^f^^.i 
 
 >.v^. 
 
 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 A 
 
 
 
 1.0 ^^ tii 
 
 S 1^ 12.0 
 
 f.l 
 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 23 WIST MAIN STRHT 
 
 WnSTIII,N.Y. MSM 
 
 (716)I72-4S03 
 

 
 
 
 CIHM/ICMH 
 
 Microfiche 
 
 Series. 
 
 G 
 
 CiHIVI/ICIVIH 
 Collection de 
 microfiches. 
 
 Canadian Institute for Historical Microreproductions / Institut Canadian de microreproductions historiquos 
 
Technical and Bibliographic Notes/Notes tachniquas at bibliographiquas 
 
 Tha Inatituta haa attamptad to obtain tha baat 
 original copy availabia for filming. Faaturaa of thia 
 copy which may ba bibliographlcally uniqua, 
 which may altar any of tha imagaa In tlo 
 reproduction, or which may aienificantly change 
 tha uaual method of filming, are checked below. 
 
 D 
 
 n 
 
 D 
 D 
 □ 
 D 
 
 D 
 
 Coloured covers/ 
 Couverture de couleur 
 
 r~~| Covers damaged/ 
 
 Couverture endommagte 
 
 Covers restored and/or laminated/ 
 Couverture restaur^ et/ou peliiculAe 
 
 □ Cover title missing/ 
 Le 
 
 titre de couverture manque 
 
 I I Coloured maps/ 
 
 D 
 
 Cartes g6ographiques en couleur 
 
 Coloured ink (i.e. other than blue or black)/ 
 Encre de couleur (i.e. autre que bleue ou noire) 
 
 Coloured plates and/or illustrations/ 
 Planches et/ou illustrations en couleur 
 
 Bound with other material/ 
 Relit avac d'autras documents 
 
 Tight binding may cause shadows or distortion 
 along interior margin/ 
 
 La re Mure serrte peut causer de I'ombre ou de la 
 distortion le long de la marge intirieure 
 
 Blank leaves added during restoration may 
 appear within tha text. Whenever possible, these 
 have been omitted from filming/ 
 11 se peut que certainas pages blanches ajouttas 
 lors d'une restauration apparaissent dana le texte, 
 mala, iorsqua cela Atait possible, ces pages n'ont 
 pas Att filmiaa. 
 
 Additional comments:/ 
 Commentaires supplimentaires; 
 
 L'Instltut a microfilm* la mailleur exemplaire 
 qu'll lul a 4tA possible da se procurer. Lea details 
 da cat exemplaire qui sont peut-Atre uniques du 
 point de vue bibliographiqua, qui peuvent modifier 
 une image reproduite, ou qui peuvent exiger une 
 modification dans la mAthode normala de fllmaga 
 sont indiquAs ci-dessous. 
 
 Th«( 
 to thi 
 
 I I Coloured pages/ 
 
 D 
 
 Pagea de couleur 
 
 Pages damaged/ 
 Pages endommagAea 
 
 Pages restored and/oi 
 
 Pages restauries et/ou pelliculies 
 
 Pages discoloured, stained or foxet 
 Pages d6colortes, tachaties ou piqutes 
 
 Pages detached/ 
 Pages ditachies 
 
 Showthroughy 
 Tranaparance 
 
 Quality of prir 
 
 Quality inigala de I'impression 
 
 Includes supplementary materif 
 Comprend du matiriai supplAmentaire 
 
 Only edition available/ 
 Seule Edition disponible 
 
 I — I Pages damaged/ 
 
 r~~| Pages restored and/or laminated/ 
 
 rri Pages discoloured, stained or foxed/ 
 
 I I Pages detached/ 
 
 r~| Showthrough/ 
 
 I I Quality of print varies/ 
 
 I I Includes supplementary material/ 
 
 I — I Only edition available/ 
 
 Thei 
 possi 
 of th( 
 filmir 
 
 Origii 
 begir 
 the li 
 sion, 
 other 
 first I 
 sion, 
 or illi 
 
 Theli 
 shall 
 TINUI 
 whici 
 
 Maps 
 
 differ 
 
 entire 
 
 begin 
 
 right 
 
 requii 
 
 methi 
 
 Pages wholly or partially obacurad by errata 
 slips, tissues, etc., have been refilmed to 
 ensure the best possible image/ 
 Lea pages totalemcnt ou partieilement 
 obscurcies par un fauiilet d'errata, una pelure, 
 etc., ont At* filmtes 6 nouveau de fapon A 
 obtenir la meilleure image poaaibla. 
 
 Thia item is filmed at tha reduction ratio checked below/ 
 
 Ce document est film* au taux de rMuction indiquA ci-dessous 
 
 10X 14X 18X 22X 
 
 
 
 
 26X 
 
 
 
 
 30X 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 y 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 12X 
 
 16X 
 
 aox 
 
 24X 
 
 28X 
 
 32X 
 
Th« copy filmtd h«r« has b««n raproducad thanks 
 to tha ganarosity of: 
 
 MilltMwnorial Library 
 MeMasttr Univtriity 
 
 L'axamplaira fiimi f ut raproduit grica k la 
 g^nArositA da: 
 
 Mills Mtmorial Library 
 McMattwr Univtnity 
 
 Tha imagas appaaring hara ara tha bast quality 
 possibia considaring tha condition and laglblllty 
 of tha original copy and In kaaping with tha 
 filming contract spacifications. 
 
 Las imagas suivantas ont 4t4 raproduitas avac la 
 plus grand soin. compta tanu da la condition at 
 da la nattatt da l'axamplaira fiimi. at an 
 conformity avac las conditions du contrat da 
 fllmaga. 
 
 Original copias in printad papar covars ara f ilmad 
 baginning with tha front covar and anding on 
 tha last paga with a printad or illustratad impras- 
 sion, or tha back covar whan appropriata. All 
 othar original copias ara filmad baginning on tha 
 first paga with a printad or illustratad impras- 
 sion. and anding on tha last paga with a printad 
 or illustratad imprassion. 
 
 Las axamplairas originaux dont la couvartura mn 
 papiar ast imprimAa sont filmte an comman9ant 
 par la pramiar plat at an tarmlnant soit par la 
 darnlAra paga qui comporta una amprainta 
 d'imprassion ou d'illustration, soit par la sacond 
 plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas 
 originaux sont filmte an commandant par la 
 pramiAra paga qui comporta una amprainta 
 d'imprassion ou d'illustration at an tarminant par 
 la darnlAra paga qui comporta una talla 
 amprainta. 
 
 Tha last racordad frama on aach microf icha 
 shall contain tha symbol ^^> (moaning "CON- 
 TINUED"), or tha symbol V (moaning "END"), 
 whichavar applias. 
 
 Un das symbolas suivants apparaftra sur la 
 darnlAra imaga da chaqua microficha. salon la 
 cas: la symbols — ► signifia "A SUIVRE". la 
 symbols V signifia "FIN". 
 
 Maps, platas. charts, ate. may ba filmad at 
 diffarant raduction ratios. Thosa too large to ba 
 antiraly included in ona axposura ara filmad 
 baginning in tha uppar laft hand corner, left to 
 right and top to bottom, as many frames as 
 required. The following diagrams illustrate the 
 method: 
 
 Les cartes, planches, tableaux, etc., peuvent Atre 
 filmte A des taux da rMuction diff Arents. 
 Lorsque le document est trop grand pour Atre 
 reproduit en un seul cliche, il est fllm6 A partir 
 d« Tangle supArieur gauche, de gauche i droite, 
 et de haut en bas. an prenant le nombre 
 d'images nAcessaira. Les diagrammes suivants 
 illustrant la mAthode. 
 
 1 2 3 
 
 3ZX 
 
 1 
 
 2 
 
 3 
 
 4 
 
 5 
 
 6 
 

THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 / 
 
S»)e WLovkB of llcii. ^nhxcm IftnrroB. 
 
 ABIDE IN CHRIST. Thoughts on the Blessed Life of 
 Fellowship with tne Son of God. i6mo, cloth, $i.oc. 
 
 LIKE CHRIST. Thoughts on the Blessed Life of Con- 
 formity to the Son of God. A sequel to '* Abide in 
 Christ.'* i6fno, cluth, $1.00. 
 
 WITH CHRIST in the School of Prayer. Thoughts on 
 our Training for the Ministry of Interoession. i6nio, 
 cloth, $i.oc. 
 
 THE CHILDREN FOR CHRIST. Thoughts for Chris- 
 tian Parents on the Consecration of the Hom« Life. 
 i6mo, cloth, $1.25. 
 
 HOLY IN CHRIST. Thoughts on the CaUing of God*s 
 ChikL ji to be Holy as He is Hofy. i6mo, cloth, $i.oa 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. i6mo. cloth, $1.25. 
 
 THE NEW LIFE. Words of God for Young Disciples 
 ol Christ. i6nio, cloth, $i.oa 
 
 BELIEVE IN CHRIST. Why do you not Pelieve ? 
 ]6mo, doth, $1.00. 
 
 ^nsan ^. £. ttanbolpl) ^ Compung, 
 
 182 FIFTH AVENUE, NEW YORK. 
 
THE 
 
 SPIRIT OF CHRIST: 
 
 THOUGHTS 
 
 ON THE INDWELLING OF THE HOLY SPIRIT 
 IN THE BELIEVER AND THE CHURCH. 
 
 BT 
 
 REV. ANDREW MURRAY, 
 
 AUTUOK or ' ABIUS IN CUBIST,' ' LIKB CHHiST,' KTa 
 
 NEW YORK: 
 ANSON D. F. RANDOLPH & COMPANY, 
 
 182 FIFTH AVENUE. 
 
I 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 In olden times believers met God, knew Him, 
 >^alked with Him, had the clear and full conscious- 
 ness that they had dealings with the God of heaven, 
 and had, too, through faith, the assurance that they 
 and their lives were well-pleasing to Him. When 
 the Son of God came to earth, and revealed the 
 Father, it was that such intercourse with God, and 
 the assurance of His favour, might become clearer, 
 and be the abiding portion of every child of God. 
 When He was exalted to the Throne of Glory, it 
 was that He might send down into our hearts the 
 Holy Spirit, in whom the Father and the Son have 
 their own blessed life in heaven, to maintain in us, 
 in Divine power, the blessed life of fellowship with 
 God. It was to be one of the marks of the New 
 Covenant ihat each member of it should walk in 
 personal communion with God. * They shall teach 
 no more every man his neighbour, Know the Lord : 
 for they shall all know me, from the least to the 
 greatest of them, saith the Lord ; for I will forgivo 
 their iniquity.* The personal fellowship and know- 
 
p 
 
 PUKKACR. 
 
 ledge of God in the Holy Spirit was to be the 
 fruit of the pardon of sin. The Spirit of God's 
 own Son, sent into our hearts to do each moment a 
 work as Divine as the work of tlie Son in redeeminj; 
 us, to displace our life and replace it by the life 
 of Christ in power, to make the Son of God 
 divinely and consciously present with us always — 
 this was what the Father had promised as the 
 distinctive blessing of the New Testament. The 
 fellowship of God as the Three-One was now to be 
 within vs; the Spirit revealing the Son in us, and 
 through Him the Father. 
 
 That there are but few believers who realize this 
 walk with God, this life in God, such as their Father 
 has prepared for them, no one will deny. Nor will 
 it admit of dispute what the cause of this failure is. 
 It is acknowledged on all hands that the Holy 
 Spirit, through whose Divine Omnipotence this 
 inner revelation of the Son and the Father in the life 
 and the likeness of the believer is to take place, is 
 not known or acknowledged in the Church as He 
 should be. In our preaching and in our practice 
 He does not hold that place of prominence which 
 He has in God's plan and in His promises. While our 
 creed on the Holy Spirit is orthodox and scriptural. 
 His presence and power in the life of believers, in 
 the ministry of the word, in the witness of the 
 Church to the world, is not what the word promises 
 or God's plan requires. 
 
 There are not a few who are conscious of this 
 great need, and earnestly ask to know God's mind 
 
PR K PACK. 
 
 concerning it, and the way of dolivcrancc out of it, 
 Sonio feci I hut their own life is not what it should 
 and might be. Many of them can look back to 
 some special season of spiritual revival, when their 
 whole life was apparently lifted to a higher 
 level. The experience of the joy and strength of 
 tlie Saviours presence, as they learned that He 
 would keep them trusting, was, for a time, most 
 real and blessed. But it did not last : there was a 
 very gradual decline to a lower stage, with much of 
 vain effort and sad failure. They would fain know 
 where the evil lies. There can be little doubt that 
 the answer must be this : they did not know or 
 honour the Indwelling Spirit as the strength of 
 their i:fe, as the power of their faith, to keep them 
 always looking to Jesus and trusting in Him. 
 They knew not what it was, day by day, to wait in 
 lowly reverence for the Holy Spirit to deliver 
 from the power of the flesh, and to maintain the 
 wonderful presence of the Father and the Son 
 within them. 
 
 There are many more, tens of thousands of God's 
 dear children, who as yet know little of any 
 temporary experiences of a brighter life than one of 
 never-ending stumbling and rising. They have 
 lived outside of revivals and conferences; the 
 teaching they receive is not spcv^ially helpful in 
 the matter of entire consecration. Their sur- 
 roundings are not favourable to the growth of the 
 spiritual life. There is many an hour of earnest 
 longing to live more according to the will of God, 
 

 9 PUEFACE. 
 
 but the prospect of its being really possible to walk 
 and please God, worthy of the Lord to all well* 
 pleasing, has hardly dawned upon them. To the 
 best part of their birthright as God's children, to 
 the most precious gift of the Father's love in Christ, 
 the gift of the Holy Spirit, to dwell in them, and 
 to lead them, they are practically strangers. 
 
 1 would indeed count it an unspeakable privilege 
 if my God would use me to bring to these PI is 
 beloved children the question of His Word : ' Know 
 ye not that ye are a temple of God, and that the 
 Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? * and then to tell 
 them the blessed news of what that glorious work 
 is which this Spirit, whom they have within them, 
 is able to do in each of them. I would, if I might, 
 show them what it is that has hitherto hindered 
 that Spirit from doing His blessed work, and how 
 divinely simple the path is by which each upright 
 soul can enter into the joy of all that He has been 
 given to work within us, even the full revelation of 
 the presence of the Indwelling Jesus. I have 
 humbly asked my God that He would give, even in 
 my feeble words, the quickening of His Holy Spirit, 
 that through them the Thoughts and the Truth, the 
 Love and the Power of God, may enter and shine 
 into the hearts of many of His children, and bring 
 in blessed reality and experience the wondrous Gift 
 of Love of which they tell — the Life and the Joy of 
 the Holy Ghost, as He brings nigh and glorifies 
 within them that Jesus whom hitherto they have 
 only known at a distance, high above them. 
 
PRKFACK. 
 
 I must confess to haviiij; had still another wish. 
 I huvo strong fears — I desire to say it in deep 
 liinnility — that in the theology of our Churches the 
 Teaching and Leading of the Spirit of Truth, the 
 anointing which alone teaclicth all things, has not 
 the practical recognition which a Holy God demands, 
 which our Saviour meant Him to have. H the 
 leaders of our church-thought and church-councils, 
 if our profef'Sors of theology and our commentators, 
 if our ministers and students, our religious writers 
 and workers, were all fully conscious of the fact 
 that in everything that concerns the Word of God, 
 and the Church of Christ, and the work of Saving 
 Love to be done on the earth in the name of Christ, 
 it was meant that the Holy Spirit should have the 
 same distinct and supreme place of honour that He 
 had in the Church of the Acts of the Apostles, 
 surely the signs of that honour given and accepted, 
 the marks of His Holy Presence would be clearer. 
 His mighty works more manifest. I trust it has not 
 been presumptuous in me to hope that what has 
 been written may help to remind even our Masters 
 in Israel of what is so easily overlooked, that the 
 first, the indispensable requirement for what is 
 reaily to bear fruit for eternity is, that it be full of 
 the power of the Eternal Spirit. 
 
 1 am well aware that it is expected of what asks 
 the attention of our men of mind and culture, our 
 scientific theologians, that it sliall bear such niaiks 
 of scholarship, of force of thought and power j»f 
 expression, as I cannot dare to lay claim to. And 
 
10 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 yet I venture to ask any of these honoured brethren 
 under whose eyes these lines may come, to regard 
 the book, if in no other aspect, at least as the echo 
 of a cry for light rising from ten thousand hearts, 
 as the statement of questions for the solution of 
 which many are longinj?. There is a deep feelii? .; 
 abroad that the Scripture ideal, that Christ's own 
 promise of what the Church should be, and its actual 
 state, do not correspond. 
 
 Of all questions in theology there is none that 
 leads U3 more deeply into the glory of God, or 
 that is of more intense vital and practical im- 
 portance for daily life, than that which deals with 
 what is the consummation and culmination of the 
 Eevelation of God and the work of Eedeniption : in 
 what way and to what extent God's Holy Spirit can 
 dwell in, can fill, can make into a holy and beautiful 
 temple of God, the heart of His child, making Christ 
 reign there as an Ever-present and Almighty Saviour. 
 It is the question in theology of which the Sf)lution, 
 if it were sought and found in the presence and 
 teaching of the Spirit Himself, would transform all 
 our theology into that knowledge of God which is 
 eternal life. 
 
 Of theology, in every possible shape, we have no 
 lack. But it is as if, with all our writing, and 
 preaching, and working, there is something >vanting. 
 Is not the power from on high the one thing we 
 lack ? May it not be that, with all our love for 
 Christ and labour for His cause, we have not made 
 the chief object of our desire what was the chief 
 
 '?- 
 
PR K FACE. 
 
 11 
 
 object of His heart when He ascended the throne- 
 to have His disciples as a company of men waiting 
 for the clothing wiih the power of the Holy Ghost, 
 that in that power of the felt presence of their 
 Lord they might testify of Him ? May God raise 
 \\\) frcm among our theologians many who shall 
 give their lives to secure for Gods Holy Spirit His 
 full recognition in the lives of believers, in the 
 ministry of the word by tongue and pen, in all the 
 work done in His Church. 
 
 I have noticed with deep interest a call to union 
 in prayer, in the first place, * that Christian life and 
 teaching may be increasingly subject to the Holy 
 Ghost* I believe that one of the first blessings of this 
 united prayer will be to direct attention to the reason 
 such prayer is not more evidently answered, and to the 
 true preparation for receiving an abundant answer. 
 In my reading in connection with this subject, in my 
 observation of the lives of believers, and in my per- 
 sonal experience, 1 have been very deeply impressed 
 with one thought. It is, that our prayer for the 
 mighty working of the Holy Spirit through us and 
 around us can only be powerfully answered as His 
 indwelling in every believer is more clearly acknow- 
 ledged and lived out. We have the Holy Spirit 
 within us ; only he who is faithful in the lesser will 
 receive the greater. As we first yield ourselves to 
 be led by the '*"pirit, to confess His presence in us, 
 as believers lise to realize and accept His guidance 
 in all their daily life, will our God be willing to 
 entrust to us larger measures of His mighty work- 
 
12 
 
 PKEFACE. 
 
 mgs. 
 
 If we give ourselves entirely into His power, 
 us our life, ruling within us, He will give Himself 
 to us in taking a more complete possession, to work 
 tlirough us. 
 
 If there is one thing I desire, it is that the Lord 
 may use what I have . ritten to make clear and 
 impress this one tmth : it is as an Indwelling Lif'^ 
 that the Holy Spirit must be known. In a living, 
 adoring faith, the Indwelling must be accepted and 
 treasured, until it become part of the consciousness 
 of the new man : The Holy Spirit possesses me. In 
 this faith the whole life, even to the least things, must 
 be surrendered to His leading, while all that is of 
 the flesh or self is crucified and put to death. If 
 in this faith we wait on God for His Divine leading 
 and working, placing ourselves entirely at His dis- 
 posal, our prayer cannot remain unheard ; there will 
 be operations and manifestations of the Spirit's power 
 in the Church and the world such as we cpuld not 
 dare to hope. The Holy Spirit only demands 
 vessels entirely set apart to Him. He will delight 
 to manifest the glory of Chridt our Lord. 
 
 I commit each beloved fellow-believer to the 
 teaching of the Holy Spiri^;. May we all, as wo 
 study His work, be partakers of the anointing which 
 
 teacheth all things. 
 
 Welli^ioton, I5th August 1888. 
 
 Andrew Murkay. 
 
CONTENTS. 
 
 A4T 
 
 15, 16, 
 
 xvi. 7 
 
 1. A New Spirit, and God's Spirit— Ezek. zxxvi. 26, 27, 
 • 2. The Baptism of the Spirit— John i. 33, 
 ' 8. "Worship in the Spirit— John iv. 23, 24, 
 
 - 4. The Spirit and the Word— John vi. 63, 68, 
 
 • 5. The Spirit of the Glorified Jesus — John vii. 37, 38, 
 
 • 6. The Indwelling Spirit— John xiv. 16, 17, 
 
 - 7. The Spirit given to the Obedient — John xiv. 
 , 8. Knowing the Spirit— John xiv. 17, . 
 _ 9. The Spirit of Truth— John xv. 26, . 
 - 10. The Expediency of the Spirit's Coming— John 
 -II. The Spirit glorifying Christ— John xvi. 7, 14 
 
 ^ 12. The Spirit convincing of Sin— John xvi. 8, 9, 
 f' 13. Waiting for the Spirit — Acts i. 4, 
 \ 14. The Spirit of Power — Acts i. 6, 8, 
 ^ 15. The Outpouring of the Spirit — Acts :i. 1, 4 
 ^16. The Holy Spirit and Missions — Acts xiii. 1-4 
 [17. The Newness of the Spirit — Rom. vii. 6, 
 
 18. The Liberty of the Spirit — Rom. viii. 2, IS, 
 
 19. The Leading of the Spirit — Rom. viii. 14, 
 ^ ^ The Spirit of Prayer— Rom. viii. 26, 27, 
 21. The Holy Spirit and Conscience— Rom. ix. I 
 
 ! 22. The Revelation of the Spirit— 1 Cor ii. 4-16 
 
 23. Spiritual or Carnal — 1 Cor. iii. 1-3, . 
 ! 24. The Temple of the Holy Spirit— 1 Cor. iii. 1-16, 
 * 25. The Ministry of the Spirit— 2 Cor. ui. 6, 7, . 
 
 rAoa 
 
 15 
 
 24 
 
 88 
 
 42 
 
 61 
 
 60 
 
 69 
 
 78 
 
 87 
 
 97 
 
 106 
 
 116 
 
 126 
 
 135 
 
 145 
 
 155 
 
 165 
 
 175 
 
 185 
 
 195 
 
 204 
 
 214 
 
 224 
 
 234 
 
 242 
 
t r 
 
 14 
 
 DAT 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 26. Tlie Spirit and the Flesh— Gal. iii. 3,. 
 
 27. The Spirit throuxh Faith— Gal. iii. 13, 14, 
 
 28. Walking by the Spirit— Gal. v. 16, 24, 25, 
 
 29. The Spirit of Love— Gal. v. 22, 
 
 80. The Unity of the Spirit— Eph. iv. 1-4, 
 
 81. Filled with the Spirit— Eph. 7. 18, . 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 MOTB 
 
 A. The Baptism of the Spirit, • • 
 
 B. The Spirit as a Person, . . 
 G. The Place of the i ndwelling, • . 
 J). Growth in the Knowledge of the Spirit, 
 
 E. The Spirit of Truth, . 
 
 F. On the Mission of the Spirit, . . 
 
 G. On the Name C!omforter, . • 
 H. The Glory of Christ, . 
 
 I. On the Presence of the Spirit in the Church, 
 
 J. The Outpouring of the Spirit, . 
 
 K. On the Spirit of Missions, . . 
 
 L. On Conscience, . • • 
 
 M. The Light of the Spirit, 
 
 N. On the Spirit guitling the Church, • 
 
 O. On Trusting the Spirit, . . 
 
 P. The Spirit of Christ and His Love, • 
 
 Q. Ou the Spirit's Coming, • • 
 
 rAnN 
 254 
 264 
 273 
 233 
 293 
 302 
 
 813 
 325 
 833 
 338 
 843 
 844 
 355 
 357 
 360 
 361 
 365 
 369 
 870 
 873 
 377 
 S92 
 801 
 
First Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 a i&cto Spirit, anti ffioti's Spirit 
 
 'A new heart will I give yon, and a new spirit will I pnl 
 within you. And I will put my Spirit within you.* 
 
 — EzKK. xxxvi. 26, 27. 
 
 GOD has revealed Himself in two great dis- 
 peiisations. In the Old we have tlie time 
 of promise and preparation, in the New that of 
 fulfilment and possession. In harmony with the 
 ditlerence of the two dispensations, there is a two- 
 fold working of God's Spirit. In the Old Testament 
 we have the Spirit of God coming upon men, and 
 working on them in special times and ways, working 
 from above and without, inwards. In the New we 
 have the Holy Spirit entering them and dwelling 
 within them, working from within, outwards and 
 upwards. In the former we have the Spirit of God 
 as the Almighty and Holy One ; in the latter we 
 have the Spirit of the Father of Jesus Christ. 
 
 The difference between the twofold operation of 
 the Holy Spirit is not to be regarded as if, with the 
 
16 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 11! 
 
 closing of thft Old Testament, the former ceased» 
 and there was in the New no more of thft work of 
 preparation. By no means. Just as there were in 
 the Old blessed anticipations of the indwelling of 
 God's Spirit, so now in the New Testament the 
 twofold working still continues. According to the 
 lack of knowledge, or of faith, or of faithfulness, a 
 believer may even in these days get little beyond 
 the Old Testament measure of the Spirit's working. 
 The indwelling Spirit has indeed been given to 
 every child of God, and yet he may experience 
 little beyond the first half of the promise, the new 
 spirit given us in regeneration, and know almost 
 nothing of God's own Spirit, as a living person put 
 within us. The Spirit's work in convincing of sin 
 and of righteousness, in His leading to repentance 
 and faith and the new life, is but the preparatory 
 work. The distinctive glory of the dispensation 
 of the Spirit is His Divine personal indwelling 
 in the heart of the believer, there to reveal the 
 Father and the Son. It is only as Christians 
 understand and remember this, that they will be 
 able to claim the full blessing prepared for them 
 in Christ Jesus. 
 
 In the words of Ezekiel we find, in the one 
 promise, this twofold blessing God bestows through 
 His Spirit very strikingly set forth. The first is, 
 ' I will put within you a new spirit^ that is, man's 
 own spirit is to be renewed and quickened by the 
 work of God's Spirit. When this has been done, 
 then there is the second blessing, ' I will put my 
 
A NEW SPIHIT, AN!) GOD S SPIHIT. 
 
 17 
 
 Spirit within you/ to dwell in that new spirit 
 Where God is to dwell, He must have a habitation. 
 With Adam Hu had to create a body before He 
 could breathe the spirit of life into him. In Israel 
 the tabernacle and the temple had to be built and 
 completed before God could come down and take 
 possession. And just so a new heart is given, and 
 a new spirit put within us, as the indispensable 
 condition of God's own Spirit being given to dwell 
 within us. The difference is the same we find 
 in David's prayer. First, * Create in me a clean 
 heart, God ! and rcricv) a right spirit within me ; ' 
 then, * Take not Thy Holy Spirit from me.* Or 
 what is indicated in the words, * That which is born 
 of the Spirit is sfiirit : ' there is tlie Divine Spirit 
 begetting, and tlie new spirit begotten by Him. So 
 the two are also distinguished, * God's Spirit beareth 
 witness tuith our spirits that we are the children of 
 God/ Our spirit is the renewed regenerate spirit ; 
 dwelling in this, and yet to be distinguished from it, is 
 God's Holy Spirit, witnessing in, with, and through it. 
 The importance of recognising this distinction 
 can easily be perceived. We shall then be able to 
 understand the true relation between regenera- 
 tion and the indwelling of the Spirit. The former 
 is that work of the Holy Spirit, by which He con- 
 vinces us of sin, leads to repentance and faith in 
 Christ, and imparts a new nature. Through the 
 Spirit God thus fulfils the promise, 'I will put 
 a new spirit within you.* The believer is now a 
 child of God, a temple ready for the Spirit to dwell 
 
 B 
 
18 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 in. Where faith claims it, the sucoiid half of the 
 promise is fulfilled as surely as the first. As long 
 now as the believer only looks at regeneration 
 and the renewal wrought in his spirit, he will not 
 come to the life of joy and strength which is meant 
 for him. But when he accepts God's promise that 
 there is something better than even the new nature, 
 tlian the inner temple, that there is the Spirit of 
 the Father and the Son to dwell within him, 
 there opens up a wonderful prospect of holiness 
 and blessedness. It becomes his one great desire 
 to know this Holy Spirit aright, how He wcrks and 
 what He asks, to know how he may to the full 
 experience His indwelling, and that revelation of the 
 Son of God within us which it is His work to 
 bestow. 
 
 The question will be asked. How these two parts 
 of the Divine promise are fulfilled? simultaneously 
 or successively ? The answer is very simple : From 
 God's side the twofold gift is simultaneous. Tlie 
 Spirit is not divided : in giving the Spirit, God gives 
 Himself and all He is. So it was on the day of Pente- 
 cost. The three thousand received the new spirit, 
 with repentance and faith, and then, when thi^y had 
 been baptized, the Indwelling Spirit, as God's seal 
 to their faith, on one day. Through the word of 
 disciples, the Spirit, which had come upon them, 
 wrought mightily on the multitude, changing dispo- 
 sition and heart and spirit. When, in the power 
 of this new spirit working in them, they had 
 believed and confessed, they received the baptism of 
 
A NEW SPIRIT, AND GOD'O SPIKIT. 
 
 10 
 
 the Holy Spirit to abide in them. And so still in 
 times when the Spirit of God moves mightily, and 
 the Church is living in the power of the Spirit, the 
 children which are begotten of her receive from tht 
 first beginnings of their Christian life the distinct 
 (onscious sealing and indwelling of the Spirit. 
 And yet we have indications in Scripture that there 
 nmy be circumstances, dependent either on the 
 endueiiient of the preacher or the faith of the 
 hearers, in which the two halves of the promise are 
 not so closely linked. So it was with the believers 
 in Samaria converted under Philip's preaching ; 
 and so too with tlie converts Paul met at Ephesus. 
 In their case w^as repeated the experience of the 
 apostles themselves. We regard them as rej^enerate 
 men before our Lord's death ; it was only at 
 Pentecost that the promise was fulfilled, 'He shall 
 be in you! What was seen in them, just as in the 
 Old and New Testaments, — the giace of the Spirit 
 divided into two separate manifestations, — may still 
 take place in our day. When tlie standard of 
 spiritual life in a Ch irch is sickly and low, when 
 mitlier in the preaching of the word nor in the 
 testimony of believers, the glorious truth of an 
 Indwelling Spirit is distinctly proclaimed, we must 
 not wonder that, even where (lod gives His Spirit, 
 He will be known and experienced only as the 
 Spirit of regeneration. His Indwelling Presence 
 will remain a mystery. In the gift of God, the 
 Spirit of Christ in all His fulness is bestowed once 
 for all as an Indwelling Spirit; but He is received 
 
20 
 
 THE SriKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 and possessed only as far as the faith of the believer 
 reaches.^ 
 
 Jt is generally admitted in the Church that the 
 Holy Spirit has not the recoi,mition which becomes 
 Him as being the equal of the Father and the Son, the 
 Divine Person through whom alone the Father ana 
 the Son can be truly possessed and known, in whom 
 alone the Church has her beauty and her blessedness. 
 In the Reformation, of blessed memory, the Gospel 
 of Christ had t. be vindicated from the terrible 
 misapprehension which makes man's righteousness 
 the ground of his acceptance, and the freeness of 
 Divine grace had to be maintained. To the ages 
 that followed was committed the trust of building 
 on that foundation, and developing what the riches 
 of grace would do for the believer through the 
 indwelling of the Spirit of Jesus. The Church 
 rested too content in what it had received, and the 
 teaching of all that the Holy Spirit will be to each 
 believer in His guiding, sanctifying, strengthening 
 power, has never yet taken the place it ought 
 to have in our evangelical teaching and living.^ 
 
 * ' This distinction between the preparatory operation of the 
 Spirit upon man, by means of external manifestation, and His 
 actual dwelling in man, seems almost effaced from Christian eon« 
 Bciousness.' — Godet on John xiv. 17. 
 
 * The Spirit first works from without on and in men, in word 
 and deed, before Hb becomes their inner personal possession, before 
 He dwells in them. We must always distinguish between the 
 inworking and indwelling of the Spirit.' — Beck, Ethik^ i. 131. 
 
 " * If we review the history of the Church, we notice how many 
 important truths, clearly revealed in Scripture, have been allowed 
 to lie dormant for centuries, unknown and unappreciated except 
 
A NEW SPIRIT, AND GOD'S SPIRIT. 
 
 21 
 
 And th(jre is many an earnest Christian who will 
 join in the confession lately made by a young 
 believer of intelligence : I think I understand the 
 work of the Father and the Son, and rejoice in 
 tliem, but I hardly see the place the Spirit has. 
 Let us unite with all who are pleading that God in 
 His power may grant mighty Spirit workings in 
 His Church, that each child of God may prove that 
 in him the double promise is fulfilled : I will give 
 a new spirit within you, and I will give my Spirit 
 within you. Let us pray that we may so apprehend 
 the wonderful blessing of the Indwelling Spirit, as 
 to turn inward and have our whole inmost being 
 opened up for this, the full revelation of the Father's 
 love and the grace of Jesus. 
 
 * Within you ! * * Within you ! ' This twice- 
 repeated word of our text is one of the keywords of 
 the New Covenant. ' I will put my law in their 
 inward parts,^ and in their heart will I write it/ 
 'I will put my fear ir their hearts, that they shall 
 not de]>art from me.* God created man's heart for 
 His dwelling. Sin entered, and defiled it. Four 
 thousand years God's Spirit strove and wrought to 
 
 hy a few isolated Christians, until it pleased God to enlighten the 
 Church by chosen witnesses, and to bestow on His children the 
 knowledge of hidden and forgotten treasures. For how long a 
 period, even after the Ht^ format ion, were the doctrines of the Holy 
 Ghost, His work in convor.sion, and His indwelling in the belicrer, 
 almost unknown !'— Sajiliir, The Lord'a Prayer, p. 179. 
 
 * The word translated * within * is not a preposition, but the 
 Banio as is rendered here and elsewhere (Ps. v. 0; xlix. 11) ' iuward 
 parts,' ' inmost thou<jht.' 
 
22 
 
 TIIK SnUIT OK CHRIST. 
 
 ro^nin possession. In the Incarnation and Atono» 
 niL'iit of Christ the Redemption was ncconiplished, 
 nnd the kingdom of God established. Jesus could 
 sjiv, • The kin^'tlom of God is come unto you ;* ' the 
 kin;,'(lom of God is within you* It is within wo 
 must look for the fultilment of the New Covenant, 
 tlui Covenant not of ordinances but of life: in the 
 ])ower of an endless life the law and the fear of 
 (lod are to be given in our heart: the Spirit of 
 Christ Himself is to be within us as the power of 
 our life. Not only on Calvary, or in the resurrec- 
 tion, or on the throne, is the glory of Christ the 
 Conqueror to be seen, — but in our heart: within us, 
 within us is to be the true display of the reality 
 and the ^lory of His Kedemption. Within us, in 
 our in^ lost parts, is the hidden sanctuary where is the 
 ark of tlie Covenant, sprinkled with the Blood, and 
 containing the Law written in an ever-living writing 
 by the Indwelling Spirit, and where, through the 
 S2)iiit, the Father and the Son now come to dwell. 
 
 my God! I do thank Thee for this double 
 blessing. I thank Thee for that wonderful holy 
 temple Thou hast built up in me for Thyself — a 
 new spirit given within me. And I thank Thee 
 for that still more wonderful Holy Presence, Thine 
 Own Spirit, to dwell within me, and there reveal 
 tlie Father and the Son. 
 
 my God ! I do pray Thee to open mine eyes 
 for this the mystery of Thy love. Let Thy words, 
 within yoUf bow me low in trembling fear before 
 
A NKW Hl'iniT, AND C.oWh SI'IllIT. 
 
 n 
 
 Thy condescension, and niny my one desire l»e to 
 Ii.ive my spirit indeed the worthy dwellin*,' of Thy 
 Spirit. Let them lift me up in lioly trust and 
 expectation, to look for and claim all that Thy 
 promise means. 
 
 O my Father! I thank Thee that Thy Spirit 
 doth dwell in me. I pray Thee, let His indwellin<» 
 be in power, in the living fellowship with Thyself, 
 in the growing experience of His rt^newing power, 
 in the ever fresh anointing that witnesses to His 
 Tresence, and the indwelling of my Glorified Lord 
 Jesus. May my daily walk be in the deep 
 reverence of His Holy l*resence within me, and the 
 glad experience of all He works. Amen. 
 
 1. Hau* we not here the cause why many haue fal'ed In the effort to 
 abide In Christ, to walk like Christ, to Hue as holy in Christ ? They hnout 
 not rightly the u'onderful and perfectly sufficient provision Qod made to 
 enable them to do ao. They had not the clear believing assurance that the 
 Holy Spirit would work it In them. Let us seek above everything to get 
 firm hold of the promise, that Qod who has given us a new spirit, also 
 gives His own Spirit within us. 
 
 2. The distinction is of the deepest importance. In the new spirit given 
 to me, I have a work of Qod In me; In Qod's Spirit given, I haue Qod 
 Himself, a Living Person, to dwell with me. What a difference between 
 having a home built by a rich friend, given me to Hue In, while I remain 
 poor and feeble, or having the rich friend himself come to Hue with me, 
 and fulfil my every want I 
 
 3. ' The Spirit Is given both as a Builder and as an Inhabitant of this 
 temple. We cannot dwell tlH He build; He builds that He may dwell.'— 
 Howe. 
 
 4. There must be harmony between a home and its occupant. The more 
 I know this Holy Guest, the more will I bow In lowly fear and reuerence, 
 gluing my Inmost being for Him to order and adorn as pleaseth Him. 
 
 5. The Holy Spirit is the Inmost Self of the Father and the Son. My 
 spirit is my inmost Self. The Holy Spirit renews that inmost Self, and 
 then dwells in It, and fills It. And so He becomes to me what He was to 
 Jesus, the very life of my personality. Let me tow in holy silence and 
 reuerence, to say: my Father I I thank Thee: Thy Holy Spirit dwelleth 
 In me. In my very Self, 
 
24 
 
 THE SriUlT OF ClIKIST. 
 
 Second Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 E\it Baptism of t\)t Spuit* 
 
 * John bare witness, saying, He that sent me to baptize with 
 water, He said unto me, Upon whomsoever thou shalt see the 
 Spirit descending, and abiding on Him, the same is He that 
 baptizeth with the Holy Spirit^ — John i. 33. 
 
 THERE were two things that John the Baptist 
 preached concerning the person of Christ. 
 The one was, that He was the Lamb of God that 
 taketh away the sin of the world. The other, that 
 He would baptize His .disciples with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire. The Blood of the Lamb, and 
 the Baptism of the Spirit, were the two central 
 truths of his creed and his preaching. They are, 
 indeed, inseparable : the Church cannot do her 
 work in power, nor can her exalted Lord be 
 glorified in her, except as the Blood as the founda- 
 tion-stone, and the Spirit as the corner-stone, are 
 fully preached. 
 
 This has not at all times been done even among 
 those who heartily accept Scripture as thoir guida 
 
THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 23 
 
 The preaching of the Lamb of God, of His suffciing 
 and atonement, of pardon and peace through Him, 
 is more easily apprehended by the understanding of 
 man, and can more speedily influence his feelings, 
 tliaii the more inward spiritual truth of the baptism, 
 and indwelling, and guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
 The pouring out of the blood took place upon earth, 
 it was something visible and outward, and, in virtue 
 of the types, not altogether unintelligible. The 
 pouring out of the Spirit was in heaven, a Divine 
 and hidden mystery. The shedding of the blood 
 was for the ungodly and rebellious ; the gift of tb 3 
 Spirit, for the loving and obedient disciple. It is 
 no wonder, when the life of the Church is not in 
 very intense devotion to her Lord, that the preaching 
 and the faith of the Baptism of the Spirit should find 
 less entrance than that of redemption and forgiveness. 
 And yet God would not have it so. The Old 
 Testament Promise had spoken of God's Spirit 
 within us. The forerunner at once took up the 
 strain, and did not preach the Atoning Lamb 
 without telling whereunto it was that we were to 
 be redeemed, and how God's high purpose was 
 to be fulfilled in us. Sin was not only guilt 
 and condemnation; it was defilement and death. 
 It had incurred not only the loss of God's favour ; 
 it had made us unfit for the Divine fellowship. 
 And without this the wonderful love that had 
 created man could not be content. God wanted 
 really to have us for Himself, — our hearts and 
 affections, yea, our inmost personality, our very self, 
 
26 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHUIST. 
 
 a home for His love to rest in, a temple for His 
 worship. The preaching of John included both the 
 beginning and the end of redemption : the blood of 
 the I^rab was to cleanse God's Temple and restore 
 His Throne within the heart ; nothing less than the 
 Baptism and Indwelling of the Spirit could satisfy 
 the heart of either God or man. 
 
 Of what that Baptism of the Spirit meant, 
 Jesus Himself was to be the type : He would 
 only give what He Himself had received : because 
 the Spirit abode on Him, He could baptize with 
 the Spirit. And what did the Spirit descend- 
 ing and abiding on Him mean ? He had been 
 begotten of the Holy Spirit ; in the power of the 
 Spirit He had grown up a holy child and youth, 
 had entered manhood free from sin, and had now 
 come to John to give Himself to fulfil all righteous- 
 ness in submitting to the baptism of repentance. 
 And now, as the reward of His obedience, as the 
 Father's seal of approval on His having thus far 
 yielded to the control of the Spirit, He receives a 
 new communication of the Power of the Heavenly 
 Life. Beyond what He had yet experienced, the 
 Father's conscious indwelling presence and jiower 
 takee. possession of Him, and fits Him for His work. 
 The leading and the power of the Spirit become 
 His more consciously (Luke iv. 1, 14, 22) than 
 before ; He is now anointed with the Holy Ghost 
 and with power. 
 
 But though now baptized Himself, He cannot yet 
 baptize others. He must first, in the power of His 
 
THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 27 
 
 baptism, meet temptation and overcome it ; must 
 learn obedience and suffer, yea, through the Eternal 
 Spirit, offer Himself a sacrifice unto God and His 
 will, — then only would He afresh receive the Holy 
 Spirit as the reward of obedience (Acts ii. 32), 
 with the power to baptize all who belong to Him. 
 
 What we see in Jesus teaches us what the 
 baptism of the Spirit is. It is not that grace by 
 which we turn to God, become regenerate, and seek 
 to live as God's children. When Jesus reminded 
 His disciples (Acts i. 4) of John's prophecy, they 
 were already partakers of this grace. Their bap- 
 tism with the Spirit meant something more. It 
 was to be to them the conscious presence of their 
 glorified Lord, come back from heaven to dwell in 
 their hearts, their participation in the power of His 
 new Life. It was to them a '^ptism of joy and power 
 in their living fellowship with Jesus on the Throne 
 of Glory. All that they were further to receive of 
 wisdom, and courage, and holiness, had its root in 
 this : what the Spirit had been to Jesus, when He 
 was baptized, as the living bond with the Father's 
 Power and Presence, He was to be to them : 
 through Him, the Son was to manifest Himself, and 
 Father and Son were to make their abode with them. 
 
 * Upon whom thou shalt see the Spirit descend- 
 ing, and abiding upon Him, the same is He that 
 baptizeth with the Holy Spirit' This word comes 
 to us as well as to John. To know what the 
 baptism of the Spirit means, how and from whom 
 we are to receive it, we must see the One upon whom 
 
28 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 the Spirit descended and abode. We must see 
 Jesus baptized with the Holy Ghost. We must try 
 to understand how He needed it, how He was pre- 
 pared for it, how He yielded to it, how in its power 
 He died His death, and was raised again. What 
 Jesus has to give us. He first received and personally 
 appropriated for Himself ; what He received and 
 won for Himself is all for us : He will make it our 
 very own. Upon whom we see the Spirit abiding, 
 He baptizeth with the Spirit. 
 
 In regard to this baptism of the Spirit there are 
 questions that we may not find it easy to answer, 
 and to which all will not give the same answer. 
 Was the outpouring of the Spirit at Pentecost the 
 complete fulfilment of the promise, and is that the 
 only baptism of the Spirit, given once fov all to the 
 new-born Church ? Or is not the coming of the Holy 
 Spirit on the disciples in the fourth of Acts, on the 
 Samaritans (Acts viiL), on the heathen in the house 
 of Cornelius (Acts x.), and on the twelve disciples 
 at Ephesus (Acts xix.), also to be regarded as 
 separate fulfilments of the words, * He shall baptize 
 with the Holy Ghost' ? Is the sealing of the Spirit 
 given to each believer in regeneration to be counted 
 by him as his baptism of the Spirit ? Or is it, as 
 some say, a distinct, definite blessing to be received 
 later on ? Is it a blessing given only once, or can it 
 be repeated and renewed ? In the course of our 
 study we shall find light in God's word that may 
 help us to a solution of difficulties like these,* But 
 
 » See Note A. 
 
THE BAPTISM OF TIIK SPIRIT. 
 
 29 
 
 it is of great consequence that at the outset we 
 should not allow ourselves to be occupied with 
 points as these, which are after all of minor import- 
 ance, but fix our whole hearts on the great spiritual 
 lessons that God would have us learn from the 
 preaching of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
 These are specially two. 
 
 The one is, that this baptism of the Holy Spirit 
 is the crown and glory of Jesus* work, that we need 
 it, and must know that we V ve it, if we are to live 
 the true Christian life. We need it. The Holy 
 Jesus needed it. Christ's loving, obedif c dis- 
 ciples needed it. It is something more than the 
 working of the Spirit in regeneration. It is the 
 Personal Spirit of Christ making Him present 
 within us, always abiding in the heart in the power 
 of His glorified nature, as He is exalted above every 
 enemy. It is the Spirit of the Life of Christ Jesus 
 making us free from the law of sin and death, and 
 bringing us, as a personal experience, into the liberty 
 from sin to wfiich Christ redeemed us, but which to 
 so many regenerate is only a blessing registered on 
 their behalf, but not possessed or enjoyed. It is 
 the enduement with power to fill us with boldness 
 in presence of every danger, and give the victory 
 over the world and every enemy. It is the fulHl- 
 ment of what God meant in His promise: I will 
 dwell in them, and walk in them. Let us ask the 
 Father to reveal to us all that His love meant for 
 us, until our souls are filled with the glory of tho 
 thought : He baptizeth with the Holy Spirit. 
 
80 
 
 THE SnillT OF CHRIST. 
 
 
 n 
 
 And then there is the other lesson : It is Jesua 
 who thus baptizeth. Whether we look upon this 
 baptism as something we already have, and of which 
 we only want a fuller apprehension, or something 
 we still must receive, in this all agree : it is only 
 in the fellowship of Jesus, in faithful attachment 
 and obedience to Him, that a baptized life can 
 be received or maintained or renewed. ' He that 
 believeth in me,' Jesus said, 'out of his belly shall flow 
 rivers of living water.' The one thing we need is 
 living faith in the indwelling Jesus : the living water 
 will surely and freely flovi^. Faith is the instinct of 
 the new nature, by which it recognises and receives 
 its Divine food and drink. In the power of the 
 Spirit who dwells in every believer, let us trust 
 Jesus, who fills with the Spirit, and cling to Him 
 in love and obedience. It is He who baptizes : in 
 contact with Him, in devotion to Him, in the con- 
 fidence that He has given and will give Himself 
 wholly to us, let us look to Him for nothing less 
 than all that the baptism of the Spirft can imply. 
 
 In doing so let us specially remember one thing: 
 only he that is faithful in the least will be made 
 ruler over much. Be very faithful to what thou 
 already hast and knowest of the Spirit's working. 
 Regard thyself with deep reverence as God's holy 
 temple. Wait for and listen to the gentlest 
 whispering of God's Spirit within thee. Listen 
 especially to the conscience, which has been cleansed 
 in the blood. Keep that conscience very clean by 
 •imple childlike obedience. In thy heart there may 
 
THE BAPTISM OF THE SPiniT. 
 
 81 
 
 be much involuntary sin, ./ith which thou feelost 
 thyself powerless. Humble thyself deeply for this 
 thy inbred corruption, strengthened as it has been 
 by actual sin. Let every rising of such sin be 
 3leansed in the blood. 
 
 But in regard to thy voluntary actions say, day 
 by day, to thy Lord Jesus, th-.^t everything thou 
 knowest to be pleasing to Him thou wilt do. 
 Yield to the reproofs of conscience when thou 
 failest; but come again, have hope in God, and 
 renew the vow : What I know God wants me to do, 
 I will do. Ask humbly every morning, and wait, 
 for guidance in thy path ; the Spirit's voice will 
 become better known, and His strength will bo felt. 
 Jesus had His disciples three years in His baptism 
 class, and then the blessing came. Be His loving, 
 obedient disciple, and believe in Him on whom the 
 Spirit abode, and who is full of the Spirit, and thou 
 too shalt be prepared for the fulness of the blessing 
 of the baptism of the Spirit. 
 
 m. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus I with my whole heart T 
 worship Thee, as exalted on the Throne to baptize 
 with the Holy Ghost. Oh ! reveal Thyself to mo 
 in this Thy glory, that I may rightly know what I 
 may expect from Thee. 
 
 I bless Thee that in Thyself I have seen what 
 the preparation is for receiving the Holy Spirit in 
 His fulness. During Thy life of preparation for Thy 
 work in Nazareth, my Lord, the Spirit was always 
 in Thee. And yet when Thou hadst surrendered 
 
32 
 
 THE SPIIUT OF CIIHIST. 
 
 Thyself to fulfil all righteousness, and to enter into 
 fellowship witli the sinners Thou earnest to save, in 
 partaking of their baptism, Thou didst receive from 
 the Father a new inflowing of His Holy Spirit. It 
 was to Thee thb seal of His love, the revelation of 
 His indwelling, the power for His service. And 
 now Thou, on whom we see the Spirit descend and 
 abide, doest for us what the Father did for Thee. 
 
 My Holy Lord ! I bless Thee that the Holy 
 Spirit is in me too. But, oh ! I beseech Thee, give 
 me yet the full, the overflowing measure Thou hast 
 promised. Let Him be to me the full unceasing 
 revelation of Thy presence in my heart, as glorious 
 and as mighty as on the Throne of Heaven. O my 
 Lord Jesus ! baptize me, fill me with the Holy 
 Spirit Amen. 
 
 1. AN Dluine giving and working Is In the power of an endless life. And so 
 we can look up to Jesus each day In the blessed ligh>. of this word : 'He 
 baptizeth with the Holy Spirit, ' He cleanses with the blood and baptizes with 
 the Spirit, according to each new need. 
 
 2. Let us keep Inseparably connected In our faith the double truth the 
 Baptist preached ; Jesus the Lamb taking away sin, Jesus the Anointed 
 baptizing with the f'nlrlt. It was only In virtue of His shedding His blood that 
 He received the Spirit to shed forth. It Is as the cross Is preached that the 
 Spirit works. It l» as I believe In the precious blood, that cleanses from all 
 aln, and walk before my God with a conscience sprinkled with the blood, that 
 /may claim the anointing. The blood and the oil go togethor, I need both. 
 I have them both in the one Jeaua, the Lamb on the Throne* 
 
WORSUir IN THE SPIKIT. 
 
 S3 
 
 •» 
 
 Third D/ v. ^ 
 
 -0 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 raorsbip in tlje SptrtU 
 
 'The hour cometh, and now is, when the true worflhipperg 
 shall worship the Father in Spirit and in truth ; for such doth 
 the Father seek to he His worshippers. God is a Spirit, and 
 they that worship Him must worship Him in Spirit and in 
 truth.'- -John iv. 23, 24. 
 
 *We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of God 
 and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.* — 
 Phil. iii. 3. 
 
 TO worship is man's highest glory. He was 
 created for fellowship with God : of that 
 fellowship worship is the sublimest expression. 
 All the exercises of the religious life — meditation 
 and prayer, love and faith, surrender and obedience, 
 all culminate in worship. Recognising what God is 
 in His holiness, His glory, and His love, realizing 
 what I am as a sinful creature, and as the Father's 
 redi'enied clnld, in worship I gather up my whole 
 being and present myself to my God, to offer Him 
 the adoration and the glory which is His due. The 
 truest and fullest and nearest approach to God is 
 
 c 
 
34 
 
 THE sriI{IT OF CIiniST. 
 
 I. 
 
 worship. Every senlimeut and every service ol 
 the religious life is included in it : to worship is 
 man's highest destiny, because in it God is all. 
 
 Jesus tells us that with His coming a new 
 worship would conuaence. All tliat heathen or 
 Samaritans had called worship, all even that the 
 Jews had known of 'worship in accordance witli the 
 provisional revelation of God's law, would make 
 way for something entirely and distinctively new — 
 the worship in Spiiit and in Truth. This is the 
 worship He was to inaugurate by the giving of the 
 Holy Spirit. This is the worship -which now alone 
 is well pleasing to the Father. It is for this 
 worship specially that we have received the Holy 
 Spirit. Let us, at the very commencement of our 
 study of the work of the Spirit, take in the blessed 
 thought that the great object for which the Holy 
 Spirit is within us is, that we worship in spirit and 
 in truth. * Such doth the Father seek to be His 
 worshippers,' — for this He sent forth His Son and 
 His Spirit. 
 
 In Spirit When God created man a living 
 soul, that soul, as the seat and organ of his person- 
 ality and consciousness, was linked, on the one side, 
 through the body, with the outer visible world, 
 on the other side, through the spirit, with the 
 unseen and the Divine. The soul had to decide 
 whether it would yield itself to the spirit; by it to 
 be linked with God and His will, or to the body and 
 the solicitations of the visible. In the fall, the soul 
 refused the rule of the spirit, and became the slave 
 
WoIJSIUr IN rilK SI'IKIT. 
 
 35 
 
 of tlie body with its appetites. Man became flesh ; 
 tlie spirit lost its destined place of rule, and became 
 little more than a dormant power; it was now no 
 lonj,'er the ruling principle, but a struggling captive. 
 And the spirit now stands in opposition to the 
 flesh, the name for the life of soul and body 
 together, in their subjection to sin. 
 
 When speaking of the un regenerate man in 
 contrast with the spiritual (1 Cor. ii. 14), Paul calls 
 him psychical, soullish, or animal, having only the 
 natural life. The life of the soul comprehends all 
 our moral and intellectual faculties, as they may 
 even be directed towards the things of God, apart 
 from the renewal of the Divine* Spirit. Because 
 the soul is under the power of the flesh, man is 
 spoken of as having become flesh, as being 
 flesh. As the body consists of flesh and bone, and 
 the flesh is that part of it which is specially 
 endowed with sensitiveness, and through which we 
 receive our sensations from the outer world, th(? 
 flesh denotes human nature, as it has become subject 
 to the world of sense. And because the whole soul 
 has thus come under the power of the flesh, the 
 Scripture speaks of all the attributes of the soul as 
 belonging to the flesh, and being under its power. 
 So it contrasts, in reference to religion and worship, 
 the two principles from which they may proceed. 
 There is a fleshly wisdom and a spiritual wisdom 
 (1 Cor. ii. 12 ; Col. i. 9). There is a service of God 
 trusting in the flesh and glorying in the flesh, and a 
 service of God by the spirit (Phil. iii. 3, 4; Gal. vi. 13). 
 
30 
 
 THE 8P1UIT OF CI 1 1{ 1ST. 
 
 There is a fleshly mind and a spiiituul mind (Col. 
 ii. 18, i. 9). There is a will of the ilesh, and a will 
 which is of God working by His Spirit (John i. 1-^ ; 
 Phil. ii. 13). There is a worsliip which is a satisfy- 
 ing of the flesh, because it is in the power of what 
 flesh can do (Col. ii. 18, 23), and a worship of God 
 which is in the Spirit. It is this worsliip Jesns 
 came to make possible, and to realize in us, by 
 giving a new spirit in our inmost part, and then, 
 within that, God's Holy Spirit. 
 
 ' In Spirit and in Truth.' Such a worship in Spirit 
 IS worship in Truth. Just as the words in Spirit 
 do not mean internal as contrasted with external 
 observances, but Spiritual, inwrought by God's 
 Spirit, as opposed to what man's natural power can 
 effect, so the words m Truth do not mean hearty, 
 sincere, upright. In all the worship of the Old 
 Testament saints, they knew that God sought Truth 
 in the inward parts ; they sought Him with their 
 whole hearts, and mc I uprightly, — and yet they 
 attained not to that worship in Spirit and Trutli, 
 which Jesus brought us when He rent the vail of 
 the flesh. Truth here means the substance, the 
 reality, the actual possession of all that the worship 
 of God implies, both in what it demands and what 
 it promises. John speaks of Jesus as * the Only 
 Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth.' 
 And he adds, ' For the Law was given by Moses ; 
 grace and truth came by Jesus Christ.' If we take 
 truth as opposed to falsehood, the law of Moses was 
 just as true as the Gospel of Jesus ; they both came 
 
 1*1 
 
WOUSIIIP IN THE SFIUIT. 
 
 37 
 
 from God. But if wo understand what it means, 
 that the law gave only a shadow of * good things to 
 come/ and that Christ brought us the things them- 
 selves, their very substance, we see how He was 
 full of truth, because He was Himself the Truth, 
 the reality, the very Life and Love and Power of 
 God imparting itself to us. We then also see how 
 it is only a worship in Spirit that can be a worship 
 tn Truth, in the actual enjoyment of that Divine 
 Power, which is Christ's own life and fellowship 
 with the Father, revealed and maintained within us 
 by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 ' The true worshippers worship the Father in 
 Spirit and in Truth/ All worshippers are not true 
 worshippers. There may be a great deal of earnest, 
 honest worship without its being worship in Spirit 
 and in Truth. The mind may be intensely occu- 
 pied, the feelings may be deeply moved, the will 
 may be mightily roused, while yet there is but 
 little of the Spiritual Worship which stands in the 
 Truth of God. There may be great attachment to 
 lUble truth, and yet through the predominating 
 activity of that which cometh not from Gods 
 working, but from man's effort, it may not be the 
 Christ-given, Spirit-breathed worship which God 
 seeks. There must be accordance, harmony, unity 
 between God, who is a Spirit, and the worshippeis 
 drawing near in the Spirit. Such doth the Father 
 seek to worship Him. The Infinite, Perfect, Holy 
 Spirit, which God the Father is, must have some 
 reflection in the spirit which is in the child. 
 
38 
 
 THE SPlliir OF ClllilST. 
 
 And this can only be as the Spirit of God dwe'Is 
 in us. 
 
 If we would strive to become such worshippers 
 in Spirit and in Truth, — true worshippers, — the 
 first thing we need is a sense of the danger in 
 which we are from the Flesh and its worship. As 
 believeri? we have in us a double nature — flesh and 
 spirit. The one is the natural part which is ever 
 ready to intrude itself, and to undertake the doing 
 of what is needed in the Worship of God. The 
 other is the Spiritual part, which may still be very 
 weak, and which possibly we do not yet know how 
 to give its full sway. Our mind may delight in the 
 study of God's Word, our feelings may be moved 
 by the wonderful thoughts there re\ealed, our will 
 may — we see this in Rom. vii. 22 — delight in 
 the law of God after the inward man, and we may 
 yet be impotent to do that law, to render the 
 obedience and worship we see and approve. 
 
 We need the Holy Spirit's indwelling for life 
 and worship alike. And to receive this we need 
 first of all to have the flesh silenced. * Be silent, 
 all flesh, before the Lord.' * Let no flesh glory in 
 His presence.' To Peter had alreadj^ been revealed 
 by the Father that Jesus was the Christ, and yet 
 in his thoughts of the cross he savoured not, his 
 mind was not according to, the things of God, but 
 the things of men. Our own thoughts of Divine 
 things, our own efforts to waken or work the right 
 feelings must be given up, our own power to wor- 
 ship must be brought down and laid low, and every 
 
WORSHIP IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 39 
 
 Rpproach to God must take })lace under a very dis- 
 tinct and very quiet surrender to the Holy Spirit. 
 And as we learn how impossible it is at our will 
 any moment to ensure the Spirit's working, we 
 shall learn that if we would worship in the Spirit 
 we must walk in the Spirit. *Ye are not in the 
 flesh but in the Spirit, if so he the Spirit of God 
 dwelleth in you.' As the Spirit dwells and rules 
 in me, I am in the Spirit, and can worship in the 
 Spirit. 
 
 'Tlie hour cometh, and now is, when the true 
 worshippers shall worship the Father in Spirit 
 and in Truth. For such doth the Father seek to 
 be His worshippers.' Yes, the Father seeks such 
 worshippers, and what He seeks He finds, because 
 He Himself worksh it. That we might be such 
 worshippers, He sent His own Son to seek and 
 to save the lost; to save us with this salvation, 
 that we should become His true worshippers, who 
 enter in through the rent veil of the flesh, and 
 worship Him in the Spirit. And then He sent the 
 Spirit of His Son, the Spirit of Christ, to be in us 
 the Truth and Eeality of what Christ had been, 
 His actual presence, to communicate within us the 
 very life that Christ had lived. Blessed be God! the 
 hour has come, and is now, we are living in it this 
 very moment, that the true worshippers shall wor- 
 ship the Father in Spirit and in Truth. Let us 
 believe it; the Spirit has been given, and dwells 
 within us, for this one reason, because the Father 
 Beeks such worshippers. Let us rejoice in the con- 
 
40 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 fidence that we can attain to it, we can be tme wor- 
 shippers, because the Holy Spirit has been given. 
 
 Let us realize in holy fear and awe that He 
 dwells within us. Let us humbly, in the silence of 
 the flesh, yield ourselves to His leading and teach- 
 ing. Let us wait in faith before God for His 
 workings. And let us practise this worship. Let 
 every new insight into what the work of the Spirit 
 means, every exercise of taiih. in His indwelling or 
 experience of His working, terminate in this as its 
 highest glory : the adoring worship of the Father, 
 the giving Him the Praise, the Thanks, the Honour, 
 and Love which are His alone. 
 
 God I Thou art a Spirit, and they that worship 
 Thee must worship Thee in Spirit and in Truth. 
 Blessed be Thy name ! Thou didst send forth Thine 
 Own Son to redeem and prepare us for the worship 
 in the Spirit ; and Thou didst send forth Thy Spirit 
 to dwell in us and fit us for it. And now we have 
 access to the Father, as through the Son, so in the 
 Spirit. 
 
 Most Holy God ! we confess with shame how 
 much our worship has been in the power and the 
 will of the flesh. By this we have dishonoured 
 Thee, and grieved Thy Spirit, and brought infinite 
 loss to our own souls. O God ! forgive and save 
 us from this sin. Teach us, we pray Thee, never, 
 never to attempt to worship Thee but in Spirit m\<i 
 in Truth. 
 
 Our Father I Thy Holy Spirit dwells in us. W4 
 
WOUSIUP IN THE SPIRIT. 
 
 41 
 
 beseech Thee, according to the riches of Thy glory, 
 to strengthen us with might by Him, that our inner 
 man may indeed be a spiritual temple, where 
 spiritual sacrifices are unceasingly offered. And 
 teach us the blessed art, as often as we enter Thy 
 presence, of yielding self and the flesh to the death, 
 and waiting for and trusting the Spirit who is in 
 us, to work in us a worship, a faith and love, 
 acceptable to Thee through Christ Jesus. And, oh ! 
 that througliout the universal Church, a worship in 
 Spirit and in Truth may be sought after, and 
 attained, and rendered to Thee day by day. We 
 ask it in the name of Jesus. Amen. 
 
 how 
 the 
 
 
 ured 
 
 
 inito 
 
 
 save 
 
 
 ever, 
 
 
 ard 
 
 I 
 
 W€ 
 
 7 /t /« in worship that the Holy Spirit most completely attains the object 
 for which He was given ; it is in worship He can moft fully prove what He is. 
 If I would that the consciousness and the Power of the Spirit's Presence 
 became strong within me, let me worsfilp. The Spirit fits for worship : 
 worship fits for the Spirit. 
 
 2. It Is not only prayer thcl ■<? worship. Worship is the prostrate adoration 
 of the Holy Presence. Often without words : ' They bowed their heads and 
 worshipped, ' Ex. lu. 21, xii. 27 ; Neh. vlll. 6. ' The elders fell down and 
 worshipped,' Reu. u. 14. Or only with an Amen, Hallelujah, Reu, xlx, 4. 
 
 3. How much worship there Is, euen among belleuers, that Is not In the 
 Spirit I In private, family, and public worship, how much hasty entering Into 
 God's presence In the power of the fiesh, with little or no waiting for the 
 S Irit to lift us heauenward t It Is only the Presence and Power of the Holy 
 Sfji it that fits for acceptable worship. 
 
 4. The great hindrance to the Sphit Is the flesh. The secret of spiritual 
 worship is the death of the flesh ; a gluing it up to the accursed death of the 
 ciosn, and in great fear of its actings humbly and trustfully to wait for the 
 Spirit's fife and power to ta..e the place of the life and strength of self. 
 
 5. As our life is, so will our worship be. The Spirit must lead and rule In 
 daily life if He is to inspire our worship. A life in obedience to God's will 
 and in His Prc'r^e fits for worship. May God give us to feel deeply the 
 extent, the sinfulness, the Impotence of worship not in Spirit and In 
 Truth. 
 
 6. The Spirit Is given for worship and In worship ; let our study of the 
 work in this little boob ever be in humble, reverent waiting upon God, 'Mft 
 toul, be ttiQu sitent unto God.' 
 
rr 
 
 43 
 
 TllK SPIKIT OF ClIKIST. 
 
 Fourth Day. 
 
 THE SPIEIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JTJje Spirit anti tlje SaorH. 
 
 'It Is the Spirit that quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing: 
 the words that I have spoken unto you are Spirit and are life. 
 Lord, to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words of eternal 
 ///e.'— John vi. 63, 68. 
 
 * God hath made us sufficient as ministers of a new covenant ; 
 not of- the letter, but of the Spirit : for the letter killeth, but 
 ike Spirit giueth life.^ — 2 Cok. iii. 6. 
 
 OUR Blessed Lord had been speaking of Himself 
 as the Bread of Life, and of His flesh and 
 blood as the meat and drink of eternal Life. To 
 many of His disciples it was a hard saying, which 
 they could not understand. Jesus tells them tliat 
 it is only when the Holy Spirit is come, and they 
 have Him, that His words will become clear to 
 them. He says, * It is the Spirit that quickeneth ; 
 the flesh profiteth nothing. The words that I have 
 spoken unto you, they are Spirit, and they are Life.' 
 *It is the Spirit that quickeneth/ in these 
 words and the corresponding ones of Paul, * the 
 Spirit giveth life,' we have the nearest approach 
 
THE Sl'lUIT AND TIIK WOHD, 
 
 43 
 
 to what Tiiay be called a definition of the Spirit. 
 (Comp. 1 Cor. XV. 45, 'a life-giving Spirit.') The 
 Spirit always acts, in the first place, whether in 
 nature or grace, as a Life-giving principle. It is of 
 the deepest importance to keep firm hold on this. 
 His work in the believer, of Sealing, Sanctifying, 
 Enlightening, and Strengthening, is all rooted in 
 this : it is as He is known and honoured, and place 
 given to Him, as He is waited on, as the Inner Life 
 of the soul, that His other gracious workings can be 
 experienced. These are but the outgrowth of the 
 Life ; it is in the power of the Life within that 
 they can be enjoyed. ' It is the Spirit that quick- 
 eneth.' In contrast to the Spirit our Lord places 
 the flesh. He says, 'the flesh profiteth nothing.' 
 He is not speaking of the flesh as the fountain of 
 sin, but in its religious aspect, as it is the power in 
 which the natural man, or even the believer who 
 does not fully yield to the Spirit, seeks to serve 
 God, or to know and possess Divine things. The 
 futile character of all its etfbrts our Lord indicates 
 in the words, * profiteth nothing ; ' they are not 
 suHicient, they avail not to reach the Spiritual 
 reality, the Divine things themselves. Paul means 
 the same wlien he contrast? with the Spirit, the 
 letter that killeth. The whole Dispensation of the 
 Law was but a dispf^nsation of the letter and the 
 flesh. Though it had a ceitain glory, and Israel's 
 privileges were very great, yet, as Paul says, ' Even 
 that which was made glorious had no glory In this 
 respect, by reason of the glory that excelleth.' 
 
u 
 
 THE SrilUT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 Even Christ Himself, as long as He was in the flesh, 
 and until, in the rending of tbe veil of His flesh, 
 the dispensation of the Spirit took the place- of that 
 of the flesh, could not by His words effect in Hift 
 disciples what He desired. ' It is the Spirit that 
 quickeneth ; the flesh profiteth nothing.' 
 
 Our Lord applies this saying now specially to 
 the words He had just spoken, and the Spiritual 
 truth they contained. * The words that I have 
 spoken unto you are Spirit and are Life.* He 
 wishes to teach the disciples two things. The one 
 is, that the words are indeed a living seed with a 
 power of germinating and springing up, asserting 
 their own vitality, revealing their meaning, and 
 proving their Divine Power in those who receive 
 them and keep them abiding in the heart. He 
 wanted them not to be discouraged if they could not 
 at once comprehend them. His words are Spirit 
 and Life ; they are not meant for the understanding, 
 but for the Life. Coming in the Power of the 
 Unseen Spirit, higher and deeper than all thought, 
 they enter into the very roots of the Life, they 
 have themselves a Divine Life, working out effectually 
 with a Divine energy the Tnith they express into 
 the experience of those who receive them. As a 
 consequence of this their spiritual character — this 
 is the other lesson He wished His disciples to 
 learn — these words of His need a spiritual nature 
 to receive them. Seed needs a congenial soil : there 
 must be life in the soil as well as in the seed. Not 
 into the mind only, nor into the feelings, nor even 
 
THE SPIRIT AND THE WOT^D. 
 
 45 
 
 into the will alone must the word be taken, but 
 tliiough them into the life. The centre of that 
 life is man's spiritual nature, with conscience as its 
 voice ; there the authority of the word must be 
 acknowledged. But even this is not enough : con- 
 science dwells in man as a captive amid powers it 
 cannot control. It is the Spirit that comes from 
 God, the Spirit that Carist came to bring, becoming 
 our life, receiving the word and assimilating it 
 into our life, that will make them to become the 
 Truth and Power in us. 
 
 In our study of the work of the Blessed Spirit, 
 we cannot be too careful to get clear and lirm hold 
 of this blessed truth. It will save us from right- 
 hand and left-hand errors. It will keep us from 
 expecting to enjoy the teaching of the Spirit with- 
 out the Word, or to master the teaching of the 
 Word without the Spirit. 
 
 On the one side, we have the right-hand error, 
 seeking the teaching of the Spirit without the Wora. 
 In tlie Holy Trinity, the Word and the Spirit are 
 ever in each other, one with the Father. It is no 
 otherwise with tlie God-inspired Words of Scripture. 
 Tlie Holy Spirit has for all ages embodied the 
 thoughts of God in the written word, and lives now 
 for this very puipose in our hearts, there to reveal 
 the power and the meaning of that Word. If you 
 would be full of the Spiiit, be full of the Word. 
 If you would have the Divine Life of the Spirit 
 within you grow strong, and acquire power in every 
 part of your nature; let the Word of Christ dwell 
 
46 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF GJIl(I>>T. 
 
 richly in you. If you would liavc the Spirit f\ilfil 
 His office of Remembrancer, calling to mind at the 
 right moment, and applying with Divine accuracy 
 what Jesus has spoken to your need, have the 
 Words of Christ abiding in you. If you would 
 have the Spirit reveal to you the Will of God in 
 each circumstance of life, choosing from apparently 
 conHicting commands or principles with unerring 
 precision what you must do, and suggesting it as 
 you need, oh ! have the Word living in you, ready 
 for His use. If you would have the Eternal Word 
 as your Light, let the Written Word be transcribed 
 on your heurt by the Holy Spirit. ' The Words 
 that I have spoken unto you, they are Spirit and are 
 Life.' Take them and treasure them : it is throuQ;h 
 them that the Spirit manifests His quickening 
 power.^ 
 
 On the other side, we have the left-hand and 
 more common error. Think not for one moment 
 that the Word can unfold its Life in tliee, except as 
 the Spirit witldn thee accepts and appropriates it in 
 the inner life. How much of Scripture reading, and 
 Scripture study, and Scripture preaching is there ia 
 which the first and main object is to reach the 
 meaning of the Word ? Men think that if they 
 know correctly and exactly what it means, there 
 
 * Compare carefully Eph. v. 18, 19 an* Col. iii. 16, and see 
 how the joylul fellowship of the Christ an Life, described in 
 identically the same words, is said in the one place to come from 
 being full of the S|»irit, in the other from being lull of the Word. 
 Let mo seek just as much of the Word as •f like Spirit, and just ai 
 much of the Spirit as of the Word^ 
 
THE SPIKIT AND THE WOKD. 
 
 47 
 
 will come as a natural consequence the blessing the 
 Word is meant to bring. This is by no means the 
 ease. The Word is a seed. In every seed there is 
 a fleshy part, in which the life is hidden. One 
 may have the most precious and perfect seed in its 
 bodily substance, and yet unless it be exposed in 
 suitable soil to the influence of sun Jind moisture, 
 the life may never grow up. And so we may hold 
 the words and the doctrines of Scripture most 
 intelligently and earnestly, and yet !:now little of 
 their life or power. We need to remind ourselves 
 and the Church unceasingly, that the Scriptures 
 whirh were spoken by holy men of old as they 
 were moved by the Holy Spirit, can only be 
 understood by holy men as they are taught by the 
 same Spirit. * The words I have spoken are 
 Spirit and Life ; ' for the apprehending and partaking 
 of them * the flesh profiteth nothing : it is the 
 Spirit that quickeneth,' the Spirit of Life within us. 
 This is one of the awfully solemn lessons which 
 the history of the Jews in the time of Christ teaches 
 us. They were exceeding zealous, as they thought, 
 for Gud's word and honour, and yet it turned out 
 that all their zeal was for i^^heir human interpreta- 
 tion of God's word. Jesus said to them : * Ye 
 search the Scriptures, because ye think that in them 
 ye have eternal life ; and these are they which 
 testify of me : and ye will not come to me that ye 
 may have life.' They did indeed trust to the 
 Scripture; to lead them to eternal life ; and yet 
 they never saw that they testified of Christ, and 
 
I .*■ 
 
 48 
 
 THE Sl'IlUT OF ClllilST. 
 
 SO they would not come to Him. Tliey studied and 
 accepted Scripture in the light and in the power of 
 their human understanding, and not in the light and 
 power of God's Spirit as their life. The feebleness 
 of the life of so many believers who read and i<novv 
 Scripture much has no other cause ; they know not 
 that it is the Spirit tliat quickeneth ; that the Hesh, 
 that the human understanding, however intelligent, 
 however earnest, piofiteth nothing. They think 
 chat in the Scriptures they have eternal life, but 
 the living Christ, in the power of the Spirit, as 
 their life, they know but little. 
 
 AVhat is needed is very simple : the determined 
 refusal to attemi)t to deal with the written word 
 without the quickening Spirit. Let us never take 
 Scripture into our hand, or mind, or mouth, without 
 realizing the need and the promise of the Spirit. 
 First, in a quiet act of worship, look to God to give 
 and renew the woikings of His Spirit within you ; 
 then, in a quiet act of faith, yield yourself to the 
 power that dwells in you, and wait on Him, that 
 not the mind alone, but the life in you, may be 
 opened to receive the Word. Let the Holy Spirit be 
 your life. To the Spirit and the Life coming out 
 from within to meet the Word from without as its 
 food, the words of Christ are indeed Spirit and Life. 
 
 As we further follow the teaching of our Blessed 
 Lord as to the Spirit, it will become clear to us 
 that, as the Lord's Words are Spirit and Life, so the 
 Spirit must be in ns as the Spiiit of our Life. 
 Our inmost personal life must be the Spirit of God 
 
THE SriKlT AND TIIK WOUD. 
 
 49 
 
 Deeper down t lian iiiiiul, or f(it*lin«,^ or will, the very 
 root of all these, aiul their nnimatiii'^ t^rinciple, 
 there must be the Sjjirit of (Joil. As we seek to 
 ^^o lower down than tliese, as we see that nothing 
 can reach tlie Spirit of Life which there is in the 
 words of the Living (lod, and wait on the Holy 
 Spirit within us, in the unseen depths of the hidden 
 life, to receive and reveal the words in His quicken- 
 ing j)owcr, and work them into the very life of our 
 ?ife, we shall know in truth what it means : ' It is 
 (he Spirit that quickeneth.' We shall see how 
 livinely right and becoming it is that the words 
 • vhich are Spirit and Life sliould be met in us by 
 the Spirit and the Life dwelling within, how then 
 alone they will unfold tlieir meaning and impart 
 I heir substance, and give their divine strength and 
 tulness to Uie Spirit and the Life already within lis. 
 
 my God ! again I thank Tiiee for the wonderful 
 ^ift of the indwelling Spirit. And I humbly beseech 
 Thee anew that I may indeed know that He is in me, 
 and how glorious the divine work He is carrying on. 
 
 Teach me specially, I pray Thee, to believe that 
 lie is the life and the strength of the growth of the 
 Divine life witiiin me, the pledge and assurance that 
 1 can grow up into all my God would have me. 
 As I see this, 1 shall understand how He, as the 
 Spirit of th« Life within me, will make my spirit 
 hunger for the Word as the food of the life, will 
 receive and assimilate it, will indeed make it Life 
 and Power. 
 
60 
 
 TlIK SNHIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 Forgive me, my God, that I have so much sought 
 to apprehend Thy words, whic]» are Spirit and Life, 
 in the power of human thought and tlie fleshly 
 mind. 1 have been so slow to learn that the Hesh 
 profiteth nothing. I do desire to learn it now. 
 
 my Father! give me the Spirit of wisdom, 
 grant me the mighty workings of the Spirit, that 1 
 may know how deeply spiritual each word of Thine 
 is, and how spiritual things can only be spiritually 
 discerned. Teach me in all my intercourse with 
 Thy word to deny the flesh and the fleshly mind, 
 to wait in deep humility and faith for the inward 
 working of the Spirit to quicken the word. May 
 thus all my meditation of Thy Word, all my keep- 
 ing of it in faith and obedience, be in Spirit and in 
 Truth, in Life and Power. Amen. 
 
 1. To understand a book the reader must know the same language as the 
 author. He must in many cases have somewhat of the same spirit In u/hich 
 the author wrote. To understand the Scripture, we need the same Holy Spirit 
 dwelling in us which enabled holy men of old to write them. 
 
 2. The Eternal Word and the Eternal Spirit are inseparable. Even so the 
 Creative Word and the Creative Spirit (Qen. i. 2, 3 ; Ps. xxxiii. 6). Not 
 otherwise the Word and Spirit in redemption (John I. 1-3, 14, 33). So, too, 
 In the written word : ' The words I speak are Spirit. ' So in the word preached 
 by the Apostles (1 Thess. I. 6). And so it must be in the word read and 
 meditated on by us ; as really as the Qod-breathed word comes from without 
 must the Qod-breathed spirit meet It from within. 
 
 3. The word is the seed. The Seed has a hidden life that needs a living soit 
 In which to grow. The Word has a Divine Life ; see that you receive the word 
 not only In the natural mind or will, but in the new spirit, where God's Spirit 
 dwells. 
 
 4. I see It more and more : The power of the word and its truth depend 
 upon living fellowship with Jesus. Why is there so often failure instead of 
 victory in the Christian life ? It Is because the truth Is held out of the power 
 of the Spirit. May God help me to believe these two things : the Word ii full 
 of a Divine Spirit and power, and can work mightily ; the heart has tht 
 9ame Divine Spirit within, through whom the Living Word la accepted in Living 
 Power. My life must be in the power of the Spirit. 
 
THE SrilUT OF THE GLORIFIED JESUS. 
 
 51 
 
 Fifth Day. 
 
 THE SrilUT OF CHRIST. 
 
 9rt)e Spirit of tt}e gloriftrD Stmfi. 
 
 ' He that believeth on me, as the Scriptnre hatb said, otit of 
 hid telly si all flow riven (f living water. But this spake He 
 of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him were to re- 
 ceive : for the Spirit was not yet ; because Jesoa was not yet 
 glorified/— John vii. 37, 88. 
 
 OUR Lord promises here, that those who come 
 unto Him and drink, v\ho believe in Him, 
 will not only never thirst, but will themselves 
 become fountains, whence streams of living water, 
 of life and blessing, will How forth. In recording 
 the words, John explains that the promise was a 
 prosjjective one, that would liave to wait for its 
 fultilment till the ISpirit should have been poured 
 out. He also gave the double reason for this 
 delay: The Holy Spirit vms not i/et; because Jesus 
 was not yet glorified. The expression : the Spirit 
 was not yet, has appeared slrange, and so the word 
 given has been inserted. But the expression, if 
 accepted as it stands, may guide us into the true 
 
52 
 
 THE sriKiT OF cniasT. 
 
 understanding of the real significance of the Spirit's 
 not coming until Jesus was glorified. 
 
 We have seen that God has given a twofold 
 revelation of Himself, fii'st as God in the Old 
 Testament, then as Father in the New. We know 
 how the Son, who had from eternity been with the 
 Father, entered upon a new stage of existence 
 wlien He became flesh. When He returned to 
 Heaven, He was still the same only-begotten Son of 
 God, and yet not altogether the same. For He was 
 now also, as Son of Man, the first- begotten from 
 the dead, clothed with that glorified hur anity 
 which He had perfected and sanctified for Himself. 
 And just so the Spirit of God as poured out on 
 Pentecost was indeed something new. Through 
 the Old Testament He was always called the Spirit 
 of God or the Spirit of the Lord ; the name of 
 Holy Spirit He did not yet bear as His own 
 proper name.* It is only in connection with the 
 (vork He has to do in preparing the way for Cluist, 
 and a body for Him, that the proper name comes 
 into use (Luke i. 15, 35). When poured out at 
 Pentecost, He came as the Spirit of the glorified 
 Jesus, the Spirit of the Incarnate, crucified, and 
 exalted Christ, the bearer and communicator to us, 
 
 'The only three passnges (Ps. li. 11 ; Isa. Ixiil 10, 11) where 
 ve liave iu our translation Holy Spirit, the Hebrew is [(roi erly 
 (and Sticr, for insttmce, in his Commentary renders it so), Hhe Spirit 
 a/ His holhieAS.' It is thus of the Spirit of God that the word 
 is U3((l, and not as the Prober Name of tlie thiid person. Only io 
 the New Testament does the Spirit bear the name of ' The Holy 
 Bpirit.' 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE GLORIFIED JESUS. 
 
 53 
 
 not of the life of God as such, but of that life as it 
 had been interwoven into human nature in the 
 person of Christ Jesus. It is in this capacity 
 specially that He bears the name of Holy Spirit, 
 for it is as the Indwelling One that God is Holy. 
 And of this Spirit, as He dwelt in Jesus in the 
 flesh, and can dwell in us in the flesh too, it is 
 distinctly and literally true ; the Holy Spirit was 
 not yet. The Spirit of the glorified Jesus, the Son 
 of man become the Son of God — He could not be 
 until Jesus was glorified. 
 
 This thought opens up to us further the reason 
 why it is not the Spirit of God as such, but the 
 Spirit of Jesus, that could be sent to dwell in us. 
 Sin had not only disturl)ed our relation to God's 
 law, but to God Himself ; with the Divine favour we 
 had lost the Divine life. Christ came not only to 
 deliver man from the law and its curse, but to 
 bring human nature itself again into the fellowship 
 of the Divine life, to make us partakers of the 
 Divine nature. He could do this, not by an 
 exercise of Divine Power on man, but only in the 
 path of a free, moral, and most real human develop- 
 ment. In His own person, having become flesh, 
 He had to sanctify tlie flesh, and make it a meet 
 and willing receptacle for the indwelling of the 
 Spirit of God. Having done this, He had, in 
 accordance with the law that the lower form of life 
 can rise to a higher, only through decay and 
 death, in death both to bear the curse of sin and 
 to give Himself as the seedcorn to bring forth 
 
54 
 
 XHE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 fruit in us. From His nature, as it was glorifiod 
 in the resurrection and ascension, His Spirit came 
 forth as the Spirit of His human life, glorified into 
 the union with the Divine, to make us partakers of 
 all that He had personally wrought out and acquired, 
 of Himself and His glorified life. In virtue of His 
 atonement, man now had a riglit and tide to the 
 fulness of the Divine Spirit, and to His indwelling, 
 as never before. And in virtue of His having per- 
 fected in Himself a new holy human nature on our 
 behalf, He could now communicate what pre- 
 viously had no existence, — a life at once human and 
 Divine. From henceforth the Spirit, just as He 
 was the personal Divine life, could also become the 
 personal life of men. Even as the Spirit is the 
 personal life principle in God Himself, so He can 
 be it in the child of God : the Spirit of God's Son 
 can now be the Spirit that cries in our heart, Abba, 
 Father. Of this Spirit it is most fully true, * The 
 Spirit was not yet, because Jesus was not yet 
 glorified.' ' 
 
 But now, Blessed be God ! Jesus has been 
 glorified ; there is now the Spirit of the glorified 
 Jesus; the promise can now be ful tilled: He that 
 believeth on me, out of him shall flow rivers of 
 living waters. The great transaction which took 
 plaje when Jesus was glorified is now an eternal 
 reality. When Christ had entered with our human 
 nature, in our flesh, into the Holiest of all, there 
 took pliice that of which Peter speaks, * Being by 
 
 » Sec Notes B and Q. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE GLOiaFIED JESUS. 55 
 
 ihe right hand of God exalted, He received of the 
 Father the promise of the Holy Ghost.' In our 
 place, and on our behalf, as man and the Head 
 of man, He was admitted into the full glory 
 of the Divine, and His human nature consti- 
 tuted the receptacle and the dispenser of the 
 Divine Spirit. And the Holy Spirit could come 
 down as the Spirit of the God - man — most 
 really the Spirit of God, and yet as truly the 
 spirit of man. He could come down as the Spirit 
 of the glorified Jesus to be in each one wlio 
 believes in Jesus, the Spirit of His personal life 
 and His personal presence, and at the same time 
 the spirit of the personal life of the believer. Just 
 as in Jesus the perfect union of God and man had 
 been effected and finally completed when He sat 
 down upon the throne, and He so entered on a 
 new stage of existence, a glory hitherto unknown, 
 so too, now, a new era has commenced in the life and 
 the work of the. Spirit. He can now come down 
 to witness of the perfect union of the Divine and 
 the human, and in becoming our life, to make us 
 partakers of it. Thr.re is now the Spirit of the 
 glorified Jesus: He hath poured Him forth; we 
 have received Him to stream into us, to stream 
 through us, and to stream forth from us in rivers 
 of blessing. 
 
 The glorifying of Jesus and the streaming forth 
 of His Spirit are intimately connected ; in vital 
 organic union the two are inseparably linked. If 
 we would have, not only the Spirit of God, but this 
 
56 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 Spirit of Cliiist, wliidi ' was not yet,' but now i* 
 the Spirit of the glorified Jesus, it is specially 
 with the glorifieU Jesus we must believiiigly deal. 
 We must not simply rest content with the faith 
 that trusts in the cross and its pardon ; we must 
 seek to know the New Life, the Life of Glory and 
 Tower Divine in human nature, of which the 
 S]»irit of the glorified Jesus is meant to be the 
 Witness and the Bearer. This is the mystery 
 which was hid from ages and generations, but is 
 now made known by the Holy Spirit, Christ in us ; 
 luiw He really can live His Divine life in us who are 
 in the flesh. We have the most intense personal 
 interest in knovviu'j; and understanding what it 
 means that Jesus is glorified, that human nuture 
 shares the life and glory of God, that the Spirit 
 was not yet, as long as Jesus was not glorified. 
 And that not only because we are one day to see 
 Him in His glory, and to share in it. xVo, but even 
 now, day by day, we are to live in it. The Holy 
 Spirit is able to be to us just as much as we are 
 willing to have of Him, and of the life of the 
 glorified Lord. 
 
 ' This spake Jesus of the Spirit, which they 
 that believed on Him were to receive ; for the 
 Spirit was not yet ; because Jesus was not yet 
 glorified.' God be praised ! Jesus has been 
 glorified : there is now the Spirit of the glorified 
 Jesus ; we have received Him. In the Old Testa- 
 ment only the unity of God was revealed ; when 
 the Spirit was mentioned, it was always as His 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE GLORIFIED JESUS. 
 
 67 
 
 Spirit, the power by which God was working : He 
 was not known on earth as a Person. In the New 
 Testament th Trinity is revealed ; with Pentecost 
 the Holy Spirit descended as a Person to dwell in 
 us. This is the fruit of Jesus' work, that we now 
 have the Personal Presence of the Holy Spirit on 
 earth. Just as in Christ Jesus, the second Person, 
 the Son came to reveal the Father, and the Father 
 dwelt and spoke in Him, even so the Spirit, the 
 third Person, comes to reveal the Son, and in ilim 
 tl}e Son dwells and works in us. This is the glory 
 wherewith the Father glorified the Son of man, 
 because the Son had glorified Him, that in His 
 Name and through Him, the Holy Spirit descends 
 as a Person to dwell in believers, and to make the 
 glorified Jesus a Present Reality within them. 
 This is it of which Jesus says, that whoso believeth 
 in Him shall never thirst, but shall have rivers of 
 waters flowing out of him. This alone it is that 
 satisfies the soul's thirst, and makes it a fountain to 
 quicken others ; the Personal Indwelling of the Holy 
 Spirit, revealing the Presence of the glorified Jesus. 
 He that believeth on me, rivers of water shall flow 
 out of him. This He said of the Spirit. Here we have 
 once again the blessed Key of all God's treasures : 
 He that believetJi on me. It is the glorified Jesus 
 who baptizes with the Holy Ghost : let us believe in 
 Him. Let each one who longs for the full blessing 
 here promised only believe. Let us believe in Him, 
 that He is indeed glorified, that all He is and does 
 and wishes to do is in the power of a Divine glory. 
 
58 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CnUIST. 
 
 According to the riches of His glory, God can now 
 work in us. Let us believe that he has given His 
 Holy Spirit, that we have the personal presence of 
 the Spirit on earth and within us. By this faith the 
 glory of Jesus in heaven and the Power of the Spirit 
 in our hearts become inseparably linked. Let us be- 
 lieve that in the fellowship with Jesus the stream will 
 flow ever stronger and fuller, into us and out of us. 
 Yes ; let us believe on Jesus. But let us remember : 
 thinking on these things, understanding them, being 
 \ery sure of them, rejoicing in a fuller insight into 
 them, all this, though needful, is not itself believing. 
 Believing is that power of the renewed nature 
 which, forsaking self and dying to it, makes room 
 for the Divine, for God, for the glorified Christ 
 to come and take possession and do His work. 
 Faith in Jesus bows in lowly stillness and poverty 
 of spirit, to realize that self has nothing, and that 
 Another, the unseen Spirit, has now come in to be 
 its leader, its strength, and its life. Faith in Jesus 
 bows in the stillness of a quiet surrender before 
 Him, fully assured that as it waits on Him, He 
 will cause the river to flow. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! I do believe, help Tliou 
 mine unbelief. Do Thou, the Author and Perfectei 
 of our faith, perfect the work of faith in me too. 
 Teach me, I pray Thee, with a faith that enters the 
 unseen, to realize what Thy glory is, and what my 
 share in it is even now, according to Thy word : 
 •The glory which Thou gavest me, I have given 
 
THE SPIRIT OF THE GLOliiFlED JESUS. 
 
 69 
 
 them.' Teach me that the Holy Ghost and His 
 power is the glory which Thou givest us, aud 
 that TIiou wouklst have us show forth Thy glory 
 in rejoicing in His holy presence on earth and His 
 indwelling in us. Teach me above all, my blessed 
 Lord, not only to take and hold these blessed truths 
 in the mind, but with my spirit that is in my in- 
 most parts, to wait on Thee to be filled with Thy 
 Spirit. 
 
 O my glorified Lord ! I do even now bow before 
 Thy glory in humble faith. Let all the life of self 
 and the flesh be abased and perish, as I worship 
 and wait before Thee. Let the Spirit of Glory 
 become my life. Let His Presence break down all 
 trust in self, and make room for Thee. And let 
 my whole life be one of faith in the Son of God, who 
 loved me, and gave Himself for me. Amen. 
 
 1. In Chrlat there waa an outward lowly state aa Servant, which preceded 
 Hta atate of glory aa King. It waa Hia faithfulneaa In the firat that led Hint 
 to the aecond. Let every believer who longa to partake with Chriat In Hia 
 glory, firat faithfully follow Him In Hia denial ofaelf; the Spirit will In due 
 time reveal the glory within Him. 
 
 2. Chrlat'a glory waa apeeially the fruit of Hia suffering of the death of the 
 croaa. It la aa I enter into the death of the oroaa in Ita double aapect, Chrlat'a 
 crucifixion for me, my crucifixion with Chriat, that the heart la opened for 
 the Splrlt'a revelation of the glorified Christ. 
 
 3. It la not having glorioua thoughts and impreaalona at timea of my Lord's 
 glory that can satisfy me ; it Is Christ Himself glorified la me, In my per- 
 tonal life, In the way of a Divine and heavenly power jniting Hia life In gloiy 
 with my life ; It la thia alone can aatisfy His heart and mine. 
 
 4 Again I say : Qlory be to God 1 this Spirit, the Spirit of the Qlorlfied One, 
 le within me. He hath possession of my inmost life. By His grace I will 
 withdraw that life from the ways of self and sin, and wait, and worship In 
 the aaaured confidence that He will take full poaseaslon, will prepa't th9 
 heart, will glorify my Lord In mc 
 
60 
 
 THE SPJltlT OF CHRIST, 
 
 Sixth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRiC'T. 
 
 STbe Intitoelling Spirit. 
 
 * I wiU pray the Father, and He shall give yon another Cont' 
 forter, that He may be with you for ever ; even the Spirit of 
 truth ; whom the world cannot receive ; for it beholdeth Him 
 not, neither knoweth Him : ye know Him, for He abideth with 
 you, and ahaH be in yoa.'— John xiv. 16, 17. 
 
 ' TTE SHALL BE IN YOU.' In these simple words 
 J-A our Lord announces that wonderful mystery 
 of the Spirit's indwelling which was to be the fruiu 
 and the crown of His redeeming work. It was for 
 this man had been created. It was for this, God's 
 mastery within the heart, the Spirit had striven in 
 vain with men through the past ages. It was for 
 this Jesus had lived and was about to die. Without 
 this the Father's purpose and His own work would 
 fail of their accomplishment. For want of this 
 the intercourse of the Blessed Master with the 
 disciples had effected so little. He had hardly ever 
 ventured to mention it to them, because He knew 
 they would not understand it. But now, on the 
 
THE INUWELLING Sl'IUIT. 
 
 tjl 
 
 last iii^^'ht, when it was but a little time, lie discloses 
 the Divine Secret that, when lie left them, their loss 
 would be compensated by a greater blessing than 
 His bodily presence. Another would come in His 
 stead, to abide with them for ever, and to dwell in 
 ihem. Dwelling in them. He would prepare them 
 to receive Himself their Lord, and thr Father, within 
 them too. * He shall he in you.' 
 
 Our Father has given us a twofold revelation of 
 Himself. In His Son He reveals His Holy Image^ 
 and setting him before men invites them to become 
 like Him by receiving Him into their heart and life. 
 In His Spirit He sends forth His Divine Power, to 
 enter into us, and from within prepare us for receiv- 
 ing the Son and the Father. The dispensation of 
 the Spirit is the dispensation of the inner life. In 
 the dispensation of the Word, or the Son, beginning 
 as it did with the creation of man in Gods image, 
 continued as it was through all the preparatory 
 stages down to Christ's appearing in the flesh, all was 
 'Qiore external and preparatory. There were at times 
 spe<^ial and mighty workings of the Spirit ; but the 
 indwelling was unknown ; man had not yet become 
 an habitation of God in the Spirit. Now first, this 
 was to be attained. The eternal life was to become 
 the very life of man,hi(ling itself within his very being 
 and consciousness, and clothing itself in the forms 
 of a human will and life. Just as it is through the 
 Spirit that God is what He is ; just as in the Father 
 and the Son, the Spirit is the principle in which 
 their personality has its root and consciousness, ao 
 
62 
 
 TIIL S»'IUIT OF ClIlilST. 
 
 
 I'. ] 
 
 this Spirit of the Divino life is now to be in us, in 
 the deepest sense of the word, the principle of our 
 life, the root of our personality too, the very life 
 of our being and consciousness. He is to be one 
 with us in the absoluteness of a Divine immarence, 
 dwelling, in us, even as the Father in the Son, and 
 the Son in the Father. Let us bow in holy reverence 
 to worship and adore, and to receive the mighty 
 blessing. 
 
 If we would enter into the full understanding and 
 experience of what our Ble>sed Lord here promises, 
 we must above everything remembev that what He 
 Bpeaka of is a Divine indwelling. Wherever Go(J 
 dwells He hides Himself. In nature He hides 
 Himself; most men see Him not there. In meeting 
 His saints of old He mostly hid Himse'f under some 
 manifestation in human weakness, so that it was 
 often only after He was gf»ne that they said, Surely 
 the Lord is in this place, and I knew it not.^ The 
 Blessed Son came to reveal God, and yet He came 
 as a root out of a dry ground, without fcTm or comeli- 
 ness ; even His own dirciples were at times offended 
 at Him. Men always expect the kingdom of God to 
 come with observation ; they know not that it is a 
 hidden mystery, to be received only as, in His own 
 self -revealing power, God makes Himself known in 
 hearts surrendered and prepared for Him. Christians 
 are always ready, when the promise of the Spirit 
 
 * Id the tabernacle and the temple God dwelt in the darkness ; 
 He was there, but behind a yrxl, to be believed in and feared, but 
 not to be seen. 
 
 
THE INDWELLING 3PiriT. 
 
 ^8 
 
 It 
 
 occupies tliem, to form some conception as to how 
 , His leading can be Icnown iu their thoughts ; how 
 His (quickening will affect their feelings ; how His 
 sanctifying can be recognised in their will and 
 conduct. They need to be reminded that deeper 
 than mind and feeling and will, deeper than the 
 soul, where these have their seat, in the depths of 
 the spirit that came from God, there comes the 
 Holy Spirit to dwell. 
 
 This indwelling is therefore first of all, and all 
 through, to be recognised by faith. Even when I 
 cannot see the least evidence of His working, I 
 am quietly and reverently to believe that He dwells 
 in me. In that faith I am restfully and trustfully 
 to count upon His working, and to wait for it. In 
 that faith I must very distinctly deny my own 
 wisdom and strength, and in childlike self-abnegation 
 depend upon Him to work. His first workings 
 may be so feeble and hidden that I can hardly 
 recognise them as coming from Him; they may 
 appear to be nothing more than the voice of con- 
 science, or the familiar sound of some Bible truth. 
 Here is the time for faith to hold fast the Master's 
 promise and the Father's gift, and to trust that the 
 Spirit is within and will guide. In that faith let 
 me continually yield up my whole being to His 
 rule and mastery; let me be faithful to what 
 appears the nearest to His voice ; in such faith and 
 such faithfulness my soul will be prepared for 
 knowing His voice better. Out of the hidden 
 depths His power will move to take possession of 
 
64 
 
 TIIK SPIRIT OF CIIinST. 
 
 mind and will, and the indwelling in tlic liidden 
 recesses of the heart will grow into a being lilKd 
 with His fulness.' 
 
 Faith is the one faculty of onr spiritual nature 
 hy which we can recognise the Divine, in whatever 
 low and unlikely appearances it clothes itself. 
 And if this be true of the Father in His glory as 
 God, and the Son as the manifestation of the 
 Father, liow much more must it be true of the 
 Spirit, the unseen Divine life-power come to clothe 
 itself, and hide itself away, within our weakness ? 
 Oh ! let us cultivate and exercise much our faith 
 m the Father, whose one gift through the Son is 
 this, the Spirit in our hearts. And in the Son too, 
 whose whple Person and Work and Glory centre 
 in the gift of the Indwelling Spirit. And so let our 
 faith grow strong in the unseen, sometimes unfelt, 
 Divine Presence of this Mighty Power, this living 
 Person, who has descended into our weakness, and 
 hidden Himself in our littleness, to fit us for 
 becoming the dwelling of the Father and the Son. 
 Let our adoring worship of our glorified Lord ever 
 seek to catch the wondrous answer He gives to 
 every prayer, as the seal of our acceptance, as the 
 promise of deeper knowledge of our God, of closer 
 fellowship and richer blessedness : The Holy Spirit 
 dwelleth in you. 
 
 The deep importance of a right apprehension 
 of the indwelling of the Spirit is evident from 
 the place it occupies in our Lord's farewell dis- 
 
 1 See Note C. 
 
THE INDWELLING SPIRIT. 
 
 65 
 
 course. In this and tlui two following chapters, 
 He sp 'aks of the Spirit more directly as Teacher, 
 as Witness, as representing and glorifying Himself, 
 as convincing the world. At the same time, Ho 
 connects this, and He says of His and the Father's 
 indwelling, of the union of the Vine and the 
 hranches, of the Peace and Joy and Power in Prayer 
 which His disciples would have, with ' that day! 
 the time of the Spirit's coming. But, before all 
 this, as its one condition and only source, He places 
 the promise, * the Spirit shall be in you.' It avails 
 little that we know all that the Spirit can do for 
 us, or that we confess our entire dependence on 
 Him, unless we clearly realize, and place first, what 
 the Master gave the first place ; that it is as the 
 indwelling Spirit alone that He can be our Teacher 
 or our Strength. As the Church, as the believer, 
 accepts our Lord's, ' He shall be in you,' and lives 
 under the control of this faith, our true relailon to 
 the Blessed Spirit will be restored. He will take 
 charge and inspire ; He will mightily fill and bless 
 the being given up to Him as His abode, 
 
 A careful study of the epistles will confirm this. 
 In writing to the Corinthians, Paul had to reprove 
 them for sad and terrible sins, and yet he says to 
 all, including the feeblest and most unfaithful 
 believer, ' Know you not that the Spirit of God 
 dwelleth in you?* * Know you not that your body 
 is the temple of the Holy Christ ? ' He is sure 
 that if this were believed, if to this truth were 
 given the place God meant it to have, it would 
 
66 
 
 THE SPIKIT OP CHRIST. 
 
 not only be the motive, but the power of a new 
 and holy life. To the backsliding Galatians, he has 
 no mightier plea to address thrtn this : they had 
 received the Spirit by the preaching of faith ; God 
 had sent forth the Spirit of His Son irdo their 
 hearts; they had their life by the Spirit in them; 
 if they could but understand and believe this, they 
 would also walk in the Spirit. 
 
 It is this teaching the Church of Christ needs in 
 our days. I am deeply persuaded that very few 
 of us realize aright to what extent believers are 
 ignorant of this aspect of the truth concerning the 
 Holy Spirit, or to what an extent this is the cause 
 of their feebleness in holy walk and work. There 
 may be a great deal of praying for the Holy Spirit's 
 working, there may be great correctness in our 
 confession, both in preaching and prayer, of entire 
 and absolute dependence on Him ; but unless His 
 personal, continual, Divine indwelling be acknow- 
 ledged and experienced, we must not be surprised 
 if there be continual failure. The Holy Dove 
 wants his resting-place free from all intrusion and 
 disturbance. God wants entire possession of His 
 temple. Jesus wants His home all to Himself. 
 He cannot do His work there, He cannot rule and 
 reveal Himself md His love as He would, unless tlio 
 whole home, the whole inner being, be possessed and 
 filled by the Holy Spirit. Let us consent to this. 
 As the meaning of the indwelling dawns upon us 
 in its full extent and claims, as we accept it as a 
 Divine reality to be carried out and maintained by 
 
THE INDWELLING SPIKIT. 
 
 67 
 
 nothing less than an Almighty Power, as we be w 
 low in emptiness and surrender, in faith j,nd 
 adoration, to accept the promise and live on it, ' He 
 shall be in you! the Father will, for Jesus* sake, 
 delight to fulfil it in our experience, and we shall 
 know that the beginning, and the secret, and the 
 power of the life of a true disciple is, the Indwell- 
 ing Spirit. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus 1 my soul doth bless Thee 
 for Thy precious word : The Spirit sliall be in you. 
 In deep humility I now once again accept it, 
 and ask Thee to teach me its full and blessed 
 meaning. 
 
 I ask for myself and all God^s children that we 
 may see how near Thy love would come to us, 
 how entirely and most intimately Thou wouldst 
 give Thyself to us. Nothing can satisfy Thee but 
 to have Thy abode within us, to dwell in us as the 
 life of our life. To this end Thou hast sent forth, 
 from Thy glory, Thy Holy Spirit into our hearts, to 
 be the power that lives and acts in our inmost 
 being, and to give in us the revelation of Thyself. 
 holy Saviour ! bring Thy Church to see this truth 
 that has been so much hid and lost, to experience 
 it, and to bear witness to it in power. May tlie 
 joyful sound be heard throughout her borders, that 
 every true believer has the indwelling and the 
 leading of Thy Spirit. 
 
 And teach me, my Lord ! the life of faith, that 
 goes out of self, to wait on Thee, as in Thy Spirit 
 
11 
 
 68 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Thou dost Thy work within me. May my life from 
 hour to hour be in the holy, humble conscious- 
 ness : Christ's Spirit dwelleth in me. 
 
 In humility and silence I bow before this holy 
 mystery, my God ! my Lord Jesus ! Thine own 
 Spirit dwells in me. Amen. 
 
 1. The coming of the Son of God in tie llheneas of sinful flesh, the Word 
 being made flesh, and His dwelling in oar nature— what a mystery is this I 
 Great is the mystery of Godliness ! But how great then the mystery of the 
 Spirit of God dwelling in us, who are sinful flesh I Blessed they ' to whom 
 God would make known what Is the riches of the glory of this myatery— 
 Christ in You.' 
 
 2. There is an introspection in which the soul looks inward to its own 
 thoughts and feelings and purposes, to find the proof of Grace and th i ground 
 of Peace. This is unhealthy, and not of faith ; it tut ns the eye from Christ 
 to self. But there Is another turning inward which is one of th-: highest 
 exercises of faith. It is when, closing the eye to all it can see in itself, 
 the soul seeks to realize in faith that there is In its inmost parts a new spirit, 
 within which the Spirit of Christ now dwells. In this faith it unreservedly 
 glues itself up to be renewed by the Spirit, yields eoery faculty of the soul to 
 be sar''*ified and guided by this Spirit within. Without such consciousness of 
 a temple within and its Occupant, daily renewed in holy silence, there cannot 
 be the clear believing prayer to the Father to work mightily by His Soirit, or 
 the confidence in Jesus to give the living Streams from within. 
 
 3. Within you! Within you! in your inmost parts I this was God's 
 promise. Thank God, His Holy Spirit doth dwell within me I 
 
 4. The first thought connected with the entrance Into a temple is reoerence 
 —the head uncovered. The first and abiding thought connected with th§ 
 Spirit's dwelling in me as His temple be this too— deep reverence and awe 
 before the holy presence. 
 
 9 'He abideth with you, and shall be in you. Hold fast the two 
 thoughts : the permanence of His prewtce with the Church, th* intimacy 
 »/ Hit presence in euer^ belieuer. 
 
 
 im 
 
TUB SPUUT GIVEN TO TUB OBEDIENT. 
 
 69 
 
 Seventh Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JTJie Spirit gibm to t!|e ©fteDiient 
 
 'If ye love me, ye wiU keep my commandmenta : and I wU] 
 pray the Father, and He shall give you another Cknnforter, even 
 the Spirit of truth.*— J OHit xiv. 16, 16. 
 
 ' The Hoiy Spirit, whom God hath given to them that obey 
 Him,* — Acts v. 32. 
 
 rpHE truth which these words express has often 
 -i- suggested the question: How can this be? 
 We need the Spirit to make us obedient ; we long 
 for the Spirit's power, just because we mourn so 
 luuch the disobedience there still is, and desire 
 to be otherwise. And how is this ? The Saviour 
 claims obedience as the condition of the Father s 
 giving and our receiving the Spirit. ^—t 
 
 The difficulty will be fSHewed^ if we remember Miuair^ 
 what we have more than once seen, that there is a 
 twofold manifestation of the Spirit of God, corre- 
 spon/ling to the Old and New Testament In the 
 former, He works as the Spirit of God, preparing 
 the way for the higher revelation of God, as tlio 
 
70 
 
 THE SriKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Father of Jesus Christ. In this way He had 
 worked in Christ's disciples, as the Spirit of con- 
 version and faith. What they were now about to 
 receive was something higher — thr Spirit of the 
 glorified Jesus, communicating the power from on 
 high, the experience of His full salvation. And 
 though now, to all believers under the New Testa- 
 ment economy, the Spirit in them is the Spirit of 
 Christ, there is still something that corresponds to 
 the twofold dispensation. Where there is not 
 much knowledge of the Spirit's work, or where His 
 workings in a Church or an individual are but 
 feeble, there even believers will not get beyond 
 the experience of His preparatory workings in 
 them ; though He be in them, they know Him not 
 in His power as the Spirit of the glorified Lord. 
 They have Him in them to make them obedient ; 
 it is only as they yield obedience to this His more 
 elementary work, the keeping of Christ's com- 
 mandments, that they will be promoted to the 
 higher experience of His conscious indwelling, as 
 the Kepresentative and Eevealer of Jesus in His 
 glory. * If ye love me, keep my commandments : 
 and I will pray the Father, and He will send you 
 another Comforter.* 
 
 The lesson is one we cannot study too atten- 
 tively. In Paradise, in the angels of heaven, in 
 God's own Son, by obedience and obedience alone, 
 could the relationship with the Divine Being be 
 maintained, and admission secured to closer experi- 
 ence of His Love and His Life. God's will revealed 
 
THE SnUIT GIVEN TO THE OBEDIENT. 
 
 71 
 
 is the expression of His hidden perfection and 
 being ; only in accepting and doing the will, in the 
 entire giving up for the will '^o possess and use as 
 He pleases, are we fitted for entering the Divine 
 l*resence. Was it not thus even with the Son 
 of God ? It was when, after a life in holy humility 
 and obedience for thirty years. He had spoken that 
 word of entire consecration, ' It becometh us to 
 fulfil all righteousness,' and given Himself to a 
 baptism for the sins of His people, thit He was 
 baptized with the Spirit. The Spirit cane because 
 of His obedience. And again, it was after He had 
 learned obedience in suffering, and became obedient 
 to the death of the cross, that He again received 
 the Spirit from the Father (Acts ii. 33) to pour out 
 on His disciples. The fulness of the Spirit for His 
 body the Church was the reward of obedience. And 
 this law of the Spirit's coming, as revealed in the 
 Head, holds for every member of the body : obedi- 
 ence is the indispensable condition of the Spirit's 
 indwelling. ' If ye love me, keep my command- 
 ments : and the Father will send you the Spirit.' 
 
 Christ Jesus had come to prepare the wayToF 
 the Spirit's coming. Or rather. His outward coming 
 in the flesh was the preparation for His inward 
 coming in the Spirit to fulfil the promise of a 
 Divine indwelling. The outward coming appealed 
 to the soul, with its mind and feeling, and affected 
 these. It was only as Christ in His outward 
 coming was accepted, as He was loved and obeyed, 
 that the Inward and more Intimate revelation 
 
72 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 would be given. Personal attachnient to Tesiis 
 the personal acceptance of Him as Lord and Master 
 to love and obey, wps the disciples' preparation for 
 the baptism of the Spirit. And so now, it is as i.i 
 a tender listening to the voice of conscience, and a 
 faithful effort to keep the commands of Jesus, we 
 prove our love to Him, that the heart will be 
 prepared for the fulness of the Spirit. Our attain- 
 ments may fall short of our aims, we may have to 
 mourn that what we would we do not — if the 
 Master sees the whole-hearted surrender to His will, 
 and the faithful obedience to what we already have 
 of the leadings of His Spirit, we may be sure that 
 the full gift will not be withheld. 
 
 Do not these words suggest to us the two great 
 reasons why the presence and the power of the 
 Spirit in the Church is so feebly realized ? We do 
 not understand that as the obedience of love must 
 precede the fulness of the Spirit, so the fulness of 
 the Spirit must still follow on it. They err who 
 want the fulness of the Spirit before they obey, no 
 less than those who think that* obedience is already 
 a sign that the fulness of the Spirit is there. 
 
 Obedience must precede the baptism of the Spirit, 
 John had preached Jesus as the true Baptist — bap- 
 tizing with the Holy Spirit and with fire. Jesus 
 took His disciples as candidates for this Baptism 
 into a three years' course of training. First of all. 
 He attached them to Himself personally. He 
 taught them to forsake all for Him. He called 
 Himself their Master and Lord, and taught them 
 
THE SPIKIT (ilVEN TO TIIR OBEDIENT. 
 
 78 
 
 to do wliat He said. And then in His farewell 
 discourse He time after time spoke of obedience to 
 His commands as the one condition of all further 
 spiritual blessing. It is to be feared that the 
 Church has lot given this word Cbedience the 
 prominence Christ gave it. Wrong views of the 
 danger of Self-righteousness, of the way in which 
 free Grace is to be exalted, of the power of sin and 
 a needs be of sinning, with the natural reluctance 
 of the flesh to accept a high standard of holiness, 
 have been the causes. While the freedom of grace 
 and the simplicity of faith have been preached, the 
 absolute necessity of obedience and holiness has not 
 been equally insisted on. It has been thought that 
 only those who had the fulness of the Spirit could 
 be obedient. It was not seen that obedience was 
 the lower plntform, — that the baptism of the Spirit, 
 the full revelation of the glorified Ixivd as the 
 Indwelling One, taking power to wc k in us and 
 through us His mighty works, was something higher, 
 the Presence that the obedient should inherit. It 
 was not seen that simple and full allegiance to 
 every dictate of conscience, and every precept of 
 the word, that a * walk worthy of the Lord to all 
 well-pleasing,' was to be the passport to that full 
 life in the Spirit in which He would witness to the 
 abiding Presence of the Lord in the heart. 
 
 As the natural consequence of the neglect of this 
 truth, the companion truth was also forgotten : The 
 obedient must and tnay look f tr the, fulnesB of tJie 
 Spirit. The promise of the special, conscious, active 
 
i 
 
 74 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF OURIST. 
 
 indw^illing of the Spirit to the obedient is a thing 
 to many Christians unknown. The great part of 
 life is spent in rcourning over disobedience, over 
 the want of the Spirit's power, and praying for the 
 Spiiit to help thctn to obey, instead of rising in 
 the strengt/ <" J Ihe Spirit already in them to 
 obedience, as nlj i possible and necessary. The 
 thought of the Holv 'Spirit being specially sent to 
 the obedient, to give in them the Presence of Jesus 
 19 a continuous reality, that He might do in them 
 the greater works, even as the Father had worked 
 in Him, was hardly thought of. The meaning of 
 the life of Jesus as our example is not understood. 
 How distinctly there was with Him the outward 
 lowly life of trial and obedience in preparation for 
 the hidden spiritual one of Power and Glory ! It 
 is this inner life that we are made partakers of in 
 the gift of the Spirit of the glorified Jesus. But 
 in our inner personal participation of that gift we 
 must walk in the way He dedicated for us ; as in 
 the crucifixion of the flesh we yield ourselves to 
 God's will, for Him to do in us what He wills, and 
 for us also to do what He will, we shall experience 
 that God is to be found nowhere but in His will. 
 His will in Christ, accepted and done by u&, with the 
 heart in which it is done, is the home of the Holy 
 Spirit. The revelation of the Son in His perfect 
 obedience was the condition of the giving of the 
 Spirit; the acceptance of the Son in love and 
 obedience is the path to the indwelling of the Spirit. 
 It is this truth which has in these latter years 
 
THE sriKIT UIVEN TO THR OUKDIKNT. 
 
 76 
 
 
 come home with power to the hearts of ma;./ in 
 the use of the words full surrender and entii con- 
 secration. As they understood that the Lord Jesus 
 did indeed claim imy^licit obedience, that the giving 
 up all to Him and His will was absolutely necessary, 
 and in the power of His grace truly possible, and 
 in the faitli of His power did it, they found the 
 entrance to a life of peace ^nd strength formerly 
 Mnknown. Many are learu n< or have to learn, 
 that they do not yet fully nov, ^he lesson. They 
 will find that there are ap ^ .ich ions of this principle 
 beyond what we have conceived. As we see how 
 in the all-pervading po. : of the Spirit, as we 
 already possess Him, every movement of our life 
 must be brought into allegiance to Jesus, and give 
 ourselves to it in faith, we shall also see that the 
 Spirit of the glorified Lord can make Him present, 
 and work His mighty works in us and through us, 
 in a way far beyond what we can ask or think. 
 The indwelling of the Holy Spirit was intended by 
 God and Christ to be to the Church more, oh ! so 
 much more, than we have yet known. Oh 1 shall we 
 not yield ourselves, in a love and obedience that will 
 sacrifice anything for Jesus, that our hearts may be 
 enlarged for the fulness of His blessing prepared 
 for us. 
 
 Let us cry to God very earnestly, that He may 
 waken His Church and people to take in this double 
 h^sson : A living obedien e is indispensable to the 
 full rxperience of the indwelling; the full experi- 
 ence of the indwelling is what a loving obedienc« 
 
 
76 
 
 THE SnUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 may certainly claim. Let each of us even now say 
 to our Lord that we do love Him, and keep His 
 commandments. In however much feebleness and 
 failure it be, still let us speak it out to Him as the 
 one purpose of our souls ; this He will accept. Let 
 us believe in the indwelling of the Spirit as already 
 given to us, when in the obedience of faith we gave 
 ourselves to Him. Let us believe that the full 
 indwelling, with the revelation of Christ within, 
 can be ours. And let us be content with nothing 
 less than the loving, reverent, trembling, but blessed 
 consciousness that we are the Temples of the Living 
 God, because the Spirit of God dwelleth in us. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! with my whole heart do I 
 accept the teaching of these words of Thine. And 
 most earnestly do I beseech Thee to write the 
 truth ever deeper in my heart, as one of the laws 
 of Thy Kingdom, that Loving Obedience may look 
 for a Loving Acceptance, sealed by ever-increasing 
 experience of the Power of the Spirit. 
 
 I thank Thee for what Thy word teaches of what 
 the Love and Obedience of Thy disciples were. 
 Though still imperfect — for did they not all forsake 
 Thee ? — ^yet Thou didst cover it with the cloak of 
 'J'hy love: 'The Spirit is willing, but the flesh is 
 weak ; * and accept it, feeble though it was. Saviour I 
 will) my whole heart I say I do love Thee, and 
 would keep each one of Thy commandments. 
 
 Afresh I surrender myself to Thee for this. In 
 the depths of my soul Thou seest there is but one 
 
THE SPIRIT GIVKN TO TUB OBEDIENT. 
 
 77 
 
 desire, that Tliy will should be done in me as in 
 Heaven. 
 
 To every reproof of conscience I would bow very 
 low ; to every moving of Thy Spirit I would yield 
 implicit obedience. I give my will and life into 
 Thy death, that being raised with Thee, the Life of 
 Another, even of Thy Holy Spirit, which dwelleth 
 in me, and revealeth Thee, may be my life. Amen. 
 
 7. When Qod cotimanded Israel to build Him a holy place, that He might 
 dwell among them, He aald to Moaea, 'According to all I ahoiu thee, tht 
 pattern of the dwei'lntj, even ao ahall ye make It' And ao we find In 
 the laat two chaptera of Exodua, eighteen timea the expreaaion that all had 
 bean made 'as the Lord commanded.' It waa In a houae thua built after 
 Ood'a pattern, to Hia mind, the perfect expreaaion of Hla will, that Qod came 
 to dwell. In the will of Qod, carried out by man, Qod finda a Home. QotI 
 cornea down to dwell In the obedience of Hla people. 
 
 2. In thia houae the Throne of Qod, inhere He placed Hla mercy-aeat, waa 
 the ark in which were the tablea of the Law. In the new Spirit, where Qod 
 writea Hla law, and where thia la kept, there the Lord will reveal Hia immediatt 
 preaence. 
 
 3. Before Qod came down to dwell. It coat larael time and aacrifice to 
 prepare a houae for Him. Believer, who prayeat for the revelation of Jeaua, 
 turn inwarda, and aee If thy heart be prepared aa Hia temple. Doea con' 
 aclence teatify that thou aeekeat with thy whole hear* to know and do the 
 wlllof thy Lord? 
 
 4. It la only u/htn Qod'a wifl haa been accepted uj our only law, and the 
 commanda of Jeaua are by the Holy Spirit writter. In the heart, that the glory 
 of God can fill His temple. 
 
 5. If you would know the Indwelling of the Spirit aa a blesaed reality, let 
 conacience be kept very pure, let your glorying every day be ita teatimony 
 that your behaviour haa been 'in holiness and sincerity of Qod, through the 
 g^aee qf Qo4' (2 Cor. i. W» 
 
78 
 
 THE SriUlT OF CHKJST. 
 
 Eighth Day, 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Unotoins ti}e Spirit. 
 
 * Th9 Spirit of Truth whom the world cannot recoive, for It 
 beholdeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: ye itnoW Him; for 
 He abideth with you, and shall be in you.'— John xiv. 17. 
 
 * Know ye not that ye are a temple of Oud, and that the 
 Spirit of God dwelleth in you?*— 1 Cor. ill. 16. 
 
 THE value of knowledge, that is, true spiritual 
 knowledge, in the life of faith can hardly be 
 exaggerated. Just as a man on earth is none the 
 richer for an inheritance that comes to him, or a 
 treasure in his field, as long as he does not know of 
 it, or does not know how to get possessed of it, and 
 to use it, — so the gifts of God's Grace cannot bring 
 their full blessing until we know and, in knowing, 
 truly apprehend and possess them. In Christ are 
 hid all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge ; it 
 is the excellency of the knowledge of Christ Jesus, 
 liis Lord, for which the believer is willing to count 
 all things but loss. It is owing to the want of a 
 true knowledge of what God in Christ has prepared 
 
KNOWING THE 8PIUIT. 
 
 79 
 
 for us tliat the lives of believers are so low ami 
 feeble. The prayer Paul offered for the Ephesinns — 
 that the Father would give them the Spirit of wisdom 
 and revelation in the knoxoledge of Him, the eyes of 
 their heart beiu^ enlightened, that they might know 
 the hope of their calling, and the riclies of the 
 inheritance, and the exceeding goodness of the power 
 working in them — is one we never can pmy enough, 
 whether for ourselves cr for others. But of what 
 special importance it is that we should know the 
 Teacher through whom all the other knowledge is 
 to come! The Father has given each one of His 
 children not only Christ, who is the Truth, the 
 reality of all life and grace, but the Holy Spirit, 
 who is the very Spirit of Christ and the Truth. 
 * We received the Spirit, which is of God, that we 
 might know the things which are freely given us 
 by God.' 
 
 But now comes the important question. How (\q 
 we know when it is the Spirit that is teaching us ? 
 If our knowledge of Divine things is to be to us a 
 certainty and a comfort, we must know the Teacher 
 Himself. It is only knowing Him that will be to 
 us the full evidence that what we count our spiritual 
 knowledge is no deception. Our blessed Lord meets 
 this question, with all the solemn issues depending 
 upon it, by assuring us that we shall hnow the 
 Spirit. When a messenger comes to tell c»t' a king, 
 when a witness gives a testimony for bis friend, 
 neither speaks of himself. And yet, without doing 
 Bo, both the messenger and the witness, in the very 
 
80 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 ; 
 
 
 
 fact of giving their evidence, draw our attention to 
 thoiiiselves, iind claim our recognition of their 
 presence and trustworthiness. And just so the 
 Holy Spirit, when He testifies of Christ and glorifies 
 Him, must be known and acknowledged in His 
 iJivine commission and presence. It is only thus 
 that we can have the assurance that the knowledge 
 we receive is indeed of God, and not what our human 
 reason has gathered from the Word of God, To 
 know the King's seal is the only safeguard against 
 a counterfeit image. To know the Spirit is the 
 Divine foundation of certainty. 
 
 And how now can the Spirit thus be known ? 
 Jesus says : ' Ye know Him, for He abideth with 
 you, and shall be in you.' The abiding indwelling 
 of the Spirit is the condition of knowing Him. 
 His presence will be self-evidencing. As we allow 
 Him to dwell in us, as we give Him full possession 
 in faith and obedience, and allow Him to testify of 
 Jesus as Lord, He will bring His credentials : He will 
 prove Himself to be the Spirit of God. * It is the 
 Spirit beareth witness, because the Spirit is truth.* 
 It is because the presence of the Spirit as Wiq 
 uidwelling teacher of every believer is so little 
 known and recognised in the Church, and because, 
 as the result of this, the workings of the Spirit are 
 few and feeble, that there is so much difficulty and 
 doubt, so much fear and hesitation about the re- 
 cognition of the witness of the Spirit. As the truth 
 and experience of the indwelling of the Spirit is 
 restored among God's people, and the Spirit is free? 
 
KNOWING TUK SPIKIT. 
 
 81 
 
 again to work in power among us, His blessed 
 l)resence will be its own sufficient proof : we shall 
 indeed know Him. ' Ye know Him, for He shall 
 be in you/^ 
 
 But meanwhile:, as long as His presence is so 
 llltle recognised, and His working straitened, how 
 is He now to be known ? To this question tl"' 
 nnswer is very simple. To every one who honestij 
 desires, not only to know that he has the Spirit, 
 but to know Him in His person, and as a personal 
 possession and Teat her, we say : Study the teaching 
 of the Word in regard to the Spirit. Be not 
 content with the teaching of the Church or of men 
 about the Spirit, but go to the Word. Be not 
 content with your ordinary reading of the Word, or 
 what you already know of its doctrines. If you 
 are in earnest to know the Spirit, go and search the 
 Word specially with this view, as one thirsting to 
 drink deeply of the water of life. Gnther together 
 all the Word says of the Spirit, His indwelling and 
 His work, and hide it in your heart. Be determined 
 to accept of nothing but what the Word teaches, 
 but also to accept heartily of all it teaches. 
 
 But study the Word in dependence on the 
 Spirit's teaching. H you study it with your 
 human wisdom, your study of it may only confirm 
 you in your mistaken views. If you are a child 
 of God, you have the Holy Spirit to teach you, 
 even though you do not yet know how lie works 
 in you. Ask the Father to work through Him in 
 
 * See Note D, on the Knowledge of c,he Spirit. 
 
 Si 
 
82 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 .( 
 
 you, and to make the Word life and light in yon. 
 If, in the spirit of humility, and trusting in Gods 
 guidance, you submit heartily to the Word, you 
 will find the promise surely fulfilled : you will be 
 taught of God. We have more than once spoken 
 of the progress from the outward to the inward : be 
 whole-hearted in giving up all your thoughts and 
 men's thoughts as you accept the Word ; ask God to 
 reveal in you by His Spirit His thoughts concerning 
 His Spirit: He will assuredly do so. 
 
 And what will be the chief marks to be found in 
 the Word by which the Spirit in us can be known ? 
 They will be chiefly two. The first will be more 
 external, refsrring to the work He does. The 
 second more in the inner life, in the dispositions 
 which He seeks in those in whom He dwells. 
 
 We have just heard how Jesus spoke of a loving 
 obedience as the condition of the Spirit's coming. 
 Obedience is the abiding mark of His presence. 
 Jesus gave Him as a Teacher and Guide. All 
 Scripture speaks of His work as demanding the 
 surrender of the whole life. * If by the Spii it ye 
 mortify the deeds of the hodi/, ye shall live ; for as 
 many as a?*e led by the Spirit of God, these are the 
 sons of God.' ' Your body is a temple of the Holy 
 Ghost: glorify God therefore in your body.' 'if 
 we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Si)irit.' 
 * We are changed into the same image, even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord.' Words like these define 
 very distinctly the operations of the Spirit. As 
 God is first known in His works, so with the Spirit. 
 
KNOWING THE SPIRIT, 
 
 83 
 
 He reveals God's will, Christ doing that will, and 
 calling us to follow Him in it. As the believer 
 surrenders himself to a life in the Spirit, cordially 
 consents that the leading of the Spirit, the mortifying 
 of tlie flesh, the obedience to the rule of Christ, 
 without limit or exception, shall be what he gives 
 himself up to, and as he waits on the Spirit to 
 work all this, he will find and know the Spirit 
 working in him. It is as we simply make the aim 
 of the Holy Spirit our aim, and give up ourselves 
 entirely to what He is to come and work, that we 
 are prepared to know Him as dwelling in us. It 
 will be the Spirit Himself, bearing witness with our 
 spirit, as we are led by Him to obey God even as 
 Christ did, that He is in us. 
 
 We shall also know Him, and that still more 
 certainly and intimately, as we not only yield 
 ourselves to that life He woiks, but as we study 
 the personal relation in which a believer stands to 
 Him, and the way in which His working may most 
 fully be experienced. 'J he habit of soul the Spirit 
 desires is contained in the one word — faith. Faith 
 has ever to do with the Invisible, with what 
 appears to man most unlikely. When the Divine 
 apprared in Jetius, in what a lowly form was it 
 hidden ! Thirty years He lived in NazHi<;th, and 
 they had seen nothing in Him but the son of i\ 
 carpenter. It was only with His baptism that His 
 Divine Sonship came into coujplete and perfect 
 consciousness. Even to His disciples His Divine 
 glory was often hidden. How much more when 
 
 r 
 
84 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CliKIST. 
 
 the Life of God enters the depths of our sinful 
 being, will it be matter of faith to recognise it ! 
 Let us meet the Spirit in holy, liumble faith. Let 
 us not be content just to know that the Spirit is in 
 us : that will profit us but little. Let us cultivate 
 the habit, in each religious exercise, of bowing 
 reverently in silence before God, to give the Spirit 
 the recognition that is His due, and keep down tlie 
 will of the flesh that is so ready with its service of 
 God. Let us wait on the Spirit in deep dependence. 
 Let us have a season of quiet meditation, in which 
 we enter the inner temple of our heart, to see that 
 all there is indeed surrendered to the Spirit, and 
 there bow before the Father to ask and expect from 
 Him the mighty working of the Holy Spirit. How- 
 ever little we see or feel, let us believe. The 
 Divine is always first knowu by believing. As we 
 continue believing, we shall be prepared to know 
 and to see. 
 
 There is no way of knowing a fruit but by 
 tasting it. There is no way of knowing the light 
 but by being in it and using it. There is no way 
 of knowing a person but by intercourse with him. 
 There is no way of knowing the Holy Spirit but by 
 possessing Him, and being possessed of Him. To 
 live in the Spirit is the only way to know the 
 Spirit. To have Him in us, doing His work, and 
 giving us His fellowship, this is the path the Master 
 opens when He says : ' Ye know Him, for He shall 
 be in ym.' 
 
 Believer ! for the excellency of the knowledge of 
 
 
 
KNOWING THE SPIRIT. 
 
 85 
 
 
 Christ Jesus Paul counted all things but loss. 
 Shall we not do so too ? Shall we not, to know 
 the glorified Christ through the Spirit, give up 
 everything ? Oh, let us think of it ! the Father 
 hath sent the Spirit that we might fully share in 
 the glory of the glorified Christ ! Shall we not 
 give ourselves up to have Him in us, to let Him 
 have all in us, that we may fully know Him, 
 through whom alone we can know the Son and tlio 
 Father ? I^t us even now yield ourselves to the 
 full to the indwelling and teaching of the Blessed 
 Spirit whom the Son hath given us from the 
 Father. 
 
 Blessed Father ! who hast, in the name of Christ, 
 sent us Thy Holy Spirit, graciously hear my prayer, 
 and grant that I may know Him indeed by hav iig 
 Hini within me. May His witness to Jesus be 
 divinely clear and mighty, may His leading and 
 sanctifying be in such holy p( er, may His indwell- 
 ing in my spirit be in such ' ith and Life, tbi^l the 
 consciousness of Him as m; i^ife may be as simple 
 and sure as of my natural 1 j, As the light is tlie 
 sufficient witness to the s^mi, may His light be its 
 own witness to the present c of Jesus. 
 
 And lend me, ray Father, in knowing Him t:) 
 know arii'ht the mystery of Thy Love in giving 
 Him within. May I understand how it was not 
 enough to Thee to work h\ me by Thy secret, 
 unknown, Alniij^lity Power, nor even to work through 
 Him who came to the earth to reveal Thee. Thy 
 
 !s i 
 
86 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Soil had something more, and better still, for ns — 
 the Spirit, the Blessed Tliird in the Godhead, was 
 sent, that Thy Personal Presence, the most intimate 
 union and unbroken fellowship with Thee, might be 
 my portion. The Holy Spirit, Thy very Life and 
 Self, has come to b^ now the life of my very self, 
 and so take me wholly for Thine own. 
 
 my God, do teach me and all Thy people to 
 know Thy Spirit. Not only to know that He is in 
 IS, not only to know somewhat of His working, but 
 to know Him as in His very person He reveals and 
 glorifies the Son, and in Him Thee the Father. 
 Amen. 
 
 
 1. A Church or a believer may have a correct apprehension of all that 
 Scripture aays of the Holy Spirit, may know all about Him, and yet know 
 little of Hitmelf aa the Divine Revelation of a 'resent Christ as Saviour and 
 King. 
 
 2. The word alone cannot teach us to know the Spirit. The word Is Indeed 
 the test. But to apply the teat of the Word with certainty, we need with 
 certainty to know the Hpirlt, and that He Is teaching us. 
 
 3. ' The world cannot receive Him, for It seeth Him not, neither knoweth 
 Him.' 'We recefi'ed not the spirit of the world, but the Spirit which Is of 
 6od, that we might kTiOTr.* The spirit of the world and its wisdom cannot 
 possibly know the Spirit of Qod. There must be a very unworldly spirit to 
 know the Spirit that comes from Heaven, 
 
 4. Brother I would you know the Spirit ? Remember He will reoea' Himself 
 If you will submit to the laws of His Indwelling. These are very simple. 
 Bt,:ieve that He dwells In you, and exercise this faith continually. Yield 
 yourself whole-hearted to His leading, as to One who has the aole and whole 
 guidance of jour life. And wait then. In very lowly humility and dependence, 
 on Hla fjrther teaching, and the fuller experience of Hla Indwelling and work. 
 You may be aure of It, the word will be fulfilled: ' Ye know Him, for He shall 
 be In you.' 
 
 6. ' If we believe He la a person In the Trinity, let ua treat with Him aa 
 a person, apply ouraelvea to Him aa a person, glorify Him in our hearts as 
 a person, dart forth beams of special and oeculiar love to, and converse 
 with Him, as a person. Let ua fear to grieve Him, and also believe on Him 
 M a person,'— Goouviin 
 
THE SPIKIT OF TKUXU. 
 
 87 
 
 Ninth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRISt 
 
 JTfie Spirit of dtudj. 
 
 * But whan the Comforter ia come, whom I will send onto 
 you from the Father, even Spirit of Truth, which pro- 
 
 «eedeth from the Father, He suall bear witness of me.' — John 
 XV. 26. 
 
 » When He, the Spirit of Truth, is come, He shall guide you 
 into all the Truth ; for He shall not speak from Himself; 
 but whatsoever things He shall hear, these shall He speak.v—i 
 John xvi. 13. 
 
 GOD created man in His image ; to become like 
 Himself, capable of holding fellowship with 
 Him in His glory. In Paradise two ways were set 
 before man for attaining to this likeness to God. 
 These were typified by the two trees — thut of life, 
 and that of knowledge. God's way was the former, 
 — through life would come the knowledge and like- 
 ness of God ; in abiding in God's wdl, and partaking 
 of God's life, man would be perfected. In recom- 
 mending the other, Satan assured man that know- 
 ledge was the one thing to be desired to make us 
 
 like God. And when man ciiose the 
 
 light 
 
 of 
 
 f 
 
88 
 
 TilK SPIRIT OK CUKIST. 
 
 knowledge above tlie life in obedience, lie entered 
 upon the terrible path that leads to death.^ Tiie 
 desire to know became his greatest temptation ; hi3 
 whole nature was corrupted, and knowledge was to 
 him more than obedience and more tlian life. 
 
 Under the power of this deceit, that promises 
 hnppiness in knowledge, the human race is still led 
 astray. And nowhere does it show its power more 
 terribly than in connection with the true religion 
 and God's own revelation of Himself. Even when 
 the word of God is accepted, the wisdom of the 
 world and of the flesh ever enters in ; even spiritual 
 Truth is robbed of its power when held, not in the 
 life of the Spirit, but in the wisdom of man. 
 Where Truth enters into the inward parts, as God 
 desires, there it becomes the life of the spirit. Bul 
 it may also only reach the outer parts of the soul, 
 the intellect and reason, and while it occupies and 
 pleases there, and satisfies us with the imagination 
 that it will thence exercise its influence, its power 
 is nothing more than that of human argument and 
 wisdom, that never reaches to the true life of the 
 spirit. For there is a truth of the understanding 
 
 * After I had found the illustration of the two tn-es elsewhere, 
 and written the above, I noticed the following in Codet on JcVu 
 i. 4 : ' Is it not natural in such a context to see in the two words L\ff. 
 and Lights and in the relations wliich John establishes between 
 them, an allusion to the tree of life aud to that of knowleilge? 
 After having eaten of the former, man would have been called to 
 feed on the second. John initiates us into the real essence ol these 
 primordial and niyst3rious facts, and gives us in this verse, as it 
 were, thj philosopliy of Paradise,' 
 
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 
 
 80 
 
 and feelings, which is only natural, the hnnmn 
 inia[,'e or form, the shadow of Divine Truth. There 
 is a Truth which is suhstance and reality, communi- 
 cuiing to him who holds it the actual possession, 
 the life of the things of which others only think and 
 speak. The truth in shadow, in form, m thought, 
 was all the law could give ; and in that .he religion 
 of the Jews consisted. The truth of substance, 
 the Truth as a Divine life, was what Jesus brought 
 as the Only-begotten, full of grace and truth. He 
 is Himself ' the Truth.' ^ 
 
 In promising the Holy Spirit to His disciples, our 
 Lord speaks of Him as the Spirit of Truth. That 
 Truth, which He Himself is, tliat Truth and 
 Grace and Life which He brought from heaven as 
 a substantial spiritual reality to communicate to us, 
 that Truth has its existence in the Spirit of God : 
 He is the Spirit, the inner life of that Divine 
 Truth. And when we receive Him, and just as far 
 as we receive Him, and give up to Him, He makes 
 Christ, and the Life of God, to be Truth in us 
 divinely real ; He gives it to be in us of a truth. 
 lu His teaching and guiding into the Truth, He 
 does not give us only words and thoughts and 
 images and impressions, coming to us from without, 
 from a book or a teacher outside of us. He enters 
 the secret roots of our life, and plants the Truth of 
 
 *• ' The word trtte in John, as in classical writers, signifies not th« 
 trm in opposition to the false^ but the veritable , the perfect real- 
 ization of the idea in opposition to a^l its imperfect manifestations. 
 — Godet, John i. 9. See Note E. 
 
90 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 1^ 
 
 God there as a seed, and dwells in it as a Divino 
 Life. And when, in faith, and expectation, and 
 suriender, this Hidden Life is cherished and 
 nourished there, He quickens and strengthens it, so 
 that it grows stronger and spreads its branches 
 through the whole being. And so, not from with- 
 out but from within, not in word but in power, in 
 Life and Truth, the Spirit reveals Christ and all Ho 
 has for us. He makes the Christ, who has been 
 to us so much only an image, a thought, a Saviour 
 outside and above us, to be Truth within us. The 
 Spirit brings with His incoming the Truth into us ; 
 and then, having possessed us from within, guides 
 us, as we can bear it, into all the truth. 
 
 In His promise to send the Spirit of Truth 
 from the Father, our Lord very definitely tells us 
 what His principal work would be. * He shall bear 
 witness of me.' He had just before said, * I am the 
 Truth ; * the Spirit of Truth can have no work but 
 just to reveal and impart the fulness of Grace and 
 Truth that there are in Christ Jesus. He came 
 down from the glorified Lord in heaven to bear 
 witness within us, and so through us, of the reality 
 and the power of the redemption which Christ has 
 accomplished there. There are Christians who are 
 afraid that to think much of the Spirit's presence 
 within us will lead us away from the Saviour 
 above us. A looking within to ourselves may do 
 this ; we may be sure that the silent, believing, 
 adoring recognition of the Spirit within us will only 
 lead to a fuller, a more true and spiritual apprehen- 
 
 >^'„ 
 
 \ 
 
THE SPIRIT OP TRUTH. 
 
 91 
 
 \ 
 
 lion that Christ alone is indeed all in all. ' He 
 shall bear witness of nie.* ' He shall glorify me.' 
 It is He will make our knowlecige of Christ Life 
 and Truth, an experience of the Power with which 
 He works and saves.^ 
 
 To know what the disposition or state of mind 
 is in which we can fully receive this guiding into 
 all Truth, note the remarkable words our Lord uses 
 #Joncerning the Spirit : ' He shall guide you into all 
 the Truth, for He shall not speak from Himself ; 
 but whatsoever things He shall hear, these shall He 
 speak.' The mark of this Spirit of Truth is a 
 wondrous Divine Teachableness. In the mystery 
 of the Holy Trinity there is nothing more beautiful 
 than this, that with a Divine equality on the part 
 of the Son and the Spirit, there is also a perfect 
 subordination. The Son could claim that men 
 should honour Him even as they honoured the 
 Father, and yet counted it no derogation from that 
 honour to say. The Son can do nothing of Himself ; 
 as I hear, so I speak. And even so the Spirit of 
 Truth never speaks from Himself. We should 
 think He surely could speak from Himself ; but no, 
 only what He hears, that He speaks. The Spirit 
 that fears to speak out of its own, that listens for 
 God to speak, and only speaks when God speaks, 
 this is the Spirit of Truth. 
 
 And this is the disposition He works, the life 
 He breathes, in those who truly receive Him — 
 that gentle teachableness which marks the poor 
 
 1 See Note F, on the Mission of the Spirit. 
 

 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 
 1.0 
 
 I.I 
 
 liilM 125 
 Itt IM 12.2 
 
 11-25 III 1.4 
 
 M 
 ^ 
 
 Photographic 
 
 Sciences 
 Corporation 
 
 4*^' 
 
 4 
 
 \ 
 
 :\ 
 
 \ 
 
 V 
 
 ^.>. 
 
 >?!^°^ 
 
 ^.1^' 
 
 \ 
 
 '^^ 
 
 23 WiST MAIN STRHT 
 
 WIBSTIR,N.Y. I4SM 
 
 (716)«72-4S03 
 
92 
 
 THE a?IKlT OF CHRIST. 
 
 in spirit, the broken in heart, who have become 
 conscious that as worthless as their righteousness, 
 is their wisdom, or power of apprehending spirilual 
 truth ; that they need Christ as much for *^ho ono 
 as the other, and that the Spirit wiihin them alone 
 can be the Spirit of Truth. He shows us how, 
 even with the word of God in our hands and on 
 our tongues, we may be utterly wanting in that 
 waiting, docile, submissive spirit to which alone its 
 spiritual meaning can be revealed. He opens our 
 eyes to the reason why so much Bible reading, and 
 Bible knowledge, and Bible preaching has so little 
 fruit unto true holiness ; because it is studied and 
 lield with a wisdom that is not from above, that was 
 not asked for and waited for from God. The mark 
 of the Spirit of Truth was wanting. He speaketb 
 not. He thinketh not from Himself; what He 
 hears, that He speaks. The Spirit of Truth receives 
 everything day by day, step by step, from God in 
 heaven. He is silent, and does not speak, except 
 and until He hears. 
 
 These thoughts suggest to us the great danger of 
 the Christian life — seeking to know the Truth of 
 God in His word without the distinct waiting on the 
 Spirit of Truth in the heart The tempter of 
 Paradise still moves about among men. Knowledjoe 
 is still his great temptation. How many Christians 
 there are who could confess that their knowledge of 
 Divine Truth does but little for them : it leaves 
 them powerless against the world and sin; they 
 know little of the light and the liberty, the strength 
 
THE SPIUIT OF TRUTH. 
 
 93 
 
 Mid the joy the Truth was meant to bring. It is 
 because they take to themselves God's truth in tlie 
 power of human wisdom and human thought, and 
 wait not for the Spirit of Truth to lead them into it. 
 Most earnest efibrts to abide in Christ, to walk like 
 Christ, have failed because their faith stood more in 
 the wisdom of man than in the power of God. 
 Most blessed experiences liave been short-lived, 
 because they knew not that the Spirit of Truth was 
 within them to make Christ and His Holy Presence 
 an abiding reality. 
 
 These thoughts suggest the great need of the 
 Christian life. Jesus said, * If any man will come 
 after me, let him deny himself, and follow me.' 
 Many a one follows Jesus without denying himself. 
 And there is nothing that more needs denying than 
 our own wisdom, the energy of the fleshly mind, as 
 it exerts itself in the things of God. 
 
 Let us learn that in all our intercourse with 
 God, in His word or prayer, in every act of worship, 
 the first step ought to be a solemn act of abnega- 
 tion, in which we deny our power to understand 
 God's word, or to speak our words to Him, without 
 the special Divine leading of the Holy Spirit. 
 Christians need to deny even more than their own 
 righteousness, their own wisdom ; this is often the 
 most difficult part of the denial of self. In all 
 worship we need to realize the alone suthciency and 
 the absolute indispensableness, not only of the 
 Blood, but '3 much of the Spirit of Jesus. This is 
 the meaning of the call to be silent unto God, and 
 
I 
 
 94 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 in quiet to wait on Him , to hush the rush of 
 thoughts and words in God's presence, and in deep 
 humility and stillness to wait, and listen, and hear 
 what God will sa}>. The Spirit of Truth never 
 speaks from Himself: what He hears, that He 
 speaks. A lowly, listening, teachable spirit is the 
 mark of the presence of the Spirit of Truth. 
 
 And then, when we do wait, let us rejnember 
 that even then the Spirit of Truth does not at once 
 or first speak in thoughts that we can at once 
 apprehend and express. These are but on the 
 surface. To be true they must be rooted deep. 
 They must have hidden depth in themselves. The 
 Holy Spirit is the Spirit of Truth because He is the 
 Spirit of Life: the Life is the Light. Not to 
 thought or feeling does He speak in the first place, 
 but in the hidden man of the heart, in the spirit of 
 a man which is within him, in his inmost parts, ^t 
 is only to faith that it is revealed what His teaching 
 means, and what His guidance into the Truth. I^t 
 our first work therefore to-day again be to believe ; 
 that is, to recognise the Living God in the work He 
 undertakes to do. Let us believe in the Holy Spirit 
 as the Divine Quickener and Sanctifier, who is already 
 within us, and yield up all to Him. He will prove 
 Himself the Divine Enlightener: the Life is the 
 Light. Let the confession that we have no life or 
 goodness of our own be accompanied by the con- 
 fession that we have no wisdom either ; the deeper 
 our sense of this, the more precious will the promise 
 of the Spirit's guidance become. And the deep 
 
 
THE SPIRIT OF TRUTH. 
 
 95 
 
 assurance of having the Spirit of Truth within us 
 will work in us the holy teacher's likeness, and the 
 quiet hearkening to which the secrets of the Lord 
 shall be revealed. 
 
 Lord God of Truth ! who seekcst Truth in the 
 inward parts in them that worship Thee, I do bless 
 Thee again that Thou hast given me too the Spirit 
 of Truth, and that He now dwells in me. I bow 
 before Thee in lowly fear to ask that I may know 
 Him aright, and walk before Thee in the living 
 consciousness that the Spirit of Truth, the Spirit of 
 Christ, who is the Truth, is indeed within me, the 
 inmost self of my new life. May every thought 
 and word, every disposition and habit, be the proof 
 that the Spirit of Christ, who is the Truth, dwells 
 and rules within me. 
 
 Especially do I ask Thee that He may witness 
 to me of Christ Jesus. May the Truth of His 
 atonement and blood, as it works with living 
 efficacy in the upper sanctuary, dwell in me and I 
 in it. May His Life and Glory no less be Truth in 
 me, a living experience of His Presence and Power. 
 O my Father! may the Spirit of Thy Son, the 
 Spirit of Truth, indeed be my life. May each word 
 of Thy Son through Him be made true in me. 
 
 1 do thank Thee once again, my Father, that 
 He dwelleth within me. I bow my knees that 
 Thou wouldest grant that, according to the riches 
 of Thy glory, He may work mightily in me and all 
 Thy saints. Oh, that all Thy people may know 
 
96 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 tin's their privilege and rejoice in it : the Holy 
 Spirit vvitliin them to reveal Christ, full of Grace 
 and Truth, as Truth in them. Amen. 
 
 /. Aa bodily tight Is a function of healthy animal life, $o spiritual light 
 comes only out of a healthy spiritual life. Life truths can only be known by 
 living them ; the Spirit of life only by living In the Spirit. Where faith 
 txercises itself In accepting and yielding to the life of the Spirit In the hidden 
 part, the new spirit, there its ear will be opened, and the voice of the Spirit 
 will be heard. The Spirit of Life is the Spirit of Truth. Within you, In your 
 Inmost part, this Is what Qod says. 
 
 2. Sin has a twofold effect ; It Is not only guilt, but death ; It not only 
 works legal condemnation from above, but moral corruption within. Redemp- 
 tion is not only righteousness but life : not only objective but subjective 
 restoration to Qod'a favour and fellowship. The first is the work of the Son 
 for us, the second of the Spirit of the Son within us. There are many who 
 cling most firmly to the work of the Son for us, and yet fall of the peace and 
 the power He gives, because they do not fully yield to the work of the Spirit In 
 us As full and clear as our acceptance of the Divine Atoning Saviour mu;t 
 be our assurance of the Divine Indwelling Spirit, to make that Saviour's work 
 Truth in us. The Spirit of Truth within us, this is the Spirit of Christ. 
 
 3. ' Behold, Thou deslrest Truth in the inward parts, and In the hidden part 
 Th- "ialt mak» me to know Wisdom.' The Truth and Wisdom were not to bs 
 In the mere understanding, but In the Inward hide i Life of the Spirit Tk* 
 $pMt of Tmth, now liwelUng in lu^ it Uitfulfitmont qf thi» prophooi^ 
 
 J 
 
THE BXTEDIEKCY OF THE SPIRIT'S C0MI5G. 97 
 
 Tenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 £\}t fflfxpeli{enc5 of tlje Spirit's Comings 
 
 ' I tell yoa the truth ; it in expedient for you that I go away : 
 for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come ; but if I go^ 
 I will send Him unto you.'— John xvi. 7. 
 
 AS our Lord is leaving this world, He promises 
 the disciples here that His departure will bo 
 their gain ; the Comforter will take His place, and 
 be to them far better than He ever had been or 
 could be in His bodily presence. This very specially 
 in two aspects. His intercourse with them had 
 never been unbroken, but liable to interruption; 
 now it would even be broken off by death, and they 
 would see Him no more. The Spirit would abide 
 with them for ever. His own intercourse had been 
 very much external, and, in consequence of this, had 
 not resulted in what might have been expected. 
 The Spirit would be in them ; His coming would be 
 as an Indwelling Presence, in the power of which 
 they should have Jesus too in them as their Life 
 and their Strength. 
 
 o 
 
98 
 
 THE .SriKIT OF CllinST. 
 
 During tlie life of our Lord on cmtb, each of TTis 
 disciples was dealt with hy Him in accordanco 
 witii his peculiar character, and ihe special circum- 
 stances in which he nii;,dit be placed. The inter- 
 course was an intensely personal one : in every 
 thing He proved that He knew His slieep hy name. 
 For each there was a thoughtl'ulness and a wisdom 
 that met just what was requiied. Would the Spirit 
 supply this need too, and give back that tenderness 
 of personal interest and that special individual 
 dealing which had made the guidance of Jesus so 
 precious ? We cannot doubt it. All that Christ 
 had been to them, the Spirit was to restore in 
 greater power, and in a b^lessedness that should 
 know no break. They wore to be far happier and 
 S'"»r and stronger with Jesus in heaven, than 
 ' jy ever could have been with Him on earth. 
 This, the chief beauty and blessedness of their 
 discipleship of such a Master, that He was so wise 
 and patient to give to each one just what he needed, 
 and to make each one feel that he had in Him his 
 best friend, could never be left out. The indwelling 
 of the Spirit was meant to restore Christ's most 
 personal intercourse and guidance, His direct personal 
 friendship. 
 
 It is to many a matter of great difficulty to 
 conceive of this or to believe it ; much less do they 
 exp(Tience it. The thought of Christ walking with 
 men on earth, living and guiding them, is so cl-ar; 
 the thought of a Spirit hiding Himself within us, 
 and speaking, not in distinct thoughts, but only in 
 
THE EXIKhir.NrY i)F TIIK 8lMI:Il's COMING. 99 
 
 tlie secret depths of the life, makes His guidance so 
 much luore diHicnh. 
 
 And yet just what constitutes the greater difficulty 
 of the new, the spiritual intercourse and guidance, 
 is what gives it its greater worth and hlessedness. 
 It is the same principle we see in daily life r diffi- 
 culty calls out the powers, strengthens the will, 
 develops character, and makes the man. In a 
 child's first lessons he has to be helped and en- 
 couraged ; as he goes on to what is more difficult, 
 the teacher leaves him to his own resources. A 
 youth leaves his parents* roof to have the principles 
 that have been instilled tested and strengthened. 
 Ill each case it is expedient tliat the outward 
 presence and help be withdrawn, and the soul be 
 thrown upon itself to apply and assimilate the 
 lessons it had been taught. God wants to educate 
 us, indeed, to a perfect manhood, not ruled by an 
 outward law, but by the inner life. As long as 
 Jesus was with the disciples on earth, He had to 
 work from without inward, and yet could never 
 effectually reach or master the inmost parts. When 
 He went away He sent the Spirit to be in them, 
 that now their growth might be from within outward. 
 Taking possession first of the inmost secret recesses 
 of their being by His Spirit, He would have them, 
 in the voluntary consent and surrender to His 
 inspiration and guidance, personally become what 
 He Himself is, through His Spirit in them. So they 
 would have the framing of their life, the forming of 
 their character, in their own hands, in the power of 
 
 -.1 
 
100 
 
 THE SWIilT OF CHUIST. 
 
 ii i 
 
 the Divine Spirit, wlio really had become their spirit 
 So they would grow up to that true sidf-stan(lin^;ness, 
 that true independence of the outward, in wliich 
 they should become like Himself, a true, f»^i»arate 
 person, having life in himself, and yet only living 
 in the Father. 
 
 As long as the Christian only asks what is oasy 
 and pleasant, he will never understand that it is 
 expedient, really better for us, that Christ should 
 not be on earth. But as soon as the thoughts of 
 difficulty and sacrifice are set aside, in the honest 
 desire to become a truly God-like man, bearing the 
 full image of the first-born Son, and in all things 
 living well-pleasing to the Father, the thought of 
 Jesus' departure that His Spirit may now become 
 our very own, and we be exercised and disciplined 
 in the life of faith, will be welcomed with gladness 
 and gratitude. If to follow the leading of the 
 Spirit, and specially the personal friendship and 
 guidance of Jesus in it, be a much more difficult 
 and dangerous path than it would have been to 
 follow Him on earth, we must remember the privilege 
 we enjoy, the nobility we attain, the intimacy of 
 fellowship with God we enter into, — all these are 
 infinitely greater. To have the Holy Spirit of God 
 coming through the human nature of our Lord, 
 entering into our spirits, identifying Himself with 
 us, and becoming our very own just as He was the 
 Spirit of Christ Jesus on earth,— surely this is a 
 blessedness worth any sacrifice, for it is the beginning 
 of the indwelling of God Himself. 
 
 I 
 
TlIK KXI'l :)!KNCY OF THE SPIKIT*8 COMING. lOl 
 
 But to see that it is such a privilege and to 
 desire it very earnestly cIdcs not remove the difti- 
 culty. And so the question conies again : the 
 intercourse of Jesus with His disciples on earth, so 
 condescending in its tenderness, so particular and 
 minute in its interest, so consciously personal in its 
 love, how can this be ours in the same degree now 
 that He is absent, and the Spirit is to be our guide 7 
 The first answer here is, as through the whole 
 Christian life, by faith. With Jesus on earth, the 
 disciples, when once they had believed, walked by 
 sight. We walk by faith. In faith we must 
 accept and rejoice in the word of Jesus: *It is 
 expedient for you that I ^o away.' We must take 
 time distinctly to believe l^, to approve 6f it, to 
 rejoice that He is gone to the Father. We must 
 learn to thank and praise Him that He has called 
 us fo this life in the Spirit. We must believe that 
 in this gift of the Spirit the presence and inter- 
 course of our Lord are fully secured to ttS most 
 certainly and effectually. It may indeed be itl a way 
 we do not yet understand, because we have so little 
 believed and rejoiced in the gift of the Holy St)irit. 
 But faith must believe and praise for what it does 
 not yet understand ; let us believe assuredly and 
 joyfully that the Holy Spirit, and Jesus Himself 
 through Him, will teach us how the intercourse and 
 guidance are to be enjoyed. 
 
 Will teach us. Beware of misunderstanding 
 these words. We always connect teaching with 
 thoughts. We want the Spirit to suggest to us 
 
102 
 
 THK SriKIT OF CI I II I ST. 
 
 It 
 
 certain conce)>tions of how Josus will bo with ua 
 find in us. And this Ih not whut He docs. The 
 Spirit dues not dwell in the mind, but in the life. 
 Not in what loe know, but in what we are does the 
 Spirit begin His work. Do not let us seek or 
 expect at once a clear appreheiibion, a new iusi<;ht, 
 into this or any Divine truth. Knowledge, thought, 
 feeling, action, all this is a part of that external 
 religion which )he external presence of Jesus had 
 also wrought in the disciples. The Spirit was now 
 to come, and, deeper down than all these. He was 
 to be the Hidden Presence of Jesus within the 
 depths of their personality. The Divine Life was 
 in a newness of power to become their life. And 
 the teaching of the Spirit would begin, not in word 
 or thought, but in Power. In the Power of a Life 
 working in them secretly, but with Divine energy \ 
 in the Power of a Faith that rejoiced that Jesus 
 was really near, was really taking charge of the 
 whole life and every circumstance of it, the Spirit 
 would inspire them with the faith of the Indwelling 
 Jesus. This would be the beginning and the blessed- 
 ness of His teaching. They would have the Life of 
 Jesus within them, and they would by faith know 
 that it was Jesus : their faith would be at once cause 
 and effect of the Presence of the Lord in the Spirit. 
 It is by such a faith — a faith which the Spirit 
 breathes, which comes from His being and living 
 in us — that the Presence of Jesus is to be as real 
 and all-sufficient as when He was on earth. But 
 why then is it that believers who have the Spirit 
 
THE EXPKMENCY OF THE SPIKIT's COMING. 103 
 
 do not experience it ujoro consciously and fully ? 
 The answer is very simple : they know and honour 
 the Spirit who is in them so little. They have 
 mnch faith in Jesus who died, or who reigns in 
 heaven, but little faith in Jesus who dwells in 
 them l)y His Spirit. It is this we need: faith in 
 Jesus as the fultiller of the promise, *He that 
 believeth in me, rivers of living water shall flow 
 out of him.* We must believe that the Holy Spirit 
 is within us as the Presence of our Lord Jesus. 
 And we must not only believe this with the faith 
 of the understanding as it seeks to persuade itself 
 of the truth of what Christ says. We must believe 
 with the heart, a heart in which the Holy Spirit 
 dwells. The whole gift of the Spirit, the whole 
 teaching of Jesus concerning the Spirit, is to 
 enforce the word : * The Kingdom of God is within 
 you.' If we would have the true faith of the heart, 
 let us turn inward, and very gently and humbly 
 yield to the Holy Spirit to do His work in ns. 
 
 To receive this teaching and this faith, which 
 standeth in the Life and Power of the Spirit, let 
 us above all fear that which hinders Him most, — 
 the will and the wisdom of man. We are still 
 surrounded by a life of self, of the flesh; in the 
 service of God, even in the effort to exercise faith, 
 it is ever putting itself forward, and putting forth 
 its strength. Every thought, not only every evil 
 thought, but every thought, however good, in which 
 our mind runs before the Spirit, must be brought 
 into captivity. Let us lay our own will and our 
 
I II' 
 
 Mh( 
 
 1-' 1^ 
 
 I 
 
 104 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 own wisdom captive at the feet of Jesus, and wait 
 in faith and holy stillness of soul there. The deep 
 consciousness will grow strong that the Spirit is 
 within us, and that His Divine Life is living and 
 growing within us. As we thus honour Him, and 
 give up to Him, as we bring our fleshly activity 
 into svil^jection and wait on Him, He will not put 
 us to shame, but do His work within us. He will 
 strengthen our inner life; He will quicken our 
 faith; He will reveal Jesus; and we shall, step 
 by step, learn that the Presence and Personal 
 Intercourse and Guidance of Jesus are ours as 
 clearly and sweetly, yea, more truly and mightily, 
 than if He were with us on earth.^ 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus I I do rejoice that Thou art 
 no longer here on earth. I do bless Thee that in 
 a fellowship more real, more near, more tender, 
 more effectual than if Thou wert still here on earth, 
 Thou dost mfinifest Thyself to Thy disciples. I do 
 bless Thee tiiat Thy Holy Spirit dwells within me, 
 and gives me to know what that fellowship is, and 
 what tlie realness of Thy holy indwelling. 
 
 Mo3t ;Holy Lord ! forgive that I have not known 
 Thy Spirit sooner and better, that I have not 
 praised and loved Thee aright for this most 
 wonderful gift of Thine and the Father^s love. 
 And do teach me in the fulness of faith to believe 
 in Thee, from whom, day by day, the fresh anoint- 
 ing flow3 and fills the life. 
 
 > See Note G, on the Name Comforter, 
 
THK EXPEDIENCY OF THE SriRIT*S COMINO. 105 
 
 
 And hear me, Lord, when I cry to Thee on 
 behalf of so many of Thy redeemed ones, who do 
 not yet even see what it is to give up and lose tlie 
 mixed life after the. fleshj to receive in its stead the 
 life that is in the power of the Spirit. With many 
 of Thy saints, I do beseech Thee, oh, grant that 
 the Church may be wakened to know how the one 
 mark of her election, the one secret of her enjoy- 
 ment of Thy Presence, the one power for fulfilling 
 her calling, is that each believer be led to know 
 tliat the Spirit dwelleth within him, and that the 
 abiding Presence of his Lord with him as Keeper, 
 and Guide, and Friend is indeed his sure portion. 
 Grant it, Lord, for Thy name's sake. Amen. 
 
 1. ' Thia, "the Comforter will not come if I go not, " la a convincing proof 
 that the gilt of the Spirit at and since the day of Pentecoit U some* 
 t Ing TOTALLY DISTINCT tTom anything before that time: a new and 
 
 oftler dispensation.'- Alford. 
 
 2. The knowledge which the diaclplea had of Jeaua on earth waa aome- 
 thing ao bleaaed and DIulne that they could not conceive of there being any- 
 thing better. They could only think with sorrow of the prospect of losing 
 what they knew to be of Qod. There are many evangelical Chrlatiana who 
 must also give up the knowledge they have hitherto had of Christ, If He la 
 Indeed to be revealed in them In the power of the Holy Spirit Becauae I 
 go away, aorrow hath filled your heart : I tell you the truth. It la expedient for 
 you that I go away : these words can only be fully understood when they have 
 become a personal experience. The more external knowledge of Christ, with 
 Its life of effort and failure, must make way for the Spiritual Indwelling. 
 
 3. The !aw of the Kingdom is : through death to life, losing all to gain 
 all. The great hindrance with Christians Is their trust In the orthodoxy 
 and sufficiency of their religious knowledge. If they, so they say, could 
 only be more earnest and faithful. Do let us notice, the disciples had 
 not to be more earnest and faithful In the use of their privilege In having 
 8>fch a Master ; new and more strenuous efforts would only have led to new 
 and more bitter failu -e. They, though true disciples, had to let go, to lose, 
 to die to their old way of knowing Christ, and to receive aa a gift an 
 entirely new life of intercourse with Him. Oh, if Christians could only 
 see the more excellent way of living a holy life I the Indwelling Spirit of 
 Christ Himself du/elling within them, revealing and maintaining the Preaenca 
 of their Lord In powar 
 
106 
 
 THE SFXKIT OF CUBIST. 
 
 Eleventh Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JTfje Spirit glorifging (Christ 
 
 *It in expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not 
 Away, the Comforter will cot come ; but if I go, I will send 
 Bim unto yon. . . . He shall glorify me : for He shall take 
 of mine, and declare it unto you.*— John xvi. 7, 14. 
 
 THERE is a twofold glorifying of the Son 
 of which Scripture speaks. The one is by 
 the Father, the otlier by the Spirit : the one takes 
 place in heaven, the other here on earth. By the 
 one He is glorified ' in God Himself ; ' by the other, 
 * in us' (John xiii. 32, xvii. 10). Of the former 
 Jesus spake: *If God be glorified in Him (the Son 
 of Man), God shall also glorify Him in Himself, 
 and shall strnightway glorify Him.* And again, in 
 the high-priestly prayer, ' Father, the hour is come ; 
 glorify Thy Son. . . . And now, Father, glorify me 
 with Thyself.' Of the latter He said: 'The Spirit 
 shall glorify me.' * I am glorified in Him.' 
 
 To glorify is to manifest the hidden excellence 
 and worth of an object. Jesus, the Son of Man, 
 
THE SPIIIIT GLOKIFYING CHRIST. 
 
 107 
 
 was to be glorified when His human nature v as 
 admitted to the full participation of the power and 
 glory in which God dwells. He entered into the 
 perfect spirit - life of the heavenly world, of the 
 Divine Being. And all the angels worshipped 
 Him as the Lamb on the Throne. This heavenly, 
 spiritual glory of Christ the human mind cannot 
 conceive or apprehend in truth. It can only be 
 truly known by being experienced, by being com- 
 nuinicated and participated in the inner life. This 
 is the work of tlie Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of 
 the glorified Christ. He comes down as the Spirit 
 of Glory, and reveals the glory of Christ in us by 
 dwelling and working in us, in the life and the 
 power of that glory in which Christ dwelleth. He 
 makes Christ glorious to us and in us. And so He 
 glorifies Him in us, and through us in them who 
 have eyes to see. The Son seeks not His own 
 glory : the Father glorifies Him in heaven, the 
 Spirit glorifies Him in our hearts. 
 
 Hut oefore this glorifying of Christ by the Spirit 
 could take place, He must first needs go away from 
 His disciples. They could not have Him in the 
 flesh and in the Spirit too; His bodily presence 
 would hinder the spiniual indwelling. They must 
 part with the Christ they had ere they could receive 
 tise indwelling Chiist glorified by the Holy Spirit. 
 Christ Himself had to give up the life He had ere 
 H(; could be glorified in heaven or in us. Even so, 
 in union with Him, we must give up the Christ we 
 have known, the measure of the life we have had 
 
Ill 
 
 108 
 
 THE SPIUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 In Him, if we are indeed to have Him glorified to 
 us and in us by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 I am persuaded that just here is the point at 
 which very many of God's dear children need tlie 
 teaching, * It is expedient that I go away.' Like 
 His disciples, they have believed in Jesus ; they 
 love and obey Him ; they have experienced much 
 of the inexpressible blessedness of knowing and 
 following Him. And yet they feel that the deep 
 rest and joy, the holy light and the Divine power 
 of His abiding Indwelling, as they see it in Holy 
 Scripture, is not yet theirs. Now in secret, and 
 then under the blessed influence uf the fellowship 
 of the saints, or the teaching of God's ministers in 
 church or convention, they have been helped and 
 wonderfully blessed. Christ has become very 
 precious. And yet they see something still before 
 them, promises not perfectly fulfilled, wants not 
 fully satisfied. The only reason can be this : they 
 have not yet fully inherited the promise : ' The 
 Comforter shall abide with you, and He shall be in 
 you. He shall glorify me.' The expediency of 
 Christ's going away to come again glorified in the 
 Spirit they do not fully understand. They have 
 not yet been able to say, *Even though we have 
 known Christ after the flesh, yet now know we Him 
 so no more.' 
 
 ' Knowing Christ after the flesh : ' it is this must 
 come to an end, must make way for knowing Him 
 in the power of the Spirit. After the flesh : that 
 means, in the power of the external, of words and 
 
 
THE SPIRIT GLORIFYING CHRIST. 
 
 109 
 
 thoughts, of efforts and feelings, of influences and 
 aids coming fror:* within, from men and means. 
 The believer who has received the Holy Spirit, but 
 does not know fully what this implies, and so does 
 not give up entirely to His indwelling and leading, 
 still, to a great extent, has confidence in the flesh. 
 Admitting that he can do nothing without the 
 Spirit, he still labours and struggles vainly to believe 
 and live as he knows he should. Confessing most 
 heartily, and at times experiencing most blessedly, 
 that Christ alone is his life and strength, it grieves 
 and almost wearies him to think how often he fails 
 in the maintenance of that attitude of trustful 
 dependence in which Christ can live out His life 
 in him. He tries to believe all there is to be 
 believed of Christ's nearness and keeping and 
 indwelling, and yet, somehow, there are still breaks 
 and interruptions ; it is as if faith is not what it 
 should be — the substance of the things we had 
 lioped for. The reason must be that the faith itself 
 was still too much the work of the mind, in the 
 power of the flesh, in the wisdom of man. There 
 has indeed been a revelation of Christ the Faithful 
 Keeper, the Abiding Friend, but that revelation has 
 been, in part, taken hold of by the flesh and the 
 fleshly mind. This has made it powerl<^«s. 
 Christ, the Christ of glory, the doctrine of the 
 Indwelling Christ, has been received into tho 
 mixed life, partly flesh and partly spirit. It is 
 oaly the Spirit can glorify Christ : we must give up 
 and cast away the old way of knowing and believing 
 
110 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHKIST. 
 
 and having Christ. We must know Christ no more 
 after the flesh. ' The Spirit shall glorify me.' 
 
 But what does it mean that the Spir»t glorifies 
 Christ ? What is this glory of Christ that H« 
 reveals, and how does He do it ? What the glory 
 of Christ is we learn from Scripture. We read in 
 Hebrews, * We see not yet all things made subject 
 to Him. But we see ^ :us crowned with glory 
 and honour.* To Him all things have been made 
 subject. So our Lord connects His being glorified, 
 in both the passages we have taken as our text, with 
 all tliiiigs being given to Him. ' He shall glorify 
 me, for He shall take of mine. All things, what- 
 soever the Father hath, are mine ; therefore, said I, 
 that He taketh of mine, and shall declare it unto 
 you.' *A11 things that are mine are Thine, and 
 Thine are mine; and I am glorified in them.' In 
 exalting Him above all rule and power and 
 dominion, the Father hath put all things in subjec- 
 tion under His feet : He gave unto Him the Name 
 which is above every name, that in the Name of 
 tJesus every knee should bow. The Kingdom and 
 the Power and the Glory are ever one : Unto Him 
 that sitteth on the Throne, and to the Lamb in the 
 midst of the Throne, be the Glory and the Dominion 
 for ever. It is as sitting on the Throne of the 
 Divine Glory, with all things put in subjection 
 under His feet (Eph. i. 20-22), that Jesus has been 
 glorified in heaven.^ 
 
 When the Holy Spirit glorifies Jesus in us, He 
 
 ^ See Note H, on the Glory of Christ. 
 
THE SrilUT GLORIFYING CIIUIST. 
 
 Ill 
 
 
 reveals Him to us in this His glory. He takes of 
 the thiii*^3 of Christ and declares ihem to us. That 
 is not, He gives us a thought, or image, or vision 
 of that glory, as it is above us in heaven ; but 
 lie shows it to us as a personal experience and 
 possession : He makes us in our inmost life partake 
 of it. He shows Christ as present in us. All the 
 true, living knowledge we have of Christ is throu<;h 
 the Spirit of ColI. When Christ comes into ui: as 
 a feeble infant ; when He grows and increases and 
 is formed within us ; when we learn to trust and 
 follow and serve Him, — this is all of the Holy Spirit. 
 All this, however, may consist, even as in the 
 disciples, with much darkness and failure. But 
 when the Holy Spirit does His perfect work, and 
 reveals the GloriHed Lord, the Throne of His Glory 
 is set up iu the heart, and He rules over every 
 enemy. Every power is brought into subjection, 
 every thought into captivity to the obedience of 
 Christ. Through the whole of the renewed nature 
 there rises the song, ' Glory to Him that sitteth on 
 the Throne.* Though the confession holds true to 
 the end, ' In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelleth no 
 good thing,' the Holy Tresence of Christ as llulcr 
 and Governor so /ills the heart and life that His 
 Dominion ruleth over all. Sin has no dominion : 
 the law of the Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus 
 hath made me free from the law of sin and death. 
 
 H this be the glorifying of Christ which the 
 Spirit brings, it is easy to see what the way is that 
 leads to it The Enthronement of Jesus in His 
 

 i 
 
 112 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CIIUIST. 
 
 glory can only take place in the heart that has 
 promised implicit .and unreserved obedience, that has 
 had Ihe couu.ge to believe that He will take Ilia 
 power and rL'i<^n, and in that faith expects that 
 every enemy will bo kept under His feet. It feels 
 that it needs, it is willing to have, it claims and 
 accepts, Christ as Lord of All, with everything in 
 the life, great or small, taken possession of and 
 guided by Him, through His Holy Spirit. It is in 
 the loving, obedient disciple the Spirit is promised 
 to dwell ; in him the Spirit glorifies Christ. 
 
 This only can take place when the fulness of 
 time has come to the believing soul. The history 
 of the Church, as a whole, repeats itself in each 
 individual. Until the time appointed of the 
 Father, who hath the times and seasons in His 
 own hards, the heir is under guardians and 
 stewards, and diftereth nothing from a bond-servant. 
 When the fulness of time is come, and faith is 
 perfected, the Spirit of the Glorified One enters in 
 power, and Christ dwells in the heart. Yea, the 
 history of Christ Himself repeats itself in the soul. 
 In the temple there were two holy places — the one 
 before the veil, the other within the veil, the Most 
 Holy. In His earthly life Christ dwelt and 
 ministered in the Holy Place without the veil : 
 the veil of the flesh kept Him out of the Most 
 Holy. It was only when the veil of the flesh was 
 rent, and he died to sin completely and for ever, 
 that He could er ter the Inner Sanctuary of the full 
 glory of the Spirit-lifu in heaven. And just so the 
 
 I 
 
 
TUB SPIRIT GLORIFYING CHRIST. 
 
 113 
 
 believer who longs to have Jesus glorified within 
 liy the Spirit, must, however blessed his life has 
 been in the knowledge and service of his Lord, 
 loam that there is something better. In him, too, 
 the veil of the flesh must be rent ; he must enter 
 into this special part ot* Christ's work through the 
 new and living way into the Holiest of All. ' He 
 that hath suffered in *he flesh hath ceased from sin.' 
 As the soul sees how completely Jesus has triumphed 
 over the flesh, and entered with His flesh into th(^ 
 Spirit-life, how perfect in virtue of that triumph is 
 His Power over all in our flesh that could hinder, 
 how perfect in the power of the Spirit the Entrance 
 and the Indwelling of Jesus as Keeper and King 
 can be, the veil is taken away, and the life hitherto 
 in the holy place is now one in the Most Holy, in 
 the full Presence of the Glory.^ 
 
 This rending of the veil, this Enthronement of 
 Jesus as the Glorified One in the heart, is not always 
 with the sound of trumpet and shouting. It may be 
 ihns at times, and with some, but in other cases it 
 Inko/? place amid the deep awe and trembling of a 
 stilbiess where not a sound is heard. Zion's King 
 still comes meek and lowly with the Kingdom to 
 the poor in spirit. Without form or comeliness He 
 enters in, and, when thought and feeling fail, the 
 Holy Spirit glorifies Him to the faith that sees not 
 
 
 ' In the next, the last volume of tin's series, Christ in You, vre 
 shnll have occasion to study more fully the Indwelling of Christ 
 as revealed by the Holy Spirit, especially in connection with ihe 
 irricious promises in John xiv. 20-23 and £ph. iii. IG, 17. 
 
 f 
 
114 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 but believes. The eye of flesh saw Ilim not on the 
 Throne ; to the world it was a mystery ; and so, just 
 when all within appears feeble and empty, iho 
 Spirit secretly works the Divine assurance, and 
 then the blessed experience, that Christ the Glorified 
 has taken up His abode within. The soul knows, 
 in silent worship and adoration, that Jesus is 
 Master, that His Tiirone in the heart is established 
 in righteousness ; that the promise is now fulHlle I, 
 ' The Spirit shall glorify me.' 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus 1 I worship Thee in the glory 
 which the Father hath given Thee. And I bless 
 Thee for the promise that that glory shall be 
 revealed in the hearts of Thy disciples to dwell in 
 them and fill them. This is Thy glory, that all 
 that the Father hath is now Thine : of this Thy 
 glory in its infinite fulness and power Thou luist 
 said the Holy Spirit shall take to show it unto us. 
 Heaven and earth are full of Thy glory : the hearts 
 and lives of Thy beloved may be filled with it too. 
 Lord, let it be so ! 
 
 Blessed be Thy holy name for all in whom the 
 rich beginnings of the fulfilment hath already come ! 
 Lord, let it go on from glory to glory. 
 
 To this end teach us, we pray Thee, to mnintnin 
 our separation to Thee unbroken : heart and life 
 shall be Thine alone. To this end teach us to 
 hold fast our confidence without wavering, that the 
 Spirit who is within us will perfect His work. 
 Above all, teach us to yield ourselves in ever- 
 
THE SPIRIT OLOKIFYINO CHRIST. 
 
 llf. 
 
 incroasing dependence and emptiness to wait Tor the 
 Spirit's teaching and leading. We do desire to have 
 no confidence in the flesh, its wisdom, or its right- 
 eousness. We would bow ever lower and deeper 
 hefore Thee in the holy fear and reverence of the 
 truth thai Thy Spirit, the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of 
 Thy glory, is within us to do His Divine work. 
 J5Iessed Lord ! let Him rise in great power, and 
 have dominion within us, that our heart may hy 
 Him be fully made the Temple and the Kingdom in 
 which Thou alone art glorified, in which Thy glory 
 filleih all Amen. , 
 
 
 1. ft was the true Chrlat theae diaclptea knew ; and It waa a true know' 
 ledye of Chrlat they had, aa far aa It went (Matt, xvl.h And It waa a 
 knowledge that Influenced them mightily, drawing them to follow and love 
 Him. But It waa not the full know edge-tlie knowledge In Spirit and Truth ; 
 nor yet the aplrltual knowledge of Chrlat glorified, and abiding In them 
 through the Holy Spirit. It la thia la the true aecond bleaaing : ' If that 
 which paaaeth away waa with glory, much more that which remalneth la In 
 glory, by reaaon of the glory that aurpaaaeth.' 
 
 2. Oh that Ood may teach ua thIa leaaon, that the one great work of the 
 Spirit, aa the Spirit of Christ, is to make the Glorified Chrlat alu lya preaent 
 in ua, not In thoughts or memory only, but within ua, In our Inmoat porta, In 
 our life and experience. 
 
 3. Can It be ? Jet us, the Qlorlfied One, alwaya preaent with ua. dwelling 
 In ua ? It can be. The Holy Spirit haa been given by the Father for thia one 
 work. And He dwells in ua. Let ua belleoe, let ua Hoe In that wonderful 
 indwelling. 
 
 4. Let ua bow very low In submission to HIa leading, waiting for HIa 
 t'.aching, reuerentiy honouring His holy presence within ua, even when wa 
 nannot aee or fpeU 'Said I not unto thee, that, IJ thou believea*, tk»f ahoul^tt 
 fee tha glory of God ? ' 
 
ii 
 
 'liiV 
 
 I. 
 
 116 
 
 THE bl'lUlT OK Ctlltl^T. 
 
 Twelfth Day. 
 
 THE SPIllIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 STfje Spirit conbinciuB of Siin, 
 
 ' It I go, I will aend the Oomforter unto you ; and He, when 
 He ii come, will oonvinoe the world in reipect of sin.'— John 
 xvi. 7, 8. 
 
 rpHE close connection between the two statements 
 -L in these words oi our Lord is not always 
 noticed. Before the Holy Spirit was to convince 
 the world of sin, He was first to come into the 
 disciples. He was to make His home, to take His 
 stand in them, i^nd then from out of them and 
 through them to dc His conviction work on the world. 
 * He shall bear witness of me, and ye shall also bear 
 witness.' The disciples were to realize that the great 
 work of the Holy Spirit, striving with man, con- 
 vincing die world of sin, could only be done as He 
 had a firm footing on earth in them. They were to 
 be baptized with the Holy Ghost and with fire, to 
 receive the Power from on high, with the one purpose 
 of being the instruments through whom the Holy 
 Spirit could reach the world. The mighty, sin- 
 
THE SPIRIT CONVINCING OF SIN. 
 
 11 
 
 convicting power of tlvj Spirit to dwell in tlicni and 
 work through them : it was for this our blcssi'd 
 Lord sought to prepare them and us by these words. 
 'J'ho lessons they teach are very solemn. 
 
 1. Tlio Holy Spirit comes to us, that through us 
 He may reach others. The Spirit is the Spirit of 
 the Holy One, of the redeeming God : when Ho 
 enters us, He does not change His nature or lose 
 His Divine character. He is still the Spirit of God 
 striving with man, and seeking his deliverance. 
 Wherever He is not hindered hy ignorance or 
 selfishness. He looks out from the heart as His 
 temple for the work He has to do on the world 
 around, and makes it willing and bold to do thut 
 work; to testify against sin, and for Jesus the 
 Saviour Iroui sin. He does this very specially us 
 being the Spirit of the crucified and exalted Christ. 
 For what purpose was it that He received the Spirit 
 without measure ? ' The Spirit of the Lord is upon 
 me, because He anointed me to preach good tidings 
 to the poor. He hath sent me to proclaim release 
 to the captives.* It was this same Spirit — after 
 through Him Christ had offered Himself unto Go<l, 
 and through Him as the Spirit of Holiness had bten 
 raised from the dead — whom He sent down on His 
 Church, that riow the Spirit might have a home iu 
 them, as He had bad it in Himself. And no other- 
 wise and no less than in Himself would the Divine 
 Sjjirit in them pursue His Divine work, and as a 
 Light shining in, and revt^aling, and condemning, 
 and conquering the darkness, as * the Spirit of 
 
118 
 
 TIIK SPIRIT OF CHUIST. 
 
 burning and the Spirit of judgment,' be to the world 
 the power of a Divine conviction and conversion. 
 Nnt from lieaven direct so much, as the Spirit of 
 Clod, but as the Holy Spirit dwelling in the Churchy 
 would He convince the world. * I will send Him to 
 yoit, and when He is come. He will convince the 
 world* It is in and through us that th3 Spirit can 
 reach the world. 
 
 2. The Spirit can only reach others through us 
 by first bringing ourselves into perfect sympathy 
 with Himself. He enters into us to become so one 
 with us that He becomes as a disposition and a 
 life within us ; and His work in us, and through us 
 in others, becomes identical with our work. 
 
 The application of this truth to the conviction of 
 sin in the world is one of great solemnity. The 
 words of our Lord are frequently applied to be- 
 lievers in reference to the continued conviction of 
 sin which He will ever have to work within them. 
 In this sense they are, indeed, most true. This 
 first work of the Spirit remains to the end the 
 undertone of all His Comforting and Sanctifying 
 work. It is only as He keeps alive the tender 
 souse of the danger and shame of again sinning, 
 that the soul will be kept in its low place before 
 (Jod, — hiding in Jesus as alone its safety and its 
 strength. As the Holy Ghost reveals and com- 
 municatej the Holy Life of Christ within, the sure 
 result will be a deeper sense of the sinfulness of 
 sin. Hut the words mean more. If the Spirit 
 through us, through our testimony, whether by 
 
THE SPIRIT CONVINCING OF SIN. 
 
 119 
 
 word or walk, is to convince the world, He must first 
 eonvince us, of its sin. He must give us personally 
 such a sight and sense of the guilt of its unbelief and 
 rejection of our Saviour, such a sight and sense of 
 each ot its sins, as being at once the cause, the 
 proof, the fruit of tliat rejection, that we shall in 
 some measure think and feel in regard to the siu 
 as He does. There will be then that inner fitness 
 in us for the Spirit to work through us, that inner 
 unity between our witness and His witness against 
 sin and for God, which will reach the conscience and 
 carry conviction with a power that is from above. 
 
 Alas ! how e sy it is in the power of the flesh 
 to judge others, in the spirit wliich sees not the 
 beam in our own eye, or which, if we are indeed 
 free from what we condemn, vet dues it with a 
 secret, * Stand by, I am holier than thou.' We 
 either testify and work in a wrong spirit and in 
 our own strength, or have not the courage to work 
 at all. It is because we see the sin and the sin- 
 fulness of others, but not in a conviction that comes 
 from the Holy Spirit. When He convinces us <»f 
 the sin of the world. His work bears two marks. 
 The one is the sacrifice of self, in the jealousy for 
 God and His honour, combined with the deep and 
 tendei' grief for the guilty. The other is a deep, 
 stioi^g faith in the possibility and power of deliver- 
 ance. AVe see each sin in its terrible relation to 
 tiie whole ; we see the whole in the double light of 
 the cross. We see sin unspeakably hateful in its 
 awful guilt against God and its fearful power over 
 
120 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 1 1 
 
 hi ! 
 
 the poor soul: we see sin condcmnerl, a'oned, put 
 away, and conquered in Jesus. We le.nrn to look 
 on the world as God looks upon it in His holiness : 
 hatincj its sin with such an infinite liatred, and 
 loving it with such a love, that He gives His Son, 
 and the Son gives His life, to destroy it and set its 
 CJiptives free. 
 
 May God give His people a true and deep con- 
 viction of the sin of the world in its rejection of 
 Clirist, as the fitting preparation for the Spirit's 
 using them in convincing the world of sin. 
 
 3. To obtain this conviction of sin, the believer 
 needs not only to pray for it, but to have his whole 
 life under the leading of the Holy Spiric. We 
 cannot too earnestly insist upon it, that the many 
 different gifts of the Spirit all depend upon His 
 personal indwelling and supremacy in the inner 
 life, and the revelation in us of the Christ that 
 gave His life to have sin destroyed. When our 
 Lord spake that word of inexhaustible meaning, 
 * He shall be in you,' he opened up the secret of all 
 the Spirit's teaching, and sanctifying, and strength- 
 ening. The Spirit is the Life of God ; He enters 
 in, and becomes our Life ; it is as He can sway and 
 inspire the life that He will be able to work in us 
 all He wills. It is desirable and useful to direct 
 the attention of the believer to the different opeia- 
 tions of the Spirit, that he may neglect or lose 
 nothing through ignorance. But it is still more 
 needful, with each new insight into what the Spirit 
 can work, to get firmer hold of the truth : Let the 
 
THE SPIRIT COKVINCING OF SIN. 
 
 121 
 
 e 
 
 life be in the Spirit, and the special blessing will 
 not be withheld. Would you have this deep spiri- 
 tual conviction of the sin of the world, such an 
 aft'ecting sense of its terrible reality and pov/er, its 
 fejfceeding sinfulness, as will fit you for being the 
 man through whom the Spirit can convince sinners, 
 just yield your whole life and being to tha Holy 
 Spirit. Let the thought of this wondrous mystery 
 of the nearness, the Indwelling, of the Holy God in 
 you quiet your mind and heart into lowly fear and 
 worship. Surrender the great enemy that opposes 
 Him — the flesh, the self-life — day by day to Him 
 to mortify and keep dead. Be content to aim at 
 nothing less than being filled with the Spirit of the 
 Man whose glory it is that He gave Himself to 
 death to take away sin, having the whole being and 
 doing unaer His control and inspiration. As your 
 life in the Spirit becomes healthy and strong, as 
 your spiritual constitution gets invigorated, your 
 eye will see more clearly, your heart feel more 
 keenly, what the sin around you is. Your thoughts 
 and feelings will be those of the Holy Spirit 
 breathing in you ; your deep horror of sin, your 
 deep faith in the redemption from it, your deep 
 love to the souls who are in it, your willingness 
 like your Lord to die if men can be freed from 
 sin, will make you the fit instrument for the Spirit 
 to convince the world of its sin. 
 
 4. There is one more lesson. We are seeking in 
 this little book to find the way by which we all can 
 be filled with the Spirit. Here is one condition : He 
 
122 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 i 1 1 
 
 i :i 
 
 must dwell in us as the world's Convincer of siiL 
 ' I will send Him unto yoii^ and He will convince 
 the ivorld.' Oiler yourself to Him to consider, and 
 ftel, and bear the sins of those around you. Let 
 the sins of the world be your concern, as much 
 as your own sin. Do they not dishonour God as 
 much as yours ? Are they not equally provided for 
 in the great redemption ? And does not the Spirit 
 dwelling in you long to convince them too ? Just 
 as the Holy Spirit dwelt in the body and nature of 
 Jesus, and was the source of what He felt, and said, 
 and did, and just as God through Him worked out 
 the will of His holy love ; so the Spirit now dwells 
 in believers : they are His abode. The one purpose 
 for which there has been a Christ in the world, for 
 which there is now a Holy Spirit, was that sin may 
 be conquered and made an end of. This is the 
 great object for which the baptism of the Spirit 
 and of fire was given, that in and through believers 
 He might convince of sin, and deliver from it. 
 Put yourself into contact with the world's sin. 
 Meet it in the love and faith of Jesus Christ, as the 
 servant and helper of the needy and the wretched. 
 Give yourself to prove the reality of your faith in 
 Christ by your likeness to Him : so will the Spirit 
 convince the world of its unbelief. Seek the full 
 experience of the indwelling Spirit, not for your own 
 selfish enjoyment, but for this one end, that He can 
 do the Father's work through you as He did through 
 Clirist. Live, in unity of love with other believers 
 to work and pray, that men may be saved out of 
 
THE SrilllT CONVINCING OK SIN. 
 
 123 
 
 Bill : * then will the world believe that God hath sent 
 Him.* It is the life of believers in self-sacrificing 
 love that will nrove to the world that Christ is a 
 reality, and so convince it of its sin of nnbelief. 
 
 The comfort and success with which a man lives 
 and carries on his business de[)ends much upon his 
 having a suitable building for it. When the Holy 
 Spirit, in a believer, finds the whole heart free and 
 given up to Him to fill it with God's thoughts of sin 
 and God's power of redemption, He can through uch 
 an one do His work. Be assured that there is no surer 
 way to receive a full measure of the Spirit than to 
 be wholly yielded to Him, to let the very mind of 
 Christ in regard to sin work in us. * He took away 
 sin by the sacrifice of Himself,' through the Eternal 
 Spirit. What the Spirit was in Him, He seeks to 
 be in us. What was true of Him, must in its 
 measure be true of us. 
 
 Christians ! would you be filled with the Holy 
 Spirit, seek to have a clear impression of this : the 
 Holy Spirit is in you to convince the world of sin. 
 If you sympathize thoroughly with Him in this, if 
 He sees that He can use you for this, if you make 
 His work in this matter your work too, you may be 
 sure He will dwell in you richly, and work in you 
 mightily. The one object for which Christ came was 
 to put away sin ; the one work for which the Holy 
 Ghost comes to men is to persuade them to give 
 up sin. The one object for which the believer 
 lives is to join in the battle against sin ; to seek 
 ihe will and the honour ot his God. Do let us be at 
 
124 
 
 THE SP.aiT OF CHRIST. 
 
 one with Christ and His Spirit in their testimony 
 against sin. An exhibition of the life and Spirit of 
 Christ will have its effect : the holiness, and the 
 joy, and the love, and the obedience to Christ will 
 convince the world of its sin of unbelief. And 
 just as Christ's death, as His sacrifice for sin, was the 
 entrance to His glory in the power of the Spirit, so 
 our experience of the Spirit's indwelling will become 
 the fuller just as our whole life is more given up to 
 Him for His holy work of convincing the world of 
 sin. The Presence of Christ in us through the 
 Spirit will carry its own conviction. 
 
 !;■ "''- 
 
 mi 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! it is by the Presence and 
 Power of the Holy Spirit in Thy people that the 
 world is f o be convinced of its sin in rejecting Thee, 
 and that sinners are to be brona:hfc out of the world 
 to accept of Thee. It is in men and women full of 
 the Holy Ghost, testifying in the power of a holy 
 joy to what Thou hast done for them, that the proof 
 is to be given that Thou art indeed at the light 
 hi nd of God. It is in a body of living witnesses to 
 what Thou hast done for them, that the world is to 
 find the irresistible conviction of its folly and guilt. 
 
 Alas ! Lord, how little the world has seen of this. 
 We do call upon Thee, in deep humiliation. Lord 
 Jesus, make haste and rouse Thy Church to the 
 knowledge of its calling. Oh that every believer 
 in his personal life, and all Thy believing people in 
 their fellowship, might prove to the world what 
 reality, what blessedness, what power there is in the 
 
Tr\ RPIHIT CONVINCING OF SIN. 
 
 I2r. 
 
 faith of Thee ! May the world believe that llio 
 Father hath sent Thee, and has luved them as Ho 
 loveth Thee. 
 
 Lord Jesus, lay the burden of the sin of the 
 world so heavy on the hearts of Thy people, thai 
 it may become impossible for them to live for any- 
 thing but this; to be the members of Thy body in 
 whom Thy Spirit dwells, and prove Thy presence to 
 the world. Take away everytliing tlmt hinders 
 Thee from maniffsf 'ng Thy presence and saving 
 power in us. Lord Jesus, Thy Spirit is come to us 
 to convince the world : let Him come and work 
 in ever-growing power. Amen. 
 
 to 
 to 
 It. 
 
 IS. 
 
 er 
 n 
 
 1. Th» great ain of the world la unbelief, the rejection of Christ Thl» It 
 the very aplrit of inn world. It la thia atandpoint muat decide my whole view 
 of the world, my relation to It : It la a world that by Ita very nature reject* 
 Chrlat. 
 
 2. ThIa rejected Chrlat haa left thla world, and gone to the Father. But 
 He haa left HIa people In It, and dwella In them by Hla Spirit, that the power 
 of their holy life and their confeaalon of Him to whom they owe that life may 
 convince the world of Ita folly and aln. What entlreneaa of aurrender to be 
 poaaeased of the Holy Spirit la needed, if in me, by my life. He la to conolnc* 
 the world of the aln of unbelief 1 
 
 S. ' What la here promlaed is auch an outpouring of the Spirit of Ood aa 
 ahall not only reveal Itaelf In the conaclouaneaa of the d'aclptea, but aub- 
 stantlate Itaelf aa an undeniable and wonderful fact to the onloohing world. 
 la mt the great thing wanted thla, that the Spirit of Qod should be ao pojred 
 et4 9K Chriat'a people that men i>lwuld be made aware of Hla preaence with 
 ihtm, and of Hla preaen'ie at the right hand of Qod ? '— Bowen, 
 
 4. To convince the world of the truth of Christianity, it muat firat be con- 
 vn>'.ed of ain. It la only ain that rendera Christ Intelligible. And for thia 
 thi ce la not ao much needed evidencea and arguments, but, In the firat place, 
 the manifest Preaence of the Holy Qhoat, aa coming f om Christ on the throne 
 of God, in believers. And for thla there la needed intense, continuerl, united, 
 believing prayer that the Father would, according to tha riches of Hia glorj/^ 
 tUitgthen ua all with might by Hla SpiilL 
 

 126 
 
 TUU Sl'IlUT OF CUKIST. 
 
 Thirteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIEIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 raatiing for \\}t Spirit 
 
 * He charged them to wait for the promise of the Father, which, 
 said he, ye heard from me/ — Acts i. 4. 
 
 IN the life of the Old Testament saints, waiting 
 was one of the loved words in which they ex- 
 pressed the posture of their souls towards God. 
 They waited for God, and waited upon God. Some- 
 times we find it in Holy Scripture as the language 
 of an experience : * Truly my soul waited upon God.* 
 ' I wait for the Lord, my soul doth wait.' At others 
 it is a plea in prayer : ' Lead me, on TJiee do I wait 
 all the day.' * Be gracious unto us ; we have waited 
 for Thee.' Frequently it is an injunction, encourag- 
 ing to perseverance in a work that is not without 
 its difficulty: 'Wait on the Lord; wait, I say, on 
 the Lord.* * Rest in the Lord, and wait patiently 
 for Him.* And then again there is the testimony 
 to the blessedness of the exercise; 'Blessed are 
 tney that wait upon Him.* ' They that wait upon 
 tlie Lord shall renew their strength.* 
 
WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT. 
 
 127 
 
 All this blessed teaching and experience of the 
 mints who have gone before, our Lord gathers up 
 and connects specially, in His use of the word, \sitli 
 the promise of the Father, the Holy Spirit.* \\^ha<< 
 had been so deeply woven into the very siititinco 
 of the religious life and language of God's people 
 was now to receive a new and a higher application. 
 As they had waited for the manifestation of God, 
 either in the light of His countenance on their own 
 souls, or in special interposition for their deliverance, 
 or in His coming to fulfil His promises to His people; 
 so we too have to wait. But now that the Father 
 has been revealed in the Son, and that the Son has 
 perfected the great redemption, now the waiting is 
 specially to be occupied with the fulfilment of the 
 great Promise in which the love of the Father and 
 the grace of the Son are revealed and made one — 
 the Gift, the Indwelling, the Fulness of the Holy 
 Spirit. We wait on the Father and the Son for 
 ever-increasing inflowings and workings of the 
 Blessed Spirit ; we wait for the Blessed Spirit, His 
 moving, and leading, and mighty strengthening, to 
 reveal the Father and the Son within, and to work 
 in us all the holiness and service to which the 
 Father and the Son are calling us. 
 
 * He charged them to wait for the promise of the 
 Father, which ye have heard of me.* It may be 
 asked whether these words have not exclusive 
 reference to the outpouring of the Spirit on the day 
 
 * The Greek word is the same that the Septuagint uses in giving 
 the prayer of Jacoh, * I have waited for Thy salvation, Lord.* 
 
128 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF ClIltlST. 
 
 of Pentocost, and whether, now that the Spirit has 
 heen given to the Church, the c!iarj,'e still holds 
 good. It may be objected that, for the ^leliever 
 who has the Holy Spirit within him, waiting 
 for the promise of the Father is hardly consistent 
 with the faith and joy of the consciousness that the 
 Spirit has been received and is dwelling within. 
 
 The question and the objection open the way to 
 a lesson of the deepest importance. Tlie Holy 
 Spirit is not given to us as a possession of which 
 we have the charge and mastery, and which we can 
 use at our discretion. No. The Holy Spirit is 
 given to us to be our Master, and to have charge 
 of us. It is not we who are to use Him; He must 
 use us. He is indeed ours ; but ours as God, and 
 our position towards Him is that of deep and entire 
 dependence on One who giveth to every one 'even 
 as He will.' The Father has indeed given us the 
 Spirit ; but He is still, and only works as the Spirit 
 of the Father. Oar asking for His working, that 
 the Father would grant unto us to be strengthened 
 with might by His Spirit, and our waiting for this, 
 must be as real and definite as if we had to ask for 
 Him for the first time. When God gives His Spirit, 
 He gives His inmost Self. He gives with a Divine 
 giving; that is, in the power of the eternal life, 
 continuous, uninterrupted, and never-ceasing. When 
 Jesus gave to those who believe in Him the promise 
 of an ever -springing fountain of ever-flowing streams. 
 He spake not of a single act of faith that was 
 once for all to make them the independent possessors 
 
WATTING FOR THE SPIRIT. 
 
 129 
 
 of the blessinjr, but of a life of fnith that, in never- 
 ceasing receptivity, would always and only possess 
 His gif.t8 in living union with Himself. And so 
 this precious word wait, — ' He charged them to 
 wait/ — with all its blessed meaning from the experi- 
 ence of the past, is woven into the very web of tlie 
 new Spirit dispensation. And all that the disciples 
 did and felt during those ten days of waiting, 
 and all that they got as its blessed fruit and reward, 
 becomes to us the path and the pledge of the life of 
 the Spirit in which we can live. The fulness of the 
 Spirit, for such is the Father's Promise, and our 
 waiting, are inseparably and for ever linked together. 
 
 And have we not here now an answer to the 
 question why so many believers know so little of 
 the joy and the power of the Holy Spirit ? They 
 never knew to wait for it; they never listened 
 carefully to the Master's parting words : ' He 
 charged them to wait for the Promise of the 
 Father, which ye have heard of me.' The Promise 
 they have heard. For its fulfilment they have 
 longed. In earnest prayer they have pleaded for 
 it. They have gone burdened and mourning under 
 the felt want. They have tried to believe, and tried 
 to lay hold, and tried to be filled with the Spirit. 
 But they have never known what it was with it all to 
 wait. They have never here said,or even truly heard, 
 ' Blessed are all they that wait for Him.' ' They 
 that wait on the Lord shall renew their strength.' 
 
 Put what is this waiting ? And how are we to 
 wait ? I look to God by His Holy Spirit to teach 
 
130 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHinST. 
 
 me to state in the simplest way possible what mny 
 help some child of His to obey this charge. And 
 let me then first say that, as a b(dievs3f, wluit ycu 
 are to wait for is the fuller manifestation of the 
 Power of the Spirit within you. On the resur- 
 rection morn Jesus had breathed on His disciples, 
 and said, Keceive the Holy Ghost. Tiiey were to 
 wait for the full baptism of fire and of power. As 
 God's child you have the Holy Ghost. Study the 
 passnges in the Epistles addressed to believers full 
 of failings and sins (1 Cor. iii. 1-3, 16, vi. 19, 20 ; 
 Gal. iii. 2, 3, iv. 6). Begin in simple faith in 
 God's word to cultivate the quiet assurance: The 
 Holy Spirit is dwelling within me. If you are 
 not faithful in the less, you cannot expect the 
 greater. Acknowledge in faith and thanks that 
 the Holy Spirit is in you. Each time you enter 
 your closet to speak to God, sit first still to 
 remember and believe that the Spirit is \vithin you 
 as the Spirit of prayer who cries Fathe^ '. within 
 you. Appear before God and confess to Him 
 distinctly, until you become fully conscious of it 
 yourself, that you are a -temple of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 Now you are in the right posture for taking the 
 eecond step, that is, asking God very simply and 
 quietly, there and then, to grant you the workinga 
 of His Holy Spirit. The Spirit is in God and ia 
 in you. You ask the Father who is in heaven thafr 
 His Almighty Spirit may come forth from Him in 
 greater life and power, and as the indwelling Spirit 
 may work more mightily in yoU: As you ask this 
 
WAITING FOU THE SPIRIT. 
 
 i:n 
 
 on tbe groiuid of tlu; pioiiiistiH, or of some special 
 promise you Iny before* Him, you lielieve that Ho 
 hears and that He does it. You have not to look 
 at once wliether you feel anything in your heart ; 
 all may be dark and cold there ; you are to believe, 
 that is, to rest in what God is going to do, yea, ia 
 doing, thougli you feel it not. 
 
 And then comes the waiting. Wait on the 
 Lord ; wait for the Spirit. In great quietness set 
 your soul still, silent unto God, and give the Holy 
 Spirit time to quicken and deepen in you the assur- 
 ance that God will grant Him to work mightily. 
 We are a * holy priesthood to offer up spiritual 
 sacrifice.' The slaying of the sacrifice was an 
 essential part of the service. In each sacrifice 
 you bring there must be the slaying, the surrender 
 and sacrifice of self and its power to the death. 
 As you wait before God in holy silence, He sees 
 in it the confession that you have nothing, — no 
 wisdom to pray aright, no strength to work aright. 
 Waiting is the expression of need, of emptiness. 
 All along through the Christian life these go 
 together, the sense of poverty and weakness, and 
 the joy of all-sutficient riches and strength. It is 
 in waiting before God that the soul sinks down 
 into its own nothingness, and is lifted up into the 
 Divine assurance that God has accepted its sacrifice 
 and will fulfil its desires. 
 
 When thus the soul has waited upon God, it has 
 to go forward to the daily walk or the special duty 
 that \N aits it, in the faith that He will watch over 
 
I 
 
 i! 
 
 132 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 the fulfilment of His Promise and His cliild's ex- 
 pectation. If it is to prayer you give yourself, 
 after thus waiting for the Spirit, or to the reading 
 of the word, do it in the trust that the Holy 
 Spirit within guides your prayer and your thoughts. 
 If your experience appears to prove that it is not 
 so, be sure this is simply to lead you onwards to a 
 simpler faith and a more entire surrender. You 
 have become so accustomed to the worship in the 
 power of the understanding and the carnal mind, 
 that truly spiritual worship does not come at once. 
 But wait on : * He charged them to wait.' Keep 
 up the waiting disposition in daily life and duty. 
 * On Thee do I wait all the day : ' it is to the 
 Three-One God I thus speak ; tb^ Holy Spirit 
 brings nigh and unites to Him. Renew each day, 
 and, as you are able to do it, also extend, your 
 exercise of waiting upon God. The multitude of 
 words and the fervency of feelings in prayer have 
 often been more hindrance than help. God's work 
 in you must become deeper, more spiritual, more 
 directly wrought of God Himself. Wait for the 
 promise in all its fulness. Count not the time lost 
 you thus give to this blessed expression of ignorance 
 and emptiness, of faith and expectation, of full and 
 real surrender to the dominion of the Spirit. 
 Pentecost is meant to be for all times the proof of 
 what the exalted Jesus does for His Church from 
 His Throne. The ten days' waiting is meant to be 
 for all time the posture before the Throne, which 
 Becures in continuity the Pentecostal blessing: 
 
WAITING FOR THE SPIRIT. 
 
 133 
 
 Brother ! the Promise of the Father is sure. It is 
 Jesus from whom you have it. The Spirit ia 
 Himself already working in you. His full indwell- 
 ing and guidance is your child's portion. Oh, keep 
 the charge of your Lord ! Wait on God : wait for 
 the Spirit. * Wait, I say, on the Lord.* * Blessed 
 are all they that wait for Him.' 
 
 Blessed Father ! from Thy Beloved Son we have 
 heard Thy Promise. In a streaming forth that is 
 Divine and never-ceasing, the river of the water of 
 life flows from under the Throne of God and the 
 Lamb; Thy Spirit flows down to quicken our 
 thirsty souls. 'For we have not heard, neither 
 hath the eye seen, God, beside Thee, what He 
 hath prepared for him that waiteth for Him.* 
 
 And we have heard His charge to wait for the 
 Promise. We thank Thee for what has already 
 been fulfilled to us of it. But our souls long for 
 the full possession, the fulness of the blessing of 
 Christ. Blessed Father ! teach us to wait on Thee, 
 daily watching at the posts of Thy doors. 
 
 Teach us each day, as we draw near to Thee, to 
 wait for Him. In the sacrifice of our own wisdom 
 and our will, in the holy fear of the workings of 
 our own nature, may we learn to lie very low before 
 Thee, that Thy Spirit may work with power. Oh, 
 teach us that as the life of self is laid before Thee 
 day by day, the Holy Life, that flows from under 
 the Throne, will rise in power, and our worship be 
 in Spirit and in Truth. Amen. 
 
134 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 , 
 
 1. The diaclplet were not to proceed to do their work In the faith of the 
 promise that the Spirit would be given : they were to wait until they could 
 Joyfully testify and prove that Christ in heaven had given His Spirit within 
 them. ' Tarry, until.' 
 
 2. ' We are not to look book for our Pentecost. The Pentecost of the Acts la 
 simply given to make the Church of Christ acquainted with the privileges 
 belonging to this dispensation. The Spirit of God comes as the rain, that must 
 still come and come again : as the wind, that must still blow and blow again.' 
 
 — HOWEW. 
 
 8. Waiting ! the vJI-comprehenslve word to Indicate the posture of disciples 
 towards the Pro le of the Father. Waiting ! it includes the denial of self, 
 its wisdom or at gth ; separation from all else ; surrender and preparedness 
 for all the Spirit would claim ; Joyful faith in what Christ is, and confident 
 expectation of what He Is going to do. Walt I Tarry ! the one finui condition 
 imposed by the ascending Lord for the fulfilment of the Promise. 
 
 4. Walt 1 let this be the deep undertone of his daily life in relathm to the 
 Spirit, for each one who known that the Spirit Is in him, and longs to be 
 mightily strengthened with Him from above. Walt ! Let this be the attitude 
 of the Church as she expects her Lord, In answer to her prayer, mightily to 
 manifest His power In the world. ' He charged them to wait. ' ' Tarry, until 
 ye be clothed with power from on high.' 
 
 5. 'As Christ was the ful filler of the law, and the end of the lam, m 
 ike Spirit la the complement, the fulfiller and maker good of all the Qoapel, 
 Otherwise all that Christ did would have profited us nothing. If the Hol§ 
 $host M not come Into our hstwta, and bring it all hQme to iM.'~Gi>ofiwiir. 
 
 h i 
 
THE SPIBIT OF POWER. 
 
 135 
 
 Fourteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIEIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 ®fte Spirit of ?|otoer* 
 
 'Ye shall be baptized vith the Holy €hoat not many days 
 heDce. Ye shall receive power when the Holy Ghost it cMna 
 upon you, and ye shall be my witnesses/ — Acts i. 5, 8. 
 
 * Tarry ye in the city, till ye be clothed with power from 
 on high.' -Luke xxiv. 49. 
 
 THE disciples had heard from John of the 
 Baptism of the Spirit. Jesu^ had spoken 
 to them of the Father's giving of the Spirit to 
 them that ask Him, and of the Spirit of their 
 Father speaking in them. And on the last night 
 he had spoken of the Spirit dwelling in them, 
 witnessing with them, having come to them to 
 convince the world. All these thoughts of what 
 this coming of the Holy Spirit would be was 
 connected in their mind with the work they would 
 have to do and the power for it. When our Lord 
 gathered up all His teaching in the promise, * Ye 
 shall receive the power of the Holy Ghost coming 
 upon you, and shall be my witnesses,' it must have 
 been to them the simple summing up of what theif 
 
 i«i^ 
 
136 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 looked for : a new Divine power for the new Divine 
 work of being the witnesses of a Crucified and Eisen 
 Jesus. 
 
 This was in perfect harmony with all they had 
 seen in Holy Scripture of the Spirit's work. In the 
 days before the flood He had been striving with 
 men. In the ministry of Moses He fitted him, and 
 the seventy who received of His Spirit, for the work 
 of ruling and guiding If \el, and given wisdom to 
 those who built God's h( se. In the days of the 
 Judges He gave the powtx to fight and conquer the 
 enemies. In the times of Kings and Prophets He 
 gave boldness to testify against sin, and power to 
 proclaim a coming redemption. Every mention of 
 the Spirit in the Old Testament is connected with 
 the honour and Kingdom of God, and the fitting for 
 service in it. In the great prophecy of the Messiah, 
 with which the Son of God opened His ministry at 
 Nazareth, His being anointed with the Spirit had 
 the one object of bringing deliverance to the 
 captives and gladness to the mourners. To the 
 mind of the disciples, as students of the Old 
 Testament and followers of Christ Jesus, the 
 promise of the Spirit could have but one meaning — 
 fitness for the great work they had to do for their 
 Loxd when He ascended the Throne. All that the 
 Spirit would be to them personally in His work of 
 comforting and teaching, sanctifying the soul and 
 glorifying Jesus, were but as a means to an end — • 
 their induement with power for the service of theil 
 departed Lord. 
 
THE SPIUIT OF POWER. 
 
 137 
 
 World God that the Church of Christ understood 
 tliis ii* our days ! All prayer for the guiding and 
 gladdening influence of the Holy Spirit in the 
 children of God ought to have this as their aim : 
 fitness to witness for Christ and do effective service 
 in conquering the world for Him. Waste of power 
 is always cause of regret to those who witness iU 
 Tlie economy of power is one of tlie great moving 
 springs in all organization and industry. The 
 Spirit is the great power of God ; the Holy Spirit 
 the great power of God's Kedemption, as it comes 
 down from the Throne of Him to whom all power 
 has heen given. And can we imagine that God 
 would waste this power on those who seek it only 
 for their own sake, with the desire of being beauti- 
 fully holy, or wise, or good ? Truly no. The Holy 
 Spirit is the power from on high for carrying on 
 the work for wliich Jesus sacriticed His Throne and 
 His Life. The essential condition for receiving 
 that power is that we be found ready and fit for 
 doing the work the Spirit has come to accomplish. 
 
 * My Witnesses : ' these two words do indeed 
 contain, in Divine and inexhaustible wealth of 
 meaning, the most perfect description of the Spirit's 
 work and our work ; the work for which nothing 
 less than His DiM*ne power is needed, the work for 
 which our weakness is just fitted. There is nothing 
 so effective as an honest witness. The learned 
 eloi£uence of an advocate must give way to it. 
 There is notliing so simple: just telling what wa 
 have seen and heard, or, perliaps in silence, witness- 
 
 ly 
 
138 
 
 THK SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 li 1 
 
 ing to what has been done in us. It was the great 
 work of Jesus Himself : * To this end have I been 
 born, and to this end am I come into the worhl, 
 that I should bear witness unto the Truth. And yet, 
 simple and easy as it appears, to make us witness<i8 
 of Jesus is what the Almighty power of the Spirit 
 is needed for, and what He was sent to woik. If 
 we are, in the power of the eternal life, tho power 
 of the world to come, in heavenly power to witness 
 of Jesus as He reigns in heaven, we need nothing 
 less than the Divine power of the heavenly life to 
 animate the testimony of our lips and life. 
 
 The Holy Spirit makes us witnesses because He 
 Himself is a witness. * He shall witness of me,' 
 Jesus said. When Peter, on the day of Pentecost, 
 preached that Cljrist, when He had ascended into 
 heaven, had received from the Father the Holy 
 Ghost, and had poured Him forth, he spake of 
 what he knew : the Holy Ghost witnessed to him, 
 and in him, of the glory of his exalted Lord. It 
 was this witness of the Spirit to the reality of 
 Christ's power and presence that made him so bold 
 and strong to speak before the council : ' God did 
 exalt Him to be a Prince and a Saviour ; and we 
 are witnesses of these things ; and so is the Holy 
 Ghost.' It is as the Holy Spirit becomes to us, in 
 a Divine life and power, the witness to what Jesus 
 is at luQ present moment in His glory, that our 
 witness will be in His power. We may know all 
 that the Gospels record and all that Scripture 
 further teaches of the person and work of Jesus ; 
 
THE SPIRIT OF POWER. 
 
 139 
 
 we may even speak from past experience of what 
 we once knew of the power of Jesus. This is not 
 ihe witness of power that is promised here, and that 
 will have eHect in the world. It is the Presence of 
 the Spirit at the present moment, witnessing to the 
 I'resence of the personal Jesus, that give? it witness 
 that breath of life from heaven that makes it mighty 
 through God to the casting down of strongholds. 
 You can truly witness to just as much of Jesus as 
 the Holy Spirit is witnessing to you in life and truth. 
 The baptism of power, the induement of power, 
 is sometimes spoken of and sought after as a special 
 gift If Paul asked very distinctly for the Ephe- 
 sians, who had been sealed with the Holy Spirit, 
 that the Father would still give them * the Spirit 
 of wisdom' (Eph. i. 17), we cannot be far wrong in 
 praying as definitely for ' the Spirit of power.' He 
 who searches the hearts knows what is the mind of 
 the Spirit, and will give not according to the correct- 
 ness of our words, but the Spirit-breathed desire of 
 our hearts. Or let us take that other prayer of 
 Paul (Eph. iii. 16), and plead that * He would grai t 
 us to be mightily strengthened by His Spirit.* 
 However we formulate our prayer, one thing is 
 certain : it is in uncej^^ing prayer, it is in bowing our 
 knees, it is in waiting on God, that from Himself 
 will come what we ask, be it the Spirit of Power or 
 the Power of the Spirit. The Spirit is never any- 
 thing separate from God: in all His going out and 
 Working He still ever is the inmost self of God; it 
 is God Himself who, according to the riches of Hia 
 
140 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 
 glory, is mighty to do above what we ask or think, 
 who will in Christ give us to be clothed with the 
 power of the Spirit. 
 
 In seeking for this Power of the Spirit, let us 
 note the mode of His working. There is one 
 mistake we must specially beware of. It is that 
 of expecting always to feel the power when it 
 works. Scripture links power and weakness in a 
 wonderful way, not as succeeding each other, but as 
 existing together. ' I was with you in weakness ; 
 my preaching was in power' *When I am wcakt 
 then am I strong.' (See 1 Cor. ii. 3-5 ; 2 Cor. iv. 
 7, 16, VL 10, xii. 10, xiii. 3, 4.) The power is 
 the power of God, given to faith ; and faith grows 
 strong in the dark. The Holy Spirit hides Himself 
 in the weak things that God hath chosen, that flesh 
 may not glory in His presence. Spiritual power can 
 only be known by the Spirit of faith. The more 
 distinctly we feel and confess our weakness and 
 believe in the power dwelling within us, ready to 
 work as need arises, the more confidently may we 
 expect its Divine operation even when nothing is 
 felt. Christians lose much not only by not waiting 
 for the power, but by waiting in the wrong way. 
 Seek to combine the faithful and ready obedience 
 to every call of duty, however little t^iy power 
 appears to be, with a deep, dependent writing and 
 expectation of Power from on high. Let thy inter- 
 vals of repose and communion be the exercise of 
 prayer and faith in the Power of God dwelling in 
 thee, and waiting to work through thee ; thy time 
 
 />^ 
 
THE SPIRIT OF POWER.' 
 
 141 
 
 .^ 
 
 if 
 
 of exertion and effort will bring the proof that by 
 faith out of weakness we are made strong. 
 
 Lot us also see and make no mistake about the 
 condition of the working of this Divine Power. He 
 that v.'( nld command nature must first, and most 
 absolutely, obey her. It does not need much grace 
 to long and ask for power, even the power of the 
 Spirit. Who would not be glad to have powe^ ? 
 Many pray earnestly for power in or with their 
 work, and receive it not, because they do not 
 accept the only posture in which the Power can 
 work. We want to get possession of the Power 
 and use it. God wants the Power to get possessio»i 
 of us, and use us. If we give up ourselves to the 
 Power to rule in us, the Power will give itself to 
 us, to rule through us. Unconditional submission 
 and obedience to the Power in our inner life is the 
 one condition of our being clothed with it. God 
 gives the Spirit to the obedient. * Power belongeth 
 unto God,' and remains His for ever. If thou 
 wouldst have His power work in thee, bow very 
 low in reverence before the Holy Presence that 
 dwellelh in thee, that asks thy surrender to His 
 guidance even in the least things. Walk very 
 humbly in holy fear, lest in anything thou shouldeat 
 fail in knowing or doing His holy will. Live as 
 one given up to a Power that has the entiie 
 mastery over tliee, that has complete possession of 
 thy inmost being. Let the Spirit and His Power 
 have possession of thee : thou shalt know that Hii 
 Power worketh in thee. 
 
i! 
 
 [i |: 
 
 ' 11 
 
 142 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Let US bo clear, too, as to the object of this power, 
 the work it is to do. Men are very careful to 
 economize power, and to gather it there where it 
 can do its work most effectually. God does not 
 give this power for our own enjoyment, — as little 
 to save us from trouble and effort. He gives it for 
 one purpose, to glorify His Son. Those who in 
 their weakness are faithful to this one object, who 
 in obedience and testimony prove to God that they 
 are ready at any cost to glorify God, — they will 
 receive the power from on high. God seeks for 
 men and women whom He can thus clothe with 
 power. The Church is looking round for them on 
 every side, v/ondering at the feebleness of so much 
 of its ministry and worship. The world waits for 
 it, to be convinced that God is indeed in the midst 
 of His people. The perishing millions are crying 
 for deliverance, and the Power of God is waiting to 
 work it. Let us not be content with the prayer 
 for God t<» visit and to bless them, or with the 
 effort to do the best we can for them. Let us give 
 up ourselve=j, each individual believer, wholly and 
 undividedly, to live as witnesses for Jesus. Let us 
 plead with God to show His people what it means 
 that they are Christ's representatives just as He was 
 the Father's. Let us live in the faith that the Spirit 
 of power is within us, and that the Father will, as 
 we wait on Him, fill us with the power of the Spirit.^ 
 
 Most Blessed Father! we thank Thee for the 
 
 » See Note I. 
 
TIIK Sl'IKIT OK POWKU. 
 
 14a 
 
 wonderful provision Tliou hast maiU; for Thy chil- 
 dren, — that out of weakness they should he made 
 strong, and that just in their feebleness Thy Mijj;hly 
 ro>^er should be jj;loritied. We thank Thee lor the 
 Holy Spirit, as the Spirit of Tower, coming down 
 to make Jesus, to whom all Power is given, present 
 with His Church, and to make His disciples the 
 witnesses of that Presence. 
 
 I ask Thee, O my Father, to teach me that I have, 
 the power, as 1 have the Living Jesus. May I not 
 look for it to come with observation. May I con- 
 sent that it shall ever be a Divine strength iu 
 human weakness, so that the glory may be Thin»« 
 alone. May 1 learn to receive it in a faith that 
 allows the Mighty Lord Jesus to hold the powey 
 and do the work in the midst of weakness. And 
 may, by the Holy Spirit, He be so present with me, 
 that my witness may be of Him alone. 
 
 O my Father ! I desire to submit my whole 
 being to this Holy Power. I would bow before its 
 rule every day and all the day. 1 would be its 
 servant, and humble myself to do its meanest com- 
 mard. Father ! let the Power rule in me, that I 
 may be mude meet for it to use. And may my one 
 object in life be that Thy Blessed Son may receive 
 the honour and the glory. Amen. 
 
 7. There fs a Presence In the Church of Christ aa Omnipotent and Dlvlnt 
 as was Christ Himaelf when on earth ; yea, rather, aa He is now on th9 
 Throne of Power. As the Church walies up to believe this, and rises out 
 of the dust to put on her beautiful garments, as she waits on her Lord to 
 bs 'clothed with power jrom on high,' her witness for Christ will bs In 
 llufng povnr. She will proue that her Almighty Lord It In hw. 
 
J 44 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CIIKIUT. 
 
 
 2. This 'clothing with power from on high,' thia 'receiving the power of 
 the Holy Qhoit,' takes place In a way quite contrary to all our natural 
 expectations. It Is a Diulne Power working In weakness. The sense of 
 weakness Is not taken away : the power la not gluen as something we 
 possess. We only have the power as we haue the Lord Himself. Ha exerta 
 the power In and through our weakneaa. 
 
 3. Our great danger la, waiting for the alght or aenae of power. Our 
 one need Is, faith, that spiritually recognises the Mighty Lord as present, 
 and knows that He will work In weakness. The being clothed with power, 
 the receiving power, la so putting on the Lord Jesus, so receiving Him In 
 faith, that our aoula rejoice In HIa hidden presence, and know that Hia 
 power is working In our weakness. 
 
 4. As the character of a body depends upon the different particles of 
 which it Is composed, so the power of the Church of Christ will be decided 
 by the state of Its Individual members. The Holy Spirit cannot work 
 mightily through the Church of Qod In the world until the mass of Indi- 
 vidual believers give themselves wholly to their Lord to be filled with HIa 
 Spirit. Let us labour and pray for this. 
 
 6. A Personal Power, with a Will and a Purpose, has charge within me, 
 ready to work His will Into mine In all things. Another will than my own, 
 now ruling in the depths of my being, la to be waited on. As I submit and 
 obey, His Power will work through me. I live under the Power of Another. 
 
 6. 'I also am a man under authority, having under me soldiers; and I 
 say to this one. Go, and he goeih. ' Tne man who Is himself under a Higher 
 Power, haa that power to rule thoae under him. To be over othera, U 
 eonguar, I muat firat be under tha HigMaat Power. 
 
 1 1 '■ 
 [ * 
 
 I 1 
 
TUK U ITU I ; 1(1 Mi Oh IIIE ai'lIJlT. 
 
 145 
 
 Fifteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ct)e Cutpouring of ti)e Spirit* 
 
 * And when the day of Pentf cost was fally come, they were all 
 filled with the Holy G ost, and began to speak, aa the Spirit 
 gave them utterance.'— Acth M. 1-4. 
 
 IN the outpouring of tlie Holy Spirit, the work of 
 Christ culnjinates. The adorable mystery of 
 the Incarnation in Bethlehem, the great Redemp- 
 tion accomplished on Calvary, the revelation of 
 Christ as the Son of God in the power of the 
 Eternal Life by the Resurrection, His entrance into 
 glory in the Ascension — these are all preliminary 
 stages ; their goal and their crown was the coming 
 down of the Holy Spirit. As Penteco«t is the last, 
 it is the greatest of the Christian feasts ; in it the 
 others find their realization and their fulfilment. 
 It is because the Church has hardly acknowledged 
 this, and has not seen that the glory of Pentecost 
 is the highest glory of the Father and the Son, 
 that the Holy Spirit has not yet been able to 
 reveal and glorify the Son in her as He fain 
 
 S 
 
146 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 would. Let us see if we can realize what Pentecost 
 means. 
 
 God made man in His own image, and for His 
 likeness, with the distinct object that he should 
 become like Himself. Man was to be a temple for 
 God to dwell in ; he was to become the home in 
 which God could rest. The closest and most 
 intimate union, the indwelling of love : this was 
 what the Holy One longed for, and looked forward 
 to. "What was very feebly set forth in type in the 
 temple in Israel became a Divine reality in Jesus 
 of Nazareth : God had found a man in whom He 
 could rest, whose whole being was opened to the 
 rule of His will and the fellowship of His love. 
 In Him there was a human nature, possessed by 
 the Divine Spirit ; and such God would have liad 
 all men to be. And such all would be, who ac- 
 cepted of this Jesus and His Spirit as their life. 
 His death was to remove the curse aud pov\er of 
 sin, and make it possible for them to receive His 
 Spirit. His resurrection was the entrance of 
 human nature, free from all tlie weakness of the 
 flesh, into the life of Deity, the Divine Spirit-life. 
 His ascension was admittance as Man into the very 
 glory of God ; the participation by huninn nature 
 of perfect fellowship with God in gKry in the unity 
 of the Spirit. And yet, with all this, the work was 
 not yet complete. Something, the chief thinjz, wms 
 still wanting. How could the Father dwell in na-n 
 even as He had dwelt in Christ ? This was the 
 great question to which Pentecost gives the answer. 
 
THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 147 
 
 er. 
 
 Out of the depths of Godhead, the Holy Spirit 
 is sent forth in a new character and a new power, . 
 such as He never had before. In creation and 
 nature He came forth from God as the Spirit of 
 IJfe. In the creation of man specially He acted 
 as the power in which his god -likeness was 
 grounded, and after his fall still testified for God. 
 Ill Israel He appeared as the Spirit of the theo- 
 cracy, distinctly inspiring* and fitting certain men 
 for their work. In Jesus Christ He came as the 
 Spirit of the Father, given to Him without measure, 
 and abiding in Him. All these are manifestations, 
 in different degrees, of one and the same Spirit. 
 But now there comes the last, the long-promised, 
 an entirely new manifestation of the Divine Spirit. 
 The Spirit that has dwelt in Jesus Christ, and in 
 His life of obedience, has taken up His human 
 spirit into perfect fellowship and unity with Him- 
 self, is now the Spirit of the exalted God -man. 
 As the Man Christ Jesus enters the glory of 
 God and the full fellowship of that Spirit-life in 
 which God dwells. He receives from the Father 
 the right to send forth His Spirit into His disciples, 
 yea, in the Spirit to descend Himself, and dwell in 
 them. In a new power, which hitheito had not 
 been possible, because Jesus had not been crucified 
 or glorified, as the very Spirit of the glorified Jesus, 
 the Spirit comes. The work of the Son, the long- 
 ing of the Father, receives its fulfilment. May^i's 
 heart is now indeed the home of his God. 
 
 Said I not truly that Pentecost is the greatest of 
 
148 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 :■ 
 
 the Church's feasts ? The mystery of Bethlehem is 
 indeed incomprehensible and glorious, but wlien 
 once I believe it, there is nothing that does not 
 appear possible and becoming. That a pure, holy 
 body should be formed for the Son of God by the 
 power of the Holy Spirit, and that in that body the 
 Spirit should dwell, is indeed a miracle of Divine 
 Tower. But that the same Spirit should now come 
 and dwell in the bodies of sinful men, that in them 
 too the Father should take up His abode, this is a 
 mystery of grace that passeth all understanding. 
 But this, glory be to God ! is the blessing. Pentecost 
 brings and receives. The entrance of the Son of 
 God into our flesh in Bethlehem, His entrance into 
 the curse aHd death of sin as our Surety, His entrance 
 in human nature as First-begotten from the dead 
 into the Power of the Eternal Life, His entrance 
 into the very Glory of the Father — these were but 
 the preparatory steps : here is the consummation for 
 wliich all the rest was accomplished. The word now 
 bej^ins to be fulfilled: 'Behold! the tabernacle of 
 God is with men, and He shall dwell with them.' * 
 
 It is only in the light of all that preceded Pentecost, 
 of all the mighty sacrifice which God thought not too 
 great if He might dwell with sinlul men, that the 
 nairalive of the outpouring of the Spirit can be under- 
 stood. It is the earthly reflection of Christ's exaltation 
 in heaven ; the participation He gives to His friends 
 of the glory He now has with the Father. To be 
 apprehended aright, it needs a spiritual vision ; in the 
 
 » See Note J. 
 
THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 140 
 
 story that is so simply told the deepest mysteries of the 
 Kingdom are unfolded, and the title-deeds given to the 
 Church of her holy heritage until her Lord's return. 
 What the Spirit is to be to believers and the Church, 
 to the minister's of the word and their work, and to 
 the unbelieving world, are the three chief thoughts. 
 1." Christ had promised to His disciples that in the 
 Comforter He Himself would again come to them. 
 During his life on earth, His personal manifested Pre- 
 sence, as revealing the unseen Father, was the Father's 
 great gift to men, was the one thing the disciples 
 wished and needed. This was to be their portion 
 now in greater power than before. Christ had 
 entered the glory with this very purpose, that now, 
 in a Divine way, * He might fill all things,' He 
 might specially fill the members of His body with 
 Himself and His glory-life. "When the Holy Spirit 
 came down. He brought as a personal life within 
 them what had previously only been a Life near 
 them, but yet outside their own. The very Spirit of 
 God's own Son, as He had 'ived and loved, had obeyed 
 and died, had been raised and glorified by Almighty 
 jiower, was now to become their personal lif j. The 
 wondrous transaction that had taken place in heaven 
 in the placing of tlieir Friend and Lord on the throne 
 of heaven, this the Holy Spirit came to be the witness 
 of, yea, to communicate and maintain it within them 
 as a heavenly reality. It is indeed no wonder that, 
 a.s the Holy Ghost comes down from the Father 
 tlirough the glorified Son, tiieir whole nature is filled 
 to overflowing with the joy and power of heaven, 
 
150 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 with the presence of Jesus, and their lips overflow 
 with the praise of the wonderful works of God. 
 
 Such was the birth of the Church of Christ ; such 
 must be its growth and strength. The first and 
 essential element of the true succession of the 
 ]*entecostal Church is a membership baptized with the 
 Holy Ghost and with fire, every heart filled with the 
 experience of the Presence of the glorifiod Lord, every 
 tongue and life witnessing to the wonderful work God 
 had done, in raising Jesus to the glory of Uis Throne, 
 and then filling His disciples with that glory too. It 
 is not so much the Baptism of Power for our preachers 
 we must seek; it is that every individual member of 
 Christ's body may know, and possess, and witness to, 
 the Presence of an indwelling Christ through the Holy 
 Spirit. It is tliis will draw the attention of the world, 
 and comj»el the confession to the Power of Jesus. 
 
 2. It was amid the interest and the questionings 
 which ihe sight of this joyous praising company of 
 believers awakened in the multitude that Peter 
 stood up to preach. The story of Pentecost teaches 
 us the true position of the ministry and the secret 
 of its power. A church full of the Holy Ghost is a 
 power of God to awaken the careless, and attract all 
 honest, earnest hearts. It is to such an audience, 
 roused by the testimony of believers, that the preach- 
 ing will come with power. It is out of such a 
 church of men and women full of the Holy Gliost 
 that S])irit led preacheis will rise up, bold and free, 
 to point to every believer as a living witness to the 
 trutli of their preaching and the Power of their Lord 
 
THE OUTPOUUIXG OF THE SPIHIT. 
 
 151 
 
 Peter's preaching is a most remarkable lesson 
 of what all Holy Ghost ^reaching will be. He 
 preaches Christ from the Scriptures. In contrast 
 with the thoughts of man, who had rejected Christ, 
 He sets forth the thoughts of God, who had sent 
 Christ, who delighted in Him, and had now exalted 
 Him at His right hand. All preaching in the 
 power of the Holy Spirit will be thus. The Spirit 
 is the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of His personal 
 life, taking possession of our personality, and wit- 
 nessing with our spirit to what Christ has won for 
 us. The Spirit has come for the very purpose of 
 continuing the work Christ had begun on earth, 
 of making men partakers of His redemption and 
 His life. It could not be otherwise; the Spirit 
 always witnesses to Christ. He did so in the 
 Scriptures ; He does so in the believer ; the be- 
 liever's testimony will ever be according to Scrip- 
 ture. The Spirit in Christ, the Spirit in Scripture, 
 the Spirit in the Church; as long as this threefold 
 cord is kept intertwined, it cannot be brc>ken. 
 
 3. The effect of this preaching was marvellous, but 
 not more marvellous than might be expected. The 
 Presence and Power of Jesus are such a reality in 
 the company of disciples, the Power from on High, 
 from the Throne, so fills Peter, the s^ght and 
 experience he has of Chii&t, as exalted at the right 
 hand of God, is such a spiritual reality, that power 
 goes out from him, and as his preaching reaches its 
 application : ' Know assuredly that God hath made 
 Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye 
 
152 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 crucified/ thousands bow in brokenness of spirit, 
 ready to acknowledge the Crucified One as their ]a\i-1. 
 The Spirit has come to the disciples, and througli them 
 convinced of unbelief. The penitent inquirers listen 
 to the command to repent and believe, and they, 
 too, receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. The greater 
 works Christ had promised to do through the disciples 
 He has done. In one moment lifelong prejudice, 
 and even bitter hatred, give v»ay to surrender, and 
 love, and adoration ; from the glorified Lord power 
 has filled His body, and from it power hath gone 
 forth to conquer and to save. 
 
 Pentecost is the glorious sunrise of *that day,' 
 the first of ' those days ' of which the prophets and 
 our Lord had so often spoken, the promise and the 
 pledge of what the history of the Church was meant 
 to ba It is universally admitted that the Church 
 has but ill fulfilled her destiny, that even now, 
 after eighteen centuries, she has not risen to the 
 height of her gloiious privilege. Even when she 
 strives to accept her calling, to witness for her Lord 
 unto the ends of the earth, she does it too little in 
 the faith of the Pentecostal Spirit, and the pos- 
 session of His Mighty Power. Instead of regarding 
 Pentecost as sunrise, she too often speaks and acts 
 as if it had been noonday, from which the light 
 must needs begin to wane. Let the Church return 
 to Pentecost, and Pentecost will return to her. 
 The Spirit of God cannot take possession of be- 
 lievers beyond their capacity of receiving Him. 
 The promise is waiting; the Spirit is now in all 
 
THE OUTPOURING OF THE SPIPJT. 
 
 153 
 
 His fulness. Our capacity of reception needs 
 enlarcjement. It is at the footstool of the throne, 
 while believers continue with one accord in praise 
 and love and prayer, while delay only intensifies 
 the spirit of waiting and expectation, while faith 
 holds fast the promise, and gazes up on the exalted 
 Lord, in the confidence that He will make Himself 
 known in power in the midst of His people, — it is 
 at the footstool of the throne that Pentecost comes. 
 Jesus Christ is still Lord of all, crowned with 
 power and glory. His longing to reveal His 
 preyence in His disciples, and to make them share 
 the glory-life in which He dwells, is as fresh and 
 full as when He first ascended the throne. Let 
 us take our place at the footstool. Let us yield 
 ourselves in strong, expectant faith, to be filled 
 with the Holy Ghost, and to testify for Jesus. Let 
 the indwelling Christ be our life, and our strength, 
 and our testimony. Out of such a Church Spirit- 
 filled preachers will rise, and the power go forth 
 that will make Christ's enemies bow at His feet. 
 
 DS 
 
 It 
 
 Lord God I we worship before the Throne on 
 which the Son is seated with Thee, crowned with 
 glory and honour. We thank and bless Thee thai it 
 is for us, the children of men, that Thou hast done 
 this, and that He in whom Thou delightest belongs 
 as much to earth as to heaven, to us as to Thee. 
 God! we adore Thy love: we praise Thy Holy Name. 
 
 We beseech Thee, our Father, to reveal to 
 Thy Church how our Blessed Head counts us as 
 
164 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 His own body, sharing with Him in His life, Hia 
 power, and His glory, and how the Holy Spirit, 
 as the bearer of that life and power and glory, 
 h waiting to reveal it within us. Oh, tliat Tliy 
 people might awake to know what the Holy Spirit 
 means, as the real Presence within them of tho 
 glorified Lord, and as the clothing with Power from 
 on high for their work on earth. Oh thf t all Thy 
 people might learn to gaze on their exalted King u* til 
 their whole being were opened up for His reception, 
 and His Spirit fill them to their utmost capacity ! 
 
 Our Father ! we plead with Thee, in the name of 
 Jesus, revive Thy Church. Make every believer to 
 be indeed a temple full of the Holy Ghost. Make 
 every church, in its believing members, a consecrated 
 company ever testifying of a present Christ, ever 
 waiting for the fulness of the power fiom on high. 
 Make every preacher of the word a minister of the 
 Spirit. And let throughout the earth Pentecost be 
 the sign that Jesus reigns, that His redeemed are His 
 body, that His Spirit works, and that every knee 
 shall bow to Him. Amen. 
 
 7. Do let ua try and take In the thought that when Jeaua went to haaven, He 
 eould not bear the thought that HIa returning to HIa glory ahould cause the 
 allghteat separation between HImaelf and HIa faithful followera. The Mission 
 of the Spirit waa to aecure and glue to thetf His promised Presence. In this 
 conaiata the blessedneaa of the Splrit'a work, and It la thia mahea Him the 
 power of Qod in ua for our work. 
 
 2. The perfect health of a body meana the health of every member. The 
 healthy action of the Spirit in the Church requirea the health of eoery indi- 
 vidual believer. Let ua pray and labour for thia, that the Preaence of Chriat 
 by the indwelling Spirit in every believer may be our preparation for the united 
 prayer and aervlce which ahall make our aeaaona of worahip one ever-repeated 
 Penteooat : the waiting, receptive, worshipping company on earth met by thi 
 Spirit of Chriat from heaven. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MISSIONS. 
 
 155 
 
 Sixteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 €\it fgolg Spirit anli ini)Sje^on0. 
 
 * jNuw there were at Antioch, in the church that was there, 
 prophets and teachers. And as they ministered to the Lord and 
 fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate me Barnabas and Sanl for 
 ihe work whereunto I have called them. Then, when they had 
 fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them 
 away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, went down 
 to SeleaciA.'— Acts xiii, 1-4. 
 
 IT has been rightly said that the Acts of the 
 Apostles might well have borne the name, The 
 Acts of the Exalted Lord, or The Acts of the Holy 
 Spirit. Christ's parting promise, * 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 utter- 
 most parts of the earth,' was indeed one of those 
 Divine seed -words in which is contained tlie 
 Kingdom of heaven in the power of an infinite 
 growth, with the law of its manifestation, and the 
 prophecy of its final perfection. In the Book of the 
 Acts we have the way traced in which the promise 
 
15G 
 
 THE SHRiT OF CUPIST. 
 
 '• o. 
 
 t 
 
 received iU incipient fulfilment", on its way from 
 Jerusalem to Rome. It gives us the Divine record 
 of the coming and dwellin*^ and working of the 
 Holy Spirit, as the Power given to Christ's disciples, 
 to witness for Him before Jews and heathens, and 
 of the triumph of the name of Christ in Antioch 
 and Rome as the centres for the conquest of the 
 uttermost parts of the earth. The book reveals, as 
 with a light from heaven, that the one aim and 
 purpose of the descent of th? Spirit from our 
 glorified Lord in heaven to His disciples, to reveal 
 in them His presence, His guidance, and His Power, 
 is to fit them to be His witnesses even to the utter- 
 most paits of the earth. Missions to the heathen 
 are the one object of the Mission of the Spirit. 
 
 In the passage we have as our text we have tLe 
 first record of the part the Church is definitely 
 called to take in the work of missions. In the 
 preaching of Philip at Samaria, and Peter at 
 Caesarea, we have the case of individual men 
 exercisiiig their function of ministry among those 
 who were not of the Jews under ';he leading of the 
 Spirit. In the preaching of the men of Cyprus and 
 Cyrene to the Greeks at Antioch we have the 
 Divine instinct of the Spirit of love and life, leading 
 men to open new paths where the leaders of the 
 Cliurch had not yet thought of coming. But this 
 guidance of the Spirit in separating special men was 
 now to become part of the organization of the 
 Church, and the whole community of believers is to 
 be educated to take its share in the work for which 
 
THE HOLY sriKIT AND MISSIONS. 
 
 157 
 
 the Spirit specially had come down to earth. Tf 
 the second of Acts is of importance as giving us the 
 induement of the Church for her Jerusalem work, 
 the thirteenth is of no less interest as her setting 
 apart for definite mission work. "VVe cannot 
 sufficiently praise God for the deepening interest 
 in missions in our days. If our interest is to he 
 permanent and personal, if it is to be a personal 
 enthusiasm of love and devotion to our Blessed Lord 
 and the lost He came to save, if it is to be fruit- 
 ful in raising the work of the Church to the true 
 level of Pentecostal Power, we must learn well the 
 lesson of Antioch. Mission work must find its 
 initiative and its power in the distinct and direct 
 acknowledgment of the guidance of the Holy Spirit. 
 It has often been remarked that true mission 
 work has always been born of a revival of religious 
 life in the Church. The Holy Spirit's quickening 
 work stirs up to new devotion to the Blessed Lord 
 whom lie reveals, and to the lost to whom He 
 belongs. It is in such a state of mind that the 
 voice of the Spirit is heard, urging the Lord's re- 
 deemed to work for Him. It was thus at Antioch. 
 There were certain prophets and teachers at Antioch, 
 spending part of their time in ministering to the Lord 
 and fasting. With the public service of God in 
 the Church they combined the spirit of separation 
 from the world and of self-sacriHce. Their Lord was 
 in heaven ; they felt the need of close and continued 
 intercourse, waiting for His orders ; they understood 
 that the Spirit that dwelt in them could not have 
 
158 
 
 THK SPIUIT OF CliKIST. 
 
 tree and full scope for action except as they main- 
 tained direct fellowship with Him as their Master, 
 and entered as much as poss'.ble into the fellow- 
 ship of Christ's crucifixion of the tiesh. 'They 
 ministered to the Lord and fasted : ' such were the 
 men, such was their state of mind and their luibit 
 of life, when the Holy Spirit revealed to them that 
 He had called two of their number to a special 
 work, and called upon them to be His instruments 
 in separating them, in presence ol' the whole Church, 
 for that work. 
 
 The law of the Kingdom has not been changed. 
 It is still the Holy Ghost who has charge of all 
 mission work. He will still reveal His will, in the 
 appointment of work and selection of men, to those 
 who are waiting on their Lord in service and 
 separation. When once the Holy Spirit in any age 
 has taught men of faith and prayer to undertake 
 His work, it is easy for others to admire and 
 approve what they do, to see the harmony of their 
 conduct with Scripture, and to copy their example. 
 And yet the real power of the Spirit's guiding and 
 working, the real personal love and devotion to 
 Jesus as a Beloved Lord, may be present in but a 
 very small extent. It is because a great deal of 
 interest in the missionary cause is of this nature, 
 that there has to be so much arguing and begying 
 and pleading on lower grounds with its supporters. 
 The command of the Lord is known as recorded in a 
 book ; the living voice of the Spirit, who reveals the 
 Lord in Living Presence and Power, is not heard. 
 
THE HOLY 8P1K1T AND MISJ«10NS. 
 
 159 
 
 It is not enough that Christians be stirred and 
 urged to take a greater interest in the work, to 
 pray and give more : there is a more urgent need. 
 In the life of the individual tlie indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit, and the Presence and Rule of the 
 Lortl of Glory which He maintains, must again 
 become the chief mark of the Christian life. In the 
 fellowship of the Church, we must learn to wait 
 more earnestly for the Holy Spirit's guidance in the 
 selection of men and fields of labour, in the wakening 
 of interest and the seeking of support : it is in the 
 mission directly originated in much prayer and 
 waiting on the Spirit that His power can specially 
 be expected. 
 
 Let no one fear, when we speak thus, that we 
 shall lead Christians away from the real practical 
 work that must be done. There is much that 
 needs to be done, and cannot be done without 
 diligent labour. Information must be circulated ; 
 readers must be found and kept; funds must be 
 raised ; prayer-meetings must be kept up ; direc- 
 tors must meet, and consult, and decide. All this 
 must be done. But it will be done well, and as a 
 service well-pleasing to the Master, just in the 
 measure in which it is done in the power of the 
 Holy Spirit. Oh that the Church, and every 
 member of it, might learn the lesson ! The Spirit 
 has come down from heaven to be the Spirit of 
 Missions, to inspire and empower Christ's disciples 
 to witness for Him to the uttermost parts of the 
 earth. 
 
160 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 The origin, the progress, the success of missions 
 are all his. It is He who wakens in Ihe hearts of. 
 believers the jealousy for the honour of their Lord, 
 the compassion to the souls of the perishing, the 
 faith in His promise, the willing obedience to His 
 commands, in which the mission takes its rise. It 
 is He who draws together to united effort, who 
 calls forth the suitable men to go out, who opens 
 the door, and prepares the hearts of the heathen to 
 desire or to receive the word. And it is He who 
 at length gives the increase, and, even where Satan's 
 seat is, establishes the cross, and gathers round it 
 the redeemed of the Lord. Missions are the 
 special work of the Holy Spirit. No one may 
 expect to be filled with the Spirit if he is not 
 willing to be used for missions. No one who 
 wishes to work or pray for missions need fear his 
 feebleness or poverty : the Holy Spirit is the power 
 tliat can fit him to take his divinely-appointed 
 place in the work. Let every one who prays for 
 missions, and longs for more of a missionary spiric 
 in the Church, pray first and most that in every 
 believer personally, and in the Church and all its 
 work and worship, the power of the Indwelling 
 Spirit may have full sway.* 
 
 * Then when they had lasted and prayed, they 
 sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the 
 Holy Ghost, went down to Seleucia.' The sending 
 forth was equally the work of the Church and of 
 the Spirit. This is the normal relation. There 
 
 ' See Note K. 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND MISSIONS. 
 
 161 
 
 1? 
 
 are men sent forth by the Holy Spirit alone ; amid 
 the opposition or indifference of the Church, the 
 Spirit does His work. There are men sent forth by 
 the Church alone ; it thinks the work ought to bo 
 done, and does it, but with little of the fasting and 
 praying that recognises the need of the Spirit, and 
 refuses to work without Him. Blessed the Church 
 and blessed the mission which the Spirit originates, 
 where He is allowed to guide, and where the 
 blessing is waited for from Himself alone. Ten 
 days* praying and waiting on earth, and the 
 Spirit's descent in fire : this was the birth of 
 the Church at Jerusalem. Ministering and fastmg, 
 and then again fasting and praying, and the 
 Spirit sending forth Barnabas and Saul : this 
 was at Antioch the consecration of the Church 
 to be a Mission Church. In waiting and prayer 
 on earth, and then in the power of the Spirit 
 from the Lord in heaven, is the strength, the 
 joy, the blessing of the Church of Christ and 
 its missions. 
 
 May I say to any missionary who reads this 
 in his far-off home. Be of good cheer, brother! 
 The Holy Spirit who is the Mighty Power of God, 
 who is the Presence of Jesus within thee, the Holy 
 Spirit is with thee, is in thee. The work is His : 
 depend on Him, yield to Him, wait for Him ; the 
 work is His, He will do it. May I say to every 
 Christian, be he director, supporter, contributor, 
 lielper in prayer or in any other way, in the great 
 work of hasteiiing the coming of the Kingdom, 
 
 L 
 
162 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Brother i be of good cheer. From that time of 
 waiting before the Throne, and that baptism there 
 received, the first disciples went forth until :hey 
 reached Antioch. There they paused, and prayed, 
 and fasted, and then passed on over to Eome and 
 tlie region beyond. Let us from these our brethren 
 learn the secret of power. Let us call on every 
 Christian who would be a mission friend and mission 
 worker to come with us and be filled with the 
 Spirit whose is the work of missions. Let us lift 
 up a clear testimony that the need of the Church 
 and the world is, believers who can testify to an 
 indwelling Christ in the Spirit, and prove it too. 
 Let us gather such together in the antechamber of 
 tlie King's Presence, the waiting at Jerusalem, tiie 
 ministering and fasting at Antioch ; the Spirit does 
 still come as of old in power, He does still move 
 and send forth ; He is still mighty to convince of 
 sin and reveal Jesus, and to make thousands fall 
 at His feet. He waits for us : let us wait on Him, 
 let us welcome Him. 
 
 O God ! Thou didst send Thy Son to be the 
 Saviour of the world. Thou didst give Him power 
 over all flesh, that He should give eternal life to as 
 many as Thou hast given Him. And Thou didst 
 pour out Thy Spirit upon all flesh, commissioning as 
 many as received Him to make known and pass on 
 the wondrous blessing. In the I^ove and Power in 
 which Thy Spirit was sent forth, He likewise sends 
 forth those who yield themselves to Him, to be the 
 
THE HOLY SIMKIT AND MISSIONS. 
 
 163 
 
 fall 
 
 instruments of His Power in glorifying Thy Son. 
 We bless Thee for this Divine and most glorious 
 salvation. 
 
 our God ! we stand amazed, and abased, at the 
 sloth and neglect of Thy Church in not fulfilling 
 her Divine commission ; we are humbled at our 
 slowness of heart to perceive and believe what Thy 
 Son did promise, to obey His will and finish His 
 work. We cry to Thee, our God ! visit Thy 
 Church, and let Thy Spirit, the Spirit of the Divine 
 Sending, fill all her children. 
 
 my Father ! I dedicate myself afresh to Thee, 
 to live and labour, to pray and travail, to sacrifice 
 and suffer for Thy Kingdom. I accept anew in 
 faith the wonderful gift of the Holy Spirit, the very 
 Spirit of Christ, and yield myself to His indwelling. 
 I humbly plead with Thee, give me and all Thy 
 children to be so mightily strengthened by the Holy 
 Spirit that Christ may possess heart and life, and 
 our one desire be that the whole earth may be 
 filled with Hi'i glory. Amen. 
 
 > 
 
 /. ' Sent forth by the Holy Ghost' The Holy Qhoat ivaa Himaeffamt by the Son 
 from the Father, to continue His worli on earth. He does it by sending forth 
 men for the uiorl<. The Mission of the Spirit was meant of Qod to giue the 
 Church the Spirit of Missions. His outpouring la upon all flesh. He cannot 
 rest till all hane heard of Christ. 
 
 2. 'A Missionary Spirit ! what 1$ this but a Christ Spirit— the pure flame of 
 His love to souls burning brightly enough in us to imhe us first willing, then 
 longing to go anywhere, and to suffer any priuations, in order to seek and find 
 the lost in the distant mountains and trackless deserts of the earth.' 
 
 3 'Is it true that we belong to Christ at all ? "If any man haue not tho 
 Spirit of Christ, He is none of His." We know that the Spirit of the Saviour 
 was that of Self -sacrifice for the Salvation of the World. We must apply the 
 tt;st to our own hearts. ' 
 
 4. Jesus sent down the Holy Spirit to take poaseaalon ofwr hearts for Him, 
 tMat He might e there, and work In and through us, euen aa the Father worked 
 
164 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 In and through Htm. Let me accept this afresh In faith. I wlii .valt on m| 
 Lord till my whole aoul la filled with the aaaurance that the Spirit dwalla In 
 me, yea, tulth the very preaence of HIa Spirit Himself. To thia Spirit I yield 
 myaeif, even aa the diaclplea did of old. ' They aaw with Chriat'a eyea, they 
 felt wit.** HIa heart, they worked with HIa energlea ; for they had Hia Spirit.' 
 And I Aavt HIa Spirit too. 
 
 6. On Ma icat birthday but one Llolngaione wrote : 'My Jesua, my kii,g, m§ 
 Life, my All, I again dedicate my whole acif to Thee.' He died on ht$ hn»t% 
 with Ma faoa btirM In Ma hand$t pi9^H* 
 
 P / 
 
THE NEWNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 105 
 
 Seventeenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Ci|e 0eb)ne0js; of tt)e Spirit. 
 
 'Bat now we have been discharged from the law, having died 
 to that wherein we were holden ; 8o that we serve in newness of 
 the Spiritt and not in oldness of the letter/ — Bom. vil 6. 
 
 * If ye are led by the Spirit, ye are not nnder the law.* — Qal. 
 ▼.18. 
 
 THE work of the indwelling Spirit is to glorify 
 Christ and reveal Him within us. Correspond- 
 ing to Christ's threefold office of Prophet, Priest, 
 and King, we find that the work of the Indwelling 
 Spirit in the believer is set before ns in three 
 aspects, as Enlightening, Sanctifying, and Strength- 
 ening Of the Enlightening it is that Christ 
 specially speaks in His farewell discoui*se, when 
 He promises Him as the Spirit of Truth, who will 
 bear witness of Him, will guide into all Truth, will 
 take of Christ's and declare it unto us. In the 
 Epistles to the Romans and Galatians His work 
 as Sanctifying is especially prominent: this was 
 what was needed in Churches just brought out oi 
 
t 
 
 H! 
 
 166 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CIIIIIST. 
 
 the depths of heathenism. In the Epistles to 
 the Corinthians, where wisdo^n ;vas so souL'^ht and 
 prized, the two aspects are combined ; they are 
 taught that the Spirit can only enlighten as He 
 sanctifies (1 Cor. ii., iii. 1-3, 1(5 ; 2 Cor. iii.). In 
 the Acts of the Apostles, as we might expect. His 
 Strengthening for work is in the foreground ; as 
 the promised Spirit of Power He fits for a bold and 
 blessed testimony in the midst of persecution and 
 difficulty. 
 
 In the Epistle to the Church at Rome, the 
 capital of the world, Paul was called of God to 
 give a full and systematic exposition of His gospel 
 and the scheme of redemption. In this the work 
 of the Holy Spirit must needs have an important 
 place. In giving his text or theme (Rom. i. 17), 
 * The righteous shall live by faith! he paves the 
 way for what he was to expound, that through Faith 
 both Righteousness and Life would come. In the 
 first part of his argument, to v. II, he teaches what 
 the Righteousness of faith is. He then proceeds 
 (v. 12-21) to prove how this Righteousness is 
 rooted in our living connection with the second 
 Adam, and in a justification of Life. In the indi- 
 vidual (vi. 1—13) this Life comes through the 
 believing acceptance of Christ's death to sin and 
 His life to God as ours, and the willing surrender 
 (vi. 14—23) to be servants of God and of righteous- 
 ness. Proceeding to show that in Christ we are 
 not only dead to sin, but to the law too as the 
 strength of sin. he comes naturally to the new la^ 
 
THE NEWNESS OF THE SPIUX 
 
 167 
 
 which His gospel brings to take the place of the 
 old, the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus. 
 
 We all know ho^v an impression is heightened 
 by the force of contrast. Just as the apostle had 
 contrasted (vi. 13-23) the service of sin ^nd of 
 righteousnc^ss, so he here (vii. 4) contrasts, to bring 
 out fully what the power and work of the Spirit is, 
 the service in ihe oldness of the letter, in bondage 
 to the law, with the service in newness of the Spirit, 
 in the liberty and power which Jesus through the 
 Spirit gives. In the following passage, Rom. vii. 
 14-25, and Rom. viii. 1-16, we have the contrast 
 worked out; it is in the light of that contrast 
 alone that the two states can be rightly under- 
 stood. Each state has its key-word, indicating the 
 character of the life it describes. In Rom. vii 
 we have the word Law twenty times, and the 
 word Spirit only once. In Rom. viii, on the 
 contrary, we find in its first sixteen verses th' word 
 Spirit sixteen times. The contrast is between the 
 Christian life in the law and in the Spirit. Paul 
 had very boldly said, not only, You are dead to 
 sin and made free from sin that you might become 
 servants to righteousness and to God (Rom. vi.), 
 but also, * We were made dead to the law, so that, 
 having died to that wherein we were holden, we 
 serve in newness of spirit, and not in oldness of 
 the letter.' We have here, then, a double advance 
 on the teaching of Rom. vi. There it was the 
 death to sin and freedom from it, here it is death 
 to the law and freedom from it. There it was 
 
168 
 
 THE SPIRIT OP CHRIST. 
 
 'newness of life* (Rom. vi. 4), as an objective 
 reality secured to us in Christ ; here it is ' newnfiss 
 of spirit * (Rom. vii. 6), as a subjective experience 
 made ours by the indwelling of the Spirit. He 
 ih(U w<ndd fully know and enjoy the life in the 
 Spi it must know whi Ir ^ the law is, dnd how 
 complete the freedom fr.rm it ith which he is made 
 free by the Spirit, 
 
 In the description Paul gives of the life of a 
 believer, who is still held in bondage of the law, 
 and seeks to fulfil it, there are three expressions in 
 which the characteristic marks of that state are 
 summed up. The first is, the word flesh. * I am 
 carnal (fleshly), sold under sin. In me, that is, in 
 my flesh, dwelleth no good thing* (14, 18). If we 
 want to understand the word carnal, we must refer 
 to Paurs exposition of it in 1 Cor. iii. 1-3. He 
 uses it there of Christians, who, though regenerate, 
 have not yielded themselves to the Spirit entirely, 
 so as to become spiritual.* They have the Spirit, 
 but allow the flesh to prevail. And so there is 
 a difference between Christians, as they bear their 
 name, carnal or spiritual, from the element that is 
 strongest in them. As long as they have the 
 Spirit, but, owing to whatever cause, do not accept 
 fully His mighty deliverance, and so strive in 
 their own strength, they do not and cannot be- 
 come spiritual. St. Paul here describes the regeiie* 
 
 ^ See chapter xxiii. There is a small difference, that of one 
 letter, between the word used there and here in the Greek, but 
 not such as to affect the application of the text. 
 
THE NEWNESS OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 1G9 
 
 rate man, as he is in himself. He lives by t j j 
 Spirit, but, according to Gal. v. 25, does not w '?i 
 by the Spirit. He has the new spirit within him, 
 according to Ezek. xxxvi. 26, but he has not 
 intelligently and practically accepted God's own 
 Spirit to dwell and rule within that spirit, as the 
 life of His life. He is still carnal. 
 
 The second expression we find in ver. 18 : *To 
 will is present with me, but ho ' do that which 
 is good is not.' In every p' <»ib variety of ex- 
 pression Paul (vii. 15-21) at^ ...p^ to make clear the 
 painful state of utter impotence in which the law, 
 the effort to fulfil it, leav^.- i man: 'The good 
 which I would, I do not; ifut the evil which I 
 would not, that I practise.' Willing, but not doing : 
 3uch is the service of God in the oldness of the 
 letter, in the life before Pentecost (see Matt. xxvi. 
 41). The renewed spirit of the man has accepted 
 and consented to the will of God ; but the secret of 
 power to do, the Spirit of God, as indwelling, is not 
 yet known. In those, on the contrary, who know 
 what the life in the Spirit is, God works both to 
 will and to do ; the Christian testifies, ' I can do 
 all things in Him that strengtheneth me.' But 
 this is only possible through faith and the Holy 
 Spirit. As long as the believer has not consciously 
 been made free from the law with its, 'He that 
 doeth these things shall live through them,' con- 
 tinual failure will attend his efforts to do the will 
 of God. He may even delight in the law of God 
 after the inward man, but the power is wanting^ 
 
170 
 
 TlIK SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 It is only when lie submits to the law of faith, ' lie 
 that liveth shall do these things/ because he knuws 
 that he has been made free from the law, that he 
 may be joined to another, to the living Jesus, work- 
 ing in him through His Holy Spirit, that ho will 
 indeed bring forth fruit unto God (see Kom. vii. 4). 
 The third expression we must note is in verse 
 23 : * I see a dif!'erent law in my members, bringing 
 me into captivity under the law of sin which is in 
 my members.' This word, captivity, as that other 
 one, sold under sin, suggests the idea of slaves sold 
 into bondage, without the liberty or the power to 
 do as they will. They point back to what he had 
 said in the conmiencement of the chapter, that we 
 have been made free from the law ; here is evidently 
 one who does not yet know that liberty. And 
 they point forward to what he is to say in chfip. 
 viii. 2 : ' The law of the Spirit of life in Christ 
 Jesus hath made me free from the law of sin and 
 death.* The freedom with which we have been 
 made free in Christ, as offered to our faith, cannot 
 be fully accepted or experienced as long as there is 
 ought of a legal spirit. It is only by the Spirit of 
 Christ within us that the full liberation is effected. 
 As in the oldness of the letter, so in the newness 
 of the Spirit, a twofold relation exists : the objective 
 or external, the subjective or personal. There is 
 the law over me, and outside of nie, and there is 
 the law of sin in my members, deriving its strength 
 from the objective one. Just so, in bfeing made 
 free from the law, there is the objective liberty in 
 
TIIH NEWNKSS OF TIIK 81'IJIIT. 
 
 171 
 
 Christ ofTurc'd to my faith, and there is the suh- 
 joctive personal possession of tliat hberty, in its 
 fuhiess and power, to be had alone throuj^di the 
 Spirit dwelling and ruling in my mend)ers, even as 
 the law of sin had done. This alone can change 
 the plaint of the captive: ' Oh, wretched man that 
 I am, who sliall deliver me from the bondage of 
 this death?' into the song of the ransomed: 'I 
 thank God through Jesns Christ our Lord/ * The 
 law of the Spirit made me free.' 
 
 And how nov/ have we to regard the two states 
 thus set before us in Iiom. vii. 14-23 and viii. 
 1-16? Are they interchangeable, or successive, 
 or sinmltaneous ? 
 
 Many have thought that tlioy are a description 
 of the varying experience of the believer's life. As 
 often as, by the grac« of (Jod, he is able to do what 
 is good, and to live well - pleasing to God, he 
 experiences the grace of chap, viii., while the 
 consciousness of sin or shortcoming plunges him 
 again into the wretchedness of chap. vii. Though 
 now the one and then the other experience may be 
 more marked, each day brings the experience of 
 both. 
 
 Others have felt that this is not the life of a 
 believer as God would have it, and as the provision 
 of God's grace has placed it within our reach. And 
 as they saw that a life in the freedom with which 
 Christ makes free, when the Holy Spirit dwells 
 within us, is within our reach, and as they enteiod 
 on it, it was to them indeed as if now for ever they 
 
172 
 
 THE 8PIU1T OF CHRIST. 
 
 had left the experience of Rom. viL far behind, and 
 they cannot but look upon it as Israel's wildernesa 
 life, a life never more to be returned to. And thera 
 are many who can testify what light and blessin;^ 
 haa come to them as they saw what the blessed 
 transition was from the bondage of the law to the 
 liberty of the Spirit. 
 
 And yet, however large the measure of truth in 
 this view, it does not fully satisfy. The believer 
 feels that there is not a day that he gets beyond 
 the words, * In me, that is, in my flesh, dwelloth 
 no good thing.* Even when kept most joyously in 
 the will of God, and strengthened not only to will 
 but also to do, he knows that it is not he, but the 
 grace of God : ' in me dwelleth no good.' And so the 
 believer comes to see that, not the two experiences, 
 but the two states are simultaneous, and that even 
 when his experience is most fully that of the law 
 of tlie Spirit of life in Christ Jesus making him free, 
 he still bears about with him the body of sin and 
 death.^ The making free of the Spirit, and the 
 deliverance from the power of sin, and the song of 
 thanks to God is the continuous experience of the 
 power of the endless life as maintained by the Spirit 
 of Christ. As I am led of the Spirit, I am not 
 under the law. Its spirit of bondage, its weakness 
 
 ^ Mark the difference between a state and an experience. As a 
 state, bearing about in his body (Rom. vi. 6, viii. 13) the flesh 
 that is enmity against God, no believer ever gets beyond Rom. vii. 
 As an experience no believer need abide in it, because the life of 
 the Spi) it gives from moment to moment the deliverance and the 
 victoi^. 
 
THB NEWNESS OF THE SPWIT. 
 
 173 
 ""•oiigh tho flesh and ft,» 
 
 -'d wretchedness t workl !/'"'" **' ^w-Jemnation 
 of the Spirit. *'■ "'" ««" 0"t by the Jiberty 
 
 -ho'woS tr ttTu ,f ' ?"r »^^« *o 'ean, 
 '■^ ■•" the one tauTh in h '"'''''"'"« "^ ">« Spiru' 
 "-' the law, S VshTT .*'"' ^"•'h i "^ 
 
 "tterly impotent in en bh'n. ' T"""'''^" «'« «J1 
 ■«. the Spirit within tak inf 1 °, '''"" ^^''d- I' 
 without, that leads us 2 /^ ,?'■«=« «' the law 
 ^<i'-«t hath made us f ee Zt'^X ^''^'^-^'h 
 the Lord is, there is liberty.' '' """ ^^'^t of 
 
 Beloved Lord Jesu« i t i ., 
 •n-ke clear to me the kL,! /""""^ '^^ Thee to 
 theSpirit. Teach me whatl .Tl "' '""^ "^« ^t 
 dead to the law. so thit 'r , "''''"^ ''«<=°"'« 
 longer i„ the oldness of Je IpIT °' ^'^ " «» 
 hat we are mamed to AnofW "• ^""^ ^hat 
 ;^'>«en One, through whom wfh '•'""/'' ^''^^^W' 'he 
 God. serving i„ the IZsIJT^I"''^ ^'"^^ "«to 
 
 Blessed Lord ; wi"h 1;"!. f *''" ^P'"'- 
 f o; my u,,„,, ;'^ t'mtTat'" ' ""'^'^^ "'« 
 dwelleth no good thing.' tlmt' ' "' *" ™^ "^■«''' 
 «>. 'der sm.' I do bless Thee L. • '^'"''^- *°'"' 
 ery. • Who shall deliver If '" '^'''^' '*> 'he 
 h.s death?' Thou hairtalh. *" ""^ ^"^^ of 
 thank God through ZL r? . '"^ *^ '^"«««'-. ' I 
 aw of the Spirit^of iSin cw"? '"''^' * ''■ ^ ' 
 
 free from ehe law of sin and SS ' "' "■"*' '"« 
 Blessed Master J teach Jl 
 
 " teach me now to serve Thee in 
 
174 
 
 THE SPIUrr OF CIIUIST. 
 
 the newness and the liberty, the ever-fresh gladness 
 of the Spirit of life. Teach nie to yield myself in. 
 large and wliole-hearted faith to that Holy Spirit, 
 that my life may indeed be in the glorious liberty 
 of the children of God, in the power of an indwell- 
 ing Saviour working in me both to will and to do, 
 even as the Father did work in Him, Amen. 
 
 1. It Is not enough that we know that there are two masters to serve, God 
 and sin (Rom. ui. 15-22), and yield ourselves to God alone. We must see that in 
 serving God as the only Master, there are two ways of doing so, the oldness of 
 the letter, and the newness of the Spirit (Rom. oil. 1-6). Until a soul under- 
 stands the difference, confesses its danger and impotence, as pictured in 
 Rom. uii. 14-25, and utterly forsakes it, it cannot fully know what service in 
 newness and gladness of the Spirit is. It ia only out of the death of the oio 
 life of confidence in the flesh that the new can arise. 
 
 3. In every Catechism each question has its appropriate answer. How many 
 there are who never cease repeating the question, ' wretched man that I am, 
 who shall deliver me from the body of this death ? ' who seldom give the 
 triumphant answer, 'I thank God, through Jesus Christ our Lord.' 'The lata 
 of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free.' Of that answer chap, 
 via. 1-16 is the exposition. Never ask the question without giving the answer. 
 
 3. The word law is used in two senses. It means the inner rule according to 
 which in nature a force acts, and is used to indicate that power itself. Or it 
 Is used in morals of an external rule, according to which he must be taught 
 to act who does not do so spontaneously. The external is always the proof 
 that the inner one is wanting. When the inner law prevails, the outer is not 
 needed. ' If ye are led of the Spirit, ye are not under the law. ' The indwelling 
 Spirit makes free from the law. 
 
 4. The whole secret of sanctlfication lies in the promise of the Nem 
 Covenant: 'I will put my law in their Inward parts, and write it in their 
 heart.' Just as each plant in its growth spontaneously obeys the law put 
 into its inmost parts by God, so the believer, who accepts the Vew Covenant 
 promise in its fulness, walks in the power of that inner taw The Spirit 
 within frees from the law without. 
 
TUL' UBEllTY OF lilE Sl'IUIT. 
 
 175 
 
 Eighteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHKIST. 
 
 K\^c iLiljertg of tfje Spirit 
 
 * The law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus made me free 
 from the law of sin and death. If by the Spirit ye make to 
 die the deeds of the body, ye shall live.* — Rum. viii. 2, 18. 
 
 IN" tlie sixth chapter Paul had spoken (vers. 1(S, 
 22) of our havitif^ been made free from sin in 
 Christ Jesus. Our death to sin in Christ had freed 
 us from its dominion : being made free from sin as 
 a l*ower, as a Master, when we accepted Christ in 
 faith, we became Servants to righteousness and to 
 God. In the seventh chapter (vers. 1—6) he had 
 spoken of our being made free from the hiw. 
 * The strength of sin is the law : * deUverance from 
 sin and the law go together. And being made fnie 
 from the law, we had been united to the livim; 
 Christ, that, in union with Him, we might now 
 serve in newness of the Spirit (vii. 4-6). Paul 
 had, in these two passages (vi. and vii. 1-6), 
 presented this being made free from sin and the 
 law, in its objective reality, as a life prepared in 
 
it! 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 l! 
 
 i 
 
 11 I 
 
 176 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Christ, to be accepted and maintained by faith. 
 According to the law of a gradual growth in the 
 Christian life, the believer has, in the power of the 
 Spirit with which he has been sealed, in faith to 
 enter into this union and to walk in it. As a 
 matter of experience, almost all believers can 
 testify that, even after they have seen and accepted 
 this teaching, their life is not what they had hoped 
 it would be. They have found the descent into the 
 experience of the second half of llom. vii. most 
 real and painful. It was because there is, as a 
 rule, no other way for learning the two great lessons 
 the believer needs. The one is the deep impotence 
 of the human will, under the law urging it to 
 obedience, ever to work out a Divine righteous- 
 ness in man's life ; the other, the need of the 
 conscious and most entire indwelling of the Hcdy 
 Spirit as the only sufficient power for the life of a 
 child of God. 
 
 In the first half of Rom. viii. we have the 
 setting forth of this latter truth. In the Divine 
 exposition of the Christian life in this Epistle, as 
 in its growth in the believer, there is a distinct 
 ad\ ance from step to step. The eighth chapter, in 
 introducing the Holy Spirit for the first time in the 
 unfolding of the life of faith, as we have it in 
 chaps, vi.— viii,, teaches us that it is only as the 
 Spirit definitely animates our life and walk, and as 
 He is distinctly known and accepted to do this, 
 that we can fully possess and enjoy the riches of 
 grace that are ours in Christ. Let every one who 
 
 i 
 
 I* 
 
 V 
 
 y 
 
 p 
 
 
i 
 
 THE LIBERTY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 177 
 
 i 
 
 \ 
 
 V 
 
 >.l 
 
 would know what it is to be dead to sin and alive 
 to God, to be free from sin and the law, and married 
 to Him wlio is raised from the dead, come hither to 
 find the strength he needs in that Spirit, through 
 whom the union with Christ can be maintained as 
 a Divine experience, and His life be lived within 
 us in Power and in Truth. 
 
 Of the first half of this eighth chapter the second 
 verse is the centre. It reveals the wonderful secret 
 of how our freedom from sin and the law may 
 become a living and abiding experience. A believer 
 may know that he is free, and yet have to mourn 
 that his experience is that of a wretched captive. 
 The freedom is so entirely in Christ Jesus, and the 
 maintenance of the living union with Him is so 
 distinctly and entirely a work of Divine power, 
 that it is only as we see that the Divine Spirit 
 dwells within us for this very purpose, and know 
 how to accept and yield to His working it, that we 
 can really stand perfect and complete in the liberty 
 with which Christ hath made us free. The life 
 and the liberty of Rom. vi. and vii. 1-6 are only 
 fully ours as we can say, ' The law of the Spirit of 
 the life that is in Christ Jesus made me free from 
 the law of sin and death.' Through the whole 
 Christian life the principle rules : ' Aecordi ag to 
 your faith be it unto yea/ As ^he Holy Spirit, 
 the Spirit of faith, reveals the greatness of God's 
 resurrection power working in us, and as faith in 
 the indwelling Spirit submits to receive that power 
 to the full, all that is true for us in Christ Jesua 
 
 M 
 
178 
 
 THE avnnx ok ciiijst. 
 
 becomes true in our daily personal experience. Tt 
 is as we perceive the difference between this and 
 the previous teaching (Koni. vi, -vii. G), as we see 
 what a distinct advance it is upon it, the indis- 
 pensable completion of the wonderful revelation 
 of our life in Christ there made, that the unicjue 
 and most glorious place which the Holy Spirit as 
 God holds in the scheme of redemption and the 
 life of faith will open up to us. We learn thus, 
 tliat as divinely perfect as is the Life of Liberty in 
 Christ Jesus, is also the povver of that Life enabling 
 us to walk in that Liberty in the Holy Spirit. The 
 living assurance and experience of the Holy Spirit's 
 indwelling will become to us the very first necessary 
 of the new Life, inseparable from the Person and 
 l*resence of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
 
 * The Law of the Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus 
 made us free from the Law of Sin and Death.' 
 l*aul here contrasts the two opposing laws ; the 
 one of Sin and Death in the members, the other 
 of the Spirit of Life ruling and quickening even 
 the mortal body. Under the former we have 
 seen the believer sighing as a wretched captive. 
 In the second half of Horn, vi., Paul had ad- 
 dressed him as made free from sin, and by volun- 
 tary surrender become a servant to God and to 
 righteousness. He has forsaken the service of sin ; 
 aiMi ytjt it often masters him. The promise, 'Sin shall 
 not — .shall a3ver for a moment — 'have dominion 
 over yon/ has not been realized. To will is present, - 
 Luii how *j) peiTorm he knows not. '0 wretched 1 
 
 
THE LIBERTY OF THE SPIIHT. 
 
 179 
 
 .1 
 
 man that 1 am, who shall deliver me from the body 
 of this death V is the cry of impotence amid all liia 
 efforts to keep the law. * I thank God, through 
 Christ tTesus our Lord/ is the answer of faith that 
 claims the deliverance in Christ from this power 
 that has held him captive. From the Law, the 
 Dominion of Sin and Death in the members, its 
 actual power in working sin, there is deliverance. 
 That deliverance is a new law, a mightier force, an 
 actual power making free from sin. As real as 
 was the energy of sin working in our members, 
 and more mighty, is the energy of the Spirit 
 dwelling in our bodies. It is the Spirit of the Life 
 that there is in Clirist. Out of that Life, when 
 filled as it was in the rcRurrection and ascension 
 with the mighty energy of Gud's power (Ejih. i. 17, 
 21), and admitted on the tlirone to the omnipotence 
 of God as the Eternal Spirit — out of that Life there 
 descended the Holy Spirit, Himself God. The Law, 
 the Power, the Dominion of the Life in Cl-.rist Jesus, 
 n)atle me free from the Law, the ' 'minion of ^>U\ 
 ainl Death in luy members, witli treedom as real 
 as was the sla\eiy. From tlie vet first beginnings 
 of the New Life, it was the S] .it who breathed 
 faith in Christ. On our first 'ering into justi- 
 fication, it was He wlio shed abroad the love of 
 God in our hearts. It wjis He who led us to see 
 Christ as our Life as well as our Lighteousness. 
 But all this was in most caPcs still accompanied 
 with much ignorance of His Pre? v ice, of the great 
 need and the supply of His Almighty P(»wer. Aa 
 
180 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, 
 
 the believer in Rom. vii. (14-23) is brought to 
 the (liecovery of the deep-rooted legality of the old 
 nature, and its absolute impotence, the truth of the 
 Holy Spirit, and of the Mighty Power with which 
 He does make practically free from the Power of 
 Sin and Death is understood as never before, and 
 our text becomes the utterance of the highest faith 
 and experience combined : ' The Law of the Spirit 
 of Life made me free from the Law of Sin and 
 Death/ As real, and mighty, and spontaneous as 
 was the Law of Sin in the members, is now 
 t)ie Law of the Spirit of Life in those members 
 too. 
 
 The believer who would live fully in this liberty 
 of the Life in Christ Jesus will easily understand 
 what the path is in which he wi^l learn to walk, 
 liora. viii. is the goal to which Rom. vi. and 
 vii. lead up. In faith he will first have to 
 study and accept all that is in these two earlier 
 chapters taught of his being in Christ Jesus ; dead 
 to sin and alive to God, free from sin and the law, 
 and married to Christ. ' If ye abide in my word, 
 ye shall know the truth, and the truth shall make 
 you iree.' Let the word of God, as it teaches you 
 your union with Christ, be the life-soil in which 
 youi faith and life daily roots ; abide, dwell in it, 
 and let it abide in you. To meditate, to hold fast, 
 to hide in the heart the word of this gospel, to 
 assimilate it in faith and patience, is the way to 
 rise and reach each higher truth the Scripture 
 teaches. And if the passage through the experience 
 
 .. 
 
 M 
 
 ,/:-.. 
 
THE LIBERTY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 181 
 
 A' > 
 
 of carnality and captivity, which the attempts to 
 fulfil the law we delight in bring, appears to b« 
 anything but progress, let us remember that it is 
 just in the utter despair of self that entire* sur- 
 render to the Spirit, to bring and keep us in U«« 
 liberty with which Christ makes free, is U>rn and 
 strengtliened. To cease from all hope in the flesh 
 and the law, is the entrance into the liberty of the 
 
 To walk in the paths of this New Life it will 
 further be specially needful to remember what is 
 meant by the expression the word so distinctly us^^s, 
 a * walk after the Spirit/ The Spirit is to lead, to 
 decide and show the path. This implies surrender, 
 obedience, a waiting to be guiced. He is to be the 
 ruling Powerj we are in all things to live and act 
 under the Law, the legislution, the Dominion of the 
 Spirit. A holy fear to grieve Him, a tender watch- 
 fulness to know His leading, an habitual faith in 
 His hidden but most sure presence, a lowly adoration 
 of Him as God, must be the mark of such a life. The 
 words which Paul uses towards the close of this 
 section are to express our one aim : ' H ye, thrc)ugh 
 the Spirit, make to die the deeds of the body, ye 
 shall live.' The Holy Spirit possessing, inspiring, 
 animating all the powers of our spirit and soul, 
 entering even into the body, and, in the power of 
 His Divine life, enabling us to make and keep dead 
 the deeds of the body, this is what we may count 
 upon as the fulfilment of the word. * The law of the 
 Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus made me free 
 
182 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 from the law of Sin and Death.' This is the ' salva. 
 tion in sanctification of the Spirit' to which we 
 liave been chosen. 
 
 * We walk by faith : ' this is what we specially 
 need to remember in regard to a * walk after the 
 S})irit.' Tlie visibie manifestation of Christ to us 
 and His work is so much more intelligible than 
 ♦'le revelation of the Spirit within us, that it is 
 here, above all, in seeking the leading of the Spirit, 
 tliat faith is called for. 1 he Almighty Power of 
 the Spirit hides Himself away in such a real union 
 with o\ir weakness, with our personality in its 
 abiding sense of weakness, that it needs patient 
 perseveiance in bi lieving and obeying to come into 
 the full consciousness of His indwelling, and of His 
 having indued undertaken to do all our living for 
 ns. It needs the direct fresh anointing dny by day 
 irom the Holy One, in fellowship with Christ, the 
 Anointed, and in persevering waiting on the Father. 
 Here, if ever, the word is needed, * Only believe ! ' 
 Believe in the Father and His promise ! Believe in 
 the Son and His life as thine : * Our life is hid with 
 Christ in God.' Believe in the Spirit, as the bearer, 
 and communicator, and maintainer of the Life and 
 Presence of Jesus ! Believe in Him as already 
 within thee ! Believe in His power and faithful- 
 ness to woik, in a way that is Divine and beyond 
 thy conception. His work in thee! Believe, 'The 
 Law of the S|»irit (»f Life in Christ Jesus made me 
 free fiom the Law of Sin and Death.' 1)0W in 
 deep silence of soul before God, waiting on Him to 
 
TIIK LII5EKTY OF TlIK Sl'IHlT. 
 
 18.S 
 
 .J 
 
 wuik mightily in tlioo by His Spirit. As self is 
 laid low, He will do His blessed and beloved woik. 
 He will reveal, will impart, will make and keep 
 divinely present Jesus Christ as the Life of thy 
 Spirit. 
 
 Ever blessed God and Father! we do praise Thee 
 for the wonderful gift of Thy Holy Si)irit, in whom 
 Thou with Thy Son comest to make abode in us. 
 AVe do bless Thee for that wonderful gift of Eternal 
 Life, which Thy beloved Son brouglit us, and which 
 >ve have in Jesus Himself, as His own life given 
 to us. And we thank Thee tliat the Law of the 
 Spirit of the Life in Christ Jesus now makes us 
 free from the Law of Sin and Death. 
 
 Our Father ! we humbly pray Thee to reveal to 
 us in full and blessed expfrience what this perfect 
 Law of Liberty is. Teach us how it is the Law of 
 an inner Life, that in joyful and spontaneous power 
 grows up into its blessed destiny. Teach us that 
 the Law is none other than of the Eternal Life, 
 in its power of continuous and unfading being. 
 Teach us that it is the Law of the Life of Christ 
 Jesus, the living Saviour Himself, living and main- 
 taining it in us. Teach us that it is the Law of the 
 Spirit of Life in Christ Jesus, the Holy Spirit 
 revealing and glorifying Christ in us as an indwell- 
 ing Presence. Father ! open our eyes and 
 strengthen our faith, that we may believe that the 
 Law of the Spirit is indeed mightier than the Law 
 of Sin in our members, and make free from it, so 
 
184 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 tlmt through the Spirit we make dead the deeds of 
 the body, and indeed live the lite of Christ. 
 
 Father ! teach this to all Thy children. Amen. 
 
 >' 
 
 1. Let ua pause a moment here, and aaklfthlala our experience. 'From 
 the law of sin and death ' In my membera, aa It made me groan for deliverance, 
 ' the Law of the Spirit of Life In Christ Jesua hath made r,ie free. ' Am I living 
 In this bleaaed liberty ? 
 
 2. Let every one who would do ao remember the path aa aet before ua In 
 the gospel of Christ by Paul. You were reconciled to Qod by the death of HIa 
 Son ; you are now to be saved by HIa Life (Rom. v. 10). By faith you know that 
 that life Is yours In all Ita power (vl. 1, 11). In thi strength of It you gave 
 yourself to be a servant of Qod (vl. 15-22), But the service was to be In no 
 legal aplrit under the law, but In newneaa of aplrit (vll. 1-6). Becauae you 
 did not underatand th a, you aought In the power of the new life to fulfil 
 the law you delighted In, and yet utterly failed (vll. 14 25). Listen. Here 
 comea In the Holy Spirit (vlll. 1-16). Faith In Jesus and His life leads 
 the way to the life of the Spirit In you. The Holy Spirit frees from the law, 
 and maintains the life of Chr at In the power of His living presence. Rom, 
 vlll. 2 Is the hey of the Blessed Life. ,. 
 
 3. 'As Adam's Hfe Is reproduced In the entire human family, ao the new 
 life of the 6od-man flows ever to all His people : our life Is the repro- 
 duction of Christ's spiritual life in His people. The new birth connects ua 
 with the Second Man, who, by the Holy Spirit, gathera HIa people under 
 Him by a aelf-communicating act.'-SMEATON 
 
 4. Would you live that life ? Remember our one great leaaon aa we go 
 along. Acknowledge the Holy Spirit dwelling In you. Study above everything 
 to be full of the faith of HIa Preaence aa the revealer ofChriat and His life 
 In you. Give up to Him to rule ; be ready to wait on Him and ' to walk after 
 Him. ' The law of the Spirit, the force or power of an Inward life, thp Law of 
 the Spirit of Life In Christ deauf, made me free from the Law <tf Sin and 
 Deatk 
 
 V 
 
THE LEADING OF THK SPIRIT. 
 
 185 
 
 Nineteenth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JEbe leatimg of tje 5pirit. 
 
 * Ai many m are led by the Spirit of God, these are sona of 
 
 God.'— lloM. viii. 14. 
 
 BY very many Christians the leading of the 
 Spirit is chiefly thought of as a suggestion of 
 thoughts for our guidance. In the decision of 
 doubtful questions of opinion or of duty, in the 
 choice of words from Scripture to use, or the dis- 
 tinct direction to the performance of some Christian 
 work, they would be so glad of some intimation from 
 the Spirit of what the right thing is. They long 
 and ask for it in vain. When at times they think 
 they have it, it does not bring the assurance, or the 
 comfort, or the success, which they think ought to 
 be the seal of what is really from the Spirit. And 
 so the precious truth of the Spirit's leading, instead 
 of being an end of all controversy, and the solu- 
 tion of all difficulty, a source of comfort and of 
 strength, itself becomes a cause of perplexity, and 
 the greatest difficulty of all. 
 

 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 // 
 
 {./ 
 
 ^cT 
 
 >..-^ 
 
 
 ^A 
 
 4^ 
 
 .<r 
 
 % 
 
 1.0 
 
 11.25 
 
 !!? La 12.0 
 
 WMu 
 
 Ili^HI 
 
 6" 
 
 Hiotographic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporalion 
 
 23 WiST MAIN STRUT 
 
 WIUTIR,N.Y. USM 
 
 (716) •72-4503 
 

 ^ 
 
 4. 
 
 >"^ 
 
 
 o^ 
 
186 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CIiniST. 
 
 The error comes from not accepting the truth 
 we have had to insist upon more than once, that 
 the teaching and the leading of the Spirit is first 
 given in the Life, not in tiie Mind. The Life 
 is stirred and strengthened ; the Life becomes tlie 
 Light. As the conformity to this world and its 
 spirit is crucified and dies, as we deliberately deny 
 and keep down the life of nature and the will of 
 the flesh, we are renewed in the spirit of our mind, 
 and so the mind becomes able to prove and know 
 the good and perfect and acceptable will of God 
 (Kom. xii. 2). ' 
 
 This connection between the practical sanctifying 
 work of the Spirit in our inner life, and His leading, 
 comes out very clearly in our context. * If by the 
 Spirit ye make to die the deeds of the body, ye shall 
 live,' we read in viii. 1 3. Then follows immediately, 
 ' For as many as are led by the Spirit of God are 
 sons of God.' That is, as many as allow themselves 
 to be led by Him in this mortifying of the deeds of 
 the body, these are the sons of God. The Holy 
 Spirit is the Spirit of the holy life which there was 
 and is in Christ Jesus, and which works in us as a 
 Divine life-power. He is the Spirit of Holiness, and 
 only as such will He lead. Through Him God works 
 in us both to will and to do of His good pleasure ; 
 til rough Hira God makes us perfect in every good 
 work to do His will, working in us that which is 
 well-pleasing in His sight. To be led of the Spirit 
 implies in the first place the surrender to His work 
 as He convinces of sin, and cleanses soul and body 
 
THE LEADING OF THE SI'IUIT. 
 
 187 
 
 for Ilis temple. It is as the Indwelling Spirit, 
 filling, sanctifying, and ruling the heart and life, 
 that He enlightens and leads.^ • 
 
 In the study of what the leading of the Spirit 
 means, it is of the first importance to grasp this 
 thought in all its bearings. It is only the spiritual 
 mind can discern spiritual things can receive the 
 leadings of the Spirit. The mind must grow 
 spiritual to become capable of spiritual guidance. 
 Paul said to the Corinthians, that because, though 
 born again, they were still carnal, as babes in 
 Christ, he had not been able to teach them spiritual 
 truth. If this holds of the teaching that comes 
 through man, how much more of that direct teach- 
 ing of the Spirit, by which He leads into all truth ! 
 The deepest mysteries of Scripture, as far as they 
 are apprehended by human thought, can be studied 
 and accepted and even taught by the unsanctified 
 mind. But the leading of the Spirit, we cannot 
 repeat it too often, does not begin in the region of 
 thought or feeling. Deeper down, in the life itself, 
 in the hidden laboratory of the inner life, whence 
 issues the power that moulds the will and fashions 
 the character in our spirits, there the Holy Spirit 
 takes up His abode, there He breathes and moves and 
 impels. He leads by inspiring us with a life and 
 
 * In this hook there is no separate chapter on the Sanctidcation ol 
 the Spirit, on Him as the Spiiit of Holiness. Tlie reason is thai 
 this work is a continuation of a previous volume. Holy in Christ, 
 in which there was occasion to speak of what is meant by Holinessi 
 tN)th as the attribute and the work of the Holy Spirit. 
 
188 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 disposition out of which right purposes and decisions 
 come forth. 'That ye may be filled with the 
 know? edge of His will in all wisdom and spiritual 
 understanding:' that prayer teaches us that it is 
 only to a spiritual understanding that the knowledge 
 of God's will can be given. And the spiritual 
 understanding only comes with the growth of the 
 spiritual man, and the faithfulness to the spiritual 
 life. He that would have the leading of the Spirit 
 must yield himself to have his life wholly possessed 
 and filled of the Spirit. It was when Christ had 
 been baptized with the Spirit that, * being full of the 
 Spirit, he was led by the Spirit in the wilderness * 
 (Luke iv. 1), *that He returned in the power of 
 the Spirit into Galilee ' (iv. 14), and began His 
 ministry in Nazareth with the words, * The Spirit 
 of the Lord is upon Ma' 
 
 All leading claims following. It is easily under- 
 stood that to enjoy the leading of the Spirit demands 
 a very teachable, foUowsome mind. The Spirit is 
 not only hindered by the flesh as the power that 
 commits sin, but still more by the flesh as the 
 power that seeks to serve God. To be able to 
 discern the Spirit's teaching, Scripture tells us that 
 the ear must be circumcised, in a circumcision not 
 made with hands, in the putting off of the body of 
 the flesh, in the circumcision of Christ. The will 
 and wisdom of the flesh must be feared, and 
 crucified, and denied. The ear must be closed to 
 all that the flesh and its wisdom, whether in self or 
 in men around us, has to say. In all our thoughts 
 
THE LEADING OF THE SPIUIT. 
 
 180 
 
 a 
 
 of God or our study of His Word, in all our draw- 
 ings nigh to worship, and all our goings out to work 
 for Him, there must be a continued distrust and 
 abnegation of self, and a very definite waiting on 
 God by the Holy Spirit to teach and lead us. A 
 soul that thus daily and hourly waits for a Divine 
 leading, for the light of knowledge and of duty, will 
 assuredly receive it. Would you be led of the 
 Spirit, give up, day by day, not only your will and 
 wisdom, but your whole life and being. The Fire 
 will* descend and consume the sacrifice. 
 
 The leading of the Spirit must very specially be 
 a thing of faith, and that in two senses. The 
 beginning of the leading will come when we learn in 
 holy fear to cultivate and act upon the confidence : 
 The Holy Spirit ia in me, and is doing His work. 
 The Spirit's indwelling is the crowning piece of 
 God's redemption-work : the most spiritual and 
 mysterious part of the mystery of godliness. Here, 
 if anywhere, faith is needed. Faith is the faculty 
 of the soul which recognises the Unseen, the 
 Divine ; which receives the impression of the Divine 
 Presence when God draws near; which in its 
 measure accepts of what the Divine Being brings 
 and gives to us. In the Holy Spirit is the most 
 intimate communication of the Divine Life ; here 
 faith may not judge by what it feels or understands, 
 but simply submits to Gtd to let Him do what Fie 
 has said. It meditates and worships, it prays 
 and trusts ever afresh, it yields the whole soul 
 in adoring acceptance and thanksgiving to llie 
 
193 
 
 THE SI'IUIT OK cnuisT. 
 
 Saviour's word, * He shall be in you.' It rejoiced 
 in the assurance: the Holy Sph'it, tlie Mighty 
 Power of God, dwells within ; in His own way, I 
 may depend upon it, He will lead nie. 
 
 And then, with this more general faith of the 
 indwelling of the Spirit, faith has also to be 
 exercised in regard to each part of the leading. 
 When there is a question I have laid before the 
 Lord, and iny soul has in simi»licity and emptiness 
 waited for His exposition and application of what 
 in Word or Providence has met me, 1 must in faith 
 trust my God that His guidance is not witlihcld. 
 As we have said before, not in sudden impulses 
 or strong impressions, not in heavenly voices or 
 in remarkable interpositions, must we expect the 
 ordinary leading oi the Spirit. There are souls 
 to whom such leading undoubtedly is given ; the 
 time may come, as our nature becomes more 
 spiritual and lives more in direct contact with the 
 Invisible, that our very thoughts and feelings may 
 become the conscious vehicles of His blessed voice. 
 But this we must leave to Him, and the growth of 
 our spiritual capacity. The lower steps of the 
 ladder are let down low enough for the weakest 
 to reach ; God means every child of His to be led 
 by the Spirit every day. Begin the path of follow- 
 ing the Spirit's leading by believing, not only that 
 the Spiri^-; is within you, but that He, if hitherto 
 you have little sought or enjoyed the wondrous 
 blessing, does now at once undertake the work 
 for which you ask and trust Him. Yield yourself 
 
THE LEADING OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 101 
 
 to God in undivided surrender: believe with 
 implicit confidence that God's acceptance of 'Mq 
 surrender nienns that you are given in charge of 
 the Spirit. Through Him Jesus guides and rules 
 and saves you. 
 
 But are we not in danger of being led away by 
 the imaginings of our own hearts, and counting as 
 leading of the Spirit what proves to be a delusion 
 of the flesh ? And if so, where is our safeguard 
 against such error ? The answer ordinarily given to 
 this last question is, The Word of God. And yet 
 that answer is but half the truth. Far too many 
 have opposed to the danger of fanaticism the word 
 of God, as interpreted by human reason or by the 
 Church, and have erred no less than those they 
 sought to oppose. The answer is : The word of 
 God as taught by the Spirit of God. It is in the 
 perfect harmony of the two that our safety is to be 
 found. Let us on the one hand remember, that as 
 all the word of God is given by the Spirit of God, 
 so each word must be interpreted to us by that same 
 Spirit. That this interpretation comes alone from 
 the indwelling Spirit we need hardly repeat ; it is 
 only the spiritual man, whose inner life is under 
 the dominion of the Spirit, who can discern the 
 spiritual meaning of the word. Let us on the 
 other hold fast, tliat as all the word is given by 
 the Spirit, so His great work is to honour that 
 Word, and to unfold the fulness of Divine truth 
 treasured there. Not in the Spirit without or 
 with but little of the word ; not in the word 
 
192 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHHI8T. 
 
 without or with but little of tlie Spirit ; but in 
 the word and Spirit both dwelling richly within 
 us, and both yielded to in impHcit obedience, 
 is our assurance of safety in the path of the Spirit's 
 guidance. 
 
 This brings us back to the lesson we urged at 
 the commencement : the leading of the Spirit as 
 inseparable from the sanctifying of the Spirit. Let 
 each one who would be led of the Spirit begin by 
 giving himself to be led of the word as far as he 
 knows it. Begin at the beginning : obey the com- 
 mandments. ' He that will do, shall know,' said 
 Jesus. * Keep my commandments, and the Father 
 will send yc»u the Spirit.' Give up every sin. 
 Give up in everything to the voice of conscience. 
 Give up in everything to God, and let Him have 
 His way. Tlirough the Spirit mortify the deeds of 
 the body (v. 18). As a son of God place yourself 
 at the entire disposal of the Spirit, to follow where 
 He leads (v. 14), And the Spirit Himself, this 
 same Spirit, through whom you mortify sin, and 
 yield yourself to be led as a son, will bear witness 
 with your spirit, in a joy and power hitherto 
 unknown, that you are indeed a child of God, 
 enjoying all a child's privileges in his Father's love 
 and guidance. 
 
 Blessed Father ! I thank Thee for the message 
 that as many as are led by the Spirit of God, they 
 are the children of God. Thou wouldest not have 
 Thy children guided by any one less than Thy own 
 
THE LKAP?NG OF THE SPIKIT. 
 
 lo:^ 
 
 Holy Spirit. As He dwelt in Thy Son, and led 
 ]Iim, so He leads us too with a Divine and most 
 blessed leading. 
 
 Father, Thou knowest how by reason of our 
 not rightly knowing and not pt'rfectly following 
 this holy guidance, we are often unable to know 
 His voice, so that the thought of the leading of 
 the Spirit is more a burden than a joy. Father, 
 forgive us. Be pleased graciously so to quicken 
 our faith in the simplicity and certainty of the 
 leading of the Spirit, that with our whole heart 
 we may yield ourselves henceforth to walk in it. 
 
 Father, here I do yield myself to Thee as Thy 
 child, in everything to be led of Thy Spirit. My 
 own wisdom, my own will, my own way I forsake. 
 Daily would I wait in deep dependence on a 
 guidance from above. May my spirit ever be 
 luished in silence before Thy Holy Presence, 
 while I wait to let Him rule within. As I 
 through the Spirit make dead the deeds of the 
 body, may I be transformed by the renewing of 
 my mind to know Thy good and perfect will. 
 May my whole being so be under the rule of the 
 Indwelling, Sanctifying Spirit, that the spiritual 
 understanding of Thy will may indeed be the rule 
 of my life. Amen. 
 
 /. Note very carefully the order of the three verses :—13. The making dead 
 cf the deeds of the body through the Indwelling Spirit precedes the leading 
 of the Spirit, v. 14. And these two again prepare the way for 15, 16, tht 
 abiaing witness to our sonship In the living power of the Holy Ohost. 
 
 2. 'If, by the Spirit, ye make to die the deeds of the body, ye shall live.' Ont 
 of the deepest teachings of the word in regard to sanctlfi cation. Sin remains 
 in the body to the end. The deeds or doings of the body, each sin as It seeks 
 
 N 
 
194 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHKIST. 
 
 to riae up, taek mai of tin, can be put to ileath. It la the preaenee and life of 
 Chrlat, through the Holy Spirit, doea thia. Through the Spirit the believer, 
 mho nielda to Him, doea It. Sin will neoer tte rooted out. But ain can, 
 Mfithout cecaing, be put to death, be kept in the place of death. To do thia u/e 
 muat almply be full of the Spirit of life In Chrlat Jeaua. The life of Chrlat In 
 ua bringa with tt the death, the uneeaaing making dead of atn. 
 
 3. The mortifying or making dead ofain has a threefold reference. When 
 a believer kaa fallen into an actual atn, the Spirit, b§ the application of 
 the blood, makea H dead. When he feara tke evil tendency tkat may come 
 up and betray htm, the Hoty Spirit la able to keep that ain down In the 
 fiower of Chrtat'a death. With the Involuntary ain that la utterly beyond 
 kla control, he truata the Holy Spirit ao to reveal Jeaua and Mia power that 
 it ahall be conquered too. But, lei ua remember. It la by revealing Jeaua, 
 iff the power of HIa death and Ufa, and filling the aoitl with Him, tkat tka 
 deeda of the body are made to die through the Spirit. It la on thia life la 
 the Spirit that ^le leading of the Spirit dependa. 
 
 4. ' There can be no aafe guidance that la not perpetual. The advantage of 
 at year may be loat In an hour. If we act Independently of the Spirit in //Hit 
 tMiv% «w •^•Atf took for Him im »ata /• great tUaga^'—bowwa^ . 
 
TUE SPIKIT OF PUAYER. 
 
 195 
 
 Twentieth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JTfte Spirit of prager. 
 
 •In like manner the Spirit alio helpeth our infirmity: for we 
 know not how to pray aa we ought; bat the Spirit Himself 
 maketh interoeK^on for ua with groanings that cannot be 
 uttered: and He vbaf searcheth the henrta knoweth what ia 
 the mind of the Spit it, because He maketh intercession for the 
 ■ainta according to God.*— Rom. viii. 26, 27. 
 
 OF the offices of the Holy Spirit, one that leads 
 us most deeply into the understanding of 
 His place in the Divine economy of grace, and into 
 the mystery of the Holy Trinity, is the work He 
 does as the Spirit of prayer. We have the Father 
 to whom we pray, and who hears prayer. We 
 have the Son through whom we pray, and througlj 
 whom, in union with whom, we receive and really 
 appropriate the answer. And we have the Holy 
 Spirit in whom we pray, who prays in us according 
 to the will of God, with such deeply hidden, unutter- 
 able sighings, that God has to search the hearts to 
 know what is the mind of the Spirit. Just as 
 wonderful and real as is the Divine work of God 
 
r 
 
 196 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 on the Throne, graciously heariiij,', and, by liia 
 mighty power, effectually answering prayer ; just 
 as Divine as is tlie work of the Son interceding 
 and securing and transmitting the answer from 
 above, is the work of the Holy Spirit in us in the 
 prayer which waits and obtains the answer. The 
 intercession within is as Divine as the intercession 
 above. Let us try and understand why this should 
 be so, and what it teaches. 
 
 In the creation of the world we see how it was 
 the work of the Spirit to put Himself into contact 
 with the dark and lifeless matter of chaos, and by 
 His <|uickening energy to impart to it the power of 
 life and fruitfulness. It was only after it had been 
 thus vitalized by Him, that the Word of God gave 
 it form, and called forth all the different types of 
 life and beauty we now see. So, too, again in the 
 creation of man it was the Spirit that was breathed 
 into the body that had been formed from the 
 ground, and that thus united itself with what would 
 otherwise be dead matter. Even so, in the person of 
 Jesus it is the Spirit through whose work a body 
 was prepared for Him, through whom His body 
 again was quickened from the grave, as it is 
 through Him that our bodies are the temples of 
 God, and the very members of our body the 
 members of Christ. We think of tlie Spirit in 
 connection with the spiritual nature of the Divine 
 Being, far removed from the grossness and feeble- 
 ness of matter ; we forget that it is the very work 
 of the Spirit specially to unite Himself with what 
 
THK 8NHIT OF TUAYER. 
 
 197 
 
 IS materia!, to lift it up into His own Spirit nature, 
 and so to develop what will bo the highest type of 
 perfection, a spiritual body. 
 
 This view of the Spirit's work is essential to the 
 understanding of the place He takes in the Divine 
 work of redemption. In each part of that work 
 there is a special place assigned to each of the 
 Tliree Persons of the Holy Trinity. In the Father 
 we have the unseen God, the Author of all. 
 In the Son God revealed, made manifest, and 
 brought nigh ; He is the Form of God. In the 
 Spirit of God we have the Indwelling God : the 
 Power of God dwelling in human body and working 
 in it what the Father and the Son have for us. Not 
 only in the individual, but in the Church as a 
 whole, what the Father has purposed, and the Son 
 has procured, can be appropriated and take effect 
 in the body of Christ only through the continual 
 intervention and active operation of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 This is specially true of intercessory prayer. 
 The coming of the kingdom of God, the increase 
 of grace and knowledge and holiness in believers, 
 their growing devotion to God's work and power 
 for that work, the effectual working of God's power 
 on the unconverted through the means of grace, — all 
 this waits to come to us from God through Christ. 
 But it cannot come except as it is looked for and 
 desired, asked and expected, believed and hoped for. 
 And this is now the wonderful position the Holy 
 Ghost occupies, that to Him has been assigned the 
 task of preparing the body of Christ to reach out 
 
X •; 
 
 198 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 and receive and hold fast what has been provided 
 in the fulness of Christ the Head. For the com- 
 munication of the Father's love and blessing the 
 Son and the Spirit must both work. The Son 
 receives from the Father, reveals and brings nigh, 
 as it were, descends from above; the Spirit from 
 within wakens the soul to come out and meet its 
 Lord. As indispensable as the unceasing inter- 
 cession of Christ asking and receiving from the 
 Father above, is the unceasing intercession of the 
 Spirit within, asking and accepting from the Son 
 what the Father gives. 
 
 Very wonderful is the light that is cast upon 
 this holy mystery by the words of our text. In 
 the life of faith and prayer there are operations of 
 the Spirit in which the word of God is made clear 
 to our understanding, and our faith knows to express 
 what it needs and asks. But there are also 
 operations of the Spirit,, deeper down than thoughts 
 or feelings, where He works desires and yearnings 
 in our spirit, in the secret springs of life and being, 
 which God only can discover and understand. Of 
 this nature is the real thirst for God Himself, the 
 living God, the longing to know the love * that 
 fosseth knowledge* and to be 'filled with all the 
 fulness of God,* the hope in *Him who is able 
 to do exceeding abundantly above all we can ask or 
 think,* even 'what hath not entered the heart of 
 man to conceive.' When these aspirations indeed 
 take possession of us, we begin to pray for what 
 cannot be expressed, and our only comfort is then 
 
THE SPIRIT OF PRAYER. 
 
 199 
 
 ibat the Spirit prays with His unutterable yearnings 
 in a region and a language which the Heart Searcher 
 alone knows and understands. 
 
 To tbe Corinlhians Paul says, * I will pray with 
 the spirit, and 1 will pray with the understanding 
 also.' Under the influence of the moving of the 
 Holy Spirit and His miraculous gifts, their danger 
 was to neglect the understanding. Our danger in 
 these latter days is in the opposite direction: to 
 pray with tbe understanding is easy and universal. 
 We need to be reminded that, with the prayer with 
 the understanding, there must come the prayer with 
 tbe Spirit, the ' praying in the Holy Spirit ' (Jude 
 ver. 20; Eph. vi. 18). We need to give its due 
 place to each of tbe twofold operations of the Spirit. 
 God's Word must dwell in us richly; our faith 
 must seek to hold it clearly and intelligently, and 
 to plead it in prayer. To have the words of Christ 
 abiding in us, filling life and conduct, is one of the 
 secrets of acceptable prayer. And yet we must 
 always remember that in the inner sanctuary of our 
 being, in the region of the unutterable and incon- 
 ceivable (1 Cor. ii. 6), the Spirit prays for us 
 what we do not know and cannot express. As we 
 grow in the apprehension of the divinity of that 
 Holy Spirit who dwells within, and the reality of 
 His breathing within us, we shall recognise how 
 infinitely beyond the conceptions of our mind must 
 be that Divine hunger with which He draws us 
 heavenward. We shall feel the need of cultivating 
 not only the activity of faith, which seeks to grasp 
 
200 
 
 THK SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 and obey God's word, and from that to learn tc 
 pray, but its deep passivity too. As we pray we 
 shall remember how infinitely above our conception 
 is God and the spirit-world into which by prayer we 
 enter. Let us believe and rejoice that where heart 
 and flesh fail, there God is the strength of our 
 heart, thej© His Holy Spirit within us in the inmost 
 sanctuary of our spirit, within the veil, does His 
 unceasing work of intercession, and prays according 
 to God within us. As we pray, let us at times 
 worship, in holy stillness, and yield ourselves to 
 that Blessed Paraclete, who alone, who truly is, the 
 Spirit of Supplication.^ 
 
 ' Because He maketh intercession for the saints* 
 Why does the apostle not say for iis; as he had 
 said, * We know not how to pray as we ought ' ? 
 The expression, the saints, is a favourite one with 
 Paul, where he thinks of the Church, either in one 
 country or throughout the world. It is the special 
 work of the Spirit, as dwelling in every member, 
 
 * ' Mystics will, on the one hand, take their stand on the incom- 
 prehensible intercession of the Spirit, without there being anything 
 which would admit of being apprehended even by faith. School- 
 men, on the other hand, depend too much on that which has been 
 reduced to logical definitions, and obscure to themselves their dim 
 perception of the incomprehensible, by putting over it the veil 
 of their multifarious definitions. Paul keeps the golden mean 
 between that which we may know by faith and that which 
 transcends all knowledge, when the Spirit alone, in accordance 
 with the inmost purport of creation, knows what we pray. Both 
 that which we utter in words of faith, which we understand, and 
 the unutterable things of the Spirit, must co-exist in the heart, i( 
 tho heart i»to be stublished.' — Steinhofer on Rom. viii. 26. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF PUAYER. 
 
 201 
 
 to make the body realize its unity. As selfishness 
 disappears, and the believer becomes more truly 
 spiritual-minded, and he feels himself more identified 
 with the body as a whole, he sees how its health 
 and prosperity will be liis own, and he learns what 
 it is to ' pray at all seasons in the Spirit, watching 
 thereunto in all perseverance for all saints* It is 
 as we give up ourselves to this work, in a large- 
 heartedness which takes in all the Church of God. 
 that the Spirit will have free scope and will delight 
 to do His work of intercession for the saints in us. 
 It is specially in intercessory prayer that we may 
 count upon the deep, unutterable, but all-prevailing 
 intercession of the Spirit. 
 
 What a privilege ! to be the temple out of which 
 the Holy Spirit cries to the Father His unceasing 
 Abba ! and offers His unutterable intercession, too 
 deep for words. What blessedness! that as the 
 Eternal Son dwelt in the flesh in .lesus of Nazareth, 
 and prayed to the Father as man, that even so the 
 Eternal Spirit should dwell in us, sinful flesh, to 
 train us to speak with the Father even as the Son 
 did. Who would not yield himself to this blessed 
 Spirit, to be made fit to take a share in that mighty 
 Intercession work through which alone the Kingdom 
 of God can be revealed ? The path is open, and 
 Mivites all. Let the Holy Spirit have complet/e 
 possession. Let Him fiL you. Let Him be your 
 life. Believe in the possibility of His making your 
 >very peisonality and consciousness the seat of His 
 iul^eing. Believe in the certainty of His working 
 
202 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 and praying in you in a way that no human mind 
 can apprehend. Believe that in the secrecy and 
 apparent weakness and slowness of that work, His 
 Divine Almighty Power is perfecting the Divine 
 purpose and the Divine Oneness with your blessed 
 Lord. And live as one in whom the things that 
 pass all understanding have become Truth and Life, 
 in whom the Intercession of the Spirit is part of 
 your daily life in Christ. 
 
 Most Holy God! once more I bow in lowly 
 adoration in Thy Presence, to thank Thee for the 
 precious privilege of prayer. And specially would 
 1 thank Thee for the Grace that has not only given 
 us in Thy Son the Intercessor above, but in Thy 
 Spirit the Intercessor within. 
 
 O my Father ! Thou knowest that I can scarce 
 take in the wondrous thought, that Thy Holy Spirit 
 in very deed dwelleth in me, and prays in my 
 feeble prayers. I do beseech Thee, discover to me 
 all that hinders His taking full possession of me, 
 and filling me with the consciousness of His Pre- 
 sence. Let my inmost being and my outer life all 
 bo so under His leading, that I may have the 
 spiritual understanding that knows to ask accord- 
 ing to Thy will, and the living faith that receives 
 what it asks. And when I know not what or how 
 to pray, Father, teach me to bow in silent wor- 
 ship, and keep waiting before Thee, knowing thai 
 He breathes the wordless prayer which Thou alone 
 canst understand. 
 
THE SPIRIT OF PRAYKR. 
 
 205 
 
 Blcp^tr.d Ood ! I nm a temple of the Holy Spirit. 
 I yield myself for Him to use me as the vSpirit of 
 Intercession. May my whole heart he so filled 
 with the longing for Christ's honour, and His love 
 for the lost, that my life may become one unutter- 
 able cry for the coming of Thy Kingdom. Amen. 
 
 1. Now we can understand how the Lord, In the last night, could give us 
 those wonderful prayer-promises, with their oft-repeated 'What J9 will.' 
 He meant us to have the Holy Spirit praying In us, guiding our desires and 
 strengthening our faith. He expected us to glue our whole being to the 
 indwelling of the Spirit, that He might haue free scope to pray In us ac- 
 cording to Qod. Let us take up the holy calling, and glue ourseloes to the 
 Holy Spirit to pray In us. 
 
 2. ' We know not what to pray as we ought : ' how often this has been a 
 burden and a sorrow l Let It henceforth be a comfort. Because we do not 
 know, we may stand aside, and glue place to One who does know. We may 
 belleue that In our stammerings, or euen sighs, the Mighty Intercessor Is 
 pleading. Let us not be afraid to belleue that within our Ignorance and 
 feebleness the Holy Spirit Is hidden, doing His work. 
 
 3. 'As we ought.' The great ought of prayer Is faith. The Spirit is the 
 Spirit of faith, deeper than thought. Let us be of good courage, our faith 
 is In the keeping of the Spirit. 
 
 4. Here, as elsewhere, all leads up to one point: the Holy Spirit's In- 
 dwelling must be our one care. In faith that holds the promise. In tender 
 watchfulness that waits for and follows His leading, In the entire sur- 
 render of the flesh to the death, that He alone may rule and lead, let us 
 yield e« our Beloved Loid to fill us with His Spirit: the Spirit will do His 
 work 
 
 I 
 
 
204 
 
 TU£ SPIUIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 Twenty-first Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Cije f^olg Spirit anti Coniscience* 
 
 * I Bay the trath in Christ, I lie not, my conscience also bearing 
 me witness in the Holy Ghost' — Rom. ix. 1. 
 
 * The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our spirit.' — Rom. 
 Till. 16. 
 
 GOD'S highest glory is His Holiness, in virtue of 
 which He hates and destroys the evil, loves 
 and works the good. In man, conscience has the 
 same work : it condemns sin and approves the right. 
 Conscience is the remains of God's image in man, 
 the nearest approach to the Divine in him, the 
 guardian of God's honour amid the ruin of the fall. 
 As a consequence, God's work of redemption must 
 always begin with conscience. The Spirit of God 
 is the Spirit of His Holiness ; conscience is a spark 
 of the Divine holiness ; harmony between the work 
 of the Holy Spirit in renewing and sanctifying 
 man, and the work of conscience, is most intimate 
 and essential. The believer who would be filled 
 with the Holy Spirit, and experience to the full the 
 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CONSCIENCE. 
 
 205 
 
 blessings He has to give, must in the first place 
 see to it that he yields to conscience the place and 
 the honour which belong to it. Faithfulness to con- 
 science is the first step in the path of restoration to 
 the Holiness of God. Intense conscientiousness will 
 be the groundwork and characteristic of true spirit- 
 uality. As it is the work of conscience to witness 
 to our being right towards our sense of duty and 
 towards God, and the work of the Spirit to witness 
 to God's acceptance of our faith in Christ and our 
 obedience to Him, the testimony of the Spirit and 
 of conscience will, as the Christian life progresses, 
 become increasingly identical. We shall feel the 
 need and the blessedness of saying with Paul, in 
 regard to all our conduct : ' My conscience also bear- 
 ing me witness in the Holy Ghost.' 
 . Conscience can be compared to the window of a 
 room, through which the light of heaven shines into 
 it, and through which we can look out and see tliat 
 Jieaven, with all that its light shines on. The 
 lieart is the chamber in which our Life dwells, our 
 Ego, or Soul, with its powers and affections. On the 
 v.'alls of that chamber there is written tlie law (if 
 (iod. Even in the heathen it is still partly legible, 
 tivogli sadly darkened and defaced. In the belicxei' 
 th\\ law is written anew by the Holy Spirit, in 
 lettijis of light, which often at first are but dim, 
 but grow clearer and glow brighter as they are freely 
 expost'd to the action of the light without. With 
 tvery sin I commit, the light that shines in makes 
 it manifest and condemns it. If the sin be not 
 
206 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 confessed and forsaken, the stain remains, and 
 conscience becomes defiled, because the mind 
 refused the teaching of the light (Tit. i. 1 5). And 
 80 with one sin after another the window gets 
 darker and darker, until the light can hardly shine 
 through at all, and the Christian can sin on undis- 
 turbed, with a conscience to a large extent blinded 
 and without feeling. In His work of renewal the 
 Holy Spirit does not create new faculties: He renews 
 and sanctifies those already existing. Conscience 
 is the work of the Spirit of God the Creator; as 
 the Spirit of God the Redeemer His first care is to 
 restore what sia has defiled. It is only by restoring 
 conscience to full and healthy action, and revealing 
 in it the wonderful grace of Christ, * the Spirit 
 bearing witness with our spirit,* that He enables 
 the believer to live a life in the full light of God's 
 favour. It is as the window of the heart that looks 
 heavenward is cleansed and kept clean that we can 
 walk in the Light. 
 
 The work of the Spirit on conscience is a 
 threefold one. Through conscience the Spirit 
 causes the light of God's holy law to shine into 
 the heart. A room may have its curtains drawn, 
 and even its shutters closed: this cannot prevent 
 the lightning flash from time to time shining into 
 the darkness. Conscience may be so sin-stained and 
 seared that the strong man within dwells in perfect 
 peace. When the lightning from Sinai flashes into 
 the heart, conscience wakens up, and is at once 
 ready to admit and sustain the condemnation. Both 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CONSCIRNCE. 
 
 207 
 
 the law and the gospel, with their call to repentance 
 and their conviction of sin, appeal to conscience. 
 And it is not till conscience has said Amen to the 
 charge of transgression and unbelief that deliverance 
 can truly come. 
 
 It is through conscience that the Spirit likewise 
 causes the light of mercy to shine. When the 
 windows of a house are stained, they need to bo 
 washed. 'How much more shall the blood of 
 Clirist cleanse your conscience* The whole aim of 
 the precious blood of Christ is to reach the con- 
 science, to silence its accusations, and cleanse it, 
 till it testify : Every stain is removed ; the love of 
 the Father streams in Christ in unclouded bright- 
 ness into my soul. 'A heart sprinkled from an 
 evil conscience,' 'having no more conscience of 
 sin* (Heb. ix. 14, x. 2, 22), is meant to be the 
 privilege of every believer. It becomes so when 
 conscience learns to say Amen to God's message of 
 the Power of Jesus' Blood. 
 
 The conscience that has been cleansed in the 
 blood must be kept clean by a walk in the obedi- 
 ence of faith, with the light of God's favour shining 
 on it. To the promise of the Indwelling Spirit, and 
 His engagement to lead in all God's will, conscience 
 must say its Amen too, and testify that He does it. 
 !I'he believer is called to walk in humble tenderness 
 and watchfulness, lest in anything, even the least, 
 conscience should accuse him for not having done 
 what he knew to be right, or done what was not of 
 faith. He may be content with nothing less than 
 
20^ 
 
 TUK SPIRIT OF ClIiaST. 
 
 Paul's joyful testimony, * Our «,'loryin<^ is this, the 
 teslimony of our conscience, that in holiness an<l 
 l^odly sincerity, by the grace of God, we behaved 
 ourselves in the world' (2 Cor. i. 12. Conip. Acts 
 xxiii. ], xxiv. 16; 2 Tim. i. 3). Let us note these 
 words well: 'Our glorying is this, the testimony of 
 our conscience.* It is as the window is kept clean 
 and briglit by our abiding in the light, tliat we can 
 have fellowship with the Father and the Son, the 
 love of lieaven shining in unclouded, and our love 
 rising up in childlike trustfulness. ' Beloved ! if our 
 heart condemn us not, we have boldness toward 
 God, because we keep His commandments, and do 
 those things that are pleasing in His sight' (1 John 
 iii. 21, 22). 
 
 The maintenance of a good conscience toward God 
 from day to day is essential to the life of faith. 
 The believer must aim at, must be satisfied with, 
 nothing less than this. He may be assured that 
 it is within his reach. The believers in the Old 
 Testament by faith had the witness that they 
 pleased God (Heb. xi. 4, 5, 6, 39). In the New 
 Testament it is set before us, not only as a command 
 to be obeyed, but as a grace to be wrought by God 
 Himself. * That ye might walk worthy of the Lord 
 unto all ivcll-j)I easing, strenythened with all might 
 according to His glorious power.' 'May God fulfil 
 all the good pleasure of His goodness, and the work 
 of faith with power.' ' Working in us that which 
 is well-pleasing in His sight.' (Col. i 10, 11, 
 2 Thess. i. 1 1 ; 1 Thess. iv. 1 : Heb. xii. 28, xiii. 21). 
 
 
\ 
 
 TIIK IKJLY SI'llMT AND CONHCIKNCE. 
 
 209 
 
 ' 
 
 The more we seek tliis testimony of conscience that 
 we are doing what is well-pleasing to (Jod, the more 
 shall we feel the libeity, with every failure that 
 surprises us, to look at once to the blood that ever 
 cleanses, and the stronger will be our assurance that 
 the indwelling sinfulness, and all its workings that 
 are yet unknown to us, are covered by that blood too. 
 The blood that has sprinkled the conscience abides 
 and acts there in the power of the Eternal Life that 
 knows no intermission, and of the unchangeable 
 Priesthood that saves completely. 'If we walk 
 in the light, as He is in the light, we have fellow- 
 ship one with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ 
 cleanseth us from all sin.' * 
 
 The cause of the feebleness of our faith is owing 
 to nothing so much as the want of a clean con- 
 science. Mark well how closely Paul connects them 
 in 1 Tim. : ' Love out of a pure heart, and a good 
 coiiMience, and faith unfciyncxl ' (i. 5). * Holdmg faith 
 and a good consciet}ce, which some having thrust 
 from them, have made shipwreck of the faith ' (i. 19). 
 And especially (iii. 9), ' Holding the mystery of the 
 faith in a 'pure conscience! The conscience, is the seat of 
 faith. He that would grow strong in faith, and have 
 boldness with God, must know that he is pleasing 
 Him (1 John iii. 21, 22). Jesus said most dis- 
 tinctly that it is for those who love Him and keep 
 His commandments, that the promise of the Spirit, 
 with the indwelling of the Father and the Son, the 
 abiding in His love, and power in prayer, is meant, 
 
 ' See Note L. 
 
 
210 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 How can wc confidently claim these promises, 
 unless in childlike simplicity our conscience can 
 testify that we fulfil the conditions ? Oh, ere the 
 Church can rise to the height of her holy calling as 
 intercessor, and claim these unlimited promises as 
 really within her reach, believers will have to draw 
 nigh to their Father, glorying, like Paul, in the 
 testimony of their conscience, that, by the Grace of 
 God, they are walking in holiness and godly sincerity. 
 It will have to be seen that this is the deepest 
 humility, and brings most glory to God's free grace, 
 to give up man's ideas of what we can attain, and 
 accept God's declaration of what He desires and 
 promises, as the only standard of what we are to be. 
 And how is this blessed life to be attained, in 
 which we can daily appeal to God and men with 
 Paul : * I say the truth in Christ, my conscience 
 bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost' ? The first 
 sfiep is : Bow very low under the reproofs of con- 
 science. Be not content with the general confession 
 that there is a great deal wrong. Beware of con- 
 founding actual transgression with the involuntary 
 workings of the sinful nature. If the latter are to 
 be conquered and made dead by the indwelling 
 Spirit (Rom. viii. 13), you must first deal with the 
 former. Begin with some single sin, and give con- 
 science time in silent submission and humiliation to 
 reprove and condemn. Say to your Father, that in 
 this one thing you are, by His grace, going to obey. 
 A-Ccept anew Christ's wonderful offer to take entire 
 possession of your heart, to dwell in you as Lord 
 
 ^ 
 
THI HOLY SPIRIT AND CONSCIENCE. 
 
 211 
 
 and Keeper. Trust Him by His Holy Spirit to do 
 this, even when you feel weak and helpless. l(e- 
 niember that obedience, the taking and keeping 
 Christ's words in your will and life, is the only way 
 to prove the reality of your surrender to Him, or 
 your interest in His work and grace. And vow in 
 faith, that by God's Grace you will exercise yourself 
 herein, ' alway to have a conscience void of offence 
 toward God and toward man.' 
 
 When you have begun this with one sin, proceed 
 with others, step by step. As you are faithful in 
 keeping conscience pure, the light will shine more 
 brightly from heaven into the heart, discovering sin 
 you had not noticed before, bringing out distinctly 
 the law written by the Spirit you had not been 
 able to read. Be willing to be taught ; be trust- 
 fully sure that the Spirit will teach. Every honest 
 effort to keep the blood-cleansed conscience clean, 
 in the light of God, will be met with the aid of the 
 Spirit. Only yield yourself heartily and entirely to 
 God's will, and to the power of His Holy Spirit. 
 
 As yon thus bow to the reproofs of conscience, 
 and give yourself wholly to do God's will, your 
 courage will grow strong that it is possible to have 
 a conscience void of offence. The witness of con- 
 science, as to what you are doing and will do by 
 grace, will be met by the witness of the Spirit as to 
 what Christ is doing and will do. In childlike 
 fdmplicity you will seek to begin each day witb 
 the simple prayer: Father! there is nothing now 
 between Thee and Thy child. My conscience, 
 
212 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 divinely cleansed in the blood, bears me witnesa 
 Father ! let not even tlie shadow of a cloud inter- 
 vene this day. In everything would I do Thy will : 
 Thy Spirit dwells in me, and leads me, and makes 
 me strong in Christ. And you will enter upon 
 that life which glories in free grace alone when it 
 says at the close of each day, * Our glorying is 
 this, the testimony of our conscience, tlmt in holi- 
 ness and godly sincerity, by the Grace of God, we 
 have behaved ourselves in the world ' : ' My con- 
 science bearing me witness in the Holy Ghost/ 
 
 Gracious God ! I thank Thee for the voice Thou 
 hast given in our heart, to testify whether we are 
 pleasing to Thee or not. I thank Thee, that when 
 that witness condemned me, with its terrible Amen 
 to the curse of Thy law. Thou didst give the 
 blood of Thy Son to cleanse the conscience. I 
 thank Thee that at this moment my conscience can 
 say Amen to the voice of the blood, and that I may 
 look up to Thee in full assurance, with a heart 
 cleansed from the evil conscience. 
 
 I thank Thee too for the Witness from heaven to 
 what Jesus hath done and is doing for me and in 
 me. I thank Thee that He glorifies Christ in me, 
 gives me His Presence and His Power, and trans- 
 forms me into His likeness. I thank Thee that to 
 the presence and the work of Thy Spirit in my 
 heart, my conscience cun likewise say, Amen. 
 
 my Father ! I desire this day to walk before 
 Thee with a good conscience, to do nothing that 
 
THE HOLY SPIRIT AND CONSCIENCE. 
 
 213 
 
 might grieve Thee or my Blessed Lord Jesus. 1 
 ask Thee, may, in the power of the Holy Spirit, the 
 cleansing in the blood be a living, continual, and 
 most effectual deliverance from the power of sin, 
 binding and strengthening me to Thy perfect 
 service. And may my whole walk with Tliee be in 
 the joy of the united witness of conscience and Thy 
 Spirit that I am well-pleasing to Thee. Amen. 
 
 1. In a well-ordered house the windows are kept clean, especially where the 
 owner loues to rest and look out on some beautiful prospect. Oh I see to it 
 every day that the windows are kept clean, that not the shadow of a cloud 
 obstruct the light from above shining on you, or your look of love as it seeks 
 *he Father's face above. Involuntary sin Is at once cleansed by the Blood, if 
 'aith claim it. Let every failure be at once confessed and cleansed too. Be 
 content with nothing less than walking In the light of His countenance ail the 
 day. 
 
 2. ' Thou hast been faithful over a few things, I will set thee over many 
 things.' Faithfulness to conscience as the lesser light, is the only way to the 
 enjoyment of the Spirit as the greater light. If we are unfaithful to the 
 witness we have, how can Qod commit us the True Witness ? We cannot say 
 It too earnestly : Tender conscientiousness is the only way to true spirituality. 
 
 3. Is not the preaching of Conscience, and to Conscience, in connection with 
 the preaching of the Blood, what Is needed in the Church ? Some preach Con- 
 science, and say little of the Blood. Some preach the Blood, and say little of 
 Conscience. This is one of God's wonderful words, ' How much more shall the 
 Blood of Christ cleanse your conscience, to serve the living Qod l' Conscience 
 is the power that pleads for Duty, the doing of Right. And the object and 
 effect of the Blood, when preached and believed as Qod would have it, is to 
 restore conscience to its full power and action. 'The blood shall cleanse 
 your conscience, to serve the living God.' The power of holiness lies in 
 i,ie insight into, and the careful maintenance of, the wonderful harmony oj 
 thu two* 
 
214 
 
 THE SFIKIT OF CUUIST. 
 
 Twenty-second Day. 
 
 THE SPIEIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Clje Eebelatton of tlje Spirit 
 
 * My preaching was not in persuasiye words of man's wlsdoiiit 
 but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power : that yonir faitll 
 should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God. 
 Howheit we speak wisdom among the perfecc : yet a wisdom not 
 of this world ; but we hpeak God's wisdom in a mystery, even 
 the wisdom that hath heen hidden, which none of the rulers of 
 this world knoweth. But unto us God revealed it through the 
 Spirit. But we received, not the spirit which is of the world, 
 but the Spirit which is of God, that we might know the things 
 which are freely given to us hy God ; which things also we speak, 
 not in the word which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the 
 Spirit teacheth. Now the natural man receiveth not the things 
 of the Spirit of God. But he that is spiritual judgeth all things.* 
 —1 CoK. ii. 4-15. ■ 
 
 IN" this passage Paul contrasts the spirit of the 
 world and the Spirit of God. The point in 
 which the contrast specially comes out is in the 
 wisdom or knowledge of the truth. It was in 
 Seeking knowledge that man fell. It was in the 
 pride of kno\vledge that heathenism had its origin ; 
 ' professing themselves to be wise, they became fools ' 
 (liom. i. 22). It was in wisdom, philosophy, and the 
 
THE REVELATION OF THE liriKIT. 
 
 215 
 
 search after truth, that the Greeks sought their glory. 
 It was in the knowledge of God's will, 'the form of 
 the knowledge and of the truth in the law ' (Rora. 
 ii. 17-20), that the Jew made his hoast. And yet 
 when Christ, the wisdom of God, appeared on earth, 
 Jew and Greek combined to reject Him. Man's 
 wisdom, whether in possession of a revelation or not, 
 is utterly insufficient for comprehending God or His 
 wisdom. As his heart is alienated from God, so that 
 he does not love or do His will, so his mind is 
 darkened that he cannot know Him aright. Even 
 when in Christ the light of God in its Divine love 
 shone upon men, they knew it not, and saw no 
 beauty in it.^ 
 
 In the Epistle to the lioraans, Paul had dealt 
 with man's trust in his own righteousness, and its 
 insufficiency. To the Corinthians, especially in the 
 first three chapters, he exposes the insufficiency of 
 man's wisdom. And that not merely when it was a 
 question of discovering God's truth and will, as with 
 the Greeks ; but even where God had revealed it, as 
 with the Jews, man was incapable of seeing it with- 
 out a Divine illumination, the light of the Holy Spirit. 
 The rulers of this world, Jew and Gentile, had 
 crucified the Lord of glory because tliey knew nob the 
 wisdom of God. In writing to believers at Corinth, 
 and warning them against the wisdom of the world, 
 Paul is not dealing with any heresy, Jewish or heathen. 
 He is speaking to believers, who had fully accepted 
 his gospel of a crucilied Christ, but who were in 
 
 * See Noto M. 
 
216 
 
 THE SPIIJIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 dnriirer, in preacliing or hearing the truth, to denl 
 with it in the power of human wisdom. He reminds 
 them that the truth of God, as a hidden spiritual 
 mystery, can only be apprehended by a spiritual 
 revelation. The rejection of Christ by the Jcnns 
 had been the gi*eat proof of the utter incapacity of 
 human wisdom to grasp a Divine revelation, without 
 the spiritual internal illumination of the Holy Spirit. 
 The Jews prided themselves on their attachment to 
 God's word, their study of it, their conformity to 
 it in life and conduct. The issue proved that, 
 without their being conscious of it, they utterly 
 misunderstood it, and rejected the very Messiah 
 whom they thought they were waiting for and 
 trusting in. Divine revelation, as Paul expounds 
 it in this chapter, means three things. God must 
 make known in His word what He thinks and doe?). 
 Every preacher who is to communicate the message 
 must not only be in possession of the truth, but 
 continually be taught by the Spirit how to speak it. 
 And every hearer needs the inward illumination: it 
 is only as he is a spiritual man,' with his life under 
 the rule of the Spirit, that his mind can take in 
 spiritual truth.^ As we have the mind, the dis- 
 
 * In thus contrasting the Spirit of God and of tlio wcrhl, Paul 
 first describes, ver>es 6-9, the hidden wisdom in its Divinr' contents 
 and cl'aracter : in ver.^es 10-13 he teaches that this Divine wisdom 
 must be divinely revealed, and its preaching divinely guided by 
 the Spirit ; and then, from verse 14 to iii. 4, that for its reception 
 on the part of the hearer, the influence of the Spirit is needed*, 
 even the Christian, unless he be living a spiritual life, cauuoi 
 ftppn;heud it. 
 
THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 211 
 
 position of Christ, we can discern the truth as it is 
 in Chris.l Jesus. 
 
 This teaching is what the Church in our days, 
 and each believer, specially needs. With the Ee- 
 formation the insufficiency of man's righteousness, 
 of his power really to fulfil God's law, obtained 
 universal recognition in the Reformed Churches, and 
 in theory at least is everywhere accepted among 
 Evangelical Christians. The insufficiency of man's 
 wisdom has by no means obtai 1 as clear recogni- 
 tion. While the need of the Holy Spirit's teaching 
 is, in a general way, willingly admitted, it wi^ be 
 found that neither in the teaching of the Church, 
 nor in the lives of believers, has this blessed truth 
 that practical and all-embracing supremacy without 
 which the wisdom and the spirit of this world will 
 still assert their power. 
 
 The proof of what we have said will be found 
 in what Paul says of His own preaching : ' Our 
 preaching was not in man's wisdom, hut in the 
 Spirit ; that your faith might not stand in the 
 wisdom of men, hut in the power of God.' He is 
 not writing, as to the Galatians, of two gospels, but 
 of two ways of preaching the one gospel of Christ's 
 cross. He says that to preach it in persuasive 
 words of man's wisdom, produces a faith that will 
 bear the mark of its origin ; it will stand in the 
 wisdom of man. As long as it is nourished by men 
 and means, it may stand and flourish. But it 
 cannot stand alone or in the day of trial. A man 
 may, with such preaching, become a believer, but 
 
218 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 will be a feeble believer. The faith, on the othel 
 hand, begotten of a preaching in the Spirit and 
 power, stands in the power of God. The believer 
 is led by the preaching, by the Holy Spirit Himself, 
 past man, to direct contact with the living God : 
 his faith stands in the power of God. As long as 
 the state of the great majority of our church 
 members, notwithstanding such an abundance of 
 the means of grace, is so feeble and sickly, with so 
 little of the faith that stands in the power of God, 
 mighty to overcome the world, to purify the heart, 
 and to do the greater works, we cannot but fear 
 that it is because too much, even of our true gospel 
 preaching, is more in the wisdom of man than in 
 the demonstration of the Spirit and of power. If a 
 change is to be effected both in the spirit in which 
 our preachers and teachers speak, and our congrega- 
 tions listen and expect, it must commence, I am 
 sure, in the personal life of the individual believer. 
 We must learn to fear our own wisdom. * Trust 
 in the Lord with thy whole heart, and lean 
 not to thine own understanding.* Paul says, to 
 believers : * If any man thinketh that he is wise, 
 let him become a fool, that he may be wise* 
 (1 Cor. iii. 18). When Scripture tells us that * they 
 that are Christ's have crucified the flesh,* this in- 
 cludes the understanding of the flesh, the fleshly 
 mind of which Scripture speaks. Just as in the 
 crucifixion of self I give up my own goodness, my 
 own strength, my own will to the death, because 
 there is no good in it, and look to Christ by the 
 
 
THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 219 
 
 —**»^- 
 
 power of His Jife to give me the goodness, and the 
 strength, and the will which is pleasing to God, 
 so it must be very specially with my wisdom. 
 Man's mind is one of his noblest and most God-like 
 faculties. But sin rules over it and in it. A man 
 may be truly converted, and yet rot know to what 
 an extent it is his natural mind with which he is 
 trying to grasp and hold the truth of God. The 
 reason that there is so much Bible reading and 
 teaching which has no power to elevate and sanctify 
 the life is simply this: it is not truth which has 
 been revealed and received through the Holy Spirit. 
 This holds good, too, of truth which has once 
 been taught us by the Holy Spirit, but which, hav- 
 ing been lodged in the understanding, is now held 
 simply by the memory. Manna speedily loses its 
 heavenliness, when stored up on earth. Truth 
 received from heaven loses its Divine freshness, 
 unless there every day be the anointing with fresh 
 oil. The believer needs, day by day, hour by 
 hour, to feel that there is nothing in which the 
 power of the flesh, of nature, can assert itself more 
 insidiously, than in the activity of the mind or 
 reason in its dealing with the Divine word. This 
 will make him feel that he must continua / seek, 
 in Paul's language, * to become a fool.* He needs, 
 each time he has to do with God's word, or thinks 
 of God's truth, in faith and teachableness, to wait 
 for the promised teaching of the Spirit. He needs 
 ever again to ask for the circumcised ear : the ear 
 in which the fleshly power of the understanding 
 
220 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF OIIKIST. 
 
 has been removed, and in which the spirit of the 
 life in Christ Jesus within the heart listens in the 
 obedience of the life, even as Christ did. To such 
 the word will be fulfilled : ' I thank Thee, Father, 
 that Thou hast hid these things from the wise and 
 prudent, and hast revealed them unto babes.' 
 
 The lesson for all ministers and teachers, all 
 professors and theologians, all students and readers 
 of the Bible, is one of deep and searching solemnity. 
 Have we felt, have we even sought to feel, tliat 
 there must be perfect corrccpondence between the 
 objective spiritual contents of the revelation, and 
 the subjective spiritual apprehension of it on our 
 part ? between our apprehension of it and our 
 communication of it, both in the power of the 
 Holy Spirit ? between our communication of it, 
 and the reception by those to whom we bring it ? 
 Would God that over our theological halls and 
 oir training institutes, over the studies of our com- 
 mentators and writers, our ministers and teachers, 
 there were written those words of Paul : * God hath 
 revealed it unto us by His Holy Spirit.' Would 
 that our ministers could influence and train their 
 congregations to see, that not the amount, or the 
 clearness, or the interest of the Bible knowledge 
 received will decide the blessing and the power 
 that it brings, but the measure of real dependence 
 on the Holy Spirit. *Them that honour Me, I will 
 honour:' nowhere will this word be found more 
 true than here. The crucifixion of self and all its 
 wisdom, the coming in weakness, and in fear, and 
 
THE REVELATION OF THK SPIRIT. 
 
 221 
 
 in much trembling, as Paul did, will most assuredly 
 be met from above with the demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power. 
 
 Believer! it is not enough that the light of 
 Christ shines on you in the Word, ihe light of the 
 Spirit must shine in you. 'EsoAi time you come to 
 the Word in study, in hearing a sermon, or reading 
 a religious book, there ought to be, as distinct as 
 your intercourse with the external means, a definite 
 act of self-abnegation, denying your own wisdom, 
 and yielding yourself in faith to tlie Divine Teacher. 
 Believe very distinctly that He dwells within you. 
 He seeks the mastery, the sanctification of your 
 inner life, in entire surrender and obedience to 
 Jesus. Eejoice to renew your surrender to Him. 
 Reject the spirit of the world which is still in you, 
 with its wisdom and self-confidence; come, in 
 poverty of spirit, to be led by the Spirit that is of 
 God. ' Be not fashioned according to the world, 
 with its confidence in the flesh, and self, and its 
 wisdom ; but be ye transformed hy the renewing of 
 your mind, that ye may prove what is the good, and 
 perfect, and acceptable will of God.' It is a trans- 
 formed, renewed life, that only wants to know Gods 
 perfect will, that will be taught by the Spirit. 
 Cease from your own wisdom ; wait for the wisdom 
 in the inward parts which God has promised : you 
 will increasingly be able to testify of the things 
 which have not entered into the hearts of men to 
 conceive : * God hath revealed them to us by His 
 Spirit' 
 
222 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 ^ 
 
 God ! I bless Thee for the wondrous revelation 
 of Thyself in Christ crucified, the wisdom of God, 
 and the power of God. I bless Thee, that while 
 man's wisdom leaves him helpless in presence of 
 the power of sin and death, Christ crucified proves 
 that He is the wisdom of God by the mighty 
 redemption He works as the power of God. And 
 I bless Thee, that what he wrouj,'ht and bestows as 
 an Almighty Saviour is revealed within us by the 
 Divine light of Thine Own Holy Spirit. 
 
 Lord ! we beseecli Thee, teach Thy Church that 
 wherever Christ, as the power of God, is not mani- 
 fested, it is because He is so little known as the 
 wisdom oi' God, as the Indwelling Spirit alone can 
 reveal Him. in Thy sight. Oh ! teach Thy Church 
 to lead each child of God to the personal teaching 
 and revelation of Christ within. 
 
 Show us, God ! that the one great hindrance 
 is our own wisdom, our imagination that we can 
 understand the Word and Truth of God. Oh ! 
 teach us to become fools that we may be wise. 
 May ovx whole life become one continued act of 
 faith, that the Holy Spirit will surely do His work 
 of teaching, guiding, and leading into the truth. 
 Father ! Thou gavest Him that He might reveal 
 Jesus in His glory within us; we wait for this. 
 Amen. 
 
 1. *Qotl chose the foolish things of the world that He might put to shame the 
 wise' {1 CtA /. 27. Camp. 19, 20, 21; III. 19, 20). Was It only at Corinth 
 that believers needed this teaching ? Or Is there not In every man a wisdom 
 that Is not of Qod, and a readiness to think that It can understand the word, 
 mien without direct contact with the living Qod Himself? This wisdom seeks 
 
THE REVELATION OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 223 
 
 to master mten th§ mo$i tplrltual truth, to form a dear eoneepilon or Imago 
 of It, and rojoloeo In that Instead of the living power In which the Spirit 
 reveals it In the life. 
 
 2. Jesus had the spirit of wisdom. How did It manifest Itself? In His 
 waiting to hear what the Father spake. ' Morning by morning He wakeneth 
 mine ear to hear, as they that are taught' Perfect teachableness was the 
 mark of the Son on earth. This Is the mark of the Spirit In us too : ' What 
 things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak. ' The life Is the light ; as the 
 Spirit finds our life In perfect obedience to Him, He teaches by what He works 
 In us. 'I will destroy the wisdom of the wise. ' 
 
 3. It Is Inconceivable, until Qod reveals it to us, how a Christian may deceive 
 himself with the semblance of wisdom In beautiful thoughts and affecting 
 sentiments, while the power of Qod Is wanting. The wisdom of man stands 
 In contrast to the power of Qod. The only trui mark of Divine wisdom is 
 Its power. The kingdom of Qod is not words, and thoughts, and knowledge, 
 but power. May Qod open our eyes to see how much of our religion consists 
 In beautiful words, thoughts, and feelings, but not In the power of Ood. 
 
 4. Note well that the Spirit of the world and the Wisdom of the world 
 are one. The extent to which many Christians yield themselves to the 
 Influence of the literature of the age, without fear or caution. Is one of the 
 great reasons that the Holy Spirit cannot guide them or reveal Christ In 
 them. ' The Spirit, whom the world cannot receive, because It knoweth Him 
 not' 'W§ r90tlv4 not the apl.Jt ttf this world, bat the Spirit whlok /« s^ 
 
224 
 
 THE SriUIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 Twenty-third Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Spiritual or Carnal. 
 
 * And I, brethren, could not speak unto you as nut* spfrftuat^ 
 but 93 unto carnal t as unto babes in. Ohrist. T f^i you with milk, 
 nor. with meat; for ye were not yet abla *• ^earit; nay, nol 
 even now are ye able ; for whereas thiri is <imong you jealousy 
 and strife, are ye not carnal, and walk after the manner ol 
 men?* — 1 Con. iii. 1-3. 
 
 •If we live by the Spirit ^ by the Spirit let us also walk.*— 
 Gal. t. 25. 
 
 "IN the previous chapter the Apostle had contrasted 
 J the believer as spiritual, with the unregenerate 
 as the natural (or psychical) man : the man of the 
 Spirit with the man of the soul (1 Cor. ii. 14, 15). 
 Here he supplements that teaching. He tells the 
 Coqirifchians that, though they have the Spirit, he 
 Ciinnot call them spiritual ; that epithet belong:^ to 
 those who have not only received the Spirit, but 
 have yielded themselves to Him to possess and rule 
 their whole life. Those who have not done this, 
 in whom the power of the flesh is still more 
 manifest than that of the Spirit, must be called not 
 
SPIRITUAL OR CARNAL. 
 
 225 
 
 Bpiritnnl, but fleshly or carnal. There are thus 
 three states in which a man may he found. The 
 unrogenerate is still the natural man, not having 
 the Spirit of God. The regenerate, who is still a 
 l»al)e in Christ, whether because he is only lately 
 converted, or because he has stood still and not 
 advanced, is the carnal man, giving way to the 
 power of the flesh. The believer in whom the Spirit 
 lias obtained full supremacy, is the spiritual man. 
 The whole passage is suggestive of rich instruction 
 in regard to the life of the Spirit within us. 
 
 The young Christian is still carnal. Regeneration 
 is a birth : the centre and root of the personality,, 
 the spirit, has been renewed and taken possession 
 of by the Spirit of God. But time is needed for its 
 power from that centre to extend through all the 
 circumference of our being. The kingdom of God 
 is like unto a seed ; the life in Christ is a growth ; 
 and it would be against the laws of nature and 
 grace alike if we expected from the babe in Christ 
 the strength that can only be found in the young 
 men, or the rich experience of the fathers. Even 
 where in the young convert there is great singleness 
 of heart and faith, with true love and devotion to 
 the Saviour, time is needed for a deeper knowledge 
 of self and sin, for a spiritual insight into what 
 God's will and grace are. With the young believer 
 it is not unnatural that the emotions are deeply 
 stirred, and that the mind delights in the contempla- 
 tion of Divine truth ; with the growth in grace, the 
 will becomes the more important thing, and the 
 
226 
 
 THE SPIUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 waiting for the Spirit's power in the life and 
 character more than the delight in those thoughts 
 and images of the life which alone the mind could 
 give. We need not wonder if the babe in Christ 
 is still carnal. 
 
 Many Christians remain carnal, God has not 
 only called us to grow, but has provided all the 
 conditions and powers needful for growth. And 
 yet it is sadly true, that there are many Christians 
 who, like the Corinthians, remain babes in Christ 
 when they ought to be going on to perfection, 
 * attaining unto a full-grown man.* In some cases 
 the blame is almost more with the Church and its 
 teaching, than with the individuals themselves. 
 When the preaching makes salvation chiefly to 
 consist in pardon and peace and the hope of 
 heaven, or when, if a holy life be preached, the 
 truth of Christ our Sanctification, our Sufficient 
 Strength to be holy, and the Holy Spirit's 
 indwelling, be not taught clearly and in the power 
 of the Spirit, growth can hardly be expected. 
 Ignorance, human and defective views of the gospel, 
 as the power of God unto a present salvation in 
 sanctification, are the cause of the evil 
 
 In other cases the root of the evil is to be found 
 in the unwillingness of the Christian to deny self 
 and crucify the flesh. The call of Jesus to every 
 disciple is, * If any man will come after Me, let him 
 deny himself.' The Spirit is only given to the 
 obedient ; He can only do His work in those who 
 tiTB willing absolutely to give up self to the death. 
 
SPIUITUAL Oil CARNAL. 
 
 227 
 
 *> 
 
 f 
 
 le 
 
 The sin that proved that the Corinthians were 
 carnal was their jealousy and strife. When Chris- 
 tians are not willing lo give up the sin of selfish- 
 ness and temper ; when, whether in the home- 
 relationship or in the wider circle of church and 
 public life, they want to retain the liberty of giving 
 way to, or excusing evil feelings, of pronouncing 
 their own judgments, and speaking words that are 
 not in perfect love, then they remain carnal. With 
 all their knowledge, and their enjoyment of religious 
 ordinances, and their work for God's kingdom, they 
 are carnal r.nd not spiritual. They grieve the 
 Holy Spirit of God; they cannot have the testi- 
 mony that they are pleasing to God. 
 
 The carnal Christian cannot apprehend spiritual 
 truth. Paul writes to these Corinthians : * I fed you 
 with milk, and not with meat ; for ye were not able 
 to bear it ; nay, not even now are ye able.' The 
 Corinthians prided themselves on their wisdom ; 
 Paul thanked God that they were * enriched in all 
 knowledge.* There was nothing in His teaching 
 that they would not have been able to comprehend 
 with the understanding. But the real spiritual 
 entering into the truth in power, so as to possess 
 it and be possessed by it, so as to have not only 
 the thoughts but the very thirj}j the words speak of, 
 this the Holy Spirit only can give. And He gives it 
 only in the spiritually-minded man. The teaching 
 and loading of the Spirit is given to the obedient, 
 is preceded by the dominion of the Spirit in morti- 
 fying the deeds of the body (see Bom. viiL 13 
 
228 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 and 14). Spiritual knowledge is not deep thought 
 but living contact, entering into and being united 
 to the truth as it is in Jesus, a spiritual reality, 
 a substantial existence. ' The Spirit teacheth, com- 
 bining spiritual things with spiritual ; ' into a 
 spiritual mind He works spiritual truth. It is not 
 the power of intellect, it is not even the earnest 
 desire to know the truth, that fits a man for the 
 Spirit's teaching; it is a life yielded to Him in 
 waiting dependence and full obedience to be made 
 spiritual, that receives the spiritual wisdom and 
 understanding. In the mind (nous, in the Scripture 
 meaning of the term) these two elements, the moral 
 and the cognitive, are united ; only as the former 
 has precedence and sway, can the latter apprehend 
 what God has spoken.^ 
 
 It is easy to understand how a carnal or fleshly 
 life with its walk, and the fleshly mind with its 
 knowledge, act and react on tach other. As far as 
 we are giving way to the flesh, we are incapable of 
 receiving spiritual insight into truth. We may 
 * know all mysteries, and have all knowledge,' without 
 love, the love which the Spirit works in the inner 
 life • it is only a knowledge that puffeth up, it 
 profiteth nothing. The carnal life makes the know- 
 ledge carnal. And this knowledge again, being thus 
 held in the fleshly mind, strengthens the religion of 
 the flesh, of self-trust and self-effort ; the truth so 
 received has no power to renew and make free. No 
 wonder that there is so 
 
 ^ See Note N. 
 
 much Bible teaching and 
 
SPIRITUAL OR CARNAL. 
 
 229 
 
 Bible knowledge, with so little of real spiritual 
 result in a life of holiness. Would God that Hia 
 word might sound through His Church : * Whereas 
 there is among you jealousy and strife, are ye not 
 carnal ? * Unless we be living spiritual lives, full of 
 humility, and love, and self-sacrifice, spiritual truth, 
 tlie truth of God, cannot enter or profit us. 
 
 Every Christian is called of God to he a spiritual 
 man. Paul reproves thece Corinthians, only but a 
 few years since brought out of gross heathenism, 
 that they are not yet spiritual. The great redemp- 
 tion in Christ had this most distinctly as its object, 
 the removal of every hindrance, that the Spirit of 
 God might be able to make man's heart and life 
 a worthy home for God who is a Spirit. That 
 redemption was no failure; the Holy Spirit came 
 down to inaugurate a new, before unknown, dis- 
 pensation of indwelling life and power. The promise 
 and the love of the Father, the power and the glory 
 of the Son, the presence of the Spirit on earth — all 
 are pledge and guarantee that it can be. As sure 
 as the natural man can become a regenerate man, 
 can a regenerate man, who is still carnal, become 
 spiritual. 
 
 And why is it not so ? The question brings us 
 into the presence of that strange and unfathomable 
 mystery — the power God has given men of accept- 
 ing or refusing His ofiPers, of being true rr being 
 unfaithful to the grace He has given. We have 
 already spoken of that unfaithfulness on the part of 
 the Church, in its defective teaching of the indwell* 
 
230 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 iug and the sanctifying power of the Holy Spirit in 
 the believer, and on the part of believers in their 
 UQwiJlingnesa to forsake all to let the Holy Spirit 
 get entire possession, and do a perfect work in 
 them. Let us here rather seek, once again, to 
 gather up what Scripture teaches as to the way to 
 become spiritual 
 
 It is the Holy Spirit who makes the spiritual 
 man. He al le can do it. He does it most cer- 
 tainly where iie whole man is yielded up to Him. 
 To have the whole being pervaded, influenced, 
 sanctified by the Holy Spirit; to have first our 
 spirit, then the soul, with the will, the feelings, the 
 mind, and so even the body, under His control, 
 moved and guided by Him, this makes and marks 
 the spiritual man. 
 
 The first step on the way to this is faith. We 
 must seek the deep, living, absorbing conviction 
 that there is a Holy Spirit in us ; that He is the 
 Mighty Power of God dwelling and working within; 
 that He is the representative of Jesus, making Him 
 present within us as our Eedeemer King, mighty to 
 save. In the union of a holy fear and trembling 
 at the almost tremendous glory of this truth of an 
 Indwelling God, with the childlike joy and trust of 
 knowing Him to be the Paraclete, the Inbringer of 
 the Divine and irrevocable presence of God and of 
 Christ, this thought must become the inspiration of 
 life : The Holy Spirit has His hom^ within us : m 
 our Spirit is His hidden, blessed dwelling-place. 
 
 As we are filled with the faith of what He is 
 
BPIKITUAL OK CAUNAL. 
 
 231 
 
 
 and will do, and see that it is not done, we ask for 
 the hindrance. We find that there is an opposing 
 power, the flesh. From Scripture we learn how 
 the flesh has its twofold action : from the flesh 
 springs not only unrighteousness, but self-righteous- 
 ness. Both must be confessed and surrendered to 
 Him whom the Spirit would reveal and enthrone as 
 Lord, our Mighty Saviour. All that is carnal and 
 sinful, all the works of the flesh, -must be given up 
 and cast out. But no less must all that is carnal, 
 however religious it appears, all confidence in the 
 flesh, all self-efibrt and self -struggling be rooted 
 out. The soul, with its power, must be brought 
 into the captivity and subjection of Jesus Christ, 
 In deep and daily dependence on God must the 
 Holy Spirit be accepted, waited for, and followed. 
 
 Thus walking in faith and obedience, we may 
 count on the Holy Spirit to do a divine and most 
 blessed work within us. * If we live by the Spirit,' 
 — this is the faith that is needed. And then, if 
 we believe that God's Spirit dwells in us, * by the 
 Spirit let us live;* this is the obedience that is 
 asked. In the faith of that Holy Spirit who is 
 in us, we know that we have sufficient strength 
 to walk by the Spirit, and yield ourselves to His 
 mighty working, to work, in us to will and to do 
 all that is pleasing in God's sight 
 
 Gracious God ! we humbly pray Thee to teach 
 us all to profit by the solemn lessons of this i>ortion 
 of Thy blessed word. 
 
232 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHBIST. 
 
 Fill U8 with holy fear and trembling lest, with 
 all our knowledge of the truth of Christ and the 
 Spirit, we should be carnal in disposition and 
 conduct, not walking in the love and purity of Thy 
 Holy Spirit. May we understand that knowledge 
 only puffeth up, unless it be under the rule of the 
 love that buildeth up. 
 
 Give U8 to hear Thy call to all Thy children to be 
 BpirituaL It is Thy purpose, that even as with Thy 
 beloved Son, their whole daily life, even in the 
 very least things, should give evidence of being the 
 fruit of Thy Spirit's indwelling. May we all accept 
 the caU, as from Thy love, inviting us to our highest 
 blessedness, conformity to Thy likeness in Christ 
 Jesus. 
 
 Strengthen our faith, Blessed Father ! that we 
 may be filled with the confidence that the Holy 
 Spirit will do His work to make us spiritual We 
 desire to cease from self and doubt. We give up 
 ourselves to Jesus our Lord to rule in us, to reveal 
 Himself by the Spirit. We bow before Thee in the 
 childlike faith that Thy Spirit, the Spirit of God, 
 does dwell in us every moment. May our souls 
 increasingly be filled with holy awe and reverence 
 at His presence. And do Thou, Father, accord- 
 ing to the riches of Thy glory, grant that we may 
 be mightily strengthened by Him in the inner man. 
 Then we shall be truly spiritual. Amen. 
 
 7. 'Believer I Hae from the disciple stage, which savoureth not the thlnge 
 that be trfSod, to the spiritual pentecostal contf/t/on. '—Saphir. 
 
 2. To understand the word carnal and the life Paul condemns so strongly 
 here, comp. Rom. vtt. 14, * I am oarnal, sold under sin,' and the deaertptloM 
 
SPIRITUAL OR CARNAL. 
 
 233 
 
 «/ the wretched and undelivered state of which that word la the secret. To 
 iinders*ind the word spiritual, comp. Rom. vlll. 0, 'to be splrttoally-mlnded 
 is life and peace,' with the description of the life of the Spirit In the context 
 (2-16). Comp. also Oat. u. 16 and 16, 22 and 25, 26, and vl. 1, to see how the 
 g/eat mark of oamal Is, want of love, of Bpirlivial, the meekneu and love 
 ihat keeps the New Commandment. 
 
 3. When a man Is first regenerated, the New Life within him Is but as a little 
 seed. In the midst of a great body of sin and flesh, with Its fleshly wisdom and 
 will. In that little seed there Is Christ and His Spirit as an Almighty Power, 
 but as such a little, feeble thing that It Is easily overlooked or distrusted. 
 Faith knows the mighty power the fs In that tittle seed to overcome the 
 world, and bring the whole flesh ana life Into subjection. So the Spirit rules 
 and conquers and makes to die the deeds of the body, and the man becomes 
 truly spiritual. 
 
 4. The lesson that true spiritual Insight Into God's Word depends upon a 
 spiritual life. Is one of great solemnity for all ministers and tsao'iers of the 
 Word. Let us pray for all the Leaders of the Church that they may be 
 spiritual men. It Is not the soundness of the teaching Itself, nor ths 
 earnestness of the teacher, but the power of the Spirit, making his life and 
 thoughts and words truly spiritual, that, as a rule, secures the blessing. 
 
 6. 'It Is one thing to have the Holy Spirit; It Is another to haos Him 
 completely possessing us. No one can be regenerated without kaolitg Him; 
 but there Is the other side tff it, when He fills our entirs being, tu^kas His 
 
234 
 
 TUE SPIRIT OF CUKIST. 
 
 Twenty-fourth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 tlfie Cemple of tl)e HHolg Sptiit 
 
 'Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the 
 Spirit of God dwelleth in you ? »— 1 Cor. iii. 16. 
 
 IN using the illustration of the Temple as the 
 type of God's dwelling in us by the Holy Spirit, 
 Scripture invites us to study the analogy. The 
 Temple was made in all things according to a pattern 
 seen by Moses on the Moun* a shadow cast by the 
 Eternal Spiritual Realities which it was to symbolize. 
 One of these realities — for Divine Truth is exceed- 
 ing rich and full and has many and very diverse 
 applications — One of these realities shadowed forth 
 by the Temple, is man's threefold nature. Because 
 man was created in the image of God, the Temple 
 is not only the setting forth of the mystery of man's 
 approach into the presence of God, but equally of 
 God's way of entering into man, to take up His 
 abode with him. 
 
 We are familiar with the division of the Temple 
 into three parts. There was its exterior, seen by 
 
THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SI'IUIT. 
 
 235 
 
 nil men, with the outer court, into which every 
 Israelite might enter, and where all the external 
 religious service was performed. There was the 
 Holy Place, into which alone the priests might enter, 
 to present to God the blood or the incense, the 
 bread or the oil, they had biought from without. 
 lUit though near, they were still not within the 
 veil ; into the immediate presence of God they 
 might not come. God dwelt in the Holiest of all, 
 in a light innccessible, where none might venture 
 nigii. The momentary entering of the High Priest 
 once a year was but to bring into full consciousness 
 the truth that there was no place for man there, 
 until the veil should have been rent and taken 
 away. 
 
 Man is God s temple. In him, too, there are the 
 three parts. In the body you have the outer court, 
 the external visible life, where all the conduct has 
 to be regulated by God's law, and where all the 
 service consists in looking to that which is done with- 
 out us and for us to bring us nigh to God. Then 
 there is the soul, with its inner life, its power ot 
 mind and feeling and will. lu the regenerate man 
 this is the Holy Place, wher3 thoughts and affections 
 and desires move to and fro as the priests of the 
 sanctuary, rendering God their service in the full light 
 of consciousness. And then comes within the veil, 
 hidden from all human sight and light, the hidden 
 inmost sanctuary, * the secret place of the Most 
 Hi^»h,' wii ^e God dwells, and where man may not 
 enter, until the veil is rent at God's own bidding 
 
236 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Man has not only body and soul, but also spirit. 
 Deeper down than where the soul with its conscious- 
 ness can enter, there is a spirit-nature linking man 
 with God. So fearful is sin's power, that in some 
 this power is given up to death : they are sensual, 
 nut having the Spirit. In others, it is nothing more 
 than J dormant power, a possibility waiting for the 
 quickening of the Holy Spirit. In the believer it 
 is the inner chamber of the heart, of which the 
 Spirit has taken possession, and from out of which 
 He waits to do His glorious work, making soul and 
 body holy to the Lord. 
 
 And yet this indwelling, unless where it is 
 recognised, and yielded to, and humbly maintained 
 in adoration and love, often brings comparatively 
 little blessing. And the one great lesson which the 
 truth that we are Ood's temple, because His Spirit 
 dwells in us, must teach us, is this, to acknowledge 
 the Holy Presence that dwells within us. This 
 alone will enable us to regard the whole temple, 
 even to the outmost court, as sacred to His service, 
 and to yield every power of our nature to His 
 leading and will. The most sacred part of the 
 Temple, that for which all the rest existed and on 
 which all depended, was the Holiest of all. Even 
 though the priests might never enter thsTC, and 
 might never see the glory that dwelt there, all their 
 conduct was regulated, and all their faith animated, 
 hy the thought of the unseen Presence there. It was 
 this that gave the sprinkling of the blood and 
 the buminL' of the incense their value. It waa 
 
THE TEMTLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 237 
 
 this made it a privilege to draw i '^h, and give 
 confidence to go out and bless. It was the Most 
 Holy, the Holiest of all, that made the place of their 
 serving to them a Holy Place. Their whole lifo 
 was controlled and inspired by the faith of the 
 unseen indwelling glory within the veil. 
 
 It is not otherwise with the believer. Until he 
 learns by faith to tremble in presence of the won- 
 drous mystery that he is God's temple, because God's 
 Spirit dwelleth in him, he never will yield himself 
 to his high vocation with the holy reverence or the 
 joyful confidence that becomes him. As long as 
 he looks only into the Holy Place, into the heart, 
 as far as man can see and know what passes there, 
 he will often search in vain for the Holy Spirit, 
 or only find cause for bitter shame that his work- 
 ings are so few and feeble. Each of us must learn 
 to know that there is a Holiest of all in that 
 temple which he himself is ; the secret place of 
 the Most High within us must become the central 
 truth in our temple -vorship. This must be to us 
 the meaning of our confession : ' I believe in the 
 Holy Ghost.' 
 
 And how is this deep faith in the hidden in- 
 dwelling to become ours ? Taking our stand ui)on 
 God's blessed Word, we must accept and appropriate 
 its teaching. We must take trouble to beliiive 
 that God means what it says. I am a temple ; 
 just such a temple as God commanded to be built 
 of old ; He msant me to see in it what I am to be 
 There the Holiest of all was the central point, the 
 
238 
 
 THE SPIKIT OF CIIUIST. 
 
 essential thing. It was all dark, secret, hicUlen 
 till the time of unveiling came. It demanded and 
 received the faith of priest and people. The Holiest 
 of all within mo, too, is unseen and hidden, a thing 
 for faith alone to know and deal with. Let me, 
 as I approach to the Holy One, bow before Him 
 in deep and lowly reverence. Let me there say 
 that I believe what He says, that His Holy Spirit, 
 God, one with the Father and the Son, even now 
 has His abode within me. I will meditate, and be 
 still, until something of the overwhelming glory of 
 the truth fall upon me, and faith begin to realize 
 it: I am His temple, and in the secret place He 
 sits upon His throne. As I yield myself in silent 
 meditation and worship day by day, surrendering 
 and setting open my whole being to Him, He will 
 in His divine, loving, living power, shine into my 
 consciousness the light of His presence. 
 
 A'i this thought fills the hearty the faith of the 
 indwelling though hidden presence will influence; 
 the Holy Place will be ruled from the Most Holy. 
 The world of consciousness in the soul, with all its 
 thoughts and feelings, its affections and purposes, 
 will come and surrender themselves to the Holy 
 Power that sits within on the throne. Amid the 
 terrible experience of failure and sin a new hope 
 will dawn. Though long I most earnestly strove, 
 I could not keep the Holy Place for God, because 
 I knew not that He kept the Most Holy for Him- 
 self. If I give Him there the glory due to His 
 name, in the holy worship of the inner temple. He 
 
THE TEMl'LK OF THE HOLY SriUlT. 
 
 239 
 
 will send forth His li<{ht and His tnith through my 
 whole heing, and through mind and will reveal His 
 power to sanctify and to bless. And through the 
 soul, thus coining ever more mightily under His rule, 
 His power will work out even into the body. With 
 passions and appetites within, yea, with every 
 thought brought into subjection, the hidden Holy 
 Spirit will through the soul penetrate ever deeper 
 into the body. Through the Spirit the deeds of the 
 body will be made dead, and the river of water, 
 that flows from under the throne of God and the 
 Lamb, will go through all the outer nature, with its 
 cleansing and quickening power. 
 
 O Brother, do believe that you are the temple of 
 the liviiig God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth 
 in you ! You have been sealed with the Holy 
 Spirit ; He is the mark, the living assurance of your 
 sonship and your Father's love. If this have 
 hitherto been a thought that has brought you but 
 little comfort, see if the reason is not here. You 
 sought for Him in the Holy Place, amid the 
 powers and services of your inner life which come 
 within your vision. And you could hardly discern 
 Him there. And so you could not appropriate the 
 comfort and strength the Comforter was meant to 
 bring. No, my brother, not there, not there. 
 Deeper down, in the secret place of the Most High, 
 there you will find Him. There faith will find 
 Him. And as faith worships in holy reverence 
 before the Father, and the heart trembles at the 
 thought of what it has found, wait in holy stillness 
 
2^0 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CUBIST. 
 
 k 
 
 on God to grant you the mighty working of His 
 Spirit, wait in holy stillness for the Spirit, and be 
 assured He will, as God, arise and fill His temple 
 with His glory. 
 
 And then remember, the veil was but for a time. 
 When the preparation was complete, the veil of 
 the fiesh was rent. As you yield your soul's inner 
 life to the inmost life of the Spirit, as the traffic 
 between the Most Holy and the Holy becomes 
 more true and unbroken, the fulness of the time 
 will come in your soul. In the power of Him, 
 in whom the veil was rent that the Spirit migKu 
 stream forth from His glorified body, there will 
 come to you, too, an experience in which the veil 
 shall be taken away, and the Most Holy and the 
 Holy be thrown into one. The hidden glory of the 
 Socret Place will stream into your conscious daily 
 life : the service of the Holy Place will all be in 
 the power of the Eternal Spirit. 
 
 Brother, let us fall down and worship ! * Be 
 silent, all tlesh, before the Lord ; for He is waked 
 up out of His holy habitation.* 
 
 t 
 
 Most Holy God ! in adoring wonder I bow before 
 Thee in presence of this wondrous mystery of grace : 
 my spirit, soul, and body ^hy temple. 
 
 In deep silence and worship I accept the blessed 
 revelation, that in me too there is a Holiest of all, 
 and that there Thy hidden Glory has its abode. 
 
 my God, forgive me that I have so littlfl 
 known it. 
 
i 
 
 THE TEMPLE OF THE HOLY SPIRIT. 
 
 241 
 
 t 
 
 I do now tremblingly accept the blessed truth : 
 God the Spirit, the Holy Spirit, who is God 
 Almighty, dwells in me. 
 
 O my Fathv^r, reveal within what it means, lest 
 I sin against Thee by saying it and not living it. 
 
 Blessed Jesus ! to Thee, who sittest upon the 
 throne, I yield my whole being. In Thee I trust 
 to rise up in power and have dominion within me. 
 
 In Thee I believe for the full streaming forth of 
 the living waters. 
 
 Blessed Spirit ! Holy Teacher! Mighty Sanctifier! 
 Thou art within me. On Thee do I wait all the 
 day. I belong to Thee. Take entire possession of 
 me for the Father and the Son. Amen. 
 
 i) 
 
 \ 
 
 1. * Spirit here (John Iv. 24) denotes that deepest element of the humfn soul 
 by which it can hold communion with the Divine world. It Is the seat of self- 
 collectedness, the sanctuary wherein the true worship is celebrated (Rom. I. 9) 
 ' The 6od whom I serve in my spirit' — Godet. 
 
 2. Note how Paul, In appealing to the Corinthians to rise out of their gros» 
 carnal state, more than onse pleads with them on the ground of their being 
 temples of the Holy Spirit. In our days many think that the indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit ought only to be preached to advanced Christians. Do let us learn 
 here that every believer has the Holy Spirit ; that he ought to know It : that 
 knowing it Is the most effective lever for raising up out of a low carnal life, 
 let i»i latour to bring every believer to a knowledge of this, his heavenly 
 birthright. 
 
 3. It is the body is the temple of the Holy Spirit (1 Cor. oi. 19). If our 
 spirit be filhd with the Spirit of Bad, it will manifest itself in the body too, 
 'If ye, through the Spirit, do put to death the deeds of the body, ye shall 
 live.' Let us believe that the Divine Spirit is specially given to pervade, to 
 purify, to strengthen our bodies for His service. It is His indwelling in the 
 bo 'y makes it a living seed that can share in the resurrection of life. 
 
 4. Know ye not ? Do you know it fully, distinctly, abidingly ? Do you know 
 It by faith ? Are you pressing on to know it in full experience, so that your 
 deepest self-conc-oiousncss shall spontaneously say: Yes, I am a temple of 
 Cod, the Spirit of Qod dwelleth in me, Glory to His name. 
 
242 
 
 TflK SPIUIT OF CIIIUST. 
 
 Twenty-fifth Day. 
 
 I 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 ! 
 
 E\}t iHinistrs of tfte Spirit 
 
 *Oar snfficiency is of Ck)d ; who also made ns snfflcient af 
 ministers of & new covenant ; not of the letter, but of the Spirit : 
 for the letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life. But if the 
 ministration of death came with glory, how shall not rather the 
 ministration of the Spirit be with glory ? '--2 Cok. iiL 6, 7. 
 
 IN" none of his Epistles does Paul expound his 
 conception of the Christian ministry so clearly 
 and fully as in the second to the Corinthians. The 
 need of vindicating his apostleship against detrac- 
 tors, the consciousness of Divine Power and Glory 
 working in ixim in the midst of weakness, the 
 intense longing of his loving heart to communicate 
 what he had to impart, stirs his soul to its very 
 depths, and he lays open to us the inmost secrets 
 of the life that makes one a true minister of Christ 
 and His Spirit. In our text we have the central 
 thought : he finds his sufficiency of strength, the 
 inspiration and rule of all his conduct, in the fact 
 that he has been made a minister of the Spirit. If 
 we take the different passages in which mention w 
 
 I 
 
THE MINISTRY 07 THE SPIRIT. 
 
 243 
 
 € 
 
 I 
 
 made of the Holy Spirit in the first half of the 
 Epistle,^ we shall see what, in his view, the place 
 and work of the Holy Spirit in the ministry is, and 
 what the character of a ministry under His leading 
 and in His power. 
 
 In the Epistle, Paul will have to speak with 
 aiithoiity. He begins by placing himself on a level 
 with his readers. In his first mention of the Spirit 
 he tells them that the Spirit that is in him is no 
 other than is in them. * Now He which stablisheth 
 118 with you in Christ, and anointed us, is God ; 
 who also sealed us, and gave us the earnest of the 
 Spirit in our hearts' (i. 21, 22). The anointing 
 of the believer with the Spirit, bringing him into 
 fellowship with Christ, the anointed One, and reveal- 
 ing what He is to us ; the sealing, marking him as 
 God's own, and giving him assurance of it; the 
 earnest of the Spirit, securing at once the foretaste 
 and the fitness for the heavenly inheritance in 
 glory : of all this he and they are together partakers. 
 However much there was among the Corinthians 
 that was wroDg and unholy, Paul speaks to them, 
 thinks of them, and loves thorn as one in Christ. 
 *He that stablislieth us tvilh ynu in Christ, and 
 anointed us! — this deep senee of unity fills his soul, 
 comes out throughout the Epistle, and is the secret 
 of his power. See i. 6, 1 0, ii. 3 : * My joy is the 
 joy of you all ; * iv. 5 : ' ourselves your servants ; * 
 iv. 10-12: 'death workelh in us, life in you;* 
 
 ^ To vi. 10, where he ends the more general description of hii 
 ministry, and returns to personal appeal. 
 
244 
 
 TUB SPIKIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 iv. 15: 'all things are for your sakes;* vi. 11, 
 vii. 8 : 'you are in our hearts to live and die with 
 you.' If the unity of the Spirit, the consciousness 
 of being members one of another, be necessary in 
 all believers, how much more must it be the mark 
 of those who are ministers ? The power of the 
 ministry to the saints depends upon the urity 
 of the Spirit; the full recognition of believers as 
 partakers of the anointing. P>ut to this end the 
 ii'inister must himself live as an anointed and sealed 
 one, making manifest that he has the earnest of the 
 Spirit in his heart. 
 
 The second passage is iii. 3 : * Ye are an epistle 
 of Christ, ministered by us, written with the iSpirit 
 of the living God ; not in tables of stone, but in 
 tables that are hearts of flesh.' As distinct an act 
 of God as was the writing of the law on the tables 
 of stone, is the writing of the law of ^he Spirit in 
 the new covenant, and of the name of Christ on 
 the heart. It is a divine work, in which, as truly as 
 God wrote of old, the Holy Spirit uses the tongue 
 of His minister as His pen. It is this truth that 
 needs to be restored in the ministry, not only that 
 the Holy Spirit is needed, but that He waits to do 
 the work, and will do it, when the right relation 
 to Him is maintained. Paul's own experience at 
 Corinth (Acts xviii. 5-11 ; 1 Cor. ii. 3) teaches us 
 what conscious weakness, what fear and trembling, 
 what sense of absolute helplessness may be, or rather 
 is, needed, if the power of God is to rest upon us. 
 Our whole Epistle confirms this : it was as a man 
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 245 
 
 
 under sentence of death, bearing about the dying of 
 the Lord Jesus, that the power of Christ wrought 
 in him. Thj Spirit of God stands in contrast to 
 the flesh, the world, and self, with its life and 
 strength ; it is as tiese are broken down, and the 
 flesh has nothing to glory in, that the Spirit will 
 work. Oh that every minister's tongue might be 
 prepared for the Holy Spirit to use it as a pen 
 wherewith He writes ! 
 
 Tlien come the words of our text (iii. 6, 7), to 
 teach us what the special characteristic is of this 
 New Covenant Ministry of the Spirit : it 'giveth life.* 
 The antithesis, * the letter killeth/ applies not only 
 to the law of the Old Testament, but, according to 
 the teaching of Scripture, to all knowledge which is 
 not in the quickening power of the Spirit. We 
 cannot insist upon it too earnestly, that, even as 
 the law, though we know it was ' spiritual/ so 
 tho gospel too has its letter. The gospel may be 
 preached most clearly and faithfully ; it may exert 
 a strong moral influence ; and yet the faith that 
 comes of it may stand in the wisdom of men, and 
 not in the power of God. If there is one thing 
 the Church needs to cry for on behalf of its njini- 
 sters and students, it is that the Ministry of the 
 •Spirit may be restored in its full power. Pray 
 that God may teach them what it is personally to 
 live in the sealing, the anointing, the earnest of th« 
 Indwelling Spirit ; what it is to know that the 
 letter killeth ; what it is that the Spirit in very 
 deed giveth life ; and what, above all, the personal 
 
2i6 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 life is under which the Ministry of the Spirit can 
 freely work. 
 
 Paul now proceeds to contrast the two dispen- 
 sations, and the different characters of those who 
 live in tliem/ He points out how, as long as the 
 mind is blinded, there is a veil on the heart whicli 
 can only be taken away as we turn to the Lord. 
 And then he adds (iii. 17, 18): 'Now the lord is 
 tJie Spirit; and whe^^e the Spirit of the Lord is, 
 there is liberty. But we all, with unveiled face 
 beholding as in a mirror the glory of the Lord, are 
 transformed into the same image, from glory to 
 gl<>ry, even as from the Lord the Spirit,* It is 
 because God 'is a Spirit' that He can give the 
 Spirit. It was when our Lord Jesus was exalted 
 into the life of the Spirit that He became Uhe 
 Lord the Spirit,* could give the New Testament 
 Spirit, and in the Spirit come Himself to His 
 people. The disciples knew Jesus long, without 
 knowing Him as the Lord the Spirit. Paul 
 speaks of this, too, with regard to himself (2 Cor. 
 v. 16). There may in the ministry be much earnest 
 gospel preaching of the Lord Jesus as the Crucified 
 One, without the preaching of Him as the Lord the 
 Spirit. It is only as the latter truth is appre- 
 hended, and experienced, and then preached, that 
 the double blessing will come that Paul speaks of 
 here: 'Where the Spirit of the Lord is, is liberty.* 
 Believers will be led into the glorious liberty of the 
 
 ' ' Ilistorically, I may be liviii;; in tho di»pensatioa of th« 
 8|>irit, aud yet practically iu that of the letter.' 
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 247 
 
 children of God (Rom. viii. 2 ; Gal. v. 1, 18). ' We 
 are transformed into the same image, even as from 
 the Lord the Spirit : ' then will He do the work for 
 which He was sent — to reveal the glory of the 
 Lord in us; and as we behold it, we shall be 
 changed from glory to glory. Of the time before 
 Pentecost it was written : * The Spirit was not yet, 
 because Jesus was not yet glorified/ But when 
 He had been 'justified in the Spirit, and received 
 up in glory,* the Spirit came forth from * the 
 excellent glory ' into our hearts, that we, with 
 unveiled face beholding the glory of the Lord, 
 might be changed into His likeness. What a call- 
 ing I the Ministry of the Spirit I to hold up the 
 glory of the Lord to His redeemed, an^ to be used 
 by His Spirit in working their transformation into 
 His likeness, from glory to glory. * Therefore, see- 
 ing we have this ministry, we faint not.' It is as 
 the knowledge and acknowledgment of Christ as 
 the Lord the Spirit, and of the Spirit of Christ 
 as changing believers into His likeness, lives in the 
 Church, that the ministry among believers will be 
 in Life and Power, — in very deed, a Ministry of the 
 Spirit. 
 
 The power of the ministry on the Divine side is 
 the Spirit ; on the human, it is here, as everywhere, 
 faith. The next mention of the Spirit is in iv. 13: 
 * Having the same Spirit of faith.* After having, in 
 chap, iii., set forth the glory of the Ministry of the 
 Spirit, and, iv. 1-6, the glory of the Gospel it 
 preached, he turns to the vessels in which this 
 
248 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF ClIUJST. 
 
 iH^ 
 
 treasure is. lie lias to vimJicate liis apparent weak- 
 ness. But he does far more. Instead of apologizinf» 
 for it, he expounds its Divine meaning and gloiy. 
 He proves how just this constituted his power, 
 because in his weakness Divine power could work. 
 It has been so ordained, ' that the excellency of the 
 power may be of God, and not of us.' So his perfect 
 fellowship with Jesus was maini^ined as he bore 
 about ' the putting to death of the Lord Jesus, that 
 the life of Jesus also might be manifested in his 
 mortal body.' So there was even in his sufferings 
 something of the vicarious element that marked his 
 Lord's : * So then death worketh in us, but life in 
 you.' And then he adds, as the expression of the 
 animating power that sustained him through all 
 endurance and labour ; * But having the same Spirit 
 of faith! of which we read in the Scripture, ' ac- 
 cording to that which is written, I believed, and 
 therefore did I speak; we also believe, and there- 
 fore we also speak ; knowing that He which raised 
 up the Lord Jesus shall raise up us also with 
 Jesus, and shall present us with you.' 
 
 Faith is the evidence of thiuqs not seen. It sees 
 the Invisible, and lives in it. Beginning with trust 
 in Jesus, *in whom, though ye see Him not, yet 
 believing, ye rejoice,' it goes on through the whole oi 
 the Christian life. Whatever is of the Spirit, is by 
 faith. The great work of God, in opening the heart 
 of His child to receive more of the Spirit, is to school 
 his faith into more perfect freedom from all that 
 b seen, and the more entire repose in God, even 
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 249 
 
 to the assurance that God dwclleth and wor'.^eth 
 mightily in his weakness. For this end trials and 
 sufferings are sent. Paul uses very rcmarkablo 
 language in regard to his sufferings in the first 
 chapter (ver. 9): 'We ourselves have had the 
 sentence of death in ourselves, that we should not 
 trust in ourselves, but in God which raiseth the 
 dead.* Even Paul was in danger of trusting in 
 himself. Nothing is more natural ; all life is con- 
 fident of self ; and nature is consistent w.'i itself 
 till it dies. For the mighty work he had to do, he 
 needed a trust in none less than the Living God, 
 who raiseth the dead. To this God led him by 
 giving him, in the affliction which came upon him 
 in Asia, the sentence of death in himself. The 
 trial of his faith was its strength. In our context 
 he returns to this thought : the fellowship of the 
 dying of Jesus is to him the means and the assur- 
 ance of the experience of the power of Christ's life. 
 In the spirit of this faith he speaks : * Knowing that 
 He which raised up Jesus shall raise up us also.' 
 
 It was not until Jesus had died that the Spirit 
 of life could break forth from Him. The life of 
 Jesus was born out of the grave : it is a life out of 
 death. It is as we daily die, and bear about the 
 dying of Jesus ; as flesh and self are kept crucified 
 and mortified ; as we have in ourselves God's sen- 
 tence of death on. all that is of self and nature, — - 
 that the life and the Spirit of Jesus will be mani- 
 fest in us. And this is the Spirit of faith, that in 
 the midst of weakness and apparent death, it counts 
 
250 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 I i 
 
 t 
 
 ou God that raiseth the (load. Aud this is the 
 Ministry of the Spirit, when faith glories in infir- 
 mities, that th^> power of Christ may rest upon it. 
 It is as our faith does not stagger at the wirthi- 
 ness and weaknes3 of the vessel, as it consents 
 that the excellency of the power shall be, not from 
 ourselves, or in anything we feel, but of God alone, 
 that the Spirit will work in the power of the living 
 God. 
 
 We have the same thought in the two remaining 
 passages. In chap. v. 5, he speak? again of *the 
 earnest of the Spine * in connection with our groan- 
 ing and I'jing burdened And then in chap. vi. 6, 
 the Spirit is introduced in the midst of the men- 
 tion of his distresses and labours as the mark of his 
 ministry. * In everything commending ourselves, 
 as the ministers of God, in much patience, in afflic- 
 tions, . . . in the Holy Ghost, ... as dying, and 
 yet, behold, we live ; as chastened, and not killed ; 
 as soiTowful, yet alway rejoicing; as poor, yet 
 making many rich.' The Power of Christ in the 
 Holy Spirit was to Paul such & living reality, that 
 the weakness of the flesh only led him the more to 
 rejoice and to trust it. The Holy i!>pirit's dwelling 
 and working in Him was consciously ihe secret 
 spring and the Divine power of his ministry. 
 
 We may well ask. Does the Holy Spirit take 
 the place in our ministry He did in Paul's ? There 
 is not a minister or member of the Church who 
 has not a vital interest in the answer. The 
 question is not whether the doctrine of the absolute 
 
 I 11 
 
THE MINISTRY OF THE SPIIUT. 
 
 251 
 
 need of the Holy Spirit's working is admitted ; but 
 whether thare is given to the securing of His 
 presence and working that proportion of the time 
 and life, of the thought and faith of the ministry, 
 which His place, as the Spirit of the Lord Jesus 
 on the Throne, demands. Has the Holy Spirit the 
 place in the Church which our Lord Jesus would 
 wish Him to have ? When our hearts open to the 
 inconceivably glorious Truth that He is the Mighty 
 Power of God, that in H"m the Living Christ 
 works through us, that He is the Presence with us 
 of the Glorified Lord on the Throne, we shall feel 
 that the one need of the ministry and the Church is 
 this : to wait at the footstool of the Throne with- 
 out ceasing for the clothing with the Power that 
 comes from on high. The Spirit of Christ, in His 
 love and power, in His death and life, is the Spirit 
 of the ministry. As it possesses this, it will be 
 what the Head of the Church meant it to be, the 
 Ministry of the Spirit 
 
 Blessed Father ! we thank Thee for the institu- 
 tion of the Ministry of the Word, as the great 
 means through which our exalted Lord does His 
 saving work by the Holy Spirit. We thank Thee 
 that it is a Ministry of the Spirit, and for all the 
 blessing Thou hast wrought through it in the 
 world. Our prayer is, most Blessed God ! that 
 Thou wouldst increasingly and manifestly make it 
 throughout Thy Church what Thou wouldst have 
 it be — a Ministry of the Spirit and of Power. 
 
252 
 
 THE SPiniT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Give Tliy servants and people everywhere a defp 
 sense of how n.uch it still comes short of Thy 
 purpose. Reveal how much there is in it of trust in 
 t)ie flesh, of man's zeal and strength, of the wisdom 
 of this world. Teach all Thy true servants the 
 holy secret of giving place to the Spirit of Christ, 
 that He may use them. May the conscious 
 presence of Christ in their hearts by the Holy 
 Spirit give them great boldness of speech. May 
 the power of the Holy Spirit in their whole life 
 make them fit vessels for Him to use in teaching 
 others. May Divine Power in the midst of weak- 
 ness be the mark of their public ministry. 
 
 Teach Tliy people to wait on their teaching, to 
 receive it, to plead with Thee for it as a Ministry 
 of the Spirit. And may the lives of believers 
 increasingly be, in the power of such a ministry, 
 those of men led and sanctified by the Holy Ghost 
 Amen. 
 
 1. Christ needed to be made perfect through suffering. It was through 
 suffering He entered the glory out of which the Spirit was sent 'He was 
 crucified through weakness, yet He llueth through the power of Qod.' Paul 
 could not exercise his Ministry of the Spirit In power without the continual 
 experience of the same weakness. 'So death worketh In us, but life In you.' 
 ' We are also weak In Him, but shall Hue with Him through the power of Qod 
 toward you.' With martyrs and missionaries, persecution and tribulation 
 haue been the fellowship of Christ's suffering and weakness, His Power and 
 Spirit. We may Inulte neither persecutions nor suffering ; how can In our 
 days this fellowship of Christ's suffering and dying, the rending of the flesh, 
 so Indispensable to the Ministry of the Spirit, be maintained ? In a deep 
 entering Into the needs and the sorrows of the suffering humanity around us. 
 And in that self-denial which In nothing allows the flesh, the self -life, to haue 
 Its way, but Increasingly seeks In utter weakness to make way for Christ's 
 Power to work, and depends upon His Spirit. 
 
 2. The standard of the ministry and the standard of the life of belleoers 
 will correspond. As In the life of the Church the Spirit Is known amt 
 
THK MINISTHY OK THK SPIRIT. 
 
 253 
 
 kotiotirtd, fA« n99d of a aplrltual ministry will b§ feli. Aa iht mlnlat^§ 
 kacomaa mora daaply aplrltual, tha tona of tha Church will 6>) ralaad. Tha two 
 act and react on each other. But how solemn tha thought that an earneat, a 
 learned, an eloquent minlatry la not neceaaarlly a MInlatry of tha Spirit I 
 
 3. Let ua make tha minlatry a matter of unoaaaing prayer. Let ua ramem- 
 Ihir how much the Church dependa upon It. Let ua plead with Qod for a 
 Minlatry of the Spirit. When thia baoomea tha demand of tha Church, tha 
 aupply will not be withheld, 
 
 4. What will be the mark of a Minlatry of tha Spirit ? A aenaa ofaomathing 
 aupernatural, a holy fear of Qod'a preaenoa reating on man, tha aelf-atildencing 
 power of the actual preaenoe of the Spirit. 
 
 5. 'Our abllltlea Ua In our being made hiatrumenta, 6y wkom tk9 H^§ 
 9hoH k ^tatuad to oomnonloate ELuuMl.' Qoo a wufc 
 
 •%•■•■( 
 
254 
 
 THE SriRlT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Twenty-sixth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST 
 
 JTfje Spirit anli tlje JFlfSlj. 
 
 * An ye so fooliBh ? having began in the SpiriU fti^e yc non 
 perfected in the flesh?*— Gal. iii. 3. 
 
 * We are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of Ood, 
 and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh : 
 though I myself might have confidence even in the flesh.* — 
 Ph;l. iii. 3. 
 
 THE flesh is 
 designates 
 
 the name by which Scripture 
 .g,..««^« our fallen nature, — soul and 
 body. The soul at creation was placed between 
 the spiritual or Divine and the sensible or worldly, 
 to give to each its due, and guide them into that 
 perfect union which would result in man attnining 
 his destiny, a spiritual body. When the soul 
 yielded to the temptation of the sensible, it broke 
 away from the rule of the Spirit and came under 
 the power of the body — it became flesh. And now 
 the flesh is not only without the Spirit, but even 
 hostile to it : ' the flesh lusteth against the Spirit.' 
 
 In this antagonism of the flesh to the Spirit 
 there are two sides. On the one hand, the flesh 
 
THE SPIKIT AND THE FLESH. 
 
 *d \J :t 
 
 lusts against the Spirit in its committing sin and 
 transgressing God's law. On the other hand, its 
 hostility to the Spirit is no less manifested in 
 its seeking to serve God and do His will. In 
 yielding to the flesh, the soul sought itself instead 
 of the God to whom the Spirit linked it ; selfish- 
 ness prevailed over God's will ; selfishness became 
 its ruling principle. And now, so subtle and mighty 
 is this spirit of self, that the flesh, not only in 
 sinning against God, but even when the soul learns 
 to serve God, still asserts its power, refuses to let 
 the Spirit alone lead, and, in its efforts to be 
 religious, is still the great enemy that ever hinders 
 and quenches the Spirit. It is owing to this 
 deceitfulness of the flesh that there often takes 
 place what Paul speaks of to the Galatians: 
 * Having begun in the Spirit, are ye now perfected 
 in the flesh ? ' Unless the surrender to the Spirit 
 be very entire, and the holy waiting on Him be 
 kept up in great dependence and humility, what 
 has been begun in the Spirit, very early and very 
 speedily passes over into confidence in the flesh. 
 
 And the remarkable thing is, what at first sight 
 might appear a paradox, that just where the flesh 
 seeks to serve God, there it becomes the strength of 
 sin. Do we not know how the Pharisees, with 
 their self-righteousness and carnal religion, fell into 
 pride and selfishness, and became the servants of 
 sin ? Was it not just among the Galatians, of 
 whom Paul asks the question about perfecting in 
 tlie flesh what was begun in the Spirit, and whom 
 
256 
 
 THE SI'IRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 he lias so to warn against the righteousness of 
 works, that the works of the flesh were so mrnifest, 
 and that they were in danger of devouring one 
 another ? Satan has no more crafty device for 
 keeping souls in bondage than inciting them to a 
 religion in the flesh. He knows that the power of 
 the flesh can never please God or conquer sin, and 
 that in due time the flesh that has gained supremacy 
 over the Spirit in the service of God, will assert and 
 maintain that same supremacy in the service of sin. 
 It is only where the Spirit truly and unceasingly 
 has the entire lead and rule in the life of worship, that 
 it will have the power to lead and rule in the life 
 of practical obedience. If I am to deny self in 
 intercourse with men, to conquer selfishness and 
 temper and want of love, I must first learn to deny 
 self in the intercourse with God. There the soul, 
 the seat of self, must learn to bow to the Spirit, 
 where God dwells. 
 
 The contrast between the worship in the Spirit 
 and the trusting in the flesh is very beautifully 
 expressed in Paul's description of the true circum- 
 cision, — the circumcision of the heart, — whose 
 praise is not of men, but of God : * Who worship 
 by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and 
 liave no confidence in the flesh.' Placing the 
 glorying in Christ Jesus in the centre, as the very 
 feS^Jence of the Christian faith and life, he marks 
 on the one hand the great danger by which it is 
 beset, on the other the safeguard by which its full 
 enjoyment is secured. Confidence in the flesh is 
 
THE SPIRIT AND THE FI ESII. 
 
 257 
 
 the one thing above all others that renders the 
 glorying in Christ Jesus of none elTect ; worship 
 by the Spirit the one thing that alone can make it 
 indeed life and truth. May the Spirit reveal to us 
 what it is thus to glory in Christ Jesus ! 
 
 That there is a glorying in Christ Jesus that is 
 accompanied by much confidence in the flesh, all 
 history and experience teach us. Among the 
 Galatians it was so. The teachers whom Paul 
 opposed so earnestly were all preachers of Christ 
 and His cross. But they preached it, not as men 
 taught by the Spirit to know what the infinite and 
 all-pervading influence of that cross must be, but 
 as those who, having had the beginnings of God's 
 Spirit, had yet allowed their own wisdom and their 
 own thoughts to say what that cross meant, and so 
 had reconciled it with a religion which to a very 
 large extent was legal and carnal. And the story 
 of the Galatian Church is repeated to this day 
 even in the Churches that are most confidently 
 assured that they are free from the Galatian error. 
 Just notice how often the doctrine of justification 
 by faith is spoken of as if that were the chief 
 teaching of the Epistle, and the doctrine of the 
 Holy Spirit's indwelling as received by faith, and 
 our walking by the Spirit, is hardly mentioned. 
 
 Christ crucified is the wisdom of God. The con- 
 fidence in the flesh, in connection with the glorying 
 in Christ, is seen in confidence in its own wisdom. 
 Scripture is studied, and preached, and heard, and 
 believed in, very much in the. power of the natural 
 
 B 
 
258 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST, 
 
 i' if 
 
 I 1 
 
 I i 
 
 mind, with little insistance upon the ahsolute neeil 
 of the Spirit's personal teaeliing. It is seen in the 
 ahsolute contidence with which men know that thi^y 
 have the truth, though they have it far more from 
 human than Divine teaching, and in the absence of 
 that teachableness that waits for God to reveal Uia 
 Truth in His own light. 
 
 Christ, through the Holy Spirit, is not only the 
 Wisdom but the Power of God. The confidence in 
 the fiesh, along with much glorying in Christ Jesus, 
 is to be seen and felt in so much of the work of 
 the Christian Church in which human effort and 
 human arrangement take a much larger place than 
 the waiting on the Power that comes from on high. 
 In the larger ecclesiastical organizations, in indi- 
 vidual churches and circles, in the inner life of the 
 heart and claset — alas! how much unsuccessful 
 effort, what oft-repeated failure, is to be traced to 
 this one evil ! There is no want of acknowledging 
 Christ, His person and work, as our only hope, no 
 want of giving Him the glory, and yet so much 
 confidence in the flesh, rendering it of none effect. 
 
 Let me here ask again, whether there be not 
 many a one striving earnestly for a life in the ful- 
 ness of consecration and the fulness of blessing, who 
 will find here the secret of failure. To help such 
 has been one of my first objects and most earnest 
 prayers in writing this book. As in sermon or 
 address, in book or conversation or private prayer, 
 the fulness of Jesus was opened up to them, with 
 tiie possibility of a holy life in Him, the soul felt it 
 
THE SPIRIT AND THE FLESH. 
 
 25i) 
 
 all so beautiful and so simple, that nothing could 
 any longer keep it back. And perhaps, as it 
 accepted of what was seen io be so sure and so 
 near, it entered into an enjoyment and experienced 
 a power before unknown. But it did not last. 
 There was a worm at its root. Vain was the search 
 for what the cause of the discomfiture was, or the 
 way of restoration. Frequently the only answer 
 that could be found was that the surrender was not 
 entire, or faith's acceptance not perfect. And yet 
 the soul felt sure that it was ready, is far as it 
 knew, to give up all, and it did long to let Jesus 
 have all and to trust Him for alL It could almost 
 become hopeless of an impossible perfection, if per- 
 fect consecration and perfect faith were to be the 
 condition of the blessing. And the promise had 
 beeii that it would all be so simple, — ^just t)ie life 
 for the poor and feeble ones. 
 
 Listen, my brother, to the blessed teaching of 
 God's word to-day. It was the confidence in the 
 flesh that spoilt thy glorying in Christ Jesus. It 
 was Self doing what the Spirit alone can do ; it was 
 the Soul taking the lead, in the hope that the Spirit 
 would second its efforts, instead of trusting the Holy 
 Spirit to lead and do all, and then waiting on Him. 
 It warf following Jesus, without the denial of self. 
 It was this was the secret trouble. Come and 
 listen to Paul as he tells of the only safeguard 
 against this danger : * We are the circumcision, who 
 woi-ship by the Spirit of God, and glory in Christ 
 Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.' Herf 
 
260 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 I 
 
 ! 
 
 ii" 
 
 are the two elements of spiritual worship. The 
 Spirit exalts Jencs, and abases the flesh. And if we 
 would truly glory in Jesus, and have Him glorified 
 in, us, if we would know the glory of Jesus in per- 
 sonal and unchanging experience, free from the 
 impotence which always marks the efforts of the 
 flesh, we must simply learn what this worship of 
 God by the Spirit is. 
 
 I can only repeat, once again, what it is the 
 purpose of this whole book to set forth as God's 
 truth from His blessed word: Glory in Christ Jesus. 
 Glory in Him as the Glorified One who baptizeth 
 with the Holy Spirit. In great simplicity and 
 restfulness believe in Him as having given His own 
 Spirit within you. Believe in that gift ; believe in 
 the Holy Spirit dwelling within you. Accept this 
 as the secret of the life of Christ in you : the Holy 
 Spirit is dwelling in the hidden recesses of your 
 spirit. Meditate on it, believe Jesus and His 
 word concerning it, until your soul bows with 
 holy fear and awe before God under the glory of 
 the truth : the Holy Spirit of God is indeed 
 dwelling in me. 
 
 Yield yourself to His leading. We have seen 
 that leading is not just in the mind or thoughts, 
 but in the life and disposition. Yield yourself to 
 God, to be guided by the Holy Spirit in all your 
 conduct. He is promised to those who love Jesus 
 and obey Him : fear not to say that He kiiows you 
 do love and do obey Him with your whol? heart. 
 Remember, then, what the one central object of His 
 
1. 
 
 THB SPIRIT AND THE FLESH. 
 
 2G1 
 
 5U 
 
 ts, 
 [to 
 lur 
 lus 
 lou 
 Irt. 
 [is 
 
 coming was : to restore the departed Lord Jesus to 
 His disciples. * I will not leave you orphans/ said 
 Jesus ; * I will come again to you.* I cannot glory 
 in a distant Jesus, from whom I "m separated. 
 When I try to do it, it is a thing of effort ; I must 
 have the help of the flesh to do it. I can only truly 
 glory in a present Saviour, whom the Holy Spirit 
 glorifies, reveals in His glory, within me. As He 
 does this, the flesh is ahased, and kept in its place 
 of crucifixion as an accursed thing : as He does it, 
 the deeds of the flesh are made to die. And my 
 whole religion will be: no confidence in the flesh, 
 glorying in Christ Jesus, worship by the Spirit of 
 God. • •' '■■• 
 
 Beloved believer! having begun in the Spirit, 
 continue, go on, persevere in the Spirit. Beware 
 of, for one single moment, continuing or perfecting 
 the work of the Spirit in the flesh. ^iCt * no con- 
 fidence in the flesh ' be your battle-cry ; let a deep 
 distrust of the flesh, and fear of grieving the Spirit 
 by walking after the flesh, keep you very low and 
 humble before God. Pray God for the spirit of 
 revelation, that you may see how Jesus is all, and 
 does all, and how by the Holy Spirit a Divine Life 
 indeed takes the place of your life, and Jesus is 
 enthroned as the Keeper and Guide and Life of the 
 soul. 
 
 Blessed God and Father ! we thank Thee for the 
 wondrous provision Thou hast made for Thy children's 
 drawing nigh to Thee, glorying in Christ Jesus, and 
 
262 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 I 
 
 worshipping by the Spirit. Grant, we pray The(\ 
 that such may be our life and all our religious 
 servica 
 
 We feel the need of asking Thee to show us how 
 the OL ) gr t hindrance to such a life is the power 
 of the il vH/A :id the efforts of the self -life. Open 
 our eyeti, we v^ay Thee, to this snare of Satan. 
 May we all see how secret and how subtle is the 
 temptation to have confidence in the flesh, and how 
 easily we are led to perfect in the flesh what has 
 been begun in the Spirit. May we learn to tnist 
 Thee to work in us by Thy Holy Spirit, both to will 
 and to do. 
 
 Teach us, too, we pray Thee, to know how the 
 flesh can be conquered and its power broken. In 
 the death of Thy beloved Son our old man has been 
 crucified: may we count all things but loss to be 
 made conformable to that death, and have the old 
 nature kept in the place of death. We do yield 
 ourselves to the lead and rule of Thy Holy Spirit. 
 We do believe that through the Spirit Christ is our 
 life, so that instead of the life of effort and work, 
 an entirely new life works within us. Our Father ! 
 in faith we. give up all to Thy Spirit to be our life 
 in us. Amen. 
 
 
 7. Christ t» the Wisdom and the Power of Qod. The root of all trust In our 
 own strength Is trust in our own wisdom, the Idea that we know how to serve 
 Qod, because we haue His word. This wisdom of man. In his accepting Qod'a 
 word, Is the greatest danger of the Church, because It Is the secret and mos* 
 subtle form In which we are led to perfect In the flesh what was begun In the 
 Spirit. 
 
 2. Our only safety here Is the Holy Spirit. A great willingness to be taught 
 by Him, a holy fear of In the least thing walking after the flesh, a loulng 
 
 
 tl' 
 
THE SPIBIT AND THE FLESH. 
 
 263 
 
 ling 
 
 ' John the Baptist,— Chrlat who 
 ^ea with the Holy Qhoat 
 
 turrender In everything to the obedience to which Ohrlat pronlsot He Spirit, 
 and with all this, the lluing faith that the Spirit will In Divine /> n^r poaaesa 
 our life and live It for ua,—thla la the path of safety. 
 
 3. Let ua try and realize fully that there are theae two animating prInolpleM 
 of man's life. In most Christians there Is a mixed life, yielding now to the 
 one, and then to the other. Qod's will Is that we walk 'not '—never, not for a 
 moment— ' after the flesh, but after the Spirit' Let as accept Qod's will. The 
 Holy Spirit has been given to bring our life Into conformity with It, May Qod 
 show us how entirely thu Holy Spirit can dispossess the life of the flesh, and 
 Himself become an entirely new life In ua, revealing Chrlat as our life. Then 
 we can aay, 'It la no longer I that live, but Chrlat that llveth In me.' 
 
 4. The Church muat learn from thia Epistle that Justification by faith Is 
 only the means to an end, the entrar to a life of walking by the Spirit 
 of Qod. We must return to the prea^ iny 
 bears the sin of the world, Christ « ^n ba 
 
 5. ' Why is It that people lay stre'^u, Uiioif. exclusively, with a view to faith 
 In Jesus, on this, that He bears " V« jf the world, and neglect to much 
 the other point, that He Is able to bapt with the Holy Qhost ? The prophets 
 and apostles, on the contrary, la'* stress on this gift of the Spirit as the 
 source of a new life, a new din 'tl' . and walk, In which both the Im- 
 pression and the expression of ^ocs law Is to be seen. Prophets and 
 apostles treat the mattei In Its ethical aspect, whereas the traditional 
 treatment represents the gift of the Spirit chiefly (u a seal of forglvenesa 
 and adoption, and holds that from the joy of gratitude for this,— that ISt 
 from a mere psychological factor,— the new life and strength for good art 
 to apring. ThIa view we find In our beat authora. The Scrlpturea, on tht 
 contrary, lay stress on the new creating and aatlafying power of tk^ Holg 
 Qhost as the principle of all Christian diapoaltion and peraonal activity 
 tRom vlll. 2). Christ's sin -hearing only prepares the way for the coming 
 of the Spirit (John vil. 39; Qal. III. 13, 14) { It Is the foundation, but not tkt 
 mkoto.'—BsGii., roitoialUhnii, (Tr. Ptwtoroi TAeok^. Clark.) 
 
 .t.; 
 
264 
 
 TUB SrirJT 0¥ CURISI. 
 
 Twenty-seventh Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JTlje Spirit tijrouglj JFaitft. 
 
 'Ohiift hath redeemed na firoin the onne, that npon thi 
 OentUei might oome the blessing of Abraham in Ghrist Jubub i 
 that we might receive the promise of the Spirit through faith.*— 
 Oal. iiL 18, 14. 
 
 THE word faith is used the first time in Scrip- 
 ture in connection with Abraham. Hia 
 highest praise, the secret of his strength for 
 obedience, and what made him so pleasing to God, 
 was that he believed God ; and so he became the 
 father of all them that believe, and the great 
 example of the blessing which the Divine favour 
 bestows, and the path in which it comes. Just as 
 God proved Himself to Abraham the God who 
 quickens the dead, He does to us too, in fuller 
 measure, in giving us the Spirit of His own Divine 
 life to dwell in us. And just as this quickening 
 power came to Abraham through faith, so the 
 blessing of Abraham, as now made manifest in 
 
THE SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH. 
 
 265 
 
 tig 
 
 he 
 in 
 
 Christ, even the promise of the Spirit, is made ours 
 by faith. All the lessons of Abraham's life centre 
 in this : * We receive the promise of the Spirit 
 through faith.' If we want to know what the 
 faith is through which the Spirit is received, how 
 that faith comes and grows, we must study what God 
 has taught us of it in Abraham's story. 
 
 In Abraham's life we see what faith ia: the 
 spiritual sense by which man recognises and accepts 
 the revelation of his God, a spiritual sense called 
 forth and awakened by that revelation. It was 
 because God had chosen Abraham, and determined 
 to reveal Himself, that Abraham became a man of 
 faith. Each new revelation was an act of the 
 Divine Will ; it is the Divine Will, and the revela- 
 tion in which \v carries out its purpose, that is the 
 cause and the life of faith. The more distinct the 
 revelation or contact with God, the deeper is faith 
 stirred in the soul. Paul speaks of 'trust in the 
 Living God : ' it is only as the Living One, in the 
 quickening power of the Divine Life, draws nigh 
 and touclies the soul, that living faith will be called 
 forth. Faith is not an independent act, by which^ 
 in our own strength we take what God says. Nor 
 is it an entirely passive state, in which we only 
 suffer God to do to us what He will. Hut it is 
 that receptivity of soul in which, as God comes 
 near, and as His living Power speaks to us and 
 couches us, we yield ourselves and accept His word 
 Rud His working. 
 
 It is thus very evident that faith has two things 
 
266 
 
 TIIR SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 to (leal willi : the Fresence and the Word of thd 
 Lord. It is only the Living Presence that makes 
 the Living Word, so that it comes not in word only 
 but in power. It is on this account that there is so 
 much reading and preaching of the word that boars 
 so little fruit; so nmch straining and prnyiiig for faith, 
 with so little result. Men deal with the word more 
 than with the Living God. Faith has very truly been 
 defined as ' Taking God at His word.* With many 
 this has only meant, Taking the word as God's; 
 they did not see the force of the thought, Taking 
 Ood at His word. A key or a door handle has no 
 value until I use it for the lock and the door I 
 want to open ; it is alone in direct and living con- 
 tact with God Himself that the word will open the 
 heart to believe. Faith takes Ood at His word ; 
 it can only do this when and as He gives Himself. 
 I may have in God's book all His precious promises 
 most clear and full ; I may have learnt perfectly to 
 understand how I have but to trust the promise to 
 have it fulfilled, and yet utterly fail to find the 
 longed-for blessing. The faith that enters on the 
 inheritance is the attitude of soul which waits for 
 God Himself, first to speak His word to me, and 
 then to do the thing He hath spoken. Faith is 
 fellowship with God ; faith is surrender to God ; the 
 impression made by His drawing nigh, the posses- 
 sion He takes of the soul by His word, holding and 
 preparing it for His work. When once it has been 
 awakened, it watches for every appearing of the 
 Divine Will ; it listens for and accepts every 
 
THK SPIRIT TIIKOUUIl FAITH. 
 
 2C7 
 
 indication of the Divine Presence ; it looks for and 
 expects the fulfilment of every Divine Promise. 
 
 Such was the faith through which Abraham 
 inherited the promises. Such is the faith by which 
 the blessing of Abraham comes upon the Gentiles 
 in Christ .lesus, and by which we thus receive the 
 piomise of the Spirit. In all our study of the 
 work of the Holy Spirit, and of the way in 
 which He comes, from His first sealing us, to His 
 full indwelling and streaming forth, let us hold 
 fast this word : ' We receive the promise of the 
 Spirit by faith.* Whether the believer be striving 
 for the full consciousness that the Spirit dwells 
 within, for a deeper assurance of His shedding 
 abroad of God's love in the heart, for a larger 
 growth of all His fruits, for the clearer experience 
 of His guiding into all truth, or for the indue- 
 nient of power to labour and to bless, let him 
 remember that the law of faith, on which the whole 
 economy of grace is grounded, here demands its 
 fullest application : * According to your faith be it 
 unto you.* ' We receive the promise of the Spirit 
 by faith.' Let us seek for Abraham's blessing in 
 Abraham's faith. 
 
 Let, in this matter, our faith begin where his 
 began : in meeting God and waiting on God. * The 
 Lord appeared unto Abraham. . . . And Al)raham fell 
 on his face : and Goil talked with him.* Let us look 
 up to our God and Father as the Liviug God, who 
 is Himself, by His Omnipotent Quickcming Power, 
 to do this wonderful thing for us : to fill us with 
 
268 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 His Holy Spirit. The blessing He has for us is the 
 same He gave to Abraham, but only larger, fuller, 
 more wonderful. To Abraham, both when his own 
 body was now as dead, and later on, when his son 
 was already bound on the altar, the prey of death, 
 He came as the Life - giving God. ' He believed 
 God, who quick eneth the dead.' ' He offered up 
 Isaac, accounting God able to raise him up.' To ua 
 He comes, ofif'ering to fill spirit, soul, and body 
 with the power of a Divine life, through the Holy 
 Spirit dwelling in us. Let us be like Abraham. 
 ' Looking at the promise of God, he wavered not 
 through unbelief, but waxed strong through faith, 
 giving glory to God, and being fully assured that 
 what He had promised, He was able also to perform.' 
 Let us have our souls filled with the faith of Him 
 who has promised, our hearts fixed on Him who 
 is able to perform : it is faith in God opens the 
 heart for God, and prepares to submit to and 
 receive His Divine working. God waits on us to 
 fill us with His Spirit : oh, let us wait on Him. 
 It is God must do it all with a Divine doing, most 
 mighty and most blessed : let us wait on Him. To 
 read and think, to long and pray, to consecrate 
 ourselves and grasp the promise, to hold fast the 
 blessed truth that the Spirit dwells within us ; all 
 this is good in its place, but does not bring the 
 blessing. The one thing needful is, to have the 
 heart filled with faith in the Living God ; in that 
 faith to abide in living contact with Him, in tliat 
 faith to wait and worship before His Holy Presence, 
 
THE SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH. 
 
 269 
 
 In such fellowship with God, the Holy Spirit fills 
 the heart. • 
 
 When we have taken up this position, let us 
 keep in it ; we are then in the right state for the 
 Spirit, in such measure as He already has had 
 access to us, further revealing what God h^ pre- 
 pared for us.^ As we then think of some special 
 manifestation of the Spirit, of which the conviction 
 of need has been wrought, or go to the promises of 
 the word to be led into all the Will of God concern- 
 ing the life of the Spirit in us, we shall be kept in 
 that humbling sense of dependence out of which 
 childlike trust is most surely begotten. We shall 
 be preserved from that life of strain and effort 
 which has so often led to failure, because in the 
 very attempt to serve God in tlie Spirit we were 
 having or seeking confidence in the flesh, in some- 
 thing we felt, or did, or wished to do. The deep 
 undertone of our life, in listening to tlie word or 
 asking God to listen to us, in silent meditation or 
 public worship, in work for God or daily busi- 
 ness, will be the assurance tliat overtowers every 
 otlier certainty : * How much more will the 
 Heavenly Father give,' has He given, and will 
 He always be giving, * the Holy Spirit to them 
 that ask Him.' 
 
 Such a faith will not be without its trials. 
 Isaac, the God-given, faith-accepted life of Isaac, 
 had to be given up to death, that it might be 
 received back in resurrection-type, as life from the 
 
 ' See on trusting the Spirit, Note 0, 
 
ann 
 
 270 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 h 1 
 
 p 
 
 I 
 
 dead. The God-given experience of the Spirit's 
 working many a time passes away, and leaves the 
 soul apparently dull and dead. This is only until 
 the double lesson has been fully learnt ; that a 
 living faith can rejoice in a Living God, even when 
 all feeling and experience appear to contradict the 
 promise ; and that the Divine life only enters as 
 the life of the flesh is given to tha death. The life 
 of Christ is revealed as His death works in us, and 
 as in weakness and nothingness we look to Him. 
 We receive the promise of the Spirit through faith. 
 As faith grows larger and broader, the receiving of 
 the promised Spirit will be fuller and deeper. 
 Each new revelation of God to Abraham made his 
 faith stronger and his acquaintance with God more 
 intimate. When his God drew near, he knew what 
 to expect ; he knew to trust Him even in the most 
 unlikely appearances, when asking the death of his 
 son. It is the faith that waits every day on the 
 Living God tc reveal Himself; the faith that in 
 ever-increasing tenderness of ear and readiness of 
 service yields fully to Him and His Presence ; the 
 faith that knows that only as He wills to reveal 
 Himself can the blessing come, but that because He 
 always does love to reveal Himself, it will surely 
 *;ome ; — this faith receives the promise of the Spirit. 
 It was in God's Presence that this faith was 
 wakened and strengthened in Abraham and the 
 saints of old. It was in Jesus' Presence on earth 
 that unbelief was cast out, and that little faith 
 became strong. It was in the Presence of the 
 
TIIK SPIRIT THROUGH FAITH. 
 
 271 
 
 Glorified One that faith received the blessing o! 
 Pentecost. The Tlirone of God is now opened to 
 us in Christ ; it is become the Throne of God and 
 the Lamb : as we tarry in humble worship, and 
 walk in loving service before the Throne, the river 
 of the water of life that flows from under it will 
 flow into us, and through us, and out of us. ' He 
 that believeth, rivers of water shall flow out of 
 him/ 
 
 Ever-blessed God ! who dost in Thy Divine Love 
 and Power reveal Thyself to each of Thy children 
 as far as he can possibly bear it, increase within us, 
 we pray Thee, the faith through which alone we can 
 know or receive Thee. Whether Thou comest as 
 the Almighty, or the Redeeming, or the Indwelling 
 God, it is ever faith Thou seekest, and according to 
 faith we receive. O Father! convince us deeply 
 that we have just as much of the Spirit as we have 
 of faith. 
 
 Our Holy God ! we know that it is Thy Presence 
 wakens and works the faith in the soul that yields 
 to Thee. Draw us mightily, we pray Thee, yea, 
 irresistibly into Thy Holy Presence, and keep ns 
 waiting there. Oh, deliver us from the terrible 
 fascination oi world and flesh, tiiat Thy Divine 
 Glory may be our all-absorbing desire, and our 
 vshole heart emptied to receive the Holy Spirit's 
 revelation of Christ within. We desire to take 
 Thy words, and let them dwell richly in us. We 
 desire in stillness of soul to be silent unto God and 
 
272 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Wiiit for Him ; to trust and believe that the Father 
 liath given us His Spirit within us, and is in secrolj 
 working to reveal His Son. God ! we do livethd 
 life of faith; we do believe in the Holy Spiiit, 
 Amen. 
 
 b 
 
 I ' 
 
 I'l 
 
 'I' . 
 
 ii 
 
 1. Faith 1$ the one thing that pleaaea Qod. In all worship and wt,rl indk 
 is acceptable to God in Christ Jesus, it is faith that receives the ies:ii/iOii^ 
 that we are well-pleasing to Him. And why? Because faith goej ^u: c/ 
 se'f, gives God alone the glory, only looks to God's Son, and is rrcept/ue of 
 God's Spirit. Faith is not merely the positive conviction that God' t word at 
 promise is true : this confidence there may be, euen in the power o'/ the flesh. 
 Faith is the spiritual organ of the soul, through which it waits on the Living 
 God, listens to Him, takes His words from Himself, has communion with Him. 
 It is as this habit of soul is cultivated, as the whole life we live is by faith, 
 that the Spi it can enter freely and flow fully. 'He that believeth, rivers shall 
 flow out of him.' 
 
 2. ' Ihe Spirit is called (1 Pet. I. 21) the Incorruptible seed, because He ia 
 cast into the soul with the \^ord, as its prolific virtue : the Word is the 
 seed materially, but the Spirit ia the seed virtually.' — Goodwin, 
 
 I?. You long for the power cf the Holy Spirit to keep you ever locking to 
 JesuSj to reveal Jesus as ever present as a Saviour from sin — 'only believe.' 
 Begin each day with a quiet act of meditation and faith. In quiet self- 
 collectedness turn inward, not to see the work the Holy Spirit does, but to 
 yield your spirit to Him who dwells there in secret. Say in deep humility : 
 I have within me, small and hidden, the Seed of the Kingdom, the Seed of the 
 Eternal Life. I have found the Seed of the Living Word, the Seed of God, 
 within me. I know now where it dwells. Bow before God in feat :x.nd 
 trembling, because He worketh in you, and let faith take time before Him to 
 become confident and fully conscious: I have the Holy Spirit within me 
 this day. 
 
 4. 'His seed abideth in him, and he cannot sin.' Qo out into daily life in 
 the strength of the faith that the Holy Spirit dwells within, and that the 
 Father will grant that He works effectually to keep you from sinning. Pause 
 frequently, in holy self-recollection, to let the Spirit remind you that you are 
 God's Holy Temple. And say with holy trembling : I bear within me the 
 Living Seed of the Life of God. 
 
 6. As individual believirs enter into this life of faith and walk in it, thera 
 mill be f:ower to pray for the Spirit coming from above in power on allfieah. 
 
 \ 
 
 .•sV"T. 
 
1 
 
 WALKING JiY THE SPllUT. 
 
 273 
 
 i 
 
 Twenty- EIGHTH Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 JKalfeing iig tfte Spirit 
 
 •Walk by the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfil the lust of tb« 
 flesh. They that are of Christ Jesus huve crucified the flesh, 
 w.th the passions and lusts thereof. If we live by ttie Spirit, by 
 the Spirit let us also walk.' — Gal. v. 16,/ 24, 25. 
 
 ' TF we live by the Spirit, by the Spirit let us 
 -L walk.' These words suggest to us very 
 clearly the difference between the sickly and the 
 healthy Christian life. In he former the Christian 
 is content to 'live by tt Spirit;' he is satisfied 
 with knowing that he ha.^ lie new life; but he does 
 not walk by the Spirit. The true believer, on the 
 contrary, is not con ten' vithout having liis whole 
 walk and conversation in the power of the Spirit. 
 He walks by the Spirit, and so does not iulfil the 
 lusts of the flesh. 
 
 As the Christian strives thus to walk wortliy of 
 God and well-pleasing to -liui in all things, he is 
 often sorely troubled at tlie power of sin. and asks 
 what the cause may be that he so often fails in 
 
 ^ 
 
 i^A 
 
r 
 
 I 
 
 274 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 conquering it. The answer to this question he 
 ordinarily finds in his want of faith or faithfuhiess, 
 in his natural feebleness or the mighty power of 
 Satan. Alas ! if he rests content with this 
 solution. It is well for him if he press on to find 
 the deeper reason why all these things, from which 
 Christ secured deliverance for him, still can over- 
 come. One of the deepest secrets of the Christian 
 life is the knowledge that the one great power that 
 keeps the Spirit of God from ruling, that the last 
 enemy that must yield to Him, is the tiesh. He 
 that knows what the flesh is, how it works and how 
 it must be dealt with, will be conqueror. 
 
 We know how it was on account of their 
 ignorance of this that tl p Galatians so sadly failed. 
 It was this led them to attempt to perfect in the 
 flesh what was begun in the Spirit (iii. 3). It was 
 this made them a prey to those who desired * to 
 make a fair show in the flesh ' that they might 
 * glory in the flesh '(vi. 12, 13). Tliey knew n(»t 
 how incorrigibly corrupt the flesh was. They 
 knew not that, as sinful as our nature is when 
 fulfilling its own lusts, as sinful is it when mak- 
 ing ' a fair show in the flesh ; ' it apparently yields 
 itself to the service of God, and undertakes to 
 perfect what the Spirit had begun. Because they 
 knew not this, they were unable to check tlie 
 flesh in its passions and lusts ; these obtained 
 the victory over them, so that they did what they 
 did not wish. They knew not that, as long as the 
 fiesli, seii-effoit, and self-will had any influence in 
 
 \> 
 
 ; 
 
WALKING BY THE SPIRIT. 
 
 275 
 
 le 
 liu 
 
 serving God, it would remain strong to serve sin, ami 
 that the only way to render it impotent to do <}vil 
 "was to render it impotent in its attef/<pt» to do go<'>d. 
 
 It is to discover the truth of God con/^/rning the 
 flesh, both in its service of God and of sin, that this 
 Fwpistle was written. Paul wants to teach thern 
 how the Spirit, and the Spirit alone, is the power of 
 the Christian life, an.d liow this cannot be except 
 as the flesh, with all that it means, is utterly and 
 entirely set aside. And in answer to tlie question 
 how this can be, he gives the wonderful answer 
 wldch is one of the central thoughts of God's 
 revelation. Tl\e cr'-^'fixion and death of Christ 
 is the revelation r.oi only of an atonement for 
 sin, but of a power which frees from the actual 
 dominion of sin, as it is rooted in the flesh. When 
 Paul in the midst of his teaching about ihe walk 
 in the Spirit (16-26) tells us, 'They that aro 
 Christ's have crucified the flesh with its passions 
 and lusts,' he tells us what the only way is in 
 which deliverance from tlie flesh is to be found. 
 To understand this word, ' crucified the flesh,' and 
 abide it, is the secret of walking not after the 
 flesh but after the Spirit. Let each one who longs 
 to walk by the Spirit try to enter into its meaning. 
 
 * Thefiesli — in Scripture this expression means the 
 wliole of our human nature in its present condition 
 under the power of sin. It includes our whole 
 being, spirit, soul, and body. After the fall, God 
 said, * man is flesh * (Gen. vi. 3). All his powers, 
 intellect, emotions, will, — all are under the power ol 
 
 
276 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 the flesh. Scripture speaks of the will of the flesh, 
 ot* the mind of the flesh (fleshly iniiui), of the passions 
 and lusts of the flesh. It tells us that in our 
 flesh dwelleth no good : the mind of the flesh is at 
 enmity against God. On this ground it teaches 
 that nothing that is of the flesh, that the fleshly 
 mind or will thinks or does, however fair the show 
 it makes, and however much men may glory in it, 
 can have any value in the sight of Gud. It warns 
 us that our greatest danger in religion, the cause of 
 our feebleness and failure, is our having confidence in 
 the flesh, its wisdom and its work. It tells us that, 
 to be pleasing to God, this flesh, with its self-will 
 and self- effort, must entirely be dispossessed, to 
 make way for the willing and the working of 
 Another, even the Spirit of God. And that the 
 only way to be made free from the power of the 
 ilesh, and have it put out of the way, is to have it 
 crucified and given over to the death. 
 
 ' They thjit are of Christ Jesus have crucifi^tiJ the 
 flesh.' Men often speak of crucifying the flesli as 
 a thing that has to be done. Scripture always 
 speaks of it as a thing that has been done, an 
 accomplished fact. 'Knowing this, that our old 
 man vms crucified with Hiui.' * / have been crucified 
 with Christ.' * They that are of Christ Jesus have 
 crucified the flesh.' * The cross of our Lord Jesus 
 Christ, through wliich the world hath been crucified 
 unto me, and I unto the world.' What Christ, 
 through the Eternal Spirit, did on the cross. He 
 did not as an individual, but in the name of that 
 
WALKING BY THE SPIllIT. 
 
 277 
 
 1 ~ 
 
 i 
 
 human nature which, as its Head, He had taken 
 upon Himself. Every one who accepts of Christ 
 receives Him as the Crucified One, receives not 
 only the merit, but the power of His crucifixion, 
 is united and identified with Him, and is called 
 on intelligently and voluntarily to realize and 
 maintain that identification. ' They that are of 
 Christ Jesus' have, in virtue of their accepting 
 the crucified Christ as their life, given up their 
 flesh to that cross which is of the very essence of 
 the person and character of Christ as He now lives 
 in heaven ; they * have crucified the flesh with its 
 passions and lusts.' ^ 
 
 But what does this mean : * They have crucified 
 the flesh'? Some are content with the general truth: 
 the cross takes away the curse which there was on 
 the flesh. Others think of causing the flesh pain 
 and suffering, of the duty of denying and mortify- 
 ing it. Others, again, of the moral influence the 
 thought of the cross will exercise. In each of these 
 views there is an element of truth. But if they 
 are to be realized in power, we must go to the root- 
 thought : to crucify the flesh is, to give it over to 
 the curse. The Cross and the Curse are inseparaVjle 
 (Deut. xxi. 23; Gal. iii. i:^). To say, 'Our old 
 man has been crucified with Him,' ' I have been 
 
 ' In The Law of Liberty in the Spiritual Life, by Rev. E. H. 
 Hopkins will l)e found a singulnrly clear and scriptural exposition 
 of the Life of F.ii'li. The chapters on Conformity to the Death of 
 Chiist and on Conttict will he found most helpful to the right 
 un I rstauJiug of the relation of the believer to the Flesh and th« 
 Spirit, 
 
 I 
 If 
 
278 
 
 THE SPIUIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 in 
 
 crucified with Christ,* means something very solemn 
 and awful. It means this: I have seen tiiat my 
 old nature, myself, deserves the curse ; that there 
 is no way of getting rid of it but by death : I . 
 voluntarily give it to the death. I have accepted 
 as my life the Christ who came to give Himself, His 
 flesh, to the cursed death of the cross; who received 
 His new life alone owing to that death and in 
 virtue of it : I give my old man, my flesh, self, 
 with its will and work, as a sinful, accursed thing, 
 to the cross. It is nailed there : in Christ I am 
 dead to it, and free from it. It is not yet dead ; 
 but day by day in union with Christ will I keep it 
 there, making; dead, as they still seek to rise up, 
 every one of its members and deeds in the power 
 of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 The power of this truth depends upon its being 
 known, accepted, and acted on. If I only know 
 the cross in its Substitution, but not, as Paul 
 gloried in it, in its Fellowship (Gal. vi. 14), I never 
 can experience its power to sanctify. As the blessed 
 truth of its Fellowship dawns upon me, I see how 
 by faith I enter into and live in spiritual com- 
 munion with that Jesus who, as my Head and 
 Leader, made and proved the cross the only 
 ladder to the Throne. This spiritual union, main- 
 tained by faith, becomes a moral one. I have tha 
 same mind or disposition that was in Christ Jesus. 
 I regard the flesh as sinful, and only fit for the 
 curse. I accept the cross, with its death to what 
 is flesh, secured to me in Jesus, as the only way to 
 
WALKING BY TIIK SPIRIT. 
 
 279 
 
 bacome free from the power of self, and to walk in 
 the new life by the Spirit of Clirist. 
 
 The way in which this faith in the power of tho 
 cross, as at once the revelation and the removal of 
 the curse and the power of the flesh, is very simple, 
 and yet very solemn. I begin to understand that 
 my one danger in living by the Spirit is yielding 
 to the flesh or self in its attempt to serve God. I 
 see that it renders the cross of Christ of none eff'ect. 
 (1 Cor. i. 17 ; Gal. iii. 3, v. 12, 13 ; Phil. iii. 3, 4 ; 
 Col. ii. 18-23.) I see how all that was of man 
 and nature, of law and human eftort, was for ever 
 judged of God on Calvary. There flesh proved that, 
 with all its wisdom and all its religion, it hated and 
 rejected the Son of God. There God proved how 
 the only way to deliver from the flesh was to give 
 it to death as an accursed thing. I begin to 
 understand that the one thing I need is: to look 
 upon the flesh as God does ; to accept of the death- 
 warrani the cross brings to everything in me that is 
 of the flesh ; to look upon it, and all that comes 
 from it, as an accursed thing. As this habit of 
 soul grows on me, I learn to fear nothing so much 
 as myself. I tremble at the thought of allowing 
 the flesh, my natural mind and will, to usurp the 
 place of the Holy Spirit. My whole posture to- 
 wards Christ is that of lowly fear, in the conscious- 
 ness of having within me that accureed thing that 
 i- ever ready, as an angel of light, to intrude itself 
 jn the Holiest of all, and lead me astray to servo 
 God, not in the Spirit of Christ, but in the power 
 
IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 1.0 
 
 JI25 
 
 US 
 
 lu liiii 12.2 
 
 Uf 114 "^ 
 
 i.f 
 
 lU 
 
 u 
 u 
 
 ■ 40 
 
 
 PhotDgraphic 
 
 Sciences 
 
 Corporation 
 
 ^v 
 
 V 
 
 k*^' 
 
 'i? 
 
 
 
 23 WIST MAIN STRUT 
 
 WnSTN.N.Y. 145M 
 
 (716) •72-4503 
 

280 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 that is of nature. It is in such a lowly fear that 
 the believer is taught to believe fully the need, but 
 also the provision, of the Holy Cpirit to take 
 entirely the place which the llesh once had, and 
 day by day to glory in the cross, of which lie can 
 say, ' By it I have been crucified to the world/ 
 
 We often seek for the cause of failure in the 
 Christian life. We often think that because we 
 are sound on what the Galatians did not under- 
 stand, — ^justification by faith alone, — their danger 
 was not purs. Oh that we knew to what an ^xtent 
 we have allowed the flesh to work in our religion ! 
 Let us pray God for grace to know it as our 
 bitterest enemy, and the enerny of Christ. Free 
 grace does not only mean the pardon of sin ; it 
 means the power of the New Life through the Holy 
 Spirit. Let us consent to what God says of the 
 flesh, and all that comes of it: that it is sinful, 
 condemned, accursed. Let us fear nothing bO much 
 as the secret workings of our flesh. Let us accept 
 the teaching of God's word : ' In my flesh dwelloth 
 no good thing ;' ' The carnal mind is enmity against 
 God.* Let us ask God to show us how entirely the 
 Spirit must possess us, if we are to be pleasing to 
 Him in all things. Let us believe that as we daily 
 glory in the cross, and, in prayer and obedience, 
 yield the flesh to the death on the cross, Christ 
 will accept our surrender, and will, by His Divine 
 Power, maintain mightily in us the Life of the 
 Spirit. And we shall learn not only to live by the 
 Spirit, but, as those who are made free from the 
 
WALKING BY THE SPIRIT. 
 
 281 
 
 power of the flesh, by its crucifixion, maintained by 
 faith, in very deed to walk by the Spirit. 
 
 Blessed God ! I beseech Thee to reveal to me the 
 full meaning of what Thy word has been teaching me, 
 that it is as one who has crucified the flesh with its 
 pissions and lusts, that I can walk by the Spirit. 
 
 my Father ! teach me to see that all that is of 
 nature and oi self is of the flesh ; that the flesh 
 has been tested by Thee, and found wanting, worthy 
 of nothing but the curse and death. Teach me that 
 my Lord Jesus led the way, and acknowledged the 
 justice of Thy curse, that I too might be willing and 
 have the power to give it up to the cross as an 
 accursed thing. Oh, give me grace day by day 
 greatly to fear before Thee, lest I allow the flesh to 
 intrude into the work of the Spirit, and to grieve 
 Him. And teach me that the Holy Spirit has 
 indeed been given to be the life of my life, and to fill 
 my whole being with the power of the death and 
 the life of my blessed Lord living in me. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! who didst send Thy Holy 
 Spirit, to secure the uninterrupted enjoyment of Thy 
 Presence and Thy Saving Power within us, I yield 
 myself to be entirely Thine, to live wholly and only 
 under His leading. I do with my whole heart 
 desire to regard the flesh as crucified and accursed. 
 1 solemnly consent to live as a crucified one. 
 Saviour! Thou dost accept my surrender; I trust 
 in Thee to keep me this day walking through the 
 Spirit. Amen. 
 
282 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHBIST. 
 
 1. Th9 Powr of Chrltt'a Lift cannot nmrk In me apart ftom tkc power of 
 Hl» death. Hie death alone deals effectually with the fieah, with aelf, with the 
 natural life, to make way for the new Life, the Holy Spirit. Do pray to see how 
 entirely the flesh must die, how really and entirely the Holy Spirit must cast 
 out your self -life, ifi^e It to reveal In you the Chrlst-Hfe. 
 
 2. Many will say of our calling the flesh the natural man, the life itf self, 
 an accursed thing : This Is an hard saying. Oh, It Is easy to encircle the cross 
 with flowers, and say a thousand beautiful things about It But what Qod 
 says of It is this : The cross is a curse. The Son of Qod on the cross 'was 
 made a curse.' If my flesh Is crucified, It can only be because It Is accursed. 
 It is a blessed moment In a life when a man gets a sight of what a cursed 
 thing sin Is. It Is a still more blessed thing, and may work a deeper humilia- 
 tion, when Sod shows a man what an accursed thing the flesh ts, and how he 
 has cherished It, and for Its sake grleued the Holy Spirit cf Qod. 
 
 3. The flesh and the Spirit are the two powers. Under the rule of either, 
 every act Is done : let our every step be a walk after, through the Spirit. 
 
 4. The death of Christ led to the glory where He received and gaoe the 
 Holy Spirit. It Is a life where death to the flesh It the ruling prlnctptCt 
 In which the power of the Spirit can be reoealed. 
 
 6. 'And the Church, walking In the fear tf the Lord, and in the comfort 
 of the Holy Qhost, was multiplied.' A deep, lowly fear of the Holy Preeence 
 within, a fear of listening to self Instead of Him, Is one secret of walking 
 In the comfort of the HqI§ 0AMt 'Be, tktn, Ui Ut/tv qf tkt Ur4 all tht 
 
THE SPiRIT OF LOYB. 
 
 t' , 
 
 Twenty-ninth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 5ri)e Spirit of lobe* 
 
 ! 'The fruit of the Spirit is IotoZ-Oal. ▼. 22. 
 
 * I bateech yon by the love of the Spirit* —Rom. xy. 80. 
 t 'Who alao declared nnto u your love in the Spirit* 
 CoL. i.8. 
 
 OUR subject to-day leads us up into the very 
 centre of the inner sanctu^ry. We are to 
 think of the Love of the Spirit We shall have to 
 learn that love is not only one, among others, of the 
 graces of the Spirit, is not only the chief among 
 them, but that the Spirit is indeed nothing less 
 than the Divine Love itself come down to dwell 
 in us, and that we have only so much of the Spirit 
 as we have of Love. 
 
 God is a Spirit: God is Love. In these two 
 words we have the only attempt that Scripture 
 makes to give us, in human language, what may be 
 called a definition of God.^ As a Spirit, He has 
 
 ^ The third expression of the same sort, God is Light, is a 
 figurative one. 
 
284 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 life in Himself, is independent of all around Hiin, and 
 has power over all to enter into it, to penetrate it 
 with His own life, to communicate Himself to it. 
 It is through the Spirit that God is the Father of 
 spirits, that He is the God of creation, that He is 
 the God and Eedeemer of man. All life is owing 
 to the Spirit of God. And it is so because God is 
 Love. Within Himself He is Love, as seen in the 
 Father giving all He hath to the Son, and the Son 
 S(;eking all He has in the Father. In this life of 
 Love between the Father and the Son the Spirit is the 
 bond of fellowship. The Father is the Loving One, 
 the Fountain ; the Son the Beloved One, the great 
 Reservoir of Love, ever receiving and ever giving 
 back ; the Spirit the Living Love that makes them 
 One. In Him the Divine Life of Love hath its 
 ceaseless flow and overflowing. It is that same love 
 with which the Father loves the Son that rests on 
 us and seeks to fill us too, and it is through the 
 Spirit that this Love of God is revealed and com- 
 municated to us. In Jesus it was the Spirit that 
 led Him to the work of love for which he was 
 anointed, to preach glad tidings to the poor and 
 deliverance to the captives; through that same 
 Spirit He offered Himself a sacrifice for us. The 
 Spirit comes to us freighted with all the love of 
 God and of Jesus: the Spirit is the Love of 
 God. 
 
 And when that Spirit enters us, His first work is, 
 * The love of God is shed abroad in our hearts 
 by the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.' 
 
THE SPIRIT OF LOVE. 
 
 285 
 
 What He gives is not only the faith or tlie experi- 
 ence of how greatly CJod loves, but something 
 infinitely more glorious. The Love of God, as a 
 spiritual existence, as a Living Power, enters our 
 hearts. It cannot be otherwise, for the Love of God 
 exists in the Spirit ; the outpouring of the Spirit is 
 the inpouring of Love. This Love now possesses the 
 heart : that one same Love with which God loves 
 Jesus, and ourselves, and all His children, and which 
 overflows to all the world, is within us, and is, if we 
 know it, and trust it, and give up to it, the power 
 for us to live in too. The Spirit is the Life of the 
 Love of God ; the Spirit in us is the Love of God 
 taking up abode within us. 
 
 Such 's the relation between the Spirit and the 
 Love of God ; let us now consider the relation 
 between our spirit and love. We must here again 
 refer to what has been said of man's threefold 
 nature, body, soul, and spirit, as constituted in 
 creation and disorganized by the fall.* We saw 
 how the soul, as the seat of self-consciousness, was 
 to be subject to the spirit, the seat of the God- 
 consciousness. And how sin was simply self- 
 assertion, the soul refusing the rule of the spirit to 
 gratify itself in the lust of the body. The fruit of 
 that sin was that self ascended the throne of the 
 soul, to rule there instead of God in the spirit. 
 Selfishness thus became the ruling power in man's 
 life. The self that had refused God His right at 
 once refused fellow-man his due, and the terrible 
 
 » See Note a 
 
286 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 story of sin in the world is simply the history of 
 the origin, the growth, the power, the reign of self. 
 And it is only when the original order is restored, 
 when the soul gives the spirit the precedence it 
 claims, and self is denied to make way for God, 
 that selfishness will be conquered, and love toward 
 our brother flow from love toward God. In other 
 words, as the renewed spirit becomes the abode of 
 tlie Sjiirit of God and His love, and as the regenerate 
 man yields himself to let the Spirit have sole sway, 
 that love will again become our life and our joy. 
 To every disciple the Master says here again, ' Let 
 him deny ulf^ and I'ollow me.' Many a one has 
 sought in vain *^o follow Jesus in His life of love, 
 and could not, because he neglected what was so 
 indispensable — denying self. Self following Jesus 
 always fails, because it cannot love as He loves. 
 
 If we understand this, we are prepared to admit 
 the claim that Jesus makes, and that the world 
 makes too, that our proof of discipleship ifi to be 
 Love. The change we profess to have undergone is 
 80 Divine, the deliverance from the power of self 
 and sin so complete, the indwelling of the Spirit of 
 God's love is so real and true, and the provision 
 thus made to enable us to live so sufficient, that 
 love, or the new commandment, as the fulfilling of 
 ♦^.lie law, ought to be the natural ovei'flow of the new 
 life in every believer. That it is not so is simply 
 another proof of how little believers understand 
 *Aeir calling to walk after the Spirit, really to be 
 Apliitual men. All the complaints that are con- 
 
THE SPIRIT OF LOVK. 
 
 287 
 
 tinually being made by ourselves, or thoso around 
 us, of tempers unconquered and of selfisliness 
 prevailing, of harsh judgments and unkind words, 
 of the want of a Christlike meekness and patience 
 and gentleness, of the little that is really being 
 done by the majority of Christians in the way of 
 self-sacrifice for the social and religious needs of the 
 perishing around them, — all this is simply the 
 proof that it has not yet been understood that to 
 be a Christian just means to have the Spirit of 
 Christ ; just means to have His Love, to have been 
 made by Him a fountain of Love springing up and 
 flowing out in streams of living water. We know 
 not what the Spirit is meant to be in us, beca\;se 
 we have not accepted Him for what the Master 
 gave. We are more carnal than spiritual. 
 
 It was thus with the Corinthians. In them we 
 see the remarkable phenomenon of a Church, ' in 
 everything enriched in Christ, in all utterance, and 
 all knowledge, coming behind in no gift,' ' abounding 
 in everything in faith, and utterance, and knowledge,* 
 and yet so sadly wanting in love. The sad spectacle 
 teaches us how, under the first movings of the Holy 
 Spirit, the natural powers of the soul, knowledge, 
 faith, utterance, may be mightily affected, without 
 self yet being entirely surrendered ; and how thus 
 many of the gifts of the Spirit may be seen, while 
 the chief of all, Love, is sadly wanting. It teaches 
 us how to be truly spiritual. It is not enough for 
 the Spirit to take hold of these natural soul-endow- 
 ments and rouse them to exercise in God's service* 
 
288 
 
 THE SI»IUIT OP CHUIST. 
 
 Something more is needed. He lias entered the 
 soul, that tlirough it He may obtain a fixed and 
 undivided sway in soul and sjjirit both, that with 
 self deposed God may reign. And the token that 
 self is deposed and that Ood does reign will be -» 
 Love ; the surrender and the power to r junt nothing 
 Life but Love, a life in the love of the Spirit. 
 
 Not very different was the state of the Galatians, 
 to whom the words, ' The fruit of the Spirit is 
 Love,' were addressed. Tiiough their error was not 
 that of the Corinthians, boasting of gifts and know- 
 ledge, but a seeking after and trusting in carnal 
 observances and ordinances, the result was in 
 both the same — the Spirit's full dominion was not 
 accepted in the inner life of love, and so the flesh 
 ruled in them, causing bitterness and envy and 
 enmity. And even so it is still in much of what 
 bears the name of the Christian Church. On the 
 one hand the trust in gifts and knowledge, in sound- 
 ness of creed and earnestness of work, on the other 
 the satisfaction in forms and services, leaves the 
 flesh in full vigour, not crucified with Christ, and so 
 the Spirit is not free to work out true holiness or a 
 life in the power of Christ's love. Oh, do let us 
 learn the lesson, and pray God very fervently to 
 tea«h it to His people, that a Church or a Christian 
 professing to have the Holy Spirit must prove it in 
 the first place by the exhibition of a Christlike love. 
 Both in its gentleness in bearing wrong, and in its 
 life of self-sacrifice to overcome the wrong, and to 
 save all who are under its power, the life of Christ 
 
THE SPIRIT l)F LOVE. 
 
 289 
 
 must be repeated in His nicmbers. The Spirit is 
 indeed the Ix>ve of God come down to \\s} 
 
 As searching and solemn as this truth is in this 
 aspect, so comforting and encouraging is it in nnother. 
 The Spirit is the Love of God come down to us. 
 Then we have that love wilhin our reach ; it is 
 indeed dwelling within us. Since the day when, in 
 believing, we were sealed with the Holy (ihost, the 
 love of God has been shed abroad in our hearts. 
 ' The love of God Iiath been shed abroad in our hearts, 
 through the Holy Ghost which was given unto us.' 
 Though there may have been little to see of it in 
 our lives, though wc ourselves have hardly felt or 
 known it, though the blessing has been unrecognised, 
 there it was ; with the floly Spirit came down the 
 Love of God into our hearts ; the two could never 
 be separated. And if we would now come to the 
 experience of the blessing, we must just begin by a 
 very simple faith in what the word says. The word is 
 Spirit-breathed, the Divinely-prepared organ through 
 which the Spirit reveals what He is and does. As 
 we take that word as Divine Truth, the Spirit will 
 make it Truth in us. Let us believe that the Holy 
 Spirit, possessor and bearer to us of all God's Love, 
 has been within our heart with all that Love ever 
 since we became God's children. Because the veil 
 of the flesh has never been rent in us, the out- 
 streaming and power of that Love has been but 
 feeble, and hidden from our consciousness. Let 
 us believe that He dwells within us, to reveal 
 
 ^ See on the Love of Christ dwelling in us, Note P. 
 
 T 
 
290 
 
 TIIK SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 within us, as the Power of our Life, the Love of 
 God. 
 
 In this fai:h, that the Love-shcdiiin;,' Spirit is 
 within us, let us look up to the Father in earnest 
 ])rayer, to plead for His mij,'hty workinj^ in our 
 inner man, that Christ may dwell in our hearts, 
 that we may be rooted and grounded in love, that 
 our whole life may have its strength and nourish- 
 ment in love. As the answer comes, the Spirit will 
 first reveal to us the Ix>ve of God, the Love of the 
 Father to Christ as His Love to us, the Love of Christ 
 to us, the same with which the F'ather loved Him. 
 Through the same Spirit this love then rises and 
 returns to its Source, as our love to God and Christ. 
 And because that Spirit has revealed that same love 
 to all God's children around ns, our experience of it 
 as coming from God, or returning up to God, is ever 
 one with love to the brethren. Just as the water 
 descending in rain, and flowing out as fountains or 
 streams, and rising up to heaven again as vapour^ 
 is all one, so the Love of God in its threefold form ; 
 His Love to us, our love to Him, and the love to 
 each other as brethren. The Love of God is within 
 thee by the Holy Spirit: believe it, and rejoice in 
 it ; yield thyself to it as a Divine fire consuming 
 the sacrifice and lifting it heavenward : exercise and 
 practise it in intercourse with every one on earth. 
 Then thou shalt understand and prove that the 
 Spirit of God is the Love of God. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! in holy reverence I bo¥? 
 
THE SPIUIT OP LOVE. 
 
 291 
 
 he 
 
 )^ 
 
 before Tlice as Love Tncnrnate. The Fatlier's lovo 
 f;ave Thee. Thy coming was a mission of Love. 
 Thy whole life was Love ; Thy death its Divine seal. 
 The one commandment Thou gavest Thy disciples 
 was Love. Tiiy one prayer before the throne is 
 that Thy disciples may be one, as Thou with the 
 Father, and that His Love may be in them. The 
 one chief trait of Thy likeness Thou longest to see 
 in us is, that we love even as Thou lovest. The 
 one irresistible proof to the world of Thy Divine 
 mission will be the love of Thy disciples to each 
 other. And the Spirit tliat comes from Thee to us 
 is the very Spirit of Thy self-sacrificing love, teach- 
 ing Thy saints to live and die for others, as Thou 
 didst. 
 
 Holy Lord Jesus ! look upon Thy Church, look 
 upon our hearts. And wherever Thou seest that 
 there is not love like Thine, oh, make haste and 
 deliver Thy saints from all that is still selfish and 
 unloving ! Teach them to yield that self, which 
 cannot love, to the accursed cross, to await the fate 
 it deserves. Teach us to believe that we can love, 
 because the Holy Spirit hath been given us. Teach 
 us to begin to love and serve, to sacrifice self aiul 
 live for others, that love in action may learn its 
 power, may be increased and perfected. Oh, teach 
 us to believe that because Thou livest in us. Thy 
 love is in us too, and we can love as Thou dost. 
 Lord Jesus, Thou Love of God ! Thine own Spirit 
 is within us ; oh, let Him break through, and fill 
 our whole life with love I Amen. 
 
292 
 
 THB SPIRIT OP CHRIST. 
 
 7. 'The way whereby the Spirit worketh any grace In the believer la b% 
 stirring them up to act It. The Spirit of Qod doth not effectually work looe, 
 or give strength to love, until we act It ; because all Inward graces are dis- 
 cerned by their acts, as seed In the ground by its springing. We cannot 
 tee or feel any such thing as love to Qod or man In our hearts before we 
 act it. We knout not our spiritual strength, except as we use and exercise 
 It' 
 
 2. 'The looe of Qod,' the fount whence flows looe to men, 'hath been shed 
 abroad in our hearts through the Holy Qhost which was given unto us.' 
 The love is there, but we may remain Ignorant of it, unless we begin in the 
 faith that we have the power to obey the command, and to love Qod and 
 man with our whole heart. Faith and obedience ever precede the conscious 
 enjoyment and experience of the Spirit's power. As Qod Is Love to you, be 
 you Love to all around. 'I beseech you, by the Love of the Spirit.' 
 
 3. Let us now seek to kcf.yi the two sides of the truth In harmony. On 
 the one hand, wait much in Qod's Holy Presence for the quickening of your 
 faith and consciousness that iite Love-shedding Holy Spirit doth dwell In 
 you, doth fill you. On the other, glue yourself, apart from what you feel, to a 
 whole-hearted obedience to the command of Looe, and act out in your life 
 the gentleness and forbearance, the kindlittess and helpfulness, the self- 
 sacrifice and beneficence of Christ Jesus. Live in the Love of Jesus, and 
 you will be a messenger of His Love to every dfsoiple of His you meet, to 
 every one who doth not yet know Him. The more intimate your commu- 
 Aion with Jesus and the life of heaven is through the Holy Spirit, the 
 mora accurate will your translation of that life be into the intercourse of 
 dally life. 
 
 4. 'No man hath beheld Qod at any time I If we l07e one another, Qod 
 abldeth In us l' The compensation for not beholding Qod Is this: we have 
 one another to looe t If we do this, Qod abldeth In us l We have not to 
 ask If our brother be worthy : Qod's love to us and to him la love to the 
 unworthy. It Is with this love, tbe Divine lovfl^ the Holy Spirit fills ua, 
 teaching u$ to loue the brethren uiitk U» 
 
 m 
 
 '■'^•. 
 
 
THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 293 
 
 Thirtieth Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Srfje fflnitg of tlje Spirit. 
 
 *T1iat ye walk with all lowliness and meekness, with long- 
 •nffering, forbearing one another in love; giving diligence to 
 keep the unity of the Spirit in the bond of peace. There is 
 one body, and one 5p/>/t.'— Eph. iv. 1-4. 
 
 * Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit, . . . 
 All these worketh one and the same Spirit^ dividing to each one 
 severally even as He will. For in one Spirit were we all bap- 
 tized into one body ; and were all made to drink of one Spirit* 
 —1 Cob. xii. 4, 11, 13. 
 
 WE know how, in the first three chapters of the 
 Ephesians, Paul had set forth the glory of 
 Christ Jesus as the Head of the Church, and the 
 glory of God's grace in the Church as the Body of 
 Christ, indwelt by the ^oly Spirit, growing up 
 into an habitation of God through the Spirit, and 
 destined to be filled with all the fulness of God. 
 Having thus lifted the believer to his true place in 
 the heavenlies, with his life hid in Christ, he comes 
 with him down to his life in the earthlies, and, in 
 the second half of the Epistle, teaches how he is to 
 walk worthy of nis calling. And the veiy first lesson 
 
294 
 
 THE SPimr OF CIIUIST. 
 
 he has to give in re^'ard to this life and walk on 
 earth (Eph. iv. 1-4) rests on the foundation-truth 
 that the Holy Spirit has united him not only to 
 Christ in heaven, but to Christ's body on earth. The 
 Spirit dwells not only in Christ in heaven and in 
 the believer on earth, but very specially in Christ's 
 body, with all its members ; and the full, healthy 
 action of the Spirit can only be found where the 
 right relation exists between the individual and the 
 whole body, as far as he knows or comes into contact 
 with it. His first care in his holy walk must be, 
 therefore, to give diligence that the unity of the 
 Spirit be maintained intact. Were this unity of 
 the one Spirit and one body fully acknowledged, the 
 cardinal virtue of the Christian life would be lowli- 
 ness and meekness (vers. 2, 3), in which each would 
 forget and give up self for others ; and all would 
 forbear one another in love amid all differences and 
 shortcomings. So the new commandment would 
 be kept, and the Spirit of Christ, the Spirit of 
 Love sacrificing itself wholly for others, would 
 have free scope to do His blessed work. 
 
 . The need of such teaching the first Epistle to 
 the Corinthians remarkably illustrates. In that 
 Church there were abundant operations of the 
 workings of the Holy Spirit. The gifts of the 
 Spirit were strikingly manifested, but the graces of 
 the Spirit were remarkably absent. They under- 
 stood not how there are diversities of gifts, but the 
 eame Spirit ; how, amid all difference, one and the 
 saibe Spirit divides to each severally as He will; 
 
THE UNITY 6v THE SPIRIT. 
 
 295 
 
 li 
 
 liow all liad been baptized in one Spirit into one 
 body, and all made to drink of one Spirit. They 
 knew not the noore excellent way, and that the 
 chief of all the ^ifts of the Spirit is the Love that 
 seeketh not its own, and only finds its life and 
 iis happiness in others. 
 
 To each believer who would fully yield himself 
 to the leading of the Spirit, as well as to the 
 Church as a whole, in its longings for the ex- 
 perience in power of all that the indwelling of the 
 Spirit implies, the unity of the Spirit is a truth 
 fraught with rich spiritual blessing. In previous 
 writings I have more than once made use of the 
 expression of Pastor Stockmaier : * Have a deep 
 reverence for the work of the Holy Spirit within 
 thee.' That injunction needs as its complement a 
 second one : Have a deep reverence for the work 
 of the Holy Spirit in thy brother. This is no easy 
 thing : even Christians, in other respects advanced, 
 often fail here. The cause is not difficult to dis- 
 cover. In our books on education we are taught 
 that the faculty of Discrimination, the observing of 
 differences, is one of the earliest to be developed in 
 children. Thr DOwer of Combination, or the ob- 
 serving of the harmony that exists amid apparent 
 diversity, is a higher one, and comes later ; as the 
 power of Classification, in its highest action, it is 
 only found in true genius. The lesson finds most 
 striking exemplification in the Christian life and 
 Church. It needs but little grace to know where 
 we differ from other Christians or churches, to 
 
296 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 contend for our views, or to judge their errors in 
 doctrine or conduct. But this indeed is grace, 
 where, amid conduct that tries or grieves us, oi 
 teaching that appears to us unscripturai or hurtful, 
 we always give the unity of the Spirit the first 
 place, and have faith in the power of love to main- 
 tain the living union amid outward separation. 
 
 Keep the unity of the Spirit: such is God's 
 command to every believer. It is the New Com- 
 mandment, to love one another, in a new shape, 
 tracing the love to the Spirit in which it has its 
 life. If you would obey tho command, note care- 
 fully that it is the unity of the Spirit There is a 
 unity of creed or custom, of church or choice, in 
 which the bond is more of the flesh than of the 
 Spirit Would you keep the unity of the Spirit, 
 remember the following things. 
 
 Seek to know that in thyself in which the unity is 
 to find its power of attachment and of victory. There 
 is much in thee that is of self and of the flesh, and 
 that can take part in a unity that is of this earth, 
 but that will greatly hinder the unity of the Spirit. 
 Confess that it is in no power or love of thine own 
 that thou canst love ; all that is of thyself is selfish, 
 and reaches not to the true unity of the Spirit. Be 
 very humble in the thought that it is only what is 
 of God in thee that can ever unite with what ap- 
 pears displeasing to thyself. Be very joyful in the 
 thought that there is indeed that in thee which can 
 conquer self, and love even what seems unloving. 
 
 Study also to know and prize highly that in thy 
 
THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 297 
 
 brother with which tliou art to be united. As in 
 thyself, so there is in him, but a little beginning, 
 a hidden seed of the Divine life, surrounded by 
 much that is yet carnal, and often is very trying 
 and displeasing. It needs a heart very bujuole in 
 the knowledge of how unworthy thou thyself art, 
 and very loving in the readiness to excuse thy 
 brother, — for so did Jesus in the last night : * the 
 spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak,* — 
 to look persistently at what there is in the brother 
 of the image and Spirit of the Father. Estimate 
 him not by what he is in himself, but by what he 
 is in Christ, and as thou feelest how the same life 
 and Spirit, which thou owest to free grace, is in 
 him too, the unity of the Spirit will triumph over 
 the difference and dislike of the flesh. The Spirit 
 in thee, acknowledging and meeting the Spirit in 
 thy brother, will bind thee in the unity of a life 
 that is from above. 
 
 Keep this unity of the Spirit in the active 
 exercise of fellowship. The bond between the 
 members of my body is most living and real, 
 maintained by the circulation of the blood and 
 the life it carries. *In one Spirit we were all 
 baptized into one body.' * There is one body and 
 one Spirit.* The inner union of life must find 
 expression and be strengthened in the manifested 
 communion of love. Cultivate intercourse not only 
 «vith those who are of one way of thinking and 
 worshipping with thyself, lest the unity be more 
 in tlie flesh than the Spirit. Study in all thy 
 
298 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 thoughts and judgments of other believers to 
 exercise the love that thinketh no evil. Never say 
 an unkind word of a child of God, as little as of 
 others. Love every believer, not for the sake of 
 what in him is in sympathy with thee or pleasing 
 to thee, but for the sake of the Spirit of the Fathe. 
 which there is in him. Give thyself expressly and 
 of set purpose to love and labour for God's children 
 within thy reach, who through ignorance, or feeble- 
 ness, or waywardness, know not that they have the 
 Spirit, or are grieving Him. The work of the Spirit 
 is to build up an habitation for God ; yield thyself 
 to the Spirit in thee to do the work. Recognise 
 thy dependence upon the fellowship of the Spirit 
 in thy brother, and his dependence upon thee, and 
 seek thy growth and his in the unity of love. 
 
 Take thy part in the united intercession that rises 
 up to God for the unity of His Church. Take up 
 and continue the intercession of the Great High 
 Priest for all who believe, * that they may be one.' 
 The Church is one in the life of Christ and the 
 love of the Spirit. It is, alas ! not one in the 
 manifested unity of the Spirit. Hence the need of 
 the command : Keep the unity. Plead with God 
 for the mighty workings of His Spirit in all lands 
 and churches and circles of believers. "When the 
 tide is low, each little pool along the shore with its 
 inhabitants is separated from the other by a rocky 
 barrier. As the tide rises, the barriers are flooded 
 t ver, and all meet in one great ocean. So it will 
 be with the Church of Chriat. As t^ie Spirit of 
 
THE UNITY OK THE SPIKIT. 
 
 299 
 
 God comes, according to the promise, as floods upon 
 t!.e dry ground, each will know the power in him- 
 self and in others, and self disappear as the Spirit 
 is known and honoured. 
 
 And how is this wondrous change to be brought 
 about, and the time hastened that the prayer be 
 fnltilled, *that they all may be one, that the world 
 may know that Thou hast sent me, and hast loved 
 them as Thou hast loved me ' ? Let each of us 
 begin with himself. Resolve even now, beloved 
 child of God, that this shall be the one mark of 
 your life, the proof of your sonship, the having and 
 knowing the Indwelling Spirit. If you are to 
 unite, not with what phases you, or is in har- 
 mony with your way of thinking and acting, but 
 with what the Spirit in you sees and seeks in 
 others, you nmst have given yourself entirely up 
 to His way of thinking and acting. And if you 
 are to do this. He must have the mastery of your 
 whole being. You need to abide in the living and 
 never-ceasing consciousness that He dwelleth within 
 you. You need to pray unceasingly that the Father 
 may grant you, according to the riches of His glory, 
 to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the 
 inner man.-^It is in the faiih of the Triune God 
 the Father giving the Spirit in the name of the Son, 
 and the Spirit dwelling within you ; it is in this 
 faith brought into adoring exercise at the footstool 
 of God's throne ; it is in direct contact and fellowship 
 with the Fatli; r and the Sun, that the Spirit will take 
 full possession, and pervade your entire being. The 
 
300 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHUIST. 
 
 fuller His indwelliijg and the mightier His working 
 is, the more truly spiritual your being becomes, 
 tlie more will self sink away, and the Spirit of 
 Christ use you in building up and binding 
 together believers into an habitation of God. 
 Christ's Spirit will be in you the holy anointing, 
 the oil of consecration, to set you apart and fit you 
 to be, as Christ was, a messenger of the Fatlier's 
 love. In the humility and gentleness of daily life, 
 in the kindliness and forbearance of love amid all 
 the differences and difficulties in the Church, in the 
 warm-hearted sympathy and self-sacrifice that goes 
 out to find and help all who need help, the Spirit 
 in you will prove that He belongs to all the members 
 of the body as much as to you, and that through you 
 Uis love reaches out to all around to teach and to bless. 
 
 Blessed Lord Jesus ! in Thy last night on earth 
 Thy one prayer for Thy disciples was, * Holy Father, 
 keep them, that they may be one.' Tliy one 
 desire was to see them a united flock, all gathered 
 and kept together in the One Almighty Hand of 
 Love. Lord Jesus ! now Thou art on the Throne, 
 we come to Thee with tne same plea : Oh, keep us, 
 that we may be one ! pray for us, Thou Great High 
 Priest, that we may be made perfect in one, that 
 the world may know that the Father hath loved us, 
 as He loved Thee. 
 
 Blessed Lord ! we thank Thee for the tokens 
 that Thou art wakening in Thy Church the desire 
 for the manifestation to the world oi the unity of 
 
 v^ 
 
 .\ , 
 
THE UNITY OF THE SPIRIT. 
 
 801 
 
 ^y 
 
 *■% 
 
 IS 
 
 ire 
 of 
 
 Thy people. Grant, we pray Thee, to this end the 
 mighty workings of Tliy Holy Spirit. May every 
 believer know the Spirit that is in him, and that is 
 in his brother, and in all lowliness and love keep 
 the unity of the Spirit with those with whom he 
 conies into contact. May all the leaders and 
 guides of Thy Church be enlightened from above, 
 that the ' nity of the Spirit may be more to them 
 than all human bonds of union in creed or church 
 order. May all who have put on the Lord .Tesus 
 above all things put on love, the bond of perfectness. 
 Lord Jesus ! we do beseech Thee, draw Thy 
 people in united prayer to the footstool of Thy 
 Throne of Glory, whence Thou givest Thy Spirit to 
 reveal Thy presence to each as present in all. Oh, 
 fill us with Thy Spirit, and we shall be one ! one 
 Spirit and one Body. Amen. 
 
 7. The health of every member, and even every particle, of my body depends 
 upon the health of the surrounding portion. Either the healing power of 
 the sound part must expel what Is unhealthy, or this will communicate Its 
 disease. I am more dependent upon my brother than I know. He is more 
 dependent on me than I know. The Spirit I have is the Spirit of Christ 
 dwelling in my brother too: all I receive is meant for him too. 7o keep 
 the unity of the Spirit in active exercise, to live in loving fellowship with 
 believers around me, is life in the Spirit. 
 
 2. ' " I hat they may be made perfect in one." They approach perfection as 
 they approach unity. Perfection is impossible in a state of separaiion. 
 My life is not wholly given to me, but a part of it is given to my brother, 
 to be available to me uhen I abide in A//n.'— Bowen. 
 
 3. It has taken thee time and prayer and faith to know the Spirit "/ 
 Qod within thee; it will take time and prayer and faith, and much love, 
 to know fully the Spirit of Qod in thy brother. 
 
 4. 'It is only in the unity of the body that the Spirit of Qod can fully 
 and mightily display His power, either in the Church or to the world. Qod 
 speaks to companies of men as He never speaks to solitary watchers or 
 students ; there is a fuller tone, an Intenser fervour, in Pentecostal revela- 
 tions than in personal communion, and, as we ourselves know, there is & 
 keener Joy in sympathy than can be realized even in the devoutest solitude.' 
 _• The Paraclete,' p. 262. 
 
302 
 
 TUE SriKlT OF CHRIST. 
 
 Thirty-first Day. 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CIIIJST. 
 
 JTilleti b3itl| tlje Spirit 
 
 *Be filled with the Spirit^ speaking to one another.*^ 
 
 Ei»u. T. 18. 
 
 THESE words are a command. They enjoin 
 upon us, not what the state ot apostles or 
 ministers ought to be, but what should be 'the 
 ordinary consistent experience of every true-hearted 
 believer. It is the privilege every child of God 
 may claim from his Father, to be filled with tlie 
 Spirit. Nothing less will enable him to live the 
 life he has been redeemed for, abiding in Christ, 
 keeping His commandments, and bearing much 
 fruit. And yet, how little this command has been 
 counted among those which all ought to keep ! 
 How little it has been thought possible or reason- 
 able that all should be expected to keep it ! 
 
 One reason of this is undoubtedly that the words 
 have been wrongly understood. Because with the 
 day of Pentecost, and on more than one subsequent 
 occasion, the being filled with the Spirit was 
 
FILLED WITH THE SPIUIT. 
 
 303 
 
 accompnnied with the mnnifest entluisiasni of a 
 supernatural joy and power, such u state has been 
 looked on as one of excitement and strain, quite 
 inconsistent with the quiet course of ordinary life. 
 The suddenness and the strength and the outward 
 manifestation of the Divhie impulse were so linked 
 witli the idea of being filled with the Spirit, that it 
 was thought to be something for special occasions, a 
 blessing only possible to a very few. Christians 
 felt as if they could not venture, as if they did not 
 need, to fix their hopes so high ; as if, were the 
 blessing given to them, it would be impossible in 
 their circumstances to maintain or to manifest it 
 
 The message I have to bring to-day is that the 
 command is indeed for every believer, and that, as 
 wide as the precept, is the promise and the power 
 too. May God give us grace, that our meditation 
 on this His Word may waken in the heart of every 
 reader, not only strong desire but the firm assurance 
 tliat the privilege is meant for him, that the way is 
 not too hard, that the blessing will in very deed yet 
 become his own. 
 
 In a country like South Africa, where we often 
 suffer from drought, we find two sorts of dams or 
 reservoirs made for catching up and storing water. 
 On some farms you have a fountain, but with a 
 stream too weak to irrigate with. There a reservoir 
 18 made for collecting the water, and the filling of the 
 reservoir is the result of the gentle, quiet inflow from 
 the fountain day and night. In other cases, again, 
 the farm has no fountain at all ; the reservoir is 
 
304 
 
 THE SI'IRIT OF CIIKIST. 
 
 built in the bed of a stream or in a liolldw wh«r^ 
 when rain fulls, the water can bo collecteil. In such 
 a place, the filling of the reservoir, with a heavy fall 
 of rain, is often the work of a very few hours, anil 
 is accompanied with a rush and violence not fieo 
 from danger. The noiseless supply of the former 
 farm is, at the same time, tlie surer, because the 
 supply, though apparently feeble, is pernuiuent ; in 
 tracts where the rainfall is uncertain, a reservoir 
 niay stand empty for months or years. 
 
 There is the same difl'erence in the way in which 
 the fulness of the Spirit comes. On the day of 
 Pentecost, at times when new beginnings are made, 
 in the outpouring of the Spirit of conversion in 
 heathen lands, or of revival among Christian people, 
 suddenly, mightily, i.ianifestly, men are filled with 
 the Holy Ghost. In the enthusiasm and the joy of 
 the newly-found salvation, the power of the Spirit 
 is undeniably present. And yet, for those who 
 receive it thus, there are special dangers. The 
 blessing is often too much dependent on the fellow- 
 ship with others, or extends only to the upper and 
 more easily reached currents of the soul's life : the 
 sudden is often the superficial; the depths of the 
 will and the inner life have not been reached. Othey 
 Christians there are who have never been partakers 
 of any such marked experience, and in whom, never- 
 theless, the fulness of the Spirit is no less dis- 
 tinctly seen in the deep and intense devotion to 
 Jesus, in a walk in the light of His countenance and 
 fehe consciousness of His Holy presence, in thQ 
 
ni.I.KI) WITH TIIK SPIIMT. 
 
 305 
 
 
 blanielcssnoss of a lite of sinndt* tnist ninl ol>o(li('iUM?, 
 and in tlie humility of a self-sacritinin^ love to all 
 nround. They have their types in what Hiuniihas 
 was : ' a son of consolation, a good man, and full of 
 the Holy Ghost.' 
 
 And which of these is now the true way of 
 being filled with the Spirit ? The answer is easy. 
 Thtire are farms on which both the above-named 
 jeservoirs are to be found, auxiliary to each other. 
 There are even reservoirs, where the situation is 
 favourable, in which both the modes of filling are 
 made use of. The regular, quiet, daily inflowing 
 keeps them supplied in time of great drought ; in 
 time of rain they are ready to receive and store up 
 large supplies, 'ihere are Christians who are not 
 content but with special mighty visitations : the 
 rushing mighty wind, floods outpoured, and the 
 baptism of fire — these are their symbols. There 
 are others to whom the fountain springing up from 
 within, and quietly streaming foith, appears the 
 true type of the Spirit's work. Happy they who can 
 recognise God in both, and hold themselves always 
 ready to be blessed in whichever way He comes. 
 
 And what are now the conditions' of this fulness 
 of the Spirit ? God's word has one answer — faith. 
 It is faith alone that sees and receives the Invisihle, 
 that sees and receives God Himself. The cleansiiiL' 
 from sin and the loving surrender to obedience, 
 which were the conditions of the first reception of 
 the Spirit, are the fruit of the faith that saw what 
 sin was, and what the blood, and what the will and 
 
 U 
 
306 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHUIST. 
 
 hv. 
 
 the love of God. Of these we do not speak here 
 again. The word is for believers who have been 
 faithful in their seeking to obey, and yet have not 
 what they long for. By faith they must specially 
 see what there is that needs to be cast out. All 
 filling needs emptying. I do not here speak of the 
 cleansing out of sin, and the surrender to full 
 obedience. This is always the first essential. Dur, 
 I speak of believers who in this think they have 
 done what God demands, and yet fail of the 
 blessing. The first condition of all filling is 
 emptiness. What is a reservoir but a great 
 hollow, a great emptiness prepared, waiting, thirst- 
 ing, crying for the water to come ? Any true 
 abiding fulness of the Spirit is preceded by empty- 
 ing. * I sought the blessing long and earnestly,* 
 said one, * and I wondered why it did not come. At 
 last I found it was because there was no room in 
 my heart to receive it.' In such emptying out 
 there are various elements. A deep dissatisfaction 
 with the religion we have hitherto had. A deep 
 consciousness of how much there has been of the 
 wisdom and the work of the flesh in it. A dis- 
 covery, and confession, and giving up of all in life 
 that had been kept in our own hands and manage- 
 ment, in which self had hitherto reigned, of all in 
 which we had not thought it necessary or possible, 
 that Jesus should directly be consulted and pleased. 
 A deep conviction of impotence and utter helplessness 
 to grasp or seize what is offered. A surrender, in 
 poverty of spirit, to wait on the I^ord in His great 
 
 
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 
 
 307 
 
 rt»- 
 
 id, 
 
 JSS 
 
 in 
 [at 
 
 mercy and power, 'according to the riches of His 
 j^dory, to strengthen us mightily by His Spirit in 
 the inner man.* A great longing, thirsting, waiting, 
 ciying, a praying without ceasing for the Father tc 
 fulfil His promise in us, and take full possession of 
 us within. Such an emptying is on the way to the 
 filling. 
 
 With this is needed the believing which accepts, 
 which receives, which holds the gift. It is through 
 faith in Christ and in the Tather that the Divine 
 fulness will flow into us. Of the same Ephesians, to 
 whom the command is given, * Be filled with the 
 Spirit,' Paul had said, * In Christ, having believed, 
 ye were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise.' 
 The command refers to what they had already 
 received : the fountain was within them ; it had to be 
 opened up, and way made for it ; it would spring up 
 and fill their being. And yet not as if this was in 
 their own power : Jesus had said, ' He that believeth 
 in me, rivers of living water shall flow out of him.' 
 The fulness of the Spirit is so truly in Jesus, the 
 receiving out of Him must so really be in the 
 unbroken continuity of a real life-fellowship, the 
 ceaseless inflow of the sap from Him the living 
 Vine must so distinctly be met by the ceaseless 
 recipiency of a simple faith, that the upspringing of 
 the fountain within can only be in the dependence 
 on Jesus above. It is by the faith of Jesus, whose 
 baptism with the Spirit has as distinct a commence- 
 ment as His cleansing with the blood, but is also 
 maintained by as continuous a renewal, that the 
 
308 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 inflow will grow ever stronger until it conies to t1i« 
 overflowing. 
 
 And yet the faith in Jesus, and the hourly and 
 evergrowing upspringing of the Spirit, will not 
 dispense with faith in the Father's special gift and 
 the prayer for His special renewed fulfilment of His 
 promise. For these same Ephesians, who had thus 
 the Spirit within them as the earnest of their 
 inheritance, Paul prays to the Father * that He 
 would grant you, according to the riches of His 
 glory, that ye may be strengthened with power 
 through His Spirit in the inner man.' The verbs 
 both denote not a work, but an act, something done 
 at once. The expression, ' according to the riches 
 of His glory,' indicates something which is to be 
 a great exhibition of the Divine love and power, 
 something very special and Divine. They had the 
 SiM'rit indwelling. He prnyed for them that the 
 direct interposition of the Father might give them 
 such mighty workings of the Spirit, such a fulness 
 of the Spirit, that the indwelling of Christ, and a 
 life in the love that passeth knowledge, and a being 
 filled with the fulness of God, might be their blessed 
 personal experience. When the flood came of old, 
 the windows of heaven and the fountains of the 
 great deep were together opened. It is still so iw 
 the fulfilment of the promise of the Spirit : * I will 
 pour floods upon the dry ground.' The deeper and 
 clearer the faith in the Indwelling Spirit, and the 
 simpler the waiting on Him, the more abundant 
 will be the renewed down-coming of the Spirit from 
 
FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT. 
 
 309 
 
 a 
 
 "^' 
 
 the lieart of the Father direct into the heart Of His 
 waiting child. 
 
 '' There is one more aspect in which it is essential 
 to remember that this fulness comes to faith. God 
 loves when lie appears to come in lowly and un- 
 likely appearance, to clothe Himself in the garment 
 of humility which He wants His children to love 
 and wear. * The Kingdom of Heaven is like a 
 seed : ' only faith can know what glory there is in 
 its littleness. Thus was the dwelling of the Son 
 on earth ; thus is the indwelling of the Spirit in 
 the heart. He asks to be believed in, when nothing 
 is seen or felt. Believe that the fountain that 
 springs up and flows forth in living streams is 
 within, even when all appears dry. Take time to 
 retire into the inner chamber of the heart, and 
 thence send up praise and offer worship to God in 
 the assurance of the Holy Ghost within. Take 
 time to be still and realise, nnd let the Spirit Him- 
 self fill thy spirit with this most spiritual and 
 heavenly of all truths — that He dwells within thee. 
 Not in the thoughts or feelings first, but in the 
 life, deeper than where we can sec and feel,. is His 
 temple, His hidden dwelling-place. When once 
 faith knows that it hath what it has asked, it can 
 att'ord to be patient, and can abound in thanks- 
 giving even wliere the flesh would murmur. It 
 can trust the Unseen Jesns and the Hidden Spirit. 
 It can believe in that little and unlikely seed, tlie 
 smallest of all the seeds. It can trust and give 
 glory to Him who is able to do exceeding abun- 
 
310 
 
 THE SPIRIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 dantly above all it can think, and can mightily 
 strengthen in the inner man, just when all appears 
 feeble and ready to faint. Believer ! expect not 
 the fulness of the Spirit in the way which thy 
 human reasoning deviseth, but even as was the 
 coming of tlie Son of God without form or couib- 
 liness, in a way that is folly to human wisdom. 
 Expect the Divine Strength in great weakness ; 
 become a fool to receive the Divine wisdom which 
 the Spirit teachetli ; be willing to be nothing, be- 
 cause God cliooseth the things that are not to bring 
 to nouglit tlie things that are. So shalt thou learn 
 not to glory in the flesh, but to glory in tlie Lord. 
 And in the deep joy of a life of daily obedience 
 and childlike simplicity, thou shalt know what it is 
 to be filled with the Spirit. 
 
 
 O my God ! Thy fulness of love and of glory ia 
 like a boundless ocean — infinite and inconceivable. 
 I bless Thee that, in revealing Thy Son, it pleased 
 Thee that all the fulness of the Godhead should 
 dwell in Him bodily, that in Him we might see 
 that fulness in human life and weakness. 1 bless 
 Thee that His Church on earth is even now, in all 
 i's weakness, His body, the fulness of Him that 
 filleth all in all; that in Him we are made full; 
 that by the mighty working of Thy Spirit, and the 
 indwelling of Thy Son, and the knowledge of Thy 
 love, we may be filled to all the fulness of God. 
 
 Blessed Father! I thank Thee that the Holy 
 Spirit is to us the bearer of the Fulness of Jesus, 
 
FILLED WITH THE SPIKIT. 
 
 311 
 
 and that in being filled with the Spirit we are 
 made full with that Fuhiess. I thank thee that 
 there have been men on earth since Pentecost, not a 
 few, of .vhoni Thou hast said that they were full of 
 the Holy Gliost. my God ! make me full. Lot 
 the Holy Spirit take and keep possession of my 
 deepest, inmost life. Let Thy Spirit fill my spirit. 
 Let thence the fountain flow through all the soul's 
 affections and powers. Let it flow over and flow 
 out through my lips, speaking Thy pr ise and love. 
 Let the very body, by the quickening and sancti- 
 fying energy of the Spirit, be Thy temple, full of 
 the Life Divine. Lord my God ! I beheve Thou 
 hearest me. Thou hast given it me ; I accept it 
 as mine. 
 
 Oh, grant that throughout Thy Church the Ful- 
 ness of the Spirit may be sought and found, may 
 be known and proved. Lord Jesus ! our glorified 
 King, oh, let Thy Church be full of the Holy Ghost. 
 Amen. 
 
 7. Filled with the Spirit It la not In the emotions, not In conscious light 
 or power or joy, that the filling of the Spirit must first be sought, but In 
 the life, In the hidden. Inmost part, deeper than knowledge or feeling,— the 
 region to which faith glues access, and where we are and have before we 
 know or feel. 
 
 2. Would you know what it Is to be filled with the Spirit— see Jesus. Look 
 at Him on the last night, ' knowing that the Father had g ven all things into 
 His hands, and that He was come from God, and went to God, ' washing the 
 disciples' feet. In the deep calm of the consciousness that He was of God, 
 see the fulness of the Spirit. Seek It thus ; In due time it will break out 
 in testimony, In the fellowship of the saints, or for the saving of the I ist. 
 
 3. Notice carefully the connection : ' Be filled with the Spirit, spealdng to 
 one another.' It Is only In the fellowship of the body, its building up in love, 
 that the Spirit reueals His presence. Jesus said. 'Th3 Spirit sh:tll bear wit' 
 nesa, and ye shall bear witness.' It Is In action on our part, In obedience, 
 that the full conaclouaness of the Spirit's presence cornea. ' They were filled 
 
312 
 
 THE SPIIIIT OF CHRIST. 
 
 with the Holy Ohoat, and began to speak.' Having the same Spirit of faith, 
 tharefore we apeak. The fountain must spring up : the stream must flow. 
 Silence la death. 
 
 4. ' Orieve not the Holy Spirit of God : ' this word precedes the other, 
 ' Be filled with the Spirit' We cannot glue the life or the growth, but we can 
 raniove the hindrance. We can glue up to obedience ; we can turn from the 
 fi'sh to wait on Qod ; we can yield to the Spirit as far as we know God's will : 
 tho filling oomes from nbove. Walt for It, tarrying at the footstool of the 
 throne In much prayer. And as thou prayest, turn Inward, and belleue that 
 ths Unseen Power hath Indeed possession of thy whole being. 
 
 5. ' Be filled with the Spirit.' It is the duty, the calling, the prlullege of 
 every belleuer. A Divine possibility, in virtue of the command; a Dhilnt 
 certain fy. In the power c^f faitk. (M ha»U the dag wMm wug bdi«V4r 
 
 \^- 
 
 ' / 
 
 y 
 
VOTES. 
 
 ^n 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ' NOTE A. 
 
 The Baptism of the Spirit (Chap. 2). 
 
 The blessed promise that our Lord should baptize with 
 the Holy Sp rit has given rise to considerable difference 
 as to the way in which its fulfilment may be expected. 
 This is surely a proof of how much we are lacking its 
 full ^'xporience. Where the Spirit is in great power, He 
 would bring His own evidence that we have the Baptism 
 and what it includes. There are specially two diverse 
 views to which much attention has been directed of 
 late. The one maintains that, as every believer receives 
 the Holy Spirit in regeneration, there can be no thought 
 of a Baptism of the Spirit ptill to be sought for. The 
 promise was fulfilled to the Church in the Gift of Pente 
 cost, and of that heritage of the Church e\ ery believer 
 gets his share on believing in Christ. The opposite view 
 holds that just as Christ's disciples, and Philip's converts 
 at Samaria, and the twelve men at Ephesus, were true 
 believers, and yet needed specially to receive the pro- 
 mised Spirit, so now every believer must seek and may 
 expect this baptism subsequent to his conversion. A 
 third view takes somewhat middle ground, and while 
 agreeing with the first, that the Holy Spirit dwells in 
 every believer, it maintains that the believer may from 
 time to time receive very special conscious renewals of 
 the Spirit's presence and power from on high, and that 
 these may justly be regarded as fresh baptisms of the 
 
314 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Spirit. I caTinot bettor compare the two former views 
 than by giving extracts from two re pre -en tat ivo little 
 books : the one — ' He Filled wifh the Spirit ; or, Scriptural 
 Studies about the Holy Ghost^' by Rev. Ernest Boys ; the 
 other, ' The Baptism of the Holy Ghostj* by Rev. Asa 
 Mahan. 
 
 In his book Mr. Boys goes through the whole of tlie 
 New Tt'Stament, noting all tlie passages that have refer- 
 ence to the Spirit, to find the answer to th-* question, 
 * Wheth'T believers are already possessed by the Spirit 
 in <all Mis fulntss and power, as a permanent and abiding 
 ]>resence, or whether they are to look for some peculiai 
 experience called by some, "the Baptism of the Spirit." ' 
 He thinks that * a careful study of the New Testament 
 leads to the conclusion that every true believer is called, 
 not to wait to enjoy the possession of the Holy Spirit 
 in His fulness and power, but is entitled to believe that 
 he already enjoys the glorious privilege, and is to act 
 accordingly,' 'The operations of the Holy Ghost in 
 producing faith and regeneration we believe to be His 
 work on rather than in the heart. How far they involve 
 His actual entrance into the heart it is beyond our 
 power to determine. But of this we are sure — that 
 when there has resulted that faith which makes one the 
 child of God, then there takes place, in the case of every 
 one^ a real entrance into, and a permanent abiding in- 
 dwelling of the Holy Spirit in the heart.' * Whatever 
 be the t>eliever's attitude and relationship towards the 
 S[)irit in matters of Christian life and experience, he is 
 not to spend his time and prayers in seeking a further 
 indwelling of the Spirit. This, in all its fulness, is a 
 glorious fact already. But he is to enter more thoroughly 
 into an intelligent and spiritual perception of v,'hat at 
 present actually exists.' 
 
 In speaking of the day of Pentecost, he very strongly 
 urges the thought that in His descent then. He came 
 permanently to dwell on earth. *In Acts ii. we have 
 the personal descent of the Holy Ghost to take up Hia 
 
NOTES. 
 
 315 
 
 T 
 
 IS 
 
 e 
 
 abode in the Church on earth, and to "ahide with it for 
 ever" (John xiv. 16). As the Son of God became in- 
 carnate by union with a really human body, so there is 
 a sense in which the Holy Ghost became incarnate al.»o 
 at l*entecost, uniting Hiniselt with the humap bodies of 
 men and women who believed in ChrisL. lie has dwelt 
 in the Church, as the Body of Christ, ciiiy by dwelling 
 in the heart of each individual who is a real memb. r <»f 
 that Body, and thereby uniting him with Christ as the 
 Head. And now, we believe, it is from this earthly 
 dwelling-place, and not, as it wt re, afresh from heaven, 
 that Ho communicates Himself afresh to each new^ 
 member of the spiritual body, working also in and 
 through the believers. Each believer is thus not only 
 an agent, through whom the Holy Ghost manifests and 
 carries home the reality of Divine truth to others, but 
 is also, in a certain sense, a source from which He per- 
 sonally communicates Himself to other hearts ' (John xv. 
 26, 27, vii. 38, 39). 
 
 Speaking of the prayer in Eph. iii. 14-21, he writes : 
 *In searching Scriptuie, we shall fit.d that in no one 
 single case are belie>ers after Pentecost exhorted to 
 ask for the Holy Spirit as a gift not yet received, but 
 that the Holy Spirit, already dwelling in them, ma/ 
 carry on with power His various offices in the inner 
 man.' And in summing up at the conclusion, he says : 
 *If language means anything at all, wo have the con- 
 stantly-repeated assurance of the inspired writers, that 
 the indwelling of the Holy Ghost is a present rea'ity in 
 every one who is a true child of God. ... It must be 
 confessed, however, that there is very little indication of 
 the Spirit's indwelling to be seen in the lives and con- 
 duct of a vast number of Christian professors. In view 
 of things as they are in the Christian Church, we do not 
 wonder that godly people are looking ab ut for a 
 remedy, and that they turn to the Holy Spirit as they 
 look for this. But we are astonished that men do not 
 see that the secret is an open one, and that the remedy 
 
316 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 is very nenr them — indeed, alrendy within them. What 
 we want is that same simple childlike faith in the person 
 of the Holy Spirit within us, as wh have been taught to 
 exercise in all the work of Christ on our behalf. . . . 
 All spiritual experience springs, in the first instance, 
 fri-m a simple bsliet' in facts winch cannot appear real 
 to our consciousness until we simply believe them, in 
 spite of all feelinirs and appearances to the contrary. 
 Let us bring this simple and childlike faith to bear upon 
 the truth of the Holy Spirit's indwelling in our hearts, 
 and let us start afresh on a lif^ of surrender to His 
 leadings, and in the realization of the Scripture exhorta- 
 tions which have been unlolded in the previous chapters. 
 So shall we find the true hecret of happiness, of holiness, 
 of spiritual power — which is, daily and liouily to be filled 
 with the Spirit.' 
 
 I have of set purpose given somewh&t full extracts, 
 both because I wish to insist on the deep importance of 
 the aspect of truth her« presented, and to indicate how 
 after all it is only one side of the truth. In connection 
 with the lormer object, I may say that for a Conference 
 held in the course of this year, at which some twenty- 
 seven ministers met and spent six days in prayer and 
 study on the work of the Holy Spirit, a copy of Mr. 
 Boys' book had been sent to each member some weeks 
 before. When we met, more than one testified to the 
 blessing that had been received in using it. There was 
 one passage to which one referred as having been made 
 a great blessing to him, and by which others had been 
 struck, as making clear the position we ought to take 
 towards the Holy Spirit, without which our prayers for 
 His workings would avail but little. Mr. Boys writes 
 (p. 29) : *If we were asked very briefly the true mean- 
 ing of being " filled with the Spirit," we should say that 
 it involved, not^ our having " moi'e of the Spiiit" hut rather 
 the Spirit having more of us. There is a vast difference 
 between the two ; and many who earnestly seek this 
 fulness of the Spirit fail to see this. They are longing, 
 
NOTES, 
 
 317 
 
 ;e 
 
 waiting, praying for Ood to givo t\ cm sonutliing nion* ; 
 when, in order to be " filled with tlie Spirit," they must 
 ffii". Him something more than they have ^iv»n already.' 
 Not many days later a similar testimony was receivc<l 
 from one wlio ha<l been prt*venled from coming, hut who 
 wrote of its having heen to him like a n<'W revelation, to 
 see that he had all of the Holy Ghost he needed to have 
 or ever could have. I am certain that thtre are miiny 
 Christians, and many ministers in Christ's Clunch. 
 with whom this is the one thing they lack, the living 
 faith that the Spirit is dwelling within them, equal to 
 every emergency, and only waiting to be admitted to a 
 more entire possession and a more complete control. 
 In our evangelical preaching we need to have every 
 young convert fully instructed in this truth, that tlu? 
 f»nly living assurance of acceptance, the on'y power of 
 holiness and fruitlulness, the only possibility of the 
 enjoyment of Christ's pn-i-enco and indwelling, are to be 
 found in the faith of the indwelling Spirit. 
 
 Let us now turn to the other side. In Dr. Mahan'H 
 book, The Bapfism of the Spirit, we have an entirely 
 different aspect of God's truth from one who equally 
 desires only to know what the mind of God in Scrii)turo 
 is. A few sentences from the preface to a new edition 
 will make his position clear. Referring to John xiv. 
 15-17, ho writes: 'The Holy Spirit liaii convinced the 
 disciples of sin, had induced them to believe in Chris% 
 to love Him, and to keep His commandments. Fron 
 the hour of their conversion He had been with them, 
 and their bodies had been His temples. During the ten 
 days these disciples waited at Jerusalem, waitin:/ the 
 promise of the Father, the same Spirit was with them 
 still, perfecting their obedience, intensifying their aspiia- 
 tioiis, unifying their accord, and completing their i)re- 
 paration for the inward enlightenments and induem« nts 
 of power which were to result from the approaching 
 Baptism. All that preceded Pentecost was preparatory 
 to this Baptism, but no part of it. Their conversion 
 
318 
 
 NOTEa 
 
 and suhseqiiont preparation were the work of the Spirit 
 just aR much as the BaptiRUi, and the former was indis- 
 pensable to the latter. Had the apostles continued in 
 the preparitory stage of their experience, or had tiiey 
 gone forth to tlieir wotk prior to the reception of the 
 promise of the Spirit, the worhl woul<l never liave f It 
 their influence. Waiting, on the otIuT liand, '* «he 
 promise of the Father," Hnd >ro''i»g forth as Christ did, 
 "in the power of the Spirit," they noon turned the woild 
 upside down. 
 
 *The same holds tru^ of all believers, ihe least as well 
 as the greatest, under the present dispei.sat <»n,— the 
 dispensation of the Spirit. As with the aposilo-i and 
 their associates, so with every believer in Jesus. Aft«r 
 inducing re|»entance to»ard God, and faith towanl o«ir 
 Lord Jesus Christ, the Spirit abides with and woik-i in 
 him, as He did in them prior to Pentecost, nnd this for 
 the one purpose, to perfect his love and obedienco and 
 inward preparation, that "the Holy Ghost may f;dl on 
 him as He did on them at the bcginniiig." If the 
 convert stop short of this consummation, and if he does 
 this especially under the belief that he did receive the 
 Baptism of the Holy Ghost in conversion, he will almost 
 inevitably remain through life in ti e weakness and 
 darkness of the Old, insttad of goin^^ forward to his 
 life-work under the induement of power and spiritual 
 illuminations peculiar to the New Dispensation. 
 
 * Here this great doctrine is met by the counter one, 
 that every new-born soul does receive the promised 
 Baptism of the Spirit, and all accompanying induements 
 of power at the time of his conversion. In confirmation 
 of this doctrine such passages are adduced as those which 
 affirm that " all have been baptized into one body," and 
 that the bodies of all believers are *' temples of the Holy 
 Ghost" All this, we teach, is true of every convert 
 now, and has been true of every converted person since 
 the fall The apostles must have had the Spirit of 
 Christ, or they could not have been His. Yet, in the 
 
 ^« 
 
NOTES. 
 
 319 
 
 N<w Testaroont penfle of th»^ won), "the Holy Obost wan 
 not yet given," and they were not 'baptized witli the 
 Holy Ghost" until Pentecoht lad fully come. So, of all 
 converts in this dispensation, ihey have the Spirit of 
 Ch^i^t, and their bodies are His temples. This was true 
 of all the converts in Samaria before Peter ami John 
 came there. Yet the Holy Ghost had not fallen upon 
 one of them. How any person can contemplate the 
 revealed results of the Baptism of the Holy Ghost, and 
 then affirm, in presence of palpable facts, that every 
 such convert has received the " induement of power " 
 included in *' the promise i-f the Spirit," is a mystery of 
 mysteries to us. Language is without meaning if "the 
 promise of the Spirit " dors not await the believer after 
 he has entered into a state of justification, and then in a 
 state of " love and obedience," and supreme consecration 
 to Christ, "tarries" before God until he is "endued with 
 power from on high."* 
 
 In this statement of Scripture truth we have perfect 
 agreement with the previous one on the one great point, 
 that every believer has the Hidy Sj)irit dwelling in him, 
 that he ought to know this, and believe that the Spirit 
 will work in him what he needs for further growth and 
 strength. The difference aiises when the question comes 
 to the way in which the believer is to attain the full ex- 
 perience of all that the indwelling of the Spirit implies. 
 While the former answer is, Believe that He is within 
 you, open up and surrender your whole being to Him, 
 He will fill you ; the second speaks, Wait before the 
 Till one for this filling as a special distinct gift, the fulfil- 
 ment of the Father's promise. 
 
 Let rne say at once, tint if it be maintained in connec- 
 tion with this second view that every believer must 
 consciously seek and r« ceive, as a distinct experience, 
 such a Baptism, this does not appear to me whal. the 
 Word of God teaches. But if it be put in this way, that 
 in answer to believing prayer many believers have 
 received, and those who seek it will often receive, such 
 
320 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 an inflow of the Spirit of God as will to them indeed be 
 nothing less than a new Baptism of ihe Spirit, I cannot 
 but regard it as in harmony w^ith the teaching of 
 Scripture. I have already expressed my deep sense of 
 the truth and value of the positive part of the teaching 
 in Mr. Boys' 1 ook, but with the extent to which he 
 goes in denying that we should still pray for the Spirit 
 I can hardly agree, and am anxious to jioint out how, as 
 it appears to me, tliere are aspects of the truth in God'a 
 word by wliicli his view must still be supj)lemented. 
 
 Tliere is one truth of which I cannot hut think he has 
 somewhat lost sight. In a passage quoted above, he 
 speaks very strongly about the Spirit having come to this 
 earth, and taken np His abode in the Body of Christ, 
 the Church ; so much so, that all communications of the 
 Spirit to the unconverted come tiirough believers. This 
 is an aspect of the truth of the utmost importance, and 
 far too little realized. But there is another aspect that 
 must not be lost sight of. The Spirit is the Spirit of 
 God. He is not only in the Churcii, but also in the 
 Father and the Son. The Father, the Son, and His Body 
 the Churcli : the Spirit is the one life in which these have 
 their fellowship. God has not given His Spirit to 
 believers, in the sense of parting with Him ; or as if, by 
 once giving, He did not now need any more to give.* 
 By no means. All Divine giving is in the power of the 
 Eternal Life, the power of a continuous life-flow from 
 God through Christ to His people. And it is therefore 
 consistent with the fullest acimowledgment of the Spirit 
 dwelling in us that tlie believer calls for more. That 
 there is a great deal of prayer in which the presence of 
 the Spirit is forgotten, is ignored, I admit and deplore ; 
 ,?.nd I deeply feel the loss which the Church suff'ers by it. 
 And yet it would be falling into the other extreme, if, 
 
 * * We aro not to think of tlio " giving " of the Spirit as an isolated 
 deposit of what, once given, is now locally in possession. The first 
 ** gift " is, as it wore, the first point in a series of actions, of which 
 Moh one may also be expressed as a gift.' — Moule on £ph. i. 17. 
 
NOTiCS. 
 
 321 
 
 I)ecaa8e God has given and we have received the Spirit, 
 we were no longer to pray for more of Him. 
 
 It is often said, But how can you ask for tliat which 
 you have ? The answer is a very simple one. The 
 fiii<;ers that hold the pen with which I write are as full 
 of i)lood as can be in perfect heajth ; and yet, if they 
 could speak, would we not continually hear them ca'lin!^ 
 to the heart, Oh, send in the fresh blood, without which 
 we cannot live ! The branch that hangs full of fruit is as 
 full of sap as it can hold, and yet it unceasingly offers its 
 emptiness and need to the vine for that unceasing sujiply 
 without which the fruit could not be ripened. The 
 lungs are full of breath, and yet call for a fresh cupply 
 every m'^jient Just so with the believer who under- 
 stands that he has not the Spirit as a power he can use 
 or dispose of, or as a Person who renders him indepen- 
 dent of the Son, but as His Spirit^ who brings into living 
 connection with Him and increasing dependence; his 
 whole life of prayer will be the harmony of a faith that 
 praises for the Spirit that has been received, and yet 
 always waits for His fuller inflow out of Him in whom 
 His fulness dwells. 
 
 We see this union of having and asking in the life of 
 the Son. He knew that the Father had given Him all 
 things, yea, that the Father was in Him, and yet He felt 
 the need of prayer. He had had the indwelling Spirit 
 from His birth, and yet His receiving the Spirit from 
 above at His Baptism was a real Divine transaction ; as 
 He prayed, the heavens opened, and the Spirit descended. 
 We see it too in Paul's Epistles. He had just reminded 
 the Ephesians that they had been sealed with the Holy 
 Spirit of promise, when he told them that he prayed for 
 them that God might give them *the Spirit of wisdom 
 and revelation.' He not only asks that the Spirit in them 
 may make them wise ; he is not afraid to pray for * the 
 8[>irit of wisdom.' And so iater on, when he asks that 
 the Father would, * according to the riches of His glory,* 
 as something very wonderful and Divine, * strengthen 
 
322 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 them witli might hy the Spirit/ he inrlicates to us how it 
 18 not enough that we know and brheve that the Spirit 
 is in us, but that it is in prayer to the Father that the 
 inert ase of tlie Spirit's power will come, and we be filled 
 witfj Him. His interchange of the expression, ' Give you 
 t».e Spirit of wisdom,' and 'Give yuu to be strengthened 
 V ir]> the Spirit,' gives us liberty to asic in either way, if we 
 oiil ealize that the Spirit is already in us, and that it is 
 only in the prayer of faith to t'ne Father where the Spirit 
 i-*, that the increased inflow of His presence and [jower can 
 come. The faith that He is in us, the assurance that Ho 
 wants more of us, and that if He only has us wholly will 
 fill us, will just urge us to prayer to the Father, whose it is, 
 unceasingly and evermore, in the pow» r of the en<lless 
 life, to give tlie Spirit through the Son. It would indeed 
 be sad if a believer, on once having received the Spirit, 
 were to feel that Christ's precious word, * How much 
 more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit 
 to them that ask liim,' was something he had now out- 
 grown, and that this chief of blessings He need now no 
 longer ask. No, as the anointing with fresh oil is a daily 
 need, it is daily received in living fellowship with the 
 Father through Him in whom the fulness ever abides. 
 And just so the thought of Jesus baptizing with the 
 Spirit is not a remembrance of what is now a past thing, 
 done once for all, but a promise of what may be a daily, 
 continuous experience. The faith that we have the 
 Spirit within us, even when it has almost come like a 
 new revelation, and filled us with joy and strength, will 
 lose its freshness and its power except as the inflow is 
 maintained in living fellowship with the Father and the 
 S )n. The lesson of Pentecost holds good for all ages. 
 As our Lord is seated on the Throne in the glory to give 
 the Spirit, the footstool of the Throne remains the 
 place whei e the Spirit is received. The deeper our faith 
 becomes that we have the Spirit, the more continuous 
 will he our prayer that the Father grant us His mighty 
 \s orkings. It is only in the living intercourse with the 
 
NOTES. 
 
 323 
 
 jes. 
 dve 
 ftlie 
 dth 
 Lous 
 
 Ithe 
 
 Father and the Son, in the worship and prayer of faith, 
 that the Spirit will work mightily. 
 
 These remarks may have prepared the way for what 
 appears to me the scriptural light in which the prayer 
 for the Baptism of the Spiiit may be offered, and an 
 answer expected. 
 
 1. To the disciples the Baptism of the Spirit was very 
 distinctly not His first bestowal for regeneration, but 
 the deKnit^i communication of the Presence in power of 
 i^heir glorified Lord. 
 
 2. Of this Spirit, with which the Church of Christ 
 was baptized, every believer is made a partaker ; he has 
 the Spirit of Christ dwelling in him. 
 
 3. Just as there was a twofold operation of the one 
 Spirit in the Old and New Testament, of which the 
 state of the disciples before and after Pentecost was the 
 most striking iUustration, so there may he, and in the 
 gi'eat majority of Christians is, a corresponding differ- 
 ence of experience. This difference between the bare 
 knowledge of His presence and His full revelation of 
 the indwelling Christ in His glory, is owing either to 
 ignorance or unfaithfulness. 
 
 4. When once the distinct recognition of wbat tho 
 indwelling of the Spirit was meant to bring is brouglit 
 home to the soul, and h is ready to give up all to be 
 made partaker of it, the believer may ask. and expect 
 what may be termed a Baptism of the Spirit. Praying 
 to the Father in accordance with the two prayers in 
 Ephesians, and coming to Jesus in the renewed surrend« r 
 of faith and obedience, he may receive such an inflow of 
 the Holy Spirit as shall consciously lift him to a dif- 
 ferent level irom the one on which he has hitherto 
 lived. 
 
 6. The way in which the Baptism comes may be V( ry 
 different. To some it comes as a glad and censible 
 quickening of their spiritujJ life. They are so filled 
 with tliH Sjjirit that all their feelings are stirred. They 
 can speak of something they have distinctly experieiiced 
 
324 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 as a gift from the Father. To others it is given, not to 
 their feelings, but to their faith. It comes as a d» op, 
 quiet, but clearer insight into the fnlness of the Sprit 
 in Christ as indeed being theirs, and a faith tiiat feeld 
 confident that His sufficiency is equal to every emergency 
 that may arise. In the midst of weakness they know 
 that the Power is restini^ on them. In either case they 
 know that the blessing has be^n given from above, to bo 
 maintained under obe<iience and deep dependence on 
 Him from whom it came. 
 
 6. Such baptisr s specially given jvs power for work. 
 It may sometimes )e received before th« believer fully 
 under>tand8 his c^-ling to work, and while he is chiefly 
 occupied with his own sanctification. It cannot be 
 maintained except as the call to witness for the Lord is 
 obeyed. The baptism of Pentecost was distinctly given 
 a^ preparation for work. The baptism of Cornelius and 
 his praying company, as God's seal to their faith, and 
 their full participation in the blessings of the kingdom 
 of God, at once opened their mouths to speak. We must 
 beware of laying down fixed rules. God's gifts and love 
 are larger than our hearts. Every believer who longs, 
 up to the light he has, to be surrendered fully to the 
 glory of his Lord, may come and claim the fulness of 
 the gift. It will prove its own power to open the mouth 
 and bring forth testimony for God. 
 
 7. The preparation for the baptism is ever the same 
 as with the first disciples. Having called them to for- 
 sake all for Him, our Lord had first kept them three 
 years in His school, training them into the knowledge 
 and love and obedience to His will. Great personal 
 attachment to Jesus was the first requisite. He had 
 then led them, in the fellowship of His death, to give 
 up all hope in themselves, or in His outward appearance, 
 all confidence in the flesh. As they were thus taught 
 the utter insufliciency of the flesh, either in their own 
 good purposes or His bodily presence, to conquer sin or 
 give deliverance, the need was awakened for something 
 
NOTES. 
 
 325 
 
 higher. And last of all, He kept them, first the forty- 
 days, and then again the ten days, in waiting expect- 
 ancy, looking to Himself to give them something above 
 what they could ask or think. With great diversity of 
 mode and degree, every believer will have to pass 
 through some preparation not entirely different. Blesse*! 
 they who allow the Master Himself to take them into 
 His Baptism class, to regulate their course of training, 
 and rest content with nothing less than to be full of the 
 Holy Ghost. To some it comes without any idea of a 
 baptism at all ; in intense devotion to their Lord, they 
 know that He dwells in them, and has them wholly as 
 His own. 
 
 Whatever difference there still may be in our way of 
 expressing what we seek, let us remember that our Father 
 understanls each of His children better than they do 
 themselves. Let us rejoice, even amid varying modes 
 of expression, that the desire is growing among God's 
 people to have nothing less than what God meant by 
 His promise of a Baptism with the Holy Ghost and with 
 fire. Let us be faithful to the Spirit, as He dwells 
 within us. Let us stir up ourselves and each other to 
 wait for, from our God, who is able to do above what we 
 ask or think, an experience of His mighty inworking 
 and His overflowing fulness in believers and the Church, 
 such as we can form no conception of. 
 
 ight 
 )wn 
 or 
 
 ling 
 
 NOTE B. 
 
 The Spirit as a Person (Chap. 5). 
 
 If we are to understand the place and work of the 
 Holy Spirit in us, we must know somewhat of His place 
 and work in the Divine Being. He has been given to 
 make us partakers of the Divine life and nature, to bo 
 in us and to do for us what He is and does in the 
 
826 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Father and tbe Son. The adorinoj and reverent con- 
 templation of what He is as the Spirit of the Father and 
 the Son in the Holy Trinity, of what He was and 
 wrought in the man Christ Jesus on earth, and what 
 specially His relation is to our glorified Lord Jesus, need 
 not lead us away from the practical questi-n of what He 
 is to ourselves, but may help us greatly in realizing the 
 wondrous glory and mystery of this, the united gift of 
 the Father and the Son — their own Spirit, the Spirit of 
 their personal life, to be the Spirit of our personal life. 
 The following sug^jestive quotations from one of the 
 most deeply scriptural and spiritual theologians, J. T. 
 Beck, may help us in our effort to apprehend what God 
 has revealed to us in His word. It is a most blessed 
 thing when a believer begins tc realize, ' The Spirit of 
 God dwelleth in me,' and knows that God has given 
 Him something Divine — yea, a Divine Person — as his 
 life. But it becomes a thousandfold more wonderful to 
 liim when he begins to see how really it is the very same 
 Spirit who is the personal life of the Fatiier and the 
 S^3n, who has now become his own personal life, his 
 inmost self. 
 
 * In Christianity, revelation appears, not only in the 
 character of an elementary witness for God, as in the 
 revelation of nature, nor only, as in the Old Testament 
 revelation, in the character of special legislative organiza- 
 tion and ideal promise, but as a new life-organization of 
 the quickening Spirit. Christianity thus brings a revela- 
 tion in which the supernatural, the Divine, is Spirit and 
 Life, dynamically and substantially, to become personal. 
 "With this in view, it must be mediated differently than 
 in the previous stages; it must have a higher organ 
 for its revelation. If the Divine is indeed dynamically 
 and substantially as a personal life to be organized 
 ^nto the human individuality, the only adequate organ 
 for such a mediation will be one in which the revelation, 
 3r the Divine principle of organization, shall make 
 itself personal in a human being. That is it will not be 
 
NOTES. 
 
 327 
 
 sufficient that the Divine should reveal itself in some 
 man only, wi^li whatever strength, in the way of his 
 consciousness through the channel of conscience. As 
 little that it should, as hy way of inspiration, develop 
 its power to influence and elevate in the life of Keason 
 or Sp rit, after the manner of prophecy. Conscience 
 and inspiration do not suffice as the means of revelation, 
 in the revelation that is to be perfect. What is needed 
 is a mediation, in which God co^icentrates His own 
 pt'culiar Spirit and Life as a principle in a human indi- 
 vidual to be personally appropriated. In a revelation, 
 witich is really to translate the Divine into man's indi- 
 vidual personal life, in truthj to form men of God, the 
 Divine as such — that is, as a ])er8onal life — must first be 
 embodied in a personal centre in humanity. For this 
 reason. As soon as something strictly new is concerned, 
 something that in its peculiarity has not yet existed, 
 every new type of life, before it can multiply itself to a 
 number of sfiecimens, must first have its full contents 
 combined in perfect unity, in an adequate new principle. 
 And so, for the making personal of the Divine among 
 men, the first thing needed is one in whom the principle 
 ot the Divine life has become personal. Christianity 
 concentrates the whole fulness of revelation in the one 
 human personality of Jesus Christ as Mediator — that is, 
 as the mediating central principle of the new Divine 
 organism, in its fulness of Spirit and Life, in and for the 
 human personal life. AVith the entrance of Christ into 
 the human individual, the Divine life becomes immanent 
 in us, no*^ in its universal world-relation, but as a per- 
 sonal principle, so that man is not only irotrnia ©cov, a 
 being made of God, but riKvov ©coC, or a being begotten 
 of God. And with the growing transformation of the 
 individual into the life-type of Christ there is perfected 
 the development of the personal life out of God, in God, 
 and to God — the development not only of a moral or 
 theocratic communion, but a communion of nature. By 
 the fall of man the Divine and human in man had been 
 
828 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 rent asunder, and the separation has grown into estrange, 
 ment and enirity. Man has become an ungodly person- 
 ality. In opposition to this, both the Divine and the 
 human have been reconciled and united in Christ's 
 Divine-human personality as the human manifestation 
 of the otherwise invisible God.' (Forhsungen Chr. Olau- 
 benslehref i. 383 ) 
 
 * As regards the Spirit, it is never said of Him — tha 
 Spirit is God, or the Spirit is the Lord ; but, on the con- 
 trary, God is Spirit, the Lord is the Spirit, " the quicken- 
 ing Spirit." It is thus the Spirit, through whom God and 
 the Lord each is the person that He is, is ©eo5, is Kvpio?. 
 But the Spirit does not on this account belong to the 
 Divine Being without an independent exii>tence.^ As 
 little is He a separate person outside of the Father and 
 the Son ; but He Himself forms the Divine personality 
 within the Father and the Son. Outside of God, in the 
 ■world and man, He effects an independent revelation of 
 God, which reaches into the hidden depths of Deity on 
 the one side, and on the side of man inwardly communi- 
 cates God's very own life, even to the production of a 
 Divine Son-life. The one Divine personality of the 
 Father is the all-including Divine central suViject, in 
 whom the Son and Spirit, in unity o^ Being, yet have a 
 self-standing existence, and from whom they proceed — 
 THE Son as. the speaking Self of the Father, in whom 
 He reveals Himself as in His image ; the Spirit as the 
 inner Self of the Father and the Son, in whom the 
 inner life of God in the power of its personal Being, 
 
 • See Leitfaden der Chr. OlaubensJehre, p. 229 :— * The Spirit is »o 
 far from being, as with us, something belonging to Groil, that it is 
 sail : God is Spirit, the Lord is the Spirit, so that it really ts just the 
 Spirit, tfirough whom God is the person that He is. The Divine Spir't 
 is not onlv, as with us, something belonging to t id in the Father aud 
 the Son, but that very thing through which Ft fcher and Son is God ; 
 the Spirit is the personal being of God in Father and Son. Therefore 
 He is called the Holy and Holymaking, the Power and the Quickener ; 
 in Him the very own personal being of the Father and the Son is 
 begotten into man. It is just in the Spirit that the personal life of 
 God is centred ; so little can He Himself be anything impersonal.' 
 
NOTF.S. 
 
 329 
 
 maiiitnins and commnnicntes itself. It is just because the 
 Spirit is the bearer of the Inner Life of God that He 
 does not manifest Himself externally, tliat there is no 
 personal appearance as of the Son. Just as in the Son 
 the Phanerosis (manifestation) of the Father took plai o 
 externally, as in His outward self (John xiv. 19, xii. 45), 
 so in tlie Spirit, as the inward self of the Father and thw 
 St 11, all belongs to the inner life, that the perfectt-d 
 Phanerosis, the manifestation of God to us, may bec\ime 
 the Apokalypsis, the revelation of God within us.' 
 (Vmlesmgen Uber Chr. Olaubemlehre, ii. 136.) 
 
 ' What is needed for the Redemption of hunnn nature 
 out of its bondage to the world and its sin, and the 
 revival within of the Supernatural, for which it had 
 been destined, was such a union with the Divine Life 
 that it sho'dd be reveal- d in man not only as a I^w or 
 a Hope, as the Postulate of the Will or the Desirv, as 
 an Ideal, but as an actual fulfilling of the real need of 
 the personal life; that is, that the Divine lite should 
 become the real personal life. In virtue of its absolute 
 worth, bclonginj; to it by its very n iture, the Divine can 
 never be sa isfied with being accepted as one of other 
 elements only having a place in our personal thinking, 
 willing, and doing. It is not enough that, along with 
 other things that touch and interest us, it too should 
 liave a place in our regard or actions, and be something 
 from which we giin certain det-irable results for our life. 
 Such an apparently moderate or sober view drags the 
 Di ine down and places it on a line with the objects of 
 this world. Nor does it make «ny real difference when 
 tli« Divine is spoken of as the highest and most worth} 
 of all object-*. The Divine only receives its true acknoic- 
 let/fjvient when it is accepted as what it really is, the ahsoluie 
 v(/ild-prlncij)le, aiui becomes the absolute lAfe-principle of 
 %/ur personal development. The Divine has, h<iwe\er, 
 no longer creative personal power in our bondage to 
 the ; ower of the world, with its sin and death. To 
 make the Divine become the Personal in us is what, 
 
330 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 under such circumstances, our spiritual power, or 
 Reason, cannot accomplish. This needs the organization 
 of a new nature, and to organize anew is the work of the 
 Creator and of the Divine Principle o\ organization in 
 the world. And this is now that in which Revelation 
 finds its perfection, in the organizing of the Divine as a 
 living formative Spirit, "the life-sriving Spirit," so that 
 08 a product, i^e Life-principle^ or as the power of a personal 
 life^ ft could becnme immanent in man's moral life^ and so 
 that &fd of thaty in continuous development, the Divine could 
 be reproduced in the individual as his personal life^ ami so 
 God, in harmony with His idea as tlie Absolute, should 
 inded he the all - determining life - principle in m>m ; it 
 is in this that revelution finds its perfect completion' 
 (i. 380). 
 
 * Christ, as the personal won! of Go'^, had first as the 
 incarnate Son to perfectly organize His special witness 
 an I mediation, before the Holy Spirit c "uld in a new, 
 hitherto transcendent, way of workinj^, come forth from 
 God as the Spirit immanent in the Father and the Son, 
 as the Divine Personal Life-principle, and as the person- 
 constituting principle begin His life - begetting work. 
 The Divine Personal Spirit, flowing forth irom the 
 Divine Personal Word, now becomes the highest principle 
 of Inspiration, which apprehends the mysteries of the 
 Kingdom, as well as the highest personal life -forming 
 pi inciplrt of a new type of man, the image of the only- 
 bt gotten Son* (ii. 104). 
 
 *The Personality has its ground in the individualizing 
 of the Spirit. It was thus in the first creation, when, 
 by God breathing the Spirit of life, man became a living 
 soul, a personality. It is even so in the secomi creati n, 
 in regeneration, when in the imparting of the Spirit to 
 man, not only this and that becomes renewetl in him, in 
 his consciousness or conduct, but there comes into exist- 
 ence a new man, a new God-like personality ' (ii. 107). 
 
 Dr. Donier writes as follows :— 
 
NOTES. 
 
 331 
 
 ]eii, 
 ing 
 
 n, 
 to 
 in 
 
 I'lSt- 
 
 The Diffkrknce bktwken the RKVET.ATroN OF God 
 
 IN CHlUSr, AND IN THE IIOLY SPIKIT. 
 
 •The character of Christ's subsiiiution is not negative, 
 nor repr«.-sive of pe^^onallty, but product iv»\ He is 
 not contHrit with the existence' in H m-self of thu fulness 
 of the spi'itual life, into which His people are absorbed 
 by faith. Believers are themselves to live and love 
 us free personalities; Christ's redeeming purpose is 
 directed to the creation, by the Hoiy Spirit whom He 
 feends, of new personalities in whom Christ gairis a 
 settled, establisiied being. But by this very means God 
 exists in them after a new manner ; new^ not only 
 because the {)0wer of redemption iidieres only in God's 
 being in Christ, but new also because, although Christ 
 remains the Principle of this life, this life shapes itself 
 in freedom and distinctness from Christ. Only by 
 means of such freedom can the bond betwe* n Ofirist 
 and man, instead of remaining a one-sided one, become 
 two-sided, and therefore all the firmer, — the reciprocal 
 relation of love. But, at the same time, the fulness of 
 the Spirit of light and life, grace and truth, which dwells 
 objectively in Christ, no longer remains merely objective 
 to the word, but lives and unfolds itself in the world, 
 as a living treasure of salvation. Through the Holy 
 Spirit it comes* to 'pass, that Christ's impulse is not 
 simply continued and extended iio men, but becomes j n 
 iniigenous impulse in them, a new focus being formed 
 for naturalized divine powers. As a new Divii e 
 principle, the Holy Spirit creates, though not sub- 
 btantially new faculties, a new volition, knowledge, 
 fe ling a new self-consciousness. In brie^", He creates 
 a new person, dissolving the old union -point of the 
 faculties and creating a new pure union of the same. 
 The new ) cr-onality is formed in inner resemblance to 
 the second Adam, on the same family type, so to speak. 
 Everything by which the new peisonality, in its 
 independence, makes it&slf known, is ascribed by Holy 
 
I 
 
 332 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Scripture to this tliird Divine principle. Through the 
 Holy Spirit the heliever lias the consciousness of himself 
 as a new man, and the power and living impulse of a 
 new holy life, that is free in God. He is th*» spirit of 
 • joy and freedom, in opposition to the gramma or letter ; 
 subjection to the Divine impulse is now, in the bl» ndini^ 
 of necessity and freedom, without spontaneous impulne ; 
 mere passiviiy hikI reccptiveness are transformed into 
 spontaneity, nay, productiveness and independence. 
 Through the Holy Spirit the individual personal ty is 
 tiuis raised to comph'te charismatic personality. By all 
 these means the Holy Spirit plants and cherishes the 
 one relatively independent factor, — the piesuppo^^ition of 
 tho origin of the Church, namely, the new believinj* 
 personality.* (Dorner, System of Christian Doctrine^ 
 IV. 161.) 
 
 This thought that the Spirit of God, as the Spirit of 
 the Divine personality, becomes the life-princijde of our 
 personality, is one of extreme solemnity an«l of infinite 
 fruitfulness. The Spirit not only dwells in me as a 
 locality, or within me, alongside and around that inmost 
 Kgo in which I am conscious of myself, but, within that 
 1, becomes the new and Divine life-principle of the Ui w 
 personality. The same Spirit that was and is in Christ, 
 His inn^ost Self, becomes my inmost self. What new 
 meaning it gives to. the word, * He that is joined to the 
 Lord is one Spirit with HimM And what force to 
 the question, *Know ye that the Spirit of God dwellet'i 
 in you ? ' The Holy Spirit is within me as a Persond 
 Power, with a Will and a Purpose of His own. As I 
 yield up my personality to His I shall not lose it. but 
 find it renewed and strengthened to its highe>t caj-aci-y 
 Oh to see how entirely the Spirit will take the charge 
 which the fle^h has hitherto had ! We thought our- 
 selves fiee, and were slaves. The Holy Spirit working 
 out His will and purpose in me, teaching me to work it 
 out, makes me free. ^ 
 
NOTES. 
 
 833 
 
 
 it 
 
 NOTE 0. 
 The Place of the Indwelling (Chap. 6). 
 
 In fitudying the teaching of Scripture on the indwoU- 
 iriii of the Holy Spirit, it is of great consoqtience to see 
 cl(!arly what it telU us of the place where the Spirit 
 (Iwt-lls, and the mode in which He works. And to this 
 end we need to be specially careful to seek correct views 
 as to the difference between the soul and the spirit of 
 man, and their mutual relation. 
 
 In the history of man's creation we read, * The Lord 
 God formed man of the dust of the ground,' — thus was 
 liis body made, — *and brealhed into his nostrils the 
 breath ' or spirit * of life : ' thus his spirit came from 
 God ; * and man became a liviiig soul.' The Spirit 
 quickening the body made man a living sou], a living 
 ))erson with the consciousness of himself. The soul was 
 the meeting- place, the point of union between body and 
 spirit. Throu;j;h the bodi/y man, the living soul, stood 
 related to the external world of seube ; could influence 
 if', Of be influenced by it. Through the spirit he stood 
 ndated to the spiritual world and the Spinii of God, 
 whence he had his origin; could bo the recipient and the 
 minister of its life and power. Standing tlius midway 
 between two worlds, belonging to both, the soul had the 
 p'twer of determining itself, of choosing or rcfu-ing 
 the objects by which it was surrounded, and to widcli it 
 stood re ated. 
 
 In the constitution of these three parts of man's nature, 
 the spirit, as linking him witli the Divine, was the 
 hi,iihest ; the body, connecting him with the sensible and 
 animal, the lowest; intermediate stood the soul, partiker 
 of the nature of the others, the bond that united them, 
 and through which they could act on each other. Its 
 work, as the central power, was to maintain them in 
 their due relation ; to keep the body, as the lowest, in 
 
334 
 
 NOTES 
 
 subjection to the spirit ; itsi'lf to rece've through the 
 spirit, as tlie higher, from the Divine Spirit what was 
 waiting; it for its perfection ; and so to pass down, even 
 to the body, that by which it i.>(ii*j;ht be partaker of the 
 Spirit's perfection, and become a spiritual body. 
 
 The wondrous gifts with whicii the soul was endowed, 
 specially those of consciousness and self-determination, 
 or mind and will, were but the mould or vessel into 
 which the life of the Spirit, the real substance and truth 
 of tiie Divine life, was to be received and assimilated. 
 They were a God-given capacity fur making the know- 
 ledge and the will of God its own. In doing this, the 
 personal life of the soul would have become filled and 
 possessed with the life of the Spirit, the whole man 
 would have become spiritual. We know how the 
 opposite of this took place. The houl yielded to the 
 solicitations of sense, and became its slave, so that the 
 Spirit no longer ruled, but vainly strove to vindicate for 
 God His place, until God said, *My Spirit shall not 
 strive with man for ever, for that he al«o is flesh,' wholly 
 under th j power of the flesh. The spirit in man became 
 dormant, — a capacity for knowing and serving God 
 which would hnve to wait its time for deliverance and 
 quickening. The soul ruled instead of the spirit, and 
 the great mark of all religion, even in its most earnest 
 struggles after God, is that it is the soul, man's own 
 eneigy without the Divine Spirit, putting fortU its effort 
 to find and to please God. 
 
 In regeneration it is this spirit of man which is 
 quickened again and renewed. The word regeneration, 
 or being born again. Scripture uses as that change 
 whereby the soul passes from death to life, effected like 
 the natural birth, at once and once for all. The word 
 renewed is used of that continuous and progrtssivo 
 work by which the life of the Spirit of God enters more 
 fully into our life, and asserts its supremacy through our 
 entire nature. 
 
 In the regenerate man the original relation between 
 
 I 
 
NOTES. 
 
 335 
 
 tlie soul and the spirit has been restored. The spirit 
 of man has been qnickehed to become an habitation of 
 God's Spirit, who is now to teach and to lead, by com- 
 municating as a Divine life, as something sub^tantial 
 and real, the Truth, the actual good things which Christ 
 has for us. Tliis Divine leading into the Truth by the 
 Spirit of God takes place not in our fouI or mind, in the 
 first pl.ice, but in our spirit, in the inner recesses of a 
 life deeper than mind or ^^i\\. And it takes place only as 
 the soul, in the conftusion of how blinded it has become, 
 of how slowly its faculties really become spiritual and 
 divinely enlightened, in the willingness to be foolish and 
 ignorant, and in teachableness to wait on God's Spirit to 
 give His Truth in the lite, yields itself to that complete 
 supremacy of the Spirit which was its original destiny. 
 
 And now comes the most important lesson, not easy 
 to learn, for the sake of which we have at some length 
 spoken of the relation between the soul and spirit. 
 The ^.Teatest dan<:er the religion of the Church or the 
 individual has to dnad is the inordinate activity of the 
 soul, with its po^er ot mind and will. It hfls been so 
 long accust'>med to rule, that even when in conA^ersion 
 it has surren«!ered to Jesus, it too easily imagines that it 
 is now its work to carry out that surrender, and serve 
 the King it has accepted. Many a belitver has no con- 
 ception of the reality of the Spirit's indwelling, and of 
 the extent to which He mus»t get the mastery of the 
 foiil, that is, of our whole self in all our feeling and 
 thinking and willing, so as to purge out all confidence 
 iu the Hesh, arid work that teachableness and submissive- 
 ntgs which is indispensable to the Spirit's doin,^ His 
 work. The call of the Master to hate our o^vn life, not 
 to seek it but to lose it (the word used is psyche — soul), 
 is the call to ^ive the soul, with its power ol' willing and 
 actin<r, unto death, that it may find its true life again in 
 the quickenin*; and leading of the Spirit. As long as 
 this is not understood, there will not be that fear of self 
 and its wisdom, that absolute depeude.ice and waiting 
 
336 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 on the Spirit, which is the first condition of the spiritual 
 life. 
 
 To those who would be saved from these dangers, 
 who would fain return to the normal state in which, 
 and for which, God created man, the way is open, 
 though not always easy. Begin with the prayer that 
 we may know the Holy Spirit, His dwelling-}>idee. His 
 way, and His work, and what He claims. Seek a deep 
 impres>ion of the lioly mystery and the Divine reality 
 of His indwelling. As truly as God dw«lt in the Hesh 
 of Jesus of Nazareth, so truly, though in a different way, 
 doth He dwell in Thee. Have a deep reverence fr the 
 Holy Presence. Be very jealous of aught that would 
 grieve Him. Remember especially that what giieves 
 Him most, next to t>in, and what is somelimesi more 
 dangeious to ourselves than sin, is the bonl repeating 
 the first offence, and following its own thoughts about wJmt 
 is good and wise. Understand tl-at thou hast reeeived 
 the Spirit, th;tt now the 8< ul may be entirely under His 
 dominion. Im^gioe not that the fact of tiiy admitting 
 that thou needest the S[)irit's teaching, or that thou 
 askest for Him, is enough to secure His working. No 
 indeed. It needs a very real giving up of the life of the 
 80ul, of all its strength and wisdom day by day, and a 
 very real subjection of the whole mind and will to wait 
 for His quickening and His teaching, if thou art indetd 
 to learn to know and worship God in the Spirit. 
 
 To gather up what has been said. The spirit is the 
 seat of our God - consciousness ; the soul of our self- 
 consciousness; the body of our world-consciousness. In 
 the spirit God dwells, in the soul self, in the bo<ly «ensf?. 
 As long as the right relation existed, and the soul with 
 its 8- If u'as f^uhject to the spirit, and through it to God, 
 ail was well. But sin came as the assertion of self in 
 seeking its life through sense and not ohedience to the 
 8pir<t. And so the soul, self, selfishness became the 
 ruling principle of man's life. 
 
 In the regenerate man there is no more subtle temptiv* 
 
N0TE3. 
 
 337 
 
 e 
 e 
 
 tion than this, that even in tlie servictt of God self still 
 seeks to assert itself, and in its will and strength to do 
 G Oil's will, instead of waiting in dependence on the Holy 
 Spirit for Him to work, both to will and to do. This is 
 why the Lord Jesus said so distinctly, ' Let a man deny 
 liiniself, and take up his rross ; ' the life and the power 
 of self must he pacriKced and given up for the Spirit to 
 work. Even so He speaks of our hating and loving our 
 life {soul) if we are to fiid the true life, the life of the 
 Spiiit. In the believer there is ever going on a secret 
 struggle between the soul and th^ Spirit. On behalf of 
 God, the Spirit seeks to possess and pervade all. On 
 behalf of self, the soul seeks to take the first place, and to 
 assert the liglit of independent action. As long as this 
 is the cai^e, and the soul takes the lead, expecting the 
 Spirit t«» f»ilow, and lielp and bless what it does, our life 
 an<l work will be barren of truly spiritual results. Oily 
 when the soul, with all of self, its willing and running, 
 is daily denied and laid in the dust for the Spirit \'o 
 work, will the Power of G«»d be manifest in our servicn, 
 Hervi is the cause of such frequent failure in the sp'ritual 
 life, of the evanescent ciiaracter of many of our mosft 
 precious experiences ; our faith stood more in the wisdom 
 i/f man, in the influence of human teaching and human 
 apprehension, than in the power of G«)«l and His Spirit. 
 
 This is what is meant in Heb. iv. 12: 'The word 
 of God is living, and active, and sharper than any two- 
 e<lged sword, piercing even to the dividing of fouI and 
 spirit.' Just as in creation the fir^t w..ik of the word 
 was to divide, separating b tv^e^'U li^ht and darkness, 
 I arth and sea, so, as the Living Word, by the Hol}^ 
 Spirit, does it work in u><, the difference between the 
 spiiit as the higher and tite seat of the Divine, and the 
 Soul as the lower, ever with all its powers to be kept 
 subject to the spirit, I tcomes clear to us. And we 
 learn to understand that in the renewed spirit is the 
 home of God's Holy Spirit. 
 
 * Master, where dwellest Thou?' the disciples asked, 
 
 / 
 
338 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 when first they began to know Jesus. ' Come and 8e»\* 
 was His answer, and they abode with Him that night. 
 * Holy Teacher, where dwellest Thou ? * is a question we 
 may indeed ask, as we long to know the Spirit. The 
 answer Jesus has given us : ^ He shall be in you,* In 
 that inner shrine of our wondrous nature, the spirit, 
 deeper than the soul, with all its life of feeling, and 
 thought, and will, which God made for Himself, in the 
 spirit quickened by His power, there dwells the Holy 
 S/Arit. There, in the life which He has imparted, there 
 He dwells ; that life . He leads ever deeper into the 
 Truth, the actual possession of the substance of the 
 grace revealed in Christ. It is only the soul that knows 
 tliat He dwells there, and waits for His teaching t^ere, 
 to whom will be given as much as it needs and can hear 
 of that truth in the intellect, which otherwise is so 
 impotent and even dangerous. Paul writes : * God, 
 whom I serve in my spirit.' It is as I know that I iiave 
 a spirit, *the seat of self-collectedness, the inner sanc- 
 tuary,' formed for receiving the communications from 
 the Divine world, deeper than thought or feeling, and 
 retire there to wait on God s Spirit, and set it open to 
 Him, that I will learn to know where He dwell!*. Only 
 when He is acknowh dged and honoured there, will He 
 come forth from the secret place, to manifest His power 
 in the region of the soul and its conscious lite. When 
 speaking of the believer as a temple, I shall have occasion 
 again to point out the difference between the holy place, 
 the soul, and the most holy, the spirit. (24//i Day,) 
 
 NOTE D. 
 
 Growth in the Knowledge of the Spirit (Chap. 8). 
 
 In the following extract from Dr Saphir's Christ Ci'uci 
 fied : Lectures on 1 Corinthians ii., the thought is put very 
 
NOTES. 
 
 339 
 
 distinctly, that as a rule the believer in the first stage of 
 the Chrihtian life hardly knows that he owes his faith and 
 the power of the Ci»ri8tian life to the direct working ol' 
 the Holy Spirit. As a coi sequence of this ignorance there 
 very often comes a time or darkness, with the very view 
 of wakening him up to seek for the reason of his failure, 
 nnd the power of restoration and abiding growth. The 
 discovery of the work and indwelling of the Thiid Person, 
 the Holy Spirit, is what he needs, to see how all that is in 
 Chri>t can in very deed be his in continuous experience. 
 1 am sure that clear teaching in regard to this advance 
 in the knowledge of the Christian, and the proclama- 
 tion to the very feeblest of God's children that the 
 indwelling of the Holy Spirit is their privilege and 
 their strength, is just what is needed in the Church 
 in our day, and cannot fail of bringing light and blessing 
 to many. 
 
 * We read that the Apostle Paul found disciples in 
 Ephesus, whom he asked, ** Have ye received the Holy 
 Ghost since you believed ? " And their reply wa^, 
 *' We have not so much as heard whether there be any 
 Holy Ghost." As tlie Lord Je«»us said to Philip, 
 *' Have I been so long time wit^» you, and yet hast thou 
 not known n»e ?" so may the H.»ly Ghost pay to some 
 true and sincere b lie vers, ** Have I been so long wi.h 
 you, revealing unto you the truth as it is in Jesus, 
 working in you faith, shed-ling abroad in your heaits 
 GojI's love, com'orring you in your son*ow for sin, help- 
 iiig your inHrniitJes in prayer, opening to your under- 
 stan<li»ig wonders out of God's woid. and yet have you not 
 kmnvn we?" This ignomn^e arises, to some extent, 
 from the fict that the Spirit testifies not of Himself, but 
 of the Father and the Son. It is His to glorify Christ. 
 As when in the dark night a brigl.t light is concentrated 
 on one point, the light-bearer himself remains uneen; 
 so the bleased Spirit, un perceived by the awakened 
 sinner, causes all light to fall on the crucified Saviour 
 and the loving Father. The soul exclaims : How grecit 
 
340 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 is the love of God ! How marvellous is the grace of 
 Jesus ! He who has kiiidhd the light, who has opened 
 the eyes of the heart, who has renewed the soul, is as i/et 
 unknown and uuobaerved. John ilie Baptist compared 
 himself with the friend of the bri'legroom, who standeth 
 and rejo ceth greatly because ol^" the brid»^groom'd voice. 
 In liKe manner does the Spirit dirt ct the S')ul to Ciirist, 
 and fills the heart with joy in believing Jesus, while as 
 yet He dots not reveal His own. love and wmk. 
 
 * Another reason w hy the young believ er knows little of 
 the Spirit is because the Holy Giiost is so gentle. His 
 approach is so soft, His adaptation to our peculiarities of 
 ciiaracter so perfect, His influences so deep and pene- 
 trating, that we tliink our own reason, imagination, will, 
 conscience, have been acting of their own accord and 
 with perfect spontaneity. 
 
 * How liitle do we know that the Holy Ghost has been 
 influencing every faculty, every emotion, every mental 
 process ; so noiselessly, so quietly, so lovingly, so in- 
 wardly has the great Spirit been working, preparing, and 
 chisellin.', and fitting every stone of the building — 
 thus at the buildmg of Sidornon's temple no sound was 
 heard. With perfect knowledge and with infinite love 
 the Holy Ghost deals with our spirits, and wlien the 
 creative fiat goes forth, it is mostly as the still small 
 voice which came to Elijah after the earthquake and the 
 tempest and the fire. 
 
 * Yet the believer knows that he has experienced 
 Divine grace and power. God has revealed to him 
 Christ. God has created him anew. It is a super 
 natural influence of which he is conscious , and as it is 
 unique, so it brings with it the assurance cf its truth. 
 There is a testimony within his heart that the true light 
 now bhineth. '* I know whom I believe." Now, we our- 
 selves know. Yet '* the reason why we ourselves know is 
 that our knowledge is not of ourselves but of God." Here- 
 by we know that we know Him, by the Spirit He hath 
 given to us. Andthis light is sweet. There is a blessed- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 341 
 
 was 
 
 love 
 
 n the 
 
 small 
 
 d the 
 
 light 
 our- 
 tow is 
 [e re- 
 hath 
 fessed- 
 
 ness in this knowledge of the Father and the Son, a peace 
 and joy which satisfy the heart and fill the immortal 
 soul, ►o that there is perfect rest. Whence is thisi 
 Because the Holy Ghost, who is God, has revealed to 
 us the things which are freely given us of God, because 
 by the Spirit we call the Father Abba, and Jesus, Lord. 
 
 * As the believer progresses, and his path becomes more 
 complicated, he is taught more about the Spirit, for he 
 needs this doctrine increasingly for his comfort and growth. 
 His faiih is not so strong and unwavering as he 
 imagined; the ardour of Ms love soon vanishes; the 
 powtr of sin, which at first he fancied was utterly 
 broken, mak» 3 itself felt again ; prayer becomes langui<l, 
 and joy seems to have taken flight. In other w<'ids, 
 God leads him into the valley, and lest he should m-jke 
 a Ciiri't of his f^ith, and a welUcpring of a cistern, he 
 is taught something of himself. Who <loes not know of 
 thisseco"d stage in the Christian lite, at first so painful, 
 so humiliating, ami filling the soul with perplexity ? It 
 is thus that we learn that the Spirit who has rencW' d our 
 hearts must also sustain the new life; that we de| end 
 entirely on Divine grace and power, not merely to 
 bring us to Christ, hut to keep us in Him. 
 
 *Thus, as ill all God's dealings, there is progress in 
 ever-mcreasiug, widening, and deepening cycles The 
 believer experiences again in a more enlarged and 
 profou?id manner what he was taught at his tir^^t con- 
 version. He sees now more clearly the guilt and 
 helplcssnt ss of man, our utter dependence on a Father 
 to love us, on a Saviour to save us by the shedding uf 
 His blood, and on a Divine Spirit to quicken iud 
 enlighten the soul, and fill it with the love of God. 
 feeh now with deeper humility and truer joy 
 salvation is of God, that Divine grace lays 
 foundation and ])erforms the good work in us imtil the 
 day of Christ. 2'hen he btlu/lds the gift and the indwelling 
 of the Hohj Ghost. Thns was it that the first disciples, 
 after a season of childlike peace and joy in the presence 
 
 He 
 
 that 
 the 
 
342 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 h 
 
 and companionship of Jesus, lost the Saviour ; and with 
 Him the garden of the soul, trees and flowers and songs 
 of birds, vanisheil, and all was winter, cold, silent, and 
 dead. And tlieu He returned unto them never to leave 
 them; and, on the day of Pentecost, He, in the 
 person of the Comfoit»'r, de.'-cended and made all things 
 new ; and it was summer, full of fragrance and bright- 
 ness. 'I'hey had to lose Jesus for a while, to long for 
 the Spirit, and to rejoice in His coming. 
 
 *The gift of the Holy Gho-t is the mopt precious gift 
 of that love which the Father has towarot ua for the 
 sakn of His dear Son, and because we love Him, and 
 y»»lieve that He came from God. // is the gift in which 
 the purposes of God towards us are fvljilled and consummated. 
 
 *The Messiah and the Spirit always go together ; and 
 the gift of the Spirit is the great purpose of the Messiah's 
 coming and the first-fruits of His work ' (pp. 116-123). 
 
 * I shall never forget the gain to conscious faith and 
 peace which, in my own experience, came not at, but after, 
 a first decisive and appropriating view of the Crucified One 
 as the sinners sacrifice of peace — came from a clearer and 
 more intelligent hold upon the personality of that Spirio 
 through wh( se mercy the soul had ^een that blesseti 
 view. It was & new development of insight into tho 
 love of God; a new contact with the inner and eternal 
 movements of redeeming mercy ; a new discovery of 
 Divine resources. Gratitude and love and adoration 
 found a ne»v, a newly-realized reason, and spring, and 
 rest. He who had awakened, wlio had regenerated, 
 shone before the soul with the smile of a personal and 
 eternal kindness and friendship, standini; side by side in 
 union utisjieakable, yet not in confusion, with Him who 
 had suffered an I redeemed, and with Him who had given 
 His Son, who had laid the eternal ]>lar of grace-, and 
 willed its all-ujeiciful success.' — liev. H. C. G. Moule. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 343 
 
 for 
 
 NOTE E. 
 
 The Spirit of Truth (Cliap. 9). 
 
 We are so accustomed to tliink of the word Truth as 
 meaning doctrine, that it is only by a distinct and oft- 
 ropeated effort that we can realize that it is in a very 
 different and very much higher sense tliat our Lor<l us^s 
 it. When John speaks of Christ as full of grace and 
 y fii/A, and then explains this by sayin<r, ' Tlie Law t anie 
 by Moses ; Grace and Truth by Jesus Christ,' we notice 
 at once that he contrasts the powerless shadows an ' 
 forms of the law with the living substance and reah'ry 
 of what Christ brought, as the real communication of the 
 eternal lile of God from heaven. Th« following extract 
 from Beck (Prop. p. 2) may help us to lay hold of the 
 thought that Truth has indeed a Life and Kingdom of 
 its own : — 
 
 * Man's creative power, both spiritual and bodily, can 
 never attain to any true and real life, ex< ept as there is 
 something already given and received to work on and to 
 w«»rk out. It always supposes an obje-tive external 
 creation. So in nature we must always have the real 
 matter, with its own life-power in it formed for us, before 
 we cau with our powers secure any product : in the real 
 sense, whether spiritual or physical, we never produce, 
 we only reproduce. Nature is an independent kingdom 
 within which we live and \<ork, but in which we call 
 into exi>tence or create nothing. And just so, Truth, 
 the spiritual world, is an independent kin«;dom, which we 
 dj not bring forth out of our spirit, but which mu.-t in 
 its self-existence reveal itself to ua, that out of it we 
 may receive the substance and elements of a real Jife 
 before we can produce aught spiritually. An a-tuid 
 existence must in its own original power reveal itself to 
 us, and with its creative energy enter into us, before we, 
 can produce aught from within. And where is now thi3 
 
344 
 
 IsOTES. 
 
 o> 
 
 actual cxistenfo, this IMq Kini,'<lnrn of Truth ? Tliii 
 question compels every li"ne>'t thinker t«> conie out «»f 
 his own isolated self, and in this oyjjtttivc world (it 
 may he tiie inner oni, as far as it has an actual objeclivfl 
 existence) to seek for the revelation of Truth, iliat he 
 may open to it his spirit and reproduce what it haft set 
 before l>ii;i. And so faith is tl)e substance of Christian 
 truth, wnic'i enters in o man a-^ ins spiritual pioperty, 
 and in living power becomes immanent within him. As 
 u faith Chr istianity is ne ther id( a, nor law, nor fcelin 
 but, a life, a d ep, penetrating, and all-pervading life.' 
 
 It is of this Life Kingdom of Di'^ine Truth, of actual 
 Divine Li le, thtit Jesus came to earth as the embodi- 
 ment. It is of this Truth that the Hoi}'- Spirit is the 
 animating })rinciple, the very life. Arid when He comes 
 out of Christ v ho has said, ' I am the Tiuth,' He comes 
 as the bearer of all there is in Clirist to make Him Truth 
 within us, an actual living pos .ession. It is only as we 
 thus possess Christ the Truth that our knowledge of 
 the doctrine-truth will be living and profitable. 1 he 
 Spirit of Truth gives us life-truth in the inmost part, 
 thence Hh leads it into truth of conduct and character. 
 And only as we yield to Him in this, is the doctrinal 
 truth we hold leally the Truih of God to us. The 
 Church or the individual I as only so much of the Truth 
 of God as we Lave of the Si irit of God. 
 
 -J 
 
 NOTE F. 
 
 On the MissroN of the Spirit (Chap. 9). 
 
 ^ Love Revealed; Meditations on the Part'nf) Words 
 of Jesns with Hii* Disciples in John xiii. to xvii. By 
 George Bowen.' Sui h is th<; title of a book from which 
 I give some extracts, in which the thought is put with 
 great clearness and force that many Christians are living 
 
 I ;; 
 
NOTES. 
 
 345 
 
 out of 
 
 iia (it 
 
 •jectiVB 
 hat he 
 laR set 
 iriHtian 
 operty, 
 n. As 
 fci-ling, 
 ife. ' 
 
 actual 
 imbodi- 
 
 is tlie 
 i comes 
 
 comes 
 1 Truth 
 y as we 
 idge of 
 I. Jhe 
 jt part, 
 iracter. 
 ictriual 
 
 . The 
 ) Truth 
 
 Words 
 ii. By 
 
 which 
 It with 
 3 living 
 
 on an ante-penteco?tal level, and that th'^ jtron.ise of 
 Christ to reveal His Power to the world by Hia |>rt senco 
 among His people, made manifest throu^,h the Spirit, ia 
 Btill waiting its fulfilment in our experience. To those 
 who are not yet acquainted with this book I c.in most 
 tJ<^nfidentlv recommend it as lull of spiritual instructinii. 
 
 * " / will love him, and mil manifest myself to him " 
 (John xiv. 21). 
 
 'If we wish, therefore, to sound the depths of this 
 prouiise, "I will manifest myself to him," we must 
 hoiiour Christ and the Father and the Spirit by believing 
 in the pov-er of the Spirit. To have faith in Christ and 
 not to have faith in the Spirit seems to be a great 
 contradiction, yet we submit it for tie judgment of 
 candid inquirers if this contradiction is not strikingly 
 exhibited in the case of almost all who profess to be 
 followers of Christ. To know the Father we must know 
 the Son ; to know Christ we must know the Spirit. " He 
 shall glorify me," said Christ. Believest thou this ? Is 
 this thy conception of Christ's glory, that it is a glory 
 that the Spirit of God can enable thee to behold ? When 
 the omnipotent Spirit has been allowed by our faith to 
 go to the full extent of His resources in the revelation of 
 Christ, it will be time enough for us to turn away Irom 
 Him to some more perfect way of bringing Christ near 
 to us. 
 
 ' Our Lord Himself tells us that he that is least in the 
 kingdom of heaven— the kingdom that He cam(» to 
 esta!>lish — was greater than any of the prophets that 
 had been in the world before His advent. Greater? 
 Why H Because he is a habitation of God through the 
 Spirit, because that magnificent gift which Christ died 
 to obtain for us has been bestowed. 
 
 * Now all these views of the glory of the pr-ps^nt dis- 
 pensation seem to vanish into night when we subject 
 them to a comparison with the actual experiences of 
 Christians in general. But we do them foul injustice 
 iu this way. We are rather to submit the experiences 
 
346 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 of Christians to the test of Scripture. When we do p(\ 
 does it not appear that tlie Church has fallen back into 
 an ante-pt>nteco8tal state ? — that it has slipped out of 
 its own dispensation? There was a measure, a feeble 
 measure, of spiritual influ'nce enjoyed by the disciples 
 before the death and resurrection of Christ, else would 
 they not have been able to call Jesus Lord ; but it wad 
 nothing in comparison with what they rec^'ived on the 
 day of Pentecoftt. The day of Pentecost was a pattern 
 day ; all the days of this dispensation should have been 
 like it, or should have exceeded it. But, alas ! the 
 Church has fallen down to the state in which it was 
 before this blessing had been bestowed, and it is neces- 
 sary for us to ask Christ to begin over again. We, of 
 course, in respect to knowledge — intellectual kno«« ledge 
 of spiritual things — are far in advance of the point 
 where the disciples were before Pentecost. But it 
 should be borne in mind that when truths have once 
 been fully revealed and been made a part of orthodoxy, 
 the holding of them does not necessarily imply an 
 operation of the Spirit of God. We deceive ourselves, 
 doubtless, in this way, imagining that, because we have 
 the whole Scripture and are conversant with all its great 
 truths, the Spirit of God is necessarily working in us. 
 We need a Baptism of the Spirit as much as the apostles 
 did at the time of Christ's resurrection ; we need that 
 the unsearchable riches of Chrisl should be revealed to 
 us more copiously than they were to Isaiah in the 
 temple. 
 
 * We profess to love Him. We profess, there ''ore — the 
 inference is unavoidable — to desire to enjoy higher and 
 more satisfactory manifestations of Him than have been 
 yet vouchsafed unto us. It follows, then, that we ought 
 to feel very greatly the pressure of the obligation to seek 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit. Blessed be God ! the 
 Holy Spirit is being poured out in many churches, and 
 many Christians are at this very hour enjoying such 
 views of Christ as fill them with a preternatural joy 
 
NOTES. 
 
 347 
 
 and love and strength. But we have not yet entere<l 
 into the fuhicss of this glorious dispensation. If Me 
 love Christ, we will press deeper into it, believing that 
 Omnipotence will find ways of revealing itself in the 
 spiritual world of which we have as yet no conception. 
 
 * ^* Nevertheless I tell you the truth : it is expedient for you 
 that I go away : for if I go not away^ the Comfmter will not 
 come unto you ; but if I depart^ I uill send Him unto ym " 
 (John xvi. 7). 
 
 * Strange and scarcely credible though the announce- 
 ment may appear to you, I nevertheless tell you but the 
 simple truth when 1 say that it will be for your advan- 
 tage that I ascend unto the Father and send to you the 
 Holy Ghost, the Comforter, to be your perpetual guide. 
 And when I say that it will be for your advantage, I do 
 not mean that the Holy Spirit is greater than I am, or 
 that He will prove a truer friend to you. In fact, the 
 special office of the Spirit will be to bring you and my- 
 self into a more intimate and a more blessed union than 
 has yet been revealed to your consciousness. Though 
 you have journeyed with me during these latter years 
 of my earthly pilgrimage, yet there is no use in d' - 
 guising the fact that a moral chasm yawns between us. 
 You yourselves must often have felt the deepest pain 
 in reflecting upon the very feeble amount of influence 
 exerted upon you by One who is manifestly God in the 
 likeness of men. You have mourned that the words 
 and acts of One who was proclaimed the Only-Begotten 
 of the Father, who was transfigured before you, was 
 served by angels, who spake unto the winds and the 
 waves and they obeyed Him, — you have mourned that 
 the discourse and acts of such a One should have 
 wrought so feebly in your hearts. The desire for sancti- 
 fication exists in you, but the new and elevated con- 
 ception of holiness, which has been introduced into your 
 minds, only makes you the more sensible of your gre *t 
 moral deficiencies. If miracles could have given you the 
 victory over your sins, you would now be the holiest of 
 
348 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ! i 
 
 men. Since that hour when one of you fill at My feet 
 exclaiming, ** Depart from me, for 1 am a sinful man/ 
 how many glorious displays of my power have you 
 witnessed ! Yet are you still sadly aware that pride, 
 ambition, worldliness, have authority over you. 
 
 * Surely you must have admitted to yours-lves that if 
 three a* d a half years of such ttupendous exhibitions of 
 power have left you the unsanctified men you are, ten 
 years of such displays would not give you the victory 
 over your evil natures. For three and a half years you 
 have listened to a gnater than Solomon, — to one who 
 spake as never man spake, to the wisdom of God ; and 
 you have enjoyed such opportunities as never before 
 were enjoyed by mortal man to know the mind of Giid 
 concerning the way in which He would be served, and 
 what is the result ? You yourselves are constrained to 
 admit that the n suit is very unsatisftctory. 
 
 * Ah, if all that man needed were to have a teacher, 
 were to have lessons of Divine wisdom set before him in 
 the most intelligible and most expressive forms, then 
 would you now be incomparably the holiest of men, 
 proof against all temptation, superior to all earthly 
 influences. But what is the fact ? Was it not necessary 
 that I should this very evening begin the work of 
 instruction over again, as it were, by washing your feet ? 
 Have you not this very evening been disputing among 
 yourselves who shall be the greatest? Are you not 
 this very night to make evon the unprofessing woild 
 astonished by deserting me in my hour <»f trial ? 
 
 *Why do I now Iwell upon these things? Simply 
 that you may be assisted to recognise that my life on 
 earth, however marvellous and glorious as part of the 
 Divine i^ystem by which God is bringing you to Himaelf, 
 is yet of itself unable to effect your spiritual redemption. 
 It is one thing that the image of God should have been 
 placed before you ; it is a very different thing tiiat you 
 should he changed into that image. Man foolishly 
 Asserts that he only needs to know the true, the good, 
 
NOTES. 
 
 349 
 
 feet» 
 
 lan/ 
 
 you 
 
 ride, 
 
 lat if 
 ns of 
 ?, ten 
 ctory 
 s you 
 I who 
 ; and 
 before 
 f God 
 i, and 
 led to 
 
 jacher, 
 im in 
 
 then 
 
 men, 
 jarthly 
 essary 
 ork of 
 
 feetl 
 among 
 OM not 
 
 woild 
 
 Simply 
 life on 
 of the 
 I self, 
 iplion. 
 re been 
 [at you 
 )oli-»lily 
 good, 
 
 the beautiful, to be himse f the embodiment of truth 
 and goodness and beauty. Heaven has come down to 
 earth ; the very King of Heaven ha? tabernacled amon<j; 
 men ; He whom Isaiah saw in the temple, high and 
 lifted up, adored by seraphim, has conie down from His 
 throne, dismissed the seraphim to heaveii, and dwelt 
 with the people of I^'aiah year after year, yet it is not 
 seen that the men so amazingly distinguished have beeK 
 rendered eeraphic in holiiiess and love. Something t Ise, 
 then, is necessary that men may not only be mndo 
 acquainted with the image of God, but changed into 
 the same. 
 
 *Buc not only must you be sensible that you have 
 little remembered, little learned, little obeyed, of a'l 
 that 1 have told you and shown you; you must he 
 keenly cogn sant of the fact that your influence as my 
 servants and the expounders of my gospel is all but 
 nothing. In presence of a perverse and reb' llious race 
 your hearts sink within you, and you ask yourselves. 
 How shall we ever be able to bring men over to our 
 views of Christ ? You feel your need of some unknown 
 power by whicli the minds of men may be rendered 
 obedient ^o the truth. You find yourselves utterly at a 
 loss to communicate your deepest convictions. You are 
 ready to ask. Is there not something bt-yond miracles 
 even ? something beyond the power of a holy life? Is 
 there not in the resources of God tome means of 
 reachifig the hearts of men, and subduing that hostility 
 by which they are hindered from iec«-iving the testi- 
 mony of a holy life and a blessed go.'pel 1 There is. I 
 die that you may have life, and that you may have it 
 more abundantly. I ascend on high that the Comforter 
 may come unto you. Tlien shall you be strengthened 
 with a strength of which you have hitherto had no 
 consciousness. Rivers of living water, even of the water 
 of life, shall flow forth from you. Then the wilderne-s 
 shall be glad, the desert shall rejoice and blossom as the 
 rose.' 
 
!l i 
 
 I! :i 
 ,1i '! 
 
 350 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 * " And when He is come, He will reprove the world ofn% 
 find of riahteousness^ and of judgment " (John xvi. 8). 
 
 *"When He." "He" in the original is empbatia 
 It might be rendered "that one." He it is who, 
 coming, will convince mankind of pin. His very advent 
 will revolutionize their ideas of sin, being a te-timony 
 from heaven more striking than that of the voice fiom 
 heaven at the baptism of Jesus, to the fact that Jesus 
 the crucified is nonn other than Christ the jilorilied. 
 By the simple fact that the world has placed itself in 
 opposition to Jesus, testifiiony to Jt^sus will be testimony 
 against the world. Observe that the ])romise of the 
 Spirit was unto the disciples : ' I will send Him unto 
 you ; " and the change here intimated as to be wi ought 
 in the sentiments of men jzenerally was to be in con- 
 sequence of the descent of the Spirit o\' God upon the 
 disciples. The gospel is preached to convince men of 
 sin, of righteousness, and of judgment. The disciples of 
 Christ are in the world that they may make known the 
 Bin of men, the judgment of God, and the means of 
 escaping that judgment by means of the righteousness 
 of Christ. But here we are told that the woik of intro- 
 ducing the new convictions on these subjects into the 
 minds of men is to be accomplished by the Spirit of 
 God. Accordingly the apostles speak of themselves as 
 having preached the gospel with the Holy Ghost sent 
 down from heaven. 
 
 * What is here promised, then, is such an outpouring of 
 the Spirit of God as shall not only reveal itself in ihn 
 consciousness of the disciples, but substantiate itself as 
 an undeniable and wonderful fact to the apprehensions 
 of the onlooking world. And such was the advent of 
 the Spirit on the day of Pentecost. "He hath 8he<l 
 forth this which ye now see and hear," said Peter to the 
 multitude. That which they both saw and heard did 
 what all the miracles, the incomparable words, the 
 irreproachable life of Jesus, had failed to do. Let us 
 lay that these miracles began now to be seen, those 
 
NOTES. 
 
 351 
 
 igof 
 
 ihrt 
 
 jlf as 
 
 Divine words began now to be beard, for the first time. 
 By the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the disciples 
 the people of Jerusalen^ brgaii to look upward, and see 
 Jesus at the right hand of the Majesty on high. They 
 saw their own sin, heinous beyond all conception ; saw 
 the righteousness of Him whom they had put to death, the 
 Prince of Life ; saw it to be such a righteousness that in 
 comparison the entire race of man stood forth apparelled 
 in darkest iniquity ; and they saw the judgment of God, 
 inevitable and dire, against all who should be found in 
 opposition to Christ. It was as though they had been 
 taken up into heaven, and had seen the judgment-seat, 
 the books opened, and their own deeds manifested in 
 the unerring light of that tremendous scene. Sublime 
 arrangements of Him whose wisdom is unsearchable ! 
 Are the people of God at all awake to all that is implied 
 in the promise of the Spirit ? Is it enough that they 
 languidly recognise their obligation to make known the 
 gospel to their fellow-men, and take various steps to 
 have it preached ? Is not the great thing wanted this 
 — that the Spirit of God should be so poured out upon 
 Christ's people that men should be made aware of His 
 presence with them, and of the presence of Christ at the 
 right hand of God 1 so poured out that there should be 
 a coming together, in some sense, of the blessed God and 
 of the world which has separated itself from Him ; that 
 the powers of the world to come should take hold upon 
 men, and constrain them to cry out, " Men and brethren, 
 what must we do ? " 
 
 * The Greek is wonderfully felicitous in that it does 
 not represent the Spirit of God as coming once for all, 
 but as persistently cominoj. He it is who, coming, shall 
 convince. He comes as the rain from heaven, that must 
 9till come and come again ; as the wind, that must still 
 blow and blow again. We are not to look back for our 
 Pentecost. The Pentecost of the Acts is simply given 
 to make the Church of Christ acquainted with the 
 privileges belonging to this dispensation. It is only the 
 
3o2 
 
 NOTK». 
 
 firafc etep m a ladder of Pentec"»st8 by which the world 
 and the kingdom of Christ are to be brought together. 
 U is the specimen tt> accompany the promise, that we 
 may be stirred up to plead the promise with the greatest 
 loiveiicy 
 
 'Oh, it were unpnrdonable if, in a day Wuen God is 
 doing s » much to inspire us withi lofty conception -» ol 
 the power of the Holy Spirit, we shouhl still refuse to 
 apprehend the glorious illimitableness of this promise. 
 Consider it. We are to look at the work here assigned 
 to the Holy Spirit, in order that we may obtain a juat 
 view of His power. Look abroad upon the earth, and 
 see the nations, tribes, and tongues refusing to be con- 
 vinced by all that God in His Providence has taugbt 
 them during thousands of years ; by all that mi$>sion- 
 aries are teaching them, at this eleventh hour, of sin, 
 of righteousness, of judgment ; foim an estimate of the 
 wickedness which envelopes the earth like a dense and 
 deadly atmosphere, scarce suffering any of the rays of the 
 Sun of Righte >usness to penetrate it; then consider that 
 the Spirit of God, for whose effusioa we are taught to 
 pray, is pledged to rain conviction upon the worLl, and 
 anticipate for a most sublime and blessed end the final 
 judjfment by leading men to look to the righteousness 
 of Christ, the Desire of all nations. 
 
 * *' These things I have spoken unto you in proverbs^ hut the 
 time Cometh when I shall no more speak unto you in proverbs^ 
 hut I shall show you plainly of the Father" (John xvi. 2.5). 
 When fi-ures are made use of in speech, there is an 
 outside meaning and an interior meaning. As the shell 
 conceals and yet protects the kernel, so a truth conveyed 
 tropically may be unperceived at first. Afterward, when 
 additional light is given, it becomes manifest, and the 
 saying ceases to be a riddle. The gospel is full of 
 parables that could very little be understood until 
 Christ had suffered and entered into His glory. When 
 the Spirit of God was poured out upon His disciples, 
 the veil which had been over the words of Jesus dis- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 353 
 
 appearefl, and the interior trnthi flashed forth upon 
 them in all their lustre. Chri^r. Himself was sucli a 
 ] no verb. Once His Divine glory had flashed forth upon 
 th«5ir astonished gaze, but that was by way of anticipa- 
 tion, it very little dissipated the confusion of their 
 minds. Nothing about Christ could products its legiti- 
 mate and full effect upon them until they had been 
 brou«:ht out of the restricted and depresseii valley of 
 Judai.-m, and placed upon the elevated platform of the 
 New Dispt-nsation. 
 
 * The Spirit of God inundates the minds of men with 
 truths which previously had no meaning to them. 
 Now it appears to us that an observation of no little 
 importance may here be made. Truths which the H( ly 
 Ghost has taught us may be retained in the miud by the 
 mere natural power of memory. Are we not thus in 
 danger of deceiving ourselves as to the measure of 
 spiritual power enjoyed by us? We might have as 
 scanty a measure of the Spirit's influence as the disciples 
 had in the days preceding the death of Christ, and yet 
 he immensely in advance of them in respect to the 
 amount of our knowledge of the way of life. Is it not 
 to be feared that in those portions of the Church which 
 have nob yet been visited by a true revival, Christians 
 are to be compared with the first disciples, not as they 
 were on the day of Pentecost, but as they were previ- 
 ously — compared, we mean, as regards the actual divine 
 influence enjoyed by them ? Because they have the truths 
 they imagine they have the Spirit of truth. Perhaps the 
 word of Christ to them is : " Tarry ye in Jerusalem until 
 endued with power from on high." We are baffled, 
 bewildered, confounded, by our utter unfitness to con- 
 vince men of sin, of righteousness, and of the judgment 
 to come. Is it not tliat we fail to realize how absolute 
 is our need o( the mighty and manifest advent of tiie 
 Spirit? It is possible for Christ so to cause the Holy 
 Spirit to be seen descending upon us that the world 
 around shall discover, by this fact alone, the heavem 
 
 Z 
 
'Ml 
 
 354 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Opened and the Son of God standing at the right hand 
 of God.' 
 
 * Many in these days occupy no worthier position than 
 that first infcri(»r one ot the aposth"^. The aposilea 
 were not absolutely without the influence of the Spirit 
 during the time that Jesus tabernacled among them, 
 but these influences did little more than make the 
 ]>reseut darkness visible, and show them in the dim 
 distance the h'ght of the future. Without kno^^ing ir, 
 there are thousands of Christians who have that feeble 
 and equivocal measure of influence which belongs to a 
 different dispensation from this, and shows them to be 
 tv\-o thousand years behind their privileges. We have 
 said it, and without shame we say it again. They have 
 of course knowledge such as the ante-pentecostal Church 
 had not. It is the cunscwasness of this supeiior knowledge 
 that tends to keep them ignorant of their spiritual destitutioii. 
 Their position is appalling, for they are familiar with 
 the inspiring promises, and have no faculty to catch a 
 glimpse of the glorious things proffered in these pro- 
 mises. They actually suppose that these promises have 
 no more exalted interpretation than that which their 
 own emotionless and inglorious experience affords. 
 Blessed be God ! we are not limited to one Pentecost 
 under this dispensation. Let us but become aware of 
 the abnormal state in which we are, and take knowledge 
 of the lofty experiences to which God is inviting us. 
 Pentecost was not so much a mountain summit as a 
 jnountain high path or tableland, along which the 
 Church should have travelled to the New Jerusalem. 
 Let us look stedfastly up above, and see among the 
 clouds this highway of holiness, and prove the power of 
 the Saviour to bring us to it.' 
 
K0TE9. 
 
 355 
 
 hau 
 
 ill 63 
 
 )irit 
 
 lem, 
 
 the 
 
 dim 
 
 g is 
 
 to a 
 ,0 be 
 have 
 have 
 [lurch 
 vledge 
 lution* 
 with 
 itch a 
 ) pro- 
 have 
 their 
 fords, 
 itecost 
 lare of 
 ledge 
 us. 
 
 
 as a 
 |h the 
 ^salem. 
 ig the 
 kwer ol 
 
 NOTE G. 
 On the Name Comforter (Chap. 10). 
 
 It is admitted on all *hands that the word Comforter 
 does not give the full meaning of the Greek .7ord 
 paradetos. There is an active form, paradetor, of which 
 comforter is the correct translation. The passive form, 
 paradetos, just like the Latin advocatus, means one who 
 has been called in to assist, to take charge of a case, or 
 to plead a cause. Among those who take Advocate as 
 the correct rendering, there is more than one way of 
 applying the word. Some think of Him as bearing this 
 name because He has been called in of Christ to under- 
 take His cause with the disciples and the world ; others 
 as one who can be called in by the disciples when they 
 are in need of advice or strength. With those who 
 think that the rendering Advocate expresses fully what 
 our Lord meant, there is also a diversity of exposition. 
 Owen says, * He is an Advocate for the Church, in, with, 
 and against, the world.' So also Howe, * The Advocate, 
 a great pleader, who undertakes to manage the cause 
 of Christ and Christianity against the world.' In this 
 view the work of the Spirit in meeting the personal 
 need of the believer does not come out sufficiently. 
 Others think of the Spirit iis the Advocate for Christ 
 with believers. This is thus expressed by Bowen : 
 * Christ is our Advocate with the Father, and the Holv 
 Spirit Christ's Advocate with us. As Christ pleads for 
 us at the throne of grace, bo the Spirit pleads for Christ 
 in our hearts. The Spirit vindicates Him from our 
 unworthy thoughts, shows Him to be the chief among 
 myriads, and altogether lovely.' 
 
 These views give but partial aspects of the work of the 
 Blessed Paraclete. *The word has an incomparably 
 larger meaning than Advocate on the one hand, and 
 Comforter on the other. It includes both, but takes in 
 
356 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ii ! 
 
 I 
 
 i ! I 
 
 a great deal more than either. It means one who is 
 identified with our interests, one who un<h'rtakes all our 
 cause, one who engages to see us through all our 
 lifficulties, one who in t very way hecomes our rejrefen- 
 ^Ative, and the great persi'Ual agent that transacts our 
 jusiness for us.' — W. Kelly, The fVork of the Spirit. 
 
 And yet eve thi*^ oe^. not appear to cover all the 
 ground. An advucitts id indeed a representative. But 
 the most comprei <i?i(v j and most preriou-* aspect of the 
 Spirit's work is thi»i, that } > was to be the Rt' present ative 
 <tf Jesus. He was to make Jesus alwHys ])resent to us. 
 This was the sorrow of the disciples, that they were to 
 lose their Lord. TItis was the comfort Jesus promised, 
 ^iiat they wouM have One in whom His presence should 
 be restored. And this makes the Spirit the other 
 Advocate, that He has been called in and ^iven by 
 Jesus to represent Him, and make His presence real to 
 them, to reveal and impart all that our Lord is to us. 
 When Jesus, in speaking of another Paraclete, implies 
 that He is the first, and when He bears that name in 
 John ii. 2, we must regard Him as appointed and given 
 by the Father as the medium of intercourse between 
 Him and us, obtaining and communicating His blessin<r. 
 The word Paraclete or Advocate covers His whole 
 work and person as He mediates the Divine life and 
 love to us, securing for us all the Father has to jjive, 
 and bringing to the Father all we have to offer. This 
 is the true and full meaning of Christ's work as 
 Advocate^ of which His intercession is only one aspect. 
 And when He gives us the Paraclete as the other 
 Advocate, it is that His work should take in, in a'l its 
 breadth, Christ's own work, to make it life and reality 
 witliin us. Just as Christ, as Advocate, mediates with 
 the Father, so the Spirit mediates with Christ, revealing 
 in our hearts, as a present and continuous experience, in 
 the powder of the endless life, all that Christ's advocacy 
 secures to us. The Holy Spirit is the other Advocate^ 
 the alter ego in our hearts of Christ in heaven. 
 
NOTEd. 
 
 357 
 
 Tt would be HiflReult to discard the nse of the word 
 Comforter in English. It will not be needed if we 
 remember that the sorrow of the disciples to be removed 
 was at the loss of Jesus' presence, that the comfort to 
 be given was the restoration, in greater power, of the 
 presence of Him, their Divine Advocate. It is because 
 the Spirit is the indwelling representative of Jesus as 
 the Advocate in heaven, making Him always present in 
 tlie heart, that He is the other Advocate or Comforter. 
 
 kiive. 
 This 
 Ik as 
 jpect. 
 itber 
 1 its 
 saUty 
 with 
 saling 
 ice, iii 
 [qcacy 
 
 ocatOb 
 
 NOTE H. 
 
 The Glory op Christ (Ohap. 11). 
 
 The glory of God does not consiso in His sarround- 
 ings, or the circumstances amid which He dwe)l«. His 
 glory is the perfection and power of His Divine will, the 
 Divineness of the mode of His being and working. When 
 God glorified Christ in Himself, He not only «xd)anged 
 the circumstances of His earthly life for those of the 
 heavenly world, but entered upon an entirely new mode 
 of existence. Instead of being limited by flesh, by time 
 and space, He passed as man into the life of €k)d, who 
 is a Spit it. On earth He could only work on His 
 disciples as men next Himself and separate from Himself 
 through means of words and example, reafhing only 
 th^ir mind and affections, but not renewing their very 
 spirit. From heaven He could, as out of His Divine glory, 
 in the power of the Spirit, begin and work in them in 
 a very different way, entering their hidden life, and, 
 through Him, coming to dwell in their heart. It is as 
 the Glorified One — the one that has exchanged the 
 limited life of external effort and influence for the inner 
 life of power by which He fiUefth all things — that He 
 gives the Spirit, the Spirit of Glory. And the work of 
 this Spirit is to glorify Jesus. That does not mean to 
 
358 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 giv« lis some sense of His glory in heaven. No, but to 
 c •mmunicate to us p^-rsonally tliat presence and power 
 of Jesus which, in virtue of His Divine glory, He can 
 now manifest within us. But it is only the soul wholly 
 \ielded to the teacliing of the Holy Sjnrit who thus 
 knows * the Lord of Glory.' 
 
 The thought of the Lord of Glory being glorified 
 within us by the Spirit of Glory looks very simjdo when 
 once understood. And yet it is a deep spiriiual mystery 
 only reached in the way Christ reached His filory — 
 through conformity to His sufferings and the fellowship 
 of His cross. Each new impartation out of the glory 
 must be according to the riches of God's glory and the 
 mighty strengthening of His Holy Spirit — a most real 
 and direct act of God's ineffable grace continuing and 
 increasing to the soul the gift of His love. 
 
 To understand the way in which this glory works, ¥^ 
 must notice carefully the connection between suffering 
 and glory, * Behoved it not the Christ to suffer, and to 
 enter into His glory V^ On earth Christ was the Lord 
 of Glory (John i. 14 ; 1 Cor. ii. 8), but that glory was 
 hidden under the lowliness of the human manifestation. 
 And so, when the Spirit of the Glorified Lord enters us 
 to glorify Him in us, the glory is hidden amid the 
 feebleness and humiliation of our nature. And it is 
 often only as we suffer in the flesh that the quickening 
 of the Spirit is experienced. 
 
 The fatal error of the Jews was that they looked for 
 the glory of the Messiah as something visible and in 
 accordance with their worldly conceptions. Even the 
 disciples suffered from this, and were ail offended at their 
 Lord. The glory of the Spirit-life into which Christ has 
 now entered and in which He now works is a hidden 
 mystery, the mystery of godliness, working not in that 
 which is outward or sensible, but in the unseen, the 
 inner life. When we read of Christ manifesting Him- 
 
 * Compare Rom. viu. 17, 18; 2 Oor. iv. 16, 17; Heb. ii. 9, 10 1 
 1 Pet. iv. 13-16. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 359 
 
 Bolf, of His dwelling in the heart, we almost always 
 form houie conception of joy and triumph, as at the 
 entmiice of a king into his capital. And Jesus said. The 
 king'lom of lieav^n is as a seed. A seed is something 
 that cont.-iins life hidden in the most dead, unlikely- 
 looking ionn possible. Who thnt had never heard of 
 a seed growing could imagine the oak or the pine con- 
 tained in its St ed ? And this seed, with its hidden life, 
 must itself again be hidden under the earth. And so 
 the Kingdom «»f heaven comes to us in the seed of the 
 word, so small and dead-looking that no one expects 
 such mighty power from it. And it must be hidden, 
 not in the thoughts o.- feelings that we can recognise 
 and watch over, but deeper down, in the mysterious 
 depths of the spirit. There Christ, who is in the unseen 
 Spirit-life of the Father, finds the unseen depths of oup 
 Spirit-life and enters there. He is Himself the Living 
 Word, the Living Seed ; the Spirit is the Life of the 
 Seed. 
 
 False views of what glory is have been the great 
 stumbling-block of the Jew« and disciples of the Church 
 and individual believers. God's Glory is His Holiness 
 revealed in His good and perfect will. Christ's glory is, 
 that, having glorified God by entering into, doing, and 
 suffering that will. He was taken up into the fellow- 
 ship of the Father's glory, of that Life of Holiness and 
 Power in which God dwells. Christ is glorified in us as 
 we enter into His will in obeying and doing it, and have 
 His presence revealed within us in Divine Power. That 
 which in Christ was feeble and despised, the very opposite 
 of human glory, the lowliness and suffering of the cross, 
 was the hidden seed of His Divine Glory. In lowliness 
 ftnd obedience, in poverty of spirit and the absence of 
 iirhat can be seen or felt, in the death of the flesh and 
 the patient waiting on God, is the seed of Christ glorified 
 within us by the Spirit. 
 
 9, lOt 
 
300 
 
 !■• ! 
 
 NOTS& 
 
 NOTE I. 
 
 On the Presence of the Snarr in the Church 
 
 (Chap. 14). 
 
 * The present enjoyment of the Spirit is but an earnpst, 
 a gifc beforehand, a pledge of the coming fulness. St. 
 Paul speaks (Bom. viii. 23) of those '* which have the 
 first-fruitft of the Spirit," and in his other epistles he uses 
 equivalent expressions (Eph. i. 13, iv. 30 ; 2 Cor. i. 22, 
 V. 5). What can be meant by such words but that the 
 spiritual life is a continual progression, receiving, with 
 its widening capacities, richer gifts of the wisdom and 
 holiness of God ? The Church is in its infancy as to 
 valuation of spiritual blessing. It is, too, so much 
 engaged in controversy that it can hardly be preparing 
 itself for the completion of the holy promise. By mis- 
 taking the part for the whole, it is in danger of settling 
 itself into premature satisfaction, as if it had exhausted 
 the possibilities of prayer I Will it be uncharitable to 
 suggest that the Church is too much engaged in that 
 worst and most cankering of all worldiiness, the 
 elevation of one sect above another, and the angry 
 defence of forms^ which are but transient conveniences 1 
 What. is delaying the outpouring of the fulness of the 
 Spirit? There is indeed a still sterner inquiry, which 
 cannot be put without emotion, yet it may not be 
 honestly suppressed. Is not the presence of the Holy Ghost 
 in the Church less distinct to'day than in the apostolic age f 
 Certainly there is not much appearance of Pentecostal 
 inspiration in contemporary Christianity. Why has not 
 a Church eighteen hundred years oM a fuller realization 
 of the witness of the Holy Ghost than had the Church 
 of the first century I Has the Church accomplished all 
 the purpose of God, and passed for ever the zenith of 
 her light and beauty V — The Paraclete, p. 173. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 361 
 
 he 
 ih 
 ml 
 to 
 ich 
 ing 
 nis- 
 iiig 
 [ted 
 to 
 ,hat 
 the 
 
 gry 
 
 cesi 
 the 
 ich 
 be 
 host 
 gel 
 stal 
 not 
 ,tio!i 
 uich 
 all 
 ,h of 
 
 NOTE J. 
 
 The Outpouring op the Spirit (Chap. IB). 
 
 I give anotlior note from Professor Beck, on tb« Hpiril 
 and the work He does in the believers and thfl Church, 
 as well as in the worM, in virtue of His being poured out 
 on all flesh (Christlich. Ethik, i. 124). AnythiT)g that 
 helps us to meditate on what was needed to prepare for 
 the outpouring of the Holy Spirit, what its objt^ct was, 
 and how He comes to do that work, will help to free us 
 from those very limited ideas we have of what a Spirit, 
 and who the Holy Spirit is, and what the blessed work 
 He has come to do in us. 
 
 'As concerns the relation of the Spirit to Christ, He 
 is the Witness who takes of what Christ contains and 
 possesses to bring it to up, and thereby reveal and glorify 
 Christ. (John xv. 26 ; xvi. 7, 11.) The witness ol* the 
 Spirit has this peculiarity, that He ac^s as the Power 
 from on High, and that where His witness eaters, the 
 Life comes in Divine Power. The Spirit is thus the 
 Dynamic Principle, in whom C'ucentra'e all the life 
 powers that flow from Christ, and from whom they are 
 divided as the powers peculiar to each, as gifts and 
 graces. He is thus ihe Forr^iaiive Power, which from 
 out of the substantial reality of what there in in Christ, 
 begets and develops the individual lite. His Witness- 
 ing mediates the Begetting; as the dynamic principle 
 He is also the generative princifde. Through him the 
 Christ )s born in us, becomes, with His life of grace, our 
 inner personal life, so that we are clothed upon with the 
 Power from on High, with a supernaturnl life power. 
 We have thus the grace of Christ, not only us an (object 
 without us, but within us as a Power of God. In tho 
 Simit th**!e dwells within us that Power of Divine Gra ;e, 
 in which all the powers of the new hff c«'nci>ntTate. 
 Spiriiy Lif% Power, are therefore in Scripture correlated 
 
862 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ideas, just as, on the other side, Flesh, Weakness, Deaths 
 are one. The Eternal lAfe System, which from its Divine 
 Head is again to bring the earth, the world of flesh, into 
 organic union with the upper, the Spiritual world, can 
 alone be built up on a heavenly Dynamics, on the action of 
 the Spirit as the Power of the Heavenly Life. 
 
 *This action of the Spirit is, however, only mediatei] 
 for the world by the Reconciliation which J^^us Christ 
 has effected, and by His beirjg gloritied. Previous to 
 this reconciliation, the Divine Spirit worked on earth 
 either as the Spirit in nature, as the power of the earthly 
 life, or as the Spirit of the Theocracy, with special tem- 
 porary manifestations for special functions, as in the case 
 of the prophets. But not in such a way that the Eternal 
 Life, as it belongs to the Div ne nature, and dwells in the 
 Father and the Son, that the Spii it of the Divme persocial 
 life could become the personal life of man, the property 
 of his inmost nature. In this special aspect the Spirit 
 in the Old Testament was only a promise to be realized 
 in Christ, and therefore bearj the name of the Spirit; 
 of Promise. In the New Testament Spirit the promise 
 be«'.oraes fulfilment, actual bes^owment, and possrssion. 
 Bfj/ore this, however, could take place with any human 
 individual, the Spirit had first as the Power of the Most 
 High, that is, as He had hitherto existed only in the 
 transcendence of the Divine nature, to form and secure 
 for Himself in human nature a centre, whence He raijiht 
 communicate Himself. In this central nature the Spirit 
 had to be brought into a free organic union with man's 
 psychical and physical nature as existing in the flesh, 
 and that nature had even so to be formed into the organ 
 of the Spirit. In one word, a man, anointed and per- 
 meated with the Holy Spirit, the Anointed, had to he 
 formed. And then, in this spiritually perfected central 
 personality of Jesus Christ, the flesh had, by a voluntary 
 sacrificial death, to be transformed into the true spiritual 
 existence of the Divine B.4ngj or glorified and lifted up 
 into God, and so the reconciliation of ihe world with 
 
NOTES. 
 
 363 
 
 pi's 
 ran 
 
 m- 
 
 he 
 Iral 
 iry 
 
 lal 
 Jup 
 lith 
 
 God acc^mplishe'l. In this way alone oouM this visible 
 lite sys em, the organism "f the sensible so »I life, he- 
 come ju iicially and ethically accessible to the opera' ion 
 and participitioii of the Divine Spirit, out of the Recon- 
 cd- r and throug'i Him. Thus alone could the Spirit, 
 in His new character, be set free <»ut of the nature of 
 Christ as now glorified in God, out of the Divine-human 
 nature, to be poured out as the power of the heavenly 
 life, the power of the eternal life, upon all flesh. 
 
 'The question now comes, How have we to represent 
 to ourselves this Outpouring of the Holy Spirit ? 
 
 *The outpouring of the Spirit is not identical with the 
 individual indwelling of the Spirit, but is the universal 
 piesupposition of the latter, for it is spoken of (see 
 Acts. li. 16, comp. 33) as an outpouring dovm upon all 
 flesh (tin indicat s the direction), of which the being 
 filled with the Spirit indivi«)ually is only the conse- 
 quence ; the iudlvtdual entering in of the Spirit is mediated 
 by the universal cutpouiing. The relation is the same as 
 that in which the universal reconciliation, as a recon- 
 ciliation of the world stands to the personal recon- 
 ciliation, which is mediated by fche former. Each of 
 the^^e, the reconciliation of the worhl and the outpouring 
 of the Spirit, stands as an all-embracing fact, accom- 
 plished once for all, an objective universality, while in 
 su'j'ictive realization but few are partakers of either. 
 The outpouring on all flesh is thus neither the inpouring 
 in all flesh, nor a mere rhetorical expression for the 
 inp<»ui-ing in a few individual men, but indicates its 
 diioction and destiny for the whole of men. And yet 
 a,ain, not as a mere ideal destiny, for this it was already 
 in the Old Testament ; in the New it is a fact that 
 has taken ])lace (Acts ii. 33). Having received the 
 promise of the Father, He hath shed forth i\\h. Corre- 
 sp ndinLT to this de^tination tor the whole, for all flesh, 
 tiicre is also a world-euibracing operation of the Spirit 
 on the wl ole. Our Lord Himself, speaking of the 
 coming or out^ ouring of the Spirit (John xvi. 8), attri- 
 
864 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 buted to Him a work on the unbelieving world, even 
 when they do not individually receive Him. It is thna 
 a work independent of His reception, a judicial one. 
 
 * We are thus led to regard the matter in this light : 
 that the Spirit, as sent down or pound our, has now, 
 by BU descendence out of His previous transcendence, 
 become a Power cohering and influencing the worl I, a 
 new Cosm c Power pro<.'eeding from Christ, on the ground 
 of the accomplished reconciliation of the Kosmos in Christ, 
 even while the Spirit — as individual gift, a subjective 
 possession — has become personally immanent in but few. 
 As Outpoured Spirit He is, and w orks in the world, in- 
 dependent of His indwelling in special individuals, even 
 as the exalte<l Christ also exists and works as the Lord 
 who fills heaven and earth, as a Cosmic Power. With 
 the outpouring of the Spirit on all flesh a new Life 
 Power has been set free from above, which now as 
 Spirit, thus invisible, pervades the world system accord- 
 ing to its own laws, as the Eeaction of a holy Cosmic 
 Spirit Power against the Cosmic Power of the Spirit of 
 Falsehood and Destruction which had hitherto ruled 
 the world. This latter does nov only exist as a Spirit 
 immanent in individual men, but as an independent 
 Power, the Prince of this world. The operation of the 
 new, holy, and spiritual World-power thus acts partly as 
 general, as it works in the world, partly >'S sptcial and 
 iFidividual, as it works in the Church of Christ. On 
 the side towards the world, we have the world-jud^cing 
 work of the Spirit. The Spirit works as the Fire ca^t 
 upon earth from above, in its separating and ju Igiiig 
 ]ower embracing not only the moral, but even the 
 jdiysical world (Luke xii. 49, 51; iii. 16; the ba[ tism 
 and burning up with fire, Rev. iv. 5). 
 
 'This is the foundation and preparation of the moio 
 special opera' ion, in which the Spirit, as the new Life- 
 Stream from ab >ve, flows into the individual souls that 
 are united with the Lord, and fills them (John iii. 5 : 
 vii. 38 ; iv. 10, 14). Here, in His quickening pv>wer, tii« 
 
NOTES. 
 
 365 
 
 Spirit is in union with water, just as in His judging 
 power with fire. Comp. Gen. i. 2 ; (Water, Spirit, Light) 
 Matt. iii. 1 1 ; (Spirit, Fire, Water) Rev. iv. 5 ; xv. 2 \ 
 xxii. 1. 
 
 ' Where the Spirit is tlius represented as Fire and 
 Water, it appears as a Power in nature, — but it is a 
 Power of nature Divine and Spiritual, making itsilf felt 
 within the physical world as a Cosmic Power, — this, 
 however, not for daily objects in connection with the 
 world, but at special epochs for objects in connection 
 with the Kingdom of God. As such a cosmic power, 
 the outpoured Spirit forms the connec ting link between 
 the Redeemer of the World, in as far as His whole 
 n iture has been lifted up into the Spirituality of heaven, 
 and tlie Redemption and Transformation of the world 
 of flesh out of its natural state, without the Spirit and 
 against the Spirit, into a spiritual corporeality. The 
 Outpouring of the Spirit is thus, just as the reconcilia- 
 tion, — of which it is the immediate result, — a real, per- 
 fected organization in this earthly world of the holy 
 Spirit-influence, through which, in opposition to the un- 
 holy Spirit-influence, the operation, and entrance of a 
 substantial heavenly Spirit-life in humanity (Eph. i. 3 ; 
 Heb. vi. 4), and at last in all nature (h'om. viii. 19), is 
 mediated, and so the full destruction of the Sa\anic 
 power obtained (I John iii. 8 ; xii. 31 ; xvi. 8, 11).' 
 
 NOTE K. 
 
 LOIO 
 
 .ife- 
 
 Ithat 
 . 5 : 
 
 tiiO 
 
 On the Spirit or Missions (Chap. 16). 
 
 The great International Missionary Conference has 
 just been hehl, followed by what has been called a 
 Miisbionary Crusade in Scotland. I have joined with 
 many in the prayer to our Lord for His presence in the 
 meeting, in thanking Him for success vouchsafed, in 
 
I R 
 
 um. I 
 
 Mi 
 
 I 
 
 ! i 
 
 366 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 praising Him for the results. And yet T feel as if tl.^ra 
 18 one remark I cannot withhold. I noticed with great 
 interest a paper, is^sned before the meeting, in T\i 
 Christiim, by Dr. A. Piersorj, pointing out what might 
 be hoped for from such a gathering, and concluding 
 with the remark that unless it issued in a great bapfii^ra 
 of prayer it might still be a comparative failure.^ What 
 I have felt in regard to some other large gatherings of 
 God's servants in the holy ministry impressed me here 
 too, that there was too little time given to the united 
 confession of our need of, our expectation of, our fait*i 
 in, the power of the Holy Ghost. We all admit that 
 what ttie steam is to the engine that draws the train, 
 what the fire is lo the cannon with its powder and ball, 
 the Holy Spirit is to the work of the Church and of 
 Missions. And why should not, at such gatherings for 
 eight or ten days, the very best of the days be ^et apart 
 for fjersevering united supplication for the mighty in- 
 dwelling and working of the Holy Spirit in Goil's 
 servants, present or represented in such a gathering, 
 for His mighty power in the assembly, and for the 
 deepening throughout the Church of the conviction that 
 both for life and work the one thing needful is Christ's 
 indwelling presence revealed by the Holy Spirit ? In- 
 stead of the meetings for prayer being the smallest, 
 should they not be the largest aiiu most important ! It 
 WJ.S ten da\ s of continuing with one accord in prayer 
 and supplication at the footstool of the exalted Lord 
 that piepared that feeble company of disciples for the 
 struggle in which they deHed the power of Jerusalem 
 and Rome, an 1 conquered. Oh, we need above every- 
 
 1 * There is one outcome for which we look with greater confidence 
 ar.: ]»oM3ff Jness than for all other results combined. What the 
 Ciiurcli 'jy,-.t i.eeds above all else is a baptism of prayer. . . If that 
 Ctin eren(^< m Lou'lon shall not issue in a new baptism of prayer, the 
 hijrhe.'it r'^sult will not be attained. Let the whole Christian Church 
 un;to i;i or.c ruightyand movinv entreaty that in these latter dnya 
 it, r.j vv tcne to paa' '••hat God shall pour out His Spirit upon all 
 flosh, td «loo. 's prophecy shall at la6t receive its grandly complete 
 fulfih^/entc' 
 
NOTES. 
 
 367 
 
 thing to help each other to continue in prayer that we 
 may bf* mightily strengfhened by God's Sf»irit. 
 
 1 feel confident that if at such gatherings we could bo 
 brought to make waiting upon God our first work, 
 there would not only be the blessing at the time for 
 th»so who meet, but it would be a living testimony of 
 unspeakable >alue to the blessed truth that it is by the 
 Holy Ghost filling each individual believer that our 
 blt-ssed Lord is waiting to bless the world. 
 
 Fn reading the stirring reports of tlie Missionary 
 Crusade in Scotland, the same thought presented itself 
 in a different shape. When one or more men, full of a 
 holy enthusiasm for missions, address large audiences, 
 they may succeed in imparting somewhat of their fire 
 to their hearers, the Spirit in them touches deeply those 
 who thus come under their influence. And yet the 
 |)ermanent result is often very sma'l. and the process 
 has to be continually repeated.^ What the Churcli 
 ^ needs, what our Lord asks and longs to give, is some- 
 * thing more. It is not enough that Christians, living a 
 feeble, sickly Christian life, should from time to time 
 be stirred. If the interest of the individual believer in 
 missions is to be well-pleasing to the Master, and a real 
 spiritual force in the world, it must come, not from 
 Continual appeals from without, but as the spontaneous 
 outflow of* a he rt in which the Spu'it of Jesus is dwell- 
 ing. Every branch of the vine must br its fruit from 
 the direct inflow of the life-giving sap- le Holy Spirit. 
 If the confessions that have been ma in these past 
 jears of teriible shortcomings and unf thfulness, while 
 we have only been playing at missions, are to mean 
 anything, we must all labour for th< ostoration of the 
 half- forgotten truth, that every believer is expected to be 
 full of the Holy Ghost. All the Church's appeals for 
 
 I Dr. Pierson says in the same paper, 'Dependence is frequently 
 placed upon mere organization. A transient enthusiasm is awakened 
 that is like the morning cloud or early dew, pnd passes aa quicklj 
 away,' 
 
rX' 
 
 ill 
 
 368 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 support and prayer must be accompanied by the teach- 
 ing, in the power of the Spirit, that where the Holy 
 Spirit dwells and rules, sacrifice for Christ and entir« 
 personal devotion to His interests is nothing but the 
 natural outcome of a healthy Christian life. Chii?>t did 
 not call His Church to be His witness to the wliolo 
 earth without first premising the power of the Spirit 
 coming on her. 
 
 I must ask my readers to forgive me if I appear to 
 repeat too frequently this one thought. I feel as one 
 who has a message to bring, but is c 'nscious that he 
 stainmers, and feais that his message will not be rightly 
 understood. We are all so sure that we believe in the 
 Holy Ghost, and that we understand how indispensable 
 Hl-^" operation is, that it is with difficulty we can look 
 on the deep sj/iritual trw.tb, that our Almighty Lord 
 Jesns is waiting, by His Holy Spirit, to work in ev< ry 
 believer, and so throu_h His Church, the greater works 
 He proraise<l, something exceeding abundantly above 
 what v\e ask or think, according to ti;^. power that, is 
 working in us. The beginning ot the change must I e that, 
 in the ordinary ministry of the word, every individual 
 believer must he educate^l into the full consciousne>s 
 that to be filled with the Holy Ghost is an absolu'e 
 necessity for a iiie iiuly fruitful and well-pleasing to 
 God. May every appeal for missions, every eflfort, in 
 presence of the hundieds of millions whom we have 
 been leaving to pe;i>h, to bring the Church to a sense 
 of her ^uilt, and a surrender to her glorious calling, may 
 all speaking and writing and praying, may ail our 
 conference , and Cliurch councds, lead to the deepening 
 of the conviction — the Holy Spirit is the Church's power 
 for all her work and her missions, and that power will 
 only act mightily as the number increases of individuaj 
 believers wlio give themselves to be possessed, to be led, 
 to be used of the Spii it of Christ. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 369 
 
 NOTE L. 
 
 On Conscience (Chap. 21). 
 
 If man he the antitype of the temple, and his spirft 
 the most holy place where God dwells, it is not difficult 
 to fix the plaoe and the meaning of that part of its 
 furnitare which typifies conscience. This is none other 
 hut the ark of the covenant. The mtirks of identifica- 
 tion are three. The ark was that in which the law <>i 
 God was containi^d and carried. Conscience is tliafc 
 pt)wcr which has God's law a^ its contents ; as far as the 
 law, wheth«-r ms written in the heart of the heathen, or 
 as transcribed in the heart of the heliever hy the Spirit, 
 is present tlteie, so far consc ence is ahle to do its 
 work. Even as the ark, it is the receptacle or holder of 
 the law. And tbeti it was on the '' that the mercy- 
 seat rested, that the Rprinklmg ot *yiood was effected, 
 an I the throne of grace then set up for God to be 
 \»0( shipped. And k) it is specially to the conscience 
 that the blood is applied within us, and that the Spirit 
 witnesses of our hehvx well-pleasinij: to God. The ark 
 was called the ark of the testimony, containing God's 
 law or His testimony to Israel. And so the Holy Sjiirir, 
 as writing the livmg law in the heart, is (Jods testi- 
 n oiiy to His jedeerued people, the wi ness both of His 
 will and of His favour. And conscience, sprinkled witti 
 the blood, and keeping watchful guard over the childliko 
 life of obedience, is tne spiritual organ within our -piiit, 
 t » which, and through which, the Holy Spirit gives His 
 V itness. ' My conscience bearing me witness in the Htdy 
 Spirit.' 
 
 With what care was the ark treasured in Isiael I 
 With what confidence fodowed by the ho-ts when 
 passing thiough Jordan to conquer Canaan and its 
 hosts ! With what qui t expectancy borne around 
 Jericho ! With what joy a place was prepared lor it, 
 
 * 2 A 
 
'11* >r' 
 
 il 
 
 Mil 
 
 370 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 and God's presence with it claimed ! (Ps. cxxxii.). 
 Cliiistian, treasure above everything the ark of tim 
 testimony within thee. The law of the Spirit is within 
 it, the Blood is upon it. It is the place where thy God 
 dwells and rests and communes with thee. It is the 
 meeting-place, the point of contact, between God and 
 the soul — the seat of faiti, and the seat of God. Ab «ve 
 everything, bow in fear and reverence before the H- ly 
 Pre.- ice which rests above the ark. Keep a conscience 
 void of offence. 
 
 NOTE M. 
 
 The Light of the Spirit (Chap. 22). 
 
 (From Dr. A. Saphir, Chrint Crucifed^ p. 109.) 
 
 *But it may be asked : God revealed Himsnlf and His 
 purpose in Clirist, Why is another light, another teacher, 
 needed ? The necessity is obvious from hist iry. Tlie 
 heathen world by wisdom knew not God, and when 
 Christ came He was rejected ; they who received Him 
 confessed it was owing to a supernatural illumination, 
 to the Spirit of God. Israel taught by holy men in- 
 spired of God, in possession of the Sctiptiire.^, the 
 perfect portrait of Him that was to come ; Israel, thus 
 highly favoured and fully instructed, was not able to f!is- 
 cern the Divine features of that connienance, of which 
 Moses and the prophets, of which all their institutions, 
 testified. He came to His own, but Hi-? own received 
 Him not). They crucified Him. What greater proof 
 can we have that Christ Himself rernains unsesn lights 
 unless the Spirit reveals Him ? 
 
 'But look at the very discip-es of our Lord. They 
 were drawn to Jesus by the Father. Their knowledge 
 that Jesus was the Messiah, the Son of God, came not 
 by nature, by flosh and blood, but it was from above. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 371 
 
 They loved Jer^us with all their hearts, cleaving unto 
 Him with all the pities of their afffction. And yet, 
 while He was here, they understood not the Script 'ires. 
 Even the instructions of the blessed Master, received 
 with intensest admiration and affection, were not suffi- 
 cient. They stood at the thresliold of truth : thi Holy 
 Ghost alone can lead ua into the Truth. God is in Christ; 
 but the Holy Ghost alone reveals Him who is God 
 manifest. 
 
 *But let us go higher than the proof of actual history 
 and experience. God in His love reveals Himself. It 
 is His gracious will thnt I should know Him. In Christ 
 Jesus He reveals Himself perfectly. Jesus is Light, full 
 of bri«;htness and sweet tonHerneos. And yet I require 
 another light to aea tlie True Light. How is this? 
 
 'Simply because there is no oth«^rGod but the Triune, 
 — Father, Son, and H'*ly Ghost. God knows Himself 
 in His Spiiit. It is in the Spirit of God that God is 
 Light in Himself, and therefore by the Spirit He sends 
 forth light into the world and into the hearts of His 
 children. 
 
 'God reveals Himself. But who is Go<l revealed? 
 Who else but the S 'U ? And hy whom does the Father 
 know and hwe the Son? Bfi that very Spirit by whom 
 He reveals Himseff to man. Set ir^are is of the Father • 
 its subotance is Christ, and ii is revealed by the 1 '. ./ 
 (ihost. A revealing God, a reveahd God, is the true 
 God, — Father, Si-n, and Holy Ghost. 
 
 ' So it is in redemption. We do not exalt the Lord 
 Jesus Christ, or approach H m more closely, when we 
 forget the Father an I the Spirit. It is the glory of 
 Christ that He reveals the Father, and baptizes with the 
 Holy (ihost. Father, Son, and Holy Ghost are one in 
 majesty and glory, and one in love and grace. 
 
 *Eemember, there is ro bridge from this worW unto 
 the land of glory; remember, there is no laHder^from 
 this earth unto heaven, unle>s fram yonder shore and 
 from yonder height, God, the Triune, Himself comes 
 
372 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 down and brings us salvation. Amor descendit^ wao a 
 Paying of the ancients. Love descends from henvt-n. 
 What God in His infinite love, wisdom, and power hath 
 treasurtMl up in Christ Jesus, Himself must give us bu 
 the power of the Holy Ghost. And thus we know and 
 a><>uiedly bnlieve, that nothing shall separate us from 
 the love of God, which is in Christ Jesus, because 
 Christ is our.% not by our ovm reason, not bit our own 
 energy^ not by our own faithfulness, but by the Holy Ghost 
 Himself, who is very God ami eterufd God, who links us 
 unto the Lord Jesus Christ, to be His for evermore. 
 
 *The Holy Gliost, who is in es^ential and pirft-ct 
 communion with the Father and the Son, reveals unto 
 uh et«Tnal realities. He alone knows tiie infinite love of 
 God vith whicli He has loved us, for He alone can 
 fathom the depth out of which this love proceeds. Thus, 
 wliao the Holy Ghost reveals and imparts is the know- 
 ledge of realities which are eternal in God. 
 
 *Ho brings a living knowledge ; His liglit is tlie li-ht 
 of lite. It is not inform-iti'/n, an in!?i-iit into the con- 
 nection of truths, and an appr« ciation of tlieir beau y 
 and grandeur. Men may have sucli knowledge vast 
 and deep, and yet be destitute of the grace of God and 
 uninhabited by the Divine Spirit. To know God and 
 Je lis Christ whom He has sent is life eternal. This 
 l^nowh-dgH of God, beholding Him and Christ, is the 
 B[>nitual, ne\er-ending life which the Spirit creates 
 uiihin us. D»'ad knowledge is not the work of the 
 Holy Spirit — knowledge which remains quiesc«nt^ 
 sdent, and lonely; for the knowledge which the Spir t 
 gives is commumon. We see the Father and the S<»n as 
 seeing us. Wlien we behold them by the revelation of 
 the Spirit, it is as heholding us with infinite love, and 
 bestowing upon us the blessings of grace. We know 
 because we are known. "Thou Father, Thou Son, see^t 
 me," is the immediate consciousness of the soul, when 
 there is a spiritual perception of God. In other words, 
 adoration, love, petition, listming to God's voice, 
 
NOTES. 
 
 373 
 
 reiieiviiig the love and peace of Christ, communion, is 
 invoke<i in this knowledge. 
 
 ' This knowlt'dge is therefore also an experience of 
 God ; when we know, we possess and receive God and His 
 gilts. Wg know the Father, and He is our Father; we 
 know Christ, we see His mediation ; we have come to 
 the Mood of the new covenant, and we possess Christ, 
 and experience the power and efficacy of His death and 
 resumction. We know the spiritual blessings in 
 heavenly places, and knowing them we possess them. 
 We have not merely the picture or image, but the 
 substance of Divine realities. 
 
 *It is tlie Sp'rit Himself who teaches and enlightens. 
 IVie tritOi itself, the preaching of the Gospel, the reading 
 of the Scriptures, has no inlierent power to bring know- 
 let fge info the soul. These are «>nly the instruments, the 
 Spirit is the agent ; they are only tlie sword, the S, irit 
 is the entTgy, the hand that wields it. They shall be 
 tiught of God. God causes the light of the Gospel to 
 shine int » our hearts. Huw little we realize this truth, 
 so comforting and lull of encouragement ! How apt are 
 ice to fm'get the living Spirit in the g f ts and channels 
 which He uses ! How ibnd we are of placing o irselves 
 in G.ul's place; it not in the Fatlier's, iu Christ's; if 
 not in Christ's, in that of the Spirit 1' 
 
 NOTE N. • 
 
 On the Spirit guiding the Church (Chap. 23). 
 
 The whole teaching of the apostle to the Corinthians, 
 in regard to the need of the JSjnrit's revelation, if the 
 truth is to maintain i^s Divine power and freshness, and 
 if we are to be led farther and deeper into it, suggests 
 to ns the datiger that may attach to creeds as the ex- 
 pression, in words of human wisdom, of the truths of 
 

 IMAGE EVALUATION 
 TEST TARGET (MT-3) 
 
 // 
 
 ^.*^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 4^ A^> 
 
 ^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 « 
 
 1.0 
 
 1.1 
 
 ■tt lU 12.2 
 
 2? Hi ■" 
 Sf B^ no 
 
 L25 mil 1.4 
 
 HA 
 
 FhoiDgraphic 
 
 Sdences 
 
 Carporation 
 
 ^ 
 
 V 
 
 ^^^ 
 
 o 
 
 
 
 23 WIST MAIN STRHT 
 
 WnSTIR,N.Y. MSM 
 
 (71*)S73-4S03 
 
^ ^> 
 
374 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Scripture. While they have their very high value as 
 temporary and secondary embodiments of the faith of 
 the Church, they may so easily in practice usurp the 
 place which tin oretically we accord to the word of God 
 a'one. 'i'hey may especially become hurtful wuen they 
 art^ regarded as a sufficiently perfect and final formula of 
 what the word has to teach us, and unconsciously close 
 tho heiirt against the expectation of any further teacliing 
 of the Spirit for the clearer and fuller unfolding of what 
 is revealed in the word. The Holy Spirit has been 
 given to the Church as a whole to guide her into all 
 truth. We have to trace the way in which, during the 
 first five centuries, amid human controversy and weak- 
 ness, Bome of the great outstanding truths of revelation 
 were mastered and formulated. We thank God for the 
 restoration at the time of the Keformation of truths that 
 had been lost ^i,uhr. of, and displaced by error. But is 
 there no danger that many consider the leading of the 
 Sprit to have becom«; less needful after our Reformation 
 creeds had been s-t lo 1 1 1 h»^y can hardly War to tiiink 
 that the Holy Spirit may bave mor*^ to teach His Church, 
 or that a clea er and fuller setting foi th of Divine truth 
 th n is t > be found in our standards may be expected. 
 This aitiiudo towards the Holy Spirit nnd His teaching 
 is one of great danger. It closes the heart against that 
 teachable and expectant spirit to which alone the Divine 
 S()irit can reveal the truth of God in power. It fosters 
 that spirit of self-contetituient with the correctness of 
 cur oitbodoxv which unconsciously robs Holy Scnpture 
 of its ..uthority at tbe very moment we are insisting on 
 our allt-g ance to it It tends toward the position of the 
 Jews in the time of Christ, in which, while they fondly 
 imagined ihat God's word was everything to them, it 
 was their buiian exposition of it, their human image of 
 (]iods tni'h, for which they weio so zealous. We must 
 Jearn to trust ihc H ly Spirit ii ore in our theology; 
 He l'.a« sill nsuch to teacli ns. As the life and work of 
 the m ii.otiy comes iiioie under the pjwer ot the Spirit, 
 
NOrKS. 
 
 375 
 
 and the loading of the Spirit in every believer, as a 
 necessity and a privilege, is acknowledged, we shall 
 become familiarized with the thought of His leading the 
 Church into the truth, and look in confidence to Him to 
 do His work in ways we cannol beforehand mark out. 
 
 What makes many so unwilling to accept tliis truth 
 is the apparent danger connected with it. They see a 
 ^reat number engaged in the task of reconciling the 
 tiuth of revelation to the instincts of tlie human mind, 
 to the spirit of the age, to the requirements of science. 
 A'l these seek emancipation from the ire«ds, not with 
 I he view t<S the restoration of a more purely scriptural 
 theology, but in order to be tree from all trammels in 
 the con-^truction of a system of religion that shall satisfy 
 what is considered the religious consciousness of human 
 reason. It is not difficult to see how far asunder these 
 two parties stand, though both plead for liberty in regard 
 to the creeds. The one pleads for liberty of judgment, 
 to bo free to follow the dictates of Hi-ason as uttered 
 by our wisest men ; the other for the liberty of ii»e 
 spirit, to be tree to receive and to follow the tenchiiigs 
 of the Holy Spirit, as n vealed to the Church wholly 
 under His rule, and waiting for His opening up of what 
 Scripture contains. It is well, in the interest of the 
 Church, to have these two paities carefully distinguished. 
 The Church and the faith have no truer fr ends than 
 those who, while acknowledging that in Reformation 
 truth a noble foundation was laid, yet believe that in 
 raising the buperstructure there is st*ll much that thn 
 Holy Spirit needs to do, is willing ti do, in revealing 
 .the full juoportion of Scripture truth, if He find the 
 Church ready to listen and obey His leading. 
 
 The following remarks, from one whose attachment »o 
 the f<»rm of sound doctrin*} and deep insight into Scrip- 
 ture are above all question, are worthy of carelul con- 
 sideration. In his C'hrist and the Saiplures Dr. Saphir 
 Bays : — 
 
 * There is among us an uneasy feeling, a sicret con- 
 
 
876 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 sciousness of soraetbing being wiongr. The dovclopment 
 of doctiine which is cleiirly opposed to that gospel which 
 has proved itself to the heart and experience of m^iw 
 tUe power of Grod, is one cause of alarm ; and a rttui h 
 to the hulwark of the Keforroation creed and theology is 
 naturally the remedy suggested. But against this two 
 considerations are urged. In the first plnre, Israel ought 
 never to look and turn back. The Lord HimseU' (and not 
 an image of Hira) is a wall < f fire round us. Lite alono 
 can combat the errors of dt-atii. But, in tho second 
 place, if the creeds could not even retain and preserve 
 li e (as history proves they were n 't able to do), ho\v 
 much less will they be able to rekindle a dying flame or 
 to bring to life the dead ! It is out of the^e very cree<ls 
 that the present state of things has come, either as a 
 development or as opposition, and our aim ou«i;ht to be 
 to find out whether, in these creeds, the absence of 
 some sciiptural element, or the f.dse repre^^entatiim and 
 emphasis of some scriptural element, be not the root of 
 the disease which is manifenting itself. 
 
 * And here it is evident that two parties meet which 
 may be e sentially and radically dilTerei.t : those for 
 whom the cr«eds contain too much of the scriptuial 
 element, and those lor whom they contain too little of 
 that element, or do not contain it in sufficient purity. 
 The objectors to the creeds may be such either becau-e 
 the cnetls are too Sliemitic, or because they are not 
 Shemitic enough.' 
 
 Let u^ frtiU listen to the words of another. When 
 John Robinson, pastor of a congrei^ation of refugee 
 Puritans at Ley den, was bidding farewell to the party 
 of exiles who weie leaving in the Mayflower for New 
 England, and were to I ecome celebrated under tho n.me 
 of *tho Pilgrim Fathers,' he spoke these memorable 
 jiarting words: *I charge you, that you follow me no 
 larlhcr than you have seen me follow the Lord Jesus 
 Chribt. The Lord has moro truth to break forth out of 
 His holy word. I cannot sufficiently bewail the coudi- 
 
NOTES. 
 
 377 
 
 tion of the Beformed Churches, which are come to r 
 jieriod in religion, and will go, at present, no farther than 
 the instruments of their reformation. Luther and Calvin 
 were great and shining lights in their times. Yet titey 
 penetrated not into the whole counsel of God. Tfi< 
 Luth^Drans cannot be drawn to go beyond what Luthef 
 saw 'f and the Calvinists, you see, stick fast where they 
 were left by that great man of God. I beseech you 
 remember it ; it is an article of your Church covenant— • 
 that you shall be ready to receive whatever truth shall 
 1)0 made known to you from God's word.' 
 
 The whole subject is one of deep importance and nc 
 littln diffi< iilty. The only safety for th« Church is in 
 renewed faith and the unceasing expectation of the Holy 
 Spirit's working in the life of her believing members ; 
 out of this will grow that intense surrender to Him 
 which will quicken her capacity for taking in the whole 
 truth ri Holy Scripture, and reproducing; it in life and 
 testimony in words which the Holy Spirit teacheth. 
 
 NOTE 0. 
 
 On Trusting the Spirit (Chap. 27). 
 
 In a little book entitled Reminiscences of the Kegicick 
 Conventimi^ 1879, with addresses by Pastor Stockmaior 
 (Partridge), I find some most suggestive thougiits in 
 regard to the work of the Holy Spirit, as He enables us 
 to die to our own life, and to take Christ as our life. For 
 the sake of preserving these, and introducing them tc 
 readers who may otherwise not have access to them, 
 I give somewhat lengthy extracts here. The only way 
 in which the blessing of conference and spiritual revival 
 can become permanent, can flow ever fuller and deeper, 
 is that each individual believer should know that what 
 he has received in the fellowship of the saints can h% 
 
378 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 Bocured and increased to him personally, throngh the 
 blessed ministry of that Huly Spirit whom He has dwell- 
 ing in Him, but whom he kni>ws all too little. 
 
 * Phil. ii. 12, 13. " Work out your own salvation with 
 fear and trembling, for it is God that worketh in you 
 both to will and to do of His good pleasure." We shall 
 fear to disobey, because we are not in presence of human 
 work or human persons, but in presence of the Holy 
 Ghost ; it is not we who are working in us, it is the 
 Holy Ghost. 
 
 * When Moses came before the burning bush, the Lord 
 said to him, " Put off thy shoes from off thy feet, for the 
 place whereon thou standest is holy ground." This is 
 holy ground, for it is God the Holy Ghost who works 
 the willing and the doing. In all questions of sanetifi- 
 cation or service we are in presence not of ourselves, 
 but of our God ; on holy ground, not on human ground ; 
 not on ground of human persons, but on ground of the 
 Holy Ghost ; and for that reason, because it is God that 
 works in us to will and to do, work out your own salva- 
 tion with fear and trembling. And what is it to work 
 out our own salvation 1 The Apostle tells us in the same 
 verse, "Wherefore, my beloved, as ye have always 
 obeyed." I think that word " w^herefore " brings us back 
 to verse 8, to Christ's work. Christ had become obedient 
 unto death. In verses 5-11 we have the work of Christ 
 — abasement; and then, because He was abased, He 
 was exalted so high ; therefore ye also obey. 
 
 * In verses 12, 13 we have the work of the Holy Spirit, 
 working on the work of Jesus. Jesus has been obedient 
 unto death ; death is contrary to our nature, mo do all 
 we can to keep our own life ; but as Christ, through the 
 Eternal Spirit, offered Himself without spot to God, and 
 by His death brought to an end His work of immola- 
 tion, so does the work of the Holy Ghost bring ua into 
 fellowship with a dying Christ. He makes us willing to 
 die by the power of Christ; He makes us take the 
 position in which the death of Christ has placed us. 
 
NOTES. 
 
 379 
 
 He died ** that they which live should not henceforth 
 live unto themselves, but unto Him that died for them 
 and rose again.'' Such a position as is given to us by 
 Christ no man is willing to enter into; it is the Holy Ghost 
 who takes us by the hand, and brings us out of our own 
 life, and makes us willing to like and seek the fellowship 
 of the dead and of the risen Christ. '* Now also in my 
 absence," go on yielding to the Holy Ghost^ who will 
 teach you to follow the Lamb, making you willing to die 
 with Christ, that you may serve, and love, and walk in 
 newness of life; and all this in fear and trembling, 
 because it is God who works. The orly fear we want, 
 is to follow the Holy Ghost in all His operations, flying 
 from self and yielding to Him, that He may have us in 
 His hand, that He may be able to work for God's glory, 
 to leave all the matter in His hands ; and so soon as our 
 fears are concentrated on that point, — to grieve not the 
 Saviour, — we have Tiothing more to fear ; we can then 
 seek first the kingdom of God and His righteousness, and 
 all other things shall be added unto us; because as a 
 heaven surrounds our earth on all sides, so the work of 
 the Holy Ghost leaves nothing out of its reach in our 
 being, brings all under His action and transforming power. 
 * We must come back to our holy ground from which 
 we sprang. God ought to have what is His. We came 
 from Him, and were made for Him ; we must learn to 
 honour the Holy Ghost, and to consider His working 
 the most precious thing we have, fearing to lose even 
 one hint of His, because all that He works involves 
 infinite labour, and in loving any work of the Holy 
 Ghost we love more infinite labour than we know. It 
 is a matter of experience that in measure as we know 
 more of the love of God, we learn also more to fear 
 Him ; one involves the other and regulates th<) other ; 
 there is no opposition. 
 
380 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 * lu James iv. 1 we read of " lusts which war in your 
 members/' but in the same passage (ver. 5) we read of 
 the lust of the Spirit, so you cannot put quite the sanA 
 signification on the word which we generally put upon 
 it. The word here does not mean sinful lust, the Spirit 
 of God cannot have sinful lust; wo see here two 
 tendencies, two powers, two worlds that have nothing in 
 common, separated as completely as heaven from earth, 
 — the flesh and the Spirit ; and we are responsible moral 
 beings, having our responsibility through the work of 
 the Holy Spirit ; responsibility as to which of these two 
 adversaries we will give movement and action in our 
 interior and exterior Xfe. 
 
 * I know a position in which no rising from impure 
 feeling can take place in the heart, or take form even 
 as a flash in a second of time. Such a Christian has 
 learned to let him-elf be kept by Christ from such 
 
 isingi^, and they no more appear ; and yet these same 
 Christians have a consciousness of the tendency of the 
 flesh to form such risings. 
 
 * There are infinite degrees from impurity to full purity ; 
 and only after we h»ve been fully delivered from such 
 impure risings can the Holv Ghost go deeper and deeper 
 in His purifying work. This cannot be expressed, it 
 must be realized ; and we are not easily conscious how 
 much our experience and the experience of others, the 
 level of Christian life in the Church, influence our 
 exfilanations of Scripture. Have you ever attended 
 such meetings as those of Keswick and Oxford without 
 experiencing that, in measure as God the Holy Ghost 
 draws nearer and nearer, your interior atmosphere is 
 mo<Hfied, and there comes a moment in which yuu breathe 
 the mountain air) And in measure as we come under 
 the shadow of the Holy Ghost, the power of the Holy 
 Ghost on our life is diff'erent to ordinary. When we 
 come back to the first days of the Church at Jerusalem, 
 then we shall fully experitnce the power of the Holy 
 Ghost to keep us sheltered against the tondencies of 
 
NOTKS. 
 
 881 
 
 [re la 
 
 ifuler 
 Holy 
 
 Hi we 
 
 jal«ra, 
 Holy 
 
 lies oC 
 
 our flesh. But we are a family, and wc cannot ox|)eri. 
 ence individually the fulne-s of Jesus Clirist < ur H»'ju1, 
 without the rest following us; we M-ant the life of tie 
 members in order to realize the life of the Holy Ghost. 
 It ia diflicult to abide under the shadow of the Almighty 
 when you are surrounded by sick Chr 8ti.«n8, slumbering 
 Christ iunSf Christians who do not fully trust their 
 Saviour. Onr daily life, our conversation, our very coun- 
 tenance, must testify that we have found life abundantly 
 in our Good Shepherd. Oh, dear Christians, cease from 
 keeping your own life, defending your own life, when 
 the Holy Ghost works to bring to die every portion of 
 your own life. Oh, beloved brethren, we are so tooild- 
 like; our woHd-like life is the great hindrance to con- 
 versions, the great reason why the Gospel has so little 
 success. Yet remember, eveiy Christian has had a tifne 
 rvhen he has given up all to his Lord ; then you were 
 happy, and the very reason of your nidmppinefis now is 
 that you have not given up all your life, and that in 
 daily life, in daily conversation, in daily occurrences, 
 sometimes you are hesitating between your will and 
 God's will. Oh, my brethren, I would no more open my 
 heart to any human wish or human desire, because it 
 wouhl hintler my seeing the countenance < f my God ; 
 never would I take in my own hands an afternoon, an 
 hour, because I know it would be an unhappy day, an 
 unhappy h«>ur. I am too happy not to put every day, 
 evt ry liour, in the hands of my Heavenly Father ; loo 
 happy ever again to take into my hands the threads of 
 my life. 
 
 *John xvi. 7-11. Then in Acts ii. 36 and following 
 verses, we have the fulfilment of the promise. Now, 
 d«jar brethren, there are in the text from the gospel of 
 John, two distinct offices of the Holy Ghost, put foith 
 by our Divine Master. His name lor the disciples is 
 Comforter, and He has also the office of convincing the 
 world. But before He mny convince the world through 
 
382 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 the disciples, more disciples must be filled with the Holy 
 Ghost. And so at Pentecost that promise was just 
 fulfilled ; the disciples were filled with the Holy Ghost, 
 and having the Comforter dwelling in them, they were 
 the instruments in God's hands of convincing the world 
 of the sin of unbelief. How few disciples there are who 
 know the Holy Ghost in His office of Comforter ! And 
 what is His comfort? I'he Holy (ihost will bring into 
 our hearts, above all, the consciousness that we aie 
 pleasing the Father by the power of the Son ; that we 
 are reconciled children, pleasing onr Father. Oh, how 
 long will Christians introvert the offices of the Holy 
 Ghost, and oblige Him to be in their daily walk more 
 convincing than comforting ? For I have a deep feeling 
 in these days, and I must tell it out in the presence of 
 our God, that the Holy Ghost has to do among us, 
 generally speaking, more the work of convincing than 
 of comforting, — convincing of sin. What sin ? The sin 
 of unbelief, it is only the fruit of unbelief that so 
 many Christians, looking back a day, or a week, or a 
 year, have not the testimony in their souls that they 
 have lived the life which pleased their God; and so again 
 and again the Holy Ghost is obliged to take up His 
 office of convincing of sin, and at last the children of 
 God lose the very capacity to believe that they may 
 come to a life which pleases their Father in heaven. 
 Oh, the meetings at Keswick cannot have the approval 
 of God unless they have this fruit, that a week after, a 
 month after, a year after the meeting, there will be at 
 least some Christians who have learned by faith to 
 please their God ; not coming back a year after, telling 
 of the power of Jesus, and yet, when they are asked if 
 they have proved the power of Christ in their lives, 
 having to confess they have not habitually pleased 
 God, and have not habitually the presence of the Holy 
 Ghost as the Comforter. 
 
 * Remember, we are on holy ground, and we have no 
 right to speak of the power of our God if we arc not 
 
NOTES. 
 
 383 
 
 t so 
 
 or a 
 
 they 
 
 Lgain 
 His 
 
 ;n of 
 may 
 
 iven. 
 
 roval 
 er, a 
 e at 
 to 
 
 elling 
 ed if 
 ives, 
 :ased 
 Holy 
 
 ve no 
 c not 
 
 realizing it. Oh, I would not go forward one step if I 
 could for one moment not know that I realize all things 
 that I believe. 
 
 ' And now, one passage more in i Peter ii. 5 and 9. 
 Oh, beloved friends, may you fulfil that glorious niissiun 
 which our God has given us ! Only after having been 
 convinced of the sin of unbelief, and having left for ever 
 the sin of unbelief, can we know the Holy Ghost acting 
 in our souls as the Comforter. Those three thousand 
 men on the day of Pentecost, how they saw their sins ! 
 ** What shall we do ? " " Repent ; " that is to say, leave 
 your sin, the sin of unbelief in regard to Jesus Christ. 
 They did so; and in that very moment they received 
 the Jesus they had crucified as Lord and Christ. So I 
 would beseech you, leave that frightful sin of unbelief, 
 that you may know Jesus as th<; Anointed Lord, who is 
 waiting for children of God who n He may anoint as 
 priests ; and let us begin by believi^'g (hat He is able to 
 keep us trusting during our daily life, to keep us in faith, 
 and in a walk that pleases our God. Can we go on any 
 longer living a life that pleases not our Father ? 
 
 * Phil. i'. 12, 13. I think if there is not a more prac- 
 tical realization of the glorious truth brought before 
 us, it is because the children of God have a definite 
 trust in the work of Jesus, a definite standing-place on 
 Calvary before God. but they have not the same definite 
 trust in the Holy Ghost, not as a power that will woik 
 in us some day, but which is working continually in the 
 soul of every believer, to will and to do all that concerns 
 our salvation. This moment I know that I have air to 
 breathe, and that my God will continue to give it me 
 every minute ; so the Holy Ghost will not interrupt His 
 work in the inmost parts of my soul. I am His temple, 
 and He is working in me, for it is God the Holy Ghost 
 " who worketh in you, both to will and to do of His good 
 pleasure." 
 
 * Now, you are asking how to trust. How can I be sure, 
 I am now trusting Jesus to keep me from sin, that 
 
 I 
 
384 
 
 NOTK8. 
 
 this afternoon and this evening I shall be kept in 
 communion with my God, that i shall abide in JesuH, 
 that I shall go on trusting ? Dear brother, the moment 
 you put such a question, you are disbelievmg the Huly 
 Ghost ; and so long as you ask it, you will never 
 continue in conmumion with your God, because you aie 
 seeking in yourself the secret of going on trusting, and 
 it is the Holy Ghost who '* worketh in you both to will 
 and to do." 
 
 * The reason so few Christians realize these things is 
 that children of God have not the same definite trust in 
 the work of the Holy Ghost that they have in the work 
 of Christ. We must be Trinity belin^ers^ realizing all 
 that Christ has provided for us by His work; but we 
 are in the economy of the Holy (>hosr, and so long as 
 we do not honour the Holy Ghost we cannot be practical 
 Christians. 
 
 ' Let us come to the Holy Ghost in all the details of 
 our daily life. The Father, the Son, and the Holy 
 Ghost are all working together ; the Father is working 
 hand in hand with the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost 
 has His work in my soul, and He can work freely in my 
 soul only so long as I am looking to Jesus ; the moment 
 I tiegin to look at the work of the Holy Ghost, that 
 moment 1 interrupt it ; the beginning and the end of 
 the work of the Holy Ghost is to make me look to Jesus, 
 When I am looking to Jesus, I am in the true position in 
 which the Holy Ghost can work in me. And the Father 
 is working with the Holy Ghost from morning to even- 
 ing ; if He did not work, there would be temi)tation be- 
 yond my spiritual age. I could not remain under 
 the state described in i Cor. x. 13. There can be no 
 temptation beyond what we are able to bear, because 
 the Father is preparing every evening the details of the 
 following day for His child, and I know He will never 
 permit a storm from without or from within beyond the 
 spiritual strength I have by looking to Jesus. There 
 are no hairs falling from your head without the per- 
 
NV.ES. 
 
 385 
 
 m1^'^fOl^ i>f your Heavenly Father. ^ \A so the work of 
 tli^ Ho^f Ghost can go on in our souls freely, fully, 
 gradually, by the watching power of the Father, who so 
 airanges all details of the exterior life that it may work 
 together iiand in hand with the work of the Holy Ghoat. 
 
 5UP. 
 
 in 
 
 iher 
 
 ren- 
 
 be- 
 
 uler 
 
 no 
 luse 
 
 the 
 lever 
 
 the 
 [here 
 
 per- 
 
 * QfieMion — For sanctiHcation does the believer receive 
 tlie Holy Ghost as spoken of in John vii. 37-39 and 
 xiv. 16, 17, or is the Holy Ghost a distinct gift from 
 sanctifioition f 
 
 *Belofed friends, What is Sanctification ? In one 
 word, I would say, by justification you are brought by 
 the .Holy Ghost into Jesus Christ. God takes away the 
 burden of your sins, and He takes you, and places you 
 in a new world in Jesus Christ ; and sanctification is for 
 me nothing else than to dtoell in Jesus Christ, to remain 
 in the place where the Holy Ghost has put me. From 
 the moment we first receive the Holy Ghost, we have 
 nothing else to do but respect the Holy Ghost within us. 
 ** Work out your own salvation with fear and trembling, 
 for it is God which worketh in you both to will and to 
 do of His good pleasure." And if so, many children of 
 God are not truly living waters, and if the living waters 
 are not flowing out from them, the reason is that thev 
 have not practically honoured the Holy Ghost in all 
 things. ** fFork out " — because we must obey the Holy 
 Ghost working within — " with fear and trembling," fear- 
 ing to disobey the Holy Ghost in anything, and then 
 we shall begin to become living waters to others. God 
 will subdue our nature, and will act in us as the sap 
 acts in the branches, from the moment we give up our 
 being to the Holy Ghost working in us in all things. 
 
 * Qv^estion—'Royr will this life of faith in Christ help us 
 in common daily temptations, such, for instance, as the 
 
 2 B 
 
 
38ii 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 
 d fficulty of getting up in the morning so as to secure 
 time for reading and prayer belore breakfast ? 
 
 *The eecret of realizing in daily experience what we 
 teach here is just to learn to yitld in all things to the 
 hints of the Holy Ghost. The Holy Ghost is not work- 
 ing in us as a master with his slave, but He will make 
 us become the spouse of Christ ; and the true relation 
 of husband and wife is that in which the wife is the 
 equal of the husband ; and in our relations with the 
 Holy Ghost we must learn to yield to the slightest 
 liints, to the '^ still small voice." Oh, that is a precious 
 lesson to learn, during all our life to have our ears more 
 And more open to that still small voice of our God. At 
 first, for those Christians who have no appetite, there is 
 much trouble, because the voice of bad example, of 
 teaching not according to the Holy Spirit, and other 
 voices, are filling the understanding and the soul ; and 
 they must learn to be deaf to all other voices, and to 
 listen only to that still small voice. Oh, it is a holy 
 thing to learn to distinguish that voice ; and you will 
 distinguish it as your soul, your imagination, your 
 wishes, are on the side of your God. Tnisting in the 
 goodness and kindness and tenderness and delicacy of 
 our Good Shepherd, we shall learn to listen : listening 
 to other voices, we are sure to go wrong. In Bom. 
 viii. 11, and 1 Thess. y. 23^ you see the end of the ways 
 of God is eorpordlityy — the work of God must end by 
 being manifested in our todies. You may read in the 
 faces of Christians, in the look of their eyes, that they 
 are not yowng Christians, that they have long lived wifch 
 God. And in proportion as you learn to listen to the 
 still small voice, *' the Spirit of Him that raised up Jesus 
 from the dead " will also begin to act in your mortal 
 bodies and quicken them. There is a time when we 
 are striving and struggling to rise early, to overcome 
 our bodies, and we cannot ; but, in measure as we learn 
 to yield to the Holy Ghost, the quickenixig power of the 
 Soii'it of God will manifest itself also in our bodies, an<} 
 
NOTE& 
 
 387 
 
 rays 
 
 by 
 
 the 
 Ithey 
 
 the 
 Fesus 
 [ortal 
 
 "we 
 jcome 
 llearn 
 ^f ihe 
 
 and 
 
 they will gain their primitive elasticity for all that is 
 best for God's service. We shall learn to know from 
 the voice of God what He would have us to do. The 
 Spirit of God will never quicken our bodies for what 
 our natural energies can perform ; but I know, and I 
 realize it daily, hour after hour, that my God quickens 
 this mortal body for every service He gives ma My 
 English may be very bad, but I could not speak five 
 minutes if the Spirit of God did not give it me ; and so 
 for early rising, or anything else, the Holy Spirit will 
 give every minute just the strength that is needed, and 
 no more. The man who is living in this way cares no 
 more whether he is tired or strong, if he feels healthy or 
 sick ; he has learnt to receive from his God hints for 
 service, and in seeing he must rise early that it is the will 
 of God, necesAary in order that he may go safely through 
 the day, he will, childlike, go to his Father, saying, " Give 
 roe from the moment I rise my daily bread,'* and that 
 includes the Spirit of God working in the mortal body, 
 80 that body, sou), and spirit become, moment by moment, 
 what the Lord wants them to be for His servicei 
 
 * In Phil. ii. 8 you read that Jesus Christ " becamo 
 obedient unto death;'' and some verses farther down 
 you find the apostle saying, '^ As ye have obeyed, not as 
 in my presence only, but now much more in my absence, 
 work out your own salvation with fear and trembling. 
 For it is God which worketh in you both to will ana to 
 do." To will what, and to do what! To become like- 
 minded with Jesus, who was obedient unto death. The 
 Holy Ghost makes us willing to die, and to be in every 
 respect, from morning to evening, a living sacrifice on 
 the altar of our holy €k)d, to go freely in the glorious 
 law of the New Covenant — that we can only have life 
 in measure as we forsake our own life. 
 
 *0h, what glorious life Christ has brought us, and 
 what glorious life the Holy Ghost works out in us, if ye 
 believe that Jesus Christ's life is infinitely more precioua 
 than our own life. 
 
388 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 ' Why are so many Christians so often exhausted in 
 their work for Christ ? Because they are seeking their 
 own life in their work. Our work can only be fruitful 
 when we are not seeking our own life or our own 
 pleasure in our work, but seeking the glory, the interest 
 of Christ. We have resurrection life, as lo. ^ as we 
 remain buried with Christ and live only in His life. 
 
 *In John V. 29 you read, "Search the Scriptures." 
 Jesus sliowed the disciples of Emmaus that all SSciipture 
 was filled with the name of Jesus. Why so few fully 
 trust Jetns is because so few know the real Jesus, as we 
 find Him in the Bible. We must come out from a 
 Christ of imagination, a Christ of feeling, and come 
 back to the Christ given us in the Scriptures — a true, 
 living Saviour, dying for our sins, and living that we 
 may live His own life of righteousness. 
 
 ' Oh, search the Scriptures, and let the Holy Ghost lift 
 up before your eyes the person of Jesus, living, dying, 
 risen ; and in measure as the Holy Ghost^ answering our 
 prayer, brings new light on the person of Jesus, you 
 will no more ask how to trust Him. Become better 
 acquainted with this Friend, and you will no more ask, 
 How shall I trust Him) You cannot do otherwise. 
 Only remember this one thing: it is through faith. 
 Jesus does not discover at the first step all His loveli- 
 ness. He asks us to trust Him. '* Can you believe that 
 my life is more precious than all thy life f Then give 
 me thy life, and I will give thee another life." Jesus is 
 waiting ; the Holy Ghost is throwing light on the per- 
 son of Jesus ; you are so wicked to look back on your- 
 self when the Holy Ghost has put Jesus in your sight. 
 Oh, beloved, this is life abundant I To whomf To 
 those who let the living Saviour guide them on the 
 understanding of His work on Calvary — ^that is. His 
 work of brectking the chains and the links by which we 
 were entangled in our own life. We could not die ; we 
 
NOTES. 
 
 389 
 
 shrank from the thought of going with our Dirine 
 Shepherd, not only in the green pastures, but through 
 the valley of the shadow of death. In the Gospels Jesus 
 Christ says of Mary, '* This also that this woman habh 
 done shall be told for a memorial of her." ** She hath 
 done it for my burial." Mary accepted the dying Christ 
 (woman is the receptive one). She received what Simon 
 Peter could not accept, that Christ should go to the 
 cross. She poured forth her best to anoint Christ for 
 His burial. Oh, let us fully accept a dying Christ, no 
 longer claiming to live ourselves. Jesus Christ died, 
 and came to resurrection through death. Ke^p under 
 the shadow of the life of Christ. You want rest, peace. 
 Oh, don't seek it only in green pastures and by still 
 waters: the deepest comfort is in the valley of the 
 shadow of death. " I will fear no evil " — where 1 In 
 the "valley of the shadow of death." I preach life 
 through death, life in death. I know no other life than 
 that. If Jesus is allj my life must yield before His life. 
 His life must have right over my whole life. 
 
 *Just go deeper in searching the Scriptures, follow 
 Christ in all His steps, and remember, by death He has 
 taken away the power and the fear of death, that we 
 might be no longer in bondaf»e. And now the dying to 
 self is no longer dreadful : it is life, it is the only life 
 that ma> satisfy all my being; to be nothing, and to 
 have Christ. Oh, trust Jes»us to bring you into full 
 fellowship with His dying ! Truest Him. Don't look to 
 your nature, to your feelings. Behind the val ey of 
 death there is abupdanc^ of life, and the moment you 
 give up all thin<;s, letting yours- If go in the arms of 
 Jesus, death will lose its temr. I have the experience, 
 and every one who fully leaves himself to Jesus has the 
 experience, that thare is the only true life. If you want 
 unity in your daily li e, don't seek life ; never wiil you 
 find life if you are seeking it. Life is only when you 
 liavp your own life. We will always find power in 
 Christ to die to ourselves, if that is the very thing wi 
 
390 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 are seeking ; and unless we have died we cannot bring 
 forth fruit You want me to say what I have seen and 
 felt to be the result of this entire trust 1 It is just this. 
 I let my Saviour, knowing Him better than before, 
 bring me through every experience that He would. He 
 brought me through deep waters ; and there is no ser- 
 vant of God who will not be purified through fire. The 
 Lord brings the sons of Levi through the fire, an^ there 
 Ho is purifying them for service, because our Lord uses 
 only pure vessels for fruitful service. God will not use 
 habitually unclfan vessels. I have also experienced 
 that, in the deep valley of the shadow of death, I knew 
 my Saviour, and He comforted me as never before. So, 
 I ussure you, never would I go to still waters or green 
 pastures, when my Divine Shepherd chooses to lead me 
 through deep waters and dark valleys. There are green 
 valleys on one side, and dark valleys on the other, and 
 He is just leading each sheep according to its special 
 needs. Learn to look on Jesus, and in doing that, by 
 and by, more and more, you will find that Jesus, by His 
 look, is taking your wandering look under the direction 
 of the Holy Ghost ; and by and by it will become the 
 very attitude of your soul, and you could do anything 
 more easily than difitrust Jesus. 
 
 * Question — Is a life of practical holiness compatible 
 wi^h an earnest, active business life, a business life in 
 which the mind is occupied with mercantile affairs six 
 days in the week, from nine in the morning till seven in 
 the evening ; ami say nine out of every ten transactions 
 are made with unconverted men 1 
 
 * Let me bring before you a business man. In the first 
 verses of Dan. vi. you read that there were in the king- 
 dom of Darius a hundred and twenty princes and three 
 presidents, and there was one man, Daniel, who was 
 preferred above all the princes. Now this man went, 
 exposing his life, three times a day into his chamber, 
 
NOTES. 
 
 301 
 
 and opened his window towards heaven, to breathe 
 heavenly air. The more business we have, the more we 
 Mrant heavenly air. Take a man in whom is incorporated 
 the spirit of avarice, the spirit of covetousness ; this man 
 in every part of daily life will never lose out of sight the 
 great bu-iness of his life — to get money. 
 
 *Now a child, a man, in whom is incorporated the Spirit 
 of God, will never lose out of sight the great purpose of 
 his daily life — to glorify his God ; but you must be dead 
 to self in onler to live such a life. The Ohriatian 
 business man and father does not work for his children, 
 but for his Goil, and God gives him bread for his 
 children. Believe me, our Father in heaven can under- 
 stand business, and will never let one of His children go 
 through a day without the needed supply : oidy he must 
 be ready to stop as soon as his Father gives him a hint 
 -T-" Child, come to me, I have something to say to thee ; 
 there is some cloud overhanging thee ; come aside with 
 me, that I m:iy prepare thee to meet it." 
 
 * " Go in peace ; " you can go in rest, leaning on the arm 
 of your Divine Shepherd. Do not ask how you may 
 abide in rest. Remember, it is the Holy Ghost who will 
 keep you trusting, every day and every hour, on one 
 condition — that you seok the power of trusting, not in 
 your own wicked heart, but in the Holy Ghost. So, 
 jzuided by the mind and mighty hand of your Father, 
 standing on tiie holy ground of the work of the Trinity 
 — "Gt) in peace." Amen. 
 
 * In j 'y about work and service., let us apply the great 
 lesson of heavenly life — the lesson of love. Let us learn 
 to rejoice in the work of others, and not in our own 
 work. Let us learn to "rejoice with them that do 
 rejoice, and weep with them that weep," and not weep 
 all our own tears of sorrow, nor rejoice only with our 
 own personal joy ; but let us come under the hand of 
 our Lord, covered by His hand with only one purpose — 
 to have all our work covered in the hand of our God. 
 Oh, there is the secret of life. The Holy Ghost nevei 
 
if'' 
 
 392 
 
 NOTES. 
 
 looked for His own glory, never spoke of His own : His 
 only purpose is to glorify Christ. " This my joy ia 
 fulfilled," that was heavenly joy. ** He must increase, 
 lint I must decrease." I must — it was not obligation, buS 
 the yearning of the heart, this decrease.' 
 
 NOTE 1\ 
 The Spirit of Christ and His Love (Chap. 29). 
 
 * Know then that I am love incarnate ; I have clothed 
 nyself with flesh that I might reign in your hearts. 
 Love one another as I have loved yo?i, and you will no 
 longer find me absent. All my life aiid sutierings have 
 this for their end — that Divine love should tabernacle 
 permanently among men. I have been manifesst in the 
 flesh, I must be manifest in the Church. Love one 
 another as I have loved you, that earth, startled to se6 
 me ascending on high, may turn to you, and behold with 
 glad sui prise Christ in you. Love is about to have the 
 highest revelation it has ever had ; but when you gaze 
 upon the cross, especially when the Holy Spirit enables 
 you to look with intelligent eye upon it, understand 
 that the love there revealed is your model. That which 
 dies upon the crosj is to live in you. '* By this shall all 
 men know : " this is that evidence that none shall be able 
 to resist. 
 
 * Having been introduced in the person of Jesus into 
 our common humanity, Love refuses to disengage itself, 
 and mnkes provision for its own perpetuation. What- 
 ever discoveries the disciples were yet to make of the 
 love of Christ, from His death on the cross, and by the 
 outpouring of the Holy Spirit, were discoveiies of the 
 love they were required to entertain for one another. 
 They were each commissioned to carry on the loving life 
 of Jesub. 
 
NOTBa. 
 
 393 
 
 ' But how may this thin^ be 1 It is by vii tue of the 
 union of tl^e believer to Christ that the heart of the 
 former becomes the depositary of the Saviour's own love 
 for His people. The vocation of every believer is this : 
 to be a reveiator of the love of Christ. 
 
 * " If ye abide in me, and my words abide in you, ye 
 shall a^k what ye will, and it shall be done unto you.'* 
 Is it difficult to see why the prayers of Christ's people 
 are not more promptly ful tilled? They do not suffer 
 His wor<l to abide in them, they do not practically 
 recognise the r obligation to love one another as He has 
 loved them. Who knows how many priceless ex- 
 pressions of the Father's love toward us are effectually 
 repressed by the fact that we are inattentive to thn 
 sweet mandatH of Jesus, to give each other His love ? 
 We profess to desire earnestly the outpouring of the 
 Holy Spirit, but we shall do well to note that one of the 
 first things which the Holy Spirit will aim to produce in 
 us will be this Christ-like love to the bre hi en. 
 
 * My Christian brethren tee not the Saviour with their 
 bodily eye, but I have bei n commissioned by the Saviour 
 to afford them, in some sense, a compensation for this 
 deficiency. I am commandeii to let the love which 
 found exhibition in His moital per.-on find now its 
 exhibition in my life — a cummaiui which would be 
 utterly idle and futile, were it not that He, the ever- 
 loving One, is willing to put His own love within me. 
 The command is really no more than to be a branch of 
 the True Vine. I am to cease from my own living and 
 loving, and yield my .-elf to be the expression of Christ's 
 love.' — George Bowen : Love Revealed, 
 
894 
 
 H0TB8. 
 
 NOTE Q. 
 
 On the Spirit's Coming (Chap. 6). 
 
 * x'he teaching of Jesus Christ respecting the ministry 
 of the Holy Ghost is so peculiar as to raise (he inquiry— 
 Where was the Holy Ghost during the earthly ministry 
 of the Son of Man f Where was the Spirit that had 
 moved on the face of the waters, that had been poured 
 out upon Israeli Was His ministry suspended 1 It 
 may be suggested that theJiUness had not been rea^zed 
 in the ancient Church, which is undoubtedly true ; yet, 
 though true, it is insufficient to account for the treatment 
 of His descent as a new visitation and benediction uf 
 Gk>d. The answer would seem rather to be that the 
 Holy Ghost was in Jesus Christ Himsdfy and could not be 
 given to the Church as a distinctively Christian gift, until 
 the first period of the Incarnation had been cousummated 
 in the Ascension of the Son of Man. In Him dwelt all 
 the fulness of the Godhead bodily ; when the influence 
 of that Gk)dhead was poured out upon the Church, it 
 came from the very heart of Christ, and was impregnated 
 with all the elements which made up the mystery and 
 beneficence of the Incarnation.' — The Faradeie, p. 96. 
 
 THE END.