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GIFT
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John Innes
THE
SPIRIT OF
GOD
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of
Rev. G. Campbell Morgan.
Pfoblems. Little Books Series. Long i6mo, $0.50 Stimulating talks to Christians, by the pastor of the New Court Church, London, who is well known in this country through his annual visits to Northfield, upon Self-environment, Heredity, Spiritual Antagonism, Influence, Destiny showing how, by perfect faith, all difficulties are overcome.
Life
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Time
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NEW YORK
Fleming H. Revcll Company :
CHICAGO
158 Fifth Ave.
TORONTO
:
154
Yonge
St.
:
63
Washington
St.
HE SPIRIT OF
T GOD By G.
the Rev.
CAMPBELL MORGAN i
Author of God's Methods with Man, The Hidden Years at Nazareth, Discipleship Life Problems
*
*
+
+
vradrmx
NEW YORK
CHICAGO
TORONTO
Fleming H. Revell Company Publishers of Evangelical Literature
s:
Copyright 1900
by
FLEMING
H.
REVELL COMPANY
GIFT OF JOHN INNES
1104240
go THE FRAGRANT MEMORY OF
GEORGE WHO
IS
H. C.
MACGREGOR,
M.A.
NOW AMONG THOSE WHO KNOW IN
THE LIGHT OF THE
SEVEN SPIRITS BEFORE THE THRONE AND IN COMRADESHIP
AND COMMUNION WITH WHOM
THE IDEA OF SUCH A TREATISE WAS SUGGESTED I
DEDICATE THESE PAGES
'
In this age of faith in the natural, and disinclination to the supernatural, this credo:
we want "
especially to
I believe in the
meet the whole world with
Holy Ghost." WILLIAM ARTHUR.
CONTENTS INTRODUCTORY PAGE I.
SIGNS OF
THE TIMES
II
BOOK THE II.
III.
I
SPIRIT OF
GOD
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT THE RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY .
.
23
34
BOOK II IDEAL CREATION IV.
V.
THE SPIRIT IN CREATION .49 THE SPIRIT IN RELATION TO UNFALLEN MAN 64 .
BOOK THE VI. VII.
SPIRIT PRIOR
.
.
III
TO PENTECOST
FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH
.
DURING THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH vn
.
83
.
96
CONTENTS
viii
BOOK IV THE TEACHING OF CHRIST CONCERNING THE SPIRIT PAGE VIII.
IX.
X. XI.
THE COMING OF THE SPIRIT THE CHARACTER OF THE SPIRIT THE MISSION OF THE SPIRIT THE RESULTS OF THE SPIRIT'S COMING .
.
.
1
.
.
.
IIQ
.
.
.
122
.
I2'4
13
BOOKV THE PENTECOSTAL AGE XII.
PENTECOST
I2Q
THE CHURCH IN THE WORLD
XIII.
THE
SPIRIT IN
XIV.
THE
SPIRIT
.
BOOK THE XV. XVI. XVII.
SPIRIT IN
.
.
.
142
.
.
.
1
54
VI
THE INDIVIDUAL
THE BAPTISM OF THE SPIRIT THE FILLING OF THE SPIRIT THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT
BOOK
.
.
.
1 69
.
.
.
184
.
.
.
ig6
.
.
.2X3
.
.
.
226
.
237
VII
THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION XVIII.
YE MUST BE BORN
XIX. BE FILLED
ANEW
WITH THE
XX. RESIST NOT, GRIEVE NOT, NOTE.
.
SPIRIT
QUENCH NOT
The Revised Version is Holy Ghost.
Sfirit in preference to
used,
and the term Holy
INTRODUCTORY
SIGNS OF THE TIMES recent years
DURING noticeable
in the thought of
Christian Church.
First, there has
ment of materialism. ley, Tyndall,
two movements have been
The
men
outside the
been the develop-
teachings of Darwin,
Hux-
and Spencer have tended to the denial Thousands of people who
of the spiritual in man.
have never read their books have been influenced by Moreover, a great many of their first positions have been accepted and taught, and are held until this moment, without any due allowtheir outlook
ance being
upon
made
life.
for subsequent statements, which have
proved that their teaching consisted in the suggestion of hypotheses, rather than the declaration of ascertained
According to such teachers all the phenomena of human life are to be accounted for wholly within the facts.
range of matter. is in itself
indestructible
arrangement of identity of
It is
it
human
admitted by them that matter ;
but
it is
affirmed that the re-
that takes place at death destroys the
beings.
In a more cultured and reii
THE
12 fined form,
SPIRIT
and with gleams of hope in the form of
men have been
doubts,
and the
terialism;
average
human
life
words which
fitly
Some
ma-
gradually drifting towards
effect of this
has been seen in the
apart from the influence and teach1
ing of Christianity.
from God.
OF GOD
are
Earthly, sensual, devilish,
describe the vast
mass of
life
of the old forms of fleshly
indeed ceased, and there
is
in the
apart
life
have
minds of men a new
respect for personal character, as a result of the pres-
ence of Christianity in the world.
A
correct view of
the condition of the masses of the race would reveal
the fact that for the most part
realm of the
life is
being lived in the
fleshly, the material, the perishing.
Thou-
sands of men, while professing to hold the orthodox creed, are yet living in a practical atheism,
sequent denial of their
own
The second movement form of a
the
and a con-
spiritual nature.
outside the Church has taken
revolt against materialism,
and has found
expression in attempts to discover the spiritual
its
unfold
its
laws,
and to declare
its activities.
to
Spiritual-
ism and theosophy are witnesses to this movement. Mrs. Annie Besant is one of the most remarkable instances of
she
it
in individual life.
sickened, alas!
There was a time when
by the inconsistencies with which
she came into contact within what falsely called, Christianity
faith of her early years. 1
Jas.
ii.
15.
was
called,
and
turned her back upon the
She found refuge
in denial of
SIGNS OF
THE TIMES
J3
high and sacred things ; and lived wholly, to all appearFor her to ance, outside the realm of the spiritual.
have found her way back to the acknowledgment of the It is, however, a respiritual in any form is a gain.
markable fact that one
who might have been spoken
of as the high-priestess of materialism, in a rebound
from that
position, has taken
credulity.
Belief
a
in
a leap into the realm of
somewhere amid
Mahatma,
Himalayan -heights, who has never been
seen, requires
a stretch of credence far greater than a belief in the living.
Christ of God,
Whose
nineteen hundred years ago fact,
is
presence on the earth
an indisputable historical
and Whose abiding presence
is
witnessed by in-
numerable transformations of character during the centuries.
This change of front on the part of so gifted a woman is a startling illustration of the fact that, side by side with the materialistic
movement
that has character-
ized the past half-century, there has also been a revolt
against
that
movement.
Indeed,
the
marked revolt
against materialism has carried a certain section of the into the opposite extreme.
They are declaring that matter is not, and only mind really exists. The tendency of the past was to deny spirit. That has community
been proved to be absolutely untenable, and now it is the fashion to deny matter. This is evidenced by the vagaries of Christian science falsely so called-
This groping in the darkness without, has had
its
THE
14
SPIRIT OF
counterpart within the churches.
GOD
A
wave of
rational-
Germany, has been sweeping
ism, originating largely in
over the religious world. Its effect has been the
swamp-
ing of spiritual ideas and the extinguishing of the fires
There are churches
of Christian zeal.
utterly devoid of
men and women
the true spiritual tokens of
converted
God, and transformed into the likeness of Jesus Christ. Such churches, being destitute of the compasto
sion of the Christ for the needs of men, all too sadly
prove that the materialistic element, has crept within their borders, in the
canker-worm of
But
form of
rationalistic theology, the
spiritual life.
just as outside the
Church there has been a
spirit
of revolt, so within, contemporary with this rationalistic
movement, there has been manifested a marked and wonderful revival of interest in the ministry of the Holy In 1856 William Arthur issued his Tongue of Spirit. Fire.
but
it
It
was indeed a
was before
its
fiery
message to the churches;
Not
time.
Every great movement has
its
that
it
was out of
forerunner.
place.
Every great
development of thought starts with some lonely watch-
man upon
the mountain,
who
catches the first ray of
coming day, and tells the dwellers in the valley of its approach. The book was, in that sense, a book before its
time
;
yet
men
read
it
our fathers
tell
us
on their
There followed a period of waiting, a time. during which it appeared as though the book were dead. It was dead as the seed-corn dies, only to issue in a glo-
knees.
SIGNS OF rious harvest.
men
THE TIMES
During the
last quarter of the century,
Church have spoken great theme of the ministry and
in all sections of the Christian
and written upon this work of the Holy Spirit. says
*5
:
More
Dr. Scofield, of Northfield,
books, booklets, and tracts
upon
have issued from the press during the than in
all
that subject
last tiventy years
the time since the invention of printing.
truth thus proclaimed has resulted in
new
life
The
within
the churches; and everywhere eager souls are enquir-
ing after fuller, more definite, more systematic knowledge of this great ministry of the Spirit. The ministries that
are forceful in the accomplishment of defi-
nite results in the interests of the
day, are the ministries of
whole burden of God,
of
their
work upon
men who, however
which they
deal,
kingdom of God
men who the
to-
are putting the
Holy
Spirit of
different the subjects with
and however
different their theological
may be in certain respects, are nevertheless perpetually realizing that the Holy Spirit is to be thought outlook
and spoken of as a Person rather than an influence. Wherever the Spirit of God is being enthroned in preaching and in
all
Christian work, and having His
rightful place as the Administrator of the things of
Jesus Christ, apostolic results are seen to follow.
Here, however, as always in the history of fallen man, movement has had its counterfeit.
the Divine
The
devil has
two methods of procedure with regard
to the living truth of God.
First,
he seeks to hide the
THE
i6
SPIRIT OF
GOD
vision.
When
with
inherent brilliance and beauty
its
that
is
no longer
the mists, then the devil's procedure
and
falsification.
he turns
it
Taking
it
when
truth
driving
away
possible,
that of patronage
is
out of
is
its
true proportion,
still
thank God, was
into deadly error.
The Reformation,
for
which we
a return on the part of men, to
whom God
gave
to the great fundamental truth of justification
The
central gospel fact,
hath eternal
1
life,
He
that believeth
was rediscovered
vision,
by
faith.
on the Son
For long and
weary years Satan had kept that truth out of sight but when God raised up Martin Luther and others, the ;
and misapplied it. In the wake of the Reformation came the damnable
devil immediately adopted, adapted,
heresy of antinomianism.
Its teaching
are justified by faith, conduct
is
of
sins perpetually,
and nothing can
ing justified by
faith, the actual life
nothing.
Thus a
was, that
no account;
alter the fact
truth taken out of
if
;
men man
but be-
and character are its
proper setting,
and stretched to undue proportions, became a heresy almost more fearful than that from which justification by
faith
was a
deliverance.
Again, some years ago God raised up men
to give
renewed utterance to the truth of the premillennial coming of Jesus Christ.
The
effect
produced was that of
a purifying hope, and believers were recalled from worldliness and indifference, to the attitude of pilgrims
girded for the King's business, and waiting for His 'John
iii.
36.
SIGNS OF
X7
THE TIMES
Then immediately followed innumerable
appearing.
by the powers of evil and imof dates have almost brought it pertinent predictions Instead of the whole Church into disrepute. distortions of the truth
;
general
prospect being purified, strengthened, and revived of events the time for which God Himself only knows, in
are afraid to give any
many
subject, because
attention whatever to the
has been brought into disrepute by
it
attempts to discover a date of
Of
that
the Son.
day
.
.
.
knoweth no one,
.
.
said:
not even
.
.
.
.
1
Just as
it
was
in these instances, so has
regard to the subject of the
The
which the Master
work of
the
it
been in
Holy
Spirit.
greatest peril which threatens the truth of the
Spirit's personal ministry to-day, arises
vocacy of the truth by those
who
from the ad-
are not careful to dis-
With the revival of have been launched a number of wholly
cover the mind of the Spirit. interest there
unauthorized systems, which have brought bondage
where the Spirit would have brought liberty. have been misapplying phrases connected with subject.
The baptism of
Men this
the Spirit, the anointing of the
Spirit, the indwelling of the Spirit, the sealing of the
Spirit, the filling of the Spirit
all these,
Scripture, have been taken out of their
made
the current phraseology of a
thought, which
is
a
new form
xiii. 32.
setting,
and
new system
of
of legalism.
It is asserted, for instance, that a
*Mark
based upon
man who
is
con-
THE
18
GOD
SPIRIT OF
baptized of the Spirit,
and then after
verted
may be
the
comes the statement of certain conditions which
if
if
constitute a legalism as disastrous as
are told that
among the churches of Galatia. We man will abandon this, that, and the
if
a
and in many cases will cease to observe laws which are purely natural he may be filled or
other life
baptized with the Spirit.
New
teaching of the is
Spirit
that of the
teachers
J udaizing
of
was
All this
Testament.
always used in the
New
contrary to the
is
The baptism of the Testament with refer-
ence to regeneration, and never with what
is
often
spoken of to-day as the second blessing.
The
of the Spirit through the fuller faith of
filling
the believer
is
All that
ing.
Divine
life
often, but not necessarily a second bless-
necessary for fuller realization of the
is
becomes the birthright and property of beborn again of the Spirit of
lievers directly they are
God. of
Nothing
is
formulating
more
to be deprecated than the habit
upon
systems
disjointed
Scripture
phrases apart from their connection with the context.
There
is
one sure and
infallible
guide to truth, and
therefore one, and only one, corrective for error, and that is
is
the
Word
of God.
the court of appeal.
Whom
That, in this series of studies,
May
the
Holy
Spirit,
without
no understanding of the Word, grant a clearer comprehension of His Person, of His work, and of
there
human
the
is
relation thereto
!
In approaching the subject
mind should be disabused of
all
foregone conclu-
SIGNS OF
THE TIMES
19
and prejudices, and a stand taken upon the old prophetic dictum: To the law and to the testimony! if they speak not according to this word, surely there is no sions
morning for them. tivities
1
There
is
no revelation of the ac-
of the Spirit of God, or of the spiritual world,
save the revelation that comes through the Book. *Isa.
viii.
20.
BOOK THE
SPIRIT
21
I
OF GOD
Fountain of Love
Thyself true days
!
God
!
Who through eternal From
Father and from Son hast flow'd In uncreated ways!
O
Majesty unspeakable! Person all Divine ! How in the Threefold Majesty
Doth Thy Procession
shine!
Proceeding, yet of equal age With Those Whose love
Thou art-
Proceeding, yet distinct, from Those Thou seem'st to part. From
Whom
An
A
undivided Nature shared With Father and with Son; Person by Thyself; with Them Thy simple essence One.
Bond
art
Thou
of the other
Twain!
Omnipotent and free! The consummating Love of God! The Limit of the Three !
Thou
A
art a
Sea without a shore;
Awful, immense Thou art, Sea which can contract itself Within my narrow heart.
And
A
yet Thou art a Haven, too, Out on the shoreless sea, Harbour that can hold full well
Shipwreck' d Humanity.
Thou
art
On
Subduing
We
O
an unborn Breath outbreathed
angels and on men, all
things to Thyself, or when.
know not how
Light O Love O very 1 dare not longer gaze !
!
God
!
Upon Thy wondrous attributes And their mysterious ways. F.
22
W.
FABER.
II
THE PERSONALITY OF THE
SPIRIT
attempting to consider the work of the
BEFORE Holy Spirit race, sible,
it is
through the history of the human
necessary to understand, so far as
His personality and His
Only by a
clear understanding of
comprehend the mission and
Not
that
it
is
pos-
relation to the Trinity.
what the Scriptures
teach concerning these matters, will to
it is
it
work
be at
all possible
of the Spirit.
possible to perfectly understand the
personality of the Spirit or
His
relation to the Trinity.
These things are beyond the complete comprehension of minds that are finite. They must be accepted as declarations of a Divine revelation, the final explanation being impossible.
It is possible
and necessary to
discover what the Scriptures of truth have declared
about the Spirit in these two respects.
This chapter deals with the
first point,
of the Spirit, .under two divisions. 23
the personality
THE
24
The Holy The Holy
I.
II.
SPIRIT OF
Spirit a Person.
a Divine Person.
Spirit
The term Person immediately mountable
GOD
that,
difficulty
introduces an insur-
namely, of attempting to
express the Infinite in finite terms.
has been argued that personality and absolute ex-
It
God cannot
istence are contradictions; that
and the same time, a Person and
ment is
is
Infinite.
be, at
one
That argu-
the assumption that the term Person
based upon
capable of concise and final definition.
That
a false assumption.
is
personality exists in a
God
being.
alone has perfect personality. limited.
being
is
man,
rather
God
human
It supposes that perfect
not
so.
God is not a magnified man is a limited god. man: man is in the image
be said that
not in the image of
is
is
In other words,
may
it
This
That of every other
of God. this
Although, at first, it may appear as though were a mere play upon words, yet a careful consid-
eration of the statement will prove that definite deductions
a study of If
man
human is
If
sonality in
and
He
man
limited.
solute
and
final
life.
the one, the final, the absolute unit, then
the argument holds that Infinite.
no
concerning God can be made from
God
cannot be a Person and
alone be final and absolute, then peris
to be looked
When
a
man
upon as being imperfect
declares
God cannot be
and a Person, he does so because
of personality
is
his only
ab-
view
the view which he has of himself or of
THE PERSONALITY OF THE
SPIRIT
25
form some conception of Divine personality by a study of the human, because
his brother.
men
are
It is possible to
made
the endeavour
made
to build
the suggestion given in man,
must be remembered
it
man
that the factors of personality in
God
in
God; but wherever up the Divine from
in the likeness of is
they are
are
finite,
while
infinite.
Four things are contained within the realm of personality Will, Intelligence, Power, and Capacity for
A
Love.
is
person
a being
who
can be approached,
trusted or doubted, loved or hated, adored or insulted.
These
man has its
essential parts of personality are limited in
beings
:
the will has
its limitations,
its limitations,
power has
its
hu-
the intelligence
limitations, love
has
limitations.
may be
It is not unthinkable that there will, intelligence,
illimitable
power, and love, and that yet the perNeither is it unthinkable that
sonality shall remain.
there
may
be a Being
Who
can be approached, trusted
or doubted, loved or hated, adored or insulted, having all
these elements of personality in infinite measure.
Granted that in the Divine there are to be found the elements that exist in other rational beings,
not unthinkable that these
may
vine, while yet they are finite in
The
Christian position
to understand that
is
be
it is
surely
infinite in the
Di-
man.
that
it
is
perfectly easy
man, within a circumscribed area,
a picture of the Divine; but that
yet,
is
by so much as
THE
26
he
is
In this sense
yet unlike him. is
found in
man
and
limited
is
in the
the image
him
It is unlike
in limited degree,
is
not himself
is
man was made
God; but that of which he
that
GOD
circumscribed and limited, he
Divine.
of
SPIRIT OF
image
is like
him,
in the fact that all
of essential majesty and grandeur to be found in
illimitable.
The Holy
God Himself unSpirit,
then, is
Person, possessed of Will, Intelligence, Power,
a
and
Capacity for Love.
In the third century of the Christian
era,
Paul of
Samosata advanced a theory denying the Divinity of Christ, and regarding the Holy Spirit as an influence,
tempted
He
and power.
as an exertion of a Divine energy
to finally explain the terms of the
New
at-
Testa-
ment and of Scripture; and last definite,
away
in his attempt to say the formulated word, he found he must cut
certain supernatural mysteries that surrounded
the doctrine of
God
clared that there
as contained in revelation ; and de-
was no
Trinity, that Jesus
Divine, and that the Spirit
the influence
God
exerted upon
moving out from God, the energy of
About the time of
other people.
was not
was simply
the Reformation
two
men, Lselius Socinus, and his nephew Faustus Socinus, revived the theory, and many accepted it.
The growth and decay Socinianism
These
facts
is
of what
not the subject
it
may
known
now under
in the. history of the
tioned in order that
is
as direct
consideration.
Church are men-
be understood whence came
THE PERSONALITY OF THE SPIRIT
27
the teaching, the influence of which was like leaven,
spreading far more widely through the Church than who actually called themselves So-
the circle of those 4
This
cinians.
circle
trine to teach.
of people had a well-defined doc-
The great mass
of Christian people
refused to accept the doctrine ; but, alas ! passed unconsciously under
its
chilling influence,
and unknowingly
almost the whole Church came to think of the Spirit
God
of
such
as an influence,
if
Him
not to speak of
as
!
In the Authorized Version the personal pronoun which refers to the Holy Spirit is translated by the neuter it, an index of the trend of thought among Christian people.
an
Men
prayed of the Spirit as of
it,
an energy, proving that the Socinian had chilled the zeal and the enthusiasm of thought influence,
Christian doctrine concerning the
One
of the
Holy
most remarkable signs
Spirit.
in the present time
of the revival of the truth of the personality of the Spirit, is the reintroduction in the
Revised Version of
the masculine pronoun wherever the Spirit
is
referred
In that apparently simple and insignificant matter
to.
there
is
a.
clear revelation of the fact that
God
His people everywhere to a recognition of
is
calling
this
most
important doctrine of the personality of the Spirit.
A
list
of the passages containing the references of
Jesus to the
Holy
Spirit in the Synoptic Gospels
and in
the Gospel of John will be found as a footnote.
Let
THE
28
GOD
SPIRIT OF
them be carefully perused. 1 There are two lines of First, teaching which run through these utterances. most solemn warning ever uttered in the hearing of men had reference to the Holy Spirit. In the Gospels the
of Matthew,
Mark, and Luke, Christ
own words may be
His
affirms that
His own Person may
rejected, that
be spoken against, and that these things shall be forgiven to the sons of
men
;
but that they
who
refuse the
teaching of the Spirit can find no forgiveness, because the final apostasy of such, the final turning of the back
upon the work and mission of the Spirit, constitutes what our Lord speaks of as eternal sin. Whosoever blaspheme against the Holy Spirit hath never 2 a deep, forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin
shall
The man who can
and awful thought.
searching,
sin
Holy Spirit, refusing His teachings, deturning his back upon, and his will against,
against the liberately
the message of the
Holy
danger of passnot temporary and
Spirit, is in
ing into a realm in which his sin
is
and abiding. Such were the most awfully solemn words which fell from our Lord's transient, but
lips.
It
is
is
eternal
not conceivable that a
man
should sin
against a mere influence or energy, so as to bring himself into 1
danger of eternal
Matt. x. 19, 20,
xii. 36, xiii.
n,
xii.
sin.
There
is
in every
28*, 31, 32, xxii. 43, xxviii, 19*.
xvi. 16 *.
Luke
iv.
18
*, xi.
word
Mark iii.
29,
13 *, xii. 10-12, 49 *,
xxi. 15, xxiv. 48*. John iii. 3-8*, iv. 10-14*, v. 21*, vii. 37*, vii. 37, 38 *, xiv. 16, 17, 26 *, xv. 26 *, xvi. 7-11, 13-15 *, xx. 22 *. Acts i. 5, 8 *. (* Peculiar to this Gospel.) 2
Mark
iii.
29.
THE PERSONALITY OF THE
SPIRIT
29
of the warning evidence of an assumption in the mind of Christ of the personality of the
The Gospel
of John contains
teaching concerning the
Holy
Holy
Spirit.
Christ's
He
Spirit.
systematic
speaks of
Him
as the Paraclete.
It is
indeed one of the incommunicable, untranslatable
words of Scripture.
This
is
the
title
of a Person.
Neither Comforter nor Advocate
meaning. Both, and even something beyond, would be required to do this. Much would have been gained if no attempt had been made fully expresses
its
at translation, the
miliar
name
word
itself
becoming the most
fa-
of the Spirit.
In these discourses, when speaking of the Paraclete, Jesus does not, in one single instance, use the
word
which can be construed as indicating thought of the He shall teach, He shall bear Spirit as an influence. witness,
He
shall convict,
tivities attributed to tivities,
Holy
shall guide.'1
Spirit
These ac-
must be the ac-
not of an influence depending upon another
and separate
Who
the
He
will,
but the activities of a Person, of
unites within
His own Being
all
One
the essential
elements of personality, Will, Intelligence, Power, and
Love.
Whether
in the
solemn warnings of the Syn-
optic Gospels, or in the teachings concerning the misis
most
Christ the
Holy
sion of the Spirit in the Gospel of John, the fact
evidently set forth, that in the Spirit
*John
was thought
of,
mind of
not as an influence, an energy
xiv. 26, xv. 26, xvi. 8, 13.
THE
3
merely, but as
One
GOD
SPIRIT OF
capable of exercising functions and
doing deeds which were impossible to any other than a Person.
Again, the Holy Spirit
is
not only a Person, but a
Another heresy arose in the Church Arius, a presbyter of Alexan-
Divine Person.
in the fourth century.
taught that
dria,
created a
Being
God
infinitely superior to the angels,
Son
only begotten
one eternal Person; that
is
that this only begotten
;
He His
Son of God
did in His turn exercise His supernatural power by the creation of a third Person, that third Person being the
Holy Spirit. The difference between Socinianism and Arianism lies in
by the latter of the personality of while denying His proper Deity. According
the recognition
the Spirit
to Arius, the
and
if
Holy
is
Spirit
a Person, a created Person ;
and
created, then not Creator;
then not Divine.
if
not Creator,
The Nicene Creed was drawn up and
adopted as a corrective to this error of Arianism,
had obtained a firm hold
Most assuredly the
which
in the early Church.
Scriptures teach not only the
personality of the Spirit, but His Divine personality.
The
unity of
two passages
ments throws light upon
Then
am
a
said
man
I,
Woe
Old and New- Testa-
this subject.
me! for I am undone; because I and I dwell in the midst of a for mine eyes have seen the
of unclean lips,
people of unclean
King, the
is
in the
Lord of
lips:
hosts.
.
.
.
And He
said.
Go,
THE PERSONALITY OF THE and
tell
Hear ye
this people,
SPIRIT
31
indeed, but understand
1 not; and see ye indeed, but perceive not.
The prophet had come was undone by the
into the presence of
God, and
vision.
The New Testament
contains an exposition of that
vision of Isaiah.
'And zvhen they agreed not departed, after that
among
themselves, they
Paul had spoken one word, Well
spake the Holy Spirit by Isaiah the prophet unto your fathers, saying,
Go
thou unto this people, and say,
By
hearing ye shall hear, and shall in no wise understand. 2
Paul declared that tered the
it
was the Holy
words which Isaiah
distinctly
Spirit
Who
ut-
says were spoken
by the Divine Being. Thus the interpretation of the Old Testament by the New reveals the fact of the Divinity of the
Holy
Spirit.
A new
covenant was promised long before the com8 In the Epistle to the Hebrews ing of the Messiah. the old promise of the covenant of Jehovah
with the
new
dispensation of the Spirit.
4
is
identified
It is evident
that the Persons at first sight apparently different are identical,
comes
and that the
Spirit spoken of in
in fulfilment of the
prophecy uttered
Hebrews by Jere-
miah. 1
Isa. vi.
x. 15-17.
2
5.
Acts xxviii. 25 26.
8
Jer. xxxi.
31-34.
*Heb.
THE
32
SPIRIT OF
GOD
Again, the works attributed to the Holy Spirit must 1 Genesis declares that out be the works of Divinity. of the chaos, cosmos
In the Gospel of John regeneration
force.
to be
was brought by His brooding and
His work.*
is
Paul, distinctly states that
quicken our mortal bodies through the
infinite
God
Spirit.*
will
Crea-
works which
tion, regeneration, resurrection, these are
can only be brought about by
declared
power, and there-
fore the Spirit is not only a Person, but a Divine
Person.
Omnipresence, omniscience, and omnipotence, butes that appertain only to God, are the Spirit.
The
Scriptures then teach that the
The mystery
To
very profound.
by human
Spirit
is
a
acknowledged, and
is
finally explain it is impossible
but this impossibility of explanation for
Holy
the Divine attributes and able to do
all
Divine works.
it is
attri-
attributed to
4
Person, having all
all
and by the
limitation
can never grasp the
Infinite.
The
is
;
to be accounted
fact that the finite facts
erently accepted as forming an integral
must be rev-
and necessary
To deny the and to deny the Divine personmust eventuate as it has done in
part of the system of revealed religion. personality of the Spirit, ality of the Spirit,
every system where
it
has been attempted
in denial
of the Divinity of the Son, and in the denial of the 1
i
Gen.
Cor.
i.
ii.
2.
*John
10, ii.
i
in. 5.
Cor.
xii.
"Rom. n.
viii.
ti.
*
Rom.
viii. 26,
27.
THE PERSONALITY OF THE Divinity of the
Son
there always has been
the Son.
Passion vinity
The
there
must
are closely
also be included
33 as
a denial of the atoning work of
doctrines of the
and of the
SPIRIT
Son
His Cross and
His personality and Diconnected, and one cannot be interSpirit
fered with without detriment to the other.
Denying
these truths, the whole fabric of revealed religion breaks
down.
in
THE RELATION OF THE
SPIRIT
TO THE
TRINITY doctrine of the Trinity
A
facts of
planation
one of the declared
Holy Scripture of which no
possible to
is
is
minds that are
finite.
perfect ex-
The
idea
of one Essence subsisting after a threefold manner, and in a Trinity of relationships, finds nothing in the phe-
nomena of nature upon which
it
can fasten as a
suffi-
There have been many attempts to give the mind of man an understanding of this mystery by
cient symbol.
some such symbol.
The
mystics attempted, by anal-
ogy, to reconcile the doctrine to
made use of such ance,
human
reason.
They
figures as those of the light, the radi-
and the heat of the sun; the fountain, the
and the stream of the river; the
flux,
root, the stem,
and
the flower of the plant; the intellect, the will, and the feeling of
human They
man;
being,
or,
perhaps most familiar of
declared that
in.
all
34
all,
the
spirit, soul, and body. these things, and indeed
consisting of
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY throughout nature, there that which
is
is
35
a perpetual reproduction of
the essence of the Divine
Trinity in
Unity.
All these illustrations suggest a Trinitarian possibility ; but if employed as final symbols, they only serve to mystify.
They
are insufficient, and differ from the
declared facts so radically, that the impression they cre-
great underlying fact of Divinity
ate, as to the
Three and Three in One
in
As
One
vague and evanescent.
is
in the case of the personality of the Spirit, so here;
the things which are evident are faint and incomplete
suggestions of the facts concerning the Infinite.
The
Scriptures contain a progressive revelation of the doc-
when the last word has been said, there is no made to explain the mystery. All that they attempt
trine
give
but
;
a declaration of the
is
give that
or explanation that
The is
in
fact,
first
:
Our image, and
after
final
Unity would be
Our
said,
likeness.
1
Godhead
Let Us make
To
man
claim that as a
statement of the doctrine of Trinity in false.
live in the light of the
Testament
definition
is final.
hint of plurality in the unity of the
found in the words 'And God
definite
without attempting to
which would be incomprehensible, a
It is the privilege
New
of those
who
Testament to view the Old
made by Him; and without Him was not anything made that hath been made* This refers to the work of the Word, the .
i.
All things were
therein.
26.
*Johh
i.
3.
THE
36
SPIRIT OF
eternal Son, in creation.
was by His intermediation
were formed in the beginning.
that the worlds
Thus
It
GOD
the Bible story of creation reflects the presence
of the three Persons in the Trinity,
the Father, as
original Source; the Son, as Intermediary; the Spirit,
as
Medium through which
the
came
creation
into
1
being.
The
truth
is
still
further developed in the words:
So shall they put My name upon the children of Israel. 2 The emphasis should be laid upon the word so, SO shall they put
The method
My
name upon
indicated
to be
is
the children of Israel.
found in the three pre-
ceding verses.
The Lord
bless thee,
and keep
The Lord make His
thee:
face to shine
upon
and be
thee,
gracious unto thee: The Lord lift up His countenance upon thee, and
give thee peace*
This
is
the trinity of benediction in unity,
in threefold repetition.
It
is
priest of the old dispensation, in diction,
had a
My
name
not probable that the
pronouncing that bene-
clear understanding of the truth of the
Trinity in Unity, but a hint
was enshrined
therein
Thus
which prepared the way for future development. in the priestly benediction of
Numbers, there
vance upon the suggestion of Genesis.* 1 Gen. i. i. John i. 3. Gen. i. 2. 2 Num. vi. *
27.
is
8
an ad-
Num.
vi.
This priestly benediction of the Old Testament has its fulfilment in that of the New The grace of the Lord Jesus Christr
24-26.
:
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY The messages of
37
the prophets contain suggestions
on the
subject: In the year that King Uzsiah died I the saw Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up,
and His
Around*-
train filled the temple.
Him
stood
had six wings; with twain he
the seraphim: each one
covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and with twain he did fly. And one cried unto an2
Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts. Isaiah was permitted to have a vision of the King,
and
other,
high and
den
said,
He
lifted up.
heard the doxology of the hid-
the cherubim and seraphim chanting the
place,
praise of the Eternal, and they sang Holy, holy, holy, is
the
Lord
of hosts, a threefold ascription of praise to
the one Person.
In
this
prophecy also
is
found perhaps the most
to be
clear statement of the doctrine of the Trinity that the
Old Testament ye this; from
from
contains
the time that
God hath
:
Come
ye near unto Me, hear
the beginning I have not spoken in secret;
sent
it
was, there
Me, and His
am I: and now 3
Spirit.
There
the
Lord
an im-
is
portant alteration in this passage from the Authorized Version, which reads:
hath sent Me.
The
The Lord God, and His
Me
Whom
here
the prophets wrote liverer, the Messiah, Jesus.
is
and spoke
Spirit,
One
the coming
of
the great De-
The Authorized Version
and the love of God, and the communion of the Holy Spirit, be with you all. Here also the Trinity is named. 2 Cor. xiii. 14. 1 Around, {not above, as in the English Version) Dr. G. A. Smith. .
s
lsa. vi. 1-3.
8
Isa. xlviii. 16.
.
.
THE
38
makes
SPIRIT OF
GOD
appear as though Christ was sent by God and He is never so spoken
it
the Spirit; but in the Scriptures
This change in the Revised Version
of.
utmost importance; for
it
is
of the
contains a prophecy of the
coming of Christ and the dawning of the dispensation God hath sent Me, and His Spirit. Here
of the Spirit.
distinctly revealed, not as
a doctrine, but
incidentally in the midst of prophecy.
All that the
New
suggested in
the Trinity
is
Testament unfolds in
beauty
God sending Son and
the Messiah
The New Testament Old,
was
its
making
clear
it
baptised, ivent
and plain:
Spirit of
My
Jesus,
when He
Him, and
as a dove, and
He saw
the
coming upon
a voice out of the heavens, saying, This is beloved Son, in Whom I am well pleased.'1 The lo,
voice of the Father
is
nouncing His pleasure one God
heard from the heavens, anin the Son, while the anointing
upon Him. This is a manifestation of His threefold personality. Thus, at
Spirit descends
the
And
up straightway from the water: and
God descending
Him; and
Spirit.
takes up the suggestion of the
the heavens were opened unto
lo,
is
prophecy, uttered centuries before the coming of
this
in
the outset of Christ's public ministry, the truth of the
Trinity was declared by a solemn manifestation, though the
men around
did not then comprehend the deep sig-
nificance of the event.
The Paschal 1
Matt.
iii.
16,
discourses contain the Lord's full teach17.
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY ing on the subject of the
importance to
demand
This
Spirit.
special attention,
quent chapter will be devoted to
it.
is
39
of sufficient
and a subse-
1
One more reference claims attention in this section. The Master having finished His work on Calvary the ;
Resurrection being accomplished; and the Ascension
He
gave to His disciples the commission under which they were to serve. In connection with imminent;
He
committed to them the great baptismal formula, which contains the most simple and concise state-
this,
ment of the Trinity Scripture
:
that
is
to
be found in the whole of
Baptising them into the name of the Father
and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. 2 The phrase of the, in each case clearly marks the separation of personality,
but the singular number of the name, by which
these are prefaced,
marks the unity of the Godhead.
That baptismal formula is the consummation of all previous suggestion, and the standard of all subsequent teaching concerning the Trinity.
The
declarations of Scripture, then,
marized thus
:
may be sum-
In one essential Godhead there coexist
three Persons, consubstantial, coequal, and coeternal.
This mystery cannot be explained nor defined, because it is
is
beyond the grasp of the
finite
;
and no explanation
attempted in the inspired Book.
Accepting the doctrine of the Trinity, it is now competent most reverently to enquire what Scripture x
john
xiv., xv., xvi.
*Matt. xxviii. 19.
THE
40
SPIRIT OF
GOD
teaches concerning the relation of the
Holy
Spirit to the
Trinity.
The Holy
Spirit is always spoken of as the third
Person in the Trinity. In the historical revelation the vealed
is
last personality re-
That of the Father was thv
that of the Spirit.
supreme point in the creation and history of the Jewish 1 Then there people: The Lord our God is one Lord.
came
the revelation of the
Son and ;
lastly, as
summation of His mission, came the
the con-
revelation of the
personality of the Spirit.
Again, in the actual facts of the awe-inspiring mystery of the Trinity, the It is
Holy
Spirit is not
first.
distinctly stated that the Spirit is sent;
Christ declared that the Spirit proceedeth
Father?
and
from the
The
This order can never be reversed.
Father cannot be spoken of as being sent of the Spirit, neither can He be said to proceed from the Spirit;
hard to understand, but
therefore, in a sense
Holy Spirit cannot be the
announced, the
distinctly
first
Person
in this mystery oi the Trinity.
Nor can He be Son is spoken of
the second Person therein. as
sending the
the realm of Divinity the sent
by
the
Spirit drove 1
Deut.
vi. 4.
Spirit.
Him 2
It
is
Son
is
3
Spirit.
into the wilderness *
Within
never said to be of Jesus
said
Jolin xiv. 26, xv. 26.
from the
Spirit
Father, and as Himself sending the
The
;
that
the
but that was in
John xv.
26, xvi. 7.
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY His representative capacity as a Man.
He is
sent
Father's
by the is
41
In His Divinity
by the Father, for the accomplishment of the
work but He ;
is
never spoken of as being sent
Consequently, the Spirit, sent by the Son
Spirit.
the third Person within the Trinity, in the order in
which these Persons move
wondrous
mighty majesty of their The great creeds of the Church
activities.
in the
have caught up the idea of the Spirit proceeding from the Father and from the Son. While there is no direct
and positive statement of the kind, still the very argument of the Lord's own teaching, as recorded in the Gospel of John, coincides with that expression of the truth.
The term third must be used with most careful limitations. As used with reference to the Persons in the Godhead,
it
does not imply inferiority.
Once
in the
writings of Paul he reverses the order, and names the Spirit first
One
:
Spirit,
even as also ye zvere called in
one hope of your calling; one Lord, one faith, one bap1 tism, one God and Father of a//. Upon another occasion he changes the order again, the second place
Lord Jesus
Now I beseech you,
:
third
is
me
Spirit in
brethren, by our
Christ, and by the love of the
Spirit, that
ye
your prayers to God for me.* not used in the sense of inferiority.
strive together with
The word
and places the
in
Perhaps that fact will most surely be understood by remembering that the term third has here no reference to *Eph.
iv. 4-6.
2
Rom.
xv. 30.
THE
42
GOD
SPIRIT OF
eliminated from
The time element must be
time.
consideration of Divine things.
It is
very
all
difficult to
Speaking of the Father, and of the Spirit proceeding from the Father, unconsciously, but none the do
this.
less certainly, the It
tion.
may
time element enters into the concep-
be argued that there can be no procession If that be true,
save that which has a beginning. neither can there be a Source
from which procession
When
made, which has no beginning. things of God, time
is
not;
it
boundless Being of the Eternal.
from the Father
Spirit
from
Whom the
The
The
no place
in
the
procession of the
as eternal as
the Father
is
Spirit proceeds.
relation of the Spirit to the
the words:
He is
is
finds
is
dealing with the
The
Father
is
from
Spirit proceedeth
declared in
the Father. 1
the gift and outmoving of the Divine Essence, the
This defies analysis. It is a truth deMen clared, which remains an impenetrable mystery.
Eternal Spirit.
have no right to make any attempt to discover that which is not revealed. It is the simple declaration of the
Word
of God, that the Spirit proceedeth from the
Father and there the matter must be ;
The the
relation of the Spirit to the
left.
Son
is
indicated in
words of Jesus in which He declared that the Son from the Father, and the Spirit therefore pro-
receives
ceedeth through the Son. 2
Professor Swete, in a paper read before the Church Congress several years ago, in 1
John xv.
26.
'John
xiv. 16, xv. 26.
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY well-chosen words stated, with as
much
43
clearness as
is
possible, the great mystery of the Spirit's relationship to
These are
the Son.
words: The Son
his
is
thus the
His
Intermediary of the self-communication of God.
mediation in creation and in grace rests ultimately on
His mediation
in the mystery of the
Holy
The
Trinity.
mediation in creation, and the mediation in redemption are based
upon the
fact, that Scripture declares, that in
an inscrutable manner, in a way that defies Son is intermediary between Father and
the
that great
Trinity
definition, Spirit, in
and sublime and magnificent mystery of the
itself.
Here, again, the fact of limitation of language must be borne in mind. These statements refer to eternal at-
and consequently they are dateless. With great reverence and solemnity the question of
titudes,
the function of the
now be
No it
Holy
Spirit within the Trinity
may
considered.
such consideration would be possible or proper
were not based upon the
if
made
fact that a statement is
For who among men with regard thereto in Scripture knoweth the things of a man, save the spirit of the man, :
which
is
in
him? 1
This
is
the apostle's analogy.
There
immediately follows the statement of a truth of the ut-
most importance:
Even so
the things of
knoweth, save the Spirit of God.
God none
These words
clearly
reveal the fact within the mystery of the Trinity x
i
Cor.
ii.
ix.
the
THE
44 Spirit
is
knows the things of
Spirit scarcheth
.
.
That statement leads mystery; and from
drawn.
GOD
it
.
the eternal
Godhead
to the inner heart of this great
a most important deduction
Seeing that the Spirit of
God
is
He
God Who knows the things
it
must of
is
also the Spirit of revelation.
necessity be the Spirit
much
Who
to
the Deity. hension,
In that great
as
is
and
re-
possible, circle of
beyond perfect compre-
fact,
the secret of the inspiration of Scripture,
lies
and of the presence and work of the and in the world. If
of God,
unveils
necessary and those outside the marvellous and mysterious
veals those things, as
is
the seat of Di-
As
the Spirit of
:
the deep things of God. 1
vine consciousness, it is
The
the seat of the Divine consciousness.
eternal Spirit
The
SPIRIT OF
any person should accept
this
Spirit in the
Church
attempt to examine
one of the greatest mysteries of our most holy religion, feeling that now all is clear, then the attempt has sadly
and awfully
God has
failed.
left it
a mystery.
This subject must be
left
where
a revealed mystery, not the revelation of
That
is
to say, revelation has declared
a
mystery; revelation has not given the explanation of that mystery. stand, even
if
The mind
of
man
could never under-
the most simple language were used, the
Trinity in the Unity of the Godhead, or the relation of the Persons in the as 1
it is
1
Godhead
to
each other.
necessary and possible for
Cor.
ii.
10.
man
But, so far
to see
it,
things
RELATION OF THE SPIRIT TO THE TRINITY which eye saw
and ear heard not, and which entered
not,
not into the heart of
them through the
The There
man
.
.
.
unto us
God
revealed
1
Spirit.
statement
may
thus be
made
in brief words.
one God.
There are three Persons within the
The Holy
Spirit is third in position, for ever
is
Unity.
45
proceeding from the Father, through the mediation of the Son. That Holy Spirit" is the Consciousness of
God, and therefore the Revealer of God.
While these things are too high and too wonderful perfect exposition, yet, so far as tion
and
life
and
is
final perfecting,
necessary for redemp-
God
light of the glory of the inner facts of fall 1
upon
x Cor.
the ii.
human mind.
9, xo.
for
has allowed the
His own Being to
BOOK II IDEAL CREATION
47
Fair are the flowers and the children, but their subtle suggestion
is fairer.
the rose-burst of dawn, but the secret that clasps rarer ;
Rare
is
Sweet
is
the exultance of song, but the strain that precedes
it is
it is
sweeter;
And
never was poem yet writ, but the meaning outmaster'd the metre.
Never a daisy that grows, but a mystery guideth the growing; Never a river that flows, but a majesty sceptres the flowing; Never a Shakespeare that soar'd, but a stronger than he did
Nor
enfold him, ever a prophet foretells, but a mightier seer hath foretold him.
Back
of the
hidden
canvas that throbs, the painter
is
hinted and
;
Into the statue that breathes, the soul of the sculptor is bidden; felt, lie the infinite issues of feeling;
Under the joy that is Crowning the glory
reveal' d,
is
the glory that crowns the
revealing.
Great are the symbols of being, but that which
is
symboll'd
is
greater ; Vast the create and beheld, but vaster the inward Creator; Back of the sound broods the silence, back of the gift stands the giving;
Back of the hand
that receives, thrill the sensitive nerves of
receiving.
Space
The
is
is outdone by the doing; warm, but warmer the heart of the
as nothing to Spirit, the deed
heart of the
wooing
wooer
is
;
And up from
the pits where these shiver, and up from the
heights where those shine, Twin voices and shadows swim starward, and the essence of life is Divine.
RICHARD REALF. 48
THE
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
work of
the Spirit in creation, and His per-
petual presence and manifestation therein,
are
subjects full of fascination, and yet strangely neglected.
So much Spirit in
attention has been given to the its
work
of the
regenerative aspect, that His generative ac-
have been in a large measure overlooked. The origin and the preservation of everything in nature are tivities
spiritual.
No
lily-muffled hum of a summer bee 'But finds some coupling zvith the spinning stars; pebble at your foot but proves a sphere, chaffinch but implies the cherubim.
No No
....
Earth's cramm'd with heaven,
And
every common bush afire -with God; But only he who sees takes off his shoes
The
The
rest sit
round
it
and pluck
blackberries.
1
sacred Writings abound in statements with rethis aspect of the Spirit's work.
gard to
What magnificent figures are contained in the words of the Psalmist !
1
Mrs. E. B. Browning.
49
THE
56
He bowed
OF GOD
SPIRIT
and came down; thick darkness was under His feet.
And And He
the heavens also,
rode upon a cherub, and did
fly:
Yea, He Hew swiftly upon the wings of the wind. He made darkness His hiding-place, His pavilion
round about Him; Darkness of waters, thick clouds of the skies. the brightness before Him His thick clouds passed,
At
Hailstones and coals of
fire.
1
from a careful reading of this Psalm, a declaration of the perpetual presence of God such manifestations. Wherever thick darkness is,
It is evident,
that
it is
in all it is
under the
feet of
with swift impetuosity,
wherever darkness
Him
round about it is
;
God; whenever the wind passes
He
is, it is
flies
upon the wings thereof
;
God's hiding-place, a pavilion
whenever the darkness
is
before the brightness of His rising.
gleam of the glory of nature there
is
dispersed,
In every
the evidence of an
ever-present God.
The
final
words of that great doxology which Isaiah
heard from the inner temple are of great interest in this *
In the year that King Uzzlali died I saw the Lord sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and
connection
His
:
train filled the temple.
Around
3
Him
stood the
seraphim: each one had six zvings; with twain he covered his face, and with twain he covered his feet, and 1
Ps. xviii. 9-12.
*
Isa. vi. 1-3.
8
See footnote,
p. 29.
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
with twain he did
And
fly.
Holy, holy, holy,
said,
is
5*
one cried unto another, and
Lord of
the
The
earth is full of His glory.
hosts: the
uplifted
Lord
whole the
is
centre of adoration in the courts of heaven; but not
there only
His
full of
is
His splendour seen
the whole earth is
glory.
A marvellous declaration of the fact of the presence of God
in all nature is to
be found also in the great The-
1 ophany of the Book of Job. For the purposes of this study, however,
it
will
be
sufficient to consider certain definite statements of Scrip-
ture, in
which the work of the Holy
Spirit in creation is
clearly set forth in varied aspects.
First
compare the
earliest reference to the Spirit
with
one in the prophecy of Isaiah And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was :
upon the face of
upon
the deep:
and the Spirit of God moved
[or as the margin gives
it,
was brooding upon]
the
face of the waters?
But
the pelican
the owl
and the porcupine shall possess it; and shall dwell therein: and He shall
and the raven
stretch over
the line of confusion,
it
and the plummet of
emptiness*
Exactly the same Hebrew words are used in each case
The word
to describe the desolation. in Genesis
is
translated confusion in Isaiah; the
translated void in the one case 1
J6b
translated waste
xli., xlii.
*
Gen.
i.
2.
s
is
lsa.
word
translated emptiness in xxxiv.
n.
THE
52
SPIRIT OF
GOD
This comparison throws light upon the
the other.
story of creation.
The
first
picture
that of the Spirit brooding over
is
Science agrees that the earth must have been in
chaos.
such a condition as this before the appearance of man.
How
whether through
this condition of things arose,
some mighty catastrophe whelming a previous order, or through the omnific word of God, no man can tell both ;
and revelation are
science
Book
of the
silent.
These opening words
of Genesis introduce this planet while yet
waste and void, and declare
that, for the
accomplishment
of the change from this condition to that of order, the Spirit
brooded over the face of the waters.
He acted as
the Administrator of the will of God, as expressed by
The
word of God.
the
The Word
supersede disorder. will,
beginning with the 1
light came.
God
This
first
is
That
is
of
is
that order should
God announces
utterance:
By the brooding of the
light.
ty of
God
will of
that
Let there be
Spirit over the chaos the
the unvarying order of the activi-
in creation.
not an account of the
first
creation of matter.
Concerning that, man has no definite knowledge. In the beginning God created the heaven and the earth.
And
the earth
How can 1
ivaste
and
-void.
2
long the interval between these verses no
tell:
Gen.
was
* i.
man
Scripture makes no announcement thereupon, 3.
Gen.
i.
i,
2.
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
53
and the declarations of science are but surmises.
when
the present order
Spirit of
as the ized.
was
God brooding upon
established,
it
was by the
confusion and emptiness,
Power through which the Divine will was realThe earth as it is to-day is therefore the direct
outcome of the action of the Holy Spirit. Another of the Psalms is full of suggestiveness
By
But
the
Aiid
word
all
of the
the host of
The word
Lord
made; them by the breath of His mouth.
*
breath here might with perfect correctness
be written with a capital
mouth.
:
ivere the heavens
Here again
is
letter
the Breath of God's
revealed the will of Jehovah, ut-
by the Word of Jehovah, and accomplished by the Breath of His mouth; but the sweep of thought is greatIt is not a description of the bringing er than before. of order to one small planet, but the record in a sentence tered
of the creation of the heavens and
The phrase
includes
all
all
the host of them.
the myriad wonders of the uni-
the Word of God, and by the Breath came the systems of which man is just of His mouth,
verse around.
By
beginning to learn that in their entirety they are undiscoverable.
now
The
point at which astronomical science has
an acknowledgment, that beyond the utmost reach of anything which can be studied through the agency of the telescope, lie illimitable space and innumerable worlds. arrived
is
This has been forcefully stated by Dr. Pierson in his x
Ps. xxxiii. 6.
THE
54
Many
SPIRIT OF
Infallible Proofs,
such a nature that
The
it is
GOD
and the whole paragraph
here inserted at length
fact of the vast host of stars is a fact of
discovery.
is
of
:
modern
Hipparchus, about a century and a half be-
fore Christ, gave the
number
of stars as 1,022,
and
Ptolemy, in the beginning of the second century of the
We may
Christian era, could find but 1,026.
on a
clear
unaided eye, see only 1,160, or, if we could survey the whole celestial sphere, about 3,000. night, -with the
But when
the telescope began to be pointed to the
heavens, less than three centuries ago, by Galileo, then for the right
first
time
when he made
to
know
that Jeremiah
was
the stars as countless as the sand
When Lord
the sea-shore. its
men began
great mirror to the sky,
lo,
on
Rosse's instrument turned the
number
of visible stars
increased to nearly 400,000,000! and Herschel com-
pares the multitude of them to glittering dust scattered
on the black background of the heavens. When John Herschel, at the foot of the dark continent, resolves the nebula into suns, and Lord Rosse, as with the eye of a " Titan, finds in the cloudy scarf about Orion a gorgeous bed of stars," and the very Milky
Way
itself
proves
to
be simply a grand procession of stars absolutely with-
out
number
how
true is the exclamation of Jeremiah,
600 years before Christ, 2,200 years before Galileo; " The host of heaven cannot be numbered! "* Who taught Jeremiah astronomy? x
jer. xxxiii. 22.
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
All these unnumbered hosts were of the
Lord and
By His
made by
the
Word
His mouth.
the Breath of
Take now. one of
The words
55
Book of
the passages in the
are those of the patriarch himself
Job.
:
Spirit the heavens are garnished;
His hand hath pierced the swift
serpent.*
The meaning
obscure, but light
thrown upon
He
[
is
by the context :
up the sea -with His power, His by understanding He smiteth through Rahab*
That
Then
is
stirreth
And
swept
it
of the passage
is
sea,
a perfect picture, in miniature, of a stormover which the dark clouds hang dismally.
follow the words
the heavens are
a vision of the bringing back of the
It is
garnished.
By His Spirit
:
blue and the light to the heavens, after the sweeping of
a storm ; and in this strange expression, His hand hath pierced the swift serpent, Job borrows one of the East-
ern nature-myths, in illustration of the fact that the
calm which follows the storm symbolically
the
work
in nature
is
persed,
saw
it
Job was a stormupon
suddenly calmed, the clouds dis-
and the heavens garnished with beauty.
reference to the flying serpent ing.
One
*Job xxvi.
is difficult
says that the reference
zodiac; another that 2
13.
and
of the Spirit of God.
in fact, or in imagination, looking out
tossed sea; he
actually
it
is
The
of understand-
to the sign of the
describes the long train of the
Job xxvi.
12.
THE
5^ cloud, as the
OF GOD
SPIRIT
wind of the
Spirit disperses
and drives
it
away; and yet another that the term has reference to the whole arch of heaven, as pierced by the hand of Between these views
God.
but certainly
it is
not possible to decide,
a figure of speech, most probably indi-
it is
cating the driving
away of
the storm-clouds like trail-
ing serpents, as the heavens smile in sunlight after the
storm fectly
is
The main
spent.
the
that
clear
statement
is,
transformation
wrought by the Spirit of God. Another interesting statement
is
however, perof
beauty
found
in
is
the
prophecy of Isaiah concerning the agency of the Spirit in nature
The
:
grass withereth, the flower fadeth; be-
cause the Breath of the Lord bloweth upon declaration
is
at first sight almost staggering.
Spirit of
God comes
nature
easy to understand
that
is
He
comes also as the
He
certainly true.
The
necessity.
health.
east wind,
no more
difficult to believe
wind has
no more
biting,
in
east wind,
to
it is to
see
every zephyr, Ne'er a -verse to thee.
1
Isa. xl. 7.
Yet
it is
it
the breath of
no more north-
Surely Kingsley entered into
Welcome, wild North-easter I
Shame
God.
keen blast of death, and what
when he sang:
Odes
This
That the
brings death as a process, and a
would become of nature ? the spirit of this
it is
fierce blast of
pitiless east
Let there be
;
1
summer zephyr upon
as a genial
but
it.
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
Through the black fir Thunder harsh and Scattering
57
forest
dry, the snowflakes
down
Off the curdled
sky,.
Come; and strong within us Stir the Viking's blood,
Bracing brain and sinew; Blow, thou wind of God.
When the east wind blows, and the flowers are nipped, and the blade of grass if
by the
is
curled and shrivelled almost as
blast of heat, then the Spirit of
God
is
sweep-
and preparing for the springing of in response to the kiss of His gentler wind. In close sequence consider the words ing the ground
life
:
Thou
sendest forth
Thy
Spirit, they are created;
renewest the face of the ground. 1
And Thou
That which follows the death-wind of the His
Spring.
save
The
life-wind.
Nothing
through
first
ever
is
finds
its
to
way
The budding
Winter.
Spirit
Winter; the second
of
is
is
Spring life
and
upon the sod in Spring-time are of the cold east wind that swept the hills and
the flowers that blossom
the result
These are not mere
the valleys during Winter days. figures of speech.
The
cold and icy
the direction of the Spirit of kisses earth,
and makes
it
wind blows under
God and ;
the
smile in flowers,
wind which is
the mes-
senger of the self-same Spirit.
The prophecy 1
Ps. civ. 30.
of Ezekiel opens with a magnificent
THE
58
piece of imagery, of sition is
which no
here attempted.
final
There
To
nor exhaustive expo-
however, no more
is,
God
to be
found in the
Ezekiel, the bard
and prophet,
gorgeous vision of the glory of
whole of His Book.
GOD
SPIRIT OF
was granted a vision of that glory in the great chariot of Divine movement and life. The vision emthere
braced the creatures of the earth, and the appearances of the heavens. seen.
Beryl
sapphire
is
colours of earth and of heaven were
and green as earth and sea as of the highest heavens and over the
translucent
blue,
amber glory
Man
The is
;
;
in that vision
was the appearance
occupying the highest position.
turned and went, and the wings that beat the
symbolic of the presence of
God
as of a
The wheels
in every
air,
that
were
form of nature.
Whithersoever the Spirit was
to go, they went; thither and the wheels were lifted up be-
was
the Spirit to go:
side
them; for the Spirit of
life
was
Ezekiel was looking at God, so far as
upon Him.
He was
it.
man may
1
gaze
beholding the vehicle of the Divine
movement, and found that manifest
in the wheels.
Whether
it
it
takes earth and heaven to
be in the machinery, the pro-
cession, the regular motion of earthly things, or whether it
be in the unapproachable and unexplainable light and
splendour of the upper world,
God
is
everywhere.
Earth's living creatures and heaven's splendours
by the sis 1
Spirit of
God.
This
is
a most inadequate analy-
of the vision of that chapter, but Ezek.
\,
20 (margin).
move
it is
sufficient to in-
THE
SPIRIT IN CREATION
dicate the central truth thereof
that every
of the wheels of nature, every beat of the ted thing,
is
59
movement
wing
of crea-
by the impulse and energy of the Spirit of
life.
From
the study of these passages
as by the
power
of the Spirit cosmos
it is
evident that,
was produced out
of chaos, so by the ever present and active power of the
cosmos
Spirit in the processes of nature
There
is
is
maintained.
more phase of this subject suggested Paul For the earnest expectation of the
yet one
by the apostle
:
creation waiteth for the revealing of the sons of God.
For
1 the creation
was subjected
will, but by reason of
to vanity,
Him Who
not of
subjected
it,
that the creation itself also shall be delivered
its
own
in hope
from
the
bondage of corruption? Paul had no narrow concepHe saw the regenerative tion of his Master's work.
work
of Jesus, as administered by the Spirit, passing
out, not merely into
human
lives,
but into the whole cre-
ation.
We aileth
We
know
whole creation groaneth and trav3 in pain together until now. that the
ourselves groan within ourselves*
The
Himself maketh intercession for us with 5 which cannot be uttered. groanings Spirit
1 The change from creature of the Authorized to creation of the Revised is important. The former word may suggest an individual, the latter embraces all created things. s B Rom. viii. 19-21. * Rom. viii. 22. * Rota. viii. 23. Rom. *
viu.
f 26.
THE
60
A trinity of agony and travailing
GOD
SPIRIT OF is
nature groaning
here revealed,
in pain; the child of
God groaning and
waiting for deliverance ; and, most wonderful of
God making
Spirit of
the
all,
intercession with groanings
which
cannot be uttered. i
Thus tion,
it is
and
all
declared that the Spirit
is
present in crea-
through creation as a regenerative Force;
and ere the work of the Cross of Christ be completed on this planet, every inch of it will be renewed. The whole creation that to-day groaneth
and
travaileth in pain to-
gether will feel the balm, the healing, and the blessing
of the work of Christ. alize
Trees and flowers will again rewhat they also in some sense have lost by the fall
of man.
All the trees of the
-field
shall clap their hands.
Instead of the thorn shall come up. the stead of the brier shall shall be to the
come up
fir tree,
and
the myrtle tree:
in-
and
it
Lord for a name. The Spirit Who and moves through all na1
created, preserves, energizes,
an intercessory Force as a Force administering, by processes which are beyond analysis, the great work of the Christ Himself and this ministry ture, is in nature as
;
removal of the curse from nature,
will eventuate in the
and
its
consequent renewal, glorious and perfect.
From
these seven scriptures certain deductions
may
be made.
The Holy tion. 1
He
Spirit
is first
Isa. lv. 12, 13.
is
the Director of
all
order in crea-
seen brooding over the primal chaos,
THE
61
SPIRIT IN CREATION
and producing order. He is for evermore the Intelligence and Force of all mathematical precision in nature. The old words are still true: Seedtime and harvest, and summer and winter, and day and not cease. 1 These processions follow with
and cold and night shall
heat,
infinite precision,
direction of the
and mathematical
Holy
Spirit of
fortuitous accident that
God.
by the by no mere
regularity, It is
morning succeeds
upon night, and that day sinks and nestles into the bosom of darkness. These things follow because there is an everpresent Spirit of intelligence, the Spirit of the living
God, at work to the utmost bound of created things.
The Holy
Spirit
is
He
the Creator of beauty.
is re-
vealed in the garnishing of the heavens, in the blue of day, and in the darkness of night with
the splen-
all
dours of stars scattered in profusion across
it.
All
these are beautiful, and they appeal to the beautiful in
man
;
for they were born of God, as
Not only
is this
also of the
grass.
form of every
The
dome of
man is
leaf
and flower and
the dew-drop are alike the outworking of the the Spirit of God.
of the Spirit, in the grace of transformed
dence of the
Spirit's
power.
So
flowers of the viii.
22.
field.
Man, born
life
gives evi-
also, in different de-
gree and kind, but none the less certainly,
Gen.
spire of
stately sweep of the sea and the delicate
wisdom and energy of
1
born of God.
true of the beauty which overawes, but
is it
with the
Put them under microscopic
test,
THE
62
OF GOD
SPIRIT
and beauty and precision and He regularity reveal the working of the Spirit of God.
and
their exquisiteness
in nature not only directs the order, but creates the
varied and varying beauty.
Again, the Spirit
He
death
the Breath of renewal.
is
ever leads to
life.
Son of God,
in the death of the
through the eternal Spirit blemish unto God. 1
Him
in
That
He
Through
fact is revealed
for
it
is
even
written that
offered Himself without
The Winter wind
His dying was but the preface
that beat to the
upon
Summer
wind of Pentecost. These things are
to be seen
cause the self-same Spirit
works
also in generation.
everywhere in nature be-
Who
works
This
in regeneration
Spirit, the
Breath of
renewal through death, comes with manifold glory in the Spring, bringing a renewal of the earth.
Autumn's
cold precedes Spring. cold.
new
Through
fire
and cold the
fire
Winter's
precedes Winter's
Spirit ever
moves
to
and the new forms of beauty, manifold and wondrous, with which the face of the earth is renewed life;
are His.
To
those
who
live
and walk
in the Spirit, all creation
No man can find God through man may find nature through God.
seen to be of God.
is
nature; but every If
man
begin with nature, he cannot climb from
God but ;
if
he begin with God, he
mystic region, wherein 1
Heh.
ix.
14.
lies
may
it
to
enter into the
true appreciation of the glo-
THE ries
SPIRIT IN CREATION
and beauties of nature.
No man
63
has ever yet seen
or understood the beauty of the daisy, save as he has seen that the floweret, blossoming and blooming to-day,
work human charactransforming ter and life. The Spirit of God brooded over the chaos and brought forth the cosmos. The Spirit of God has, to be trodden underfoot to-morrow, is a part of the
of the same Spirit which
is
for evermore, been brooding over nature; and every form of beauty, and every form of order, and every manifestation of
of Himself. lives
renewal are parts of the Divine expression All creation is of God, to the man who
and walks with Him. One Spirit His the platted thorn with bleeding brows Rules universal nature! Not a -flower
Who
wore
But shows some touch, in freckle, streak, or stain, Of His unrivall'd pencil. He inspires Their balmy odours, and imparts their hues, And bathes their eyes with nectar; and includes, In grains as cotmtless as the sea-side sands, The forms with which He sprinkles all the earth. Happy who walks with Him, whom what he finds
Of
flavour or of scent in fruit or flower, vie^vs of beautiful or grand
Or what he
In nature, from the broad majestic oak To the green blade that twinkles in the sun, Prompts with remembrance of a presenf God.
V THE SPIRIT IN RELATION TO UNFALLEN MAN
A TOO
constant contemplation of
man
as he
is,
has
resulted in failure to appreciate his original con-
Man
dition.
to-day, even at his best, does not realize
The whole
the full Divine intention.
from the
sin of the past
limitation
;
is
race
to be
is
suffering
found every-
where yet man has endeavoured to build up out of the broken fragments of the Divine ideal, an ideal for him;
self.
In the answer to the Psalmist's question,
What
And
is
man, that Thou art mindful of him?
the son of man, that
the terms in which limitation, but those
Divine
man
is
Thou
visitest
him? 1
spoken of are not those of
which reveal the perfection of the
.ideal. <
For Thou
And
hast
made him
of Ps.
little
lower than God,
crownest him with glory and honour.
Thou madest him
1
but
to
have dominion over the works
Thy hands;
viii.
4-6.
64
THE
TO UNFALLEN MAN
SPIRIT IN RELATION
Thou
hast put
all
65
under his feet: things *
All sheep and oxen, Yea, and the beasts of the
The fowl
of the
air,
and
field;
the fish of the sea,
Whatsoever passeth through the paths of the seas. 1 That picture is not fulfilled in the experience of any
human being in the present times. There is little about man to suggest that he is but little lower than God of the crowning with glory and honour that the
little
Psalmist speaks of and ;
man
The animal
his dominion.
has in a large measure lost creation
but by far the greater part of
and the authority of man. the
Hebrews claims a
man
in the
it is
The
tamed
is
in part;
outside the dominion
writer of the Letter to
partial fulfilment of that ideal of
He
Person of Jesus Christ.
mate fulfilment of the whole
claims the ulti-
ideal in the
Person and
through the work of Christ ; but he shows that the larger After quoting the Psalm, fulfilment waits for a while. he proceeds to say subjected
made a
to
little
:
But noiv we
But
Him.
zve behold
our.
He
crowned
hath been
even Jesus, because zvith glory
and hon-
declares that in the Person of Christ,
the notes of ideal
made a
Him Who
lozver than the angels,
of the suffering of death 11
see not yet all things
manhood have been
two of
realized:
first,
lower than the angels; secondly, crowned with glory and honour. But he has already said, We little
see not yet
^s.
viii.
all
things subjected to Plim
7, 8.
2
Heb.
ii.
8, 9.
much
lies in
the
THE
66
future for fulfilment
;
SPIRIT OF
GOD
but this claiming of the fulfilment
of the ideal of the Psalm in the Person of Christ suggests a line of consideration which
low.
God's ideal
God
bears to that
it is
profitable to fol-
Man and the relation the Spirit of Man is discovered by a study of the
Person of Christ.
The
present enquiry, then, bears
of the Spirit in the
The
consideration
upon the ministry of unfallen and ideal man.
life
Adam and Jesus. The first is only, as
reveals the essential glory of the creation of
The
man. there
it
life
no
The
or duration. fect
man and
Adam
of
therefore
is
two examples valuable in one respect
necessarily limited to
is
the
a study of the
is
not chronicled in detail ; and
knowledge of its character existing between God's per-
certain
relation
Holy
Spirit can only be understood
by
of Jesus.
life
There are two scriptures which lead into the very heart of the study.
Many
persons Have a great difficulty about the second
account of creation as given in the
Book
of Genesis. 1
After the apparent completion of the story, at the close of the
first
chapter, there
is
and a casual observer may
a repetition in the second imagine that there is not ;
As a
merely repetition, but contradiction. fact there is none.
of the
first;
it
is
The second
Gen.
ii.
7.
is
the complement
the unfolding of a certain aspect of
creation about which nothing 1
story
matter of
was declared
in the first.
THE
That reveals three i.
TO UNFALLEN MAN
SPIRIT IN RELATION
That man was a
facts
67
:
result of counsel in the
Godhead
:
Let us make man. 1
That he was created
z
image of God. That he was given dominion over a previous
ii.
iii.
in the
creation.
In the subsequent story there
Man
nature.
is
now shown
is
an unfolding of
as uniting in his
own
his
per-
son the material with the spiritual, the earth with the heavens, the things that perish and pass with the things
God made man
that abide for ever.
earth
a material basis
breath of
of the dust of the
and breathed
into
him
the
thus creating a spiritual being. 'Through
lives,
by God, the conscious side of man's naand he became a living soul*
that inbreathing
ture
was
The
born,
dust which
was of the earth was devoid of
Man's power
consciousness.
to enter into his
self-
new
en-
vironment, his power to submit to the government un-
der which he was placed, his power to enter into the
new
companionship, which completed the possibilities of his being all these were the result of the inbreathing of
by God. Man is not man, apart from and ministry sustaining power of the Spirit of
the Breath of lives
the direct
God.
Everything that
his being
man and an Gen.
i.
26.
is,
in the essential facts of
everything which differentiates between a
animal
breathing, whereby 1
man
2
Gen.
is
due to
this peculiar
man became i.
27.
3
Gen.
form of
a conscious soul. ii.
7.
in-
THE
68
OF GOD
SPIRIT
In the illumination of the Breath of God
man
entered
The Garden had been
upon a perfect environment.
planted by God; the earth had been created by God.
Everything that surrounded man, in the moment of his generation, had been prepared by Divine wisdom and This being amid the Garden
infinite tenderness.
ing upon the glory of
its trees, its
plants, its flowers,
and
life, comprehending and understanding the man and in his powers of comprehension he
varied
all its
whole
is
;
distinguished from
is
look-
all
lower forms of being, and
therein lies his chief glory.
He
entered thus into the
beauty and the glory of his environment, by virtue of the fact that there had been breathed into him the Breath of
He was
lives.
Him was
In
The
first
Word
and the
meaning of all life.
from
different
came
life;
light.
Breath of
ment of
But
it
life
anywhere
There was
lives,
He
knows God.
it. 1
is
In
life in
John
i.
4.
is
the Centre and
else; in
knew Him.
life
life
be-
life in
the
man
the
inbreathed to
first
man
man
the plant, and
God
which lay the elelooked back into
No
lower form of
In every flower which decks the sod,
present the touch of all life
that the living
is
also suggests that in
In man, creation
light.
1
the light of men.'
bestowed a life in
the face of God, and
there
was
this statement
lower animals; but when
life
life
of God, the eternal Christ,
Source of
was
the offspring of God.
God but no ;
there are present the
flower
knows
power and energy of
THE God
SPIRIT IN RELATION
Him man
;
became
life
light, o
consciousness,
it.
In
knowingness.
created to look back into the face of God, and
know Him,
some measure the mys-
to understand in
tery of His being.
Man
entered into the perfect en-
vironment of the Garden, knew
God
discovered
in
it,
it,
vironment ;
it
appreciated
it,
and
because there had been inbreathed
him the Breath of lives. Not only was this inbreathing of
to
69
their being in
but apart from man, none are conscious of
Man was to
move and have
things live and
all
;
TO UNFALLEN MAN
light
upon
his en-
was, moreover, understanding for his oc-
He was to have dominion over the lower anicupation. mals, to dress and to keep the Garden. He was able to through the inbreathing of the Spirit of life. The energy and the light for wise dominion were the do
this
energy and the light of God.
The guidance
necessary
for the further development of the wonderful creation
of the earth was provided by the inbreathing of that self-same Spirit.
Man
entered not only
perfect and
perfect government.
man
1
is
upon perfect environment, with but he also came under
sufficient occupation,
The Lord God commanded
the
the statement which marks the Divine sover-
Man
understood and obeyed the law in the energy of that inbreathing of the Breath of life. Not only did he enter into environment, occupation,
eignty.
and government, but also into companionship. 1
Gen.
ii.
16.
God
THE
70
SPIRIT OF
GOD
He entered into that
made woman
to
new
which created and conditioned the whole
relation
social
be his companion.
human
range of
Breath of
the
life in
When man
lives.
V
is
power of
that
same
thus viewed from the
standpoint of original intention as seen in the picture of
Edenic beauty and power, is
spiritual
no
and the
it is
evident that the natural
and that there
spiritual is natural,
single aspect of
human
life
which
is
is
not under the
government of the inspiring Spirit of God.
Every part
of man, the fact of his being, his power to touch his en-
vironment with appreciation, his power to follow a daily occupation, his power to submit to government, his
power of
made
social relationship
and companionship
possible of highest realization
breathing of God, the
work
all
are
by the great
in-
of the Spirit,
whereby man
becomes a living soul. 1 These are some of the suggestions of the glory of man, gathered from the creation story. They are no
more than suggestions, because the
story of sin follows
quickly thereupon.
Passing over the intervening centuries, as contributing no perfect example of man, the daybreak of the race
was reached
He was life.
in the advent of the second
In
Him
zuas life;
and the
life
was
men. 1
That
is
not only a declaration that
light in
men
it
also claims that the life
1
Gen.
Man,
the final and perfect example of ideal
ii.
;
2
7.
John
i.
4.
Jesus.
human
the light of life
which
becomes
is
light in
THE
SPIRIT IN RELATION
man had
most perfect outshining
its
character of Christ.
Word
In
TO UNFALLEN MAN
Him was
;
and His
To know, what human life
men.
Person and
be said of the Incarnate
may
It life
in the
71
life
is.
was the
light of
He must be known.
To have seen Him as the disciples saw Him, was to have seen the perfection of human life in every one of its asIn His physical appearance, in His mental
pects.
in
His
spiritual nature,
the glory of ideal
The
He was
life,
a perfect unveiling of
Manhood.
art of the great masters
seems to have been dom-
inated by a conception of the physical appearance of
Jesus which was utterly
false.
is
represented as
Perhaps Hoffmann alone
wan, emaciated.
pale, thin,
He
has discovered the glory of the beautiful Christ, perfect in
form and comeliness, perfect in beauty. Truly it is Him that His visage was so marred more
written of
than
man,
any
1
but
it
was
the
beauty, not of ugliness nor decrepitude.
anguish were evident upon His
sorrow ploughed deeply into ruler
met Him,
fell
before
it;
face,
but
Him, and
marring of The marks of
and the
lines of
when the young Good Master,*
said
drawn from him by an overwhelming sense of the beauty and the majesty of
the exclamation was most probably
the appearance of Christ.
Before the surging sorrows
of His public ministry rolled over His heart, there
very
little
lovely 1
Isa.
room
Man lii.
for doubt that
He was the most perfectly
the world had ever gazed upon.
14.
'Mark
x. 17.
is
Any
other
THE
72
SPIRIT OF G.OD
conception of Christ dishonours Him. life,
and
Him
in
the life
know, by looking
was
In
light; so that
at the Christ, all the beauty
Him was men might and
all
the
glory of the Divine ideal.
This applies also to His mental culture.
stand her to sinful one,
who
attempted to grasp her inner teaching
lines of
synagogue said of
knoweth
sinless
nature, would underan extent which must be impossible for the
merely on the
Nazareth,
A
communion with
soul, living in
ordinary study.
Christ,
when,
The men
after
of the
absence from
He returned and talked with them: How Man letters, having never learned?* The
this
emphasis of their question
lay,
not upon the spiritual
teaching of Christ, but upon the illustrations He used, and upon His evident acquaintance with what was then spoken of as learning. It was not that they were over-
whelmed by a sense of His spiritual insight for, then as now, men knew that spiritual insight often belonged to those who had no learning. They were impressed by ;
the beauty of His expression, the wealth of His illustration,
and His evident
familiarity with those things, to
become acquainted with which, men gave themselves up The mind of Christ was reto long courses of study. fined, cultured,
and beautiful
not through the ordinary
process by which limitation and sin endeavour to over-
come
their deficiencies, but
fect ideal,
the Spirit
by a pure response to a perand by the inspiring touch and revelation of of God.
i
1
John
vii.
15.
THE
SPIRIT IN RELATION
The
relation
TO UNFALLEN MAN
which existed between
this perfect
73
Man
of the Gospels and the Spirit, was of the closest. Christ's very existence as a
lous
Man was
due to the miracu-
power of the Holy Spirit. The whole of His perand body, was the creation of the
fect Being, spirit, soul,
Spirit of
God.
Therefore, every action of that body,
body to the mind, and of the mind the inter-relations of His complex na-
every relation of the to the spirit, all ture,
were balanced within the
Power
spiritual
that cre-
ated them, and were conditioned for evermore by the
and energy of that Power. As Christ passed through childhood and the earlier years of His life, and into those of His mature manhood,
suggestions, impulses,
were directed by the Spirit of God. Luke, writing of the time when He went down with His parents from the
all
presentation in the Temple, declares that
He advanced in
and in favour with God and men. 1 Afterwards, in the course of His public ministry, Jesus
wisdom and
said,
Which
stature,
of
you by being anxious can add one
unto his stature? teaching to His
cubit
Applying the philosophy of His
own
growth, the fact
is
clear that
physical growth was the outcome of submission
His
to Di-
vine law, revealed by the inspiration of the Spirit.
It
He
went down from the Temple with His parents, and was subject to them. That subjection being over, He came forth into public ministry, is
also chronicled that
and with scathing, against the 1
Luke
ii.
scorching
men who excused 2
52.
Matt.
vi. 27.
denunciation
testified
themselves from caring
THE
74
SPIRIT OF
GOD
for the needs of their parents,
goods were Corban, or
gifts
on the plea that their devoted to God. He was
angry with them because their action was contrary to Divine law. Subjection to His parents on His part had been a perpetual answer to a perpetual law, written in
His heart by the finger of the passed through His boyhood.
How
perfectly
He was
Spirit of
He
God, as
devoted to the law of
God
as
had been given to His people He studied it, meditated in it, and became so familiar with it, that when it
!
His public ministry began,
He knew
In obedience to that law
to teach.
what
exactly
He went up
it
had
to
His
Jewish confirmation at the age of twelve, and took His place
among
the doctors, not, as
it is
so often represent-
ed, as a rude, precocious boy, trying to puzzle old men,
but as a sweet boy-disciple, answering their questions
with a lucidity which astonished them, and asking them,
own pure mind, which were amazing, coming from One so out of the working of His
When He returned to His reputed
father's
Nazareth, craft,
youthful.
He took up the tools
and mastered
Through long years He abode in that shop, the will of God, and
questions
their
of
use.
working out
revealing in every piece of carpen-
and beauty and force of the inspiring by Whom He was created and for evermore sus-
try the design Spirit;
tained.
As
He 1
the
week drew
to a close,
went as His custom was 1
Luke
iv.
16.
and the Sabbath came,
to the place of prayer, to
THE
SPIRIT IN RELATION
worship
God among His
TO UNFALLEN MAN
people, with
75
His face toward
Jerusalem.
All His
in both its earlier years
life,
and maturer
manhood, was conditioned in and by the Spirit, to Whose guidance and direction He never gave one single moment's slight.
Turning from these earlier years to the account of His public ministry, Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John give the story of His anointing with the Spirit for the duties of that ministry.
Immediately after the Anoint-
ing came the Temptation. alike chronicle the fact that
by the Spirit of God.
tation
over,
He
entered
Matthew, Mark, and Luke
He was taken to that TempWhen the Temptation was
upon the years spent for the most part Luke declares that
before the gaze of the multitudes.
He went to that ministry in the power of the
He
Spirit.
wrought miracles during those three years; and in his sermon in the house of Cornelius, Peter declared that these also were performed through the presence with
Him
of the Holy Spirit: Jesus of Nazareth,
God
anointed
Who
Him
how
that
with the Holy Spirit and with
went about doing good, and healing
all power: that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with
Him. 1
When at last the years of public ministry were ended, He went to the exodus of the Cross, He accomplished that in the same power, for He through the eterand
nal Spirit offered Himself without blemish unto God. 2 1
Acts x. 38.
*
Heb.
ix.
14.
THE
76
GOD
SPIRIT OF
He
After the sojourn in the shades of darkness
rose
power and energy Between His resurrection and ascension
again, as Peter declared, through the
of the Spirit.
He
1
sojourned for a while
ring those days
them
He
among His and
Luke
Spirit, as
Holy
ing statements
of
treatise I
O
and du-
;
taught them, organized them, gave
their definite instructions,
through the
disciples
his
second
this
He
also did
declared in the open-
treatise:
The former
that Jesus made, Theophilus, concerning began both to do and to teach, until the day in which He was received up, after that He had given commandall
ment through the Holy He had chosen.*
The
Spirit unto the apostles
Man
story of the perfect
years ago
is
the story of a
spired and energized by the
of nineteen hundred
human Holy
whom
life,
perpetually in-
Spirit of
God.
From
and ministry, on
to through growth, testing, death and resurrection and the organizing of the apostblate, the whole is a perpetual and unbroken harmony birth,
a harmony created by the moving of the Wind, the Spirit of
God, upon the instrument of a perfect human
being.
From
the glimpse of glory in the
evident that creation
was of the
first
creation,
Spirit;
it
was
and that the
power by which man enters into a perfect environment and occupation, and submits to a perfect government, and continues in the joy of a perfect companionship, is 1
1
Pet.
iii.
18.
2
Acts
i.
i, 2.
THE the
SPIRIT IN RELATION
power of the Breath of
by the unfolding of the
TO UNFALLEN MAN This
lives.
is finally
Every man's being,
in all its
by the creative energy of the
The
Naz-
Christ
is,
complex wonders,
Holy
exists
Spirit.
expressions often used by Paul, the natural
and the
spiritual
He
esis.
proved
ideal in the life of Jesus of
areth. To know, then, what perfect humanity must be known.
77
man, were constantly placed
man
in antith-
taught that the natural cannot comprehend
the spiritual.
A
theologian's expressions
must be un-
derstood in the sense in which he uses them, before his
theology can be understood as of
any other theologian.
;
and
this is as true of
Whenever he spoke
natural man, he intended to refer to resulting
from the
sin of the race
;
Paul
of the
man in the condition and
therefore, in the
higher -heights of vision, and in the larger, truer outlook
upon humanity, he spoke on such natural, but of the unnatural.
occasions, not of the
Sin
is
not natural to
Men are shapen in iniquity, and go astray as soon as they be born, speaking lies; 1 but the reason for this is that something unnatural has been introduced, man.
The
which has poisoned every successive generation.
work of
the natural
Man
Jesus
things to the spiritual, which
is
is
to restore unnatural
the truly natural.
man has discovered no man understands
the possibilities of his
has come to see that
all
1
Ps.
li.
5, Iviii. 3.
the glory of his
own
own
life,
he has within himself
is
No
being,
until
he
of God,
THE
78
GOD
SPIRIT OF
which has no right to be there, and for the putting away of which the perfect One went into the darkness of His Passion-baptism. save the taint of
The made
full
sin,
and proper use of
the powers of
all
man
is
Holy Spirit; and physical within that realm. Here it is necessary to
in the energy of the
health lies
safeguard the position held, even at the cost of repetition.
The
subject of which this chapter treats
Under
of ideal man. life,
sickness
is
a veritable ministry of
only for the sake of those
who
not
infinite love,
suffer, but of others,
through their suffering learn more of
who
that
is
the present order of disciplinary
God
;
but the
who man
abides in the will of God, obeys the law of God,
trusts himself wholly to the inspiration of the Spirit of
man
touch higher physical conditions than are possible to him apart from such living. That
God, that
man
cannot be compared with another man, because
there are in
will
many
different sets of laws to be considered
any such comparisons but he ;
himself, and, doing this, that, abiding within the
it
may
may
be compared with
assuredly be declared
realm of the Divine law, his
life
submitted to the law of the Divine Spirit, he will touch,
by such submission and abiding, a higher realm of physical force and power than by any other law of life in which
So
it is
possible for
him
to live.
also in the mental sphere.
pure and beautiful in
poetry,' art,
Everything that music, and science
the direct outcome of the revealing Spirit of God.
is is
Men
THE
SPIRIT IN RELATION
TO UNFALLEN MAN
79
sometimes affirm that Shakespeare was inspired; and
by no means in the same sense in which but he was inspired nevertheless, and that
they are right, the Bible
by the
is
;
Holy
Spirit of
God.
All pure genius
is
inspired
not in the same degree as the Scriptures, because not for the
same purpose, but by the same Person.
All the
heights of vision granted to the strong, pure poet, are
Wordsworth, for
created for his seeing.
cause he was pure in heart, saw God. nificence that
is
pure
is
instance, be-
All mental
mag-
an inspiration of the Spirit of
There may be a prostitution of a Divine gift in this realm also; and a man upon whom God has bestowed the gift of vision, may abuse that gift, and deGod.
base
it
whether is
to the purposes of hell.
The power
to see,
be exercised in poetry, art, music, or research, not born of evil, but is the child of heaven, the flamit
ing, glorious proof of the touch of the Spirit of
God
upon the mind of man.
man
redeemed, regenerated, and wholly possessed by the Spirit, that man has the fullest entrance
Given a
into all true
should be realized
The Divine
spiritual,
by
Spirit of
life.
ideal for
and that his
man
is
that he
spirituality should
be
the surcharging of his whole being with the
God.
That
Spirit will turn. all the forces of
his life into the one direction of true worship.
He
will
employ every power for that purpose for which it was created, and enable a man to worship in the beauty of In work and rest, through pathos holiness perpetually.
8o
*
THE
SPIRIT
OF GOD
and humour, by laughter and
tears,
will
be shown,
through the Spirit, the glories of creation and thus God will be glorified in the full life of man. ;
How
far even Christian people are as yet
realization of this ideal!
working; and
Toward
this
at the last there shall not be
two men out of
all
from the
the Spirit
is
merely the
the years as examples of the ideal,
but a regenerated humanity, brought into the presence of
God by
the
work
of the Saviour and of the Spirit, with-
out spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
BOOK III THE
SPIRIT PRIOR
TO PENTECOST
Through storm and sun the age draws on When heaven and earth shall meet, For the Lord has said that glorious He will make the place of His feet. And the grass may die on the summer hills, The flower fade by the river, But our God is the same through endless years, And His word shall stand for ever.
O
What
of the night, Set to mark the
The wind blows
watchman, of day? from the morning
dawn
fair
star,
And Dark As
And
the shadows flee away. are the vales, but the mountains
glow
the light its splendour flings, the Sun of Righteousness comes up
With
healing in His wings.
Shine on, shine on,
O
blessed Sun,
the round of heaven, Till the darkest vale and the farthest isle
Through Full to
all
Thy
light are given
and the wilderness Sharon's plain shall be, the love of the Lord shall fill the earth the waters fill the sea.
Till the desert
As
And As
Sunday Afternoon Verses. (W. ROBERTSON NICOLL)
82
VI
THE WORK OF THE SPIRIT FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH an act of wilful
BYfrom
rebellion
man
distanced himself
God, and was alienated from the
The grace of
life
of God. 1
the Divine heart immediately announced a
reconciliation.
No sooner was
sin
committed than there
was declared the purpose of grace and love, not in detail and in fulness, but in a promise that came to be understood more fully as the ages rolled.
Speaking to the enemy, God said: It shall bruise thy head, and thou
His heel 2 Necessarily the process of that reconciliation have been slow, and even yet are not ful-
shall bruise
The Divine
ly
and
its
utterance the actual accomplishment of
finally accomplished.
love outran in its
purposes.
All the arrangements of the old dispensation for the ap-
proach of
upon
man
to
of bulls
God by way
of sacrifice were based
coming Jesus Christ. The blood and of goats and the ashes of a heifer never sacrifice of
the
took sin away ; but they did help men, amid the twilight 1
Eph.
iv. 18.
*
Gen.
iii.
15.
83
THE
84
OF GOD
SPIRIT
which they lived and worshipped, to understand the principle of sacrifice, without which there could be no in
remission of sins.
In the plan of God, the
Lamb
slain
was the way of reconciliation and although the Son of His love could not be manifested until the fulness of the ;
time,
1
yet for the sake of man, and in the purpose of
God, the
Lamb was
slain
from the foundation of the
ivorld?
The istry is
glorious announcement of
contained in the words,
ciling the zvorld unto
New
3
Himself; but
pose, long before the historical fact
upon which the
Testament min-
God was in
Christ recon-
He was
so in pur-
was accomplished,
larger, fuller dispensation should de-
pend.
The Fatherhood of Jesus.
He
of
God was
illuminated
it
a fact before the coming
for men, so that since
coming they have understood Though men had wandered and
it
as
never
His
before.
lost their sense of re-
God was ever their Father, and His presence Even in those old days, before the full light of the glory of God had shone upon man's pathway in the face of the Christ, there were souls who discovered
lationship, their
home.
homed The same law of procedure is discoverable also with reference to the work of the Holy Spirit. The whole being of man was conditioned in the energy and the wisdom of that Spirit. The knowledge the fact of the Fatherhood, and passed their days
God.
in
1
Gal. iv. 4.
2
Rev.
xiii. 8.
3
2 Cor. v. 19.
THE
SPIRIT
of this fact
FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH
man had
Spirit, resisted,
human
by reason of his sin and the was separated from the actualities of
From
life.
85
lost
the
;
moment
of His ministry began, which
of the Fall a
was
new form
partial, occasional,
special, and prophetic of the great dispensation to be ushered in, when the true light of sacrifice had made
plain the
way
for the clearer apprehension of Father-
hood.
The
present age
is
pre-eminently the dispensation of
Holy Spirit, in which He has a specific work, differing from that of preceding ages. This work is based
the
upon the work of Christ, and was impossible had finished that work and ascended on high. It
until
He
must, however, be remembered that in the past the
Spirit
had not a constant ministry. The differences benow are most clearly defined. Until
tween then and
and ascension of Christ, not spoken of as creating a Church by His
after the death, resurrection, the Spirit
own
is
abiding indwelling.
Neither
He
is
spoken of as
the one direct and only Administrator of the affairs of
such a body. Sanctifier.
found
And
yet again,
He
is
not spoken of as a
All the other aspects of the Spirit's
not continually and
perpetually,
work
are
and in an
abiding sense, as they are to-day, but as special occasions
demanded.
There
is
also this important distinction
between the
and new dispensations. In the old, the Spirit came upon and filled men for specific work without reference old,
THE
86
SPIRIT OF
GOD
In the new, after the accomplishment of the w.ork of the Cross, this is never so. His filling for to character.
upon His application of the
service always depends
work of the Saviour
for cleansing and holiness.
Certain phrases of Old Testament Scripture reveal
both the methods and character of the Spirit's work during those long centuries.
He
is
spoken of as coming upon men, as coming
mightily upon men, as abiding in men, and as certain
men
filling
for specific work.
There may be a great many subdivisions of the eighty-eight passages in which the Holy Spirit is dimentioned in the Old Testament;
rectly
that
It is
He came is it
again, nation.
not stated
but, broadly
marked by these four that He came upon, nor
stated, the method of the Spirit
statements.
1
is
mightily upon the whole nation; nor,
He
affirmed that
In that fact
lies
abode in or
filled
the whole
the difference between the old
dispensation and the new. At Pentecost the Spirit came upon all, He came mightily upon all, He came to abide in all, He came to fill all. There may be many
members of the Church of Jesus Christ who have not realized in their own experience all this fourfold work of the Spirit; but that of the
economy
is
not to be laid to the charge
of grace, but rather to the failure of such
persons to realize the purpose of God.
^r. Elder Gumming, in his book Through the Eternal Spirit has compiled a catena of passages in which the Holy Spirit is directly mentioned in the Bible. In the Old Testament there are eighty-eight passages in
all.
THE SPIRIT FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH
87
The Spirit fell upon Gideon. He had in his own home and family broken down the altar of Baal, in order that he might make a protest against idolatry and after ;
he had done
this the Spirit
came upon him.
1
Benjamin and 2 Judah. Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, and he spoke words which convinced David of the loyalty of
David was doubtful as
to the loyalty of
these tribes.
Zechariah, the son of Jehoiada the priest,
was
to protest against idolatry in the holy places
up
order that he might do
it,
the Spirit of
;
raised
and, in
God came upon
him. 3
Upon these three men the ent reasons:
upon
Spirit
Gideon, after
came for very
differ-
he had broken down
the altar of Baal, and in order that he might become the leader of the people to victory;
in
upon Amasai,
order that the loyalty of two tribes might be believed by the king; upon Zechariah, in order that he might utter a protest against idolatry.
The same thought lies within each the Spirit came upon them. The Hebrew word literally means that the Spirit clothed fell
Himself with them
not that the Spirit
upon them as an anointing, but the
of them, passed into them, and
ments through which
He accomplished
thought conveyed to the
Spirit took hold
made them
the instru-
His work.
The
mind of the Hebrew reader
is,
that the Spirit clothed Himself with Gideon, the Spirit
clothed Himself with Amasai, the Spirit clothed Himself x
judg.
vi. 34.
a
i
Chron.
xii.
18.
3
s Chron. xxiv. 20.
'
THE
88
Here
with Zechariah.
GOD
SPIRIT OF there
a revelation of one of
is
the methods of the Spirit under that dispensation.
For
the doing of a special work, for the delivery of a special
message, for the announcement of the immediate pur-
pose of God, the Spirit clothed Himself with a man, and the Divine energy moved out in speech and in deed ; so that through the
man was known
and
the will of God,
These are three instances out
seen the power of God.
many which men became the clothing of the Spirit. The distinction must be observed it was not that these
of
in
:
men were
clothed with the Spirit, but that the Spirit
clothed Himself with them for the doing of specific
work.
Take the second thought. The Spirit of God came 1 Saul mightily upon Samson, and he slew a lion. joined a
company of
came mightily upon him, and he prophesied* poured the anointing
God
the prophets; the Spirit; of
oil
Samuel
upon David, and the
came mightily upon him. 3 In these cases an entirely
different
word
is
Spirit
used.
It
not said that the Spirit clothed Himself with them,
is
but that the Spirit came upon them ; and the thought that of forcing forward, or pushing.
ing of the word
is,
The
literal
is
mean-
that the Spirit attacked these
men,
came upon them with compulsion, forced them forward Under the compulsion of the to a certain activity. Spirit, 1
Samson slew the
Judg. xiv.
6.
2
i
Sam.
lion,
x. 10.
Saul joined the prophets 3
i
Sam.
xvi.
13,,
THE
SPIRIT
FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH
89
and uttered words of prophecy, and David went forward to the is
work of governing
How
the people.
different
the slaying of a
the manifestation of the power!
and the governing each case the action was under the
lion, the uttering of the truth of God,
of the people
;
impulse of the
but in
same
Spirit.
There are two passages
in the
Old Testament where
said that the Spirit dwelt in men.
it is
Pharaoh said
that in Joseph there dwelt the Spirit of God,
therefore he to
was
discreet
Moses was needed
of the people,
and wise.
1
When
and that
a successor
and leading Joshua was chosen because in him dwelt for the government-
the Spirit of God. 2
Whether Pharaoh understood
may
be very doubtful, but
it is
his
own
certainly
worthy of note
that in each of the cases cited, the Spirit of fitness for
government; and
expression
God
created
this fitness consisted, not
in autocratic, tyrannous power, but in discretion, wis-
dom, gentleness, and beauty of demeanour.
Such were
the manifestations of the indwelling of the Spirit in these
men under
Once
the old covenant.
men; and that work of The Spirit of God filled
again, the Spirit filled certain
expression is only used in connection with the
making of the Tabernacle.
the
Bezalel that he might have cunning to
and
setting, 1
Gen.
and in
work
in gold,
brass, and in cutting of stones for and in carving of zuood, to work in all manner
in silver,
xli.
2
38,
39.
Num.
xxvii. 18.
THE
90
of workmanship.
Tabernacle, in beauty,
was
1
its
SPIRIT OF
Thus
the whole of the
exquisite perfection
the outshining of the
No man was
Spirit.
GOD and
work
of the
in its glorious
wisdom of
the
glorified in that upreared
Holy
Taber-
Perhaps it was otherwise in the times of decadence; but men of spiritual intelligence, who in the
nacle.
upon the work of the Tabernacle, See how cunning a workman was Bessay, but rather, See how wondrously the Spirit of God
early days looked
would not alel,
has wrought through Bezalel, in the accomplishment of the Divine purpose.
These
illustrations
was always
He
go
interested in
to
show
that the
Holy
Spirit
and working among men that ;
did not abide with them, but that, for special pur-
poses and at special points in their history,
He
equipped
them for whatever the particular moment demanded.
As
to the character of the Spirit's
these years, there
is
work through -all
a wonderful development of revela-
tion concerning the ministry of the Spirit, discoverable
His work as time proceeded And when men began to multiply on the face
in the character of it
came
to pass,
:
of the ground, and daughters were born unto them, that the sons of
God saw
the daughters of
fair; and they took them wives of There were two distinct ideals of
embodied in the seed of
Adam
men
all life
that they
were
that they chose*
upon the
earth,
through Cain and
through Seth respectively, the seventh generation of the 1
Exod. xxxi.
*
4, 5.
Gen.
vi. i, 2.
THE SPIRIT FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH one culminating in Lamech, the
91
man who, having com-
mitted murder, composed poetry in defence of his sin;
and the seventh generation of the other culminating in Enoch, a man of whom it is written that he walked with 1
'Much speculation has been rife concerning the intermarriage of the sons of God and the daughters of God.
The
men.
exposition of the passage that
ably correct,
is
that
which
is
most prob-
treats this intermarriage, as
having taken place between people who were godly and those who were godless between the descendants of Seth and those of Cain. Be that as
it
may, the condi-
upon the earth had reached a point revealed in the words My Spirit shall not
tion of things
which
is
:
strive with
This
2 for ever, for that he also is flesh.
moreover, a revelation of the work of the
is,
Spirit of
He was
man
God
in the years
from the Fall
striving with men, convicting
to the Flood.
them of
sin.
Then followed another manifestation of the Spirit in The chosen people were being organized for history. the embodiment of a Divine purpose, and as the
of a Divine revelation
men
;
and the
for the carrying out of
Spirit
all
came upon
Then, again, in the
passages referred to, concerning Samson,
David, the Spirit of
God
in the history of the 1
Gen.
v. 22.
*
Gen.
is
certain
the details necessary to
the perfecting of the organization.
Saul,
and
seen manifesting Himself
A period
as a Spirit of strength.
medium
of conflict
had come
chosen people, a race of heroes was vi.
3.
THE
92
GOD
SPIRIT OF
needed for the accomplishment of Divine purposes
among
the nations, and deeds of daring that character-
were wrought in the power of the Spirit. were raised up to do these deeds of heroism by the
ized the period
Men
Spirit falling mightily
The
upon them.
prophetic books yield yet another manifestation
work
of the presence and
Both
interesting one.
of the Spirit,
in Isaiah
and
and that a most in Ezekiel there
are fifteen distinct references to the Holy Spirit, which for the
most part can only have
their fulfilment in the
present dispensation or in one which
is
Those days were characterized by the
failure of kings
and
yet to come.
priests to fulfil their several vocations.
had become entangled with the heathen neighbours the ;
idol
The kings
worship of their
priests, smitten with the leprosy
of the same unfaithfulness, had been superseded by the
These men, devoted only to the will of God, found nothing amid the decadence of the time to satisfy
prophets.
their hearts
and minister
to their spiritual well-being.
But they were men of vision; and beyond the clouds and the mists they saw the gleam of another day, and they foretold the coming of the Spirit in plenitude and in
power.
prophecy of
An
instance of these foretellings
Joel,
is
the
which Peter quoted upon the Day of
Pentecost, to emphasize the historic value of
what men
saw passing around them. Amid the darkness and the gloom which had fallen upon the nation, the Spirit of
God became the ciples of
life
Spirit of
hope so that the essential prin;
were not forgotten.
THE SPIRIT FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH The sin
Spirit of
worked
God was
itself
93
the Spirit of conviction while
He was
out from Fall to Flood;
Spirit of detailed service while the people of
being organized into a nationality;
He was
a
God were
a Spirit of
strength while the people were fighting for the land, and
were casting out those who had deeply sinned and He became a Spirit of hope when the peculiar people had ;
passed into a condition of apostasy and wandering. lit
the horizon with the
He He
glow of approaching day. and revealed to eyes that
spoke to ears that listened,
gazed; and thus, though they did not perfectly understand,
men had some dim foreshadowing
of the glories
of these days of fulness of spiritual power.
Such
a very rapid summary of the work of the Spirit in that whole period from the Fall to the is
Messiah. 1
No
view of present-day aspects of the Spirit's ministry possible apart from a just and clear conception of His place in history. The Spirit Who brooded clear is
f
over chaos, and
Who breathed into nature the life which
blushes and blooms into beauty in every branch and leaf
and flower
that
in the affairs of
same
men.
Spirit has always been interested
There
difference between the
is,
however, a very distinct
method of His work
in those
bygone days, and the method of His work to-day. *A small booklet by my beloved and lamented friend the
In
Rev. G. H. C. Macgregor, M.A., entitled Things of the Spirit, contains the whole of the passages bearing upon this subject, and thus affords a valuable aid to a careful study of the story of the presence of the Spirit of God among men from the Fall to the
days of Jesus.
THE
94
those days there
is
used to-day
is
to
direct, present, actual
speak of the
show no true understanding is. Consequently there was
demonstration of the Spirit to
Most wonderful
the nation.
times
To
a Church in the sense in which that
of what the Church really
no
GOD
was no Church.
Israelitish nation as
word
SPIRIT OF
knew nothing
of the
of
Holy
Old Testament
Spirit as the Sanctifier
New
of individual lives, in the
all,
Testament sense of
cleansmg and keeping. Of .course Old Testament saints might have sung as truthfully as the saints of the
new covenant
:
And every virtue we possess, And every victory won, And every thought of holiness, Are His
The measure ent;
and the
alone.
of His work, however, sanctification
was very
which embodies
differ-
all virtue,
ensures perpetual victory, and subjects every thought to the obedience of Christ, which
is
holiness,
was unknown.
These wonderful manifestations of His power were served for the present dispensation. lightful interest to trace the
work
re-
It is full of de-
of the Spirit through
way for the coming of the moment came which was the ful-
the centuries, preparing the Christ, until the great
ness of the time. Spirit brooded
Over
still,
all
coming
the
movements of men the
as a Spirit of conviction of
sin, and as a Spirit of special wisdom for definite service, and yet again as a Spirit of strength for conflict, and
THE SPIRIT FROM THE FALL TO THE MESSIAH continually as a Spirit of hope
the things of
measure necessary and
Who,
possible,
by that
in the
Spirit of
within the mystery of the Deity,
sciousness of God,
man.
Thus
amid decadence.
God were made known amid men, is
95
God,
the Con-
and the Revealer of that Deity
to
VII
THE
SPIRIT
DURING THE MISSION OF THE MESSIAH
the days of Israel's decay the Spirit,
DURING through the prophets, had spoken of the coming 'Hope had been preserved in the heart of the na-
One.
tion through the visions of future glory contained in the
wonderful words that had been uttered by the messengers of the King. Even these voices had been silent for nearly four hundred years, from the days of Malachi to those of John the Baptist.
During
that period,
how-
ever, a small remnant had kept the hope of Israel
brightly burning, by loyalty to the principles of government which had been so often declared.
At last the long silence w.as broken by John, who announced the advent of One Whose distinguishing work should be Spirit
and with
that of baptizing fire.
To
men
with the Holy
the vast crowds that gathered
upon the banks of the Jordan he said / indeed baptise you with water; but there cometh He that is mightier :
than
I,
the latchet of
Whose 96
shoes I
am
not worthy to
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH unloose:
He
with are.
1
shall baptise
As
you with
the
Holy
Spirit
97
and
the Spirit bore a close relation to Jesus
as perfect and unfallen
Man,
so also did
At
and work of the Messiah.
the
He to the office
commencement of
His ministry the Lord claimed as His own the sacred anointing of the Holy Spirit for the fulfilment of His mission
The
:
Spirit of the
Because
He
Lord
anointed
is
Me
upon Me, to
preach good tidings
to
the poor:
He hath sent Me to proclaim release to And recovering of sight to the blind, To To
set at liberty
that are bmised,
proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord.
And He
began
scripture been
of
them
the captives,
to
.
.
.
say unto them, To-day hath this
fulfilled in
2
your
ears.
The Spirit brooded over the chaos of old, the power God in creation the Spirit had been present through
all
;
the history of the race,
for special purposes as
dispensation
was
coming
God
specially
Now
willed.
to be ushered
in,
initiated, as the Master began that
upon men,
that the
new
and the new order
work which He has
not yet completed, but towards the completion of which He is still working, He claimed that the Spirit rested
upon Him,
as the anointing for His mission.
Lord's view of His tation.
Luke
He iii.
is
16.
own
mission
is
anointed
'Luke
iv.
18,
19, 21.
The
revealed in this quo-
THE
98
To preach good tidings To proclaim release to
And
GOD
SPIRIT OF
to the
poor:
the captives,
recovering of sight to the blind,
To set at liberty them that are bruised, To proclaim the acceptable year of the Lord. Standing
synagogue, reading the words of the
in the
prophet, claiming their fulfilment in His
He
initiated that
new age
described by
own
Person,
the prophet as
the acceptable year of the Lord.
The whole
was accomplished under
Now
came
it
Christ
the guidance and in the
The anointing took place to pass, when all the
of the Spirit. tism:
work of Jesus
of this preparatory
at
power His bap-
people were
baptised, that, Jesus also having been baptised, and
praying, the heaven
was opened, and
the
Holy
Spirit
descended in a bodily form, as a dove, upon Him, and
Thou
a voice came out of heaven,
Thee I
in
am
well pleased.
art
My beloved Son;
1
He was led by the Spirit in the Temptation experiences And Jesus, full of the Holy Immediately afterwards
:
Spirit, returned from the Jordan, and was led by the 2 Spirit in the wilderness.
Following
this,
He
entered
the power of the Spirit:
upon His public work
And
in
Jesus returned in the
of the Spirit into Galilee*
power There
is
a clearly marked sequence here.
Anointed
by the Spirit, full of the Spirit, led by the Spirit, in the J
Luke
iii.
21,
22.
2
Lukeiv.
i.
3
Lukeiv.
14.
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH power of the Spirit thus work of His Messiahship.
He
entered
upon the
99
specific
During the exercise of that Messiahship He uttered words to His disciples upon one occasion which de-
mand special attention: // ye then, being evil, know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more
your heavenly Father give the Holy Spirit to them that ask Him?* If it were possible to occupy the shall
actual position of the
would
also be possible to understand
statement the
men who heard
it
was.
They knew what
Old Testament had of
They thought
Him
these words,
how
startling a
the Scriptures of
to teach about the
as
it
coming on
Holy
special
Spirit.
men
for
God
apart from human seeking. The thought of asking for the Spirit was absolutely foreign to the whole economy of the past. special
The
work, by the direct giving of
made this stateThe disciples had
circumstances under which Jesus
ment must be watched thing in
Him His
carefully noted.
at prayer, and, being attracted
attitude or appearance, said to
teach us to pray. pattern
known
He
:
Lord,
immediately gave them a perfect
as the Lord's Prayer, but
spoken of as the to teach them,
2
by some-
Him
disciples' prayer.
by analogy, how
He
that
waiting to answer importunate prayer. trast to teach the truth, showing
how
more
correctly
then proceeded
God was always
He used a a friend
con-
who
is
unwilling to rise from rest to supply the necessity of *Luke
xi. 13.
s
Luke
xi. i.
THE
ioo
another will do so
if
SPIRIT
OF GOD
that other be importunate
He summed up
and continue his asking.
enough
the whole
thought of importunate prayer in those words that pul1 meaning: Ask seek knock. He then led them along another line of thought concerning prayer; and using the relationship of a father
sate with
to a child as illustration,
He
to give the best gifts to
men:
declared God's willingness // 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
how
taught
startling
that ask
Him?
a
Their request to be most
to pray resulted in their hearing the
announcement
that
had ever
that
if
fallen
concerning spiritual matters
upon
their ears.
They were
told
God with importunity, and underGod would give good gifts only, then they
they asked of
standing that
might have the Holy Spirit. This statement must have so staggered these men as to surprise
them almost
into inaction; for
that they never asked for the Spirit,
Him
it is
evident
and therefore never
answer to their own asking. This text perpetually quoted as having a present-day application. This is due to a failure to draw the line of disreceived
in
is
between the various phases of the Master's misThe words were spoken to a handful of Jewish
tinction sion.
disciples
gathered around the Jewish Messiah.
.was unveiling to 1
Luke
xi. 9.
2
them a great
Luke
xi.
13.
He
secret in all God's deal-
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH ings with
men
men who
asked,
prayer
laid
that
God would
101
give the Holy Spirit to
they did so according to the law of
if
There
down.
is. not,
however, any evidence
had the Holy Spirit, until that Spirit came along another line of communication. Before the Master left them He said / will make request of the that they ever
:
Father, and
He
the Spirit of truth.
On
you another Comforter.
shall give
the previous occasion
and ye
.
.
1
He had
said in effect, Ask,
shall receive the Spirit; but they did not ask,
and
They never truly saw Christ, nor understood His mission, nor entered into the deep underlydid not receive.
ing secrets of His
had come
until after the Spirit
life,
upon them in answer to His asking. Our Lord here revealed to them the will of God, the attitude of the Divine heart, the preparedness of the Father to bestow the wondrous gift of the there
is
Holy
no evidence whatever
Spirit
that they ever asked or
ever received in answer to their
One
of the most
difficult
own
what
/ came
^vill I, if it is
to cast fire
be accomplished!*
The
paraphrase of the passage tion 1
:
John
if
Luke
is
\But I have a bap-
how am I
straitened
marks the sigh of
may
the one
upon the earth; and
already kindled?
tism to be baptised with; and it
asking.
passages to translate, per-
haps, in the whole of the Gospel of
which reads:
upon them, but
contribute to
desire.
its
till
A
elucida-
/ came to cast fire upon the earth; and what will xiv.
16
(margin).
2
Luke
xii. 49, 50.
THE
102
Would
OF GOD
SPIRIT
were already kindled! The old ac/ came to cast ceptation of the verse is most incorrect fire upon the earth; and what will I, if already I find
If
that
it
:
The passage
that fire kindled?
is
a soliloquy?
turned from teaching His disciples, and
He
it
Jesus
seems as
His eyes and looked out upon the neI came to cast fire upon the men, and said earth; and -what will If If it zuere already kindled! or, Would that it were already kindled! Then He pro-
though
lifted
cessities of
ceeded
:
/ have a baptism
:
to
be baptised with; and
how
till it be accomplished! As though He was impossible for Him to cast this fire, as He desired, until He had Himself passed through the
am
I straitened
had said
it
baptism that awaited Him. This scattering of fire refers to the baptism of the
which John had already predicted: / indeed baptise you with water; but there cometh He that
Holy is
Spirit
mightier than
the latchet of
I,
worthy to unloose: He Spirit and with fire*
shall baptise
In the Acts of the Apostles
own
is
shoes I
am
not
you with the Holy
chronicled the Master's
His Resurrection to that statement
reference after
of John :
Whose
John indeed baptised with water; but ye
be baptised with the
Holy
Spirit not
many days
shall
hence.
9
In connection with the baptism of the Spirit at Pentecost
it is
parting *Lt!ke
recorded
:
There appeared unto them tongues and it sat upon each one
asunder, like as of fire; iii.
16.
s
Acts
i.
5.
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH 103 1 of them.
Fire was the symbol of the Spirit, purifying
and energizing.
Jesus took
John baptized with water,
up the thought of John:
He
with
In the light of these passages, referred to
fire
is
waiting to scatter until
fire.
it is
that of the Spirit
upon
which Christ was
and
the earth,
evident that the
He
declared that
His Passion-baptism was accomplished
He was
itnable to fulfil this purpose.
by the Spirit, led by the Spirit, full of was waiting to communicate to other men fulness which resided in Himself, but He was un-
Jesus, anointed
the Spirit, that
able to do this until the Cross
was an accomplished
fact.
That reveals the character of the years of our Lord's He was laying foundations, laying them deep ministry. and strong, upon the righteousness of God in His own He was preparing for the tremendous transactions
life
;
of the
Day
of Pentecost, and for
all
that should follow
Filled with the Spirit, led
therefrom.
looked upon
men
with eyes
all lit
by the
Spirit,
He
by tender love, and
longed to communicate to them this gift of an indwelling Spirit, yet was unable to scatter the fire until His atoning work was done.
our Lord gave teaching concerning the Holy Spirit which has only been thoroughly understood and valued since He passed
During these years of public
life
through the gateway of death into the larger life beyond. All that it is necessary for men to know about the opera*Acts
ii.
3.
THE
104
SPIRIT OF
GOD
tion of the Spirit in this dispensation Jesus Christ self declared
and
;
this teaching
ant place in His ministry.
the Gospel of John, 1 and that
which
direct
is
is
and
indirect
positive.
teaching of Jesus casions
fell
once to the
occupied a most import-
It is
may
found wholly within
be divided into two parts
and suggestive, and that which The indirect and suggestive
from His
woman
company of Jews, once
Him-
lips
upon
different oc-
of Samaria, once to a
to the crowds of people
thronged the streets at the Feast of Tabernacles. direct teaching of Jesus
who The
was given, to His disciples These were the last
only, in the Paschal discourses.
utterances of Christ to them, and contain a perfect
statement concerning the work of the Spirit.
is
In the indirect teaching of Christ, the first instance that of His conversation with the woman of Sa-
maria:
Jesus anszvered and said unto her, Every one
that drinketh of this water shall thirst again: but
who-
soever drink eth of the water that I shall give him shall never thirst; but the water that I shall give him shall be-
come 1
in
him a well
of water springing
Every reference made
up unto
eternal
in this chapter and this is not an the result of careful analysis of the whole teaching is taken from the writings of Luke or of John. There is scarcely anything recorded by Matthew or Mark of the relation of the Spirit to Christ in His work. Matthew views Christ purely as a Jewish Messiah, and necessarily omits the glory of the larger outlook. Mark views Him as a Servant, and sees Him stripped of all supernatural power; but Luke, the Gospel of the universal Saviour, and John, the Gospel of a Divine Lord and Master, contain the revelation of the secret forces that made
accident, of Christ
it is
His ministry.
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH 1
The woman had no
life.
clear understanding of the
depth of that message, nor had those
her
lips.
In
common
105
who heard
it
from
with other words of Christ,
it
has only come to be understood in the light of the Spirit's dispensation.
The water which He
gives
living water of the Spirit, perpetually springing
the soul of
man
unto eternal
Another statement
is
is
the
up
in
life.
contained in a discourse to the
directed against materialistic conceptions of
Jews munion with God.
com-
He declared that it is only in the realm of the spiritual that this communion can be maintained: / am the Bread of life: he that cometh to Me
shall not hunger,
and he that believeth on Me
shall never
thirst*
The third and last was feast,
and
is
uttered on the great day of the a beautiful statement concerning the minis-
try of the Spirit try:
Now
and the
on the
relation of
last day, the
drink.
He
to that minis-
great day of the feast,
Jesus stood and cried, saying, If any
come unto Me, and
man man
thirst, let
that believeth
the Scripture hath said, out of his belly shall
of
now rivers
3
Then follows John's inspired exposiBut this spake He of the Spirit, of those words
living voater.
tion
him
on Me, as
:
which they that believed on the Spirit
was not
Him
were
to receive: for
yet given; because Jesus ivas not yet
glorified.* 1
vii.
John 39.
iv. 13, 14-
"John
vi. 35.
*
John
vii. 37, 38.
*John
THE
106
For
faith
He was
this
would
preparing by doing a work which
He
men and call for their men responding to that de-
declared that
mand, and exercising
new
into a
GOD
arrest the attention of
and
;
SPIRIT OF
region of
faith in Himself, should enter
which
in
their
own
personal should be quenched, and out of them flow rivers of living water. All this is condensed truth about the life,
thirst
Spirit, uttered by Christ during His life, and only fully understood in the light of subsequent events. The Paschal discourses are too important to be dis-
missed hurriedly, and therefore will be considered in following chapters. their nature.
It will
The One
be
sufficient here to state
Whom
of
the Spirit was to
The
speak, spoke of the Spirit, by the Spirit.
mission
know
is
to unfold the glories of the Christ
this to
be the
glory of the Spirit.
case,
;
Spirit's
and men
because the Christ unfolded the
There
munion between Son and
is
the most wonderful com-
Spirit revealed in this teach-
ing.
The
last point of
importance in this connection
prophetic breathing of the Spirit upon Christ:
men by
is
the
Jesus
Jesus therefore said to them again, Peace be
unto you: as the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. And when He had said this, He breathed on them, and saith unto them, Receive ye the
whose soever
them; whose soever sins ye 1
Holy
Spirit:
sins ye forgive, they are forgiven unto
John xx. 21-23.
1 retain, they are retained.
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH 107 The
place these
words occupied in the work of Jesus
must be considered,
He had
risen
if
they are rightly to be understood.
the Passion-baptism
;
was
over.
He
could
no longer say: / have a baptism to be baptised with: and how am I straitened! He had been baptized with that baptism, He was no longer straitened in the same sense,
He
but
had not yet ascended
into the presence of God.
Not until He had actually taken His place in the heavenin the double right of life
lies,
and death, standing for
Himself in the power of a perfect life, and for us in the power of an atoning death not until He had represent-
men
ed
in the presence-chamber of the
shed forth that great gift of scatter upon them.
The former ing
all that
day
in
fire
I made,
treatise
which
O
King, could
He
He had come
to
TheophiUis, concern-
Jesus began both to do and to teach, until the
He was
which
received up, after that
He
had
given commandment through the Holy Spirit unto the For forty days He tarapostles whom He had chosen* ried,
giving them commandments, and
ergy of the
Spirit.
He
The
He
explanation of that act
even so send I you. Acts
i.
in the en-
Spirit
and,
;
among
other
stood in their midst and breathed upon them.
said immediately before
1
very won-
gave these men their com-
mandments through the Holy things,
it is
worked
derful to notice that the risen Christ
i,
2.
:
is
As
And
to be
found in what
the Father hath sent
ivhen
He
had said
this,
He Me,
He
THE
io8
SPIRIT OF
GOD
a
He declared the law of continuity of
breathed on them.
men were
service, that these
work
the
that
weave them
up
the threads of
He
had Himself been doing, and were to warp and woof, until the whole perfect
into
fabric should be completed.
Me, even
to pick
;
and
the Father hath sent
He had been now He breathed on
so send I yon.
with the Spirit
As
1
sent anointed
His
disciples,
Receive ye the Holy Spirit. As the Father hath sent Me, even so send I you. He had been sent by
and
said
:
the Father in the
power of the
Spirit,
and
He
sent
them
power of that self-same Spirit. That this breathing of Christ was a prophetic act
in the
is
proved by the subsequent facts. Before He ascended He told them that they were not to go, but to tarry until they were endued with power from on high.
It
was a
prophetic breathing. His Passion-baptism was over; He stood among His followers the little band chosen to carry
on His
at them,
He
send I you.
victories
said .
.
.
:
As
and do His work and, looking
the Father hath sent
go
Me, even so 3 It was a
Receive ye the Holy Spirit.
typical act, suggesting the to the
;
power
work He committed
in
which they were
to
to them.
The whole
subject may thus be summarized. The new power and of new light was prepared by ministry of the Son of God and the Son of Man.
day of the
The
light
and the glory of the Gospel were created
the mysterious energy, suffering, and agony of the 1
John xx.
22, 21.
'John xx.
21, 22.
in
life
THE SPIRIT DURING THE MISSION OF MESSIAH of the God-man. chaos,
Who
terested in
of
had
The
visited
men, and
Who brooded over the Who had always been in-
Spirit
men,
Who had ever carried out the work
God among men, came upon
energized
Him, and
larger dispensation.
109
Christ, dwelt in
prepared, in
Through His
Him,
His Person, for a life
the Spirit pre-
pared for that death of mystery, as the result of
which
the Spirit should pass into the life of men, for pardon, purity,
and power.
BOOK
IV
THE TEACHING OF CHRIST CONCERNING THE SPIRIT
in
Weary and sad and
sorrow-spent were they upper room, While the rich crimson of the closing day
In that
still
Was fading into gloom; And over all, benumbing soul and sense, Hung the cold shadow of a dread suspense. The promise
of a Spirit yet to come,
That other Paraclete, To lead them on to Truth's
eternal
home
And
guide their wandering feet; They could not soothe the anguish of their heart, They ask'd in sadness, Must their Lord depart? Yes, after
all,
or clear and open speech,
Or
They
sayings dark and dim, yet had much to learn and He to teach,
Ere they could rest in Him, Ere they could preach His words with cleansed lips, Or He impart His full Apocalypse. E. H. PLUMPTRE.
112
VIII
THE COMING OF THE
SPIRIT
'""PHE little group of men who had followed the Lord A during the years of His public ministry gathered
Him
about
at the Paschal board.
The
company.
others were
filled
Judas had
left
with sadness.
the
It is
not necessary to attempt an analysis of their sorrow.
Probably there was a great deal of selfishness mixed with
it;
which
is
but there
is
selfishness in all sorrow, save that
under the constraint of the Holy
shadow of approaching separation Master administered comfort to
them
that
He was
fell
Spirit.
upon them.
their hearts.
He
The The told
going away, but they were not to be as the word really is, orphans. This
left comfortless, or,
statement
He
explained by unfolding for them the great
principles of the
new
dispensation of the
Holy Spirit. them a of on the coming, gave system teaching character, and mission of the Spirit, with the results fol-
He
lowing His
a system which first
is clear,
concise,
and
sufficient.
statement concerning the coming of the 3
THE
H4 1
is
Spirit
OF GOD
contained in the words
He
Father, and
He may
SPIRIT
shall give
And
:
I will pray the
you another Comforter,
be ^v^th you for ever. 2
The Holy
Spirit
be the gift of the Father through the Son. The marginal reading in the Revised Version will
make
that is
to
is,
7
request of the Father; but neither rendering
perfectly conveys the thought that underlies the
The
that Jesus used.
word
conversation of Martha with
when Lazarus lay dead, throws light on this And even now I know that, whatsoever Thou ask of God, God will give Thee. 3 Martha used a
Jesus,
word: shalt
word
for prayer, the
constantly used
word
translated ask, which Jesus
when speaking own
persons, but never of His
of the prayers of other prayers.
It is
a word
that conveys the idea of asking as a beggar, as a pauper
and that
how men always
is
pray here
is
pray.
The word
;
translated
a special one, never used about prayer ex-
and always
cept in the Gospel of John,
concerning the prayers of Jesus Christ.
in that Gospel
This reveals
the fact that the prayers of Christ differed from those of other persons.
some one
petition of one
son to
The word
suggests, not the petition of
that asks for something as a favour, but the
who
is
on a perfect equality with the per-
whom it is presented. The thought has
the idea of perfect fellowship.
conveyed by the translation
3
Day John
Perhaps that
is
it
better
/ will enquire of the Fa-
by the coming of the Spirit, His advent on of Pentecost to usher in a dispensation is referred to,
this section,
the
:
within
xiv.
1 6.
*
John
xi. 22.
THE COMING OF THE ther, .and
He shall give you
"5
SPIRIT
another Comforter. 1 This
is
by no means ,a perfect translation, but it approximates more closely to the intention of the original word than either of the other phrases.
was going
Christ declared that
and that
to the Father,
He
would enquire
He of,
in the sense of holding converse or having fellowship
Father
with the Father, and, as the direct
result, the
would send them the Holy Spirit. Messiah, had said to His disciples:
Jesus, the Jewish
// ye then, being
know how to give good gifts unto your children, how much more shall your Father which is in heaven evil,
give good things to them that ask
Him? 2 That was
a
purely dispensational and Jewish statement; and the men never asked and never received. Now that the
Master was leaving them, He said to them / will ask, I will enquire of, I will pray the Father, and He shall :
give you.
Immediately these great discourses wele ended, Christ into a higher realm, that of intercession ; and
moved
John records His words
in the presence of
God
for
His
In that prayer the Lord did not mention the people. Holy Spirit. The reason for this is to be found in the
Holy Spirit could not be was an accomplished fact. He
fact that the prayer for the
offered until His Passion
could not ask for the Spirit save upon the basis of a perfect fellowship, based
no longer straitened x
john
xiv. 16.
'Matt.
upon a
He vii.
finished work, until
should stand in the presence
n.
n6
THE God.
of
Then,
SPIRIT OF
in
The
God would
One
the
to
response
in the highest place of the
the work,
GOD
Who
presence
had accomplished
give.
teaching then, of this
statement of Christ,
first
concerning the coming of the Spirit,
is
that the Spirit
the gift of the Father, through the Son,
is
His
basis of
finished work.
In that
preceded
The
it.
Spirit
lies
and
difference between this dispensation
came upon men
specific purposes, at special seasons
;
upon the
one point of that have
all
in the past for
but the
Son
of
His
love passed into the presence of God, having accomplished the Divine purpose, finished
work
the Spirit
and upon the
was poured
basis of that
out.
Concerning the Spirit's coming, the Master also said These things have I spoken unto you, while yet abiding :
with you.
But
the Comforter, even the
Whom the Father will send in My you
all things.
1
name,
Holy
This reveals that the Spirit
name
Messenger of the Father in the
Of His own coming
Jesus said, I
Spirit,
He shall is
to be the
of the Son.
am come in My Fa-
ther's
name, and, I told you, and ye believe not
works
that I
do in
teach
My Father's name,
:
the
these bear witness
Upon two occasions He distinctly stated that came and worked in His Father's name, that the
Me. 2
of
He
God was the sphere of His work. Now He declared: The Ploly Spirit, Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach you all things. As the Son name
1
of
John
xiv. 25, 26.
*
John
v.
43
:
x. 25.
THE COMING OF THE came
in the
name
"7
SPIRIT
of the Father^ and as the
name
of the
Father was the sphere of the work of the Son, so the Spirit was to come in the name of the Son, and the
name
of the
work.
This
Son was is
to be the sphere of the Spirit's
perfect continuity.
A third statement on this words:
But when
will send unto
you from the Father.
Spirit to be the
is
subject
contained in the
the Com'forter is come, 1
Whom
I
This declares the
Messenger of the Son, from the Father.
This reference can only be understood by looking at context He that hateth Me hateth My Father also.
its
:
If I had not done
among them
the
works which none
other did, they had not had sin: but nozv have they "both seen and hated both
cometh
Me
to pass, that the
written in their law,
But when
My
and
Father.
word -may be
But
this
fulfilled that is
Me without a cause. come, Whom I will send
They hated
the Comforter is
unto you from the Father, even the Spirit of truth,
which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me.* Jesus had lived among men, unknown, misunderstood men had hated Him and now the Spirit was ;
to be sent
by the Son, as from the Father, in vindica-
tion of the character, ministry,
and mission of the Son.
Yet one other declaration follows you the truth; It
is
:
Nevertheless I
tell
expedient for you that I go aivay:
for $f I go not away} the Comforter will not come unto 9 Thus the you; but if I go, I will send Him unto you. x
john xv.
26.
*John xv. 23-26.
a
John
xvi. 7.
n8
THE
SPIRIT OF
GOD
Messenger and Gift of the Son. He will Himself send the Spirit to His disciples upon the basis of His union with the Father, a union consumSpirit is directly the
mated as God and Man. virtue of His ascended
ception of that
To sum
up.
He
will send the Spirit, in
Manhood, and
Manhood
into the
the perpetual re-
Godhead.
Jesus enquired of the Father, and in
answer to the enquiry of the Christ, God gave the The Spirit became the Messenger of the FaSpirit. ther and His sphere of work was to be the name of the ;
Son.
This Spirit became God's Messenger concerning work and His teaching. By
the Son, vindicating His
virtue of the perfect union of the
the Spirit
is
the gift of the Son.
Son with the
Father,
IX
THE CHARACTER OF THE
THE
SPIRIT
teaching of Christ concerning the character of
the Spirit
is set
forth
first
in the
words
:
And
I
pray the Father, and He shall give you another 1 This word Comforter conveys the first Comforter. will
thought concerning the character of the Spirit. It is indeed impossible to find a translation that will reveal everything contained within the great word Paraclete. It is conceded that originally the word had what may be
spoken of as a passive meaning.
It indicated
one called
and therefore one who, by
to the side of another,
his
coming, annulled the condition of orphanage or desolateness. But then, in its use, both in Classic and New
Testament Greek, the word passed into another realm, becoming active, and suggesting the thought of intercession, advocacy, pleading.
the writings of John. pel,
The word
once in his Epistle.
peculiar to
Gos-
In the Gospel it is translated In the Gospel it
Comforter; in the Epistle, Advocate. *John
is
It occurs four times in his
xiv. 16.
IIQ
THE
120 is
used of the Spirit
The
use of
it,
;
SPIRIT OF
GOD
in the Epistle
it is
used of Christ.
in the Epistle, is that of Christ standing in
the presence of God, as the Advocate of the believer,
That
the Representative, the Intercessor, the Pleader. is
the
word and
courses of Christ. another.
idea used of the Spirit in these disIt
is, first,
one called to the side of
That surely was the first thought in the mind He had ever been accessible to these
of the Lord.
They had been
men.
to take
The
His
Spirit
place, is
Him
able to approach
questionings and perplexities. them, but they were not to be
with their
He was
about to leave
deserted.
Another was
and annul the condition of orphanage.
therefore the Spirit of love, banishing the
sense of despair and desolateness.
The word
Paraclete also suggests the thought of an
active friendship.
He will
come, not to plead with
for men that is the work of Jesus men for God, to intercede with men
God
but to plead with for Christ,
and to
win, by His intercession, the whole territory of man's
being for the dominance of the living Lord Whom He In this great word there are infinite represents. stretches of meaning.
To
the character of the Spirit
God
the waiting people of is
love
;
He
will
come
to
fill
the gap, to take the place of the tender Christ, to be to the orphaned disciples a Comforter nigh at
comfort them, and to do
it
hand
to
by pleading within them the
cause of their absent Lord and Master.
Another
fact
concerning the character of the Spirit
is
THE CHARACTER OF THE
SPIRIT
He
contained in the words the Spirit of truth. inner
life
overlap each other.
These subjects necessarily
This phrase the Spirit of truth1 has
most wonderful explanation
Spirit ; but ter.
the
of truth, the fact of -truth, and therefore will
give the exposition of truth.
its
is
it is
in the mission of the
used here only as revealing His charac-
How fitting and beautiful this wonderful economy, Who is Himself the Spirit of truth,
that the Spirit,
should come to be Intercessor
One Who
the affairs of the
Another the Spirit
fact
is
for,
and Administrator of
said, I
Spirit of holiness
the
.
.
.
truth. 2
declared concerning the character of
the Comforter, even the
:
am
this reveals the
Holy
Spirit?
The
moral character of
the Spirit, and so declares the proper use and ultimate issue of truth.
And
He shall teach you all things. He witness* He is the Spirit of revelation, the
yet again:
shall bear
Spirit of illumination.
These sayings of the Master record His teaching con-
He
cerning the character of the Spirit.
is
the Spirit of
love, the Comforter ; the Spirit of truth, thrice repeated
the Spirit of holiness, the elation, the J
One
Who
John xiv. 17, xv. 26, *John xiv. 26, xv. 26.
Holy
Spirit
;
;
the Spirit of rev-
witnesses and teaches.
xvi. 13.
2
John
xiv. 6.
"John
xiv. 26.
X THE MISSION OF THE SPIRIT TESUS *J
also declared in these discourses the nature of
the mission of the Spirit.
First,
His mission
to the
And I will pray the Father, and He shall another give you Comforter, that He may be with you disciples:
for ever, even the Spirit of truth:
Whom
the world
Him not, neither know Him; for He abideth with you,
cannot receive; for
it
beholdeth
knoweth Him: ye and shall be in you. 1 Here are two great statements. First, that the mission of the Spirit is to abide
The
the people of God.
to pray that the Spirit
may
may
be with you for ever.
to lay
He
children of
be given to them
Then
emphasis upon the method in which
He
individual.
indwelling
life
is
1 6,
that
He
He will abide
:
The
Spirit
up His abode
in the
no longer a transient Guest, but the He creates and main-
of the believer and ;
tains, in spite of all xiv.
:
the Master proceeds
abideth zvith you, and shall be in you.
abides with the Church, by taking
with
God have no need
apparent breaking up, the one cath-
17.
122
THE MISSION OF THE olic
Church of
SPIRIT
123
His work with regard to the beHe shall teach you all things, and
Christ.
liever is revealed:
bring to your remembrance
all that
I said unto you.
He shall bear witness of Me. He shall guide you into 9 the truth. He shall declare unto you the things that are to come. He shall glorify Me. 3 1
all
Secondly, His mission to the world
He is come,
will convict the
And He, when
:
world in respect of
of righteousness, and of judgment:* of
new
centre
of
sin,
sin,
sin,
as having a
because they believe not on
righteousness, as having a
new
possibility
and
Me;
of
/ go to the
Father; and of judgment, as being accomplished the prince df this world hath been judged. This is considered more fully in a subsequent chapter. 5 *John xv. 26. "Chapter xiv.
*Jolin xiv. 26. xvi. 8-1 1.
"John
xvi. 13, 14.
*John
XI
THE RESULTS OF THE SPIRIT'S COMING teaching of Jesus
A
is
clear also as to the results
of the Spirit's work: I will not leave you deso-
I come unto you. 1 Orphanage is to cease there is to be no desolateness. This has been dealt with as part
late:
;
of the
work of the
Spirit.
Considered from the side
of the experience of the believer,
The
deepest comfort.
to the soul born of the Spirit
dience to
Him.
Men
it is
indeed full of the
sense of loneliness never
and living
hunger
comes
in perpetual obe-
after the personal pres-
ence of the Christ but, in proportion as they are yielded ;
have that presence, and that in a sense which was impossible to His disciples, while He to the
Holy
Spirit, they
was here upon earth. He was then limited and localized, and men had to wait for an opportunity of conTo-day He is ever with every member of the Body and for fellowship, the elements of time and place verse.
;
with their necessary limitations, are absent.
Again: xiv.
But
the Comforter, even the
1 8.
124
Holy
Spirit,
THE RESULTS OF THE
SPIRIT'S
COMING
125
Whom the Father will send in My name, He shall teach and bring to your remembrance all that I said unto you. Peace I leave with you; My peace I
you
all things,
1 give unto you.
The two
verses are intimately con-
All the sense of peace that resulted from the
nected.
presence and comradeship of Christ, becomes perpetual
new and
in the
clearer realization of
Himself and His
teaching resulting from the abiding of the Spirit. The way in which the Master gave His peace was not as the
He
world giveth, because
The second
forter. is
it
gave
by the
Com-
gift of the
result of the presence of the Spirit
that of peace.
Again
:
But when
will send unto
Whom
the Comforter is come,
I
from the Father, even the Spirit of
you which proceedeth from the Father, He shall bear witness of Me: and ye also bear witness, because ye truth,
have been with
Me from
sult of the Spirit's
declaration
Peter
:
is
the beginning. 2
work
is
The
third re-
This
to witness.
power
closely connected with that statement of
We arc
witnesses of these things; and so
is the
The power to witness, according to the of and the testimony of Peter, was Christ, prophecy by the coming of the Spirit. Holy
Spirit.*
One
other result
:
He shall
glorify
take of Mine, and shall declare
it
Me:
for
unto you.
He
shall
All things
whatsoever the Father hath are Mine: therefore said that
He
*John
taketh of Mine, and shall declare
xiv. 26, 27.
"John xv. 26, 27.
'Acts
it
v.
I,
unto you.
THE
126
A
GOD
and ye behold Me no more; and again a 1 The Lord did not while, and ye shall see Me.
little
little
SPIRIT OF
while,
here refer to His second coming, but to the fact that
when the Spirit came He w.ould come by the Spirit, and men would see Him in the ministry of the Spirit. The last result, then,
of the Spirit's
work
is
that of vision.
Gather up these four results. Christians are not orphans, and therefore not desolate. Peace is theirs peace which Christ gives, as the world cannot give,
In the
through the ministry of a Person ever present.
strength of that peace they become His witnesses, be-
cause they have a perpetual vision of the Lord.
This
is
a brief analysis of the Master's teaching con-
cerning the Spirit.
The unfolding
tained within this teaching
is
in the Acts of the Apostles
of
all
that
con-
is
to be found, historically,
and the subsequent history
of the Church, and, doctrinally, in the Epistles.
The teaching of Jesus pretation of
all
is
unified truth
that follows
discourses.
There
is
vealed in the Acts and
blossoming into flower in root l
john
and
principle.
xvi. 14-16.
m
and
and the
must ever be
down in much of
with the principles laid
;
in
inter-
harmony
these most wonderful
glory and beauty re-
the Epistles, which fruit of that
which
is is
the
here
BOOK V THE PENTECOSTAL AGE
127
When God
of old came down from heaven, In power and wrath He came Before His feet the clouds were riven, Half darkness and half flame. ;
But when He came the second He came in power and love
time, ;
Softer than gale at morning prime Hover'd His holy Dove.
The
fires that rush'd on Sinai down In sudden torrents dread, Now gently light, a glorious crown,
On
every sainted head.
Like arrows went those lightnings forth, Wing'd with the sinner's doom;
But
these, like tongues o'er all the earth, Proclaiming life to come.
And
as
on
Israel's
awe-struck ear
The
voice, exceeding loud, The trump, that angels wake to hear, Thrill' d from the deep, dark cloud,-
So,
when
the Spirit of our
Came down His
A
voice from heaven
A It
fills
God
flock to find,
was heard abroad,
rushing, mighty wind.
the Church of
The
God;
it fills
world around; Only in stubborn hearts and wills sinful
No place
for
it is
found. J.
128
KEBLE.
XII
PENTECOST Master finished His teaching, and passed to His
-I
work,
Cross.
He
rose
Having accomplished from the dead, tarried for
sacred
its
forty days
among His disciples, appearing to them for special purposes, and giving them commandments through the 1 He then ascended, leaving them one imPloly Spirit.' mediate instruction
that they should wait for the ad-
He had
vent of the Spirit.
go
into all the world,
creation;
2
told
them
that they
were
to
and preach the Gospel to the whole also that they were to maize
He had told them
disciples of all the nations, baptising
them
into the
name
and of the Son and df the Holy Spirit. 3 He had given them instructions conditioning all the service that lay before them; and then He charged them that they were not to begin any of the work until they were of the Father
endued with power from on high. that one restricting
He
left
upon them
word He charged them not :
to de-
part from Jerusalem, but to zvait for the promise of the Father.* No command was given to these men to pray 1
Acts
i.
2.
2
Markxvi.
15.
"Matt, xxviii. 19. 129
*Acts
i.
4.
THE
130
SPIRIT
for the Comforter, nor It
is it
chronicled that they did so. that commentators almost
somewhat remarkable
is
OF GOD
without exception seem to have taken
for granted that
it
the ten days of waiting were spent in prayer for the
Holy
Neither in the
Spirit.
the chronicled
facts, is
was
the case.
that such
stated
tainly
but
it
that
command
there any warrant for imagining
They were
It is cer-
waiting.
they gave themselves
not asserted that this
is
of Jesus, nor in
was
to
prayer;
for the
Holy
Spirit.
During that time they
fell into
an undoubted blunder,
when they endeavored to choose a successor to Judas. Having selected certain men, they proceeded to cast lots to decide
which of them should be
cession.
It is evident that the
fell
in the apostolic suc-
one upon
whom
the lot
never was an apostle in the intention of the Master.
The one chosen by Tarsus. tion, shall
When
the
Lord
to
fill
the gap was Saul of
the City of God, described in Revela-
be perfect and complete,
it is
to
foundations, and in the foundations the
twelve apostles of the
Lamb and ;
the
Matthias, will surely be the twelfth. ing, they proceeded to
more
possible to appoint
have twelve
names of *the
name
of Paul, not
Instead of wait-
make appointments. an
to preach the Gospel, save
officer in the
It is
no
Church, than
by the guidance of the Spirit
of God.
After ten days the Holy Spirit was poured out upon the waiting
company
in that
upper room in Jerusalem.
PENTECOST As He
came, there was a sound like a mighty rushing not only by the people there assembled, but heard wind,
by Jerusalem
at large
;
for
it is
declared that
when
the
people heard the sound they ran together to see what Beside this symbolism that apthese things could be. pealed to hearing, the coming was one that appealed to sight
upon
fire,
;
parting asunder, sat in the form of a tongue
the head of each disciple.
Beyond this twofold and sound, there was the wonderful be-
miracle of sight
stowment of the
gift of tongues,
men and women
by which the baptized
spoke in other languages than their
own.
The
place Pentecost occupied in the Divine
economy
was of great importance.
The Holy
(i)
Spirit
was poured out upon the Day Man had no claim upon
of Pentecost as a gift of God.
God
for that great gift;
answer
to
any prayer of
merit in man.
He
of grace which
all
not poured out in
man, nor on account of any
was, as was the gift of Jesus, a gift
received as
The pouring
(ii)
He was
from God.
out of the Spirit at Pentecost was
dependent upon the presence in heaven of Him Who was dead and is alive for evermore. Because of the
work
that
He had
wrought, in which satisfaction had
been given to righteousness, God poured His Spirit upon man, for the initiation of a new movement and the ushering in of a (iii)
new
dispensation.
Pentecost was the coming of
God
the
Holy
THE Spirit to realize
His own
the administration of the tive, possessive,
ing of
God
which
He
ideal in
work
and dominant
character,
of Jesus, in
aspects.
It
by
its
redempwas the com-
work
had done as Saviour might become a real
whom He whom,
human
as Administrator, in order that the
fact within the experience
in
GOD
SPIRIT OF
and the character of men of
should be able to obtain therefore,
lute control.
He
the
By
full possession,
and
should be able to exercise abso-
Holy
Spirit,
to be Lord, while loyal subjects to
Jesus
is
henceforth
His dominion
are,
by
the indwelling of the Spirit, to pass into the realization of the will of God. the
dawn
the Fall.
The coming
of the brightest day the It
was
Holy Spirit was world had seen since
of the
for the actual impartation to his inner
being of the power that should realize the purpose toward which man had been moving through every previous dispensation.
Pentecost affected the whole position of the disciples.
moment when
In the
company
of apostles
the
Holy Spirit fell upon them, the and disciples, about one hundred
number, were changed from being merely followers of the Messiah into members of the risen Lord.
and twenty
in
The Lord had
He had past in
word
fulfilled all the
His own Person.
that characterizes
and the Cross 1
exercised a purely Jewish Messiahship;
John
i.
n.
is
prophecies and promises of the
He came unto
His own1
His mission up
is
the
to the Cross;
the final emphasis of the other fact
PENTECOST
133
that they that were His ozun received Him not.
But out
of that great nation, which as a nation thus rejected
had been gathered an elect remnant, in sucthat elect remnant which had always existed,
there
Him,
cession to
even
in the
dence.
ages most characterized by spiritual deca-
Peter, James, John,
and others
to the
number of
hundred, were followers of Jesus, the Jewish Messiah and so they continued up to the Day of Pente-
about
five ;
When
cost.
one hundred and twenty of these
five
hun-
dred souls gathered in obedience to the parting com-
mand
of their Lord, they were
still
disciples of the
Mes-
company of people who, amidst the darkness of the nation, had discovered the light of God siah
the
little
and had been true
to
less
They were the people who, hour of darkness, had neverthe-
it.
failing, trembling in the
loved their Lord through
all
the people
who had
been utterly amazed at the miracle of the Resurrection,
and who were now waiting in obedience to the new voice of authority that had sounded in their ears, the voice of their risen Lord. siah
These
disciples of the
Mes-
were waiting for something differing entirely from
the expectations of the past ; but even
now
they did not
clearly understand their position.
When erto they
"^
the Spirit came, they were born again.
had been followers of the Christ; and
purpose of God, in
company with faithful
Hithin the
Abraham and
all who preceded them in a life obedient to the measure of light received, were reckoned as sharers in the work
THE
134
the Spirit
came
the result of the these
men began
the Spirit, and
The
GOD
But, as an actual fact of
of Christ.
when
SPIRIT OF
it
was only
outpoured in baptismal flood, as
work
upon the Cross that They were then baptized in
of Jesus
to live.
filled
life,
with the Spirit.
result of Pentecost was, moreover,
one that af-
fected them not as individuals only, but also in their relation the
one to the other.
By
that baptism they were
united into one, and Peter, James, and John were no
longer three separate individuals, standing apart from
each other while holding the same broad sentiment, but they were members of the one catholic Church.
moment when
the Spirit
fell
In that
upon the one hundred and was cre-
twenty or more, the mystical Church of Christ
Up to the moment of the coming of the Spirit, were a concurrence of individuals, a company of they units, having a bond of sympathy in their common love ated.
to Christ, but no actual, vital, necessary, eternal union.
When
the Spirit came, the concurrence of individuals
The
was fused into a unity, the Church was formed. Church was created by the baptism of the There was no Church in this sense until the
catholic
came; and from then tinued.
God
Church. earth,
alone
until
now
knows the
the
of
limits
His own
heaven and on
have, by this self-same Spirit, been baptized
into the sacred unity of the living Christ.
the Spirit
Spirit
Church has con-
It to-day consists of those, in
who
Spirit.
fell,
It
was when
that individual disciples of Jesus
were
PENTECOST
135
transformed from the former association with actual living unity. this fusion into
by
into
mystical Church was formed, a unity, of those who were baptized
by the Spirit on the
As
Him
The
Day
of Pentecost.
the result of the great
work of
the
Son
of God, in
and ascension, there was poured men and women, who had company
death, resurrection,
life,
upon a
little
of
chosen to suffer with Him, the great gift of the Holy Spirit. They were thus created a corporate unity, one
with Christ and with each other, and there was brought
world a new creation, the Church, consisting of Christ and all those thus united to Him. 1 into the
The coming
of the Spirit and the fusing of these indi-
viduals into one great whole affected the relation of the
whole race to God. a
new temple
an individual
It
was the coming
the Church.
Ye
into the
world of
are a temple of God?
truth, but a collective truth also.
It
was
the coming into the world of that of which the old
Temple, with ual,
its
priesthood,
was prophetic
;
a dwelling-place of
*A
its offerings,
was the building
God through
and
in the
its rit-
world of
the Spirit.
what became of the rest of the five of Jesus who saw Him after His resurrection above live hundred brethren at once (i Cor. xv.
question arises as to
hundred
He
it
disciples
appeared to but who did not tarry in obedience to His command in Jeru6) salem. No definite statement can be made concerning them. It is certain, however, that they were not on the Day of Pentecost included in the Church, their disobedience preventing this. It is probable that, as the time passed on, many of them would become more fully instructed, and by submission would receive the gift. Nothing can be said with any certainty, as nothing has been rea i Cor. iii, 16, vealed in Scripture.
THE The Temple was
GOD
SPIRIT OF
the place of praise,
whence the song,
the chant, and the hallelujah ascended perpetually into
Man
the presence of God.
glorineth
Me.
1
should say, not only with his his nature, Hallelujah!
Temple, was given to
sacrifice of
lip,
First the Tabernacle, then the
man as Is
man
but in every power of
a place of praise.
But the Temple meant more than possibility of prayer.
thanksgiving
Divine intention that
the
It is
created for the glory of
is
God, and zvhoso offerelh the
it
praise
not written,
be called a house of prayer for
all
;
My
the nations?
a point to which humanity might come and
meant a
it
house shall 2
It
was
tell its
agony Heaven, a place where men might first, to praise; but praise must oft-
in the listening ear of
Men
pray.
are,
times cease, choked by the sob of sorrow ; then
let
men
pray. that, the
Beyond
Temple was the place of prophetic
prophecy being, in its largest meaning, a Divine answer to prayer. Prayer is the voice of man utterance
need speaking to God .prophecy is the voice of in His power speaking to man. These things had
in his
God
:
been symbolized in the Temple.
Now those men and women in the upper room
being
Church
form
no longer simply a company, but a Divine institution of praise. to ascend
The 1
from the earth
to
Christ's
Through them
there
is
heaven the praise of men.
outsiders will join the praise as they enter the
Ps.
1.
23.
3
Mark
xi.
17.
PENTECOST
137
Church they will find the opportunity of praise as they come into the new Temple of God given to man. ;
That company of people, having now become one Church,
dom
will unite
sion
also a
is
medium
of priests: that
;
is,
They
are a king-
who
prayer to prayer and intercession to interces-
a company of
men and women who
their hearts the surging
pour
of prayer.
a company of individuals
its tale
will carry
on
sorrow of the earth, and will
out in the listening ear of Heaven
;
a com-
pany of men and women who will always be conscious of the suffering of humanity, and will tell it out to God.
The
multitudes outside will begin to pray as they enter
Their prayer will become prevailing as
the Church.
they join the
new medium
of prayer, which
is
the
new
Church of Jesus Christ. The Church will not only praise and pray, all its members have become prophets. They will pass from Temple, the
the upper room, and scatter themselves over the whole earth, reaching out into all the places
where men
abide.
They will not be divided they will still be the Church. The sigh of Moses long ago, Would God that all the ;
Lord's people zvere prophets!'1 finds
its
answer in the
Pentecostal effusion and the bestowment of the pro-
upon the living members of the new Church. Before one hundred years had passed, every known na-
phetic gift
tion
and
all
human
institutions
had
felt
the touch of the
new power by the prophesying of the Church. 1
Num.
xi. 29.
THE
SPIRIT OF
GOD
A
new Temple was given to men upon the Day of Pentecost that is, a new centre of praise, a new power of prayer, and a
new power
Jerusalem the place where longer
is
this
No
of prophecy.
men ought
to
longer
worship;
1
is
no
mountain, as Christ characterized the Sa-
maritan centre, the only place but everywhere ;
worship God.
Christ
men through
belief in
is
the
Him
Door of
men may
the Church; and
pass thereinto, the Spirit
baptizing them into living union with
Him.
The Tem-
ple grows and expands by this incorporation of individual members. Whether in a far-off land or at home,
whether in Jerusalem or
at the
end of the
earth,
men
new Temple by this self-same Spirit Who was poured out upon the day of Pentecost for their admission into the relationship with God which should fit
pass into the
them
for praise, prayer,
When
and prophecy.
handled the keys of the kingdom for the
first
Peter
time, he
opened the door to the Jew, and three thousand entered.
Then he opened
the door to the Gentiles in the house of
Cornelius, and the Gentiles began to crowd in. That handling of the keys was not Peter's peculiar prerogative. It
Church.
was
also the prerogative of every
It is the prerogative of
member of
the
every person who, as a
prophet of the Cross, in the demonstration of the Spirit, speaks to some soul, so that there opens before that soul a vision of the things of the kingdom. That is the true exercise of the power of the keys. 2 Pentecost meant for 2
1 This throws light upon the sacerdotal question. John iv. 20. With a strange confusion men have imagined that the keys were
PENTECOST
139
new Temple, no
the world the creation of a
longer limi-
and material, but unlimited, to be found
ted, localized,
everywhere, and
spiritual, for the Spirit is
Entrance
Temple
to this
is
everywhere.
found wherever
man
in his
need and agony submits himself to Christ. Before closing this chapter, it is necessary to notice the difference between the events of the
Day
cost with the period immediately following,
of Pente-
and the oc-
currence in the house of Cornelius with the subsequent
Book of
history of the
the Acts.
The whole
of the
men
and women upon whom the Spirit fell on the Day of Pentecost were Jewish and the period immediately fol;
may be spoken of as peculiarly Jewish. There are two remarkable characteristics of the work lowing Pentecost
of the Spirit during that period that ceased immediately afterwards.
This period
is
dealt with in the first nine
and during it there seems to have been an inbetween the acceptation of the good tidings con-
chapters, terval
cerning the kingdom of
Holy
God and
the reception of the
and yet they Moreover, there was
People believed the tidings,
Spirit.
did not receive the
Holy Spirit. some intervention on the part of another
the gift of the Spirit
was
received.
The Gospel was preached of Cornelius,
who
2
and
it is
disciple before
1
to the Gentiles in the house
never again recorded that those
believed in Jesus received the
Holy
Spirit as a sub-
the symbols of priestly power. They were not. They were the insignia of the prophetic office. 1 The work of Philip in Samaria and the conversion of Saul are instances. They will be considered in Chapter XV. *Acts x.
THE
140
sequent blessing. of
GOD
SPIRIT OF
The
apostles preached the
God and when a Jew heard about
kingdom
the kingdom, he
;
did exactly what had been done in the days of Christ's
he thought of earthly power, had no concepand believed in Jesus as a
ministry
tion of the spiritual reality,
Restorer of the temporal kingdom. material; and
in every such case
some more enlightened reality,
in
it
His conception was was necessary for
disciple to teach
him the
spiritual
order that he might receive the
Holy
Spirit.
When
Peter preached in the house of Cornelius, he
announced good tidings of peace, and the lordship of This the Gentiles heard, Jesus, and remission of sins.
The
not from the Jewish standpoint.
dom was from
not
sin.
all.
story of the king-
They heard also the story of salvation
When they believed,
it
was the whole Gospel,
and the Spirit fell upon them straightway. There was no second blessing. This, then, represents the normal under the present dispensation. Men believe in Jesus as King and Saviour, and are bap T tized by the Spirit into relationship with Him, that being condition of things
the hour of their
come members
new
birth,
and that
in
which they be-
of the catholic Church of Jesus Christ.
economy of God, was the occasion of the outpouring of the Spirit, in answer to the completed work of the Christ, in order that the purpose of Pentecost, in the
God might
be realized in the character of men.
Pentecost, in the case of the disciple,
was the change
PENTECOST from being merely a
follower, a learner, into that of liv-
ing union with the living Christ Pentecost, in the case of the world, was the advent in the world of a
women,
new Temple
consisting of living men,
and children indwelt by the Spirit of God, for
purposes of praise, and prayer, and prophecy.
XIII
THE
ON
the
SPIRIT IN
Pentecost the coming of the Spirit
Day of
upon a
THE CHURCH
company of waiting
disciples changed them from an aggregation of units into one corporate whole, the Church of the living God. From that mo-
ment
all
the essentials of the
Church have been main-
tained by His abiding therein.
By
the creation of the
given to the world,
a new
and for prophecy.
Church a new Temple was
institute for praise, for prayer,
All these functions are fulfilled by
the abiding of the Spirit in the Church. praise
is
offered
prophecy, in its fullest ried
maintained by the whole com-
is
pany of those who pray
incense of
inspiration of the Spirit; the
by the
intercession of prayer
The
in the
Holy
Spirit
;
the
work
meaning of forth-telling,
is
of
car-
forward by such as are witnesses, in co-operation Spirit, to the eternal verities of God.
with the Holy
The
Letters to the Corinthians deal with
ment Church orders
;
and
in the
first,
New
Testa-
the apostle having
discussed certain disorders that had arisen in the church 142
THE
SPIRIT IN
M3
THE CHURCH
at Corinth, proceeded to deal with ecclesiastical matters
;
and, in conclusion, he revealed a threefold fact concern-
ing the relation of the Spirit to the whole Church of
Noiv concerning spiritual gifts, brethren. 1 Both the Authorized and in the Revised Versions the word
God.
*
in
in
is
gifts
The term
italics.
Ttrev^arzKd.^ covers a
subject far wider than that of the gifts of the Spirit.
It
undoubtedly with the gifts that the apostle specially dealt but he opened his subject by writing: Brethren, is
;
I would not have you ignorant concerning the matters Then he made three main that pertain to the Spirit. statements concerning these matters. the
Spirit to
Holy
No man
First,
he declared
be the Defender of the Church's faith
can say, Jesus
is
Lord, but in the Holy Spirit.
:
3
In the second place, he declared the Holy Spirit to be the There are diversiInspiration of the Church's service :
of gifts, but the same Spirit.
ties
worketh the one and the same one severally even as
unity
Holy For in one
:
He
Spirit
.
.
Bui
all
these
Spirit, dividing to each
ivill.*
Spirit to be the
clared the
.
And, thirdly, he debond of the Church's
were zve
all
baptised into one
6
body.
The Holy
man
Spirit
can say, Jesus
the Defender of the Faith.
No
Lord, but in the Holy Spirit."
The
is
is
old desire for authority in matters of faith trine 1
1
is still felt,
Cor.
xii. ! i
Cor.
s
i
is
perfectly natural
and
right.
It
*ievVfiantf<&v, Things of the Spirit, i Cor. 8 * i Cor. xii. 13. i Cor. xii. 4, u. Cor. xii. 3.
xii.
xii.
and
and of doc-
3.
i.
THE
144
SPIRIT OF
GOD
has ever been realized in the history of the Church.
It
may safely be said that all great crises in Church history have been the result of a division of opinion as to where the cipline
seat of authority really lies in matters of dis-
and of
doctrine.
The Reformation under Luther was a the lost doctrine of Justification
restoration of
by Faith but ;
that, in
a
a statement of the seat of authority in In that wonthe matter of forgiveness and of pardon.
further analysis,
derful
is
work which Luther was
raised
up of God
to do,
he called men back from seeking authoritative absolufrom a man, to seek it from God.
tion
The Oxford movement,
the outworking of which in
the sacerdotal revival to-day illustration
of
sainted soul,
from
this
is
Newman
fact.
whom
so manifest,
those
who
and undelegated authority of the in
many
munion
particulars, but with still
a startling strong,
believe in the alone
Spirit radically differ
whom all
in his love for the
is
sweet,
Master
saints
have com-
entered the
Ro-
man church because he sought for authority, and his intellect found a species of rest in what he believed to be the authority of that church.
Protestants are perpetually being told that they have
no centre of authority. fact that those
This statement
who make
it
is
due
to the
forget that the one, the
abiding, and the only centre of authority, in matters of That is the faith and doctrine, is the Holy Spirit.
teaching of this declaration, passed over too often as
THE
THE CHURCH
SPIRIT IN
145
though it were simply a statement of initial matters. That it certainly is but it is infinitely more. That Jesus ;
is
Lord
is
the centre of
grows out of
thing else
Christian doctrine; every-
all
No man
it.
can say, Jesus
is
1
All true systems of theLord, but in the Holy Spirit. are but the subdivision and ology application to varied and varying circumstances of this central fact, that Jesus is
Lord.
The same and
lived,
and the
again, that 2
living.
which
fact
Christ
apostle stated
is
is
For
to this
The Lordship
the centre of
all
others is
died,
of both the dead
of Christ
the practical fact which
Every doctrine has
Christianity. ;
all
The
creed has
is
the doctrinal
the Lordship of
;
the issue of the doc-
its
its
expression in some
out-blossoming in character.
inner historic fact of Christianity
dying, rising,
dying, rising,
the ministry of the
of the closest.
Holy
is
Christ, living,
reigning; and the purpose of His living, and reigning is that He should be Lord
both of the dead and of the living.
the
end Christ
Doctrine and duty are wedded in the scheme of
trine.
duty
:
He might be Lord
Holy
No man
can say, Jesus
Holy
Spirit
Christ to the heart of man, so that to the revelation
:
Thou
relation
which
Spirit bears to that doctrine
It is the
Spirit.
The
art
my
man
Lord.
is
is
Lord, but in
Who first reveals says, in response It is the
work of
the Spirit to take this inner, central part of Christian doctrine, 1
1
Cor.
and make xii. 3.
a
it
Rom.
real to xiv. 9.
men, so that they respond
THE
146 to the doctrine
by
having been done, lation step
by
men
a
GOD
fulfilling the duty. it is
the Spirit
little,
are able to bear
it,
That
giving new life
the reve.
.
work
.
line
by so much as
there a little*
and glory of the Master, for
initial
Who unfolds
upon precept;
precept
step,
line; here
upon
SPIRIT OF
vision of the beauty
and character.
Every
vision of Christ granted to the believer has been the result of the presence in that believer of the
Who new
alone gives grace to say in
Holy
new realms
of
Spirit, life,
in
vistas of outlook, that Jesus is Lord.
backward upon the past of sin, He is Lord, and has blotted out the bond written in ordinances that was against us;* or whether it is at the Thus, whether the look
is
present condition of our hearts,
He
is
Lord, and will
have dominion over the nature until the Divine purpose or whether it is forward to the end of life,
be realized
He
is
homed er
it is
still
;
Lord, and
fills
the horizon, so that souls,
His kingdom, wait for His coming or whethround upon the world, He even there is Lord, and in
;
the ages one increasing pTtrpose runs, the thoughts of men are widen' d with the process of the suns,
Through
And
widened
slowly but surely, nevertheless
tion of the Lordship of the
The Holy
Spirit is the
to a concep-
Son of God.
one and only Defender of this
Faith; and every fight for orthodoxy other than that which is aimed at bringing men to fulness of spiritual 1
Isa. xxviii.
10.
a
Col.
ii.
14.
THE
SPIRIT IN
THE CHURCH
Life in the Holy Spirit
life is futile.
is
the safeguard
of purity of doctrine.
In order to emphasize this fact, consider three great landmarks in the history of the Church the Reformation, the Evangelical revival, and the spiritual move-
ments of to-day.
The
declension that led to the Reformation, and the
Reformation doctrine
is
itself,
are proofs of the fact that purity of
only maintained by the Holy Spirit.
The
Reformation was necessary that the truth of Justificaby faith should be restated, because the Church had
tion
wandered from
spiritual to material conceptions,
had been
slighted and contemned.
and the
To bor-
Holy Spirit row the figure of the old Hebrew prophet, men had gone Egypt for horses upon which to fight God's battles they had asked and obtained the patronage of the State in matters religious. Constantine had become the pa-
to
;
Holy Spirit had been dethroned from His proper position. The result was the materializing of religious thought and character, until men had
tron of Christianity ; the
lost the doctrine of Justification
had
lost their loyalty to the
was restored through a man
new
vision of the lost truth.
trine in the face of the
him
;
the eyes of
by Faith, because they
Holy
Spirit.
The
doctrine
whom the Spirit gave a Luther declared the doc-
to
world ; the Spirit spoke through opened, and there was a re-
men were
turn to the Christian doctrine, because there was a re-
turn to the Holy Spirit.
THE
148
SPIRIT OF
GOD
The Evangelical revival illustrates the same thing. This was made necessary by the fact that the Church of God had lost its vision of the truth of Sanctification. John Wesley said that he had been raised up
in order
that he might promote Holiness throughout the land; and he declared at the beginning of that movement that if
men who feared nothing God gave him his move the world. He revolu-
he could find one hundred
but sin he would
move
the world.
hundred men, and he did
tionized the thought of this country, so that to-day the spiritual results
of the Methodist
measured by the number of
its
movement
are not
adherents, but by the
ever-increasing understanding of the doctrine of Holi-
ness in
all
some new
the Churches.
John Wesley did not discover
doctrine, save as a
which has been hidden; that he brought to light.
man may
was the old
it
It
had been
discover that
apostolic truth
lost,
because the
Holy Spirit had neither been acknowledged as a Person nor recognized as the Centre of authority in Church life. This land had passed under the deadly blight of material conceptions of Christianity.
who
The fox-hunting
parson,
cared neither for God, man, nor devil, but only for
tithes
and hounds, was the representative of Christianity
who cursed the times. He was dismissed by the return of men through John Wesley and his holy club at Oxford to the truth of the sanctification of the believer
through the submission of human lives to the governSpirit. To borrow Dr. Steele's phrase, the
ment of the
THE
SPIRIT IN
THE CHURCH
*49
Conservator of orthodoxy in every successive age
is
the
1
Holy
Spirit.
Creeds do not ensure orthodoxy, for no individual church holds all the truth of the Church. The great
body of truth
is
the property of the catholic Church, not
of any section, nor yet of any individual
Sometimes one
is
asked
if
he hold the
member
truth.
Certainly
He may
not, for no single person can hold the truth.
see one side of
he can bear
One
is
and that one
it
thereof.
side is almost
more than
while another person sees another side.
not to be angry with the other because neither
sees all the facets of the lustrous to decline to
work with
gem, nor
is
the other
the one because both do not
alike include in their understanding all the angles thereof.
To
this
man
plication of the
of
its
is
given a vision of the individual ap-
work of
social application;
Christ; to another, the vision to yet another, that of the
and international application. And the man who sees the individual aspect of that work has no right to anathematize the man who only sees the national asOne man feels that there is laid upon his heart pect.
national
and a living
the great message of a Christian doctrine
Christ to the nations
;
and he so
feels the
impulse of that
upon him, that he must give up his work with individuals, and appeal, as much as one voice may, to the nation,
from the
floor of
cannot be said that such a
some
legislative
chamber.
It
man is not doing God's work.
'Daniel Steele, D.D., author of Milestone Papers,
etc.
THE
15
A
man
not necessarily
is
GOD
SPIRIT OF
fulfilling the final
work of the ministry when he is
in the pulpit.
and only Stepping
from the pulpit and from the work of dealing with individual men about conversion and spiritual upbuilding to some a degradation of life. But if another has another outlook, and would speak to masses of
would be
man
men, and to nations of the
earth, about the
way
in
which
Christ would have society conducted and nations order
government, the preacher in his pulpit has no right man. Nay, to one is given one vision of
their
to despise that Christ,
and
to another yet another
man
the truth, as no
has
all
In the catholic Church, by the
whole truth is
contained
;
and all
The
thereof.
or
declare,
man
but no
holds
all
Spirit, is contained the
in the catholic
Church, by the
Spirit,
the gifts necessary for the declaration
catholic Church, inspired
indwelt by the Spirit, larger than
;
the gifts.
by the
a divine institution
is
Spirit,
infinitely
human sight can compass, human statistics human understanding perfectly compre-
hend. Life in the Spirit
is
necessarily, therefore, the in-
spiration of, and the equipment for service. Attempts may be made to organize and apportion to every man. his
work, giving to one the individual, to another the
and
to a third the national
things,
it
may be
;
planned that this
gospel of forgiveness, that
social,
work and subdividing
man
man
shall
these
preach the
the gospel of holiness,
and another the gospel of the coming Christ.
For the
orderly execution of these matters there
be
may
dis-
THE
SPIRIT IN
THE CHURCH
and degrees, and seasons, and symbols. The of God cannot, however, be crowded into small
tinctions,
Spirit
human
channels and ideas.
denced by
all
What
absolute folly
The
such attempts!
not bounded by loose ropes of sand, in order
by small
He
its service.
its
Church
is
not maintained
it is
but by the Spirit,
definitions,
the Conservator of
catholic
evi-
is
Who
is
orthodoxy and the Inspiration of
gives His gifts severally as
He
will;
and not along such restricted lines of communication as the laying on of hands, but through the broad river of His indwelling of the Church, come the
gifts as well as
the graces of God. If the Spirit be the Defender of the Church's faith
and the Inspiration of the Church's service, He is also the Bond of the Church's unity. In one Spirit were we all
1 baptized into one body.
The Door
of the Church
Jesus Christ; and reverently the figure further
the
Holy
may
Spirit guards the Door.
is
be carried
From
that
Holy Spirit has Church of Christ, and ad-
Pentecostal effusion to this hour, the
guarded the entrance to the mitted
all its
members by His own baptism. Men and the catholic Church by the
women have ever passed into
one Door, and entrance has ever been by the baptism of the
Holy
Spirit, apart
from which
it is
impossible for
any soul to 'come into living union with Christ, the Head of the Church. Consequently, the whole com-
pany of those who are impulsed by the same *i Cor.
xii.
13.
Church are energized and There is one body and Spirit.
in the
THE
152
SPIRIT OF
GOD
one body, as the human body is one having different members, each with its own function, but only
one Spirit
one
The hand has
life.
not a separate existence from
the foot, but each has the one life; so, in the catholic
many members having varying
Church, there are but
tions,
all
The Holy in that
are impulsed by the one is
Spirit
the
life
the great
life lies
func-
life.
of the catholic Church, and
bond of
its
union.
The
To all outward seeming and each division divided, arrogates to itself the name of the Church, until at last one most carefully sepChurch
is
one and undivided.
it is
arated division declares that sects,
and
it
true Church
The
is.
men do
catholic Church,
which
is
the churches show, and living
churches, and are
the rest are systems and
alone gives outward revelation of what the
fact is that
There are
all
it
is
not
the bounds of the
smaller than the records of yet greater than
members of
may be
know
that
Church
them
all.
in all the
that on the rolls of the churches
names which are not on the
roll
of the catholic
Those are members thereof who are baptized union with Christ by the Holy Spirit. The Lord
Church. into
knows them; and being members of His one Church, they can sing the words of Baring-Gould's far higher sense than
We
some people imagine
are not divided;
All one body we,
One in hope and One in charity.
doctrine,
:
hymn
in a
THE It
THE CHURCH
SPIRIT IN
*53
may be objected that the Church is not one in docThe catholic Church is one in doctrine, and this Whether men exits central word: Jesus is Lord.
trine. is
press that truth to swing of censer to the beat of the
drum and
and swell of music, or
the blare of the trumpet, or
without any of these accompaniments, matters far than is imagined.
The
life
of the
Church came, not by the
will of
less
man,
nor by a ceremony of human invention, but by the baptism of the Spirit and the great unity of that Church is ;
still
maintained by the indwelling of
The
the Holy Spirit. of the Spirit,
and which
is
all its
members by
true consciousness of this unity
the love concerning which Paul wrote,
finds its manifestation
toward the unit and
make up
the aggregate of units which
the whole.
The
unity of the Church can only be realized in full spiritual
Acts of Uniformity cannot make the Church one :
life.
that
is
the original and continuous
Of that one are at
great Church of Christ
home with
the Lord,
work of the Spirit. some of its members
some are passing through
the earth, and some are
and the
Spirit
be broken.
is
the
coming up out of to-morrow; Keeper of the unity, which cannot
Presently out of
ment and disruption
will
all
the seeming disagree-
come the glorious Church of
the First-born, without spot or wrinkle or any such thing.
XIV
THE SPIRIT IN THE WORLD
HP HE i-
ministry of the Spirit in the present age
no means confined within the
limits of the
is
by
Church.
Scripture very clearly reveals the intention as being far
wider; and the history of the centuries proves the accomplishment to be in keeping with the intention.
There are three portions of Scripture which may be examined as throwing light on this subject. First, a utterance,
prophetic
the
of
which Peter
Day
of Pentecost;
fulfilment
claimed as being accomplished on the
secondly, the express declaration of the
Lord concerning
the Spirit's ministry in the world ; and, lastly, the teach-
ing of Paul and John concerning the work of the Holy All Spirit as opposed to the work of the spirit of evil. these deal with a present ministry of the Spirit
some sense
is
united to the
work of
from and beyond
also apart
which in
the Church, but
is
it.
First, the prophecy: These are not drunken, as ye it is but the third hour of the day; but which hath been spoken by the prophet Joel; 1
suppose; seeing this is that 1
Acts
ii.
15-18.
154
THE And it shall
SPIRIT IN
THE WORLD
be in the last days, saith God,
I will pour forth of
My
Spirit
upon
all flesh;
And your sons and your daughters shall And your young men shall see visions, And your old men shall dream dreams: Yea and on
My servants
My
and on
prophesy,
handmaidens in
those days
Will I pour forth of
My
and they
Spirit;
shall
prophesy.
The term used in
an expression which is uniformly the Old Testament Scriptures with reference to all flesh is
The
the whole race.
exceptions are to be found repeat-
edly in the Pentateuch and once in the
where the expression
man
all flesh refers
race but to everything having
Book
of Daniel,
*
1
not only to the hulife.
The
sense of
the phrase cannot be narrowed to anything smaller than the whole
and
human
family ; and the statement here
is
clear
the utterance of the prophet long years
distinct
before Pentecost, and the utterance of the apostle on the
of Pentecost, claiming the fulfilment of the old
Day
prophecy, that the Spirit should be poured upon
all
flesh.
The
link between the prophecy
and
its
fulfilment is
revealed in the Gospel of John: In the beginning the
^vas God.
among 'Dan.
.
us.'
.
was
Word zvas ivith God, and the Word And the Word became flesh, and dwelt The eternal Word took upon Him a nature
Word, and the
iv. 12.
.
*John
i.
i,
14.
THE
i5 6
SPIRIT OF
GOD
common to the race, and therein wrought righteousness and accomplished redemption. Consequently, when He ascended on high to receive gifts for men, He received the Spirit, and by His outpouring upon disciples, the The
Church was formed.
Pentecostal effusion had,
however, another and far wider significance. was poured upon all flesh, so that the whole
The Spirit human race
was thereby brought into a new relationship with Him as the result of the work of Jesus Christ. Just as the
Word ciated
the
took the common flesh of humanity, and assoHimself with the whole race so, as the result of ;
He
work
did while thus associated, the Spirit
was
poured not merely upon the company of disciples, but also
upon
all -flesh.
This
mission of the Spirit.
is
the larger outlook
upon the
Let there be no minimizing of
the value of this great statement.
There
is,
however, a distinct difference between the
and to
relationship that the Spirit bears to the believer
The
the unbeliever. that indwelling
is
Spirit
is
in the believer,
and he by
kept in union with Christ.
The
Spirit strives with the unbeliever as a Spirit of conviction,
of reasoning, wooing
God. The difference the Spirit
is
him
in patience to the
way
of
most marked, yet the ministry of a ministry which touches all men. is
Secondly, the declaration of Christ in the Paschal discourses:
world
And He, when He
judgment: of
sin,
is
come, will convict the
and of righteousness, and of because they believe not on Me; of
in respect of sin,
THE
SPIRIT IN
THE WORLD
157
go to the Father, and ye behold no more; of judgment, because the prince of this world hath been judged. 1 This is the first aspect of the
righteousness, because I
Me
ministry of the Spirit
among men. He came
not merely
to reveal the things of Christ to the Church, but to convict the zvorld of sin, of righteousness,
and of judgment.
In the Authorized Version the word convict reprove.
It is
a word
is
rendered
the inner thought of which
not
is
revealed by the translation convict.
Bishop Westcott, luminous exposition of the Gospel of John, says that this word has in it four shades of meaning: first, in his
an authoritative examination of the facts; secondly, unquestionable proof; thirdly, decisive judgment; and, lastly,
punitive power.
The mission revealing to
way
of the
them
Holy
the truth
Spirit with
on these
is
subjects, in
that they shall be convinced that
men
men it
is
that of
such a
the truth.
seek to excuse themselves, try to
Concerning sin, evade the facts; but when the Spirit deals with a man about sin, he cannot escape ; and under His illumination
man
has the same clear vision of righteousness and
judgment. Passing from the word
itself to
the subject,
world in respect of
will convict the
sin,
He
.
.
.
and of right-
eousness, and of judgment? it is clear that these three words cover the past, the present, and the future of the
outlook of *John
man
as a sinner
xvi. 8-1 1.
"John
the history of past sin, the
xvi. 8.
THE
158
SPIRIT
(
present
demand
for righteousness,
The
judgment.
OF GOD and the fear of future
Spirit takes these three cardinal facts,
and places them in their true light, so that men may make no mistake concerning them. The Master declared the testimony the Spirit .
jects.
.
Of
.
would bear on these sub-
sin,
because they believe not on
Me;
of
righteousness,because I go to the Father, and ye behold Me no more; of judgment, because the prince of this
world hath been judged. 1 tion it
which the
demands a
Spirit
That
is
the threefold revela-
giving to the
is
closer examination.
Three persons are spoken of Man, :
Man
world to-day, and
Christ,
and Satan
in the realm of sin, Christ in the realm of
Ob-
righteousness, Satan in the realm of judgment.
serve next the inter-relation of these three: relationship to himself, to Christ,
His
in
Man
and to Satan
;
in his
Christ
man, and to Satan; himself, to man, and to
relationship to Himself, to
Satan in his relationship to Christ. First,
Man
in his relationship to the three.
relationship to himself his
life,
whose
lieves in Jesus.
sinner
for
is
sin ceases
Man's
do righteously.
that of a sinner having lost
and
is
put away
when he
be-
relationship to Christ is that of a
whom He
through Whose triumph self
Man's
has
procured
salvation,
of righteousness
Man's relationship
and
man may him-
to Satan
is
that
of a slave under the prince of this world, but from 1
John
xvi.
9- 1 1.
THE whose power he
THE WORLD
SPIRIT IN
free, for this prince
is set
has been de-
feated.
Secondly, Christ in His relationship to the three. Christ's relationship to Himself is that of righteousness,
He
for
declared His personal triumph
when He
said:
/ go to the Father* His relationship to man is that of a Saviour, and therefore man's sin consists in refusal to believe
on Him.
Christ's relationship to Satan
is
that of Conqueror, for the prince of this world hath been
judged.
2
Satan, con-
Lastly, Satan in his relation to the three.
cerning himself, is
is
hath been judged
conquered
powerless; concerning man,
judged ice
;
is
conquered
evil
.
He
centre.
is
come, will convict the
the Spirit
upon
Henceforth sin consists
all flesh, sin
in the refusal
to accept the Divine provision of healing
longer
is
is
because they believe not on
.
.
With the coming of
had a new
own Him King. There
than that of conquest.
Once again: He, when world in respect of sin
hath been judged
conquered
and therefore even he must
no other outlook for
No
and
hath been
and therefore can no longer claim man's serv-
concerning Christ,
Me. 3
is
and power.
the root-sin that of impurity, or drunken-
ness, or lust, or pride, or even law-breaking; the rootsin is the refusal to believe
on Jesus. If men
will believe
on Him, in that relationship to Christ which springs from belief, is to be found healing for wounds, and 1
John
xvi. 17.
B
John
xvi.
n.
'John
xvi. 8, 9.
THE
160
SPIRIT OF
strength which issues in victory. that the sin
lies,
refusal to let the
The
The
not in the fact of passion, but in the
come
to reveal the truth about
If the revelation of sin be that of a
centre, the revelation of righteousness
that of a
go
new
Spirit declares
Master master the passion.
Spirit has also
righteousness.
GOD
consequently,
righteousness, because I
Of
possibility.
to the Father.'1
is,
new
In the height of that glory, which
may by no means look upon, is God's perfect One Who said, / go to the Father. Not simMan, ply by virtue of His own righteousness did He go, but
mortal eyes the
bearing into the presence of the Father the marks of
on the Cross, by which He liberated His life, might become the force of renew.al for man. The
that death that
it
Spirit conies to bring to
men
the gospel of a
new
possi-
bility of righteousness.
Lastly, the Spirit's revelation of
cerned with a
new
exercise thereof.
take, in quoting this passage, to
come
which
after judgment.
is
not that which
already accomplished.
;
is
A
con-
mis-
that of adding the
The
this reveals is obvious
ferred to is
is
is
common
judgment
words
confusion of thought
for the to
judgment here recome, but that which
The Judgment Day
is
not to
be one of twenty-four hours, but of long duration, an
age in
itself,
of which the closing event will be the final
assize before the Great
White Throne.
That stupen-
dous transaction will simply be the unfolding of the facts *John
xvi. 19.
THE
SPIRIT IN
THE WORLD
161
which are present to-day, because the prince of this world hath been judged. Righteousness has had its conflict
with
evil,
and has won in the
The head
fight.
of the enemy of the race has been bruised, even though the heel of the Victor
was wounded
in the process.
The
world hath been judged; and the things that must pass and perish are evil things and un-
prince of this
righteous things, while the things that cannot be shaken
and that
will
remain are righteous things, pure things,
and beautiful things, yea, all the things of God. Judgment is fixed, doom is marked, destiny is sealed, by the Cross of Jesus Christ. things which are
share the
If
men
fling in their lot
with
doomed and judged, then they must
doom and judgment which have been
passed
upon them by the Cross of Calvary; but if they turn their backs upon doomed things, and lift their eyes to-
ward the things Christ
is,
that abide, the heavenly things
where
the upper things, the conquering things, then
them judgment was borne upon the Cross, and they have entered into justification-life. Thus the ministry for
of the Spirit in the world to-day
is
that of revealing the
truth concerning sin, righteousness, and judgment.
Thirdly, the teaching of Paul and John
clear that
is
the Spirit has yet another ministry in the world to-day that,
namely, of hindering the
Paul and John in fact that the
Holy
full
manifestation of
sin.
their Epistles give testimony to the
Spirit is the ever-present
Force de-
nying, hindering, thwarting, the outworking
of
evil.
THE
162
This
is clearly
SPIRIT OF
GOD
revealed by comparison of certain of their
writings. .
.
.
The man of sin
.
.
.
the son of perdition, he that
opposeth and exalteth himself against
God
or that
is
all that is called
worshipped; so that he sitteth in the tem-
1 That is a God, setting himself forth as God. as he be. of antichrist will The mystery of description
ple of
lawlessness doth already work.
revealed the lawless one. 2 there
is
.
The
.
And
.
then shall be
apostle thus states that
a mystery of iniquity, a mystery of lawlessness,
work among men, and that there is a day coming when that mystery will have a manifestation in at
an actual person, the lawless one will be revealed. Who is the John, writing on this same theme, says *i
:
liar btit
he that denieth that Jesus
is the
Christ?
the antichrist, even he that denieth the Father
is
Son.
3
which confesseth not Jesus
Every spirit God: and this is the
have 'heard that already.* This
that there
is
whereof ye and it in now is the world cometh; practically the same teaching namely,
spirit
it is
It is the spirit
not of
spirit of the antichrist,
of antichrist, a spirit of the mys-
tery of lawlessness, in the world, in the future
and the
is
it
is
a
This
and that
at
some period
to have, a manifestation in a person.
which denies God, not necessarily with it may be
the blatant blasphemy of public speech, but
with
all
cultured correctness of
It is that
life.
which
denies God, that which denies Christ. *2 Thess. iv.
3.
ii.
2
3,
4-
2 Thess.
ii.
7, 8.
s
i
John
ii.
22.
*John
THE Paul distinctly
THE WORLD
SPIRIT IN
which
which
states that there is another force
holds this force of evil in check: that
163
restraineth.
.
.
.
And now
ye
know
The mystery of lawlessness is One that restraineth
doth already zvork: only there
now,
until
He
1 be taken out of the way.
declaration that the spirit of evil that there it is
the
is
Holy
Spirit.
the
in the past.
One
spirit of
Christ
is
that
a plain
does not say
There has been a great deal of particular passage, and attempts
had regard to the Roman John, however, makes it clear Who
have been made to show that
power
is
work, and also
He
a Force which restrains.
controversy about this
This
is at
restraineth
God: every spirit come in the flesh
which confesseth not Jesus 2 spirit of the antichrist.
it
Hereby know ye the which confesseth that Jesus is:
of God: and every spirit
is is
not of God: and this
Here the two things are placed which denies
the spirit of antichrist,
in opposition,
Jesus Christ and denies God; the Spirit of God,
announces the Christ of God, and teaches call
Him of
Who
men how
to
Lord.
These two forces are spirit
the
is
evil,
at
the leaven that
where and the ;
still
Spirit of God,
work is
in the world,
the
undoing men everyand holds
Who restrains
in check the force of evil.
All the great forces which are antagonistic to
have been thus hindered, restrained, back upon themselves during the years. 1
2 Thess.
ii.
-
6, 7.
i
John
iv. 2, 3.
last
God
checked, flung
nineteen hundred
THE
164
The ministry istry in the
SPIRIT OF
of the Spirit
Church;
it
is
GOD
world-wide, and
is
His min-
larger than
is
always
based upon the work of the Christ.
Whether
Church or
no message but
to the world, the Spirit has
To
the message of Jesus Christ.
the
man in the
to the
Church,
and to the whole Churcji, He is revealing the Christ in new. beauty and new glory. To the world He is revealing sin, righteousness, and judgment in their relation to the Christ.
The
Spirit
is
poured upon
and, in co-operation with the Church,
He
all flesh
:
convinces of
Therein sin, and of righteousness, and of judgment. lie the heart, the centre, and the responsibility of foreign missionary work.
preacher? and sent? 1
how
The Holy
How
shall
they hear without a
shall they preach, except they be
Spirit
is
waiting in the far-distant
places of the earth for the voice of anointed
man
preach, in order that through that instrumentality
may
carry on His
work of convicting of
sin,
to
He
and of
righteousness, and of judgment.
Beyond
that, there is this other
which
is
world
He is
is
too often lost sight of.
marvellous ministry
By His
presence in the
restraining the out-working of iniquity,
and
checking, hindering, and driving back every attempted
combination of the forces of
evil for the
swamping of
the Church, and the hindering of the kingdom.
The
Spirit's restraining work will go forward until the moment has come when the number of the elect is complete. 1
Rom.
x.
14,
15.
THE Then
shall the Spirit
called
and
SPIRIT IN
away, in order that iniquity
God
165
be withdrawn- when the Church
smitten to its final
of our
THE WORLD may be
is
manifested
doom, and the glorious kingdom
be set up. 1
J The only sense in which the Spirit is withdrawn is that which characterizes His special work in this age that, namely, of conserving the Church and preventing the progress of evil to He will carry on His work of striving with men as He finality. did prior to the Deluge, but with results more glorious. This, however, is another subject and a part of prophetic study.
BOOK THE
SPIRIT IN
VI
THE INDIVIDUAL
167
Thou Breath from Breathe o'er
my
still
eternity,
barren land
spirit's
The
pine-tree and the myrtle-tree Shall spring -amidst the desert sand, And where Thy living water flows
The waste
May
shall
I in will
Obey Thee
blossom as the
and deed and word
as a
little
child;
And
keep me in Thy love, For ever holy, undefiled
Within me teach and Lest
O
I
should choose
Spirit,
rose.
my
Lord,
;
and pray,
strive
my own
wild way.
Stream that by the Son
Is open'd to us crystal pure,
Forth-flowing from the heavenly Throne To waiting hearts and spirits poor, Athirst and weary do I sink Beside Thy waters, there to drink.
My spirit turns
to
Thee and
clings,
All else forsaking, unto Thee, Forgetting all created things,
Remembering only God
O
living Stream,
None
in me.
O
gracious Rain, wait for Thee, and wait in vain.
G. TERSTEEGEN.
168
XV
THE BAPTISM OF THE
SPIRIT
dealing with these matters of the Spirit,
it is
wise
IN to keep, as far as possible, to the terms of the New Testament; and
it
would be an enormous gain
if
they
were used only as they are used in Scripture. The term the baptism of the Spirit has been very generally misunderstood, and therefore misapplied.
were synonymous with the
has been used filling
of the
and, consequently, some persons speak
of the
as though Spirit;
It
it
baptism of the Spirit as a second blessing. They teach that it is necessary to ask for, and to wait for, and to expect this baptism of the Spirit, as something different
That
from and beyond conversion. the primary blessing;
regeneration.
When
a
it is,
man
a view utterly
The baptism
unauthorized by Scripture. is
is
is
of the Spirit
in short, the blessing of
baptized with the Spirit,
born again. There is, however, an essential difference between that initial blessing and the blessing into
he
is
which thousands of God's people have been entering during recent years the difference between the baptism of the Spirit and the
filling
169
of the Spirit.
THE
1 70
SPIRIT OF
GOD
In the majority of cases in the experience of believers, the filling of the Spirit
They
realized after the baptism.
is
are identical in the purpose of God, but there
So important
difference in the experience.
Christian people should have
is
it
is
a
that
a clear understanding of
what the baptism of the Spirit really is, that it will be well to review the whole of the passages in the New Testament in which the words are used, in order to a correct appreciation of the true significance of the
phrase.
John
.
.
.
when he saw many
of the Pharisees and
Sadducees coming to his baptism, said unto them . indeed baptise you with water unto repentance: but .
cometh after
that
am
me
is
mightier than
not worthy to bear:
He
shall baptise
Holy Spirit and zvith fire* John preached, saying .
.
.
He
I,
Whose
.
.
.
.
I
He
shoes I
you with
the
I baptised you with
you with the Holy Spirit? John anszuered, saying unto them all, I indeed baptise you with water; but there cometh He that is mightier water; but
than
shall baptize
I, the latchet
unloose:
He
of
Whose shoes I am not worthy to you with the Holy Spirit and
shall baptise
zvith fire*
John answered them, saying. I baptise with water: in
you standeth One Whom ye know not, even cometh after me, the latchet of Whose shoe I am
the midst df
He that 1
Matt.
iii.
4-11.
2
Mark
i.
6-8.
8
Luke
iii.
16
THE BAPTISM OF THE not worthy to unloose.
1 .
.
.
SPIRIT
And John
bare witness,
saying, I have beheld the Spirit descending as a dove out
of heaven; and
He
not; but
it
And
abode upon Him.
that sent
me
I
knew Him
with water,
to baptise
Upon Whomsoever thou descending, and abiding upon Him, unto me,
He
said
shalt see the Spirit
the
same
is
He
that
baptiseth zvith the
Holy Spirit.* more than remarkable, it discover that the Gospels which It is
almost startling to
is
chronicle the life
and
ministry of Christ, have no account of this baptism of the Spirit, save the prophecy of His coming uttered
John the Baptist,
who
himself, his message,
What
spoke of
and
by
as something beyond
it
his age.
the baptism of the Spirit
from the word of the Master
to
is
may be
gathered
Nicodemus:
Jesus
answered, Verily, verily, I say unto thee, Except a
man
be born of water and the Spirit, he cannot enter into the
kingdom of God.* The inference is, that if a man be born of water and the Spirit, he can enter into the king-
dom
of God.
which
is
But follow the words
born of the flesh
of the Spirit is spirit.
it
is
cometh, and whither
born
that I said unto thee,
The wind bloweth where
and thou hearest the voice
whence
further : That
and that which
Marvel not
Ye must be born anew. eth,
is flesh;
still
it list-
thereof, but knowest not it
goeth: so
is
every one
that is born of the Spirit.
Except a man be born of water and the Spirit 1
John
i.
26, 2?.
John
i.
32, 33.
John
iii.
5-8.
is
a
*
THE
72
passage about which there
The Master
is
is
great diversity of opinion.
here linking His
sation to the teaching
GOD
SPIRIT OF
own
teaching and dispen-
and dispensation that
is
conclud-
The water baptism
ing with the mission of John.
is
the baptism of John, and the Spirit baptism
is
the bap-
That which
is
symbol-
tism of Jesus, the gift of ized by the cede, life
;
first is
life.
necessary, for repentance
but the baptism of the Spirit
by which a man
is
is
must pre-
the gift of life
admitted into the kingdom of God.
In the Gospels, John standing as the forerunner, declared / indeed baptise you with water; but there com:
eth
He
that
is
mightier than I
.
.
.
He
shall baptise
1
Years passed, John's minyou with the Holy Spirit. was the ended, istry earthly ministry of Christ was ended, the Cross and Resurrection were accomplished facts.
fore
Jesus
He
now
stood amid His disciples, and be-
He
ascended on high
said to them:
John
indeed baptised with water; but ye shall be baptised with the Holy Spirit not many days hence. 2 There
had been as yet no baptism with the Holy Spirit; and, consequently, these men gathered around Christ had not yet entered into the
final relationship
with
Him
that characterizes the Christian dispensation, and forms
the holy catholic Church.
of a Jewish Messiah
away, and the
;
but
They had been
now
Lord
living
that relation
the disciples
was passing was
in resurrection glory
about to pour upon them the baptism predicted by John. *Luke
iii.
16.
'Acts
i.
5.
THE BAPTISM OF THE
SPIRIT
*73
Christ took up the words of His forerunner, and claimed that they were to be fulfilled in the experience of these
men: John indeed baptised with zvater as they had gone at the moment but the ;
ing was coming Spirit not
many
is
as far
greater bless-
ye shall be baptised -with the
Holy
days hence.
And as I began
to speak, the
Holy
even as on us at the beginning.
word
that
how
of the Lord,
tised ^vith water; but
ye
that
He
Spirit fell on them,
And
I remembered the
said,
John indeed bap-
shall be baptised with the
Holy
God gave unto them the like gift as He did also unto us, when we believed on the Lord Jesus 1 Christ, who was I, that I could withstand God? Peter,
Spirit.
If then
in giving
an account of the conversion of Cornelius, de-
clared that these as he preached,
men were baptized with the Spirit when, they believed on Christ. The teaching
of both these passages evidently
tism
is
that
is,
that the Spirit's bap-
by which men pass into the new relationship. is drawn between the baptism
In both places a contrast
of the Spirit and the baptism of John, showing that the
baptism of the Spirit was the power which took
beyond the legalism of the old dispensation tal relationship of the new.
Are ye ignorant
that all
we who were
Christ Jesus were baptised into
buried therefore with that like as Christ 1
Acts
xi. 15-17.
Him
men
into the vi-
baptised into
His death ?
We
were
through baptism into death:
was raised from
the dead through the
THE
174
GOD
SPIRIT OF
glory of the Father, so ive also might walk in newness 1 This is the only direct reference to the baptism of life.
Romans.
of the Spirit in the Letter to the the baptism referred to
no man
is
is
baptized by water into the death of Christ.
Water baptism may be a symbol of a
man
Certainly
the Spirit's baptism, for surely
has passed from death unto
the great fact that
life,
but the baptism
by which men are actually brought into relationship with the death and the life of Christ is the baptism of the Spirit;
and
it is
quite evident that in this
the Epistle a reference
is
made
argument of
to the beginnings of
to the initial blessing, to the blessing of
spiritual life
regeneration. 2
For
-in
one Spirit zvere
we
all
baptised into one body,
whether Jews or Greeks, whether bond or free? Here again the reference must be to the -moment when men entered the Church of Christ ; and the statement
is
that
then they were baptized in the Holy Spirit.
For ye are all sons of God, through faith, in Christ For as many of you as were baptised into Christ Jesus. did put on Christ*
Faith was the condition of the bap-
tism by which these people put on Christ and became sons of God, that baptism being, undoubtedly, the baptism of the Holy Spirit.
One Lord, one Father of 1
Rom.
Version *Eph.
all.
faith,
one baptism, one
God and
s
2 Notice the slight alteration of the Revised 8 not bv one Spirit. i Cor. xii. 13. *Gal. iii. 26, 27.
vi. 3, 4.
iv. 5, 6.
THE BAPTISM OF THE
SPIRIT
the object of the sinner's faith; one faith
One Lord
centred upon the one Lord
;
one baptism
the baptism
of the Holy Spirit, by which the sinner becomes the Lord's one God and Father the new relationship that ;
God
bears to the sinner when, baptized by the Spirit, he
Here baptism takes the beginning of the Christian life, imme-
passes into the place of adoption. place at
its
diately succeeding faith in the revealed Lord,
ceeded by the .
.
.
When
new
and suc-
relationship to God.
the longsuffering of
God waited
in the
days of Noah, while the ark was a preparing, wherein few, that is, eight souls, were saved through water:
which also in the antitype doth now save you, even baptism, not the putting
away of
the interrogation of a
the filth of the flesh, but
good conscience toward God,
through the resurrection of Jesus Christ'. Peter says that in the days of ;
of which water
is
a figure
the baptism of the
This
is
the people were
and that men are saved to-day by that
saved by water
by
Noah
1
Holy
that
is
to say,
men
are saved
Spirit.
a review of the whole of the passages in the
New
Testament that refer to the question of the baptism of the Spirit. In every case the reference is, not to
some blessing subsequent
to regeneration, but to re-
by which a soul passes from darkness into light, out of death into life, from the thraldom of sin and Satan into the glorigeneration
itself
to that supernatural miracle
ous liberty of a child of God. 1
i
Pet.
iii.
20, 21 (margin).
THE
17 6
GOD
SPIRIT OF
This sweeps away the view that the baptism of the
a second blessing. There is absolutely no warrant in the whole teaching of Scripture for such Spirit
is
view and therefore there ;
is,
further,
no warrant for the
popular and prevalent idea that the Holy Spirit must be
asked
for, or
waited
for.
Referring to the oft-quoted
ye then, being
your
evil,
children, hozv
words of the Master,
If
know how to give good gifts unto much more shall your Father which
heaven give good things to them that ask Him? 1 it has already been shown 2 that these words were spoken is in
while
He was
His work as the Jewish Messiah They never asked, and therefore
fulfilling
to
Jewish disciples. never received the Spirit through their asking. in reply to the asking of Jesus,
The
finished work.
upon
He came
the ground of His
Spirit is never given in
answer to
human asking but upon the ground of repentance and faith, man is baptized therewith, and from that moment the Spirit of God takes possession and dwells within. The believer may check Him, hinder Him, thwart Him, and grieve Him, but from the moment of the new birth ;
he
is
initial
a temple of the Holy Spirit.
is,
then, in the
miracle of regeneration that souls are baptized
with the Holy
On
It
the
Spirit.
same ground
it
is
not right that Christian
people should profess to be waiting for the baptism of the Spirit. 1
Matt.
vii.
The words, ii.
3
Tarry,
Chapter VII.
.
.
.
until
ye be clothed
THE BAPTISM OF THE. SPIRIT
i77
with power from on high? have no application to newborn souls at all or if they have an application, it is one ;
that
a sad revelation of a condition of
is
ours the Lord.
power,
If
men have to tarry until endued with God has not given the Spirit,
is
something in the
the Spirit work.
believer
Holy some
Spirit
that dishon-
not because
it is
but because there let
life
;
and
if
Every
which will not
life is
there be tarrying,
a temple of the
on account of
it is
disobedience, and not on account of any unreadiness on the part of God to bestow full blessing upon all His children. Such tarrying is not the waiting of man for the Spirit, but the waiting of the Spirit for man.
There are certain passages
in the
which are used to show that the or the baptism of the Spirit
is
Acts of the Apostles
gift of the
subsequent
to.
Holy
Spirit
conversion.
Philip went to Samaria and preached there; people believed in Jesus,
and were baptized
in
His name.
received the
Holy Spirit. Therefore, it is asserted that on Christ and are baptized but the Holy
people believe Spirit has to
;
be received as a second blessing.
Carefully notice what actually took place.
came
men
Af-
and they
ter that the apostles visited these believers,
to Samaria, preached in the
believed in
some
name
intellectual sense,
Philip
of Jesus, and
and were bap-
number was Simon Magus. It is Among impossible to distinguish between Simon Magus and the the
tized.
rest, 1
because the statement that Simon
Luke xxiv.
49.
Magus
believed
THE
1 78 is
as distinct as
is
SPIRIT OF
GOD
the statement that the others did so,
and the Scriptures as distinctly state that he was baptized because he believed, as that the others were oap-
But when the
tized because they believed.
came, Peter thus described Simon
Magus
apostles
Thou
:
neither part nor lot in this matter: for thy heart
right before God.
.
.
.
For I
hast
is
not
see that thou art in the
and in the bond of iniquity. 1 As to Peter unfolded to them the full meaning of
gall of bitterness
the others,
the Gospel message, and those, that heard
Holy
None
Spirit.
it
received the
of them had received the Spirit, and
them were born again. These people must be remembered, held the Jewish
therefore none of
of Samaria,
it
view of Messiahship, and
their belief in Jesus,
was
in
Him as having come for the establishment of the earthly kingdom.
They had given an
intellectual assent to the
story of Jesus, and, having believed
it,
had consented to
go through an outward form and ceremony but not until the apostles came, and the Spirit of God fell upon ;
them, were they members of the Church or converted souls.
is
Again, the story of the conversion of Saul of Tarsus used in the same way: And Ananias departed, and
entered into the house; and laying his hands on him said,
Brother Saul, the Lord, even Jesus, thee in the
way which thou
Who
thou mayest receive thy sight, and be J
Acts
viii.
21-23.
appeared unto
earnest, hath sent me, that filled
with the
THE BAPTISM OF THE Holy as
it
Spirit.
were
And
scales,
straightway there
and he received
SPIRIT fell
179
from his eyes and he arose
his sight;
and u'as baptised; and he took food and was strengthened. 1
Concerning
this case there is certainly
room
for
The
probability, however, is that the procedure is with all the rest, and that Saul was arrested harmony and convinced of the kingship of Jesus on the road
doubt. in
Damascus, but did not enter into the Church by regeneration until the fuller light came from the instructo
Even
tion of Ananias.
certain people
who
diately receive the
be granted that there were believed in Jesus, yet did not imme-
Holy
if it
Spirit,
it
must be remembered
that cases like these are not to be found in the subse-
quent story of the Acts.
The passage most
often used in this
way
tion Paul addressed to certain people at
is
the ques-
Ephesus
:
Did
ye receive the Holy Spirit when ye believed?* The Authorized Version, with less accuracy, translated it: Plave ye received the Holy Spirit since ye believed? This, it is alleged, gives a clear case of people who had believed and yet
had not received the Holy
Spirit.
But
here aga n the facts of the case must be carefully exam;
Paul came to Ephesus, and found there a little company of believers in Jesus. There is no record as ined.
to
why he
Did ye
put this question to them, but he asked them
receive the
Holy
Spirit
question evidently carries with *Acts
ix.
17-19.
a
Acts xix.
2.
when ye it
believed?
:
The
the thought that they
THE
i8o
ought to have done
we
did not so
much
SPIRIT OF
And
so.
GOD
they said unto him, Nay,
as hear whether the
Holy
Spirit
was
And
he said [most probably in surprise], Into what then were ye baptised? And they said, Into John's
given.
And Paid
baptism.
said,
John baptised with the bap-
tism of repentance, saying unto the people, that they
Him
should believe on that
is,
And when
on Jesus.
name
baptised into the
Paul had
came on
which should come they heard
of the
Lord
after him,
this,
Jesus.
they were
And when
hands upon them, the Holy Spirit
laid his 1
them'.
These people were not Christians, they were not born again; they were the disciples of Jesus as He was
was
heralded by John.
It
to receive the
Spirit, in order that they
therefore necessary for
them
Holy might pass from that region of water baptism into the region of the baptism of the Holy Spirit. But it may be wondered
how
came
to be disciples of John as far away as The Ephesus. explanation is found in the context: Now a certain Jew named Apollos, an Alexandrian by
there
race,
a learned man,
came
to
Ephesus; and he was
mighty in the Scriptures. Being fervent in spirit, he spake and taught carefully the things concerning .
Jesus,
knowing only
.
.
2 the baptism of John.
That
counts for the presence of disciples at Ephesus.
Apollos came there, he himself did not tism of the Spirit 1
A.cts xix. 2-6.
2
;
know
ac-
When the bap-
and these were people baptized with
Acts
xviii.
24,
25.
THE BAPTISM OF THE
SPIRIT
the baptism of John, and knowing therefore only so
much
of Jesus as John himself had been able to declare.
Apollos himself had to be instructed in the
more carefully? and when the ful of believers in John's
way
apostle came,
of
this
God
hand-
baptism had also to be taught.
Therefore to interpret this text as teaching that beyond the day of conversion there
Holy Spirit ting and to
necessary,
is
is
some other
gift of the
out of
proper set-
to wrest
it
its
up a new standard of Christian life, for no warrant. gives There are many moral people who admire Christ, and
which
set
it
have perchance even been baptized with John's baptism, but they have never been born again to them this :
But
text has a direct application.
to people born again
of the Spirit of God, there can be no application of this
message, because by the
Holy
Spirit,
and
new birth they have
into that Spirit they
received the
have been bap-
tized.
The baptism
of the Spirit, then,
regeneration whereby a of life in which Christ
own communicated
man is
is
that miracle of
passes into the
supreme
in the
new realm
power of His
life.
In the great commission, tised shall be saved; but
He that belief eth and is
bap-
he that disbelieveth shall be
condemned? most assuredly the baptism referred to is Holy Spirit. The words declare the condi-
that of the
tion of salvation 1
Acts
xviii. 26.
and the promise thereof a
Mark
xvi. 16.
:
He
that bc-
THE
182 lieveth
[that
is
[that
the
is
SPIRIT OF
human
GOD
condition]
and
is
baptised
When
the Divine miracle] shall be saved.
the
stated, baptism is omitted, as being unhe that disbelieveth cannot be baptized. necessary; for
negative side
If
it is
is
water baptism, he can
of the Spirit, he cannot.
;
Thus
but
if it is
in that
the baptism
commission the
Lord most evidently puts the baptism of the the very entrance of the kingdom.
Men
Spirit at
believing (one
faith), and being baptized (one baptism), are saved; while he that believeth not is condemned.
By
baptism of the Spirit the individual becomes
this
a temple of the Holy Spirit ; and the message that ought to be delivered to Christian people to-day
temple of God,
Divine
the Spirit
;
is
:
Ye
do not desecrate the temple, but
One Who Not
being.
1
are a
let
the
indwells, govern absolutely the whole
that the heart should be opened to admit
for God's children are such because the
Spirit has already taken possession,
Holy
and even though de-
they nevertheless are the temples of the Holy Spirit for it was not to sanctified people, in the usually
filed,
;
Ye
accepted sense of the term, that the apostle said: are a temple of God.
The
central fact, the great
almost appalling miracle of Christianity, baptized by the Spirit also
the
that persons
become temples of God.
become members of the of Christ.
is
and
They
catholic Church, parts of
Moreover, by that baptism they are sealed unto a consummation, sealed unto the final
Body
day of redemption. 1
Cor.
iii.
16.
THE BAPTISM OF THE It is to
SPIRIT
183
be feared that many, in emphasizing what is an idea and an ex-
spoken of as the second blessing
pression to be found nowhere in Scripture
degrade the blessing of regeneration, itself all
insult
and
which holds within
subsquent unfoldings of blessing and of power.
XVI
THE FILLING OF THE (THE
NEW TESTAMENT
SPIRIT.
IDEAL)
discussing this subject, the one matter of impor-
IN tance
is
the discovery of
the filling of the Spirit
is
For he
sense in which the term
used in the
In one form or another the Pentecostal effusion
the.
it
New
Testament.
occurs four times prior to
:
shall be great in the sight of the
Lord, and he
no wine nor strong drink; and he shall be with the Holy Spirit, even from his mother's
shall 'drink filled
womb. 1
And
it
came
to pass,
when Elisabeth heard
Mary, the babe leaped was filled with the Holy
the saluta-
womb; and
tion of
in her
beth
Spirit; and she
Elisa-
lifted
up
her voice with a loud cry?
And Spirit,
his father Zacharias
was
filled
with the Holy
and prophesied, saying. 3
And Jesus,
full of the Holy Spirit, returned from the led by the Spirit in the wilderness and was Jordan,
during forty days* *Luke
i.
15.
"Luke
i.
41, 42.
184
'Luke
i.
67.
*
Luke
iv.
i.
THE FILLING OF THE
SPIRIT
John, the forerunner of the Christ, was
from
Spirit
his birth.
Elisabeth
was
Spirit for the singing of a sacred song. filled
185
filled
filled
with the with the
Zacharias was
with the Spirit for the uttering of prophecy.
Lord was
filled
The
with the Spirit for the exercise of His
Messianic ministry.
This
of certain persons, prior to the Pente-
filling
costal effusion,
was a continuation
in keeping with the
of the Spirit's work,
methods which had characterized the
whole of the dispensation then drawing to a close. Just as in the past the Spirit had filled men for the accomplishment of special work for
God
;
so, as
the dispensa-
and Messiah approached, He again equipped those who were to do the special work the occasion demanded.
tion
A
drew
to a close,
clear line
dispensations
;
concerning the
which had
its
is
drawn between the old and the new
and the teaching of the filling
New
Testament
of the Spirit in the dispensation
birth at Pentecost
very distinct. The expression occurs in the Acts of the Apostles
eight times,
and once
is
in the Letter to the Ephesians.
These passages practically contain the whole system.
The sum is
of that teaching
is
that the Spirit-filled life
the normal condition of the believer.
who
There are those
believe that the filling of the Spirit
which
is
is
something
not merely a second blessing in the experience
of the majority of Christians, but in the purpose of God.
But
just as the baptism of the Spirit
is
never spoken of
1
THE
86
SPIRIT
OF GOD
as a second blessing, but always as the initial blessing of
regeneration; so in the economy of
the Spirit is
is
baptized with the Spirit, he
is filled
God
coincident with conversion.
with the
is
the filling of
When
born of the
a
Spirit,
man and
There are many who do not
Spirit.
enter into the realization of that blessedness at conver-
In the purpose of God, however, the normal con-
sion.
dition of Christian life Spirit into
life,
and
is
filled
that of being baptized
with the Spirit for
by the
life.
Nothing can be clearer than the statement of what happened on the Day of Pentecost: And there appeared tmto them tongues parting asunder, like as of And they were fire; and it sat upon each one of them. all iilled with the Holy Spirit, and began to speak with other tongues, as the Spirit gave them utterance. 1 the
moment when
the group of Jewish disciples
In
was
transformed into the Church, the Spirit was not only given to them, He filled them. It is evident, therefore,
from the account of the opening of the dispensation, that in the life,
tized
and
An
God those who passed into its new new breadth, and new beauty were bap-
purpose of
new
glory, filled
with the
Spirit.
illustration of this occurs in the history of the
early days.
Saul of Tarsus, breathing threatening and 1
slaughter against the disciples of the Lord," was on his
way to Damascus, when he was suddenly
arrested
by the
shining of a light from heaven; he heard the voice of *Acts
ii.
s
3, 4.
Acts
ix. i.
THE
'THE FILLING OF
SPIRIT
187
and yielded to the claim of the Master, saying: 1 do, Lord? He remained blind ; and having been led to Damascus, the Master sent Ananias to him : 'And Ananias departed, and entered into the house; and
Jesus,
What shall I
laying his hands on him, said, Brother Saul, the
even Jesus,
who appeared
unto thee in the
Lord
way which
thou earnest, hath sent me, that thou mayest receive thy It may be a sight, and be filled with the Holy Spirit.* matter of opinion as to whether that was the his conversion or not.
3
Even
if
moment
of
he were born of the
on the way to Damascus, the filling of the Spirit, according to this teaching, came immediately, and was Spirit
part of the very earliest experience of his Christian It follows, therefore, that the will of
people
is
that they should be filled at once ; that
not give a
man
the Spirit to-day,
as a necessity, wait for perhaps a
he
God
for
life.
His
God does
and then make him,
number of years before
with the Spirit but that the supreme miracle by which a man is born of the Spirit, and so baptized of is filled
;
the Spirit into
new
relationship with Christ,
miracle by which he becomes
filled
is
also the
with the Spirit of
God.
There
is
another use
Acts of the Apostles
:
made
the midst, they inquired,
name,
Holy
Then
unto them,
*Acts xxii.
10.
*
Acts
ix.
they had set them in
By what
have ye done this?
Spirit, said
of this same phrase in the
And when
Ye *
17.
power, or in what
Peter, filled with the
rulers of the people, Chapter
XV.
and
THE
1 88
elders, if
of the
we
word
SPIRIT
day are examined.
this
work.
condition of
.
The
.*
sense
that of being specially
It does
not describe a normal
but a specific
life,
.
is
filled in this case
filled for special
OF GOD
order that he
filling, in
might be specially prepared for work that awaited him at that moment. Filled with the Spirit, he spake the words.
Another instance of the same kind the
words
But Saul, who
:
chronicled in
is
is also called
Paul,
filled
with
Holy Spirit, fastened his eyes on him [that is, on Elymas the sorcerer], and said, O full of all guile and the
thou son of the devil, thou enemy of all righteousness, wilt thou not cease to pervert the right ivays
all villany,
of the
A
Lord? z
work
special
of discipline had to be
performed a man who had wronged the truth and the faith had to be rebuked, and Paul was suddenly filled :
with the Holy Spirit for the doing of that particular
work.
Again the term ing for
life
and
is
used in a
condition for the latter: ren,
that includes the
from among
.
Look ye out
you seven
the Spirit and of this business.
way
fill-
service, the former being viewed as the
wisdom, .
.
And
men
of
therefore, breth-
good
report, full of
whom we may
appoint over
the saying pleased the
man
multitude: and they chose Stephen, a
whole
full of faith
* These men and of the Holy Spirit, and Philip. were chosen for work in the Church because they were .
.
full of the Spirit. J
Acts
iv. 7-9.
2
Acts
xiii. 9, 10.
8
Acts
vi. 3-5.
THE FILLING OF THE
SPIRIT
189
Barnabas that he was a good man, and full of the Holy Spirit and of faith: and much people was added unto the Lord. 1 It is written of
These are the occasions where the term
used in
is
the Acts of the Apostles with reference to service.
Twice
in the case of the deacons,
Barnabas,
men
that
is
it
should be
full of the Spirit
gift,
for the office of deacon;
fit,
as
was Barnabas, for
Where where
is
not that there
that
that
is so,
they are
is so,
they are
visiting the churches
and Paul,
and for
But from the other
administering spiritual comfort. instances of Peter
is
but that they should be living
is Spirit-filled.
fit
term
also in the case of
evident that the condition for service
should be a special the life that
and
it is
equally clear that the
used with reference to a special
filling for
a
special work.
The phrase though the
is
filling
of the believer's
also
used in a sense proving that
of the Spirit life,
yet
it
is
may
the normal condition
be lost and restored:
And when
they had prayed, the place was shaken ^vhere~ in they were gathered together and they were all filled with the Holy Spirit, and they spake the word of God ;
This has been erroneously spoken of as There can be no second Pentethe second Pentecost.
with boldness.*
Pentecost came once and for ever.
cost.
a second manifestation of the Spirit but
it
is
Undoubtedly
here referred to
was rendered necessary because these
passed into a realm of fear and of trembling. 1
Acts
xi. 24.
3
Acts
iv. 31.
;
men had Peter and
THE
GOD
SPIRIT OF
John were imprisoned, and the disciples were gathered in fear and trembling, hardly daring to open the doors or
When Peter and John were mirac-
show themselves.
ulously restored and
came
into their midst, they
gave
themselves to prayer, asking that they might have boldness. The answer to their prayer was the shaking of the house in which they were assembled, and their
These men had not
ing with the Spirit.
They had been
sealed unto the day of redemption.
of the Spirit, the Spirit remained in
own
refill-
lost the Spirit.
Born
them but through ;
and lack of loyalty to Jesus the of the Christ, blessing Spirit's fulness had been lost. When they returned to the Lord, the filling was granted their
fear, unbelief,
them anew.
to
Another instance light
on the
subject.
being full of the
heaven, and
is
saw
recorded which gives yet another
Of
Stephen
it is
But
said:
he,
Holy Spirit, looked up stedfastly into the glory of God,
and Jesus standing on
hand of God. 1 Passing through martyrdom, Stephen was strengthened in his suffering by a vision of his Master in the glory. The condition for seeing the the right
vision
was the
fulness of the
Holy
Spirit.
These are the only instances in the Acts of the Apostles where the term filling of the Spirit is used.
The The
sum
their
teaching
Acts
it
may
vii. 55-
be lost;
it
may
thus
be
stated.
normal condition of the be-
Spirit-filled life is the
liever; 1
of
can be restored.
New-born
THE FILLING OF THE souls, baptized filled
by the
Spirit into
SPIRIT
union with Christ, are
;
but very often, for lack of clear -teaching and
understanding of the law of the blessing
full
Spirit, the fulness of
the
is lost.
There are thousands whose memories go back to some convention, to some service, to some hour of loneliness with God, when they became
Spirit-filled in
a sense which
they had never experienced before. The explanation of this fact is, that at some point in their Christian life,
preceding the experience of which they speak as a second blessing, they had been disobedient to the Divine purpose; and therefore the blame of the lowlevel
life
upon
the
preceding that blessing
economy
of the believer.
is
to be
not
laid,
of God, but upon the disloyalty
There
is
why a man
no reason
should not immediately from the moment of regeneration enter into all the blessedness of the Spirit-filled life
that
is
the Divine intention, and that
is
:
the Divine pur-
This h a question of condition and not of finality. pose. The law of. growth is that the believer should be Spiritfilled.
For of the
special service there
Holy
Spirit,
is,
however, a special filling it be Peter or Paul or
and whether
any other servant of Christ having a for
Him,
that servant
may
special
be especially
work
filled
to
do
with the
Spirit for the accomplishment of that special work.
There
one other passage demanding attention be not drunken with wine, wherein is riot, but be is
:
And filled
THE with the
1
SPIRIT OF
The
Spirit.
it is
a
be
injunction
Spirit is in the imperative. fact that
GOD
command
It is
filled
command; and
a
lays responsibility, not
the Epistle the whole scheme of thought
mind of the
apostle
is
the
upon
In the commencement of
God, but upon the believer. in the
with the
stated
having heard the word of the
:
In
which was here
Whom
ye
also,
truth, the gospel of
your in also believed, ye were salvation, Whom, having sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which is an earnest of our inheritance. 2 The sealing of the Spirit is
identical with the
baptism of the
is
writing to people
who
Spirit.
The
apostle
are sealed with the Spirit, and
he charges them to be filled with the Spirit. Here are two distinct things the sealing of the Spirit, and the filling
of the Spirit.
Though
the filling be coincident
with the sealing, it is necessary to enjoin these people to be filled, because that is the point of their responsibil-
That
ity.
responsibility
is
revealed
Grieve not the Holy Spirit of God, in sealed unto the day of redemption.
*
the
words:
Whom
ye were
in
Here
is
a solution
of the mystery that gathers around the experience of
thousands of Christians.
and none not,
however,
Spirit is
will
is
They
are born of the Spirit,
deny that they are Christians. filled
with the
not manifest in their
lives.
1
Holy The path of
in the past..
Epli. v. 18.
*
Eph.
3 i,
13, 14.
are
Spirit, for the fruit of the
that they have grieved the
where
They
Eph.
The reason Spirit of
for this
God some-
obedience has been iv.
30.
THE FILLING OF THE clearly marked,
people
who
SPIRIT
and they have disobeyed.
are baptized by the Spirit into
Christian
new
relation-
ship with Christ have grieved the Spirit by disobedience,
lukewarmness, indifference to the claims of Christ, worldliness, or frivolity,
with the Spirit.
The
and they are therefore not
filled
subject of responsibility, showing
what are the conditions of the result of the filling, will
filling
and what
is
the
form the subject of a subsequent
1
chapter.
Dr. Erdmann, of Philadelphia, has given a formula of
One
the law of the Spirit in these words
baptism,
many fillings; and perhaps no statement of the case could be more helpful. It is borne out by New Testament teaching and
history.
One baptism
the
moment
new
birth, when the Spirit comes upon the reand penting believing soul and unites that soul to Christ. Christians may be disobedient and lose the filling of
of the
the Spirit, and by repentance and obedience restored
;
and
many
This
is
may be
in the experience of multitudes of believ-
ers this formula is
but
it
proved to be correct
One
baptism,
fillings.
also illustrated, as has been already shown,
by
the filling of the apostles at the baptism of Pentecost,
and by their refilling subsequently, which was by no means a second baptism. The specific fillings for service are the fillings to overflowing, of
Himself declared Chapter XIX.
:
He -that
believeth
on
which the Lord
Me
.
.
.
out of
THE
194 his belly shall
How
SPIRIT OF
GOD
rivers of living water*
This third
phase of blessing, the specific work of the Spirit for service, has sometimes been spoken of as an anointing- of
The term
the Spirit, but without Scripture warrant. 2 anointing of the Spirit
is
used only twice with regard
In both places the reference
to Christians.
is
to regen-
There are those who are perpetually declaring that Christians must follow in the steps of Christ, and eration.
that, as
He was
for theirs
;
dealings of lievers,
anointed for His work, so must they be
but there
God with
no perfect analogy between the Christ, and His dealings with be-
is
because Christ was sinless and spotless, while
they have always to be dealt with as those who have It failed, and must be restored to the divine pattern.
would be
just as incorrect to speak of a second anointing
as of a second Pentecost, or of a second Pentecost as of
a second anointing. The anointing which is on the child of God is that which was received at regeneration. What
needed for
is
which the
life is
the perpetual filling of the Spirit
the normal condition of those
is
who
are living in
of God, and the specific fillings to overflowing
way
which may always be counted on when demands.
Every
believer on the
special service
Lord Jesus Christ having
vital
relationship with Him, became a Christian when baptized with the
tism was 1
John
filled
vii.
38.
Holy
Spirit,
with the 2
2 Cor.
i.
and
Spirit. 21.
i
at the
moment
If not filled
John
ii.
27.
of bapwith the
THE FILLING OF THE Spirit
now, the blame
is
of relationship to Christ there
moment
upon the Master, Somewhere in the life
to be laid, not
but upon personal disobedience.
dience, a
SPIRIT
was a moment of
of disloyalty, a
moment
disobe-
of rebellion
that rebellion the rilling of against government ; and by restored by restoration to be the Spirit was lost. It may
obedience, the
new
He
yielding of the life to the Spirit.
will enter and will take possession of the territory from disobedience He has been excluded. Dr. which
by Handley Moule, who
is
perhaps one of the most lucid
exponents of the Scriptures upon this subject, says that the difference between a soul that is filled with the Spirit
and one that in
is unfilled, is
which there
is
the difference between a well
a spring of water choked, and a well
from which the obstruction has been removed, so that the water springs up and fills the well. In every child of
God
the Spirit
does not
fill
is
present, waiting to
the whole
life to its
fill
;
and
if
He
utmost bound with His
own
energy, light, and power, it is because there is something which prevents Him, and which must be removed before
The
He can do His blessed work. filling
of the Spirit
is
indeed an experience far
beyond that of which the majority of Christians know anything; but
it is
of His should be
the purpose of
filled,
God
not a year, nor two years; nor
ten years after conversion, but at the version,
and perpetually
sojourn upon
the earth.
that every child
until the
moment
of con-
consummation of
his
XVII
THE POWER OF THE SPIRIT first
chapter of the Acts of the Apostles
is
of
T'HEgreat interest, as giving the last glimpse of the disciples of Jesus apart
The picture
Spirit.
clearness the
between
man
from the indwelling of the Holy
is full
of instruction, revealing with
enormous difference there must ever be in his fallen nature,
and man as he may be
through the baptism and indwelling of the Spirit. One cannot look at this picture, incomplete though it may be,
men were
without seeing that these
There
selfish. first
is
still
ignorant and
no comparison between the men of the
chapter, and the
men
of the subsequent history con-
tained in the book.
They came to the Lord, dost Thou at Israel? 1
risen
Lord with the
old question
this time restore the
They had made no
progress.
kingdom The events
:
to
of
the past weeks had not been sufficient to reveal to them
the great essential verities of the Christian faith.
were 1
still
Acts
i.
They
bound by the materialism of Judaism; the
6.
196
THE POWER OF THE spiritual vision
had not yet
fallen
SPIRIT
197
upon them
they did
;
They were
not understand the mission of Christ.
still
looking for a temporal kingdom which should be imme-
They had no
diately set up.
that Jesus
was passing
appreciation of the fact
and a hidden
to a hidden throne
crown, and that the work to which they were now to be committed was not temporal, external, and material, but eternal, internal,
They had not
and
spiritual.
yet escaped
from the narrow national
prejudices which had been the curse of the nation for so long. Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom
They had no
to Israel?
idea of the world-wide
of the Messiah.
Their vision was
horizon of their
own
people.
looked beyond the confines of disciples, neither
to
still
kingdom
limited
by the
The Master had ever the nation. Not so the
were they yet able
to
do
so.
They did not understand that the work He had come do was something absolutely new. They dreamed of
the restoration of the old.
made use
Restore was the word they
of.
Their love was deep, and true, and intense; their
knowledge during the days of vance of that of the
was
to
midst.
had
to
them a
men
fact, for
discipleship
of their age
;
was
far in ad-
the Resurrection
the living Christ
was
in their
Yet they were absolutely unfit for the work they do, for they were still looking for the temporal
kingdom
to be set
up
kingdoms had been.
in the
same way
that other earthly
THE
I9 8
To
zvhcri the
My
men
these
Holy
SPIRIT
OF GOD Ye
Christ said: is
Spirit
shall receive power,
come upon you: and ye
witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in
shall be
Jud
all
Samaria, and unto the uttermost part of the earth.* This word answers and corrects the false idea contained in their question.
store the
kingdom?
He
things.
They
replied:
said:
Dost Thou
They Ye shall
directed their thought to the
Dost Thou
at this time re-
thought of a return to old
My
be
new
at this time restore the
They
kingdom?
minds were fixed upon earthly things. shall receive
He
witnesses.
Centre.
power, when the Holy Spirit
He is
said:
Their
said:
Ye
come. His
mind encompassed the spiritual relationship. They said Dost Thou at this time restore the kingdom to Israel? :
They were bound by the idea Jerusalem, and in
all
He replied
:
Judcea and Samaria, and unto the
uttermost part of the earth.
His
of the nation.
He
included the world in
vision.
This was a new beginning, moving out from Himself as Centre, having the Holy Spirit as Administrator,
and the
There
is
disciples as channels of
communication.
a sense in which these words of the Master
cannot be addressed to Christian people to-day.
men had
These
not yet been baptized with the Holy Spirit;
they were not yet born again. Those that are Christians to-day are such by that baptism and new birth; and, consequently, they possess the these men. 1
Acts
i.
8.
power promised
to
THE POWER OF THE The
SPIRIT
central principle declared is that fitness for serv-
new covenant
ice in the
lies
within the realm of the
power of the Holy Spirit. This is of perpetual application, and it is therefore important that a chapter should devoted to
'be
to he noted
of the
:
its
first,
consideration.
There are three matters
the power needed ; secondly, the nature
available; and, thirdly, the purpose for
power
whicn the,power
is
bestowed.
'For Jhe accomplishment of their work these men needed a fourfold force. They needed intellectual power, because of their ignorance and inability to appreciate the meaning of the Master's mission. They needed spiritual power, in the sense of ability to do righteously, notwithstanding the carnal possibilities
own
ident in their
the affection and will,
which would be arrayed against them of the
work
that
still
res-
They needed a new power of because of the tremendous forces
lives.
was before them.
in the prosecution
They needed power
for the accomplishment of the results at which they aimed, because the forces hitherto used in great movements would be denied them. It is not necessary to deal at
length with the
phase of this need, having already referred to their lack of understanding of the Cross
The
bered.
it;
first
but
must be remem-
apostle in writing to the Corinthians de-
Jews a stumbling-block 1 the way, an obstruction and up
scribed the Cross as being unto that
is,
something in
to this point their outlook 1
1
Cor.
i.
23.
;
was purely Jewish.
Think
THE
200
how
SPIRIT OF
GOD
how they had Then remember how swiftly
they had followed the Master, and
learned to love
doom
fell
had seen
Him.
upon Him,
Him
and nailed
their Teacher, their Friend.
They
Roman
power,
overcome by the detested
to the Cross.
It is
only as their place
is
oc-
cupied in imagination, and the prejudices of their birth
and education are
in
some measure understood,
how
be possible to appreciate
will
that
it
completely the Cross
must have extinguished hope for them, and how sincere and sad was the sigh of the men who walked to Em-
maus
Israel.
Of
We
:
hoped that
was
it
He
which should redeem
1
the mysteries that are the essential grandeur of
Christianity,
death,
the
entrance
through death; defeat, the
won through
defeat
;
way
to
life
into victory
life
won
victory
darkness, the price of light
light
dawning out of darkness, they had no appreciation. They saw only the death, the defeat, and the darkness.
The Cross was
to
them a stumbling-block. Afterwards
they told the story of the Cross as being the story of love, of liberty, of light this,
the)'-
but before they were able to do
needed a new
things of God. that the
;
Holy
intellectual
The power they were
grasp upon the to receive, after
came upon them was the new power enabling them to comprehend the true
Spirit
of intelligence,
were to publish. The second phase of the need is the power for holy
meaning of the 1
Luke
xxiv. 21.
facts they
POWER OF THE living.
In the purpose of
God
the force and
of the Cross were to be revealed to
the words of His servant's
mation of their
own
carnality,
Henceforth he
with Jesus Christ he
is
The
is
meaning
not merely by
but also by the transforhad been the slave of his
dominated by the evil forces within him. is to be free from this power; in union
have mastered him. pel
men
lips,
Man
lives.
201
SPIRIT
to
be master of the things that message of the Gos-
essential
the declaration that through the Cross
urrection of Christ a
new dynamic
is
and Res-
at the disposal of
men, in the power of which they may be victorious, trampling under their feet the lust of which hitherto they have been the slaves.
Witness to
this truth is to
borne not only by a testimony of the
triumph of
lives,
lips,
proving the accuracy of the testimony.
First, a clear appreciation of the
meaning of the Cross ;
secondly, the personal apprehension of
hind the testimony the triumph
by
the triumph, the
mony.
Such
is
be
but by the
power; be-
triumph accounted for by the
the Divine ideal of the
before these men.
its
the testimony proved
work
If this indeed be true,
that they needed this
it is
testi-
that lay
evident
power of Holiness that their lives
might be transformed. It is this power that He promised to them when He spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Further, they needed will.
new power
Persecution awaited them.
of the affection and All the forces that
had been against their Master would oppose them.
The
THE
202
SPIRIT OF
GOD
doctrine of deliverance which they were to announce
and the powers that held men in would slavery array themselves to silence their voices and stop their progress. If they were to continue bear-
was
revolutionary,
ing witness to light,
when
Him through darkness
the
way was rough
as well as through
as well as
when
it
was
smooth, through the perils of popularity as well as through the dangers of ostracism, they needed some new
power
of the affection
and the
will,
which should make
burn as a flame, and set their faces as flint. They had already been in one place of testing, and Oh the tragedy of that simple with what dire results
their love
!
sentence.
They
done that while
all left
He was
Him, and
1
If they had the power while with them, yet fled!
His personality was upon them, how would they act the clouds had hidden Him from view and the
of
when
sound of His voice was not
to
be heard ?
They stood
in
need of a power that should keep love burning, and the will to
accomplish their work unconquered.
They cannot
drive
the world
Until themselves be driven.
This power
is
precisely
what Jesus promised in the
in-
dwelling Spirit. Ever revealing the fact of the Christ to the disciples, He would capture the soul by the vision of love every moment, and
make
invincible as the very will of a
Mark
xiv. 50.
the will to do His
God.
work
THE POWER OF THE
SPIRIT
203
Once more, they needed a new w.orking power. Said the Master: Ye shall be My witnesses both in Jerusalem, and in all Judcea and Samaria, and unto the utter-
most part of the earth* They were to tell the story of His life and death to all men; they were to urge His claims upon the attention of men they were to win men ;
Him.
for
And
all this
was
to
be done without the aids
human wisdom would immediately
that
think
The
of.
conquests of the past had been the conquests of argument, and policy, and the sword.
These were
all
denied
to persuade men by in their programme. had no argument. Policy place Of the sword the Master Himself had said Put up thy sword 'for all they that take the sword shall
They had no commission
them.
:
.
.
.
.
.
.
z perish with the sword.
By other methods they were to accomplish their work. The propagandists of the new kingdom were sent forth in the
name
of an absent King, with no sign of power
recognized by the men of the world. They needed some new power, and this is exactly what the Master promised them when He spoke of the coming of the Holy Spirit.
Having
that power, they should pass into all lands,
and
do deeds and win triumphs more mighty and marvellous than any that the world had ever seen or known. t
So far the tion,
the 1
first disciples
but the teaching
work of God
Acts
i.
8.
*
until
is
have been under considera-
permanent.
No man
he have the Holy
Matt. xxvi. 52.
Spirit,
can do
and
is
THE
204
endued with power. pel save in the
GOD
SPIRIT OF It is
impossible to preach the Gosthe Spirit, because none can
power of
comprehend the true meaning of the Cross of Christ Neither a knowl-
unless taught by the Spirit of God.
edge of the letter of the of theology,
is
New
sufficient
to
Testament, nor a system equip for preaching the
Nothing short of the immediate,
Cross.
sonal illumination of the Spirit
Witness for the Master
is
direct, per-
sufficient
is
equipment.
The
co-operate with the supreme Witness.
keenest in-
and the most cultured mind are unable
tellect
who
impossible save to those
to under-
stand the mystery of redemption, and therefore cannot
explain
it
Whoever can
to others.
say light has broken
upon the Cross and the eternal morning has dawned, able to do so through the direct illumination of the Spirit and apart from no service. ;
It is
by
is still
capable of sin
from under the Divine government, will follow.
Men
can only
all
;
and
and energized by the Holy
Holy
if it
manner of
pass evil
live the life that is in har-
is
Spirit of
God.
also necessary that the affection
be under the dominion of the
Spirit.
and
will
should
Perpetual love
and perennial joy are onty possible where the
God
in
with the teaching of Christ as they are possessed
mony It
no witness
this constant indwelling of the
The nature
Holy
can be no witness and
equally true that there can be
the life but Spirit.
that, there
is
Spirit of
abides at the centre of being, energizing the will
THE POWER OF THE would
SPIRIT
205
and strengthening every step in the path of obedience. Save as the life is lived under the dominion of the Spirit, temptation will prove too strong
that else
and the sacred Again, in is still
fail,
Name
all
needed.
will
be dishonoured.
service for God, the
Much
power of the
Spirit
has been done since the apostolic
The
days for making the work of the preacher easy.
Canon of the
New
Testament
is
complete
;
theology has
been systematized the necessity for the thorough equip;
ment of the preacher educationally, wherever possible, is realized: these and many other advantages which the early Christian preachers
had
the
not, contribute to
smoothness of the pathway of the preacher to-day. All Beside them all, and as these, however, are insufficient. the power which alone makes them of real use, the Holy Spirit
must equip the preacher, or preaching
will
degen-
This
erate into lifeless rhetoric, or heartless argument. is
equally true of every
form of Christian
service.
It is
pre-eminently the day of organization. Societies have multiplied on every hand, and the machinery of the
Church
is
complex and multitudinous.
cause for thankfulness, but peated, that apart direction, all
is
it
This
is
all
cannot too often be re-
from the Holy
Spirit's control
and
The advantages of the moment Those who would go back to must deny the guidance of God in
dead.
are not to be despised.
primitive simplicity
fire and power and and the pulpit will for cleansing energy,
the centuries. of the Spirit
Let
all
be yielded to the
THE
206
SPIRIT OF
be the greatest force in ization of the
Church
all
human
will. throb
GOD life,
and every organ-
and pulsate with Divine
energy.
The of
nature of the power
God
to
man
this
coming
for the accomplishment of a Divine pur-
pose in this sacred partnership.
from
It is the
is evident.
Man
is
helpless apart
immediate co-operation with God.
God
chooses to be helpless apart from co-operation with man.
Within the next
from Pentecost the whole
thirty years
influenced by this handful of men who had been gathered by Jesus, and taught by Him with such matchless patience and gentleness, preparatory to
known world was
the Spirit's baptism.
Yet the world
failed to
comprehend the meaning or to explain the mystery of this new movement. The younger Pliny, in a letter to the Emperor about the Christians, said that after enquiries he
found that they sang hymns about One called Jesus, and that they paid the taxes. most excellent testimony.
A
May
it still
name
be borne concerning
of Christ
it
those
Yet what a remarkable
!
educated mind to offer simple, in that
all
!
It
who
take the
analysis for an-
was simple and sublime,
revealed his failure to comprehend the
deep meaning of Christianity and his inability to do than read the externals ally,
;
sublime, in that
it
more
unintention-
yet surely revealed the fact that joy and righteous-
God in Christ, and men were so transformed that they taxes. As a rule human nature is hardly
ness resulted from the worship of the characters of
sang and paid
THE POWER OF THE
SPIRIT
207
men
capable of doing these things; but these
complished
it,
because righteousness
joy in the
power of the
wondered
at that they
name
ac-
had become a
itself
It is not to
of Jesus.
be
The usual
were not understood.
signs of power were absent altogether.
These people
The Founder had
perished by the
had no
visible
Head.
ignominious death of the Cross.
and marshalled and
They were gathered
not to arming and battle by the
led,
cry of a warrior, but silently and surely, to the under-
mining of empires, and the downfall of dynasties. element of mystery lasts until this hour. the world is
to be
is still
found
sionally.
The
unable to account for
in a perusal of his
secret of
it all is,
it.
magazine
This
The man Proof of
of
this
articles occa-
that within the Church,
because within every individual member thereof, God has taken up His abode ; and in a perpetual comradeship
and co-operation He moves on. towards the purposes of His heart, through all the forces that oppose, and the obstacles that hinder.
Wherever
a real force, working to success,
Christianity has been
it is
because
has been
it
The wheels of the chariot are clogged by all spiritual. attempts to make arrangements to help God. They are speeded when,
self forgotten, the Spirit that indwells is
permitted to have unquestioned and absolute control.
Yet tianity
let it is
be remembered
not of man,
it
has so chosen to work.
Day
that, if the force
of Chris-
operates through man.
God
This was symbolized on the
of Pentecost by the cloven tongues of fire
:
There
THE
208
SPIRIT OF
GOD
appeared unto them tongues parting asunder,
and
fire;
sat
it
upon each one of
versities of gifts
man
;
instrument;
1
them.'
like as of
Tongues,
di-
Tongues, the hu-
fire,
the one Spirit.
fire,
the Divine energy.
Man
the in-
strument God, the Worker. ;
Much
of the lack of power in service to-day
what
to the fact that the true conception of
should be has been
who
The
lost.
is
due
service
only reason that those
are born again of the Spirit' are- left in the world
that they
may
be His witnesses.
in his Letter to the Ephesians that the
of the Church circumstances.
lies
supreme vocation
not in the present age nor in present
Her
work
final
wisdom and
tion of the
is
Paul distinctly teaches
will
the grace of
be the manifesta-
God to principalities
and powers in the heavenly places. The reason why the Church is not at once removed to this higher service is, that in the midst of the darkness
may
Light
thrown upon
is
word
the
is
work by a
actually used
suffer persecution for the truth.
intention.
A
it,
martyr
manifesting that truth in
never made martyrs
is
Acts
ii.
3.
is
martyr.
That use of the
danger of obscuring its onej convinced of truth,
in
is
life.
The
fires
of persecution
they revealed them.
was not already a martyr never 1
consideration of
used to-day almost exclusively of those
word, while dignifying first
this
The word
witness.
This word
who
and death around, she
witness to her absent but living Lord.
laid
down
A
man who
his life for
THE POWER OF THE truth.
The
noble
army of martyrs
SPIRIT died, not to
martyrs, but because they were martyrs. distinctive service of all
209
become
This
believers in this age.
is
They
the are
and transfigured lives the glory and beauty of the teaching and character of Jesus Christ. This ideal of service flings men back at once into the
to reveal in transformed
place of conscious dependence
upon the Holy
Spirit, for.
none can witness of Christ save in actual co-operation with Him. Two simple sentences will be helpful in order to understand the law of that co-operation
The Holy
Spirit witnesses of Jesus only.
Only the Holy It is
The
:
Spirit witnesses of Jesus.
very important to remember the
first
Spirit has nothing to say of Himself.
of these.
His whole
mission and message has to do with Christ.
Many
people "to-day are waiting for a manifestation of the
They are doomed
Spirit Himself.
When He not His
obtains full possession of
own Person and
personality
to disappointment.
any
individual,
He makes
real,
it is
but
that of Jesus.
The second point is of equal importance. Everything that is known of the Saviour is known as the result of Holy Spirit. He is the Revealer There can be no communication with
the illumination of the of the Revealer.
Jesus until the Spirit reveals
no vision of the
loveliness of
anoints the eyes.
Herein
Him to the heart.
There
is
His face save as the Spirit
lies
the blessedness of this
THE
2io
SPIRIT OF
GOD
The power for witnessing The Spirit reveals
Pentecostal age.
is
birthright of every believer.
to
the consciousness.
captivates the will
the
Christ
This new sense of the Master
and transforms the
likeness to Himself.
entire being into This development of character is
also increased capacity for the reception of revelation.
To that increased
capacity the Spirit
is
able to
make
still
more glorious revelation, which yet further increases capacity, and prepares the way for still more glorious revelation. life
Thus, in a proportionately increasing
under the control of the Spirit
is
ratio,
manifesting the
glory of the Master, and thus witnessing for Him.
For such witnessing the world waits to-day. Humanity amid its sobbing, and its sighing, needs a manifestation of the sons
and daughters of the King and ;
in
proportion as the temples of the Spirit are yielded to the Spirit, that great
need of the race
is
being met.
BOOK
VII
THE PRACTICAL APPLICATION
211
Breathe on me, Breath of God, Fill me with life anew,
That
I
may
And
love
what Thou dost
love,
do what Thou wouldst do.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, Until
my
heart
is
pure,
Until with Thee I will one will, To do and to endure.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, all my soul with Thine,
Blend
Until this earthly part of
Glows with Thy
fire
me Divine.
Breathe on me, Breath of God, So shall I never die, But live with Thee the perfect life Of Thine eternity. E. HATCH.
212
XVIII
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW
NO
be a child of
person can
is
by the words
of Jesus
be born anew.
life,
The reason
is
and enunciates an
for this
Its
is
code of ethics
is
to be found in
It presents
ethical code, of
demand something more than Jesus.
Ye must
Nicodemus:
to
the very nature of Christianity.
to
but by the re-
of the
to Christianity
1
God
Holy Spirit. The entrance perpetually and jealously guarded
newing work
an
ideal of
such a nature as
themselves.
His teaching.
Its ideal
These are
united in a sacred and wondrous union, for
taught
He in
men
to be,
He was
Himself.
all
He
So wondrous was
and so searching and severe the requirements of His law, that man in his imin beauty of character,
potence
is
the other. to offer
absolutely unable to copy the one, or to obey If Christianity, therefore, has nothing
men
than these,
it is
more
an impossible and imprac-
a mere mirage of the desert, suggesting growth and fertility, but ever eluding the grasp of those
ticable ideal,
1
John
iii.
7.
213
214
THE
who, weary and
desolate, stretch out longing
its fruits.
gift life
SPIRIT OF
The something more
GOD
required
is
hands after
the essential
and power of Christianity. It comes to men with which is the very life of the Ideal, and is there-
fore the dynamic of obedience to the code.
Nothing
short of actual participation in that life constitutes
human being a
any Admiration of the Person
Christian.
and character of Christ, together with patronage of His teaching, are insufficient, and indeed do but insult the purpose of Christianity, whose mission to captivate the admiration, as to
it is,
not so
much
remake and beautify
the character.
These words of Jesus
to
Nicodemus were the more
remarkable because spoken to him. gate sunk in the mire and
he a self-centred and
filth
He was
no
of bestiality.
self-satisfied Pharisee.
profli-
Nor was
He was
a sincere seeker after truth, and the question he put to Jesus revealed the working of his mind.
He came
to a
Teacher from God, and therefore he came with an open willing to receive truth. He was perhaps the most
mind
perfect example of the highest possibilities of the old
covenant, which had instructed
men in the things
and had led them to the highest act possible energy of fallen nature
swer cast no aspersion upon the past. It
God
in the
that, namely, of submission to
a baptism which symbolized repentance.
limitations.
of
was as though
He
Christ's anIt revealed its
had declared that
John, the last of the magnificent line of the
Hebrew
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW prophets, had done
men
regenerate there
that
all
to the
was
possible in leading un-
that
To
door of the kingdom.
was necessary the new and
Christianity
215
man
should have a second birth,
without which he could neither see nor enter
have not altered
human
Jesus
says
ter of the practical section of this
voted to a study of the evidence,
To
Times
New
book
every seeker
The
Ye must be born anew.
:
in.
nature, nor have they changed
the essential character of Christianity. still
enter,
essential miracle of
is
first
chap-
therefore de-
Birth, its necessity, nature,
and method.
The teaching
He
of Christ was unified.
said in a
what other teachers under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit; would unfold in volumes. This conversation with Nicodemus deals fully and finally with sentence,
this
whole subject.
The teaching of
the Epistles
is,
however, valuable, in order that the sayings of the Master may be fully comprehended.
As
to the necessity for the
That which
is
born of the
new
birth,
flesh is flesh. 1
ment must never be construed
He
declared:
This
the physical and material side of man's nature.
matter
is
inherently evil
no warrant
is
state-
into a condemnation of
That
a doctrine of devils, that finds
in the teaching of Christ or
His
apostles.
Every pulse and fibre of physical being owes its creation and preservation to the thought and power of God. That which He created in His own image, and which, 1
John
iii.
6.
THE
216
GOD
SPIRIT OF
when redeemed, He inhabits as a temple, is not in itself The condition of human life apart from God is evil. evil,
because
it
has passed into limitation and prostitu-
Those wondrous material bases of
tion.
was
which, for a time, essential being
life
upon
to manifest itself,
and be prepared for the final and perfected life, have become the prison-house of the spirit, and man is attempting to live by bread alone, to condition his being in the flesh.
That
as flesh,
is
the condition of
He
and of that
says
:
which Jesus describes That which is born of the life
The same guarding of terms turning to the Epistles. The writers
neces-
flesh is flesh.
is
sary in
place the
natural and spiritual in perpetual antithesis.
not because the spiritual spiritual.
natural
is
unnatural, or the natural un-
human nature is that the when all the being is domi-
spirit is
and only
man
A
natural.
concrete illustration
be found in the early chapters of Genesis.
The
in the garden, himself a spirit tabernacling in
physical dwelling, and yet holding unafraid
with that
who
is
deepest fact of
is spiritual,
nated by
may man
The
This
God
presently
Who is
is
a Spirit,
is
communion
the natural man.
He,
seen bending back to earth, and enter-
ing upon the bread of the brow,
is
life
which
is
ever through the sweat
unnatural, because contrary to the Divine
purpose and thought. When New Testament writers speak of the natural man, they are not condemning that which is natural in the sense now described. They are using the phrase in exactly the same
way
the
Lord here
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW used the word
which
is
flesh, to describe
2I 7
the condition of being
enslaved by the things temporal and material,
as in opposition to those eternal and spiritual.
This
men are now born, and new birth.
the condition under which lies
the necessity for the
What
this condition really is
may be
gathered from
a consideration of certain of the words of Paul. first,
his description of the
Man
has
Take,
Gentiles before they are
brought into union with Christ: Darkened in 1 derstanding, alienated from the life of God. the root-trouble.
is
herein
lost his vision
has no true conception of God.
Man
their
un-
That
of God.
is
He
has ever been at-
tempting to construct a deity out of the imaginings of his own heart, and the result has been the idea of God as an enlarged man, and a consequent misconception of
His true being. A flesh-conditioned life cannot discover God. Hence the necessity for the new birth,
which
is first
Then
of
all
new
consider the apostle's description of the heart
of the unregenerate against God.
To
vision.
z
:
The mind
of the flesh is enmity
How man
disturb the peace and
fears God nay, hates Him mar the pleasure of the world!
ling, it is only necessary to introduce
a conversation
concerning Divine things. The one constant and successful endeavour of the flesh-homed life is to keep God
There may be no open blasphemy, no avowed hatred, but the unvarying law of life, out of conscious touch.
1
Eph.
iv. 18.
2
Rom.
viii.
7.
THE
2i8
SPIRIT OF
GOD
and the unchanging order of its activities, reveal that man has no desire for God, no joy in His company. A flesh-conditioned life cannot love God.
Hence the neces-
new
possibility of love.
sity for the
new
birth
is
that of a
Again, notice the description the apostle gives of the purpose, and
They flesh.
sons
and impulse, of the unregenerate mind the things of the :
set,
that are after the flesh do
1
It
if
would be a
lives for
some per-
startling revelation to
they wpuld take the time
to
examine
their
own
any given week, registering the occupation of One hundred and sixty-eight hours in all,
the hours.
all
so
to the spiritual side of
many given
many What
majority- devoted to shall
we
This
is
drink?
.
.
.
shall
we
so
life,
to the purely physical
to the mental, so
eat?
.
;
.
many
the vast .
What
Wherewithal shall we be clothed f 2
many and varied ways, and must conman is born of the Spirit, and a higher view
so in
tinue until life,
and consequently other impulses, are produced.
Once
again, notice his statement concerning the true
of
government of such to the prince of the
lives:
Ye walked
power
of the
air.
.
3
.
.
according
They
are the
slaves of Satan, accomplishing his designs, yielding their
allegiance to him.
All unconsciously,
man
apart from
God becomes
the abject slave of the devil, and through the flesh hears the suggestions and proposals of hell,
and
yields to them,
and becomes more and more
bound. 1
Rom.
viii.
2
5.
Matt.
vi. 31.
8
Eph.
ii.
2.
fast
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW
219
This fourfold description explains the meaning of Jesus'
the
words
new
to
birth
Nicodemus, and gives the necessity for That which is born of the flesh is flesh. 3 -
:
The understanding the
on the things of the
life is set
The
slaved by Satan.
when
clearly seen
scription
is
darkened ; the heart
is
hopelessness of
it is
;
at enmity ;
the being
man
is still
en-
is
more
observed that this fourfold de-
The understanding dark, and conception of God. Then it is not to
a sequence.
therefore, a false
man
be wondered at that
the true and living God. is
flesh
is
for the monster of
its
hates.
The
No man
hatred of the
own
imagination.
could hate
human heart There can
God until all the false views are swept new vision that breaks with the new birth. away If man turn away from God in hatred, it follows that, be no love for
by the
in order to satisfy the
to fleshly things
craving of his nature, he will turn
and earthly things, because he has no The man with the muck-rake is
vision of the higher.
proving his capacity for the unseen crown by the very devotion with which he is searching amid the baubles at V
There
his feet.
will
be no deliverance until a
new
life
gives him the sense of those higher possibilities. The man thus enslaved is enslaved by Satan. God's perpetual work is to bring man near to Himself, that man
may love.
Satan ever enslaves through agencies and in-
termediaries, lest man, seeing the corruption, should be
afraid and escape. 1
John
iii.
6.
This
is
no
flattering tale of the
need
THE
220
human
of
SPIRIT OF is
it
nature, yet
GOD
the account which alone
is
and the present state of men. nor life, nor love, nor liberty save
true to the facts of history,
There
neither light,
is
power of
in the
the regeneration of the
must be born anew, for flesh.
that
which
is
Holy
Ye
Spirit.
born of the
fyesh is
1
The
nature of the change necessary
perhaps most
is
sublimely described by the simplicity of the words of
which Jesus made use: Except a
A birth
a beginning.
is
It is
man
be born anew. 2
not the reconstruction or
renovation of something already in existence, but the
commencement if
needs,
of a
new
thing.
That
is
what a man
he would see or enter the kingdom.
statement of the case immediately
lifts
the possibility of
being a Christian out of the realm of the initiation.
God
This
human
only can begin a new thing.
as to
Men may
manipulate the things that are,
may replace in another may imagine they have started, begun something but give a man nothing and tell him to begin a new thing, and the only new tiling will be the old nothing. order,
Born
As
:
;
that
is
the supreme fact ;
every living being
is
it is
the commencement.
a work of God,
be new birth, that also must be of God.
born anew, then
work
is
so, if
If
is
to
man must be
he helpless until the Spirit of God
the creative miracle.
This view of the Christian
life as
a
new
thing was that
which the apostles clearly enforced: // any 1
there
John
iii.
7,
6.
2
John
Hi. 3.
man
is in
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW Christ, there is a
new creation:
221
the old things are passed
1 away; behold, they are become new. A new creation, having a new vision of God, out of which springs a new.
love for
God and a new
devotion to
the possibility of analysis.
Him
It is the
this is
beyond
mystery of
and, like every other phase and form of
life, is
life,
beyond
the explanation of any teacher or scientist the world has
produced.
The
result of the
new
birth Christ declares as clearly
and as simply in the second half of the verse first quoted That which is born of the Spirit is spirit. 2 Again it :
must be restated that ical side it
He
is
The
out of count altogether.
statement first,
last
not undervaluing the phys-
of man's being, and certainly
is
that of
human
life
He
not putting
is
vision presented
in
which
by the
first., things
are
and second things are second, and last things are life in which spirit is dominant, the lord of being,
and soul and body are subservient and a perfect contrast to the old
which
life;
but
consists, not in the exaltation of
sanctified. it is
It is
a contrast
one side of the
being at the expense of the others, but in the restoration of the true balance of is
summarized
power and proportion. The words of Christ, and light
in the
change is thrown again upon this summary from the Epistles. Following a law of nature, Christ placed the antidote in juxlaposition to the poison.
summary of *2 Cor.
the facts of
v. 17 (margin).
human 2
John
iii.
Immediately after His life 6.
in the
words That
THE
222
which
is
born of the
SPIRIT OF
GOD
flesh, is flesh,
He
graphic a description of the changed
born of the Spirit
gave as brief and That which is
life
:
This method
is spirit.
is
followed
through the New. Testament, and a second reference to the statements of the apostle concerning the natural will reveal
Those
them, giving the antitheses in the spiritual man.
darkened in
understanding become taught in Him, Those of whom it was dein Jesus. 1
their
even as truth
is
clared that the
mind of
being born again of the
the flesh
that being after the flesh did
z enmity against Godf
is
and indwelt by the
Spirit,
God and
look into the face of
now
man
a statement in each case side by side with
Spirit,
cry, Abba, Father.
mind
They
the things of the flesh,
being after the Spirit do mind the things of the 3
Spirit.
of the
Those who walked
power
of the
.
.
air,* -now
enly places, in Christ Jesus.
The whole form and
.
sit
according
with
to the prince
Him
in the heav-
6
fashion of the
life is
changed,
and the change is so radical and complete that the only way in which it is possible to account for it, is by the acceptation of the teaching of Christ, that
it
has been
brought about by a new creation, a new beginning, a
new birth. As there was a sequence '
of thought in the description
of man's condition in his sinful nature, so also in the antitheses just glanced at. 1 ii.
Eph.
2.
5
iv.
18,
Eph.
ii.
21. 6.
*
Rom.
viii. 7.
The *
is
first effect
Rom.
viii. 15, 5.
there
of im*
Eph.
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW parted
life is
to give
man a
true vision of God.
which could not be found by
new
directly the
life
the lost sight.
life restores
tremblingly,
it
That
the flesh life is discovered
spirit of man, seeing God, cries, Father.
and the
223
may
Then
the
Fear passes,
be, at the beginning,
takes hold upon God with and ever-deepening love. That is
but none the less surely intense satisfaction
the cure for the minding of earthly things. to a former illustration, let but the
know
rake see the higher things and
he will forget
him
all
the
empty
Again, the
before.
trifles
man
man
To
revert
with the muck-
they are his own,
that have captivated
with the things
satisfied
of God, becomes, by that very sense of satisfaction,
master of Satan, and invulnerable against
The method in this
of the
new
birth
is
most
same conversation. The miracle
all his attacks.
definitely stated itself is
a Divine
work. The condition upon which it is wrought point of human responsibility. In the words born
is
the.
of the
Spirit the Master claims the essential act as Divine, and
most
clearly does
comprehension.
He show
work
beyond our The wind bloweth where it listeth, and that
to be
thou hearest- the voice thereof, but knowest not whence it
cometh, and whither
born of the
1
Spirit.
it
every one that
is
power of the wind
is
goeth: so
Just as the
is
beyond dispute by the evidences of its blowing that appeal to the senses, while the law of its coming and going abides a mystery, so the fact of the regenerating *John
iii.
8.
THE
224
powtr of the Holy of grace, while is
all
SPIRIT OF is
Spirit
GOD
proved by the phenomena
the sacred mystery of
beyond the discovery of any
its
operation
Men
human mind.
are.
called upon to accept the fact in each case, and to wait
Granted the possi-
for the explanation of the mystery. bility
of the miracle,
it is
for
man
to seek to
know
the
wrought. This Nicodemus How can these things be?* felt, and hence his question The answer is perfectly clear: And as Moses lifted up condition upon which
it is
:
must the Son of
the serpent in the wilderness, even so
Man
be lifted up: that whosoever believeth
have eternal is
Man
life*
to be lifted
up
that
it
needs
may
life.
may
The Son
be provided.
in
of
Him Man
Pointing this
seeker to the kingdom, the Master sets His Cross as the gate of
life.
On
the place of awful uplifting, through
the mystery of His Passion, that this
man might
the Spirit
is
in trespasses
share
to be that of
and
sins,
He would
it.
The
liberate
life-giving
communicating to
the very life of the
His
life
work of
souls,
dead
Son of God.
This can only be done as the corn of wheat dies to live, and there is no new birth for individuals or the race, but by the death of the Son of Man.
been accomplished, and
Him
have eternal
of belief.
What
life.
That death has
now zvhosocver believeth may in The one condition of life is that
this belief is
has explanation in the
opening part of this Gospel: But as many as received Him, to them gave He the right to become children of 1
John
iii.
2
9.
John
iii.
14, 15.
YE MUST BE BORN ANEW God, even
to
them
two terms are used lieve
on
believe
Him
that believe
in explanation of each other.
to receive
is
on His name.
To
on His name.
Him:
believe
to receive
1
Here
To be-
Him
is
to
the condition
upon which the Holy Spirit imparts the life by the coming of which old things pass away, all things are new. Thousands
is
believe in the historic Christ,
dead in trespasses and
No weak
sins.
in all the centuries has ever yet believed
sense of receiving
Him as
the
Way,
and are yet
trembling soul
on
Him
in the
the Truth, the Life,
with unquestioning surrender and abandonment, but immediately the new life has been imparted. In this, as in
God is a God of method, and this is His law of grace, by observance of which man appropriates everything,
the blessings of the Cross.
Ye must
be born anew.
a
Apart from
escape from the corruption that
Save through
this,
Divine nature. possibilities,
there
While
men
is
is
in the
this there is
world by
no 3
lust.
no becoming partakers of the
living in the full tide of spiritual
shall yet pass
through the years of pro-
bation barren and dead, unless they surrender to the Infinite
Love and receiving Him Whom they crucified become heirs of God, and joint-heirs ivith ;
in blindness,
Christ* a
john
i.
12.
"John
iii.
8
7.
2 Pet.
i.
*
4.
Rom.
viii.
17.
XIX
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
HP HEY 1
filling
The
far short of
fall
the truth
who speak
of the Spirit as the privilege of believers.
word of Paul Be not
drunken with
"wherein is riot, but be filled with the Spirit,
imperative, being of the nature of a
than a counsel of perfection. few, but for is
1
is
command, rather
Not merely
for
an
elect
those born of the Spirit, the will of
all
necessity for this filling it,
wine,
a present
And
that they should be filled with the Spirit.
from
of the
is
God the
proved by the fact that, apart
there can be no full Christian
life,
and no pow-
erful Christian service.
The
no man speaking in the anathema; and no man can
apostle declares that
Spirit of
God
saith, Jesus
is
say, Jesus is Lord, but in the
ship of Jesus
is
the basis of
Christian graces and virtues
all
Holy all
2
Spirit.
Christian
The Lordlife. The
spring from the recogni-
tion of that Lordship, and from absolute surrender thereto.
It is
only as
that he can call Jesus 1
Eph.
v. 18.
*
i
Cor.
man
is
born again of the Spirit
Lord and ;
xii. 3.
226
it is
only as he
is
under
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
227
the perfect dominion of that Spirit that he can live under the Lordship of Jesus.
Not only
is this true with regard to the first step in but also in reference to the whole subsequent
life,
course.
The
fruit
of the Spirit is love, joy, peace,
longsuffering, kindness, goodness, faithfulness, meekness, temperance: against
such there
is
no law*
These
are the evidences of Christian character looked for in
those
who
all
profess to belong to Christ, the things that
differentiate
between a Christly and a worldly
soul.
There can be no manifestation of them save under the perpetual control of the Spirit.
Neither
is it
possible to
for God except in the energy of the Spirit. There be a great deal of what appears to be Christian work, but it is absolutely devoid of power unless thus
work
may
energized.
No man
can
live the Christian life,
and no man can
serve in the Christian dispensation, save as he
with the
Spirit.
It is, then, of
urgent importance that there should be
clear understanding of the ing.
not
is filled
law which governs
this
fill-
That there are scores of Christian people who are with the Holy Spirit is an all too evident fact.
filled
Bring that cluster of the wonderful fruit of the Spirit side by side with the actual life and achievement of scores of professing Christians,
once confessed. *Gal. v. 22, 23.
and
this fact
must be
at
THE
228
SPIRIT OF
GOD
To Christian people who really want to be such as God would have them be, who are tired of all that is *'
merely formal and mediocre, and are anxious to the will of
God
at all costs, there
is
live in
no question of more
importance than that of the conditions upon which the believer, filled
born of the
with the
Spirit,
may
live that life
which
is
Spirit.
These conditions are of a twofold nature,
and the continuous that by which blessing ized, and that by which it is maintained. ;
the
initial,
is first real-
The first is that of abandonment. The second is that of abiding. The. word abandonment is used intentionally. Consecration is a great word, but it has been so much abused that it has lost much of its deepest significance. This word abandonment is perhaps out of the ordinary run of theological terms, but
it
is
full
of force.
Wherever
whole-hearted, absolute, unquestioning, positive, final
abandonment of the filled
life to
God
obtains, the life
becomes
with the Spirit.
'
The thought present your
is
contained in Paul's words: Neither
members unto
sin as instruments of un-
righteousness; but present yourselves unto God, as alive
from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God* The whole life, according to this conception, is to
God, 1
in order that,
Rom.
vi. 13.
be handed over to the control of
through that
life,
His
will
may
be.
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT
229
His work may be done, His plans may be carThat is, the abandoned life.
realized,
ried out.
"
There are two passages which bear on
The
first
reads : Grieve not the
Wham ye were sealed unto all bitterness,
Holy
this subject.
Spirit of God, in
Let
the day .of redemption.
and wrath, and anger, and clamor, and
away from you, with all malice* This abandonment of the life for purification. Aban-
railing, be put is
the
donment to God
not merely the act of enlisting as sol-
is
that
diers to fight battles first
is
a secondary matter;
it is
the abandonment of self to the Spirit of God, that
He may
purify arid cleanse from everything that
His own perfection of beauty. The apostle did not say: Put away
un-
is
like
wrath, and anger, and clamour, and liever is not called life:
that
is
purification.
The
upon
He
be-
Testament conception of
said: Let these things be put away.
verse preceding explains the responsibility : Grieve
not the Holy Spirit.
The work
unholy brood of
life this
Him
accomplish
of putting out of the
evil things is
anger, clamour, railing let
railing.
The
to put these things out of the
New
not the
and
bitterness,
bitterness, wrath,
not man's work.
Man
is
to
it.
The second passage
is
as familiar as the first: / be-
seech you therefore, brethren, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable
God, which
to *
Eph.
is
iv. 30, 31.
your reasonable *Rom.
xii.
i.
service.
*
This
is
an-
THE
230
SPIRIT OF
God
being to
seem
it is
It is not
merely assent also the presentation of the whole
other aspect of abandonment. to purification;
GOD
There are very many who
for sacrifice.
to imagine that the apostle
to sacrifice themselves to
is
calling Christians
God, but he
is
rather calling
upon them to present themselves to God as a sacrifice, which the High Priest will lay upon the altar. The abandonment asked for is a twofold one, first, aban-
donment
to purification by the Spirit; and, secondly, abandonment of the whole being to Jesus Christ, that
He may The
offer
it
to God.
The
theory seems easy.
The
nite thing.
life
which
for the filling of the Spirit
own
is
is
a
a very
defi-
thus abandoned to
God
practice
life
is
that has given
up
its
and purposes, and hopes; and has taken and the hope of God.
plans,
instead the plan; and the purpose, If
God
wills to alter
what appear
to
be Divine ar-
and the hope of to-day are disappointed, the follower of the Master rangements for to-day, so that the desire should yet be able to say
my
God.'
1
The
will of
:
/ delight to do
God should be
Thy
will,
O
the supreme mat-
ter, beyond the doing of which the soul should have
How often men promise God that they do certain things if He will do something for them an iniquitous attempt to bargain with the Most High,
no anxiety. will
which
The 1
!
is
very popular, and as old as Jacob.
difference between the Spirit-filled
Ps. xl. 8.
life,
and the
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT life that is
life
too.
filled
with the
Spirit, is the difference
abandoned wholly to the will of God, and that wants to have its own way and please God
between a a
not
231
life
Abandonment
speak,
and yet
shrink.
Men
most easy to the one thing from which all men
is
it is
that of
which
it is
are quite prepared to sign pledges, to do
any amount of work, even
to sign cheques or give
money, if only God will let them have their own way somewhere in their life. If He will not press this business of abandonment, Cross, they will
if
He
bring them to the
will not
do anything; but they draw back from
the place of death.
Yet
it
is
only in that place that the Holy Spirit
able to flow out into every part of the life it,
until in all
conduct Jesus
fruit of the Spirit is
is
is
and energize
crowned Lord, and the
manifest in character.
Nothing
Some there are who attempt to put prayer where God has put abandonment. Others profess to be waiting until God is can take the place of abandonment.
willing to
them.
fill
Both' are
think they are waiting for God,
At any moment,
ing for them. Spirit,
and
He
wrong!
the. fact is
will
if
While they
God
is
wait-
they yield to the
sweep through every gate and avenue
into every corner of the life.
The Christ.
many
filling
A
of the Spirit
is
retained
great deal has been said
by abiding in about abiding, and
have endeavoured to define the term.
beautiful definitions have been given, mystical
Some
and poet-
THE
232 ical,
SPIRIT OF
GOD
and yet for the most part out of the reach of the of the believer.
life
ordinary
where
have definitions of Scripture from Scripture and John gives a definition of what it is to abide in Christ He that keepcth His commandIt is well,
possible, to ;
:
ments abideth in Him, and He in him. 1 Nothing can be simpler. The mistake which may be made is that of trying to explain that passage until
The
simplicity.
clearness,
abide
is
definition
is
it is
the very
and may be stated in a
robbed of
its
embodiment of
To
brief sentence:
to obey.
The commandments
referred to are given in the pre-
ceding passage; but are spoken of there, as one com-
mandment, having two applications:
And
His
this is
we should believe in the name of commandment, His Son Jesus Christ, and love one another* The whole that
law of Jesus Christ
commandment
is
summed up
that of faith
is
and
The
in that verse. love.
Faith
upon Him, and the Him. Faith in the Lord
absolute dependence of the soul
consequent
life
when a
Jesus begins for pardon
;
of obedience to
but
it
course begun, by tering into
-
guilty soul submits itself to
does not end then.
one act of faith that
men
abide, but
It is
by continuing
John
iii.
in the
making Him Lord
Him
into account;
by treating
the ever-present King, by believing in 1
Him
not by that
always, by enno transaction of business or of pleasure
without taking
1
the
is
2
24.
i
John
iii.
23.
Him
as
Him; and by
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT saying to E^m, at
all
seasons and hours and every-
where: Master, is this Thy will? Faith in Him is beon His name at the beginning for pardon, and con-
lief
stantly for purity
and
Then every moment
direction.
the soul lives in dependence
upon
Christ,
and
able to
is
sing: / dare not take one step -without Thy
Not
That we should
faith merely, but love:
That
love one another*
is
Him
in
Him.
.
.
.
He
that
The
con-
the life of service.
keepeth His commandments dbideth ditions for abiding in
aid.
are those of always believing
in
Him, always loving some one and serving some one.
If
men
are
continue
While
filled
filled it is
with the Spirit by abandonment, they
with the Spirit by abiding. true that there can be no full
powerful service apart
from the
filling
equally true that the Spirit-filled fruit of the Spirit
These broad
is
ing
who
and be powerful
is
is filled
necessary.
experiences
1
must manifest the
in service for
God.
The
A
Spirit.
vital
Here a word
mistake
is
of warn-
made by persons
formulate a code of sensations, and wait for them
netic thrill,
1
it is
rather the conscious experience of a
with the
as evidences of the Spirit's
sent.
and no
principles, however, are granted.
present subject soul that
life
life
of the Spirit,
filling.
Some
some an overwhelming
may be
realized, they
John
iii.
23, 24.
ecstasy.
may
Others wait for an experience
expect a
mag-
These
be utterly ab-
like that of
some
THE
234
one
That they
else.
people
who have
SPIRIT OF will
GOD
never have.
There are many
read the Lives of good
men
like
Fletcher of Madeley, Finney, and Bowen, and who exSuch pect to realize just what these men describe.
hopes are doomed to disappointment.
It
may
safely be
said that the experience of the filling of the Spirit
no two cases exactly
identical,
sciousness of ordinary
two persons.
life
is
in
any more than the con-
can ever be the same in any
There are points of resemblance, great
fundamental facts which are identical; but in the light and shade there is variety. Surely, if this be true of ordinary ing.
life, it is
The Holy
ization
also true of the higher spiritual bless-
Spirit
fills
one and another.
of the one differs
There are
diversities of
There
however, a
is,
The
from that of the
real-
other.
1 workings, but the same God.
common
consciousness to those
who are Spirit-filled. It is the consciousness of Christ. The Holy Spirit, coming in His fulness, will give men to know the Lord as they never knew Him before. The consciousness of Christ in the experience of believers will
be as varied as are the saints themselves; for the
full
consciousness of the
the whole Church.
Head can
His greatness
only be realized by
is
such that
He
can-
not give Himself wholly and utterly and finally to an individual; He needs the whole Church for the dis-
play of His perfect glory, and the unfolding of the
majesty of His Person. 1
1
Cor. xii. 6.
Let no one narrow down his
BE FILLED WITH THE SPIRIT consciousness of the Christ to the consciousness of any
He
single person.
is
one thing to one man,
men
other thing to another, but the the Master of
fact that
it is
scious
the Spirit.
is
the
by
first result
Whom
The Lordship
of the Spirit-filled
It follows that Christ's victory
He
an-
is
are united in the
they are
all
of Jesus as a
con-
reality,
life.
over evil will be shared
by His people; His point of vision of the
affairs of
men
and the needs of men will be theirs also; and the impulses of service which bore Him to Calvary, against all opposition,
and made
will likewise
Him
Victor in
its
darkest hour,
be their impulse of service, so that no
longer will they offer
Him
the service of mechanical
arrangement; but in the passion of His life they will serve, even though that be a consuming passion, as it was with Him. Again, Christ's revelation of God to men will in measure be their revelation of God to men. As the Spirit
fills
the children of God,
He
will reproduce in
their lives such likeness to Christ,
them,
will
begin to understand
that men, seeing and be led into a Him,
clear apprehension of the glory of the Father.
This subject brings all to the point of personal responsibility. The whole study culminates here for the individual. tion,
That Divine
who was
Spirit
Who
worked
in crea-
the Spirit of revelation and of service
through every age, dwells now in each believer. The individual question is whether He is indwelling in all
THE
23 6
His
fulness.
loyalty to
is
He
the whole
GOD
grieved and quenched by dis-
His government?
hitherto, let
may
Or
SPIRIT OF
life
If that
has been the case
be yielded to Him, that
He
reproduce the Master Himself, to the glory of God,
and for the good of men.
XX RESIST NOT,. GRIEVE NOT, privileges always bring
NEWand new
these
age
is
the
it
follows, necessarily
responsibilities create
most favoured
in
QUENCH NOT
new and
new
responsibilities;
naturally, that perils.
If this
the history of men,
it
and gravest perils. They grieving, and quenching the
'has therefore to face greatest
are the perils of resisting,
The terms do not refer to the same danger. There are those who have not resisted the Spirit who yet are grieving Him; there are also those who have Spirit.
not resisted and have not grieved
Him
in the sense in
which the apostles used the word, who are nevertheless in perpetual
danger of quenching Him.
of resisting the Spirit
is
that of those
who
The
peril
are not born
again; the peril of grieving the Spirit is that of those who, born of the Spirit, are indwelt by Him ; the peril of quenching the Spirit is that of those upon has bestowed some gift for service.
To Nicodemus *John
iii.
Jesus said:
7.
237
whom He
Ye must be born anew. 1
THE
238
That
SPIRIT
OF GOD
refers to the first act of the Spirit in
woman
of Samaria
He
said
To
man.
Whosoever drinketh
:
water that I shall give him shall never
the
of the
thirst; but the
water that I shall give him shall become in him a well of water springing up unto eternal to the second aspect of the Spirit's
work
as a perennial and perpetual spring.
the feast 'He said:
He
1
life.
To
that believeth
living water.
That
refers to the
work
refers
the crowds at
on Me, as the
scripture hath said, out of his belly shall 2
That
in the believer,
How
rivers of
of the Spirit, in
outflow through the believer, for the refreshment
its
and renewal of other
The
lives.
three aspects of the Spirit's work, regeneration,
indwelling,
and equipment,
reveal the perils of the dis-
pensation.
In reference to regeneration the peril is marked by the word resist. In reference' to indwelling the peril is
marked by the word grieve. In reference to equipment for service the peril is marked by the word quench. The first of these words occurs in the defence of Stephen. After having enumerated the acts of rebellion which had characterized the history of his people, he
and
Ye
and uncircumcised
in heart
3 ears, ye do always resist the Holy Spirit.
Resist-
exclaimed:
stiff necked
ing the Holy Spirit consisted in a determined hostility to His purposes and work. At the moment it was not
always apparently wilful; the sin lay in the fact that 1
John
iv. 14.
2
John
vii.
38.
'Acts
vii. 51.
RESIST NOT, GRIEVE NOT,
QUENCH NOT
they did not perceive their opportunity
When
when
it
239
came.
his brethren sold Joseph, they did not under-
stand that they were selling their deliverer into slavery.
was a
It
When
sin of blindness.
the people failed to
understand Moses, and refused him, and murmured against him, they did not comprehend
all
the Divine
mission for which he was raised.
They were hostile to the work of the Holy Spirit of God, and their hostility
was the
result of blindness.
therefore,
is
of blindness
not necessarily wilful ;
but when
into account that
the cause sponsible.
is
Resisting the Holy Spirit,
God
it
may
deals with
be the result
men,
He
takes
which causes the blindness, and where
of their
own
creation,
He
holds them re-
Jealousy and hatred blinded the brethren of
Joseph to his true position;
and the same
spirit
malice lay at the root of the opposition to Moses.
of
They
were blinded, and out of the blindness grew the hosThe reason for the blindness was disobedience tility. to the heavenly vision at
history; and
Men
some
earlier point in their
for that disobedience they
were
guilty.
need perpetually to examine themselves as to
whether they are in the
There are many who
faith.
would vehemently deny the charge of being hostile to Divine purposes, whose lives are out of all harmony with the
movements of the
set
in the heart of
up has come
Spirit.
man
the
He Who
kingdom
to bring righteousness
lives as forces that
has come to
of God,
He Who
and love into human
transform and transfigure, has not
THE
240
GOD
SPIRIT OF
yet been able to accomplish these purposes in them.
By
much as that is a fact the Holy Spirit is being resisted. To the Corinthians the apostle wrote Try your own selves, -whether ye be in the faith* It is a solemn
so
:
warning, occurring as it does after the expression of a fear on his part: I fear, lest by any means, -when I
come, I should find you not such as I would, and should myself be found of you such as ye would not;
by any means there should be
lest
wraths, factions, tumults. 2
strife,
jealousy,
backbitings, whis'perings, swellings,
The whole unholy brood may be summed
one thought of lack of love. Among the things of which the apostle was afraid, there were none which were deeds of open impurity. It was the spirit of in the
up
faction, schism,
and division that he feared; and
fear gave rise to his warning.
whether ye be in the
faith.
Try your own
his
selves,
That was a word spoken,
not to the outside world, but to professing Christians.
The
question as to whether
Spirit,
that
is
as
to
men
whether they are
are resisting the
a part of the force
hostile to the Spirit in the world, is to be settled,
not by the judgment that neighbours pass, but by the judgment that falls clear as the light and searching as fire,
is
when
in the place of loneliness
sincerely offered
with
God
the prayer
:
O God, and know my heart: knozv and Try me, my thoughts: And see if there be any way of wickedness in me. 8 Search me,
J
2 Cor.
xiii.
3 5.
2 Cor.
xii. 20.
3
Ps. cxxxix. 23, 24.
RESIST NOT, GRIEVE NOT, There
QUENCH NOT
241
perpetual need for rigorous self-examination as to whether those professing loyalty are still in the is
be that, by disloyalty to God, the mind has been blinded to the correct perception of the work of faith
for
;
it
may
the Spirit ; and without intending to
tility
Holy
there
it,
may
be hos-
His work, there may even be resistance to the
Spirit.
The second There
is
clearly
peril is that of grieving the
no word
in the
New
Holy
Spirit.
Testament that more
and beautifully reveals the tenderness of the The word means literally, to cause sor-
heart of God.
row
to.
Dr. Beet has said that the word grieve
is
one
of the most striking instances of anthropomorphism in
the whole Book.
a remarkable instance
It certainly is
which God graciously uses the being of way man for the illustration of His own activity of affecof the
tion
in
and thought.
cult to think of
There
God
is
a sense in which
as sorrowing;
to this great word, to teach that
it is
it is diffi-
He
and yet
stoops
possible for a child
of His, indwelt by the Spirit, to cause sorrow to His heart.
Let no one minimize the value of the word.
Grieve not, do not cause sorrow
to,
do not make sad
the heart of God.
The words occur
in the midst of a
most magnificent God for His
argument concerning the high calling of people,
ye
also,
and are connected with the statement In :
Whom
having heard the word of the truth, the gospel
of your salvation,
in
Whom,
having also believed, ye
were sealed with the Holy Spirit of promise, which
is
THE
242
GOD
SPIRIT OF
an earnest of our inheritance, unto the redemption of 1 God's own possesssion, unto the praise of His glory.
The Holy demption.
Spirit seals the believer unto the
When He
of the trusting soul, it is
up His abode
takes
it is
day of
not only for present blessing,
When
also for a consummation.
the
takes possession of a soul and imparts
Holy
life,
Spirit
that life
the prophecy and the promise of an eventuality. those fact
who
are children of God, the full
we
not yet: Beloved, nozu are
is
re-
in the heart
is
For
meaning of the
children of God,
we shall be. We we shall be like that, if 2 Him. What the glory of the coming One will be, none can imagine; nor can they yet know what will be the glory of the children of God, when the work of God is The Holy Spirit within, seals finished in their lives. unto that glorious issue. The sealing consists not and
it is
not yet
made manifest
He
know
merely
in setting
i&hat
shall be manifested,
a possession mark upon the property,
but in the outworking in the
life
of
all
the beauty and
all
the grace of Christ Himself.
As when our blessed Lord
was transfigured upon
mountain
the
transfiguring of a glory that
fell
it
was not the
upon Him, but
that of
a glory that was already resident within
ing through the veil of His flesh, seals,
He
does so by the gift of
so, life,
Him, outshinwhen the Spirit
which
is
able to
transform the character.
Out grows 1
Eph.
of that second aspect of the the second peril. 2 i,
13, 14.
i
John
work
Whenever He iii.
2.
of the Spirit is
thwarted,
QUENCH NOT
RESIST NOT, GRIEVE NOT, whenever
new
He
He
disobeyed, whenever
is
revelation of the Christ is
The
grieved.
He
gives
243
some
which brings no response,
heart of
God
is
sad when, by
the'
disobedience of His children, His purpose of grace in
them
Alas
hindered.
is
been grieved;
how
!
often has the
often has
new
He
Holy
Spirit
brought some vision
made demands upon
of the Master that has that has claimed
how
devotion,
consecration; and because the
way of devotion and the way of consecration are always the way of the Altar and the Cross, the children of His love have drawn back. The Spirit has been grieved, because hindered in His purposes
;
the day of the saints'
perfecting has been postponed, and the coming of the kingdom of God has been delayed. It is a very terrible
thought that the grieving of the Spirit within the
Church postpones the coming of the kingdom of God In proportion as
the world.
indwelling Spirit, and allow of their
own
lives to
men
Him
in the
whole
territory
have His way, in that proportion
are they hastening the coming of the day of God,
bringing in the
The
in
are obedient to the
Kingdom
and
of Peace.
things which grieve the Spirit of
God
are spoken
of by the apostle in the section of the Epistle from
which
this
solemn
The
warning
is
taken, and should be pondered in
loneliness.
third
and
last peril is that
Quench not the Spirit. 1
described in the words
The word quench has no
erence to the indwelling of the Spirit for 1
1
Thess. v. 19.
life
:
ref-
and de-
THE
244
velopment in the
It
believer.
gestive.
presupposes the
resist
His
refers wholly to
The word
presence as a power in service.
To
GOD
SPIRIT OF
itself is
coming of the
To
Spirit to storm the citadel of the soul.
sug-
Holy
grieve pre-
supposes the residence of the Spirit as the Comforter
The word quench presupposes
within.
the presence of
This suggestion of fire carries thought back to the words There appeared unto them the Spirit as a
fire.
:
tongues
parting asunder, like as of fire;
each one of them.
1
its
not the Spirit; despise not prophesyings.
The
liever
for
praise,
Spirit,
Who and
prayer,
service,
may
whom there has
:
Quench
3
Here, then,
comes upon the beprophecy,
It is possible that the gift of the
quenched. bestowed for
In the
meaning.
argument of the apostle two things are linked the third peril.
upon
Moreover, the context
to prophesy.
of this injunction clearly indicates
is
sat
it
Fire was the symbol of power to
and
praise, to pray,
and
be lost;
it
is
may
Holy
be
Spirit,
possible that
unseen by mortal eye, the Tongue of Fire, who have been called by God to the
those upon
fallen,
place of actual service in the Church, Spirit,
This
and thus lose
was
received.
the Spirit of Fire
power of testimony.
The
upon
The
Acts
glorifying of Christ in the
s ii.
3.
apostles first received
the condition of loyalty to Jesus
obedience of the soul to the 1
the
done by reversing the conditions upon which
is
the Spirit
Christ.
their
may quench
i
word of
Thess. v. 19, 20.
life,
and the
the Master, were
RESIST NOT, GRIEVE NOT, the
itself
helplessness, confessed Spirit came. There has been
the second condition of
by
burning of tempt
human
their waiting until the
much quenching
of the
service that does not wait but rushes,
245
That
conditions for the falling of the Fire.
first,
included within
by
QUENCH NOT
Holy
Holy Spirit and by the
upon the altars of God. The aton the work of the kingdom of God by
false fires
to carry
worldly means, the perpetual desecration of holy things
by
alliance with things that are unholy, the pressing of
Mammon
service of
into the
quenching of the Spirit; for
God, have meant the
God
will
never allow the
Fire of the Holy Spirit to be mingled with strange fires
upon His
What
altars.
God
of the individual.
is
true of the Churches
To
gift of speech or of influence has lost,
when
it
true
has equipped His people for
service with spiritual gifts.
been
is
each one some Fire-
been given but ;
it
has
has ceased to be used in loyalty to
Very many men have lost their gift of power and have become barren of results in their
Christ.
in service,
work
for God, because they have prostituted a heavenly
gift to sordid, selfish service, to the glorification of their
own
lives, instead
true end.
Men
attempting to
God would will not
of exercising the gift only for
its
have perpetually quenched the Spirit by
work
step in
in their
own
strength,
hoping that
and make up what they lacked. God to do their work. He asks
come and help men
that they should give themselves to
Him,
for the doing
THE
246 of His work. the difference service
This is
GOD
SPIRIT OF is
no mere If
radical.
and then ask God
idle play
men make
upon words; their plan of
to help them, they
may, by quench the Holy Spirit. If, on the other hand, they await the Divine vision and the Divine voice and the Divinely marked out path if that very assertion of
self,
;
they wait until they hear
God
saying, /
I would have you go with Me, can exercise His gift in their
am
going
there,
then the Holy Spirit
The Spirit or when His gift
lives.
quenched by disloyalty to Christ,
is is
used for any other purposes than that upon which the heart of
God
is set.
Resist not, grieve not, quench not
the Spirit!
The deep meaning
of these solemn warnings
the Spirit Himself reveal to
of the Father.
all
may
the Spirit-born children
3T
Morgan
120 r
:
"O
L'.-iC
The
Sirit
of God
tx
1104240
JUN,
UNIVERSITY OF CHIC
48 432 124
11Q4240
BT
Morgan
120
The Spirit of God
.MS 5
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MAR
26
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