{"collection":"scripture-revelation","full_text_available":true,"graph_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/api/page/gutenberg_33341/graph","html_url":"https://unchartedknowledge.5gfusion.net/v2/page/gutenberg_33341","id":"gutenberg_33341","license":"Public Domain (US)","rights_basis":"gutenberg_metadata_copyright_false","source":"gutenberg","source_url":"https://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/33341","summary":null,"tags":["Baptism in the Holy Spirit","Category: Religion/Spirituality","Christian life","Holy Spirit"],"text":"Produced by Keith G. Richardson\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\nSECRET POWER\n\n\nOR THE\n\n\nSECRET OF SUCCESS IN CHRISTIAN\n\nLIFE AND WORK.\n\n\nBy D. L. MOODY\n\n\nFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\nNEW YORK : : CHICAGO : : TORONTO\n\n_Publishers of Evangelical Literature_\n\n\n\nCopyrighted 1881, by FLEMING H. REVELL.\n\n\n\nPREFACE.\n\n\nOne man may have \"zeal without knowledge,\" while another may have\nknowledge without zeal. If I could have only the one, I believe I\nshould choose the first; but, with an open Bible, no one need be\nwithout knowledge of God's will and purpose; and the object of this\nbook is to help others to know the source of true power, that both\ntheir zeal and their knowledge may be of increased service in the\nMaster's work.\n\nPaul says, \"all Scripture is given by inspiration of God, and is\nprofitable;\" but I believe one portion, and that the subject of this\nbook, has been too much overlooked, as though it were not practical,\nand the result is lack of power in testimony and work. If we would\nwork, \"not as one that beateth the air,\" but to some definite purpose,\nwe must have this power from on high. Without this power, our work\nwill be drudgery. With it, it becomes a joyful task, a refreshing\nservice.\n\nMay God make this book a blessing to many. This is my prayer.\n\n\nD. L. MOODY.\n\n\nNORTHFIELD, MASS., May 1st, 1881.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER I.\n\n\nPOWER--ITS SOURCE\n\n\nIn vain do the inhabitants of London go to their conduits for supply\nunless the man who has the master-key turns the water on; and in vain\ndo we think to quench our thirst at ordinances, unless God\ncommunicates the living water of His Spirit.--_Anon_.\n\nIt was the custom of the Roman emperors, at their triumphal entrance,\nto cast new coins among the multitudes; so doth Christ, in His\ntriumphal ascension into heaven, throw the greatest gifts for the good\nof men that were ever given.--_T. Goodwin_.\n\nTo unconverted persons, a great part of the Bible resembles a letter\nwritten in cipher. The blessed Spirit's office is to act as God's\ndecipherer, by letting His people into the secret of celestial\nexperience, as the key and clew to those sweet mysteries of grace\nwhich were before as a garden shut up, or as a fountain sealed, or as\na book written in an unknown character.--_Toplady_.\n\nThe greatest, strongest, mightiest plea for the Church of God in the\nworld is the existence of the Spirit of God in its midst, and the\nworks of the Spirit of God are the true evidences of Christianity.\nThey say miracles are withdrawn, but the Holy Spirit is the standing\nmiracle of the Church of God to-day. I will not say a word against\nsocieties for Christian evidences, nor against those weighty and\nlearned brethren who have defended the outworks of the Christian\nChurch. They have done good service, and I wish them every blessing,\nbut as to my own soul, I never was settled in my faith in Christ by\nPaley's Evidences, nor by all the evidence ever brought from history\nor elsewhere; the Holy Spirit has taken the burden off my shoulders,\nand given me peace and liberty. This to me is evidence, and as to the\nexternals which we can quote to others, it was enough for Peter and\nJohn that the people saw the lame man healed, and they needed not to\nspeak for themselves.--_Spurgeon_.\n\n\nPOWER--ITS SOURCE.\n\n\n\"Without the soul, divinely quickened and inspired, the observances of\nthe grandest ritualism are as worthless as the motions of a galvanized\ncorpse.\"--_Anon_.\n\nI QUOTE this sentence, as it leads me at once to the subject under\nconsideration. What is this quickening and inspiration? What is this\npower needed? From whence its source? I reply: The Holy Spirit of God.\nI am a full believer in \"The Apostles' Creed,\" and therefore \"I\nbelieve in the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nA writer has pointedly asked: \"What are our souls without His grace?--as\ndead as the branch in which the sap does not circulate. What is the\nChurch without Him?--as parched and barren as the fields without the\ndew and rain of heaven.\"\n\nThere has been much inquiry of late on the subject of the Holy Spirit.\nIn this and other lands thousands of persons have been giving\nattention to the study of this grand theme. I hope it will lead us all\nto pray for a greater manifestation of His power upon the whole Church\nof God. How much we have dishonored Him in the past! How ignorant of\nHis grace, and love and presence we have been? True, we have heard of\nHim and read of Him, but we have had little intelligent knowledge of\nHis attributes, His offices and His relations to us. I fear He has not\nbeen to many professed Christians an actual existence, nor is He known\nto them as a personality of the Godhead.\n\nThe first work of the Spirit is to give life; spiritual life. He gives\nit and He sustains it. If there is no life, there can be no power;\nSolomon says: \"A living dog is better than a dead lion.\" When the\nSpirit imparts this life, He does not leave us to droop and die, but\nconstantly fans the flame. He is ever with us. Surely we ought not to\nbe ignorant of His power and his work.\n\n\nIDENTITY AND PERSONALITY.\n\n\nIn John v, 7, we read: \"There are three that bear record in heaven,\nthe Father, the Word, and the Holy Ghost, and these three are one.\" By\nthe Father is meant the first Person, Christ, the Word is the second,\nand the Holy Spirit, perfectly fulfilling His own office and work in\nunion with the Father and the Son, is the third. I find clearly\npresented in my Bible, that the One God who demands my love, service\nand worship, has there revealed Himself, and that each of those three\nnames of Father, Son and Holy Ghost has personality attached to them.\nTherefore we find some things ascribed to God as Father, some to God\nas Saviour, and some to God as Comforter and Teacher. It has been\nremarked that the Father plans, the Son executes, and the Holy Spirit\napplies. But I also believe they plan and work together. The\ndistinction of _persons_ is often noted in Scripture. In Matt. iii,\n16-17, we find JESUS submitting to baptism, the SPIRIT descending upon\nHim, while the FATHER'S voice of approval is heard saying: \"This is my\nBeloved Son in whom I am well pleased.\" Again in John xiv, 16, we\nread: \"I (_i. e._ Jesus) will pray the Father, and He shall give you\nanother Comforter.\" Also in Eph. i, 18: \"Through Him (_i. e._ Christ\nJesus) we both (Jews and Gentiles) have access by one Spirit unto the\nFather.\" Thus we are taught the distinction of persons in the Godhead,\nand their inseparable union. From these and other scriptures also we\nlearn the identity and actual existence of the Holy Spirit.\n\nIf you ask do I _understand_ what is thus revealed in Scripture, I say\n\"no.\" But my faith bows down before the inspired Word and I\nunhesitatingly believe the great things of God when even reason is\nblinded and the intellect confused.\n\nIn addition to the teaching of God's Word, the Holy Spirit in His\ngracious work in the soul declares His own presence. Through His\nagency we are \"born again,\" and through His indwelling we possess\nsuperhuman power. Science, falsely so called, when arrayed against the\nexistence and presence of the Spirit of God with His people, only\nexposes its own folly to the contempt of those who have become \"new\ncreatures in Christ Jesus.\" The Holy Spirit who inspired prophets, and\nqualified apostles, continues to animate, guide and comfort all true\nbelievers. To the actual Christian, the personality of the Holy Spirit\nis more real than any theory science has to offer, for so-called\nscience is but calculation based on human observation, and is\nconstantly changing its inferences. But the existence of the Holy\nSpirit is to the child of God a matter of Scripture revelation and of\nactual experience.\n\nSome skeptics assert that there is no other vital energy in the world\nbut physical force, while contrary to their assertions, thousands and\ntens of thousands who can not possibly be deceived have been quickened\ninto spiritual life by a power neither physical or mental. Men who\nwere dead in sins--drunkards who lost their will, blasphemers who lost\ntheir purity, libertines sunk in beastliness, infidels who published\ntheir shame to the world, have in numberless instances become the\nsubjects of the Spirit's power, and are now walking in the true\nnobility of Christian manhood, separated by an infinite distance from\ntheir former life. Let others reject, if they will, at their own\nperil, this imperishable truth. I believe, and am growing more into\nthis belief, that divine, miraculous creative power resides in the\nHoly Ghost. Above and beyond all natural law, yet in harmony with it,\ncreation, providence, the Divine government, and the upbuilding of the\nChurch of God are presided over by the Spirit of God. His ministration\nis the ministration of life more glorious than the ministration of\nlaw, (2 Cor. iii, 6-10). And like the Eternal Son, the Eternal Spirit\nhaving life in Himself, is working out all things after the counsel of\nHis own will, and for the everlasting glory of the Triune Godhead.\n\nThe Holy Spirit has all the qualities belonging to a person; the power\nto understand, to will, to do, to call, to feel, to love. This can not\nbe said of a mere influence. He possesses attributes and qualities\nwhich can only be ascribed to a person, as acts and deeds are\nperformed by Him which can not be performed by a machine, an\ninfluence, or a result.\n\n\nAGENT AND INSTRUMENT.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit is closely identified with the words of the Lord\nJesus. \"It is the Spirit that quickeneth; the flesh profiteth nothing,\nthe words that I speak unto you, they are spirit and they are life.\"\nThe Gospel proclamation can not be divorced from the Holy Spirit.\nUnless He attend the word in power, vain will be the attempt in\npreaching it. Human eloquence or persuasiveness of speech are the mere\ntrappings of the dead, if the living Spirit be absent; the prophet may\npreach to the bones in the valley, but it must be the breath from\nHeaven which will cause the slain to live.\n\nIn the third chapter of the First Epistle of Peter, it reads, \"For\nChrist also hath once suffered for sins, the just for the unjust, that\nHe might bring us to God, being put to death in the flesh, but\nquickened by the Spirit.\"\n\nHere we see that Christ was raised up from the grave by this same\nSpirit, and the power exercised to raise Christ's dead body must raise\nour dead souls and quicken them. No other power on earth can quicken a\ndead soul, but the same power that raised the body of Jesus Christ out\nof Joseph's sepulcher. And if we want that power to quicken our\nfriends who are dead in sin, we must look to God, and not be looking\nto man to do it. If we look alone to ministers, if we look alone to\nChrist's disciples to do this work, we shall be disappointed; but if\nwe look to the Spirit of God and expect it to come from Him and Him\nalone, then we shall honor the Spirit, and the Spirit will do His\nwork.\n\n\nSECRET OF EFFICIENCY.\n\n\nI can not help but believe there are many Christians who want to be\nmore efficient in the Lord's service, and the object of this book is\nto take up this subject of the Holy Spirit, that they may see from\nwhom to expect this power. In the teaching of Christ, we find the last\nwords recorded in the Gospel of Matthew, the 28th chapter and 19th\nverse, \"Go ye, therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them in the\nname of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.\" Here we\nfind that the Holy Spirit and the Son are equal with the Father--are\none with Him, \"teaching them in the name of the Father, and of the\nSon, and of the Holy Ghost.\" Christ was now handing His commission\nover to His Apostles. He was going to leave them. His work on earth\nwas finished, and He was now just about ready to take His seat at the\nright hand of God, and He spoke unto them and said: \"All power is\ngiven unto Me in heaven and on earth.\" All power, so then He had\nauthority. If Christ was mere man, as some people try to make out, it\nwould have been blasphemy for Him to have said to the disciples, go\nand baptize all nations in the name of the Father, and in His own\nname, and in that of the Holy Ghost, making Himself equal with the\nFather.\n\nThere are three things: _All power_ is given unto Me; go _teach all_\nnations. Teach them what? To _observe all_ things. There are a great\nmany people now that are willing to observe what they like about\nChrist, but the things that they don't like they just dismiss and turn\naway from. But His commission to His disciples was, \"Go teach all\nnations to observe all things whatsoever I have commanded you.\" And\nwhat right has a messenger who has been sent of God to change the\nmessage? If I had sent a servant to deliver a message, and the servant\nthought the message didn't sound exactly right--a little harsh--and\nthat servant went and changed the message, I should change servants\nvery quickly; he could not serve me any longer. And when a minister or\na messenger of Christ begins to change the message because he thinks\nit is not exactly what it ought to be, and thinks he is wiser than\nGod, God just dismisses that man.\n\nThey haven't taught \"all things.\" They have left out some of the\nthings that Christ has commanded us to teach, because they didn't\ncorrespond with man's reason. Now we have to take the Word of God just\nas it is; and if we are going to take it, we have no authority to take\nout just what we like, what we think is appropriate, and let dark\nreason be our guide.\n\nIt is the work of the Spirit to impress the heart and seal the\npreached word. His office is to take of the things of Christ and\nreveal them unto us.\n\nSome people have got an idea that this is the only dispensation of the\nHoly Ghost; that He didn't work until Christ was glorified. But Simeon\nfelt the Holy Ghost when he went into the temple. In 2d Peter, i. 21,\nwe read: \"Holy men of old spake as they were moved by the Holy Ghost.\"\nWe find the same Spirit in Genesis as is seen in Revelation. The same\nSpirit that guided the hand that wrote Exodus inspired also the\nepistles, and we find the same Spirit speaking from one end of the\nBible to the other. So holy men in all ages have spoken as they were\nmoved by the Holy Ghost.\n\n\nHIS PERSONALITY.\n\n\nI was a Christian a long time before I found out that the Holy Ghost\nwas a person. Now this is something a great many don't seem to\nunderstand, but if you will just take up the Bible and see what Christ\nhad to say about the Holy Spirit, you will find that He always spoke\nof Him as a person--never spoke of Him as an influence. Some people\nhave an idea that the Holy Spirit is an attribute of God, just like\nmercy--just an influence coming from God. But we find in the\nfourteenth chapter of John, sixteenth verse, these words: \"And I will\npray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter that He may\nabide with you forever.\" That _He_ may abide with you forever. And,\nagain, in the same chapter, seventeenth verse: \"Even the Spirit of\nTruth, whom the world can not receive, because it seeth Him not,\nneither knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you and\nshall be in you.\" Again, in the twenty-sixth verse of the same\nchapter: \"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father\nwill send in my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all\nthings to your remembrance whatsoever I have said unto you.\"\n\nObserve the pronouns \"He\" and \"Him.\" I want to call attention to this\nfact that whenever Christ spoke of the Holy Ghost He spoke of Him as a\nperson, not a mere influence; and if we want to honor the Holy Ghost,\nlet us bear in mind that He is one of the Trinity, a personality of\nthe Godhead.\n\n\nTHE RESERVOIR OF LOVE.\n\n\nWe read that the fruit of the Spirit is love. God is love, Christ is\nlove, and we should not be surprised to read about the love of the\nSpirit. What a blessed attribute is this. May I call it the dome of\nthe temple of the graces. Better still, it is the crown of crowns worn\nby the Triune God. Human love is a natural emotion which flows forth\ntowards the object of our affections. But Divine love is as high above\nhuman love as the heaven is above the earth. The natural man is of the\nearth, earthy, and however pure his love may be, it is weak and\nimperfect at best. But the love of God is perfect and entire, wanting\nnothing. It is as a mighty ocean in its greatness, dwelling with and\nflowing from the Eternal Spirit.\n\nIn Romans v, 5, we read: \"And hope maketh not ashamed, because the\nlove of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is\ngiven to us.\" Now if we are co-workers with God, there is one thing we\nmust possess, and that is love. A man may be a very successful lawyer\nand have no love for his clients, and yet get on very well. A man may\nbe a very successful physician and have no love for his patients, and\nyet be a very good physician; a man may be a very successful merchant\nand have no love for his customers, and yet he may do a good business\nand succeed; but no man can be a co-worker with God without love. If\nour service is mere profession on our part, the quicker we renounce it\nthe better. If a man takes up God's work as he would take up any\nprofession, the sooner he gets out of it the better.\n\nWe can not work for God without love. It is the only tree that can\nproduce fruit on this sin-cursed earth, that is acceptable to God. If\nI have no love for God nor for my fellow man, then I can not work\nacceptably. I am like sounding brass and a tinkling cymbal. We are\ntold that \"the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy\nGhost.\" Now, if we have had that love shed abroad in our hearts, we\nare ready for God's service; if we have not, we are not ready. It is\nso easy to reach a man when you love him; all barriers are broken down\nand swept away.\n\nPaul when writing to Titus, second chapter and first verse, tells him\nto be sound in faith, in charity, and in patience. Now in this age,\never since I can remember, the Church has been very jealous about men\nbeing unsound in the faith. If a man becomes unsound in the faith,\nthey draw their ecclesiastical sword and cut at him; but he may be\never so unsound in love, and they don't say anything. He may be ever\nso defective in patience; he may be irritable and fretful all the\ntime, but they never deal with him. Now the Bible teaches us, that we\nare not only to be sound in the faith, but in charity and in patience.\nI believe God can not use many of his servants, because they are full\nof irritability and impatience; they are fretting all the time, from\nmorning until night. God can not use them; their mouths are sealed;\nthey can not speak for Jesus Christ, and if they have not love, they\ncan not work for God. I do not mean love for those that love me; it\ndon't take grace to do that; the rudest Hottentot in the world can do\nthat; the greatest heathen that ever lived can do that; the vilest man\nthat ever walked the earth can do that. It don't take any grace at\nall. I did that before I ever became a Christian. Love begets love;\nhatred begets hatred. If I know a man loves me first, I know my love\nwill be going out towards him. Suppose a man comes to me, saying, \"Mr.\nMoody, a certain man told me to-day that he thought you were the\nmeanest man living.\" Well, if I didn't have a good deal of the grace\nof God in my heart, then I know there would be hard feelings that\nwould spring up in my heart against that man, and it would not be long\nbefore I would be talking against him. Hatred begets hatred. But\nsuppose a man comes to me and says, \"Mr. Moody, do you know that such\na man that I met to-day says that he thinks a great deal of you?\" and\nthough I may never have heard of him, there would be love springing up\nin my heart. Love begets love; we all know that; but it takes the\ngrace of God to love the man that lies about me, the man that slanders\nme, the man that is trying to tear down my character; it takes the\ngrace of God to love that man. You may hate the sin he has committed;\nthere is a difference between the sin and the sinner; you may hate the\none with a perfect hatred, but you must love the sinner. I can not\notherwise do him any good. Now you know the first impulse of a young\nconvert is to love. Do you remember the day you were converted? Was\nnot your heart full of sweet peace and love?\n\n\nTHE RIGHT OVERFLOW.\n\n\nI remember the morning I came out of my room after I had first trusted\nChrist, and I thought the old sun shone a good deal brighter than it\never had before; I thought that the sun was just smiling upon me, and\nI walked out upon Boston Common, and I heard the birds in the trees,\nand I thought that they were all singing a song for me. Do you know I\nfell in love with the birds? I never cared for them before; it seemed\nto me that I was in love with all creation. I had not a bitter feeling\nagainst any man, and I was ready to take all men to my heart. If a man\nhas not the love of God shed abroad in his heart, he has never been\nregenerated. If you hear a person get up in prayer-meeting, and he\nbegins to speak and find fault with everybody, you may know that his\nis not a genuine conversion; that it is counterfeit; it has not the\nright ring, because the impulse of a converted soul is to love, and\nnot to be getting up and complaining of every one else, and finding\nfault. But it is hard for us to live in the right atmosphere all the\ntime. Some one comes along and treats us wrongly, perhaps we hate him;\nwe have not attended to the means of grace and kept feeding on the\nword of God as we ought; a root of bitterness springs up in our\nhearts, and perhaps we are not aware of it, but it has come up in our\nhearts; then we are not qualified to work for God. The love of God is\nnot shed abroad in our hearts as it ought to be by the Holy Ghost.\n\nBut the work of the Holy Ghost is to impart love. Paul could say, \"The\nlove of Christ constraineth me.\" He could not help going from town to\ntown and preaching the Gospel. Jeremiah at one time said: \"I will\nspeak no more in the Lord's name; I have suffered enough; these people\ndon't like God's word.\" They lived in a wicked day, as we do now.\nInfidels were creeping up all around him, who said the word of God was\nnot true; Jeremiah had stood like a wall of fire, confronting them,\nand he boldly proclaimed that the word of God was true. At last they\nput him in prison, and he said: \"I will keep still; it has cost me too\nmuch.\" But a little while after, you know, he could not keep still.\nHis bones caught fire; he had to speak. And when we are so full of the\nlove of God, we are compelled to work for God, then God blesses us. If\nour work is sought to be accomplished by the lash, without any true\nmotive power, it will come to nought.\n\nNow the question comes up, have we the love of God shed abroad in our\nhearts, and are we holding the truth in love? Some people hold the\ntruth, but in such a cold stern way that it will do no good. Other\npeople want to love everything, and so they give up much of the truth;\nbut we are to hold the truth in love; we are to hold the truth even if\nwe lose all, but we are to hold it in love, and if we do that, the\nLord will bless us.\n\nThere are a good many people trying to get this love; they are trying\nto produce it of themselves. But therein all fail. The love implanted\ndeep in our new nature will be spontaneous. I don't have to learn to\nlove my children. I can not help loving them. I said to a young miss\nsome time ago, in an inquiry meeting, who said that she could not love\nGod; that it was very hard for her to love Him--I said to her, \"Is it\nhard for you to love your mother? Do you have to learn to love your\nmother?\" And she looked up through her tears, and said, \"No; I can't\nhelp it; that is spontaneous.\" \"Well,\" I said, \"when the Holy Spirit\nkindles love in your heart, you can not help loving God; it will be\nspontaneous.\" When the Spirit of God comes into your heart and mine,\nit will be easy to serve God.\n\nThe fruit of the Spirit, as you find it in Galatians, begins with\nlove. There are nine graces spoken of in the sixth chapter, and of the\nnine different graces Paul puts love at the head of the list; love is\nthe first thing--the first in that precious cluster of fruit. Some one\nhas put it in this way: that all the other eight can be put in the\nword love. Joy is love exulting; peace is love in repose; long\nsuffering is love on trial; gentleness is love in society; goodness is\nlove in action; faith is love on the battlefield; meekness is love at\nschool; and temperance is love in training. So it is love all the way;\nlove at the top; love at the bottom, and all the way along down these\ngraces; and if we only just brought forth the fruit of the Spirit,\nwhat a world we would have; there would be no need of any policemen; a\nman could leave his overcoat around without some one stealing it; men\nwould not have any desire to do evil. Says Paul, \"Against such there\nis no law;\" you don't need any law. A man who is full of the Spirit\ndon't need to be put under law; don't need any policemen to watch him.\nWe could dismiss all our policemen; the lawyers would have to give up\npracticing law, and the courts would not have any business.\n\n\nTHE TRIUMPHS OF HOPE.\n\n\nIn the fifteenth chapter of Romans, thirteenth verse, the Apostle\nsays: \"Now the God of hope fill you with all joy and peace in\nbelieving, that you may abound in hope through the power of the Holy\nGhost.\" The next thing then is hope.\n\nDid you ever notice this, that no man or woman is ever used by God to\nbuild up His kingdom who has lost hope? Now, I have been observing\nthis throughout different parts of the country, and wherever I have\nfound a worker in God's vineyard who has lost hope, I have found a man\nor woman not very useful. Now, just look at these workers. Let your\nmind go over the past for a moment. Can you think of a man or woman\nwhom God has used to build His kingdom who has lost hope? I don't know\nof any; I never heard of such an one. It is very important to have\nhope in the Church; and it is the work of the Holy Ghost to impart\nhope. Let Him come into some of the churches where there have not been\nany conversions for a few years, and let Him convert a score of\npeople, and see how hopeful the Church becomes at once. He imparts\nhope; a man filled with the Spirit of God will be very hopeful. He\nwill be looking out into the future, and he knows that it is all\nbright, because the God of all grace is able to do great things. So it\nis very important that we have hope.\n\nIf a man has lost hope, he is out of communion with God; he has not\nthe Spirit of God resting upon him for service; he may be a son of\nGod, and disheartened so that he can not be used of God. Do you know\nthere is no place in the Scriptures where it is recorded that God ever\nused even a discouraged man. Some years ago, in my work I was quite\ndiscouraged, and I was ready to hang my harp on the willow. I was very\nmuch cast down and depressed. I had been for weeks in that state, when\none Monday morning a friend, who had a very large Bible class, came\ninto my study. I used to examine the notes of his Sunday-school\nlessons, which were equal to a sermon, and he came to me this morning\nand said, \"Well, what did you preach about yesterday?\" and I told him.\nI said, \"What did you preach about?\" and he said that he preached\nabout Noah. \"Did you ever preach about Noah?\" \"No, I never preached\nabout Noah.\" \"Did you ever study his character?\" \"No, I never studied\nhis life particularly.\" \"Well,\" says he, \"he is a most wonderful\ncharacter. It will do you good. You ought to study up that character.\"\nWhen he went out, I took down my Bible, and read about Noah; and then\nit came over me that Noah worked 120 years and never had a convert,\nand yet he did not get discouraged; and I said, \"Well, I ought not to\nbe discouraged,\" and I closed my Bible, got up and walked down town,\nand the cloud had gone. I went down to the noon prayer-meeting, and\nheard of a little town in the country where they had taken into the\nchurch 100 young converts; and I said to myself, I wonder what Noah\nwould have given if he could have heard that; and yet he worked 120\nyears and didn't get discouraged. And then a man right across the\naisle got up and said, \"My friends, I wish you to pray for me; I think\nI'm lost;\" and I thought to myself, \"I wonder what Noah would have\ngiven to hear that.\" He never heard a man say, \"I wish you to pray for\nme; I think I am lost,\" and yet he didn't get discouraged! Oh,\nchildren of God, let us not get discouraged; let us ask God to forgive\nus, if we have been discouraged and cast down; let us ask God to give\nus hope, that we may be ever hopeful. It does me good sometimes to\nmeet some people and take hold of their hands; they are so hopeful,\nwhile other people throw a gloom over me because they are all the time\ncast down, and looking at the dark side, and looking at the obstacles\nand difficulties that are in the way.\n\n\nTHE BOON OF LIBERTY.\n\n\nThe next thing the Spirit of God does is to give us liberty. He first\nimparts love; He next inspires hope, and then gives liberty, and that\nis about the last thing we have in a good many of our churches at the\npresent day. And I am sorry to say there must be a funeral in a good\nmany churches before there is much work done, we shall have to bury\nthe formalism so deep that it will never have any resurrection. The\nlast thing to be found in many a church is liberty.\n\nIf the Gospel happens to be preached, the people criticise, as they\nwould a theatrical performance. It is exactly the same, and many a\nprofessed Christian never thinks of listening to what the man of God\nhas to say. It is hard work to preach to carnally-minded critics, but\n\"Where the spirit of the Lord is, there is liberty.\"\n\nVery often a woman will hear a hundred good things in a sermon, and\nthere may be one thing that strikes her as a little out of place, and\nshe will go home and sit down to the table and talk right out before\nher children and magnify that one wrong thing, and not say a word\nabout the hundred good things that were said. That is what people do\nwho criticise.\n\nGod does not use men in captivity. The condition of many is like\nLazarus when he came out of the sepulcher bound hand and foot. The\nbandage was not taken off his mouth, and he could not speak. He had\nlife, and if you had said Lazarus was not alive, you would have told a\nfalsehood, because he was raised from the dead. There are a great many\npeople, the moment you talk to them and insinuate they are not doing\nwhat they might, they say: \"I have life. I am a Christian.\" Well, you\ncan't deny it, but they are bound hand and foot.\n\nMay God snap these fetters and set His children free, that they may\nhave liberty. I believe He comes to set us free, and wants us to work\nfor Him, and speak for Him. How many people would like to get up in a\nsocial prayer-meeting to say a few words for Christ, but there is such\na cold spirit of criticism in the Church that they dare not do it.\nThey have not the liberty to do it. If they get up, they are so\nfrightened with these critics that they begin to tremble and sit down.\nThey can not say anything. Now, that is all wrong. The Spirit of God\ncomes just to give liberty, and wherever you see the Lord's work going\non, you will see that Spirit of liberty. People won't be afraid of\nspeaking to one another. And when the meeting is over they will not\nget their hats and see how quick they can get out of the church, but\nwill begin to shake hands with one another, and there will be liberty\nthere. A good many go to the prayer-meeting out of a mere cold sense\nof duty. They think \"I must attend because I feel it is my duty.\" They\ndon't think it is a glorious privilege to meet and pray, and to be\nstrengthened, and to help some one else in the wilderness journey.\n\nWhat we need to-day is love in our hearts. Don't we want it? Don't we\nwant hope in our lives? Don't we want to be hopeful? Don't we want\nliberty? Now, all this is the work of the Spirit of God, and let us\npray God daily to give us love, and hope, and liberty. We read in\nHebrews, \"Having, therefore, brethren, boldness to enter into the\nholiest by the blood of Jesus.\" If you will turn to the passage and\nread the margin--it says: \"Having, therefore, brethren, liberty to\nenter into the holiest.\" We can go into the holiest, having freedom of\naccess, and plead for this love and liberty and glorious hope, that we\nmay not rest until God gives us the power to work for Him.\n\nIf I know my own heart to-day, I would rather die than live as I once\ndid, a mere nominal Christian, and not used by God in building up His\nkingdom. It seems a poor empty life to live for the sake of self.\n\nLet us seek to be useful. Let us seek to be vessels meet for the\nMaster's use, that God, the Holy Spirit, may shine fully through us.\n\n   \"Know, my soul, thy full salvation;\n      Rise o'er sin, and fear, and care;\n   Joy to find, in every station,\n      Something still to do or bear.\n\n   Think what Spirit dwells within thee;\n      Think what Father's smiles are thine;\n   Think that Jesus died to win thee:\n      Child of heaven, canst thou repine?\n\n   Haste thee on from grace to glory,\n      Armed by faith, and winged by prayer,\n   Heaven's eternal day's before thee:\n      God's own hand shall guide thee there.\n\n   Soon shall close thy earthly mission,\n      Soon shall pass thy pilgrim days,\n   Hope shall change to glad fruition,\n      Faith to sight, and prayer to praise.\"\n\n\n   \"I AM so weak, dear Lord! I can not stand\n         One moment without Thee;\n      But oh, the tenderness of Thy enfolding,\n      And oh, the faithfulness of Thine upholding,\n   And oh, the strength of Thy right hand!\n         That strength is enough for me.\n\n   I am so needy, Lord! and yet I know\n         All fullness dwells in Thee;\n      And hour by hour that never-failing treasure\n      Supplies and fills in overflowing measure\n   My last and greatest need. And so\n         Thy grace is enough for me.\n\n   It is so sweet to trust Thy word alone!\n         I do not ask to see\n      The unveiling of Thy purpose, or the shining\n      Of future light on mysteries untwining;\n   Thy promise-roll is all my own--\n         Thy word is enough for me.\n\n   There were strange soul-depths, restless, vast, and broad,\n         Unfathomed as the sea,\n      An infinite craving for some infinite stilling;\n      But now Thy perfect love is perfect filling!\n   Lord Jesus Christ, my Lord, my God,\n         Thou, Thou art enough for me!\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER II.\n\n\nPOWER \"IN\" AND \"UPON.\"\n\n\nYou remember that strange, half-involuntary \"forty years\" of Moses in\nthe \"wilderness\" of Midian, when he had fled from Egypt. You remember,\ntoo, the almost equally strange years of retirement in \"Arabia\" by\nPaul, when, if ever, humanly speaking, instant action was needed. And\npre-eminently you remember the amazing charge of the ascending Lord to\nthe disciples, \"Tarry at Jerusalem.\" Speaking after the manner of men,\none could not have wondered if out-spoken Peter, or fervid James had\nsaid: \"Tarry, Lord! How long?\" \"Tarry, Lord! is there not a perishing\nworld, groaning for the 'good news?'\" \"Tarry! did we hear Thee aright,\nLord? Was the word not haste?\" \"Nay;\" \"Being assembled together with\nthem, He commanded them that they should not depart from Jerusalem,\nbut wait for the promise of the Father.\" (Acts 1:4.)--_Grosart_.\n\n\n\nPOWER--\"IN\" AND \"UPON.\"\n\n\nTHE Holy Spirit dwelling in us, is one thing; I think this is clearly\nbrought out in Scripture; and the Holy Spirit upon us for service, is\nanother thing. Now there are only three places we find in Scripture\nthat are dwelling-places for the Holy Ghost.\n\nIn the 40th chapter of Exodus, commencing with the 33d verse, are\nthese words:\n\n\"And he (that is Moses) reared up the court round about the tabernacle\nand the altar, and set up the hanging of the court gate. So Moses\nfinished the work.\n\nThen a cloud covered the tent of the congregation, and the glory of\nthe Lord filled the tabernacle.\n\nAnd Moses was not able to enter into the tent of the congregation,\nbecause the cloud abode thereon, and the glory of the Lord filled the\ntabernacle.\"\n\nThe moment that Moses finished the work, the moment that the\ntabernacle was ready, the cloud came, the Shekinah glory came and\nfilled it so that Moses was not able to stand before the presence of\nthe Lord. I believe firmly, that the moment our hearts are emptied of\npride and selfishness and ambition and self-seeking, and everything\nthat is contrary to God's law, the Holy Ghost will come and fill every\ncorner of our hearts; but if we are full of pride and conceit, and\nambition and self-seeking, and pleasure and the world, there is no\nroom for the Spirit of God; and I believe many a man is praying to God\nto fill him when he is full already with something else. Before we\npray that God would fill us, I believe we ought to pray Him to empty\nus.\n\nThere must be an emptying before there can be a filling; and when the\nheart is turned upside down, and everything is turned out that is\ncontrary to God, then the Spirit will come, just as He did in the\ntabernacle, and fill us with His glory. We read in 2d Chronicles, 5th\nchapter and 13th verse: \"It came even to pass, as the trumpeters and\nsingers were as one to make one Sound, to be heard in praising and\nthanking the Lord, and when they lifted up their voice with the\ntrumpets and cymbals and instruments of music, and praised the Lord,\nsaying, For He is good; for His mercy endureth forever; that then the\nhouse was filled with a cloud, even the house of the Lord. So that the\npriests could not stand to minister by reason of the cloud, for the\nglory of the Lord had filled the house of God.\"\n\n\nPRAISING WITH ONE HEART.\n\n\nWe find, the very moment that Solomon completed the Temple, when all\nwas finished, they were just praising God with one heart--the\nchoristers and the singers and the ministers were all one; there was\nnot any discord; they were all praising God, and the glory of God came\nand just filled the Temple as the Tabernacle. Now, as you turn over\ninto the New Testament, you will find, instead of coming to\nTabernacles and Temples, believers are now the Temple of the Holy\nGhost. When, on the day of Pentecost, before Peter preached that\nmemorable sermon, as they were praying, the Holy Ghost came, and came\nin mighty power. We now pray for the Spirit of God to come, and we\nsing:\n\n   \"Come, Holy Spirit, heavenly dove,\n      With all thy quickening power;\n   Kindle a flame of heavenly love\n      In these cold hearts of ours,\"\n\nI believe, if we understand it, it is perfectly right; but if we are\npraying for Him to come out of heaven down to earth again, that is\nwrong, because He is already here; He has not been out of this earth\nfor 1800 years; He has been in the Church, and He is with all\nbelievers; the believers in the Church are the called-out ones; they\nare called out from the world, and every true believer is a Temple for\nthe Holy Ghost to dwell in. In the 14th chapter of John, 17th verse,\nwe have the words of Jesus:\n\n\"The Spirit of Truth, whom the world can not receive, because it seeth\nHim not, neither knoweth Him; but ye know Him, for He dwelleth in\nyou.\"\n\n\"Greater is He that is in you than He that is in the world.\" If we\nhave the Spirit dwelling in us, He gives us power over the flesh and\nthe world, and over every enemy. \"He is dwelling with you, and shall\nbe in you.\"\n\nRead 1st Corinthians iii, 16: \"Know ye not that ye are the temple of\nGod, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?\"\n\nThere were some men burying an aged saint some time ago, and he was\nvery poor, like many of God's people, poor in this world, but they are\nvery rich, they have all the riches on the other side of life--they\nhave them laid up there where thieves can not get them, and where\nsharpers can not take them away from them, and where moth can not\ncorrupt--so this aged man was very rich in the other world, and they\nwere just hastening him off to the grave, wanting to get rid of him,\nwhen an old minister, who was officiating at the grave, said, \"Tread\nsoftly, for you are carrying the temple of the Holy Ghost.\" Whenever\nyou see a believer, you see a temple of the Holy Ghost.\n\nIn 1 Cor. vi, 19, 20, we read again: \"Know ye not that your body is\nthe temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God,\nand ye are not your own for ye are bought with a price, therefore\nglorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are God's.\" Thus\nare we taught that there is a divine resident in every child of God.\n\nI think it is clearly taught in the Scripture that every believer has\nthe Holy Ghost dwelling in him. He may be quenching the Spirit of God,\nand he may not glorify God as he should, but if he is a believer on\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, the Holy Ghost dwells in him. But I want to\ncall your attention to another fact. I believe to-day, that though\nChristian men and women have the Holy Spirit dwelling in them, yet He\nis not dwelling within them in power; in other words, God has a great\nmany sons and daughters without power.\n\n\nWHAT IS NEEDED.\n\n\nNine-tenths, at least, of the church members never think of speaking\nfor Christ. If they see a man, perhaps a near relative, just going\nright down to ruin, going rapidly, they never think of speaking to him\nabout his sinful course and of seeking to win him to Christ. Now\ncertainly there must be something wrong. And yet when you talk with\nthem you find they have faith, and you can not say they are not\nchildren of God; but they have not the power, they have not the\nliberty, they have not the love that real disciples of Christ should\nhave. A great many people are thinking that we need new measures, that\nwe need new churches, that we need new organs, and that we need new\nchoirs, and all these new things. That is not what the Church of God\nneeds to-day. It is the old power that the Apostles had; that is what\nwe want, and if we have that in our churches, there will be new life.\nThen we will have new ministers--the same old ministers renewed with\npower; filled with the Spirit. I remember when in Chicago many were\ntoiling in the work, and it seemed as though the car of salvation\ndidn't move on, when a minister began to cry out from the very depths\nof his heart, \"Oh, God, put new ministers in every pulpit.\" On next\nMonday I heard two or three men stand up and say, \"We had a new\nminister last Sunday--the same old minister, but he had got new\npower,\" and I firmly believe that is what we want to-day all over\nAmerica. We want new ministers in the pulpit and new people in the\npews. We want people quickened by the Spirit of God, and the Spirit\ncoming down and taking possession of the children of God and giving\nthem power.\n\nThen a man filled with the Spirit will know how to use \"the sword of\nthe Spirit.\" If a man is not filled with the Spirit, he will never\nknow now to use the Book. We are told that this is the sword of the\nSpirit; and what is an army good for that does not know how to use its\nweapons? Suppose a battle going on, and I were a general and had a\nhundred thousand men, great, able-bodied men, full of life, but they\ncould not one of them handle a sword, and not one of them knew how to\nuse his rifle, what would that army be good for? Why, one thousand\nwell-drilled men, with good weapons, would rout the whole of them. The\nreason why the Church can not overcome the enemy is, because she don't\nknow how to use the sword of the Spirit. People will get up and try to\nfight the devil with their experiences, but he don't care for that, he\nwill overcome them every time. People are trying to fight the devil\nwith theories and pet ideas, but he will get the victory over them\nlikewise. What we want is to draw the sword of the Spirit. It is that\nwhich cuts deeper than anything else.\n\nTurn in your Bibles to Eph. vi, 14: \"Stand, therefore, having your\nloins girt about with truth, and having on the breastplate of\nrighteousness; and your feet shod with the preparation of the gospel\nof peace; above all (or over all), taking the shield of faith,\nwherewith ye shall be able to quench all the fiery darts of the\nwicked. And take the helmet of salvation and the sword of the Spirit,\nwhich is the Word of God.\"\n\n\nTHE GREATEST WEAPON.\n\n\nThe sword of the Spirit is the Word of God, and what we need specially\nis to be filled with the Spirit, so we shall know how to use the Word.\nThere was a Christian man talking to a skeptic, who was using the\nWord, and the skeptic said, \"I don't believe, sir, in that Book.\" But\nthe man went right on and he gave him more of the Word; and the man\nagain remarked, \"I don't believe the Word,\" but he kept giving him\nmore, and at last the man was reached. And the brother added, \"When I\nhave proved a good sword which does the work of execution, I would\njust keep right on using it.\" That is what we want. Skeptics and\ninfidels may say they don't believe in it. It is not our work to make\nthem believe in it; that is the work of the Spirit. Our work is to\ngive them the Word of God; not to preach our theories and our ideas\nabout it, but just to deliver the message as God gives it to us. We\nread in the Scriptures of the sword of the Lord and Gideon. Suppose\nGideon had gone out without the Word, he would have been defeated. But\nthe Lord used Gideon; and I think you find all through the Scriptures,\nGod takes up and uses human instruments. You can not find, I believe,\na case in the Bible where a man is converted without God calling in\nsome human agency--using some human instrument; not but what He can do\nit in His independent sovereignty; there is no doubt about that. Even\nwhen by the revealed glory of the Lord Jesus, Saul of Tarsus was\nsmitten to the earth, Annanias was used to open his eyes and lead him\ninto the light of the Gospel. I heard a man once say, if you put a man\non a mountain peak, higher than one of the Alpine peaks, God could\nsave him without a human messenger; but that is not His way; that is\nnot His method; but it is \"the sword of the Lord and Gideon\"; and the\nLord and Gideon will do the work; and if we are just willing to let\nthe Lord use us, He will.\n\n\n\"NONE OF SELF.\"\n\n\nThen you will find all through the Scriptures, when men were filled\nwith the Holy Spirit, they preached Christ and not themselves. They\npreached Christ and Him crucified. It says in the first chapter of\nLuke, 67th verse, speaking of Zacharias, the father of John the\nBaptist:\n\n\"And his father, Zacharias, was filled with the Holy Ghost, and\nprophesied, saying: Blessed be the Lord God of Israel, for He hath\nvisited and redeemed His people, and hath raised up an horn of\nsalvation for us in the house of His servant David. As He spake by the\nmouth of His Holy prophets, which have been since the world began.\"\n\nSee, he is talking about the Word. If a man is filled with the Spirit,\nhe will magnify the Word; he will preach the Word, and not himself; he\nwill give this lost world the Word of the living God. \"And thou,\nchild, shalt be called the prophet of the Highest; for thou shalt go\nbefore the face of the Lord to prepare His ways. To give knowledge of\nsalvation unto His people by the remission of their sins, through the\ntender mercy of our God, whereby the day-spring from on high hath\nvisited us. To give light to them that sit in darkness and in the\nshadow of death, to guide our feet into the way of peace. And the\nchild grew and waxed strong in spirit, and was in the deserts till the\nday of his showing unto Israel.\" And so we find again that when\nElizabeth and Mary met, they talked of the Scriptures, and they were\nboth filled with the Holy Ghost, and at once began to talk of their\nLord.\n\nWe also find that Simeon, as he came into the temple and found the\nyoung child Jesus there, at once began to quote the Scriptures, for\nthe Spirit was upon him. And when Peter stood up on the day of\nPentecost, and preached that wonderful sermon, it is said he was\nfilled with the Holy Ghost, and began to preach the Word to the\nmultitude, and it was the Word that cut them. It was the sword of the\nLord and Peter, the same as it was the sword of the Lord and Gideon.\nAnd we find it says of Stephen, \"They were not able to resist the\nspirit and wisdom by which he spake.\" Why? Because he gave them the\nWord of God. And we are told that the Holy Ghost came on Stephen, and\nnone could resist his word. And we read, too, that Paul was full of\nthe Holy Spirit, and that he preached Christ and Him crucified, and\nthat many people were added to the Church. Barnabas was full of faith\nand the Holy Ghost; and if you will just read and find out what he\npreached, you will find it was the Word, and many were added to the\nLord. So that when a man is full of the Spirit, he begins to preach,\nnot himself, but Christ, as revealed in the Holy Scriptures.\n\nThe disciples of Jesus were all filled with the Spirit, and the Word\nwas published; and when the Spirit of God comes down upon the Church,\nand we are anointed, the Word will be published in the streets, in the\nlanes, and in the alleys; there will not be a dark cellar nor a dark\nattic, nor a home where the Gospel will not be carried by some loving\nheart, if the Spirit comes upon God's people in demonstration and in\npower.\n\n\nSPIRITUAL IRRIGATION.\n\n\nIt is possible a man may just barely have life and be satisfied; and I\nthink that a great many are in that condition. In the 3d chapter of\nJohn we find that Nicodemus came to Christ and that he received life.\nAt first this life was feeble. You don't hear of him standing up\nconfessing Christ boldly, and of the Spirit coming upon him in great\npower, though possessing life through faith in Christ. And then turn\nto the 4th chapter of John, and you will find it speaks of the woman\ncoming to the well of Samaria, and Christ held out the cup of\nsalvation to her and she took it and drank, and it became in her \"a\nwell of water springing up into everlasting life.\" That is better than\nin the 3d chapter of John; here it came down in a flood into her soul;\nas some one has said, it came down from the throne of God, and like a\nmighty current carried her back to the throne of God. Water always\nrises to its level, and if we get the soul filled with water from the\nthrone of God it will bear us upward to its source.\n\nBut if you want to get the best class of Christian life portrayed,\nturn to the 7th chapter and you will find that it says he that\nreceiveth the Spirit, through trusting in the Lord Jesus, \"out of him\nshall flow rivers of living water.\" Now there are two ways of digging\na well. I remember, when a boy, upon a farm, in New England, they had\na well, and they put in an old wooden pump, and I used to have to pump\nthe water from that well upon wash-day, and to water the cattle; and I\nhad to pump and pump and pump until my arm got tired, many a time. But\nthey have a better way now; they don't dig down a few feet and brick\nup the hole and put the pump in, but they go down through the clay and\nthe sand and the rock, and on down until they strike what they call a\nlower stream, and then it becomes an artesian well, which needs no\nlabor, as the water rises spontaneously from the depths beneath.\n\nNow I think God wants all His children to be a sort of artesian well;\nnot to keep pumping, but to flow right out. Why, haven't you seen\nministers in the pulpit just pumping, and pumping and pumping? I have,\nmany a time, and I have had to do it, too. I know how it is. They\nstand in the pulpit and talk and talk and talk, and the people go to\nsleep, they can't arouse them. What is the trouble? Why, the living\nwater is not there; they are just pumping when there is no water in\nthe well. You can't get water out of a dry well; you have to get\nsomething in the well, or you can't get anything out. I have seen\nthese wooden pumps where you had to pour water into them before you\ncould pump any water out, and so it is with a good many people; you\nhave to get something in them before you can get any out. People\nwonder why it is that they have no Spiritual power. They stand up and\ntalk in meeting, and don't say anything; they say they haven't\nanything to say, and you find it out soon enough; they need not state\nit; but they just talk, because they feel it is a duty, and say\nnothing.\n\nNow I tell you when the Spirit of God is on us for service, resting\nupon us, we are anointed, and then we can do great things. \"I will\npour water on him that is thirsty,\" says God. O, blessed thought--\"He\nthat hungers and thirsts after righteousness shall be filled!\"\n\n\nOUTFLOWING STREAMS.\n\n\nI would like to see some one just full of living water; so full that\nthey couldn't contain it; that they would have to go out and publish\nthe Gospel of the grace of God. When a man gets so full that he can't\nhold any more, then he is just ready for God's service.\n\nWhen preaching in Chicago, Dr. Gibson remarked in the inquiry meeting,\n\"Now, how can we find out who is thirsty?\" Said he, \"I was just\nthinking how we could find out. If a boy should come down the aisle,\nbringing a good pail full of clear water, and a dipper, we would soon\nfind out who was thirsty; we would see thirsty men and women reach out\nfor water; but if you should walk down the aisle with an empty bucket,\nyou wouldn't find it out. People would look in and see that there was\nno water, and say nothing.\" So said he, \"I think that is the reason we\nare not more blessed in our ministry; we are carrying around empty\nbuckets, and the people see that we have not anything in them, and\nthey don't come forward.\" I think that there is a good deal of truth\nin that. People see that we are carrying around empty buckets, and\nthey will not come to us until they are filled. They see we haven't\nany more than they have. We must have the Spirit of God resting upon\nus, and then we will have something that gives the victory over the\nworld, the flesh, and the devil; something that gives the victory over\nour tempers, over our conceits, and over every other evil, and when we\ncan trample these sins under our feet, then people will come to us and\nsay, \"How did you get it? I need this power; you have something that I\nhaven't got; I want it.\" O, may God show us this truth. Have we been\ntoiling all night? let us throw the net on the right side; let us ask\nGod to forgive our sins, and anoint us with power from on high. But\nremember, He is not going to give this power to an impatient man; He\nis not going to give it to a selfish man; He will never give it to an\nambitious man whose aim is selfish, till first emptied of self;\nemptied of pride and of all worldly thoughts. Let it be God's glory\nand not our own that we seek, and when we get to that point, how\nspeedily the Lord will bless us for good. Then will the measure of our\nblessing be full. Do you know what heaven's measure is? Good measure,\npressed down, shaken together, and running over. If we get our heart\nfilled with the Word of God, how is Satan going to get in? How is the\nworld going to get in, for heaven's measure is good measure, full\nmeasure, running over. Have you this fullness? If you have not, then\nseek it; say by the grace of God you will have it, for it is the\nFather's good pleasure to give us these things. He wants us to shine\ndown in this world; He wants to lift us up for His work; He wants us\nto have the power to testify for His Son. He has left us in this world\nto testify for Him. What did He leave us for? Not to buy and sell and\nto get gain, but to glorify Christ. How are you going to do it without\nthe Spirit? That is the question. How are you to do it without the\npower of God?\n\n\nWHY SOME FAIL.\n\n\nWe read in John xx, 22: \"And when He had said this, He breathed on\nthem, and saith unto them, Receive ye the Holy Ghost.\"\n\nThen see Luke xxiv, 49: \"And, behold, I send the promise of my Father\nupon you; but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem until ye be endued\nwith power from on high.\"\n\nThe first passage tells us He had raised those pierced and wounded\nhands over them and breathed upon them and said, \"Receive ye the Holy\nGhost.\" And I haven't a doubt they received it then, but not in such\nmighty power as afterward when qualified for their work. It was not in\nfullness that He gave it to them then, but if they had been like a\ngood many now, they would have said, \"I have enough now; I am not\ngoing to tarry; I am going to work.\"\n\nSome people seem to think they are losing time if they wait on God for\nhis power, and so away they go and work without unction; they are\nworking without any anointing, they are working without any power. But\nafter Jesus had said \"Receive ye the Holy Ghost,\" and had breathed on\nthem, He said: \"Now you tarry in Jerusalem until you be endued with\npower from on high.\" Read in the 1st chapter of Acts, 8th verse: \"But\nye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.\"\n\nNow, the Spirit had been given them certainly or they could not have\nbelieved, and they could not have taken their stand for God and gone\nthrough what they did, and endured the scoffs and frowns of their\nfriends, if they had not been converted by the power of the Holy\nGhost. But now just see what Christ said:\n\n\"Ye shall receive power after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you;\nand ye shall be witnesses unto me both in Jerusalem and in all Judea,\nand in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of the earth.\"\n\nThen, the Holy Spirit IN US is one thing, and the Holy Spirit ON US is\nanother; and if these Christians had gone out and went right to\npreaching then and there, without the power, do you think that scene\nwould have taken place on the day of Pentecost? Don't you think that\nPeter would have stood up there and beat against the air, while these\nJews would have gnashed their teeth and mocked him? But they tarried\nin Jerusalem; they waited ten days. What! you say. What, the world\nperishing and men dying! Shall I wait? Do what God tells you. There is\nno use in running before you are sent; there is no use in attempting\nto do God's work without God's power. A man working without this\nunction, a man working without this anointing, a man working without\nthe Holy Ghost upon him, is losing his time after all. So we are not\ngoing to lose anything if we tarry till we get this power. That is the\nobject of true service, to wait on God, to tarry till we receive this\npower for witness-bearing. Then we find that on the day of Pentecost,\nten days after Jesus Christ was glorified, the Holy Spirit descended\nin power. Do you think that Peter and James and John and those\napostles doubted it from that very hour? They never doubted it.\nPerhaps some question the possibility of having the power of God now,\nand that the Holy Spirit never came afterward in similar\nmanifestation, and will never come again in such power.\n\n\nFRESH SUPPLIES.\n\n\nTurn to Acts iv, 31, and you will find He came a second time, and at a\nplace where they were, so that the earth was shaken, and they were\nfilled with this power. The fact is, we are leaky vessels, and we have\nto keep right under the fountain all the time to keep full of Christ,\nand so have a fresh supply.\n\nI believe this is a mistake a great many of us are making; we are\ntrying to do God's work with the grace God gave us ten years ago. We\nsay, if it is necessary, we will go on with the same grace. Now, what\nwe want is a fresh supply, a fresh anointing and fresh power, and if\nwe seek it, and seek it with all our hearts, we will obtain it. The\nearly converts were taught to look for that power. Philip went to\nSamaria, and news reached Jerusalem that there was a great work being\ndone in Samaria, and many converts; and John and Peter went down, and\nthey laid their hands on them, and they received the Holy Ghost for\nservice. I think that is what we Christians ought to be looking for--the\nSpirit of God for service--that God may use us mightily in the\nbuilding up of His Church and hastening His glory. In Acts xix we read\nof twelve men at Ephesus, who, when the inquiry was made if they had\nreceived the Holy Ghost since they believed, answered: \"We have not so\nmuch as heard whether there be any Holy Ghost.\" I venture to say there\nare very many, who, if you were to ask them, \"Have you received the\nHoly Ghost since you believed?\" would reply, \"I don't know what you\nmean by that.\" They would be like the twelve men down at Ephesus, who\nhad never understood the peculiar relation of the Spirit to the sons\nof God in this dispensation. I firmly believe that the Church has just\nlaid this knowledge aside, mislaid it somewhere, and so Christians are\nwithout power. Sometimes you can take one hundred members into the\nChurch, and they don't add to its power. Now that is all wrong. If\nthey were only anointed by the Spirit of God, there would be great\npower if one hundred saved ones were added to the Church.\n\n\nGREEN FIELDS.\n\n\nWhen I was out in California, the first time I went down from the\nSierra Nevada Mountains and dropped into the Valley of the Sacramento,\nI was surprised to find on one farm that everything about it was\ngreen--all the trees and flowers, everything was blooming, and\neverything was green and beautiful, and just across the hedge\neverything was dried up, and there was not a green thing there, and I\ncould not understand it; I made inquiries, and I found that the man\nthat had everything green, irrigated; he just poured the water right\non, and he kept everything green, while the fields that were next to\nhis were as dry as Gideon's fleece without a drop of dew; and so it is\nwith a great many in the Church to-day. They are like these farms in\nCalifornia--a dreary desert, everything parched and desolate, and\napparently no life in them. They can sit next to a man who is full of\nthe Spirit of God, who is like a green bay tree, and who is bringing\nforth fruit, and yet they will not seek a similar blessing. Well, why\nthis difference? Because God has poured water on him that was thirsty;\nthat is the difference. One has been seeking this anointing, and he\nhas received it; and when we want this above everything else God will\nsurely give it to us.\n\nThe great question before us now is, _Do_ we want it? I remember when\nI first went to England and gave a Bible reading, I think about the\nfirst that I gave in that country, a great many ministers were there,\nand I didn't know anything about English theology, and I was afraid I\nshould run against their creeds, and I was a little hampered,\nespecially on this very subject, about the gift of the Holy Spirit for\nservice. I remember particularly a Christian minister there who had\nhis head bowed on his hand, and I thought the good man was ashamed of\neverything I was saying, and of course that troubled me. At the close\nof my address he took his hat and away he went, and then I thought,\n\"Well, I shall never see him again.\" At the next meeting I looked all\naround for him and he wasn't there, and at the next meeting I looked\nagain, but he was absent; and I thought my teaching must have given\nhim offense. But a few days after that, at a large noon prayer\nmeeting, a man stood up and his face shone as if he had been up in the\nmountain with God, and I looked at him, and to my great joy it was\nthis brother. He said he was at that Bible reading, and he heard there\nwas such a thing as having fresh power to preach the Gospel; he said\nhe made up his mind that if that was for him he would have it; he said\nhe went home and looked to the Master, and that he never had such a\nbattle with himself in his life. He asked that God would show him the\nsinfulness of his heart that he knew nothing about, and he just cried\nmightily to God that he might be emptied of himself and filled with\nthe Spirit, and he said, \"God has answered my prayer.\" I met him in\nEdinburgh six months from that date, and he told me he had preached\nthe Gospel every night during that time, that he had not preached one\nsermon but that some remained for conversation, and that he had\nengagements four months ahead to preach the Gospel every night in\ndifferent churches. I think you could have fired a cannon ball right\nthrough his church and not hit any one before he got this anointing;\nbut it was not thirty days before the building was full and aisles\ncrowded. He had his bucket filled full of fresh water, and the people\nfound it out and came flocking to him from every quarter. I tell you,\nyou can't get the stream higher than the fountain. What we need very\nspecially is power. There was another man whom I have in my mind, and\nhe said, \"I have heart disease, I can't preach more than once a week,\"\nso he had a colleague to preach for him and do the visiting. He was an\nold minister, and he couldn't do any visiting. He had heard of this\nanointing, and said, \"I would like to be anointed for my burial. I\nwould like before I go hence to have just one more privilege to preach\nthe Gospel with power.\" He prayed that God would fill him with the\nSpirit, and I met him not long after that, and he said, \"I have\npreached on an average eight times a week, and I have had conversions\nall along.\" The Spirit came on him. I don't believe that man broke\ndown at first with hard work, so much as with using the machinery\nwithout oil, without lubrication. It is not the hard work breaks down\nministers, but it is the toil of working without power. Oh, that God\nmay anoint His people! Not the ministry only, but every disciple. Do\nnot suppose pastors are the only laborers needing it. There is not a\nmother but needs it in her house to regulate her family, just as much\nas the minister needs it in the pulpit or the Sunday-school teacher\nneeds it in his Sunday-school. We all need it together, and let us not\nrest day nor night until we possess it; if that is the uppermost\nthought in our hearts, God will give it to us if we just hunger and\nthirst for it, and say, \"God helping me, I will not rest until endued\nwith power from on high.\"\n\n\nMASTER AND SERVANT.\n\n\nThere is a very sweet story of Elijah and Elisha, and I love to dwell\nupon it. The time had come for Elijah to be taken up, and he said to\nElisha, \"You stay here at Gilgal, and I will go up to Bethel.\" There\nwas a theological seminary there, and some young students, and he\nwanted to see how they were getting along; but Elisha said, \"As the\nLord liveth, and thy soul liveth, I will not leave thee.\" And so\nElisha just kept close to Elijah. They came to Bethel, and the sons of\nthe prophets came out and said to Elisha, \"Do you know that your\nmaster is to be taken away?\" And Elisha said, \"I know it; but you keep\nstill.\" Then Elijah said to Elisha, \"You remain at Bethel until I go\nto Jericho.\" But Elisha said, \"As the Lord liveth and my soul liveth,\nI will not leave thee.\" \"You shall not go without me,\" says Elisha;\nand then I can imagine that Elisha just put his arm in that of Elijah,\nand they walked down together. I can see those two mighty men walking\ndown to Jericho, and when they arrived there, the sons of the prophets\ncame and said to Elisha, \"Do you know that your master is to be taken\naway?\" \"Hush! keep still,\" says Elisha, \"I know it.\" And then Elijah\nsaid to Elisha, \"Tarry here awhile; for the Lord hath sent me to\nJordan.\" But Elisha said, \"As the Lord liveth and my soul liveth, I\nwill not leave thee. You shall not go without me.\" And then Elisha\ncame right close to Elijah, and as they went walking down, I imagine\nElisha was after something; when they came to the Jordan, Elijah took\noff his mantle and struck the waters, and they separated hither and\nthither, and the two passed through like giants, dry-shod, and fifty\nsons of the prophets came to look at them and watch them. They didn't\nknow but Elijah would be taken up right in their sight. As they passed\nover Jordan, Elijah said to Elisha, \"Now, what do you want?\" He knew\nhe was after something. \"What can I do for you. Just make your request\nknown.\" And he said, \"I would like a double portion of thy Spirit.\" I\ncan imagine now that Elijah had given him a chance to ask; he said to\nhimself, \"I will ask for enough.\" Elisha had a good deal of the\nSpirit, but, says he, \"I want a double portion of thy Spirit.\" \"Well,\"\nsays Elijah, \"if you see me when I am taken up, you shall have it.\" Do\nyou think you could have enticed Elisha from Elijah at that moment? I\ncan almost see the two arm in arm, walking along, and as they walked,\nthere came along the chariot of fire, and before Elisha knew it,\nElijah was caught up, and as he went sweeping towards the throne, the\nservant cried, \"My Father! My Father! The chariot of Israel and the\nhorsemen thereof!\" Elisha saw him no more. He picked up Elijah's\nfallen mantle, and returning with that old mantle of his master's, he\ncame to the Jordan and cried for Elijah's God, and the waters\nseparated hither and thither, and he passed through dry-shod. Then the\nwatching prophets lifted up their voices and said, \"The Spirit of\nElijah is upon Elisha;\" and so it was, a double portion of it.\n\nMay the Spirit of Elijah, beloved reader, be upon us. If we seek for\nit we will have it. Oh, may the God of Elijah answer by fire, and\nconsume the spirit of worldliness in the churches, burn up the dross,\nand make us whole-hearted Christians. May that Spirit come upon us;\nlet that be our prayer in our family altars and in our closets. Let us\ncry mightily to God that we may have a double portion of the Holy\nSpirit, and that we may not rest satisfied with this worldly state of\nliving, but let us, like Sampson, shake ourselves and come out from\nthe world, that we may have the power of God.\n\n\n\nCHAPTER III.\n\n\nWITNESSING IN POWER.\n\n\nA man may as well hew marble without tools, or paint without colors or\ninstruments, or build without materials, as perform any acceptable\nservice without the graces of the Spirit, which are both the materials\nand the instruments in the work.--_Alleine_.\n\nIf we do not have the Spirit of God, it were better to shut the\nchurches, to nail up the doors, to put a black cross on them, and say,\n\"God have mercy on us!\" If you ministers have not the Spirit of God,\nyou had better not preach, and you people had better stay at home. I\nthink I speak not too strongly when I say that a church in the land\nwithout the Spirit of God is rather a curse than a blessing. If you\nhave not the Spirit of God, Christian worker, remember that you stand\nin somebody else's way; you are as a tree bearing no fruit standing\nwhere another fruitful tree might grow. This is solemn work; the Holy\nSpirit or nothing, and worse than nothing. Death and condemnation to a\nchurch that is not yearning after the Spirit, and crying and groaning\nuntil the Spirit has wrought mightily in her midst. He is here; He has\nnever gone back since He descended at Pentecost. He is often grieved\nand vexed, for He is peculiarly jealous and sensitive, and the one sin\nnever forgiven has to do with His blessed person; therefore let us be\nvery tender towards Him, walk humbly before Him, wait on Him very\nearnestly, and resolve that about us there should be nothing knowingly\ncontinued which should prevent Him dwelling in us, and being with us\nhenceforth and for, ever. Brethren, peace be unto you and your\nspirit!--_Spurgeon_.\n\n\n\nWITNESSING IN POWER.\n\n\nTHE subject of witness-bearing in the power of the Holy Ghost is not\nsufficiently understood by the Church. Until we have more intelligence\non this point we are laboring under great disadvantage. Now, if you\nwill take your Bible and turn to the 15th chapter of John and the 26th\nverse, you will find these words: \"But when the Comforter is come,\nwhom I will send unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of Truth,\nwhich proceedeth from the Father, He shall testify of me; and ye also\nshall bear witness, because ye have been with me from the beginning.\"\nHere we find what the Spirit is going to do, or what Christ said He\nwould do when He came; namely, that He should testify of Him. And if\nyou will turn over to the second chapter of Acts you will find that\nwhen Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost, and testified of what\nChrist had done, the Holy Spirit came down and bore witness to that\nfact, and men were convicted by hundreds and by thousands. So then man\ncan not preach effectively of himself. He must have the Spirit of God\nto give ability, and study God's Word in order to testify according to\nthe mind of the Spirit.\n\n\nWHAT IS THE TESTIMONY?\n\n\nIf we keep back the Gospel of Christ and do not bring Christ before\nthe people, then the Spirit has not the opportunity to work. But the\nmoment Peter stood up on the day of Pentecost and bore testimony to\nthis one fact, that Christ died for sin, and that He had been raised\nagain, and ascended into heaven--the Spirit came down to bear witness\nto the Person and Work of Christ.\n\nHe came down to bear witness to the fact that Christ was in heaven,\nand if it was not for the Holy Ghost bearing witness to the preaching\nof the facts of the Gospel, do you think that the Church would have\nlived during these last eighteen centuries? Do you believe that\nChrist's death, resurrection and ascension would not have been\nforgotten as soon as His birth, if it had not been for the fact that\nthe Holy Spirit had come? Because it is very clear, that when John\nmade his appearance on the borders of the wilderness, they had\nforgotten all about the birth of Jesus Christ. Just thirty short\nyears. It was all gone. They had forgotten the story of the Shepherds;\nthey had forgotten the wonderful scene that took place in the temple,\nwhen the Son of God was brought into the temple and the older prophets\nand prophetesses were there; they had forgotten about the wise men\ncoming to Jerusalem to inquire where He was that was born King of the\nJews. That story of His birth seemed to have just faded away; they had\nforgotten all about it, and when John made his appearance on the\nborders of the wilderness it was brought back to their minds. And if\nit had not been for the Holy Ghost coming down to bear witness to\nChrist, to testify of His death and resurrection, these facts would\nhave been forgotten as soon as His birth.\n\n\nGREATER WORK.\n\n\nThe witness of the Spirit is the witness of power. Jesus said, \"The\nworks that I do shall ye do also, and greater works than these shall\nye do because I go to the Father.\" I used to stumble over that. I\ndidn't understand it. I thought, what greater work could any man do\nthan Christ had done? How could any one raise a dead man who had been\nlaid away in the sepulcher for days, and who had already begun to turn\nback to dust; how with a word could he call him forth? But the longer\nI live the more I am convinced it is a greater thing to influence a\nman's will; a man whose will is set against God; to have that will\nbroken and brought into subjection to God's will--or, in other words,\nit is a greater thing to have power over a living, sinning, God-hating\nman, than to quicken the dead. He who could create a world could speak\na dead soul into life; but I think the greatest miracle this world has\never seen was the miracle at Pentecost. Here were men who surrounded\nthe Apostles, full of prejudice, full of malice, full of bitterness,\ntheir hands, as it were, dripping with the blood of the Son of God,\nand yet an unlettered man, a man whom they detested, a man whom they\nhated, stands up there and preaches the Gospel, and three thousand of\nthem are immediately convicted and converted, and become disciples of\nthe Lord Jesus Christ, and are willing to lay down their lives for the\nSon of God. It may have been on that occasion that Stephen was\nconverted, the first martyr, and some of the men who soon after gave\nup their lives for Christ. This seems to me the greatest miracle this\nworld has ever seen. But Peter did not labor alone; the Spirit of God\nwas with him; hence the marvelous results.\n\nThe Jewish law required that there should be two witnesses, and so we\nfind that when Peter preached there was a second witness. Peter\ntestified of Christ, and Christ says when the Holy Spirit comes He\nwill testify of Me. And they both bore witness to the verities of our\nLord's incarnation, ministry, death, and resurrection, and the result\nwas that a multitude turned as with one heart unto the Lord. Our\nfailure now is, that preachers ignore the Cross, and veil Christ with\nsapless sermons and superfine language. They don't just present Him to\nthe people plainly, and that is why, I believe, that the Spirit of God\ndon't work with power in our churches. What we need is to preach\nChrist and present Him to a perishing world. The world can get on very\nwell without you and me, but the world can not get on without Christ,\nand therefore we must testify of Him, and the world, I believe, to-day\nis just hungering and thirsting for this divine, satisfying portion.\nThousands and thousands are sitting in darkness, knowing not of this\ngreat Light, but when we begin to preach Christ honestly, faithfully,\nsincerely and truthfully; holding Him up, not ourselves; exalting\nChrist and not our theories; presenting Christ and not our opinions;\nadvocating Christ and not some false doctrine; then the Holy Ghost\nwill come and bear witness. He will testify that what we say is true.\nWhen He comes He will confirm the Word with signs following. This is\none of the strongest proofs that our Gospel is Divine; that it is of\nDivine origin; that not only did Christ teach these things, but when\nleaving the world He said, \"He shall glorify Me,\" and \"He will testify\nof Me.\" If you will just look at the second chapter of Acts--to that\nwonderful sermon that Peter preached--the thirty-sixth verse, you read\nthese words: \"Therefore let all the house of Israel know assuredly\nthat God hath made that same Jesus whom ye crucified, both Lord and\nChrist.\" And when Peter said this the Holy Ghost descended upon the\npeople and testified of Christ--bore witness in signal demonstration\nthat all this was true. And again, in the fortieth verse, \"And with\nmany other words did He testify and exhort, saying, Save yourselves\nfrom this untoward generation.\" With many other words did He testify,\nnot only these words that have been recorded, but many other words.\n\n\nTHE SURE GUIDE.\n\n\nTurn to the sixteenth chapter of John, in the thirteenth verse, and\nread: \"Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide\nyou into all truth; for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever\nHe shall hear that shall He speak; and He will show you things to\ncome.\" He will guide you into all truth. Now there is not a truth that\nwe ought to know but the Spirit of God will guide us into it if we\nwill let Him; if we will yield ourselves up to be directed by the\nSpirit, and let Him lead us, He will guide us into all truth. It would\nhave saved us from a great many dark hours if we had only been willing\nto let the Spirit of God be our counsellor and guide.\n\nLot never would have gone to Sodom if he had been guided by the Spirit\nof God. David never would have fallen into sin and had all that\ntrouble with his family if he had been guided by the Spirit of God.\n\nThere are many Lots and Davids now-a-day. The churches are full of\nthem. Men and women are in total darkness, because they have not been\nwilling to be guided by the Spirit of God. \"He shall guide you into\nall truth. He shall not speak of Himself.\" He shall speak of the\nascended glorified Christ.\n\nWhat would be thought of a messenger, entrusted by an absent husband\nwith a message for his wife or mother who, on arrival, only talked of\nhimself, and his conceits, and ignored both the husband and the\nmessage? You would simply call it outrageous. What then must be the\ncrime of the professed teacher who speaks of himself, or some insipid\ntheory, leaving out Christ and His Gospel? If we witness according to\nthe Spirit, we must witness of Jesus.\n\nThe Holy Spirit is down here in this dark world to just speak of the\nAbsent One, and He takes the things of Christ and brings them to our\nmind. He testifies of Christ; He guides us into the truth about Him.\n\n\nRAPPINGS IN THE DARK.\n\n\nI want to say right here, that I think in this day a great many\nchildren of God are turning aside and committing a grievous sin. I\ndon't know as they think it is a sin, but if we examine the\nScriptures, I am sure we will find that it is a great sin. We are told\nthat the Comforter is sent into the world to \"guide us into all\ntruth,\" and if He is sent for that purpose, do we need any other\nguide? Need we hide in the darkness, consulting with mediums, who\nprofess to call up the spirits of the dead? Do you know what the Word\nof God pronounces against that fearful sin? I believe it is one of the\ngreatest sins we have to contend with at the present day. It is\ndishonoring to the Holy Spirit for me to go and summon up the dead and\nconfer with them, even if it were possible.\n\nI would like you to notice the 10th chapter of 1st Chronicles, and\n13th verse: \"So Saul died for his transgression which he had committed\nagainst the Lord, even against the Word of the Lord, which he kept\nnot, and also for asking counsel of one that had a familiar spirit, to\ninquire of it; and inquired not of the Lord: therefore He slew him,\nand turned the kingdom unto David the son of Jesse.\"\n\nGod slew him for this very sin. Of the two sins that are brought\nagainst Saul here, one is that he would not listen to the Word of God,\nand the second is that he consulted a familiar spirit. He was snared\nby this great evil, and sinned against God.\n\nSaul fell right here, and there are a great many of God's professed\nchildren to-day who think there is no harm in consulting a medium who\npretends to call up some of the departed to inquire of them.\n\nBut how dishonoring it is to God who has sent the Holy Spirit into\nthis world to guide us \"into all truth.\" There is not a thing that I\nneed to know, there is not a thing that is important for me to know;\nthere is not a thing that I ought to know but the Spirit of God will\nreveal it to me through the Word of God, and if I turn my back upon\nthe Holy Spirit, I am dishonoring the Spirit of God, and I am\ncommitting a grievous sin. You know we read in Luke, where that rich\nman in the other world wanted to have some one sent to his father's\nhouse to warn his five brothers, Christ said They have Moses and the\nprophets, and if they will not hear them, they will not hear one\nthough he rose from the dead. Moses and the prophets, the part of the\nBible then completed, that is enough. But a great many people now want\nsomething besides the Word of God, and are turning aside to these\nfalse lights.\n\n\nSPIRITS THAT PEEP AND MUTTER.\n\n\nThere is another passage which reads, \"And when they shall say unto\nyou, seek unto them that have familiar spirits, and unto wizards that\npeep and mutter: Should not a people seek unto their God? for the\nliving to the dead?\" What is that but table-rapping, and cabinet-hiding?\nIf it was a message from God, do you think you would have to\ngo into a dark room and put out all the lights? In secret my Master\ntaught nothing. God is not in that movement, and what we want, as\nchildren of God, is to keep ourselves from this evil. And then notice,\nthe verse following, quoted so often out of its connection. \"To the\nlaw and to the testimony; if they speak not according to this word, it\nis because there is no light in them.\" Any man, any woman, who comes\nto us with any doctrine that is not according to the law and the\ntestimony, let us understand that they are from the evil one, and that\nthey are enemies of righteousness. They have no light in them. Now you\nwill find these people who are consulting familiar spirits, first and\nlast, attack the Word of God. They don't believe it. Still a great\nmany people say, you must hear both sides--but if a man should write\nme a most slanderous letter about my wife, I don't think I would have\nto read it; I should tear it up and throw it to the winds. Have I to\nread all the infidel books that are written, to hear both sides? Have\nI to take up a book that is a slander on my Lord and Master, who has\nredeemed me with His blood? Ten thousand times No; I will not touch\nit.\n\n\"Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter times some\nshall depart from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and\ndoctrines of devils.\" 1 Tim., iv, 1. That is pretty plain language,\nisn't it? \"Doctrines of devils.\" Again, \"speaking lies in hypocrisy;\nhaving their consciences seared with a hot iron.\" There are other\npassages of Scripture warning against every delusion of Satan. Let us\never remember the Spirit has been sent into the world to guide us into\nall truth. We don't want any other guide; He is enough. Some people\nsay, \"Is not conscience a safer guide than the Word and the Spirit?\"\nNo, it is not. Some people don't seem to have any conscience, and\ndon't know what it means. Their education has a good deal to do with\nconscience. There are persons who will say that their conscience did\nnot tell them that they had done wrong until after the wrong was done;\nbut what we want, is something to tell us a thing is wrong before we\ndo it. Very often a man will go and commit some awful crime, and after\nit is done his conscience will wake up and lash and scourge him, and\nthen it is too late, the act is done.\n\n\nTHE UNERRING GUIDE.\n\n\nI am told by people who have been over the Alps, that the guide\nfastens them, if they are going in a dangerous place, right to\nhimself, and he just goes on before; they are fastened to the guide.\n\nAnd so should the Christian be linked to His unerring Guide, and be\nsafely upheld. Why, if a man was going through the Mammoth Cave, it\nwould be death to him if he strayed away from his guide--if separated\nfrom him, he would certainly perish; there are pitfalls in that cave\nand a bottomless river, and there would be no chance for a man to find\nhis way through that cave without a guide or a light. So there is no\nchance for us to get through the dark wilderness of this world alone.\nIt is folly for a man or woman to think that they can get through this\nevil world without the light of God's Word and the guidance of the\nDivine Spirit. God sent Him to guide us through this great journey,\nand if we seek to work independent of Him, we shall stumble into the\ndeep darkness of eternity's night.\n\nBut bear in mind the _Words_ of the Spirit of God; if you want to be\nguided, you must study the Word; because the Word is the light of the\nSpirit. In the 14th chapter of John and 26th verse, we read:\n\n\"But the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send\nin my name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things to\nyour remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.\"\n\nAgain in John xvi, 13:\n\n\"Howbeit when He, the Spirit of Truth is come, He will guide you into\nall truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever He shall\nhear, that shall He speak: and He will show you things to come.\"\n\n\"He will show you things to come.\" A great many people seem to think\nthat the Bible is out of date, that it is an old book, and they think\nit has passed its day. They say it was very good for the dark ages,\nand that there is some very good history in it; but then it was not\nintended for the present time; that we are living in a very\nenlightened age, and that men can get on very well without the old\nbook; that we have outgrown it. They think we have no use for it,\nbecause it is an old book. Now you might just as well say that the\nsun, which has shone so long, is now so old that it is out of date,\nand that whenever a man builds a house he need not put any windows in\nit, because we have got a newer light and a better light; we have\ngaslight and this new electric light. These are something new; and I\nwould advise people, if they think the Bible is too old and worn out,\nwhen they build houses, not to put any windows in them, but just to\nlight them with this new electric light; that is something new, and\nthis is what they are anxious for. People talk about this Book as if\nthey understood it; but we don't know much about it yet. The press\ngives us the daily news of what has taken place. This Bible, however,\ntells us what is about to take place. This _is_ new; we have the news\nhere in this Book; this tells us of the things that will surely come\nto pass; and that is a great deal newer than anything in the\nnewspapers. It tells us that the Spirit shall teach us all things; not\nonly guide us into all truth, but teach us all things; He teaches us\nhow to pray, and I don't think there has ever been a prayer upon this\nsin-cursed earth that has been indicted by the Holy Spirit but was\nanswered. There is much praying that is not indicted by the Holy\nSpirit. In former years I was very ambitious to get rich; I used to\npray for one hundred thousand dollars; that was my aim, and I used to\nsay, \"God does not answer my prayer; He does not make me rich.\" But I\nhad no warrant for such a prayer; yet a good many people pray in that\nway; they think that they pray, but they do not pray according to the\nScriptures. The Spirit of God has nothing to do with their prayers,\nand such prayers are not the product of His teaching.\n\nIt is the Spirit who teaches us how to answer our enemies. If a man\nstrikes me, I should not pull out a revolver and shoot him. The Spirit\nof the Lord don't teach me revenge; He don't teach me that it is\nnecessary to draw the sword and cut a man down in order to defend my\nrights. Some people say, You are a coward if you don't strike back.\nChrist says, turn the other cheek to him who smites. I would rather\ntake Christ's teaching than any other. I don't think a man gains much\nby loading himself down with weapons to defend himself. There has been\nlife enough sacrificed in this country to teach men a lesson in this\nregard. The Word of God is a much better protection than the revolver.\nWe had better take the Word of God to protect us, by accepting its\nteaching, and living out its precepts.\n\n\nAN AID TO MEMORY.\n\n\nIt is a great comfort to us to remember that another office of the\nSpirit is to bring the teaching of Jesus to our remembrance. This was\nour Lord's promise, \"He shall teach you all things, and bring all\nthings to your remembrance.\" Jno. xiv, 26.\n\nHow striking that is. I think there are many Christians who have had\nthat experience. They have been testifying, and found that while\ntalking for Christ the Spirit has just brought into mind some of the\nsayings of the Lord Jesus Christ, and their mind was soon filled with\nthe Word of God. When we have the Spirit resting upon us, we can speak\nwith authority and power, and the Lord will bless our testimony and\nbless our work. I believe the reason why God makes use of so few in\nthe Church, is because there is not in them the power that God can\nuse. He is not going to use our ideas, but we must have the Word of\nGod hid in our hearts, and then, the Holy Spirit inflaming us, we will\nhave the testimony which will be rich, and sweet, and fresh, and the\nLord's Word will vindicate itself in blessed results. God wants to use\nus; God wants to make us channels of blessing; but we are in such a\ncondition He does not use us. That is the trouble; there are so many\nmen who have no testimony for the Lord; if they speak, they speak\nwithout saying anything, and if they pray, their prayer is powerless;\nthey do not plead in prayer; their prayer is just a few set phrases\nthat you have heard too often. Now what we want, is to be so full of\nthe Word, that the Spirit coming upon us shall bring to mind--bring to\nour remembrance--the words of the Lord Jesus.\n\nIn 1 Cor. ii, 9, it is written: \"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard,\nneither have entered into the heart of man the things which God hath\nprepared for them that love Him.\"\n\nWe hear that quoted so often in prayer--many a man weaves it into his\nprayer and stops right there. And the moment you talk about Heaven,\nthey say, \"Oh, we don't know anything about Heaven it hath not entered\ninto the heart of man; eye hath not seen; it is all speculation; we\nhave nothing to do with it; and they say they quote it as it is\nwritten.\" \"Eye hath not seen, nor ear heard; neither have entered into\nthe heart of man the things which God hath prepared for them that love\nHim.\" What next--\"but God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit.\"\nYou see the Lord hath revealed them unto us: \"For the Spirit searches\nall things--yea, the deep things of God.\" That is just what the Spirit\ndoes.\n\n\nLONG AND SHORT SIGHT.\n\n\nHe brings to our mind what God has in store for us. I heard a man,\nsome time ago, speaking about Abraham. He said \"Abraham was not\ntempted by the well-watered plains of Sodom, for Abraham was what you\nmight call a long-sighted man; he had his eyes set on the city which\nhad foundation--'whose Builder and Maker is God.'\" But Lot was a\nshort-sighted man; and there are many people in the Church who are\nvery short-sighted; they only see things right around them they think\ngood. Abraham was long-sighted; he had glimpses of the celestial city.\nMoses was long-sighted, and he left the palaces of Egypt and\nidentified himself with God's people--poor people, who were slaves;\nbut he had something in view yonder; he could see something God had in\nstore. Again there are some people who are sort of long-sighted and\nshortsighted, too. I have a friend who has one eye that is long-sighted\nand the other is short-sighted; and I think the Church is full of this\nkind of people. They want one eye for the world and the other for the\nKingdom of God. Therefore, everything, is blurred, one eye is long and\nthe other is short, all is confusion, and they \"see men as trees\nwalking.\" The Church is filled with that sort of people. But Stephen\nwas long-sighted; he looked clear into heaven; they couldn't convince\nhim even when he was dying, that Christ had not ascended to heaven.\n\"Look, look yonder,\" he says, \"see Him over there; He is on the throne,\nstanding at the right hand of God;\" and he looked clear into heaven;\nthe world had no temptation for him; he had put the world under his feet.\nPaul was another of those long-sighted men; he had been caught up and\nseen things unlawful for him to utter; things grand and glorious. I tell\nyou when the Spirit of God is on us the world looks very empty; the\nworld has a very small hold upon us, and we begin to let go our hold of\nit. When the Spirit of God is on us we will just let go the things of\ntime and lay hold of things eternal. This is the Church's need to-day;\nwe want the Spirit to come in mighty power, and consume all the vile\ndross there is in us. Oh! that the Spirit of fire may come down and\nburn everything in us that is contrary to God's blessed Word and Will.\n\nIn John xiv, 16, we read of the Comforter. This is the first time He\nis spoken of as the Comforter. Christ had been their Comforter. God\nhad sent Him to comfort the sorrowing. It was prophesied of Him, \"The\nSpirit of the Lord is upon me, because He hath anointed me to preach\nthe Gospel to the poor; He has sent me to heal the broken-hearted.\"\nYou can't heal the brokenhearted without the Comforter; but the world\nwould not have the first Comforter, and so they rose up and took Him\nto Calvary and put him to death; but on going away He said, \"I will\nsend you another Comforter; you shall not be comfortless; be of good\ncheer, little flock; it is the Father's good pleasure to give you the\nkingdom.\" All these sweet passages are brought to the remembrance of\nGod's people, and they help us to rise out of the fog and mist of this\nworld. O, what a comforter is the Holy Spirit of God!\n\n\nTHE FAITHFUL FRIEND.\n\n\nThe Holy Spirit tells a man of his faults in order to lead him to a\nbetter life. In John xvi, 8, we read: \"He is to reprove the world of\nsin.\" Now, there are a class of people who don't like this part of the\nSpirit's work. Do you know why? Because He convicts _them_ of sin;\nthey don't like that. What they want is some one to speak comforting\nwords and make everything pleasant; keep everything all quiet; tell\nthem there is peace when there is war; tell them it is light when it\nis dark, and tell them everything is growing better; that the world is\ngetting on amazingly in goodness; that it is growing better all the\ntime; that is the kind of preaching they seek for. Men think they are\na great deal better than their fathers were. That suits human nature,\nfor it is full of pride. Men will strut around and say, \"Yes, I\nbelieve that; the world is improving; I am a good deal better man than\nfather was; my father was too strict; he was one of those old\nPuritanical men who was so rigid. O, we are getting on; we are more\nliberal; my father wouldn't think of going out riding on Sunday, but\nwe will; we will trample the laws of God under our feet; we are better\nthan our fathers.\"\n\nThat is the kind of preaching which some dearly love, and there are\npreachers who tickle such itching ears. When you bring the Word of God\nto bear upon them, and when the Spirit drives it home, then men will\nsay: \"I don't like that kind of preaching; I will never go to hear\nthat man again;\" and sometimes they will get up and stamp their way\nout of church before the speaker gets through; they don't like it. But\nwhen the Spirit of God is at work he convicts men of sin. \"When He\ncomes He will reprove the world of sin, of righteousness and of\njudgment; of sin\"--not because men swear and lie and steal and get\ndrunk and murder--\"of sin because they believe not on Me.\"\n\n\nTHE CLIMAX SIN.\n\n\nThat is the sin of the world. Why, a great many people think that\nunbelief is a sort of misfortune, but do not know, if you will allow\nme the expression, it is the damning sin of the world to-day; that is\nwhat unbelief is, the mother of all sin. There would not be a drunkard\nwalking the streets, if it were not for unbelief; there would not be a\nharlot walking the streets, if it were not for unbelief; there would\nnot be a murderer, if it was not for unbelief; it is the germ of all\nsin. Don't think for a moment that it is a misfortune, but just bear\nin mind it is an awful sin, and may the Holy Spirit convict every\nreader that unbelief is making God a liar. Many a man has been knocked\ndown on the streets because some one has told him he was a liar.\nUnbelief is giving God the lie; that is the plain English of it. Some\npeople seem to boast of their unbelief; they seem to think it is quite\nrespectable to be an infidel and doubt God's Word, and they will\nvainly boast and say, \"I have intellectual difficulties; I can't\nbelieve.\" Oh that the Spirit of God may come and convict men of sin!\nThat is what we need--His convicting power, and I am so thankful that\nGod has not put that into our hands. We have not to convict men; if we\nhad I would get discouraged, and give up preaching, and go back to\nbusiness within the next forty-eight hours. It is my work to preach\nand hold up the Cross and testify of Christ; but it is His work to\nconvict men of sin and lead them to Christ. One thing I have noticed,\nthat some conversions don't amount to anything; that if a man\nprofesses to be converted without conviction of sin, he is one of\nthose stony-ground hearers who don't bring forth much fruit. The first\nlittle wave of persecution, the first breath of opposition, and the\nman is back in the world again. Let us pray, dear Christian reader,\nthat God may carry on a deep and thorough work, that men may be\nconvicted of sin so that they can not rest in unbelief. Let us pray\nGod it may be a thorough work in the land. I would a great deal rather\nsee a hundred men thoroughly converted, truly born of God, than to see\na thousand professed conversions where the Spirit of God has not\nconvicted of sin. Don't let us cry \"Peace, peace, when there is no\npeace.\" Don't go to the man who is living in sin, and tell him all he\nhas to do is to stand right up and profess, without any hatred for\nsin. Let us ask God first to show every man the plague of his own\nheart, that the Spirit, may convict them of sin. Then will the work in\nour hands be real, and deep, and abide the fiery trial which will try\nevery man's labor.\n\nThus far, we have found the work of the Spirit is to impart life, to\nimplant hope, to give liberty, to testify of Christ, to guide us into\nall truth, to teach us all things, to comfort the believers, and to\nconvict the world of sin.\n\n   \"Holy Spirit, faithful guide,\n   Ever near the Christian's side;\n   Gently lead us by the hand,\n   Pilgrims in a desert land;\n   Weary souls for e'er rejoice,\n   While they hear that sweetest voice,\n   Whisp'ring softly, wanderer come!\n   Follow Me, I'll guide thee home.\n\n   Ever present, truest Friend,\n   Ever near Thine aid to lend,\n   Leave us not to doubt and fear,\n   Groping on in darkness drear,\n   When the storms are raging sore,\n   Hearts grow faint, and hopes give o'er;\n   Whisp'ring softly, wanderer come!\n   Follow Me, I'll guide thee home.\n\n   When our days of toil shall cease,\n   Waiting still for sweet release,\n   Nothing left but heaven and prayer,\n   Wond'ring if our names were there,\n   Wading deep the dismal flood,\n   Pleading nought but Jesus' blood;\n   Whisp'ring softly, wanderer come!\n   Follow Me, I'll guide thee home.\"\n\n\n   \"OH! Spirit of God, whose voice I hear,\n   Sweeter than sweetest music, appealing\n   In tones of tenderness and love;\n   Whose comforts delight my soul, and\n   Fills the temple of my heart with joy beyond compare.\n   I need Thee day by day, and each day's moment, Lord.\n   I sigh for greater likeness\n   To Him who loved me unto death, and loves me still.\n   'Tis Thine to lead me to Him; 'tis Thine to ope the eye,\n   To manifest His royal glories to my longing heart;\n   'Tis Thine the slumbering saint to waken\n   And discipline this blood-touched ear\n   To hearken to my heavenly Lover's voice,\n   And quickly speed His summons to obey.\n   Oh! Spirit of the Mighty God, uplift my faith\n   Till heaven's precious light shall flood my soul,\n   And the shining of my face declare\n   That I have seen the face of God.\"\n\n\n\nCHAPTER IV.\n\n\nPOWER IN OPERATION.\n\n\n\"Ye are not your own.\" \"Your bodies are the temples of the Holy\nGhost.\" Is that an unmeaning metaphor, or an over-worded expression?\nWhen the Holy Spirit enters the soul, heaven enters with Him. The\nheart is compared to a temple. God never enters without His\nattendants; _repentance_ cleanses the house; _faith_ provides for the\nhouse; _watchfulness_, like the porter, takes care of it; _prayer_ is\na lively messenger, learns what is wanted, and then goes for it;\n_faith_ tells him where to go, and he never goes in vain; _joy_ is the\nmusician of this temple, tuning to the praises of God and the Lamb;\nand this terrestrial temple shall be removed to the celestial world,\nfor the trumpet shall sound, and the dead shall be raised.--_Rowland\nHill._\n\n\nPOWER IN OPERATION.\n\n\nTHE power we have been considering is the Presence of the Holy Spirit.\nHe is omnipotent. Power in operation is the actions of the Spirit or\nthe fruit of the Spirit. This we shall now consider. Paul writes in\nGal. v, 16, etc.:\n\n\"This I say then, walk in the Spirit, and ye shall not fulfill the\nlust of the flesh. For the flesh lusteth against the Spirit, and the\nSpirit against the flesh; and these are contrary, the one to the\nother; so that ye can not do the things that ye would. But if ye be\nled of the Spirit, ye are not under the law.\" * * * \"But the fruit of\nthe Spirit is love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness,\nfaith, meekness, temperance; against such there is no law. And they\nthat are Christ's have crucified the flesh with the affections and\nlusts. If we live in the Spirit, let us also walk in the Spirit. Let\nus not be desirous of vainglory, provoking one another, envying one\nanother.\"\n\nNow there is a life of perfect peace, perfect joy, and perfect love,\nand that ought to be the aim of every child of God; that ought to be\ntheir standard; and they should not rest until having attained to that\nposition. That is God's standard, where He wants all His children.\nThese nine graces mentioned in this chapter in Galatians can be\ndivided in this way: Love and peace and joy are all to God. God looks\nfor that fruit from each one of His children, and that is the kind of\nfruit which is acceptable with Him. Without that we can not please\nGod. He wants, above everything else that we possess, love, peace and\njoy. And then the next three--goodness, long-suffering and gentleness--are\ntowards man. That is our outward life to those that we are coming\nin contact with continually--daily, hourly. The next three--faith,\ntemperance, meekness--are in relation to ourselves; and in that way we\ncan just take the three divisions, and it will be of some help to us.\n\nThe first thing that meets us as we enter the kingdom of God, you\nmight say are these first three graces,\n\n\nLOVE, PEACE, AND JOY.\n\n\nWhen a man who has been living in sin turns from his sins, and turns\nto God with all his heart, he is met on the threshold of the divine\nlife by these sister graces. The love of God is shed abroad in his\nheart by the Holy Ghost. The peace of God comes at the same time, and\nalso the joy of the Lord. We can all put the test to ourselves, if we\nhave them. It is not anything that we can make. The great trouble with\nmany is that they are trying to make these graces. They are trying to\nmake love; they are trying to make peace; they are trying to make joy.\nBut they are not creatures of human planting. To produce them of\nourselves is impossible. That is an act of God. They come from above.\nIt is God who speaks the word and gives the love; it is God who gives\nthe peace; it is God who gives the joy, and we possess all by\nreceiving Jesus Christ by faith into the heart; for when Christ comes\nby faith into the heart, then the Spirit is there, and if we have the\nSpirit, we will have the fruit.\n\nIf the whole Church of God could live as the Lord would have them\nlive, why Christianity would be the mightiest power this world has\never seen. It is the low standard of Christian life that is causing so\nmuch trouble. There are a great many stunted Christians in the Church;\ntheir lives are stunted; they are like a tree planted in poor soil--the\nsoil is hard and stony, and the roots can not find the rich loamy soil\nneeded. Such believers have not grown in these sweet graces. Peter, in\nhis second epistle, 1st chapter and 5th verse, writes:\n\n\"And besides this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and\nto virtue knowledge; and to knowledge temperance; and to temperance\npatience; and to patience, godliness; and to godliness, brotherly\nkindness; and to brotherly kindness, charity. For if these things be\nin you and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor\nunfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.\"\n\nNow, if we have these things in us, I believe that we will be\nconstantly bringing forth fruit that will be acceptable with God. It\nwon't be just a little every now and then, when we spur ourselves up\nand work ourselves up into a certain state of mind or into an excited\ncondition, and work a little while and then become cold, and\ndiscouraged, and disheartened, but we shall be neither unfruitful nor\nbarren, bringing forth fruit constantly, we will grow in grace and be\nfilled with the Spirit of God.\n\n\nWHAT WINS.\n\n\nA great many parents have inquired of me how to win their children.\nThey say they have talked with them, and sometimes they have scolded\nthem and have lectured them, and signally failed. I think there is no\nway so sure to win our families and our neighbors, and those about\nwhom we are anxious, to Christ, than just to adorn the doctrine of\nJesus Christ in our lives, and grow in all these graces. If we have\npeace and joy and love and gentleness and goodness and temperance; not\nonly being temperate in what we drink, but in what we eat, and\ntemperate in our language, guarded in our expressions; if we just live\nin our homes as the Lord would have us, an even Christian life day by\nday, we shall have a quiet and silent power proceeding from us, that\nwill constrain them to believe on the Lord Jesus Christ. But an uneven\nlife, hot to-day and cold tomorrow, will only repel. Many are watching\nGod's people. It is just the very worst thing that can happen to those\nwhom we want to win to Christ, to see us, at any time, in a cold,\nbackslidden state. This is not the normal condition of the Church; it\nis not God's intention; He would have us growing in all these graces,\nand the only true, happy, Christian life is to be growing, constantly\ngrowing in the love and favor of God, growing in all those delightful\ngraces of the Spirit.\n\nEven the vilest, the most impure, acknowledge the power of goodness;\nthey recognize the fruit of the Spirit. It may condemn their lives and\ncause them to say bitter things at times, but down deep in their\nhearts they know that the man or woman who is living that kind of\nlife, is superior to them. The world don't satisfy them, and if we can\nshow the world that Jesus Christ does satisfy us in our present life,\nit will be more powerful than the eloquent words of professional\nreformers. A man may preach with the eloquence of an angel, but if he\ndon't live what he preaches, and act out in his home and his business\nwhat he professes, his testimony goes for naught, and the people say\nit is all hypocrisy after all; it is all a sham. Words are very empty,\nif there is nothing back of them. Your testimony is poor and\nworthless, if there is not a record back of that testimony consistent\nwith what you profess. What we need is to pray to God to lift us up\nout of this low, cold, formal state that we have been living in, that\nwe may live in the atmosphere of God continually, and that the Lord\nmay lift upon us the light of his countenance, and that we may shine\nin this world, reflecting His grace and glory.\n\nThe first of the graces spoken of in Galatians, and the last mentioned\nin Peter, is charity or love. We can not serve God, we can not work\nfor God unless we have love. That is the key which unlocks the human\nheart. If I can prove to a man that I come to him out of pure love; if\na mother shows by her actions that it is pure love that prompts her\nadvising her boy to lead a different life, not a selfish love, but\nthat it is for the glory of God, it won't be long before that mother's\ninfluence will be felt by that boy, and he will begin to think about\nthis matter, because true love touches the heart quicker than anything\nelse.\n\n\nPOWER OF LOVE.\n\n\nLove is the badge that Christ gave His disciples. Some put on one sort\nof badge and some another. Some put on a strange kind of dress, that\nthey may be known as Christians, and some put on a crucifix, or\nsomething else, that they may be known as Christians. But love is the\nonly badge by which the disciples of our Lord Jesus Christ are known.\n\"By this shall all men know that ye are My disciples, if ye have love\none toward another.\"\n\nTherefore, though a man stand before an audience and speak with the\neloquence of a Demosthenes, or of the greatest living orator, if there\nis no love back of his words, it is like sounding brass and a tinkling\ncymbal. I would recommend all Christians to read the thirteenth\nchapter of First Corinthians constantly, abiding in it day and night,\nnot spending a night or a day there, but just go in there and spend\nall our time--summer and winter, twelve months in the year, then the\npower of Christ and Christianity would be felt as it never has been in\nthe history of the world. See what this chapter says:\n\n\"Though I speak with the tongues of men and of angels, and have not\ncharity, I am become _as_ sounding brass or a tinkling cymbal. And\nthough I have _the gift_ of prophecy, and understand all mysteries,\nand all knowledge; and though I have all faith, so that I could remove\nmountains, and have not charity, I am nothing.\"\n\nA great many are praying for faith; they want extraordinary faith;\nthey want remarkable faith. They forget that love exceeds faith. The\nCHARITY spoken of in the above verses, is LOVE, the fruit of the\nSpirit, the great motive-power of life. What the Church of God needs\nto-day is love--more love to God and more love to our fellow-men. If\nwe love God more, we will love our fellow-men more. There is no doubt\nabout that. I used to think that I should like to have lived in the\ndays of the prophets; that I should like to have been one of the\nprophets, to prophesy, and to see the beauties of heaven and describe\nthem to men; but, as I understand the Scriptures now, I would a good\ndeal rather live in the thirteenth chapter of 1st Corinthians and have\nthis love that Paul is speaking of, the love of God burning in my soul\nlike an unquenchable flame, so that I may reach men and win them for\nheaven.\n\nA man may have wonderful knowledge, that may unravel the mysteries of\nthe Bible, and yet be as cold as an icicle. He may glisten like the\nsnow in the sun. Sometimes you have wondered why it was that certain\nministers who have had such wonderful magnetism, who have such a\nmarvelous command of language, and who preach with such mental\nstrength, haven't had more conversions. I believe, if the truth was\nknown, you would find no divine love back of their words, no pure love\nin their sermons. You may preach like an angel, Paul says, \"with the\ntongues of men and of angels,\" but if you have not love, it amounts to\nnothing. \"And though I bestow all my goods to feed the poor,\"--a man\nmay be very charitable, and give away all his goods; a man may give\nall he has, but if it is not the love of God which prompts the gift,\nit will not be acceptable with God. \"And though I give my body to be\nburned, and have not charity\"--have not love--\"it profiteth me\nnothing.\" A man may go to the stake for his principles; he may go to\nthe stake for what he believes, but if it is not love to God which\nactuates him, it will not be acceptable to God.\n\n\nLOVE'S WONDERFUL EFFECTS.\n\n\n\"Charity suffereth long, and is kind; charity envieth not; charity\nvaunteth not itself, is not puffed up.\n\nDoth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not her own, is not easily\nprovoked, thinketh no evil.\"\n\nThat's the work of love. It is not easily provoked. Now if a man has\nno love of God in his heart, how easy it is to become offended;\nperhaps with the church because some members of the church don't treat\nhim just right, or some men of the church don't bow to him on the\nstreet, he takes offense, and that is the last you see of him. Love is\nlong-suffering. If I love the Lord Jesus Christ, these little things\nare not going to separate me from His people. They are like the dust\nin the balance. Nor will the cold, formal treatment of hypocrites in\nthe church quench that love I have in my heart for Him. If this love\nis in the heart, and the fire is burning on the altar, we will not be\nall the time finding fault with other people and criticising what they\nhave done.\n\n\nCRITICS BEWARE.\n\n\nLove will rebuke evil, but will not rejoice in it. Love will be\nimpatient of sin, but patient with the sinner. To form the habit of\nfinding fault constantly, is very damaging to spiritual life; it is\nabout the lowest and meanest position that a man can take. I never saw\na man who was aiming to do the best work, but there could have been\nsome improvement; I never did anything in my life, I never addressed\nan audience, that I didn't think I could have done better, and I have\noften upbraided myself that I had not done better; but to sit down and\nfind fault with other people when we are doing nothing ourselves, not\nlifting our hands to save some one, is all wrong, and is the opposite\nof holy, patient, divine love.\n\nLove is forbearance; and what we want is to get this spirit of\ncriticism and fault finding out of the Church and out of our hearts\nand let each one of us live as if we had to answer for ourselves, and\nnot for the community, at the last day. If we are living according to\nthe 13th chapter of Corinthians, we will not be all the time finding\nfault with other people. \"Love suffereth long, and is kind.\" Love\nforgets itself, and don't dwell upon itself. The woman who came to\nChrist with that alabaster box, I venture to say, never thought of\nherself. Little did she know what an act she was performing. It was\njust her love for the Master. She forgot the surroundings, she forgot\neverything else that was there; she broke that box and poured the\nointment upon Him, and filled the house with its odor. The act, as a\nmemorial, has come down these 1800 years. It is right here--the\nperfume of that box is in the world today. That ointment was worth $40\nor $50; no small sum of those days for a poor woman. Judas sold the\nSon of God for about $15 or $20. But what this woman gave to Christ\nwas everything that she had, and she became so occupied with Jesus\nChrist that she didn't think what people were going to say. So when we\nact with a single eye for the glory of our Lord, not finding fault\nwith everything about us, but doing what we can in the power of this\nlove, then will our deeds for God speak, and the world will\nacknowledge that we have been with Jesus, and that this glorious love\nhas been shed abroad in our hearts.\n\nIf we don't love the Church of God, I am afraid it won't do us much\ngood; if we don't love the blessed Bible, it will not do us much good.\nWhat we want, then, is to have love for Christ, to have love for His\nword, and to have love for the Church of God, and when we have love,\nand are living in that spirit, we will not be in the spirit of finding\nfault and working mischief.\n\n\nAFTER LOVE, WHAT?\n\n\nAfter love comes peace. I have before remarked, a great many people\nare trying to make peace. But that has already been done. God has not\nleft it for us to do; all that we have to do is to enter into it. It\nis a condition, and instead of our trying to make peace and to work\nfor peace, we want to cease all that, and sweetly enter into peace.\n\nIf I discover a man in the cellar complaining because there is no\nlight there, and because it is cold and damp, I say: \"My friend, come\nup out of the cellar. There is a good warm sun up here, a beautiful\nspring day, and it is warm, it is cheerful and light; come up, and\nenjoy it.\" Would he reply, \"O, no, sir; I am trying to see if I can\nmake light down here; I am trying to work myself into a warm feeling.\"\nAnd there he is working away, and he has been at it for a whole week.\nI can imagine my reader smile; but you may be smiling at your own\npicture; for this is the condition of many whom I daily meet who are\ntrying to do this very thing--they are trying to work themselves into\npeace and joyful feelings. Peace is a condition into which we enter;\nit is a state; and instead of our trying to make peace, let us believe\nwhat God's Word declares, that peace has already been made by the\nblood of the Cross. Christ has made peace for us, and now what He\ndesires is that we believe it and enter into it. Now, the only thing\nthat can keep us from peace is sin. God turneth the way of the wicked\nupside down. There is no peace for the wicked, saith my God. They are\nlike the troubled sea that can not rest, casting up filth and mire all\nthe while; but peace with God by faith in Jesus Christ--peace through\nthe knowledge of forgiven sin, is like a rock; the waters go dashing\nand surging past it, but it abides. When we find peace, we shall not\nfind it on the ground of innate goodness; it comes from without\nourselves, but into us. In the 16th chapter of John and the 33d verse\nwe read: \"These things have I spoken unto you, that in me ye might\nhave peace.\" In me ye might have peace. Jesus Christ is the author of\npeace. He procured peace. His gospel is the gospel of peace. \"Behold I\nbring you good tidings of great joy which shall be unto all people;\nfor unto you is born this day in the city of David a Saviour,\" and\nthen came that chorus from heaven \"Glory to God in the highest; peace\non earth.\" He brought peace. \"In the world ye shall have tribulation,\nbut be of good cheer, I have overcome the world.\"\n\nHow true that in the world we have tribulation. Are you in\ntribulation? Are you in trouble? Are you in sorrow? Remember this is\nour lot. Paul had tribulation, and others shared in grief. Nor shall\nwe be exempt from trial. But within, peace may reign undisturbed. If\nsorrow is our lot, peace is our legacy. Jesus gives peace; and do you\nknow there is a good deal of difference between His peace and our\npeace? Any one can disturb our peace, but they can't disturb His\npeace. That is the kind of peace He has left us. Nothing can offend\nthose who trust in Christ.\n\n\nNOT EASILY OFFENDED.\n\n\nIn the 119th Psalm and the 165th verse, we find \"Great peace have they\nwho love Thy law; and nothing shall offend them.\" The study of God's\nWord will secure peace. You take those Christians who are rooted and\ngrounded in the Word of God, and you find they have great peace; but\nit is these who don't study their Bible, and don't know their Bible,\nwho are easily offended when some little trouble comes, or some little\npersecution, and their peace is all disturbed; just a little breath of\nopposition, and their peace is all gone.\n\nSometimes I am amazed to see how little it takes to drive all peace\nand comfort from some people. Some slandering tongue will readily\nblast it. But if we have the peace of God, the world can not take that\nfrom us. It can not give it; it can not destroy it. We have to get it\nfrom above the world; it is peace which Christ gives. \"Great peace\nhave they which love Thy law, and nothing shall offend them.\" Christ\nsays \"blessed is he, whosoever shall not be offended in Me.\" Now, if\nyou will notice, wherever there is a Bible-taught Christian, one who\nhas the Bible well marked, and daily feeds upon the Word by prayerful\nmeditation, he will not be easily offended.\n\nSuch are the people who are growing and working all the while. But it\nis these people who never open their Bibles, these people who never\nstudy the Scriptures, who become offended, and are wondering why they\nare having such a hard time. They are the persons who tell you that\nChristianity is not what it has been recommended to them; that they\nhave found it was not all that we claim it to be. The real trouble is,\nthey have not done as the Lord has told them to do. They have\nneglected the Word of God. If they had been studying the Word of God,\nthey would not be in that condition. If they had been studying the\nWord of God, they would not have wandered these years away from God,\nliving on the husks of the world. But the trouble is, they have\nneglected to care for the new life; they haven't fed it, and the poor\nsoul, being starved, sinks into weakness and decay, and is easily\nstumbled or offended.\n\nI met a man who confessed his soul had fed on nothing for forty years.\n\"Well,\" said I, \"that is pretty hard for the soul--giving it nothing\nto feed on!\" And that man is but a type of thousands and tens of\nthousands to-day; their poor souls are starving. This body that we\ninhabit for a day, and then leave, we take good care of; we feed it\nthree times a day, and we clothe it, and take care of it, and deck it,\nand by and by it is going into the grave to be eaten up by the worms;\nbut the inner man, that is to live on and on, and on forever, is lean\nand starved.\n\n\nSWEET WORDS.\n\n\nIn the 6th chapter of Numbers and 22d verse we read:\n\n\"And the Lord spake unto Moses, saying: Speak unto Aaron and unto his\nsons, saying, on this wise ye shall bless the children of Israel,\nsaying unto them: The Lord bless thee and keep thee. The Lord make His\nface shine upon thee, and be gracious unto thee. The Lord lift up His\ncountenance upon thee, and give thee peace.\"\n\nI think these are about as sweet verses as we find in the Old\nTestament. I marked them years ago in my Bible, and many times I have\nturned over and read them. \"The Lord lift up His countenance upon\nthee, and give thee peace.\" They remind us of the loving words of\nJesus to his troubled disciples, \"Peace, be still.\" The Jewish\nsalutation used to be, as a man went into a house, \"Peace be upon this\nhouse,\" and as he left the house the host would say, \"Go in peace.\"\n\nThen again, in the 14th chapter of John and the 27th verse, Jesus\nsaid: \"Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you; not as the\nworld giveth give I unto you. Let not your heart be troubled, neither\nlet it be afraid.\" This is the precious legacy of Jesus to all His\nfollowers. Every man, every woman, every child, who believes in Him,\nmay share in this portion. Christ has willed it to them, and His peace\nis theirs.\n\nThis then is our Lord's purpose and promise. My peace I give unto you.\nI give it, and I am not going to take it away again; I am going to\nleave it to you. \"Not as the world giveth, give I unto you. Let not\nyour heart be troubled, neither let it be afraid.\" But you know, when\nsome men make their wills and deed away their property, there are some\nsharp, shrewd lawyers who will get hold of that will and break it all\nto pieces; they will go into court and break the will, and the jury\nwill set the will aside, and the money goes into another channel. Now\nthis will that Christ has made, neither devil nor man can break it. He\nhas promised to give us peace, and there are thousands of witnesses\nwho can say: \"I have my part of that legacy. I have peace; I came to\nHim for peace, and I got it; I came to Him in darkness; I came to Him\nin trouble and sorrow; I was passing under a deep cloud of affliction,\nand I came to Him and He said, 'Peace, be still.' And from that hour\npeace reigned in my soul.\" Yes, many have proved the invitation true,\n\"Come unto Me all ye that labor and are heavy laden, and I will give\nyou rest.\" They found rest when they came. He is the author of rest,\nHe is the author of peace, and no power can break that will; yea,\nunbelief may question it, but Jesus Christ rose to execute His own\nwill, and it is in vain for man to contest it. Infidels and skeptics\nmay tell us that it is all a myth, and that there isn't anything in\nit, and yet the glorious tidings is ever repeated, \"Peace on earth,\ngood will to man,\" and the poor and needy, the sad and sorrowful, are\nmade partakers of it.\n\nSo, my reader, you need not wait for peace any longer. All you have to\ndo is to enter into it to-day. You need not try to make peace. It is a\nfalse idea; you can not make it. Peace is already made by Jesus\nChrist, and is now declared unto you.\n\n\nPEACE DECLARED.\n\n\nWhen France and England were at war, a French vessel had gone off on a\nlong voyage, a whaling voyage; and when they came back, the crew were\nshort of water, and being now near an English port, they wanted to get\nwater; but they were afraid that they would be taken if they went into\nthat port; and some people in the port saw them, saw their signal of\ndistress, and sent word to them that they need not be afraid, that the\nwar was over, and peace had been declared. But they couldn't make\nthose sailors believe it, and they didn't dare to go into port,\nalthough they were out of water; but at last they made up their minds\nthat they had better go in and surrender up their cargo and surrender\nup their lives to their enemies than to perish at sea without water;\nbut when they got in, they found out that peace had been declared, and\nthat what had been told them was true. So there are a great many\npeople who don't believe the glad tidings that peace has been made.\nJesus Christ made peace on the Cross. He satisfied the claims of the\nlaw; and this law which condemns you and me has been fulfilled by\nJesus Christ. He has made peace, and now He wants us just to enjoy it,\njust to believe it. Nor is there a thing to hinder us from doing it,\nif we will. We can enter into that blessing now, and have perfect\npeace. The promise is: \"Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind\nis stayed on Thee. Trust ye in the Lord forever, for in the Lord\nJehovah is everlasting strength.\" Now, as long as our mind is stayed\non our dear selves, we will never have peace. Some people think more\nof themselves than of all the rest of the world. It is self in the\nmorning, self at noon, and self at night. It is self when they wake\nup, and self when they go to bed; and they are all the time looking at\nthemselves and thinking about themselves, instead of \"looking unto\nJesus.\" Faith is an outward look. Faith does not look within; it looks\nwithout. It is not what I think, nor what I feel, nor what I have\ndone, but it is what Jesus Christ is and has done, and so we should\ntrust in Him who is our strength, and whose strength will never fail.\nAfter Christ rose from the grave, three times, John tells us, He met\nHis disciples and said unto them, \"Peace be unto you.\" There is peace\nfor the conscience through His blood, and peace for the heart in His\nlove.\n\n\nSECRET OF JOY.\n\n\nRemember, then, that love is power, and peace is power; but now I will\ncall attention to another fruit of the Spirit, and this too is power--the\ngrace of JOY. It is the privilege, I believe, of every Christian to\nwalk in the light, as God is in the light, and to have that peace\nwhich will be flowing unceasingly as we keep busy about His work. And\nit is our privilege to be full of the joy of the Lord. We read, that\nwhen Philip went down to Samaria and preached, there was great joy in\nthe city. Why? Because they believed the glad tidings. And that is the\nnatural order, joy in believing. When we believe the glad tidings,\nthere comes a joy into our souls. Also we are told that our Lord sent\nthe seventy out, and that they went forth preaching salvation in the\nname of Jesus Christ, and the result was that there were a great many\nwho were blessed; and the seventy returned, it says, with great joy,\nand when they came back they said that the very devils were subject to\nthem, through His name. The Lord seemed to just correct them in this\none thing when He said, \"Rejoice not that the devils are subject to\nyou, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven.\" There is\nassurance for you. They had something to rejoice in now. God don't ask\nus to rejoice over nothing, but He gives us some ground for our joy.\nWhat would you think of a man or woman who seemed very happy to-day\nand full of joy, and couldn't tell you what made them so? Suppose I\nshould meet a man on the street, and he was so full of joy that he\nshould get hold of both my hands and say, \"Bless the Lord, I am so\nfull of joy!\" \"What makes you so full of joy?\" \"Well, I don't know.\"\n\"You don't know?\" \"No, I don't; but I am so joyful that I just want to\nget out of the flesh.\" \"What makes you feel so joyful?\" \"Well, I don't\nknow.\" Would we not think such a person unreasonable? But there are a\ngreat many people who feel--who want to feel--that they are Christians\nbefore they are Christians; they want the Christian's experience\nbefore they become Christians; they want to have the joy of the Lord\nbefore they receive Jesus Christ. But this is not the Gospel order. He\nbrings joy when He comes, and we can not have joy apart from Him;\nthere is no joy away from Him; He is the author of it, and we find our\njoy in Him.\n\n\nJOY IS UNSELFISH.\n\n\nNow, there are three kinds of joy; there is the joy of one's own\nsalvation. I thought, when I first tasted that, it was the most\ndelicious joy I had ever known, and that I could never get beyond it.\nBut I found, afterward, there was something more joyful than that,\nnamely, the joy of the salvation of others. Oh, the privilege, the\nblessed privilege, to be used of God to win a soul to Christ, and to\nsee a man or woman being led out of bondage by some act of ours toward\nthem. To think that God should condescend to allow us to be co-workers\nwith Him. It is the highest honor we can wear. It surpasses the joy of\nour own salvation, this joy of seeing others saved. And then John\nsaid, He had no greater joy than to see His disciples walking in the\ntruth. Every man who has been the means of leading souls to Christ\nunderstands what that means. Young disciples, walk in the truth and\nyou will have joy all the while.\n\nI think there is a difference between happiness and joy. Happiness is\ncaused by things which happen around me, and circumstances will mar\nit, but joy flows right on through trouble; joy flows on through the\ndark; joy flows in the night as well as in the day; joy flows all\nthrough persecution and opposition; it flows right along, for it is an\nunceasing fountain bubbling up in the heart; a secret spring which the\nworld can't see and don't know anything about; but the Lord gives His\npeople perpetual joy when they walk in obedience to Him.\n\nThis joy is fed by the Divine Word. Jeremiah says in chapter xv, 16:\n\"Thy words were found, and I did eat them; and Thy Word was unto me\nthe joy and rejoicing of my heart; for I am called by Thy name, O\nLord.\"\n\nHe ate the words, and what was the result? He said they were the joy\nand rejoicing of his heart. Now people should look for joy in the\nWord, and not in the world; they should look for the joy which the\nScriptures furnish, and then go work in the vineyard; because a joy\nthat don't send me out to some one else, a joy that don't impel me to\ngo and help the poor drunkard, a joy that don't prompt me to visit the\nwidow and the fatherless, a joy that don't cause me to go into the\nMission Sunday-school or other Christian work, is not worth having,\nand is not from above; a joy that does not constrain me to go and work\nfor the Master, is purely sentiment and not real joy.\n\n\nJOY IN PERSECUTION.\n\n\nThen it says in Luke vi, 22: \"Blessed are ye when men shall hate you,\nand when they shall separate you from their company, and shall\nreproach you and cast out your name as evil, for the Son of Man's\nsake. Rejoice ye in that day and leap for joy, for behold your reward\nis great in heaven for in like manner did their fathers unto the\nprophets.\"\n\nChristians do not receive their reward down here. We have to go right\nagainst the current of the world. We may be unpopular, and we may go\nright against many of our personal friends if we live godly in Christ\nJesus; and at the same time, if we are persecuted for the Master's\nsake, We will have this joy bubbling up; it just comes right up in our\nhearts all the while--a joy that is unceasing--that flows right on.\nThe world can not choke that fountain. If we have Christ in the heart,\nby and by the reward will come. The longer I live the more I am\nconvinced that godly men and women are not appreciated in our day. But\ntheir work will live after them, and there will be a greater work done\nafter they are gone, by the influence of their lives, than when they\nwere living. Daniel is doing a thousand times more than when he was\nliving in Babylon. Abraham is doing more to-day than he did on the\nplain with his tent and altar. All these centuries he has been living,\nand so we read, \"Blessed are the dead that die in the Lord, from\nhenceforth; yea saith the Spirit, that they may rest from their\nlabors, and their works do follow them.\" Let us set the streams\nrunning that shall flow on after we have gone. If we have to-day\npersecution and opposition, let us press forward, and our reward will\nbe great by and by. Oh! think of this; the Lord Jesus, the Maker of\nheaven and earth, who created the world, says, \"Great shall be thy\nreward.\" He calls it great. If some friend should say it is great, it\nmight be very small; but when the Lord, the great and mighty God, says\nit is great, what must it be? Oh! the reward that is in store for\nthose who serve Him! We have this joy, if we serve Him. A man or woman\nis not fit to work for God who is cast down, because they go about\ntheir work with a tell-tale face. \"The joy of the Lord is your\nstrength.\" What we need to-day is a joyful church. A joyful church\nwill make inroads upon the works of Satan, and we will see the Gospel\ngoing down into dark lanes and dark alleys, and into dark garrets and\ncellars, and we will see the drunkards reached and the gamblers and\nthe harlots come pressing into the kingdom of God. It is this carrying\na sad countenance, with so many wrinkles on our brows, that retards\nChristianity. Oh may there come great joy upon believers everywhere,\nthat we may shout for joy and rejoice in God day and night. A joyful\nchurch--let us pray for that, that the Lord may make us joyful, and\nwhen we have joy, then we will have success; and if we don't have the\nreward we think we should have here, let us constantly remember the\nrewarding time will come hereafter.\n\nSome one has said, if you had asked men in Abraham's day who their\ngreat man was, they would have said Enoch, and not Abraham. If you had\nasked in Moses' day who their great man was, they would not have said\nit was Moses; he was nothing, but it would have been Abraham. If you\nhad asked in the days of Elijah or Daniel, it wouldn't have been\nDaniel or Elijah; they were nothing; but it would have been Moses. And\nin the days of Jesus Christ--if you had asked in the days of Jesus\nChrist about John the Baptist or the apostles, you would hear they\nwere mean and contemptible in the sight of the world, and were looked\nupon with scorn and reproach; but see how mighty they have become. And\nso we will not be appreciated in our day, but we are to toil on and\nwork on, possessing this joy all the while. And if we lack it, let us\ncry: \"Restore unto me the joy of Thy salvation, and uphold me with Thy\nfree Spirit; then will I teach transgressors Thy ways, and sinners\nshall be converted unto Thee.\"\n\nAgain, the 15th chapter of John, and 11th verse, reads: \"These things\nhave I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your\njoy might be full.\" And in the 16th chapter and 22d verse: \"And ye now\ntherefore have sorrow; but I will see you again, and your heart shall\nrejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.\"\n\nI am so thankful that I have a joy that the world can not rob me of; I\nhave a treasure that the world can not take from me; I have something\nthat it is not in the power of man or devil to deprive me of, and that\nis the joy of the Lord. \"No man taketh it from you.\" In the second\ncentury, they brought a martyr before a king, and the king wanted him\nto recant and give up Christ and Christianity, but the man spurned the\nproposition. But the king said: \"If you don't do it, I will banish\nyou.\" The man smiled and answered: \"You can't banish me from Christ,\nfor He says He will never leave me nor forsake me.\" The king got\nangry, and said: \"Well, I will confiscate your property and take it\nall from you.\" And the man replied: \"My treasures are laid up on high;\nyou can not get them.\" The king became still more angry, and said: \"I\nwill kill you.\" \"Why,\" the man answered, \"I have been dead forty\nyears; I have been dead with Christ; dead to the world, and my life is\nhid with Christ in God, and you can not touch it.\" And so we can\nrejoice, because we are on resurrection ground, having risen with\nChrist. Let persecution and opposition come, we can rejoice\ncontinually, and remember that our reward is great, reserved for us\nunto the day when He who is our Life shall appear, and we shall appear\nwith Him in glory.\n\n      \"THE Spirit, oh, sinner,\n            In mercy doth move\n         Thy heart, so long hardened,\n            Of sin to reprove;\n         _Resist_ not the Spirit,\n            Nor longer delay;\n   God's gracious entreaties may end with to-day.\n\n      Oh, child of the kingdom,\n            From sin service cease;\n         Be filled with the Spirit,\n            With comfort and peace.\n         Oh, _grieve_ not the Spirit,\n            Thy Teacher is He,\n   That Jesus, thy Saviour, may glorified be.\n\n      Defiled is the temple,\n            Its beauty laid low,\n         On God's holy altar\n            The embers faint glow,\n         By love yet rekindled,\n            A flame may be fanned;\n   Oh, _quench_ not the Spirit, _the Lord is at hand!_\"\n\n--_P. P. Bliss._\n\n\n\nCHAPTER V.\n\n\nPOWER HINDERED.\n\n\nThe strokes of the \"Sword of the Spirit\" alight only on the\nconscience, and its edge is anointed with a bairn to heal every wound\nit may inflict.--_Dr. J. Harris_.\n\nEvery vain thought and idle word, and every wicked deed, is like so\nmany drops to quench the Spirit of God. Some quench Him with the lust\nof the flesh; some quench Him with cares of the mind; some quench Him\nwith long delays, that is, not plying the motion when it cometh, but\ncrossing the good thoughts with bad thoughts, and doing a thing when\nthe Spirit saith not. The Spirit is often grieved before He be\nquenched.--_H. Smith_.\n\nIn times when vile men held the high places of the land, a roll of\ndrums was employed to drown the martyr's voice, lest the testimony of\ntruth from the scaffold should reach the ears of the people,--an\nillustration of how men deal with their own consciences, and seek to\nput to silence the truth-telling voice of the Holy Spirit.--_Arnot_.\n\n\nPOWER HINDERED.\n\n\nISRAEL, we are told, limited the Holy One of Israel. They vexed and\ngrieved the Holy Spirit, and rebelled against His authority, but there\nis a special sin against Him, which we may profitably consider. The\nfirst description of it is in Matthew xii, 22d verse:\n\n\nTHE UNPARDONABLE SIN.\n\n\n\"Then was brought unto Him one possessed with a devil, blind and dumb;\nand He healed him, insomuch that the blind and dumb both spake and\nsaw. And all the people were amazed, and said, Is not this the son of\nDavid? But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, This fellow doth\nnot cast out devils, but by Beelzebub the prince of the devils. And\nJesus knew their thoughts, and said unto them, Every kingdom divided\nagainst itself is brought to desolation; and every city or house\ndivided against itself shall not stand. And if Satan cast out Satan,\nhe is divided against himself; how shall then his kingdom stand? And\nif I by Beelzebub cast out devils, by whom do your children cast them\nout? therefore they shall be your judges. But if I cast out devils by\nthe Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God is come unto you. Or else\nhow can one enter into a strong man's house, and spoil his goods,\nexcept he first bind the strong man? and then he will spoil his house.\nHe that is not with me is against me; and he that gathereth not with\nme, scattereth abroad. Wherefore I say unto you, all manner of sin and\nblasphemy shall be forgiven unto men; but the blasphemy against the\nHoly Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And whosoever speaketh a\nword against the Son of man, it shall be forgiven him; but whosoever\nspeaketh against the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither\nin this world, neither in the world to come.\" That is Matthew's\naccount. Now let us read Mark's account in chapter iii, 21, etc.:\n\n\"And when His friends heard of it, they went out to lay hold on Him,\nfor they said: He (that is Christ) is beside Himself. And the scribes\nwhich came down from Jerusalem said, He hath Beelzebub, and by the\nprince of the devils casteth He out devils.\"\n\nThe word Beelzebub means the Lord of Filth. They charged the Lord\nJesus with being possessed not only with an evil spirit, but with a\nfilthy spirit.\n\n\"And He called them unto Him, and said unto them in parables, How can\nSatan cast out Satan? And if a kingdom be divided against itself, that\nkingdom can not stand. And if a house be divided against itself, that\nhouse can not stand. And if Satan rise up against himself, and be\ndivided, he can not stand, but hath an end. No man can enter into a\nstrong man's house, and spoil his goods, except he will first bind the\nstrong man; and then he will spoil his house. Verily I say unto you,\nall sins shall be forgiven unto the sons of men, and blasphemies\nwherewith soever they shall blaspheme: But he that shall blaspheme\nagainst the Holy Ghost hath never forgiveness, but is in danger of\neternal damnation.\"\n\nNow, if it stopped there, we would be left perhaps in darkness, and we\nwould not exactly understand what the sin against the Holy Ghost is;\nbut the next verse of this same chapter of Mark just throws light upon\nthe whole matter, and we need not be in darkness another minute if we\nreally want light; for observe, the verse reads: \"Because they said,\nHe hath an unclean spirit.\"\n\nNow, I have met a good many atheists and skeptics and deists and\ninfidels, both in this country and abroad, but I never in my life met\na man or woman who ever said that Jesus Christ was possessed of an\nunclean devil. Did you? I don't think you ever met such a person. I\nhave heard men say bitter things against Christ, but I never heard any\nman stand up and say that he thought Jesus Christ was possessed with\nthe devil, and that he cast out devils by the power of the devil; and\nI don't believe any man or woman has any right to say they have\ncommitted the unpardonable sin, unless they have maliciously, and\nwilfully and deliberately said that they believe that Jesus Christ had\na devil in Him, and that He was under the power of the devil, and that\nHe cast out devils by the power of the devil. Because you perhaps have\nheard some one say that there is such a thing as grieving the Spirit\nof God, and resisting the Spirit of God until He has taken His flight\nand left you, then you have said \"That is the unpardonable sin.\"\n\n\nWHAT IT IS NOT.\n\n\nI admit there is such a thing as resisting the Spirit of God, and\nresisting till the Spirit of God has departed; but if the Spirit of\nGod has left any, they will not be troubled about their sins. The very\nfact that they are troubled, shows that the Spirit of God has not left\nthem. If a man is troubled about his sins, it is the work of the\nSpirit; for Satan never yet told him he was a sinner. Satan makes us\nbelieve that we are pretty good; that we are good enough without God,\nsafe without Christ, and that we don't need salvation. But when a man\nwakes up to the fact that he is lost, that he is a sinner, that is the\nwork of the Spirit; and if the Spirit of God had left him, he would\nnot be in that state; and just because men and women want to be\nChristians, is a sign that the Spirit of God is drawing them.\n\nIf resisting the Spirit of God is an unpardonable sin, then we have\nall committed it, and there is no hope for any of us; for I do not\nbelieve there is a minister, or a worker in Christ's vineyard, who has\nnot, some time in his life, resisted the Holy Ghost; who has not some\ntime in his life rejected the Spirit of God. To resist the Holy Ghost\nis one thing, and to commit that awful sin of blasphemy against the\nHoly Ghost, is another thing; and we want to take the Scripture and\njust compare them. Now, some people say, \"I have such blasphemous\nthoughts; there are some awful thoughts that come into my mind against\nGod,\" and they think that is the unpardonable sin. We are not to blame\nfor having\n\n\nBAD THOUGHTS\n\n\ncome into our minds. If we harbor them, then we are to blame. But if\nthe devil comes and darts an evil thought into my mind, and I say,\n\"Lord help me,\" sin is not reckoned to me. Who has not had evil\nthoughts come into his mind, flash into his heart, and been called to\nfight them!\n\nOne old divine says, \"You are not to blame for the birds that fly over\nyour head, but if you allow them to come down and make a nest in your\nhair, then you are to blame. You are to blame if you don't fight them\noff.\" And so with these evil thoughts that come flashing into our\nminds; we have to fight them, we are not to harbor them; we are not to\nentertain them. If I have evil thoughts come into my mind, and evil\ndesires, it is no sign that I have committed the unpardonable sin. If\nI love these thoughts and harbor them, and think evil of God, and\nthink Jesus Christ a blasphemer, I am responsible for such gross\niniquity; but if I charge Him with being the prince of devils, then I\nam committing the unpardonable sin.\n\n\nTHE FAITHFUL FRIEND.\n\n\nLet us now consider the sin of \"Grieving the Spirit.\" _Resisting_ the\nHoly Ghost is one thing, _grieving_ Him is another. Stephen charged\nthe unbelieving Jews in the 7th chapter of Acts, \"Ye do always resist\nthe Holy Ghost as your fathers did, so do ye.\" The world has always\nbeen resisting the Spirit of God in all ages. That is the history of\nthe world. The world is to-day resisting the Holy Spirit.\n\n\"Faithful are the wounds of a friend.\" The Divine Spirit as a friend\nreveals to this poor world its faults, and the world only hates Him\nfor it. He shows them the plague of their hearts. He convinces or\nconvicts them of sin, therefore they fight the Spirit of God. I\nbelieve there is many a man resisting the Holy Ghost; I believe there\nis many a man to-day fighting against the Spirit of God.\n\nIn the 4th chapter of Ephesians, in the 30th, 31st, and 32d verses, we\nread:\n\n\"And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye are sealed unto the\nday of redemption. Let all bitterness, and wrath, and anger, and\nclamor, and evil speaking be put away from you, with all malice. And\nbe ye kind, one to another, tender-hearted, forgiving one another,\neven as God for Christ's sake hath forgiven you.\"\n\nNow, mark you, that was written to the Church at Ephesus. \"Grieve not\nthe Holy Spirit, whereby ye are sealed unto the day of redemption.\" I\nbelieve today the Church all over Christendom is guilty of grieving\nthe Holy Spirit. There are a good many believers in different churches\nwondering why the work of God is not revived.\n\n\nTHE CHURCH GRIEVES THE SPIRIT.\n\n\nI think that if we search, we will find something in the Church\ngrieving the Spirit of God; it may be a mere schism in the church; it\nmay be some unsound doctrine; it may be some division in the Church.\nThere is one thing I have noticed as I have traveled in different\ncountries; I never yet have known the Spirit of God to work where the\nLord's people were divided. There is one thing that we must have if we\nare to have the Holy Spirit of God to work in our midst, and that is\nunity. If a church is divided, the members should immediately seek\nunity. Let the believers come together and get the difficulty out of\nthe way. If the minister of a church can not unite the people, if\nthose that were dissatisfied will not fall in, it would be better for\nthat minister to retire. I think there are a good many ministers in\nthis country who are losing their time; they have lost, some of them,\nmonths and years; they have not seen any fruit, and they will not see\nany fruit, because they have a divided church. Such a church can not\ngrow in divine things. The Spirit of God don't work where there is\ndivision, and what we want to-day is the spirit of unity amongst God's\nchildren, so that the Lord may work.\n\n\nWORLDLY AMUSEMENTS.\n\n\nThen, another thing, I think, that grieves the Spirit, is the\nmiserable policy of introducing questionable entertainments. There are\nthe lotteries, for instance, that we have in many churches. If a man\nwants to gamble, he doesn't have to go to some gambling den; he can stay\nin the church. And there are fairs--bazaars, as they call them--where\nthey have rafflings and grab-bags. And if he wants to see a drama, he\ndon't need to go to the theater, for many of our churches are turned\ninto theaters; he may stay right in the church and witness the acting.\nI believe all these things grieve the Spirit of God. I believe when we\nbring the Church down to the level of the world to reach the world, we\nare losing all the while and grieving the Spirit of God.\n\nBut some say, if we take that standard and lift it up high, it will\ndrive away a great many members from our churches. I believe it, and I\nthink the quicker they are gone the better. The world has come into\nthe Church like a flood, and how often you find an ungodly choir\nemployed to do the singing for the whole congregation; the idea that\nwe need an ungodly man to sing praises to God! It was not long ago I\nheard of a church where they had an unconverted choir, and the\nminister saw something about the choir that he didn't like, and he\nspoke to the chorister, but the chorister replied: \"You attend to your\nend of the church, and I will attend to mine.\" You can not expect the\nSpirit of God to work in a church in such a state as that.\n\n\nUNCONVERTED CHOIRS.\n\n\nPaul tells us not to speak in an unknown tongue, and if we have choirs\nwho are singing in an unknown tongue, why is not that just as great an\nabomination? I have been in churches where they have had a choir, who\nwould rise and sing, and sing, and it seemed as if they sung five or\nten minutes, and I could not understand one solitary word they sung,\nand all the while the people were looking around carelessly. There\nare, perhaps, a select few, very fond of fine music, and they want to\nbring the opera right into the church, and so they have opera music in\nthe church, and the people, who are drowsy and sleepy, don't take part\nin the singing. They hire ungodly men, unconverted men, and these men\nwill sometimes get the Sunday paper, and get back in the organ loft,\nand the moment the minister begins his sermon, they will take out\ntheir papers and read them all the while that the minister is\npreaching. The organist, provided he does not go out for a walk--if he\nhappens to keep awake, will read his paper, or, perhaps, a novel,\nwhile the minister is preaching; and the minister wonders why God\ndon't revive His work; he wonders why he is losing his hold on the\ncongregation; he wonders why people don't come crowding into the\nchurch; why people are running after the world instead of coming into\nthe church. The trouble is that we have let down the standard; we have\ngrieved the Spirit of God. One movement of God's power is worth more\nthan all our artificial power, and what the Church of God wants to-day\nis to get down in the dust of humiliation and confession of sin, and\ngo out and be separated from the world; and then see if we do not have\npower with God and with man.\n\n\nWHAT IS SUCCESS?\n\n\nThe Gospel has not lost its power; it is just as powerful to-day as it\never has been. We don't want any new doctrine. It is still the old\nGospel with the old power, the Holy Ghost power; and if the churches\nwill but confess their sins and put them away, and lift the standard\ninstead of pulling it down, and pray to God to lift us all up into a\nhigher and holier life, then the fear of the Lord will come upon the\npeople around us.\n\nIt was when Jacob put away strange gods and set his face toward Bethel\nthat the fear of God fell upon the nations around. And when the\nchurches turn towards God, and we cease grieving the Spirit, so that\nHe may work through us, we will then have conversions all the while.\nBelievers will be added to the Church daily. It is sad when you look\nover Christendom and see how desolate it is, and see how little\nspiritual life, spiritual power, there is in the Church of God to-day,\nmany of the church members not even wanting this Holy Ghost power.\nThey don't desire it; they want intellectual power; they want to get\nsome man who will just draw; and a choir that will draw; not caring\nwhether any one is saved. With them that is not the question. Only\nfill the pews, have good society, fashionable people, and dancing;\nsuch persons are found one night at the theater and the next night at\nthe opera. They don't like the prayer-meetings; they abominate them;\nif the minister will only lecture and entertain, that would suit them.\nI said to a man some time ago, \"How are you getting on at your\nchurch?\" \"Oh, splendid.\" \"Many conversions?\" \"Well--well, on that side\nwe are not getting on so well. But,\" he said, \"we rented all our pews\nand are able to pay all our running expenses; we are getting on\nsplendidly.\" That is what the godless call \"getting on splendidly;\"\nbecause they rent the pews, pay the minister, and pay all the running\nexpenses. Conversions! that is a strange thing. There was a man being\nshown through one of the cathedrals of Europe; he had come in from the\ncountry, and one of the men belonging to the cathedral was showing him\naround, when he inquired, \"Do you have many conversions here?\" \"Many\nwhat?\" \"Many conversions here?\" \"Ah, man, this is not a Wesleyan\nchapel.\" The idea of there being conversions there! And you can go\ninto a good many churches in this country and ask if they have many\nconversions there, and they would not know what it meant, they are so\nfar away from the Lord; they are not looking for conversions, and\ndon't expect them.\n\n\nSHIPWRECKS.\n\n\nAlas! how many young converts have made shipwreck against such\nchurches. Instead of being a harbor of delight to them, they have\nproved false lights, alluring them to destruction. Isn't it time for\nus to get down on our faces before God and cry mightily to Him to\nforgive us our sins. The quicker we own it the better. You may be\ninvited to a party, and it may be made up of church members, and what\nwill be the conversation? Oh, I got so sick of such parties that I\nleft years ago; I would not think of spending a night that way; it is\na waste of time; there is hardly a chance to say a word for the\nMaster. If you talk of a personal Christ, your company becomes\noffensive; they don't like it; they want you to talk about the world,\nabout a popular minister, a popular church, a good organ, a good\nchoir, and they say, \"Oh, we have a grand organ, and a superb choir,\"\nand all that, and it suits them; but that don't warm the Christian\nheart. When you speak of a risen Christ and a personal Saviour, they\ndon't like it; the fact is, the world has come into the church and\ntaken possession of it, and what we want to do is to wake up and ask\nGod to forgive us for \"Grieving the Spirit.\"\n\nDear reader, search your heart and inquire, Have I done anything to\ngrieve the Spirit of God? If you have, may God show it to you to-day;\nif you have done any thing to grieve the Spirit of God, you want to\nknow it to-day, and get down on your face before God and ask Him to\nforgive you and help you to put it away. I have lived long enough to\nknow that if I can not have the power of the Spirit of God on me to\nhelp me to work for Him, I would rather die, than live just for the\nsake of living. How many are there in the church to-day, who have been\nmembers for fifteen or twenty years, but have never done a solitary\nthing for Jesus Christ? They can not lay their hands upon one solitary\nsoul who has been blessed through their influence; they can not point\nto-day to one single person who has ever been lifted up by them.\n\n\nQUENCH NOT.\n\n\nIn 1st Thessalonians, 5th chapter, we are told not to Quench the Spirit.\nNow, I am confident the cares of the world are coming in and quenching\nthe Spirit with a great many. They say: \"I don't care for the world;\"\nperhaps not the _pleasures_ of the world so much after all as the _cares_\nof this life; but they have just let the cares come in and quench the\nSpirit of God. Anything that comes between me and God--between my soul\nand God--quenches the Spirit. It may be my family. You may say: \"Is\nthere any danger of my loving my family too much?\" Not if we love God\nmore; but God must have the first place. If I love my family more than\nGod, then I am quenching the Spirit of God within me; if I love wealth,\nif I love fame, if I love honor, if I love position, if I love pleasure,\nif I love self, more than I love God who created and saved me, then I am\ncommitting a sin; I am not only grieving the Spirit of God, but quenching\nHim, and robbing my soul of His power.\n\n\nEMBLEMS OF THE SPIRIT.\n\n\nBut I would further call attention to the emblems of the Holy Spirit.\nAn emblem is something that represents an object; the same as a\nbalance is an emblem of justice, and a crown an emblem of royalty, and\na scepter is an emblem of power; so we find in the 17th chapter of\nExodus and 6th verse, that water is an emblem of the Holy Spirit. You\nfind in the Smitten Rock, in the wilderness, the work of the Trinity\nillustrated.\n\n\"Behold, I will stand before thee there upon the rock in Horeb; and\nthou shall smite the rock, and there shall come water out of it, that\nthe people may drink. And Moses did so, in the sight of the elders of\nIsrael.\"\n\nPaul declares, in Corinthians, that the rock was Christ; it\nrepresented Christ. God says: \"I will stand upon the rock,\" and as\nMoses smote the rock the water came out, which was an emblem of the\nHoly Spirit; and it flowed out along through the camp; and they drank\nof the water. Now water is cleansing; it is fertilizing; it is\nrefreshing; it is abundant, and it is freely given; and so the Spirit\nof God is the same: cleansing, fertilizing, refreshing, reviving, and\nHe was freely given when the smitten Christ was glorified. Then, too,\nfire is an emblem of the Spirit; it is purifying, illuminating,\nsearching. We talk about searching our hearts. We can not do it. What\nwe want is to have God search them. O that God may search us and bring\nout the hidden things, the secret things that cluster there and bring\nthem to light. The wind is another emblem. It is independent, powerful,\nsensible in its effects, and reviving; how the Spirit of God revives\nwhen He comes to all the drooping members of the Church. Then the rain\nand the dew--fertilizing, refreshing, abundant; and the dove, gentle--what\nmore gentle than the dove; and the lamb?--gentle, meek, innocent, a\nsacrifice. We read of the wrath of God; we read of the wrath of the Lamb,\nbut nowhere do we read of the wrath of the Holy Spirit--gentle, innocent,\nmeek, loving; and that Spirit wants to take possession of our hearts.\nAnd He comes as a voice, another emblem--speaking, guiding, warning,\nteaching; and the seal--impressing, securing, and making us as His own.\nMay we know Him in all His wealth of blessing. This is my prayer for\nmyself--for you. 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DIXON.\n\nAbsolute Surrender.\n   By ANDREW MURRAY.\n\nMeet for the Master's Use.\n   By F. B. MEYER.\n\nAddresses.\n   By HENRY DRUMMOND.\n\nThe Power of Pentecost.\n   By THOS. WAUGH.\n\nThe Overcoming Life.\n   By D. L. MOODY.\n\nBack to Bethel.\n   By F. B. MEYER.\n\nThe Christian's Secret of a Happy Life.\n   By H. W. SMITH.\n\n12mo, decorated cloth, each, net, 30 cents.\n\n\nFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\nCHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO\n\nPUBLISHERS OF EVANGELICAL LITERATURE\n\n\n\nTHE QUIET\n\nHOUR SERIES\n\n\nA Life for a Life.\n   By HENRY DRUMMOND.\n\nPeace, Perfect Peace.\n   By F. B. MEYER.\n\nMoney.\n   By ANDREW MURRAY.\n\nJesus Himself.\n   By ANDREW MURRAY.\n\nLove Made Perfect.\n   By ANDREW MURRAY.\n\nThe Ivory Palaces of the King.\n   By J. WILBUR CHAPMAN.\n\nChrist Reflected in Creation.\n   By D.C. MCMILLAN.\n\nHow the Inner Light Failed.\n   NEWELL DWIGHT HILLIS.\n\nThe Man Who Wanted to Help.\n   By J. S. K. MCCCLURE.\n\nYoung Men in History.\n   By F. W. GUNSAULUS.\n\nSt. Paul. An Autobiography.\n\nFaith Building.\n   By WM. P. MERRILL.\n\nThe Dearest Psalm and the Model Prayer.\n   By HENRY OSTROM.\n\nThe Life Beyond.\n   By MRS. ALFRED GATTY.\n\nMountain Tops with Jesus.\n   THEODORE L. CUYLER.\n\nThe Hidden Years of Nazareth.\n   G. CAMPBELL MORGAN.\n\nWhere He Is.\n   CLELAND B. MCAFEE.\n\nEnvironment.\n   By J. G. K. MCCLURE.\n\nNutshell Musings.\n   By AMOS R. WELLS.\n\nI Go a Fishing.\n   By WM. E. BARTON.\n\nUpon the Sunroad.\n   By BISHOP HURST.\n\n_18mo, cloth, each, 25 cents_.\n\n\nFLEMING H. REVELL COMPANY\n\nCHICAGO NEW YORK TORONTO\n\nPUBLISHERS OF EVANGELICAL LITERATURE","title":"Secret Power; or, The Secret of Success in Christian Life and Work","tradition":"scripture-revelation","translated_text":null,"word_count":31766}