The Person and Work of The Holy Spirit Part 8

But this is not all. In Acts x. 38 we read, "How _G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 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 G.o.d, that He was Divine, very G.o.d of very G.o.d, 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. 14-16, "Now when the Apostles which were at Jerusalem heard that Samaria had received the Word of G.o.d, 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 pa.s.s, that, while Apollos was at Corinth, Paul having pa.s.sed 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 that we are making to-day in our various Christian enterprises than that of setting men to teach Sunday-school cla.s.ses 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 G.o.d?"

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 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 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 G.o.d shall call unto Him." What is the promise to which Peter refers in the thirty-ninth verse? There are two interpretations of the pa.s.sage; 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 pa.s.sages 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 the true interpretation. The law of usage is this, that when you find a word or phrase in any pa.s.sage 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 pa.s.sages 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 pa.s.sage is found. Thus you can determine what the precise meaning of the word or phrase is in the pa.s.sage in question. The law of context is this; that when you study a pa.s.sage, 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 pa.s.sage 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sage we are told in so many words that the 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, subst.i.tuting 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 G.o.d shall call." "_It is unto you_," says Peter, that is to the crowd a.s.sembled 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 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 together after the meetings were over, this servant of G.o.d 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 j.a.pan and India, in England and Scotland, Ireland, Germany, France and Switzerland and to be able to tell them, and to know that you have G.o.d'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 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 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 a.s.sembled together and praying, they were "_all filled with the Holy Ghost_, and they spake the Word of G.o.d 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 G.o.d, being utterly laid aside. There are many to-day who once knew what it was to work 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, where the words used are "Ye shall be _baptized with the Holy Ghost_." And it is evident from this and from other pa.s.sages 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 right have we to be uncertain when the Word of G.o.d 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 pa.s.sage, but we shall refer later to other pa.s.sages 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 G.o.d, 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 a.s.suredly, that G.o.d hath made Him both Lord and Christ, this Jesus whom ye crucified.

When they heard this, they were p.r.i.c.ked 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 att.i.tude of mind that rejected Him and crucified Him to that att.i.tude 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 G.o.d to forgive us because Jesus Christ died in our place. It means to rest all our hope of acceptance before G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, they will reply 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 pa.s.sing 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 G.o.d set the stamp of His endors.e.m.e.nt 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 subst.i.tuting 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 circ.u.mcision, and that without circ.u.mcision they could not be 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 circ.u.mcised by simply believing G.o.d (Gal. iii. 6), and how he was circ.u.mcised after he was justified as a seal of the faith which he already had while he was in uncirc.u.mcision. 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d's seal upon the simple acceptance of G.o.d's testimony about Jesus Christ, that our sins were laid upon Him, and thus trusting G.o.d 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 pa.s.sage 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 att.i.tude of mind that loves sin and indulges sin to that att.i.tude 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 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d and therefore no sin is a small sin. A controversy with G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d that had kept her out of the blessing.

If there is anything that always comes up when you get nearest to G.o.d, 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 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 G.o.d?" "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 G.o.d." "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 G.o.d, that is the thing to deal with. Now there is something that always comes up when I get nearest to G.o.d. 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 with G.o.d, had given up the thing which had always come up when he got nearest to G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, no matter how small the thing may seem. If any one sincerely desires the baptism with the Holy Spirit, he should go alone with G.o.d and ask G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d'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, 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 G.o.d's Word. G.o.d 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 G.o.d_. 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 G.o.d hath given to them that obey Him_." That is the fourth step, "obey Him,"

obedience. But 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 G.o.d. It is going to G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d, but there is some small closet of which they wish to keep the key themselves, and the blessing does not come.

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 G.o.d should lay it down for you?" "Yes." "Ask Him to do it." She bowed her head in prayer and asked G.o.d 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 G.o.d to baptize her with the Holy Spirit and in a few moments looked up with peace in her heart and in her face.

Why? Because she had surrendered her will. She had met the conditions and G.o.d 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 pa.s.sages 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 the New Testament what G.o.d 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 a.s.sociation 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 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 G.o.d'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 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 G.o.d 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 ill.u.s.trative example, we are taught that the Holy Spirit is given in answer to definite 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 G.o.d in prayer that I was thus baptized. Since then time and again as I have waited on G.o.d 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 G.o.d 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 that the devil can spoil, and some of us were there for a blessing and determined to remain until we received it. About midnight G.o.d 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 G.o.d. It was now Sat.u.r.day 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 c.u.mberland Presbyterian Church." The man was himself a c.u.mberland 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 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 Inst.i.tute, 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, j.a.pan, 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 G.o.d upon them. For me to doubt that G.o.d 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 G.o.d'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 G.o.d, who giveth to all liberally and upbraideth not; and it shall be given him." Now that promise is as positive as a promise 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d 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 pa.s.sage, I was greatly puzzled. I read the Authorized Version, "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 pet.i.tions 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 G.o.d in prayer, the first question to ask is, Is that which I have asked of G.o.d 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 pet.i.tion which I asked of Him. I may not have it in actual possession but I know it is 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 G.o.d 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 pet.i.tion 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 G.o.d, 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 G.o.d should lay it down for you?" "I am." "Let us kneel and ask Him to do it." We knelt side by side and I placed my Bible open at 1 John v. 14, 15 on the chair before him. He asked G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 pet.i.tion 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 G.o.d 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 pet.i.tions which we have asked of Him." "What do you know?" I asked. "I know I have the pet.i.tion I asked of Him." "What was the pet.i.tion 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, but G.o.d 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 G.o.d. 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 G.o.d, and ask G.o.d for the baptism with the Holy Spirit, and take it by simple faith in the naked Word of G.o.d, 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 G.o.d has provided for them.

The seven steps given above lead with absolute 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 G.o.d; second, by experience or feeling. G.o.d's order is to know things first of all by the Word of G.o.d. How one may know by the Word of G.o.d 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 G.o.d's time and place. We get a.s.surance that we have received the baptism with the Holy Spirit in precisely the same way that we get a.s.surance of our salvation. When an inquirer comes to you, whom you have reason to believe really has received Jesus but who lacks a.s.surance, what do you do with him? Do you tell him to kneel down and pray until he gets a.s.surance? Not if you know how to deal with a soul. You know that true a.s.surance comes through the Word of G.o.d, 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 pa.s.sage before him, "He that believeth 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 G.o.d says so." "What does G.o.d say?" "G.o.d 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 G.o.d says so. After he has a.s.surance on the ground of the Word, he will have a.s.surance 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 G.o.d says so in His Word, whether you feel it or not.

Afterwards you will know it by experience. G.o.d's order is always: first, His Word; second, belief in His Word; third, experience, or feeling. We desire to change G.o.d's order, and have first, His Word, then feeling, then we will believe. But G.o.d demands that we believe on His naked Word.

"Abraham _believed G.o.d_ 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 G.o.d and feeling came afterwards.

G.o.d demands 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