‘ Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’

Just as the moss and the oak are higher in the order of creation than the clod of clay and the rock, the bird and beast than the moss and the oak, the man than the bird and the beast, so the spiritual man is a higher being than the natural man. The sons of God are a new order of being. The Christian is a ‘ new creation ‘. just as there are laws governing the life of the plant, and other and higher laws that of the bird and beast, so there art higher laws for man, and still higher for the Christian. It was with regard to one of these higher laws that govern the heavenly life of the Christian that Jesus said to Peter,’ Put up thy sword.’

Jesus said to Pilate, ‘ My kingdom is not of this world: if My kingdom were of this world, then would My servants fight’ (John xviii. 36). The natural man is a fighter. It is the law of his carnal nature. He fights with fist and sword, tongue and wit. His kingdom is of this world and he fights for it with such weapons as this world furnishes. The Christian is a citizen of Heaven and is subject to its law, which is universal, wholehearted love. In his Kingdom he conquers not by fighting, but by submitting. When an enemy takes his coat, he overcomes him, not by going to law, but by generously giving him his cloak also. When his enemy compels him to go a mile with him, he vanquishes the enemy by cheerfully going two miles with him. When he is smitten on one check, he wins his foe by meekly turning the other cheek. This is the law of the new life from Heaven, and only by recognizing and obeying it can that new life be sustained and passed on to others. This is the narrow way which leads to life eternal, ‘ and few there be that find it’ or, finding it, are willing to walk in it.

A Russian peasant, Sutajeff. could get no help from the religious teachers of his village, so he learned to read; and while studying the Bible he found this narrow way and walked gladly in it. One night neighbours stole some of his grain, but in their haste or carelessness they left a bag. He found it, and ran after them to restore it ‘for ‘, said he, ‘fellows who have to steal must be hard up.’ And by this Christlike spirit he saved both himself and them, for he kept the spirit of love in his own heart and they were converted and became his most ardent disciples.

A beggar woman to whom he gave lodging stole the bedding and ran away with it. She was pursued by the neighbours, and was just about to be put in prison when Sutajeff appeared, became her advocate, secured her acquittal, and gave her food and money for her journey.

He recognized the law of his new life and gladly obeyed it, and so was not overcome of evil, but persistently and triumphantly overcame evil with good (Rom. xii. 2 1). This is the spirit and method of Jesus; and by men filled with this spirit and following this method He will yet win the world.

He came ‘ not to be ministered unto, but to minister, and to give His life a ransom for many’ (Mark x. 45) His spirit is not one of selfseeking, but of self-sacrifice. Some mysterious majesty of His presence or voice so awed and overcame His foes that they went back and fell to the ground before Him in the Garden of His agony, but He meekly submitted Himself to them; and when Peter laid to with his sword and cut off the ear of the high priest’s servant, Jesus said to him, ‘ Put up thy sword into the sheath: the cup which My Father hath given Me, shall I not drink it? ‘ (John xviii. 11). This was the spirit of Isaac. When he digged a well the Philistines strove with his servants for it; so he digged another; and when they strove for that, he removed and digged yet another, ‘ and for that they strove not: and he called the name of it Rehoboth (room); and he said, For now the Lord hath made room for us, and we shall be fruitful in the land. . . . And the Lord appeared unto him the same night, and said, I am the God of Abraham thy father: fear not, for I am with thee, and will bless thee, and multiply thy seed’ (Gen. xxvi.22, 24).

This was the spirit of David when Saul was hunting for his life; twice David could have slain him, and when urged to do so, he said, ‘As the Lord liveth, the Lord shall smite him; or his day shall come to die; or he shall descend into battle and perish. The Lord forbid that I should stretch forth mine hand against the Lord’s anointed’ (I Sam. xxvi. I 0 I I).

This was the spirit of Paul. He says, ‘Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we suffer it: Being defamed, we intreat’ (I Cor. iv. 12, 13). ‘The servant of the Lord must not strive; but be gentle unto all men ‘ (2 Tim. ii. 24). This is the spirit of our King, this is the law of His kingdom.

Is this your spirit? When you are reviled, bemeaned and slandered, and are tempted to retort, He says to you, ‘ Put up thy sword into the sheath.’ When you are wronged and ill-treated, and men ride rough-shod over you, and you feel it but just to smite back, He says, ‘ Put up thy sword into the sheath.’ ‘ Live peaceably with all men’ (Rom. xii. 18). Your weapons are not carnal, but spiritual, now that you belong to Him and have your citizenship in Heaven. If you fight with the sword; if you retort and smite back when you are wronged, you quench the Spirit; you get out of the narrow way, and your new life from Heaven will perish.

An officer went to a hard corps, and after a while found that his predecessor was sending back to friends for money which his own corps much needed. He felt it to be an injustice and, losing sight of the spirit of Jesus, he made a complaint about it, and the money was returned. But he got lean in his soul. He had quenched the Spirit. He had broken the law of the Kingdom. He had not only refused to give his cloak, but had fought for and secured the return of the coat. He had lost the smile of Jesus, and his poor heart was sad and heavy within him. He came to me with anxious inquiry as to what I thought of his action. I had to admit that the other man had transgressed and that the money ought to be returned, but that he should have been more grieved over the unchristlike spirit of his brother than over the loss of the five dollars, and that like Sutajeff he should have said, ‘ Poor fellow! He must be hard up; I will send him five dollars myself. He has taken my coat, he shall have my cloak too.’ When I told him that story, he came to himself very quickly and was soon back in the narrow way and rejoicing in the smile of Jesus once again.

‘But will not people walk over us, if we do not stand up for our rights?’ you ask. I do not argue that you are not to stand up for your rights; but that you are to stand up for your higher rather than your lower rights, the rights of your heavenly life rather than your earthly life, and that you are to stand up for your rights in the way and spirit of Jesus rather than in the way and spirit of the world.

If men wrong you intentionally, they wrong themselves far worse than they wrong you; and if you have the spirit of Jesus in your heart you will pity them more than you pity yourself. They nailed Jesus to the Cross and hung Him up to die; they gave Him gall and vinegar to drink; they cast votes for His seamless robe, and divided His garments between them, while the crowd wagged their heads at Him and mocked Him. Great was the injustice and wrong they were inflicting upon Him, but He was not filled with anger, only pity. He thought not of the wrong done Him, but of the wrong they did themselves, and their sin against His heavenly Father, and He prayed not for judgment upon them, but that they might be forgiven, and He won them, and is winning and will win the world. Bless God!

‘By mercy and truth iniquity is purged,’ wrote Solomon (Prov. xvi. 6). ‘ Put up thy sword into the sheath ‘, and take mercy and truth for your weapons, and God will be with you and for you, and great shall be your victory and joy. Hallelujah!

‘HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED? ‘

Ye shall I receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’

HAD there been no sin our heavenly Father would have found other means by which to develop in us passive virtues, and train us in the graces of meekness, patience, long-suffering and forbearance, which so beautify and display the Christian character. But since sin is here, with its contradictions and falsehoods, its darkness, its wars, brutalities and injustices, producing awful harvests of pain and sorrow, God, in wonderful wisdom and loving kindness, turns even these into instruments by which to fashion in us beautiful graces. Storm succeeds sunshine, and darkness the light; pain follows hard on the heels of pleasure, while sorrow peers over the shoulder of joy; gladness and grief, rest and toil, peace and war, interminably intermingled, follow each other in ceaseless succession in this world. We cannot escape suffering while in the body. But we can receive it with a faith that robs it of its terror and extracts from it richest blessing; from the flinty rock will gush forth living waters, and the carcase of the lion will furnish the sweetest honey.

This is so even when the suffering is a result of our own folly or sin. It is intended not only in some measure as a punishment, but also as a teacher, a corrective, a remedy, a warning; and it will surely work for good if, instead of repining and vainly regretting the past, we steadily look unto Jesus and learn our lesson in patience and thankfulness.

If all the skies were sunshine, 
our faces would be fain 
To feel once more upon them 
The cooling splash of rain.

If all the world were music, 
Our hearts would often long 
For one sweet strain of silence 
To break the endless song.

If life were always merry, 
Our souls would seek relief 
And rest from weary laughter 
In the quiet arms of grief.

Doubtless all our suffering is a result of sin, but not necessarily the sin of the sufferer. Jesus was the sinless One, but He was also the chief of sufferers. Paul’s great and lifelong sufferings came upon him, not because of his sins, but rather because he had forsaken sin, and was following Jesus in a world of sin and seeking the salvation of his fellows. In this path there is no escape from suffering, though there are hidden and unspeakable consolations. ‘ In the world ye shall have tribulation,’ said Jesus (John xvi. 33) – ‘All that will live godly in Christ Jesus shall suffer persecution,’ wrote Paul (2 Tim. iii. 12).

Sooner or later, suffering in some form comes to each of us. It may come through broken health, or pain and weariness of body; or through mental anguish, moral distress, spiritual darkness and uncertainty. It may come through the loss of loved ones, through betrayal by trusted friends; or through deferred or ruined hopes, or base ingratitude; or perhaps in unrequited toil and sacrifice and ambitions all unfulfilled. Nothing more clearly distinguishes the man filled with the Spirit from the man who is not than the way each receives suffering.

One with triumphant faith and shining face and strong heart glories in tribulation, and counts it all joy. To this class belong the apostles, who, beaten and threatened, ‘ departed from the presence of the council, rejoicing that they were counted worthy to suffer shame for His name’ (Acts v. 4 1) The other with doubts and fears, murmurs and complains, adds to his other miseries that of a rebellious heart and discontented mind. One sees the enemy’s armed host, and unmixed distress and danger; the other sees the angel of the Lord, with abundant succour and safety (Ps. xxxiv. 7).

An evangelist of my acquaintance told a story that illustrates this. When a pastor, he went one morning to visit two sisters who were greatly afflicted. They were about the same age, and had long been professing Christians and members of the church. He asked the first one upon whom he called, ‘How is it with you this morning?’ ‘ Oh, I have not slept all night,’ she replied. , I have so much pain. It is so hard to have to lie here. I cannot see why God deals so with me.’ Evidently she was not filled with the Spirit, but was in a controversy with the Lord about her sufferings and would not be comforted.

Leaving her he called immediately upon the other sister, and asked, ‘How are you today? ‘ ‘ Oh, I had such a night of suffering! ‘ she replied. Then there came out upon her worn face a beautiful radiance, and she added, ‘But Jesus was so near and helped me so, that I could suffer this way and more, if my Father thinks best.’ On she went with like words of cheer and triumph that made the sick room a vestibule of glory. No lack of comfort in her heart, for the Comforter Himself, the Holy Spirit, had been invited and had come in. One had the Comforter in fullness, the other had not.

Probably no man ever suffered more than Paul, but with soldier-like fortitude he bore his heavy burdens, faced his constant and exacting labours, endured his sore trials, disappointments and bitter persecutions by fierce and relentless enemies; he stood unmoved amid shipwrecks, stripes and imprisonments, cold, hunger and homelessness without a whimper that might suggest repining or discouragement, or an appeal for pity. Indeed, he went beyond simple uncomplaining fortitude and said, ‘we glory in tribulations’ (Rom. v. 3); ‘I am exceeding joyful in all our tribulation ‘ (2 Cor. vii. 4); ‘ I take pleasure in infirmities, in reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses for Christ’s sake ‘ (2 Cor. xii. io). After a terrible scourging upon his bare back, he was thrust into a loathsome inner dungeon, his feet fast in the stocks, with worse things probably awaiting him on the morrow. Nevertheless, we find him and Silas, his companion in suffering, at midnight praying and singing praises unto God (Acts xvi. 2 5) What is his secret? Listen to him: ‘ Because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us ‘ (Rom. v. 5). His prayer for his Ephesian brethren had been answered in his own heart: ‘That He would grant you, according to the riches of His glory, to be strengthened with might by His Spirit in the inner man; That Christ may dwell in your hearts by faith’ (Eph. iii. 16, 17). And this inner strength and consciousness, through faith in an indwelling Christ, enabled him to receive suffering and trial, not stoically as the Red Indian, nor hilariously, in a spirit of bravado, but cheerfully and with a thankful heart.

Arnold of Rugby has written something about his most dear and blessed sister ‘ that illustrates the power flowing from exhaustless fountains of inner joy and strength through the working of the Holy Spirit. He says:

I never saw a more perfect instance of the spirit and power of love and of a sound mind. Her life was a daily martyrdom for twenty years, during which she adhered to her earlyformed resolution of never talking about herself; she was thoughtful about the very pins and ribands of my wife’s dress, about the making of a doll’s cap for a child-but of herself, save only as regarded her ripening in all goodness, wholly thoughtless, enjoying everything lovely, graceful, beautiful, high-minded, whether in God’s works or man’s, with the keenest relish; inheriting the earth to the very fullness of the promise, though never leaving her crib, nor changing her posture; and preserved, through the very valley of the shadow of death, from all fear or impatience, and from every cloud of impaired reason, which might mar the beauty of Christ’s and the Spirit’s work.

It is not by hypnotizing the soul, nor by blessing it into a state of ecstatic insensibility, that the Lord enables the man filled with the Spirit thus to triumph over suffering. Rather it is by giving the soul a sweet, constant and unshaken assurance through faith. First, that it is freely and fully accepted in Christ. Second, that whatever suffering comes, it is measured, weighed, permitted by love infinitely tender and guided by wisdom that cannot err. Third, that however difficult it may be to explain suffering now, it is nevertheless one of the ‘all things ‘ which ‘ work together for good to them that love God ‘ (Rom. viii. 28), and that in a ‘little while’ it will not only be swallowed up in the ineffable blessedness and glory, but that in some way it is actually helping to work out ‘ a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory ‘ (2 Cor. iv. 17). Fourth, that though the furnace has been heated seven times hotter than was wont, yet there is walking with us in the fire One whose’ form . . . is like the Son of God ‘ (Dan. iii. 25); though triumphant enemies have thrust us into the lions’ den, yet the angel of the Lord arrived first and locked the lions’ jaws; though foes may have formed against us sharp weapons, yet they cannot prosper, for His shield and buckler defend us; though all things be lost, yet ‘Thou remainest’; and though ‘my flesh and my heart faileth . . . God is the strength of my heart, and my portion for ever (Ps. lxxiii. 26).

Not all God’s dear children thus triumph over their difficulties and sufferings, but this is God’s standard, and they may attain unto it if, by faith, they will open their hearts and ‘ be filled with the Spirit ‘.

Here is the testimony of a Salvation Army officer:

Viewed from the outside, my life as a sinner was easy and untroubled, over which most of my friends expressed envy; while these same friends thought my life as a Christian full of care, toil, hardship and immense loss. This, however, was only an outside view, and the real state of the case was exactly the opposite of what they supposed. For in all the pleasureseeking, idleness, and freedom from responsibility of my life apart from God, I carried an immeasurable burden of fear, anxiety and constantly recurring disappointment; trifles weighed upon me, and the thought of death haunted me with vague terrors.

But when I gave myself wholly to God, though my lot became at once one of toil, responsibility, comparative poverty and sacrifice, yet I could not feel pain in any storm that broke over my head, because of the presence of God. It was not so much that I was insensible to trouble, as sensible of His presence and love; and the worst trials were as nothing in my sight, nor have been for over twenty-two years. While as for death, it appears only as a doorway into more abundant life, and I can alter an old German hymn and sing with joy:

0 how my heart with rapture dances 
To think my dying hour advances! 
Then, Lord, with Thee! 
My Lord, with Thee!

This is faith’s triumph over the worst the world can offer through the blessed fullness of the indwelling Comforter. Bless His name!

Joy of the desolate, light of the straying, 
Hope of the penitent, Advocate sure; 
Here speaks the Comforter, tenderly saying, 
Earth has no sorrow that Heaven cannot cure.

HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED?

‘Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’

THE children of Israel were instructed by Moses to give tithes of all they had to the Lord, and in return God promised richly to bless them, making their fields and vineyards fruitful and causing their flocks and herds safely to multiply. But they became covetous and unbelieving, and began to rob God by withholding their tithes, and then God began to withhold His blessing from them.

But still God loved and pitied them, and sent to them again and again by His prophets. Finally He said: ‘ Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse, that there may be meat in Mine house, and prove Me now herewith, saith the Lord of hosts, if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it’ (Mal. iii. 10)

He promised to make their barns overflow, if they would be faithful, if they would pay their tithes and discharge their obligations to Him.

Now, this overflow of barns and granaries is a type of overflowing hearts and lives when we give ourselves fully to God, and the blessed Holy Ghost comes in and Jesus becomes all and in all to us. The blessing is too big to contain, but just bursts out and overflows through the life, the looks, the conversation, the very tones of the voice, and gladdens and refreshes and purifies whereever it goes. Jesus calls it ‘ rivers of living water (John vii. 38).

There is an overflow of love. Sin brings in an overflow of hate, so that the world is filled with wars and murders, slanders, oppression and selfishness. But this blessing causes love to overflow. Schools, colleges and hospitals are built; shelters, rescue homes and orphanages are opened; even war itself is in some measure humanized by the Red Cross Society and Christian commissions. Sinners love their own, but this blessing makes us to love all men-strangers, the heathen, and even our enemies.

There is an overflow of peace. It settles old quarrels and grudges. It makes a different atmosphere in the home. The children know it when father and mother get the Comforter. Kindly words and sweet goodwill take the place of bitterness and strife. I suspect that even the dumb beasts realize the overflow.

I heard a laughable story of a man whose cow would switch her tail in his face, and then kick over the pail when he was milking her. Then he would give her a beating with the stool on which he sat. But he got the blessing, and his heart was overflowing with peace. The next morning he went to milk that cow, and when the pail was nearly full, swish! came the tail in his face; with a vicious kick she knocked over the pail, and then ran across the barn-yard. The blessed man picked up the empty pail and stool and went over to the cow, which stood trembling, awaiting the usual kicks and beating; but instead he patted her gently and said, ‘ You may kick over that pail as often as you please, but I am not going to beat you any more.’ The cow seemed to understand, for she dropped her head and quietly began to eat. She never kicked again ! That story is good enough to be true, and I doubt not it is, for certainly when the Comforter comes a great peace fills the heart and overflows through all the life.

There is an overflow of joy. It makes the face to shine; it glances from the eye and bubbles out in thanksgiving and praise. You never can tell when one who has the blessing will shout out, ‘ Glory to God! Praise the Lord! Hallelujah! Amen! ‘

I have sometimes seen a whole congregation wakened up and refreshed and made glad by the joyous overflow from one clean-hearted soul. A salvation soldier or officer with an overflow of genuine joy is worth a whole company of ordinary folk. He is a host within himself, and is a living proof of the text, ‘The joy of the Lord is your strength’ (Neh. viii. I 0).

There is an overflow of patience and long-suffering. When a man got this blessing, his wicked wife was so enraged that she left him and went across the way and lived as the wife of his unmarried brother. He was terribly tempted to take his gun and go over and kill them both. But he prayed about it, and the Lord gave him the patience and longsuffering of Jesus, who bears long with the backslider who leaves Him and joins himself with the world. The man continued to treat them with the utmost kindness, as though they had done him no wrong. Some people might say he was weak, but I should say he was unusually ‘strong in the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ’, and one of his neighbours told me that they all believed in his religion.

There is an overflow of goodness and generosiy. I read the other day of a poor man who supports eight workers in the foreign mission field. When asked how he did it, he replied that he wore celluloid collars, did his own washing, denied himself and managed his affairs in order to do it.

Do you ask, ‘How can I get such a blessing?’ You will get it by bringing in all the tithes, by giving yourself in love and obedience and wholehearted, joyous consecration to Jesus, as a true bride gives herself to her husband. Do not try to bargain with the Lord and buy it of Him, but wait on Him in never-give-in prayer and confident expectation, and He will give it to you. Then you must not hold it selfishly for your own gratification, but let it overflow to the hungry, thirsty, fainting world about you. God bless you even now, and do for you exceeding abundantly above all you ask or think!

A comrade went from one of my meetings recently with a heart greatly burdened for the blessing, and for two or three days and nights did little else but read the Bible and pray and cry to God for a clean heart filled with the Spirit. At last the Comforter came, and with Him fullness of peace and joy and soul-rest; and that day this comrade led a number of others into the blessing. Hallelujah! ‘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?’ (Luke xi.13) ‘Ask . . . seek . . . knock.’

‘HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED? ‘

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’

A MIGHTY man inspires and trains other men to be mighty. We wonder and exclaim often at the slaughter of Goliath by David, and we forget that David was the forerunner of a race of fearless, invincible warriors and giant-killers.

If we would in this light but study and remember the story of David’s mighty men, it would be most instructive to us.Moses inspired a tribe of cowering, toiling, sweat begrimed, spiritless slaves to lift up their heads, straighten their backs and throw off the yoke; and he led them forth with songs of victory and shouts of triumph from under the mailed hand and iron bondage of Pharaoh. He fired them with a national spirit, and welded and organized them into a distinct and compact people that could be hurled with resistless power against the walled cities and trained warriors of Canaan.

But what was the secret of David and Moses? Whence the superiority of these men? David was only a stripling shepherdboy when he immortalized himself. What was his secret? To be sure, ‘ Moses was instructed in all the wisdom of the Egyptians’ (Acts vii. 22, R.V.), and, doubtless, had been trained in all the civil, military and scientific learning of his day; but he was so weak in himself that he feared and fled at the first word of questioning and disparagement that he heard (Exod. ii. 14), and spent the next forty years feeding sheep for another man in the rugged wilderness of Sinai. What, then, was his secret? Doubtless, David and Moses were men cast in a kinglier mould than most men; but their secret was not in themselves.

Joseph Parker declared that great lives are built on great promises; and so they are. These men had so far humbled themselves that they found God, They got close to Him, and He spoke to them. He gave them promises. He revealed His way and truth to them and, trusting Him, believing His promises, and fashioning their lives according to His truth-His doctrine-everything else followed. They became ‘ workers together with God’, heroes of faith, leaders of men, builders of empire, teachers of the race and, in an important sense, saviours of mankind.

Their secret is an open one; it is the secret of every truly successful spiritual leader from then till now, and there is no other way to success in spiritual leadership.

I. They had an experience. They knew God.

2. This experience, this acquaintance with God, was maintained and deepened and broadened in obedience to God’s teaching, or truth, or doctrine.

3. They patiently yet urgently taught others what they themselves had learned, and declared, so far as they saw it, the whole counsel of God.

They were abreast of the deepest experiences and fullest revelations God had yet made to men. They were leaders, not laggards. They were not in the rear of the procession of God’s warriors and saints; they were in the forefront.

Here we discover the importance of the doctrine and experience of holiness through the baptism of the Holy Spirit to Salvation Army leaders. We are to know God and glorify Him and reveal Him to men. We are to finish the work of Jesus, and ‘ fill up that which is behind of the afflictions of Christ’ (Col. i. 24). We are to rescue the slaves of sin, to make a people, to fashion them into a holy nation, and inspire and lead them forth to save the world. How can we do this? Only by being in the forefront of God’s spiritual hosts; not in name and in titles only, but in reality; by being in glad possession of the deepest experiences God gives and the fullest revelations He makes to men.

Our war is far more complex and desperate than that between nations and its issues are infinitely more farreaching, and we must equip ourselves for it; and nothing is so vital to our cause as a mastery of the doctrine and an assured and joyous possession of the pentecostal experience of holiness through the indwelling Spirit.

I. The Doctrine.-What is the teaching of God’s word about holiness?

I. If we carefully study God’s word, we find that He wants His people to be holy, and the making of a holy people, after the pattern of Jesus, is the crowning work of the Holy Spirit. He commands us to ‘ cleanse ourselves from all filthiness of the flesh and spirit, perfecting holiness in the fear of God’ (2 Cor. vii. I). It is prayed that we may ‘increase and abound in love one toward another, and toward all men . . . To the end He may stablish your hearts unblameable in holiness before God ‘ (I Thess. iii. 12, 13). He says: ‘As He which hath called you is holy, so be ye holy in all manner of conversation; Because it is written, Be ye holy, for I am holy ‘ (I Pet. i. 15, 16). And in the most earnest manner we are exhorted to’ follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord ‘ (Heb. xii. 14)

2. As we further study the word, we discover that holiness is more than simple freedom from condemnation for wrong-doing. A helpless invalid lying on his bed of sickness, unable to do anything wrong, may be free from the condemnation of actual wrong-doing; yet it may be in his heart to do all manner of evil. Holiness on its negative side is a state of heart purity; it is heart cleanness-cleanness of thought and temper and disposition, cleanness of intention and purpose and wish; it is a state of freedom from all sin, both inward and outward (Rom. vi. 18). On the positive side it is a state of union with God in Christ, in which the whole man becomes a temple of God and filled with the fruit of the Spirit, which is ‘ love, joy, peace, longsuffering, gentleness, goodness, faith, meekness, temperance’ (Gal. v. 22, 23). It is moral and spiritual sympathy and harmony with God in the holiness of His nature.

We must not, however, confound purity with maturity. Purity is a matter of the heart and is secured by an instantaneous act of the Holy Spirit; maturity is largely a matter of the head and results from growth in knowledge and experience. In one, the heart is made clean and is filled with love; in the other, the head is gradually corrected and filled with light, and so the heart is enlarged and more firmly established in faith; consequently, the experience deepens and becomes stronger and more robust in every way. It is for this reason that we need teachers after we are sanctified, and to this end we are exhorted to humbleness of mind.

With a heart full of sympathy and love for his father my little boy may voluntarily go into the garden to weed the vegetables; but, being yet ignorant, lacking light in his head, he pulls up my sweet corn with the grass and weeds. His little heart glows with pleasure and pride in the thought that he is ‘helping papa’; yet he is doing the very thing I don’t want him to do. But if I am a wise and patient father, I shall be pleased with him; for what is the loss of my few stalks of corn compared to the expression and development of his love and loyalty? And I shall commend him for the love and faithful purpose of his little heart, while I patiently set to work to enlighten the darkness of his little head. His heart is pure toward his father, but he is not yet mature. In this matter of light and maturity holy people often widely differ, and this causes much perplexity and needless and unwise anxiety. In the fourteenth chapter of Romans, Paul discusses and illustrates the principle underlying this distinction between purity and maturity.

3. As we continue to study the word under the illumination of the Spirit, who is given to lead us into all truth, we further learn that holiness is not a state which we reach in conversion. The apostles were converted, they had forsaken all to follow Jesus (Matt. xix. 2 7-29), their names were written in Heaven (Luke X. 20), and yet they were not holy. They doubted and feared, and again and again were they rebuked for the slowness and littleness of their faith. They were bigoted, and wanted to call down fire from Heaven to consume those who would not receive Jesus (Luke ix, 5 1 -56) ; they were frequently contending among themselves as to which should be the greatest, and when the supreme test came they all forsook Him and fled. Certainly, they were not only afflicted with darkness in their heads, but, far worse, carnality in their hearts; they were His, and they were very dear to Him, but they were not yet holy, they were still impure of heart.

Paul makes this point very clear in his Epistle to the Corinthians. He tells them plainly that they were yet only babes in Christ, because they were carnal and contentious (I Con iii . I). They were in Christ, they had been converted, but they were not holy.

It is of great importance that we keep this truth well in mind that men may be truly converted, may be babes in Christ, and yet not be pure in heart; we shall then sympathize more fully with them, and see the more clearly how to help them and guide their feet into the way of holiness and peace.

Those who hold that we are sanctified wholly in conversion will meet with much to perplex them in their converts, and are not intelligently equipped to bless and help God’s little children.

4. A continued study of God’s teaching on this subject will clearly reveal to us that purity of heart is obtained after we are converted. Peter makes this very plain in his address to the Council in Jerusalem, where he recounts the outpouring of the Holy Spirit upon Cornelius and his household. After mentioning the gift of the Holy Ghost, he adds, ‘ and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith’ (Acts xv. 9). Among other things, then, the baptism of the Holy Ghost purifies the heart; but the disciples were converted before they received this pentecostal experience, so we see that heart purity, or holiness, is a work wrought in us after conversion.

Again, we notice that Peter says, ‘ purifying their hearts by faith ‘. If it is by faith, then it is not by growth, nor by works, nor by death, nor by purgatory after death. It is God’s work. He purifies the heart, and He does it for those, and only those, who, devoting all their possessions and powers to Him, seek Him by simple, prayerful, obedient, expectant, unwavering faith through His Son our Saviour.

Unless we grasp these truths and hold them firmly, we shall not be able rightly to divide the word of truth, we shall hardly be workmen that need not be ashamed, approved unto God (2 Tim. ii. 15). Someone has written that ‘ the searcher in science knows that if he but stumble in his hypothesis-that if he but let himself be betrayed into prejudice or undue leaning toward a pet theory, or anything but absolute uprightness of mindhis whole work will be stultified and he will fail ignominiously. To get anywhere in science he must follow truth with absolute rectitude’.

And is there not a science of salvation, holiness, eternal life, that requires the same absolute loyalty to ‘ the Spirit of truth’? How infinitely important, then, that we know what that truth is, that we may understand and hold that doctrine.

A friend of mine who finished his course with joy and was called into the presence of his Lord to receive his crown some time ago, has pointed out some mistakes which we must carefully avoid: It is a great mistake to substitute repentance for Bible consecration. The people whom Paul exhorted to full sarictification were those who had turned from their idols to serve the living and true God, and to wait for His Son sent down from Heaven (I Thess. i. 9, 10; iii- 10- 13; v. 2 3) Only people who are citizens of His kingdom can claim His sanctifying power. Those who still have idols to renounce may be candidates for conversion, but not for the baptism with the Holy Ghost and fire.

It is a mistake in consecration to suppose that the person making it has anything of his own to give. We are not our own, but we are bought with a price, and consecration is simply taking our hands off from God’s property. To withhold wilfully anything from God is to be a Godrobber.

It is a mistake to substitute a mere mental assent to God’s proprietorship and right to all we have, while withholding complete devotion to Him. This is theoretical consecration a rock on which we fear multitudes are being wrecked. Consecration which does not embrace the crucifixion of self and the funeral of all false ambitions is not the kind which will bring the holy fire. A consecration is imperfect which does not embrace the speaking faculty (the tongue), the believing faculty (the heart), the imagination, and every power of mind, soul and body, giving all absolutely and for ever into the hands of Jesus and turning a deaf ear to every opposing voice.

Have you made such a consecration as this? It must embrace all this, or it will prove a bed of quicksand to sink your soul, instead of a full salvation balloon, which will safely bear you above the fog, malaria and turmoil of the world. There you can triumphantly sing:

I rise to float in realms of light 
Above the world and sin, 
With heart made pure and garments white, 
And Christ enthroned within.

It is a mistake to teach seekers to ‘ only believe ‘, without complete abandonment to God at every point, for they can no more do it than an anchored ship can sail. It is a mistake to substitute mere verbal assent for obedient trust. ‘ Only believe ‘ is a fatal snare to all who fall into these traps.

It is a mistake to believe that the altar sanctifies the gift without the assurance that all is on the altar. If even the end of your tongue, one cent of your money, or a straw’s weight of false ambition or spirit of dictation, or one ounce of your reputation, will or believing powers be left off the altar, you can no more believe than a bird without wings can fly.

‘ Only believe ‘ is only for those seekers of holiness who are truly converted, fully consecrated, and crucified to everything but the whole will of God. Teachers who apply this to people who have not yet reached these stations need themselves to be taught. All who have reached them may believe and, if they do believe, may look God in the face and triumphantly sing: The Blood, the Blood is all my plea, Hallelujah, for it cleanseth me.

11. The Experience.-Simply to be skilled in the doctrine is not sufficient for us as leaders. We may be as orthodox as St. Paul himself, and yet be only as ‘ sounding brass, or a clanging cymbal’, unless we are rooted in the blessed experience of holiness. If we would save ourselves and them that follow us, if we would make havoc of the devil’s kingdom and build up God’s kingdom, we must not only know and preach the truth, but we must be living examples of the saving and sanctifying power of the truth. We are to be living epistles, ‘ known and read of all men’ (2 Cor. iii. 2); we must be able to say with Paul, ‘Be ye followers of me, even as I also am of Christ’ (I Cor. xi. I), and ‘ those things, which ye have both learned, and received, and heard, and seen in me, do: and the God of peace shall be with you’ (Phil. iv. 9).

We must not forget that:

I. We are ourselves simple Christians, individual souls struggling for eternal life and liberty; we must by all means save ourselves. To this end we must be holy, else we shall at last experience the awful woe of those who, having preached to others, are yet themselves castaways.

2. We are leaders upon whom multitudes depend. It is a joy and an honour to be a leader, but it is also a grave responsibility. James says: ‘We shall receive heavier judgement’ (Jas. iii. I, R.V.). How unspeakable shall be our blessedness and how vast our reward, if, wise in the doctrine, rich, strong and clean in the experience of holiness, we lead our people into their full heritage in Jesus! But how terrible shall be our condemnation, how great our loss, if, in spiritual slothfulness and unbelief, we stop short of the experience ourselves and leave them to perish for want of the gushing waters, heavenly food and divine direction we should have brought them! We need the experience for ourselves, and we need it for our work and our people.

What the roof is to a house, doctrine is to our system of truth. It completes it. What sound and robust health is to our bodies, experience is to our souls. It makes us every whit whole and fits us for all duty. Sweep away the doctrine and the experience will soon be lost. Lose the experience and the doctrine will surely be neglected, if not attacked and denied. No man can have the heart, even if he has the head, to preach the doctrine fully, faithfully and constantly unless he has the experience.

Spiritual things are spiritually discerned, and as this doctrine deals with the deepest things of the Spirit, it is only clearly understood and best recommended, explained, defended and enforced by those who have the experience.

Without the experience, the presentation of the doctrine will be faulty, cold and lifeless, or weak and vacillating, or harsh, sharp and severe. With the experience, the preaching of the doctrine will be with great joy and assurance; it will be strong and searching, but at the same time warm, persuasive and tender.

I shall never forget the shock of mingled surprise, amusement and grief with which I heard a Captain loudly announce in one of my meetings many years ago that he was’ going to preach holiness now’. His people would ‘have to get it’, if he had to ‘ram it down their throats ‘. Poor fellow! He did not possess the experience himself; he never pressed into it, and soon forsook his people.

A man in the clear experience of the blessing will never think of ‘ramming’ it down people; but will, with much secret prayer, constant meditation and study, patient instruction, faithful warning, loving persuasion, and burning, joyful testimony, seek to lead them into that entire and glad consecration, that fullness of faith, that never fails to receive the blessing.

Again, the most accurate and complete knowledge of the doctrine and the fullest possession of the experience, will fail us at last unless we carefully guard ourselves at several points and watch and pray.

3. We must not judge ourselves so much by our feelings as by our volitions. It is not my feelings, but the purpose of my heart, the attitude of my will, that God looks at, and it is that to which I must look. ‘ If our heart condemn us not, then have we confidence toward God ‘ (I John iii. 2 1). A friend of mine who had firmly grasped this thought and walked continually with God used to testify: ‘ I am just as good when I don’t feel good as when I do feel good.’ Another mighty man of God said that all the feeling he needed to enable him to trust God was the consciousness that he was fully submitted to all the known will of God.

We must not forget that the devil is ‘ the accuser of our brethren’ (Rev. xii. 10), and that he seeks to turn our eyes away from Jesus, who is our Surety and our Advocate, to ourselves, our feelings, infirmities, and failures. If he succeeds in this, gloom will fill us, doubts and fears will spring up within us and we shall soon fail and fall. We must be wise as the conies; we must build our nest in the cleft of the Rock of ages. Hallelujah!

4. We must not divorce conduct from character, or works from faith. Our lives must square with our teaching. We must live what we preach. We must not suppose that faith in Jesus excuses us from patient, faithful, laborious service. We must live ‘ by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God ‘ (Matt. iv. 4); that is, we must fashion our lives, conduct, conversation by the principles laid down in His word, remembering His searching saying, ‘Not every one that saith unto Me, Lord, Lord, shall enter into the Kingdom of Heaven, but he that doeth the will of My Father which is in Heaven ‘ (Matt. vii. 2 1).

This subject of faith and works is very fully discussed by James (ii. 14-26). Paul is very clear in his teaching that, while God saves us not by our works but by His mercy through faith, ‘we are His workmanship, created in Christ Jesus unto good works, which God hath before ordained that we should walk in them’ (Eph. ii. 8- 1 o).

Faith must ‘work by love’, emotion must be transmitted into action, joy must lead to work, and love to faithful, selfsacrificing service, else they become a kind of pleasant and respectable, but none the less deadly, debauchery.

5. However blessed and satisfactory our present experience may be, we must not rest in it; we must remember that our Lord has yet many things to say unto us, as we are able to receive them. We must stir up the gift of God that is in us, and say with Paul: ‘ One thing I do, forgetting the things which are behind, and stretching forward (as a racer) to the things which are before, I press on toward the goal unto the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus ‘ (Phil. iii. 13, 14, R.V.). It is at this point. that many fail. They seek the Lord, they weep, struggle, pray, and then they believe; but, instead of pressing on, they sit down to enjoy the blessing and, lo! is it not. The children of Israel must needs follow the pillar of cloud and fire. It made no difference when it moved-by day or by night, they followed; and when the Comforter comes we must follow, if we would abide in Him and be filled with all the fullness of God. And, Oh, the joy of following Him!

Finally, if we have the blessing-not the harsh, narrow, unprogressive exclusiveness which often calls itself by the sweet, heavenly term of holiness, but the vigorous, courageous, self-sacrificing, tender, pentecostal experience of perfect love-we shall both save ourselves and enlighten the world; our converts will be strong, our candidates for the work will multiply and be able, dare-devil men and women, and our people will come to be like the brethren of Gideon, who ‘ resembled the children of a king’ (judges viii. 18).

‘HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED? ‘

Ye shall receive power, after that the Holy Ghost is come upon you.’

TWO letters recently reached me, one from Oregon and one from Massachusetts, inquiring if I thought it possible to have temper destroyed. The comrade from Oregon wrote: ‘ I have been wondering if the statement is correct when one says, ” My temper is all taken away.” Do you think the temper is destroyed or sanctified? It seems to me that if one’s temper were actually gone one would not be good for anything.’

The comrade from Massachusetts wrote: ‘Two of our corps cadets have had the question put to them, ” Is it possible to have all temper taken out of our hearts? ” One claims it is possible. The other holds that the temper is not taken out, but God gives power to overcome it.’

Evidently these are questions that perplex many people, and yet the answer seems to me simple.

Temper, in the sense the word is generally used, is not a faculty or power of the soul, but rather an irregular, passionate, violent expression of selfishness. When selfishness is destroyed by love, by the incoming of the Holy Spirit, revealing Jesus to us as an uttermost Saviour and creating within us a clean heart, such evil temper is gone, just as the friction and consequent wear and heat of two wheels is gone when the cogs are perfectly adjusted to each other. As wheels are far better off without friction, so man is far better off without such temper. We do not destroy the wheels to get rid of the friction, but we readjust them; we put them into just or right relations to each other ‘ then noiselessly and perfectly they do their work. So, strictly speaking, sanctification does not destroy self, but selfishness-the abnormal, mean and disordered manifestation and assertion of self. I myself am to be sanctified, rectified, purified, brought into harmony with God’s will as revealed in His word, and united to Him in Jesus, so that His life of holiness and love flows continually through all the avenues of my being, as the sap of the vine flows through all parts of the branch. ‘ I am the vine, ye are the branches,’ said Jesus (John xv. 5)

When a man is thus filled with the Holy Spirit he is not made into a putty man, a jelly fish, with all powers of resistance taken out of him; he does not have any less ‘ push ‘ and ‘go ‘ than before, but rather more, for all his natural energy is now reinforced by the Holy Spirit and turned into channels of love and peace instead of hate and strife.

He may still feel indignation in the presence of wrong, but it will no longer be rash, violent, explosive and selfish, but calm and orderly, holy, determined, like that of God. It will be the wholesome, natural antagonism of holiness and righteousness to all unrighteousness and evil.

Such a man will feel it when he is wronged, but it will be much in the same way that he feels when others are wronged. The personal, selfish element will be absent. At the same time there will be compassion for the wrongdoer and a greater desire to see him saved than to see him punished.

A sanctified man was walking down the street the other day with his wife, when a filthy fellow on a passing wagon insulted her with foul words. Instantly the temptation came to the man to want to get hold of him and punish him, but as instantly the indwelling Comforter whispered, ‘ If ye will forgive men their trespasses.’ Instantly the clean heart of the man responded, ‘I will, I do forgive him, Lord.’ Then instead of anger a great love filled his soul, instead of hurling a brick or hot words at the poor devil-deceived sinner, he sent a prayer to God in Heaven for him. There was no friction in his soul. He was perfectly adjusted to his Lord; his heart was perfectly responsive to his Master’s word, and he could rightly say, ‘ My temper is gone.’

A man must have his spiritual eyes wide open to discern the difference between sinful temper and righteous indignation.

Many a man wrongs and robs himself by calling his fits of temper ‘righteous indignation’; while, on the other hand, there are timid souls who are so afraid of sinning through temper that they suppress the wholesome antagonism that righteousness, to be healthy and perfect, must express toward all unrighteousness and sin.

It takes the keen-edged word of God, applied by the Holy Spirit, to cut away unholy temper without destroying righteous antagonism; to enable a man to hate and fight sin with spiritual weapons (2 Cor. x. 35), while pitying and loving the sinner; so to fill him with the mind of Jesus that he will feel as badly over a wrong done to a stranger as though it were done to himself; to help him to put away the personal feeling and be as calm, unselfish and judicial in opposing wrong as is the judge upon the bench. Into this state of heart and mind is one brought who is entirely sanctified by the indwelling Holy Spirit. Hallelujah!

Dr. Asa Mahan, the friend and co-worker of Finney, had a quick and violent temper in his youth and young manhood; but one day he believed and God sanctified him, and for fifty years he said he never felt more than one uprising of temper, and that was but for an instant, about five years after he received the blessing. For the following forty-five years, though subjected to many trials and provocations, he felt only love, peace, patience and goodwill in his heart. A Christian woman was confined to her bed for years and was very touchy and petulant. At last she became convinced that the Lord had a better experience for her, and she began to pray for a clean heart full of patient, holy, humble love. She prayed so earnestly and violently that her family became alarmed lest she should wear her poor, frail body out in her struggle for spiritual freedom. But she told them she was determined to have the blessing if it cost her her life. She continued to pray until one glad, sweet day the Comforter came; her heart was purified. From that day forth, despite her remaining a nervous invalid, suffering constant pain, she never showed the least sign of temper or impatience; instead she was full of meekness and patient, joyous thankfulness.

Love took up the harp of life, and smote on all the chords with might Smote the chord of self that, trembling, passed in music out of sight. Such is the experience of one in whom Jesus lives without a rival, and in whom grace has wrought its perfect work.

‘ No form of vice, not worldliness, not greed of gold, not drunkenness itself, does more to un-Christianize society than evil temper,’ says a distinguished and thoughtful writer.

‘If this be true, it must be God’s will that we be saved from it. And it is provided for in the uttermost salvation that Jesus offers.

Do you want this blessing, my brother, my sister? If so, be sure of this, God has not begotten such a desire in your heart to mock you; you may have it. God is able to do even this for you. With man it is impossible, but not with God. Look at Him just now for it. It is His work, His gift. Look at your past failures and acknowledge them; look at your present and future difficulties, count them up and face them every one, and admit that they are more than you can hope to conquer. Then look at the dying Son of God, your Saviour-the Man with the seamless robe, the crown of thorns, and the nail-prints; look at the fountain of His Blood; look at His word; look at the almighty Holy Ghost, who will dwell within you if you but trust and obey. Cry out: I it shall be done! The mountain shall become a plain; the impossible shall become possible. Hallelujah! ‘ Quietly, intelligently, abandon yourself to the Holy Spirit just now in simple, glad, obedient faith, and the blessing shall be yours. Glory to God!

‘HAVE YE RECEIVED THE HOLY GHOST SINCE YE BELIEVED? ‘