Chapter I. The Personality of the Holy Spirit.

Before one can correctly understand the work
of the Holy Spirit, he must first of all know
the Spirit Himself. A frequent source of error
and fanaticism about the work of the Holy Spirit is the
attempt to study and understand His work without first
of all coming to know Him as a Person.

It is of the highest importance from the standpoint
of worship that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is a
Divine Person, worthy to receive our adoration, our
faith, our love, and our entire surrender to Himself, or
whether it is simply an influence emanating from God
or a power or an illumination that God imparts to us.
If the Holy Spirit is a person, and a Divine Person, and
we do not know Him as such, then we are robbing
a Divine Being of the worship and the faith and
the love and the surrender to Himself which are His
due.

It is also of the highest importance from the practical
standpoint that we decide whether the Holy Spirit is
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merely some mysterious and wonderful power that we
in our weakness and ignorance are somehow to get hold
of and use, or whether the Holy Spirit is a real Person,
infinitely holy, infinitely wise, infinitely mighty and infinitely
tender who is to get hold of and use us. The
former conception is utterly heathenish, not essentially
different from the thought of the African fetich worshipper
who has his god whom he uses. The latter
conception is sublime and Christian. If we think of
the Holy Spirit as so many do as merely a power or influence,
our constant thought will be, “How can I get
more of the Holy Spirit,” but if we think of Him in the
Biblical way as a Divine Person, our thought will rather
be, “How can the Holy Spirit have more of me?”
The conception of the Holy Spirit as a Divine influence
or power that we are somehow to get hold of and
use, leads to self-exaltation and self-sufficiency. One
who so thinks of the Holy Spirit and who at the same
time imagines that he has received the Holy Spirit will
almost inevitably be full of spiritual pride and strut
about as if he belonged to some superior order of Christians.
One frequently hears such persons say, “I am
a Holy Ghost man,” or “I am a Holy Ghost woman.”
But if we once grasp the thought that the Holy Spirit
is a Divine Person of infinite majesty, glory and holiness
and power, who in marvellous condescension has
come into our hearts to make His abode there and take
possession of our lives and make use of them, it will
put us in the dust and keep us in the dust. I can
think of no thought more humbling or more overwhelming
than the thought that a person of Divine
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majesty and glory dwells in my heart and is ready to
use even me.

It is of the highest importance from the standpoint
of experience that we know the Holy Spirit as a person.
Thousands and tens of thousands of men and women
can testify to the blessing that has come into their own
lives as they have come to know the Holy Spirit, not
merely as a gracious influence (emanating, it is true,
from God) but as a real Person, just as real as Jesus
Christ Himself, an ever-present, loving Friend and
mighty Helper, who is not only always by their side
but dwells in their heart every day and every hour
and who is ready to undertake for them in every emergency
of life. Thousands of ministers, Christian
workers and Christians in the humblest spheres of life
have spoken to me, or written to me, of the complete
transformation of their Christian experience that came
to them when they grasped the thought (not merely in
a theological, but in an experimental way) that the
Holy Spirit was a Person and consequently came to
know Him.

There are at least four distinct lines of proof in the
Bible that the Holy Spirit is a person.

I. All the distinctive characteristics of personality are
ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

What are the distinctive characteristics, or marks, of
personality? Knowledge, feeling or emotion, and will.
Any entity that thinks and feels and wills is a person.
When we say that the Holy Spirit is a person, there
are those who understand us to mean that the Holy
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Spirit has hands and feet and eyes and ears and mouth,
and so on, but these are not the characteristics of personality
but of corporeity. All of these characteristics
or marks of personality are repeatedly ascribed to the
Holy Spirit in the Old and New Testaments. We read
in 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11, “But God hath revealed them
unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all
things, yea, the deep things of God. For what man
knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of man
which is in him? even so the things of God knoweth
no man, but the Spirit of God.” Here knowledge is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. We are clearly taught
that the Holy Spirit is not merely an influence that illuminates
our minds to comprehend the truth but a Being
who Himself knows the truth.

In 1 Cor. xii. 11, we read, “But all these worketh
that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to every man
severally as He will.” Here will is ascribed to the
Spirit and we are taught that the Holy Spirit is not a
power that we get hold of and use according to our
will but a Person of sovereign majesty, who uses us
according to His will. This distinction is of fundamental
importance in our getting into right relations
with the Holy Spirit. It is at this very point that many
honest seekers after power and efficiency in service go
astray. They are reaching out after and struggling to
get possession of some mysterious and mighty power
that they can make use of in their work according to
their own will. They will never get possession of the
power they seek until they come to recognize that there
is not some Divine power for them to get hold of and
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use in their blindness and ignorance but that there is a
Person, infinitely wise, as well as infinitely mighty, who
is willing to take possession of them and use them according
to His own perfect will. When we stop to
think of it, we must rejoice that there is no Divine
power that beings so ignorant as we are, so liable to
err, to get hold of and use. How appalling might be
the results if there were. But what a holy joy must
come into our hearts when we grasp the thought that
there is a Divine Person, One who never errs, who is
willing to take possession of us and impart to us such
gifts as He sees best and to use us according to His
wise and loving will.

We read in Rom. viii. 27, “And He that searcheth
the hearts knoweth what is the mind of the Spirit,
because He maketh intercession for the saints according
to the will of God.” In this passage mind is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Greek word translated
“mind” is a comprehensive word, including the
ideas of thought, feeling and purpose. It is the same
that is used in Rom. viii. 7 where we read that “the
carnal mind is enmity against God: for it is not
subject to the law of God, neither indeed can be.”
So then in this passage we have all the distinctive marks
of personality ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

We find the personality of the Holy Spirit brought
out in a most touching and suggestive way in Rom. xv.
30, “Now I beseech you, brethren, for the Lord Jesus
Christ’s sake, and for the love of the Spirit, that ye
strive together with me in your prayers to God for
me.” Here we have “love” ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
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The reader would do well to stop and ponder those five
words, “the love of the Spirit.” We dwell often upon
the love of God the Father. It is the subject of our
daily and constant thought. We dwell often upon the
love of Jesus Christ the Son. Who would think of
calling himself a Christian who passed a day without
meditating on the love of his Saviour, but how often
have we meditated upon “the love of the Spirit”? Each
day of our lives, if we are living as Christians ought,
we kneel down in the presence of God the Father and
look up into His face and say, “I thank Thee, Father,
for Thy great love that led Thee to give Thine only
begotten Son to die upon the cross of Calvary for me.”
Each day of our lives we also look up into the face of
our Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ, and say, “Oh,
Thou glorious Lord and Saviour, Jesus Thou Son of
God, I thank Thee for Thy great love that led Thee
not to count it a thing to be grasped to be on equality
with God but to empty Thyself and forsaking all the
glory of heaven, come down to earth with all its shame
and to take my sins upon Thyself and die in my place
upon the cross of Calvary.” But how often do we
kneel and say to the Holy Spirit, “Oh, Thou eternal
and infinite Spirit of God, I thank Thee for Thy great
love that led Thee to come into this world of sin and
darkness and to seek me out and to follow me so patiently
until Thou didst bring me to see my utter ruin
and need of a Saviour and to reveal to me my Lord
and Saviour, Jesus Christ, as just the Saviour whom I
need.” Yet we owe our salvation just as truly to
the love of the Spirit as we do to the love of the
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Father and the love of the Son. If it had not been
for the love of God the Father looking down upon me
in my utter ruin and providing a perfect atonement for
me in the death of His own Son on the cross of Calvary,
I would have been in hell to-day. If it had not
been for the love of Jesus Christ, the eternal Word of
God, looking upon me in my utter ruin and in obedience
to the Father, putting aside all the glory of heaven
for all the shame of earth and taking my place, the
place of the curse, upon the cross of Calvary and
pouring out His life utterly for me, I would have been
in hell to-day. But if it had not been for the love of
the Holy Spirit, sent by the Father in answer to the
prayer of the Son (John xiv. 16) leading Him to seek
me out in my utter blindness and ruin and to follow
me day after day, week after week, and year after year,
when I persistently turned a deaf ear to His pleadings,
following me through paths of sin where it must have
been agony for that holy One to go, until at last
I listened and He opened my eyes to see my utter ruin
and then revealed Jesus to me as just the Saviour that
would meet my every need and then enabled me to
receive this Jesus as my own Saviour; if it had not
been for this patient, long-suffering, never-tiring,
infinitely-tender love of the Holy Spirit, I would have
been in hell to-day. Oh, the Holy Spirit is not merely
an influence or a power or an illumination but is a
Person just as real as God the Father or Jesus Christ
His Son.

The personality of the Holy Spirit comes out in the
Old Testament as truly as in the New, for we read in
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Neh. ix. 20, “Thou gavest also Thy good Spirit to
instruct them, and withheldest not Thy manna from
their mouth, and gavest them water for their thirst.”
Here both intelligence and goodness are ascribed to the
Holy Spirit. There are some who tell us that while it
is true the personality of the Holy Spirit is found in
the New Testament, it is not found in the Old. But
it is certainly found in this passage. As a matter
of course, the doctrine of the personality of the
Holy Spirit is not as fully developed in the Old
Testament as in the New. But the doctrine is
there.

There is perhaps no passage in the entire Bible in
which the personality of the Holy Spirit comes out
more tenderly and touchingly than in Eph. iv. 30,
“And grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, whereby ye
are sealed unto the day of redemption.” Here grief is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is not a
blind, impersonal influence or power that comes into
our lives to illuminate, sanctify and empower them.
No, He is immeasurably more than that, He is a holy
Person who comes to dwell in our hearts, One who
sees clearly every act we perform, every word we
speak, every thought we entertain, even the most fleeting
fancy that is allowed to pass through our minds;
and if there is anything in act, or word or deed that is
impure, unholy, unkind, selfish, mean, petty or untrue,
this infinitely holy One is deeply grieved by it. I
know of no thought that will help one more than this
to lead a holy life and to walk softly in the presence of
the holy One. How often a young man is kept back
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from yielding to the temptations that surround young
manhood by the thought that if he should yield to the
temptation that now assails him, his holy mother might
hear of it and would be grieved by it beyond expression.
How often some young man has had his hand
upon the door of some place of sin that he is about to
enter and the thought has come to him, “If I should
enter there, my mother might hear of it and it would
nearly kill her,” and he has turned his back upon that
door and gone away to lead a pure life, that he might
not grieve his mother. But there is One who is
holier than any mother, One who is more sensitive
against sin than the purest woman who ever walked
this earth, and who loves us as even no mother ever
loved, and this One dwells in our hearts, if we are
really Christians, and He sees every act we do by day or
under cover of the night; He hears every word we
utter in public or in private; He sees every thought we
entertain, He beholds every fancy and imagination that
is permitted even a momentary lodgment in our mind,
and if there is anything unholy, impure, selfish, mean,
petty, unkind, harsh, unjust, or in anywise evil in act
or word or thought or fancy, He is grieved by it. If
we will allow those words, “Grieve not the Holy
Spirit of God,” to sink into our hearts and become the
motto of our lives, they will keep us from many a sin.
How often some thought or fancy has knocked for an
entrance into my own mind and was about to find entertainment
when the thought has come, “The Holy
Spirit sees that thought and will be grieved by it” and
that thought has gone.

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II. Many acts that only a Person can perform are
ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

If we deny the personality of the Holy Spirit, many
passages of Scripture become meaningless and absurd.
For example, we read in 1 Cor. ii. 10, “But God hath
revealed them unto us by His Spirit: for the Spirit
searcheth all things, yea, the deep things of God.”
This passage sets before us the Holy Spirit, not merely
as an illumination whereby we are enabled to grasp the
deep things of God, but a Person who Himself searches
the deep things of God and then reveals to us the
precious discoveries which He has made.

We read in Rev. ii. 7, “He that hath an ear, let
him hear what the Spirit saith unto the churches; To
him that overcometh will I give to eat of the tree of
life, which is in the midst of the paradise of God.”
Here the Holy Spirit is set before us, not merely as an
impersonal enlightenment that comes to our mind but
a Person who speaks and out of the depths of His own
wisdom, whispers into the ear of His listening servant
the precious truth of God.

In Gal. iv. 6 we read, “And because ye are sons,
God hath sent forth the Spirit of His Son into your
hearts, crying, Abba, Father.” Here the Holy Spirit
is represented as crying out in the heart of the individual
believer. Not merely a Divine influence producing
in our own hearts the assurance of our sonship but
one who cries out in our hearts, who bears witness
together with our spirit that we are sons of God.
(See also Rom. viii. 16.)

The Holy Spirit is also represented in the Scripture
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as one who prays. We read in Rom. viii. 26, R. V.,
“And in like manner the Spirit also helpeth our infirmity;
for we know not how to pray as we ought; but
the Spirit Himself maketh intercession for us with
groanings which cannot be uttered.” It is plain from
this passage that the Holy Spirit is not merely an influence
that moves us to pray, not merely an illumination
that teaches us how to pray, but a Person who Himself
prays in and through us. There is wondrous comfort
in the thought that every true believer has two Divine
Persons praying for him, Jesus Christ, the Son who
was once upon this earth, who knows all about our
temptations, who can be touched with the feeling of
our infirmities and who is now ascended to the right
hand of the Father and in that place of authority and
power ever lives to make intercession for us (Heb.
vii. 25; 1 John ii. 1); and another Person, just as
Divine as He, who walks by our side each day, yes,
who dwells in the innermost depths of our being and
knows our needs, even as we do not know them ourselves,
and from these depths makes intercession to the
Father for us. The position of the believer is indeed
one of perfect security with these two Divine Persons
praying for him.

We read again in John xv. 26, “But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth
from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” Here the
Holy Spirit is set before us as a Person who gives His
testimony to Jesus Christ, not merely as an illumination
that enables the believer to testify of Christ, but
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a Person who Himself testifies; and a clear distinction
is drawn in this and the following verse between the
testimony of the Holy Spirit and the testimony of the
believer to whom He has borne His witness, for we
read in the next verse, “And ye also shall bear witness
because ye have been with Me from the beginning.”
So there are two witnesses, the Holy Spirit bearing
witness to the believer and the believer bearing witness
to the world.

The Holy Spirit is also spoken of as a teacher. We
read in John xiv. 26, “But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My
name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all things
to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto
you.” And in a similar way, we read in John xvi.
12-14, “I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He will guide you into all
truth: for He shall not speak of Himself; but whatsoever
He shall hear, that shall He speak: and He will
show you things to come. He shall glorify Me: for
He shall receive of Mine, and shall show it unto you.”
And in the Old Testament, Neh. ix. 20, “Thou
gavest also Thy good Spirit to instruct them.” In all
these passages it is perfectly clear that the Holy Spirit
is not a mere illumination that enables us to apprehend
the truth, but a Person who comes to us to teach us day
by day the truth of God. It is the privilege of the
humblest believer in Jesus Christ not merely to have his
mind illumined to comprehend the truth of God, but to
have a Divine Teacher to daily teach him the truth he
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needs to know (cf. 1 John ii. 20, 27). The Holy Spirit is
also represented as the Leader and Guide of the
children of God. We read in Rom. viii. 14, “For
as many as are led by the Spirit of God they are the
sons of God.” He is not merely an influence that
enables us to see the way that God would have us go, nor
merely a power that gives us strength to go that way,
but a Person who takes us by the hand and gently
leads us on in the paths in which God would have us
walk.

The Holy Spirit is also represented as a Person who
has authority to command men in their service of
Jesus Christ. We read of the Apostle Paul and his
companions in Acts xvi. 6, 7, “Now when they had
gone throughout Phrygia and the region of Galatia,
and were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the
Word in Asia, after they were come to Mysia, they assayed
to go into Bithynia: but the Spirit suffered them
not.” Here it is a Person who takes the direction of
the conduct of Paul and his companions and a Person
whose authority they recognized and to whom they instantly
submit.

Further still than this the Holy Spirit is represented
as the One who is the supreme authority in the church,
who calls men to work and appoints them to office.
We read in Acts xiii. 2, “As they ministered to the
Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me
Barnabas and Saul for the work where unto I have
called them.” And in Acts xx. 28, “Take heed
therefore unto yourselves, and to all the flock, over the
which the Holy Ghost hath made you overseers, to
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feed the Church of God, which He hath purchased
with His own blood.” There can be no doubt to a
candid seeker after truth that it is a Person, and a person
of Divine majesty and sovereignty, who is here set
before us.

From all the passages here quoted, it is evident that
many acts that only a person can perform are ascribed
to the Holy Spirit.

III. An office is predicated of the Holy Spirit that can
only be predicated of a person.

Our Saviour says in John xiv. 16, 17, “And I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever;
Even the Spirit of truth: whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him:
but ye know Him; for He dwelleth with you, and
shall be in you.” Our Lord had announced to the
disciples that He was about to leave them. An awful
sense of desolation took possession of them. Sorrow
filled their hearts (John xvi. 6) at the contemplation
of their loneliness and absolute helplessness when Jesus
should thus leave them alone. To comfort them the
Lord tells them that they shall not be left alone, that
in leaving them He was going to the Father and that
He would pray the Father and He would give them
another Comforter to take the place of Himself during
His absence. Is it possible that Jesus Christ could
have used such language if the other Comforter who
was coming to take His place was only an impersonal
influence or power? Still more, is it possible that
[pg 021]
Jesus could have said as He did in John xvi. 7,
“Nevertheless I tell you the truth: It is expedient for
you that I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter
will not come unto you; but if I depart, I will
send Him unto you,” if this Comforter whom He was
to send was simply an impersonal influence or power?
No, one Divine Person was going, another Person just
as Divine was coming to take His place, and it was
expedient for the disciples that the One go to represent
them before the Father, for another just as Divine
and sufficient was coming to take His place. This
promise of our Lord and Saviour of the coming of the
other Comforter and of His abiding with us is the
greatest and best of all for the present dispensation.
This is the promise of the Father (Acts i. 4), the
promise of promises. We shall take it up again when
we come to study the names of the Holy Spirit.

IV. A treatment is predicated to the Holy Spirit that
could only be predicated of a Person.

We read in Isa. lxiii. 10, R. V., “But they rebelled
and grieved His Holy Spirit: therefore He was turned
to be their enemy, and He fought against them.” Here
we are told that the Holy Spirit is rebelled against and
grieved (cf. Eph. iv. 30). Only a person can be rebelled
against and only a person of authority. Only
a person can be grieved. You cannot grieve a mere
influence or power. In Heb. x. 29, we read, “Of
how much sorer punishment, suppose ye, shall he be
thought worthy, who hath trodden underfoot the Son
of God, and hath counted the blood of the covenant,
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wherewith he was sanctified, an unholy thing, and
hath done despite unto the Spirit of grace?” Here we
are told that the Holy Spirit is “done despite unto”
(“treated with contumely”—Thayer’s Greek-English
Lexicon of the New Testament). There is but one
kind of entity in the universe that can be treated with
contumely (or insulted) and that is a person. It is
absurd to think of treating an influence or a power or
any kind of being except a person with contumely.
We read again in Acts v. 3, “But Peter said, Ananias,
why hath Satan filled thine heart to lie to the Holy Ghost,
and to keep back part of the price of the land?” Here
we have the Holy Spirit represented as one who can be
lied to. One cannot lie to anything but a person.

In Matt. xii. 31, 32, we read, “Wherefore I say
unto you, All manner of sin and blasphemy shall be
forgiven unto men: but the blasphemy against the
Holy Ghost shall not be forgiven unto men. And
whosoever speaketh a word against the Son of man, it
shall be forgiven him: but whosoever speaketh against
the Holy Ghost, it shall not be forgiven him, neither
in this world, neither in the world to come.” Here we
are told that the Holy Spirit is blasphemed against. It
is impossible to blaspheme anything but a person. If
the Holy Spirit is not a person, it certainly cannot
be a more serious and decisive sin to blaspheme Him
than it is to blaspheme the Son of man, our Lord and
Saviour, Jesus Christ Himself.

Here then we have four distinctive and decisive
lines of proof that the Holy Spirit is a Person. Theoretically
most of us believe this but do we, in our real
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thought of Him and in our practical attitude towards
Him treat Him as if He were indeed a Person? At
the close of an address on the Personality of the Holy
Spirit at a Bible conference some years ago, one who
had been a church-member many years, a member of
one of the most orthodox of our modern denominations,
said to me, “I never thought of It before as a
Person.” Doubtless this Christian woman had often
sung:

Doubtless she had often sung:

But it is one thing to sing words; it is quite another
thing to realize the meaning of what we sing. If this
Christian woman had been questioned in regard to her
doctrine, she would doubtless have said that she believed
that there were three Persons in the Godhead, Father,
Son and Holy Spirit, but a theological confession is one
thing, a practical realization of the truth we confess is
quite another. So the question is altogether necessary,
no matter how orthodox you may be in your creedal
statements, Do you regard the Holy Spirit as indeed as
real a Person as Jesus Christ, as loving and wise and
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strong, as worthy of your confidence and love and
surrender as Jesus Christ Himself? The Holy Spirit
came into this world to be to the disciples of our Lord
after His departure, and to us, what Jesus Christ had
been to them during the days of His personal companionship
with them (John xiv. 16, 17). Is He that
to you? Do you know Him? Every week in your life
you hear the apostolic benediction, “The grace of the
Lord Jesus Christ and the love of God and the communion
of the Holy Ghost be with you all” (2 Cor.
xiii. 14), but while you hear it, do you take in the significance
of it? Do you know the communion of the
Holy Ghost? The fellowship of the Holy Ghost?
The partnership of the Holy Ghost? The comradeship
of the Holy Ghost? The intimate personal
friendship of the Holy Ghost? Herein lies the whole
secret of a real Christian life, a life of liberty and joy
and power and fullness. To have as one’s ever-present
Friend, and to be conscious that one has as his
ever-present Friend, the Holy Spirit and to surrender
one’s life in all its departments entirely to His control,
this is true Christian living. The doctrine of the
Personality of the Holy Spirit is as distinctive of the
religion that Jesus taught as the doctrines of the Deity
and the atonement of Jesus Christ Himself. But it
is not enough to believe the doctrine—one must know
the Holy Spirit Himself. The whole purpose of this
chapter (God help me to say it reverently) is to introduce
you to my Friend, the Holy Spirit.

Chapter II. The Deity of the Holy Spirit.

In the preceding chapter we have seen clearly that
the Holy Spirit is a Person. But what sort of a
Person is He? Is He a finite person or an infinite
person? Is He God? This question also is
plainly answered in the Bible. There are in the Scriptures
of the Old and New Testaments five distinct
and decisive lines of proof of the Deity of the Holy
Spirit.

I. Each of the four distinctively Divine attributes is
ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

What are the distinctively Divine attributes? Eternity,
omnipresence, omniscience and omnipotence.
All of these are ascribed to the Holy Spirit in the Bible.

We find eternity ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Heb.
ix. 14, “How much more shall the blood of Christ, who
through the eternal Spirit offered Himself without spot
to God, purge your conscience from dead works to
serve the living God?”

Omnipresence is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in Ps.
cxxxix. 7-10, “Whither shall I go from Thy Spirit?
or whither shall I flee from Thy presence? If I ascend
up into heaven, Thou art there: if I make my bed in
hell, behold, Thou art there. If I take the wings of
the morning, and dwell in the uttermost parts of the
[pg 026]
sea; even there shall Thy hand lead me, and Thy
right hand shall hold me.”

Omniscience is ascribed to the Holy Spirit in several
passages. For example, we read in 1 Cor. ii. 10, 11,
“But God hath revealed them unto us by His Spirit:
for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the deep things
of God. For what man knoweth the things of a man,
save the spirit of man which is in him? Even so the
things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God.”
Again in John xiv. 26, “But the Comforter, which is
the Holy Ghost, whom the Father will send in My
name, He shall teach you all things, and bring all
things to your remembrance, whatsoever I have said
unto you.” Still further we read in John xvi. 12, 13,
R. V., “I have yet many things to say unto you, but
ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth is come, He shall guide you into all the
truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what
things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and
He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.”

We find omnipotence ascribed to the Holy Spirit in
Luke i. 35, “And the angel answered and said unto
her, The Holy Ghost shall come upon thee, and the
power of the Highest shall overshadow thee: therefore
also that holy thing which shall be born of thee shall
be called the Son of God.”

II. Three distinctively Divine works are ascribed to
the Holy Spirit.

When we think of God and His work, the first
work of which we always think is that of creation.
[pg 027]
In the Scriptures creation is ascribed to the Holy Spirit.
We read in Job xxxiii. 4, “The Spirit of God hath
made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me
life.” We read still again in Ps. civ. 30, “Thou
sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou
renewest the face of the earth.” In connection with
the description of creation in the first chapter of Genesis,
the activity of the Spirit is referred to (Gen. i. 1-3).

The impartation of life is also a Divine work and
this is ascribed in the Scriptures to the Holy Spirit,
We read in John vi. 6, A. R. V., “It is the Spirit
that giveth life: the flesh profiteth nothing.” We
read also in Rom. viii. 11, “But if the Spirit of Him
that raised up Jesus from the dead dwell in you, He
that raised up Christ from the dead shall also quicken
your mortal bodies by His Spirit that dwelleth in
you.” In the description of the creation of man in
Gen. ii. 7, it is the breath of God, that is the Holy
Spirit, who imparts life to man, and man becomes a
living soul. The exact words are, “And the Lord
God formed man of the dust of the ground, and
breathed into his nostrils the breath of life; and man
became a living soul.” The Greek word which is
rendered “spirit” means “breath” and though the
Holy Spirit as a Person does not come out distinctly
in this early reference to Him in Gen. ii. 7, nevertheless,
this passage interpreted in the light of the fuller revelation
of the New Testament clearly refers to the Holy Spirit.

The authorship of Divine prophecies is also ascribed
to the Holy Spirit. We read in 2 Pet. i. 21, R. V.,
“For no prophecy ever came by the will of man: but
[pg 028]
men spake from God, being moved by the Holy Ghost.”
Even in the Old Testament, there is a reference to the
Holy Spirit as the author of prophecy. We read in
2 Sam. xxiii. 2, 3, “the Spirit of the
Lord spake by
me, and His word was in my tongue. The God of
Israel said, the Rock of Israel spake to me, He that
ruleth over men must be just, ruling in the fear of God.”

So we see that the three distinctly Divine works of
creation, the impartation of life, and prophecy are
ascribed to the Holy Spirit.

III. Statements which in the Old Testament distinctly
name the Lord or Jehovah as their subject are applied to
the Holy Spirit in the New Testament, i. e., the Holy Spirit
occupies the position of Deity in New Testament thought.

A striking illustration of this is found in Isa. vi. 8-10,
“Also I heard the voice of the Lord, saying, Whom
shall I send, and who will go for us? Then said I,
Here am I; send me. And He said, Go, and tell this
people, Hear ye indeed, but understand not; and see
ye indeed, but perceive not. Make the heart of this
people fat, and make their ears heavy, and shut their
eyes; lest they see with their eyes, and hear with their
ears, and understand with their heart, and convert and
be healed.” In verse five we are told that it was
Jehovah (whenever the word Lord is spelled in
capitals in the Old Testament, it stands for Jehovah
in the Hebrew and is so rendered in the American
Revision) whom Isaiah saw and who speaks. But in
Acts xxviii. 25-27 there is a reference to this statement
of Isaiah’s and whereas in Isaiah we are told it is
[pg 029]
Jehovah who speaks, in the reference in Acts we are
told that it was the Holy Spirit who was the speaker.
The passage in Acts reads as follows, “And when
they agreed not among themselves, they departed after
that Paul had spoken one word, Well spake the Holy
Ghost by Esaias the prophet unto our fathers, saying,
Go unto this people, and say, Hearing ye shall hear,
and shall not understand; and seeing ye shall see and
not perceive: For the heart of this people is waxed
gross, and their ears are dull of hearing, and their eyes
have they closed; lest they should see with their eyes,
and hear with their ears, and understand with their
heart, and should be converted, and I should heal
them.” So we see that what is distinctly ascribed to
Jehovah in the Old Testament is ascribed to the Holy
Spirit in the New: i. e., the Holy Spirit is identified
with Jehovah. It is a noteworthy fact that in the
Gospel of John, the twelfth chapter and the thirty-ninth
to forty-first verses where another reference is
made to this passage in Isaiah, this same passage is ascribed
to Christ (note carefully the forty-first verse).
So in different parts of Scripture, we have the same
passage referred to Jehovah, referred to the Holy
Spirit, and referred to Jesus Christ. May we not find
the explanation of this in the threefold “Holy” of the
seraphic cry in Isaiah vi. 3, where we read, “And one
cried unto another, and said, Holy, holy, holy, is the
Lord of hosts: the whole earth is full of His glory.”
In this we have a distinct suggestion of the tri-personality
of the Jehovah of Hosts, and hence the propriety
of the threefold application of the vision. A
[pg 030]
further suggestion of this tri-personality of Jehovah of
Hosts is found in the eighth verse of the chapter where
the Lord is represented as saying, “Whom shall I
send, and who will go for us?”

Another striking illustration of the application of
passages in the New Testament to the Holy Spirit
which in the Old Testament distinctly name Jehovah
as their subject is found in Ex. xvi. 7. Here we
read, “And in the morning, then ye shall see the glory
of the Lord; for that He heareth your murmurings
against the Lord: and what are we that ye murmur
against us?” Here the murmuring of the children of
Israel is distinctly said to be against Jehovah. But in
Heb. iii. 7-9, where this instance is referred to, we
read, “Wherefore, as the Holy Ghost saith, To-day if
ye will hear His voice, harden not your hearts, and in
the provocation, in the day of temptation in the wilderness:
When your fathers tempted Me, proved Me, and
saw My works forty years.” The murmurings which
Moses in the Book of Exodus says were against Jehovah,
we are told in the Epistle to the Hebrews were
against the Holy Spirit. This leaves it beyond question
that the Holy Spirit occupies the position of Jehovah (or
Deity) in the New Testament (cf. also Ps. xcv. 8-11).

IV. The name of the Holy Spirit is coupled with that
of God in a way it would be impossible for a reverent and
thoughtful mind to couple the name of any finite being with
that of the Deity.

We have an illustration of this in 1 Cor. xii. 4-6,
“Now there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit.
[pg 031]
And there are differences of administrations, but the
same Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but
it is the same God which worketh all in all.” Here we
find God, and the Lord and the Spirit associated together
in a relation of equality that would be shocking
to contemplate if the Spirit were a finite being. We
have a still more striking illustration of this in Matt.
xxviii. 19, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and of the
Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” Who, that had grasped
the Bible conception of God the Father, would think
for a moment of coupling the name of the Holy Spirit
with that of the Father in this way if the Holy Spirit
were a finite being, even the most exalted of angelic
beings? Another striking illustration is found in
2 Cor. xiii. 14, “The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ,
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy
Ghost, be with you all. Amen.” Can any one ponder
these words and catch anything like their real import
without seeing clearly that it would be impossible to
couple the name of the Holy Spirit with that of God
the Father in the way in which it is coupled in this
verse unless the Holy Spirit were Himself a Divine Being?

V. The Holy Spirit is called God.

The final and decisive proof of the Deity of the
Holy Spirit is found in the fact that He is called God
in the New Testament. We read in Acts v. 3, 4,
“But Peter said, Ananias, why hath Satan filled thine
heart to lie to the Holy Ghost, and to keep back part
[pg 032]
of the price of the land? Whiles it remained, was it
not thine own? And after it was sold, was it not in
thine own power? Why hast thou conceived this
thing in thine heart? Thou hast not lied unto men
but unto God.” In the first part of this passage we are
told that Ananias lied to the Holy Spirit. When this
is further explained, we are told it was not unto men
but unto God that he had lied in lying to the Holy
Spirit, i. e., the Holy Spirit to whom he lied is called
God.

To sum it all up, by the ascription of all the distinctively
Divine attributes, and several distinctly
Divine works, by referring statements which in the
Old Testament clearly name Jehovah, the Lord, or
God as their subject to the Holy Spirit in the New
Testament, by coupling the name of the Holy Spirit
with that of God in a way that would be impossible to
couple that of any finite being with that of Deity, by
plainly calling the Holy Spirit God, in all these unmistakable
ways, God in His own Word distinctly proclaims
that the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person.

Chapter III. The Distinction of the Holy Spirit from the
Father and from His Son, Jesus Christ.

We have seen thus far that the Holy Spirit is
a Person and a Divine Person. And now
another question arises, Is He as a Person
separate and distinct from the Father and from the Son?
One who carefully studies the New Testament statements
cannot but discover that beyond a question He
is. We read in Luke iii. 21, 22, “Now when all the
people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also
being baptized, and praying, the heaven was opened,
and the Holy Ghost descended in a bodily shape like a
dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven, which
said, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am well
pleased.” Here the clearest possible distinction is
drawn between Jesus Christ, who was on earth, and
the Father who spoke to Him from heaven as one person
speaks to another person, and the Holy Spirit who
descended in a bodily form as a dove from the Father,
who was speaking, to the Son, to whom He was
speaking, and rested upon the Son as a Person separate
and distinct from Himself. We see a clear distinction
drawn between the name of the Father and that of the
Son and that of the Holy Spirit in Matt, xxviii. 19,
where we read, “Go ye therefore, and teach all nations,
[pg 034]
baptizing them in the name of the Father, and
of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost.” The distinction
of the Holy Spirit from the Father and the Son comes
out again with exceeding clearness in John xiv. 16.
Here we read, “And I will pray the Father, and He
shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide
with you forever.” Here we see the one Person, the
Son, praying to another Person, the Father, and the
Father to whom He prays giving another Person, another
Comforter, in answer to the prayer of the second
Person, the Son. If words mean anything, and certainly
in the Bible they mean what they say, there can
be no mistaking it, that the Father and the Son and the
Spirit are three distinct and separate Persons.

Again in John xvi. 7, a clear distinction is drawn
between Jesus who goes away to the Father and the
Holy Spirit who comes from the Father to take His
place. Jesus says, “Nevertheless I tell you the truth;
It is expedient for you that I go away: for if I go not
away, the Comforter will not come unto you; but if I
depart, I will send Him unto you.” A similar distinction
is drawn in Acts ii. 33, where we read, “Therefore
being by the right hand of God exalted, and having received
of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost,
He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and hear.”
In this passage, the clearest possible distinction is
drawn between the Son exalted to the right hand of the
Father and the Father to whose right hand He is exalted,
and the Holy Spirit whom the Son receives from
the Father and sheds forth upon the Church.

To sum it all up, again and again the Bible draws
[pg 035]
the clearest possible distinction between the three Persons,
the Holy Spirit, the Father and the Son. They
are three separate personalities, having mutual relations
to one another, acting upon one another, speaking of
or to one another, applying the pronouns of the second
and third persons to one another.

Chapter IV. The Subordination of the Spirit to the Father
and to the Son.

From the fact that the Holy Spirit is a Divine
Person, it does not follow that the Holy Spirit
is in every sense equal to the Father. While
the Scriptures teach that in Jesus Christ dwelt all the
fullness of the Godhead in a bodily form (Col. ii. 9)
and that He was so truly and fully Divine that He
could say, “I and the Father are one” (John x. 30)
and “He that hath seen Me hath seen the Father”
(John xiv. 9), they also teach with equal clearness that
Jesus Christ was not equal to the Father in every respect,
but subordinate to the Father in many ways.
In a similar way, the Scriptures teach us that though
the Holy Spirit is a Divine Person, He is subordinate
to the Father and to the Son. In John xiv. 26, we are
taught that the Holy Spirit is sent by the Father and in
the name of the Son. Jesus declares very clearly, “But
the Comforter, which is the Holy Ghost, whom the
Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all
things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you.” In John xv. 26
we are told that it is Jesus who sends the Spirit from
the Father. The exact words are, “But when the
Comforter is come, whom I will send unto you from
[pg 037]
the Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth
from the Father, He shall testify of Me.” Just as we
are elsewhere taught that Jesus Christ was sent by the
Father (John vi. 29; viii. 29, 42), we are here taught
that the Holy Spirit in turn is sent by Jesus Christ.

The subordination of the Holy Spirit to the Father
and the Son comes out also in the fact that He derives
some of His names from the Father and from the Son.
We read in Rom. viii. 9, “But ye are not in the
flesh, but in the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God
dwell in you. Now if any man have not the Spirit of
Christ, he is none of His.” Here we have two names
of the Spirit, one derived from His relation to the
Father, “the Spirit of God,” and the other derived
from His relation to the Son, “the Spirit of Christ.”

In Acts xvi. 7, R. V., He is spoken of as “the Spirit
of Jesus.”

The subordination of the Spirit to the Son is also
seen in the fact that the Holy Spirit speaks “not from
Himself but speaks the words which He hears.” We
read in John xvi. 13, R. V., “Howbeit when He, the
Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into all the
truth: for He shall not speak from Himself; but what
things soever He shall hear, these shall He speak: and
He shall declare unto you the things that are to come.”
In a similar way, Jesus said of Himself, “My teaching
is not Mine, but His that sent Me.” (John vii. 16;
viii. 26, 40).

The subordination of the Spirit to the Son comes
out again in the clearly revealed fact that it is the work
of the Holy Spirit not to glorify Himself but to glorify
[pg 038]
Christ. Jesus says in John xvi. 14, “He shall glorify
Me: for He shall receive of Mine, and shall shew it
unto you.” In a similar way, Christ sought not His
own glory, but the glory of Him that sent Him, that is
the Father (John vii. 18).

From all these passages, it is evident that the Holy
Spirit in His present work, while possessed of all the
attributes of Deity, is subordinated to the Father and
to the Son. On the other hand, we shall see later that
in His earthly life, Jesus lived and taught and worked
in the power of the Holy Spirit.

Chapter V. The Person and Work of the Holy Spirit as
Revealed in His Names.

At least twenty-five different names are used in
the Old and New Testaments in speaking of
the Holy Spirit. There is the deepest significance
in these names. By the careful study of them,
we find a wonderful revelation of the Person and work
of the Holy Spirit.

I. The Spirit.

The simplest name by which the Holy Spirit is
mentioned in the Bible is that which stands at the head
of this paragraph—“The Spirit.” This name is also
used as the basis of other names, so we begin our study
with this. The Greek and Hebrew words so translated
mean literally, “Breath” or “Wind.” Both thoughts
are in the name as applied to the Holy Spirit.

1. The thought of breath is brought out in John
xx. 22 where we read, “And when He had said this, He
breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the
Holy Ghost.” It is also suggested in Gen. ii. 7,
“And the Lord God formed man of the dust of the
ground, and breathed into his nostrils the breath of life;
and man became a living soul.” This becomes more
evident when we compare with this Ps. civ. 30,
“Thou sendest forth Thy Spirit, they are created: and
[pg 040]
Thou renewest the face of the earth.” And Job xxxiii.
4, “The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath
of the Almighty hath given me life.” What is the
significance of this name from the standpoint of these
passages? It is that the Spirit is the outbreathing of
God, His inmost life going forth in a personal form to
quicken. When we receive the Holy Spirit, we receive
the inmost life of God Himself to dwell in a personal
way in us. When we really grasp this thought, it is
overwhelming in its solemnity. Just stop and think
what it means to have the inmost life of that infinite
and eternal Being whom we call God, dwelling in a
personal way in you. How solemn and how awful and
yet unspeakably glorious life becomes when we realize
this.

2. The thought of the Holy Spirit as “the Wind”
is brought out in John iii. 6-8, “That which is born
of the flesh is flesh; and that which is born of the Spirit
is spirit. Marvel not that I said unto thee, Ye must be
born again. The wind bloweth where it listeth, and
thou hearest the sound thereof, but canst not tell
whence it cometh, and whither it goeth: so is every
one that is born of the Spirit.” In the Greek, it is the
same word that is translated in one part of this passage
“Spirit” and the other part of the passage “wind.”
And it would seem as if the word ought to be translated
the same way in both parts of the passage. It would
then read, “That which is born of the flesh is flesh
and that which is born of the ‘Wind’ is wind. Marvel
not that I said unto thee, Ye must be born again.
The wind bloweth where it listeth and thou hearest the
[pg 041]
sound thereof, but canst not tell whence it cometh or
whither it goeth: so is every one that is born of the
‘Wind.’ ” The full significance of this name as applied
to the Holy Spirit (or Holy Wind) it may be beyond
us to fathom, but we can see at least this much of its
meaning:

(1) The Spirit like the wind is sovereign. “The
wind bloweth where it listeth” (John iii. 8). You
cannot dictate to the wind. It does as it wills. Just
so with the Holy Spirit—He is sovereign—we cannot
dictate to Him. He “divides to each man” severally
even “as He will” (1 Cor. xii. 11, R. V.). When the
wind is blowing from the north you may long to have
it blow from the south, but cry as clamorously as you
may to the wind, “Blow from the south” it will keep
right on blowing from the north. But while you
cannot dictate to the wind, while it blows as it will,
you may learn the laws that govern the wind’s motions
and by bringing yourself into harmony with those laws,
you can get the wind to do your work. You can erect
your windmill so that whichever way the wind blows
from the wheels will turn and the wind will grind your
grain, or pump your water. Just so, while we cannot
dictate to the Holy Spirit we can learn the laws of His
operations and by bringing ourselves into harmony with
those laws, above all by submitting our wills absolutely
to His sovereign will, the sovereign Spirit of God will
work through us and accomplish His own glorious
work by our instrumentality.

(2) The Spirit like the wind is invisible but none
the less perceptible and real and mighty. You hear the
[pg 042]
sound of the wind (John iii. 8) but the wind itself you
never see. You hear the voice of the Spirit but He
Himself is ever invisible. (The word translated
“sound” in John iii. 8 is the word which elsewhere is
translated “voice.” See R. V.) We not only hear the
voice, of the wind but we see its mighty effects. We
feel the breath of the wind upon our cheeks, we see the
dust and the leaves blowing before the wind, we see the
vessels at sea driven swiftly towards their ports; but
the wind itself remains invisible. Just so with the
Spirit; we feel His breath upon our souls, we see the
mighty things He does, but Himself we do not see.
He is invisible, but He is real and perceptible. I shall
never forget a solemn hour in Chicago Avenue Church,
Chicago. Dr. W. W. White was making a farewell
address before going to India to work among the
students there. Suddenly, without any apparent warning,
the place was filled with an awful and glorious
Presence. To me it was very real, but the question
arose in my mind, “Is this merely subjective, just a
feeling of my own, or is there an objective Presence
here?” After the meeting was over, I asked different
persons whether they were conscious of anything and
found that at the same point in the meeting they, too,
though they saw no one, became distinctly conscious
of an overwhelming Presence, the Presence of the
Holy Spirit. Though many years have passed, there
are those who speak of that hour to this day. On
another occasion in my own home at Chicago, when
kneeling in prayer with an intimate friend, as we prayed
it seemed as if an unseen and awful Presence entered
[pg 043]
the room. I realized what Eliphaz meant when he
said, “Then a spirit passed before my face; the hair of
my flesh stood up” (Job iv. 15). The moment was
overwhelming, but as glorious as it was awful. These
are but two illustrations of which many might be given.
None of us have seen the Holy Spirit at any time, but
of His presence we have been distinctly conscious again
and again and again. His mighty power we have witnessed
and His reality we cannot doubt. There are
those who tell us that they do not believe in anything
which they cannot see. Not one of them has ever seen
the wind but they all believe in the wind. They have
felt the wind and they have seen its effects, and just
so we, beyond a question, have felt the mighty presence
of the Spirit and witnessed His mighty workings.

(3) The Spirit like the wind is inscrutable. “Thou
canst not tell whence it cometh and whither it goeth.”
Nothing in nature is more mysterious than the wind.
But more mysterious still is the Holy Spirit in His
operations. We hear of how suddenly and unexpectedly
in widely separated communities He begins to
work His mighty work. Doubtless there are hidden
reasons why He does thus begin His work, but often-times
these reasons are completely undiscoverable by us.
We know not whence He comes nor whither He goes.
We cannot tell where next He will display His mighty
and gracious power.

(4) The Spirit, like the wind, is indispensable.
Without wind, that is “air in motion,” there is no
life and so Jesus says, “Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
[pg 044]
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.” If the wind
should absolutely cease to blow for a single hour, most
of the life on this earth would cease to be. Time
and again when the health reports of the different
cities of the United States are issued, it has been found
that the five healthiest cities in the United States were
five cities located on the great lakes. Many have been
surprised at this report when they have visited some of
these cities and found that they were far from being
the cleanest cities, or most sanitary in their general
arrangement, and yet year after year this report has
been returned. The explanation is simply this, it is
the wind blowing from the lakes that has brought life
and health to the cities. Just so when the Spirit ceases
to blow in any heart or any church or any community,
death ensues, but when the Spirit blows steadily upon
the individual or the church or the community, there
is abounding spiritual life and health.

(5) Closely related to the foregoing thought, like
the wind the Holy Spirit is life giving. This thought
comes out again and again in the Scriptures. For
example, we read in John vi. 63, A. R. V., “It is the
Spirit that giveth life,” and in 2 Cor. iii. 6, we read,
“The letter killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.” Perhaps
the most suggestive passage on this point is Ezek.
xxxvii. 8, 9, 10, “And when I beheld, lo, the sinews
and the flesh came up upon them, and the skin covered
them above: but there was no breath in them. Then
said He unto me, Prophesy unto the wind, prophesy,
son of man, and say to the wind, Thus saith the Lord
God; Come from the four winds, O breath, and
[pg 045]
breathe upon these slain, that they may live. So I
prophesied as He commanded me, and the breath came
into them, and they lived, and stood upon their feet, an
exceeding great army” (cf. John iii. 5). Israel, in the
prophet’s vision, was only bones, very many and very
dry (vs. 2, 11), until the prophet proclaimed unto them
the word of God; then there was a noise and a shaking
and the bones came together, bone to his bone,
and the sinews and the flesh came upon the bones, but
still there was no life, but when the wind blew, the
breath of God’s Spirit, then “they stood up upon
their feet an exceeding great army.” All life in the
individual believer, in the teacher, the preacher, and
the church is the Holy Spirit’s work. You will sometimes
make the acquaintance of a man, and as you
hear him talk and observe his conduct, you are repelled
and disgusted. Everything about him declares that
he is a dead man, a moral corpse and not only dead
but rapidly putrefying. You get away from him as
quickly as you can. Months afterwards you meet him
again. You hesitate to speak to him; you want to
get out of his very presence, but you do speak to him,
and he has not uttered many sentences before you
notice a marvellous change. His conversation is sweet
and wholesome and uplifting; everything about his
manner is attractive and delightful. You soon discover
that the man’s whole conduct and life has been
transformed. He is no longer a putrefying corpse but
a living child of God. What has happened? The
Wind of God has blown upon him; he has received
the Holy Spirit, the Holy Wind. Some quiet Sabbath
[pg 046]
day you visit a church. Everything about the outward
appointments of the church are all that could be desired.
There is an attractive meeting-house, an expensive
organ, a gifted choir, a scholarly preacher. The
service is well arranged but you have not been long at
the gathering before you are forced to see that there
is no life, that it is all form, and that there is nothing
really being accomplished for God or for man. You
go away with a heavy heart. Months afterwards you
have occasion to visit the church again; the outward
appointments of the church are much as they were
before but the service has not proceeded far before you
note a great difference. There is a new power in the
singing, a new spirit in the prayer, a new grip in the
preaching, everything about the church is teeming with
the life of God. What has happened? The Wind
of God has blown upon that church; the Holy Spirit,
the Holy Wind, has come. You go some day to hear
a preacher of whose abilities you have heard great
reports. As he stands up to preach you soon learn
that nothing too much has been said in praise of his
abilities from the merely intellectual and rhetorical
standpoint. His diction is faultless, his style beautiful,
his logic unimpeachable, his orthodoxy beyond criticism.
It is an intellectual treat to listen to him, and
yet after all as he preaches you cannot avoid a feeling
of sadness, for there is no real grip, no real power,
indeed no reality of any kind, in the man’s preaching.
You go away with a heavy heart at the thought of this
waste of magnificent abilities. Months, perhaps years,
pass by and you again find yourself listening to this
[pg 047]
celebrated preacher, but what a change! The same
faultless diction, the same beautiful style, the same
unimpeachable logic, the same skillful elocution, the
same sound orthodoxy, but now there is something
more, there is reality, life, grip, power in the preaching.
Men and women sit breathless as he speaks,
sinners bowed with tears of contrition, pricked to
their hearts with conviction of sin; men and women
and boys and girls renounce their selfishness, and
their sin and their worldliness and accept Jesus
Christ and surrender their lives to Him. What has
happened? The Wind of God has blown upon
that man. He has been filled with the Holy Wind.

(6) Like the wind, the Holy Spirit is irresistible.
We read in Acts i. 8, “But ye shall receive power, after
that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye shall
be witnesses unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost parts of
the earth.” When this promise of our Lord was fulfilled
in Stephen, we read, “And they were not able to
resist the wisdom and the Spirit by which he spake.”
A man filled with the Holy Spirit is transformed into a
cyclone. What can stand before the wind? When
St. Cloud, Minn., was visited with a cyclone years ago,
the wind picked up loaded freight cars and carried them
away off the track. It wrenched an iron bridge from
its foundations, twisted it together and hurled it away.
When a cyclone later visited St. Louis, Mo., it cut off
telegraph poles a foot in diameter as if they had been
pipe stems. It cut off enormous trees close to the root,
it cut off the corner of brick buildings where it passed
[pg 048]
as though they had been cut by a knife; nothing could
stand before it; and so, nothing can stand before a
Spirit-filled preacher of the Word. None can resist
the wisdom and the Spirit by which he speaks. The
Wind of God took possession of Charles G. Finney,
an obscure country lawyer, and sent him through New
York State, then through New England, then through
England, mowing down strong men by his resistless,
Spirit-given logic. One night in Rochester, scores of
lawyers, led by the justice of the Court of Appeals,
filed out of the pews and bowed in the aisles and
yielded their lives to God. The Wind of God took
possession of D. L. Moody, an uneducated young business
man in Chicago, and in the power of this resistless
Wind, men and women and young people were
mowed down before his words and brought in humble
confession and renunciation of sin to the feet of Jesus
Christ, and filled with the life of God they have been
the pillars in the churches of Great Britain and throughout
the world ever since. The great need to-day in
individuals, in churches and in preachers is that the
Wind of God blow upon us.

Much of the difficulty that many find with John iii. 5,
“Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except
a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he cannot
enter into the kingdom of God,” would disappear
if we would only bear in mind that “Spirit” means
“Wind” and translate the verse literally all through,
“Except a man be born of water and Wind (there is no
‘the’ in the original), he cannot enter the kingdom
of God.” The thought would then seem to be, “Except
[pg 049]
a man be born of the cleansing and quickening
power of the Spirit (or else of the cleansing Word—cf.
John xv. 3; Eph. v. 26; Jas. i. 18; 1 Pet. i. 23—and
the quickening power of the Holy Spirit).”

II. The Spirit of God.

The Holy Spirit is frequently spoken of in the Bible
as the Spirit of God. For example we read in 1 Cor.
iii. 16, “Know ye not that ye are the temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you.” In this
name we have the same essential thought as in the
former name, but with this addition, that His Divine
origin, nature and power are emphasized. He is not
merely “The Wind” as seen above, but “The Wind
of God.”

III. The Spirit of Jehovah.

This name is used of the Holy Spirit in Isa. xi. 2,
A. R. V., “And the Spirit of Jehovah shall rest upon
him.” The thought of the name is, of course, essentially
the same as the preceding with the exception that
God is here thought of as the Covenant God of Israel.
He is thus spoken of in the connection in which the
name is found; and, of course, the Bible, following that
unerring accuracy that it always exhibits in its use of
the different names for God, in this connection speaks
of the Spirit as the Spirit of Jehovah and not merely as
the Spirit of God.

IV. The Spirit of the Lord Jehovah.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of the Lord
Jehovah in Isa. lxi. 1-3, A. R. V., “The Spirit of the
[pg 050]
Lord Jehovah is upon Me; because Jehovah hath
anointed Me to preach good tidings to the meek; He
hath sent Me to bind up the broken-hearted, to proclaim
liberty to the captives, etc.” The Holy Spirit is
here spoken of, not merely as the Spirit of Jehovah,
but the Spirit of the Lord Jehovah because of the relation
in which God Himself is spoken of in this connection,
as not merely Jehovah, the covenant God of
Israel, but as Jehovah Israel’s Lord as well as their
covenant-keeping God. This name of the Spirit is
even more expressive than the name “The Spirit of
God.”

V. The Spirit of the Living God.

The Holy Spirit is called “The Spirit of the living
God” in 2 Cor. iii. 3, “Forasmuch as ye are manifestly
declared to be the epistle of Christ ministered by
us, written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living
God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshy tables of
the heart.” What is the significance of this name?
It is made clear by the context. The Apostle Paul is
drawing a contrast between the Word of God written
with ink on parchment and the Word of God written
on “tables that are hearts of flesh” (R. V.) by the
Holy Spirit, who in this connection is called “the Spirit
of the living God,” because He makes God a living
reality in our personal experience instead of a mere intellectual
concept. There are many who believe in
God, and who are perfectly orthodox in their conception
of God, but after all God is to them only an intellectual
theological proposition. It is the work of the
[pg 051]
Holy Spirit to make God something vastly more than a
theological notion, no matter how orthodox; He is the
Spirit of the living God, and it is His work to make God
a living God to us, a Being whom we know, with
whom we have personal acquaintance, a Being more
real to us than the most intimate human friend we
have. Have you a real God? Well, you may have.
The Holy Spirit is the Spirit of the living God, and He
is able and ready to give to you a living God, to make
God real in your personal experience. There are many
who have a God who once lived and acted and spoke,
a God who lived and acted at the creation of the universe,
who perhaps lived and acted in the days of Moses
and Elijah and Jesus Christ and the Apostles, but who
no longer lives and acts. If He exists at all, He has
withdrawn Himself from any active part in nature or
the history of man. He created nature and gave it its
laws and powers and now leaves it to run itself. He
created man and endowed him with his various faculties
but has now left him to work out his own destiny.
They may go further than this: they may believe in a
God, who spoke to Abraham and to Moses and to
David and to Isaiah and to Jesus and to the Apostles,
but who speaks no longer. We may read in the Bible
what He spoke to these various men but we cannot
expect Him to speak to us. In contrast with these, it
is the work of the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of the living
God, to give us to know a God who lives and acts and
speaks to-day, a God who is ready to come as near to
us as He came to Abraham, to Moses or to Isaiah, or
to the Apostles or to Jesus Himself. Not that He has
[pg 052]
any new revelations to make, for He guided the
Apostles into all the truth (John xvi. 13, R. V.): but
though there has been a complete revelation of God’s
truth made in the Bible, still God lives to-day and will
speak to us as directly as He spoke to His chosen ones
of old. Happy is the man who knows the Holy Spirit
as the Spirit of the living God, and who, consequently,
has a real God, a God who lives to-day, a God upon
whom he can depend to-day to undertake for him, a
God with whom he enjoys intimate personal fellowship,
a God to whom he may raise his voice in prayer
and who speaks back to him.

VI. The Spirit of Christ.

In Rom. viii. 9, “But ye are not in the flesh, but in
the Spirit, if so be that the Spirit of God dwell in you.
Now if any man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is
none of His.” The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of
Christ. The Spirit of Christ in this passage does not
mean a Christlike spirit. It means something far more
than that, it means that which lies back of a Christlike
spirit; it is a name of the Holy Spirit. Why is the
Holy Spirit called the Spirit of Christ? For several
reasons:

(1) Because He is Christ’s gift. The Holy Spirit
is not merely the gift of the Father, but the gift of the
Son as well. We read in John xx. 22 that Jesus
“breathed on them and saith unto them, Receive ye
the Holy Ghost.” The Holy Spirit is therefore the
breath of Christ, as well as the breath of God the
Father. It is Christ who breathes upon us and imparts
[pg 053]
to us the Holy Spirit. In John xiv. 15 and the
following verses Jesus teaches us that it is in answer to
His prayer that the Father gives to us the Holy Spirit.
In Acts ii. 33 we read that Jesus “Being by the right
hand of God exalted and having received of the Father
the promise of the Holy Spirit,” shed Him forth upon
believers; that is, that Jesus, having been exalted to
the right hand of God, in answer to His prayer, receives
the Holy Spirit from the Father and sheds forth
upon the Church Him whom He hath received from
the Father. In Matt. iii. 11 we read that it is Jesus
who baptizes with the Holy Spirit. In John vii. 37-39
Jesus bids all that are thirsty to come unto Him and
drink, and the context makes it clear that the water
that He gives is the Holy Spirit, who becomes in those
who receive Him a source of life and power flowing
out to others. It is the glorified Christ who gives to
the Church the Holy Spirit. In the fourth chapter of
John and the tenth verse Jesus declares that He is the
One who gives the living water, the Holy Spirit. In
all these passages, Christ is set forth as the One who
gives the Holy Spirit, so the Holy Spirit is called “the
Spirit of Christ.”

(2) But there is a deeper reason why the Holy
Spirit is called “the Spirit of Christ,” i. e.,
because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to reveal Christ to us. In
John xvi. 14, R. V., we read, “He (that is the Holy
Spirit) shall glorify Me: for He shall take of Mine, and
shall declare it unto you.” In a similar way in John
xv. 26, R. V., it is written, “But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the Father,
[pg 054]
even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the
Father, He shall bear witness of Me.” This is the
work of the Holy Spirit to bear witness of Christ and
reveal Jesus Christ to men. And as the revealer of
Christ, He is called “the Spirit of Christ.”

(3) But there is a still deeper reason yet why the
Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Christ, and that is
because it is His work to form Christ as a living presence
within us. In Eph. iii. 16, 17, the Apostle Paul prays
to the Father that He would grant to believers according
to the riches of His glory to be strengthened with
might by His Spirit in the inner man, that Christ may
dwell in their hearts by faith. This then is the work
of the Holy Spirit, to cause Christ to dwell in our
hearts, to form the living Christ within us. Just as the
Holy Spirit literally and physically formed Jesus Christ
in the womb of the Virgin Mary (Luke i. 35) so the
Holy Spirit spiritually but really forms Jesus Christ
within our hearts to-day. In John xiv. 16-18, Jesus
told His disciples that when the Holy Spirit came that
He Himself would come, that is, the result of the coming
of the Holy Spirit to dwell in their hearts would be
the coming of Christ Himself. It is the privilege of
every believer in Christ to have the living Christ
formed by the power of the Holy Spirit in his own
heart and therefore the Holy Spirit who thus forms
Christ within the heart is called the Spirit of Christ.
How wonderful! How glorious is the significance of
this name. Let us ponder it until we understand it, as
far as it is possible to understand it, and until we rejoice
exceedingly in the glory of it.

[pg 055]

VII. The Spirit of Jesus Christ.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus Christ
in Phil. i. 19, “For I know that this shall turn to my
salvation through your prayer, and the supply of the
Spirit of Jesus Christ.” The Spirit is not merely the
Spirit of the eternal Word but the Spirit of the Word
incarnate. Not merely the Spirit of Christ, but the
Spirit of Jesus Christ. It is the Man Jesus exalted to
the right hand of the Father who receives and sends
the Spirit. So we read in Acts ii. 32, 33, “This Jesus
hath God raised up, whereof we all are witnesses.
Therefore being by the right hand of God exalted, and
having received of the Father the promise of the Holy
Ghost, He hath shed forth this, which ye now see and
hear.”

VIII. The Spirit of Jesus.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of Jesus in Acts
xvi. 6, 7, R. V., “And they went through the region of
Phrygia and Galatia, having been forbidden of the
Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia; and when they
were come over against Mysia, they assayed to go into
Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered them not.”
By the using of this name, “The Spirit of Jesus” the
thought of the relation of the Spirit to the Man Jesus
is still more clear than in the name preceding this, the
Spirit of Jesus Christ.

IX. The Spirit of His Son.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of His Son in
Gal. iv. 6, “And because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
[pg 056]
Abba, Father.” We see from the context (vs. 4, 5)
that this name is given to the Holy Spirit in special
connection with His testifying to the sonship of the
believer. It is “the Spirit of His Son” who testifies to
our sonship. The thought is that the Holy Spirit is a
filial Spirit, a Spirit who produces a sense of sonship in
us. If we receive the Holy Spirit, we no longer think
of God as if we were serving under constraint and
bondage but we are sons living in joyous liberty. We
do not fear God, we trust Him and rejoice in Him.
When we receive the Holy Spirit, we do not receive a
Spirit of bondage again to fear but a Spirit of adoption
whereby we cry, Abba, Father (Rom. viii. 15). This
name of the Holy Spirit is one of the most suggestive
of all. We do well to ponder it long until we realize
the glad fullness of its significance. We shall take it
up again when we come to study the work of the Holy
Spirit.

X. The Holy Spirit.

This name is of very frequent occurrence, and the
name with which most of us are most familiar. One
of the most familiar passages in which the name is used
is Luke xi. 13, “If ye then, being evil, know how to
give good gifts unto your children: how much more
shall your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them
that ask Him?” This name emphasizes the essential
moral character of the Spirit. He is holy in Himself.
We are so familiar with the name that we neglect to
weigh its significance. Oh, if we only realized more
deeply and constantly that He is the Holy Spirit. We
[pg 057]
would do well if we, as the seraphim in Isaiah’s vision,
would bow in His presence and cry, “Holy, holy,
holy.” Yet how thoughtlessly oftentimes we talk
about Him and pray for Him. We pray for Him to
come into our churches and into our hearts but what
would He find if He should come there? Would He
not find much that would be painful and agonizing to
Him? What would we think if vile women from the
lowest den of iniquity in a great city should go to the
purest woman in the city and invite her to come and
live with them in their disgusting vileness with no intention
of changing their evil ways. But that would
not be as shocking as for you and me to ask the Holy
Spirit to come and dwell in our hearts when we have
no thought of giving up our impurity, or our selfishness,
or our worldliness, or our sin. It would not be
as shocking as it is for us to invite the Holy Spirit
to come into our churches when they are full of
worldliness and selfishness and contention and envy
and pride, and all that is unholy. But if the denizens
of the lowest and vilest den of infamy should go to the
purest and most Christlike woman asking her to go
and dwell with them with the intention of putting
away everything that was vile and evil and giving to
this holy and Christlike woman the entire control of
the place, she would go. And as sinful and selfish and
imperfect as we may be, the infinitely Holy Spirit is
ready to come and take His dwelling in our heart if we
will surrender to Him the absolute control of our lives,
and allow Him to bring everything in thought and
fancy and feeling and purpose and imagination and action
[pg 058]
into conformity with His will. The infinitely
Holy Spirit is ready to come into our churches, however
imperfect and worldly they may be now, if we
are willing to put the absolute control of everything in
His hands. But let us never forget that He is the
Holy Spirit, and when we pray for Him let us pray for
Him as such.

XI. The Holy Spirit of Promise.

The Holy Spirit is called the Holy Spirit of promise
in Eph. i. 13, R. V., “In whom ye also, having heard
the Word of truth, the Gospel of your salvation,—in
whom, having also believed, ye were sealed with the
Holy Spirit of promise.” We have here the same name
as that given above with the added thought that this
Holy Spirit is the great promise of the Father and of
the Son. The Holy Spirit is God’s great all-inclusive
promise for the present dispensation; the one thing for
which Jesus bade the disciples wait after His ascension
before they undertook His work was “the promise of
the Father,” that is the Holy Spirit (Acts i. 4, 5).
The great promise of the Father until the coming of
Christ was the coming atoning Saviour and King, but
when Jesus came and died His atoning death upon the
cross of Calvary and arose and ascended to the right
hand of the Father, then the second great promise of
the Father was the Holy Spirit to take the place of our
absent Lord. (See also Acts ii. 33.)

XII. The Spirit of Holiness.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of holiness in
Rom. i. 4, “And declared to be the Son of God with
[pg 059]
power, according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection
from the dead.” At the first glance it may seem
as if there were no essential difference between the
two names the Holy Spirit and the Spirit of holiness.
But there is a marked difference. The name of the
Holy Spirit, as already said, emphasizes the essential
moral character of the Spirit as holy, but the name of
the Spirit of holiness brings out the thought that the
Holy Spirit is not merely holy in Himself but He
imparts holiness to others. The perfect holiness which
He Himself possesses He imparts to those who receive
Him (cf. 1 Pet. i. 2).

XIII. The Spirit of Judgment.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of judgment in
Isa. iv. 4, “When the Lord shall have washed away
the filth of the daughters of Zion, and shall have
purged the blood of Jerusalem from the midst thereof
by the Spirit of judgment, and by the Spirit of burning.”
There are two names of the Holy Spirit in this passage;
first, the Spirit of judgment. The Holy Spirit is so
called because it is His work to bring sin to light, to
convict of sin (cf. John xvi. 7-9). When the Holy
Spirit comes to us the first thing that He does is to
open our eyes to see our sins as God sees them. He
judges our sin. (We will go into this more at length in
studying John xvi. 7-11 when considering the work of
the Holy Spirit.)

XIV. The Spirit of Burning.

This name is used in the passage just quoted above.
(See XIII.) This name emphasizes His searching,
[pg 060]
refining, dross-consuming, illuminating and energizing
work. The Holy Spirit is like a fire in the heart in
which He dwells; and as fire tests and refines and
consumes and illuminates and warms and energizes, so
does He. In the context, it is the cleansing work of the
Holy Spirit which is especially emphasized (Isa. iv. 3, 4).

XV. The Spirit of Truth.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth in
John xiv. 17, “Even the Spirit of truth; whom the
world cannot receive, because it seeth Him not, neither
knoweth Him; but ye know Him; for He dwelleth
with you, and shall be in you” (cf. John xv. 26; xvi.
13). The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of truth
because it is the work of the Holy Spirit to communicate
truth, to impart truth, to those who receive Him.
This comes out in the passage given above, and, if
possible, it comes out even more clearly in John xvi.
13, R. V., “Howbeit when He, the Spirit of truth, is
come, He shall guide you into all the truth: for He
shall not speak from Himself; but what things soever
He shall hear, these shall He speak: and He shall
declare unto you the things that are to come.” All
truth is from the Holy Spirit. It is only as He teaches
us that we come to know the truth.

XVI. The Spirit of Wisdom and Understanding.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding in Isa. xi. 2, “And the Spirit of the
Lord shall rest upon him, the Spirit of wisdom and
understanding, the Spirit of counsel and might, the
[pg 061]
Spirit of knowledge and of the fear of the Lord.”
The significance of the name is so plain as to need no
explanation. It is evident both from the words used
and from the context that it is the work of the Holy
Spirit to impart wisdom and understanding to those
who receive Him. Those who receive the Holy Spirit
receive the Spirit “of power” and “of love” and “of
a sound mind” or sound sense (2 Tim. i. 7).

XVII. The Spirit of Counsel and Might.

We find this name used of the Holy Spirit in the
passage given under the preceding head. The meaning
of this name too is obvious, the Holy Spirit is
called “the Spirit of counsel and of might” because
He gives us counsel in all our plans and strength to
carry them out (cf. Acts viii. 29; xvi. 6, 7; i. 8). It
is our privilege to have God’s own counsel in all our
plans and God’s strength in all the work that we
undertake for Him. We receive them by receiving
the Holy Spirit, the Spirit of counsel and might.

XVIII. The Spirit of Knowledge and of the Fear of
the Lord.

This name also is used in the passage given above
(Isa. xi. 2). The significance of this name is also
obvious. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to impart
knowledge to us and to beget in us a reverence for
Jehovah, that reverence that reveals itself above all in
obedience to His commandments. The one who
receives the Holy Spirit finds his delight in the fear of
the Lord. (See Isa. xi. 3, R. V.) The three suggestive
[pg 062]
names just given refer especially to the gracious
work of the Holy Spirit in the servant of the Lord,
that is Jesus Christ (Isa. xi. 1-5).

XIX. The Spirit of Life.

The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of life in Rom.
viii. 2, “For the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus
hath made me free from the law of sin and death.”
The Holy Spirit is called the Spirit of life because it is
His work to impart life (cf. John vi. 63, R. V.; Ezek.
xxxvii. 1-10). In the context in which the name is
found in the passage given above, beginning back in
the seventh chapter of Romans, seventh verse, Paul is
drawing a contrast between the law of Moses outside a
man, holy and just and good, it is true, but impotent,
and the living Spirit of God in the heart, imparting
spiritual and moral life to the believer and enabling
him thus to meet the requirements of the law of God,
so that what the law alone could not do, in that it was
weak through the flesh, the Spirit of God imparting
life to the believer and dwelling in the heart enables
him to do, so that the righteousness of the law is fulfilled
in those who walk not after the flesh but after
the Spirit. (See Rom. viii. 2-4.) The Holy Spirit is
therefore called “the Spirit of life,” because He imparts
spiritual life and consequent victory over sin to
those who receive Him.

XX. The Oil of Gladness.

The Holy Spirit is called the “oil of gladness” in
Heb. i. 9, “Thou hast loved righteousness, and hated
[pg 063]
iniquity; therefore God, even thy God, hath anointed
thee with the oil of gladness above thy fellows.” Some
one may ask what reason have we for supposing that
“the oil of gladness” in this passage is a name of the
Holy Spirit. The answer is found in a comparison of
Heb. i. 9, with Acts x. 38 and Luke iv. 18. In Acts
x. 38 we read “how God anointed Jesus of Nazareth
with the Holy Ghost and with power,” and in Luke
iv. 18, Jesus Himself is recorded as saying, “The Spirit
of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath anointed Me
to preach the Gospel to the poor,” etc. In both of
these passages, we are told it was the Holy Spirit with
which Jesus was anointed and as in the passage in Hebrews
we are told that it was with the oil of gladness that
He was anointed; so, of course, the only possible conclusion
is that the oil of gladness means the Holy
Spirit. What a beautiful and suggestive name it is for
Him whose fruit is, first, “love” then “joy” (Gal.
v. 22). The Holy Spirit becomes a source of boundless
joy to those who receive Him; He so fills and satisfies
the soul, that the soul who receives Him does not
thirst forever (John iv. 14). No matter how great the
afflictions with which the believer receives the Word,
still he will have “the joy of the Holy Ghost” (1 Thess.
i. 6). On the Day of Pentecost, when the disciples
were baptized with the Holy Spirit, they were so filled
with ecstatic joy that others looking on them thought
they were intoxicated. They said, “These men are
full of new wine.” And Paul draws a comparison between
abnormal intoxication that comes through excess
of wine and the wholesome exhilaration from which
[pg 064]
there is no reaction that comes through being filled
with the Spirit (Eph. v. 18-20). When God anoints
one with the Holy Spirit, it is as if He broke a precious
alabaster box of oil of gladness above their heads until
it ran down to the hem of their garments and the whole
person was suffused with joy unspeakable and full of
glory.

XXI. The Spirit of Grace.

The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of grace” in
Heb. x. 29, “Of how much sorer punishment, suppose
ye, shall he be thought worthy, who hath trodden
underfoot the Son of God, and hath counted the
blood of the covenant, wherewith he was sanctified,
an unholy thing, and hath done despite unto the Spirit
of grace?” This name brings out the fact that it is
the Holy Spirit’s work to administer and apply the
grace of God: He Himself is gracious, it is true, but
the name means far more than that, it means that He
makes ours experimentally the manifold grace of God.
It is only by the work of the Spirit of grace in our
hearts that we are enabled to appropriate to ourselves
that infinite fullness of grace that God has, from the
beginning, bestowed upon us in Jesus Christ. It is
ours from the beginning, as far as belonging to us is
concerned, but it is only ours experimentally as we
claim it by the power of the Spirit of grace.

XXII. The Spirit of Grace and of Supplication.

The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of grace and of
supplication” in Zech. xii. 10, R. V., “And I will
[pg 065]
pour upon the house of David, and upon the inhabitants
of Jerusalem, the Spirit of grace and of supplication;
and they shall look unto Me whom they have pierced:
and they shall mourn for him, as one mourneth for his
only son, and shall be in bitterness for his first-born.”
The phrase, “the Spirit of grace and of supplication”
in this passage is beyond a doubt a name of the Holy
Spirit. The name “the Spirit of grace” we have already
had under the preceding head, but here there is a
further thought of that operation of grace that leads us
to pray intensely. The Holy Spirit is so called because
it is He that teaches to pray because all true prayer is
in the Spirit (Jude 20). We of ourselves know not
how to pray as we ought, but it is the work of the
Holy Spirit of intercession to make intercession for us
with groanings which cannot be uttered and to lead us
out in prayer according to the will of God (Rom.
viii. 26, 27). The secret of all true and effective praying
is knowing the Holy Spirit as “the Spirit of grace
and of supplication.”

XXIII. The Spirit of Glory.

The Holy Spirit is called “the Spirit of glory” in
1 Pet. iv. 14, “If ye be reproached for the name of
Christ, happy are ye; for the Spirit of glory and of God
resteth upon you: on their part He is evil spoken of,
but on your part He is glorified.” This name does
not merely teach that the Holy Spirit is infinitely
glorious Himself, but it rather teaches that He imparts
the glory of God to us, just as the Spirit of truth imparts
truth to us, and as the Spirit of life imparts life
[pg 066]
to us, and as the Spirit of wisdom and understanding
and of counsel and might and knowledge and of
the fear of the Lord imparts to us wisdom and understanding
and counsel and might and knowledge and
the fear of the Lord, and as the Spirit of grace applies
and administers to us the manifold grace of God, so
the Spirit of glory is the administrator to us of God’s
glory. In the immediately preceding verse we read,
“But rejoice, inasmuch as ye are partakers of Christ’s
sufferings: that, when His glory shall be revealed, ye
may be glad also with exceeding joy.” It is in this
connection that He is called the Spirit of glory. We
find a similar connection between the sufferings which
we endure and the glory which the Holy Spirit imparts
to us in Rom. viii. 16, 17, “The Spirit Himself beareth
witness with our spirit, that we are children of God:
and if children, then heirs; heirs of God and joint-heirs
with Christ; if so be that we suffer with Him,
that we may be also glorified with Him.” The
Holy Spirit is the administrator of glory as well as
of grace, or rather of the grace that culminates in
glory.

XXIV. The Eternal Spirit.

The Holy Spirit is called “the eternal Spirit” in
Heb. ix. 14, “How much more shall the blood of
Christ, who through the eternal Spirit offered Himself
without spot to God, purge your conscience from dead
works to serve the living God.” The eternity and the
Deity and infinite majesty of the Holy Spirit are
brought out by this name.

[pg 067]

XXV. The Comforter.

The Holy Spirit is called “the Comforter” over
and over again in the Scriptures. For example in John
xiv. 26, we read, “But the Comforter which is the Holy
Ghost, whom the Father will send in My name, He
shall teach you all things, and bring all things to your
remembrance, whatsoever I have said unto you.” And
in John xv. 26, “But when the Comforter is come,
whom I will send unto you from the Father, even
the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from the Father,
He shall testify of Me.” (See also John xvi. 27.)
The word translated “Comforter” in these passages
means that, but it means much more beside. It is a
word difficult of adequate translation into any one
word in English. The translators of the Revised
Version found difficulty in deciding with what word to
render the Greek word so translated. They have
suggested in the margin of the Revised Version “advocate”
“helper” and a simple transference of the
Greek word into English, “Paraclete.” The word
translated “Comforter” means literally, “one called
to another’s side,” the idea being, one right at hand to
take another’s part. It is the same word that is translated
“advocate” in 1 John ii. 1, “My little children,
these things write I unto you, that ye sin not. And if
any man sin, we have an advocate with the Father,
Jesus Christ the righteous.” But “advocate,” as we
now understand it, does not give the full force of the
Greek word so rendered. Etymologically “advocate”
means nearly the same thing. Advocate is Latin
(“advocatus”) and it means “one called to another to
[pg 068]
take his part,” but in our modern usage, the word has
acquired a restricted meaning. The Greek word translated
“Comforter” (Parakleetos) means “one called
alongside,” that is one called to stand constantly by
one’s side and who is ever ready to stand by us and
take our part in everything in which his help is needed.
It is a wonderfully tender and expressive name for the
Holy One. Sometimes when we think of the Holy
Spirit, He seems to be so far away, but when we think
of the Parakleetos, or in plain English our “Stand-byer”
or our “part-taker,” how near He is. Up to
the time that Jesus made this promise to the disciples,
He Himself had been their Parakleetos. When they
were in any emergency or difficulty they turned to
Him. On one occasion, for example, the disciples
were in doubt as to how to pray and they turned to Jesus
and said, “Lord, teach us to pray.” And the Lord
taught them the wonderful prayer that has come down
through the ages (Luke xi. 1-4). On another occasion,
Peter was sinking in the waves of Galilee and
he cried, “Lord, save me,” and immediately Jesus
stretched forth His hand and caught him and saved
him (Matt. xiv. 30, 31). In every extremity they
turned to Him. Just so now that Jesus is gone to the
Father, we have another Person, just as Divine as He
is, just as wise as He, just as strong as He, just as
loving as He, just as tender as He, just as ready and
just as able to help, who is always right by our side.
Yes, better yet, who dwells in our heart, who will take
hold and help if we only trust Him to do it.

If the truth of the Holy Spirit as set forth in the
[pg 069]
name “Parakleetos” once gets into our heart and
abides there, it will banish all loneliness forever; for
how can we ever be lonely when this best of all Friends
is ever with us? In the last eight years, I have been
called upon to endure what would naturally be a very
lonely life. Most of the time I am separated from
wife and children by the calls of duty. For eighteen
months consecutively, I was separated from almost all
my family by many thousands of miles. The loneliness
would have been unendurable were it not for the
one all-sufficient Friend, who was always with me. I
recall one night walking up and down the deck of a
storm-tossed steamer in the South Seas. Most of my
family were 18,000 miles away; the remaining member
of my family was not with me. The officers were
busy on the bridge, and I was pacing the deck alone,
and the thought came to me, “Here you are all alone.”
Then another thought came, “I am not alone; by my
side as I walk this deck in the loneliness and the
storm walks the Holy Spirit” and He was enough.
I said something like this once at a Bible conference
in St. Paul. A doctor came to me at the close of the
meeting and gently said, “I want to thank you for
that thought about the Holy Spirit always being with
us. I am a doctor. Oftentimes I have to drive far
out in the country in the night and storm to attend a
case, and I have often been so lonely, but I will never
be lonely again. I will always know that by my side
in my doctor’s carriage, the Holy Spirit goes with me.”

If this thought of the Holy Spirit as the ever-present
Paraclete once gets into your heart and abides there, it
[pg 070]
will banish all fear forever. How can we be afraid in
the face of any peril, if this Divine One is by our side
to counsel us and to take our part? There may be a
howling mob about us, or a lowering storm, it matters
not. He stands between us and both mob and storm.
One night I had promised to walk four miles to a
friend’s house after an evening session of a conference.
The path led along the side of a lake. As I started
for my friend’s house, a thunder-storm was coming up.
I had not counted on this but as I had promised, I felt
I ought to go. The path led along the edge of the
lake, oftentimes very near to the edge, sometimes the
lake was near the path and sometimes many feet below.
The night was so dark with the clouds one could not
see ahead. Now and then there would be a blinding
flash of lightning in which you could see where the path
was washed away, and then it would be blacker than
ever. You could hear the lake booming below. It
seemed a dangerous place to walk but that very week,
I had been speaking upon the Personality of the Holy
Spirit and about the Holy Spirit as an ever-present
Friend, and the thought came to me, “What was it
you were telling the people in the address about the
Holy Spirit as an ever-present Friend?” And then I
said to myself, “Between me and the boiling lake and
the edge of the path walks the Holy Spirit,” and I
pushed on fearless and glad. When we were in
London, a young lady attended the meeting one afternoon
in the Royal Albert Hall. She had an abnormal
fear of the dark. It was absolutely impossible for her
to go into a dark room alone, but the thought of the
[pg 071]
Holy Spirit as an ever-present Friend sank into her
mind. She went home and told her mother what a
wonderful thought she had heard that day, and how it
had banished forever all fear from her. It was already
growing very dark in the London winter afternoon and
her mother looked up and said, “Very well, let us
see if it is real. Go up to the top of the house and
shut yourself alone in a dark room.” She instantly
sprang to her feet, bounded up the stairs, went into a
room that was totally dark and shut the door and sat
down. All fear was gone, and as she wrote the next
day, the whole room seemed to be filled with a wonderful
glory, the glory of the presence of the Holy Spirit.

In the thought of the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete
there is also a cure for insomnia. For two awful years,
I suffered from insomnia. Night after night I would
go to bed apparently almost dead for sleep; it seemed
as though I must sleep, but I could not sleep; oh, the
agony of those two years! It seemed as if I would
lose my mind if I did not get relief. Relief came at
last and for years I went on without the suggestion
of trouble from insomnia. Then one night I retired
to my room in the Institute, lay down expecting to
fall asleep in a moment as I usually did, but scarcely
had my head touched the pillow when I became
aware that insomnia was back again. If one has
ever had it, he never forgets it and never mistakes
it. It seemed as if insomnia were sitting on the
foot-board of my bed, grinning at me and saying, “I am
back again for another two years.” “Oh,” I thought,
“two more awful years of insomnia.” But that very
[pg 072]
morning, I had been lecturing to our students in the
Institute about the Personality of the Holy Spirit and
about the Holy Spirit as an ever-present Friend, and
at once the thought came to me, “What were you
talking to the students about this morning? What
were you telling them?” and I looked up and said,
“Thou blessed Spirit of God, Thou art here. I am
not alone. If Thou hast anything to say to me, I will
listen,” and He began to open to me some of the deep
and precious things about my Lord and Saviour, things,
that filled my soul with joy and rest, and the next thing
I knew I was asleep and the next thing I knew it was
to-morrow morning. So whenever insomnia has come
my way since, I have simply remembered that the Holy
Spirit was there and I have looked up to Him to speak
to me and to teach me and He has done so and insomnia
has taken its flight.

In the thought of the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete
there is a cure for a breaking heart. How many aching,
breaking hearts there are in this world of ours, so full
of death and separation from those we most dearly love.
How many a woman there is, who a few years ago, or
a few months or a few weeks ago, had no care, no
worry, for by her side was a Christian husband who
was so wise and strong that the wife rested all responsibility
upon him and she walked care-free through life
and satisfied with his love and companionship. But
one awful day, he was taken from her. She was left
alone and all the cares and responsibilities rested upon
her. How empty that heart has been ever since; how
empty the whole world has been. She has just dragged
[pg 073]
through her life and her duties as best she could with
an aching and almost breaking heart. But there is One,
if she only knew it, wiser and more loving than
the tenderest husband, One willing to bear all the care
and responsibilities of life for her, One who is able, if,
she will only let Him, to fill every nook and corner
of her empty and aching heart; that One is the Paraclete.
I said something like this in St. Andrews’ Hall in
Glasgow. At the close of the meeting a sad-faced
Christian woman, wearing a widow’s garb, came to me
as I stepped out of the hall into the reception room.
She hurried to me and said, “Dr. Torrey, this is the
anniversary of my dear husband’s death. Just one year
ago to-day he was taken from me. I came to-day to
see if you could not speak some word to help me.
You have given me just the word I need. I will never
be lonesome again.” A year and a half passed by. I
was on the yacht of a friend on the lochs of the Clyde.
One day a little boat put out from shore and came
alongside the yacht. One of the first to come up the
side of the yacht was this widow. She hurried to me
and the first thing she said was, “The thought that
you gave me that day in St. Andrews’ Hall on the
anniversary of my husband’s leaving me has been with
me ever since, and the Holy Spirit does satisfy me and
fill my heart.”

But it is in our work for our Master that the thought
of the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete comes with greatest
helpfulness. I think it may be permissible to illustrate
it from my own experience. I entered the ministry
because I was literally forced to. For years I refused
[pg 074]
to be a Christian, because I was determined that I
would not be a preacher, and I feared that if I surrendered
to Christ I must enter the ministry. My
conversion turned upon my yielding to Him at this
point. The night I yielded, I did not say, “I will
accept Christ” or “I will give up sin,” or anything of
that sort, I simply cried, “Take this awful burden off
my heart, and I will preach the Gospel.” But no one
could be less fitted by natural temperament for the
ministry than I. From early boyhood, I was extraordinarily
timid and bashful. Even after I had entered
Yale College, when I would go home in the summer
and my mother would call me in to meet her friends,
I was so frightened that when I thought I spoke I did
not make an audible sound. When her friends had
gone, my mother would ask, “Why didn’t you say
something to them?” And I would reply that I supposed
I had, but my mother would say, “You did not
utter a sound.” Think of a young fellow like that
entering the ministry. I never mustered courage even
to speak in a public prayer-meeting until after I was in the
theological seminary. Then I felt, if I was to enter
the ministry, I must be able to at least speak in a
prayer-meeting. I learned a little piece by heart to
say, but when the hour came, I forgot much of it in
my terror. At the critical moment, I grasped the
back of the settee in front of me and pulled myself
hurriedly to my feet and held on to the settee. One
Niagara seemed to be going up one side and another
down another; my voice faltered. I repeated as much
as I could remember and sat down. Think of a man
[pg 075]
like that entering the ministry. In the early days of
my ministry, I would write my sermons out in full and
commit them to memory, stand up and twist a button
until I had repeated it off as best I could and would
then sink back into the pulpit chair with a sense of
relief that that was over for another week. I cannot
tell you what I suffered in those early days of my
ministry. But the glad day came when I came to
know the Holy Spirit as the Paraclete. When the
thought got possession of me that when I stood up to
preach, there was Another who stood by my side, that
while the audience saw me God saw Him, and that the
responsibility was all upon Him, and that He was
abundantly able to meet it and care for it all, and that
all I had to do was to stand back as far out of sight as
possible and let Him do the work. I have no dread of
preaching now; preaching is the greatest joy of my
life, and sometimes when I stand up to speak and
realize that He is there, that all the responsibility is
upon Him, such a joy fills my heart that I can scarce
restrain myself from shouting and leaping. He is just
as ready to help us in all our work; in our Sunday-school
classes; in our personal work and in every other
line of Christian effort. Many hesitate to speak to
others about accepting Christ. They are afraid they
will not say the right thing; they fear that they will do
more harm than they will good. You certainly will
if you do it, but if you will just believe in the Paraclete
and trust Him to say it and to say it in His way,
you will never do harm but always good. It may
seem at the time that you have accomplished nothing,
[pg 076]
but perhaps years after you will find out you have
accomplished much and even if you do not find it out
in this world, you will find it out in eternity.

There are many ways in which the Paraclete stands
by us and helps us of which we will speak at length
when we come to study His work. He stands by us
when we pray (Rom. viii. 26, 27); when we study
the Word (John xiv. 26; xvi. 12-14); when we do
personal work (Acts viii. 29); when we preach or
teach (1 Cor. ii. 4); when we are tempted (Rom. viii.
2); when we leave this world (Acts vii. 54-60). Let
us get this thought firmly fixed now and for all
time that the Holy Spirit is One called to our side to
take our part.

Chapter VI. The Work of the Holy Spirit in the Material
Universe.

There are many who think of the work of
the Holy Spirit as limited to man. But God
reveals to us in His Word that the Holy
Spirit’s work has a far wider scope than this. We are
taught in the Bible that the Holy Spirit has a threefold
work in the material universe.

I. The creation of the material universe and of man is
effected through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

We read in Ps. xxxiii. 6, “By the word of the Lord
were the heavens made; and all the host of them by
the breath of His mouth.” We have already seen in
our study of the names of the Holy Spirit that the
Holy Spirit is the breath of Jehovah, so this passage
teaches us that all the hosts of heaven, all the stellar
worlds, were made by the Holy Spirit. We are taught
explicitly in Job xxxiii. 4, that the creation of man is
the Holy Spirit’s work. We read, “The Spirit of God
hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath
given me life.” Here both the creation of the material
frame and the impartation of life are attributed to the
agency of the Holy Spirit. In other passages of Scripture
we are taught that creation was in and through
the Son of God. For example we read in Col. i. 16,
[pg 078]
R. V., “For in Him were all things created, in the
heavens and upon the earth, things visible and things
invisible, whether thrones or dominions or principalities
or powers; all things have been created through
Him and unto Him.” In a similar way we read in
Heb. i. 2, that God “hath at the end of these days
spoken unto us in His Son, whom He appointed heir
of all things, through whom also He made the worlds
(ages).” In the passage given above (Ps. xxxiii. 6), the
Word as well as the Spirit are mentioned in connection
with creation. In the account of the creation
and the rehabilitation of this world to be the abode of
man, Father, Word and Holy Spirit are all mentioned
(Gen. i. 1-3). It is evident from a comparison of
these passages that the Father, Son and Holy Spirit are
all active in the creative work. The Father works in
His Son, through His Spirit.

II. Not only is the original creation of the material
universe attributed to the agency of the Holy Spirit in
the Bible but the maintenance of living creatures as
well.

We read in Ps. civ. 29, 30, “Thou hidest Thy face,
they are troubled: Thou takest away their breath,
they die, and return to their dust. Thou sendest forth
Thy Spirit, they are created: and Thou renewest the face
of the earth.” The clear indication of this passage is
that not only are things brought into being through the
agency of the Holy Spirit, but that they are maintained
in being by the Holy Spirit. Not only is spiritual life
maintained by the Spirit of God but material being as
well. Things exist and continue by the presence of
[pg 079]
the Spirit of God in them. This does not mean for a
moment that the universe is God, but it does mean that
the universe is maintained in its being by the immanence
of God in it. This is the great and solemn truth
that lies at the foundation of the awful and debasing
perversions of Pantheism in its countless forms.

III. But not only is the universe created through
the agency of the Holy Spirit and maintained in its existence
through the agency of the Holy Spirit, but the
development of the earlier, chaotic, undeveloped states of the
material universe into higher orders of being is effected
through the agency of the Holy Spirit.

We read in Gen, i. 2, 3, “And the earth was (or
became) without form and void; and darkness was
upon the face of the deep. And the Spirit of God
moved upon the face of the waters. And God said,
Let there be light: and there was light.” We may
take this account to refer either to the original creation
of the universe, or we may take it as the deeper
students of the Word are more and more inclining to
take it, as the account of the rehabilitation of the earth
after its plunging into chaos through sin after the
original creation described in v. 1. In either case we
have set before us here the development of the earth
from a chaotic and unformed condition into its present
highly developed condition through the agency of the
Holy Spirit. We see the process carried still further
in Gen. ii. 7, “And the Lord God formed man of the
dust of the ground, and breathed into his nostrils the
breath of life; and man became a living soul.” Here
again it is through the agency of the breath of God,
[pg 080]
that a higher thing, human life, comes into being.
Naturally, as the Bible is the history of man’s redemption
it does not dwell upon this phase of truth, but
seemingly each new and higher impartation of the
Spirit of God brings forth a higher order of being.
First, inert matter; then motion; then light; then vegetable
life; then animal life; then man; and, as we shall
see later, then the new man; and then Jesus Christ,
the supreme Man, the completion of God’s thought of
man, the Son of Man. This is the Biblical thought
of development from the lower to the higher by the
agency of the Spirit of God as distinguished from the
godless evolution that has been so popular in the generation
now closing. It is, however, only hinted at in
the Bible. The more important phases of the Holy
Spirit’s work, His work in redemption, are those that
are emphasized and iterated and reiterated. The Word
of God is even more plainly active in each state of
progress of creation. God said occurs ten times in the
first chapter of Genesis.

Chapter VII. The Holy Spirit Convicting the World of Sin,
of Righteousness and of Judgment.

Our salvation begins experimentally with our
being brought to a profound sense that we
need a Saviour. The Holy Spirit is the One
who brings us to this realization of our need. We
read in John xvi. 8-11, R. V., “And He, when He is
come, will convict the world in respect of sin, and of
righteousness, and of judgment: of sin, because they
believe not on Me; of righteousness, because I go to
the Father, and ye behold Me no more; of judgment,
because the prince of this world hath been judged.”

I. We see in this passage that it is the work of the Holy
Spirit to convict men of sin. That is, to so convince of
their error in respect to sin as to produce a deep sense
of personal guilt. We have the first recorded fulfillment
of this promise in Acts ii. 36, 37, “Therefore let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made that same Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both
Lord and Christ. Now when they heard this, they
were pricked in their heart, and said unto Peter and to
the rest of the apostles, Men and brethren, what shall
we do?” The Holy Spirit had come just as Jesus had
promised that He would and when He came He convicted
the world of sin: He pricked them to their
heart with a sense of their awful guilt in the rejection
[pg 082]
of their Lord and their Christ. If the Apostle Peter
had spoken the same words the day before Pentecost,
no such results would have followed; but now Peter
was filled with the Holy Spirit (v. 4) and the Holy
Spirit took Peter and his words and through the instrumentality
of Peter and his words convicted his hearers.
The Holy Spirit is the only One who can convince
men of sin. The natural heart is “deceitful above all
things and desperately wicked,” and there is nothing in
which the inbred deceitfulness of our hearts comes out
more clearly than in our estimations of ourselves. We
are all of us sharp-sighted enough to the faults of others
but we are all blind by nature to our own faults. Our
blindness to our own shortcomings is oftentimes little
short of ludicrous. We have a strange power of exaggerating
our imaginary virtues and losing sight utterly
of our defects. The longer and more thoroughly one
studies human nature, the more clearly will he see how
hopeless is the task of convincing other men of sin.
We cannot do it, nor has God left it for us to do. He
has put this work into the hands of One who is abundantly
able to do it, the Holy Spirit. One of the worst
mistakes that we can make in our efforts to bring men
to Christ is to try to convince them of sin in any power
of our own. Unfortunately, it is one of the commonest
mistakes. Preachers will stand in the pulpit
and argue and reason with men to make them see and
realize that they are sinners. They make it as plain
as day; it is a wonder that their hearers do not see it;
but they do not. Personal workers sit down beside an
inquirer and reason with him, and bring forward passages
[pg 083]
of Scripture in a most skillful way, the very passages
that are calculated to produce the effect desired
and yet there is no result. Why? Because we are
trying to do the Holy Spirit’s work, the work that He
alone can do, convince men of sin. If we would only
bear in mind our own utter inability to convince men
of sin, and cast ourselves upon Him in utter helplessness
to do the work, we would see results.

At the close of an inquiry meeting in our church in
Chicago, one of our best workers brought to me an engineer
on the Pan Handle Railway with the remark,
“I wish that you would speak to this man. I have
been talking to him two hours with no result.” I sat
down by his side with my open Bible and in less than
ten minutes that man, under deep conviction of sin,
was on his knees crying to God for mercy. The
worker who had brought him to me said when the man
had gone out, “That is very strange.” “What is
strange?” I asked. “Do you know,” the worker
said, “I used exactly the same passages in dealing with
that man that you did, and though I had worked with
him for two hours with no result, in ten minutes with
the same passages of Scripture, he was brought under
conviction of sin and accepted Christ.” What was
the explanation? Simply this, for once that worker
had forgotten something that she seldom forgot,
namely, that the Holy Spirit must do the work. She
had been trying to convince the man of sin. She had
used the right passages; she had reasoned wisely; she
had made out a clear case, but she had not looked to
the only One who could do the work. When she
[pg 084]
brought the man to me and said, “I have worked with
him for two hours with no result,” I thought to myself,
“If this expert worker has dealt with him for two
hours with no result, what is the use of my dealing
with him?” and in a sense of utter helplessness I
cast myself upon the Holy Spirit to do the work and
He did it.

But while we cannot convince men of sin, there is
One who can, the Holy Spirit. He can convince the
most hardened and blinded man of sin. He can change
men and women from utter carelessness and indifference
to a place where they are overwhelmed with a
sense of their need of a Saviour. How often we have
seen this illustrated. Some years ago, the officers of
the Chicago Avenue Church were burdened over the
fact that there was so little profound conviction of sin
manifested in our meetings. There were conversions,
a good many were being added to the church, but very
few were coming with an apparently overwhelming
conviction of sin. One night one of the officers of
the church said, “Brethren, I am greatly troubled by
the fact that we have so little conviction of sin in our
meetings. While we are having conversions and many
accessions to the church, there is not that deep conviction
of sin that I like to see, and I propose that we,
the officers of the church, meet from night to night to
pray that there may be more conviction of sin in our
meetings.” The suggestion was taken up by the entire
committee. We had not been praying many
nights when one Sunday evening I saw in the front seat
underneath the gallery a showily dressed man with a
[pg 085]
very hard face. A large diamond was blazing from his
shirt front. He was sitting beside one of the deacons.
As I looked at him as I preached, I thought to myself,
“That man is a sporting man, and Deacon Young has
been fishing to-day.” It turned out that I was right.
The man was the son of a woman who kept a sporting
house in a Western city. I think he had never been in
a Protestant service before. Deacon Young had got
hold of him that day on the street and brought him to
the meeting. As I preached the man’s eyes were
riveted upon me. When we went down-stairs to the
after meeting, Deacon Young took the man with him.
I was late dealing with the anxious that night. As I
finished with the last one about eleven o’clock, and almost
everybody had gone home, Deacon Young came over
to me and said, “I have a man over here I wish you
would come and speak with.” It was this big sporting
man. He was deeply agitated. “Oh,” he groaned,
“I don’t know what is the matter with me. I never
felt this way before in all my life,” and he sobbed and
shook like a leaf. Then he told me this story: “I
started out this afternoon to go down to Cottage Grove
Avenue to meet some men and spend the afternoon
gambling. As I passed by the park over yonder, some
of your young men were holding an open air meeting
and I stopped to listen. I saw one man testifying
whom I had known in a life of sin, and I waited to
hear what he had to say. When he finished I went on
down the street. I had not gone far when some strange
power took hold of me and brought me back and I
stayed through the meeting. Then this gentleman
[pg 086]
spoke to me and brought me over to your church, to
your Yoke Fellows’ Meeting. I stayed to supper with
them and he brought me up to hear you preach, then
he brought me down to this meeting.” Here he
stopped and sobbed, “Oh, I don’t know what is the
matter with me. I feel awful. I never felt this way
before in all my life,” and his great frame shook with
emotion. “I know what is the matter with you,” I
said. “You are under conviction of sin; the Holy
Spirit is dealing with you,” and I pointed him to
Christ, and he knelt down and cried to God for
mercy, to forgive his sins for Christ’s sake.

Not long after, one Sunday night I saw another man
sitting in the gallery almost exactly above where this
man had sat. A diamond flashed also from this man’s
shirt front. I said to myself, “There is another
sporting man.” He turned out to be a travelling man
who was also a sporting man. As I preached, he leaned
further and further forward in his seat. In the midst of
my sermon, without any intention of giving out the invitation,
simply wishing to drive a point home, I said,
“Who will accept Jesus Christ to-night?” Quick as a
flash the man sprang to his feet and shouted, “I will.”
It rang through the building like the crack of a revolver.
I dropped my sermon and instantly gave out the invitation;
men and women and young people rose all over
the building to yield themselves to Christ. God was
answering prayer and the Holy Spirit was convincing
men of sin. The Holy Spirit can convince men of
sin. We need not despair of any one, no matter how
indifferent they may appear, no matter how worldly,
[pg 087]
no matter how self-satisfied, no matter how irreligious,
the Holy Spirit can convince men of sin. A young
minister of very rare culture and ability once came to
me and said, “I have a great problem on my hands.
I am the pastor of the church in a university town.
My congregation is largely made up of university professors
and students. They are most delightful people.
They have very high moral ideals and are living most
exemplary lives. Now,” he continued, “if I had a
congregation in which there were drunkards and outcasts
and thieves, I could convince them of sin, but my problem
is how to make people like that, the most delightful
people in the world, believe that they are sinners,
how to convict them of sin.” I replied, “It is impossible.
You cannot do it, but the Holy Spirit can.”
And so He can. Some of the deepest manifestations
of conviction of sin I have ever seen have been on the
part of men and women of most exemplary conduct and
attractive personality. But they were sinners and the
Holy Spirit opened their eyes to the fact.

While it is the Holy Spirit who convinces men of
sin, He does it through us. This comes out very clearly
in the context of the passage before us. Jesus says in
the seventh verse, R. V., of the chapter, “Nevertheless
I tell you the truth; It is expedient for you that
I go away: for if I go not away, the Comforter will
not come unto you; but if I go, I will send Him unto
you.” Then He goes on to say, “And when He is come
(unto you), He will convict the world of sin.” That
is, our Lord Jesus sends the Holy Spirit unto us (unto
believers), and when He is come unto us believers,
[pg 088]
through us to whom He has come, He convinces the
world. On the Day of Pentecost, it was the Holy
Spirit who convinced the 3,000 of sin, but the Holy
Spirit came to the group of believers and through them
convinced the outside world. As far as the Holy
Scriptures definitely tell us, the Holy Spirit has no Way
of getting at the unsaved world except through the
agency of those who are already saved. Every conversion
recorded in the Acts of the Apostles was through
the agency of men or women already saved. Take,
for example, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus. If
there ever was a miraculous conversion, it was that.
The glorified Jesus appeared visibly to Saul on his way
to Damascus, but before Saul could come out clearly
into the light as a saved man, human instrumentality
must be brought in. Saul prostrate on the ground cried
to the risen Christ asking what he must do, and the
Lord told him to go into Damascus and there it would
be told him what he must do. And then Ananias, “a
certain disciple,” was brought on the scene as the
human instrumentality through whom the Holy Spirit
should do His work (cf. Acts ix. 17; xxii. 16).
Take the case of Cornelius. Here again was a most
remarkable conversion through supernatural agency.
“An angel” appeared to Cornelius, but the angel did not
tell Cornelius what to do to be saved. The angel rather
said to Cornelius, “Send men to Joppa, and call for
Simon, whose surname is Peter, who shall tell thee
words whereby thou and all thy house shall be saved”
(Acts xi. 13, 14). So we may go right through the
record of the conversions in the Acts of the Apostles
[pg 089]
and we will see they were all effected through human
instrumentality. How solemn, how almost overwhelming,
is the thought that the Holy Spirit has no
way of getting at the unsaved with His saving power
except through the instrumentality of us who are already
Christians. If we realized that, would we not be more
careful to offer to the Holy Spirit a more free and
unobstructed channel for His all-important work?
The Holy Spirit needs human lips to speak through.
He needs yours, and He needs lives so clean and so
utterly surrendered to Him that He can work through
them.

Notice of which sin it is that the Holy Spirit convinces
men—the sin of unbelief in Jesus Christ, “Of
sin because they believe not on Me,” says Jesus. Not
the sin of stealing, not the sin of drunkenness, not the
sin of adultery, not the sin of murder, but the sin of
unbelief in Jesus Christ. The one thing that the
eternal God demands of men is that they believe on
Him whom He hath sent (John vi. 29). And the one
sin that reveals men’s rebellion against God and daring
defiance of Him is the sin of not believing on Jesus
Christ, and this is the one sin that the Holy Spirit puts
to the front and emphasizes and of which He convicts
men. This was the sin of which He convicted the
3,000 on the Day of Pentecost. Doubtless, there were
many other sins in their lives, but the one point that
the Holy Spirit brought to the front through the
Apostle Peter was that the One whom they had rejected
was their Lord and Christ, attested so to be by
His resurrection from the dead (Acts ii. 22-36). “And
[pg 090]
when they heard this (namely, that He whom they had
rejected was Lord and Christ) they were pricked in
their hearts.” This is the sin of which the Holy Spirit
convinces men to-day. In regard to the comparatively
minor moralities of life, there is a wide difference
among men, but the thief who rejects Christ and the
honest man who rejects Christ are alike condemned at
the great point of what they do with God’s Son, and
this is the point that the Holy Spirit presses home.
The sin of unbelief is the most difficult of all sins of
which to convince men. The average unbeliever does
not look upon unbelief as a sin. Many an unbeliever
looks upon his unbelief as a mark of intellectual superiority.
Not unfrequently, he is all the more proud
of it because it is the only mark of intellectual superiority
that he possesses. He tosses his head and says,
“I am an agnostic;” “I am a skeptic;” or, “I am
an infidel,” and assumes an air of superiority on that
account. If he does not go so far as that, the unbeliever
frequently looks upon his unbelief as, at the very
worst, a misfortune. He looks for pity rather than for
blame. He says, “Oh, I wish I could believe. I am
so sorry I cannot believe,” and then appeals to us for
pity because he cannot believe, but when the Holy
Spirit touches a man’s heart, he no longer looks upon
unbelief as a mark of intellectual superiority; he does
not look upon it as a mere misfortune; he sees it as
the most daring, decisive and damning of all sins and
is overwhelmed with a sense of his awful guilt in that
he had not believed on the name of the only begotten
Son of God.

[pg 091]

II. But the Holy Spirit not only convicts of sin,
He convicts in respect of righteousness.

He convicts the world in respect of righteousness
because Jesus Christ has gone to the Father, that is He
convicts (convinces with a convincing that is self-condemning)
the world of Christ’s righteousness attested
by His going to the Father. The coming of the Spirit
is in itself a proof that Christ has gone to the Father
(cf. Acts ii. 33) and the Holy Spirit thus opens our
eyes to see that Jesus Christ, whom the world condemned
as an evil-doer, was indeed the righteous One.
The Father sets the stamp of His approval upon His
character and claims by raising Him from the dead and
exalting Him to His own right hand and giving to Him
a name that is above every name. The world at large
to-day claims to believe in the righteousness of Christ
but it does not really believe in the righteousness of
Christ: it has no adequate conception of the righteousness
of Christ. The righteousness which the world
attributes to Christ is not the righteousness which God
attributes to Him, but a poor human righteousness, perhaps
a little better than our own. The world loves to
put the names of other men that it considers good
alongside the name of Jesus Christ. But when the
Spirit of God comes to a man, He convinces him of
the righteousness of Christ; He opens his eyes to see
Jesus Christ standing absolutely alone, not only far
above all men but “far above all principality and
power and might and dominion, and every name that
is named, not only in this world but also in that which
is to come” (Eph. i. 21).

[pg 092]

III. The Holy Spirit also convicts the world of judgment.

The ground upon which the Holy Spirit convinces
men of judgment is upon the ground of the fact that
“the Prince of this world hath been judged” (John
xvi. 11). When Jesus Christ was nailed to the cross,
it seemed as if He were judged there, but in reality it
was the Prince of this world who was judged at the
cross, and, by raising Jesus Christ from the dead, the
Father made it plain to all coming ages that the cross
was not the judgment of Christ, but the judgment of
the Prince of darkness. The Holy Spirit opens our
eyes to see this fact and so convinces us of judgment.
There is a great need to-day that the world be convinced
of judgment. Judgment is a doctrine that has
fallen into the background, that has indeed almost
sunken out of sight. It is not popular to-day to speak
about judgment, or retribution, or hell. One who emphasizes
judgment and future retribution is not thought
to be quite up to date; he is considered “mediæval”
or even “archaic,” but when the Holy Spirit opens the
eyes of men, they believe in judgment. In the early
days of my Christian experience, I had great difficulties
with the Bible doctrine of future retribution. I came
again and again up to what it taught about the eternal
penalties of persistent sin. It seemed as if I could not
believe it: it must not be true. Time and again I
would back away from the stern teachings of Jesus
Christ and the Apostles concerning this matter. But
one night I was waiting upon God that I might know
the Holy Spirit in a fuller manifestation of His presence
[pg 093]
and His power. God gave me what I sought that
night and with this larger experience of the Holy
Spirit’s presence and power, there came such a revelation
of the glory, the infinite glory of Jesus Christ,
that I had no longer any difficulties with what the
Book said about the stern and endless judgment that
would be visited upon those who persistently rejected
this glorious Son of God. From that day to this, while
I have had many a heartache over the Bible doctrine of
future retribution, I have had no intellectual difficulty
with it. I have believed it. The Holy Spirit has convinced
me of judgment.

Chapter VIII. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to Jesus Christ.

When our Lord was talking to His disciples
on the night before His crucifixion of the
Comforter who after His departure was to
come to take His place, He said, “But when the Comforter
is come, whom I will send unto you from the
Father, even the Spirit of truth, which proceedeth from
the Father, He shall bear witness of Me: and ye also
bear witness, because ye have been with Me from the
beginning” (John xv. 26, 27, R. V.), and the Apostle
Peter and the other disciples when they were strictly
commanded by the Jewish Council not to teach in the
name of Jesus said, “We are witnesses of these things,
and so is also the Holy Ghost” (Acts v. 32). It is clear
from these words of Jesus Christ and the Apostles that
it is the work of the Holy Spirit to bear witness concerning
Jesus Christ. We find the Holy Spirit’s testimony
to Jesus Christ in the Scriptures, but beside this
the Holy Spirit bears witness directly to the individual
heart concerning Jesus Christ. He takes His own Scriptures
and interprets them to us and makes them clear
to us. All truth is from the Spirit, for He is “the
Spirit of truth,” but it is especially His work to bear
witness to Him who is the truth, that is Jesus Christ
(John xiv. 6). It is only through the testimony of the
[pg 095]
Holy Spirit directly to our hearts that we ever come to
a true, living knowledge of Jesus Christ (cf. 1 Cor.
xii. 3). No amount of mere reading the written Word
(in the Bible) and no amount of listening to man’s
testimony will ever bring us to a living knowledge of
Christ. It is only when the Holy Spirit Himself takes
the written Word, or takes the testimony of our fellow
man, and interprets it directly to our hearts that we
really come to see and know Jesus as He is. On the
day of Pentecost, Peter gave all his hearers the testimony
of the Scriptures regarding Christ and also gave
them his own testimony; he told them what he and the
other Apostles knew by personal observation regarding
His resurrection, but unless the Holy Spirit Himself
had taken the Scriptures which Peter had brought together
and taken the testimony of Peter and the other
disciples, the 3,000 would not on that day have seen
Jesus as He really was and received Him and been
baptized in His name. The Holy Spirit added His
testimony to that of Peter and that of the written Word.
Mr. Moody used to say in his terse and graphic way
that when Peter said, “Therefore let all the house of
Israel know assuredly that God hath made that same
Jesus, whom ye have crucified, both Lord and Christ
(Acts ii. 36), the Holy Spirit said, ‘Amen’ and the
people saw and believed.” And it is certain that unless
the Holy Spirit had come that day and through Peter
and the other Apostles borne His direct testimony to the
hearts of their hearers, there would have been no saving
vision of Jesus on the part of the people. If you wish
men to get a true view of Jesus Christ, such a view of
[pg 096]
Him that they may believe and be saved, it is not
enough that you give them the Scriptures concerning
Him; it is not enough that you give them your own
testimony, you must seek for them the testimony of the
Holy Spirit and put yourself into such relations with
God that the Holy Spirit may bear His testimony
through you. Neither your testimony, nor even that
of the written Word alone will effect this, though it is
your testimony, or that of the Word that the Holy
Spirit uses. But unless your testimony and that of the
Word is taken up by the Holy Spirit and He Himself
testifies, they will not believe. This explains something
which every experienced worker must have
noticed. We sit down beside an inquirer and open our
Bibles and give him those Scriptures which clearly
reveal Jesus as his atoning Saviour on the cross, a
Saviour from the guilt of sin, and as his risen Saviour,
a Saviour from the power of sin. It is just the truth
the man needs to see and believe in order to be saved,
but he does not see it. We go over these Scriptures
which to us are as plain as day again and again, and
the inquirer sits there in blank darkness; he sees
nothing, he grasps nothing. Sometimes we almost
wonder if the inquirer is stupid that he cannot see it.
No, he is not stupid, except with that spiritual blindness
that possesses every mind unenlightened by the Holy
Spirit (1 Cor. ii. 14). We go over it again and still
he does not see it. We go over it again and his face
lightens up and he exclaims, “I see it. I see it,” and
he sees Jesus and believes and is saved and knows he is
saved there on the spot. What has happened? Simply
[pg 097]
this, the Holy Spirit has borne His testimony and what
was dark as midnight before is as clear as day now.
This explains also why it is that one who has been
long in darkness concerning Jesus Christ so quickly
comes to see the truth when he surrenders his will to
God and seeks light from Him. When he surrenders
his will to God, he has put himself into that attitude
towards God where the Holy Spirit can do His work
(Acts v. 32). Jesus says in John vii. 17, R. V., “If
any man willeth to do His will, he shall know of the
teaching, whether it be of God, or whether I speak from
Myself.” When a man wills to do the will of God,
then the conditions are provided on which the Holy
Spirit works and He illuminates the mind to see the
truth about Jesus and to see that His teaching is the
very Word of God. John writes in John xx. 31,
“But these are written (these things in the Gospel of
John) that ye might believe that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God; and that believing ye might have life
through His name.” John wrote his Gospel for this
purpose, that men might see Jesus as the Christ, the
Son of God, through what he records, and that they
might believe that He is the Christ, the Son of God,
and that thus believing they might have life through
His name. The best book in the world to put into
the hands of one who desires to know about Jesus and
to be saved is the Gospel of John. And yet many a
man has read the Gospel of John over and over and
over again and not seen and believed that Jesus is the
Christ, the Son of God. But let the same man surrender
his will absolutely to God and ask God for light
[pg 098]
as he reads the Gospel and promise God that he will
take his stand on everything in the Gospel that He
shows him to be true and before the man has finished
the Gospel he will see clearly that Jesus is the Christ,
the Son of God, and will believe and have eternal
life. Why? Because he has put himself into the
place where the Holy Spirit can take the things written
in the Gospel and interpret them and bear His testimony.
I have seen this tested and proven time and
time again all around the world. Men have come
to me and said to me that they did not believe that
Jesus is the Christ, the Son of God, and many have
gone farther and said they were agnostics and did
not even know whether there was a personal God.
Then I have told them to read the Gospel of John,
that in that Gospel John presented the evidence
that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of God. Oftentimes
they have told me they have read it over and over
again, and yet were not convinced that Jesus was the
Christ, the Son of God. Then I have said to them,
“You have not read it the right way,” and I have got
them to surrender their will to God (or in case where they
were not sure there was a God, have got them to take
their stand upon the right to follow it wherever it
might carry them). Then I have had them agree to
read the Gospel of John slowly and thoughtfully, and
each time before they read to look up to God, if there
were any God, to help them to understand what they
were to read and to promise Him that they would take
their stand upon whatever He showed them to be true,
and follow it wherever it would carry them. And in
[pg 099]
every instance before they had finished the Gospel they
had come to see that Jesus was the Christ, the Son of
God, and have believed and been saved. They had
put themselves in that position where the Holy Spirit
could bear His testimony to Jesus Christ and He had
done it and through His testimony they saw and believed.

If you wish men to see the truth about Christ, do
not depend upon your own powers of expression and
persuasion, but cast yourself upon the Holy Spirit and
seek for them His testimony and see to it that they put
themselves in the place where the Holy Spirit can
testify. This is the cure for both skepticism and ignorance
concerning Christ. If you yourself are not
clear concerning the truth about Jesus Christ, seek for
yourself the testimony of the Holy Spirit regarding
Christ. Read the Scriptures, read especially the Gospel
of John but do not depend upon the mere reading
of the Word, but before you read it, put yourself in
such an attitude towards God by the absolute surrender
of your will to Him that the Holy Spirit may bear His
testimony in your heart concerning Jesus Christ. What
we all most need is a clear and full vision of Jesus
Christ and this comes through the testimony of the
Holy Spirit. One night a number of our students
came back from the Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago
and said to me, “We had a wonderful meeting at the
mission to-night. There were many drunkards and
outcasts at the front who accepted Christ.” The next
day I met Mr. Harry Monroe, the superintendent of
the mission, on the street, and I said, “Harry, the boys
[pg 100]
say you had a wonderful meeting at the mission last
night.” “Would you like to know how it came
about?” he replied. “Yes.” “Well,” he said, “I
simply held up Jesus Christ and it pleased the Holy
Spirit to illumine the face of Jesus Christ, and men
saw and believed.” It was a unique way of putting it
but it was an expressive way and true to the essential
facts in the case. It is our part to hold up Jesus
Christ, and then look to the Holy Spirit to illumine
His face or to take the truth about Him and make it
clear to the hearts of our hearers and He will do it and
men will see and believe. Of course, we need to be
so walking towards God that the Holy Spirit may take
us as the instruments through whom He will bear His
testimony.

Chapter IX. The Regenerating Work of the Holy Spirit.

The Apostle Paul in Titus iii. 5, R. V., writes,
“Not by works done in righteousness, which
we did ourselves, but according to His mercy
He saved us, through the washing of regeneration and
renewing of the Holy Ghost.” In these words we are
taught that the Holy Spirit renews men, or makes men
new, and that through this renewing of the Holy Spirit,
we are saved. Jesus taught the same in John iii. 3-5,
“Jesus answered and said unto him, Verily, verily, I
say unto thee, Except a man be born again, he cannot
see the kingdom of God. Nicodemus saith unto Him,
How can a man be born when he is old? Can he enter
the second time into his mother’s womb and be
born? Jesus answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee,
Except a man be born of water and of the Spirit, he
cannot enter into the kingdom of God.”

What is regeneration? Regeneration is the impartation
of life, spiritual life, to those who are dead, spiritually
dead, through their trespasses and sins (Eph. ii. 1, R. V.).
It is the Holy Spirit who imparts this life. It is true
that the written Word is the instrument which the
Holy Spirit uses in regeneration. We read in 1 Pet.
i. 23, “Being born again, not of corruptible seed, but
of incorruptible, by the Word of God, which liveth and
[pg 102]
abideth forever.” We read in James i. 18, “Of His
own will begat He us with the Word of truth, that we
should be a kind of first fruits of His creatures.”
These passages make it plain that the Word is the instrument
used in regeneration, but it is only as the
Holy Spirit uses the instrument that the new birth results.
“It is the Spirit that giveth life” (John vi. 63,
A. R. V.). In 2 Cor. iii. 6, we are told that “the letter
killeth, but the Spirit giveth life.”1 This is sometimes
interpreted to mean that the literal interpretation
of Scripture, the interpretation that takes it in its strict
grammatical sense and makes it mean what it says,
kills; but that some spiritual interpretation, an interpretation
that “gives the spirit of the passage,” by making
it mean something it does not say, gives life; and those
who insist upon Scripture meaning exactly what it
says are called “deadly literalists.” This is a favourite
perversion of Scripture with those who do not like to
take the Bible as meaning just what it says and who
find themselves driven into a corner and are looking
about for some convenient way of escape. If one will
read the words in their context, he will see that this
thought was utterly foreign to the mind of Paul. Indeed,
one who will carefully study the epistles of Paul
will find that he himself was a literalist of the literalists.
If literalism is deadly, then the teachings of Paul are
[pg 103]
among the most deadly ever written. Paul will build
an argument upon the turn of a word, upon a number
or a tense. What does the passage mean? The way
to find out what any passage means is to study in their
context the words used. Paul is drawing a contrast
between the Word of God outside of us, written with
ink upon parchment or graven on tables of stone, and
the Word of God written within us in tables that are
hearts of flesh with the Spirit of the living God (v. 3)
and he tells us that if we merely have the Word of
God outside us in a Book or on parchment or on tables
of stone, that it will kill us, that it will only bring condemnation
and death, but that if we have the Word of
God made a living thing in our hearts, written upon
our hearts by the Spirit of the living God, that it will
bring us life.2 No number of Bibles upon our tables or
in our libraries will save us, but the truth of the Bible
written by the Spirit of the living God in our hearts
will save us.

To put the matter of regeneration in another way;
regeneration is the impartation of a new nature, God’s own
nature to the one who is born again (2 Pet. i. 4). Every
human being is born into this world with a perverted
nature; his whole intellectual, affectional and volitional
nature perverted by sin. No matter how excellent our
[pg 104]
human ancestry, we come into this world with a mind
that is blind to the truth of God. (“The natural man
receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God: for they
are foolishness unto him: neither can he know them,
because they are spiritually discerned.” 1 Cor. ii. 14.)
With affections that are alienated from God, loving the
things that we ought to hate and hating the things that
we ought to love. (“Now the works of the flesh are
manifest, which are these; Adultery, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, witchcraft, hatred,
variance, emulations, wrath, strife, seditions, heresies,
envyings, murders, drunkenness, revellings, and such
like.” Gal. v. 19, 20, 21.) With a will that is perverted,
set upon pleasing itself, rather than pleasing
God. (“Because the mind of the flesh is enmity
against God; for it is not subject to the law of God,
neither indeed can it be.” Rom. viii. 7, R. V.) In
the new birth a new intellectual, affectional and volitional
nature is imparted to us. We receive the mind
that sees as God sees, thinks God’s thoughts after
Him (1 Cor. ii. 12-14); affections in harmony with
the affections of God. (“The fruit of the Spirit is love,
joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, faith,
meekness, temperance: against such there is no law.”
Gal. v. 22, 23); a will that is in harmony with the
will of God, that delights to do the things that please
Him. (Like Jesus we say, “My meat is to do the
will of Him that sent Me, and to finish His work.”
John iv. 34; cf. John vi. 38; Gal i. 10.) It is the
Holy Spirit who creates in us this new nature, or imparts
this new nature to us. No amount of preaching,
[pg 105]
no matter how orthodox it may be, no amount of mere
study of the Word will regenerate unless the Holy
Spirit works. It is He and He alone who makes a
man a new creature.

The new birth is compared in the Bible to growth
from a seed. The human heart is the soil, the Word
of God is the seed (Luke viii. 11; cf. 1 Pet. i. 23;
Jas. i. 18; 1 Cor. iv. 15), every preacher or teacher of
the Word is a sower, but the Spirit of God is the One
who quickens the seed that is thus sown and the Divine
nature springs up as the result. There is abundant
soil everywhere in which to sow the seed, in the
human hearts that are around about us upon every
hand. There is abundant seed to be sown, any of us
can find it in the granary of God’s Word; and there are
to-day many sowers: but there may be soil and seed
and sowers, but unless as we sow the seed, the Spirit
of God quickens it and the heart of the hearer closes
around it by faith, there will be no harvest. Every
sower needs to see to it that he realizes his dependence
upon the Holy Spirit to quicken the seed he sows and
he needs to see to it also that he is in such relation to
God that the Holy Spirit may work through him and
quicken the seed he sows.

The Holy Spirit does regenerate men. He has
power to raise the dead. He has power to impart life
to those who are morally both dead and putrefying.
He has power to impart an entirely new nature to those
whose nature now is so corrupt that to men they appear
to be beyond hope. How often I have seen it
proven. How often I have seen men and women utterly
[pg 106]
lost and ruined and vile come into a meeting
scarcely knowing why they came, and as they have sat
there the Word was spoken, the Spirit of God has
quickened the Word thus sown in their hearts and in a
moment that man or woman, by the mighty power of
the Holy Spirit, has become a new creation. I know a
man who seemed as completely abandoned and hopeless
as men ever become. He was about forty-five years
of age. He had gone off in evil courses in early boyhood.
He had run away from home, had joined the
navy and afterwards the army, and learned all the vices
of both. He had been dishonourably discharged from
the army because of his extreme dissipation and disorderliness.
He had found his companionships among
the lowest of the low and the vilest of the vile. When
he would go up the street of a Western town at night,
and merchants would hear his yell, they would close
their doors in fear. But this man went one night into
a revival meeting in a country church out of curiosity.
He made sport of the meeting that night with a boon
companion who sat by his side, but he went again the
next night. The Spirit of God touched his heart. He
went forward and bowed at the altar. He arose a new
creation. He was transformed into one of the noblest,
truest, purest, most unselfish, most gentle and most
Christlike men I have ever known. I am sometimes
asked, “Do you believe in sudden conversion?” I
believe in something far more wonderful than sudden
conversion. I believe in sudden regeneration. Conversion
is merely an outward thing, the turning around.
Regeneration goes down to the deepest depths of the
[pg 107]
inmost soul, transforming thoughts, affections, will, the
whole inward man. I believe in sudden regeneration
because the Bible teaches it and because I have seen it
times without number. I believe in sudden regeneration
because I have experienced it. We are sometimes
told that “the religion of the future will not teach sudden
miraculous conversion.” If the religion of the
future does not teach sudden miraculous conversion, if
it does not teach something far more meaningful, sudden,
miraculous regeneration by the power of the Holy
Spirit, then the religion of the future will not be in
conformity with the facts of experience and so will not
be scientific. It will miss one of the most certain and
most glorious of all truths. Man-devised religions in
the past have often missed the truth and man-devised
religions in the future will doubtless do the same. But
the religion God has revealed in His Word and the religion
that God confirms in experience teaches sudden
regeneration by the mighty power of the Holy Spirit.
If I did not believe in regeneration by the power of the
Holy Spirit, I would quit preaching. What would be
the use in facing great audiences in which there were
multitudes of men and women hardened and seared,
caring for nothing but the things of the world and the
flesh, with no high and holy aspirations, with no outlook
beyond money and fame and power and pleasure,
if it were not for the regenerating power of the Holy
Spirit? But with the regenerating power of the Holy
Spirit, there is every use; for the preacher can never
tell where the Spirit of God is going to strike and do
His mighty work. There sits before you a man who
[pg 108]
is a gambler, or a drunkard, or a libertine. There
does not seem to be much use in preaching to him,
but you can never tell but that very night, the Spirit of
God will touch that man’s heart and transform him
into one of the holiest and most useful of men. It has
often occurred in the past and will doubtless often occur
in the future. There sits before you a woman,
who is a mere butterfly of fashion. She seems to have
no thought above society and pleasure and adulation.
Why preach to her? Without the regenerating power
of the Holy Spirit, it would be foolishness and a waste
of time; but you can never tell, perhaps this very
night the Spirit of God will shine in that darkened
heart and open the eyes of that woman to see the
beauty of Jesus Christ and she may receive Him and
then and there the life of God be imparted by the
power of the Holy Spirit to that trifling soul.

The doctrine of the regenerating power of the Holy
Spirit is a glorious doctrine. It sweeps away false
hopes. It comes to the one who is trusting in education
and culture and says, “Education and culture are
not enough. You must be born again.” It comes to
the one who is trusting in mere external morality, and
says, “External morality is not enough, you must be
born again.” It comes to the one who is trusting in
the externalities of religion, in going to church, reading
the Bible, saying prayers, being confirmed, being baptized,
partaking of the Lord’s supper, and says, “The
mere externalities of religion are not enough, you must
be born again.” It comes to the one who is trusting
in turning over a new leaf, in outward reform, in
[pg 109]
quitting his meanness; it says, “Outward reform, quitting
your meanness is not enough. You must be born
again.” But in place of the vague and shallow hopes
that it sweeps away, it brings in a new hope, a good
hope, a blessed hope, a glorious hope. It says, “You
may be born again.” It comes to the one who has no
desire higher than the desire for things animal or selfish
or worldly and says, “You may become a partaker of the
Divine nature, and love the things that God loves and
hate the things that God hates. You may become like
Jesus Christ. You may be born again.”

Chapter X. The Indwelling Spirit Fully and Forever
Satisfying.

The Holy Spirit takes up His abode in the one
who is born of the Spirit. The Apostle Paul
says to the believers in Corinth in 1 Cor. iii.
16, R. V., “Know ye not that ye are a temple of God,
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you?” This
passage refers, not so much to the individual believer,
as to the whole body of believers, the Church. The
Church as a body is indwelt by the Spirit of God. But
in 1 Cor. vi. 19, R. V., we read, “Know ye not that
your body is a temple of the Holy Ghost which is in
you, which ye have from God?” It is evident in this
passage that Paul is not speaking of the body of believers,
of the Church as a whole, but of the individual
believer. In a similar way, the Lord Jesus said to His
disciples on the night before His crucifixion, “And I
will pray the Father, and He shall give you another
Comforter, that He may abide with you forever; Even
the Spirit of truth; whom the world cannot receive,
because it seeth Him not, neither knoweth Him: but ye
know Him; for He dwelleth with you and shall be in
you” (John xiv. 16, 17). The Holy Spirit dwells in
every one who is born again. We read in Rom. viii. 9,
“If any man have not the Spirit of Christ (the Spirit of
[pg 111]
Christ in this verse, as we have already seen, does not
mean merely a Christlike spirit, but is a name of the
Holy Spirit) he is none of His.” One may be a very
imperfect believer but if he really is a believer in Jesus
Christ, if he has really been born again, the Spirit of
God dwells in him. It is very evident from the First
Epistle to the Corinthians that the believers in Corinth
were very imperfect believers; they were full of imperfection
and there was gross sin among them. But
nevertheless Paul tells them that they are temples of
the Holy Spirit, even when dealing with them concerning
gross immoralities. (See 1 Cor. vi. 15-19.) The
Holy Spirit dwells in every child of God. In some, however,
He dwells way back of consciousness in the
hidden sanctuary of their spirit. He is not allowed to
take possession as He desires of the whole man, spirit,
soul and body. Some therefore are not distinctly
conscious of His indwelling, but He is there none the
less. What a solemn, and yet what a glorious thought,
that in me dwells this august Person, the Holy Spirit.
If we are children of God, we are not so much to pray
that the Spirit may come and dwell in us, for He does
that already, we are rather to recognize His presence,
His gracious and glorious indwelling, and give to Him
complete control of the house He already inhabits, and
strive to so live as not to grieve this holy One, this
Divine Guest. We shall see later, however, that it is
right to pray for the filling or baptism with the Spirit.
What a thought it gives of the hallowedness and
sacredness of the body, to think of the Holy Spirit
dwelling within us. How considerately we ought to
[pg 112]
treat these bodies and how sensitively we ought to shun
everything that will defile them. How carefully we
ought to walk in all things so as not to grieve Him
who dwells within us.

This indwelling Spirit is a source of full and everlasting
satisfaction and life. Jesus says in John iv. 14,
R. V., “Whosoever drinketh of the water that I shall
give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall
give him shall become in him a well of water springing
up unto (better ‘into’ as in A. V.) eternal life.”
Jesus was talking to the woman of Samaria by the well
at Sychar. She had said to Him, “Art Thou greater
than our father Jacob, who gave us the well and drank
thereof himself, and his children and his cattle?”
Then Jesus answered and said unto her, “Whosoever
drinketh of this water shall thirst again.” How true
that is of every earthly fountain. No matter how
deeply we drink we shall thirst again. No earthly
spring of satisfaction ever fully satisfies. We may
drink of the fountain of wealth as deeply as we may, it
will not satisfy long. We shall thirst again. We may
drink of the fountain of fame as deeply as any man
ever drank, the satisfaction is but for an hour. We
may drink of the fountain of worldly pleasure, of human
science and philosophy and of earthly learning, we
may even drink of the fountain of human love, none
will satisfy long; we shall thirst again. But then Jesus
went on to say, “But whosoever drinketh of the water
that I shall give him shall never thirst, but the water
that I shall give him shall be in him a well of water
springing up into everlasting life.” The water that
[pg 113]
Jesus Christ gives is the Holy Spirit. This John tells
us in the most explicit language in John vii. 37-39,
“In the last day, that great day of the feast, Jesus
stood and cried, saying, If any man thirst, let him
come unto Me and drink. He that believeth on Me,
as the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall flow
rivers of living water. (But this spake He of the Spirit,
which they that believe on Him should receive.)” The
Holy Spirit fully and forever satisfies the one who receives
Him. He becomes within him a well of water
springing up, ever springing up, into everlasting life.
It is a great thing to have a well that you can carry
with you; to have a well that is within you; to have
your source of satisfaction, not in the things outside
yourself, but in a well within and that is always within,
and that is always springing up in freshness and power;
to have our well of satisfaction and joy within us. We
are then independent of our environment. It matters
little whether we have health or sickness, prosperity or
adversity, our source of joy is within and is ever springing
up. It matters comparatively little even whether
we have our friends with us or are separated from them,
separated even by what men call death, this fountain
within is always gushing up and our souls are satisfied.
Sometimes this fountain within gushes up with greatest
power and fullness in the days of deepest bereavement.
At such a time all earthly satisfactions fail. What satisfaction
is there in money, or worldly pleasure, in the
theatre or the opera or the dance, in fame or power or
human learning, when some loved one is taken from
us? But in the hours when those that we loved dearest
[pg 114]
upon earth are taken from us, then it is that the
spring of joy of the indwelling Spirit of God bursts
forth with fullest flow, sorrow and sighing flee away
and our own spirits are filled with peace and ecstasy.
We have beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning,
the garment of praise for the spirit of heaviness
(Isa. lxi. 3). If the experience were not too sacred to
put in print, I could tell of a moment of sudden and
overwhelming bereavement and sorrow, when it seemed
as if I would be crushed, when I cried aloud in an
agony that seemed unendurable, when suddenly and instantly
this fountain of the Holy Spirit within burst
forth and I knew such a rest and joy as I had rarely
known before, and my whole being was suffused with
the oil of gladness.

The one who has the Spirit of God dwelling within
as a well springing up into everlasting life is independent
of the world’s pleasures. He does not need to run
after the theatre and the opera and the dance and the
cards and the other pleasures without which life does
not seem worth living to those who have not received
the Holy Spirit. He gives these things up, not so
much because he thinks they are wrong, as because he
has something so much better. He loses all taste for
them.

A lady once came to Mr. Moody and said, “Mr.
Moody, I do not like you.” He asked, “Why not?”
She said, “Because you are too narrow.” “Narrow!
I did not know that I was narrow.” “Yes, you are
too narrow. You don’t believe in the theatre; you
don’t believe in cards; you don’t believe in dancing.”
[pg 115]
“How do you know I don’t believe in the theatre?”
he asked. “Oh,” she said, “I know you don’t.” Mr.
Moody replied, “I go to the theatre whenever I want
to.” “What,” cried the woman, “you go to the
theatre whenever you want to?” “Yes, I go to the
theatre whenever I want to.” “Oh,” she said, “Mr.
Moody, you are a much broader man than I thought
you were. I am so glad to hear you say it, that you
go to the theatre whenever you want to.” “Yes, I go
to the theatre whenever I want to. I don’t want to.”
Any one who has really received the Holy Spirit, and
in whom the Holy Spirit dwells and is unhindered in
His working will not want to. Why is it then that so
many professed Christians do go after these worldly
amusements? For one of two reasons; either because
they have never definitely received the Holy Spirit, or
else because the fountain is choked. It is quite possible
for a fountain to become choked. The best well
in one of our inland cities was choked and dry for
many months because an old rag carpet had been thrust
into the opening from which the water flowed. When
the rag was pulled out, the water flowed again pure
and cool and invigorating. There are many in the
Church to-day who once knew the matchless joy of the
Holy Spirit, but some sin or worldly conformity, some
act of disobedience, more or less conscious disobedience,
to God has come in and the fountain is choked. Let
us pull out the old rags to-day that this wondrous fountain
may burst forth again, springing up every day and
hour into everlasting life.

Chapter XI. The Holy Spirit Setting the Believer Free
From the Power of Indwelling Sin.

In Rom. viii. 2 the Apostle Paul writes, “The law
of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus hath made
me free from the law of sin and death.” What
the law of sin and death is we learn from the preceding
chapter, the ninth to the twenty-fourth verses. Paul tells
us that there was a time in his life when he was “alive
apart from the law” (v. 9). But the time came when
he was brought face to face with the law of God; he
saw that this law was holy and the commandment holy
and just and good. And he made up his mind to keep
this holy and just and good law of God. But he soon
discovered that beside this law of God outside him,
which was holy and just and good, that there was
another law inside him directly contrary to this law of
God outside him. While the law of God outside him
said, “This good thing” and “this good thing” and
“this good thing” and “this good thing thou shalt do,”
the law within him said, “You cannot do this
good thing that you would;” and a fierce combat
ensued between this holy and just and good law without
him which Paul himself approved after the inward
man, and this other law in his members which warred
against the law of his mind and kept constantly saying,
[pg 117]
“You cannot do the good that you would.” But this
law in his members (the law that the good that he
would do, he did not, but the evil that he would not
he constantly did, v. 19) gained the victory. Paul’s
attempt to keep the law of God resulted in total
failure. He found himself sinking deeper and deeper
into the mire of sin, constrained and dragged down by
this law of sin in his members, until at last he cried
out, “Oh, wretched man that I am, who shall deliver
me out of the body of this death?” (v. 24, R. V.).
Then Paul made another discovery. He found that in
addition to the two laws that he had already found, the
law of God without him, holy and just and good, and
the law of sin and death within him, the law that the
good he would he could not do and the evil he would
not, he must keep on doing, there was a third law,
“the law of the Spirit of life in Christ Jesus,” and
this third law read this way, “The righteousness
which you cannot achieve in your own strength by the
power of your own will approving the law of God,
the righteousness which the law of God without you,
holy and just and good though it is, cannot accomplish
in you, in that it is weak through your flesh, the Spirit
of life in Christ Jesus can produce in you so that the
righteousness that the law requires may be fulfilled in
you, if you will not walk after the flesh but after the
Spirit.” In other words when we come to the end of
ourselves, when we fully realize our own inability to
keep the law of God and in utter helplessness look up
to the Holy Spirit in Christ Jesus to do for us that which
we cannot do for ourselves, and surrender our every
[pg 118]
thought and every purpose and every desire and every
affection to His absolute control and thus walk after
the Spirit, the Spirit does take control and set us free
from the power of sin that dwells in us and brings our
whole lives into conformity to the will of God. It is
the privilege of the child of God in the power of the Holy
Spirit to have victory over sin every day and every hour
and every moment.

There are many professed Christians to-day living
in the experience that Paul described in Rom. vii. 9-24.
Each day is a day of defeat and if at the close of the
day, they review their lives they must cry, “Oh,
wretched man that I am, who shall deliver me out of
the body of this death?” There are some who even
go so far as to reason that this is the normal Christian
life, but Paul tells us distinctly that this was “when the
commandment came” (v. 9), not when the Spirit
came; that it is the experience under law and not in
the Spirit. The pronoun “I” occurs twenty-seven
times in these fifteen verses and the Holy Spirit is not
found once, whereas in the eighth chapter of Romans
the pronoun “I” is found only twice in the whole
chapter and the Holy Spirit appears constantly. Again
Paul tells us in the fourteenth verse that this was his
experience as “carnal, sold under sin.” Certainly,
that does not describe the normal Christian experience.
On the other hand in Rom. viii. 9 we are told how
not to be in the flesh but in the Spirit. In the eighth
chapter of Romans we have a picture of the true
Christian life, the life that is possible to each one of us
and that God expects from each one of us. Here we
[pg 119]
have a life where not merely the commandment
comes but the Spirit comes, and works obedience to
the commandment and brings us complete victory over
the law of sin and death. Here we have life, not in
the flesh, but in the Spirit, where we not only see the
beauty of the law (Rom. vii. 22) but where the
Spirit imparts power to keep it (Rom. viii. 4). We still
have the flesh but we are not in the flesh and we do
not live after the flesh. We “through the Spirit do
mortify the deeds of the body” (v. 13). The desires
of the body are still there, desires which if made the
rule of our life, would lead us into sin, but we day by
day by the power of the Spirit do put to death the
deeds to which the desires of the body would lead us.
We walk by the Spirit and therefore do not fulfill the
lusts of the flesh (Gal. v. 16, R. V.). We have
crucified the flesh with the passions and lusts thereof
(Gal. v. 24, R. V.). It would be going too far to say
we had still a carnal nature, for a carnal nature is a
nature governed by the flesh; but we have the flesh, but
in the Spirit’s power, it is our privilege to get daily,
hourly, constant victory over the flesh and over sin.
But this victory is not in ourselves, nor in any strength
of our own. Left to ourselves, deserted of the Spirit
of God, we would be as helpless as ever. It is still
true that in us, that is in our flesh, dwelleth no good
thing (Rom. vii. 18). It is all in the power of the indwelling
Spirit, but the Spirit’s power may be in such
fullness that one is not even conscious of the presence
of the flesh. It seems as if it were dead and gone
forever, but it is only kept in place of death by the
[pg 120]
Holy Spirit’s power. If for one moment we were to
get our eyes off from Jesus Christ, if we were to
neglect the daily study of the Word and prayer, down
we would go. We must live in the Spirit and walk in
the Spirit if we would have continuous victory
(Gal. v. 16, 25). The life of the Spirit within us must
be maintained by the study of the Word and prayer.
One of the saddest things ever witnessed is the way in
which some people who have entered by the Spirit’s
power into a life of victory become self-confident and
fancy that the victory is in themselves, and that they
can safely neglect the study of the Word and prayer.
The depths to which such sometimes fall is appalling.
Each of us needs to lay to heart the inspired words of
the Apostle, “Wherefore, let him that thinketh he
standeth take heed lest he fall” (1 Cor. x. 12). I
once knew a man who seemed to make extraordinary
strides in the Christian life. He became a teacher of
others and was greatly blessed to thousands. It
seemed to me that he was becoming self-confident and
I trembled for him. I invited him to my room and
we had a long heart to heart conversation. I told him
frankly that it seemed as if he were going perilously
near exceedingly dangerous ground. I said that I
found it safer at the close of each day not to be too
confident that there had been no failures nor defeats
that day but to go alone with God and ask Him to
search my heart and show me if there was anything in
my outward or inward life that was displeasing to Him,
and that very often failures were brought to light that
must be confessed as sin. “No,” he replied, “I do
[pg 121]
not need to do that. Even if I should do something
wrong, I would see it at once. I keep very short
accounts with God, and I would confess it at once.”
I said it seemed to me as if it would be safer to take
time alone with God for God to search us through and
through, that while we might not know anything
against ourselves, God might know something against
us (1 Cor. iv. 4, R. V.), and He would bring it to light
and our failure could be confessed and put away.
“No,” he said, “he did not feel that that was
necessary.” Satan took advantage of his self-confidence.
He fell into most appalling sin, and though
he has since confessed and professed repentance, he
has been utterly set aside from God’s service.

In John viii. 32 we read, “Ye shall know the truth
and the truth shall set you free.” In this verse it is the
truth, or the Word of God, that sets us free from the
power of sin and gives us victory. And in Ps.
cxix. 11 we read, “Thy Word have I hid in my heart,
that I might not sin against Thee.” Here again it is the
indwelling Word that keeps us free from sin. In this
matter as in everything else what in one place is
attributed to the Holy Spirit is elsewhere attributed to
the Word. The explanation, of course, is that the
Holy Spirit works through the Word, and it is futile
to talk of the Holy Spirit dwelling in us if we neglect the
Word. If we are not feeding on the Word, we are
not walking after the Spirit and we shall not have
victory over the flesh and over sin.

Chapter XII. The Holy Spirit Forming Christ Within Us.

It is a wonderful and deeply significant prayer that
Paul offers in Eph. iii. 16-19 for the believers in
Ephesus and for all believers who read the Epistle.
Paul writes, “For this cause I bow my knees unto
the Father, from whom every family in heaven and on
earth is named, that He would grant you, according
to the riches of His glory, that ye may be strengthened
with power through His Spirit in the inward man; that
Christ may dwell in your hearts through faith; to the
end that ye, being rooted and grounded in love, may
be strong to apprehend with all the saints what is the
breadth and length, and height and depth, and to know
the love of Christ which passeth knowledge, that ye
may be filled unto all the fullness of God” (R. V.). We
have here an advance in the thought over that which
we have just been studying in the preceding chapter.
It is the carrying out of the former work to its completion.
Here the power of the Spirit manifests itself, not
merely in giving us victory over sin but in four things:

I. In Christ dwelling in our hearts. The word
translated “dwell” in this passage is a very strong
word. It means literally, “to dwell down,” “to settle,”
“to dwell deep.” It is the work of the Holy Spirit to
form the living Christ within us, dwelling deep down
[pg 123]
in the deepest depths of our being. We have already
seen that this was a part of the significance of the name
sometimes used of the Holy Spirit, “the Spirit of
Christ.” In Christ on the cross of Calvary, made an
atoning sacrifice for sin, bearing the curse of the
broken law in our place, we have Christ for us. But
by the power of the Holy Spirit bestowed upon us by
the risen Christ we have Christ in us. Herein lies the
secret of a Christlike life. We hear a great deal in
these days about doing as Jesus would do. Certainly
we ought as Christians to live like Christ. “He that
saith he abideth in Him, ought himself so to walk even
as He walked” (1 John ii. 6). But any attempt on
our part to imitate Christ in our own strength will only
result in utter disappointment and despair. There is
nothing more futile that we can possibly attempt than
to imitate Christ in the power of our own will. If we
fancy that we succeed it will be simply because we have
a very incomplete knowledge of Christ. The more
we study Him, and the more perfectly we understand
His conduct, the more clearly will we see how far short
we have come from imitating Him. But God does not
demand of us the impossible, He does not demand of
us that we imitate Christ in our own strength. He
offers to us something infinitely better, He offers to
form Christ in us by the power of His Holy Spirit.
And when Christ is thus formed in us by the Holy
Spirit’s power, all we have to do is to let this indwelling
Christ live out His own life in us, and then we shall
be like Christ without struggle and effort of our own.
A woman, who had a deep knowledge of the Word and
[pg 124]
a rare experience of the fullness that there is in Christ,
stood one morning before a body of ministers as they
plied her with questions. “Do you mean to say, Mrs.
H——,” one of the ministers asked, “that you are
holy?” Quickly but very meekly and gently, the
elect lady replied, “Christ in me is holy.” No, we
are not holy. To the end of the chapter in and of
ourselves we are full of weakness and failure, but the
Holy Spirit is able to form within us the Holy One of
God, the indwelling Christ, and He will live out His
life through us in all the humblest relations of life as
well as in those relations of life that are considered
greater. He will live out His life through the mother
in the home, through the day-labourer in the pit, through
the business man in his office—everywhere.

II. In our being rooted and grounded in love (v. 17).
Paul multiplies figures here. The first figure is taken
from the tree shooting its roots down deep into the
earth and taking fast hold upon it. The second figure
is taken from a great building with its foundations laid
deep in the earth on the rock. Paul therefore tells us
that by the strengthening of the Spirit in the inward
man we send the roots of our life down deep into the
soil of love and also that the foundations of the superstructure
of our character are built upon the rock of
love. Love is the sum of holiness, the fulfilling of the
law (Rom. xiii. 10); love is what we all most need
in our relations to God, to Jesus Christ and to one another;
and it is the work of the Holy Spirit to root and
ground our lives in love. There is the most intimate
relation between Christ being formed within us, or
[pg 125]
made to dwell in us, and our being rooted and grounded
in love, for Jesus Christ Himself is the absolutely perfect
embodiment of divine love.

III. In our being made strong to apprehend with all
the saints what is the breadth and length and height and
depth, and to know the love of Christ which passeth knowledge.
It is not enough that we love, we must know the
love of Christ, but that love passeth knowledge. It is so
broad, so long, so high, so deep, that no one can comprehend
it. But we can “apprehend” it, we can
lay hold upon it; we can make it our own; we can
hold it before us as the object of our meditation, our
wonder, and our joy. But it is only in the power of the
Holy Spirit that we can thus apprehend it. The mind
cannot grasp it at all, in its own native strength. A man
untaught and unstrengthened by the Spirit of God may
talk about the love of Christ, he may write poetry about
it, he may go into rhapsodies over it, but it is only
words, words, words. There is no real apprehension.
But the Spirit of God makes us strong to really apprehend
it in all its breadth, in all its length, in all its
depth, and in all its height.

IV. In our being “filled unto
all the fullness of God.”
There is a very important change between the Authorized
and Revised Version. The Authorized Version
reads “Filled with all the fullness of God.” The
Revised Version reads more exactly “filled unto all the
fullness of God.” It is no wonder that the translators
of the Authorized Version staggered at what Paul said
and sought to tone down the full force of his words.
To be filled with all the fullness of God would not be
[pg 126]
so wonderful, for it is an easy matter to fill a pint cup
with all the fullness of the ocean, a single dip will do it.
But it would be an impossibility indeed to fill a pint
cup unto all the fullness of the ocean, until all the fullness
that there is in the ocean is in that pint cup. But
it is seemingly a more impossible task that the Holy
Spirit undertakes to do for us, to fill us “unto all the
fullness” of the infinite God, to fill us until all the
intellectual and moral fullness that there is in God is in
us. But this is the believer’s destiny, we are “heirs of
God and joint-heirs with Jesus Christ” (Rom. viii. 17),
i. e., we are heirs of God to the extent that Jesus Christ
is an heir of God; that is, we are heirs to all God is
and all God has. It is the work of the Holy Spirit to
apply to us that which is already ours in Christ. It is
His work to make ours experimentally all God has and
all God is, until the work is consummated in our being
“filled unto all the fullness of God.” This is not the
work of a moment, nor a day, nor a week, nor a month,
nor a year, but the Holy Spirit day by day puts His
hand, as it were, into the fullness of God and conveys
to us what He has taken therefrom and puts it into us,
and then again He puts His hand into the fullness that
there is in God and conveys to us what is taken therefrom,
and puts it into us, and this wonderful process
goes on day after day and week after week and month
after month, and year after year, and never ends until
we are “filled unto all the fullness of God.”

Chapter XIII. The Holy Spirit Bringing Forth in the Believer
Christlike Graces of Character.

There is a singular charm, a charm that one
can scarcely explain, in the words of Paul in
Gal. v. 22, 23, R. V., “The fruit of the Spirit
is love, joy, peace, longsuffering, kindness, goodness,
faithfulness, meekness, temperance.” What a catalogue
we have here of lovely moral characteristics. Paul
tells us that they are the fruit of the Spirit, that is, if
the Holy Spirit is given control of our lives, this is the
fruit that He will bear. All real beauty of character,
all real Christlikeness in us, is the Holy Spirit’s work;
it is His fruit; He produces it; He bears it, not we.
It is well to notice that these graces are not said to be
the fruits of the Spirit but the fruit, i. e., if the Spirit is
given control of our life, He will not bear one of these
as fruit in one person and another as fruit in another
person, but this will be the one fruit of many flavours
that He produces in each one. There is also a unity
of origin running throughout all the multiplicity of
manifestation. It is a beautiful life that is set forth in
these verses. Every word is worthy of earnest study
and profound meditation. Think of these words
one by one;
“love”—“joy”—“peace”—“longsuffering”—“kindness”—“goodness”—“faith”
(or
[pg 128]
“faithfulness,” R. V.; faith is the better translation if
properly understood. The word is deeper than faithfulness.
It is a real faith that results in
faithfulness)—“meekness”—“temperance”
(or a life under perfect
control by the power of the Holy Spirit). We
have here a perfect picture of the life of Jesus Christ
Himself. Is not this the life that we all long for, the
Christlike life? But this life is not natural to us and
is not attainable by us by any effort of what we are in ourselves.
The life that is natural to us is set forth in
the three preceding verses: “Now the works of the
flesh are manifest, which are these, fornication, uncleanness,
lasciviousness, idolatry, sorcery, enmities, strife,
jealousies, wraths, factions, divisions, heresies, envyings,
drunkenness, revellings and such like” (Gal. v.
21, R. V.). All these works of the flesh will not manifest
themselves in each individual; some will manifest
themselves in one, others in others, but they have one
common source, the flesh, and if we live in the flesh,
this is the kind of a life that we will live. It is the life
that is natural to us. But when the indwelling Spirit
is given full control in the one He inhabits, when we
are brought to realize the utter badness of the flesh and
give up in hopeless despair of ever attaining to anything
in its power, when, in other words, we come to the end
of ourselves, and just give over the whole work of
making us what we ought to be to the indwelling Holy
Spirit, then and only then, these holy graces of character,
which are set forth in Gal. v. 22, 23, are His fruit
in our lives. Do you wish these graces in your character
and life? Do you really wish them? Then renounce
[pg 129]
self utterly and all its strivings after holiness,
give up any thought that you can ever attain to anything
really morally beautiful in your own strength and
let the Holy Spirit, who already dwells in you (if you
are a child of God) take full control and bear His own
glorious fruit in your daily life.

We get very much the same thought from a different
point of view in the second chapter and twentieth verse,
A. R. V., “I have been crucified with Christ; and it
is no longer I that live, but Christ liveth in me: and
that life which I now live in the flesh I live in faith,
the faith which is in the Son of God, who loved me
and gave Himself up for me.”

We hear a great deal in these days about “Ethical
Culture,” which usually means the cultivation of the
flesh until it bears the fruit of the Spirit. It cannot be
done; no more than thorns can be made to bear figs
and the bramble bush grapes (Luke vi. 44; Matt. xii.
33). We hear also a great deal about “character building.”
That may be all very well if you bear constantly
in mind that the Holy Spirit must do the building, and
even then it is not so much building as fruit bearing.
(See, however, 2 Pet. i. 5-7.) We hear also a great deal
about “cultivating graces of character,” but we must
always bear it clearly in mind that the way to cultivate
true graces of character is by submitting ourselves
utterly to the Spirit to do His work and bear His fruit.
This is “sanctification of the Spirit” (1 Pet. i. 2;
2 Thess. ii. 13). There is a sense, however, in which
cultivating graces of character is right: viz., we look
at Jesus Christ to see what He is and what we therefore
[pg 130]
ought to be; then we look to the Holy Spirit to
make us this that we ought to be and thus, “reflecting
as a mirror the glory of the Lord, we are transformed
into the same image from glory to glory, even as from
the Lord the Spirit” (2 Cor. iii. 18, R. V.). Settle it,
however, clearly and forever that the flesh can never
bear this fruit, that you can never attain to these things
by your own effort that they are “the fruit of the Spirit.”

Chapter XIV. The Holy Spirit Guiding the Believer Into
a Life as a Son.

The Apostle Paul writes in Rom. viii. 14,
R. V., “For as many as are led by the Spirit
of God, these are the sons of God.” In this
passage we see the Holy Spirit taking the conduct of
the believer’s life. A true Christian life is a personally
conducted life, conducted at every turn by a Divine
Person. It is the believer’s privilege to be absolutely
set free from all care and worry and anxiety as to the
decisions which we must make at any turn of life.
The Holy Spirit undertakes all that responsibility for
us. A true Christian life is not one governed by a
long set of rules without us, but led by a living and
ever-present Person within us. It is in this connection
that Paul says, “For ye received not the spirit of
bondage again to fear.” A life governed by rules without
one is a life of bondage. There is always fear that
we haven’t made quite rules enough, and always the
dread that in an unguarded moment we may have
broken some of the rules which we have made. The
life that many professed Christians lead is one of awful
bondage; for they have put upon themselves a yoke
more grievous to bear than that of the ancient Mosaic
law concerning which Peter said to the Jews of his
[pg 132]
time, that neither they nor their fathers had been able
to bear it (Acts xv. 10). Many Christians have a long
list of self-made rules, “Thou shalt do this,” and
“Thou shalt do this,” and “Thou shalt do this,” and
“Thou shalt not do that,” and “Thou shalt not do
that,” and “Thou shalt not do that”; and if by any
chance they break one of these self-made rules, or
forget to keep one of them, they are at once filled with
an awful dread that they have brought upon themselves
the displeasure of God (and they even sometimes fancy
that they have committed the unpardonable sin). This
is not Christianity, this is legalism. “We have not
received the spirit of bondage again to fear,” we have
received the Spirit who gives us the place of sons
(Rom. viii. 15). Our lives should not be governed by
a set of rules without us but by the loving Spirit of
Adoption within us. We should believe the teaching
of God’s Word that the Spirit of God’s Son dwells
within us and we should surrender the absolute control
of our life to Him and look to Him to guide us at
every turn of life. He will do it if we only surrender
to Him to do it and trust Him to do it. If in a
moment of thoughtlessness, we go our own way
instead of His, we will not be filled with an overwhelming
sense of condemnation and of fear of an
offended God, but we will go to God as our Father,
confess our going astray, believe that He forgives us
fully because He says so (1 John i. 9) and go on light
and happy of heart to obey Him and be led by His
Spirit.

Being led by the Spirit of God does not mean for a
[pg 133]
moment that we will do things that the written Word
of God tells us not to do. The Holy Spirit never
leads men contrary to the Book of which He Himself
is the Author. And if there is some spirit which is
leading us to do something that is contrary to the
explicit teachings of Jesus, or the Apostles, we may be
perfectly sure that this spirit who is leading us is not
the Holy Spirit. This point needs to be emphasized
in our day, for there are not a few who give themselves
over to the leading of some spirit, whom they
say is the Holy Spirit, but who is leading them to do
things explicitly forbidden in the Word. We must
always remember that many false spirits and false
prophets are gone out into the world (1 John iv. 1).
There are many who are so anxious to be led by some
unseen power that they are ready to surrender the
conduct of their lives to any spiritual influence or
unseen person. In this way, they open their lives to
the conduct and malevolent influence of evil spirits to
the utter wreck and ruin of their lives.

A man who made great professions of piety once
came to me and said that the Holy Spirit was leading
him and “a sweet Christian woman,” whom he had
met, to contemplate marriage. “Why,” I said, in
astonishment, “you already have one wife.” “Yes,”
he said, “but you know we are not congenial, and we
have not lived together for years.” “Yes,” I replied,
“I know you have not lived together for years, and I
have looked into the matter, and I believe that the
blame for that lies largely at your door. In any event,
she is your wife. You have no reason to suppose she
[pg 134]
has been untrue to you, and Jesus Christ explicitly
teaches that if you marry another while she lives you
commit adultery” (Luke xvi. 18). “Oh, but,” the
man said, “the Spirit of God is leading us to love
one another and to see that we ought to marry one
another.” “You lie, and you blaspheme,” I replied.
“Any spirit that is leading you to disobey the plain
teaching of Jesus Christ is not the Spirit of God but
some spirit of the devil.” This perhaps was an
extreme case, but cases of essentially the same character
are not rare. Many professed Christians seek to
justify themselves in doing things which are explicitly
forbidden in the Word by saying that they are led by the
Spirit of God. Not long ago, I protested to the leaders
in a Christian assembly where at each meeting many
professed to speak with tongues in distinct violation of
the teaching of the Holy Spirit through the Apostle
Paul in 1 Cor. xiv. 27, 28 (that not more than two or
at the most, three, shall speak in a tongue in one
gathering and that not even one shall speak unless
there was an interpreter, and that no two shall speak
at the same time). The defense that they made was
that the Holy Spirit led them to speak several at a time
and many in a single meeting and that they must obey
the Holy Spirit, and in such a case as this were not
subject to the Word. The Holy Spirit never contradicts
Himself. He never leads the individual to do
that which in the written Word He has commanded us
all not to do. Any leading of the Spirit must be
tested by that which we know to be the leading of the
Spirit in the Word. But while we need to be on our
[pg 135]
guard against the leading of false spirits, it is our
privilege to be led by the Holy Spirit, and to lead a life
free from the bondage of rules and free from the
anxiety that we shall not go wrong, a life as children
whose Father has sent an unerring Guide to lead them
all the way.

Those who are thus led by the Spirit of God are
“sons of God,” that is, they are not merely children of
God, born it is true of the Father, but immature, but they
are the grown children, the mature children of God;
they are no longer babes but sons. The Apostle Paul
draws a contrast in Gal. iv. 1-7 between the babe
under the tutelage of the law and differing nothing
from a servant, and the full grown son who is no more
a servant but a son walking in joyous liberty. It sometimes
seems as if comparatively few Christians to-day
had really thrown off the bondage of law, rules outside
themselves, and entered into the joyous liberty of sons.

Chapter XV. The Holy Spirit Bearing Witness to our
Sonship.

One of the most precious passages in the Bible
regarding the work of the Holy Spirit is found
in Rom. viii. 15, 16, R. V., “For ye received
not the spirit of bondage again to fear; but ye
received the spirit of adoption, whereby we cry Abba,
Father. The Spirit Himself beareth witness with our
spirit, that we are the children of God.” There are two
witnesses to our sonship, first, our own spirit, taking
God at His Word (“As many as received Him, to them
gave He power to become the sons of God,” John i.
12), bears witness to our sonship. Our own spirit
unhesitatingly affirms that what God says is true that
we are sons of God because God says so. But there is
another witness to our sonship, namely, the Holy Spirit.
He bears witness together with our spirit. “Together
with” is the force of the Greek used in this passage.
It does not say that He bears witness to our spirit but
“together with” it. How He does this is explained in
Gal iv. 6, “Because ye are sons, God hath sent
forth the Spirit of His Son into your hearts, crying,
Abba, Father.” When we have received Jesus Christ
as our Saviour and accepted God’s testimony concerning
Christ that through Him we have become sons, the
[pg 137]
Spirit of His Son comes into our hearts filling them
with an overwhelming sense of sonship, and crying
through our hearts, “Abba, Father.” The natural
attitude of our hearts towards God is not that of sons.
We may call Him Father with our lips, as when for
example we repeat in a formal way, the prayer that
Jesus taught us, “Our Father, which art in heaven,”
but there is no real sense that He is our Father. Our
calling Him so is mere words. We do not really trust
Him. We do not love to come into His presence;
we do not love to look up into His face with a sense
of wonderful joy and trust because we are talking to
our Father. We dread God. We come to Him in
prayer because we think we ought to and perhaps we
are afraid of what might happen if we did not. But
when the Spirit of His Son bears witness together with
our spirit to our sonship, then we are filled and thrilled
with the sense that we are sons. We trust Him as we
never even trusted our earthly Father. There is even
less fear of Him than there was of our earthly father.
Reverence there is, awe, but oh! such a sense of
wonderful childlike trust.

Notice when it is that the Spirit bears witness with
our spirit that we are the children of God. We have
the order of experience in the order of the verses in
Rom. viii. First we see the Holy Spirit setting us free
from the law of sin and death, and consequently, the
righteousness of the law fulfilled in us who walk not
after the law but after the Spirit (vs. 2-4); then we
have the believer not minding the things of the flesh
but the things of the Spirit (v. 5); then we have the
[pg 138]
believer day by day through the Spirit putting to death
the deeds of the body (v. 13); then we have the
believer led by the Spirit of God; then and only then,
we have the Spirit bearing witness to our sonship.
There are many seeking the witness of the Spirit to
their sonship in the wrong place. They practically
demand the witness of the Spirit to their sonship before
they have even confessed their acceptance of Christ,
and certainly before they have surrendered their lives
fully to the control of the indwelling Spirit of God.
No, let us seek things in their right order. Let us
accept Jesus Christ as our Saviour, and surrender to
Him as our Lord and Master, because God commands
us to do so; let us confess Him before the world
because God commands that (Matt. x. 32, 33; Rom.
x. 9, 10); let us assert that our sins are forgiven, that
we have eternal life, that we are sons of God because
God says so in His Word and we are unwilling to make
God a liar by doubting Him (Acts x. 43; xiii. 38, 39;
1 John v. 10-13; John v. 24; John i. 12); let us
surrender our lives to the control of the Spirit of Life,
looking to Him to set us free from the law of sin and
death; let us set our minds, not upon the things of the
flesh but the things of the Spirit; let us through the
Spirit day by day put to death the deeds of the body;
let us give our lives up to be led by the Spirit of God
in all things; and then let us simply trust God to send
the Spirit of His Son into our hearts filling us with a
sense of sonship, crying, “Abba, Father,” and He will
do it.

God, our Father, longs that we shall know and
[pg 139]
realize that we are His sons. He longs to hear us call
Him Father from hearts that realize what they say,
and that trust Him without a fear or anxiety. He is
our Father, He alone in all the universe realizes the
fullness of meaning that there is in that wonderful
word “Father,” and it brings joy to Him to have us
realize that He is our Father and to call Him so.

Some years ago there was a father in the state of
Illinois, who had a child who had been deaf and dumb
from her birth. It was a sad day in that home when
they came to realize that that little child was deaf and
would never hear and, as they thought, would never
speak. The father heard of an institution in Jacksonville,
Ill., where deaf children were taught to talk. He
took this little child to the institution and put her in
charge of the superintendent. After the child had
been there some time, the superintendent wrote telling
the father that he would better come and visit his child.
A day was appointed and the child was told that her
father was coming. As the hour approached, she sat
up in the window, watching the gate for her father to
pass through. The moment he entered the gate she
saw him, ran down the stairs and ran out on the lawn,
met him, looked up into his face and lifted up her
hands and said, “Papa.” When that father heard the
dumb lips of his child speak for the first time and frame
that sweet word “Papa,” such a throb of joy passed
through his heart that he literally fell to the ground and
rolled upon the grass in ecstasy. But there is a Father
who loves as no earthly father, who longs to have His
children realize that they are children, and when we
[pg 140]
look up into His face and from a heart which the Holy
Spirit has filled with a sense of sonship call Him
“Abba” (papa), “Father,” no language can describe
the joy of God.

Chapter XVI. The Holy Spirit as a Teacher.

Our Lord Jesus in His last conversation with
His disciples before His crucifixion said,
“But the Comforter which is the Holy Ghost,
whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach
you all things, and bring all things to your remembrance,
whatsoever I have said unto you” (John xiv.
26).

Here we have a twofold work of the Holy Spirit,
teaching and bringing to remembrance the things which
Christ had already taught. We will take them in the
reverse order.

I. The Holy Spirit brings to remembrance the words of
Christ.

This promise was made primarily to the Apostles and
is the guarantee of the accuracy of their report of what
Jesus said; but the Holy Spirit does a similar work
with each believer who expects it of Him, and who looks
to Him to do it. The Holy Spirit brings to our mind
the teachings of Christ and of the Word just when we
need them for either the necessities of our life or of
our service. Many of us could tell of occasions when
we were in great distress of soul or great questioning as
to duty or great extremity as to what to say to one
[pg 142]
whom we were trying to lead to Christ or to help, and
at that exact moment the very Scripture we needed—some
passage it may be we had not thought of for a
long time and quite likely of which we had never
thought in this connection—was brought to mind.
Who did it? The Holy Spirit did it. He is ready to
do it even more frequently, if we only expect it of Him
and look to Him to do it. It is our privilege every
time we sit down beside an inquirer to point him to the
way of life to look up to the Holy Spirit and say,
“Just what shall I say to this inquirer? Just what
Scripture shall I use?” There is a deep significance
in the fact that in the verse immediately following this
precious promise Jesus says, “Peace I leave with you,
My peace I give unto you.” It is by the Spirit bringing
His words to remembrance and teaching us the truth
of God that we obtain and abide in this peace. If we
will simply look to the Holy Spirit to bring to mind
Scripture just when we need it, and just the Scripture
we need, we shall indeed have Christ’s peace every
moment of our lives. One who was preparing for
Christian work came to me in great distress. He said
he must give up his preparation for he could not
memorize the Scriptures. “I am thirty-two years old,”
he said, “and have been in business now for years. I
have gotten out of the habit of study and I cannot
memorize anything.” The man longed to be in his
Master’s service and the tears stood in his eyes as he
said it. “Don’t be discouraged,” I replied. “Take
your Lord’s promise that the Holy Spirit will bring His
words to remembrance, learn one passage of Scripture,
[pg 143]
fix it firmly in your mind, then another and then another
and look to the Holy Spirit to bring them to your
remembrance when you need them.” He went on
with his preparation. He trusted the Holy Spirit.
Afterwards he took up work in a very difficult field, a
field where all sorts of error abounded. They would
gather around him on the street like bees and he would
take his Bible and trust the Holy Spirit to bring to remembrance
the passages of Scripture that he needed and
He did it. His adversaries were filled with confusion,
as he met them at every point with the sure Word of
God, and many of the most hardened were won for
Christ.

II. The Holy Spirit will teach us all things.

There is a still more explicit promise to this effect
two chapters further on in John xvi. 12, 13, 14, R. V.
Here Jesus says, “I have yet many things to say unto
you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit when
He, the Spirit of truth, is come, He shall guide you into
all the truth: for He shall not speak from Himself;
but what things soever He shall hear, these shall He
speak: and He shall declare unto you the things that
are to come. He shall glorify Me: for He shall take
of Mine, and shall declare it unto you.” This promise
was made in the first instance to the Apostles, but the
Apostles themselves applied it to all believers (1 John
ii. 20, 27).

It is the privilege of each believer in Jesus Christ,
even the humblest, to be “taught of God.” Each
humblest believer is independent of human teachers—“Ye
[pg 144]
need not that any teach you” (1 John ii. 27,
R. V.). This, of course, does not mean that we may not
learn much from others who are taught of the Holy
Spirit. If John had thought that he would never have
written this epistle to teach others. The man who is
the most fully taught of God is the very one who will
be most ready to listen to what God has taught others.
Much less does it mean that when we are taught of the
Spirit, we are independent of the written Word of God;
for the Word is the very place to which the Spirit, who
is the Author of the Word, leads His pupils and the
instrument through which He instructs them (Eph.
vi. 17; John vi. 33; Eph. v. 18, 19; cf. Col. iii. 16).
But while we may learn much from men, we are not
dependent upon them. We have a Divine Teacher,
the Holy Spirit.

We shall never truly know the truth until we are
thus taught directly by the Holy Spirit. No amount of
mere human teaching, no matter who our teachers may
be, will ever give us a correct and exact and full apprehension
of the truth. Not even a diligent study of
the Word either in the English or in the original languages
will give us a real understanding of the truth.
We must be taught directly by the Holy Spirit and we
may be thus taught, each one of us. The one who is thus
taught will understand the truth of God better even if
he does not know one word of Greek or Hebrew, than
the one who knows Greek and Hebrew thoroughly and
all the cognate languages as well, but who is not taught
of the Spirit.

The Spirit will guide the one whom He thus teaches
[pg 145]
“into all the truth.” The whole sphere of God’s
truth is for each one of us, but the Holy Spirit will not
guide us into all the truth in a single day, nor in a
week, nor in a year, but step by step. There are two
especial lines of the Spirit’s teaching mentioned:

(1) “He shall declare unto you the things that are
to come.” There are many who say we can know
nothing of the future, that all our thoughts on that subject
are guesswork. It is true that we cannot know
everything about the future. There are some things
which God has seen fit to keep to Himself, secret
things which belong to Him (Deut. xxix. 29). For
example, we cannot “know the times, or the seasons”
of our Lord’s return (Acts i. 7), but there are many
things about the future which the Holy Spirit will
reveal to us.

(2) “He shall glorify Me (that is, Christ) for He
shall take of Mine and shall declare it unto you.”
This is the Holy Spirit’s especial line of teaching with
the believer, as with the unbeliever, Jesus Christ. It
is His work above all else to reveal Jesus Christ and
to glorify Him. His whole teaching centres in Christ.
From one point of view or the other, He is always bringing
us to Jesus Christ. There are some who fear to emphasize
the truth about the Holy Spirit lest Christ Himself
be disparaged and put in the background, but there
is no one who magnifies Christ as the Holy Spirit does.
We shall never understand Christ, nor see His glory
until the Holy Spirit interprets Him to us. No
amount of listening to sermons and lectures, no matter
how able, no amount of mere study of the Word even,
[pg 146]
would ever give us to see “the things of Christ”; the
Holy Spirit must show us and He is willing to do it
and He can do it. He is longing to do it. The Holy
Spirit’s most intense desire is to reveal Jesus Christ to
men. On the day of Pentecost when Peter and the
rest of the company were “filled with the Holy
Spirit,” they did not talk much about the Holy Spirit,
they talked about Christ. Study Peter’s sermon on
that day; Jesus Christ was his one theme, and Jesus
Christ will be our one theme, if we are taught of the
Spirit; Jesus Christ will occupy the whole horizon of
our vision. We will have a new Christ, a glorious
Christ. Christ will be so glorious to us that we will
long to go and tell every one about this glorious One
whom we have found. Jesus Christ is so different
when the Spirit glorifies Him by taking of His things
and showing them unto us.

III. The Holy Spirit reveals to us the deep things of
God which are hidden from and are foolishness to the
natural man.

We read in 1 Cor. ii. 9-13, “Eye hath not seen,
nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of
man, the things which God hath prepared for them
that love Him. But God hath revealed them unto us
by His Spirit: for the Spirit searcheth all things, yea, the
deep things of God. For what man knoweth the things
of a man, save the spirit of man which is in him?
Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the
Spirit of God. Now we have received, not the spirit
of the world, but the spirit which is of God; that we
[pg 147]
might know the things that are freely given to us of
God. Which things also we speak, not in the words
which man’s wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy
Ghost teacheth; comparing spiritual things with
spiritual.” This passage, of course, refers primarily
to the Apostles but we cannot limit this work of the
Spirit to them. The Spirit reveals to the individual
believer the deep things of God, things which human
eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, things which have
not entered into the heart of man, the things
which God hath prepared for them that love Him. It
is evident from the context that this does not refer
solely to heaven, or the things to come in the life
hereafter. The Holy Spirit takes the deep things of
God which God hath prepared for us, even in the life
that now is, and reveals them to us.

IV. The Holy Spirit interprets His own revelation.
He imparts power to discern, know and appreciate what
He has taught.

In the next verse to those just quoted we read,
“But the natural man receiveth not the things of the
Spirit of God: for they are foolishness unto him:
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually
discerned” (1 Cor. iii. 14). Not only is the Holy
Spirit the Author of revelation, the written Word of
God: He is also the Interpreter of what He has
revealed. Any profound book is immeasurably more
interesting and helpful when we have the author of the
book right at hand to interpret it to us, and it is always
our privilege to have the author of the Bible right at
[pg 148]
hand when we study it. The Holy Spirit is the
Author of the Bible and He stands ready to interpret
its meaning to every believer every time he opens the
Book. To understand the Book, we must look to
Him, then the darkest places become clear. We often
need to pray with the Psalmist of old, “Open Thou
mine eyes, that I may behold wondrous things out of
Thy law” (Ps. cxix. 18). It is not enough that we
have the revelation of God before us in the written
Word to study, we must also have the inward illumination
of the Holy Spirit to enable us to apprehend it
as we study. It is a common mistake, but a most
palpable mistake, to try to comprehend a spiritual
revelation with the natural understanding. It is the
foolish attempt to do this that has landed so many in
the bog of so-called “Higher Criticism.” In order to
understand art a man must have æsthetic sense as well
as the knowledge of colours and of paint, and a man
to understand a spiritual revelation must be taught of
the Spirit. A mere knowledge of the languages in
which the Bible was written is not enough. A man
with no æsthetic sense might as well expect to appreciate
the Sistine Madonna, because he is not colour
blind, as a man who is not filled with the Spirit to
understand the Bible, simply because he understands
the vocabulary and the laws of grammar of the languages
in which the Bible was written. We might as
well think of setting a man to teach art because he understood
paints as to set a man to teach the Bible because
he has a thorough understanding of Greek and
Hebrew. In our day we need not only to recognize
[pg 149]
the utter insufficiency and worthlessness before God of
our own righteousness, which is the lesson of the opening
chapters of the Epistle to the Romans, but also the
utter insufficiency and worthlessness in the things of
God of our own wisdom, which is the lesson of the
First Epistle to the Corinthians, especially the first to
the third chapters. (See for example 1 Cor. i. 19-21,
26, 27.)

The Jews of old had a revelation by the Spirit but
they failed to depend upon the Spirit Himself to interpret
it to them, so they went astray. So Christians
to-day have a revelation by the Spirit and many are
failing to depend upon the Holy Spirit to interpret it to
them and so they go astray. The whole evangelical
church recognizes theoretically at least the utter insufficiency
of man’s own righteousness. What it needs
to be taught in the present hour, and what it needs to
be made to feel, is the utter insufficiency of man’s
wisdom. That is perhaps the lesson which this
twentieth century of towering intellectual conceit
needs most of any to learn. To understand God’s
Word, we must empty ourselves utterly of our own
wisdom and rest in utter dependence upon the Spirit of
God to interpret it to us. We do well to lay to heart
the words of Jesus Himself in Matt. xi. 25, “I thank
thee, O Father, Lord of heaven and earth, because
Thou hast hid these things from the wise and prudent,
and hast revealed them unto babes.” A number of
Bible students were once discussing the best methods
of Bible study and one man, who was in point of fact
a learned and scholarly man, said, “I think the best
[pg 150]
method of Bible study is the baby method.” When
we have entirely put away our own righteousness, then
and only then, we get the righteousness of God (Phil.
iii. 4-7, 9; Rom. x. 3). And when we have entirely
put away our own wisdom, then, and only then,
we get the wisdom of God. “Let no man deceive
himself,” says the Apostle Paul. “If any man among
you seemeth to be wise in this world, let him become a
fool, that he may be wise” (1 Cor. iii. 18). And the
emptying must precede filling, the self poured out that
God may be poured in.

We must daily be taught by the Spirit to understand
the Word. We cannot depend to-day on the fact that
the Spirit taught us yesterday. Each new time that
we come in contact with the Word, it must be in the
power of the Spirit for that specific occasion. That
the Holy Spirit once illumined our mind to grasp a
certain truth is not enough. He must do it each time
we confront that passage. Andrew Murray has well
said, “Each time you come to the Word in study, in
hearing a sermon, or reading a religious book, there
ought to be as distinct as your intercourse with the
external means, the definite act of self-abnegation,
denying your own wisdom and yielding yourself in
faith to the Divine teacher” (“The Spirit of Christ,”
page 221).

V. The Holy Spirit enables the believer to communicate
to others in power the truth he himself has been taught.

Paul says in 1 Cor. ii. 1-5, “And I, brethren, when
I came to you, came not with excellency of speech or
[pg 151]
of wisdom, declaring unto you the testimony of God.
For I determined not to know anything among you,
save Jesus Christ, and Him crucified. And I was with
you in weakness, and in fear, and in much trembling.
And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing
words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the
Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand
in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” In
a similar way in writing to the believers in Thessalonica
in 1 Thess. i. 5, “For our Gospel came not
unto you in word only, but also in power, and in the
Holy Ghost, and in much assurance; as ye know what
manner of men we were among you for your sake.”
We need not only the Holy Spirit to reveal the truth to
chosen apostles and prophets in the first place, and the
Holy Spirit in the second place to interpret to us as
individuals the truth He has thus revealed, but in the
third place, we need the Holy Spirit to enable us to
effectually communicate to others the truth which He
Himself has interpreted to us. We need Him all
along the line. One great cause of real failure in the
ministry, even when there is seeming success, and not
only in the regular ministry but in all forms of service
as well, comes from the attempt to teach by “enticing
words of man’s wisdom” (that is, by the arts of human
logic, rhetoric, persuasion and eloquence) what the
Holy Spirit has taught us. What is needed is Holy Ghost
power, “demonstration of the Spirit and of power.”
There are three causes of failure in preaching to-day.
First, Some other message is taught than the message
which the Holy Spirit has revealed in the Word. (Men
[pg 152]
preach science, art, literature, philosophy, sociology,
history, economics, experience, etc., and not the simple
Word of God as found in the Holy Spirit’s Book,—the
Bible.) Second, The Spirit-taught message of the
Bible is studied and sought to be apprehended by the
natural understanding, that is, without the Spirit’s illumination.
How common that is, even in institutions
where men are being trained for the ministry, even institutions
which may be altogether orthodox. Third,
The Spirit-given message, the Word, the Bible
studied and apprehended under the Holy Ghost’s illumination
is given out to others with “enticing words of
man’s wisdom,” and not in “demonstration of the Spirit
and of power.” We need, and we are absolutely dependent
upon the Spirit all along the line. He must
teach us how to speak as well as what to speak. His
must be the power as well as the message.

Chapter XVII. Praying, Returning Thanks, Worshipping in
the Holy Spirit.

Two of the most deeply significant passages in
the Bible on the subject of the Holy Spirit
and on the subject of prayer are found in
Jude 20 and Eph. vi. 18. In Jude 20 we read, “But ye,
beloved, building up yourselves on your most holy faith,
praying in the Holy Ghost,” and in Eph. vi. 18, “Praying
always with all prayer and supplication in the Spirit,
and watching thereunto with all perseverance and supplication
for all saints.”

These passages teach us distinctly that the Holy
Spirit guides the believer in prayer. The disciples did
not know how to pray as they ought so they came to
Jesus and said, “Lord, teach us to pray” (Luke xi. 1).
We to-day do not know how to pray as we
ought—we do not know what to pray for, nor how
to ask for it—but there is One who is always at hand
to help (John xiv. 16, 17) and He knows what we
should pray for. He helps our infirmity in this matter
of prayer as in other matters (Rom. viii. 26, R. V.).
He teaches us to pray. True prayer is prayer in the
Spirit (i. e., the prayer that the Holy Spirit inspires and
directs). The prayer in which the Holy Spirit leads
us is the prayer “according to the will of God”
[pg 154]
(Rom. viii. 27). When we ask anything according to
God’s will, we know that He hears us and we know
that He has granted the things that we ask (1 John
v. 14, 15). We may know it is ours at the moment
when we pray just as surely as we know it afterwards
when we have it in our actual possession. But how
can we know the will of God when we pray? In two
ways: First of all, by what is written in His Word;
all the promises in the Bible are sure and if God
promises anything in the Bible, we may be sure it is
His will to give us that thing; but there are many
things that we need which are not specifically promised
in the Word and still even in that case it is our privilege
to know the will of God, for it is the work of the
Holy Spirit to teach us God’s will and lead us out in
prayer along the line of God’s will. Some object to
the Christian doctrine of prayer; for they say that it
teaches that we can go to God in our ignorance and
change His will and subject His infinite wisdom to our
erring foolishness. But that is not the Christian
doctrine of prayer at all; the Christian doctrine of
prayer is that it is the believer’s privilege to be taught
by the Spirit of God Himself to know what the will
of God is and not to ask for the things that our foolishness
would prompt us to ask for but to ask for things
that the never-erring Spirit of God prompts us to ask
for. True prayer is prayer “in the Spirit,” that is,
the prayer which the Spirit inspires and directs. When
we come into God’s presence, we should recognize
our infirmity, our ignorance of what is best for us, our
ignorance of what we should pray for, our ignorance
[pg 155]
of how we should pray for it and in the consciousness of
our utter inability to pray aright look up to the Holy
Spirit to teach us to pray, and cast ourselves utterly
upon Him to direct our prayers and to lead out our
desires and guide our utterance of them. There is no
place where we need to recognize our ignorance more
than we do in prayer. Rushing heedlessly into God’s
presence and asking the first thing that comes into our
minds, or that some other thoughtless one asks us to
pray for, is not praying “in the Holy Spirit” and is
not true prayer. We must wait for the Holy Spirit
and surrender ourselves to the Holy Spirit. The
prayer that God, the Holy Spirit, inspires is the prayer
that God, the Father, answers.

The longings which the Holy Spirit begets in our
hearts are often too deep for utterance, too deep
apparently for clear and definite comprehension on the
part of the believer himself in whom the Spirit is
working—“The Spirit Himself maketh intercession
for us with groanings which cannot be uttered” (Rom.
viii. 26, R. V.). God Himself “must search the
heart” to know what is “the mind of the Spirit” in these
unuttered and unutterable longings. But God does
know what is the mind of the Spirit; He does know
what these Spirit-given longings which we cannot put
into words mean, even if we do not, and these longings
are “according to the will of God,” and God grants
them. It is in this way that it comes to pass that
God is able to do exceedingly abundantly above all
that we ask or think, according to the power that
worketh in us (Eph. iii. 20). There are other times
[pg 156]
when the Spirit’s leadings are so clear that we pray with
the Spirit and with the understanding also (1 Cor.
xiv. 15). We distinctly understand what it is that
the Holy Spirit leads us to pray for.

II. The Holy Spirit inspires the believer and guides
him in thanksgiving as well as in prayer. We read in
Eph. v. 18-20, R. V., “And be not drunken with
wine, wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit;
speaking one to another in psalms and hymns and
spiritual songs, singing and making melody with your
heart to the Lord; giving thanks always for all things in
the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to God, even the
Father.” Not only does the Holy Spirit teach us to
pray, He also teaches us to render thanks. One of the
most prominent characteristics of the Spirit-filled life is
thanksgiving. On the Day of Pentecost, when the
disciples were filled with the Holy Spirit, and spoke as
the Spirit gave them utterance, we hear them telling
the wonderful works of God (Acts ii. 4, 11), and
to-day when any believer is filled with the Holy Spirit,
he always becomes filled with thanksgiving and praise.
True thanksgiving is “to God, even the Father,”
through, or “in the name of” our Lord Jesus Christ,
in the Holy Spirit.

III. The Holy Spirit inspires worship on the part of
the believer. We read in Phil. iii. 3, R. V., “For
we are the circumcision, who worship by the Spirit of
God, and glory in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence
in the flesh.” Prayer is not worship; thanksgiving is
not worship. Worship is a definite act of the creature
in relation to God. Worship is bowing before God in
[pg 157]
adoring acknowledgment and contemplation of Himself
and the perfection of His being. Some one has said,
“In our prayers, we are taken up with our needs; in
our thanksgiving we are taken up with our blessings;
in our worship, we are taken up with Himself.”
There is no true and acceptable worship except that
which the Holy Spirit prompts and directs. “God is
a Spirit and they that worship Him must worship Him
in Spirit and truth; for such doth the Father seek to be
His worshippers” (John iv. 24, 23). The flesh seeks
to intrude into every sphere of life. The flesh has its
worship as well as its lusts. The worship which the
flesh prompts is an abomination unto God. In this
we see the folly of any attempt at a congress of religions
where the representatives of radically different religions
attempt to worship together.

Not all earnest and honest worship is worship in the
Spirit. A man may be very honest and very earnest
in his worship and still not have submitted himself to
the guidance of the Holy Spirit in the matter and so
his worship is in the flesh. Oftentimes even when
there is great loyalty to the letter of the Word, worship
may not be “in the Spirit,” i. e., inspired and directed
by Him. To worship aright, as Paul puts it, we must
have “no confidence in the flesh,” that is, we must
recognize the utter inability of the flesh (our natural
self as contrasted to the Divine Spirit that dwells in
and should mould everything in the believer) to worship
acceptably. And we must also realize the danger that
there is that the flesh intrude itself into our worship.
In utter self-distrust and self-abnegation we must cast
[pg 158]
ourselves upon the Holy Spirit to lead us aright in our
worship. Just as we must renounce any merit in
ourselves and cast ourselves upon Christ and His work
for us upon the cross for justification, just so we must
renounce any supposed capacity for good in ourselves
and cast ourselves utterly upon the Holy Spirit and His
work in us, in holy living, knowing, praying, thanking
and worshipping and all else that we are to do.

Chapter XVIII. The Holy Spirit Sending Men Forth to Definite
Lines of Work.

We read in Acts xiii. 2-4, “As they ministered
to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said,
Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work
whereunto I have called them. And when they had
fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they
sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy
Ghost, departed into Seleucia; and from thence they
sailed to Cyprus.” It is evident from this passage that
the Holy Spirit calls men into definite lines of work and
sends them forth into the work. He not only calls men
in a general way into Christian work, but selects the
specific work and points it out. Many a one is asking
to-day, and many another ought to ask, “Shall I go to
China, to Africa, to India?” There is only one
Person who can rightly settle that question for you and
that Person is the Holy Spirit. You cannot settle the
question for yourself, much less can any other man
settle it rightly for you. Not every Christian man is
called to go to China; not every Christian man is called
to go to Africa; not every Christian man is called to
go to the foreign field at all. God alone knows whether
He wishes you in any of these places, but He is willing
to show you. In a day such as we live in, when there
is such a need of the right men and the right women
[pg 160]
on the foreign field, every young and healthy and
intellectually competent Christian man and woman
should definitely offer themselves to God for the foreign
field and ask Him if He wants them to go. But they
ought not to go until He, by His Holy Spirit, makes it
plain.

The great need in all lines of Christian work to-day
is men and women whom the Holy Ghost calls and
sends forth. We have plenty of men and women
whom men have called and sent forth. We have plenty
of men and women who have called themselves, for
there are many to-day who object strenuously to being
sent forth by men, by any organization of any kind,
but, in fact, are what is immeasurably worse, sent forth
by themselves and not by God.

How does the Holy Spirit call? The passage before
us does not tell us how the Holy Spirit spoke to the
group of prophets and teachers in Antioch, telling them
to separate Barnabas and Saul to the work to which He
had called them. It is presumably purposely silent on
this point. Possibly it is silent on this point lest we
should think that the Holy Spirit must always call in
precisely the same way. There is nothing whatever to
indicate that He spoke by an audible voice, much less
is there anything to indicate that He made His will
known in any of the fantastic ways in which some in
these days profess to discern His leading—as for example,
by twitchings of the body, by shuddering, by
opening of the Bible at random and putting his finger
on a passage that may be construed into some entirely
different meaning than that which the inspired author
[pg 161]
intended by it. The important point is, He made
His will clearly known, and He is willing to make His
will clearly known to us to-day. Sometimes He makes
it known in one way and sometimes in another, but
He will make it known.

But how shall we receive the Holy Spirit’s call? First
of all, by desiring it; second, by earnestly seeking it;
third, by waiting upon the Lord for it; fourth,
by expecting it. The record reads, “As they ministered
to the Lord, and fasted.” They were waiting upon
the Lord for His direction. For the time being they
had turned their back utterly upon worldly cares and
enjoyments, even upon those things which were perfectly
proper in their place. Many a man is saying
to-day in justification for his staying home from the
foreign field, “I have never had a call.” But how
do you know that? Have you been listening for a
call? God usually speaks in a still small voice and it
is only the listening ear that can catch it. Have you
ever definitely offered yourself to God to send you
where He will? While no man or woman ought to go
to China or Africa or other foreign field unless they are
clearly and definitely called, they ought each to offer
themselves to God for this work and be ready for the
call and be listening sharply that they may hear the call
if it comes. Let it be borne distinctly in mind that a
man needs no more definite call to Africa than to Boston,
or New York, or London, or any other desirable
field at home.

The Holy Spirit not only calls men and sends them
forth into definite lines of work, but He also guides in
[pg 162]
the details of daily life and service as to where to go and
where not to go, what to do and what not to do. We read
in Acts viii. 27-29, R. V., “And he (Philip) arose and
went: and behold, a man of Ethiopia, a eunuch of great
authority under Candace, queen of the Ethiopians, who
was over all her treasure, who had come to Jerusalem for
to worship; and he was returning and sitting in his
chariot, and was reading the prophet Isaiah. And the
Spirit said unto Philip, Go near, and join thyself to this
chariot.” Here we see the Spirit guiding Philip in the
details of service into which He had called him. In a
similar way, we read in Acts xvi. 6, 7, R. V., “And they
went through the region of Phrygia and Galatia, having
been forbidden of the Holy Ghost to speak the word in Asia;
and when they were come over against Mysia, they assayed
to go into Bithynia; and the Spirit of Jesus suffered
them not.” Here we see the Holy Spirit directing Paul
where not to go. It is possible for us to have the unerring
guidance of the Holy Spirit at every turn of life.
Take, for example, our personal work. It is manifestly
not God’s intention that we speak to every one we meet.
To attempt to do so would be to attempt the impossible,
and we would waste much time in trying to speak to
people where we could do no good that might be used
in speaking to people where we could accomplish something.
There are some to whom it would be wise for
us to speak. There are others to whom it would be
unwise for us to speak. Time spent on them would
be taken from work that would be more to God’s
glory. Doubtless as Philip journeyed towards Gaza,
he met many before he met the one of whom the Spirit
[pg 163]
said, “Go near, and join thyself to this chariot.” The
Spirit is as ready to guide us as He was to guide
Philip. Some years ago, a Christian worker in
Toronto had the impression that he should go to
the hospital and speak to some one there. He
thought to himself, “Whom do I know at the hospital
at this time?” There came to his mind one
whom he knew was at the hospital, and he hurried to
the hospital, but as he sat down by his side to talk with
him, he realized it was not for this man that he was
sent. He got up to lift a window. What did it all
mean? There was another man lying across the passage
from the man he knew and the thought came to
him that this might be the man to whom he should
speak. And he turned and spoke to this man and had
the privilege of leading him to Christ. There was apparently
nothing serious in the man’s case. He had
suffered some injury to his knee and there was no
thought of a serious issue, but that man passed into eternity
that night. Many instances of a similar character
could be recorded and prove from experience that the
Holy Spirit is as ready to guide those who seek His
guidance to-day as He was to guide the early disciples.
But He is ready to guide us, not only in our more definite
forms of Christian work but in all the affairs of
life, business, study, everything we have to do. There
is no promise in the Bible more plainly explicit than
James i. 5-7, R. V., “But if any of you lack wisdom,
let him ask of God, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth
not; and it shall be given him. But let him
ask in faith, nothing doubting: for he that doubteth is
[pg 164]
like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and tossed.
For let not that man think that he shall receive anything
of the Lord.” This passage not only promises
God’s wisdom but tells us specifically just what to do
to obtain it. There are really five steps stated or implied
in the passage:

1. That we “lack wisdom.” We must be conscious
of and fully admit our own inability to decide
wisely. Here is where oftentimes we fail to receive
God’s wisdom. We think we are able to decide for
ourselves or at least we are not ready to admit our
own utter inability to decide. There must be an entire
renunciation of the wisdom of the flesh.

2. We must really desire to know God’s way and be willing
at any cost to do God’s will. This is implied in the word
“ask.” The asking must be sincere, and if we are not
willing to do God’s will, whatever it may be, at any cost,
the asking is not sincere. This is a point of fundamental
importance. There is nothing that goes so far to make
our minds clear in the discernment of the will of God
as revealed by His Spirit as an absolutely surrendered
will. Here we find the reason why men oftentimes do
not know God’s will and have the Spirit’s guidance.
They are not willing to do whatever the Spirit leads at
any cost. It is he that “willeth to do His will” who
shall know, not only of the doctrine, but he shall know
his daily duty. Men oftentimes come to me and say,
“I cannot find out the will of God,” but when I put
to them the question, “Are you willing to do the
will of God at any cost?” they admit that they are not.
The way that is very obscure when we hold back from
[pg 165]
an absolute surrender to God becomes as clear as day
when we make that surrender.

3. We must definitely “ask” guidance. It is not
enough to desire; it is not enough to be willing to obey;
we must ask, definitely ask, God to show us the way.

4. We must confidently expect guidance. “Let him ask
in faith nothing doubting,” There are many and many
who cannot find the way, though they ask God to show
it to them, simply because they have not the absolutely
undoubting expectation that God will show them the
way. God promises to show it if we expect it confidently.
When you come to God in prayer to show
you what to do, know for a certainty that He will show
you. In what way He will show you, He does not
tell, but He promises that He will show you and that is
enough.

5. We must follow step by step as the guidance comes.
As said before, just how it will come, no one can tell,
but it will come. Oftentimes only a step will be made
clear at a time; that is all we need to know—the next
step. Many are in darkness because they do not know
and cannot find what God would have them do next
week, or next month or next year. A college man
once came to me and told me that he was in great
darkness about God’s guidance, that he had been seeking,
to find the will of God and learn what his life’s work
should be, but he could not find it. I asked him how
far along he was in his college course. He said his
sophomore year. I asked, “What is it you desire to
know?” “What I shall do when I finish college.”
“Do you know that you ought to go through college?”
[pg 166]
“Yes.” This man not only knew what he ought to
do next year but the year after but still he was in great
perplexity because he did not know what he ought to
do when these two years were ended. God delights to
lead His children a step at a time. He leads us as He
led the children of Israel. “And when the cloud was
taken up from the tabernacle, then after that the children
of Israel journeyed: and in the place where the
cloud abode, there the children of Israel pitched their
tents. At the commandment of the Lord the children
of Israel journeyed, and at the commandment of the
Lord they pitched: as long as the cloud abode upon
the tabernacle they rested in their tents. And when
the cloud tarried long upon the tabernacle many days,
then the children of Israel kept the charge of the Lord,
and journeyed not. And so it was, when the cloud was
a few days upon the tabernacle; according to the commandment
of the Lord they journeyed. And so it
was, when the cloud abode from even unto the morning,
and that the cloud was taken up in the morning
then they journeyed: whether it was by day or by night
that the cloud was taken up, they journeyed. Or
whether it were two days, or a month, or a year, that
the cloud tarried upon the tabernacle, remaining thereon,
the children of Israel abode in their tents, and journeyed
not: but when it was taken up, they journeyed. At
the commandment of the Lord they rested in the tents,
and at the commandment of the Lord they journeyed:
they kept the charge of the Lord, at the commandment
of the Lord by the hand of Moses” (Num. ix. 17-23).

Many who have given themselves up to the leading
[pg 167]
of the Holy Spirit get into a place of great bondage and
are tortured because they have leadings which they fear
may be from God but of which they are not sure. If
they do not obey these leadings, they are fearful they
have disobeyed God and sometimes fancy that they
have grieved away the Holy Spirit, because they did not
follow His leading. This is all unnecessary. Let us
settle it in our minds that God’s guidance is clear guidance.
“God is light, and in Him is no darkness at
all” (1 John i. 5). And any leading that is not perfectly
clear is not from Him. That is, if our wills are
absolutely surrendered to Him. Of course, the
obscurity may arise from an unsurrendered will. But
if our wills are absolutely surrendered to God, we have
the right as God’s children to be sure that any guidance
is from Him before we obey it. We have a right to go
to our Father and say, “Heavenly Father, here I am.
I desire above all things to do Thy will. Now make
it clear to me, Thy child. If this thing that I have a
leading to do is Thy will, I will do it, but make it clear
as day if it be Thy will.” If it is His will, the
heavenly Father will make it as clear as day. And
you need not, and ought not to do that thing until He
does make it clear, and you need not and ought not to
condemn yourself because you did not do it. God does
not want His children to be in a state of condemnation
before Him. He wishes us to be free from all care,
worry, anxiety and self-condemnation. Any earthly
parent would make the way clear to his child that asked
to know it and much more will our heavenly Father
make it clear to us, and until He does make it clear,
[pg 168]
we need have no fears that in not doing it, we are disobeying
God. We have no right to dictate to God
how He shall give His guidance—as, for example, by
asking Him to shut up every way, or by asking Him to
give a sign, or by guiding us in putting our finger on a
text, or in any other way. It is ours to seek and to expect
wisdom but it is not ours to dictate how it shall be
given. The Holy Spirit divides to “each man
severally as He will” (1 Cor. xii. 11).

Two things are evident from what has been said
about the work of the Holy Spirit. First, how utterly
dependent we are upon the work of the Holy Spirit at
every turn of Christian life and service. Second, how
perfect is the provision for life and service that God
has made. How wonderful is the fullness of privilege
that is open to the humblest believer through the Holy
Spirit’s work. It is not so much what we are by nature,
either intellectually, morally, physically, or even spiritually,
that is important. The important matter is, what
the Holy Spirit can do for us and what we will let Him
do. Not infrequently, the Holy Spirit takes the one
who seems to give the least natural promise and uses
him far beyond those who give the greatest natural
promise. Christian life is not to be lived in the realm
of natural temperament, and Christian work is not to
be done in the power of natural endowment, but Christian
life is to be lived in the realm of the Spirit, and
Christian work is to be done on the power of the Spirit.
The Holy Spirit is willing and eagerly desirous of
doing for each one of us His whole work, and He will
do in each one of us all that we will let Him do.

Chapter XIX. The Holy Spirit and the Believer’s Body.

The Holy Spirit does a work for our bodies as
well as for our minds and hearts. We read
in Rom. viii. 11, R. V., “But if the Spirit of
Him that raised up Jesus from the dead dwelleth in you,
He that raised up Christ Jesus from the dead shall
quicken also your mortal bodies through His Spirit that
dwelleth in you.”

The Holy Spirit quickens the mortal body of the believer.
It is very evident from the context that this refers to
the future resurrection of the body (vs. 21-23). The
resurrection of the body is the Holy Spirit’s work.
The glorified body is from Him; it is “a spiritual body.”
At the present time, we have only the first fruits of the
Spirit and are waiting for the full harvest, the redemption
of our body (v. 23).

There is, however, a sense in which the Holy Spirit
even now quickens our bodies. Jesus tells us in Matt.
xii. 28 that He cast out devils by the Spirit of God.
And we read in Acts x. 38, “How God anointed Jesus
of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power, who
went about doing good and healing all that were oppressed
of the devil.” In James v. 14, the Apostle
writes, “Is any sick among you? Let him call for
the elders of the church; and let them pray over
him, anointing him with oil in the name of the
[pg 170]
Lord.” The oil in this passage (as elsewhere) is
the type of the Holy Spirit, and the truth is set
forth that the healing is the Holy Spirit’s work. God
by His Holy Spirit does impart new health and vigour
to these mortal bodies in the present life. To go to
the extremes that many do and take the ground that
the believer who is walking in fellowship with Christ
need never be ill is to go farther than the Bible warrants
us in going. It is true that the redemption of
our bodies is secured by the atoning work of Christ
but until the Lord comes, we only enjoy the first fruits
of that redemption; and we are waiting and sometimes
groaning for our full place as sons manifested in
the redemption of our body (Rom. viii. 23). But
while this is true, it is the clear teaching of Scripture
and a matter of personal experience on the part of
thousands that the life of the Holy Spirit does sweep
through these bodies of ours in moments of weakness
and of pain and sickness, imparting new health to
them, delivering from pain and filling them with
abounding life. It is our privilege to know the quickening
touch of the Holy Spirit in these bodies as well
as in our minds and affections and will. It would be
a great day for the Church and for the glory of Jesus
Christ, if Christians would renounce forever all the
devil’s counterfeits of the Holy Spirit’s work, Christian
Science, Mental Healing, Emmanuelism, Hypnotism
and the various other forms of occultism and depend
upon God by the power of His Holy Spirit to work
that in these bodies of ours which He in His unerring
wisdom sees that we most need.

Chapter XX. The Baptism With the Holy Spirit.

One of the most deeply significant phrases used
in connection with the Holy Spirit in the
Scriptures is “baptized with the Holy
Ghost.” John the Baptist was the first to use this
phrase. In speaking of himself and the coming One
he said, “I indeed baptize you with water unto repentance:
but He that cometh after me is mightier than
I, whose shoes I am not worthy to bear: He shall baptize
you with the Holy Ghost and with fire” (Matt.
iii. 11). The second “with” in this passage is in
italics. It is not found in the Greek. There are not
two different baptisms spoken of, the one with the
Holy Ghost and one with fire, but one baptism with
the Holy Wind and Fire. Jesus afterwards used the
same expression. In Acts i. 5, He says, “For John
truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” When
this promise of John the Baptist and of our Lord was
fulfilled in Acts ii. 3, 4, R. V., we read, “And there
appeared unto them tongues parting asunder, like as of
fire; and it sat upon each one of them. And they
were all filled with the Holy Spirit.” Here we have
another expression “filled with the Holy Spirit” used
synonymously with “baptized with the Holy Spirit.”

[pg 172]

We read again in Acts x. 44-46, “While Peter yet
spake these words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which
heard the word. And they of the circumcision which
believed were astonished, as many as came with Peter,
because that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift
of the Holy Ghost. For they heard them speak with
tongues, and magnify God.” Peter himself afterwards
describing this experience in Jerusalem tells the story
in this way, “And as I began to speak, the Holy Ghost
fell on them, as on us at the beginning. Then remembered
I the word of the Lord, how that He said, John
indeed baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost. Forasmuch then as God gave
them the like gift as He did unto us who believed on the
Lord Jesus Christ; what was I, that I could withstand
God?” (Acts xi. 15-17). Here Peter distinctly calls
the experience which came to Cornelius and his household,
being baptized with the Holy Ghost, so we see
that the expression “the Holy Ghost fell” and “the
gift of the Holy Ghost” are practically synonymous
expressions with “baptized with the Holy Ghost.”
Still other expressions are used to describe this blessing,
such as “receive the Holy Ghost” (Acts ii. 38;
xix. 2-6); “the Holy Ghost came on them” (Acts
xix. 2-6); “gift of the Holy Ghost” (Heb. ii. 4;
1 Cor. xii. 4, 11, 13); “I send the promise of My
Father upon you;” and “endued with power from on
high” (Luke xxiv. 49).

What is the baptism with the Holy Spirit?

In the first place the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a
definite experience of which one may and ought to know
[pg 173]
whether he has received it or not. This is evident from
our Lord’s command to His disciples in Luke xxiv. 49
and in Acts i. 4, that they should not depart from Jerusalem
to undertake the work which He had commissioned
them to do until they had received this promise
of the Father. It is also evident from the eighth chapter
of Acts, fifteenth and sixteenth verses, where we
are distinctly told, “the Holy Spirit had not as yet fallen
upon any of them.” It is evident also from the nineteenth
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles, the second
verse, R. V., where Paul put to the little group of disciples
at Ephesus the definite question, “Did ye receive
the Holy Ghost when ye believed?” It is evident
that the receiving of the Holy Ghost was an experience
so definite that one could answer yes or no to
the question whether they had received the Holy Spirit.
In this case the disciples definitely answered, “No,”
that they did not so much as hear whether the Holy
Ghost was given. They did not say what our Authorized
Version makes them say, that they did not so
much as hear whether there was any Holy Ghost.
They knew that there was a Holy Ghost; they knew
furthermore that there was a definite promise of the
baptism with the Holy Ghost, but they had not heard
that that promise had been as yet fulfilled. Paul told
them that it had and took steps whereby they were
definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit before that meeting
closed. It is equally evident from Gal. iii. 2 that
the baptism with the Holy Spirit is a definite experience
of which one may know whether he has received it or
not. In this passage Paul says to the believers in
[pg 174]
Galatia, “This only would I learn of you, Received
ye the Spirit by the works of the law, or by the hearing
of faith?” Their receiving the Spirit had been so
definite as a matter of personal consciousness, that Paul
could appeal to it as a ground for his argument. In
our day there is much talk about the baptism with the
Holy Spirit and prayer for the baptism with the Spirit
that is altogether vague and indefinite. Men arise in
meeting and pray that they may be baptized with the
Holy Spirit, and if you should go afterwards to the one
who offered the prayer and put to him the question,
“Did you receive what you asked? Were you baptized
with the Holy Spirit?” it is quite likely that he
would hesitate and falter and say, “I hope so”; but
there is none of this indefiniteness in the Bible. The
Bible is clear as day on this, as on every other point.
It sets forth an experience so definite and so real, that
one may know whether or not he has received the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, and can answer yes or no to
the question, “Have you received the Holy Ghost?”

In the second place it is evident that the baptism with
the Holy Spirit is an operation of the Holy Spirit distinct from
and additional to His regenerating work. This is evident
from Acts i. 5, “For John truly baptized with water;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not many days
hence.” It is clear then that the disciples had not as yet
been baptized with the Holy Ghost, that they were to be
thus baptized not many days hence. But the men to
whom Jesus spoke these words were already regenerate
men. They had been so pronounced by our Lord Himself.
He had said to them in John xv. 3, “Now ye are
[pg 175]
clean through the word which I have spoken unto
you.” But what does clean through the word mean?
1 Peter i. 23 answers the question, “Being born
again, not of corruptible seed, but of incorruptible, by
the word of God, which liveth and abideth forever.” A
little earlier on the same night Jesus had said to them
in John xiii. 10, R. V., “He that is bathed needeth
not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye
are clean but not all.” The Lord Jesus had pronounced
that apostolic company clean—i. e., regenerate men—with
the exception of the one who never was a regenerate
man, Judas Iscariot who should betray Him (see
verse 11). The remaining eleven Jesus Christ had pronounced
regenerate men. Yet He tells these same
men in Acts i. 5, that the baptism with the Holy Spirit
was an experience that they had not as yet realized,
that still lay in the future. So it is evident that it is
one thing to be born again by the Holy Spirit through
the Word and something distinct from this and
additional to it to be baptized with the Holy Spirit.
The same thing is evident from Acts viii. 12, R. V.,
compared with the fifteenth and sixteenth verses of the
same chapter. In the twelfth verse we read that a
large company of disciples had believed the preaching
of Philip concerning the kingdom of God and the name
of Jesus Christ, and “had been baptized into the name
of the Lord Jesus” (v. 16, R. V.). Certainly in
this company of baptized believers there were at least
some regenerate persons. Whatever the true form of
water baptism may be, they undoubtedly had been
baptized by the true form, for the baptizing had been
[pg 176]
done by a Spirit-commissioned man, but in the fifteenth
and sixteenth verses we read, “When they (that is
Peter and John) were come down, they prayed for
them, that they might receive the Holy Ghost: for as
yet He was fallen upon none of them: only they had
been baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Baptized believers they were; baptized into the name
of the Lord Jesus they had been; regenerate men some
of them most assuredly were, and yet not one of them
as yet had received, or been baptized with, the Holy
Ghost. So again, it is evident that the baptism with
the Holy Spirit is an operation of the Holy Spirit
distinct from and additional to His regenerating work.
A man may be regenerated by the Holy Spirit and still
not be baptized with the Holy Spirit. In regeneration,
there is the impartation of life by the Spirit’s power,
and the one who receives it is saved: in the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, there is the impartation of power,
and the one who receives it is fitted for service. The
baptism with the Holy Spirit, however, may take place
at the moment of regeneration. It did, for example,
in the household of Cornelius. We read in Acts x.
43, that while Peter was preaching, he came to the
point where he said concerning Jesus, “To Him bear
all the prophets witness, that through His name whosoever
believeth in Him shall receive remission of sins,”
and at that point Cornelius and his household believed
and we read immediately, “While Peter yet spake these
words, the Holy Ghost fell on all them which heard
the word. And they of the circumcision which believed
were astonished, as many as came with Peter, because
[pg 177]
that on the Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the
Holy Ghost.” The moment they believed the testimony
about Jesus, they were baptized with the Holy
Ghost, even before they were baptized with water.
Regeneration and the baptism with the Holy Spirit took
place practically at the same moment, and so they do
in many an experience to-day. It would seem as if in
a normal condition of the church, this would be the
usual experience. But the church is not in a normal
condition to-day. A very large part of the church
is in the place where the believers in Samaria were
before Peter and John came down, and where the
disciples in Ephesus were before Paul came and told
them of their larger privilege—baptized believers,
baptized into the name of the Lord Jesus, baptized
unto repentance and remission of sins, but not as
yet baptized with the Holy Ghost. Nevertheless
the baptism with the Holy Spirit is the birthright of
every believer. It was purchased for us by the
atoning death of Christ, and when He ascended to
the right hand of the Father, He received the promise
of the Father and shed Him forth upon the church, and
if any one to-day has not the baptism with the Holy
Spirit as a personal experience, it is because he has not
claimed his birthright. Potentially, every member of
the body of Christ is baptized with the Holy Spirit
(1 Cor. xii. 13), “For in one Spirit, we were all baptized
into one body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether
we be bond or free; and have been all made to drink
into one Spirit.” But there are many believers with
whom that which is potentially theirs has not become
[pg 178]
a matter of real, actual, personal experience. All men
are potentially justified in the atoning death of Jesus
Christ on the cross, that is justification is provided for
them and belongs to them (Rom. v. 18, R. V.), but
what potentially belongs to every man, each man must
appropriate to himself by faith in Christ; then justification
is actually and experimentally his and just so,
while the baptism with the Holy Spirit is potentially the
possession of every believer, each individual believer
must appropriate it for himself before it is experimentally
his. We may go still further than this and say that it is
only by the baptism with the Holy Spirit that one
becomes in the fullest sense a member of the body of
Christ, because it is only by the baptism with the
Spirit that he receives power to perform those functions
for which God has appointed him as a part of the body.

As we have already seen every true believer has the
Holy Spirit (Rom. viii. 9), but not every believer has
the baptism with the Holy Spirit (though every believer
may have as we have just seen). It is one thing to
have the Holy Spirit dwelling within us, perhaps
dwelling within us way back in some hidden sanctuary
of our being, back of definite consciousness, and
something far different, something vastly more, to
have the Holy Spirit taking complete possession of
the one whom He inhabits. There are those who
press the fact that every believer potentially has the
baptism with the Spirit, to such an extent that they
clearly teach that every believer has the baptism with
the Spirit as an actual experience. But unless the
baptism with the Spirit to-day is something radically
[pg 179]
different from what the baptism with the Spirit was in
the early church, indeed unless it is something not at
all real, then either a very large proportion of those
whom we ordinarily consider believers are not believers,
or else one may be a believer and a regenerate man
without having been baptized with the Holy Spirit.
Certainly, this was the case in the early church. It
was the case with the Apostles before Pentecost; it was
the case with the church in Ephesus; it was the case
with the church in Samaria. And there are thousands
to-day who can testify to having received Christ and
been born again, and then afterwards, sometimes long
afterwards, having been baptized with the Holy Ghost
as a definite experience. This is a matter of great
practical importance, for there are many who are not
enjoying the fullness of privilege that they might enjoy
because by pushing individual verses in the Scriptures
beyond what they will bear and against the plain
teaching of the Scriptures as a whole, they are trying
to persuade themselves that they have already been
baptized with the Holy Spirit when they have not.
And if they would only admit to themselves that they
had not, they could then take the steps whereby they
would be baptized with the Holy Spirit as a matter
of definite, personal experience.

The next thing which is clear from the teaching of
Scripture is that the baptism with the Holy Spirit is always
connected with, and primarily for the purpose of testimony
and service.

Our Lord in speaking of this baptism which they
were so soon to receive in Luke xxiv. 49 said, “And
[pg 180]
behold I send the promise of My Father upon you:
but tarry ye in the city of Jerusalem, until ye be
endued with power from on high.” And again He said
in Acts i. 5, 8, “For John truly baptized with water;
but ye shall be baptized with the Holy Ghost not
many days hence…. But ye shall receive power
after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you: and ye
shall be witnesses unto Me, both in Jerusalem, and in all
Judea, and in Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of
the earth.” In the record of the fulfillment of this
promise of our Lord in Acts ii. 4, we read, “And they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance.”
Then follows the detailed account of what Peter said
and of the result. The result was that Peter and the
other Apostles spoke with such power that three thousand
persons that day were convicted of sin, renounced
their sin and confessed their acceptance of Jesus Christ
in baptism and continued steadfastly in the Apostles’
doctrine and fellowship and in the breaking of bread
and in prayers ever afterwards. In the fourth chapter
of Acts, the thirty-first to the thirty-third verses, we
read that when the Apostles on another occasion were
filled with the Holy Spirit, the result was that they
“spake the word of God with boldness” and that “with
great power gave the Apostles their witness to the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus.” And in the ninth chapter
of the Acts of the Apostles, we have a description of
Paul’s being baptized with the Holy Spirit. We read
in the seventeenth to the twentieth verses, “And
Ananias went his way, and entered into the house;
[pg 181]
and putting his hands on him said, Brother Saul, the
Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the way
as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest receive
thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost. And
immediately there fell from his eyes as it had been
scales: and he received sight forthwith, and arose,
and was baptized. And when he had received meat,
he was strengthened…. And straightway, he
preached Christ in the synagogues, that He is the Son
of God,” and in the twenty-second verse we read that
he “confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is the Christ” (R. V.). In 1 Cor. xii.
we have the fullest discussion of the baptism with the
Holy Spirit found in any passage in the Bible. This
is the classical passage on the whole subject. And the
results there recorded are gifts for service. The
baptism with the Holy Spirit is not primarily intended
to make believers happy, but to make them useful. It
is not intended merely for the ecstasy of the individual
believer, it is intended primarily for his efficiency in
service. I do not say that the baptism with the Holy
Spirit will not make the believer happy; for as part of
the fruit of the Spirit is “joy,” if one is baptized with the
Holy Spirit, joy must inevitably result. I have never
known one to be baptized with the Holy Spirit into
whose life there did not come, sooner or later, a new
joy, a higher and purer and fuller joy than he had ever
known before. But this is not the prime purpose of
the baptism nor the most important and prominent result.
Great emphasis needs to be laid upon this point,
for there are many Christians who in seeking the
[pg 182]
baptism with the Spirit are seeking personal ecstasy and
rapture. They go to conventions and conferences for
the deepening of the Christian life and come back and
tell what a wonderful blessing they have received, referring
to some new ecstasy that has come into their heart,
but when you watch them, it is difficult to see that they
are any more useful to their pastors or their churches
than they were before, and one is compelled to think
that whatever they have received, they have not received
the real baptism with the Holy Spirit. Ecstasies
and raptures are all right in their places. When they
come, thank God for them—the writer knows something
about them—but in a world such as we live in
to-day where sin and self-righteousness and unbelief
are so triumphant, where there is such an awful tide of
men, women and young people sweeping on towards
eternal perdition, I would rather go through my whole
life and never have one touch of ecstasy but have power
to witness for Christ and win others for Christ and
thus to save them, than to have raptures 365 days in
the year but no power to stem the awful tide of sin
and bring men, women and children to a saving
knowledge of my Lord and Saviour, Jesus Christ.

The purpose of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is
not primarily to make believers individually holy. I do
not say that it is not the work of the Holy Spirit to
make believers holy, for as we have already seen, He
is “the Spirit of Holiness,” and the only way we shall
ever attain unto holiness is by His power. I do not
even say that the baptism with the Holy Spirit will not
result in a great spiritual transformation and uplift and
[pg 183]
cleansing, for the promise is, “He shall baptize you
with the Holy Spirit and fire” (and the thought of fire
as used in this connection is the thought of searching,
refining, cleansing, consuming). A wonderful transformation
took place in the Apostles at Pentecost, and
a wonderful transformation has taken place in thousands
who have been baptized with the Holy Spirit since
Pentecost, but the primary purpose of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit is efficiency in testimony and service.
It has to do rather with gifts for service than with
graces of character. It is the impartation of spiritual
power or gifts in service and sometimes one may have
rare gifts by the Spirit’s power and yet manifest few of
the graces of the Spirit. (See 1 Cor. xiii. 1-3;
Matt. vii. 22, 23.) In every passage in the Bible in
which the baptism with the Holy Spirit is mentioned,
it is connected with testimony or service.

We shall perhaps get a clearer idea of just what the
baptism with the Holy Spirit is, if we stop to consider
what are the results of the baptism with the Holy
Spirit.

What are the results of the baptism with the
Holy Spirit?

1. The specific manifestations of the baptism with the
Holy Spirit are not precisely the same in all persons. This
appears very clearly from 1 Cor. xii. 4-13, “Now
there are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. And
there are differences of administrations, but the same
Lord. And there are diversities of operations, but it is
the same God which worketh all in all. But the manifestation
of the Spirit is given to every man to profit
[pg 184]
withal. For to one is given by the Spirit the word of
wisdom; to another the word of knowledge by the same
Spirit; to another faith by the same Spirit; to another
the gifts of healing by the same Spirit; to another the
working of miracles; to another prophecy; to another
discerning of spirits; to another divers kind of tongues;
to another the interpretation of tongues: but all these
worketh that one and the selfsame Spirit, dividing to
every man severally as He will. For as the body is
one, and hath many members, and all the members of
that one body, being many, are one body: so also is
Christ. For by one Spirit are we all baptized into one
body, whether we be Jews or Gentiles, whether we be
bond or free; and have been all made to drink into one
Spirit.” Here we see one baptism but a great variety
of manifestations of the power of that baptism. There
are diversities of gifts, but the same Spirit. The gifts
vary with the different lines of service to which God
calls different persons. The church is a body, and different
members of the body have different functions
and the Spirit imparts to the one who is baptized with
the Spirit those gifts which fit him for the service to
which God has called him. It is very important to
bear this in mind. Through the failure to see this,
many have gone entirely astray on the whole subject.
In my early study of the subject, I noticed the fact that
in many instances those who were baptized with the
Holy Spirit spake with tongues (e. g., Acts ii. 4; x. 46;
xix. 6) and I wondered if every one who was baptized
with the Holy Spirit would not speak with tongues. I
did not know of any one who was speaking with
[pg 185]
tongues to-day and so I wondered still further whether
the baptism with the Holy Spirit were for the present
age. But one day I was studying 1 Cor. xii. and
noticed how Paul said to the believers in that wonderfully
gifted church in Corinth, all of whom had been
pronounced in the thirteenth verse to be baptized with
the Spirit, “And God hath set some in the church,
first apostles, secondarily prophets, thirdly teachers,
after that miracles, then gifts of healing, helps, governments,
diversities of tongues. Are all apostles? Are
all prophets? Are all teachers? Are all workers of
miracles? Have all the gift of healing? Do all speak
with tongues? Do all interpret?” So I saw it was
clearly taught in the Scriptures that one might be
baptized with the Holy Spirit and still not have the gift
of tongues. I saw furthermore that the gift of tongues,
according to the Scripture, was the last and the least
important of all the gifts, and that we were urged to
desire earnestly the greater gifts (1 Cor. xiii. 31;
1 Cor. xiv. 5, 12, 14, 18, 19, 27, 28). A little later I
was tempted to fall into another error, more specious
but in reality just as unscriptural as this, namely, that if
one were baptized with the Holy Spirit, he would receive
the gift of an evangelist. I had read the story of
D. L. Moody, of Charles G. Finney and of others
who were baptized with the Holy Spirit, and of the
power that came to them as evangelists, and the
thought was suggested that if any one is baptized with
the Holy Spirit will not he also obtain power as an
evangelist? But this was also unscriptural. If God
has called a man to be an evangelist and he is baptized
[pg 186]
with the Holy Spirit, he will receive power as an
evangelist, but if God has called him to be something
else, he will receive power to become something else.
Three great evils come from the error of thinking that
every one who is baptized with the Holy Spirit will receive
power as an evangelist.

(1) The evil of disappointment. There are many
who seek the baptism with the Holy Spirit expecting
power as an evangelist, but God has not called them
to that work, and though they really meet the conditions
of receiving the baptism with the Spirit, and do
receive the baptism with the Spirit, power as an
evangelist does not come. In many cases this results
in bitter disappointment and sometimes even in despair.
The one who has expected the power of an evangelist
and has not received it sometimes even questions whether
he is a child of God. But if he had properly understood
the matter, he would have known that the fact
that he had not received power as an evangelist is no
proof that he has not received the baptism with the
Spirit, and much less is it a proof that he is not a child
of God.

(2) The second evil is graver still, namely, the evil
of presumption. A man whom God has not called to
the work of an evangelist or a minister oftentimes
rushes into it because he has received, or imagines he
has received, the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He
thinks all a man needs to become a preacher is the baptism
with the Holy Spirit. This is not true. In order
to succeed as a minister a man needs a call to that
specific work, and furthermore, he needs that knowledge
[pg 187]
of God’s Word that will prepare him for the
work. If a man is called to the ministry and studies the
Word until he has something to preach, if then he is
baptized with the Holy Spirit, he will have success as a
preacher, but if he is not called to that work, or if he
has not the knowledge of the Word of God that is
necessary, he will not succeed in the work, even
though he receives the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

(3) The third evil is greater still, namely, the evil
of indifference. There are many who know that they
are not called to the work of preaching. If then they
think that the baptism with the Holy Spirit simply imparts
power as an evangelist, or power to preach, the
matter of the baptism with the Holy Spirit is one of no
personal concern to them. For example, here is a
mother with a large family of children. She knows
perfectly well, or at least it is hoped that she knows,
that she is not called to do the work of an evangelist.
She knows that her duty lies with her children
and her home. If she reads or hears about the
baptism with the Holy Spirit, and gets the impression
that the baptism with the Holy Spirit simply imparts
power to do the work of an evangelist, or to
preach, she will think “The evangelist needs this
blessing, my minister needs this blessing, but it
is not for me”; but if she understands the matter as
it is taught in the Bible, that while the baptism with
the Spirit imparts power, the way in which the power
will be manifested depends entirely upon the line of
work to which God calls us, and that no efficient work
can be done without it, and sees still further that there
[pg 188]
is no function in the church of Jesus Christ to-day
more holy and sacred than that of sanctified motherhood,
she will say, “The evangelist may need this
baptism, my minister may need this baptism; but I
must have it to bring up my children in the nurture
and admonition of the Lord.”

2. While there are diversities of gifts and manifestations
of the baptism with the Holy Spirit, there will be some
gift to every one thus baptized. We read in 1 Cor.
xii. 7, R. V., “But to each one is given the manifestation
of the Spirit to profit withal.” Every most insignificant
member of the body of Christ has some
function to perform in that body. The body grows
by that “which every joint supplieth” (Eph. iv. 16),
and to each least significant joint, the Holy Spirit imparts
power to perform the function that belongs to
him.

3. It is the Holy Spirit who decides how the baptism
with the Spirit shall manifest itself in any given case. As
we read in 1 Cor. xii. 11, “But all these worketh the
one and the selfsame Spirit dividing to each one
severally, even as He will.” The Holy Spirit is absolutely
sovereign in deciding how, that is, in what
special gift, operation, or power, the baptism with the
Holy Spirit shall manifest itself. It is not for us to
pick out some field of service and then ask the Holy
Spirit to qualify us for that service. It is not for us to
select some gift and then ask the Holy Spirit to impart
to us this self-chosen gift. It is for us to simply put
ourselves entirely at the disposal of the Holy Spirit to
send us where He will, to select for us what kind of
[pg 189]
service He will and to impart to us what gift He will.
He is absolute sovereign and our position is that of
unconditional surrender to Him. I am glad that this
is so. I rejoice that He, in His infinite wisdom and
love, is to select the field of service and the gifts, and
that this is not to be left to me in my short-sightedness
and folly. It is because of the failure to recognize this
absolute sovereignty of the Spirit that many fail of the
blessing and meet with disappointment. They are
trying to select their own gift and so get none. I once
knew an earnest child of God in Scotland, who hearing
of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and the power
that resulted from it, gave up at a great sacrifice his
work as a ship plater, for which he was receiving large
wages. He heard that there was a great need of ministers
in the northwest in America. He came to the
northwest. He met the conditions of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit and I believe was really baptized with
the Holy Spirit, but God had not chosen him for the
work of an evangelist, and the power as an evangelist
did not come to him. No field seemed to open, and he
was in great despondency. He even questioned his
acceptance before God. One morning he came into
our church in Minneapolis and heard me speak upon
the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and as I pointed out
that the baptism with the Holy Spirit manifested itself
in many different ways, and the fact that one had not
power as an evangelist was no proof that he had not
received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, light came
into his heart. He put himself unreservedly into God’s
hands for Him to choose the field of labour and the
[pg 190]
gifts. An opening soon came to him as a Sunday-school
missionary, and then, when he had given up
choosing for himself and left it with the Holy Spirit to
divide to him as He would, a strange thing happened;
he did receive power as an evangelist and went through
the country districts in one of our northwestern states
with mighty power as an evangelist.

4. While the power may be of one kind in one person
and of another kind in another person, there will always
be power, the very power of God, when one is baptized
with the Holy Spirit. We read in Acts i. 5, 8, “For
John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence….
But ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost
is come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses unto Me
both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in Samaria,
and unto the uttermost part of the earth.” As truly
as any one who reads these pages, who has not already
received the baptism with the Holy Spirit, seeks it in
God’s way, he will obtain it, and there will come into
his service a power that was never there before, power
for the very work to which God has called him. This
is not only the teaching of Scripture; it is the teaching
of religious experience throughout the centuries. Religious
biographies abound in instances of men who
have worked along as best they could, until one day they
were led to see that there was such an experience as
the baptism with the Holy Spirit and to seek it and obtain
it and, from that hour, there came into their service
a new power that utterly transformed its character.
In this matter, one thinks first of such men as Finney,
[pg 191]
and Moody, and Brainerd, but cases of this character
are not confined to the few exceptional men. They
are common. The writer has personally met and
corresponded with hundreds and thousands of persons
around the globe, who could testify definitely to the
new power that God has granted them through the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. These thousands of
men and women were in all branches of Christian
service; some of them are ministers of the Gospel,
some evangelists, some mission workers, some
Y. M. C. A. secretaries, Sunday-school teachers,
fathers, mothers, personal workers. Nothing could
possibly exceed the clearness and the confidence and
the joyfulness of many of these testimonies.

I shall not soon forget a minister whom I met some
years ago at a State Convention of the Young People’s
Society of Christian Endeavour at New Britain, Conn.
I was speaking upon the subject of personal work and
as I drew the address to a close, I said that in order to
do effective personal work, we must be baptized with
the Holy Spirit, and in a very few sentences explained
what I meant by that. At the close of the address, this
minister came to me on the platform and said, “I
have not this blessing you have been speaking about,
but I want it. Will you pray for me?” I said, “Why
not pray right now?” He said, “I will.” We put
two chairs side by side and turned our backs upon the
crowd as they passed out of the Armoury. He prayed
and I prayed that he might be baptized with the Holy
Spirit. Then we separated. Some weeks after, one
who had witnessed the scene came to me at a convention
[pg 192]
in Washington and told me how this minister had
gone back to his church a transformed man, that now
his congregations filled the church, that it was largely
composed of young men, and that there were conversions
at every service. Some years after, this minister
was called to another field of service. His most
spiritually-minded friends advised him not to go, as all
the ruling elements in the church to which he had been
called were against aggressive evangelistic work, but
for some reason or other, he felt it was the call of God
and accepted it. In six months, there were sixty-nine
conversions, and thirty-eight of them were business
men of the town.

After attending in Montreal some years ago an Inter-provincial
Convention of the Young Men’s Christian
Association of the Provinces of Canada, I received a
letter from a young man. He wrote, “I was present
at your last meeting in Montreal. I heard you speak
upon the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. I went to my
rooms and sought that baptism for myself and received
it. I am chairman of the Lookout Committee of the
Christian Endeavour Society of our church. I called
together the other members of the committee. I found
that two of them had been at the meeting and had already
been baptized with the Holy Spirit. Then we
prayed for the other members of the committee and
they were baptized with the Holy Spirit. Now we are
going out into the church and the young people of the
church are being brought to Christ right along.”

A lady and gentleman once came to me at a convention
and told me how, though they had never seen me
[pg 193]
before, they had read the report of an address on the
Baptism with the Holy Spirit delivered in Boston at
a Christian Workers’ Convention and that they had
sought this baptism and had received it. The man
then told me the blessing that had come into his service
as superintendent of the Sunday-school. When
he had finished, his wife broke in and said, “Yes, and
the best part of it is, I have been able to get into the
hearts of my own children, which I was never able to
do before.” Here were three distinctly different lines
of service, but there was power in each case. The results
of that power may not, however, be manifest at
once in conversions. Stephen was filled with the Holy
Spirit, but as he witnessed in the power of the Holy
Spirit for his risen Lord, he saw no conversions at the
time. All he saw was the gnashing of the teeth, the
angry looks and the merciless rocks, and so it may be
with us. But there was a conversion, even in that
case, though it was a long time before it was seen, and
that conversion, the conversion of Saul of Tarsus, was
worth more than hundreds of ordinary conversions.

5. Another result of the baptism with the Holy Spirit
will be boldness in testimony and service. We read in
Acts iv. 31, “And when they had prayed, the place
was shaken where they were assembled together; and
they were all filled with the Holy Ghost, and they spake
the word of God with boldness.” The baptism with the
Holy Spirit imparts to those who receive it new liberty
and fearlessness in testimony for Christ. It converts
cowards into heroes. Peter upon the night of our
Lord’s crucifixion proved himself a craven coward.
[pg 194]
He denied with oaths and curses that he knew the
Lord. But after Pentecost, this same Peter was brought
before the very council that had condemned Jesus to
death, and he himself was threatened, but filled with
the Holy Ghost, he said, “Ye rulers of the people, and
elders of Israel, if we this day be examined of the good
deed done to the impotent man, by what means he is
made whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the
people of Israel, that by the name of Jesus Christ of
Nazareth, whom ye crucified, whom God raised from the
dead, even by Him doth this man stand here before you
whole. This is the stone which was set at nought of
you builders, which is become the head of the corner.
Neither is there salvation in any other: for there is
none other name under heaven given among men,
whereby we must be saved” (Acts iv. 8-12). A
little later when the council commanded him and his
companion, John, not to speak or teach in the name of
Jesus, they answered, “Whether it be right in the
sight of God to hearken unto you more than unto God,
judge ye. For we cannot but speak the things which
we have seen and heard” (Acts iv. 19, 20). On a
still later occasion, when they were threatened and commanded
not to speak and when their lives were in
jeopardy, Peter told the council to their faces, “We
ought to obey God rather than men. The God of our
fathers raised up Jesus, whom ye slew and hanged on a
tree. Him hath God exalted with His right hand to be
a Prince and a Saviour, for to give repentance to Israel,
and forgiveness of sins. And we are His witnesses of
these things; and so is also the Holy Ghost, whom
[pg 195]
God hath given to them that obey Him” (Acts v. 29-32).
The natural timidity of many a man to-day
vanishes when he is filled with the Holy Spirit, and
with great boldness and liberty, with utter fearlessness
of consequences, he gives his testimony for Jesus
Christ.

6. The baptism with the Holy Spirit causes the one who
receives it to be occupied with God and Christ and spiritual
things. In the record of the day of Pentecost, we
read, “They were all filled with the Holy Ghost and
began to speak with other tongues as the Spirit gave
them utterance. And they were all amazed and
marvelled, saying one to another, Behold, are not these
which speak Galileans? And how hear we every man
in our own tongue, wherein we were born? Cretes
and Arabians, we do hear them speak in our tongues
the wonderful works of God” (Acts ii. 4, 7, 8, 11).
Then follows Peter’s sermon, a sermon that from start
to finish is entirely taken up with Jesus Christ and His
glory. On a later day we read, “And when they had
prayed, the place was shaken where they were assembled
together; and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost,
and they spake the word of God with boldness. And
with great power gave the Apostles witness of the resurrection
of the Lord Jesus: and great grace was upon them
all…. Then Peter, filled with the Holy Ghost,
said unto them, Ye rulers of the people, and elders of
Israel, if we this day be examined of the good deed
done to the impotent man, by what means he is made
whole; be it known unto you all, and to all the people
of Israel, that by the name of Jesus of Nazareth, whom
[pg 196]
ye crucified, whom God raised from the dead, even by
Him doth this man stand here before you whole”
(Acts iv. 31, 33, 8-10). We read of Saul of Tarsus,
that when he had been filled with the Holy Spirit,
“Straightway in the synagogues he proclaimed Jesus”
(Acts ix. 17, 20, R. V.). We read of the household of
Cornelius, “While Peter yet spake these words, the
Holy Ghost fell on them who heard the Word. And
they of the circumcision which believed were astonished,
as many as came with Peter, because that on the
Gentiles also was poured out the gift of the Holy Ghost.
For they heard them speak with tongues, and magnify
God.” Here we see the whole household of Cornelius
as soon as they were filled with the Holy Spirit magnifying
God. In Eph. v. 18, 19, we are told that the result
of being filled with the Spirit is that those who are thus
filled will speak to one another in psalms and hymns
and spiritual songs, singing and making melody in their
hearts to the Lord. Men who are filled with the Holy
Spirit will not be singing sentimental ballads, not
comic ditties, nor operatic airs while the power of the
Holy Ghost is upon them. If the Holy Ghost should
come upon any one while listening to one of the most
innocent of the world’s songs, he would not enjoy it,
he would long to hear something about Christ. Men
who are baptized with the Holy Spirit do not talk much
about self but much about God, and especially much
about Christ. This is necessarily so, as it is the Holy
Spirit’s office to bear witness to the glorified Christ
(John xv. 26; xvi. 14).

To sum up everything that has been said about the
[pg 197]
results of the baptism with the Holy Spirit; the baptism
with the Holy Spirit is the Spirit of God coming upon
the believer, filling his mind with a real apprehension of
truths, especially of Christ, taking possession of his faculties,
imparting to him gifts not otherwise his but which qualify
him for the service to which God has called him.

The necessity of the baptism with the Spirit.

The New Testament has much to say about the
necessity for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. When
our Lord was about to leave His disciples to go to be
with the Father, He said, “And, behold, I send the
promise of My Father upon you: but tarry ye in the city
of Jerusalem, until ye be endued with power from on
high” (Luke xxiv. 49). He had just commissioned
them to be His witnesses to all nations, beginning at
Jerusalem (vs. 47, 48), but He here tells them that before
they undertake this witnessing, they must wait until
they receive the promise of the Father, and were
thus endued with power from on high for the work of
witnessing which they were to undertake. There is no
doubt as to what Jesus meant by “the promise of My
Father,” for which they were to wait before beginning
the ministry that He had laid upon them; for in Acts
i. 4, 5, we read, “And being assembled together with
them (He), commanded them that they should not depart
from Jerusalem, but wait for the promise of the
Father, which, saith He, ye have heard of Me. For
John truly baptized with water; but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” It is
evident then that “the promise of the Father” through
which the enduement of power was to come was the
[pg 198]
baptism with the Holy Spirit. He went on to tell His
disciples “Ye shall receive power after that the Holy
Ghost shall come upon you: and ye shall be witnesses
unto Me both in Jerusalem, and in all Judea, and in
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth”
(Acts i. 8). Now who were the men to whom Jesus
said this? The disciples whom He Himself had
trained for the work. For more than three years, they
had lived in the closest intimacy with Himself; they
had been eye-witnesses of His miracles, of His death,
of His resurrection, and in a few moments were to be
eye-witnesses of His ascension as He was taken up
right before their eyes into heaven. And what were
they to do? Simply to go and tell the world what their
own eyes had seen and what their own ears had heard
from the lips of the Son of God. Were they not
equipped for the work? With our modern ideas of
preparation for Christian work, we should say that they
were thoroughly equipped. But Jesus said, “No, you
are not equipped. There is another preparation in addition
to the preparation already received, so absolutely
necessary for effective work that you must not stir one
step until you receive it. This other preparation is the
promise of the Father, the baptism with the Holy
Spirit.” If the Apostles with their altogether exceptional
fitting for the work which they were to undertake
needed this preparation for work, how much more do
we? In the light of what Jesus required of His disciples
before undertaking the work, does it not seem
like the most daring presumption for any of us to
undertake to witness and work for Christ until we also
[pg 199]
have received the promise of the Father, the baptism
with the Holy Spirit? There was apparently imperative
need that something be done at once. The whole
world was perishing and they alone knew the saving
truth, nevertheless Jesus strictly charged them “wait.”
Could there be a stronger testimony to the absolute
necessity and importance of the baptism with the Holy
Spirit as a preparation for work that should be acceptable
to Christ?

But this is not all. In Acts x. 38 we read, “How
God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost
and power; who went about doing good, and healing
all that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
Him.” To what does this refer in the recorded life of
Jesus Christ? If we will turn to Luke iii. 21, 22, and
Luke iv. 1, 4, 17, 18, we will get our answer. In
Luke iii. 21, 22, R. V., we read that after Jesus had
been baptized and was praying, “The heaven was
opened, and the Holy Spirit descended in a bodily
form, as a dove, upon Him, and a voice came out of
heaven, Thou art My beloved Son; in Thee I am
well pleased.” Then the next thing that we read, with
nothing intervening but the human genealogy of
Jesus, is “And Jesus, full of the Holy Spirit, returned
from the Jordan, and was led by the Spirit in the
wilderness” (Luke iv. 1). Then follows the story of
His temptation; then in the fourteenth verse we read,
“And Jesus returned in the power of the Spirit into
Galilee: and a fame went out concerning Him through
all the region round about.” And in the seventeenth
and eighteenth verses, “And there was delivered unto
[pg 200]
Him the book of the prophet Isaiah. And He opened
the book, and found the place where it was written,
The Spirit of the Lord is upon Me, because He hath
anointed Me to preach, etc.” Evidently then, it was at
the Jordan in connection with His baptism that Jesus
was anointed with the Holy Spirit and power,
and He did not enter upon His public ministry
until He was thus baptized with the Holy Spirit.
And who was Jesus? It is the common belief
of Christendom that He had been supernaturally
conceived through the Holy Spirit’s power, that
He was the only begotten Son of God, that He was
Divine, very God of very God, and yet truly man.
If such an One “leaving us an example that we
should follow His steps” did not venture upon His
ministry, for which the Father had sent Him, until
thus definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit, what is
it for us to dare to do it? If in the light of these
recorded facts we dare to do it, does it not seem like
the most unpardonable presumption? Doubtless it
has been done in ignorance by many of us, but can we
plead ignorance any longer? It is evident that the
baptism with the Holy Spirit is an absolutely necessary
preparation for effective work for Christ along every
line of service. We may have a very clear call to
service, as clear it may be as the Apostles had, but the
charge is laid upon us as upon them, that before we
begin that service we must tarry until we are clothed
with power from on high. This enduement of power
is through the baptism with the Holy Spirit.

But this is not all even yet. We read in Acts vii.
[pg 201]
14-16, “Now when the Apostles which were at
Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word
of God, they sent unto them Peter and John: who,
when they were come down, prayed for them, that they
might receive the Holy Ghost (for as yet He was fallen
upon none of them: only they were baptized in the
name of the Lord Jesus).” There was a great company
of happy converts in Samaria, but when Peter
and John came down to inspect the work, they evidently
felt that there was something so essential that
these young disciples had not received that before they
did anything else, they must see to it that they received
it. In a similar way we read in Acts xix. 1, 2, R. V.,
“And it came to pass, that, while Apollos was at
Corinth, Paul having passed through the upper country
came to Ephesus, and found certain disciples: and he
said unto them, Did ye receive the Holy Ghost when
ye believed?” When he found that they had not
received the Holy Spirit, the first thing that he saw to
was that they should receive the Holy Spirit. He did
not go on with the work with the outsiders until that
little group of twelve disciples had been equipped for
service. So we see that when the Apostles found believers
in Christ, the first thing that they always did
was to demand whether they had received the Holy
Spirit as a definite experience and if not, they saw to it
at once that the steps were taken whereby they should
receive the Holy Spirit. It is evident then that the
baptism with the Holy Spirit is absolutely necessary in
every Christian for the service that Christ demands and
expects of him. There are certainly few greater mistakes
[pg 202]
that we are making to-day in our various Christian
enterprises than that of setting men to teach
Sunday-school classes and do personal work and even
to preach the Gospel, because they have been converted
and received a certain amount of education, including
it may be a college and seminary course, but have not
as yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit. We think
that if a man is hopefully pious and has had a college
and seminary education and comes out of it reasonably
orthodox, he is now ready that we should lay our hands
upon him and ordain him to preach the Gospel. But
Jesus Christ says, “No.” There is another preparation
so all essential that a man must not undertake this
work until he has received it. “Tarry ye (literally
‘sit ye down’) until ye be endued with power from
on high.” A distinguished theological professor has
said that the question ought to be put to every candidate
for the ministry, “Have you met God?” Yes,
but we ought to go farther than this and be even more
definite; to every candidate for the ministry we should
put the question, “Have you been baptized with the
Holy Spirit?” and if not, we should say to him as Jesus
said to the first preachers of the Gospel, “Sit down
until you are endued with power from on high.”

But not only is this true of ordained ministers, it is
true of every Christian, for all Christians are called to
ministry of some kind. Any man who is in Christian
work, who has not received the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, ought to stop his work right where he is and not
go on with it until he has been “clothed with power
from on high.” But what will our work do while we
[pg 203]
are waiting? The question can be answered by asking
another, “What did the world do during these ten
days while the early disciples were waiting?” They
knew the saving truth, they alone knew it; yet in obedience
to the Lord’s command they were silent. The
world was no loser. Beyond a doubt, when the power
came, they accomplished more in one day than they
would have accomplished in years if they had gone on
in self-confident defiance and disobedience to Christ’s
command. We too after that we have received the
baptism with the Spirit will accomplish more of real
work for our Lord in one day than we ever would in
years without this power. Even if it were necessary to
spend days in waiting, they would be well spent, but
we shall see later that there is no need that we spend
days in waiting, that the baptism with the Holy Spirit
may be received to-day. Some one may say that the
Apostles had gone on missionary tours during Christ’s
lifetime, even before they were baptized with the Holy
Spirit. This is true, but that was before the Holy Spirit
was given, and before the command was given, “Tarry
ye until ye be clothed with power from on high.”
After that it would have been disobedience and folly
and presumption to have gone forth without this enduement,
and we are living to-day after the Holy Spirit has
been given and after the charge has been given to tarry
until clothed.

Who can be baptized with the Holy Spirit?

We come now to the question of first importance,
namely, Who can be baptized with the Holy Spirit? At
a convention some years ago, a very intelligent Christian
[pg 204]
woman, a well-known worker in educational as
well as Sunday-school work, sent me this question,
“You have told us of the necessity of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit, but who can have this baptism? The
church to which I belong teaches that the baptism with
the Holy Spirit was confined to the apostolic age.
Will you not tell us who can have the baptism with the
Holy Spirit?” Fortunately this question is answered in
the most explicit terms in the Bible. We read in Acts
ii. 38, 39, R. V., “And Peter said unto them, Repent
ye, and be baptized every one of you in the name of
Jesus Christ unto the remission of your sins; and ye
shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost. For to you
is the promise, and to your children, and to all that are
afar off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call
unto Him.” What is the promise to which Peter refers
in the thirty-ninth verse? There are two interpretations
of the passage; one is that the promise of this
verse is the promise of salvation; the other is that the
promise of this verse is the promise of the gift of the
Holy Spirit (or the baptism with the Holy Spirit; a
comparison of Scripture passages will show that the two
expressions are synonymous). Which is the correct
interpretation? There are two laws of interpretation
universally recognized among Bible scholars. These
two laws are the law of usage (or “usus loquendi” as
it is called) and the law of context. Many a verse in
the Bible standing alone might admit of two or three or
even more interpretations, but when these two laws of
interpretation are applied, it is settled to a certainty
that only one of the various possible interpretations is
[pg 205]
the true interpretation. The law of usage is this, that
when you find a word or phrase in any passage of
Scripture and you wish to know what it means, do not
go to a dictionary but go to the Bible itself, look up the
various passages in which the word is used and
especially how the particular writer being studied uses
it, and especially how it is used in that particular book
in which the passage is found. Thus you can determine
what the precise meaning of the word or phrase is
in the passage in question. The law of context is
this; that when you study a passage, you should not
take it out of its connection but should look at what
goes before it and what comes after it; for while it
might mean various things if it stood alone, it can only
mean one thing in the connection in which it is found.
Now let us apply these two laws to the passage in
question. First of all, let us apply the law of usage.
We are trying to discover what the expression “the
promise” means in Acts ii. 39. Turning back to Acts
i. 4, 5, R. V., we read, “He charged them not to depart
from Jerusalem, but to wait for the promise of the
Father, which, said He, ye heard from Me: for John
indeed baptized with water, but ye shall be baptized
with the Holy Ghost not many days hence.” It is evident
then, that here the promise of the Father means the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. Turn now to the second
chapter and the thirty-third verse, R. V., “Being
therefore by the right hand of God exalted, and having
received of the Father the promise of the Holy Ghost, He
hath poured forth this, which ye see and hear.” In
this passage we are told in so many words that the
[pg 206]
promise is the promise of the Holy Spirit. If this
peculiar expression means the baptism with the Holy
Spirit in Acts i. 4, 5, and the same thing in Acts ii. 33,
by what same law of interpretation can it possibly mean
something entirely different six verses farther down in
Acts ii. 39? So the law of usage establishes it that the
promise of Acts ii. 39 is the promise of the baptism with
the Holy Spirit. Now let us apply the law of context,
and we shall find that, if possible, this is even more
decisive. Turn back to the thirty-eighth verse, “And
Peter said unto them, Repent ye, and be baptized every
one of you in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission
of your sins; and ye shall receive the gift of the Holy
Ghost; for the promise is unto you, etc.” So it is
evident here that the promise is the promise of the gift
or baptism with the Holy Spirit. It is settled then
by both laws that the promise of Acts ii. 39 is that of
the gift of the Holy Spirit, or baptism with the Holy
Spirit. Let us then read the verse in that way, substituting
this synonymous expression for the expression
“the promise,” “For the baptism with the Spirit is
unto you, and to your children and to all that are afar
off, even as many as the Lord our God shall call.”
“It is unto you,” says Peter, that is to the crowd assembled
before him. There is nothing in that for us.
We were not there, and that crowd were all Jews and
we are not Jews; but Peter did not stop there, he goes
further and says, “And to your children,” that is to the
next generation of Jews, or all future generations of
Jews. Still there is nothing in it for us, for we are not
Jews; but Peter did not stop even there, he went further
[pg 207]
and said, “And to all them that are afar off.” That
does take us in. We are the Gentiles who were once
“afar off,” but now “made nigh by the blood of
Christ” (Eph. ii. 13, 17). But lest there be any mistake
about it whatever, Peter adds “even as many as
the Lord our God shall call unto Him.” So on the
very day of Pentecost, Peter declares that the baptism
with the Holy Spirit is for every child of God in every
coming age of the church’s history. Some years ago
at a ministerial conference in Chicago, a minister of
the Gospel from the Southwest came to me after a
lecture on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit and said,
“The church to which I belong teaches that the baptism
with the Holy Spirit was for the apostolic age
alone.” “I do not care,” I replied, “what the church
to which you belong teaches, or what the church to
which I belong teaches. The only question with me
is, What does the Word of God teach?” “That is
right,” he said. I then handed him my Bible and asked
him to read Acts ii. 39, and he read, “For the promise
is unto you, and unto your children and to all them
that are afar off even as many as the Lord our God
shall call unto Him” (R. V.). “Has He called you?”
I asked. “Yes, He certainly has.” “Is the promise
for you then?” “Yes, it is.” He took it and the
result was a transformed ministry. Some years ago at
a students’ conference, the gatherings were presided
over by a prominent Episcopalian minister, a man greatly
honoured and loved. I spoke at this conference on
the Baptism with the Holy Spirit, and dwelt upon
the significance of Acts ii. 39. That night as we sat
[pg 208]
together after the meetings were over, this servant of
God said to me, “Brother Torrey, I was greatly interested
in what you had to say to-day on the Baptism
with the Holy Spirit. If your interpretation of Acts ii. 39
is correct, you have your case, but I doubt your interpretation
of Acts ii. 39. Let us talk it over.” We
did talk it over. Several years later, in July, 1894, I
was at the students’ conference at Northfield. As I
entered the back door of Stone Hall that day, this
Episcopalian minister entered the front door. Seeing
me he hurried across the hall and held out his hand
and said, “You were right about Acts ii. 39 at Knoxville,
and I believe I have a right to tell you something
better yet, that I have been baptized with the Holy
Spirit.” I am glad that I was right about Acts ii. 39,
not that it is of any importance that I should be right,
but the truth thus established is of immeasurable importance.
Is it not glorious to be able to go literally
around the world and face audiences of believers all
over the United States, in the Sandwich Islands, in
Australia and Tasmania and New Zealand, in China
and Japan and India, in England and Scotland, Ireland,
Germany, France and Switzerland and to be able to
tell them, and to know that you have God’s sure
Word under your feet when you do tell them, “You
may all be baptized with the Holy Spirit”? But that
unspeakably joyous and glorious thought has its solemn
side. If we may be baptized with the Holy Spirit
then we must be. If we are baptized with the Holy
Spirit then souls will be saved through our instrumentality
who will not be saved if we are not thus
[pg 209]
baptized. If then we are not willing to pay the price
of this baptism and therefore are not thus baptized we
shall be responsible before God for every soul that
might have been saved who was not saved because we
did not pay the price and therefore did not obtain
the blessing. I often tremble for myself and for my
brethren in the ministry, and not only for my brethren
in the ministry but for my brethren in all forms of
Christian work, even the most humble and obscure.
Why? Because we are preaching error? No, alas,
there are many in these dark days who are doing that,
and I do tremble for them; but that is not what I
mean now. Do I mean that I tremble because we are
not preaching the truth? for it is quite possible not to
preach error and yet not preach the truth; many a man
has never preached a word of error in his life, but still
is not preaching the truth, and I do tremble for them;
but that is not what I mean now. I mean that I
tremble for those of us who are preaching the truth, the
very truth as it is in Jesus, the truth as it is recorded
in the written Word of God, the truth in its simplicity,
its purity and its fullness, but who are preaching it in
“persuasive words of man’s wisdom” and not “in
demonstration of the Spirit and of power” (1 Cor.
ii. 4, R. V.). Preaching it in the energy of the flesh
and not in the power of the Holy Spirit. There is
nothing more death dealing than the Gospel without
the Spirit’s power. “The letter killeth, but the Spirit
giveth life.” It is awfully solemn business preaching
the Gospel either from the pulpit or in more quiet
ways. It means death or life to those that hear, and
[pg 210]
whether it means death or life depends very largely on
whether we preach it with or without the baptism with
the Holy Spirit.

We must be baptised with the Holy Spirit.

Even after one has been baptized with the Holy
Spirit, no matter how definite that baptism may be, he
needs to be filled again and again with the Spirit. This
is the clear teaching of the New Testament. We
read in Acts ii. 4, “They were all filled with the Holy
Ghost and began to speak with other tongues as the
Spirit gave them utterance.” Now one of those who
was present on this occasion and who therefore was
filled at this time with the Holy Spirit was Peter. Indeed,
he stands forth most prominently in the chapter
as a man baptized with the Holy Spirit. But we read
in Acts iv. 8, “Then Peter, filled with the Holy
Ghost, said unto them, etc.” Here we read again that
Peter was filled with the Holy Ghost. Further down
in the chapter we read, in the thirty-first verse, that being
assembled together and praying, they were “all filled with
the Holy Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with
boldness.” We are expressly told in the context that
two of those present were John and Peter. Here then
was a third instance in which Peter was filled with the
Holy Spirit. It is not enough that one be filled with
the Holy Spirit once. We, need a new filling for each
new emergency of Christian service. The failure to
realize this need of constant refillings with the Holy
Spirit has led to many a man who at one time was
greatly used of God, being utterly laid aside. There
are many to-day who once knew what it was to work
[pg 211]
in the power of the Holy Spirit who have lost their
unction and their power. I do not say that the Holy
Spirit has left them—I do not believe He has—but the
manifestation of His presence and power has gone.
One of the saddest sights among us to-day is that of
the men and women who once toiled for the Master in
the mighty power of the Holy Spirit who are now practically
of no use, or even a hindrance to the work, because
they are trying to go in the power of the blessing
received a year or five years or twenty years ago. For
each new service that is to be conducted, for each new
soul that is to be dealt with, for each new work for
Christ that is to be performed, for each new day and
each new emergency of Christian life and service, we
should seek and obtain a new filling with the Holy
Spirit. We must not “neglect” the gift that is in us
(1 Tim. iv. 14), but on the contrary “kindle anew” or
“stir into flame” this gift (1 Tim. i. 6, R. V., margin).
Repeated fillings with the Holy Spirit are necessary
to continuance and increase of power.

The question may arise, “Shall we call these new
fillings with the Holy Spirit ‘fresh baptisms’ with the
Holy Spirit?” To this we would answer, the expression
“baptism” is never used in the Scriptures of a
second experience and there is something of an initiatory
character in the very thought of baptism, so if one
wishes to be precisely Biblical, it would seem to be better
not to use the term “baptism” of a second experience
but to limit it to the first experience. On the other
hand “filled with the Holy Spirit” is used in Acts ii.
4, to describe the experience promised in Acts i. 5,
[pg 212]
where the words used are “Ye shall be baptized with the
Holy Ghost.” And it is evident from this and from
other passages that the two expressions are to a large
extent practically synonymous. However, if we confine
the expression “baptism with the Holy Spirit” to
our first experience, we shall be more exactly Biblical
and it would be well to speak of one baptism but many
fillings. But I would a great deal rather that one should
speak about new or fresh baptisms with the Holy Spirit,
standing for the all-important truth that we need repeated
fillings with the Holy Spirit, than that he should
so insist on exact phraseology that he would lose sight
of the truth that repeated fillings are needed, i. e., I
would rather have the right experience by a wrong name,
than the wrong experience by the right name. This
much is as clear as day, that we need to be filled again
and again and again with the Holy Spirit. I am sometimes
asked, “Have you received the second blessing?”
Yes, and the third and the fourth and the fifth and
hundreds beside, and I am looking for a new blessing
to-day.

We come now to the question of first practical importance,
namely, What must one do in order to obtain
the baptism with the Holy Spirit? This question
is answered in the plainest and most positive way in
the Bible. A plain path is laid down in the Bible consisting
of a few simple steps that any one can take, and it
is absolutely certain that any one who takes these steps
will enter into the blessing. This is, of course, a very
positive statement, and we would not dare be so positive
if the Bible were not equally positive. But what
[pg 213]
right have we to be uncertain when the Word of God
is positive? There are seven steps in this path:

1. The first step is that we accept Jesus Christ as
our Saviour and Lord. We read in Acts ii. 38, R. V.,
“Repent ye, and be baptized every one of you in the
name of Jesus Christ for the remission of your sins, and
ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.” Is not
this statement as positive as that which we made above?
Peter says that if we do certain things, the result will
be, “Ye shall receive the gift of the Holy Ghost.”
All seven steps are in this passage, but we shall refer
later to other passages as throwing light upon this.
The first two steps are in the word “repent.” “Repent
ye,” said Peter. What does it mean to repent?
The Greek word for repentance means “an afterthought”
or “change of mind.” To repent then
means to change your mind. But change your mind
about what? About three things; about God, about
Jesus Christ, about sin. What the change of mind is
about in any given instance must be determined by the
context. As determined by the context in the present
case, the change of mind is primarily about Jesus Christ.
Peter had just said in the thirty-sixth verse, R. V., “Let
all the house of Israel know assuredly, that God hath
made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye
crucified. When they heard this, they were pricked in
their heart,” as well they might be, “and said unto Peter
and the rest of the Apostles, Brethren, what shall we
do?” Then it was that Peter said, “Repent ye,”
“Change your mind about Jesus, change your mind
from that attitude of mind that rejected Him and crucified
[pg 214]
Him to that attitude of mind that accepts Him as
Lord and King and Saviour.” This then is the first step
towards receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit;
receive Jesus as Saviour and Lord; first of all receive
Him as your Saviour. Have you done that?

What does it mean to receive Jesus as Saviour? It
means to accept Him as the One who bore our sins in
our place on the cross (Gal. iii. 13; 2 Cor. v. 21) and
to trust God to forgive us because Jesus Christ died in
our place. It means to rest all our hope of acceptance
before God upon the finished work of Christ upon the
cross of Calvary. There are many who profess to be
Christians who have not done this. When you go to
many who call themselves Christians and ask them if
they are saved, they reply, “Yes.” Then if you put
to them the question “Upon what are you resting as
the ground of your salvation?” they will reply something
like this, “I go to church; I say my prayers, I
read my Bible, I have been baptized, I have united with
the church, I partake of the Lord’s supper, I attend
prayer-meeting, and I am trying to live as near right as
I know how.” If these things are what you are resting
upon as the ground of your acceptance before God,
then you are not saved, for all these things are your
own works (all proper in their places but still your own
works) and we are distinctly told in Rom. iii. 20, R. V.,
that “By the works of the law shall no flesh be justified
in His sight.” But if you go to others and ask
them if they are saved, they will reply “Yes.” And
then if you ask them upon what they are resting as the
ground of their acceptance before God, they will reply
[pg 215]
something to this effect, “I am not resting upon anything
I ever did, or upon anything I am ever going to
do; I am resting upon what Jesus Christ did for me
when He bore my sins in His own body on the cross.
I am resting in His finished work of atonement.” If
this is what you are really resting upon, then you are
saved, you have accepted Jesus Christ as your Saviour
and you have taken the first step towards the baptism
with the Holy Spirit.

The same thought is taught elsewhere in the Bible,
for example in Gal. iii. 2. Here Paul asks of the believers
in Galatia, “Received ye the Holy Spirit by the
works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?” Just
what did he mean? On one occasion when Paul was
passing through Galatia, he was detained there by some
physical infirmity. We are not told what it was, but
at all events, he was not so ill but that he could preach
to the Galatians the Gospel, or glad tidings, that Jesus
Christ had redeemed them from the curse of the law by
becoming a curse in their place, by dying on the cross
of Calvary. These Galatians believed this testimony;
this was the hearing of faith, and God set the stamp of
His endorsement upon their faith by giving them as a
personal experience the Holy Spirit. But after Paul
had left Galatia, certain Judaizers came down from
Jerusalem, men who were substituting the law of
Moses for the Gospel and taught them that it was not
enough that they simply believe on Jesus Christ but in
addition to this they must keep the law of Moses,
especially the law of Moses regarding circumcision,
and that without circumcision they could not be
[pg 216]
saved—i. e., they could not be saved by simple
faith in Jesus (cf. Acts xv. 1). These young converts
in Galatia became all upset. They did not
know whether they were saved or not; they did not
know what they ought to do, and all was confusion.
It was just as when modern Judaizers come around and
get after young converts and tell them that in addition
to believing in Jesus Christ, they must keep the Mosaic
Seventh Day Sabbath, or they cannot be saved. This
is simply the old controversy breaking out at a new
point. When Paul heard what had happened in
Galatia, he was very indignant and wrote the Epistle to
the Galatians simply for the purpose of exposing the
utter error of these Judaizers. He showed them how
Abraham himself was justified before he was circumcised
by simply believing God (Gal. iii. 6), and how he was
circumcised after he was justified as a seal of the faith
which he already had while he was in uncircumcision.
But in addition to this proof of the error of the Judaizers,
Paul appeals to their own personal experience. He says
to them, “You received the Holy Spirit, did you not?”
“Yes.” “How did you receive the Holy Spirit, by
keeping the law of Moses, or by the hearing of faith,
the simple accepting of God’s testimony about Jesus
Christ that your sins were laid upon Him, and that you
are thus justified and saved?” The Galatians had had
a very definite experience of receiving the Holy Spirit
and Paul appeals to it, and recalls to their mind how it
was by the simple hearing of faith that they had received
the Holy Spirit. The gift of the Holy Spirit is
God’s seal upon the simple acceptance of God’s testimony
[pg 217]
about Jesus Christ, that our sins were laid upon
Him, and thus trusting God to forgive us and justify us.
This then is the first step towards receiving the Holy
Spirit. But we must not only receive Jesus as Saviour,
we must also receive Him as Lord. Of this we shall
speak further in connection with another passage in the
fourth step.

2. The second step in the path that leads into the
blessing of being baptized with the Holy Spirit is renunciation
of sin. Repentance as we have seen is a
change of mind about sin as well as a change of mind
about Christ; a change of mind from that attitude of
mind that loves sin and indulges sin to that attitude of
mind that hates sin and renounces sin. This then is
the second step—renunciation of sin. The Holy Spirit
is a Holy Spirit and we cannot have both Him and sin.
We must make our choice between the Holy Spirit and
unholy sin. We cannot have both. He that will not
give up sin cannot have the Holy Spirit. It is not
enough that we renounce one sin or two sins or three
sins or many sins, we must renounce all sin. If we
cling to one single known sin, it will shut us out of the
blessing. Here we find the cause of failure in many
people who are praying for the baptism with the Holy
Spirit, going to conventions and hearing about the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, reading books about the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, perhaps spending whole
nights in prayer for the baptism with the Holy Spirit,
and yet obtaining nothing. Why? Because there is
some sin to which they are clinging. People often say
to me, or write to me, “I have been praying for the
[pg 218]
baptism with the Holy Spirit for a year (five years, ten
years, one man said twenty years). Why do I not receive?”
In many such cases, I feel led to reply, “It
is sin, and if I could look down into your heart this
moment as God looks into your heart, I could put my
finger on the specific sin.” It may be what you are
pleased to call a small sin, but there are no small sins.
There are sins that concern small things, but every sin
is an act of rebellion against God and therefore no sin
is a small sin. A controversy with God about the
smallest thing is sufficient to shut one out of the blessing.
Mr. Finney tells of a woman who was greatly
exercised about the baptism with the Holy Spirit.
Every night after the meetings, she would go to her
rooms and pray way into the night and her friends were
afraid she would go insane, but no blessing came. One
night as she prayed, some little matter of head adornment,
a matter that would probably not trouble many
Christians to-day, but a matter of controversy between
her and God, came up (as it had often come up before)
as she knelt in prayer. She put her hand to her head
and took the pins out of her hair and threw them across
the room and said, “There go!” and instantly the Holy
Ghost fell upon her. It was not so much the matter
of head adornment as the matter of controversy with
God that had kept her out of the blessing.

If there is anything that always comes up when you
get nearest to God, that is the thing to deal with.
Some years ago at a convention in a Southern state, the
presiding officer, a minister in the Baptist Church,
called my attention to a man and said, “That man is
[pg 219]
the pope of our denomination in ——; everything
he says goes, but he is not at all with us in this matter,
but I am glad to see him here.” This minister kept
attending the meetings. At the close of the last meeting
where I had spoken upon the conditions of receiving
the baptism with the Holy Spirit, I found this man
awaiting me in the vestibule. He said, “I did not
stand up on your invitation to-day.” I replied, “I
saw you did not.” “I thought you said,” he continued,
“that you only wanted those to stand who could
say they had absolutely surrendered to God?” “That
is what I did say,” I replied. “Well, I could not say
that.” “Then you did perfectly right not to stand. I
did not want you to lie to God.” “Say,” he continued,
“you hit me pretty hard to-day. You said if there
was anything that always comes up when you get nearest
to God, that is the thing to deal with. Now there
is something that always comes up when I get nearest
to God. I am not going to tell you what it is. I
think you know.” “Yes,” I replied. (I could smell
it.) “Well, I simply wanted to say this to you.”
This was on Friday afternoon. I had occasion to go
to another city, and returning through that city the following
Tuesday morning, the minister who had presided
at the meeting was at the station. “I wish you
could have been in our Baptist ministers’ meeting yesterday
morning,” he said; “that man I pointed out to
you from the north part of the state was present. He
got up in our meeting and said, ‘Brethren, we have
been all wrong about this matter,’ and then he told
what he had done. He had settled his controversy
[pg 220]
with God, had given up the thing which had always
come up when he got nearest to God, then he continued
and said, ‘Brethren, I have received a more definite
experience than I had when I was converted.’ ” Just
such an experience is waiting many another, both minister
and layman, just as soon as he will judge his sin,
just as soon as he will put away the thing that is a matter
of controversy between him and God, no matter
how small the thing may seem. If any one sincerely
desires the baptism with the Holy Spirit, he should go
alone with God and ask God to search him and bring
to light anything in his heart or life that is displeasing
to Him, and when He brings it to light, he should put
it away. If after sincerely waiting on God, nothing is
brought to light, then we may proceed to take the other
steps. But there is no use praying, no use going to
conventions, no use in reading books about the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, no use in doing anything else,
until we judge our sins.

3. The third step is an open confession of our renunciation
of sin and our acceptance of Jesus Christ. After
telling his hearers to repent in Acts ii. 38, Peter continues
and tells them to be “baptized every one of you
in the name of Jesus Christ unto the remission of your
sins.” Heart repentance alone was not enough. There
must be an open confession of that repentance, and
God’s appointed way of confession of repentance is
baptism. None of those to whom Peter spoke had
ever been baptized, and, of course, what Peter meant
in that case was water baptism. But suppose one has
already been baptized, what then? Even in that case,
[pg 221]
there must be that for which baptism stands, namely,
an open confession of our renunciation of sin and our
acceptance of Jesus Christ. The baptism with the
Spirit is not for the secret disciple, but for the open
confessed disciple. There are many doubtless to-day
who are trying to be Christians in their hearts, many
who really believe that they have accepted Jesus as
their Saviour and their Lord and have renounced sin,
but they are not willing to make an open confession of
their renunciation of sin and their acceptance of Christ.
Such an one cannot have the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. Some one may ask, “Do not the Friends
(‘Quakers’), who do not believe in water baptism, give
evidence of being baptized with the Holy Spirit?”
Doubtless many of them do, but this does not alter the
teaching of God’s Word. God doubtless condescends
in many instances where people are misled as to the
teaching of His Word to their ignorance, if they are
sincere, but that fact does not alter His Word, and
even with a member of the congregation of Friends,
who sincerely does not believe in water baptism, there
must be before the blessing is received that for which
baptism stands, namely, the open confession of our acceptance
of Christ and of our renunciation of sin.

4. The fourth step is absolute surrender to God.
This comes out in what has been already said, namely,
that we must accept Jesus as Lord as well as Saviour.
It is stated explicitly in Acts v. 32, “And we are
His witnesses of these things; and so is also the Holy
Ghost, whom God hath given to them that obey Him.”
That is the fourth step, “obey Him,” obedience. But
[pg 222]
what does obedience mean? Some one will say, doing
as we are told. Right, but doing how much that we
are told? Not merely one thing or two things or three
things or four things, but all things. The heart of
obedience is in the will, the essence of obedience is the
surrender of the will to God. It is going to God our
heavenly Father and saying, “Heavenly Father, here I
am. I am Thy property. Thou hast bought me with
a price. I acknowledge Thine ownership, and surrender
myself and all that I am absolutely to Thee.
Send me where Thou wilt; do with me what Thou
wilt; use me as Thou wilt.” This is in most instances
the decisive step in receiving the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. In the Old Testament types it was when the
whole burnt offering was laid upon the altar, nothing
kept back within or without the sacrificial animal, that
the fire came forth from the Holy Place where God
dwelt and accepted and consumed the gift upon the
altar. And so it is to-day, in the fulfillment of the type,
when we lay ourselves, a whole burnt offering, upon the
altar, keeping nothing within or without back, that the
fire of God, the Holy Spirit, descends from the real
Holy Place, heaven (of which the Most Holy Place in
the tabernacle was simply a type), and accepts the gift
upon the altar. When we can truly say, “My all is
on the altar,” then we shall not have long to wait for
the fire. The lack of this absolute surrender is shutting
many out of the blessing to-day. People turn the
keys of almost every closet in their heart over to God,
but there is some small closet of which they wish to
keep the key themselves, and the blessing does not come.

[pg 223]

At a convention in Washington, D. C., on the last
night, I had spoken on How to Receive the Baptism
with the Holy Spirit. The Spirit Himself was present
in mighty power that night. The chaplain of one of
the houses had said to me at the close of the meeting,
“It almost seemed as if I could see the Holy Spirit in
this place to-night.” There were many to be dealt
with. About two hours after the meeting closed, about
eleven o’clock, a worker came to me and said, “Do you
see that young woman over to the right with whom Miss
W—— is speaking?” “Yes.” “Well, she has been
dealing with her for two hours and she is in awful agony.
Won’t you come and see if you can help?” I went
into the seat back of this woman in distress and asked
her her trouble. “Oh,” she said, “I came from Baltimore
to receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and
I cannot go back to Baltimore until I have received
Him.” “Is your will laid down?” I asked. “I am
afraid not.” “Will you lay it down now?” “I cannot.”
“Are you willing that God should lay it down
for you?” “Yes.” “Ask Him to do it.” She
bowed her head in prayer and asked God to empty her
of her will, to lay it down for her, to bring it into conformity
to His will, in absolute surrender to His own.
When the prayer was finished, I said, “Is it laid down?”
She said, “It must be. I have asked something according
to His will. Yes, it is done.” I said, “Ask
Him for the baptism with the Holy Spirit.” She
bowed her head again in brief prayer and asked God to
baptize her with the Holy Spirit and in a few moments
looked up with peace in her heart and in her face.
[pg 224]
Why? Because she had surrendered her will. She
had met the conditions and God had given the blessing.

5. The fifth step is an intense desire for the baptism
with the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in John vii. 37-39,
“If any man thirst, let him come unto Me and drink.
He that believeth on Me, as the Scripture hath said,
out of his belly shall flow rivers of living water. But
this spake He of the Spirit, which they that believe on
Him should receive.” Here again we have belief on
Jesus as the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit but
we have also this, “If any man thirst.” Doubtless when
Jesus spake these words He had in mind the Old Testament
promise in Isa. xliv. 3, “For I will pour water
upon him that is thirsty, and floods upon the dry ground:
I will pour My Spirit upon thy seed, and My blessing
upon thine offspring.” In both these passages thirst
is the condition of receiving the Holy Spirit. What
does it mean to thirst? When a man really thirsts, it
seems as if every pore in his body had just one cry,
“Water! Water! Water!” Apply this to the
matter in question; when a man thirsts spiritually, his
whole being has but one cry, “The Holy Spirit! The
Holy Spirit! The Holy Spirit!” As long as one
fancies he can get along somehow without the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, he is not going to receive that
baptism. As long as one is casting about for some new
kind of church, machinery, or new style of preaching,
or anything else, by which he hopes to accomplish what
the Holy Spirit only can accomplish, he will not receive
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. As long as one tries
to find some subtle system of exegesis to read out of
[pg 225]
the New Testament what God has put into it, namely,
the absolute necessity that each believer receive the
baptism with the Holy Spirit as a definite experience,
he is not going to receive the baptism with the Holy
Spirit. As long as a man tries to persuade himself that
he has received the baptism with the Holy Spirit when
he really has not, he is not going to receive the baptism
with the Holy Spirit. But when one gets to the place
where he sees the absolute necessity that he be baptized
with the Holy Spirit as a definite experience and desires
this blessing at any cost, he is far on the way towards
receiving it. At a state Young Men’s Christian Association
Convention, where I had spoken on the Baptism
with the Holy Spirit, two ministers went out of the
meeting side by side. One said to the other, “That
kind of teaching leads either to fanaticism or despair.”
He did not attempt to show that it was unscriptural.
He felt condemned and was not willing to admit his
lack and seek to have it supplied, and so he tried to
avoid the condemnation that came from the Word by
this bright remark, “that kind of teaching leads either
to fanaticism or despair.” Such a man will not receive
the baptism with the Holy Spirit until he is brought to
himself and acknowledges honestly his need and intensely
desires to have it supplied. How different another
minister of the same denomination who came to
me one Sunday morning at Northfield. I was to speak
that morning on How to Receive the Baptism with the
Holy Spirit. He said to me, “I have come to Northfield
from —— for just one purpose, to receive the baptism
with the Holy Spirit, and I would rather die than go
[pg 226]
back to my church without receiving it.” I said, “My
brother, you are going to receive it.” The following
morning he came very early to my house. He said,
“I have to go away on the early train but I came around
to tell you before I went that I have received the baptism
with the Holy Spirit.”

6. The sixth step is definite prayer for the baptism
with the Holy Spirit. Jesus says in Luke xi. 13, “If
ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto
your children: how much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.”
This is very explicit. Jesus teaches us that the Holy
Spirit is given in answer to definite prayer—just ask
Him. There are many who tell us that we should not
pray for the Holy Spirit, and they reason it out very
speciously. They say that the Holy Spirit was given
as an abiding gift to the church at Pentecost, and why
pray for what is already given? To this the late
Rev. Dr. A. J. Gordon well replied that Jesus Christ
was given as an abiding gift to the world at Calvary
(John iii. 16), but what was given to the world as a
whole each individual in the world must appropriate to
himself; and just so the Holy Spirit was given to the
church as an abiding gift at Pentecost, but what was
given to the church as a whole each individual in the
church must appropriate to himself, and God’s way of
appropriation is prayer. But those who say we should
not pray for the Holy Spirit go further still than this.
They tell us that every believer already has the Holy
Spirit (which we have already seen is true in a sense),
and why pray for what we already have? To this the
[pg 227]
very simple answer is, that it is one thing to have the
Holy Spirit dwelling way back of consciousness in
some hidden sanctuary of the being and something quite
different, and vastly more, to have Him take possession
of the whole house that He inhabits. But against all
these specious arguments we place the simple word of
Jesus Christ, “How much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him.”
It will not do to say, as has been said, that “this
promise was for the time of the earth life of our Lord,
and to go back to the promise of Luke xi. 13 is to forget
Pentecost, and to ignore the truth that now every
believer has the indwelling Spirit;” for we find that
after Pentecost as well as before, the Holy Spirit was
given to believers in answer to definite prayer. For
example, we read in Acts iv. 31, R. V., “When they
had prayed, the place was shaken wherein they were
gathered together, and they were all filled with the Holy
Ghost, and they spake the Word of God with boldness.”
Again in Acts viii. 15, 16, we read that when Peter
and John were come down and saw the believers in
Samaria they “prayed for them that they might receive the
Holy Ghost, for as yet He was fallen upon none of them,
only they were baptized in the name of the Lord Jesus.”
Again in the Epistle of Paul to the Ephesians, Paul
tells the believers in Ephesus that he was praying for
them that they might be strengthened with power
through His Spirit (Eph. iii. 16). So right through the
New Testament after Pentecost, as well as before, by
specific teaching and illustrative example, we are taught
that the Holy Spirit is given in answer to definite
[pg 228]
prayer. At a Christian workers’ convention in Boston,
a brother came to me and said, “I notice that you are
on the program to speak on the Baptism with the Holy
Spirit.” “Yes.” “I think that is the most important
subject on the program. Now be sure and tell them
not to pray for the Holy Spirit.” I replied, “My
brother, I will be sure and not tell them that: for
Jesus says, ‘How much more shall your heavenly
Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?’ ”
“Yes, but that was before Pentecost.” “How about
Acts iv. 31, R. V., was that before Pentecost or after?”
He said, “It was certainly after.” “Well,” I said,
“take it and read it.” “And when they had prayed,
the place where they were gathered together was shaken,
and they were all filled with the Holy Ghost and spake
the Word of God with boldness.” “How about Acts
viii. 15, 16, was that before Pentecost or after?”
“Certainly, it was after.” “Take it and read it.”
“Who when they were come down prayed for them
that they might receive the Holy Spirit, for as yet He
was fallen on none of them, only they were baptized in
the name of Jesus.” He had nothing more to say.
What was there more to say? But with me, it is not
a matter of mere exegesis, that the Holy Spirit is given
in answer to definite prayer. It is a matter of personal
and indubitable experience. I know just as well that
God gives the Holy Spirit in answer to prayer as I
know that water quenches thirst and food satisfies
hunger. In my first experience of being baptized with
the Holy Spirit, it was while I waited upon God in
prayer that I was thus baptized. Since then time and
[pg 229]
again as I have waited on God in prayer, I have been
definitely filled with the Holy Spirit. Often as I have
knelt in prayer with others, as we prayed the Holy
Spirit has fallen upon us just as perceptibly as the rain
ever fell upon and fructified the earth. I shall never
forget one experience in our church in Chicago. We
were holding a noon prayer-meeting of the ministers at
the Y. M. C. A. Auditorium, preparatory to an expected
visit to Chicago of Mr. Moody. At one of
these meetings a minister sprang to his feet and said,
“What we need in Chicago is an all-night meeting
of the ministers.” “Very well,” I said. “If you will
come up to Chicago Avenue Church Friday night at
ten o’clock, we will have a prayer-meeting and if God
keeps us all night, we will stay all night.” At ten
o’clock on Friday night four or five hundred people
gathered in the lecture-rooms of the Chicago Avenue
Church. They were not all ministers. They were
not all men. Satan made a mighty attempt to ruin the
meeting. First of all three men got down by the door
and knelt down by chairs and pounded and shouted
until some of our heads seemed almost splitting, and
some felt they must retire from the meeting; and when
a brother went to expostulate with them and urge them
that things be done decently and in order, they swore
at the brother who made the protest. Still later a man
sprang up in the middle of the room and announced
that he was Elijah. The poor man was insane. But
these things were distracting, and there was more or
less of confusion until nearly midnight, and some
thought they would go home. But it is a poor meeting
[pg 230]
that the devil can spoil, and some of us were there
for a blessing and determined to remain until we received
it. About midnight God gave us complete victory
over all the discordant elements. Then for two
hours there was such praying as I have rarely heard in
my life. A little after two o’clock in the morning a
sudden hush fell upon the whole gathering; we were
all on our knees at the time. No one could speak;
no one could pray, no one could sing; all you could
hear was the subdued sobbing of joy, unspeakable and
full of glory. The very air seemed tremulous with the
presence of the Spirit of God. It was now Saturday
morning. The following morning, one of my deacons
came to me and said, with bated breath, “Brother
Torrey, I shall never forget yesterday morning until
the latest day of my life.” But it was not by any
means all emotion. There was solid reality that could
be tested by practical tests. A man went out of that
meeting in the early morning hours, took a train for
Missouri. When he had transacted his business in
the town that he visited, he asked the proprietor of
the hotel if there was any meeting going on in the
town at the time. He said, “Yes, there is a protracted
meeting going on at the Cumberland Presbyterian
Church.” The man was himself a Cumberland
Presbyterian. He went to the church and when the
meeting was opened he arose in his place and asked the
minister if he could speak. Permission was granted,
and with the power of the Holy Spirit upon him, he so
spoke that fifty-eight or fifty-nine persons professed to
accept Christ on the spot. A young man went out of
[pg 231]
the meeting in the early morning hours and took a
train for a city in Wisconsin, and I soon received word
from that city that thirty-eight young men and boys
had been converted while he spoke. Another young
man, one of our students in the Institute, went to another
part of Wisconsin, and soon I began to receive
letters from ministers in that neighbourhood inquiring
about him and telling how he had gone into the school-houses
and churches and Soldiers’ Home and how there
were conversions wherever he spoke. In the days that
followed men and women from that meeting went out
over the earth and I doubt if there was any country
that I visited in my tour around the world, Japan,
China, Australia, New Zealand, India, etc., in which I
did not find some one who had gone out from that
meeting with the power of God upon them. For me
to doubt that God fills men with the Holy Spirit in
answer to prayer would be thoroughly unscientific and
irrational. I know He does. And in a matter like
this, I would rather have one ounce of believing experience
than ten tons of unbelieving exegesis.

7. The seventh and last step is faith. We read in
Mark xi. 24, “Therefore I say unto you, What things
soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe that ye receive
them and ye shall have them.” No matter how definite
God’s promises are, we only realize these promises
experimentally when we believe. For example we
read in James i. 5, R. V., “But if any of you lacketh
wisdom, let him ask of God, who giveth to all
liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given
him.” Now that promise is as positive as a promise
[pg 232]
can be but we read in the following verses, “But let
him ask in faith nothing doubting: for he that doubteth
is like the surge of the sea driven by the wind and
tossed. For let not that man think that he shall receive
anything of the Lord; a double-minded man,
unstable in all his ways.” The baptism with the
Spirit, as we have already seen, is for those believers in
Christ, who have put away all sin and surrendered absolutely
to God, who ask for it, but even though we
ask there will be no receiving if we do not believe.
There are many who have met the other conditions of
receiving the baptism with the Holy Spirit and yet do
not receive, simply because they do not believe. They
do not expect to receive and they do not receive. But
there is a faith that goes beyond expectation, a faith
that puts out its hand and takes what it asks on the
spot. This comes out in the Revised Version of
Mark xi. 24, “Therefore I say unto you, All things
whatsoever ye pray and ask for, believe that ye have received
them and ye shall have them.” When we pray
for the baptism with the Holy Spirit we should believe
that we have received (that is that God has granted our
prayer and therefore it is ours) and then we shall have
the actual experience of that which we have asked.
When the Revised Version came out, I was greatly
puzzled about the rendering of Mark xi. 24. I had
begun at the beginning of the New Testament and
gone right through comparing the Authorized Version
with the Revised and comparing both with the
best Greek text, but when I reached this passage, I was
greatly puzzled. I read the Authorized Version,
[pg 233]
“What things soever ye desire when ye pray, believe
that ye receive them and ye shall have them,” and that
seemed plain enough. Then I turned to the Revised
Version and read, “All things whatsoever ye pray and
ask for believe that ye have received them and ye shall
have them.” And I said to myself, “What a confusion
of the tenses. Believe that ye have already received
(past), and ye shall have afterwards (future).
What nonsense.” Then I turned to my Greek Testament
and I found whether sense or nonsense, the
Revised Version was the correct rendering of the
Greek, but what it meant I did not know for years.
But one time I was studying and expounding to my
church the First Epistle of John. I came to the fifth
chapter, the fourteenth and fifteenth verses (R. V.) and
I read, “And this is the boldness which we have towards
Him, that, if we ask anything according to His
will, He heareth us: and if we know that He heareth
us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the
petitions which we have asked of Him.” Then I understood
Mark xi. 24. Do you see it? If not, let me
explain it a little further. When we come to God in
prayer, the first question to ask is, Is that which I have
asked of God according to His will? If it is promised
in His Word, of course, we know it is according to
His will. Then we can say with 1 John v. 14, I have
asked something according to His will and I know He
hears me. Then we can go further and say with the
fifteenth verse, Because I know He hears what I ask, I
know I have the petition which I asked of Him. I
may not have it in actual possession but I know it is
[pg 234]
mine because I have asked something according to His
will and He has heard me and granted that which I
have asked, and what I thus believe I have received
because the Word of God says so, I shall afterwards
have in actual experience. Now apply this to the
matter before us. When I ask for the baptism with
the Holy Spirit, I have asked something according to
His will, for Luke xi. 13 and Acts ii. 39 say so, therefore
I know my prayer is heard, and still further I know
because the prayer is heard that I have the petition
which I have asked of Him, i. e., I know I have the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. I may not feel it yet
but I have received, and what I thus count mine resting
upon the naked word of God, I shall afterwards
have in actual experience. Some years ago I went to
the students’ conference at Lake Geneva, Wisconsin,
with Mr. F. B. Meyer, of London. Mr. Meyer spoke
that night on the Baptism with the Holy Spirit. At
the conclusion of his address, he said, “If any of you
wish to speak with Mr. Torrey or myself after the meeting
is over, we will stay and speak with you.” A young
man came to me who had just graduated from one of the
Illinois colleges. He said, “I heard of this blessing
thirty days ago and have been praying for it ever since
but do not receive. What is the trouble?” “Is your
will laid down?” I asked. “No,” he said, “I am
afraid it is not.” “Then,” I said, “there is no use
praying until your will is laid down. Will you lay
down your will?” He said, “I cannot.” “Are you
willing that God should lay it down for you?” “I
am.” “Let us kneel and ask Him to do it.” We
[pg 235]
knelt side by side and I placed my Bible open at 1 John
v. 14, 15 on the chair before him. He asked God to
lay down his will for him and empty him of his self-will
and to bring his will into conformity with the will
of God. When he had finished the prayer, I said,
“Is it done?” He said, “It must be. I have asked
something according to His will and I know He hears
me and I know I have the petition I have asked.
Yes, my will is laid down.” “What is it you
desire?” “The baptism with the Holy Spirit.”
“Ask for it.” Looking up to God he said, “Heavenly
Father, baptize me with the Holy Spirit now.” “Did
you get what you asked?” I asked. “I don’t feel
it,” he replied. “That is not what I asked you,” I
said. “Read the verse before you,” and he read, “This
is the boldness which we have towards Him that if we
ask anything according to His will He heareth us.”
“What do you know?” I asked. He said, “I
know if I ask anything according to His will He hears
me.” “What did you ask?” “I asked for the
baptism with the Holy Spirit.” “Is that according to
His will?” “Yes, Acts ii. 39 says so.” “What
do you know then?” “I know He has heard me.”
“Read on.” “And if we know that if He heareth
us whatsoever we ask, we know that we have the
petitions which we have asked of Him.” “What do
you know?” I asked. “I know I have the petition
I asked of Him.” “What was the petition you
asked of Him?” “The baptism with the Holy
Spirit.” “What do you know?” “I know I have
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I don’t feel it,
[pg 236]
but God says so.” We arose from our knees and
after a short conversation separated. I left Lake
Geneva the next morning, but returned in a few days.
I met the young man and asked if he had really received
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. He did not
need to answer. His face told the story, but he did
answer. He went into a theological seminary the
following autumn, was given a church his junior year
in the seminary, had conversions from the outset, and
the next year on the Day of Prayer for Colleges,
largely through his influence there came a mighty outpouring
of the Spirit upon the seminary of which the
president of the seminary wrote to a denominational
paper, that it was a veritable Pentecost, and it all came
through this young man who received the baptism with
the Holy Spirit through simple faith in the Word of
God. Any one who will accept Jesus as their Saviour
and their Lord, put away all sin out of their life,
publicly confess their renunciation of sin and acceptance
of Jesus Christ, surrender absolutely to God, and ask
God for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and take it
by simple faith in the naked Word of God, can receive
the baptism with the Holy Spirit right now. There
are some who so emphasize the matter of absolute surrender
that they ignore, or even deny, the necessity of
prayer. It is always unfortunate when one so emphasizes
one side of truth that he loses sight of another
side which may be equally important. In this way,
many lose the blessing which God has provided for
them.

The seven steps given above lead with absolute
[pg 237]
certainty into the blessing. But several questions
arise:

1. Must we not wait until we know we have received
the baptism with the Holy Spirit before we take up
Christian work? Yes, but how shall we know?
There are two ways of knowing anything in the Christian
life. First, by the Word of God; second, by experience
or feeling. God’s order is to know things
first of all by the Word of God. How one may know
by the Word of God that they have received the baptism
with the Holy Spirit has just been told. We
have a right when we have met the conditions and have
definitely asked for the baptism with the Holy Spirit to
say, “It is mine,” and to get up and go on in our work
leaving the matter of experience to God’s time and
place. We get assurance that we have received the
baptism with the Holy Spirit in precisely the same
way that we get assurance of our salvation. When an
inquirer comes to you, whom you have reason to believe
really has received Jesus but who lacks assurance,
what do you do with him? Do you tell him to kneel
down and pray until he gets assurance? Not if you
know how to deal with a soul. You know that true
assurance comes through the Word of God, that it is
through what is “written” that we are to know that we
have eternal life (1 John v. 13). So you take the inquirer
to the written Word. For example, you take
him to John iii. 36. You tell him to read it. He
reads, “He that believeth on the Son hath everlasting
life.” You ask him, “Who has everlasting life?”
He replies from the passage before him, “He that believeth
[pg 238]
on the Son.” “How many who believe on the
Son have everlasting life?” “Every one that believes
on the Son.” “Do you know this to be true?”
“Yes.” “Why?” “Because God says so.”
“What does God say?” “God says, ‘He that believeth
on the Son hath everlasting life.’ ” “Do you
believe on the Son?” “Yes.” “What have you
then?” He ought to say, “Everlasting life,” but quite
likely he will not. He may say, “I wish I had everlasting
life.” You point him again to the verse and
by questions bring out what it says, and you hold him
to it until he sees that he has everlasting life; sees
that he has everlasting life simply because God says so.
After he has assurance on the ground of the Word, he
will have assurance by personal experience, by the
testimony of the Spirit in his heart. Now you should
deal with yourself in precisely the same way about the
baptism with the Holy Spirit. Hold yourself to the
word found in 1 John v. 14, 15, and know that you
have the baptism with the Spirit simply because God
says so in His Word, whether you feel it or not.
Afterwards you will know it by experience. God’s
order is always: first, His Word; second, belief in His
Word; third, experience, or feeling. We desire to
change God’s order, and have first, His Word, then
feeling, then we will believe. But God demands that
we believe on His naked Word. “Abraham believed
God and it was accounted to him for righteousness”
(Gal. iii. 6; cf. Gen. xv. 6). Abraham had as yet no
feeling in his body of new life and power. He just believed
God and feeling came afterwards. God demands
[pg 239]
of us to-day, as He did Abraham of old, that we simply
take Him at His Word and count the thing ours which
He has promised, simply because He has promised it.
Afterwards we get the feeling and the realization of
that which He has promised.

2. The second question that some will ask is,
“Will there be no manifestation of the baptism with the
Spirit which we receive? Will everything be just as it
was before, and if it will, where is the reality and use
of the baptism?” Yes, there will be manifestation,
very definite manifestation, but bear in mind what the
character of the manifestation will be, and when the
manifestation is to be expected. When is the manifestation
to be expected? After we believe. After we
have received on simple faith in the naked Word of
God. And what will be the character of the manifestation?
Here many go astray. They have read the
wonderful experiences of Charles G. Finney, John
Wesley, D. L. Moody and others. These men tell
us that when they were baptized with the Holy Spirit
they had wonderful sensations. Finney, for example,
describes it as like great waves of electricity sweeping
over him, so that he was compelled to ask God to withhold
His hand, lest he die on the spot. Mr. Moody,
on rare occasions, described a similar experience.
That these men had such experiences, I do not for a
moment question. The word of such men as
Charles G. Finney, D. L. Moody and others is to
be believed, and there is another reason why I cannot
question the reality of these experiences, but while
these men doubtless had these experiences, there is not
[pg 240]
a passage in the Bible that describes such an experience.
I am inclined to think the Apostles had them,
but if they had, they kept them to themselves and it is
well that they did, for if they had put them on record,
that is what we would be looking for to-day. But what
are the manifestations that actually occurred in the case
of the Apostles and the early disciples? New power
in the Lord’s work. We read at Pentecost that they
were all filled with the Holy Ghost and began to speak
with other tongues as the Spirit gave them utterance
(Acts ii. 4). Similar accounts are given of what occurred
in the household of Cornelius and what occurred
in Ephesus. All we read in the case of the Apostle
Paul is that Ananias came in and said, “Brother Saul,
the Lord, even Jesus, that appeared unto thee in the
way as thou camest, hath sent me, that thou mightest
receive thy sight, and be filled with the Holy Ghost.”
Then Ananias baptized him, and the next thing we read
is that Paul went straight down to the synagogue and
preached Christ so mightily in the power of the Spirit
that he “confounded the Jews which dwelt at Damascus,
proving that this is very Christ” (Acts ix. 17-22). So
right through the New Testament, the manifestation that
we are taught to expect, and the manifestation that
actually occurred was new power in Christian work, and
that is the manifestation that we may expect to-day and
we need not look too carefully for that. The thing for
us to do is to claim God’s promise and let God take
care of the mode of manifestation.

3. The third question that will arise with some is,
May we not have to wait for the baptism with the Holy
[pg 241]
Spirit? Did not the Apostles have to wait ten days,
and may we not have to wait ten days or even more?
No, there is no necessity that we wait. We are told
distinctly in the Bible why the Apostles had to wait ten
days. In Acts ii. 1, we read, “And when the day of
Pentecost was fully come” (literally “When the day
of Pentecost was being fulfilled,” R. V., margin). Way
back in the Old Testament types, and back of that in
the eternal counsels of God, the day of Pentecost was
set for the coming of the Holy Spirit and the gathering
of the church, and the Holy Spirit could not be given
until the day of Pentecost was fully come, therefore
the Apostles had to wait until the day of Pentecost was
fulfilled, but there was no waiting after Pentecost.
There was no waiting for example in Acts iv. 31;
scarcely had they finished the prayer when the place
where they were gathered together was shaken and
“they were all filled with the Holy Ghost.” There
was no waiting in the household of Cornelius. They
were listening to their first Gospel sermon and Peter
said as the climax of his argument “to Him (that is
Jesus) bear all the prophets witness that through His
name every one that believeth on Him shall receive
remission of sins” (R. V.), and no sooner had Peter
spoken these words than they believed and “the Holy
Ghost fell on them which heard the word.” There
was no waiting in Samaria after Peter and John came
down and told them about the baptism with the Holy
Spirit and prayed with them. There was no waiting
in Ephesus after Paul came and told them that there
was not only the baptism of John unto repentance, but the
[pg 242]
baptism of Jesus in the Holy Spirit. It is true that
they had been waiting some time until then, but it was
simply because they did not know that there was such
a baptism for them. And many may wait to-day because
they do not know that there is the baptism with
the Spirit for them, or they may have to wait because
they are not resting in the finished work of Christ, or
because they have not put away sin, or because they
have not surrendered fully to God, or because they will
not definitely ask and believe and take; but the reason
for the waiting is not in God, it is in ourselves. Any
one who will, can lay this book down at this point, take
the steps which have been stated and immediately receive
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. I would not
say a word to dissuade men from spending much time
in waiting upon God in prayer for “They that wait
upon the Lord shall renew their strength” (Isa. xl. 31).
There are few of us indeed in these days who spend as
many hours as we should in waiting upon God. The
writer can bear joyful testimony to the manifest outpourings
of the Spirit that have come time and again as
he has waited upon God through the hours of the night
with believing brethren, but the point I would emphasize
is that the baptism with the Holy Spirit may be
had at once. The Bible proves this; experience proves
it. There are many waiting for feeling who ought to
be claiming by faith. In these days we hear of many
who say they are “waiting for their Pentecost”; some
have been waiting weeks, some have been waiting
months, some have been waiting years. This is not
Scriptural and it is dishonouring to God. These
[pg 243]
brethren have an unscriptural view of what constitutes
Pentecost. They have fixed it in their minds that certain
manifestations are to occur and as these particular
manifestations, which they themselves have prescribed,
do not come, they think they have not received the
Holy Spirit. There are many who have been led into
the error, already confuted in this book, that the baptism
with the Holy Spirit always manifests itself in the
gift of tongues. They have not received the gift of
tongues and therefore they conclude that they have not
received the baptism with the Holy Spirit. But as already
seen, one may receive the baptism with the Holy Spirit and
not receive the gift of tongues. Others still are waiting
for some ecstatic feeling. We do not need to wait at all.
We may meet the conditions, we may claim the blessing
at once on the ground of God’s sure Word. There
was a time in the writer’s ministry when he was led to
say that he would never enter his pulpit again until he
had been definitely baptized with the Holy Spirit and
knew it, or until God in some way told him to go. I
shut myself up in my study and day by day waited
upon God for the baptism with the Holy Spirit. It
was a time of struggle. The thought would arise,
“Suppose you do not receive the baptism with the Holy
Spirit before Sunday. How it will look for you to refuse
to go into your pulpit,” but I held fast to my resolution.
I had a more or less definite thought in my
mind of what might happen when I was baptized with
the Holy Spirit, but it did not come that way at all.
One morning as I waited upon God, one of the quietest
and calmest moments of my life, it was just as if
[pg 244]
God said to me, “The blessing is yours. Now go
and preach.” If I had known my Bible then as I know
it now, I might have heard that voice the very first day
speaking to me through the Word, but I did not know
it and God in His infinite condescension, looking upon
my weakness, spoke it directly to my heart. There
was no particular ecstasy or emotion, simply the calm
assurance that the blessing was mine. I went into my
work and God manifested His power in that work.
Some time passed, I do not remember just how long,
and I was sitting in that same study. I do not remember
that I was thinking about this subject at all, but
suddenly it was just as if I had been knocked out of my
chair on to the floor, and I lay upon my face crying,
“Glory to God! Glory to God!” I could not stop.
Some power, not my own, had taken possession of my
lips and my whole person. The writer is not of an
excitable, hysterical or even emotional temperament,
but I lost control of myself absolutely. I had never
shouted before in my life, but I could not stop. When
after a while I got control of myself, I went to my wife
and told her what had happened. I tell this experience,
not to magnify it, but to say that the time when this
wonderful experience (which I cannot really fully
describe) came was not the moment when I was baptized
with the Holy Spirit. The moment when I was
baptized with the Holy Spirit was in that calm hour
when God said, “It is yours. Now go and preach.”

There is an afternoon that I shall never forget. It
was the eighth day of July, 1894. It was at the Northfield
Students’ Convention. I had spoken that morning
[pg 245]
in the church on How to Receive the Baptism with
the Holy Spirit. As I drew to a close, I took out my
watch and noticed that it was exactly twelve o’clock.
Mr. Moody had invited us to go up on the mountain
that afternoon at three o’clock to wait upon God for
the baptism with the Holy Spirit. As I looked at my
watch, I said, “Gentlemen, it is exactly twelve o’clock.
Mr. Moody has invited us to go up on the mountain at
three o’clock to wait upon God for the baptism with
the Holy Spirit. It is three hours until three o’clock.
Some of you cannot wait three hours, nor do you need
to wait. Go to your tent, go to your room in the hotel
or in the buildings, go out into the woods, go anywhere,
where you can get alone with God, meet the conditions
of the baptism with the Holy Spirit and claim it at
once.” At three o’clock we gathered in front of Mr.
Moody’s mother’s house; four hundred and fifty-six of
us in all, all men from the eastern colleges. (I know
the number because Mr. Paul Moody counted us as we
passed through the gates down into the lots.) We
commenced to climb the mountainside. After we had
gone some distance, Mr. Moody said, “I do not think we
need to go further. Let us stop here.” We sat down
and Mr. Moody said, “Have any of you anything to
say?” One after another, perhaps seventy-five men,
arose and said words to this effect, “I could not wait
until three o’clock. I have been alone with God and
I have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit.”
Then Mr. Moody said, “I can see no reason why we
should not kneel right down here now and ask God
that the Holy Spirit may fall on us as definitely as He
[pg 246]
fell on the Apostles at Pentecost. Let us pray.” We
knelt down on the ground; some of us lay on our
faces on the pine-needles. As we had gone up the
mountainside, a cloud had been gathering over the
mountain, and as we began to pray the cloud broke and
the rain-drops began to come down upon us through
the overhanging pine trees, but another cloud, big with
mercy, had been gathering over Northfield for ten days
and our prayers seemed to pierce that cloud and the
Holy Ghost fell upon us. It was a wonderful hour.
There are many who will never forget it. But any
one who reads this book may have a similar hour alone
by himself now. He can take the seven steps one by
one and the Holy Spirit will fall upon him.