{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33247/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33247","id":"gutenberg_33247","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33247","summary":null,"tags":["Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Salvation"],"text":"Produced by Juliet Sutherland, Sven Pedersen and the Online\nDistributed Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION.\n\n\nI have been asked by the publishers to write a few lines introducing this\nbook to American Christians. I count it a privilege to be allowed to do so.\n\n_The one thing needful_ for the church of Christ in our day, and for every\nmember of it, is to be filled with the spirit of Christ. Christianity is\nnothing except as it is a ministration of the Spirit. Preaching is nothing,\nexcept as it is a demonstration of the Spirit. Holiness is nothing except\nas it is the fruit of the Spirit. These truths are so little taught or\nemphasized as they should be, and the blessings they speak of are so little\nexperienced that one gladly welcomes every voice that draws attention to\nthem.\n\nIt is known that all do not perfectly agree as to the best answer to the\nquestion: How to be filled with the Spirit? Some press that aspect of truth\nwhich reminds us that the Holy Spirit _has been given_ to the church and\nthat He dwells in every believer, a fountain of living water. As there have\nbeen fountains clogged by stones and earth, and only needing to be cleared\nand opened up, so we have only to remove the hindrances, to yield ourselves\nin perfect surrender to the Spirit in us, and the filling will come. We\nmust not ask God for more of the Spirit. God asks for more of us that the\nSpirit may have us wholly.\n\nOthers, while admitting fully that the Spirit is in the believer, and that\nHe asks for a more entire surrender, yet urge that it is from God direct\nthat the filling of the Spirit must ever still be asked and received. God\ncannot give His spiritual gifts apart from Himself, once for all. As the\ndivine and everlasting One, He gives unceasingly. The Spirit has not been\ngiven as if He had left heaven. He is in God and in the church. It is from\nGod Himself that larger measures of the Spirit must ever be sought and\nreceived.\n\nAmong those who hold this latter view, there is again somewhat of a\ndiversity in the representation of truth. On the one hand we are reminded\nthat it is \"_by faith_\" we receive the Holy Spirit, and that faith often\nhas to rest and to act without any conscious experience--has to walk in the\ndark. Souls that are _fully surrendered_ to God are invited to claim the\npromise and then to go and work in the full assurance that the Spirit is in\nthem, and will in His fullness work through them. On the other hand stress\nis laid on the words \"_we receive_ the Spirit\" by faith. The difference\nbetween believing and receiving is pointed out, and we are urged to wait\nuntil we receive what we claim, and know that God has anew filled us with\nHis Spirit. \"To be filled with the Spirit\" is offered us as a definite,\nconscious experience.\n\nWith still other Christians there is to be found what may be regarded as a\ncombination of these different views. They believe that a very definite,\nconscious filling of the Spirit been received by some, and may be had\nby all. Though from their own experience they cannot testify of it, they\nstill look for God to do for them above what they have asked or thought.\nMeantime they know that God's Spirit is in them, and seek grace to know Him\nbetter, and to yield themselves to Him more undividedly. They believe that\nthe Spirit within them is Himself leading them on to the Lord above them,\nwhose it is to fill with the Spirit. They have claimed in faith the\nfullness; they have placed themselves to be filled; they look to their Lord\nto fulfill His promise. Whether it comes in one swift moment or more\ngradually, they know it is theirs.\n\nI have written this with an eye to those who may not entirely agree with\nthe way in which the truth is presented in this little book. I wish to urge\nall, especially ministers of the gospel, to give it a prayerful reading. I\nfeel confident it will bring them help and blessing. It will deepen the\nconviction of the great need and absolute duty of being filled with the\nSpirit. It will point out the hindrances and open up the way. It will stir\nup faith and hope. And it will, I trust, bring many a one to feel that it\nis at the footstool of the throne, in the absolute surrender of a new\nconsecration, that the blessing is to be received from God Himself.\n\nAnd may this book stir up all its readers, not only to seek this blessing\nfor themselves, but to cry earnestly, \"praying exceedingly day and night,\"\n\"_for all Saints_,\" that God may throughout His whole church give the Holy\nSpirit in power. It is when the tide comes in, that every pool is filled,\nand all the separate little pools are lost in the great ocean. It is as all\nbelievers who know or seek this blessing begin to pray as intensely for\neach other and all their brethren, as for themselves, that the power of the\nSpirit will be fully known. With the prayer that this Spirit-filled book\nmay be greatly blessed of God, I commend it to the study of His children.\n\n\n  ANDREW MURRAY.\n\n  _London, Dec. 1, 1895._\n\n\n\n\n\n  CONTENTS.\n\n\n\n\n                                                                    PAGE\n\n  Introduction--Andrew Murray                                         3\n\n  Author's Preface                                                    9\n\n  Introduction to first Australian edition                           13\n\n\n  CHAPTER I.\n\n  The Starting Point                                                 17\n\n\n  CHAPTER II.\n\n  Every Believer's Birthright                                        19\n\n\n  CHAPTER III.\n\n  A Command to be Obeyed                                             21\n\n\n  CHAPTER IV.\n\n  Something different from the new Birth--Proved from the Case of\n      (1) The Apostles--(2) The Samaritans--(3) Saul of Tarsus--(4)\n      The Ephesians--Unclaimed Deposits                              23\n\n\n  CHAPTER V.\n\n  Everybody's Need                                                   29\n\n\n  CHAPTER VI.\n\n  Preventive Against Backsliding                                     31\n\n\n  CHAPTER VII.\n\n  How long Between the New Birth and the Filling?                    34\n\n\n  CHAPTER VIII.\n\n  Other New Testament Names for \"Being Filled with the Spirit\"--(1)\n      Baptized with the Holy Ghost--\"Baptized into One Body,\"\n      What it means--(2) Rivers of Living Waters--(3) The Promise\n      of the Father--(4) Pouring Forth--(5) The Gift--(6)\n      Receiving--(7) Falling--(8) Coming--(9) Sealed                 36\n\n\n  CHAPTER IX.\n\n  How Obtained?--(1) Cleanse--(2) Consecrate--(3) Claim              47\n\n\n  CHAPTER X.\n\n  Wrong Motives                                                      48\n\n\n  CHAPTER XI.\n\n  Cleansing--A \"New Heart\" not necessarily a \"Clean Heart\"--What is\n      a Clean Heart?--Not Sinlessness--Blameless, not Faultless--\"I\n      was alone in the Twilight\"--Cleansing a Crisis, not a\n      Process                                                        49\n\n\n  CHAPTER XII.\n\n  Consecration: What is it?--(1) Sanctification--(2) Surrender--(3)\n      Transference of Ownership--(4) Enthroning Christ               72\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIII.\n\n  Claiming--(1) Prayer--(2) Laying on of Hands--Claiming and\n      Asking--Through Faith the Blessing Made Ours--Objections\n      Against This                                                   87\n\n\n  CHAPTER XIV.\n\n  How Does it Come?--Aorist Tense: \"Were Filled,\" Refilled, A\n      Crisis--Imperfect Tense: \"Were being Filled,\" A\n      Process--Present Tense: \"Full,\" the Normal Condition--Deacons\n      \"Full of the Holy Ghost\"--Illustration of Water\n      Trough--Illustration of Service Pipe                           91\n\n\n  CHAPTER XV.\n\n  Its Effects--(1) Courage--(2) Fruit of the Spirit--(3) Reach the\n      Masses--(4) Persecution                                       104\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVI.\n  May One Know that he is Filled?--(1) From the Testimony of the\n      Word--(2) The Witness of the Spirit--(3) Signs\n      Following                                                     117\n\n\n  CHAPTER XVII.\n\n  May One Say that He is Filled?--Testifying to\n      Forgiveness--Testifying to Full Salvation                     120\n\n  CHAPTER XVIII.\n\n  May One Lose the Blessing?--By Disobedience--By Neglect of the\n      Word--It will be Found Where it was Lost                      122\n\n\n\n\n\n  THE\n\n  SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE\n\n\n  BY THE LATE\n\n  REV. JOHN MACNEIL, B. A.\n\n\n  INTRODUCTION BY THE\n\n  REV. ANDREW MURRAY\n\n  _Be filled with the Spirit_--Eph. v. 18\n\n\n\n\n  Chicago\n\n  THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION\n\n  250 LA SALLE AVENUE\n\n\n\n  _Copyright 1896 by\n  Fleming H. Revell Company._\n\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nI have written only for the \"babes.\" The \"full-grown,\" the \"perfect,\" who\nmay read will kindly bear this in mind. A wide and more or less intimate\nacquaintance with the Churches of Australasia has shown me the need for a\nsimple, homely talk, such as this little book professes to be. Many, oh! so\nmany of God's dear children are living on the wrong side of Pentecost,\nliving on the same plane as that on which the disciples were living before\nthey \"were filled with the Holy Ghost;\" and thus by their lives practically\nmaking the sad confession, \"We did not so much as hear whether the Holy\nGhost was given,\" or \"whether there be any Holy Ghost.\" The object of this\nlittle work is to call their attention to their Birthright, to the fact\nthat the Fullness of the Spirit is the Birthright of every believer. God\nwants us to be living _this_ side Pentecost, not the _other_ side.\n\nThe substance of the following pages has been occasionally delivered as a\nseries of afternoon Bible Readings in connection with my Mission Services.\nThe frequent request that those who heard them might have them in a more\npermanent form, coupled with the hope that the great blessing that has most\ngraciously been vouchsafed to them when spoken, might not be withheld from\nthem when being read, has induced me to commit them to writing.\n\nI gratefully acknowledge help received from many sources, both in preparing\nthe Bible Readings, and in preparing them for publication; especially do I\nowe a debt of gratitude to my beloved \"fellow-worker in Christ Jesus,\" who\nhas now for many years been \"a succorer of many, and of myself also,\" the\nRev. H. B. Macartney, M. A., Incumbent of St. Mary's, Caulfield. He has\nmost kindly revised my MS., penned an introduction, and encouraged me to\npublish.\n\nIn \"much fear and trembling,\" because of its inadequateness, but with\nearnest and unceasing prayer to Him who has been pleased before to-day to\n\"choose the weak things of the world to confound the things which are\nmighty\"--with the prayer that He would graciously do so again, I send this\nlittle messenger forth on its mission, trusting that the reading of it may\nbe as great a blessing to every reader as the writing of it has been to the\nwriter.\n\n  JOHN MACNEIL.\n\n\n\nTHE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION\n\n(D. L. MOODY, PRESIDENT.)\n\nWas founded for the purpose of issuing good sound Christian literature at\nlow prices. The work is purely undenominational in its character, and the\nsympathy and co-operation of all Christians is invited to help along the\nwork of counteracting the influence of the vicious literature now being so\nwidely circulated.\n\nSend stamp for pamphlets regarding the work of the Association, and for\ncomplete catalogues, which include books on many topics,--all helpful and\nall at specially reduced prices.\n\nSpecial terms to Colporters and for free distribution. Colporters and\ncanvassers wanted in every community. Liberal terms.\n\nSupplies of the Moody Colportage Library books can be obtained at the\nfollowing depots:\n\n  GENERAL EASTERN DEPOT: East Northfield, Mass.\n\n  NEW YORK CITY: 112 Fifth Avenue.\n\n  BOSTON: 7 Tremont Place, and Room 6, Tremont Temple.\n\n  PHILADELPHIA: 2131 Bainbridge Street.\n\n  NASHVILLE, TENN.: Barbee & Smith, agents.\n\n  HALIFAZ, NOVA SCOTIA: The British-American Book and\n  Tract Society.\n\n  TORONTO: 142 Yonge Street.\n\nAnd direct from headquarters by addressing\n\n  A. P. FITT, SUPT.,\n  THE BIBLE INSTITUTE COLPORTAGE ASSOCIATION,\n  250 La Salle Avenue, CHICAGO.\n\n\n\n\nINTRODUCTION\n\n_To First Australian Edition._\n\n\nChristian reader, I pray that before you finish this little book you may\nbecome so eager, so intense in your longings after God, that you will not\nbe satisfied until you are really and actually \"FULL\" of Him, \"filled\" with\nthe Holy Ghost.\n\nWhen the Lord asked Job, in chap. xxxviii. 34, \"Canst thou lift up thy\nvoice to the clouds, that abundance of waters may cover thee?\" he would\nundoubtedly have answered, No. We, on the other hand, with all humility,\nbut without the slightest hesitation, can answer, Yes. \"Abundance\" is the\nFather's will; \"abundant\" are the Stores of Life in Jesus; \"abounding\" for\never and ever is the Stream of the Spirit's energies.\n\nWe have only _to reflect a little_ till the truth flashes, and _then_ the\nvictory is all but won. We have only to consider, WHO was it that first\nloved us, and called us to be His own children, when we were wandering in\nsin's desert? WHO was it that first crossed the wild with a cup of living\nwater to slake our dying thirst? WHO now crosses that desert a second time\non our behalf with great camel loads of wine and milk? What did it cost Him\nto draw that water from Salvation's well, or to buy those luxuries for\ngrowth and power? What will one healing, stimulating draught accomplish in\nus and others? How will He grieve if we decline to \"buy,\" or hesitate to\n\"drink\"? What, above all, will be the consequences to His glory? Oh, let us\narise! Let us \"shake ourselves from the dust!\" Let us drink abundantly,\nBeloved! There is just now an unutterable need for \"something more.\" Single\nsouls are drooping, though divinely planted. Churches are full of bones,\n\"very many and very dry.\" The world is a jungle, a forest ready for the\nfire. Men, women and children form one vast continent of feeling, of\never-increasing sensibility, with an ever-deepening, an ever-aching void.\nEven the Teachers of High Truth themselves are not \"abundantly satisfied\"\nwith the fatness of God's House; they do not drink deep enough from the\n\"River of God's pleasures.\" Yes, there is a thirst not quenched; and I am\npersuaded that we can only quench Immanuel's thirst when _in Him_ we quench\nour own. Then let us make haste to God; let us hurry to the Stream that is\n\"full of water.\" We cannot know what the \"Infilling of the Spirit\" means\nuntil we are infilled. It is a new experience. God is not thereby better\nseen than before by nature's eye, but He is better understood, better\nloved, better leaned on; that is what He wants, and that is enough.\n\nPerhaps, dear reader, the pathway between you and blessing is somewhat\nhidden, or your eyes are dim, or your heart is only beating with a faint\ndesire. If so, then carefully read this little book; read it beside an open\nBible; read it in prayer. It may be, through infinite compassion, that it\nmay prove a key into the \"wealthy place;\" it may rend the veil, scatter the\ndarkness, lead you to joy unspeakable, and--to power!\n\nI have known the author long, and love him much. He is thoroughly trained\nin theology; he is a first-rate preacher; his gospel for sinners is as\n\"clear as crystal;\" and when you have read a little further, you will say\nthe same of his gospel for saints! He has penetrated far into the \"Secret\nof the Most High,\" and so can speak from a rich experience of his own, to\nwhich, however, he never refers.\n\nI cannot but express the hope that this little treatise on the\n\"Spirit-filled Life,\" may not only be widely circulated in Australia, but\nalso in England and America. It is fresh, it is homely, it is temperate,\nit is timely, it is scriptural, it is splendid. It sets forth a Promise to\nbe claimed, a Gift to be received, a Command to be obeyed; and it portrays\nthe sequel--more liberty, more peace, more devotion, more fellowship with\nthe Son of God in His rejection by man, in His fellowship with the Father.\n\n  H. B. MACARTNEY, JR.\n\n  _St. Mary's, Caulfield,\n  Victoria, July 12, 1894._\n\n\n\n\nTHE SPIRIT-FILLED LIFE.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n_THE STARTING POINT._\n\n\nReader, are you a B. A.? This little book is only for those who possess\nthat degree from the King's College. If you are not \"Born Again,\" please\nput it aside, for this is our starting point in considering the Fullness\nof the Spirit as the birthright of every believer. If you have not been\nborn again you have no right by birth to this, the chiefest of New\nTestament blessings. Your first concern is to become one of the children\nof God, and then you may enquire as to your inheritance. If you _are_\nborn again, ask that you may read with the anointed eye and with an\nunprejudiced mind, for the amount of prejudice that exists against this\nsubject is saddening in the extreme. In nothing that he ever wrote does\nJohn Bunyan's masterful genius flash forth more clearly than when, in\n\"The Holy War,\" he places that old churl, Mr. Prejudice, with sixty deaf\nmen under him, as warder of Eargate. Nothing that even Emmanuel may say\ncan reach Mansoul while Prejudice and his deaf men keep that gate. \"There\nis nothing about this in the Standards of our Church.\" \"I have not met\nwith this truth in my favorite authors.\" \"It is quite new to me, and I\nnever will believe it,\" etc., etc. These and such like, are illustrations\none meets with of how well Prejudice keeps his ward! In the name of the\nLord let us displace him, and determine to give what of God's truth may\nbe set forth in the following pages a fair field, no favor being asked\nfor. Deep-rooted prejudice is one of the causes of the appalling\nspiritual poverty that abounds--yes, appalling when we consider the\ntreasures within our reach!\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n_EVERY BELIEVER'S BIRTHRIGHT._\n\n\nOn every hand a lack of _something_ is being felt and expressed by God's\npeople. Their Christian experience is not what they expected it would be.\nInstead of expected victory, it is oft-recurring, dreaded defeat; instead\nof soul satisfaction, it is soul hunger; instead of deep, abiding heart\nrest, it is disquiet and discontent; instead of advancing, it is losing\nground. Is this all Christ meant when He said, \"Come unto Me\"? Is this\nlife of constant disappointment the normal life of the Bible Christian?\nTo these sad questionings the Divine Word answers with an emphatic \"No,\"\nand the testimony of an ever-increasing number of God's children answers\n\"No.\"\n\nFor this widely felt, though sometimes inarticulate demand, the Divine\nsupply is _the fullness of the Spirit_; and this Fullness is the\nbirthright of _every_ believer, his birthright by virtue of his new birth.\nSometimes we hear it said that to be filled with the Spirit is the\nChristian _privilege_; but _birthright_ is a stronger word. Reader, it is\nyour birthright to be filled with the Spirit, as Peter was filled, as\nStephen was filled, as the one hundred and twenty men and women in the\nupper room were filled (Acts ii. 4, and i. 14, 15), as the men and women\nin Cornelius' house were filled (Acts x. 44-47). \"And ye shall receive\nthe gift of the Holy Ghost, for to you is the promise, and to your\nchildren, and to all that are afar off\" (Acts ii. 38, 39). What have you\ndone with your birthright? Have you claimed it? _Are you living at this\nmoment in the possession and enjoyment of it?_ Or, are you, Esau-like,\n\"despising your birthright\"? (Gen. xxv. 34). Or, if not despising, are you\nneglecting it? Esau's eyes were ultimately opened to his folly in parting\nwith his birthright for \"one mess of meat,\" and he then desired to inherit\nthe blessing, seeking it \"diligently with tears;\" but alas! his awaking\ncame too late (Heb. xii. 16, 17). May every reader of these lines have the\ndesire graciously awakened (if it has not yet been awakened and satisfied),\nto inherit their birthright blessing, while place of repentance is to be\nfound. May the prediction be fulfilled in our glad experience: \"The house\nof Jacob shall _possess their possessions_\" (Obad. 17).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n_A COMMAND TO BE OBEYED._\n\n\nBut lest some one should think, \"It is optional with me whether I claim\nmy birthright or not; no doubt it would be a very fitting thing for some\npeople to be filled with the Spirit, but _I_ need not trouble about\nit\"--in case any one should be tempted to speak and act like this, let us\nlearn that \"Be filled with the Spirit\" (Eph. v. 18) is a command to be\nobeyed, a duty to be done. Many of God's people are acknowledging that\nthey did not know that \"Be filled with the Spirit\" was a command; _but it\nis_, and there is no excuse for not knowing. You will notice that in Eph.\nv. 18 there is a double command, a negative, \"Be not drunk,\" and a\npositive, \"Be ye filled.\" The positive command is as authoritative as the\nnegative, and was binding on _just as many_ of those Ephesian Christians\nas was the negative command. Now what was true for those believers there\nin Ephesus in the long-ago is equally true for all believers on God's\nfootstool to-day. Is it a sin for a believer to-day to disobey the\ncommand, \"Be not drunk\"? and is it then a virtue to disobey the equally\nauthoritative command, \"Be ye filled\"? If it is a sin for a Christian to\nbe drunk, it is just as surely, truly, really, _a sin_ not to be filled.\nWe are commanded and expected to live a Spirit-filled life, to be filled,\nnot with wine, the fruit of the vines of earth, but with the new wine of\nthe kingdom, the fruit of the \"true Vine.\"\n\nReader, if you are asked, Do you obey the command, \"Be not drunk with\nwine,\" what is your answer? If it is, \"Yes,\" that is obedience. Now, if\nyou are asked, Do you obey the command, \"Be filled with the Spirit,\" what\nis your answer? If it is, \"No,\" that is disobedience; you are guilty of\nbreaking one of God's plainest commandments. You have no more license to\nbreak _this_ command than you have to break any command in the Decalogue.\nBefore you read further, had you not better confess your sin, and tell\nthe Master that you purpose in your heart new obedience?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n_SOMETHING DIFFERENT FROM THE NEW BIRTH._\n\n\nThis being \"filled with the Spirit\" is a definite blessing, quite distinct\nfrom being \"born of the Spirit.\" It is objected by some that every\nChristian has the Spirit; quite true, for \"if any man have not the Spirit\nof Christ, he is none of his\" (Rom. viii. 9); and \"no man can say Jesus\nis Lord, but in the Holy Spirit\" (1 Cor. xii. 3); but to \"have the Spirit\"\nand to be \"filled with the Spirit\" are two different things. \"Egypt always\nhas the Nile,\" as some one has said, \"but Egypt waits every year for its\noverflow;\" having the Nile is one thing, but having the Nile overflowing\nis quite another. Now it is the Nile's overflow that is Egypt's salvation,\nand to overflow it must first be filled. So it is the Christian's overflow\nthat is the world's salvation, and in order to the overflow there must\nfirst be the filling.\n\nAs far as God is concerned, there is no reason why this filling should\nnot take place at the hour of conversion, of the new birth. See the case\nof Cornelius and his friends, in Acts x. 44-48. They believed, were\nsaved, \"received the Holy Ghost,\" and were baptized with water the same\nday. But it were a fatal blunder to assert that _all_ men on believing\nreceived the Holy Ghost in a similar manner, or were thus filled with the\nSpirit. Most certainly in Bible times it was not so.\n\n\n_1. Take the case of the Apostles themselves._\n\nIn Acts ii. 4 we read, \"They were all filled with the Holy Spirit,\" all\nin the upper room, men and women, including the twelve apostles. Now\nthese men had the Spirit before. When Christ called them to follow Him,\nwhen they were converted, they received the Spirit. After His\nresurrection, but before His ascension, Christ breathed on them and said,\n\"Receive ye the Holy Ghost\" (John xx. 22), and of course they did\n\"receive\" the Spirit then; but it is never said of them that they were\n\"filled with the Holy Spirit\" till that morning in the upper room, for\nthe simple reason that it _could_ not be said of them, or \"the Spirit was\nnot yet given\" (John vii. 39). Yet these men were Christians before that\nmorning.\n\n\n_2. Take the case of the Samaritans._\n\nIn Acts viii. 5-13 we find that under the preaching of Philip the\nevangelist there was a work of grace in the city of Samaria, the people\nbelieved and were baptized. These people, then, were Christians, but they\nwere not \"filled with the Spirit\" till Peter and John came down and\nprayed for them, thus perfecting the work Philip had been doing (Acts\nviii. 15-17).\n\n\n_3. Take the case of Paul himself._\n\nSaul was converted when the omnipotent, omnipresent Christ, standing as\nPicket-guard for that little church at Damascus, unhorsed him, and took\nhim prisoner on the Damascus road. \"Lord, what wilt Thou have me to do?\"\nThat question sounds like conversion, surely. For three days he lay in\ndarkness in Damascus, a surrendered, believing man, and therefore a\nChristian man; but it was not till Ananias came to him that he was\n\"filled with the Holy Ghost\" (Acts ix. 17). And who was this Ananias\nthrough whom this man Saul, destined to prove himself the truest, bravest,\ngrandest servant the Lord Jesus ever had--through whom even Saul received\nthe greatest of the New Testament blessings? He was an obscure obedient\nbeliever, of whom we know nothing else than that he did this service for\nSaul. Here is the ministry of the saints. So it may be to-day, some big\nPaul may be blessed through the ministry of some little Ananias.\n\n\n_4. Take the case of the Ephesians in Acts xix. 1-6._\n\nHere were twelve men who were disciples, they had been believers for some\ntime when Paul found them; in other words, they were saved, they were\nChristians. But Paul's first question to them was, \"Have ye received the\nHoly Ghost since ye believed?\" Plainly showing that Paul thought it\npossible for them to have been believers and yet _not_ to have received\nthe Holy Ghost. Indeed, in this case, what Paul deemed a possibility\nturned out to be a fact; they had _not yet_ \"received\" the Spirit. Of\ncourse, in a _certain_ sense, they had the Spirit; it was by the Spirit\nthey had believed, and if they had not the Spirit of Christ, they were\nnone of His; but for all that, they had not yet \"received\" the Spirit in\nthe Pentecostal sense of the word, in the sense in which Paul meant it.\nThey had not yet come to _their_ Pentecost. In the R. V., Paul's question\nis rendered, \"Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when ye believed?\" Proving\n(1) that it is possible to \"receive\" the Holy Ghost at the moment of\nbelieving, and (2) that it is possible to believe without \"receiving,\" as\nhas already been pointed out from the rendering of the A.V. After Paul\nhad instructed them more fully in the word and way of the Lord, we read\nthat \"the Holy Ghost came on them.\" From this we gather that these men of\nEphesus obtained a blessing subsequent to their conversion, spoken of\nhere as \"receiving\" the Holy Ghost, as the Holy Ghost \"coming\" on them.\nThis is in strict accord with what Paul himself says of this event when\nwriting to the Ephesians in Eph. i. 13, \"After that ye believed, ye were\nsealed with that holy Spirit of promise.\" First they \"believed,\" and\nthen, some time after \"believing,\" they were \"sealed,\" they \"received,\"\nthey were \"filled.\" From these four cases--(1) Apostles, (2) Samaritans,\n(3) Saul, (4) Ephesians--we conclude that in New Testament times men\nactually lived as Christians, were saved, converted men, and yet knew\nnothing of the \"Filling\" with the Spirit--this knowledge, this blessing\ncoming to them some time after their being born again. Yet this is the\nvery thing some to-day deny! Whom are we to believe? These objectors or\nthe Sacred Record? The Divine Word declares it, and there is then no room\nor need for argument. So we affirm that it is equally possible for\nbelievers, for saved, converted men, to live in our own time, as well as\nin Bible times, without the \"Fullness;\" nay more, it is possible for them\nto live for years, then die and go home to Heaven to be there for ever\nwith the Lord, and to have known nothing on earth of what it was to be\n\"filled with the Spirit.\" But what a loss they have suffered! Eternal,\nirreparable loss! So we conclude it is abundantly plain from Scripture,\nthat for the regenerate soul there is in Christ another blessing over and\nabove the being born of the Spirit, spoken of as \"the Fullness of the\nSpirit.\" \"I am amazed at a man like you going to these Conventions,\" said\na man to his minister once. \"What new thing can these Convention speakers\ntell you? it is all in the New Testament.\" \"Yes,\" he replied, \"that's the\ntrouble; and we have left these things in the New Testament; whereas we\nwant to get them out of the New Testament; and into our hearts and lives.\"\nIn Jesus Christ, God's Treasury, our share of Pentecost's blessing has\nbeen deposited for each of us by our Father God. Have we claimed and\nreceived our share? Not likely, if we are not aware that there _is_ such\na blessing for us; but once we recognize the fact that it is there, we\nsurely will not rest till we have made it our own. The Scottish bankers\nhave published the fact that they have lying in their vaults a sum of\nL40,000,000 in unclaimed deposits. Some of those who owned a share of\nthis money may have died in the workhouse; some of them may be living to\nthis moment in direst need, and they might have their money for the\nclaiming; but they do not know that it is theirs. What vast unclaimed\ndeposits are lying in God's Treasury, Christ! Some of His people have\ndied spiritually poor; some are living to-day in spiritual penury, a\nhand-to-mouth existence, with such \"untrackable riches\" lying \"at call,\"\nat deposit in their name. What have we done with _our_ deposit? We are\nresponsible for its use and disuse. Remember! the reckoning day is coming\n(Matt. xxv. 19).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n_EVERYBODY'S NEED._\n\n\nSome have the idea that this blessing of the Fullness is only for a\nfavored few, for such as have some special work to do for God, but not\nfor ordinary folk, \"for auld wives and wabsters\" in their homespun. Surely\nthis is one of the devil's champion lies! Alas! alas! that it has found\nsuch credence! The Infilling is what makes this promise true, \"He that is\nfeeble among them at that day shall be as David; and the house of David\nshall be as God\" (Zech. xii. 8), so that \"one man of you shall chase a\nthousand\" (Josh. xxiii. 10). This means defeat for the devil, so no\nwonder that he strives to keep us back from the \"Fullness\"! We are here\non earth that through us Christ may be glorified; but there is only One\nPerson that can glorify Christ, and that is the Holy Ghost. \"He shall\nglorify Me\" (John xvi. 14). To the glorifying of Christ as He ought to be\nand might be glorified, the filling with the Spirit is necessary. Mothers\nin the home, \"with thronging duties pressed,\" need the \"Fullness\" to\nenable them to glorify Christ as surely as the apostles needed it; the\nwasherwoman needs it as well as the pastor; the tradesman as well as the\nevangelist. To live the Christ-glorifying life in the station in which\nGod has placed us, we individually need to be filled with the Spirit.\n\"They were _all_ filled\" (Acts ii. 4), men and women, the one hundred and\ntwenty in the upper room, the rank and file as well as the apostles. \"Ye\nshall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost, for the promise is unto you,\nand to your children, and to _all_ that are afar off\" (Acts ii. 38, 39).\nFrom Acts viii. 17 we gather that _all_ the converts in Samaria, without\nany favor or distinction, \"received the Holy Ghost.\" From Acts x. 47 we\ngather that _all_ in the house of Cornelius \"received the Holy Ghost\"\nwhile Peter was speaking. From Acts xix. 6 we gather that \"the Holy Ghost\ncame on\" _all_ the disciples to whom Paul was speaking. They _all_\nreceived because they _all_ needed. Do not we _all_ need? why then should\nwe not _all_ receive? And if we do not receive we will suffer loss, the\nChurch will suffer loss, the world will suffer loss, and, above and\nbeyond all, Christ will suffer loss.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VI.\n\n_PREVENTIVE AGAINST BACKSLIDING._\n\n\nIt is most instructive to note how exceedingly anxious the early\nChristians were, that, as soon as a man was converted, he should be\n\"filled with the Holy Ghost.\" They knew no reason why weary wastes of\ndisappointing years should stretch between Bethel and Peniel, between the\nCross and Pentecost. They knew it was not God's will that forty years of\nwilderness wanderings should lie between Egypt and the Promised Land\n(Deut. i. 2). When Peter and John came to the Samaritans, and found that\nthey were really turned to God, their _first_ concern was to get them\nfilled with the Holy Ghost (Acts viii. 15). When Ananias came to the\nnewly-converted Saul of Tarsus, his _first_ word was, \"Jesus ... hath\nsent me, that thou mayest ... be filled with the Holy Ghost\" (Acts ix.\n17). When Paul found certain disciples at Ephesus, his first business\nwith them was to find out if they had \"received the Holy Ghost\" (Acts\nxix. 2). These early teachers did not wait for a few months or years till\nthe young converts had become thoroughly disheartened because of the\ndisappointments of the way, thoroughly demoralized by encountering defeats\nwhere they had been led to expect that they would come off \"more than\nconquerors;\" neither did they wait until the novices had become more\nestablished or more fully instructed in the things of God; but\nstraightway, at once, they introduced them to Fullness of blessing, taught\nthem the open secret of the overcoming, ever-victorious life, and they\ndid not leave them until the secret was their very own. Has modern\npractice been in accord with apostolic practice in this respect? The only\npossible answer is in the negative. Have we improved then on the\napostolic method? Scarcely. But our modern method is very largely\nresponsible for the large percentage of backsliding that one meets with\nin the Church to-day. Many of these backsliders were soundly converted to\nGod, but unfortunately for them, no Peter or John, no Ananias or Paul,\nmet them in the beginning of their Pilgrimage to compel their attention\nto the \"one thing needful\" for the people of the Pilgrimage; so they\nstarted out but ill provided, and after a longer or shorter time they\nbecame thoroughly dispirited; and then asking, \"Is this all that is in\nit?\" they threw their profession overboard; and one can scarcely wonder\nat it. Prevention is better than cure. Let our young converts be fully\ninstructed and fully equipped with the glorious Fullness provided for\nthem by the gracious Father, and we will hear less about backsliding. Do\nyou know why Peter and John, Ananias and Paul, spake of the Fullness of\nthe Spirit? Because _they_ possessed and enjoyed the blessing themselves,\nand they could not _but_ speak of the blessing that had done so much for\nthem. Do you know why we have not spoken of it to our converts and young\nChristians? Because _we_ did not know of it ourselves! If we \"receive\"\nthe Spirit we will \"minister\" the Spirit; and if we do not \"minister,\"\nwhy is it?--but because we have not \"received.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VII.\n\n_HOW LONG BETWEEN?_\n\n\nIt is often asked what time must elapse between the regenerating by the\nSpirit and the filling with the Spirit? for be it remembered the Filling\nis as real and distinct and definite a blessing as the regenerating. Many\npeople know the moment of their new birth; they were conscious of the\nchange; so also many know when they were \"filled with the Holy Ghost;\" it\nwas a blessed, bright, conscious experience, and it is as impossible to\nargue them out of the one experience as out of the other. On the other\nhand, some people do not know the time when they were born \"again;\" they\nsimply have come to know by many infallible signs that the great change\nhas taken place; so in like manner some do not know when the Fullness\ncame to them, but they have been gently awaked to the fact that \"Jesus\ncame, He filled my soul;\" and such people may be as truly \"filled with\nthe Spirit\" as those who can tell when and where and how the blessing\ncame to them. Now as to the period intervening between the two blessings,\nwe know that in the case of the apostles in Acts ii. 4, three or three\nand a half years elapsed between the day when they heard the \"Follow Me,\"\nand the day when they were \"filled;\" in the cases of the Samaritans in\nActs viii. 17, and of the Ephesians in Acts xix. 1-7, some weeks; in the\ncase of Saul in Acts ix. 17, three days. But as we have already noticed\nin the case of Cornelius and his household in Acts x. 44, they were\nregenerated and filled the same day. From this we gather that, as far as\nGod is concerned, there is no needs-be for any intervening period, but\nthat the believer _may_ be \"filled\" as soon as he is \"born again;\" the\n\"Life\" almost as soon as we get it may blossom into \"Life abundantly.\" If\nwe did not \"receive the Holy Ghost _when_\" we believed, and if we have\nnot \"received\" Him _since_ we believed, and are not living _now_ the\nSpirit-filled life, at whose door then does the blame lie?\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER VIII.\n\n_OTHER NEW TESTAMENT NAMES FOR \"BEING\nFILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.\"_\n\n\nThat we may see how full the New Testament is of this blessing, and that\nwe may the better understand what it is and how it is obtained, let us\njust glance at some other terms used by the Holy Ghost when speaking of\nit.\n\n\n_1. \"Baptized with the Holy Ghost.\"_\n\n\"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days hence\" (Acts i.\n5). See also Acts xi. 16, Matt. iii. 11, Mark i. 8, Luke iii. 16, John i.\n33. Now, though \"baptized\" and \"filled\" are sometimes convertible terms,\nit is instructive to note that they are not always so. The promise in\nActs i. 5, \"Ye shall be baptized,\" was fulfilled in Acts ii. 4, \"And they\nwere all filled,\" where \"filled\" is used for \"baptized.\" In Acts iv. 8 we\nread, \"Peter filled with the Holy Ghost,\" and in ver. 31, \"They were all\nfilled with the Holy Ghost;\" where the word \"baptized\" could _not_ be\nused instead of the word \"filled.\" The difference is this: the \"baptism\"\nis received but once; it is, so to speak, the initiatory rite to the life\nof Pentecostal service, and fullness, and victory. Life begins at the\nCross, but service begins at Pentecost. If there has been no Baptism,\nthere has been no Pentecost; and if no Pentecost, no service worth the\nname. \"Tarry until ye be clothed with power,\" said the Master (Luke xxiv.\n49); \"Wait for the promise\" (Acts i. 4); \"Ye shall be baptized with the\nHoly Ghost not many days hence\" (Acts i. 5); \"Ye shall receive power when\nthe Holy Ghost is come upon you\" (Acts i. 8). And we see that, in\ncompliance with the commands of their Master, no service of any kind did\nthese men attempt till \"the day of Pentecost was fully come\" (Acts ii. 1).\n\n  \"Theirs not to make reply!\n  Theirs not to reason why!\"\n\nTheir business was simply to _obey_. With the promised \"Baptism\" they\nentered upon a new phase of life, experience, and service, and this\n\"Baptism\" need not be repeated; but not so the \"Filling.\" Peter was\n\"filled\" in Acts ii. 4, again in Acts iv. 31. The \"Filling\" may be, and\nought to be, repeated over and over and over again; the \"Baptism\" need be\nbut once. In support of this, note how frequently the word \"filled\" is\nused in the Acts and Epistles compared with the word \"baptized.\" The\nBaptism which we are considering here must not be confounded with the\nbaptism in 1 Cor. xii. 13, the \"Being baptized into one body.\" Paul is\nspeaking there of every believer having been quickened from the dead by\nthe agency of the Holy Spirit, and thus made a member of Christ's\nmystical body. This is a Pauline way of stating the being \"born again\" of\nJohn iii. 7. It was to those who already had been \"baptized into one\nbody\" that Christ gave the promise, \"Ye shall be baptized with the Holy\nGhost\" (Acts i. 5). In view then of this word of Christ, \"Ye shall be\nbaptized,\" and of the word of John the Baptist, recorded in John i.\n29-33, \"Behold the Lamb of God, which taketh away the sin of the world\n... the same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit\" (the same\npromise is also recorded by Matthew, Mark, and Luke), it surely cannot be\nunscriptural for a believer--painfully conscious that as yet this word\nhas not been fulfilled in his experience, that for him as yet the day of\nPentecost has not fully come--to pray \"Lord Jesus, baptize me with the\nHoly Ghost!\" Why should this be regarded as unscriptural, when in view of\nthe word, \"Be filled with the Spirit,\" the prayer, \"Lord, fill me with\nthe Spirit,\" is considered to be in accord with Scripture? Surely the one\nprayer in its proper place is as scriptural as the other! To know Christ\nas the Sin-bearer is but _half_ salvation; to know Him also as the great\nBaptist is _full_ salvation. How many there are who know Christ as their\nSin-bearer who have no experimental acquaintance with Him as the Baptizer\nwith the Holy Ghost! One cannot think that it would be grieving to the\nHoly One that such people should cry for the promised Baptism; but\nthen, when it has been received, let us bear in mind the\ndifference, already pointed out, between \"baptized\" and \"filled;\" that\nnow that \"the day of Pentecost has fully come,\" and that he has been\nbaptized with the Spirit, he must not continue praying for the baptism,\nfor that cannot be repeated; whereas he may ask and obtain a fresh\nfilling, a refilling with the Holy Ghost every day of his life.\n\n\n_2. \"Rivers of living water.\"_\n\n\"He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly\nshall flow rivers of living water. But this spake He of the Spirit,\nwhich they that believed on Him were to receive: for the Spirit was not\nyet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified\" (John vii. 38, 39). One\nmay ask, what is it to be \"filled with the Spirit\"? The Teacher Himself\nmakes answer: It is to have \"rivers of living water flowing\" from one's\nsoul. See the universality of the promise, \"He that believeth on Me;\"\n_no_ believer, even the weakest, obscurest, is outside its\nmagnificent sweep, unless by his unbelief he puts himself there. This is\nnot a promise for the Spiritual aristocracy of the Church, as some, with\nmore heat than sense, maintain. Let us have done with whittling away the\nvast Godlike promises of the Divine Word, till they come within the\ncramped limits of our poverty-stricken experience, and let us set to work\nin earnest to bring our experience abreast of God's promises. This\npromise is for _you_. Has it then been verified in your life and\nexperience? If not, why not? Is there not a cause? But note more closely\nits hugeness, its Godlike vastness, \"Rivers!\" not a tricklet, or a\nbabbling brook--by its babbling proclaiming its shallowness--or a stream,\nor a river, but Rivers! What Divine prodigality! It is the Brisbane, the\nClarence, the Hawkesbury, the Murray, the Murrumbidgee, the Tamar and the\nDerwent all rolled into one--_Rivers_! By the widest, wildest stretch of\nimagination could it be said of you that \"Rivers of living water\" are\nflowing from you--\"flowing,\" mind you, \"flowing\"? See the freshness, the\nfreedom, and the spontaneity of the service; no force-pump work about the\nflowing of the Rivers; none of the hard labor of the \"soul in prison\"\n(Ps. cxlii. 7). When the \"Rivers\" begin to flow the worker may sell his\nforce-pump; his prayer has been answered, \"Bring my soul out of prison.\"\n\nIt is worth noting the gradation in John iii., iv., vii. In John iii. 7\nwe have \"Life\" in its beginnings--the new birth. In John iv. 14 we have\n\"Life abundantly\"--\"a well of water springing up.\" The secret of the\nperennial upspringing is in the word \"drink-e-t-h;\" \"he that\ndrinketh\"--not takes a drink, but drinks and drinks and keeps on drinking,\nis in the habit of drinking--that man never thirsts; for how can a man's\nsoul be dry and thirsty with a well of water in it? Many people are\nliving in the third of John,--they have \"Life,\" but it is not strong and\nvigorous; they are suffering from deficient vitality,--when Jesus wants\nthem to be in the fourth, enjoying \"Life abundantly.\" The difference\nbetween the two experiences is well illustrated in the case of Hagar. In\nGen. xxi. 14 we read that Abraham gave Hagar \"a bottle of water\" and sent\nher away. As she wandered in the wilderness \"the water was spent in the\nbottle\" (ver. 15). But in ver. 19 \"God opened her eyes, and she saw a\nwell of water.\" There are \"bottle\" Christians, and there are \"well\"\nChristians. 'Tis a painful experience wandering in the wilderness with an\nempty bottle and a dying child! Alas! that there should be so many\nacquainted with the pain, when all the time God wants us to be\nindependent of any bottle, to be abundantly satisfied with a well of\nwater within us, fed from the hills of God. He wants us to be independent\nof all but Himself. The \"well\" is in every Christian, though it is not\n\"springing up\" in every one that has it. The very well, on the side of\nwhich Jesus, weary with His long journey from Eternity, once sat, has\nto-day no thirsty men or women coming to it with their empty pitchers,\nfor the well is dry. How? why? Because so much rubbish has fallen in that\nthe well is choked. Clear out the well, and the water will spring up\nagain as in Christ's day. So with many a child of God. The water is\nwithin them, the well is there, but it is choked; the water is not\nspringing up, and so they are reduced to dependence on a bottle! Oh! for\nan anointed eye in our head to see the rubbish, and for grace in our\nhearts to deal with it, to judge it and to cast it out; and then we would\nsoon have an eye to \"see the well of water.\" May He break every \"bottle,\"\nand open every eye to see \"the well.\" Now let us contrast the \"well\" of\nthe fourth chapter with the \"rivers\" of the seventh. The \"well\" is for\nthe supply of all possible _local_ needs; but since the Christianity of\nJesus is essentially an unselfish thing, He has made ample provision for\nthe supply of _surrounding_ needs; \"out of him\" in whom is the\n\"well\"--\"out of him\" who is abundantly satisfied with Christ--\"shall\nflow rivers of living water,\" bearing life and satisfaction and gladness\ninto the abounding death and destitution and dreariness that exist on\nevery hand; for \"everything shall live whithersoever the river cometh\"\n(Ezek. xlvii. 9). Does your Church, your neighborhood feel the\nvivifying, fructifying, refreshing influences of your presence? Most\ncertainly, if John vii. 38 is your experience; in other words, if you\nhave been \"filled with the Spirit.\" But remember we must go through the\nfourth of John to get into the seventh! In John iii. we have the\nIndwelling, in John iv. the Infilling, and in John vii. the Overflowing.\n\n\n_3. \"The Promise of the Father.\"_\n\n\"Wait for the promise of the Father\" (Acts i. 4). See also ii. 33, ii.\n39, Gal. iii. 14, Luke xxiv. 49. There are many promises in the Divine\nWord given us by the Father; but there is only one promise spoken of as\n\"_The_ promise,\" giving it a pre-eminence among all the other \"exceeding\ngreat and precious promises.\" What that \"promise\" was is ascertained by\ncomparing Acts i. 4, \"Wait for the promise,\" with Acts i. 5, \"Ye shall\nbe baptized,\" and Acts ii. 4, \"They were all filled.\" To whom does \"the\npromise\" of the Father belong? surely to all the Father's children\nwithout favor or distinction. Since then \"the promise is unto _you_,\" the\nquestion for \"you\" to settle is, Have you \"_received_\" the promise? A\npromise never made use of is like a check never cashed, and is of little\nuse to the one who gets it. Have you cashed the check? If not, why not?\nthe fault is with the child and not with the Father.\n\n\n_4. \"Pouring Forth.\"_\n\n\"I will pour forth of My Spirit upon all flesh\" (Acts ii. 17). See also\nActs ii. 18, Joel ii. 28, 29, Isaiah xliv. 3, Acts ii. 33, Acts x. 45.\nFrom this expression we may learn still more clearly the copiousness of\nthe blessing.\n\n\n_5. \"The gift.\"_\n\n\"And ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost\" (Acts ii. 38). See also\nActs viii. 20, Acts x. 45, Acts xi. 17. From this expression may we not\nlearn the freeness of the blessing? In this connection ponder carefully\nthe \"how much more\" of Luke xi. 13.\n\n\n_6. \"Receiving.\"_\n\n\"And they received the Holy Ghost\" (Acts viii. 17). See also, \"Ye shall\nreceive power\" (Acts i. 8); \"Have ye received the Holy Ghost since ye\nbelieved?\" (Acts xix. 2); Acts viii. 15, John xx. 22, Gal. iii. 14.\nFloods of light will be thrown upon the whole subject if we grasp clearly\nthe full force of this expression, \"receive.\" \"Receiving\" is the\ncorrelative of \"The Gift.\" A gift will not profit one until it is\nreceived. It is just here, at the _appropriating_, that we have come\nshort. God has not failed in His \"giving,\" but we have failed in our\ntaking, in \"receiving.\" \"Receiving\" is a distinct, definite act on our\npart. Have we \"received\"? If not, why not? God is \"giving.\"\n\n\n_7. \"Falling.\"_\n\n\"For as yet he was fallen upon none of them\" (Acts viii. 16). See also\nActs x. 44, Acts xi. 15. From this expression may we not learn the\n\"_suddenness_\" with which the blessing sometimes comes, and comes\nconsciously, too? Compare Acts ii. 2, \"And suddenly there came from\nheaven a sound.\"\n\n\n_8. \"Coming.\"_\n\n\"The Holy Ghost came on them\" (Acts xix. 6). See also Acts i. 8, John xv.\n26. John xvi. 7, 8, 13. From this expression may we not learn the\n_personality_ of the Holy Ghost? \"Christ Jesus _came_ into the world,\"\nand \"the Holy Ghost _came_ on them,\" are two parallel expressions. If\nChrist is here a person, why should the Holy Ghost be a mere influence?\n\n\n_9. \"Sealed.\"_\n\n\"Ye were sealed with that Holy Spirit of promise\" (Eph. i. 13). See also\n2 Cor. i. 22. This \"sealing\" in Eph. i. 13, is the \"receiving\" of Acts\nxix. 2; the \"coming on them\" of Acts xix. 6; for here, in this epistle,\nPaul is evidently referring to the incident related in Acts xix. 1-7. In\nEph. i. 13, \"In Whom ye also trusted, after that ye heard the word of\ntruth, the gospel of your salvation: in Whom also after that ye believed,\nye were sealed with that holy Spirit of promise,\" we see the successive\nstages through which the Ephesians passed in their spiritual history. (1)\nThere was a time when they had not heard the Gospel; they were living in\nthe darkness of heathenism. (2) Then came the day when they \"heard the\nword.\" (3) Then they \"believed.\" (4) Succeeding this they were \"sealed,\"\n\"_after_ that ye believed ye were sealed;\" a very distinct and definite\nblessing this for the Ephesians, as definite as their salvation when they\nbelieved. And yet, in face of this, some will affirm that there is no\nsuch thing as a Christian receiving a new distinct blessing after his\nconversion! If these Ephesians had this experience, why may not believers\nstill?\n\nWhen a Christian is \"sealed\" by the Holy Ghost, \"sealed\" as the property\nof his Master, there will be no need to ask, \"Whose Image and\nsuperscription is this\" upon the \"sealed\" one? The King's, of course. Any\none can see the Image. Of what use is a \"seal\" if it cannot be seen? Is\nthe King's Image visibly, permanently stamped upon us? It is on every\nSpirit-filled \"sealed\" believer.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IX.\n\n_HOW OBTAINED?_\n\n\nWe come now to the practical side of our subject. Surely the unprejudiced\nreader, if he has not already \"received the Holy Ghost,\" has at least\ncome to the conclusion that there _is_ such a blessing mentioned in the\nNew Testament, and lying in God's Treasury, Jesus Christ, for all New\nTestament believers, and therefore for him--_for me_. Until it dawns on\none's consciousness that there _is_ such a blessing as \"being filled\nwith the Spirit,\" it is not likely that he will trouble about seeking it,\nand therefore will never obtain it. In all fairness these terms which we\nhave just been considering--\"Filled,\" \"Baptized,\" \"Rivers,\" etc.--mean\n_something_. There is _some_ blessing represented by the terms, some\nsubstance at the back of the shadows. God the Holy Ghost knows what that\nblessing is. \"Have I got _that_?\" Is there anything in my life and\nexperience to correspond with _that_? Now comes the question, \"How am I\nto get it?\" The Bible answer may be summarily comprehended in three\nwords--CLEANSE, CONSECRATE, CLAIM.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER X.\n\n_WRONG MOTIVES._\n\n\nBut before proceeding to consider these words, it is absolutely necessary\nthat we be on our guard against desiring this so needful a blessing from\nwrong motives. We must seek it for one supreme reason--for the glory of\nGod. If self is at the root of our motives at all, God will most surely\nblock our way to Fullness of blessing. If we are thinking in our heart of\nhearts that it would be a good thing for us to get this blessing for our\nown happiness or satisfaction, or even that we might be more useful, or\nthat in any way we might have the pre-eminence, our eye is not single,\nour whole body is not full of light (Matt. vi. 22). There is therefore\nneed for the refining fire to go through our heart. God _must_ be Alpha\nand Omega in the matter. \"For God's glory, and for God's glory alone\"\nmust be our watchword as we proceed with our search after the Fullness\nof the Spirit.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XI.\n\n_CLEANSING._\n\n\nAs there are conditions requiring to be complied with in order to the\nobtaining of salvation, before one can be justified, _e. g._, conviction\nof sin, repentance, faith; so there are conditions for full salvation,\nfor being \"filled with the Holy Ghost.\" Conviction of our need is one,\nconviction of the existence of the blessing is another; but these have\nbeen already dealt with. \"Cleansing\" is another; before one can be\nfilled with the Holy Ghost, one's heart must be \"cleansed.\" \"Giving them\nthe Holy Ghost, even as He did unto us; and He made no distinction\nbetween us and them, _cleansing_ their hearts by faith\" (Acts xv. 8, 9).\nGod first cleansed their hearts, and then He gave them the Holy Ghost.\nHow can we be filled with the Holy Ghost if we are filled with something\nelse? The heart must _first_ be emptied and cleansed. The milkman has\ncalled on his morning round, and the housewife hears his call. There is a\njug standing beside her on the table; it is her own, for she purchased it\nonly last week. She picks it up, and looks into it to see if it is clean;\nshe finds it is not. Now she would never think of taking that dirty jug\nfor the milk; but she empties it and rinses and cleanses it, and then,\nhaving wiped it dry to her satisfaction, she takes it out for the morning\nallowance. Indeed, if she brought it out dirty to the milkman, he would\npositively refuse to put his sweet new milk into it. So a heart may\nbelong to God, that is, it may be the heart of a Christian man, and yet\nnot a \"clean\" heart, but until it is cleansed God will refuse to put\ninto it the precious deposit of the \"water of life clear as crystal.\"\n\n\n_A \"New Heart\" not necessarily a \"Clean Heart.\"_\n\nBut some one objects, \"I thought that when one became a Christian, and\nwas made a partaker of the Divine nature, he had a clean heart?\" Not\nnecessarily. Many, many a one is born again, is pardoned and justified,\nand yet has not a \"clean heart.\" \"Forgiveness\" is one thing, \"Cleansing\"\nis another, and one may possess the former without possessing the latter.\nFor instance, take the case of David in Ps. li. He was one of God's\npeople, a restored backslider, when he wrote that Psalm. \"The Lord also\nhath put away thy sin\" (2 Sam. xii. 13), said Nathan to him. But\nforgiveness, great and sweet as that gift was, was not enough for\nIsrael's now so deeply-taught and penitent King. \"Create in me a _clean_\nheart\" (Ps. li. 10), he cries. This is something over and above being\n\"born again,\" over and above and beyond and deeper even than \"forgiveness\"\n(compare Ps. li. 2 and Jer. xxxiii. 8). See also the New Testament\nteaching on this point in 1 John i. 7, \"The blood of Jesus Christ His Son\n_cleanseth_ us from all sin;\" and 1 John i. 9, \"He is faithful and just\nto forgive us our sins, and to _cleanse_ us from all unrighteousness.\" Is\nthe \"cleansing\" of verse 7 the same as the \"cleansing\" of verse 9? Most\ncertainly not. The \"cleansing\" of verse 7 has to do with the _guilt_ of\nsin, with sin after it has been committed; this is the only sense in\nwhich the Blood of Jesus \"cleanses,\" it washes white as snow from the\nguilt and stain of _actual_ transgression; that \"cleansing\" is\nretrospective. Now, this \"Cleansing\" of verse 7 is the \"forgiving\" of\nverse 9; both these words bear on a sinner's Justification. But the\n\"cleansing from all unrighteousness\" of verse 9 is something different\nfrom, something over and above the \"forgiving\" of verse 9, or the\n\"cleansing\" of verse 7; else, if they mean one and the same thing, would\nnot the author be guilty of tautology? The \"cleansing\" of verse 9 is\nprospective, and refers to holiness of life, to our being saved from sin,\nfrom sinning. And you will notice that it is not the Blood of Jesus that\ndoes this, but Jesus _Himself_ by the exercise of His Almighty power.\nThere is a great deal of confusion on this point in many minds, a\nconfusion fostered, if not begotten, by some of our hymns. Powers are\nsometimes attributed to the Blood of Jesus, to the Death of Christ, which\nbelong to Jesus Himself, to the living Christ. We are saved from sin's\ncondemnation by the Blood, cleansed from the guilt of all sin, forgiven\non the ground of the Blood; and in this connection we cannot possibly\nmake too much of the Blood, too much of the Death of the Son of God--but\nwe are saved from sin's power by Jesus Himself. \"Himself (lit.) shall\nsave His people from their sins\" (Matt. i. 21). \"We shall be saved _by His\nlife_\" (Rom. v. 10). \"_He_ is faithful and just to cleanse us from all\nunrighteousness.\" The Blood \"cleanses\" in the sense of washing the sin\naway after it has actually been committed; He \"cleanses\" in the sense of\npreventing, restraining from sin. He keeps us back from _sinning_. He\n\"makes us more than conquerors\" over sin; and in this so blessed sense\n\"prevention is better than cure.\" How often does a mother say to her\nchild when putting on a clean snow-white pinafore in the morning, \"Now,\nmy darling, do keep it clean!\" \"Yes, mother,\" and she intends to do so;\nbut alas for her intentions! At dinner-time she comes home with her\npinafore about as dirty as she can make it. Now, the mother can wash it\nand make it clean again, as white as ever; but it is weary, wearing work,\nthis everlasting washing. So the Blood of Jesus can cleanse from all sin\nthe garments that are brought to it for cleansing, and what a deal of\ncleansing it has to do for some of us!\n\nBut wouldn't it be just splendid for many a hardworking mother if she\ncould put some power or other into her child--her own self, for\ninstance--by which the child would be kept from making the pinafore dirty\nat all, so that it would not need washing? Wouldn't this be a vast\nimprovement, even on making it clean after it has been made dirty? This\nis just what Jesus does. He puts a power within the child that trusts\nHim--that power is Himself, by which the believer is kept from defiling\nhis garments by any known sin, so that they do not need washing. This is\nto be \"cleansed from all unrighteousness.\" But there are whole battalions\nof God's saved, forgiven, and \"cleansed\" people (\"cleansed\" in the sense\nof verse 7), who are not \"cleansed\" in this sense (\"cleansed\" in the\nsense of verse 9), who are not yet saved from the power of some besetting\n(that is, upsetting) sin or other. Have we not known some Christian men\nwho, as has been well said, are like well-supplied cruet-stands? take\nthem which side you like, you will get something either hot or sour,\npeppery or vinegarish from them! And yet one can scarcely doubt their\nconversion to God! What are we to say of these cross-grained or fretful,\nor worldly-minded, or covetous, or pleasure-loving professors of religion?\nOne would fear to judge some of them and say they were utter strangers to\nGod's regenerating grace; no, but one will say that what they sorely need\nis the \"clean\" heart.\n\n\n_What is a Clean Heart_?\n\nThe question then arises, What is it to have a \"clean heart\"? what is it\nto be \"cleansed from all unrighteousness\"? It is to be \"saved from our\nsins,\" according to Matt. i. 21. It is to translate 1 John iii. 9 into\npractice, \"Whosoever is begotten of God doeth no sin; ... and he cannot\nsin, because he is begotten of God.\" It is to have a \"conscience void of\noffense\" (Acts xxiv. 16). It is to \"know nothing against myself\" (1 Cor.\niv. 4). It is--in the words of another--to be \"saved from _all known_,\n_conscious_ sin.\" But, it is objected, \"That is perfection!\" (It is\namazing how frightened some people are of being perfect! It were well if\nthey were equally afraid of being imperfect; for it is imperfection that\ngrieves God. This dread of perfection has been called by some one, \"a\nscarecrow set up by the devil to frighten away God's people from the very\nfinest of the wheat.\") \"That is perfection!\" Yes and no. It _is_ the\nperfection which is not only allowed, but commanded in the Word of God.\nBut it is not _absolute_ perfection; it is not sinlessness. Let us look\ncarefully at the expression, \"From all known, conscious sin;\" \"From all;\"\nyes, all, not some or nearly all, but from \"all known sin\"--known, that\nis, to us, though not from all known to God; from \"all known, conscious\nsin,\" so that one might be able to say, in the language of the lowliest\nof the apostles, \"Herein do I also exercise myself to have a conscience\nvoid of offense toward God and men alway\" (Acts xxiv. 16); and \"I know\nnothing against myself\" (1 Cor. iv. 4); or, in the language of the\ndisciple whom Jesus loved, \"We keep His commandments, and do those things\nthat are pleasing in His sight\" (1 John iii. 22). To have a clean heart,\nthen, is to be saved \"from our sins,\" saved from sinning, saved by JESUS;\nnote it well! not saved by our own efforts, by our watching and praying,\nand wrestling and fighting and struggling, but by Jesus. So it is not a\nquestion of what _we_ can do, but of what _He_ can do. \"Is anything too\nhard for the Lord?\" (Gen. xviii. 14.) Can He not \"guard from stumbling?\"\n(Jude 24.) Can He not save from sin, from sinning? Is not this what is\nmeant when it is said, \"He is able to save to the uttermost\"? (Heb. vii.\n25.) \"Able to save,\" as Matthew Poole puts it, \"to perfection, to the\nfull, to all ends, from sin, in its guilt, its stain, its power.\" Yes, He\nis just as complete, as perfect a Saviour from the _power_ of sin, as He\nis from its guilt and stain. He is equally powerful in each department of\nHis saving work. But after all is said and done, and one is being saved\nfrom all known, conscious sin, saved from sinning, that is not to say\nthere is no sin remaining. We are face to face with the inspired\nstatement, \"If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves\" (1 John i. 8).\nHow much sin may there be in us of which we are entirely unconscious, but\nwhich is naked and open to those \"Eyes like unto a flame of fire!\" (Rev.\nii. 18).\n\n\"I know nothing against myself,\" cries Paul in 1 Cor. iv. 4, \"yet am I\nnot hereby justified; but He that judgeth (examineth) me is the Lord.\"\nGod may, and does, know much against me when I know nothing against\nmyself; and it is just here that our constant need of the cleansing Blood\ncomes in. If the Bible doctrine of the clean heart meant the eradication\nof sin, a state of sinlessness, that is, absolute perfection, what need\nwould we then have of the cleansing Blood at all? Though Jesus Christ may\nhave \"cleansed us from all unrighteousness,\" so that we \"have a conscience\nvoid of offense,\" so that we \"know nothing against ourselves,\" yet we need\nthe Blood to cleanse from the sins which our eyes fail to detect, and of\nwhich our conscience takes no cognizance. It is failure to see this that\nhas led many astray at this point. Having been cleansed and having \"no\nmore conscience of sins\" (Heb. x. 2), they imagine they _have_ no more\nsin. How superficial is some people's idea of sin! How little conception\nhave they of the Pauline doctrine of sin! He speaks of sin as \"exceeding\nsinful.\" How subtle it is! how far-reaching! In their daring ignorance\nsome have actually taken the penknife, like Judah's foolish king, and cut\na whole petition out of the prayer which the Lord taught His disciples. He\ntaught them to pray, \"Forgive us our debts as we forgive our debtors;\" but\nthese modern lights in their darkness are correcting their Teacher, and\nhave cut out that petition, and thrown it away. \"No need have we to\nconfess our sin, for we have none to confess, and therefore we have no\ndebts to be forgiven.\" Poor mistaken people! never more need of confession\nand forgiveness than when they are speaking thus! The holiest of men are\nthe men who lie the lowest before the Holy One, confessing that which\nthey know only too well (because the truth is in them), that they \"have\nsin,\" offering the sacrifices with which God is ever well pleased, \"a\nbroken spirit, a broken and a contrite heart\" (Ps. li. 17). The nearer we\nget to Him \"whose head and whose hair are white as wool, white as snow\"\n(Rev. i. 14), to the Ancient of days \"whose garment is white as snow\"\n(Dan. vii. 9), the more conscious are we of the dullness of our whiteness,\nof the vast difference between our whitest and His whiteness; and this\nconsciousness humbles one. \"What is it to have sin? What is sin?\" asked a\ngreat leader once, and he answered his own question thus: \"It is to come\nshort of the glory of God; and in this sense we sin every moment of our\nlives in thought, word, and deed.\" Is there a man on earth who can stand\nbefore the infinitely Holy One and say, \"I do not come short of Thy\nglory\"? Should we speak thus, \"we deceive ourselves, and the truth is not\nin us.\"\n\nWe may be helped here by observing the difference between the two New\nTestament words \"blameless\" and \"faultless.\" \"I pray God your whole spirit\nand soul and body be preserved _blameless_ (without blame, unblameworthy),\nunto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ\" (1 Thess. v. 23). \"To present\nyou _faultless_ (flawless, blemishless) before the presence of His glory\"\n(Jude 24). Now a person or work may be \"blameless\" and yet not be\n\"faultless.\" This is not verbal hair-splitting--by no means. Suffer a\npersonal illustration. I have lying on the table beside me a letter,\nwhich will illustrate the point at issue. I received it when I was away\nin New Zealand on a mission tour, in 1891. It was from my eldest daughter,\nthen a child of five years of age. It reads: \"Dear father, I wrote all\nthis myself. I send you a kiss from Elsie.\" The fact of the matter is,\nthat it is not writing at all, but an attempt at printing in large\ncapitals, and not one of the letters is properly formed; there is not as\nmuch as one straight stroke on the page. Why is it that I prize this\nletter and keep it laid up among my treasures? Fathers who are as much\naway from home as I am will understand when I say that it was my child's\nfirst attempt at letter-writing. Now, this letter which I prize so dearly\nis certainly not a \"faultless\" production; it is as full of faults as it\nis full of letters, but most assuredly it is \"blameless.\" I did not blame\nmy child for her crooked strokes, and answer with a scold, for I judged\nher work by its motive. I knew it was the best she could do, and that she\nhad put all the love of her little heart into it. She wanted to do\nsomething to please me, and she succeeded. By the grace of the indwelling\nChrist (for you will perceive that it is His work, \"Faithful is He that\ncalleth you, who also will do it\"--1 Thess. v. 24), this is what our daily\nlife, our daily life-work may be, viz., \"blameless;\" and He can tell us\nthat it is so, even as I told my child; we may have this testimony, that\nwe are \"pleasing God,\" as Enoch had (Heb. xi. 5). Oh, the joy! Oh, the\ninspiration of this God-given testimony! But what a sad mistake for any\nwho may by grace have been made \"blameless,\" to think that they are\n\"faultless,\" a condition which is to be found only \"before the throne.\"\nFor it is to be noted that the Greek word translated \"without blemish,\"\n\"without fault,\" (_amomos_) is never used of God's people on earth. It is\nused once of the Lamb \"without blemish and without spot\" (1 Pet. i. 19).\nElsewhere of the saints.\n\n  In Rev. xiv. 5, \"Without fault before the throne of God.\"\n\n  In Jude 24, \"Before the presence of His glory without blemish.\"\n\n  In Eph. v. 27, \"That it should be holy and without blemish,\" when in\n      the sweet by-and-by He will \"present the Church to Himself.\"\n\n  In Eph. i. 4, \"Even as He chose us in Him before the foundation of the\n      world, that we should be holy and without blemish before Him in\n      love;\" chosen in the past eternity that we should be \"holy and\n      without blemish\" in the coming eternity, not here, but there; not\n      now, but then; for the word translated \"before\" is the same Greek\n      word (_katenopion_), translated in Jude 24 \"before the presence of.\"\n\n  In Col. i. 22, \"To present you holy and without blemish, and\n      unreprovable before Him.\" Here he is speaking again of our future\n      standing, for the word translated \"before\" is the same as in Eph.\n      i. 4.\n\n\"Without blemish\" then is sinlessness, having no sin. \"And if we say (here\non earth) we have no sin (are sinless--blemishless--faultless--flawless),\nwe deceive ourselves (but no one else!), and the truth is not in us\" (1\nJohn i. 8). He that has the truth in him knows only too well that he has\nsin in him, though \"cleansed from all sin\" by the blood, and though\n\"cleansed from all unrighteousness\" by the might of the uttermost Saviour.\nIt is most instructive and humbling to notice how the Spirit of truth has\nplaced that \"If we say we have (present tense) no sin, we deceive\nourselves,\" in between His two statements about the \"cleansing from all\nsin\" and the \"cleansing from all unrighteousness.\"\n\nBut though we will never be able on earth to say with the truth in us\nthat \"we have no sin,\"--that we are without blemish, yet the whole Bible\nteaches us that we may, in this life, be saved \"from our sins.\" (Note the\ndifference between \"sin\" and \"sins.\") We may be saved from sinning.\n\"These things write we unto you, that ye sin not\" (1 John ii. 1); and\nthis is the condition described as \"blameless,\" \"unreprovable,\" \"without\nreproach.\"\n\nSee 1 Cor. i. 8; 1 Tim. iii. 10; Tit. i. 6, 7; where the Greek word\n_anegkletos_ (unreprovable) is used.\n\nAlso 1 Tim. iii. 2; 1 Tim. v. 7; where the Greek word is _anepileptos_\n(without reproach).\n\nAlso Matt. xii. 5, where _anaitios_ (guiltless) is used.\n\nAlso 2 Pet. iii. 14, where _amometos_ (blameless) is employed.\n\nAlso Luke i. 6; Phil. ii. 15, and iii. 6; 1 Thess. ii. 10, iii. 13; and\nv. 23, where _amemptos_ (without blame) is the word used.\n\nThese words describe a state or condition of heart and life which is not\nonly attainable here, but imperative; and the passages we have just been\nreading prove that it _has_ been attained. This is what is meant by a\nclean heart, to be \"blameless,\" not \"faultless.\"\n\n  \"I was sitting alone in the twilight,\n    With spirit troubled and vexed,\n  With thoughts that were morbid and gloomy,\n    And faith that was sadly perplexed.\n\n  \"Some homely work I was doing\n    For the child of my love and care;\n  Some stitches half wearily setting\n    In the endless need of repair.\n\n  \"But my thoughts were about the building,\n    The work some day to be tried,\n  And that only the gold and the silver,\n    And the precious stones should abide.\n\n  \"And remembering my own poor efforts,\n    The wretched work I had done,\n  And even when trying most truly,\n    The meager success I had won:\n\n  \"'It is nothing but wood, hay and stubble,'\n    I said; 'it will all be burned;\n  This useless fruit of the talents\n    One day to be returned;\n\n  \"'And I have _so_ longed to serve Him,\n    And sometimes I know I have tried;\n  But I'm sure when He sees such building,\n    He will never let it abide.'\n\n  \"Just then as I turned the garment,\n    That no rent should be left behind,\n  Mine eye caught an odd little bungle\n    Of mending and patchwork combined.\n\n  \"My heart grew suddenly tender,\n    And something blinded mine eyes\n  With one of those sweet inspirations,\n    That sometimes make us so wise.\n\n  \"Dear child! she wanted to help me,\n    I knew 'twas the best she could do;\n  But oh! what a botch she had made of it,\n    The gray mismatching the blue!\n\n  \"And yet, can you understand it?\n    With a tender smile and a tear,\n  And a half compassionate yearning,\n    I feel her grow more dear.\n\n  \"Then a sweet voice broke the silence,\n    And the dear Lord said to me,\n  'Art thou tenderer for thy little child\n    Than I am tender for thee?'\n\n  \"Then straightway I knew His meaning,\n    So full of compassion and love;\n  And my faith came back to its refuge,\n    Like the glad returning dove.\n\n  \"So, I thought, when the Master Builder\n    Comes down this temple to view,\n  To see what rents must be mended,\n    And what must be builded anew;\n\n  \"Perhaps as He looks o'er the building\n    He will bring my work to the light;\n  And seeing the marring and bungling,\n    And how far it is all from right;\n\n  \"He will feel as I felt for my darling,\n    And will say as I said for her,\n  'Dear child! she wanted to help me,\n    And love for Me was the spur;\n\n  \"'And for the great love that is in it\n    The work shall seem perfect as Mine;'\n  And, because it was willing service,\n    Will crown it with plaudit Divine.\n\n  \"And there, in the deepening twilight,\n    I seemed to be clasping a Hand,\n  And to feel a great love constraining,\n    Far stronger than any command.\n\n  \"Then I knew by the thrill of sweetness,\n    'Twas the Hand of the Blessed One\n  Which should tenderly guide and hold me,\n    Till all the labor is done.\n\n  \"So my thoughts are never more gloomy,\n    My faith is no longer dim,\n  But my heart is strong and restful,\n    And mine eyes are unto Him.\"\n\nA clean heart then does not mean sinlessness, the eradication of sin,\nthat sin is taken out of us; for though sin is taken out of the _heart_\nthat is cleansed--for a clean heart must be clean!--yet \"the flesh,\" the\nself-life, remains in the _man_, \"latent if not patent,\" ready to manifest\nitself should the counteracting power of the indwelling Christ the Saviour\neven for a moment be withdrawn. This \"flesh\" is evil (Rom. vii. 18) and,\ntherefore, while \"the flesh\" is in us \"sin\" is in us, and hence our\nconstant need of the cleansing Blood. As we trust for continuous cleansing\nwe get it. \"The Blood ... _cleanseth_\"--resent progressive tense--goes on\ncleansing, therefore guilt is never allowed to gather, for as sin appears\nthe Blood cleanses it away and so keeps us clean. Blessed present tense!\nThus it is possible for us _always_ to walk in the Light.\n\nThen as Christ exercises His counteracting power over \"the flesh\" we are\nbeing \"cleansed from all unrighteousness,\" delivered from doing the \"not\nright,\" and, by continuous trust in our omnipotent Saviour, we may know\ncontinuous deliverance, continuous victory over sin; we need never know\ndefeat. A Christian mother had just kissed good-night to her little\ndaughter, and was busy in the dining-room arranging the table for dinner,\nwhen she heard little feet on the stair. Wondering what was the matter,\nshe slipped into the window recess and hid herself behind the curtains,\nand waited. Presently the little one came into the room, and going\nstraight up to some peaches that were on the table, she took one of them\naway with her! Oh, the agony in that mother heart! She did not speak to\nher child, but standing where she was, she spoke to God her Father, and\nasked _Him_ so fervently to speak to her child. God heard that cry, and\nin a little while the sound of the pattering feet was heard on the stair\nagain. The child came into the room, not knowing her mother was there,\nand going on tip-toe over to the table she put the peach in the place\nfrom which she had taken it. As she turned away with a radiant face,\nrubbing her hands with delight, her mother heard her say, \"Sold again,\nSatan! Sold again, Satan!\" That's victory! Yes, the cleansing means that\nand more than that. \"We are _more than_ conquerors,\" for when Jesus\ncleanses the heart, He cleanses the springs of action and being, so that\nour very desires are purified; the desire to sin, the \"want to,\" is taken\nclean away. This is coming off \"more than conquerors through Him that\nloved us\" (Rom. viii. 37). Glory to His name! The man now \"wants to\" do\nthe will of God. He \"likes\" what God likes. \"I thought you could do what\nyou liked,\" was the taunt hurled by a young man at a friend of his who\nenjoyed full salvation on his refusing to go to the theater. \"I thought\nyou told me you could do what you liked?\" \"So I can.\" \"Why, then, won't\nyou come with me as I asked you?\" \"Because I don't like,\" was the\nrejoinder. The only men on earth who enjoy perfect freedom are the men\nwho have clean hearts, for they not only know that they _ought_ to do the\nwill of God, but they _want_ to do it and they _like_ to do it and\nmoreover they have a power that _enables_ them to do it. On the other\nhand, in our jails and hospitals you will find people who thought that\nthey could do as they liked, but they have discovered that they were\nmistaken.\n\n\n_Cleansing: a Crisis_\n\nBut how am I to get this clean heart? Peter answers, \"Cleansing their\nhearts _by faith_\" (Acts xv. 9). Cleansing is God's work, and the\ncondition on which God will do His work is \"faith\" on our part. There is\nonly one way of getting anything from God, and that is by faith. One\nobtained forgiveness and the new birth by faith, and one obtains\ncleansing of the heart by faith too. You may, you will, get \"cleansing\"\nthe moment you definitely _trust_ Christ for it. \"We aye get what we gang\nin for\" was one of Duncan Mathieson's favorite expressions; and along the\nline of God's revealed will how true it is! If you will only venture _now_\non Christ for \"cleansing from all unrighteousness,\" He will do it for you\n_now_. \"Wilt thou not be made clean? when shall it once be?\" (Jer. xiii.\n27.) Why not _now_? for \"cleansing\" is a _crisis_ and not a _process_;\nbut, as Principal Moule, of Cambridge, has very tersely put it, \"Cleansing\nis a crisis with a view to a process.\" It is just here that multitudes of\nGod's people miss the track. \"Sanctification is the _work_ of God's free\ngrace.\"[1] Of course it is; it is a \"growth,\" a gradual process; but\n\"cleansing\" is not \"sanctification.\" The latter, in the sense in which it\nis being used here, is a theological term embracing all the Spirit's work\nin the believer between the cross and the crown; but \"cleansing\" is an\n_act_. While sanctification is a \"growth,\" \"cleansing\" is one of the\nconditions of growth, and the very reason why some who hold most\ntenaciously by the gradual theory of sanctification are \"growing in grace\"\nso very slowly, is that they have not attended to one of the most\nessential conditions of growth, viz., this \"cleansing.\" \"But,\" some one\nobjects, \"this is not in the Standards of our Church?\" That may be; but\nit is in the Bible. To quote the words of the saintly Dr. Andrew Bonar in\nanother connection, \"I believe all that is in our Standards, for I find\nall that is in our Standards in the Bible; but I believe _more_ than is\nin our Standards, for I find some things in my Bible that are not in the\nStandards;\" for the simple and very obvious reason that you cannot get a\nquart into a pint measure. While every honest Churchman believes that all\nthat is in the Standards of the Church to which he belongs is in the\nBible, no one in his sane senses believes that _everything_ in the Bible\nis to be found in the Standards. The doctrine of a \"clean heart\" is one\nof these things.\n\n[1: Shorter Catechism, No. 35.]\n\nIn support of the statement that \"cleansing\" is a crisis, an act,\nsomething done in a moment, just as conversion is, and not a \"process\"\ndrawn out indefinitely before one can reach a state of \"cleansing,\" let us\nponder well David's prayer, in Psalm li. 10, \"Create in (margin, for) me\na clean heart.\" Is _creation_ an \"act\" or a \"work\"? Is it a \"crisis\" or a\n\"process\"? All the Creator had to do was to speak the word and David's\nprayer was granted; he then could turn his prayer into thanksgiving; \"I\nthank Thee for having created in me a clean heart;\" but he could not thank\nGod for what he had not received. Giving thanks for the clean heart would\nprove that it was in his possession. Note also that heart \"cleansing\" is\nGod's work alone. We are exhorted to \"cleanse _ourselves_ from all\nfilthiness of the flesh and spirit\" (2 Cor. vii. 1), which simply means\n\"separation\" from all the palpable, manifest evils Paul had just been\nenumerating, such as \"yoking with unbelievers,\" \"unrighteousness,\"\n\"darkness,\" \"Belial,\" \"infidel,\" \"idols,\" \"unclean things\" (_vide_ 2 Cor.\nvi. 14-17). In reference to all such things God says \"cleanse yourselves.\"\nThe aorist tense is used in the original, denoting a definite, decisive\nact; \"separate from these things at once and be done with them.\" And where\nare we to get the enabling power? In effect, God says, \"Draw a check on ME;\ndraw on My resources for all you need,\" for all God's commandings are God's\nenablings. But when it comes to be a question of cleansing the \"heart,\"\nthe inner being, the springs of action, that part of the man where the\naffections and the will are seated, God undertakes that Himself; He says,\n\"Bring that to Me.\" If this work were left to us it would indeed be a\n\"process\" slow and tedious, and progress might be made, as it so often is,\nalas! backward. But now the question is,--not what can the believer do by\nhis efforts to overcome indwelling sin, but what can the Almighty God do?\nIt is not a question of our power, but of His.\n\n  \"'Twas most impossible of all,\n  That here sin's reign in me should cease;\n  Yet shall it be! I know it shall:\n  Jesus, look to Thy faithfulness:\n  If nothing is too hard for Thee,\n  All things are possible to me.\"\n\nHe is able and willing to \"cleanse.\" Are we willing to be cleansed?\n\nAnother mistake to be carefully guarded against is this, making\n\"cleansing\" to be an _end_ instead of a _means_ to an end. \"Cleansing\" is\nnot the blessing that we are seeking; it is only a means. The end is the\n\"Filling of the Holy Ghost.\" \"Cleansing\" is a negative blessing, the\nseparating from sin; but we can only be satisfied with a positive blessing.\nWhen the housewife cleans the house, does she then go out and live in the\nyard? Not so. She cleans the house that it may be the more fit for her to\ninhabit. God cleanses, \"empties, sweeps, and garnishes\" (Matt. xii. 44),\nthat He may come in to dwell; and if He, the Holy One, does come in and\ntake up His abode, He will _keep_ His dwelling place \"clean.\" This\n\"cleansing\" of which we have been speaking is one of the steps into the\nBlessed Life; but there is not much likelihood of any one living the Life\nunless they first take the necessary steps into the Life. It is a Life of\nPurity, and it is lived, as it is entered upon, by faith in the Son of God;\nhence the name by which the Spirit-filled Life is sometimes called--the\nLife of Faith.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XII.\n\n_CONSECRATION: WHAT IS IT?_\n\n\nThe second step that must needs be taken by those of us who have been\nliving without the Fullness, before it can be obtained, is Consecration,\na word that is very common and popular; much more common and popular, it\nis feared, than the thing itself. In order to be filled with the Holy\nGhost one must first be \"cleansed,\" and then one must be \"consecrated\".\nConsecration follows cleansing, and not _vice versa_. Intelligent\napprehension of what consecration is, and of what it involves, is\nnecessary to an intelligent consecration of oneself.\n\n\n_1. Sanctification._\n\nConsecration is another word for sanctification. Many people have a\nconfused idea as to what sanctification really is. It must be borne in\nmind that we are not considering the theological term sanctification, but\nthe use of the New Testament word \"sanctify,\" \"sanctification.\" No one\nwould confound \"consecration\" with \"cleansing,\" and yet many confound\n\"sanctification\" with \"cleansing.\" To \"sanctify\" is to purify, to cleanse,\nto make holy, they tell us. But the idea of purification, of cleansing,\nof separating from sin, is not in the N. T. word \"sanctify\" at all. \"The\nvery God of peace _sanctify_ you wholly\" (I Thess. v. 23). That does not\nmean \"purify\" you, separate you from sin, as a glance at two other\npassages, in which the same word occurs, will show. \"For their sakes I\n_sanctify_ Myself\" (John xvii. 19). \"_Sanctify_ in your hearts Christ as\nLord\" (I Pet. iii. 15, R. V.), where it cannot mean purify, separate from\nsin. In these passages its true meaning is very apparent--to \"set apart\nfor a holy use,\" to \"separate to God,\" to \"consecrate.\" To \"cleanse\" is\nto separate _from_ sin, but to \"sanctify\" is to separate to God, to set\napart for God that which has already been separated _from_ sin. We cannot\nset apart to a holy use (consecrate) that which is not cleansed. Hence we\nsee why it is that \"cleansing\" must precede sanctification or consecration,\n\"that He might sanctify it, having cleansed it\" (Eph. v. 26, R. V.).\n\"Sanctification\" is not identical with \"cleansing,\" but it is its\ncomplement. \"We have been sanctified through the offering of the body of\nJesus Christ once for all\" (Heb. x. 10). \"Wherefore Jesus also, that He\nmight sanctify the people through His own blood, suffered without the\ngate\" (Heb. xiii. 12). From these passages we gather that it is by the\nBlood of Jesus we are sanctified, set apart to God. This is another\nfunction of the precious Blood, in addition to the one we have already\nbeen considering, viz., cleansing from the guilt of sin.\n\n\n_2. Surrender._\n\n\"In conversion,\" says Dr. Chalmers, \"God gives to me, but in consecration\nI give to God.\" Every one knows that conversion should have experimental\nacquaintance with consecration.\n\n  \"In full and glad surrender,\n  I give myself to thee.\"\n\nConsecration, then, involves surrender--total, absolute, unconditional,\nirreversible. This is Paul's teaching in Romans: \"I beseech you therefore,\nbrethren, by the mercies of God, that ye present _your bodies_ a living\nsacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God, which is your reasonable service\"\n(Rom. xii. 1). These people had already given their souls to God, and now\nthe apostle insists on their giving their \"bodies\" too. \"Yield (R. V.,\nPresent) yourselves unto God as those that are alive from the dead\" (Rom.\nvi. 13). Life first, then sacrifice. Have we life in Christ? Then it is\nimperative that we \"yield,\" \"present\" ourselves unto God. It is not a\nmatter of individual choice or taste or convenience; but every one that\nhas been quickened from the death in trespasses and sins is commanded,\n_yes, commanded_, to \"present himself to God.\" Have _you_ obeyed this\ncommand? If not, why not? God excuses no one. Had it not better be\nattended to now? Yes, before you read another line!\n\nIt follows as a corollary that if we yield ourselves, we yield everything\nelse to God; nothing is withheld. What loss we suffer because we will hold\nback some little thing! A little child was one day playing with a very\nvaluable vase, when he put his hand into it and could not withdraw it. His\nfather, too, tried his best to get it out, but all in vain. They were\ntalking of breaking the vase, when the father said, \"Now, my son, make one\nmore try; open your hand and hold your fingers out straight, as you see me\ndoing, and then pull.\" To their astonishment the little fellow said, \"Oh\nno, pa; I couldn't put out my fingers like that, for if I did, I would\ndrop my penny.\" He had been holding on to a penny all the time! No wonder\nhe could not withdraw his hand. How many of us are like him! Drop the\ncopper, surrender, let go, and God will give you gold.\n\nNow let us note that the verb translated \"yield\" (Rom. vi. 13) and\n\"present\" (Rom. xii. I) is not in the present tense in the original, as if\nPaul said \"be yielding,\" \"keep presenting,\" but it is in the aorist tense,\nthe general force of which is a definite act, something done and finished\nwith. So that when the command, \"Present yourself to God,\" is complied\nwith as far as one's light goes, the person is entitled to regard the\ntransaction as a completed act, and to say, \"Yes, I have presented myself\nto God.\" Then Faith presses on the heels of that statement and says, \"God\nhas accepted what I have thus _presented_.\" It is absolutely necessary\nthat Faith be in lively exercise on this point, for what will be the\npractical outcome of all my presenting if I do not believe that God takes\nwhat I give? \"Him that cometh unto Me I will in nowise cast out\" is just\nas appropriate to the saint seeking full salvation as to the sinner\nseeking pardon. It is failure here, failure to apprehend by faith the fact\nthat God receives what I present, that has blocked progress for so many\nof God's people who are truly desirous of living consecrated lives. From\nthis it will be seen that consecration is a crisis in the life of the\nbeliever, just as cleansing is, and not a process; but it, too, \"is a\ncrisis in order to a process.\"\n\n\n_3. Transference of Ownership._\n\nConsecration implies and involves transference of ownership. Many a\nChristian is living to-day as if he were his own; but the consecrated\nheart endorses the statement of the Divine Word: \"Ye are not your own,\nfor ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body and in\nyour spirit, which are God's\" (1 Cor. vi. 19, 20). The consecrated man\nlooks upon himself as the absolute property of the Lord who bought him,\nand his whole life is lived in the light of this fact.\n\n\n_4. Enthroning Christ._\n\nConsecration involves the \"glorifying\" of Christ, the \"enthroning\" Him,\nthe crowning of Jesus \"Lord of all\" in our own heart and life. \"Crown Him,\ncrown Him, Lord of all;\" \"and,\" says Dr. Hudson Taylor, \"if you do not\ncrown Him Lord _of all_, you do not crown Him Lord _at all_.\" This view\nof consecration, with its accompanying results, is beautifully illustrated\nfor us in John vii. 38, 39, \"He that believeth on me, as the scripture\nhath said, out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But this\nspake he of the Spirit, which they that believe on him were to receive:\nfor the Spirit was not yet given; because Jesus was not yet glorified.\"\nThe flowing forth of the rivers--just the outflow, the overflow of the\ninfilling Spirit--was dependent on Jesus being \"glorified.\" Jesus had not\nyet reached the throne, and so the Spirit had not yet been given. The\nreason why they had not come to Pentecost was that as yet there was no\nAscension. Ascension preceded Pentecost. Let us learn it by root of heart,\nthat every Pentecost since the first has, in like manner, been preceded by\nan Ascension. Do we know Pentecost experimentally for ourselves? If not\nthe reason is close at hand. Jesus has not been \"glorified\" by us, not\nenthroned in _our_ hearts. He may be in the heart, He may even be in the\nthrone room, but He has not been placed upon the throne! There has never\nbeen a coronation day in our lives, when \"in full and glad surrender\" we\nplaced the crown on the many-crowned Head, crying, \"Crown Him, crown Him,\nLord of all!\" \"And he showed me a river of water of life, bright as\ncrystal, proceeding out of the throne of God and _of the Lamb_\" (Rev.\nxxii. 1). When Christ reached the throne at the Father's right hand, from\nunderneath His throne the river began to flow, the Holy Ghost was given,\nHis Church received her Pentecost. \"Being by the right hand of God\nexalted ... he hath poured forth this\" (Acts ii. 33). So when Christ is\n\"exalted,\" \"enthroned,\" \"glorified\" in the believer's heart, from\nunderneath His throne will the rivers begin to flow according to promise;\nbut, no Ascension, no Pentecost; and let us remember, as has been already\nstated, that though life begins at the Cross, service does not begin till\nPentecost. No Pentecost, no service worthy of the name!\n\nWe need not be concerned as to how the rivers are flowing from us, or\ntroubled as to what channels they are flowing in. They flowed from Peter\nin one way, and from Paul in quite another, and from Barnabas in yet\nanother; there are infinite \"diversities\" of ways. We need not trouble at\nall about the rivers, and the direction of their flow; our concern is to\n\"glorify Jesus,\" to see that He is on the throne; and it becomes _His_\nbusiness then to see that the rivers are flowing; and there is not the\nslightest danger that the blessed business with which He charges Himself\nwill be neglected!\n\nThere are other aspects of consecration in the Divine Word which have not\nbeen touched upon, but enough has been said for our purpose to show what\nit is, and what its blessed results will be. Our life and service will be\nenriched beyond telling by enthroning Christ. This, of course, involves\nthe breaking of all our idols, for He will not share His throne with any.\nWhen Mahmoud, the conqueror of India, had taken the city of Gujarat he\nproceeded, as was his custom, to destroy the idols. There was one, fifteen\nfeet high, which its priests and devotees begged him to spare. He was deaf\nto their entreaties, and seizing a hammer he struck it one blow when, to\nhis amazement, from the shattered image there rained down at his feet a\nshower of gems, pearls and diamonds--treasure of fabulous value, which had\nbeen hidden within it! Had he spared the idol he would have lost all this\nwealth. Let us not spare _our_ idols. It is to our interest to demolish\nthem. If we shatter them there will rain about our hearts the very\ntreasures of Heaven, the gifts and graces of the Holy Spirit; but if we\nspare our idol we will miss riches unsearchable.\n\nThe consecrated life is a Christ-centered life, the only truly-centered\nlife; every other life is eccentric: yet how often do we hear worldly\npeople or worldly-minded Christians (what a contradiction in terms!)\ncriticising some devoted Spirit-filled man or woman as \"so eccentric,\"\nsimply because of their loyalty to Christ their King! when all the while\nit is the critics that are \"eccentric,\"--off the true center. Indeed, so\neccentric did the first Spirit-filled band appear, that \"others mocking\nsaid, they are filled with new wine;\" _so they were_ \"full of new wine,\"\nthe \"new wine\" of the kingdom. And in God's sight these drunken, eccentric\nmen were the only truly-centered spiritually-adjusted men in the throng.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIII.\n\n_CLAIMING._\n\n\nHaving considered the two conditions necessary to being filled with the\nSpirit, viz., the cleansing of the heart, and the consecration of the\ncleansed heart to God, we come now to the very practical question--How is\nthis Fullness to be obtained by the cleansed and consecrated believer?\nBefore proceeding to consider the answer, \"Claim it,\" let us notice what\nthe Divine Word has to say about (1) prayer and (2) laying on of hands in\nconnection with the obtaining.\n\n\n_1. Prayer._\n\n\"How much more shall your Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them\nthat ask Him?\" (Luke xi. 13.) This promise is given to God's children. It\nis the dearest wish of the great Father-heart of God that His children\nshould be filled with His Spirit. Who has a fathoming line long enough to\nsound the depths of that \"how much more\"? You \"ask;\" Father \"gives.\" What\nis the next step? Why, of course, you \"receive!\" else all Father's \"giving\"\nwill be of no avail.\n\n\"When they had prayed ... they were all filled with the Holy Ghost\" (Acts\niv. 31).\n\n\"Prayed for them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost\" (Acts viii. 15).\n\n\"Tarry\" (Luke xxiv. 49). \"Wait\" (Acts i. 4)--not idling, but praying,\npleading the promise. \"These all with one accord continued steadfastly in\nprayer\" (Acts i. 14).\n\n\"They were all with one accord in one place, and suddenly\" the answer\ncame! (Acts ii. 1.) So in obtaining the blessing of the Fullness, prayer\nhas its place.\n\n\n_2. Laying on of hands._\n\n\"Then laid they their hands on them and they (Samaritan converts) received\nthe Holy Ghost\" (Acts viii. 17).\n\n\"Then when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they\nsent them away\" (Acts xiii. 3). Barnabas and Saul were men who were\nalready full of the Holy Ghost, but by the laying on of hands (it is\nprobable that hands had been laid on these men before this) they received\na fresh anointing of the Holy Ghost, a fresh equipment for special\nservice, and thus they were set apart for the work to which the Holy Ghost\nwas calling them.\n\n\"And when Paul had laid his hands upon them (the men of Ephesus), the Holy\nGhost came on them\" (Acts xix. 6).\n\n\"They laid their hands on them\" (the deacons) (Acts vi. 6).\n\n\"Neglect not the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by prophecy,\nwith the laying on of the hands of the presbytery\" (1 Tim. iv. 14).\n\n\"Stir up the gift of God, which is in thee through the laying on of my\nhands\" (2 Tim. i. 6). It is quite evident that laying on of hands was no\nmeaningless ceremonial in the primitive Church. Is there any reason why it\nshould ever be an empty, barren form in our own day?\n\nWe come now to examine the answer given to the question--How is the\nFullness of the Spirit to be obtained?--viz., \"Claim it.\" It must be borne\nclearly in mind that we are dealing now with a cleansed and consecrated\nsoul. If you are not \"cleansed,\" attend first to the cleansing. If you are\nnot consecrated, attend at once to the consecrating, and then (but not\ntill then) will you be able to profit by what will be said about the\nclaiming of the blessing. Do we appreciate the immense difference between\n\"claiming\" and \"asking\"? I \"claim\" that which is mine own; I \"ask\" for a\nfavor. For instance, if a man has a credit balance of $250 in his current\nbanking account, and draws a check for $50, he does not require to go to\nthe manager and \"ask\" for $50; he presents his check and \"claims\" it, for\nit is his own. But supposing that same man is in need of an advance of\n$500; he goes into the manager's room, and \"asks\" for the favor of a loan.\nNo \"claiming\" now! So it is often with the Christian and his God. When God\ngives him a definite promise for some definite blessing, it is the\nChristian's privilege to \"claim,\" to \"receive\" by faith the thing\npromised. If God tells him a certain blessing is his by virtue of his\nsonship, it is his to \"claim,\" to \"receive\" what through grace has been\nmade his own. There is no \"asking\" needed here, that is \"asking\" in the\nsense of saying--\"Lord, _if_ it be Thine holy will, give me this.\" Where\nis the room for an \"if\"? Has not God told him it _is_ His will?--has He\nnot promised it?--has He not given it to him? Why, then, should he mock\nhis Lord by saying, \"If it be Thy will\"? But supposing, on the other hand,\nthat that man wants something which God has not expressly promised to give,\nsomething in reference to which He has _not_ revealed His will; all the\nChristian can do in this case is to \"ask\"; he cannot \"claim;\" and God\n_may_ give him what he asks, or He may see that it will be for the best\nto refuse His child's request. A Christian may want $250, and may \"ask\"\nhis Father to send it to him, and God may give or withhold. But if a\nChristian man wants to be filled with the Holy Ghost, he need be in no\ndoubt as to the issue here, he may \"claim\" the Fullness, for has not God\npromised it? Is not this blessing his very own? His birthright by virtue\nof his new birth? Let us learn then clearly to distinguish between\n\"claiming\" as an act of faith based on an express promise in the Word,\nand \"asking\" as a request in prayer. That the Fullness of the Holy Ghost\nis one of the blessings which it is our privilege to \"claim,\" to \"receive\"\nby a simple act of faith, is abundantly clear from the Book of God.\n\"Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, being made a curse\nfor us; for it is written, Cursed is every one that hangeth on a tree:\nthat the blessing of Abraham might come on the Gentiles through Jesus\nChrist; that we might receive the promise of the spirit _through faith_\"\n(Gal. iii. 13, 14). The double purpose of Christ's redeeming work, of His\nbeing made a curse for us, is here plainly stated. He was \"cursed\" that\nwe might be blessed with a double blessing--(1) with \"the blessing of\nAbraham,\" that is, righteousness, justification; and (2) with \"the\npromise of the Spirit.\" How many of God's children forget the second\nblessing!--they think that if they are saved from wrath and justified,\nthat that is all!--but that is only half salvation; full salvation\nconsists in receiving the promise of the Spirit in _addition_ to being\njustified. Have _we_ overlooked this fact? Have we been stopping short at\nhalf salvation? Those who are not living the \"Spirit-filled life\" are\nmaking void to a most alarming extent, as far as they are concerned, the\nwork Christ accomplished on the tree. Christ died that we might be made\nthe righteousness of God, _and_ that we might be filled with God. As God\nholds the sinner guilty who neglects so great salvation, and rejects the\noffered righteousness, so He holds the justified believer guilty who\nneglects the second blessing which Christ purchased with His Blood, viz.,\nthe offered \"promise of the Spirit.\"\n\nBut note well how Paul tells us this latter blessing is to be made ours;\nit becomes ours \"_by faith_.\" No one doubts how we receive the blessing\nof Abraham (righteousness, justification); all are agreed that it is \"by\nfaith.\" \"Being justified by faith\" (Rom. v. 1). But how blind we are to\nsee, how slow to take it in, in spite of the plain declarations of\nScripture, that \"the promise of the Spirit\" is in like manner received \"by\nfaith!\" The Holy Ghost is the \"gift\" of the Father, and of the Son (Luke\nxi. 13). This \"gift\" is received \"by faith.\" There is the whole matter in\na nutshell. Of all the sublime things in God's sublime Book there is\nsurely not a sublimer than this, that a cleansed and consecrated believer\nmay by simple faith _here_ and _now_ claim and receive the Fullness of\nthe Spirit--the greatest gift that even the exalted Christ has in His\npower to bestow upon His people. \"Be filled with the Spirit,\" saith the\nHoly Ghost. Note that the command is in the passive voice, \"Be filled,\"\nthat is, \"Let yourself be filled.\" The Fullness is pressing in upon you,\nonly let it in! Receive it, and it is yours! _Have you got it?_ If not,\ndeal with the Lord about it at once, somewhat after this manner, \"Lord\nJesus, Thou dost command me to be filled with the Spirit. I take Thy\ncommand and make it my prayer, 'Lord, fill me with Thy Spirit.' Thou hast\ntold me that 'all things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye\nhave received them, and ye shall have them' (Mark xi. 24). It is Thy\ndesire to fill me; it is my desire to be filled. I have made, 'Lord, fill\nme,' the prayer of my heart. I claim the Fullness. I believe for it. I\nreceive it now by faith. I _have_ received it. I have it. It is mine.\nLord, I thank Thee for filling me, even me, with Thine Holy Spirit.\" And\nthe blessed business is done! It is yours to believe, to receive. It is\n_His_ to fill. Go on your way now, reckoning that you are filled, and God\nwill make the reckoning good. It is _yours_ to _keep believing_. It is\nGod's to _keep you filled_. Stagger not at the promise of God through\nunbelief, but be made strong in faith, giving glory to God. Some object\nto this quick, almost instantaneous, and easy way of receiving this\ngreatest of the New Testament blessings. But every objection urged against\nreceiving the Fullness of the Spirit in this way, applies with equal, if\nnot greater force to a sinner receiving the pardon of his sins when he\ncomes to God at the first. It is always in grace that God deals with the\nsinner, and justifies him the instant he believes in Jesus. It is always\nin grace that God deals with the justified one, and fills him with the\nHoly Ghost the moment he receives the Fullness by faith. Eternal life is\nthe gift of God, and all the sinner has to do is to take it. The Holy\nGhost is a gift, and all God's child has to do is to take it. But some\nwill still object, and say that it is necessary to spend some time\n\"waiting\" on God for the Fullness before we can get it. A night of prayer,\nor a half night at least, a more or less protracted season must thus be\nspent before we can hope to receive the blessing we desire. Of course not\none word can be uttered against spending seasons of prayer by day or by\nnight in waiting upon God. We have the example of the Man of Prayer\nHimself before us in this. But this much must be said, that many a one has\nspent whole days and nights and weeks in earnest crying to God for the\ninfilling of the Holy Ghost, and all in vain. All in vain? Why? How?\n_Because of unbelief._ If you want to fill a corked bottle with water,\nand take it to a running tap, but neglect to remove the cork, how long\nwill you have to wait holding it under the tap before it is filled?\nRemove the cork, and the bottle is running over in a few seconds! Many a\none has cried and waited, and waited and cried for the Fullness of the\nSpirit, but the stopper of unbelief has been in their empty hearts, and\nso no wonder that they did not get what they wanted! Of what avail will\nall God's \"giving\" be if a man does not \"receive\"? God cannot _give_ and\n_receive_ too! But some one may still object, and, in proof of his\ncontention that we must \"wait\" for the filling of the Holy Ghost, point\nto the case of the disciples, who continued in prayer for ten days,\nwaiting for the promise of the Father. Quite true that they \"waited;\" but\nit must be remembered that that prayer meeting was ante-pentecostal; _we_\nlive in post-pentecostal days; _they_ were waiting for the Spirit to come\nfrom Heaven. \"The Spirit was not yet given.\" We have not so to wait. He\n_has_ come, He _has_ been given, and all we have to do is to receive Him.\nWe have read of Christ's coming into the world and of His leaving it. We\nhave read of the Spirit's descent, but we do _not_ read of _His_\nascension. A Christian man came to me once and said--expecting a word of\nencouragement and approval--\"I have been seeking that blessing for over\nthirty years.\" \"Brother, it's nearly time you got it then!\" was the swift\nrejoinder. For all these years during which the man was crying, \"Give,\ngive, give!\" God was saying, \"Take, take, take! Receive, receive! for I\n_do_ give!\" If I heard my little girl of three years old crying piteously\nfor a piece of bread, knowing that she must be very hungry, and having\nthe bread by me would I tell her to cry on for another hour and that then\nI might attend to her wants? \"How much more,\" oh! \"_How much more_ will\nyour Heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?\" But what\nif, in spite of her crying and of my offering, she would not take the\nbread I offered, but still went on with her crying, \"Father! oh, father!\ndo give me a piece of bread, I am so hungry!\" You silly child! Oh, how\nmany silly children has the Father in His family, crying year in and year\nout, \"Give, give!\" and Father all the while yearning over them and saying,\n\"Take, take, My child!\" Let some of us give over crying and set to work\n\"receiving.\" Take and thank! Receive and thank! \"That we might receive\nthe promise of the Spirit _through faith_.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XIV.\n\n_HOW DOES IT COME?_\n\n\nHow does the Filling of the Spirit come? \"Does it come once for all? or\nis it _always_ coming, as it were?\" was a question addressed to me once\nby a young candidate for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost. There are many\nasking the same question. We have considered how the Fullness is obtained,\nbut now we proceed to consider, How does the Fullness come? In speaking\nof the blessing of being filled with the Spirit, the New Testament\nwriters use three tenses in the Greek--the Aorist, the Imperfect, and the\nPresent. Each of these tenses has a different shade of meaning. The\ninspiring Spirit has employed these different tenses for a purpose, and\nit will be to our profit to try and get at that purpose, to note the\ndifferences, and to learn His meaning.\n\n  (1) The Aorist tense--a tense to which the English language is a\n      stranger--denotes generally \"a sudden, definite act of the past,\"\n      \"something done and finished with\"--\"They were filled\"--as in Acts\n      ii. 4.\n\n  (2) The Imperfect tense, denoting, as in English, just what its name\n      implies--\"They were being filled\" (literally)--as in Acts xiii. 52.\n\n  (3) The Present tense, also denoting, as in English, just what its name\n      implies--\"Full,\" the normal condition--as in Acts xi. 24.\n\nThe following are the passages in the Acts in which the various tenses\nare found:--\n\n  (1) _Aorist_:--\n\n  Acts ii. 2, \"It filled all the house.\"\n\n  Acts ii. 4, \"They were all filled.\"\n\n  Acts iv. 8, \"Peter filled with the Holy Ghost.\" Peter was already\n      \"filled,\" in ch. ii. 4.\n\n  Acts iv. 31, \"And they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.\" Peter was\n      again amongst them. Peter received an \"Aorist\" filling in ch. ii. 4,\n      again in ch. iv. 8, and yet again in ch. iv. 31. So that an \"Aorist\"\n      filling may be repeated and repeated again and yet again. On both\n      occasions--ch. iv. 8 and ch. iv. 31--there was special need, and to\n      meet this special need, Peter received a fresh and special and\n      definite \"filling\" of the Holy Ghost. From this we learn that to\n      equip us for every new important or difficult service to which we may\n      be called, the Lord Jesus is prepared to grant us a fresh Infilling,\n      a \"refilling\" of the Holy Ghost; and that these \"refillings\" may be,\n      and ought to be, repeated just as often as the need arises. We see\n      it reported twice in one chapter that Peter was \"refilled.\" It will\n      be noted that for the reasons already mentioned,[2] the expression\n      \"a fresh Infilling of the Holy Ghost,\" or \"refilling,\" is used\n      instead of \"received a fresh Baptism of the Holy Ghost.\"\n\n[2: Page 39.]\n\n  Acts ix. 17 (Saul), \"And be filled with the Holy Ghost.\" Saul was not\n      to begin his life work until \"baptized\"--\"filled with the Holy\n      Ghost.\" He must receive the very same blessing and equipment as the\n      other apostles received at Pentecost. This was Saul's Pentecost,\n      and for him, as for others, service began at Pentecost.\n\n  Acts xiii. 9, \"Paul filled with the Holy Ghost.\" The man who was filled\n      in ch. ix. is \"filled\" anew in this passage, the \"Aorist\" blessing\n      is repeated, fitting him for the special work on hand, viz.,\n      administering that scathing rebuke to Elymas the Sorcerer. In all\n      these passages the blessing is spoken of as a crisis, not as a\n      process.\n\n  (2) _Imperfect_:--\n\n  Acts xiii. 52, \"And the disciples (lit.) _were being filled_ with joy\n      and with the Holy Ghost.\" This is the only passage in the Acts where\n      the Imperfect tense is used. It is not the Aorist \"were filled,\" but\n      the Imperfect \"were being filled,\" implying the inflow, not only to\n      make up for, but to sustain, the outflow. The same idea of the\n      \"Imperfect\" is seen in Eph. v. 18, \"Be filled with the Spirit,\"\n      where Principal Moule points out that the Greek verb rendered \"be\n      filled,\" may with equal correctness be rendered \"Be ye _filling_\n      with the Holy Ghost.\" The preceptive verb \"is in the Present or\n      continuing tense; it enjoins a course, a habit,\" so that in this\n      sense \"the Fullness\" is _always_ coming, it is spoken of as a\n      process, not as a crisis.\n\n  (3) _Present_:--\n\n  Acts vi. 3, \"Look ye out therefore, brethren, from among you seven men\n      of good report, full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may\n      appoint over this business,\" men whose normal condition was \"full\"\n      of the Holy Ghost. It is well worth noticing the business for which\n      these \"deacons\" were wanted; they were to look after temporal\n      affairs, to feed a few decent old Greek widows; and yet even for\n      this business the men must be \"full of the Holy Ghost!\" None other\n      need apply. How far has the Church of to-day strayed from apostolic\n      practice! When an election of office-bearers is taking place\n      nowadays, of men, say, to manage the temporal affairs of Christ's\n      Church, who ever thinks of looking out for \"men full of the Holy\n      Ghost\"? Many a man is elected to office in the Church of the Living\n      God who \"has not the Spirit of Christ\" at all--who is therefore not\n      a child of God, much less \"full of the Holy Ghost.\" \"He is a man of\n      social position, a man of means; if he is not full of the Holy\n      Ghost, he is at least full of this world's goods, and you know he\n      will be a pillar in our Church.\" Yes, as some one has well remarked,\n      he will be a _cater_-pillar! The Church of the New Testament does\n      not need pillars of that kind. The Church of Jesus Christ and His\n      apostles does not require to be propped up by children of the devil.\n      What right have we to ask an \"alien,\" a man who is \"without Christ,\"\n      \"having no hope and without God in the world,\" to assist in managing\n      and controlling Father's House? Such was not apostolic practice. \"Be\n      ye not unequally yoked together with unbelievers\" (2 Cor. vi. 14).\n      What an amount of unequal yoking there is in many of our Churches,\n      although the Church's Lord expressly forbids it! \"Thou shalt not\n      plough with an ox and an ass together\" (Deut. xxii. 10).\n\nWho is responsible for this unequal yoking? Is it not the Church members\nthat elect these men and put them into office in the Church of God? Church\nmembers, beware! next time offices are to be filled in your Church,\nwhether they have to do with the temporal affairs or with the spiritual,\nremember apostolic advice, \"Look ye out from among you men full of the\nSpirit.\" When we get back in this matter to apostolic practice, we may\nhope to get back apostolic blessing, but not till then.\n\n  Acts vi. 5, \"Stephen, a man full of faith and of the Holy Spirit.\" In\n      those brave days of old it was a case of demand and supply.\n      Wanted--seven men full of the Holy Ghost; and immediately they were\n      forthcoming! Is the trouble nowadays in the demand or in the supply?\n      In both. The demand for Spirit-filled men is very slack; but even\n      if the demand revived to-morrow, how lamentably few in our Churches\n      could be found bearing the trade mark as \"up to sample!\" Still there\n      are not wanting signs of revival in both demand and supply. Let us\n      remember that Stephen's companions were men full of the Holy Ghost,\n      although Stephen is the only one of whom it is expressly stated. He\n      was the most remarkable man of the seven, a man in whom the graces\n      of the Spirit shone with conspicuous brightness. So mighty was his\n      faith that special mention must needs be made of it. It is not\n      sufficient to describe him as a man full of the Holy Ghost, but it\n      must be stated that he was \"a man full of faith _and_ of the Holy\n      Ghost.\" Faith was his outstanding grace.\n\n  Acts vii. 55, \"He being full of the Holy Ghost.\" This was Stephen's\n      normal condition right up to the very end of his life; it was true\n      of him when we get our first glimpse of him, true also as he passes\n      within the vail into the unspeakable glory.\n\n  Acts xi. 24, Barnabas \"was a good man and full of the Holy Ghost.\" A\n      good man indeed, and so full of the Spirit of God that there was no\n      room for self; for we read that he came into the midst of a great\n      revival, in the bringing about of which he had no hand, and instead\n      of being filled with envy at the divinely-chosen instruments,\n      instead of picking holes in the work and depreciating the whole\n      movement, he was filled with gladness; we read that he \"was glad\"\n      (ver. 23). It goes without saying that _that_ man was \"full of the\n      Holy Ghost.\" How many there are nowadays who are not like Barnabas!\n\nHaving now considered the passages in which the various tenses are used,\nwe are able to answer the question--How does the blessing come? Does it\ncome once for all, or is it always coming? There are sudden definite\n\"fillings,\" repeated with more or less frequency; times when the believer\nis conscious of being \"filled,\" when he can say, \"I was filled.\" Between\nthis experience--\"filled\" (which is an \"Aorist\" blessing)--and that which\nshould be the normal experience of every Christian, viz., \"full\" (which is\na \"Present\" blessing), it is evident that there is a great gap; but God\nhas graciously bridged the gap for us; the connecting link between the\n\"Aorist\" _were filled_, and the \"Present\" _full_, is the \"Imperfect\"\n\"_were being filled_,\" so that the blessing is always coming. Does it\ncome once for all? A thousand times No!--if by that is meant that we are\nreservoirs into which the Fullness is poured, so that once we are filled,\nwe are independent of fresh supplies from the Lord Jesus. That surely were\na curse instead of a blessing! What reservoir is there that does not need\nreplenishing? Some Christians say that at times after some piece of\nservice has been finished, they feel as if they were empty, as if their\nsouls had been quite drained, and now they are dry and thirsty. It need\nnot be so. It is not so with the Spirit-filled worker whose faith is in\nlively exercise, for he is \"being filled\" all the time.\n\nIn driving between Melbourne and my home I often stop at a wayside trough\nto give the horse a drink. I notice that the trough is quite full of water\nand that there is a box in one end of it. As the horse drinks the water is\nlowering, and presently I hear a sound as of a running tap. Yes, the sound\nis coming from the box. That box is covering a piece of mechanism that\nneeds explaining. Within it there is a tap connected by pipes with the Yan\nYean Reservoir up in the Plenty Ranges. Attached by a lever to the tap is\na metal ball, which rests on the surface of the water. As the horse drinks,\nthe water on which the ball is floating is lowered, and thus the ball is\nlowered; the lowering of the ball opens the tap and the Yan Yean begins\nto pour in; so that, although the water is being withdrawn by the thirsty\nanimal, a fresh supply is being poured in, the trough is \"being filled,\"\nso that it is always \"full.\" Thus may it be with the soul of the believer.\nNo matter what the outflow into the surrounding emptiness may be, or the\nwithdrawals by thirsty, needy souls, there is the continual inflow, so\nthat there may be the constant \"Fullness.\" Indeed the outflow depends\ndirectly on the inflow; one can only give as he gets. It is ours to see to\nthe connection between us and the infinite Reservoir away up among the\nhills of God being kept open, to see that the tap is kept in proper\nworking order by faith and prayer and meditation, and then, one might\nalmost say, automatically, the heart will be kept full, \"filled with all\nthe Fullness of God,\" no matter what the spiritual drain upon us may be;\nfor now it is not a question of our capacity to contain, but a question of\nGod's infinite supply for all our needs. This too is the explanation of\nthe \"overflow,\" the flowing \"Rivers\" of John vii. 38. It is the overflow,\nand only the overflow, that blesses. There is not a drop for thirsty souls\ntill some one overflows. It is the overflow in the Sabbath School class,\nand in the pulpit, and, for that matter, in every other sphere of\nChristian service, that brings blessing; and this overflow is in direct\nproportion to the inflow. \"Rivers\" cannot flow out unless \"Rivers\" first\nflow in.\n\nAn ordinary service pipe in our domestic water supply may serve to\nillustrate some of the points we have been considering. We take a bucket\nto the tap for water, and lo! there is none. Something is wrong. Either\nthe authorities have cut off our supply because of some infraction of the\nlaw on our part, or there is an obstruction in our service pipe, or the\npressure is insufficient to give us even a drop, or the supply is so\ndeficient that it has been shut off for a time from us that it may be sent\nin another direction. Sometimes, alas! the \"flowing\" of the \"living waters\"\nfrom the soul of the believer ceases; but the ordinary round of duty,\neither in the district visiting, or in the Sabbath School class, or in the\npulpit, has not ceased; a ceaseless stream of _talk_ may still be flowing\non, but there is no \"living water\" in it all. Why? It is not that the\npressure aback of us, the pressure in the infinite Reservoir away up among\nthe hills of God, is insufficient, or that the supply is deficient, unable\nto meet our needs because it is supplying needy ones elsewhere. God's\nwater supply never breaks down as we often find our city supply failing.\nIf the \"flowing\" has ceased, it is from one of two reasons: either God\nhas, in mercy and in judgment, cut off the supply, or there is an\nobstruction in us, and _sin_ is at the bottom of both reasons. \"Search me,\nO God ... and see if there be any way of wickedness in me\" (Ps. cxxxix.\n23, 24). \"Confession, cleansing\" is the divinely-appointed method for\nputting right what has gone wrong.\n\nSometimes on going to the tap we find that there is water, but such a\nmiserable dribble! either from insufficient pressure or some partial\nobstruction in the pipe, or perhaps it is because we have not opened the\ntap fully. What a wretched parody of the flowing \"Rivers\" of John vii. 38\nare the life and service of many of the Christians of to day! Some of the\n\"living water\" is doubtless coming from them, but it is only percolating\nthrough, dribbling, trickling out of them. Why? Certainly not, as has been\nalready remarked, from insufficient pressure; the fault, the failure is\nnot on God's side, but there is some local obstruction--amounting in many\na case to almost entire obstruction,--some little idol or other in our\nheart, if not a \"sin,\" yet certainly a \"weight\" (Heb. xii. 1), and this\nhinders the outflow. Confession and cleansing are still God's remedy. Or\nthe hindrance may be our unbelief, \"limiting the Holy One of Israel;\"\nopening the tap but a little instead of opening it full; expecting little\nwhen we were divinely authorized to expect much; refusing to obey the\ncommand, \"Open thy mouth wide, and I will fill it\" (Ps. lxxxi. 10).\n\"Rivers\" cannot flow through a heart full of unbelief.\n\nSometimes, again, on going to the tap we get a little water and a great\ndeal of air. What a noise! Now air is a very good thing in its own place,\nbut that is not in a water pipe; that is meant to convey water and nothing\nelse, and for the water pipe to do its work, it is necessary that it be\nemptied and cleansed of everything else, even of air. Scripture hath said\nthat some things \"puff up,\" and there is a good deal of \"puff\" in some\nhearts through which the living water is supposed to be flowing. God be\nmerciful unto us! Such hearts, like our water pipe, need emptying and\ncleansing.\n\nYet once more, on going to the tap, we find a splendid supply; the pipe\nis clean, the pressure is good. Now before we open the tap the pipe is\nfull of water; when the tap is opened and the bucket filling, the pipe is\nstill full, for although the water is pouring out at the tap, it is\npouring in at the reservoir, so that the pipe is _kept full_, even though\nthe tap is open and the water streaming from it. When the tap is shut,\nyou cannot say any more about the pipe now than that it is still full of\nwater. Even so may it be with the believer who is spiritually adjusted.\nWhen resting at his Master's feet he is full; when actively engaged in\nservice he is still full; his normal condition is, \"full of the Holy\nGhost,\" because he has learnt how to obey the command, \"Be ye filling\nwith the Spirit.\"\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XV.\n\n_ITS EFFECTS._\n\n\nAmong the effects and benefits which in this life accompany and flow from\nbeing filled with the Holy Ghost, may be mentioned the following:--\n\n\n_1. Courage._\n\n\"Oh, I could not do so and so--I have not the courage,\" is a reply\nfrequently made by Christian people when asked to undertake some piece of\nservice or other for the Master. The first point to be settled is, \"Is\nthat the Master's will for me?\" If so, lack of courage is a confession to\nthe lack of the \"Fullness of the Holy Ghost.\" The Spirit-filled man knows\nthe fear of God and knows no other fear.\n\nActs ii. 14, \"Peter, standing up with the eleven, lifted up his voice and\nspake forth.\" No fear of servant maids now! But _can_ this be the man who\nquailed before the look of the waiting-maid who charged him with being\n\"with the Nazarene\"? Can this be the man that \"began to curse and to\nswear, I know not this man of whom ye speak\"? The very same, and yet not\nthe same; for the Baptism of the Holy Ghost has changed Peter the\ncraven-hearted into Peter the lion-hearted, so that he can stand before\nthat surging multitude, their hands dyed crimson in his Master's blood,\nand without a tremor charge home upon them the awful crime, \"Him ye did\ncrucify and slay.\"\n\nCh. iv. 13: \"They beheld the _boldness_ of Peter and John.\"\n\nCh. iv. 31: \"They spake the word of God with _boldness_.\"\n\nCh. v. 20: \"Go ye and stand and speak in the temple.\" Taken out of prison,\nand ordered to go and do again the very thing for which they had been\nimprisoned! But _they_ were Spirit-filled men, and so we read in the next\nverse, \"they entered into the temple.\"\n\nCh. v. 29: \"We must obey God rather than men.\"\n\nCh. v. 40-42: \"Beaten ... departed rejoicing ... ceased not to teach.\"\n\nCh. xxi. 13: \"I am ready not to be bound only, but also to die at\nJerusalem, for the name of the Lord Jesus.\" Courage-filled because\nSpirit-filled!\n\n\n_2. The fruit of the Spirit._\n\n_The fruit of the Spirit will be manifest in the life_: Love, Joy, Peace,\netc. (Gal. v. 22, 23). How can one's life be filled with the fruit of the\nSpirit, unless one's heart is first filled with the Spirit Himself? In\nthe primitive Church the men and women were filled with the Holy Ghost;\nthat was the rule; now, alas! it has come to be the exception--and as a\nconsequence we see how their lives were enriched by the fruit of the\nSpirit.\n\n_Love_: Acts iv. 32, \"Were of one heart and soul ... had all things\ncommon.\" This may be poor political economy, but it is good spiritual\neconomy, a simple Bible illustration of the Bible precept, \"Lay up for\nyourselves treasure in heaven\" (Matt. vi. 20). If brotherly love were\nabroad to-day, how soon the present distress would disappear! As the best\navailable commentary on this heavenly word \"Love,\" study on your knees\nthe whole of 1 Cor. xiii.\n\n_Joy_: Acts ii. 46, \"They did take their food with gladness and singleness\nof heart, praising God.\" Every meal was a sacrament. The same cause would\nproduce the same result to-day.\n\nCh. v. 41: \"Rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer dishonor\nfor the Name,\" when some of us would have been bemoaning ourselves and\ncomplaining of the hardness of our lot!\n\nCh. xiii. 50-52: \"Stirred up a persecution ... and the disciples were\n(being) filled with joy.\"\n\nCh. xvi. 25: \"Paul and Silas were praying and singing hymns unto God.\"\nThe heavier the tribulation the more their joy seemed to \"overflow\" (2\nCor. vii. 4), and of course the heavier the tribulation the more joy they\nneeded to sustain them. \"For the joy of the Lord is your strength\" (Neh.\nviii. 10).\n\n_Peace_: Acts vi. 15, \"Saw his (Stephen's) face as it had been the face\nof an angel.\"\n\nCh. vii. 59, 60: \"They stoned Stephen, calling upon the Lord, and saying,\nLord Jesus, receive my Spirit, and he kneeled down, and ... fell asleep.\"\n\n2 Cor, iv. 8, 9: \"Troubled on every side, yet not distressed; perplexed,\nbut not in despair; persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not\ndestroyed.\"\n\nThus we might go through the heavenly list--long-suffering, gentleness,\ngoodness, faith, meekness, temperance--and see how richly in Bible times\nthe fruit flourished in the lives of those who were Spirit-filled. Before\npassing on let us notice where it is that Joy grows. It grows between Love\nand Peace. It is, as some one has well called it, a sheltered fruit. If\nLove withers, Joy is exposed on that side, and it too will fade. If Peace\nis interfered with, even though Love is vigorous, Joy is exposed on that\nside now, and it will fade away and die. The only way to preserve Joy in\nvigorous growth is to see that its sheltering fruits, Love and Peace, are\nkept free from blight, and vigorous too.\n\nIn his letter to the Ephesian Church, to whom he addressed the command,\n\"Be filled with the Spirit,\" Paul points out very clearly what the\nresults of the Fullness will be.\n\n(1) A singing heart (Eph. v. 19). This is what would bring us and our\nlives up to concert pitch. We would no more go \"flat.\" This would drive\naway the leaden dullness.\n\n(2) A thankful heart (ver. 20). Such a heart would not be finding fault\nwith Christ's government; will \"find none occasion of stumbling in\" Jesus\n(Matt. xi. 6); will not be offended at Him, no matter how He may test and\ntry it. \"Blessed is he\" that has such a heart in his bosom!\n\n(3) A submissive heart (Eph. v. 21), \"in lowliness of mind each counting\nother better than himself\" (Phil. ii. 3). \"The thing (once) impossible\nshall be.\"\n\n(4) Spirit-filled wives will be in subjection to their own husbands\n(Eph. v. 22).\n\n(5) Spirit-filled husbands will love their wives _as_ Christ loved the\nChurch (ver. 25).\n\n(6) Spirit-filled children will obey their parents (Eph. vi. 1).\n\n(7) Spirit-filled fathers will not provoke their children to wrath\n(ver. 4).\n\n(8) Spirit-filled servants (bond-slaves) will be obedient to their masters\n(ver. 5).\n\n(9) Spirit-filled masters will treat their servants as they (the masters)\nwould wish to be treated by _their_ Master (ver. 9).\n\nWould not results (8) and (9) be the best possible solution of the\nconstantly recurring Labor and Capital difficulty, and render a labor war\nimpossible, because unnecessary?\n\n(10) Spirit-filled men will be strong in the Lord, spiritual giants, not\nsickly, hunchbacked dwarfs (ver. 10).\n\n(11) Spirit-filled men will be warriors, clad in the whole armor of God;\nif not Spirit-filled they could not carry it (ver. 11).\n\n(12) Spirit-filled soldiers will not be warring against flesh and blood;\ninternal foes having all been subdued, the civil war has ceased; their\nenemies are now external, and they are free to concentrate all their\nattention and God-inspired energies on them. Their enemies are (1) in the\nworld--principalities and world-rulers, and (2) in the heavenlies--powers\nand spiritual hosts of wickedness (ver. 12).\n\n(13) Spirit-filled men will be praying always in the Spirit (ver. 18). In\norder to this vigilance is necessary \"watching thereunto.\"\n\nSuch are some of the results, on the positive side, of being filled with\nthe Spirit. The effects on the negative side are manifest in Gal. v. 16,\n17, \"Walk in (by) the Spirit, and _ye shall not fulfill the lust of the\nflesh_. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the Spirit against\nthe flesh; for these are contrary the one to the other: that ye (walking\nby the Spirit) may not do the things that ye would\" (if ye were walking\nby the flesh). (See Gal. v. 19-21.)\n\n\n_3. Reaching the masses._\n\nAnother effect of a Spirit-baptized Church would be that the _masses would\nbe reached_. See how the early Church--which was a Spirit-baptized Church,\nand persistently kept that truth in the foreground--reached the masses,\nand with what blessed results! They were not amused or entertained, but\nthey were converted, saved, turned to the Lord.\n\n  \"There were added unto them in that day about _three thousand_ souls.\"\n      Acts ii. 41.\n\n  \"The number of the men came to be about _five thousand_.\" Acts iv. 4.\n\n  \"Added to the Lord _multitudes_ both of men and women.\" Acts v. 14.\n\n  \"The number of the disciples _multiplied_ in Jerusalem exceedingly, and\n      a _great company_ of the priests were obedient to the faith.\" Acts\n      vi. 7.\n\n  \"The _multitudes_ (in Samaria) gave heed with one accord unto the things\n      that were spoken.\" Acts viii. 6.\n\n  \"And _all_ that dwelt at Lydda and in Sharon saw him, and they turned\n      to the Lord.\" Acts ix. 35.\n\n  \"It became known throughout all Joppa; and many believed on the Lord.\"\n      Acts ix. 42.\n\n  \"While Peter yet spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on _all_ them\n      which heard the word.\" Acts x. 44.\n\n  \"And the hand of the Lord was with them: and a _great number_ that\n      believed, turned unto the Lord.\" Acts xi. 21.\n\n   \"And the next Sabbath almost the _whole city_ was gathered together to\n      hear the word of God.\" Acts xiii. 44.\n\n  \"And so spake that a _great multitude_ both of Jews and of Greeks\n      believed.\" Acts xiv. 1.\n\n  \"And when they had preached the gospel to that city, and had made _many_\n      disciples.\" Acts xiv. 21.\n\n  \"The churches ... _increased_ in number daily.\" Acts xvi. 5.\n\n  \"These that have turned _the world_ upside down are come hither also.\"\n      Acts xvii. 6.\n\n  \"Crispus ... believed ... and _many_ of the Corinthians hearing\n      believed.\" Acts xviii. 8.\n\n  \"So _mightily_ grew the word of the Lord and prevailed.\" Acts xix. 18-20.\n\nWe often hear of discussions on the \"lapsed masses.\" \"Why have the masses\nof the people lapsed from the Churches?\" Perhaps the more correct way of\nputting it would be, Why have the Churches lapsed from the masses? The\nanswer is not far to seek--because they have lost the driving power which\nalone could keep them abreast of the masses, even the Baptism of the Holy\nGhost. The conditions were just as unfavorable in the first century as in\nthe nineteenth, and yet we read, \"So mightily grew the word of the Lord\nand prevailed.\" It is positively painful to see the substitutes that are\nbeing tried to-day for the power of the Holy Ghost. Miserable substitutes\nare they all! One Church is trying this plan, another that, and not one of\nthem has found a new plan that is a permanent success. They are\nfloundering, and some of them are foundering, and no wonder. It will be\nno loss to the kingdom of God if Churches which ignore the Holy Ghost\nshould founder. Let us get back to Pentecostal methods. The trouble is\nthat the Churches have lost their way to that \"upper room.\" Let a Church\nonly find her way back there and obtain her Pentecost; let pulpit and pew\nbe baptized with the Holy Ghost _and with fire_, and the people will come\nrunning in to see the burning. That Church will not need to cater for\namusements as a bait to catch the masses, but the people will come\ncrowding into her pews, climbing into them as Zacchaeus climbed into the\nbranches of that sycamore tree when he wanted to see the Lord; for the\npeople still want \"to see Jesus,\" and they have heard that He is \"to pass\nthat way.\" We cannot improve on Pentecost's methods for reaching the\nmasses.\n\n\n_4. Persecution._\n\nYet another effect of the Fullness of the Spirit must be mentioned, viz.,\n_Persecution_.\n\n  \"Others _mocking_ said, They are filled with new wine.\" Acts ii. 13.\n\n  \"They laid hands on them and put them in ward.\" Acts iv. 3.\n\n  \"Let us threaten them.\" Acts iv. 17.\n\n  \"They laid hands on the apostles and put them in public ward.\" Acts\n      v. 18.\n\n  \"And were minded to slay them.\" Acts v. 33.\n\n  \"They beat them and charged them not to speak.\" Acts v. 40.\n\n  \"And seized him and brought him into the council.\" Acts vi. 12.\n\n  \"And they stoned Stephen.\" Acts vii. 59.\n\n  \"And there arose on that day a great persecution.\" Acts viii. 1.\n\n  \"Haling men and women committed them to prison.\" Acts viii. 3.\n\n  \"Saul, yet breathing threatening and slaughter against the disciples\n      of the Lord.\" Acts ix. 1.\n\n  \"Took counsel together to kill him.\" Acts ix. 23.\n\n  \"They went about to kill him.\" Acts ix. 29.\n\n  \"Killed James the brother of John with the sword.\" Acts xii. 2.\n\n  \"He put him (Peter) in prison.\" Acts xii. 4.\n\n  \"Stirred up a persecution against Paul and Barnabas.\" Acts xiii. 50.\n\n  \"Made them evil affected against the brethren.\" Acts xiv. 2.\n\n  \"To treat them shamefully and to stone them.\" Acts xiv. 5.\n\n  \"They stoned Paul.\" Acts xiv. 19.\n\n  \"Commanded to beat them (Paul and Silas) with rods.\" Acts xvi. 22.\n\n  \"Cast them into prison, ... and made their feet fast in the stocks.\"\n      Acts xvi. 23, 24.\n\n  \"Set the city on an uproar.\" Acts xvii. 5.\n\n  \"Stirring up and troubling the multitudes.\" Acts xvii. 13.\n\n  \"Opposed themselves and blasphemed.\" Acts xviii. 6.\n\n  \"Rose up against Paul, and brought him before the judgment seat.\" Acts\n      xviii. 12.\n\n  \"Speaking evil of the way.\" Acts xix. 9.\n\n  \"Filled with wrath.\" Acts xix. 28.\n\n  \"No small stir concerning the way.\" Acts xix. 23.\n\n  \"A plot was laid against him by the Jews.\" Acts xx. 3.\n\n  \"So shall the Jews at Jerusalem bind the man that owneth this girdle,\n      and shall deliver him into the hands of the Gentiles.\" Acts xxi. 11.\n\n  \"And laid hands on him.\" (Paul was never free after this.) Acts xxi. 27.\n\n  \"As they were seeking to kill him.\" Acts xxi. 31.\n\n  \"Beating Paul ... bound with two chains ... into the castle.\" Acts xxi.\n      32, 33, 34.\n\n  \"It is not fit that he should live.\" Acts, xxii. 22.\n\n  \"Bound themselves under a curse, saying that they would neither eat nor\n      drink till they had killed Paul.\" Acts xxiii. 12.\n\n  \"They delivered Paul ... to a centurion.\" Acts xxvii. 1.\n\n  \"From henceforth let no man trouble me: for I bear branded on my body\n      the marks of Jesus.\" Gal. vi. 17.\n\nAll this makes lively reading in this peaceful, easy-going day of ours;\nand yet the world has not changed in its attitude or feeling towards God\nand the things of God. But a most palpable change has taken place\nsomewhere. The change, alas! is in us, in the people of God; a change that\nis not for the better. We have lost that which brought these men into\ndirect collision with the world, and with its ways, even the Fullness of\nthe Spirit. Only let a man in our day seek and obtain the blessing that\nmade these men mighty for God, and he will soon find that the world has\nnot changed, and that the \"Pharisees\" have not changed either; the\nFullness of the Holy Ghost makes a man the uncompromising friend of God,\nand that certainly involves the enmity of the world. \"Therefore the world\nhateth you\" (John xv. 19). It behooves those who are seeking the \"Fullness\nof the Spirit\" to remember these facts, and to count the cost, for the\npersecution may come from the most unlikely, unlooked-for quarters. To be\nforewarned is to be forearmed. \"In the world ye have tribulation: but be\nof good cheer; I have overcome the world\" (John xvi. 33).\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVI.\n\n_MAY ONE KNOW THAT HE IS FILLED?_\n\n\nThe question is often asked--How am I to know when I am filled with the\nHoly Ghost?\n\n\n_1. You may know it from the testimony of the written Word._\n\n\"All things whatsoever ye pray and ask for, _believe that ye have\nreceived_ them, and ye shall have them\" (Mark xi. 24). From this you know,\nthat if you have, up to your light, fulfilled the conditions necessary to\nthe filling of the Holy Ghost, on praying and asking for the Fullness, it\nis your privilege to believe that you have received what you have asked\nfor; nay, it is your bounden duty, in compliance with Christ's express\ncommand, so to believe. If God gives, and you really receive, you may then\ngive thanks, and that proves that you possess, for you cannot truly give\nthanks for what you do not possess! It will be noted that this answer is\nprecisely similar to the answer that would be given to the question--How\nam I to know that I am saved? By simple faith on the testimony of the\nWord. As multitudes have accepted salvation without any emotion, without\nany feeling whatever, so many a one has accepted by faith the \"Fullness\nof the Holy Ghost,\" without any wave of emotion or feeling bearing witness\nto the fact of the filling. But this is not to say that there is never any\nfeeling, that the emotions are never stirred; not so, for the feelings\nwill come in due course, in God's own time.\n\n\n_2. Witness of the Spirit._\n\nAgain, one may know that the Fullness has come by the witness of the\ninfilling Spirit. Just as in multitudes of cases the blessed Spirit bears\nwitness with the Blood when it is applied at the moment of conversion, so\nmany a one knows in his inner consciousness the moment when the Fullness\nof the Spirit was bestowed; they felt the Incoming and can date their\nBaptism, as others have felt the regenerating change and can date their\nconversion.\n\nIt should also be repeated here, that as many are ignorant of the date of\ntheir conversion, though well assured of the fact, so many may be ignorant\nof the date of their Baptism with the Holy Ghost, though well assured that\nthey have entered on the blessed life. If we are assured of the fact, that\nwe have received the Fullness of the Spirit, we need not worry as to dates.\n\n\n_3. Signs Following._\n\nYet again, one may know whether the Fullness has come to his heart and\nlife by the signs following, by what \"The Men\" of the North of Scotland\nwould call \"the marks.\" Christ's words used in another connection may\nsurely be applied in this, \"By their fruits ye shall know them\" (Matt.\nvii. 20). \"The fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, peace, longsuffering,\ngentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance\" (Gal. v. 22, 23). The\nfullness of the fruit will surely be found where the Fullness of the\nSpirit is. Quantity and quality will both be there. As this has already\nbeen touched upon when considering the effects of the blessing, no more\nneed be added here. But this, however, must be clearly borne in mind,\nthat, while the Fullness of the Spirit is a _gift_, the fruit of the\nSpirit is a _growth_. Fruit grows, and the fruit _will_ grow, if only we\nsee to it that the conditions are present which are favorable to growth.\nThat man does not manifest much wisdom who expects full growth without\nattending to the conditions of growth.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVII.\n\n_MAY ONE SAY THAT HE IS FILLED?_\n\n\nThe question has been raised--Is it right for one to _say_ that he is\n\"filled with the Holy Ghost\"? May this not savor of egotism? John said of\nJesus--\"Behold the Lamb of God, who taketh away the sin of the world; ...\nthe same is He that baptizeth with the Holy Spirit\" (John i. 29, 33).\nChrist's twofold office here is to \"take away sin,\" and \"to baptize\nwith the Holy Spirit.\" Each one who knows Christ as the \"Sin-bearer\"\nshould have an experimental acquaintance with Him as the \"Baptizer\" too.\nIndeed, this alone is _full salvation_. To have sin taken away is but\nhalf salvation; to be \"baptized with the Holy Spirit\" as well, is to\npossess full salvation. Now, if Christ has taken away a man's sin, may\nthat man not know it? Certainly. And if he knows it, may he not bear\nwitness to the fact? Nay, does Christ not expect him to confess?--to tell\nwhat great things the Lord hath done for him? No right-thinking person\nwould regard it as wrong for a saved man to confess his Saviour, or would\nregard his confession as egotism. By parity of reasoning, if Christ has\nbaptized a pardoned man with the Holy Ghost, may that man not know it?\nSurely! and if he knows it, may he not bear witness to the fact? May he\nnot tell what still greater things the Lord hath done for him? Would this\nbe wrong? Must _this_ necessarily be egotism? At the same time, while it\nis perfectly scriptural for a Spirit-filled man to testify, for Christ's\nglory, as to the Infilling of the Holy Spirit when questioned upon it--for\nwe must be careful not to libel the grace of God that is in us, and not\nto grieve the Holy Spirit by ignoring Him or His work within us--one\ncannot be too careful lest he be found casting his \"pearls before the\nswine\" (Matt. vii. 6), and as a rule it will be better in this matter to\nlet the life speak rather than the tongue. Indeed it will not often be\nnecessary for the Spirit-filled man to be questioned on the subject at\nall; his speech will betray him, his manner of life, his fruitful service.\n\n\n\n\nCHAPTER XVIII.\n\n_MAY ONE LOSE THE BLESSING?_\n\n\nThe question trembles from many a lip--If I get the blessing, may I lose\nit? Most certainly. But, glory be to God! He has made ample provision for\nfailure. There is no reason why we _should_ fail; God has made ample\nprovision _against_ failure; we must not expect to fail; _but_ in case we\ndo fail, provision has been made. The most prolific cause of loss is\ndisobedience--disobedience either to one of God's written commands, or to\nthe inward promptings of His Holy Spirit. \"The Holy Ghost whom God hath\ngiven to them that obey Him\" (Acts v. 32). This all-glorious gift is not\nonly obtained but retained in connection with obedience. It is absolutely\nnecessary to maintain the attitude of complete self-surrender, for the\nslightest act of disobedience--that is, the asserting of our own will in\nopposition to His will--may cost us the loss of the blessing, such as,\nneglecting to speak to a man about the great salvation, or, refusing to\ngive a tract to some one when we _knew_ God wanted us to do so. We must\nlearn to be obedient to the promptings of the Spirit. \"Mine eyes are ever\ntoward the Lord\" (Ps. xxv. 15) must be our constant attitude.\n\nIf we possess the blessing, and desire to retain it, there is another\nmatter of the last importance that must be attended to, viz., letting\n\"the Word of Christ dwell in you richly in all wisdom\" (Col. iii. 16).\nThe Spirit-filled man will be a Word-filled man. A neglected Bible is\nresponsible for much of the lost blessing from which many of God's\nchildren are suffering to-day. If we would retain the blessing in its\nfullness and freshness, we must feed _daily_ and feed _much_ upon Christ\nas He is revealed to us in the Holy Scriptures. It is the function of the\nindwelling Spirit to take of the things of Christ, and to show them unto\nus (John xvi. 14). He does not speak from Himself or of Himself, but of\nJesus; and so He will be continually drawing us to the Word, that He may\nhave the opportunity of drawing our attention to fresh beauties in\nImmanuel. There is much so-called reading of the Bible that is not\n\"searching the Scriptures\" (John v. 39), not \"delighting in the law of\nthe Lord,\" not \"meditating in it day and night\" (Ps. i. 2), not \"letting\nthe Word of Christ _dwell in you richly_.\" You cannot live a Spirit-filled\nlife, and be content with a shallow, meager acquaintance with the Divine\nWord. The Spirit-filled man gives God's Book its own proud place, the\npremier place, in all his reading. It is instructive to compare the\neffects of being filled with the Spirit and of being filled with the Word.\n\"Be filled with the Spirit; speaking _one to another in psalms and hymns\nand spiritual songs, singing_ and making melody _with your heart to the\nLord_\" (Eph. v. 18). \"Let the word of Christ dwell in you richly in all\nwisdom; teaching and admonishing _one another with psalms and hymns and\nspiritual songs, singing_ with grace _in your hearts unto God_\" (Col.\niii. 16).\n\nHave we then, unhappily, through disobedience or neglect, lost the\nblessing which once we possessed? Is there one saying, \"Oh that I were\nas in the months of old!\"? (Job xxix. 2.) It may be \"all joy\" with you\nagain, for if you have lost the blessing, just go back and search for it,\nand you will find it where you lost it! Just there and nowhere else. Have\nyou found the spot where your obedience failed? Yield and obey just there,\npick up your obedience where you dropped it, and there you may obtain the\nblessing, again as you obtained it at the first; but _just there and\nnowhere else_. An illustration of this is found in 2 Kings vi. The\nDivinity Students of those days were going down to build a new Divinity\nHall on the banks of the Jordan, and they asked Elisha, the man of God,\nto go with them. The story tells us that as one of the students \"was\nfelling a beam, the axe-head fell into the water; and he cried and said,\nAlas, my master! for it was borrowed. And the man of God said, Where fell\nit? And he shewed him the place. And he cut down a stick, and cast it in\nthither; and the iron did swim. And he said, Take it up to thee. So he\nput out his hand and took it,\" and having re-fixed the axe-head on the\nhandle, he went on again with his felling (verses 5-7). Where was it that\nthe student got his lost axe-head? Where he lost it! in the very spot\nwhere it fell into the Jordan's waters--it was just _there_ that he found\nit. So if you lose the blessing, the only spot on earth where you need\nlook for it, if you wish to take it up to thee again, is _the very spot\nwhere you lost it_. Let us all learn by root of heart what the student\ndid _not_ do. After the axe-head flew from the handle, he did not continue\nat work chopping with an axe-handle. No; but as soon as he lost his\naxe-head, he _stopped till he got it on again_. Oh that many a Christian\nworker would read, mark, learn; and inwardly digest! Then some Sabbaths\nthere might be many a pulpit without a preacher, and many a Sabbath School\nclass without a teacher, and many a sphere of Christian labor without its\nworker. Why? where are they? Away looking for their axe-heads! Away to the\nbanks of that river of disobedience, in whose sluggish waters they lost\nthem! Alas! that there should be so many to-day with an axe-handle, trying\nin this way to fell beams for the house of our God! working with the\nblessing lost! Hard labor this, and very little to show for it--except\nearnestness! \"And isn't it a fine thing to be in earnest?\" Yes, but it is\na finer to have a little of that uncommon thing--homely common sense, at\nthe back of the earnestness, and the man who is hewing with an axe-handle\ndoesn't impress one as being overburdened that way! If we have enjoyed\nand have lost the Fullness of the Spirit, let us confess, betake us to\nthe open fountain and obey, and He will put away our sin; and then, let\nus start afresh, let us come to Him again for the Fullness, as at the\nfirst, and we will find that \"He abideth faithful: for He cannot deny\nHimself\" (2 Tim. ii. 13). For the sake of the Sacred Heart, for His Name's\nglory, for the sake of souls, and for our own sake, we must not, we will\nnot try to live and labor without being \"FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT.\"\n\n\nTHE END.\n\nTranscriber's note: Obvious printer errors have been corrected without\ncomment.","title":"The Spirit-Filled Life","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":26877}