J^.. &> .a. ^^ ^^'<^ ^^ nO. IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) ^c C-^/ 7 ^ ^ P,^ " w ^ fA y. 1.0 !ri^ 8 112.5 I.I \\25 ^ ■- mil 22 2.0 iA ill 1.6 V] <^ /} VI V ^ o m 7 Photographic Sciences Corporation 23 WEST MAIN STREET WEBSTER, NY. 14580 (716) 872-4503 <^^ ^^ .V '^-:\ V ^<~'* ^<^ \ 1^ ^ <* <^^.^ .^ <^ 4s . > 20 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. li CHAPTER H. THE BAPTISM WITH THE HOLY GHOST. ''He shall baptize you with the Holy Ghost, and with fire." —Matt. 3:11. T 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. I. 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. 21 22 POWER FKOM ON HIGH IV 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 23 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 24 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 25 ross the 3ing, sin- n. 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 26 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 27 I 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 28 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 29 30 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 31 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!" n. 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, 32 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 33 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 % 34 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 36 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 86 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. 87 I 38 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 39 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 *' 40 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