When the Holy Ghost is Come Part 1

When the Holy Ghost is Come.

by S. L. Brengle.

FOREWORD.

The Salvation Army, contrary to what has often been thought by surface observers, has owed its existence, its strength, and its success chiefly to our careful attention to the profoundest questions of the soul.

And still, as always, we wish to urge upon all the study of those great practical truths, without the proclamation of which our work for men would cease to have any abiding value. We glory in the knowledge of Christ as a perfect Saviour just as much for this, our own time, as for any past generation, or for any generation yet to come. The pretence that this age has reached some superior development, whether mental or moral, for which a new kind of Saviour is needed, seems to us absurd. And we do not believe it can long endure where Christ is really known.

To the most thoughtful, therefore, as well as to those who have the least time for thought, I earnestly commend the words of devout and practical men upon those great questions, which I hope to see reproduced in the series of which the present volume is the first. Prayerful reading of their messages cannot but lead to immediate action, to a complete self-abandonment to G.o.d, and to a realizing faith in His power to use every one of His sons and daughters for the healing of the world's open sores and the triumph of His Rule.

BRAMWELL BOOTH. LONDON, January, 1909.

PREFACE.

It is no small pleasure to me to commend this book to all who love G.o.d, and in particular to those who are labouring to serve Him in the ranks of The Salvation Army. I believe that it will prove useful in the most important ways--in its bearing, that is, upon many of the practical difficulties and problems of daily life.

The writer, Colonel Brengle, gives us not only of the fruit of an orderly and well-stored mind on the great subject before us, but--and this is the more important--he tells us of the actual work of the Holy Spirit in the lives of ordinary men and women, as he has witnessed the results of that work amidst his many labours for the Salvation and Holiness of the people. It is for them he writes. It is to them, living the common life, bound to others by the obligations of ordinary social intercourse, toiling at their secular occupations, and rubbing shoulders with the mult.i.tude in the market-place, that his message comes. I venture to hope that his words will make it plain to some of them that the highest intercourse with the Divine is their privilege; that the special province of the Holy Ghost is to lead men into the truest devotion to G.o.d, and to the advancement of His Kingdom on earth, even while they are carrying on the common avocations a.s.sociated with earning their daily bread.

The only purpose of G.o.d having a practical bearing on our lives is His purpose to save men from sin and its awful consequences, and make them conform to His will in this world as in the next.

The work of the Holy Spirit is to help us to achieve that purpose. Without His help we are unable to overcome the difficulties that are in the way, whether we consider them from the standpoint of the world or of the individual. If anyone could have looked at the state of the world at the time of our Lord's death he would surely have regarded the work which the Apostles were commissioned to attempt as the most utterly wild and impracticable enterprise that the human mind could conceive. And it was so, but for one fact. That fact was the promise of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, to be the great Helper in the undertaking.

And equally in the work of uniting the individual soul with G.o.d's purpose that Spirit is our Helper. In the work of righteousness He is a Partner with us. In the life of faith and prayer He is our unwavering Prompter and Guide. In the submission of our wills to G.o.d and the chastening of our spirits He is the great Co-worker with us. In the bearing of burdens and the enduring of trial and sorrow He joins hands with us to lead us on. In the purifying of every power from the taint of sin He is our Sanctifier.

All this is practical. It has to do with to-day--with every bit of to-day. In fact, so far from the sphere of the Holy Spirit being limited to the pulpit or the platform, or to the inward experiences of the religious life, He is just as truly and properly concerned with the affairs of the shop and the street, the nursery and the kitchen, the chamber of suffering and the home of penury, as with preaching the Gospel or healing the sick.

Now it is to lead its readers to a personal experience of all this that this book has been written. No mere intellectual a.s.sent to the truth it sets forth can satisfy its author, any more than it can benefit his readers. What he seeks, and what I join him in devoutly asking of G.o.d, is that you, dear friend, who may take this little volume into your hands, may see what an infinite privilege is yours, and may begin to act with G.o.d the Holy Ghost, and to open your whole being to Him, that He may work with you.

BRAMWELL BOOTH.

LONDON, January, 1909.

I.

WHO IS HE?

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

On that last eventful evening in the upper room, just after the Pa.s.sover feast, Jesus spoke to His disciples about His departure, and, having commanded them to love one another, He besought them not to be troubled in heart, but to hold fast their faith in Him, a.s.suring them that, though He was to die and leave them, He was but going to the Father's many-mansioned house to prepare a place for them.

But already they were troubled, for what could this death and departure mean but the destruction of all their hopes, of all their cherished plans? Jesus had drawn them away from their fishing-boats, their places of custom and daily employment, and inspired them with high personal and patriotic ambitions, and encouraged them to believe that He was the Seed of David, the promised Messiah; and they hoped that He would cast out Pilate and his hated Roman garrison, restore the kingdom to Israel, and sit on David's throne, a King, reigning in righteousness and undisputed power and majesty for ever. And then, were they not to be His Ministers of State and chief men in His Kingdom?

He was their Leader, directing their labours; their Teacher, instructing their ignorance and solving their doubts and all their puzzling problems; their Defence, stilling the stormy sea and answering for them when questioned by wise and wily enemies.

They were poor and unlearned and weak. In Him was all their help, and what would they do, what could they do, without Him? They were without social standing, without financial prestige, without learning or intellectual equipment, without political or military power. He was their All, and without Him they were as helpless as little children, as defenceless as lambs in the midst of wolves.

How could their poor hearts be otherwise than troubled?

But then He gave them a strange, wonderful, rea.s.suring promise: He said, "If ye love Me, keep My commandments. And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter, that He may abide with you for ever" (John xiv. 15, 16). I am going away, but Another shall come, who will fill My place. He shall not go away, but abide with you for ever, and He "shall be in you." And later He added: "It is expedient for you"--that is, better for you--"that I go away; for if I go not away, the Comforter will not come."

Who is this other One--this Comforter? He must be some august Divine Person, and not a mere influence or impersonal force, for how else could He take and fill the place of Jesus? How else could it be said that it was better to have Him than to have Jesus remaining in the flesh? He must be strong and wise, and tender and true, to take the place of the Blessed One who is to die and depart. Who is He?

John, writing in the Greek language, calls Him "Paraclete," but we in English call Him Comforter. But Paraclete means more, much more than Comforter. It means "one called in to help: an advocate, a helper." The same word is used of Jesus in i John ii.

i: "We have an Advocate," a Paraclete, a Helper, "with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous." Just as Jesus had gone to be the disciples' Advocate, their Helper in the Heavens, so this other Paraclete was to be their Advocate, their Helper on earth.

He would be their Comforter when comfort was needed; but He would be more; He would be also their Teacher, Guide, Strengthener, as Jesus had been. At every point of need there would He be as an ever-present and all-wise, almighty Helper. He would meet their need with His sufficiency; their weakness with His strength; their foolishness with His wisdom; their ignorance with His knowledge; their blindness and short-sightedness with His perfect, all-embracing vision. Hallelujah! What a Comforter! Why should they be troubled?

They were weak, but He would strengthen them with might in the inner man (Eph. iii. 16). They were to give the world the words of Jesus, and teach all nations (Matthew xxviii. 19, 20); and He would teach them all things, and bring to their remembrance whatsoever Jesus had said to them (John xiv. 26).

They were to guide their converts in the right way, and He was to guide them into all truth (John xvi. 13). They were to attack h.o.a.ry systems of evil, and inbred and actively intrenched sin, in every human heart; but He was to go before them, preparing the way for conquest, by convincing the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment (John xvi. 8). They were to bear heavy burdens and face superhuman tasks, but He was to give them power (Acts i. 8).

Indeed, He was to be a Comforter, a Strengthener, a Helper.

Jesus had been external to them. Often they missed Him. Sometimes He was asleep when they felt they sorely needed Him. Sometimes He was on the mountains, while they were in the valley vainly trying to cast out stubborn devils, or wearily toiling on the tumultuous, wind-tossed sea. Sometimes He was surrounded by vast crowds, and He entered into high disputes with the doctors of the law, and they had to wait till He was alone to seek explanations of His teachings. But they were never to lose this other Helper in the crowd, nor be separated for an instant from Him, for no human being, nor untoward circ.u.mstance, nor physical necessity, could ever come between Him and them, for, said Jesus, "He shall be in you."

From the words used to declare the sayings, the doings, the offices and works of the Comforter, the Holy Spirit, we are forced to conclude that He is a Divine Person. Out of the mult.i.tude of Scriptures which might be quoted, note this pa.s.sage, which, as nearly as is possible with human language, reveals to us His personality: "Now there were in the Church that was at Antioch certain prophets and teachers... As they ministered to the Lord, and fasted, the Holy Ghost said, Separate Me Barnabas and Saul for the work whereunto I have called them. And when they had fasted and prayed, and laid their hands on them, they sent them away. So they, being sent forth by the Holy Ghost, departed into Seleucia" (Acts xiii. 1-4).

Further on we read that they "were forbidden of the Holy Ghost to preach the word in Asia"; and when they would have gone into Bithynia, "the Spirit suffered them not" (Acts xvi. 6, 7).

Again, when the messengers of Cornelius, the Roman centurion, were seeking Peter, "the Spirit said unto him, Behold, three men seek thee. Arise, therefore, and get thee down, and go with them, doubting nothing: for I have sent them" (Acts x. 19, 20).

These are but a few of the pa.s.sages of Scripture that might be quoted to establish the fact of His personality--His power to think, to will, to act, to speak; and if His personality is not made plain in these Scriptures, then it is impossible for human language to make it so.

Indeed, I am persuaded that if an intelligent heathen, who had never seen the Bible, should for the first time read the four Gospels and the Acts of the Apostles, he would say that the personality of the Holy Spirit is as clearly revealed in the Acts as is the personality of Jesus Christ in the Gospels. In truth, the Acts of the Apostles are in a large measure the acts of the Holy Spirit, and the disciples were not more certainly under the immediate direction of Jesus during the three years of His earthly ministry than they were under the direct leadership of the Spirit after Pentecost.

But, while there are those that admit His personality, yet in their loyalty to the Divine Unity they deny the Trinity, and maintain that the Holy Spirit is only the Father manifesting Himself as Spirit, without any distinction in personality. But this view cannot be harmonised with certain Scriptures. While the Bible and reason plainly declare that there is but one G.o.d, yet the Scriptures as clearly reveal that there are three Persons in the G.o.dhead--Father, Son, and Holy Ghost.

The form of Paul's benediction to the Corinthians proves the doctrine:--

"The grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of G.o.d, and the communion of the Holy Ghost, be with you all. Amen" (2 Cor. xiii.

14).

Again, it is taught in the promise of Jesus, already quoted, "And I will pray the Father, and He shall give you another Comforter...

the Spirit of Truth" (John xiv. 16, 17). Here the three Persons of the G.o.dhead are clearly revealed. The Son prays; the Father answers; the Spirit comes.

The Holy Spirit is "another Comforter," a second Comforter succeeding the first, who was Jesus, and both were given by the Father.

Do you say, "I cannot understand it"? Neither do I. Who can understand it? G.o.d does not expect us to understand it. Nor would He have us puzzle our heads and trouble our hearts in attempting to understand it or harmonise it with our knowledge of arithmetic.

Note this: it is only the _fact_ that is revealed; _how_ there can be three Persons in one G.o.dhead is not revealed.

The _how_ is a mystery, and is not a matter of faith at all; but the _fact_ is a matter of revelation, and therefore a matter of faith. I myself am a mysterious trinity of body, mind, and spirit. The fact I believe, but the _how_ is not a thing to believe. It is at this point that many puzzle and perplex themselves needlessly.

In the ordinary affairs of life we grasp facts, and hold them fast, without puzzling ourselves over the _how_ of things.

Who can explain _how_ food sustains life; how light reveals material objects, how sound conveys ideas to our minds? It is the fact we know and believe, but the _how_ we pa.s.s by as a mystery unrevealed. What G.o.d has revealed, we believe. We cannot understand _how_ Jesus turned water into wine; _how_ He multiplied a few loaves and fishes and fed thousands; _how_ He stilled the stormy sea; _how_ He opened blind eyes, healed lepers, and raised the dead by a word. But the facts we believe.