THE AUTHOR. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE 
 
 -OR— 
 
 THE HOLY GUEST. 
 
 A Discussion 
 
 OP THE Believer's Privileoe 
 
 IN Christ Jesus. The Holy Spirit 
 
 AS Guide into all Truth. The Pentecostal 
 
 Baptism. Physical Religious Manifestations. Indwelling 
 
 Sin, or Carnality. When and How the Believer 
 
 IS Saved from Committing Sin. Modern 
 
 Theories of Entire Sanctification, 
 
 Divine Healing and Kindred 
 
 . Themes. '. , _ 
 
 .1 , 
 
 THE REVEREND NELSON BURNS, B.A., 
 
 Gold Medalist of Toronto Uidversity. 
 
 THE BOOK AND BIBLE HOUSE: 
 
 brantford, ont. 
 1889. 
 
' i 
 
 Entered, according to* Act of Parliament of Canada, in the 
 year Eighteen hundred and eighty-nine, by Thomas S. 
 LiNSCOTT, in the Office of the Minister of Agriculture. 
 
PUBLISHERS' Preface, 
 
 -•*•- 
 
 With more than usual pleasure and satisfaction we 
 present this book to the public. It will doubtless sup- 
 ply a felt need to thousands of Christians, and fill the 
 space that has hitherto been, almost if not quite, a 
 vacuum in modern theology. The book we hope, and 
 confidently expect, m' ill be " a light in a dark place," an 
 emancipator from spiritual doubt and fear, the fore- 
 runner of a satisfactory experience, to a vast number of 
 earnest men and women. 
 
 The Author possesses no mean literary ability, and 
 after reading this book, one is not surprised to learn 
 that, when a student he captured the gold medal in his 
 class, from the Toronto University. He is also, un- 
 doubtedly, as good a man as he is an able writer, and 
 exemplifies in his life the doctrine of " Divine Guidance." 
 
 That the book will make a commotion in certain quar- 
 ters goes without saying ; still, even those who do not 
 agree with the views expressed, must admiie the candor, 
 the freedom from cant, the logic, and the transparent 
 honesty of the writer. It vrere too much to say, that 
 this book exhausts the subject of holy living and Divine 
 guidance, and yet it is difficult to see what phase of these 
 questions is not discussed. 
 
VI PUBLISHERS PREFACE. 
 
 We venture tlie statement, that no true Christian can 
 read this book sympathetically, without having healthful 
 throbs of holy desire, and a mind replenished with addi- 
 tional knowledge of the deep things of God. 
 
 Our Author is original in his method of stating Chris- 
 tian truth, and it is really refreshing to read a book in / 
 which are found so few hackneyed religious phrases. 
 
 The language is simple, and the sentences are short, so 
 that the common people, we trust, will read it gladly; 
 while this is so, there are some burning and profound 
 questions discussed, and conclusions drawn, that, to the 
 man spiritually unlearned, may " be hard to be under- v 
 stood.'^ But we are glad of the words of Jesus, that, " if 
 any man will do His will, he shall know of the doctrine," 
 and there is hope for all who have the child-like spirit 
 in His other statement, " I thank thee, O Father, Lord 
 of heaven and earth, because thou hast hid these things 
 from the wise and prudent, and hast revealed them unto 
 babes." Those, however, who come to this book with a 
 wrong bias, will, we fear, find it like the parables of 
 Jesus were to many of those who waited upon His min- 
 istry ; and like the truth generally is to those who are 
 not in love with it, " a savour of death unto death." 
 Jesus said to his disciples on one occasion when tliey 
 were asking him to explain the parable of the sower, 
 " unto you it is given to know the mystery of the king- 
 dom of God ; but unto them that are without all tliese 
 
publishers' preface. vii 
 
 things are done in parables ; that seeing they may see 
 and not perceive ; and hearing they may hear and not 
 understand." Tiiis answer of Jesus seems " a hard say- 
 ing," and yet it enunciates a principle that is philoso- 
 phically and historically true. But this part of the 
 Saviour's answer is even more difficult for the unspi- 
 ritual to understand, than the parable itself, notwith- 
 standing the explanation of the mystery of the parable 
 which follows. 
 
 In hearing spiritual truth, especially if it is new to us, 
 we must love the truth absolutely, and possess our souls 
 in patient waiting upon God, or else, the very truth itself, 
 will be a delusion and a snare, and we shall believe a lie 
 and be condemned. 
 
 We advise any man, who thinks he cannot be taught 
 more than he knows, concerning Divine guidance, not to 
 read this book ; we also extend the same advice to any 
 who are not ready to change their opinions, providing 
 they prove to be incorrect. 
 
 To all who hold the truth in righteousness, to all who 
 are in love with Jesus Christ, to all earnest seekers after 
 God, we believe a perusal of this book will be a comfort, 
 an inspiration and a Providential guide. 
 
 THE PUBLISHERS. 
 
y 
 
 
Author's Preface. 
 
 As the first chapter is somewhat introrhictory in its 
 character, we shall confine ourselves in this short preface 
 to a few explanatory statements. 
 
 It was a source of no little satisfaction to us to secure 
 the enterprising publishers, The Book and Bible House, 
 under the management of Rev. T. S. Linscott, to place 
 Divine Guidance before the public, seeing we thereby' 
 obtained the best facilities we knew of for the accom- 
 plishment of our object, which was an extensive circula- 
 tion of the book. We were somewhat startled when the}' 
 required our likeness for a frontispiece, but, after con- 
 sideration, yielded our preference to their superior know- 
 ledge concerning this matter. 
 
 In Scripture quotations we have uniformly followed 
 the New Version wording when they were taken from 
 the New Testament, but have retained the familiar read- 
 ings of the Authorized version when selecting from the 
 Old Testament ^ 
 
 THE AUTHOR. 
 
TABLE OF CONTENTS. 
 
 »«» 
 
 CHAP. I. / 
 
 INTRODUCTION. . 
 
 Importance of the subject— Hitherto greatly neglected — No standai-d 
 book on the subject — Indefiu.''-e teaching hitherto — Positive teaching 
 — The only satisfactory way — The Author's platform concerning " all 
 timth " — Love for the truth necessary — Widespead interest in the sub 
 ' ject awakened — Why 17-21 
 
 CHAP. 11. 
 
 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT. 
 
 A Bible doctrine — Not a new doctrine — History of Divine guidance- 
 Adam — Abel — Enoch — Abram — Moses — The central truth of the 
 Mosaic dispensation— Prophets — Their place in this connection- 
 Saul and Samuel, an incident — The heathen world still under the 
 Patriarchal dispensation — David's exploits at Keilah — Use of the 
 ephod — Guidance clear and explicit 22-30 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 f mVINE GUIDANCE BETIKR UNDER THE NEW THAN THE OLD 
 
 ■'^^^ ■■■■'.*"• -■^'^•v'"'-:--''i-i-"-', DISPENSATION. •:*"V -.••■.• 
 
 Defective nature of the Mosaic dispensation — In what the improvement 
 consists — Recognized by Paul — The Spirit to supersede all laws— 
 The prophetic order ended— Difficulties under the former — Exam- 
 ples, Hazael, Ahab — Removed in the present dispensation.. . 31-34 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT EVEN BETTER THAN THE PERSONAL 
 
 PRErJENCE OF CHRIST. 
 
 The advantages of Christ's personal presence — Admitted by Himself — 
 But said that the Spirit's presence would be still better— This dis- 
 pensation the best of all — Christ's second coming not to be an im- 
 provement on it 35-39 
 
CONTENTS. XI 
 
 CHAP. V. . 
 
 Christ's words more fully considkred. 
 
 They measure its importance — No appeal from them — Incidental 
 illustration — Remarks — All of John's words on the subject cjuoted— 
 Remarks — Incompleteness explained by Ponteoost — The Spirit to be 
 the only guide 40-45 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 THE PROMISE FULFILLED. 
 
 Exact fulfilment of promises — Not only genbral, but particular — The 
 Holy Ghost now practically ignored— Not so with the early Chris- 
 tians — This fact explains their writings — Example, letter to the 
 Galatians — Corinthians — Several passages with explanations — Inci- 
 dental illustrations of Divine guidance — Ethiopian eunuch — Barnabas 
 and Saul — Paul and Silas — Guidance always connected in their 
 thought with the Pentecostal gift — Their confidence in the Spirit's 
 work 46-56 
 
 ^ CHAP. VII. 
 
 THE TRUE ARGUMENT. • ■ , . 
 
 Bible only can establish the doctrine — Practice of modern Christians 
 not a safe argument — A revealed truth — Stands or falls with divinity 
 of Christ — Conscious guidance — Apostles knew the Spirit was guiding 
 them — Advantages of positive, definite knowledge 67-61 
 
 - CHAP. VIII. 
 
 WHAT IS DIVINE GUIDANCii? , . , 
 
 Izaak Walton's advice — What shall we do with the doctrine of Divine 
 Guidance? — Definition of Divine guidance — A felt want — Should 
 meet this fully — To walk worthy of God requires guidance — How 
 guided of secondary importance — A matter of curiosity — Better to 
 learn by experience 62-68 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 THK MANNER OF DIVINE OITIDANCE 
 
 Phantom-like notions about guidance — Guidance iu Abrahsbm's time 
 and ours compared — Extraordinary phenomena discussed and their 
 place assigned — Witness to sins forgiven, argument thetefrom.. 69-73 
 
XI 1 CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 THE MANNER OF DIVINE GUIDANCE, CONTINUED. 
 
 Perfect faith necessary — Efforts to limit the Spirit's work — A sign of 
 unbelief— Willingness the outcome of confidence —Impressions — In- 
 cident in life of Dr. Bangs — Impressional guidance not Divine guid- 
 
 . ance — Dreams, visions, etc. — Use of the Bible — Reason — Common 
 sense— In harmony with the Bible and reason 74-81 
 
 ^ CHAP. XI. 
 
 THE EXTENT OF DIVINE OUIDANOB. 
 
 Incidental illustrations — Reasons for giving personal experience — His- 
 tory of an impression — How to judge righteous judgment — Exam- 
 ples — An imperfect Christian 82-87 
 
 . CHAP. XII. 
 
 INCIDENTAL ILLUSTRATIONS CONTINUED. 
 
 An incident in pastoral work — Can v/e know when to visit and when 
 not ? — A street-car incident — When is a matter great or small ? — An 
 eye lost ^ In a railroad accident — No line dividing secular and 
 sacred 88-96 
 
 CHAP. XIII. - . . 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE OUIDANOB IN ITS SCOPE. 
 
 Not the gift of the Holy Ghost, but almost synonymous with it — Ig- 
 noring it accounts for unsatisf^^ctory longings — These very general — 
 A fundamental doctrine — The lesson of Toulon — The first bestow- 
 ment confined to the 120 — Character of the 120 — What they were 
 waiting for — Nature of the ten days' delay — Not to be repeated — 
 Signs and wonders, why given — Not permanent — What was perma- 
 nent — "The place was shaken," etc., exposition of this passa^^a — 
 Gift of the Holy Ghost the permanent characteriatio of this dispen- 
 sation — Two kinds of disciples— Second blessing .97-110 
 
 CHAP. XIV. 
 
 THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT NECESSARILY IMPLIES COMPLETE GUIDANCE. 
 
 This gift a perxori— Meaning of walking in the Spirit — Rejection of the 
 doctrine accounts tor a low Christian experience — Faith — Illustra- 
 tions — Acting faith — Faith the result of careful examination. 111-118 
 
CONTENTS. XIU 
 
 CHAP. XV. 
 
 SIMPLICITY RESTORED. 
 
 Mysticism — Antinomianism — The result of ignoring Peuteoost — Anti- 
 nomianiam in many holiness creeds — Why 1 19-125 
 
 . CHAP. XVI. 
 
 CARNALITY. 
 
 The forgiven sinner ready for heaven — Practically taugb*- by all — Wes- 
 ley's theory examined — The weak part of holiness creeds— A solution 
 — Explains seventh and eighth chapters of Romans 126-132 
 
 CKAP. XVII. ' f 
 
 CARNALITY, CONTiyUED. 
 
 Cleansing or heart purity— Another name for a righteous life — Means 
 more than this in some theologies — An object lesson — This thought 
 examined — These questions not raised in apostolic times — Sanctifica- 
 tion and entire sanctification — Distinction not scriptural or logical — 
 Love and perfect love — Confusion caused by their present way of 
 being used — Hitherto an unsolved problem — An object lesaon — A 
 proposed way to meet the difficulty — Fitful obedience and continued 
 obedience 133-145 
 
 . CHAP. XVIII. 
 
 SCRIPTITRALNKSS OF THIS TEACHINO. 
 
 Doctrines based on few and many scinpt'ires contrasted — Table showing 
 number of times different expressions are used — Examination of the 
 scriptures concerning cleansing — Indefinite teaching in them all — 
 Definite teaching in those which refer to the Holy Ghost — Satisfac- 
 tory result of the comparison 146-155 
 
 CHAP. XIX. 
 
 TKMHTATIONS. 
 
 Without and within theory examined —Keeping the Sabbath— A mod- 
 ernised testimony as an ol)ject lesson — Temptations of Christ — First 
 temptation —Second — Third —Origin of the nomenclature — Not scrip- 
 tural—Should be ruled |^ut 156-166 
 
XIV CONTENTS. 
 
 . ■ f 
 •» 
 
 CHAP. XX. 
 
 MISTAKES AND INFIRMITIES. 
 
 In a chaotic state — The scapegoat of modern holiness creeds — These 
 creeds generalized — Their weak points — The Oordian knot, how cut — 
 Completely met in Divine guidance — How to vitiate a profession of 
 holiness — Mistakes — Different shades of meaning — The true scriptu- 
 ral meaning. 167-175 
 
 CHAP. XXI. 
 
 PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE STUDY. 
 
 Antagonism between the legalistic and (spiritual — Two classes — Why 
 they opposed Christ — Defending their acts — The within kingdom — 
 Explanation of antagonism — Peter as a legalist — When given up — 
 Two ways — No satisfaction in the one — Complete satisfaction in the 
 other — Times and seasons for prayer, etc., when may they be given 
 up? ^....176-187 
 
 t CHAP. XXII. 
 
 THUS LAW OF THE SPIRIT AND TUE DRESS QUESTION. 
 
 Present confusion in teaching — Needs to be regulated by this law — 
 Scriptural teaching examined — Two canons on the subject— The 
 teaching which is generally accepted — Teiiching and practice not in 
 harmony — Gold in this connection — Modem teaching makes Peter 
 contradict himself — Aaron's dress — Israelites at Sinai — The lilies — 
 The true adornment — Limited application of scripture texts — Women 
 teaching — Dr. Johnson's opinion on dress — The argument of expense 
 —Personal experience — Object of this discussion 188-201 
 
 CHAP. XXIII. 
 
 PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 What holiness is — Essentials and non- essentials — The normal Christian 
 state — An illustrative incident — Origin of such incidents — Mistakes 
 concerning spiritual joy — Fresh baptisms a sign of human origin — 
 Counterfeits, how recognized — The true baptism, how known . 202-21 1 
 
 CHAP. XXIV. 
 
 DIVINK GUIDANCE AND THE CARK OF OUR BODIES. 
 
 Being led of the Spirit secures all pcssfble ))enefitB for the body — True 
 
■:;. - CONTENTS. XV 
 
 for communities — And for individuals— According to the judgment 
 of Christ— The words of Christ — Their meaning— Is sickness the 
 proof of the presence of sin ? — Set rules concerning healing not a part 
 of the spiritual kingdom — Attitude to the Divine healing movement 
 — No need for their rule of health — Not in the epistles — The words 
 , of James examined — Healing classed with miracles — Promises con- 
 fined to Israelites — Healing not for all 212-230 
 
 \ CHAP. XXV. 
 
 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. _ 
 
 Frankly considered — Should have the benefit of every doubt — Infalli- 
 bility — No danger in real guidance, but in false guidance — The spirit 
 of infallibility largely prevalent — The best an tidoto— Absence of 
 Divine guidance the real danger — The word a misnomer — Thus saith 
 the Lord, its value considered — Depreciating the Bible — Regulates 
 Bible authority — Results of making the Bible the only guide — Bible 
 taxed beyond its ability — Paul's writings concerning women teaching 
 compared with other scriptures — Testimonies concerning neglecting 
 their Bibles examined 231-244 
 
 VI CHAP. XXVI. 
 
 objections, oontinded. 
 
 Lawlessness — Awakens fears — Cha%ied lions — God the author of law 
 cannot lead into lawlessness — Imitations — The guards against this 
 — Object is to keep law — Dangers — Too dangerous to n:«!ddle with 
 — The origin of this dread — Misunderstanding the Spirit's character 
 and work — Thomas Walsh — Wesley's opinion — The only antidote — 
 Special guards for the Spirit's work — The Holy Ghost same in cha- 
 racter as Christ — Unchbistianizino others— Men judged according 
 "" to their light — Love for truth — John Wesley with his Bible — His 
 state before conversion — The attitude towards light all-important — 
 A CHECK ON industry — Holy Spirit not a servant — When labor is 
 best that will be the manner of Divine Guidance. 245-257 
 
 CHAP. XXVII. 
 
 LIVING TKSTIHONT. 
 
 Reasons for them .268-269 
 
XVi CONTENTS. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF REV. B. SHERLOCK. 
 
 s. 
 
 Brought up religiously — Converted at 16 — A few years after perfected 
 in love — Did not last — Why — Resolutions not part of God's plan— 
 Obtained and lost the blessing many times — Wrote letters in Otiar- 
 dian on the subject — One of the founders of the Canada Holiness 
 Association — History of Association work — Holy Spirit sole cause of 
 holiness — Baptized into the Holy Ghost — Guidance of the Spirit — 
 Now complete satisfaction — Constantly guided — Increased useful- 
 ness 259-265 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF ISAAC ANDERSON. 
 
 Object of the writer — Born near Gait — Education limited — First effort 
 to be a Chrictian — First visit to a church at the age of 13 — Converted 
 after a severe conflict — Joins the church — A life of sinning and re- 
 penting — Came to Toronto, 1870 — Finally restored, 1880 — Led into 
 blessing of holiness — Perpetual cleansing — Joseph Cook's works — 
 How to lead a justified life — The only Holiness meeting in the city 
 — How to live a holy business life — The secret found — How business 
 is done — Domestic afflictions — God's grace sufficient 265-275 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE 4)F MRS. McMAHON. 
 
 Bom near Lake Ontario — The power of God realized — The dawning of 
 spiritual knowledge — The beginning of spiritual conflict — Early love 
 for Christ, followed by conflict — Tfature of this conflict — Church 
 work — An enigma — Sorrows and their result — Study of the work of 
 the Spirit — New Year's conseciation — Failure — The remedy — Clear 
 light — Rest secured — Its description 275-281 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF REV. A. TRUAX. 
 
 Conversion clear — Prayer to "stay His hand" — Comparative failure — 
 The blessing of perfect love — How obtained — Disappointment — How 
 to know the will of God the question — Grimsby Park — Cry for cer- 
 tain knowledge— The fight of faith— Victory 281-284 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OP J. K. CRANSTON. 
 
 Converted during the great revival at Gait — At Port Hope — At Wood- 
 stock — In bus^esB at Gait — Experience dot satisfactory —Experience 
 of other Christians the same — Mr. Caldwell's experience— Close ex- 
 amination thereof — Helpful experience of others — Receiving the 
 Comforter 284 288 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 • 99 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 Howheit when He, the Spirit of truth, ia come. He shall guide you into all 
 
 truth. — John xvi. 13. 
 
 THE office of the third person in the Divine Trinity 
 which is indicated by the promise of Jesus, " He 
 shall guide you into all truth," is of supreme import- 
 ance in its relation to man. 
 
 And yet, whilst the practical value of this attitude of 
 " The Father's co-eternal Paraclete " can scarcely be ex- 
 aggerated, no part of the redemptive scheme has been so 
 carelessly examined, or so completely ignored. 
 
 Over a score of years ago, the writer remarked to a 
 brother minfeter, " The book on Divine guidance has yet 
 to be written," and still this .statement is true. So, in 
 striving to meet this need, we are conscious of exploring 
 a terra incognita, as far as other book writers are con- 
 cerned. 
 
 True it is that here and there a chaptei*, in some work 
 on the Higher Life, promises the searcher after truth 
 some definite help. But, like the mirage of the desert, 
 the promise and its fulfilment are separated by infinite 
 distances. 
 
 17 
 
18 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 We mean, that no delinite, positive teaching concerning 
 the word all in the promise of Christ can be found in 
 any of the writings on this subject. 
 ^ For instance, no writer takes the position that all in 
 the representative passage above quoted means every 
 truth without limitation, nor, on the other hand, that it 
 means no truth whatever. 
 
 Hence they are forced to make it mean some truths. 
 But they fail to give a clear, distinct division, showing, 
 on the one hand, what truths it does mean, and on the 
 other hand, what it does not include in its apparently 
 comprehensive scope ; and hence, of pure necessity, they 
 leave the whole subject where they found it, plus the 
 mystery resulting from their inconsequential reasonings. 
 
 We crave the patience of the reader at this point, ask- 
 ing to be borne with in re-stating this matter, because of 
 a seeming censure on otliers, and an implied superiority 
 on the part of the present writer. 
 
 It is our design to investigate this subject after an 
 exhaustive manner, to secure, if possible, definite, positive 
 views concerning it. Now, but very little thought must 
 make it evident to all that no definite creed^ can be for- 
 mulated, unless all in the promise of Christ is made to 
 mean either every truth or no truth. But as all Chris- 
 tian writers, who have hitherto written on this question, 
 have adopted neither of these extremes, it follows that 
 no clear, definite creed could be formulated by them con- 
 cerning the whole subject. 
 
 For, as before intimated, the absolute necessity de- 
 volved on them of dividing all truths into what would 
 come within the province of this promise, and what 
 would not 
 
DIVINE ftUIDANCB. 19 
 
 But this task, manifestly, cannot be performed short 
 of a direct revelation. The revelation is omitted in the 
 Bil)le, hence it is beyond the possible as far as these or 
 any other writers are concerned. 
 
 Therefore it is self-evident, that all writers who com- 
 mence or continue to write on this subject, on the as- 
 sumption that all truth in this statement of the Saviour 
 means only 8ome truth, must inevital)fy come short of 
 clear, definite teaching concerning the whole doctrine of 
 Divine guidance. 
 
 Now as we, without hesitation, take the extreme view 
 of the passage which maintains that " all truth " means 
 all truth without limitation as to time, place or quantity, 
 that the promise carries its face value, we suggest, that 
 however startled the reader may be by this announce- 
 ment, if he should turn away from investigation along 
 this positive line-r-he turns away from the only possible 
 solution of this problem of the ages. 
 
 We submit, therefore, that our extreme platform can 
 confidently invite the careful investigation of every gen- 
 uine truth-lover, not only because of its promises con- 
 cerning truth ultimate in this direction, but because of 
 the absolute certainty of its being found in no other 
 direction. 
 
 If the frank, unmistakable statement of our creed on 
 this vital question, at the very beginning of our writings, 
 should deter some from venturing with us to examine 
 freely the whole subject, we believe it will arrest the 
 attention of all to the fact, that at the least we hold the 
 courage of our convictions, and therefore leave no room 
 for temptations to conceal our real sentiments, or hide 
 them behind reasonings many or multiplied verbiage. 
 
^ ■ DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 But we demand in this investigation what may startle 
 still more, and mayhap deter the inveterate curiosity- 
 seeker from further perusal of the book. For we main- 
 tain that a genuine love of the truth, as truth, must cha- 
 racterize him who would investigate successfully this 
 subject; a truth-loving spiii'that will evince its genu- 
 ineness by gladly and recklessly incorporating into the 
 life whatsoever appears, on mature investigation, to have 
 the imprimatur of Christ — the embodiment of truth — 
 on it. 
 
 For we are possessed with the conviction that all others, 
 whether cursory readers or close students of these chap- 
 ters, will rise from their investigation with unsatisfied 
 longings. 
 
 Like as the fabled ivory gates of fairy land are said 
 to refuse to open to him whose soul is not pure and free 
 from stain, fo the golden gate into the knowledge or the 
 truth as it is in Jesus refuses to respond to the touch of 
 him who cannot from the heart say to the great Captain 
 of our salvation, " Lord, I will follow Thee whithersoever 
 Thou goest." 
 
 Hence our investigation must proceed along the line, 
 not of curiosity, but of earnest quest after truth — truth 
 to be embraced and lived out in the life so soon as all 
 reasonable demands of the soul concerning its genuine- 
 ness are met. 
 
 Let not then the reader be surprised if we approach 
 this subject after a sort unexpected and unusual. For 
 our first effort shall be, not to meet the many objections 
 that on every hand are urged against this extreme teach- 
 ing, but to examine Scripture utterance, as if examining 
 authoritative, dogmatic teaching concerning this thing. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 21 
 
 Certainly we do not ignore the patent fact that ahnost 
 every writer of note, who is known in the religious world 
 as a specialist on the subject of holiness, has taken up his 
 parable against ourviews on this theme, and has attempted 
 to refute them. 
 
 But this fact, to the thoughtful mind, in place of being 
 a prima facie evidence of our position being a false one, 
 furnishes some proof for the contrary tht)Ught. That is, 
 it is evidence that it is because of conscious lack of defi- 
 nite belief in this direction that such visible agitation, in 
 the minds of the ablest writers, has been evinced. 
 
 For if one with our antecedents and surroundings had 
 antagonized any one truth of general acceptance — a truth, 
 we remark, whose dimensions and results were fully un- 
 derstood and defined — how utterly impossible for him to 
 attract attention further than a passing remark, embody- 
 ing pity or contempt. That such widespread attention 
 has been aroused to the subject of the guidance of the 
 Holy Spirit, can only be explained on the assumption 
 that this truth is of vital importance, and that the views 
 held by even our foremost writers on the subject are loose 
 and uncertain. All of which is our excuse, not only for 
 striving to gain the ear of the public, but also for asking 
 that attention sufficiently long to study the subject of 
 Divine guidance thoroughly. 
 
2S DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 / 
 
 ''. 1, 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 THE SCRIPTURAL ARGUMENT. 
 
 To the law and the tfMimony : if they speak not accordini' to this word, it 
 is because there is no Ihjht in than. — Isaiah viii, 20. 
 
 I^HAT the Holy Spirit was promised as guide during 
 the Gospel dispens^ation is admitted by all readers 
 " of the Bible. So, at first sight, it seems like wast- 
 ing needlessly the time of the reader in dealing with 
 argument or Scripture reference to establish a univer- 
 sally received truth. And yet, when we come to the full 
 consideration of the word all, it will be found needfuh 
 for our continued belief in the general truth, to realize 
 on what a sclid foundation it rests. 
 
 The fact of being guided after a supernatural way, is 
 not a new thought, for the first time mentioned in the 
 New Testament, or as being confined to the Gospel dis- 
 pensation. * 
 
 As a matter of history, it occupies a very prominent 
 place in all preceding dispensations. 
 
 Immediately after the fall of our first parents, sacred 
 history represents the guilty pair as having direct com- 
 munication with the Divine mind, and during this in- 
 terview they received definite instructions suited to their- 
 present needs. 
 
 So, too, both Cain and Abel had intercourse with 
 Heaven — Abel learning, of a certainty, that his sacrifice 
 yf&s accepted of God, and Cain, that liis was rejected, 
 
' DIVINE GUIDANCE. % 23 
 
 Of Enoch, it is narrated that he walked with God, and 
 that walk, not to be meaningless, must imply direct in- 
 tercourse between the two. 
 
 Noah distinctly obtained the mind of God, not only 
 concerning general truth, but also concerning minute 
 details in preparing his ark of safety. ' 
 
 In the same way Abram had communication with the 
 invisible Jehovah, and so firm was his belief in this fact, 
 that he shaped his whole life to accord with this belief. 
 Not, we again remark, his general belief in God, but his 
 definite faith in the fact that he personally received com- 
 munications from Gol. 
 
 In the days of Moses, this general belief that God oc- 
 casionally communicated with individual man, was estab- 
 lished as the great central truth of the Jewish Church. 
 The fact was insisted on, that there would always be a 
 class of men to whom God would communicate sufficient 
 knowledge for the passing needs of the nation, as a whole, 
 and for each individual thereof. This knowledge was to 
 be given to such prophets as would, from time to time, 
 be raised up, until Messiah should come. 
 
 Minute instructions and rules were given whereby the 
 people might recognize, and follow the true prophets, and 
 detect, and reject the false. 
 
 But notice well the fact, that ail were not priests or 
 prophets. But all might have access to God, through 
 them, to learn His mind, both in national and individual 
 matters, whether sacred or secular. 
 
 What more secular matter could be brought before 
 God> throvigh His prophet, than the straying away of 
 the asses of Kish ? And yet we find Saul, as a matter 
 
fl^ DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 v 
 
 of course, inquiring of Samuel concerning this ordinary, 
 secular matter, plainly indicating thereby the general 
 custom of the day. We find, too, that Samuel received 
 him without rebuke and fully met him in this his wish. 
 
 True it is that weightier matters, of national import- 
 ance, were connected with his visit to Samuel, at that 
 time ; but of these we speak not now, for they, in no 
 way, detract from the thought we are here making pro- 
 minent, viz., that it was the privilege of any Jew to find 
 out a prophet of the Lord, and inquire of God, at his 
 mouth, concerning any matter, whether sacred or secular, 
 which affected him as an individual. 
 
 That is, whilst the Israelite had the written law, and 
 the sacrificial institutions of Moses, they had in no sense 
 impaired or lessened the advantages of the Patriarchal 
 dispensation. Men were still raised up, who, like Abra- 
 ham, Jacob, or Moses, could have direct communication 
 with Heaven, and be a channel of communication for 
 others. Nay, in this matter there was apparently a de- 
 cided improvement upon former times. 
 
 The heathen ivorld still under the Patriarchal dispen- 
 sation. — It may seem like turning aside from sober argu- 
 ment to the enchanting fields of speculation, to suggest, 
 at this point, that the simplest explanation of God's gov- 
 ernment of the world is in the thought that, before 
 Pentecost, all who did not come under the influence of 
 Judaism, still remained under the Patriarchal dispensa- 
 tion ; and that still it is true, that all who hear not the 
 Gospel, have assured to them — in their relations to God 
 and one another — all the advantages that existed in the 
 times of Nahor and Laban. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 25 
 
 '■' ■ ■ ■ ■ . *.- " . 
 
 But the leading thou«;ht of this chapter is. that indi- 
 vidual men had distinct audience with Deity in all the 
 dispensations of grace up to the time of the ushering in 
 of the New, last dispensation. And further, that the 
 outcome of those communications with Heaven was 
 positive guidance in matters temporal as well as spiritual. 
 
 Need we transform ourselves into a concordance here, 
 for the convenience of our readers, and burden the text 
 with numerous, quoted verses of the Bible ? We believe 
 the memories of most readers will more pleasantly accom- 
 plish this task. 
 
 Direct Divine guidance is brought out in a multitude 
 of passages, as incidents in the lives of Scripture worthies. 
 To simply mention such names as Abraham, Jacob, Jo- 
 seph, Moses, Joshua, Manoah, Samuel, Saul, David, Jon- 
 athan, and a host of others, causes these incidents to flash 
 before the mind's eye, in bright panoramic vision, until 
 the long procession of events of this character seems Hke 
 a glowing stream of Heaven's own brightness forging its 
 way through all the dark past, till it is lost in the exceed- 
 ing glory of Pentecost. 
 
 But we yield to the temptation of prolonging the view 
 at one point, and ask lengthened attention to the incident 
 connected with David's exploits at Keilah. 
 
 It was whilst David was in hiding with a few hundred 
 men from the army of Saul, that he heard of the Philis- 
 tines making military raids on his countrymen at Keilah, 
 and distressing them with all the calamities of putty war- 
 fare. 
 
 Now David was a patriot of the highest type, and this 
 news aroused him to foigetfuluess of his own perilous 
 
26 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 situation and to an ea.'er desire to succour his distressed 
 countrymen, and so, with that reckless valor which cha- 
 racterized him, he resolved to go to their help. 
 
 But whilst David was a man of war, and a true patriot, 
 above all he was a man of God. That is, however, ob- 
 scured at times, the religious element in him was the 
 highest of all motives. Hence he checked his fiery im- 
 pulse sufficiently to inquire of God as to whether or no 
 he should go. 
 
 The narrative is short and simple, and goes not into 
 details as to how he talked with God. But this is sug- 
 gestive of the fact, that it was not considered, in those 
 days, an extraordinary matter for any man, under pecu- 
 liar circumstances, to inquire of God concerning his life 
 work. 
 
 And let it be well remembered here, that David's claims 
 to being a prophet were by no means then fully recog- 
 nized. This is shown by the fact, that his followers 
 objected to the expedition, and with apparently good 
 reasons. " And David's men said unto him, Behold, we 
 be afraid here in Judah ; how much more, then, if we 
 come to Keilah against the armies of the Philistines ?" 
 
 Now this reasoning, on the part of his men, seemed to 
 be unanswerable from the standpoint of reason and com- 
 mon sense. Accordingly, David did not stay to meet it 
 after the modern pattern, for it is added, " Then David 
 inquired of the Lord yet again. And the Lord answered 
 him and^aid. Arise, go down to Keilah : for I will deliver 
 the Philistines into thine hand." 
 
 And now it appears from the story, that their objec- 
 tions were fully met, solely on the ground that in some 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 27 
 
 way God had made known to them, through David, the 
 fact that the expedition would be both safe and successful. 
 
 But again they are in a dilemma. Tidings are brought 
 that Saul is coming against them. Two courses are now 
 open to them, viz., to remain and resist Saul behind the 
 walls of the city, or to take refuge in flight. 
 
 It would seem that the first method had the prefer- 
 ence in their thoughts. But there was one element of 
 uncertainty connected with the matter. The inhabitants 
 of Keilah, however grateful to-day, when they should 
 see that to espouse the cause of David might prove the 
 destruction of their city, might falter in their loyalty to 
 him, turn traitors in the fiiw.e of battle, and so betray 
 David and his men into the hands of their enemies. 
 
 Evidently, this was a matter no amount of reasoning 
 could settle, for even if the professions of the people, as 
 to their willingness to stand by their protectors, were 
 sincere and honest, it would not follow that they would 
 not fail them in the time of real danger, through fear. 
 Hence, the narrative goes on to say, that again David 
 sought the mind of God in his perplexity, and again he 
 was met by definite replies to all his questions. 
 
 But in this case there were more formalities used, or 
 at all events mentioned, for Abiathar, the priest, in the 
 meantime, had joined his company, having with him an 
 ephod. Hence, we are informed, that David now recog- 
 nized him as the via media of approach to God, according 
 to the laws of Moses, and in the use of the prescribed 
 means he secured the Divine direction he so much 
 desired. 
 
 And notice, that the communications from God were 
 
2S DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 clear and explicit. " And he said to Abiathar the priest, 
 Bring hither the ephod. Then said David, Lord God 
 of Israel, thy servant hath certainly heard that Saul 
 seeketh to come to Keilah, to destroy the city for my 
 sake. Will the men of Keilah deliver me up into his 
 hand ? Will Saul come down as thy servant hath heard ? 
 O Lord God of Israel, I beseech thee tell thy sorvant. 
 And the Lord said. He will come down. Then said 
 David, Will the men of Keilah deliver me and my men 
 into the hands of Saul ? And the Lord said. They will 
 deliver thee up." 
 
 We draw especial attention to the clear-cut nature of 
 these questions and answavs, and to the implicit faith in 
 them of all concerned. There was no hesitation on the 
 part of David and his men in acting on them. No spec-« 
 ulations concerning the nature of the business in hand, 
 as to whether it was sacred or secular, seemed to inter- 
 fere with their prompt aetion, and no doubts rent the 
 band in sunder. They simply acted as if it was an or- 
 dinary matter. God had been appealed to, in their diffi- 
 culty, in the appointed way, and His reply settled the 
 whole matter. 
 
 Now this, we maintain, is a well authenticated and 
 circumstantially related specimen of Divine guidance 
 under the i^rmer dispensation. But it is clearly revealed 
 that the old is done away. True, but it is as clearly 
 stated botli by prophet and apt^sUe, yea, by Christ Him- 
 self, that it wfcs in order to give place to something 
 better. 
 
 Hence our argum» nt that whatever Divine guidance 
 may or may nc ' b?, ct the present time, any represents- 
 
DIVINE OUlDANCfi. 29 
 
 tion thereof which, in practical advantages to us as indi- 
 viduals, does not measure up to and far surpass those 
 enjoyed in David's times, cannot, in the nature of the case, 
 be all that is warranted by the teaching of Scripture. 
 
 Then, too, in all parts of the Bible, how vividly is the 
 fact of Divine guidance brought out in rapturous utter- 
 ance, whether of fervent prayer for guidance, or thanks- 
 giving for guidance received. " Thou wilt guide me with 
 Thy counsel." " The steps of a good man are ordered by 
 the Lord." " The meek will He guide in judgment." 
 " Commit thy way unto the Lord, trust also in Him, and 
 He shall bring it to pass," " He will give His angels 
 charge over thee, to keep thee in all thy ways." " He 
 guided them in the wilderness like a flock." " And 
 guided them by the skilfulness of His hands." " Thou 
 in thy mercy hast led forth the people which thou hast 
 redeemed : thou hast guided them in thy strength unto 
 thy holy habitation." These, it will be readily admitted, 
 are but specimens of a vast number of similar passages. 
 
 And here, too, the element of definiteness is not want- 
 ing, but runs, like a golden thread, through all generali- 
 ties. Indeed, many of the rhapsodies of the Old Testament 
 are founded, like those of Moses and Deborah on the banks 
 of the Red Sea, on instances of distinct, definite Divine 
 guidance. 
 
 Thus is made evident, even to the cursory reader of 
 the Old Testament, the fact that the doctrine of Divine 
 guidance was not only accepted as part of the old dis- 
 Densations, but was made to do practical service in the 
 life-work of the saints of every age. And moreover, we 
 see that this consisted not merely of some general recog- 
 
30 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 nition of a Divine superintendence of them and their life- 
 work, but was known as a distinct element in their lives, 
 as positive to them as the intuitions of their intellect. 
 And, further, they followed these intimations of God 
 with even greater confidence than the instincts and oper- 
 ations of their minds. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 31 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 DIVINE GUIDANCE BETTER UNDER THE NEW 
 THAN UNDER THE OLD DISPENSATION. 
 
 THERE are many prophetic utterances which distinctly 
 point to a vast practical iinpiovement in this matter 
 in the New Dispensation. 
 
 Moses, after he had completed the work given him to 
 do, seemed to realize its defective nature, and promised 
 the world that another, and last prophet would be raised 
 up, who would complete the work he had in hand, and 
 usher in a perfected dispensation. 
 
 " I will put my law in their inward parts and write it 
 in their hearts. . . . And they shall teach no more 
 every man his neighbor, and every man his brother, say- 
 ing. Know the Lord; for they shall all know me, from 
 the least of them unto the c^reatest of them, saith the 
 Lord." — Jer. xxxi. 33. 
 
 Here a contrast evidently is instituted, implying that 
 there was to be a vast superiority, in the matter of know- 
 ing the mind of God, in the New Dispensation, as com- 
 pared with the Old. 
 
 This contrast was to be seen in two respects, viz., con- 
 cerning the written law, and concerning the communica- 
 tions from God th. ough His prophets. 
 
 In the one case, the laws of God. engraven on brjiss 
 and stone, or written on other material, are evidently 
 
3f DIVINE GUIDANCE 
 
 contrasted with some intuitional or heart knowledge of 
 the will of God concerning us. 
 
 Of course all the advantages and disadvantages of a 
 written code of laws were fully known to the prophet, 
 and yet he foretells something vastly superior to these 
 things with which they were familiar and as distinctly 
 contrasted therewith. 
 
 And mark, that this contrast could scarcely be fulfilled 
 by simply subtracting some of the old, cancelled laws, 
 and adding othc ;s in their place, as is the teaching of 
 many, for the prophet more than suggests a radical 
 change in the manner of knowing the mind of God. 
 
 This contrast was fully recognized by the Apc^tle 
 Paul, in the eighth and ninth chapters of his letter to 
 the Hebrews, in a passage too lengthy for quotation 
 here, but which will repay the reader for a close study 
 in this connection. For it will be noticed that the writer 
 took it for granted that his readers understood this con- 
 trast as indicated, and so he argued on that assumption. 
 
 But in the third chapter of his second epistle to the 
 Corinthians, he uses the same figure of contrast in a 
 somewhat modified form, and likens the influence of his 
 Corinthian converts on the world around them to the 
 work of the Holy Spirit in their heart. " Ye are our 
 epistle written in our hearts, known and read of all men. 
 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 tablets of stone, but 
 in fleshly tables of the heart." 
 
 Here Paul evidently has reference to the prophecy 
 under consideration, and contrasts the Spirit's work as 
 
mVlNE GUIDANCE. 38 
 
 teacher or guide in this dispensation, with the written 
 law of former times, in two ways, rirst by the fact that 
 they, his converts, by their Christian testimony and con- 
 sistent lives, unlike the dead letter of the law, appealed, 
 as living teachers, directly to them in all the warmth of 
 personal contact ; and second, that his conscious or heart- 
 knowledge of them as his children in the Gospel con- 
 trasted with cold intellectual knowledge, even as the 
 knowledge which comes directly from the Spirit con- 
 trasts with that which is the outcome of the study of 
 the written law. 
 
 Paul emphasizes the position for which we are con- 
 tending, viz , that prophecy, in contrasting the old dis- 
 pensation with the new, concerning Divine guidance, 
 plainly predicted that the Holy Spirit, as guide into all 
 truth, would supersede all laws whether human or Di- 
 vine, and be to each and every one, so receiving him, the 
 law of God, written on his heart, so that he might know 
 God, and the things freely given to him of God. 
 
 And secondly, this was to do away with the cumber- 
 some prophetic order. In the old dispensation it was 
 necessary either to be a prophet oneself, or to find out a 
 prophet, in order to " know the Lord," that is, find out 
 the mind of God concerning the things which affected 
 the individual either in his single or corporate capacity. 
 But all could not be prophets. And there were false as 
 well as true prophets. Hence, manifestly, there were 
 possibilities of failure in obtaining the mind of God 
 which could not be ignore<i. 
 
 Hazael, as messenger from his master, the King of 
 Damascus, to Elijah, obtained the mind of God concern- 
 
34 DIVINE atrlDANCE. 
 
 ing the king's sickness, but the king, through the ser- 
 vant's treachery, failed to know and profit thereby. 
 
 Ahab, although he obtained the true word of the Lord 
 from one prophet, was perplexed by the confident con- 
 trary utterances of numerous false prophets. 
 
 And so, when wicked kings, or worldly-minded pro- 
 phets ruled the land, they filled the Lord's description of 
 the Scribes and Pharisees — " Ye entered not in your- 
 selves, and them that were entering in ye hindered." 
 
 But, by contrast, this whole machiner}' of approach to 
 God is swept away in Christ, who has sent the Spirit to 
 wait on every child of God, and by personal, direct com- 
 munication, guide him into all truth so that, as prophet, 
 he need not teach the people, saying, *' Know ye the 
 Lord," nor, as searching for one of the Lord's prophets, 
 need he inquire amongst his neighbours, " Know ye the 
 Lord ?" in order to inquire of the Lord at his mouth. 
 For the grand contrasted picture is, " All shall know Me, 
 from the least even to the greatest." 
 
 Now let this glorious contrast be kept in mind, and it 
 pours such a flood of light on the prophecies concerning 
 this thing that we wonder not at the strong language of 
 Paul when, beholding this wondrous disparity, he ex- 
 claims, " The former had no glory by reason of the glory 
 that excelleth." 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 35 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE GUIDANCE OF THE SPIRIT EVEN BETTER 
 THAN THE PERSONAL PRESENCE OF CHRIST. 
 
 OUR Saviour not only endorsed this view of the case, 
 but taught that Divine guidance, on and after Pen- 
 tecost, would exceed in advantages even the short 
 dispensation when He Himself was present with His 
 disciples. " It is expedient for you that I go away, for 
 if I go not away the Comforter will not come to you ; 
 but if I go away I will send Him unto you." — John xvi. 7. 
 
 Now Jesus proclaimed Himself to be the light of the 
 world, as having all power, not only to interpret all laws 
 — human and Divine — in their relation to individual man, 
 but even to aimul them when needful. " In this place is 
 one greater than the Sabbath." 
 
 Now, from this His power to instruct and guide into 
 ultimate truth. His disciples secured all possible benefit. 
 For He did not confine Himself, in His ministry to them, 
 to giving such general truths as are found in the sermon 
 on the Mount, but also interested Himself in the minute 
 details of every-day life, as witness His direction to Peter 
 to catch the fish which would furnish the sum needed to 
 pay their tribute money. 
 
 Moreover, He endeared Himself to them by the mag- 
 netism of a fiill-orbed friendship, until Peter only voiced 
 the attachment of all when he declared he could die for 
 
86 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Him. From this impulsive utterance of Peter and the 
 ready endorsation of the sentiment by the others, as well 
 as by other expressions in the Gospels, we are led to 
 believe that the disciples to a great extent appreciated 
 the advantages of their close relations to the Messiah. 
 Hence, when He spoke of leaving them, they evinced 
 genuine sorrow of heart : " Because I have said these 
 things unto you, sorrow hath filled your heart." 
 
 And Jesus evidently did not discount this their grief, 
 or minify the cause of it. No tricks of voluntary hu- 
 mility prevented Him from frankly admitting the great 
 value of His personal presence with them. He acknow- 
 ledges it all : " Ye call me Lord and Master, and ye say 
 well, for so I am." 
 
 And yet with this full recognition on the part of all 
 of the great, the inestimable blessings which the disciples 
 possessed by the visible presence of their Master, Christ 
 taught them that the advent of " the Comforter, which 
 is the Holy Ghost," to abifle with them and to guide them 
 into all truth, would be such an improvement upon all 
 former blessings, that on the whole it would be better 
 for them that He should leave them. " Nevertheless, I 
 tell you the truth. It is expedient for you that I go 
 away, for if I go not away the Comforter will not come 
 unto you, but if I go T will send Him unto you." 
 
 Therefore we contend that the doctrine of Divine 
 guidance, as a vital part of the New Covenant, must take 
 a form in practical life, not only to measure up to and 
 surpass all possible privileges in this respect under the 
 Old Testament dispensation, but must even exceed the 
 privileges enjoyed by Matthew and John during the 
 three years' ministry of our Lord on earth. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 37 
 
 'V.' ■■ ~ ' -vrV.' ', 
 
 And as might be expected from such a teacher, this 
 thought runs through many of His expressions. For, in 
 His aUusions to the future gift of the Holy Ghost, He 
 seemed always to imply something of good surpassing 
 the possibilities of His own times. 
 
 Hear Him cry in the audience of all the people, "He 
 that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of 
 his belly shall flow rivers cf living water." And this 
 He said, in the spirit of prophecy, concerning the coming 
 of the Holy Ghost, as is carefully remarked by the evan- 
 gelist. Certainly this carries the mind of the hearer for- 
 ward to something still better in the future. 
 
 John the Baptist, as narrated by all four evangelists, 
 proclaimed the chief end of the coming of Christ to be 
 that He might make it possible for the Holy Ghost to 
 come and abide in the world in some fuller sense than 
 ever before. 
 
 " In that day ye shall know that I am in my Father 
 and ye in me and I in you." The day of Pentecost, here 
 alluded to, was to be to them the real revelation of Him- 
 self, for until that time their eyes were to be holden that 
 they should not fully know Him. 
 
 Again after His resurrection, when first he met with 
 them, in the inner room, the doors being shut. He 
 breathed on them and said, " Receive ye the Holy 
 Ghost." As if to remind them that not His death, how- 
 ever necessary in the grand redeuiption scheme, not His 
 resurrection glory, however essential as proving to them 
 His divinity and their sure hope of a coming re?urrec- 
 tion, either single or unitedly, were of such importance 
 to them as the great coming event which would take 
 place in the near future. 
 
88 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 And as a confirmation of this view we point to the 
 fact that all His teachings continually were, as so many 
 finger boards, pointing to that grand event which would 
 complete the scheme of redemption, and fit them not only 
 to be pai-tners of His joy, but also to be efficient co- 
 workers with Him in gathering together out of all kin- 
 dreds a people to His name. 
 
 Strange that with this plain statement of Christ as to 
 the superiority of the reign of the Holy Ghost, any still 
 should build their hopes of the triumph of Christianity 
 on any coming dispensation as superior to the present. 
 
 For certainly it would leave the words of Christ when 
 describing the advent of the Spirit to complete His work 
 meaningless, if His coming again in His bodily presence 
 to this world would usher in a still better dispensation 
 of grace. 
 
 Does not the sighing for something further awaken 
 the suspicion that the full glory of this, the Spirit's day, 
 has not yet been realized, and are we certain that Paul 
 would not meet these expectations with the question, 
 " Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye believed ?" 
 
 But, not to pursue this thought farther, we recur to 
 the leading argument of the chapter. Christ himself did 
 teach that the doctrine of Divine guidance was to take 
 to itself a new significance that would enhance its prac- 
 tical value to man far beyond what it was in former 
 dispensations. Indeed He implied in His teachings a 
 minuteness of guidance which exhausts language to ex- 
 press. 
 
 How else explain His instructions concerning care for 
 the body, concerning the government of thought, even 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 39 
 
 under sucli trying circumstances as when arraigned be- 
 fore the tribunals of earth, with the death penalty as the 
 outcome of failure on our part to make a good defence ? 
 How do the will of God on earth as it is done in heaven 
 unless provision V)e made for knowing momentarily what 
 that good and perfect will of God is ? How be perfect 
 as our Father in heaven is perfect, unless the Holy Spirit 
 shall have right of way in our being and thus make 
 possible every requirement of God moment by moment 
 through successive years ? How, in fine, make good 
 Christ's claim that His " yoke is easy and His burden 
 light," when He demands that we judge our lives by 
 such sublime standards, if some arrangement does not 
 co-exist with His commands whereby we may have 
 intuitional power to know the will of God in all parti- 
 culars as it affects us, as well as have the ability to per- 
 form that which is revealed to us ? 
 
 To leave out this part of the plan of salvation would' 
 loosen the very foundation of the superstructure, and 
 speedily bring the whole building of God, consisting of 
 commands, denunciations and promises, to the ground in 
 one indistinguishable mass of useless ruin. 
 
40 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 CHRIST'S WORDS MORE FULLY CONSIDERED. 
 
 BUT manifestly the words oi the lost teacher of ulti- 
 mate truth, the man (Jhrist Jesus, must measure the 
 importance and extent of the doctrine of guidance 
 through the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Hence it is absolutely necessary to examine carefully 
 and minutely all His teachings on this subject, with the 
 full understanding that there is no appeal from them. 
 Neither prophet nor apostle can be made to occupy any 
 place higher than illustrator or enforcer of His utterances. 
 
 Now, whilst all four evangelists mention John the 
 Baptist's declaration concerning Jesus as He who should 
 baptize with the Holy Ghost, Luke and John are the 
 ones who more minutely narrate Christ's teaching con- 
 cerning the gift and work of the Spirit. 
 
 The reason of this is obvious, for Matthew and Mark 
 seem to have confined themselves to the works and teach- 
 ings of Christ as they affected the people at the time. 
 Their histories suddenly close at the resurrection, with 
 just a few words of His final counsels and directions to 
 the eleven disciples, Matthew not even mentioning the 
 fact of the ascension. 
 
 But with Luke and John the case is very different. 
 For Luke continues the history of (Christianity in the 
 Acts of the Apostles, and naturally dwells on and em- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 41 
 
 phasizes the connecting link between his two histories, 
 which was the distinct promise of the Holy Ghost : " And 
 behold I send forth the promise of my Father upon you : 
 but tarry ye in the city until ye be clothed with power 
 from on high." — Luke xxiv. 49. " And being assembled 
 together with them, he charged them not to depart from 
 Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the Father, 
 which, said he, ye heard from me : for John indeed bap- 
 tized with water : but ye shall lie baptized with the Holy 
 Ghost not many days hence." — Acts i. 4, 5. 
 
 And it is worthy of notice how the exceeding import- 
 ance of this promise was emphas^^ed, not only by the 
 declarations of Jesus to that effect, but also by an inci- 
 dental illustration. For the disciples in their simplicity 
 imagined that now their dreams of a temporal kingdom 
 were to be realized, and put the thought in the form of a 
 question before Him. 
 
 But Christ, in place of taking time to disabuse their 
 minds of this expectation by entering into a lengthened 
 description of the nature and object of His coming into 
 the world, to live and die and rise again, simply drew 
 their attention again to the great coming event, the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost, intimating that He would guide them 
 into all truth concerning these things. " But ye shall 
 receive power, when the Holy Ghost is come upon you : 
 and ye shall be my witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in 
 all Judea and Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of 
 the earth." — Acts i. 8. 
 
 What a lesson for would-be teachers of the truths of 
 revelation ! Does it not admonish us to confine ourselves 
 chiejiy to showing men how to secure the gift of the Holy 
 
42 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Ghost, in the confident expectation that He, the Spirit of 
 truth, would make plain to them all needful knowledge ? 
 
 And further, what vast importance we are taught by 
 this act of the Saviour to attach to this wonderful gift 
 of God to us ! 
 
 John, in his gospel, is more minute than Luke, in re- 
 producing the words of the Master concerning the Holy 
 Spirit, and because of their great import we quote them 
 entire. 
 
 " 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 tliei Spirit, which they that believed on 
 him were to receive : for the Spirit was not yet given." 
 —John vii. eS8, 39. 
 
 " And I will pray the Father, and he shall give you 
 another Comforter, that he may be with you for ever, 
 even the Spirit of truth : whom the world cannot receive ; 
 for it tleholdeth him not, neither knoweth him : but ye 
 know him ; for he abideth with you, and shall be in you." 
 — John xiv. 16. 
 
 *' These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abid- 
 ing with you. But the ( 'omforter, even the Holy Spirit, 
 whom the Father will send in my name, he shall teach 
 you all things, and bring to your remembrance all that 
 I said unto you." — John xiv. 25. 
 
 '* But when the Comforter is come, whom I will send 
 unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which 
 proceedeth from the Father, he shall bear witness of 
 me." — John xv. 26. 
 
 " Nevertheless I tell you the truth, it is expedient for 
 you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 43 
 
 will not come unto you : but if I go, I will send him 
 unto you. And he, when he is come, will convict the 
 world in respect of sin, and of righteousness, and of 
 judgment : of sin, because they believe not on me : of 
 righteousness, because I go to the Father, and ye behold 
 me no more : of judgment, because the prince of this 
 world is judged. I have yet many things to say unto 
 you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when he, 
 the Spirit of truth, is come, he shall guide you into all 
 truth: for He shall not speak from himself; but what 
 things soever he shall hear, these shall he speak: and he 
 shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He 
 shall glorify me : for he shall take of mine and shall 
 declare it unto you. All things, whatsoever the Father 
 hath, are mine ; therefore said I, that he taketh of mine 
 and shall declare it unto you." — John xvi. 7. 
 
 From these passages it will be seen that the fact of 
 the gift of the Holy Ghost, as a positive promise, to be 
 realized in the near future, is established beyond doubt. 
 And it is also evident from them, that when He should 
 come it would be to remain to the end of time, in the 
 same power and blessing of His first appearing. Further, 
 this manifestation of the Blessed Spirit in believers was 
 to be something entirely distinct from all former mani- 
 festations, and to be vastly more valuable. So much 
 was this to be true, that in the comparison it might be 
 truthfully said, that till the day of Pentecost the Holy 
 Spirit was not given to the world, because Jesus was 
 not yet glorified. 
 
 Again, whilst the Holy Ghost, in taking His place to 
 preside over this dispensation, is describes' as both Era- 
 
44 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 powerer and Comforter to believers, with equal, if not 
 greater emphasis, He is promised to be their instructor 
 and guide. For this office of Instructor or Guide is de- 
 scribed with more minuteness than the others, as careful 
 reading of the above passages will show. 
 
 But it is also seen in the fact that ever and anon 
 Jesus, in His discourses with the disciples, leaves some 
 things incomplete, intimating that when the Holy Spirit 
 came He would fully supplement His sayings, and bring 
 to their consciousness all He wished to say to them, 
 even showing them things to come when needful. 
 
 Then, at different times, the Saviour seemed to be 
 conscious that His words spoken to His disciples, were 
 beyond their comprehension ; but He contented Himself 
 and them with the assurance that at the time of the ad- 
 vent of the Promise of the Father, they would, through 
 the Spirit, fully comprehend them. "In that day ye 
 shall know that I am in my Father, ana ye in me, and I 
 in you." — John xiv. 20. " And in that day ye shall ask 
 me nothing." — John xvi. 23. As if saying that the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost would meet all their desire to know 
 concerning Him and the Father, and would so satisfy 
 them concerning all things, that the sense of want would 
 be obliterated. 
 
 But we also gather this important knowledge, viz. : 
 That whatever of Divine guidance, under former dispen- 
 sations, came to man, from the written oracles of God, 
 or through His prophets, not excepting the Son of God, 
 were, in the Spirit's dispensation, to come through Him, 
 and Him alone. He, the Holy Ghost, is to guide believers 
 into all truth, and He only. Not only 
 
mViNE GUIDANCE. 45 
 
 "Apollo from his shrine 
 Shall no more divine, 
 
 With hollow shriek the steep '^ 
 
 of Delphos leaving," 
 
 at the advent of the Spirit's rule, but even Moses is to 
 vacate the law-giver's seat, and Christ Himself must 
 leave the world lor a little, to reappear in the person of 
 the Holy Ghost, who is to speak only the words of Jesus, 
 and be the direct and only channel of communication 
 between man and God, until Christ shall come again to 
 claim His own forever. 
 
 For if the Holy Spirit is constituted guide into all 
 truth, where is the place for another guide ? And where 
 is the teaching of Christ, the last prophet, that gives 
 authority for any additional guidance ? Besides, where 
 is the need of two-fold or multifold guidance, seeing the 
 Guide Divine is omnipresent, and capable, with inlinite 
 eas3, of individualizing Himself as companion and guest 
 to every single follower of the Lord Jesus Christ ? 
 
46 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 > , ..^. '•. ; ■, 
 
 CHAPTER VT. 
 THE PROMISE FULFILLED. 
 
 SUCH definite and positive promises demanded a 
 speedy and exact fulfilment, else the very character 
 of the promisor would be compromised. 
 
 Accordingly we ha\'e in the Acts of the Apostles a cir- 
 cumstantial history of all these promises fulhlled, and 
 that fulfilment is so complete that no word of apology 
 has ever been called for to excuse real or apparent 
 defects. 
 
 Not only were the highly figurative predictions of the 
 prophets fulfilled to the letter, but also the matter-of- 
 fact descriptions of Christ were completely met. The 
 description use 1 by the Saviour Himself : " Pressed 
 down and shaken together and -running over," only 
 faintly characterizing the gifts of God to man on and 
 since Pentecost. 
 
 And this fulfilment of promises, to be complete, must 
 not only take in their general aspects, but also their 
 particular and minute details. Hence such statements 
 as " He will guide you into all truth," " He will teach 
 you all things. He will bring all things to your remem- 
 brance whatsoever I have said unto you." " He will 
 take of mine and show it unto you." ** He will show 
 you things to come." " Be not anxious beforehand what 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 47 
 
 ye shall speak : but whatsoever shall be given you in 
 that hour, that speak ye : for it is not ye that speak, 
 but the Holy Ghost,"— demand a minute fulfilment in 
 the individual life of the believer. 
 
 And, moreover, these promises clearly embrace every 
 individual child of God, or else they are confined to the 
 twelve apostles. To admit them as spoken to Luke or 
 Paul, in addition to the twelve, at once universalizes 
 them in their application. But there is not the slightest 
 hint at such limitation in the words of Jesus, and few if 
 any since His day have undertaken to so curtail them. 
 
 Now, in support of our contention for the simple, 
 natural meaning of these passages, we ask : Could any 
 one wishing to teach the doctrine of Divine guidance, as 
 applying to all individuals, for all things, and for all 
 time, use stronger or more intelligible language to con- 
 vey this meaning, than is used by Christ ? Even place 
 John's words, which express their fulfilment, beside 
 them, and there is nothing iil them either strained or 
 extravagant : 
 
 " Ye have an unction from the Holy One, and ye know 
 all things." — John ii. 20. 
 
 " But the anointing which ye have received 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." — John ii. 27. 
 
 Thus, according to John, the promises contained in 
 the words of Christ were fulfilled to the letter, to all 
 who, either on or after the day of Pentecost, received 
 and retained the Divine gift. Was anything ever more 
 
48 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 distinctly promised or more minutely fulfilled according 
 to the testimony of actual experience ? 
 
 Nor are we left in a matter of such va.st importance 
 to the words of but one writer, for expressions which 
 are freighted with the same general thought are scat- 
 tered through all the writings of the New Testament. 
 Peter intimates that the normal state of the Christian 
 in this dispensation is, that even when he speaks, he does 
 so as one led of the Spirit : " If any man speak let him 
 speak as the oracles of God," And further, he adds : " If 
 any man minister, let him do it as of the ability that 
 God giveth." 
 
 Of course this might be made to refer to the general 
 truth that all men, even infidels, receive whatever men- 
 tal endowments they are possessed of which render them 
 capable of ministering to the welfare of others from God. 
 
 But we incline to the belief that the apostle alludes 
 here to that intimate union established between the 
 child of God and the Holy Spirit, in this dispensation 
 in which immediate, momentary guidance and ability 
 for all emergencies were implied. But the practical 
 recognition of the Holy Ghost in His intimate relation 
 to Christians, as guide, has been so completely laid aside, 
 that the argument drawn from this passage will be at 
 once pronounced on by many as far-fetched. 
 
 Ii^deed, so strong will be this feeling in the minds of 
 some readers, that common prudence would suggest the 
 propriety of leaving out the passage, with the remarks 
 upon it, altogether, lest the apparently inconclusive 
 argument might tend to lessen the force of other quota- 
 tions in this connection. 
 
divinl: guidance. v a- 49 
 
 But we entreat the patient consideration of all to this 
 further thought, to bring out which prominently has 
 been the chief object of this quotation. During the 
 times of the apostles, whilst the forgiveness of sins was 
 made prominent in the preaching and teaching of all, 
 still greater prominence was given to receiving the Holy 
 Ghost in the Pentecostal sense, and most, if not all, teach- ^ 
 ing to believers recognized walking in the Spirit, that 
 is, being guided by Him into all truth, as the great 
 essential of holy living. Hence, where these were uni- 
 versally accepted truths, simple, and, to us, vague allu- 
 sions to the doctrine of the guidance of the Spirit were 
 understood, at that time, as containing in them the defi- 
 nite teachings of the whole subject. 
 
 Use this key, and see how readily the difficulties of 
 Paul's letter to the Galatians, for example, are overcome. 
 He boldly and pointedly proclaims that they were fallen 
 from grace, because they had appointed unto themselves 
 some times or seasons for special religious observance. 
 That is, they had to an apparently small extent, ceased 
 to walk in the Spirit and substituted the observance of 
 rules and regulations for the one law of the kingdom of 
 grace. 
 
 But so important did the great apostle consider this 
 matter that he pronounced all wjio thus acted as already 
 fallen from grace, and so serious did he consider the evil 
 that like leaven he maintained it would speedily infect 
 and destroy the whole church, unless promptly eradicated. 
 
 How utterly beyond the comprehension of the average 
 Christian of to-day would be an epistle similar to this 
 one, if addreaged to oif^ of our modern churches ! Lan- 
 
 4 
 
50 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 guage which thus fairly unchristianiz(;<l them for observ- 
 ing " days and months, and times and years," would be 
 pronounced on as uncharitable in the extreme. 
 
 Or again, without this key to unlock the whole sub- 
 ject, how unde -stand the most serious charge made 
 against the Corinthians, accusing them of being carnal 
 because one announced himself as having a preference 
 for the teachings of Paul, another for those of Apollos 
 and still another for those of Christ. 
 
 Surely there could be no serious fault here, nor is 
 there when these things are not contrasted with the law 
 of the Spirit. But it was just because such conduct 
 indicated the rejection of the Holy Ghost as guide para- 
 mount into all truth, that Paul combats them with all 
 his might. He was really defending the very citadel of 
 the kingdom of Heaven. Nay, in his zeal he seems even 
 to condemn the effort to obey the precepts of Christ, as 
 laws, when they stood between the soul and the Holy 
 Spirit as the one and only law of the spiritual realm. 
 
 From all of which we gain the distinct, positive know- 
 ledge, that the first teachers of Christianity so recognized 
 the Holy Ghost as guide into all truth, as the Alpha and 
 Omega of all practical knowledge of the will of God, 
 that even apparently slight allusions to the subject can 
 only be interpreted, or understood, by bearing in mind 
 this fact. 
 
 And now it will be seen what a wealth of utterance, 
 all going to establish the fact of the definite fulfilment 
 of Christ's promises concerning the Comforter, may be 
 found in the written word : " Received ye the Spirit by 
 the works of the law or by the h^lj*ing of faith ?" " Are 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 51 
 
 ye so foolish ? having begun in the Spirit, are ye now 
 made perfect in the flesh ?" now glows with light, and 
 is so clear to the understanding that " he may run that 
 readeth it." 
 
 And her 3 we shall delay a little to quote a few of the 
 many passages which give up readily their meaning 
 when this law of interpretation is applied to them. 
 
 " But if any man hath not the spirit of Christ he is 
 none of his," i.e., hath not the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal 
 sense as the law of life. " 
 
 " And if Christ is in you the body is dead because of 
 sin ; but the Spirit is life because of righteousness." 
 
 " Christ in you," meaning the Holy Spirit as guide, or 
 as the one and only law to the soul of the believer. 
 This implies the giving up of all other laws, that is, 
 their death because of failure or sin in their use. But 
 the law of the Spirit secures lifi% because the outcome of 
 obedient walk therein secures a righteous life. 
 
 ** If the Spirit of him that raised up Jesus from the 
 dead dv/elleth in you, he that raised up Christ Jesus 
 from the dead shall quicken also your mortal bodies 
 through his Spirit that dwelleth in you." The Holy 
 Spirit by the same power by which Christ was raised 
 from the dead will enable you, in your own person, to 
 do the whole will of God. 
 
 "But if by the Spirit ye mortify the deeds of the 
 body ye shall live." If through obedience to the Spirit, 
 as the only law of life, you turn alway from all other 
 laws, as a means of holy living, you shall live, that is, 
 succeed in living holy lives. 
 
 •' For as many as are led by the Spirit of God, these 
 
52 DIVINE GUIDANCE. - 
 
 are sons of God." Those who, conscious of the presence 
 of the Spirit, look to Him and to Him alone as guide 
 into all truth, are the spiritual followers of Christ — 
 " sons of God without rebuke." 
 
 " The Spirit also helpeth our infirmity : for we know 
 not how to pray as we ought; but the Spirit himself 
 inaketh intercession for us." That is, in all our devo- 
 tions unless they are begun, continued and ended in the 
 „ Spirit, as our one and only guide in this thing, we of 
 necessity walk in darkness. 
 
 " For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking, 
 but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 No outward expressions of a holy life, the result of fol- 
 lowing rules concerning eating, drinking, or any other 
 outward acts, constitute the kingdom that Christ has 
 set up in the world, but receiving and walking in the 
 Holy Ghost, as the one and only rule of life, constitutes 
 or secures to the believer the joy and peace of God and 
 * a righteous life before men — the true kingdom of God. 
 
 " That the offering up of the Gentiles might be made 
 acceptable, being sanctified by the Holy Ghost." The 
 Holy Ghost received in Pentecostal sense, by Paul's con- 
 verts, as well as by those of Peter, the apostle to the 
 Jews. 
 
 These few of the many such allusions the reader will 
 recognize as taken, at random, from a part of Paul's 
 letter to the Romans, and simply indicate the richness 
 of the golden vein which runs all through the New 
 Testament mine. 
 
 True it is that many of these and like nuggets of 
 precious metal, unless assayed by the proper tests, are 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 63 
 
 passed by as so many cobble-stdnea, and their richness 
 is not discovered. But wlien brought into the Spirit's 
 lealra, and treated by His re-agents, especially when 
 brouglit to the test of actual, personal experience, then 
 they Hame out in more than rainbow glories, di.splaying 
 the resplendent brightness of the glory that excelletli. 
 
 But whilst the promises of Christ concerning the prac- 
 tical benefit of the coming Comforter to man as guide 
 and teacher are alluded to in all parts of the epistles as 
 fulfilled, and that too with sufficient distinctness to settle 
 every doubt in the inquiring mind, we have, in the writ- 
 ings of Luke, incidental illustrations which speak, if 
 possible, still more clearly and convincingly on this 
 subject. 
 
 Take, for example, the history of the conversion of 
 the Ethiopian eunuch. Need we trace Philip's steps, in 
 this matter, how he received notification from the Spirit 
 to go to a certain place, then was informed of the reason 
 when the chariot C(mtaining the Egyptian prince passed 
 along, his definite instructions to introduce himself, and 
 the results of his obedience ? Doubtless they are all 
 familiar to the reader. But now, side by side, with all 
 the details of this history, put Christ's distinct descrip- 
 tion of the work of the Holy Ghost with every individual 
 follower of His who would receive the Spirit to be led by 
 Him, and see if they do not dovetail into one another 
 with a beauty of finish that should excite the admiration 
 of all at the completed work of God. 
 
 Or even compare it with the Keilah incident, in the 
 life of David, and who would sigh for the days of the 
 prophets, and the ark of the Lord ? that is, provided wo 
 
54 . DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 accept the evident teaching of the Scriptures, that Philip 
 in this narrative is simply a representative of all be- 
 lievers, and not restricted as an example of a small class 
 of specially privileged favorites. 
 
 Then take the incident of the sudden call of Barnabas 
 and Saul for a missionary tour : " And as they minis- 
 tered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, 
 Separate me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto 
 I have called them." 
 
 Evidently this call, received by these two apostles, did 
 not startle the other disciples when they were informed 
 of it; they simply verified it each for himself by the 
 Holy Ghost who was given to all alike. Hence, with a 
 unanimity, which is not only charming, but also a pled e 
 of the success of the expedition, they set them apart for 
 the work indicated. 
 
 The beauty of the picture consists in the simple, child- 
 like faith in the literal words of Christ concerning the 
 work of the Holy Spirit, and the action of all harmonizes 
 with this literal interpretation of the promises of Jesus, 
 and, as might be expected, the outcome of the expedition, 
 thus inaugurated, was most satisfactory. 
 
 But again, Paul with Silas as a companion is on an 
 evangelistic tour, not commenced, it is true, with the same 
 formal sanction of the Spirit, but all the same under His 
 immediate supervision. This is shown by the fact chat 
 there were distinct interpositions on His part to prevent 
 them going to waste their energies in Asia or Bythinia, 
 and to guide them to the exact points where they could 
 accomplish the most for the Master. So, whether it was 
 by a distinct voice heard in the centre of their being, by 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 55 
 
 a vision of the night, or by the apparent deductions of 
 a reasoning process, in all their movements they con- 
 sciously verified that the promise of Christ, "He shall 
 guide you into all truth," was no mere sentiment to 
 them, but was a substantial promise which they proved 
 for themselves, in all the acts of life. 
 
 And moreover it is evident that when they, the early 
 teachers of the truth, spoke of receiving the Holy Ghost 
 and walking in Him, they always included this prac- 
 tical thought of guidance through Him as the one and 
 only law of life. And so generally was this under- 
 stood, that they necessarily did not feel called on to be 
 constantly emphasizing the fact. The Holy Ghc t had 
 not yet been robbed of His personal identity in the 
 churches, or emasculated down to a mere influence, or 
 His work in the human soul confined to simply witness- 
 ing to sins forgiven, and testifying to the divine origin 
 of spiritual blessing, as is the case in the present day. 
 Hence there was, obviously, no cause for discriminating 
 against this modern teaching, seeing it had not yet 
 appeared. 
 
 True, the mystery of iniquity had already begun to 
 work, as is indicated in the letter to the Galatians — the 
 little leaven had begun to permeate the whole lump. 
 But that leavening process, which has in these days 
 infected the whole church, was not then sufficiently pro- 
 nounced to be noticed in all the writings on the subject 
 of the gift of the Holy Gliost. 
 
 Hence when Peter, on the day of Pentecost, promised 
 the Holy Ghost to all believers, he did not find it needful 
 t^) explain minutely concerning the office of the Spirit, 
 
56 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 as described by Christ, but evidently implied that — in 
 receiving Him — Christ's minute descriptions would be 
 fulfilled to the letter in their lives. 
 
 Again, when Paul met the twelve Ephesian disciples 
 and was the means of their receiving the Pentecostal gift, 
 we find him leaving them in the hands of the blessed 
 Spirit as if He, the Spirit of truth, would guide them 
 into all truth. As if to obtain and retain the Heavenly 
 visitant was to retain and show forth in the life the 
 highest ideals conceived concerning the possibilities of 
 grace. 
 
 And so we conclude this chapter concerning the pro- 
 mise fulfilled, as if a guide had conducted the traveller 
 to some proud eminence, and after directing attention to 
 a few of the prominent features of the magnificent land- 
 scape, as point after point in their progress was reached, 
 he now leaves him with the whole sublime panorama 
 before him to observe and muse at his leisure. 
 
 Behold the promise of Jesus fulfilled, not only as 
 one magnificent whole, but in each minute detail, with 
 unerring exactness I ? -- 
 
mVINR aUIDANCBL fiV 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 THE TRITE ARGUMENT. 
 
 WE take our strongly intrenched position that the 
 Bible alone can establish or disprove the doctrine 
 of the Holy Spirit as guide into all truth. 
 
 Now, whilst having traversed Imt part of the ground, 
 sufficient has been gone over to put it beyond question 
 that the doctrine is taught, clearly and emphatically in 
 the sacred Scriptures. 
 
 Nevertheless, we would suggest that it is foolish in 
 the extreme for any sincere lover of truth to leave this 
 part of the subject with the least trace of doubt in the 
 mind. If there be a residuum of doubt, the subject is of 
 such practical importance that by all means it should be 
 again traversed and further investigations made, till the 
 assurance becomes complete that Christ promised, with- 
 out limitation, that the Holy Spirit would guide the 
 willing believer consciously into all truth, and that the 
 early disciples so understood Him, and illustrated this 
 their belief both in their writings and their lives. 
 
 Further, we maintain that the practice and belief of 
 more modern Christians cannot be successfully contrasted 
 with the early disciples, as an argument, to weaken the 
 force of either Christ's words or the pre.iching or teach- 
 ing of these first witnesses to the truth. If there be 
 shown to be any discrepancy between them, it simply 
 
58 ■■'■ DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 and only tells of modern Christians coming short of their 
 full Pentecostal privileges. But it is the part of true 
 wisdom to be so possessed with the strength of the Scrip- 
 tural arguments establish' ng the fact of the guidance of 
 the Spirit as a vital part ^f the system of Christianity* 
 as to defy all efforts of reasonings many, or even appar- 
 ent difficulties in the way, to weaken their force. 
 
 Furthermore, it must be accepted as a truth, revealed 
 from God to man, and in no other way can it be received. 
 But the Christ who promised it spoke the mind of God 
 with authority, and established that authority by rising 
 from the dead. If Christ then was and is the true reve- 
 lation of God to man, then the possible guidance of every 
 man into all truih by the Holy Ghost, who is given unto 
 him, is a part of that revelation, and, therefore, like the 
 mysteries of the atonement, or the apparently impossible 
 fact of a general resurrection, it stands or falls on the 
 divinity of Christ, and on that alone. 
 
 And be it well understood, that in this discussion, 
 whenever we refer to the guidance of the Spirit, we 
 mean conscious knowledge of the fact, on the part of 
 the one so guided. < ;< '»^S.- > ' 
 
 It would scarcely be in keeping with the dignity of 
 the man Christ Jesus, to suppose that in all His minute 
 promises concerning the offices of the Spirit, He was 
 simply referring to the general superintendence of God 
 over the world and His creature man. This truth was, 
 before His coming, sufficiently clear to the heart of hu- 
 manity. It was already the theme of the poet's song 
 and of the prophet's teaching in the Israel itish nation, 
 and had been from the beginning. Hence there would 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. v ^^ 
 
 be no significance or value whatever in any promises 
 concerning this thing that did not imply the conscious, 
 unmistakable presence of a Divine guide who would 
 make Himself known to the recipient of His favor. 
 
 This clear and positive statement is not only the in- 
 evitable inference from all Christ's utterances on the 
 subject, but is amply borne out in incidental illustrations 
 in the lives of the early disciples. When it is narrated 
 that the Holy Ghost said, " Separate me Barnabas and 
 Saul for the work whereunto I have appointed them," is 
 there any room for imagining that they, the disciples, 
 were not sure as to the person speaking to them ? Who 
 can add clearness to the statement that when Paul es- 
 sayed to go to Asia, or to Bithynia, the SpiHt suffered 
 him not? How did Philip know that the Spirit told 
 him to join himself to the Egyptian eunuch ? We would 
 feel like apologizing to the reader for taking so much 
 time to establish what ought to be accepted as self-evi- 
 dent, were it not that the persistent efforts of modem 
 writers and teachers have tended, almost universally, to 
 throw doubts on the whole subject of conscious guidance 
 by a recognized person as being really meant by Christ 
 and the apostles when speaking of the Spirit's work. 
 
 But we declare it as our positive belief, that unless 
 this common-sense thought be connected with the whole 
 subject of Divine guidance, the doctrine of the Holy 
 Spirit as guide into all truth l»ecomes a delusion and a 
 snare, and time spent on its Investigation is worse than 
 wasted. 
 
 And manifestly, if conscious Divine guidance is not 
 guaranteed by the Gospel, then the fact should be stated 
 
60 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 in clear-cut sentences which would unmistakably bring 
 out this testimony. It is a serious matter at this point 
 to deal in vague, meaningless expressions. Christ either 
 promised that his followers might accept the Holy Spirit 
 as a personal guide into all truth, revealing Himself to 
 their consciousness in so doing, or He did not. If He 
 did not, but only emphasized the truth, already revealed 
 to men, of God's general superintendence of the world, 
 then the whole subject ceases to be of practical import- 
 ance. For what practical difference does it make to me 
 to be informed that the third person in the Trinity has 
 now exclusive charge of the general and particular pro- 
 vidences of life ? It can, in the nature of the case, only 
 appeal to my curiosity. 
 
 But the case is entirely different if I am informed that 
 the third person in the Trinity has condescended to make 
 Himself known to me as teacher and guide, giving me 
 unmistakable evidence of His contimied presence by 
 becoming to me the one and only law of my life, so that 
 with comparative ease I may prove at all times and in 
 all places what is that good and acceptable and perfect 
 will of God. :. ,: .. 
 
 Whilst the first mentioned generalized truth would 
 be no additional revelation whatever, the latter must 
 command my attention, as promising practical benefits 
 beyond expression. 
 
 Now, granting that the promises of Christ concerning 
 guidance have reference to conscious guidance into truth, 
 then it is further evident that unless that guidance com- 
 prehends all truth, it is still a valueless doctrine. For 
 the very quality that gives intrinsic value to Divine 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 61 
 
 guidance is the certaiuty of knowing that we are taking 
 the right course in being so guided. If then it can be 
 shown that only in some things has the Spirit undertaken 
 to guide believers, then it follows that unless clear, un- 
 mistakable rules are furnished us, showing, without 
 doubt, when and concerning what things He proposes to 
 guide us into truth, we could never be certain of His 
 guidance in anything, for there would ever be in the soul 
 the fear that — concerning the matter in hand — it was not 
 included amongst those things in which guidance Divine 
 might be obtained. 
 
 Now, as a matter of fact, these clear, unmistakable 
 rules are not given in the Bible — no, nor even hinted at. 
 So it follows that positive Divine guidance must be pro- 
 vided for every moment of life, or, in the nature of the 
 case, there can be no such guidance whatsoever. 
 
 We shall therefore proceed with what further investi- 
 gations the subject demands, on the assumption that it 
 is clearly established that the doctrine of conscious. 
 Divine guidance by the Holy Spirit, for every believer, 
 stands or falls with the divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ ; 
 that whatever may be the difficulties surrounding the 
 subject, and however those difficulties may be enhanced 
 by the misunderstandings and errors of those who have 
 studied the subject, or professed to illustrate it in their 
 lives, still the fact remains unati'ected ; they no more 
 destroy its existence than clouds succeed in blotting out 
 the orb of day. 
 
62 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 '■M' 
 
 -^ CHAPTER Vin. f 
 
 WHAT IS DIVINE GUIDANCE? 
 
 IT is now in order to examine into the nature of the 
 subject itself, that is, to answer the question that 
 characterizes this chapter ; and it will now be better 
 understood why we have delayed to this stage of the 
 argument to so investigate it. 
 
 The quaint Isaak Walton emphasized a truth, too often 
 ignored, when he insisted on it that the first step in the 
 art of cooking one of his finny friends of the running 
 brook was to catch the fish, and the application of this 
 sage remark is obvious here. It were a strange proceed- 
 ing to commence to discourse about the doctrine of Divine 
 guidance, its nature and its modes of operation, whilst 
 the slightest uncertainty remained concerning its exist- 
 ence. But now that we know of its certain existence, 
 the question as to what we shall do with it is both inter- 
 esting in the extreme and far reaching in its practical 
 consequences. 
 
 " What shall I do with Jesus which is called Christ ?" 
 might well disturb the easy-going, voluptuous Pilate, for 
 he could not ignore the patent fact that He was on his 
 hands to be disposed of one way or another — there was 
 no possible middle course. So with us this wonderful 
 subject, which takes us as individuals in the circle of its 
 mighty orbit, demands of us an answer to the question, 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 63 
 
 What shall we do with the doctrine of Divine guidance ? 
 and plainly intimates that our answer, in its practical 
 form, links itself with our eternal interests. 
 
 But the answer which the former chapters indicate 
 will reply to the question with sufficient clearness for 
 the present stage of our researches, viz., It is some inti- 
 mation to our consciousness by the Holy Spirit whereby 
 we know that we are taking that course in all things, 
 from moment to moment, which is the best possible under 
 the circumstances, and which is therefore pleasing to 
 God, and satisfactory to ourselves. Less than this could^ 
 not be Divine guidance, more than this can hardly be 
 desired. 
 
 When Scripture promises to man the forgiveness of 
 all his past sins and iniquities it appeals to a conscious 
 sense of want in man, and one of the proofs to the for- 
 given sinner that the act of grace emanates from the 
 Divine heart is the fact that that sense of need is abso- 
 lutely met. 
 
 So, too, in its appeals to the fear of death and future 
 retribution, it discourses concerning facts in the soul's 
 consciousness, and when they are, according to promise, 
 taken away from the child of God, the sense of com- 
 pleteness in the work done speaks eloquently of the 
 presence and power of God. 
 
 So, when the Bible promises guidance into all truth, 
 it appeals to a felt want in the life of every believer. 
 
 ** Guide me, Thou great Jehovah, 
 Pilgrim through this foreign land ; 
 I am weak, but Thou art mighty, 
 Lead me by Thy powerful hand," 
 
64 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 voices the aspirations of every sincere servant of the 
 Lord Christ, and so, reasoning from analogy, this pro- 
 mise, to prove its Divine origin, ought, when fultilled, to 
 satisfy every legitimate longing of the soul of the Chris- 
 tian in this direction. And until that consummation, 
 most devoutly wished by all, is realized, it ought not to 
 be admitted that the promise is fulfilled in any indi- 
 vidiial case. 
 
 Gospel measure, indeed, is always on the line of *' ex- 
 ceedingly abundant above all we ask or think," and so 
 ,in this case also the abundant supply in guidance Divine 
 should measure up to the sublime character a^nd the 
 exhaustless wealth of the bestower. " That we having 
 all sufficiency in all things," " Who giveth to all liberally 
 and upbraideth not," " If ye then being evil know how 
 to give good gifts unto your children, how much moie 
 shall your Heavenly Father give !" '* My God shall sup- 
 ply all your need according to His riches." 
 
 Such are samples of beneficence when it is measured 
 out from His own resources by God Himself. Hence it 
 is right to expect that when the full measure of God's 
 idea concerning the promise of guidance is reached in 
 human experience, there should not only be no lack to 
 apologize for, or explain away, but language should 
 prove " all too poor " to express the sense of satisfaction 
 concerning the exceeding fulness of Gospel measure, 
 whereby are done unto us exceeding abundantly above 
 all we asked or thought. 
 
 Hence our contention here is that the experience in 
 our lives of what is meant by the guidance of the Spirit 
 should sweep away all our former ideals as far too low 
 
DIVINK GUIDANCE. . 65 
 
 to measure up to its sublime fulness, and therefore, in 
 place of finessing to bring the standard of our expecta- 
 tions down low enough to make it possible for God to 
 reach them in our actual experience, we should the 
 rather despair of having them high enough to meet the 
 ability, yea, and pleasure of Him who illustrates in His 
 acts the truth of His own law : " It is more blessed to 
 give than to receive." 
 
 Then take the thought of doing all things so that life's 
 record will be pleasing to God, and different passages of 
 the Bible clearly imply the possibility of this desirable 
 experience : " That you may walk worthy of God unto 
 all pleasing," " That you may prove what is that good 
 and acceptable and perfect will of God." Wesley has 
 strung the thought of these and similar passages to his 
 lyre in words familiar to many : . 
 
 . , "I want the witness, Lord, 
 
 "^^ ' ' That all I do is right y^'- 
 
 '^ ■ ; According to Thy will and word, ■ '" 
 
 ■ r- V '■ J Well pleasing in Thy sight. " • • .c 
 
 Now if provision is made in the Gospel system where 
 by we may have the witness that our acts please God, 
 when completed, is it any greater tax on thought or 
 desire that we should know, even while the acts are 
 being done, that His smile of approval rests upon us ? 
 But how have this approving smile unless we know we 
 are doing the best possible under the circumstances ? 
 But this, however, is only another name for the guidance 
 of the Spirit into all truth, and so even from the Scrip- 
 tural starting-point of walking worthy of God unto all 
 pleasing, we inevitably arrive at the doctrine of Divine 
 5 
 
66 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 guidance in its m(jat pronounced form. And thus the 
 deeper our researches the greater the number of argu- 
 ments — all focussing in the one grand thought of con- 
 scious Divine guidance into all truth for all who accept 
 the rich provisions of grace made and provided for them. 
 
 But, granted the correctness of the definition, how 
 account for, or explain the manner of that conscious 
 knowledge of the soul concerning the will Divine ? How 
 know that of a certainty the Holy Spirit communicates 
 to our inner consciousness concerning His mind and will ? 
 
 Now, before undertaking to investigate this part of 
 the subject, we call attention to the fact, that it must be 
 conceded to be of secondary importance. The great and 
 important fact is that He, the Holy One, does undertake 
 to n\ake known to us continually the mind of God con- 
 cerning being and doing according to His good pleasure. 
 This being admitted, it rather belongs to the domain of 
 curiosity to learn as to the manner of the operations of 
 the Spirit. The employed who engages to serve his em- 
 ployer faithfully rightly feels that he has carried out his 
 part of the contract when he has performed his allotted 
 tasks, after being fully assured of the mind of his em- 
 ployer concerning them. To him it is, comparatively 
 speaking, immaterial as to whether he learns of his du- 
 ties by letter, by telegraph, by telephone or by word of 
 mouth. The manner of communication to him is the 
 master's business, and if he fails to learn his mind 
 through no lack of attention on his own part, then, 
 clearly, he cannot be blamed for failure to carry out the 
 master's wishes. 
 
 So in this case. If the Holy Spirit has undertaken to 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 67 
 
 be to the believer his sole law in his life's work, then 
 absolute willingness to obey Him, when he clearly, un- 
 mistakably understands His directions, fulfils all right- 
 eousness, even if there should be any failure on the part 
 of his Guide to make him know the will of God con- 
 cerning him. 
 
 These two propositions certainly go hand-in-hand. 
 If the one be granted, the other must be admitted, and 
 indeed, like a good rule, they will work both ways. For 
 if the Holy Spirit as guide cannot clearly and unmistak- 
 ably bring to the consciousness of the child of God the 
 knowledge of His will under all circumstances, then 
 manifestly He cannot guide him into all truth. 
 
 But, having arrived thus far in our investigations, it 
 is evident that the most sensible course to pursue, in 
 continuing them, is to commit ourselves to the practice 
 of the knowledge thus gained. For if it is perfectly clear 
 to the mind that Scripture sets forth the Blessed Spirit 
 as the guide paramount to the Christian, and if it is 
 certain that He can make known the will of God to the 
 soul of the believer continually, and if, further, our re- 
 sponsibility concerning guidance absolutely ende when 
 we present the attitude of honest purp(3se and willing- 
 ness to do the will of God at all costs, so soon as it is 
 known, then it is evident that^^iothing is more in accord- 
 ance with the dictates of reason, common sense and the 
 Bible, or with our welfare both for time and eternity, 
 than to gladly abandon ourselves without reserve to the 
 Holy Spirit, and commence to be led by Him from this 
 moment on into all truth. 
 
 But whilst this course appeals to our reason as the 
 
68 DIVINE GUIDANCE. v 
 
 true course of action, and is the speediest way to the 
 solution of all imagined difficulties connected with the 
 subject, yet, being the way of faith, it appeals so to our 
 fears that hesitation, more or less prolonged, has charac- 
 terized every seeker n^ter truth, no matter how sincere 
 or earnest in his quest. We 
 
 *• Linger, shivering on the brink, 
 And fear to launch away." " 
 
 But it is an encouraging thought that to us lingering 
 hesitating ones, even when giving undue prominence to 
 our fears, the golden gate into this rich banqueting house 
 of the kingdom of grace still remains unclosed, and, after 
 prolonged delay on our part, still woos us by its open 
 portals to enter in to our own delight and the glory of 
 its founder. For, " if any of you lacketh wisdom, let 
 him ask of God who giveth to all liberally and wp- 
 hraideth not." 
 
 y^',.> 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. * 6& 
 
 CHAPTER JX, 
 THE MANNER OF DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 VTOW whilst it is true that the methods which the 
 \ Holy Spirit may use in making known to us indi- 
 ■^' vidually the will of God can only be known in the 
 fact of such guidance, that is, by the actual experience 
 of the fact, still there are many things which may be 
 said in connection with this part of the subject whose 
 tendency will be to clear away false views and presumed 
 diflficulties to the advantage of all concerned. . -, 
 
 Strange and phantom- like notions prevail in the minds 
 of many concerning the methods employed by God in 
 making His will known to individual man in the earlier 
 history of the race, and, unconsciously, thuse methods 
 are accepted as necessary concomitants of such commu- 
 nications from God to man. And hence, insensibly, we 
 arrive at the place where the phenomena attendant on 
 the fact are exalted above the fact itself. 
 
 Take, for instance, the case of Abraham. God com- 
 municated to him His wish that he, Abraham, should 
 leave Ur of the Chaldees and go to a land He would 
 show tiim, and that in so doing He would greatly bless 
 "him in various ways. Now the simple fact that God 
 connnunicated this knowledge to His servant, so that 
 Abraham knew, of a certainty, the mind of God in the 
 matter, will link it to evuy instance in the history <»f 
 
70 DIViNE GUIDANCE. 
 
 the world where a man was conscious of knowing the 
 mind of God concerning any matter, however dissimilar 
 the phenomena connected therewith. 
 
 Therefore, if a servant of God to-day learns with 
 certainty that it is the will of his Master that he, for 
 instance, should go to Africa, or China, as His mission- 
 ary, this his call to leave home and friends and go to a 
 foreign land is exactly similar in all essentials to the 
 call of Abraham, provided, of course, that the call, in 
 the latter case, is distinctly and directly from God, and 
 is not the outcome of a reasoning process. 
 
 Certainly the attendant circumstances may exalt in 
 importance the one far above the other. But granted 
 the fact of direct communication from God to the coor 
 sciousness of both, and there is no essential diiFerence 
 between them, as to the doctrine of Divine guidance. 
 
 And if the subject is looked at with suflficient care, it 
 will be seen that the element of certainty is but little 
 aflfected by outward phenomena. It is the inward per- 
 suasion, the conscious knowledge, that gives steadiness 
 to action and is the real bed-rock of faith. 
 
 Imagine Abraham letting his whole career in life be 
 swayed by any mere visible tokens of the Divine call, 
 and see what room there would be for a vacillating 
 faith. Suppose he could tell his friends of hearing an 
 audible voice speaking to him from the Heavens, or of 
 a wonderful vision by day or b^' night, or even of an 
 angel or angels appearing to him with the commission, 
 there would not be wanting some Eliphaz the Temanite, 
 or Bildad the Shuhite, or Zophar the Naamathite, who, 
 with wcil-rounded sentences, would prove to him the 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCK 71 
 
 possibility of accounting for these phenomena as the 
 outcome of undue mental strain, or physical disorgani- 
 zation, or the result of a mind slightly deranged through 
 the fact of ancestors given to psychological pursuits, 
 and that, therefore, it would be contrary to every dic- 
 tate of reason 8,nd common sense to stake the fortunes 
 of a lifetime on the bare possibility of these apparent 
 visions not being pure hallucinations 
 
 We readily grant that any or all these extraordinary 
 accompaniments might in kindness be used and are fre- 
 quently employed by God for arresting attention and 
 strengthening faith. But we maintain that faith that is 
 built on anything other than the conscious knowledge 
 of God's will, as imparted by God Himself, rests on a 
 precarious foundation ; and we suggest that, in place of 
 extravagant importance being attached to strange phe- 
 nomena, the tendency should rather be to discount 
 them in this connection ; a thought which Jesus seemed 
 to have in His mind when he remarked to the doubting 
 Thomas, " Blessed are they that ha e not seen, and yet 
 have believed." 
 
 Then, in this connection, closely scan the fact of th« 
 witness of the Spirit in the history of every truly con- 
 verted child of God, and it will be seen that in every 
 genuine instance the ground of confidence is real, heart- 
 felt knowledge of the fact of such witness. True it is 
 that there is endless variety in the accompaniments and 
 surrounding circumstances of this Divine persuasion, but 
 at best these are regarded as the casket which contains 
 the jewel ; and it is at once recognized by all as a sign 
 of the spurious nature of the work done, or of some 
 
72 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 weakness in the individual, when there is evinced a ten- 
 dency to exalt in the estimation the casket above the 
 jewel it contains. 
 
 And so the real value of Christian testimony consists 
 in conscious knowledge of sins forgiven, through the 
 witness of the Spu'it received into the inner conscious- 
 ness of the soul so forgiven. The narrations of the 
 circumstances, or even phenomena, attendant on this 
 wondrous fact *may be, and frequently are, of thrilling 
 interest, and their very variety in the cases of different 
 individuals gives a pleasing charm where numbers give 
 their spiritual history. But they all take their signifi- 
 cance from the glorious fact they enshrine — God making 
 known to individual man His mind by direct, distinct 
 communication. • 
 
 Now, just as in the witness of the Spirit to the soul of 
 man concerning sins forgiven, the great central fact is 
 the witness itself, whilst all the circumstances surround- - 
 ing that fact, although interesting, are of secondary 
 importance, — so in the case of all communications to the 
 soul by the Holy Spirit, as guide into all truth, the great 
 central fact is the consciousness of knowing the will of 
 God through the Spirit, whilst all the methods He 
 adopts, or the variety of circumstances surrounding 
 it, are of vastly inferior value. These all may be the 
 casket, and may be, in their richness and volume, worthy 
 of what they contain ; but the enclosed gem is the " pearl 
 of great price" which will repay every one who sacrifices 
 all he has to o'otain it. 
 
 Therefore it follows, that so long as the fact of Dimne 
 guidance exists, its value is neither enhanced nor dimin- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 73 
 
 ished by its surroundings, whether these be of the nature 
 of dreams, visions, voices, impressions, reasoning pro- 
 cesses, intuitions, providences, human helps or Scripture 
 passages. 
 
 .<-.") 
 
74 DIVINE GUIDANUK 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 THE MANNER OF DIVINE GUIDANCE 
 CONTINUED. 
 
 AS without faith it is impossible to please God in our 
 attitude to Him in all things, so in this matter of 
 guidance perfect faith in God the Holy Ghost is 
 absolutely necessary that we may be led of Him into 
 all truth. 
 
 But faith in Him includes in itself the absolute aban- 
 donment of our whole being to Him, that He may be 
 able to utilize every avenue of approach to our con- 
 sciousness for His purposes, and control every power 
 and quality which goes to make up our being. 
 
 And the result of this complete surrender to God is 
 the mystery hid in the ages, but which is now revealed, 
 viz., God in the person of the Holy Ghost becoming 
 identified with every part of our being as " Christ in us, 
 the hope of glory," until the strange, anomalous state 
 exists where it may be said to be — I and yet not I ; or 
 to use apostolic language, " I labored more abundantly 
 than they all, yet not I, but the grace of God which was 
 with me ; " or the still more emphatic words of Christ, 
 " It is not ye that speak, but the Spirit of your Father 
 that dwelleth in you." 
 
 Now one of the abounding errors in the history of 
 this doctrine is the persistent effort on the part of many 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 75 
 
 to confine the operations of the Spirit to a limited part 
 of the domain of human powers. Hence some make im- 
 pressional guidance synonymous with Divine guidance. 
 Others will add, to this Hmited part of our susceptibili- 
 ties, visions and dreams, and other strange or startling 
 phenomena, but confine His operations, in their creed, to 
 these narrow bounds. Still others, with rigid law and 
 stubborn will, limit His powers of impact upon the hu- 
 man soul to the simple channel of Scripture language. 
 
 But it is evident that all these limitations are the 
 sure sign of that unbelief whose existence in the heart 
 absolutely prevents full-orbed guidance by the Spirit 
 P^or it is manifest that, in dealing with us, the Holy 
 Spirit must act upon us as intelligent beings to whom 
 has been entrusted the royal quality of untrammeled 
 t'ree-agency. Hence all His operations must be in har- 
 mony with this our nature, and therefore are absolutely 
 limited by our freedom of choice. He only then can, in 
 the nature of the case, guide us to the extent of our 
 perfect willingness to be so guided. 
 
 Now perfect willingness on our part must of necvissity 
 be the outcome of confidence in the Spirit's character 
 and ability, that is, it is synonymous with faith, so that 
 in vain that man looks for Divine guidance in his life 
 who does not abandon himself with all his powers to 
 the Spirit, that He, the Guide Divine, may utilize all 
 these powers for His work of making him ac(]uainted 
 with the perfect will of God as it concerns him. 
 
 Hence it follows that the man who is really guided 
 into all truth by the Holy Ghost is as certainly so led 
 when apparently following the simple intuitions of his 
 
76 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 being, as when acted on by intense reasoning, or the 
 rarer phenomena which occasionally, comet-like, rush 
 into his being. 
 
 As above mentioned, many have exalted the strange 
 phenomena known as impressions into the place of the 
 peculiar work of the Holy Spirit, and the error has been 
 with ease perpetuated because of the superstitious awe 
 with which the phenomenon has been and still is regarded 
 by even some great and good men. 
 
 The confusion which has existed and still exists around 
 this section of the question will be better understood by 
 reproducing an incident in the life of the late Dr. Bangs. 
 
 When a young man he was appointed to a circuit in 
 the Western Peninsula of Ontario, and on one occasion, 
 whilst passing, on horseback, one of the log cabins of the 
 early settlers, a deep impression came to him that he 
 ought to go into that house and make a pastoral visit, 
 but the deep snow around the building and other diffi- 
 culties inclined him to pass along without calling. As 
 he went further away, however, from the spot, this 
 strange impression deepened more and more, and became 
 so strong, that, after riding upwards of a mile beyond, he 
 actually turned back, want to the cabin and — found it 
 empty ! 
 
 Now, strange as it may appear, not only other writers, 
 but Dr. Bangs himself, used this simple incident to throw 
 discredit on the whole doctrine of conscious Divine guid- 
 ance. And yet, if looked at closely, it will be seen that 
 its bearing on this doctrine is very slight indeed. 
 
 Impressions, like dreams, come alike to saint and sin- 
 ner, and of themselves atfect the subject in hand no more 
 
y DIVINE GUIDANCK 77 
 
 and no less than any other phenomena of mind or mat- 
 ter. To this day philosophy is at fault in striving to 
 account for them, and can lay down no safe rules by 
 which to regulate them. Still it is a puzzling fact that 
 some impressions, when followed, secure advantages to 
 the one so obeying their weird, semi-supernatural voice, 
 whilst others leave the party so following them the 
 sport of an illusion. 
 
 Now if Dr. Bangs had looked beyond the impression 
 to the Guide Divine till he knew distinctly His mind in 
 the matter, then the course he took would be an illustra- 
 tion of Divine guidance ; but as there is no evidence to 
 show that he did so, we can dismiss this and all similar 
 incidents as having no real connection with the subject 
 in hand. 
 
 He treated the impression after the ordinary way, and 
 in this instance was made the dupe of an illusion. 
 
 Impressional guidance, we further remark, does not 
 change its character when given pious names, and he 
 who abandons himself to its gyrations will make a tor- 
 tuous pathway through life — whether he goes by the 
 name of infidel, spiritualist, or Christian. 
 
 But, whilst impressional guidance is neither scriptural 
 nor rational, it does not follow that the Holy Spirit may 
 not use impressions, like any other susceptibility of our 
 being, in His work. Indeed we should expect Him, 
 with unerring wisdom, to enable us to accept the good 
 from this source, when practicable, and reject the evil, 
 and thus prove the superiority of the Spirit-led follower 
 of Christ in this respect to all others. 
 
 And the same reasoning applies to dreams, visions and 
 
(F0 DIVINE GUIDANCE. • 
 
 other extraordinary phenomena of our being. Should a 
 dream arrest our special attention, in place of applying 
 to it the rules of the sceptic, and striving thereby to 
 banish it from the memory, — through the ever-present 
 Counsellor Divine we learn if it is charged with any 
 lesson for our benefit, and if not, it is at once relegated 
 to the class of dreams or visions to be forgotten, and no 
 matter how startling its character it speedily passes 
 away. . 
 
 Thus we further emphasize the teaching of Scripture, 
 that he who would secure the full benefits of Divine 
 guidance can come to the Holy One with no limitations, 
 the outcome of presumed superior knowledge concerning 
 visions, dreams or impressions, or any other phenomena 
 of mind or matter ; but must frankly and fully surren- 
 der every department of his being, as to an absolute 
 sovereign, who must have right of way through every 
 channel of that being : " For who knoweth the mind of 
 God, or being His counsellor hath taught Him ?" 
 
 This general truth reaches much further in its appli- 
 cation than many imagine. For if the Holy Spirit, the 
 co-equal of Father and Son, refuses to guide him into all 
 truth who puts any limitations upon Him either as to 
 prescribing or circumscribing, then it follows that con- 
 fining Him in His operations even to the written word 
 would be manifestly so doing. And hence it is evident 
 that they who stipulate beforehand what place the Bible 
 should occupy in this connection must, perforce, fail in 
 obtaining the full direction promised by Christ and 
 ready to be imparted by the Blessed Spirit. 
 
 That this axiomatic truth is not accepted by many 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. ' 79 
 
 must be admitted, for abundant facts testify to it ; nev- 
 ertheless we hesitate not to say that it is absolutely 
 necessary to accept it and that without reserve. 
 
 For any stipulations, even in this direction, imply lack 
 of confidence in the Holy One, which is, as shown above, 
 simply another name for want of faith. And unbelief 
 always has and always will be an effectual bar against 
 the Spirit's woik. One of the great indictments against 
 the unbelieving Israelites, who perished in the wilder- 
 ness, was that they " limited the Holy One" 
 
 But, whilst not permitted to so limit Him, it does not 
 follow that He will not use freely the sacred Scriptures 
 in His work of guidance, or that He will put an embargo 
 upon our Bibles and constitute them forbidden fruit, or 
 place cherubim, with flaming swords, to cut off all access 
 to the lively oracles. ^ 
 
 To hold such thoughts concerning Him would make 
 impossible that loving confidence in Him which is neces- 
 sary for faith's foundation. < 
 
 But whilst on the one hand He must have limitless 
 control, even refusing to be hampered by our notions of 
 Scripture utterance, on the other hand, He needs not the 
 assistanc3 of human device to aid Him in reaching our 
 inner consciousness, such, for example, as opening sud- 
 denly the Bible, and noting the passage that first catches 
 the eye, placing the finger, with averted face, on some 
 one verse, and then noting its contents, and so assuming 
 that the Holy Spirit guides the eye or the finger as to 
 secure the knowledge needed for the present emergency. 
 
 It is true that the Holy Spirit demands right of way 
 here also, and may not be questioned as to His right to 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCB. 
 
 require or permit us to pursue just such a course at 
 times to learn the will of God concerning any matter. 
 But he who adopts this method, as a rule, or would con- 
 fine the work of the Spirit to guiding the muscles of the 
 hand or the eye so as to secure suitable passages, is in 
 extreme danger of making a mere fetish of his Bible, 
 and will most assuredly fail in his quest after guidance 
 into all truth. , 
 
 The same line of argument will at once show that, 
 whilst we may not oppose our reason as a bar to the 
 Spirit's work, without forfeiting all the benefits promised 
 in connection with this subject, that, at the same time, 
 He has full right to guide us through all the powers of 
 the mind. And a conviction arrived at by a distinct 
 reasoning process may be as clearly understood in the 
 consciousness as the voice of God to the soul as if that 
 conviction came to us through any other channel, no 
 matter if purely miraculous in its character. 
 
 And the same may be said of common sense or intui- 
 tive knowledge. It matters not how or what methods 
 are adopted, if we are led by the Spirit, evidently, we 
 must reach the truth, or the Holy Spirit fails in His 
 ability to make good the promises of Christ. 
 
 But the question is often asked. Does the Holy Spirit 
 ever lead contrary to reason or the Bible ? Now, whilst 
 we hesitate not to reply that neither is possible, never- 
 theless He may require us to follow Him with reckless 
 faith when He guides contrary to our notions of Bible 
 teaching, or even of what is reasonable. 
 
 For if the Holy Spirit in His work on the human 
 heart contradicted His work as Inspirer of the Bible, or 
 
DIVINE aUIDANOE. . 81 
 
 even threw contempt on reason or intuition, the ^fts of 
 Uod, there would be rare confusion in the household of 
 Cfod, for it would illustrate Christ's description of a 
 house divided against itself. It could not lono- stand. 
 All this is so certain that it needs no demonstration. 
 
 But on the other hand, it is by no means certain that 
 the one who looks for Divine guidance has the perfect 
 mind of God concerning all Scripture, nor yet is capable 
 of pronouncing on every operation of his mind as a part 
 of an absolutely correct reasoning process. Therefore, 
 to arraign the Holy Spirit at the bar of our reasonings 
 or notions of Bible truth would be manifestly absurd, ana 
 necessarily prevent the possibility of Divine guidance. 
 
 Therefore in epitomizing the above thoughts and rea- 
 sonings in a definite reply to the question asked, we 
 maintain that the Holy Spirit guides into all truth, as 
 an absolute sovereign, who brooks no limitations on the 
 part of finite man to His benign sway ; and whilst He 
 always guides into truth which is in perfect harmony 
 with the Scriptures, the inspired word of God, and 
 with every emanation of God, as reason and intuition, 
 nevertheless He is not amenable to the law of human 
 reason or human notions of what is revealed truth.. 
 And further, He claims right of way throughout every 
 part of our being, that all our powers of mind, body and 
 estate may be utilized by Him in securing for us the 
 fulfilment of all Christ's promises concerning guidance 
 Divine. 
 
 ei 
 
8? . DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XL 
 THE EXTENT OF DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 INCIDENTAL ILLUSTRATIONS. 
 
 WE have in more than one place already indicated 
 our answer to this thought. But as the hottest 
 contests are ahout this part of the subject, it will 
 be necessary to be still more exhaustive in its treatment. 
 
 We have noticed that incidental illustrations awaken 
 the dislike of many, and sve presume the reason is that 
 their tendency is to bring the subject out fi' ;i mere gen- 
 eralized thought into practical workable shape. 
 
 This awakens the suspicion that generalised statement 
 as far as practical results are concerned is like mimic 
 warfare, a pleasing spectacle to all, and awakens no 
 opposition from any, seeing it neither rills for real ex- 
 posure to danger, on the one hand, or for definite results 
 on the other. 
 
 One may indulge in fancy word-picturing concerning 
 the glorious nature of guidance into all truth, and be as 
 extreme and comprehensive as the Scriptures are in 
 stat iment, provided he ends with a prayer for its attain- 
 ment or an exhortation to secure its benefits. For in 
 that prayer or exhortation the hearer detects the absence 
 of any call to a real warfare, and is conscious tliat the 
 whole subject can be dismissed with a pious jispiration 
 unuttered or expressed. u . 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 83 
 
 Hence as our object is stern, uncompromising battle 
 for the truth — truth not only to be accepted in its gen- 
 eral aspects but to be utilized in every- day life by all 
 lovers thereof — we shall not shrink from running the 
 gauntlet of possible hostile criticism through utilizing 
 incidental illustrations drawn from '][)ersonal history; 
 and we shall use personal references in this connection 
 chietly for the reason that we are ])8st acquainted with 
 such incidents, not only with the incidents themselves, 
 but with all the motives and arguments accompanying 
 them. 
 
 We are fully aware that this method of argument will 
 leave us open to the suspicion of being swayed by un- 
 worthy motives. But the extreme value of the subject 
 in hand and our intense desire that many others should 
 \ >ecome partakers of all the f ar-reacliing advantages con- 
 nected therewith, is our excuse for braving such criticism. 
 
 We have in a former chapter alluded to the subject of 
 impressions. Once when stationed on a mission, the fol- 
 lowing incident occurred. We had left home to be ab- 
 sent several days. But on the morning of the first day 
 of absence, a stnjng impression seized us that we should 
 leturn home, as lieing particularly neetied there. So 
 strong was this impiH^ssion that we felt it would shadow 
 our footsteps continually if we went on with our intended 
 work. 
 
 But the business in hand way urgent, and so we were 
 ia a puzzling dilemma. On the one han<i was the possi- 
 bihty of being made the dupe of an illusion, at the cost 
 too of serious neglect of needed work. On the other, 
 was the possibly continued uneasiness from the appre- 
 
84 DIVINE GUIDANCB. 
 
 hension of impending calamity. Now we maintain that 
 the history of such incidents is that sometimes when the 
 impression is followed the result is satisfactory, and 
 sometimes not ; and few persons there are who do not 
 know this by experience. 
 
 True it is that the instances where benefit has been 
 the result are the ones which are paraded both in print 
 and conversation, whilst the others, probably a more 
 numerous class, are consigned to oblivion, and so the 
 whole subject of impressional guidance, like patent medi- 
 cines, has been advertised on its occasional merits. 
 
 But the desire came to us at that time to see if there 
 was not provision made in the gospel to settle this per- 
 turbing question, once and forever, by learning exactly 
 what to do, so that whilst doing it we miglit know with 
 absolute certainty tliat we were taking the right course. 
 
 We examined, in memory, for we had not as yet arisen 
 from our couch, all Scriptures bearing on the subject, 
 and finally settled on the promise contained in the first 
 chapter of the epistle written by James. 
 
 " If any man lack wisdom." This we admitted was 
 cur case. We lacked the wisdom of knowing with cer- 
 tainty which course was the better to take. " Let him 
 ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth 
 not." Thus encouraged we asked of God what course 
 we should take, but still our hesitation was not gone. 
 Manifestly then something more than formal asking was 
 needful. " But let him ask in faith, nnt wavering." " For 
 let not that man (who wavereth) think that he shall 
 receive anything from the Lord." So clearly it was 
 necessary to get a practical idea of what faith meant in 
 this connection. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 85 
 
 We shall not weary tlie readei* with all the thoughts 
 and reasonings of our mind at this point. Suffice it to 
 say, that the result was that again we asked God for 
 wisdom, with the understanding, on our part, that it 
 would be given us freely, and that then in taking the 
 course that seemed best we would be acting out God's 
 wisdom in the matter, assuming that whatever might be 
 the apparent, immediate results, we could and would 
 positively believe our course then taken the very best, 
 .and that that confidence must last to the very judgment 
 day. 
 
 Thus treated the impression deepened, and we returned 
 home, not as led by our impression, but as led by the 
 Holy Spirit, who, in this case, used an impression, ac- 
 cording to His sovereign right, to make known to us His 
 good pleasure. 
 
 The sequel of the story proved the urgent need of 
 returning home at that time, indeed, our return home 
 was of such conspicuous importance that the ^"hole inci- 
 dent stands out in our life as calling for adoring gratitude 
 for signal mercies received at the hand of the God of 
 providence.* 
 
 But although the incident itself is of thrilling interest 
 to us, nevertheless, as an incident pure and simple it 
 sinks into insignificance when qompared with the valua- 
 ble practical lesson concerning Divine guidance of which 
 it was to us the exponent. For since then no lingering 
 hesitation has characterized our life concerning the per- 
 plexing subject of impressions in connection with the 
 doctrine of Divi lie guidance. •, .,, 
 
 As a matter of histoiy, many an impression since then 
 has been flung aside as of uo practical value, whilbt 
 
86 DIVINE OUID/'-CE. 
 
 othci's have hccn utilized by our Guide for important 
 i-esults. 
 
 Has not the reader often had S(^ul-troul)le concerning 
 its ina.bility to judge righteous judgment concerning men 
 and acts ? For example, con(hict on the part of a pro- 
 fessing Christian has been witnessed which plainly indi- 
 cated the absence of the spirit of the Master. But after 
 a short interval of time the same party has been heard 
 to speak, either in Christian testimony, or in prayer, 
 with great unction and power. 
 
 And now the unrest of soul begins. There may be 
 the sincere desire to believe that this apparent unction 
 is backed by a holy life, but the judgment sturdily re- 
 fuses to yield to the importunate pleadings of the sym- 
 pathies and pronounce on those actions as right, and so 
 the result is perplexity and trouble of mind, ending often 
 in loss of relish for the service of the Sanctuary, and not 
 unfrequently in making ship w^reck of faith and a good 
 conscience. 
 
 Once, when enduring this perplexing trial, we resolved 
 to have it settled once for all tlirough the ministiy of the 
 Spirit, or know that there was no provision made for 
 such emergencies in the Clu-istian's life. 
 
 The party in prayer wjis had in reputation by all, was 
 not only useful as a conspicuous official of the church, 
 but ill his private character commanded the respect of 
 the whole community. But we had, unwittingly, wit- 
 nessed in him a spirit of rettiliation whicli we could not 
 harmonize with the precepts of the Gospel of Chi-ist, and 
 eo we were conscious that the old battle which bad 
 never been settled by more than an armed truce was 
 recommenced. ' "'; v^ •' - • • ^ ■ 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 8*7 
 
 The subject of our tliouglits \v~ engacred in /cnlous, 
 unctuous prater, and we were stri\ Ing, with -incere 
 desire, to believe that his life harmonized with his utter- 
 ances. Our success in this direction not being complete, 
 suddenly the thought came to us, Why not let the Ht)ly 
 Spirit guide you into the truth concerning this thing ? 
 
 Again we put in practice the process of reasoning nar- 
 rated in the foregoing incident, althou^,.i for obvious 
 reasons in a much shorter space of time, and the outcome 
 of it all was that we came to the conclusion that there 
 wa^ some radical defect in this brother's Christian expe- 
 rience, so whilst he was praying for others there was an 
 urgent call on us to pray for him, which accordingly we 
 did. And so, for some weeks after, whenever he led in 
 prayer, our sympathies were aroused in importunate 
 prayer that he might discover his error and learn the 
 more excellent way. 
 
 It was not long after that we had the satisfaction of 
 hearing this brother publicly testify that the Holy Spirit 
 had revealed to him the defects of his Christian experi- 
 ence, and that after an all-night struggle he had learned 
 to put on Christ after the New Testament pattern. 
 
 And so we have found the doctrine of Divine guidance 
 not only helpful, but absolutely settling, in such serious 
 experiences of life where the demand is to judge righteous 
 judgments concerning our fellow professed (Christians. 
 
 And we have further learned by experience that 
 righteous judgments in the Spirit, even when they are 
 condemnatory in their character, are not used as a cloak 
 of maliciousness, but by love are f he means of enabling 
 us to serve one another. 
 
88 DIVINE GUIDANCJt 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 INCIDENTAL ILLUSTRATIONS CONTINUED. 
 
 LAST winter there came to live in a house opposite 
 our residence a family consisting of father, mother, 
 and several small children. Both parents were open 
 sinners, being addicted to drink and the use of obscene 
 language, so as to often foul the night air and prove a 
 conspicuous nuisance to our part of the street. It was 
 all the more noticeable, as Bleeker Street makes some 
 claims to respectability, and they were the only family 
 that did not accord with its character. 
 
 After a time the propriety of our making a pastoral 
 visit to this habitation of open sin was forced upon us, 
 not only by our own thoughts, but also by the admoni- 
 tion of others. But all we did at the time was to direct 
 the attention of a policeman to the state of affairs over 
 the way, requesting him to look after the pa^'ties during 
 the late hours when the uproar .enerally commenced. 
 Our reply to those who retjuested us to visit the family 
 as a minister and professed follower of Christ was, that 
 our ime was not yet. 
 
 Nijw, here the practical question of great importance 
 comes up, Was it possible for us to know with restful 
 certainty that it was not proper for us to make a pas- 
 toral visit to that home at that time, with the admitted 
 possibility of never so visiting it i ■-.*. . - ■ - 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 89 
 
 This question is generally treated after a snap-judo- 
 ment sort of style, and, of course you should go, is uni- 
 versally the answer ; whilst many a Scripture passage 
 is quoted to enforce it, as, " To him that knoweth to do 
 good and doeth it not, to him it is sin." 
 
 But our reply to this was, and is, that our action was 
 not the outcome of a hastily formed judgment, but the 
 result of many years of experience and close study of 
 the whole far-reaching question involved in this one 
 incident. 
 
 For, granted that of course it was our duty to visit 
 these wicked parents, thus providentially brought to 
 our door, why not of course visit other families near by, 
 who, although not so openly wicked, were known to us 
 as unforgiven sinners in the sight of God ? Or, indeed, 
 why not of course visit other families and find out their 
 spiritual needs, seeing we have a right to suspect that 
 the majority of all the families in the city are careless 
 of their immortal interests ? 
 
 Now it is evident that we could not visit all such, 
 and so from absolute necessity there must be a discrim- 
 ination on our part, a selection amongst many claimants 
 for the time at our disposal for such visitations. 
 
 Then comes up the question, How are we to know the 
 way to utilize our limited time for the best possible 
 results in such an illimitable harvest-field ? Shall we 
 decide, in an off-hand way, that proximity and open sin 
 should decide as to the first claims on our time ? Well, 
 such arguments look plausible, and could easily be for- 
 tified by apparent Bible sanction. But let them be 
 adopted as a cast-iron rule, and to the thoughtful worker 
 they will soon be seen to have serious defects. , , ,,, . 
 
90 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 But we wish it to be clearly understood that our quest 
 has not been for some rule of practice, which was to be 
 advertised on its occasional merits, whilst its more num- 
 erous demerits were to be ignored. 
 
 The question decided by us in refusing to visit this 
 home at that time was, Is it possible for us to know 
 with certainty the best thing to do with such an oppor- 
 tunity, and we took the ground when we decided not to 
 go just then, leaving the whole matter concerning the 
 future in uncertainty, that we took exactly the right 
 course. 
 
 Moreover, we were perfectly prepared + stand the 
 scrutiny of the judgment day concerning our decision in 
 the case. When we drew the attention of the police to 
 the street nuisance we knew that we had, for the pre- 
 sent, done our whole duty in the matter, and so we went 
 on with our life-work, untroubled by any spectred un- 
 certainties visiting us dur'ng the times of prayer, or 
 thoughts of future retributioii. 
 
 Once it was not so in our life. More than once have 
 v/e slowed up our horse, hoping that some pedestrian 
 ahead of us would turn into some other road and thus 
 not make it necessary for us to invite him into the 
 buo-ffy and talk to him about his spiritual welfare, seeing 
 we shrank from such pastoral work at that time. We 
 were trying to regulate our pastoral work then by a 
 rule, and found our rule a hard taskmaster, and our- 
 selves a bimd slave to its inexorable demands. 
 
 Not that we can speak of uniform failure in carrying 
 out this n'.le, for there is living to-day at least one 
 Christian who was converted to God whilst sitting by 
 our side in our buggy. 
 
t>IVINE aUIDANCB. 91 
 
 Indeed, as we look over our pastoral work, conducted 
 after the usual method of set rules and plans, whilst the 
 yoke of bondage ever and anon galled and chafed our 
 neck, nevertheless, we can gratefully recall definite 
 results connected with it beyond what is common. 
 
 We have had the satisfaction of rejoicing over sinners 
 converted, not only in our buggy, but whilst riding on 
 horseback by our side, whilst walking by the way, as 
 well as at their own homes. There are those in heaven 
 to-day whom we had the extreme pleasure of leading to 
 Christ in doing pastoral work. 
 
 We make these personal allusions to show that, in 
 discunsing this practical question, we are not simply 
 speculatftig, or hunting for some excuse for idleness in 
 the Lord's vineyard, but as investigatin^^onceming the 
 very best way to utilize time in pastoral work. 
 
 If, for example, the season for pressing the claims of 
 religion on this sinful couple was not opportune, would 
 it not be a gain to us in other directions of Christian 
 work that we should be saved from depressing rebuff 
 and positive loss of time ? Who that studies the nature 
 of man but must confess that there are a hundred times 
 in the year unfavorable to pressing the claims of religion 
 to one favorable one, so that when one cJiancea it, the 
 chances are a hundred to one against his calling at the 
 right time. 
 
 But can one with unerring certainty kn()>^ that one- 
 hundredth opportunity ? Well, the question is worthy 
 of a thoughtful consideration, and he who should treat 
 it flippantly would not thereby necessarily establish his 
 reputation as an anti-fanaticist 
 
92 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Now we hesitate not to say that in the law of the 
 Spirit this question is so satisfactorily answered, that to 
 lis the cliange from former laws to this one law of the 
 Spirit is as from darkness to light — " the former dispen- 
 sation to us hath no glory by reason of the glory which 
 excel leth." 
 
 The sequel: Weeks went on, and still the drunken 
 pair ever and anon indulged in their orgies, although — 
 thanks to the police, we will presume — the midnight air 
 was no longer polluted by their obscene epithets. But 
 a day came when one of the children rushed into our 
 house, saying their baby was dying. It was speedily 
 found to be correct, for the child died in its mother's 
 arms that afternoon. After a time the father came 
 home drunk. 
 
 We then for the first time looked into that home of 
 intemperance. What a scene we witnessed ! The child 
 lying dead in one room, the mother, sober, but with the 
 marks of continued excess upon her person, whilst the 
 home spoke loudly by its wretchedness of their sin. 
 
 Not that the building itself was an inferior one, for it 
 was not, but it bore unmistakable evidence of being the 
 home of drunkenness. The father was maudlin drunk, 
 too disgusting a picture to truthfully describe. And yet 
 he gave evidence of being beyond the ordinary in intel- 
 ligence. Evidently he was an English gardener of extra 
 skill and intelligence. 
 
 We stayed but a few moments at that time, but, next 
 morning, with the same certainty that hitherto we re- 
 frained from making pastoral visits, we realized that 
 our opportunity had come, and called upon them. We 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 93 
 
 had lengthened conversation and prayer with them, and 
 ere we left, both professed to be rejoicing Christians. 
 And that it was not a mere profession was afterwards 
 evidenced by a life of sobriety and attention to the out- 
 ward claims of religion, including family worship. They 
 have since moved to another part of the city, but we 
 learn that theirs is still a reformed. Christian home. 
 
 Now, we freely confess that we do not parade this 
 incident as if it shamed other workers in their pastoral 
 labors, for we have no doubt but many Christian workers 
 can point to many similar incidents as the result of their 
 pastoral work. 
 
 What we do draw attention to in the relation of this 
 incident is the fact, that whilst successful work was done 
 for the Master, it was accomplished at the least possible 
 expenditure of time and thought taken from other Chris- 
 tian work of equal, if not of greater, importance, whilst 
 the relation of the incident entire helps, in our opinion, 
 to emphasize our answer in the affirmative to the ques- 
 tion. Can a Christian do the right thing at the right time 
 in pastoral work, and know that he is so doing it ? 
 
 Wishing to take the cars late one Saturday afternoon 
 on an important mission, dictated by the Holy Spirit as 
 clearly as was the call to Barnabas and Saul for similar 
 work, we found we had scanty time for reaching the 
 station before the cars would leave. 
 
 Two courses were open to us, either to go out of our 
 way a distance, when, if the car on that street happened 
 to be passing at the right moment it would enable us to 
 catch the train, otherwise not ; the other was to go on 
 our way, but somewhat further, to meet another line of 
 cars, when the same peradventure would meet us. 
 
94 mVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 By faith we looked for Divine guidance, and with per- 
 fect confidence took the first mentioned course, and failed 
 not to reach the depot in time, for the car passed at the 
 moment of our arrival at the street. 
 
 And similar instances could be given in abundance 
 from ordinary every day life to illustrate the fact of the 
 practical value of this gospel provision in life's activities. 
 
 Not that one who accepts guidance Divine in all the 
 activities of life carries with him an insurance policy 
 against the possibility of missing a train or meeting 
 with apparent loss of time or any form of what is called 
 loss or disappointment in life. For such a result might 
 well be questioned as being really desirable or profitable 
 
 But what we do contend for is, that he who walks in 
 the Spirit, in full-orbed guidance, has the abiding con- 
 sciousness amidst all life's perplexing changes that he 
 walks worthy of God unto all pleasing, and hence does 
 not walk ia the darkness of uncertainty concerning any 
 matter however great or trivial. He knows by happy 
 experience that the steps of the good man are all ordered 
 by the Lord, that none of his steps do slide, and that no 
 good thing is, from moment to moment, being withheld 
 from him walking uprightly, i. e., in the Holy Ghost. - 
 
 Hence our contention is, both from the clear unmis- 
 takable teaching of Holy Writ and the ample corrobora- 
 tion of years of personal experience, that the work of 
 the Holy Spirit as guide into all truth extends to every 
 matter, whether great or small, that touches human life. 
 
 And what man, we ask, can sit in judgment on any 
 matter and pronounce, with oracular certainty, as to 
 whether it is great or small, or, for that matter, as to 
 whether it is sacred or secular in its character ? 
 
N 
 
 DIVINE GUIDANCE. M 
 
 A friend of ours once delayed his journey to town a 
 few moments to break some pine for kindling — a trivial 
 matter an oracle would doubtless say — and yet it re- 
 sulted in the loss of an eye, for a splinter struck the eye 
 ball and resulted in that sad calamity. 
 
 By an oversight of a conductor we once took a certain 
 car on a train — a trifling matter — but simple as it was it 
 saved us from being precipitated over a high embank- 
 ment in a car where several were killed. 
 
 At best we are but as blind men walking amongst 
 pit-falls and snares, and every step is taken into possible 
 disaster and ruin. Occasionally something of the true 
 significance of passing events, in all their vast possibili- 
 ties of good or evil, is revealed to us, and yet the suspi- 
 cion will haunt us that possibly multitudes of others, 
 which we still look on as of trivial importance, are 
 freighted with infinite value, and may pour upon us 
 their accumulated weight of weal or woe at some future 
 date. 
 
 Hence, he is a most reckless thinker, who will admit 
 the possible benefit to man from conscious Divine guid- 
 ance in the so-called momentous incidents of life, but 
 hesitates not to rule it out as unnecessary in matters of 
 apparently trivial importance. 
 
 Besides he is not scriptural, for the Bible requires us 
 in such trivial acts as eating and drinking to do »ll as 
 to the Lord, and enjoins upon slaves, in performing the 
 menial acts of their life of toil, to do all things heartily 
 to the Lord. Whilst (Jhrist taught that even in the 
 things which appertain to clothing the body, all should 
 bo left to the regulation and care of Qod. 
 
96 CIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Nor would our oracle be any more fortunate in pro- 
 nouncing on any act in life, as to whether it might be 
 classed as sacred or secular. For by positive prediction 
 it was taught that whatever line of demarcation existed, 
 under the old covenant, to distinguish between what was 
 holy and what was not, was to be obliterated in the 
 Spirit's dispensation, until the very bells on the horses, 
 and the pots in the homes should be called holy unto the 
 Lord. And accordingly, as we have seen, even eating 
 and drinking and menial acts of service are, in the New 
 Testament, exalted to the dignity of religious services. 
 What God hath cleansed let not even an apostle call 
 common or unclean. 
 
 >'' 
 
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T-r'//',. ./: 
 
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 ^ 
 
 IVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 97 
 
 " '' > • » '\t ■• *' ■ ■ ^^ 
 
 ' ■ , :..-: V.'j- 
 
 
 ,■'• '- ■. ' ': : •- : ■ 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 • ■ 1 ■ " ' ■ 
 
 THE DOCTRINE OF DIVINE GUIDANCE IN 
 V ; ITS SCOPE. 
 
 1 ■♦. .n 
 
 "VTOW whilst the doctrine of the guidance of the Spirit 
 j 1 into all truth is not absolutely the baptism of the 
 "^' Holy Ghost, as witnessed on the day of Pentecost, 
 nor the gift of the Holy Spirit as spoken of after that 
 event, nevertheless, it is so ider jified with it, and consti- 
 tutes so large a part of what in implied by walking in 
 the Spirit, that the one always must, in correct scripture 
 nomenclature, include the other, and hence these are 
 almost interchangeable terms. ' ' 
 
 And, moreover, it will be discovered by anj' who re- 
 gard the matter with sufficient care, that the fact of this 
 doctrine bemg practically ignored accounts for the un- 
 satisfied longings, so general amongst Christians, con- 
 cerning Spiritual blessings. For how can the Holy 
 Ghost come to the soul of man in Pentecostal fulness 
 when man, through unbelief, denies to Him his full 
 rights ? In vain does any one undertake to bring the 
 third person in the Trinity down to his limited measure 
 or thought 
 
 Again and again has He, as the promise of the Father, 
 
 come to take up His abode with us, at our importunate 
 
 call, but so soon as we hesitated to let Him have right 
 
 of way, as guide into all truth, so soon was He, however 
 
 7 
 
98 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 grieved and reluctant, forced to depart, and leave us 
 with unsatisfied longings, to mourn with unavailing re- 
 gret the absence of Him who alone can satisfy. 
 
 And such has been the experience of multitudes of 
 God's people. No matter if hesitancy to be led by Him, 
 as the sole law of life in every direction has been because 
 of honest fear of fanaticism, or of proving an injury, 
 through failure, to the cause of God ; no matter if the 
 result of false notions imbibed through the teachings of 
 great and good men, no matter if the result of our own 
 reasonings concerning the subject, or of observing the 
 vagaries of others, still the fact that under any plea the 
 Holy Ghost is denied His proper place in the Christian's 
 life as guide paramount into all truth, the result must 
 be the sama The Holy One must, in justice to Himself, 
 and loyalty to the truth, vacate His loved abode, and 
 leave us the lawful prey of unfulfilled desirea 
 
 Whence those soul groanings in all our churches which 
 fill and torment the air? voiced in such language as, O for 
 more love ! O for spiritual power 1 Send the Holy Ghost 
 in Pentecostal power ! O for a Pentecost ! Or, slightly 
 changed to suit the pulpit. What the church wants is 
 more Holy Ghost power ! And the pews throw it back 
 with emphasis, What the pulpit of to-day needs is more 
 of the power of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 " Does the ox low over its lodder ?" the prophet signifi- 
 cantly asks, implying that the cry of want indicates the 
 absence of the thing desired. 
 
 And yet, as we before intimated, multitudes who join 
 in that sad cry of want, for longer or shorter periods of 
 time, have known that want satisfied. The newly re- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. • 99 
 
 cjenerated soul, jubilant with the conscious witness of 
 tlie Holy Ghost to sins forgiven, and adoption into the 
 family of Heaven, does not help to swell that cry, nor 
 yet the believer, who, whether under the name of a clean 
 heart or the baptism of power, or any other of the 
 modern substitutions for what the apostles called the 
 gift of the Holy Ghost, has welcomed, for the first, or 
 hundredth time, the Blessed Spirit into the heart; for the 
 exceeding glory of His incoming always renders it im- 
 possible in the mean time, although that period be short 
 in its duration. 
 
 ' But so persistent is unbelief in the power and willing- 
 ness of the Holy Spirit to constitute Himself the one 
 law of life, and so generally has this want of faith pre- 
 vailed, that with the great mass of believers these bright 
 spots in Christian experience are few and far between, 
 and so the great mass of Christians go to swell the vol- 
 ume of that painful wail, until, like the voice of many 
 waters, it fills all the air, and gives character to nearly 
 all religious service. As if man, in his multiplied capa- 
 city, would rend the heavens, and force the Almighty to 
 terms, and cause Him to change the law of faith into 
 that of importunity. ; w. ' 
 
 But, in spite of all, God maintains His integrity of 
 character, and still points to the words of an apostle as 
 the necessary condition of that want being met once and 
 for all time : " Received ye the Spirit by the works of 
 the law or by the hearing of faith ? are ye 30 foolish, 
 having begun in the Spirit are ye made perfect in tho 
 
 flesh r 
 
 The fundamental nature of this doctrine is witnessed 
 
100 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 in that if it be fully accepted and acted out by faith, in 
 life, the result must be, that, sooner or later, we will be 
 led into all Pentecostal truth. And further, whilst being 
 so led, it must secure for us the consciousness of being 
 on the direct road to these truths. ' ' 
 
 So, we repeat it, to accept the Holy Ghost as guide, 
 and give Him full right of way, that is, act out in life 
 perfect faith in Him, is tantamount to securing all the 
 experiences of the New Covenant made and provided 
 for the present e ad every consecutive moment of our 
 lives. 
 
 Napoleon Bonaparte, when he undertook to drive the 
 British from Toulon, pointed to a certain fort of the 
 enemy, and exclaimed, " That is Toulon," meaning that 
 if that was captured the British must evacuate the city • 
 and so he bent all his energies to secure the coveted 
 position, and when success crowned his efforts, true to 
 his prediction, the city was vacated, and his victorious 
 army marched in and took possession. 
 
 So, in this case, we might point to the doctrine of 
 Divine guidance as all that is implied in Pentecost, for, 
 when lived out in life, all else is sure to be secured. 
 But if left out of creed or practice, then it is impossible 
 to come into permanent possession of our full heritage 
 of New Covenant blessings. 
 
 Therefore it will be seen that our theme, although at 
 first promising to be short and restricted in its applica- 
 tion, necessarily takes in for consideration Pentecost 
 with all that is implied by the gift of the Holy Ghost 
 on that day of power and blessing. 
 
 The Promise of the Father was confined in its final 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 101 
 
 v. 
 
 bestowment to the six score personal followers of Jesus 
 — those who had accepted Him as the true Messiah, and 
 were obedient to His words. The test of faithful obe- 
 dience was in that they remained, in strict compliance 
 with His commands, at Jerusalem, waiting for this won- 
 derful gift, concerning which Jesus had discoursed so 
 much. 
 
 It is reasonable to presume that this one hundred and 
 twenty persons were all or nearly all of the many who 
 had listened to the teachings of Jesus who had sufficient 
 faith in Him to tarry in the city for the promised boon. 
 No doubt more would have been partakers of like bless- 
 ing had they evinced like faith in Christ. 
 
 These few score souls were a glad, triumphant com- 
 pany, for Luke tells us that they were together as one : 
 "These all with one accord continued steadfastly in 
 prayer ; " and elsewhere the same writer describes them 
 as "returning to Jerusalem with great joy, and were 
 continually in the temple blessing God." Hence we 
 maintain that it was from no defect in their religious 
 character, as compared with the saints of former dispen- 
 sations, that they were required to wait for additional 
 spiritual blessing. What they were to receive was some- 
 thing over and above all the possibilities of spiritual 
 blessing under former dispensations of grace. 
 
 Hence those writers who point to crises in the lives of 
 Isaiah, Jeremiah and other Old Testament worthies, as 
 simil&r to the blessing received by these happy, united 
 Christians, only confuse matters, for the Holy Ghost, 
 tile distinguishing gift of this dispensation, was only 
 known then as a prophecy of isome good thiu^ to come, 
 
102 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Manifestly there can be no comparison in the case, and 
 
 therefore all efforts in that direction must of necessity 
 
 be misleading. ' ' • '^ - •'i ^c - 
 
 We repeat, that little company in the upper room 
 
 represented the best saintship under the Old Covenant, 
 
 and hence they were not seeking the blessing of holiness, 
 
 as represented in the life of any or all former saints, 
 
 seeing they represented amongst their number the best 
 
 p(\ssible saintship of that age. They were waiting for 
 
 what 
 
 ** Prophet and priest desired to see, 
 But died without the sight." 
 
 That which was to be so superior in every respect to all 
 former spiritual experiences, that, to use the language 
 of Paul, "the former would have no glory by reason of 
 the glory that excelleth." v- ■: it?- ;^.a« • ■ ■ ; 
 
 This ten days* delay was evidently of Divine appoint- 
 ment, for no reason is given by either Jesus or any of 
 His immediate followers. Nor do the necessities of the 
 case show any cause for protracted waiting, for as the 
 above quotations show, every sign of preparation that 
 the human mind could demand was witnessed as cer- 
 tainly on the first day as on the tenth. 
 
 But, further, it is evident that this waiting experience 
 was to be unique in the history of the Church, and its 
 repetition never to be called for. For when once the 
 Holy Ghost, sent of the Father at the instance of the 
 Son, should come, He was to abide forever, and all who 
 in the future should receive Him would do so by faith, 
 that is, in their case, by simple,, glad acceptance, and 
 every consecutive moment after I'eiitecost was to be 
 freiLjhtcd with that grand possibility. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 103 
 
 And now at length their obedient faith was fully 
 rewarded, for, on the tenth day after our Lord's ascen- 
 sion, the promise of the Father, He who had been so 
 minutely described by Christ, came to their prepared 
 hearts to abide with them continually as their empow- 
 erer, joy-giver, teacher and guide. 
 
 As the former dispensation had been ushered in with 
 signs and wonders, to impress the mind of man with its 
 Divine origin, so in this case they were not wanting, 
 and for a like purpose. Hence the sound of a mighty, 
 rushing wind, the cloven tongues, as of fire, and the gift 
 of tongues. But these, like the phenomena witnessed 
 at the giving of the Ten Commandments at Mount 
 Sinai, were necessarily temporary in their character, 
 and had no promise of Christ which guara.^ueed perma- 
 nency to them. But the gift of the Holy Ghost, then 
 for the first time definitely received into the heart and 
 life of the believer, had been promised as the permanent 
 characteristic of this last dispensation. ■ •- ' • - ' 
 
 For they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and 
 remained so filled, and Peter, to the multitude of per- 
 sistent seekers, who, on the same day desired help, was 
 authorized to promise the same fulness of Gospel bless- 
 ing. His words are : " Repent ye and be baptized, every 
 one of you, in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remis- 
 sion of your sins ; and ye shall receive the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost. For to you is the promise, and to your 
 children and to all that are afar off*." 
 
 Again, when some of the apostles were arraigned 
 before the rulers, it is t- lid : " Then Peter, jilled with 
 the Holy Ghost, said unto them." Again, it is narrated, 
 
104 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 in the fifth chapter, how the disciples after having been 
 brought before the leading officials of the Jewish nation, 
 and roughly treated, and commanded to desist from 
 preaching Christ, that when gathered together praying, 
 " the place was shaken wherein they were gathered 
 together ; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 and they spake the word of God with boldness." 
 
 It is true that much effort has been put forth to make 
 this incident an apology for the conspicuous absence of 
 the Pentecostal gift from modern experiences, by main- 
 taining that this fact proves that the baptism of the day 
 of Pentecost was a simple, temporary blessing, ephemeral 
 in its nature, and corresponds to those times of emo- 
 tional refreshment which occasionally characterize reli- 
 gious gatherings ; implying if not actually asserting that 
 the gift was an influence and therefore could be mea- 
 sured out in smaller or greater quantities, or was subject 
 to comparison. For, say they, it was evident the inten- 
 sity of the baptism received on the day of Pentecost had 
 somewhat lessened, and so it was needful that they 
 should be rebaptized or refilled with the Spirit. 
 
 This view of the case would also bring down the doc- 
 trine of Divine guidance into the same narrow dimen- 
 sions, and in place of a personal Guide, ever present, 
 with all the attributes of the Godhead, Divine guidance 
 would be an occasional influence or afflatus, subject to 
 all the uncertainties which time, place and surrounding 
 circumstances could throw into it. 
 
 Now, in combating this view, it is evident that it 
 should not be met in the spirit of debate, that spirit 
 which tries, for the sake of mere argument or to wake 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 105 
 
 good one's assumed position, to establish the falsity of an 
 opponent's contention. It should be examined into for 
 the truth's sake, and with the real purpose of adopting 
 this view of the case if correct. 
 
 Moreover if this be the true description of the whole 
 matter it should be frankly stated, and fully established, 
 and every one who adopts it should have the courage 
 of his convictions and evince them by bold, clear-cut 
 statement. ' 
 
 But manifestly a truth of such weighty importance 
 should have a wider basis than one isolated passage. 
 We should expect to see it running through the scores 
 of passages which allude to the Pentecostal gift, and 
 characterize most if not all. But we look in vain for 
 this mark of genuine truth. For we have to state that, 
 after carefully considering every allusion to this experi- 
 ence, and they are numbered by the hundred, we fail to 
 find one other which will bear even a semblance of this 
 i n terpretation. ^ • 
 
 i For example, when tiie church was exhorted by the 
 apostles to elect men to distribute their charities with 
 even handed justice, they were directed to select men 
 full of the Holy Ghost. The exhortation of the apostle 
 was " Be filled with the Spirit." When a brother had 
 erred, they that were spiritual were directed to restore 
 him, not the more or 7)io8t spiritual amongst the brethren 
 — and in all the argument of the seventh and eighth 
 chapters of Romans the contrast is between the spiritual 
 man and the carnal ; the man led of the Spirit b«ing 
 presented as a distinct, positive quantity, without vario-- 
 tion of degree or measurement, 
 
106 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Now, when all otlior passages speak another language 
 different from the interpretation put upon this one pas- 
 sage, it is in order to suspect that the interpretation is 
 untrue to facts, and should give place to something more 
 in harmony with the general teaching ot* scripture con- 
 cerning this thing. 
 
 And even if the interpretation which would make it 
 harmonize with the multitude of other scriptures should 
 seem to be somewhat forced, it ought not to be rejected 
 on that account, seeing the whole passage might, in the 
 multiplicity of others, be put to one side, as obscure, 
 without to any appreciable extent lessening the bright- 
 ness of the whole Pentecostal revelation. ' 
 
 But again, if it be borne in mind that to be filled with 
 the Holy Ghost, that is to give evidence of obtaining 
 and retaining this distinct gift of God, was considered, 
 in the early days of Christianity, as the all important 
 matter, the fact of all facts, then the passage harmonizes 
 with the prevailing thought, and it either is intended to 
 draw attention to the patent fact that they who, on 
 Pentecost, had received the gift of the Holy Ghost, had 
 retained their Divine inhabitant and guest, and gave 
 full or even further evidence of the fact, or it might 
 imply that, not only those who previously had received 
 their Pentecost, but any others who were in the company, 
 and had not been so blessed, now received like blessing, 
 and so they formed a company who, without exception, 
 revelled in the one great characterizing blessing of the 
 New CJovenant. 
 
 .That there is nothing strained in this explanation we 
 point to the fat;t that, whilst Peter evidently received 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 107 
 
 the Holy Ghost on the day of Pentecost, it is mentioned 
 twice afterwards that he was full of the Holy Ghost, 
 and it is not a common practice to make use of this fact 
 to prove that between times he had parted company 
 with the Holy Spirit or had become less spiritual. 
 
 But even if this interpretation should not receive the 
 unqualified approval of the reader, still, we maintain, 
 that the bare fact that there is a trace of plausibility 
 about it, or if it suggests the possibility of any other 
 satisfactory interpretation, taken together with the uni- 
 versal testimony of all other t-criptures to the fact of 
 the Pentecostal blessing being an indivisible unit, is suf- 
 ficient to set aside the interpretation of the passage 
 we are criticizing, and leave Bible utterance unmistak- 
 altly clear and in perfect agreement in its testimony 
 that to every believer this gift of the Holy Ghost is a 
 distinct entity, is the reception of a person, in all His 
 offices, and that there is no possil)ility of dividing Him 
 up into more or less of the fulness of the Spirit. We 
 eitlicr receivii the Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense, 
 or we do not, and we either walk in the Spirit or we do 
 not, and there is no middle course indicated in God's 
 word. 
 
 But to return to our thought that the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost was to be the permanent characteristic of 
 this last dispensation,' we draw attention to Paul's man- 
 ner of dealing with the twelve disciples whom he found 
 at Ephesus. — Acts, ch. xix. Paul, at first thinking them 
 to be disciples of Christ, nuts to them the all-important 
 question, evidently his standard incjuiry: "Did ye re- 
 ceive the Holy Ghost when ye believed ?" 
 
108 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 From this question the inference is absolute, that, in 
 Paul's estimation, they might be disciples of Christ, or 
 believers and not have received the characteristic bless- 
 ing of the New Dispensation, viz., the gift of the Holy 
 Ghost, and, secondly, we may safely infer that two 
 classes of believers were then recognized, viz., those who 
 believed in Christ and had not accepted their Pentecost, 
 and those who had. • ' * - ^ ' 
 
 The fact that they had not even heard of the Holy 
 Ghost does in no sense modify these inferences. And, 
 moreover, Paul's subsequent conduct is in perfect har- 
 mony with these deductions ; for he fii*st taught them 
 of Christ, had them baptized in His name, and then, 
 after they had become real disciples of Christ by all the 
 methods provided for such change, he laid his hands on 
 them and they received the Holy Ghost ; not a part or 
 a measure, but that distinct gift which at once linked 
 them, in experience, with the six score disciples of 
 Pentecost. ?!. . m 
 
 And this same history in these its distinguishing fea- 
 tures may be traced in the conversion of Saul himself, 
 on his way to Damascus, ana his subsequently receiving 
 the Holy Ghost through the ministry of Ananias, in the 
 h' story of Cornelius and his friends, and the Samaritan 
 converts. 
 
 If it be necessary to have a second marked spiritual 
 crisis in the Christian's history then this is manifestly 
 that experience, according to the plain, unmistakable 
 teaching of a large number of passages in the Bible, 
 including those above considered. 
 
 But, from our close study of the whole question, we 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 109 
 
 do not see very powerful reasons for emphasizing the 
 fact of such necessity. For manifestly on the day of 
 Pentecost, when thousands were added to the number of 
 those who were rejoicing in the possession of this gift, 
 the time between conversion and receiving the Holy 
 Ghost was of so short duration as to be lost sight of 
 altogether, as also m the case of the twelve Ephesian 
 Christians. And hence we are led to the conclusion 
 that the order of blessings was not a matter of defini- 
 tion, nor was a distinct period of time insisted on as 
 necessary to intervene between the reception of the two. 
 The all-important qucjstion, in those early times, was 
 the fact of receiving and retaining the Heavenly guest, 
 and methods or times were of small moment. 
 
 And fain would we see this common-sensed, apostolic 
 state of things restored. Besides the all-important fact 
 of possessing the gift Divine, the when or how thereof 
 are insignificant quantities, and should by no means 
 divide professed Christians into rival teachers or schools. 
 
 He who has marked two distinct stages in His Chris- 
 tian career, in securiiag the Pentecostal gift, and who 
 continues to walk in Him in all the brightness of His 
 personal presence and reign, should not narrowly criti- 
 cize his brethren, to \7h0m the passage from one stage 
 to the other has been so rapid as to blend both pardon 
 and the fulness of the Spirit into one bright effulgence 
 of light, a light which in its exceeding brightness has 
 obliterated every line of demarcation, and so vice versa 
 of the other. 
 
 Wherever serious criticism, the one of the other, exists 
 concerning this thing, the absence of the Comforter from 
 
110 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 the heart and life of the one criticizing may well be 
 
 suspected. . aV': -i....'.^.';'::;:' V- ;'i;:',N: 
 
 But in vain do we look in the New Testament writ- 
 ings for any other weli-delined epoch or crisis as gen- 
 erally characterizing the Christian's career. In the 
 effort to find some other is witnessed this confusing 
 fact, that so soon as any Scriptural term is taken hold 
 of as distinguishing some such crisis, further reading 
 invariably finds that term used interchangeably with 
 conversion. This is true of sanctification, love and 
 purity alike, and a candid reader must admit that they 
 ail, in their most pronounced forms of language, are 
 used freely to signify the initial stage of the Christian's 
 life. 
 
 But this vagueness of expression does not exist in 
 connection with the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the line 
 of demarcation between it and all other spiritual gifts is 
 pronounced, and this clear, unmistakable isolation is 
 carried out through a multitude of passages. Granted 
 that there is no dogmatic creed concerning a necessary 
 interval of time between the witness of the Spirit to 
 sins forgiven and the Pentecostal fulness, nevertheless 
 the distinctive characteristics of walking in the Spirit 
 are so pronounced and so distinctly portrayed, that there 
 is, there can be, no confusion in the mind of the sincere 
 seeker of truth concerning the terms employed and their 
 meaning. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. Ill 
 
 •y ':<. 
 
 :'-''''---'^v:i.. ■■ ■ ■ CHAPTER XIV. '-^-"^ '' '-"-^ '■•'' 
 
 THE GIFT OF THE SPIRIT NECESSARILY 
 . IMPLIES COMPLETE GUIDANCE. 
 
 EVERY description of Jesus concerning the Promise 
 of the Father, and every historical account of the 
 Comforter received implies a person, who, in His 
 spiritual presence, comes to dwell with the believer, 
 whilst that personage, in His coming and •continued 
 abiding, is recognized in the consciousness of the one so 
 honored. - ■.:•-. > ;. :' r 
 
 Now when this consciousness is a practical reality, 
 and not a mere creed or aspiration, the believer must of 
 necessity do all things in the vivid sense of the supervi- 
 sion of the Spirit. Hence to walk in perfect agreement, 
 all that is done must be agreed to or sanctioned by the 
 guest Divine, else there is, perforce, immediate estrange- 
 ment. For it is well asked in Scripture language, " How 
 can two walk together except they be agreed ?" Walk- 
 ing in the Spirit must mean conscious agreement with 
 Him in thought, word and deed. 
 
 This truth we hesitate not to assume as axiomatic — 
 as needing no prcx)f. Hence appears how nearly the doc- 
 trine of Divine guidance into all truth is synonymous 
 with walking in the Spirit. And further, from this is 
 seen how the rejection of the doctrine of guidance into 
 all truth, or covering it up with kx)se generalities, ae- 
 
112 mvINE GUlDANCk 
 
 counts for the wide-spread failure, on the part of Chris- 
 tians, to measure up, in their lives, to apostolic experience. 
 And also, from this aspect of the subject, a clear view 
 of the faith which is necessary to secure and retain the 
 Divine Comforter may be had. 
 
 Faith has been largely lost in its definitions, or over- 
 whelmed in the multitude of its surroundings. But 
 stripped of all these things, it stands out the simple 
 quantity which our Lord taught men it was, so simple 
 that he declined to define it, appealing to the conscious- 
 ness of men as sufficient to testify in their hearts to 
 what it really is. 
 
 The faith that accepts the promise of the Father, and 
 retains the Heavenly gift, acts itself out in life, after the 
 ordinary pattern of every day living. 
 
 The man, with money to his credit in the bank, acts 
 out his faith in that institution by paying out his checks 
 on the bank for what he needs, with the simple, child- 
 like faith that his checks will be honored, and evinces 
 no surprise if his creditor happens to notify him that his 
 check had been cashed when presented for payment 
 
 The person with a ten dollar bill in his pocket book, 
 when he has faith in its genuineness, shows it by paying 
 it across the counter for needed supplies, and is in no 
 wise startled or surprised when it is accepted, and the 
 overplus, if any, returned in silver or gold. 
 
 He who has perfect faith in his couch commits him- 
 self, to its embrace with absolute self-abandonment, and 
 is not surprised when it returns his confidence by sus- 
 taining his weight with ease and in security. 
 
 So also with reckless self-abandonment he flings him- 
 
V mVtNE GUIDANCE. llS 
 
 Self upon his chair for rest, into his buggy for journey- 
 ing, or into his vessel for voyaging, if he has perfect 
 faith in their staunchness. That is, he acts as if he be- 
 lieved in tl^em. But if his faith is not perfect his acts 
 correspond, reckless self-abandonment is no longer seen, 
 but nervous anxiety takes its place, or absolute refusal 
 to trust his person to them. 
 
 And so, through all life's history, faith, or partial or 
 perfect unbelief necessarily paints itself on every act. 
 
 What man in his senses would accept the faith of 
 another as perfect in the goodness of a bank when he 
 would hesitate to offer one of its notes in payment for 
 goods ? Who would not question the sanity of the man 
 who pleaded poverty, and at the same time claimed to 
 have millions in cash or real estate ? 
 
 So in the kingdom of Christ, he who proclaims his 
 poverty concerning the concomitants of the Pentecostal 
 gfft admits their necessary absence, and awakens doubt 
 in the mind of the bearer as to the genuineness of any 
 claim made either previously or subsequently to their 
 possession. Indeed when any believer claims the Pente- 
 costal gift and along with this possession uses the lan- 
 guage of petition or aspiration which implies its lack, we 
 are forced to believe that he is either acting a false part 
 designedly, or else has unthinkingly drifted into habits 
 of meaningless formality. 
 
 But he whose faith is simple and complete, that is, 
 similar to the faith which sways him in the or Unary 
 affairs of life, when he accepts the gift of the Holy Ghost, 
 immediately acts out his faith in life. At once he recog- 
 nizes himself as indwelt by the Holy Ghost, accepting 
 8 
 
.114 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 without reserve the fact in its full significance. And 
 ■ moreover he at once begins to live and move in Him as 
 a conscious presence. 
 
 Hence whatever he does he does heartily as to the 
 Lord. When he speaks he speaks as the oracle of God. 
 Even his thoughts are brought into captivity to the 
 obedience of Christ. 
 
 For him to sigh for Pentecostal power in his life work, 
 is to pour contempt on his ever present, indwelling guest 
 and friend. To sigh for more love, or for more of the 
 Spirit's influence is to treat the Holy Ghost with disre- 
 spect, and forfeit the confidential relations established 
 between them. '" •• ^ 
 
 And finally, to walk the path of life in any of its 
 stages in doubtfulness is to let unbelief usurp the place 
 of faith, with spiritual disaster in its train. 
 
 From all of which it follows, that to the honest dis- 
 ciple of Christ who has not obtained or retained the 
 Pentecostal gift, nothing but unbelief interposes as an 
 obstruction to the perfect realization of the crowning 
 blessing of the New Covenant. ^ 
 
 And further, it is evident that unbelief may give place, 
 at any instant, to the simple faith of glad acceptance. 
 And as that faith proves itself perfect by works, i. e., by 
 acting as if the promises of Christ were true, so the Holy 
 Ghost in the Pentecostal sense is retained, and he walks 
 in the Spirit, is filled with the Spirit, is led of the Spirit, 
 in short, is no longer carnal but is a spiritual man in 
 Christ Jesus, his body being the temple of the Holy 
 Ghost continually. 
 
 Simple faith, in this connection, has been termed by 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 115 
 
 some recognizing the fact that the Holy Spirit is given 
 to the believer, and his simple duty is to accept this as 
 one of the glad facts of the gospel, and go on living and 
 acting as if it were true, and this definition whilst not 
 meeting the requirements of all has proved itself helpful 
 to some. . ' . 
 
 But it will be at once seen that this faith is impossible 
 unless there is a complete acceptance of the promises of 
 Christ concerning the Comforter in all their fulness. It 
 is absolutely necessary that any lingering doubt concern- 
 ing one or all of them must be chased out of the soul by 
 thorough examination of the whole subject, until the 
 gift and work of the Holy Spirit stands or falls with 
 the resurrection of Christ, and with nothing else. 
 
 When the mind of the believer is possessed with the 
 truth that Christ distinctly taught that in this dispensa- 
 tion every believer might, at any moment, accept or 
 recognize the Comforter as his indwelling guest, and 
 that from that moment He would clothe hira with all 
 .possible Holy Ghost power for life's work ; that from 
 that moment on He would be to him the joy and peace 
 of Christ ; that from that moment He would be to him 
 the one and only law of life, causing him, at all times, to 
 know and do the perfect will of God on earth, even as iii, 
 is done in heaven, that is, be his constant, ever present 
 teacher, and guide into all truth ; when, we say the mind 
 of the believer is absolutely assured of these things as 
 most certainly promised by Christ to him as one of His 
 sincere, honest followers in desire if not fully so in 
 reality, then, we repeat, the truth of these things stands 
 or falls absolutely with the resurrection of the man 
 Christ Jesus. 
 
116 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 For all that remoins to secure perfect confidence is the 
 assurance that He, who promised them, is able to perform. 
 But if the resurrection of Christ Jesus is established, 
 then His claim as to ability to make good all these 
 things is proved beyond the shadow of a doubt, and 
 naught remains for the honest seeker but glad accept- 
 ance, and revelling in all the possibilities and blessings 
 comprised in this covenant of grace. 
 
 But no one will recklessly commit himself, in absolute 
 faith, to the acceptance of all that is implied in Pente- 
 cost, whose faith is not built on the divinity of Christ, 
 as absolutely established by His resurrection from the 
 dead. - 
 
 A creed life will accept the dicta of a church, or the 
 traditions of a family as sufficient basis fnr its life. And 
 any form of Christianity that leaves out full-orbed Pen- 
 tecostal experience may rest comfortably on soniething 
 short of that stupendous miracle. But he whose faith 
 has not dug down through all creeds and traditions to 
 the bed-rock of apostolic confidence will not walk, canno^ 
 walk in the Spirit, and prove in life what is that good 
 and acceptable and perfect will of God. 
 
 This searching candid way of regarding the whole 
 subject brings us at once back to the methods employed 
 by Christ Himself ; for He appealed, not to the emotions, 
 creeds or prejudices of His hearers, but ever directed all 
 His utterances to that inner, independent consciousness 
 of man, which is so constituted by God Himself that by 
 it man, if he be a lover of the truth and wills to do the 
 will of God, may always judge righteous judgment con- 
 cerning the things that pertain to his eternal welfare. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCR 117 
 
 ; Hence He favored not snap-judgments, the outcome of 
 emotion, or the result of popularity ; but ever recom- 
 mended thouglitful deliberation as that which should 
 characterize him who would elect to be His true fol- 
 lower. He even seemed at times desirous of checking 
 entliusiastic zeal, as if it gave not sufficient promise of 
 permanency. 
 
 The impulsive, would-be follower, He pointed deliber- 
 ately to the privations of His life, to be duly considered 
 before making a decision, saying to him, " The foxes 
 have holes, the birds of the air have nests, hut the Son 
 of Man hath not where to lay His head." 
 
 And yet He sternly denied to any a privilege which 
 looked in the least in the direction of vacillation : " Fol- 
 low me and let the dead bury their dead," was His 
 uncompromising law to him who craved the apparently 
 reasonable privilege of returning home to bury his father 
 before giving himself up fully to His following. 
 
 Even the wish to return home to say farewell, in its 
 compromising character, was pronounced a disqualifying 
 thought in one of His disciples. 
 
 Now this cool deliberation and determined effort to 
 examine thoroughly every step of the way of faith is to 
 be commended, not only because of the example of Christ, 
 but because of its reasonableness, and the vast personal 
 interests involved, yes, and the interests of mankind ever 
 appeal to us as largely involved in our individual action 
 concerning this thing. 
 
 And therefore every motive and every sacred interest 
 that can centre in man makes its separate claim to be 
 heard, and all co'.iibiiied demand, with a dignity that a 
 
118 DIVINE aUIDANCB. 
 
 background of eternal consequences heightens, that each 
 and every one should sit down and examine this subject 
 to its foundation, with a carefulness and sincere love of 
 the truth that will stand the searching investigations of 
 the judgment day. , 
 
 For, we maintain, that the benefits of Pentecost are 
 not now so much the outcome of faith as of knowledge, 
 connected with love of the truth ; for where these exist, 
 faith will follow as a natural, if not a necessary conse- 
 quence. Therefore the whole subject appeals most forci- 
 bly to all to search into it, as for hidden treasure, and 
 applies its whip and spur to urge on the seeking one till 
 certain knowledge is obtained, a knowledge that will 
 formulate itself in clear-cut statement, whether it be 
 favorable or adverse to the full claims of the passage, 
 " He will guide you into all truth," and with the under- 
 standing that to rest in the half truths which hide be- 
 hind generalized statement is the perdition of ungodly 
 men, who are not willing to receive the truth in the love 
 of it, and so court the delusion that believes a lie, to 
 their condemnation. (See 2 Thess. ii 12.) 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 119 
 
 CHAPTER XV. 
 SIMPLICITY RESTORED. 
 
 IT IS marvellous what simplicity is brought into doc- 
 trinal teaching when Pentecost is seen to take this 
 practical, workable form. The mysticism which is 
 the true child of uncertainty is banished forever. 
 
 For a close analyst of the writings of the mystics will 
 ever discover that in their minds there was a fugitive 
 something, which, like the philosopher's stone, was con- 
 sidered of supreme excellence, and to obtain which all 
 their rules and ascetic practices had their birth and 
 being. But unlike the philosopher's stone or the fancied 
 elixir of life, glimpses of it were now and then obtained, • 
 and occasionally lengthened possession. But generally 
 the experience of it was according to the following 
 extract from Bernard, which is quoted approvingly by 
 Flavel: 
 
 " It is a sweet hour, and it is but an hour— a thing of 
 short continuance — the relish of it is exceeding sweet, 
 but it is not often that Christians taste it." 
 
 Now we maintain that this air of uncertainty runs 
 through all their writings, and gives them a sombie, 
 weird character, which both attracts and repels. Backed 
 by the saintly character of the writers, and showing 
 traces of 'Pentecostal fulness of blessing, they command 
 our respect, and at times feed our innate longings after 
 perfection of character and life. 
 
120 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 But their unnaturalness and indefiniteness affect us 
 like a narrative charged with the supernatural, and we 
 wseem to breathe more freely, and to secure a kind of 
 regained freedom, when we come from under their spell 
 into the garish light of ordinary every day life. 
 
 We maintain that the major part of these writings 
 would shrivel up into a pious ejjwjulation of holy horror 
 at the bare mention of the thought that every Christian, 
 at any stage of his experience, might accept the Holy 
 Ghost in Pentecostal fulness, and, from that point of 
 time, live on an the constant possession of the peace of 
 God which passeth all understanding, the fulness of 
 joy in the Holy Ghost, and have the abiding witness of 
 the Spirit that every moment of every year thereafter 
 he walked worthy of God unto all pleasing. Or in other 
 words, that he might ever after live before God and man 
 the best possible life for him to live. 
 
 For before this vigorous, practical statement, their whole 
 ponderous superstructure of recommeudations concerning 
 mortifying the Hesh, ccmcerning crucifying the aflfections 
 and inclinations, concerning absence from society for 
 prayer, silence or recollection, are dissipated into mists, 
 the home of phantoms, mists that so soon as this state- 
 ment is received as the teaching of Christ and his apos- 
 tles, disappear completelyj even as the exhalations of 
 earth flee away before the rising sun. 
 
 For if it is true that when the Holy Ghost is received 
 in the full-orbed, Pentecostal sense, that is, to walk in 
 Him as the one and only law of life, and when as a 
 necessary consequence it is seen that righteousness, peace 
 and joy in Him is the constant experipnce of such an 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 121 
 
 one, it follows that there is absolutely no place for any 
 of all the mystic practices for growth in grace, which 
 imply, in their use, the slightest lack in any direction. 
 
 That growth in grace which is the outcome of human 
 effort, even if that effort manifests itself in such simple 
 acts as enforced silence, is in its essence opposed to the 
 very genius of Christianity. 
 
 For the idea of growth, in the scriptural sense, is ever 
 associated with perfection, in the moment of growth. 
 Therefore the growth which connects itself with present 
 imperfection is conceived in human thought, and must, 
 in the nature of the case, give rise to unhealthy mons- 
 trous growths, which, in their peculiarities, contrast wilh 
 the perfect symmetrical growth of Christian perfection. 
 
 For if one possesses the peace of God which passes all 
 understanding the growth of that peace, if possible, must 
 be according to the laws of God's peace. And the same 
 must be said with respect to joy in the Holy Ghost, 
 whilst that righteousness which is in the Spirit, and 
 walks worthy of God, cannot be enhanced by any tricks 
 of voluntary humility. 
 
 That there is growth, in the kingdom of God within 
 such a believer, does not follow from any reasonings con- 
 cerning its nature or necessities, but is a positive revela- 
 tion of God, and therefore must, in the nature of the 
 case, be realized by every one who by faith accepts this 
 Christian perfection of character and life. 
 
 Hence it follows that the first requisite for growth in 
 grace is momentary perfection in Christian life, when 
 growth follows as a Divine necessity, and after the 
 Divine pattern. 
 
122 . DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Whence it also follows that the faith which accepts 
 the Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense, and which mo- 
 mentarily walks in the Spirit, is the Alpha and Omega 
 of all efforts to grow in grace. We repeat the thought, 
 that this practical business-like statement of Pentecostal 
 truth drives away the last vestige of mysticism from 
 the gospel, and allays all fear of its reappearing, ex- 
 cepting to thos§ who turn away from the simplicity of 
 the gospel because of their want of love for the truth. 
 
 So, too, before this Pentecostal truth the spirit of 
 Antinomianism must quail, and, however bold in its on- 
 set, must eventually fly before it. For the lurking de- 
 sire of Antinomianism is to condone sin. Conscious of 
 inability to keep the whole law of God in thought, word 
 and deed, it labors to establish a righteousness which 
 will be acceptable to God, and satisfactory to men, with- 
 out enduring the rigid test of holy living. 
 
 Hence the semi-mystical doctrines concerning imputed 
 righteousness, standing in Christ, two records, one on 
 earth and one in heaven, and the far-reaching result of 
 intellectual faith ; the teaching of all which is that a 
 man may from time to time be the prey of evil thoughts, 
 the mouthpiece of improper words, and the author of 
 lustful acts, and yet be pure and holy in the sight of God. 
 
 But as contrasted to all this, Pentecostal truth de- 
 mands that the righteousness of the law be fulfilled in 
 us, who walk not after the flesh but after the Spirit. 
 That is, that not only the letter but also tl e "ntention of 
 all law should be fulfilled in the life of the believer who 
 walks in the Spirit. 
 
 Moreover it points to CJhrist and the apostles as illus- 
 
" DIVINE GUIDAXCE. 128 
 
 trations of this kind of righteous living. Now Christ 
 appealed to the multitude to test His life by the written 
 laws of the Bible, and the law of God written in their 
 consciousness ; " Which of you convinceth me of sin ?" 
 implied this challenge to all men. Even to the man 
 who, at His trial, struck Him with his hand Jesus said, 
 '* If I have spoken evil bear witness of the evil," plainly 
 implying that He refused not to be arraigned before the 
 tribunal of the world's conscience. • rt : 
 
 Moreover He dsclared that the intention of His gospel 
 was to enable man to fulfil the whole law, " Verily I say 
 unto you one jot or tittle shall in no wise pass from the 
 law till all be fulfilled," evidently teaches this stringent 
 requirement, for it is immediately added, as a commen- 
 tary thereto, that whosoever should break one of the 
 least of the commandments should be adjudged guilty. 
 
 And Paul, in the spirit of this teaching, challenged 
 whole churches to judge of his life as lived in conformity 
 to the laws of Go»i. 
 
 James, in his epistle, labors to make it evident that 
 the outcome of the gospel must be that the real, spiritual 
 Christian, who walks in the Spirit, might safely chal- 
 lenge the justice of God concerning the outward expres- 
 sion of that life. " Ye see then how that by works a 
 man ia justified and not by faith only." — James ii. 24. 
 
 John is equally emphatic in pronouncing on all out- 
 wa:d fijrraR of sin as having their origin from the devil, 
 and QH cych rendering the one practising them a par- 
 take) ot his evil nature. " He that doeth righteouness 
 id r'ght**ou8, even as He (Christ) is righteous ; He that 
 CO'?' x 'litoth sin is of the devil," is an unmistakably plain 
 dekv 'T.'iace concerning this thingf. 
 
124 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 And here we remark that had the simplicity of Pen- 
 tecostal truth been preserved, there would have been no 
 temptation to dress up this Antinomian monster in Chris- 
 tian garments. For the righteousness of the law being 
 practically fulfilled in the life, there would have been no 
 felt need anywhere to harmonize Bible teaching with an 
 imperfect life. 
 
 Walking in the Spirit, in the Pentecostal sense, secures 
 such a common-sensed, practical obedience to all the 
 commands of God, that it invites the examination of 
 man and angel to judge of its excellence, not by occult, 
 mystical rules concerning imputed righteousness, and 
 one's standing in Christ, but by all laws of God, whether 
 written on the heart, or in the sacred canon of Truth. 
 Therefore in the presence of this life, which is the out- 
 come of walking in the Spirit, God is honored and Anti- 
 nomianism slinks away into its loved darkness. 
 
 But not only are the more pronounced forms of this 
 error rebuked, but also the milder or more subtle ramifi- 
 cations of the ovil are exposed, for, wherever an imper- 
 fect life exists, however strong the Christian testimony, 
 and however clear and scriptural the creed, there is ever 
 a leaning to some form of Antinomian teaching. 
 
 It matters not if this conscious defect in the life is 
 considered absolutely unavoidable, still the pate- t fact 
 that there is a discrepancy between the Hfe and the 
 standard of holy living which Christ has set up, uncon- 
 sciously calls for some form of doctrine which will bridge 
 over the chasm. 
 
 Now the teachings of Christ call for a life which will 
 be a complete pattern of His own, in all its manward 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 125 
 
 aspects, or else His words cnnnot he made to appeal to 
 the ordinary, common-sensed judgment of mankind — 
 'Be ye therefore perfect as your Father which is in 
 heaven is perfect ;" " Thy will be done on earth as it is 
 done in heaven ;" " Thou shalt love the Lord thy God 
 with all thy heart, — and — thy neighbor as thyself," are 
 specimens of this thought, and specimens of the whole 
 trend of His teaching. : v ; " 
 
 And apostolic utterance is but an emphatic endorsa- 
 tion of this thought, as the beginning, middle and end of 
 His gospel. 
 
 Now, however high the claims of the saint in holy liv- 
 ing, if they fall short of this exalted standard, there is a 
 feeling of uneasiness which instinctively seizes upon any 
 form of teaching which makes a plausible claim to meet 
 this difficulty. And hence we account for the teiiflency 
 of the majority of all formulated creeds concerning holy 
 living to be more or less permeated with this Antinomian 
 spirit. 
 
 In this connection we are forced to indict much of 
 what is taught and written on such subjects as carnality, 
 inbred sin, sin in believers, theories concerning tempta- 
 tions, different degrees of love, purity and power, and 
 similar subjects in endless variety of detail. And as 
 these are burning questions of the present day, we feel 
 that no apology is due the reader in undertaking to ex- 
 amine into them carefully and minutely. 
 
126 DIVINE GUIDANCB. 
 
 CHAPTER XVI. 
 CARNALITY. 
 
 WHEN a sinner comes to Christ in confession and 
 faith he is accepted, pardoned and adopted into 
 the kingdom of God's Son. This is an accepted 
 truth, not only by Methodists, but also by all evangelical 
 churches, accepted because it is believed to be in thorough 
 harmony with Bible teaching. " 
 
 But this adopted child of God is now an heir of hea- 
 ven, and prepared for all the felicities thereof should he 
 at once be overtaken by death. 
 
 This fact of the pardoned and adopted sinner gaining 
 heaven should he die in this gracious state is accepted 
 by all modern theologians, including the Wesleys and 
 their adherents ; yes, and without his having consciously 
 experienced a second blessing whereby carnality, or in- 
 bred sin, has been destroyed. 
 
 It is true that some writers, including Wesley, seem 
 to teach the contrary, for instance, when they comment 
 on the verse, " Without holiness no man shall see the 
 Lord." But when brought to face the question squarely, 
 they all admit, without one dissenting voice, that when 
 a sinner is pardoned and regenerated, if he should die 
 the next moment he is certain to gain heaven. 
 
 Now it is plain, when this is a universally accepted 
 fact, that all theories or teachings concerning carnality 
 and inbred sin must be made to harmonize with this 
 fact. John Wesley saw this, and luet it, as we mitrht 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 127 
 
 expect, without any attempt to go around the difficulty, 
 and fitted his theory to this a(baitted fact, in this way. 
 He maintained that if a Christian was clearly regen- 
 erated when dying, but was not entirely sanctified, that 
 lis, had not experienced the second change whereby in- 
 bred sin was destroyed, that in this case God cut the 
 work short in righteousness, and made an end of sin in 
 him at the last moment or moments of his life, and so he 
 entered heaven both as regenerated and entirely sancti- 
 fied. And this reasoning is adopted by most holiness 
 writers on this subject. / w , 
 
 If any one is asked to produce Scripture for this 
 teaching, it has to be confessed that there is none, but 
 that it is purely an inference, the result of a reasoning 
 process. ■ '-■■ ••■■■'• •"' ■' '"-'■^--'' '"■■-''■• 
 
 Some impatient one, perhaps, here asks. Do you ac- 
 cept this solution of the difficulty as absolutely correct ? 
 We reply that, as to all the facts, we are in harmony 
 with Wesley's teaching, for those facts are in harmony 
 with the Bible ; that is to say, with him we believe that 
 the depravity of the human heart is a positive fact; 
 that confession of sin and faith in Christ secure pardon 
 and regeneration ; moreover, with Wesley we believe 
 that it is possible for a man to receive all that is implied 
 in conversion and sanctification at first, and thereafter 
 live the life of Christian perfection. 
 
 But, with him, we have failed to find one instance of 
 this in actual life. As a general fact, men after conver- 
 sion live in a state where alternate sinning and repenting 
 chase each other like clouds in the sky. And with him 
 we believe that this state, which he sometimes denorai- 
 
128 , mvlNE GtriDANCfi. 
 
 nated the wilderness state, may give place to one where 
 the believer walks constantly worthy of God unto all 
 pleasing. These are the facts of the case which Wesley 
 received, because found in the Bible, and observed in life 
 
 Now it was and is to these facts of Bible truth which 
 are brought out in Wesley's teaching that we, as a Meth- 
 odist minister, subscribed and still loyally defend as the 
 very foundation of Scriptural holiness. But as to methods 
 of stating these truths, and arguments and inferences 
 used by him in their elucidation, no sane person could 
 feel it obligatory on him to accept all as ultimate truth, 
 or that it would be wrong to let one's thoughts concern- 
 ing these facts take any other course than the methods 
 and reasonings Wesley used. 
 
 We, therefore, simply give Wesley's method of making 
 the doctrine of carnality in believers harmonize with the 
 facts of the case as a matter of theological history. We 
 certainly think it improvable, or we would not write on 
 the subjeoit. 
 
 Now, we ask, is it not in order to seek for some method 
 whereby all Scripture statement concerning carnality 
 can be harmonized with facts, without getting into diffi- 
 culty over a regenerate person dying without having 
 experienced the further work of grace known as full 
 salvation ? 
 
 For many years we fully appreciated this weakness 
 in the modern theory concerning inbred sin, and as we 
 could find no satisfactory solution for the difficulty, we 
 simply laid the whole matter as de, and took a short cut 
 to the experience of holiness itself, and left this and kin- 
 dred theories growing out of it to be considered in after 
 years, if at all 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 129 
 
 But now that we have met a solution of the whole 
 matter, in the Bible, which satisfies us, as not only in 
 harmony with Scripture, but also with the facts of expe- 
 rience, yes, and with Wesley's teaching, we hesitate no 
 longer to discourse about it. ; 
 
 This is what we now think to be the simple teaching 
 of the Scriptures concerning this thing. When the sin- 
 ner comes to Christ with confession, and accepts Him by 
 faith as his Saviour, he is at once pardoned and accepted 
 as His follower, the Holy Spirit witnesses to the fact of 
 his pardon and acceptance, and thus He knows, with 
 infallible certainty, that he is an adopted child of God, 
 an heir of heaven. 
 
 Now, his first impulse is to love and serve God with 
 all his ransomed powers. At this point the Holy Spirit 
 undertakes to lead him into all truth, and be to him all 
 that Christ promised him to be. And it is possible for 
 this believer to accept the rich provision made for all 
 his spiritual needs, and go on his way rejoicing, without 
 one moment's break in his experience of freedom from 
 condenmation for sin. 
 
 But, as a matter of history, all, sooner or later, under- 
 take to live the Christian life without walking in the 
 Spirit — that is, without distinctly accepting Him as the 
 sole law of life in all things great and small, and, of ne- 
 cessity, live a sinning and repenting life, that is, if they 
 do not speedily turn away altogether from the effort to 
 live godly. 
 
 Now, this attempt to wajt in the commandments and 
 ordinances of the Bible, without making the Spirit the 
 pjie law of life, is what the Apostle denominates car- 
 9 
 
130 w DIVINE GUIDANCE. "^ 
 
 ' ■ ^ . - ,' 
 
 nality, the flesh, or tlie old man, and it is in essence, the 
 same as those efforts put forth before conversion to avoid 
 sin and lead a righteous life. ' . " 
 
 But when the believer accepts the Holy Spirit in the 
 Pentecostal sense, that is, to obey Him as the sole rule 
 of life, then in this, his walk in the Spirit, he illustrates 
 the scriptural idea of a blameless, holy life, where car- 
 nality is destroyed, the old man crucified, or, which is 
 the same thing, John WesleyV idea of Christian per- 
 fection. 
 
 The objection may be made that this effort to do what 
 is right seems worthy of commendation, whilst carnality 
 is pictured as all bad, the very essence of evil. How then, 
 it may be asked, can these apparent contrasts be similar? 
 
 But it will be noticed that Paul maintains that all 
 efforts put forth to keep the law, when the person is not 
 led of the Spirit, end in failure. Hence, all allusions to 
 such efforts necessarily imply sin as the inevitable result. 
 So that when he speaks of one he includes the other. 
 
 As a matter of fact, all men without exception strive 
 to keep the law of God. No man out of perdition is ab- 
 solutely bad. Who ever met a drunken sot, for example, 
 so far gone in sin that he did not now and then put forth 
 some feeble efforts to stem the torrent of sin in him ? 
 Even the most profligate and unholy are restrained some- 
 what by conscience against the bent of natural desire. 
 So we contend that sin, whether committed by professed 
 saint or open sinner, is aptly described, or at all events 
 is included, in an allusion ta the efforts of men to keep 
 the law of God without obeying the law of the Spirit. 
 
 IIow all disputes concerning the application of Paul's 
 
DIVINE GUiDANCE. 131 
 
 reasonings in the seventh and eighth chapters of Romans 
 are ended when this key is used to unlock their mysteries! 
 
 St. Paul is describing all efforts to keep the law of God 
 without adopting Heaven's provision for keeping it in 
 its entirety. In so doing it is not necessary for him to 
 make nice points concerning inbred sin and open trans- 
 gressions ; concerning infirmities and mistakes, whether 
 regrettable or otherwise ; concerning sins of omission or 
 commission, as to whether they are voluntary or invol- 
 untary, as is necessary with modern writers in upholding 
 their theories. -.•:■,■■;'■.'--,■,■:-„. ■:•«':..:»!'/ ,■■: -;.■•-:■ ■.^■.:-^,^";:; ^■■',! ,-:r;5^,.^ 
 
 No, nor yet was it necessary for Paul to mention the 
 fact as to whether he was describing his own experience 
 before or after conversion. If we regard him as simply 
 describing all efforts to keep the law of God when not 
 walking after the Spirit, that is, when not obeying the 
 law of the Spirit as the only law of life, then we can 
 understand why it was unnecessary for him to guard 
 against the theological discussions which have so thick- 
 ened about these chapters. He was simply giving a 
 vivid description of every son and daughter of Adam 
 when not walking in the Spirit, or when not living the 
 life portrayed in the eighth chapter. 
 
 In the seventh chapter you have man at his very best, 
 when not led of the Spirit. You see a man putting forth 
 all possible effort to keep the laws of God, and finally 
 giving up in absolute despair of ever succeeding. 
 
 Now, it is of importance that we should know what it 
 was that this representative man despaired of. We 
 maintain that his despair was not concerning his ina- 
 bility to secure forgiveness so much as his inability to 
 
132 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 keep the law of God. This the whole trend of the argu- 
 ment shows, and is brought out with clearness in 
 individual passages. " There is, therefore, now no con- 
 demnation to them that are in Christ Jesus, who walk 
 not after the flesh but after the Spirit," speaks of free- 
 dom from condemnation, not because of forgiveness and 
 cleansing, but because sin is not committed, which fact 
 is more fully asserted further on, *' the righteousness of 
 the law is fulfilled in us who walk after the Spirit." 
 
 These, we repeat, are the facts brought out in the 
 apostle's grand description or argument concerning the 
 two states, viz., that all efforts to fulfil the righteousness 
 of the law without following the law, or guidance of the 
 Spirit, as the one and only law of life, end in failure, and 
 man in so acting is carnal, the old man not being dead 
 or crucified. But so soon as he begins to walk in the 
 Spirit, then sin C( es in him, and so long as he «o walks, 
 even as Christ walked, he has no condemnation for sin, 
 seeing he does not comjjait sin. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANDE. 183 
 
 CHAPTER XVII. 
 
 CARNALITY CONTINUED. 
 
 CLEANSING, OR heart puritv. — In connection with 
 the discussion of carnality, it is in order to investi- 
 gate thoroughly this subject. But it will be found, 
 on close inspection, that it can be quickly and easily 
 disposed of, for the state of being cleansed, or of having 
 a pure heart, is simply another name or names for a 
 righteous life. A man of clean hands, and of a pure 
 heart, is simply a man whose hands are not used in 
 wrong-doing, and whose life in thought, word and deed 
 harmonizes with the commands of God ; in other words, 
 is one in whose conduct the righteousness of the law is 
 continually fulfilled. » : 
 
 These hands are clean, cries the politician, when he 
 would have his audience believe that he neither gave 
 nor accepted a bribe. There is no mysticism connected 
 with the word clean and its synonyms outside of theo- 
 logy. But the moment we enter the realms of dogmatic 
 theology we seem to be on enchanted ground, especially 
 when the cleansing department is reached. For it will 
 be found that walking in the commandments of God 
 blameless can scarcely be considered as synonymous with 
 the idea of being cleansed from inborn or inbred sin, as 
 taught by many theological writers, when discoursing 
 concerning holiness. 
 
134 - DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Take an object lesson to illustrate this. Here is a man 
 converted to God. About his conversion there is no 
 doubt. He has sincerely repented of his sins, has come 
 to God in penitence and faith, and has accepted Jesus as 
 the Captain of his salvation. There is no reserve in his 
 complete surrender to Him as the one whom he promises 
 to love and obey now and forever. As a consequence 
 his load of guilt is lifted, -he has now light and joy in 
 his soul, and the clear, unmistakable witness of the Hjly 
 Spirit that he is an accepted child of God, an heir of 
 Heaven. In short, that he is born again of the Spirit, and 
 so sees the kingdom of Heaven — that is, belongs to it. 
 
 He is now, at the close of his first day in this spiritual 
 kingdom, about to retire for needed sleep. With his 
 heart overflowing with thanksgiving because of tjie 
 conscious forgiveness of all his past sins, and with such 
 a sense of present satisfaction in Chri.st that precludes 
 even the suspicion of having been disloyal to the Savi- 
 our, by the commission of one sin since his conversion a 
 few hours ago, which needed confession and forgiveness, 
 happy in God he drops into slumber, and, ere the morrow 
 dawns, drops into eternity. 
 
 Now the question is, Was this man cleansed from all 
 sin before he went to sleep ? Did he live a pure ami holy 
 life between his conversion and his first sleep, which 
 proved to be the sleep of death ? 
 
 To us it is clear that if cleansing means right doing, 
 that is, walking in the commandments blameless, then 
 he lived during those few hours a pure, holy life. But 
 if it means something over and above holy living, then 
 it is in order to show clearly and unmistakably what 
 that overplus something is. 
 
t)IVINE GtJIDANCE. \ 135 
 
 Let us look at some of the confused efforts to show 
 what that assumed something is. It is asserted that if 
 this individual had lived long enough, the inborn or 
 inbred sin which was still in him would soon have begun 
 to show itself in various forms, as, for instance, lisiugs 
 of temper, evil thoughts, infirmities of will ; in short, 
 after a time he would discover in his life sins of omis- 
 sion, if not of commission, needing, ever and anon, con- 
 fession and forgiveness, till he obtained the blessing of 
 heart purity, when inbred sin being taken out, nothing 
 but pure love to God would vemain. Hence it is atgued 
 that the seed of sin, that is, original depravity, was not 
 taken out of him at conversion, it was only kept down 
 out of sight. * 
 
 Now we admit the facts of the case as here brought 
 out. It is all but certain that had this individual lived 
 and striven, after the ordinary way, to live a holy life, 
 he would have met with many a failure, no matter how 
 intense his efforts in that direction. But not, we 
 maintain, because of some defective work done in his 
 being by the great Author of his salvation, but becapse 
 the probabilities are that he would fail to accept the 
 Holy Ghost in a Pentecostal sense, and so, not adopting 
 the divine provision fully for fulfilling the righteousness 
 of the law, he would necessarily fail, and so live a 
 sinning and repenting life if he continued his efforts 
 after holy living. ' 
 
 The apostles did not raise subtle questions tbout 
 inbred or inborn sin in dealing with their converts, but 
 confined themselves to seeing that they accepted the 
 Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense, and then walked in 
 
186 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. Z' 
 
 Him, that is, obeyed Him as the one and only law of 
 life, well knowing that thus the righteousness of the law 
 would be fulfilled in them perfectly. 
 
 We challenge any modern teacher to improve on the 
 apostolic method ss exempliiied in the history of the 
 twelve Ephesian disciples. And, moreover, we challenge 
 any and all dogmatic teachers concerning the blessing of 
 purity to take the position that those twelve needed to 
 to be cleansed from inborn or inbred sin after they had 
 received the Holy Ghost. 
 
 When the plain, legitimate meaning of the terms, 
 cleansing and heart purity, is retained, viz., keeping the 
 commandments of God in their entirety, then, not only 
 no damage comes from the use of them, but they increase 
 the pleasing variety of expressions which indicate holy 
 living. 
 
 But when, as is too often the case, they are used to 
 condone sin, and bolster up a form of teaching that is 
 semi-Antinomian in its make, then it is in order to ask if 
 it is not better to discard their use, or make them less 
 prominent for a time, t7ll the evil effects of the abuse of 
 the terms cease. .. ■ 
 
 Need we add that this abuse is witnessed when they 
 are made to imply that some mysterious change is con- 
 tinually passing over the somI of him who believes that 
 the blood cleanseth, whereby he is reckoned holy and 
 pure in the f-ight of God, even although he does not do 
 the will of God on earth as it is done in Heaven ? 
 
 Sanctification and Entire Sanctifi cation. — In 
 connection with the subject of carnality, it will also be 
 well to comment on the above expressions. 
 
■ '■._/-.■- ,.■■•■'■ ■ - 
 
 DIVINE GtJlDANCE. 187 
 
 Now, in using the same methods as in previous writ- 
 ings, if we connect these terms with the real facts in 
 Christian experience, the sense of confused thought, 
 engendered by the use of them, is somewhat lessened. 
 
 Certainly, at the outset, we must admit that there is 
 a confusion of ideas suggested by this nomenclature. 
 For it implies the possibility of comparing absolute 
 terms, and so brings up the old dispute as to whether 
 perfect and kindred words admit of comparison as, "per- 
 fect, raore 'perfect, most perfect. Accurate scholarship 
 demands that Christ's comments on the words yea and 
 nay be applied to all words implying completeness or 
 perfection, teaching, as they do, that whatsoever is more 
 than the positive degree cometh of evil. 
 
 With a good-natured smile even grammarians will let 
 pass the rivalries of charlatans in the business world 
 who, to catch the eye of the purchaser, tack on their 
 limitless superlatives, as, " very best," " better than the 
 best," "still better than the very best," and so on ad 
 nauseam. And so it comes to pass that the scholarly 
 infidel, with some apparent ground for his act, classes 
 the nomenclature concerning sanctification not with 
 accurate speech, but with charlatanism. 
 
 We are fully aware that some good people will be 
 conscious of a species of holy horror taking possession of 
 them at seeing these terms handled after this common- 
 sense, business wuy. For when any terms of speech are 
 associated for a long time with a sacred subject, the 
 very words gather around them a kind of sacredness, 
 and he is rightly termed an iconoclast who dares to 
 handle them with any other than a superstitious rever- 
 ence for the very letters of which they are composed. 
 
138 < . Divine GUiDANCfi. 
 
 As for us, we frankly admit that we have no such 
 sentiment concerning these terms. For the word sanc- 
 tify, and its derivations, in the Bible is applied alike to 
 men, animals, and inanimate objects, whilst the expres- 
 sion entire sanctification is not even a scripturail one. 
 True, it is supposed to be perfectly synonymous with 
 the expression, " sanctify you wholly." But it is a legiti- 
 mate dispute whether this expression, addressed by St. 
 Paul to a whole Church, was intended by him to be 
 applicable to single individuals. ■ 
 
 Once it was not so ; for we distinctly remember with 
 what awe we first used the expression entire sanctifica- 
 tion when, from a sense of duty, we used it as expressing 
 our personal experience of full salvation, and by this 
 token we are persuaded that it bears like awe-inspiring 
 thoughts to many minds. 
 
 But the question may be on the poise in the reader's 
 mind, waiting a break in the argument, Do you think 
 the expression entire sanctification, as used in modern 
 holiness literature, objectionable ? Certainly we do 
 think it to be decidedly unfortunate, because calculated 
 to mislead. . - 
 
 Let any one lay asi<le his acquired reverence for the 
 expression, and then apply to it the ordinary common- 
 sensed examination which is applied to other things to 
 learn their true value, and see how soon the objections 
 to its use accumulate. 
 
 Now the word sanctified means set apart, separated to 
 a holy use. If then anything is thus set apart, can there 
 be any difference between its being simply set apart, and 
 entirely set apart ? Both expressions must mean exactly 
 the same thing, or else the first one is not truthful. 
 
DIVINE amDANca. 139 
 
 Or if the general meaning attached to the term be 
 taken, viz., to be cleansed or tnade pure or holy, entire 
 sanetification cannot possibly convey any additional 
 meaning to the word sanctified. ,, 
 
 So we maintain, that every way considered, the ex- 
 pression is an awkward one, and must, in the nature of 
 things, tend to confusion of ideas. - 
 
 But do you not believe in entire sanctification ? one 
 asks. Yes, surely we believe in the fact which Wesley 
 used this redundant expression to indicate. And would 
 that modern holiness teachers indicated as clearly as he 
 did the scriptural idea of walking in the Spirit, and 
 there would follow from its use less evil than is wit- 
 nessed at the present time. 
 
 But to make more evident the unfitness of this expres- 
 sion for its intended purpose, take an object lesson. Here 
 is a leader of a religious service who wishes to have sin- 
 ners converted and believers brought into the experience 
 indicated by this term. To be consistent, he should ask 
 the unconverted forward to be sanctified, and the other 
 c\q&&qs io hQ entirely sanctijied. - 
 
 Imagine the perplexity of those at the altar in plan- 
 ning how to take two steps in sanctifying themselves or 
 appropriating Christ as their santification ! And wliat 
 bewilderment mignt be in the minds of the seekers of 
 entire sanctification, in apparently admitting that when 
 they first came to Christ they did not separate them- 
 selves fully to Him, or did not entirely accept Christ as 
 their sanctification. And the bewilderment is further 
 intensified, in that their Master apparently accepted 
 their partial consecration, and gave them the power for 
 
140 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. ■ \ 
 
 a time, at least, to become real sons of God, without 
 rebuke. 
 
 Again, it is^a suggestive thought in this connection 
 that this expression is founded on but one scripture re- 
 ference, as far as we have been able to learn ; and that 
 one, as we above remarked, by no meansi clearly and 
 positively sanctioning it. We have learned to be some- 
 what shy of expressions with such slight scriptural basis. 
 
 Love and Perfect Love. — This subject of carnality 
 would not be complete without an extended considera- 
 tion of ^ove in this connection. v- ' 
 
 If this word be examined in its relation to the 'vrhole 
 subject indicated, it will be found that its meaning has 
 been left in a very perplexing state. 
 
 For example, different states or degrees of love in the 
 same individual are made to stand for the two blessings 
 of justification and sanctification, but no clear definition 
 is given of these different shades or degrees of love. 
 
 Certain Scriptures are quoted for this discrimination, 
 and the >.vritings of Wesley and others are made to do 
 service here. And it is evident that these two degrees 
 of love seem to be indicated by them. But what that 
 difference is, is left in doubt. " He that feareth is not 
 made perfect in love." 1 John iv. 18, plainly intimates 
 that a man may love and yet not be perfect in his love ; 
 " and His love is perfected in us." 1 John iv. 12 seems 
 to speak the same language. 
 
 These are the only passages with which we are fami- 
 liar, that appear to bear out the thought that there is 
 one degree of love present in the soul that is only justi- 
 fied, and another in the sanctified. Of course, when we 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 141 
 
 take Tip the writings of modern teachers on this subject, 
 they abound in statements of this kind. 
 
 Now, granted all that is contended for concerning this 
 thing, see in what confusion of thought the whole 
 matter is left. For the command to love God perfectly 
 is as emphatic in the Old Testament as in the New. 
 Now, one of the favorite arguments used to prove the 
 ability on our part of loving God perfectly is that it is 
 commanded that we should so love Him, and the com- 
 mand itself implies that provision has been made for our 
 obedience. Therefore, it follows that provision was 
 made for the Israelite of old to love God perfectly, as 
 certainly as for the Christian of to-day. Hence, if per- 
 fect love characterizes the blessing of entire sanctifica- 
 tion, then there can be no essential difference concerning 
 it in the two dispensations. How, then, make good 
 Paul's description, when he says that the one had no 
 glory in comparison with the other. 
 
 Again, since under both dispensations we are com- 
 manded to love God perfectly, how can God be just and 
 the justifier of any man who does not so love God per- 
 fectly ? It would seem that perfect love is made a 
 necessity on our part, even in the very first steps in a 
 Christian life. > ... 
 
 ilgain, in the same chapter from which the above 
 quotations have been taken, John discourses as if there 
 were not those degrees in love, for he saith that " every 
 one that lovetk is bom of God and knoweth God. He 
 that loveth not knoweth not God ; for God is love." 
 
 But it may be said that he is discoursing here concern- 
 ing perfect love. Granted, then he is made by this 
 
142 ;- DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 admission to exclude all who do not love after this sort 
 from the kingdom of Christ. And applying that thought 
 to the former verses quoted, it would make them say- 
 that he that was not made perfect in love was not born 
 of God and knew not God. Manifestly, then, it would 
 make the subject abound in difficulties to fit the two 
 states of justification and sanctification to these utter- 
 ances of the great apostle of love. 
 
 That these, and a multitude of similar difficulties 
 abound in this subject, when considered after the modern 
 method, any one who honestly questions himself must 
 admit. But generally this perplexity is gotten over by 
 a pious ejaculation as, O for more love ! and the whole 
 subject is again relegated to the limbo of unsettled 
 
 questions. -■;'>.' ;„^^v; ■•■■^ r/'^^^-'^^ ■'/■.;:■■■•: -v- ■.. "■"■' ' •-, ^— '•; 
 
 Do we propose to settle this unsolved problem ? Well, 
 seeing it is manifestly an unsettled one, no one should 
 find fault at^n honest attempt in that direction. 
 
 We are inclined to think that the entire difficulty has 
 originated in the effort to deal with love as an abstract, 
 and not as a concrete, quantity. That is, love is looked 
 at too much as an emotion, and not as an act. It will be 
 noticed, if the mind is turned to this thought, that in the 
 Bible the acts of life are referred to more than the emo- 
 tions when this subject is mentioned. Read carefully 
 the epistle from which the above quotations are made, 
 and this contention will be easily established. "But 
 whoso keepeth His Word, in him, verily, is the love of 
 God perfected." " My little children, let us not love in 
 word, neither in tongue ; but in deed and in truth." 
 " For this is the love of God, that we keep his ct)nHnand- 
 ments." 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 143 
 
 Again, Jesus Himself gave the same description of 
 love. '* He that hath My commandments, and keepeth 
 them, he it is that loveth Me." And similar passages 
 are scattered through every part of the Bible. 
 
 Hence, it follows that he who keeps the commands of 
 Christ need not be troubled about the different shades 
 of love, for his love, according to the Bible, is complete 
 and satisfactory to his God. But any who do not keep 
 perfectly the commandments of Christ, whilst they can- 
 not lay claim to 'perfect love toward God and man, may 
 well fear concerning their standing before God in any 
 relation that can be either satisfactory to themselves or 
 their Master. ,,-,;;;:,:■■, ,■-., .. .,;, -■■ .-'^ '-^ 
 
 Now, take this thought thus plainly brought out, and 
 see how it will explain the experiences of Christians. 
 Here is a man just converted to God from a life of sin. 
 It is a genuine conversion ; he has, without any reserve, 
 accepted Christ as his Saviour now and forever, with 
 the intention to follow Him loyally in all things. Now, 
 watch him for the first few hours or days of his changed 
 life, and see if there is any defect in his obedience to all 
 the commandments of Christ. Usually you find nona 
 That is, he is fully up to the mark, walking in all the 
 commands and ordinances of God blameless. If you 
 doubt it, just charge him with want of loyal obedience 
 to his Saviour, and see how he will indignantly refuse 
 to be condemned by your accusation. Again, accuse him 
 of not loving God with all his heart, and see how, con- 
 cerning this thing, he will maintain his integrity. And 
 even if your accusation drives him to his Master for vin- 
 dication, notice how he will tell of love tokens given him 
 to confirm him in this his faith. 
 
144 ^ - DIVINE GUIDANCE. * 
 
 Reader, is not this an accurate description of the first 
 hours or days of your Christian life ? Alas, for you if 
 it is not 
 
 Now, if all this be admitted, and we hesitate not to 
 demand its admission, then, according to clear scriptural 
 definition, the newly converted child of God loves Him 
 perfectly; that is, with all his heart, mind, soul, aid 
 strength. And, if he goes on from that glad hour in 
 continued obedience, then, notwithstanding all the reas- 
 onings of modern holiness writers to the contrary, accord- . 
 ing to Bible testimony, he lives a life of perfect love 
 toward God and man. 
 
 But, does he thus go on in perfect obedience ? Alas, 
 no. How rare the instances ! So rare, that the existence /• 
 of one living example, one who for years after his con- 
 version has such a record, is doubted by most, if not all. 
 And why ? Because the provision made for perfect, con- 
 tinuous obedience has been almost universally rejected. 
 
 But, when the Holy Ghost is received in the Pente- 
 costal sense, that is, to be the one and only law of life, 
 then this Christian, in his implicit walk in the Spirit, 
 obeys perfectly all the commands of God, and so fulfils 
 all the conditions of perfect, continual love toward God 
 and man. 
 
 Now, if this state of final establishment be called the 
 blessing of perfect love, in contrast with that intermit- 
 tent state which usually precedes it, where, through 
 ignorance of the Spirit's work. He, the Spirit, only for 
 short periods of time after each act of forgiveness has 
 right-of-way in the soul of the believer, then the confu- 
 sion of ideas connected with the modern method of treat- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 145 
 
 ing the subject of love in connection with the doctrine of 
 holiness would cease. 
 
 Let us, then, gather up the results of this discussion, 
 as follows : 
 
 Whilst the Bible proclaims as a universal fact that he 
 that loves God keeps His commandments, it is still more 
 pronounced in the statement that he that keeps the com- 
 mandments loves God. 
 
 If there is any place in Christian experience for two 
 distinctive degrees of love, as love and perfect love, it 
 must be when fitful obedience is contrasted with con- 
 tinued, perfected obedience. i; r^ 
 V These two states can only be accounted for when, 
 either through ignorance, lack of faith, or defective 
 teaching, the hiw of the Spirit as the only law of life is 
 not an accepted fact in one's Christian experience. That 
 is when believers do not receive the Holy Ghost, or, hav- 
 ing received Him, do not continue to walk in Him 
 
 And further, it is seriously hinted at, if not fully pro- 
 claimed, in the Bible, that defective obedience, at least 
 where the conscience is affected, is a sure sign of the 
 absence in the heart of any true love towards God. 
 
 10 
 
146 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XVIII. 
 SCRIPTURALNESS OF THIS TEACHING. 
 
 WHEN such a departure from the ordinary way of 
 presenting these truths is witnessed, there is nat- 
 urally a call to examine with renewed care their 
 foundations, and this call is the same as asking, Is it 
 Scriptural ? * ' 
 
 Some take their stand on one or two passages in the 
 Bible and maintain against all comers that one isolated 
 sentence in the Holy Scriptures is quite sufficient to 
 establish any doctrine. Hence whole sects are founded 
 on the interpretation of one or two passages, and entire 
 schools of thought pivot on a single expression. 
 
 Take the verse which contains the words " Sanctify 
 you wholly " from the New Testament, and the expres- 
 sion entire sanctification would have no apparent war- 
 rant in Holy Writ. Eliminate the one passage from the 
 Epistle of James with its bearing on the Faith Cure 
 movement, and the extreme views put forward by some 
 of the leaders thereof would scarcely have seen the light. 
 Let the two and only two passages which appear to give 
 del lite teaching concerning dress be lost sight of, and 
 all the ponderous rules and regulations concerning dress, 
 in connection with holiness, could hardly have had a 
 birth. And so of other doctrines which might be men- 
 tioned. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. ' 147 
 
 Now whilst admitting that any utterance that can be 
 fairly traced to Christ, the last ultimate teacher of truth, 
 is sufficient to estaljlish its correctness, we suggest that, 
 where clashing views obtain, if numerous passages can 
 be collected, that an important argument can be based on 
 the number of these passages, as contrasted with the 
 paucity of those which seem to support rival schools of 
 thought. , - •• • 
 
 • Napoleon gave it as his decided opinion that victory 
 always followed the largest battalions. Now whilst this 
 is not always true, nevertheless it suggests a general 
 truth. And hence it is in order to see how, in the New 
 Testament, the passages which refer to the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost compare with those which refer to heart 
 purity, entire sanctijication, holiness, or perfect love as 
 a second blessing subsequent to or apart from forgive- 
 ness of sins. 
 
 Now if the reader should take his New Testament and 
 go carefully over the whole, as we have done, and mark 
 every passage which has reference to any one of these 
 five different subjects, he would verify, we think, the 
 following as correct, viz. : 
 
 
 ■■^'■.-■-■.. .; V-y 
 
 No. of times 
 mentioned. 
 
 Perfect Love, 
 
 
 3 
 
 Cleansing, , 
 Sanctification, 
 
 1 • • • a^ 
 
 9 
 16 
 
 Holiness, . 
 
 ■ • • , • 
 
 87 
 
 The Gift of the 
 
 Holy Ghost, 
 
 166 
 
 Indirect allusions to entire Sanctification, 
 
 1 
 
 II II 
 ii II 
 
 M Cleansing, . 
 
 II the Pentecostal Gift, 
 
 2 
 
 76 
 
148 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 These figures might possibly elicit a dispute concerning 
 tlieir accuracy, in a few instances, but as giving a bird's- 
 eye view of the relative importance attached to the sub- 
 jects mentioned, we claim them to be sufficiently accurate 
 to found our argument upon them. 
 
 Now it will be noticed that the passages marked as 
 alluding to holiness and sanctification apply as certainly 
 to the Pentecostal gift, as they do to heart purity, entire 
 sanctification, or perfect love, when they are made to 
 have reference to a distinctive blessing, and so they do 
 not count in this comparison. Hence the relative value 
 in the estimation of the writers of the New Testament, 
 of the gift of the Holy Ghost in the Pentecostal sense as 
 compared with those other subjects is upwards of one 
 hundred and fifty to nine, as compared with the sub- 
 ject of cleansing ; to three as compared with perfect 
 love ; and to less than one as compared with entire 
 sanctification. 
 
 But if the passages themselves be examined into more 
 minutely, it will be seen that, whilst those which refer 
 to the gift of the Holy Ghost do so in the main as to a 
 distinctive something which can only be intelligibly 
 interpreted by Pentecost, the other passages are not 
 nearly so distinctive in their teaching. 
 
 The first of the nine passages referring to cleansing is 
 in Acts XV. 8 : " And made no distinction between us 
 and them, cleansing their hearts by faith." 
 
 The usual interpretation here is that cleansing refers 
 to the distinctive blessing received by Cornelius and his 
 friends whilst Peter was preaching to tliom. Now, 
 granted this, even then the subordinate nature of the 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 14J» 
 
 expression is shown, for this is the tliird alhision to the 
 same event, and in all three it is particularly mentioned 
 as the giving or receiving the Holy Ghost in the Pente- 
 costal sense, and only in this third pa sage is cleansing 
 named. 
 
 But we ask, would it strain tha passage to make 
 cleansing here refer to their subsequent lives, in which 
 they were kept pure, that is, obedient to the laws of 
 God by faith in the presence and guidance of the Spirit ? 
 Especially when it is borne in nund that the controversy 
 mentioned in this chapter was not about receiving a 
 blessing of purity, but being kept pure. 
 
 There was no dispute about the reception of the bless- 
 ing, whatever name might be given to it, the whole con- 
 troversy was about the subsequent life. Some insisted 
 on the necessity of these Gentile converts keeping the 
 law in order to maintain their standing with God, whilst 
 others opposed this as contrary to the spirit of the 
 Gospel. 
 
 We do not contend for this meaning of the passage as 
 if it was of vital importance; it is sufficient for our 
 argument to show that one cannot dogmatize safely 
 concerning the usual application of this solitary pas- 
 sage concerning cleansing in the Acts of the Apostles. 
 
 But in this book of the Acts, whilst they, who insist 
 on the blessing of a clean heart being the true scriptural 
 name for full salvation, find only this one mention of 
 the subject, forty-nine passages will be found, all point- 
 ing with distinctiveness to the gift of the Holy Ghost 
 as thu true name for the full salvation of the New 
 Dispensation. 
 
150 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 In Ilomans we find no verse which by ordinary inge- 
 nuity can be made to express the doctrine of heart purity 
 as the second blessing. But twenty-six tell of the gift 
 of the Holy Ghost as indicating it. 
 
 In 1 Cor. vi. 11, the next passage occurs, which reads : 
 " But ye were washed, but ye were sanctified, but ye 
 were justified in the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, and 
 in the Spirit of our God." But a glance at the verse 
 will suggest innumerable diflficulties in using this passage 
 in the interests of cleansing as the second blessing, for 
 it is either put on a par with justification or made infe- 
 rior to it by being made to come before it. 
 
 But when the evident meaning of the verse has right 
 of way in the mind there is no confusion in it, for it 
 points to the forgiveness or washing away of past sins, 
 the sanctification or setting apart to the service of God, 
 and living a just or holy life as all coming to them 
 through Christ in the gift of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Again, whilst there is but this one allusion to cleans- 
 ing in the epistle, a dozen may be counted which refer 
 directly to the great Gospel gift of Pentecost. 
 
 In the next epistle pureness and purity are used in 
 their generalized meaning, and therefore need not be 
 considered, seeing there is no reference in them to the 
 subject in hand. 
 
 However, we will notice the following — 2 Cor. vii. 1 : 
 " Having therefore these promises, beloved, let us cleanse 
 ourselves from all defilement of flesh and spirit, perfect- 
 ing holiness in the fear of God." E "idently this passage 
 might be rendered : " Let us keep ourselves from sin." 
 But if this be objected to, still, we maintain, that it 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE, 151 
 
 would be putting the words of the text to an enormous 
 strain to make them teach a distinct second experience, 
 after conversion. 
 
 In this epistle also are a dozen passages referring to 
 the PentecosteJ gift 
 
 In Galatians, whilst there are thirteen passages bear- 
 ing on the Pentecostal gift, theio is not one concerning 
 the blessing of purity. 
 
 In Ephesians, there is mentioned cleansing in connec- 
 tion with the whole church of God as follows, " That He 
 might sanctify it, having cleansed it by the washing of 
 water with the word, that He might present the church 
 to Himself." But we simply quote it as sufficient for 
 our present purpose, remarking that this solitary men- 
 tion contrasts with twelve mentions of the gift of the 
 Holy Ghost in the same epistle. - 
 
 Passing over the intervening books, contaming as they 
 do seven mentions of the one and none of the other, wo 
 find the passage in Titus iii. verse 5, which will repay 
 careful study in this connection, " Not by works in 
 righteousness, which we did ourselves, but accor ling to 
 His mercy He saved us through the washing of regene- 
 ration and renewing of the Holy Ghost, which He 
 poured out upon us richly." 
 
 Here cleansing is connected with the first stages of 
 the Christian life, and the distinct Pentecostal experi- 
 ence is made to follow regeneration or cleansing. 
 
 But the modern interpretation makes washing to fol- 
 low regeneration. Hence it is evident that this modern 
 nomenclature does not closely follow scripture utterance. 
 
 In Hebrews i^^. 14, is the following : " How much 
 
152 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 more shall the blood of Christ, who through the Eternal 
 Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God, cleanse 
 your conscience from dead works to serve the living 
 ^ God !" Now this is evidently a strong passage in favor 
 of the teaching that our gospel provides for purity of 
 conscienc'. But does it in any way implv that heart 
 purity was to be the second blessing of the gospel ? 
 Does it not rather refer to the fact that the outcome of 
 the gift of the Spirit, when retained, would secure a pure 
 and holy life, by enabling the possessor, in place of try- 
 ing the impossible task of regulating his life by laws, the 
 prolific source of dead works, to serve the law of the 
 Spirit, that is, the living God ? 
 
 In 1 Peter i. 22 : " Seeing ye have purified your souls 
 • in your obedience to the truth unto unfeigned love 
 of the brethren," the work of purification is made to 
 mean the same as keeping from sin through the appli- 
 ances of the gospel. 
 
 But in the first chapter of John, 7th and 10th verses, are 
 the great bulwarks of this nomenclature. And yet how 
 carefully they have to be manipulated to have them do 
 service here! / . ; ti . ». 
 
 We maintain that if one is not hampered by the mo- 
 dern teaching concerning heart purity as the second 
 blessing, he will infep at once that this is but an em- 
 phatic statement of the doctrine of conversion. For there 
 is no hiatus between the two thoughts to admit all that 
 is implied as preliminary to the second or cleansing 
 blessing. The plain inference here is that every one 
 who obtains forgiveness obtains cleansing. " If we con- 
 fess our sins he is faithful and just to forgive us our 
 
DIVIDE GUIDANCE. 153 
 
 sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness." 
 Plainly here cleansing is connected with confession of 
 sins as forg'veness is. 
 
 Of course if the doctrine of heart purity, as the great 
 di.stinguishing experience of the gospel, was established 
 in a multitude of passages, then this curt allusion to the 
 subject might be readily admitted as interpreted by the 
 whole. But to build up such a massive structure on 
 such a narrow basis is one of those strange efforts to be 
 found no where outside of dogmatic theology. 
 , In the Book of Revelation are a couple of instances 
 where washing or cleansing is used, but they so clearly 
 have reference to forgiveness of sins that we need not 
 further weary the reader even by quoting them. 
 
 Such then are the weighty reasons offered us by many 
 modern theologians why we should substitute the term 
 heart 'purity ,ihQ blessing of a clean heart — being cleansed 
 from sin, or similar expressions, for the plain emphatic 
 teaching concerning the gift of the Holy Ghost, as the 
 distinct blessing and glory of the present dispensation. 
 
 But further we ask the reader to contrast the indefi- 
 nite character of the passages alluding to cleansing, with 
 the clear-cut, distinctive teaching of those which refer to 
 th 3 Pentecostal gift. 
 
 " This He spake of the Spirit, which they that believed 
 on Him were to receive, for the Spirit was not yet given 
 because Jesus was not yet glorified." — Acts vii. 89. 
 7 " Behold I send forth the promise of my Father upon 
 you ; but tarry ye in the city until ye be clothed witli 
 power from on high."— Luke xxiv. 48. ' 
 
 " And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost." — Acts 
 ii. 4. 
 
154 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 "And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost." 
 —Acts ii. 38. 
 
 " He hath poured forth this which ye see and hear." 
 — Acts ii. 33. 
 
 " And the Spirit bade me go with them, making no 
 distinction." — Acts xi 12. 
 
 " And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost fell upon 
 them, even as on us at the beginning." — Acts xi. 15. 
 
 " It seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us." — Acts 
 XV. 28. 
 
 *' And he said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy 
 Ghost when ye believed?" — Acts xix. 2. - 
 
 * " The Holy Ghost which was given unto us." — Romans 
 V. 5. '■■'" ■ "'^ ' • ' '- ■ " - "■ ■■"- '-"'■■'' ' ' '■'"' '■ 
 
 " If so be that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you." — 
 Romans viii. 9. 
 
 " For the kingdom of God is not eating and drinking 
 but righteousness and peace and joy in the Holy Ghost." 
 — Romans xiv. 17. 
 
 " But we received not the spirit of the world but the 
 Spirit which is of God." — 1 Cor. ii. 12. 
 
 " Now He that establisheth us with you in Christ and 
 annointed us is God." — 2 Cor. i. 21. 
 
 " Received ye the Spirit by the works of the law or 
 by the hearing of faith ?" — Gal. iii. 2. 
 
 " In whom having also believed, ye were sealed with 
 the Holy Spirit of promise." — Eph. i. 13. 
 
 « If any fellowship of the Spirit."— Phil. ii. 1. 
 
 Contrast, we say, these few rendered extracts, taken 
 from a multitude of similar ones, and the astonishment 
 grows that any persons, with the Bible in their hands, 
 
DIVINE GUII>ANCE. 155 
 
 would attempt the herculean task of substituting this 
 grace or result of the Spirit's presence for the gift of the 
 Spirit Himself. 
 
 Should we examine the expressions perfect love, en- 
 tire sanctification, or any other terms after this method, 
 we would find that their claims to be accepted as success- 
 ful rivals of the Pentecostal gift would be quickly dis- 
 posed of, as in no sense charged with th^ meaning 
 ascribed to them. 
 
 And further, we assert that all lovers of the truth will 
 arise from this close study of the subject with a sense of 
 relief, the result of finding that the Bible is so clear and 
 emphatic on the subject, and that it strips the whole Pen- 
 tecostal truth of the mystic, inconsequential reasonings 
 with which this modern departure from scripture nomen- 
 clature has enshrouded it, while Pentecost is seen to 
 stand out sublime, robed and radiant with the clear light 
 of unadulterated truth, the great fact of the ages, second 
 only to its procuring cause, the death, resurrection and 
 ascension of the Lord Jesus Christ. 
 
 But unlike the brightness of Sinai, which repelled, it 
 attracts us to itself, till embraced in its mild glories, we, 
 too, flame and coruscate with its splendors, and go forth 
 in its power, witnesses for Jesus to His utmost power to 
 save, and fulfil in us all the good pleasure of His good- 
 ness. Thanks be to God for His unspeakable gift. 
 
156 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XIX. 
 TEMPTATIONS. 
 
 OTHER SUBJECTS EXPLAINED THEREBY. — It is grati- 
 fying to know with what ease the seeming myste- 
 ries of many theological puzzles are made manifest, 
 and their intricacies explained, when this great central 
 truth of Pentecost is brought to bear upon tliem. 
 
 What multiplied difficulties have connected themselves 
 with temptations when considered with the blessing of 
 cleansing from inborn sin according to modern teaching. 
 
 In the teaching of many modern writers on this sub- 
 ject, it is affii*ned that in the justified state temptations 
 come from within and without, but that in the entirely 
 sanctified they only come from without. As further 
 explaining the matter, it is said that when Satan tempts 
 a saint whose heart is pure he finds no response from 
 within, but if only in a justified state, the tempter is co- 
 operated with by traitors within the heart, who gener- 
 ally help him to make short work with his victim. 
 
 Now, as we have in other places remarked, this state- 
 ment of doctrine is true to facts when it is properly in- 
 terpreted, but the modern interpi-etation is both wrong 
 «!nd misleading. In its true explanation it points to the 
 teaching of Paul where he discourses concerning the 
 Spirit. He shows clearly and repeatedly that the only 
 provision made for successfully resisting temptation is 
 by following implicitly this one law. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 157 
 
 When for this simple gospel provision we substitute 
 the effort to do right from a sense of duty, to carry out 
 the rules of the Bible as rules or laws of life, then Satan 
 has immense vantage ground against us, and is constantly 
 successful in plying us with temptations. His success, 
 then, is like that of a warrior who, besides his besieging 
 army, has part of his forces as traitors in the camp of 
 the enemy ; success is almost certain to crown his efforts. 
 
 Need we illustrate this truth ? Select any form of 
 right-doing along this legalistic line and see how speedily 
 the statement is proved. Let it be that of keeping holy 
 the Sabbath. Now after the most rigid observance of 
 pious rules concerning its sanctity, at the close of any 
 one Sabbath-day sit down and see if the conscience is 
 perfectly clear and the record of the day perfectly satis- 
 factory. 
 
 You read in the Bible that you must not think your 
 own thoughts, speak your own words, nor do your own 
 works. And this rigid rule, be it remarked, is in perfect 
 harmony with New Testament teaching. Now apply 
 these rules to your conduct. You point to the fact that 
 you have stopped unnecessary household labors. But 
 are you sure of this ? Have no unnecessary fires been 
 kindled ? No unnecessary utensils been used, calling for 
 additional labor in their cleansing ? One additional piece 
 of delf, polished for luxury or convenience sake, and not 
 as a work of mercy or necessity, breaks the spirit of the 
 law as certainly as the act of the Israelitish woman who 
 was stoned by Moses for picking up some chips to light 
 her fire. 
 
 Then as to the words spoken. Have none been uttered 
 
158 DJVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 at the table concerning what was on it, or concerning 
 individuals whose names chanced to come up in conver- 
 sation, but what were in perfect harmony with this law? 
 
 What about thoughts ? One minute's thinking our 
 own thoughts breaks the rule as certainly as hours spent 
 that way. ' 
 
 Any one who examines the subject thus closely wnll 
 find that in endeavoring to keep holy the Sabbath-day 
 by the help of the laws of scripture, he is at a tremend- 
 ous disadvantage, and his state is aptly described by a 
 garrison trying to defend itself against open enemies 
 and secret traitors lurking within the walls. Defeat 
 under such circumstances is absolutely certain. 
 
 The same result would be arrived at in examining 
 efforts to keep the laws of the Bible concerning " Always 
 abounding in the work of the Lord," " Redeeming the 
 time," or " Praying without ceasing." No matter how 
 satisfactory the conversion has been, no matter how clear 
 the testimony of the Spirit to sins forgiven or to entire 
 sanctification, if efforts are made to obey these precepts 
 as laws of holy living ; if, in short, there is any attempt 
 to walk by these rules in place of walking by the one 
 rule of the New Testament, the law of the Spirit, certain 
 failure is courted, and he illustrates this state of tempta- 
 tion from within and without. 
 
 But when this figurative language is made to do duty 
 for one who rejects this law of liberty both in theory 
 and in practice, then its use is misleading and ruinous to 
 Christian character. Those who reject this obedient 
 walk in the Spirit are spoken of by the apostle as going 
 about to establish their own righteousness, and not sub- 
 mitting to the righteousness of God. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 159 
 
 Of course, most, if not all, of those whom we aim at 
 will not accept this description of themselves as true ; 
 and yet we maintain that it aptly describes every Chris- 
 tian who rejects, in practice, the law of the Spirit as the 
 one and only law of life ; for thereby they reject the 
 only way whereby the righteousness of the law, that is, 
 the righteousness of God — being perfect, as our Father 
 in heaven is perfect — can be fulfilled in them. 
 
 To bring out these thoughts still more clearly take an 
 object lesson. 
 
 Here is a modernized testimony on this point : " Hav- 
 ing received the blessing of a clean heart, I now find 
 that my enemies are all on the outside. I have no temp- 
 tations from within." 
 
 Now, in the multitude of cases which this testimony 
 represents it is not used as figurative language, referring 
 to the contrast between legality and spirituality, but has 
 laid aside its figurative garb, and is supposed to be a 
 positive fact, a testimony to the fact that now that the 
 heart is pure, having been cleansed from all sin, there is 
 really a radical change in the temptations with which 
 one is assailed. ^ - , 
 
 But submit this statement to closer scrutiny, and see 
 how it will shrink from it. Can anyone define the two 
 kinds of temptation thus indicated ? Examine the 
 temptations of Christ, and see if the mind can grasp a 
 stronger form of temptation than they were. Satan 
 took advantage of Christ's hunger to tempt Him. Of 
 course, we all regard the hunger as not a temptation, but 
 as simply an incident in His life, and yet an affliction or 
 trial plainly ordained of God — " Then was J'jsus led of the 
 Spirit into the wilderness to be tempted ot the devil." 
 
>•,■: 
 
 100 DIVINE aUIDANCE. 
 
 'it 
 
 Evidently the essence of the temptation was to break 
 the fast without being perfectly true to the Holy Ghost. 
 For if the Spirit who came upon Hi n at His baptism 
 led Him to fast, He also must show Him when to end it. 
 It was then a sufficient answer to give to the suggestion 
 to turn the rock into bread, that when the time to fast 
 appointed by the Father was ended something better 
 than dry bread would be provided. And His words were 
 prophetic, for at the close of the fast days, when the 
 time appointed of the Father came, as revealed by the 
 Spirit, then angels ministered to Him a richer repast as 
 to variety than that hinted at by Satan. 
 
 Now let any one who has been called of the Spirit to 
 fast, examine his experiences and see if the essence of all 
 temptation in connection with hunger is not concerning 
 his taking into his own hands to end it without waiting 
 for the distinct sanction of the Spirit. 
 
 Moreover, he will have to confess to himself that such 
 temptations act upon the innermost part of his being ; 
 temptations which shake him to the very foundations of 
 his belief in God. What if he made a mistake in think- 
 ing the Spirit led Him to this fast ? What if He should 
 get no release from this conflict ? What if exhausted 
 nature should, in the end, have to resort to the stone- 
 made bread, that is, take food within reach, but without 
 divine sanction as clearly given as that which led to 
 comrftencing the fast ? Would not failure in the one case 
 make the other a mere fancy of the brain ? And would 
 not that undermine the whole superstructure of super- 
 natural religion ? For the call of the Spirit which led to 
 commencing the fast, we will suppose, was as clear as the 
 knowledge of sins forgiven. 
 
, DIVINE GUIDANCE. 161 
 
 He who has passed through such an ordeal of tempta- 
 tion can appreciate the words, " tempted in all points 
 like as we are." But of whom but Christ can it be said, 
 " yet without sin.'' Alas ! how have we, through the 
 very sorrows of failure, learned to triumph, learned how 
 to be tempted without sin ! 
 
 How much easier the form of temptation which attends 
 a self-appointed or periodic fast ! For then, as the time 
 appointed is a fixed quantity in the mind of the one 
 fasting, all he has to do concerning hunger is to tight it 
 after the Dr. Tanner style, knowing that when the clock 
 points to a certain hour food can be taken with even 
 keener relish than before. 
 
 Is it possible to place temptation connected with such 
 a fast beside the temptation of Christ ? Why, after the 
 forty days were passed, even then there was no certainty 
 that the fast was ended. It was only then that hunger 
 was realized, but no knowledge was yet given that the 
 divinely appointed fast was over. 
 
 We repeat it, that the very essence of Christ's temp- 
 tation was the fight of faith that the Holy Ghost who 
 descended upon Him at His baptism was leading Him in 
 the strange vicissitudes of this lengthened fast in the 
 wilderness, and, unlike Dr. Tanner, He had no set time 
 ahead of Him, which, if He should reach, would neces- 
 sarily end His hunger. 
 
 Those who have entered into Christ s temptation by 
 experience cannot but realize that the nomenclature con- 
 cerning within and without in no wise adeouately 
 defines temptation as known in their experience, unless 
 the words are ti'ftnsposed, making Christ's temptations 
 
 n 
 
162 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 represent the within and without kind, and those con- 
 nected with periodic fasting represent the without type. 
 
 Look, for a moment, at the second temptation of Christ, 
 and it tells us the same story. 
 
 The way of the Spirit is ever too slow for headlon^^, 
 impetuous humanity, hence, when once wo become sure 
 that we are anointed of the Holy Ghost for the accom- 
 plishment of any definite w^ork, temptations meet us at 
 every turn to hasten matters beyond the apparently slow 
 but sure guidance of the Spirit. Has not God set us 
 apart to this w^ork ? Are we not immortal till our work 
 is done ? Hasten on, then. Why take the laboriously 
 slow way of descending by human steps ? Launch into 
 the air, the Divine must be invoked for speedier success. 
 
 Now the essence of the temptation is to still have 
 steady faith in our divine call, and yet calmly wait His 
 way, to abide by God's methods, even amidst the taunts 
 of zealous workers, who, like Christ's brethren, say, " If 
 thou doest these things show thyself unto the world." 
 
 Here, again, those who, having received the Spirit, 
 essay to walk in Him, and those only can enter by 
 experience into the fierce nature of thes3 fiery trials that 
 try ail those who persist in striving to live the Christ 
 life. They too, know how tame beside such soul trials 
 fire the temptations along the legalistic line of Christian 
 work. 
 
 But the temptation of all temptations comes when, 
 ofter fully realizing tliat we are possessed of real spiri- 
 tual power, and yet that from the highest to the lowest, 
 whetlier in the church or out, all who are not thus spiri- 
 tual are likely to antagonise us; then it is that we can, 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 163 
 
 like Christ, be tempted to use this power according to 
 the rules of human prudence. 
 
 For we well know that if we yield in the slightest 
 degree in this direction, not only will this antagonism 
 cease, but more immediate results might be witnessed. 
 Hence the subtle temptation to abandon the unpopular 
 way of the Spirit, or mix with it ways more popular, at 
 least with good people. 
 
 " All these things will 1 give Thee if Thou wilt fall 
 down and worship me," is not then a silly nursery story 
 of a personal, visible devil, asking us to bend our knees 
 to him ; but is a subtle, apparently reasonable thing, 
 backed by the testimony and example of the majority 
 of professed Christians. 
 
 To those who successfuUv withstand these well circum- 
 stanced temptations, we again repeat, the nomenclature 
 concerning the within and without has no meaning, only 
 as it points to the difference between the fight of faith 
 along the line of obedience to the Holy Ghost as the one 
 and only law of spiritual life, and the unsuccessful 
 effort to live a holy life by the observance of rules and 
 regulations, intermingled with trust in Christ for pardon 
 and cleansing. 
 
 But what, it may be asked, is the origin of this no- 
 menclature ? Well, we maintain that in every genuine 
 case of sanctification there is a beginning in the Spirit, 
 and as with the Galatians, a running well for a season. 
 Now, during that season, whether long or short, they are 
 led directly by the Spirit, and so fulfil the righteousness 
 of the law. The contrast w^ith the former experience is 
 great ; and the within and witliout nomenclature is 
 readily adopted, just because it indicates a contrast. 
 
164 DIVINE GUIDANCK 
 
 Now, no sensible harm results from its use under 
 these circumstances. But when, like the Galatians, after 
 having begun in the Spirit, they begin the effort to be 
 made perfect in the flesh ; that is, turn away from the 
 law of the Spirit to any extent, to laws and regulations 
 as rules for holy living : then it is that the danger ele- 
 ment comes in, and the within and without theory 
 becomes a species of transcendentalism, whereby some 
 forms of sin are sublimed into infirmities ; mistakes and 
 sins, which, in place of being frankly confessed that they 
 may be forgiven and their stain cleansed away by the 
 blood of Christ, are presumed to be covered up in some 
 mysterious way by the atonement, and they are accounted 
 holy in spite of the existence of sm in their lives. Thus, 
 by this human device, God is made the minister of sin, 
 and the very atonement a hot-bed of semi-Antinomi- 
 anism. 
 
 Are these terms Scriptural ? We certainly think they 
 are not — that they have no Bible warrant whatever. 
 For we have failed thus far to find a passage containing 
 these words, or similar ones in connection with the word 
 temptation. 
 
 But we do find many portions of God's Word which 
 make against the theory in a marked degree. 
 
 Here is one : " In all points tempted like as we are, 
 yet without sin." Now, according to this theory, Christ 
 could only be tempted from without, that is, like one 
 who was entirely sanctified, and hence, as an example of 
 successfully resisting temptation, he is confined to the 
 few who, during the Christian era, have belonged to this 
 class. To pU others His temptations could be in no wise 
 helpful. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 165 
 
 If this is true, is it not strange that Paul, one of tlu; 
 most careful of writers, should have failed to menti(»n it, 
 and not seem, by this expression, to include all who were 
 tempted. 
 
 Again, in this connection, we would remark that the 
 clause, without sin, would be still more misleading, pre- 
 suming this theory to be true ; for the entirely sanctified 
 soul that successfully endured temptation, would not 
 need this limiting clau!<e in the comparison, for he, too, 
 in this case, would be tempted without sin. 
 
 So we see that, by this theory, Paul would not only 
 narrow down to a few persons the example of Christ's 
 temptations, but would further restrict them by the 
 words, " vet without sin," to the instances where the 
 entirely sanctified yield to temptation — a veritable case 
 of reductio ad ahsurdum. 
 
 Take another example. James declares, in the four- 
 teenth verse of his epistle, that " each man is tempted 
 when he is drawn away by his own lust and enticed." 
 
 We ask anyone to try and fit this within and without 
 theory to these words. Every man here must include 
 the entirely sanctified, or the verse would not be true. 
 Hence, James proclaims it as a fact, that the entirely 
 sanctified, when tempted, " is drawn away by his own 
 lust and enticed." Can anyone imagine a more within 
 kingdom than lust ? 
 
 The unrenewed man may feel the pressure of poverty, 
 and desire to have wealth, but when tempted through 
 that desire to steal, he may either resist or yield to that 
 sin. If he resists the well-circumstanced temptation to 
 purloin a sum of money, he is as guiltless of that sin as 
 
J 66 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 / 
 
 would be an entirely sanctified man in the same sur- 
 roundings. If he takes the money, he sins just after the 
 pattern of Adam's sin. 
 
 Thus the closer we look into the matter the more evi- 
 dent it becomes that it is a hopeless effort to classify 
 temptations on the basis of the without and within 
 theory. Every man is tempted alike, everyone, including 
 not only the entirely sanctified, but Christ Himself ; the 
 only difference between Christ and every other man, 
 including Adam, is that He only lived a life from begin- 
 ning to end without once yielding to temptation, that is 
 without sin. 
 
 Still another passage reads, " There hatli no tempta- 
 tion taken you but such as is common to man." 1 Cor. 
 X. 13. Here Paul was writin to Christians, and he 
 maintains that no temptation meeting them was differ- 
 ent from those common to all men. Is it possible to 
 discover the without and within theory in this verse ? 
 Verily, we think not. For if there is any part of our 
 being, however cleansed and purified, that cannot be 
 reached by the tempter, then there are some temptations 
 that are not common to all men. 
 
 Therefore, we contend most seriously that this without 
 and within theory, with the meaning which most modei n 
 writers give to it, is unscriptural in language, and is 
 untrue to facts, and, therefore, should be discriminated 
 against — both in testimony and teaching. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 167 
 
 CHAPTER XX. 
 MISTAKES AND INFIRMITIES. 
 
 LET us now turn the brightness of Pentecost upon 
 these hitherto undefinable subjects and see if we 
 will not be gratified with the result. 
 
 First, stay a moment to note the chaotic state into 
 which these and kindred questions have fallen. 
 
 There are mistakes — and mistakes, tliat is, there are 
 two distinct classes of them. That this is al)solutely 
 certain, a very little consideration of the subject will 
 show. 
 
 A man makes an error in adding a column of figures, 
 but by a cross-count he easily corrects his mistake and 
 the incident has no after-consequences either as regards 
 his material or spiritual welfare. 
 
 But another man makes the great mistake of his life 
 by failing, at some supreme crisis of fate, to accept sal- 
 vation, and all his after-history, whether in time or 
 eternity, is cursed through that mistake. 
 
 How absurd to class these two incidents as of the 
 same kind. And yet custom will sanction the word 
 mistake as appropriate for both. 
 
 Take now these two incidental illustrations as indi- 
 cating the two extreme meanings of the word mistake 
 and try to find the dividing line between them, and see 
 W)w difficult the task. Are all mistakes in figures excus- 
 
168 DIVINE GtTlDANCA 
 
 able ? and is every neglect of spiritual advice culpable ? 
 Who has ever had the courage to draw the line of demar- 
 cation here, or secured the admiration of the ages in so 
 doing ! Do innocency and guilt shake hands across this 
 line, or is it a great gulf, fixed and impassable ? 
 
 Scientists have striven in vain to draw the line of 
 demarcation in nature between animals and plants, or 
 between plants and minerals, although the extremes in 
 all three realms are pronounced in their difierences, and 
 yet we believe that the latter task would be easier than 
 the former. 
 
 True it is that many attempts in the religious world 
 are being made to accomplish this impossible feat, at- 
 tempts which only make the darkness which covers it 
 more visible. 
 
 Take up almost any of the modem treatises on holi- 
 ness and see with what a confideUt air the author ap- 
 proaches this subject, and then notice the few generalized 
 remarks with which it is gladly dismissed. 
 
 Notice also how this subject is manipulated so as to 
 be the scapegoat of any defects in the creed of the 
 author. We refer here especially to those authors who 
 make their personal experience the great sun and centre 
 of their system of ethics and cause all things therein to 
 revolve around it. 
 
 For all defects in that system or personal experience 
 are flung into the great waste-basket of Antinoniianism 
 — the atonement — and by labelling them mistakes and 
 infirmities, are supposed to be got rid of in some myste- 
 rious way which will not bear too close inspection. 
 
 Let us attempt to generalize the many systems of this 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 169 
 
 kind which dot the theological firmament, thus. When 
 the sinner is convicted for sin and comes to Christ by 
 faith, all his former sins are cancelled and he is made a 
 child of God and an heir of Heaven. But sin — inborn, 
 original sin is not blotted out, and so it is necessary that 
 this be cleansed away by a second application of the 
 blood of the atonement. Now he is fully equipped for 
 running the Christian race. But upon the review of any 
 given section of his Christian life he will see many de- 
 fects in it requiring confession and the re -application of 
 the cleansing fountain. These defects are called mis- 
 takes, infirmities, or errors of judgment, and are supposed 
 to be overlooked or carried away by the cleansing blood 
 continually or fitfully applied. 
 
 Now question critically this weak part of the creed 
 and see how unsatisfactory the answers will be. Will 
 these mistakes or infirmities be cleansed away if they 
 are not confessed ? If so, why confess them ? It must 
 then be a work of supererogation to do so, seeing the one 
 who does not is fully as well provided for as the other. 
 If it is replied that this confession and faith is necessary 
 for the continued application of the cleansing blood, then 
 it is manifest that the confession must be continual to 
 correspond to the need. If not continual, but fitful, then 
 it is in order to give the number of times per day or per 
 year that this duty must be performed to secure satis- 
 factory results. But no one has ever formulated this 
 rule, hence, as usual, the questioning process leads to an 
 acknowledged uncertainty. 
 
 Again, take the instances where there has been a con- 
 scious mistake, or error of judgment, and before the duty 
 
170 DIVINE GUIDANCB. 
 
 of confession concerning it is performed, it is in order to 
 pronounce upon it as to whether it belongs to the class 
 of sins which needs to be repented of, or simply to the 
 class of infirmities which only needs to be confessed. 
 But where is the rule by which to discriminate here ? 
 It must be admitted there is none, and so as before the 
 result is utter uncertainty. 
 
 And so, in either case, the best that can "be done along 
 these lines is to avoid looking too minutely into the sub- 
 ject, and content oneself by ever and anon going through 
 the form of general confession of sins of omission and 
 commission, re-consecration, and acceptance of forgive- 
 ness and cleansing. 
 
 We are aware that many a Christian who has given 
 substantially this experience by word of mouth or at the 
 point of his pen, will be startled at its appearance when 
 thus put in cold, matter-of-fact shape, and be inclined to 
 disown it ; for the unction which always hitherto accom- 
 panied it tended to cover up its defects. Nevertheless, 
 it will not require much effort to find out that we have 
 correctly portrayed the vast majority of holiness experi- 
 ences of the present day. 
 
 But, as before intimated, we have simply reproduced 
 these experiences here, to show how unsatisfactory the 
 whole subject of mistakes has been left by the modern 
 formulators of holiness creeds. 
 
 But all these mists and uncertainties are cleared away 
 when the Holy Spirit is welcomed to the believer's heart 
 as the one and only law of his life, for then, whatever 
 the outward expression of his life as viewed by others^ 
 whether certain acts are called mistakes, infirmities, or 
 
DiVmE GTTIDANCE. IV 1 
 
 sins, when judged according to the narrow creeds of the 
 legalist, he knows that through them all he is so guided 
 that his acts are worthy of His Divine guide, that is, he 
 walks worthy of God unto all pleasing. 
 
 But, exclaims one, is this Gordian knot cut by simply 
 calling wrong right ? By no means, but by always and 
 in all places doing right, and never walking in uncer- 
 tainty concerning anything. 
 
 He that doubteth, that is, is uncertain concerning such 
 a trivial matter as eating, Paul reasoned, was condemned. 
 How much more concerning many things which are smug- 
 gled in amongst mistakes and infirmities by many a sin- 
 cere professor of holiness ! 
 
 So the only way out of the infinite difficulties con- 
 nected with the mistake question is and must be some 
 rule whereby we may walk worthy of God unto all 
 pleasing, even amidst the mistakes and blunders, real or 
 apparent, which constitute the woof if not the warp of 
 our finite lives. 
 
 But this whole subject of mistakes and infirmities 
 which so troubles the legalist is so thoroughly, so com- 
 pletely disposed of by accepting and walking in the 
 Spirit, that it at once sinks down to an unimportant 
 matter, to be dealt with rather as a subject for specula- 
 tion or curiosity, than as one of vital importance. 
 
 However, before entering into the realm of specula- 
 tion concerning it, we delay a moment to remark that 
 he who teaches a creed concerning holiness containing 
 in it a place for mistakes and infirmities needing from 
 time to time confession, forgiveness and cleansing, should 
 hesitate to call it a creed concerning holy living, seeing 
 no provision is made in it for such living. 
 
172 tolVINfi GtriDANCE. 
 
 For if a believer has lived a holy life during the past 
 year will not his confessions, his re-consecrations and his 
 being re-cleansed imply dissatisfaction with his life and 
 put him in the anomalous place of being harder to please 
 than his Master ? For as he has walked worthy of God 
 unto all pleasing during the entire year, the act of con- 
 fession pronounces on the verdict of God as faulty and 
 refuses to accept it as final. 
 
 Now the only way out of this absurd attitude of the 
 soul towards its Maker is the admission that the believer 
 has not lived a holy life during the time in question. 
 But, again, this inevitable conclusion takes its revenge 
 on the creed and proves to a demonstration that the pro- 
 fession of holiness along the line of this creed does not 
 mean that the believer bears witness to living a holy 
 life, but only to an effort in that direction. 
 
 From all of which the crushing conclusion is arrived 
 at, that any professor of holiness who makes provision 
 in his creed for mistakes as a proper cause for confession, 
 consecration and cleansing, thereby vitiates his profes- 
 sion of holiness before all men, and renders his creed, as 
 a holiness creed, a misnomer. 
 
 Certainly we are not, in all this, ignoring the fact that 
 plenteous provision is made in the Gospel for forgive- 
 ness and cleansing as often as the believer, having fallen 
 into sin, complies with the conditions of the Kingdom of 
 Grace. What we are emphasizing is the patent fact that 
 this is not the holy estate which the scriptures describe 
 as normal to him who walks in the Spirit, that is, it is 
 not Bible holiness. 
 
 And now a few words concerning mistakes, to satisfy 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 173 
 
 the legitimate curiosity or speculative tendency of the 
 thoughtful reader. 
 
 There are different shades of meaning to this word, 
 and it is well to know which one we adopt when we as- 
 sert that the fully saved do or do not make mistakes. 
 
 There is a sense in which freedom from mistakes 
 would mean absolute perfection, even the perfection of 
 God. But in this sense no act of a man is free from mis- 
 takes, for all he does of necessity has the finite clinging 
 to it. Man is an imperfect because a developing being, 
 and therefore nothing connected with him in thought, 
 word, or deed is absolutely perfect — that is, free from 
 mistake. Hence all men, including the fully saved, are 
 not only liable to but are always making mistakes — that 
 is, thinking, speaking and acting in a way which comes 
 short of absolute perfection. 
 
 Again, the word mistake takes to itself a relative 
 meaning when an action is compared with an ideal lower 
 than absolute perfection, and yet as high as the finite 
 can reach in thought or has seen in reality. 
 
 For example, take the life of John Wesley, either in 
 its entirety, or any part of it, and we have no difficulty 
 in forming a more perfect ideal compared with which 
 his life was full of mistakes. He might have preached 
 a few more sermons, he might have travelled a few more 
 miles ; in short, he might have crowded into his wonder- 
 fully active life a few more activities which would have 
 left his life still more complete than it is — that is, with 
 a few less mistakes. 
 
 Again, one may take the life of John Wesley and 
 compare his own life with it, and discover defects or 
 
174 ' DIVINE GUIDANCE. ^ 
 
 mistakes as compared with it, and so admit that, in 
 comparison with such a model, he is not free from mis- 
 takes. 
 
 Still, again, every mistake committed by us may, for 
 aught wo know, propagate itself throughout our after 
 life as a continuous defect or source of weakness. For 
 example, a child is dilatory during his school life, and 
 his consequent defective knowledge will tinge his whole 
 after career, and render it necessarily defectir e as com- 
 pared with what it might have been, that is, full of 
 mistakes. 
 
 Now, in all these meanings of the word mistake saint 
 and sinner are alike involved, and the old Latin proverb, 
 " Humanum est errare " — it is human to err — is correct 
 when applied to every son and daughter of Adam. 
 
 Every person who is not a fit subject for the asylum 
 readily subscribes to all these truisms concerning mis- 
 takes, and it seems like mere child's play to draw the 
 attention of our readers to them. And yet there are not 
 wanting those who seem to think that when we talk or 
 write concerning having the witness of the Holy Spirit, 
 
 , " That all we do is right, <V 
 
 According to God's will and word. 
 Well pleasing in His sight," • 
 
 that we are assuming to be free from mistakes according 
 to one or all of the meanings of the word above alluded to. 
 But there is a Bible sense in which the fully saved do 
 not make mist ikes. Take any point of our life, and it 
 must be possible for us to live the best possible life, all 
 things considered, thereafter, and this life would cer- 
 tainly be freed from mistakes when compared with that 
 best possible life. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 175 
 
 God must certainly have in His mind concerning every 
 one of us a life which, starting from any moment, may 
 be perfect, complete, holy, unblamable in love, entire, 
 wanting nothing — in short, well pleasing in His sigit; 
 and to say that such a life is full of mistakes is a con- 
 fusion of terms, if not of ideas. 
 
 Now God has made provision for every one of us to 
 live this best possible life, and every one who abides in 
 Christ, is indwelt by the Holy Ghost, and by Him guided 
 into all truth, must live this very life, else he cannot be 
 walking worthy of God unto all pleasing — he cannot be 
 fully saved. 
 
176 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXI. 
 
 PRAYER AND SCRIPTURE STUDY. 
 
 JESUS CHRIST illustrated in His life, as well as 
 taught, the inherent antagonism between that which 
 was spiritual and that which is legalistic. He in His 
 uwn individuality represented the mind of God, and 
 called upon all lovers of Lhe truth, that is, all who were 
 ready and willing to hear and obey the voice of God as 
 Abraham and Moses did, to come to Him as representing 
 that voice. 
 
 As a matter of history, the Abrahams of His time did 
 recognize the voice of God in the call of Jesus, and for- 
 sook all and followed Him. 
 
 ' But the legalistic, that is, they who had permitted 
 worldly aims and desires to weaken and destroy this 
 inward voice, refused, and the inevitable result was that 
 sooner or later they antagonized Him, 
 
 Jesus interpreted the universal thought of the heart 
 of man when He declared that " the kingdom of God is 
 within you," meaning by this vdthin kingdom the innate 
 knowledge possessed by every man that God can speak 
 to him, and that it is wisdom and safety to obey that 
 voice above all others. 
 
 Now we all know that had the multitude, hsaded as 
 they were by the Scribes an<l Pharisees, investigated 
 honestly the claims of Christ, they would have found 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 177 
 
 them gemiine, and would ha\ e become His glad, ohedient 
 followers. 
 
 But they loved the praise of men more than the praise 
 of God, that is, although to follow this inward kin<^dom 
 promised them ease of conscience and future blessedness, 
 nevertheless, because tho immediate prospect was that 
 of deprivation as to temporal blessings, they decided 
 against Him. 
 
 Christ made His appeal to man in his individual, not 
 his corporate capacity. Hence each individual soul was 
 called on to decide alone for God, with the knowledge 
 that possibly, yea, almost certainly, he would be deciding 
 against the masses, and so it meant literally to forsake 
 all to follow Him. 
 
 What wonder, then, knowing what we do of the ten- 
 dencies of human nature, that only the few followed 
 Him and the many rejected Him. 
 
 But of those who refused to cultivate the kingdow, 
 within, various classes existed then as they do now. 
 However, we will divide them into but two classes for 
 our present purpose, viz., those who quenched the light 
 within them and openly and as a matter of course ac- 
 cepted the world in its place, and those who undertook 
 to make a compromise. 
 
 • Now these classes cannot be known by simply r anung 
 them Scribes and Pharisees on the one hand and the 
 n\ultitu(le on the other, for both the laity and the priest- 
 hood furnished examples of lovers of the truth — men 
 who became obedient to the faith. 
 
 The class of coinproiiiisers was composed of those who 
 had a certain respect for this inward light, and to meet 
 12 
 
178 , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 its claiTiiH for attention liad l)ecoiae religions, Tlicy had 
 liHtened to any teaching wliich promised tiiein satisfac- 
 tion concerning this tiling. Hence to tliem religions 
 observances were means to an end, and tliat end was to 
 satisfy this inward want, this craving after soul rest. 
 
 The real compromise entered into was in accepting 
 outward religious observances and listening to their 
 voice with punctilious exactness rather than to the 
 direct voice of God. 
 
 The advantages connected with this course were, that 
 tln^y could still retain the praises of men and all worldly 
 advantages and avoid the pains and penalties connected 
 with a spiritual life. True, they were rec|uired to pay 
 no small price as their part of the contract. This price 
 consisted in self-mortification, rigid observance of many 
 rules and ceremonies and in alms-giving. 
 
 Here, then, you have the legalist of the days of Christ, 
 and of all ages. Then the outward expression of his life 
 was that portrayed hy Christ — making long prayers, 
 fasting twice a week, giving tithes of all his possessions, 
 and minute observance of the Mosaic laws, with multi- 
 plied Rabbinical additions. 
 
 But did he obtain the soui rest after which he sought ? 
 By no means. For when John the Baptist came preach- 
 ing repentance they gathere«l about him, hoping that he 
 could supply their felt lack. But so soon as they found 
 out that he appealed to that within kingdom, and de- 
 mande('i unqualified obedience to the voice of God, and 
 did not countenance compromise, they speedily turned 
 from him. 
 
 Again, when Jesus appeared they flocked about Him, 
 
DIVINR OUTDANCE. 179 
 
 ftvin<'Jng by tin's very act tluMr conscious lack. Rut, yet 
 again, wh(3n they found out that He appealed to their 
 conscious knowleclge of God, and <lenianded implicit obe- 
 dience to the reigning sovereign of the kingdom within 
 them, even when the possibilities might be the loss of all 
 worldly goods and of life itwelf, when, especially, He 
 poured contempt on all their compromising acts of wor 
 ship, not even excepting their careful observance of 
 Sabbath laws, they rejected the kingdom of God against 
 themselves, and turned against Him in persecuting hate. 
 
 The mass of worldlings treated the claims of Jesus 
 with indifi'erence, too much occupied with their eager 
 pursuits to take time even to persecute Him. But the 
 legalists of His day had no other alternative. They 
 must either give up their religion or prove Him an im 
 postor, seeing He had pronounced on their comproiuising 
 efforts as vain and foolish. 
 
 They, in their opposition to Jesus, were really defend- 
 ing their religious practices. For if Christ was right, 
 then, manifestly, they were wrong. 
 
 No issue ever was more distinct and clear, and there- 
 fore when they would not trust to the light that was in 
 them, seeing they had the suspicion it would lead th(;m 
 to Christ, aud the loss of all else, they must, perforce, 
 do their utmost to show that He was wrong, that is, 
 they must antagonize Him. 
 
 Now this will be seen to be the true explanation of 
 the conflict which haa been in the world since the days 
 of Cain between legalism and spiritualism. It still exists 
 although under ditf'erent forms, aud will exist while the 
 world lasts. , ... * ; 
 
180 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 The Holy Ghost, the sent of the Father and of the 
 Son, has to-day taken the place of Christ, and appeals 
 to this within kingilom, ofi'ering Himself to voice the 
 mi d of God to the soul of man under all circumstances 
 and for all time. 
 
 But He, like Christ, makes His demands as an absolute 
 sovereign, requiring instant, uncompromising obedience 
 in every direction. No plea of fearfulness concerning 
 the way He may lead, as to its being seemingly difficult, 
 or requiring the loss of all things, can be for one mo- 
 ment allowed. He asks for full right of way through- 
 out the entire being, and refuses to do His work when 
 any conditions Whatever are put upon Him. 
 
 Now absolute abandonment to the claims of the Holy 
 Ghost, after this practical method, is as full of pains and 
 penalties to-day as ever it v/as, and hence the temptation 
 to compromise is as strong as when Jesus met it in His 
 day. ' 
 
 Need we say that this compromise is witnessed in all 
 efforts to meet the claims of the conscience by multiplied 
 religious rules and pious observances, when the Holy 
 Spirit is practically ignored as guide into all truth. 
 
 It matters not if these rules are directly or indirectly 
 sanctioned by the Bible, still the essence of legalism 
 must be there if the one practising them does not fully 
 admit the claims of the Spirit, and act out his faith in 
 those claims in life. 
 
 And moreover as the Godhead presses those claims of 
 the Holy One for full, practical recognition either by 
 providence or living testimony the legalist either surren- 
 ders or desires to surrender to His righteous demands, 
 
DivINE GUIDANCE. 181 
 
 or tends more and more to assume the attitude of 
 antagonism. 
 
 This thought is the true explanation of Christ's uni- 
 versal law, interpreted by Paul in the words " All that 
 will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suiTer persecution." 
 There is war, perpetual war between the carnal and the 
 spiritual — between him that walks after the flesh and 
 him that walks after the Spirit — and will be to the end. 
 
 In the present time the compromise which is attempted 
 is to substitute for the guidance of the Spirit rules or 
 laws concerning prayer and scripture study. We use 
 these as representative experiences. 
 
 Now there is nothing intrinsically bad in either. Who 
 would presume to pronounce anything but commenda- 
 tion on the act ot devotion or earnest perusal of the 
 Bible ? Nor would any one be justified in placing limits 
 here as to time, place or quantity. Like acts of benefi- 
 cence, in themselves they compel admiration. But it is 
 just because they are of the essence of good that the 
 legalist, who either through ignorance or wilfulness, fails 
 to give the Spirit right of way in his being, turns to 
 these, and multiplies his rules and regulations about 
 them, and then, by listening continually to the elsacting 
 claims of these rivals of the Holy Ghost, strives to make 
 up for what is lacking in his being through his failure 
 to walk in the Spirit. 
 
 It matters not then whether once, twice, thrice or more 
 times per day he essays to have seasons for prayer and 
 reading, or whether one, two, three or more hours per 
 day be the regulation time for those devotional exercises, 
 the spirit of lemilisni nmst ever be present, and the dan- 
 
182 ' DIVINE aUIDANCB. 
 
 ger of becoming pronounced in antagonism to the claims 
 of the Spirit grows apace. 
 
 Now if at any time when the legalist hears the call of 
 the Spirit to give these entirely into I^is hands, with 
 unlimited confidence that the outcome will be the best 
 possible both for time and eternity, he can either heed 
 that call, or disobey. 
 
 Peter, when called to go to the home of CornoHus was 
 legalistic in the extreme, but evidently there was no in- 
 jury either to him or otheis from this fact up to that 
 time, for he had not been called to see the necessity of 
 parting company with his early taught ritualistic prac- 
 tices, nay, the gift of the Holy Ghost had thus far tended 
 to make him if anything still more punctilious in his 
 observance of them. Henc(3 his surprised reply to the 
 divine request to "slay and eat," as it canu; to him in 
 the vision from God, " Not so, Lord ; for I have never 
 eaten any thing that is common and unclean." 
 
 Now Peter might have still clung to his legalistic prac- 
 tices, and refused to let the Holy Spirit guide him in 
 this thing, when he would have gradually or at once 
 have ceased to be led of the Spirit, and another would 
 luive had to be found to take his place as the foremost 
 man in the new dispensation. 
 
 But he was loyal to the Holy Spirit as having supreme 
 right of way before all laws and religious observances 
 however founded on scripture teaching, and therefore he 
 flung these all aside and went to (Jornelius nothiwj 
 ilouhting. - - — h- . _ ._^ .___ 
 
 At the present day the Holy Spirit retains supreme 
 right to come between the professed followers of Christ 
 
 / 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCK. 183 
 
 and all rules and rej^ulations concerning^ prayer, scrip- 
 ture study or arxy other religious observances, and he 
 who questions His claim in this matter cannot walk in 
 the Spirit. 
 
 It JM true that he may pile up aiginnenta in ^^avoi oi 
 the rules in question mountains high. He may show 
 that they are not only founded on the traditions of the 
 fathers, but upon the best commentaries of the scrip- 
 tures, and that vary many eminent saints grew still more 
 saintly in the use of these identical rules for holy living. 
 All this and more he may truthfully say, and yet, wo 
 repeat, that if through these reasonings, and even added 
 fears of lawlessness or fanaticism, he refuses to recog- 
 nize the absolute right of the Spirit to control his con- 
 duct after a pattern diametrically opposed to them, and 
 show a readiness to act out this his faith in life, he fails 
 to be led of the Spirit in this thing, and runs great risk 
 of antagonizing Him ever after. 
 
 From all of which it is readily seen that prayer, scrip- 
 ture study, fasting, alms-giving and other works of bene- 
 ficence are in themselves goo^^ things, and there is in 
 them no necj^ssary antagonism to the Spirit's work. And 
 moreover it is quite possible for the professed followers 
 of Christ to have rules and regulations concerning the 
 practice of all these things, that is, be legalistic in prac- 
 tice and still be spiritual ; that is, led of the Spirit, even 
 , as was Peter and the early disciples up to the time of 
 the call of the Gentiles. 
 
 But it is not possible to retain spiritual life, and refuse 
 to be led by the Spirit when He claims His right to 
 come between any or all these legalistic acty and the 
 soul, as ffuide suDreme. 
 
184 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 
 
 Whon choice is made as betwoen tlxjKo rival claimants 
 for KuprciiM) rij^ht ot* way in the Honl, then we either fol- 
 low the Spirit implicitly and become m* remain spiritual, 
 or we turn from Him and become or remain legalistic tis 
 a compromiK(5, the outcome of which latter course is cer- 
 tain to be antagonism to Him and to all who are spiri- 
 tual, that is, led of the Spirit. 
 
 It will be in order here to compare the two ways 
 which branch off in opposite dircjctions from this point. 
 'J'o tlie one who forsakes the way of the Spirit for the 
 ways of legalism comes no complete satisfaction in the 
 practice of legalistic services. Take the effort to sat- 
 isfy conscience in the matter of prayer. Take if you 
 please the very best example of this class, one who not 
 only prays frequently and for lengthened periods of time, 
 but wlio also adds much fasting therewith, and see if the 
 results are satisfactory. Will he not readily admit at 
 the close of any year of such punctilious observance of 
 his rigid rules concerning prayer and fasting, that he 
 might have spent still more hours in the closet of prayer 
 with advantage to his own growth in grace and the 
 spiritual welfare; of others ? And, moreover, will he not 
 confciss that the perforir wince of his acts of devotion was 
 not always as intense and as free from wandering 
 thoughts and other defects as it should be, and that 
 therefore in this thing he cannot claim the well done of 
 the Master, having the witness of the Spirit as to his 
 having walked worthy of God unto all pleasing f 
 
 But the result in this instance; cl<;arly proves the im- 
 possibility of satisfactory results in any case when the 
 way of Spirit is departed from ; for by the deeds of the 
 
DIVINE OUTDANCE. 185 
 
 law, tliai is, in thin connection, hy followin<; sot nilos niul 
 rogiilalions concerning [>raycr and 8cri[)turo .study, no 
 fl(!Hh can 1)0 justirwMl, cannot so carry out the law as to bo 
 juHtifi<'<l in th(! deed. 
 
 But there are not wanting witnesHes to testify that 
 success is the outcome of the way of the Spirit, and 
 therefore we claim that with the distinct, uncjualified 
 promise that He, the Holy Ghost, will ^uide into all 
 truth coiicerning botli prayer and scripture study, suh- 
 stantiated by both apostolic and modern living witn(\sseH 
 to the result Jis being satisfactory and free from failure, 
 that the law of the Spirit is the God-appointed way an<l 
 the only way whereby the believer in (/hrist can regu- 
 late succensfully tinses and seasons for prayer, scripture 
 study and other devotional acts. 
 
 Of course the question will oft(;n bo asked in the fu- 
 ture, as it lias been in the past, What will be the result 
 of such a course as to these times and seasons ? And as 
 often the answer nnist be that no man can know before- 
 hand such things. As God has made every one an indi- 
 vidual, so both reason an«l the Bible intimate that He, 
 the Holy Spirit, will deal with him as such, and tlu^re- 
 fore the experience of no two will bo necessarily alike 
 in tliis or any other matter. 'J'his kjiowledge. therefore, 
 can only come to the individual as an experience and 
 through experience. 
 
 But can it ever happen that a Christian will be led of 
 the* Spirit to discard times and seasons for prayer or 
 Bible Hiading altogether, or for definite periods of timr ^ 
 Certairdy, if it should be; the Vxist for all concerned, not 
 •otherwise. But a.ssuredly Ik; who can not trust the Holy 
 
186 DIVINE OtrmANCE. 
 
 spirit a>>Rolntoly with tliis mattor will nover know the 
 iriimi of (iO(\ concorniii^ this thin^ as a [)or.s(»iiai oxpcri- 
 eiico, for this harrier of iiiOjoIiof, tliat iH, want of confi- 
 dence in I Tim muHt fonsver hlock up tlie way. 
 
 It iH more than possihh;, it in hi^lily prohahlr lli.it thcj 
 exile of PatrnoH had no set times for Hihle study dur- 
 ing tlie period of his stay on that lonely isle. The early 
 (/hristians had no New Testament to read, and the Old 
 Testament was diflicult of access, and ahsolutely out of 
 the reach of most, and yet modern Christians often sigh 
 for the return of tln^se very times. 
 
 Again, many (Christians have heen so placed that 
 stated seasons for private prayer have heen an impossi- 
 bility, when for lengthened periods of time it was im- 
 practicable to obey literally the command of Christ, 
 " When thou prayest enter into thine inner chamber, 
 and having shut tliy door, pray." Now in all these cir- 
 cumstances of disability to attend to set times and sea- 
 sons God has control of the situation, and therefore to 
 that extent is responsible for the failure to read or pray 
 aft(T the manner of set rules. Would it be a greater re- 
 proach on (Jlod if the Holy Spirit, without the compelling 
 force of providential circumstances, should guidci a be- 
 liever to lay aside his set rules for prayer or scripture 
 study, or make any change however startling ? 
 
 How narrow and contracted the conception of Divine 
 guidance which would ever and anon bring the Almighty 
 Spirit as a prisoner before the bar of reason to be tried 
 by saintly lives, the traditi(jns of the fathers or finite 
 vi«ws of scripture teaching ! 
 
 But have not some gone jxstray just here, and imagined 
 
DIVINK GUIDANCE. 187 
 
 that thoy wore Ind of tho Spirit wlion time has proved 
 tliat tbfiy wore Ha<lly aHtray ? (yc^rtainly thiH liaH hoon 
 a matter of hJHtory, and history will douV)tle»H ropeat 
 it.solf af^ain and again in this thing. 
 
 We I nay question the wisdom of God in on trusting 
 such grand possibilities for good to man when many will 
 use them to their most serious dainage ; but then an in- 
 telligent view of the case will make it necessary also to 
 question tho wisdom of the Almighty in committing to 
 his creature man such things as the grain producing 
 grasses, with all their possibilities of food and luxury, 
 when he can and does turn these very blessings into a 
 curse by passing them through the still. 
 
 No doubt the AUwiso God, He who seeth the end from 
 tho beginning, took in all such possibilities of use and 
 abuse when He committful tho gospel in all its fulness to 
 man, and ordained it as a fundamental law of the king- 
 dom of grace, that all spiritual provisions, when brought 
 near to man, should prove cither a blessing or a curse, 
 should be either life unU) life or death unto death to all 
 who came within their divine influence. This is (Jod's 
 law in nature, why should we show surprise if it obtai'is 
 in the realm of graco 9 
 
188 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXII. 
 
 THE LAW OF THE SPIRIT AND THE DRESS 
 
 QUESTION. 
 
 IITHILST we have seen in the foregoing chapters 
 \\ the liand of God in providing a certain rule of 
 ' ' faith amidst all the perplexing questions of the 
 soul in its inner life, we shall none the less admu'e His 
 wisdom in providing the same ultimate law for regulat- 
 ing the external acts of a religious life. 
 
 Apart from this rule, what inextricable confusion pre- 
 vails in the religious world concerning the simple matter 
 of dress, for example ! What able pens have been em- 
 ployed in discussions concerning what was ornamenta- 
 tion in dress and what was not, concerning the character 
 of gold in this connection as to whether it changed its 
 nature when composing ring, watch-guard or time-piece ! 
 What denunciations from the pulpit and pen against the 
 products of the air or field when transferred to a lady's 
 bonnet! And, again, what ability exercised in their 
 defence ! And ^ et after the expenditure of such mighty 
 efforts, how meagre the results as to any uniformity in 
 teaching or practice concerning what dress best becomes 
 the profession of godliness. 
 
 True it is, that the narrow sectary will often point to 
 a few of his church who have adopted some kii d of 
 sauieness in attire, and claim that 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 189 
 
 •• These are he Temple of the Lord* 
 And Heathens all beside." 
 
 But one has to be the rankest of bigots not to know 
 that Heaven is of vastly greater dimensions than such 
 contracted thoughts would permit it to be. 
 
 However, apart from such dogmatic teaching, there is 
 much perplexity amongst sincere, conscientious believers 
 concerning this thing. 
 
 Now these difficulties cannot be classed correctly after 
 the loose pattern of extreme apostles of the dress ques- 
 tion, who, with one sweep of the hands, divide all into 
 two and only two classes, viz., those who, in obedience 
 to their notion of Bible law, dress in plain clothes, and 
 those who will not submit to such unadorned apparel 
 because they are not willing to obey God. 
 
 With many the conflict is really concerning submit- 
 ting to be governed by the dogmatic teacliing of others, 
 without being convinced in mind as to what is ultimate 
 truth in this connection. 
 
 Very many are puzzled beyond expression concerning 
 Paul's law of expediency: "All things are lawful for 
 me, but all things are not expedient." What is expe- 
 dient and suitable to the spiritual interests of others in 
 connection with their dress is to them a perplexing, be- 
 cause an unsolved, problem. 
 
 From personal experience and observation, extending 
 through many years, we are inclined to believe that no 
 one subject requires the regulating hand of Divine guid- 
 ance more than this troublesome one of dress, and on 
 this account we deem it wise to devote a chapter to its 
 Cull consideration. 
 
190 • J^IVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Now, as contrasted to the many rules and regulations 
 concerning this matter which have been laid down by 
 men, some of them not wanting in scholarship and Chris- 
 tian graces, the teachings of Christ require each and 
 every one of His followers to be taught, personally by 
 the Holy Spirit as to what is right in his or her case. 
 And ample provision is made for all in their individual 
 capacity to learn, not once for all, but day by day, just 
 as required, what is the proper practice for them. And 
 so it comes to pass that all may know continually just 
 how to act and what to do concerning this thing with 
 unerring certainty. 
 
 The law of liberty in Christ Jesus, i. e., the law of the 
 Spirit, makes free from the law of sin and death, from 
 all the dogmatic teachings of individuals or combinations 
 of men. 
 
 It is then the privilege of any child of God to learn 
 from the Spirit direct just what to wear and what not. 
 But it is not possible for one to teach another ultimate 
 truth concerning this thing. 
 
 If these two thoughts are followed to their legitimate 
 results, the great beauty and harmony of God's arrange- 
 ments can best be witnessed. For if one may not dictate 
 to another concerning this thing, then censorious judging 
 one another is ruled out, and each one must leave his 
 brother to stand or fall to his own master. 
 
 And if provision is made for each one in his own right 
 to ol tain clear instructions concerning dress, evidently, 
 there is no need for the intervention of any other ulti- 
 mate teacher of truth in this direction. " And all thy 
 children shall be taught of the Lord ; and great shall be 
 the peact " thy children." — Isaiah liv. 13. 
 
Divine guidance. 191 
 
 Did not the prophetic eye of the writer of this passage 
 take in this possible rest from clashing views and dog- 
 matic teachings when the work of the Spirit should he 
 fully and generally recognized ? What a change would 
 come into the spirit of modern Christianity if the peace- 
 procuring reign of the Holy Ghost were fully recognized ! 
 
 But the dogmatist is ever ready to spring to the front 
 with his pet subject and denounce all who do not dress 
 according to his notions, on the assertion that they are 
 scriptural and, therefore, obligatory on alL He quotes 
 the one or two passages which seem to sanction his ex- 
 treme and narrow views, and then maintains that for a 
 person to say that the Spirit taught him or her to. dress 
 different from his teaching, v^ould be the same as saying 
 that the Holy Spirit led aim to disobey plain Bible 
 commands. 
 
 Of course, if this reasoning of the dogmatist is without 
 a flaw, the conclusion is inevitable, for God cannot con- 
 tradict Himself. That is, in this connection, He cannot 
 have given a universal command against wearing gold 
 or ornamentation of any kind as applicable to every son 
 and daughter of Adam, and then relax this law in favor 
 of any one individual. To admit this possibility would 
 at once undermine all confidence in the character of God 
 and throw doubt on all Bible teaching. 
 
 Besides, it would weaken and circumscribe the deliv- 
 erances of Jesus concerning the Holy Spirit as Guide 
 into all truth, if He found it necessary to hedge about 
 the Spirit's work with rules concerning such an import- 
 ant matter as dress, and forbid Him to act the part of 
 teadier concerning this thing. 
 
192 DIVINE GUIDANCB. 
 
 Now this apparent incongruity will naturally prompt 
 ITS to intelligently investigate the whole question from 
 the scriptural standpoint, to see if it is the manifest 
 intention of the Bible to lay down minute laws by which 
 we should regulate our personal attire. v 
 
 Naturally, if this work of guidance concerning dress 
 has not been committed to the Holy Spirit, as the words 
 of Jesus plainly indicate, then we shall look for a clear, 
 unmistakable statement of the fact ; and moreover we 
 shall expect to find such carefully prepared rules and 
 directions for dress as would rival the advantages of a 
 personal supervision and direction such as Christ de- 
 scribed the Spirit's guidance would be. 
 
 Now, after carefully studying the Bible with refer- 
 ence to this question in all its bearings, we give the 
 result of our researches in the following two propositions 
 or canons, viz. : ' >' - • - 
 
 1. The Scriptures nowhere give forth a particular 
 deliverance on this subject of dress, suitable to all times. 
 
 2. That the graces of the Spirit are the only charac- 
 teristics by which the foUowei-s of Christ are to be 
 known, and that any style of di'ess so conspicuous for 
 its gaudiness or plainness that real spiritual followers of 
 Christ could be singled out from others by it, is contral- 
 to the spirit of the teachings of the Bible. 
 
 The two and only references which seem to imply a 
 •particular deliverance on this subject need to be exam- 
 ined here. 
 
 The two passages are 1st Timothy, 2nd chapter, 9th 
 and 10th verses : " In like manner, that women adorn 
 themselves in modest apparel, with shamefacedness and 
 
. DIVINE GUIDANCE. 193 
 
 sobriety ; not with braided hair, and gold, or pearls, or 
 costly raiment;" and Ist Peter, 3rd chapter, and 3rd 
 verse : " Whose adorning let it not be that outward 
 adorning of plaiting the hair, and of wearing jewels of 
 gold, or of putting on apparel." ■ ] 
 
 First, suffer us to give some of the inferences drawn 
 from these verses. 
 
 It is prfetty generally taught that the writers of these 
 paragraphs were laying down laws to be observed mi- 
 nutely by all Christians during all times. 
 
 That these passages condemn the use of gold or pearls 
 as ornamentation in any form, and that any part of one's 
 apparel which is superfluous, and hence only for adorn- 
 ing the person, is absolutely forbidden. 
 
 Most writers and teachers on the subject of holiness, 
 we freely admit, accept these two canons as fairly em- 
 braced in the teaching of these verses. Hitherto there 
 has been considerable unanimity in the published and 
 spoken views of professors of holiness on this question. 
 
 But when it comes to practice there is infinite variety 
 witnessed. One section condemns the wearing of gold, 
 even in a watch or marriage ring. Another will pass 
 these, but draw the line rigidly on wearing chains and 
 earrings. Some rule out all unnecessary tucks and floun- 
 ces in a di ess pattern, and are horrified at the very men- 
 tion of flowers or plumes, others admit the flounces and 
 tucks, but wax eloquent against flowers and plumes. 
 Many are troubled in conscience about plaiting the hair, 
 but do not hesitate to substitute rolls, bangs, or frizzing. 
 Then as to costly array, opinions as to what is costly 
 array are simply too numerous to mention. 
 13 
 
- ;> 
 
 194 ' " DIVINE GTTIDANCE, 
 
 Smile not, dear reader, for we are dealing with facts 
 — facts of vital importance in the eyes of very many 
 good people. If all the time spent in anxious thought 
 and prayer concerning the details of this question had 
 been spent in attackmg Satan's kingdom under the guid- 
 ance of the Holy Spirit, the god of this world would 
 have been driven from many a stronghold he now 
 occupies. 
 
 And after all, who has reached a satisfactory conclu- 
 sion in practice when adopting these rules to start from ? 
 The busiriess man, on Sunday morning, doffs his blue 
 jean suit, not to don another clean suit of the same ma- 
 terial, but to put on a broadcloth coat, and goes to church 
 a well dressed man, so much so that a prince at court in 
 the days of the apostles might well envy him, and yet 
 the extremest of the extreme apostles of the dress ques- 
 tion will not find fault with him because he has flung 
 aside his common clothes, and adorned himself in more 
 costly array. ■).' ':'■;-'vv^^^;^f::^,.:;;f: :■.;.;>::;,;■■-• •:■•;...■:■■■- --::'-::.!■■■-,.: 
 
 And so of woman, she may throw aside her calico, or 
 linsey-woolsey garments of home life, and adorn herself 
 with silk or velvet for church, so long as she hoists the 
 holiness banner of a hat without trimmings and a dress 
 without golden brooch. Nay, she may throw up her 
 gloved hands in pious horror over her neighbor who, 
 although clad in calico, has a feather in her hat or a 
 piece of gold in either ear. 
 
 Are we finding fault ? No, we are simply dealing 
 with facts, and showing thai there is no uniform prac- 
 tice with those who accept this as the real, legitimate 
 teaching of the apostles — are only emphasizing our con- 
 
DIVINE aUIDANCE. 195 
 
 tention that there cannot in the nature of the case be 
 anything but confusion in the practices of those who try 
 to draw particular teaching concerning the dress ques- 
 tion from these passages. It is simply impossible to ac- 
 cept these rules and be consistent with them in practice. 
 All who throw stones, that is, criticize others in their 
 dress from the standpoint of these rules, live themselves 
 in glass houses, and are liable any moment to have them 
 shattered. 
 
 But it is argued the word gold is mentioned distinctly, 
 and therefore it must be wrong to wear this metal. But 
 we reply, this sharp literalism always overshoots the 
 mark, and speedily brings about rare contradictions. 
 
 See how this rigid method of interpretation will make 
 the apostle quickly contradict himself, for Peter tells us 
 in the fifth and sixth verses, that " after this manner 
 aforetime the holy women also, who hoped in Grod, 
 adorned themselves, being in subjection to their own 
 husbands : as Sarah obeyed Abraham, calling him lord." 
 
 If we look up the Old Testament history we find 
 Abraham, when sending for a wife for his son Isaac, 
 sending with Eliezer, his servant, presents of earrings 
 and bracelets of gold. Now, there could scarcely be a 
 safer inference than that Rebekah, and Sarah, whose 
 name is particularly mentioned as one of the holy women 
 of old who adorned themselves in a becoming manner, 
 wore such ornaments. To take the opposite of this would 
 compromise the character of Abraham. 
 
 What, for example, would be thought of the consis- 
 tency of a professedly godly man, whose wife, — a pro- 
 fessor of holiness, and one who had refrained from wear- 
 
196 ' ; DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 ing gold on religious grounds, having recently gonp tc 
 her heavenly home — he, now, whilst professing the ut- 
 most regard for the departed, honoring her memory in 
 every public way, takes the first opportunity afforded of 
 destroying her example, by going out of his way to pur- 
 chase golden ornaments and present them, nay, have 
 the n put on a prospective daughter-in-law ? And yet 
 this would justly portray the character of Abraham, if 
 Sarah, from principle, refused to wear golden ornaments. 
 So we have to come to the conclusion that, if strict liter- 
 alism must be accepted in interpreting this chapter, St 
 Peter first commands women under no circumstances to 
 wear gold, and then tells them to imitate in their adorn- 
 ing a person who did wear gold. > 
 
 We, therefore, reject these inferences or rules as not 
 the correct interpretation of the scripture teaching on 
 this subject, because as rules they are impracticable and 
 make the writers contradict themselves. 
 
 Again, these rules do not harmonize with other parts 
 of God's word. For example, the only dress which was 
 made according to divine description, that for Aaron, had 
 ornaments of gold and precious stones in it. It would 
 be passing strange to have the Bible denounce the wear- 
 ing of gold as wrong, and yet sanction it in a particular 
 instance without noticing the apparent inconsistency, 
 and giving the reasons for ic. 
 
 At Mount Sinai, when the Israelites had sinned, God 
 required them to take off" their ornaments preparatory to 
 punishment. But this was evidently a temporary mat- 
 ter, and only seemed to sanction the wearing of them 
 under ordinary circumstances. 
 
DIVINE GUmANCE. , 197 
 
 Our Saviour, discoursing on flress, drew attontion to 
 the lilies arrayed in beauty beyond tlie splendor of Solo- 
 nion, to show how He would care for those who left the 
 matter of dress in His hands. Did it ever strike the 
 reader that the illustration would be strangely out of 
 place if all ornamentation in dress was strictly forbidden ? 
 
 We think we have thus shown tliat these passages 
 from the epistles do not eiunieiate a particular rule or 
 rules on the subject of dress, suitable to all times. 
 
 But may they not have been intended as of particular 
 application to the churches to which they were sent ? 
 
 Now if the writings of the apostles and prophets be 
 closely exann'ned, it will be seen that, as with other 
 parts of the Bible, there is a general principle running- 
 through them all which is applicable to all Christians to 
 the end of the world, whilst there are particular illustra- 
 tions which were necessarily restricted to their times. 
 
 The general principle is, that the graces of the Spirit, 
 Christ-likeness, are the true adornment of the Christian, 
 whether male or female. By no ingenuity can the scrip- 
 tures be made to contradict themselves here. On this 
 sublime subject all parts of the Bible are eloquent and 
 harmonious. 
 
 The prophets paint the beauties of salvation in richest 
 colors, no imagery being thought too extravagant to 
 typify the vSoul-beauties which are the ^^eritage of God't; 
 people. Hence it is said : ** He will beautify the meek 
 with salvation." The apostle points to the Christian as 
 being * changed from glory to glory as by the Spirit of 
 the Lord," and in tiie Apocalypse we have the vision of 
 the Church " adorned ab a bride for her husband," and 
 
I9d *• DIVINE aUlbANCK. 
 
 this adornment, we are minutely informed, is represented 
 by white robes, " which is the righteousness of saints." 
 
 And now come in these particulars by way of con- 
 trast Let not the adornments of the body be so conspi- 
 cuous as to divert attention from the graces of the Spirit. 
 Naturally he seizes on conspicuous articles of attire for 
 illustration — a gold ornament then represented a hun- 
 dredfold its present value, a gold ring that a laboring 
 man to-day could purchase for one day's wage, would 
 cost then a hundred days' labor. If illustrations were 
 now looked for in this connection it would scarcely be 
 gold or pearls, seeing they are now so cheap. 
 
 It is a significant fact, in this connection, that St. Pnul, 
 when writing to Timothy, at Ephesus, directs him to 
 regulate the tendency there to extravagance in dress, but 
 when writing to Titus, in Crete, concerning the conduct 
 of his converts there, whilst drawing particular attention 
 to drinking wine and other matters, does not touch the 
 subject of dress ; showing that, whilst in the main deal- 
 ing with general principles, he was also writing with 
 special view to meet the different needs of the particular 
 churches. 
 
 One instance of this particular teaching for localities 
 and times is given in one of the following verses, 1st 
 Timothy, 2nd chapter, and 12th verse : " But I permit 
 not a woman to teach." Now, if St. Paul was laying 
 down a rule here to be observed in these days, then 
 most Christians to-day, and especially professors of 
 holiness, are openly and knowingly disobedient to ttie 
 rule, for now women teach in our Sabbath-schools, in 
 our evangelistic services, in our pulpits, and through the 
 
liilVlNE GUIDAJf.K. lOO 
 
 press; woman h>is no disal)iHties jis compared with man 
 in the Churches of to-day in this respect. The time ha<l 
 not yet come for woman to take her proper place in tlie 
 assemblies of Christians, the change would have been 
 too violent, and therefore it was to be left for after 
 years to bring it about. We do not hesitate to restrict 
 this rule of St. Paul to his times ; why should we be so 
 anxious to exalt a passing illustration, suitable only to 
 those times, and evidently intended for a narrow appli- 
 cation, into a universal cast-iron rule ? 
 
 The second canon or rule follows as a natural corol- 
 lary from the foregoing. The whole aim of the apostles 
 is, we maintain, to emphasize the grand truth that 
 Christ-likeness is the only badge, or token, of true dis- 
 cipleship, and at the present time, in some places, it 
 might be emphasized with equal, if not greater force, by 
 contrasting ostentatious plainness of dress with the 
 graces of the Spirit, and might read, " whose adorning let 
 it not be that of conspicuous plainness of dress, and 
 absence of all ornaments, but let it rather be the absence 
 of everything contrary to the spirit of the Master." 
 
 All of which brings us to the natural conclusion that 
 only when men and women dress in harmony with the 
 station in life where God has placed them, when they 
 preserve the golden mean of not being too dressy on the 
 one hand, or distressingly plain on the other, when, in 
 short, they dress so as to deserve the compliment that 
 Dr. Johnson passed on a lady of his acquaintance : " She 
 was dressed so becomingly that I could not remember 
 how she was dressed," then, and only then, can the graces 
 of the Spirit have the opportunity they should have to 
 show to all around their surpassing beauties. 
 
200 mvlNE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Then take the argument of expense, or extravagance. 
 Often an ornament is a gift — a gift which could not be 
 turned into money, or parted with without breaking the 
 Bible command, " Be courteous," so that in many in- 
 stances this argument would fait to apply. 
 
 Then, again, a very strong argument with many is 
 their own personal experience. Some professors of holi- 
 ness after a prolonged resistance have adopted extreme 
 views and practices on this dress question, and testify to 
 special spiritual blessings received thereby, and tney 
 assume that because they were blessed in thus acting, 
 all who do likewise will receive additional spiritual 
 power and blessing. 
 
 Once we were greatly exercised on the subject of tea 
 as a beverage, and after a prolonged conflict gave it up. 
 In answer to the prayer of faith all desire for tea or 
 coffee was eliminated from us, and so for several years 
 we did not use them in any form. To us this experi- 
 ence was a means of grace. We were tau ht through 
 it the power and condescension of Christ, and, moreover 
 it was used of Providence to cure, us of a throat disease 
 of many years' standing. Of course we were disposed 
 at first to put on spiritual airs over our experiences and 
 urge other lovers of the " cup that cheers but not inebri- 
 ates " to imitate, that they might obtain like spiritual 
 benefits. But upon close investigation we found that 
 the reason why we were called to this self-denial was 
 the fact, that during our college life we had been intem- 
 perate in our use of tea, having habitually made use of 
 its stimulus to k>ep us awake at night, for the purpose 
 (if study, and so our experience rather showed the fact 
 
DIVINE CiUlDANCR. 201 
 
 of intemperance and inordinate desire on our part. 
 Hence it was rather a reproach than a source of self- 
 congratulation. 
 
 So we think that many who have had special conflicts 
 over the dress question ft)llowed with peculiar spiritual 
 illumination, v/ill have to confess to some twist in their 
 nature, some special leaning to " vanity fair," which 
 rerjuired special legislation in their behalf, and that the 
 relation of their Christian experience on this subject, 
 whilst it exalts the power and condescension of their 
 Master, serves to humble themselves, and in no wise 
 makes them patterns for universal imitation. 
 
 If this view of the subject more widely prevailed we 
 would hear personal narratives concerning conflicts over 
 liquor, tobacco, and the dress question less frequently 
 repeated in Christian assemblies. 
 
 Now in thus frankly discussing this question we wish 
 it distinctly understood that we are not entering a plea 
 for extravagance in dress or in favor of adorning one's 
 person, nor yet striving to put a ban on simplicity of 
 apparel. Our only object is to help perplexed ones to 
 leave themselves in the hands of the Blessed Teacher 
 without reserve, so that He, and not professed teachers 
 of ultimate truth, may be able to guide them into habits 
 and practices which will enable them the better to adorn 
 the gospel of Chiist, 
 
202 DIVINE GUIDANCK. 
 
 CHAPTER XXTTI. 
 PHYSICAL MANIFESTATIONS. 
 
 IT will be in harmony with this part of the subject to 
 devote a chapter to the consideration of some of the 
 physical manifestations often witnessed in religious 
 gatherings, that we may see that the work of the Spirit, 
 rightly understood, will prove to be a check on extrava- 
 gance on the one hand, and cold formalism on the other. 
 
 Now holiness is a spiritual matter. It is a life. It is 
 the life of God in the soul, showing itself outwardly in 
 a life of perfect obedience — walking in all the command- 
 ments and ordinances of God blamelessly. 
 
 " 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." This is the true description 
 of the holy man as given by Jesus himself — a man in- 
 dwelt by the Trinity, and living a life of perfect obedi- 
 ence. Nothing can be admitted as a substitute for these 
 in the make-up of a truly sanctified life. 
 
 When, then, any one tells of physical or mental phe- 
 nomena in connection with his Christian experience, 
 they ' may excite our curiosity or even wonder ; they 
 may even excite our admiration concerning God's con- 
 descension in adapting Himself to the wants of His 
 people, but it all ends there. The only essential thing 
 concerning all these things is the fact of walking with 
 
1)IVINE GUIDANCI. 1J03 
 
 God in glad obedience. How it was brought about, or 
 how perpetuated, as regards outward manifestations, is 
 clearly non-essentiel. 
 
 We emphasize this thought for a purpose; for it is the 
 failure to properly classify essentials and non-essentials 
 concerning a holy life that works so much mischief in 
 the ranks of professors of holiness. 
 
 Now the essential part in the transaction of becoming 
 holy, is the reception of God into our being. The man- 
 ner of receiving Him is plainly non-essential, and its re- 
 lation, whilst it constitutes a large part of Christian 
 experience, and gives interest to our religious gatherings 
 — ^for as no two experiences are similar, the telling of 
 how we entered into full salvation will always, amongst 
 other things, aiford the charm of variety — ^yet affords no 
 room for boasting, for there is no scriptural warrant for 
 placing one above another in this respect. Dreams, vis- 
 ions, prostrations, tears, awe, silence, all clamour in vain 
 for precedence here. If the Bible commands us to shout 
 aloud for joy, it also says, " Be still, and know that I am 
 God." If one would exalt the gift of tongues, the apostle 
 brings him to order by showing- that it was simply a sign 
 for the unsaved, and of less value than simple testimony. 
 
 But man is ever prone to undervalue the spiritual and 
 over-estimate the temporal or external, hence one of the 
 greatest of all dangers to spiritual religion is from this 
 source. 
 
 How this tendency is indicated in our thoughts about 
 Pentecost, in magnifying to undue importance the sound 
 as of a rushing, mighty wind, the cloven tongues as of 
 fire and the gift of tongues, and keeping too much in 
 
9M DtViNK GUIDANCE. 
 
 back ground the only essential quality of that blessed 
 experience, namely, the reception of the " Comforter, 
 which is the Holy Ghost," into the life and being of the 
 disciples, in all His glorious fulness, as a permanent in- 
 dwelling guest ! 
 
 All these sensible tokens of the promises fulfdled 
 became a simple memory when the day of Pentecost 
 was past, with the exception of the gift of tongues, and 
 that St. Paul declared to be of small import ; but the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit remained to every faithful disci- 
 ple as a constant conscious possession. They were all 
 filled with the Holy Ghost, and remained so filled, even 
 as Jesus had promised : " He will abide with you for- 
 ever." Hence it is recorded of Peter and John, when 
 before the council, that they were full of the Holy 
 Ghost. When the multitude chose men to administer 
 their charities, they were exhorted to choose men filled 
 with the Holy Ghost. It is said of Stephen, he was '* a 
 man full of the Holy Ghost." This was the crowning 
 blessing of the new covenant, the fulfilment of all pro- 
 phecy, and its continuance in Pentecostal fulness is the 
 pledge of promised blessing. 
 
 This should be looked upon as the simple, normal 
 state of the true Christian — being filled constantly with 
 the Spirit, even as the disciples were filled with the 
 Holy Spirit in the first days of the Church's history. 
 This is the purchased possession for all Christ's followers. 
 The Father is ever waiting to bestow it upon all for the 
 simple asking, and the only condition to believers is pre- 
 sent faith. 
 
 Oh ! if Christians would but cease their cavillings and 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 205 
 
 reasonings about it, and, avS little children, simply receive 
 the Holy Ghost, and thus hnow of His wondrous power 
 to bless, and make us a blessing, how would the church 
 become glorious all within, and to Satan's kingdom would 
 become terrible as an army with banners ! 
 
 Satan well understands this, and hence concentrates 
 his attacks against this experience. One of his chief 
 methods is to induce Christians to substitute in their 
 thought and teaching physical manifestations for the ful- 
 ness of the Spirit. 
 
 We were once present at a holiness gathering where 
 the following incident occurred. The public meeting 
 was over, but a large number remained of their own ac- 
 cord in the church, for further waiting upon God. Pretty 
 soon three persons, at short intervals from one another, 
 fell prostrate on the floor, more or less in that rigid state 
 familiar to those who have had much experience in re- 
 vival work. 
 
 Then a young man, who was apparently acquainted 
 with them, delivered a fiery exhortation to the forty or 
 fifty people there, intimating that the blessing of entire 
 santification was one thing, but that the baptism of 
 power, of which this was an exhibition, was quite another 
 matter, and he urged all present to look for this identi- 
 cal thing at once. 
 
 We noticed that nearly all present followed his in- 
 structions, and commenced to strain after like physical 
 manifestation, as though it would secure for them some 
 wonderful blessing. 
 
 Well, no one else managed to get into this psychologi- 
 cal state, although the etfort on the part of many was 
 
206 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 intense and prolonged ; and although they were helped 
 by one of the prostrate ones, who presently came to, and 
 delivered an excited exhortation on the subject, using 
 himself as an illustration of the baptism of power when 
 thus received. 
 
 Now many would be inclined to pass by such an inci- 
 dent with a smile, and try to think no more of it But 
 that, we maintain, is not the part of wisdom. This inci- 
 dent is but one of a great many. Trace it back in its 
 history and it is seen to have its origin in the prominence 
 given by good and great men to physical manifestations 
 in their work — that meeting being called the best or 
 most powerful where stuck " demonstrations of the mighty 
 power of Grod/' as they were called, have been witnessed. 
 
 Now this subtle method of fostering a desire after 
 strange physical and mental phenomena, by calling those 
 meetings the best where they occur, cannot but bear 
 such fruit as the above incident. There could have been 
 none of this on the day of Pentecost, for it is said that 
 they all spake with tongues — none of them lay around 
 like corpses — all were able and ready to speak to the 
 people who gathered around them of the wonderful 
 works of God. 
 
 But the great error, productive of untold mischief, is 
 substituting, either in part or whole, these things for the 
 indwelling Spirit, the promised Comforter. Any admix- 
 ture here, even in thought or in desire, is fraught with 
 most serious consequences. The holy oil of the old dis- 
 pensation, emblematic of the promise of the Father, was 
 not to be tampered with, either by adulterating it or by 
 imitating it, under the severest penalties ; so, under the 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 207 
 
 present dispensation, all imitations or admixtures with 
 the " unction from the Holy One," secures the saddest 
 results. 
 
 But not only is the phenomenon above mentioned 
 often substituted for the Pentecostal gift of the Spirit, 
 but other things are in part, if not wholly, made to re- 
 present it, — such as raising the voice to a high pitch 
 either in song, in testimony, in prayer, or in shouting ; 
 and many services are considered to be eminently Pente- 
 costal largely because of such noise. 
 
 And be it remembered, that at such times there are 
 peculiar facilities for making mistakes in this respect ; 
 for there is ever a species of exhilaration connected with 
 such use of the voice, as also from sympathetic commu- 
 nion with others in a like state of mental and physical 
 activity, which can, and often is, taken for the real spiri- 
 tual exaltation which is the result of the reception of 
 the abiding Comforter. Hence the absolute necessity of 
 guarding the sacred unction with a godly jealousy. 
 
 The only safe course is the scriptural one : to maintain 
 most persistently that all these things count absolutely 
 nothing in this connection ; that they always have been, 
 and forever will be, outside and separate from the scrip- 
 tural reception of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 One of the evidences of the human origin of such 
 imitations is the desire for their rc| etit'on. Being hu- 
 man in their source, they are necessaL-ily ephemeral ; as 
 time goes on the original intensity diminishes — thins 
 out — and then there is a call for fresh baptisms, repeated 
 physical manifestation-*. 
 
 This is the prolific mother of many modern invention^^ 
 
208 * DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 to bring about the desired results. Hence the exhorta- 
 tion to get down and call mightily for a baptism. Per- 
 sons who but a short time before testified to the reception 
 of the Holy Ghost as an abiding guest, will now pray 
 most lustily that He, the Holy One, may descend down 
 upon them, thus destroying their former testimony as 
 to His continued presence in His fulness with them. 
 
 The fact is, it is a proof that their former testimony 
 was not correct. They evidently are not acquainted 
 with Him as " the promise of the Father," but have mis- 
 taken something else for the Pentecostal gift of the 
 Holy Ghost. That something which they are struggling 
 for can be repeated, and hence they labor on until often 
 many are captured in Satan's net, and are deluded into 
 imagining they have had a baptism because of pleasant 
 sen.sations from the use of their lungs, or the awe con- 
 nected with some strange manifestations on the part of 
 a few who are affected by the unnatural strain upon 
 their nervous systems. 
 
 We presume our words seem strong, and perhaps they 
 take a tinge of indignation to them as we are reminded 
 of the personal harm received from this very thing which 
 we combat. How we have been enticed to accept these 
 things for what our being craved ! How we have been 
 cheated out of our blood-bought privilege for many 
 years of our religious life by these counterfeits ! The 
 glorious gift of God has been made to appear repulsive 
 by human devices, and Satan used them to keep us out 
 of our heritage. 
 
 And he is at his old devices yet. In this present 
 revival of holiness these counterfeits are being more and 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 200 
 
 more industriously put forward, not only to capture sin- 
 cere seeking souls, but also to alarm and perplex those 
 who have welcomed the Comforter into their hearts. 
 
 And yet if men would but take their Bible in their 
 hands, and try the spirits by the written word, their 
 true character would soon be made manifest. Christ is 
 the true type of a Christian. For John says : " As He 
 is, even so are we in this world." 
 
 Imagine the Saviour the centre of what some of those 
 setters forth of strange doctrines call a modern Pente- 
 cost, where all are exhorted to pray long and loud, and 
 agonize for a baptism, and then beside it put Christ 
 preaching the sermon on the mount, and afterwards add 
 " He shall not strive nor cry aloud, neither shall any ono 
 hear His voice in the streets." 
 
 True, some may point to the hosannas of the multi- 
 tude when He rode in triumph into the city. Well, 
 there can be no objection to burets of enthusiastic joy at 
 times when His glorious presence is revealed to individ- 
 uals or to multitudes ; then it is perfectly in order to 
 triumph in holy song, or shout aloud for joy. What we 
 do oppose is the attempt to get up the hosannas to order, 
 and substitute another joy for the joy Divine. 
 
 Again, close observation will show this spirit to be 
 unlike Christ in its arrogance and unteachableness. It 
 does not exhibit that meekness which in honor prefers 
 one another. It is impatient of contradiction and of 
 restraint. It hesitates not to despise dignities, and fails 
 to be subject one to the other in love. It does not readily 
 obey them that are over them, but is ever ready to usurp 
 authority itself. Home duties and quiet acts of benefi- 
 14 
 
210 DIVINE OUIDANCK. 
 
 cence are looked upon as of secondary importance when 
 tliey seem to clftsh with public work, and therefore have 
 to give way, Scripture to the contrary notwithstanding. 
 In short it is not the spirit of Christ. It may boast of 
 conversions, of sanctifications and of baptisms in others ; 
 but these are not scriptural tests, and should not be ad- 
 mitted in deciding concerning its character. Its only 
 test we repeat is Christ-likeness. 
 
 This spirit does not show its anxiety for harmony 
 amongst Christ's professed followers, by going to those 
 whom they denounce as wrong, and inviting mutual 
 conference, prayer, and waiting on God with careful, 
 united study of His word, if by any means unity in the 
 Spirit might be reached ; but jumps to the conclusion 
 that all who do not walk with them are opposed to the 
 truth, and must be opposed and fought both publicly 
 and privately to the bitter end. 
 
 There is no difficulty in judging righteous judgment 
 concerning this thing if we follow scripture rules ; but 
 if we look for signs and wonders there will be enough 
 of them to capture the unwary. 
 
 But it is not the positive evils resulting from substi- 
 tuting physical manifestations for the fulness t)f the 
 Spirit that we deprecate most. The indirect evils re- 
 sulting therefrom are still greater. The way of the 
 Spirit is evil spoken of as these extravagances are wit- 
 nessed, and thus a widespread prejudice is creo-ted, not 
 only against the counterfeits, but against the thing 
 counterfeited. 
 
 When good men lend their name and influence to pro- 
 mulgate the doctrine that the Holy Ghost manifests 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCB. 21 1 
 
 Himself to His people most readily and most preciously 
 where these physical manifestations most abound, it 
 cannot but tend to awaken prejudice in the minds of 
 many sincere Christian hearts. This we know from sad 
 experience. 
 
 But with gladness that words cannot portray we can 
 proclaim the Gospel news that the Comforter Divine is 
 ready to come in Pentecostal fulness to every believer 
 who will open up his being for His incoming. 
 
 Whether walking by the way, communing in the 
 secret place of prayer, musing upon your bed, or gath- 
 ered in the assembly of disciples. He is just now ready 
 to enter in and dwell in all His radiant fulness. 
 
 Then so glorious will be His manifestations, and so 
 wondrous the sense of completeness in Christ, so inti- 
 mate will be your communings with Him, that to utter 
 a prayer for a baptism of the Holy Ghost would at once 
 shock your sense of propriety and appear but an insult 
 to your ever-present, ever-abiding Guest and Friend. 
 
 If at any time you find yourself sighing for another 
 baptism of the Spirit, be sure you have sinned Him out 
 of His habitation, when the only way to recover the lost 
 treasure is by the way of repentance and faith, not by 
 human device. When genuine repentance, including con- 
 fession of sin and perfect faith in Christ, are seen, then, 
 and not till then, will He return to His own. All other 
 methods lead to a counterfeit joy, which may feed the 
 fires of fanaticism, but can never secure the peace unut- 
 terable and joy unspeakable, which are constantly ours 
 when we are filled with all the fulness of God. 
 
 V. 
 
DIYINE OUIDANC& 
 
 CHAPTER XXIV. 
 
 DIVINE GUIDANCE AND THE CARE OF THE 
 
 BODY. 
 
 ALL parts of the Bible contain promises with refer- 
 ence to the welfare of the body. The Old Testa 
 ment is very pronounced in its teachings that the 
 welfare of the body was closely connected with a right- 
 eous Hfe, and the New Testament likewise emphasizes 
 this teaching. 
 
 Now this general truth is nowhere disputed. That 
 •* godliness is profitable for all things, having promise of 
 the life which now is and of that which is to come " is 
 an accepted truth to all who receive the Bible as a divine 
 revelation. 
 
 Our Saviour is clear and authoritative in His state- 
 ment concerning this thing, maintaining that the union 
 between the two is so essentially close that he who pro- 
 perly attends to the first may dismiss all trouble con- 
 cerning the other ; " Seek ye first the kingdom of God 
 and His righteousness and all these things shall be added 
 unto you " brings out this thought in decided form. The 
 best care of the body in all respects, according to the 
 plain teaching of Jesus, is secured in seeking His king- 
 dom and righteousness. 
 
 But it is evident that the mere attitude of seeking will 
 not meet the case. Evidently it means that ho only 
 
DIVINK GUIDANCE. 21 .H 
 
 who seeks successfully these spiritual things secures the 
 material blessings desired. But as in the previous chap- 
 ters we have shown that the doctrine of Divine guidance 
 is the major part of this kingdom, it follows that he who 
 is led of the Spirit into all truth, and he only, secures all 
 possible benefits for his body. 
 
 This argument would be sound and conclusive if there 
 were no special allusions to this outcome of Divine guid- 
 ance in the teachings.of Christ and his followers. For 
 the simple fact that the Holy Spirit undertakes to guide 
 into all truth him who yields unreservedly to His leader- 
 ship, nmst mean such knowledge imparted to him con- 
 cerning the care of the body that when reduced to 
 practice the result will be eminently satisfactory in 
 all respects. 
 
 For the purpose of illustration imagine a community 
 or nation or, for that matter, the entire population of the 
 globe, in their individual capacity, yielding to the claims 
 of the Holy Spirit as guide paramount, would it not fol- 
 low that the best possible state of things would exist on 
 this earth for securing the highest possible good for the 
 bodies of all ? 
 
 The picture which here appeals to our imagination is 
 attractive in the extreme, and it requires us to put a 
 curb on our desire not to try our hand at descriptive de- 
 tails. But our present object is fully attained in keep- 
 ing it before the mind of the reader sufficiently long to 
 realize, in some crude form, what would be the advan- 
 tages to the bodies of men should such a desirable con- 
 dition obtain in our world. 
 
 I^ow whilst not all of these results can be look 
 
214 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 when one individual walks in the Spirit in the midst of 
 a crooked and perverse nation amongst whom he shines 
 as a light, nevertheless, the best possible results must 
 come to him which under the circumstances can exist. 
 For if this proposition is not admitted then it would not 
 be true that if all walked in the Spirit the best possible 
 results for the body would be obtained by all. 
 
 It will then be seen, and readily admitted, that he who 
 is led by the Holy Spirit, according to the promise of 
 Christ, into all truth from any one moment of his life 
 onward, from that moment on he is certain to secure the 
 best possible care of his body in all respects, according 
 to the judgment of Christ. 
 
 It is necessary to draw particular attention to the last 
 clause of the foregoing sentence, " according to the judg- 
 ment of Christ." For He only can take into His mind 
 all the mighty interests which centre in any one of us, 
 and adjust every fact in our lives so as to harmonize 
 with all good temporal and eternal. 
 
 But do we know the mind of Christ concerning these 
 things ? Our reply is that we cannot know them any 
 further than His own distinct utterances teach, and it is 
 a legitimat'^ study to gather these together as they have 
 been recorded by apostle and evangelist for our edifica- 
 tion and knowledge. 
 
 It will be found on close inspection that these state- 
 ments of His are both few and generalized in their teach- 
 ing. Nevertheless, whilst this is the case, they are very 
 pronounced in showing that he who really enters into 
 His kingdom and remains there will vastly improve his 
 ^oudition even as regards the body. 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCK 215 
 
 " Blessed are the meek, for they shall inherit the 
 earth." — Matt. v. 5. 
 
 " Therefore I say, be not anxious for your life, what ye 
 shall eat, or what ye shall drink ; nor yet for your body, 
 what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than food, 
 and the body than the raiment ? Behold the birds of 
 the heaven, that they sow not, neither do they reap, nor 
 gather into barns ; and your Heavenly Father feedeth 
 them. Are not ye of much more value than they ? . . . 
 And why are ye anxious concerning raiment ? Consider 
 the lilies of the field, how they grow ; they toil not, 
 neither do they spin ; yet I say unto you, that even 
 Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of 
 these. But if God so clothe the grass of the field, which 
 to-day is, and to-morrow is cast into the oven, shall he 
 not much more clothe you, ye of little faith ? Be not 
 therefore anxious, saying. What shall we eat ? or, W hat 
 shall we drink ? or. Wherewithal shall we be clothed ? 
 For after all these things do the Gentiles seek ; for your 
 Heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these 
 things. But seek ye first his kingdom, and his right- 
 eousness ; and all these things shall be added unto you." 
 —Matt. V. 25. 
 
 " Jesus said. Verily I say unto you, there is no man 
 that hath left house, or brethren, or sisters, or mother, or 
 father, or children, or lands, for my sake, and for the 
 gospel's sake, but he shall receive a hundred-fold now in 
 this time, houses, and brethren, and sisters, and mother 
 and children, and lands, with persecutions, and in the 
 world to come eternal life." — Mark x. 30, 31. 
 
 Such is the unmi«takeable teaching of Christ concern- 
 
216 DIVIN i: GUIDANCE. 
 
 ing the welfare of the body in t^e kingdom of Heaven. 
 Now, if in this kingdom the law or guidance of the 
 Spirit has supreme right of way to the annulling or 
 superseding of all other laws, then it follows that he 
 who accepts this kingdom and really obeys this all com- 
 prehensive law must inherit all these things — ^yea, they 
 must be fulfilled in his life. 
 
 This distinct teaching of Christ was brought out 
 clearly by His immediate followers. Hence Paul could, 
 on the strength of it, confidently say to all veritable be- 
 lievers, " For all things are youis ; whether Paul, or 
 Apollos, or Cephas, or the world, or life, or death, or 
 things present, or things to come ; all are yours." — 1 Cor. 
 iii. 22. 
 
 He then who as a believer in Christ accepts the Holy 
 Ghost and walks in Him by the moment, must inherit 
 all temporal as well as spiritual promises, must have all 
 his temporal surroundings whether concerning food, rai- 
 ment, home and health of body in that form which ha' 
 monizes with the promises of Christ, that is, they will 
 be the best possible for him, God being the judge. 
 
 It is true that to the unspiritual this last clause is a 
 disappointing one and in their estimation vitiates the 
 whole. But to meet this very objection, which must 
 come from the carnally minded, Jesus has been careful 
 to prove that God fulfils these promises to individuals 
 not grudgingly or disappointingly but according to His 
 own ideas of beneficence, which are higher and fuller in 
 blessing than ours. 
 
 Therefore it follows as an absolute certainty that he 
 who fulfils all the conditions secures for hiuiself as an 
 
DIVINE GUIDAN' E. 217 
 
 individual the best possible care for his body in all re- 
 spects But as we have already seen this is tantamount 
 to saying that in the doctrine of Divine guidance is 
 wrapped up all possible temporal blessing for the body 
 as well as for the souL 
 
 To particularize, he who is led of the Spirit will not 
 walk in darkness, that is, doubtfulness concerning eat- 
 ing, drinking and raiment, concerning labor and rest, or 
 concerning health or sickness. 
 
 What ! says one. Will he always be able so to adjust 
 his clothing as to avoid catching cold, to so select his 
 food amidst the dishonest competition of the present day 
 as to never be imposed on by vile adulterations ? In 
 short, Tvili he be so infallibly led that he will always 
 bear a charmed life amidst infectious diseases and the 
 accidents of life ? 
 
 Now what we ask do these and similar questions im- 
 ply ? Do they not assert that, in the judgment of God, 
 every pa n and every accident, in short every inconveni- 
 ence or deprivation of fancied good is an unmixed evil, 
 is that which if we could avoid it would make for our 
 good both in time and eternity ? 
 
 But if this teaching on the part of such questioners 
 can be made good, then we hesitate not to aflSrm tht«t 
 Jesus, by His promises, has left Himself no option in 
 these matters. Then it would be an impossibility for 
 any man who walked worthy of God unto all pleasing 
 to suffer any of these things. To have the promises fail 
 in a ly direction would compromise the Promiser. 
 
 vlut we maintain that it is not left to the finite mind 
 .So doeifle these things, for only infinite understanding is 
 e'^ual to the task. 
 
218 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Paul, wc have every reason to believe, was as clearly 
 led of the Spirit to Rome when he lost his life by this 
 act of obedience, as he was when he went to Corinth to 
 found a successful church. Immunity from accident or 
 inconvenience will not establish the fact of being led of 
 the Spirit any more than exposure to them will estab- 
 lish the contrary. And he who has not in his faith got 
 beyond the region of judging of the Spirit's work by the 
 apparent results in these things, has not got where he 
 may know of the truth of the doctrine by experience. 
 
 Unhesitatingly, then, we answer, that we cannot seize 
 on any one individual and say that if such an one walks 
 continually in the Spirit no disabilities as pertaining to 
 his body or mind can ever befall hiifi. But with the 
 same confidence we can also say that, selecting any one 
 individual, if from this moment he accepts and walks in 
 the Spirit, there shall be no incident in his life which 
 will not fully harmonize with the promises of Christ, his 
 life will be the best possible in these respects, God being 
 judge. To particularize, he shall always be in the right 
 part of the world, shall have the best surroundings, and 
 that health of body which is the best for him and all 
 concerned, and of no other person or persons than those 
 who so walk in the Spirit can this be true. 
 
 Now this is absolutely true of the believer who walks 
 in the Spirit whether he, in the case of real or threatened 
 sickness, uses one remedy or another, whether he em- 
 ploys the skilled services of one physician or another, or 
 whether he discards all alike at the instance of the 
 Spirit. Moreover, the truth is not affected should his 
 recovery from illness be in slow re-jponse to the usual 
 
DIVINE GOIDANCE. 219 
 
 laws of his physical frame, aided or retarded as the case 
 may be by so-called remedies, or be instantaneous in 
 answer to the living touch of the Great Physician. For 
 he has followed his guide absolutely, and so all the 
 powers of the human and divine blending together, the 
 outcome must be the best possible both for time and 
 eternity. 
 
 But is not the presence of sickness in the body the 
 evidence that sin in some form is present? By no 
 means, if the patient is at the time a believer and walk- 
 ing in the Spirit, for if so, then the Holy One is a par- 
 taker of, or at least a party to that sin. 
 
 For we are supposing that the person in question has 
 been and still is obedient, moment by moment, that is, 
 continually, to the Holy Spirit, as the living law of his 
 life. He then has been guided into this truth or sick- 
 ness. And if it is sin, then indirectly if not directly God 
 is the author of sin. 
 
 But, says another, it is the law cf the kingdom of 
 jrrace that there should be no sickness in true believers 
 who have accepted Jesus as their healer. Then, we reply, 
 if this is absolutely true, it is as absolutely true that the 
 Holy Spirit must guide our friend so as not to be sick, 
 or if sick when the Spirit is accepted truly as guide into 
 all truth, then, it is certain that He will guide him at 
 once out from his sickness. Can there be any flaw in 
 this reasoning ? Is it not self-evident ? 
 
 But, we remark, if any one takes this a,s a truth, viz., 
 necessary freedom from sickness, and makes it a condi- 
 tion in his surrender to and acceptance of the Holy 
 Spirit, then we say it is impossible for him to receiv© 
 
220 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 Divine guidance. For the Spirit is an absolute sovereign 
 and cannot, in the nature of the case, be bound by any 
 stipulations concerning health of the body or any other 
 thing. 
 
 Hence we emphasize the law of this spiritual kingdom 
 to be that of absolute abandonment to the Holy Spirit. 
 Calvinism, Arminianism, or any other ism, either in 
 part or as a whole — set rules concerning dress or devo- 
 tional exercises, doctrines concerning health or divine 
 healing, or any other conceivable matter cannot be 
 brought into this kingdom to regulate or fetter the 
 work of the Spirit. The very first step to be taken to 
 know the mind of the Spirit, which is true wisdom, is 
 that indicated by Paul where he declares that if any 
 man would be wise " let him become a fool that he may 
 be wise," meaning in this connection, let him admit at 
 the start that he knows nothing as ultimate truth con- 
 cerning any or all of these things. Than it is that he 
 may, nay, will become wise in any and every direction 
 that that knowledge or wisdom shall make for his good. 
 
 But in order that the sincere seeker after truth may 
 the better approach this mighty subject unfettered by 
 prejudiced thought concerning what is the teaching of 
 the Bible concerning sickness, it will be well to examine 
 here the modern doctrine concerning it, which places 
 sickness side by side with sin, and calls upon believers 
 to accept salvation from it in the same way that they 
 accept salvation from sin. 
 
 Now as when examining the Scriptures concerning 
 rules for dress our only object was to clear away ob- 
 structions to full-orbed Divine guidance, so, in this case, 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 221 
 
 we will examine this modem dogma from the standpoint 
 of scripture in no spirit of hostility or antagonism to the 
 Divine healing movement. • 
 
 Moreover we contend that as those who hold and teach 
 extreme views on the dress question, taking all their 
 Christian work together, are proving themselves a great 
 blessing both to the church and the world, so the apc- 
 tles of divine healing, both by their godly lives and their 
 intense Christian work, are a source under God of great 
 benediction to others, and we hesitate not to give our 
 ^inqualified God-speed to them and their work as a whole 
 even when they cannot return like Christian courtesies. 
 
 In taking up the scriptural argument in connection 
 with this important subject, in order to show that the 
 Bible does not teach that the healing of the body is on 
 the same basis as healing of the soul, and that just as all 
 may come to God through the atonement made by Christ, 
 and claim pardon and cleansing, so all can claim freedom 
 from all sickness by simple faith. We contend that we 
 do not need such a rule, even presuming it to be true. 
 
 On the day of Pentecost Peter promised to the multi- 
 tude of penitents, that so soon as they accepted Christ 
 by faith they were eligible to the reception of the Hoh- 
 Ghost, even as they had received Him. Now Christ had 
 described Him in one of His offices as guide into all 
 truth, and this included guidance ss to when we might 
 use the prayer of faith for sickness. 
 
 Again, we remark, that in all fairness to this doctrine 
 of physical healing for all it should rest upon passages 
 in the New Testament somewhat analogous to those 
 which teach the forgiveness of sins, both as to number 
 and clearness of teaching. 
 
222 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 • 
 
 We are prepared for the statement that the healing of 
 the body is not as important as the heahng of the soul, 
 but admitting that, still our reasonable demand is for a 
 fair proportion of such passages. 
 
 Now let anyone take up the epistle to the Romans, 
 for example, and try to count the passages wherein the 
 forgiveness of sin for all men is taught, and see how 
 numerous they are. Why, the letter is full of them, 
 until you are led to conclude that the whole epistle is 
 one elaborate argument to establish the doctrine of for- 
 giveness and cleansing from sin for all men. 
 
 Now continue your researches through all Paul's epis- 
 tles and you find that they constitute but different 
 changes rung out boldly and clearly on these doctrines. 
 
 But mark, you will not find one passage which either 
 positively or by implication teaches this presumed doc- 
 trine of healing for all. But you will find several pas- 
 sages which it has taxed all the ingenuity of modern 
 faith-cure teachers to explain away, lest they might 
 seem to conflict with their teachings. 
 
 As for example, Paul's advice to Timothy, " Be no 
 l(5Tiger a drinker >f water but use a little wine for thy 
 stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." Any modern 
 feith-cure apostle who would give such advice now to a 
 Christian would be promptly ruled out of the circle as 
 heterodox. 
 
 Again, where he discourses concerning his friend Tro- 
 phimus, whom he left at Miletum sick, or Epaphroditus, 
 who was sick nigh unto death, but who recovered, how 
 opportune the circumstances to bring out clearly the 
 modern doctrine of healing for all, but by no means can 
 
DIVINE GUinANCE. 223 
 
 his language be made to give any aid or comfort to those 
 who are striving to establish this dogma. Much less when 
 he minutely describes his own bodily ailment, of which 
 he did not recover at the time, but obtained the mind of 
 God that it, the thorn in the flesh, was designed to re- 
 main for his spiritual benefit, can any supporting evi- 
 dence be obtained from the whole account to strengthen 
 the faith-cure extreme doctrine. 
 
 But note in the passing into what rare contradictions 
 they fall in trying to explain away the whole matter. 
 Paul calls this visitation an infirmity, and glories in it, 
 as a blessing in disguise, saying, " Most gladly then will 
 1 glory in my infirmities." Our critics explain infirmi- 
 ties to mean something, anything else than a bodily ail- 
 ment, for the only reason, as ^ar as we can see, that it 
 would destroy their doctrine if not so explained away. 
 
 And manifestly they are right, for if it was impaired 
 eyesight, or any other bodily infirmity, then Paul would 
 ha\^e to be accepted as an opponent to their doctrine, or 
 as failing to live up to its privileges. Hence to a man 
 they maintain that infirmities in this passage means 
 something not included in the atonement. But the pas- 
 sage " Himself took our infirmities and bare our sick- 
 nesses," Matt. viii. 17, is often quoted by them as teaching 
 that sickness and infirmities were atoned for hy Chi-ist, 
 the same as sin, and they are thrown into confusion in 
 the attempt to reconcile the different passages. 
 
 Some seem disposed to chisel out infirmities altogether 
 from this sentence, and use only the word sicknesses as 
 in the atonement. Others tiy to show that infirmities 
 in the one place means quite a different thing from what 
 
224 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 it does in the other, and so make Paul culpably careless 
 in tlio use of* his expressions. From all of which we 
 leani that if this modem dogma was accepted in the 
 times of the apostles, Paul, judged by his writings, 
 seemed to be ignorant of it, and even wrote as if teach- 
 ing truths opposed to it. 
 
 Witness his statement that only a few were entrusted 
 with gifts of healing. He did not teach that a few had 
 the gift of healing for the maladies of the soul. That 
 is, he taught that whilst t^e remedy for soul sickness 
 was universal, that for the body was limited and con- 
 fined to a few. " Have all the gifts of healing ?" — 
 1 Cor. xii. 30. 
 
 Plainly, then, St. Paul cannot be brought forward as 
 teaching clearly this modern dogma. Neither can John 
 in his epistles be pressed into service here, for whilst 
 there is much in them about forgiveness of j.m, about 
 the new birth, and freedom from sin, there is not one 
 passage which has the remotest allusion to this subject. 
 Clearly, then, if these modern teachers had to depend 
 on John's letters to establish their doctrine they would 
 find no help, and yet they are so i\Al of teaching con- 
 cerning forgiveness and cleansing that these doctrines 
 could safely be left to stand or fall on his epistles alone. 
 
 The same may be said of Peter and Jude. 
 
 But in the epistle of James there is one solitary pas- 
 sage which seems, at first sight, to favor this doctrine. 
 Now, granted all that is demanded by them concerning 
 the teaching of this passage, is it not in order to doubt 
 the claims of a doctrine, which has but one passage in 
 all the epistles to rest upon, to be placed beside doctrines 
 which rest upon a thousand passages ? 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 225 
 
 But an intelligent examination of these verses will 
 show that they not only do not teach the doctrine that 
 sickness, like sin, is atoned for in the death of Christ, 
 hut they show quite the contrary. It is taught here 
 that if the sick call in the elders, and they pray in faith 
 over them, they will recover. There is no direction here 
 for the sick to accept health like forgiveness through 
 the merits of Christ, but their recovery is connected 
 directly with the prayer of faith, as uttered by the elders. 
 
 Then James goes on to discourse on the power of 
 prayer, and brings in as an example Elijah's prayer of 
 faith by which the heavens were sealed up in the days 
 of Ahab, so that no rain fell until he prayed again that 
 the drought might end. Plainly, then, James connects 
 the raising up of the sick by means of the prayer of 
 faith, with such occasional miracles as scarcity and abun- 
 dance of rain, when the result of believing prayer. Bu^ 
 no one will have the hardihood to say that such things 
 are in the atonement in the same way that the forgive- 
 ness of sin ia This passage, then, clearly places the 
 recovery of the sick where it belongs, namely, amongst 
 the extraordinary ejiswers to the prayer of faith, and by 
 no means teaches the general doctrine that all sick peo- 
 ple, just as they may claim present forgiveness for all 
 past sins by faith in Christ, can claim present freedom 
 from all their sicknesses and iniirmities by faith in Jesus. 
 
 The only argument drawn from the Acts of the Apos- 
 tles is, that some of the early Christians, noticeably 
 Peter, Paul and Stephen, healed very many, of their 
 maladies. And yet Paul speaks oi* leaving Trophimus 
 at Miletum sick, as if it wa« an ordinary occurrence, 
 16 
 
226 DIVINE OniDANCB. 
 
 and makes no apology when recommending medicine to 
 Timothy. 
 
 In the Gospels we have the narrative of Christ's mira- 
 cles of healing minutely told. At different times it is 
 definitely stated that He healed all that came to Him 
 for healing, or even that had need of healing. But it 
 would be a difficult task to connect healing of the l>ody, 
 even in the miracles of Christ with healing of the soul. 
 True, in some cases He Himself did in some sense con- 
 nect them, as when He forgave sin firut, and then healed 
 the body. But this was not always the case. For ex- 
 ample, one person who was cured, when asked who per- 
 formed the miracle, could not tell who it was. Again, 
 when ten were cleansed of leprosy, Christ admitted that 
 nine of them did not show even common gratitude for 
 what they had received from Him. 
 
 Again, ho 'ing the sick was classed with other mira- 
 cles which attested His divinity When He gave a com- 
 mission to the seventy to pass through the land before 
 Him as heralds. He gave them pov»'er to heal the sick, 
 to raise the dead and cast out devils. 
 
 We call attention to the fact that healing the sick 
 was not classed with the forgiveness of sin, but with 
 raising the dead and casting out devils, things which 
 were purely miraculous, and in no way depended on the 
 faith of the parties concerned. They were to preach the 
 Gospel and leave it for men to accept or reject it, accord- 
 ing to their faith in Christ, but they were to positively 
 heal the sick in the same way that they were to cast out 
 devils and raise the dead. 
 
 There is nothing then in the Gospels to connect the 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 227 
 
 healing of the sick with the atonement, as sin is con- 
 nected, excepting the one passage above quoted, and 
 that, if it is pressed into service here, proves too much, 
 for then it would make, as we have shown, St. Paul 
 glory in his shame. 
 
 Many passages of the Old Testament are appealed to 
 as teaching this dogma, but we do not deem it necessary 
 to quote them and examine thcni one by one, even if we 
 had space for such an exhaustive method of argumenta- 
 tion. 
 
 A few general thoughts will be sufficient to show the 
 hopelessness of establishing such an important doctrine 
 on these passd[ges. 
 
 In the first place, the promises referred to had refer- 
 ence specially to the Israelites, and were connected with 
 other national blessings promised to them as a peculiar 
 people, if obedient. 
 
 Take for example that strongest passage in Exodus 
 xxiii. 25, 26 : "I will take sickness away from the midst 
 of thee." In the first place, we contend that to secure 
 the fulfilment of this promise it was necessary that the 
 whole nation should walk in obedience to the commands 
 of God. It can hardly be pressed into service for indi- 
 viduals who were obedient, when the nation as a whole 
 had departed from God. If so, then the following pro- 
 mise also was certain of fulfilment : " The number of thy 
 days I wiU fulfil." This would mean that no matter 
 how sinful the whole nation, no matter how determined 
 to persecute all who were* faithful in their obedience, 
 that every one who did so obey God was certain to live 
 out the full number of days allotted to man, namely, 
 
228 DIVINE GUIDANCKL 
 
 three score and ten. Those who press this passage into 
 service for establishing the extreme teaching of faith - 
 cures must not shrink from this application of the text. 
 
 We hear that there are some who are beginning to 
 teach that any professed Christian who dies before the 
 age of seventy cannot enter heaven, and why should not 
 this thought be encouraged if the first part is taken as 
 literally true of every one who walks in the light of 
 faith-cure teaching ? For if one such should die before 
 the above age, it might be correctly argued that, either he 
 had failed in his obedience to God, or God had failed to 
 fulfil His promise. And notice, that the Lord does not 
 reserve to Himself the power to remove by accident. 
 The faithful, obedient one, has a life insurance policy, 
 good against all accidents, sickness, or the malevolence 
 of man or devil up to the ripe age of seventy. 
 
 Now, to our mind, the only escape from these deduc- 
 tions is that these are promises of national blessings, and 
 contingent on national righteousness. And we are in- 
 clined to think they were exclusive in their character, 
 and confined to the favored Jewish nation. But, v/ith- 
 out pressing this thought, we maintain that when they 
 are made to depend on that " righteousness which exal- 
 teth a nation," they are of little practical value in the 
 present dispensation, and cannot be made to promise per- 
 fect health of body and certain old age to every child of 
 Adam, irrespective of surroundings, just as the forgive- 
 ness of sin is promised to all. 
 
 Such general statements as those of David, when he 
 says of God " who healeth all thy diseases," need not be 
 discussed in this connection, seeing all accept the doc- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. S2f) 
 
 trine contained in them, and rccoonizo the hand Divine 
 in recovery from sickness, no matter what seeondiiry 
 remedies may be used. 
 
 And thus we liave gone over the ground we intended, 
 not perhaps with that minuteness oi' detail some ex- 
 pected, but sufficiently exhaustive for our purpose, which 
 is not to disparage the faith-cure movement, but to do 
 what we may to relieve it from tlu; threatened inroad of 
 legalism with all its evils. For while this method of 
 pre.senting the whole subject guards against narrowness, 
 and judging one another with censorious thoughts, it 
 nevertheless secures all possible health to those who are 
 prepared to come under the law of the Spirit in Christ 
 Jesus, which makes us free from the law of sin and 
 death. 
 
 These are the principal arguments which force upon 
 us the honest conviction that, however plausible this 
 teaching concerning healing of the body for all, just as 
 forgiveness of sin is — it has no solid foundation in scrip- 
 ture teaching, and therefore ought to be rc^jected, whilst 
 the use of the prayer of faith, in all instances where the 
 Holy Spirit prompts its use, should be accepted as a glad 
 privilege in the Gospel. 
 
 But, whilst unhesitatingly rejecting this peculiar mo- 
 dern tenet concerning sickness as having no firm bn,si«^ 
 in scripture teaching, we are profoundly convinced that, 
 as a rule, health of body will characterize those who 
 walk in the Spirit, and that inst.inces of faith-cure, that 
 is, where the prayer of fjiith at the instance of th( Spirit 
 shall raise the sick into health through the healing power 
 of the great Physician will be multiplied, and at the same 
 
230 DiVtNE aiJlDANca. 
 
 tinne those instances where will-power is evoked to a 
 hopeless contest against the will of God will become less 
 and less fvec^ueuk 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. :i3l 
 
 CHAPTER XXV. 
 OBJECTIONS CONSIDERED. 
 
 IT is only reasonable to expect when a subject is 
 Vjrought to the fore which seems to demand a rad- 
 ical change in many directions both in doctrine and 
 practice, that it will be closely scrutinized and objectionr 
 urged against it from every conceivable direction. And 
 it is not a good illustration of sound sense, to say nothing 
 of Christianity, to treat these objections after a special 
 pleading style. They should be formulated as nearly as 
 possible from the standpoint of the objector and their 
 full force admitted. 
 
 Truth, if it be foundational in its character, should 
 show itself strong and all convincing after giving objec- 
 tors the full benefit of every doubt. 
 
 We certainly propose to ourselves to so treat the ob- 
 jections here considered, and if we fail in so doing, or 
 use the plausible arguments of mere theorists it will not 
 be from design. So we court rather than shun the criti- 
 cism of honest searchers for truth, and shall take it as a 
 kindness when any flaws in our arguments or facts are 
 pointed out to us. 
 
 For like the reader we have but one life to live here, 
 and such vast interests centre in it that the desire to be 
 right at any cost ought to be more than a sentiment. 
 
 It has been our way for many years to reduce every 
 
232 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 thing to actual practice in life, and so, when we reply to 
 objections, it will be understood that we not only reply 
 by argument but from actual experience. 
 
 Infallibility — The first objection we will consider is 
 the above for it generally first strikes the mind of the 
 objector and seems to be the moat formidable. It is 
 urged that such teaching concerning Divine guidance 
 virtually assumes that every one who accepts the Holy 
 Spirit as guide into all truth, and acts out this profes- 
 sion in life is infallible. For, say the objectors, they 
 claim that they are led every moment by an infallible 
 guide, and hence their claim is tantamount to assuming 
 that all they do, think or say must be absolutely right. 
 
 Now this objection rests apparently on good grounds, 
 and cannot be passed by with a light remark or a denun- 
 ciatory epithet. 
 
 But if the objector will examine his own mind he will 
 find that the difficulty is there and not in the subject in 
 hand. For he will find that he is taking some person, 
 say himself, whilst not walking continually in the Spirit, 
 and so fancies him suddenly claiming absolute perfection 
 concerning what he knows from experience to be vaci la- 
 ting and faulty. 
 
 But why should it be so difficult to leave out from the 
 consideration of this subject the actions and thoughts of 
 one who is not led of the Spirit into all truth ? If the 
 objector will allow himself to conceive of a man really in 
 harmony with the Spirit, and therefore walking worthy 
 of God unto all pleasing, he would realize that no harm 
 could come to the one so led, nor yet to any others 
 through him, even if he did claim infallibility. For if 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 23.^ 
 
 he really does harmonize with God then all his acts, 
 bearing on them the spirit and impress of the God of 
 love, could in no wise militate against the best interests 
 of all concerned. 
 
 But our objector may readily admit this and yet main- 
 tain that the real danger exists in persons who are not 
 really led of the Spirit imagining they are and so becom- 
 ing dictatorial, unteachable and in practice running into 
 all forms of fanaticism. 
 
 Now that this is a real source of danger it must be 
 admitted. Not only does the mind at once conceive of 
 such possible danger, but such results have been actually 
 witnessed in life. As a matter of history all those who 
 have imagined they were led of the Spirit when they 
 evidently were not, have not been confined to asylums. 
 
 When then this objection is pressed with the only ob- 
 ject in view of regulating the subject of Divine 'juidance, 
 it is in order. But wl n it is brought forward to prove, 
 either openly or by implication, the impossibility or un- 
 desirability of Divine guidance then its origin as well as 
 its use is evil and tends only to evil. 
 
 But we maintain that if such objectors consider the 
 snbject with sufficient care they will find that not only 
 is there no danger in this direction, but that the thing 
 they object to is the only effectual check upon the 
 errors mentioned. 
 
 It is true that there is only one man who claims in- 
 fallibility pure and simple, but the spirit of this dogma 
 may be seen in every degree of intensity throughout the 
 churches. What but this spirit can account for the fact 
 that one professed Christian is so ready to denounce 
 another because forsooth his shiboleth is mispronounced 1 
 
2S4 DIVINS GtJtDAlTO& 
 
 When Calvinist and Arminian leave calm argument 
 for fierce denunciation. When an apostle of the dress 
 question or faith-cure deals out anathemas on others 
 who fail to interpret scripture after his thought, what 
 is it but a faint copy of the Pope of Rome ? Indeed, 
 when professors of religion permit differences in creed, 
 or sincere differences in opinion concerning what is essen- 
 ti(il truth to separate them in their Christian work, espe- 
 cially when each admits the Christian character of the 
 other to harmonize with the Spirit of Christ, then, we 
 maintain, we see a developement of this spirit of infalli- 
 bility. 
 
 And strange to say this unamiable spirit is seen, often 
 in its fiercest forms, in some of those who make the 
 strongest claims to have the spirit of Christ. And yet 
 why so strange, seeing Jesus Himself predicted that 
 many whilst thus acting would think that they were 
 really doing God service ! 
 
 Now the doctrine of the guidance of the Spirit for 
 every individual strikes at the very root of this, for it 
 ' tales away the possibility of one dictating to another, 
 or demanding the acceptance of his views of truth on 
 the pain of his anathema. For, if the truth is fully re- 
 cognized that every one must be taught directly of God, 
 then no one will demand the acceptance of his views of 
 truth as necessarily true for another. The utmost he 
 can do is to commend his brother to their common Mas- 
 ter to learn what may be ultimate truth for him. 
 
 It was thus that St. John was delivered from this 
 spirit. For, after bringing to bear upon his readers his 
 rich experience and knowledge of truth, he acknowledged 
 
DIVINE OUIDANGIk 235 
 
 that they had a source of knowledge superior to him, 
 and after all his exhortations and teachings he reminded 
 himself and them of this fact, saying, " The anointing 
 which ye received of Him abideth in you, and ye need 
 not that any one teach you." How utterly impossible 
 for any man to dogmatize concerning truth, or to lord it 
 over God's heritage if this teaching concerning guidance 
 Divine for all is fully recognized ! 
 
 Again it will be seen with what care this subject is 
 gruarded when it is understood that equal guidance for 
 every individual makes it improper for one to attach 
 undue importance to the " thus saith the Lord " of an- 
 other. For if one with the possibilities of learning all 
 needed truth for himself, directly from the fountain head 
 of all truth, should accept as authoritative the teachings 
 of another, however buttressed by claims to Divine in- 
 spiration concerning them, he would in that very act, 
 sin against his own birthright, £uid put a slight on the 
 Teacher Divine. 
 
 Hence it will be seen at a glance that the general 
 acceptance of the doctrine of Divine guidance would 
 reduce the evils resulting from false claims to personal 
 guidance to their minimum, for they would in that case 
 be confined to the one individual who had fallen into 
 error. 
 
 And here we remark that the advantages of this Di- 
 vine protection against the propagation of error can be 
 best seen by contrast. For the loose, uncertain views 
 held generally on this subject tend to make the multi- 
 tude the lawful prey of any religious enthusiast who has 
 the hardihood to declare that he has Divine sanction for 
 
^36 mVINK GUlbA.NcR 
 
 his teachings. The efFeetnal antidote for such poison 
 has been too generally thrown away, and so it has come 
 to pass that no teachings can be too extravagant to pre- 
 clude the possibility of securing adherents. 
 
 But we further remark that the real objection to the; 
 dogma of infallibility is not aimed against the claim of 
 being right in those things which begin and end with 
 oneself, but against the claim made to regulate otiiers. 
 What Protestant would be troubled about the claims of 
 infallibility on the part of the Roman Pontiff, if he did 
 not deipand their recognition by others when he under- 
 took to regulate their consciences and acts ? So if the 
 doctrine of Divine guidance for every individual is con- 
 fined to each in his relation to his Maker, and ceases to 
 be Divine guidance the moment the effort is made to go 
 beyond these bounds, and demand the acceptance of any 
 deliverance as right because the outcome of Divine guid- 
 a.nce, we maintain that even the word infallibility would 
 lose all its terrors in such a connection. 
 
 But the word itself we contend is a misnomer when 
 connected with any part of the subject. For the real 
 essence of the word is that which speaks of the impossi- 
 bility of being in error or of making mistake, with which 
 definition the word plainly can only be applied to God 
 Himself. For granted even that he who is led of the 
 Spirit in any matter is absolutely right in that thing, 
 yet this would not take away the possibility of one in 
 such circumstances refusing to be so led, or even failing 
 to be so led when he fancied he was. True, it is said in 
 Isaiah that the "fool shall not err therein," but even 
 this strong statement does not antagonize other Bible 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 237 
 
 teachings which show that he may leave the way alto- 
 gether, when to err would be a necessity of his state. 
 
 But do not some already claim to have illustrated 
 Divine guidance for lengthened periods of time without 
 one failure in being so led ? Certainly. But it will be 
 noticed from the foregoing how restricted the nature of 
 this claim is. It is simply their witness to others that 
 the relations between themselves and God have been the 
 most satisfactory possible. But no demand because of 
 this is made upon any, either to accept their teachings 
 as correct or their acts as right. It is simply a testi- 
 mony to a glad satisfactory experience, nothing more. 
 Wherever it has been made to mean more than this it 
 has been necessarily the outcome of evil. 
 
 There is no commercial value for instance in such a 
 claim. If a man owes a debt, a thus saith the Lord 
 from the debtor cannot aifect the claim of the creditor 
 before any tribunal earthly or Heavenly. 
 
 Nor yet can any personal revelation be successfully 
 urged by one professing to be led of the Spirit as an 
 apology for even apparent wrong doing. 
 
 We readily admit that it is possible for any one to be 
 called on, like Peter and John in the early days of Chris- 
 tianity, to violate the laws of man. But even then pro- 
 vision, as we have shown, is made whereby those making 
 the objectionable law can verify for themselves the cor- 
 rectness of their position, whilst, in the meantime, the 
 ready submission of the law breaker to the penalty in- 
 curred, and the publicity of the transaction cannot but 
 disarm or greatly weaken hostile criticism, and tend to 
 annul the unrig^iteous law. But all such acts of appa- 
 
238 ' DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 rent lawlessness, it will be seen, are not in the interests 
 of private, personal advantage, but bear on them the 
 mark of Christian benevolence, and so are easily sepa- 
 rated from those acts which have their origni and centre 
 in self. 
 
 But the objection may still be made that, indirectly, 
 the wrong action of one who goes astray concerning 
 ])ivine guidance affects others. If, for example, a wife 
 and mother claims that she is led of the Spirit to for- 
 sake husband and children to attend to so called Chris- 
 tian work, in yielding to such an impres.sion would not 
 others suffer ? Plainly this would be the case, and in- 
 stances of this kind have come under our notice. 
 
 But we have also noticed that the greater part of the 
 suffering was submitted to because of the prevailing 
 superstitious reverence accorded co the claims of being 
 led of the Spirit when made with great confidence. 
 Now such a claim is either right or wrong. If it is 
 right, provision is made in the gospel for all concerned 
 to discover this fact, when it ought not to be difficult to 
 adjust all things satisfactorily. But if it is not right, 
 then what is it but a misfortune ? And he who walks 
 with God can best adapt himself to the serious affliction. 
 
 Is it possible for such a thing to be right ? one asks. 
 Well we have purposely used this extreme case so as to 
 cover all the ground. But we entertain a very strong 
 belief that Divine guidance reduced to general practice 
 would make such incidents much rarer if it did not put 
 them away altogether. For believing as we do that the 
 general laws which unite families are of Divine origin, 
 we would be surprised to see them deliberately set at 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCK 239 
 
 naught by their Author. However, be this as it may, 
 the point we make here is that in the event of diseases 
 of the brain, which take the form of claims to Divine 
 guidance in more or less startling forms, the safeguards 
 thrown around this doctrine cannot but reduce the evils 
 resulting from such sad afflictions to the least possible. 
 So that when the whole subject is more fully understood 
 and more generally realized in practical life, in place of 
 seeing these sad calamities of life charged to spiritual 
 truth, there will be the glad recognition of the Spirit's 
 work as the great means of mitigating them. With 
 what serene confidence, we add, can one who walks with 
 God do his part under such circumstances, seeing he is 
 not hindered, on the one hand by superstitious fear, nor 
 on the other by dread of human denunciations. 
 
 Depreciating the Bible.— Another objection is that 
 prominence given to Divine guidance tends to weaken 
 the force of Scripture utterance as though it were not 
 the sole rule of faith. * 
 
 Our reply is that it tends to regulate, not to destroy 
 this Bible authority. Certainly the Bible is the only 
 authoritative revelation of God to man. But this Bible 
 itself proclaims that its chief object is accomplished when 
 it makes man acquainted with God, in the person of 
 Christ, and with the Holy Ghost as the present repre- 
 sentative of the Godhead on earth, that thereafter he 
 may be led by the Spirit into all truth. 
 
 But it is urged by one objector that thus to constitute 
 the Spirit supreme and ultimate teacher of and guide 
 into all truth, would be attended with disastrous conse- 
 quences. But we ask, Has the effort to make the Bible 
 
240 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 the sole guide in doctrine and practice been attended 
 witli satisfactory rosults ? What doctrine, however mou- 
 Rtrous, has not been professedly credited to Bible teach- 
 ing ? What practices, however they may outrage our 
 innate sense of right, have not been claimed to be the 
 outcome of minutely following scripture utterance ? 
 
 Therj, again, is not presumed Bible teaching made 
 responsible for anathematizing and putting under pains 
 tuid penalties those who are pronounced to be heterodox ? 
 
 Also, in rejecting the Holy Si)irit as the sole guide 
 into truth ultimate and placing the Bible in His stead, 
 do not the multiplied standards used in the church visi- 
 ble to-day proclaim the failure of this usurpation ? If 
 now it is asked, What is the teaching of the Bible con- 
 cerning any one point ? the answers are as various as 
 the standards erected outside of the Bible. One refers 
 you to general councils- as giving Bible teaching with 
 certainty, another points to some written creed, and still 
 others to an individual — as Wesley, or Calvin, or Luther. 
 Small wonder it is, that" where such seeming anarchy 
 prevails, many an individual should regard himself as 
 the true interpreter of the Word, and deal out his mimic 
 thunder in imitation of the former occupant of the Seven 
 Hilled city. 
 
 Now we ask, is it not smile-provoking to hear one 
 with such results before him, so manifestly the outcome 
 of constituting the Bible the supreme guide for man, 
 fixpress fears concerning the outcome of again constitut- 
 ing the Holy Spirit guide supreme to every individual 
 believer ? 
 
 Moreover, it is a fact worthy of note, at this point of 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 241 
 
 the argument, that differences of opinion concerning tlio 
 teaching of scripture are more rife and more intense, and 
 their importance more exaggerated when spirituality is 
 at its beat under this regime. For example, the divisions 
 amongst Methodists were most numerous and most pro- 
 nounced when the average of spiritual life was the 
 highest, and the same has been the history of every 
 reformation in the Church since the early days when 
 the Holy Spirit had right of way as guide supreme. 
 
 Now let it not for a moment be thought that we tax 
 the Holy Bible with all or any of these things. What 
 we do say is that men have taxed the Bible beyond its 
 ability. They have attributed to it powers never con- 
 ferred upon it by its Author. God the Father and God 
 the Son ordained that the Scriptures should be searched 
 to learn their testimony of God, and that the Holy Sprit 
 should act as guide to individual man. It is the fact of 
 turning away from the old paths that has wrought such 
 coni'usion — a confusion that can only be avoided by a 
 return to Heaven's appointed methods for Divine har- 
 mony. 
 
 Further, to show the utter hopelessness of arriving at 
 unity in the Spirit by the methods that have thus far 
 ended in such utter failure, we ask, let any candid, un- 
 prejudiced man read over Paul's argument concerning 
 women taking part in religious services, and see if he 
 dare say distinctly and without any circumlocution that 
 the great apostle of the Gentiles did not distinctly teach 
 that women should neither teach nor ajteak in Christian 
 assemblies ; and then, leaving Paul out of the question, 
 let him read all other parts of the Bible bearing on this 
 16 
 
242 DIVINE GtJIDANCB. 
 
 subject, and then see if he could have the hardihood to 
 affirm that women have not scripture authorization to 
 exercise these gifts as well as men. 
 
 Now it will at once be seen that we draw from this 
 and similar conflicting thoughts in the Word, that if the 
 Bible w£is originally charged with the mission which, 
 since the days of Luther, has been ascribed to it, it is 
 strangely furnished for its work ; and however great 
 would be the miracle which would bring about unity of 
 faith without accepting its authority as supreme, it 
 would require a still greater miracle to accomplish this 
 result when so accepting its teaching. 
 
 Therefore, in view of all we have here said, and much 
 more that might be said in the same direction, it must 
 be evident that the objection concerning disastrous con- 
 sequences cannot be a very strong one, and must be con- 
 fined sooner or later to those who wish to lord it over 
 God's heritage. These would-be Popes will ever antago- 
 nize the work of the Spirit, for well they know that 
 every individual who fully accepts the Spirit to obey 
 Him as the sole law of life is at once emancipated from 
 their usurped authority : " for where the Spirit of the 
 Lord is there is liberty." 
 
 But, persists one objector, have not incidents already 
 occurred where individuals have testified, and that pub- 
 licly, that they have been led of the Spirit to refrain 
 from reading their Bibles, even for lengthened periods 
 of time ? 
 
 Weil, suppose we admit this to be correct Will it not 
 be well first to ask if this has been the testimony of the 
 many or of a few ? If this has been simply an incident 
 
DIVINE QUIDANOE. 243 
 
 of experience in the lives of a few individuals, may it 
 not be seen to harmonize with reason and common sense ? 
 For example, if a believer has for years made it a prac- 
 tice to read a large portion of the Bible every day with- 
 out fully digesting that which was read, would it not be 
 to his interest if a vacation of a few weeks or months 
 were taken not only to teach him not to exalt to undue 
 importance his rules of Bible study, but also to afford 
 the needed opportunity for thoughtful consideration ? 
 Now we openly proclaim that all the incidents, included 
 in this objection, which have come under our personal 
 observation, when carefully inquired into, could easily 
 be accounted for after this philosophical, yes, common- 
 sensed manner. 
 
 But certainly it is neither of the nature of philosophy 
 nor sound sense to seize on a few rare incidouts, and 
 those out of harmony with the general experience of all, 
 yes, and of the individuals themselves in whose lives 
 they occurred, and found a valid objection thereon. We 
 are satisfied that, in this case also, these objections will 
 be relegated to those who shall have personal interests 
 to serve in urging them — to those who make the mere 
 reading of the Bible according to set rules a large part 
 of their righteousness. From all of which it will be 
 seen that the Holy Spirit, as guide to individual be- 
 lievers, may show Himself a foe to formalism or super- 
 stition in the use of the Bible without either depreciating 
 or antagonizing that which is the outcome of EUs own 
 heart. 
 
 And so, finally, we remark that our objector may see 
 that close examination of his objection not only disai- 
 
244 
 
 DIVINE OUIDANCK. 
 
 pates all fears in the direction named, but awakens the 
 hope, nay, the belief, that the doctrine of Divine guid- 
 ance is the great spiritual panacea for all the ills con- 
 sidered. ^ ^ 
 
 Not that we for a moment contend that the acceptance 
 of this gospel remedy will bring all to think alike con- 
 cerning all doctrines or practice. But we do believe that, 
 whilst differences in opinion will still characterize differ- 
 ent minds, there will be the full privilege to differ ac- 
 corded by each man to his brother, and all persecution 
 or denunciation for opinion's sake will be a thing of the 
 past. " For they shall not hurt nor destroy in all my 
 holy mountain, saith the Lord." 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. V * 246 
 
 CHAPTER XXVI. 
 OBJECTIONS CONTINUED. 
 
 LAWLESSNESS. — Fears are entertained by some 
 objectors that the acceptance absolutely of the 
 guidance of the Spirit as the supreme law of life 
 would tend to the despising of all lawful authority both 
 m Church and Sfcate. 
 
 And here again incidents are not wanting in actual 
 life to apparently confirm this thought, for it is true 
 that some from time to time have set at naught all laws 
 human and Divine under cover of this doctrine. This 
 must be admitted frankly. And we further admit that 
 it is the knowledge of such lawless acts on the part of 
 some that surrounds the whole subject with real diffi- 
 culties. ' ' 
 
 We well remember how formidable this objection ap- 
 peared to us before we accepted without reserve the 
 guidance of the Spirit. And we confess that, ere we 
 gave up our fears sufficiently to abandon ourselves with- 
 out reserve to all the consequences of this step, we were 
 brought to the place where the terrible discipline of the 
 past appealed as greatly to our fears of the future as 
 any imagined results of possible fanaticism could do. 
 
 It is true we now smile at those fears, and unhesitat- 
 ingly say, from the experience of several years, that they 
 were all the time like Bunyan's chained lious. But we 
 
246 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 are assured that many are now as we were then — so 
 placed that they do not see distinctly the chains. And 
 therefore their objections appear real and formidable to 
 themselves. 
 
 Now it ought to be evident to all, that if a man is 
 really led of the Spirit he cannot be lawless, in a bad 
 sense. For God is the author of law. Jesus, Himself, 
 said : " Render, therefore, unto Caesar the things which 
 are Caesar's and unto God the things which are God's." 
 If, then, the Holy Spirit should lead an individual into 
 lawless acts, the Godhead would be divided against itself 
 and could not stand. This must be admitted as self- 
 evident. 
 
 From this it will be seen that Divine guidance cannot 
 be connected with lawlessness, only when the name is 
 used to denominate what is not Divine guidance, that 
 is, the objection really has to do with what is not Divine 
 guidance, but a spurious form thereof. 
 
 But, asks the objector, does not this false doctrine 
 naturally spring up where the true doctrine is empha- 
 sized ? This looks plausible, but a little close consid- 
 eration will suffice to dismiss all such fears. 
 
 It is quite true, that if there were no such thing as 
 Divine guidance, there would be no imitations. This is 
 true of every genuine blessing connected with revelation. 
 Hence the simple fact that it is a part of revealed truth 
 accounts for the counterfeits, just as spurious religions 
 owe their origin to the fact that there is such a thing as 
 true religion. But for the fact of its being a part of 
 God's revealed will to His creature man we are not ac- 
 countable, and, therefore, however we may emphasize 
 
V DIVINE GUIDANCE. > " 247 
 
 this truth, or strive to profit by it, we still are unac- 
 countable for others' abuse of it. These abuses, we 
 maintain, are as likely to abound where none seek to 
 secure ^he full benefits of the doctrine as where some do, 
 nay, more so. Indeed, we claim that it is a self-evident 
 truth, that the great-^r the number who are really led of 
 tlie Spirit into all truth the less will be the number of 
 counterfeits, and the greater the facilities for detecting 
 them when they exist. 
 
 But whilst this chain of argument should tend to 
 allay any fears in the direction of lawlessness as the 
 direct or indirect outcome of emphasizing this truth in 
 teaching or illustrating it in actual life, there are certain 
 guards against this very thing which are, as we have 
 seen, a part of the subject itself, which, when kept in 
 mind, ought to forever prevent all fears in this direction. 
 
 The fact that the very object or design of the guid- 
 ance of the Spirit is to enable man to fulfil the right- 
 eousness of the law (see Rom. viii.), should lead us to 
 suspect that effectual protection against lawlessness lies 
 somewhere in it. And we have this protection in the 
 fact that when the doctrine of Divine guidance is made 
 a scapegoat for sin, that is, when it is put to the front 
 as an excuse for acts which will not bear the close scru- 
 tiny of the laws of God and man, in that very act the 
 note of warning is sounded, and, in place of this plea or 
 excuse justifying the act before men, it rather tends to 
 discount it, and awaken the suspicion that the act apolo- 
 gized for or attempted to be justified by this plea, has 
 its origin in self. 
 
 Our Saviour calls on His followers to so illustrate 
 
248 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 holy living, that, in place of having to bring in the work 
 of the Spirit to explain away or condone apparent wrong 
 doing, men will be s6 impressed by their lives that they 
 will of necessity connect them with Divine power, and 
 so glorify the common Father which is in Heaven. 
 Tlierefore we maintain most positively that the doctrine 
 of Divine guidance, as plainly taught in the scriptures, 
 not only cannot be chargeable with lawlessness, in its 
 had sense, but is the real safeguard against it. 
 
 It is true that, in one sense, the Bible teaches lawless- 
 ness. But this is, as in former chapters has been fully 
 brought out, simply exchanging attempted obedience to 
 many rules and regulations for perfect obedience to one 
 living law, the ever-present Guide Divine. But, as we 
 have already shown, this latter obedience necessarily 
 secures obedience to all righteous laws, for, " the right- 
 eousness of the law is fulfilled in us who walk not after 
 the flesh, but after the Spirit." 
 
 Dangers. — It is objected by some that the whole sub- 
 ject is so beset with dangers that it is better to avoid it 
 altogether. For, say they, the whole stream of modern 
 history is lined with wrecks caused by the' eltbrt to mas- 
 ter this subject. 
 
 Strange that this should be affirmed ot such a centi-al 
 truth of the gospel. Is it not the boast of all that the 
 very simplicity of the religion of C irist is one of its best 
 recommendations ? Can this simplicity argument be a 
 proper one to use if such perils abound in the very heart 
 of Christ's spiritual kingdom ? The poet Alexander 
 Pope gives this advice to all concerning secular know- 
 ledge — 
 
DIVINE aUIDANCK. 249 
 
 " A littl* learning is a dangerous thing, 
 Drink deep or taste not the Pierian spring.** 
 
 But this objection would make deep draughts from the 
 fountain of spiritual knowledge and constitute the real 
 danger, whilst a smattering of knowledge would secure 
 safety. 
 
 This is a startling thought and yet there are not want- 
 ing those of reputed eminence amongst men who stand 
 sponsors for it. 
 
 But whilst as a surface thought to merely state it is 
 to see its defects and its weakness as an objection, never- 
 theless, it has its foundation deeper thau at first appears. 
 
 Those who have made a study of religious biographies 
 will have noticed how an air of mystery runs through 
 most of it concerning the work of the Spirit. Continu- 
 ally incidents in the lives of the most eminent saints are 
 mentioned about which there is a mysterious something 
 that is left unexplained. 
 
 Take for illustration the life of that saintly co-laborer 
 of the Wesleys, Thomas Walsh. It is related of him that 
 during his last sickness he was in great spiritual dark- 
 ness. This phenomenon lasted till just a little before his 
 death, when suddenly the spell was broken, and he de- 
 parted this life in spiritual rapture and joy. All the 
 Methodist societies were thrown into a species of con- 
 sternation over this strange experience of the great Irish 
 evangelist, and much prayer was made in his behalf. So 
 when at length he passed out from under this dark cloud 
 into his former bright, sunny experience, corresponding 
 joy was evinced by all. 
 
 But mark, no really satisfactory reason was given to 
 
250 DIVINE aUIDANCB. 
 
 account for this peculiar experience, although many un- 
 dertook the task. John Wesley <^ave it as his opinion 
 that it was a kind of spiritual punishment meted out to 
 him for the sin of using his voice too freely, that is, 
 speaking unnecessarily loud when preaching. The only 
 value of this strange deliverance of the Father of Meth- 
 odism is, that it illustrates the tendency at that time to 
 regard the Holy Spirit in His work as having some hu- 
 man frailties which rendered Him somewhat sensitive to ' 
 slights, and inclined to be implacable when once offended. 
 
 We shall not be surprised if many will regard this 
 opinion as more fanciful than true to facts. However, it 
 did not come to us as a fancy but as the result of close 
 study of the biographies of the eminent saints of past 
 generations. Moreover, this thought, the outcome of 
 such study, became an important factor in our religious , 
 history, and so shrouded the whole subject of the Spirit's 
 work on the hearts of believers with mystery and dread, 
 as to stand connected with much serious loss of spiritual 
 blessing on our part, and as requiring great effort to 
 break away from the shadowy fear engendered thereby. 
 
 Now we have satisfied ourselves that this nameless 
 dread, the unconscious result of perusing the very best 
 religious biographies, is the true foundation of the objec- 
 tion we are considering 
 
 The only antidote to these fears is the scriptural study 
 of the character of the Holy Spirit. For it will be found 
 that Christ, as portrayed in the Bible, is the true repre- 
 sentative to man of the character of God the Holy Ghost 
 as well as of God the Father, and that therefore in pa- 
 tience, in long-suffering, in condescension, in painstaking 
 
DIVINE aUIDANCE. 251 
 
 jiifuidance, and in forgiveness of all forms of disobedience 
 and unbelief He is the exact counterpart of Father and 
 Son. ' ■> . 
 
 True it is that, in the best interests of man, the special 
 work of the Holy Ghost is guarded by peculiar laws, 
 even as the manifested presence of God was jealously 
 guarded under the old dispensation. But with this 
 special legislation Christ is as distinctly identified as the 
 Spirit, and -it in no wise renders the cultivation of ac- 
 quaintanceship with the third person of the Trinity 
 more dangerous than with the second. 
 
 Certainly we do not wish to minify the serious fact 
 that God, in the person of Christ, has denounced special 
 penalties for slighting or diabolizing the manifested 
 work of the Spirit amongst men. For this work of the 
 Spirit is the great hope of the world, and it is better 
 that some perish in their determined hostility thereto 
 than that the many should fail to be blessed thereby. 
 The whole subject is one of warning to all against attri- 
 buting any manifested work of the Spirit, no matter 
 what form it may take, or however surrounded and 
 obscured by the crudities of men, to the devil. For 
 after reading Christ's comments on such conduct, it may 
 well be feared that the day of probation immediately 
 closes upon all such. 
 
 But this is quite another matter from what we are 
 discussing, for this danger does in no wise threaten the 
 sincere seeker after truth concerning the extent and 
 practicability of Divine guidance. 
 
 Such honest seekers mav forever dismiss all fears of 
 danger as they do the shadowy forms with which imagin- 
 
252 DIVINE GUIDANCE, 
 
 ation sometimes peoples the region of mists and semi- 
 darkness; As when the clear light of the sun appears, 
 mists and darkness and hobgoblin forms flee away, so, 
 before the simple teaching of Je«ns, " the light of the 
 world," all these fears and presumed dangers disappear, 
 and man learns to come into the presence of the Holy 
 Spirit without dread, and soon accepts Him as his most 
 intimate, confidential friend, and then goes forth in His 
 company, comforted with all Divine comforts, and guided 
 easily, naturally into all truth. 
 
 But if one enjoying such delightful relations with the 
 Spirit should unwittingly grieve Him, what then ? We 
 reply, that the way to renewed forgiveness and confi- 
 dential relations is as freely open as is the way of return 
 to Christ. For after a thousand falls He, the Holy One, 
 is as ready to help to his feet the fallen one and encou- 
 rage him to continue the fight of faith as ever He was 
 at the commencement of the Christian life. Nothing 
 but want of knowledge concerning the true scriptural 
 description of the character of the Holy Spirit can ac- 
 count to us for such incidents as that mentioned concern- 
 ing Thomas Walsh and the comments made on them. 
 Hence we unhesitatingly pronounce upon this " danger" 
 objection as being founded entirely on ignorance of the 
 true scriptural character of the Blessed Spirit. 
 
 XJNCHilisriANlZiNG OTHERS. — But, asks another objec- 
 tor, Will not the acceptance of the doctrine of Divine 
 guidance after this unconditional manner unchristianize 
 all who have not in the past or do not now or in all 
 the future so accept it ? 
 
 Our Lord has met this objection and answered it satis- 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 253 
 
 factorily in the passage which reads : " And that servant, 
 which knew his lord's will, and made not ready, nor did 
 according to his will, shall be beaten with many stripes; 
 but he that knew not and did things worthy of stripes, 
 shall be beaten with few stripes : And to whomsoever 
 much is given, of him shall much be required : and to 
 whom they commit much, of him will they ask the 
 more." — Luke xii. 47, 48. 
 
 Herein is contained the principle of just judgment 
 concerning all. It evidently teaches that failure to walk 
 in all the light of truth possible under the circumstances 
 accounts one worthy of punishment, and that just as the 
 advantages of increased light are positive to him who 
 accepts that increased light, so the loss or punishment is 
 increased to him who still rejects. 
 
 Love of the truth and eager desire to discover it and 
 use it when known, Jesus declared to be the necessary 
 qualification of His followers. " This is the judgment, 
 that the light is come into the world, and men loved the 
 darkness rather than the light ; for their works were 
 evil. For every one that doeth ill hateth the light, and 
 Cometh not to the light, lest his works should be re- 
 proved. But he that doeth the truth cometh to the 
 light, that his works may be made manifest, that they 
 have been wrought in Qod." — John iii. 19-21. 
 
 Now there is no safer inference from this teaching of 
 Christ than this, that whether in the darkness of hea- 
 thenism, in the glimmering light of Mohammedanism, the 
 twilight of Greek or Romish churches, or in the vary- 
 ing intensity of light in the different branches of Protes- 
 tantism, he who meets the««ft conditions of the Saviour, 
 
254 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 and is an earnest seeker after spiritual lij^ht, always ap- 
 propriating it when found, no matter what his failures 
 may be, cannot come under condemnation. 
 
 But who, we ask, beside the great searcher of all 
 hearts, can decide concerning this attitude of any man 
 towards spiritual truth ? 
 
 The individual who to-day turns away from any ad- 
 ditional light because, forsooth, it might prove an incon- 
 venience, or a source of condemnation, would, in all like- 
 lihood, have rejected Christ on the same grounds if he 
 had lived in His day. The principle which underlies 
 the acceptance or rejection of any spiritual truth is ex- 
 actly the same, whether that truth comes to us through 
 the living Christ Himself, through an apostle, or through , . 
 one of His most illiterate, uncouth or despised followers. 
 
 We have every reason to suppose that John Wesley 
 was an honest searcher after spiritual truth, when with 
 his well-read Bible in his hand he y< t failed to discover 
 the doctrine of the witness of the Spirit. And he simply 
 illustrated this attitude of his soul when the additional 
 light came to him in the person of the humble Moravian 
 missionary, for he eagerly embraced the light and thence- 
 forth walked in its brightness. 
 
 To maintain that John Wesley, before that epoch in 
 his history, was not a true and accepted follower of the 
 Lord Jesus Christ would outrage every notion of justice 
 and propriety which God has implanted in the heart of 
 man, and would make loving, loyal obedience to the great 
 Captain of our salvation an utter impossibility. 
 
 Peter gladly recognized this truth when sent to preach 
 the full Pentecostal gospel to the Gentiles as represented 
 
DIVINI-: aUIDANCE. -' > 
 
 by Cornelius and his friends, exclainiini,' : " Of a truth 
 I perceive that God is no respecter of persons; Vmt in 
 every nation he that feareth Him, and worketh riglit- 
 eousness, is acceptable to Him." — Acts x. 34, 35. 
 
 Evidently then in Christ's kingdom it is not so much 
 success in obtaining light as the attitude of the soul 
 towards spiritual light, that is regarded. 
 
 Hence our answer to the objection now under consid- 
 eration is that the acceptance or rejection of the doctrine 
 of Divine guidance in its fullest measure only aftects the 
 individual so accepting or rejecting. If to any one it 
 comes as a clear call from God to increased privilege in 
 the gospel, to such • and only to such the preaching of 
 the gospel is a savor of life unto life or of death unto 
 death. 
 
 As to our judgment of others, we know of no safe rule 
 whereby we may know concerning their attitude to the 
 doctrine whether it is that of love for, hatred to, or in- 
 difference for the truth. 
 
 True it is that God by His Spirit may make excep- 
 tional cases, and communicate to individuals knowledge 
 concerning the soul condition of some for the benefit of 
 all concerned. But these exceptional cases, as illustrated 
 in the lives of the apostles, only proved the absence of 
 any general law concerning this matter. 
 
 We therefore maintain that in propagating this Pente- 
 costal truth, whether by lip or pen or life, we need be 
 fettered by no fears of uncharitable judgment concern- 
 ing others as the legitimate outcome. 
 
 A Check to Industry. — Some objectors muintaiu that 
 the doctrine of Divine guidance, taught after this full 
 
256 DIVINE GUIDANCE. V 
 
 manner, would tend to check patient labor in every 
 direction. For instance, say they, why apply the intel- 
 lect to the solution of any difficult problem ? Why not 
 expect to be led supernaturally into the desired know- 
 ledge? 
 
 We answer that such objections imply that the Holy 
 Spirit may be regarded as a servant and nt necessa- 
 rily always as an absolute sovereign. 
 
 Divine guidance may at one time be as complete 
 where one is called to patient, painstaking effort in the 
 discovery of a truth as when, at another time, a truth is 
 given as a species of intuition. But in any case we may 
 rest assured that where patient labor is the best for all 
 concerned, then that will be the manner of Divine 
 guidance. 
 
 There is no intimation given anywhere that he who 
 accepts the Holy Spirit as guide into all truth will at 
 once revel in all the intellectual pleasures of a Newton, 
 or even be as conversant as a Luther or a Calvin in dog« 
 matic theology, or that he will escape labor and sorrow 
 — the double curse connected with Adam's sin. But 
 whilst it is true that still like our Master we may grow 
 weary and foot-sore by the length of the journey and 
 would fain sit down by some wayside resting place, that 
 it will ever and anon be in order, because of the sorrows 
 and afflictions of life, to utter the prayer, " If it be pos- 
 sible let this cap pass from me," nevertheless in the very 
 midst of such weariness the heaven-bom opportunity to 
 instruct some Samaritan stranger will cause us to forget 
 both hunger and weariness, and in the very shadow of 
 our cross we can, like our great Captain, speak of our 
 joy being full 
 
"* DIVINE QUID ANOE. 257 
 
 We repeat a thought, elsewhere expressed, that the 
 Holy Spirit will in all labors with the human soul work 
 in perfect harmony with the laws of nature, that is, with 
 the laws of God. Now as all sacred history proves that 
 miracle^ or apparent opposition to the known laws of 
 mind and matter has only been an occasional incident in 
 God's dealings with individuals or nations, so after this, 
 manner believe He will still continue to manifest Him- 
 self to man. Wherever miracle is to the advantage of 
 him who is led of the Spirit, all things considered, it 
 shall not be wanting. But whether in harmony with, or 
 in apparent opposition to, God's general laws concerning 
 mind and matter, he who walks with God and claims by 
 faith the spiritual completeness of the present dispensa- 
 tion shall know the perfect will of God concerning him, 
 and shall be able to do that will fully. For thus has 
 God ordained it for His own glory and the happiness of 
 His creature — man. 
 
 17 
 
25S DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 CHAPTER XXVn. 
 UVING TESTIMONY. 
 
 DEEMING it to be in full agreement with the prac- 
 tical design of this volume, we propose to present 
 to our readers the experiences of a few living illus- 
 trations of the practicability and advantages of the 
 doctrine oi Divine Guidance, 
 
 As we have woven our own personal experience into 
 the very texture of the book itself, we do not think it 
 needful to repeat it in this concluding chapter. We 
 have selected these witnesses, of design, from dift'orent 
 walks in active life. Whilst some are at present en- 
 gaged in ministerial work, others are in business life, 
 some having attained considerable prominence therein ; 
 still others adorn the less public walks of Hfe. 
 
 It is due to all of them to say that we simply inti- 
 mated to them, mostly by letter, our intention of pub- 
 lishing a book on Divine Guidance, with the request 
 that they would assist to the extent of their personal 
 experience. We fully appreciated the serious nature of 
 the request we made, and are correspondingly gratified 
 by the cheerful response. 
 
 The reader can easily understand by a process of self- 
 (juestioning, what it means to be asked to write out a 
 personal Christian experience to be placed before the 
 public in book form. But at the same time it will be 
 
DIVINE OUIDANCE. 269 
 
 difficult to conceive of any motive other than the love 
 of Christ constraining, as strong enough to secure the 
 result. 
 
 We grant that some shallow natures can be acted on 
 by a simple love of notoriety. But we maintain that in 
 every such instance there are not wanting other inci- 
 dents in such lives to show that they are more or less 
 erratic. But in the case of all these witnesses we have 
 yet to hear of the first charge, from friend or foe, which 
 tends to class one of them with extremists in any one 
 thing save only in the matter of Divine guidance. 
 
 THE CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF REV. B. SHERLOCK. 
 
 I was brought up in an intensely religious household* 
 Family devotion, religious conversation, moral culture 
 and restraint, backed up by righteous living, furnish the 
 salient things in the picture which memory shows of the 
 days of my childhood, and indeed all the years of my 
 home-life. 
 
 *At the age of fifteen I was converted, and in a few 
 years afterwards, mainly through the reading of the life 
 of Carvosso, I was moved to seek with whole-hearted 
 earnestness for the blessing of perfect love, which I 
 received after rome hours of determined pleading. God 
 is love, and He will not turn any empty away who seek 
 from Him with sincere importimity that which will 
 make them more like Him. 
 
 Why it was, that the glow and the glory of that ex- 
 perience remained with me only for a few days, it might 
 
260 • DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 not profit the reader to tell, even if one could be specific 
 as to the principal cause. The experience was new to 
 me, and there was no one among those that surrounded 
 me who definitely professed the experience. If there 
 had been, possibly I might have regained it immediately 
 after the first shadow that came upon its brilliance, as 
 a consequence of a disobedience resulting from a yielding 
 to self in the form of constitutional timidity. But I 
 blame no one. ^ ^ ^ 
 
 . The years that followed were years of very little sat- 
 isfaction of soul : declensions and revivings, resolutions 
 made in great sincerity, and broken, partly because they 
 did not go far enough at the start, but leally Ijccause 
 resolutions to do better are not, in themselves, any 
 part of God's programme of righteousness for this dis- 
 pensation. 
 
 Ten years after my conversion I came to Canada, and 
 in one year afterwards entered the Methodist ministry. 
 The question of Holiness, or Entire Sanctifieation as it 
 is understood by the Mothodists, came before my con- 
 science from time to time, especially at camp-meetings 
 or other times of religious excitement, when I woukf be 
 found on my knees pleading for the restoration of the 
 lost experience, but between these seasons it invaria]>ly 
 faded away. 
 
 The blessing was apparently grasped and held for 
 some short period, more than once during the course of 
 some twenty-two years of ministerial life. It was gen- 
 erally held while engaged in active " revival " work, but 
 faded away after such special seasons ceased. 
 
 About eleven years ago, during a season of enforced 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 261 
 
 leisure, I took hold more fii-mly and earnestly on God, 
 and then vvr(jte a series of letters which were published 
 in the " Christian Guardian " of Toronto, (Jnt., on " llin- 
 drances to Holiness " and " What Holiness is and how 
 to be holy," for which I have been thanked by more 
 than one reader. 
 
 In about a year afterwards the Canada Holiness As- 
 sociation was formed, including me as one of its Hrst 
 members. We started consciously on the mental plat- 
 form occupied by Wesley, Fletcher, Clarke and others 
 of the fathers of Methodism on this subject, which is 
 substantially the same as that on which the leaders of 
 the modern holiness movement in England, and especi- 
 ally the United States, have stood and do now stand. 
 
 We honestly thought at that time, that the methods 
 of work, and mode of presenting the subject which had 
 been adopted and used by the late Mrs. Palmer, Dr. Fos- 
 ter, Bro. Inskip and others, were a& nearly right as pos- 
 sible. But after a few years our President, Rev. N. 
 Burns, began to see that the Holy Spirit of God was 
 not receiving due honor and recognition, neither by us, 
 nor by the Church generally. His teachings on this line, 
 triven with that calm boldness, which comes of intense 
 conviction of their truth, sometimes startled me as well 
 as others ; and but for the fact that I was not perfectly 
 satistied with my own experiences, might have produced 
 the result in my case that they did in some others, that 
 of driving me from the association. 
 
 The remark of Joseph Agar Beet in his little book on 
 " Holiness as taught by the writers of the Bible," when 
 speaking of the work of the Holy Spirit he says, ' All 
 
262 DIVINE GUIDANCBL 
 
 other influences tend away from God," came up again 
 and again, suggesting the correlative truth, that the 
 Holy Spirit is the sole cause of Christian holiness. If 
 therefore, I reasoned, I have not sufnciently studied this 
 subject, and it appears that Bro. Burns has studied it at 
 least more than I have, then I am not in a position to 
 object to his teachings until I do so understand it as to 
 be sure of my ground. 
 
 About three years ago or more while meditating on this 
 subject, the thought came to me with almost the pre- 
 cision and impression of a voice speaking to the out- 
 ward ear : " You and the Church generally have been 
 baptized into the name of the Holy Ghost, as truly as 
 into the name of the Father and the Son, but neither 
 you nor the Church in general have given Him e([ua] 
 honor and recognition with the Father and the Son." 
 From that moment I began to acknowledge personally 
 and publicly, His personality, His indispensableness, and 
 His true Deity, as the truth became more and more 
 vividly evident to me. 
 
 Soon the guidance of the Spirit was seen to be a 
 specialty in Christ's plan ; and that, with all that Jesus 
 teaches concerning Him, was heartily accepted. Having 
 thus broken loose from the standpoint of former years, 
 I saw and continue to see with ever-increasing clearness 
 and certainty, that the Holy Spirit of God is the sole 
 cause of all holiness ; that as His " strivings " produce 
 conviction of sin, and as when He is yielded to in those 
 strivings he produces the new birth, so the fulness of 
 the Spirit as that fulness was bestowed on the day of 
 Pentecost, fulfilling the Saviour's own promise, is the 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 20.*^ 
 
 only *' second Messing " that He, the Saviour, has pro- 
 mised. And accordingly in ray own dealings with CJod, 
 and in my preaching to the Church I do not speak of the 
 " blessing " of holiness, or the " state " of entire sancti- 
 fication as finalities to be grasped and held, but rather 
 open my own heart and keep it open, to be " filled with 
 the Spirit," being satisfied that the holiness which He 
 produces must be what pleases God, and I press it upon 
 others in the same way ; as I see that that is Christ's 
 way of promising and of bestowing. I now have com- 
 plete, radiant satisfaction of soul, from moment to mo- 
 ment, from month to month ; and have seen more suc- 
 cess in my ministry in the " perfecting of the saints," 
 both as to numbers and quality, than ever before. 
 
 As to the guidance of the Spirit, His teaclung, His tak- 
 ing the things of Christ and shewing them to the believer. 
 His bringing all Christian things to his remembi'ance, 
 His glorifying Christ, His showing things to come. His 
 giving power, all of which are definitely promised by the 
 Master — I have accepted Him, the Comforter, to do all 
 these things for me, or in me, and have had experience 
 of every one of these benefits. 
 
 I have been guided to the advantageous purchase of 
 needed matters for life and comfort, in the pui'chase of 
 a horse ; in the choice of the best road to travel when I 
 had no knowledge of what was ahead of mo ; guided in 
 pastoral visitation to the places and persons where I 
 could do the most good. 
 
 I am constantly guided in the choice of subjects fx) 
 preach from ; sometimes guided away from previous 
 preparation, and given a dift'ereiit message to deliver. 
 
264 DIVINE QUID ANCJt 
 
 It is not b}'^ any means the rule with me that 1 
 preach a different theme from what has been previ- 
 ously thought of and prayed over ; but it seems as 
 if He allows me occasionally to " prepare " something 
 that He does not intend that I shall preach, in order to 
 teach me His sovereignty in His own sphere. I have 
 seen as much proof that the right subject was taken on 
 such occasions (to say the least) as when He shewed me 
 previously the subject to deliver. At such times the in- 
 vigoration of my Christian memory has been a surprise 
 to myself. The guidings I have experienced have been 
 to me a demonstration, as strong and definite as anything 
 can be, that they were Divine. For I have been led to 
 ends that could not have been foreseen by the keenest 
 human shrewdness, taking step after step, not knowing 
 what the consequences would be, but all the while happy 
 because I was tture that the result would be the very 
 best possible for me at the time. And as of myself I 
 could not be certain that my notions of what is right or 
 wrong would always be perfectly correct, and remember- 
 ing that my Saviour said, " He shall teach you all things," 
 I gladly avail myself of His teaching. And as to what 
 is meant by " He shall take of mine [Christ's] and show 
 it unto you," that is better realized than I can describe. 
 Lessons that the letter itself cannot teach, lessons nevei- 
 found in lexicon or commentary or homiletical review, 
 not found in " the words which man's wisdom teacheth." 
 These guidings and teachings do not come by chance or 
 coincidence, for they are asked for by me, asked in im- 
 plicit faith, because my Saviour promised them and 1 
 camiot do without them and call myself a believer in 
 
DiVmE GUIDANCE. 26") 
 
 His word. I dare not inf3ulfc Him by ignoring his defi- 
 nite oft'er of such priceless and undeserved benefits. 
 
 An increasing number of Christians have been led 
 under my ministry of late to believe, and receive, and 
 live as above described ; and they every one declare, that 
 their previous doubts and difficulties about the Christian 
 life no longer exist ; " that the law of the Spirit of life 
 " in Christ Jesus hath made them free from the law of 
 " sin and death," and that " the righteousness of the law 
 " is fulfilled in them, who walk not after the fiesh but 
 •' after the Spirit" 
 
 Arkwright, Ont* 
 
 . CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF ISAAC ANDERSON. 
 
 It is no small undertaking to write an experience cov- 
 ering nearly half a, century, so as not to become tedious 
 to the reader. But by the help of my " Guide Divine " 
 I will endeavor to cover the ground briefly and to the 
 best of my ability 
 
 Right here let me suggest, dear reader, that if I should 
 happen to record some items of little interest to you, 
 kindly remember that they may be of infinite import- 
 ance to others. The object of the writer is simply to 
 help such as are eavT^eMly seeking the Rest of faith, and 
 are willing, yes, anxious to pay the price, viz., to make 
 an " utter, glad, irreversible surrender" of their whohi 
 being to God the Holy Ghost — that other Comforter and 
 guide into all truth whom Jesus promised and hath snif. 
 
 I will now ask the reader to go with me to the place 
 
266 DIVINE GUIDANCE^ 
 
 of my birth, which event occurred in the year 1841, on 
 a farm about four miles east of the town of Gait, in the 
 township of Beverley. My parents were by no means 
 wealthy ; our house was built of logs, and contained all 
 of two rooms. My father died when I was eight years 
 old, the fii'st sad event of ray life. From the age of ten 
 yeai-s I had to work hard, late and early, and received 
 l>ut little of this world's goods in return. A "hickory" 
 shirt, blue jean pants and smock, a straw hat, my feet 
 washed and I was dressed for Sunday. My education 
 was crowded into a few years at a countiy scliool, with 
 a vacation at hard labor, commencing about the time the 
 snow left in the spring and continuing while there was 
 anything to be done on the farm — about the time old 
 Karth put on lier white robe again. Our family con- 
 sisted, at that time, of eight — five boys and tluee girls ; 
 1 was number five. The death of my youngest brother, 
 a dear little curly-haired l)oy, along with the death of 
 my father, led to my first serious tlioughts about God, 
 heaven and my immortal soul, and resulted in my first 
 eflfort to live a Christian life. 
 
 This was a hard and fruitless struggle, for indeed I 
 was about the only member of our family who, at that 
 time, made any such attempt, and my notions as to how 
 to succeed were very crude. I may say there was no 
 success beyond the first impressions, which God Himself 
 had planted and which never have been erased. 
 
 I do not think I ever saw the inside of a church till I 
 was al)out 13 j'^ears of age, an event which stands con- 
 nected in my life with the first time I was induced by 
 the pressui-e of circumstances to face the wide, wide 
 world for myself. 
 
" DIVINE OTTTDANCIL 2G7 
 
 In my removal I had no use for either a " Saratoga " 
 or an express wagon ! I spent my first summer in the 
 employment of a neighboring farmer, who paid me the 
 large sum of $5 per month. But to me every dollar of 
 that money was worth one hundred cents, for, although 
 only a small boy, I hesitate not to say I did the work of 
 an arerage man. 
 
 My next move was to the town of Gait, where I en- 
 gaged with a firm to learn the grocery business, at a 
 salary for the first year of $35, board and wasliing 
 thrown in, and from 7 o'clock in the morning till 9, 10, 
 11 and sometimes 12 at night, I accomplished as much 
 work in delivering goods with a wheell)arrow as the boy 
 of to-day does with a horse and wagon. 
 
 Alx)ut two years later found me up in the wild woods 
 of Michigan, where a part of our family had found a 
 new home, and where my assistance seemed to be a ne- 
 cessity in order to keep the " wolf from the door." This 
 was accomplished by dint of long hours of unceasing toil. 
 
 A load of shingles was known in that country as a 
 "grist." I knew what it was, many a day, to shave 
 shingles until my right hand every morning would re- 
 fuse to obey my will, and so I would open it with my 
 left hand and place the handle of my knife in it, then 
 like a foundered horse I would gradually warm up and 
 so perform another and another day's labor. 
 
 I spent one winter in the lumber woods, driving 
 teams, up at four or five in the morning and busy till 
 ten at night. How well I I'emember the shortness of 
 tliose nights ! it seemed to me that both ends met just 
 when I was called. 
 
208 DIVINE OUTDANCE. 
 
 ALoiit the year 1859 t'oinul me })ack again in my 
 nativ(3 town ((ialt), where, iu tlie following year, 1 was 
 convertcnl to God, But it was not without a conflict, 
 fierce and long, that I obtained converting grace. Un- 
 dei" the terrible strain my health began to fail, ending in 
 sickness almost unto death ; and well I remember how 
 welcome death would have been had I known that my 
 peace was made with God, and how, at the end of three 
 weeks of most terrible sufiering, I gave up tryinfj to 
 believe. I thought, Well, I must die, and I'll just trust 
 it all to Jesus, I can do no more, and then I sank away 
 to rest. I expected to die, and those around me thought 
 I was going. Tired nature went to sleep for the first 
 time during all those terrible days and nights, and such 
 a sleep ! I shall never forget it. This event is stamped 
 indelibly upon my mind. 
 
 I slowly recovered my health and found my w^ay to 
 the Methodist church, joined a class and began to tell 
 ** How great things the Lord had done for me." 
 
 It was not long, however, before I found myself again 
 ** doing the things that I would not," yes, and " making 
 many crooked steps " — a life of sinning and repenting ; 
 sometimes completely backslidden and again restored 
 and rejoicing. I was even used of the Lord to help 
 others, some of whom I doubt not are in heaven long 
 ago and will meet me there in the sweet by-and-by. 
 
 In 1866 I had the good fortune to marry one whom I 
 believed to be the best young woman I had ever seen — 
 and I w^as not disappointed. She prove(i to be a true 
 Christian and a helpmeet. As time rolled on we found 
 oui'selves surrounded with treasui'es, three sons and three 
 daughters, our home the abode of happiness and sunshine. 
 
DIVINE aUIDANCE. 269 
 
 About 1870 I embarked in the oil business, which 
 necessitated my removal from Gait to Toronto, the lat- 
 ter place bein^ more suitable as a distributing point. I 
 have continued in this business ever since and Toronto 
 is still my home. 
 
 Many were my ups and downs during the next ten 
 years ; sometimes failure in business life, as well tis in 
 religious, the harrowing details of which prudence for- 
 l)ids me to impose upon the reader. Suffice it to say, 
 that on the first Sunday morning of 1880, after review- 
 ing all my past life I found it to be in the truest sense 
 most unsatisfactory both commercially and religiously, 
 and right there I closed up the book of the past, writing 
 lailure upon every page, and while listening to a sermon 
 in old Bloor Street Methodist Church, delivered by Rev. 
 Dr. Hunter, from the text " From this day will I bless 
 you," Haggai ii. 19, by Gk)d*s help I made a fresh start, 
 opened a new book and began a new life. 
 
 I know and God knew in that memorable hour that I 
 counted not my life dear that I might win Christ. At 
 once I realized that God spoke to me through the text. 
 He meant me. It was for me, and I walked out upon it. 
 It has borne me up for over nine years, during which 
 time I have been writing victory instead of failure. 
 
 A few days after my restoration to God's favor and 
 smile, while listening to the testimony of a good brother, 
 who is now in Ireland, who professed to enjoy the bless- 
 ing of holiness, I discovered there was higher ground for 
 uke. True to my promise made to God I at once accepted 
 all I knew to be for me, which was a life after the " per- 
 petual cleansing " sort, and a vast improvement over all 
 
270 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 former experiences. Herein I greatly rejoiced, and grew 
 in grace and knowledge, carrying everything to God in 
 prayer. I soon found improvement and success in busi- 
 ness, and victory over the " besetting sins " of the past, 
 and, laying aside " every weight," I soon found myself 
 running in the way of His commandments with plea- 
 sure and delight. 
 
 God greatly blessed to me the reading of Joseph Cook's 
 lectures on " Orthodoxy," " Conscience," and other sub- 
 jects about that time, through which I was helped out of 
 many theological difficulties. I shall ever be thankful 
 for the productions of this truly great man, whose busi- 
 ness it is to harmonize religion and science, and to teach 
 men how to think. I found myself intensly in love with 
 the truth, and delighted in fellowship with all who were 
 like-minded and able to shed new light upon my pathway. 
 
 Among the difficulties that presented themselves to my 
 mind was the difference between justification and sanc- 
 tification. I confess that for years I failed to find what 
 to nue was a satisfactory solution of this question, and so 
 I had to be content to wait. But in due course of time 
 help came. 
 
 It pleased God to send to our city the Rev. N. Burns, 
 president of the Canada Holiness Association, with whom 
 it has been my privilege to become most intimately ac- 
 quainted and associated. He was the first person whom 
 I had ever met who professed and enjoyed the baptism 
 of the Holy Ghost in Pentecostal fulness and power. To 
 me it was only necessary to behold new light to possoss 
 it and .>o I embraced my Comforter and guide Divine as 
 lightgivcr, inspirer and guide into all truth — in short, 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 271 
 
 as the one law of my being, and so came an end to this 
 vexed question : and here let me say was the entrance 
 into the land of settled questions. I saw that in order 
 to live B, justified life it was needful to he filled with the 
 Spirit. 
 
 I had been for some time the recognized leader of the 
 only Holiness meeting held in Toronto in those days. 
 The attendance was small, and those who professed and 
 enjoyed the blessing of Holiness, as it was then taught 
 and lived, would have been fully represented by the 
 lingers upon one hand; and for some time after the 
 advent of Bro. Burns in our city, there seemed to be but 
 little progress. After a time, his teaching on Divine 
 guidance brought down a shower of opposition from 
 sources where it was lee o expected. But right in the 
 midst of the conflict came victory, and ere long a goodly 
 number entered into the grand experience of Pentecostal 
 life. 
 
 But to return to my personal experience, the greatest 
 of all problems to be solved was, how to live a holy 
 business life. Previous to my acceptance of the Holy 
 Spirit as my one law and guide, I attempted to accom- 
 plish it by laying down certain rules and regulations ; 
 but in spite of every effort I failed to keep them, and 
 so I was really condemned by the teaching of Christ 
 and His apostles : " Did not Moses give you the law, and 
 yet none of you doeth the law ?" — John vii. 19. " For 
 whosoever shall keep the whole law, and yet stumble in 
 one point, he is become guilty of all." — James ii. 10. 
 
 But on the other hand, who will deny that Jesus 
 required — demanded of all who would be His disciples, 
 
272 V . , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 that they should keep His commandments and do Ood's 
 wilt on earth as it is done in heaven ? Did our Saviour 
 mean what He said ? Did He demand the impossible ? 
 Surely no one dare charge Him with insincerity, or 
 unreasonableness ! We are forced then to believe that 
 it is possible to " walk worthy of Qod unto all pleasing/' 
 and we read of no exceptir)ns. '* God is no respecter of 
 persons," the business man's life must then be included. 
 So I could no longer say, as is said by some, " Religion 
 is religion and business is business " ; no, no, to the true 
 disciple everything is sacred. " Whether, therefore, ye 
 eat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of 
 God." — 1 Cor. X. 31. There must, therefore, be some 
 way to live a life that pleases God in all things. 
 
 Now, must I be branded as a " fanatic," as an " egotist," 
 as " self-righteous," when 1 say that I have found the 
 secretf of living such a life, and proclaim to the world 
 that it is possible — yes, it is gloriously possible, abun- 
 dantly and delightfully possible ; embracing all the 
 thoughts, words, actions and transactions of a business 
 life ? or do I hear the reader say, Praise God for such 
 possibilities ! and earnestly and anxiously enquire. How 
 may I know this secret- that I too may live this life ? 
 
 Assuming that I hear the enquiry from an honest 
 heart, tilled with in tensest and purest purpose and de- 
 termination at all costs to embrace this secret, remem- 
 bering, too, that '• the secret of God is with them that 
 fear Him," from the gladness of my heart, overflowing 
 with love and praise to Him who hath redeemed and 
 cleansed me from my sins in His own most precious 
 blood, I will tell you the secret. It is all in the promise 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCK 273 
 
 of the Father — the gift of the Holy Ohost, that other 
 Comforter of whom our Lord Jesus spake, when He 
 said : " If I go away I will send you another Comforter, 
 even the Spirit of truth," " He shall abide with you," 
 " He shall guide you into all truth." " He shall bring all 
 things to your remembrance," " He shall teach you all 
 things." Reader — Brother, He has come ! He came to 
 the one hundred and twenty in the upper room at Jeru- 
 salem. In His power, immediately thereafter, Peter 
 preached and three thousand were converted, and they, 
 too, at once received Him. Read the records for your- 
 self and see if it was not the normal experience of the 
 early Christians, to receive the Holy Ghost. And in all 
 subsequent ages men of might and power, whose lives 
 have stood out in bold relief, who have left their foot- 
 prints on the sands of time, never to be erased — whose 
 lives still live and shall continue to live a benediction to 
 humanity — were men filled, with the Holy Ghost. Yes, 
 He has come, come to me ; I have embraced Him. He 
 abides with me — the continued life of my beloved Sa- 
 viour, with me 1 He is all that was promised He should 
 
 be, to me; >,, 
 
 " In sorrow He's my oomfort, 
 In trouble He's my stay ; 
 He tells me every care on Him to roll i 
 He's the Lily of the Valley, 
 The bright and Morning Star | 
 He'a the fairest of ten thonaand to my sooL** 
 
 The yoke of Jesus ia easy, His burden is lighi*. It is 
 easier to do business by telling the truth and being 
 straightforward, tjian it is to do it any other way. Yes, 
 I can say all I ought to say and say no more, and carry 
 lb 
 
274 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 with mo every moment the " Well done" of my Heavenly 
 Father; so, instead of a never-ending uncertainty and 
 doubt as to whether I am pursuing the right course, it 
 is mine to enjoy the sweet rest of faith and happy con- 
 scientiousness that God is working in me both to will 
 and to do of His good pleasure. His will has become 
 my glad choice and preference, and so I can say, '* I de- 
 light to do thy will, O God " : " we who have believed do 
 enter into rest." 
 
 I go about my business duties \^th as much delight 
 and abounding joy as the school boy goes to play ball. 
 If prosperity and success attend my labors, I praise God. 
 If reverses and losses come (and they do come), I praise 
 God. To me it all moans euccess, for my God has said 
 that all things shall work together for good to them 
 that love Him, and that means me. 
 
 With all unnecessary care and worry thrown off, I 
 am free to use all the powers of mind and body in the 
 right and necessary direction, and so can accc^niplish 
 vastly more with greater ease than at any former pe- 
 riod of my life. I can do more business, more Christian 
 work, and have more time for recreation than I ever 
 had under other circumstances ; truly " Godliness is 
 I)n)H table unto all things." 
 
 I come now to my latest and greatest of all trials, viz., 
 the death of my precious wife, who very recently loft 
 me for the other shore, after having shared my joys and 
 sorrows for the past twenty-three years. Mine was no 
 ordinary loss. Few men are blest with partners of 
 truowt worth — the embodiment of all that conscitutes 
 ths noblest of wives and best of mothers. She lived 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 276 
 
 only for the comfort and well-being of others, and filled 
 our home with the sunshine of her most truly Christ- 
 like life ; always comforting those around her with the 
 comfort wherewith she herself was comforted in the 
 Holy Spirit. Of us it could most truthfully be said : 
 •' they twain were OTie flesh — one in heart and life, one 
 in Christ Jesus." 1 have made this reference to the life 
 of the dear departed one that the reader may the better 
 appreciate my great loss. Only those, howevei', who 
 know from experience what it is to lose such a treasure, 
 can enter into my experience ; it canncjt be explained to 
 others. I knew for months previous to her death that 
 she could not live, and know full well what it means to 
 b') "sorrowful yet always rejoicing." To the praise and 
 glory of our God, let me say, His grace was and is suffi- 
 cient, just as Jesus promised it should be ; for by His 
 favor I call say : " The Lord gave and the Lord hath 
 taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord." . • 
 
 Thus I have told you in some measure my (Christian 
 experience. But finding myself unecpial to the task, 
 with Paul I exclaim, " Now unto him that is able to do 
 exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think 
 according U) the power that worketh in us, unto him be 
 glory in the church by Christ Jesus throughout all ages, 
 world without end. Amen." 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE (;F MRS. MuMAHON. 
 
 IVfy childhood's home was on the shores of Lake On- 
 tario, and sitting by the window of my room, I spent 
 
276 ^ DIVINE GUIDANCa 
 
 many an hour watching the lake in its varied moods. It 
 was there I first realized something of the power of the 
 great Unseen, as He managed the waters, sometimes in 
 their billow-crested magnificence, and sometimes in the 
 summer calm when their silvery surface was only eclipsed 
 in loveliness by the delightful hush everywhere, as 
 though there was nothing for the world to do but rest. 
 My childish mind acknowledged this power as God and 
 worshipped Him, my adoration only finding vent in 
 some such words as these, I love the Beiug who can do 
 such wonderful things, and I generally ended in wishing 
 I knew more about Him. These were the sublime mo- 
 ments of my childhood and the dawning of spiritual 
 knowledge. Then I began to know for myself the Crea- 
 tor as my Father. I say, for myself, for though my pa- 
 rents wore Christians and taught me of these things, I 
 only knew them for myself as Grod revealed Himself to 
 me as Creator ii;i His works. 
 
 I cannot remember which I learned first, the story of 
 the cross or the ten commandments, but I do know that 
 with the advent of these came the beginning of spiritual 
 conflict. I know that when I read for the first time the 
 sutferings and shameful death of Christ, my whole being 
 felt sick with the thought that so good a man had been 
 so cruelly used, and I knew from that time I loved the 
 man of sorrows for his unselfish life and martyr death. 
 I believed also what the Bible taught me, that He died 
 that whoever believed in Him would not be lost but 
 have eternal life. I felt that I could clj^im it all for I 
 believ A on Him with all my heart. 
 
 But I did not yet realize His power in my daily life 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. 277 
 
 to conquer and subdue all my sinful nature and make 
 me like Himself. How strange it seems that with the 
 light given then I should have had to wade through 
 years of bitter confliQt before knowing the rest that re- 
 mains for the people of God ! How like Paul in the 7th 
 of Romans was my life then ! when I would do good 
 evil was present with me, the flesh continually at war 
 with the Spirit and often bringing me into captivity, 
 and like him I often felt, O wretched girl that I am, who 
 shall deliver me ? 
 
 I will now proceed to explain as briefly as I can the 
 nature of this conflict in my life. The ten command- 
 ments contained for me God's written law, which if 
 obeyed, seemed to me the ideal life. I believed that 
 Jesus kept that law, and that I ought to, and so the law 
 became my judge. 
 
 I had a very strong will, and was in consequence a 
 great source of anxiety to my mother, who wanted 
 prompt obedience and whose authority sometimes chafed 
 me sorely. Often I wilfully disobeyed, and oftener 
 offended ignorantly. But every day brought me into 
 trouble, for I felt it to be impossible to keep the la\^, 
 and yet after times of wilful disobedience came sorrow 
 and remorse and confession and restoration to the Divine 
 favor. I never had heard of what Methodists call the 
 witness of the Spirit, but I felt that God was pleased 
 and I was in harmony with nature and its God. But 
 when overtaken in a fault through some impulse or 
 ignorance, and then condemned, strange questions arose 
 within me as, Why did God not show me before I did it ? 
 How could He accuse me when 1 did not know ? Fojr 
 
278 , > . DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 years such questions aa these had no solution, and I wan- 
 dered in bondage to the law, not knowing that the Spirit 
 sets the captive free and yet enables him to fulfil the 
 righteousnesii of the law. . 
 
 " Id the yoc^r 1872 I was married, and as my husband 
 was a member of the Methodist church I also became a 
 member of that body. This step brought me into closer 
 contact with various forms of church work, and I en- 
 tered into it with much earnestness, but felt in it all a 
 great lack somewhere. 
 
 I once picked up a Bitle that had been presented to 
 me when a child in Sabbath school, on the fly leaf of 
 which the giver had written the verse, " All scripture is 
 given by inspiration of God, and is profitable for doctrine, 
 for reproof, for correction, for instruction in righteous- 
 ness ; that the man of God might be perfect and tho- 
 roughly furnished unto all good works." Here was 
 another enigma. It seemed that the instructions and 
 reproofs were all there, but how should I manage to 
 secure them. I needed so much at the time that I could 
 not just find direction for, and, if I waited till I under- 
 stood the Word thoroughly, years must pass before I 
 could get the first day's work done just right and accord- 
 ing to the scripture plan, and so I lived longing to do 
 the right things, and yet always conscious of failure. 
 Soon the trials of married life came and I was unfit to 
 bear them. I buried one little girl, and had much sick- 
 aess with my other children, and plenty of financial 
 trouble. 
 
 In the year 1882 we moved to Toronto, and three days 
 ftfter buried our second sou — a lovely boy of sis years. 
 
DIVINK GUIDANCE. 2*70 
 
 My cup of sorrow seemed full ; but I was enabled 
 through grace to say, " Thy will be done." After this 
 my longings to do God's -perfect will were greater than 
 ever before, and consecrations were multiplied. 
 
 About this time my attention was specially turned to 
 the work of the Holy Ghost in connection with this dis- 
 pensation. I was somewhat startled by the number of 
 times His name appeared in the New Testament, and 
 speculated much about Pentecost and the definite expe- 
 riences concerning receiving Him as a particular gift, 
 but had to admit to myself that I had no clear under- 
 standing of the matter. 
 
 Not long after this the New Year's consecration ser- 
 vice took place in our church. All were invited to stand 
 and renew their consecration. I stood and took the vow 
 with the rest. After going home, despair came upon me 
 as T the ight how often I had done the same thing, and 
 as often lailed. In my extremity I cried, Mvst it oUwaya 
 be 80 ? My Father, is there no remedy ? Then a voice 
 spoke within me, saying, The remedy is in the Holy Ghost 
 Christ said that He would send Him to be your guide, 
 teacher and witness — read about him. Again I read of 
 Him, but as I read that time the light within me became 
 as noon, for I understood for the first time that Christ 
 meant that after He went away He and His Father 
 would come back to this world and live in me and show 
 me what to do and when and how. It seemed amazing, 
 wonderful, but there it was, and as I looked back I re- 
 membered that all the way along the Spirit had been 
 trying to teach and make me understand His teachings, 
 but now I saw it all ; the Holy Ghost had been given at 
 
280 . - ". DIVINE GUIPANCfi. 
 
 Pentecost for all the world of believers, and for all time. 
 He was as Peter said, " the Gilt." I saw that I must 
 accept Him to be my power to help mc do always the 
 right thing at the right time and in the rif^ht way. This 
 was jnst what my being craved, and I hesitated not to 
 appropriate for myself so great a boon. So without any 
 special physical demonstration I received the Holy Ghost-, 
 and from that time rest began. I felt sure He would do 
 His part I just kept trusting, no matter what were my 
 surroundings, and obeying just as He made clear to 'me 
 what to do. If at any time there came up what appeared 
 to be two things to do I claimedi by faith that He would 
 only let me do the right, as He knew I was willing to do 
 either. 
 
 What a rest now that the government of my life is on 
 His shoulders 1 Now He is to me the mighty counsellor, 
 now bondage exists no longer, for He lives with me and 
 helps me to fulfil the law. He shows me that He will 
 teach me, and v/ill not chide me for what I do not know, 
 that I must not expect to know every thing to-day, but 
 learn as a child by the moment or day, that He will 
 give me wisdom and not upbraid because of past ignorf- 
 ance. How like a father, brother, helper, friend, has Ho 
 become to me. Now indeed has He become my salvation, 
 not only for the life after this, but in the new life where 
 1 need saving all the time. 
 
 He enables me to walk in the light with Him as He 
 is in the light. Language fails here to describe the joy, 
 the rest, the satisfaction I have obtained. I cannot tell 
 it, it is unspeakable. I know I am changing from glory 
 to glory ; I now feel that I am growing, that )ny liTu to- 
 
mvlNE GUIDANCE. 281 
 
 day pleases my Master. I have His " Well done" for to- 
 day, but will know more and do better to-morrow. 
 
 ** Now I have lound the ground jyherein 
 Sure my Boul'a anchor may remain." 
 
 CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF REV. ALBERT TRUAX. 
 
 My conversion was clear and positive. The fruits of 
 the Spirit appeared at once and I was a soul-helper and 
 a soul-winner from the first. I had many times of re- 
 freshing and seasons of ecstatic joy, even so great that 
 on one occasion I prayed God to " stay His hand." 
 
 Trouble soon came, however. Being naturally fret- 
 ful, irritable and despondent, these tendencies soon re- 
 appeared, greatly marring my peace and hindering my 
 usefulness. 
 
 I shed many tears, fasted and prayed and made thou- 
 sands of good resolutions, but still I failed and knew 
 not how to succeed. 
 
 I heard and read a little about Perfect Love and Full 
 Salvation. Mr. Wesley's writings took firmest hold on 
 my mind, and it was through them chiefly that I became 
 convinced of the truth of the doctrine. 
 
 At first the experience seemed afar off, to be attained 
 only by ag^d saints after years of seeking. However, 
 after pondering the matter in my mind for some time 
 and getting some help from the Rev. Mr. Teeter, my 
 first superintendent, I determined to follow Mr. Wes- 
 ley's direction and seek the blessing at once by faith. 
 God honored my faith and I entered into the happy ex- 
 perience, in the month of September, 1882. 
 
282 , • DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 It was certainly a great epoch in my life, and for a 
 time I thought the great problem of the Christian life 
 was solved and I would have no more trouble. But, 
 alas ! I was doomed to disappointment ; perplexities 
 soon beset me on every side. 
 
 I was willing, obedient, honest and teachable. My 
 soul responded joyfully to all the known requirements 
 of God, my eye was single to His glory, my conscience 
 quick and tender, and I would rather have died than 
 displease Jesus. It was my meat and drink to do the 
 will of God. 
 
 Just here came my diflBculty. Could I know the will 
 of God in every case and could I know I performed it 
 in a menner well pleasing to Him ? At times I did 
 know ; I had the clear witness that all I did was right, 
 that God looked upon me with an approving smile. But 
 how could I have this witness perpetual, constant, abid- 
 ing ? I could not answer ; I did not know it was possi- 
 ble, though it seemed so reasonable and necessary that 
 it should be so. 
 
 Questions like these would arise : Are you sure you 
 did just right to-day ? Did you pray and read your 
 Bible enough ? Would you not have preached better if 
 you had studied harder and prayed more ? How about 
 your feelings, thoughts and words ? Have these all 
 been pleasing to God ? Of course I tried to be satisfied 
 with having a pure motive and single c^ e and doing the 
 best I could. My creed demanded this, but it promised \ 
 me nothing better, and, so far as I knew i ; oody expe- 
 rienced anything better. 
 
 But I could not be quite content, for I found to my 
 bitter sorrow that having a pure motive and doingj the 
 
^ DIVINE GUIDANCE. 283 
 
 very best my sanctified common sense and judgment 
 enabled me to do did not prevent my making some ter- 
 rible blunders — blunders so great that I wondered how 
 God could allow an honest man to make them. Some- 
 how I could not but believe there was a better, surer 
 way if I could only find it. 
 
 God can make even Satan to work out His own pur- 
 poses, and so He used my very blunders to drive me in 
 very desperation to seek a more excellent way. 
 
 It was, I believe, in the year 1884 that I came in con- 
 tact with the " Canada Holiness Association," at their 
 annual camp meeting at Grimsby Park. There I heard 
 something definite about the Spirit's work as teacher 
 and guide into all truth. At first I stood in great doubt 
 and fear of the whole question. The teaching did seem 
 risky, mystical and even fanatical. I thought it was too 
 nearly allied to the Papal dogma of infallibility, and so 
 expressed myself at a morning meeting. However, I 
 would not judge hastily. I gave the subject much at- 
 tention during the next three or four years, listening to 
 testimony and reading everything I could find on the 
 subject. One thing was certain, if the doctrine were 
 true it would surely meet my want, so I determined to 
 investigate fully. 
 
 i am thankful that, while listening to others, I did 
 not neglect the eloquent pleading of my own soul crying 
 out in its need and hunger for certain knowledge of the 
 will of God and for power to " do His will on earth as 
 it is done in heaven." At length, about a year ago, God 
 met me and fully convinced me of the truth. I said, 
 "It is enough, I am convinced. It is my privilege to 
 receive the Holy Ghost in a Pentecostal sense to do for 
 
284 ' DIVINE GtTIDANCE. 
 
 irie jufit what Jesus said He would do — 'teach me all 
 things and lead me into all truth.' " 
 
 And now came the fight of faith. At first I wanted 
 to feel guided, to have some signs given me that I was 
 guided, or I wanted to be guided according to my o\Kn 
 notion of guidance. But, no ; He would not be servant, 
 but Master. I must not manage Him, but He must have 
 the absolute, undisputed control and management of me. 
 I was not to be the judge of my own feelings, thoughts 
 and conduct, but " He that judgeth me is the Lord." 
 After a few tentative experiments and some failures, I 
 was enabled to accept Him by simple faith as my one 
 and only guide, teacher, comforter, empowerer and law 
 in life ; and since that time I have lacked for nothing, 
 but have had sure guidance, teaxjhing, comfort and 
 power according to my needs. 
 
 THE CHKISTIAN EXPERIENCE OF J. K. CRANSTON. 
 
 During the great revival conducted by Russell and 
 Carrol in Gait in 1869, I was converted to God. From 
 that time I endeavored to live a Christian life. Being 
 young and not receiving clear instruction, I understood 
 but little of the work of the Comforter whom the Saviour 
 promised should be to His redeemed ones an abiding guest, 
 keeper and * guide into all truth." — John xvi. 13. 
 
 Leaving home when about 15 years of age, T went to 
 Port Hope and there joined the Presbyterian Church, 
 under the pastorate of the Rev. William Donald. Being 
 desirous of living a true Christian life I attended the 
 various services and Bible classes, and joined the Y. M-. 
 C. A. as an active member ; with some others I dis- 
 tributed tracts every Sabbath. 
 
 Some four years after I secured a situation in Gait 
 and became a member of Knox Church. I here sought 
 to serve my Lord and Master, taking an active interest 
 in Church and Sunday school work. 
 
 Leaving Gait, I was for some four years connected 
 
DIVINE GUIDANCE. . 285 
 
 with Knox Church, Woodstock, and then again returned 
 to Gait and engaged in the book and stationery business. 
 I again sought to work for Jesus, whom I loved and 
 endeavored to follow. 
 
 During all this time and up till September 4th, 1887, 
 I realized that my experience was not a satisfactory 
 one. I found daily that sin did have dominion over 
 me, that the good I would, I did not and the evil I 
 would not, I too often did. I did not have the power to 
 obtain the victory steadily, so that often I would cry 
 out in agony of soul, " Oh wretched man that I am, who 
 shall deliver me from the body of this death ?" 
 
 I looked many times to my various ministers for help, 
 and others who were God's professed children. By list- 
 ening *^o their testimony I learned that their experience 
 was similar to my own, and I noticed in their prayers 
 that failure, yes, constant failure, was acknowledged and 
 lamented, and the cry went forth; "Woe is me, for I 
 am undone because I am a man of unclean lips." 
 
 I settled down, believing all Christians were alike and 
 that no better experience could be enjoyed here, but 
 heaven would be my home after this mortal body was 
 laid aside, and so T lived in a half-dead state for nine- 
 teen years. At times I thought, surely there is a better 
 way and would make enquiries, but all to no purpose, 
 
 ;• being invariably told that the seventh chapter of Ro- 
 
 i mans described the best. Christian experience in this life. 
 
 ; After returning to Gait, some four years ago, I heard 
 a testimony given by Bro. David Caldwell that sounded 
 
 i new and strange to me. He testified that he had re- 
 ceived, not only Jesus as his Saviour but also the Holy 
 Ghost in the Pentecostal sense, and walked in Him, and 
 that where once it had been frequent failure, that he 
 now was enabled by the indwelling Comforter to obtain 
 constant victory over the world, the flesh and the devil, 
 and he declared that sin had not dominion over him 
 while he walked in the Spirit. I was interested, and as 
 he repeatedly gave his warm, glowing testimony and 
 
286 •' • , DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 thanked God for His keeping power, I began to watch 
 his life. I made his acquaintance, and for years the 
 principal subject of conversation between us was how 
 victory over sin was to be obtained. 
 
 I was blind to the truth, however, and thought he was 
 deceived. But then his life was before me and I looked 
 for evidence of failure there and I found none, so that I 
 was compelled to believe that he had a power I knew 
 nothing about. He said he had entered into rest and 
 his life proved it to me. r 
 
 I now began to realize that the way of Holiness, spo- 
 ken of in Isaiah xxxv. 8, 9, 10, was the path that all 
 believers had the privilege of walking in while yet on 
 the earth. But how to enter in the way was the ques- 
 tion, I became anxious and troubled and the Scriptures 
 were searched daily, and my soul longed for deliverance 
 from the power and dominion of sin : I longed to have 
 the constant smile and approval of God. Beulah Land 
 was before me. I saw the Land, but how to get across 
 Jordan was the difficulty. I met with others who were 
 dwellers in that land, and the fruits of Canaan were 
 exhibited in their joyous, happy lives, and all my desire 
 was to go forward. The situation was examined. I 
 saw that it meant crucifixion and death to self, and a 
 surrender of my will to God in all things, small or great. 
 I saw it meant a consecration without reservation, as in 
 Romans xii. 1 — a presenting of myself, body, soul and 
 spirit, unto God, which after all wa^? only a reasonable 
 service. I cried unto the Lord ; I tried to die to self, to 
 present myself to Him, but failed. I was in despair, the 
 burden seemed greater than I could bear. 
 
 On the 4th September, 1887, Sunday afternoon, Mr, 
 Caldwell and some other friends called and instructed me 
 in the way more perfectly, and explained that by receiv- 
 ing the promised gift, the Comforter, the Spirit of God as 
 a person into my heart. He would enable me to be more 
 than a conqueror over the world, the flesh and the devil. 
 
 Having previously accepted Christ as my saviour, I 
 
Z" DIVINE OUIDANCK. 287 
 
 now received the Comforter divine as my empowerer, 
 joy and guide into all truth ; yTclding myself with all 
 my ransomed powers to God, I entered into an everlast- 
 ing covenant to allow Him to work in me to will and to 
 do of His own good pleasure, and, come what might, I was 
 the Lord's and His alone, to do whatsoever He com- 
 manded me. I arose from my knees but did not experi- 
 ence any change of feeling ; but what was better I had 
 a conscious knowledge that I had honestly given myself 
 and all my possessions to God, and that He had accepted 
 me. I had nothing of my own left and I was willing to 
 do anything or be used by Him as He saw fit. 
 
 The dear Lord whispered loving and tender messagos 
 to me and the joy of the Lord soon flowed like a river 
 into my soul. The love of God wo^ shed abroad in my 
 heart by the Holy Ghost given unto me, a deep settled 
 peace was mine. At last, at last, I cried, I am at rest, 
 and I shall go no more out for ever. " Sweet, happy 
 rest ! " The land of Beulah was now entered into and 
 the dear Lord communed with me and led me forth to 
 conquer the enemies of the land. I was led up to the 
 Jericho of my life, and soon found that by walking with 
 God the walls of difficulty disappeared and I was enabled 
 to shout victory through the blood of the Lamb. 
 
 My past life was reviewed, and the dear Lord asked 
 me, and gave me grace, to make confession and restitu- 
 tion to my fellow-man for hasty and unkind words, ac- 
 tions and deeds that under temptation and provocation 
 I had yielded to. 
 
 Having committed my business to the Lord, I was 
 directed to put away and destroy all goods that were of 
 a doubtful character. X debated for a time with refer- 
 ence to certain goods because everybody in the business 
 sold them, and I was soon convinced that God would not 
 allow me to keep them ; when I opened my Bible for 
 counsel, Acts v. 1 to 11 was before me and the matter • 
 was settled. 
 
 I n )\v constantly realized the sweet comforting pre- 
 
288 DIVINE GUIDANCE. 
 
 sence of my Lord and Master. I knew the blessed Spirit 
 was my faithful guide. Enemy after enemy was con- 
 quered and my life from this time was and is to-day a 
 joy and a song, because I have my beloved always with 
 me. Temptations, trials and difficulties have ever been 
 increasing, but I prove the scripture true, My grace is 
 sufficient for you, for greater is He that is in you than 
 he that is in the world. 
 
 Since entering this life hid with Christ in God and 
 walking in the Spirit, I have learned that it is not im- 
 possible to sin, but I also know and have proved that 
 there is no longer any necessity for sinning. Absolute sur- 
 render and trust in my Guide makes it possible to obtain 
 uniform victory over every assailant, and enables me to 
 march forward, growing in grace and knowledge daily. 
 I have found that to doubt the presence and leading of 
 my Lord (because of the seeming difficulties of the way, 
 o/r for any other cause) leaves me exposed to the enemy 
 of my soul, who at once thrusts in darts of sin. I once 
 yielded to discouragement through apparent failure 
 when I thought I had lost all, and it took several days 
 of terrible soul agony to teach me that the only way was 
 to lay aside my doubts and fears and instantly ask for- 
 giveness and yield an unquestioning trust and obedience 
 to my Guide. I have now learnt that if I would be 
 happy in Jesus there is no other way but to trust and 
 obey — being willing to lose all that I may hold sweet 
 fellowship and communion with my Saviour and my God. 
 
 The promise of the Lord in Acts i. 8, " Ye shall receive 
 power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you, and 
 ye shall be witnesses," has been verified. Our home was 
 opened for meetings. Here the Lord's presence has been 
 wonderfully felt. Many saints have been cheered and 
 helped out into a brighter expeTience, and sinners have 
 been converted to God, and our one desire is that many 
 more may enter into like precious faith, walk in the 
 Spirit, and so find in Jesus a satisfying portion.