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REV. SHERLOCK BRISTOL. 
 
PARAGLET0S, 
 
 OR 
 
 THE BAPTISM OF THE HOLY GHOST, 
 
 BY- 
 REV, SHERLOCK BRISTOL, 
 
 AUTHOR OF 
 ** fjTlYf* 3ll| ^v-w rr** 3ft ** rt -v * l-fr rt**- ** 
 
 VENTURA : OBSERVER PRINTING HOUSE. 
 
 FLEMING H. REVELL, 
 
 NEW YORK : I CHICAGO : 
 
 12 BIBLE HOUSE, ASTOR PLACE. 148 & 150 MADISON STBEET. 
 
COPYBIGHTED BY 
 
 REV. SHERLOCK BRISTOL, 
 
 1892. 
 
 
 OBSERVER PRINT, VENTURA, CAL. 
 
Tiis 
 
 To a class of persons, found in all our Churches, 
 who hunger and thirst after righteousness and 
 who sigh after greater fruitfulness in the Lord's 
 service, this volume is affectionately dedicated. 
 
 SHERLOCK BRISTOL. 
 
 Ventura, California, January 1. 1893. 
 
 355344 
 
COflTEfiTS. 
 
 PAGE. 
 
 PREFACE. ...'... 5 
 
 INTRODUCTION. ...'... 9 
 
 CHAPTER. 
 
 I. Paracletos Defined. . . .17 
 
 ir. The Work of the Holy Spirit under the Mo- 
 saic Dispensation. . , .22 
 
 III. His Work under that of Messiah. . 23 
 
 IV. The Pentecostal Baptism, an Object Lesson. 29 
 
 V. The Promised Baptism, not limited to Apos- 
 
 tolic Times ..... 34 
 
 VI. The Personal Blessings it Imparts. . 52 
 
 VII. The Help it gives in Christian Work. . 77 
 
 VIII. Conditions of its Bestowal. . . 87 
 
 IX. Counterfeits and How Detected. . . 105 
 
 X. How Retained and How Lost. . . Ill 
 
 XI. The Attitude the Various Organizations 
 
 Take With Reference to It. . 116 
 
 XII. Testimonies of Eminent Christians. . 146 
 
 XIII. The Personality and Divinity of the Holy 
 
 Spirit. ..... 155 
 
 XIV. Final Words With Earnest Seekers. . 170 
 A PR.VYER. 182 
 
It is said that "All works of fiction are founded 
 upon facts." We believe this is true, especially of 
 those which possess real merit. Their most valuable 
 thoughts, cluster around experiences and observations 
 of the writers which produced profound impressions, 
 and prompted the production of their books. Nor is 
 this true of works of fiction alone; more than half 
 the books in our libraries had a similar ori- 
 gin. Could we but know the Genesis, and follow step 
 by step to the final Kevelation, how much additional 
 interest it would add to the reading and to the profit 
 of the book ! Possibly, the reader of the following 
 pages will ask for the motive which has induced the 
 writer in his advanced age to weary himself with the 
 writing of a book on this topic, with its attendant ex- 
 pense, criticism and care. It may be as well here as 
 elsewhei e in the book to give the reasons. 
 
 1. A -promise made to the Lord many years ago 
 when in deep spiritual trouble, that if the Lord 
 would deliver him, would take his feet from the 
 mirey clay, set them on a rock, and establish his go- 
 ings. If he would deliver him from the power of 
 besetting sins and put the song of permanent victory 
 
6 PREFACE. 
 
 in his mouth, then he would testify to others, the power 
 and grace of the Great Deliverer, and do his utmost to 
 induce them to apply to him for similar relief. 
 
 2. The study of the Scriptures has convinced him, 
 that there is a power of the Holy Spirit held in re- 
 serve for Christians, far beyond that usually bestowed in 
 conversion, and indispensible to victory over sin and 
 to their highest usefulness. And that for this "I will 
 be inquired by the House of Israel to do it for them 
 saith the Lord." 
 
 3. Gratitude to God for the delightful experiences 
 of the past fifty years, and the path growing brighter 
 and brighter toward the perfect day, prompts to this 
 final offering of a grateful heart. May the Glorious 
 
 Giver accept it, small though it be, like a pair of tur- 
 tle doves or two young pigeons. 
 
 4. Another reason for the writing of this book, is 
 the desire to call back the Church of God, from its de- 
 pendence upon its colleges, its seminaries, its eloquent 
 ministers, its learned Doctors, its Sabbath Schools, 
 Missionary Societies, and what not; to dependence on 
 the Holy Spirit, as the power to be sought first, midst, and 
 last, and without which all other agencies are but brok- 
 en reeds ! The writer believes there has been a fearful 
 departure in these latter days from this primal and 
 
PEEFACE. 7 
 
 most important fact of the Christian system. In the 
 biographical sketches of the late Kev. Chae. Spurgeon 
 while the writers have dwelt upon his sterling com- 
 mon sense, his mother wit, his natural talent for public 
 speaking, his eloquence, his marvelous voice, and his 
 skill as an organizer and leader of men, &c., they lave 
 scarcely alluded to the power of the Holy Ghost, which 
 rested on him, as on Peter, when he pieached in the 
 Pentecostal revival ! Alas ! Alas ! that the power 
 which wrought all his works in him, as he himself was 
 so prompt to confess, shou d have been left out, ig- 
 nored, forgotten ! Did he not, if told of this in Heav- 
 en, ask to be allowed to rush back to earth, and pro- 
 test in the name of the Lord, against a praise so sac- 
 rilegious and so misplaced? In Peter and Paul's daj*, 
 they would have said- "He being full of the Holy 
 Ghost so spake, that great numbers both of men and 
 of women turned to the Lord." "For he was a good 
 manand/wZ/o/' the H)ly Ghost and much people were 
 added unto the Lord." 
 
 5. A final cause for the presentation to the Chris- 
 tian public of this great matter, has been the belief 
 of the writer that he was prompted thereto by the 
 Holy Spirit. The vast importance of the subject mat- 
 ter will be conceded bv all. But who is sufficient to 
 
8 PREFACE. 
 
 set it forth ? In the writing of the following pages, 
 the writer has often been oppressed with a sense of 
 his incompetency. And not once or twice only, has 
 paused in the work, and looking to the right hand and 
 the left, has cried out ! for some other, more compe- 
 tent to set forth this great matter before the Churches! 
 But a gentle voice as often whispered encouragingly in 
 his ears, the words once spoken to Moses, "Who made 
 man's mouth ? Or who rnaketh the dumb or deaf ? Or 
 the seeing and the blind ? Have not I the Lord ? Now 
 therefore go and I will be with thy mouth and teach 
 thee what thou shalt say !" 
 
 Christian reader ! A great future lies before you ! 
 An angel cannot measure it, or see its end ! How can 
 you lay its strong foundations, or place its corner 
 stones, except you call on the Holy Ghost for help and 
 receive him in fullest measure ? Much he has done for 
 you ! Who can tell how much ? Much he is doing 
 still and is yet to do to carry out in your case, his 
 plans of love ! And David said, "What shall I render 
 unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me ? " Can 
 you do less than say with him, "I will take the Cup of 
 Salvation and call on the name of the Lord ?" 
 
It is a well recognized Christian doctrine and one 
 accepted by all evangelical Churches, that the conver- 
 sion of sinners is brought about mainly, through the 
 persuasive influence of the Holy Spirit. Earnest 
 workers in the Gospel field, confronted everywhere with 
 evidences of the deep depravity of our race, and con- 
 scious of its power within, would give up all effort in 
 despair, did they not confidently anticipate help from on 
 high. And while every human persuasive is brought 
 out and vigorously applied, the chief reliance is on 
 the aid expected from the Holy Spirit. Jesus said 
 "When he the Spirit of truth is come, he shall convince 
 the world of sin, of righteousness and of Judgment." 
 And an Apostle said, "No man can say that Jesus is 
 the Christ but by the Holy Ghost." The Hebrew 
 prophets foresaw the nations of the earth turning to 
 God, only after "The Spirit was poured out from on 
 high." So established is this doctrine in our Churches, 
 that were one of its ablest preachers to declare his be- 
 lief in his personal power to convert a soul without 
 the help referred to, they would be shocked at his pre- 
 sumption and turn from him as a man grossly con- 
 
10 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ceited, and ignorant of the hold sin has upon the hu- 
 man heart! Hence it is, that in all revivals of religion 
 where sinners in numbers turn to the Lord, the 
 Churches are much on their knees, looking upward and 
 praying for the descent of the Holy Spirit. If it be 
 asked, whence this arrangement in the Divine plan of 
 a special and personal work of the Spirit in man's conver- 
 sion? one answer may be; that the conversion of a 
 sinner, is a work special and extraordinary! It stands 
 by itself ! No other in our world is like it or ever will 
 be! It means a restored fellowship, joyous, satisfying 
 and eternal, between God and his alienated and wan- 
 dering child! To the convert it means heart cleansingj 
 and holiness perfected, unending felicity and a growth 
 and wealth of being, inexpressible and illimitable ! 
 Unto other finite beings, the companions of that future 
 life, it means a contribution to their blessed estate, ever 
 increasing in volume and value ! In a matter so im- 
 portant, God must feel an interest larger than that of 
 all finite beings, and fit it is that he should have a spe- 
 cial hand in bringing about that wondrous change! How 
 could such a being as God is, stand aside and treat it 
 as a matter of merely ordinary import ? The Parable 
 of the Prodigal Son suggests what it is fit a loving 
 
INTRODUCTION. 11 
 
 father should do in such a case. Other reasons sug- 
 gest themselves, but it is not germain to the purpose 
 of this book to state them here. 
 
 But the measure of Divine influence employed in 
 the conversion of sinners and indispensible thereto, is 
 not that to which the writer desires to call the reader's 
 attention. It is rather to a much larger measure and 
 one usually bestowed subsequent to conversion and sup- 
 plementary to it. A measure specially promised to 
 God's people under Messiah's reign as the great power 
 by which the nations are to be converted, Satan's king- 
 dom overthrown, and the millennium brought in ! 
 
 Such a gift, the writer has no doubt, has been pro- 
 vided for God's people, has been set before them in the 
 Bible, and is now lovingly and earnestly urged upon their 
 acceptance; nevertheless, like many other heavenly gifts, 
 actually bestowed, only, when earnestly sought 
 sought in faith, in full hearted consecration and im- 
 portiiDate prayer. Conditions not arbitrary, but indis- 
 pensible to a proper appreciation of the gift and its 
 retention. "This kind cometh not, but by prayer." 
 
 The ten day's prayer meeting, held by the Apostles in 
 that upper room in Jerusalem, while they waited for 
 the promised baptism of the spirit, fairly represents to 
 
12 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the writer's mind, the conditions on which, during the 
 centuries following, the great gift was to be ordinarily 
 bestowed. And it is his settled belief, that if the ex- 
 ample there set by the Apostles had been followed in 
 its spirit by their successors, long since this world would 
 have been converted to God. And even now, were *our 
 Churches to seek this blessing as the Apostles sought 
 it were they occasionally to set apart special and ad- 
 equate periods for prayer, confession, and seeking the 
 gift of the Holy Spirit, he believes revivals would fill 
 the land and the world ! The power to work miracles, 
 and to speak with tongues, may have been eliminated 
 from among the gifts originally bestowed. We be- 
 lieve it has been. But the great essentials are still there 
 in undiminished measure, and offered on terms equally 
 liberal and compliable. The chief and essential ele- 
 ments in this gift are believed to be two. 1st. personal 
 sanctification, and 2nd, power to impress others wit"h 
 the truth. A power in both cases super-human the 
 power of the spirit -taking- up his residence in the 
 human body and making it his temple, and allying 
 himself with the soul and aiding it in all its warfare 
 and its work. Is there such a power in reserve for 
 God's people? That it has been largely ignored by 
 
INTRODUCTION. 13 
 
 our Churches for ages and therefore unemployed and 
 unsought, is no proof that it does, not exist. What 
 discoveries the last half of the nineteenth century has 
 made of great powers latent till now, and for six 
 thousand years waiting to be discovered and applied 
 to human use ! All our Churches admit a power of 
 the Holy Spirit, such as is employed in the conversion 
 of sinners, omnipresent in the Churches, but largely 
 latent and undeveloped, because not sought and coop- 
 erated with as the Gospel requires. Even so is the 
 Great Helper, present among the Churches, clothed 
 with powers like those bestowed at Pentecost, and as 
 ready to impart them now as he was then. This world 
 is fast filling up with people ! It approaches its end 
 in its present form. Great promises and prophecies 
 remain to be fulfilled ! The nations are to be con - 
 verted ! But they will not be at the present slow 
 rate of progress. That which will bring it about 
 will be a world-wide Pentecostal revival. A revival 
 sought by Christians all over the world much after 
 the Pentecostal pattern, and received, first in sanc- 
 tifying power upon themselves, and then in an 
 out-going power upon the nations. And when that 
 shall be, then we shall begin to hear the towers fall, 
 
14 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and the nations saying one to another, "Come and let 
 us go up to the house of the Lord and he will teach 
 us His ways and we will walk in His paths." In the full 
 confidence that this great blessing is in store for God's 
 people awaiting the asking and the seeking ; and 
 longing to see our "Zion awake and shake herself 
 from the dust, and put ou her beautiful garments" the 
 writer, now in his 78th year, and expecting to depart 
 on the morrow takes his pen to write unto the Church- 
 es, and especially to his younger brethren in the Min- 
 istry, his convictions on this subject. May a hand un- 
 seen guide his pen and preserve from error that which 
 may be written. No less inspire the reader with long- 
 ing desires to " Know what is the hope of his calling 
 and what is the riches of the glory of Christ's inheri- 
 tance in the Saints, and what is the excelling greatness 
 of his power to us-ward who believe, acording to the 
 working of his mighty power !" 
 
HYMN. 15 
 
 Lo / I am with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 
 
 Matt. 28: 20. 
 
 "Always with us, Always with us, 
 
 Words of cheer and words of love ; 
 Thus the risen Saviour whispers, 
 From his dwelling place above. 
 
 With us when we toil in sadness, 
 Sowing much and reaping none; 
 
 Telling us that in the future, 
 Golden harvests shall be won. 
 
 With us when the storm is sweeping 
 O'er our pathway dark and drear; 
 
 Waking hope within our bosoms, 
 Stilling every anxious fear. 
 
 With us in the lonely valley, 
 When we cross the Chilling Stream, 
 
 Lighting up the Steps to Glory, 
 With Salvation's radiant beam." 
 
17 
 
 CHAPTER I. 
 
 "Paracletos" defined as the Holy-Helper and more than 
 "The Comforter," ax the word translated in the English 
 Bible. 
 
 Jesus said in John 16:13, "When he the Spirit of 
 Truth is come, He shall guide you into all truth" And 
 the fair inference from this passage is, that the Holy 
 Spirit in his alliance with the human soul, becomes its 
 aid in the acquisition of every specie* of useful knowl- 
 edge." "He will lead you into all truth." Why not? Is 
 He not interested in the entirety of our welfare? Is 
 there anything which affects our growth, our useful- 
 ness, or our happiness, beneath His notice ? Has He 
 not numbered the hairs on our head ? And has He not 
 gone below us to feed the sparrows, and deck the flow- 
 ers of the field? We are expressly told that He inspired 
 Bezaleel and his fellow-workmen, with skill in con- 
 structing and decorating the Tabernacle in the Wilder- 
 ness, and also, that He called and qualified the Judges 
 of Israel who from time to time were raised up to 
 guide the Lord's people and deliver them from their 
 enemies. And did He did not go forth with their 
 armies and help them overcome their foes*? Nor can 
 
18 PARACLETOS 
 
 we doubt that when David invented his stringed in- 
 struments for the Sanctuary Service, the Holy Spirit 
 as truly aided him then, as when he wrote the Psalms 
 they were intended to accompany. Nor have we of 
 this nineteenth century, reason to doubt the influence 
 of the Holy Spirit, in the wonderful and almost miracu- 
 lous inventions and discoveries which have been made 
 since its commencement, and especially during its lat- 
 ter half. It is as if an unseen hand had touched the 
 springs of human thought and inspired" them with an 
 activity unknown before. And that these wonderful 
 inventions are designed for a purpose, over yonder, bet- 
 ter >and grander than ever entered the inventor's 
 thought! Solomon represents the Holy Spirit (so we 
 think) as saying "I wisdom dwell with prudence and 
 find out the knowledge of witty inventions, rejoicing 
 in the habitable parts of the earth ; and my delights are 
 with the sous of men." And is not this variety in the 
 Holy Spirit's work in instructing the human soul, that 
 which is represented in Rev. 12: 6, as "the seven spirits 
 
 of God sent forth into all the earth ?" 
 p 
 
 We are ^not therefore quite satisfied with the render- 
 ing the translators gave in our English Bible to the 
 Greek, word. "Paracletos." They translate it "the Com- 
 
DEFINED. 19 
 
 forter." But it literally means, one "called upon," 
 "kala," to call, and "para," for or upon. Perhaps we 
 should say "The Called Upon." One who has come 
 into our world to help needy humanity, and stands 
 ready, at every human door, to help those who want 
 his assistance and ask for it. If, for example, we are in 
 sorrow, and ask for sustaining grace, and He comes 
 and wipes away the tears; then He is our Comforter. 
 If in perplexity, and know not what to do or whither 
 go, and He takes our hand and leads us out, then He is 
 our Guide. If we are sorely tempted and feel our feet 
 sliding and call for help, and He comes to the rescue 
 and delivers us from our strong enemy, then He is our 
 Deliverer, the Captain of Salvation. If as a student, I 
 need stimulus and illumination, to acquire the mental 
 discipline and knowledge I am in pursuit of, and He 
 comes to my aid, then He is my Teacher. If I feel my 
 soul is polluted and unfitted for His Holy residence, and 
 I call on him to come and cast out the unclean thoughts 
 and desires, which like unclean spirits cling so fondly 
 there, and he comes and drives them away, then He is 
 my Sanctifier. 
 
 If the book of God is largely sealed to me, and 
 fails to give comfort as it should, and He comes and 
 
20 PARACLETOS 
 
 breaks the seals, and makes it luminous, then He is the 
 Interpreter. In short, the Holy Spirit fills so many 
 offices, beside that of Comforter, that we prefer the 
 more general term of Patron or Helper, as more fitly ex- 
 pressing the work He does for men. And yet a more 
 literal-rendering still of Paracletos, is, as suggested 
 above, that of The- Called- Upon. A distinguished 
 Greek scholar, a learned Professor in a Theological 
 Seminary, when asked to translate Paracletos in a 
 single word, replied, "I cannot. It would take a 
 dozen strong English words to give the full meaning, 
 so extensive are the aids properly covered by it!" 
 
 It is as if in some city, there were some one, so giv- 
 en to help all who are in any distress, or need of help 
 of any kind, and so able to help, and so successful in 
 helping, and so absorbed in the work of helping, that 
 it seems to constitute the only business of his life. 
 Great multitudes go to him asking for relief and not 
 one that is worthy is sent empty away ! Crowds 
 throng the streets which lead to his house by day, and 
 many are the applicants who call upon him after the sun 
 has set and some during the small hours of the coming- 
 day; Yet unVearied, he is ever ready to hear the plea, 
 and rise and give the worthy applicant as much as he 
 
DEFINED. 21 
 
 shall need. At length he comes to be known as "The- 
 C ailed- Upon !" Such is the Bible designation, of that 
 great being, whose work in this world, and especially 
 among Christians, it will be the object of the follow- 
 ing chapters to describe. "The- Catted- Upon!" How 
 suggestive, reader, of what you have done a thousand 
 times ! Of what millions more have done and are do- 
 ing still ! Indeed, is there a being on the earth or has 
 there ever been, whose mind has opened wide enough 
 to take in the idea of God, but has felt his brooding 
 sympathy at times, has been taught the better way, and 
 has been helped by a hand unseen ? "Thou art the 
 confidence of All the ends of the earth and of them 
 that are afar off upon the sea." So says the Psalmist' 
 And such we believe will be the confession of all our 
 race, when before the throne in the coming judgment, 
 the nations kneel and confess before God the facts and 
 experiences of life. 
 
 "We need thee every hour, 
 
 Stay thou near by ; 
 Temptations lose their power, 
 When thou art nigh !" 
 
22 PARACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 The Work of the Spirit under the Mosaic Dispensation. 
 
 In the brief synopsis of events before the flood, we 
 read these mournful words: "And it repented the 
 Lord that he had made man on the earth and it grieved 
 him at his heart. And the Lord said, My Spirit shall 
 not always strive tvith man ! And this expression "Strive 
 with man," implies an earnest and persistent struggle 
 on the Spirit's part to hold men back from sin and the 
 threatened doom. A like record is made of his efforts 
 to save the Israelites on their way to Canaan, when it is 
 said, "They rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit." An- 
 other still and not less strong in the expression, 
 "How can I give thee up Ephraim ? How shall I deliv- 
 er thee Israel ? How shall I make thee as Admah ? 
 How shall I set thee as Zeboim ? Mine heart is 
 turned within me, my repentings are kindled togeth- 
 er !" This on the one hand. On the other we read of 
 his successful work in a multitude of instances. There 
 were Enoch and Elijah, so sanctified by his power and 
 so ripened for heaven, that they were not suffered to 
 see death, but were translated ! Others like Moses, 
 David and Melchisadek, become types of the coming 
 
WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 23 
 
 Messiah ! All their great teachers, we are told, spoke 
 as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. Indeed, the 
 list of the Spirit's triumphs in converting and sancti- 
 fying men, while yet the nations were groping and 
 feeling their way amid the shadows of the old dispen- 
 sation, and awaiting the rise of the Sun of Righteous- 
 ness, is too large to be transcribed here. 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 The Work of the Holy Spirit under Messiah's reign, and 
 in wliat respects it differed from that under Moses. 
 1. In the measure of Divine influence imparted to individ- 
 uals. The great atonement, by the blood of the Mes- 
 siah, opened the door for a wider and richer display 
 of God's mercy and generosity towards sinners. 
 God's government is vast! Countless are the hosts 
 which are interested in it! It is evident from the 
 Scriptures, that beings, other than those of the earth, 
 looked with wondering eyes on God's treatment of a 
 world of sinners ! When the angels sinned, at onCe the 
 law was executed, an(jl they were cast out of heaven ! 
 
24 PARACLETOS. 
 
 But when man had sinned, punishment was largely 
 withheld! The judgment was delayed, and pity and 
 mercy and love combined to bring him to repentance ! 
 What did it mean ? Was it possible that the Great 
 Father and Governor was so moved by sympathy for 
 his children, born in a world where devils roamed and 
 tempted them, that he would fail to stand by the law 
 which had hitherto been held so sacred. And when 
 the mercy seat was planted in the tabernacle, and of- 
 ferings made thereon, angels are represented as look- 
 ing down upon it and studying into its meaning ! Paul 
 interprets the cherubim above the mercy seat as mean- 
 ing, "which things the angels desire to look into." 
 But when the Lamb of God condescended to human 
 incarnation ! to humiliation so low ! and at last poured 
 out his blood on the Altar of Sacrifice ! then were the 
 seals of the great mystery broken ! and the Cheru- 
 bim above the mercy seat flew back to heaven crying, 
 Amen ! Amen ! God is just and God is gracious ! 
 And his fidelity to his government can be questioned 
 nevermore ! No, not if millions of repentant prodi- 
 gals are forgiven and restored ! And now open wider 
 than ever the windows of heaven and let richer show- 
 ers than ever fall upon men I If we are asked to 
 
WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 25 
 
 show that larger measures of the Spirit are imparted 
 to persons since Jesus came than ever before, we refer 
 to Peter preaching after he had received the holy bap- 
 tism in which 3,000 were converted in one day, and 
 that in a city notorious for its prejudice against Christ 
 and His disciples ! In vain is previous history searched 
 for a parallel with the power which attended that day's 
 preaching. 
 
 So too, the Apostle Paul stands head and shoulders 
 above the seers and prophets of the Old Testament 
 in the marvelous power which attended his footsteps, 
 while "from Jerusalem round about to Illyricum, he 
 fully preached the Gospel of Christ!" So of many 
 others, the companions or successors of these men. 
 Baptised with the Holy Ghost they went every where 
 preaching the word, planting Churches, and leading 
 sinners to Christ in numbers so great that kings on 
 their thrones saw the signs of the Son of Man coming- 
 in his kingdom with power and great glory ! No sec- 
 tion of earth's previous history, shows anything like a 
 similar endowment of Spiritual .power! Coming 
 down to more modern times, we behold Wesley and 
 Whitfield, men as entirely dissimilar in mental traits, 
 as two men well could be. Yet both filled with the 
 
26 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Holy Ghost, and each leading unto the Lord, in his 
 own way, men and women in numbers far beyond those 
 so led by any of the Old Testament Prophets, or even 
 Peter and Paul in the new ! Later still, and even in 
 our own times, men like Spurgeon in Europe, and 
 Moody and Mills in America, astonish the world, by 
 the power which attends them in preaching the Gos- 
 pel. Did not Jesus say, John 14:12, "He that believeth 
 on me, the works that I do shall he do also, and greater' 
 works than these shall he do, because I go unto my Fath- 
 er !" But there is another difference in the operations 
 of the Spirit, under the new dispensation which dis- 
 tinguishes it from the old. 
 
 2d. In the enlarged area of his work. Under the 
 first Dispensation, while he was everywhere doing his 
 work among the sons of men, leaving not a single soul 
 destitute of his influence, his first and especial 
 work was among the lost sheep of the House of Israel, 
 raising up prophets among them, imparting to them a 
 special revelation, walling them in also and separating 
 them trorn the nations by special institutions and prom- 
 ises. But the seers of the Old Testament clearly fore- 
 saw, this was not always so to be, They beheld in 
 Messiah's day, the partition wall broken down, and 
 
WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 27 
 
 thus they prophesied, "It shall come to pass in the last 
 days, saith the Lord, that I will pour out my Spirit 
 upon all flesh!" "It shall come to pass in the last days 
 that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- 
 lished in the top of the mountains and shall be exalted 
 above the hills, and all nations shall flow unto it, and 
 many people shall go and say, Come ye and let us go up 
 to the Mountain of the Lord to the house of the God 
 of Jacob, and he will teach us his ways and we will 
 walk in his paths. And he shall judge among the na- 
 tions and rebuke many peoples and they shall beat 
 their swords into plow shares and their spears into 
 pruning hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword 
 against nation, neither shall they learn war any more ! 
 Passgaes like these abound in the Old Testament, and 
 they teach, what facts abundantly show, that on Mes- 
 siah's day, the work and success of the Holy Spirit, 
 would be greater outside the Jewish people, than within 
 their borders ! 
 
 3. Unusual classes of people receive the baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit under the new dispensation. In the old, 
 his special gifts were largely confined to the priest- 
 hood, the seers, and the first-born in the family. Now, 
 all were invited to share in it, the sons and daughters, 
 
28 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 the young men and old men, the servants and hand- 
 maidens; not one is excluded! what ever their em- 
 ployments, or social condition, the greatest of heaven's 
 gifts is laid at their door ! The language conveying 
 the gift is this, "I will pour out my Spirit upon all flesh, 
 and your sons and your daughters shall prophesy, 
 your young men shall see visions, and your old men 
 dream dreams, and on the servants and on the hand- 
 maidens, will I pour out my Spirit, and they shall 
 prophesy." That is, they shall like the ancient proph- 
 ets preach the will of God, with the manifest sanction 
 of his power ! This precious truth, that every Chris- 
 tian in Messiah's day could receive the baptism of the 
 Holy Spirit, received clear illustration and confirma- 
 tion in the Pentecostal object lesson. In that wonder- 
 ful outpouriDg of the Spirit, the cloven tongue as of 
 fire sat upoh each of them, and they were all filled with 
 the Holy Ghost and glorified God, as the Spirit gave 
 them utterance ! 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 29 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 The Pentecostal Baptism, a great object lesson. 
 
 This remarkable outpouring of the Spirit stands out 
 in the Bible, with a prominence, which draws all eyes 
 unto it ! Nothing equals it in the book of revelation. 
 It is a great and startling object lesson, which Christians 
 of all subsequent ages should study, and in it learn by 
 what great force, personal sanctification is to 
 be secured, and the world converted to God. What 
 does this object lesson teach ? 
 
 1st. It clearly teaches that the baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit is a great spiritual endowment bestowed upon 
 Christians, subsequent to their conversion. In the case of 
 many of these who first received it, it came years after 
 their first induction into the family of God. Perhaps 
 this is not always so, but we believe it is, usually. We 
 say "usually" because we have occasionally seen con- 
 verts and heard of others who received the Great Gift 
 simultaneously with conversion. Bat such cases are 
 rare. As a rule, converts after their conversion have 
 a hard task in the effort to control their thoughts, 
 passions, their speech and spirit. There is so much 
 carnality left, so much of the world and the devil with- 
 
30 PARACLETOS. 
 
 in, and around, while the spiritual man is feeble and the 
 measure of the Spirit is small, that they often stumble and 
 fall ! And for a time they have a seventh chapter of Ro- 
 mans' experience. At length, like Israel in trouble, they 
 cry unto the Lord for help and are delivered. They re- 
 eive a double portion of the Holy Spirit and move into 
 the 8th chapter and rejoice with joy unspeakable and 
 full of glory! There is so much of God in them now, 
 that the devil flies, the flesh is subdued and the world 
 is overcome! I say this is the usual experience. It 
 was so in the apostles day. It is so now. We pass 
 from experience to Bible proofs that this view is cor- 
 rect. The Apostles who received this gift on the day 
 of Pentecost were Christians and had made consider- 
 able attainments in the Divine life. This is clear from 
 the language which Christ uses concerning them, in that 
 memorable prayer offered before his apprehension. 
 "I have given them thy word and the world hath 
 hated them because they are not of the world even as I 
 am not of the world. While I was with them I kept 
 them in thy name and none of them is lost but the son 
 of perdition." "Now ye are clean but not all." Such 
 language proves clearly that they were converted peo- 
 ple. Yet these were the very persons, to whom "the 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 31 
 
 Spirit of Truth, the Comforter" was promised, over and 
 over again in that memorable after-supper-talk, as a 
 friend who was yet to come in fullness to their aid and 
 abide with them forever. So, too, after his resurrection, 
 and just before his ascension, "Being assembled with 
 them he commanded them that they should not depart 
 from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the Fath- 
 er, which saith he ye have received of n?e. For John 
 truly baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized with 
 the Holy Ghost not many days hence." And these were 
 the men who conducted that prayer-meeting of ten 
 day's continuance and held the brethren fast to the 
 promise, till they were all with one accord in one place, 
 and upon whom on the tenth day the Baptism came, 
 and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost! Thence- 
 forth they were a very different class of men from 
 what they were before ! So far as the record goes, the 
 inference is strong that the entire 120 in that upper 
 room, who prayed for that baptism so long, were with- 
 out exception, Christians, not less devout, than the av- 
 erage Christian in our modern churches. Probably 
 far more so, for it cost something to be a Christian in 
 those days of persecution and crucifixion ! And if 
 such men needed the Holy Baptism, shall the modern 
 
32 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Church member be content with conversion and say 
 "that is enough for me ! I have been forgiven have a 
 hope and have no need of any higher or greater bless- 
 ing !" Passing along a little further in the story of 
 the Apostles we read of Phillip going down to Sama- 
 ria and preaching the Gospel and that "many believed 
 and were baptised both men and women ! And 
 when the Apostles at Jerusalem heard that Samaria 
 had received the word of God they sent to them Peter 
 and John, who when they were come prayed for them 
 that they might receive the Holy Ghost, and they laid 
 their hands on them, and they received the Holy 
 Ghost." What stronger proof do we need that the in- 
 fluence and measure of the Spirit which brings about 
 conversion, is not oil that me need and all that is provided f 
 What greater proof that the Baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit, is a Christian endowment, and far above that re- 
 ceived at conversion. 2. This great object lesson teaches 
 that we must ourselves personally seek the gift, if we 
 would have it. It came not to the Apostles unsought. 
 Witness the ten days' prayer meeting. 3. That all 
 classes can have it, that all need it whatever their lot, 
 be they servants or handmaidens, old or young. 4. In 
 that object lesson we see how God's people can 
 
WORK OF THE SPIRIT. 33 
 
 from weakness rise to power. The Holy Ghost must 
 come upon them, and then he that is feeble among 
 them shall be as David and the house of David as the 
 Angel of God. 5. In it we see how Christians are to 
 be sanctified. That is lifted to a life of steadfast walk 
 with God and victory over the powers of sin. By the 
 reception within of this large measure of the Holy 
 Spirit. Thus were sanctified Peter and his brethren. 
 6. In it too we see how the nations are to be convert- 
 ed unto the Lord. 7. We see also that if the Church 
 would see sinners converted, it must first of all be bap- 
 tized by the Holy Ghost. So much at least, this ob- 
 ject lesson teaches. We shall enlarge on these topics 
 in subsequent chapters. We leave them for the present. 
 
34 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 The Pentecostal Endowment Permanent in its Essentials. 
 
 Was the Pentecostal endowment of the Spirit de- 
 signed solely for the Apostolic age, or intended in its 
 substantial elements for the Christian Church down 
 through the entire Messianic ? Was the promise of 
 the gift made to us as well as to the Apostles and 
 their brethren? Is the gift within our reach as truly 
 as within theirs ? Questions of immense practical im- 
 portance ! They concern us personally. They concern 
 the Church of God, and they deeply concern a world 
 lying in wickedness. If the gift is for us, how sinful 
 to live without it ! If it is only in part for us, we need to 
 know what our portion is, and to rise up and take 
 quick possession ! It is the settled belief of the wri- 
 ter that when the Holy Spirit came to take the place of 
 the departed Jesus, he came to atride with the Church 
 down through the ages, its Sauctifier, its Inspirer and 
 Helper in converting the world to Christ. Indeed, 
 what less can we make of Christ's words, "I will pray 
 the Father and he shall give you another Comforter 
 that he may abide with you forever ! " And when that 
 Comforter came, he came not empty handed, but with 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 35 
 
 gifts rich and manifold. Thus Paul enumerates them, 
 in 1 Cor. 12 Chap. "To one is given the word of wis- 
 dom, to another knowledge, to another faith, to another 
 gifts of healing, to another miracles, to another proph- 
 ecy, to another discerning of spirits, to another divers 
 tongues, to another interpretation of tongues by the 
 same Spirit." In another place, Gal. 5:23, he tells us 
 "The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, long suffer- 
 ing, gentfeness, goodness, faith, meekness, temper- 
 ance." The sum of all this long enumeration of 
 the gifts the Spirit bestows, is that the gifts he im- 
 parts are as varied as the wants of believers w r ere at 
 that time, or would be down to the end of time. And 
 if that is so, it follows that some of them would be 
 specially adapted to their times, and incidental to the in- 
 troduction of the New Testament, its verification as the 
 word of God, but not needed after that work was done, 
 and therefore subsequently to be withheld. Such we 
 believe was the power to work miracles, to write in- 
 spired books, to speak with tongues, and in some 
 cases to forecast the future. We do not see how the 
 Apostles could have transmitted to us the Gospels and 
 the Epistles as writings divinely inspired, unless the 
 Holy Ghost had confirmed them bv miracles. But 
 
36 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 when the word was verified as Divine, and the world 
 had received evidence sufficient to convince honest and 
 earnest men that the New Testament is God's Book, 
 then it was eminently fit that this feature of the Baptism 
 should be withdrawn, or eliminated from the gifts be- 
 stowed. For the laws of nature as we call them, are all 
 the laws of God, they are all very dear to Him, since they 
 were enacted in infinite wisdom and love, and necessary 
 for the highest welfare of His children. If, therefore, He 
 sets any of them aside, it must be temporarily, and at 
 spaces few and far between. And even then only as few 
 laws as possible, must feel the interference. The vast im- 
 portance of the verification of the New Testament, alone war- 
 ranted and demanded the bestowment upon its writers 
 of miraculous powers. But when that end was an- 
 swered, reason says they should be withdrawn, and 
 history shows they were. But surely the withdrawal 
 of them did not involve those other all important gifts 
 which were needed still and will be down to the 
 enJl of time. We shall all admit that the great value 
 of the latter day outpouring of the Spirit the Pen- 
 tecostal Baptism, lay in its power to convert sinners and 
 sanctify Christians. This done universally, or even gen- 
 erally, the millennium will have come, and the earth 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 37 
 
 will be but a vestibule of heaven ! But miracles have 
 very little direct influence in bringing about either 
 sanctification or conversion. Mucn r less than the mass- 
 es of people think. Let us look at a few examples. 
 The raising of Lazarus from the dead did not convert the 
 Jewish Sanhedrim, though its members well knew of its 
 occurrence, they resisted its influence and sought to kill 
 Lazarus to put his testimony out of the way ! Judas had 
 been an eye witness to Christ's miracles from the first, 
 yet they did not change his wicked heart, but he con- 
 tinued a hypocrite and a thief, and finally, betrayed his 
 Lord for 30 jrieces of silver ! The officers and soldiers, 
 who were sent to apprehend Jesus, so felt the stroke 
 of his power when he advanced to meet them and said 
 "I am he," that "they went backward and fell on the 
 ground!" Yet they rose and rallied against him ! And 
 when a few moments after, they saw Jesus heal with 
 a touch the right ear of Malchus, which Peter had 
 cut off, still, unchanged in heart, they proceeded 
 to bind Jesus and lead him away to Annas and Caia- 
 phas for condemnation and crucifixion ! And when the 
 whole multitude uttered the hoarse cry "crucify ! cruci- 
 fy him !" Doubtless their voices were lifted up 
 with the rest and probably that of Malchus too. 
 
38 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Need we go back to Sinai and see the people worship- 
 ing a golden calf, crying "theee be thy Gods, O ! Israel 
 which led thee out of Egypt," while yet the towering 
 mountain before them trembled at the presence of 
 Him, who had but a few days before, uttered with a 
 voice two millions could hear, the ten commandments? 
 Need we recur to this as a proof that in all ages mir- 
 acles have had no direct power to convert and sanctify 
 men, and often very little that is indirect? What a 
 startling example in this line were the people of Is- 
 rael in all their journey from Egypt to the promised 
 land ! Did they not stand for half a year in Goshen 
 and behold the ten dire plagues fall upon Egypt ? Did 
 they not hear the midnight wail which went up from 
 every Egyptain house, when the startled family arose 
 and found their first born dying or dead ? Did they 
 not see the waters divide and allow them to pass over 
 into the Arabian peninsula dry shod, while Pharaoh's 
 host was overwhelmed and drowned ? And when their 
 little store of food was spent, were they not for years 
 fed with the manna which fell from heaven? But did all 
 these and many other miracles, convert or sanctify 
 the multitude ? Far, far from it ! They continued im- 
 penitent; they rebelled and vexed his Holy Spirit so 
 
PENTECOSTAL BAPTISM. 39 
 
 that "He sware in his wrath that they should not enter 
 into His rest!" We may add that the baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost, did not always imply a power to work 
 miracles. John was full of the Spirit. But John 
 wrought no miracles, nor is it probable that one in a 
 hundred of the Christians who received the great 
 gift had the power to work a miracle. Paul asks, 
 with an implied negative, "Have all the gift of 
 healing? Do all work miracles !" And in a discussion 
 of the comparative value of the gifts imparted by the 
 Spirit, he exalts charity, or a heart full of love to God 
 and Man, as far above all the rest. We have dwelt thus 
 long on this feature the miraculous of the Pentecost- 
 al baptism, because many have such exaggerated views 
 of it that when it had answered its purpose of con- 
 firming the word and was withdrawn from the Church 
 they think there was little left worth seeking, and fall 
 back upon such Spiritual endowments, as the Apostles 
 had before Pentecost, as about all Christians can now 
 rationally expect. Indeed a distinguished Theological 
 Professor in a letter to me on the subject argued that 
 Theological students should not consider this baptism 
 an indispeusible prerequisite to their going forth from 
 the Seminary to preach the Gospel. But that rather 
 
40 PARACLETOS. 
 
 with the ordinary preparation should go forth under 
 the General Order, "Go ye into all the world and preach 
 the Gospel," and expect to receive occasional baptisms 
 while about their work. I give the sentiment of his 
 
 letter. But this was not the Master's view of it. The 
 
 \< - 
 
 Apostles had spent three years under his personal in- 
 structions. They were endowed with power to confirm 
 their words by miracles. They had just spent forty days 
 with him, listening to his words while he spoke to them 
 "of the things pertaining to the Kingdom of God." 
 But in spite of all that preparation, in his view, they 
 lacked a most important preparation. It was richer 
 endowment of the Holy Spirit ! Accordingly he bade 
 them seek and obtain it before entering on the sacred 
 work. Hear his words, "Tarry in Jerusalem till, &c." 
 Wait for the promise." Commanded that they should 
 not depart from Jerusalem till "ye have received the 
 promise." The repeated injunctions, thoroughly em- 
 phasize the' importance of the Great Gift. The ten 
 days of prayer for it which followed bespeak its im- 
 portance also ! Then followed the Gift itself, with its 
 astounding results ! its effects on the 120 who re- 
 ceived it ! on the thousands converted ! on the people 
 of Jerusalem and the devout men who were gathered 
 
PENTECOSTAL BAPTISM. 41 
 
 there from every nation under heaven ! Results well 
 worth those ten days of waiting and of prayer ! Had 
 our Lord sent forth his disciples, as the Professor 
 whose sentiments we have quoted would send out his 
 students, he would have sent them to disaster, defeat, 
 and discouragement. Their past showed it. They 
 were timid and weak and they needed a great rein- 
 forcement from on high before they could make an at- 
 tack on the entrenchments of the enemy. We see it 
 in our Church work. The Church must be prepared 
 for a revival before it can expect one. It must take 
 the stumbling blocks out of the road. It must be bap- 
 tized with the Holy Ghost 01 it is not fit to cooperate 
 with God in winning souls! "Sow not among thorns!" 
 has been the standing theme of such men as Finney, 
 and Avery, and Moody, and Mills, and a thousand oth- 
 er evangelists. Why then should not the candidates for 
 the Ministry desire and seek a like preparation a bap- 
 tism of the Spirit, before they enter on the same great 
 work ? 
 
 But the example of our Lord, in this line seems more 
 striking still ! He, our Great Exemplar, did not enter 
 on his work of preaching the Kingdom of God, till 
 he had received in an open and manifest form, the bap- 
 
42 PARACLETOS. 
 
 tism of the Holy Spirit ! "John bore record and said, 
 I saw the Spirit descending from heaven as a dove and 
 it abode upon him." And in his first recorded sermon, 
 He said "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, because he 
 hath annointed me to preach." And if a being exalted 
 like Him, with wisdom and miraculous power, and of 
 life absolutely perfect did not think himself qualified 
 to preach the glad tidings, till first, specially endowed 
 by the Holy Ghost if his inspired Apostles also must 
 have the same great gift, what presumption in us to 
 enter the work as if qualified without it ! Is it not 
 going in the face of the most impressive example, in all 
 the Book of God ? And why, let me ask, was that 
 great example recorded and set before us? Leaving 
 these considerations we proceed to lay before the read- 
 er, other and more direct arguments which we think 
 fully prove that the outpouring of the Spirit in Pente- 
 costal richness, was designed Jor our age not less than 
 for the Apostolic. 
 
 1st. Because we need it and must have it for personal 
 s&nrtificatiw. By sanctification I mean establishment 
 and confirmation in the ways of God. A Seventh 
 Chapter of Roman's experience, so largely prevalent 
 in our Churches, cries piteously towards heaven for an 
 
PENTECOSTAL BAPTISM. 43 
 
 endowment of Spiritual power far beyond ^that re- 
 ceived iu conversion ! That was -precious; a gift be- 
 yond all price ! It convicted of sin, it led to Christ, 
 it secured forgiveness. To use a figure of speech, it 
 delivered us from Pharaoh ! It led us across the Red 
 Sea, and put a new song in our mouth as we stood on 
 the other shore ! But is this all our God has for us ? 
 Are we to stay here in this comparatively barren land 
 all our days ? No ! No ! there is a land of Canaan 
 over yonder richer far than this, and itself a type of a 
 still better land beyond. We need not stay here cours- 
 ing back and forth in the wilderness of Sinai, strug- 
 gling with foes and oft times with doubtful success. 
 True, there is distance and obstacles between us and 
 our inheritance. But Joshua's and Caleb's have been 
 over there, and have brought to our sight the fruits of 
 the land. More over we have a leader who will con- 
 duct us there, with pillar of clouds by day and of fire 
 by night ! Rise let us go and take quick possession ! 
 No careful reader of the New Testament has failed to 
 see that the Pentecostal Baptism, effected a great moral 
 and Spiritual change in the Apostles and their com- 
 panions. They were no more vacillating, cowardly, un- 
 believing and weak. On the other hand they were 
 
44 PARACLETOS. 
 
 strong iii the Lord and in the power of his might. 
 Hear them say "He that is born of God overcomes the 
 ivorld /" "Greater is he that is in you than he that is 
 in the world," and "The weapons of our warfare are 
 not carnal but mighty through God to the pulling 
 clown of strongholds ; casting down imaginations, 
 and every high thing which exalts itself against the 
 knowledge of God and bringing into captivity every 
 thought to the obedience of Christ ! "Now thanks be 
 unto God who always causeth us to triumph in Christ." 
 k 2 Cor. 2 :14. Indeed, sanctification, victory over sin, ho- 
 liness, is all through the Bible ascribed to the Holy 
 Spirit. Not that we are inactive in the matter, but the 
 Great Agency is his. If therefore we would be holy, 
 we must have the Holy Spirit come and dwell in us. 
 We must have the Pentecostal baptism. That which 
 sanctified the Apostles can sanctify us, and nothing 
 short of it will answer our turn. 
 
 '2d. We need the additional endowment to win 
 others to the Lord. Before the Apostles received it, they 
 had little power as preachers and conveyancers of 
 truth to men. They were weak, they were human, 
 what could they do in a contest with the depravity of 
 the human heart and all the powers of darkness ? 
 
PENTACOSTAT, BAPTISM. 45 
 
 Christ knew their incapacity but told them they 
 should receive power not many days hence; and bade 
 them tarry in Jerusalem till that power was given in the 
 baptism of the Holy Ghost. So.it is with Christians 
 in modern days, who have to contend with the same 
 great obstacles; they need and must have the same 
 Great Helper working with them and speaking through 
 them with Pentecostal power. Since then we need so 
 greatly this baptism, both for the work within and that 
 without, is not the presumption rational, that he who 
 has done so much else for us, will do this also ? Paul 
 said, "My God shall supply all you need," and if this is 
 not our great necessity, who can tell us what that ne- 
 cessity is ? 
 
 3d. The promises of this great gift look beyond 
 Apostolic days. Peter said, referring to it and it alone. 
 "The promise is unto you and to your children" This 
 means, even tying the words down to absolute literal- 
 ness, the extension of the blessing to the next genera- 
 tion. But properly interpreted, and according to Bible 
 usage, it means to your descendants. But he adds "to all 
 that are afar off" the fair construction is, afar off in 
 time, as well as in space. But lest we should limit it 
 to that age, as so many are disposed to do, he adds, 
 
46 PARACLETOS. 
 
 "Even to as many as the Lord our God shall call." This 
 settles the matter. It shows that the offer of the Pen- 
 tecostal baptism is made to all who hear the Gospel call, 
 in any age, in any land, be they Jews or Gentiles, bond 
 or free, young or old, in Asia or Europe, or the Isles of 
 the Ocean. No matter when or where they shall hear 
 the Gospel's call, with it also shall go the offer of the bap- 
 tism of the Holy Ghost ! If then, serious minded reader, 
 the Lord our God has sent his call to you, to repent, 
 believe and be forgiven, let me ask you to read and re- 
 flect on Peter's assurance, that a further gift is in store 
 for you also such as he and his brethren had just re- 
 ceived, the Baptism of the Holy Ghost ! 
 
 And yet again hear the Master say, "I will pray the 
 Father and he shall give you another Comforter, and 
 he shall abide with you forever, even the Spirit of truth, 
 whom the world cannot receive, because it seeth him 
 not, neither knoweth him. But ye knew him, for he 
 dwellcth with you, and shall be in you !" This passage 
 also I take to mean that the Comforter whom the father 
 was to send in baptismal power, did not come on a 
 visit, brief and confined to Apostolic days, but to re- 
 main through the ages till this world is brought back 
 to God. His was to be a permanent residence ! He 
 was "to abide with us forever /" 
 
PENTECOSTAL BAPTISM. 47 
 
 4. The Conversion of the Nations, foretold by the proph- 
 ets as taking place down the ages, far beyond Calvary, 
 and hard by the millenium, clearly shows a power of 
 the Holy Ghost, displayed on a scale far beyond 
 that exhibited at Pentecost! Thus speaks Isaiah 
 in the 60th Chapter of his prophecy. "The Gen- 
 tiles shall come to thy light, and kings to the 
 brightness of thy rising ! Lift up thine eyes round 
 about and see ! All they gather themselves together ! 
 they come to thee ! Thy sons shall come from far and 
 thy daughters shall be nursed at thy side ! The abun- 
 dance of the sea shall be converted unto thee, and the 
 forces of the Gentiles shall come to thee ! Thy gates 
 shall be open continually ! they shall not be shut day 
 nor night, that men may bring unto thee the forces of 
 the Gentiles, and that their kings may be bought !" In 
 the 2nd Chapter the same Prophet refering to this 
 same time, says "It shall come to pass in the last days, 
 that the mountain of the Lord's house shall be estab- 
 lished in the top of the mountains and all nations shall 
 flow into it. And many peoples shall go and say, Come 
 ye and let us go up to the Mountain of the Lord, to 
 the house of the God of Jacob; and he will teach us 
 his ways, and we will walk in his paths; for out of 
 
48 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Zion shall go forth the law, and the word of the Lord 
 from Jerusalem, and he shall judge among the nations, 
 and shall rebuke many peoples, and they shall beat 
 their swords into plough-shares, and their spears into 
 pruning-hooks, and nation shall not lift up sword 
 against nation, neither shall they learn war any more." 
 Other old testaments prophets foresaw and described 
 in graphic verse the great revival in which the nations 
 of the earth, as with one heart shall turn to the Lord ! 
 Paul also speaks of "the fullness of the Gentiles" 
 coming into the fold of Christ and after that the Jew- 
 ish nation coming too ! Romans, 11:25. 
 
 That this great revival has not occurred is obvious. 
 That it is yet to occur is certain. The question we pro- 
 pose is, how is it to be brought about ? The obvious an- 
 swer is, "the Holy Ghost still abiding in the Churches, 
 will yet exert a power on the Church and on the na- 
 tions, far beyond that which Peter witnessed in the 
 Great Pentecostal revival at Jerusalem! Since this 
 latter brought to Christ only a few thousands, while 
 the former is to bring into the kingdom, the great na- 
 tions of the earth ! 
 
 5th. Another argument which proves that the Bap- 
 tism of the Holy Spirit belongs to our age, as well as 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 49 
 
 to the Apostolic, and one which seems to us unanswer- 
 able is the commandment laid upon us, to be filled with 
 the Spirit. "Be not drunk with wine, but be filled 
 with the Spirit." This is the Saviour's voice to us, spoken 
 through his servant, Paul. The command implies the 
 ability as well as the duty and the privilege. But the 
 expression "Filled with the Spirit," is the equivalent of 
 "Baptised with the Holy Ghost." Take a few passages 
 like the following: "They were fill filled with the Holy 
 Ghost!" Acts 2: 4. "And they were all filled with the 
 Holy Ghost and they spake, &c.," "That thou might- 
 est receive thy sight and befitted with the Holy Ghost." 
 Acts 9: 17. I need not quote other passages, since the 
 command to be filled with the Spirit, means that w r e 
 should receive as large an induement as our capaci- 
 ties will allow or our cup contain. More than this 
 Pentecost did not give. Less than this all our limited 
 capacities can receive and use, will neither meet the 
 requirement, "be filled with the Spirit," or our obvious 
 duty and our need. And should any of our brethren 
 deny the immanence in the Church, of the privilege and 
 duty of receiving the Pentecostal baptism, they will 
 surely admit tJie duty and privilege of being filled 'with 
 the Hob) Spirit. Well, brethren, we will meet you 
 
50 PARACLETOS. 
 
 there, and be content, if you will inquire at God's al- 
 tar, how large a measure of the Spirit received is im- 
 plied in being filled with Him, and with the further pur- 
 pose not to rest till that measure is received, and you 
 are filled with all the fullness of God, and your cup 
 can contain no more ! 
 
 One more argument we urge to show that this great 
 induement belongs to us, equally with the Apostolic 
 Church. It is that/ro??i that time till now, God has been 
 raising up witnesses who have confessed the reception of 
 this baptism, and whose lives and successes have shown 
 that they were not mistaken. We refer to such emi- 
 nent workers in the Church as Luther, Zwingle, Wes- 
 ley, Whitfield, Finney, Mills and Moody, who have told 
 us how they sought this blessing, and how they 
 received it. Conspicuous among them was John Wes- 
 ley. This remarkable man laid the greatest stress up- 
 on this gift, and even insisted that no preacher was 
 fitted for his woik, till indued with special power 
 from on high ! He called it the "full assurance of 
 faith," and a conscious indwelling of the Spirit. Ac- 
 cordidgly great numbers of Methodist preachers were 
 led to seek and receive the great blessing, and hence 
 the power and unparalleled growth of their Church. 
 
PENTACOSTAL BAPTISM. 51 
 
 Beginning but a little over a century ago, preaching 
 the Gospel to the poor, beside the highways and 
 hedges, without a house of worship, a college or sem- 
 inary, they went forward converting sinners, forming 
 classes of inquirers and converts, ordaining class 
 leaders, exhorters, preachers and elders, often, and 
 generally uneducated, but full of faith and the Holy 
 Spirit, and men in whose mouths burned the tongue of 
 fire! What has God wrought by these obscure and feeble 
 men, siace our century began ? Long since they shot 
 by all other Protestant denominations and left them 
 far behind, in numbers of churches, communicants and 
 hearers! Whence this wonderful growth? We ans- 
 wer, the other Protestant bodies have depended large- 
 ly on human learning, prestige, patronage and 
 power, and very little on the Holy Ghost ! Hence 
 tlieir slow growth and weakness. But with the Metho- 
 dists, the baptism of the Holy Ghost was everything, 
 hence their success and in that was the hiding of 
 their power. 
 
52 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 The Blessings of this Baptism confers upon the Christian 
 
 personally. 
 
 1st. It will vivify his consciousness of the presence of 
 God. Why not ? Since in it God says " / will dwell 
 in them and walk in them!" And this indwelling of 
 the Spirit is too great a matter to escape a vivid con- 
 sciousness of a new source of life and power within. 
 This consciousness of God's presence, is of great impor- 
 tance in the Christain life. When we have it we are 
 strong. When it is absent we are weak. God has put 
 great stress upon it. Hence he has sought to impress 
 his presence upon us by works of artistic skill, which 
 meet us wherever we turn, saying, " Lo ! God is here ! 
 behold his handiwork ! " Prayer is largely an effort 
 on our part to get near to God, in the sense of be- 
 coming more deeply impressed with a sense of His 
 presence and love. But in spite of both, a majority of 
 Christians complain of a lack of this abiding sense of 
 the Divine presence. Even in closet prayer, while on 
 their knees they often detect a foi'getf ulness of God, 
 shocking and sinful. How shall this defect be reme- 
 died? We reply, the remedy is found alone in the 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 53 
 
 baptism of the Holy Spirit. Jesus said, John 14: 16 
 and 17, "I will pray the Father and He shall give you 
 another Comforter, and He shall abide with you forever, 
 even the spirit of truth, for He dwelleth with you and 
 shall be in you! " And His indwelling will give vivid- 
 ness and constancy to our sense of His presence. And 
 there is nothing like the sense of God's presence and 
 power, to give the Christain strength, confidence and 
 peace. 
 
 2d. This baptism removes all doubts of acceptance. 
 John says "We know that He abideth in us by the 
 Spirit He hath given us." And Paul says, " The Spirit 
 itself beareth witness with our Spirit, that we are the 
 children of God." With this baptism the last doubt 
 in regard to that great matter takes its final departure. 
 As well could the Prodigal Son have doubted his re- 
 conciliation with his father, when clothed from his 
 ward-robe, sitting at his table, and music and dancing 
 filling all the house with joy. This inward witness of 
 acceptance, received on shipboard by Wesley returning 
 to England from Georgia, was the first token of his hav- 
 ing been baptised by the Holy Spirit. 
 
 3d. This baptism fills the soul with love to God. 
 Many Christians, and perhaps we may sav all, before its 
 
54 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 % 
 
 reception are often troubled by a conscious absence of 
 that love to God which he claims, and which they know 
 is his proper due. They are conscious of ardent love 
 of human beings, but alas! the barrenness of the heart 
 on the side towards God ! And they mourn over it. 
 And they wonder how it was that David, in that far 
 back time, could say, " Whom have I in heaven but 
 thee, and there is none upon earth I desire beside thee !" 
 Sometimes, indeed, they are conscious of emotions of 
 love to God, but they are so far short of what they 
 should be, they derive little comfort therefrom. But 
 when the baptism comes, and the Holy Ghost enters 
 the home of the soul, and His train fills the earthly 
 temple, the things of God and of Christ are so pre- 
 sented that the fountains of the heart are opened and 
 love flows forth from God into the soul and ebbs back 
 from it to Him, and the whole house is filled and 
 flooded. So it was on the day of Pentecost, and so it 
 ever has been, is now and ever will be, where this 
 Great Gift is bestowed. Other means to awaken love 
 towards God in these sin-frozen hearts of ours, it is 
 quite proper we should use, but the chief and only ef- 
 fectual power which will elicit it in fulness, will be the 
 power from on high the Holy Ghost. This is Bible 
 
PERSONAL BLE'SSINGS. 55 
 
 teaching and this is experience an experience we all 
 need and ail may have, and one we all shall have if we 
 set our hearts upon it and cry mightily unto God for it. 
 For there is not one among all His gifts He is more 
 anxious to bestow. " If ye, then, being evil, know how 
 to give good gifts to your children, how much more 
 shall your Father who is in heaven give the Holy Spirit 
 to them that ask Him." 
 
 4th. It greatly quickens the conscience and en- 
 larges the area of apprehension of right and wrong. 
 The Holy Spirit becomes our guardian, an instant 
 prompter when sin and Satan draw nigh. He -cannot 
 endure to have his temple denied his ward taken 
 captive and led astray. Accordingly, the baptised soul 
 instantly sees the rightness or wrongness of a multi- 
 'tude of things not thought of as such before. Said an 
 Apostle, " The aunointing ye have received abideth in 
 you, and ye need not that any man teach you, but as 
 that same annointing teacheth you of all things and is 
 truth." And Jesus said, " False prophets should aiise 
 after Him and deceive, if it were possible, the very 
 elect." Implying extreme difficulty in their case, if 
 not absolute impossibility. And that because of an in- 
 ward light which would reveal to them the wolf though 
 
56 PARACLETOS. 
 
 clad in the clothing of a sheep. There is nothing 
 which will so effectuall} 7 guard people from error as 
 the entrance within of the Spirit of God. But if we 
 discard Him the great Teacher and trust to human 
 learning, and human reason, there is no telling how 
 far we may go astray. Error will spread in our 
 Churches in proportion as they become destitute of 
 vital piety and the Holy Ghost. No creeds can hold 
 them then, and of what use would it be if they could? 
 
 5th. This baptism restores dwarfed and distorted 
 mental faculties to symmetry and ballance again. Sin 
 has wrought sad distortions among the faculties of the 
 human soul. The ancient equilibiium is largely lost. 
 Lost partly by inheritance from a wicked ancestry, and 
 in part by our own wicked conduct. Men are lame, 
 halt, blind, and paralized in mind as well as in body. 
 And when the Spirit undertakes the work of re-con- 
 struction, a great work indeed is before him. One is 
 a giant in intellect, but in sensibility a dwarf. 
 
 In another the sensibility is unnaturally developed 
 and tbe passion of the moment carries all before it I 
 In another the will power is abnormally developed and 
 stubborness is characteristic. In another carnality 
 reigns supreme. But why enumerate, when scarce a 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 57 
 
 man is found who is not conscious of some mental or 
 moral weakness which limits his usefulness, mars his 
 character and disturbs his peace. And the perfect 
 symmetry of the primeval man as lie came forth fresh 
 from the hand of God, where, Oh where shall we 
 find it? Alas! the distortions sin has made ! Thanks 
 to God the Holy Ghost has come, to restore the bal- 
 ance and repair the wreck. Let me give an example : 
 While the writer was in the Theological Seminary he 
 had a class-mate who was a specialist in mathematics. 
 They were his hobby in college and in the seminary his 
 taste in that direction was scarcely diminished. And 
 why he studied Theology, we, his class mates could 
 scarcely divine, save that an aunt who paid his bills 
 desired it. I remember how languidly he was wont to 
 come into our prayer meetings and what an iceberg he 
 was while there. If he took any part it was so formal, 
 and so cold. As we neared the time of graduation 
 and licensure, a great revival occurred, and in it our 
 friend was visited by the world's Gre it Healer. He 
 saw as never before, his great defects, and prominent 
 among them this want of sensibility towards moral and 
 spiritual things. That part of his nature was torpid 
 The old hymn expresses his state when it says : 
 
58 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 
 
 The rocks can rend, 
 
 The earth can quake, 
 
 The mountains to their centre shake. 
 Of feeling all things show some sign, 
 But this unfeeling heart of mine. 
 
 Others talked of love but he had none. The Bible 
 gave him no comfort. 
 
 He saw also that this moral torpor must be removed, 
 or His ministry would be barren. He came to believe 
 that the Holy Spirit could remove this defect. That it 
 was one specialty of His mission to restore the lost 
 ballance sin had made, ancf repair the wreck the Devil 
 had wrought. Earnestly he sought the assistance of 
 the Great Helper in this matter. Importunately he 
 prayed. For nearly a week the struggle lasted. But 
 it ended in victory. A victory as wonderful to the 
 writer and probably to the subject of this spirit-heal- 
 ing, as would have been the restoration of a paralized 
 arm to its normal condition and use. And we doubt 
 whether the subjects of the Pentecostal baptism were, 
 on an average, changed more than he. He was filled 
 with the Spirit. His tongue was loosed, and he praised 
 God as the Spirit gave him utterence. In our prayer 
 meetings he became, after this, one of the first to speak 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 59 
 
 or pray, and God gave him the tongue of fire. Often 
 his deep feeling quite choked his utterance. In the 
 years of his subsequent service in the ministry, deep- 
 feeling on his part, and on that of his hearers, became 
 a characteristic of his religious services. And so it 
 was till he was not, for God took him. This example 
 was not alone in that revival. Others in different lines 
 of mental and moral derangement received like re- 
 storation and help. 
 
 Allow us to mention another. He was also a Theol- 
 ogical student. In early life he had been a sailor. I 
 believe a mid-ship man in the Navy. He had visited 
 many ports of the world, and like many seamen, had in- 
 dulged in vices of the lowest type, until his soul as well 
 as his body had become polluted almost beyond des- 
 scription. In his deep degredation, the Spirit sought him 
 out, he was converted and began a course of studies for 
 the ministry. When I knew him he had reached the 
 Theological Seminary. But Oh ! the stains still left 
 behind in the soul, by those sins of his youth. Oh! 
 the pictures still unerased in the chambers of imagery. 
 How could they be effaced ? In the great revival the 
 Pentecost in our Seminary, he came to believe that the 
 Holy Ghost coming to abide in fullness \\ith him 
 
60 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 could cleanse the temple and cast out these loathsome 
 pictures. Earnestly he asked and the Spirit came and 
 cast out those odious things and cleansed the Leper. 
 Thenceforth he became one of the purest men in 
 thought, in feeling and imagination I ever knew. It 
 was to him wonderful ! wonderful ! wonderful ! It 
 was wonderful to us all who were intimate with him 
 and to whom he told in confidence, what great things 
 the Lord had done for him. He preached many years, 
 but has gone to his home and has doubtless realized 
 the truth of Christ's words, " Blessed are the pure in 
 heart, for they shall see God. " A Theological Prof- 
 essor who was very intimate with this man, said to me : 
 " He was so thoroughly cleansed from his former foul- 
 ness of thought that I came to regard him as the pur- 
 est minded man I ever knew. " Brethren, may the 
 Holy Spirit reveal to each of us our sad defects and the 
 changes needful to give us symmetry in mental and 
 moral traits. And in seeking restoration of the lost 
 balance, may we not, by unbelief limit the Holy one 
 of Israel. Is it too much to ask the Great Deliverer to 
 do for us a thing so great ? Paul says of him : " He 
 is able to do for ns exceeding abundantly above all we 
 can ask or even think ! " 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 61 
 
 6th. This baptism of the Spirit is indispemible to an 
 appreciation of the Sacred Scriptures. The 2d Chapter 
 of 2d Cor. is almost wholly devoted to an elaboration 
 of this truth. In it Paul says, "For what man know- 
 eth the things of a man, save the Spirit of Man which 
 is in him ? Even so the things of God knoweth no 
 man, but the Spirit of God. Now we have received, not 
 the Spirit of the world, but the Spirit which is of God, 
 that we may know the things which are freely given us 
 of God. The natural man receiveth not the things of 
 the Spirit of God, for they are foolishness to him, 
 neither can he know them, for they are Spiritually dis- 
 cerned." 
 
 The Holy Spirit is the world's Great Teacher. And 
 while He instructs his pupils in all kinds of knowledge, 
 His especial and most loved work is within moral and 
 Spiritual lines. Why should it not be ? Since there 
 are laid the eternal foundations of character, of 
 growth, of usefulness and happiness. And there our 
 need of an instructor is great, not alone because of the 
 superior importance of these things, but because of 
 the error, and darkness and depravity, which Sin and 
 Satan have brought into our world. We know it, we 
 all know it, and feel it at times and cry out for some 
 
G2 PARACLETOS. 
 
 one to lead the blind by a way they know not. Then 
 comes the Holy Helper, and offers us His hand. But 
 what if we thrust Him away and proudly trust to the 
 rush-light of human reason to guide us in these great 
 matters, as the irreligious scientists and unbaptised 
 teachers of Theology in Germany and Amer- 
 ica have done and are doing? What, but that 
 our feet stumble on the dark mountains, and 
 while we look for light he turns it into the shadow of 
 death and makes it gross darkness. This need of the 
 Holy Ghost dwelling in us, to enable us to understand 
 and appreciate the Scriptures, is witnessed by human 
 experience. There are millions of people who will 
 testify, that before conversion the book of God had 
 little interest to them, but after conversion became the 
 book above all others, filled with interest and precious 
 truth. And the more we have of the Spirit's light, the 
 more golden its pages, and the richer its mines of 
 truth. Therefore it is that to appreciate this Book of 
 books we must have the baptism of the Holy Ghost. 
 Knowledge of the ancient languages, of Hebrew, 
 Greek, Latin and German, can never take its place. 
 No more can the lore of the library or the discipline 
 of the schools. Give a man all these and base them 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 63 
 
 on superior natural parts, and he will be a child in the 
 knowledge of God's word compared with men filled 
 with the Spirit, like Finney, Moody and Spurgeon- 
 Standing, therefore, in the light of God's Word, and of 
 human experience as well, we declare no man fitted to 
 preach tha Gospel, or to interpret it to others, until he 
 has received the baptism of the Holy Spirit. Did not 
 Christ assume this when he bade the disciples not to go 
 out to preach till they received it, and when he said of 
 the Holy Spirit, " When He, the Spirit of Truth is 
 come He will lead you into all truth." 
 
 And ivhen the Spirit did come what a wonderful en- 
 lightenment the minds of Peter and his fellow-disci- 
 ples received, in regard to the teachings of the Bible. 
 Yet how largely is this Divine qualification to preach 
 or teach theology, ignored in our Churches. For ex- 
 ample, when our Churches, especially the larger ones 
 and the most wealthy, want a minister, they usually 
 look for a man learned, eloquent and attractive. One 
 who is orthodox according to the standards of their 
 denomination, one who has pleasing manners, and will 
 be likely to fill their house of worship, and reduce to a 
 minimum the financial burden. The ordinary piety, 
 such as is deemed necessary to Church membership, of 
 
64 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 course, is required. But the question, has he received 
 the baptism of the Holy Spirit since he believed, is never 
 asked, or deemed of any special importance. His views 
 regarding water baptism and its proper subjects are 
 often closely questioned. But the baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost, or his views regarding that, is passed over as of 
 no account. 
 
 So when we are looking for a man to fill a chair in a 
 Theological Seminary, we inquire after some one 
 learned in the theological lore of America, and Eng- 
 land, and Germany; one who understands the ancient 
 languages, has fair qualities as a lecturer or teacher, 
 and the ordinary reputation for piety and orthodoxy* 
 Satisfied on these points he is inducted into his office 
 as one fully qualified for his place. When ! Oh ! when 
 is the question asked, what he knows about this baptism 
 personally, and when is the question asked even as to 
 his views of the matter ? So when candidates for li- 
 cense or ordination come before eclesiastical bodies, 
 who ever heard of their being asked, "Have you re- 
 ceived the Holy Ghost since ye believed?" No. A 
 hundred other questions, not a tenth part as important 
 are asked and discussed, but that one left out entirely. 
 But should it happen to be asked, and were the candi- 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 65 
 
 dates to reply that they knew nothing of such bap- 
 tism, where is there the council, which like the Master 
 would remand them to the Seminary, till imbued with 
 power from on high ? True it is, we lay our hands on 
 them according to the ancient custom. But what does 
 it mean? Do we expect them through us to receive 
 the holy baptism, as the Apostles did when they laid 
 their hands On the converts in Samaria and elsewhere ? 
 No, this is not the expectation of the candidates, or 
 of those who thus set them apart to their work. 
 What is it but a form whose ancient power has long 
 since departed ? Alas ! How can those who never re- 
 ceived this gift impart it to others ? "Such as I have 
 give I thee," is all we can do or say. 
 
 7th. Another result of this baptism is the sanctifi- 
 cation of the body. By this we mean a subjugation of 
 the passions, virtually constant and complete. " He is 
 the saviour of the body. " In this baptism the Spirit en- 
 ters the body and makes it his temple in a special and 
 larger sense than ever before. Henceforth he is to be 
 consulted as to its use and is to be appealed unto for 
 help in the government of its impulses and passions. 
 And while he will never interfere with the divinely es- 
 tablished supremacy of the will, He nevertheless as- 
 
66 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 sists it in bringing them into subjection to the Divine 
 will. This is indeed a great victory, the conquest over 
 the carnal appetites and their subjection to the rules 
 of conscience and duty. The power of the carnal 
 forces know all men, especially those who have made 
 a serious effort to bring them under. This is most 
 graphically portrayed in the seventh chapter of Ro- 
 mans, ending in the despairing cry, " Oh ! wretched 
 man that I am, who shall deliver me from the body of 
 this death?" But when the Holy Spirit enters in 
 force and takes a part in the conflict, the flesh 
 weakens and the Spirit triumphs, and the freed soul 
 says with Paul, " I keep my body under, " and " thanks 
 be to God who giveth us the victory. " Aud since that 
 day unnumbered witnesses have risen up and testified 
 to the power of the indwelling Spirit, to give a victory 
 over the flesh, they had never found feasible before. 
 
 8th. Another blessing which comes with this gift, is 
 the sanctification of the soul and all its wonderful fac- 
 ulties. Because the Spirit invests it and them with 
 influences which work to conform them to the Christ- 
 like pattern and as Paul says, " Brings into captivity 
 every thought to the obedience of Christ. " Bad as is 
 the work of sin and Satan in the body, it is worse in 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. ' 67 
 
 the soul. What a nest of foul things is there ! "What 
 rebellion, what hatred, what envy, pride and malice ! 
 How filled with unbelief, murmuring, ingratitude, 
 selfishness and lust. The intellect imbruted ! the will 
 enslaved ! The conscience seared ! The imagination 
 roving uncurbed among scenes of corruption and sin! 
 The sensibilities clinging to things unworthy and re- 
 jecting God and all things holy " And God saw that 
 the iniquity of man was great upon the earth and that 
 every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was 
 evil and only evil continually ! " To remedy such a 
 condition of the human soul demands a baptism of 
 the Spirit, rich Pentecostal and persistent. And no- 
 thing else will ever do it. 
 
 9th. There is nothing like the Baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost to give a man dauntless courage in declaring God's 
 truth and standing* by the right in the face of opposi- 
 tion no matter how great, how relentless and cruel ! 
 If God is in the soul, enthroned there in this baptism, 
 why should the man be afraid ? David said, 
 "Though an host should encamp against me my heart 
 shall not fear. Though war should rise against me, 
 in this will I be confident." The Apostles before the 
 baptism were cowardl} 7 like other men, but no sooner 
 
68 - PAEACLETOS. 
 
 did they receive this great gift, than they preached 
 the word with all boldness a boldness that astonished 
 the multitude and so cowed the rulers and the priest- 
 hood that when they apprehended them, they did it 
 carefully and " without violence. " So onward, where- 
 ever they went preaching Christ and his Gospel, op- 
 position and cruelty had no terrors to these men, for 
 the Holy Ghost was in them. Had not Jesus told 
 them, " When brought before kings and magistrates 
 take no thought what ye shall say for it is not ye 
 that speak, but the Holy Ghost that speaketh in you ? " 
 In the great anti-slavery agitation which occurred 
 during the half century before the Civil War, how 
 cowardly the conduct of a vast majority of the minis- 
 ters and church members in the slave States ! How 
 fearful about saying a word against the slavery which 
 surrounded them, albeit like Wesley, they knew it to 
 be " The sum of all the villainies ! " 
 
 And the ministers and Church members of the 
 North were scarcely less timid than they. Alas ! the 
 record of cowardice these men have left be- 
 hind ! Who of them but is ashamed today of the 
 record then made? Had these men been baptised 
 with the Holy Spirit, as were Peter and John at Pente- 
 
PEESONAL BLESSINGS. 69 
 
 cost, they would have seen with clear vision the gigan- 
 tic sinfulness of slavery ; they would have held it up 
 in all its hideousness, before its patrons and their rab- 
 ble following, and God would have been with them, 
 and have given power to their words. Possibly a few 
 of them might have been martyred. But not many. 
 The hanging of 500 ministers in the South by pro- 
 slavery mobs and politicians, would have aroused in all 
 the South a power of conscience and sympathy with 
 their martyred ministers, against which the nullifiers 
 and nabobs of the South could not have stood up for 
 an hour. If ten men of God could have saved Sodom, 
 five hundred such men could have saved the South ; 
 saved us the horrors of the war, its carnage of 500,000 
 men, and its vast financial and moral losses. Indeed, 
 slavery could never have gotten a foothold in America, 
 had its preachers fought it with unflinching courage. 
 But the ten men were not in Sodom, nor the 500 in 
 all the South. A like want of courage, in the ministry 
 and Church in the matter of temperance, is today mak- 
 ing a like record for men and devils to sneer at half a 
 century hence. O ! for the courage and faith which 
 says, "God is our refuge and strength, a very present 
 help in trouble ! therefore we will not fear tho' the 
 
70 PARACLETOS. 
 
 earth be removed ! though the mountains be carried 
 into the midst of the sea ! tho' the waters thereof 
 roar and be troubled, and the mountains shake with 
 the swelling thereof !" O ! for a seeking of such cour- 
 age as Peter sought and found in the baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost! Alas! the moral cowardice which so 
 largely pervades our pulpits, and annually comes forth 
 from our seminaries. Once fill these men with a sense 
 of the Infinite God in them, and Peter's and Paul's 
 courage would instantly leap into the saddle all along 
 the line, the hosts of heaven would join them, and 
 victory and conquest be wide-spread and speedy. 
 
 10th. The baptism of the Spirit imparts a new 
 unction and power in prayer. I have known Chri stains 
 and even ministers, whose prayers seemed forced and 
 formal, an official service they must needs go through, 
 in obedience to the demands of custom, and one which 
 was neither blessed to themselves or others. Some 
 foHow a round of topics, with little variation from year 
 to year. Others supply the want of spontaneity an d 
 the spirits promptings, by the use of a book of prayers 
 written a century ago and abounding in antique and 
 sonorous phrases. 
 
 Others there are, who hasten to the mercy seat, as if 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 71 
 
 a great attraction drew them there! They love to pray 
 and it is with a special unction that they sing, " Sweet 
 hour of prayer ! sweet hour of prayer!" They have 
 joy and liberty in prayer. Nor they alone ! Others 
 are uplifted thereby ! Often more than by the sermon 
 which preceds or follows. I have heard people say, 
 " That prayer was the best of all the service to-day ! " 
 Oh ! the value of these prayers in the Holy Ghost, 
 which bring people into the Audience Chamber of God ! 
 No preacher is fit for its most important work unless 
 he knows what it is to " pray in the Holy Ghost " and 
 have the Spirit help his infirmities. No doubt Peter 
 and John and James and the rest could pray with an 
 unction after the baptism they never had before. Even 
 so it is today. In nearly all our Churches there are 
 men and women of limited education and slow of 
 speech, everywhere else, save at the mercy seat. 
 There the tongue is loosed and with remarkable ability 
 and propriety, they pour forth their wants and those of 
 the people before God. What propriety of expression ! 
 and often a wealth of imagery, not their own but evi- 
 dently of God. But more startling still is the power 
 which attends the prayer. We are told of the dying 
 master whose pampered pastor had tried in vain to 
 
72 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 help him in bis dying struggle, who sent to the field 
 for the slave, " Tom," to come and pray for him. When 
 Tom came in, hat in hand, barefoot and covered with 
 sweat and dust, the dying master grasped his hand like 
 a drowingman and said, "Tom your master is a great 
 sinner. God won't hear his cry for mercy. But I 
 have stood outside your cabin and heard you pray and 
 I felt that God was hearing you. Can you pray for 
 your dying master? And how the aged field hand 
 Tom bowed and talked with God and how the Holy 
 Ghost came down and brought salvation to the d} T ing 
 man. Finney in his auto-Biography, often speaks of 
 " Father Nash " an old man who attended the great 
 revival meetings in Western New York, whose prayers 
 carried with them results wonderful, Divine. The 
 prayers of John Knox have a world wide fame. Such 
 prayers are among the gifts imparted in the Pentecostal 
 baptism. No Christain should rest until he knows 
 what it is to pray in the Hoh r Ghost. 
 
 llth. this after conversion induement confirms ux 
 in the way of holiness. This is Bible testimony and 
 experience also. Says Paul in Eph. 1 : 13, " In whom 
 (Christ) after ye believed ye were sealed with the Holy 
 Spirit of promise. " The holy Spirit of promise refers 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 73 
 
 to the promised baptism of the Holy Ghost, inaugurated 
 at Pentecost. He came " after they believed " and His 
 coming sealed them for God's service and kingdom 
 In another letter, that to the Corinthians, 2d Cor. 1 : 22, 
 He says, "Now he that established us with you in Christ, 
 and hath annointed us is God, Who also hath sealed us 
 and given us the earnest of the Spirit in our hearts. " 
 In this he tells us, that not alone does that Gift of the 
 Spirit seal, or confirm us as Children of God, but 
 brings us a foretaste of the heavenly life. This sealing 
 is signally set forth in the case of the Apostles and 
 those who received its first installment. Vacillating, 
 weak and easily turned aside before, now they move 
 off before us with a strength of purpose and firmness 
 of step, which shows the strengthening and healing 
 power of the Holy Ghost. And as it was with them 
 so it has been with thousands since, who have sought 
 for and received the same blessing. And if we desire 
 this sealing, this confirmation in God's service, we 
 must seek it in the Holy Baptism administered by that 
 Great High Priest who alone baptises with the Holy 
 Ghost and with fire. 
 
 1 2th. Finally the baptism of the Holy Ghost, creating 
 and maintaining a high degree of spirituality in our 
 
74 PARACLETOS. 
 
 Churches, alone will keep them from gross departures 
 from the standards of Orthodoxy, the Bible and true 
 religion. The spiritual man believes the Bible. It is 
 luminous to him. The Holy Ghost has made it so. All 
 its doctrines just fit his nature and wants. It furnishes 
 spiritual food as plainly from heaven, as the manna that 
 sustained Israel for forty years. He needs the Bible 
 revelation of a heavenly Father's love and care. He 
 needs and must have Jesus, the God-man as his re- 
 deemer, and he cannot live without the Holy Spirit 
 resident in his very bod}^ sanctifying it and helping him 
 to control its turbulent passions, and his language is, 
 " How sweet are thy words to my taste sweeter than 
 the honey and the honey comb. " Once let him become 
 cold in his love and remiss in duty, and skepticism 
 begins to creep in insidiously and gain larger and lar- 
 ger place, till at last seven devils more wicked than 
 the first enter in and take possession of the house where 
 once an Orthodox life and unwavering faith walked 
 hand in hand lovingly toward heaven Confessions of 
 faith, ir^n-clad creeds, never yet kept a denomination 
 or a Church, or an individual from wandering from 
 the great standard of truth and falling into heresies 
 absurd and fatal. But let the Holy Ghost enter an 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 75 
 
 Apostate Church or a skeptics heart and how swift the 
 return to the path of truth and the obvious teachings 
 of God's holy word. 
 
 Illustrations of this abound in the history of nearly 
 all our revivals of religion. We will give one out of 
 a thousand which could be given. A Unitarian law- 
 yer of eminence, called upon Mr. Finney while en- 
 gaged in revival labors in Rochester, New York, and 
 proposed to discuss with him the question of our 
 Lord's Divinity. Mr. Finney said I will do so, provided, 
 you will kneel down with me and pledge yourself to 
 the Lord, that from this time on you will follow the 
 light" so fast as He reveals it. The lawyer was angry, 
 and denounced the evangelist as cowardly and ungen- 
 tlemanly. A legal friend suggested that Mr. Finney's 
 request was rational, for said he, "Of what use would 
 it be for him to spend his valuable time in communi- 
 cating further truth to a man, who don't follow the 
 light he now has, and will not promise to follow the 
 further light which may dawn upon him. " I think it 
 was the Judge at whose bar he was wont to plead who 
 said this. After some days of struggle between his 
 pride of opinion and position on one side, and his con- 
 science and the Spirit on the other, the lawyer entered 
 
76 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 his office, barred the door, and on his knees surren- 
 dered himself to the leadings of conscience and the 
 Holy Spirit. And then, the sight of sinfulness and 
 guilt immeasurable, a lif elon g alienation from God, a 
 rejection of infinite claims arose in gigantic propor- 
 tions before him. Could such a sinner as he be par- 
 doned ? And then he saw that the Jesus of Unitari- 
 anism was not enough for him. He needed the God- 
 man to meet a case like his, and when he had found 
 him, he rushed into the evangelist's room and said, 
 "Now I know that Jesus is Divine, for none but an in- 
 finite Savior could atone for such sins as mine. " "Who- 
 ever shall do my will he shall know of the doctrine, 
 whether it be of God." Brethren, solicitous about the 
 orthodoxy of the Church, behold its great Conservator. 
 It is the Holy Ghost ; the Spirit of Truth. Once in 
 the soul, the letter will not long be wanting there. 
 
AIDING THE WOEKER. 77 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 How this great blessing adds to our ability to do good to 
 others. 
 
 The personal blessings we have been considering 
 imparted in the holy baptism, cannot be con- 
 fined to ourselves. The candle lighted from 
 heaven refuses to be hid under a bushel. It shines on 
 ail around. Each of the personal gifts enumerated in 
 the foregoing chapter has its outgoing influence 
 adopted to bless as many as it shall reach. But there 
 are certain other advantages it gives to Christians and 
 ministers of the Gospel, to which we desire to call 
 special attention. 
 
 1st. The recipient of this blessing will know how to 
 lead others up into it. In all our churches there are 
 men and women hungry for this higher blessing. 
 Their pastor should be to them a Joshua or a Caleb, 
 who has been over into the promised land and therefore 
 knows the way and can lead them there. And sadly 
 lacking is the pre icher who has no experience in this 
 line, having only received the first installment of 
 spiritual power that which accompanies the ordinary 
 
78 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 conversion. In this matter he is a blind guide. And 
 when his people come to him and ask him about the 
 higher heights of Christain experience, he is obliged to 
 say, " I know nothing of them, I have not been there. " 
 I a in reminded of a. clergyman who under great dis- 
 tress of mind, because of his spiritual weakness and 
 carnality, his leanness within and barrenness without, 
 went to the President of a noted Theological Seminary 
 for counsel. He opened his heart to the President, 
 who asked him, after all, if he regarded himself as a 
 Christain ? And when our friend replied in the affir- 
 mative, he closed the interview by saying, " We here 
 have come to regard the ordinary Christain as a pretty good 
 thing. " As the inquiring minister left the President's 
 study, he asked himself, " Is this poor pittance which I 
 enjoy, all the rich Gospel was designed to give ? " and 
 he came back and told me the story, a discouraged and 
 almost broken hearted man. Brother- preacher, when 
 your hungry flock come to you with like questions, must 
 you for want of experience answer them in like 
 manner ? And " when they ask for bread, give them a 
 stone. " 
 
 2d. As a rule also it will give him a fertility of 
 speech, an aptness of illustration, and a power in ap- 
 
AIDING THE WORKER. 79 
 
 peal, which he will feel is imparted by the Spirit. 
 Others, too, will be in like manner impressed. Paul 
 recognizes this and its great importance, when he asks 
 the Ephesian Church to pray for him, "that utterance 
 might be given him, that he might open his mouth boldly, 
 to make known the mystery of the Gospel." The Pen- 
 tecostal baptism gave to Peter and all his brethren a 
 power of utterance to which they had been straogers 
 heretofore. And the tongue of fire that sat upon each, 
 was a type of the new power of speech the Spirit im- 
 parted. Jesus promised this help of the Spirit in 
 speech when he said, "It shall be given you in that hour 
 what ye shall speak ! For it is not ye that speak, but the 
 Spirit of your Father which speaketh in yon" Matt. 10: 
 Spurgeon and Moody and Finney, and all successful 
 evangelists and many others, recognize this great help 
 of the Spirit in their work. Spurgeon used often to 
 pause in mid-discourse, and placing his hand on his 
 brow, would say " Brethren, pray for me, I must have 
 more of the power of the Holy Ghost." Finney did 
 the same. We do not claim that those who have re- 
 ceived this baptism at all times are conscious of this 
 help, this unction from the Holy Spirit in speech. I 
 judge Paul did not at times, for he tells the Corinthians, 
 
80 PARACLETOS. 
 
 how he "was with them in iveakness, and in fear, and in 
 much trembling." He confesses that in speech he was 
 rude, (2 Cor. 11: 6) and that his alienated brethren 
 said "his speech was contemptible." I judge he was 
 not always remarkable for eloquence. But Paul tells 
 us that however weak he might appear in speech, the 
 Holy Ghost so much the more gave power to his words, 
 and made them successful, and God was the more glori- 
 fied thereby. Not uufrequently the Holy Spirit is do- 
 ing his mightiest work in the congregation when the 
 preacher is imagining his address a failure. Why this 
 occasional absence of unction, we may not fully know, 
 but that it answers important purposes we can plainly 
 see. We will mention some which occur to us. 1. It 
 deepens the sense of gratitude for the gift when it is 
 enjoyed. The State of Grace is contrasted so vividly 
 in our experience with that of Nature. 2. It serves 
 as a reminder of our personal weakness. It bids us 
 cease from man whose breath is in his nostrils and de- 
 pend wholly on God. 3. It serves the great purpose 
 of maintaining the Spirit of prayer in a Church for its 
 pastor, while he dispenses the Word. Thus when the 
 Spirit of prayer began to flag in Spurgeon's congrega- 
 tion, and when he put his hand upon his brow and 
 
PERSONAL BLESSINGS. 81 
 
 said, "Brethren, pray for me, I need more help from 
 above," then a thousand heads were bowed, the help 
 came ; the preachers strength was renewed and God 
 was glorified. This was a very common occurrence in 
 Mr. Finney's labors. Away back in Moses' time, we 
 find the same feature of Divine working forcibly pre- 
 sented. It is recorded in Ex. 17: 11 and 12, "And it 
 came to pass when Moses held up his hands Israel pre- 
 vailed, and when he let down his hands Amalek pre- 
 vailed. But Moses hands were heavy, and Aaron and 
 HUT stayed up his hands, the one on the one side and the 
 other on the other side, and his hands were steady un- 
 til the going down of the sun, and Joshua discomfitted 
 Amalek." So ever since, the Heralds of Divine truth, 
 although the} T had been annointed and Baptised by the 
 Holy Ghost, have been greatly dependent for sustained 
 unction on the prayers of the brethren. The Holy 
 Spirit thus by the occasional weakening of the preach- 
 er's hands, teaching the brethren to be constant in 
 prayer. Of this I feel certain, that this occasional ab- 
 sence of conscious help from the Spirit, cannot in all 
 cases be charged to some overt act of Sin. 
 
 3d. The baptism of the Spirit will give the preacher 
 great confidence in the Gospel and the remedies it of- 
 
82 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 fers. All about in his field he will find men groaning 
 under the power of sin. Men who have striven often 
 and long to break its dominion over them, but have 
 failed. And now courage and confidence almost gone, 
 they are inclined to give up the struggle and float 
 downward with the stream. But if the preacher 
 evinces in his confident words and in his holy life, his 
 faith in One Mighty to Save such men will come to 
 him, as once Nicademus came to Jesus, by night,' to 
 ask him how deliverance can be obtained. Blessed my 
 brother will you be, if with a strong voice, you can tell 
 them the story of your own deliverance and give them 
 the assurance that he who saved you, can save them 
 also. So too it will be when you stand before the 
 people declaring all the words of this Divine life if 
 you can add, " / speak what I know and testify to 
 lohat I have seen. " The experience of a baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost forms a background of confidence in 
 preaching, nothing else can supply. 
 
 4th. We do not see how a preacher can select 
 wisely his field of labor unless he lives on most inti- 
 mate terms of communion with God. We believe the 
 Holy Spirit will indicate to the preacher who walks close 
 with him Him, where his proper field is, and where it 
 
AIDING THE WORKER. 83 
 
 is not, as He did to Paul and Phillip. And that it is 
 these spiritual indications which should determine this 
 matter and not the wedge of gold or the Babylonian 
 garment. So too his messages will be suggested and 
 opened to him by that Spirit, which all abroad in his 
 congregation knows the message needed. 
 
 oth. This baptism will impart force to the preacher's 
 words and carry conviction of their truth to the 
 hearer's heart. After Jesus had been inducted into the 
 preacher's office by the baptism of water at Jordan and 
 by the Holy Ghost, we are told that his hearers were 
 astonished at His teaching, for His word was with 
 power. The Apostles before they received the baptism 
 at Pentacost, spoke only as men endowed with the or- 
 dinary and natural unction. After it with an effect as- 
 tonishing and a force well nigh irresistible ! They 
 were endowed with power from on high. This new 
 and enlarged power of the Spirit attending their labors 
 was their great dependance, as from Jerusalem they 
 wentfoith to preach repentance to a sin-loving world. 
 Paul says, " My speech and my preaching was not with 
 persuasive words of wisdom, but in demonstration of 
 the Spirit and of power. " 1 Cor. 2:4. To the Thessa- 
 lonians he writes, " Our Gospel came not unto you in 
 
84 PARACLETOS. 
 
 word only, but also in power and in the Holy Ghost," 
 1. Thess. 1:5. Moody says after seeking this baptism 
 and receiving it, " I went to preaching again. The 
 sermons were not different. I did not present new 
 truths. And yet hundreds were converted ! I would 
 not now be placed back where I was before that blessed 
 experience if 'you would give me all Glasgow. " Rev. 
 B. Fay Mills gives similar testimony and ascribes the 
 marvellous success attending his evangelistic labors to 
 a baptism of the Holy Ghost, received some years after 
 his conversion. Brethren in the ministry, have you 
 received this power Christ promised the disciples ? Can 
 you obtain it ? Have you sought it as for hidden 
 treasure? Can you do ^our work without it? Let 
 me suggest that you not only set your heart on gaming 
 it, but ask some of your devout brothers and sisters to 
 help you in prayer to God that you may receive the 
 annointing and that they pray for you while you 
 preach. Let me add that almost without exception, 
 the men of power in all our denominations laboring 
 now or in the past, have confessed their indebtedness 
 to a special baptism received in answer to fervent 
 prayer, for their great success and the power which at- 
 tended their speech. 
 
AIDING THE WOEKEE. 85 
 
 6th. This alliance of the Holy Spirit with the soul 
 of man, was designed to afford important aid in ones 
 calling, ivhatever it may be. The man who works in 
 the coal mine and the woman at the washtub, can each 
 expect the Holy Spirit's aid as truly as the min- 
 ister in the cathedral or the monarch on his throne. 
 So that he may do his work the better and with richer 
 enjoyment, because of the great gift. O ! for the time 
 when the farmer, the tradesman, the blacksmith, the 
 doctor, the lawyer and the politician shall each conse- 
 crate his business to God and cry mightily to Him, to 
 set apart by a special baptism, himself and his business 
 to His glory ! No doubt the average Christian prays 
 for and expects a measure of Divine aid in his work. A 
 small measure at least. What we plead for is the 
 larger measure, the cup full and overflowing, made 
 possible, where our Redeemer ascended on high, lead- 
 ing captivity captive and giving gifts to men. Few 
 there are who do not feel at times that they are living 
 far below their privilege. The writer once said to a mem- 
 ber of his Church, "Dr. S., what a mighty man you would 
 be if baptised with the Holy Spirit and your powers were 
 fully awakened, sanctified and brought into action ! " 
 He made no reply, and as he walked away I fancied I 
 
86 PARACLETOS. 
 
 had offended him. Some days after, meeting me, he 
 said, " No, I am not half the man I ought to be. And 
 as the spirit of the Lord often stirred up Sampson be- 
 tween Dan and Bethel before his great power was de- 
 veloped, so it is with me. The Holy Ghost often re- 
 proves me for my imbecility and barrenness, and tells 
 me what I might be and ought to be. But alas ! The 
 vision passes and I subside back within the old lines of 
 spiritual weakness and inefficiency. The full grown 
 man in Christ, endowed with His strength and power, I 
 am not and fear I never shall be." Alas! Who can 
 measure this vast reservoir of latent power in our 
 Churches ? How shall it be developed, brought forth 
 and applied to the world's conversion ? Our answer is, 
 The baptism of the Holy Ghost alone will do it. That 
 which made the early Churches so mighty in doing the 
 work of God the baptism of the Holy Spirit, that and 
 that alone will develop this power with God and men. 
 But that day will never come, till the Churches of God 
 come to believe that such a blessing is in store for them 
 and seek after it in faith and an importunity like that 
 evinced in the great ten-days prayer meeting which pre- 
 ceded its first bestowal. 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 87 
 
 CHAPTEK VIII. 
 
 We pass now to consider the terms on which the Great Gift 
 
 is bestowed. 
 
 1st. We must pray for it as a definite indaement of- 
 fered by Christ to his people. li stands out before us 
 as quite distinct from the measure bestowed in conver- 
 sion, in the prophecy of Joel. So also in the Saviour's 
 promise of it in the After Passover discourse. And it 
 was treated as such, by the disciples in the ten-day's 
 prayer meeting, held by them in Jerusalem, before the 
 blessing came. For it they waited. For it they prayed, 
 nor would they leave the holy city until it came ! And 
 in that waiting, and in that praying for ten successive 
 days, for a blessing supplementary to conversion, what 
 an example they left behind, for the imitation of the 
 Church iu the subsequent ages ! God loves to have us 
 pray for definite objects. Such prayers mean some- 
 thing. General prayers very little. And when the 
 prayer for a specific object is answered, then we know 
 that God hath heard us, and our faith is strengthened. 
 
88 PARACLETOS. 
 
 Had the Apostles and their brethren in that upper 
 room, neglected to concentrate their united petitions 
 on the great blessing promised, and for which they 
 were required to wait ; and had they spent their time 
 in prayers for other and general objects of human 
 need, would they have received it ? In the writer's opin- 
 ion, they would not. In all revivals of religion, it is 
 the prayer/or definite objects the Spirit indites and the 
 Spirit answers. In a town the writer once visited, 
 there lived a Presbyterian minister, noted for his con- 
 servatism and love of order. In a revival which visit- 
 ed his people, he became very anxious for the conver- 
 sion of a lady parishioner. After a very earnest con- 
 versation with her at her house, he called upon an El- 
 der to pray. Now the Elder had his round of orderly 
 prayer and he was proceeding with his routine of con- 
 fession, ascription, thanksgiving, etc., when the 
 minister cried out, "Yes, Yes, Lord, but 
 
 what we want now is Mrs. 's conversion!" 
 
 And that is the way this gift comes to men if it comes 
 at all. It is definitely prayed for, definitely sought and 
 definitely bestowed. And if in its coming, it brings 
 the wealth of gifts narrated in a previous chapter, it is 
 worthy of such seeking and they who will not so seek 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 89 
 
 it, it is not fit that they should obtain it. If this view 
 be correct, is it any marvel that so few of our ministers 
 and Church members receive the blessing, since so 
 little is said about it, in the pulpit or in the seminary, 
 that the great majority have no very definite views 
 regarding it? The rule for the acquisition of this great 
 gift is thus given by the wise man: "If thou criest after 
 knowledge and liftest up thy voice for understanding, 
 if thou seekest her as silver, and searchest for her as 
 for hidden treasure, then shall thou understand the 
 fear of the Lord and find the knowledge of God. " 
 2d. Another condition of its bestowal is persevering 
 and importunate prayer. This feature of prevailing 
 prayer is very impressively brought to view in different 
 parts of the Bible. There is Jacob's all night wrestling 
 with the Angel, and the morning's persistency, when 
 halting on his dislocated thigh he cried out, "/ will 
 not let thee go until thou bless me. " There is the Syro- 
 Phenician woman, following Jesus so long and refusing 
 to be turned back by the rebuking disciples and even 
 the Master's apparent rejection of her suit for a time. 
 More to the point still stands out before us that ten 
 days prayer meeting, in which the disciples daily met, 
 and continued to pray till the blessing came. Who 
 
90 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 ever heard of a prayer meeting so long and for one 
 definite object before or since ? We are told that im- 
 mediately after the ascension of our Lord from Mount 
 Olivet, the disciples returned to the city, went up into 
 an upper room and began to pray and prepare for the 
 Great Gift, which the Saviour had promised to send 
 from the Father. They continued thus to meet for 
 prayer and conference over the matter, until the morn- 
 ing of the tenth day when the answer came. That 
 they were tempted to give up the search before the 
 ten days had passed, cannot be doubted, for they were 
 human. God be praised that they did not. And 
 whensoever the modern Church shall accept the proph- 
 ecy of Joel as applicable to it, in all its essential rich- 
 ness, and shall seek for the great blessing with the 
 purpose to obtain it evinced in those ten days of con- 
 ference and prayer, then we may lift up our eyes, for 
 the blessing will be at hand. Possibly some reader 
 may wonder at the withholding of this most important 
 endowment so long. They ask, " Why was it not be- 
 stowed at once, when the first prayer was offered for it 
 in that upper room ? Or at least after one day of 
 prayer, and thus have saved nine days of valuable time 
 for preaching the Gospel ? " We reply, 1st. The time 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 91 
 
 required in the seeking was suggestive of the great val- 
 ue of the gift. The gift is wonderful ! The Holy 
 Spirit coming to take up his residence in our poor 
 dwelling ! In the bestowal ought not God to require 
 efforts on our part, which show that we appreciate the 
 gift ? 2d. In those ten days of prayer, the disciples 
 were being prepared to receive the Heavenly resident, 
 as is the broken ground for the seed and for the 
 shower. Step by step God was revealing to each of 
 them, in clearer and yet clearer vision, a personal des- 
 titution and weakness, the Holy Ghost alone could 
 remedy. And thus when he should come, awaken a 
 degree of gratitude, which else has not been felt and 
 returned to God. 
 
 Another reason for the delay, and for the earnest 
 and protracted seeking required was, that so sought 
 and obtained, they would be more careful to cherish 
 and hold it fast. What costs us little is lightly prized. 
 What costs us much, is, as a rule, tenaciously retained. 
 
 Other reasons there doubtless are in the mind of 
 God, for earnest and often protracted seeking, before 
 we receive the baptism of the Holy Ghost. God has 
 set a price upon wisdom and a thousand other blessings 
 and time and effort are indispensible conditions of at- 
 
92 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 taininent, and why should this be an exception ? Why 
 should not the effort to gain it be proportioned to its 
 value ? If we are not willing to strive earnestly and 
 long if need be for so great a gift, is it safe that God 
 should entrust us with it ? But lest this long seeking 
 and prayer by the Apostles for the gift before they 
 received it, should lead the Church of subsequent ages 
 and Christains of all conditions, to anticipate a similar 
 delay in their case, we are immediately given examples 
 of its quick reception after prayer and effort for it. 
 Such was the case of the Samaritan converts, on whom 
 Peter and John laid their hands and prayed, and they 
 received the Holy Ghost. Such was that of the Gentile 
 Cornelius and his family, who received the Holy Bap- 
 tism under the first sermon which Peter preached. So 
 it was with those partially enlightened disciples at 
 Ephesus, who had not so much as heard that the Holy 
 Ghost had been given. Under a single discourse upon 
 the matter, the^f sought and received it. These are ex- 
 terior boundaries drawn for us, encouraging the seeker 
 to hope for its quick reception; but if delayed, to per- 
 severe, assured that he will reap if he faints not. Thus 
 it is in modern Christain experience; some receive the 
 gift the baptism, after a brief seeking and some per- 
 
TERMS OF BESTOWAL. 93 
 
 haps on the very day of conversion. Others climb 
 slowly upon the rock, with many a backward slip and 
 fall, before their feet are establised there. Their ex- 
 perience seems well described by Job, when he says, 
 " Behold, I go forward, but He is not there, and back- 
 ward, but I cannot perceive Him, On the right hand 
 where He doth work, but I cannot behold him ! He 
 hideth Himself on the right hand that I cannot see 
 Him ! But He knoweth the way that I take when He 
 hath tried me I shall come forth as Gold" Job. 23: 10. 
 3d. The gift must be sought in faith. "Without faith 
 it is impossible to please God." "He that cometh to 
 God must believe that he is, and that he is a re warder 
 of those who diligently seek him." To be successful in 
 this matter, the seeker must believe in view of the evi- 
 dence before him, that there is such an after-conversion 
 induement in store for God's people. And this faith 
 is in part intellectual and in part volitional. The in- 
 tellect affirming the proof sufficient, that God has of- 
 fered to his people this larger measure of the Spirit 
 spoken of. The will pledging hearty support and co- 
 operation in efforts to obtain it. The doubter will not 
 succeed. Let not that man think he shall receive any- 
 thing from the Lord. The faith we are now speaking of 
 
94 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 is generic, and though of vast importance, is to be dis- 
 tinguished from the more specific and appropriating 
 faith to be considered further on. 
 
 4th. Another Condition, is the purpose to give the 
 Spirit entire sway, in the control of our persons and 
 affairs. He will brook no rival on the throne when He 
 comes to reign within. It is an additional realm He 
 proposes to add to our domain, and a new and larger 
 consecration is suitable and is demanded. And hence 
 in the experience of receivers of this, double portion 
 of the Spirit, there has usually been at the threshold, 
 a struggle of soul like that at conversion, as if the 
 Saviour stood before them saying, "Are ye able to 
 drink of the cup that I drink of, and to be baptised 
 with the baptism that I am baptised with"? Nor is the 
 gift bestowed, till consent is given and the consecra- 
 tion made. 
 
 5th. Another very important condition of its be- 
 stowment is a purpose to make suitable confession of 
 God's mercy in the gift, after it has been received. 
 " Come," said the Psalmist : " All ye that fear the Lord 
 and I will tell you what he hath done for my soul." 
 Said Paul : "With the heart man believeth unto right- 
 eousness, and with the mouth confession is made unto Sal- 
 
TERMS OF BESTOWAL. 95 
 
 vation." Rom. 10: 10. The Baptism the Apostles re- 
 ceived at Pentecost, they freely confessed before the 
 world, and Luke was inspired to record it. Wherever 
 they went, they testified to this supplementary gift of 
 the Holy Ghost, as a part of their witness of what 
 Christ had done for them, and was ready to do for 
 others. And if J -there be such a gift for the Lord's 
 people, and we have received it, why should we not 
 confess it to the glory of God, and encourage others 
 to seek the same ? A purpose to keep still about it, 
 and not confess it, we all know is fatal to a sinner's ef- 
 fort to find God. Not less so is the effort to gain this 
 baptism, while our proud heart is purposed to hide the 
 lamp under a bushel ! This is the testimony given to 
 UB by nearly all the men of power, whose experiences 
 in this line have come down to us. We need not adopt 
 any specific phraseology. We need not say we are "per- 
 fect," or have "perfect love," or are "wholly sanctified," 
 or have lived such and such lengths of time without 
 sin. No! No! this is not our meaning. To the writer 
 all these terms are more or less objectionable. But we 
 can confess that we have received a Baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost. Have obtained thereby victories over be- 
 seting sins, never found practicable before. That we 
 
96 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 have a peace which passes our power of utterance 
 are enabled to live for considerable periods of time 
 with a conscience void of offense towards God and 
 man, and that we know by blessed experience the force 
 of the words " His name shall be called Jesus, for He 
 shall save His people from their sins." Be the terms 
 what they may, they must involve a frank and fearless 
 confession of the great blessing, or God will count us 
 unfit to receive it. Not a few receivers of this gift, 
 have made confession of having been long held back 
 from it, by the fear of man the loss of eclesiastical 
 standing, and the censure of men they held in pro- 
 found respect. And not till this was overcome, and 
 reputation was laid on the Altar of Sacrifice was the 
 gift received. But thousands come up to that high 
 barrier, as once Israel came to Kadesh Barnea, stopped 
 there, and turned back into the wilderness again ! The 
 fear of man bringeth a snare. 
 
 6th. The final conditions, we mention, on which 
 the baptism of the Spirit is imparted, is a personal ap- 
 plication of the promise. We will designate the exer- 
 cise we have in mind appropriating faith. 
 
 Thus it is taught in the Bible. " Whatsoever things 
 ye desire when ye pray, believe that ye receive them 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 97 
 
 and ye shall have them. " Mark. II: 24. " And this is 
 the confidence that we have in Him, that if we ask any- 
 thing according to His will he heareth us. And if we 
 know that He heareth us, we know that we have the 
 petitions that we desired of Him." John. 5: 15 and 16. 
 " If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God, who 
 giveth to all men liberally and upbraideth not, and it 
 shall be given him. But let him ask in faith, nothing 
 wavering, for he that wavereth is like a wave of the 
 sea, driven by the wind and tossed. Let not that man 
 think that he shall receive anything from the Lord. " 
 James 1 : 5, 7. This faith is yet more strongly placed 
 before us by our Saviour in Mark 11: 23, " Have faith 
 in God. For verily I say unto you, whosover shall say 
 to this mountain, be thou removed and be thou cast 
 into the sea, and shall not doubt in his heart, but shall 
 believe that those things which he saith shall come to pass, 
 he shall have whatsoever he saith. " All these passages 
 enjoin the faith of expectancy, or as we have 
 designated it above, appropriating faith before 
 its reception. The last passage startles us ! 
 A mountain plucked up by the roots by faith and 
 cast into the sea ! Of course it is a figurative 
 mountain, a moral mountain, Christ has in view. The 
 
98 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 natural mountains are well enough where they are. It 
 is only those moral mountains, which rise between our 
 souls and duty our souls and heaven, that need to be 
 torn up and cast away. And the duty taught is that 
 when we ask the Lord to help us remove them 
 from the path to Him and heaven, that we shall not 
 doubt that he hears us, begins at once the work, and will 
 cast them into the sea, if we hold fast without wavering 
 our faith. This faith is immensely important. The 
 want of it shuts great multitudes out of the kingdom 
 of God and out of the enjoyment of religion. Great 
 multitudes of serious minded men and of convicted 
 sinners, go by themselves to pray; they confess their 
 sins, they try to give their hearts to God, they ask help 
 from above and then insttad of believing in the mercy 
 and generosity of God, and relying on His simple word, 
 they look after some feeling or experience, before they 
 cast themselves on His mercy and take Him at His 
 word and march off in the performance of duty. They 
 seek after a sign. Whereas the thing to be done in 
 such an hour, is to believe. Repentance first, belief 
 second, and neither acceptable without the other. 
 
 So it is with this great Messianic Gift, of a double 
 portion of the Divine Spirit. If we want it weare to 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 99 
 
 ask for it, read what God has said about it, awaken 
 ourselves to the importance of receiving it, and when 
 we begin to pray for it, believe that God is deeply in- 
 terested in our receiving it, and then and there loving- 
 ly takes our hand and will lead us into it, if we persevere 
 and faint not. This is the road to it, the path which, 
 if pursued will lead one to where he shall be filled with 
 the Holy Ghost. In conversing on this subject, some 
 days since with a clergyman, he said in substance, " I 
 have been seeking after this blessing of which you 
 speak, I have been searching after those sins of heart 
 which limit the work of the Spirit in me and through 
 me. I have tried to consecrate myself anew, I have 
 asked for the Holy Baptism, I have done so again and 
 again, but I do not obtain it I remain the same as I 
 have been for years! Tell me, what is in the way 
 What more can I do ? " I replied, you can believe. What 
 you should have done after the consecration you speak 
 of, was to believe that then and there your -loving and in- 
 finitely interested Heavenly Father did join hands with 
 you and say, " It is enough " / accept the consecration. 
 Do not question my generosity and love, but rise up, 
 ask for light and expect it. When a duty comes be- 
 fore you, ask me to" help you to lean on my arm. 
 
100 PARACLETOS. 
 
 When the Tempter assails, fight him not alone, but call on 
 the name of the Lord. " And when I repeated to my 
 friend the words of Jesus, "Whatsoever ye desire 
 when ye pray, believe that ye receive them and ye shall 
 have them," and asked, did you believe that you were 
 receiving them ? He shook his head and said, " I did 
 not." And when I asked what advice he would give to 
 a sinner who was trying to give up all to God's con- 
 trol and had done so as far as he could see, but got no 
 relief, the obvious answer was, "I would tell him to be- 
 lieve that God did accept him for it cannot be that God 
 will not accept a soul that is intent on a life of loyalty 
 and love. I would tell him to have faith in God. To 
 give firm credit to God's representation of himself in 
 His word." 
 
 If to this it be objected that we may be deceived in 
 the matter of consecration, albeit we may sincerely 
 strive to give up all and think we have done so. We 
 reply this is scarcely possible, for it cannot be that 
 God, who is so deeply interested in our salvation, will 
 fail to show us wherein we come short, when He sees 
 us desirous of seeing our sin and putting it away. 
 What would we do in case of our child, desirous of 
 knowing if anything he did was offensive ? We would 
 
TERMS OF BESTOWAL. 101 
 
 surely make it known to him. One passage of God's 
 Word shows what God will do in such a case. " If in 
 anything ye be otherwise minded, God shall reveal 
 even this to you." At the shout of faith the walls of 
 Jericho fell and the people went up and took full pos- 
 session ! They believed and shouted victory before a 
 stone fell ! This faith of expectancy, or appropriating 
 faith, has been to the writer for many years, a matter 
 of great practical utility. He has been in the habit 
 daily, and almost hourly, of seeking help from the 
 Holy Spirit. And when he asks, of affirming to him- 
 self "He hears and answers my prayer, and he begins now.'' 
 May the writer add that with that prayer and faith, 
 answers have come with surprising uniformity and 
 quickness too. So uniform has this experience been, 
 that the language of Paul seems most appropriate in 
 his case "The life that I live in the flesh I live by the 
 faith of the Son of God," Gal. 2: 20. 
 
 We should not infer that God does not design to an- 
 swer our prayer, because it is not fully done at once. 
 The pious Israelites prayed while in captivity for restora- 
 tion to the promised land, and the rebuilding of the Holy 
 City and Temple. And their prayers were indited by 
 the Holy Spirit. But it took years to bring about the an- 
 
102 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 swer while God was raising up Cyrus and Darius to be 
 His instruments in doing it. We pray for crops of grain, 
 but it takes time and various agencies to bring about 
 the answer. The words to Daniel are in point, "From 
 the first day that thou didst set thine heart to under- 
 stand and chasten thyself before God, thy words were 
 heard. But the Prince of the Kingdom of Persia 
 withstood me one and twenty days," Dan. 10: 12. The 
 answer begins when the prayer of faith begins, in all 
 matters acceptable to God. Let us then seek the great 
 induement, assured at the outset, that it is in store for 
 us ; that God is deeply interested in our obtaining it, 
 and that we shall not fail save through half hearted- 
 ness or unbelief. He longs to draw nigh to us and 
 have us draw nigh to him in a blessed experience, 
 which shall have more than the power of miracles, in 
 revealing to us the presence of God, His sympathy, 
 His love, and G-reat Salvation ! For this great blessing 
 with a quiet faith, look ! look ! look to God for a leading 
 thereto. Thus Spurgeon gained the victory and the 
 power. And as you look, believe in the love that calls 
 and urges. Seek not for a sign. "Blessed are they that 
 have not seen, and yet have believed !" 
 
TEEMS OF BESTOWAL. 103 
 
 Before leaving this part of our subject, it may be 
 well to caution the seeker against forming plans as to 
 the experiences which shall attend upon the coming 
 blessing. If he does, he will be likely to be disappoin- 
 ted. " My ways are not you ways saith the Lord. " As 
 it is with conversion, so it is with this super- added 
 gift. Rarely are the anticipated gifts realized in either 
 case, when the blessing comes. Two essential things 
 are to be looked for. They are, 1st. Victory over sin- 
 ful propensities by a power that has come to dwell 
 within us. And 2d. Unction and help in Christain 
 work. If you have these two things, then you have re- 
 ceived the baptism. And this leads me to add, that 
 as many Christains cannot tell when they entered upon 
 the narrow way, or how they W 7 ere led into it, so many 
 have received this baptism by steps so gradual that they 
 cannot point to any special experience marking the 
 event. What matters it, so long as in either case they 
 have the treasure? The writer was once conversing 
 on this subject with a brother beloved in the ministry, 
 and he turned and said to me sadly, " Brother, I have 
 had no such experiences as those you speak of, although 
 I feel that God helps me in my work and in my inward 
 warfare. " I replied, " Your consistent life, we all ad- 
 
104 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 mire. It affords ample evidence to us that you have 
 passed from death unto life and that the mighty Helper 
 is the strength of your arm. And whenever I hear 
 you preach, I feel deeply impressed with the conviction 
 that the Holy Ghost has developed in your heart the 
 truth you are preaching and is aiding you in its deliv- 
 ery. And so it is when you pray, the Holy Ghost as- 
 sists you. " But while there are many such cases as 
 these, the great majority will gain the gift, by a direct 
 and conscious seeking. And it is undoubtedly the 
 privilege of all, sooner or later, to be so filled with the 
 Spirit, that every doubt on this matter shall pass away 
 forever. 
 
THE BAPTISM IDENTIFIED. 105 
 
 CHAPTEK IX. 
 
 The Gift distinguished from its Counterfeits. 
 
 In this world so largely ruled by the father of lies, 
 counterfeits are common. There are false prophets, 
 false Christs and false Gods ! Preachers in sheep's 
 clothing, but inwardly ravenous wolves, abound. 
 There are sham conversions, and even men pretending 
 to have received this last Great Gift of the Spirit, 
 whose claims are spurious and whose examples have 
 brought the doctrine into reproach. Nevertheless the 
 foundation of God standeth sure, and we can plant our 
 feet upon it, and distinguish between the solid rock 
 and a heap of sand. Real gold has abiding constitu- 
 ents that base metals and imitations never possess. 
 
 1st. The baptism of the Holy Ghost causes its 
 beneficiaries to adhere tenaciously to the Bible, because 
 He inspired it. Holy men of old who wrote it, spoke 
 and wrote as they were moved by the Holy Ghost. 
 And when He enters a soul, it is not to lead it to re 
 pudiate His own words, or to treat them lightly. 
 
106 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Christ prayed "Sanctify them through thy truth thy 
 ivord is truth. Show me then a man who substitutes 
 his own fancies for the obvious teachings of God's 
 Word, or has loose views regarding its authority, and 
 I will show you one who is still in his sins, and has not 
 the Spirit. The central sentiment of those who have 
 received Him is thus expressed, "To the law and to the 
 testimony, if they speak not according to his Word, it 
 is because there is no light in them." 
 
 2nd. Another distinguishing feature of the Holy 
 Baptism is, an increased affection for the Church of God, 
 and a firm adhesion to it. I mean, of course, true 
 Churches, such as believe in Conversion, in the Bible, 
 and in Christ. Albeit men receiving this Gift, see 
 more clearly than before, the low grounds on which 
 most of their brethren are walking, they do not separ- 
 ate themselves from them saying, "Depart from me for 
 I am holier than thou." But with loving sympathy 
 akin to that of the Master, and inspired by the Holy 
 Ghost, they abide with them, and seek to lead them up 
 to the heights of privilege above. How lovingly Peter 
 and John went to those in Samaria, converted under 
 Phillip, but had not received the great blessing, took 
 them by the hand, greeted them lovingly, and prayed 
 
THE BAPTISM IDENTIFIED. 107, 
 
 for them that they might receive the Holy Spirit. And 
 so wherever the preachers of those days went, they 
 gathered the converts, instructed them in their privi- 
 leges, and sought to lead them into the possession. 
 Depend upon it therefore, that when professed receiv- 
 ers of this blessing withdraw from their Church con- 
 nections, voluntarily, and unforced, another Spirit than 
 that of love actuates them, and it is another baptism 
 diverse from that of the Holy Ghosfc, which has fallen 
 on them. Says Jude, "There be they who separate 
 themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit I " 
 
 3d. The true Baptism is eminently, charitable in the 
 modern sense of that word, while the false is sensorious 
 and given to severe criticism and judging. "Charity 
 thinketh no evil. " It ""covers a multitude of sins. " 
 The more of Divinity there is in a man's soul, the more 
 his heart is filled with love to God and his brethren. 
 He will not judge them coldly and without sympathy. 
 How lovingly and tenderly Paul speaks of his brethren 
 of the Jewish Church in Eom. 9thJ: " I say the truth in 
 Christ, I lie not, my conscience bearing me witness in 
 the Holy Ghost, that I have ,great heaviness and contin- 
 ual sorrow in my heart. For I could wish myself accur- 
 sed from Christ for my brethren, my kinsmen accord- 
 
108 PABACLETOS.. 
 
 ing to the flesh, who are Israelites," &c. Such a spirit 
 is given a man when the Pentecostal blessing comes 
 and stays with him, while he enjoys it. When there- 
 fore, a man professing to have received this gift be- 
 comes a sharp critic on his brethren and delights in 
 parading their faults before others, you may safely 
 regard his experience, as at heart, only a counterfeit of 
 the true coin of heaven. 
 
 4th. The genuine baptism leads to increased activ- 
 ity in all useful lines and in all Gospel work. How 
 quickly the Apostles went to work, after the baptism 
 came upon them ! Paul received the blessing and 
 what a life of labor he entered upon at once. So in 
 these last days, when men like Moody, Finney, Spur- 
 geon and Mills receive this gift, then the great work of 
 life begins. Whittier well says : 
 
 "Not to ease or aimless quiet, 
 Doth the inward answer tend, 
 
 But the works of love and duty, 
 As our beings end." 
 
 Wherever this baptism is professedly received, if it 
 does not lead to increased activity and unselfish labors, 
 where it leaves a man selfishly ruminating on his per- 
 sonal security and rich experiences, content to see 
 
THE BAPTISM IDENTIFIED. 109 
 
 others drift down the stream while he is on the shore, 
 there we may be sure the Great Pentecostal blessing 
 never came. It is only a counterfeit. 
 
 5th. Greatly enlarged fruitfulness is another feature, 
 which distinguishes the true annointing from the false. 
 Manifestly, the original and primal advent of this gift 
 upon the Apostles and early Christians greatly increased 
 their moral and spiritual fruitfulness. What multitudes 
 were converted under their labors ! Jesus said, John 
 15: 5, "He that abidethin Me and I in him the same 
 bringeth forth much fruit." And again, "Herein is my 
 Father glorified, that ye bear much frui.t " More for- 
 cible still and entirely conclusive on this point are the 
 words of Jesus, recorded in John 7: 38, 39. "He that 
 believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his 
 belly shall -flow rivers of living water] But this spake 
 He of the Spirit, which they that believe on Him 
 should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, 
 because Jesus was not yet glorified. " This immensely 
 rich promise affirms a vast increase of spiritual power 
 and fertility, ever attending the Baptism of the Holy 
 Spirit, Why should it not be so, when to our natural 
 power, there is added that of the Holy Spirit ? Shall I 
 be more specific in elucidating this part of our sub- 
 ject? Let me say then : 
 
110 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 1st. When you pray, you will have a consciousness 
 that the Holy Spirit helps you and others will feel it 
 too. God will seem to them very near ! 
 
 2d. When you speak in testimony or exhortation 
 God will help you and make your words impressive. 
 
 3d. Your very silence, will at times impress people 
 more stroDgly than words could do, that God is with 
 you, enabling you to control the unruly member. 
 
 4th. Your exemplary and conscientious conduct, 
 will after a time impress those who look on and see it 
 with the reality and practibility of the religion you 
 profess. You may not see much of it on earth, but 
 you will in heaven. For your prayers are all laid up, 
 your tears bottled, your words of warning registered 
 and your general influence the Holy Ghost is gathering 
 in a cloud above, which by and by will descend in 
 showers of blessings. Only believe, thou baptised 
 child of God, persevere in prayer and labor and you will 
 yet see the verity of Christ's words, " He that abideth 
 in me the same bringeth forth much fruit. " But the 
 counterfeit baptism beareth only briars and thorns. 
 " Wherefore by their fruits ye shall know them. " 
 
HOW RETAINED. Ill 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 How can the savor of this Baptism be obtained^ And is 
 it ever lost ? 
 
 retained f 
 
 We have before shown that it exerts a power- 
 ful sealing influence. Many passages affirm this. 
 We need not repeat them here. In accord with 
 them, is the testimony of Christian experience. 
 The Baptism once enjoyed can never be forgotten ! Its 
 peace, its joy, its victory and communion with God, 
 will remain engraved on the memory, as doubtless are 
 pictures of heaven on the minds of the Angels who 
 fell ! Life ever after will be to such, as was captivity 
 and slavery to Israel, when they sang so sadly, "By the 
 rivers of Babylon, there we sat down! Yea, we wept 
 when we remembered Zion ! We hanged our harps 
 upon the willows in the midst thereof ! How shall we 
 sing the Loid's song in a strange land !" And this 
 sweet memory of liberty lost, will lead to many a stout 
 uprising against the powers that oppress. And in 
 some of them, most likely the lost ground will be re- 
 gained. Hence in part the recovering and sealing 
 
112 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 power of the Gift, when once received. And hence while 
 great numbers go back who have received in conversion 
 the first installment of spiritual power, those who receive 
 the second, with few exceptions, hold on their way. 
 Yet we have reason to believe, there are sad exceptions 
 to the rule. Paul intimates this when in his letter to 
 the Church ID Gallatia he asks, " Are ye so foolish, 
 having begun in the Spirit, are you now made perfect 
 in the flesh ? " And in the exhortation, not to " quench 
 the Spirit whereby they had been sealed , " he cer- 
 tainly intimates that even such are in danger. And 
 more strongly still he warns against the danger when 
 he says, " It is impossible for those who have tasted 
 the heavenly gift and were made partakers of the Holy 
 Ghost, if they fall away to renew them again unto re- 
 pentance. " We think we have known some such dur- 
 ing an observation of nearly seventy years, who evi- 
 dently received the Great Gift, ran well for a time, and 
 afterward relapsed, finally and fatally. We call to 
 mind one, who received, apparently, this blessing. 
 God annointed him to preach; for a time he ran well; 
 God blessed his labors, and souls were converted under 
 his preaching. But his views were sharply criticised by 
 his brethren, wrongfully I think, both as to the assaults 
 
HOW RETAINED. 113 
 
 on his Theology and in the spirit of severe censure 
 manifested. He retaliated, withdrew from the Church 
 and went off with a faction, which finally broke up and 
 was scattered to the four winds. Poor man ! He is 
 dead now, but I fear he never regained the height from 
 which he fell. 
 
 I knew yet another, who while in the Theological 
 Seminary, seemed to receive richly of this gift, and for 
 a time seemed to walk in heavenly places in Christ. 
 But when he went to preach where his father lived, 
 south of Mason an Dixon's line, he was fiercely perse- 
 cuted and driven from his native State on account of 
 his views of slavery. And north of that line, even in 
 the free States he was shut out of Orthodox pulpits, as- 
 sailed by the mob and caricatured by the press. By 
 degrees his spirit become soured, his tongue censorious 
 and vituperative. He left the Church, denounced it un- 
 sparingly and finally lost all faith in the Bible and I 
 believe in God. Such cases, though rare are sufficient- 
 ly numerous, to warn us that as once the angels fell 
 from their lofty principalities, so even eminently sancti- 
 fied men, are liable to fall from their steadfastness. 
 
 On the question, how shall the savor of this holy 
 annointing be retained ? We reply : 
 
114' PAEACLETOS. 
 
 1st. By retaining a perpetual sense of dependence on 
 the Indwelling Spirit. The convert who commences his 
 religious life in conscious weakness, looking wholly to 
 God for help, finds himself sustained. But when he 
 has waxen strong and became fortified, as he thinks, by 
 experience and knowledge and Chiistain association? 
 and leans on them, then his strength departs and his 
 enemy assails and overcomes him. So also is the man 
 of Pentecostal endowments shorn of his strength, when 
 he fancies himself so rooted and grounded in character 
 that no wind of temptation will ever overthrow him. 
 This was the fatal mistake of a noted sect of modern 
 Perfectionists, now nearly extinct. They held that they 
 had asked God to make their faith perpetual and had 
 exercised faith that He would, and that therefore the 
 banner of holiness was nailed to mast head, and fall- 
 ing into sin thenceforth was impossible ! To retain 
 our standing, there must be preserved a perpetual sense 
 of personal weakness and absolute dependence on the 
 Holy Helper. Nor will continual watchfulness, prayer 
 and effort become obsolete, while we are in the flesh 
 and in a world of Devils and sin. 
 
 2d. To retain the blessing, we must seek a constant 
 growth Forgetting the things behind, we must press 
 
HOW RETAINED. 115 
 
 forward to those before. Even after this baptism there 
 remains much land to be possessed. Said Paul, 
 " Brethren, I count not myself to have apprehended, but 
 this one thing I do, forgeting the things behind and 
 reaching forward to those before, I press toward the 
 mark for the prise of the high calling of God in Christ 
 Jesus. " It will not therefore do for the man who has 
 received this baptism to rest on his laurels, but like an 
 army to which the King has sent a great re-enforce- 
 ment, it must lift its tents and march forward to larger 
 conquests. So must he seek growth and enlargement 
 and richer and yet richer acquisitions. Says the 
 Psalmist, " He shall be like a tree planted by the 
 rivers of water, that bringeth forth his fruit in his 
 season ; " and Isaiah, " They go from strength to 
 strength;" and Paul, " We all with open face behold 
 ing as in a glass the glory of the Lord, are changed 
 into the same image, from glory to glory ! Even as by 
 the Spirit of the Lord ! " 
 
116 PABACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 The attitude the Church in its varied organizations should 
 take with relation to this Baptism of the Spirit. 
 
 PROFESSORS OF THEOLOGICAL SEMINARIES. 
 
 We will begin with the Professors in our Theological 
 seminaries. Brethren, we have a profound respect for 
 you and your calling and an ideal of possibilities of 
 usefulness before you, it will be difficult fully to express. 
 We believe God has put within your reach the power 
 to quadruple the influence of the next generation of 
 missionaries and preachers of the Gospel. Into your 
 hands God has placed the power of moulding the men, 
 intellectually and spiritually, who, going forth from 
 the seminary, year by year, are to break the bread of 
 life to the Churches and the people of the world. The 
 mark of your hand will be upon them and their work 
 so long as they live. Their Theology will, with an ex- 
 ception here and there, be your Theology. Your con- 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL PROFESSORS. 117 
 
 ception of Christ, their conception. Your views of the 
 Holy Spirit's work, their views. And your experience 
 of his power to sanctify, empower for work and fill 
 with the fullness of God, will go forth with them into 
 their fields and be the living model present and im- 
 pressive, all their days ! Nor will your influence in 
 this respect, terminate with them, but will travel on, 
 transmitted from hand to hand, to generations unborn. 
 And if there be a class in the Church of God, more im- 
 portant than any other, around which our Churches 
 should gather to offer up special prayer in their be- 
 half, that class is made up of the Professors in our 
 Theological seminaries. Possibly some may deny that 
 their influence and power is so great. To this we re- 
 ply. If it is not, it ought to be. Yes, and it can be and 
 will be if the Professor is filled with the Spirit as it is 
 his privilege to be. Who ever spent an hour in Fin- 
 ney's Theological lecture room and was not impressed 
 with the power of his prayer, and the manifest pres- 
 ence of the Holy Spirit there ? Brethren of the sem- 
 inary, the actuality of your influence is one thing, the 
 possibilities are quite another ! Suffer the writer to 
 make some suggestions as to your duty in relation to 
 this Baptism of the Spirit. 
 
118 PARACLETOS. 
 
 1st. You need it personally in the . fulness of its 
 power. You sit in Moses' seat. You need the power 
 which rested on him, and you can have it in largest 
 measure if you will. Your communion with God may 
 be so blissful, that when you come from the closet be- 
 fore your classes as Moses from the Mount, so will 
 your face shine, that you will need to vail an experi- 
 ence too bright to utter. Moody said the experience of 
 this Baptism he had in New York, was too rich and sa- 
 cred for specific description. So it may be with you. 
 And if any need to know, in largest measure what this 
 blessed Baptism is, they are the successors of Peter 
 and John and Paul, who like them are to hand down to 
 generations below them, the Gospel in its fullness of 
 experience and doctrine and power. If Peter and 
 Paul needed this baptism, can you do without it ? If 
 Jesus must have it, can you dispense with its aid? 
 
 2nd. Let it be a cardinal doctrine of the Seminary, 
 that the Holy Ghost is the Great Instructor in your 
 school, presiding over every study every lecture, ev- 
 ery session ! So important is this doctrine of the 
 Spirit's teaching and illumination of the inspired 
 Word, that in the writer's estimation, especial attention 
 to the matter should be among the first doctrines 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 119 
 
 taught, and deeply impressed upon students as they 
 enter the school. Let your school be emphatically the 
 the school of the Holy Ghost. 
 
 3d. May the writer urge upon you special lectures 
 and studies upon this topic, so that your graduates may 
 no more come forth from the Seminary, with no definite 
 opinions or views regarding it, as has heretofore been 
 true. It is too great a matter to be thus ignored and 
 pushed into the back ground. 
 
 4th. Insist upon the indispensableness of this bap- 
 tism as a qualification for preaching the Gospel. 
 And do not recommend a man for licensure or 
 ordination till he gives evidence of having been or- 
 dained and endued with power from on high. Suffer 
 the advice of your brother thus far, and when the 
 chariots shall come to take you up, may Elijahs mantle 
 fall from the shoulders of each of you upon the sons 
 of the Prophets. 
 
 A WORD WITH THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 
 
 The attitude of the Theological students of our 
 country in relation to the subject we are discussing, 
 stands next in importance to that occupied by their 
 Professors and teachers. Indeed, they are soon to take 
 
120 PARACLETOS. 
 
 their places and teach Theology to another and a 
 larger generation. It is the hope of the writer, and 
 indeed his expectation, that they will be more devout 
 than their fathers, will have a larger experience of the 
 Spirit's power, and do an immense work in leading our 
 Churches up into the higher life. We cannot be far 
 off from the millennium that perenial hope of the 
 Church, and you, the Theological students of the 
 twentieth century, and the last decade of the nine- 
 teenth, may have the golden privilege as well as respon- 
 sibility, of completing the conquest of the world for 
 Christ. But depend upon it, brethren, institutions of 
 learning will never do it, nor logic, nor eloquence, nor 
 any and all possible organized institutions and so- 
 cieties of men. Nay, without the Holy Ghost inspiring 
 them, they may hinder the Gospel more than help it. 
 Witness the Theological Seminaries of Germany and 
 other parts of the world. Your own personal exper- 
 ience has doubtless taught you that victory over be- 
 seting sins is not insured by favoring circumstances, 
 nor yet by dint of the human will. Nothing brings 
 victory in that warfare, but the Holy Spirit coming to 
 our aid. Just so is it with the larger warfare, 
 between the Church and the world. Unless the Holy 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 121 
 
 Ghost goes forth with the people of God, they are as 
 surely defeated, as were the Israelites when Jehovah 
 went not forth with their armies. What then is the 
 great thing you need? It is the indwelling Holy 
 Spirit. And you need Him in richest measure. And 
 the burden of this appeal to you is that you seek His 
 indwelling and bestowments in Pentecostal fullness. 
 That you give the Holy Spirit possession of the whole 
 house. Don't turn Him off with a room or two. Nor 
 like Israel, rest on your arms, while there remain large 
 territories of the land of promise yet unoccupied and 
 unsubdued. If you have read carefully the considera- 
 tions brought forward in chapter 5th, adduced to prove 
 that a Baptism of the Holy Ghost, like that bestowed 
 at Pentecost was designed for the modern Church as well 
 as the Apostolic in all essential elements, I am pur- 
 suaded you must believe there are great gifts in store 
 for God's people, sadly ignored, neglected and un- 
 sought. But should you fail to agree with us there, 
 we shall surely be at one in the admission of the duty 
 and privilege of being "filled with the Spirit. " May 
 the Lord show you how much that implies, and pour 
 upon you the Spirit from on high till with David you 
 say, " My cup runneth over ! " Were the Thelogical 
 
122 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 students of the world thus to seek and thus to find, 
 what life and power would be imparted to our Churches 
 and revivals would fill the land ! 
 
 Suffer me again to call your attention to that sample- 
 seeking of the Spirit, which at Pentecost brought the 
 blessing upon the Apostles and their brethren. Our 
 Lord was crucified on Friday. On Sunday, which was 
 the second day of the passover week, he arose early from 
 the dead. That was the day when the first sheaf of 
 the opening harvest was waived before the Lord. Lev. 
 23: 11. Fifty days from that waiving came the Pass- 
 over festival. Lev. 23: 16. We are told that after 
 his resurection, Christ was seen of the disciples for 40 
 days. Acts 1 : 3. Then he led them out as far as Bethany, 
 where he was parted from them and ascended up into 
 heaven. This leaves ten days before the feast of Pen- 
 tecost. Among his last words were these "Behold I 
 send the promise of my father upon you, but tarr*y 
 ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with 
 power from on high." This power was that which ac- 
 companied the Pentecostal outpouring of the Spirit. 
 The disciples returned to Jerusalem, and at once went 
 up into an upper room, and began a meeting of prayer 
 for the great blessing. Did it come at once ? No ! not 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 123 
 
 in answer to the first prayer, and not at the end of the 
 first day of prayer. Will it come tomorrow the sec- 
 ond day ? The Master has not said. They pray on 
 and talk over the matter till the sun has set, and still 
 the blessing lingers. A third day of prayer and con- 
 ference over the matter and it does not come ! a fourth! 
 a fifth ! a sixth ! a seventh ! and still it is withheld ! 
 What can it mean ? No doubt the faith of some is 
 weak and faltering. Perhaps some of the faint-heart- 
 ed suggest there must be some misunderstanding of 
 Christ's words, and they had best give up the so far 
 unsuccessful search. But stronger faith of others held 
 them to the promise. Meantime in their talk over the 
 situation their small numbers the power of their 
 foes their personal imperfctions the artifices of the 
 world, the flesh, and the Devil, all arrayed against 
 them more and more the sense of need pressed upon 
 them, and more and more they could appreciate the 
 value of the gift when it should come. They were 
 ripening for the reception. The ground was being 
 broken up and prepared for the shower which was 
 gathering. Thus they entered on another week of 
 prayer. Three days pass in it, but it has not reached 
 them ! But it is coming ! The pressure of an inward 
 
124 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 importunity gives assurance that it is at the doors. 
 Early on the morning of the tenth day they hasten to 
 that upper room and with one accord lift up their 
 voices to God ! It is enough ! Their faith has been 
 sufficiently tried. The gift comes down and they are 
 all filled with the Holy Ghost and speak the word 
 with a power unknown before. Let me call your atten- 
 tion specially to the length of time occupied in this 
 prayer meeting for this blessing before it came. It 
 was a long prayer meeting. Few have been like it. 
 Who knows of one in the history of the modern 
 Church ? How puerile beside it, the usual preparation 
 for a revival ! Perhaps the long course of preparation 
 inaugurated by Rev. B. Fay Mills in the cities where 
 he is subsequently to hold revival meetings, resembles it; 
 as did similar preparatory meetings insisted upon by 
 Rev. John T. Avery and other evangelists. But those 
 latter imitations come far short of the original in in- 
 tensity of purpose and in the time actually spent in fer- 
 vent prayer for the gift. Yet those ten days were the 
 most profitable of all in their past history. Perhaps of 
 their future also. What changes they wrought in the 
 men and women who were there ! Changes in exper- 
 iences and in power to do good ! What if they had 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 125 
 
 faltered and ceased to pray for the gift at the end of 
 the first week? Then Pentecost to them had never 
 come ! And at the end of the ninth day of fervent 
 seeking and patient waiting, had they given it up as a 
 fruitless search, how sad the failure ! No doubt they 
 were tempted to do so before the Lord saw fit to crown 
 with glory that ten days probation of prayer ! What 
 an example, rare and suggestive, our Lord holds up 
 before those who in the after ages should set their 
 hearts on the reception of the same great gift. It sug- 
 gests the holding of some such prayer meetings in our 
 modern Theolological Seminaries for the like endow- 
 ment ! Conducted aright, I believe they would be fol- 
 lowed by surprising results. If held once in a year, 
 in all our Churches and colleges, and seminaries, I be- 
 lieve this world would be essentially evangelized, and 
 the millennium brought in, in an hundred years. 
 
 Brethren of the Seminary, Students and Professors, 
 allow me to suggest a program of topics to be prayed 
 over and considered during those ten days. I would 
 suggest two daily sessions forenoon and afternoon, 
 and the evening spent by each in his room alone with 
 God, in private prayer, heart-searching, and meditation. 
 
126 PARACLETOS. 
 
 Day 1st. A solemn convocation of Students and' 
 Professors, and spent largely in prayer for the Holy 
 Spirit to make those ten days blessed and eventful like 
 those which preceded the day of Pentecost.. 
 
 Day 2nd. The passages relating to the Baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost in the Old Testament and the new, care- 
 fully read, considered and prayed over. Very likely this 
 to be satisfactory, would occupy the sessions of two 
 days and perhaps more. 
 
 Day 3d. Personal experiences and testimony given, 
 of answers to prayer, and helps received from the 
 Holy Ghost with the view of ascei taining, how much 
 larger help we may hopefully seek from him, in these 
 and other lines. 
 
 Day 4th. Personal confessions of beseting sins, not 
 yet conquered advice asked and given as to the way 
 to victory. 
 
 Day 5th. Extracts read and considered relating to 
 the baptism of the Spirit, found in the biographies of 
 such men as Wesley, Finney, Taylor, Spurgeon, Mad- 
 ame Guion, Tennant, Brawnwell and others. 
 
 Day 6th. Sermons from preachers who have definite 
 views and experiences relating to it. , 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 127 
 
 Day 7th. The Spiritual experiences and measures of 
 the Spirit a man must have to be an effective preacher of 
 the Gospel. 
 
 Day 8th. What constitutes a call to preach the Gospel 
 and on what principles shall one make choice of his 
 field of labor ? 
 
 Day 9th. 'Revivals, by what means brought about, and 
 how converts and church members can be kept from 
 backsliding. 
 
 Day 10th. Review of the meetings testimonies 
 given as to their value, and helps received therefrom. 
 
 Of course, brethren, you will regard the above on]y 
 as a rough and suggestive outline, and to be varied 
 as maturer thought or circumstances may suggest. 
 What the writer desires is that you in your seminary 
 try once, at least, the result of following the Apostolic ex- 
 ample. He has never known but one such, or nearly 
 such prayer meeting. And of that he will give an ac- 
 count as he remembers it. During his Theological 
 course, a special vacation of one week was given the 
 students. Some took a limited outing and others 
 stayed at home. Of the latter, there were a few, who, 
 dissatisfied with their religious condition, agreed to 
 
128 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 spend the week in an effort to draw near to , God and 
 seek a baptism of the Spirit and an elevation to a high- 
 er plane of holy living. I think there were half a doz- 
 en or so of such, who on the first day of vacation, 
 quietly went into the Theological lecture room to pray. 
 They were in earnest and God met them. As they 
 began te pray, the Holy Ghost helped them to a vivid 
 view of their great necessities. And they prayed, con- 
 sciously aided by a power from above, with an impor- 
 tuity which could not be denied. And this power in 
 prayer fell upon all. When the noon bell rang they 
 rose and went out, but how softly they walked ! In 
 the afternoon there were perhaps twenty, who heard of 
 the meeting and were drawn there by a mysterious 
 power. And now the power of God was more mani- 
 fest still ! The spirit of prayer carried all before it. 
 The next day the room was crowded and mingled with 
 agonizing prayers and struggles for deliverance, there 
 were voices of joy and gladness, almost shoutings of 
 deliverance, from men who but yesterday were clank- 
 ing the chains of sin. I had been out some fifteen 
 miles with a friend. But news reached us of the great 
 work of God among our school mates and I hastened 
 back, to see a sight Pentecostal and astonishing ! In- 
 
TO THEOLOGICAL STUDENTS. 129 
 
 deed, it lacked little of a literal repetition of that noted 
 day ! For they were all of one accord. We -were as- 
 tonished at the unwonted power with which they spoke 
 and praised God as the Spirit gave them utterance. 
 They spoke as with tongues of fire ! And miracles of 
 deliverance from the bondage of sin, were performed 
 by the mighty Spirit which was there. The work con- 
 tinued through the week, when the usual studies were 
 resumed. But the influence of that prayer meeting 
 long remained. My class mates, who at that meeting- 
 gained deliverance from sins, which had long annoyed 
 and clung tenaciously to them, carried their credentials 
 of emancipation all their days. Two of them whom I 
 now have in mind, received the tongue of fire. Thence- 
 forth they spoke as men whose hearts were full. Full 
 of love to God and zeal for souls. They have gone 
 home now. But being dead, they yet speak. Breth- 
 ren of the seminary, the ten days prayer meeting over 
 the topics suggested is quite in the line of your 
 studies. The time thus spent would not be thrown 
 away. It might bring blessings as great as did that 
 memorable Apostolic prayer meeting. The bare possi- 
 bility of it, is an ample warrant for following the great 
 example. 
 
130 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 TO THE MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 
 
 1st. Brethren : I have somewhat to say to you 
 the angels of the Churches the embassadors of 
 the Lord Jesus. Having myself been a preacher 
 for the space of half a century, I know some- 
 what of your needs, your heart yearnings and 
 your trials. Of your needs, in order to greatest effi- 
 ciency, that which I mention first is this reception of a 
 double portion of the Divine Spirit. Comparatively 
 fruitless were the Apostles, though endowed with mir- 
 aculous powers, until they received the Holy Baptism 
 at Pentecost. After that, a converting and sanctifying 
 power attended their labors, which made them ten 
 fold more effective than before. So it was with Moses 
 and Joshua and Elijah and David and Sampson and all 
 the prophets of the Old Testament. But when the 
 Spirit of the Lord came upon them there was an im- 
 mense augmentation of their power. So it has been 
 from Pentecost down to our era. Men and women 
 like Madame Guion, Mrs. Kogers, Luther, Wesley, 
 Whitfield, Finney, Spurgeon, Moody and Mills, sought 
 this larger endowment; some of them, if not all with 
 strong crying and tears, and they obtained it, many of 
 
TO MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 131 
 
 them with an experience too sacred to be specifically 
 described. Thenceforth their labors were attended 
 with wonderful success. Let me call your attention to 
 a single passage of Scripture, where success is strongly 
 promised. John 7: 38, 39, " He that believeth on me, 
 as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow 
 rivers of living water ! This spake he of the Spirit 
 which they that believe on him should receive, for the 
 Holy Ghost was not yet given. " This remarkable pas- 
 sage gives promise of an immense influence for good, 
 possible to the believer. Elvers of living waters flow- 
 ing from him ! Not a mere rill of the water of life ! 
 Not a brook! nor rivulet, but a river ! And not one 
 only, but rivers of living waters! Brother preacher, 
 this is an assurance for your encouragement. It was 
 intended to make you dissatisfied with small results 
 and to inspire in you a hunger and thirst after such an 
 additional endowment, that you should go and bear 
 much fruit. " Herein is my Father glorified that ye bear 
 much fruit. " But did Jesus mean that this immense, 
 this royal fruit bearing, set forth under the figure of 
 " rivers of water " flowing from the believer, should at- 
 tend the steps of Christians only partially endowed as 
 were the Apostles when these words were spoken ? 
 
132 PARACLETOS. 
 
 Far from it ! For inspiration adds, " This spake he of 
 the Spirit which they should receive who believe on Him, 
 for the Holy Ghost was not yet given, because the Son 
 of man was not yet glorified. " That is, this promise 
 of enlarged usefulness was to characterize those and 
 those only, who should receive the Holy Ghost in the 
 rich measures bestowed on the day of Pentecost ! The 
 cases of the Apostles, of Moody, of Millls and Spur- 
 geon illustrate this. But on what condition did the 
 Apostles receive the great endowment which made 
 them so fruitful ? They sought it. They prayed ten 
 days for it. Their persistency of prayer and waiting 
 for it so long, showed their earnestness and importunity 
 and faith in Him who had promised It is safe to say 
 they never would have received it, had that importunity, 
 that faith and that seeking definitely for this blessing 
 been wanting. 
 
 Brethren, have you thus sought this endowment of 
 power foretold by Joel and promised by our Lord ? 
 Have you heeded the lesson taught by the Pentecostal 
 object lesson God has hung up in the vestibule of the 
 Christain temple ? If not, is it strange that only rills 
 flow from you, instead of rivers of living waters, as was 
 true of Christ's own disciples before Pentecost and its 
 
TO MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 133 
 
 baptism^ Heed not the idea that this great gift is not 
 de%i4rily to be sought. Go up into that upper' room 
 and listen to those earnest prayers. "What is it they 
 are praying for ? It is for power. Don't imagine your- 
 self equipped for preaching by years of study in col- 
 lege or in the seminary. No, not even had you mir- 
 aculous power added thereto and such piety and meas- 
 ures of the Spirit, as the Apostles had before Pentecost. 
 " Tarry in Jerusalem till ye be endued with power 
 from on high. " Advice that higher than that of your 
 Theological Professor. I beseech you heed it. Like 
 David say, " I will not give sleep to mine eyes nor 
 slumber to my eyelids till I have found a place for the 
 Lord, a habitation for the God of Jacob" a place in my 
 heart where his Spirit in fullness can dwell and through 
 me do all his pleasure. So shall the Holy Ghost enter 
 and his train shall fill the temple. Thenceforth shall 
 flow forth from you rivers of living waters. One shall 
 flow through your family, refreshing it and making it 
 like a watered garden ! Another shall run through 
 your Church and Congregation, strengthening Chris- 
 tians, converting sinners, and repressing sin. 
 
 Through your correspondence shall flow another 
 river. And through the elesiastical body with which 
 
134 PARACLETOS. 
 
 you associate will flow yet another, and all these shall 
 roll onward, long after the man who set them in mo- 
 tion has passed away, thus bringing to pass the say- 
 ing "He that abide th in me the same bringeth forth 
 much fruit." 
 
 2nd. The next thing that we as Preachers need, in 
 order to success, is a Church in like manner endowed 
 and cooperating with us. All successful Evangelists 
 and winners of souls to Christ . have felt this. But 
 how shall we lead the flock, except we first, like Joshua, 
 go over into the promised land, and thus become quali- 
 fied to conduct our brethren there ? So did Peter, and 
 John, and Phillip, and Stephen, and Paul, and thus 
 were qualified to lay their hands on their brethren and 
 they also received the Holy Ghost. The husbandman 
 that laboreth must first be partaker of the fruits. 
 
 3d. Let me ask you brethren, are you satisfied with 
 the Spiritual Condition of our Churches ? Do the 
 meagre results of preaching and labor in them, as re- 
 ported in the Annual Statistics, satisfy you ? Many of 
 our Churches hardly keeping up with the depletions 
 by deaths and removals, and the entire denomination 
 adding on an average, scarce half a dozen to a Church ! 
 Vast is the machinery employed, but small the output ! 
 
TO MINISTERS OF THE GOSPEL. 135 
 
 Alas ! Where is the success of the early Church ? 
 Where is Pentecost ? Where the Baptism of the Holy 
 Ghost ? To come nearer home brethren, does your 
 personal success fill out your ideal of the power 
 which should attend Christ's Embassador ? Do you feel 
 that power fills your study, fills your desk, fills your 
 heart and the house of God where you preach the Gos- 
 pel ? Have you in your Church Aarons and Hurs whose 
 hearts follow you in pastoral visitation, in the prepara- 
 tion of your discourses ; and while you preach, do you 
 see heads bow in prayer for you, that the Spirit of God 
 may carry home your words? Have you instructed 
 your people into their high privileges under Pentecost- 
 al endowments? Have you ever preached to them one 
 sermon on the Baptism of the Holy Ghost ? If not, is 
 it not high noon day for opening before them this 
 great matter ? Oh ! How we each need a rich per- 
 sonal experience of the blessing to lead others there ! 
 
 Say not I am alone and have no helpers to aid me 
 in rising to these Gospel heights ! Quite possibly, even 
 in your Churches there may be hidden ones, who like 
 the two holy women Moody speaks of as aiding him so 
 much, are praying for you, that you may be endowed 
 with the power. Seek them out and ask them to pray 
 
136 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 for you that you may obtain the double portion and 
 pray for you also when you preach. No helpers ! 
 Where is the Holy Ghost? Where the arm of the 
 Lord ? And where the exceeding great and precious 
 promises ? O ! for some Elijah at our side > to pray, 
 ." Lord open this man's eyes that he may see I And the 
 -Lord opened the young man's eyes and he saw and 
 behold the whole mountain was full of horses and 
 chariots of fire round about Elijah ! " With helps 
 so mighty, let us rise to our privileges and take 
 possession. 
 
 TO OUR BAPTIST BRETHREN. 
 
 We bear you record, brethren, that you have an es- 
 pecial zeal for what you believe to be the proper mode 
 of baptism, and the proper subjects. But there are 
 two kinds of Baptism that of water and that of the 
 Holy Ghost. The one a Symbol, the other is the Sub- 
 stance. The one a great reality, the other only its 
 shadow ! Man administers one, God the other. The 
 difference in their value and relative importance, no 
 tongue can tell. 
 
 John the Baptizer is held in high repute by our 
 Baptist friends. Let us hear what he has to say on 
 
TO THE BAPTISTS. 137 
 
 this important matter. Matt. 3: 11. " I indeed bap- 
 tize you with water unto repentance. Bat he that, 
 cometh after me is mightier than I, whose shoes I am un- 
 worthy to bear. He shall baptise you with the Holy Ghost and 
 with fire." Following Matthew, each of the other Evan- 
 gelists repeats in his Gospel this most emphatic testimo- 
 ny of John, to the infinitely superior importance of the 
 Baptism of the Holy Ghost And the intent of thus 
 putting John's words in all the Gospels was, that no one 
 who should read but one of them, should ever question 
 the superior importance of being baptised with the 
 Holy Ghost over that of a baptism of water. The 
 Apostles, before Pentecost had been baptised with 
 water, and doubtless at the hands of Jesus Himself. 
 But that did little towards making them in heart or 
 hand what they needs must be to do the work before 
 them. That was accomplished in the baptism of the 
 Holy Ghost. And brethren, the promise of that bap- 
 tism, in all its essential richness, .is to you and to your 
 ch ildren and all that are afar off, even to as many as 
 the Lord our God shall call. How much you need it 
 to sanctify your heart and life and to give you power in 
 speech and prayer ! How much your membership in 
 the Church needs it also ! Yet, how have you treated 
 
138 PARACLETOS. 
 
 
 
 it ? You have honored John's baptism ; how have you 
 treated Christ s? You have preached on water baptism, 
 many, many times ! Did you ever preach one sermon 
 on that of the Holy Spirit ? You have urged men to be 
 immersed, that is, the body. How much did you ever 
 urge upon them the importance of that great Pente- 
 costal Baptism, in which the souls are cleansed and filled 
 with all the fullness of God, so that thence onward, 
 God shall dwell in them and walk in them ? I will not 
 reprove you for your zeal for what you regard as the 
 proper mode of water baptism. But Oh ! this neglect 
 of the other ! This practical ignoring and pushing into 
 the background, that which God intended should be 
 foremost and overshadowing, has been a sin reprehen- 
 sible and inexcusable. 
 
 Let me ask you to begin a just reform, by preaching 
 at lest three sermons on the baptism of the Holy Ghost 
 where you do one on the baptism of water. And fur- 
 ther, be as sure that you and your brethren are bap- 
 tised by the Holy Ghost in latter day fullness, as you 
 are that you have been totally immersed in the water, 
 which is at best only its material shadow ! What is 
 the shadow to the substance and what is the husk to 
 the corn? 
 
TO THE METHODISTS. 139 
 
 A WORD WITH MY METHODIST BRETHREN. 
 
 Beloved I am a Congregationalist, naturally such, 
 and such by education. I was converted in that 
 Church, have worked in its harness all my life thus far, 
 and expect to unto the end. But my heart is full of 
 tender feeling towards my Methodist brethren. I ad- 
 mire your strong adhesiveness one to another, your la- 
 borious and self-denying preachers, your aggressive 
 work among the poor and helpless. I rejoice in your 
 wonderful growth, and at the bold and advanced stand 
 your great conferences have taken against the saloon 
 curse, and the political parties which pander to it. But 
 most of all I admire your prononced belief in the baptism 
 of the Holy Spirit, as a latter day blessing, as well as 
 Apostolic. Your honored founder, John Wesley the 
 Paul of modern times who from Jerusalem round 
 about to Illyricum fully preached the Gospel, gave an 
 emphasis to this doctrine, equalled by no other man with- 
 in the last 1,000 years. Honoring this great feature of 
 Christ's dispensation, God honored him. The Holy 
 Ghost, whose baptismal power he preached, wrought 
 wonderfully with him. Souls were converted wherever 
 he went. Nor was that all. In almost every gathering 
 
140 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 of converts large enough to form a class, there was 
 raised up some one suitable to be a class-leader. On him 
 he laid his hands and prayed that he might receive the 
 Holy Ghost. And forth-with he developed a power in 
 counsel, speech and prayer, which was not of Earth ! 
 So in larger circles of classes, exhortere and local 
 preachers were raised up, who well supplied the local 
 want. Then in the larger circles of Churches, itiner- 
 ant preachers, elders and bishops arose, each annoint- 
 ed for his specific work, and usually wonderfully adapt- 
 ed for it. In all these gradations of leadership, the 
 one great and indispensable thing insisted upon by 
 Wesley, was that the man must have received the baptism 
 of the Holy Ghost, or be deemed unfit for the place. 
 No learning or power of oratory was allowed as a sub- 
 stitute for this super-natural gift. This was Apostolic. 
 This was of the Holy Ghost. And this doctrine, breth- 
 ren, with its attendant realization, has in my opinion 
 been the source of your wonderful growth and pros- 
 perity. But while your growth is wonderful, not less 
 so in my estimation, have been the vast numbers of 
 men, who from obscurity and the vales of ignorance, 
 have been raised up and endowed with powers of per- 
 suasion and eloquence, not unlike that possessed by the 
 
TO THE METHODISTS. 141 
 
 primitive Church. Especially have they been success- 
 ful in the great work of the Church, that of convert- 
 ing men. Not infrequently, a simple class-leader, being 
 more efficient in that line than a Professor of Theol- 
 ogy ! And indeed knowing more than he, about Christ 
 as a Saviour from sin and sinning ! But brethren, while 
 your past has been glorious, your future is dangerous- 
 Suffer a friend to suggest some of its sources. 
 
 1st. You are greatly in danger of filling your 
 Churches with unworthy members. I have noticed 
 that in your conferences a premium seems to be of- 
 fered for the report of largest numbers added to the 
 Church. So that he who presents the largest list is 
 counted worthy of the most desirable appointments. 
 I do not say this is universal, but in my observation it 
 has been so general, that a great temptation is placed 
 before the preacher, to report as large a list as pos- 
 sible. Accordingly, not a few confideotly pronounce 
 those who came forward in their meetings for prayer, 
 converted, and rush their names on the class books. 
 And when the probation has passed, receive them into 
 full membership, unless something special turns up 
 against them, or they voluntary withdraw. In pro- 
 tracted meetings I have held with niy Methodist 
 
142 PARACLETOS, 
 
 brethren, I have often been shocked by the reckless 
 proclamation as converts, of people who had simply 
 come forward for prayer and had said in a whisper or 
 aloud, that they felt some degree of relief. Oh ! it is 
 wicked to help people to a false hope to encourage 
 them to build their house upon the sand ! 
 
 2d. You are in danger of becoming proud and 
 boastful over your numbers. Already you have sur- 
 passed all other denominations of Protestants in this 
 country, and are yearly adding enormously to your 
 membership. Satan will take advantage of this and 
 tempt you as he did David, to number Israel. I fear 
 he is doing it now. Let me warn you against this 
 pride of numbers and may the Lord preserve in your 
 ranks the humility of your early days, while He in- 
 creases your list a thousand fold. 
 
 3d. Another danger I must not fail to warn you 
 against, is that of denominational selfishness. Denomina- 
 tions are as liable to be selfish in their policy and their 
 work, as are the individuals who compose them. We 
 the Evangelical Christians of different names are all 
 brethren. And all the tribes of our Israel are dear to 
 the Lord. And we are to love one another and 
 seek each others prosperity as the brothers and sisters 
 
TO THE METHODISTS. 143 
 
 of the same family. But when we become selfish and 
 seek to push our denomination ahead of all others, and 
 delight in our own advancement, however it may af- 
 fect others, we may not only bring reproach upon 
 Christianity, but offend the Master also. In remons- 
 trating some years since with a Presiding Elder, for 
 some such work of selfishness, he replied, " I intend to 
 start a Methodist Sabbath school, wherever I can get 
 fifteen scholors to join it. " " And Abraham said to 
 Lot, let there be no strife between me and thee and 
 between my herd-men and thy herd-men, for we are 
 brethren! Is not the whole land before thee? If thou 
 wilt take the left hand, then I will go to the right, or 
 if thou depart to the right hand, then I will go to the 
 left. " 
 
 4th. Another danger and that the greatest of ail, is 
 that becoming great and renowned, honored and re- 
 spected, for your eloquent orators, your learned men, 
 your colleges and seminaries, the number of your 
 houses of worship and the vast population to which 
 you minister, that by a slow but gradual process, your 
 reliance will imperceptibly be transferred from the 
 Holy Ghost to these great forces, as that by which you 
 expect to advance and conquer. "Jessuran waxed fat 
 
144 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 and kicked. " Prosperity to a Church is more danger- 
 ous than poverty and much more to be feared. This 
 was the rock on which the early Church was wrecked. 
 When that Church was small in number, poor in purse, 
 destitute of scholars and learned men, and surrounded 
 by foes fierce and implacable, then it looked upward 
 with steadfast eye to the Holy Ghost. On Him they 
 depended. They sought the great baptism and they 
 received it. And God was manifest in them, alike in 
 prayer meetings and at the martyrs stake ! These were 
 the days of most rapid growth. Not because " the 
 blood of the martyrs is the seed of the Church, " but 
 because the Church ivas illuminated! The Holy Spirit 
 shone through it, revealing human selfishness and 
 God's salvation. And when they spoke it was not with 
 enticing words of man's wisdom, but in demonstration 
 of the Spirit and with power. But alas ! When they 
 had grown great in numbers, had built great 
 Churches, had schools of Theology and of science, and 
 had otherwise become renowned and influential, they 
 began to rely on their earthly power and less and less 
 on the Spirit. Farther and farther they wandered, as 
 less and less became their conscious dependence on the 
 Spirit of God. And that, brethren, is your danger; 
 
TO THE METHODISTS. 145 
 
 that you become proud of your numbers, boastful of 
 your schools, your great men, your missions, and your 
 money. May the Lord save you from the demoraliz- 
 ing influences prosperity so often brings ! May he 
 keep you ever humble ; not by stripes, but by loving 
 and suggestive influences, such as he much prefers to 
 the rod. Continue to proclaim as on the housetop, 
 that we live under the administration of the Holy Ghost ! 
 that he is as ready now as in Apostolic days to descend 
 in Pentecostal power, and sanctify his people. Let the 
 Churches seek the great blessing as they did in the 
 days of the sainted Wesley, and your final success will 
 be assured. Suffer this word of friendly warning, 
 brethren. And may the twentieth century look down 
 upon a sanctified Methodist Church, in every important 
 locality on the face of the earth. 
 
146 PARACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER XII. 
 
 Experiences of this Baptism testified unto by eminent 
 
 Christians. 
 
 This appeal to the Churches would be incomplete, 
 were the writer to omit in conclusion, the giving of 
 samples of experiences of this Baptism of the Spirit, 
 testified unto by men and women eminent for conse- 
 cration and usefulness. We will first present that of 
 Dwight L. Moody, as given by him in a great revival 
 meeting in the City of Glasgow, Scotland. Mr. Moody 
 said : "I can myself go back almost twelve years, and 
 remember two holy women who used to come to my 
 meetings. It was delightful to see them there ! When 
 I began to preach I could tell by the expression of 
 their faces, that they were praying for me. At the 
 close of the Sabbath evening meeting they would say 
 to me, 'We have been praying for you/ I said 'why 
 don't you pray for the people ?' They answered, 'you 
 need the power.' I need the power ? I said to myself ! 
 why, I thought I had power. I had a large Sabbath 
 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES. 147 
 
 School and the largest evening congregation in Chica- 
 go. There were some conversions at the time. I was 
 in a sense satisfied. But right along these two Godly 
 women kept praying for me, and their earnest talk 
 about a 'special annointing' set me to thinking. I 
 asked them to come and talk with me, and we got down 
 on our knees. They poured out their hearts that I 
 might receive an annointing from the Holy Spirit ; and 
 there arose a great hunger in my soul. I did not 
 know what it was. I began to cry as never before. 
 The hunger increased. I was crying all the time that 
 God would fill me with his Spirit. Well, one day in 
 the city of New York, Oh ! what a day ! I cannot de- 
 scribe it. I seldom refer to it. It is almost too sacred 
 an experience to name. Paul had an experience of 
 which he never spoke for fourteen years. I can only 
 say that God theie revealed himself to me, and I had 
 such an experience of his love, that I had to ask him 
 to stay his hand. I went to preaching again. The ser- 
 mons were not different. I did not present any new 
 truths. And yet hundreds were converted. I would not 
 now be placed back where I was before that blessed 
 experience, if you would give me all of Glasgow. It 
 would be but the small dust of the balance." 
 
148 PARACLETOS. 
 
 On another occasion Mr. Moody said, refering to this 
 experience, "The blessing came upon me suddenly like 
 a flash of lightning. For months I had been hunger- 
 ing for this power of service, I had come to a point 
 where I think I should have died if I had not got it. 
 Since then I have never lost the assurance that I am 
 walking in communion with God, and I have a joy in 
 his service which makes it easy work." This experi- 
 ence has a bearing on the questions Should this bap- 
 tism be definitely sought, and does it sometimes come 
 suddenly, and does it abide now, as in the days of 
 Peter and Paul ? 
 
 REV. B. FAY MILLS. 
 
 This distinguished Evangelist, whom the Holy Spirit 
 is leading from State to State, and from city to 
 city, and through whom he is working with wonderful 
 power, is also one who like Moody, and Finney, and 
 Wesley, and Whitfield, and Peter and Paul, believes in 
 a Special Baptism of the Holy Spirit. He is one, too, 
 who like them sought it, and as he believes received it, 
 and hence mighty works da show forth themselves in 
 his labors. In a letter to the Author, he thus alludes 
 to his experience "You are right in thinking I have 
 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES. 149 
 
 received an especial Baptism of the Holy Spirit. I had 
 been preaching for a number of years, and with con- 
 siderable success, before I so much as realized, what 
 was meant by the power of the Holy Ghost. The bles- 
 sing came to me, as the result of the emptying of my 
 heart and life before God, and the shuting up of my- 
 self to Him, and a subsequent season of severe test- 
 ing. My life has been transformed by the definite ful- 
 fillment of the promise of God, in the joy and strength 
 and power of the Holy Ghost." 
 
 We submit that the testimony of such a man, whose 
 success is so marvellous, and whose praise is in all the 
 Churches, as to the way by which the Lord led him in- 
 to the baptism, which has so revolutionized his life and 
 his labors, should have especial weight with all practi- 
 cal and earnest men. 
 
 MISS FEANCES E. WILLAED. 
 
 We next give the testimony of Miss Frances E. 
 Willard, President of the National W. C. T. U., and the 
 most distinguished Christian woman of America, if not 
 of the world. This lady was hopefully converted at 
 Evanston, 111., in A. D. 1859. For some six or seven 
 years she lived the usual halting and advancing lower 
 
150 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 plane Christian life. Then a great change came over 
 her an uplift in experience, in vision and in power 
 a baptism of the Holy Ghost ! Thus she speaks of it 
 and thus she was led thereto. "In 1886, Mrs. Bishop 
 Hamline came to our village. This saintly woman 
 placed in my hands the life of Hester Ann Eodgers, 
 Life of Carvosso, Life of Mrs. Fletcher, Wesley's ser- 
 mons on Christaiu Perfection and Mrs. Palmer's Guide 
 to Holiness. My reading of these books and my talks 
 with Mrs. Hamline deeply impressed me. Soon after 
 Dr. and Mrs. Phebe Palmer came to Evanston and 
 held meetings in our Church. One evening when Mrs. 
 Palmer had spoken with marvelous clearness and power, 
 she asked those who were desirous of entering into the 
 higher Christian life, to come forward and kneel at the 
 Altar. I and my mother went and kneeling, in utter 
 self abandonment I consecrated myself anew to God." 
 Then there arose a severe testing, such as Mr. Mills 
 alludes to, in which one sacrifice after another came 
 before her, as the conditions of receiving the Gre^t 
 Gift she longed for. One after another were laid on 
 the Altar, even to " the pretty little jewels " on her 
 person. This done, she writes : "A great peace came 
 to my soul. I cannot describe the deep welling up of 
 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES. 151 
 
 joy that gradually possessed me. I was utterly free 
 from care. I was blithe as a bird that is good for 
 nothing but to sing. I did not ask, ' Is it duty ? * but 
 intuitively knew what to do. The conscious emotional 
 presence of Christ, through the Holy Spirit, held me. 
 I ran about upon his prrands just from love ! Life was 
 a halcyon day!" This continued without interrup- 
 tion till it was somewhat dimmed by yielding to advice 
 not to confess the gift of God, in a new place to which 
 she went to live, and where the doctrine had been 
 brought into disrepute by the strange freaks and 
 follies of some professing the Gift. This she mourned 
 over as a grevious mistake and a sin, nevertheless she 
 largely recovered the lost ground and still enjoys a 
 large measure of the early joy, and grace and power. 
 
 REV. EDWARD PAYSON. 
 
 In the State of Maine, no minister has ever equaled 
 Edward Payson, in power as a preacher, or in religious 
 influence over the people. That he received this Bap- 
 tism of the Holy Spirit, is evident from such records 
 of his words and writings as follow. In a letter to a 
 friend thus he writes : " Were I to adopt the figurative 
 
152 PARACLETOS. 
 
 language of Bunyan, I should date this letter from the 
 Land of Beulah, of which I have been for some time a 
 happy inhabitant. I can find no words to describe my 
 happiness. I seem swimming in a river of pleasure, 
 which is carrying me to the great fountain ! God is 
 now, literally, my all and in all, and while He is present 
 with me, no event can in the least diminish my happi- 
 ness, and were the whole world at my feet, trying to 
 minister to my comfort, they could not add one drop to 
 my cup." 
 
 A similar experience is described by President Ed- 
 wards of a pious lady whom h6 knew. The Tennant 
 brothers of New Jersey, have left behind a like record of 
 their own experiences. And the death-beds of ten- 
 thousand Christians have evinced a power of the Holy 
 Ghost, triumphant over disease, weakness and pain, 
 super-human, Divine and semi-miraculous. One ques- 
 tion we wish to ask the reader in view of them, viz: 
 Is it not possible to have this rich endowment this 
 vivid sense of God's presence this victory over temp- 
 tation this full assurance of faith, and power of ut- 
 terance long before we reach the chamber of death ? We 
 need it in the open field of active labor, where we can 
 use it for the Glory of God, and the Salvation of men. 
 
CHRISTIAN EXPERIENCES. 153 
 
 Admit we need dying grace, more yet we need the 
 grace to live, and work for Christ. 
 
 We have the testimony of several others at hand, 
 such as James Brainard Taylor, Rev. Chas. G. Finney, 
 etc., but they accord so perfectly with those already 
 given, that it seems superfluous to add them. In the 
 mouth of two or three witnesses shall every word be 
 established. We will add however some points on 
 which all the witnesses agree those withheld, and 
 those given. 
 
 1st. They all confess the reception of this blessing, 
 at periods considerably distant from conversion. In 
 nearly all cases years after, as was true of the Apostles. 
 
 2d. That it did not come- to them, till definitely 
 sought, and that too, with strong persistency and im- 
 portunate prayer. 
 
 3d. That its coming was not after the ideal of a 
 gradual growth, advocated by many, but rather after 
 the Pentecostal pattern, and so marked by peculiar 
 experiences that ihey could not doubt it was from God. 
 
 4th. They each confess to a severe testing of their 
 willingness to do and suffer for Christ, somewhat like 
 that which takes place at conversion, before the Spirit 
 in double portion came upon them. 
 
154 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 5th. That with the blessing, there came an enlarged 
 sense of the Divine presence, a new faith in His pow- 
 er, victory over sinful propensities, courage and liberty 
 in declaring God's will, peace, joy, and an assurance 
 of acceptance^ which made doubt thenceforth impos- 
 sible. In these things and more they all agree. It 
 will hardly do for Christians lightly to set aside the 
 testimony of these witnesses, backed as they are by 
 Apostolic example, and warranted by the promises of 
 our Lord. Nor is it safe to look around and ask, "Have 
 any of the rulers of the Pharisees had this experi- 
 ence ? and gauge our privileges in this line, or our 
 duty to God, by attainments common in the Churches. 
 It is to the Bible we must go, and to its exceeding great 
 and precious promises, to learn the measure of our 
 privileges and duties, and not to the ever-varying 
 phases of religious life and doctrine prevalent in reli- 
 gious circles. 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 155 
 
 CHAPTER XIII. 
 
 The Divinity and Personality of the Holy Spirit. 
 
 Since the foregoing was written a brother in the 
 ministry has recalled my attention to the general 
 ignoring of the Holy Spirit and his work in the relig- 
 ious literature of the times. He also claims th#t not 
 a few members of our churches deny the personality of 
 the Holy Ghost, and interpret the words " Holy Spirit," 
 "Comforter," etc., as indicative only of a moral and 
 spiritual influence proceeding from the Father and the 
 Son. He suggests that something more written on 
 both these points would be pertinent and profitable. 
 To the first matter we called attention in the intro- 
 duction. We will add here as a further striking proof 
 of a drift of the modern church from her anchorage 
 in the Spirit, and his agency, the fact that the Bibliotheca 
 Sacra, while published at Andover for the period of 
 thirty-six years from 1844 to 1879, did not contain a 
 single article on this vastly important subject. And this 
 silence of the great Theological Quarterly was matched 
 by a similar silence of the pulpit during all those 
 
156 PARACLETOS. 
 
 yeais, and has been to this day. Is this because of the 
 rapid increase and extension of human agencies, and a 
 natural absorbtion in them and dependence on them ? 
 Possibly. There is doubtless danger here, even as 
 there is to the wealthy to trust in their riches, and the 
 strong to lean on their strength. But whatever may 
 be the cause of this feature of our modern Church 
 literature, there is need that we speedily retrace our 
 steps and say with Paul, " / will not dare to speak of 
 any of those things, which Christ hath not wrought by 
 me, though mighty signs and wonders by the power of 
 the Spirit of God. " The New Testament from be- 
 ginning to end, abounds in exultant records of the 
 work of the Holy Ghost. More than two hundred 
 times between Matthew and Kevelation, he is spoken 
 of and His mighty work in the early Church. A like 
 frequent acknowledgement of Him, is requisite in 
 modern Church literature, to keep the people from 
 forgetting Him and leaning on an arm of flesh. The 
 other matter referred to by my friend the denial of 
 the personality of the IJply Spirit is graver still. And 
 the results of such a denial, the writer believes, will not 
 be less disasterous than the denial of the Divinity of 
 our Lord Jesus Christ. Thus Mr. Spurgeon speaks of 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 157 
 
 it on page 191 of his late biography: " We have before 
 us the wretched spectacle of professedly Orthodox 
 Christains, publicly avowing union with those who 
 deny the personality of the Holy Ghost. " And because 
 the English Baptist Union did this, he and the 
 Churches which he had planted, withdrew from it and 
 became independent. We will therefore give this 
 matter more lengthy- consideration. We begin with 
 the confession of the unity of the Divine being and 
 nature that there is one God and only one. This is 
 asserted positively and often in the Old Testament. It 
 is repeated in the New, and it is grandly confirmed by 
 the unmistakeable evidence-of unity of design, mani- 
 fest in all the works of creation. These two great 
 books Creation and Revelation, testify that God is 
 one. With one voice they cry, " Hear O ! Israel ! The 
 Lord our God is one Lord ! " 
 
 The Deity is revealed in the Bible and brought 
 home to the understanding of men, under the names 
 and personalities of the Father, Son and Holy Spirit. 
 In each of these personalities a special presentation of 
 the Divine character and aid is given. To each is as 
 cribed personality and Divine attributes. No candid 
 reader of the book of God can escape the conclusion 
 
158 PARACLETOS. 
 
 that it reveals God t'o us, as one in being and three 
 in personal representation of Himself to us. And if 
 this is so, it must be because God saw that such pre- 
 sentation of Himself to the human family, would most 
 fully reveal His love and help us in our low estate. It 
 would have been one of the easiest things conceivable, 
 for God so to have spoken of the Holy Ghost and also 
 of the Christ, as to have forestalled and prevented all 
 the long controversy over the question of the Trinity 
 the Divinity of Christ, and the personality of tbe 
 Spirit. To that end it was only necessary to use words 
 according to their common use and natural meaning. 
 But for some reason the book of Inspiration so speaks 
 of the Holy Spirit that earnest believers, with rare 
 exceptions, accept Him as a Person, pray to Him as 
 Divine, look to Him for help, and love and worship 
 Him as God. 
 
 But our friends ask for proofs that the Holy Ghost 
 is recognized in the Bible as a Person, and more than 
 a Divine moral influence. We cannot enter largely 
 into the discussion of this matter, but will give a few 
 points. In John 14: 1G, Jesus said to the disciples, "I 
 will pray the Father, and He shall give you Another 
 Comforter Paracletos, that He may abide with you for- 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 159 
 
 ever." The word Paracletes, translated comforter, is a 
 noun in the masculine gender, and designates a person, 
 as truly as do the words, Jesus or Jehovah. And the 
 promise of Another Paracletos by implication says "I 
 have been your Comforter hitherto, but now I am going 
 away, but I will ask the Father and He shall send you 
 another Comforter, who will be my successor, and He 
 shall abide with you forever." In verse 26, of the 
 same Chapter he adds, "But the Comforter, the Holy 
 Ghost, Whom the Father will send in my name, He shall 
 teach you all things, etc." Here also is given the name 
 of a person, and not of an influence, and three times 
 His personality is taught in the italicized noun and 
 pronouns. 
 
 In the next Chapter, John 15: 26, the same testimony 
 to the personality of the Spirit is given in the words, 
 "But when the Comforter is come, Whom I will send 
 unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth, 
 which proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify 
 of me." 
 
 In the next Chapter, John 16: 7, Jesus said, "It is ex- 
 pedient for you that I go away, for if I go not away, 
 the Comforter will not come unto you ; But if I de- 
 part I will send Him unto you, and when He is come 
 
160 PARACLETOS. ' 
 
 He will reprove the world, etc. Howbeit when He, 
 the Spirit of truth is come, He will guide you into all 
 truth for He shall not speak of Himself, but whatsoever 
 He shall hear, that shall He speak, and He will show 
 you things to come, He shall glorify me, for He shall 
 receive of mine and show it unto you." What means 
 this repetition of the personal name Paracletos, and 
 the long list of personal pronouns which follow in 
 these last quotations? How easy to have said "it" if 
 only an influence, and not a person was meant. And if 
 Paracletos is not a person, what shall we make of the 
 expression, "He shall not speak of himself?" 
 
 But these are not the only passages of Scripture 
 which speak of the Spirit as a person. In Acts 13: 2, 
 " As they ministered to the Lord and fasted, the Holy 
 Ghost said, separate Me Barnarbas and Saul, for the 
 work, whereunto I have called them. " Here the 
 Holy Ghost speaks, as a person and says, " Separate 
 Me (or unto Me) Barnabas and Saul, to the work 
 whereunto / have called them. " The use of the two 
 personal pronouns, I and Me and the act of speaking, 
 assume in the strongest form the personality of the 
 Holy Spirit. More emphatically still is the personality 
 of the Spirit declared in the Baptismal formula which 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 161 
 
 our Lord gave His disciples in Matt. 28: 19, "Go ye there- 
 fore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the name of 
 the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost." 
 Here the personality of the Spirit is put on a par with that 
 of the Father and the Son. And here by direct injunc- 
 tion ofClirist, each person entering the visible Church 
 down through the ages, in the ordinance of baptism is 
 taught,- in the most impressive form, the doctrine of 
 the Trinity and the personality of the Holy Ghost. 
 And let me ask why, in such an hour, in a rite so sol- 
 emn and impressive, when the sensibilities of the con- 
 vert, like melted wa.x are so warm and impressible, 
 why choose that occasion for the use of language so 
 expressive of the personality of the Holy Spirit '? 
 Surely it bespeaks the vast importance of the doctrine- 
 It says in effect, "Let no man enter the visible Church 
 until first taught that he has a personal Father God, 
 a Eedeemer Jesus Christ the Son, and a per- 
 sonal Indweller and Sanctifier the Holy Ghost ! " 
 
 Like unto this and additional to it, is the Apostolic 
 Benediction " The grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, the 
 love of God, and the Communion of the Holy Ghost, 
 be with you all, amen." 2d Cor. 13: 14. This lan- 
 guage also assumes and proclaims the personality of 
 
162 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 the Holy Spirit, equally with that of the Father and 
 the Son. And being the most suitable and complete 
 of all Biblical forms of benediction for the closing of 
 religious services, it has by common consent been 
 adopted with great unamirnity by the Churches of 
 Christendom. And thus in the solemn closing df each 
 religious service down through the centuries, each 
 hearer leaves the house of God with words rirfging in 
 his ears, which teach the personality of the Holy Spirit 
 Words assuring him as he goes out into the world, 
 that there is a Father above who loves him, a Saviour 
 who died for his salvation, and a Holy Spirit who has 
 come to dwell with him in loving helpfulness and 
 sympathy, to sanctify, empower and fit him for heaven. 
 And yet again let me ask, why this teaching of the 
 personality of the Spirit, thus impressively, in the 
 closing words of each religions service? The answer 
 must be, because of its pre-eminent importance in the 
 Christian system. That it is of great practical impor- 
 tance is proven. 
 
 1st. By observation. Mohamedans and Jews believe, 
 and strongly assert the unity of God. But denying 
 or ignoring the personality and indwelling of the 
 Holy Spirit, as well as the Divinity of Christ, the God 
 
DIVINITY AND PEESONALITY. 163 
 
 they profess to worship is far removed from them, and 
 their religion is cold, cheerless and barren as the 
 frozen zone. God is to them a God afar off and not 
 nigh, as He is to those whose thoughts have to do with a 
 Christ, who has walked in very flesh in our human 
 paths, and was in all points tempted as we are, and 
 who have also taken the Holy Spirit into their dwellings, 
 and into their very bodies and souls to dwell with them 
 all their days, in all efficient love and sympathy. Vast is 
 the moral chasm between these two classes of believers 
 in God. The powerful influence of the doctrine of the 
 Trinity, is what makes the difference between the two. 
 2d. It is agreeable to reason also that the doctrine 
 of the Divine personality of the Spirit, should exert a 
 happy and powerful influence over those who accept it. 
 Love in the form of enkindled affection is a great force, 
 lying back of human willing and human action. In- 
 valuable is its aid in the moral strife and in all 
 Christain work. But love attaches itself to a personal- 
 ity, and not to an abstract moral influence. And that 
 personality to affect our human nature powerfully, 
 must be at hand and not afar off. The old adage, 
 " Out of sight, out of mind " expresses an experience 
 in this line as well as in another. With what exquisite 
 
164 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 satisfaction, John speaks of the preciousness of this 
 personal contact he had with our Lord ! " That which 
 was from the beginning, which we have heard, which 
 we have seen with our eyes, which we have looked 
 upon, and our hands have handled, of the word of 
 life declare we unto you. " 1 John 1 : 1, and 2. So 
 to love God warmly and strongly there needs to be a 
 presentation to us of Him as an indwelling Spirit, full 
 of sympathy and love, One with whom we can walk 
 all the day long and who will never leave or 
 forsake us. One ready to help and mighty to save. 
 
 3d. Experience comes to our aid in proof of this 
 value of the doctrine of the Personality and indwell- 
 ing of the Holy Spirit. It is said in John 14: 17, "He 
 dwelleth with you and shall be in you." Many other 
 passages assert His constant attendance upon our steps, 
 His fellowship with us, and his occupation of the body 
 itself, making it his holy Temple. This wonderful 
 truth accepted by faith, and confirmed by helps re- 
 ceived from an unseen hand, gives the Christian vic- 
 tory over temptations of Satan, over fleshly impulses, 
 over the world, and all the power of the enemy. Be- 
 cause an Almighty personal friend is here by his xzWe?, 
 and in his heart. David said "I foresaw the Lord al- 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 165 
 
 ways before my face, for he is on my right hand that 
 I should not be moved." This doctrine of the person- 
 ality of the Holy Spirit, his indwelling, his sympathy, 
 his help in every time of need, is too precious and too 
 important to be left out of the volume of revealed- 
 truth. Nor can it be ignored or underrated, except at 
 the expense of vast spiritual disaster, if not of spirit- 
 ual death. Finally, the doctrine of the personality, 
 of the Spirit receives its complete and satisfactory 
 demonstration only in the blessed Baptism of which 
 we have been speaking. There is a theoretic accept- 
 ance of Chirst as a Divine personage. But in it we 
 no more appreciate Him, than we do a man of whom 
 we have only seen his shadow. But beyond this there 
 is an experimental revelation of the God-Man to the 
 soul, given to us by the Spirit and by Him alone. 
 Paul speaks of this latter when he says, "No man can 
 say that Jesus is the Christ, but by the Holy Ghost." 
 So also when he says "But when it pleased God to re- 
 veal his son in me." So when Peter said to Jesus. '-Thou 
 art the Christ!" The Master replied, "Flesh and blood 
 hath not revealed it to thee but my Father only." In 
 like manner there is a theoretic acceptance "of the per- 
 sonality of the Holy Spirit, and beyond this an ex-peri- 
 
166 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 mental acquaintance with him, demonstrative, realistic, 
 delightful, helpful and personal. As truly personal to 
 us as is a father, mother or a human friend. In a let- 
 ter before me a lady of eminence, thus speaks of an 
 experience in this line. "Sometimes my communion is 
 with the Father. Then with the Son. At other times 
 with the Third Person in the Adorable Trinity. "An- 
 other writer says, "In my early Christian life, Jesus, 
 was the Central Divine Personage around whom my 
 love and thoughts spontaneously clustered. As a rule, 
 my prayers began with the words, Blessed Jesus ! After 
 a time so was the Fatherhood of God revealed, that 
 the beginning of my prayer was changed to Our Fath- 
 er ! But when at length I received the holy Baptism, 
 then God was revealed in the personality and work of 
 the Holy Spirit, He filled my heart, controlled my life, 
 and became the subject of adoration and largest 
 thought." We think this was true of the Apostles. 
 Doubtless their first worship was of the Father God. 
 At length Jesus, the Messiah, was so revealed to them, 
 that they held him by the feet and worshipped him, 
 and like Thomas exclaimed "My Lord and My God." 
 Afterward came the Holy Ghost at Pentecost, and 
 filled all the house where they were sitting, and 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 167 
 
 thence onward, their frequent mention of His name, 
 their exultant experiences of His work, His holy 
 companionship and power, show a new revelation to 
 them of his Divine nature and personality. Our hymn 
 books also, the richest depositories of religious expe- 
 rience, and of a correct and spiritual theology, bring 
 out vividly, the same experimental apprehension of 
 God, in these three-fold relations of Father, Son and 
 Holy Ghost. As a sample of the hymns referred to, 
 read the following from Chas. Wesley: 
 
 "Come thou Almighty King, 
 Help us Thy name to sinar, 
 
 Help us to praise, 
 Father all glorious, 
 O'er all victorious, 
 Come and reign over us. 
 
 Ancient of days. 
 
 Come thou Incarnate Word, 
 Gird on Thy mighty sword, 
 
 Our prayers attend ; 
 Come and Thy people bless, 
 And give Thy word success, 
 Spirit of holiness, 
 
 On us descend. 
 
168 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Come Holy Comforter, 
 Thy sacred witness hear, 
 
 In this glad hour; 
 Thou who Almighty art, 
 Now rule in every heart, 
 And ne'er from us depart, 
 
 Spirit of power. 
 
 To Thee, G-reat One in. Three, 
 The highest praises be, 
 
 Hence evermore; 
 His sovereign Majesty, 
 May we in glory see, 
 And to eternity, 
 
 Love and adore!" 
 
 This tri-personality of God then, is an experience, 
 as well as a doctrine of Theology. And the aim of the 
 doctrine was to lead to the experience, as was the rev- 
 elation of a heaven, to lead us there. 
 
 In closing the discussion of this great topic, permit 
 the writer to ask, has it not been a serious fault of most 
 writers upon the Trinity, that they have largely over- 
 looked its practical and experimental influence upon our 
 race ? Have they paused before the startling announce- 
 ment, of a Trinity and a Unity in the God-Head, and 
 sought after some great practical reason therefor ? 
 
DIVINITY AND PERSONALITY. 169 
 
 Some want in our human conditions which made it a 
 necessity that God should so reveal Himself to us ? 
 Suffer us also to entreat our readers to give themselves 
 no rest, till they have each personally gone to these 
 three gates of approach unto God, and have there 
 been taught in a blessed experience, why these 
 three gates were made and mankind invited to come 
 unto God through them ? The Bible is a costly book. 
 There is a preciousness in all its doctrines beyond the 
 power of human estimation. They have all a practical 
 value, as well as a theoretical beauty and consistency. 
 May the Lord teach as in a rich experience the intent 
 find value of the One we have been considering. 
 
170 PARACLETOS. 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Final Words of Counsel. 
 
 The earnest desire of the writer, that this treatise 
 should be helpful, especially to such as in laying down 
 the book shall take up the purpose, to start forthwith 
 for the King's highway of holiness, with intent to walk 
 thereon, even to the City of God, leads him to add an 
 additional chapter of more specific directions pointing 
 out the way. To men and women of this class he 
 would say. 
 
 1st. Let it be a settled sentiment with you, that there 
 is such a highway of holiness, cast up by the Lord, on 
 which the ransomed of the Lord may return and come 
 to Zion a Baptism of the Holy Ghost powerful and 
 Pentecostal an establishment in holy living, not sub- 
 ject to the interruptions and vacillations, which usually 
 characterize the first stages of Christian life. 
 
 2d. That this privilege of walking on the King's 
 High-Way is offered to you personally ; as much so, as 
 if your individual name were attached to the promises 
 relating thereto. "Ho ! every one that thirsts come ye to 
 
FINAL WOEDS OF COUNSEL. 171 
 
 the waters ! And lie that hath no money come ! buy 
 wine and milk without money and without price !" "On 
 that last day the great day of the feast Jesus stood 
 and cried, If any man thirst, let him come unto 
 me and drink ! And he that believeth on me as the 
 Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of 
 living water. This spoke he of the Spirit, which they that 
 believe on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was 
 not yet given." This Special Gift, the Pentecostal Bap- 
 tism, is offered to any man who thirsts. It is offered 
 in abundance in rivers !" It is offered to you no mat- 
 ter what your circumstances or history. 
 
 3d. The difficulties in the way of the attainment of 
 this gift of grace, are far from being insuperable. God 
 longs to put us all in possession of it. He has cast up 
 a high way to it. Relays of help are at every point of 
 need. The blind need not miss the road, nor the 
 lame stumble upon it. It will grieve the Father if 
 any of us miss it, and the Saviour will weep over our 
 failure, as once he wept over Jerusalem, saying, Oh ! 
 Jerusalem, Jerusalem ! And the Holy Spirit too will 
 be grieved if we will not let Him lead us there. We 
 shall all admit this, and the admission involves the 
 assurance that the terms of acquisition must be com- 
 
172 PARACLETOS. 
 
 pliable and reasonable; as reasonable as infinite wis- 
 dom and love could make them. The yoke must be 
 easy and the burden light. 
 
 There is an easy way and a hard way of doing duty. 
 The easy way is the way of faith, where distrusting 
 ourselves., we look to God for help and lean on His 
 strong arm. It is then and then only, that we run and 
 are not weary, and walk and not faint. What mul- 
 titudes testify to this ! " For what the low could not 
 do in that it was weak through the flesh " this the 
 Son of God enables us to do, "that the righteous- 
 ness of the law might be fulfilled in us, who walk 
 not after the flesh but after the Spirit. " The hard 
 way on the other hand, is that in which we strive to 
 walk alone, and stumble at every step ! Giving our- 
 selves credit for the grace of humility, we think our- 
 selves unworthy that the Lord should come to our 
 aid where we are ! No ! But we must hobble on and on, 
 till we reach a place over yonder, when we hope to 
 meet the host of God, and be escorted by it into the 
 land of Beulah ! Alas ! What a mistake ! Seeker of 
 salvation, you need help to begin ! To take the first 
 step ! " Without Me you can do nothing. " But you 
 can do all things through Christ who strengthened 
 
FINAL WORDS OF COUNSEL. 173 
 
 you ! The easy way then is to lift up your hand to 
 God where you are and cry, " Lord help me to get up, 
 and help me walk, and lead me on forever more !" And 
 if you will give a decent credit to His infinite gener- 
 osity and interest in you if you will believe and fol 
 low His direction, He will guide you step by step and 
 make your life a joy and triumph ! Three things only 
 are needful, consecration, faith, and the help of One 
 Mighty to save ! 
 
 4th. It need not take a long time to gain this holy 
 Baptism. We are well aware that many who have ob- 
 tained this annointing and whose experiences have been 
 published, have told us of the long and tedious road 
 they traveled, before they reached the promised land. 
 It reminds us of Israel's tortuous journeyings and of 
 the forty years in the wilderness. We are convinced 
 that the idea thence imparted, that such delay and 
 long seeking is necessary is misleading. Bible exam- 
 ples, it is safer to follow and they show a shorter road. 
 The longest examples of seeking the Bible gives, is 
 that of the Apostles, in the ten days prayer meeting. 
 With Saul of Tarsus there were evidently only three days 
 before he received his sight and the Gift of the Holy 
 Ghost. Then he began his life work boldly preach- 
 
174 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 ing Christ in the Synagogues of Damascus. Short was 
 the introduction of the Samaritan Christians, the gen- 
 tile Cornelious, and those of Epehsus and elsewhere 
 into the fullness of baptismal influences and gracious 
 gifts. 
 
 An eminent Theologian, a man of great abilities and 
 learning, and a personal friend of the writer, makes a 
 sad mistake, we think, when he writes as follows : 
 
 " Those who have attained a sudden enlargement 
 and elevation of soul, often undertake to give instruc- 
 tions by which others may be saved the long conflict 
 which they endured, and be enabled to enter at once 
 upon the blessedness of victory, as if there were some 
 short cut for the pilgrim to the Delectable Mountains, 
 without his passing through the Slough of Despond and 
 the Valley of Humiliation. " We take direct issue with 
 our friend, and deny that there is any necessity for 
 Christians getting into the slough of despond floun- 
 dering there and sadly besmirching their garments and 
 person ! By " Slough of Despond, " is meant a state 
 of discouragement, unbelief and semi-despair, like that 
 of unbelieving Israel, when they murmured against 
 God and said, " We are not able to go up and possess 
 the Land ! " That was Israel's Slough of Despond. 
 
FINAL WOBDS OF COUNSEL. 175 
 
 But it was recorded not for our imitation, but for our 
 warning, to bid us beware of getting into it. To 
 teach us how senseless it is and how wicked! Indeed 
 we affirm, there is no need of it. It is unwarranted 
 and forbidden by the Mighty Leader, who has taken 
 us by the hand, saying, "Fear not for I am with thee! 
 be not dismayed, for I am thy God ! " "Be strong 
 and of good courage ! Be not dismayed for the Lord 
 thy God is with thee whithersoever thou goest ! " We 
 don't believe Bunyan intended to teach by this figure 
 ivhat ought to be, or must be, but only what often is, on 
 account of our sinful weakness and unbelief. But if 
 he did mean that we ought to go through the slough 
 and must, we take issue with him and declare that, 
 from the beginning of the Bible to the end, there is 
 not one intimation that in seeking the kingdom of 
 God and its highest gifts and blessings, we must 
 pass through a period of doubt, discouragement, des- 
 pondency a slough of despond and almost hopeless 
 despair! No! No! A decent faith in God will lead 
 us clear of it and through a shorter cut into the de- 
 lectable mountains! Sloughs of despond are hateful 
 places. God don't want us to go there or get into 
 them. The devil does. Who goes there takes, like 
 
176 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 Israel, the long road and the wrong one. Like Israel 
 at Barnea, one day of travel in faith and Holy courage 
 will carry us over the border, quite within sight of 
 Bashan and Pisgah. 
 
 But who are so well qualified to give an opinion re- 
 garding the short or longer routes as those who have 
 been over them, took the longer way and now see the 
 mistakes they made? Surely there was a shorter cut 
 for Israel,than that they actually took up into Canaan. 
 They might have gone up by the way Jacob and 
 his sons went down into Egypt, or by some other 
 route west of it through the Philistine country. They 
 ought to have taken one of them. It would not have 
 taken them more than ten days of travel. A. 
 miserable want of courage and a wicked unbelief alone 
 made it necessary for them to take the long route. 
 Hear what God says, "And it came to pass, that when 
 Pharaoh let the people go, that God led them not 
 through the way of Philistines though that was near, 
 for God said, "Lest peradventure the people repent 
 when they see war and return to Egypt!" Sa also after 
 they had crossed an arm of the Red Sea, they might 
 then in one short year, have gone to Sinai and received 
 the law, made the journey back, and have gone up into 
 
FINAL WORDS OF COUNSEL. 177 
 
 Canaan over its south-east border. And when they came 
 to Kadesh-Barnea on the border of the Holy Land, the 
 short cut or march of one day, would have carried 
 them within the sacred inclosure. But they took it not! 
 They were cowards. They had no faith. And though 
 urged and entreated by Joshua, Caleb, Moses and the 
 Lord to take the short cut, they would not but turned 
 back into the hateful desert, and floundered about in 
 its sloughs of despond for forty years. Teacher of - 
 Theology don't tell us we must follow that bad ex- 
 ample! There is surely a shorter road. At our 
 very door stands the Holy Sanctifier, saying so af- 
 fectionately, " Behold I stand at the door and 
 knock! If any man hear my voice and will open 
 the door I will come in to him and sup with him and 
 he with Me. " This idea of a long waiting before we 
 may hope to have the joyful reign of God within is like 
 the long since exploded teaching that the sinner must 
 go through a long period of penitent seeking, convic- 
 tion and almost despair before God would receive him ! 
 Neither of them find their warrant in Bible prom- 
 ises or examples. On the contrary we can't come too 
 quickly to our Father's arms. Every moment we stay 
 away will grieve Him. Surely there is a short cut to a 
 
178 PARACLETOS. 
 
 place of safety and of help. Now is the accepted 
 time ! To-day is the day of Salvation ! " 
 
 5th. Seek not after a sign. Jesus condemned the 
 Jews for doing so, And the Spirit has frowned upon 
 many a one since for the same thing. What we mean 
 is this, when you have consecrated yourself to God 
 and all you have, carefully, deliberately and as best 
 you know how to do, and have asked Him to put you 
 in any place and set you at any work He sees fit, and 
 have .asked the Holy Spirit now to come and take full 
 possession and direction, then take it home to your 
 heart as an accepted fact, that He has accepted the of- 
 fering and will from this moment, lead you forward in 
 the wisest path. Believe it not on account of any 
 special feeling. But because of His love and his word. 
 In after life, you will often ask for help and go for- 
 ward in the discharge of duty, with no special feeling 
 indicating God's approval. You might as well begin in 
 this way, relying on the naked word of God and your 
 conscious consecration of all to Him. Should the 
 question arise whether you have really laid all on 
 God's Altar, you can quietly ask the Spirit to show 
 what is withheld, 'that you may bring it also, and you 
 may rest assured he will do so. For it cannot be that 
 
FINAL WOEDS OF COUNSEL. 179 
 
 He will allow one to be deceived on a point so impor- 
 tant, who comes to Him for light. So would not a 
 loving parent do. Paul says, " If in anything ye be 
 otherwise minded, God shall reveal even this to you. " 
 
 6th. After the consecration and the appropriating 
 faith, there often comes a brief period of testing the 
 thoroughness of the choice we have made. Don't be 
 alarmed. "Think it not strange concerning the fiery 
 trial which is to try you as if some strange thing had 
 happened to you, knowing that the same afflictions are 
 accomplished in your brethren in the world." Rather 
 receive it as a token that God has heard your prayer 
 and has come to ratify the covenant with you. When 
 God would exalt Abram, and give him the new name 
 of Abraham, he led him through the test of offering 
 up his only son ! 
 
 7th. Having entered upon, the high road to holiness 
 and victory, in your upward reaching after still larger 
 endowments and power, do not forget to render thanks 
 to God continually, for the gifts already received. 
 There will remain behind, the great blessings of for- 
 giveness of a life of sin, find deliverance from Satan's 
 power. Whatever else you lack or think you lack, 
 never cease to thank God for these. The best prepara- 
 
180 PARACLETOS. 
 
 tion for future blessings, is an appreciation and thank- 
 fulness for those already granted. 
 
 8th. Do not fail on all suitable occasions to confess 
 what the Lord has done for your soul. Such confes- 
 sion is at once due to God will be helpful to others 
 and give you great boldness in the faith. 
 
 We know not how more fittingly to close this appeal 
 for higher and holier living in our ministry and 
 Churches, than by citing two passages of Scripture; 
 one from Isaiah and one from a discourse of our Sa- 
 vior: "And a highway shall be there, and a way, and 
 it shall be called The Way of Holiness ; the unclean 
 shall not pass over it : but it shall be for those ; the 
 way-faring men though fools shall not err therein. 
 No lion shall be there, nor any ravenous beast shall go 
 up thereon it shall not be found there ; but the re- 
 deemed shall walk there, and the ransomed of the 
 Lord shall return and come to Zion with songs and 
 everlasting joy upon their heads." Isaiah, 35: 8, 10. 
 
 "In that last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood 
 and cried: If any man thirst let him come unto me and 
 drink ! He that believeth on me, as the Sci ipture hath 
 said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. 
 But this spake he of the Spirit which they that believe 
 
FINAL WORDS OF COUNSEL. I1 
 
 on him should receive, for the Holy Ghost was not yet 
 given because that Jesus was not yet glorified." John, 
 7: 37, 40. 
 
 Holy Spirit ! faithful guide, ever near the Christian's 
 
 side, 
 
 Gently lead us by the hand, pilgrims in a desert land ; ; , 
 Whispering softly wanderer come, follow Me, I'll guide 
 
 thee home, 
 Weary souls, fore'er rejoice, while they hear thy sweetest 
 
 voice . 
 
 Ever present, truest friend ! ever near thine aid to lend, 
 Leave us not to doubt and fear, groping on in darkness 
 
 drear ; 
 When the storms are raging sore, hearts grow faint and 
 
 hopes give o'er, 
 Whispering softly, wanderer come, follow Me, I'll guide 
 
 thee home. 
 
 When the days of life shall cease, waiting still for sweet 
 release, 
 
 Nothing left but heaven and prayer, wondering if our 
 name is there ; 
 
 Wading deep the dismal flood, pleading nought but Je- 
 sus' blood, 
 
 Whispering softly, wanderer come, follow Me, I'll guide 
 thee home. 
 
182 PAEACLETOS. 
 
 A CLOSING PKAYER. 
 
 Before we part will the reader unite with the writer 
 in the following prayer ? 
 
 Heavenly Father ! in laying down this book, we look 
 upward to Thee and ask, that if on its pages there is a 
 message from the Lord for us, that we may not fail to 
 hear and heed it. If in the exceeding great and precious 
 promises of Thy word, there are measures of Grace and 
 Gospel gifts not yet properly sought by us, and there- 
 fore not received, help us without delay to rise up and 
 take possession if before each of us there are great 
 possibilities of usefulness. If from us may flow rivers 
 of living water, suffer us not to rest content, till the 
 possibility has become an actuality, and the promise of 
 Jesus is in our case fulfilled. We mourn our unfruit- 
 fullness, and that we have wrought so small deliver- 
 ance in the earth. Pass over the barren past, we pray 
 Thee, and in mercy forgive. Touch our hearts, Thou 
 gentle Spirit, and create a hunger there, that shall 
 grow more and more intense, till Thou shalt enter 
 
FINAL WORDS OF COUNSEL. 183 
 
 them with Pentecostal gifts, and fill us with all the 
 fullness of God ! Enlarge our vision of Thy plan of 
 Grace. Increase our faith, till like Elisha after he had 
 received the double portion, we shall see the moun- 
 tains around us, full of horses and chariots of fire, sent, 
 to help and defend us, from the Lord of Hosts. 
 In the Great Redeemer's name. 
 
 Amen and Amen. 
 
 THE END. 
 
 ERRATUM: On page 19, second line, the word "kala 5 
 should read "kaline." 
 
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