{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_20731/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_20731","id":"gutenberg_20731","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/20731","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life"],"text":"Produced by Jason Isbell, Karina Aleksandrova and the\nOnline Distributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n             QUIET TALKS\n              ON _POWER_\n\n                 BY\n            S. D. GORDON\n\n           [Illustration]\n\n       NEW AND REVISED EDITION\n\n     CHICAGO  NEW YORK  TORONTO\n     FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n       LONDON AND EDINBURGH\n\n\n\n\n         COPYRIGHT, 1903, BY\n       FLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\n     Chicago: 63 Washington Street\n     New York: 158 Fifth Avenue\n     Toronto: 27 Richmond Street, W\n     London: 21 Paternoster Square\n     Edinburgh: 30 St. Mary Street\n\n\n\n\nCONTENTS\n\n\n                                  PAGE\n\nCHOKED CHANNELS                      9\n\nTHE OLIVET MESSAGE                  33\n\nTHE CHANNEL OF POWER                61\n\nTHE PRICE OF POWER                  87\n\nTHE PERSONALITY OF POWER           117\n\nMAKING AND BREAKING CONNECTIONS    147\n\nTHE FLOOD-TIDE OF POWER            173\n\nFRESH SUPPLIES OF POWER            199\n\n\n\n\nCHOKED CHANNELS.\n\nAn Odd Distinction.\n\n\nA few years ago I was making a brief tour among the colleges of\nMissouri. I remember one morning in a certain college village going over\nfrom the hotel to take breakfast with some of the boys, and coming back\nwith one of the fellows whom I had just met. As we walked along,\nchatting away, I asked him quietly, \"Are you a christian, sir?\" He\nturned quickly and looked at me with an odd, surprised expression in his\neye and then turning his face away said: \"Well, I'm a member of church,\nbut--I don't believe I'm very much of a christian.\" Then I looked at him\nand he frankly volunteered a little information. Not very much. He did\nnot need to say much. You can see a large field through a chink in the\nfence. And I saw enough to let me know that he was right in the\ncriticism he had made upon himself. We talked a bit and parted. But his\nremark set me to thinking.\n\nA week later, in another town, speaking one morning to the students of a\nyoung ladies' seminary, I said afterwards to one of the teachers as we\nwere talking: \"I suppose your young women here are all christians.\" That\nsame quizzical look came into her eye as she said: \"I think they are\nall members of church, but I do not think they are all christians with\nreal power in their lives.\" There was that same odd distinction.\n\nA few weeks later, in Kansas City visiting the medical and dental\nschools, I recall distinctly standing one morning in a disordered\nroom--shavings on the floor, desks disarranged--the institution just\nmoving into new quarters, and not yet settled. I was discussing with a\nmember of the faculty, the dean I think, about how many the room would\nhold, how soon it would be ready, and so on--just a business talk,\nnothing more--when he turned to me rather abruptly, looking me full in\nthe face, and said with quiet deliberation: \"I'm a member of church; I\n_think_ I am a deacon in our church\"--running his hand through his hair\nmeditatively, as though to refresh his memory--\"but I am not very much\nof a christian, sir.\" The smile that started to come to my face at the\nodd frankness of his remark was completely chased away by the distinct\ntouch of pathos in both face and voice that seemed to speak of a hungry,\nunsatisfied heart within.\n\nPerhaps it was a month or so later, in one of the mining towns down in\nthe zinc belt of southwestern Missouri, I was to speak to a meeting of\nmen. There were probably five or six hundred gathered in a Methodist\nChurch. They were strangers to me. I was in doubt what best to say to\nthem. One dislikes to fire ammunition at people that are absent. So\nstepping down to a front pew where several ministers were seated, I\nasked one of them to run his eye over the house and tell me what sort of\na congregation it was, so far as he knew them. He did so, and presently\nreplied: \"I think fully two-thirds of these men are members of our\nchurches\"--and then, with that same quizzical, half-laughing look, he\nadded, \"but you know, sir, as well as I do, that not half of them are\nchristians worth counting.\" \"Well,\" I said to myself, astonished, \"this\nis a mining camp; this certainly is not anything like the condition of\naffairs in the country generally.\"\n\nBut that series of incidents, coming one after the other in such rapid\nsuccession, set me thinking intently about that strange distinction\nbetween being members of a church on the one hand, and on the other,\nliving lives that count and tell and weigh for Jesus seven days in the\nweek. I knew that ministers had been recognizing such a distinction, but\nto find it so freely acknowledged by folks in the pew was new, and\nsurely significant.\n\nAnd so I thought I would just ask the friends here to-day very frankly,\n\"What kind of Christians are you?\" I do not say what kind you are, for I\nam a stranger, and do not know, and would only think the best things of\nyou. But I ask you frankly, honestly now, as I ask myself anew, what\nkind are you? Do you know? Because it makes such a difference. The\nMaster's plan--and what a genius of a plan it is--is this, that the\nworld should be won, not by the preachers--though we must have these\nmen of God for teaching and leadership--but by everyone who knows the\nstory of Jesus _telling someone_, and telling not only with his lips\nearnestly and tactfully, but even more, _telling with his life_. That is\nthe Master's plan of campaign for this world. And it makes a great\ndifference to Him and to the world outside whether you and I are\n_living_ the story of His love and power among men or not.\n\nDo you _know_ what kind of a christian you are? There are at least three\nothers that do. First of all there is Satan. He knows. Many of our\nchurch officers are skilled in gathering and compiling statistics, but\nthey cannot hold a tallow-dip to Satan in this matter of exact\ninformation. He is the ablest of all statisticians, second only to one\nother. He keeps careful record of every one of us, and knows just how\nfar we are interfering with his plans. He knows that some of us--good,\nrespectable people, as common reckoning goes--neither help God nor\nhinder Satan. Does that sound rather hard? But is it not true? He has no\nobjection to such people being counted in as christians. Indeed, he\nrather prefers to have it so. Their presence inside the church circle\nhelps him mightily. _He_ knows what kind of a christian you are. Do\n_you_ know?\n\nThen there is the great outer circle of non-christian people--_they\nknow_. Many of them are poorly informed regarding the christian life;\nhungry for something they have not, and know not just what it is; with\nhigh ideals, though vague, of what a christian life should be. And they\nlook eagerly to us for what they have thought we had, and are so often\nkeenly disappointed that our ideals, our life, is so much like others\nwho profess nothing. And when here and there they meet one whose acts\nare dominated by a pure, high spirit, whose faces reflect a sweet\nradiance amid all circumstances, and whose lives send out a rare\nfragrance of gladness and kindliness and controlling peace, they are\nquick to recognize that, to them, intangible something that makes such\npeople different. The world--tired, hungry, keen and critical for mere\nsham, appreciative of the real thing--the world knows what kind of\nchristians we are. Do _we_ know?\n\nThere is a third one watching us to-day with intense interest. The Lord\nJesus! Sitting up yonder in glory, with the scar-marks of earth on face\nand form, looking eagerly down upon us who stand for Him in the world\nthat crucified Him--_He knows_. I imagine Him saying, \"There is that one\ndown there whom I died for, who bears my name; _if_ I had the _control_\nof that life what power I would gladly breathe in and out of it, but--he\nis _so absorbed in other things_.\" The Master is thinking about you,\nstudying your life, longing to carry out His plan if He could only get\npermission, and sorely disappointed in many of us. He knows. Do _you_\nknow?\n\n\nThe Night Visitor.\n\nAfter that trip I became much interested in discovering in John's Gospel\nsome striking pictorial illustrations of these two kinds of christians,\nnamely, those who have power in their lives for Jesus Christ and those\nwho have not. Let me speak of only a few of these. The first is sketched\nbriefly in the third chapter, with added touches in the seventh and\nnineteenth chapters. There is a little descriptive phrase used each\ntime--\"the man who came to Jesus by night.\" That comes to be in John's\nmind the most graphic and sure way of identifying this man. A good deal\nof criticism, chiefly among the upper classes, had already been aroused\nby Jesus' acts and words. This man Nicodemus clearly was deeply\nimpressed by the young preacher from up in Galilee. He wants to find out\nmore of him. But he shrank back from exposing himself to criticism by\nthese influential people for his possible friendship with the young\nradical, as Jesus was regarded. So one day he waits until the friendly\nshadows will conceal his identity, and slipping quietly along the\nstreets, close up to the houses so as to insure his purpose of not being\nrecognized, he goes up yonder side street where Jesus has lodgings. He\nknocks timidly. \"Does the preacher from up the north way stop here?\"\n\"Yes.\" \"Could I see him?\" He steps in and spends an evening in earnest\nconversation. I think we will all readily agree that Nicodemus\n_believed_ Jesus after that night's interview, however he may have\nfailed to understand all He said. Yes, we can say much more--he _loved_\nHim. For after the cruel crucifixion it is this man that brings a box of\nvery precious spices, weighing as much as a hundred pounds, worth,\nwithout question, a large sum of money, with which to embalm the dead\nbody of his friend. Ah! he loved Him. No one may question that.\n\nBut turn now to the seventh chapter of John. There is being held a\nspecial session of the Jewish Senate in Jerusalem for the express\npurpose of determining how to silence Jesus--to get rid of Him. This man\nis a member of that body, and is present. Yonder he sits with the\nothers, listening while his friend Jesus is being discussed and His\nremoval--by force if need be--is being plotted. What does he do? What\nwould you expect of a friend of Jesus under such circumstances? I wonder\nwhat you and I would have done? I wonder what we do do? Does he say\nmodestly, but plainly, \"I spent a whole evening with this man,\nquestioning Him, talking with Him, listening to Him. I feel quite sure\nthat He is our promised Messiah; and I have decided to accept Him as\nsuch.\" Did he say that? That would have been the simple truth. But such\na remark plainly would have aroused a storm of criticism, and he dreaded\nthat. Yet he felt that something should be said. So, lawyer-like, he\nputs the case abstractly. \"Hmm--does our law judge a man without giving\nhim a fair hearing?\" That sounds fair, though it does seem rather feeble\nin face of their determined opposition. But near by sits a burly\nPharisee, who turns sharply around and, glaring savagely at Nicodemus,\nsays sneeringly: \"Who are you? Do you come from Galilee, too? Look and\nsee! No prophet comes out of Galilee\"--with intensest contempt in the\ntone with which he pronounces the word Galilee. And poor Nicodemus seems\nto shrink back into half his former size, and has not another word to\nsay, though all the facts, easily ascertainable, were upon his side of\nthe case. He loved Jesus without doubt, but he had _no power_ for Him\namong men _because of his timidity_. Shall I use a plainer, though\nuglier, word--his cowardice? That is not a pleasant word to apply to a\nman. But is it not the true word here? He was so afraid of what _they_\nwould think and say! Is that the sort of christian _you_ are? Believing\nJesus, trusting Him, saved by Him, loving Him, but shrinking back from\nspeaking out for Him, tactfully, plainly, when opportunity presents or\ncan be made. A christian, but without positive power for Him among men\nbecause of cowardice!\n\nI can scarcely imagine Nicodemus walking down the street in Jerusalem,\narm in arm with another Pharisee-member of the Sanhedrin and saying to\nhim quietly, but earnestly: \"Have you had a talk with this young man\nJesus?\" \"No, indeed, I have not!\" \"Well, do you know, I spent an\nevening with Him down at His stopping place, and had a long, careful\ntalk with Him. I am quite satisfied that He is our long-looked-for\nleader; I have decided to give Him my personal allegiance; won't you get\npersonally acquainted with Him? He is a wonderful man.\" I say I have\ndifficulty in thinking that this man worked for Jesus like that. And yet\nwhat more natural and proper, both for him and for us? And what a\ndifference it might have made in many a man's life. _Powerless_ for\nJesus because of timidity! Is that the kind _you_ are? Possibly some one\nthinks that rather hard on this man. Maybe you are thinking of that\nother member of the Sanhedrin--Joseph of Arimathea--who was also a\nfollower of Jesus, and that quite possibly he may have been influenced\nby Nicodemus. Let us suppose, for Nicodemus' sake, that this is so, and\nthen mark the brief record of this man Joseph in John's account: \"A\ndisciple _secretly_ for _fear_ of the Jews.\" If we may fairly presume\nthat it was Nicodemus' influence that led his friend Joseph to follow\nJesus, yet he had led him no nearer than he himself had gone! He _could_\nlead him no higher or nearer than that.\n\nJohn in his gospel makes plain the fact that Jesus suffered much from\nthese secret, timid, cowardly disciples whose fear of men gripped them\nas in a vise. Five times he makes special mention of these people who\nbelieved Jesus, but cravenly feared to line up with Him.[1] He even says\nthat _many_ of the _rulers_--the very class that plotted and voted His\ndeath--believed Jesus, but that _fear_ of _the others_ shut their lips\nand drove them into the shadow when they could have helped Him most.\nThese people seem to have left numerous descendants, many of whom\ncontinue with us unto this day.\n\n\nTightly Tied Up.\n\nTurn now to the eleventh chapter and you will find another pictorial\nsuggestion of this same sort of _powerless christian_, though in this\ninstance made so by another reason. It is the Bethany Chapter, the\nLazarus Chapter. The scene is just out of Bethany village. There is a\nman lying dead in the cave yonder. Here stands Jesus. There are the\ndisciples, and Martha, and Mary, and the villagers, and a crowd from\nJerusalem. The Master is speaking. His voice rings out clear and\ncommanding--\"Lazarus, come forth\"--speaking to a dead man. And the\nsimple record runs, \"He that _was_ dead\"--life comes between those two\nlines of the record--\"came forth, bound hand and foot with\ngrave-clothes, and his face was bound about with a napkin.\" Will you\nplease take a look at Lazarus as he steps from the tomb? Do you think\nhis eyes are dull, or his cheeks hollow and pale? I think not! When\nJesus, the Lord of life, gives life, either physical or spiritual, He\ngives abundant life. That face may have been a bit spare. There had been\nno food for at least four days and likely longer. But there is the\nflash of health in his eye and the ruddy hue of good blood in his cheek.\nHe has life. But look closer. He is bound hand and foot and face. He can\nneither walk nor work nor speak.\n\nI have met some christian people who reminded me forcibly of that scene.\nThey are christians. The Master has spoken life, and they have responded\nto His word. But they are so tied up with the grave-clothes of the old\nlife that there can be none of the power of free action in life or\nservice. May I ask you very kindly, but very plainly, are you like that?\nIs that the reason you have so little power with God, and for God?\nPerhaps some one would say, \"Just what do you mean?\" I mean this: that\nthere may be some personal habit of yours, or perhaps some society\ncustom which you practice, or it may be some business method, or\npossibly an old friendship which you have carried over into the new life\nfrom the old that is seriously hindering your christian life. It may be\nsomething that goes into your mouth or comes out of it that prevents\nthose lips speaking for the Master. Perhaps it is some organization you\nbelong to. If there is lack of freedom and power for Christ you may be\nsure there is _something_ that is blighting your life and dwarfing your\nusefulness. It may possibly be that practically in your daily life you\nare exerting no more power for God than a dead man! A christian, indeed,\nbut _without power because of compromise_ with something questionable\nor outrightly wrong! Is that so with you? I do not say it is, for I do\nnot know. But _you_ know. The hungry, critical world knows. Subtle, keen\nSatan knows. The Lord Jesus knows. Do you know if that describes you?\nYou may know with certainty within twenty-four hours if you wish to and\nwill to. May we be willing to have the Spirit's searchlight turned in\nupon us to-night.\n\n\nThe Master's Ideal.\n\nThere is another kind of christian, an utterly different kind, spoken of\nand illustrated in this same Gospel of John, and I doubt not many of\nthem also are here. It is _Jesus' ideal_ of what a christian should be.\nHave you sometimes wished you could have a few minutes of quiet talk\nwith Jesus? I mean face to face, as two of us might sit and talk\ntogether. You have thought you would ask Him to say very simply and\nplainly just what He expects of you. Well, I believe He would answer in\nwords something like those of this seventh chapter of John. It was at\nthe time of Feast of Tabernacles. There was a vast multitude of Jews\nthere from all parts of the world. It was like an immense convention,\nbut larger than any convention we know. The people were not entertained\nin the homes, but lived for seven days in leafy booths made of branches\nof trees. It was the last day of the feast. There was a large concourse\nof people gathered in one of the temple areas; not women, but men; not\nsitting, but standing. Up yonder stand the priests, pouring water out of\nlarge jars, to symbolize the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon the\nnation of Israel. Just then Jesus speaks, and amid the silence of the\nintently watching throng His voice rings out: \"If any man thirst let him\ncome unto Me and drink; he that believeth on Me, as the Scripture saith,\n_out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water_.\" Mark that\nsignificant closing clause. That packs into a sentence Jesus' ideal of\nwhat a true christian down in this world should be, and may be. Every\nword is full of meaning.\n\nThe heart of the sentence is in the last word--\"water.\" _Water_ is an\nessential of life. Absence of water means suffering and sickness, dearth\nand death. Plenty of good water means _life_. All the history of the\nworld clusters about the water courses. Study the history of the rivers,\nthe seashores, and lake edges, and you know the history of the earth.\nThose men who heard Jesus speak would instinctively think of the Jordan.\nIt was their river. Travelers say that no valley exceeded in beauty and\nfruitfulness that valley of the Jordan, made so by those swift waters.\nNo hillside so fair in their green beauty, nor so wealthy in heavy loads\nof fruit as those sloping down to the edge of that stream. Now plainly\nJesus is talking of something that may, through us, exert as decided an\ninfluence upon the lives of those we touch as water has exerted, and\nstill exerts, on the history of the earth, and as this Jordan did in\nthat wonderful, historic Palestine. Mark the quantity of\nwater--\"rivers.\" Not a Jordan merely, that would be wonderful enough,\nbut Jordans--a Jordan, and a Nile, and a Euphrates, a Yang Tse Kiang,\nand an Olga and a Rhine, a Seine and a Thames, and a Hudson and an\nOhio--\"_rivers_.\" Notice, too, the _kind_ of water. Like this racing,\nturbulent, muddy Jordan? No, no! \"rivers of _living_ water,\" \"water of\n_life_, clear as crystal.\" You remember in Ezekiel's vision which we\nread together that the waters constantly increased in depth, and that\neverywhere they went there was healing, and abundant life, and\nprosperity, and beauty, and food, and a continual harvest the year\nround, and all because of the waters of the river. They were veritable\nwaters of life.\n\nNow mark that little, but very significant, phrase--\"_Out of_\"--not\n_into_, but \"out of.\" All the difference in the lives of men lies in the\ndifference between these two expressions. \"Into\" is the world's\npreposition. Every stream turns in; and that means _a dead sea_. Many a\nman's life is simply the coast line of a dead sea. \"Out of\" is the\nMaster's word. His thought is of others. The stream must flow in, and\nmust flow through, if it is to flow out, but it is judged by its\ndirection, and Jesus would turn it outward. There must be good\nconnections upward, and a clear channel inward, but the objective point\nis outward toward a parched earth. But before it can flow out it must\n_fill up_. An _out_flow in this case means an _over_flow. There must be\na flooding inside before there can be a flowing out. And let the fact be\ncarefully marked that it is only the overflow from the fullness within\nour own lives that brings refreshing to anyone else. A man praying at a\nconference in England for the outpouring of the Holy Spirit said: \"O,\nLord, we can't hold much, but we can overflow lots.\" That is exactly the\nMaster's thought. \"Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water.\"\n\nDo you remember that phrase in the third chapter of Joshua--\"For Jordan\noverfloweth all its banks all the time of harvest.\" When there was a\nflood in the river, there was a harvest in the land. Has there been a\nharvest in your life? A harvest of the fruit of the spirit--love, joy,\npeace, long-suffering; a harvest of souls? \"No,\" do you say, \"not much\nof a harvest, I am afraid,\" or it may be your heart says \"none at all.\"\nIs it hard to tell why? Has there been a flood-tide in your heart, a\nfilling up from above until the blessed stream had to find an outlet\nsomewhere, and produce a harvest? A harvest outside means a rising of\nthe tide inside. A flooding of the heart always brings a harvest in the\nlife. A few years ago there were great floods in the southern states,\nand the cotton and corn crops following were unprecedented. Paul\nreminded his Roman friends that when the Holy Spirit has free swing in\nthe life \"the love of God _floods_ our hearts.\"[2]\n\nPlease notice, too, the _source_ of the stream--\"out of his belly.\" Will\nyou observe for a moment the rhetorical figure here? I used to suppose\nit meant \"out of his _heart_.\" The ancients, you remember, thought the\nheart lay down in the abdominal region. But you will find that this book\nis very exact in its use of words. The blood is the life. The heart\npumps the blood, but the stomach makes it. The seat of life is not in\nthe heart, but in the stomach. If you will take down a book of\nphysiology, and find the chart showing the circulation of the blood, you\nwill see a wonderful network of lines spreading out in every direction,\nbut all running, through lighter lines into heavier, and still blacker,\nuntil every line converges in the great stomach artery. _And everywhere\nthe blood goes there is life._ Now turn to a book of physical geography\nand get a map showing the water system of some great valley like the\nMississippi, and you will find a striking reproduction of the other\nchart. And if you will shut your eyes and imagine the reality back of\nthat chart, you will see hundreds of cool, clear springs flowing\nsuccessively into runs, brooks, creeks, larger streams, river branches,\nrivers, and finally into the great river--the reservoir of all. _And\neverywhere the waters go there is life._ The only difference between\nthese two streams of life is in the direction. The blood flows from the\nlargest toward the smallest; the water flows from the smallest toward\nthe largest. Both bring life with its accompaniments of beauty and vigor\nand fruitfulness. There is Jesus' picture of the Christian down in the\nworld. As the red stream flows out from the stomach, and, propelled by\nthe force-pump of the heart, through a marvelous network of minute\nrivers takes life to every part of the body, so \"he that believeth on\nMe\"--that is the vital connecting link with the great origin of this\nstream of life--out of the very source of life within him shall go _a\nflood-tide of life_, bringing refreshing, and cleansing, and beauty, and\nvigor everywhere within the circle of his life, even though, like the\nred streams and the water streams, he be unconscious of it.\n\n\nAn Unlikely Channel.\n\nWhat a marvelous conception of the power of life! How strikingly it\ndescribes Jesus' own earthly life! But there is something more marvelous\nstill--He means that ideal to become real in you, my friend, and in me.\nI doubt not there are some here whose eager hearts are hungry for just\nsuch a life, but who are tremblingly conscious of their own weakness.\nYour thoughts are saying: \"I wish I _could_ live such a life, but\ncertainly this is not for _me_; this man talking doesn't know _me_--no\nspecial talent or opportunity: such strong tides of temptation that\nsweep me clean off my feet--not for me.\" Ah, my friend, I verily believe\nyou are the very one the Master had in mind, for He had John put into\nhis gospel a living illustration of this ideal of His that goes down to\nthe very edge of human unlikeliness and inability. He goes down to the\nlowest so as to include all. What proved true in this case may prove\ntrue with you, and much more. The story is in the fourth chapter. It is\na sort of advance page of the Book of Acts. A sample of the power of\nPentecost before the day of Pentecost. You and I live on the flood-side\nof Pentecost. This illustration belongs back where the streams had only\njust commenced trickling. It is a miniature. You and I may furnish the\nlife-size if we will.\n\nIt is the story of a woman; not a man, but a woman. One of the _weaker_\nsex, so called. She was ignorant, prejudiced, and without social\nstanding. She was a woman of no reputation. Aye, worse than that, of bad\nreputation. She probably had less moral influence in her town than any\none here has in his circle. Could a more unlikely person have been used?\nBut she came in touch with the Lord Jesus. She yielded herself to that\ntouch. There lies the secret of what follows. That contact radically\nchanged her. She went back to her village and commenced speaking about\nJesus to those she knew. She could not preach; she simply told plainly\nand earnestly what she knew and believed about Him. And the result is\nstartling. There are hundreds of ministers who are earnestly longing\nfor what came so easily to her. What modern people call a revival began\nat once. We are told in the simple language of the Gospel record that\n\"_many believed on Him because of the word of the woman._\" They had not\nseen Jesus yet. He was up by the well. They were down in the village.\nShe was an ignorant woman, of formerly sinful life. But there is the\nrecord of the wonderful result of her simple witnessing--they believed\non Jesus because of the word of that woman. There is only one way to\naccount for such results. Only the Holy Spirit speaking through her lips\ncould have produced them. She had commenced drinking of the living water\nof which Jesus had been talking to her, and now already the rivers were\nflowing out to others.\n\nWhat Jesus did with her, He longs to do with you, _and far more_, if you\nwill let Him; though his plan for using you may be utterly different\nfrom the one He had for her, and so the particular results different.\nNow let me ask very frankly why have we not all such power for our\nMaster as she? The Master's plan is plain. He said \"ye shall have\npower.\" But so many of us do not have! Why not? Well, possibly some of\nus are like Nicodemus--there is no power because of timidity, cowardice,\nfear of what _they_ will think, or say. Possibly some of us are in the\nsame condition spiritually that Lazarus was in physically. We are tied\nup tight, hands and feet and face. Some sin, some compromise, some\nhushing of that inner voice, _something_ wrong. Some little thing, you\nmay say. Humph! as though anything _could_ be little that is wrong! _Sin\nis never little!_\n\n\nA Clogged Channel.\n\nOut in Colorado they tell of a little town nestled down at the foot of\nsome hills--a sleepy-hollow village. You remember the rainfall is very\nslight out there, and they depend much upon irrigation. But some\nenterprising citizens ran a pipe up the hills to a lake of clear, sweet\nwater. As a result the town enjoyed a bountiful supply of water the year\nround without being dependent upon the doubtful rainfall. And the\npopulation increased and the place had quite a western boom. One morning\nthe housewives turned the water spigots, but no water came. There was\nsome sputtering. There is apt to be noise when there is nothing else.\nThe men climbed the hill. There was the lake full as ever. They examined\naround the pipes as well as possible, but could find no break. Try as\nthey might, they could find no cause for the stoppage. And as days grew\ninto weeks, people commenced moving away again, the grass grew in the\nstreets, and the prosperous town was going back to its old sleepy\ncondition when one day one of the town officials received a note. It was\npoorly written, with bad spelling and grammar, but he never cared less\nabout writing or grammar than just then. It said in effect: \"Ef you'll\njes pull the plug out of the pipe about eight inches from the top you'll\nget all the water you want.\" Up they started for the top of the hill,\nand examining the pipe, found the plug which some vicious tramp had\ninserted. Not a very big plug--just big enough to fill the pipe. It is\nsurprising how large a reservoir of water can be held back by how small\na plug. Out came the plug; down came the water freely; by and by back\ncame prosperity again.\n\n_Why_ is there such a lack of power in our lives? The reservoir up\nyonder is full to overflowing, with clear, sweet, life-giving water. And\nhere all around us the earth is so dry, so thirsty, cracked open--huge\ncracks like dumb mouths asking mutely for what we should give. And the\nconnecting pipes between the reservoir above and the parched plain below\nare there. Why then do not the refreshing waters come rushing down? The\nanswer is very plain. You know why. _There is a plug in the pipe._\nSomething in us clogging up the channel and nothing can get through. How\nshall we have power, abundant, life-giving, sweetening our own lives,\nand changing those we touch? The answer is easy for me to give--it will\nbe much harder for us all to do--_pull out the plug_. Get out the thing\nthat you know is hindering.\n\nI am going to ask every one who will, to offer this simple prayer--and I\nam sure every thoughtful, earnest man and woman here will. Just bow\nyour head and quietly under your breath say to Him: \"Lord Jesus, show\nme what there is in my life that is displeasing to Thee; what there is\nThou wouldst change.\" You may be sure He will. He is faithful. He will\nput His finger on that tender spot very surely. Then add a second clause\nto that prayer--\"By Thy grace helping me, _I will put it out_ whatever\nit may cost, or wherever it may cut.\" Shall we bow our heads and offer\nthat prayer, and hew close to that line, steadily, faithfully? It will\nopen up a life of marvelous blessing undreamed of for you and everyone\nyou touch.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[1] John 3:1. 7:50. 12:42 with 9:22. 19:38, 39.\n\n[2] Rom. 5:5.\n\n\n\n\nTHE OLIVET MESSAGE.\n\nSearchlight Sights.\n\n\nComing into Cleveland harbor one evening, just after nightfall, a number\nof passengers were gathered on the upper deck eagerly watching the\ncolored breakwater lights and the city lights beyond. Suddenly a general\ncuriosity was aroused by a small boat of some sort, on the left,\nscudding swiftly along in the darkness like a blacker streak on the\nblack waters. A few of us who chanced to be near the captain on the\nsmaller deck above, heard him quietly say, \"Turn on the searchlight.\"\nAlmost instantly an intense white light shone full on the stranger-boat,\nbringing it to view so distinctly that we could almost count the\nnail-heads, and the strands in her cordage.\n\nIf some of us here to-night have made the prayer suggested in our last\ntalk together--Lord Jesus, show me what there is in my life that is\ndispleasing to Thee, that Thou wouldst change--we will appreciate\nsomething of the power of that Lake Erie searchlight. There is a\nsearchlight whiter, intenser, more keenly piercing than any other. Into\nevery heart that desires, and will hold steadily open to it, the Lord\nJesus will turn that searching light. Then you will begin to see things\n_as they actually are_. And that sight may well lead to discouragement.\nMany a hidden thing, which you are glad enough to have hidden, will be\nplainly seen. How is it possible, you will be ready to ask, for me to\nlead the life the Master's ambition has planned for me, with such mixed\nmotives, selfish ambitions, sinfulness and weakness as I am beginning to\nget a glimpse of--how is it possible?\n\nThere is one answer to that intense heart-question, and only one. _We\nmust have power_, some supernatural power, something outside of us, and\nabove us, and far greater than we, to come in and win the victory within\nus and for us.\n\nIf that young man whose inner life is passion-swept, one tidal wave of\nfierce temptation, hot on the heels of the last, until all the moorings\nare snapped, and he driven rudderless out to sea--if he is to ride\nmasterfully upon that sea _he must have power_.\n\nIf that young woman is to be as attractive, and womanly winsome in the\nsociety circle where she moves, as she is meant to be, and yet able to\nshape her lips into a gently uttered, but rock-ribbed _no_ when certain\nwell-understood questionable matters come up, _she must have power_. If\nsociety young people are to remain in the world, and yet not be swayed\nby its spirit: on one side not prudish, nor fanatical, nor extreme, but\ncheery, and radiant, and full-lived, and yet free of those compromising\nentanglements that are common to society everywhere, _they must have a\nrare pervasive power_.\n\nFor that business man down in the sharp competition of the world where\nduty calls him, to resist the sly temptations to overreach, to keep\nkeenly alert not to be overreached; and through all to preserve an\nuncensorious spirit, unhurt by the selfishness of the crowd--tell me,\nsome of you men--_will that not take power_? Aye, more power than some\nof us know about, yet.\n\nFor that same man to go through his store and remove from shelf or\ncounter some article which yields a good profit, but which he knows his\nMaster would not have there--Ah! _that'll take power_.\n\n_It takes power_ to keep the body under control: the mouth clean and\nsweet, both physically and morally: the eye turned away from the thing\nthat should not be thought about: the ear closed to what should not\nenter that in-gate of the heart: to allow no picture to hang upon the\nwalls of your imagination that may not hang upon the walls of your home:\nto keep every organ of the body pure for nature's holy function\nonly--_that takes mighty power_.\n\nFor that young man to be wide-awake, a pusher in business, and yet\nsteadily, determinedly to hold back any crowding of the other side of\nhis life: the inner side, the outer-helpful side, the Bible-reading-\nand secret-prayer- and quiet personal-work-side of his life, _that will\ntake real power_.\n\n_It will take a power_ that some of us have not known to let that glass\ngo untouched, and that quieting drug untasted and unhandled. If the rear\nend of some pharmacies could speak out, many a story would startle our\nears of struggles and defeats that tell sadly of utter lack of power.\n\n_It takes power_ for the man of God in the pulpit to speak plainly about\nparticular sins before the faces of those who are living in them; and\n_still more power_ to do it with the rare tactfulness and tenderness of\nthe Galilean preacher. _It takes power_ to stick to the Gospel story and\nthe old book, when literature and philosophy present such fine\nopportunities for the essays that are so enjoyable and that bring such\nflattering notice. _It takes power_ to leave out the finely woven\nrhetoric that you are disposed to put in for the sake of the compliment\nit will bring from that literary woman down yonder, or that bright,\nbrainy young lawyer in the fifth pew on the left aisle. _It takes power_\nto see that the lips that speak for God are thoroughly clean lips, and\nthe life that stands before that audience a pure life.\n\n_It takes power_ to keep sweet in the home, where, if anywhere, the\nseamy side is apt to stick out. How many wooden oaths could kicked\nchairs and slammed doors tell of! After all the home-life comes close to\nbeing the real test of power, does it not? _It takes power_ to be\ngracious and strong, and patient and tender, and cheery, in the\ncommonplace things, and the commonplace places, does it not?\n\nNow, I have something to tell you to-night that to me is very\nwonderful, and constantly growing in wonder. It is this--_the Master has\nthought of all that!_ He has thought into your life. Yes, I mean _your\nparticular life_, and made an arrangement to fully cover all your need\nof power. He stands anew in our midst to-day, and putting His pierced\nhand gently upon your arm, His low, loving, clear voice says quietly,\nbut very distinctly, \"_You--you shall have power._\" For every subtle,\nstrong temptation, for every cry of need, for every low moan of\ndisappointment, for every locking of the jaws in the resolution of\ndespair, for every disheartened look out into the morrow, for every\nyearningly ambitious heart there comes to-night that unmistakable\nringing promise of _His_--_ye shall have power_.\n\n\nThe Olivet Message.\n\nOur needs argue the necessity of power. And the argument is strengthened\nby the peculiar emphasis of the Master's words. Do you remember that\nwondrous Olivet scene? In the quiet twilight of a Sabbath evening a\ngroup of twelve young men stand yonder on the brow of Olives. The last\nglowing gleams of the setting sun fill all the western sky, and shed a\nhalo of yellow glory-light over the hilltop, through the trees, in upon\nthat group. You instantly pick out the leader. No mistaking Him. And\naround Him group the eleven men who have lived with Him these months\npast, now eagerly gazing into that marvelous face, listening for His\nwords. He is going away. They know that. Coming back soon, they\nunderstand. But in His absence the work He has begun is to be entrusted\nto their hands. And so with ears and eyes they listen intently for the\ngood-bye word--His last message. It will mean so much in the coming\ndays.\n\nTwo things the Master says. The first is that ringing \"go ye\" so\nfamiliar to every true heart. The second is a very decisive, distinct\n\"_but tarry ye_.\" What, wait still longer! Tarry, now, when your great\nwork is done! Listen again, while His parting words cut the air with\ntheir startling distinctness \"_but tarry ye--until ye be endued with\npower_.\"\n\nI could readily imagine impulsive Peter quickly saying, \"What! shall we\n_tarry_ when the whole world is dying! Do we not _know_ enough now?\" And\nthe Master's answer would come in that clear, quiet voice of His, \"yes,\ntarry: you have knowledge enough, but _knowledge is not enough_, there\nmust be power.\"\n\nThere is knowledge enough within the christian church of every\nland--aye, knowledge enough within the walls of this building to-night\nto convert the world, if knowledge would do it. Into many a life,\nthrough home training, and school, and college, has come knowledge,\nwhile power lingers without--a stranger. Knowledge--the twin idol with\ngold to American hearts--is essential, but, let it be plainly said, is\nnot _the_ essential. Knowledge is the fuel piled up in the fireplace.\nThe mantel is of carved oak, and the fenders so highly polished they\nseem almost to send out warmth, but the thermometer is working down\ntoward zero, and the people are shivering. The spark of living fire is\nessential. Then how all changes! There must be fire from above to kindle\nour knowledge and ourselves before any of the needed results will come.\n\nThere is no language strong enough to tell how absolutely needful it is\nthat every follower of Jesus Christ from the one most prominent in\nleadership down to the very humblest disciple, shall receive this\npromised power.\n\nLook at these men Jesus is talking to. There is Peter, the man of rock,\nand John and James, the sons of thunder. They were with the Lord on the\nTransfiguration Mount, and when He raised the dead. They were near by\nduring the awful agony of Gethsemane. They were admitted nearer to the\nMaster's inner life than any others. There is quiet matter-of-fact\nAndrew, who had a reputation for bringing others to Jesus. There is\nNathanael, in whom is no guile. It is to these men that there comes that\npositive command to tarry. If _they_ needed such a command, do not we?\n\n\"Yes,\" someone says, \"I understand that this power you speak of is\nsomething the leaders and preachers must have, but you scarcely mean\nthat there is the same necessity for us people down in the ranks, and\nthat we are to expect the same power as these others, do you?\" Will you\nplease call to mind that original Pentecost company? There were one\nhundred and twenty of them. And while there was a Peter being prepared\nto preach that tremendous sermon, and a John to write five books of the\nNew Testament and probably a James to preside over the affairs of the\nJerusalem Church, and possibly a Stephen, and a Philip, yet these are\nonly a few. By far the greater number, both men and women, are unnamed\nand unknown. Just the common, every-day folk, the filling-in of society;\naye, the very foundation of all society. They had no prominent part to\nplay. But they accepted the Master's promise of power, and His command\nto wait, _as made to them_. And as a result _they, too_, were filled\nwith the Holy Spirit, that wonderful morning. I think, very likely, \"the\ngood man of the house\" whose guest Jesus was that last night was there,\nand all the Marys, including the Bethany Mary, who simply sat at His\nfeet, and the Magdalene Mary, and housekeeper Martha, and maybe that\nlittle lad whose loaves and fishes had been used about a year before.\nThat was the sort of company that prayerfully, with one accord, not only\nwaited but _received_ that never-to-be-forgotten filling of the Holy\nSpirit.\n\nCertainly, as some of you think, the preacher must have this power\npeculiarly for his leadership. But just as really he needs it _because\nhe is a man for his living_, to make him sweet and gentle and patient\ndown in his home: to make him sympathetic and strong in his constant\ncontact with the hungry hearts he must meet. That young mechanic must\nhave this promised power if he is to live an earnest, manly life in that\nshop. That school girl, whose home duties crowd her time so; that\nkeen-minded student working for honors amid strong competition; these\nsociety young people; these all need, above all else, this promised\npower that in, and through, and around and above all of their lives may\nbe a wholesomely sweet, earnest Christliness, pervading the life even as\nthe odor of flowers pervades a room.\n\nDo you remember Paul's list of the traits of character that mark a\nchristian life--love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,\nmeekness, faithfulness, self-control?[3] Suppose for a moment you think\nthrough a list of the opposites of those nine\ncharacteristics--bitterness, envy, hate, low-spiritedness, sulkiness,\nchafing, fretting, worrying, short-suffering, quick-temper, hot-temper,\nhigh-spiritedness, unsteadiness, unreliability, lack of control of\nyourself. May I ask, have you any personal acquaintance with some of\nthese qualities? Is there still some need in your life for the other\ndesirable traits? Well, remember that it is only as the Holy Spirit has\n_control_ that this fruit of His is found. For notice that it is not we\nthat bear this fruit, but He in us. We furnish the soil. He must have\nfree swing in its cultivation if He is to get this harvest. And notice,\ntoo, that it does not say \"the _fruits_ of the Spirit,\" as though _you_\nmight have one or more, and _I_ have some others. But it is\n\"fruit\"--that is, it is all one fruit and all of it is meant to be\ngrowing up in each one of us. And let the fact be put down as settled\nonce for all that only as we tarry and receive the Master's promise of\npower can we live the lives He longs to have us live down here among men\nfor Him.\n\nIf that father is so to live at home before those wide-awake, growing\nboys that he can keep up the family altar, and instead of letting it\nbecome a mere irksome form, make it the green, fresh spot in the home\nlife, he must have this promised power, for he cannot do it of himself.\nI presume _some_ of you fathers know that.\n\nThere is that mother, living in what would be reckoned a humble home,\none of a thousand like it, but charged with the most sacred trust ever\ncommitted to human hands--_the molding of precious lives_. If there be\nhallowed ground anywhere surely it is there, in the life of that home.\nWhat patience and tirelessness, and love and tact and wisdom and wealth\nof resource does that woman not need! Ah, mothers! if any one needs to\ntarry and receive the power promised by the Son of that Mary, who was\nfilled with the Holy Spirit from before His birth for her sacred trust,\n_surely you do_.\n\nHere sits one whose life plans seem to have gone all askew. The thing\nyou love to do, and had fondly planned over, removed utterly beyond\nyour reach and you compelled to fit in to something for which you have\nno taste. It will take nothing less than the power the Master promised\nfor you to go on faithfully, cheerfully just where you have been placed,\nno repining, no complaining, even in your innermost soul, but, instead,\na glad, joyous fitting into the Father's plan with a radiant light in\nthe face. Only His power can accomplish that victory! But _His can_. And\nHis may be yours for the tarrying and the taking.\n\nLet me repeat then with all the emphasis possible that as certainly as\nyou need to trust Jesus Christ for your soul's salvation, you also need\nto receive this power of the Holy Spirit to work that salvation out _in\nyour present life_.\n\n\nA Double Center.\n\nIt has helped me greatly in understanding the Master's insistent\nemphasis upon the promise of power to keep clearly in mind that the\nchristian system of truth revolves around a double center. It is\nillustrated best not by a circle with its single center, but by an\nellipse with its twin centers. There are two central truths--not one,\nbut two. The first of the two is grained deep down in the common\nChristian teaching and understanding. If I should ask any group of\nSabbath school children in this town, next Sabbath morning, the\nquestion: What is the most important thing we christians believe? Amid\nthe great variety in the form of answer would come, in substance,\nwithout doubt, this reply: \"_The blood of Jesus Christ cleanseth from\nall sin._\" And they would be right. But there is a second truth--very\nreverently and thoughtfully let me say--of _equal importance_ with that;\nnamely, this: _the Holy Spirit empowereth against all sin, and for life\nand service_. These two truths are co-ordinate. They run in parallel\nlines. They belong together. They are really two halves of the one great\ntruth. But this second half needs emphasis, because it has not always\nbeen put into its proper place beside the other.\n\nJesus died on the cross to make freedom from sin _possible_. The Holy\nSpirit dwells within me to make freedom from sin _actual_. The Holy\nSpirit does _in_ me what Jesus did _for_ me. The Lord Jesus makes a\ndeposit in the bank on my account. The Spirit checks the money out and\nputs it into my hands. Jesus does in me now by His Spirit what He did\nfor me centuries ago on the cross, in His person.\n\nNow these two truths, or two parts of the same truth, go together in\nGod's plan, but, with some exceptions, have not gone together in men's\nexperience. That explains why so many christian lives are a failure and\na reproach. The Church of Christ has been gazing so intently upon the\nhill of the cross with its blood-red message of sin and love, that it\nhas largely lost sight of the Ascension Mount with its legacy of power.\nWe have been so enwrapt with that marvelous scene on Calvary--and what\nwonder!--that we have allowed ourselves to lose the intense significance\nof Pentecost. That last victorious shout--\"It is finished\"--has been\ncrowding out in our ears its counterpart--the equally victorious cry of\nOlivet--\"_All power hath been given unto Me._\"\n\nThe christian's range of vision must always take in two\nhill-tops--Calvary and Olivet. Calvary--sin conquered through the blood\nof Jesus, a matter of history. Olivet--sin conquered through the power\nof Jesus, a matter of experience. When the subject is spoken of, we are\napt to say: \"Yes, that is correct. I understand that.\" But _do_ we\nunderstand it in our _experience_? So certainly as I must trust Jesus as\nmy Saviour so certainly must I constantly yield my life to the control\nof the Spirit of Jesus if I am to find real the practical power of His\nsalvation.\n\nAs surely as men are now urged to accept Jesus as the great step in\nlife, so surely should they be instructed to yield themselves to the\nHoly Spirit's control that Jesus' plan for their lives may be carried\nthrough.\n\nYou remember in the olden time the Hebrew men were required to appear\nbefore God in the appointed place three times during the year. At the\nPassover, and at Pentecost, and again at the harvest home feast of\nTabernacles. So it is required of every man of us who would fit his\nlife into God's plan that he shall first of all come to the Passover\nfeast, where Christ our Passover is sacrificed for us. And then that he\nshall as certainly come to the great Pentecost feast, or feast of first\nfruits where a glorified Passover Lamb breathes down His Spirit of power\ninto the life. And then he is sure to have a constant attendance at a\nfirst-fruits feast all his days, with a great harvest home festival at\nthe end.\n\nI said there were two central truths. Will you notice that the gospels\nput it also in this way, that _Jesus came to do two things_--not one\nthing, but _two_ things--in working out our salvation. That the first is\ndependent for its practical power upon the second, and the second is the\ncompleting or carrying into effect of the power of the first. That the\nfirst--let me say it with great reverence--is valueless without the\nsecond.\n\nWhat _was_ Jesus' mission? Would you not expect His forerunner to\nunderstand it? Listen, then, to his words. When questioned specifically\nby the official deputation sent from the national leaders at Jerusalem,\nhe pointed to Jesus, and declared that He had come for a two-fold\npurpose. Listen: \"Behold the Lamb of God who beareth away the sin of the\nworld\"; and then he added, and the word comes to us with the peculiar\nemphasis of repetition by each of the four gospel scribes--\"this is He\nthat baptizeth with the Holy Spirit.\" That was spoken to them originally\nwithout doubt in a national sense. It just as surely applies to every\none of us in a personal sense.\n\nMark also the emphasis of _Jesus' own teachings_ regarding this second\npart of His mission. At the very beginning He spoke the decided words\nabout the necessity of being born of the Spirit. And we are all\nimpressed with that fact. But observe that several times, in the brief\ngospel record, He refers the disciples to the overshadowing importance\nof the _Spirit's control in the life_. And that He devotes a large part\nof that last long confidential talk which John records, to this special\nsubject, pointing out the new experiences to come with the coming of the\nSpirit, and holding out to them as the greatest evidence of His own love\n_the promise of power_.\n\nIt adds intense emphasis to all this to note that Jesus Himself, very\nSon of God, was in that wonderful human life of His utterly dependent\nupon the Holy Spirit. At the very outset, before venturing upon a single\nact or word of His appointed ministry, He waits at the Jordan waters,\nuntil the promised anointing of power came. What a picture does that\nprayerfully waiting Jesus present to powerless men to-day! From that\nmoment every bit and part of His life was under the control of that Holy\nSpirit. Impelled into the wilderness for that fierce set-to with Satan,\ncoming back to Galilee within the power of the Spirit, He himself\nclearly stated more than once, that it was through this anointing that\nHe preached, and taught, and healed, and cast out demons. The writer to\nthe Hebrews assures us that it was through the power of the Eternal\nSpirit that He was enabled to go through the awful experiences of\nGethsemane and Calvary. And Luke adds that it was through the same\nempowering Spirit that He gave commandment to the apostles for the\nstupendous task of world-wide evangelization. And then at the very last\nreferring them to that life of His, He said: \"As the father hath sent Me\neven so send I you.\" Let me ask if He, very God of very God, yet in His\nearthly life intensely human, needed that anointing, do not we? If He\nwaited for that experience before venturing upon any service, shall not\nyou and I?\n\nBut we must turn to the book of Acts to get fully within the grip of\nthis truth. For it, with the epistles fitting into it, is peculiarly the\n_Holy Spirit book_, even as the Old Testament is the _Jehovah book_ and\nthe gospels with Revelation the _Jesus book_. The climax of the gospels\nis in the Acts. What is promised in the gospels is _experienced_ in the\nActs.\n\nJesus is dominant in the gospels; the Spirit of Jesus in the Acts. He is\nthe only continuous personality from first to last. He is the common\ndenominator of the book. The first twelve chapters group about Peter,\nthe remaining sixteen about Paul, but distinctly above both they all\ngroup about the Holy Spirit. He is the one dominant factor throughout.\nThe first fourth of the book is fairly aflame with His presence at the\ncenter--Jerusalem. Thence out to Samaria, and through the Cornelius\ndoor to the whole outer non-Jewish world; at Antioch the new center, and\nthence through the uttermost parts of the Roman empire into its heart,\nHis is the presence recognized and obeyed. He is ceaselessly guiding,\nempowering, inspiring, checking, controlling clear to the abrupt end.\nHis is the one mastering personality. And everywhere His presence is a\ntransforming presence. Nothing short of startling is the change in\nPeter, in the attitude of the Jerusalem thousands, in the persecutor\nSaul, in the spirit of these disciples, in the unprecedented and\nunparalleled unselfishness shown. It is revolutionary. Ah! it was meant\nto be so. This book is the living illustration of what Jesus meant by\nHis teaching regarding His successor. It becomes also an acted\nillustration of what the personal christian life is meant to be.\n\nThe Spirit's presence and the necessity of His control is deep-grained\nin the consciousness of the leaders in this book. Leaving the stirring\nscenes at the capital the eighth chapter takes us down to Samaria.\nMultitudes have been led to believe through the preaching of a man who\nhas been chosen to look after the business matters of the church. Peter\nand John are sent down to aid the new movement. Note that their very\nfirst concern is to spend time in prayer that this great company may\nreceive the Holy Spirit.\n\nThe next chapter shifts the scene to Damascus. A man unknown save for\nthis incident is sent as God's messenger to Saul. As he lays his hand\nupon this chosen man and speaks the light-giving words he instinctively\nadds, \"and be filled with the Holy Spirit.\" That is not recorded as a\npart of what he had been told to do. But plainly this humble man of God\nbelieves that that is the essential element in Saul's preparation for\nhis great work.\n\nIn the tenth chapter the Holy Spirit's action with Cornelius completely\nupsets the life-long, rock-rooted ideas of these intensely national, and\nintensely exclusive Jews. Yet it is accepted as final.\n\nWith what quaint simplicity does the thirteenth chapter tell of the Holy\nSpirit's initiation of those great missionary journeys of Paul from the\nnew center of world evangelization? \"the Holy Spirit said, etc.\" And how\nlike it is the language of James in delivering the judgment of the first\nchurch council:--\"it seemed good to the Holy Spirit and to us.\"\n\nPaul's conviction is very plain from numerous references in those\nwonderful heart-searching and heart-revealing letters of his. But one\ninstance in this Book of Acts will serve as a fair illustration of his\nteaching and habit. It is in the nineteenth chapter. In his travels he\nhas come as far as to Ephesus, and finds there a small company of\nearnest disciples. They are strangers to him. He longs to help them, but\nmust first find their need. At once he puts a question to them. A\nquestion may be a great revealer. This one reveals his own conception\nof what must be the pivotal experience of every true follower of Jesus.\nHe asks: \"Did ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?\"\n\nBut they had been poorly instructed, like many others since, and were\nnot clear just what he meant. They had received the baptism of John--a\nbaptism of repentance; but not the baptism of Jesus--a baptism of power.\nAnd Paul at once gives himself up to instructing and then praying with\nthem until the promised gift is graciously bestowed. That is the last we\nhear of those twelve persons. Some of them may have been women. Some may\nhave come to be leaders in that great Ephesian Church. But of that\nnothing is said. The emphasis remains on the fact that in Paul's mind\nbecause they were followers of the Lord Jesus they must have this\nempowering experience of the Holy Spirit's infilling.\n\nPlainly in this Book of Acts the pivot on which all else rests and turns\nis the unhindered presence of the Holy Spirit.\n\n\nFive Essentials.\n\nIf you will stop a while to think into it you will find that a rightly\nrounded christian life has five essential characteristics. I mean\nessential in the same sense as that light is an essential to the eye.\nThe eye's seeing depends wholly on light. If it does not see light, by\nand by, it cannot see light. The ear that hears no sound loses the\npower to hear sound. Light is essential to the healthful eye: sound to\nthe ear: air to the lungs: blood to the heart. Just as really are these\nfive things essential to a strong healthful christian life.\n\nThe _second_ of these is a heart-love for the old Book of God. Not\nreading it as a duty--taking a chapter at night because you feel you\nmust. I do not mean that just now. But reading it because you _love_ to;\nas you would a love letter or a letter from home. Thinking about it as\nthe writer of the one hundred and nineteenth psalm did. Listen to him\nfor a moment in that one psalm, talking about this book: \"I delight,\" \"I\nwill delight,\" \"My delight\"--in all nine times. \"I love,\" \"Oh! how I\nlove,\" \"I do love,\" \"Consider how I love,\" \"I love exceedingly,\" again\nnine times in all. \"I have longed,\" \"My eyes fail,\" \"My soul breaketh,\"\nspeaking of the intensity of his desire to get alone with the book.\n\"Sweeter than honey,\" \"As great spoil,\" \"As much as all riches,\" \"Better\nthan thousands of gold,\" \"Above gold, yea, above fine gold.\" And all\nthat packed into less than two leaves. Do you love this Book like that?\nWould you like to? Wait a moment.\n\nThe _third_ essential is right habits of prayer. Living a veritable life\nof prayer. Making prayer the chief part not alone of your life, but of\nyour service. Having answers to prayer as a constant experience. Being\nlike the young man in a conference in India, who said, \"I used to pray\nthree times a day: Now I pray only once a day, and that is _all_ day.\"\nFeet busy all the day, hands ceaselessly active, head full of matters of\nbusiness, but the heart never out of communication with Him. Has prayer\nbecome to you like that? Would you have it so? Wait a moment.\n\nThe _fourth_ essential is a pure, earnest, unselfish life. Our lives are\nthe strongest part of us--or else the weakest. A man knows the least of\nthe influence of his own life. Life is not mere length of time but the\ndaily web of character we unconsciously weave. Our thoughts,\nimaginations, purposes, motives, love, will, are the under threads: our\nwords, tone of voice, looks, acts, habits are the upper threads: and the\npassing moment is the shuttle swiftly, ceaselessly, relentlessly,\nweaving those threads into a web, and that web is life. It is woven, not\nby our wishing, or willing, but irresistibly, unavoidably, woven by what\nwe _are_, moment by moment, hour after hour. What is your life weaving\nout? Is it attractive because of the power in it of _His_ presence?\nWould you have it so? Would you know the secret of a life marked by the\nstrange beauty of humility, and fragrant with the odor of _His_\npresence? Wait just a moment.\n\nThe _fifth_ essential is a passion for winning others one by one to the\nLord Jesus. A passion, I say. I may use no weaker word than that. A\npassion burning with the steady flame of anthracite. A passion for\n_winning_: not driving, nor dragging, but drawing men. I am not talking\nabout preachers just now, as preachers, but about every one of us. Do\nyou know the peculiar delight there is in winning the fellow by your\nside, the girl in your social circle, to Jesus Christ? No? Ah, you have\nmissed half your life! Would you have such an intense passion as that,\nthrilling your heart, and inspiring your life, and know how to do it\nskillfully and tactfully?\n\nLet me tell you with my heart that the secret not only of this, but of\nall four of these essentials I have named lies in the first one which I\nhave not yet named, and grows out of it. Given the first the others will\nfollow as day follows the rising sun.\n\nWhat is the first great essential? It is this--the unrestrained,\nunhindered, controlling presence in the heart of the Holy Spirit. It is\nallowing Jesus' other Self, the Holy Spirit, to take full possession and\nmaintain a loving but absolute monopoly of all your powers.\n\n\nTarry.\n\nMy friend, have you received this promised power? Is there a growing up\nof those four things within you by His grace? Does the Holy Spirit have\nfreeness of sway in you? Are you conscious of the fullness of His love\nand power--conscious enough to know how much there is beyond of which\nyou are not conscious? Does your heart say, \"No.\" Well, things may be\nmoving smoothly in that church of which you are pastor, and in that\nschool over which you preside. Business may be in a satisfactory\ncondition. Your standing in society may be quite pleasing. Your plans\nworking out well. The family may be growing up around you as you had\nhoped. But let me say to you very kindly but very plainly _your life\nthus far is a failure_. You have been succeeding splendidly it may be in\na great many important matters, but they are _the details_ and in the\nmain issue you have failed utterly.\n\nAnd to you to-night I bring one message--the Master's Olivet\nmessage--\"_tarry ye_.\" No need of tarrying, as with these disciples, for\n_God_ to do something. His part has been done, and splendidly done. And\nHe waits now upon you. But tarry until you are willing to put out of\nyour life what displeases Him, no matter what that may mean to you.\nTarry until your eyesight is corrected; until your will is surrendered.\nTarry that you may start the habit of tarrying, for those two Olivet\nwords, \"Go\" and \"tarry,\" will become the even-balancing law of your new\nlife. A constant going to do His will; a continual tarrying to find out\nHis will. Tarry to get your ears cleared and quieted so you can learn to\nrecognize that low voice of His. Tarry earnestly, steadily until that\ntouch of power comes to change, and cleanse, and quiet, and to give you\na totally new conception of what power is. Then you can understand the\nexperience of the one who wrote:--\n\n    \"My hands were filled with many things\n      That I did precious hold,\n    As any treasure of a king's--\n      Silver, or gems, or gold.\n    The Master came and _touched_ my hands,\n      (The scars were in His own)\n    And at His feet my treasures sweet\n      Fell shattered, one by one.\n    'I must have empty hands,' said He,\n      'Wherewith to work My works through thee.'\n\n    \"My hands were stained with marks of toil,\n      Defiled with dust of earth;\n    And I my work did ofttimes soil,\n      And render little worth.\n    The Master came and _touched_ my hands,\n      (And crimson were His own)\n    But when, amazed, on mine I gazed,\n      Lo! every stain was gone.\n    'I must have cleansed hands,' said He,\n      'Wherewith to work My works through thee.'\n\n    \"My hands were growing feverish\n      And cumbered with much care!\n    Trembling with haste and eagerness,\n      Nor folded oft in prayer.\n    The Master came and _touched_ my hands,\n      (With healing in His own)\n    And calm and still to do His will\n      They grew--the fever gone.\n    'I must have quiet hands,' said He,\n      'Wherewith to work My works for Me.'\n\n    \"My hands were strong in fancied strength,\n      But not in power divine,\n    And bold to take up tasks at length,\n      That were not His but mine.\n    The Master came and _touched_ my hands,\n      (And might was in His own!)\n    But mine since then have powerless been,\n      _Save His are laid thereon_.\n    'And it is only thus,' said He,\n      'That I can work My works through thee.'\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[3] Gal., 5:22.\n\n\n\n\nTHE CHANNEL OF POWER.\n\nA Word that Sticks and Stings.\n\n\nI suppose everyone here can think of three or four persons whom he loves\nor regards highly, who are not christians. Can you? Perhaps in your own\nhome circle, or in the circle of your close friends. They may be nice\npeople, cultured, lovable, delightful companions, fond of music and good\nbooks, and all that; but this is true of them, that they do not trust\nand confess Jesus as a personal Savior. Can you think of such persons in\nyour own circle? I am going to wait a few moments in silence while you\nrecall them to mind, if you will--Can you see their faces? Are their\nnames clear to your minds?\n\nNow I want to talk with you a little while to-night, not about the whole\nworld, but just about these three or four dear friends of yours. I am\ngoing to suppose them lovely people in personal contact, cultured, and\nkindly, and intelligent, and of good habits even though all that may not\nbe true of all of them. And, I want to ask you a question--God's\nquestion--about them. You remember God put His hand upon Cain's arm,\nand, looking into his face, said: \"Where is Abel, thy brother?\" I want\nto ask you that question. Where are these four friends? Not where are\nthey socially, nor financially, nor educationally. These are important\nquestions. But they are less important than this other question: Where\nare they as touching _Him_? Where are they as regards the best life\nhere, and the longer life beyond this one?\n\nAnd I shall not ask you what you think about it. For I am not concerned\njust now with what you think. Nor shall I tell you what I think. For I\nam not here to tell you what I think, but to bring a message from the\nMaster as plainly and kindly as I can. So I shall ask you to notice what\nthis old book of God says about these friends of yours. It is full of\nstatements regarding them. I can take time for only a few.\n\nTurn, for instance, to the last chapter of Mark's Gospel, and the\nsixteenth verse, and you will find these words: \"He that believeth and\nis baptized shall be saved; he that believeth not shall be--.\" You know\nthe last word of that sentence. It is an ugly word. I dislike intensely\nto think it, much less repeat it. It is one of those blunt, sharp,\nAnglo-Saxon words that stick and sting. I wish I had a tenderer tone of\nvoice, in which to repeat it, and then only in a low whisper--it is so\nawful--\"_damned_.\"\n\nLet me ask you very gently: Does the first part of that sentence--\"he\nthat believeth--trusteth--not,\" does that describe the four friends you\nare thinking of now? And please remember that that word \"believeth\"\ndoes not mean the assent of the mind to a form of creed: never that: but\nthe assent of the heart to a person: always that. \"Yes,\" you say \"I'm\nafraid it does: that is just the one thing. He is thoughtful and\ngentlemanly; she is kind and good; but they do not trust Jesus Christ\npersonally.\" Then let me add, very kindly, but very plainly, if the\nfirst part is an accurate description of your friends, the second part\nis meant to apply to them, too, would you not say? And that is an awful\nthing to say.\n\nWhat a strange book this Bible is! It makes such radical statements, and\nuses such unpleasant words that grate on the nerves, and startle the\near. No man would have dared of himself to write such statements.\n\nI remember one time visiting a friend in Boston, engaged in christian\nwork there; an earnest man. We were talking one day about this very\nthing and I recall saying: \"Do you really believe that what the Bible\nsays about these people can be true? Because if it is you and I should\nbe tremendously stirred up over it.\" And I recall distinctly his reply,\nafter a moment's pause, \"Well, their condition certainly will be\nunfortunate.\" _Unfortunate!_ That is the Bostonese of it. That is a much\nless disagreeable word. It has a smoother finish--a sort of polish--to\nit. It does not jar on your feelings so. But this book uses a very\ndifferent word from that, a word that must grate harshly upon every ear\nhere.\n\nI know very well that some persons have associated that ugly word with a\nscene something like this: They have imagined a man standing with fist\nclenched, and eyes flashing fire, and the lines of his face knotted up\nhard, as he says in a harsh voice, \"He that believeth not shall be\ndamned,\" as though he found pleasure in saying it. If there is _one_\nperson here to-night who ever had such a conception, will you kindly cut\nit out of your imagination at once? For it is untrue. And put in its\nplace the true setting of the word.\n\nHave you ever noticed what a difference the manner, and expression of\nface, and tone of voice, yes, and the character of a person make in the\nimpression his words leave upon your mind? Now mark: It is Jesus talking\nhere. _Jesus_--the tenderest-hearted, the most mother-hearted man this\nworld ever listened to. Look at Him, standing there on that hilltop,\nlooking out toward the great world He has just died for, with the tears\ncoming into His eyes, and His lips quivering with the awfulness of what\nHe was saying--\"he that believeth not shall be damned,\" as though it\njust broke his heart to say it. And it did break His heart that it might\nnot be true of us. For He died literally of a broken heart, the walls of\nthat great, throbbing muscle burst asunder by the strain of soul. That\nis the true setting of that terrific statement.\n\nPlease notice it does not say that God damns men. You will find that\nnowhere within the pages of this book. But it is love talking; love that\nsees the end of the road and speaks of it. And true love tells the truth\nat all risks when it must be told. And Jesus because of His dying and\nundying love seeks to make men acquainted with the fact which _He_ sees\nso plainly, and _they_ do not.\n\nNow turn for a moment to a second statement. You will find it in\nGalatians, third chapter, tenth verse. Paul is quoting from the book of\nDeuteronomy these words: \"Cursed\"--there is another ugly word--\"cursed\nis everyone who continueth not in all the words of the book of this law\nto do them.\" Let me ask: Does that describe your friends? Well, I guess\nit describes us all, does it not? Who is there here that has continued\nin all the words of the book of this law to do them? If there is some\none I think perhaps you would better withdraw, for I have no message for\nyou to-night. The sole difference between some of us, and these friends\nyou have in your mind is that _we_ are depending upon Another who bore\nthe curse for us. But these friends decline to come into personal touch\nwith Him. Do they not? And this honest spoken book of God tells us\nplainly of that word \"cursed\" which has been written, and remains\nwritten, over their faces and lives.\n\nThe Bible is full of such statements. There is no need of multiplying\nthem. And I am sure I have no heart in repeating any more of them. But\nI bring you these two for a purpose. This purpose: of asking you one\nquestion--whose fault is it? Who is to blame? Some one is at fault.\nThere is blame somewhere. This thing is all wrong. It is no part of\nGod's plan, and when things go wrong, some one is to blame. Now I ask\nyou: _Who_ is to blame?\n\n\nA Mother-Heart.\n\nWell, there are just four persons, or groups of persons concerned. There\nis God; and Satan; and these friends we are talking about; and,\nourselves, who are not a bit better in ourselves than they--not a\nbit--but who are trusting some One else to see us through. Somewhere\nwithin the lines of those four we must find the blame of this awful\nstate of affairs. Well, we can say very promptly that Satan is to blame.\nHe is at the bottom of it all. And that certainly is true, though it is\nnot all of the truth. Then it can be added, and added in a softer voice\nbecause the thing is so serious, and these friends are dear to us, that\nthese people themselves are to blame. And that is true, too. Because\nthey _choose_ to remain out of touch with Him who died that it might not\nbe so. For there is no sin charged where there is no choice made. Sin\nfollows choice. Only where one has known the wrong and has chosen it is\nthere sin charged.\n\nBut that this awful condition goes on unchanged, that those two ugly\nwords remain true of our dear friends, day after day, while we meet\nthem, and live with them, is there still blame? There are just two left\nout of the four: God, and ourselves who trust Him. Let me ask very\nreverently, but very plainly: Is it God's fault? You and I have both\nheard such a thing hinted at, and sometimes openly said. I believe it is\na good thing with reverence to ask, and attempt to find the answer, to\nsuch a question as that. And for answer let me first bring to you a\npicture of the God of the Old Testament whom some people think of as\nbeing just, but severe and stern.\n\nAway back in the earliest time, in the first book, Genesis, the sixth\nchapter, and down in verses five and six are these words: \"And the Lord\nsaw that the wickedness of man was great in the earth, and\"--listen to\nthese words--\"that every imagination of the thoughts of his heart was\nonly evil continually.\"\n\nWhat an arraignment! \"Every imagination,\" \"evil,\" \"_only_ evil;\" no\nmixture of good at all; \"only evil _continually_,\" no occasional spurts\nof good even--the whole fabric bad, and bad clear through, and all the\ntime. Is not that a terrific arraignment? But listen further: \"And it\nrepented the Lord that He had made man on the earth, and\"--listen to\nthese last pathetic words--\"_it grieved Him at His heart_.\"\n\nWill you please remember that \"grieve\" is always a love word? There can\nbe no grief except where there is love. You may annoy a neighbor, or\nvex a partner, or anger an acquaintance, but you cannot grieve except\nwhere there is love, and you cannot be grieved except wherein you love.\n\nI have sometimes, more often than I could wish, seen a case like this. A\nyoung man of good family sent away to college. He gets in with the wrong\ncrowd, for they are not all angels in colleges yet, quite. Gets to\nsmoking and drinking and gambling, improper hours, bad companions, and\nall that. His real friends try to advise him, but without effect. By and\nby the college authorities remonstrate with him, and he tries to\nimprove, but without much success after the first pull. And after a\nwhile, very reluctantly, he is suspended, and sent home in disgrace. He\nfeels very bad, and makes good resolutions and earnest promises, and\nwhen he returns he does do much better for a time. But it does not last\nlong. Soon he is in with the old crowd again, the old round of habits\nand dissipations, only now it gets worse than before; the pace is\nfaster. And the upshot of it all is that he is called up before the\nauthorities and expelled, sent home in utter disgrace, not to return.\n\nAnd here is his chum who roomed with him, ate with him, lived with him.\nHe says, \"Well, I declare, I am all broken up over Jim. It's too bad! He\nwas \"hail-fellow, well met,\" and now he has gone like that. I'm awfully\nsorry. It's too bad! too bad!!\" And by and by he forgets about it\nexcept as an unpleasant memory roused up now and then. And here is one\nof his professors who knew him best perhaps, and liked him. \"Well,\" he\nsays, \"it is too bad about young Collins. Strange, too, he came of good\nfamily; good blood in his veins; and yet he seems to have gone right\ndown with the ragtag. It's too bad! too bad!! I am so sorry.\" And the\nmatter passes from his mind in the press of duties and is remembered\nonly occasionally as one of the disagreeable things to be regretted, and\nperhaps philosophized over.\n\nAnd there is the boy's father's partner, down in the home town. \"Well,\"\nhe soliloquizes, \"it is too bad about Collins' boy. He is all broken up\nover it, and no wonder. Doesn't it seem queer? That boy has as good\nblood as there is: good father, lovely mother, and yet gone clean to the\nbad, and so young. It is too bad! I am awfully sorry for Collins.\" And\nin the busy round of life he forgets, save as a bad dream which will\ncome back now and then.\n\nBut down in that boy's home there is a woman--a mother,\nheart-broken--secretly bleeding her heart out through her eyes. She goes\nquietly, faithfully about her round of life, but her hair gets thinner,\nand the gray streaks it plainer, her form bends over more, and the lines\nbecome more deeply bitten in her face, as the days come and go. And if\nyou talk with her, and she will talk with you, she will say, \"Oh, yes, I\nknow other mothers' boys go wrong; some of them going wrong all the\ntime; but to think of _my Jim_--that I've nursed, and loved so, and done\neverything for--to think that my Jim--\" and her voice chokes in her\nthroat, and she refuses to be comforted. _She grieves at her heart._ Ah!\nthat is the picture of God in that Genesis chapter. He saw that the\nworld He had made and lavished all the wealth of His love upon had gone\nwrong, and it grieved Him at His heart.\n\nThis world is God's prodigal son, and He is heartbroken over it. And\nwhat has He done about it. Ah! what has He done! Turn to Mark's twelfth\nchapter, and see there Jesus' own picture of His Father as He knew Him.\nIn the form of a parable He tells how His Father felt about things here.\nHe sent man after man to try and win us back, but without effect, except\nthat things got worse. Then Jesus represents God talking with Himself.\n\"What _shall_ I do next, to win them back?--there is My son--My only\nboy--Jesus--I believe--yes, I believe I'll send Him--then they'll _see_\nhow badly I feel, and how much I love them; that'll touch them surely;\nI'll do it.\" You remember just how that sixth verse goes, \"He had yet\none, a beloved Son; He sent Him _last_ unto them, saying, they will\n_reverence_ my Son.\" And you know how they treated God's Son, His love\ngift. And I want to remind you to-night that, speaking in our human\nway--the only way we can speak--God suffered more in seeing His Son\nsuffer than though He might have suffered Himself. Ask any mother here:\nWould you not gladly suffer pain in place of your child suffering if you\ncould? And every mother-heart answers quickly, \"Aye, ten times over, if\nthe child could be spared pain.\" Where did you get that marvelous\nmother-heart and mother-love? Ah, that mother-heart is a bit of the\nGod-heart transferred. That is what God is like. Let me repeat very\nreverently that God suffered more in giving His Son to suffer than\nthough He had Himself suffered. And that is the God of the Old\nTestament! Let me ask: Is _He_ to blame? Has He not done His best?\n\nLet it be said as softly as you will, and yet very plainly, that those\nawful words, \"damned\" and \"cursed,\" whatever their meaning may be, are\ntrue of your friends. Then add: It is not so because of God's will in\nthe matter, but in spite of His will. Remember that God exhausted all\nthe wealth of His resource when He gave His Son. There can come nothing\nmore after that.\n\n\nYour Personality Needed.\n\nThen there is a second question from God's side to ask about those ugly\nwords: thoughtfully, and yet plainly--Is it the fault of Jesus, the Son\nof God? And let anyone here listen to Him speaking in that tenth chapter\nof John. \"I lay down My life for the sheep. No man taketh it from Me. I\nlay it down of Myself. I have power to lay it down and power to take it\nagain.\" And then go out yonder to that scene just outside the Jerusalem\nwall. There hangs Jesus upon that cross, suspended by nails through\nhands and feet. He is only thirty-three. He is intensely human. Life was\njust as sweet to Him that day as it is to you and me to-night. Aye, more\nsweet: for sin had not taken the edge off his relish of life. Plainly He\ncould have prevented them. For many a time had He held the murderous mob\nin check by the sheer power of His presence alone. Yet there He hangs\nfrom nine until noon and until three--six long hours. And He said He did\nit for you, for me. Do not ask me to tell _how_ His dying for us saves.\nI do not know. No one statement seems to tell all the truth. When I\nstudy into it I always get clear beyond my depth. In a tremendous way it\ntells a double story; of the damnable blackness of sin; and of the\nintensity of love. I do know that _He said_ He did it for us, and for\nour salvation, and that it had to be done. But as we look to-day on that\nscene, again the question: does any of the blame of the awful statements\nthis book makes regarding your friends belong to Him, do you think? And\nI think I hear your hearts say \"surely not.\"\n\nWell, the Father has done His best. No blame surely attaches there. The\nSon has gone to the utmost limit. No fault can be found there. There is\njust one other left up yonder, of the divine partnership--the Holy\nSpirit. What about Him. Listen. Just as soon as the Son went back home\nwith face and form all scarred from His brief stay upon the earth, He\nand the Father said, \"now We will send down the last one of Us, the Holy\nSpirit, and He will do His best to woo men back,\" and so it was done.\nThe last supreme effort to win men back was begun. The Holy Spirit came\ndown for the specific purpose of telling the world about Jesus. His work\ndown here is to convict men of their terrible wrong in rejecting Jesus,\nand of His righteousness, and of the judgment passed upon Satan. Only He\ncan convince men's minds and consciences. A thousand preachers with the\nlogic of a Paul and the eloquence of an Isaiah could not convince one\nman of sin. Only the Spirit can do that. But listen to me as I say very\nthoughtfully--and this is the one truth I pray God to _burn_ into our\nhearts to-night--that to do His work among men _He needs to use men_. He\nneeds you. \"Oh!\" you say, \"it is hardly possible that you mean that: I\nam not a minister: I have no special ability for christian work: I am\njust an obscure, humble christian: I have no gift in that direction.\"\nListen with your heart while I remind you that He needs not your special\nabilities or gifts, though He will use all you have, and the more the\nbetter, but _He needs your personality as a human channel_ through which\nto touch the men you touch. And I want to say just as kindly and\ntenderly as I can and yet with great plainness that if you are refusing\nto let Him use you as He chooses--shall I say the unpleasant\ntruth?--the practical blame for those ugly words, and the uglier truth\nback of them come straight home to _you_.\n\nThat is a very serious thing to say, and so I must add a few words to\nmake it still more clear and plain. The Spirit of God in working among\nmen seeks embodiment _in men_, through whom He acts. The amazing truth\nis that not only is He willing to enter into and fill you with His very\npresence, but He seeks for, He wants, yes, _He needs your personality_\nas a channel or medium, that living in you He may be able to do His work\namong the men you touch even though you may not be conscious of much\nthat He is doing through you. Is not that startling? He wants to live in\nyour body, and speak through your lips, and look out of your eyes, and\nuse your hands, really, actually. Have you turned your personality over\nto Him as completely as that?\n\nRemember the law of God's communication with men; namely, He speaks _to_\nmen _through_ men. Run carefully through the Bible, and you will find\nthat since the Cain disaster, which divided all men into two great\ngroups, whenever God has a message for a man or a nation out in the\nworld He chooses and uses a man in touch with Himself as His messenger.\n\nListen to Jesus' own words in that last night's long talk in John's\nGospel, chapter fourteen, verse seventeen. Speaking about the coming\nSpirit, He says, \"Whom the world cannot receive.\" That is a strange\nstatement. Though an important part of the Spirit's great mission is to\nthe world yet it cannot receive Him. But chapter sixteen, verses seven\nand eight gives the explanation: \"I will send Him _unto you_, and He\nwhen He is come (unto you) will convince,\" and so on. That is to say, a\nmessage from God to one who has come within the circle of personal\nrelation with Jesus--that message comes along a straight line without\nbreak or crook. But a message to one who remains outside that circle\ncomes along an _angled_ line--two lines meeting at an angle--and the\npoint of that angle is in some christian heart. The message He sends out\nto the outer circle passes through some one within the inner circle. To\nmake it direct and personal: He needs to use you to touch those whom you\ntouch.\n\n\nGod's Sub-Headquarters.\n\nLet me bring you a few illustrations of how God uses men, though the\n_fact_ of His using them is on almost every page of this Bible. Back in\nthe old book of Judges is a peculiar expression which is not brought out\nas clearly as it might be in our English Bibles. The sixth chapter and\nthirty-fourth verse might properly read: \"_the Spirit of Jehovah clothed\nHimself with Gideon_.\" It was a time of desperate crisis in the nation.\nGod chose this man for leadership among his fellows. If you take his\nlife throughout you will not think him an ideal character. But he seems\nto be the best available stuff there was. He became the general guiding\nan army in what, to human eyes, was a perfectly hopeless struggle. Men\nsaw Gideon moving about giving orders. But this strangely significant\nphrase lets us into the secret of his wise strategy and splendid\nvictory. \"The Spirit of Jehovah clothed Himself with Gideon.\" Gideon's\npersonality was merely a suit of clothes which God wore that day in\nachieving that tremendous victory for His people. The same expression is\nused of Amasai, one of David's mighty chieftains,[4] and of Zechariah,\none of the priests during Joash's reign.[5]\n\nA New Testament illustration is found in the book of Acts in the account\nof Philip and the Ethiopian stranger. This devout African official had a\ncopy of the old Hebrew Scriptures, but needed an interpreter to make\nplain their newly acquired significance. The Holy Spirit, _the_\ninterpreter of Scripture, longs to help him. For that purpose He seeks\nout a man, of whom He has control, named Philip. He is directed to go\nsome distance over toward the road where this man is journeying. We are\ntold of Philip that he was \"full of the Spirit.\" And a reading of that\neighth chapter makes plain the controlling presence of the Spirit in\nPhilip's personality. In the beginning He gives very explicit direction.\n\"The Spirit (within Philip) said, go near, join thyself to this\nchariot.\" And at the close \"the Spirit of the Lord caught away Philip.\"\n\nThese are a few illustrations of what seems to be a common law of God's\nintercourse with men. The language of the Bible throughout fits in with\nthis same conception. Strikingly enough the same seems to be true in the\nopposing camp, among the forces of the Evil One. Repeatedly in the\ngospels we come across the startling expressions--\"possessed with\ndemons,\" \"possessed of demons,\" evidently speaking of men whom demons\nhad succeeded in getting possession of, and clothing themselves with. It\nseems to be a law of _spirit_ life that a spirit needs to be embodied in\ndealing with embodied beings. And God conforms to this law in His\ndealings with men.\n\nMy friend, will you ask your heart, has the Holy Spirit gotten\npossession of you like that? With reverence I repeat that He is seeking\nfor men in whom He may set up a sort of sub-headquarters, from which He\nmay work out as He pleases. Has He been able to do that with you? Or,\nhave you been holding back from Him, fearing He might make some changes\nin you or your plans? If that is so, may I say just as kindly as these\nlips can speak it, but also as plainly, that then _the practical blame_\nfor those cutting words about your friends comes straight back to _you_.\n\nHugh McAllister Beaver, son of the former governor of Pennsylvania, and\none of the rarest christian young men that ever lived, felt impelled at\na conference of students at Northfield, in '97, to tell this bit of his\ninner experience, though naturally reluctant to do so. While at college,\narrangements were made for a series of meetings every night for a week.\n\"One day going down the hallway of the college building,\" he said, \"I\nmet a boy we all called Dutchy, one of the toughest fellows in school. I\nsaid to him, 'Dutch, come to the meeting to-night.'\" Instead of laughing\nor swearing, to Beaver's surprise, he paused a moment as though such a\nthing was possible, and Beaver said, \"I prayed quietly to myself, and\nurged him to come.\" And he said, \"Well, I guess I will.\" And that night\nto every one's surprise Dutch came to the meeting. When Beaver rose to\nspeak, to his surprise this fellow was not simply intensely interested\nbut his eyes were full of tears. And Beaver said \"a voice as distinct as\nan audible voice said to me, 'Speak to Dutchy!' But _I did not_.\" Again\nthe next night Dutchy came of his own accord, and one of the boys\nputting his arm on Beaver's shoulder said, \"Speak to Dutchy. We boys\nnever saw him like this before.\" And he said he would. But _he did not_.\nAnd some time after he had a dream and thought he would not walk this\nearth any more. It did not trouble him except that his brother was\ncrying. But he thought he met the Master, who looked into his face, and\nsaid, \"Hugh, do you remember, I asked you to speak to Dutchy?\" \"Yes.\"\n\"And you did not.\" \"No.\" \"Would you like to go back the earth and win\nhim?\" And he finished the story by saying, \"it's hard work, but he's\ncoming now.\"\n\nI wonder if the Master has ever tried to use your lips like that, and\nyou have refused?\n\nA prominent clergyman in New England tells this experience of his. In\nthe course of his pastoral work he was called to conduct the funeral\nservice of a young woman who had died quite unexpectedly. As he entered\nthe house he met the minister in charge of the mission church, where the\nfamily attended, and asked him, \"Was Mary a christian?\" To his surprise\na pained look came into the young man's face as he replied, \"Three weeks\nago I had a strong impulse to speak to her, but _I did not_; and I do\nnot know.\" A moment later he met the girl's Sunday school teacher and\nasked her the same question. Quickly the tears came, as she said, \"Two\nweeks ago, Doctor, a voice seemed to say to me, 'Speak to Mary,' and I\nknew what it meant, and I intended to, but _I did not_, and I do not\nknow.\" Deeply moved by these unexpected answers, a few minutes later he\nmet the girl's mother, and thinking doubtless to give her an opportunity\nto speak a word that would bring comfort to her own heart, he said\nquietly, \"Mary was a christian girl?\" The tears came quick and hot to\nthe mother's eyes, as she sobbed out, \"One week ago a voice came to me\nsaying, 'Speak to Mary,' and I thought of it, but I did not at the\ntime, and you know how unexpectedly she went away and I do not know.\"\n\nWell, please understand me, I am not saying a word about that girl. I do\nnot know anything to say. I would hope much and can understand that\nthere is ground for hope. But this is what I say: How pathetic, beyond\nexpression, that the Spirit tried to get the use of the lips of three\npersons, a pastor, a teacher, aye, _a mother!_ to speak the word that\nevidently He longed to have spoken to her, _and He could not_!\n\nHas He tried to use you _like that_?\n\n\nThe Highest Law of Action.\n\nBut these two illustrations are narrower than the truth. They speak of\nthe lips. He wants to use your lips; but, even more, He wants to use\nyour _life_. Much as He may use your lips, He will use your personality,\nyour presence, your life ten times more, when you are wholly unconscious\nof it. He loves men so much. He longs to save them. But He needs us--you\nand me--as channels through which His power shall flow to touch and\nmightily influence those whom we touch. How often has He turned away\ndisappointed because the channel had broken connections, or could not be\nused?\n\n    \"He was not willing that any should perish;\n      Jesus, enthroned in the glory above,\n    Saw our poor fallen world, pitied our sorrows,\n      Poured out His life for us, wonderful love.\n    Perishing, perishing, thronging our pathway,\n      Hearts break with burdens too heavy to bear;\n    Jesus would save, but there's no one to tell them,\n      No one to save them from sin and despair.\"\n\nSomeone says: \"You are putting an awful responsibility upon us. Would\nyou have us go out and begin speaking to everyone we meet?\" No, that is\nnot what I am saying just now. Though there is a truth there. But this:\nSurrender yourself to Jesus as your _Master_, for Him to take\npossession. Turn the channel over to Him, that He may tighten the\nconnections, upward and outward, and clean it out, and then use as He\nmay choose. He has a passion for winning men, and He has marvelous tact\nin doing it. Let Him have His way in you. Keep quiet and close to Him,\nand _obey_ Him, gladly, cheerily, constantly, and _He will assume all\nresponsibility for the results_.\n\nThere is a law of personal service. It is this: Contact means\nopportunity; opportunity means responsibility. To come into personal\ncontact with a man gives an opportunity of influencing him for Christ,\nand with opportunity goes its twin partner--responsibility.\n\nThere is another law--a higher law--the highest law of the christian\nlife. It is this: In everything hold yourself subject to the _Holy\nSpirit's leading_. Whenever these two laws come into conflict remember\nthat the lower law always yields to the higher. It is a law of life that\nwhere two laws come into conflict the lower law always gives way to the\nhigher. That is a supreme law both of nature and in legislation. Now,\nthe highest law of the christian life is to yield constantly to the\nleading of our Companion--the Holy Spirit. Then quiet time alone with\nthe Master daily over His word for the training of the ear, and the\ntraining of the judgment, and the training of the tongue becomes the\ngreat essential.\n\nBut to-night the great question is: Have you turned the channel of\npower--your personality--over to Him to be flushed and flooded with His\npower? Will you?\n\n    \"Only a smile, yes, only a smile,\n      That a woman o'erburdened with grief\n      Expected from you; 'twould have given relief,\n    For her heart ached sore the while.\n      But, weary and cheerless, she went away,\n      Because, as it happened that very day,\n    You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.\n\n    \"Only a word, yes, only a word,\n      That the Spirit's small voice whispered, 'Speak';\n      But the worker passed onward, unblessed and weak,\n    Whom you were meant to have stirred\n      To courage, devotion and love anew,\n      Because, when the message came to you,\n    You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.\n\n    \"Only a note, yes, only a note,\n      To a friend in a distant land;\n      The Spirit said, 'Write,' but then you had planned\n    Some different work, and you thought\n      It mattered little. You did not know\n      'Twould have saved a soul from sin and woe--\n    You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.\n\n    \"Only a song, yes, only a song,\n      That the Spirit said, 'Sing to-night;\n      Thy voice is thy Master's by purchased right.'\n    But you thought, ''Mid this motley throng,\n      I care not to sing of the City of God';\n      And the heart that your words might have reached grew cold--\n    You were _out of touch_ with your Lord.\n\n    \"Only a day, yes, only a day,\n      But oh! can you guess, my friend,\n      Where the influence reaches and where it will end\n    Of the hours that you frittered away?\n      The Master's command is, 'Abide in Me';\n      And fruitless and vain will your service be\n    If _out of touch_ with your Lord.\"\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[4] 1 Chron. xii: 18.\n\n[5] 2 Chron. xxiv: 20.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PRICE OF POWER.\n\nLaw of Exchange.\n\n\nEvery man needs power. Every earnest man covets power. Every willing man\nhas the Master's promise of power. But every man does not possess the\npromised power. And many, it is to be feared, never will. Many a man's\nlife to-day is utterly lacking in power. Some of us will look back at\nthe close of life with a sense of keen disappointment and of bitter\ndefeat. And the reason is not far to seek, nor hard to see through. If\nwe do not have power it is because _we are not willing to pay the\nprice_.\n\nEverything costs. There is a law of exchange that rules in every sphere\nof life. It is this, \"to get, you must give.\" It rules in the business\nworld. If I want a house or a hat I must give the sum agreed upon. It\nrules in the intellectual world. If a young man wants a disciplined mind\nhe must give time, and close application, and some real, hard work. It\nholds true in the spirit realm. If you and I wish to have business\ntransactions in this upper world of spirit-life we must be governed by\nthis same law. To have power in our lives over sin and selfishness, and\npassion, and appetite; over tongue, and temper, and self-seeking\nambition; to have power in prayer, and in winning others over from sin\nto Jesus Christ, one must first lay down the required price.\n\nWhat is the price of power? Turn to Jesus' talk with Peter and the\nothers in the latter part of the sixteenth chapter of Matthew's gospel.\nJesus has been telling them of the awful cross-experiences which He\nclearly saw ahead. Peter probably fearful that whatever came to his\nMaster might possibly come to himself also, and shrinking back in horror\nfrom that, has the hardihood to rebuke Jesus. The Master, recognizing\nthe suggestion as coming from a far subtler individual than Peter, who\nis using ignorant Peter's selfishness to repeat the suggestion of the\nwilderness, again bids _him_ begone. Then in a few simple words of\nfar-reaching significance, He states first the standard of power, and\nthen the price to be paid by one who would reach that standard. Listen\nto Him: \"If any man would come after Me, let him deny himself and take\nup his cross and follow Me.\"\n\n\nIn the Footprints of Jesus.\n\nLet us look a little into these familiar words. \"If any man _would come\nafter Me_\"--that is the standard set before us. Not to be regarded as a\npillar in the church, a leader in religious circles, a good Bible\nstudent, a generous giver, an earnest speaker, an energetic worker, a\nspiritually minded person, but, what _may_ not be coupled with any or\nall of these admirable things, _to tread in the footprints of Jesus_.\n\nThink back into that marvelous life. A human life, remember. For though\nHe was Son of God He lived His life down here as a son of man. Think of\nHis power over temptation, not alone at the outset in the fierce\nwilderness struggle, but through those succeeding years of intense\nconflict; His power over Satan, over man-possessing demons, over\ndisease; His power in dealing with the subtle schoolmen trying their\nbest to trip Him up, as well as over His more violent enemies who would\nhave dashed Him over yon Nazareth precipice, or later stoned the life\nout of His body in Jerusalem. Recall the power of His rare\nunselfishness; His combined plainness and tenderness of speech in\ndealing with men; His unfailing love to all classes; His power as a soul\nwinner, as a man of prayer, as a popular preacher, lovingly wooing men\nwhile unsparingly rebuking their sins. _There_ is the suggestion of\nJesus' standard of power. Would you go _after Him_? You may. For as the\nFather sent Him even so sends He us, to do the same work and live the\nsame life.\n\nBut wait a moment before answering that question. There is another side\nin His life to that \"come-after-me.\" Opposites brought into contact\nproduce a violent disturbance. Such a life as that of Jesus, down in the\natmosphere of this world will of necessity provoke bitter enmities, both\nthen and now. Listen. He was criticized and slandered. They said He was\npeculiar and fanatical. His friends thought Him \"beside Himself,\" swept\noff His feet by excessive, hot-headed enthusiasm. They \"laughed Him to\nscorn,\" and reviled Him. They picked His words, and nagged His kindliest\nacts, and dogged His steps. Repeated attempts were made upon His life,\nboth at Nazareth and by stoning at Jerusalem. A determined conspiracy\nagainst His life was planned by the Jerusalem officials six months\nbefore the end actually came. He was practically a fugitive for those\nmonths. At the last He was arrested and mocked and _spit_ upon, struck\nwith open hand and clenched fist, derisively crowned with thorns, and\nfinally killed--a cruel, lingering, tortured death.\n\n\"If any man would _come after Me_.\" Plainly this language of Jesus put\nback into its original setting begins to assume a new significance.\n\n\nA Fixed Purpose.\n\nBut look at these words a little more closely. \"_If_\"--it is an open\nquestion, this matter of following Jesus. It is kept open by many people\nwho want to be known as christian, but who hesitate over what a plain\nunderstanding of Jesus' words may involve. Some of us may be disposed to\nshrink back from the simple meaning these words will yet disclose.\n\n\"If any man _would_\"--would is the past tense of will. The word will is\none of the strongest in our language. A man's will is the imperial part\nof him. It is the autocrat upon the throne; the judge upon the bench of\nfinal appeal. Jesus is getting down to the root of matters here. He is\nappealing to the highest authority. No mere passing sentiment is this.\nNot attending a meeting and being swept along with the crowd by the\nhour's influence. But _a fixed purpose_, calmly, resolutely settled\nupon, rooted away down deep in the very vitals of the will to follow\nJesus absolutely, no matter what it may cost or where it may cut.\n\nI wonder how many of us would form such a purpose, to follow Jesus\n_blindly_, utterly regardless of what it might be found to mean as the\ndays come and go? \"Oh, well,\" I hear some one say, \"why talk like that.\nNobody is required to suffer to-day as He did.\" Do you think not? I am\nnot so sure about that. There is a young man in Southern India, bright\nfellow, full of power, of high class family, who heard of Jesus, and\nfelt the personal appeal to himself of that marvelous story. He thought\na good while of what it meant, and what it might involve, and at length\nresolutely formed his decision to accept and follow Jesus. As he had\nanticipated, his dear ones remonstrated with him, coaxed, pleaded,\nthreatened, and finally, his own father violently put him out of his\nlife-long home, and he has remained since _an outcast_ from home and\nloved ones. These words of Jesus surely are full of significance to\nhim.\n\n\"But that was in India, far off, heathen India,\" you say. Well, here is\nsomething of a similar sort at home. I knew a young woman in a certain\nNew England town visiting away from home. She attended some meetings\nwhere she was visiting, and decided to be a christian. She was betrothed\nto a young man, not a christian, in her home town. At once she wrote him\nexplaining her new step thinking, doubtless how glad he would be. For\nmost men seem very willing to have their _wives_ christian. But he wrote\nback that if she were determined to be a christian that must put an end\nto their engagement. He was not a christian and did not want his wife to\nbe one. Every one here must know how serious a question that brought up\nfor decision. For she was a true woman, and love's tendrils twine with\nwondrous tenacity about a woman's heart. And I presume, too, that\neveryone of you has already thought while I am speaking, of the\ntemptation that, quick as a flash, went through her mind. \"You need not\nmake a public matter of this. Just be a true christian in heart and\nlife, and in that way _you'll win him over afterwards_.\" I imagine some\nof you have heard something like that before. But she remembered that\nher new Master said \"Confess\" as well as \"believe.\" It was a crisis; a\nsevere struggle of soul. But she felt she must follow her Master's\nleading regardless of what it involved. And so she decided. You are not\nsurprised to know that she was ill for a time. The intense strain of\nspirit affected her body. \"If--any--man--would--come--after--Me\" meant\nmuch to her. Did it not?\n\nWithout doubt if some of _us_ listening to-day were to follow Jesus\nquietly, but absolutely, in all things as His own Spirit plainly led, we\nwould find as sharp a line of separation drawn against us, as did He in\nPalestine, and these young people in India and America.\n\nMany a social door would be shut in our faces. O, shut _politely_ of\ncourse! Society thinks it in very bad form to get unduly excited about\nmere matters of religious opinion. But the door is _shut_, and barred,\ntoo. Some of us would possibly be searching for other business positions\nbefore to-morrow's light faded away if we were determined to go only\nwhere _He_ clearly pointed the way.\n\nBut we have only begun to get at the meaning of Jesus' words. Is there\nstill a _fixed purpose_ to follow regardless of what meaning these words\nmay yet disclose? Not impossibly the company of those willing to go\nstraight through this verse with a calm, determined \"yes\" to every word\nof Jesus, will grow smaller as we go on.\n\n\nA Character Sketch.\n\nLet us go a little farther. \"If any man would come after Me let him\n_deny himself_.\" \"Deny himself\"--what does that mean? Well, deny means\nto say \"no,\" plainly and positively. Himself is the smoother English\nword for his self. Let him say \"no\" to his self. Please notice that\nJesus is not speaking of what is commonly called self-denial. That is,\nrepressing some desire for a time, sacrificing something temporarily in\norder to gain an advantage later. That sort of thing is not peculiar to\nthe christian life, but is practiced by all classes, even among the\nlowest. He is not speaking of that, but of something far more radical.\nReading the verse through again, it will be seen that there are three\ndistinct persons referred to by Jesus. First, the \"any man\" He speaks\nof, and then the two others represented by these words \"himself\" and\n\"Me,\" either one or the other of whom is influencing this \"any man's\"\nlife. \"Say no to his self\" is coupled with \"follow Me.\" And the opposite\nis implied--if any man will not do as _I_ desire, he will continue to do\nas he is now doing, namely, deny Me and follow his self.\n\nThese two persons self and Jesus are placed here in sharpest contrast.\nAn uncompromising antagonism exists between them. They are sworn foes,\nand every man must decide to which he will yield his allegiance. To\nagree with either one is to oppose the other one. For a man to settle\nsome matter that comes up for decision by saying \"yes\" to the desires or\ndemands of his self involves his saying \"no\" to Jesus. And on the other\nhand his yielding assent to the plans and wishes of this \"me,\" namely\nJesus, is plainly equivalent to saying \"no\" to his self.\n\nWhat is this self in each of us that Jesus sets in such antagonism to\nHimself, and instructs us to say a hard, uncompromising, unceasing \"no\"\nto? There are a few words in common use that give some suggestion of its\ncharacter. There is the word selfish, that is, being absorbed in one's\nown self; in getting every stream to flow by his own door. That is\ncommonly regarded, even in absolutely worldly circles, as a detestable\ntrait. Its opposite, self-forgetful, being full of forgetting one's self\nin thinking of others, is as commonly regarded in all circles as a\ncharming, winsome trait of character. The words self-centered, and\nself-willed, are as familiar and suggestive.\n\nThe fact is, there is an individual living inside each one of us whom\nJesus refers to, by this word \"his self.\" This individual takes on the\ndegree of intensity and other local coloring of the person it inhabits.\nIt may be polished, scholarly, cultured; or, coarse, ignorant and\nill-mannered. But \"scratch a Russian and you find a Tartar.\" Scratch\nthrough the veneering here and, whether coarse or highly polished, you\nwill find the same individual--self.\n\nThere are some quite marked characteristics by which its presence may be\nrecognized. They may not all be noticeable together in any one person.\nBut one or more will be found in every person whom it succeeds in\ninfluencing and dominating. One characteristic is this: _it covets\npraise_. It feeds and fattens on commendation. It constantly seeks to\nbe highly esteemed, to have its worth properly appraised. It is\nimmensely impressed with its own importance, its value to society, its\nkeenness, wisdom or aptness, and wishes others to be so impressed also.\nIt is fond of a mirror, especially one made to magnify. It seeks\nrecognition. It presses forward, rudely or politely, according as its\nhabitat has been trained in rude or polite circles. It may put on the\ngarb of humility, and use the language of depreciation. But its ear is\nnone the less keenly alert to hear the agreeable things and to cherish\nthem.\n\nAnother characteristic, which really is simply the other side of this\nfirst named one, is this: _it shrinks from criticism_. How it writhes\nand twists at the least touch of unfavorable criticism! It is always on\nthe defensive. The cheek colors at the suggestion of its being wrong, or\nhaving blundered, or of being peculiar.\n\nHow quickly it explains and defends and brings evidence of its being in\nthe right. It is extremely sensitive. \"It is that _touchy_ thing in\nyou.\" It is chronically troubled with \"the disease of _touchiness_.\" Its\nfeelings are readily hurt. It is easily slighted. It remembers\ngrievances. It has an interrogation point constantly on sentinel duty,\nnamely, What will _they_ think? What will _they_ say? It lives in\nconstant fear, under the lash of that huge, vague, awful _they_.\n\nI remember knowing a Sunday school teacher who had a mission class of\nrather rough boys from non-christian homes. I asked one day how she was\ngetting along with them. \"Going to give them up,\" she replied. \"Is that\nso? They have all become christians?\" No, none of them were christians,\nand they liked her, and said they would not come if she gave them up,\nbut she felt discouraged, and anyway she had decided to give them up.\nLawyers and women do not always give their reasons, very wisely. I\nventured to suggest that before giving them up, she have the boys come\nup to her home, one at a time, perhaps for tea; have a pleasant chatty\ntime at tea and afterwards, and then before the boy left have a quiet\nfriendly talk with him by himself about being a christian, and, a few\nwords of prayer with him. Wouldn't she try that before giving them up?\nAnd I remember distinctly that her face blushed as red as a bright red\nrose, as she replied, \"Why, Mr. Gordon, _he'd laugh at me_!\" And she\ncould not bear the possible chance of being laughed at for the other\nmore likely possibility of winning a soul--a man--a life. That was\n\"self\" in her, shrinking back from a laugh; dreading that look of\npossibly contemptuous surprise that _might_ come.\n\nAnother person, speaking about certain recreations very common in\nsociety, and which he was in the habit of joining, though freely\nquestioning the propriety of so doing, said, \"O, I don't care much for\nthose things. I could easily give them up, but people think you are so\nqueer if you decline, and you feel as if you were a back number.\" Ah!\nthere was the rub. The desire to be thought well of; the dislike of\nbeing considered peculiar; the fear of that thinly veiled sneering curl\non the lip--that was _self_ in him asserting its presence, and even\nmore, ruling his action. Do you recognize the individual inside of you\nthat Jesus is speaking of?\n\nThere is a third tell-tale ear-mark of self that is difficult to\nconceal--_it is assertive_. It dearly loves to have its own way. It has\nplans and ambitions, and proposes to carry them through regardless of\nman, or--let the plain truth be spoken softly--of God. Its opinions are\nheld tenaciously. Its favorite pronoun is I, capitalized, with\nvariations of my and me. The personal equation is extremely powerful and\npersuasive.\n\nThe true follower of Jesus holds every plan subject to change from\nabove. But this self, if allowed to rule, takes the bit in its\ntightly-shut teeth, and drives determinedly ahead, reckless of either\nman's or God's preferences, even though religious phraseology may be\nupon its tongue.\n\nStill another trait of character of this self whose closer acquaintance\nwe are making is this: _It has an insatiable appetite_. It grows\nhungrier by that on which it feeds. Its capacity is beyond the measuring\nline. If given free rein it will debase the holiest functions of the\nbody, and degrade the highest powers of the mind to appease its gnawing,\npassion-bitten hunger. The noblest gifts, the purest emotions, the most\nsacred relationships, are dragged down to the slimy gutter to tempt and\ntemporarily stay its jaded palate.\n\n\nUnmasked.\n\n_That_ is something of a suggestion of the character of this other\nmaster than Jesus, who seeks to get control of us, and from whose\nrelentless, vise-like grip Jesus would fain free us. He says there is\nonly one thing to do with it. No half-way compromise--the great American\nexpedient--will do here. The Master says plainly it is to be denied,\nrepressed, put determinedly down, starved, strangled. To every\nsuggestion or demand there is to be a prompt, positive, jaw-locked no.\n\nThere is war to the knife, and the knife clear up to the hilt, between\nthese two claimants for the control of our powers--self and Jesus. Paul\nunderstood this antagonism thoroughly. It comes out repeatedly in his\nwritings. His name for this inner enemy, by an accidental turn in\nEnglish, is Jesus' word \"self\" spelled backwards with the letter \"h\"\nadded--f-l-e-s-h. His remarks in Romans, eighth chapter, verses four to\neight, and twelve to thirteen, are simply an enlargement of these words\nin the sixteenth of Matthew's gospel. If one will read these verses,\nsubstituting Jesus' word \"self\" for Paul's word he will be surprised to\nfind how strikingly Paul is expressing this very thought of Jesus. A\nfree translation of part of these verses would read like this: Verse\nfive--\"They that choose to walk after self (as a slave walked after, or\nbehind, his master) will show their choice by obeying the desires of\nself, and they that choose to walk after the Spirit will obey the\ndesires of the Spirit.\" Verse seven--\"For the purposes of self are\nopposed to God's purposes; for it does not hold itself subject to God's\nwishes; indeed, in its very nature it cannot; and they that choose to\nobey self cannot please God.\" Verse thirteen--\"If by the Holy Spirit's\naid ye kill off the plans and doings of self, ye shall therein find real\ntrue life, and only so.\"\n\nPlainly, the deep searching experiences of Paul's great soul, and his\nwide observation of others, in his ceaseless travels, confirm the\nstatements already made, that there is the intensest hatred, the\nbitterest antagonism, between these two personalities represented by\nJesus' words, \"himself\" and \"me.\" There can be no patched-up truce here.\nThe only way the lion and the lamb can lie down together in this case is\nfor the one to lie down underneath the other--conquered; or inside the\nother--devoured.\n\nIn his other letters Paul sometimes uses still another name, \"the old\nman,\" and names the characteristics of this omnipresent self, which crop\nout with varying degrees of prominence, in different persons, and under\ndifferent circumstances. Notice only a few of these: In Galatians, fifth\nchapter, nineteenth verse: \"The deeds of self are ... improper sexual\nintercourse, impurity, shameless looseness....\" It will, wherever\npossible, debase the holiest functions of the body. In Colossians, third\nchapter, fifth verse, speaking of the \"old man\": \"And covetousness,\nwhich is reckoning of highest worth that which is less worthy than God.\"\nThat is to say, the ambitious longings of self, will if unchecked become\nthe ruling passion, thrusting all else ruthlessly aside and degrading\nthe highest powers of the mind to satisfying its feverish desire. In\nEphesians, fourth chapter, thirty-first verse: \"Bitterness, passion,\nanger, loud disputing, evil-speaking ... malice.\" Its assertiveness, and\ndemand for a due recognition of its worth, its rights, its opinions, its\nproper place, bring bitterest burnings, and worse. It will not be\nneedful to review congressional, and political, and society life for\nillustrations. They may be found much nearer one's own door.\n\nWas there ever such a list? Such a being whose heart begets and nurses\nsuch progeny! This being has the smell of hell, and of the evil one\nhimself. Ah! now we are getting at the straight truth. Self is Satan's\npersonal representative in every human heart. Its door of entrance is\nthe door of disobedience. It can have control only where one allows\nhimself to get out of intelligent sympathy with God. The self in Peter\nwas recoiling from that cross of which Jesus spoke. How keen Jesus was\nin recognizing the suggestor of the thought that found expression\nthrough Peter's lips--\"Get thee behind me, _Satan_.\" Self is Satan,\ncondensed into each man's life, though in some he dare not exhibit his\ncoarser traits; and in others he is being _constantly conquered_ by that\npower of the Spirit of Jesus which comes through absolute, glad\nsurrender to Him.\n\nThis sly Satan-self may often be recognized by a favorite question it\nasks among christian people about a great many so-called unimportant\nmatters:--What's the harm? But a true follower of Jesus never lives down\nupon the plane of \"what's-the-harm?\" He lives up in a higher sphere with\nhis Master, who \"pleased not Himself,\" but made it the steady,\nunfaltering aim of His life to do always those things that were pleasing\nto His Father. Men thought Him narrow and fanatical, but He cared not so\nlong as He could daily hear that clear, sweet voice saying \"This is My\nbeloved Son, in whom _I_ am well pleased.\" The final touchstone which\nthe follower of Jesus applies to every matter is this: _Would it please\nHim?_\n\nLet everyone here who earnestly desires to fit into, and to fill out,\nJesus' plan for his life, take paper and pencil and make a list of his\npersonal habits; such as his eating, what he eats and how; his drinking,\nother things he puts into his mouth, his dress, the use and care of his\nbody, his recreations, his reading, his conversation, his use of money,\nhis use of time, his life plans and his daily plans, his social\nengagements; and regarding each ask plainly the question--what is the\n_motive_ that _controls_ me in this? Is it my own preference or\nenjoyment? Or, is it to please and honor Jesus? Let him further go\nthrough the list of his business methods, his friendships, the various\norganizations he belongs to, with the same question. If he will do\nthorough work he will probably have some stiff fighting on hand both at\nthe start and afterwards. Many a life would thereby be radically\nchanged. For example, I know a christian storekeeper who has on his\nshelves a certain article bearing the label of a tonic medicine, but he\nknows perfectly well, as does anyone who stops to think about it, that\nthe stuff back of the label is one form of an intoxicant. There can be\nno question of what the Master would say about it. But it brings a good\nprofit. And his money-fevered self asserts its mastery and carries the\nday. And the man tightly grips the profits, while Satan chuckles with\nunholy glee, and souls are being damned by this christian man's aid.\nCertainly there can be none of the power of God in such a life. Let us\nrather speak the truth and say that this man is exerting a positive\npower for Satan and for hell.\n\nAll this is included in these few simple words, \"let him deny himself.\"\nIs there still a fixed purpose to follow Jesus without regard to what it\nmay cost us, or where the keen edge of separation may cut in?\n\n\nThe Battle of the Forks.\n\nHere is a forking of the road. I bring this whole company up to this\ndividing, and therefore deciding, point. Let each choose his own road\ndeliberately, prayerfully, with open eyes. This road to the left has as\nits law, yielding to self; saying \"yes\" to the desires and demands of\nself; with some modifications possibly, here and there, for I am talking\nto professing christian people. Yes to Jesus _sometimes_, but at _other_\ntimes, when it suits circumstances and inclinations better to do\notherwise--well, a pushing of the troublesome question aside. And that\nmeans a decided yes to self, with as positive a negative to Jesus'\ndesires implied thereby. That is the left-hand fork.\n\nThis right-hand road knows only one law to which exception is never\nmade, namely: _Yes to Jesus_, everywhere, always, regardless of\nconsequences, though it may entail loss of friendships, or money, or\nposition, or social standing, or personal preference, or radical change\nof plans, or, what not.\n\nJudas assented to the cravings of his ambitious self and said \"no\" to\nhis Master, thinking possibly, with his worldly shrewdness, thereby to\nforce Jesus to assert His power. He little knew what a time of crisis it\nwas, and what terrific results would follow.\n\nPeter stood on the side of his cowardly, shrinking self in the\ncourt-yard that dark night, and against his Master. And though with\nmatchless love he was forgiven, he never forgave himself, nor was able\nto get that night's doings out of his memory. Judas and Peter were\nbrothers in action that night, and there are evidences that many other\ndisciples are standing over in the same group. Are you? Which road do\nyou choose to-night: this--to the left? Or, this--to the right?\n\nI knew a young man who was deeply attached to an admirable young woman,\nboth refined christian persons, much above the average in native\nability, and in culture. He made known to her his feelings. But as many\na woman who does not trust her best Friend in such matters is apt to do\nshe held him off, testing him repeatedly, to find out just how real his\nattachment was. Finally revealing indirectly her own feeling she still\nwithheld the consent he pleaded for, until he would yield acquiescence\nin a certain plan of hers for him. The plan, proper enough in itself,\nwas an ambitious one, and tended decidedly toward swinging him away from\nthe high, tenderly spiritual ideals that had swayed his life in college\nand afterwards, though he probably was not clearly conscious of this\ntendency. The only safe thing to do under such strong circumstances was\nto take time, aside, alone, for calm, poised, thought and prayer, to\nlearn if her plan was also the Master's plan for him. But the personal\nelement proved too strong for such deliberation. The possibility of\nlosing her swung him off of his feet. It was no longer a question\nbetween her plan and the Master's plan. The latter dropped out of view,\nprobably half-unconsciously because hurriedly. _He must have her_, he\nthought. That rose before his eyes above all else. And so the decision\nwas made. With what result? He is to-day prominent in christian service,\nan earnest speaker, a tireless worker, with a most winsome personality.\nBut his inner spiritual life has perceptibly dwarfed. His ideals, still\nhigh and noble, are distinctly lower than in his earlier life.\nIntellectual ideals, admirable in themselves, but belonging in second\nplace in a christian life, now command the field. His conceptions and\nunderstanding of spiritual truth have undergone a decided change.\n\nThe proposal of the self-life came in very fascinating guise to him. He\nhastily said \"yes\" to it: that meant as decided a refusal of Another's\nplan for him, which had once been clearly recognized, and accepted, but\nwas now set aside, be it sadly said, as he swung quickly off to the left\nfork of the road.\n\nThere is an incident told of a European pastor, an earnest, eloquent\nman. The realization came in upon him that he had not been fully\nfollowing the Master. In much of his life self was still ruling. He came\nto this forking of the road, and the battle was a fierce one, for self\ndies hard. But finally \"by the Spirit,\" he got the victory, as every one\nmay, and calmly stepped off to the right. He has vividly described that\nbattle of the forks in language, the accuracy of which will be\nrecognized by others who have been in action on that field.\n\n    \"Oh, the bitter shame and sorrow,\n      That a time could ever be\n    When I let the Saviour's pity\n    Plead in vain, and proudly answered:\n     '_All of self, and none of Thee_.'\n\n    \"Yet He found me: I beheld him\n      Bleeding on the accursed tree;\n    Heard Him pray, 'forgive them, Father,'\n    And my wistful heart said faintly:\n      '_Some of self and some of Thee_.'\n\n    \"Day by day, His tender mercy,\n      Healing, helping, full and free,\n    Sweet and strong, and oh, so patient,\n    Brought me lower, while I whispered:\n      '_Less of self and more of Thee_.'\n\n    \"Higher than the highest heaven,\n      Deeper than the deepest sea,\n    Lord, thy love at last has conquered;\n    Grant me now my soul's desire,\n      '_None of self and all of Thee_.'\"\n\nIs there still a fixed purpose? Will you take this right fork? Let those\nwho will, and those who linger reluctantly listen to the further word\nthat Jesus adds: \"Let him deny himself and take up his cross.\" \"_Take up\nhis cross_\"--what does that mean? The cross has come to be regarded in\nthese days as a fine ornament. It looks beautiful bejeweled; on the end\nof a sword; or worked into regalia. It makes such an artistic finish to\na church building, finely chiseled in stone, or enwreathed with ivy. It\nlooks pretty in jewelry and flowers. But to Jesus and the men of His\ntime it had a grim, hard, painful significance. In Roman usage a man\ncondemned to this death was required to take up the crude wooden cross\nprovided, carry it out to the place of execution, and there be\ntransfixed upon it. Plainly to these men listening, Jesus' words meant:\nLet him say \"no\" to his self, and then nail it up on the cross and leave\nit there _to die_.\n\nPaul understood this thoroughly. To help the young christians in Galatia\nhe explains his own experience by saying: \"_I have been crucified_ with\nChrist;\" and to the unknown friends in Rome he writes: \"if ye by the\nSpirit _put to death_ the doings of the self life ye shall live.\" The\nonly thing to do with this self is to kill it.\n\nIn Luke's account an intensely practical word is added to Jesus' remark:\n\"Let him take up his cross _daily_.\" A cat is said to have nine lives,\nbecause it is so hard to kill. I do not know what your experience may\nhave been, but, judged by this rule, the self in me is tougher-lived\nthan that. It has about ninety-nine, or nine hundred and ninety-nine\nlives. I put it on the cross to-day in the purpose of my will by the\npower of the Spirit, and I find it trying to sneak down and step into\nactive control again to-morrow through some sly, subtle suggestion which\nit hopes may get past the vigilance of my sentinel. That word _daily_\nbecomes, of necessity, my constant keynote--a _daily_ conflict, a\n_daily_ sleepless vigilance, and, thank God, a _daily victory_.\n\nEvery man's heart is a battlefield. If self has possession, Jesus is\nlovingly striving to get possession. If possession has been yielded to\nJesus, there is a constant besieging by the forces of self. And self is\na skilled strategist. In every heart there is a cross, and a throne, and\neach is occupied. If Jesus is on the throne, ruling, self is on the\ncross, dying. But if self is being obeyed, and so is ruling, then it is\non the throne. And self on the throne means that _Jesus has been put on\nthe cross_. And it seems to be only too pathetically true that not only\nin New Testament times, but in these times, there are numbers of\nprofessing christians, who, in the practice of daily life, are\ncrucifying the Son of God afresh, and openly exposing Him to shame\nbefore the eyes of the crowd.\n\nSuppose that to-night I determine to make this absolute surrender to\nJesus as my Master. To-morrow in some matter, possibly a small\nmatter--speaking a word to some one--asking a silent blessing at the\nmeal--making a change in some personal habit--or some other apparently\ntrivial matter--the Spirit quietly makes clear _His wish_ as to what I\nshould do. But I hesitate: it seems hard. I do not say that I will not\nobey, but actually _I do not_. Let me plainly understand that in such a\nsingle failure to obey, self is again mounting the throne, and Jesus is\nbeing dethroned and put over yonder on the cross.\n\nDo some of us still hesitate at this forking of the roads, irresolute? A\ncrowned Christ is attractive. But self's tendrils, though small, are\ntenaciously tough, and twine into so many corners and around some hidden\nthings. And the uprooting and outcutting mean sharp pain. Is that so?\nAnd you hesitate? Please take another frank look.\n\n\nLock-Step.\n\nThese two forks differ radically. They differ in direction. One is to\nthe _left_; the other to the _right_. And these two words are\nsignificant of more than direction. They differ in grade. This left-hand\nroad does not seem to have any grade. It is smooth and level, and\nstraightaway, _apparently_. But a keener look reveals a slant _down_,\nvery slight at first, but steadily increasing, not only in its downward\ngrade, but in the _proportionate_ grade down.\n\nThis right-hand road has a decided grade _up_ from the beginning, a\nsteep slant, that causes many to avoid it, though they feel impelled to\ntake it. Those who take it say that after the first decided step into it\nthe slant does not seem nearly so hard as before starting, and that\nclimbing it makes splendid muscle and gives an inspiring sense of\nexhilaration from the very start. The atmosphere is rare and purifying\nand invigorating. It is not traveled by so many, though the number keeps\nincreasing. But such rare companionship, hitherto unknown, they afford!\n\n_The striking peculiarity_ of this road, however, is this, that each one\nkeeps lock-step with a certain One who leads the way. This One is\nremarkable in appearance. His face combines all the strength and\nresolution of the strongest man's with all the fineness and gentleness\nof the finest woman's. But He bears peculiar marks as though He had been\nthrough some terrible experience. His face has a number of small scars\nas though it had been torn by thorns and cut by thongs. His hands and\nfeet look as though huge spikes had been forced through them. But the\nglory-light of another world is in His eyes, and illumines His face\nradiantly, and a glad ring is in His low, musical, singularly clear\nvoice.\n\nThe walking in step with Him is _so_ close that one can feel the tender\nthrobbing of His heart, and can talk confidentially with Him in low,\nquiet tones, and can hear distinctly His gentle still-like voice in\nreply.\n\nAs one steps off quietly, determinedly to the right from the battle of\nthe forks he hears the closing words of Jesus' remarks to Peter--\"_and\nfollow Me_.\" Jesus sends no one ahead alone. He blazes out every path\nthrough the unknown, unbroken forest, and asks us simply to come along\nafter Him. He did what He asks us to do. The self-life was alluringly\nand repeatedly presented to Him by Satan, in the wilderness, in the\nremark of Peter, by the visit of the Greeks, in Gethsemane where the\nstruggle of soul almost broke the tie that held body and spirit\ntogether, and many other times. In many a hard battle--for the divine\nJesus was intensely human in His earthly life--He repeatedly said a\nnever-varying \"no\" to the self-life, and lived a constant victory until\nthe very last triumphant shout of victory on Calvary. It was a life of\nconstant conflict, but of splendid, calming, scarce-broken peace within,\nand of marvelous power without.\n\nEarnestly, lovingly, gently, yet passionately, He stands just ahead in\nthat path now, with pierced hands outstretched in open invitation, with\na heart-yearning in the depths of His great eyes, wooing us on to follow\nwhere He goes on before.\n\nLet us follow. It may be, it _will_ be, in some measure, through the\nexperiences of the wilderness temptation, and of Gethsemane, and of\nCalvary, but it will also be to share the victory which was always\ncoupled with every testing _He_ met. It will as certainly be following\nHim in power, and victory, on past Calvary to the new life of the\nresurrection morning, that saw the greatest display of power. And even\npast that, to the upper chamber where His words burn their way into our\nhearts--\"as the Father sent Me (clothed with power unconquerable) even\nso send I you.\" And then to Olivet where the victorious words ring out,\n\"All power hath been given unto me in heaven and on earth, therefore go\nye and make disciples.\"\n\n    \"If any man\n    would come alter me,\n    let him say \"no\" to his self,\n    and nail it to the cross daily,\n    and follow me.\"\n\nJesus, Master, by the Holy Spirit's help, _I will_.\n\n\n\n\nTHE PERSONALITY OF POWER.\n\nA Personally Conducted Journey.\n\n\nEveryone enjoys the pleasure of travel; but nearly all shrink back from\nits tiresomeness and drudgery. The transportation companies are\nconstantly scheming to overcome this disagreeable side for both pleasure\nand business travel. One of the popular ways of pleasure travel of late\nis by means of personally conducted tours. A party is formed, often by\nthe railroad company, and is accompanied by a special agent to attend to\nall the business matters of the trip. A variation of this is to arrange\nfor a group of congenial people to accompany some well-known\naccomplished gentleman. This gives the trip, not alone the convenience\nof having all business matters cared for, but also the decided enjoyment\nwhich this gentleman's wide knowledge and experience, and personal\ncontact incidentally give. There are some criticisms however of such\nparties, from the standpoint of greatest comfort and of freedom in\nmoving about.\n\nProbably the very pleasantest way--the ideal way, to travel anywhere,\neither in our own home land, or abroad--is to form a party of only a\nvery few persons, mutually congenial, and personally agreeable, _one of\nwhom is an experienced traveler_, to whom checking baggage, buying\ntickets, studying timetables, planning connections and all the rest of\nthat sort of thing which, to most, is disagreeable drudgery, to whom all\nthat is mere pleasant detail; and who in addition knows all the ground\nyou will cover, the best hotels, the inconveniences to avoid, the\ndesirable places and things, and who finds rare enjoyment in making the\ntrip delightful and inspiring, and restful too, to these dear friends of\nhis.\n\nFor instance if the trip is a foreign one beginning with a run through\nGreat Britain it would add immensely to have such a friend in London who\nknew that great whirling world-metropolis, as you know your own home.\nAfter a bit you may slip over the Channel to Holland. It is only a few\nhours away, but the strange language, new custom-house rules, new\nusages, new sights, different sort of people, all make it a totally\ndifferent world. A few hours will bring you into Sweden, or west from\nthe hollow-landed Dutch to the higher-landed Germans, or south through\nBelgium into sunny France, and so on. And in each place the customs, and\nlanguage, and sights, and people, the food, the sleeping arrangements,\nand apparently everything, especially to a stranger, are totally\ndifferent. It is this very variety--the constant change of\nsurroundings--that constitutes much of the charm of it all. There is\nnothing so refreshing and invigorating as that. But on the other hand\nto an entire stranger who has no guide, it is apt to be confusing and\nwearisome. And the tiresome side often overcomes the pleasant side. Now\nthis is what I am saying, that, if there are just a few together, and\nthis experienced traveler, who is also a dear friend, is one of them,\nthe trip is radically changed. You move in a new world. He can talk\nDutch in Holland, and German in Germany, Swedish in Scandinavia, and\nFrench in Switzerland. He sees the baggage past the customs officials,\nand provides restful stopping places, and keeps the disagreeables away\nfrom you. He knows the places to visit, and is familiar with the\nhistoric occurrences, and is a quiet, cheery companion, and _if_ with it\nall he has an unlimited letter-of-credit, and makes you feel that\nsomehow you are favoring him by letting him help you out when you run\nshort--that, I say, would be _the ideal way of traveling_.\n\nNow why take so much time speaking about all that? Listen! I will tell\nyou why. Living is like traveling. Life is a journey. It is a trip\nthrough a strange land where you have never been before, and you never\nknow a moment ahead where you are going next. Strange languages, strange\nscenes, strange dilemmas; new tangles, new experiences, and some old\nones with new faces so you do not know them. It is just as chock-full of\npleasure and enjoyment as it can be, if you could only make some\nprovision for the drudgery and hard things that seem to crowd in so\nthick and fast sometimes, as to make people forget the gladness of it.\n\nNow I have something to tell you that seems too utterly good to be\nbelieved, and yet keeps getting better all the way along. It is this:\nthe Master has planned that your life journey shall be a personally\nconducted one on this ideal plan. It was said a night or two ago that\nthe Master has thought into your life and made arrangement for all its\nneeds. Let me add to-night this further fact: _He has arranged with His\nbest friend, who is an experienced traveler, to go with you and devote\nHimself wholly to your interests._\n\nSome of you, I am afraid, will smile, and think that I am just indulging\nin a fancy sketch--drawing on my imagination. And so I pray our Master\nto burn into our hearts that it is plain, matter-of-fact truth, for\nevery day life. I would say that it is cold fact were it not that such a\nfact can never be cold.\n\n\nPower is a Person.\n\nEach of these talks, you have noticed, has led up to the one idea of\nsurrender. That word surrender stands for one side only of a\ntransaction--_our_ side. As in all transactions, there is another\nside--_His_ side to whom the surrender is made. To-night we want to take\na step in advance and talk about the part which Jesus has in this\nsurrender-transaction. All truth goes in pairs. The partnership word\nwith surrender is mastery. Surrender on my part is followed by mastery\non His part. There are two personalities in this transaction. You are\none: an important one, but only one. To-night we shall try to get a\nbetter acquaintance with the other One. The One who assumes control of\nthe surrendered life, who is to be our personal guide and friend.\n\nWill you recall again the Master's good-bye Olivet message, and notice\njust what it means? Listen to the very words: \"Ye shall receive power.\"\nLet me ask you--what is power? Will some one give a simple definition of\nthat word? There are four words, four of the commonest, most familiar in\nour language, for which I have not been able to find a definition. If\nsome one here can help me I will be grateful. They are the words life,\nlight, love, and power. What do they mean? I can find plenty of\nstatements _about_ them, descriptions of what each of these is like, but\nno definitions.\n\nWhat is life? Recently I looked into the statement regarding life made\nby three of the most famous English scientists of the nineteenth\ncentury, whose names are household words. I read them carefully. The\nwisdom and keenness of observation they show are amazing. But when I had\nstudied and read them repeatedly I found myself asking--what is life?\nThey have described rarely the functions and characteristics of life,\nbut have not told what it is. They do not seem to know. Do you?\n\nWhat is light? Will some one tell me? The corpuscular theory, which the\nfamous Newton advocated, is long since abandoned. The later wave theory\nis pretty generally accepted, and yet they can not all agree upon that.\nThese people say that light is a part of the kind of energy called\nradiant energy. Now, we all know what light is! The sun of course is not\nlight, only a light-holder and distributer. According to the oldest\nrecord we have of the creation, light existed before these\nlight-holders, the sun and moon and stars.\n\nWhat is love? Well, you all _know_, I hope. Pity the poor man who does\nnot know by experience what love is. But you cannot tell what it is.\n\"Oh!\" you say, \"it is emotion.\" Yes, so is hate, its very opposite.\n\"Well, love is affection.\" Yes. What is affection? \"Well, it is a\npleasurable feeling, or regard, which may be very intense, and which\nleads us to unlimited sacrifice if need be. It is a devotion that grips\nthe soul tremendously.\" That is true; yet that is only telling what love\nis like. No simple, plain definition of love, or light or life has ever\nbeen formed yet by man so far as I can learn.\n\nWhat is power? You may say it is force. And what is force? \"Well, force\nis a form of energy.\" What is energy? \"Well,\" you reply, \"it is a strong\ninward movement whose strength is very impressive.\" Some one says \"power\nis ability.\" And ability? \"Well, that is the innate power to do\nsomething.\" And so we get to use our word in the attempted definition\nitself, which is simply talking in a circle. We can find good\ndescriptive words, but no defining words.\n\nNow mark a singular fact. In the writings of John, in this old book I\nhave here, you will find a few statements regarding these things which\ncombine wondrous simplicity of language with marvelous, yes,\nunfathomable, depth of meaning. First, about life: in chapter one, verse\nfour, of the gospel:--\"in Him was life,\" being an evident allusion to\nthe remarkable Genesis statement: \"the Lord God breathed into his\nnostrils the breath of life, and man became a living soul.\" Then, about\nlove: in chapter four, verse seven, of his first epistle:--\"love is of\nGod\"; coupled with the twice spoken words \"God is love\" in the same\nchapter. About light: in chapter one, verse five, of the same epistle,\n\"God is light.\"\n\nI know some of you, perhaps some skilled theologian here, is saying to\nhimself, \"Those are statements of _moral_ truths.\" And I understand that\nthat is the common conception. But I want to state here my own profound\nconviction, based on the Spirit-breathed words of John, that some day,\nwhen we shall know about all these deep things, we shall be finding that\nthere is a basis not only of moral truth, but of far more than moral\ntruth underlying those profoundly simple statements.\n\nAnd I believe in that day we shall find that life--all life--is, in some\nactual, marvelous way, the outbreathing of God's own being. And that\nlight is the inherent radiance of His person and face, and that the\nuniversal passion of love is the throbbing pulse-beat of His own great\nheart.\n\nNow why take time to speak about these things to-night when we are\ntalking about power? I will tell you why. Because they give the\nintensest practical significance to a similar statement about that word\npower with which we _are_ greatly concerned just now.\n\nMark the language Luke uses in describing that memorable Olivet scene in\nwhich we are so deeply interested in these talks together. The old King\nJames version reads: \"ye shall receive power _after_ that the Holy\nSpirit is come upon you.\" The revised version puts it in this way, \"ye\nshall receive power _when_ the Holy Spirit is come upon you.\" Some of\nyou have probably noticed that some editions give a marginal note,\nwhich, in this case, proves to be the literal reading namely: _ye shall\nreceive power the Holy Spirit coming upon you_. Not \"after,\" nor \"when,\"\nbut simply \"the Holy Spirit coming,\" etc. That is to say, the _Holy\nSpirit is power_. That you will observe fits in with the form of\nstatement John uses. The Holy Spirit in control, unhindered, unhampered,\nmeans power manifest in the life. That is the profound truth of God's\nbook. And as a bit of side evidence it is striking to observe that all\nScripture statements throughout fit in with that conception. Power is a\nperson. Not some thing, nor influence, nor sentiment, nor some working\nupon our hearts at a distance by God seated up yonder on the throne.\nThat were wonderful indeed. But a person, called the Holy Spirit, living\nin me--shall I make it very definite by saying, living _in my\nbody_?--that is power. If restrained by sin, or disobedience, or\nignorance, or wilfulness of any sort, then power _restrained_, held in\ncheck, not evident. If utterly unrestrained, given free sway and\ncontrol--ah! then power manifest, limitless, wonderful, all exercised in\ncarrying out God's will in, and with, and through me.\n\nAnd the marvelous message I bring you from the old book of God is this:\n_The Master has sent a dear friend of His, and of yours, who is\nexperienced, and strong, and loving, personally to conduct you through\nyour daily life, and His presence unrestrained, means power unlimited._\n\n\nA Significant Name.\n\nDo you remember that heart-to-heart talk that Jesus had with the eleven\ndisciples that last night they spent together in the upper room? John\ntells us about it in chapters thirteen to sixteen. The Master talks a\ngreat deal that night, about some One else, who was coming to take His\nplace with them. They did not understand what He meant till afterwards.\nHe packs more into that one evening's talk about this coming One than\nall He had said before put together. Notice that now He gives a name, a\nnew name, to this person, repeated four times that night. It is an\nintensely significant name--_the Comforter_. Will you remember, and keep\nconstantly in mind, the actual meaning of that new name? it is simply\nthis: _one called alongside to help_.\n\nLet me attempt to suggest a little of its practical meaning.\n\nHere is a little girl standing on the curbstone down town on Broadway in\nNew York, with a bundle in her arms. She has been sent on an errand, and\nwants to get across the street. But the electric cars are whizzing past\nin both directions, and wagons, and carriages, and omnibuses, and horses\njam the street from curb to curb, and she cannot get across. She stands\nthere gripping her bundle, watching eagerly for a chance, and yet afraid\nto venture. But the jam seems endless, and she grows very tired, and by\nand by the corners of her mouth begin to twitch down suspiciously, and a\nbig tear is just starting in each eye. Just then a big policeman steps\nup, one of the finest, six feet tall, and heavy and broad. He seems like\na giant to her. He stoops down. Would you imagine he had such a gentle\nvoice? \"What's the matter?\" \"Can't--get--'cross.\" Oh! is that all; he'll\nfix that. And he takes her little hand in his with a reassuring \"come\nalong.\" And along she goes, past cars, under horses' heads, close up to\nbig wheels. She is just as small as before, and just as weak. But\nthough her eyes stay pretty big, the tears are gone, and there is an air\nof confidence, because this big, kind-hearted giant by her side is\nwalking across the street as though he owned the whole place, _and he is\ndevoting his entire attention to her_. That policeman is a comforter in\nthe strict meaning of the word.\n\nHere is a boy in school, head down close to the desk, puzzling over a\n\"sum.\" It won't \"come out.\" He figures away, and his brow is all knitted\nup, and a worried look is coming into his face for he is a conscientious\nlittle fellow. But he cannot seem to get it right and the clouds gather\nthicker. By and by the teacher comes up and sits down by his side. It\nawes him a little to have her quite so close. But her kindliness of\nmanner mellows the awe. \"How are you getting along?\" \"Won't come out\nright\"--in a very despondent tone. \"Let me see, did you subtract\nthat...?\" \"Oh-h-h! I forgot that,\" and a little light seems to break, as\nhe scratches away for a few moments; then pauses. \"And this figure here,\nshould it be....\" \"Oh-h-h, I see.\" More scratching, and a soft sigh of\nrelief, and the knitting brows unravel, and the face brightens. The\nteacher did not do the problem for him. She did better. She let him feel\nher kindly interest first of all, and gave just the light, experienced\ntouch that showed him the way out, and yet allowed him the peculiar\npleasure of getting through himself. _That is what \"Comforter\" means._\n\nOne summer a friend suggested to me spending a week on Lake Chautauqua.\nI did not have the money to spare, and so told him I was not sure I\ncould arrange to get away. But he seemed to divine the basis of my\nobjection, and insisted on my going along. We went. I had very little\nmoney with me. I got on the train without a ticket, took a seat in the\nparlor car, stopped at the best hotel, had a choice room on the ground\nfloor, patronized the well-ordered dining-room regularly, and made free\nuse of the place. And all the time I had practically no money with me.\nBut would you believe me I was not a particle concerned about paying for\nthose privileges. Never felt less concern about anything in my life. You\nknow why. _I had a trustworthy friend, with me who was concerned for\nme._\n\nNow these are simple suggestions, illustrating _partly_ the meaning of\nthat marvelous name Jesus gave to the Holy Spirit. I will send another\nComforter, one who will be right by your side to help, sympathetic,\nexperienced, strong; and He will stay with you all the time. In the\nkitchen, in the sitting-room, the sick-room, with the children, when\nwork piles up, when things jangle or threaten to, when the baby's cross,\nand the patching and sweeping and baking, and all the rest of it seem\nendless, on the street, in the office, on the campus, in the store, when\ntempted--almost slipped, when opportunity opens for a quiet personal\nword, everywhere, every time, in every circumstance, one alongside to\nhelp. Is not that wonderful?\n\n\nA Pictorial Illustration.\n\nThere is one bother about illustrations: they never do tell all the\ntruth. They never are as vivid, nor as good as the truth, that is when\nyou are talking about our Master, or His arrangements. The very best\nillustrations of Bible truth are Bible illustrations. Now there is a\nstriking pictorial illustration back in the Old Testament of the meaning\nof this name of the Holy Spirit. It is in the story of a most remarkable\njourney from Egypt to the border line of Palestine. The journey was\nremarkable for two things. First, for the sort of country it was\nthrough. It is a trackless waste of sand, that spreads over thousands of\nsquare miles. It was infested with venomous serpents and scorpions, and\nis described as \"all that great and terrible wilderness,\" \"a waste\nhowling wilderness,\" and \"a land of deserts and pits, of drought and of\nthe shadow of death, that none passed through, and where no man dwelt.\"\nThink of taking a trip through a country like that! But it was even more\nremarkable because of the transformation that took place in the\ntravelers. For a mob of four millions of people was changed into a\nwell-organized nation. The explanation given is fully as remarkable as\nthe trip, and the transformation. It must strike very strangely on the\ncold, matter-of-fact ears of this materialistic world we dwell in. It is\nthis: that the Lord God Himself actually went with them in person, and\nlived with them, and took immediate charge of everything. He had\npromised Moses, their leader, that He would do this. Just how definite\nor indefinite a thing that meant to Moses' mind we cannot know. But it\nbecame very definite and tangible that memorable night of departure from\nthe iron furnace of Egypt. For there was a real physical evidence of His\npresence. There appeared a column or pillar of fleecy-like cloud which\ncame down close to the ground, and which every one could plainly see. At\nnight time it shone and flamed as a pillar full of partly concealed\nfire. God's voice spake out of it in their hearing. And that\npresence-cloud never left them. In spite of complaints, and criticisms,\nand rebellions of the most mean and exasperating kind, it never left\nthem until they had safely arrived at the border line of the promised\nPalestine.\n\nNow it is extremely fascinating in tracing that journey to notice just\nwhat that cloud came to mean to them. If you will run rapidly through\nthe three wilderness books, Exodus, Leviticus and Numbers, you will find\nthere twenty distinct incidents[6] which illustrate how God's actual\npresence in that cloud was made very real to them in practical affairs.\nIn those incidents there are ten different ways in which they were made\nto feel that powerful Presence.\n\nAt the outset it is mentioned that the chief purpose was \"to lead them\nthe way,\" and, by night \"to give them light.\" Five incidents speak of\nbodily nourishment, including fresh food daily, with occasional extras,\nand a full supply of pure living water. Five speak of protection from\nbodily harm. Two tell of the defeat of an enemy. Once there is chiding\nfor ingratitude. Six times rebuke or punishment for sin. In four they\nare held back when dead-set on a very wrong course. Twice there is\ninstruction in their leader's plan for them. Three times a fuller\nmanifestation of Himself, and each time this is preceded by obedience on\ntheir part in some particular matter. Once there is a special plan\nsuggested for relief in managing the nation's affairs. And then the fact\nis stated that whenever Moses went apart to talk with God the cloud\ndescended lower, that is, _God came nearer_ when Moses desired to talk\nwith Him. So you see, the cloud meant guidance through that trackless\ndesert, food supplies, protection, defeat for the enemy, chiding,\nrestraint, punishment, instruction, help in business matters, a more\nintimate manifestation of the glorious personality of their Guide, and a\ngracious coming nearer whenever desired. Was not that a real practical\npresence of the great God with them all those days?\n\nNow that is the Bible's own graphic illustration of the meaning of that\nnew name given to the Holy Spirit, by Him who knew Him best,\n_Comforter--one alongside to help_.\n\n\nOn a Higher Level.\n\nBefore we leave that illustration we must notice a very significant\nthing which is no small part of the truth illustrated. Though the cloud\nappeared the very night of that sudden going out of Egypt, and was never\nabsent from them, by day or by night, yet a full year afterwards there\nwas a new experience. By God's direction a special tent was made and set\nup in which He said He would dwell. It was known as God's dwelling\nplace, the tent of meeting, the tabernacle, the tent of testimony. When\neverything concerning its setting up had been fully done as specified\nthen there was an experience the most remarkable they had yet had with\nGod. It was a new manifestation of the glorious presence of their unseen\nFriend-Guide. It is twice said that the tent was \"_filled_\" with His\nglory. And this nearer disclosure, which God gave of Himself, was so\nmarvelously glorious and overpowering that even Moses, who had spent\nalmost twelve weeks in that mount with God, in closer intimacy than any\none else--even Moses was not able to enter into the tent, so over-awing\nwas that Presence.\n\nNow it is of intensest interest to mark four things about that\nexperience. _First_ of all, before it came, there was _obedience_ to\nGod's instructions. Eighteen times within the narrow limits of the last\ntwo pages of the Exodus record, it is said that Moses and the people did\neverything, in every particular, just exactly as \"the Lord commanded\nMoses.\" There was explicit obedience before anything else. _Then_\nfollowed the wondrous _infilling_ of the tent with God's presence. The\n_third_ thing is particularized very carefully: all their movements were\ndirected and controlled by that Presence. Clearly the only safe rule for\nliving in that terrible desert, was to plan to live a planless life so\nfar as their own planning was concerned. Besides the last two verses of\nExodus which emphasize this, I find that in my revised Oxford edition\nforty-five lines in the ninth chapter of Numbers are given to telling\nhow exactly they were guided, and how explicitly they followed their\nGuide. It seems almost at first reading as though there was a decidedly\nneedless repetition. You seem to understand the thing easily enough\nwithout that. But as one reads it again, and yet again, slowly, it\nbegins to dawn upon the mind that the purpose is to put marked emphasis\non this feature of their new life in the wilderness. The people would\nrise in the morning, and probably the first thing done was to look out\ntoward the cloud to learn if there was to be any change that day. And so\nduring the day there would come to be an instinctive habit of watching\nthat cloud. They might remain in a new camping place for months, or only\nfor a few weeks, or, possibly only for a few days. They never knew a day\nahead. They lived literally a day at a time. It was certainly a\nhand-to-mouth existence so far as the daily manna was concerned. But\nthen it was from _His_ hand to _their_ mouths and that made a great\ndifference. It was equally so in their movements and in all of their new\nlife. When, one morning as thousands of heads peep out, the cloud is\nseen to have lifted up from over the tent, the next question was--which\ndirection? It might be toward the west, or it might be just the\nopposite, toward the east. Both the time of going, and the direction,\nand the pace were regulated by the presence of their Friend in that\ncloud. Their life was a life of obedience to the will of their wise,\nloving Companion.\n\nThe _fourth_ thing was intimacy of intercourse. It is a little\nunfortunate that in reading our Bibles we sometimes allow the gaps that\ncome in the printing to break the continuity of thought. There is a\nbreak for instance between the last verse of Exodus and the first verse\nof Leviticus. The reading is meant to be continuous, and shows that\nafter the infilling, and the explanation about guidance, that God\n\"_called_\" Moses to Him and _commenced talking about their new life_.\nNow in connection with that call, and all their after talks, notice a\nremarkable statement in the last verse of that long seventh chapter of\nNumbers. It explains just _how_ God talked with Moses. Listen: \"Whenever\nMoses went into the tent of meeting to speak with Him, _then he heard\nthe voice_ speaking unto him from above the mercy-seat that was upon the\nark of the testimony, from between the two cherubim; and _He_ speaketh\nunto him.\" There was the living, loving voice of their Companion-God,\nwhich Moses could plainly hear, and which others heard, talking\nfamiliarly and intimately about all their affairs. Several times when in\ndoubt what to do Moses promptly went off into the tent, then the cloud\nwould come down nearer, and Moses would state his difficulty, and back\nwould come that clear distinct voice with an answer. Group up those four\nthings--obedience; the never-to-be-forgotten infilling; the controlling\nguidance; and intimate companionship.\n\nThat is the very best illustration I can find of the meaning of that\nword which Jesus now chooses out and uses as the new name which would\nmost vividly tell what the Holy Spirit was to be to all believers after\nHis own departure. All that the presence of God in that pillar was to\nthose people, and to Moses personally, all that the Holy Spirit will be\nto you. And my own conviction is that Jesus had that Old Testament scene\nin His mind. For if you will turn again to that last night's talk you\nwill find a striking repetition of the steps or peculiarities of that\nwilderness experience. Though here the whole experience is on a much\nhigher, finer plane. There is a closeness of personal regard, a depth of\nthat deepest of all loves, friendship love, that is not found in the Old\nTestament story, except perhaps between Moses himself and God.\n\nBut now read the twenty-first verse of the fourteenth chapter of John:\n\"He that hath My commandments and keepeth them, he it is that loveth\nMe; and he that loveth Me shall be loved of My Father and I will love\nhim, and _will manifest Myself unto him_.\" And the twenty-third verse\nadds to it: \"If a man love Me, he will keep My word: and My Father will\nlove him, and _We will come unto him and make Our abiding place with\nhim_.\" Notice: there is obedience; it is accepted as an evidence of\nlove: there is a return love--a new, higher, reciprocal love: then there\nis a revealing of Himself; and, constant abiding. Now run your eye\nthrough the remaining part of that evening's conversation and you can\nquickly pick out these words: \"teach,\" \"bring to your remembrance,\"\n\"guide,\" \"bear witness of me,\" \"tell you coming things,\" \"tell you about\nme.\"\n\nDoes that not parallel remarkably the wilderness experience? Only it is\nall put on such a higher plane. There is a fullness, and richness, and\ntenderness, of personal intimacy here. The Presence in the wilderness\nwas for the national life: here it is peculiarly for the personal life.\nThere He dwelt actually in the heart of the nation. Here He dwells\nactually in one's own very person. And then, too, now He can do so much\nmore _in_ us because so much more has been done for us through the\nperson of Jesus.\n\n\nHow to Find the Meaning.\n\nMay I say right here plainly: there seems to be even yet in some\nquarters a hazy idea about the Holy Spirit being a person. It is\nextremely common, even among people of excellent christian training, to\nfind Him referred to, both in prayer and speech as _it_. Could anything\nbe more disrespectful or insulting, if it were intentional instead of\nbeing thoughtless or, in ignorance, as I am sure it really is. Imagine\nmy speaking of the pastor of this church in that way. \"_It_ is a good\npreacher. _It_ is a helpful pastor.\" You smile, and he smiles. But if I\nsaid it repeatedly, and in sober earnest, you know how insulted he would\nbe. I suppose that the use of the word \"itself\" for the Holy Spirit in\nthe eighth chapter of Romans is largely responsible for this. The\nrevisers have properly substituted the word \"himself.\" That very usage\nso common has doubtless accustomed many persons to a vague idea of the\npersonality of the Spirit. And yet apart from that, there is without\ndoubt much mistiness, and uncertainty, in some minds, because of the\ndifficulty of thinking of a person without a form. It seems impossible\nfor our minds to grasp the idea of existence without bodily shape, yet\nof course we believe in a personal God. Probably another reason is that\nthe Holy Spirit's work is not to speak of Himself but of Another--of\nJesus. He is Jesus' representative, and is constantly absorbed in\nfilling us with thoughts of His Chief. And when our minds are most\ndeeply stirred with thoughts of Jesus then it is that in that very fact\nof being so stirred we have clearest evidence of the Holy Spirit's\npresence within us. His very faithfulness to His mission has led to\nHimself suffering depreciation at our hands, through our ignorance.\n\nI am sure it must help us all decidedly in getting a clear-cut, sharply\ndefined idea of His personality to notice the language Jesus uses in\nspeaking of Him that night. For instance, notice that in our English\nversion the personal pronouns \"he,\" \"whom,\" \"him,\" \"which\" (used in the\nsense of who as is common with the British translators), occur\ntwenty-four times. A study of the actual words used would prove helpful\nand interesting. One of them, used several times, is peculiarly\nemphatic, its meaning being equivalent to the expression \"that person\nthere.\"\n\nAnd then notice the words used to describe what this person will do: \"He\nshall teach,\" \"bring to your remembrance,\" \"bear witness of Me,\"\n\"convict the world of\" three distinct things, \"shall guide,\" \"shall\nhear,\" \"shall speak,\" \"shall declare,\" \"shall glorify Me,\" \"shall take\nof Mine and declare it unto you.\" Everyone of these ten different\nexpressions imply intelligence and discrimination, and therefore of\ncourse personality. And then added to this is the name given to Him here\nof which so much has been said.\n\nMay we take just another look at that name--_The Comforter_--as we close\nour talk together? I wish with my whole heart, and I pray, that a vivid\nsense of the meaning of that name may be one result of this evening's\nmeeting. I was traveling alone in Germany one hot July day on a train\ngoing down to the city of Worms. It was quite hot and I was very tired,\nand my head aching, I distinctly remember. The conductor came along and\nobjected to my ticket. Before leaving this country, I thought I knew a\n_little_ of German, enough to worry through on. My ideas on that subject\nchanged a trifle over there, however. That day my tired ears refused to\nrecognize any familiar sounds on the conductor's lips, and my tired\ntongue refused to utter anything satisfactory to him. And there I was, a\ncomplete stranger in a strange land too tired to think or have any\nmental resources, not knowing but I might be put off at the next\nstation. In fact just tired enough for fine worrying. It looked blue for\na few moments. But not for long. A young man by my side, a Jew, spoke to\nme in excellent English. Was any sound ever so welcome! He straightened\nthe conductor out, and then we fell to talking together. He proved to be\na very intelligent, agreeable companion. I found his home was in the\ncity where I was going. So we got off there together, and he simply\ndevoted himself to me for the day. He took me up to a good hotel, and\nwhile I was eating dinner, went and got his brother who had been in\nAmerica, and who entertained me while I ate. Then he took me to his\nfather's home, a large old mansion, overlooking the famous Luther\nmonument where I rested a while. And then a quick run to a few\ninteresting points, and finally when leaving time came, he insisted on\naccompanying me to the station, and making sure I had a good seat, and\nthen bade me a gracious good-bye.\n\nThat day lingers in my memory as one of the green spots of that trip. It\ntouched me to think that my Master graciously sent one of His own\ndespised race to be my friend. Do you not think that that man,\nexperienced where I was ignorant, and so sympathetic, was a living\nillustration to me of Jesus' name for the Holy Spirit--_one called\nalongside to help_?\n\nOne day recently, riding on a Lake Shore train in Ohio, I chanced to\nnotice the conductor stopping to speak to a little girl sitting behind\nme. Then I noticed that she was alone and crying a little, quietly. She\ndid not answer his questions, but he must have been a father, I thought,\nbecause he seemed to understand so well. Speaking to a kind-faced\nmotherly looking woman in the next seat he had the little girl go back\nand sit beside her, next the window. They did not talk much, if any, I\nnoticed. But the girl was snuggled up close, and I knew from her face\nthat she felt the warm sympathy of that friendly presence, and that the\nterrible feeling of loneliness had gone. Is not that woman another\nillustration of that name Comforter? Her mere presence was all that was\nneeded to clear the skies and change the atmosphere for the little lone\nand lonely traveler.\n\nBut Jesus Himself has a very striking way of making clear just what He\nmeant, by coupling another word with that new name the first time He\nused it. He says, \"I will send _another_ Comforter.\" The comparison is\nwith Himself. He is one comforter. The Holy Spirit another one. The only\nother time this word is used is by John in his first epistle, and is\ntranslated by our word advocate, and refers to Jesus. Jesus practically\nsays: \"You know what I have been to you these months past.\" And they\nwould think through, the close intimacy of nearly two years. How He had\nspoken with unmistakable plainness when they were in the wrong, but also\nhow loving with a strong love He had been, how patient, and gentle, and\nresourceful, and how He seemed to yearn over them that they might grow\ninto His ideal for them. \"Now,\" He says, \"I am going away, but I will\nsend you _another_ one who will be to you all that I have been--_and\nmore_.\" _And more!_ That comparative more, either spoken or implied,\nruns all through this last long confidential talk. \"More, much more,\n_because I go unto the Father_.\" Jesus crucified, risen, glorified can\ndo much more by far in us by His other self, the Holy Spirit, than He\ncould in person on the earth those years. And the wondrous meaning of\nthat \"another comforter\" to you and me, my friends, to-night is simply\nthis: it is the same as though the Lord Jesus had actually come back\nagain and _you had Him all to yourself--and more_.\n\nBut I cannot tell you the meaning of that wonderful name. Nor yet the\nwondrous charm of Him who, for our sakes, embodies it. You may put\ntogether all these illustrations in the attempt to get a real, close-up,\nidea of what Jesus meant in that love-gift of His to you. And then you\nwill not know. There is really only one way to gain that knowledge. It\nis this: take the step which belongs to _your_ side of the transaction\nbetween you and the Master. Surrender yourself to Him to be changed and\ncleansed and used as He may choose. Then _He_ will begin at once working\nout the side that belongs to Him. _You shall be filled with His\npresence._ Then you will _begin_ to know. Then you can sing--\n\n    \"I have a wonderful guest,\n      Who speeds my feet, who moves my hands,\n      Who strengthens, comforts, guides, commands,\n    Whose presence gives me rest.\n\n    \"He dwells within my soul,\n      He swept away the filth and gloom;\n      He garnished fair the empty room,\n    And now pervades the whole.\"\n\nAnd you shall go on knowing more and better until the day dawn and the\nshadows flee away.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[6] See note at the end.[A]\n\n[Transcriber's Note A: The note in question follows immediately below, as\nthe footnote was moved to the end.]\n\n\n     Of the twenty incidents referred to three do not directly\n     mention the cloud, and in two others it is over the mount, with\n     its characteristics much intensified. The references are given\n     for those who will want to get closer up to this famous\n     illustration.\n\n     Guidance: Ex. xiii: 21-22, with Numbers xiv: 14.\n\n     Bodily nourishment. Ex. xv: 25; xvi: 13-14, 45; xvii: 6.\n     Numbers xi: 31-32. xx: 1-12.\n\n     Protection from bodily harm: The nation--Ex. xiv: 19-20. The\n     leaders--Num. xiv: 10 and on. xvi: 19 and on. xvi: 42 and on.\n     xx: 1-12.\n\n     Defeat of an enemy: Ex. xiv: 24-31, xvii: 8-16.\n\n     Chiding: Ex. xvi: 4-7, 10-12.\n\n     Rebuke or punishment for sin: Numbers xi: 33; xii: 1-10; xiv:\n     10 and on; xvi: 19 and on; 42 and on; xx: 1-12.\n\n     Held back from wrong: Numbers xiv: 10 and on; xvi: 19 and on;\n     42 and on; xx: 1-12.\n\n     Instruction and training: Ex. xix: 9, 16 and on; xxiv: 15-18.\n\n     Fuller manifestation: Ex. xxxiv: 5 and on; xi: 34-38. Lev. ix:\n     6, 23.\n\n     Special plan of relief in managment: Numbers xi: 16, 17, 25.\n\n     Coming nearer: Ex. xxxiii: 7-11, revised version.\n\n\n\n\nMAKING AND BREAKING CONNECTIONS.\n\nMany Experiences, but One Law.\n\n\nIn mechanics power depends on good connections. A visit to any great\nmachine shop makes that clear. There must be good connections in two\ndirections--inward toward the source of power, and outward for use. The\nsame law holds true in spiritual power as in mechanical. There must be\ngood connections.\n\nThese nights we have been together a few things have seemed clear. We\nhave seen that from the standpoint of our lives there is _need_ of\npower, as well as from the standpoint of the Master's use of us among\nothers. Jesus' promise and insistent words make plain the _necessity_ of\nour having power if His plan for us is not to fail. His words about the\n_price_ of power have set many of us to doing some honest thinking and\nheart-searching. And we have gotten some suggestion, too, of the meaning\nof that word power, and of the _personality_ back of the word.\n\nTo-night I want to talk with you a little about how to secure good\nconnections between the source of power and the channel through which it\nis to flow out to others; and, once secured, how to preserve the\nconnections unbroken.\n\nIt has been one of the peculiar characteristics of recent years in\nreligious circles that much has been spoken and written about the Holy\nSpirit. Thousands of persons have been led into a clearer understanding\nof His personality and mission, and into intimate relationship with\nHimself. And yet, may I say frankly, that I read much and listened to\nmuch without being able to get a simple workable understanding of how I\nwas to receive the much-talked-of baptism of power. That may quite\nlikely have been due to my own dullness of comprehension. But whatever\nthe cause, my failing to understand led to a rather careful study of the\nold Book itself until somewhat clearer light has come. And now in this\nconvention I am anxious to put the truth as simply as I may that others\nmay not blunder and bungle along and lose precious time as I have done.\n\nMany an earnest heart, conscious of weakness and failure, is asking, how\nmay I have power to resist temptation, and live a strong, useful,\nchristian life? In the search for an answer some of us have run across\ntwo difficulties. One of these is in _other people's experiences_. It is\nvery natural to try to find out how someone else has succeeded in\ngetting what we are after. Many a godly man has told of his experience\nof waiting and pleading with God before the thing he sought came.\nPersonal experiences are intensely interesting, and often helpful. But\nthere are apt to be as many different sorts of experiences as there are\npersons. Yet there is one unchanging law of God's dealing with men\nunderlying them all. But unless one is more skilled than many of us are\nin analyzing experiences and discovering the underlying law, these\nexperiences of others are often misleading. We are so likely to think at\nonce of the desirability of having the same experience as someone else,\nrather than trying to find God's law of spirit life in them all. And so,\nsome of the written experiences have clouded rather than cleared the\nsky. We should rather try _first_ to get something of a clear\nunderstanding of God's law of dealing with men as a sort of basis to\nbuild upon. And then fit into that, even though it may develop\ndifferently in our circumstances. We may then get much help from others'\nexperiences. If possible, we want to-night to get something of an\ninkling of that law.\n\nAnother difficulty that has bothered some of us is in the great variety\nof language used in speaking of this life of power; a variety that seems\nconfusing to some of us. \"The baptism of the Holy Spirit,\" \"the\ninduement,\" \"the filling,\" \"refilling,\" \"many fillings,\" \"special\nanointings\"--these terms are familiar, though just the distinctive\nmeaning of each is not always clear. Let us look a little at the\nlanguage of the Book at this point. A run through the New Testament\nbrings out five leading words used[B] in speaking of the Holy Spirit's\nrelation to us. These words are \"baptized,\" \"filled,\" \"anointed,\"\n\"sealed,\" and \"earnest.\" It seems to take all five words to tell all of\nthe truth. Each gives a different side.\n\n[Transcriber's note B: Original had \"word sused\"]\n\nThe word _baptized_ is the distinctive word always used _before_ the day\nof Pentecost, in speaking of what was to occur then. It is not used\nafterward except in referring back to that day. It belongs peculiarly to\nthe day of Pentecost. Each of the gospels tells that John the Baptist\nsaid that Jesus was to baptize with the Holy Spirit. Jesus Himself uses\nthe word, during the forty days, in Acts, first chapter. Peter, in Acts,\neleventh chapter, recalls this remark. Paul uses it once in referring\nback to Pentecost.[7] These seem to be the only instances where the word\nis used in speaking of the Holy Spirit. One other word is used once in\nadvance of Pentecost. \"Tarry until ye be _endued_ or clothed upon.\"[8]\nWe shall see in a few moments that the meaning of this fits in with the\nmeaning of baptized, emphasizing one part of its meaning.\n\n\"Baptized\" may be called the _historical_ word. It describes an act done\nonce for all on that great day of Pentecost, with possibly four\naccessory repetitions to make clear that additional classes and groups\nwere included.[9] It tells God's side.\n\nIn this connection it will be helpful to note the significance of the\nword baptize. Of course you will understand that I am not speaking now\nof the matter or mode of water baptism. But I am supposing that\noriginally or historically the word means a plunging or dipping into. We\ncommonly think of the act of immersion-baptism from the side of the\nobject immersed because the action is on the side of the thing or person\nwhich is plunged down into the immersing flood. But in the historical\nbaptism of the Holy Spirit at Pentecost the standpoint is reversed.\nInstead of a plunging down into there is a coming down upon, exactly\nreversing the order with which we are familiar, but with the same\nresult--submersion. Notice the phrases in Acts used in describing the\nbaptism of the Holy Spirit on that historical Pentecost: \"Coming upon\nyou,\" \"pour out,\" \"poured forth,\" \"fallen upon,\" \"fell upon,\" \"poured\nout,\" \"fell on them,\" \"came upon,\"[10] all suggesting an act from above.\n\n\nA Four-Sided Truth.\n\nNow notice that the word used at the time of the actual occurrence and\nafterwards is another word--\"_filled_\" and \"full,\" which occurs eleven\ntimes in the first nine chapters of Acts. It tells what was\n_experienced_ by those persons at Pentecost and afterwards. It describes\n_their_ side. Baptism was the _act_; filling was the _result_. If you\nplunge a book into water you are submerging the book: that is your side.\nThe leaves of the book quickly become soaked, filled with the water:\nthat is the other side. When a baby is born it is plunged out into the\natmosphere. That is an immersion into air. It begins at once to cry and\nits lungs become filled with the air into which it has been plunged. So\nhere \"filled\" is the _experience_ word; it tells our side.\n\nThe third word, \"_anointed_,\" indicates the _purpose_ of this filling;\nit is to qualify for living and for service. It is the word commonly\nused in the Old Testament for the setting apart of the tabernacle to its\nholy use; and of priests and kings, and sometimes prophets for service\nand leadership. In the New Testament it is four times used of Jesus,\neach time in connection with His public ministry.[11] Paul uses it of\nhimself in answering those who had criticised his work and leadership at\nCorinth.[12] And John uses it twice in speaking of ability to discern\nand teach the truth.[13] It is the _power_ word, indicating that the\nHoly Spirit's coming is for the specific purpose of setting us apart,\nand to qualify us for right living, and for acceptable and helpful\nservice.\n\nThe fourth word, \"_sealed_,\" explains our personal connection with the\nLord Jesus. It is used once by Paul in writing to his friends at\nCorinth, and twice in the Ephesian epistle.[14] The seal was used, and\nstill is to mark ownership. In our lumber regions up in the Northwest it\nis customary to clear a small spot on a log and strike it with the blunt\nend of a hatchet containing the initials of the owner, and then send it\nadrift down the stream with hundreds of others, and though it may float\nmiles unguarded, that mark of ownership is respected. On the Western\nplains it is common to see mules with an initial branded on the flank.\nIn both cases the initial is the owner's seal, recognized by law as\nsufficient evidence of ownership. So the Holy Spirit is Jesus' ownership\nmark stamped upon us to indicate that we belong to Him. He is our sole\nOwner. And if any of us are not allowing Him to have full control of His\nproperty, we are dealing dishonestly. Sealed is the _property_ or\n_ownership_ word.\n\nThe last one of these words, \"_earnest_,\" is a peculiarly interesting\none. It is found three times in Paul's epistles.[15] An earnest is a\npledge given in advance as an evidence of good faith. We are familiar\nwith the usage of paying down a small part of the price agreed upon to\nmake a business transaction binding. In old English it is called caution\nmoney. My mother has told me of seeing her mother many a time pay a\nshilling in the Belfast market-house to insure the delivery of a bag of\npotatoes, paying the remainder on its delivery.\n\nNow here the Holy Spirit is called \"the earnest of our inheritance unto\nthe redemption of the purchased possession.\" That means two things to\nus: First--that the Holy Spirit now filling us is Jesus' pledge that He\nhas purchased us, and that some day He is coming back to claim His\npossessions; and then that the measure of the Spirit's presence and\npower now is only a foretaste of a greater fullness at the time of\ncoming back; a sort of partial advance payment which insures a payment\nin full when the transaction is completed. Paul speaks of this to the\nRomans as the _first fruits_ of the Spirit.[16]\n\nSo, if you will take all five words you will get all of the truth about\nour friend the Holy Spirit, and just what His coming into one's life\nmeans. The first word, \"baptism,\" is the _historical_ word, pointing us\n_back_ to the day of Pentecost. The other four words, taken together,\ntell us the four sides of the Holy Spirit's relation to us now. \"Filled\"\nis the _experience_ word, pointing us _inward_ to what actually takes\nplace there. \"Anointed\" is the _power_ word, pointing us _outward_ to\nthe life and service among men to which we are set apart. \"Sealed\" is\nthe _personal-relation_ word, pointing us _upward_ to our Owner and\nMaster. \"Earnest\" is the _prophetic_ word, pointing us _forward_ to the\nMaster's coming back to claim His own, and to bestow the full measure of\nthe Spirit's presence.\n\nAnd to-night we want to get some hint of how to have this infilling,\nwhich shall also be an anointing of power and a seal of ownership and an\nearnest of greater things at Jesus' return.\n\n\nBroken Couplings.\n\nBut perhaps some one is saying, \"Have not we all received the Holy\nSpirit if we are christians?\" Yes, that is quite true. It is the Holy\nSpirit's presence in us that makes us christians. His work begins at\nconversion. Conversion and regeneration are the two sides of the same\ntransaction. Conversion, the human side: regeneration, the divine side.\nMy turning clear around to God is my side, and instantly His Spirit\nenters and begins His work. But here is a distinction to be made: the\nHoly Spirit is in every christian, but in many He is not allowed free\nand full control, and so there is little or none of His power _felt_ or\n_seen_. Only as He has full sway is His power _manifest_. If at the time\nof conversion or decision there is clear instruction and a whole-hearted\nsurrender, there will be evidence of the Spirit's presence at once. And\nif the new life goes on _without break_ there will be a continuance of\nthat power in ever-increasing measure. But many a time, through\nignorance, or through some disobedience or failure to obey, there has\ncome a break, a slipping of a cog somewhere, and so an interruption of\nthe flow of power. Many a time lack of instruction regarding the\ncultivation of the Spirit's friendship has resulted in just such a\nbreak. And so a new start is necessary. Then a full surrender is\nfollowed by a new experience or, shall I better say, a re-experience of\nthe Spirit's presence. And this new experience sometimes is so sharply\nmarked as to begin a new epoch in the life. Some of the notable leaders\nof the Church have gone through just such an experience.\n\nYet, I know a man--have known him somewhat intimately for years--one of\nthe most saintly men it has been my privilege to know. For some years he\nwas a missionary abroad, but now is preaching in this country. His\nprivate personal life is fragrant, and his public speech is always\naccompanied with rare power. In conversation with a young minister at a\nsummer conference, he said he had never known this second blessing or\nexperience on which such stress was being laid there. And I think I can\nreadily understand that he had not. For, apparently, so far as one can\nsee, his first surrender or decision had been a whole-hearted one. He\nhad followed simply, fully, as he saw the way. There had been no break,\nbut a steady going on and up, and an ever-increasing manifestation of\nthe Spirit's presence from the time of that first decision. So that it\nmay be said, quite accurately, I think, that _in God's plan_ there is no\nneed of any second stage, but _in our actual experience_ there has been\na second stage, and sometimes more than a second, too, because with so\nmany of us the connections have been broken, making a fresh act on our\npart a necessity.\n\n\nThe Real Battlefield.\n\nBut now the main topic we are to talk about is making and breaking\nconnections. First, making connections with the source of power. How may\none who has been willing to go thus far in these talks go a step further\nand have power in actual _conscious_ possession?\n\nThere are many passages in this old Book that answer that question. But\nlet me turn you to one which puts the answer in very simple shape.\nJohn's gospel, seventh chapter, verses thirty-seven to thirty-nine.\nListen: \"Now, on the last day, the great day of the feast, Jesus stood\nand cried, saying, if any man thirst, let him come unto me and drink. He\nthat believeth on me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall\nflow rivers of living water.\" Then John, writing some fifty years or so\nafterwards, adds what he himself did not understand at the time: \"But\nthis spake He of the Spirit who they that believed on Him were to\nreceive; for not yet was the Spirit given, because not yet was Jesus\nglorified.\"\n\nThere are four words here which tell the four steps into a new life of\npower. Sometimes these steps are taken so quickly that they seem in\nactual experience like only one. But that does not matter to us just\nnow, for we are after the practical result. Four words--thirst,\nglorified, drink, believe--tell the whole story. Thirst means desire,\nintense desire. There is no word in our language so strong to express\ndesire as the word thirst. Physical thirst will completely control your\nactions. If you are very thirsty, you can do nothing till that gnawing\ndesire is satisfied. You cannot read, nor study, nor talk, nor transact\nbusiness. You are in agony when intensely thirsty. To die of thirst is\nextremely painful. Jesus uses that word thirst to express intensest\ndesire. Let me ask you--Are you thirsty for power? Is there a yearning\ndown in your heart for something you have not? That is the first step.\nNo good to offer food to a man without appetite. \"Blessed are they that\nhunger and thirst.\" Pitiable are they that need and do not know their\nneed. Physicians find their most difficult work in dealing with the man\nwho has no desire to live. He is at the lowest ebb. Are you thirsty?\nThere is a special promise for thirsty ones. \"I will pour water on him\nthat is thirsty.\" If you are not thirsty for the Master's power, are you\nthirsty to be made thirsty? If you are not really thirsty in your heart\nfor this new life of power, you might ask the Master to put that thirst\nin you. For there can be nothing before that.\n\nThe second word is the one added long afterwards by John, when the\nSpirit had enlightened his understanding--\"glorified.\" \"For not yet was\nthe Spirit given, because not yet was Jesus glorified.\" That word has\ntwo meanings here: the first meaning a historical one, the second a\npersonal or experimental one. The historical meaning is this: when Jesus\nreturned home all scarred in face and form from His trip to the earth,\nHe was received back with great enthusiasm, and was glorified in the\npresence of myriads of angel beings by being enthroned at the Father's\nright hand. Then the glorified Jesus sent the Holy Spirit down to the\nearth as His own personal representative for His new peculiar mission.\nThe presence of the Spirit in our hearts is evidence that the Jesus whom\nearth despised and crucified is now held in highest honor and glory in\nthat upper world. The Spirit is the gift of a _glorified_ Jesus. Peter\nlays particular stress upon this in his Pentecost sermon, telling to\nthose who had so spitefully murdered Jesus that He \"being at the right\nhand of God _exalted_ ... hath poured forth this.\" That is the\nhistorical meaning--the first meaning--of that word \"glorified.\" It\nrefers to an event in the highest heaven after Jesus' ascension. The\n_personal_ meaning is this: when Jesus is enthroned in my life the Holy\nSpirit shall fill me. The Father glorified Jesus by enthroning Him. I\nmust glorify Him by enthroning Him. But the throne of my heart was\noccupied by another who did not propose to resign, nor to be deposed\nwithout resistance. So there had to be a dethronement as well as an\nenthronement. I must quietly but resolutely place the crown of my life,\nmy love, my _will_ upon Jesus' brow for Him henceforth to control me as\nHe will. That act of enthroning Him carries with it the dethronement of\nself.\n\nLet me say plainly that here is _the_ searching test of the whole\nmatter. _Why_ do you want power? For the rare enjoyment of ecstatic\nmoods? For some hidden selfish purpose, like Simon of Samaria, of which\nyou are perhaps only half conscious, so subtly does it lurk underneath?\nThat you may be able to move men? These motives are all selfish. The\nstreams turn in, and that means a dead sea. Better stop before you\nbegin. For thy heart is not right before God. But if the uppermost and\nundermost desire be to glorify Jesus and let Him do in you, and with you\n_what He chooses_, then you shall know the flooding of the channel-ways\nof your life with a new stream of power.\n\nJesus Himself, when down here as Son of Man, met this test. With\nreverence be it said that His highest purpose in coming to earth was not\nto die upon the cross, but to glorify His Father. That memorable passage\nopening the sixty-first chapter of Isaiah, which Jesus applied to\nHimself in the Nazareth synagogue, contains eight or nine statements of\nwhat He was to do, but closes with a comprehensive statement of the\nunderlying purpose--\"_that He might be glorified_.\" As it turned out,\nthat could best be done by yielding to the awful experiences through\nwhich He passed. But the supreme thought of pleasing His Father was\nnever absent from His thought. It drove Him to the wilderness, and to\nGethsemane, and to Calvary.\n\nIs that the one purpose in your heart in desiring power? He might send\nsome of us out to the far-off foreign mission field. He might send some\ndown to the less enchanted field of the city slums to do salvage service\nnight after night among the awful social wreckage[C] thrown upon the\nstrand there; or possibly it would mean an isolated post out on the\nfrontier, or down in the equally heroic field of the mountains of the\nSouth. He might leave some of you just where you are, in a commonplace,\nhumdrum spot, as you think, when your visions had been in other fields.\nHe might make you a seed-sower, like lonely Morrison in China, when\n_you_ wanted to be a harvester like Moody. Here is the real battlefield.\nThe fighting and agonizing are here. Not with God but with yourself,\nthat the old self in you may be crucified and Jesus crowned in its\nplace.\n\n[Transcriber's Note C: Original had \"weckage\"]\n\nWill you _in the purpose of your heart_ make Jesus absolute monarch\nwhatever that may prove to mean? It _may_ mean great sacrifice; it\n_will_ mean greater joy and power at once. May we have the simple\ncourage to do it. Master, help us! Thou wilt help us. Thou art helping\nsome of us now as we talk and listen and think.\n\n\nPower Manifest in Action.\n\nWell, then, if you have won on that field of action, the rest is very\nsimple. Indeed, after a victory there, your whole life moves up to a new\nlevel. The third word is drink. \"Let him come unto Me _and drink_.\"\nDrinking is one of the easiest acts imaginable. I wish I had a glass of\nwater here just to let you see how easy a thing it is. Tip up the glass\nand let the water run in and down. Drink simply means _take_. It is\nsaying, \"Lord Jesus, I take from Thee the promised power.... I thank\nThee that the Spirit has taken full control.\" But you say, \"Is that\nall?\" Yes. \"Why, I do not feel anything.\" Do you remember saying\nsomething like that when you were urged to take Jesus as your Savior?\nAnd some kind friend told you not to wait for feeling, but to trust, and\nthat when you did that, the light came? Now, the fourth word is\n_believe_. The law of God's dealing with you has not changed. Jesus\nsays, \"Out of his belly _shall flow_ rivers of living water.\" You are to\nbelieve His word. \"But,\" you say, \"how shall I _know_ I have this\npower?\" Well, first, by _believing_ that Jesus has done what He agreed.\nHe promised the Spirit to them that obey Him. The Holy Spirit fills\nevery surrendered heart. Then there is a second way--you will experience\nthe power as need arises. How do you know _any_thing? Here is this\nchair. Suppose I tell you I have power to pick it up and hold it out at\narm's length. Well, you think, I look as though I might have that much\npower in my arm. But you do not know. Perhaps my arm is weak and does\nnot show it. But now I pick it up and hold it out--(holding chair out at\narm's length)--now you _know_ I have at least that much power in my arm.\nPower is always manifest in action. That is a law of power. How did that\nman by the pool of Bethesda in Jerusalem, who had not walked for\nthirty-eight years--how did he _know_ that he had received power to\nwalk? _He got up and walked!_ He did not know he had received the power\ntill he got up. Power is shown in action always. Faith acts. It pushes\nout, in obedience to command. And when you go out of here to-day, _as\nthe need arises_ you will find the power rising within you to meet it.\nWhen the hasty word comes hot to your lips, when that old habit asserts\nitself, when the actual test of sacrifice comes, when the opportunity\nfor service comes, as surely as the need comes, will come the sense of\n_His power_ in control. Believe means _expect_.\n\n\"Thirst,\" \"glorify,\" \"drink,\" \"believe\"--_desire_, _enthrone_, _accept_,\n_expect_--that is the simple story. Are you thirsty? Will you put Jesus\non the throne? Then accept, and go out with your eyes open, expecting,\nexpecting, _expecting_, and He will never fail to reveal His power.\nShall we bow in silence a few moments and settle the matter, each of us,\nwith the Master direct?\n\n\nThree Laws of Continuous Power.\n\nPower depends on good connections. In mechanics: the train with the\nlocomotive; the machinery with the engine; the electrical mechanism with\nthe power house. In the body: the arm with the socket; the brain with\nthe heart. In the christian life the follower of Jesus with the Spirit\nof Jesus. We have been talking together about making connections, and I\nbelieve some of us have made the vital connection this hour, which means\nnew inflow and outflow of power.\n\nNow there will be time for only a brief word about _breaking_\nconnections. \"But,\" you say, \"we do not want to break connections.\" No,\n_you_ do not. But there is someone else who does. Since you have put\nyourself into intimate contact with Jesus this someone else has become\nintensely interested in breaking that contact. And this enemy of ours,\nthis Satan, the hater, is subtle and deep and experienced and more than\na match for any of us. But greater is He that is now in you than he that\nis in the world. Satan will do his best by bold attack and cunning\ndeceit to tamper with your couplings.\n\nOne of the saddest sights, and yet a not uncommon one, is to see a man\nwho has been mightily used of God, but whose usefulness is now wholly\ngone. One can run back through only recent years and recall, one after\nanother, those through whom multitudes were blessed, but who, yielding\nto some subtle temptation, have utterly and forever lost their\nopportunity Of service. The same is true of scores in more secluded\ncircles whose lives, spiritually blighted and dwarfed, tell the same sad\nstory.\n\nThese recent instances are but repetitions of older ones. Three times\nthe writer of Judges tells of Samson that \"the spirit of the Lord came\nmightily upon him,\" and then is added the pathetic sentence--\"but he\nwist not that the Lord was departed from him.\" And between the two\noccurs the story of an act of disobedience. Twice the same thing is\nrecorded of King Saul, \"the spirit of God came mightily upon him,\" and\nthe same sequel follows, \"the spirit of the Lord had departed.\" And\nbetween the two is found an act of disobedience to God's command. The\nninth of Luke tells a similar story. The disciples had been given power;\nhad used the power for others; were requested to relieve a demonized\nboy; had tried to; had expected to; but utterly failed, to their own\nchagrin, and the father's disappointment, amid the surprise and\ncriticism of the crowd. The Master explains that a slipshod connection\nwith God was at the bottom of their failure. Power is not stored in us\napart from God's presence. It merely passes through as He has sway. Once\nthe connection between Him and you is disturbed, the flow of power is\ninterrupted. We do not run on the storage battery plan, but on the\ntrolley plan. Constant communication with the source of power is\nabsolutely essential. The spirit of God never leaves us. We do not lose\nHis presence. But whatever grieves Him prevents His presence being\nmanifest. The _evidence_ of His presence may be lost through wrongdoing.\nSo I want to give you in very brief compass _the three laws_ of the life\nof power--continued and increasing power. I wish some one had given them\nto me long ago. It might have saved me many a bad break.\n\n_The first law_ can be put in a single word--_obey_. Obedience is the\ngreat foundation law of the christian life. Indeed it is the common\nfundamental law of all organization, in nature, in military, naval,\ncommercial, political and domestic circles. Obedience is the great\nessential to securing the purpose of life. Disobedience means disaster.\nIf you turn to scripture you must read almost every page if you would\nget all the statements and illustrations of obedience and its opposite.\nBegin with the third of Genesis, where the first disastrous act of\ndisobedience brought a ruin still going on. Run through the three\nwilderness books, where the new nation is grouped about the smoking\nmountain. Listen in Deuteronomy to the old man Moses talking during the\nthirty days' conference they had in Moab's plains before he was taken\naway. Then into Joshua's book of victory and the Judges' dark story of\ndefeats, through the kingdom books, and the prophecies, and you will\nfind the changes rung more frequently upon _obedience_ than anything\nelse. The same is true of the New Testament clear to the last column of\nthe last page.\n\nThe fact is, every heart is a battlefield whose possession is being\nhotly contested. If Jesus is in possession Satan is trying his best by\nstorm or strategy to get in. If Satan be in possession whether as a\ncoarse or a cultured Satan, then Jesus is lovingly storming the door.\nSatan _can_ not get in without your consent, and Jesus _will_ not. An\nact of obedience to God is slamming the door in Satan's face, and\nopening it wider for Jesus' control. Listen with your heart! An act of\ndisobedience, however slight, as _you_ think, is slamming the door of\nyour heart in Jesus' face and flinging it open to Satan's entrance. Is\nthat mere rhetoric? It is cold fact. No, it is hot fact. The first great\nsimple law is obedience.\n\nBut someone asks, \"How shall I know what--whom, to obey? Sometimes the\nvoices coming to my ear seem to be jarring voices; they do not agree.\nPastors do not all agree: churches are not quite agreed on some matters:\nmy best friends think differently: how shall I know?\" Here comes in _the\nsecond law_, _Obey the book of God as interpreted by the Spirit of God_.\nNot the book alone. That will lead into superstition. Not to say the\nSpirit without the book He has indited. That will lead to fanaticism.\nBut the book as interpreted by the Spirit, and the Spirit as He speaks\nthrough His book. There is a voice of God, and a Spirit of God and a\nbook of God. God speaks by His Spirit through His word Sometimes He\nspeaks directly without the written word. But _very, very rarely_. The\nmental impressions by which the Spirit guides are frequent. But I am\nspeaking now, not of that but of His audible inner voice. He is chary in\nthe use of that. And when he so speaks the _test_ is that, of necessity,\nthe voice of God always agrees with itself. The spoken word is never out\nof harmony with the written word. And as He has given us the written\nword, it becomes our standard of His will. This book of God was\ninspired. It _is_ inspired. God spoke in it. He speaks in it to-day. You\nwill be surprised to find how light on every sort of question will come\nthrough this in-Spirited book.\n\nBut someone with a practical turn of mind is thinking: \"but it is such a\nbig book. I do not know much about it. I read the psalms some, and some\nchapters in Isaiah, and the gospels and some in the epistles, but I have\nno grasp of the whole book; and your second law seems a little beyond\nme.\" Then _you_ listen to the third law, namely: _time alone with the\nbook daily_. It should be unhurried time. Time enough not to think about\ntime. At least a half hour every day, I would suggest, and preferably\nthe first half hour of the morning, rising at least early enough to get\nthis bit of time before any duty can claim you. It may seem very\ndifficult for some. But it is an absolute essential, for the first two\nlaws depend on this one for their practical force.\n\nWhen Joshua, trembling, was called upon to assume the stupendous task of\nbeing Moses' successor, God came and had a quiet talk with him. In that\ntalk He emphasized just one thing as the secret of his new leadership.\nListen: \"This book of the law shall not depart out of thy mouth, but\nthou shalt meditate therein day and night, that thou mayest observe to\ndo according to all that is written therein.\" There are the three laws\nstraight from the lips of God, packed into a single sentence.\n\nLet us plan to get alone with the Master daily over His word, with the\ndoor shut, other things shut out, and ourselves shut in, that we may\nlearn His will, and get strength to do it. And when in doubt _wait_.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[7] 1 Cor. xii. 13.\n\n[8] Luke xxiv. 49.\n\n[9] That is to make perfectly plain that this experience was for _all_:\na very difficult fact for these intensely Jewish disciples to grasp.\n\n(1) Not limited to the original one hundred and twenty, but for the\nwhole body of Jewish disciples--Acts iv.\n\n(2) For the hated half-breed Samaritans--Acts viii.\n\n(3) For the \"dogs\" of Gentiles--Acts x.\n\n(4) For individual disciples anywhere, and at any distance in time from\nPentecost--Acts xix.\n\n[10] Acts i: 8; ii: 17, 33; viii: 15; x: 45; xix: 6.\n\n[11] (1) Luke iv. 18, quo. from Isa. lxi: 1. (2) Acts iv: 27. (3) Acts\nx: 38. (4) Heb. i: 9, quotation from Ps. xlv: 7.\n\n[12] 2 Cor. i: 21.\n\n[13] 1 John i: 20, 27.\n\n[14] 2 Cor. i: 22. Eph. i: 13; iv: 30.\n\n[15] 2 Cor. i: 22; v: 5. Eph. i: 14.\n\n[16] Romans viii: 23.\n\n\n\n\nTHE FLOOD-TIDE OF POWER.\n\nGod's Highest Ideal.\n\n\nA flood-tide is a rising tide. It flows in and fills up and spreads out.\nWherever it goes it cleanses and fertilizes and beautifies. For untold\ncenturies Egypt has depended for its very life upon the yearly\nflood-tide of the Nile. The rich bottom lands of the Connecticut Valley\nare refertilized every spring by that river's flood-tide. The green\nbeauty and rich fruitage of some parts of the Sacramento Valley, whose\nsoil is flooded by the artificial irrigation-rivers, are in sharp\ncontrast with adjoining unwatered portions.\n\nThe flood-tide is caused by influences from above. In the ocean and the\nportions of rivers under its influence by the heavenly bodies. In the\nrivers by the fall of rain and snow swelling successively the upper\nstreams and lakes.\n\nGod's highest ideal for men is frequently expressed under the figure of\na river running at flood-tide. Ezekiel's vision of the future capital of\nIsrael gives prominence to a wonderful river gradually reaching\nflood-tide and exerting untold influence.\n\nJohn's companion vision of the future church in the closing chapters of\nRevelation finds its radiating center in an equally wonderful river of\nwater of life. When Jesus would give a picture of a christian man up to\nHis ideal He exclaims, \"Out of his belly shall flow rivers of living\nwater.\" John's explanation years after was that He was speaking of the\nHoly Spirit's presence in the human life. Jesus' ideal would put our\nlives at the flood-tide. No ebb-tide there. No rise and fall. But a\nconstant flowing in and filling up and flooding out.\n\nLove is ambitious. God is love. And therefore God is ambitious for us.\nIn the best sense of the word He is ambitious for our lives. The old\nimpression has been that salvation is for the soul, and for heaven.\nWell, it is for the soul, and it is for heaven, but it is for the\npresent life and for this earth. Some of God's most far-reaching plans\nhave to do with this earth. To-night we want to get a glimpse of God's\nambitious ideal for our lives down here; something of an understanding\nof the _results_ of the unrestrained presence within us of His Holy\nSpirit.\n\nIt is not surprising that there have been some mistaken ideas about the\nresults. It has been a common supposition that somehow the baptism of\nthe Holy Spirit is always connected with an evangelistic gift and,\nfurther, connected with marked success in soul-winning. Men have thought\nof Mr. Moody facing great crowds, who were swayed and melted at his\nwords, and of people in great multitudes accepting Christ. Probably the\nworld has never had a finer illustration of a Spirit-filled man than in\ndear old Moody. And it is not to be wondered at that the rare\nevangelistic gift of service with which he was endowed and the great\nresults attending it should be so closely allied in our minds with the\nSpirit-filled life which he exemplified so unusually. In sharp contrast\nhowever with that conception will you note that we are told over here in\nExodus of a man named Bezalel[17] who was filled with the Spirit of God\nthat he might have skill in carpentry, in metal working, and weaving of\nfine fabrics, for the construction of the old tent of God. Will you note\nfurther that a company of seventy men[18] were filled in a like manner\nthat they might be skilled in conducting the business affairs of the\nnation; and that Luke tells of Elizabeth[19] being filled that she might\nbecome a true mother for John.\n\nA second misconception has been that marked success always accompanies\nthe Spirit's control. In contrast with that will you please note the\nresults in some of the Spirit-swayed men whom God used in Bible times.\nIsaiah was called to a service that was to be barren of results, though\nlong continued; and Jeremiah's was not only fruitless but with great\npersonal peril. Jesus' public work led through a rough path to a crown\nof thorns and a cross. Stephen's testimony brought him a storm of\nstones. And Paul passed through great danger and distress to a cell,\nand beyond, a keen-edged ax. These are leaders among Spirit-filled men.\n\nPaul's teaching in the Corinthian epistle helps one to a clear\nunderstanding about results. He explains that while it is one Spirit\ndwelling in all who acknowledge Jesus as Lord, yet the _evidence_ of His\npresence differs widely in different persons. It is one God working all\nthings in all persons, but with great variety in the gifts bestowed, in\nthe service with which they are intrusted, and in the inner experiences\nthey are conscious of.[20]\n\nWhat results then may be expected to follow the filling of the Holy\nSpirit? It may be said in a sentence that Jesus fills us with the same\nSpirit that filled Himself that He may work out in us His own image and\nideal, _and_ make use of us in His passionate reaching out after others.\nIf we attempt to analyze these results we shall find them falling into\nthree groups. First--results in the _life_, that is in the inner\nexperiences, and the habits. Second--results in the _personality_, that\nis in the appearance, and the mental faculties. Third--results in\n_service_. Let us look a little at each of these.\n\n\nA Transfigured Life.\n\nFirst regarding the inner experiences. Without doubt the first result\nexperienced will be a new sense of _peace_: a glad, quiet stillness of\nspirit which nothing seems able to disturb. The heart will be filled\nwith a peace still as the stars, calm as the night, deep as the sea,\nfragrant as the flowers.\n\nHow many thousands of lips have lovingly lingered over those sweet\nstrong words: \"The peace of God, which passeth all understanding, shall\nguard your heart and thought in Christ Jesus.\" It is God's peace. It\nacts as an armed guard drawn up around heart and thoughts to keep unrest\nout. It is too subtle for intellectual analysis, but it steals into and\nsteadies the heart. You cannot understand it but you can feel it. You\ncannot get hold of it with your head, but you can with your heart. You\ndo not get it. It gets you. You need not understand in order to\nexperience. Blessed are they that have not understood and yet have\nyielded and experienced.\n\n      \"Peace beginning to be\n      Deep as the sleep of the sea\n    When the stars their faces glass\n      In its blue tranquillity:\n    Hearts of men upon earth\n    That rested not from their birth\n    To rest, as the wild waters rest,\n    With the colors of heaven on their breast.\"\n\nWith that will come a new intense longing to do the Master's will; to\n_please Him_. As the days come and go this will come to be the\nmaster-passion of this new life. It will drive one with a new purpose\nand zest to studying the one book which tells His will. That book\nbecomes literally the book of books to the Spirit-dominated man.\n\nWith that will come a new desire to talk with this new Master, who talks\nto you in His word, and is ever at your side sympathetically listening.\nHis book reveals Himself. And better acquaintance with Him will draw you\noftener aside for a quiet talk. The _pleasure_ of praying will grow by\nleaps and bounds. Nothing so inspires to prayer as reverent listening to\nHis voice. Frequent use of the ears will result in more frequent use of\nthe voice in prayer and praise. And more: Prayer will come to be a part\nof service. Intercession will become the life mission.\n\nBut I must be frank enough to tell you of another result, which is as\nsure to come as these--_there will be conflict_. You will be tempted\nmore than ever. Temptations will come with the subtlety of a snake; with\nthe rush of a storm; with the unexpected swiftness of a lightning flash.\nYou see the act of surrender to Jesus is a notice of fight to another.\nYou have changed masters, and the discarded master does not let go\neasily. He is a trained, toughened fighter. You will think that you\nnever had so many temptations, so strong, so subtle, so trying, so\nunexpected. But listen--_there will be victory_! Truth goes in pairs.\nYou will be tempted. The devil will attend to that. That is one truth.\nIts companion truth is this: you will be victorious over temptation as\nthe new Master has sway. Your new Master will attend to that. Great and\ncunning and strong is the tempter. Do not underrate him. But greater is\nHe that is in you. You cannot overrate Him. He got the victory at every\nturn during those thirty-three years, and will get it for you as many\nyears and turns as shall make out the span of your life. Your one\nbusiness will be to let Him have full control.\n\nStill another result, of the surprising sort, will be a new feeling\nabout _sin_. There will be an increased and increasing _sensitiveness_\nto sin. It will seem so hateful whether coarse or cultured. You will\nshrink from contact with it. There will also be a growing sense of the\n_sinfulness_ of that old heart of yours, even while you may be having\nconstant victory over temptation. Then, too, there will grow up a\nyearning, oh! such a heart-yearning as cannot be told in words, _to be\npure_, really pure in heart.\n\nA seventh result will be an intense desire to get others to know your\nwonderful Master. A desire so strong, gripping you so tremendously, that\nall thought of sacrifice will sink out of sight in its achievement. He\nis such a Master! so loving, so kind, so wondrous! And so many do not\nknow Him: have wrong ideas about Him. If they only _knew_ Him--that\nsurely would settle it. And probably these two--the desire to please\nHim, and the desire to get others to know Him will take the _mastery_ of\nyour ambition and life.\n\n\nThe All-Inclusive Passion.\n\nBut all of these and much more is included in one of Paul's packed\nphrases which may be read, \"the _love_ of God hath _flooded_ our hearts\nthrough the Holy Spirit given unto us.\"[21] The all-inclusive result is\n_love_. That marvelous tender passion--the love of God--heightless,\ndepthless, shoreless, shall _flood_ our hearts, making us as gentle and\ntender-hearted and self-sacrificing and gracious as He. Every phase of\nlife will become a phase of love. Peace is love resting. Bible study is\nlove reading its lover's letters. Prayer is love keeping tryst. Conflict\nwith sin is love jealously fighting for its Lover. Hatred of sin is love\nshrinking from that which separates from its lover. Sympathy is love\ntenderly feeling. Enthusiasm is love burning. Hope is love expecting.\nPatience is love waiting. Faithfulness is love sticking fast. Humility\nis love taking its true place. Modesty is love keeping out of sight.\nSoul-winning is love pleading.\n\nLove is revolutionary. It radically changes us, and revolutionizes our\nspirit toward all others. Love is democratic. It ruthlessly levels all\nclass distinctions. Love is intensely practical. It is always hunting\nsomething to do. Paul lays great stress on this outer practical side. Do\nyou remember his \"fruit of the Spirit\"?[22] It is an analysis of love.\nWhile the first three--\"love, joy, peace\"--are emotions within, the\nremaining six are outward toward others. Notice, \"long-suffering,\ngentleness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness,\" and then the climax is\nreached in the last--\"self-control.\" And in his great love passage in\nthe first Corinthian epistle,[23] he picks out four of these last six,\nand shows further just what he means by love in its practical working in\nthe life. \"Long-suffering\" is repeated, and so is \"kindness\" or\n\"goodness.\" \"Faithfulness\" is reproduced in \"never faileth.\" Then\n\"self-control\" receives the emphasis of an eight-fold repetition of\n\"nots.\" Listen:--\"Envieth not,\" \"boasteth not,\" \"not puffed up,\" \"not\nunseemly,\" \"seeketh not (even) her own,\" \"is not provoked,\" \"taketh not\naccount of evil\" (in trying to help others, like Jesus' word \"despairing\nof no man\"[24]), \"rejoiceth not in unrighteousness\" (that is when the\nunrighteous is punished, but instead feels sorry for him). What\ntremendous power of self-mastery in those \"nots\"! Then the positive side\nis brought out in four \"alls\"; two of them--the first and last--passive\nqualities, \"beareth all things,\" \"endureth all things.\" And in between,\ntwo active \"hopeth all things,\" \"believeth all things.\" The passive\nqualities doing sentinel duty on both sides of the active. These passive\ntraits are intensely active in their passivity. There is a busy time\nunder the surface of those \"nots\" and \"alls.\" What a wealth of\nunderlying power they reveal! Sometimes folks think it sentimental to\ntalk of love. Probably it is of some stuff that shuffles along under\nthat name. But when the Holy Spirit talks about it, and fills our hearts\nwith it there is seen to be an intensely practical passion at work.\n\nLove is not only the finest fruit, but it is the final test of a\nchristian life. How many splendid men of God have seemed to lack here.\nWhat a giant of faith and strength Elijah was. Such intense indignation\nover sin! Such fearless denunciation! What tremendous faith gripping the\nvery heavens! What marvelous power in prayer. Yet listen to him\ncriticising the faithful remnant whom God lovingly defends against his\naspersions. There seems a serious lack there. God seems to understand\nhis need. He asks him to slip down to Horeb for a new vision of his\nMaster. And then He revealed Himself not in whirlwind nor earthquake nor\nlightning. He doubtless felt at home among these tempestuous outbreaks.\nThey suit his temper. But something startlingly new came to him in that\nexquisite \"sound of gentle stillness,\" hushing, awing, mellowing, giving\na new conception of the dominant heart of his God. Some of us might well\ndrop things, and take a run down to Horeb.\n\nI know an earnest scholarly minister with strong personality, and\nfearless in his preaching against sin, but who seems to lack this spirit\nof love. He is so cuttingly critical at times. The other ministers of\nhis town whom he might easily lead, shy off from him. There is no\nmagnetism in the edge of a razor. His critical spirit can be felt when\nhis lips are shut. I recall a woman, earnest, winsome when she chooses\nto be, an intelligent Bible student, keen-scented for error, a generous\ngiver, but what a sharp edge her tongue has. One is afraid to get close\nlest it may cut.\n\nWhen the Holy Spirit takes possession there is _love_, aye, more, a\n_flood_ of love. Have you ever seen a flood? I remember one in the\nSchuylkill during my boyhood days and how it impressed me. Those who\nlive along the valley of that treacherous mountain stream, the Ohio,\nknow something of the power of a flood. How the waters come rushing\ndown, cutting out new channels, washing down rubbish, tearing valuable\nproperty from its moorings, ruling the valley autocratically while men\nstand back entirely helpless.\n\nWould you care to have a flood-tide of love flush the channelways of\nyour life like that? It would clean out something you have preferred\nkeeping. It would with quiet, ruthless strength, tear some prized\npossessions from their moorings and send them adrift down stream and\nout. Its high waters would put out some of the fires on the lower\nlevels. Better think a bit before opening the sluice-ways for that\nflood. But ah! it will sweeten and make fragrant. It will cut new\nchannels, and broaden and deepen old ones. And what a harvest will\nfollow in its wake. Floods are apt to do peculiar things. So does this\none. It washes out the friction-grit from between the wheels. It does\nnot dull the edge of the tongue, but washes the bitter out of the mouth,\nand the green out of the eye. It leaves one deaf and blind in some\nmatters, but much keener-sighted and quicker-eared in others. Strange\nflood that! Would that we all knew more of it.\n\n\nThe Fullness of the Stature of a Man.\n\nNow note some of the changes _in the personality_ which attend the\nSpirit's unrestrained presence. Without doubt the face will change,\nthough it might be difficult to describe the change. That Spirit within\nchanges the look of the eye. His peace within the heart will affect the\nflow of blood in the physical heart, and so in turn the clearness of the\ncomplexion. The real secret of winsome beauty is here. That new dominant\npurpose will modulate the voice, and the whole expression of the face,\nand the touch of the hand, and the carriage of the body. And yet the one\nchanged will be least conscious of it, if conscious at all. Neither\nMoses nor Stephen knew of their transfigured faces.\n\nIt is of peculiar interest to note the changes in the mental make-up. It\nmay be said positively that _the original group of mental faculties\nremain the same_. There seems to be nothing to indicate that any change\ntakes place in one's natural endowment. No faculty is added that nature\nhad not put there, and certainly none removed.\n\nBut it is very clear that there is a _marked development_ of these\nnatural gifts, and that this change is brought about by the putting in\nof _a new and tremendous motive power_, which radically affects\neverything it touches.\n\nRegarding this development four facts may be noted.\n\nFirst fact:--_Those faculties or talents which may hitherto have lain\nlatent, unmatured, are aroused into use._ Most men have large\nundeveloped resources, and endowments. Many of us are one-sided in our\ndevelopment. We are strangers to the real possible self within,\nunconscious of some of the powers with which we are endowed and\nintrusted. The Holy Spirit, when given a free hand, works out the\nfullness of the life that has been put in. The change will not be in the\nsort but in the size, and that not by an addition but by a growth of\nwhat is there.\n\nMoses complains that he is slow of speech and of a slow tongue. God does\nnot promise a new tongue but that he will be _with_ him and _train_ his\ntongue. Listen to him forty years after in the Moab Plains, as with\nbrain fired, and tongue loosened and trained he gives that series of\nfarewell talks fairly burning with eloquence. Students of oratory can\nfind no nobler specimens than Deuteronomy furnishes. The unmatured\npowers lying dormant had been aroused to full growth by the indwelling\nSpirit of God.\n\nSaintly Dr. A. J. Gordon, whose face was as surely transfigured as was\nMoses' or Stephen's used to say that in his earlier years he had no\nexecutive ability. Men would say of him, \"Well, Gordon can preach but--\"\nintimating that he could not do much else; not much of the practical\ngetting of things done in his makeup. When he was offered the\nchairmanship of the missionary committee of the Baptist Church, he\npromptly declined as being utterly unfit for such a task. Finally with\nreluctance he accepted, and for years he guided and molded with rare\nsagacity the entire scheme of missionary operation of the great Baptist\nChurch of the North. He was accustomed with rare frankness and modesty\nto speak of the change in himself as an illustration of how the Spirit\ndevelops talents which otherwise had lain unsuspected and unused.\n\nThe second fact: _ALL of one's faculties will be developed, to the\nhighest normal pitch._ Not only the undeveloped faculties, but those\nalready developed will know a new life. That new presence within will\nsharpen the brain, and fire the imagination. It will make the logic\nkeener, the will steadier, the executive faculty more alert.\n\nThe civil engineer will be more accurate in his measurements and\ncalculations. The scientific man more keenly observant of facts, better\npoised in his generalization upon them, and more convincing in his\ndemonstrations. The locomotive engineer will handle his huge machine\nmore skillfully. The road saves money in having a christian hand on the\nthrottle. The lawyer will be more thorough in his sifting of evidence,\nand more convincing in the planning of his cases. The business man will\nbe even more sharply alive to business. The college student can better\ngrasp his studies, and write with stronger thought and clearer diction.\nThe cook will get a finer flavor into the food. And so on to the end of\nthe list. Why? Not by any magic, but simply and only because man was\ncreated to be animated and dominated by the Spirit of God. That is his\nnormal condition. The Spirit of God is his natural atmosphere. The\nmachine works best when run under the inventor's immediate direction.\nOnly as a man--any man--is swayed by the Holy Spirit, will his powers\nrise to their best. And a man is not doing his best, however hardworking\nand conscientious, and therefore not fair to his own powers, who lives\notherwise.\n\nSome one may enter the objection, that many of the keenest men with\nfinely disciplined powers may be found among non-christian men. But he\nshould remember two facts, first, that a like truth holds good in the\nopposite camp. There are undoubtedly men whose genius is brilliant\nbecause inspired by an evil spirit. There are cultured scholarly men,\nand keen shrewd business men who have yielded their powers to another\nthan God and are greatly assisted by evil spirits, though it is quite\nlikely that they are not conscious that this is the true analysis of\ntheir success.\n\nThe second fact to note is that no matter how keen or developed a man's\npowers may be either as just suggested, or, by dint of native strength\nand of his own effort they are still of necessity less than they would\nbe if swayed by the Spirit of God. For man is created to be indwelt and\ninspired by God's Spirit, and his powers _can_ not be at their best\npitch save as the conditions of their creation are met.\n\nThe third fact:--_There will be a gradual bringing back to their normal\ncondition of those facilities which have been dwarfed, or warped, or\nabnormally developed through sin and selfishness._ Sometimes these moral\ntwists and quirks in our mental faculties are an inheritance through one\nor more generations. The man with excessive egotism often carries the\nevidence of it in the very shape of his head. But as he yields to the\nnew Spirit dominant within, a spirit of humility, of modesty will\ngradually displace so much of the other as is abnormal. The man of\nsuperficial mind will be deepened in his mental processes. The man of\nhasty judgment or poor judgment will grow careful in his conclusions.\nThe lazy man will get a new lease of ambition and energy.\n\nThese results will be gradual, as all of God's processes are. Sometimes\npainfully gradual, and will be strictly in proportion as the man yields\nhimself unreservedly to the control of the indwelling Spirit. And the\nprocess will be by the injection of a new and mighty motive power. The\nshallow-minded man will have an intense desire to study God's wondrous\nclassic so as to learn His will. And though his studies may not get much\nfarther, yet no one book so disciplines and deepens the mind as that.\nThe lazy man will find a fire kindling in his bones to please his Master\nand do something for Him, that will burn through and burn up his\nindolence. The man of hasty judgment will find himself stopping to\nconsider what his Master would desire. And the mere pause to think is a\nlong step toward more accurate judgment. He will become a reverent\nstudent of the word of God, and nothing corrects the judgment like that.\n\nThe self-willed, headstrong man will likely have the toughest time of\nany. To let his own plan utterly go, and instead fit into a radically\ndifferent one will shake him up terrifically. But that mighty One within\nwill lovingly woo and move him. And as he yields, and victory comes, he\nwill be delighted to find that the highest act of the strongest will is\nin yielding to a higher will when found. He will be charmed to discover\nthat the rarest liberty comes only in perfect obedience to perfect law.\n\nAnd so every sort of man who has gotten some moral twist or obliquity in\nhis mental make-up will be straightened out to the normal standard of\nhis Maker, _as he allows Him to take full control_.\n\nThe fourth fact:--_All this growth and development will be strictly\nalong the groove of the man's natural endowment._ The natural mental\nbent will not be changed though the moral crooks will be straightened\nout. Peter's rash, self-assertive twists are corrected, but he remains\nthe same Peter mentally. He does not possess the rare logical powers of\nPaul, nor the judicial administrative temper of James, before the\ninfilling, and is not endowed with either after that experience. John's\nintensity which would call down fire to burn up supposed foes is not\nremoved but turned into another channel, and burns itself out in love.\nJonathan Edwards retains and develops his marvelous faculty of\nmetaphysical reasoning and uses it to influence men for God. Finney's\nintensely logical mind is not changed but fired and used in the same\ndirection.\n\nMoody has neither of these gifts, but has an unusually magnetic\npresence, and a great executive faculty which leaves its impress on his\nblunt direct speech. His faculties are not changed, nor added to, but\ndeveloped wonderfully and used. Geo. Mueller never becomes a great\npreacher like these three; nor an expositor, but finds his rare\ndevelopment in his marked administrative skill. Charles Studd remains a\npoor speaker with jagged rhetoric and with no organizing knack, though\nthe fire of God in his presence kindles the flames of mission zeal in\nthe British universities, and melts your heart as you listen.\nShaftsbury's mental processes show the generations of aristocratic\nbreeding even in his costermonger's cart lovingly winning these men, or\nafter midnight searching out the waifs of London's nooks and docks.\nClough is refused by the missionary board because of his lack of certain\nrequired qualifications, and when finally he reaches the field none of\nthese qualities appears, but his skill as an engineer gives him a hold\nupon thousands whom his presence and God-breathed passion for souls win\nto Jesus Christ. Carey's unusual linguistic talent, Mary Lyon's teaching\ngift are not changed but developed and used. The growth produced by the\nSpirit's presence is strictly along the groove of the natural gift. But\nnote that in this great variety of natural endowment there is one\ntrait--a moral trait, not a mental--that marks all alike, namely a\npervading purpose, that comes to be a passion, to do God's will, and get\nmen to know Him, and that everything is forced to bend to this dominant\npurpose. Is not this glorious unity in diversity?\n\n\nSaved and Sent to Serve.\n\nThe third group of results affects our _service_. We will want to serve.\nLove must act. We must _do_ something for our Master. We must do\n_something_ for those around us. There will be a new _spirit_ of\nservice. Its peculiar characteristic and charm will be the _heart of\nlove_ in it. Love will envelop and undergird and pervade and exude from\nall service. There will be a fine graciousness, a patience, a strong\ntenderness, an earnest faithfulness, a hopeful tirelessness which will\ndespair of no man, and of no situation.\n\nThe _sort_ of service and the _sphere_ of service will be left entirely\nto the direction of the indwelling Holy Spirit, \"dividing to every man\n_as He will_.\" There will be no choosing of a life work but a prayerful\nwaiting till _His choice_ is clear, and then a joyous acceptance of\nthat. There will be no attempt to open doors, not even with a single\ntouch or twist of the knob, but only an entering of _opened_ doors.\n\nIf the work be humble, or the place lowly, or both, there will be a\ncheery eager using of the highest powers keyed to their best pitch. If\nhigher up, a steady remembering that there can be no power save as the\nSpirit controls, and a praying to be kept from the dizziness which\nunaccustomed height is apt to produce. Large quantities of paper and ink\nwill be saved. For many letters of application and indorsement will\nremain _unwritten_.\n\nThe Master's say-so is accepted by Spirit-led men as final. He chooses\nPeter to _open_ the door to the outer nations, and Paul to _enter_ the\nopened door. He chooses not an apostle but Philip to open up Samaria,\nand Titus to guide church matters in Crete. A miner's son is chosen to\nshake Europe, and a cobbler to kindle anew the missionary fires of\nChristendom. Livingston is sent to open up the heart of Africa for a\nfresh infusion of the blood the Son of God. A nurse-maid, whose name\nremains unknown, is used to mold for God the child who became the\nseventh Earl of Shaftsbury, one of the most truly Spirit-filled men of\nthe world. Geo. Mueller is chosen for the signal service of re-teaching\nmen that God still lives and actually answers prayer. Speer is used to\nbreathe a new spirit of devotion among college students, and Mott to\narouse and organize their service around the world. Geo. Williams and\nRobert McBurney become the leaders, British and American, in an\nin-Spirited movement to win young men by thousands. An earnest woman is\nchosen to mother and to shape for God the tender years of earth's\ngreatest queen, who through character and position exerted a greater\ninfluence for righteousness than any other woman. The common factor in\nall is the Chooser. Jesus is the Chief Executive of the campaign through\nHis Spirit. The direction of it belongs to Him. He knows best what each\none can do. He knows best what needs to be done. He is ambitious that\neach of us shall be the best, and have the best. He has a plan thought\nout for each life, and for the whole campaign. His Spirit is in us to\nadminister His plan. He never sleeps. He divideth to every man severally\nas He will. And His is a loving, wise will. It can be trusted.\n\nA Spirit-mastered man slowly comes to understand that service now is\napprenticeship-service. He is in training for the time when a King shall\nreign, and will need tested and trusted and trained servants. He is in\ncollege getting ready for commencement day. That _may_ explain in part\nwhy some of the workers whom _we_ think can be least spared, are called\naway in their prime. Their apprentice term is served. School's out. They\nare moved up.\n\n\nThe Music of the Wind Harp.\n\nPlease remember that these are _flood-tide_ results. Some good people\nwill never know them except in a very limited way. For they do not open\nthe sluice-gates wide enough to let the waters reach flood-tide. _These\nresults will vary in degree with the degree and constancy of the\nyielding to the Spirit's control._ A full yielding at the start, and\nconstantly continued will bring these results in full measure and\nwithout break, though the growth will be gradual. For it is a rising\nflood, ever increasing in height and depth and sweep and power. Partial\nsurrender will mean only partial results; the largest and finest results\ncome only as the spirit has full control, for the work is all His, by\nand with our consent.\n\nIn one of her exquisite poems Frances Ridley Havergal tells of a friend\nwho was given an aeolian harp which, she was told, sent out unutterably\nsweet melodies. She tried to bring the music by playing upon it with her\nhand, but found the seven strings would yield but one tone. Keenly\ndisappointed she turned to the letter sent before the gift and found\nshe had not noticed the directions given. Following them carefully she\nplaced the harp in the opened window-way where the wind could blow upon\nit. Quite a while she waited but at last in the twilight the music came:\n\n    \"Like stars that tremble into light\n      Out of the purple dark, a low, sweet note\n      Just trembled out of silence, antidote\n    To any doubt; for never finger might\n      Produce that note, so different, so new:\n      Melodious pledge that all He promised should come true.\n\n           *       *       *       *       *\n\n    \"Anon a thrill of all the strings;\n      And then a flash of music, swift and bright,\n      Like a first throb of weird Auroral light,\n    Then crimson coruscations from the wings\n      Of the Pole-spirit; then ecstatic beat,\n      As if an angel-host went forth on shining feet.\n\n    \"Soon passed the sounding starlit march,\n      And then one swelling note grew full and long,\n      While, like a far-off cathedral song,\n    Through dreamy length of echoing aisle and arch\n      Float softest harmonies around, above,\n      Like flowing chordal robes of blessing and of love.\n\n    \"Thus, while the holy stars did shine\n      And listen, the aeolian marvels breathed;\n      While love and peace and gratitude enwreathed\n    With rich delight in one fair crown were mine.\n      The wind that bloweth where it listeth brought\n      This glory of harp-music--not my skill or thought.\"\n\nAnd the listening friend to whom this wondrous experience is told, who\nhas had a great sorrow in her life, and been much troubled in her\nthoughts and plans replies:\n\n    \" ... I too have tried\n    My finger skill in vain. But opening now\n    My window, like wise Daniel, I will set\n    My little harp therein, and listening wait\n    The breath of heaven, the Spirit of our God.\"\n\nMay we too learn the lesson of the wind-harp. For man is God's aeolian\nharp. The human-taught finger skill can bring some rare music, yet by\ncomparison it is at best but a monotone. When the instrument is set to\ncatch the full breathing of the breath of God, then shall it sound out\nthe rarest wealth of music's melodies. As the life is yielded fully to\nthe breathing of the Spirit we shall find the peace of God which passeth\nall understanding filling the heart; and the power of God that passeth\nall resisting flooding the life; and others shall find the beauty of\nGod, that passeth all describing, transfiguring the face; and the dewy\nfragrance of God, that passeth all comparing, pervading the personality,\nthough most likely _we_ shall not know it.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[17] Exodus xxxi: 1-5.\n\n[18] Numbers xi: 16, 17.\n\n[19] Luke i: 13-17, 41.\n\n[20] 1 Cor. xii: 4-6, 11.\n\n[21] Rom. v: 5.\n\n[22] Gal. v: 22-23.\n\n[23] 1 Cor. xiii.\n\n[24] Luke vi: 35. R. V., margin.\n\n\n\n\nFRESH SUPPLIES OF POWER.\n\n\"As the Dew.\"\n\n\nThere is another very important bit needed to complete the circle of\ntruth we are going over together in these quiet talks. Namely, _the\ndaily life_ after the act of surrender and all that comes with that act.\nThe steady pull day by day. After the eagle-flight up into highest air,\nand the hundred yards dash, or even the mile run, comes the steady,\nsteady walking mile after mile. The real test of life is here. And the\nhighest victories are here, too.\n\nI recall the remark made by a friend when this sort of thing was being\ndiscussed:--\"I would make the surrender gladly but as I think of my home\nlife I know I cannot keep it.\" There was the rub. The day-by-day life\nafterwards. The habitual steady-going when temptations come in, and when\nmany special aids, and stimulating surroundings are withdrawn. This last\ntalk together is about this _afterlife_. What is the plan for that?\nWell, let us talk it over a bit.\n\nHave you noticed that the old earth receives a fresh baptism of life\ndaily? Every night the life-giving dew is distilled. The moisture rises\nduring the day from ocean, and lake, and river, undergoes a chemical\nchange in God's laboratory and returns nightly in dew to refresh the\nearth. It brings to all nature new life, with rare beauty, and fills the\nair with the exquisite fragrance drawn from flowers and plants. Its\npower to purify and revitalize is peculiar and remarkable. It distils\nonly in the night when the world is at rest. It can come only on clear\ncalm nights. Both cloud and wind disturb and prevent its working. It\ncomes quietly and works noiselessly. But the changes effected are\nradical and immeasurable. Literally it gives to the earth a nightly\nbaptism of new life. That is God's plan for the earth. And that, too,\nlet me say to you, is His plan for our day-by-day life.\n\nIt hushes one's heart with a gentle awe to go out early in the morning\nafter a clear night when air and flower and leaf are fragrant with an\nindescribable freshness, and listen to God's voice saying, \"_I will be\nas the dew unto Israel._\" That sentence is the climax of the book where\nit occurs.[25] God is trying through Hosea to woo His people away from\ntheir evil leaders up to Himself again. To a people who knew well the\nvitalizing power of the deep dews of an Oriental night, and their own\ndependence upon them, He says with pleading voice, \"_I_ will be to you\n_as the dew_.\"\n\nThe setting of that sentence is made very winsome. The _beauty_ of the\nlily, and of the olive-tree; the _strength_ of the roots of Lebanon's\ngiant cedars, and the _fragrance_ of their boughs; the _fruitfulness_\nof the vine, and the _richness_ of the grain harvest are used to bring\ngraphically to their minds the meaning of His words: \"as the dew.\"\n\nTenderly as He speaks to that nation in which His love-plan for a world\ncentered, more tenderly yet does He ever speak to the individual heart.\nThat wondrous One who is \"alongside to help\" will be by the atmosphere\nof His presence to you and to me as the dew is to the earth--a daily\nrefreshing of new life, with its new strength, and rare beauty and fine\nfragrance.\n\nHave you noticed how Jesus Himself puts His ideal for the day-by-day\nlife? At that last Feast of Tabernacles He said, \"He that believeth on\nme out of his inner being shall flow rivers of water of life.\"[26] Jesus\nwas fairly saturated with the Old Testament figures and language. Here\nHe seems to be thinking, of that remarkable river-vision of\nEzekiel's.[27] You remember how much space is given there to describing\na wonderful river running through a place where living waters had never\nflowed. The stream begins with a few strings of water trickling out from\nunder the door-step of the temple, and rises gradually but steadily\nankle-deep, knee-deep, loin-deep, over-head, until flood-tide is\nreached, and an ever rising and deepening flood-tide. And everywhere the\nwaters go is life with beauty, and fruitfulness. There is no drought,\nno ebbing, but a continual flowing in, and filling up, and flooding out.\nIn these two intensely vivid figures is given our Master's carefully,\nlovingly thought out plan for the day-by-day life.\n\nIn actual experience the reverse of this is, shall I say too much if I\nsay, _most commonly_ the case? It seems to be so. Who of us has not at\ntimes been conscious of some failure that cut keenly into the very\ntissue of the heart! And even when no such break may have come there is\never a heart-yearning for more than has yet been experienced. The men\nwho seem to know most of God's power have had great, unspeakable\nlongings at times for a fresh consciousness of that power.\n\nThere is a simple but striking incident told of one of Mr. Moody's\nBritish campaigns. He was resting a few days after a tour in which God's\npower was plainly felt and seen. He was soon to be out at work again.\nTalking out of his inner heart to a few sympathetic friends, he\nearnestly asked them to join in prayer that he might receive \"a fresh\nbaptism of power.\" Without doubt that very consciousness of failure, and\nthis longing for more is evidence of the Spirit's presence within wooing\nus up the heights.\n\nThe language that springs so readily to one's lips at such times is just\nsuch as Mr. Moody used, a fresh baptism, a fresh filling, a fresh\nanointing. And the _fresh consciousness_ of God's presence and power is\nto one as a fresh act of anointing on His part. Practically it does not\nmatter whether there is actually a fresh act upon the Spirit's part,\n_or_ a renewed consciousness upon our part of His presence, and a\nrenewed humble depending wholly upon Him. Yet to learn the real truth\nputs one's relationship to God in the clearer light that prevents\nperiods of doubt and darkness. Does it not too bring one yet nearer to\nHim? In this case it certainly suggests a depth and a tenderness of His\nunparalleled love of which some of us have not even dreamed. So far as\nthe Scriptures seem to suggest there is not a fresh act upon God's part\nat certain times in one's experience, but His wondrous love is such that\nthere is _a continuous act_--a continuous flooding in of all the\ngracious power of His Spirit that the human conditions will admit of.\nThe flood-tide is ever being poured out from above, but, as a rule, our\ngates are not open full width. And so only part can get in, and part\nwhich He is giving is restrained by us.\n\nWithout doubt, too, the incoming flood expands that into which it comes.\nAnd so the capacity increases ever more, and yet more. And, too, we may\nbecome much more sensitive to the Spirit's presence. We may grow into\nbetter mediums for the transmission of His power. As the hindrances and\nlimitations of centuries of sin's warping and stupefying are gradually\nlessened there is a freer better channel for the through-flowing of His\npower.\n\n\nA Transition Stage.\n\nSuch seems to be the teaching of the old Book. Let us look into it a\nlittle more particularly. One needs to be discriminating in quoting the\nBook of Acts on this subject. That book marks _a transition stage_\nhistorically in the experience possible to men. Some of the older\npersons in the Acts lived in three distinct periods. There was the Old\nTestament period when a salvation was foretold and promised. Then came\nthe period when Jesus was on the earth and did a wholly new thing in the\nworld's history in actually working out a salvation. And then followed\nthe period of the Holy Spirit applying to men the salvation worked out\nby Jesus. All these persons named in the Book of Acts lived both before\nand after the day of Pentecost, which marked the descent of the Holy\nSpirit. The Book of Acts marks the clear establishing of the transition\nfrom the second to the third of these three periods. Ever since then men\nhave lived _after_ Pentecost. The transitional period of the Book of\nActs is behind us.\n\nMen in Old Testament times both in the Hebrew nation and outside of it\nwere born of the Spirit, and under His sway. But there was a limit to\nwhat He could do, because there was a limit to what had been done. The\nHoly Spirit is the executive member of the Godhead. He applies to men\nwhat has been worked out, or achieved for them, and only that. Jesus\ncame and did a new thing which stands wholly alone in history. He lived\na sinless life, and then He died sacrificially for men, and then\nfurther, arose up to a new life after death. The next step necessary was\nthe sending down of the divine executive to work out in men this new\nachievement. He does in men what Jesus did for them. He can do much more\nfor us than for the Old Testament people because much more has been done\nfor us by God through Jesus. The standing of a saved man before\nPentecost was like that of a young child in a rich family who cannot\nunder the provisions of the family will come into his inheritance until\nthe majority age is reached. After the Son of God came, men are _through\nHim_ reckoned as being _as He is_, namely in full possession of all\nrights conferred by being a born son of full age. Now note carefully\nthat this Book of Acts marks the transition from the one period to the\nother. And so one needs to be discriminating in applying the experiences\nof men passing through a transition period to those who live wholly\nafterwards.\n\n\nThe After-Teaching.\n\nThe after-Pentecost teaching, that is the personal relation to the\nSpirit by one who has received Him to-day, may best be learned from the\nepistles. Paul's letters form the bulk of the New Testament after the\nBook of Acts is passed. They contain the Spirit's _after-teaching_\nregarding much which the disciples were not yet able to receive from\nJesus' own lips. They were written to churches that were far from ideal.\nThey were composed largely of people dug out of the darkest heathenism.\nAnd with the infinite patience and tact of the Spirit Paul writes to\nthem with a pen dipped in his own heart.\n\nA rather careful run through these thirteen letters brings to view two\nthings about the relation of these people to the Holy Spirit. First\nthere are certain _allusions_ or references to the Spirit, and then\ncertain _exhortations_. Note first these _allusions_.[28] They are\nnumerous. In them it is constantly _assumed_ that these people _have\nreceived the Holy Spirit_. Paul's dealing with the twelve disciples whom\nhe found at Ephesus[29] suggests his habit in dealing with all whom he\ntaught. Reading that incident in connection with these letters seems to\nsuggest that in every place he laid great stress upon the necessity of\nthe Spirit's control in every life. And now in writing back to these\nfriends nearly all the allusions to the Spirit are in language that\n_assumes_ that they have surrendered fully and been filled with His\npresence.\n\nThere are just four _exhortations_ about the Holy Spirit. It is\nsignificant to notice what these are not. They are not exhorted to seek\nthe baptism of the Holy Spirit nor to wait for the filling. There is no\nword about refillings, fresh baptisms or anointings. For these people,\nunlike most of us to-day, have been thoroughly instructed regarding the\nSpirit and presumably have had the great radical experience of His full\nincoming. On the other hand notice what these exhortations _are_. To the\nThessalonians in his first letter he says, \"_Quench not_ the\nSpirit.\"[30] To the disciples scattered throughout the province of\nGalatia who had been much disturbed by false leaders he gives a rule to\nbe followed, \"_Walk_ by the Spirit.\"[31] The other two of these\nincisive words of advice are found in the Ephesian letter--\"_Grieve not_\nthe Spirit of God,\"[32] and \"_be ye filled_ with the Spirit.\"[33]\n\nThese exhortations like the allusions assume that they have received the\nSpirit, and know that they have. The last quoted, \"be ye filled,\" may\nseem at first flush to be an exception to this, but I think we shall see\nin a moment that a clearer rendering takes away this seeming, and shows\nit as agreeing with the others in the general teaching.\n\nThis letter to the Ephesians may perhaps be taken as a fair index of the\nNew Testament teaching on this matter after the descent of the Spirit;\nthe _after-teaching_ promised by Jesus. It bears evidence of being a\nsort of circular letter intended to be sent in turn to a number of the\nchurches, and is therefore a still better illustration of the\nafter-teaching. The latter half of the letter is dealing wholly with\nthis question of the day-by-day life after the distinct act of surrender\nand infilling. Here are found two companion exhortations. One is\nnegative: the other positive. The two together suggest the rounded truth\nwhich we are now seeking. On one side is this:--\"Grieve not the Spirit\nof God,\" and on the other side is this:--\"be ye filled with the Spirit.\"\nBishop H. C. G. Moule calls attention to the more nearly accurate\nreading of this last,--\"be ye _filling_ with the Spirit.\" That suggests\ntwo things, a _habitual inflow_, and, that _it depends on us_ to keep\nthe inlets ever open. Now around about these two companion exhortations\nare gathered two groups of friendly counsels. One group is about the\n_grieving_ things which must be avoided. The other group is about the\npositive things to be cultivated. And the inference of the whole passage\nis that this avoiding and this cultivating result in the habitual\nfilling of the Spirit's presence.\n\n\nCross-Currents.\n\nFresh supplies of power then seem to be dependent upon two things. The\nfirst is this:--_Keeping the life dear of hindrances._ This is the\nnegative side, though it takes very positive work. It is really the\nabnormal side of the true life. Sin is abnormal, unnatural. It is a\nforeign element that has come into the world and into life disturbing\nthe natural order. It must be kept out. The whole concern here is\nkeeping certain things _out_ of the life. The task is that of staying in\nthe world but keeping the world-spirit _out_ of us. We are to remain in\nthe world for its sake, but to allow nothing in it to disturb our full\ntouch with the other world where our citizenship is. The christian's\nposition in this world is strikingly like that of a nation's ambassador\nat a foreign court. Joseph H. Choate mingles freely with the subjects of\nKing Edward, attends many functions, makes speeches, grants occasional\ninterviews, but he is ever on the alert with his rarely keen mind, and\nlong years of legal training not to utter a syllable which might not\nproperly come from the head of his home government. Never for one moment\nis he off his guard. His whole aim is to keep in perfect sympathy with\nhis home country as represented by its head. He never forgets that he is\nthere as a stranger, sojourning for a while, belonging to and\nrepresenting a foreign country. So, and only so, all the authority and\npower of his own government flows through his person and is in every\nword and act. Such a man invariably provides himself with a home in\nwhich is breathed the atmosphere of his far away homeland. Now we are\nstrangers, sojourners, indeed more, ambassadors, representatives of a\ngovernment foreign to the present prince of this world. It is only as we\nkeep in perfect sympathy with the homeland and its Head that there can\nflow into and through us all the immeasurable power of our King.\nWhatever interrupts that intercourse with headquarters interrupts the\nflow of power in our lives and service. We must guard most jealously\nagainst such things.\n\nElectricity helps a man here, in the similes it suggests. For instance\nthe electric current passing into a building is sometimes mysteriously\nturned aside and work seriously interrupted. A cross-wire dropping down\nout of place, and leaning upon the feed-wire has drawn the power into\nitself and off somewhere else. The cross is apt to be in some unknown\nplace, and much searching is frequently necessary before it can be found\nand fixed. And all the work affected by that feed-wire waits till the\nfixing is done.\n\nThe spirit atmosphere in which we live is full, chock-full, of\ncross-currents. And a man has to be keenly alert to keep his feed-wire\nclear. If it be crossed, or grounded, away goes the power, while he may\nbe wondering why.\n\nWhat are some of the cross-currents that threaten to draw the power of\nthe feed-wire? Well, just like the electric currents some of them seem\nvery trivial. Here are a few of the commoner ones:--\n\nFailure to keep bodily appetites under control. Intimate fellowship with\nthose who are enemies of our Lord, it may be in some organization, or\notherwise. The absence of a spirit of loving sympathy. The dominance in\none's life of a critical spirit which saps the warmth out of everything\nit touches. Jealousy, and the whole brood which that single word\nsuggests. Keeping money which God would have out in service for himself.\nSelf-seeking. Self-assertion. A frivolous spirit, instead of a joyous\nwinsomeness, or a sweet seriousness. Overworking one's bodily strength,\nwhich grows out of a wrong ambition, and is trusting one's own efforts\nmore than God's power, and which always involves disobedience of His law\nfor the body. Over-anxiety which robs the mind of its freshness, and the\nspirit of its sweetness, and whose roots are the same as overwork.\n\nThe hot hasty word. The uncontrolled temper. The pride that will not\nconfess to having been in the wrong. Lack of rugged honesty in speech.\nCarelessness in money matters. Lack of reverence for the body. The\nunholy use between two, whose relation is the most sacred of earth, of\nthat hallowed function of nature which has rigidly but one normal use.\n\nSome personal habit which may be common enough, and for which plausible\narguments can be made, but which does take the fine edge off of the\ninner consciousness of the Master's approval. Keen shrewd scheming for\nposition by those in holy service.\n\nPaul's Galatian letter supplies these items:--wrangling; wordy disputes;\npassionate outbursts of anger; wire-pulling or electioneering, that is,\nusing the world's methods to attain one's ends by those in God's\nservice.\n\nThese are some of the cross-currents that are surely drawing the power\nout of many a life to-day. But how may one know surely about the wrong\nthing? Well, that One who resides within the heart is very sensitive and\nis very faithful. If I will jealously keep on good terms, aye on the\nbest terms, with Him, ever listening, ever obeying, I will come to know\nat first touch the thing that disturbs His sensitive spirit. And to keep\nthat thing _out_, uncompromisingly, unflinchingly _out_, is the only\nsafeguard here.\n\nBut there will be continual testings and temptings. Testings by God.\nTemptings by Satan. There will be testings by God that the realness of\nthe surrender may be made clear, and, too, that in these repeated\nsiftings the dross may all go, and only the pure gold remain. The will\nmust be exercised in rejecting and accepting that its fiber may be\ntoughened. No man knows how deep is his conviction until the test comes.\nGod will test for love's sake to strengthen. Satan will tempt for hate's\nsake to trip up and weaken. God's testings will give strength for\nSatan's temptings. And out of this double furnace the gold comes doubly\npurified.\n\nSome circumstance arises involving a decision. There is a clear\nconviction of what the inner One prefers but it runs against our plans\nin which friends or loved ones are concerned who may not see eye-to-eye\nwith us. To follow the conviction means misunderstanding and some\nsacrifice. And so the test is on. To be tactful, and gentle in following\nrigidly the clear conviction will take grace, _and_, will bring a\nrefining of life's strength and fabric.\n\nTo run through this old Book and call the names is to bring to mind the\nmen who have gone through just such testings and temptings; some with\nsplendid victory, and some with shameful defeat.\n\nSo it comes to pass that surrender is not simply the initial _act_ into\nthis life of power. It must become the continuous _habit_. There must be\na habitual living up to the act. Surrender comes to be an attitude of\nthe will affecting every act and event of life. And by and by the\ninstinctive measuring of everything by its relation to Jesus comes to be\nthe involuntary habit of the life.\n\n\nFriends with God.\n\n_The second thing_ upon which fresh supplies of power hinge is _the\ncultivation of personal friendship with God_. This is the positive side\nof the new life. This is the true natural life. It is the living\nconstantly in the atmosphere of the Spirit's presence.\n\nThe highest and closest relation possible between any two is friendship.\nThe basis of friendship is sympathy, that is, fellow-feeling. The\natmosphere of friendship is mutual unquestioning trust. In the original\nmeaning of the word, a friend is a lover. A friend is one who loves you\nfor your sake alone, and steadfastly loves, regardless of any return,\neven return-love. Friendship hungers for a closer knowledge, and for a\ndeeper intimacy. Friendship grows with exchange of confidences. Friends\nare confidants.\n\n     \"As in a double solitude, ye think in each other's hearing.\"\n\nA man's friendships shape his life more than aught else, or all\nelse.\n\nNow this is the tender relation which God Himself desires with each of\nus. Did Jesus ever speak more tenderly than on that last Thursday night\nwhen He said to those constant companions of two years, \"I have called\nyou _friends_, for all things that I heard from My Father I have made\nknown unto you\"? Out of his own experience David writes, \"The friendship\nof the Lord is with those that reverently love Him, and He will give\nevidence of His friendship by showing to them His covenant, His plans,\nand His power.\" And David knew. Abraham had the reputation of being a\nfriend of God. He even trusted his darling boy's life to God when he\n_could not_ understand what God was doing. And he found God worthy of\nhis friendship. He spared that darling boy even though later He spared\nnot His own darling boy. It thrills one's heart to hear God saying,\n\"Abraham _my friend_.\" Friendship with God means such oneness of spirit\nwith Him that He may do with us and through us what He wills. This and\nthis alone is the true power--God in us, and God with us free to do as\nHe wills.\n\nNow trust is the native air of friendship. A breath of doubt chills and\nchokes. If one is filled and surrounded by trust in God as the\natmosphere of his life his touch with God then becomes most intimate.\nSatan cannot breathe in that atmosphere. It chokes him. Air is the\nnative element of the bird. Away from air it gasps and dies. Water is\nthe native element of the fish. Out of water it chokes and gasps and\ndies. Trust is the native element of friendship--friendship with God. A\nconstant feeling of confidence in GOD that believes in His overruling\npower, and in His unfailing love, and rests in Him in the darkness when\nthe thing you prize most is lying bound on the stony altar.\n\nThe Spirit of God is a friend, a lover. He is ever wooing us up the\nheights. Let us climb up. He is every wooing us into the inner recesses\nof friendship with Himself. Shall we not go along with Him? This is the\nsecret of a life ever fresh with the presence of God. It is the only\npathway of increasing youthfulness in the power of God.\n\n    \"And in old age, when others fade,\n      They fruit still forth shall bring;\n    They shall be fat, and full of sap,\n      And aye be flourishing.\"\n\n\nA Bunch of Keys.\n\nTo those who would enter these inner sacred recesses here is a small\nbunch of keys which will unlock the doors. Three keys in this bunch; a\nkey-time, a key-book, and a key-word. _The key-time_ is time alone with\nGod daily. With the door shut. Outside things shut outside, and one's\nself shut in alone with God. This is the trysting-hour with our Friend.\nHere He will reveal Himself to us, and reveal our real selves to\nourselves. This is going to school to God. It is giving Him a chance to\ninstruct and correct, to strengthen and mellow and sweeten us. One must\nget alone to find out that he never is alone. The more alone we are so\nfar as men are concerned the least alone we are so far as God is\nconcerned. It must be unhurried time. Time enough to forget about time.\nWhen the mind is fresh and open. One _must_ use this key if he is to\nknow the sweets of friendship with God.\n\n_The key-book_ is this marvelous old classic of God's Word. Take this\nbook with you when you go to keep tryst with your Friend. God speaks in\nHis Word. He will take these words and speak them with His own voice\ninto the ear of your heart. You will be surprised to find how light on\nevery sort of question will come. It is remarkable what a faithful\nhalf-hour daily with a good paragraph[34] Bible in wide, swift,\ncontinuous reading will do in giving one a swing and a grasp of this\nold Book. In time, and not long time either, one will come to be\nsaturated with its thought and spirit. Reading the Bible is listening to\nGod. It is fairly pathetic what a hard time God has to get men's ears.\nHe is ever speaking but we will not be quiet enough to hear. One always\nenjoys listening to his friend. What _this_ Friend says to us will\nchange radically our conceptions of Himself, and of life. It will clear\nthe vision, and discipline the judgment, and stiffen the will.\n\n_The key-word_ is obedience: a glad prompt doing of what our Friend\ndesires _because He desires it_. Obedience is saying \"yes\" to God. It is\nthe harmony of the life with the will of God. With some it seems to mean\na servile bondage to details. It should rather mean a spirit of\n_intelligent_ loyalty to God. It aims to _learn_ His will, and then to\ndo it. God's will is revealed in His word. His particular will for my\nlife He will reveal to me if I will listen, _and_, if I will obey, so\nfar as I know to obey. If I obey what I know, I will know more.\nObedience is the organ of knowledge in the soul. \"He that willeth to do\nHis will shall know.\"\n\nGod's will includes His plan for a world, and for each life in the\nworld. Both concern us. He would first work in us, that He may work\n_through_ us in His passionate outreach for a world. His will includes\nevery bit of one's life; and therefore obedience must also include every\nbit. A run out in a single direction may serve as a suggestion of many\nothers.\n\nThe law of my body, which obeyed brings or continues health is God's\nwill, as much as that which concerns moral action. Our bodies are holy\nbecause God lives in them. Overwork, insufficient sleep, that imprudent\ndiet and eating which seems the rule rather than the exception,\ncarelessness of bodily protection in rain or storm or drafts or\notherwise:--these are sins against God's will for the body, and no one\nwho is disobedient here can ever be a channel of power up to the measure\nof God's longing for us.\n\nAnd so regarding all of one's life, one must ever keep an open mind\nGodward so as to get a well balanced sense of what His will is. Practice\nis the great thing here. This is school work. By persistent listening\nand practising there comes a mature judgment which avoids extremes in\nboth directions. But the rule is this: cheery prompt obeying regardless\nof consequences. Disobedience, failure to obey, is _breaking with our\nFriend_.\n\nThese are the three keys which will let us into the innermost chambers\nof friendship with God. And with them goes a _key-ring_ on which these\nkeys must be strung. It is this:--_implicit trust in God_. Trust is the\nnative air of friendship. In its native air it grows strong and\nbeautiful. Whatever disturbs an active abiding trust in God must be\ndriven out of doors, and kept out. Doubt chills the air below normal.\nAnxiety overheats the air. A calm looking up into God's face with an\nunquestioning faith in _Him_ under every sort of circumstance--this is\ntrust. Faith has three elements: knowledge, belief and _trust_.\nKnowledge is acquaintance with certain facts. Belief is accepting these\nfacts as true. _Trust is risking_ something that is very precious. Trust\nis the life-blood of faith. This is the atmosphere of the true natural\nlife as planned by God.\n\n    \"If a wren can cling\n    To a spray a-swing\n    In a mad May wind, and sing, and sing,\n    As if she'd burst for joy;\n    Why cannot I,\n    Contented lie,\n    In His quiet arms, beneath His sky,\n    Unmoved by earth's annoy?\"\n\nShall we take these keys, and this key-ring and use them faithfully? It\nwill mean intimate friendship with God. And that is the one secret of\npower, fresh, and ever freshening.\n\nThere is a simple story told of an old German friend of God which\nillustrates all of this with a charming picturesqueness. Professor Johan\nAlbrecht Bengal was a teacher in the seminary in Denkendorf, Germany, in\nthe eighteenth century. \"He united profound reverence for the Bible with\nan acuteness which let nothing escape him.\" The seminary students used\nto wonder at the great intellectuality, and great humility and\nChristliness which blended their beauty in him. One night, one of them,\neager to learn the secret of his holy life, slipped up into his\napartments while the professor was out lecturing in the city, and hid\nhimself behind the heavy curtains in the deep recess of the\nold-fashioned window. Quite a while he waited until he grew weary and\nthought of how weary his teacher must be with his long day's work in the\nclass-room and the city. At length he heard the step in the hall, and\nwaited breathlessly to learn the coveted secret. The man came in,\nchanged his shoes for slippers, and sitting down at the study table,\nopened the old well-thumbed German Bible and began reading leisurely\npage by page. A half-hour he read, three-quarters of an hour, an hour,\nand more yet. Then leaning his head down on his hands for a few minutes\nin silence he said in the simplest most familiar way, \"Well, Lord Jesus,\nwe're on the same old terms. Good-night.\"\n\nIf we might live like that. Begin the day with a bit of time alone, a\ngood-morning talk with Him. And as the day goes on in its busy round\nsometimes to put out your hand to Him, and under your breath say, \"let's\nkeep on good terms, Lord Jesus.\" And then when eventide comes in to go\noff alone with Him for a quiet look into His face, and a good-night\ntalk, and to be able to say, with reverent familiarity: \"Good-night,\nLord Jesus, we are on the same old terms, you and I, good-night.\" Ah!\nsuch a life will be fairly fragrant with the very presence of God.\n\nFOOTNOTES:\n\n[25] Hosea xiv: 5.\n\n[26] John vii: 37-39.\n\n[27] Ezekiel xlvii: 1-12.\n\n[28] 1 Thessalonians iv: 8\n     1 Corinthians xii: 1-11.\n     2 Corinthians xi: 4\n     Galatians iii: 2-5; iv: 6; v: 5, 18,[D] 22-25.\n     Romans viii: 1-27, xv: 13.\n     Colossians i: 8.\n     Philippians iii: 3.\n     Titus iii: 5-6.\n\n[Transcriber's Note D: Original had \"18, 18,\"]\n\n[29] Acts xix: 1-7.\n\n[30] 1 Thessalonians v: 19.\n\n[31] Galatians v: 16.\n\n[32] Ephesians iv: 30.\n\n[33] Eph. v: 18.\n\n[34] One beauty of the revised version is its paragraphing.\n\n\n\n\n       *       *       *       *       *\n\nWORKS BY G CAMPBELL MORGAN\n\n\n_A New Popular Edition_\n\nTHE CRISES OF THE CHRIST.\n\n     DR. 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