lives on the sunshine, so we live in the ele-
ment of the Holy Ghost ; and, as we drink of His fullness,
our life is maintained and grows into the maturity of
Christ.

This is the secret of being filled with the Spirit, and
this is the source of f ruitfulness and life. Have we thus
been made to drink into that one Spiri , ? He has to make

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BODY OF CHRIST 121

US drink. He has to make us so hungry and thirsty that
we will fly to Him for His life and love. He has to
press us into the hard emergency, so as to constrain us
to receive His fullness. And thus He is watering, nour-
ishing, filling, and perfecting His glorious workmanship,
and preparing it for the maturity of the body and the
fullness of Christ.

ni.

THE HOLY GHOST UNITES THE BODY.

"For there is one body," not two, ''and as we have
many members in one body, so also is Christ."

1. He unites us to Christ the Head, and then He unites
us to one another in Him. Each individual is connected
directly with the Lord Jesus Christ, as the source of his
individual life, and from Him life must come to every
member and extremity of the body.

But He needs His Church just as much as His Church
needs Him. What is a head without a body? What is a
body without a head ? And so the Church here is called
by a very solemn name, ' ' So also is Christ. ' ' The Church
is spoken of as Christ; the Head in heaven is Christ;
the body on earth is Christ. It represents Him ; it stands
for His merits, rights, and name. His holy character,
and vital power. It is filled with His life; its holiness
is His presence; its physical strength is derived from
His resurrection life, and all its power is just the working
out of the ascended Lord. He is still working
through it, and continuing to work, as He began on earth,
and we can look up, and say, *'As He is, so are we also in
this world." All our sufferings He shares. The most
tender cords of sympathy bind us to Him. When His
disciples are persecuted and hurt. His heart from the
throne is thrilled with sympathetic pain, and He cries,
"Why persecutest thou Me?"

2. But not only so, the Holy Ghost unites the members
also together. "Therefore if one member suffer, all the

122

POWER FROM ON HIGH

members suffer with it; if one member be honored, all
the members rejoice with it." Weakness or disease in
any portion of the human body affects the whole ; so the
morbid sickly condition of so many members of the
Church of Christ today affects the whole body, and holds
back the strength of Christ's cause from accomplishing
results which He has a right to expect.

Therefore it is a very solemn thing to be responsible
for schism or separation in the Church. When we do
we sin against the heart of Jesus, we sin against the
Holy Ghost, we sin against the very body of Christ.
Therefore it is not only necessary to keep from offences,
injuries, and attacks upon the body of Christ; but we
must also maintain a healthful spiritual condition, or
we shall defile the whole body by sympathetic contact.
And, therefore, if we are filled with the Spirit, we shall
have a very tender, compassionate and sympathetic heart
toward Christ's Church, and shall be solicitous and sen-
sitive for her welfare and prosperity. It will be our joy,
like the great apostle's, *'to be offered upon the sacrifice
and services of her faith," and to ''fill up that which
remains of the sufferings of Christ for His body, the
Church;" sharing with the blessed Head the needs of
His people, bearing one another's burdens, and so ful-
filling the law of Christ.

IV.

THE HOLY GHOST ENDUES AND ENABLES THE BODY OP
CHRIST FOR ITS VARIOUS MINISTRIES.

This is the special theme of this chapter and all we
have said leads up to it.

1. Every ministry, in order to be effectual, must be
inspired and made efficient by the Holy Ghost. No man
can rightly say that Jesus Christ is Lord, save by the
Holy Ghost. God cannot use secular and natural gifts
apart from the Holy Spirit. "If any man speak, let him
do it as the oracle of God ; if any man minister, let him

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BODY OF CHRIST 123

do it as of the ability that God giveth, that God in all
things may be glorified through Jesus Christ." It is
not splendid talent, it is not deep culture, that constitute
efficiency in the body of Christ, it is simply and absolutely
the power of the Holy Spirit. It is a divine ministry
and must have a divine equipment.

2. We are also taught that every member of the Church
may have the Holy Ghost for service; for **the mani-
festation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal ' ' ; that is to say, the Holy Ghost is no respecter
of persons, but is ready to endue and enable every
servant of Christ for the work to which he is called, and
the place in the body to which he is appointed.

This blessed enduement is not for apostles, prophets,
miracle workers, teachers, special officials, merely, but
for every member of the Church of God. Every part of
the body is necessary and important, and, as the apostle
reasons very beautifully from human physiology, the
weakest and humblest members of the human frame are
often most highly honored; so also, in the Church of
Christ, God uses and honors the weakest and the low-
liest, filling them with His own enabling, and thus glori-
fying His own grace.

3. There is infinite variety. As in the human body,
every member has his separate office, and the unity is
enriched by the diversity which it harmonizes. God does
not want any man to copy another, but each to be himself,
with God added.

Our ministries are determined in some measure by our
place in the body, by our environment, by the circum-
stances and providences amid which we are placed, by
leadings, and natural instincts and preferences, and by
the gifts both of nature and of grace. Just where we are,
the Holy Ghost waits to equip us, enable us, and fit us for
higher usefulness, and most efficient service.

He names a number of these gifts. Some are called
to be apostles, some prophets, some evangelists, some

'■■' I

-jif.

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

pastors and teachers, some workers of miracles, some
counsellors, some just helps, and some governments ; but
j'ou will notice, that the helps come before the govern-
ments, and the teachers come before the miracle workers.
It is not brilliancy that God recognizes, but service ; and
if you cannot be a wonder worker, you can be at least a
little lamp to give light to the path of some traveller,
or you can be an armor-bearer to stand beside some other
worker and help along.

4. Each of these gifts of the Holy Ghost is administered
by the Holy Ghost Himself. The man, who is used as an
instrument, does not receive the glory and is not recog-
nized as the worker, but simply as the instrument. And
so we have the signijScant expression, ' ' All these worketh
that one and the self -same Spirit." It is the Spirit
that works, and the man is just the vessel through whom
He exercises His sovereign and Almighty grace. As
Richard Baxter has put it so wisely, ''Each of us is just
a pen in the hand of God, and what honor is there in a
pen ? ' ' While we recognize this we shall be saved from all
self-consciousness, egotism, and elation, and we shall lie
in the dust at His blessed feet, hidden and empty vessels,
in the place where He can use us best.

5. There is one other thought of great significance, and
that is, that as the servant uses the gift, it grows — ' * The
manifestation of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
withal." As we wisely use and faithfully improve the
gifts of the Holy Ghost, they grow in effectiveness and
we become more and more used and honored of God,
until He may be pleased to add to us not only one, but
many gifts, as we covet earnestly the best gifts, and He
shall multiply the fruit of our service by thousands and
tens of thousands, so that, in the day of recompense, our
seed shall be as the stars of heaven and our crown shall
be brighter than their supernal light.

What a solemn truth it is to have God Himself as our
Enabler, our Enduement for service ! Yes, He has given

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE BODY OF CHRIST 125

to US a crown to win ; He has given t > us a life in which
to win It; He has given to us an age of extraordinary
opportunities, and He has given us the Holy Ghost to
work out in our lives the highest passibilities of existence.
Crod help us to be true to our tremendous trust, and to
our brief but infinite opportunities, through the grace
^ the Lord Jesus Christ and the power of the blessed
Holy Ghost.

•J I

CHAPTER XIII.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN SECOND CORINTHIANS.

"Now, He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us^ is God; who hath also sealed us, and given the
earnest of the Spirit in our hearts." — 2 Cor. 1: 21, 22.

"Forasmuch as yo are manifestly declared to be the epistle
of Christ ministered by us, not written with ink, but with the
Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy
tables of the heart. ' '—2 Cor. 3 : 3.

**But wo all, with open face beholding as in a glass tho glory
of the Lord, are changed into tho same image from glory to
glory, even as by tho Spirit of tho Lord." — 2 Cor. 3: 18.

THESE three verses present to us five striking and
instructive symbols of the Holy Spirit ; jewels, they
are, of holy metaphor, flashing celestial light from
their faces, and speaking of the deepest truths of Chris-
tian experience.

THE ANOINTING.

"He which stablisheth us with you in Christ, and hath
anointed us, is God."

The figure of anointing runs through all the Scrip-
tures, and it is crystalized in the very name of Christ
and Christian. Christ means the Anointed One, and the
Christian is the Christ-one, or the one that has been an-
ointed with the Holy Ghost.

We see it in all the ceremonies of the Old Testament.
Especially was it employed in the setting apart of the
three great officials of the Old Testament; the prophet,
the priest, and the king.

Prophets were anointed that they might be set apart
as witnesses and messengers of the will of God, and so
we are God's witnesses and messengers.

Priests were anointed to stand between God and the

126

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN SECOND (X)BINTHIAN8 12'3

the

people, and make intercession in behalf of others; and
so we are anointed as God's holy priesthood, to come near
into His presence, to worship at His feet, to present the
incense of faith, love, and devotion, to bear upon our
hearts the sufferings, sins, and needs of others, and to
share the priesthood of our glorified Master.

And kings were anointed to rule in the name of God,
and to stand in glorious majesty representing Jehovah
to the people; and so we are a royal priesthood, kings
and priests unto God and His Father; and, possessing
the Holy Ghost, ours shall be a regnant life, victorious
over self and sin, triumphant over temptations and dif-
ficulties, and glorious in the dignity of our high calling.

For this threefold ministry we are anointed of the
Holy Ghost. Only the Holy Spirit can fit us for so
high a calling, and He is given to every follower of
Jesus who is willing to receive and obey Him.

The figure of anointing is used with still more wide and
beautiful significance. It speaks of holy gladness, —
"Anointed with the oil of gladness above our fellows."
"Thou anointest my head with oil, my cup runneth
over.'* It is the symbol of healing, "anointing with oil
in the name of the Lord; and the prayer of faith shall
save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up."

This anointing is the privilege of the humblest be-
liever, and of the most unworthy sinner that is willing to
receive Jesns and be baptized with the Holy Ghost.
There is no more beautiful figure of the anointing, in
the Old Testament, than the story of the leper in the
book of Leviticus. A poor outcast, unworthy and sinful,
he was brought unto the priest in his helplessness and
misery; then he was touched with the blood, washed with
the water, disrobed, and cleansed; and then he was
clothed upon in the garments of holiness; the blood of
the oil touched the tip of his ear, his thumb, and his
foot, and he, too, became an anointed one.

So, still, the most helpless, hopeless, and worthless may

128

POWER FROM ON HIGH

'■'■

receive the very highest gift of the Lord Jesus Christ,
the blessed Holy Ghost, aiid say with the apostle, "Now
He which stablisheth us in Cnrist, and hath anointed us,
is God"; and then go forth to say with the JMaster,
*'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me; foi He hath
anointed me to preach the gospel to the poor, to bind up
the broken-hearted, to proclaim deliverance to the cap-
tives, the recovering of sight to the blind, and set at
liberty them that are bruised, to preach the acceptable
year of the Lord,"

THE SEAL.

The seal is associated with all the relies of antiquity
and all the customs of business in every age. It is used
first to authenticate and certify ; and so the Holy Ghost
certifies the believer, putting the stamp of God upon
him, giving to him the witness of his acceptance and the
assurance of His full salvation.

Next, the seal is the token of ownership; and so the
Holy Ghost sets us apart, stamping us as the property
of God, and marking us as no longer our own, but the
purchased possession of Jesus Christ, bought by His
blood, bound to live for His service and glory.

Again, the seal is the expression of reality. It cuts
its impression in the wax and makes it real, tangible and
enduring ; and so the Holy Ghost makes the things that
we have known, real, and turns into actual experience
that which was before but theory. He malces truth real;
He makes Christ real ; He makes divine things facts in
our consciousness and our blessed experience.

Finally, the seal transfers the image and the Holy
Ghost imparts to our receptive hearts the very image of
Jesus Christ, and leaves the stamp of His character upon
our lives.

You cannot, however, affix the seal to the hard and
settled wax. It must be soft and melted; then the im-

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN SECOND CORINTHIANS 129

the
)erty
the
His

pression is easily made and becomes fixed and abiding;
and so God has to soften our hearts before He can seal
them. Oh, the blessedness of brokenness! The Holy
Spirit is ever seeking to melt our rigidness into tender-
ness, so that He can impress upon us the stamp of His
ownership and His image, and make us the representa-
tives of Christ to all who see and know us.

The sealing of the Holy Ghost is a very definite and
explicit act. In the Epistle to the Ephesians we are
told exactly when it occurs. "After ye believed, ye were
sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise. ' ' We first yield
ourselves, and then we believe and receive the Holy Ghost
by a definite act of committal and faith ; then His work
begins.

We come and set our seal to the divine covenant;
for "he that hath received Him, hath set his seal that
God is true." And then, on our seal, which we have
affixed with our trusting, trembling hands, the Holy
Ghost comes and puts down His mighty seal upon us,
the double stamp is given, and we are fully sealed unto
the day of redemption.

Beloved, have you received the anointing, have you
been sealed by the Holy Ghost ?

and
im-

THE EARNEST.

This is also a very significant word. It has been re-
produced in almost all languages from the original He-
brew. The very same Hebrew word reappears in the
Greek language and in other tongues.

It represents the first installment in the purchase.
When I buy a piece of land, I make a payment on the
signing of the contract, and the seller is bound by my
payment to make good to me the deed in due time, and I
am bound to follow it up with the complete payment. It

130

POWER FROM ON HIGH

',; I

is a first installment, a part payment, binding the whole
transaction.

It has still another sense closely akin to this. In
Oriental countries and ancient times, the seller, also,
gave a first installment, as well as the buyer. Takinjif a
little handful of soil from the land purchased, he put
it into a bag and handed it to the purchaser as a pledge
of the whole property's being transferred to him in due
time. It was the very same soil as he had bought, though
only a portion of it, but it was the guarantee that all the
rest should be duly transferred.

So the Holy Ghost is to us the payment in part, and the
pledge in full, of our complete inheritance. He is the
first fruit of the harvest, He is the first portion of the
inheritance. He brings into our heart and life the very
same blessed reality which heaven will complete ; the only
difference will be in measure and degree. And so we
have the double earnest. First, we have Him in our
hearts as the earnest of the spiritual inheritance which
heaven will bring. But a little later, in the fifth chapter
and the fifth verse, we have a little different phase of the
earnest. "Now Hg which hath wrought us for this very
thing is God, who hath also given us the earnest of the
Spirit. ' ' Now, the very thing of which Paul is speaking
th'-re is not our spiritual inheritance, but our physical
)nh<^^ritance in God. It is the resurrection body, it is the
glory which Christ is to bring, when we shall be clothed
upon with our house which is from heaven, and he
clearly states here that the Holy Spirit is the earnest of
this, also.

What can this mean but the blessed truth and the still
more blessed experience to many of us — the Holy Ghost 's
imparting to the body the very principle of the resurrec-
tion life, quickening it, exhilarating it, strengthening it,
inspiring it with divine life and vigor, lifting it above
disease and pain, and anticipating, in some little meas
ure, the glory of the resurrection. •

THE HOLY 81MKIT IN HECOND CORINTHIANS 131

IV.

Still
lost's
irrec-

ig it,
ibove

leas

EI'ISTLES OP CHRIST.

** Forasmuch as ye are manifestly declared to be
the epistle of Christ ministered by us, written not with
ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in
tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of the heart." 2
Corinthians 3 : 3.

We have here a new fipfure of the Holy Spirit as the
great Recorder transcribing Christ and Ilis character
and life upon the living tablets of human hearts and
lives. It is a beautiful ^gv "^' ; each of us is represented
as a volume published to the world, and carrying to men
the message of Christ. It is the only volume that
many ever read. It is the Bible bound, not in Russia,
nor Morocco, nor cloth, but in human lives. This is the
work of the Holy Ghost, and this is the highest min-
istry of every consecrated life. Beloved, are we thus
revealing Christ to the world ? Are we thus carrying the
living message of His love and will to men and women
around us ? Are we written on by the finger of the Holy
Ghost T Oh, how sacred were those holy tables of stone
on which God's own fingers recorded the ancient law,
and which He deposited for safe keeping in the Ark of
the Covenant! How much more sacred the tables on
which the Holy Spirit is now inscribing the very life
of Jesus, and entrusting to the keeping of our conse-
crated lives!

God help us to receive the message and then to pub-
lish it so truly, so sweetly, so wisely and so consistently,
that it may be known and read of all men, and that it
shall minister Christ to a world that will not read His
Bible, and does not know His grace. iVs has been hap-
pily said, "Each of us is either a Bible or a libel."
God help us to be living epistles of Jesus Christ in the
power of the Holy Ghost,

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

PHOTOGRAI'HS OP JESUS.

* * But we all, with open face beholding as in a glass the
glory of the I^ord, are changed into the same image from
glory to glory, even as by the Spirit of the Lord." 2
Cor. 3 : 18.

This is the last of these metaphors of the Spirit, and
it carries the thought to a beautiful and perfect climax.
We are not only books, but we are illustrated books ; we
are not only epistles of Christ, but we are photographs
01 Christ. In the center of the volume of our life is a
living picture, which the Holy Ghost is ever perfecting,
and in which He is revealing to the world the very glory
of Jesus.

The idea is very striking, and exquisitely fine. We are
represented as gazing with fixed look upon the face of
Jesus Christ, and, as we gaze, His likeness is reflected
in our countenance ; the Ploly Ghost is taking a picture
of Jesus, not on a sensitive plate, as in our photographic
art, but on a human face, and the face becomes a living
illustration to the world of the glory of our Lord.

In order that this picture may be perfectly taken, we
must keep our c "yn face steadfast, and our eye fixed upon
Him, and as we do so His gloiy is reflected in our coun-
tenance, and His Very image is reproduced in our face.
It is also necessary that we must gaze with open face.
There must be no veil nor cloud between. As in the
photographer's art, the little covering must be removed
from the face of the camera in order that the impression
may be taken ; so the world, the flesh, and every obstruc-
tion must be put aside, and with unclouded face and
single eye we must look steadfastly to Him ; and as we
become occupied with Christ, and abide in His fellow-
ship, His glorious likeness is reproduced in us, and
we stand before the world, not only living epistles but
living likenesses, of our blessed Lord. Sublime con-

THE HOLY SPIEIT IN SECOND CORINTHIANS 133

ception! We are illustrated volumes, revealing to the
world our blessed Saviour, even as He revealed to the
world His glorious Father.

It was His to be the brightness of the Father's glory
and the express image of His person. It is ours to be
the image of His glory and the express image of Him.
As He represented God, so we are to represent Christ,
and men will know Him by what they see of Him in us.

This is the blessed work of the Holy Ghost. He is the
Artist that stands behind the canvas and brings out the
glorious, heavenly picture. Not only so, but He makes
a living picture. We are not stereotyped and put away
in a cabinet, but the picture is renewed from day to
day, and each day should be brighter than the past. It
is **from glory to glory," even brighter and brighter
until it shall be lost in the light of heaven. It is not
even "from grace to glory." We are to reach the stage
of glory, and then go on "from glory to glory" in in-
creasing lustre forever.

Beloved, have v/e understood these things? Oh, may
the Holy Ghost enable us to realize and fully prove
the blessed meaning of these five heavenly symbols of the
Holy Ghost — the anointing, the seal, the earnest, the
living epistles, and the living photograph of the Sa-
viour's face 1 Amen.

t ;

CHAPTER XIV.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATIANS.

"If we live iu the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit."' —
Gal. 5: 25.

THE Galatians were the Scottish Highlanders of
ancient times and the ancestors, also, of the hot-
blooded race that transferred the name of Gaul
from the Province of Galatia to ancient France.

They were a warm-hearted and generous pec ^'% quick
to receive the teachings of Paul, and qui v. u.^u to be
led astray by the false teachers that followed him. And
so we find him warning and pleading with them, with
his warm-hearted enthusiasm, against the seductions of
the Judaizing party, who had begun to lead them back
from the simplicity of Christ to the entanglements of
the law.

The theme, therefore, of the Epistle, suited to the
condition of the Galatians, is free grace. In opposition
to the misleading men who were seducing them from the
liberty of the gospel, he reiterates, again and again,
the freeness of the grace that saved them at the be* *;-
ning, and that now must still sanctify and lead the^ . i
the way through.

And so this thought gives tone to all the apostle's
references to the Holy Spirit in the epistle. These ref-
erences are by no means few or unimportant, and they
are all touched with the complexion of this glorious .
theme, the freeness of the Gospel and, of course, infer-
entially, the freeness of the Holy Ghost.

The Holy Ghost is received by faith and not by the
works of the law.

134

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATIANS

135

it.

the

'0, foolish Galatians, who hath bewitched you? This
only would I leam of you. Received ye the Spirit by
the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?'* Gal.
3:1, 2.

The Holy Ghost is just as freely given as the blood of
Jesus and the justifying righteousness of God through
Christ. The Holy Ghost is promised just as salvation
is promised, and received just as salvation is received,
by simple faith in the blood of the Lamb, and the act of
appropriating the blessing to ourselves. Not by our
surrendering, not by our consecration, not by our suf-
ferings or crucifixions, but by simply believing, do we
receive this great gift of Jesus Christ, the blessed Holy
Ghost.

He is not given because we deserve it ; He is not given
because we have suffered; He is not given to those who
struggle, but He is freely given to those who freely re-
ceive Him, on the simple promise of God, and by child-
like trust in His grace and love.

We must trust the Holy Ghost as well as Jesus. "We
must speak to the rock and bid the waters flow. If we
strike it with our violent hands and our struggling self-
efforts we shall only keep back the blessing which we
seek. Let us believe; let us receive the Holy Ghost.

II.

Our whole Christian life must be sustained and main-
tained by the Holy Ghost through the same simple faith
by which we first began. And so we read again, Gala-
tians 3:3: **Are ye so foolish? having begun in the
Spirit, are ye now made perfect by the flesh?"

Oh, how many are so foolish I They begin as hopeless
sinners at the foot of the cross, taking all as the sover-
eign gift of divine mercy, and then they begin to build
up a sort of reputation and condition of self-constituted
strength and try to sanctify themselves by their own
self-denials, crucifixions, and ineffectual struggles. It
is, indeed, utterly foolish and vain. We need the same

• j.aw ' !'>

136

POWER FROM ON HIGH

11 1

grace to keep us as saves us at first. "By whom also
we have access by faith into this grace wherein we
stand."

Our Christian life is just a succession of the simple
acts of faith with which we first began. **As ye have
received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk in Him." And
the Holy Ghost is essential to sustain and maintain all
the exercises of spiritual life by His own divine effi-
ciency and spontaneous working to the very close of our
'■^hristian life.

beloved, have you been so foolish? Cease your
haid and vain endeavors, and simply abide in Him.
Be filled with the Spirit, and the fruit will take care of
itself.

Our Christian service and our power for service
through the Holy Ghost are by simple faith and the
free grace of God in Christ. And so we have the next
appeal in Galatians 3:5. "He, therefore, that min-
istereth to you the Spirit, and worketh miracles among
you, doeth He it by tht works of the law, or by the
hearing of faith?"

Yes, the very ministry, for which the Holy Ghost
enables us, must be done in simple faith and dependence
upon His gracious gifts. The Holy Ghost in His power
for service, is given just the same as in the beginning,
in the name of Jesus, in the exercise of divine mercy,
and by simply believing God and taking Him at His
word. According to our faith is it unto us. "He that
ministereth the Spirit"; here is not some man, but it is
God. It is Jesus that ministereth the Holy Ghost and
He does it to them that believe and as they believe.
Would we then have this deeper fullness, we must be-
lieve in the Holy Spirit; we must receive Him by im-
plicit trust in the promises of God.

THE HOLY SPIKIT IN GALATIANS

137

IV.

"We have the Holy Spirit next presented as the sum
of all the blessings that come to us through Christ and
the great covenant with Abraham on which the gospel
is founded in Gal. 3 : 13, 14, * * Christ hath redeemed us
from the curse of the law . . . that the blessing
of Abraham might come upon the Gentiles, that we might
receive the promise of the Spirit through faith."

The promise of the Spirit, therefore, is the substance
of the covenant with Abraham and the supreme blessing
of Christ's redemption. i\jid as the covenant with
Abraham was purely one of faith and not of works, long
antecedent to the dispensation of law, so the Holy Ghost
must be as freely given as all the other blessings of the
gospel. The inference is quite justified that if we have
not received the Holy Ghost we have not inherited the
full blessings of the covenant with Abraham, and the
full purchase of Christ's redemption.

The Holy Ghost is just the Agent who applies to us
the redemption purchased bv Christ, and without Him
the cross becomes but a vain possibility to us, and the
gospel an unfilled promise.

Beloved, have you received the promise of the Spirit?
Other promises are called the promises, but this is called
THE PROMISE; it is the one all-embracing promise that
includes all the rest, and without it all the rest are vain.
Oh, let us claim the promise of the Father, and the in-
heritance of faith in all its blessed fullness!

! I

.* f

THE SPIRIT OP SONSniP AND OF CHRIST.

The Holy Ghost is next p.'esented, in this beautiful
epistle, as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus Christ dwelling
in our heart through our union with Him, and bring-
ing us into His very sonship, and the fellowship of His
inheritance. "Because ye are sons, God hath sent forth

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

. I

the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying, Abba,
Father. " Gal. 4 : 6.

This sonship is the peculiar promise of the New
Testament, the peculiar privilege of those who are
united to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. This is
not the sonship that comes by virtue of our creation;
this is not even the sonship that comes by virtue of our
regeneration and God's begetting us as His children,
but this is a new and higher sonship, that comes by
virtue of our union with Jesus Christ, and it brings us
into His very relationship to the Father.

He is the only begotten Son, the First Bom, and we
also are first born ones, and called **the church of the
first born ones who are written in heaven.'* It is in
His very Sonship and with His very heart within us,
that we look up and say, "Abba Father;" it is a double
Fatherhood, a twofold experience, — bom of His very
heart and then wedded to His Only Begotten Son. Oh,
what manner of love the Father hath bestowed upon
us, that we should be called the sons of God! We are
the sons of God, and *'we know that when He shall ap-
pear we shall be like Him. ' ' We are no longer servants,
but sons and heirs of God, through Christ.

Beloved, have we received power thus to become the
sons of God and to let the Holy Ghost work in us our
high calling?

VI.

THE HOLY GHOST AS THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIPICATION AND

VICTORY. GAL. 5 : 16.

"This I say then, walk in the Spirit and ye shall not
fulfill the lusts of the flesh. For the Spirit," that is,
the Holy Spirit, "lusteth against the flesh, and the flesh
against the Spirit, and these are contrary the one to the
other : so that ye cannot do the things that ye would. ' '

A single letter here sheds God's own perfect light
upon the exposition of this verse, and that is the capital

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATIANS

139

the
our

not
is,
lesh
ithe
d."
Ight
ital

"S" with which we spell the word Spirit. It is the
Holy Spirit that resists the flesh, and He alone can
overcome it and exclude it, and as we "walk in the
Spirit, we shall not fulfill the lusts of the flesh."

Here is God's great secret of holiness; not fighting
sin, but being filled with God. It is the old principle
of the expulsive power of a stronger force and a su-
preme affection. Just as water excludes air from that
tumbler when it is filled with water; just as light ex-
cludes the darkness when the room is lighted, so the
indwelling of the Holy Ghost excludes the presence and
power of sin.

It is the old question of struggling to sanctify our-
selves, and fighting the flesh to keep it down, on the one
hand, or rising with God above it and dwelling in that
higher, holier element, where we are removed from its
control. It is the question whether we shall try to
cleanse the swamp of its filth and its abominable crea-
tures, or whether we shall fly above it, and dwell in the
pure light of heaven with the Holy Ghost, where its
miasmas cannot reach us, and its serpents cannot crawl.

It is the old fable of the cleansing of the Augean
stables by spades and carts and scavengers, or the simple
and better way of letting the current of the mighty
river flow through that stable until it sweeps all its
impurities away and turns its banks into a paradise of
loveliness. In a word, it is the glorious privilege of
being sanctified, not by works but by free grace, not by
self-effort, but by simple faith in the indwelling presence
and power of God.

VIT.
THE FRUIT OP THE SPIRIT.

This naturally fellows from the previous thought,
and it is exquisitely brought out in the next few verses,
where we have the works of the flesh in their manifold
forms. First, the acts of impurity ; then, the sources of

140

POWER FROM ON HIGH

impurity; then, the idolatry to which impurity leads;
then, malignity and hate in all their forms, pouring out
toward men the evil that had already separated from
God, and finally, the awful excess of crime and sensu-
ality into which it brings men.

In contrast with this dreadful picture He gives us
"the fruit of the Spirit, which is love, joy, peace, long-
suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness, temperance,
faith. ' '

These are not fruits, but fruit. It is all one fruit.
We have not a great many things to do but just one,
and that one thing is to love; for all these manifesta-
tions of the fruit are but various forms of love. Joy
is love exulting; peace is love reposing; long-suffering
is love enduring; gentleness is love refined; meekness
is love with bowed head; goodness is love in action;
temperance is true self-love, and faith is love confiding,
so that the whole sum of Christian living is just loving.
And we do not even have to love, but we only have
to be filled with the Spirit and then the love will flow
as a fountain, spontaneously, from the life within. It is
all free grace; it is all the fullness of an inexhaustible
stream, the artesian well that pours from the boundless
depths, and flows in floods of blessings on every side.

Oh, how easy is this life, how delightful, how true, how
glorious !

VIII.

OUR PART IN RECEIVING THE SPIRIT, AND CO-WORKINO WITH
HIS WORKING. GAL. 5 : 25.

"If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the
Spirit." Is there then nothing for us to do but just
lie passive in His hands while He works in us? Oh,
yes; there is much for us to do. We must "walk in the
Spirit;*' we must co-operate with God; we must keep
step with our blessed Companion ; we must follow as He
leads the way.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATIANB

141

It is the habit of constant dependence and obedience ;
and as we thus walk with Ilira, lie will be manifested in
us and will fill us with His fullness and work out in us
the fruition of His life.

There are thin^^s to do, but they are to be done at
His leading and at His enabling. There are attitudes
to be maintained, but they are as natural as the step-
pings of a little child that holds its mother's hand, and
walks by her side through the great city, where it knows
not a single street or number. It is not our walk so
much as our Companion. It was not Enoch so much as
the One with whom Enoch walked. And yet Enoch had
to keep step with His blessed Friend and, as we thus
abide ia Him and walk in Him and follow Him, we
shall know all the fullness of His love, and will follow on
to kno\v the Lord.

IX.

THE ATTITUDE OF THE SPIRIT FILLED MAN TO THE WEAK
AND ERRING. GAL. 6 : 1.

"Brethren, if a man be overtaken in a fault, ye which
are spiritual, restore such an one in the spirit of meek-
ness, considering thyself, lest thou also be tempted."

Is this life in the Spirit to make us proud and self-
sufftcient in our attitude to others? No, it will make us
tender, compassionate and full of sympathy to the
ialtering ones, who stumble by our side. It is the
spiritual man that is to restore the erring, and even he,
with ail his experience, is to consider himself, **lest he
also be tempted," and to know that he is just as weak
and frail as his brother.

It was when Peter had reiterated his love and had
been accepted anew of his Lord after the deep and
humbling lesson, that he received, as his highest trust,
the command to feed the feeble sheep and the helpless
lambs. So, as we are filled with the Spirit, it will be the
spirit of gentleness, the spirit of patience, the spirit of

!•! '

f i

h-i

El*

142

POWER FROM ON HIGH

compassion, the spirit that will restore the erring, and
seek and save the lost.

Finally, the Spirit, in relation to the future; sowing
to the Spirit, reaping to the Spirit.

What is the bearing of all this present life on the
life to come? It is very real; it is very solemn; it is
very lasting. "God is not mocked: for whatsoever a
man soweth that shall he also reap. He that soweth
to the Spirit shall of the Spirit reap life everlasting,
and he that soweth to the flesh shall of the flesh reap
corruption."

Oh, how the days are telling! "We may scatter the
thistle down; we may throw our precious seed in the
depths of sin, but there shall be a sad reaping bye and
bye; or, we may sow seeds of patience and trust, of
holy suffering, and unselfish service, and bye-and-bye
we shall reap if we faint not.

Oh, ye that trille away the precious hours and oppor-
tunities of these days, some day you will wake to find
how much you have lost! Some day, when, with a
converted soul and a consecrated life, you long for
holy usefulness and oh, how you will mourn that you
wasted your youth and lost the opportunities that would
have fitted you for glorious work for God until it is
too late!

0, ye who seem to see no fruit now, go on! Sow to
the Spirit and wait ; * * Cast your seed upon the waters,
and you shall find it after many days." And some
day, in yonder heaven, you will know what this promise
means, "I have called thee, that thou shouldest plant
the heavens." Some day as you see the avenues of
glory planted with the trees of righteousness and bloom-
ing with the flowers of Paradise, an angel voice by your
side may tell you that these were the sowing of years of
faith and patience, these were the seeds of faith and

WIE HOLY SPIRIT IN GALATTANS

143

prayer, of sacrifice and obedience, that you planted long
ago.

Pray on, beloved. You are planting seed in heavenly
soil, and some day your rapturous soul shall embrace th^
answer. Suffer on, patient soldier of tlie cross. It may
not be given to you to serve ; it may not be given to you
to preach the Gospel ; it may not be given to you to do
the work for which you would gladly give all the world ;
yours is to stand bravely, truly, in the ordeal of pain,
misconstruction, irritation, uncongenial surroundings in
the household, in the business office, in the place of ter-
rible temptation. Be true. You are sowing to the
Spirit, and some day you will reap the amaranthine flow-
ers and fruits of glory.

You shall have your crown. Nothing that the Spirit
breathes can ever die. Nothing that the Spirit plants
can ever perish. Sow on. Weep on. Wait on. Hold
on. It may be weeping now, it will be rejoicing bye-
and-bye. It may be sowing now, but it will be reaping
bye-and-bye.

.ft

f'i

CHAPTER XV.
ALL THE BLESSINGS OP THE SPIRIT;

OR, THE HOLY GHOST IN EPHESIANR.

''Blessed bo the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who
hath blessed us with all the blessings of the Spirit in the heaven-
lies in Christ Jesus. ' ' — Ephesians 1 : 3.

THIS is the text of the whole Epistlo to the Ephe-
sians. That epistle is an unfoldin«jr of ''all the
blessings of the Spirit." This is the true trans-
lation of the passage.

There is a great difference between the blessings of
the Spirit and spiritual blessings. This is a case where
a single noun is worth r undred adjectives. The
person of the Holy Ghost ..orth more than all His
gifts.

The blessings unfolded in this epistle are said to
be "in the heavenlies"; that is, in the higher realm
and element where we dwell in Curist, a"!>ove the nat-
ural life, and in fellowship with the heavenly world.

The apostle's theme, in this sublime epistle, is the
higher blessings of the Holy Ghost, which He makes
known to those who enter into the fulln( ss of Christ,
May the Holy Spirit Himself enable us to see and
enter into all the blessings of the Spirit I

THE SEALING OF THE SPIRIT.

**In whom, after ye believed, ye were sealed with
that Holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of
our inheritance until the redemption of the purchased
possession." Ephesians 1:13-14.

We have already spoken in a former chapter of the
seal and earnest of the Spirit, and it is not necessary to

144

ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT

145

eniarf?o upon them here. The seal is the mark of
owiicrHhip, reality, eertainty and resemblance, the
earnest is the first instalhiient and pledj;e of the full
inheritance. The Holy Ghost, when lie seals ns, makes
real and sure to us the blessings of our inheritance and
stamps us with the image of Christ ; and, as the earnest,
He gives to us the promise and the pledge of all the full-
ness of our future heritage.

This promise is the privilege of every disciple, and it
may be claimed and received, by simple faith, the mo-
ment we believe. It is recognized not as the crowning
experience of Christian life, but rather as its beginning.

Beloved, have we been thus set apart and stamped
as the purchased possession of God, and made to know
in our inm st experience the hope of our calling, and the
foretaste of our future glory?

THE SPmiT OF rLLUMINATION".

The Holy Ghost next opens our inner eyes, and re-
veals to lis the vision of our high calling and our full
inheritance. This is given at great length in the sub-
lime passage, Ephesians 1:15-23. This is the apostle's
first prayer for the sealed ones of whom he has already
spoken.

He asks for them, that the Holy Ghost may be to
them the ' * Spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowl-
edge of Him.'* This is a special divine revelation be-
yond the power of human intellect in its own natural
wisdom and strength. It is not only that new truths are
unfolded and illuminated but new spiritual vision is
given to understand and realize them. The eyes of
their understanding are to be enlightened. This should
rather be translated, "the eyes of your heart." It is
the deeper spiritual nature that is here referred to,
the very core of our being, and the fountain of our
thoughts and conceptions of divine things.

i|(

146

POWER FROM ON HIGH

V,'.

It is not through our cold intellect, but through our
spiritual instincts, that we arc to understand the
heavenly vision. There are things that "eye hath not
seen, nor ear heard, neither have they entered into the
heart of man; but God hath revealed them unto us by
His Spirit." There are humble Christians who could
not spell a word of two syllables or explain a single
rule of grammar, who have thoughts and conceptions of
God, and raptures of heavenly joy, for which an angel
would gladl}' leave his throne.

The object of this vision is: first, "that ye may know
what is the hope of His calling." This means the
gl(>rious purpose for which He has called us, as an
object of delightful hope and expectation, that we may
know our high destiny and be thrilled wath the joy of
its anticipation.

Next, He prays that we may know "the riches of the
glory of His inheritance in the saints." The word
**know" in all these clauses, means, in the original, to
knoiv fully, to know to the utmost. The "inheritance in
the saints," means that glorious work of grace which
Christ is fulfilling in the hearts of His people, and
which is yet to be consummated in the eternal glory,
when we shall sit with Him upon His throne, and share
with Him, as His glorified Bride, His eternal kingdom.
This is the inheritance for which He Himself gave up
His prime"''al throne, and for which we count all things
but loss.

The apostle prays that the sealed ones may catch the
vision of this glorious inheritance in its present and
future possibilities, and may fully know all the riches
of its glory. This will take the glow from every earthly
picture and froin every v.orh^ly prospect, and this will
make sorrow light and things present seem like empty
bubbles and worthless dreams. Still further, he prays
that they may fully know "what is tin exceeding great-
ness" or rather the surpassing greatness of His power, or,

aiaj the blessings op the spirit

147

li our
I the
;h not
to the
us by

could
siii<:?le
ons of

angel

■ know
QS the
as an
^e may
joy of

of the

! word

nal, to

nee in

which

e, and

Priory,

irdora.

ve up

things

Ich the

it and

riches

Earthly

lis will

I empty

prays

great-

^er, or,

as the Greek expresses it, "His 'dynamite,' to usward
who believe."

It is not merely joy and glory that the vision unfolds,
but actual and practical power. There is nothing we
so much need as power. We are ever coming into con-
flict with forces too strong for our human weakness.
"We are fighting a ceaseless battle and \v e are inadequate
for the weakest of our foes and the smallest of our dif-
ficulties. We are ** without strength," and the deepest
need of our heart is for spiritual power. But there is
for us all the power we need, treasured up in Him who
said, ''AH power is given unto Me in heaven and in
earth." The word here used for power has received a
new significance through the progress of modern science.

The terrific force expressed by "dynamite" is here
represented as the figure of the spiritual power that the
Holy Ghost wants to sliow us and impart to us, if we can
only see and receive the surpassing greatness of Ilis
' ' dynamite ' ' to usward who believe. But we must see it,
and believe it, or we cannot have it.

What is the difference between the nineteenth cen-
tury, with its blaze of light and its resources of mechan-
ical power, and the fifteenth century with its slow and
tedious processes of toil? What is the difference be-
tween our Empire Express sweeping over the land at
sixty miles an hour, and the pco: Indian savage on liis
snow shoes, travelling in a month the distance that now
we can cover in a daj' ? There was just as much power
in nature then as now. The hidden forces of electricity
and of steam were all in existence then, as much as to-
day. Ah, the difference was, he did not know it, and
we do. And so there are stored up in Christ spiritual
forces surpassingly greater than the dynamite or the
electric engine ; but millions of Christians go stumbling,
groaning, and defeated through life, because they do
not know the riches of the glory of their inlieritance.

« I

c,
'1

148

POWER FROM ON HIGH

1;; .

itif

What right have we to be weak ? What business have
we to fail? What excuse have we to be ignorant with
such a treasure house of blessing stored up at the throne
of grace, and at the call of faith and prayer?

And then he gives us an object lesson of all this in the
resurrection and ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ.
This is not a mere theory but an accomplished fact.
AH this powcT* has been actually proved and tested, and
what was true once can always be true again. What was
fulfilled in the life of Jesus can be fulfilled in each of us.
And so he prays that our vision may be quickened and
enlarged, so that we can see the working of his mighty
power, as it was wrought ^'in Christ when he raised
him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand
in the heavenly places, far above all principality, and
power, and might, and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world, but also in that which
is to come : and hath put all things under his feet, and
gave him the head over all things to the Church, which
is his body, the fullness of him that filleth all in all."

All his surpassing power has been already exemplified
in the resurrection of Christ. It burst for Him the
fetters of the tomb, rent asunder the sepulchre, shattered
the Roman seal upon the stone, scattered he terrified
soldiers that guarded the tomb, and brought forth the
risen Lord in all the glory of His immortal life. Not
only so, it raised Him far above the empty tomb, far
above the earth itself, up through the air, and the fields
of space, past the planets and the constellations, yonder
to the Central Throne, where He sat down in the place
of honor and power, at the right hand of the eternal
God.

It exalted Him far above all government and power
and might and law and every name that is named, both
in the present age and in all the ages to come. Think
of all the names you know ; think of all the powers you

ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT

149

fear; think of all the foes you dread, He is far above
them all.

And He is there not for Himself but for j^ou. He is
Head over all things for His body, the Church. His
very business there is to use His power for us. His
eternal occupation is to represent us. He is as much in
need of us as we are of Him. He is but a head without
us; for we are His body; we are th' complement of His
life ; we are the other half of His ; ing, and when He
helps us He helps Himself; when t.i blesses us He is
more truly blessed. Therefore we may confidently claim
the boundless fullness of His blessing and know that
all that is true of Him may be just as true of us, for
**as He is, so also are we in this world."

To see this vision is to be omnipotent. May the Holy
Ghost anoint our eyes and show us His gloiy !

•: 1

? >

►lifted
the
;tered
[rifled
[\ the
Not
far
Ifields
)nder
Iplace
lernal

)ower
both

^hink
you

THE SPmr IF ACCESS AND COMMUNION.

Having seen the giory of our ascended I.ord, we are
next admitted by the Hoij Sinrit, in ;iccess and com-
munion, into His presence. " 1 or through Him we both
have access by one Spirit unto the Father. ' The door
is open now, and we can go in and our with the freedom
of children, gazing upon His glorj^ and drawing from
His fullness, strength for weakness, and grace for grace.

This is by the Spirit. It is He who -ives to us the
sense of need, the spirit of prayer, lO confidence to
come, the witness of acceptance, and the blessed fellow-
ship of constant communion. We are to **pray in the
Holy Ghost," and as we follow His suggestions, and
breathe out His groanings, and aspirations, our God
given prayers will reach the throne and come back to us
in blessing.

150

POWER FEOM ON HIGH

IV.

■

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT.

But now we have a far grander vision. We have seen
the glory yonder, within the heavenly gates, and amid
the splendors of the throne. We have had permission to
enter through the open doors of prayer, ana gaze upon
it, and draw from its stores of grace. But now the
Holy Ghost brings it all down to us, and puts it into our
very heart and being.

The heaven above becomes the heaven within; the
Saviour enthroned at God's right hand becomes the
enthroned Lord of our heart and being, and God Him-
self removes His tabernacle from heaven to earth, and
dwells in very deed with men, and in the temple of the
believing heart. This is the next stage of the Spirit's
working in this sublime epistle. It is twofold; first,
in the whole Church as the body of Christ, Ephesians
2:21, 22. "The whole building fitly framed together
groweth unto a holy temple in the Lord; in whom ye
also are builded together for an habitation of God
through the Spirit."

Then also it is fulfilled in the heart of each individual
Christian, Ephesians 3:16-19. ''That He would grant
you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strength-
ened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; that
Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith; that ye,
being rooted and grounded in love, may be able to com-
prehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length,
and depth, and height; and to know the love of Christ
which passeth knowledge, that ye might be filled with
all the fullness of God."

The essence and substance of this prayer is, that
we may be filled with all the fullness of God, and that
Christ may dwell in onr hearts by faith, so fully that we
shall ''know the breadth, and length, and depth, and
height" of His measureless love.

ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT

151

that
that
iat we
and

Now for this the Holy Ghost has to strengthen us and
prepare us. In our ordinary condition, we could not
stand the glory and power of such a blessing. It would
be like putting a charge of powder that would fill a can-
non into a pocket pistol, and the only effect would be the
explosion and destruction of the pistol. If God were
to give us all the power for which we sometimes ask
Him, it would destroy us. We should be so lifted up
with self-consciousness and self-importance that we
should be ruined, or else we should be crushed by the
weight of glory. Therefore, He prays, first, that we may
be strengthened with might by the Spirit in the inner
man, so that Christ may dwell in the heart by faith.

Just as the maker of that cannon strengthens it at
the breech, doubling the thickness and strength of the
metal where the pressure is heaviest, and gradually
tapering it to the muzzle, that the resistant power shall
be equalized to the strain, so the Holy Ghost prepares
us to be the vessels of His grace and power. Perhaps
the maker of that cannon experimented for many years
before he got the quality of the metal and the strength
of the barrel perfectly adjusted to his purpose. Per-
haps he often broke it up and recast it, before he dared
to put the stamp of his establishment upon it, and trust
it in the battleship of his country. And so the Holy
Ghost has to work long and patiently with us, and often
to break us, over and over again, before we can be fully
trusted with His highest commissions, and stand the
exceeding weight of glory which He wishes to put within
us, and upon us. Let us not be afraid of His mighty
love, nor shrink from the pressure of His wise and
mighty, moulding hand.

In the vision of Daniel the empires of the world were
represented under the magnificent image of a figure with
a head of gold, shoulders and arms of silver, trunk of
brass, and legs of iron. It was a very splendid-looking
form of grandeur and power, but the end of it was that

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it was broken to pieces, and scattered like the chaff of
the summer threshing floor. The secret all lay in this,
that as tlie image descended toward its feet, the strength
of the iron was mixed with miry clay, and the feet, on
which its grand form rested, were no better than clods
of mud.

Many a grand looking life has no better support than
this, and all the work that rests on mixed nmterials must
go to pieces in the hour of strain. God is taking the
clay out of us. He wants men and women made of un-
mixed steel, that will stand the pressure of the power
that He means to give them, and the glory with which
He is yet to clothe them.

The truth is, God blesses every one of us as much as
He can and fills us as full as we can hold. The trouble
is, some of us cannot liold much. As we yield ourselves
to His gracious working, He will fill us more and more
with all the fullness of God. Christ shall be to us an
indwelling presence, and we shall ** comprehend with
all saints what is the breadth, and length, and depth,
and heighth, and to know the love of Christ which
passeth knowledge." For He ''is able to do exceeding
abundantly above all that we ask or think, ' ' and the only
limit is, "according to the power that worketh in us."

Dr. Boardman tells of a lady in London, to whom this
passage came with such convicting power that she felt
she could not rest until God had made it real to her.
She knew that she had never received exceeding abun-
dantly above all that she asked or thought, and she just
went to her Father, and asked Him to make His ward
true to her, and told Him that she would never cease
until this verse had become her actual experience.

She waited upon God for many weeks, and when she
came back shi; told her pastor that her prayer was
answered, and God had revealed Himself to her in a
manner far exceeding her highest thought. But she
said that He had shown her that there was so much more

ALL THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT

153

only

us."

this

felt

her.

ibun-

just

kvo-rd

jease

she
was
|in a
she
lore

yet for her to receive, that He had raised her thought
as far above her blessing, as her blessing had been above
her former thought. And so He was leading her on from
glory to glory, and as each new capacity was filled it
was enlarged and filled again.

This is indeed true; and so we may all have exceed-
ing abundantly and be kept forever in that strange
paradox of the spiritual life, ever satisfied and yet ever
hungering and thirsting for more.

THE LIVING OUT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT IN OUR DAILY

EXPERIENCE.

All this beautiful inward experience would be but a
holy mysticism if it did not have a direct practical
bearing on our common life. And so we have in Ephe-
sians 5 : 9, 10, 17, 18, the practical bearing of all this
upon our every-day life. "For the fruit of the Spirit
is in all goodness and righteousness and truth ; proving
what is acceptable unto the Lord. Wherefore, be ye not
unwise, but understanding what the will of the Lord is.
And be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess, but be
filled with the Spirit." This is to be the habit of our
daily life, and as we are thus filled with the Holy Ghost,
our lives will be filled with goodness, righteousness, and
reality.

We will not be shams and professions, but blessed
expressions of the divine life within, and our whole
being, inspired with a divine exhilaration, shall over-
flow in gladness, goodness, sweetness, unselfishness, and
blessing, to all with whom we come in contact.

aHE OVERCOMING LIFE THROUGH THE HOLY GHOST.

The last picture in the epistle carries us forward to
the closing and crowning experiences of the Christian
life. It is a scene of conflict and fierce temptation. We

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are ''wrestling with principalities and powers, the rul-
ers of the darkness of this world, with spiritual wicked-
ness in the heavenlies." These throng the thickest at
the very gates of heaven. Think it not strange that wo
should find such beings and such conflicts in the heavenly
places. That is just where they love to concentrate their
forces, and turn us back at the very portals of glory.
Let us not be ''terrified by our adversaries, which is to
them an evident token of perdition, but to us of sal-
vation, and that of God." We have seen these princi-
palities before in this epistle. They are the powers of
which we were told in the first chapter, that Christ was
''far above them." They are conquered foes, and in
Him we are already "more than conquerors."

But how shall we meet these terrific forces? Thank
God for the Holy Ghost again. "When the enemy shall
come in like a flood, then the Spirit of the Lord shall
lift up a standard against him."

First, we have the sword of the Spirit, Ephesians 6 : 17.
"iVnd take the helmet of salvation, and the sword of
the Spirit, which is the Word of God." This was
Christ's weapon in the conflict when He met the ad-
versary in the wilderness, with the repeated word, "It
is written." And when the devil, surprised at the
power of this heavenly sword, picked it up and began to
use it himself by quoting Scripture, Christ took the
other edge of it, and struck him back the last fatal blow
by His answer, so sublimely wise, ' ' It is written again. ' '

The Holy Ghost has given us this Word, and He is
not likely to ignore it in His own manifestations to our
hearts. Indeed, it is His purpose that we shall live out
every particle before we pass from this earthly stage to
the life beyond. It is He, and He alone, that can make
it the sword in our victorious hands, suggesting to us
the promise or the reproof or the command which we
need for each new situation, and then arming it with
the fiery point and piercing edge, that will cut through

AliL THE BLESSINGS OF THE SPIRIT

155

all the devil's disguises and make us always to triumph
in the battle of life.

Then we have the prayer of the Spirit in the eighteenth
verse. "Praying always with all prayer and supplica-
tion in the Spirit, and watching thereunto with all
perseverance and supplication for all saints." This is
our next victorious weapon; and the most remarkable
thing about it is, that the principal part of the prayer
is not for ourselves at all, but for others. It is when,
like wise generals, we turn the position of our foe and
attach him directlj', by praying for other«, that we
compel him to retreat and let us alone; and, as we be-
come occupied with the high and holy thoughts of un-
selfish love and prayer, we forget the ^roubles that were
crushing us and the temptations that were pressing us
and we are lifted clear above the f/attlefield, into those
heavenly places where the serpert's fangs cannot reach
us, and the devil's fiery darts jannot come.

VIT.
WHAT SHOULD BE OUR ATTITJDE TO THIS HEAVENLY FRIEND ?

We have it beautifully expressed in Ephesians 4 : 30.
"Grieve not the Hoi; Spirit of God, whereby ye are
scaled unto the day jf redemption." It is not said that
we make Him angry, or drive Him away ; but we grieve
Him, disappoint Him, and cause Him pain.

He has set His heart upon accomplishing in us, and
for us, the highest possibilities of love and blessing;
when we wi!i not yield to His wise and holy will ; when
we will not let Him educate us, mould us, separate us
from tbc5 things that weaken and destroy us, and fit us
for tho weight of glory that He is preparing for us, His
heart is vexed, His love is wounded. His purpose is
baffled; and if the Comforter could weep, we would
see the tears of loving sorrow upon His gentle face.

Just as a mother fondly longs for the highest educa-

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tion and success of her child, and feels repaid for all
her sacrifices and toils when she beholds her noble boy
in the hour of his triumph; just as a lovinj^ teacher
spends years in the training of his pupil, and win,;, at
last, some day, that successful student is rewarded with
the highest prizes and the acclamations of the university,
he takes his favorite in his arms with a joy far greater
than as if the triumph were his own, so our blessed
Mother God is jealously seeking to work out in our lives
the grandest possibilities of immortal existence; and,
some day, when that blessed Spirit shall take us by the
hand and present us to Jesus as His glorious Bride,
"without spot or wrinkle or any such thing," the joy
of the Holy Ghost will be greater than our own.

Oh, let us not disappoint Him! Let us not grieve
Him. Let us not hold back from Him. Let us not sin
against His forgiving, long-suffering love. "Grieve not
the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the
day of redemption.'

' I ■. r

CHAPTER XVI.
THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PHILIPPIANS.

"For I know that this shall turn to my salvation through
your prayer, and the supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ." —
Phil. 1 : 19.

* ' If there be therefore any consolation in Christ, if any comfort
of love, if any fellowship of the Spirit, if any bowels and mercies,
fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-minded, having the same love,
being of one accord, of one mind." — Phil. 2: 1-2.

THE Epistle to the Philippians is the sweetest of the
Pauline letters. It is the unfolding of his inmost
heart and of his tenderest relations, to the most
fondly-loved of his spiritual flocks. No other church
was quite so dear to him as the little band at Philippi,
who were the first seal of the beginning of his mission-
ary'' work on the continent of Europe. He could say to
them trn '*I have you in my heart. Ye are all par-
takers oi my grace. I thank God for your fellowship in
the gospel, from the first day until now. ' '

But it is not only the expression of a hallowed human
love; it is also the embodiment of all that is most mel-
low, mature and delicate, in the Christian spirit and
temper. It is the ripeness of the mellow fruit, just
ready to fall from the branch; it is the bloom on the
peach, delicate as the rainbow tint, and soft as the wing
of an angel. There is something about its tone that can
be understood only by the finer senses of the deepest and
highest Christian experience.

While the great Epistle to the Ephosians is like the
tabernacle building, with its deeper and deeper unfold-
ings of truth and life, the Epistle to the Philippians is
like the sweet incense on the golden altar and in the
holy place.

There are only two references to the Holy Sprit in

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POWER FROM ON TirOII

this epistle, but these two are in perfeet keeping with
the structure and spirit of tlie whole epistle.

THE SUPPLY OF THE SPIRIT.

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The word for "supply" employed here is a very
unusual one, and has a special and strongly figurative
significance. It is the Greek word, Epichoregos, and it
refers to the Epichoregos, or chorus leader in ancient
Greece. On a great festival occasion it was customary
for a certain man, as an act of public generosity and
also a distinguished honor to himself, to provide for the
public entertainment of the people by an elaborate
musical exercise, consisting of a great many pieces, a
great variety of music, musical instruments and per-
formers; it was his business to .supply all that was nec-
essary for this performance, to meet all the expenses of
the occasion, to secure all the performers, instruments,
assistants, etc., and see that ever^'thing was supplied
and also to lead the chorus. From this old word, our
expressions chorus, and clioruSrchoir are derived. Now
this word conveys the idea of supplying, but also of
supplying especially the parts in a musical chorus ; and
it carries along with it the idea of something harmo-
nious and glorious. It is a very abundant supply and it
brings a very triumphant result.

This word is used in a remarkable passage in the first
chapter of 2 Peter, ' ' Add to your faith courage, knowl-
edge, temperance, godliness, brotherly kindness, char-
ity." This word **add," is the same Greek term,
Epichorego. It means, "chorus into your faith and life
these beautiful graces"; bring them all into tune, and
Work them out in harmony and praise, so that your life
shall be a doxology of joy and thanksgiving. And then,
at the close of that paragraph, the word reappears, "For
so shall an enti. ice be ministered unto you abundantly

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PITTLIPPIANS

159

life
and
life
;hen,
'For
ntly

into the evcrlastinpf kinpfdom of our Lord and Saviour
Jesus (Mirisl. " Literally it inifjht be translateti, "So an
entrance shall be eiioruscd inito you." That is, tiio
very j^raees that were vvrouj^^ht into your eartidy life
and attended you as a heavenly choir shall wait for you
at the yates of heaven and sing you home to your coro-
nation. The love and gentleness, the faith and patience
that you exercised in your earthly pilgrimage shall be
waiting yonder, as a train of musicians, and shall cele-
brate your victory and your recompense.

Now this is the word used in the passage in Philip-
pians, "the supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus." The
Holy Ghost is the choir leader, and He is bringing into
the apostle's life all the supplies of grace he needs to
make his life not only tolerable but triumphant, and
turn everything into a chorus of praise.

The apostle had just been telling us before of the
peculiar trials through which he was passing and the
subtle foes that were distressing and harassing him,
by even preaching the very Gospel that he loved so well,
for contention and strife, "Supposing," he says, "to
add affliction to my bonds." Yet so abundant was the
supply of the Holy Ghost, as the Choir Leader of his
victorious life, that he rose above their jealous hate,
turned the very trial into a triumph and was enabled to
bring blessing out of the devil's blows and to exclaim
in a chorus of praise, "What then, notwithstanding
every way, whether in pretense, or in truth, Christ is
preached ; and I therein do rejoice, yea, and will rejoice ;
for I know that this shall turn to my salvation," that
is, my complete and full salvation, "through your
prayer and 1 he supply of the Spirit of Jesus Christ. ' '

And so for us, beloved, the Holy Ghost is able to
provide so fully, that

"Ills of every shape and every name.

Transformed to blessings, miss their cruel aim."

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This was to turn to bis salvation. He does not, of
course, mean his literal deliveranc? from condemnation,
but that deeper, fuller life in Christ which is all com-
prehended in complete salvation. It is one thing to be

* * saved as by fire " ; it is quite another thing to be saved
to the uttermost.

Now the apostle says that this is to come to him

* * through their prayer. ' ' We can help each other to the
deeper and fuller supply of the Spirit of Christ Jesus.
If our heart is open to receive the blessing, the prayers
of others reach us and add to the measure of our full-
ness.

Every breath of true prayer accomplishes something
and makes some addition to the measure of blessing
that we ask for ourselves and others. There is no greater
service tliat you can render to a true child of God than
iu pray for him in the Holy Ghost, and in that deep
divine love that brings you into a common touch with
his life and needs. Especially is this true of those who
stand in public places to represent Christ to others, and
who must receive, first, the stores of blessing which they
are called to impart. Let us pray for them and we may
be verj" sure the blessing will come back to us. To keep
up the figure of the text and the imagery of the chorus,
our prayers are just the breath which fills the mighty
organ and swells the strain that bursts from every pipe
and every note.

THE COMMUNION OF THE SPIRIT. PHIL. 2 : 1, 2.

This pass«ige is a very exquisite one. It touches the
most delicate shades of Christian feeling. It speaks of
** consolation in Christ," the tenderness of His comfort-
ing love. It speaks of the * * comfort of love, ' ' the sweet
and healing balm of sympathy and holy affection. It
speaks of the ** fellowship of the Spirit," the commun-
ion of the saint with God, and with his brethren in the

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PHILIPPIANS

161

Holy Ghost. It speaks of ''bowels of mercies," the
finer chords of spiritual sensitiveness, whicli thrill re-
sponsive to every touch of pain or joy in each other's
hearts. There is something about it so refined and ex-
quisite that the rude, coarse mind cannot grasp it, and it
is literally true, ' ' that none but he that feels it knows. ' *

It is especially of this third phrase that we are to
speak — "If there be any fellowship of the Spirit." The
Greek word is Koinonia, which might be literally trans-
lated, in common. It really means to have things in
common.

1. It is used first of our fellowship with God. "Truly,
our fellowship is with the Father, and with His Son,
Jesus Christ." "The communion of the Holy Ghost."

Our communion with God is the basis of all other
communion. And communion with God is not merely
external worship and articulate pruyer but it is really
oneness with God, and having everything in common
"with Him." Just as oil and water cannot mix, just
as iron and clay cannot blend, so there can be no com-
munion between God and the sinful soul. We must be
reconciled to Him; we must be at one with Him; we
must be conformed to His image and partakers of His
very nature and filled with His Holy Spirit.

There must be in us the organ of intercourse. It is
not enough to have a telegraph wire reaching your of-
fice from the distant city, but you must also have a
battery here in order to receive the message of the wire.
And so we must have with us the spiritual organs of
communion with God, in order to enter into His fel-
lowship.

We may have such fellowship. The Holy Ghost is the
channel and organ of this communion. He is at once
the electric current that conveys and the battery that
interprets the message both ways. "Through Him we
have access unto the Father." We can pour out our
heart into His and He can pour in His heart into ours

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We can ask Him for the things we need and get them.
But more than all the things we get, is the answer of
His own heart to ours. And more than all the words
which He speaks to us, or we speak to Him, is the deep
and silent communion of the heart that is in accord with
His holy will, and living in the consciousness of His
delightful presence.

It is not necessary to be always speaking to God, or
always hearing from God, to have communion with
Him; there is an inarticulate fellowship more sweet
than words. The little child can sit all day long beside
its busy mother and, although few words are spoken on
either side, and both are busy, the one at his absorbing
play, the other at her engrossing work, yet both are in
perfect fellowship. He knows that she is there, and she
knows that he is all right. So the saint and the Saviour
can go on for hours in the silent fellowship of love, and
he be busy about the most common things, and yet
conscious that every little thing he does is touched with
the complexion of His presence, and the sense of His
approval and blessing.

And then, when pressed with burdens and troubles
too complicated to put into words and too mysterious to
tell or understand, how sweet it is to fall back into His
blessed arms, and just sob out the sorrow that we can-
not speak !

"Too tired, too worn to prny,
I can but fold my liands,
Entreating in a voiceless way
Of Him who understands.

"And as the weary child,

Sobbing and sore oppressed,
Sinks, hushing all its wailings wild
Upon its mother 's breast,

"So on Thy bosom, I

Would pour my speechless prayer;
Not doubting Thou wilt let me lie
In trustful weakness there."

THE HOLY SPIEIT IN PHILIPPIANS

163

2. This also includes our cominunion with one another.
**The fellowship of the Spirit" means fellowship in the
Spirit with spiritual minds. Thank God for the article
in the creed which binds together the Church of every
age and clime, "I believe in the communion of saints."

This must, of course, be first of all, communion in the
Spirit. It is not the fellowship merely of natural affec-
tion but it is the communion of hearts that have a divine
life in common. Of course, it is dearer and closer with
those that are dearest to us but, even in the case of our
nearest friends, our love must be transformed or it cannot
be lasting or bring us into spirtual communion.

Then it is communion in the truth, and the closer
our agreement in the truth, the closer will be our com-
munion in the Spirit. Therefore as God leads us on to
deeper teachings and higher truths. He intensifies our
fellowship.

We can remember the time when we were first saved
and were brought at once into the same fellowship
with all others that were saved. Our little note was
"Jesus saves me," and every saved man was a brother
beloved. We just wanted to take him by the hand and
tell him we were brothers. But it was just one little
part in the chorus. It was the soprano, and soprano
alone makes very thin music.

After a while w'e learned the deeper bass of sanctifica-
tion, and then we got a new note, and a new part to our
song. And our music grew richer, and our harmony
fuller.

We can remember the first time we met another Chris-
tion who had also learned the blessed truth of Christ
our Sanctifier. He was not only a brother, but he was
doubly a brother. And oh, how delightful it was to find
one that could understand our deeper feelings and teach-
ings in the Spirit, and how much closer was our com-
munion in the fullness of the truth !

After a while we added a third part, the triumphant

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tenor of divine healing, and the Lord's supernatural
life in our body. Shall we ever forget the first time we
were thrown into the society of those who understood and
believed these things? We had been standing alone, mis-
understood, misrepresented, perplexed, and as we found
some other heart tliat was treading the same lone way
and living in the same blessed experience, it was a three-
fold chord, and a divine fellowship.

iVnd yet there is one more part in perfect music, the
soft suggestive undertone of the alto, that carries our
thoughts afar and wakes up the chords of memory and
hope. And so we came into the fourth truth of this
blessed gospel, — the Coming of our Lord, and the glor-
ious hope of His return. Need I say that this brought
a deeper fellowship still with those who stand together
in this holy expectation as the waiting Bride of the
Lamb? And so God makes us one in the fulhiess of the
truth. Let us not lightly think of any trutli which He
has given us, or fail to be true to His testimony and our
mutual fellowship.

Then again, we have fellowship not only in the truth,
but in the life of the Spirit. AU the platforms in the
world will not make us one without oneness of heart.
The fourfold gospel is not any better than the thirty-
nine articles without the Holy Ghost. The true secret
of Christian union is the baptism of the Spirit and the
fullness of the life of Christ in all who believe.

And this is tho fellowship of prayer. It makes us
iLimsitive to each other's needs and burdens and it binds
us all together, like travellers in the mountains, so that if
one falls the others hold him up, and if one suffers all
suffer toirether.

Let us ask God to show us all that this ministry means
for us and for His servants; let us each be so ** fitly
framed" in the body of Christ, that we shall carry upon
our hearts the very ones tiie Spirit would assign to us,

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN PHILirPIANS

165

and the very burdens which lie would have us share with
them.

Finally, it is fellowship in service. We are called
together for a common testimony and a common work in
these last momentous days. It is not accidental that the
Holy Spirit has given us a common experience and has
led us out in similar lines of truth and life. He is pre-
paring a mighty spiritual movement in these last times
for the special preparation of the Master's coming, and
we cannot miss His special calling without great loss to
ourselves, and great hindrances to His purpose for our
lives and for His church.

When God brings into our life a special experience of
truth and blessing, we cannot go on as heretofore, but
there is always some special ministry and testimony for
which we have been prepared, and we are to stand to-
gether for the propagation of these present truths, and
the help of other lives that need the very blessing that
has come to us.

How solemnly some of us feel that if we had faltered
in our testimony, when God first spake to us these deeper
things, not only should we have lost the best work of our
life, but multitudes of other lives might have missed their
blessing, too.

Whatever else we do, beloved, let us be true. Let no
coward fear, let no compromise with popular opinion
and half-hearted respectibility make us falter in our
high calling, or be faithless to the bonds of fellowship in
the little flock that the Master is preparing for His king-
dom.

"If there be, therefore, any consolation in Christ, if
any comfort of love, if any fellowship in the Spirit, if
any bowels and mercies, fulfill ye my joy, that ye be like-
minded, having the same love, being of one accord, of
one mind.

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CHAPTER XVII.
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE.

r i4.

.■*if

"Your love in the Spirit. "—Col. 1:8.

THIS is the only reference to the Holy Spirit in the
Epistle to the Colossians. The theme of this beauti-
ful letter is the fullness and glory of Jesus. But
Jesus cannot be glorified without recognizing the Hoi}'
Ghost ; and so we have this brief reference to the blessed
Spirit. But brief as it is, it shines like a heavenly-
pearl, reflecting the deepest and most important truths
concerning the blessed Comforter.

The apostle had just been visited by Epaphras, one of
the ministers of the Colossian Church, and he had re-
ported to him the condition of that Church. It was all
summed up in one sentence, "He declared unto us your
love in the Spirit." This seems to have been the one
characteristic of this Colossian Church; it was full of
love. Its fellowship was perfect, its union unbroken ; its
members were filled with charity, unselfishness and con-
sideration for one another. There were no gossiping
tongues ; there were no slanderous rumors ; there were no
misunderstandings and quarrels; there were no criticisms,
murmurings and bad feelings, but all were joined to-
gether in harmonious love and beautiful co-operation in
the testimony, work and worship of the Church. And this
was manifestly a divine unity. It was "love in the
Spirit." It was not mere partisanship, nor personal
friendship ; it was not because they were clannish, and
united in little cliques of personal favoritism, but it was
all so heavenly, so holy, so Christ-like that it was evi-
dently the prompting of the Holy Ghost. And so, as the
apostle hears of it, he exclaims with thanksgiving and
deep joy, "We give thanks to God, and the Father of our

166

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

167

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Lord Jesus Christ, praying always for you since we heard
of your faith in Clirist Jesus, and of the love ye have to
all the saints, for the hope which is laid up for you in
heaven. ' '

Would to God that this beautiful picture might be more
frequently repeated. Let us look at it as a pattern of
true Christian love and an illustration of the choicest
and noblest work of the Holy Spirit.

There is plenty of love in the world and always will
be. It is the secret of every romance, the theme of every
poem, and the centre of every play that has ever touched
the heart of humanity, or charmed the ears of men. It
lies back of all that is heroic in national history. It
gilds every record of patriotism and glorifies every home
altar and fireside. But there is a great difference between
the love of nature and ' ' love in the Spirit. ' '

I. Natural love is an instinct and a passion; the love
of the Spirit is a new creation and the fruit of the
supernatural life imparted by the Holy Ghost, when the
soul is born from above. The natural heart knows noth-
ing about it. Human love may only be a little higher
in measure, degree and character than the instinct of
the mother bird over her young, or the fondness of the
lioness for her cubs. It is born of earth and with earth
it will pass away. But the love of the Spirit descendeth
from above. It is part of the nature of God and it must
last forever. It is the kinship of a heavenly family and
the bond of an eternal home.

II. Natural love is selfish, in its nature and terminates
upon its own gratification; divine love is unselfish and
reaches out to the good of its object. And therefore the
strongest affection born of earthly passion may turn to
the bitterest hate, if it is crossed and disappointed. It
can strike down, with the deathblow of vengeance, the
one for whom it would have given its life, when that one
awakens its jealousy and resentment. Divine love on the
other hand, forgets itself, and seeks to bless its object.

11 I

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POWER FEOM ON TiIGII

It does not love for the sake of the pleasure of loving, nor
for the sake of the pleasure the loved one can afford ; but
it loves in order to bless and help and elevate and it
shrinks from no sacrifice even the sacrifice of its own hap-
piness, if it may accomplish its high purpose for its object.

III. Natural love is based upon the attractive qualities
of its object ; divine love springs from something within,
and is the outflow of an irresistible impulse in itself.
Mere human love is attracted by the goodness and loveli-
ness of the one it loves, fancied or real. But divine love
can seize upon the most unlovely, can love it into loveli-
ness, and can keep on loving througli an impulse in its
own heart, when everything in the circumstances would
render it impossible. And so, "God commendeth His
love toward us, ii: that, while we were yet sinners, Christ
died for us."

We see a faint approximation to this kind of love in
true motherhood. Who ever saw a mother yet that did
not have a ''beautiful baby?" Others might not see it
but she sees it. And even when tluit babe is decrepit,
feeble and fretful, and a source of constant trial and
strain, instead of lessening, it intensifies that maternal
affection. Night and day it is her joy to minister and
suffer and serve ; and when that little sufferer passes out
of her life, her loss is all the greater because it cost her
so much, and she knows not how to get on without the
frail and feeble dependent one, which was almost her
very life.

God loved us because of something in Himself and so if
Christ is dwelling in us, we shall love because of the
Christ within us, and we shall love even the unworthy
and the unlovely, because He loves them, even when we
cannot love them for themselves.

IV. Natural love is sensitive and lives in the sunshine
of responsive affection, but divine love is long-suffering,
patient, and true, in the darkest hour of suffering and
wrong. The very element of divine love is suffering. In

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

169

the sublime picture given in First Corinthians, the thir-
teenth chapter, love begins her march by "suffering
long," and ends by "enduring all things," while in the
centre stands the signni, "love is not provoked." The
whole environment of her being is suffering and wrong.
She can suffer without being unkind and endure with-
out being hard. Her sublimest example is the Son of
God in the midst of His cruel foes; the more they
wronged Him, the more He felt that they needed His
love and the more He longed to suffer that He might
bless and save them. This is ever the spirit of Christian
love.

A few weeks ago, when half a score of martyrs fell
in Southern China, one of the survivors, in speaking of
that hour, said that when they were all expecting death,
the only consciousness which she remembered was the
intense joy and love which seemed to be breathed into
their hearts from the very gates of heaven. iViid when
the tidings reached their friends in England, there was
no word of resentment, even from those who loved them
best, but a still deeper longing to go forth in yet diviner
love and save men from the ignorance and the blindness
which could make them perpetrate such a crime.

The love that blesses those that bless us is only earthly,
"do not even the publicans the same?" But the love that
reaches out to those who can make no return, the love
that blesses them that curse us, and prays for them that
despitefuUy use us and persecute us, and would die for
those that would take our very life, this is the love of
God ; this the Holy Ghost alone can produce in the heart.

V. Natural love is fitful; divine love is abiding and
everlasting. Natural love depends either upon our moods
or the moods of those we love. But divine love is the
eternal Christ within us, loving on the same through
good and ill forever. Oh, how much we need to pray,
"Search me, oh God, and see if there be in me any evil
way, and lead me in the way everlasting!"

3! ,

170

POWER FROM ON HIGH

i
■1-

Do we not want the affections that shall be forover?
Are we not tired of having our heartstrings torn? lie is
able to give us His own evt^rlasting love.

VI. Natural love is exclusive, partial, and partisan;
divine love is comprehensive and universal, like the very
heart of God. It does not love its favorites, but it loves
for love's sake all that need to be loved. It does not
ignore the closer ties and fellowships of life. It does
not love all alike with the same affection nor even with
the same degree; but it loves eacli in the place whert*
God has fitted him and her into our life, and loves all
in due proportion and world-wide sympathy.

It gives the husband a deeper affection to the wife,
who hj^ er peculiar place in his heart. It gives tlie
friend a yet more delicate and special bond of fellow-
ship with the one that fits into the closest sympathy and
fellowship of the heart. But it has room for every fel-
lowship, every tie, and every friend, each in his true
place, and all in perfect symmetry, and fullness. Like
the broad bright sunshine, it goes wherever there is room,
and it goes most quickly where there is largest room.
Like the blessed Master, it has the John, that leans upon
its breast, and the Mary, that enters into its deeper
confidences; but it has also the Peter who, in his place,
is loved as truly, the Thomas, who finds the sympathy he
needs, and the little child, that lies in His bosom with
confiding delight. This is the love of God.

Human love becomes antagonistic and dislikes those
who are not within the charmed circle, but God's great
love has a universal fairness, justness, and rightness,
and yet a sweeter tenderness, and a finer delicacy in its
every heart-throb and holy tendril, than the finest senti-
ment of human affection.

VII. Human love is intemperate ; divine love is moder-
ate and self -restrained. The petulant, passionate mother,
in one moment can hug to her bosom her beloved child
with passionate aJffection, and in the next can pour out

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

171

the fierce invectives of wrath upon his head. The im-
pulsive father can love his boy so intemperately and in-
dulgently, as to be unwilling to deny him the wishes and
gratifications which he knows may cost him his character
and his future life. True love restrains and even dares
to displease, tliat it may do even greater good in the
end to its object. And thus God loves us, even to wound-
ing us that He may heal, and chastening us, that He
may save.

Thus it was that Joseph loved his brothers, restraining
the bursting affection of his heart, while he sternly stood
off from these guilty men, and brought them to repent-
ance; and then, when they saw their wrong, he was the
first to forgive, and help them to forget ; throwing him-
self upon their bosom, with passionate intenKity he
cried, ''Be not grieved nor angry with yourselves, it was
not you, but Grod."

This is divine love, a thoughtful, sober, far-seeing de-
votion, brave enough to wound that it may heal, and to
correct that it may save.

VIII. Human love lives by sight; divine love walks
by faith. And so we read, "love believeth all things,
hopeth all things." When it cannot see the quality of
loveliness in its object now, it prays that God may place
it there, and it believes in the answer to its prayer, and
acts as if it were already fulfilled ; and then hope joins
hands with faith and looks out into the future, until
the vision becomes a present realization, and it covers its
object with all the glory of that which some day is to
be.

Thus God loves us. He sees us, not as we are today
in our unworthiness and sin, but as we shall be, some
day, when we shine forth as the sun in the Kingdom of
our Father, and reflect the glory and the beauty of
our Saviour's face; and this is what He recognizes and
delights in. He treats us every moment as if we were
already glorified. He sees us "in heavenly places in

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POWER FROM ON TTIGH

»I4-

'1^

Christ Jesus." He "believes all things, and hopes all
things" for us, and purposeth to fulfill all thing's in us.
This is the love with which we should bless our friends.
Thus should wo pray for them, believe for them, tind S(!0
them in the light of God and heaven ; and thus our love
will lift them up to its own vision, and realize in them
its own holy purpose.

IX. Human love is human; ''love in the Spirit" is
the love of God within us. It is the love of the Holy
Ghost Himself, filling and flowing in our h-jarts. It is
not the best that we can feel, or say, or Jo, but it is the
very heart of Christ reproduced in us. And so it has
been well said that the thirteenth chapter of First
Corinthians is just a photograph of Jesus, and the true
way to read it is to insert Clirist instead of love, and then
to transfer to it our hearts and lives and insert Christ
instead of self in our experience. Then, indeed, it shall
be true that "Christ in us sufFereth long and is kind;
Christ in us seeketh not His own; Christ in us envieth
not, is not puffed up ; Christ in us rejoiceth not in in-
iquity but rejoiceth in the truth; Christ in us is not
provoked; Christ in us beareth all things, believeth all
things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and never
faileth."

And so we are thrown back again upon Him, and
constrained to sink out of self into Christ, and to say,
**Not I, but Christ that liveth in me." This is the pur-
pose of the Holy Ghost, to show us our insufficiency and
Christ's all-sufficiency and, step by step, to transfer the
living picture to our lives and reproduce the living reality
in our experience.

This, then, is ' ' Love in the Spirit. ' ' The blessed Spirit
of Love has come down from heaven to teach us this
crowning lesson of righteousness, holiness, and divino
conformity. For "God is love, and he that dwelletii in
love dwelleth in God, and God in Him." Love is the

THE SPIRIT OF LOVE

173

fulfilling of the law. Love is the sum of all f^oodness.
Love is the essence of holiness. Love is life.

The Holy Ghost has come to train us in the school of
love. Day by day He leads us out into some new lesson
as we are able to bear it. And when thing's seem hard
and tryinj^, it is just another class in the scliool of dis-
cipline, another opi)ortunity of putting on Clirist Jesus
and learning either the patience, or the long-suffering, or
the gentleness of love.

An injured bishop was once complaining to Francis
De Sales Kow a brother had wronged him, lied about
him, and tried in every way to defame him; the good
saint listened and assented, saying, "Yes, my brother,
it's all true; it's very wrong; it's very unkind; it's very
unjust; it's very cruel;" and then he added, "but there
is another side to it." "But," said the Bishop, "do
you mean to say that there is any excuse or reason to
justify this?"

"Not on hisi part, my brother, but there is on the
other side of the question, a still higher reason for it,
and it is this: that God has let all this happen to you,
and all this to be said about you, to teach you the lesson
that is worth more to you than even your good name,
and that is to hold your tongue when people talk about
you, which it is very evident you ha\ c not yet learned. ' '

The good Bishop saw the lesson, fi silently received
it. Would to God that we might ? :: in everything our
Master's hand, our Teacher's lesson, our Father's love.
Life would become to us a school of love, and we so
sweetly perfected in this highest grace, that nothing could
hurt us but, above the hand of every enemy we should
see the hand of love more richly blessing us and making
"even the wrath of man to praise" God, and minister
to our perfection. Then, perhaps, we should some da}^
be able to say, like one of the Medieval saints, "It is so
sweet to love my enemies that if it were a sin to do so, I
fear I should be tempted l commit that sin, and if it

/ ■

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

were forbidden by the Lord, I fear it would be the great-
est temptation of my life to disobey that commandment. ' '
God give us the *4ove of the Spirit," and say to us
afresh the new commandment: "Love one another, as I
have loved you.

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CHAPTER X^^III.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THESSALONIANS.

"For our gospel came not uuto you in word only, but also in
power, and in the Holy Ghost." — I Thesa. 1: 5.

"Having received the word in much affliction, with joy of the
Holy Ghost."— I These. 1:6.

"God liath -•'• jm the beginning chosen you to salvation through
sanctifieation of the Spirit and belief of the truth." — II These.
2: 13.

"Quench not tfie Spirit."— I Thess. 5:19.

THE first three of these four passages present to us
tliree aspects of the v>urk of the Holy Ghost; as the
Spirit of power, of joy, and of holiness, and the last
passage presents the practical side of the question and
the solemn danger of our quenching the Holy Ghost.

THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT.

The apostle attributes the conversion of the Thessa-
lonian Christians to the power of the Holy Ghost. His
work among them was accompanied with extraordinary
manifestations of the Spirit's convicting and converting
power. Speaking of it again, the apostle says, "Your-
selves, brethren, know our entrance in unto you, that it
was not in vain; when ye received the word of God
which ye heard of us, ye received it not as the word of
men, but, as it is in truth, the Word of God, which ef-
fectually worketh also in you that believe."

So wonderful \vas their awakening and turning to God,
that he could say of them : ' * From you sounded out the
word of the Lord, not only in Macedonia and Achaia,
but also in every place your faith to God-ward is spread
abroad ; so that we need not to speak anything. For they
themselves show of us what manner of entering in we had

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

unto you, and how ye turned from idols to serve the
living and true God; and to wait for His Son from
heaven, even Jesus, whieh delivered us from the wrath to

come.

These wonderful results the apostle attributes entirely
to the power of the Holy Ghost, accompanying the word
of God, and giving it such authority that they received
it, not as the word of man, but as a direct message from
the living God.

This is the first element in the power of the Spirit,
that it takes the worker and the speaker quite out of
view, and brings the hearer face to face with the author-
ity of God.

This is what Paul means, when he says that his word
came to them with much assurance. This means, literally,
much boldness. He spoke to them as a messenger direct
from heaven, and they so received him. His message
was not with wisdom of words, nor studied rhetoric, but
with divine authority. How much of our preaching is
with words only — logical words, rhetorical words, well-
uttered words, perhaps pathetic words, words that move
to tears or to enthusiasm, but only words!

The Holy Spirit's power leads men beyond all forms
of expression, to the substance of God's great message
of repentance and salvation, and the necessity of im-
mediate decision and obedience. It makes people do
something, and do it at once and forever.

The word for power here is dynamite. It is the kind
of power that breaks up tilings. It breaks up the con-
science and convicts it of sin. It breaks up the heart and
nr-elts it to repentance. It breaks the will into surrender
and choice. It breaks the fetteis of sin, the habits of life,
and the bonds of Satan.

Not only does it speak to men in much assurance, but
it produces in them the same assurance. It makes them
to know that God is speaking, to know that they are

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THESSALONIANS

177

sinners, to know that they are lost, and then to know that
they are saved.

Beloved, have we felt this convicting, converting, trans-
forming power ? Fellow-workers, is this our reliance, our
supreme and sole dependence for the salvation of men,
and the service of our King?

THE JOY OP THE SPIRIT.

One of the first results of the conversion of the Thessa-
lonians was the spirit of joy. "Ye received the word in
much affliction, with joy of the Holy Ghost."

The spirit of gladness is one of the immediate fruits
of the Holy Ghost. The new life is essentially a joy -life,
banishing the very elements of sorrow and gloom, and
bringing us into the light of an everlasting sunshine.

The joy of the Holy Ghost is not a natural emotion
and it is not dependent upon favorable circumstances or
pleasant surroundings. In the present case, their joy
is an immediate contact and contrast with much affliction.
They had everything to try them — persecution, the loss
of friends, the danger of even death itself; but the
very extremity of their affliction only developed a deeper
and diviner joy.

So it ever is. Christian life is an everlasting paradox ;
"sorrowful yet always rejoicing; poor yet making many
rich; having nothing, and yet possessing all things."

It is an inexplicable mystery. The world cannot under-
stand it; the world cannot give it, and, thank God, the
world cannot take it away. We cannot understand it
ourselves. It is a song in the night, that gives no other
reason for its singing than that the song is there. It is
a fountain in the desert, that flows from no visible source,
and empties into no earthly outlet, and runs according to
no prescribed channel. It is an artesian well that bursts
from tlu) rocky di'pths, and flows on Vvithout the meehan-

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ism of pumps, or endless chains, or li^vman buckets, or
hands. It is glad, just because there is a gladness tiiere
that came from heaven and belongs to heaven and lives
in heaven forever.

It is a blessed heritage. It is a fortune to its possessor,
even amid the depths of penury. It is an antidote to
temptation and sin. It lifts us above the power of evil
and holds as in the impregnable heights of peace and
victory. It is a balm for sickness and pain, and a holy
elixir for nerve and brain and every outward ill. It
is '^Afi i/jspiration for service, and gives an irresistible
emjp^«»gis to our itppeala to the sin-sick and sorrowing
world ; ti in vain to call the lost and weary to the gates
of Mercy, when the telltale countenance, the tired man-
ner, Mid tlii« *«?|>ul^hral tone as.« ire them, that they are
happi*nr them W4f, The joy cl Hie Lord is our strength,
not only for ho\ir,4im, but for health, and happiness, and
holy 'mi\iu^w>^ on (Aher hearts and lives, and in all our
work for Gofl and m^n

Beloved, open your heart and receive the joy of the
Spirit

HI.

fWf/ ^ANCTIFICATION OP TIIK SPllilT.

Thfi fifHt thing that strongly impressf's an ordinary
and ('tffuHd reader of this verso is the strong niid uni-
versal la/ii<ri»(re in which sanrlification is here spoken of
as an essential part of our salvation.

It is stated in the most unambiguous language that we
are "chosen to salvation through sanctification of the
Spirit and belief of the truth." We are not chosen to
salvat'on irr ^f^ective of our spirtual condition, but we
are chosen to those conditions; and one of the essential
conditions is sanctification of the Spirit.

How any man or woman can expect salvation, and yet
be indifTiU*ent t< his sar<»tifieation, is very hard to under-
ataiid. The salvation consists largely in the sanctification

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN TIIESSALONIANS

179

and

itself, for thus, and thus alone are we saved from the
virulent and soul destroying power of sin.

Sanctification is here attributed to the Holy Spirit.
It is His work, not ours ; it is as much a part of the free
grace of God in Christ as our justification and forgive-
ness. In the previous epistle, fifth chapter, twenty-third
verse, its nature is ver>' fully expressed in the apostle's
prayer: "The very God of peace, or the God of peace
Himself, sanctify you through and through ; and I pray
God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ.
Faithful is He that calleth you, who also will do it."
God Himself must do this work, and He does it through
the blessed Holy Ghost.

The word, sanctify, has three specific meanings;
nanidy, to separate ^ m, dedicate to, and fill with.

First, we must lay . .£, and separate from, the old life
of self and sin. There are some things we cannot conse-
crate to God, but wf must lay them down. The old sin-
offering could not be laid on the altar — it was unclean,
because the sin of the people had been trasf erred to it ;
it must be carried outside the camp and thore burned
with fire in the place of judgment. And so we cannofi
const erute our sin and our sinfulness to God. We must
renounce it; we must lay it off; we must die to it; we
must be separated from it.

Then, secondly, comes the dedication to God. This
is the place for consecration. This is the place for the
burnt-offering. That was laid on the altar and ac-
cepted M'* n Hweet-smelling savor. And so when we
iiave separated from our sinful self, we offer our new
life in Christ to God in entire dedication, and He ac-
cepts it as a sweet savor. But even then it is nothing
but a consecrated will, a mere possib7 in empty
vessel, clean, but empty still, and the power to

make the ccmsecration worth •anything c Jod, must
come from God Himself. He has the vessel, but Ho

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

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fi^

must fill it and keep it full. And so this is the third
meaning of sanctification. It is the filling of the Holy
Ghost, who takes our consecrated will, our clean and
empty vessel and all the possibilities of our new and
yielded life, and so unites them to Jesus, and fills them
with the very life of Jesus, that we just live out the life
of Christ from day to day, and we shed forth the fullness
which the Holy Ghost supplies within.

Our life is not our own, but "of His fullness have we
received, even grace for grace."

Now this is the sanctification of the Spirit. It is His
peculiar province thus to sanctifj'' the souls that have
been justified through the grace and the blood of Christ.

First, He shows the soul its need of sanctification, its
inherent and hopeless sinfulness, and its utter inability
to bring a clean thing out of an unclean, or live a holy
life, with an unholy heart. Next, He shows us God's
provision for our sanctification in the free gift of Christ,
the efficacy of His atonement for the death of our old
self, the power of His blood, and the willingness of the
Holy Spirit to undertake this work, to cleanse our heart,
and to dwell within it. Then He leads us to the next
step, — a glad and full surrender and committal of our
soul to Him for this blessed work, an unreserved separa-
tion from all evil, and an equally unreserved dedication
of our all to God, and to His perfect will.

Then He accepts us, and makes real the transaction
into which we have entered; by full surrender and ap-
propriating faith. He puts to death our old life of self
and sin and lie enters and dwells within our consecrated
heart, uniting us to Jesus, filling us with His own all-
sufficient grace and presence, and loading us henceforth
moment by moment, in constant dependence upon His
glorious grace.

In one sonse, this work is instantaneous ; it has a definite
beginning and a moment in which we count it all eternally
settled. In another sense, it is progressive, as He leads

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THESSALONIANS

181

us on from step to step, from strength t© strength, from
grace to grace, from glory to glory, even as by the Spirit
of the Lord.

As each new revelation of light comes, He calls for
new obedience and new advances; yet while we walk in
tLe light, we are fully accepted according to the light we
have, and counted holy and well-pleasing in Ilis sight.

It is after we receive His sanctification and enter into
perfect union with Him, that our real growth begins;
and the church of Christ has yet to learn the depths and
heights and lengths and breadths of the fullness of life
in the Spirit, as the providence of God makes new situ-
ations for the obedient disciple from day to day, and the
Holy Ghost fits us into them by His all-sufficient grace.

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IV.

THE PRACTICAL APPEAL.

<<,

Quench not the Spirit."

In view of these three blessed aspects of the Spirit's
work, how tender and solemn the appeal : Quench not the
Spirit! While this primarily refers to the Church col-
lectively, it may also be true of the believer individually.
It is possible for us, as private Christians, so to misunder-
stand, hinder, and disobey the loving leadings of the
gentle Holy Ghost, that we shall quench His holy fires
and disappoint His great purposes of love.

I do not say that a soul that truly believes in Jesus
Christ will be lost at last, but, beloved, it may lose very-
much of what salvation ought to mean. It is one thing
to be lost; it is another thing to lose our crown, and
our Father's highest will; the Scriptures are full of
loving warnings against the danger of coming short of
our full inheritance, and losing aught of our full reward.

The Holy Ghost is like a sensitive lover. A woman's
heart is not won by a violent assault, but by the gentle
approaches of respectful, sensitive, and considerate love ;

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

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and, at any point along the way, she can check and chill
the advances of the heart that woos her, until, at last,
she quenches the love that would have laid all at her feet.
And so the Holy Ghost conies to us, with respectful and
gentle monitions. He will accept no sacrifice which is
not freely given, He will require no obedience th: t is not
gladly rendered. But He does ask us for sacrifice and
obedience as the proof of our love, and He does place
us in situations of perplexity and trial, through which
alone we can receive the training which His love designs
for us.

Now here it is that disobedience and refusal may come
in. We may shrink from His gentle leading; we may
refuse the trial through which He would bring us to some
glorious victory ; we may choose the easier path, and shun
the dreaded cross; but, in so doing, we grieve the Holy
Ghost; we arrest our own progress; we compel our God
to wait ULtil we are ready to go forward with Him, and
after a while we may so wear out His patient love, that
He shall find us unfit to receive the blessing He designed
for us, and while we may nut lose our soul, we shall be
rejected from our crown.

There are souls that have lost something out of their
life forever, and, perhaps, have become so hardened
that they do not even know what they have lost.

It is possible to take a piece of iron, red-hot, and then
plunge it into the water and cool it, and do this so many
times, that, at last, the very metal scales off like ashes,
and the temper and substance of the iron is corroded and
destroyed.

It is possible to wear out our hearts by disobedience
and repeated chills of divine love, until, at last, there is
nothing left but dross.

Oh, let us be careful how we play with the voice of
God, and the infinite, everlasting gentleness and love of
the mother heart of the Holy Ghost! ''Quench not the
Spirit."

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THESSALONIANS

183

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You may do it by disobedience ; you may do it by dis-
trust; you may do it by self-indulgence and cowardly
softness; you may do it by yielding to temptation; you
may do it by going into the world v ^ selling your birth-
right for a mess of pottage ; you may do it by petulance,
irritation, an angr}- look, a hasty word ; you may do it
by impatience and rebellion against the hand of God.
lict us be careful. Resist not the Spirit. Grieve not the
Spirit. Quench not the Spirit.

And, finally, we may quen h the Spirit in others. We
may hinder the work of God in human souls. We may
hold back the Church of Christ from victory. We may
paralyze the whole body by keeping one or two members
in a state of chronic disease.

So Moses, Joshua, and Caleb were kept back for forty
years by Israel's unbelief. So the Church is kept back
today from the fullness of Pentecostal power, by the
weakness of so large a part of the body of Christ. And
so, many a soul is cramped, or chilled, or even seduced
from God's high purpose and the Spirit's holy calling
by the mistaken love, or the thoughtless and unholy in-
fluence of some one that called himself a friend.

God saves us from the fearful guilt of not only sinning,
but causing others to sin. God help us to fan the flame
of divine life and power in our own and other hearts,
until it shall burn, not only with the light of Pentecost,
but as the beacon watch fire of the Advent Morning.

;Mi

CHAPTER XIX.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE EPISTLES OF PAUL

TO TIMOTHY.

IN the pastoral and personal letters of Paul to his son
in the gospel, Timothy, we have five important refer-
ences to the Holy Spirit.
We shall consider them in their logical order.
I. The Holy Spirit in relation to the pei*son and work
of Jesus Christ. I. Timothy 3 : IG, " Great is the mystery
of godliness: God was manifest in the flesh, justified in
the Spirit."

The reference here is, no doubt, to the witness of the
Holy Ghost to the incarnate Son of God. This was given
not only by the announcements that preceded his birth,
and by the supernatural manifestations of the Holy
Ghost that accompanied and followed it, but especially
at His baptism, when the Spirit of God publicly de-
scended and abode upon Him, bore witness to His divine
Sonship, and united Himself with His person, becoming
henceforth the enduement of power for His ministry
and Work. Henceforth the Holy Ghost continually bore
witness to Jesus Christ by manifesting the power of God
in His words and work.

It was through the Spirit that He spake His messages;
it was through the Spirit that He cast out demons and
healed the sick ; it was through the Spirit that He offered
Himself without spot to God and stood victorious in- the
conflict and suffering of the cross; it was through the
Spirit that He overcame the power of Satan, not only in
the wilderness, but in the final conflict; it was through
the Spirit tliat He presented His perfect sacrifice at the
throne of His Father, and it was througli the Spirit
that He rose from the dead "declared to be the Son of

184

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY

185

God with power, aocording to the Spirit of Holiness, by
the resurrection from the dead."

And then the Holy Ghost still further justified His
Llaim, by coming down as He had promised, and taking
up the work that He had begun, and bearing witness
to the ascended Lord in the ministry of the apostles, in
tlie organization and work of the Church, and in all the
miracles of grace that have followed through the Chris-
tian age. Jesus is justified by the Spirit, who witnesses
to Him as the Sou of God, the Saviour of the world, and
the faithful and true Witness in all His promises and
claims.

Wherever the Holy Ghost still comes. He will always
be found witnessing to Jesus, and honoring the Son of
God.

II. T; e Holy Ghost in relation to the Holy Scriptures.
2. Timothy 3 : 16, *' All Scripture is given by inspiration
of God, and is profitable for doctrine, for reproof, for
correction, for instruction in righteousness ; that the man
of God may be perfect, thoroughly furnished unto all
good works."

The Holy Ghost is here presented in relation to the
Word of God. It) is His own word and, wherever it
comes. He witnesses to it and honors it. The man who
knows the Holy Ghost best will know his Bible best, will
love it, will live upon it, and will use it as the weapon of
his work and warfare.

The expression her*" used literally means "God-
breathed," "every Scripture God-breathed is profitable
for doctrine, for reproof, for correction, for instruction
in righteousness." The Holy Scriptures are the breath
of God. Just as He breathed into man the breath of
life, and man became a living soul, so He has breathed
into the Word His own life, and it is the expression of
His thought. His mind, and His heart. Just as you
breathe upon the window-pane, and the vapor clouds it,
so God has breathed upon the page, and lo, His very

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thought and heart are there, not as dead letters, but as
the living message of His love.

We recognize this holy book as the very Word of God.
It is not a volume of valuable historical records, ethical
principles, and sublime poetry ; but it is a direct message
from heaven speaking to man with the authority of His
Lord ; as we so receive it, believe it, and put our whole
weight upon it ; it becomes real, and the Holy Ghost wit-
nesses by its actual effect upon our hearts and lives that
it is, indeed, the true word of the eternal God.

Then it becomes profitable to us ; in the first place, for
teaching, giving us true views of God's will and of the
things we most need to know; next, for conviction, as
the world literally means, for reaching the conscience,
and showing us where we are wrong. Then it necomes
tlie word of correction, or direction, not only showing
us the wrong and making us conscious of it, but showing
us the right and how to enter into it. And, finally, it
is the word of ''instruction in righteousness," building
us up, as the word literally means, and carrying us on
into the maturity of Christian manhood. Thus the man
of God becomes mature in his own experience, and
thoroughly furnished unto all good works, for the help
of others and the service of His Master.

The man of God must live by the Word of God, and the
Holy Ghost never will pass by or lightly esteem the Word
that He has given. There are two extremes. The word
without the Spirit is dry and dead, but the Spirit with-
out the word is incomplete. Let us honor the Holy
Scriptures ; let us study them ; let us habitually use them,
search them, feed upon them, incorporate thera into our
lives, and use them as the weapon of our warfare against
Satan, and for the souls of men.

III. The Holy Spirit's message for our own times.

All this Word is the Spirit's message, but He has given
some messages in these epistles explicitly for our own
times. And so we read, 1 Timothy, 4 : 1, **Now the Spirit

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL. TO TIMOTHY

187

speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some shall
depart from the faith, giving head to seducing spirits,
and doctrines of demons."

This is more elaborated in the second epistle, third
chapter, the first to the fifth verses. ''This know also,
that in the last days perilous times shall come, for men
shall be lovers of their own selves, . . . having a form of
godliness, but denying the power thereof. ' '

When we want to print a passage with peculiar em-
phasis we underline it, and our printer sets it up in
italics. When we want to emphasize it a little more, we
put two or three lines under it and then he sets it up,
not in italics, but in capital letters, and sometimes in
large capitals.

Now this is the way the Holy Ghost has written these
verses. It is His emphatic, italicized, double capital-
lettered message to the men of today, to the closing days
of the nineteenth century and the first moments of the
twentieth century. ' ' He speaketh expressly. " It is His
message to us, and it is His emphatic message that we do
well to hear.

It is not a sentimental and rose-colored message, glow-
ing with poetry and compiacency ; it is a solemn warning
of danger and holy fear. It speaks in no ambiguous
tones. Its voice is, ''Take heed," "Look out," "Be-
ware." It tells us not of days of universal liberty and
Christian influence; it speaks not in the eloquent lan-
guage of our modern apostles of progress, recounting the
spread of the Gospel, the inei'ease of the professors of
Christianity and the advent of the speedy Millennium
of our age ; but it tells us that, as the days hasten to their
close, they shall get darker and more dangerous still;
not glorious times, but "perilous times"; times of se-
ducing spirits; times of strong delusion that would
believe a lie; times when the light within us shall be dark-
ness ; times when the most dangerous elements will be in
the very Church of God, and on the part of those who

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

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have *'a form of godliness, but deny the power thereof";
times when the men that seem to be the most upright,
the most self-denying, ''abstaining from meats, and for-
bidding to marry, ' ' and apparently the very impersona-
tions of self-sacrifice and the highest morality, shall be
the very leaders of Satanic delusion and monstrous in-
iquity.

These times are upon us already. The vista is open-
ing; the century is closing with lurid clouds on every
side. Was there ever a spectacle so humbling and so
heart-breaking as the heavens are looking upon today?
Thousands and tens of thousands of helpless Christians
butchered like cattle in the shambles, and outraged by
brutal lust, at the bidding of a sovereign ruler of Europe,
and with the tacit consent of six great powers who control
ten millions of soldiers ! All this going on for weeks and
months and years, under the light of heaven and the eyes
of diplomacy, and men threatening to go to war about
every trifle, and not a sword raised, nor a protest
uttered, against these outrages and butcheries! Surely,
human government is an utter failure. Surely, the best
of our kingdoms and kings are as the potter's clay.
Surely, weakness and wickedness have joined hands.
Surely, God is showing the utter incapacity of man to
rule this earth, and the utter need of the coming of the
Prince of Peace and the mighty King, who shall judge
the people with righteousness and tlie poor with judg-
ment. He shall judge the poor of the people, and save
the children of the needy, and break in pieces the op-
pressor. He shall deliver the needy when he crieth, the
poor also, and him that hath no helper. He shall spare
the poor and needy, and save the souls of the needy.
He shall redeem their souls from deceit and violence, and
precious shall their blood be in His sight.

Oh, for that blessed King to come ! The whole creation
groans, the persecuted Armenian cries, and the saints
under the altar plead, *'How long, oh Lord, how long?

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY

189

The Spirit speakcth expressly that these things are to
be so, and the very fact tliat they are becoming so is light
even in the darkness, and the first streak of dawn in the
black sea of night.

Thank God the morning is at hand. Let us listen to
the Spirit's voice, let us watch and pray and be ever
ready.

IV. The Holy Spirit as the Christian 's enduement for
life and service. 2. Tim. 1:6, 7, *'\V\ ^fore I put thee
in remembrance that thou stir up the gi .1 of God, that is
in thee by the putting on of my hands. For God hath
not given us the spirit of fear ; but of power, and of love,
and of a sound mind."

Here we have, first, a distinct recognition of the Holy
Ghost, definitely given. God hath given the Spirit not of
fear, but of power, etc.

The tense employed here in the Greek is always em-
phatic ; it is the aorist tense, and it expresses an act that
has been definitely done at a fixed moment in the past.
It is not a progressive experience; it is not a gradual
approach to something, but it is something done, and
done at once, and done once for all. In this sense the Spirit
is given. It is the crisis hour in the life of the believer,
when the Holy Ghost is thus received as the enduement
for life and power in all our spiritual need, and accord-
ing to all the fullness of the Master's promise.

Beloved, have you thus definitely received the gift and
the promise of the Father! Many promises you have
claimed, but has the promise been thus made real to you t
What reason can you give that it is not so? Oh, do not
let another hour pass until at His feet you definitely
surrender yourself, and receive Him according to His
Word !

But again, we notice that even after receiving the
Holy Ghost there is much for the believer to do. And
so Timothy is entreated and reminded to stir up the gift

I i

190

POWER FROM ON HIGH

of God, which is in him. The word here used is a meta-
phor, and describes the rekindling of a sinking fire. The
flame of divine life and power is declining, or, at least,
it is undeveloped and incomplete, and it is to be revived,
rekindled, and stirred up.

Now the Holy Ghost when given to us is a divine in-
vestment for us to improve, and as we use, develop and
improve it, it multiplies in our hands. It is the pound
in the parable, which may be increased to ten pounds.
It is the pot of oil in the widow's story which may be
poured out into all the vessels of the house and all the
vessels of the neighborhood, and increased as it is used.
It is the water in Cana's vessels which may be emptied
into the vessels and poured out to the guests until it be-
comes wine, abundance of wine, enough for all the needs
of the occasion.

The Holy Ghost may thus be stirred up and developed
or He may be neglected and left to decline and languish,
until, instead of being God's mighty dynamo, and all
sufficient power. He becomes but a protest against our
unfaithfulness and our negligence.

Beloved, let us stir up the gift of God that is in us.
Let us take away the ashes from the declining fire. Let us
put on the coal and the fuel of living truth. Let us set
on the draught by prayer, and let it burn until it warms
the household of Christ and becomes a light and a bene-
diction to a perishing world. And, as we stir up the gift
of God that is in us, it becomes to us the Spirit of power,
of love, of courage, and of a sound mind. And so we
have the fourfold fullness of the Holy Ghost represented
in these strong words.

First, He is not the Spirit of fear, which is just another
way of saying that He is the Spirit of courage. We must
have courage to begin with, or we shall never be able to
press on to any of His other gifts. We must have cour-
age to deny ourselves and suffer, to say "No" to our
wills and our craving self-indulgence, and to let go every-

THE EPISTLES OF PAUL TO TIMOTHY

191

thing that hinders HJs highest will and our highest
blassing.

We must have courage to believe what God says, and
to confess that we believe; and we must have courage
to go forward and obey His bidding and enter into all
His fullness.

Secondly, He is the Spirit of power. Courage with-
out power would but throw our lives away. Courage
combined with power will make us invincible. The
Greek word for power is dynamite. He is the dynamite
that accomplishes results, and breaks down all barriers
and all hindrances.

Beloved, have you this power? Is your life telling?
Are your purposes accomplished? Are your prayers
effectual? Are your lives victorious, or are you bafifled
and thrown back by waves on every shore and by every
billow or opposing rock? God hath given us the Spirit
of power. Stir it up. It is not your power: it is the
Spirit of power. It is the indwelling Holy Ghost. The
mighty cable is running beneath your street ; attach your
car to it, and it will carry any weight that you place
upon it. Power is there, anyhow, and if you do not use
it it only runs to waste.

Thirdly, He is the Spirit of love. Courage without
power is ineffectual frenzy, and courage and power with-
out love would be despotic and monstrous cruelty. It
needs love to give beneficence to the power and direct
it for the good of others. So the Holy Ghost gives us
the Spirit of love, which turns all our purposes and all
our accomplishments into benedictions. It is not our love.
We come to the place continually where we cannot love,
but it is His love. It is Almighty love ; it is love to the
unlovely and distasteful; it is the love w^hich in Him
forgave His enemies and prayed for His murderers.

But there is yet another element needed in this four-
fold enduement. We need the Spirit of wisdom, the
Spirit of a sound mind, or, as some have translated it,

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

«.p, I.

the Spirit of discipline. This is the Spirit that holds all
our powers in equilibriuui, keeps us in i)ert'eet balance,
and enables us to turn all I'orces, all resources and all
opportunities to the best account.

Mere power and courage without wisdom might throw
themselves away, and even love, without a sound mind,
might become a misguided sentiment, and at last defeat
its own purpose. And so the Holy Ghost is the Spirlc of
practical wisdom, restraining, directing, and controlling
all our thoughts and purposes and actions, so that we
shall accomplish the highest and best results.

Now this is not our wisdom. It is not common sense.
It is not a sound judgment and a level head, as men
speak. But it is the indwelling Holy Ghost, training us,
and disciplining us, restraining us, and educating us to
understand His thought, to follow His leadings, and 'o
walk in His will.

It is sometimes different from the counsels of human
wisdom; but it is always safe, alwaj^s best to obey God.
The wisdom of Paul and Silas would have led them to
stay in Ephesus, Bythinia, and Asia; but the wisdom of
the Holy Ghost sent them into Greece and Europe, for
God forsaw what it meant to evangelize that great con-
tinent of the future. The wisdom of the flesh would
have held back alm.ost every bold enterprise of faith and
courage which the Church of God has ever made; but
the wisdom of God was justified in His children, as they
went forward at her bidding, and were strong in God's
command.

The Holy Ghost is equal to all our situations. Let us
trust Him. Let us obey Him. Let us follow His "wise
and holy training, and He will lead us in a safe way
wherein we shall not stumble.

Now the essence of this enduement consists in the pro-
portion of all its parts. It is not courage alone, nor love
alone, nor wisdom alone, nor power alone. Mere wisdom
would make us hard and cold, but wisdom set on fire with

THE EPISTLES OF TAUL TO TIMOTHY

193

love and energized by power will enable us to bless the
world.

The lion is the emblem of courage ; the ox is the symbol
of strength ; the man is the emblem of love ; and the eagle
with her soaring vision is the type of wisdom, all blended
in the one Spirit of courage and love and of a sound
mind.

With such a divine provision, beloved, why should we
be afraid ? Why should we be feeble ? Why should we be
harsh, or tried ? Why should we be foolish or fail ? Let
us stir up the gift of God which is in us, and put on the
strength, the life, the might of the Holy One, and go
forth, insufficient in ourselves but all-sufficient in His
boundless grace.

V. Finally, we have the Holy Ghost represented here
as the power Who will enable us to keep our sacred trust.
2. Timothy 1 : 14, * ' That good thing wliich was com-
mitted to thee keep by the Holy Ghost which dwelleth
in us."

The words, ''good thing committed to thee," are the
same as the apostle uses in the previous verse, where he
speaks of that which "I have committed unto him."
Literally, it means, my deposit. There are two deposits;
there is one deposit which we have put in the keeping
of Christ, and we know He is able to keep it; it is our
precious soul ; it is our eternal future ; it is the momen-
tous interests of our life beyond.

But He has also given a deposit to us. God has in-
vested a trust in us that is as dear to Ilim as the trust
that we have committed to His keeping — it is His glory ;
it is His testimony; it is His kingdom on earth, "the
good thing which was committed to us." Oh, shall we
keep it, and hand it back untarnished and glorious and
approved when we shall meet Him?

Thank God, the Holy Ghost is given us to enable us
to keep it — "that good thing which was committed to
thee keep by thq Holy Ghost which dwelleth in us."
13

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POWER FROM ON HIGH

Not only does He take care of His end, but He comes
also to take care of ours. Jilessed Frienrl, Blessed Helper
Blessed Substitute, Blessed All-Sufficient One, we receive
Thee J we lean upon Thee; we commit to Thee Thy trusts
to us, as well as our trusts to Thee; and in Thy wis-
dom and in Thy might and in Thy love, and in thy Al-
mightiness, we go forth to finish the work committed to
us, to watch and work for our Lord's appearing! Amen.

J comes
Helper,
receive
T trusts
ly wis-
thy Al-
tted to
Amen.

CHAPTER XX.
REGENERATION AND RENEWAL.

*'Ho saved us by the washing of regeneration, and the renew-
ing of the Holy Ghost; which he shed upon us abundantly
through Jesus Christ our Saviour. ' ' — Titus 3:5, 6.

THIS passage gives us a grand view of the plan of
salvation. First, the apostle tells us of our former
condition, when "we were sometimes foolish, dis-
obedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,
living in malice and envy, hateful, and hating one an-
other.*'

Next, he tells us of the source of our salvation. Neg-
atively, it was **not by works of righteousness which we
have done," but, positively, "it was according to His
mercy that He saved us" through the kindness and love
of God our Saviour.

The work of salvation is altogether divine. "Mercy
shall be built up forever." It was mercy that saved us,
and it is mercy that keeps us saved. We shall never get
beyond the divine mercy. A poor Indian, once, when
asked how he got saved, took a little worm and put it on
the ground, and then built a fire of dry leaves around
it. The worm caught the smell of the fire and felt its
dangerous heat, and began to flee, but only met another
wall of fire on the other side, and so went from side to
side in terror and despair ; until at last, finding no way
of escape, it gathered itself up in the center of the
circle and lay there helpless and dying. Then the
Indian stretched out his hand, picked it up and saved
it. "That was the way," said he, "that mercy saved
me." It is according to His mercy that He has saved
us, and it is mercy every day that fulfills in us all the
fullness of that great salvation.

Then He tells us of the special steps. "By the wash-
lit

196

POWER FROM ON HIGH

■ I.

ing of regeneration, and renewing of the Holy Ghost;
which He shed in ua abundantly through Jesus Christ
our Saviour; that, being justified by His grace, we
should be made heirs according to the hope of eternal
life."

This seventh verse docs not mean that justification
follows regeneration. The Greek tense implies that it
precedes it. ** Having been justified by His grace" is
the true force of the tense. God takes us as sinners and
justifies us through His grace the moment we believe,
and then He regenerates us and gives us the Holy Ghost
and leads us forward into all the fullness of His grace,
and on to the blessed hope of our eternal inheritance.

We have, however, only to deal in this connection,
with two steps in this scale, *'the washing of regenera-
tion and the renewing of the Holy Ghost."

REGENERATION.

This literally means "the laver of regeneration."
The Greek word reaHy refers to the laver in the ancient
tabernacle. You know that in the court of God 's ancient
sanctuary there were two objects of deep interest. The
first was the altar of burnt offering where the sinner
came and, transferring his guilt to the sacrifice, re-
ceived atonement through the blood; the next was the
laver, or fountain of water, where he saw his defilement
in its mirrored sides, and then cleansed them in its
flowing stream. The first represented the blood - of
Christ; the second represented the Holy Spirit in His
regenerating work. This court was open to all the peo-
ple. It represented the free, full provision of the gospel
for the sinner, the justifying, redeeming work of Jesus,
and the regenerating grace of the Holy Ghost.

And so the laver of regeneration represents the pri-
mary work of the divine Spirit in quickening the soul

REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

197

that is dead i^ ain, and brinp^inf? it into the life of God.
The Bible is full of this. The sinner is constantly rep-
resented as dead in trcspasst's and sins. It is not merely
a matter of light. It is not enough for him to form good
resolutions and accomplish moral reformations. It is
life he needs. And, therefore, we read, **If any man be
in Christ, he is a new creation ; old things liave passed
away; behold, all things have become new." Therefore,
the Lord Jesus saj^s to Nicodemus, ''Except a man be
born again, he cannot enter the kingdom of God."
Therefore, the prophet Ezekiel saya of the coming sal-
vation, "I will take away the hard and stony heart out
of your liesh, and I will give you a heart of flesh. A
new heart will I put within you, and a right spirit will
I give unto you. ' ' This is the laver of regeneration, this
is the indispensable work of the Holy Ghost in conver-
sion.

Last night I knelt beside a dying bed. It was a dear
lad who had for months been dying, but had no one to
lead him to the Saviour. That day a dear friend had for
the first time told liim of Jesus and tried to lead him
through the narrow gate.

As I knelt by his side, with his weak brain, aiid
sinking body, I felt how impossil)le it was for me to
make him understand his need in this change.

He had never done anything very wrong, and he had
no deep sense of outward sin, but God helped me to show
to him that ''that which is born of the flesh is flesh"
and that his natural heart could not enter the family of
heaven any more than the little kitten upon the hearth,
or th( canary in the cage, could be a member of my
family or enter into my sympathies, joys, and con-
ceptions.

Then, as his heart felt iiis need of this great change,
it wp'^' easy to lead him to Jesus and to oflter him the
free gift of eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord,
and to tell him that he could take it in a moment as the

198

POWER FPOM ON HIOII

"■it

gift of God's great love. Then it was that the blessed
Holy Ghost name to our relief, and showed His almighty
new-creating power.

Never shall I forget the strange SM'eet flash of eternal
light that shone across his countenance for a moment, as
ha accepted that gift and with all his heart said, **I
will,'* and then threw his head upon my breast and his
arms about my neck, and for a long time lay there, while
I prayed, and he entered into the bosom of everlasting
love.

When I left him, all was peace and the sweetness of
heaven; and in the early morJng he passed through
the gates into the city, and those that were by his side
told us how, just before he passed through, God gave to
him a vision of the opening heavens and the chariot tliat
was to bear him home; and the dear family, who knew
not God and scarcely understood those wondrous things,
tvere unspeakably touched with the message of divine
grace that had come to him, and through him to them,
from the gates ajar.

This is the laver of regeneration. precious friends,
you cannot enter heaven without this new heart! You
cannot see the Kingdom of Gcd without this divine life
You cannot come into it withe ut this divine touch. Yon
cannot bring it to yourself. You cannot work it up In
struggling and by effort. Thank God, there is a better
way. "As many as received Him, to them gave He
pov/er to become the sons of God, even to them that be-
lieve on His name; which were born not of the flesh, nor
of the will of man, but of God."

0, sinner, come to the laver of regeneration! Let
your hard and stony heart bow at the feet of Jesus.
Receive Him ; come to Him with all your hardness and
helplessness, with all your lack of faith and feeling;
and He will take away the stony heart, and give you a
heart of flesh. He will plunge you in the laver of regen-

REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

199

Let

eration, and then lead you on into all the fullness of
His grace and glory.

THE RENZWINQ OP THE HOLY GHOST.

After we have received the new life it needs to be
sustained; it needs to be cherished, matured, built up,
and led on into all the fullness of Christ. This is the
work of the same blessed Mother God that brought us
first into life. This is what is meant by the renewing
of the Holy Ghost.

1. First, it suggests the daily dependence of our life.
We are not supplied in a moment for a lifetime. "We
have no store of grace for tomorrow. The manna must
fall each day afresh ; the life must be inhaled breath by
breath ; we must feed upon the living bread day by day.
It is not at our command, but all derived *rom Him.

We must abide in Him, and He in us, ''for apart from
Him we can do nothing." Our store of grace is not a
great reservoir, but just a little water pipe carrying
enough for the moment and ever passing on. And so
we must learn to live in constant communion with Jesus
and constant fellowship with the Holy Ghost.

He is only too glad to have our fellowship. He does
not weary of our oft returning. He longs to have us
come to Him and keep coming again and yet again,
and "He is able to save to the uttermost," or rather,
forevermore, "all that keep coming unto God by Him,
seeing He ever liveth to make intercession for them."

2. The language implies our spiritual freshness. We
cannot live on old food and stale bread; but God's sup-
ply for us is perpetually fresh and new. "I will be
as the dew unto Israel" is His own blessed figure. It
does rot rain always, but the dew comes every night
and sparkles very morning upon the flower and the
leaf. It comes gently, quietly, not in the nish of the
tempest, to wash out the tender plant, in the supply

200

POWER FROM ON HIGH

1
i

which refreshes without disturbing. And then it comes
in the hottest weather and the most trying times. In-
deed, the dew does not fall, but rises; it is always in
the air and is absorbed by the plant just as its condi-
tion is fitted to take the moisture that is always floating
in the atmosphere. The Holy Ghost is always within
reach, if we are in condition to receive and absorb Him.
Oh, let us drink in the dew of Ilis grace and live in the
renewing of the Holy Ghost !

What a beautiful figure of this was given in the rod of
Aaron, which, when placed within the holy sanctuary,
budded, and blossomed, and bare fruit. So the rod of
faith, and prayer, and holy priesthood, and communion,
bears fresh buds, blossoms, and ripe fruit, continually.

Still more beautiful was the figure of the water that
flowed through the desert for the supply of Israel's
thirst. Once it was struck at Iloreb and opened its
bosom for the flowing stream, but ever after that the
river was there to supply their needs. And so, when they
thirsted again, God sent them back and bade Moses not
to strike the rock, but ** speak," said He, *'to the
rock, and it shall give forth its waters." Moses made
the mistake of striking it, but the waters were there and
flowed all the same, and God's faithful grace was still
supplied.

And yet again, when they came into the boundless
desert, there was nothing but the fiery sand beneath
tliem and the burning sun above them. But again the
water was there. All they had to do was to gather in a
circle, and dig with their spades a well in the desfert,
and then gather around it and sing their song of faith
and praise; and lo, the waters gushed forth, and their
need was all supplied.

This is the renewing of the Holy Ghost. Thus He
supplies our daily needs. Thus He waits to meet the
cry of faith. Thus He loves to answer the song of praise,
and flow through all our being with His glad and full

REGENERATION AND RENEWAL

201

t comes
cs. In-
-vays in
i eondi-
floating
within
'b Him.
3 in the

5 rod of
ctuary,

rod of
Qunion,
lually.
er that
Israel 's
aed its
lat the

n they
ses not
to the
made
re and
as still

mdless
eneath
lin the
r in a
desfert,
f faith
I their

us He
et the
praise,
d full

(

supply, until *Hhe wilderness and the solitary place shall
rejoice, the desert (of life) shall blossom as the rose."

This is whai the Apostle Peter meant when he spoke
of the "times of refreshing that should come from the
presence of the Lord," before **the times of the resti-
tution of all things," which Christ's advent shall bring.
We are in *'the times of refreshing," and we are waiting
for the times of restitution. Oh, let us take the blessing !
Oh, let us claim the fullness ! Let us receive the renew-
ing of the Holy Ghost. Let us enter into the mighty
promise, *VT will make you and the places round about
you a blessing; and I will cause the shower to come
down in his season ; there shall be showers of blessing. ' '

3. There is one more thought suggested by this expres-
sion. The Greek word here used is employed once only
besides in the New Testament. "We find it in that re-
markable passage in the twelfth chapter of Romans,
where the apostle says, "Be not conformed to this world,
but be ye transformed by the renewing of your mind. ' '

It is well known that the expression there should be
translated, "Be ye transfigured by the upward renewing
of your mind." It is the same word as here used for
"renewing," and it is connected there with the figure of
transfiguration.

The thought of the apostle here is that the Holy
Ghost is leading us on to our transfiguration. It is not
merely grace, but glory, that He wants to bring us into.
It is not enough to be regenerated, we want also to bo
glorified. It is not enough to go to the laver of regen-
eration. Let us enter in through the door, and then go
in and out and find pasture. Let us pass in to the golden
lamps of the Lord. Let us feed upon the table of shew-
bread with its sweet frankincense. Let us breathe the
odors of the incense that fill the sanctuary. Let us
have "boldness to enter into the Holiest by a new and
living way;" and there, in the light of God's Shekirali
presence, there, under the wings of the cherubim, there.

^^^w
t

202

POWER FROM ON HIGH

in the innermost presence of God, let us anticipate the
glory of the life bejond, and go forth with its radiance
upon our brow to shed its blessing upon a dark and
sorrowful world.

The Holy Ghost wants to transfigure our lives just
as truly as He transfigured Christ's. Two and a half
years of that blessed life of ministry had passed. He,
too, had been born of the Spirit. He, too, had been bap-
tized in Jordan 's banks. From the opening heavens the
Holy Dove had come down to rest upon Him. He had
gone forth, in the power of the Spirit, into the conflict
with Satan in the wilderness, and the service of love
through the villages of Galilee.

But now He was going down into the deep valley of
Kedron, into the shame of the judgment hall, into the
dark, sad conflict of Gethsemane, into the mystery of
the cross, into the awful place of God 's forsaking for the
sins of men, into the deep, cold grave. And He needed
more. He needed the glory as well as the strength of
God. And so He went up to Hebron's height that
night, and was clothed upon with the glory of His prime-
val throne, and His Advent reign; and then, in that
glory He went down from the mountain to cast out the
demoniac at its foot, to triumph over persecution, re-
jection and every adversary, to endure the cross, de-
spiring the shame, and to be the Conqueror of sin and
death.

So we read that, after this, there was a strange ma-
jesty in His mien, **and as they saw Him, they were
amazed, and as they followed, they were afraid." O,
beloved, we, too, are entering upon strange and solemn
times! Dark clouds are round about the horizon, lurid
lightnings are flashing from the sky; solemn mutter-
ings are heard upon the air; there are signals of a
crisis; everything is troubled; days of solemn meaning
are drawing nigh.

We need more than we have had. We need to pass

EEGENERATION AND RENEWAL

203

ipate the
radiance
lark and

ives just

d a half

ed. He,

een bap-

vens the

He had

conflict

of love

alley of
into the
3tery of
for the
needed
ngth of
ht that
5 prime-
in that
out the
ion, re-
3SS, de-
sin and

from grace to glory. We need the transfiguration life
as well as He. We need to look from Hebron's height
above the valley of humiliation and suffering, away to
the sunlit hills of the Advent glory. Oh, shall we be
transfigured, too? And then shall we go forth, like
Him, to triumph over Satan, sin and death, to shed the
light of His glory around us, to stand unmoved amid the
perils and convulsions of our time, to meet our coming
Lord, proving ''all that good, and acceptable, and per-
fect will of God."

Let us come apart with Him like the three disciples of
old. Let us rise to an exceeding high mountain apart.
Let us not fear the shadows of the night, and the cloud
of the glory as we enter in; and we, too, shall know
something of the meaning of His mighty promise, "The
glory which Thou gavest Me, I have given them, that
they may be one, even as We are One."

ge ma-
y were
.'■ 0,
solemn
I, lurid
nutter-
8 of a
eaning

I i

pass

CHAPTER XXI.

;|lf '

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE EPISTLE TO THE

HEBREWS.

THERE are five special references to the Holy Ghost
i

in this epistle.

il ^

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN RELATION TO CHRIST 's DEATH.

Hebrews 9 : 14. * * How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the Eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God?"

"We have seen that the Holy Ghost was connected
with the whole life of the Lord Jesus Christ. Through
His overshadowing He was born the incarnate Son of
God. Through His baptism He was anointed for His
special work. Through His leading He was brought
into the wilderness to be tempted of the devil, and then
led forth in victory. He anointed Him to preach the
gospel. He cast out demons through the Holy Ghost.
All through His life the Spirit was in partnership with
Him, and He condescended to be dependent upon Him
for divine strength and grace even as we His disciples.

But now we see the Holy Ghost in the last hour of
His life, ministering on the Cross of Calvary, and taking
part in the last and most important act of the Master's
whole life. "Through the Eternal Spirit He offered
Himself without spot to God." The blessed Comforter
was with Him in that dark, lone hour. He strengthened
Him for His agony in Gethsemane, and upheld Him
so that He could not die before His time nor sink under
the power of the devil.

He sustained Him in sweetness, gentleness, and spot-
less righteousness, through the awful ordeal of shame

204

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

205

and suffering, in the judgment hall and the Roman
prsetorium. He stood with Ilim in the anguish of the
cross, when all others forsook Him, and when even His
Father's face was turned away. To the very close of
that great sacriiBce, the Holy Ghost ministered, suffered
and sustained, and then presented that offered life be-
fore the throne of God, as a perfect and spotless sac-
rifice for sin, and a sufficient ransom for every sinner's
life.

Blessed Holy Ghost, how much we owe to Him, even
for the Cross of Calvary, and the great Atonement!

And just as He was with the Master in His crucifixion,
so will He be with the disciple. He will enable us, like-
wise, to die to self and sin. It is only through the Holy
Ghost that we can be truly crucified. "If we through
the Spirit do mortify the deeds of the body, we shall
live." But if we try to kill ourselves, we shall only
be like poor Nero, who stabbed his body a hundred times,
but never dared to stab himself to death. "Would we
die with Jesus and rise into all the fullness of His end-
less life? Let us receive the Holy Ghost, and let Him
love us into death and life eternal.

Then, if even these mortal lives should be laid down,
before the coming of our Lord, the same blessed Para-
clete that was with our dying Lord, will overshadow our
last couch of pain, and, on His mighty wings of love,
will bear our departing soul across the lonely voyage, to
the bosom of the Father, and present our spirit without
spot before the Throne of God. Blessed and eternal
Spirit, our Mother God and Everlasting Friend, oh,
how much we owe to Thee!

II.

THE HOLY GHOST AS THE WITNESS OP THE NEW

COVENANT.

Hebrews 10:15. ** Whereof aU. the Holy Ghost is a
witness; for after that He had said before. This is the

206

POWER FROM ON HIQH

i:-!;

1 I 'i';

:i ill

1 It

;i '.,

■I! ^

covenant that I will make with the house of Israel, after
these days, saith the Lord, I will put my laws into their
hearts, and write them on their minds, and I will be their
God, and they shall be my people, for I will be merciful
to their unrighteousness, and their sins and their iniqui-
ties will I remember no more."

This is the Gospel revealed by the Holy Ghost to Jere-
miah, in the dark and declining days of ancient Juda-
ism, when, through the broken windows of the earthly
temple, the prophet's vision looked to the light of a
better morning.

This ancient covenant, so gloriouslj^ revealed to Jere-
miah, is three times repeated in the Epistle to the
Hebrews ; and it must, therefore, be entitled to the great-
est significance and v»^eight. It is, indeed, the very
essence of the Gospel. It breathes the spirit of the New
Dispensatior.

Under the old economy the law was written upon
tables of stone. Here it is written upon our minds and
upon our hearts. Thus it is made a part of our very
nature, thought, desire, choice, and being. It is the
instinctive and spontaneous impulse of our very life,
and it is as natural for us to love it and to do it, as to
live and to breathe.

We all know the force of the great law of love. How
much do you suppose it would cost for that father
and husband to hire the woman who nursee his children,
and takes care of his home? What amount of money
could purchase her toil and labor, as she lives by his
side, shares his fortunes, and works herself to death for
these helpless little ones ? No earthly consideration could
induce her to undertake this charge, no law except the
law of force could make her such a slave. Yet there is
another law, the law of love, and God has written it
upon every mother 's heart ; and by the drawing of that
sweet law of love, she leaves her father's house, her
luxurious home, her comfortable surroundings, and

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

207

How
ather
dren,
loney
his
for
ould
the
re is
3n it
that
her
and

goes forth with the man she loves, to share his fate, to
toil by his side, to nurture his childnni, to work early
and late for these lielpless little ones, unwearied, un-
conscious of any sacrifice and only too {^lad to be able
to pour out her very life to make them happy. Ah!
this is the law upon the heart! This is the way the
Spirit of God puts into us the will of God and 'nake it
our choice and our delight.

Therefore, the Hol}^ Ghost was given at Pentecost on
the exact anniversary of the giving of the law. Pente-
cost and Sinai are the two ordinances in the calendar
of the ages that correspond with each other. The first
was the law written upon stone ; the second was the law
in the living power of the Holy Ghost in human hearts
and lives.

Beloved, have we learned this secret of life and power ?
Do we know the divine covenant, the indwelling Spirit,
and 'Hhe law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,"
making us "free from the law of sin and death," and
** fulfilling the righteousness of the law" not only b}''
us, but "in us"?

Then it is added, ' * I will be your God, and ye shall be
my people." We do not become His people lirst, thus
constituting Him our God; but He first becomes our
God, and we are His people. The mother is before the
babe, and it is her motherhood that constitutes its child-
hood. It is because she is its mother, that it is her child.
And so God calls us, chooses us, saves us, fills us, and
we respond to His love and become His willing, obedient
children.

Then our sins are not only forgiven, but forgotten.
We are lifted above every cloud of condemnation, and
it is true for ever, ** their sins and their iniquities will
I remember no more."

Beloved, have we entered into this New Covenant by
the Holy Ghost, and are we walking under the spon-

208

POWER FROM ON IIIOII

taneous and all-irapr,lling impulses of the indwelling
Holy Ghost?

THE HOLY GHOST IN RELATION TO THE SUPERNATURAL
SIGNS AND OPERATIONS OP THE GOSPEL.

"God also bearing them witness, both with signs and
wonders, and with divers miracles, and gifts of the
Holy Ghost, according to His own will. ' ' Heb. 2 : 4.

The apostle gives us in this passage a vivid picture
of the preeminence of the "great salvation" of the
Gospel as compared with the law. The dispensation
of Moses was introduced by angels and by men, but
the Gospel has been "spoken to us by the Lord," and
repeated by those who were sent directly by Him, and
then confirmed to us by the Holy Ghost Himself.

The passage refers not only to the signs and wonders
of the early chapters of Christianity, but to the super-
natural power which God has promised to every age
and stage of the dispensation, to confirm to an un-
believing world the divine reality of God's great mes-
sage. The Holy Ghost is still present in the Church,
and is still giving the confirmatory signs, not only by
His miracles of grace in the hearts of men, but by His
miracles of Providence in the Church and in the world,,
and His miracles of power in the bodies of those whc
trust Him.

Beloved, do we know these signs, and are we proving
them to the world? Is this gospel still a living power,
and its own great witness? Who is there among us that
has not seen enough to make us know and feel that it is
the power of God? "How shall we escape if we neglect
so great salvation?"

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

209

welling

'URAL

?ns and
of the
2:4.

picture
of the
jnsation
len, but
i," and
im, and
If.

wonders

3 super-

ery age

an un-

at mes-

Church,

only by

by His

world;

oae whc

proving
: power,

us that
lat it is

neglect

THE HOLY GHOST IN RELATION TO OUR IMMEDIATE
DECISION FOR GOD.

"Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, Today if ye
will hear His voice, harden not your hearts." Heb.
3 : 7, 8.

This is always the Holy Spirit's message to men. It
is always a present message, an urgent message, and
demands an immediate decision. Back of it. He is
always pointing to that solemn story of the wilderness,
when God's chosen people came forth from bondage
under His mighty hand, and advanced under His
glorious leadership to the very gates of Canaan. Then,
in one fatal moment, they faltered, doubted, disobeyed
and went back to nearly half a century of failure, dis-
appointment, and a dishonored death. Just for a
single day they stood upon that narrow isthmus, and
then they took the wrong step, and lost all by inde-
cision. Oh, how sad, how desolate these wilderness
years, ever moving but going nowhere; toiling, suffer-
ing, but accomplishing nothing, simply marking time,
waiting for the sad inevitable hour that should close
their disobedient lives!

Beloved, there are still such lives, there are men and
women who have missed their opportunity. They have
disobeyed their high calling, and have gone back from
the gates of promise. They are simply marking time
and finishing a life whose one sad echo will be forever,
"Alas, what might have been!"

This is true of the sinner. There is a moment when
he must decide or perish. The Holy Spirit's message
to him is always, "Today, while it is called today,"
for it may not be all the day; it may be a golden
moment on which eternity hangs, "Today, while it is
called today, if ye will hear His voice, harden not your
hearts."
14

210

POWER FROM ON IIIOH

It is also His message to the disciple, for each of
us conies up to th(! j^ates of the Land of Promise, to
the point of a great deeision, to the place for entire
consecration, to the Jordan's bank where the Holy
Ghost is waiting to descend upon us if we will dare
to step down into the waters of death and self-dedication.
And there comes a moment when there is no time to
lose. It is NOW OR NEVER. Oh, if it is such a moment
with any of us today, beloved, ''while it is called to-
day, harden not your hearts"!

Yes, and even after we have received the Holy Ghost
there are crisis hours in consecrated lives. There are
great doors of service offered; there are great openings
for higher advances; there are sacrifices to be dared,
advances to be made, promises to be claimed, victories
to be won, achievements to be undertaken; but they
will not wait for us. Like harvest time, they are pass-
ing by, and the Holy Spirit's message to us is, ''Re-
deeming the time because the days are evil."

It is not merely the time, it is the point of time.
ton kairon, tlie very niche of time. We have not
days for it, but only moments. The days are evil, the
moment is golden; let us seize it while we may. God
help us, beloved, to understand that message, and to
let that blessed Guide and Friend lead us from victory
to victory, and at last present us faultless in the pres-
ence ' His glory with exceeding joy.

I M P

i *

THE HOLY GHOST IN " f^ATION TO THE BACKSLTOER.

There are two very solemn passages in this epistle in
relation to the backslider.

"For it is impossible for those who were once en-
lightened, and have tasted of the heavenly gift, and
were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, and have
tasted the good word of God, and the powers of the

THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

211

time,
le not

, the

God
nd to
ictory

pres-

le en-

and

have

If the

world to come, if they shall fall away, to renew them
to repentenee; seeing th(;y crueify to themselves the
Son of God afresh, and put Him to an open shame,"
Chapter 6:4-0.

"Of how mueh sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall
he be thought worthy, who hath trodden under foot
the Son of God, and hath counted the blood of the
covenant, wherewith he was sanctified, an unlioly thing,
and hath done despite Unto the Spirit of g*race?"
Chapter 10:29.

Time and space will not permit us to enter fully on
the exposition of these verses, but a few remarks may
throw sufficient light upon them to prevent their being
a stumbling-block to sincere and trembling hearts.

In the first place, it is quite certain from other
Scriptures, that there is mercy and forgiveness for
every sinner who is willing to accept the mercy of
God through the Lord Jesus Christ. Again and again,
the infinite mercy of God to the penitent sinner has
been repeated and re-asserted, until no sincere penitent
need ever doubt his welcome at the throne of grace.
"All manner of sin and of blasphemy," our Saviour
has said, "shall be forgiven unto men."

In the next place, the sin of the persons referred to
here is no ordinary sin. It is not a mere fall, but it is
"falling away," and falling away so utterly that the
backslider wholly rejects the very blood of Christ
through which he might be forgiven, and throws away
the only sacrifice and hope of mercy. He crucifies to
himself the Son of God afresh ; ho puts Him to an open
shame; he tramples upon His blood, and he defies and
does despite unto the Spirit of grace.

The difficulty of his salvation arises not from any
limitation of God's mercy, but from the fact that he
utterly rejects God's mercy, and the only way by which
it could be manifested through the Lord Jesus Christ.

In the third place, the case supposed is not neces-

212

POWER FROM ON ITTOTI

^i:.

'(;■

sarily an actual case. It may be of the nature of a
warninp: and a supposition, and the very warninpc is
piven ill order to prevent it from becoming a fact. The
mother cries to her child, "Come back from the edge of
the precipice or you will be killed,"' but tliis does not
imply that the child is to be Idlled. It is the very means
by which it is saved from death. God's warnings are
not prophecies, but they are His loving way of keeping
hack that which otherwise would happen. And so the
apostle adds, "we are persuaded better things of you,
and things that accompany salvation, though we thus
speak."

Finally, in the Revised Version there is a little word
of comfort and hv.pe in the sixth verse. Instead of
"seeing they crucify to themselves" the translation is,
"so long as they crucify to themselves the Son of God
afresh." It implies that in a, certain spiritual condition
they cannot be saved nor forgiven, but it also implies
that so soon as they abandon that condition, and become
penitent and accept the blood of Christ, the mercy of
God is still free and full.

There is, therefore, no reason to infer from these
very sqlemn warnings that any penitent soul need
despair of being forgiven. At the same time, the warn-
ing is so solemn that we would not for one moment
weaken its tremendous force. For we never can tell,
when we begin to go back or even look back, where we
are going to stop. That which seems but a trifling fall
may become a "falling away," and may end in the
rejection of Christ and the defiance of God Our safety
lies in heeding the solemn warning, "The just shall live
by faith, but if any man draw back. My soul shall have
no pleasure in him. But we are not of them who draw
back unto perdition, but of them that believe unto the
saving of the soul."

The story is told of a man who advertised for a
coachman. Among those who came were two who seemed

of a

ins is
The

Ige or
es not
means
c:s are
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THE EPISTLE TO THE HEBREWS

213

to him to be particularly bright. He took them aside
and asked them how near they could drive to the edge
of a precipice v/ithout falling over. The first candidate
answered that he could go within half an inch and had
frequently done so, just shaving the edge and feeling
perfectly safe. He then asked the other the same ques-
tion. "Well, sir," replied the man modestly, **I really
cannot tell, because I ha"''e never allowed myself to
venture near the edge of a precipice. I have always
made it a rule to keep as far as possible from danger,
and I have had my reward in knowing that my master
and his family were kept from danger and liarm. ' '

The master had no difficulty in deciding between the
two candidates. "You are the man for me," he said,
**thc other may be very brilliant, but you are safe."

Ah, friends, let us not play with danger, trifle with
sin, nor venture so close to the edge of the lake of fire
that we may not be able to return! The Holy Ghost,
as our loving, jealous Mother, is guarding us from harm
by these very warnings. Like the Pilgrims in the Palace
Beautiful, who went on their way saying, as they had
looked at the wonderful visions of the palace, "These
things; make us both hope and fear," so, in a wise and
holy fear as well as a bright and blessed hope, lies tlie
balance of safety and the place of wisdom. Thus walk-
ing in His love and fear, may wo be kept by the Holy
Ghost until that glad hour when we, through the eternal
Spirit, too, shall offer ourselves, without spot, to God.

CHAPTER XXII.
GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE.

The Spirit that dwelleth in us lusteth to envy. ' ' — James 4 : 5.

'Ml :"■

til •'

IN the marginal reading of the Revised Version, we
find this verse translated : ' * The Spirit that He hath
made to dwell in us yearneth over us unto envy."
A still more happy rendering is, ''The Holy Spirit, that
dwelleth in us, loveth us to jealousy."

This is a little gem in a mass of rocks, a little flower
in a wilderness, a little bit of poetry and sacred senti-
ment embosomed in the great epistle of common sense.
One would almost as readily expect to see a rose in a
wilderness or a blossom on a glacier, as to find this
exquisite little bit of sentiment in the epistle of the most
practical of all the apostles.

For James has really struck the keynote of the entire
system of revelation. This is the golden thread that
runs through the whole Bible, from the bridal of Eve to
th« Marriage of the Lamb. The love life of the Lord, —
this is the romance of the Bible, and the golden chain of
Revelation.

The story of Rebekah is a kind of idyl, setting forth
the whc^e idea in her romantic wooing and wedding.
Just as Abraham sent his trusted servant to bring a
bride for Isaac, and just as old Eliezer faithfully dis-
charged that trust, finding, wooing, and then bringing
home the beautiful Rebekah, and at last presenting her
to the arms of Isaac, waiting for her in the eventide;
so the Holy Ghost has been sent by the Father to call
from this sinful world a Bride for His beloved Son, and,
having called her, to bring her home, to educate her, to
robe her, and gradually to fjrepare her for her glorious
meeting with her Lord, in that sublime event which is

214

GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE

215

3s 4: 5.

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to be the consummation of the age — the Marriage of the
Lamb.

Now, the Holy Spirit is represented in this passage
as loving us to jealousy, and holding us sacredly to our
blessed Bridegroom and Lord. In the context we read
about the friendship of the world and the sin of adultery.
The true reading of this passage, **Ye adulterers and
adulteresses," is simply, "ye adulteresses." It is
wholly in the feminine gender. He is not speaking about
the earthly marriage bond, but about the fidelity of
the Bride of the Lamb to her heavenly Lord. The
Church is represented throughout the Scriptures as
a wife, and the sin of unfaithfulness to Christ as
spiritual adultery. Therefore, it is the adulteress that
is mentioned here, and she is asked in the most solemn
manner, ''Know ye not that the friendship of the world
is enmity with God? Whosoever, therefore, will be the
friend of the world is the enemy of God."

Compromise with the world is unfaithfulness to
Christ and adultery in Plis sight. It is in this con-
nection that our text is introduced. ''The Spirit that
dwelleth in us lovetli us to jealousy." He is constantly
guarding our loyalty of heart and our single and un-
qualified devotion to Christ alone.

Now, the Spirit which is given to each of us is holding
us true to Christ. He first wins and woos us to Christ
and then holds us true to Him, and leads us on until we
shall be prepared to meet Him at His glorious coming.

This figure could be much better understood in eastern
countries and ancient times than now. Almost ever}'-
Oriental marriage has a go-between, a friend of the
bridegroom and the bride, who arranges the prelim-
inaries, and brings the parties together, just as Eliezer
brought Rebekah to Isaac. This is the high mission of
the Holy Spirit, and in its discharge He is so true to
Christ that the least spot upon our holy character, the
least compromise in our allegiance and devotion awakens

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216

POWER FROM ON HIGH

in His heart a holy jealousy. He has devoted Himself
to bringing about our union with Jesus, and to fitting
us for it in the highest possible measure.

This is the purpose of all His dealings with us, this is
the meaning of all the discipline of our life, to call us
to Christ, and then qualify us for our high calling, as
the Bride of the Lamb.

First, He seeks and finds us, and brings us to Jesus
in conversion. He sees in us those qualities which God
created for Himself, and which Satan is prostituting for
our shame and ruin, and He sets His heart on winning
us for our heavenly Lord.

This will explain the fact that must often have oc-
curred to many of us, that God revealed Himself to us
in mercy many a time before we knew Him as a
Saviour, and a Father, and answered many of our
prayers when we really had no claim upon His promise.
He was wooing us to His love. He was trying to make
us understand that He was seeking us. He was pre-
senting to us the jewels of Isaac that we might be drawn
from the gifts to the Giver and led to listen to His
overtures of grace. He was treating us in advance as
His friends and His children. He was leaping over
the intervening years of sin and unbelief, and antici-
pating the hour when we should love Him, and weep
with bitter sorrow that we did not sooner understand
and accept His love to us.

0, beloved, He is calling some of you now! He is
longing for you with a jealous love. You belong to
Him by God's eternal purpose, you will some day love
Him and live for Him with all your heart, and then
you would give the world to be able to undo the years
of your present sin and folly. Oh, let Him reach your
licarts ; let Him win your affections ; let Him draw you
to His bosom and make you His beloved !

GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE

217

But secondly, even after we come to know Him as a
Saviour, He is pressing us forward to a deeper union
and a closer fellowship. We have come to Him for
refuge from judgment, and from guilt; we have ac-
cepted Him as a Deliverer from condemnation and from
fear; we Jiave fled for refuge^ like the little bird
pressed by the storm upon the deck of the passing
steamer; but He wants us closer; He wants us to put
away our doubts and fears, and to enter into His con-
fidence and fellowship. And so the Holy Ghost is loving
us into the life of entire union with Jesus and unre-
served consecration to Him.

Thousands of Christians know Him only as a shelter
between them and their guilt and danger; He wants to
take them into the innermost chambers of His heart
and make them partakers of His deepest love. And
so the Holy Spirit is wooing the children of God, and
drawing them to the very bosom of Jesus. He is saying
to them "Hearken, Oh daughter, and consider, forget
thy kindred and thy father's house; so shall the King
greatly desire thy beauty: for He is thy Lord, and
worship thou Him."

He wants us to turn away from every earthly idol,
and give Him our whole heart, that He may give us
His in return, and make us the partakers and the heirs
of all His riches and His glory. This is what consecra-
tion means. This is what the baptism of the Holy
Ghost is. In this His jealous love is calling some, even
as they read these lines.

But even when we thus yield ourselves to Christ in
full consecration and receive Him by the Holy Ghost
as an indwelling Saviour and the Ishi of our heart, we
have only begun Rebekah's homeward journey, and the
Holy Ghost, like Eliezer, has to lead us on through all

218

POWER FROM ON HIGH

the way, educating and preparing us for our meeting
with our Lord.

And al. through this life of discipline and experience,
He is still loving us with a ceaseless and tireless devo-
tion, and pressing us forward with jealous solicitude
into God's highest and best will. And so He becomes
our Sanctifier. He is preparing our wedding gar-
ments and fitting them to us, so that the King's daugh-
ter shall be ''all glorious within." ''She shall be
brought unto the king in raiment of needlework." She
shall be robed not only in garments white, but garments
bright, the wedding robes of the Marriage of the Lamb.

When we receive Christ as our Sanctifier, there is a
sense in which we are wholly sanctified from the be-
ginning. We have accepted all the will of God, and
God counts us fully obedient. Our will is utterly sur-
rendered and His will is our unqualified choice. But
oh, how much there is for us yet to learn, how much
more light, how much more realization, how all these
things have to be wrought into the very fibre of our
being! As that young lady takes the pattern of em-
broidery that has been stamped in its minutest details
upon the fabric, in one sense she has the whole pattern
from the beginning. But now she goes to work with
Worsted, and silk, and threads of gold, and puts in
many a stitch, with patient, delicate needle. She works
into that pattern every tint and color and costly ma-
terial, until it is not only a stamped pattern on the
canvas or the silk, but a beautifully inwrought figure
with every tint of the rainbow, and with ail the brilliant
sheen of satin and silk, and silver and gold, and per-
haps with precious pearls skilfully wrought into the
lowing design. So the Holy Ghost stamps the image
of Christ upon us from the beginning; He then goes
to work to burn it in and work it in, until our clothing
shall be of wrought gold and finest needlework. So He
is loving us to jealousy in His deeper work of sanctifying

GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE

219

grace, sensitive to every spot, guarding against every
slip and failure, and aught that could mar the fullness
and perfection of God's great purpose of grace within
us.

Some day we shall thank Him for His love, when
we stand with the glorious Bride of the Lamb, presented
faultless before the presence of God with exceeding joy,
while the wondering universe shall come to see the
Bride, the Lamb's Wife, with robes more radiant than
all the gems of earth and colors more glorious than a
thousand rainbows or a thousand suns.

No thoughtful mind can fail to appreciate the im-
portance and the reality of this deeper work of the
Holy Ghost. It is one thing to have love, but it is an-
other to have the love that suffereth long and is kind;
that never faileth ; that is not provoked. It is one thing
to have patience, but it is another to **let patience have
her perfect work that we may be perfect and entire,
wanting nothing." It is one thing to have forbearance
and long suffering, but it is another thing to be
''strengthened with might unto all patience and long
suffering with joyfulness." It is one thing to have the
things that are just and right, but it is another thing to
have the ''things that are lovely and of good report,"
not only the useful and the necessary, but the beautiful
and the decorative qualities of Christian life. It is one
thing to have the graces of the Holy Ghost in form; it
is another to have them in maturity. It is one thing to
have the grapes of June or July; it is quite another
to have the mellow purple fruit of September or Oc-
tober, ripe and ready for the vintage.

We have seen the Holy Ghost thus leading on a
soul, here adding a touch, there subtracting an excess,
there deepening a line, there ripening and mellowing
a quality. Silently, gradually, day by day and moment
by moment, we have seen the picture growing more com-
plete, more symmetrical, more deep, and full of strange

220

POWER FROM ON HIGH

indescribable expression, until at last we felt somehow
that the work had been wrought into the depths of life,
and that the soul was ripe and read^ for the Master's
coming.

IV.

Along with this work of sanctification, there is als©
a work of separation, and crucifixion. That anything
may grow, something must die. He is separating us
from the influences of the alien world, and the thousand
forces that could distract or counteract His gracious
purpose. It is here that His jealous love is most mani-
fest. It is here that He has often to break our idols,
and sever the cords that bind us, which would weaken
our character, or hinder our highest growth. But the
deeper and higher we are to grow, the narrower must
our range of earthly sympathy become. And so He
has not only to separate from sin, and from the ungodly
and unholy world, but to separate us from a thousand
things that touch the life of self, and that enter in as
hindrances between us and our Lord's highest purpose.

We may not see it ourselves, but He sees it, and
He loves us too well to let it hurt us. It may be some
dear friend ; it may be some innocent and what we regard
as an absolutely holy affection. But He may see that
that love, or that friend is taking His place, and instead
of becoming an attachment to the Head, it becomes a
barrier between us and our living Head. Instead of a
fruit-bearing branch it becomes a parasite, drawing
away our life, or a prop on which we lean instead ot
rooting more strongly in Him, and so He gently de-
taches us from it.

It may be that our ambition, or our literary taste, or
our fondness for some artistic delight, our beautiful
home, our refined friendships, our higher pursuits in the
lines of aesthetic taste, are absorbing much of the strength
of our life and making Him and His work less- And

.■I !■■■:

GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE

221

so the flashlight falls upon this, and the surgeon 's probe
detects it, and the deep cathode ray goes through the
very flesh and bone, till it reaches the very intents of the
heart, and brings to light the hidden danger; then He
tests our loyalty and love and calls upon us to sur-
render it to Him.

Yes, it may be even our Christian work that is ab-
sorbing our affection and enthusiasm and leaving Him
out. It may be for an idea or an ambition that we are
working, rather than for our Lord, and so His jealous
love sometimes must destroy the vision that He may
save His child. We are reminded of the apprentice
boy, w^ho saw his master gazing intently at the beautiful
fresco that he had just completed upon the ceiling, and
gradually stepping backwards to admire it, until he was
on the very edge of the scaffold and another movement
would have dashed him to the pavement below. Sud-
denly the faithful apprentice dashed forward, seized
the painter's brush and dashed it over the beautiful
fresco, daubing it, and destroying it with one ruthless
blow.

The master sprang forward with a ary of agony,
but in a moment he stopped and looked at the pale,
trembling boy, pointing with his finger backward to
the scaffold where he had stood, and then he understood
it all. He took the boy into his arms and in a paroxysm
of tears he embraced him, and thanked him that he had
spoiled his work and saved his life.

So the blessed Holy Ghost has marred the vision of
our past, and has desolated the hopes of our future
that He might save us for something better. Let us
trust Him to the end ; let us let Him love us as much as
He wants to; let us never doubt His faithful will, or
question the commandments which are "for our good
alway."

222

POWER FROM ON HIGH

The jealous love of the Holy Ghost is also educating
us, and seeking to enlarge our vision and our thought,
so that He can better fit us to be the eternal companion
of our glorious Bridegroom. He is trying to make us
understand the majesty of His purpose, and to bring
us into partnership with Him in His glorious plans to
save the world, and in the ages to come, to lead out His
redeemed ones into the highest and grandest services for
the universe. His heart is often grieved and disap-
pointed, to find us so narrow, so self-bound, so unable
to enter into His glorious purposes, and His eternal
designs.

There is a sad story told of a young couple who
became betrothed in early life. Afterward the young
man went to college, and acquired a liberal education,
and then went abroad and travelled for years in a for-
eign country, finishing his studies and widening his
views of life and men. All the while they kept up their
correspondence and their engagement, and at last one
day he came back to meet his beloved and claim her as
his bride. But, alas, he found that while he had grown,
she had remained stationary. He loved her still, and
her whole life was bound up in him. But she was not
able to understand him; she was not able to enter into
his higher thoughts and plans, and she was not able to
be the companion of his magnificent mind. He wedded
her, but more and more, from day to day, he saw that
the breach was widening. Her horizon was no wider
than her neighbor's fence and her neighbor's farmj
her world was scarcely bigger than the kitten on the
hearth, the lambs that gamboled in the field, and the
milk-pan and kitchen range.

He never told her, and she scarcely understood the
shadow that had fallen upon his life, but, day by day, he
pined and wasted away, until at last he died of a broken
heart.

GOD'S JEALOUS LOVE

223

Ah, friends, our beloved Bridegroom with Ilia {glorious
mind, Ilis sweeping vision of the universe and His
mighty purpose, not only to redeem this world, but to
glorify Ilis Father's name in every star and consteUation
of yonder space through His redeemed ones by and by,
must often be grieved to find us so slow to understand
Him !

You sit down in your comer grocery to make a petty
fortune ; you work away at your farm in order to make
a scant living and some day have a farm for your boys,
and you pet absorbed in your little circle, and perhaps
your little bit of a church. You never think of the great
world that is waiting to be saved, the millions that have
never heard of Jesus, or the high purpose of His heart
to make you, with Him, the queen not only of the
millennial years but of the whole redeemed universe.
Let us rise to meet His thought ; let us get out beyond
our self-bound, earth-bound life, and enter into His x^lan
for the world, and speed His glorious coming, and His
mighty purpose for all mankind.

And so again, the Holy Ghost is leading us out, and
developing our faith and thus preparing us for the
higher life of the world beyond. For faith is just the
wings by which we are some day to sweep across the
abyss and soar amid the heights of the ages to come.
Even after we receive the Holy Ghost we are content
to move on in small planes and small circles, and we do
not want to be disturbed or pushed out to harder,
higher things; therefore, the Holy Ghost has to come
and just compel us by His love to develop into spiritual
strength and energy of which we thought ourselves
incapable.

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her
young, taketh them, beareth them upon her wings, so the

224

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Lord alone did lead Ilim." And so He stirs up our
nest and pitches us out in mid air, helpless and defence-
less orphans, and we think that it is to destroy us, but
it is only to constrain us, that we may strike out tlie
little wings of faitli and learn to fly in the great unseen.
And when we get a little weary. He stretches out His
mighty pinions and bears us up again until we are ready
for another lesson. And so tlirough hardship, through
the discipline of trials, through new circumstances
into which He brings us, through difficulties for which
we feel unequal He is developing us, throwing us \ipon
Him, teaching us to claim His grace and educating us
for the higher energies, and the nobler manhood of the
life to come. Oh, how He delights in us when we yield
to Him! How disappointed He is in us when we re-
fuse! How sad when the clay will not let the Potter
fashion it, and He has to throw it aside! Beloved, let
us trust His love, and yield to His high and holy pur-
pose of love and blessing.

vn.

Finally, the Holy Ghost is yearning for our higher
usefulness, and training us for service. The life of
God is an unselfish life; the employment of the ages to
come will be wholly benevolent and self-forgetful. Our
service for Christ today is a great ir vestment through
which we are laying up treasures beyond, that are to
constitute our everlasting riches and reward. And so
the Holy Ghost is pressing us forward to make the most
of present opportunities; He is trying to get us to
plant the seeds of usefulness and to invest the things
that we hold dear in sacrifice and service, which yet will
bear immortal flowers and plant the heavens with trees
of righteousness and fruits of glory.

CHAPTER XXITI.

THE HOLY SPHIIT IN THE EPISTLES OF

PETER.

HERE are three important truths respecting the
Holy Spirit presented in the Epistles of Peter.

THE SPIRIT OF INSPIRATION.

In 2 Peter 1 : 21 we are told that * * the prophecy
came not by the will of man, but holy men of old spake
as they were moved by the Holy Ghost." This is a
very explicit statement of the doctrine of inspiration.
They were not giving their own opinions; they were
not writing bj- the impulse of their own will. Some-
times they said things that were contrary to all their
natural preferences and attachments, as for example,
when Samuel pronoimced his judgment upon the house
of Eli, or when Jeremiah uttered his awful ^varnings
against his dearly loved people and country.

But they were ** moved by the Holy Ghost." The
Greek word moved is a very strong one, and in the
Revised Version is translated "borne." They were
swept along by a mighty impulse which carried them far
beyond themselves. They did not always even under-
stand their own predictions, for in I Peter 1 : 10, we are
told that "the prophets have inquired and searched
diligently, who prophesied of the grace that should
come unto you : searching what, or what manner of time
the Spirit of Christ which was in them did signify, when
it testified beforehand the sufferings of Christ, and the
glory that should follow. ' '

Daniel tells us that he heard but understood not, his
own vision. Sometimes they saw the vision of a glorious

225
IS

226

POWER FROM ON HIGH

King, sometimes of a bleeding Lamb. But they did not
always fully comprehend what it all meant, nor when
it was all to bo fulfilled. It loomed before them as a
glorious vista of far reaching promise, but there was
many a cloud upon the vision, and all they clearly knew
was that "not unto themselves, but unto us they did
minister" these wondrous revelations of truth.

In the next verse the apostle speaks of the Holy
Ghost, not only in the message of the prophets, but in
the message of the ministers of the gospel, as these
truths are now preached unto us by the ambassadors of
Christ, ''with the Holy Ghost sent down from heaven."
The ancient prophet was the organ of the Spirit, but the
minister of the gospel has the very presence and person
of "the Sp'rit sent down from heaven," accompanying
his message and giving authority and power to his
word; so that when we speak the message of God, we
speak in the very name of God, and those who hear are
responsible for rejecting or receiving, not the word of
man, but the very word of the living God.

THE SPIRIT OF SANCTIFICATION.

1 Peter 1:2, " Elect according to the forelmowledge
of God the Father, through sanctification of the Sjoirit,
unto obedience and sprinkling of the blood of Jesus
Christ." The Apostle Peter fully believed in the sov-
ereignty of God, and in the divine purpose of election;
but he did not believe in any foreordination apart from
personal sanctification. The truth is, there are two ends
to the divine purpose. On yonder side the cable is
fastened to the throne, and hidden from our view i?
the inscrutable and inaccessible light of God; but on
this side the cable of divine mercy is within our reach,
and we may fasten it around our own Iiearts through
faith in the Lord Jesus Christ, and the indwelling of

THE EPISTLES OF PETEE

227

the Holy Ghost, so that we may make our callinji; and
election sure, and know that we belong to the heavenly
family.

The word 'Hhroiigh" should rather be translated
"in" sanctification. Holiness is the element and atmos-
phere of the divine calling, and as we are found there
we must be inseparably linked with Him; and apart
from this spiritual condition, we have no right to rest in
any theological dogma or ecclesiastical form. Let us
leave the theology of it to God, and let us make the
practical application sure.

Let us carefully notice the form of expression here
used. It is not sanctification hy the Spirit, but sanc-
tification of the Spirit. There is a great dilference.
Sanctification by the Spirit might leave us crystalized
into a sanctified state, like the wax when the stamp is
withdrawn, or like the clock wound up to go by its own
machinery. But sanctification of the Spirit is not a
self-constituted state, but a sanctification which consists
in our union with the Spirit, and makes and keeps us
dependent upon His indwelling life and power every
moment. We are not sanctified apart from Him, but
only as we are filled with Him, and abide in Him con-
tinually. We are but the vessel, an empty shell which
He must fill, and keep ever freshly filled by "the re-
newing of the Holy Ghost. ' '

The Greek genitive expressed by the preposition of
indicates the most intimate connection between our
sanctification and our possession of the Holy Ghost. Be-
loved, have we the Spirit as our Sanctifier and our Life?
Have we something more than holiness, even the Holy
One Himself to "dwell in us and walk in us," and ever
"cause us to keep His statutes and judgments and do
them?"

Again, the sanctification of the Spirit brings us
the "sprinkling of the blood of Jesus Christ." Now,
the blood of Jesus Christ means the life of Jesus Christ,

228

POWER FROM ON HIGH

and the life of Christ has always a twofold application.
First, the life of Christ was given for us through the
shedding of His blood and the atonement of His death
on Calvary. But the life of Christ is also given to us
by His union with us and abiding in us.

This latter sense is the one covered by the ** sprinkling
of the blood. ' ' We read in the twenty-fourth chapter of
Exodus, that when Moses was about to take the leaders
of Israel up into the mount, he offered sacrifices of oxen,
slaying the bullocks and pouring out half of their blood
upon the altar, thus signifying the shedding of Christ's
blood for us in the offering of His sacrifice upon the
cross. But the other half of the blood he took in basins
and carried it up unto the Mount, sprinkling part of it
upon the people and the book of the covenant ; and, thus
sprinkled with blood and accompanied by the blood,
they went up into the very presence of God, and were
received into His love and favor. Instead of the thun-
ders and lightnings which yesterday made Mount Sinai
a scene of terror, the blue heavens without a cloud cov-
ered them as a celestial dome, and Jehovah received them
into His presence chamber, feasted them as princely
guests at a royal banquet, and, it is added, ''upon the
nobles of Israel he laid not His hand; but they did cat
and drink, and they saw God."

Now, the sprinkled blood in this beautiful type is
quite different from the shed blood poured out upon the
altar; it represents the life of Christ imparted to us,
and making us fit for His presence and fellowship. This
is the work of thj Holy Ghost. He brings us into living
union with the person of Jesus and reproduces in us the
very life of Christ.

"We believe this is the meaning of the strong expres-
sions used so often respecting the life and blood of
Jesus. We are said to be "saved hy His life." Again,
the "blood of Jesus Christ His Son," that is, the life of
Jesus Christ, "cleanseth us, or keeps cleansing us from

THE EPISTLES OF PETER

229

prcs-
1(1 of
pain,
foof
from

all sin." So again, in the sixth of John, it is by eating
His flesh and drinking His blood that we have eternal
life, and that life is nourished from day to day. Be-
loved, do we know the sprinkling of the blood of Jesus,
and are we living upon His life?

There is another beautiful type in the Old Testament
throwing much precious light upon this striking figure.
It is the account of the red heifer in the nineteenth
chapter of the Book of Numbers. We will pass by the
other applications of this remarkable type, and refer
only to the sprinkling of the water of separation.

''^hen any one in the camp of Israel had become
ueii^Ju by the touch of the dead, or by contact with un^
cleanness in any way, it was provided that he should be
cleansed and restored by sprinkling with the water of
separation. This water was made out of the ashes of the
heifer that had been sacrificed and then burned, and
preserved in a sacred place for this purpose. "Water was
poured upon it and then, with a bunch of hyssop, the
unclean person was sprinkled and cleansed.

Now, we know that the water which you make out of
ashes is known as lye, and it is pungent and cutting in
its operation as caustic or fire. The sprinkling that came
in this w • Tipon the unclean would not be likely to be
forgotten. was a cleansing that would cut to the

core, and ol ' . to the bone. And so the work of the
Holy Ghost is not always soft and complacent, but
often most searching and consuming. He brings home
to our hearts the application of the death of Christ, until
it takes us into actual fellowship with His death, and
makes us also willing to die to the sinful or selfish
thing which He lias revealed in our natural life.

There ^s, therefore, a sent^e in which the sanctifying
work of V u^ Holy Ghost is at once immediate and pro-
gressive. There is a moment in which we actually enter
into personal union with Jesus and receive the baptism
of the Holy Ghost. In that moment we are fully ac-

230

POWER FROM ON HIGH

cepted, and are fully sanctified up to all the light we
have. But as the light grows deeper and clearer He
leads us farther down, and farther on, at once reveal-
ing and healing every secret thing that is contrary to
His perfect will, as we are able to bear it, and bringing
us into perfect conformity to the very nature and life
of Christ.

It is somewhat like the operation of the limestone
brook upon the wooden branch that is left lying in the
flowing stream. Day b} Iav, the limestone held in solu-
tion is deposited in the c ' fibres of the wood, until
after a while the wood has .en changed to stone and,
while retaining its natural form, its substance has been
transformed into the nature of the stone. So there is a
sense in which the Holy Ghost holds the life of Jesus
Christ in a kind of solution, and imparts it to us, until
we become perfectly conformed to the very image of our
glorious Pattern and Head.

Once more, the sanctification of the Spirit leads to
** obedience." It is not all theory and experience, but
it is intensely practical and real. It runs into our daily
lives in the home, the factory, and the store. It uakes
us better men and women, and compels the world to
testify to its genuineness and reality. And then it be-
comes so easy. It is not the obedience of effort, but the
spontaneous and joyful outflow of life and love. He not
only dwells in us, but He also walks in us. ''And what
the law could not do in that it was weak through the
flesh," "the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,"
does accomplish, ** making us free from the law of sin
and death, that the righteousness of the law might be
fulfilled in us, who walk not after the flesh, but after
the Spirit." _

THE SPIRIT OP GLORY.

1 Peter 4:14, **If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of

THE EPISTLES OF TETEK

231

God resteth upon you." The work of the Holy Ghost
is more than cleansing. It is also glorifying. He comes
not only to make our garments white, but lustrous, like
the transfiguration light and the marriage robe.

In the ancient tabernacle there were three sections.
The first represented salvation ; it was the Court where
the worshiper came to the altar and the laver for the
atoning blood and the cleansing water. The second was
the Holy Place, the chamber where the priests had their
home, and where they dwelt with God amid the light of
the golden lamps, feeding upon the sacred bread and
frankincense, and breathing the fragrant odors that
arose in clouds of incense from the golden altar of inter-
cession. This represented sanctification, communion,
fellowship, the life of abiding in personal union with
the Lord Jesus Christ. But there was another chamber
farther in. It was the Holy of Holies, the sacred pres-
ence chamber of God, where the Shekinah glory shone
between the outstretched wings of the heavenly cheru-
bim. This was God's image of the glory. This repre-
sents, of course, the future glory of our heavenly home
and the millennial day for which we are waiting. But
this also represents the beginning of that glory into
which we may enter now. For the Holy Ghost is the
earnest of our future inheritance, and He brings its fore-
gleams and foretastes to us here.

That inner chamber, in the days of Moses, was shut
off from view. Only the high priest might enter it, and
he but once a year. But the veiling curtains were rent
asunder when Jesus died, and the glory was opened wide
for us to enter in. And so we read the divine invitation,
"Having, therefore, boldness to enter into the holiest
by the blood of Jesus, by a new and living Way, which
He hath consecrated for us, through the veil, that is,
His flesh, let us draw near with a true heart, in full
assurance of faith." Yes, we may enter into the glory
even here. "The glory which Thou gavest Me, I have

232

POWER FROM ON HIGH

given them," is our Saviour's parting bequest. Not
only does He give us His peace and His love, but He
gives us Ilis glory, too, and into its heavenly radiance
we may enter now. "AVhom having not seen, we love,
in whom though now we see Him not, yet believing, we
rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory." *'Not
only so, but we glory in tribulations also." "If ye be
reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye; for
the Spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you."

It is difficult, if not impossible, to make this intelli-
gible to any one who has not been initiated into the al-
phabet of heavenly things. It needs spiritual senses and
instincts to comprehend it. But almost every child of
God has at one time or other, been touched with some
thrill from the Spirit of glor3^ Perhaps it lighted up
the closet of prayer until it became the gate of heaven.
Perhaps it touched your sorrow Avith a light that trans-
figured the night into morning and the shadow of death
into the light of heaven. Perhaps it came when Jesus
healed your body and gave you the first fruits of the
resurrection. Perhaps it comes to you sometimes when
you sit and think of the cross behind you, the Christ
within you, and the home before you, and you scarcely
know whether you are in the body or out of the body.
But the blessed Spirit is ready to bring it to us just
where we need it most.

It would seem as if its congenial sphere was the place
of suffering, persecution and reproach. It would seem
as if, when earth's barometer goes down to the lowest
point, heaven's sunburst always comes most brightly
through the tempest clouds. It is "in tribulation" "we
glory"; it is "when reproached in the name of Christ"
that "the Spirit of glory and of God rests upon us."

But let us be very sure that we are reproached "in
the name of Christ," as the passage should be translated.
Tiet us not suffer, as the passage suggests, because
of our own foolishness or sin, as transgressors or busy

for

THE EPISTLES OF PI 7ER

233

bodies. But, standing in the name of Christ, living in
His high and holy character, representing Him and re-
sembling Him, let lis not fear if trials come, and storms
of sorrow fall. The cloud will be but His background
for the rainbow. The pillar that loomed by day as an
enshrouding mist, will glow by night like a celestial fire;

"And sorrow touched by God grows bright
With more tliau rapture 's ray,
As darkness shows us worlds of liglit
Wo never saw by duy. "

(<;

CHAPTER XXIV.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN THE FIRST EPISTLE

OF JOHN.

ONE is impressed with the limited number of direct
references to the Holy Ghost in the great epistle
of the beloved disciple in comparison with his
references to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ.

There are only four or five passages in all this long
letter, in which the blessed Paraclete is mentioned by
name, but Christ is referred to over and over again. One
is led to inquire why this should be. And perhaps the
answer suggests a deep and beautiful truth. John was
so saturated with the Holy Ghost that, like the Holy
Ghost, who never witnesses of Himself, He was con-
stantly thinking of Jesus, and witnessing of Him. The
very fact that he was not directly referring to the Spirit
was the best evidence that he was in the Spirit, and that
he was occupied, as the Holy Ghost always is, in think-
ing of Jesus and glorifying the Son of God.

And so, beloved, as we are most full of the Holy Ghost
we shall be most occupied with Jesus; so that we will
not think so much of our owti experience or of the
glorious Friend within us as the face of Jesus and the
depths of His heart of love.

There are, however, several very important references
to the Holy Spirit in this epistle. Before we take them
up in detail, it is necessary that we should explain our
silence respecting one of the verses in this epistle which
bears most direct witness to the Holy Ghost.

It is the well known passage, I John v. 7: "There
are three that bear record in heaven, the Father, the
Word, and the Holy Ghost; and these three are one."
This verse which contains so direct and theological a
testimony to the doctrine of the Trinity is undoubtedly

234

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

235

TLE

E direct

epistle

ith his

lis long
ned by
Q. One
aps the
hn was
e Holy
as con-
1. The
3 Spirit
nd that
think-

Ghost
ve will
of the
nd the

rences
e them
lin our
which

There
3r, the

one.

jical a
btedly

spurious. It is not found in any of the early manu-
scripts, and by the consent of the highest scholars of our
age it ha.s been omitted from the Revised Version, and
was undoubtedly added by some transcriber, who had
more zeal for theolog}' tlian discernment of the mind
of the Spirit and the order of thought in this chapter.
The verse is quite irrelevant in the place where it is
introduced, and it is by no means necessary to prove
the divinity, either of the Son or of the Holy Ghost.

TECE HOLY GHOST AS THE DIVINE ANOINTING.

(('

'But ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye
know all things. But the anointing which ye have re-
ceived of Him abideth in you, and ye need not that any
man teach you ; but as the same anointing teacheth you
of all things, and is truth and is no lie, and even as it
hath taught you, ye shall abide in Him." I John 2:
20, 27.

We have previously referred to the symbol of oil, and
the figure of anointing, with reference to the Holy Spirit.
The idea of this passage is substantially the same as in
the passages formerly referred to. The word is a little
different. It is not so much the anointing as the unc-
tion, the chrism which is here mentioned.

We need not remind our readers that this word
unction or anointing is the same word from which the
Christ comes, so that ''anointed one" just means Christ
one. We read in the previous verses of the anti-Christ
and of the many anti-Christs who shall come. In con-
trast with these are the Christ ones. The Holy Ghost
is raising up Christ men. The word Christian is derived
from this root, but it is not entirely satisfactory. A
Christian is one that is somehow connected with Christ,
but a Christ one is one that is united with Christ and

236

POWER FROM ON HIGH

represents Him, being, in fact, a second edition of Him,
and representing the very life of Christ among men.

Now this was the great mission of the Holy Ghost —
to set apart the Christ, and make Him the great pattern
for all future men. Having accomplished this work in
the glorification of Jesus, He is now reproducing the
Christ, in the Christ ones, and calling and training the
disciples of Jesus to represent the Master and repeat
His life through the Christian dispensation.

We have already called attention to the use of anoint-
ing in setting apart prophets, priests, and kings, and to
the special significance of the name of Christ in relation
to His threefold office as our Prophet, Priest, and King.
In like manner we are anointed to be prophets, priests,
and kings of the Church of God, to be God's witnesses
to men of His will and work, to be God 's intercessors for
men, and to be God's kingly ones, victorious over self
and sin, and waiting to share with our blessed Head the
kingdom of the millennial age.

Now the Holy Ghost calls us to this high ministry
and fits us for it. The anointing here spoken of is de-
scribed as a divine gift, **Ye have an anointing." The
verb here is quite emphatic. It means we have received
a special gift, and we know we have received it. Be-
loved, have we received the divine anointinof, the Holy
Ghost?

His work is here referred to especially in two aspects ;
as a Teacher, and as a Keeper. As our Teacher He
brings to us the mind of God through the Holy Scrip-
tures. The language here used does not imply that we
are inspired as the apostles and prophets of the Lord, to
know the will of God apart from the Holy Scriptures.
It does not mean that we are not to receive the message
of God from human lips; but it does mean we are not
to receive any message as the word of man, but, even
when we are taught by the ministers of Christ, we are
to receive them as the messengers of God, to compare

■ !

^ f

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

237

of Him,
men.
Ghost—
; pattern
work in
eing the
aing the
I repeat

: anoint-
i, and to
relation
id King,
priests,
witnesses
ssors for
iver self
lead the

ninistry
)f is de-
The
received
it. Be-
16 Holy

aspects ;

her He
Scrip-

that we
ord, to

iptures.

message

are not
t, even
we are

ompare

their word with Cod's Holy Word, and only to receive
it as it is th(! voice of God, speaking to our conscience
in the Holy Ghost.

But this anointing not only teaches us, but keeps us
abiding in Him. Tlit3 great object of this blessed presence
in our hearts is to unite us to Christ, and to keep us ever
dependent upon Him and close to Him, so that **when
He shall appear we may have confidence and not be
ashamed before Him at His coming." So let us receive
Him; so let us abide in Him; so let us represent our
blessed Lord. And in the age of anti-Christ let us be
not only Christians but Christ ones, standing for our
Lord on earth as He ever stands for us in heaven.

THE INDWELLING SPIRIT.

''And hereby we know that He abideth in us, by the
Spirit which He hath given to us. " I John 3 : 24.
"Hereby know we that we dwell in Him, and He in us,
because He hath given us of His Spirit." 1 John 4: 13.

It it not so much, however, the indwelling of the
Spirit that is here referred to, as the indwelling of
Christ through the Spirit. The object of the Holy
Ghost is to reveal and glorify Jesus and make Him per-
sonal and real in the life of the believer.

This is not a matter of faith, but it is a matter of
knowledge. **We know that He abideth in us." It is
real to our consciousness, it is satisfying to our hearts.
Christ is to us a personal presence, claims our affec-
tion, and satisfies all our need, while the Holy Ghost
just ministers Him to us, and holds us in abiding com-
munion with Him as the source and substance of all our
life for spirit, soul and body.

We shall never rightly understand the Holy Ghost so
long as we terminate our thought upon Him The Scrip-

238

POWER FROM ON HIGH

tures always lead us on beyond every subjective experi-
ence to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ Himself.

III.

COUNTERFEIT SPIRITS.

"Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits,
whether they be oi God, because that many false spirits
have <^(mo forth into the world." I John 4:1. The
great ambition of the devil is to counterfeit the Holy
Ghost. He has always had many counterfeits and many
anti-Christs, but as the age draws to a close "the spirits
of wickedness in heavenly places" will grow thicker and
"the wiles of the devil" will become more subtle and
deceiving.

Already we can discover the beginning of that age of
Satanic delusion which is to close the present dispensa-
tion and gather the hosts of evil to "the great battle
of the Lord God Almighty." Often he comes in the
disguise of good and as an angel of light, and God has
warned us to be watchful and to "be not deceived."

The Apostle John gives us the supreme test, and that
is the witness these spirits bear to the Lord Jesus Christ.
When any spiritual influence terminates upon itself and
does not directly lead us forward to the Lord Jesus
Christ and to glorify and vivify Him, we have good
reason to be doubtful of it. Any spiritual experience
that rests chiefly in the experience and in its delightful-
ness or significance, is very apt to prove another spirit.
The Holy Ghost always witncsseth to Christ.

This passage gives us a still more discriminating
touchstone by which w^e may detect some of the spirits
that have gone abroad in our ow^n day. "Every spirit
that confesseth not that Jesus Christ is come in the flesh
is not of God ; but this is that Spirit of anti-Christ of
which we have heard that it should come," and which
even in John's day was in the world.

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

239

experi-
mself.

spirits,
3 spirits
1. Tlie
le Holy
id many
e spirits
iker and
)tle and

t age of
ispensa-
|t battle
B in the
jod has
ed."
nd that

Christ.

elf and
Jesus
;e good
)ericnce
i-htful-
spirit.

inating
spirits
• spirit
le flesh
irist of
which

This is the spirit that denies the material world and the
actual physical incarnation of the Lord Jesus Christ,
making the story of creation a beautiful allegory and
the account of Christ a fiction, discarding the doctrine
of sin and atonement and the actual Tucifixion of Christ
as a substitute for sinful men.

It is not necessary to name the plausible and wide-
spread error which is abroad today, which tells us that
there is no material world, that there is no material body,
that there is, therefore, no physical basis for disease,
that everything is ideas and mind, and that all we have
to do is to think rightly, and everything else will be
right, for pain is only an idea in the mind and if we
refuse to believe in the pain it will cease to exist, and
healing will follow as a matter of course, 'this is

^her Christianity nor science, but it is the false spirit
^h John predicted eighteen centuries ago, and one
of the harbingers of the final anti-Christ.

But there are many more abroad. There is real danger
among those who know the Holy Ghost, that they should
become absorbed or lifted up in their own self-conscious-
ness, and thus be separated from Christ and the truth.
Satan is trying to get us on a pinnacle of the temple that
he may cast us down into some wild fanaticism or pre-
sumption. If we are God's true children he cannot
kill us, but he can break our backs and disable us for the
battle of the Lord. He can mar our testimonj'', cause our
good to be evil spoken of, and make us so extravagant
and ridiculous that we shall not commend our testimony
to thoughtful and well-balanced men. May God give
to us **the spirit of a sound mind," as well as of "love

and power."

rv.

THE SPIRIT OF VICTORY.

((-

'Ye are of God, little children, and have overcome
them; because greater is He that is in you than he
that is in the world. ' ' I John 4 : 4.

240

POWER FROM ON HIGH

The secret of victory is to recognize the Conqueror
within and the adversary as a conquered foe. John does
not say we shall overcome, but he says we have over-
come them, because He that is in us is "greater than he
that is in the world." "He that is in us" has already
conquered, and He leads us on to His own victory. We
are to meet the enemy as already subdued and, like
Joshua and the hosts of Israel, to put our feet upon the
necks of the giants and look into their faces with de-
jSance. Satan has power only when he can make us
dread him. He flees before the victorious faith and holy
confidence.

At the same time, John fully recognizes the power of
him that is in the world. "We are of God," he says
later, "and the world lieth in the wicked one." It
lijs in his arms, a helpless captive, taken alive at his
will. He is the power that controls it, and, although it
may loolc sometimes like a very cultivated, beautiful
and civilized world, yet the principle that lies at the root
of all its progress and power is human selfishness and,
therefore, godlessness. Christ is not yet the sovereign
of all the world. He is the soveieign of His people's
hearts; He is in them; Satan is in the vv'orld. But the
heart in which He dwells is alreadj' victor, and goes
forth to every conflict with the battle cry, "Thanks be
unto God who giveth us the victory through our Lord
Jesus Christ."

THE WITNESSING SPIRIT.

This is the last aspect under which the Holy Ghost is
presented in the Epistle of John. "It is the Spirit that,
beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth. And there
are three that bear witness in earth, the Spirit and the
water and the blood, and these three agree in one,*'
I John 5:6, 8. The three witnesses who agree upon
earth are the Holy Ghost, the water of baptism, and the

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

241

nqueror
»hn does
ve over-
than he
already
ry. "We
Qd, like
pon the
vith de-
aake us
md holy

lower of
he says
le." It
e at his
lough it
teautiful
the root
ess and,
>vereign
people 's
But the
nd goes
anks be
iir Lord

■^host is
rit that
id there
and the
a one,
50 upon
and the

»»

blood of Jesus Christ which we commemorate in the
Holy Supper, and wliicli we recognize as the atonement
for our sins, and the i)urchase of our redemption. It is
of the witness of the Spirit that we are called, however,
to speak liere.

1. The Holy Ghost witnesses first through the Word,
and this is John's argument in this passage. He says,
"If we receive the witness of men, the witness of God
is greater: for this is the witness of God which He
hath testified of His Son ; for God hath given us eternal
life, and this life is in His Son." Then he goes on to
say that if we receive not this witness "we make Him a
liar, because we believe not the witness which God hath
given of His Son." This is the message of the Gospel.
It is the Holy Ghost that speaketh. It comes to men as
God's witness and He declares to the sinner that God
hath given to us eternal life, that this life is in His
Son, and that if we accept His Son, we have life. Now
our duty is to believe this witness, and to believe it im-
plicitly and immediately; the moment we do believe it,
it becomes true for us, and we are included in the objects
of this great salvation. This is where faith must com-
mence, hy taking God's witness and believing His Word
respecting our own salvation through Jesus Christ.

2. The Holy Ghost next witnesses in our hearts that
that which we have believed is true for us and real to
us. "He that believeth on the Son cf God hath the
witness in Himself." The moment we believe the Word,
that Word becomes effectual in our hearts and brings
us into the actual experience of peace and salvation. The
Word comes first and then the inward witness. We con-
not receive the Holy Ghost 's assurance of our acceptance
of salvation, until we believe on the simple Word of God
that we are accepted and saved, simply because we have
come to Christ as He commanded us, and we are not cast
out as He promiied. Then the soul enters into a real
and conscious peace and a delightful assurance, based

242

POWER FROM ON HIGH

:\ ■;

upon God's Word and repeated by God's Spirit to the
individual conscience, that we are the children of God.

3. The Holy Ghost witnesses to our deeper union with
Christ and our divine Sonship. When the disciple fully
yields himself to God, he is sealed with the Holy Ghost;
the Spirit of Sonship is shed abroad in the heart, and
Jesus Christ is made personal and real to the soul. The
Spirit of God testifies to our union with Him. And so
Christ has said, "At that day"; namely, when the
Spirit of God comes, "ye shall know that I am in the
Father, He in me, and I in you. ' ' This is the sealing of
the Spirit. This is the wedding-ring forever authenticat-
ing the marriage of the soul to itb Beloved.

4. The Holy Ghost witnesses to God's acceptance of
our prayers. This follows in I John 5 : 14, 15, * * And
this is the confidence we have in Him, that, if we ask
anything accordinc to His will. He heareth us. And
if we know that He hear us, whatsoever we ask, we
know that we have the petitions that we desired of
Him."

5. The Holy Ghost witnesses to our service, and gives
us the seal of power and usefulness. ' ' God also bearing
witness unto them with signs and wonders, and divers
miracles, and gifts of the Holy Ghost, according to
His own will, ' ' Hebrews 2 : 4. We go forth to the serv-
ice of Christ and the Holy Ghost bears witness to our
service. He gives us power for service; He gives us
souls for our seals; He makes our words effectual, and
He makes our fruit "remain" for His glory and our
own eternal joy.

Every servant of Christ who is baptized with the Holy
Ghost has a right to expect the witness of the Spirit to
his work. Just as of old, "they went forth and preached
everywhere, the Lord working with them and confirm-
ing the Word with signs following," so still we have a
right to expect "the signs following." Sometimes they
are spiritual signs, in the conversion of souls ; sometimes

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

243

gives
)caring
divers
ng to
serv-
our
ves us
and
(1 our

3 Holy
irit to
cached
nfirm-
lave a
! they
itiraes

the}'' are physical signs, in the healing of the body ;
sometimes they are circumstances of marvelous import,
in answered prayi3r, difficulties removed, signal provi-
dences of God, and the manifesting of God's approval
and blessing. So God has set His seal upon the mis-
sionary work of our day. So God has set His seal upoii
the testimony of those who have dared to claim the full-
ness of the gospel, and enter into all the riches of their
inheritance. So God will set Ilis seal upon every life
that is fuUj" consecrated and fully yielded to Ilim.

Beloved, claim ^he witness, expect the power; do not
be satisfied without His seal to your testimony.

6. 'T'he Holy Ghost not only witnesses to us, but wit-
nesses through us. The special object of His coming
upon us is that we shall be witnesses unto Jesus. '*Ye
shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon
you, and ye shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jeru-
salem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria, and unto he
uttermost parts of the earth."

This is the great ministry of the Spirit, t 'itness
through the disciples of Christ to the Churcii, u the
world, and especially to the heathen.

Beloved, have we, as we read these words, the con-
sciousness that we have been true to our testimony?
Have we stood for Christ in our home ? Have we spoken
to all in our household fearlessly and fully the witness
of Christ Jesus? Can we say that wc are "pure from
the blood of all men?" Are we known in our business
and social circles as uncompromising friends of Christ?
Have we dared to speak in the Church of Christ in
every proper and becoming way the message and the
witness of the Master? Is our position known? Are we
out and out for Christ, and is it our joy and privilege,
as opportunity is afforded, to bear witness to the un-
saved, of IHm who is able to save to the uttermost?
And shall we some day find waiting for us a chorus of
loving hearts that shall be our eternal crown and seal?

( .

244

POWER FROM ON HIGH

•i i

A few weeks ago, the writer had the great joy of stand-
ing in a puli>it before a hirge eongregation, and hearing
th(! pastor of tliat great Church rise and tell his people
that more than twenty years before, he had been led to
Christ by the one who now stood by his side, although
this fact had never yet been known to this one, whom
he introduced to his people as, under God, the instru-
ment of his salvation and usefulness. As our heart
thrilled with humble gratitude to God for such a privi-
lege, we seemed to see the vision of a time when, in
yonder heavenly world, one and another might come for-
ward and greet us and lead us to the throne and tell
the blessed Master that He had used us to bring them to
Cod, and we for the first time should meet and know
the children from many lands that the Holy Ghost had
made seals of our ministry. beloved, will anyone
there be waiting and watching for thee? Have you some
surprises in store at God's right hand when you shall
'*rest from your labors and your works shall follow
you?"

Let us receive the fullness of the Spirit first, and then
we cannot but give Him, Let Him witness in you and
to you, and then He will surely witness through you.
Oh, let us be so fully given to Him, that He can possess
us and control us, and then can use us to reproduce in
others blessing which we have received!

In a frontier Indian mission station, a little girl, one
day, came to her teacher and said, ** Teacher, will you
let me do something?" The teacher asked her what she
wanted to do. She said, "I want to give myself away
to 3^ou, because I love you," and kneeling down by her
side and putting her two hands in the teacher's, she
said, "I give myself to you, because I love you." And
the little heart just swelled with gladness, as she threw
herself into the arms of her teacher, so glad to be owned
and loved.

A few days afterwards she asked the teacher how she

THE FIRST EPISTLE OF JOHN

245

stand-
learing
people

led to
though

whom
instru-
• heart
I privi-
[len, in
me f or-
nd tell
:hem to
i know
ost had
anyone
)U some
u shall

id then
ou and
h you.
possess
iuce in

irl, one

dll you

lat she

away

by her

she

And

threw

owned

»»,

could consecrate herself to Christ. She had heard about
it, but didn't understand it. The teacher said, ** Dar-
ling, just give yourself away to Jesus as you gave your-
self away to me."

A light came into the little face, and kneeling down
again beside her teacher, she clasped her hands, and
looking up with holy reverence, said, ** Jesus I give
myself to You, because I love You ; ' ' and then the Holy
Ghost came down and she ^new she was sealed His own
forever.

She had a very wicked father in a distant station, a
cruel, brutal man who refused to listen to the gospel.
She began to pray for him, and one day she asked the
teacher if anything could be done to save him. "Why,"
said her teacher, "write to him and tell him that you
have given yourself away to Jesus, and ask him to do the
same." The little letter was sent with many tears and
prayers. Days and weeks passed by, but nothing seemed
to come out of it. She did not know but he was fiercely
angry and Avaiting for some terrible revenge. But one
day he appeared at the mission. He had walked fifty
miles, and was tired and broken, and tears were run-
ning down his face. He asked for the teacher, and then
he requested to be baptized. He said he had come "to
give himself away to Jesus," and amid the rejoicings of
his little one, and all at the station, the rough, brutal,
wicked man gave himself to Jesus and became a humble
follower and fearless witness of the Saviour he had
hated and despised.

Beloved, shall we let Him have us, and then shall we
let Him use us likewise ?

low she

CHAPTER XXV.

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JUDE.

"These be they who separate themselves, sensual, having not
the Spirit. But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most
holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love
of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto
eternal life."— Judo 19-21.

THE Epistle of Jude, like the Apocalypse which fol-
lows it, is written for the last times. It draws a
striking contrast between the first and last chapters
of human history, especially in the forms of wickedness
which prevailed at the beginning and will return at the
end, and it records a prophecy of the Lord's return
uttered by Enoch in antediluvian times, and soon to be
fulfilled in the times in which it is our lot to live.

In the present passage, Jude describes two classes of
men and draws a strong contrast between them. They
resemble each other, but the one is the counterfeit of
the other. The forms of wickedness that are to be most
dangerous in the times of the end, are not those marked
by open defiance of God, but those that shall be cloaked
'under a form of godliness without the power, and be
Satan's counterfeits of the Holy Ghost. Let us look
first at the counterfeits, and then at the genuine people,

Satan's counterfeit people.

<<i

These are they who separate themselves, sensual,
having not the Spirit," Jude 19. This is an unhappy
translation. The word sensual, as used in current
speech, means immoral, gross, licentious and openly
wicked. The Greek word does not convey this im-
pression. The word sensuous would be nearer to it, but

246

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JUDE

247

even this is too strong. The word natural is better, and
it is so translated in the second chapter of First Cor-
inthians — "the natural man." The only way to convey
the true conception is to anglicize the Greek word, and
call it * 'psychical." It is derived from the Greek word
psyche, meaning the soul. It describes the intermedi-
ate part of human nature. Man, according to the phil-
osophy of the Bible, is a trinity like his Creator, con-
sisting of spirit, soul, and body. The spirit is the higher
nature, that which knows God, distinguishes between
right and wrong, and is capable of religious affections,
emotions, and exercises. The physical is the other ex-
treme. It is the material organism indwelt by the soul
and spirit, and the instrument of its desires, purposes,
and operations. Intermediate between these two is the
soul, the natural mind, the seat of the affections, the
understanding, the tastes, that which loves and hates,
that which thinks, that which can be cultivated, and
which has at once its lower passions and its finer tastes.
Tlic psychical man is the man that is controlled by this
department of his being.

There are three conditions in which we may live.
First, we may be controlled by our lower nature, our
animal existence, our body and its gross appetites.. This
is pure sensuality. Secondly, we may be controlled by
our tastes, by our intelligence, by our affections and
passions, by our psychical nature. Thirdly, we may be
controlled by our spiritual nature.

The psychical man is the man that is controlled by his
natural mind, whether its tendencies be high or low. He
is the man born of his mother, descended from Adam,
inheriting a fallen human nature, and acting entirely
from its promptings. He may be a very refined man, a
very intellectual man, a very intelligent man, a very
affectionate man, a man full of domestic virtues and
patriotic fire, but he is a natural man.

Now all these three departments of our nature arc

^1.

248

POWER FROM ON HIGH

i >!

fallen and under the curse. Our body is subject to
disease and death. Our soul has become self -centered
and has wound about itself and its own gratification, as
a watch spring around its center. And even our spirit
is fallen; the conscience is deranged; the will is en-
feebled and wrongly directed, and our highest aspira-
tions and intuitions are under the influence of wicked
spirits and unholy motives.

It is not enough for us to subject each or all the de-
partments of our nature to any one of them, even to
the spirit, because our natural spirit is fallen, too. Some
people think that all that is necessary is to crucify the
body, to put it into a cage, feed it on herbs and roots,
deny it every gratification, and sometime it may lose
its evil propensities. This has been proved to be a
monstrous failure. The moment the restraint has been
removed, it has sprung back to all its former tendencies.
You may crush it, but you cannot destroy its evil trend.

Some again tell us that all we need is to exterminate
the soul, to crucify our human passions, our earthly
affections, our natural tastes and desires, and become
cold, abstracted, and spiritual. Well, the devil is a
spirit, but he is the most wicked of spirits. The monk
in his cell, shut off from every earthly thought, desire,
and affection, may be the incarnation of wickedness,
Jesuitism, cruelty and unholy ambition.

God's remedy is to yield up the whole man — spirit,
soul, and body to God, hand it over to death, and then
receive a new creation, a converted body, a regenerated
soul, a new spirit in the glorious work of a complete
conversion. But even this is not enough; for even when
converted, we will, if left to ourselves, relapse again,
and therefore we need not only a new heart and a new
spirit, but the Holy Spirit to enter and keep the new
man, to garrison the heart and mind, to hold the citadel,
to dwell and walk within us, and ''cause us to keep His
statutes. ' '

m^^

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JUDE

249

Now, the apostle says of these men that they have not
the Spirit. They have a substitute for it, and it is their
own spirit, or rather their own soul, their carnal mind,
their human wisdom, their cultivated nature. They are
psychical men.

Well, tlie generation has not passed away, the world
is full of them still. "What is Theosophy? Wliat is
Christian Science ? What is much of our modern preach-
ing? What is the religion of culture? It can weep
under the pathos ana eloquence of the preacher; it
can even preach under the impulse of impassioned elo-
quence until the people weep, but both preacher and
people may be but psychical men after all. Perhaps
they weep today in the church, and will weep tomorrow
in the theatre. When the French were shedding streams
of human blood in the terrible revolution of a hundred
years ago, they were spending their evenings in the
theatres of Paris shedding floods of tears over senti-
mental plays. There is a great deal of counterfeit feel-
ing even in modern religion.

The sublime oratorio may lift your soul to raptures
of delight; the perfect harmonies of the classic hymn
may charm your cultivated taste, but this is not religious
feeling. Nay, you may even bow beneath the mag-
nificent arch of yonder Cathedral, and in its dim re-
ligious light 5''ou may feel a kind of awe that you think
is worship, but it is pure sentiment, and you can go out
from all this to live for self and sin. It is mere psychol-
ogy. It is only the kindling of the human mind. Thus
heathen idolatry rouses its votaries to intensest feeling
and overpowering enthusiasm.

Thus poetry, art, music and eloquence in every age
have charmed and thrilled the human mind. But it is
only human feeling after all, and has nothing to do with
the work of the Holy Ghost. The power of the Spirit
reaches the conscience and convicts it of sin, enlightens
the understanding, and reveals the differencecs between

250

POWER FROM ON HIGH

right and wrong, and the beauty and authority of the
will of God. It touches the will, and crucifies it to its own
selfish choice, and then conforms it in glad surrender to
the will of God ; it controls the whole life in simple and
practical obedience and service. There may be far less
sentiment and feeling, "but by their fruits ye shall
know them."

We have to guard against the counterfeit, and not
mistake the psychical for the spiritual, for the ** natural
man (the psychical man) receivcth not the things of the
Spirit of God, neither can he know them, for they are
spiritually discerned."

The natural man, of "flesh and blood, cannot inherit
the Kingdom of God." The Adam race cannot enter the
eternal home, but through death to life we must pass
into the resurrection of Christ, and through His spiritual
life, born of the Second Man, the Lord from heaven, we
share His eternal inheritance.

"He that saveth his life [psyche] shall lose it,
but he that loseth his life for My sake sliall keep it
unto life eternal. ' ' We must lay down this self -life even
in its sweetest and highest forms. Shall we lose it for-
ever? Nay, we shall receive it back in resurrection
power, and in the ages to come shall have a grander
culture and a nobler satisfaction forever. Some day
God will clothe us with the rainbows and cause us to
shine as the sun in the Kingdom of our Father, and He
will give us a mind, a capacity, a test to appreciate and
enjoy it, too, and yet hold it only for His glory.

THE SPIRITUAL MAN.

<«'

'But ye, beloved, building up yourselves on your most
holy faith, praying in the Holy Ght ,t, keep yourselves
in the love of God, looking for the mercy of our Lord
Jesus Christ unto eternal life."

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JUDE

251

1. The spiritual man is a man of faith. Faith is tlio
foundation of the Christian life and character, and on
this foundation we build up ourselves. We can grow
no wider than the foundation. We can advance only
"according to our faith." We are to "add to our faith
courage, knowledge, temperance, godliness, brotherly
kindness and charity," and all the graces of Christian
life. They are to be taken by faith and, step by step,
we are to go forward by successively receiving from the
fullness of Christ, "from faith to faith," from grace
to grace, from day to day.

2. The spiritual man is a man of love. "Keep your-
selves in the love of God." While faith is the founda-
tion, love is the element in which we grow and live, and
so Christ has said, "Abide in My love." It is the con-
genial atmosphere of our life and growth. Love is life,
and only as we keep ourselves in the love of God and
dwell in the cloudless communion of His ''"Uowship,
can we grow.

3. The spiritual man is a man of hope. He has a
glorious outlook ; he has a heavenly horizon ; he has an
infinite vision. From day to day the vision grows larger,
and the inspiration grander. There can be nothing
glorious without hope, and the higher the hope the
mightier its inspiration.

Ours is a glorious hope, an infinite hope, looking out
on the eternal years and reaching up to the very heights
of God. And as we live under the influence of this
blessed hope, we are raised to a majesty and grandeur
that dwarfs all petty earthly things and gives sublimity
to our life and character.

4. The spiritual man is sustained and upheld in his
life of faith, and love, and hope, by the prayer of the
Holy Ghost. This is the power that impels his life;
this is the inspiration that upholds his faith, and hope,
and love; this is the force that continually supplies
the strength of his whole being.

^i t\

or.o

POWEli FKOM ON HIGH

The Holy Ghost has come to umlertakn the whole care
and responsibility of the consecrated life. He takes
His place there as tlie Pilot upon the deck to bring the
Vi!ssel into the harbor; as the Contractor for that build-
ing, providing all necessary supplies for its erection and
completion; as the Teacher and Trahier of some im-
portant school, undertaking the wliole discipline of that
young and precious life; as the JMother, undertaking
the care and oversight of her precious child; as the
Commander-in-Chief for some great cami)aign, with his
eye and hand on every detail of the conflict — so the
Holy Ghost sits down as the Author and Finisher of our
spiritual life. He is looking forward every moment
to the glorious consummation. He has understood, as
we cannot understand, God's glorious plan for us. He
sees us every moment as we shall ])• wlien we shine; forth
like the sun in the kingdom of our Father. He com-
prehends the perils that surround us, the defects witliin
us, the temptations without us, and all the possibilities
and disabilities of our life, and He has determined to
carry us through in spite of all to the glorious consum
mation.

Now He does this through the ministry oi prayer. He
takes us into partnership with Him in the work of our
own development and full salvation. He does not work
upon us as the potter upon the plastic clay, but He works
with us and requires our co-operation with Ilim; so, as
each need arises. He gently lays it upon our own heart;
He whisi)ers it to us as a breath of prayer, or a burden of
desire, and He leads us out to present it to the Father
in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, step by
step, moment by moment. He prays out in us every
need of our own life, every need ( " our work, every
need of the other lives that He lays upon us, and the
Father sends the answer in the name of the Lord Jesus
Christ.

There is not a moment in the believer's life when the

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JTJDE

253

works
so, as
leart ;

den of
ather

cp by
every
every
d the
Jesus

)n the

Holy Ghost is not vipjilantly, tenderly watching over
him, and jjjuardini,' liini with more than a mother's care.
And it' we were only more sensitive to understand, more
quick to hear, more ready to respond, our livcis would
be one ceaseless l)reath of prayer, and everything would
come to us through the blessed channel of the Spirit's
intercession. Then truly we would "pray without ceas-
ing," and "in everything give thanks," and "wait upon
our God continually." Then we should never miss a
single hint, suggestion, or ministry of prayer; but we
would be in perfect touch with our blessed Guide and
have the continual consciousness of His approval, and the
sense of meeting His highest, fullest thought.

This, beloved, is the secret of many an experience
which you have not perhaps understood. This is the
explanation of that depression that sometimes falls upon
your Iieart and brings the tears gushing to your eyes,
or makes you bury your head in your hands and pour
out a supplication which you cannot comprehend. He
sees some need, some peril, which you cannot compre-
hend, and He is praying against some evil which some
day you will know. When you are about to take a
false step, to enter upon a wrong path, to miss some
important call, or to be deceived by some subtle wile of
Satan, He is there to pray the prayer within you which
may be only a groan that cannot be uttered; but if
you are wise you will yield to it, and you will answer
to His touch. Often it is a prayer for some other life,
some soul in peril, somebody in dire distress or disease,
some cause that needs assistance, some wrong that needs
resistance, some need of the Master's heart which He is
letting you share with Him.

Oh, to be more sensitive to His voice, and more obedi-
ent to the prayer of the Holy Ghost! Then we should
miss nothing of His highest will, and our life would be
all sunshine in the presence of the Lord.

Now, what is the prayer of the Holy Ghost!

254

POWEE FROM ON HIGH

1. The Holy Ghost lays upon us the desire and b"'.irden
of prayer. Sometimes we understand it; sometimes we
do not. Sometimes it is a joyful consciousness of s[)irit-
ual elevation ; sometimes it is an unutterable and inar-
ticulate groan. Sometimes it is a definite sense of need,
a consciousness of personal defect, or a heart-searching
sense of our own emptiness and failure. It is a blessed
thing to ''hunger and thirst after righteousness," The
sense of need is the shadow side of the blessing. Let
us thank the H0I3' Ghost when He gives us the burden of
prayer.

It was God's highest commendation of Daniel of old
that he was "a Man of Desires," and it is the promise of
God that if we deliglit in the Lord ''He will give to us
the desires of our herrt.'"'

2. The Holy Ghost enables us to pray according to
the will of God. He give;;:, as direction in our prayers.
He saves us from wasting our breath and asking at
random. He illuninates our mind to understand the
Scriptural foundations of prayer, and makes us under-
stand the things that are agreeable to the will of God,
enabling us to ask with confidence that it is His will, and
that we have the petitions that w<} desired of Him.

Mr, George Muller often says that it takes him much
longer to decide vvhat he is to pray about, than to obtain
the answer to his prayer when he does present his
p'^tition.

3. The Holy Ghost gives us access into the presence
of God. He creates for us the atmosphere of prayer.
He gives us the fiense of the Father's presence. Ho
leads us to the door of mercj^ and steadies our hand as
we hold Out the sceptre of prayer, and reveals to us that
inner world of divine things which iionc but he tluit feels
it, knows.

4. The Holy Ghost enables us to praj^ in the name of
Jesus, He shows us our redemption rights through the
.Treat Ivlediator, nnd coming in His name we can ask

THE HOLY SPIRIT IN JUDE

255

(urden
[les we
si)irit-
l iiiar-
[' need,
rcliiug
jlessed
' The
;. Let
'den of

of old
iiise of
e to us

ling to
rayer-H.
:ing at
nd the
nndcr-
t' God,
11, and
n.

much

obtain

int his

'esence
prayer.
Ho
jmd as
lis that
tt feels

lime of
jh the
in ask

even as He, and humbly, yet confidently claim, * * Father,
I thanl^ Thee that Thou hast heard nie, and I know that
Thou hearest Me always."

5. The Holy Ghost enables us to pray in faith, "for
He that cometh unto God, must believe that He is, and
that He is the rewarder of those that diligently seek
Him."

He enables us when we pray to "believe that we re-
ceive the things that we ask," and to rest in the Master's
word, without anxiety or fear. He witnesses to the
heart the quiet assurance of acceptance and He sustains
us in the trial of our faith which follows, enabling us
still to trust and not be afraid.

6. The Holy Ghost enables us to pray the prayer of
love, as well as the prayer of faith. The Holy Ghost
leads us into the dignity and power of our holy priest-
hood, lajdng upon us the burdens of the Great High
Priest, and permitting us to be partakers of "that which
remaineth of the sufferings of Christ for His Body, the
Church. ' In this blessed ministry w^e are often made
conscious of the needs of others, and permitted to hold
up some suffering or tempted life in the hour of peril;
and we shall find some day that many a life was saved,
many a victory won, and many a blessing enjoyed
through this hallowed ministry that reaches those we
love by way of the throne, when we never could have
reached them directly.

When we become wholly emancipated from our own
selfish cares and worries, and fully at leisure for the
burdens of the Master, the Spirit is glad to lay upon us
the needs of the multitudes of God's people, and the
burdens of the whole Church and Kingdom of Christ,
80 that it is possible to have a ministry as wide as the
world, and as high as that of our great High Priest, be-
fore the Throne.

7. The Holy Ghost leads us into the spirit of com-
munion, so that wiien we have nothing to ask we are

256

POWER FROM ON HIGH

held in the blessed silence and wordless fellowship in
the bosom of God. This should become the very at-
mosphere of our being.

Finally, as we thus "pray in the Holy Ghost" we
shall be enabled to "build ourselves up on our most
holy faith," we shall "keep ourselves in the love of
God, ' ' and we shall ' ' look ' ' in heavenly vision * * for the
mercy of the Lord Jesus Christ unto eternal life."
And the benediction of this beautiful epistle shall be
fulfilled in our lives. "Now unto Him who is able
to keep you from stumbling, and to present you fault-
less before the presence of His glory with exceeding
joy, To the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and
majesty, dominion and power, both now and forever.
Amen."

ship in
ery at-

. >>

ist we
ir most
love of
'for the
L life."
jhall be
is able
11 fault-
:ceeding
)ry and
forever.

CHAPTER XXVI.
THE SEVENFOLD HOLY GHOST.

*'l was in the Spirit on the Lord's day." — Rev. 1: 10.

' * The seven Spirits which are before his throne. ' ' — Rev. 1 : 4.

"And before the throne seven lamps of fire, which ai-e the
seven Spirits of God." — Rev. 4: 5.

"Having seven horns and seven eyes, which are the seven
Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth. ' ' — Rev. 5 : 6.

THE book of Revelation is the last message of the
Holy Ghost to the Church of Christ. It was given
after the first generation of Christians had passed
away, and only John was left of all the immediate
followers of the Lord. Christ had been half a century
in heaven, and lie came back once more to visit the
Apostle at Patmos, and give the final unfolding of His
will to His followers of these last days of the dispen-
sation. It is peculiarly, tlierefore, the message of
Christ to us, and it is called in the Apocalypse itself,
the message of **the Spirit unto the churches."

In the passages that come before us now we have a
picture of the Holy Ghost Himself as He came to John
in this Apocalypse.

THE SEVENFOLD FULLNESS OF THE SPIRIT.

The seven Spirits which are before the throne cannot
mean any created spirit, for it would be blasphemy to
associate any lower beings than divine persons with the
Father and the Son in the ascription of glory and wor-
ship given to the Trinity in this passage.

It is evidently the Holy Ghost represented as a seven-
fold Spirit. Seven, tlie number of perfection, is used to
denote the perfect fullness of the divine Spirit in His
attributes and works. He is the Spirit of all power

257
17

258

POWER FROM ON HIGH

and wisdom, all life and love, all grace and fullness,
all that we can ever need for the fulfilling of life's
duties and the accomplishing of God's perfect will for
each of us.

We might stop to specify the seven great attributes
of the Holy Ghost, as the Spirit of Light, the Spirit
of Life, the Spirit of Holiness, the Spirit of Power, the
Spirit of Joy, the Spirit of Love and the Spirit of Hope j
but when we have named these seven glorious aspects
there are yet as many more that we might still name,
for, like the love of Jesus, the love and grace of the Holy
Ghost pass our knowledge.

Can you think of anything you need for your spiritual
life, your physical being, or your service for God and
man T You can fijid it in the Holy Ghost. Is there any
place where you have failed, or others have failed?
That is just the place that He is equal to with the grace
that never fails. * ' He hath given to us all things that
PERTAIN TO LIFE AND GODLINESS/' and "He is able to
make all grace abound unto us, so that we always, hav-
ing all sufficiency in all things, may abound unto every
good work."

Then the mention of the seven Spirits in connection
with the seven Churches would seem to suggest the
beautiful truth that there is a separate aspect of the
Holy Spirit for each separate Church. He is not the
same to all; He is direct and specific in His relation
to His Churches and to His people, and the whole of His
love and grace is given distinctively to each one. Just
as a fond mother with a dozen children gives her whole
heart to each of her children, so the Holy Ghost gives
Himself to each of us specifically, and you and I can
press up to the place where John lies upon the Re-
deemer's breast, and dare to call ourselves the "disciple
whom Jesus loved."

Beloved are we fully proving the sevenfold Holy
Ghost t

T
t

THE SEVENFOLD HOLY GHOST

259

Holy

THE FULLNESS OP THE SPIRIT OF LIGHT.

"Seven lamps of fire before the Throne. — Rev. 4:5,

This is a picture of the fullness of the Spirit of light.
It comes in the midst of a scene of grandeur and terror.
A door is opened in heaven, and John beholds the throne
of che eternal Jehovah, surrounded with the insignia
of majesty and the manifestations of God's avenging
wrath and power.

Judgment is about to begin upon a wicked world, and
the spirits of wickedness that have so long possessed it.
There are voices of thunder and lightnings of wrath
gleaming from the central throne, but in the midst ap-
pear these seven lampa of fire, shedding their benignant
light upon the lurid scene, and immediately all is trans-
formed. Before the throne is a sea of glass like unto
crystal, and the scene of judgment becomes changed to
one of peace. And then *'the Lamb in the midst of the
throne" appears, and the songs of the whole creation
arise to God and to the Lamb.

These seven lamps before the throne remind us of the
vision of Zechariah in the fourth chapter of His
prophecy, representing the Holy Ghost as the sevenfold
light of the Church, and the oil of that supplies the
ever-burning lamps. We have no other light but the
Holy Ghost, and His is perfect light, sevenfold eftul-
gence, shining upon every mystery, every perplexity,
and every step in life's pathway.

He gives to us the light of the Holy Scriptures, re-
vealing the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ for our sal-
vation, and the will of God for our conduct. He is
the light of life, giving guidance in our pathway, and
showing us how to walk through the tangled mazes of
life. He is the Light that searches and reveals our
heart, and then shows us the precious blood that cleanses,
and the promise suited for every time of need. He is

260

POWER FROM ON HIGH

the perfect Light that never deceives, that never ex-
aggerates, that never evades or hides the most painful
truth, that never changes, fails or leaves us in darkness.
And He is not only the Liglit, but He is also Peace
and warmth, He is "a burning," as well as '*a shining
Light." He gives life as well as light, power as well
as direttion, love as well as truth, and when we receive
His light we become also "burning and shining lights,"
and our lives will be living illustrations of the truths
that we profess and the principles that we hold.

THE HOLY SPIRIT AS THE SOURCE OF PERFECT SIGHT.

Having seven horns and seven eyes which are the
seven Spirits of God sent forth into all the earth." —
Rev. 5 : 6.

This is the most sublime vision of the Tjord Jesus
Christ in the whole book of Revelation. As the evangelist
stands looking into heaven, he beholds a scroll con
taining, it would secern, the purpose and the will of God
for the future ages, sealed. No man in earth or heaven
was able to open the scroll, or loose the seals. Suddenly
an angel turning to him, explained that the mystery was
about to be solved and that One had been found that
was able to loose the seals and open the scroll. It was
the Lion of the tribe of Judah, who had prevailed to
loose the seals ''and open the book."

As John stood looking for the Lion, lo! it was a
Lamb, bearing the crimson marks of suffering and death,
and yet, on closer inspection, wearing also the insignia
of infinite power and wisdom, for he had seven horns
and seven eyes, the types of perfect power and perfect
knowledge.

These seven eyes represent the seven Spirits of God,
that is the seven-fold Spirit of God, sent forth into all
the earth. We need more than light ; we need sight to

THE SEVENFOLD HOLY GHOST

261

see the light, the power of an inward illumination, the
creation and quickening of a new set of spiritual senses
that can take cognizance of the new spiritual realities
that the Holy Ghost reveals, and that can recognize the
person ;.nd the presence of the Lord Jesus, whom it is
the Spirit's great delight to make manifest. And so
the Holy Ghost is represented here as the eyes of Christ,
the eyes of God within us for our illumination.

This suggests the beautiful expression in one of the
Psalms, **I will guide thee with Mine eye." God gives
us His very eyes, and in His light enables us to see
all spiritual truth and all divine realities. Therefore,
it is quite significant that when our Lord Jesus Christ
had revealed Himself in the Gospel of John as the light
of the world. He immediately follows His beautiful
teaching b}'" healing a blind man, thus suggesting to
them that what they needed was vision, even more than
truth. And then He proceeded to tell them that He
had come into the world, ''that they which see might
be made blind, and they that were blind might see,"
and that their very confidence in their own wisdom was
the cause of their blindness and their inability to under-
stand His teaching.

This is what the Holy Ghost brings to us, the vision
of the Lord, power to see divine things as God sees
them. Not only does He give us the knowledge of th^
truth, but the realization of it. Not only does He reveal
to us the promises, but He enables us to appropriate
them. Not only does He show us the living bread and
the flowing water of life, but He opens our mouth to
drink, and gives us the taste to receive and know the
blessedness of these things. Not only does He speak to
US; He speaks through us, thinks in us, gives us divine
instincts and intuitions, and enables even our own
sanctified judgment to act under His influence and by
His suggestion, so simply and yet so perfectly that it
is not so much God speaking to us, as God speaking

Lii

262

POWER FROM ON HIGH

through US, and "working in us to will and to do of
His good pleasure."

These seven eyes, we will notice, are the eyes of the
Lamb as well as the eyes of the Holy Ghost. Perfect
unity between the Spirit and the Son is most strikingly
expressed in this strong and sublime figure. The seven
horns represent the power of the enthroned Christ and
the seven eyes represent the wisdom of the indwelling
Holy Ghost. Between these horns and eyes, between
the infinite power of Jesus and the infinite wisdom of
the Holy Ghost how can we ever fall or fail?

Let us ever recognize the Holy Ghost as the Spirit
of Jesus, and let us ever honor the slain Lamb, as we
honor the Holy Ghost.

Again, the eyes of the Lord are represented as *'sent
forth into all the earth." The Holy Ghost is operating
not from heaven, but from earth. The infinite wisdom
of God is present with His Church to direct, guard,
and energize all her work for Him, until the mystery
of redemption shall be accomplished, until the seals of
the scroll sliall all have been opened, and the vision
all fulfilled in the glorious return of the Lord Jesus
Christ as the Lion o^ the tribe of Judah.

IV.
IN THE SPIRIT ON THE LORD's DAY.

Having given us this account of the fullness of the
Holy Ghost, he next speaks of His relation to us. John
says, *'I was in the Spirit." Observe he does not say —
The Spirit was in me. This is also true but the other
expresses a greater truth. A Spirit so sevenfold, so
vast in His resources and attributes, is too large even for
the whole of the human heart, therefore, he becomes an
ocean of boundless fullness in which we are submerged
and in which we dwell. As we listen to the expression
it seems as if we vere standing beside a spring, and

THE SEVENFOLD HOLY GHOST

263

we drank from it until we were filled. Then it still kept
flowing on until it became a pool, and then an ocean, a
great and boundless flood into which we were plunged un-
til we could find neither fathoming line nor shore, but
laved and drank, until we were lost in the ocean of
His infinite fullness. This is the divine conception. The
Holy Ghost is the very element and atmosphere in which
we live, as the mote in the sunbeam, as the bird in the
air, as the fish in the sea, as our lungs in the ether
whose oxygen we inhale, and on whose breath we live.
Not only are we filled with the air by a single inspira-
tion, but the air is all around us still, and we can breathe
and breathe and breathe again, and yet again, until it
becomes the source of our ceaseless life, and only lim-
ited by our capacity to receive it.

It is our privilege not only to be thus in the Spirit
in seasons of holy rapture and special elevation, but
we may dwell there, abiding in Him and He in us, so
that it shall be true, indeed, in a spiritual sense *4n
Him we live and move and have our being." Then
will every day be "the Lord's day"; then will all life
be one ceaseless Sabbath, of holy rest and heavenly
fellowship, and every place be a sanctuary, every season
a Sabbath, and every moment a heaven of peace and joy
and love.

"Come blessed, holy, heavenly Dove,
Spirit of light and life and love,

Revive our souls we pray,
Come with the power of Pentecost,
Come as the sevenfold Holy Ghost

And fill our hearts today."

CHAPTER XXVII.

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES.

"lie that hath an oar, let him hear what the Spirit saith unto
the churches. ' ' — Rev. 3 : 22.

THE seven letters of the Lord Jesus to the seven
churches of Asia contain the last message of the
Holy Ghost to the Churches of the Christian age.
These messages were not addressed to the Apostolic
Church; for all the apostles except John were already
in heaven, and the first two generations of Christians
had passed away. In a very pecidiar sensr^ Miese epistles
represent the message of the risen Savioui id the Holy
Ghost to the Churches of the last days and our own
times. While they are the words of the Lord Jesus
Himself, they are also represented, in that perfect unity
which the Scriptures constantly recognize between the
Spirit and the Son, as the words which the Spirit
saith unto the Churches.

A short circuit through the western part of Asia
Minor would take one in the order of these epistles from
Ephesus to Smyrna, and thence to Pergamos, Thyatira,
and the other cities mentioned. It has been supposed
by many thoughtful interpreters, that these Churches
represent in chronological order tlie successive condi-
tions of Christianity from the time of John to the end
of the age. This is doubtless true to a certain extent.
Ephesus, strong in its orthodoxy, zeal and Christian
work, represented the Church immediately after the apos-
tolic age. Smyrna, persecuted and suffering, represented
the next epoch of persecution and martyrdom. Then
came the reaction of Pergamos, the prosperous and
worldly Church with its greater perils and temptations
representing the period of Constantine, when Christian-

264

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CinJRCHES 265

ity was the established religion of the State, and the
world had ceased to oppose and exchanged her perse-
cuting frown for the fawning smile of seductive pleas-
ure.

The Church at Thyatini represents the next stage, the
rise of spiritual corruption, and especially of the Romish
apostasy. This s naturally followed by Sard is, a condi-
tion of entire spiritual doath, which well represents the
darkness and death of the middle ages.

Philadelphia follows, feeble, but true, loyal to Christ 's
word and name, and receiving His approval and bene-
diction. This represents the Keformation era, the cause
of that and the revival of spiritual life and power
under Luther, Cranmer, Knox, Doddridge, Baxter, and
the religious life and deeper spiritual movements which
have been going forward, in a blessed minority of the
Churches of Christ, during these later centuries.

There is yet one picture more, it is the Church of the
Laodiceans, rich, prosperous, self-satisfied, widely re-
epectable, but thoroughly lukewarm, indilTerent, and
deeply offensive to the heart of the Lord Jesus Christ.
He standsi as One outside the door, knocking for ad-
mission, warning of coming judgment, and soon to re-
turn again and sit down upon His Millennial throne.
Surely this represents the Church of today, and the still
more worldly Church of the immediate future, the last
age of Christianity before the coming of the Lord.

Now, while the picture is chronologically true, at the
same time each of these Churches represents a condi-
tion of things that is permanent and perpetual to the
time of the end. While Ephesus represents the first
ages of Christianity, yet it is found all the way through.
While Philadelphia represents the dawn of the Reforma-
tion, yet the spirit of Philadelphia runs on, and the rep-
resentatives of true revival and vital Christianity
are found to the close, and so all these Churches are
concurrent as well as successive.

266

POWER FROM ON HIGH

They represent seven conditions of Christianity which
may almost always be found in some quarter of Christen-
dom, and to which the Holy Ghost is speaking His last
solemn message of warning, reproof, or promise. Let
us look at them in this light.

THE spirit's message to the strong church.

The Church at Ephesus was a strong Church. It was
full of good works. **I know thy works," and not only
thy works, "thy labor" — works that cost something,
* * and thy patience ' ' — works that are continuous. It was
an orthodox and a jealous Church, which stood firmly
for what it believed to be the truth, and it withstood
without compromise all that was false and counterfeit.
"Thou hast tried these that call themselves Apostles,
and are not, and hast found them liars." This is a very
high testimony, and one W( tild think that a Church of
which the Master can say so much, must be considerably
in advance even of the average standing. But the Lord
is not satisfied with Ephesus. The Spirit's message is
one of the deepest searching and condemnation. Our
English version poorly expresses the emphatic meaning
of this condemnation. It is not "I have somewhat against
thee," but rather "I have against thee." I have so
much against thee, that if thou dost not change this
cause of offence and reproof I cannot bear thee; I will
not suffer thee; "I will come unto thoe and remove the
candlestick out of its place, except thou repent."

What was this grave charge? What was this solemn
omission? "Thou hast left thy first love." It was the
lack of love, the lack of fervor, the lack of devotion
to the person of the Lord Jesus Christ. They had the
active and the orthodox element, but they had not the
heart life, without which all these are but empty forms,
and for which Christ will accept no substitute.

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES 267

7 which
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solemn
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You do not marry a wife to do your cooking and
washing as an African savage, but to be your companion,
and to give you the devotion of her heart. If she were
to excuse her want of love, by the fact that she had
so much work to do, you would tell her that a servant
could do your work, but only a wife could give you the
love for which your heart longs. This is what Jesus asks
from His Church, and He will take nothing else instead.
What is this first love? Is it the intense dcraonstra-
tiveness which n'e manifest at our conversion, that glad
overflowing, perhaps over-effervescent devotion of child-
hood, which passes into sober and earnest but quiet
habits of faithfulness and obedience? And are we to
accept His reproof if we do not always feel the excite-
ment of our first experiences? Certainly not. First
love does not mean the love we have first had when
we were converted, because He wants us to have some-
thing better as the days go by. It is not first in the
order of time, but it is first in the order of importance.
He means the love that puts Him first, the love that
gives Him the supreme place, the love that makes Him
the first waking consciousness, and the last thought as
we fall asleep at night, the supreme joy of all our being,
the gladly accepted sovereign of our will and all our
actions, and the One apart from whom we have and
want nothing; the first and last of our heart's affec-
tions, and our life's aim. This is what Christ expects,
and without this love our noblest liberality, our loftiest
zeal, our busiest work, is but a sounding brass, a tink-
ling cymbal, and a disappointing mockery to His loving
heart.

This is the first and the last message of the Holy
Ghost to these seven Churches. Jesus wants your love.
A dear Christian friend once passed through a peculiar
experience. It seemed to her as if Christ was not satis-
fied with her life, and so she began to plan for more
work. She added another Sunday School class, another

268

POWER FROiSI ON HIGH

Ladies' Society, a few more hours of laborious work, and
stili she was not satisfied. Month after month the
hunger grew, and the sense of disappointment only in-
creased.

At last she threw herself before Him, and said, "Lord,
will you not show me what it is You want? What
more can I do to pleaise You?" And then a gentle
voice seemed to whisper to her, **It is not more work
I want, but more love, and I want you to work less
and love Me more." ijid as she let herself fall into
His loving arms, and learned to lean upon His breast,
and sit like Mary at His feet, while Martha was bustling
arourj with her busy work, she found that what the
Master wanted was her heart, and her first love. *'He
that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit saith
Junto the churches."

THh spirit's message TO THE SUFFERING CHURCH.

Rev. 2:8-11

The Church in Smyrna was a martyr Church. It
represents the suffering people of God in every age.
It is not always outward fire. There is a keener pain
in the white heat of inward trial, and there are sorrows
still for human hearts to bear, as piercing as in tho
martyr ddys. What is the Spirit's message to the suf-
fering church? **Be thou faithful unto death, and I
vill give thee the crown of life." Do not get out of your
trouble as easily and as quickly as you can by any pos-
sible means, but rather be faithful in your trouble, be
faithful even if it kills you; be faithful not until death,
but U7ito death, faithful even at the co.st of death itself.
The great temptation to the tried ones is to regard de-
liverance from trouble as the principal thing.

How noble the example of the men of Babylon in
contrast with this! "If it be so," they said, *'our God
ife able to deliver us, and He will deliver us out of thy

hs
ki

go
tr
wi

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES 269

hand, oh king; but if not, be it known unto thee, oh
king, that we will not serve thy gods, nor worship the
golden image which thou hast set up." That is the
true attitude of faithfulness, to stand like Christ in the
wilderness, refusing the devil's help, until God Himself
shall set us free, or accept the sacrifice at its fullest
cost. This is the greatest need of today, the backkKjne
and the royal blood of self-sacrificing loyalty +o principle
and to God. "When the Holy Ghost can fiiid such men
and wonen, He can accomplish anything by them.

in.

THE spirit's message TO THE WORLDLY CHURCH.

This is represented by Pergamos. — Rev. 2 : 12-17.

This Church dwelt where Satan's seat wiis, and Satan's
throne U in the world. Its special danger was the
doctrine of Balaam, the temptation to go to worldly
banquet with the great and influential, to eat of things
sacrificed to idols, and to indulge in unholy pleasure,
holding the doctrine of the Nicolaitanes — the form of
godliness, and yet the liberty to sin.

This is the peculiar temptation of the Church of today,
to hold on to God with one hand, and to the world
with the other, to compromise sterling principle for the
approval of the influential and the great, to go to their
feasts, keep in touch with social arausemcnts, to retain
their influence and approval, and yet pretend to be
true to God. In contrast with the forbidden bread, and
the forbidden love of this present evil world, the Holy
Spirit offers something better, — the hidden manna of
the heavenly banquet, and the everlasting love of the
Lord Jesus Ciirist, represented by the white stone with
the new name written upon it, which no man knoweth
save he to whom it is given.

Let us refuse the temptation of the world's bread and
the world's friendship, and some day we shall sit down

270

POWER FROM ON HIGH

in His banqueting house, and His banner over us will
be love as He receives us to the Marriage of the Lamb,
and gives us the rapture of His own love, one thrill of
which would compensate for an eternity of earthly de-
light.

Beloved, is He speaking to some of you? Is the
world plausibly trying to win you to a worldly life?
"He that hath an ear, let him hear v;hat the Spirit
saith unto the churches."

IV.

THE spirit's message TO THE CORRUPT CHURCH.

Thyatira represents the age of corruption, and the
counterfeit life of the wicked one. The striking phrase {
found in tliis epistle — ''the depths of featan" — well
represents the abominable mysteries of the Papacy, and
the kindred perils which are gathering around the
church in these last days, through Satan's counterfeits
and the false life of Thyatira.

This will doubtless increase as the age draws to its
close. There will be false prophets; th'ere will be i
visions, illuminations, revelations, "osophies" and
"isms" yet more and more.

In opposition to these, the Holy Ghost has given us
a safe criterion in this epistle, "I will put upon you
none other burden, but that which ye have already, hold
fast till I come." This settles the whole question. There
is to be no new revelation, no new Bible, no new authori-
tative voice from heaven. We have it all now in the
Holy Scriptures, and all we have to do is "that which f
we have, hold fast till He come."

These men come to us with their theosophies and
their revelations, telling us, as the serpent told Eve,
of higher ]jfo and loftier spiritual planes; but it is
|)ie false, elusive light of the lamps of the pit. In
knaw^ii* }0 i\, we have only to hold up the word of God,

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES 271

and all these illusions will be exposed, even as the sun-
light not only chases away the darkness of the night, but
eclipses the feeble torchlight glare.

In contrast with all this, how glorious the promise
which the Spirit gives to the faithful overcomer! In
opposition to the devil power which the adversary offers,
and the false light of his revelations, the Lord Jesus
says, "I will give him that overcometh power over the
nations in the millennial kingdom, at My second coming
and the true light of the Morning Star," the power and
the light which are from above, and which shall be
forever. 0, beloved, are any of us turning our eyes
to the false delusive torchlights of error, fanaticism,
superstition and a false mysticism? "He that hath an
ear let him hear what the Spirit saith onto the churches."

is and
Eve,

it IS

t. In
If God,

THE spirit's message TO A DEAD CHURCH.

Sardis represents the culmination of all that has gone
before, a Church which has a name to live, but which
is really dead. "What is His message to such a Church?
Alas! it is useless to speak to a dead Church, but He
can speak only to the remnant that is still alive within
it. And to these He says, *'I have a few names, even
in Sardis, that have not defiled their garments; and
they shall walk with me in white, for they are worthy. ' '

If God has placed you in such a community, you can
stand faithful ; you can live in vital connection with Him,
and you stand as a true confessor of Christ where all
around are dead. And to such He gives a glorious prom-
ise; "He that overcometh, the same shall be clothed in
white raiment ; and T will not blot out His name out of
the book of life, but I will confess his name before My
Father, and before H

ingeh

((

let him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches

»»

Beloved, be true, though you stand alouo, aud some

272

POWER FROM ON HIGH

!ii

day yoiv will hear your iiam«^ oonftamed before tlie
Father's throne.

VI.

THE spirit's MEB8AGE TO THE LITTLE FIX>OK OP
FAITHFUL ONES.

The Church :n Philadelphia meets nothing but words
of approval from the Lord. It is the little Church, it
has but little strength, buc it has been faithful in two
respects. It has been tru*^ to Christ 'm word and loyal
to His name. It holds its l*^\m<>ny cl^a^ and true to
the word of God and the holy H^jriptures, *nd in con-
trast with ecclesiastical names aAMl outward forms, it
recognizes and honors the nafiSfce of tW Jx/fd Jesus Christ
The holy Scriptures and the li/inj? Ch-i^Jnt., th<^se are its
testimonies. It is easy to recogni//' t}v trm evangelicel
fioek of Christ by those signs in fw; ag<*«, and oa-

pecially in these last days.

In contrast with higher criticism, d</^n grades and
latitudinarian views, are Vv'c standing, beloved, for the
simple authoritative, unchanging W^>rd of viod? In
contrast with all other names ai-*; v/f, standing for the
person, the divinity, the glory, an/J the all-sufficient
grace of the living Christ, and i/fov1rif< the power of
Jesus' name?

Then for us also the Spirit s[/*^ak<» these mighty prom-
ises: First, *'an open door" of s^ryi^4», that noro can
shut; secondly, a part in the glorious translation (.f the
bride at the coming of the Lord. **I will keep thee
from the hour of temptation that is coming upon all
the world, to try them that dwell on the face of the whole
earth"; thirdly, a place of p rmanr e and honor in
the new Jerusalem, a i:»art in the Miiler.nial kingdom
of our Lord, where we shall stand, as pillars in His
temple, bearing the nnmc^ of the t\ew Jerusalem, and
the new name Jesus (Christ, identifying us with Him
in His personal love and glor) forever.

glorioui
ear, le
churche

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THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES 273

rs-

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O ^K'loved, in view of this high calling and these
glorious truths, let us be true, and *' he that hath an
ear, let him lioar what the Spirit saith unto the
churches. ' '

VII.

thp: spirit's message to an indifferent church.

There is something awfully suggestive in the fact
that the Church of the Laodiccans is spoken of quite
differently from all the others. Even Sardis was rec-
ognized \s His Church; but this last Church is not His
Church, but theirs. Tt is the "church of the Laodi-
ccans," and He seems to say to it, as He did to His
own Israel of old, ''Behold your house is left unto you
desolate."

You liave not wanted me to control, you may have your
Church if you will. The very name T^aodiceans means
"to please the peopU'." )t represents a popular Church,
and a time-serving age. It is it very h^rge, wealthy,
powerful Churi'hj it is rich, increasr-tl with goods, in
need of nothing. It is nlso n self -satisfied Cliurch. The
reports of its membership, its finances, its missionarj'^
<irganizations are very flattering. It is doing a great
deal of work; it is spending a great deal of money, and
it is thoroughly satisfli^d with its own progress and pnm-
pcrity, but alas! in the eyes of its Lord, it is "the poor,
the miserable, the blitid. and the naked one." He is
represented as eAcluded from its interior, and standing
knocking at its door as a strant:;er, He is utteJ'lng His
last solenni warning and ap]>('al, and telling of chasten-
ing and judgment about to come upon it. He is coun-
seling it to buy of Him the gold of true faith, the white
raiment of divine holiness, the ej'e-salve of spiritual
illumination.

But alas, tlie saddest and the most solemn part of all

this picture is, that it represents the last stage of visible

274

POWER FROM ON HIGH

Christianity, the Church at the end of the age and at
the coming of the Lord!

Beloved, can it be possible that the Church of our
fathers, the Church of the r<;formers, the Church of
the martyrs, could ever become such a Church? Ah,
ask yourselves did not the Church of Paul and John
become the apostasy of Rome?

What is the real secret of all this? " Thou art luke-
warm, "^ — respectable indifference; the same cause which
led to the rejection of Ephesus, only aggravated and
intensified; the want of heart; the want of love; the
want of enthusiasm; the want of Jesus Himself within.
The Church that has lost the spirit of revival, the Church
that has lost the simplicity of fervor, the Church that
looks upon religious experience as sentimentalism, fa-
naticism, and extravagance, clothed in a stately respect-
ability and self-satisfied complacency, folds her arms,
and says, **1 am rich, increased with goods, and have
need of nothing," while Jesus is standing at the door,
and the last judgments are about to fall.

And now the Master turns from the Church of the
Laodiceans, and His last message is not to the Church,
but to the individuals in it, who are willing to stand
out from its indifference, and to be spiritual overcomers.
**K an J man will hear my voice, and open the door,
I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he
with Me." "To him that overcometh will I grant to
sit down with Me in M> throne, even as I also over-
came, and am set down with My Father in His throne."

It is to the individual the promise is given. Yes, even
if the Church should become apostate, one by one we can
stand truti to God, and still may win our crown.

There are two promises: First, we must receive the
Christ within; secondly, we shall sit down with Him
upon His throne. The Prince come; to us now in dis-
guise. Soon He will come in all His glory to know those
who have stood with Him in these days of trial and

THE SPIRIT'S MESSAGE TO THE CHURCHES 275

over-

rejection. Oh, in view of that great day, God help
us to be true!

It is said that Ivan, of Russia, used sometimes to
disguise himself and go out among his people to find
out their true character.

One night he went, dressed rs a beggar, from door
to door, in the suburbs of Moscow, and asked for a
night's lodging. He was refused admittance at every
house, until at last his heart sank with discouragement
to think of the selfishness of his people. At length,
however, he knocked at a door where he was gladly ad-
mitted. The poor man invited him in, offered him a
crust of bread, a cup of water and a bed of straw, and
then said, **I am sorry I cannot do more for you, but
my wife is ill, a babe has just been given her, and my
attention is needed for them." The emperor lay down
and slept the sleep of a contented mind. He had found
a true heart. In the morning he took his leave with
many thanks.

The poor man forgot all about it, until a few days
later, the royal chariot drove up to the door, and, at-
tended by his retinue, the emperor stopped before the
humble home.

The poor man was alarmed, and throwing himself
at the emperor's feet, he asked "What have I done?"

Ivan lifted him up, and taking both his hands, he said
"Done? you've done nothing but entertain your em-
peror. It was I that lay on that bed of straw; it was
I that received your humble but hearty hospitality,
and now I have come to reward you. You received me
in disguise, but now I come in my true character to rec-
ompense your love. Bring hither your new-born babe."
And when the child was brought to him, he said, "You
shall call him after me, and when he is old enough, I
will educate him and give him a place in my court and
service." Giving the man a bag of gold he said, "Use
this for your wife, and if ever you have need of any-

276

POWER FROM ON HIGH

thing, don't forget to call upon the poor tramp that slept
the other night in that corner."

As the emperor l(>i't him, that poor man was glad in-
deed that he had welcomed his king in disguise. The
day is coming when amid the splendors of the advent
throne, we would give worlds for one glance of recogni-
tion from that royal eye.

And we shall be so glad when, amid the myriads of
the skies, we shall see Ilis loving smile and meet Ilis
recognition and hear Him say, "Come, ye blessed of
my Father, sit down upon My throne. You were not
ashamed of Me when I came to you in disguise. Now
I have come to confess you before My Father and Ilis
holy angels."

*'IIe that hath an ear, let him hear what the Spirit
saith unto the churches."

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CHAPTER XXVIII.

THE HOLY SPIRir'S LAST MESSAGE.
"The Spirit and the Bride say, Come."— Eev. 22:17.

THIS is the last message and the last mention of
of the Holy Ghost in the New Testament. It is
usually interpreted as an appeal to the sinner to
come to Christ, but it is really a prayer on the part of
the Spirit and the Bride, for Christ to come back again,
in His promised second advent. It is answered by His
gracious message, "Behold, I come quickly," and the
response of the apostle and the church, **Even so,
come Lord Jesus, come quickly. Amen."

It is very striking and beautiful that the last word
of the Holy Ghost in this great Apocolypse, which is
devoted to the unfolding of the Lord's return, should
be a cry of prayer to Him to come. The great business
of the Holy Ghost since Christ's ascension has been to
prepare for His return. The two last messages of our
departing ^Master, recorded in the first ten verses of the
Acts of the Apostles, are the promise of the Holy Ghost
and the promise of His second coming. Between these
two promises lies the whole Christian age, and the
object of the first is to fulfill the last.

The Holy Ghost has now unfolded the prophetic vi-
sion, and as He closes it until the end of time, He pours
out one ardent prayer and unites the beloved Bride of
Jesus in it, "Come Lord Jesus." And then He sends
the message forth to all around and adds, "let him thr.t
heareth say come." And, turning to the world and the
sinner, He utters the last message of inviting mercy
to come to Jesus. "Let him that is athirst come, and
whosoever will let him take the water of life freely."

277

278

POWER FROM ON HIGH

This passage suggests the connection of the Holy
Ghost with the Lord's return,

I. The Holy Ghost has given us the predietions of
Christ's second coming. It was He that whispered to
Enoch the first testimony respecting the advent in ante-
diluvian times. It was He that gave to dying Jacob
his vision of Shiloh's reign. It was He that revealed,
even to double-hearted Balaam, the glory of the
latter days, until he ionged to have a part in it. It was
He that enabled Job to speak of the day when in his
flesh he should behold his living Redeemer and see Him
for himself and not for another. It was He who inspired
the heart of David to sing so often and so sublimely
of the Prince of Peace, whose name should endure for-
ever and whose sway should reach from shore to shore.
It was He who gave to Isaiah his prophetic fire, and
revealed to Daniel and Zechariah the panorama of the
ages. Through the lips of the IMaster on the side of
Olivet He foretold the fall of Jeiiisalem and the end
of the Age.

It was He who taught the early Church this blessed
hope, as the comfort of her sorrows and the inspiration
of her labors. It was He who gave to the first apos-
tolic council at Jerusalem its clear outline plan of the
Christian age, and revealed to Paul the great apostasy,
and the glorious messages of the advent in the Epistles
to the Corinthians and Thessalonians. And now to the
last of the apostles, He has unfolded with a clearness
far surpassing all former visions the glorious truth of
the Lord's return, and as He sums it all up He turns
neavenward in one last prayer, ''Come, Lord Jesus,
come quickly."

By and by, when we read this book in the light of
heaven, we shall find that every incident and detail of
the Lord's return has been unfolded. Much of it we
have misunderstood; much of it may remain somewhat
obscure until the time of the end, but nothing has been

THE HOLY Sri HIT'S LAST MESSAGE

279

Holy

left unsaid that we need to know to fit us for the moot-
ing with our Lord. The Holy Ghost has made the testi-
mony clear and plain. One word of every twenty-five
of these New Testament Scriptures is about this great
theme.

He is a very foolish man who reads his Bible without
seeing it, and who misses the benediction pronounced
in this very book, on "him that readeth and on them
that keep the words of the prophecy of this book."

II. The Holy Ghost has interpreted and illuminated
the prophetic Scriptures.

It is not enough to have the prophetic word, we need
some one to enable us to understand it.

Daniel uttered these advent visions, but he dimly
comprehended them, and was told to seal them up until
the time of the end. But he was also told that, as the
end drew near, the wise should understand, and this
is just what is happening today.

The most remarkable sign that we are in the last
days and that the mystery of the ages is about to be
finished, is the wondrous light which the Holy Ghost
has shed on the interpretation of prophecy in our time.

Mistakes there have doubtless been; obscurities still
there are ; much yet remains to be made plain, but the
great landmarks of the future are clear and plain, and
the church of Christ knows enough to be able to be
true to her trust and ready for the coming of her Lord.

The brightest and soundest scholarship of the age is
on the side of pre-millennial truth. The light of
science has become tributary to the interpretation of
the Holy Scriptures, and the truth respecting the Lord 's
coming has been so widely published and so simply il-
lustrated and proclaimed, that no earnest Christian to-
day need be in darkness with regard to that day. Nor
need the most illiterate and simple disciple of Christ
shrink back from the study of proi)hecy because it is
mysterious and obscure. The Holy Ghost will make it

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plain, and will bless us in its study, as we eamestlj
read and faithfully keep the words of this prophecy.

III. The Holy Ghost is preparing for the Lord's
coming by awakening the desire and expectation of
Christ's return in the hearts of His dicipltjs.

When the Lord Jesus was about to come to earth for
the first time, Ilis faithful people were waiting for re-
demption and for the consolation of Israel, and at the
proper time, they were there to welcome Him. It needed
no special note of invitation to bring Simeon and Anna
to the temple when the infant Jesus was to be presentea
there; but, through the simple and unfailing guidance
of the Holy Ghost, thay were both on time, and Simeon
took the holy Babe iu his arms and blessed Him, and
Anna went forth from that joyful scene, woman-like,
to tell of His coming "to all that waited for redemp-
tion in Jerusalem.*'

And so will it be at the last. Christ's Simeons and
Annas will be waiting too. And already they have
caught the first rays of dawn, the first intuitions of the
Bridegroom's drawing near.

As the hour draws near this will become more uni-
form and universal among the littl<3 flock, and when He
appears His Bride will not be left "in darkness that
that day should overtake her as a thief, ' ' but she will be
found ready and waiting to go forth to meet Him.

This blessed hope, which is taking possession of so
many of our hearts, is one of the signs of our time,
and its sympathetic throb is felt even among the votaries
of false religion, who, with an instinct that they cannot
understand or explain, are also looking for the appear-
ing of some great One in the present generation.

Sometimes these holy intuitions are truer and more
unerring than the conclusions of our science and philos-
ophy. The little bird makes no mistake when, following
an impulse in its Utile heart, it spreads its wings on the
air and sails away to southern lands as winter is com-

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S LAST MESSAGE

281

I ::

ing on. It knows that the springtime is there and it
finds it true.

^The little fellow was right as he stood holding the
string of his kite which had gone far out of view in the
lofty firmament, when the boys laughed at him and told
him it was gone, who answered firmly, **No; 'taint
neither, it's all right. I Lnow it 'cause I feel it pull."

Ah, beloved, can you feel it pull? And, although
worldly wisdom may scoff, and human ambition may
plan for the coming generations, and the seif-centered
world roll on around its little axis, yet our eyes are
upon the east, and our hearts tell us with an intuition
that we know is true that the coming of the Lord draweth
nigh.

It is the blessed Holy Ghost. Let us listen to His
whisper; let us catch his full meaning; let us, as the
day draws near, be found "bending ourselves back,"
and ''lifting up our heads" and, like the bird upon the
branch, with fluttering wings and uplifted eye waiting
for the signal of its mate, let us be ready at His earliest
call to rise to meet Him in the air.

IV. The Holy Ghost is preparing for Christ's re-
turn by the spiritual enrobing of His children.

The call is going forth. ''The marriage of the Lamb
is come, and His wife hath made herself ready; and
it was granted to her that she should be arrayed in fine
linen, clean and bright, the fine linen is the righteous-
ness of the saints."

The Holy Ghost is preparing a people today for the
coming of Christ. There is a marked movement in all
sections of the Christian world for an entire consecration
to Christ, that we may receive the baptism of the Holy
Ghost and be transformed and conformed to Christ.

This is the very time that the Bridegroom is near
at hand. When the Bride is found robed and ready,
her Lord will not be long behind. This is one of the
special religious movements of our time. Call it by

282

POWER FEOM ON HIGH

what name you please, sanctification, the second bless-
ing, the higher Christian life, the baptism of the Holy
Ghost, entire consecration, — it is the call of God today
to His own people, and it is the precursor of the Mas-
ter's coming.

Our Lord's beautiful parables of the wedding robe
and the ten virgins are founded on this great truth, the
need of special preparation for the coming of the Lord.
In the former parable it is personal holiness that is
implied, and in the latter the indispensible need of the
baptism of the Holy Ghost. Both these qualifications are
freely given in the grace of God. To the Bride it is
"granted that she should be arrayed in linen, clean
and bright." She does not have to make her oAvn ap-
\)arel but simply to put on the beautiful garments of
her King, and like Rebecca of old, go forth arrayed in
the robe which He has given, and covered with his
veil to meet Him with acceptance at His coming.

Beloved, have we received the wedding robe? Have
we made sure of the oil in our vessels with our lamps?
Are we arrayed in raiment not only "clean" but also
"bright," not only without the stain of sin, but with
all the beauty and glory of the priestly garments?
There is an inner and an outer robe. The inner robe
must be spotless, the outer must be glorious. This is
why the Holy Ghost is leading us through the discipline
of life.

The word for "white" here in Revelation means
liright, and it is the same word used about the trans-
figuration garments of our Lord. Beloved, let us put
on the white robei and the beautiful garments, and,
through the grace of the Holy Ghost, be robed and
ready for His coming.

V. The Holy Ghost gives the earnest of the resur-
rection.

We have already referred to this in former chapters,
in connection with the physical life of Christ manifested

THE HOLY SPIEIT'S LAST MESSAGE

283

in the believer through the Holy Ghost. This is an
anticipation of the resurrection life. This is a foretaste
and first fruit of the physical glory which is awaiting
us at his coming.

Divine healing, rightly understood, is just the life
of Jesus Christ in our mortal flesh and a foretaste of
the resurrection. It is the work of the Holy Ghost to
"quicken our mortal body" as He dwelleth in us. Be-
loved, do we 'w ,v this supernatural life? And are we
thus already ta.,ting the fountain of immortality which
is to supply our life eternally from its exhaustlcss
spring ?

VI. The Holy Ghost is working in the providence of
God among the nations, to prepare for the coming of
of Christ.

The wonderful events of our time are the beginning
of those overturnings which are to bring in the kingdom
of Christ and His millennial reign. The Ancient of Days
is already working among the nations, and through the
power of the Spirit of God is breaking down the bar-
riers and opening up the highway for Christ's return.
The same Holy Ghost that of old touched the hearts of
heathen kings and made them God's instruments in
accomplishing His purpose, is calling out today the
various providential agencies which are but part of
God's plan for the approaching end of the age. Surely,
the extraordinary events that are so rapidly happening
around us in every quarter of the globe are full of por-
tentous meaning.

The wonderful progress of knowledge, the running
to and fro of men, with their coranercial activities and
their methods of transportation and communication by
land and sea, wars and rumors of wars disturbing the
whole political realm, revolutions and upheavals of so-
ciety and political institutions — all these are full of
meaning and promise, and throagh them all moves the
steadfast purpose of the Holy Ghost, whose "eyes run

284

POWER FROM ON HIGH

to and fro throughout the whole earth, ' ' and whose hand
is moving men to the fulfillment of His higher will.

VII. The Holy Ghost is enabling and sending forth
the disciples of Christ to fulfill their great trust in
witnessing for Christ and evangelizing the world.

This is His greatest work of preparation for the com-
ing of Christ. In direct connection with the promise
of the Spirit is the great commission, "Ye shall receive
the power of the Holy Ghost coming upon you, and ye
shall be witnesses unto Me, . . . unto the uttermost part
of the earth."

And so today we witness the mighty worli^ngs of the
Holy Gho't in sending out the message of the gospel
to the negle ted at home and the heathen abroad. The
Holy Spin I is more than a delightful sentiment in the
believer's heart. He is a mighty influence of practical,
missionary zeal and world-wide evangelization, and the
heart in which He is saying, "Come Lord Jesus, come
quickly," will always be heard crying, "Let him that
is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely."

Beloved, if we are truly filled with the Holy Ghost
and longing for the coming of Christ, we shall be active
witnesses and workers in preparing for Him. We shall
be found faithful to our trust wherever God has placed
us. We will be soul-winners at home, and if we can-
not go abroad we will help others to go and give the
gospel quickly to all the vv^orld.

How much of our religious life is comfortable senti-
mentalism, taking the pleasant part, enjoying the self-
ish luxury, doing as much Christian work as is agree-
able, and yet knowing little or nothing of the ceaseless
self-sacrificing and intense devotion of the T^ord Jesu!5
Christ to finish His v/ork and bring this revolted world
back to His Father!

0, beloved, are we wholly in earnest? Have we, too,
"a baptism to be baptized with, and are we straitened

THE HOLY SPIRIT'S LAST MESSAGE

285

until it be accomplished?" Are we going forth *'as
much as lieth in us" to give the gospel of the Kingdom
to all nations that the end may speedily come?

Perhaps, dear brother, as you read these lines, God
may be calling you to go forth and call home the lost
disciple who shall complete the number of the Bride
and then bring back our adorable Kedeemer.

Nay, perhaps, dear sinner, as you read these lines,
ycu may be the soul for whom Christ is waiting to com-
plete His glorious Bride, as He calls, ** Whosoever will
let him take tli-e water of life freely."

There are three little words that seem sweetly linked
together here. The first is "come. Lord Jesus," that is
the Spirit's cry, and that will be the cry of every one
who is filled with the Spirit. ''Let him that heareth
say, Come."

The second is, the word, ''Go." If we are truly say-
ing '^come. Lord Jesus," we will ©o with the Gospel
of salvation to the lost at home and the heathen abroad.
And the third is the same word, "come" again. For
this will be our message, as it is the Spirit's, to a lost
and dying world. "Come to Jesus." "Let him that
is athirst come, and whosoever will, let him take the
water of life freely."

It is said that when Queen Victoria first visited Scot-
land, it was arranged that the tidings of her arrival
should be signalled from Edinburgh, and by beacons
on the mountain tops should be flashed all over the
land until it reached from Leith to Stirling, and Stirling
to Inverness, and Inverness to distant Caithness, and
from mountain to mountain, tho beacon blazed forth
its joyful welcome "The Queen has come."

So this text seems to be a cry from the watchtower.
Oh, let us haste to plant the watch fires on all the moun-
tain tops of earth; let us station the watchmen for the
morning; let us as make ready for the beacon blaze;
and, some sweet morn, the nearest watcher shall catch

286

POVVEK FROM ON HIGH

the signal, flash it from post to post, and tower to tower,
and hind to land, till all around the globe he that heareth
.«»hall say "Come," and the shout shall go up from the
meeting ranks of earth and heaven, "the lord has
COME." Even so come lord jesus, come quickly.

Amen.

(Printed in the United States of America.}

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